we used to look at the stars and confess our dreams {minho/key}
we used to look at the stars and confess our dreams
minho/key
merman!au ; pg-13
merman!key, merman!taemin, merman!onew, coarse language
written for lucentic for the 2012 SHINee Secret Santa exchange
Once upon a time there was a city that sat near the sea.
There were cliffs that dipped into the ocean and that had eroded from years of the waves attacking its sides. It was bright and sunny days mostly and the rays of the sun licked the wrinkled sea, the light to the darkness of the deep, cold grave below. When it was cold enough whales would appear and when it was warm enough, dolphins would jump out of the sea’s grasp.
On the cliffs sat a small town. It was principally fisherman and their humble wives that lived in this town because of the large amount of fish just a few kilometers offshore. The men’s arms were sunburnt or tanned from the hours on the ships and their hands were knotted and bloodied and scarred from the work with nets and knives all of their lives.
It is one late autumn afternoon, just before the fishermen are about to drive back home to the shore, when an experienced fisherman named Jung Yunho sees something in the distance. He isn’t one-hundred-percent sure what it is, and so drives his boat closer and closer, until he sees something on a rock that juts out of the ocean. At first it looks like a woman sunbathing in the crisp air, but then he realizes that it’s a man with a fish tail.
When the mermen and mermaids are discovered, their sleepy fishing town turns into a buzz. A mayor is changed from a jolly man to a dictator that builds his house on the biggest and the most dangerous cliff so that he can oversee the mermaids and mermen that sheepishly peek their heads out of the sea. Only some brave few have ever gone down to the beach, where the port sits.
The dictator has only seen three: the one that Jung Yunho found and has now at his house as a ‘pet’ of sorts, a curious mermaid, and the King.
The King is old but wise, and his kindness outshines any of his people. And so that’s why the dictator hates him the most; he is the opposite of him. They only meet a few times but even if the King wants to make lasting ties between the sea people and the earth people, but the dictator is far too jealous of the merman, and sends a full attack against the merman people.
Both sides fight valiantly, with many heroes from both sides of the war, but it is finally the humans with their guns and their explosives that destroy the merman people. In the end the humans travel by submarine to the King’s palace and shoot missiles, until it finally crumbles. The Queen dies and in a selfish act of revenge, the King swims up to the shore and attacks the humans with his most powerful weapon-a Trident. He died with seven bullets in his body; his Trident was taken.
The remainders of the mermaids and merman were banned from the shores of the now bloody city. They were to stay one-hundred kilometers away from their shores, and if they did not follow these rules, they would be shot. In response, the first daughter of the King said that they would destroy any ship that would enter their region would be destroyed and the crew drowned.
The royal family led the merman people away. No one knew if they had died eventually, but they remained silent, and soon the idea of half-man, half-fish creatures just became a fable.
-
Minho had never lived a sheltered life.
His father was a fisherman, like many of the other fathers in the small fishing village. Minho prided himself with having a strong, powerful and good-looking father that always came home with energy even after a long day of work. Mr. Choi would often get up early in the morning, way before Minho would even think of getting up, to go fish. Many days he would not return for a week, sometimes two weeks, and come home with a boatload full of fish and a cold. But Mr. Choi’s smile never left his face.
One morning, Mr. Choi leaves for the ships, like any other day, hours before Minho gets up and gets ready to go to school. Kim Jonghyun, a boy that goes to the same school as him, stops by his house and they walk together to school.
Jonghyun’s father also works a fisherman, and Minho has seen Mr. Kim many times at their house after a long fishing trip. Compared to his father, Mr. Kim looks tired and old, with bags under his eyes and wrinkles on his face. Jonghyun likes to comment about all the scars that his father has, but Minho finds it just gross and ugly.
“How long do you think this trip will be?” Minho asks when they’re just a few steps away from the school. He always asks this question whenever his father disappears, because Jonghyun knows everything because he’s a year older and his father tells him everything. Jonghyun stops and looks up at the sky before nodding.
“Three days! I heard that some guy is retiring, so they won’t be out for that long,” Jonghyun explains. He shrugs at Minho’s smile before running into the school’s gates. Minho runs after him. He stops at the gates.
It’s said that the town made these gates when the great war was finished. The school was the infirmary during the war, and so it was the only off-limits area in the town. The crest on the gates is of two narwhals crossed-the symbol of the city since the beginning. There was a rumor that when the humans were almost defeated and the mermaids had almost reached the shore, that a bunch of the sea creatures pushed the mermaids and mermen away. They were led by the city’s symbol-the narwhal.
It’s these gates that Minho always stops and stares at every morning. He remembers the first day of year one when his father carried him on his shoulders up to these gates. This is where Mr. Choi went to school, and his father went to this school too, and this is when his mommy and his daddy met each other. His father only got a high school education-that was why Minho was going to stay in school for as long as he possibly could so that he could get a better life.
His father always looks up to these gates. There’s a reason-all the roads lead to the school; they always have. And even when the dirt roads turned to asphalt and feet turned to wheels, all the roads lead to the school. Everything pointed to the school, the center of it all.
-
When Minho returns from school three days later he sees his mother crying. His mother doesn’t cry though. Nine-year Minho is sure of this. The only time he saw his mother cry was when he was really little and she had locked herself in her room.
It’s different this time. She’s out in the open and vulnerable.
Minho runs over to her, resting his hands on her shoulders, his stomach on her back and his chin near her cheeks. “What’s wrong ma? What’s wrong?” She cries harder. Her body shakes uncontrollably even if Minho tries to keep her still. He feels useless.
His grandmother arrives at six and scoops Minho and puts him to bed. He’s told that he doesn’t have to go to school tomorrow.
-
Nine years later
Minho is on a fishing boat. It’s something that he’s been doing since he was sixteen, when he dropped out of school.
Jonghyun still looks down at him when they cross the street because of this. Jonghyun is now the main librarian in the city because he had gone to school for the all four years of school. They rarely talk anymore but Minho wouldn’t want to talk to him anyways. Jonghyun has always had it better than Minho. Jonghyun didn’t have to make any rash decisions in his life; Minho makes them every day.
When Minho is nine years old, he learns that his father and most of their ship were brutally murdered. Jonghyun’s father was the only one that survived-he stabbed and fought himself free before he could be dragged to the depths. When Jonghyun’s father returned home the first home he went to was Minho’s.
Everyone shook their heads with disappointment when they heard the story. People didn’t need to ask the cause of their deaths; it was obvious to anyone that knew some brief history on their city would know that it was the mermaids. They must have forgotten about the boundaries or maybe the fish lead them across the line. The mermen guards must have seen the boat, counted to ten, and started attacking them.
There were gifts and flowers and hugs for the next few months. People asked if he was ok and gave out their help and their hands but Minho never accepted them. He just smiled politely and told them matter-of-factly that they’ll be fine, and that they shouldn’t worry. Two weeks after Mr. Choi’s death, his mother starts working full-time at the fishing plant the next town over. She returns home every night with bags underneath her eyes.
Minho hates to see this look in her eyes every night-he hates how she has to go to sleep right when she gets home. He tries doing a lot of the chores and he tries making dinner so that she won’t have that many problems but in the end, he just feels useless. He promises her that when he’s sixteen, he’ll drop out of school and start working to get them more revenue, until his mother can retire.
His mother and his heart are against this decision, but he knows that it had to be done. If it wasn’t done she would be working herself to the bone. He wants to go through all of high school and get a higher paying job but he tells himself that he cannot spend another night feeling useless.
Minho has never lived a sheltered life. He knows ships from his father and in a couple days he understands the layout of the fishing boats. He doesn’t interact well with the older fishing men but they don’t try to make a conversation with him either; he works. He is the one that takes the long trips because he doesn’t want to, nor does he need to, go home for a very long time. After nine years his mother is finally getting better.
He believes work is the best way to push away the evil thoughts that dare to creep in and invade his thoughts. There are mornings where the last thing he wants to do is get up, but he knows he has no other choice. If he leaves for four days he doesn’t think about his family or friends for four days. But when he settles in his bed at home after the four days and tries to sleep, his mother’s cooking in his belly, his father’s laugh and his mother’s eye-smile creep in and he cannot sleep.
He works ten times harder.
-
It’s a five day trip and Minho smells the sea air and lets it circulate in his lungs. He spreads out his arms. It smells of salt, of the sea and of fish, and this is the smell that clings to him. They are on their way home now and Minho can almost feel the warmth of his mother’s arms when she’ll hug him.
“Have you seen them?” one of the seniors, Kim Youngwoon asks, a cigarette between his lips and a cut running down to his chin. Minho nods; he doesn’t need to ask what ‘them’ is. Not that many people call them by their full names anymore. It’s ‘them’ or ‘the creatures’. They don’t deserve a pretty name; they don’t deserve to be called man.
“There have been more,” Minho comments. He knows how to be blunt and quick now.
“I think something’s coming,” Youngwoon predicts, rubbing his chin. He must have shaved it before the trip but now it grows back slowly, and Minho can hear the distinct sound of his thumb moving against the short hairs. “Maybe even a new war.” Minho’s eyes open and Youngwoon nods.
“A war is a bit drastic, isn’t it?” Minho asks.
“Humanity is drastic,” Youngwoon replies, throwing his cigarette onto the ground and smashing it with his rubber boots. “Just remember-if you see one, kill one.” Minho nods and Youngwoon turns around, his hands in his pockets. The wind blows his hair around.
-
“What in the world are you thinking?” Taemin asks and checks his nails. He lies down on the sand and stretches out his arms and his tail so that his fins at the bottom stretch out before shrinking back in when he settles back down. His scales shine golden yellow and match his current brown locks. With a face like Adonis and dancing as graceful as a swan’s, Taemin was chased by many mermaids. The only thing they didn’t know was that he’s a brat.
Kibum knows this all too well.
“A lot more than you,” Kibum replies, swimming around the sunken ship that he now has claimed his secret hiding spot. Well, not so secret after the golden-tailed merman had followed him one day (undoubtedly the worst day of his life). Besides the pesky Taemin going there whenever Kibum wants some time to himself, it’s wonderful and filled with secrets that once upon a time, Kibum had been able to keep to himself. Not anymore.
