Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sea is calm. Waves sway the merchant's ship.

The sun is warm on his skin as he admires the blue sky. No clouds to be seen, the wind in their favour.

He's both excited and scared for the future. It isn't everyday your family decides to go and live on the other side of the world.

His dad promises 3 meals every day and that he even could go to school once they are there.

What's so good about school he has no idea, but getting to eat something every day is a good enough reason in his books.

Maybe he will help build a ship with his dad, instead of the boring net making and repairing.

If he could help build a ship, he would know how to do it and make one himself in the future.

He'd go on adventures every day, like the ones that the merchant of this ship tells him.

What would the name of the ship be?

"Riku!"

"Yes mom!"

"Lunchtime!"

A few weeks into the journey they stop on an Island to restock their water. As the adults go to the river, Riku has to stay on the beach because there could be dangers hidden in the foliage.

Even if he can't go it'll be better if he has a weapon to slay snakes with. He has never seen one in his life, but apparently they are dangerous creatures. You never know if they need some rescuing or maybe he could find a pretty stone and show it off to people like the merchant does.

But where can he find a sword or stone? There's only sand and sea-shells and he has been told off for going too close to the tree line.

His eyes focused on the ground, he walks on. He's so focused on searching that the frustrated yell startles him a few feet in the air.

The yell came from a boy standing a bit further.

The boy is tugging with all his might on a lump of something, attached to a weird looking plank.

He doesn't recognise the boy, maybe he's from another merchant ship that he didn't see. He looks to be around the same age as Riku, curious he walks closer, "What's wrong?"

The boy looks up. Blue eyes big and a bit watery.

He drops the lump from his hands, rubbing his eyes furiously, "My boards fin got stuck in seaweed. I've tried everything to get it loose, but nothing works."

Riku looks over the 'board' and indeed, the seaweed is tangled all around it.

"Did you try to get the knots out?"

"I tried, it's stuck too tight." The boy drops on his rump, "I'll never get home on time."

Riku hums,"I untangle nets a lot. I could try"

The boys eyes light up. He seems to vibrate with excitement,"Would you?"

"Sure" he drops down on his knees next to the board and starts to untangle it. It's very different from the nets, but it goes well except for one part, "We'll have to cut these few, the knots are too tight and the seaweed too slippery. I'll ask my dad for a knife." He moves to get up, but gets pushed down again.

"No no no no. There is no need to get your dad."

"Why not?"

"I have a knife!"

"You do?"

"Yes, look!" The boy raises his right hand, his brows furrow in concentration.

Nothing happens, no knife comes flying in or appears in his hands,"I don't see-"

'Wait a minute. I just learned it!"

Riku sighs, turning to the sea. Maybe he should get dad. Fake swords and knives are fun to play with, but no use for cutting things.

His eyes drift over the horizon, down to the sand, where trails of water are coming towards him.

Scrambling back he bumps in the other boys legs, "Wha-"

"Ha! Told you so!" Comes from above him

He looks up, the water slowly going up to the boy's hands, defying all he knows water to do.

It solidifies in his hands into a misshapen, sharp knife.

Riku can't help but gasp,"Cool!"

"Right?" Leon didn't want me to learn, he says I'll hurt myself, but it helped me!"

"I can't do that!"

"Duh, you're human."

"You're not?"

"Why would I be?" He states it like Riku is dumb for not knowing it," Do I cut this?"

Slightly offended that he's been considered dumb, he takes the boy's hand with the knife and places it on another knot, despite the fact that it would've worked too. The boy didn't need to know that."You have to cut here."

The board is finally freed and the boy lets out a happy shout. The knife in the hand of the boy falls apart into water. With his hands free he uses it to give Riku the tightest hug he can give, "Thank you!" He lets go,"My name is Sora by the way. What's yours?"

"I'm Riku."

"Let's be friends!" Sora smiles and sticks his hand out to shake.

Riku lifts an eyebrow, "I don't know you."

The boy pouts and lowers his hand. It doesn't fully deter him though. He bends over and picks up the board. Holding it under his right arm he turns to Riku."Hey, how about we go surf? I can show you all the cool things I can do!"

Riku doesn't know what surfing is, but it sounds way more fun than the boring card and dice games the adults play or running around the beach trying to find a stick,"What's surfing?"

Sora laughs, blue eyes sparkling in excitement,"I'll show you! Come, I'm sure we'll both fit on my board."

The boy holds out his hand, but before Riku can grab it a shot echoes through the air.

The sand next to their feet flies up as both jump back.

"Get away from my son!"

Confused, Riku turns around to his father's voice. His dad is running towards him like his life depends on it while the merchant is standing still and aiming straight towards them.

what?

no not towards them.

Towards Sora.

Another shot rings out as Riku turns back towards Sora to see him not standing next to him anymore.

Instead the boy is running away diagonally towards the sea. Board still under his arm he ducks under another shot.

He doesn't get to decide to run after him as he's suddenly scooped up in his fathers arms. His fathers holds him close and cries in relief, kissing him on his forehead as he whispers that he never should've let his son alone on the beach.

But Riku has no ears for his fathers concerns as his eyes are still trained on Sora who has now reached the sea. The boy ducks under the water and he's gone.

The merchant stops next to him and his dad, slightly out of breath,"Damn it, it got away."

Riku doesn't understand what is so dangerous about Sora that the man had to shoot at him,"Why did you do that? He didn't do anything wrong"

The merchant huffs and reholsters his gun. Still staring at the place where Sora has disappeared,"He wasn't a friend, lad. That's a child of the sea. They lure people into the sea to never return again." He pats Riku's shoulder, "You're lucky we got here on time."

Riku pouts, still not agreeing,"But they weren't so nice in your stories. They lured men with songs and ate them. Sora didn't do that."

"You're thinking of mermaids. Let me tell you, mermaids are dicks, but easy to avoid if you know a bit about them. These things? Once they get a grip on you they'll never let go."

The man readjusts his hat,"We need to get back to the ship and move. It's damn concerning that these devils are returning to safe Islands."

His dad doesn't let him go even as they get to the longboat where the rest of the crew is waiting. His mother dotes over him like he is still a baby and the rest of the crew give the trio pitying looks.

Riku doesn't get why. He just made a new friend. Sure he wasn't human, but back in England there was a straycat he considered a friend and no one was mad or sad about that.

Once they get back on the ship and the rest of the crew is busy the merchant turns toward him and his parents,"I need your son to be locked up and watched for the rest of the voyage. By the time the moon has come up any sight or touch of the ocean will make him mad."

His mother sighs in defeat as his father exclaims helplessly that they intend to work on the docks. A place right next to the thing that will take their boy away. His mother asks in a small voice if there is a possibility of there being a cure.

The merchant shakes his head,"He should be safer on land than on sea, but the curse will stay. Lucky for you guys the monastery at your destination has dealt with sea lovers before. The governess's daughter suffers from it, but they're managing to keep her safe for around half a decade now."

His fate was sealed.

Chapter Text

This was the start of his miserable life. The rest of the journey was spent below deck, no matter how seasick he got. He didn't get why they did this to him. Sora did nothing wrong to him, right?

His mom stayed with him most of the time saying that she wouldn't let anyone take her kid like a mantra.

He never got to hear what was so dangerous about the children of the sea. Going to the sea wasn't so bad was it? So many navy men, pirates and merchants spend their lives on the sea, why not him? All his questions got deflected together with the request to go up on the deck.

Once they arrived, he saw the light of day again, but only through a blindfold and with a steel grip his dad had on his shoulder that never left.

They went straight to the monastery. His parents pleaded for help, even offered money.

He fought against it. Riku didn't think anything was wrong with him. But instead of believing him he got locked up in his new 'room' for hours until he exhausted himself, after which they opened the door and forced him to pray until he almost passed out. Until the day the Abbess called him over to her office.

There was a man in the office and the Abbess introduced him as the best gold smith and the trusted maker of their holy relics.

The man smiled at him. Told him about how he heard of the boy cursed by a child of the sea and wanting to help out. And gifted to him was an obsidian cross. Made by the goldsmith, blessed by the Abbess and prayed on by the nuns and his parents.

When Riku tried to refuse the man looked at him with an unreadable face, "I promise it'll make things easier. Everyone worked hard for this."

And surprisingly, things did get easier with the cross.

He didn't get locked up for as long, nor did he have to pray that much. The hours of prayer and pained knees turning into regular lessons and helping around. Even with the slack he couldn't escape. None of the nuns let him out of sight and the door of his third story bedroom was firmly locked at night.

Until one night.

Chapter Text

It was springtide and after being stuck in his room all day while the adults fought the rising water he was fitfully trying to sleep. He wished the water would just sweep the whole village away. Then he wouldn't have to deal with their overbearingness anymore. He hadn't been outside the walls in weeks.

Riku growls in frustration as he still couldn't find sleep. He only wants to sleep. Is it that much to ask? He wanted this day to be over.

His hands drift to the obsidian cross hanging around his neck. He pulls it out from under his shirt. The Abbess had told him to hold it and pray if his wish to go to the sea would become too strong. He sometimes did to calm down after one of his attempts at escaping failed or the night got suffocating.

His hand stops right before touching it. Why would he fight it? Why has he been fighting it for so long? Sure it helped stop him from making stupid decisions, but he wouldn't have done any of it if they just let him go.

He doesn't see or remember anything bad about the sea.

What caused his parents and the Abbes to be so paranoid again?

He has been so busy over the last couple months that he never stood still and thought about it.

A knock against his window pulls him down to reality again.

What? This is the third story? It was probably just a bird flying against the window.

The knock sounds again.

Riku tries to ignore it.

The knocking gets more insistent.

He gives up and gets up, looking at the window.

Sitting there is a boy, a bit younger than him.

The boy notices him and waves. He waves back, confused. How did he get as high as the attic?

