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Chapter Text

Stories of sailors who had gone mad from a fabled song and of fishermen spying strange creatures on stormy nights were all too common in the tiny fishing village of Wavepoint. Children were ushered indoors when night fell, shops locked their doors when storms began to whip up, and it seemed that the people were controlled by these stories.

They feared the most prominent legend, a story passed down from generation to generation. The story of the leviathan. The story of a creature that had wiped Wavepoint out, razed it until there was nothing left. The people, as people do, rebuilt and began to prosper once more when the stories began once more. 

One day, the grandchild of the village's eldest fisherman stepped into a large boat with four of the village’s most talented fishermen and set off on a stormy afternoon. Armed with harpoons and massive nets, the group set sail with the intention to capture the Leviathan and bring it back to the village, dead or alive. 

They would be heroes! The five who took down the most dangerous creature in the sea! They would be known for the rest of time! All they had to do was take out the infamous Leviathan.

The waters were dangerous, grey waves mirroring the grey sky knocked the boat around, threatening. Still, the group pressed on, the land, the town, their home growing smaller and shrinking as the horizon grew. 

Minutes turned to hours as the rain pounded on the deck and the winds knocked the fishermen around, when the leader of this ragtag group heard it. A sweet melody from a voice too perfect to be human. He, along with the four others, rushed out onto the deck, some with harpoons, one holding the net, but the leader stood still, watching as the shape of a giant creature, the Leviathan , rose out of the water, towering above the boat.

The singing grew, the melody stronger, a tantalizing sound against the harsh winds and thunderous rain. The singing asked sweetly, begged, for the sailors to come closer, to get into the water, to join them on the rocks, to give themselves up, to rest, to sleep, to dream, to become one with the ocean. And how could the sailors refuse such a request? One by one the weapons were dropped, the nets were lowered, and they each entered the water. 

Closer and closer. The Leviathan seemed to disappear, an illusion, a marriage that vanished to reveal a rock, with five mer sitting on it, each singing a sweet melody, asking, begging, for the fishermen to join them on the rocks. 

How could he refuse? One by one the men walked onto the rock, each one going to a different mer. The leader approached a pretty mer with a black tail, turquoise eyes and markings matching perfectly with the mer’s midnight black bones. He approached. He got closer towards that tantalizing singing. 

A sharp cry stole his attention as he watched one of his fellow fishermen bashed in the head with a rock by a mer with a pretty violet tail, his blood staining the sea below, and watched in horror as the man’s soul was ripped out and consumed. His horror didn’t last long as the mer siren in front of him sang louder, the wordless tune asking him to forget his friend’s death.

How could he refuse? It happened again, and again, and again, until he was the only one left. The siren asked him to give up his life, asking for his soul. It was so nice, so sweet, so perfect of a request…

How could he refuse?

— — —

Five mer, all sirens, dove back under the water, each satisfied with the successful hunt, each of their needs fully satisfied with a full magic reserve. Nightmare looked to each of the other mer, he watched as Vio wiped the dried blood off of his hands with a piece of seaweed. 

“Why didn’t you just snap his neck?” Ink asked curiously, that obnoxious beige scarf fluttering in the turbulent waters.

“I wanted to see if that would kill him faster.” Vio shrugged, continuing to use the foliage to get the little specks of blood out from between each of his joints. “It definitely freaked out that other sailor though!”

Nightmare sighed, “I had to use extra magic to calm him back down.” he grumbled.

To the right, Reaper and Error spoke quietly, seemingly conversing of something sensitive. Nightmare decided not to listen in, only motioning for the two to follow. They needed to get back to the grotto, the others would be getting back from their own hunt soon, and Nightmare wanted to be present to make sure all his boys were safe and uninjured.

Chapter Text

Every day was the same. Ever since he had been trapped in this cave by the one person he trusted the most, he had to live in the dark. Each day he woke up not knowing if his eyes were open or closed, each day he stared into the darkness, wondering if the things he saw were actually there or just his imagination. 

Comic’s day consisted of belly-crawling through the tight squeezes of the cave system, searching for a tiny bit of food, the faint glow of his magic his only light source.

Today he was lucky, today he found a few small fish, the biggest the size of his hand. Comic killed each quickly with a small snap of the neck, and brought them all back to his tiny, sorry excuse of a nest. In the cold and the dark, he ate. The only thing he lived for was each small meal, and the slightest hope that someday, he would be free. 

Fall asleep, wake up, wonder if he was awake, ponder his existence, that’s all his life had been reduced to ever since he had been turned, ever since he had been trapped. Each day Comic felt himself weaken a little more, and eating didn’t help. Maybe it was a siren thing? He wasn’t sure, seeing as he had been turned into a siren and immediately trapped in his prison merely a day after he woke up after being turned. His tail, once a vibrant blue but now reduced to the pearly white of what once was a freckle-gradient color, was a constant reminder of his fate.

On more than one occasion he had tried to hide from the reality of what he had become, once by wrapping the tail in seaweed strands to mimic stripes, once by painting his tail red with the blood of his prey, once by smearing blackened volcanic mud onto his tail. None had lasted, and none helped him to ignore his new reality.

The darkness had a knack for revealing his fears and insecurities. Comic was once a calm, laid back mer, but the dark reduced him to a scared shell of his former self. Nothing was safe from the dark, but the dark also protected and preserved. It kept him alive, providing small bits of food to keep him alive, letting the tunnels and crevices grow to be just big enough to let him through.

The cave was just as alive as he was, though considering Comic already felt like he was long dead and decomposing, that wasn’t saying much. 

Maybe one day Comic would be nothing more than the critters who roamed this cave, maybe he would become one of the plants, a clump of moss or seaweed, maybe his remains would escape through the tiny cracks in the rock, then he could finally be free from his cold dark prison…

…

Maybe… maybe freedom was too much to ask for….

Chapter Text

Pale moonlight bathed the sunning rock a single golden mer slept on, the sun he had been laying on having set hours ago. The night air was chilly, causing the sleeping mer to shiver in his sleep. As the waves continued to lap over his sleeping form, keeping him from drying out, and time passed on, he stayed oblivious to the search going on nearby.

Under the waves, in the maze of rocks and plants, a trio of mer and a siren searched for their missing friend.

The leader of the group, the sleeping mer’s twin and the lone siren of the group took the lead, simultaneously looking for his lost podmate and keeping his other podmates safe and accounted for.

“hey night, can’t you just use that weird emotion magic trick to find goldie?” Killer asked, his little red bioluminescent swirls lining the sides of his tail casting a pretty glow on the kelp they were searching.

Nightmare shook his head, his own turquoise lights bouncing off of Killer’s mostly black and red tail. “If Dream were awake, then I could, but he must have fallen asleep. I cannot sense him nearby.”

“oh. well then couldn’t you-”

“Night!” another voice called from another part of the kelp patch. Cross and Horror joined the pair merely a few seconds later, Cross swimming headfirst into Killer. The guard of the group quickly backed up, sputtering anxious apologies, “I- We found Dream… I think.”