“Hey! That’s mean your highness,” Taemin complains, “You shouldn’t be using such a foul tongue to your subjects.” He flips his chestnut hair so that it falls softly down on his cheek like the seaweed that blows back and forth with the soft current.
“And my subjects shouldn’t follow me around everywhere, but you got that one covered.” Kibum swims into the hull of the ship and pulls out one of his most prized items-a compass that he had found in the debris. Or that’s what Jinki told him it was when he had asked him what it was. It doesn’t work anymore because of the amount of time spent underwater but he doesn’t mind, spending his hours looking at the dials and the needle that will always point at southwest.
He returns out to where Taemin is impatiently waiting. Though he pretends like he doesn’t mind being so far away from the big city, it’s obvious that he does by the way he fidgets and swims about whenever he follows Kibum to his favourite hiding spot. A city boy through and through, it showed by the way he turned his head back, half-expecting a bunch of guards to arrive. Kibum already knows they won’t, this place is so far away from the castle it takes thirty minutes to swim out here, and Woohyun, the head of the guards, would never force them to go looking for him.
“Can we go home now?” Taemin drawls, running his fingers through his hair and letting it swim around his head. He kicks his tail and a little bit of sand moves up. “Maybe you just need to rest a little while and realize what you’re thinking of doing is completely and utterly foolish and that staying home is probably the best.”
Kibum sighs. Some people would never understand.
“It is land, an area that us merman have never been able to reach in centuries! If you don’t find the idea of exploring and leaving this dull, desolate place behind then you must be mad! Taemin, I doubt you’ll ever understand the wonderfulness of the outside world,” Kibum explains. Taemin rolls his eyes.
“You’re the mad one, Prince Kibum! You’ve got everything and yet you want more? You have so many friends and attendants and you are the only son of the Queen! That makes you the only heir! What happens if you get killed on land because you are a damn merman, by the way, and someone else who isn’t as awesome as you will take your place? You have to think of these things.” Taemin huffs and pulls at Kibum’s hand, pulling him home. Kibum sighs and sets down his belongings and follows Taemin back home, who seems much happier to be closer to the city.
“One day,” Kibum whispers under his breath when he reaches the castle gates. Woohyun shakes his head when Taemin knocks on the large, stone doors, and Kibum and he share a small smile. Woohyun will keep his secret. It’s nice to have people who think alike.
-
This idea stemmed in him when he was young. He heard learned of the large war that separated them from the humans and was told to hate them, and so for a very long time he despised the humans and wished to stay in his room and only go out when he needed to. Kibum was a prince though and was pulled out to talk to other kids and his mother’s friends. Everyone would always smile down at him-he was a promising future.
He was the first son in a very long time. After the Queen had ran away at the end of the war, she had had a daughter, and then her daughter had a daughter, and the cycle continued for two more generations until Kibum was born. Everyone saw this a sign, and so they watched him ever-so closely to make sure that he wasn’t turning evil or that he was doing any wrong things. He would be a strong leader.
He had many friends that he became close with at a very young age. His first friend was the scholar’s son, Lee Jinki, who had a pretty, pale green tale and messy, brown hair. He giggled often and was extremely clumsy, but he was always really knowledgeable about the humans and their customs from what his father told him. Jinki was the one that knew Kibum’s obsession with going further in the most, and pushed him forwards silently.
Woohyun, who was the head of the guards, would also too learn that he had a thing with running away when one day he saw Kibum swimming away in the night and stopped him. Kibum had to order him not to tell his mother and let him go out whenever he pleases. Woohyun automatically hates this idea but must let the Prince do whatever he pleases, and keeps his secret. Though Woohyun never admitted it, he was more accepting of the necessary escapes than Taemin, the bratty Lord’s son.
Kibum had decided that his life-long dream would be to go on shore somehow, and find a way to return the compass to the man that had previously owned it. He felt every time that he held it in his palms a secret touch, like he was being connected to someone close to him somehow, maybe even to his destiny. He would run his fingers over the alien letters and wonder what they meant. What the humans were saying with this instrument.
His nineteenth birthday is coming up soon and he knows that now is the time that he needs to go on his expedition before it is too late. He knows that when he turns nineteen these things will be too hard for him to do and he will not have enough time with all the new responsibilities that will be dumped upon him. He sighs and settles down into his pillows that night and settles a perfect date to go out and swim to shore-two nights from now, three days from his birthday.
-
“Your birthday is coming up,” his mother announces when they sit at the breakfast table the next morning-one day until the day. Breakfast is soggy and Kibum pushes it around on his plate until servants eventually take it away. He has never been a breakfast person anyways and his mother understands this when she sets her cutlery down.
“Yes, I do believe it is,” he replies dryly, brushing some of his bangs out of his eyes. He thinks that it may be time to get it cut soon, with how they flop down onto his face when he’s swimming, and he doesn’t want to tie it up in a ponytail like mermaids. He doesn’t want to be like Taemin at the slightest.
“And what would you like for your birthday? You can have anything my son,” she asks with a polite smile that makes Kibum slightly sick. Yes, of course he loves his mother. But sometimes he wasn’t sure if the smile that he received from her was any different from the one she addressed the city with, or if it was a warm one just for him, because the both were cold and unreadable.
“To touch the shore.”
This answer wasn’t very new. Since he was thirteen he had been giving the same answer to the question but anyways got simpler things like a new charm or a seahorse that he could ride or more books so that he could study the humans from a faraway distance. Her smile disappears at his answer and he isn’t surprised, pushing himself out of his seat at the table and heading off to his room. He stops at the doorframe and his mother stares at him.
“I know the answer is no, it’s ok.” She sighs and crumples in her seat, her black hair flowing down to her milky white skin. She’s a pretty swan with trimmed feathers.
-
“You’re crazy,” is all Taemin says about Kibum’s plan to escape tomorrow night. Kibum rolls his eyes and digs the compass out of the ship. He doubts he’ll be able to go to the ship tomorrow so he will bring the compass with him.
“You’re stupid,” Kibum replies.
“No seriously you are crazy. You will get killed. Didn’t you her about history in that fancy teaching of yours? If you even cross a meter past their boarders they will shoot you and you will be killed and I will not be there to help you, ok? You will die and I hope that then you will realize your dumb mistake!” Taemin’s fuming and his eyes bright.
“I will be fine, ok? And if you would just shut up about it, ok? I just told you because I knew that you were probably going to follow me like always.” Kibum slips the compass into his little satchel and buries some of his prized possessions in the sand to make sure that no traveler will notice it. “I will be home by sunrise. If I am not by noon, then you can sound the alarms and tell my mother. Until then, you must remain quiet!”
Taemin sighs, “Fine, your highness.”
“Thank you Taemin-ah,” Kibum chirps with a smile. “And anyways, I will be telling Woohyun too so you can run to him if I really am lost forever.” He winks and Taemin runs his fingers through his hair.
“You are such an idiot, your highness.”
“Someone has to be the idiot. Change doesn’t typically happen without the idiot.”
-
“You should have told me earlier, I could have planned more,” Woohyun sighs, looking around in his small office. “I am not even on duty tonight unless an emergency happens. This is supposed to be my day off! You know I suck at lying-how am I supposed to lie to my men and say that I just want to stay out for the night when I have been talking about my day off for the past six weeks?”
“I will give you more days off if you do, please,” Kibum begs, his hands on Woohyun’s shoulders and shaking him madly. The red-tailed merman pushes Kibum off of him and readjusts his short, black hair.
“I-I don’t know how I am supposed to do this, seriously.” He swims around to his desk and grabs his belt, strapping it around his waist and checking his sword. He looks back up at the pink-tailed Kibum and snarls. “Three weeks off every year or I will spill your secret out to everyone.”
“Yep~!” Kibum swims up and hugs him. He’s about to plant a kiss on his cheek when the door is kicked open and a purple-tailed and green-tailed pair enter the office-Howon and Dongwoo if Kibum remembers the guards’ names well enough-with wide eyes and pale faces.
“A human boat has entered the region and they are shooting at us! Woohyun-ah, help!” The green-tailed one, Dongwoo, screams. Woohyun swallows and swims past them out to the walls. There are lights above the water and Woohyun growls.
“Wake up Sunggyu-hyung and get him down here! And contact Junyoung and wake up his battalion. Tell Sunggyu to get the others and start fighting, and tell Junyoung to clear the people just in case!” Woohyun orders and grabs onto Howon’s arm. “No merman blood shall be spilt tonight!”
Suddenly the water lights up with flashes from the human’s guns and Kibum sees the fire from their weapons. The walls are still very far away from the castle and the townspeople, but Kibum can only imagine the dead warriors that protect the barriers. The castle was far away from the line that divided the humans from the mermen. If this was by accident, they would have received enough time to turn around and drive back home. No, this was an attack.
“Swine,” Kibum growls underneath his breath. He grabs onto Woohyun’s belt and fishes out his sword from its sheath. He swims upwards and ignores Woohyun’s complaints.
It is a fisherman’s boat, Kibum knows this. He can see the hooks used to kill fish and the nets that trail behind that have been pulled up. It has a big propeller and he dodges its fins to reach the top of the waves.
The air hits his face and he bobs in the water for a few seconds. A gun’s end is pointed in his direction and he ducks down when it fires. He remembers the day that Jinki explained to him in full detail the war between the merman and the humans-and explained the guns that they used to split open their fins so that they couldn’t swim away, and would then collect the scales or the tail for show.
“Ah!” Kibum screams when he gets back above the water. “Get away from our land or I will kill you!” He has not touched on his human-speak in a while and it sounds raw underneath the rain and the night that hits his face.
The gunman stares down at him with a degrading look. “You killed everything I had! You are destroying our lives! I will eradicate the problem before we have to face it again!” He pulls his gun back up and points it at Kibum, who swims back underneath the water and resurfaces underneath the man’s feet.
He swipes his arm so that the man falls blindly to the ground. Kibum pulls his sword up and is about to stab the man’s chest when a scream resounds and he sees many more gunmen run down towards him. Kibum growls and throws the sword at one of them, hitting his chest. He steals the man’s gun and tries his best to keep it above the water, kicking his tail furiously.
