fearlessly | mermaid: the squeakquel

mermaid: the squeakquel

[ things have not gone well for alisaie, since the day she saved the boy.

truthfully, things had not been going well for her before then, either, or for as long as she could remember. she did not fit in amongst her peoples, who hid deep beneath the waves. the surface was expressly, strictly forbidden, and for very good reason - the hyur who lived on the lands, the dominant species, are powerful, violent, and untrustworthy, vicious monsters that kill on sight.. or so the stories said. many thousands of years ago, long before the memories of even their most ancient elders, sahagin once thrived, spread across the seas, and the hyur were not unknown to them then. tales say that they once worked together, or at least tolerated one another, until the great hunt began, and while the two-leggeds were powerless in the water, they had great strength in their enormous wooden whales and weapons and vast, endless numbers.

no one can remember how it began, but nevertheless it was not a war, it was a massacre, and what was left of her people fled deep, deep beneath the waves where the weapons could not reach and the hyur could not swim, and it is here that they have remained ever since, rebuilding, surviving, yet still their numbers are so very few in comparison with the vast kingdoms they once kept. the hyur, it seems, have long forgotten them, and as far as her lord father is concerned, that is for the best. keeping away from the surface, away from the two-legged, was the only way to keep themselves safe. alisaie had disagreed.

she knows now that she had been foolish, and naive.

it is not so uncommon for rebellious youths to swim up to the sun, but even the most brazen of sahagin do not venture near to the shorelines. the hyur still swim, still sail in their great whales now built of unforgiving iron and steel, and the few sahagin who have swam higher have always been met with severe punishment. alisaie was a brazen youth, too, and far too stubborn and foolish for her own good. no threat or punishment could keep her away, and when her father found out that she had saved a young hyur boy from drowning, tangled in kelp, his wrath had been a terror to behold.

still she had not learned. she wishes now that she had. but the more they tried to to tighten their hold on her, the more they lost control, and alisaie's rebellious spirit had become her undoing. she had believed, truly believed that the stories could not be entirely true. so much drifts beneath the waves, little tokens of the civilization that they once knew, and so few of them are weapons, or danger. alisaie had found strange metal items, she had found adornments and pictures, bright toys, innumerable things she cannot know the use of, she has studied them, found fascination in them - surely like her own people, the hyur cannot all be so vicious. the drowning boy had looked so.. small, so soft, and afraid, and even these many years later she still remembers his eyes. they had not seemed so dangerous.

she was naive, her father said, before he trapped her in her chambers. she was a danger to all of them, revealing herself even to a child hyur, she puts them all in peril by drawing so near to she shores. she had hated him then, for his closed mind, for how he tried to control her.

now she wishes she had listened. the iron whales had coasted directly over their home that day, and brought with them a cacophany of great noise and flashing lights - the booming of cannons shook the firmament, and the fires rained bitter ash into the waters below. the hyur were fighting one another in a spectacular, horrifying display, and she had not been able to keep away. what a fool she had been. they caught her in their unforgiving nets, and since that day she has known only terror, and fury, and deep, full, unrelenting regret. her father had been right.

she cannot know how long they have kept her. many years, now. she is held somewhere dark, somewhere cold, and they are always watching her, studying her, scraping her scales and plucking her hairs and fins, stealing her blood. they speak to her, and for many years she does not understand, but in time their language becomes a puzzle for her to unravel, even if she does not understand the purpose of all of their words. what else does she have to do to keep herself occupied but to listen to them? there is nothing else to keep her mind from dissolving. when they discover that she can speak their words they are quick to teach her more, to share their language; they are cruel, but they are curious, and though she had been quite certain that they would take her life, they have not killed her.

sometimes she wishes they would. she has long ago lost all sense of the passage of time, and any hope that she would ever swim freely again. at first she would fight them with her teeth and claws and powerful tail, but soon they learned, tainting her waters with something that tasted sweet and sharp, that kept her drowsy. after a time, the hyur stop coming, only one or two remain to observe her, to keep her fed, and alive. she will die here, in this hole in the earth, in this cramped tank, in this water that tastes like rust. she should have listened to her family.

so it comes as a great surprise when more hyur come, one day, when they drag her from her pool and into a small, cramped tank that barely fits her, and haul her away from the hole in the ground and up to the bright, searing sun. alisaie hisses and spits, slamming her body against the glass walls, but the sweet, sharp taste comes again, she is sedated, and a dark cloth is draped over her tank.

she is groggy still when, many hours later, after a long rumbling and swaying, the cloth is swept away and the bright sunlight streams in again. alisaie cannot see clearly, but there is.. a man before her, a man she has never seen before, adorned in dark cloth, his eyes hard but not unkind, not critical like the eyes of the hyur who had kept her before, and when they sweep over her she feels.. seen in a strange way she cannot entirely parse. behind the man are four others, younger, and behind them a vast staircase leading to a great, shining building.

she's so tired..

through the thick glass their voices seem dull and distant, but she hears words - gift, and lucis, mermaid and peace and keep. she will look better soon, they say, she is dull from the stress of travel, and soon her pale scales will shine pearly white and lush pink again, her torn fins will mend, she will be beautiful, a sparkling, priceless gem worthy of a king. there is no other like her. her head pounds, and her eyes are bleary. in time, the man in dark cloth draws near to the glass, and his piercing eyes find her, see her again, and when he speaks she knows that he is speaking to her, and no one else.