"You think?” Nightmare raised a bonebrow. Cross immediately sputtered again, his anxiety growing before his eyes. The siren sighed, remembering the guard’s anxiety with the surface. “Lead me to where you think you saw him, and I will go inspect.”

Cross nodded and wordlessly swam off. Nightmare quickly followed, quickly catching up and deliberately taking his place shoulder to shoulder with Cross. The guard may be their primary protector in the darkest hours of the night, but the ancient siren was still the leader of their pod. Turquoise bioluminescence mixed with Cross’s lavender lights, casting an unnatural blue against the kelp. 

As they swam, Nightmare began to regret his words with the anxious guard. Cross didn’t deserve his less than kind tone when addressing one of his fears, especially after Cross found his missing brother. Even though the guard hadn’t been a part of the pod for very long, he was still one of his boys, and Nightmare’s actions hadn’t reflected that.

They stopped at a steep rock formation that led straight to the surface, and there, right at the top, was what appeared to be a golden tail. Definitely Dream. Cross wordlessly pointed to the surface, but Nightmare didn’t immediately go just yet. Instead, he turned to Cross and spoke.

“I should not have used that tone when speaking to you, especially when the surface is involved. I apologize.” Nightmare said, sincerity and regret in his tone. His glow dimmed slightly to reflect his emotions, and Cross’s went through a rapid succession of brightening and glowing as his expression shifted between confusion and gratitude.

“You-You don’t need to apologize! It’s alri-”

“I insist.”

Cross and Nightmare stared at each other for a long moment, then Cross sighed, visibly deflating a bit.

“Alright… I accept your apology.”

Nightmare nodded, “Thank you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go see if Dream is okay.” he said, immediately swimming upwards faster and faster until he broke the surface, blinking a few times to get used to the surface air on his sockets.

Little golden lights caught his attention. Right there, asleep on his favorite sunning rock, was Dream. Nightmare sighed and pushed himself up on the rock, poking his twin a few times to wake him up. Dream let out a little confused chirp as he stirred, looking around as he seemed to reorient himself.

“Oh.” Dream whispered.

“You fell asleep.” Nightmare said.

“Oops.” Dream said with an awkward laugh.

The darker twin sighed, “Let’s go, the others are waiting so we can go home.” Dream nodded and the two jumped from the rock, waiting for the flurry of bubbles to dissipate before diving back down. 

The others were waiting, and each of them had an empty nest and the rest of their pod waiting back in the grotto, all eager to get some sleep.

Chapter Text

Dream lurked around the tiny den’s entrance. He had only seen the little siren his brother had brought home for a few seconds the day prior, and he had been surrounded by the rest of the sirens in the pod since then. Nightmare had barely explained anything and it was starting to get on the golden mer’s nerves. Sure, he wasn’t a siren like his brother, but because of their link, he was practically immune to the effects of siren magic. He would be fine! 

Curiosity was getting to him. He knew it was best to let the newcomer get used to everything else first, but he was so curious!

Dream, ignoring his logic, waited until all the other sirens left the den and entered the hidden space, his golden glow immediately lighting the little den up. Immediately he spotted the scared-looking siren in the corner and Dream froze, worried he had messed up. The siren avoided eye contact and remained frozen, as if staying still would make Dream go away.

After much internal debate, Dream spoke. “Are you alright?”

The siren looked confused, so much so that he looked up, finally looking Dream in the eye. There was almost no magic behind his gaze, but he looked so nervous about just looking at someone else.

“What’s your name?” He dared to inch closer, his glow making the other’s pearly white color appear golden as well.

The other mer didn’t speak, only opening his mouth before snapping it shut once more. Dream let out a soft giggle, “Nightmare is my twin, siren magic doesn’t affect me like it does the others.” He explained.

Finally, the siren spoke. “i didn’t know he had a twin…” His voice was so small, so quiet, the constant hum of the ocean almost drowned him out. His soul ached with how fearful he sounded, with how terrified he must be of himself that the simple act of speaking was difficult.

“He does.” Dream said slowly. Slow and steady was the key here. If he was slow enough, this hidden mer would soon no longer be hidden behind a blanket of fear.

Dream inched a little closer, “Can you tell me your name?”

The siren hesitated, looked away, looked back, then answered, “comic.”

“That’s a lovely name.”

Comic didn’t respond. He only stayed quiet, looking away again.

Dream lowered himself to the ground to make himself even lower than Comic currently was in his sitting position. He swam a few feet closer, almost to the tip of the other’s tail.

“are you sure… i can talk?” Comic asked, curling in on himself a little, “i’m not hurting you?”

Dream’s soul broke a little at those words. He swam right up beside the siren, sitting shoulder to shoulder with him.

“I wouldn’t be staying here with you if you were hurting me. I can leave whenever I want with how you’re talking right now.” That much was true, though if Comic had been using enough magic to try and make him obey an order, then Dream was pretty screwed, but that wasn’t happening right now.

The siren looked down then over at Dream’s tail. Slowly, cautiously, Comic reached over and gently poked one of the bioluminescent spots on his tail. Dream let out a giggle in response, the little lights glowing a little brighter to reflect the positive mood shift.

“Do you like them?”

“never seen ones that bright.” Comic whispered, seemingly mesmerized. Ah, he must have come from shallow waters then.

“What do yours look like?” Dream gently poked Comic’s tail the same way he had done to the golden mer.

Comic paused for a few moments, then a faint blue glow mixed with Dream’s, coloring the walls of the cave in a pale green.

The two sat in a gentle silence for a while, though it wasn’t awkward, simply calm. Dream watched the glowing slowly shift hues as each brightened and dimmed their own little lights. It was nice.

Eventually Comic let out a yawn, breaking the silence.

“Are you tired?” Dream asked quietly.

Comic nodded, “a little. i haven’t been sleeping very well.”

Dream hummed in acknowledgement, “Do you want to try to take a nap?”

The siren paused to think, like he had done many times in this conversation. “you don’t mind?”

Dream nodded, then patted his lap. “I promise I’m more comfortable than the ground.”

Comic flushed lightly, likely embarrassed by the implications of sleeping on another mer’s lap, but he quietly lowered himself down to rest on the golden mer, his tiredness winning over his embarrassment.

Slowly, carefully, Dream began to run a hand over Comic’s back, gently coaxing him to sleep. After an even longer time, Dream sensed the other finally falling asleep. Once both of their glows fully died down, Dream let himself relax a little more. 

“Dream? What are you doing in here– oh.” Dream looked up to see Nightmare at the mouth of the den. His twin looked surprised, then sighed. “Of course you would be able to get him to trust you.”

“He doesn’t trust you?” Dream asked.

“Not fully. Not yet.” Nightmare shook his head.

Dream sighed, then placed a hand gently on Comic’s head, “He’ll trust you soon, I can tell. He would not have let you bring him here if he didn’t.”

Nightmare seemed to think for a moment. “I suppose you’re right.”

