Chapter Text
Excited trills reverberated through the moonlit reef. Scaring away all the sea life that heard it. The source of the commotion came from two young merfolk.
Elvers to be precise. At this age their bodies are adorned with noisy camouflage made up of varying shades of teal and green that shift into grays and browns towards their tails. In the night, they sported two dotted lines of blue bioluminescence. One tracing the lateral line down their side and the other on their underside. Appearance wise they were nearly identical. The most notable differences between them being their length and mirrored heterochromia.
They raced through the reef with the smaller of the two eels chasing the other. Darting around coral and around stone spires.
“When did you become so slow Floyd?” taunted one of the twins, using a sea fan to turn sharply around a corner. The second elver overshot the turn but quickly recorrected to catch up.
“I am not slow!” Floyd piped in protest of his brother’s jab. “You’re just going too fast Jade!”
“Isn’t that the same thing?” Jade chirred and tucked his tail, diving under a shoal of fish. Floyd was determined to not let him get the upper fin, so he instead plowed through the shoal, allowing him to surge ahead momentarily. Closing the gap, he reached out to tag him, only for his brother’s tail to barely escape his fingertips when he veered to the right.
Floyd hissed through his teeth and chased as fast as he could to try and catch up. With each twist and turn he felt a surge of exhilaration. As Jade darted around a towering pillar of coral, he disappeared from Floyd’s view and when he followed he didn’t see him on the other side.
“Eh? Jade? Where the hell didcha go?” He spun around until he heard a chuckle behind him and looked to see Jade tucked away in a hidden alcove. His eyes twinkled with amusement.
“Ahah!” He exclaimed and surged towards Jade with a webbed hand outstretched. But just as Floyd was about to reach him, Jade shot out of the alcove, dodging his hand with a swift turn that left his brother momentarily disoriented.
Frustration bubbled in Floyd's chest as he recollected himself and rocketed after Jade.
“Stop doing that!” He demanded. Jade slowed, just enough to let Floyd swipe at him, but sped just out of reach of him again.
“What? I don't know what you're talking about,” he cooed and ducked sharply around an island of coral. But when he glanced back, the smaller elver was no longer behind him and he halted.
Before he could even question where his brother went, he got his answer when a hand slapped his underside. Causing a startled laugh to escape him and he looked down to see Floyd slipping out of one of the tunnels below.
“Hah! Got you! My turn!” Floyd exclaimed and scurried away while Jade reoriented himself to give chase.
“Not for long,” Jade smirked and sped after him.
True to his word, when Floyd turned sharply around a coral fan, Jade whipped around the other side. Blindsiding him and tagging his dorsal fin as he overshot past him.
“My, that was easier than expected.” Jade remarked but then realized Floyd didn't stop. “Hey, Floyd? Where do you think you're going?”
Floyd, swimming off again, looked over his shoulder with a cheeky grin. “Sorry, didn’ feel a thing! It's still my turn!”
“No, you felt it. I know you did!” Jade trilled. Dashing after him while Floyd simply laughed.
This time the smaller elver flew into a narrow canyon of coral so Jade wouldn’t be able to cut him off. Passing over a massive brain coral he noticed a nurse shark ahead. Without missing a beat he shot upward and Jade, caught off guard by the sudden maneuver, nearly collided with the shark. He hastily dove under it before rerouting to pursue Floyd again. Leaving the confused shark behind.
Floyd cackled and raced through the reef, using the terrain as an obstacle course. Dodging and weaving around the corals while Jade tried to keep up with him. He dove into a tight tunnel, expecting Jade to follow.
However when he shot out the other side of the rock a pair of hands slammed him into the ground. Stirring up a cloud of sand as a tail pinned him down.
“Did you feel me tag you this time?” Jade inquired in a condescending tone.
“Shut up.” Floyd spat and swung his claws at Jade, surprising him and forcing him to lean back. “I barely got a turn!” He coiled his tail around Jade and shoved him down into the sand next to him.
“Hey!” The other eel squawked in protest and fought against his brother's grasp. Scratching at each one another with claws and teeth bared.
Floyd, despite not matching Jade in length yet, managed to squeeze and immobilize his tail with his own. Rolling on top of him and pinning him down. He thought he had won. However, a sudden pain in his side, caused by Jade hooking his fingers in his gills, made him unravel with a shriek. Providing Jade the opportunity to reverse their positions.
The cloud of sand started to settle when the twins stilled. Gills flared while they tried to catch their breath.
“That was a dirty move,” Floyd snarled finally, rubbing the gill on his ribs while glaring at the eel on top of him.
