Aquata Cove

Chapter 21: Revelations

"Son..." Kaiken said.

"Father...?" Merrick acknowledged. The two of them are alone, away from the pod.

"Your Mother has informed me of something that has me feeling very concerned..." Merrick looked his father in the eyes as he spoke, "Over the past few years, you seem to have grown distant... Troubled... Over the last 13 suns, more so than usual."

"I have? Sister does not seem to think I have." Merrick replied.

"Do not jest with me, Son," Kaiken retorted, "For 21 suns in a row, you have completely disappeared, save for the full moon."

"Surely you are mistaken, Father," Merrick said, "I always wear the trace, so Razirah Denizyr can always track me no matter where I go."

"You know what I mean, Son," Kaiken said, glaring down at his Adra, "And you will address me properly." Merrick glared back at him, "... Now. As I said, your Mother has expressed concerns about you that are very serious. I need you to be honest with me," Kaiken then leered at the dainty metal chain on Merrick's left wrist, "Your Mother tells me you carry the scent of human about you."

Merrick's eyes strained as he heard this, "Not just this time, but she claims to feel this scent on you when we come to these waters. Why she has chosen to withhold this mention, I do not know..." Kaiken glared angrily at the Adra Triton. His big dark eyes narrowed as he looked at him, "What do you do for your personal training, Son?" He inquired, "I have never heard of this sort of thing before..." Merrick remained silent, as he locked his eyes with his father.

"Refusing to answer?" Kaiken asked. He floated up-close and personal to the smaller merman, "It will be wise for you to respond from this point forward, Son," He said in a low, lethal tone. After a short pause, he began to speak again, "Have you, or have you not made contact with a human?" There was a pause between the two males. Merrick closed his eyes and lowered his head.

"... I have..."

Triton Kaiken rumbled at the answer, "You know it is forbidden, Son... What reason could you possibly have for making contact with those savages?"

Merrick's fist clenched around his trident as he hovered there. He remained silent as his stomach burned with both guilt and anger.

"You know full well what humans are capable of... How can you be so careless?!" Kaiken raised his voice, "How many times have you met this human?? How long have you kept this secret from us?? From your POD? Worse than that, you put yourself at risk! If it wanted to, that human could have snatched you up into the sky! You would be lost forever, you KNOW that, Son! In the presense of a human, you are NEVER safe!"

"... But how can you know that, Father?" Merrick asked. Kaiken widened his eyes as he stared at his son.

"What did you say?"

"How do you know that, Father??" Merrick repeated, lifting up his head and looking at his parent with eyes of hurt, "Have you even SEEN a human snatch a merperson into the sky? Have we ever seen a human ride a giant gull into war? Have we ever witnessed humans create weapons from lava? Or watch as they change and create mountains?!"

"You never have to see their atrocities, Son, do you not understand?!" Kaiken said, "The Sacred Laws exist for a reason: to protect us from the humans and from going astray!"

"Who is REALLY to say what is right and wrong anymore, Father??" Merrick demanded, "We believe such horrifying tales about the humans, but have we ever bare witness to their calamities?! Have you ever seen ANYTHING of the dangers humans pose to our kind?"

"I HAVE!" Kaiken bellowed, "My MOTHER was taken from me, Son!" Merrick gasped, both at the volume of his father, and at the reply, "She was stolen and killed before my very eyes by pirates, Son!"

"You can't possibly believe all humans are cruel and dark from one act of monsters, Father!" Merrick replied.

"And how can you verify that they are not?!" Kaiken responded, "Did the human you know tell you??"

"..." Merrick paused, before taking his conviction, "Yes, he did, Father. He told me many things about humans and how they really are."

"Those were LIES, Son! LIES!" Kaiken shouted exasperatedly, "It was trying to coax information of our world out of you by presenting fallacies to you! Do you not have control over your own senses??"

"I do, Father!"

"No, you do not!" Kaiken said as he turned round, continuing with the ranting, "That human was investigating you! Drawing you closer and closer to your mind, prying to find our world!" Kaiken turned and swam to his son, "Can you not understand me?!" He said as he took hold of Merrick's shoulder, "I do not wish to see my own Adras meeting the same fate of my Mother..." He growled lowly as he shook his head, "No one should have suffered what I have seen. You cannot return to that human, lest you surrender your life and soul to the demons of land and sky."

"You are speaking in blindness, Father," Merrick replied, "The human never once tried to strike me or harm me..."

"It was trying to convince you of false innocence!" Kaiken retorted as he drifted away, and looked out into the ocean again, "You give your trust so easily to a monster, was it so difficult for the Phantasma to swallow you??"

