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Foolish was just trying to enjoy the warm day. He played with the fish deep inside the ocean and tried to follow their lead, searching with them for some nice shells for Leo’s new necklace she kept asking about lately. She really loved jewelry and who was Foolish to say ‘no’ to his sweetest girl. He went far and beyond to reach the darkest parts of the ocean, sectors where the only things giving out the weakest light were his golden scales.
But it seemed like just one day of peace was apparently too much to ask for, even after almost two weeks of storms and rather cold air that made resurfacing impossibly difficult. His relaxing time was interrupted by a strong buzzing inside his head, like a strange kind of migraine. His heart started beating faster with anxiety and the merm immediately recognised the feeling. His eyes widened slightly as he heard a scream.
Leo's scream.
The merm lunged towards the voice.
Her fear ran through his body like blood in his veins, not stopping for a single moment. There was no pain, thankfully. He would’ve lost his mind if she was in pain. When he noticed his daughter, the net with the merm inside was already so close to hitting the surface. Even then, he swam towards his child with no hesitation. His daughter was scared, curled up in the ball in this tight net, so close to being pulled on the deck where multiple people were waiting. His claws came out as he grabbed the lines where Leo’s tail was tangled between them.
There was no time for waiting or even thinking.
Leo was his light, his reason to wake up every day and enjoy life as much as he could with Bad annoying him left and right. He had to save her, no matter how dangerous or stupid that might be.
The merm jumped out of the water and caught the net, dragging it back under the water. Even with four people on the ship trying to take it out, he managed to snatch the net out of their hands. Well, his tail was the main cause why he weighs over three hundred pounds. The loud splash could be heard as three bodies landed in the water.
Yes, that's right. Three bodies.
Foolish turned around sharply, facing the person that fell with them. The man clearly was panicking. Maybe not so much from falling into cold water, but the creatures in front of him. The merms were so rare, they were called a myth in many parts of the world. The human race denied their existence in fear of what might lurk in the dark parts of the ocean.
They were very much alive, but the sea creatures didn't appreciate human companionship since the fifteenth century when people killed many merms and sold their tails as a decoration, one to be put on the walls. Many huge pods were hiding in the depths of the ocean. He knew some merms that had never seen sunlight during their entire life.
Foolish showed off his fangs and growled at the man. He was the reason why Leo was scared in the first place. He deserved only one thing and Foolish will gladly give him just that. With a beat of his tail, he swam straight at the man. The pirate tried to move from his path, but a human man would never be able to move better in the water than a half fish creature. Foolish pressed his claws to the man's neck and the first drops of blood quickly disappeared in the water.
Foolish could hear the muffled screams from the ship. He ignored those like the whistle of the wind. The crew was worried as fuck about one of theirs, but it's not like they could do anything. The adult merm's scalps couldn't be pierced by most materials known to the man kind, especially the dirty iron they used for their hooks and spears.
He dragged the man on the surface. Even now, he couldn't understand what the rest of the crew was screaming. The language was unknown to him, it sounded like random syllables sloppily put together in a hurry, but it seemed like his daughter understood everything, based on her reaction.
"Give me one reason not to kill you." Foolish growled in a low tone. The panic in the pirate's eyes increased, but the merm ignored it.
"Que…?" the merm winced at weird language, interrupted by a fit of coughing. Yeah, he doesn't understand shit. Maybe Foolish should've learned when Leo wanted to teach him that. "No entiendo-"
"Pa, please." Leo got closer to him just to catch his arm with which he still held the man. "Let him go."
"He tried to hurt you." Foolish argued, but the sad look in his daughter's eyes was enough for him to know he had lost both the battle and the war. There's no way he could ever resist those puppy eyes.
The merms were anything, but violent. Even the fishes they eat are treated with respect and it was a tradition to pray for their souls before eating even the smallest meal. The merms wouldn't hurt another being, at least when there was no reason. But they were also really protective and if even a single human got too close to their pod's home, they would be killed mercilessly. Maybe they weren't the strongest kind in the ocean, but the merms were more intelligent than other entities.