“Stand back vile humans! Or I will shoot you!” He is not sure if he conjugated the human-speak properly but the men’s faces change enough so he thinks he did is best. “Turn your ship around or the ship will hit the bottom of the ocean!” The men nod and swallow, dropping their guns and running back to the various parts of the ship. They all look tired and they are wearing loose clothing. The last one turns around and picks up a small object from the bottom of the boat, one that Kibum cannot see well, and turns back to look at Kibum.
It is a young face compared to the old men that man the ship or the gunman that crawls back slowly, trying to get away. He has shoulder-length brown hair and large, brown eyes that seem to seep into Kibum’s soul. His heart starts beating fast against his chest as the man watches him. He walks over to the hit man and pulls out Woohyun’s sword. He walks on the wet floor up to Kibum. He dips the sword into the water and they watch the blood seep from the blade into the dark, somber waves.
“You people,” mumbles the young man and he is about to hand the pink-tailed merman the sword when he crumples to the ground. In his back is a merman arrow, barely in his back, but still enough to paralyse him. Kibum screams and drops the gun into the ocean and pulls himself onto the boat. The rainwater keeps him wet enough to pull the arrow out of the young man’s back. The boat has started to move again and Kibum shrieks.
He slips out of the ship, but the man grabs onto his tail and looks at him with sleepy eyes. “Please, help,” he groans, his eyelids half-open and his mouth letting the rainwater in. Kibum swats him away and he falls back into the water, but the man crawls forwards, trying his best to grab onto Kibum once more. Kibum swims away, and so the man pushes himself off of the boat. He lands into the water with a splash and doesn’t float.
Kibum dives down underneath the water with a gasp and catches the heavy man as he descends down. He swims back up to the air with difficulty to try to keep the man alive.
“Are you ok?” Kibum asks over the rain and now thunder. The man groans in response.
Kibum sighs and starts swimming after the boat, now far away from the castle. He pushes himself to go faster, his satchel hitting his side with every powerful kick. The man is heavy and he has trouble kicking sometimes and keeping is head out of the water but he tries with all of his might. He closes his eyes and screams out for help, for the people to wait, but the boat has distanced itself far away now so that he cannot get his voice across. He just makes sure to follow the ship as blindly as possible.
This man will come out alive.
-
Minho moans when he opens his eyes. His back hurts tremendously and he feels like he’s been sleeping on a bed of rock all night. He barely remembers what had happened the night before; he was sure that Youngwoon was on guard and he was carrying a gun but he wasn’t entirely sure what had happened after that. He felt so sore and his eyes stung.
He pushed himself up and instantly the need to vomit ran through him. He turned to the side and puked on the rock. When he looked up, he realized he wasn’t in the barracks anymore. He was in a cave that went to the ocean. It was a bright and sunny day and it seemed like everything was perfectly fine. Waves entered the cave and hit the shores, but he was in deep enough so that no water could hit him. When he reached up, his hair was just a little wet near the tips.
Minho decided that it was probably a good idea to get up and explore the cave that he was in to find out how he could get home. He was unsure about the limits-was he in mermaid territory? Was an army of mermen ready to attack him when he stood at the mouth of the cave? He prayed to God that he was safe from that threat, and wiggled his hips to try to get his legs awake for they felt asleep.
“I-I can’t feel my legs!” Minho screamed; his back aching once more as he tried to move his legs. Nothing was working-his legs refused to move. He rolled onto his stomach and started sobbing-he was dead. He was stuck in a cave and he couldn’t move-he was therefore dead. If he had his legs he could swim. It would be long and meddlesome but he would be able to. And dying trying to save himself would be better than waiting for the hunger.
“Shh.”
He turns to the voice and sees a face and shoulders poking out of the water that slides into the cave. Porcelain skin and blonde bangs that dip into his light brown eyes. His arms dry on the rock, revealing some of his abs from above the water and his arms are skinny but defined. His eyes look like they could stare quite harshly but he gazes on him with a soft look, the corners of his eyes showing off some worry.
Minho’s eyes linger behind the face and he sees the tips of a pink tail splashing in the calmed water. He’s taken aback and he tries pushing himself away when the man’s hand flies up and grabs onto Minho’s ankle. His hand looks cold and wrinkled and the warm water drips down Minho’s pant leg and pools underneath his leg on the stone. They hold their gaze before Minho finally settles down and the merman lets his foot go. It flops uselessly on the ground.
“I mean not to hurt you human. If I did, I would have killed you much sooner,” the merman says in chopped up speak like a small babe still learning phrases. The air is cold and his lips look purple. He looks down in the water and mumbles something underneath his breath in a language Minho cannot comprehend, before looking back up and breathing through his nose. “Are you hungry or thirsty?”
Minho looks down at his stomach. He had been eating some of the worse fish and crackers for the past few days and he would love something better. Certainly a merman would know how to get some of the better foods and maybe even something fresher than the things Minho had been having recently. He considered that the merman might try to poison him, but hadn’t he stated that if he wanted him dead, he would have already killed him?
He nodded, “I am really hungry.”
The merman seemed to understand, and pointed at his eyes, “You haven’t had any fruits recently. How you humans hurt yourselves.” Before Minho can reply, he dives under the water and leaves Minho in the cave all alone. He doesn’t return until sundown.
-
Dining on seaweed and salmon, Minho eats with his hands. The merman has helped him press against a rock in the cave so that he can sit up and eat. The merman eats some seaweed and some type of vegetation that Minho has never seen before on the other side of the cave, still half-way in the water. He watches with half-open eyes as Minho pulls apart the salmon. It isn’t cooked but it tastes delicious.
“I’m sorry,” Minho mumbles and sets the food aside. The merman looks up at him with puzzled eyes and mouth agape.
“Why?” The merman asks, swishing his pink tail to keep himself afloat.
“Did you have to kill one of your fishy friends for me to have dinner? Isn’t that like you killing your subjects?” Minho asks sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. The merman laughs.
“The fishes do not care for us, and we cannot even talk to them! We are like you humans, we kill them for food. But instead of throwing their carcasses away we use them for our weapons. The sinew is quite strong. We typically do not kill sharks and whales for they are majestic creatures,” the merman explained with a small smirk placed on his lips.
“Oh, I guess I screwed up pretty badly on that one,” Minho laughs, and the merman chuckles with him. His face is pretty when he laughs, Minho thinks. The silence stretches between them and the sunset creeps in with the wrinkled sea. “What is your name? If mermen have names of course.”
“Kim Kibum, Prince Kibum if you are going to be specific.” He brushes some of his blonde hair out of the way and on his forehead Minho sees a small headband-like contraption around his head, with a diamond in the middle. By the way he parts his hair; it looks as if he is hiding it.
“I’m Choi Minho,” Minho answers, “Son to a fisherman; so not that interesting your highness.”
Kibum rolls his eyes and flips his hair. “Please don’t be like that. I have to deal with it all the time back home. Please just call me Kibum.”
“It is a name I am used to back home,” Minho says, “Come to think of it, why does a merman have such a human name?”
Kibum shrugged. “I am the change or something like that. I never really understood that either.” He ducked underneath the water for a couple of seconds and resurfaced beside Minho. His hair looked shiny and luscious and Minho tried to keep himself from touching his locks. “How are your legs? The arrow went in pretty deep and I-“
“Can you tell me what happened last night? I don’t remember anything.” Minho blushes at Kibum’s shocked response. His hips rise and his tail pushes against the top of the water. It shines in the late sun and Minho has found it hard to put a name to the colour of Kibum’s tail. In the morning it was pastel and bright, but now it seemed darker, lustier.
“I am not much of a story-teller though,” Kibum explained with a soft laugh, “I have people to tell stories for me.”
“You don’t have to write a novel, just explain what happened. It would be nice to hear it from your lips before Youngwoon’s or the other crew members,” Minho persists, “And it looks like I won’t be able to really move for a while seeing as my legs are paralyzed.”
Kibum bites down on his bottom lip and runs his fingers through his hair. “Um, ok? Well, I was with the guards when your ship went past our lines. Seeing as your ship was way past the line that separated us we attacked. I attacked this guy, I don’t know his name but he had a rifle and I accidentally threw a sword at someone’s chest when they were trying to save him. Um, then you appeared, and you took the sword from the guy and I told you guys to leave or I would kill you? The ship turned around and you were about to give me my sword back when one of my men shot you with the arrows-why you’re paralyzed I guess. You fell off the ship and I tried swimming you back to them but your boats are quite fast, and so I had to stop here and make sure you were still ok.”
He breathes and finds new interest in a rock when Minho’s face finally moves.
“You saved my life?” Minho asks. Kibum coughs but doesn’t reply. Minho cocks his head to the side. “Kibum-sshi, did you save my life? I want an answer.”
“If you really want to know, then yes, I did save your life, ok? Not really though, you’re paralyzed and I doubt anyone from your side will pick you up,” Kibum answers, picking at the rock with his fingernails, “I just didn’t believe that you should die when you didn’t look like someone that would attack mermen. You looked out of place on that ship. The gunman didn’t look out of place but you were; like a child at a slaughterhouse.”
Minho reached out to Kibum, who slowly backed away onto the other side of the cave. “I should let you sleep. If you need me, just dip your fingers down in the water, and I’ll be up, ok?” Kibum nods with his lips tightly pressed together before ducking down and leaving Minho in silence. Minho sighs and presses his head against the rock.
-
Minho wakes up in the middle of the night screaming and soaked in cold sweat. He tries sitting up but his chest screams with newfound pain. He reaches around to the wound and sees blood on his fingers when he draws his fingers back. He winces through his teeth and closes his eyes. Minho pants and drops his hand down into the water, biting on the inside of his cheek to distract himself from the pain.
A hand touches his and Kibum reaches the surface. Without words he is able to address the situation and pulls himself out of the water so that he can sit beside Minho. He groans when Kibum turns him onto his side, his legs rolling around lifelessly. A wet hand pulls up Minho’s shirt and inspects the wound. He lets out a small shriek when he’s assessed the situation. He drops the shirt back down and grabs some of the cave water, scooping it into his hands and cleaning Minho’s wound from the rocks and pebbles that have found their way inside.
“Sleep softly, sing soundly,” Kibum sings underneath his breath, leaning close to Minho’s ear. Minho can feel Kibum’s fast heartbeat against his back when Kibum leans closer. “I have asked some of my men to come, my best friend actually, but I have no idea how long it will take him to get here, unfortunately. The poison from the arrow is rapidly spreading; you may not be able to use your chest soon.”
