Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ruin swam around aimlessly, honestly just very bored and wanting to do something.

“Should I go find somebody to do something with or should I just do something creative?”

Ruin wondered aloud, not really caring if anybody heard him or not.

What He was not aware of was Eclipse who was right in front of him as they both crashed into each other.

“I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into you like that! Are you okay?!”

“I’m fine Ruin.” Eclipse replies grumpily, ray like fins around his head twitching in annoyance.
Ruin looks at the grumpy shark and wonders if he even does anything in his free time.

“I’m leaving.” Is all Ruin gets as Eclipse suddenly swims away to wherever he goes in his free time.
Well then, that was awkward.

Ruin decides that he will go and talk to Tera since she is the only one that acts like he is a friend and not like he was some Mer that was infected with something dangerous.

Ruin sighed as he swam towards Tera’s little hang out place she always stayed in. He wished he had as many friends as the Beta fish did, but alas, he was probably never going to befriend most of the Celestial family no matter how hard he tried.

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Tera was making seaweed crowns when Ruin found her, she seemed to be enjoying it a lot as she hummed as small, peaceful melody.

“Oh, hi Ruin!” Tera said as she finished making the seaweed crown.
“How can I help you?”

“Hi Tera, I hope you don’t mind if I joined you for a bit, would you? I am honestly quite bored and would like to do something, so I came to find you.” Ruin told her as he swam over to where she was resting.

“I don’t mind at all Ruin; you can come and sit here if you like.” Tera told Ruin as she patted a spot close to her indicating where he should sit.

“Thank you so much Tera, I don’t know what I would do without you being here to do something with me when I am bored.”

“You’re welcome anytime Ruin. I don’t mind. Besides you give me some company that is not just my family.” Tera replies, happy to hear that somebody enjoys her company(Not that her family doesn’t like it, they do).
They proceed to make some crafts for the day and just have fun.

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At the end of the day Ruin left Tera and went to their bed to sleep, it had been a long day after all.

Ruin felt exhausted as he curled up in his soft bed made of soft fluffy material(I don’t know what it is just think of it as some nonexistent material) and was left alone with their thoughts.

Ruin thought about today’s small run in with Eclipse and how Eclipse had made him feel very awkward.

Ruin knew Eclipse could be intimidating even without trying to be, but he could also be very protective of things he doesn’t want to lose.
He knew Eclipse was honestly a very soft Mer with a hard outer shell and a traumatizing backstory, but Ruin could not help but feel intimidated by him however hard he tried.

He was more aware of Eclipse’s feelings than most because of his own experiences as an actor, but he knew he must be wrong when he sees that Eclipse loses some of his hard outer shell when he is around him.

It isn’t very noticeable, but Ruin can tell, even if he doesn’t know if it was because he kept Eclipse company and helped him with small things now and then or because he was there when Eclipse was not feeling the best and would try to get Eclipse’s mind of whatever was troubling him.

As Ruin thought about Eclipse, he felt himself start to drift off, God he was tired.

Before Ruin fell asleep, he realized he liked Eclipse a bit more than a friend but suddenly thought about his loss he had several years back, and he pushed the thought away.

Ruin stopped thinking as he fell asleep in his nest finally after however long he had been thinking about Eclipse.

Chapter Text

Ruin was doing his usual activities when he saw a not so mentally okay-looking Eclipse swimming past him.

It may have been difficult for most to see that Eclipse was not okay mentally, but for Ruin he saw it right away. The orange shark had duller eyes than his normal orange. His expression looked kind of nervous and jumpy. Eclipse’s movement looked like he was trying to look casual but was failing horribly.

Ruin started to swim alongside Eclipse in silence, surprisingly Eclipse allowed it.

Eclipse was the one to break the silence after who knows how long.

“Why are you following me?”

Ruin thought about his answer for a moment. He didn’t really know now that he thought about it. It was just a feeling that kept him there swimming alongside Eclipse.

“Because you don’t look okay and I think you need some company. Besides I think you need some comfort, you look like you just went through 5 stages of grief.”

“I don’t need any of your company or therapy bullshit.” Eclipse responds, ray like frills pressing back slightly towards his head.

“Clearly you do Eclipse.” Ruin says, seeing that the orange and black Mer was not in the best mood. He would have to tread carefully on his words.

“Why don’t we go to your den and get you some rest, hm?”