"Pa…"
Leo's hold tightened as she made a sad, almost wounded noise. This made Foolish loosen his grip on the man's neck immediately. Now without anything to jam the wound, the blood started to slowly drip down the man’s neck. The pirate started taking deep breaths like they would be his last. If the man also didn’t understand their language, he might think that they are.
The merms have been very family coded since the beginning of history. The young merlings were the most precious things in the adult's life, no matter if they were part of the pod or not. But the ones that the adult claimed as theirs were even more special. The claiming process created the bond no human would ever understand. It was almost magical, the bond between a few souls.
The parent's instincts were crazy and strange to adjust to for both parties. Foolish could feel Leo's emotions if they were strong enough and his intuition seemed to know everything about his kid. Not that he complained, it was always easier to raise a child if he knew what the said child needed in the first place. When he got Leo, she didn't even know how to speak. The intuition was the only reason why he knew how to keep her alive and mostly well.
Right now, Leo was scared. But not for her life, no. She felt safe when her father was near, Foolish was one of the strongest merms in this part of the ocean. She was scared for this human, gods know why. He tried to hurt her, the man deserves it all.
He finally let go of the pirate, his arm still reached out in case the man attacked or started drowning. The merm moved away, still looking at him and his crew before swimming away, his eyes carefully looking for any injuries on his daughter. She seemed fine, maybe a little shaken up after the incident, but nothing too serious.
"Leo, what did I tell you about getting so close to the ships?" Foolish started his speech after they were finally home. The little merm pouted slightly at that. Well, if she thought the talk wouldn't happen, she was very wrong. The puppy eyes wouldn't save her the trouble this time. “You're allowed to be on your own while on the surface which is already more than most of the merlings are allowed.”
"I know pa, but they were singing and telling stories." she whined and Foolish had to restrain himself from pulling her into the bed and never let go again. Gods, he was so scared after he noticed his little star in the net, up there, in the air. If he were just seconds late, then he'd never- "I just wanted to listen closer, but I got caught in the net and then they started to pull me up and you showed up."
He tucked a stray hair behind her ear. She let out a squeal after he took her into his arms and dragged the merm to the bed. He started braiding her hair.
"I can understand that." he really could. She was just a kid and it was a fact that curiosity was part of merm’s nature. Foolish might have seen tons of people, killed a lot of them, but his daughter didn't. "So if you only wanted to listen to them, why save the pirate?"
He truly wanted to know. His daughter wasn't the one to trust or like someone new that fast. Well, there was Bad, but it was an exception. They had known each other since they were both little merlings. There was no reason for her to spare the pirate’s life after they almost got her away from her father.
Alright, maybe Foolish lied and he might be a little mad at her.
He wasn't a strict parent. Foolish never minded when she followed him on the hunt. He knew he was strong enough to protect her from everything they might encounter 2 in the ocean. He even let Leo swim on her own to other merms as long as she told him where she's heading. Two of a few rules he set was avoid going on the surface or near ships.
She broke both of them at the same time.
As if some sort of spell was put on her, Leo's mouth quickly shut with a click. She entirely refused to talk about it, no matter how many times Foolish promised to keep it a secret or not to be mad. She wouldn't tell him the reason, but the slight blush on her face was suspicious as fuck.
And merms were always really curious creatures.
At the same time, Vegetta was already sitting on the dock of his ship. People around him acted as if he was on his deathbed and not just a bit wet. Max searched for any injuries and after he found none except a couple nicks on his neck, he still brought a cold pack of something for his bruises which were starting to form on his neck.
He saw it in a bucket of water used to clean up his neck. And yeah, it wasn't beautiful.
But Gods above, Vegetta knew what was beautiful, or perhaps who was. As scary as the situation was, he couldn't stop thinking about those emerald eyes staring right at him. The creature, explained as a myth on Quesadilla Island, was gorgeous.