He gets up and opens the window. Luckily the matron decided he was smart enough to not pull the window stunt again and that a locked window and door was too suffocating in the heat.

The boy is bouncing in his excitement as he realises the window is being opened, but Riku doesn't let him in. Holding the window open at a small gap he looks over the overexcited boy. In the moonlight he sees brown ridiculously spiked and messy hair, blue eyes that seem to give light on their own in the boy's excitement. He looks for any way the boy might've gotten up, but aside from the dirty and loose clothing on his back there is nothing, no rope, not anything.

He squints at the boy with suspicion,"Who are you? How did you get up here?"

The overexcited look turns into a sad frown,"Don't you remember me?"

Riku shakes his head,"No. How did you get up here?"

The frown turns to a mischievous smile as the boy suddenly leans closer, his other hand on the window, "That's a secret."

Mesmerised by the shining blue eyes Riku almost didn't realise the window opened slightly more. Luckily the opening of the window made his hand holding the window slide over a splinter.

The pinch of pain shakes him out of it and he quickly closes the window, though not entirely.The sad frown returns on the boy's face.

"Why do you want to get into my room?" Riku wants to just close the window on the boy's face, but something in him says that he shouldn't.

The boy cocks his head,"You really don't remember me do you," his eyes squint as he looks over Riku, eyes suddenly widening, "Take off that necklace."

Riku shakes his head,"It's to protect me."

The boy leans closer again, eyes on the necklace, if his head could've fitted between the gap he would've come closer,"From what? I can't see it doing much besides being useful to plonk it on someone's head."

Riku leans away,"The devils of the ocean."

The boy rolls his eyes, "There is no need to fear those idiots. My siblings are experts in dealing with them."

"Are they religious people?" Riku blurts out. After all, only religious people and artifacts have been known to be effective against the devils.

"What? No!", the boy laugh and refocuses on the necklace scratching behind his head he sighs,"There must be really something wrong with that necklace if you don't remember me. I don't like the vibe it gives. You sure it's for the bad guys?"

Riku finds himself shrugging.

"Show it to me." He holds his hand out.

Riku places his hand over the necklace, "Why are you so eager to take my necklace? Who even are you?"

Why is he even talking to a random person that somehow managed to get up to the attic and wants to get into his room and steal his necklace.

Maybe it's a thief trying to get a precious religious artifact to sell it.

The boy is pushing against the window again. His hand is still out,"Sora and I'm not after that ugly thing. I want to know how it's blocking your memories."

Sora is foolish enough to put his arm between the gap. Riku with his other hand still clutching the cross, slams the window as hard as he can on the thief's arm.

The boy yelps in pain as Riku uses the opportunity to jump further away from the window.

The boy is grasping at his arm, its bleeding slightly, but instead of red blood it's a blue light that is running freely down way runnier than blood,"Aw! Jeezzzsss. Fffff"

"You're the devil!" Rikus stands there frozen in fear. His cross held up in front of him

"No I'm not, you idiot!" Sora spats his eyes slightly watery, he inspects his arm,"To think that I did all this to find you and thank you for helping me."

Riku feels his stomach drop,"I helped you?"

Done with inspecting his wound he gets up and pushes the window fully open, jumping inside."Yes you did."

"I made a deal with the devil." Rikus whispers dumbfounded.

"I'm not-." Sora huffs exasperated, "You know what."

He jumps at Riku.

Riku stumbles back in surprise, almost falling over the chest at his bed end. The boy collides with him and they fall to the floor.

They struggle, Riku tries to call for help, but a hand blocks his mouth. He tries to bite it, but the hand pulls away just in time.

He breathes in to yell again and

The necklace gets ripped of

He falls silent

Both of them are panting heavily, he's pinned under the other boy, no way to move. His necklace is thrown as far from them as possible.

"That's that. Now, try and remember me."

He doesn't want to remember, maybe he can get him of if he distracts him, "It's too dark. I can't see your face."

"And they say that I'm dense. Hang on."

The boy doesn't get up like Riku wanted him too.

Instead an eerie blue light starts to fill the room.

Coming straight from

The boy?

Alright. This is a dream. As much as he still feels the splinter in his finger and the weight of the person above him, he is sleeping.

"Come on." Sora shakes him," Stop fighting it. I was hoping we could be friends and maybe go surfing."

"Surfing?" It all hits him at once. The kid on the beach, him helping, the gunshots, the darkness of the ship, "Sora?"

A wide grin forms on the boy's face,"Finally!"

"What are you doing here?"

The overexcited look is back, his eyes glowing slightly brighter,"Want to sneak out to the beach?"

Chapter Text

After getting in some clothes, getting the splinter out of his finger and putting some pillows on his bed as decoy Sora deems them good enough to go.

Riku's concern about the bloodied arm is wimpeld away by Sora declearing that the ocean will heal him.

"How do we even get down? We could try to open the door, but sneaking past nuns that are eager on praying at midnight is impossible." Riku is looking down out of the window. There is still nothing to see that might've helped Sora and he doesn't want to retry his trick.

"It's quite easy." Sora pipes up, brushing past him and jumping up on the windowsill, "I'll carry you on my back."

"You're shorter than me."

"But I'm stronger," Sora jumps down again, truning his back towards Riku, "jump on."

He hesistates,"Don't drop me, okay?"

He can practicly hear the eyeroll Sora gives him, "I won't." He looks over his shoulder at Riku, "You want to see the ocean again, right?"

At the metion of the ocean Riku's hesistance dissepears into nogthingness as his wanting for the ocean returns with a vigor he never felt before,"Yes"

Sora gives him a smile, "get on then."

Riku climbs on Sora's back. Despite being taller and heavier the boy doens't seem fased only readjusting Riku's legs as he hops up on the windowsill again.

"What now?"

"Now?" He hears the grin in Sora's voice,"You hold on tight."

Nerves flare up again in Riku's stomach as they dangerously lean forward outwards the window. Flashes of his previous fall pass before his eyes as his loose grip on Sora's shoulder turns into a deathgrip as he clamps his arms around the boy.

Sora chuckels, "You sure got a strong grip. I gues were ready to go!"

Riku's stomach is up in his throat as they fall down. He closes his eyes thiglty as the air brushes past his face, his clothes billowing.

His stomach lurches again as they suddenly are going up, then he feels weightless as they drop down once more. It happens a few more times before Sora pipes up, "Open your eyes."

He slowly opens his eyes, grip stil firm. The first thing he sees is a blue light surrounding them the next thing is that they are on top of the rooftops, Sora running on top of them and jumping casually over small and giant gaps like it's nothing.

It's mostly dark except for the blue light eminating from Sora and the light further on the docks.

The ocean is coming closer or better said they are going towards the ocean.

The ocean! After months, almost a year of trying he's finally going to see it up close again, touch it, hopefully swim in it.

At the moment it's a black mass, but it's enough to mesemrise him and slightly loosen his grip.

Sora's voice pulls him back again,"We're going to a hidden beach I found while searching for you. No one should find us there."

They keep moving for a another while. Sora jumping from roof to roof then palm tree to palm tree as they took a sharp left right before the docks towards one of the cliffs surrounding the city.

It was both exhillerating and frustrating to be running next to the ocean and not being able to touch it.

His gaze is so locked on it that he doens't realise they had stopped running.

"You can get of now." Sora whispers to him, "We're at the beach."

Riku doesn't say anything. Just hops off and turns towards the ocean. The waves are calm, the moonlight reflecting of off it.

He breaks out of his stupor and then he's running, running on the still slightly warm sand. The water coming closer closer and closer. His hearbeat speeding up, he wants to yell but doesn't and in what both feels like an eternity and a shorter then a second he's right at the water. The small waves just shy of touching his bare feet.

He doesn't get to conteplate as his arm is grabbed and he's pulled forward into the ocean. Sora's laughing infront of him as they keep running deeper.

Water sprays up around their running feet. He feels a laugh bubbeling out and soons he's full out laughing along.

They keep running until they can't then wade and then swim.

They finally stop and he has never felt more at home. Surrrounded by the ocean, the waves slightly swaying him as he yells out a cry of victory, closes his eyes and lets his head fall back and rest in the water.

He's free

He's home

Chapter Text

They splash each other for a while, try to push each other under and float on their backs while staring at the stars.

After a while they're exhausted and simply laying on the sand in silence. The sounds of the ocean waves allows Riku to think, "Everyone thinks you're dangerous."

Sora huffs a laugh, "They're stupid."

He sits up and looks down at Sora. The boy looking back at him with an easy smile as his hands folded behind his head,"They even shot at you. They said your kind steals people like me. Why?"

Sora shrugs, "We don't. We just find people who like the ocean as much as we do."

Riku turns his head towards the horizon, the water lapping at his feet, the feeling of wet sand and the endless darkness of the ocean underneath an endless starry night. The franticness he didn't even notice that was present the whole time in his head is gone, filled by the noise of the ocean and nightlife, "I don't remember ever missing and loving the ocean like I've been the last few months."

The fear of losing this freedom is sudden and intense and he can't help but ask, "Will you take me away?"

Sora guwafs, "I already told you I'm not kidnapping you."

"Even if I want you to?" He shouldn't feel so disappointed that he can't come along with someone he barely knows, but he is.

Sora hums,"You don't wanna be where I live."

Not love where he is? Free to go and be surrounded by the ocean? "Why not? Is it underwater?"

Sora laughs, "No, but good guess." The smile turns to a pout "It just sucks there."

"Oh." Riku can't help but think about the monastery, surely it can't be worse, "More than here?"

Sora sits up too, looking uncomfortable,"I don't know. It's just-. I kinda went here in secret. You're going to have to hide all the time from the others and stuff. Also the ocean is dangerous for a normal human now." Then he jumps up, wiping the sand from his pants, "Come on, I want to show you something."

Subject changed he gets up too and walks up to Sora who has set a few steps into the ocean again the water up to their ankles.