Minho’s heartbeat quickens and he bites down on his cheeks even harder, drawing blood. “W-why won’t you just kill me? I am a human! Are you just watching me die with a smile on your face? Do you find this entertaining?!” He screams and salt water runs down his cheeks.
“No,” Kibum whispers, “You will live Choi Minho. I will do anything to make sure that you live!” Kibum helps him back onto his back and pressed up against the rock. In the early morning light, Minho sees the tearstains down his cheeks and the way his lips quiver. Minho has the pain, but he never imagined how difficult it must have been for Kibum to have to deal with this for such a long time.
“You haven’t failed me Kibum,” Minho said, reaching up to cup Kibum’s face. “I appreciate all you did for me, even with our…differences.”
Kibum smiles and Minho is stung with the beauty of his pure smile. He leans in and gives the pink-tailed merman a soft kiss upon the lips and ignores the searing pain in his back to continue when Kibum kisses back.
He falls asleep softly.
-
Kibum has a restless night. Since mending Minho’s wound he has been on edge. He’s tried everything to get the human to open his eyes again, pressing his hands to Minho’s neck to make sure that his pulse is still there and his heart is still beating. The sun takes too long to rise and Jinki is taking way too long to get here. He was sure that Jinki knew the whole ocean-why was it taking him so long?
Yesterday whilst catching food for Minho, Kibum had found a merman who was hurt from the previous night’s battle. He lied, saying that there was a merman trapped in a cave that needed help, and so Kibum had promised him that he wouldn’t leave him until he got helped. He asked for Jinki, the only person that would be smart enough to help him but still accept Kibum’s rash actions. Jinki’s father was much smarter but he would never help Minho, even if it was an order.
The poison from the arrow was slowly seeping through his body. He knew that it would target his legs first and he was not surprised when Minho exclaimed that he couldn’t feel his legs. As the day progressed so did the disease and Kibum knew that it would soon take over his chest if Jinki didn’t arrive soon.
The feeling of Minho’s lips still stuck to his lips even now as he waited underwater at the ocean floor, the sand as his bed and the rock as his make-shift pillow. He lifted his hand up to touch his lower lip, imagining the strong hands on his face and the control of it all.
“Prince Kibum?”
Kibum knows exactly who it is by the voice and he swims to Jinki, wrapping him up in a fierce hug. “You arrived! Finally!”
“It has only been a night since I received the message, but I made sure to come as soon as possible. And speaking of fast, where is this merman? We should transport him back home quickly so that he can recover. I have brought the elixir but there may be more necessary depending on the wound,” Jinki explained, digging into his messenger bag and pulling out a small vial with a green liquid trapped inside.
“That’s the thing,” Kibum started, grabbing onto Jinki’s hand and pulling him up to the surface. He pointed to the sleeping Minho, who sat pressed up against the rock, his palm open out, as it had been when Kibum had finally let go out of his hand to try to sleep. “It’s a human.”
Jinki started coughing widely with his eyes wide and full of shock. “Master Kibum! You of all people should know how much you should hate a human! Plus, this must be one that attacked the kingdom just a night ago! Our castle is still in shambles because of their guns! Why in the world did you not let him drown?”
“He seemed different. He isn’t like the rest of them I promise.” Kibum blinks and Jinki sighs, swimming up to the human and unscrewing the top off of the bottle. With precision, Jinki opens Minho’s lips and dribbles in the contents of the bottle, making sure that none of it drips down his cheek or chin. He closes his lips and moves Minho’s head so that he can swallow.
“Do you know how far it has spread?” Jinki asks and turns his head to face Kibum once more.
“When he woke up this morning it was almost at his chest and yesterday it had already taken over his legs. If you hadn’t come he would have trouble moving his arms I believe,” Kibum explains, swimming up to the human and resting his hand inside Minho’s. Minho’s hands are so much bigger than his fragile ones. “He had trouble sleeping last night I know.”
Jinki sighed. “You know that that dosage will not be enough for his survival. If you want him to live your highness, he will have to go get more at the castle. But you will not be allowed inside the walls without him for he is a human.”
Kibum rubs the back of his head. “I promised him he wouldn’t die.”
Jinki turns to Kibum and Kibum turns to him and they look at each other. The silence stretches through and all Kibum can hear is the ringing in his ears and the soft pull of the ocean that begs him to come back home. He thinks about Taemin and Woohyun who must be scared to death and the thoughts of his mother. He wonders if Jinki told them that he was alive or didn’t have the time to. Were they doing his funeral now?
“You know I can do something to save him, to make him accepted,” Jinki said, “But you should not be allowed to make such a decision so rashly. And without his permission.”
“Please,” Kibum begs, “I promised to keep him alive.”
Jinki runs his hair through his chestnut, curly hair, and reaches into his bag. He pulls out an old, ratty book, one that he must have stolen from his father. He flips pages until he finds one near the middle. It’s written in the archaic language of before and Kibum can only make out a few sentences. Jinki chants it underneath his breath as he reads.
“It says that only true love can do this,” Jinki says. Kibum waves him to continue. “Either the merman must be on the earth or the human in the ocean, and they must kiss. They must chant some words after the kiss and if the gods and the stars above approve, one will change.” Kibum nods and starts pulling at Minho’s arm to pull him into the water. That will certainly wake him up.
Jinki sets a hand on his arm. “Do you really want to do this?”
“He kissed me, Jinki. It was my first kiss. I now know why I am the strong leader, why I am the son after so many daughters. I was chosen to stop the fighting between man and merman. And Minho made me open up my eyes and realize this. Not all of them are bad; we just assumed they were,” Kibum says. Jinki nods and helps Minho into the water.
“What is going on?” Minho groans, keeping his eyes closed. With some difficulty, Kibum and Jinki are able to make him float on his back.
“We’re saving you,” Kibum said. He reads off the words to Minho and Minho nods drowsily. He doesn’t ask why they are doing this nor who Jinki is, just floats with the sea and smiles when Kibum gives him a soft peck on the cheek for his co-operation.
When everything is set Kibum kisses Minho. All he does is pray in his thoughts and hopes that this will work, that everything will go right. Minho moans against his lips and Kibum wonders how much he hurts or how much he can feel now. Minho’s lips move against his and they kiss for a very long time before air calls to Minho’s lungs and they pull apart. They start chanting underneath their breaths-Kibum makes sure he doesn’t mess up and Minho keeps their eyes locked.
A flash of light erupts and Kibum is pressed up against the rock. He covers his eyes so that he doesn’t blind himself, feeling the force of the waves press against his stomach. He cannot see Jinki either and hopes that he is safe wherever he is.
The light dims and Kibum sees Minho on top of the water. He looks down and sees, instead of two, long legs, a beautiful orange tail with two fins at the bottom. His back still bleeds but Minho is a merman now. He is one of them.
Kibum swims up to him and kisses him ferociously on the lips, pulling him down underneath the water and spinning them. Minho laughs against his lips and Kibum helps him hold hands. His chest is better because of the elixir but he needs medication. Jinki helps them pack up their stuff in his bag and they try to swim back as fast as Minho can.
-
Everyone is surprised to see a new merman appear with Prince Kibum and Scholar Jinki a day later. Minho has trouble swimming because of the arrow and so they rush him to the hospital to get the rest of the elixir and sew up his back. He stays in the hospital for a couple of days until they deem him healthy enough. When he exits Kibum announces that he is ready to marry to Minho and everyone cheers.
Taemin grumbles and Woohyun smiles when Kibum gets married six months later. They don’t disapprove of course, but Kibum has decided to not let them in on the true secret of Minho’s origins. Jinki promises to keep Minho’s past a secret and the couple are able to sleep at night with the knowledge that their secret is safe.
Three months after their marriage Minho says that he’s homesick, and wishes to see his mother before he leaves her for a life under the sea. Kibum accepts this and organizes a caravan consisting of Woohyun, Jinki and the couple to go to the human world to visit his mother. He sends a message in a bottle three days prior, hoping that it reaches her so that when they arrive at the shoreline at midnight she will be there.
She is.
“I missed you mom,” Minho says, hugging her in the water. She weeps on his shoulder.
“I thought I had lost you!” There are a bunch of hugs and kisses and Kibum is introduced with a sheepish smile and a trusting hug.
“Thank you,” she says to Kibum, “Thank you for making my son so happy.”
Kibum shakes his head, “Thank you too mother. Now, I believe that this is yours.” He fishes the compass out of his messenger bag and hands it to her. “When I saw you, I knew that you knew who this belonged to. I have been keeping it safe for you.” He closes his hand around hers and kisses her forehead.
-
“Jongin, Chanyeol, get back here!” Kibum screams, swimming around the castle to catch his two children. He grabs onto Chanyeol’s long tail and pulls him into his chest. At the sudden loss of his brother, Jongin stops and swims shyly into his father’s arms.
“Can we go to the humans today?” Chanyeol asks with wide eyes. Jongin nods to agree.
Kibum smiles, “Haven’t Kris and Lu Han seen you guys enough this week? Little princes shouldn’t be so far away from the castle all the time.”
Minho swims up and snakes his arms around Kibum’s waist. “Let them go see their friends, honey. They will stay close, yes?” The two boys nod enthusiastically. “See, told you.”
Kibum sighs. “Fine, and say hi to Jinki and Jonghyun for me, ok?” The two boys smile and swim out of their father’s grasp, swimming as quickly as possible to shore.
The castle now sits closer to the humans since the peace treaty. There are no borders and no lines. The humans can come as often as they want and the mermen can lie on their shores like a family at the beach. The guard is almost broken and Woohyun has many days off because of this.
“Come here,” Minho says, turning his husband around and kissing him passionately on the lips. “Why the frown? I remember someone being very adventurous when they were of that age.”
“I know, but I’m just scared that they’ll be wishing to turn into humans or something.” Minho laughs and pecks his cheeks.
“They’ll be fine,” Minho persists, “Now, let’s go back inside.” He grabs onto Kibum’s hand and pulls him inside.
