I'm Sorry, My Heart Can't Handle This. Not Only Is My Best Boi Dying, He's Not Going To Be Able To See

I'm sorry, my heart can't handle this. Not only is my best boi dying, he's not going to be able to see the others before he does so. What the heck. My eyes are leaking and my heart is sobbing. The art is so good and the emotions are messing with me😭😭😭

TW! DEATH / DYING 

Horror’s last request to one of Dust’s Fishy’s.   #leviathantale made by @/skumhuu

Seaweed Nest

Cross was running his hand over the soft nest that he and the shiver had been sleeping in since he arrived. It was soft and plush, warm and safe. But it was starting to fall apart. He would have repaired it himself. If he knew how. There were quite a few nests hidden in the Trench. At times Cross saw the others working on theirs. It was amazing how everyone, everyone except him, knew how to weave these special nests that were all so comfortable. He wasn't jealous per se, but he certainly would love to learn.

"Whatcha doing Cross?" Dream swam up and curled himself around the thresher. He gave a small hum at the warmth.

"Just thinking," Cross received a bonk for his response. "How do you all make these nests?" The leviathan gave a squeal and darted away from Cross. Had... had he said something wrong. Just as the poor mer was about to leave, Dream swam back in, kelp in hand. He dumped the seaweed on Cross and sat next to him.

"Ooh, I've been wanting to teach you this!!" 

------

"Baha, oh my gosh Crossy-" A certain bull shark mer burst out laughing at the sight before him.

"Shut up," The mer glared at Killer for even thinking about teasing him. "It's Dream's fault."

"Don't blame me! I was just trying to-"

"Brother, you don't even know how to make a nest,"

"I do! It's just... Different is all," The goldfish pouted. Nightmare allowed himself to fall into his smaller form. Once a reasonable size, he untangled his brother and mate from the mess of seaweed they had made.

"Don't do this again. Horror will be happy to teach you both," He gave both of them a pat before leaving to dispose of the knot of kelp.

------

"This is nice," Cross murmured as he sunk deeper into the newly made nest. Horror only purred in response. Dream was still off sulking somewhere, though, it was likely Dust was with him as the whitetip had mysteriously vanished some time ago. "Thanks for the lesson," Cross got a kiss for his words.

Octopus

An octopus slowly crawled out of its cave. The shell of some unfortunate creature was held in one of its many tentacles as a shield. As though such material could protect it from the dangers that surrounded it. The world was dark, the moon high in the stary sky, making only a sliver of a reflection. A large shadow passed the tiny being and it sunk into the coral, switching colors to be as close to invisible as it could get. The shadow passed, leaving only a trail of bubbles in its wake. The octopus continued onward. Despite being to close to the surface and so far away from the demons lurking in deeper water, the shallow reef was far from safe. Suckers clung to the rocks and coral and it continued moving in search for... something.

Bubbly giggling could be heard and the cephalopod held the shell up in the direction of the noise.

"Aww," The thing cooed as it watch the octopus with great interest. "You're so cute!" It squealed. The octopus backed away, keeping the shell up as the only barrier between it and the creature. As it moved away, the water got warmer. "Don't leave, I just want to play~" The octopus did not understand the words and slipped itself into a crevice of the rocks. "You're no fun," The warm being whined before swimming closer and snatching the shell away from the suckers with multiple little pops. "You're really bad at hiding you know," And those were the last words spoken before the small warm thing turned into a giant, sweltering beast that dug its fingers into the rocks and broke them open. Escape was impossible, so the octopus changed its colors and sunk as far down into the remaining sanctuary as possible. The being was boiling the water around it and thus, the water the octopus was in. Living in such extreme heat was impossible, but that wasn't what killed it. When the being became small again, it shot its head forward and bit down with all the force of an ancient being.

Dream opened his jaw and let the dead creature float into his hands. Oh, this was going to be fun. The glowing mer sped off towards the depths, octopus in hand. The water around him got darker and darker as he left the sunlit zone and entered the trench. There was no light except the glowing scales of the goldfish as he went deeper and then- he stopped. A glowing cyan light suddenly appeared, bathing Dream in it's light.

"Nighty!" The goldfish chirped. "I brought you something, I think you'll like it," The giant beast, "Nighty" lifted and hand to take whatever his brother had brought back down.

"I don't like the look you're giving me," The kraken said as his brother drifted into his hand. The small and slightly deformed body of a tentacled creature. Nightmare huffed, the action causing the octopus to start drifting away if it hadn't been for Dream who quickly caught it again. "You're the bane of my existance" The leviathan deadpanned. Dream laughed, a warm, bell-like sound that Nightmare would have loved hearing if it hadn't been directed at him.

