Chapter Text
One year ago
Loud waves crashed against the sea, and seagulls soared and squawked through the stratosphere. A large port was cluttered with boats, and the soft ocean breeze was salty and refreshing. Lights shone in houses, where families sat down and ate dinner, giggling children and content adults together. The castle looked over the bustling town, tall stone walls hiding the colorful gardens inside from folkspeople’s gazes.
This was the kingdom of Shiratorizawa.
But where our story starts is not under the cozy, warm roofs of homes, or within the palace flowerbeds. It is not with the rat filled alleyways, or high in the clear night sky.
Where our story starts is with a rock in the blue of the sea, where a little merman sat, quietly sobbing.
Frigid air chilled his soaking body, but he did not care about the cold. His heart racked with loneliness and hurt, and his throat ached from loud sobs being torn out minutes ago.
His name is Tendou, Satori Tendou. Or, by his official title, Prince Satori of the Shiratorizawa Coast.
“Why,” he asked, “why can’t I be like them?”
A few hours had passed since he was beat up yet again by those boys. The ones that had screamed when he tried to play with them back when he was little. The ones that hated him, and would throw rocks at his head when he went through the streets alone. The ones that gave him the name that Tendou hated; Freak.
Tendou hated it. He hated how everyone would whisper that when he swam past, he hated how it would be painted on the sides of the palace in red, and he hated himself. Why couldn’t he just be normal, instead of a ugly, scary, freak?
He wiped away tears from red rimmed eyes and looked up at the warm lights of the town.
Oh, to be a human. Tendou dreamed of soft beds and ice cream and running across the beach, barefoot and free. Collecting shells and laughing, dry hair flowing in the wind.
He pushed his wet, sopping hair out of his face and stared at the glowing garlands of light. They were so bright and pretty, glowing in warm tones instead of the glistening blue of algae.
Numb, buzzing hands began reaching for the beach before he knew it, and he stopped himself, biting his lip.
It was illegal to swim there. Humans were scary, choosing to scream and hit merfolk that swam too close. Survivors that escaped told tales of being trapped in nets and isolated in nets, far from water. That was why the king, Satori’s father, banned merpeople from talking to land dwellers.
He was getting off the stone, shimmying down and watching the shore. It would be fine if no one saw him, right?
Tendou swam towards the shore, his crimson tail swishing through the waves. God, his body ached. Bruises adorned his arms and back, and small scales were missing from his fishtail.
He panted. Just a bit more to the shore, then he could see them better. The lanterns. That was what they were called. The wood and glass squares with the orange bioluminescent things inside it.
He could feel the rocks touch his fingertips, and then his hands, and then the underside of his tail. Tendou struggled to keep on going, the current pushing and pulling his weak body around. This was the rocky part of the beach, away from the central sand and people. Not that there was anybody still around at this time, but if Tendou had to guess, they would all be on smooth sand instead of sharp, black, basalt.
“Stupid waves.” He muttered.
The water moved him around back and forth, he steadied himself, placing his hands on the submerged stone. Tendou looked at the lanterns. Here was a much better spot than that rock. It was totally worth the sore joints and blistered fingers.
He smiled at the beautiful lights. The faint scent of fresh baked bread poured out of the bakery that had the lanterns, and Tendou basked in it. It smelled delicious. He thought of biting down on it, soft loaves melting on his tongue. He reached out for the building, yearning to be inside it.
A big wave hit his back, and his other hand slipped. Tendou’s face was met with hard stone.
Pain, saltwater, and darkness came as he blacked out, buns and lights forgotten.
“Are you there? Hello?”
Tendou blinked, head pounding. Where was he? And why did everything hurt?
He groggily looked up. Who was this? Messy dark green hair gently blew to the side with wind, pretty brown eyes looked back at him.
“You’re awake.” He said.
Tendou had certainly never seen a merboy that looked so beautiful.
He looked around, and eyes widened in horror and dread as he recalled what happened then and what was happening now.
This wasn’t a merboy.
This was a real life human.
Tendou jumped and scrambled, causing the merboy, no, not merboy, human boy to drop him on cold sand and yelp. Well, it wasn’t really a yelp. More like a monotone, “Ah.”
“Get away from me!” He yelled, shielding himself with his arms.
“You’re hurt.”
“What?”