Sora's looking down at something and in the darkness Riku can barely make out a moving white pile of something under the water right before their feet.

He's wondering what he's even looking at and he starts to think they're moving stones or crabs when a familiar blue glow starts to emit from his friend.

The pile of white something takes shape and floats to the surface.

It's a white board, similar to the one that Sora had when he met him. In the middle of it there is a black print of a three pointed crown. It floats up and bumps against their shins as Sora picks it up and holds it under his arm, beaming at Riku.

His eyes must be like dinner plates as he looks at the board, "Wha-?"

He only gets a shrug in response,"I promised you we'd surf."

If someone told him that this would be how his night turned out a few hours ago he would've called them insane,"This night keeps getting weirder."

Sora laughs again and starts running further into the water, "You coming?"

He starts following,"I've never surfed before."

His friend shouts over his shoulder, "Then you've got the best teacher around to teach you!"

Surfing is hard, even when you have someone controlling the waves to make things easier.

The best Riku manages is going along with the wave standing up for about 3 seconds before falling off.

He's stubborn though so they keep at it until Sora suggests they should rest for a bit.

Riku's soaked to the bones, he can even taste the saltiness of the water in his mouth. His black hair sticks to his forehead, while Sora's hair is somehow still defying gravity.

Normally people would find this uncomfortable, but laying down in the shallow water he's feeling more content than he has in a long while.

Away from the constricting monastery on a beautiful hidden beach surrounded by the tall cliff from all sides besides the ocean. The beach is twice the size of the church and has a bunch of plants at the back of it. There is a group of dangerous looking rocks to the left at the front of the beach. He vaguely remembers Sora jumping on them to get here. The place is practically impossible to reach on foot.

He gets up and looks at the horizon. The moon is hanging dangerously low. He somehow isn't too alarmed by it and only feels annoyed. He pulls a wet lock of hair out of his mouth, "I should go back home." The words out of his own mouth surprise him. The idea of going back is daunting. He doesn't want to. He just wants to go into the waves and not look back. But his parents' hearts would break and the nuns aren't too bad and where would he even go on this small Island?

Part of him still hopes Sora to say he doesn't have too, hopes he will say it, but instead the boy says sighing,"Yeah, me too."

He doesn't ask him to leave and never returns, "Will you come back?"

"You want me to?"

"You're my first friend."

Sora raises an eyebrow before looking up at the sky staring in thought, his arms behind his head.

His chest aches as he fears that his new friend. His first and only friend on the Island doesn't want to return. That he doesn't want to be his friend now that they sort of know each other.

The boy stops staring at the sky and returns his eyes to him,"I have time the day after tomorrow, You?"

The relief that washes over him, makes him fall down again in the water,"I should have time."

His days are all the exact same anyway. Wake up, pray, study, eat, pray, study, pray, sleep, repeat.

"Nice! I will come get you again. You can just sleep until I knock on your window or something."

"Hmm." Riku hums.

None of the two move to get home. Despite the promise of meeting again they don't want their time together to end.

Letting his thoughts drift, a realisation hits Riku, panic sets in and he jumps up," What about the necklace?"

Sora's eyes turn big his mouth dropping open,"I forgot about that"

Riku starts pacing, thoughts racing,"You think I will forget about you when I put it on again?"

The other sits up,"Maybe. I don't know too much about how obsidian works, but it will be better if you don't put it on."

His mind is racing, he cannot run away. Sora won't take him with and the island is too small. The thought of leaving behind his parents also turns into an impossible idea he doesn't want, "Is there a fake one we can use or make? I mean they never really see it since it's under my shirt, but it's too dangerous to not wear it and hope that no one notices."

"Errr" Sora looks around,"Wait! I have an idea." He gets up and runs into the shallows, bends over, scoops something up and runs back.

In his hands is a white crab,"I can already make them form a surfboard, so a cross shouldn't be too difficult." He holds out his other hand, "Give me that cross."

Riku can't help but reply dryly, "It's still in my room."
"Oh." He smacks his forehead,"That'll make things more difficult." Shaking his head he puts the crab in his pantpocket,"I'll handle it. Let's get you back, we can do it there."

The run back is way too quick and it feels like the blink of an eye between the beach and sitting on his bedroom floor with both the cross and the crab laid out between them.

"Alright. I think I can do it." The crab between them slowly turns black, it's two clamps lengthening and thinning. The left legs meld together as well as the right ones. The body lengthens. The crab features start to disappear as it shrinks, the clamps turn into the cord as the left and right legs make arms of the cross. The body makes up the top and bottom part.

He looks up at Sora, his friends furrowed in deep concentration as his tongue slightly peeks out.

Finally there are two crosses. The new one isn't identical, but if you've never looked close at it you never would've noticed it.

"That was way more difficult than I thought it would be." Sora heaves slightly out of breath.

"It worked though." He takes the necklace and pulls it over his head, "No one is going to see it up close and I don't think anyone has bothered to study it up close." Then the awareness of the saltwater soaked clothes and floor sink in, "Oh no."

"What's wrong?"

He pulls at his collar, "I'm soaked to the bone! As is the floor!"

Instead of panicking Sora gets a cheshire smile, putting his fist under his chin,"You can make the excuse you've wet yourself."

Riku furrows his face in disgust,"No way I'm doing that."

Sora rolls his eyes with a smile, "Pity. It would've been hilarious." Then he makes a slight movement with his hand and all the water swoops away from Riku and the floor into a ball hovering above the boy's hand.

Riku opens his mouth to retort a snarky remark when suddenly the church's bells start ringing.

"It's morning!" He jumps up, roughly pulls up Sora and and the real cross up and shoves him towards the window, "you need to go! All the nuns are getting up!"

Sora's eyes widen as he stops protesting.

Climbing up the windowsill he turns around a final time, "crazy they insist on waking up on such an insane hour. I'm sorry you won't be getting any more sleep."

"It's no problem. I had fun. Now go!"

"I had fun too! See you later!"

Then Sora's gone, Riku doesn't bother seeing where he goes and instead shuts the window and curtains.

His head has barely touched the pillow when a knock sounds on his door.

He really won't get any sleep.

Chapter Text

A kick to his shin shakes him awake, "Pay attention!" Sister Agnes harshly whispers to him.

Oh right. The sermon.

After breakfast he can taste the salt in the wind as he hangs up the laundry in the courtyard. The fresh air is nice to his exhausted body.

A short break in his studies has him climbing the monastery belltower.

The rickety stairs make him wonder how on earth they ever managed to carry the bell up on it.

As dangerous as the stairs are, he loves the amazing view. The city sprawling before him before turning into the brilliant dark blue of the ocean. He could spend hours here.

But today it doesn't feel like enough. He has been in that ocean, touched it, let it soak his hair and clothes and now the mere view of it doesn't satisfy him anymore. He also made a friend.

He clutches the necklace around his neck. It's freaky to think something alive is hanging around his neck and the faint pulsating heartbeat. Yet it's proof the night was real and they'll meet again.

Time crawls past dinner and even with their life of sobriety the nuns somehow always make an absurdly high pile of dirty dishes. Today it looks even bigger, like it's punishing him for sneaking out at night. If Sora were here he could've used his powers and got this done in mere seconds.

It's morning again and he gets his only outside time. It's only once in a while to help the nuns with bringing heavy deliveries inside. So it's a rare opportunity to see the city he lives in. Even if it's only for a few minutes and a small part.

There he notices the kids.

He recognises them since they're invited for a meal in the monesrary two times a day. He has never heard them speak aside from the thank you's and prayers. So it's strange to see them out here. They're....Wild? Energetic, sometimes getting in the way of other people and carriages.

A sharp hit to the back of his head gets him out of his pondering.

The kids cross his mind again when he's praying. He wonders what life could be like for them.

He can't wish hard enough that time passes quickly.

Chapter Text

The next night they meet Sora plops him down at the beach without any fanfare and runs away behind the bushes.

Riku is rooted to the spot, looking at the other running behind something in the bushes, "What are you doing?"

Sora stops and looks up, "I want you to meet someone."

"Okay?"

It takes a bit more chasing and then his friend returns the fattest cat he has ever seen in his arms,"Meet Dee!"

A surprised laugh escapes him, "A cat?"

Sora doesn't notice the surprised laugh and merely pushes the cat closer to Riku's face "Yeah! He's crazy soft! Pet him!"

It might be a trick of the light, but the fur of the cat seems almost bluish? Whatever the color is, the cat really is soft and when it starts purring Riku can't help but joke,"I see he gets quite a lot to eat."

"I can't help it if he decides to be a cat. He could've taken a bigger body, but he likes to be a cat. Not that I mind." Sora whispers, pushing his face in the cat's side, "He's so soft."

"Can he choose to be a cat? What even is he?"Riku doesn't know what to think of the smile and glitter that creeps up on the other boy's face and eyes at his question.

"He's my dreameater."

Riku lets his hand hover over the cat, suddenly way more hesitant in petting it,"Dreameater as in he eats your dreams?"

Sora makes a so so gesture with his hand, Dee climbing up to his shoulder,"Helps me keep control of my powers. Kinda need that when being around humans. When we're younger it tends to happen more when we sleep." He gestures to the fat cat on his shoulder, "So dreameaters." He claps his hands together,"Oh! I know what we're going to do tonight!" He puts Dee down, grabs the cats attention and gestures a symbol with his hand.

The cat turns away from them and starts trotting towards the water, the moment he hits the water a blue light shoots out and envelops Dee.

When the light dissipates Riku's jaw almost drops to the floor as Sora laughs at his expression.

A beautiful hippocampus rests in the water before them, shaking its mane before looking back at them.

"Come on!" A tug at his wrist makes him stumble forward and start to follow Sora into the water.

The other jumps up on the hippocampus' back and pats the space behind him, "Get on!"

Heaving himself up he settles behind him. The texture of the scales beneath him smooth and strange.