--
end.
a/n: thanks people on twitter who pulled me through this! this was one of the fics i was really proud of and i didn't want it to be so long it just happened.
a/n1: minkey is always welcome. always.
minho/key
merman!au ; pg-13
merman!key, merman!taemin, merman!onew, coarse language
written for lucentic for the 2012 SHINee Secret Santa exchange
Once upon a time there was a city that sat near the sea.
There were cliffs that dipped into the ocean and that had eroded from years of the waves attacking its sides. It was bright and sunny days mostly and the rays of the sun licked the wrinkled sea, the light to the darkness of the deep, cold grave below. When it was cold enough whales would appear and when it was warm enough, dolphins would jump out of the sea’s grasp.
On the cliffs sat a small town. It was principally fisherman and their humble wives that lived in this town because of the large amount of fish just a few kilometers offshore. The men’s arms were sunburnt or tanned from the hours on the ships and their hands were knotted and bloodied and scarred from the work with nets and knives all of their lives.
It is one late autumn afternoon, just before the fishermen are about to drive back home to the shore, when an experienced fisherman named Jung Yunho sees something in the distance. He isn’t one-hundred-percent sure what it is, and so drives his boat closer and closer, until he sees something on a rock that juts out of the ocean. At first it looks like a woman sunbathing in the crisp air, but then he realizes that it’s a man with a fish tail.
When the mermen and mermaids are discovered, their sleepy fishing town turns into a buzz. A mayor is changed from a jolly man to a dictator that builds his house on the biggest and the most dangerous cliff so that he can oversee the mermaids and mermen that sheepishly peek their heads out of the sea. Only some brave few have ever gone down to the beach, where the port sits.
The dictator has only seen three: the one that Jung Yunho found and has now at his house as a ‘pet’ of sorts, a curious mermaid, and the King.
The King is old but wise, and his kindness outshines any of his people. And so that’s why the dictator hates him the most; he is the opposite of him. They only meet a few times but even if the King wants to make lasting ties between the sea people and the earth people, but the dictator is far too jealous of the merman, and sends a full attack against the merman people.
Both sides fight valiantly, with many heroes from both sides of the war, but it is finally the humans with their guns and their explosives that destroy the merman people. In the end the humans travel by submarine to the King’s palace and shoot missiles, until it finally crumbles. The Queen dies and in a selfish act of revenge, the King swims up to the shore and attacks the humans with his most powerful weapon-a Trident. He died with seven bullets in his body; his Trident was taken.
The remainders of the mermaids and merman were banned from the shores of the now bloody city. They were to stay one-hundred kilometers away from their shores, and if they did not follow these rules, they would be shot. In response, the first daughter of the King said that they would destroy any ship that would enter their region would be destroyed and the crew drowned.
The royal family led the merman people away. No one knew if they had died eventually, but they remained silent, and soon the idea of half-man, half-fish creatures just became a fable.
-
Minho had never lived a sheltered life.
His father was a fisherman, like many of the other fathers in the small fishing village. Minho prided himself with having a strong, powerful and good-looking father that always came home with energy even after a long day of work. Mr. Choi would often get up early in the morning, way before Minho would even think of getting up, to go fish. Many days he would not return for a week, sometimes two weeks, and come home with a boatload full of fish and a cold. But Mr. Choi’s smile never left his face.
One morning, Mr. Choi leaves for the ships, like any other day, hours before Minho gets up and gets ready to go to school. Kim Jonghyun, a boy that goes to the same school as him, stops by his house and they walk together to school.
Jonghyun’s father also works a fisherman, and Minho has seen Mr. Kim many times at their house after a long fishing trip. Compared to his father, Mr. Kim looks tired and old, with bags under his eyes and wrinkles on his face. Jonghyun likes to comment about all the scars that his father has, but Minho finds it just gross and ugly.
“How long do you think this trip will be?” Minho asks when they’re just a few steps away from the school. He always asks this question whenever his father disappears, because Jonghyun knows everything because he’s a year older and his father tells him everything. Jonghyun stops and looks up at the sky before nodding.
“Three days! I heard that some guy is retiring, so they won’t be out for that long,” Jonghyun explains. He shrugs at Minho’s smile before running into the school’s gates. Minho runs after him. He stops at the gates.
It’s said that the town made these gates when the great war was finished. The school was the infirmary during the war, and so it was the only off-limits area in the town. The crest on the gates is of two narwhals crossed-the symbol of the city since the beginning. There was a rumor that when the humans were almost defeated and the mermaids had almost reached the shore, that a bunch of the sea creatures pushed the mermaids and mermen away. They were led by the city’s symbol-the narwhal.
It’s these gates that Minho always stops and stares at every morning. He remembers the first day of year one when his father carried him on his shoulders up to these gates. This is where Mr. Choi went to school, and his father went to this school too, and this is when his mommy and his daddy met each other. His father only got a high school education-that was why Minho was going to stay in school for as long as he possibly could so that he could get a better life.
His father always looks up to these gates. There’s a reason-all the roads lead to the school; they always have. And even when the dirt roads turned to asphalt and feet turned to wheels, all the roads lead to the school. Everything pointed to the school, the center of it all.
-
When Minho returns from school three days later he sees his mother crying. His mother doesn’t cry though. Nine-year Minho is sure of this. The only time he saw his mother cry was when he was really little and she had locked herself in her room.
It’s different this time. She’s out in the open and vulnerable.
Minho runs over to her, resting his hands on her shoulders, his stomach on her back and his chin near her cheeks. “What’s wrong ma? What’s wrong?” She cries harder. Her body shakes uncontrollably even if Minho tries to keep her still. He feels useless.
His grandmother arrives at six and scoops Minho and puts him to bed. He’s told that he doesn’t have to go to school tomorrow.
-
Nine years later
Minho is on a fishing boat. It’s something that he’s been doing since he was sixteen, when he dropped out of school.
Jonghyun still looks down at him when they cross the street because of this. Jonghyun is now the main librarian in the city because he had gone to school for the all four years of school. They rarely talk anymore but Minho wouldn’t want to talk to him anyways. Jonghyun has always had it better than Minho. Jonghyun didn’t have to make any rash decisions in his life; Minho makes them every day.
When Minho is nine years old, he learns that his father and most of their ship were brutally murdered. Jonghyun’s father was the only one that survived-he stabbed and fought himself free before he could be dragged to the depths. When Jonghyun’s father returned home the first home he went to was Minho’s.
Everyone shook their heads with disappointment when they heard the story. People didn’t need to ask the cause of their deaths; it was obvious to anyone that knew some brief history on their city would know that it was the mermaids. They must have forgotten about the boundaries or maybe the fish lead them across the line. The mermen guards must have seen the boat, counted to ten, and started attacking them.
There were gifts and flowers and hugs for the next few months. People asked if he was ok and gave out their help and their hands but Minho never accepted them. He just smiled politely and told them matter-of-factly that they’ll be fine, and that they shouldn’t worry. Two weeks after Mr. Choi’s death, his mother starts working full-time at the fishing plant the next town over. She returns home every night with bags underneath her eyes.
Minho hates to see this look in her eyes every night-he hates how she has to go to sleep right when she gets home. He tries doing a lot of the chores and he tries making dinner so that she won’t have that many problems but in the end, he just feels useless. He promises her that when he’s sixteen, he’ll drop out of school and start working to get them more revenue, until his mother can retire.
His mother and his heart are against this decision, but he knows that it had to be done. If it wasn’t done she would be working herself to the bone. He wants to go through all of high school and get a higher paying job but he tells himself that he cannot spend another night feeling useless.
Minho has never lived a sheltered life. He knows ships from his father and in a couple days he understands the layout of the fishing boats. He doesn’t interact well with the older fishing men but they don’t try to make a conversation with him either; he works. He is the one that takes the long trips because he doesn’t want to, nor does he need to, go home for a very long time. After nine years his mother is finally getting better.
He believes work is the best way to push away the evil thoughts that dare to creep in and invade his thoughts. There are mornings where the last thing he wants to do is get up, but he knows he has no other choice. If he leaves for four days he doesn’t think about his family or friends for four days. But when he settles in his bed at home after the four days and tries to sleep, his mother’s cooking in his belly, his father’s laugh and his mother’s eye-smile creep in and he cannot sleep.
He works ten times harder.
-
It’s a five day trip and Minho smells the sea air and lets it circulate in his lungs. He spreads out his arms. It smells of salt, of the sea and of fish, and this is the smell that clings to him. They are on their way home now and Minho can almost feel the warmth of his mother’s arms when she’ll hug him.
“Have you seen them?” one of the seniors, Kim Youngwoon asks, a cigarette between his lips and a cut running down to his chin. Minho nods; he doesn’t need to ask what ‘them’ is. Not that many people call them by their full names anymore. It’s ‘them’ or ‘the creatures’. They don’t deserve a pretty name; they don’t deserve to be called man.
“There have been more,” Minho comments. He knows how to be blunt and quick now.
“I think something’s coming,” Youngwoon predicts, rubbing his chin. He must have shaved it before the trip but now it grows back slowly, and Minho can hear the distinct sound of his thumb moving against the short hairs. “Maybe even a new war.” Minho’s eyes open and Youngwoon nods.
“A war is a bit drastic, isn’t it?” Minho asks.
“Humanity is drastic,” Youngwoon replies, throwing his cigarette onto the ground and smashing it with his rubber boots. “Just remember-if you see one, kill one.” Minho nods and Youngwoon turns around, his hands in his pockets. The wind blows his hair around.
-
“What in the world are you thinking?” Taemin asks and checks his nails. He lies down on the sand and stretches out his arms and his tail so that his fins at the bottom stretch out before shrinking back in when he settles back down. His scales shine golden yellow and match his current brown locks. With a face like Adonis and dancing as graceful as a swan’s, Taemin was chased by many mermaids. The only thing they didn’t know was that he’s a brat.
Kibum knows this all too well.
“A lot more than you,” Kibum replies, swimming around the sunken ship that he now has claimed his secret hiding spot. Well, not so secret after the golden-tailed merman had followed him one day (undoubtedly the worst day of his life). Besides the pesky Taemin going there whenever Kibum wants some time to himself, it’s wonderful and filled with secrets that once upon a time, Kibum had been able to keep to himself. Not anymore.
