We Belong to the Sea [Ienzo/Myde]
Title: We Belong to the Sea
Pairing: Ienzo/Myde
Written For: villanelle_koi who is a goddess of Zemyx. And is awesome ♥
Rating: PG
A/N: ...it's Ienzo/Myde only now. Nyeah.
There are pathways between these worlds that we may know nothing of...
There are many more worlds out there.
There is always something that is beyond our reach, always something new on the horizon.
These worlds hold more secrets than we can ever comprehend.
Ienzo always went out to the beach to cry. The ocean made him melancholy... touching something that could never have an end. It steadied and calmed him, knowing that even when his life turned upside-down the sea was always the same.
This night was no different from any other night - the stars, the sand, the breeze off the ocean. It ruffled his hair and dried the tear-tracks on his cheeks, and made him shiver. It was cold.
He vaguely wondered if they'd notice he was gone. Maybe Braig would notice, and tell everyone - or maybe he'd keep his big mouth shut for once. Braig was kind of a doof, but he had a good heart and knew when to keep quiet. It was that quality that Ienzo prized most in his friend - unlike Braig, the loss of his parents had been sudden and shocking. He understood when Ienzo needed time to himself.
And that was why he was here, again. It wasn't even a definite thought that set him off this time, he'd just been sitting there in his room at the orphanage, and all of a sudden the tears started... so he had to get away.
Now he was just staring out into the ocean, mind sort of blank. Tonight was no different from any other night.
Suddenly Ienzo frowned. He could have sworn he'd seen something sparkle, out on the sea.
He was standing before he knew what he was doing, and walking forward before he thought twice. He stopped at the edge of the water...
And he saw, distinctly, a gossamer-fine fin arcing up from the waves, then splashing back down.
As far as he knew, no large fin or whales came in this close to shore.
Ienzo wasn't exactly a strong swimmer, and the water was freezing, but academic curiosity spurred him on.
It didn't even matter that he was going too far out to sea... he had to see what was out there. And besides, it wasn't like anyone would miss him.
Suddenly he felt his head spinning, and the stars swirled above his head... Oh crap. What the hell had he gotten himself into this time? WHAT TO DO?
Don't panic, he thought, as vertigo overtook him and he could no longer tell what was where. Don't panic!!
And then, just as suddenly as it had began, it stopped.
And he was underwater. And his legs were gone. And he had a fin.
Panic was definitely starting to look like an option at this point.
...But he could breathe. That, at least, was a good thing. Ienzo gave an experimental kick, and felt powerful muscles propel him forward.
"Are you all right?"
He whipped around at the sudden voice, he was unaware that he was being watched!
And then he felt his heart stop. Not literally, but it might has well have been.
There was a merman floating there. He was definitely male, that much was for certain. And he was the most beautiful thing that Ienzo had ever seen.
His eyes were a bright aqua blue, almost sparkling in the shifting underwater light, and his hair - his hair was just plain gorgeous. It was dark brown at the roots and faded out to blonde, and fanned around his head like some sort of halo.
And, without a doubt, he had the most beautiful smile in the entire world. All the worlds.
"Umm... can you talk?" the merman tilted his head to one side and gave Ienzo a quizzical look.
He blushed. "Y-yes! I can talk!"
"Oh, good!" There was that smile again, and Ienzo completely forgot what he was going to say. "What's your name?"
"Ienzo." He was about to say 'where am I?', but somehow the words changed on the way to his mouth. "What's yours?"
"My name is Myde!" the merman sum in happy circles around Ienzo, making him feel a little dizzy, though he wasn't sure exactly why. "You appeared out of nowhere!"
"Uh, yes..." he opened his mouth to explain, but Myde cut him off.
"It's getting late, I have to go home! Come with me, okay?"
Once again, Ienzo tried to ask where he was, but all that came out was, "...Okay."
This place was like nothing Ienzo had ever seen. Such beautiful buildings! All of it designed for underwater people... it was incredible. He knew he should be thinking about home, trying to get back, but all of this was so fantastically new, and wonderful. He couldn't possibly leave now.
"We live close to the palace, so my mom doens't mind when I go off on my own, but I have to be back before midnight, before the sharks get hungry..." he seemed to realized he was babbling, and looked a bit sheepish. "Er. Sorry. You probably don't care."
"That's not true," Ienzo said, and found himself actually believing it. "I've never - "
"Well, my house is right here!" Myde cut in with a cheerful smile. He grabbed Ienzo's hand and turned sharply downwards, moving fast in a spiral, forcing Ienzo to concentrate on his clumsy swimming so he could keep up.
Myde's mother was as cheerful as her son, kind, and immediately accepted Ienzo into the household. He felt a wash of relief from a fear he didn't know he had - and a sudden, fierce pang of longing for that kind of parental affection that had been so viciously torn away from him.