Eclipse stiffens slightly at the mention of sleeping.

“I don’t need to sleep Ruin.”

Ruin realizes his mistake immediately and quickly says, “I meant let’s go to your den and just relax. You don’t have to sleep if you have to.”

“Fine.”

They finally arrive at Eclipse’s den after a few minutes of swimming in silence.

“Eclipse”

“What?”

“What is it that put you so on edge?” Ruin finally asked after keeping the question in for so long.

“It was just a stupid nightmare. Nothing important.” Eclipse says, looking a bit uncomfortable.
Ruin felt his curiosity rising even though he knew he shouldn’t ask but blurted out the question anyways.

“What was the nightmare about.”

Eclipse stiffened at the question and looked at Ruin with annoyance, but he saw the look on Ruins face and for some reason could not help but start to explain his horrid dream.

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Eclipse was hunting for food like he did every day when suddenly he spotted a giant squid swimming around lazily.

Eclipse felt confusion, what was a giant squid doing this close to the surface? Welp, what should he care, as long as he could hunt it for food to feed him and Lunar.

Huh? Eclipse felt that something wasn’t right, but he could not wrap his mind around it.

So he pushed his thoughts aside, suddenly he lunged at the giant squid and caught it with his sharp claws and teeth.

Eclipse saw blood swirling around him as he sank his teeth and claws into his prey.

Suddenly he heard a scream from his prey, and he looked at it closely.
He suddenly let go as he saw Tera, wide eyed and bleeding, look at him in terror and flee as fast as she could.

No, no, no, this can’t be. Eclipse knew he would have been able to tell the difference between Tera and a giant squid. Now he would be killed or maybe be tortured by the Celestial family for what he had done.

Eclipse felt pain suddenly shoot up through his entire body and he screamed.

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“-lipse? Hey Eclipse, you okay?”

Eclipse looks at Ruin and realizes he was hyperventilating.

Eclipse doesn’t say anything, but instead curls up into a ball, not caring who saw and started to cry.

He felt warm arms wrap around him as he continued to express the emotions he had kept in for so long.

“Shhhhhh. You’re okay Eclipse.” Ruin murmured quietly.

After a what felt like forever Eclipse calmed down and stopped crying.
Ruin continued to hug him, and to be honest he kind of liked the gentle physical contact. Eclipse would never say it out loud though, over his dead body.

Eclipse felt himself drifting asleep after a while. He felt a bit of panic at the thought of maybe having another nightmare, but that was quickly drowned by the feeling of tiredness and the comfort of being held.
***

Ruin knew Eclipse was asleep when his breath became slow and steady. He couldn’t deny that he himself felt drowsy from being in Eclipse’s comfortable nest and in such a comfy position for so long.

In no time Ruin felt himself drift off while still having Eclipse wrapped in his arms. Without thinking about it because of his state of mind, Ruin snuggled closer to Eclipse as he fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Ruin opened his eyes slowly, confused on where he was. He could feel someone snuggled close to him. Ruin looked around still disoriented, he was in a soft comfy nest like his own, but it felt different in a way he couldn’t explain.

Suddenly Ruin looked at Eclipse and felt everything that had happened crash into him. Eclipse had a bad nightmare and had broken down when he told Ruin. Right.

Eclipse currently had his head under Ruin’s muzzle, and his orange and black shark tail was curled around Ruin’s navy blue and creamy white shark tail.
Ruin had never studied Eclipse very closely, but at this angle he could see the grumpy Mer had small scars that looked like thin claw marks al over his body. Ruin had always seen bigger scars but never the small ones.

Ruin himself also had a similar number of scars and scratches, maybe even more than Eclipse. Ruin had ray like fins around his head like Eclipses except they were a more dull golden color compared to Eclipse's orange.

Ruin shifted so he could untangle his tail from Eclipse, but as he did so Eclipse woke up and subconsciously grabbed his wrist. Ruin knew that Eclipse wanted him to stay and honestly, he would have if Eclipse had not woken up fully and realize what he did.

Eclipse pulled his webbed hand back like Ruin had spikes on his wrist in embarrassment.

“It’s okay. I can stay if you want.” Ruin told Eclipse softly. He knew what it felt like to be lonely.

“I don’t need your sympathy.” Eclipse growls.

