Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tiredness weighted me down, and I internally groaned. For no matter how much I slept, it always seemed to pull me back in. Almost like I needed it or something.

Chuckling at my poor joke, I moved to snuggle back into the hard slab I called a bed. Only to punch myself in the face as I tried to bring the blanket over my shoulder.

I blinked in surprise, before taking a few moments to chuckle at myself. Fortunately, or unfortunately if you looked at it from a different angle, the soft punch woke me from my tiredness and was ready to face the day.

I finally opened my eyes to see... stone? That couldn't have been right... was I dreaming?

I looked down at my hand, before socking myself directly on the nose. Pain blossomed like flowers after a storm, and confirmed that this was most definitely not a dream. I began to panickily look around, trying to see if I had been kidnapped, or held for ransom, or some other horrid this that my brain could think of.

And as I looked around, I saw that there was... nothing. Just stone walls and I stone floor, along with some rocks dotted here and there to spice things up. My panic subsided as I saw that there was nothing that could harm me. But as I looked closer, it seemed as if the air was... moving? Like I could actually see it move.

As I traced the air flow off into the darkness, I noticed that I was... glowing? What was going on?

Taking a deep breath to try to focus on something else, I once again panicked at the fact that I could feel it go in to my lungs though my neck.

I panicked again, but this time for entirely different reasons. I placed my hands on my neck, and I could feel my own panicked breaths. In, out, in, and out. Over and over.

That was when I allowed myself to panic, mind reeling at a hundred miles an hour, each thought starting only to be interrupted by another. I floundered uselessly, my hands finding their way to my hair to try to self-soothe.

Eventually I wore myself out, and my thoughts slowed enough for my to catch and inspect them. I focused on my breaths, the strange sensation of it going in and out though my neck was one of the few things I could focus on.

As I reined myself in, I began to feel my body to see what changed. The first thing I noticed is that I no longer had any legs, just one long fish tail. The second was that my ears had changed to fins. The third was that I also had fins that dotted along my spine and extended from my hips and wrists. The forth was that I was completely naked, though I had scales covering up 'that' part of me, I alos seemed... chubbier? Fifth, I had horns, they extended from my hairline and weren't very long. Sixth, I was bioluminescent and that where the light was coming from.

I forced myself to think of a plan, something that I could count on.

...

Alright, after a bit of thinking I managed to come up with something:
1. Get out of here. (Maybe to the surface?)
2. ???
3. Profit

It was a sucky plan, but it was all I had. So the first thing I had to do was find out a way to move. I studied my tail, and after a bit of experimenting, managed to see that it was in an up-down motion. Not side-side.

I began to slowly move my upwards, wanting to see how far I go until I got to the ceiling. This new way of moving was easy to get the hang of, but hard to control in how fast I went.

...

I suck at time and have a tendency to zone out at the best of times, so I didn't know how long it took for me to see the surface. Which surprised me, since I though I was in a cave.

I took some time to look at the surface, just pondering if I should. But always to be a coward, I nevertheless poked my head out. There was no land in sight, which shocked me but when I looked over, that's what shocked me the most.

The sun sat there, above the horizon, a black orb with thick lines that glowed like holy fire. But as I looked at it, I got the sense of... a person. Like I was looking at someone.

I continued to stare, trying to find what about this newborn star that gave me the sense of looking at another person. I continued to look skyward for a while, until the sun began to slowly sink below the horizon.

It sunk smoothly down, almost... happily?

I turned from one horizon to the next, watching the moon rise. It was bigger than expected, leaving me with questions. Ones like, why are there no stars, where am I, WHEN am I?

I pondered these questions for a while before deciding to update my list.
1. Get to the surface, completed.
2. Find land, incomplete.
3. ???
4. Profit.

With that in mind, I picked a direction and darted off into it.

- - -

I went for two days and three nights. There was no land for the time that I had traveled, which sparked a childish fury in me. I had to use that fury to take me further and further.

And during that time I had gotten hungry, a type of hungry that felt as if my very soul was starving. I felt a certain type of panic in that, because occasionally I dunked my head under the water, and there was no fish. Nothing to eat.

As I forced myself to not look under the water for the hundredth time, I felt something. Something powerful, something awe-inspiring, something delicious. I raced off in that direction, fish forgotten and hunger roaring.

- - -

It took me very little time to go the the powerful thing. On the plus side, there was land! On the other side, I had no legs. Drat.