"That is not the same thing, and you know it, Father!" Merrick shot out.

"Is it not??" Kaiken said as he turned and glared at his son, "I think you WANTED to be swallowed!" Merrick looked at him with hurtful shock, "So that you can never reveal your secret!"

"Do you hear yourself, Father?!"

"Do you, Son? You dare question the Sacred Laws! You understand nothing! You are weak! You have allowed a human to twist and distort your mind! You must NOT allow yourself to risk your existence for the sake of a monster! Can you not see its deception?! It will strip you of your soul and trap you forever-"

"I LOVE HIM, FATHER!"

The statement seemed to linger in the water. Merrick's gills flared as he breathed deeply, glaring at his father, shaking with rage. Kaiken looked absolutely dumb-founded.

"... Him?" He finally said, "Him??? ... Him, you love HIM?"

Merrick felt a purge of fear as he just realized what he just blurted out. Kaiken's gills flared as well as he too shook with anger, his widened eyes blazing with wrath "YOU LOVE HIIIIIIIM?!?!" Merrick gasped as the Triton suddenly charged at him. The Adra yelped as his father's trident launched forth, and snagged him on his throat! Merrick grunted and wheezed as his own trident drifted off from his hand, and he was slammed onto the reef, with two of the prongs of Kaiken's trident pressing down on his neck, restricting his breathing.

"Hhnngghhh!" Merrick wheezed as his tail whipped about weakly. His webbed hands pulled at the trident, but it's no use; he's pinned down.

"You... You dare commit it... You DARE commit more than one taboos?!"

"Fah... Father..." Merrick grunted as he squirmed.

"You DARE give yourself to a HUMAN?!" Kaiken bellowed, "YOU! An Adra Triton of the Piscien merfolk?!" He roared. Merrick grunted as his chest started to feel tight, "And not just a human! You have chosen a MALE!!"

"I... Couldn't... Enngghh..." Merrick clenched his eyes shut as he tried in vain to push off the large weapon off of him.

"Do you realize what you have DONE?!" Kaiken shouted, "Do you WANT to become Coshiton?! DO YOU?!" He cranked his trident to heighten the discomfort. Merrick whimpered as he hoarse voice became more strained.

"Red... Moon... Father..."

"So help me, Son, I AM going to get through to you...!" Kaiken said with a deadly rumble, "And if pain must be your teacher," Merrick gripped the trident's prongs as white tears formed around his eyes, "So be it..." He pushed his trident up more, before he raised his mighty arm to strike down.

"FATHER, NO!" Came a loud, young voice. Triton Kaiken turned his head, and gasped as he saw Adra Savarna jet up to them, and put her hands around the shaft of the trident, her eyes wisping pearly tears as she pushed at the weapon, "Don't hurt Brother, Father! Stop it, please!" Kaiken immediately pulled his trident back. Merrick gasped and sputtered as he felt his neck. The mermaid then put her arms around her brother, and pulled him away from the spot.

Minutes later, Merrick and Savarna swam to her little 'Sea Spot', and has been decorated a lot more than it has half a year ago.

"It is ok, Brother. Father will not hurt you anymore..." She said as she rubbed Merrick's arm. However, Merrick simply curled up at the base of the sand. He clenched his eyes shut as his shoulders began to shudder and jerk, "... Brother?" The young mermaid loomed around, and saw that her brother is weeping as he held himself, leaning against the rock, "Brother, it is alright! I promise, Father will not hurt you again!" Merrick only shook his head as he curled tighter, a white, glittering mist forming from his eyes as he cried. "It... It is alright, Brother..." Savarna said as she put her arms onto Merrick, taken aback by the merman's tears, "I will have Mother tell Father not to hurt you... She will not allow him to hurt your..."

Nothing she said will console Merrick in the least. She looked back in the other direction, and then back at her brother, "I-I will get your trident for you... It will be all right, Brother... You will see..." With reluctance to leave her sibling's side, she swam away, and quickly swam away to retrieve Merrick's weapon.

Adra Savarna... She truly has no idea of the hurt Merrick really feels deep inside...

-1 Week Later-

"And now, my Pod," Kaiken announced to the mass of merfolk before him, "The Time of Departure, is now!" With that, Triton Kaiken, Noita Umiato, Adra Merrick, and Adra Savarna turned, and lead the pod of merfolk into the sea.