Chapter Text

Dark blue and beige scales littered the rocks below the pair of sirens. The beige one running clawed fingers over the blue mer’s tail, dislodging any loose or crooked scales. The two were alone just outside of Nightmare’s grotto in a tiny bed of seaweed, just small enough to hide them from view.

Ink loved the rest of his pod, but gods above they were loud sometimes. And this was coming from Ink of all people! Below him Error wiggled a little, a sleepy little chirp wordlessly asking why Ink had stopped moving. It wasn’t common that anyone could get Error to lower his guard enough to properly groom him, but today the noise must have gotten to him too. With a small laugh, Ink continued running his hands over the other’s scales.

He loved this. He loved how much Error trusted him, especially after how turbulent their relationship had been over the centuries. Error had hated him for the longest time, and Ink didn’t blame him. Ink was the one to turn the temperamental mer into a siren, after all.

“W-W-Why did-d you stop-p-p?” Error muttered, sounding more annoyed than before. 

“Sorry Ru.” Ink whispered back, once again going back to grooming the other.

— — —

“Quit wiggling.” Cross snapped as he tried to pick out any loose scales from Killer’s tail, especially around the area where a recent wound had finished healing. Killer, being the brat he is, did not stop wiggling, only moving around more at Cross’s command.

From just beside the pair, Horror sighed, placing a hand on the small of Killer’s back in an attempt to keep him still for long enough for Cross to finish the job.

“hey! that’s cheating!” Killer cried out, trying to wiggle out from under Horror’s grip, but he only achieved in pissing off Cross even more. Horror reached out and pinned the end of Killer’s tail down as well, leaving only his upper body to flail indignantly. Quickly, and a little more roughly than he would have usually done, Cross finished freeing any loose scales from the other mer’s tail, and Horror lifted his hands, freeing Killer who immediately darted away to another part of the grotto.

Cross was fuming, pissed that Killer practically refused to do something to make sure his wound wouldn’t get infected by a stuck scale. He hadn’t done anything that would have remotely hurt, and yet the brat–

Cross’s thoughts were cut off as Horror scooped the smaller mer into his arms, gently holding him and beginning to run a hand over his own tail, a silent way of asking permission to groom

With a deep breath to calm himself down, Cross nodded and relaxed against Horror, letting the larger mer clean up his tail.

Chapter Text

Nightmare would always protect his pod. They were his, they trusted him, they were his family, his mates, every action he took was for them and only them. Even with the newest edition, the skittish siren who didn’t trust anyone yet, he would do anything to protect him just as he did anyone else, he just wasn’t expecting to prove that so soon.

He knew something wasn’t right when he woke up to Dream shaking him awake. 

“I can’t find Comic.” Were his only words before the ancient siren bolted awake.

“Was he not in the den?” Nightmare asked. Dream shook his head no. “Have you checked anywhere else?” Comic hadn’t left the den on his own yet to Nightmare’s knowledge, but it was certainly possible.

“The library, the nesting area, that crack in the wall he hid in that one time, a few other darker corners in the grotto, but I can’t even sense him anywhere.” Dream said, growing more anxious with every word.

Night nodded, taking the information in.

“Get Cross to watch the grotto entrance, get Horror and anyone else to help you keep searching the grotto, and have Ink and Vio meet me at the entrance.” He ordered, “We will search around our territory to make sure he didn’t go anywhere.”

Dream nodded and swam off. Nightmare took a moment to stretch and wake up just a little more, then headed off to the grotto entrance where Cross was already dutifully watching over their home.

The new edition to their pod would be allowed to leave at his leisure eventually. The only issue right now was Comic’s fear of open waters, and the grotto just so happened to be on a cliff facing the open ocean. It was so bad that just the main section of the grotto caused him massive amounts of anxiety. Keeping the siren in their home was the safest option at the moment.

“Waiting for the others?” Cross asked as Nightmare waited for the two sirens to join him.

Nightmare nodded, “We’re just going to make sure Comic didn’t run away or get himself hurt.” He looked out into the open ocean, “We aren’t going to lose anyone else because of my negligence.”

“Night…” Cross whispered, “That wasn’t your fault.”

The ancient siren held up a hand, all he needed to do to signal Cross to stop talking. Thankfully, Vio and Ink showed up just in time that he didn’t have to say anything else. 

“Where to first?” Ink asked in a cheerful tone, not reading the room at all. Vio, reading the room, elbowed him in the ribs.

“We’ll find him, he couldn’t have gone that far.” Vio reassured, ignoring the looks Ink was giving him. “It’s possible that he never left the grotto in the first place and we’re all just overreacting like the first time.”

“You’re right.” Nightmare signed. “Still, let’s go search the perimeter.” With two nods of agreement, the trio left the grotto, splitting up to each check a third of their territory’s perimeter. 

Night’s search was fruitless at first, with the cliff edge where he thought Comic would be being devoid of the pale white mer. Each crack and crevice had been searched, the tiny cave systems lacking any life besides a few shellfish and plants. Each suspicious lump of sand had been dug up to see if the siren had been hiding in there.

He almost gave up, but the moment he turned to head back to the grotto, he picked up on a hint of panic from somewhere nearby. Nightmare darted to the location, locking on to the emotion like a target. It wasn’t far, but the location was hidden, the very edges of a kelp forest on the furthest edges of his territory. There, right in a tiny, nearly invisible crevice, was a flash of white, so small he would have missed it if he weren't searching for it.

Nightmare approached slowly so as to not scare the mer inside. The crevice was deep, yet small, so small that Nightmare himself would not be able to squeeze inside, but Comic was able to easily fit snugly in there. Surprisingly enough, the siren wasn’t all that scared anymore, staring owlishly at him.

“Why were you scared?”

“there was a jellyfish.” Comic whispered, “i didn’t want to get stung.”

Nightmare looked up, and sure enough, there was a jellyfish weaving in and out from between the tall strands of kelp.

“i wanted to face my fears. i don’t want to be scared.” Comic whispered, guilt radiating off of him. “i only worried you and the others, didn’t i…”

“We were worried, we didn’t want you to be hurt.” Nightmare admitted, “We always tell each other when we’re going out so someone knows where we are, so when no one could find you, it worried us.” He explained slowly and carefully. “If you had told one of us, we would have gladly gone out with you.”

“oh…”

“It’s alright, you didn’t know.” Nightmare smiled at him. “Do you want to come back to the grotto or stay out here a little longer?”

Comic thought for a moment, “can we stay near the cliff when we go back?”

Nightmare held out a hand, “Of course. Let’s go home” 

Comic took his hand, shaking slightly as he squeezed out of the crevice. Internally, Nightmare sent a mental signal to Ink and Vio, telling them to go back to the grotto. Comic grabbed onto his arm, squeezing a little as he looked out into the ocean. It wasn’t with as much fear as the first time Nightmare had found him, but it was still going to be a long journey before he would be coming out here on his own.

Still, no matter how long it took, Nightmare would protect him, just as he protected everyone else in his pod.

Chapter Text

“do you know where the first sirens came from?” Comic asked on one of the long hours spent in the den. One of these days he would get the confidence to leave the den and explore the grotto, but today was not one of those days.