His wet scalps seemed to shine just like real gold under the sun and gods, his voice. Vegetta didn't expect a merm to be like this. Stories only ever spoke about harmless looks and sweet voices, used just to lure sailors into the water and kill them without a human feeling anything. They were supposed to look innocent, weak, but it didn't feel like that when the merm was grabbing his neck in his strong hand, keeping him in one place, no matter how much Vegetta struggled against it.
Somehow, his strength made him even more attractive. The pure anger made his eyes shine like a thousand suns. Vegetta knew he shouldn’t fall for it, he was a human and it was dangerous, but the merm's charm was too strong to just forget about him.
If not for the little merling words, Vegetta would be dead, on the bottom of the ocean. There was no way his crew would be able to take his body out with the merms still swimming in these waters.
"Capitán, estás bien?" Roier looked really concerned after noticing his dissociation. But he couldn't stop thinking about the beauty of the creature. And he supposed it wasn't because of their magic.
"Si, si." he shook off the feeling and stood up. "Volvamos a la isla. Creo que es suficiente por un día."
His crew quickly started to move around as he went inside his cabin. They refused to let him help around and Max sternly advised him to go back inside. Yet, Vegetta already knew that he wouldn't sleep for the rest of the trip. Not when he was aware that there might be a merm under his ship, waiting to sink it in revenge.
But the whole way home, nothing happened. No one interrupted their travel and no creatures appeared as well. It seemed too quiet for Vegetta's liking, even if his crew cheered as they were already on the shore, with no injuries or any possible harm in their sight.
But it was too quiet.
Foolish waited for a couple weeks for everything to settle down. Leo seemed to forget about the incident after just a few days, still playing with other merlings with no care about the world around them. But Foolish remembered everything, how his daughter protected this human from his anger and refused to give out answers when he questioned her.
So after Dapper and Leo fell asleep, he left them under Bad's care and started swimming towards the shore where he knew the pirates lived. He might have looked at them a couple times, so what? He was curious.
He stopped just to sit on the rocks with an easy way to escape into the water in case someone decides that merm's scalps and tail would be a great decoration.
Most of the stories about merms were wrong. They didn't kill people for their own enjoyment and there was no way a merm would ever eat human meat. It was disgusting and unhealthy for their scalps.
One story was correct. Their voices were magical, but not for a reason humans believed in. Merms' voices were that way just to help them communicate with their pod under the water. And if people weren't as resistant to that as they should be, it's not his problem.
It was useful in situations like this. Foolish really wanted to talk with this pirate, but if it wasn't for his luring voice, he would have to drag him into the water from his own ship… yet again. This way it's much more simple. And less dangerous, at least the human won't get a concussion from hitting the water too hard.
The merm started his song, the well known feeling spreading throughout his body. The moment the merms' started singing, their voice was moving miles away. Enough for the pirate to hear him, especially since it was dedicated to the man himself.
After just a couple minutes, the pirate came into his view. Foolish only stopped singing when the man was close to the water. Not enough for it to wet his clothes, but enough for Foolish to lunge at him in case he tries something. The fog in his eyes disappeared just a moment after the merm stopped singing. The man shook off the weird, tingling feeling left in his body. Foolish looked with amusement at the man, who was yet to be aware where he was.
"Hello." he greeted the pirate, trying to get his attention. It worked as the man almost jumped and turned around to see the creature.
"Que-" he cleared his throat and spoke again with a weird accent. It was still impressive since the man didn't know any English just a couple weeks back. "What am I doing here?"
"I just wanted to talk." he shrugged and noticed the slow steps the man took, heading back to the village. "I don't mean any harm."
"Sure." the pirate agreed with sarcasm, his face tight. Alright, maybe the last time they met, Foolish tried to kill him, but it was ages ago! They could forget about it and move on with their lives.
"I mean, I could just let you leave right now and drag you into the water the next time you're on your ship." Foolish knew from his face that the man would stay here after the threat. "I'm really just curious. Why would my daughter want to save you?"
The pirate took a step closer, but flinched away when a wave hit one of the rocks Foolish sat on.
"What? Your daughter?" Everything made sense now. Why this merm was so protective over the little one, ready to kill him just to keep her safe. "We really didn't mean to take her. On the island, you're just a myth. Me nor my crew expected someone like that to be there."