Even though Eclipse said that he didn’t need him, Ruin could see that it wasn’t true. Eclipse’s eyes and body language told him everything.

“How often do you get nightmares Eclipse?” Ruin suddenly said, wondering how long Eclipse has been having nightmares like this.

Eclipse looked uncomfortable at the question and very descriptively said, “It’s none of your business.”

Well, that didn’t help at all, but Ruin looked at the look on Eclipse’s face and guessed that it was often.

They were still in a similar position from how they woke up except that they were both sitting up with both their tails still entwined (not romantically).

Ruin decided from the tired look in Eclipse’s eyes that he didn’t get much sleep. Yes, he did seem more refreshed from the long rest, Eclipse still looked quite tired.
Well that lack of self-care simply was not going to be allowed, not for Ruin.
Ruin and Eclipse sat in silence as he wondered how to get Eclipse back to sleep when he got an idea. A very interesting one at that.

“Lie back down.”

“Huh?”

“I said lie back down.” Ruin repeated.

Eclipse looked at him with a look of disbelief, honestly it was kind of amusing.

“And why would I do that.”

Ruin sighed exasperated, “ Just do it Eclipse. Please.”

Eclipse huffed and then surprisingly obeyed.
Ruin laid back down with Eclipse and got into the position they had earlier and started to softly sing a slow melody. He could feel Eclipse stiffen when he lies down and snuggles close to him, but then he felt Eclipse relax to the song he was singing.

Rui knew Eclipse would deny it until he died, but he could tell the grumpy Mer liked his song. Ruin was glad Eclipse liked the song, it was a special song to him that he had never shared to anyone else before. He probably would never share it to anyone else.

Ruin didn’t even know why he was singing this specific song to Eclipse instead of anything else he could have sang.

Soon Eclipse was fully relaxed. Ruin had the urge to pet Eclipses ray like fins, but fought against it. Ruin soon lost the fight and started to pet Eclipse on pure impulse.

Eclipse normally would be against any physical touch like this, but right now he melted into the touch.
Then Eclipse did something Ruin never expected to ever hear from Eclipse as he started to purr.

Eclipse may shed away from most touch, but Ruin realized that Eclipse was just very touch starved and tried not to be vulnerable by staying away from touch.

Soon enough while Ruin was thinking, Eclipse was asleep again and Ruin decided to go back to sleep with the grumpy Mer because why not.

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Eclipse woke up to the feeling of Ruin holding him close.

He immediately remembered what had happened yesterday.
Most of it had been spent sleeping with Ruin, and honestly, he did like the company of someone next to himself. Ruin had helped chase away his nightmares and give him comfort. Though Eclipse would deny that for the rest of his life.

Eclipse hated Ruin. Didn’t he? Eclipse didn’t know anymore, it was all too confusing.

He felt Ruin wake up as he shifted to get out of his nest.

“You feel less tired now Clipse?” Ruin mumbled sleepily.

“...Yeah. I do.”

Eclipse normally didn’t like being this vulnerable, btu at this point it was pointless when it came to Ruin. Ruin could read him like a book, and he knew that full well.

“We are never going to talk about this again.”

Ruin chuckles a bit at that.

“You needed it Eclipse, no matter how much you deny it.”

Eclipse felt a bit embarrassed at how Ruin was so casual about the fact they slept together. It made Eclipse a bit uncomfortable.

“Where did you learn that song?” Eclipse says, wanting to change the subject a bit.

Ruin looks a bit uncomfortable at the question. He even looked a bit sad at the mention of the song.

“It was just something I learned at my home.”

Ah, past trauma. That was one thing they shared in common with and Eclipse could not deny it however much he tried.

“Well, I should get going.” Ruin says quickly, changing the subject.

And at that they parted ways, not speaking about what happened to anyone.

Chapter Text

It was mating season. Ruin could feel it. He could hear other Mers fighting for mates and trying to impress each other.

Ruin knew that he could probably get a mate if he wanted to … but he was too afraid of having to deal with loss like he already had. Besides, he didn’t really want a new mate.

Ruin avoided any Mer other than the Celestial family, so he didn’t get reminded of his past too much.
He was fine with the Celestial family because he knew the family doesn’t mate very much so it wouldn’t hurt very much in his soul as seeing Mer’s mating would, and he also didn’t think he would witness any of the family getting a mate.