Nightmare, his only companion at the moment, looked a little surprised at the question.

“Why do you ask?” He asked.

Comic shrugged, “just curious. sirens are made, not born, so there had to be a first, right?”

Nightmare seemed to think for a bit. He seemed to be digging through memories, sifting through centuries of stories just to find a specific one. He had an answer, he just had to find it. There was a shift in expression, a triumphant one.

“Do you want me to tell you a story?” Nightmare asked, “I cannot tell you a definite answer since one does not exist, but I can tell you a legend, a myth of sorts.” Comic noticed that his eyes seemed to glow a faint turquoise in excitement.

He nodded, growing excited at Nightmare’s excitement.

“Once, many centuries ago, there were no sirens, only mer and landwalkers.” Nightmare began, “There was a landwalker who possessed a magic far beyond what we could imagine, who’s powers nearly surpassed the gods themselves. He was said to be a sorcerer, one who could grant any wish, and one who could curse anyone. 

There was also a mer, one who wished for power. One who wished to rule over the ocean and wished to never die. I wish more of her story had been remembered, but this is all we know about her before this story.”

“was anything else remembered about the sorcerer?” Comic asked.

Nightmare nodded, “Oh yes, there are many many stories about him, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.”

“The mer went to the sorcerer and asked for power. She asked to rule over the ocean. The wizard denied her wish and sent her away. She returned days later, once again asking for rulership over the ocean and the powers necessary to do so. He denied her once more. A third time, she asked for power over the weather, and over the ocean. She asked for the ability to control her fellow mer. She asked for immortality.

Finally, the sorcerer was so infuriated by her, that he fulfilled her request, but turned it from a blessing to a curse. She could control the weather, but it would drain her magic to almost nothing. She could control her fellow mer, but without practice and training, she could no longer talk or even look at anyone without them being under her control. She would live forever, but she would need to hunt down and consume the souls of landwalkers. The world wouldn’t remember her as the queen of the ocean, but as the vampire of the seas.”

“As one final insult to injury, the siren would be able to turn other mer into sirens in the same way that the landwalker’s vampires do. We were cursed to be seen as monsters, as abominations, and yet we are so much more than that.”

Comic starred as Nightmare grew angry just thinking about the sorcerer. “is… is that why you won’t turn dream into a siren?”

“I will never make him face what I have.” Nightmare snapped, causing Comic to flinch at the harsh tone. He knew Nightmare would never hurt him, but the reaction was still instinctual. The older siren faltered, then seemed to shrink a little, “I apologize, that reaction was not appropriate.”

“it’s fine, you just got a little heated.” Comic murmured. 

Nightmare took a deep breath, “Is there anything else you would like to know?”

Comic shook his head, “wait, yes there is. have you ever turned anyone into a siren?”

Nightmare looked a little surprised, then his gaze dropped to the ground. “I have been very tempted in the past, but no, I have not.” He looked out of the den, “If one day, one of the boys asks me to turn them into a siren, I might. The only reason being I do not want them to pass of old age.” He paused for a moment, then sighed, deflating even more, “It’s selfish, I know, but I have grown too used to their company that I cannot even imagine what it will be like when they’re gone.”

“i think i understand.” Comic murmured, “they’re your mates. you don’t want to see them hurt.”

Nightmare nodded, “Yes, I believe that is the reason.” Another pause, “Thank you for listening to my worries.”

Comic let out a faint giggle, “no problem.”

Chapter Text

A crew of five set sail a month ago, wanting to slay the leviathan, yet none have returned. Only the pieces of their boat, torn apart by the waves, returned, each piece a reminder of the lives taken by the monster. Another storm was brewing, another chance for a team to go out and destroy the mighty beast. This time, the people of Wavepoint chose to take the priestess of the Angel as a sacrifice, despite the girl’s protest.

More fishermen and sailors, this time in a team of seven including the priestess. They set sail in a bigger ship. They brought more weapons, more gear, and did everything they thought they should to slay the beast.

As the rain pounded on the deck and the winds grew stronger, waves crashed against the sides of the boat, threatening to cast everyone into the sea. The sailors knew they were getting close as they passed an exposed rock with a horrifying sight; a body. It was the body with the clothing of the previous expeditions’ leader, fully clothed yet his bones picked clean of their flesh. The priestess vomited over the edge of the boat at this sight, crying out for her patron to save her.

But no one came.

Finally, the leviathan appeared, its massive body rising from the waves, draconian features staring down at them. And then they heard the song. All activity on the ship stopped. Weapons were dropped, nets were lowered, the wheel was no longer being turned, the priestess stopped screaming for mercy. They all starred, all seven souls gazing out into the body of the beast as their boat drifted closer and closer until the illusion failed, until the glamour dissipated.

There was no leviathan, there never was. It was a hallucination, one brought on by siren magic, one that only those who had barely escaped with their sanity were able to tell the village about. This was it, this was the end for all of them.

‘ Come here. ’ They seemed to sing, each siren perched up on a rock, each singing the same tune, though none of the songs had words.

The three youngest sailors lept off of the boat, cutting themselves on the jagged rocks and bleeding heavily as they staggered up the rock. Each of them staggered over to a siren, each sat right in front of them, but the siren did nothing yet.

As two more sailors lept from the boat, the priestess threw her hands over her ears and began to scream once more, begging for the angel to save her. The sirens faltered in their song for a moment, but continued once they realized where the sound had come from. 

As the last two sailors met their fate, the priestess grew curious and looked over the edge of the boat, regretting her decision as she watched each of the sirens snap the necks of each sailor one by one, one of the sirens even seemed to be teaching another how to do it properly. She began screaming once more as blood stained the rock and each siren grabbed the sailor’s souls, and consumed them, tearing the tops of the souls off with their teeth and seeming to drink the contents like a fine wine. She didn’t stop screaming until a heavenly voice commanded her to.

She looked up to see two of the mer staring down at her, though neither looked happy, both looked somehow remorseful.

“There’s no reason to kill you. You will return unharmed.” One with a colorful scarf spoke. “We wouldn’t dare harm the angel’s followers.”

The priestess starred up, still terrified and sprawled out on the ship’s deck. With each second that passed, the winds died down and the waves grew less harsh.

The other mer, one with a violet tail, spoke, “You come from that little fishing town, right?”

She nodded, still shaking. 

“Hey Night! Send the winds to that little town with the temple!” The siren called to another siren. 

The sky cleared up, revealing the sun, and the winds began to pick up, sending the boat off in the direction of her home. The priestess laughed in relief. She never thought she would see the sun again. 

There was a lot of explaining to do when she returned.

Chapter Text

Three years in isolation had its pros and cons. For one, Comic never got sick in those caves because no one was ever around to spread any viruses. The downside to that was that the moment he was around other mers, the moment he was reintroduced to diseases and illnesses from a different region of the ocean, his body didn’t know or remember how to fight said sicknesses.