For the past few days, Merrick and Savarna have stayed at Savarna's Sea Spot, with the Adra Triton hunting for them both, and just spending more time together. However, Merrick DID take her to Aquata Cove. She was quite amazed at the cave of glowing crystals hidden in a waterfall - she even took one add to her Sea Spot. The visit was short lived, however, as the mermaid did not eat any bullshark meat in order to be able to swim in the fresh water, and so developed a minor inflammation from the freshwater.

They returned around, once Savarna and Merrick had eaten some bull shark, but the had to retreat when Merrick sensed a human nearby. It had entered the pool, and is swimming around. Savarna wondered why Merrick looked at the human the way that he did... Saddened and longingly, as if he wanted to engage contact with it. Nonetheless, Merrick escorted his sister out of the tunnel, and the two Adras played elsewhere.

As the pod swam, Merrick rubbed his thumb along the barnacle that concealed his picture of Adam. It was all he can do without breaking into tears in front of the whole pod, to say the least if he opened the barnacle to look at the picture. At this time, Noita Umiato can sense an immense anguish inside her son. She looked sadly at him as his body gave off a large aura - mixed feelings of severe sorrow, longing, guilt... Self-hatred.

It pains her to know her son is feeling so much negative energy in his heart, and the worst part it, she does not know why his aura is so wounded. Does it have something to do with the human scent he holds when they come to these waters? Did that human scent originate from a companion of Merrick's? If so, did he lose this friend?

"HALT!" Kaiken called. The whole pod stopped swimming. Kaiken sent out a few long reaching signals up ahead. He scowled as he scanned ahead, listening for the details up ahead, "Something colossal is ahead. It is piercing the ocean floor..." He said aloud, "We must travel around-"

BOOOOOOM!!

Before they can take the alternate route, there was a huge noise out of the endless void. The merfolk screamed from the sudden rapture. Kaiken glared forth, and gasped, "SIRENS!" He roared out as a small handful of vivid red and violet, twin-tailed merfolk sang savage melodies as they raced towards the pod. "Arm yourselves!!"

The merfolk scrambled about calling to one another - the mermen readying their spears and the mermaids holding their short bows and poison spiral-shell arrows to strike.

The sirens spotted the pod, and jet towards them. The sped and loomed around the blue, green, and purple pod. The merfolk clashed with the cannibalistic sirens, both males and females singing their mad tunes as they frenzied into the pod. Biting into the merfolk, and getting attacked in return.

Merrick snarled as he swung his trident at a male siren. It simply taunted him as it laughed its musical voice, goading on the Adra Triton even more as the blue and silver merman charged at it. The red and purple siren whirled around Merrick as it continued to sing at him. As highly skillful as Merrick is, this siren is too fast; he only managed to get in a scratch at a time.

The sound of the singing male was beginning to make Merrick dizzy. He knows the song is starting to enter his mind and distort his thinking. If he doesn't end it now, he will be at the ruthless mercy of the sadistic siren, just like...

Merrick let out a shriek of anger as he swung his trident in a manic way, making the siren falter for just a moment - one moment that Merrick needed! "PERISH NOW!!" He hastily thrust his trident into the stomach of the siren. It screamed and bare its razor sharp teeth. Merrick released a fear-instilling call as he took a fishing knife from a notch in one of his sharkteeh belts, and carved into the siren's head!

Once the creature was dead, Merrick yanked out his trident, and swam ahead... Or was it backward?

Adra Merrick looked around. He feels so disoriented, the song is still in effect - it's totally distorted his sense of direction. The merman spiraled about, trying to figure out which way is left. Where is right again? Up and down isn't the same thing, are they? He tried swimming up, but he felt the water getting heavier as he went. He whined as he swam in any direction, his whole sense of balance is completely thrown off.

As he swerved about, Merrick began to taste something... Disgusting. He gagged as he tried to huff out more water to get the taste out, but only more of it seeped into him! He looked about, discovering the blue ocean has been darkened in a mass of blackness!

Then, his gills began to feel... Slippery and raspy, like pain is racking in his gills. It's getting harder to breathe and they hurt like crazy! Merrick swam around frantically, trying to find the surface! Where's the surface!? Did it just disappear?! Where's the rest of his pod?! What happened?! Did the sirens kill them all off?! If so, why haven't they come for him, yet???

Merrick gagged as he struggled to find the surface. He cringed and grunted horribly as his insides began to churn and ache, as if his stomach is full of writhing urchins! His mouth gapped more as he became unable to breathe, choking on the very water he's lived in for so long.

Everything in his line of vision is blurring. His world is turned completely upside down. His head is spinning as everything became dark. He moaned weakly as he drifted into darkness.

