There was a storm due. Shiro had told him, but Keith could feel it in the tide and the undercurrents he liked to play in. The merfolk usually stayed away from the surface. There were too many horror stories about small sirens being swept away and left to die on the jagged rocks that tore ships apart in storms like these.
You’re insane. Pidge, Keith’s best friend, informed the young siren.
He just flashes her a toothy, excited grin. I’ve never seen the surface during a storm. I’ve heard it’s beautiful.
You’re gonna get yourself killed. She flicks her lithe, bioluminescent green tail to follow Keith as he darted through the coral reef so he wouldn’t be seen. Pidge apparently didn’t get the message; she was still floating conspicuously by the reef, arms folded against her small frame.
You’re gonna get me caught! Keith huffs, reaching over and dragging her into the reef. She lets out a surprised squawk, a bit of floppy seaweed smacking her in the face.
I don’t even see why you’re doing this, Pidge grunts, fixing her hair. Is it because of that human? The one that Shiro told you not to go near?
I have no idea what you’re talking about. Keith darts through another crevice, stopping to listen. The patrols were supposed to be on rounds on the opposite side of the reef, but Shiro had become unpredictable lately. He’d suspected his little brother wasn’t paying attention to the rules that he’d set, because Keith was far too… civil about them.
You’re going to get hurt. Pidge blows bubbles, glancing up at the distant, roiling surface. Even the undercurrents are strong enough to sweep you away. You’re tiny.
You’re one to talk, Keith grunts, peering around a rock. No sign of the patrol. From here, it was only clear water to the surface. There was nowhere to hide if he got caught. He hadn’t even come up with an excuse if he did happen to get caught, which was sort of stupid on his part.
He hesitates, his tail fins drooping a bit as he looked around. Cover for me? He asks, without turning to look at Pidge.
The tiny siren rolls her eyes, smoothing down her electric green scales. Don’t I always?
You’re the best. Keith looks back at her. I’ll bring you back something cool.
Yeah, yeah. Go on, before your brother finds you swimming in open water and locks you in a cavern for the rest of your life.
He makes a soft, appreciative noise, before he races toward the surface, leaving bubbles and a dubious mermaid in his wake.
In retrospect, going out on a boat right before a storm was a terrible idea. As his boat rocked and swayed and creaked wildly - it reminded him of the bull-riding matches he saw on television - Lance was starting to deeply regret his judgement.
The storm had only been a few dark, menacing clouds across a blue sky when the fisherman had gone out in his boat. The news had warned of a major change in weather, which was what had prompted him to take his little rickety boat out onto the water.
He had been sure he was going to be back in enough time. But when Lance had gotten to the rocks, he had lingered a little too long. Maybe he should have heeded the weatherman’s warnings to stay inside.
Okay, but, in his defense - those nets cost him hours of labor, and thick rope wasn’t exactly cheap! And… okay, maybe he was hoping to see a certain pretty scaled siren with purple eyes. That was the real reason he was out in this storm, if Lance were being honest.
Besides, he hadn’t meant to drift this far, but the angry sea had stolen away his only oar and nets weren’t the best tool to use as a way to get back to shore. Lance could see the shore from here, but it honestly could have been a world away. There was no way he could reach the shore now.
His suspicions were proved correct when the rain started coming down. His boat was filling with water faster than he could get it out, both from the thrashing waves and torrential downpour. Lance was throwing water as fast as he could with his cupped hands. He looks up to see a monster of a wave. And then his world goes dark.
When he wakes up again, it’s to somebody shaking him and calling his name. His eyes open, but before he can register anything, his body heaves and he starts coughing up water. He turns to the side, coughing and gasping for air.
There’s a hand on his back, rubbing small, slow circles. He doesn’t remember what had happened until he remembers his nets - what had happened to his nets? Lance sits up, jerking away from the hand and looking around frantically. There was nothing - nothing! No nets, no boat, no - anything.