Sora takes some of Dee's mane and twists them around his hands,"Is there somewhere you wanted to go?"

Riku gets out of his stupor to mumble, "Uhhh. Maybe a coral reef?"

"Good idea. I know where one is"

He pats Dee's neck and the cat, horse, fish thing neighs and takes off in a swift pace that makes Riku almost fall off.

Soon water is spraying up around them as Sora yells in joy. Riku yells out in unison as Dee only seems to pick up the pace the more they yell.

Butterflies race through his stomach as they go even faster.

It almost feels like they're flying and the only thing stopping him from sliding off its slick and smooth back is holding onto Sora for dear life.

To his disappointment they start to slow down. His friend leans sideways a bit and looks back at him,"Hold on" he says and holds out the mane to him. Quizingly Riku takes them in his hand.

He's just about to ask what he needs to do with this when Sora winks at him and proceeds to jump off.

The boy disappears beneath the waves as Dee picks up speed again with Riku being left baffled once again until something jumps up beside him.

"Wha?"

It jumps up again and laughs.

"Sora?" Riku yells over the roaring water.

It leaps up above the water again,"Hey!" Sora yells back before going under the waves again.

The boy is keeping pace with Dee.

The next leap Sora makes is way higher, revealing the tail of a dolphin where his legs used to be,"Let's race!"

Sora calls as he leaps above water again, "Till the rocks!"

"It's on!" And Riku has no idea how to steer Dee, but that isn't going to stop him or Dee as the hippocampus picks up a proper pace again.

The blue speck in the rippling water beside him is the only indication of where Sora is until the boy leaps up, over him and Dee and lands slightly before them laughing all the while.

Riku does not tolerate the taunting and tries his best to make Dee go faster, but it has no avail and the rocks are reached with a decent lead from Sora.

Even though Riku did nothing but sit, he still feels the adrenaline scream through his body and the aches like he ran the entire way.

They slow to a stop and Riku startles as sora pops up beside him,

"I win!"

Riku flicks Sora's head playfully a little aw following it,"It's not a fair race if I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"True, but I was still first." Sora sticks his tongue out at him.

"We will see when we go back." He holds out his hand to Sora who takes it and heaves himself up behind Riku,"So, you can also shapeshift?"

"I can!" Like he somehow forgot that was special and wraps his arms around Rikus middle as Dee starts moving, "I wished you could too. Then we could go and explore underwater."

Riku laughs,"Yeah, as a human being I am in the unlucky possesion of lungs."

"Bugger."

"Is there no magical way for me to breath underwater?"

"Nothing I can do yet. But as soon as I get back I'll start on practing. Then we can go on underwater adventures togheter!"

"We could go and see sunken ships."

"Or some weird caves! I saw a few along the coast of your Island we could explore!"

"Now I really want to do that."

"Me too. But how about we test how long you can hold your breath in the meantime? I bet a minute."

"Hah, I bet 5."

Neither won since Riku was prefectly in the middle with a 3 and the attempts for longer ended with him almost drowning, but Riku didn't mind, not when he's swimming amongst blue illuminated corals and starteling the sleeping fish with his first friend in months.

Sora still won the race back, but the gap between them was already much shorter and with dropped of in his room and a final wave they agree to meet again. Three days from today.

Chapter Text

On the second day while cleaning the stone floors of the monastery he dares to ask the question, "Am I going to be stuck here forever?"

He knows technically that he's supposed to be cursed, but he doesn't feel cursed if he's being honest.

The nun soothes him,"No no, my dear. This is just until you grow strong enough to resist the call. It might take a while though."

"How long?" If he's let go he can maybe build a ship of his own and sail away. Not without telling Sora of course.

The nun looks up at him with a calm smile, but he's pretty sure he sees pity, "You're making progress Riku. Don't you remember your first few days here?"

He leans back on his haunches. He does remember the panic he felt when they locked him up, when he cried to be let out and the eventual opening of the door when he exhausted himself, only to be put back in whenever he so much as looked in the direction of the sea. The rest of his memories about the first few days are rather foggy though.

But he didn't feel like that when he was on the beach, when he was with Sora, "I'm fine now though. Maybe it's broken?"

Sister Agnes wrings out the mop and continues cleaning, "No one has ever managed to break it and I have seen you looking at the ocean. There is no denying it."

Seen him looking at the ocean? How can looking at something indicate you're cursed? He just wants to get out of here and the ocean is the best place to go.

"The floor isn't going to scrub itself Riku."

"Sorry, sister."

She sighs, "Don't worry. You're not going to end up like the governess daughter."

The governor's daughter, locked up in her big mansion with only the staff and her parents. No one outside of them has properly seen her in years. He's pretty sure he's in the same situation, but instead in a monastery without his parents. At least sister Agnes promised they'd let him out one day. Maybe he should have Sora free her. But the idea of the unknown women getting to leave before him makes him sick with irrational jealousy. Yet he's curious,"Can I talk to her?"

"No. Her mind is too weak. She might influence you."

He wants to ask Sora about this but something in him tells him not to. He needs to talk to her on his own. The problem is that he has no idea where to even begin. The only way he has been able to leave was with Sora.

So the day passes into night and soon he finds himself whisked to the hidden beach again, Sora pulling him towards the ocean.

"Come on!" The look on Sora's face makes him slow. He's up to something.

Hesitantly he moves forward placing a foot in the water, or better said, on it.

"Whoah" he looks up at Sora, eyes wide. The boy grins back at him.

He takes another step and somehow he's still standing on the water, the little waves going around his feet. It feels weird on his bare feet.

"It's even cooler when you come further in!"

He wants to look so he swallows his hesitation and runs further in, towards his friends.

Stopping before him he notices that it's just like he's standing on a slippery mattress, the waves going around them.

He breathes out, "Cool"

"It will be even cooler!" Sora's smile brightens even more and suddenly the waves don't go around them anymore.

Instead they're lifted up and he can only exclaim, "What?" Before he falls over and slips down. Sora laughs and falls too, bumping against him as they slide into a sudden valley.

Then they're going up again as the valley rises under a wave and they're sliding away from each other.

Sora gasps between laughter at what must be Riku's completely bewildered expression as the rising hill slowly obscures their vision of each other.

"What is this?" He laughs and tries to climb a hill to reach Sora, but it's slippery and when he gets a bit of height the mountain deflates, revealing Sora, "A game I used to play all the time. Try to get to the top of as many hills as you can!"

Oh the competition is on!

It's way more difficult than it sounds as he keeps on slipping down or the hills deflate the moment he gets close, but watching Sora's hilarious attempts and silly faces makes the frustration of the game worth it.

His lungs are hurting from laughing as they collide again with a bit too much force.

Trying to help each other up is also ridiculous. It always ends up with one person slipping and taking the other down with him, but somehow it's even better.

He can't stop laughing at Sora's face, when he sees the boy sliding down a hill on his back, backwards. So much regret and panic as he can do nothing to stop from going into a deep valley.

He of course falls right after and they collide hard enough to leave a few bruises, but they keep on trying.

The cries of victories they make when finally reaching a top are maybe a bit too loud to be safe, but who cares?

He doesn't as he crows out another declaration of victory. Sora pulls him down and then accidently headbutts him again, leaving both of them groaning and laughing.

After Riku being declared the winner of the game they drop down onto the sand beach in exhaustion. Dee comes out of nowhere and tucks himself against Sora's side.

Riku rests his arms behind his head and sighs, "My parents would freak out if they knew I was doing this."

"You have parents?"

"Of course."

"Oh. I thought you were being raised by the nuns or something."

"I guess I am now. The two people who were yelling my name back when we first met were my parents. They put me in the monastery after arriving here since I'm supposedly cursed."

"Oh yeah. The whole me being dangerous thing."

He raises his brow, "Why else would I be stuck in there?"

It's silent for a bit, Riku looks up at Sora, the boys eyebrows are furrowed together

Then he tilts his head, his face turning away,"The humans back home are so different I forgot that I should have avoided you back then." He leans over wrapping his arms around his knees, "And then I searched for you again." The boy dares a peep at Riku, "Will they ever let you out?"

Riku shrugs, trying to be unbothered by the idea of forever being stuck there,"No idea. Maybe I should just run away. I want to see the world. I could build a ship and let the wind decide." A dream he has having almost constantly during the day. His mind tuning out the sound of prayer, his mouth still moving along and words coming out, only because he has been doing this for ages by now.

"Sounds fun." Sora's answer is dry, flat. The cheeriness he expected to have come back is still missing.

Why is he acting like that?

"Want to come along?"

Sora jumps up with a frustrated sigh, pulls a rock out of seemingly nowhere and throws it straight at the ocean, "I can't."

"Why not?"

Another rock is thrown,"I've got my future decided. All I've done for as long as I remember is train for it. Can't toss that all away." Dee is twirling around his legs, but Sora's ignoring it.

"I-" his words are interrupted by the ringing of the church's bells.

Ice and panic floods Riku's heart, all previous thoughts forgotten,"It's morning!"

The solemnes is gone from Sora's eyes, now filled with the same panic,"Get on my back."

"Wait. What if they see you?!"

"They won't, but you will be in big trouble if they find you outside of the walls."

The entire way back his heart is up his throat. The usual thrill is all but gone and his hands too sweaty as they cling to Sora.

Flashes of his early days at the monastery plaguing his mind. He shakes his head trying to ban the thoughts. They will make it.

They do, just at the nick of it. Sora has barely left the windowsill as the door opens, with Riku still standing at the window.

Sister Josephine looks surprised, "Already out of bed?”

Chapter Text

His attempts at finding out more about the governor's daughter are still getting nowhere after a few days and he should probably stop asking if he doesn't want the nuns to get too worried.

So he's laying frustrated in bed until past midnight when the knocking sounds again and Riku can't help but say, "You're late."