Jade’s expression soured and he remarked curtly, “There’s no rules for fighting.”
“Oh yeah? Then how’d ya like it if I yank on yours!” The elver retaliated and shot out his hand, but it was intercepted by Jade grabbing his wrist.
“Really now?” Jade said with a click of his jaws.
Floyd’s glower intensified and he suddenly yanked his hand back and bit Jade on the arm.
He yelped and gripped the wound while Floyd quickly squirmed out from under him. Stopping a couple meters away.
Jade inspected the blood dribbling from the circle of incisions on his wrist before lifting his head. Locking eyes with his brother as a sinister grin spread over his lips.
“You’re not getting away with that.”
Floyd didn’t hesitate and fled the area while Jade kicked up a cloud of sand in pursuit. The chase led them deeper into the reef, where the twists and turns became more treacherous. Floyd's heart pounded with each surge forward, his mind consumed by the thrill of the chase and the fear of Jade catching up.
Rounding the corner Floyd spotted a tunnel and dove in between the islands of rock. His brother sped past him only a moment later. Floyd grinned and rocketed out the other end of the limestone tunnel to catch Jade from behind. Except his momentum backfired when something at the end of the tunnel snagged around his neck and clotheslined him.
Pain swirled through his head. He could feel sand cushioning his left side and the rough texture of rock pressed against his back. Gradually his eyelids fluttered open. Bewildered until his eyes refocused and he could see what he’d run into.
The moonlight revealed thin strings the colour of seagrass hanging in a tangled curtain over the limestone channel he had shot out of. Blearily he noticed that his neck was throbbing and tried to reach up to touch it. However his arm was held back by something and he looked down to see his arm was pushed partially through the blanket of strings.
He scowled and tried tugging the limb free but the twine felt like razors. Digging into his skin and threatening to tear the fin on his forearm. Experimentally, he moved his body but a sense of urgency started to rise within him when he felt the strings restricting his tailfin as well.
Twisting his body and trying to pull his arm and tail away at the same time did nothing but cause pain to spike along the sections of his body that were caught in the cords.
Floyd kicked his tailfin in frustration, forcing his upper body forward to try and wriggle free but the action only got the twine to catch around his gills and abdomen. Cutting into the delicate filaments and inhibiting his ability to breathe.
Something within him snapped and Floyd went into a panic.
Flailing violently Floyd dug his claws into the sand trying to find purchase to yank himself free but the twine resisted. His skin scraped against the stone as he writhed desperately but it was like being trapped in a sea cucumber's web. Gills struggling to expand Floyd twisted his body and snapped his teeth at the mesh of string in a fit of rage. Biting and ripping at it vigorously but the threads didn't give in. The pain in his gills and inability to breathe sent him spiraling. His chest ached and his heart pounded while terror overtook him. His desperate thrashing caused his head to snap back and bash into the limestone wall which made his vision go fuzzy. A garbled screech bubbled out of his throat as he struggled harder to escape but the twine only dug in deeper and Floyd felt a warmth in his gills.
From somewhere in the back of his mind a voice whispered for him to stop but his body refused to listen. The desperation to get free overrode all common sense and Floyd continued to fight in a haze of fear and desperation.
In the midst of his struggle a hand suddenly wrapped around his wrist.
"Stop! You're making it worse!" Jade hissed in his ear but Floyd ripped his arm from his hold.
"Get off me!" Floyd snapped at him and Jade recoiled, but didn’t retreat. However he could only get so close to Floyd’s violent thrashing without risking his own fins getting caught. He tried grasping at the webbing caught on his arms but he kept battering him away which caused Jade to hesitate. Torn between freeing him and avoiding getting ensnared as well.
“Floyd, stop.” Jade tried again, but it was clear he wasn’t going to get through to him when his brother’s flailing only intensified. Fueled by panic and the overwhelming need for freedom from the cage the webbing created. As Floyd's struggle grew more frenzied; Jade, In a last-ditch effort, lunged forward, wrapping his arms around his torso in an attempt to immobilize him. Which Floyd fought back against with primal ferocity.
However, Jade managed to hold onto him just long enough that he could unhook the net from his gills and cut some of the twine by his neck using his teeth. Allowing some of the webbing to let go of the smaller elver and with a bit more writhing he slid free from its clutches. Kicking up a whirlwind of sand as he rocketed away from the tangle of string before he paused. Realizing he was free.
Body still trembling from adrenaline, he turned his eyes back to Jade. Who stared back at him with an unreadable expression.
“Home?” Jade suggested after an uncomfortable silence.
“Yeah.” Floyd agreed easily. Eager to leave and pretend that never happened.