He twists to see who was with him, to ask questions, and stops dead when he sees the siren looking up at him, wide-eyed.
Keith had put him on a rock, above the thrashing waves and with enough handles that he wouldn’t be tossed into the tempest. He was clinging for dear life, having retreated from off the rock when Lance had tried to throw him off.
Lance stares at him for a long moment. For a split second, relief washes over him to see that Keith was here and safe. Or, well, as safe as anyone could be during a massive storm. But that fades as quickly as it comes and Lance finds himself looking out at the waves. What had happened? Where was he? He... didn’t recognize this side of the coast.
“Where… what?” He rasps, dragging a hand over his face, the salt of the water stinging his eyes and making his throat feel like sandpaper.
I saved you. Keith ducks his head, pressing himself against the rock as another wave crashed over him. His arms were shaking, his body sagged with exhaustion against the rock. I saved you. You were dying and I saved you.
“I’m not- my boat! Where is my boat?” Lance scrambles higher on the rock, trying to look for it.
There was no boat- there was only you and the waves and the water and… no boat.
The Cuban sits back hard, his eyes wide as he stares at the raging sea. “That was my dad’s boat.” He says faintly, dragging a hand through his hair. There were too many emotions swirling in his chest.
His dad had built that boat with his bare hands when Lance was just a kid - it was all he had left of him! His brother’s and sister’s and father’s initials had been carved into it before it’d been sealed. It was his favorite possession, the only piece of his dad he had left.
Grief washes over him, thick and heavy, piercing through the clouded, grey veil of shock. But it only lasts a moment. Lance turns his gaze to Keith, the shock giving way to anger merely seconds later. It was horrible, he knew, but the circumstances were ridiculous and he needed somebody to be upset at. Keith just so happened to be the closest one at the moment.
“You have to find my boat!” Even as he says it, the part of him that had fallen in love with the ideation of sirens, the color of Keith’s scales, the musical sound of his voice in his head - it screams at him to stop. This wasn’t Keith’s fault. He was supposed to be happy that they were alive.
But how was the little siren supposed to know this? Keith winces, his fingers tightening on the crevices of his life line. There was no boat. There won’t be anymore boat, the sea will have torn it apart.
“You have to bring me my boat!” Lance shouts. “What- what good are you if you can’t give me something to get back to shore in?”
Keith’s eyes widen, fear making them a dark indigo color. It almost blended with the waves. I can take you to shore… he tries to offer, but Lance shakes his head, cutting him off.
“No, don’t even- don’t even bother.” Lance rakes a hand through his hair, rage flaring hot in his veins. His relief from before is drowned out by a sudden, terrible anger. His boat was gone. He was far from home. His fishing nets were probably somewhere along the bottom of the ocean - another thing he had inherited from his father.
Even as the little voice in his head was begging him to be reasonable, pleading with him to see that Keith was just as scared as he was, he was fighting a losing battle. Lance’s logic had been poisoned by anger, his shock bleeding into something more manageable. Something easier to cope with.
As far as his brain was concerned, this had nothing to do with his recklessness. His mind was convinced that if he hadn’t met Keith, he wouldn’t be in this mess! At the moment, it seemed logical enough. It was easier than taking the blame.
“This is your fault.” He snaps after a moment, all his panic and shock rushing into this one feeling - and the only thing he could do was lash out, because if he didn’t, he was going to cry.
M-My..?
“If you had minded your own business and stayed out of my nets, I would have been inside for this storm!” He hisses. “And I wouldn’t be lost in who-knows-where Cuba with a stupid fish who can’t even be bothered to rescue boats!”
I didn’t… I didn’t mean to-
“Shut up. Just- go away. Get out of here.”
But I’ll-
“I said get out of here!” Lance picks up a clump of seaweed and possibly some gravel, hurling it at the siren. It bounces off his wrist, surprising the siren enough for him to let go of his perch on the rock. It isn’t long before the waves crash over him, dragging him back into the deep with their icy claws.