I circled the island, now that I could see that's what it was, until I caught sight of something tall. It reminded me of the sun, just... more.

I stared for a bit, taking in the largeness of grandeur of this being. They were massive, they felt massive. Like I was staring at an elephant as an ant.

Eventually he crouched down, and that's when I saw it, two other beings that huddled near his feet. I watched for a bit, and something bitter raced though me, causing me to call out.

It wasn't words, more like a gentle clicking noise.

One that got the massive beings attention. Oh no.

He turned, and that's when I saw his face. He sported a crescent moon on one side of his face, with the rest being that blazing red that I had seen upon the surface of the sun. He had two arms, and petals(?) that ran along the sides of his face, fanning it like a frame. His mouth was turned into a grin, showing far too many teeth.

I shrunk back, waiting to see what he would do. I didn't even breath, hoping to avoid his wrath.

We stared at each other, and it was at this moment I wished that I understood people a little bit more. Just so that I could catch a glimpse of what this giant among mortals was thinking.

Then he made a motion, too quick, too sharp, and I turned and fled. Diving deep beneath the waves and swimming as fast as I could. Hoping that he wouldn't follow, hoping that the waves would stifle his fire and force him to retreat to land.

I swam and swam until I reached to sea floor, and there I huddled. Face turned upwards and breathing erratic I waited.

And waited.

Waited.

...

..
.

I awoke with a gasp, for it felt like something was trying to get into my head. Clawing it open yet no pain came. I laid there, paralyzed with hopelessness.

That was when everything sank in. There would be no more family, no more pets, no more dinners with my family, no more anything. I let out crying thrills and clicks, trying to call anyone to help me. To wipe my tears and tell me everything would be okay.

...

No body came.

Eventually my thrills and clicks faded to silence as my throat was worn out. So I just laid there. Silent. Tired but unwilling to sleep for I didn't know what would happen.

I eventually fell back asleep, despite my efforts not to.

- - -

My slumber was... strange. Someone was muttering, then someone else joined in and then they went back an forth. Until the connection(how did I know this?) was cut off.

My sleep after that was peaceful. No clawing, no muttering, just the white noise of the waves and me.

Once I awoke, everything came tumbling down. But thankfully I was well enough to handle it.

And, ever and always stupid, I decided to check out more of the island. I slowly swam up, keeping my senses alert incase that god came back. As I neared the surface, I noticed a distinct lack of an overwhelming godly aura, and so I breathed a sigh of relief. I poked my head above the waves and took in the scenery.

There were no trees, just one large incline that blocked one side of the ocean. I began to slowly look around, before I eventually saw them. They both had the same crescent marking as the other god, though one only had his petals. I poked more of my head out of the water to get a better look.

The yellow one, was the one who had the petals. He had only one pair of arms and the same grin that they all seemed to share.

The blue one seemed to be wearing a night cap, and still only one pairs of arms.

They both were... chatting? I strained my ears to hear more of the conversation, but all I could hear was a lilting sound and windchimes.

Wait... since I could only thrill, click, and coo, did that mean they were like me? I then had the most stupid idea that any creature could have.

I slowly swam closer, closer, closer, until I was pressed against the rocky shore. And released a gentle thrilling sound.

Their conversation slowed, then stopped, and I let out another thrill. The two beings came over, looking confused. Then they saw me.

We both stared at each other for what seemed an age, them staring at me, and me looking between them both.

It was probably only a few seconds, but felt like an age. But then the yellow one let out an excited lilt and raced towards me.

I had no time to react because by the time he was on the shore I was stunned by the aura this person had. It was godly.

But... it was smaller, less defined. I was still on edge, but no longer felt the urge to run.

The yellow being, seemingly ginning wider, lilted at me. A soft but excited sound. He then out stretched his hand.

I couldn't help but stare at it, it looked like a normal hand, just shiner.

And so, slowly, carefully, I put my hand in his. The petals on his face puffed back out from where they had folded back as he gave an excited noise. He grasped my hand happily.

I then heard windchimes, and turning my head, I saw the blue one watching me. His hand also out stretched.

Maneuvering myself to a better position so I could hold both of their hands at once, I grabbed his. He also gave a noise of happiness, and once again grasped his hand like his brother(?).

As I gripped their hands, my overly childish brain practically squealed in delight at the thought of making new friends.

However, I was cut off from my squealing in shock when the yellow one picked me up and took me farther inland. I clutched on to him, more out of surprise than anything.