Sora rolls his eyes, "Good evening to you too." He hops inside and sits criss cross applesauce on the windowsill as Riku starts putting together the decoy, Dee running in and purring around his feet, "It's only thanks to my little sister distracting the others."

"I should thank her then." He says petting the cat a few times as it jumps up on the bed.

Sora laughs, letting his legs dangle, "Don't. She's annoying. All siblings are. I just managed to find the right bribe."

He puts down the final touches to the fake Riku, "I wouldn't know. I don't have any." He sometimes wishes he had more, but he has since guessed it's a chance long gone.

"I can't imagine not having any. I have like-" Its quiet for a moment and he turns around to see the boy counting on his fingers. He seemingly gives up and says,"Hundreds."

"Hundreds." He deadpans

Sora shrugs,"It doesn't take as much effort to create one of us like it does a human." seeing that the decoy is done he hops down from the windowsill, putting his hands behind his head, "Sooo. What now? You want to hang out at the cliff?"

"You're just going to gloss over the fact you have hundreds of siblings. Like actual siblings." He doesn't even know a hundred people. How? What?

"We're just sand and salt water with a heartstone. We could be whipped up in like a day and the raising is left to one of the older siblings. That's it"

His brain screeches and halts again. He knows his life is weird, but this.

"You okay?"

"You're made of mud?" His mind provides a visual of the wet slimy sand at the beaches.

"Har har."

"You're made of mud." He can't help but start to find it funny

Sora's clearly done with his perplexity turning into bemused, "Are we going to do something today or not? I risked quite a lot coming here."

He can't help but shake his head with a soft laugh,"You're weird."

"And you're boring. Come on, let's go to the cliff."

"Can we go to the beach?"

Sora shakes his head with an awkward sheepy expression,"It wouldn't be a smart idea for me to go there at the moment. I got spotted on my way here." He grabs behind his back and pulls out two brown potato bags from under his shirt,"But I managed to snag these."

"and what are you planning on doing with these bags?"

Sora tilts his head, "Never slid down a hill?"

"No? There were no hills where I lived before and now I almost never leave the monastery."

"That sucks. What do you even do all day?"

"You slide down hills all day?"

Sora laughs,"You're in a jokey mood tonight." He puts the bags back beneath his shirt, making Dee jump up on his shoulder again, "Now there is no time to wait. We have to catch up all the time you haven't been doing this."

Soon they're standing at the top of the cliff, looking down at the sloping side that is going far down before ending into the darkness of the jungle.

Sora takes out the bags and lays them down at the edge,"Now you just sit, push off and go down."

He sits down on his own bag, holding on to the corners at the front,"Is there a way to steer?"

"Nope! You just have to hope you don't run into a hidden rock, but that's part of the fun! The last one down is a seacow!" Sora wiggles a bit, Dee at the last moment deciding to abandon ship as the boy yells out "Go!"

Riku isn't one to lose a race so he pushes off too.

It's rough and he gets wacked into the face by too many branches of bushes as they're going way faster then he expected. Soon his bigger size becomes somewhat of an advantage and he's overtaking Sora, yet he seems to be catching more branches in his face.

The other yells out in indignation and tries to go faster only to lose ground.

Riku's looking over his shoulder laughing at Sora lagging behind until Sora's expression changes to one of terror, "Look out!"

In front of them is a large boulder fast approaching and Riku has no clue how to break this thing so he does the next best thing and throws himself to the side.

He's rolling down the foliage to a stop only for something hard to collide with him with an oomph.

Sora's laughing in his ears as they lay in their heap of limbs, the big boulder only a breath away. Sticks and leaves sticking out of his hair.

"That was awesome! But way rougher than on sand"

He pushes Sora,"Get off. Your elbow is digging in my ribs."

"Ow, Sorry."

They detangle and Riku's checking over his scratches he feels stinging all over his body along with the forlong bruises, "You said you only did this on sand?"

Sora shrugs, sitting crossed legged, he's looking also rough for wear, little specks of blue light spotting his arms and clothes, his hair even more of a rat's nest,"Sand, hard ground with some grass over it and boulders. What's the difference?"

"You're ridiculous." He gets up and finds the bag and shakes it out,"Bet I will win the next race down?"

sora springs up, "No way! I have been doing this since I could walk!”

Chapter Text

His knees are hurting as kneels down on the hard praying bench. The beads of his pater noster have passed his fingers countless times. The motions are mindless though, none of the prayers he's supposed to say popping up in his mind. He's lucky Sora possesses some kind of healing power as they ended up with even more bruises and cuts by the end of the night otherwise this position would've felt even more painful.

His thoughts are far away on the vast ocean. The wind in his back, the sun on face.

"That's enough." The sister startles him.

"Yes sister Josephine"

She looks down at him from the bench, bible in her hands, her eyes piercing straight into his soul, "You seem to be struggling."

He can't help but look away from those judging eyes. Maybe he should get more sleep. The problem is that he tends to be too excited to fall asleep before Sora arrives,"I've had a bad night."

She taps his head,"Well then. It's better not to let a bad night interrupt the prayers. It might make it worse and will delay your internship further."

The internship. A promise hanging over his head and making him at least try to look like he's putting in effort. It might just be his ticket out of here if Sora doesn't ever want to take him with. Or at least he thought he looked like was putting in effort. He keeps back a yawn and nods, "I will try harder."

She hums, turning back to the book, "God will be with you."

The evening dish washing brings help in the form of sister Mary.

She's the youngest nuns living here and had joined a bit after Riku's arrival and while they haven't interacted much, he finds that he likes her the most out of all of them. Mostly because she's a blabbermouth and gives answers. It's how he found out where his parents are living right now and the supposed secret stash of letters the Abbess has been keeping back. He did get them the following day from the Abbess, but that's beside the point.

He just has to be careful she doesn't catch on she's giving him them.

Like right now, as she tries to reassure him about his, unknown to her, fake night terror, "Don't worry too much Riku. God has made sure they can't go on land."

It throws him off so much he doesn't say anything. His ideas of asking her about the supposed other cursed person on this island vanish in thin air.

Luckily the sister doesn't catch on and picks up another plate for washing, "It's why they curse humans. Their mother, daughter of the devil, was sealed away a few years ago. They've already searched all the oceans."

She puts the clean plate on the side, still unaware that Riku has frozen in his drying of another plate, "That leaves the land." She looks down at him and he tries to school his expression, but it's too late.

She notices his bewilderment and her cheeks color red from embarrassment,"Don't tell them I told you that." She quickly turns her back to him again, "And please don't use it as an excuse to try and leave."

Well then. There go his chances of both getting out and getting answers. How can they be so wrong about that? There's no way they'll be right about the other things then.

It keeps him busy the following days and nights he and Sora meet up. The other boy clearly proved sister Mary wrong again and again.

The knock on his window sounds and he opens it up, "Good night."

"Lovely night." Sora answers with a smile, cat perched on his shoulder, "You up for some fun?"

And once again they jump from roof to roof, tree to tree, rock to rock and finally the beach.

"I want to be able to run and jump like you." He says as Sora once again puts him down on the beach, "You soar, like you're part frog or something."

Sora laughs, "Since when am I like a frog?"

"Hmmm" and Riku can't help but jump up and take Sora's head under his arm, giving him a noogie, "You're slimey too."

The boy wrestles free from his grasp, pushing him away with an offended gasp,"No, I'm not!"

Seeing Sora with both his feet planted firmly on the ground for another night again is finally frustrating enough to just say it, "You are weird though. I heard you guys aren't supposed to be able to go on land and you do while also jumping like you're weightless."

"I'm just good at moving." He pulls a face, "That sounded weird."

From his pocket he fishes out a big key. It has a yellow handle with a little three pronged crown keychain hanging from it."And the whole walking on land thing?" Sora starts twirling it around,"That's this key. Without it I would look like the sand under our feet by now."

"You're not afraid of losing it?"

He twirls the key a final time and puts it back into his pocket,"Nah. It's mine and tied to me. It's not just going to leave me." The nonchalanche and assuredness Sora says it eases his mind a bit. Maybe the key has a mind of its own like the crab around his neck. Yet the idea of the only thing preventing him from falling apart being a measly key is worrying. Especially with Sora being such an airhead.

He gets taken out of his thoughts by Sora who starts stretching and asks, "You up for a game of jumping and not try to faceplant?"

Ah. Tonight sounds like a game similar to the hill sliding one, meaning, prepare for bruises,"What type of game is that?"

"Well. You did say you want to try and jump far like me." He holds out his hand towards Riku, "I can sort of teach you."

The night continues in jumping around from rock to rock and learning how to land with his human body. He doesn't have the same weightlessness Sora has, but it is way easier than he thought. At least until Dee decided to be in their way and run in between their legs. It almost made him faceplant on a hard slippery rock if it weren't for a pillar of water to catch him.

Sora decided it might be better to try and climb things after that. Now a coconut from one of the trees is dealing as a snack break.

Sora seems at ease beside him. He's watching Dee roll about in the sand, he's happy, yet he can't imagine being so at ease if his own mother went missing. He was very willing to answer his question before so, "Why are you with me and not looking for your mom?"

Sora spits out his juice in surprise,"Who told you my mom's missing?"

"The nuns."

"Oh duh." He sets his coconut to the side,"Well. It's not that I don't want to. I'm not allowed to go look for her since I am too young or something." He's looking over at the ocean, "Not that I haven't been looking."

"Can I help?"

Dee stops from his rolling about and settles on Sora's lap and starts purring as the boy begins petting him,"Where would you even start? No, it's fine. One of my siblings will find her."

Riku humms,"Sounds like both our lives suck in a way."

"Say, how about we run away? From everything."

Riku feels his heartbeat speed up, "Right now?"

Sora isn't facing him, he watches as his hand forms a fist in the sand,"No." He releases it, "One day. I don't think I can right now. But it's a promise. One day we'll run away." And he adds on, "If you want too."

The mix of emotions in his chest are annoying him so Riku locks them away, with a smile he says,"Then it's a promise."