"... Adam..." He uttered quietly as he passed into nothingness, "... Aa ... Dah..."

The next thing he can feel is coldness, but heat as well. Cold and heat playing on his body as he also felt the rush of the winds. Something is patting his face as the darkness became lighter and lighter.

"... Merrick..." Echoed a familiar voice. His name bounced in his head as his eyes peered, squinting from the burst of light above him, "Merrick!" Echoed the voice again, "Merrick! ... Please wake up, baby! ... MERRICK!"

The light around the figure slowly came into focus, "Merrick! Open your eyes!"

"Unnngghhh..." Merrick groaned as he still felt heavy and very ill.

"Merrick?! MERRICK"

"... Ah... Adam..." He croaked very weakly. He lift up a trembling, webbed hand to the human's cheek, "My Adam..." Adam sniffled and wept as he took Merrick's cold, oily hand, and held it in place against his cheek. Merrick felt himself smile as his palm pressed in on the somewhat prickly spot on Adam's face.

"Merrick..." Adam sobbed as tears rolled down his face.

"Adam... You came for me..." Merrick uttered weakly, "I broke our hearts..." shimmering white tears formed around the Adra's eyes as he looked up at soaked human, his heart soaring in happiness and confusion, "And you came for me..."

"I love you, Merrick..." Adam said as he pulled the headband off of his head, pressing his forehead against the other, "I'm never letting you go again..." He held Merrick close to him, holding him tight, "Never, never never..." Adam said as he cried even more.

~~~

"Those damn boys..." Yuri said as she stood at the sandy back lawn, "Who the hell do they think they are?? Taking Dad's boat..." She turned to the sea, and spotted the motorboat in the distance. "THERE they are..." She crossed her arms as she spotted Jamal at the controls.

Soon, the boat came to a slowing halt. The Japanese girl glared daggers as she stalked up to the shore, as Adam hopped off, splashing onto the water, and wading quickly through the shore, carrying someone wrapped in shells and seaweed, "Where the hell have you guys been?!" She demanded as Adam approached her, "Where do you get off?! Joy riding my father's boat like that?! Who do you think-"

"Yuri!" Adam called out, as a wave of water hit him, and splashed onto the person he's holding, "Please, I need your help!"

"Adam, who're are you-" Yuri gasped and clapped her hands to her mouth as she saw Merrick looking like he's sleeping in Adam's arms, a lot of water splashed onto him, showing large blotches of blue scales and a line of black frill on his legs, which are partially melded together from the water.

"It's Merrick! He's sick, please, Yuri!" Adam pleaded. Yuri said as she saw Adam's eyes, looking pink and swollen from crying, "Help him..."

"Lets take him to my room, quickly" She said as she rushed back up the sand.

Merrick moaned weakly as Adam carried him to the house, and into Yuri's room. She readied a rollaway bed, with a towel laid down on top of it. He gently placed Merrick onto it, and he dried him off with another towel, making his legs and various parts of his body appear as human. Yuri watched as the blue scales slowly melted into droplets of water.

She and Adam removed Merrick's sharkteeth crossbelts and shell-shoulders, leaving him wearing only the bracelet and his necklace. Merrick moaned weakly as his skin looked... Oily. Even his blonde hair is damp with a wet darkness.

"Alright, I'm going to need some time," Yuri told softly to Adam, "Just stay in the living room, and wait for me there."

"Ok..." Adam said, as he looked nervously at Merrick, then at Yuri, "Please, Yuri-"

"I'll do what I can, Adam..." She said as she had him leave her room. He sighed as the door closed, and he went to the living room. He sat down on the couch, before Jamal sat beside him. Adam huffed, and sniffled, before putting his hands to his face, and started to sob. Jamal scooted over, and out his arm around Adam, patting him gently.

+++

"Ennngghhh..." Merrick gurgled as he peered out, his eyes looking darkened and red around his blue irises, "Adam..." He mumbled.

"Just stay calm, Merrick," Yuri said as she hooked up the earbuds to her stethoscope to her ears, and pressed a cold pad onto Merrick's stomach.

"Yu... Yuri..." He moaned.

"It's ok, you're back at the house..." She said softly as she moved the stethoscope.

"Adam... He said... You're a... Healer?" He asked drearily.

"Training to be one, anyway" She said, "I'm gonna need you to stay quiet..." She said as she pressed it over Merrick's chest. Yuri frowned as she took the earbuds out of her head, and went to her desk, "Ok, Adam said you're sick, so if you feel you need to throw up, use this," She said as she then placed a small canister next to the cot.