I looked out towards the retreating ocean, watching it to recede and come back. I knew the island was smallish, but I still liked my mobility.

Eventually we got to the near center, and that was where I was placed down onto the dirt and rocks. It wasn't all that comfortable, but I could manage.

Sun and Moon, that was their names now I've decided, began to chatter at me. Their lilt and chimes painted questions, questions I tried to answer with my thrills, clicks, and coos.

And as we conversed in a primitive way, I felt.. happy. I was with to-be-friends and I wasn't alone!

We talked long though the twilight and into the night, in which Sun was forced to curl up and sleep. However, for some reason I wasn't.

So me and moon just... talked. Talked about nothing, and when we inevitably tapered off into silence, it was comfortable.

Me and him sat apart, just watching the starless sky.

It was good.

Chapter Text

As me and Moon watched his name-sake pass by, I inevitably felt the hunger pains, and underneath that was tiredness that crept in. And so I, not liking being tired, curled up against Moon and drifted off.

As I dreamt, there was a gentle knocking. Someone was trying to get in. And so I tried to feel them, see what they were.

Their aura was huge yet distant, an overhang of an ever watching eye. Yet I knew them, I felt that deep down.

So I knocked back.

I didn't know what I knocked on, or even what I looked like here, but the trusted-knocking paused and then knocked in a rhythm.

I knocked back in the same rhythm, and that's how we played. Him knocking at the edges of my mind, I knocking on nothing back.

Time passed as we played this little game. I don't know how much we played, but it was fun and I would do it again.

Eventually the knockings became simpler and simpler, until there was nothing. And I, unworried, curled up in the darkness and let my mind drift away.

But as all sleeping people must, I woke up. What greeted my eyes was the blackened sun rising and Sun rubbing his eyes.

I let out a click to let him know that I was up. He, pun intended, brighten up and speedily ran over to me. As soon as he got to me he picked me up in a crushing hug and let out a lilting tone that said he was happy I was awake.

How could I not wake up when you're here? I thrilled out the question, ignoring the hunger that came with wakefulness. His immobile grin seemed to get wider as he lilted about all the games we could play.

We played games, simple games that somehow brought me a great amount of joy.

The day passed and then twilight came. Moon awoke, literally and figuratively, and me, him, and Sun played together.

Many days passed like that, the hunger made itself known each waking hour and eventually invaded my sleep. But how could I tell them? They were so happy each time we played and laughed and wrote silly stories that we were apart of.

...

But then the day came, they caught my slowness, my struggle to drag myself around the island. And so they asked, and I told them. Told them about the all-consuming hunger.

They were shocked, they explained to me in an ever so childish way, that their maker fed them. They had never experienced the hunger as I had. I tried to be grateful for that, I really did. But some little bitter part of me demanded that misery loved company. I squished that part down like a bug in my hands.

I asked if their maker would accept me too, feed me too. And then I was told the harrowing news: The tall god that I was ever so afraid of was their maker.

A small part of myself was confused, but the rest of myself just banged my head against the wall, for I was a stupid dummy who didn't see the obvious.

Sun and Moon mistook my silence as fear, and wrapped me in a hug. Sun shouting that their maker was nice and kind, and Moon just holding me and refusing to let go.

I sat there, in their arms. As the news settled in, I began to shake. Raising my hands to clutch Sun's and Moon's bodies, the childish part of me begged to never go back. That part of me was louder than I realized, my inner voice practically shouting in my finned ear.

Eventually I asked to meet him, and they enthusiastically agreed.

Regret immediately came pouring in, for how could I be so stupid? Something so godly, so large and grand would never pay attention to a little fish like me. I wasn't one of his, I was just me. Tiny and weak.

As Sun and Moon wandered off to probably call Eclipse, for that was what I decided to call him, I huddled on the ground. The tip of my tail hiding my head as I felt burning warmth appear, condense, and finally form.

I poked my head out of my tail-fin to see where Eclipse was in a fit of bravery, looking around I saw... hands?

A creeping sensation of fear and dread came over me, as I traced those hands to arms, to shoulders, to a huge and looming face. He jutted out of the ocean, not a care in the world.

His face loomed over me, seemingly as big as the sky itself. That mouth never stopped smiling as his eyes were on the boys, then drifted to me.

My heart began to thrash in my ribs and body went cold as if all the blood fled from it. He leaned down, closer and closer. Probably trying to see what little bug dared to demand his attention.