The olive haired boy crouched down. “I won't hurt you,” He said. “I wanna help.”
Why was this human offering to help him? No. This was a trap. He was going to be captured and fed to humans and those boys would cheer, filled with joy that the horrifying Tendou was finally gone.
“Why?” Tendou croaked out.
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you want to help me? I’m a freak.“ He bitterly stated. His scary eyes and weird hair were proof. He closed his eyes. Hopefully the human would make his death quick.
“No you’re not.”
Tendou opened his eyes, shocked. What?
The boy spoke again, questioning Tendou. “Why would you think that?”
“Because I’m horrible and hideous and I scare away anyone who comes near me and I don’t have any friends.”
“That’s not true.” He turned his head in confusion. “You’re cute, not hideous.”
This was a dream. Tendou was still passed out on the rocks, bleeding out. He would wake up and be disappointed.
The boy continued, offering out his hand. “You didn’t scare me away. Let’s be friends.”
Tendou stared at it, confused. Ah, this was what was called a high five. He hit it with his palm.
The boy raised a brow in confusion. “It’s a handshake.” He grabbed Tendou’s hand, connected his palm with it and shook gently.
The red haired merboy looked away, embarrassed that he misunderstood the gesture.
The boy tapped him on the shoulder, and he looked over to see his face etched with concern.
“What happened?” He pointed at the bruises. Right.
Tendou curled up, pressing his fishtail to his chest. “It’s nothing.”
“It isn’t nothing. You need help. You’re bleeding.”
“It’s fine.”
The boy came closer to Tendou, holding his hands and looking him in the eyes, and Tendou wanted to look away but couldn't. Everywhere the boy touched felt like fire and he felt like his brain was about to explode. “Listen to me. I want to take care of you. Let me, please.” He spoke.
Tendou felt like he felt like he had to agree, the kindness in those coffee brown eyes luring him in. “O-Okay.”
He let go of Tendou, a strange sense of disappointment washing over the merboy. “Where are you going?” He asked.
“Going to buy some band-aids for your tail.” He stated, and took a step towards the town. “I’ll be back.”
Tendou outstretched his hand, grabbing the boy’s wrist. “This is selfish of me but…”
“But what?”
“Could you bring back those?” With his other hand, he pointed at the shining lights.
“The lanterns?”
“Yeah.”
The boy nodded, and he was off. Tendou sat there and stared at him until he rounded the corner, disappearing.
“Wow.”Slipped out of the merboy’s mouth, and he realised what he did. Blood rose to his face, and Tendou held his head in his hands, dumbfounded. Most merpeople don't even get to witness a human, let alone talk and befriend one.
He had a friend. Tendou had a friend.
Buzzing with nervousness and excitement, he waited for the boy to return.
Some time had passed and he started fidgeting with his fingers, a lump forming in his throat. Where was the human? How long had it been? Tendou forced his pounding heart to slow down. He would be back.
“Hello.” Tendou looked up to see the human, moss hair and all.
“You’re here!” Although the cover of night hid the blush on his cheeks, the excitement in his voice was loud and clear.
“I couldn’t bring that lantern, but I got a different one. I hope that's okay.” He pulled it out from behind, but Tendou was skeptical. This had the same steel and glass structure, but it wasn't glowing. There was no beautiful light with orange and red.
“That’s a lantern?”
“Yeah.”
“It doesn't work.”
“Yes it does. Watch.” The boy pulled something out of his pocket. It was colorful, a purple capsule. Placing the lantern down, he opened the top, connected with a hinge.
“What is that?”
“A lighter.”
“So it’s a light? Does it go inside the lantern? Is that how it glows?”
“No.” He worked the small contraption, a small flow of neon algae shining from the tip. The tip was brung inside the lantern, and the algae flowed, staying. He stopped the mechanism, closing the capsule.
“It makes the light.”
Tendou crawled closer to the lantern. Wonder and amazement shoneon his face, the same that a small child might have.
He watched as the flame flickered and grew, becoming bigger in the open air.
Tendou grabbed at the lantern. He wanted to see how it would feel. Would it be slimy like the bioluminescent algae, or dry?
A hand came out and slapped his, drawing a yelp from the merboy.
“Hey!” Tendou cried out.
“Don’t touch it.”
“Why not? I want to see what the land light feels like.”
The boy raised an eyebrow. “The fire?”