The feelings are still cropping up so he decides to change topics,"The nuns have been talking about getting me an apprentice ship."

Sora finally faces him with his eyes big, "They have?"

The other's excitement is infectious and he can't help but let a smile escape, "Yes. I don't know what it is yet, but I'm actually looking forward to it."

Sora chuckles, turning away again,"Alright. So we can run after your apprenticeship or right when it starts if it turns out it sucks."

"That's a good idea." He chuckles,"They said they'll get me a really good one if I keep managing to keep resisting the curse."

Sora grins cheekily,"you're not doing a lot of that if it means not talking to me."

Riku laughs in full now,"Tsh. They'll never figure that out."

Chapter Text

Sora doesn't visit again. It's been a few weeks and he's trying to pay attention to the lesson, but his mind keeps drifting. Did he run away without him?.

"Riku." He gets scared out of his thoughts by sister Agnes, his teacher, slapping the desk with a ruler, "pay attention."

"Sorry sister Agnes. Yes sister Agnes."

Maybe he should run away on his own.

That night he wakes to knocking. Rising out of bed and opening the curtains he's surprised to see only Dee instead of Sora.

"Dee?" He opens the window, the cat mewing and coming in.

There's a note around its neck.

He ties it loose and opens it.

"Heya! Sorry I haven't visited in a while. I got caught by my guardians and everyone's mad at me now. Don't worry tho! I'll find a way to visit again. We can send letters in the meantime! Don't worry about the letter getting wet, Dee knows what he's doing and he'll make sure to bring enough paper and ink." A crudely drawn fish signs the letter of.

He hasn't lost his friend, thank the heavens. He takes out his inkwell and paper, eager to write a response.

It quickly turns into a habit that happens a few times a week, with the difference that Dee sometimes stays a bit longer and a tick tac toe game has been added as a back and forth letter.

Along with that he even got weekly visits from his parents. He hadn't seen them in ages and his mother's hug was the most comforting thing he had felt in a while.

Time crawls by, only lightend up by the letters until one day right after one of his lessons.

Sister Agnes speaks up,"Now, Riku. Seeing as you've been doing really well we agreed to tell you a bit more about the children of the sea and why we fear them."

She takes out a big book from her desk and walks over to his,"The reason we've been keeping it secret is because the curse will make you think this all is a lie. Seeing the progress you made we think you'll be more open to its truth."

She places it down. It looks surprisingly new, unlike some of his other books who are worn from years of use. The cover is a striking blood red, embedded in the front is a big brown gem. Underneath his shirt he feels the necklace shudder.

He looks up at sister Agnes and she places her hand on it, opening to the first page, "There are only a handful in the world so you must be careful."

The calligraphy inside is beautiful, the edges drawn full with creatures from the sea, both real and fake drawn in vibrant colors and adorned with gold.

What is even more striking is the drawing on the other page.

A giant white crab is taking up the space holding a broken ship in its claws, blood dribbling off of it into its mouth. Surrounding it are people who all have a colorful dot in the middle of their chest and devil horns on top of their head. The faces of the people are twisted into strange joyful expressions.

Sister Agnes starts up her lesson,"Their mother takes the form of a white crab. She's a demon and the daughter of the devil. Before her sealing she did everything in her power to destroy ships and flood cities, taking the drowned and turning them into her own spawn."

She skips a few pages, not letting him see them and stops at another drawing. It has a man with tan skin, pale hair and dark cloak. His posture and halo clearly marking him a saint. In one hand he holds a vial and in the other a key. Underneath his feet are the white crab and the same people again being crushed, their faces twisted into anger and sorrow.

"The unknown saint invented a weapon that could free the souls traped into Callypso's spawn and sealed her away. He also figured out their weakness to obsidian, which is the material your cross is made off."

The next page is the giant unknown saint in front of an armada of small ships, his hand holding a radiating cross of obsidian pointed towards a giant white city, the caricatures of the children of the sea sticking out of it with leering faces.

"The war following it is known as the days of storms."

She lets go of the pages, but immediately places her hands over his as he tries to turn the pages back to where she skipped over, "It is best you do not know this part. It is how they turn and twist people like you into their puppets. It's gruesome and I do not want for you to have night terrors."

Her eyes are piercing and he slowly lets go of the pages and sits back,"Are they really still such a threat if the unknown saint took care of them?"

She pulls back too and crosses her arms in her garb,"They are. The events happened only a few years ago and they are already regaining their strength. One way they're doing that is stealing away people like you."

She uncrosses her arms,"This book has been commissioned to be made by the few priests still mastered in the art to keep it safe." She lets her hand cross the colors and paints, "This paint is made with the material that can kill a child of the sea." She closes the book, her hand trailing over the brown gem, "This gem is what used to hold a soul. It has been freed, but the sight of it will still frighten them."

The book gets locked away in her desk drawer and that marks the end of the lesson,"The knowledge in here is precious and it cannot fall into the hands of one of them, but if it does it will kill them."

If she didn't want Riku to be creeped out she sure failed at it, but maybe not in the way she thought. He already knows most of it is bollocks, but the gem and the fact it might be able to kill his friend creeps him out.

He cannot sleep for the life of him and hasn't for the past few days. Sora's supposed to return tonight and he didn't dare to talk about it over letters.

Knock knock.

He almost jumps from surprise, despite hoping for it and rushes out of bed, stumbling on the way.

Janking open the curtains he's greeted by the smiling face of his friend. He janks open his window and blurts out,"We need to talk."

"What?" Sora stops halfway through, "Good evening to you too. Long time no see. I missed you too." He says sarcastically.

He steps aside to let Sora in proper, the cat jumping in with a little mew.

"Sorry. It's just. This is really important."

The other looks at him with a raised brow and sits down on the windowsill, "okay."

Riku falls back on his bed. Dee senses his distress and trots over, "During my lessons today there was this book."

His hands start raking through the dreameaters fur,"It had the supposed history of you and your mom in it. Including her imprisonment. It isn't a normal book. The sister said it could kill you and in the front there was a gem."

The color leaves Sora's face, "A gem?"

"Yes. She claims the soul in it was already freed."

Sora jumps up and starts pacing the room,"There's no freeing of souls." His lock onto Riku's with determination, "We have to get them back! Even if they're beyond saving they don't deserve to be stuck on the cover!"

He sighs,"I cannot just steal the book. They'll know it's me."

Sora opens his mouth a few times, is quiet for a bit and says, "What if I steal it? I can also steal some other stuff to make it look like a regular theft."

Riku shakes his head,"That book can kill you."

He gets a scoff in return,"A book isn't going to kill me."

He gets up and Dee jumps off him with a protesting meow, "Do you want to risk it?"

"There might be a way to find my mom in it and one of my siblings is glued on top."

He stops Sora in his pacing, placing his hands on his shoulders,"The more reason to do it right. Let me try and read as much of it as I can first."

His hands get shrugged off. He thinks he can hear tears in Sora's voice,"I'm not leaving a sibling behind."

He again grabs hold of Sora and seeks his eyes,"And I'm not risking you getting killed by a book."

Dee mwerls and curls around their feet. Riku sighs again and pulls his friend in for a hug, who in turn slumps into it,"In what way could it even kill me?"

"I don't know. Let me find it out first."

"I did not expect this at all."

"Neither did I."

It gets quiet again, the only sound is his breathing as Sora stays slumped against him.

His friend pipes up again in a soft voice,"So what now?"

"No clue." And he really has no clue. His eyes hurt from exhaustion and he's pretty sure he's going to start hallucinating soon, "I haven't slept in days. I'm so tired."

"Me too. I'm sorry I'm so emotional. It's been hard back home."

"It's fine."

Sora pulls back from the hug, "I might have an idea.”

Chapter Text

"You're for real?"

Sora seems to have forgotten his earlier exhaustion and distress as he comes back inside with a bag over his shoulder,"Yes!"

"This is stupid. You'll get caught."

Sora gives him an eyeroll,"I won't."

He knows this is a bad idea in the deepest part of him, "You just got in trouble back home."

The bag gets plopped down and everything inside gets thrown about, Sora clearly having already decided he will stay,"I was planning on staying here if you'd let me. You'll get more rest and we need to think of a plan for the book." Dee pushes into his side and he starts petting the cat absentmindedly.

Riku crouches down and starts picking between all the bits and bobs his friend somehow saw as necessary to bring, "Isn't that running away?"

Sora grimaces, his rummaging stopping one hand still curled in Dee's fur, "Maybe." He leans back against the windowsill, "I will go back." His gaze shifts to the wall in the direction of the ocean,"Just not now. Maybe after we get them."

He doesn't know what to say to that so he changes subjects,"You will just keep me up with your talking."

"I can be quiet! Also you're lucky I already brought some stuff instead of stealing your blanket." Sora starts emptying his backpack again, the stuff in it getting weirder and weirder.

Riku picks up a spoon and looks over at the one chess piece wondering where the rest is,"Why did you bring so much stuff?"

He gets out a navyhat and places it on Riku's head,"It's a sleepover."

He twirls the spoon around again, picking up a salt shaker that somehow also seemed important enough to bring along,"And what does that have to do with all this stuff?"

Sora still isn't deterred, finally getting out a big blanket, "I don't know! I've never done a sleepover. I asked around and this is stuff they suggested. We'll figure it out."

He places the spoon down, "I think they're fooling you."

"I mean yeah, but I made them explain why I had to bring what they suggested that was really funny so."

The stuff surrounding him takes on a whole new meaning. From random clutter to maybe fun stories.

"The spoon?"

"For soup eating. A midnight tradition humans have."

"What?"

"Stupid right? Tidus thinks I believe him, but jokes on him" he gets out a thermos, "Free soup."

Riku lets out a laugh,"Why do you want free soup now?"

Sora shrugs,"You told me the food here is bland."