His hand, oh his hand, then slowly dragged closer and closer. As it dragged closer I hid myself under my tail-fin, refusing to look death in the face.

As I heard lilts and windchimes of encouragement, I felt something fragile and warm take place. That something was bravery.

And so I poked the top of my head out of my tail-fin, just in time to see the large hands scoop me up and take me high, higher, highest.

It felt like I was on top of the world, and as I stared Eclipse in the face, I felt no feelings of conquest. We stared at each other, until he slowly, ever so slowly put his head down until I could reach his forehead.

We sat like that for a moment, me confused and him waiting. The moment passed, then two, and it was upon the forth one did I hesitantly touch him.

He was warm, was the first thing I noticed. The second was that he had miniscule cracks upon his face, once that could only be felt and not seen. The third is that there was something, something waiting for me. I reached out, but not with my arms, and grasped it.

It flooded me with warm. There was no other way to put it. It was under the blankets and being half-awake, a laugh with friends, a hello hug, purring from a cat, and so much more. It was just warm, and I took it all in until the hunger was a faded dream and I was awake.

Eventually I got too full to continue, and slumped into Eclipse's hands. As he lowered me to the ground, I managed to let out a soft coo of thanks.

"No problem, little one." He replied easily.

And with me now full on the ground, I was swarmed with happy lilts and windchimes. Sun and Moon curled around me, as I was too blissed out to even move.

We stayed like that for awhile.

Chapter Text

"Once upon a time, when the world was new, there was the first God. He looked upon these barren lands and claimed them as his own.

"But eventually, as all living beings do, he got lonely. And so he ripped two pieces of his soul and molded him into warm and cold, light and dark.

"And those were the first children upon this new earth.

"Their lives were good, they were loved, cared for. What more could they want? The world, everything, was theirs.

"But then the water rose. We don't know how or where it rose from, but it smothered the warm and dragged away the cold. And so the first god took them to a hill, where they were safe.

"But the water continued to rise, threatening the children. And so he raised the hill higher, higher and higher still. Slowly having to narrow the tip down to keep the base steady.

"But something, someone ,was born in the depths of the water. Death themself.

"They rose to the surface, and though they were powerful, they were young. Just born. So small.

"And so they, without direction, without purpose, began to swim to the west.

"They swam, they didn't keep track for how long they swam, for what use did a god have use for days and nights?

"But eventually they felt power. And so, death swam to the little island housing the children of the first god..."

The storyteller paused for dramatic effect, and the children leaned in. Always wanting to hear more.

"What's next?!" Cried a little girl, not being able to take the suspension.

"I'm getting to that." Gently said the storyteller. "Now... where was I?

"Ah, yes. So death swam towards the island, at the moment where the first god was visiting with his children.

"Death and the first god saw eachother. And for the first time, death felt fear. For what would he do? Would he kill death, wipe them from the ocean like they had never been there?

"And so death dived down, down, down. So far that the sun's light could not touch the nothing at the bottom of the sea.

"And there they laid, scared that the first god would come to lay then low, to let their blood taint the sea as the last war had.

"But he did not come to them. For death had gone to far and too fast for him to make a decision.

"But eventually they rose from the deep nothing and went towards the light.

"And their they meet the first children. They welcomed death, for they were kept warm upon the live of their maker. What would they know about death?"

The storyteller looked towards the children, as if implying a lesson to be taught.

"And so they befriended death." Eventually continued the storyteller.

"They played games with death, they slept next to death. They cared for death.

"But death grew weak, they confided in the children that they had no maker, no one to take them gently in their arms and care for them.

"And so the children, moved by their words, called upon their maker to aid them. And their maker, loving his children, loved death."

"Awww!" Crooned the children, moved by this tale of gods.

"And that children, is the tale of the first gods." The storyteller smiled at the awe struck look of the kids, before one of them raised his hand.

"But... what happened after? Where's death?" The little boy looked around, as if he could see where death swam off to.

"You see, death is sleeping. Sleeping so soundly, and soothing the souls with their voice that are too scared to move on."

"Where's the children?" Piped up another voice.

"They're up in the sky, having taken the form of the sun and moon. Waiting for death to wake up so they can play again.

The children groaned but still walked over to their beds, tired after a long day of joy. As all children should experience.

As the children settled in the storyteller walked to the wide window and peeked out. Moon was high over head, keeping watch over the sleeping.

Smiling they turrned back to the children, and hoped that the story was true. That death was gentle and kind, and that they slept peacefully.