“Hey! That’s mean your highness,” Taemin complains, “You shouldn’t be using such a foul tongue to your subjects.” He flips his chestnut hair so that it falls softly down on his cheek like the seaweed that blows back and forth with the soft current.
“And my subjects shouldn’t follow me around everywhere, but you got that one covered.” Kibum swims into the hull of the ship and pulls out one of his most prized items-a compass that he had found in the debris. Or that’s what Jinki told him it was when he had asked him what it was. It doesn’t work anymore because of the amount of time spent underwater but he doesn’t mind, spending his hours looking at the dials and the needle that will always point at southwest.
He returns out to where Taemin is impatiently waiting. Though he pretends like he doesn’t mind being so far away from the big city, it’s obvious that he does by the way he fidgets and swims about whenever he follows Kibum to his favourite hiding spot. A city boy through and through, it showed by the way he turned his head back, half-expecting a bunch of guards to arrive. Kibum already knows they won’t, this place is so far away from the castle it takes thirty minutes to swim out here, and Woohyun, the head of the guards, would never force them to go looking for him.
“Can we go home now?” Taemin drawls, running his fingers through his hair and letting it swim around his head. He kicks his tail and a little bit of sand moves up. “Maybe you just need to rest a little while and realize what you’re thinking of doing is completely and utterly foolish and that staying home is probably the best.”
Kibum sighs. Some people would never understand.
“It is land, an area that us merman have never been able to reach in centuries! If you don’t find the idea of exploring and leaving this dull, desolate place behind then you must be mad! Taemin, I doubt you’ll ever understand the wonderfulness of the outside world,” Kibum explains. Taemin rolls his eyes.
“You’re the mad one, Prince Kibum! You’ve got everything and yet you want more? You have so many friends and attendants and you are the only son of the Queen! That makes you the only heir! What happens if you get killed on land because you are a damn merman, by the way, and someone else who isn’t as awesome as you will take your place? You have to think of these things.” Taemin huffs and pulls at Kibum’s hand, pulling him home. Kibum sighs and sets down his belongings and follows Taemin back home, who seems much happier to be closer to the city.
“One day,” Kibum whispers under his breath when he reaches the castle gates. Woohyun shakes his head when Taemin knocks on the large, stone doors, and Kibum and he share a small smile. Woohyun will keep his secret. It’s nice to have people who think alike.
-
This idea stemmed in him when he was young. He heard learned of the large war that separated them from the humans and was told to hate them, and so for a very long time he despised the humans and wished to stay in his room and only go out when he needed to. Kibum was a prince though and was pulled out to talk to other kids and his mother’s friends. Everyone would always smile down at him-he was a promising future.
He was the first son in a very long time. After the Queen had ran away at the end of the war, she had had a daughter, and then her daughter had a daughter, and the cycle continued for two more generations until Kibum was born. Everyone saw this a sign, and so they watched him ever-so closely to make sure that he wasn’t turning evil or that he was doing any wrong things. He would be a strong leader.
He had many friends that he became close with at a very young age. His first friend was the scholar’s son, Lee Jinki, who had a pretty, pale green tale and messy, brown hair. He giggled often and was extremely clumsy, but he was always really knowledgeable about the humans and their customs from what his father told him. Jinki was the one that knew Kibum’s obsession with going further in the most, and pushed him forwards silently.
Woohyun, who was the head of the guards, would also too learn that he had a thing with running away when one day he saw Kibum swimming away in the night and stopped him. Kibum had to order him not to tell his mother and let him go out whenever he pleases. Woohyun automatically hates this idea but must let the Prince do whatever he pleases, and keeps his secret. Though Woohyun never admitted it, he was more accepting of the necessary escapes than Taemin, the bratty Lord’s son.
Kibum had decided that his life-long dream would be to go on shore somehow, and find a way to return the compass to the man that had previously owned it. He felt every time that he held it in his palms a secret touch, like he was being connected to someone close to him somehow, maybe even to his destiny. He would run his fingers over the alien letters and wonder what they meant. What the humans were saying with this instrument.
His nineteenth birthday is coming up soon and he knows that now is the time that he needs to go on his expedition before it is too late. He knows that when he turns nineteen these things will be too hard for him to do and he will not have enough time with all the new responsibilities that will be dumped upon him. He sighs and settles down into his pillows that night and settles a perfect date to go out and swim to shore-two nights from now, three days from his birthday.
-
“Your birthday is coming up,” his mother announces when they sit at the breakfast table the next morning-one day until the day. Breakfast is soggy and Kibum pushes it around on his plate until servants eventually take it away. He has never been a breakfast person anyways and his mother understands this when she sets her cutlery down.
“Yes, I do believe it is,” he replies dryly, brushing some of his bangs out of his eyes. He thinks that it may be time to get it cut soon, with how they flop down onto his face when he’s swimming, and he doesn’t want to tie it up in a ponytail like mermaids. He doesn’t want to be like Taemin at the slightest.
“And what would you like for your birthday? You can have anything my son,” she asks with a polite smile that makes Kibum slightly sick. Yes, of course he loves his mother. But sometimes he wasn’t sure if the smile that he received from her was any different from the one she addressed the city with, or if it was a warm one just for him, because the both were cold and unreadable.
“To touch the shore.”
This answer wasn’t very new. Since he was thirteen he had been giving the same answer to the question but anyways got simpler things like a new charm or a seahorse that he could ride or more books so that he could study the humans from a faraway distance. Her smile disappears at his answer and he isn’t surprised, pushing himself out of his seat at the table and heading off to his room. He stops at the doorframe and his mother stares at him.
“I know the answer is no, it’s ok.” She sighs and crumples in her seat, her black hair flowing down to her milky white skin. She’s a pretty swan with trimmed feathers.
-
“You’re crazy,” is all Taemin says about Kibum’s plan to escape tomorrow night. Kibum rolls his eyes and digs the compass out of the ship. He doubts he’ll be able to go to the ship tomorrow so he will bring the compass with him.
“You’re stupid,” Kibum replies.
“No seriously you are crazy. You will get killed. Didn’t you her about history in that fancy teaching of yours? If you even cross a meter past their boarders they will shoot you and you will be killed and I will not be there to help you, ok? You will die and I hope that then you will realize your dumb mistake!” Taemin’s fuming and his eyes bright.
“I will be fine, ok? And if you would just shut up about it, ok? I just told you because I knew that you were probably going to follow me like always.” Kibum slips the compass into his little satchel and buries some of his prized possessions in the sand to make sure that no traveler will notice it. “I will be home by sunrise. If I am not by noon, then you can sound the alarms and tell my mother. Until then, you must remain quiet!”
Taemin sighs, “Fine, your highness.”
“Thank you Taemin-ah,” Kibum chirps with a smile. “And anyways, I will be telling Woohyun too so you can run to him if I really am lost forever.” He winks and Taemin runs his fingers through his hair.
“You are such an idiot, your highness.”
“Someone has to be the idiot. Change doesn’t typically happen without the idiot.”
-
“You should have told me earlier, I could have planned more,” Woohyun sighs, looking around in his small office. “I am not even on duty tonight unless an emergency happens. This is supposed to be my day off! You know I suck at lying-how am I supposed to lie to my men and say that I just want to stay out for the night when I have been talking about my day off for the past six weeks?”
“I will give you more days off if you do, please,” Kibum begs, his hands on Woohyun’s shoulders and shaking him madly. The red-tailed merman pushes Kibum off of him and readjusts his short, black hair.
“I-I don’t know how I am supposed to do this, seriously.” He swims around to his desk and grabs his belt, strapping it around his waist and checking his sword. He looks back up at the pink-tailed Kibum and snarls. “Three weeks off every year or I will spill your secret out to everyone.”
“Yep~!” Kibum swims up and hugs him. He’s about to plant a kiss on his cheek when the door is kicked open and a purple-tailed and green-tailed pair enter the office-Howon and Dongwoo if Kibum remembers the guards’ names well enough-with wide eyes and pale faces.
“A human boat has entered the region and they are shooting at us! Woohyun-ah, help!” The green-tailed one, Dongwoo, screams. Woohyun swallows and swims past them out to the walls. There are lights above the water and Woohyun growls.
“Wake up Sunggyu-hyung and get him down here! And contact Junyoung and wake up his battalion. Tell Sunggyu to get the others and start fighting, and tell Junyoung to clear the people just in case!” Woohyun orders and grabs onto Howon’s arm. “No merman blood shall be spilt tonight!”
Suddenly the water lights up with flashes from the human’s guns and Kibum sees the fire from their weapons. The walls are still very far away from the castle and the townspeople, but Kibum can only imagine the dead warriors that protect the barriers. The castle was far away from the line that divided the humans from the mermen. If this was by accident, they would have received enough time to turn around and drive back home. No, this was an attack.
“Swine,” Kibum growls underneath his breath. He grabs onto Woohyun’s belt and fishes out his sword from its sheath. He swims upwards and ignores Woohyun’s complaints.
It is a fisherman’s boat, Kibum knows this. He can see the hooks used to kill fish and the nets that trail behind that have been pulled up. It has a big propeller and he dodges its fins to reach the top of the waves.
The air hits his face and he bobs in the water for a few seconds. A gun’s end is pointed in his direction and he ducks down when it fires. He remembers the day that Jinki explained to him in full detail the war between the merman and the humans-and explained the guns that they used to split open their fins so that they couldn’t swim away, and would then collect the scales or the tail for show.
“Ah!” Kibum screams when he gets back above the water. “Get away from our land or I will kill you!” He has not touched on his human-speak in a while and it sounds raw underneath the rain and the night that hits his face.
The gunman stares down at him with a degrading look. “You killed everything I had! You are destroying our lives! I will eradicate the problem before we have to face it again!” He pulls his gun back up and points it at Kibum, who swims back underneath the water and resurfaces underneath the man’s feet.
He swipes his arm so that the man falls blindly to the ground. Kibum pulls his sword up and is about to stab the man’s chest when a scream resounds and he sees many more gunmen run down towards him. Kibum growls and throws the sword at one of them, hitting his chest. He steals the man’s gun and tries his best to keep it above the water, kicking his tail furiously.