He looks around further at the random stuff laying about, "The scarf?"

Sora takes the colorful scarf and piles it on Dee, "I might get too cold. But it fits Dee better."

He points to a sheathed knife, "And that?"

His friend beams at him, throwing it over. Riku takes it and unsheates it. It's a little bigger than his hand, light blue and misshapen, but still very sharp, "The knife you made when we first met."

He didn't get to get a close look at it that day and the misshapen knife takes on a whole new look,"Oh." The lanternlight flickering on it makes moving waves appear on its blade,"That's so cool."

"It's so ugly, but I thought you might want it."

He sheaths it again, "Thanks".

The next goes on until all the stories of the stuff Sora's brought has been told and tucked away again. The conversation shortly turned back to Sora's lost sibling, but Dee disagreed and put them to bed. How? By turning into a sea lion and laying on top of them of course. The exhaustion catches up and soon both of them are out cold.

Riku wakes to the ringing of the church bells like usual. It's a peaceful morning until he hears a snore.

Sora's still here and sister Josephine could be here any second!

Riku jumps out of bed,"Sora!"

No reaction.

"Wake up!"

Still no reaction aside from Dee who meows groggilly.

He starts shaking the boy who wakes with confused grumbles, "the hell riku."

"Sister Josephine is coming!"

"Sis-?"

But it's too late and he can hear the tell-tale footsteps on the wooden floor in the hall.

Thinking quickly he takes the sides of Sora's mat and shoves it, with Sora still on it, under his bed.

He shushes Sora's surprised shouts and prays that the nun hasn't heard it.

The lock clicks with a rattle and he has just enough time to jump over his bed to the other side, pulling his blanket with him and dropping it to the floor.

Thank god it's sister Joseephine Who' s a bit hard of hearing.

"What is all that ruckus about?" She looks around the room and the pile of blankets by the side of his bed, "Did you fall out of bed?"

He folds his hands behind his back,"Yes."

She shakes her head, "Make your bed and don't be late."

The door has only been shut for a few seconds when a disgruntled Sora starts crawling from under the bed, hand rubbing his head.

"What the hell Riku? That hurt."

"And we almost got caught!" He starts rushing through his morning routine,"I knew this was a bad idea!"

Sora stops rubbing his head and just slumps down onto the dropped bedding, Dee deciding to settle on his back,"Didn't you have better sleep?"

He finally gets his last button done and stomps over to the pile where his friend still lies face down, "This isn't about me getting sleep. This is about us not getting caught!"

Still face down Sora shrugs, "It's a nun. What could she have done?"

He pulls the blankets from underneath him, ignoring the following protests from both the boy and cat,"She could have locked me up and I would have never seen you or the ocean again. Did you forget about the merchant shooting at you or the book?"

"A simple bullet can't hurt me."

That makes Riku pause from making the bed,"Then why did the merchant bother shooting at you?"

Sora gets up and to his knees and starts pulling his own bedding from underneath the bed,"Those were probably not normal bullets," something seems to click in his head as his eyes get big,"I think it might know how to get around the killing book thing!" He takes his bag and starts stuffing the blanket in it wildly,"but it'll take time."

Riku starts helping Sora put the blanket in the bag properly,"You do?"

A yell from down the hall startles them,"Riku!"

Of course. He needs to hurry up before they come back to fetch him. He gets up, pats Dee and noogies Sora,"You can tell me tonight."

He doesn't want to admit it to Sora, but he does feel quite energised. Despite the worries over the heart, having a full night's sleep with his best friend and cat seemed to calm his mind down.

At least until he gets called into the Abbess' office.

His mind is racing. He probably got caught. He's facing his doom. Is there a way to make the crab call Sora?

She smiles at him, seemingly aware of his nerves,"You've been with us for quite a while now and I want to congratulate you."

The rush of relief is undeniable,"What for?"

"You've been doing well fighting off the curse. Most people would've just ran off by now when given the freedom you have."

He would have too, but Sora just keeps refusing, "I-"

She holds her hand up,"However. Some of the nuns have noticed that you tend to be slacking."

He has been tired as of late, but he did well in his lessons and his chores,"Slacking?"

She nods towards his chest. He looks down and to his mortification he sees that he has his shirt on inside out. How he didn't notice when buttoning it up he has no idea.

She chuckles softly,"I do not blame you my boy. This is a hard fight and it's normal for you to get tired from fighting it so hard. That lesson must've been challenging."

She gets up from behind her desk and places her hand on his shoulder,"To help you I have decided to introduce two extra hours of prayer each day in your schedule."

"Thank you, Mother Unknown." Addressing the Abbess has always felt weird and funny, with her chosen name being Unknown. Now, knowing the story of the Unknown saint, it's unsettling.

She squeezes his shoulder and with her other hand she holds out a black paternoster,"This will help you through the day if you're struggling."

Touching it the crab around his neck shudders and he suddenly feels the little energy he regained leaving. Could this be made of obsidian?

He doesn't dare use it during the prayer, instead opting for his old one. Luckily none of the nuns say anything about it.

By the evening he's sitting on the edge of the windowsill, Dee on his lap, Sora laying beside him, also precociously balanced on the other outside edge and picking his nose, "Prayer? What will that help?"

"Won't it do anything? The cross did something"

Sora stretches out, putting his hands behind his head,"Not really. I mean most of the time my mom ignored prayer. It's not like she can do everything for everyone."he yawns,"The obsidian did most of the work."

He fishes the new paternoster out of his pocket,"I'm pretty sure this is made of obsidian."

That makes Sora sit up,"Another necklace?"

"A paternoster."

"Whatever it is, it's an easy fix. Give."

Giving it over Sora starts running it through his hands holding it close to his face, "What it's for?"

"Praying. Each bead is a prayer."

"Then a crab won't work." Sora stands up on the windowsill, jumps over Riku and sits down at his bag, "Good thing I got more stuff today."

He gets a rope out, he comes back to the windowsill, awkwardly jumps up and over Riku again and settles down, "This might be awkward."

"Awkward how?"

"I need you to cry."

"Why? I can't just start crying."

"Ugh. Fine."He puts out his hand a knife materialising in it,"I'll need your blood then."

Riku gives a bewildered chuckle,"What for?"

Sora sits back on his knees and takes Riku's hand in his, Riku not giving up any resistance,"I need to make the beads for on the rope. It needs to be made of you so it can refuel the illusion on you. It's not self fueling like your other necklace, but it's more real looking."

The blood gets taken with a slice on his upper arm, the cut healed with a playful smack of Sora, who in return almost gets shoved off the windowsill by accident.

It gets laughed off and soon he's putting jet black beads on the rope,"So how do you plan on getting the book?"

Sora holds up two fingers,"There are two ways humans kill us. One with obsidian and the other we don't truly know. The only thing we know is that it explodes the moment we or water makes contact with it. If there is paint that can kill us it must be made with what is inside the exploding bullets." He takes the finished paternoster from Riku's hands, bites his thumb and starts wiping his blue glowing blood over the beads, "All I need is a water tight satchel that's big enough."

The glowing dies down and in his hand is identical to his other one.

Riku takes it. He can't even see a difference up close, "Neat. Can you do the cross too?"

Sora frowns, "I can try, but I'll be honest, I think the crab is better. The magic on it is a lot more subtle even if that makes it weaker. Don't want to have a big light shining on you that you meet up with me in case a hunter visits the monastery."

"A hunter?"

"Humans specialised in hunting us, but don't worry they're not as good as they used to be." Dee decides to abandon Riku and settle on Sora's lap, "It's why I can't come visit some days or we stay on the beach. Good thing they're easy to keep track of. Otherwise it would've been a big problem."

He lets the beads run through his fingers, the smoothness soothing, "Say, how do you plan on getting a bag?"

"I was going to make one, seeing as I can't go back home to fetch one" Sora nods towards the pater noster, "I'll need some new rope though."

Riku smirks, tucking the pater noster in his pocket,"Can you even sew?"

Sora shrugs, folding his hands behind his head,"It can't be that hard."

"Water tight might be harder."

"Alright. We might need to do a few trail runs."

Riku chuckles.

Chapter Text

"Widen your stance."

Another day has passed with Sora sleeping over. The solution to the oversleeping problem solved by a nail in a candle on a metal platter. A nail being one of the random things that was stuffed away in the bag.

Sora has agreed to go to the beach.

Sticks in their hands Sora's attempting to teach Riku how to swordfight. He fights unlike anyone Riku's ever seen swordfight. Which aren't many, but still. The botched bag lies to the side forgotten in a frustrated fury and being reused as a napping spot for Dee.

"What do you mean, widen your stance? I'm standing like you told me to."

He gets wacked with a stick and stumbles, "awch! What's that for?!"

"It makes you stumble." Sora simply says.

"You're a shit teacher."

"I teach myself everything and I think I'm doing pretty good."

"You have a teacher."

"Only a magic one. The sword fighting is all me. Though Leon does try to make me more 'civilised' or something when he comes around. He says I fight like a crazy person" He twirls his 'sword', "Now widen your stance."

"You-"

"Sora!" A shout interrupts him.

They both whirl towards the ocean, where the call came from. A pale girl with short red hair is standing in the water waving. She looks to be around their age.

The way Sora relaxes his defencive stance, but stays tense must mean she isn't a serious threat.

"Are we screwed?" Riku asks

"Not yet" and Sora starts walking towards the ocean, Riku shortly following after him.

"Everyone's out looking for you, you know." The girl says, she then notices Riku, "Who're you?"

Sora sighs,"Riku, meet Kairi. Kairi meet Riku. She's my little sister."

"The best little sister."

"My only little sister." He retorts back quickly. Kairi giggeling in reponse.

He gives her a nod, still wary,"Hey."

she smiles back at him,"Hello."

"You two are the youngest of all of your siblings?"

Sora nods,"Jup. The guppies as the others say."

"Or pebbles." Kairi adds on.