His heart twists painfully, words leaving his mouth before he even has the chance to take them back and apologize. “And don’t come back looking for me, because I won’t rescue you from anymore nets!”
That’s the last thing Keith can hear before he’s swimming away as fast as he can. He had only tried to help. He had saved the human - he had torn a gash in the thin membrane of his tail, which was causing him to swim funny, and now he had to find his way home, too.
The little siren swims as far as he can before fear and exhaustion takes over. He finds a hollowed out little divot in the bottom of a coral reef, curling up there. Keith trembles, wrapping his arms around himself and staring into the water. Shiro had been right, to some extent.
He sits there until he’s dozing off, until he hears something familiar in the water far off. He blinks his eyes open, peering out incoherently.
...eith!
The siren shifts, edging out to peer over the little section of the reef he was hiding in.
Keith!
Shiro. Shiro had found him. He makes a noise that’s a cross between relieved and scared, pushing himself out from behind the reef. His adoptive brother was scanning the reef, Pidge trailing behind him as they searched for him.
Shiro, Keith whimpers, propelling himself with tired fins toward his brother and best friend. Shiro!
Pidge looks up, freezing when she catches sight of him. She races over, jostling into his older brother and gesturing frantically when his body language changed from searching to annoyed.
When he catches sight of Keith, however, he stops dead. There’s one silent, heavy moment. Keith struggles to keep swimming, straining his tail fins, his body trembling with effort. Shiro edges forward, then takes off like a shot, hurtling toward his little brother.
His older brother scoops the little siren up, gripping onto him and burying his face into his hair. I’ve got you, he coos, I’ve got you.
You were right. He sobs, burying his face in Takashi’s shoulder. I should have stayed, I shouldn’t have met the human.
You’re okay. Shiro coos, scooping him up and carrying him back to Pidge.
Pidge darts around them, frantic. I know I promised not to tell, but you didn’t come back and I got worried and- I’m so sorry, Keith!
Keith doesn’t answer, his eyes closing. He wanted to go home. Shiro holds him tighter. I’ve got you, his older brother says again. You’re okay.
But all Keith could see, all he could hear, was the anger in Lance’s eyes and voice.
Part 3 of The Children of the Sea
Part 1 | Part 2
Where have you been?
Dammit. So much for being sneaky. Keith winces, turning around to face his adoptive older brother. His tail flicks nervously, glittering in the dim light of their cave. Nowhere, he replies, giving the shark-like siren an innocent smile.
Shiro watches his younger brother, his piercing silver gaze staring right through his lies. Then why are you late to bed? He asks.
The smaller siren laces his hands behind his back, studying his elder brother. Shiro was worried; he could tell in the way his gills flared. It was funny to think that Shiro - the Shiro who had taken on a shoal of wicked looking fish to save Keith when he was just a tiny hatchling, the Shiro who was scarred and had lost an arm fighting to save their home - was scared. And for him, of all people.
Am I late? Keith decides to play dumb. I hadn’t noticed.
Sharp silver eyes narrow. Shiro swims closer to his brother, circling him and brushing his rough, webbed fingers over Keith’s scales. You’re missing one, he observes. He pulls his fingers away, sniffing his hand. His nostrils flare and he hisses, making Keith duck away from the noise. Uh oh.
Humans! Shiro seethes. What were you doing with humans? I thought I made myself very clear that you were to stay away from the surface.
Keith snatches his tail away, scowling. I got caught in a trap. It was an accident! I was chasing a shoal near the tides and I got swept into a trap.
Scales don’t come off easily, Keith. His older brother takes his wrist, pulling him toward the deep cavern they lived in. Where did that go, pray tell?
Shiro! He whines, dragging his tail along the walls to try and slow them down. Stop dragging me, I’m not a guppy. And it’s none of your business where I went, I’m almost fully grown.
