Shiver

Shiver

I finally decided to participate in Mermay. Got a bit of catch-up to do. But here's my first installment. The Mermay bingo I'm going off of is from @skumhuu

He was alone. Cross didn't quite know how he got here, but here he was. In the ocean, alone. Sand beneath his flippers and salt water surrounding him. Schools of fish swam past, only darting away when he moved. It was- relaxing. He felt free. Freer than he had since he was captured as a pup. Cross didn't swim, he just stayed. Watching the fish and other critters going about their lives. He should probably go on too.

Mismatched eyelights scanned the reef. Where would he go? How was life supposed to work under the waves? He tried to remember what Gaster taught him about shark behavior. Nothing came to mind. Except- Sharks had a tendency to live in shivers. Or, mersharks at least. Should he try to find others? Cross shook his head. He didn't want to think about how easily another mershark could tear him apart.

Maybe- yeah. He could just hunt for now. Build up his skills and get used to living outside of the lab. Then he could move on to settling a bit more. And maybe he could find a shiver. But, for now, he needed to be able to survive on his own.

Cross sat curled up on a rock. His eyelights scanning the area for anything dangerous or suspicious. There was the faintest bit of blood in the water, which he ignored. He hadn't heard anything, so the blood was likely from some unfortunate fish that was caught by another creature. The thresher debated on going and hunting for himself, but the water was too dark and his eyelights adjusted poorly. He would usually hunt closer to the surface, where plenty of light filtered through and he could see clearly.

"Yoo! Crossy!" The mer looked up, instantly spotting a red glow emerging from the darker water. A bull shark mer emerged, blood smeared on his skull, sharp teeth forming a wild grin. "Glad to see you haven't ditched us," Killer chirped playfully.

"As if," Cross huffed, nudging away his partner before any blood got on him. "Aren't you supposed to be with the others?"

"Nah, we didn't want you to be alone, after all, you've been up here makin' sure we all make it out," The smaller shark forced himself into Cross's arms, hugging tight. Cross froze up for a moment before sighing and returning the embrace. Killer let out a soft purr, relaxing Cross further. It was- nice. While the larger mer didn't mind waiting for everyone and keeping guard, maybe he did get a bit lonely. The thresher melted in his partner's embrace, exhaustion creeping up on him now that he was in familiar arms.

It wasn't long before Horror and Dust appears from the trench, Horror holding a large tuna and Dust with the rest of their catch. A school of pilot fish swarmed around the two sharks cuddled together. Cross let out a confused mrrp? before opening his eyes he didn't know he had closed.

"C'mon," Dust said, tail gently brushing over his two intertwined mates. "Lets get back to the twins," Cross stretched before swimming over and offering to help with the catch. Killer did the same and both ended up with a few things they brought back to the Depths.

Waiting there for the group to return were Dream and Nightmare, the goldfish settled on his brother's shoulder, talking about whatever ancient beings talk about in their free time. The warm, glowing entity darted down and greeted the sharks as they came in.

Once everyone was settled and eating, Cross paused from his meal. He looked over at everyone, securely nestled in Nightmare's tentacles, happy and content. He wasn't alone anymore. He had people, a lot of people. His time in the lab seemed so far away. Like it was a lifetime ago. And it might as well have been. Before, Cross was miserable and trapped. Now, he was free and living with the kindest beings he had ever met. And all of them cared about him so much. He finally had not only a shiver, but a family.

Cross smiled as he continued eating the squid Horror had caught especially for him.

platonic zane and cole fic where they talk about the struggles of being Not Quite Human But Almost There™ maybe? 😙<3 -may i go by clover anon?🍀

Life on the Bounty was as normal as it got for the six ninja aboard. Jay and Kai were playing video games, Lloyd and Nya were complaining about being the youngest two on the team, and Cole and Zane were in the kitchen. The kitchen was silent except for the soft bubbling of whatever culinary masterpiece Zane was making. Cole was sitting on the table, head shielded by his arms, trying to ignore the food he could no longer taste.

Soon, the ghost peered up deciding that talking could probably distract him from the work of art he’d be missing out on. But, of course, the first thing he said just had to be related to the food, didn’t it?

“Hey, Zane,“ The nindroid looked over. “Whatcha cooking?“ Zane smiled, always happy to talk about anything he was making.

“Right now, I’m working on an alfredo sauce for some pasta,“

“Nice, have you taste-tested it yet?“ Zane’s smiled faltered at those words.

“No. I was planning to have Lloyd help me with that,“ Cole instantly noticed the change in demeanor when he asked his question.

“You can’t taste either,“ It was more of a statement than a question. The white ninja nodded sadly.

“It’s one of the few things I lost when I rebuilt myself. I wish I knew how to bring it back,“ Cole stood up and walked over to the nindroid to give him a hug. Zane accepted it quickly, arms gripping on to Cole just to keep him grounded in reality.

“I haven’t had it since the temple...“ Cole trailed off, trying not to bring Zane down any more. The nindroid backed out of the hug and put his hands on Cole’s shoulder, a serious expression on his face.

“You- You haven’t- I... I’ve known that but... You can’t get it back...“ Zane’s voice got softer and softer until it was a barely audible whisper.

“It’s fine Frosty. Besides-“ Cole glanced behind his friend, his eyes widened. “I think the sauce is burning,“

“WHAT?!“ Zane whipped around and got back to fixing the mess of not yet ruined alfredo sauce while Cole laughed.