You will be safe here. I will give you all that is in my power to give. I'm sorry.

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[ i would say she has that pretty mermaid hair that drapes alluringly over the nipnops to keep things pg13, but she sure doesn't. maybe her braid hides one of them.. maybe. but she is definitely not shy about them, or trying to hide them, so. good luck surviving, prompto.

for what it's worth, it is clear that this language is not native to her - she speaks it well, but heavily accented, and not entirely fluently. she had had little to do for many years but learn the language, so she is relatively confident in it, but it is obviously not her mother tongue. ]

I suppose I did..

[ she murmurs, her gaze flicking down his body, to his feet, and back to his face again, sizing him up carefully. ]

Long ago.

[ but still.. she remembers. and so does he. ]

Was it a mistake?

[ The look she gives him, one that is almost appraising, makes him swallow thickly, and he can't quite meet her gaze, when she asks that question. Was it a mistake to save him? Maybe he's not the reason she was captured, but he still isn't so good at assigning value to his own life. Who is he to say whether or not it was a mistake? Would it be better off if she didn't, if it meant she was never captured?

He doesn't know. ]

N-no, I mean, I don't...I don't think so...

[ He voice drops lower, quiet and careful. ]

They...they didn't catch you because of what you did for me, did they?

[ there is a definite tension still in her shoulders and spine, and like as not it will linger for some time. he might not seem threatening but.. she simply cannot know for sure why he is here. she cannot trust any of them, no matter how kind their eyes might look, she has seen the cruelty of men, what she had tried for so long to believe did not exist. she did not want to think that her family was right.

still, she sinks a little further into the water, leaning on her elbows. he might be unkind in the long run, but for this moment, at least, she feels.. well, not safe, she is not sure how to feel safe anymore, but somewhat more at ease. for now. ]

.. no.

[ she says, still watching him, her gaze a little less hard, but nevertheless still fixed. watchful. curious. ]

It was later.

[ Well, he can breathe a little easier, knowing he wasn't directly responsible for her capture. He doesn't know if he could forgive himself if that were the case. Even still, it makes him uneasy. If she hadn't been compelled to rescue him, maybe would have stayed away from the shores in general. It could have contributed to her being caught, if even in the most indirect way.

He exhales, his gaze dropping away again. ]

...I'm sorry.

[ No one is happy about this situation, and yet, it is what it is. ]

But, I never got to thank you all those years ago, so...thank you. I owe you my life.

[ she narrows her eyes. ]

Why?

[ the fins on her shoulders tremble, unfurling wider. ]

All men are the same. What do you want from me?

[ he cannot simply be thankful, without some other angle. he cannot be being kind and humble only for the sake of it. his gentle, genuine behavior can only be suspicious to her, and she finds that she.. does not know how to react to it, or what to think of it. ]

[ Her reaction shouldn't be surprising, after all she's undoubtedly been through, but it still leaves him stunned for a moment, his voice cowering in the back of his throat once more. Maybe it would have been better if he hadn't come, when all he's done so far is upset her. ]

I-I...I don't...

[ He waves his hands, nonplussed. ]

N-nothing. Sorry, I just...wanted to say it, while I had the chance.

[ He rises to his feet. ]

I, um...I'll stop hasslin' you now. I guess, um, if there's anything I can do? To help? I know it's not ideal...

[ his reaction seems genuine, and when she were young she surely would have believed it, but.. it is too difficult to take him at his word. she has been tricked before, by hyur using honeyed words and gentle tones to lure her close. they were never genuine. they only ever wanted to hurt her, take something for her.

still..

it is clear in her body language that she is still not at ease, that she does not entirely believe him, but she does not yet turn away. despite it all, it is still rather incredible that he has found her, that she has found him, that in this sprawling world they should someone find one another again, even by accident. ]

Help..

[ she croaks a dry, mirthless laugh. if he is being genuine, he is wildly foolish. ]

Free me, if you want to help.

[ Of course she would ask that of him. What more could he give her that she does not already have besides her freedom? The enclosure the King has constructed for her is massive, with a lot of careful planning and consideration gone into its amenities. But in the end, it is only a very nice cell, isn't it? She doesn't want to be here. She is being kept against her will.

Which puts him between a rock and a hard place. If he sets her free, he is betraying his kingdom, and jeopardizing their tenuous peace with the Empire.

But leaving her in here is the wrong thing to do, especially with what he owes her.