Besides, Moon didn’t want a mate, Sun was honestly just not most Mers type, Tera was the only one that could maybe get a mate (Monty doesn’t exist in this dimension much to Ruin’s relief), Cosmos had Aries and didn’t really visit very often because of his duties, and Eclipse was just Eclipse.

Ruin was in his den, trying to sleep the season away. Almost like hibernation at that point.

He curled his tail around himself tighter when he heard a particularly loud and pretty voice of a Mer trying to show of assault his hearing.
After a while Ruin drifted off into sleep.

***

Ruin woke up feeling his mate beside him. He looked at Monty, feeling a small surge of happiness at the warmth of his mate.

Ruin carefully untangled his tail from Monty and left the den to go hunt.

He swam around quickly and silently, hunting for anything worthy of catching for him and his mate. His small size was helpful for hiding from prey by going onto small spaces.

Ruin found a big fish swimming lazily around; it looked like it was waiting to get killed.
He stalked his prey, being as quiet as he could. As soon as he saw his chance he lunged at the big fish and clamped his jaws around it, killing it in a swift blow.

Ruin looked down at his catch and purred at seeing the size of the thing, he felt quite proud that he caught it. He slowly started to make his way back to the den.

“Monty I’m ho- “Ruin cut off as he was suddenly attacked by his mate, who had a crazed looked on his face.
Monty was slightly foaming at the mouth, his eyes were glazed, and he was snarling.

Ruin dropped his catch in terror and looked at Monty with pleading eyes.

“Love we can talk about this, please don’t do this.” Ruin for some reason felt like he had seen Monty like this before but could not recall why.
Monty just snarled and suddenly slashed his neck. Ruin felt the marks and my god they burned.

His mate clawed and bit him as he screamed in pain begging Monty to stop, until finally his mate gave on strong and final blow on his neck, and everything went dark.

***

Eclipse was just swimming past Ruin den when he heard Ruin screaming in pain from the den.

Eclipse cautiously peeked his head into the den and saw Ruin in his nest looking like he was being mauled by some invisible creature.
Eclipse immediately realized that Ruin was having a nightmare. So, as surprisingly as it was, Eclipse swam towards Ruin and shook him to try to get the distressed Mer to wake up.

Ruin suddenly went very still.
Eclipse could tell the Mer was still asleep, so he shook Ruin a bit more.

“Hey Ruin wake up” Eclipse said attempting to wake up the dead-looking Mer.

Suddenly Ruin woke up with a gasp and looked around, bewildered.

“Ruin what happened?”

The smaller Mer’s only response was a small sniffle.
Eclipse groaned inwardly as Ruin started to cry, turning from him softly crying to full blown sobbing.

Eclipse wasn’t one to give comfort, but he didn’t like hearing the smaller Mer cry, it just rubbed him the wrong way, so he slowly put his arms around Ruin in a hesitant hug.

Ruin immediately clung on to him and curled his tail around Eclipses in a clingy way.
They sat there like that for a while as Ruin started to calm down.
After what felt like forever, Ruin was just sitting in Eclipse’s arms, shaking.

“Thanks.”

Eclipse was taken aback at the words. He never really had anybody thank him for something before.
Eclipse felt a bit of joy at the fact he had been thanked. Eclipse would never say that out loud though.

Ruin finally let him go and sat back in his nest. Eclipse, seeing his job done, turned to leave. But before he could even get close to the den entrance, he heard two words that made him reconsider leaving.

“Stay. Please.”

Half of Eclipse wanted to leave, he had more important things he could do. But the second half told him to stay. The two sides fought for a moment before a decision was made.
Eclipse sighed as he turned back towards Ruin and laid down beside the smaller Mer.

Ruin pulled Eclipse closer causing the orange and black Mer to stiffen.
Eclipse soon relaxed though, because honestly, he was quite comfortable, and he couldn't deny that to himself.

Ruin soon fell asleep, and Eclipse followed soon after.

Chapter Text

“Hi Ru!” Tera swam over to Ruin side, holding a basket in her webbed hands.

“Oh, um hi Tera, I did not expect to see you here.” Ruin said, looking around at the place that was a bit deeper than what Tera normally would prefer to stay.

The water pressure around him was a bit higher than where he normally stayed and also quite a bit darker. There weren’t very many fish compared to the coral reefs the family stayed in other than a few who wandered a bit deeper (they still stay with the family; they just stay in deeper areas when they can) like Moon and Cosmos.