“Looks like you’re losing your touch, Zane,“ Cole said light-heartedly. The nindroid gave the ghost a light shove, only to find his and went straight through the master of earth. Cole’s laughing got louder when he realized what Zane had tried to do, and how he failed.

“I have never wished you to be human more than I have right now,“ Zane said, pointing a spoon at Cole’s chest.

“And why is that?“ The ghost asked, cheeky smile on his face.

“Because I could actually retaliate against... this,“ Zane motioned up and down where Cole was standing. Cole snickered.

It wasn’t long before more chatter and laughing filled the kitchen. The pains of being so close to human long forgotten, swept away by the teasing and messing around that was a very human quality.

AHHH!! Why are people so nice and patient? I was playing Sky: Children of the Light and was in the music hall, my little squid brain trying to string together the right notes to play Undertale's Memory. It sounded enough like the actual thing for someone to figure out what I was attempting. This masterful person played the song beautifully! And then they proceeded to teach me?! Ehhh?! And they were so patient?? And repeated notes so I could understand?? I love them but I can't tell them. And they taught me another Undertale song which I already forgot the name of. But that aside, I now know how to play Memory and it's incredible. I will now be getting an instrument as soon as possible and only the dark dragons will be able to stop me.

If my new bestest friend somehow sees this, I love you more than words can allow and am forever in your debt. If you want a seasonal pass next year, you can bet all your candles and hearts that I will get you one. May the rest of your year be wonderful and grand, may you get to meet and pet many super cute dogs whenever you go out and may someone pay for your food at a restaurant or your drink at a cafe. May you find twenty bucks on the street, may you find that lost sock or earring, may whatever god(s) you believe in grant you luck and fortunes untold for helping one small and undeserving Sky kid.

[Updated] Send in Requests Please!

Alright, I hate to say this, genuinely hate that this has to be said; but please, if you are sending me a donation request, send the post from whoever vetted you. I have gotten numerous bots, but I have to check because I will not leave someone helpless without doing something if they are in need. Thank you for your time.

Request info is now under the read more.

Hi! I am a very bored author. Though, school is trying to get rid of that in the worst way possible. If you’ve got any prompts, I’ll write something. If I know the fandom that is. If you request a certain ship, I’ll do that too.

Current Fandoms!

Undertale(And the AUs)

Monkie Kid

Sanders Sides

Varian and the Seven Kingdoms

DC (Batfam, Flashfam, Superfam, and Shazamily)

Look at this!! I can draw!!

Shamura just trying to document their baby bro when the worm decides to take matter into his own hands. I love him so much💙

Scales

The coming of winter didn't really affect the chill of the Depths. It was always took cold for comfort. It was why Dream was such a vital source of heat for the shiver. But it was quite unfortunate that there was only one of him. And that he rarely liked to stay still. The shiver tried to take measures to keep Dream close whenever the water was too frigid, and Dream was usually more than happy to oblige. But there were times when he couldn't. If Dream himself needed to be somewhere, or if the shiver split up... So they all sat around, each curled up in one of Nightmare's tentacles, ready to brainstorm ways to keep warm when the living heat source wasn't present.

"I say, Dream turns into his leviathan form and we all just cuddle him like that," Killer said, almost like he believed it was a good idea.

"Uh-huh, I hear you, but I'd rather not be boiled alive." Dust replied. Cross murmured his agreements.

"Wellll, we could just go up to the surface to soak up the sun. Or, I could. Just me. Y'know-" A large tentacle pinned Dream down mid-sentence. He huffed and got himself comfortable. His brother and the shiver were determined to solve this problem before Dream left to explore the reef. Which was quite unfortunate for the goldfish, as they had been discussing this topic for the better part of an hour.

"If it wasn't so time consuming, we could bring back the heated rocks..." A gigantic hand scooped some rocks and pressed them to the trapped mer. "It always worked when we were younger," Dream shoved the rocks away.

"But we're not. And cuddling with rocks  is sooo uncomfortable brother. Besides, I would need to heat them back up a lot more than the ones you used. It's colder down here,"

"Couldn't we just... use your scales?" Horror spoke up for the first time in a while. The shiver fell silent.

"A moment, please," Nightmare said before dragging Dream deeper into the trench. The sharks all gave each other questioning looks before curling up into a purring pile. Whilst nestled together, the water heated up considerably.

"𝒮𝒯𝒪𝒫 𝐼𝒯! 𝒢𝑒𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝓅𝒾𝒹 𝓉𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒𝓈 𝑜𝒻𝒻 𝓂𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊-" Dream's screeching could be heard from wherever he took Dream.

"Stay still. I know for a fact that this doesn't hurt."

"𝒴𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝓆𝓊𝒾𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒! 𝐿𝑒𝓉 𝑔𝑜! 𝐼'𝓁𝓁 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝑔𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂!" The sharks approached the place they last saw the leviathan twins and looked into the deeper darkness. The water was almost unbearably hot when they reached the edge of the trench.

"That is the worst lie I've heard all century," Nightmare deadpanned from the abyss. Loud, incomprehensible screeching words could be heard as the water started to cool once more. Nightmare emerged with his much smaller brother at his side and five glowing objects in his hand. He placed one by each of the shiver and gave a wide grin like he hadn't just plucked off what were clearly Dream's scales in his larger form. There were a few inquisitive noises from the sharks until they realized just how warm the scales were.

"Why didn't we do this sooner?" Killer asked, practically drooling as he cuddled the scale that was almost too large for him.

"Because it requires me being in my leviathan form. And Nightmare harassing me. Apparently."