"Runts."

"Little pests."

"Kinda depends on who and when you ask someone."

Kairi laughs, "You tend to be the little pest the most though."

Sora rolls his eyes, "Yes yes" and places his sword on his shoulder,"What do you want from me for you not to snitch, little pebble?"

Kairi is positively beaming, her hands behind her back and swiveling on her feet,"I want to hang out too, see why you always sneak out."

That makes Sora finally relax fully,"okay"

She looks way too happy with herself, "What do you guys normally play?"

Sora shrugs,"Errr we race, we fight, we surf."

"Boringgggg. Typical guy stuff. Why don't we go swim with dolphins?"

"They'll snitch on me and you know that." Sora answers.

"I mean. If it was only you and him sure. But I'm here. Come on, it'll be fun!"

Sora gives a sideways glance to Riku, "You up for it?"

Riku's very excited if he's being honest, he has never seen a dolphin before. He has to act cool though, "Sure."

She pumps her fists and starts running further into the ocean,"Lets go!"

Sora sighs with a smile, throws his stick to the side and pulls Riku along.

Soon he's sitting on Dee's back as Kairi and Sora swim as mers beside him.

It takes a bit, but soon he notices other shapes swimming along them.

Dolphins, at least twenty of them, circling around and jumping up through the waves. They're bigger than Riku expected and seem very interested in his presence for as soon as Dee slows to a stop the dolphins surround them, chattering and clicking. One even pushes his nose against Riku's leg.

Kairi surfaces too, shaking her head,"Alright! I already told them all about you two and they swore silence."

He risks touching one of them. Their skin feels weird, way less slimy than Dee's.

"Boo!"

The scare almost makes him fall, his only save being his hold on Dee's mane. He whirls around to glare at the culprit, "Sora!"

Sora's laughing as are the others. Or he thinks the dolphins are laughing at least.

He attempts to kick Sora, but misses "You idiot."

A bump against his other leg distracts him again. It's one of the dolphins, a smaller one who immediately ducks under and swims away when Riku looks.

"If you want to you can swim with them,"Kairi pipes up from behind him, "They're crazy fast. No offence Dee."

Dee neighs like he's very much offended and shifts into a dolphin, making Riku fall off in the process.

Sora laughs,"Looks like Dee wants to prove himself. You up for it?"

"If we race." Riku answers.

"Let's make it fair then. We each hold on to a dolphin while in human form." Kairi turns towards the group of dolphins and starts doing clicks and whistles that definitely are not possible for the human throat. The dolphins answer with eagerness, seemingly competing for who gets to swim with who. After a bit of bickering the contestants get decided. Dee did not let Riku choose however, pushing away even Sora.

"Alright!" Kairi says, the three of them lined up with a few other dolphins who also want to compete, "We race till the buoy Sora sets up. Riku, we go when the Seashell over there gives a signal like this."

In response one of the dolphins lets out a high whistle.

"Noted." Riku replies, settling better against Dee.

The high whistle sounds and they're off.

Immediately a problem arises as he can't see for the life of him. The darkness and water obscuring his vision as he hangs on for dear life. Not knowing if he's winning or not isn't fun, but what's even worse is that he's losing his breath quickly and Dee is not giving him a chance to surface, unaware of his very human passenger drowning.

It turns bad quickly and he's forced to let go, his lungs burning and his mind desorientated. He tries to find what's up and down and hold his breath, but the burning in his lungs is making him frantic.

Sudden strong arms around him haul him up to the surface, his head breaching with loud desperate coughs, heaves and gulps of air.

Sora appears blurry in his vision brow furrowed in worry, "You okay?"

Riku calms his coughing, his vision clearing up,"I'm fine. Still in possession of human lungs sadly."

Sora pouts,"And they still haven't taught me that spell."

He notices Kairi swimming up behind them, eyebrows also furrowed,"You could look in one of Yen Sid's books?"

"You think Yen Sid would believe me looking in his books to just teach myself a spell?"

"Good point." She pats Riku's shoulder, "No more racing underwater for you."

"I don't mind" Riku coughs again.

He feels something slimy touch his hand and he jerks back in surprise only to see Dee surface with the most sad and guilty look a hippocampus can manage.

Riku places his hand on Dee's slimy snout, "I'm fine"

Dee licks his head in response, leaving his hair standing up with sticky saliva. The others of course start laughing at him, which makes Riku shove Sora away and dunk his head underwater in hopes of getting it out.

He surfaces again, only for Sora to immediately grab on to him again, the almost drowning thing must've freaked him out more than it did Riku. He lets him keep hold as Kairi speaks up again, "You're still up playing a game?"

"I'm ready to win at a game." Riku answers.

Sora rolls his eyes and shoves him, Riku shoving back in retaliation.

Kairi ignores their shenanigans"since you can't shapeshift you can use Dee. The goal of the game is to throw the ball into the barrel on the rocks." She points to a nearby rock, the barrel lighting up at her words,"the team that gets the most goals wins, also you're not allowed to hold on to the ball, you'll have to pass it on as soon as you get a hold of it."

"Sounds easy enough."

"You're on my team." Sora says and slaps a hand on his shoulder, his handprint leaving behind a blue glowing handprint.

"Don't call dips like that." Kairi pouts.

Sora sticks his tongue out at her.

She does it back and the teams are decided, each member having either a glowing blue or pink mark on their body.

They win, because of course they do and Riku's looking at the lowering moon. It's probably time to head back now. Like usual it's not something he wants to bring up.

He doesn't get a chance as Kairi suddenly yells, "Guys!"

Sora answers, "Yeah!"

"Ship! Over there!"

She points to the horizon and indeed there's a ship, much closer than he expected it to be for them to not notice for so long.

Sora squints, "Looks like a trade ship. You guys wanna mess with it?"

Kairi laughs,"Thought you'd never ask!"

Riku looks back at the moon. There's still time.

******

The Irine is Captain George's pride and joy. He always boasted in the inns and harbours about how sturdy she is, how storms never bother her even a little and that the goods transported on her were as safe as they can possibly be, even from pirates.

A necessary thing in these times. The sea might have gotten calmer the last few years, it only meant pirates had it easier too.

So when he heard a crewman yell, "Man overboard at starboard!" He wasn't surprised.

Another ship got attacked and when he gets a look at the kid they hoist out of the ocean he knows the kid has seen things, poor thing is shivering and soaked,"You're lucky good old toms has an eagle eye or you would've frozen to an iceblock!"

The boy only mutters a soft thanks and soon his first mate runs up with blankets.

Captain George wraps the kid up, "Here. That'll warm you right up. Did your ship get attacked?"

The boy nods. That means he'll have to up security for a little while, "Dammend pirates."

"No. They were monsters."

"Monsters?"

"My dad's a fisher. We were much later today and he-. They were kids. Just kids like me. I didn't get it I just-"

Monster kids. That could only mean one thing,"God damn it. Nathanial, wake everyone, we need to get to port as soon as possible!"

"What's it captain?"

Against pirates one can fight. Against a child of the sea? Pray and hope that you reach land soon enough if you don't have the right weapons. They don't have the weapons. The rarity of both the weapons and the threat made them not worth the price. They might have to pay a much higher price now.

"Children of the sea. They could be following this boy and if they do then pray to god we've reached land by then."

The ship jolts into a creaking halt.

"Brace yourselves and everything we have! Get the boy in my cabin!"

Everyone moves into action. Releasing the life boats and tying as much as they can down. Most of them know how to deal with an encounter.

"Dave! God damn! What are you doing? Steer the ship!"

"Aye aye captain." A young unknown voice answers.

Ice fillS his veins as he looks over. The shape of his crewman falling apart in sand, revealing another young kid with spiky brown hair and a hissing cat on his shoulders. The boy laughs, his eyes lighting up blue, takes the wheel and spins it.

Captain George only gets to yell out a desperate cry as the ship lurches sideways, throwing everything and everyone that's not tied down to the side. He sees the ocean almost spill over the railing, the ship close to capsizing as the crew screams and the little light of their lanterns die.

It lasts a few everlasting seconds as the mocking laugh of the boy sounds and suddenly the ship sweeps to the other side, he loses his grip. He tries to hold onto anything as he slides towards the ocean. Falling in means death, he knows this deep in his bones.

The ship wobbles back right before any of his men fall out.

"Abandon ship!"

"Don't!" He tries to say, but he's too late. One of his men tries, tentacles made of water shoot up, one of them entrapping the man inside.

Why didn't he buy the bullets when he had the chance? He already has the gun for it. The tentacle drops the man, Nathanial he knows now, unconscious or dead, he doesn't know.

His men are freaking out and he doesn't know what to do, the ship is still lurching and carreening, not letting them get proper footing the body of Nathanial rolling along.

His first mate tries to shoot the vermin, but it's no use, the shot does nothing to it even if he somehow manages to hit it.

He finally manages to get a hold of the mast, holding on for dear life and his eyes fall ahead to another kid, a young girl.

By the seven seas there's two now. She stands there stable and unbothered.

Her hand raises and he can only pray.

The ship becomes stable and he's starting to think his prayers might have worked, until his stomach drops as he's forced to his knees.

The ship is being lifted into the sky at unbelievable speeds. They're dead, he doomed his men and he is so so seasick.

The girl drops her hand and they're falling.

He expects the ship to fall apart to smithereens, he expects himself to fall to smithereens.

Instead water swallows him up and spits him out.

Him and his men are laying scattered across the deck, groaning and soaked to the bone.

Then there's laughter, children's laughter. He cranes his neck.

The very first kid, the one they fished up is standing there and laughing along, bag in his hands.

"You little devil!" He shouts, drawing his gun.

He doesn't get a chance to shoot as he's knocked down by a heavy weight.

It's the hissing cat and it jumps to the boy's shoulder and both run over to the railing and jump over.

Captain George pats the deck of his beloved ship. Thank the heavens Irine survived