Tera glanced around the place; she seemed to just realize how deep in the ocean she really was.

“I didn’t even realize! Well, I just saw you down here and wanted to ask if we could hang out. I don’t really have much to do right now.” Tera explains to him.

“Ah I see. Honestly, I would love to hang out right now, but I am afraid I still have to hunt and do a few more daily tasks before I can.” Ruin says with an apologetic look.
Tera looks a bit disappointed but does not argue. “It’s okay Ru, I can probably bother one of my brothers anyways.” With that she swims away in search for her family and friends.

Ruin sighs, he had lied about having daily tasks, but the hunting part was true. He just didn’t feel up to hanging out today honestly, and he had no idea why.
Well, he should probably get back to hunting anyways. Ruin looked for a good spot to hunt and found a small nook that he could fit in. He was a shark yes, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t wait for prey if he felt like it. Right now, Ruin just felt like he wanted to wait until something came by so he could surprise it and kill it.

It seems he felt a bit lazy today. Oh well, what could he do about it. Ruin sat and waited for who knows how long, until he spotted a big fish swimming close to where he was resting. The fish was strangely colorful compared to where it was right now, and Ruin couldn’t help but feel curious about why such a colorful fish was here in the darker parts of the ocean.

Ruin slowly slid out of his hiding spot once the fish passed him and studied it. The fish was a mix of blue, orange, red, yellow, and green. It had giant beautiful fins, and the fins reminded Ruin of lionfish. The fins also had a tiny bulb of purple light on each little part of the fin that was separated from the main fin ( you know the way lionfish have their fins split into smaller parts of fin? Well, the purple light is on the end of each split).

Ruin was almost entranced by it, but then he got a grip on himself and lunged at the pretty fish. Suddenly it changed shape, and it was a small Mer pup that was scratching and biting him to try to get away. He was taken aback by the small Mer, making a small squeak in surprise.

He didn’t really know what was going on, but he tried to calm down the little Mer by petting its head and saying soothing words to try to calm the poor thing. Eventually the Mer pup calmed down and looked at him with fear.

The pup had now changed shape and color quite a bit. It was now blue with the colors becoming deep purple near the base of the tail. They had ray-like fins that were purplish black and white dots that looked like stars. The tail was purple at the base then became mix of purple and blue with more small white spots that resembled stars, it kind of looked like a galaxy.

The small thing had pretty blue eyes that sparkled. Quite the sight the small Mer pup was indeed. Ruin wondered what type of creature this pup resembled. Whatever it was, was not anything he had ever seen. He was now worried that the Mers parents would find him with their child and attack him. He did not feel like getting into a fight with protective parents right now.

“Where are your parents little starlight?”
The Mer pup gave a small sad cheep and looked towards a deeper area of the ocean and pointed. Ruin had a very bad feeling that he knew what that meant.
“Are they dead?” Ruin asked as gently as he could. The only response he got was a sad nod. Well, that explains why such a young Mer is out on their own. He also wondered how the little Mer had shape shifted like that.

“How did you change shape little starlight? Is it just an ability you have?”
The Mer pup nodded with a small cheep following. That answers that apparently. Ruin looks at the pup and realizes something very obvious that he should have seen a while ago. The Mer pup was hurt, and it was not just a few small scratches either.

“I’m going to take you with me okay little one?” Ruin tells the pup gently. He gets a small chirp in response. Ruin took that as an okay and swam towards his den.
Today had been a weird day hadn’t it?

Chapter Text

Ruin swam up to his den, taking the pup to a small corner with things like seaweed and underwater herbs. It was just a place that Ruin had set up in case he got hurt and needed stuff to help heal himself.
The corner had small shelves that were neatly organized and had a different type of plant on each one. Ruin inspected the small pup's injuries. They were not injured too much but he could tell that a certain nasty scratch would become a scar.

Where had the pup even gotten injured like this and how.

Ruin applies some herbs to the pup and then looks at it curiously. He would have to give the pup a name. Ruin thought about some names for a bit before deciding on one. Lyra, yes that would be a good fitting name.

“Would you like your name to be Lyra, little one?”, Ruin says to the pup. He wonders if the poor thing even had a name. The small pup looked at Ruin with large adorable blue eyes, then gave a small cheep and nodded its head.
Well, that sounded like a yes then. With names out of the way, Ruin wondered what he would do with Lyra. He had never had a pup before and certainly didn’t know how to take care of one. Then he got an idea.