And Myde was there always, touching him - it was a cultural thing, Ienzo realized after the first few surprising, but not unwelcome, touches - on the shoulder, or the hip. And it comforted him.
For the first time in months, Ienzo wasn't lonely - he hadn't been alone, at the orphanage, but he was always lonely. But the easy smiles of Myde's mother - and himself, of course - soothed the wound that he'd never quite allowed to heal.
{ + }
Myde was leaning out of his window, staring up at the silvery light playing across the surface. Ienzo sat back and watched him, noting the way his scales shimmered as he moved, and the restless flick of his fins. Myde's family didn't have a guest room, so he would stay with the young merman tonight - not that Ienzo minded in the least.
"Myde?"
"Hmmm?" he didn't move, except for a small swish of his fins.
"...Where is this place?" he'd been meaning to ask it all night, but everything distracted him.
"What are you talking about?" Myde's voice was full of carefully calculated innocence, but Ienzo didn't doubt that he knew exactly what he meant.
"You must have noticed... but I'm not from around here."
Myde paused. Then, he slowly pushed himself back into the room, and swam in a backwards circle until he was upside-down, compeltely unaware of the effect that that motion had on Ienzo's brain. "Of course I noticed. I was curious at first, but then I was afraid..."
Ienzo blinked. "Afraid of what?"
"...afraid... that you would go away." Myde flipped quickly upright. "I don't have many friends. Actually... well... I don't really have any friends, at all."
Ienzo pulled back, surprised. He'd only known the merman for - had it only been a few hours? - and yet he felt like he'd known him all his life. He was friendly, and charming, and Ienzo felt at ease for the first time in months.
"...and I was afraid that if I questioned you... or answered your questions..." he bit his lip and looked off to one side. "...that would leave, and I really didn't want you to leave."
Ienzo ducked his head, hiding behind his long bangs. Perhaps Myde was right. Maybe if he'd known where he was and how to get home, he'd have gone right away... and he never would have come home, here. And he would be sorely missing out.
He tried to put his thoughts into words. "I... I don't know how I got here, or how to get home... but I know that it doesn't really matter. I know that must sound silly..."
Myde's eyes widened. "You... want to stay? With... me?" And, to Ienzo's great surprise, the merman blushed.
"Y-yes," he stuttered out, blushing a fair bit himself. "Back home, I'm..." he swallowed the lump that had risen suddenly in his throat. "My parents died five months ago. I... haven't really been much of a person since then."
Myde's jaw dropped, then he rushed forward and tackled Ienzo in a hug. "I didn't know! That's terrible!"
He'd heard it again and again. But this time, unlike all those false condolences, he knew that Myde truly felt the loss as sweetly as he did. "Heh. Thanks..." Uncertainly, he wound his arms around his new friend, who wasn't showing any sign of letting go.
A long moment passed, then Myde asked quietly, "Do you miss them?"
"More than anything," Ienzo murmured.
He nodded. "I don't know how you got here, either," he said in a small voice, "but... you're welcome to stay. As long as you want. I like you."
Ienzo blushed; he couldn't help it. "I... really like you too," he muttered.
Myde looked up then, and realized just how close they were...
And suddenly, it happened.
The dizziness. The vertigo.
"NO!" he felt a tightness around him, different from the swirling colors and the inevitable panic. "LET HIM GO! LET HIM GO!"
He tried to cry out, but there was no voice and no direction, and a searing pain spread up his fin... his legs...
"IENZO!!!!"
{ + }
"Man! Talk about stupid!"
"You almost drowned!"
"Seriously, what the hell were you doing out there?! It's the middle of the night!"
Ienzo sputtered, and coughed water up out of his lungs. "MYDE!" he shouted, when he finally had the breath to.
"Myde? Who's that?"
He looked up then, into the sharp amber eyes of his friend and fellow orphan. "Um. No one," he muttered.
He was back.
Ienzo looked around, taking it all in. The beach. The stars. The sea.
"Man, you're lucky I was out for an early jog... seriously Ienzo, you could have died!"
The sea.
"Are you even listening to a word I'm saying? Jeez, did you get brain damage out there or something?"
"Of course not," Ienzo replied crossly, but the truth was he wasn't sure. Did he dream that? Was there a land of mermaids and merman, out there somewhere?
He shook his head and pushed himself up to his feet. It had to have been a dream, or a hallucination. Mermen... ridiculous.
As he followed Braig away from the water, however, he thought he heard something... a strain of a distant melody, catching on the ocean breeze.
He stopped to listen, ignoring Braig's protestations.
The melody filled him with calm, and he smiled to himself. They would meet again. He was sure of it.