A normal cold which he could have gotten over in a week and barely affected his abilities to hunt and help provide for his family, but waking up with a pounding headache and a sore throat that made it so much harder to speak, he knew that this wasn’t going to be as easy to get over. Tonight had been the first night he had slept outside of the little den and in the seaweed nests that everyone else slept in, and while it was much more comfortable here, he was missing the warmth of the den.

A flash of purple caught his attention. Vio? Cross? Dust? He couldn’t tell. Finally after a lot of internal fighting, Comic opened his eyes fully to see Cross and Horror nearby, speaking in low voices. Looking around more revealed that it was early; no one else was awake, not even Nightmare who he had figured out was up at the crack of dawn most days.

The speaking stopped and Comic looked back to the pair of mer who were awake and realized they were watching him, Horror with a concerned expression, Cross with a confused one. Comic hadn’t really interacted much with either mer, so his immediate mental reaction was to assume that he was in the way of something important, but before his body could catch up to that mental reaction, Horror swam over to him.

The larger mer settled next to him as Comic struggled to sit up, his head pounding. “you… not feeling well?”

Comic shook his head. He barely spoke around the other sirens, he had no control over his voice. Trying to talk to the regular mer wouldn’t have a very good outcome. Cross had come over, joining them as he seemed to look the siren over.

“Do you think you’re sick?” He asked, hesitating before touching him to check for a temperature. “Are you okay if I touch you?” Comic nodded, then nodded again to show he was referring to both questions. Warm hands settled on his forehead.

“are you hungry?” Horror asked, gently guiding him to rest against Horror’s shoulder. 

Comic shook his head. This felt so weird. Why were they so caring, they barely knew him. He should be out hunting, helping to provide for the pod, not spending days on end hiding in the grotto like a coward.

A hand on his shoulder halted his thoughts. He looked up to see Horror’s concerned expression.

“we… can see ya spiraling… whatever you’re thinking… it’s not true.” Horror murmured, picking him up and quickly swimming away. Slowly, he realized that Cross was gone, and that they were headed to a part of the grotto that Comic had never been to.

It wasn’t a very long journey, but he realized what this little cave was used for the moment they entered. There were all kinds of strange plants, and long sections of woven kelp that he recognized as something meant to imitate landwalker’s bandages. This was an infirmary. Cross was in one of the corners, quickly yet effectively weaving seaweed and fresh seagrass together to make a temporary nest.

Once Cross was finished, Horror gently set him down in the nest before swimming off. Cross stayed, checking over everything else in the infirmary. 

“I’m just making sure that we’re not running low on anything, especially something that you might need in the next few days.”

“days?!” Comic exclaimed, realizing too late that he had spoken out loud. It didn’t seem to affect Cross but that didn’t stop him from slapping a hand over his mouth and beginning to panic.

Cross was quickly by his side, “Hey, don’t worry, you didn’t use any magic, you’re fine.” He whispered, taking his hands and taking deep breaths to try to get Comic to do the same.

He tried to breathe, but he couldn’t seem to pull any air out of the waters around him, and the lack of air was starting to make his headache worse. Cross simply sat with him, not saying anything else while he waited for Comic to calm down. Once the panic began to wear off and the drained, empty feeling that followed took over, Cross began to talk to him again.

“I’m not sure if you knew this, but if you don’t ask questions or make any requests or commands, your magic won’t do anything.” Cross explained, “Nightmare explained it to me once. He used a few examples, like how if you were to ask me what my name was while using magic, I would be forced to answer, but if you were to ask me something I don’t know about, like what the mountains on the surface is like, I wouldn’t be forced to answer.”

The more Cross spoke the calmer he felt, and Cross seemed to catch on to this. “If you were to tell me to go collect something like seaweed or something from the catch pile, I would be forced to go get those things, but if you were to tell me to do something impossible, like grow wings and fly away, I would not be forced to do anything.”

The explanation made sense, but Comic still didn’t feel safe talking just yet. Cross only stopped talking when Horror returned with a few things from the catch pile. 

Maybe he never would feel comfortable talking, maybe he would find the courage to speak, but until this illness was out of his system and as long as he was in this little seaweed nest, Comic knew he was safe enough to rest easily.

Chapter Text

Today was sunny, the sky was a clear blue, the water was clear, and a group of five sirens perched up on a large rock. Comic had met Reaper once when was first taken in, but the elder siren had since left to go back to his mate, only returning to visit today. With them, Ink Error and Nightmare all stayed in the water, discussing something , leaving the pair alone on the rock.

This was the furthest he had gone from the grotto, and despite the distance, he was proud of himself for holding himself together, and for not panicking the moment he was in the open ocean, though the fact that he wasn’t alone likely helped.

“So,” Reaper started, likely starting small talk, “how has the pod been treating you?”

Comic paused for a moment, thinking back on the past few weeks. “everyone’s really nice. i’m just glad that i’m not alone anymore.” He looked out over the ocean, just barely able to see the shoreline at the very edge of the horizon. His old home was out there… somewhere…. 

Reaper nodded. “Isolation is a horrible thing. I’m surprised you were able to bounce back so quickly.” 

But he didn't bounce back. He was nowhere close to bouncing back! Comic was barely functioning as a mer, much less as a siren. The mer who had left his pod for their safety was not the same mer who had been rescued from the caves, and Comic wasn’t quite sure they would be the same ever again.

Reaper noticed his apparent distress. “Or maybe you haven’t, but that’s alright too. What I’m trying to say is that you’re much stronger than I think you realize. Most would have gone insane from the isolation, but here you are, and while you weren’t unscathed, you were destroyed either.”

Comic thought about his words. He couldn’t deny that the words were true, but Comic couldn’t quite let himself believe it.

The other three sirens made their way up on the rock, effectively ending their conversation. 

“Do you know how to sing at all?” Nightmare asked Comic once everyone was settled on the rock. 

“only a little.” He had tried to sing a few times while in the cave, but it had only ever worked in attracting a few fish one of those times.

“That’s alright, you’ll be learning how to today.” Ink continued, wiggling around like an excited guppy. “We were just gonna change the weather from sunny to rainy.”

“that’s something we can do?!” Comic asked, a little surprised.

Nightmare nodded, “Yes, our songs can either change the tides, affect the weather, or attract prey depending on our intentions.” he explained, “and when I say prey, I’m referring to both the fish we catch, and the landwalkers we lure.”

“is there anything else we can do?” Comic asked, trying to not think much about how landwalkers are their prey.

“There are a few other, more obscure things we can do, but that is a lesson for another day.” Nightmare said. 

Comic nodded, “okay… is there any particular reason we’re changing the weather?”

“It’s mostly so we can tell how strong your voice is right now, and what we’ll need to work on in the future.” Nightmare explained, “This is also to give you a chance to figure out a few basics on your own, some of the more instinctual parts of the siren’s song.”

“Can we start now? I wanna hear his voice!” Ink asked, still wiggling.

“C-C-Calm down, we-we start-t-t when everyone’s-s ready-dy.” Error grumbled. “S-Speaking of which-ch, is ev-ev-everyone ready-y?”