You still have two winters until you are considered an adult, Keith. Bubbles float up to the water as Shiro sighs, turning to face his little brother. I am your guardian. You live in my cave, you abide by my rules, do you understand?
Your rules are stupid. Keith tries to pull his arm away, but Shiro was too strong.
My rules are designed to keep you safe. The elder siren starts to pull him to his part of the cave. And when you disobey them and come home smelling of humans, you have to face your consequences.
I told you! Keith lets out an undignified, annoyed screech. His brother stops, giving him a look of exasperation. The younger siren huffs - he was only acting like a guppy because Shiro was treating him like one. It was an accident. The human saved me! I got trapped in a net and he saved me.
Shiro pushes him into his section of the cave, stiffening. The human touched you? Is that why your scale is missing? Did he steal it? He snarls, his shark-like teeth glinting dimly. Keith shrinks back, sitting on his bed and patting the woven kelp rug. He knew what those teeth could do, he had seen it firsthand.
No, he didn’t take it. I… I gave it to him.
Shiro roars, the sound bouncing off the walls of the cave. The younger siren whimpers, his ears pinning to his head and his tail coiling underneath him. The warrior doesn’t notice; he paces the cave angrily.
What does he look like? Shiro seethes, gnashing his teeth, his massive fins splayed wide in a show of aggression and dominance. I’ll kill him, I’ll rip his head from his body and feed the rest of him to the fish. How dare he? Who does he think he is?
Keith coos soothingly, picking at the kelp underneath him with his claws. He didn’t want the human to come to any harm - he would quite like to see him again, given the chance. Not that Shiro needed to know any of this.
I gave him the scale willingly, he says, as a thank you.
The bigger male turns on him, his mood switching from vengeful to alarmed. You did what? Oh, Keith, tell me you didn’t just do what I heard you say…
The siren shifts, brushing his tail off and looking up at his guardian, squaring his shoulders. I gave it to him.
Shiro drags his hand down his face, letting out a low moan of exhausted worry. Do you understand what you’ve done? Humans are greedy, he will go back to his village and show it to them. He’ll lure you to the surface just to steal all of your scales - I wish you weren’t so handsome, I really do. Maybe then he would leave you alone.
Hey! Keith lets out a sharp, indignant cry. He wasn’t sure whether he should be annoyed because his brother wished he was unattractive, or flattered that Shiro thought he was.
I will deal with you tomorrow. Shiro huffs, giving him a firm look that meant go to sleep, Keith. The young siren was very familiar with that look. He watches as his brother settles in, shuffling with his own bed in annoyance. Now he would never be let out of sight.
*
Sure enough, Keith was not allowed to leave Shiro’s sight until the next full moon. Even when the time had passed, it was like pulling anemone from a coral reef to get him to agree. The patrols for the tribe was lacking one of their greatest warriors. The elders were becoming worried that perimeters might have to shrink if Shiro didn’t return.
It was this that pulled him away from watching Keith with an intent silver stare as the younger siren rolled around the cave, going mad with boredom.
I’m on night patrol tonight. Shiro informs him one afternoon, after they had returned from hunting.
Are you? Keith tries not to display the thrill of excitement that had run up his spine.
No bright ideas, Keith. His brother shakes his head. I’ll be back by moonrise. I expect you to be in your bed then, do you understand? No going to the surface, no chasing shoals, no humans.
Yes, Shiro. The siren groans, putting his hunting knife away. I know.
Shiro’s gaze softens. He swims over, ruffling Keith’s hair. I love you.
Yeah. I love you, too.
Keith has to wait until Shiro stops fussing over him and actually leaves before he can do anything. He waits for a few ticks, holding his breath. Once the sound of the patrol fades away to almost nothing, he darts out of the cave and rushes for the reef.
He hides there for a little while, peeking over it and watching. His brother casts worried looks over to the cave, but a few of the soldiers clap him on the back. One of them says something and Keith can see his brother laugh. Good.