“Stand back vile humans! Or I will shoot you!” He is not sure if he conjugated the human-speak properly but the men’s faces change enough so he thinks he did is best. “Turn your ship around or the ship will hit the bottom of the ocean!” The men nod and swallow, dropping their guns and running back to the various parts of the ship. They all look tired and they are wearing loose clothing. The last one turns around and picks up a small object from the bottom of the boat, one that Kibum cannot see well, and turns back to look at Kibum.
It is a young face compared to the old men that man the ship or the gunman that crawls back slowly, trying to get away. He has shoulder-length brown hair and large, brown eyes that seem to seep into Kibum’s soul. His heart starts beating fast against his chest as the man watches him. He walks over to the hit man and pulls out Woohyun’s sword. He walks on the wet floor up to Kibum. He dips the sword into the water and they watch the blood seep from the blade into the dark, somber waves.
“You people,” mumbles the young man and he is about to hand the pink-tailed merman the sword when he crumples to the ground. In his back is a merman arrow, barely in his back, but still enough to paralyse him. Kibum screams and drops the gun into the ocean and pulls himself onto the boat. The rainwater keeps him wet enough to pull the arrow out of the young man’s back. The boat has started to move again and Kibum shrieks.
He slips out of the ship, but the man grabs onto his tail and looks at him with sleepy eyes. “Please, help,” he groans, his eyelids half-open and his mouth letting the rainwater in. Kibum swats him away and he falls back into the water, but the man crawls forwards, trying his best to grab onto Kibum once more. Kibum swims away, and so the man pushes himself off of the boat. He lands into the water with a splash and doesn’t float.
Kibum dives down underneath the water with a gasp and catches the heavy man as he descends down. He swims back up to the air with difficulty to try to keep the man alive.
“Are you ok?” Kibum asks over the rain and now thunder. The man groans in response.
Kibum sighs and starts swimming after the boat, now far away from the castle. He pushes himself to go faster, his satchel hitting his side with every powerful kick. The man is heavy and he has trouble kicking sometimes and keeping is head out of the water but he tries with all of his might. He closes his eyes and screams out for help, for the people to wait, but the boat has distanced itself far away now so that he cannot get his voice across. He just makes sure to follow the ship as blindly as possible.
This man will come out alive.
-
Minho moans when he opens his eyes. His back hurts tremendously and he feels like he’s been sleeping on a bed of rock all night. He barely remembers what had happened the night before; he was sure that Youngwoon was on guard and he was carrying a gun but he wasn’t entirely sure what had happened after that. He felt so sore and his eyes stung.
He pushed himself up and instantly the need to vomit ran through him. He turned to the side and puked on the rock. When he looked up, he realized he wasn’t in the barracks anymore. He was in a cave that went to the ocean. It was a bright and sunny day and it seemed like everything was perfectly fine. Waves entered the cave and hit the shores, but he was in deep enough so that no water could hit him. When he reached up, his hair was just a little wet near the tips.
Minho decided that it was probably a good idea to get up and explore the cave that he was in to find out how he could get home. He was unsure about the limits-was he in mermaid territory? Was an army of mermen ready to attack him when he stood at the mouth of the cave? He prayed to God that he was safe from that threat, and wiggled his hips to try to get his legs awake for they felt asleep.
“I-I can’t feel my legs!” Minho screamed; his back aching once more as he tried to move his legs. Nothing was working-his legs refused to move. He rolled onto his stomach and started sobbing-he was dead. He was stuck in a cave and he couldn’t move-he was therefore dead. If he had his legs he could swim. It would be long and meddlesome but he would be able to. And dying trying to save himself would be better than waiting for the hunger.
“Shh.”
He turns to the voice and sees a face and shoulders poking out of the water that slides into the cave. Porcelain skin and blonde bangs that dip into his light brown eyes. His arms dry on the rock, revealing some of his abs from above the water and his arms are skinny but defined. His eyes look like they could stare quite harshly but he gazes on him with a soft look, the corners of his eyes showing off some worry.
Minho’s eyes linger behind the face and he sees the tips of a pink tail splashing in the calmed water. He’s taken aback and he tries pushing himself away when the man’s hand flies up and grabs onto Minho’s ankle. His hand looks cold and wrinkled and the warm water drips down Minho’s pant leg and pools underneath his leg on the stone. They hold their gaze before Minho finally settles down and the merman lets his foot go. It flops uselessly on the ground.
“I mean not to hurt you human. If I did, I would have killed you much sooner,” the merman says in chopped up speak like a small babe still learning phrases. The air is cold and his lips look purple. He looks down in the water and mumbles something underneath his breath in a language Minho cannot comprehend, before looking back up and breathing through his nose. “Are you hungry or thirsty?”
Minho looks down at his stomach. He had been eating some of the worse fish and crackers for the past few days and he would love something better. Certainly a merman would know how to get some of the better foods and maybe even something fresher than the things Minho had been having recently. He considered that the merman might try to poison him, but hadn’t he stated that if he wanted him dead, he would have already killed him?
He nodded, “I am really hungry.”
The merman seemed to understand, and pointed at his eyes, “You haven’t had any fruits recently. How you humans hurt yourselves.” Before Minho can reply, he dives under the water and leaves Minho in the cave all alone. He doesn’t return until sundown.
-
Dining on seaweed and salmon, Minho eats with his hands. The merman has helped him press against a rock in the cave so that he can sit up and eat. The merman eats some seaweed and some type of vegetation that Minho has never seen before on the other side of the cave, still half-way in the water. He watches with half-open eyes as Minho pulls apart the salmon. It isn’t cooked but it tastes delicious.
“I’m sorry,” Minho mumbles and sets the food aside. The merman looks up at him with puzzled eyes and mouth agape.
“Why?” The merman asks, swishing his pink tail to keep himself afloat.
“Did you have to kill one of your fishy friends for me to have dinner? Isn’t that like you killing your subjects?” Minho asks sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. The merman laughs.
“The fishes do not care for us, and we cannot even talk to them! We are like you humans, we kill them for food. But instead of throwing their carcasses away we use them for our weapons. The sinew is quite strong. We typically do not kill sharks and whales for they are majestic creatures,” the merman explained with a small smirk placed on his lips.
“Oh, I guess I screwed up pretty badly on that one,” Minho laughs, and the merman chuckles with him. His face is pretty when he laughs, Minho thinks. The silence stretches between them and the sunset creeps in with the wrinkled sea. “What is your name? If mermen have names of course.”
“Kim Kibum, Prince Kibum if you are going to be specific.” He brushes some of his blonde hair out of the way and on his forehead Minho sees a small headband-like contraption around his head, with a diamond in the middle. By the way he parts his hair; it looks as if he is hiding it.
“I’m Choi Minho,” Minho answers, “Son to a fisherman; so not that interesting your highness.”
Kibum rolls his eyes and flips his hair. “Please don’t be like that. I have to deal with it all the time back home. Please just call me Kibum.”
“It is a name I am used to back home,” Minho says, “Come to think of it, why does a merman have such a human name?”
Kibum shrugged. “I am the change or something like that. I never really understood that either.” He ducked underneath the water for a couple of seconds and resurfaced beside Minho. His hair looked shiny and luscious and Minho tried to keep himself from touching his locks. “How are your legs? The arrow went in pretty deep and I-“
“Can you tell me what happened last night? I don’t remember anything.” Minho blushes at Kibum’s shocked response. His hips rise and his tail pushes against the top of the water. It shines in the late sun and Minho has found it hard to put a name to the colour of Kibum’s tail. In the morning it was pastel and bright, but now it seemed darker, lustier.
“I am not much of a story-teller though,” Kibum explained with a soft laugh, “I have people to tell stories for me.”
“You don’t have to write a novel, just explain what happened. It would be nice to hear it from your lips before Youngwoon’s or the other crew members,” Minho persists, “And it looks like I won’t be able to really move for a while seeing as my legs are paralyzed.”
Kibum bites down on his bottom lip and runs his fingers through his hair. “Um, ok? Well, I was with the guards when your ship went past our lines. Seeing as your ship was way past the line that separated us we attacked. I attacked this guy, I don’t know his name but he had a rifle and I accidentally threw a sword at someone’s chest when they were trying to save him. Um, then you appeared, and you took the sword from the guy and I told you guys to leave or I would kill you? The ship turned around and you were about to give me my sword back when one of my men shot you with the arrows-why you’re paralyzed I guess. You fell off the ship and I tried swimming you back to them but your boats are quite fast, and so I had to stop here and make sure you were still ok.”
He breathes and finds new interest in a rock when Minho’s face finally moves.
“You saved my life?” Minho asks. Kibum coughs but doesn’t reply. Minho cocks his head to the side. “Kibum-sshi, did you save my life? I want an answer.”
“If you really want to know, then yes, I did save your life, ok? Not really though, you’re paralyzed and I doubt anyone from your side will pick you up,” Kibum answers, picking at the rock with his fingernails, “I just didn’t believe that you should die when you didn’t look like someone that would attack mermen. You looked out of place on that ship. The gunman didn’t look out of place but you were; like a child at a slaughterhouse.”
Minho reached out to Kibum, who slowly backed away onto the other side of the cave. “I should let you sleep. If you need me, just dip your fingers down in the water, and I’ll be up, ok?” Kibum nods with his lips tightly pressed together before ducking down and leaving Minho in silence. Minho sighs and presses his head against the rock.
-
Minho wakes up in the middle of the night screaming and soaked in cold sweat. He tries sitting up but his chest screams with newfound pain. He reaches around to the wound and sees blood on his fingers when he draws his fingers back. He winces through his teeth and closes his eyes. Minho pants and drops his hand down into the water, biting on the inside of his cheek to distract himself from the pain.
A hand touches his and Kibum reaches the surface. Without words he is able to address the situation and pulls himself out of the water so that he can sit beside Minho. He groans when Kibum turns him onto his side, his legs rolling around lifelessly. A wet hand pulls up Minho’s shirt and inspects the wound. He lets out a small shriek when he’s assessed the situation. He drops the shirt back down and grabs some of the cave water, scooping it into his hands and cleaning Minho’s wound from the rocks and pebbles that have found their way inside.
“Sleep softly, sing soundly,” Kibum sings underneath his breath, leaning close to Minho’s ear. Minho can feel Kibum’s fast heartbeat against his back when Kibum leans closer. “I have asked some of my men to come, my best friend actually, but I have no idea how long it will take him to get here, unfortunately. The poison from the arrow is rapidly spreading; you may not be able to use your chest soon.”