There was a chorus of yes’s, and Comic nodded, ready as he could be.

“If you start after us, or if you need to stop for any reason, keep humming so our song doesn’t affect you.” Nightmare said. “Siren songs can affect other sirens, but the effects are counteracted by singing your own song with the other siren.”

There was so much information flying around Comic’s head, and he was hoping everything would stick as everyone else began to hum.

Ink began to sing first, a simple wordless tune that Comic somehow understood as him asking the winds themselves to bring rain to them. He began to hum along, the enthralling nature of Ink’s voice disappearing instantly as he realized that the magic was indeed affecting him. Nightmare joined in next, his deeper voice matching Ink’s high-pitched voice very well.

Error began to sing, his voice surprisingly stable as his voice joined in, and at the same time Reaper began to sing, his singing voice a little higher than expected, but still lower than Error’s. After a little bit of time humming and watching the clouds begin to roll in, he followed an almost instinctual part of his soul that encouraged him to sing too. 

His voice was lower than Ink’s, but not by much, and was much quieter but still very present. The sounds came out naturally, vowels that had no linguistic meaning, yet still asked for the rains to fall. He was acting on instinct, only barely noticing how the others were watching him.

The song reached its peak, and the first drop fell, then the second, then the third. He kept singing, sometimes switching to humming when he felt he was getting too loud, but he felt wanted, included in the harmony of his fellow sirens. He couldn’t tell just how strong his voice was from this alone, hell, he couldn’t tell if he was using magic at all, but he liked to think that he was doing his part in making the rains fall on the ocean.

Finally, one by one, everyone began to quiet down until everyone was humming once more, then one by one, everyone stopped. The rains were falling hard, almost downpouring on the group. Nightmare signaled for everyone to go back into the water.

The ocean dampened the sound of the rain as they dove deep beneath the waves until the sound was almost gone.

“Pretty good for your first time!” Ink complimented him, “First time in a group, I mean.”

“thanks.” Comic replied, unsure how to feel at the moment. It was a strange experience, and an even stranger feeling.

“Singing from instinct is stronger than trying to force a song, so it’s a good thing you figured out how to do that first.” Reaper said, “There will be times where you have to force a song, like if you are in danger and don’t have time to try and get a natural song going, but if you can help it, you’re going to want to sing on instinct the way you did up there.”

“i’ll keep that in mind.”

Nightmare finally had them stop swimming downward, and they started swimming back to the grotto. He motioned for Comic to swim beside him. 

“You have a pretty strong voice. Of course since you have not trained it at all, it is weaker than the rest of ours, but the potential is there.” Nightmare explained, “The first thing I want to teach you is how to control whether or not you use your magic when speaking.”

Comic nodded, “that’s one of the things i really wanted to learn.”

“Perfect. We can start that lesson tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

Nightmare swore to protect those in his pod, those in his care. It didn’t matter if he simply protected them from his namesake, or if he had to destroy the entire world to protect them. It did not matter what the circumstances were or how much danger he put himself in, Nightmare would always, always , protect his pod. 

From the years when it was just him and Dream, to when he one by one met the other sirens, to when his boys entered the picture, to even Comic who he had only known for a month at this point, he would drop anything and everything to help those in his care. Especially when they were in danger.

So when an unusually large group of fishing boats began to float above his territory, and two of those in his pod were missing, Nightmare was immediately on edge. Vio. Dust. Those two had gone out hunting during the night like the insomniacs they were. They were still missing.

No one else should be putting themselves in danger, so Nightmare and Nightmare alone left the safety of the grotto. He bolted to the surface, his face touching the air within two minutes of swimming as fast as he could. The ships were small, half of them didn’t look fit to be this far into the ocean, and there were landwalkers everywhere, many with nets, many with weapons, and as he watched their movement, he saw the undeniable flick of a dull purple tail as two landwalkers in the boat nearest to him messed with a net and laughed.

Rage was the only thing he felt before he realized that getting his emotions under control was important. He was useless if he was caught too. Nightmare swam to a more secluded spot, hiding in plain sight. Raise the winds, call upon the thunder and the lightning, summon the rains, bring forth a storm, that’s what he had to do. 

Normally, it took many sirens singing in harmony to bring a storm so deadly it overturned ships, but Nightmare wasn’t normal sirens. He had many more years than most, and much more experience in brewing a storm. A hum bubbled in his throat, a song asking, no, demanding, the winds turn and bring rains with them. His fury would carry him, his willingness to do whatever it took to protect would give him the strength to do this.

The song slowly yet surely grew from a hum to a wail, a haunting cry into the open air, a demand that the oceans listen to him and him alone. He called upon all his power. The knowledge that his friends, his mates, were trapped and held captive fueled him even more. The skies quickly changed from blue to grey to almost black as his song grew more powerful, more forceful. The winds kicked up, knocking the boats into each other, and causing the sailors to panic. 

Some noticed him, but it was far too late for them to do anything about his presence. His cries continued as the ocean churned, their rage growing with his own. The rains began to fall harder, the winds whipped up more. This was going to be the biggest storm some of these sailors have ever seen.

They were going to regret taking one of his own. They were going to regret ever messing with his pod. Nightmare was going to make them pay. After many painfully long minutes of Nightmare crying out, wailing at the top of his lungs, forcing the sea into a state of chaos and catastrophe, the boat containing his podmates tipped, then capsized. Immediately, Nightmare ducked under the waves, catching his breath for a moment before bolting to the boat and catching the weighted net that contained his mates, destroying it in an instant.

Vio regained his bearings first, using his first moments of clarity to grab Dust who was slowly sinking. Nightmare watched as multiple sailors panicked under their ship as the whole vessel sank, a sense of catharsis washing over him as a few of the sailors lost consciousness and sank, their bodies easy to grab onto as they sank past the trio. Four in total. Not enough for everyone, and it had been too soon since their last hunt, but three souls in the emergency storage would be good. He needed one, as whipping up a storm of that capacity on his own had absolutely drained him. 

“night…” Dust murmured once the metaphorical dust settled and the storm above began to calm. Nightmare began to feel the fatigue taking hold. “are you okay?”

“Love, how much magic did you use?” Vio asked, switching from holding on to Dust who was now stable, to holding on to Nightmare as he began sinking himself.

“Enough to keep you two safe.” Nightmare said, trying to keep himself stable. “Let me-” He trailed off, swimming over to one of the drowned sailors. The soul was easy to grab, and even easier to consume, the boost in his magic reserves a blessing.

His podmates followed, they made sure he was safe, and Nightmare knew this. He knew that after he had saved them, they felt obligated to at least watch over him while he was in a somewhat vulnerable state.

Nightmare would always protect his pod, even if he destroyed himself while doing it.

Chapter Text

Most of the time, a sunken ship was simply a fishing vessel struck down by the waves, a diplomatic voyage gone wrong, or many other, much less interesting things. Sometimes, however, the sunken ships told a story far more interesting.

“Are you sure we should go in? It looks like it can collapse at any minute.” Cross asked his golden companion, hesitating to enter the wreck as he inspected the exterior.