"Oh c'mon brother, it looks just like you," Dream said through his fits of giggles.

"No, it does not. It's tiny and pathetic and-"

"Literally exactly like you?"

"Shut up."

"No." Dream said, his eyelights glinting with mischief. Nightmare growled and pinned his brother down with one of his many tentacles. "Come ooooon Nightmare, it was funny,"

"It was not. Now stay." Nightmare pressed with the slightest bit over pressure, careful not to hurt his currently tiny brother. The body of the octopus drifted past the very stuck Dream.

"You can't just let it go to waste, at least it eat," The trapped mer complained- Before having his catch shoved unceremoniously into his mouth. Nightmare released his brother and tucked the tentacle back with his others.

"See, not waste. Happy?" Dream gave his brother an empty glare before ripping the octopus apart and eating it. He offered some to his brother, but the kraken declined. And no, it wasn't because it was "cannibalism," because it wasn't. He wasn't an octopus. He was a leviathan. His brother was just being ridiculous.

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.

Apparently, tumblr didn't know about the eel pit.

can someone please tell me what the fuck I just saw

Selfish Shellfish

Hunting in the reef was just fine and dandy with Killer. He had no issues with it. But hunting alone? That's where the issue lies. He was all on his lonesome, the rest of the shiver doing who-knows-what without him. And no, he wasn't upset or jealous just... really... lonely? Killer growled as he snapped at another fish, ending its life swiftly. This was stupid. Cross was free today, he could have joined him. Killer flicked his tail sharply, scaring away any prey that might have strayed close enough to be an easy kill. He was also grumbling loud enough to garner the attention of anything that might want to make a snack out of a lone bull shark mer. Not that anything would, lest it evoke the wrath of two leviathans. So Killer kept swimming, upset that he was alone on hunting duty, envious of his mates who were probably all curled up without him. No- He should probably stop that thought. They were all busy, sans Cross, but he still couldn't help but feel hurt. And Cross was down for the count because he was being forced to recover by Dream. It was unfair to act like he had been abandoned here.

Killer sighed and gathered his catch. Probably best to bring this all back to se could reunite with- Something shiny caught his eye. The mer took a sudden turn and dived to the soft sand of the reef. There was sitting a comically large pearl, like the ones he had seen in the artwork of mermaids Kelp had shown the shiver. It was a soft pink and had a light cream star-shaped marking on it. It was beautiful. Killer instantly had two thoughts. The first, try to woo his mates with the lovely treasure. Give it to them as an act of affection. Or... Keep it for himself and show off the remarkable thing he found at every opportunity. Both were fair and reasonable choices-

"Killer! Killer! C'mon! Where are you," The familiar voice of Dust rang through the reef as more fish fled away. A few pilot fish darted around, also searching for the mer. One approached the bull shark who had his hands cupped around the pearl. He growled at it and got a face full of bubbles for his trouble. Killer growled and went out to meet Dust. "Killz, thank goodness. I was worried you got lost for a second," Dust said in mocking relief.  Killer only glared. "Whatcha got there?"

"None of your business," Ah, sounded like Killer was going for the 'keep it and gloat' route with the pearl.

"C'mon, show me," Dust pushed, swimming around his partner as they started off towards the Depths. Killer sighed and slowly revealed the glistening pearl safely nestled in his hands. "Woah..."

"I know, right? It's my little reward for having to go out there all on my lonesome," Killer replied, a smug grin on his face. Dust only gave a laugh before darting deeper, Killer following soon after. The two were back to their normal flirtatious ways, the faux animosity between them forgotten. Killer had been showing off the pearl to Cross when Dream gasped.

"Nighty!" He cried out. "It's- Oh it's really it!" The goldfish swam over to Killer and yoinked the pearl right from his hands. Killer made a noise of protest but was ignored. Dream was already making his way to Nightmare. "My pearl!" The joy in his voice so evident that Killer's imaginary complaints died in his throat.

"I can see that." Nightmare's ecstatic tone giving away his emotions. "Where ever did you find this Killer? We lost this centuries ago," A slightly guilty look crossed Dream's face and was swiftly ignored.

"J-just in the reef," Killer's face had taken on a more red hue as Dream swam back to him.

"Well thank you so much for returning it," Dream pressed a passionate kiss to Killer's teeth leaving the bull shark out of breath and working his gills overtime.