“So that’s what it’s called.” He grinned. “Fire.”
“Yeah. You can’t touch it though.”
“Why?”
“It’ll hurt you.” He got up, sprinting to go get a stick laying on the sand. Tendou wondered if he could ever be that fast.
He brought it, sticking the end in the fire. The blaze crawled on it, and he dropped the wood on the sand, letting it burn and fizzle out. All that was left of the branch was black char.
“That,” The boy stated, “is what will happen to you if you touch it.”
“Wh- what? What happened?”
“It burned and turned to ash.”
His amazement had dropped to horror, and Tendou backed away from the lantern, terrified.
“Why in the world would you use that as a light! It kills!”
“Because it won’t hurt you if you don't hurt it.”
“It’s scary.”
“So are you. It’s hard to see the beauty of a fire when you’re blinded by its burn.” He gazed down at the lantern, tucking his legs close to his chest. “Maybe that’s one of the reasons it’s so wonderful. To love how it flickers and flares with such passion and excitement.”
The merboy felt breathless. Somehow, the boy’s words had managed to give Tendou what he’s been wanting to hear his entire life. To be loved alongside his differences, no, to be loved because of his differences.
A smile rose on his lips, blooming into a giggle, until he couldn’t control himself and loud cackles poured out of his mouth and he shook with joy.
His stomach hurt and his chest heaved, tired and aching. Tears wet his eyes and blurred his vision, and his lungs gasped for air, but he didn’t care.
For the first time in years, he laughed his heart out.
Tendou forgot the feeling of being on cloud nine, having such a high. It was truly magical.
He brought a finger to his eyes, smearing the leaked drops into salty covered skin. “It’s just that I’ve never heard anyone say it that way before. Thanks.”
He smiled up at the boy before him, who was staring. Tendou must have looked crazy, but the boy said nothing but a simple, “Wow.”
“What?” Tendou asked.
“Nothing.” He pulled a box out of his pants pocket. “ We should get you bandaged up.”
Small decorated band-aids were inside, and he peeled off parchment paper to reveal a sticky side.
He knelt close to Tendou, covering the pink and red flesh with flower patches.
“What are these?” The merboy pointed.
“Band-aids?”
“No, what are the pictures on the band-aids?”
“Their flowers.” His fingers trace the cartoony purple petals.
“Flowers?”
“Yeah. This one is a heliotrope.” He points at the blossom.
“Pretty.”
“It’s even prettier in real life.” He breathes.
A soft grin plastered itself on Tendou’s face. “I’d like to see that someday.”
He applied another band-aid. “Okay.”
The pair spent hours talking about their lives, the lantern between them. Time seemed to fly and stand still when they talked. Laying back and basking in the moonlight with his friend felt wonderful.
“So, you merfolk really have seahorses as pets?” The boy questioned.
“They're super cool, but it takes so long to get one. They're too skittish. What about you?”
“Humans have pets. Usually, ours are a lot bigger than a seahorse though.”
“What else do humans have?”
“We have these things called pictures.”
“What’s that?”
“Their like memories but in real life. Like, you can touch them.”
Tendou’s eyes got wide. “Cool. If you could have a picture of something, what would it be?”
“It would be this night.” He answered without hesitation. “The night when I made my first friend.”
Sleepy eyes flashed happiness on his face, and he looked to the sky. “Yeah. Same.”
They lay in comfortable silence for a while, watching clouds come and go.
Then, the merboy heard swishing sand. Tendou looked over to the boy, who was getting up.
“What’s going on?”
“I need to go. Back home.” The boy said. The merboy could tell the fear and loneliness in his eyes.
“What?” Any feelings of joy and serenity were now gone, replaced by dread. “Will I ever see you again?”
Tendou’s heart sank at the uncertainty in his face. “I don’t know.”
“Let’s meet back here, okay?” Tendou extended his palm for a handshake.
“Okay.” He grabbed his hand, but instead of a handshake, the boy pulled the merboy into a hug. A small gasp escaped his throat, but Tendou soon sank into the tight embrace, worried that this might be the last time he ever saw his friend.
Then, the boy left, leaving Tendou to sit in the sand, alone.
He simply clenched his hands, making no attempt to go back home. He wanted to cling onto this memory, not wanting to return to the underwater world where he had no place.
The night felt colder than it had ever been before, the sky a little more gray.