“We’ll be fine! Besides, what if there’s something interesting in here?” Dream replied, excitedly searching for an entrance, even if it was just a missing window he or a crack in the haul he could squeeze through.

Eventually, or inevitably depending how you look at it, Dream found a way in the ship, and Cross reluctantly followed, praying quietly to the angel that the ship didn’t crumble on top of them. At first everything seemed normal, the standard series of rooms with beds, a room with a big long table, random rooms with barrels of surely decayed food. Dream didn’t want to check, and he was sure Cross didn’t either.

After a while, they made it to the captain’s quarters, but besides a few books in the landwalker language that neither could understand, there wasn’t really anything Dream found interesting. He was about to turn to leave, when he heard a grunt, a pop, and Cross shouting.

“Found something!” Cross called, lying on his back with a trap door on top of him. Dream immediately swam over and helped the monochromatic mer out from under the door, then took a peak in the door. Slowly, he swam into the now open room, and gasped. 

Cross followed, and soon there were two mer staring at the room, a room that was wall to wall stacked with overflowing boxes of gold and jewels, a table in the center also covered in the beautiful gems.

There were books that still neither could understand, beautiful fabrics that were somehow still intact, and of course the golden coins, trinkets, and gold-plated items, and every gem and jewel imaginable.

“How is this room still intact?!” Cross murmured, rummaging through the treasures of someone long past. 

Something gold somehow caught his eye in a sea of gold.

“Cross! Look at this!” Dream picked up a crown, a golden circlet that was simple yet so elegant. Cross looked over, staring as his face morphed from curiosity to one of excitement and adoration.

He swam over until the two were both touching the crown. “Can I see?” Cross asked, and Dream handed over the crown for Cross to inspect it. He picked it up, looked at it closer, and then looked to Dream, then back to the crown, and then ever so gently, he placed the golden crown on Dream’s head. It fit perfectly.

Swimming over to a mirror that somehow wasn’t broken, Dream looked at his reflection, admiring how the crown matched the gold on his tail perfectly. He turned back to ask if Cross liked how it looked, but something caught his eye mid-turn. Carefully, he leaned down and picked up a golden heart locket. There was nothing inside, but it was still beautiful. 

Cross only watched him curiously as Dream slowly approached Cross and gently slipped the necklace over his head, watching as the metal pendant settled over the top of his sternum. As he pulled his hands away, Cross gently took them, holding their hands together as they just stayed like that, silently, just being close. The hand-holding silently turned into a warm embrace as Cross wrapped Dream in his arms. The pod’s unofficial guard slowly, silently, yet so lovingly placed a tender kiss right on the crown of Dream’s head, just above the circlet.

He loved this. He wanted to stay like this forever. Silently, he thought of what each of his podmates would enjoy from this place.

Chapter Text

Horror always enjoyed lazy afternoons, especially when the catch pile was full, when no one was injured, and all the mer decided to stay in the grotto. He tended to make trips to each of his podmate’s favorite spots every once and a while, just to check up and make sure everyone was alright. Today was no different.

He had already visited Nightmare’s library, still baffled as to how the books survived this far down under the waves, and found said siren and Dream cuddled together with Nightmare reading one of his books to the golden mer. He decided not to bother them. The infirmary was empty, though he noticed that certain medicinal plants had been restocked since Comic recovered from that illness a while ago. Horror found Vio and Comic just outside the grotto’s entrance, speaking softly, just quiet enough that he knew not to get too close but not close enough to feel any magic.

Killer and Cross were play-fighting near the catch pile, diving and swiping at each other like guppies. They stopped when Horror passed, knowing the bigger mer would scold them if either got hurt in front of him. He heard the bickering resume the moment he left. Error and Ink were curled together, napping in the darkness of the den, resting a few feet off the ground with the assistance of Error’s magic net, which he had attached to the ceiling.

There was one unaccounted for… Dust. Where did Horror’s favorite cuddle buddy go? Did he leave when Horror wasn’t paying attention?

He swam back through the grotto, past Cross who had Killer pinned in a chokehold (as he likely deserved), and out to the entrance, giving the two sirens plenty of warning of his presence by swimming louder than usual. Vio was still talking, but Comic had fallen silent by that point.

“have… either of you seen dust?” He asked the pair, figuring if he left they would have seen.

Comic whispered something to Vio.

“I haven’t seen Dusty at all today, but Comic said he saw him in the library this morning, but not since then.” Vio explained, Comic nodded in agreement.

Great! He had a lead on his quest. “thanks.” He said as he turned to go to the library. The bickering mer had actually moved on from fighting in the grotto, and were now nowhere to be seen, but Horror wasn’t too worried about where they were. 

He swam into the library, and found Killer and Cross curled up right up next to the twins, all three listening to Nightmare reading quietly. He noticed Cross and Dream were both half asleep, but Killer was wide awake, occasionally pestering Nightmare but also legitimately interested in his reading. He waited until Nightmare paused to turn a page, then interrupted.

“Do you need something?” Nightmare asked, still using his reading voice as to not disturb the two half-asleep mer beside him.

“... do you know where… dust is?” He asked, a twinge of guilt riding in his soul as Cross stirred lightly, but it settled when the high-strung mer didn’t wake.

Nightmare seemed to think for a moment. “He left a while ago, but I can sense strong emotions coming from him in the nests. They don’t seem to be very good emotions.” He explained. “I would join you, but-” Nightmare motioned to the three mer in his lap.

“i’m a liability!” Killer whisper-shouted. “night, what’s a liability?”

Nightmare looked shocked. “Who told you that?!”

Uh oh… looks like someone was going to get in trouble for insulting the boss’s favorite… It was probably Cross who called Killer a liability, but he might not get in trouble considering Cross was the second favorite (and the favorite when Killer was being particularly annoying). Horror left the library before any chaos could happen.

Moving swiftly to the nesting area. Almost immediately the sight of a stripey purple tail signaled where his target was, but a small sound stopped Horror from ambushing. It sounded like… crying.

Horror crept closer, wanting to make sure that he knew what he was hearing was accurate before acting. Sure enough, Dust was crying, small purple tears floating up to the grotto’s ceiling from where he was curled up in the nest.

It was said that mermaid tears could heal all wounds, and Horror had seen that firsthand, but it never meant that he wanted to see his podmates saddened enough to cry. Not wasting any more time, Horror layed down right in front of Dust, pulling his crying mate into his arms, wordlessly soothing the other. He ignored how Dust squirmed in surprise before settling when he recognized Horror.

“wanna talk?” Horror murmured. When the smaller mer shook his head, releasing more tears, Horror said nothing, only holding him tighter, soothing, and doing his best to stop those tears.

Horror didn’t care if he stayed here for hours, as long as he could, he would comfort his mates.

Chapter Text

Nightmare didn’t know how many times he had given this lesson to a siren, but he was glad that at least it made this time teaching the concept easier. Comic sat with a small piece of clear surface fabric in his hand, awaiting instructions from the ancient siren. At least he was attentive, so right off the bat when it came to teaching anything he was better than Ink. 