Sun, yes Sun would gladly help him out with how to take care of a mer pup.
Sun had never had a pup before, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t taken care of one before. Sun loved mer pups. He had been found playing with at least 5 of them once. Sun was honestly like a pup magnet if he had to be honest.

To Sun’s den it was then.

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After Ruin had explained to the pup about where they were going, they went over to Sun’s den.

“Sun. Are you in here?” Ruin peeked into Sun’s very clean and neatly organized den. Sun had a very pretty den, but it just wasn’t his style and simply was not comfy enough. Ruin preferred to have a very cozy den with soft materials and not a too bright atmosphere. Ruin also liked a softer type of light in his den; he loved the glowing plants in his den and took care of them is the plants were struggling. Ruin wasn’t into plants very much but alas, if he wanted to have light then he would have to take care of the plants.

Sun had been taking a nap but woke up immediately at the sound of someone coming into his den. He immediately got up and put his back legs so close to his tail that if he had not looked closely, he would never have seen the hind legs at first glance.

Ruin sighed as he saw Sun put his back legs close to his tail. The poor axolotl was always self-conscious about the fact he had hind legs while other mers didn’t. Sun had said he wished that he could just cut off his hind legs once, but since he was an axolotl mer he would just re-grow them.

“O-oh, um hi Ruin.” Sun said a bit sleepily. He awkwardly swam over, trying to make his legs move smoothly with his tail.

Ruin let it go for now about Sun’s hind legs, he had a pup to take care of.

“Hello Sun, um do you think you could give me advice on how to take care of a mer pup?” Ruin asked, feeling Lyra hiding behind his back. The small pup was probably just shy, and honestly, he couldn’t blame the pup since he had no idea what had hurt her.

Sun tilted his head in slight confusion but mostly looked very happy to help Ruin out with something he was good at. Sun’s ray like frills puffed up a bit in his pride at being useful.
“Can I ask you why you need this information?” Sun asked, the sunny mer curiosity becoming too much to resist.

Ruin gently grabbed Lyra from behind him and held her close to him so she felt safer, but in still in plain sight of Sun. The sunny axolotl looked very excited to see the galaxy-colored pup.
“Oh my god don’t you look like such an adorable little starbeam!” Sun exclaimed. He gushed over Lyra for a bit longer before asking a question.

“Is this why you needed advice Ru? I would gladly help you with taking care of this little starbeam.” Sun beamed. Sun was honestly a lot more excited about Lyra than Ruin had expected, but it was kind of sweet seeing Sun so happy about being able to help a mer pup.

“Yes. It is the exact reason I came here.” Ruin said as Lyra relaxed a bit. The small pup could probably sense that Sun was not dangerous.

“Who are their parents?” Sun questioned curiously, tilting his head a bit like he was a small pup learning new things.
Ruin just sighed and started to explain how he had found Lyra and that he would be keeping her with him until she was old enough to go find a mate.

Today was definitely going to be an interesting one.

Chapter Text

Ruin watches as Lyra and Sun swim around and play hide and seek. The two seemed to be having fun and Ruin had even joined a few rounds of playing with Lyra. The two seemed to almost never run out of energy and acted like they just had very energizing food.

Ruin sighs as he starts to feel a bit tired from the day. It is getting close to midday and Ruin honestly likes to take naps. Mers are known to act a bit cat like so it’s not very surprising. For some reason shark mers are more nocturnal than anything. Ruin prefers to be awake very early in the morning and take a nap in the middle of the day. It’s kind of like a daily schedule that most shark mer have, including Eclipse.

Eclipse may not sleep as much as he should, but when he does, Ruin realized a while ago that he also likes to sleep around midday and wake up very early in the morning.
Ruin’s thoughts slowly drifted off as he felt sleep trying to drag him off into a dark void of peace with hopefully no nightmares. He was fine with weird dreams, but he hated his nightmares.

A small tug on his head fins jolted him back to reality. He saw Lyra looking at him with her shy and curious blue eyes. She looked like she was a bit nervous to disturb him, but honestly, he didn’t mind. Lyra looked too innocent and shy to be annoyed that she pulled him out of his slow and peaceful thoughts.