Minho’s heartbeat quickens and he bites down on his cheeks even harder, drawing blood. “W-why won’t you just kill me? I am a human! Are you just watching me die with a smile on your face? Do you find this entertaining?!” He screams and salt water runs down his cheeks.
“No,” Kibum whispers, “You will live Choi Minho. I will do anything to make sure that you live!” Kibum helps him back onto his back and pressed up against the rock. In the early morning light, Minho sees the tearstains down his cheeks and the way his lips quiver. Minho has the pain, but he never imagined how difficult it must have been for Kibum to have to deal with this for such a long time.
“You haven’t failed me Kibum,” Minho said, reaching up to cup Kibum’s face. “I appreciate all you did for me, even with our…differences.”
Kibum smiles and Minho is stung with the beauty of his pure smile. He leans in and gives the pink-tailed merman a soft kiss upon the lips and ignores the searing pain in his back to continue when Kibum kisses back.
He falls asleep softly.
-
Kibum has a restless night. Since mending Minho’s wound he has been on edge. He’s tried everything to get the human to open his eyes again, pressing his hands to Minho’s neck to make sure that his pulse is still there and his heart is still beating. The sun takes too long to rise and Jinki is taking way too long to get here. He was sure that Jinki knew the whole ocean-why was it taking him so long?
Yesterday whilst catching food for Minho, Kibum had found a merman who was hurt from the previous night’s battle. He lied, saying that there was a merman trapped in a cave that needed help, and so Kibum had promised him that he wouldn’t leave him until he got helped. He asked for Jinki, the only person that would be smart enough to help him but still accept Kibum’s rash actions. Jinki’s father was much smarter but he would never help Minho, even if it was an order.
The poison from the arrow was slowly seeping through his body. He knew that it would target his legs first and he was not surprised when Minho exclaimed that he couldn’t feel his legs. As the day progressed so did the disease and Kibum knew that it would soon take over his chest if Jinki didn’t arrive soon.
The feeling of Minho’s lips still stuck to his lips even now as he waited underwater at the ocean floor, the sand as his bed and the rock as his make-shift pillow. He lifted his hand up to touch his lower lip, imagining the strong hands on his face and the control of it all.
“Prince Kibum?”
Kibum knows exactly who it is by the voice and he swims to Jinki, wrapping him up in a fierce hug. “You arrived! Finally!”
“It has only been a night since I received the message, but I made sure to come as soon as possible. And speaking of fast, where is this merman? We should transport him back home quickly so that he can recover. I have brought the elixir but there may be more necessary depending on the wound,” Jinki explained, digging into his messenger bag and pulling out a small vial with a green liquid trapped inside.
“That’s the thing,” Kibum started, grabbing onto Jinki’s hand and pulling him up to the surface. He pointed to the sleeping Minho, who sat pressed up against the rock, his palm open out, as it had been when Kibum had finally let go out of his hand to try to sleep. “It’s a human.”
Jinki started coughing widely with his eyes wide and full of shock. “Master Kibum! You of all people should know how much you should hate a human! Plus, this must be one that attacked the kingdom just a night ago! Our castle is still in shambles because of their guns! Why in the world did you not let him drown?”
“He seemed different. He isn’t like the rest of them I promise.” Kibum blinks and Jinki sighs, swimming up to the human and unscrewing the top off of the bottle. With precision, Jinki opens Minho’s lips and dribbles in the contents of the bottle, making sure that none of it drips down his cheek or chin. He closes his lips and moves Minho’s head so that he can swallow.
“Do you know how far it has spread?” Jinki asks and turns his head to face Kibum once more.
“When he woke up this morning it was almost at his chest and yesterday it had already taken over his legs. If you hadn’t come he would have trouble moving his arms I believe,” Kibum explains, swimming up to the human and resting his hand inside Minho’s. Minho’s hands are so much bigger than his fragile ones. “He had trouble sleeping last night I know.”
Jinki sighed. “You know that that dosage will not be enough for his survival. If you want him to live your highness, he will have to go get more at the castle. But you will not be allowed inside the walls without him for he is a human.”
Kibum rubs the back of his head. “I promised him he wouldn’t die.”
Jinki turns to Kibum and Kibum turns to him and they look at each other. The silence stretches through and all Kibum can hear is the ringing in his ears and the soft pull of the ocean that begs him to come back home. He thinks about Taemin and Woohyun who must be scared to death and the thoughts of his mother. He wonders if Jinki told them that he was alive or didn’t have the time to. Were they doing his funeral now?
“You know I can do something to save him, to make him accepted,” Jinki said, “But you should not be allowed to make such a decision so rashly. And without his permission.”
“Please,” Kibum begs, “I promised to keep him alive.”
Jinki runs his hair through his chestnut, curly hair, and reaches into his bag. He pulls out an old, ratty book, one that he must have stolen from his father. He flips pages until he finds one near the middle. It’s written in the archaic language of before and Kibum can only make out a few sentences. Jinki chants it underneath his breath as he reads.
“It says that only true love can do this,” Jinki says. Kibum waves him to continue. “Either the merman must be on the earth or the human in the ocean, and they must kiss. They must chant some words after the kiss and if the gods and the stars above approve, one will change.” Kibum nods and starts pulling at Minho’s arm to pull him into the water. That will certainly wake him up.
Jinki sets a hand on his arm. “Do you really want to do this?”
“He kissed me, Jinki. It was my first kiss. I now know why I am the strong leader, why I am the son after so many daughters. I was chosen to stop the fighting between man and merman. And Minho made me open up my eyes and realize this. Not all of them are bad; we just assumed they were,” Kibum says. Jinki nods and helps Minho into the water.
“What is going on?” Minho groans, keeping his eyes closed. With some difficulty, Kibum and Jinki are able to make him float on his back.
“We’re saving you,” Kibum said. He reads off the words to Minho and Minho nods drowsily. He doesn’t ask why they are doing this nor who Jinki is, just floats with the sea and smiles when Kibum gives him a soft peck on the cheek for his co-operation.
When everything is set Kibum kisses Minho. All he does is pray in his thoughts and hopes that this will work, that everything will go right. Minho moans against his lips and Kibum wonders how much he hurts or how much he can feel now. Minho’s lips move against his and they kiss for a very long time before air calls to Minho’s lungs and they pull apart. They start chanting underneath their breaths-Kibum makes sure he doesn’t mess up and Minho keeps their eyes locked.
A flash of light erupts and Kibum is pressed up against the rock. He covers his eyes so that he doesn’t blind himself, feeling the force of the waves press against his stomach. He cannot see Jinki either and hopes that he is safe wherever he is.
The light dims and Kibum sees Minho on top of the water. He looks down and sees, instead of two, long legs, a beautiful orange tail with two fins at the bottom. His back still bleeds but Minho is a merman now. He is one of them.
Kibum swims up to him and kisses him ferociously on the lips, pulling him down underneath the water and spinning them. Minho laughs against his lips and Kibum helps him hold hands. His chest is better because of the elixir but he needs medication. Jinki helps them pack up their stuff in his bag and they try to swim back as fast as Minho can.
-
Everyone is surprised to see a new merman appear with Prince Kibum and Scholar Jinki a day later. Minho has trouble swimming because of the arrow and so they rush him to the hospital to get the rest of the elixir and sew up his back. He stays in the hospital for a couple of days until they deem him healthy enough. When he exits Kibum announces that he is ready to marry to Minho and everyone cheers.
Taemin grumbles and Woohyun smiles when Kibum gets married six months later. They don’t disapprove of course, but Kibum has decided to not let them in on the true secret of Minho’s origins. Jinki promises to keep Minho’s past a secret and the couple are able to sleep at night with the knowledge that their secret is safe.
Three months after their marriage Minho says that he’s homesick, and wishes to see his mother before he leaves her for a life under the sea. Kibum accepts this and organizes a caravan consisting of Woohyun, Jinki and the couple to go to the human world to visit his mother. He sends a message in a bottle three days prior, hoping that it reaches her so that when they arrive at the shoreline at midnight she will be there.
She is.
“I missed you mom,” Minho says, hugging her in the water. She weeps on his shoulder.
“I thought I had lost you!” There are a bunch of hugs and kisses and Kibum is introduced with a sheepish smile and a trusting hug.
“Thank you,” she says to Kibum, “Thank you for making my son so happy.”
Kibum shakes his head, “Thank you too mother. Now, I believe that this is yours.” He fishes the compass out of his messenger bag and hands it to her. “When I saw you, I knew that you knew who this belonged to. I have been keeping it safe for you.” He closes his hand around hers and kisses her forehead.
-
“Jongin, Chanyeol, get back here!” Kibum screams, swimming around the castle to catch his two children. He grabs onto Chanyeol’s long tail and pulls him into his chest. At the sudden loss of his brother, Jongin stops and swims shyly into his father’s arms.
“Can we go to the humans today?” Chanyeol asks with wide eyes. Jongin nods to agree.
Kibum smiles, “Haven’t Kris and Lu Han seen you guys enough this week? Little princes shouldn’t be so far away from the castle all the time.”
Minho swims up and snakes his arms around Kibum’s waist. “Let them go see their friends, honey. They will stay close, yes?” The two boys nod enthusiastically. “See, told you.”
Kibum sighs. “Fine, and say hi to Jinki and Jonghyun for me, ok?” The two boys smile and swim out of their father’s grasp, swimming as quickly as possible to shore.
The castle now sits closer to the humans since the peace treaty. There are no borders and no lines. The humans can come as often as they want and the mermen can lie on their shores like a family at the beach. The guard is almost broken and Woohyun has many days off because of this.
“Come here,” Minho says, turning his husband around and kissing him passionately on the lips. “Why the frown? I remember someone being very adventurous when they were of that age.”
“I know, but I’m just scared that they’ll be wishing to turn into humans or something.” Minho laughs and pecks his cheeks.
“They’ll be fine,” Minho persists, “Now, let’s go back inside.” He grabs onto Kibum’s hand and pulls him inside.
--
end.
a/n: thanks people on twitter who pulled me through this! this was one of the fics i was really proud of and i didn't want it to be so long it just happened.
a/n1: minkey is always welcome. always.