Today was a lesson on how to control the siren’s gaze. Comic had made it very clear that he wanted to visit his old pod now that he was mostly over his fear of the open ocean, and this was the next logical step. Even if he didn’t speak at all, Nightmare was almost certain that the mer of his old pod had little to no immunity to a normal siren’s gaze.

“Hold the cloth just over your eyes. Imagine, while doing that, that any magic your gaze may hold is blocked by the cloth.” Nightmare instructed. Over the years, he found the demonstration to be the most effective method of initially teaching the concept.

Comic did as he was told, holding the cloth just in front of his eyes, though he still looked at Nightmare. Just as he expected, he felt the familiar tingle of the young siren’s gaze dissipated. The feeling of “turning off” the natural gaze was very similar to the feeling of his natural sight being blocked by a physical object, so by using the clear fabric was a great way to demonstrate that feeling, and once Comic had an idea of how to manipulate his magic, practicing that skill would become much easier. 

“did i do it?” Comic asked, putting the fabric down. 

“You did wonderfuly.” Nightmare nodded. He didn’t miss how the smaller mer perked up at the praise, looking a little proud. “Did you feel anything different?”

it… almost felt like i shut off my eyelights, but i could still see” Comic explained. Perfect.

Nightmare nodded. “I want you to try this again, but when you remove the fabric, try to keep your gaze turned off.” He instructed.

Comic followed the instructions, using the fabric as a crutch to dissipate his magic. Once the cloth was removed, the magic remained dissipated. Nightmare nodded.

“Does this cause any strain on your magic?” Nightmare asked, to which Comic shook his head, still holding the gaze, he paused, then nodded slowly, looking a little embarrassed. “That is perfectly normal. Now that you have those basics down, would you like to learn how to control your voice?”

Comic nodded eagerly, his natural siren’s gaze returning. Soon, he would be able to visit his old pod, but he needed just a little more practice and just a bit more control over his magic.

Chapter Text

For once, instead of following any of the other sirens around while outside of the grotto, Comic was the one in the lead. He had woken up far before anyone else out of sheer excitement, and had waited patiently by the cave’s entrance until his two companions for the day were awake and ready to leave. 

Killer was directly on his left, while Vio trailed just behind them. Once Comic made it to the tiny cave he had been trapped in for three years. He turned to a direction he was almost certain of. 

“You excited hun?” Vio asked with a gentle laugh. Comic felt himself flush with a bit of embarrassment.

After all the lessons in the past week, Comic did something he thought he would never do again; he spoke in front of someone who wasn’t a siren.

“is it that obvious?” He asked in a soft voice. He immediately looked to Killer to make sure he hadn’t accidentally used any magic.

Killer caught on quickly, “don’t worry pearl, you’re doing fine.”

“You keep wiggling. You only wiggle like that when you’re really excited.” Vio laughed. Comic hadn’t even realized he had been doing that, and suddenly became hyper-aware of how he swam.

The rest of the trip through the open ocean was a quiet one, with Vio and Killer occasionally conversing with each other, but Comic was too focused on his mission to really involve himself. He swam through a massive kelp forest and knew he was in the right place. Just like the last time he was here, he was greeted by small fish and the occasional snail that lived among the giant strands.

Killer and Vio stuck close to him, relying on him and his memories from years ago to guide them. And eventually, after much confusion and calculations, the trio appeared on the other side, right at the coral reef Comic grew up in. 

He froze at the sight, taking everything in. Comic was not the same mer that left this place all those years ago, but maybe, just maybe, this was the same place as the one he left. Maybe his old pod, his old family, would allow him to visit.

“This is where you grew up?” Vio asked. Comic simply nodded as memories of playing among these reefs as a guppy played out in his mind, memories of him and his brother being taken in by the matriarch after his parents unfortunately passed, memories of growing up as the pod grew as well, remembering how the little kid he had helped raise was now a teenager… 

Killer bumped into him, getting his attention. “i can go ahead and explain shit. you said it yourself you didn’t know if they would even listen to you since you’re… you know…”

Comic nodded, agreeing to the plan.

"We’ll wait out here. Come back out and bring us to them, not them to us.” Vio instructed, though there was no magic in his voice. 

Killer darted away in the direction that Comic pointed to. The reef was large, and if you didn’t know where you were going, it was surprisingly easy to get lost in all the colors and shapes.

Comic began to worry the moment Killer left. What if they wanted nothing to do with him? What if they hurt them? What if they attacked Killer for associating with sirens? What if-

“Woah, you’re spiraling.” Vio interrupted, getting in his face to get the nervous siren to focus on him. “Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably not true.” He reassured.

“what if they hurt him?” Comic whispered, his last thought being restated, just out loud this time.

“Has your pod ever hurt anyone without reason?” Vio asked. Comic shook his head. “Then Kills will be fine. I know you’re anxious, but have a little faith that things will work out.”

Comic nodded, and just to prove Vio’s point, Killer darted back to them, looking excited.

“They said yes! Let’s go! They sounded so excited when I said your name.” Killer shouted, practically vibrating with excitement. 

Not wasting any time, Killer bolted in the direction of his home, Comic and Vio swimming close behind him. The moment they crested over the coral wall, he was greeted with the sight of his family, all watching, all looking excited to see him. Comic froze, not knowing how to react to everything he wanted to do. Vio nudged him forward a little, and so he continued on, swimming just close enough until Papyrus began to close the gap.

He darted straight into his brother, wrapping his arms over his shoulders and refusing to let go as Papyrus did the same. Neither said anything, but as Comic felt more arms around him and more voices began to whisper, more happy tears were shed, and as the group lowered into an impromptu cuddle pile with Comic in the center, he never felt more at home.

Chapter Text

Killer didn’t like jellyfish very much. He didn’t like how they floated around, no brain, just sting. He didn’t like how they would sometimes get in the way of his hunting, silently sneaking up on him and stinging either him or one of his podmates (something which happened far more often than anyone wanted to admit)

The only thing Killer could appreciate about them, was how they were an absolute mood.

Sometimes he would go to one of the more shallow parts of the ocean, one where jellyfish were common, and just lay in the sand and watch the little gelatinous blobs float above him. Killer would occasionally hit them with a rock or a shell, but for the most part, he just watched.

The other reason he didn’t like jellyfish was for a more recent reason; his new podmate, who he started calling his pearl, was scared of them. He wasn’t sure how Comic, who grew up in the shallows and thus among tons of the little buggers, was scared of jellyfish, but he didn’t like how he woke up to being smacked in the face by a tail as Comic fled from one that ended up in the nest area.

He had spent nearly an hour trying to calm the siren down while also trying not to wake anyone else and also trying to keep them away from the tiny thing. It wasn’t until Nightmare eventually woke up and scared the poor jelly away that his pearl calmed down a little.

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yeahhhhh life happened.... i don't think i'm going to be finishing up mermay this year...

i'm planning on doing another challenge in august... and october... and also december :)