Sun was looking at him with understanding in his cerulean eyes. Sun knew that Ruin usually takes naps or just sleeps at this time of day. Ruin could tell that Lyra was getting tired too and that was probably because he found her in the deeper parts of the ocean which meant she would probably be a bit nocturnal.

“Are you tired little one?” Ruin asks softly. The small pup nods and looks away shyly.

Ruin picks her up into his arms and gives Sun a silent nod of appreciation. Sun just smiles a bit, the sunny mer looked worn out too. Ruin was glad that Lyra had fun and was able to meet Sun. Sun had asked a few questions now and then about Lyra and Ruin had answered them to the best of his ability since he didn’t know too much.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ruin slipped into the den while carrying Lyra, who was asleep in his arms to his nest. He carefully set the galaxy-colored pup down into his soft nest and laid down beside her. Ruin had never expected to take care of a pup after he fled his home, none the less adopt one. Life is weird sometimes, isn’t it?

Ruin slowly got pulled into the darkness of sleep shortly after.

Chapter Text

Ruin woke to the sound of a small cheep and a scaly snout bumping against his face. As he opened his eyes Ruin saw Lyra’s sky-blue eyes staring at him. She was obviously bored and had probably waited as long as she could for him to wake up but had failed to do so.

“Are you bored Lyra?” Ruin asked the small pup as she stared into his soul like he was the only thing that could quench her boredom.

She responded with a small cheep and a nod of her head as she looked away as if embarrassed. Ruin sighed and got up out of his nest. The small pup was too cute to resist. Lyra was very obviously a very shy pup, and he would probably have to get her some friends to go to when he was out somewhere for if she felt bored.

Lyra followed Ruin as they left the den. He honestly didn’t know what to do with Lyra, she kind of just barged into his life. Maybe she could go to Sun again. Now that Sun was brought up, Ruin remembered that the axolotl was hiding his hind legs again. He should probably tell Moon about that.
First, he would talk to Sun though. Then Ruin could go and tell Moon about it if the talk with Sun doesn’t work.

He was getting off track. First, he had to find Lyra something to do and someone to watch him so he could got talk to Sun. He knew Cosmos was off the list immediately. The eel had work to do with the astrals and Ruin didn’t trust him to not get mad and maybe zap Lyra.
Next would be Terra, since she seemed the most reasonable choice. Terra loved mer pups and doesn’t do much anyways. Then suddenly Ruin remembered Terra was going to a small party a few of her friends were doing.

Sadly that only one option left, and that option was Eclipse. Ruin really didn’t want to resort to Eclipse, but talking to Sun was important. Eclipse could be too grumpy for his own good sometimes and was just as sarcastic, but he was the only option left, and Ruin knew that he really needed to talk to Sun so Eclipse it was.

Ruin sighed heavily and steered himself in the direction of Eclipse’s den. Lyra followed as Ruin felt the dread of Eclipse making him go away and find someone else. Maybe it would be better to just talk to Sun another day and give Lyra to Terra when she had free time.

Chapter Text

They found Eclipse inside his den shortly after. He honestly looked bored out of his mind. The orange mer was just messing with bedding out of what Ruin was almost certain was boredom.

Eclipse looked up as Ruin entered the den with a small knock on the entrance to announce his arrival. Eclipse looked tired, it was clear the mer was not getting as much sleep as he should … again. He had shadows under his eyes and looked a bit dull.

“What do you want Ruin?” Eclipse sighs tiredly as if it was the hardest thing in the world to talk. Ruin was a bit concerned and thought about if it was a bad idea to give Lyra to the sleep deprived mer. Eclipse didn’t need to have Lyra bothering him when he clearly looked like he needed sleep.

“Just say what you’re here for Ruin.” Ruin was snapped out of his thoughts as Eclipse said those words.

“I was going to ask if you could take care of a mer pup I found that had no parents so I could give Sun a talk about his anxiety with his hind legs, but you seem so tired I don’t want to make your day worse.” Ruin explained a bit nervously.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Eclipse spoke up. “As long as she doesn’t become a bother to me then she can stay.”
Ruin was a bit taken aback by the answer, but if he was agreeing to maybe take Lyra for a bit then it was worth trying.

Ruin turned to Lyra and asked her if she was fine with staying with Eclipse as long as she didn’t annoy him or be a distraction. After a bit of consideration, the small pup gave a chirp and a nod in response which made Ruin feel relieved.