The young siren waits a few more minutes before he races to the surface, over to where the tide pulled in. The human’s nets weren’t over by the rocks he had been caught at. With a curious noise, Keith turns tail and swims up to the other side of the coast.
No… his nets weren’t around the cliffs. There was no sign of anyone over by the sandbars… The reef was clear. Keith blows bubbles, scowling. What did humans have to even do? He was more important than any other trivial, frivolous thing that humans did.
Just as the siren was about to turn tail and go home, a shadow falls over him. He blinks, darting around before he looks up at… what looked like a flat, floaty surface. His ears perk, his gills and fins flaring in excitement. Could it be?
He watches as a net is cast into the water, letting out a happy trill. It was! He darts his way to the surface, peering up. Just in case it wasn’t… but it was! His human was sitting there in the floating contraption, his brow furrowed in concentration.
Keith breaks the surface, letting out an excited screech to get the human’s attention. It lets out a similar cry, but he seemed more surprised than excited. The siren wriggles with glee, hauling himself up the side of the boat and clicking excitedly.
“Oh, hello.” The human laughs, looking down at him with eyes that glittered like the sea. Keith sighs internally. Were all humans this pretty, or just his? “I’d hoped to see you again soon.”
The siren whirs and clicks, scrabbling at the side of the boat before managing to haul himself into it with a splash and an almighty flop. The poor contraption creaks wearily, bobbing about frantically.
Keith doesn’t seem to notice. He edges closer to Lance, his amethyst gaze bright with excitement. He reaches out, pressing his hands to the humans fragile cheeks. The siren screeches again, pleased.
“Okay, okay,” His human winces. “Take it easy on the ears, bonito.”
Hm. This one spoke the same strange words that the other ones on this coast did. He coos, leaning against the human’s side, brushing his hands down his neck. Keith stops when it gets caught on something, tugging.
“Oh, hold on.” The human bats his hand away gently, reaching into his outer layer of not-flesh and tugging out some sort of ropey thing. He never had understood why humans tied things to their bodies. “Recognize this?”
Keith makes an inquisitive noise, looking down at it. His eyes widen. That was his scale! The human was wearing his scale! His human was wearing his scale! The siren wriggles about, tugging at the twine before pulling his hand away and brushing down his scales self consciously. He had forgotten to groom today.
His human laughs, shaking his head. “I thought you’d like that. What brings you here, mm? Am I really that interesting?”
The young siren looks up at him, tilting his head this way and that. Yes. So much more interesting than my cave. Shiro was going to have a sea cow.
The human reaches toward the siren. Keith startles, sliding back into the water and peeking up at him, his eyes wide.
“Okay, so, no touching.” It pulls it’s hand away. “I can do that.”
Keith blows bubbles, then tips his head up and spits water at his human.
“Hey!” It laughs, lurching back and putting up a hand to shield itself. “I get it, no touching! You play nice, bonito.”
Keith is about to hop aboard the floaty thing again, but the moon catches his eye. Oh! It was almost fully risen - he had to get back before Shiro did! He squeaks, splashing frantically, but stops and looks up at the confused human.
He had to go. There was no time for goodbyes. With a mournful little squeak, Keith splashes him and ducks under the water, leaving the human with only bubbles and his own voice crying out in confusion.
By the time he makes it home, Keith just barely misses the patrol. He ducks into his bed, curling up and closing his eyes, holding his breath as Shiro comes in. Okay. Just breathe. Pretend to be asleep. Nothing had happened, he wasn’t guilty.
Shiro swims over, tucking the woven kelp over his brother with a soft noise of fondness. Keith tries not to smile. A hand brushes through his hair, gentle.
Goodnight, Keith. His brother ghosts a kiss over his cheek before he retires for the night. The younger siren waits until his brother is still and quiet before he rolls over, looking out at the moon’s reflection in the water.
He’d see his human again soon. Not even Shiro could keep him away.
Part 2 of The Children of the Sea
Part 1 | Part 3