Gods, this is too sudden and far too complex a decision for someone like him to be making. He's just a simple boy with a camera and a gun who happens to be the prince's best friend and who also happened to be saved by a mermaid when he was a kid. And he is way in over his head.

He drops down, bending at the nears and lowering his voice. He has no reason to think he's being monitored here, but...he doesn't want to be careless. Not about something like this. ]

I-I...I want to, but it's...it's not that simple, a lot of people could get hurt...I know that's not a good reason. I just...

[ He can't do what she's asking. He just...can't. Even if he wasn't conflicted, where would he even begin to get her out of here? How would he deal with the consequences? Gods, its an insurmountable task, especially for someone like him.

He shouldn't have come, but that's just a selfish reaction, isn't it? ]

[ she had not expected an amenable answer, and her request had been largely rhetoric, yet still perhaps... some foolish part of her deep, deep, deep down, there had been the faintest flame of hope that he might surprise her. and so she cannot help the way her expression crumples just so, the faintest dip in her brow, her eyes dark with pain. for the briefest moment, heartbreak flits across her features.

but it is gone just as quickly as it came, and her expression is soon stony again. she looks away. ]

This is a trick. You cannot.. you cannot ply me with false kindness..

[ even if he effectively said no, and denied her, there is no questioning how gentle his tone is, or even his genuinely pained expression. he must be an incredible actor. that is the only explanation.

[ Almost immediately, his brow furrows at her words, and he answers: ]

Why would I do that?

[ But really...why would he? What does he stand to gain by trying to win her over? He's already effectively proven himself useless to her by refusing her request, and even if there was something he wanted from her, he already owes her far too much.

He shakes his head. ]

You don't have to believe me, you've probably been through...more than I can even imagine, but...I meant it. Honest.

How can I know? How can I understand your cruel, twisted hearts?

[ she cannot understand anything they have done to her, or why. she cannot understand their wicked heartlessness. she cannot understand any decision they have made since she was taken. how is she to know he is not plying her for his own reasons? softening her up for some agenda she cannot foresee?

in truth, she has been so far removed from what true kindness feels like for so long.. that she has forgotten what it is, and how to accept it. she cannot recognize the true empathy in his eyes. not yet. ]

Hyur have only ever lied to me for their own gain. What makes you so different?

[ Maybe she isn't wrong. Maybe he is doing this for his own selfish gains, to make himself feel less guilty for being unable and unwilling to help her. But he was almost in a place very similar to her own, where the Empire would have put their own selfish needs above his wellbeing. The proof is in the barcode hidden on his wrist. That's all they could have created him for, even if he does not know the specific purpose.

But he got out. She didn't. ]

Because...it was the Empire who had you. And the King...he doesn't want to keep you here either, I just know it, but we've been at war so long, and you...

[ Another shake of his head. ]

You're the first offering of peace they've given us...ever. It...still doesn't make it okay, but you deserve to know the truth.

[ his explanation certainly lines up with what she does know. though she knows the hyur language, and they know that she knows, they nevertheless talk freely around her, because why would they not? what power could she hold over them? she was nothing but a specimen to those men, a fascinating spectacle, not a thinking, feeling creature. talking around her was the same as talking in an empty room.

so she had heard their talks of peace, how, now that they were finished with her, they would finally have some use for their pet fish. so what he is telling her now is not a lie. ]

I see.

[ it is not enough for her to trust him. not truly. but it eases a little of the tension in her shoulders. alisaie sinks a little lower, folding her arms over the stone she rests on, her expression softer, sad, resigned. as the daughter of a diplomat, alisaie knows full well how.. complicated these matters can be. not that it matters to her. these hyur can all burn in the fires of war, for all she cares. ]

So you can do nothing.

[ She's right not to care about their plight. This isn't her war that she has involuntarily become a pawn in, and Prompto knows that. Yet even still, he cannot do the right thing, no matter how much it eats at him. He can't do that to Lucis, to the king, to Noctis. But even if that is his choice, it doesn't settle well. Not at all.

Maybe...they could figure out something eventually...

But for now, he is resigned, and he wouldn't dare give her false hope. That would be even crueler. ]

...I can't. But...the war won't last forever, when it's over, I-I'm sure, the king'll let you go. So...it's just a matter of time, right?

[ He's saying as much for his own benefit as hers. ]

[ he can't. even if his feelings are genuine, even assuming that he does want to help her.. he still cannot. he will not. for it is a choice, in truth. it does not matter that she saved his life, he is loyal to the hyur. of course he is. she should never have allowed even a fraction of hope to alight in her heart.

alisaie's expression tightens, her heart aching, heavy as a stone, her body deflating from crown to tail. the king will not let her go. no one will let her go. she will never see the sea again, or her family, her room, her things, her home. she will live here, forever, in this lovely, spacious gilded cage. alone. ]

Naive boy. It will never end.

[ she says, her voice soft and muted and resolute, and she turns to slip silently beneath the water again. ]

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mermaid: the squeakquel

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