“Well then, Lyra agrees to your requests. I will leave her here and be back as soon as possible. Though it might take a while just warning you.”
Eclipse doesn’t look like he cares that much and just nods tiredly.

Before Ruin is out of the den the tired mer asks him one more question. “So her name is Lyra?”
Ruin turns back towards Eclipse before answering. “ Yes, and she likes the name very much.” He earns a enthusiastic nod from Lyra making him chuckle a bit.

Ruin then head out of the den, dreading the conversation that he was going to have with Sun.

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“You’re a pretty little pup aren’t you, hm.” Eclipse says once Ruin is gone.

Lyra doesn’t know how to answer to that so she just nods cautiously. Eclipse hides the smile of amusement he can feel starting to form.

“I don’t mean that in a bad way little pup. You will attract many potential mates in the future. Many mer think I loo handsome and strong, which isn’t entirely wrong, but I don’t want to become mates with somebody I don’t even know. If I ever pick a mate they shall be somebody I know and like, not just some random ass mer thinking I would be a good mate because of my appearance. You should remember that Lyra, don’t become mates with somebody you don’t know or trust very well.” Eclipse looked like he was remembering something as he spoke, there was a sliver of betrayal in his eyes as he spoke and surprisingly a bit of sadness.

Lyra sensed that the larger mer was upset and snuggled up against him like as cat, she was even purring.
Eclipse was a bit startled from the reaction, but after a few seconds he calmed down and enjoyed the feeling of a warm body pressing against his for now. He may avoid it, but deep inside he was a small scared and touch-starved pup that grew up too fast.

He realized that he was starting to fall asleep and felt a bit of panic rise up to his throat. He didn’t want to have nightmares again. If he had to stop sleeping just to avoid them he would. Every time he woke up he would be panting and feeling scared.

A small snout nuzzled his and he realized Lyra was looking at him with wide blue eyes full of concern he didn’t ever think he would see in the eyes of a pup. Slowly he started relaxing again and closed his eyes.
Sleep welcomed him like a soft familiar blanket. This time there was no nightmares.

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By the time Ruin arrived at Sun’s den, Sun himself was just basking in the sunlight on a rock. Most axolotls just like to sit around sometimes, so it wasn’t very uncommon to see him napping there. Sun was just laying there with a sleepy and relaxed expression that made Ruin feel bad for having to come and ruin Suns rest.

“Oh, hi Ruin!” Sun said cheerfully when he saw the shark mer. Ruin was now feeling worse about the talk he was about to have from how cheerful Sun sounded. He didn’t show his inner turmoil though as he swan over to Sun.

“Hi Sun. I don’t want to interrupt your happy mood right now, but we need to talk.” Ruin made it clear what he was talking about by looking at Sun’s hind legs then back at him. Sun visibly wilted at that, making Ruin feel pity for the yellow mer.

“Do we really have to talk about this?” Sun asked sadly, his ray-like fins drooping.

“Yes Sun we do. I know you feel subconsciously about your hind legs, but that doesn't mean everybody is going to hate you for being different.”

“I’m sorry Ruin. I really am, but what if that is the reason that I might never get a mate in the future?” Sun looked at Ruin with pleading eyes.

“Sun, I don’t think you’re weird for having hind legs. I think it’s quite unique, and so does everyone else in your family. Being different isn’t a bad thing Sun, you just think it is. Besides I bet there are other axolotl mers out there living their lives like any other mer, and being proud of their hind legs. Just embrace yourself Sun, don’t think about anybody else. You’ll be so much happier if you just act like yourself and are proud of who you are.”

Sun looks a bit more confident from those words and his fins rise a bit more to their normal positions. “Thanks Ruin. I don’t know what I would do without you encouraging me.” Sun sniffles, tears coming to his eyes.

“It’s fine Sun. Do you need a hug?” Ruin asks knowing full well what the answer was.
Sun just responds with a nod before throwing himself into Ruin’s arms. They stayed there a bit before Sun broke away.

“Thanks again Ruin. Can you maybe stay here a bit?” Sun asks.
Ruin thinks about it a bit. He had left Lyra with Eclipse, but he had the feeling that they would be fine for a bit longer.

“Alright.” Ruin agrees, smiling a bit at the way Sun looks happier.