"Is that so?" he asked with a note of amusement. The merm jumped into the water, but was out as quickly, much closer to the shore that Vegetta would like him to be. But instead of attacking, the merm just held out his wet hand. "I'm Foolish. I guess the first merm you get to meet."
"Vegetta." the pirate hesitantly shook his hand. It was soft, despite the hard looking scales that covered the outside part.
He looked straight into these emerald eyes and felt like he was getting lost in them. They were shining with some sort of silliness and amusement of how hesitant the pirate is with a creature and his every move. The merm pulled him closer which ended up with Vegetta landing face first into the water.
The man really wanted to be mad or scared from this act, but he couldn't. Not when the merm was sitting next to him, laughing like there's no tomorrow over his wet face and hair. Vegetta smiled softly, but after a moment, he started laughing as well.
"So, what else did the village tell you about us?" he asked after they finally calmed down. "Are we really blood lusted creatures that lure innocent sailors into the water just to kill and eat them?"
"More or less." Vegetta shrugged and sat down in the water, ignoring how wet and uncomfortable his pajama was.
He grew up on these stories. Both his mother and father tried to keep him as far from the ocean as they could, but they didn't do a great job as their son ended up as a pirate. The waters and his crew were his entire life.
But he couldn't start believing in these stories again. Not when one of the merms from them was sitting next to him with this big smile, shining like a gold tail with no ill intentions towards him. His emerald, kind eyes caught his attention every time he looked at the merm.
Looking at Foolish just felt right.
"We're not anything like that." Foolish said, but there was something sad in his voice. "Merms are rather peaceful creatures unless someone attacks us or our children."
Foolish shot him a pointed look as he said the last part. Vegetta shifted the tiniest bit closer, but it made Foolish almost move towards him. The merm seemed to cling to the warmth of the human body, but tried not to show it. Well, he failed, but Vegetta wouldn’t point it out.
"Our voices aren't meant to lure humans." he explained. "They were designed to communicate with our pod or to hunt fish. I don't know why it works like that on people."
"You lured me here." Vegetta pointed out.
"Just to talk, I didn't want to hurt you." he laughed and leaned back, somehow brushing over Vegetta's arm. He felt the shiver coming over his body just from that. "You know, there are stories from when people and creatures such as merms were friendly with each other. I don't think it's possible anymore."
The bittersweet laugh came from the merm.
Vegetta heard those stories. The old man in the village told them to the kids, but was quickly silenced by the Federation. He was a kid, barely out of school when it happened. He wanted to believe in them and experience friendship with these creatures.
Vegetta always cling to the idea that they exist and are still out there, deep inside the ocean. Living their own life with their culture, beliefs. He wanted to know more about them, not just from silly stories told by an old, weird man, but from the creature itself.
"We never know." Vegetta looked at the merm with a big smile. "Maybe one day it can happen."
Foolish looked down after he felt a light touch, Vegetta's hand over his own. The merm looked to the side to hide the blush that showed on his face. The moon perfectly lightens up the merm's face. Vegetta felt the warmth on his own face, making him smile.
They sat like that for what felt like only minutes, but the sky proved it wrong. The stars slowly disappeared from the sky, the pinks and oranges replacing the dark blue.
"I have to go. Leo might wake up soon." Foolish finally moved away, deeper into the water. Vegetta nodded slowly, but his mind screamed at him. This night wasn't enough for him. He wanted more. More of the soft touches. More of the sweet words. More of Foolish.
"Wait!" he shouted right before the merm disappeared. Foolish turned around to look at the man. "Will I see you tomorrow?"
"The same place and time." he agreed almost immediately with a giant smile. "Take care, Vegetta. May the waters favor you and your crew."
"Goodbye, Foolish." the pirate replied.
The merm disappeared in the water moments later. Vegetta stood in the same place for a couple moments, just looking in the place he saw the merm last in. His heart raced and he felt the blush coming over his face.
"Oh Gods above." he whispered to himself as he realized something that might’ve changed his entire life.