Across the Timeless Sea

Chapter I: White Flower

A/N: This story is written for "MXTX Big Bang Challenge". Please visit their Twitter (@/mxtxbb) for more MXTX fanworks from the event participants. ^^

The fics for this challenge are all posted to an AO3 Collection. I checked the event rules and didn't find anything about restrictions for participants to posting their own fic to other platform, so I thought I'd post mine here, as well. But should the event mods ask me to take it down later, then I will.

In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy this HuaLian Pirate/Mermaid AU that I've written.

Happy reading! :)

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"Mermaids are the temptresses of death", some say. To sing the most alluring songs for the unguarded seafarers, to present their unparalleled beauty to these men slaving day and night during the voyage... They care not for a person's heart, be it righteous or crooked, be it young marines serving their emperor, tradesmen making a living, or marauders roaming the water for prey. How many ships have been led to their end, sinking under the rocks towards eternal slumber at the bottom of the ocean? How many lives have been lost, seeking for charming belles only to find themselves deceived by wicked enchantresses? Truly a vicious creature, the heralds of demise for men of the sea.

But who could really testify of the truth, if all those who chanced upon an encounter with these nefarious beauties ended up falling to their fatal trap?

"Mermaids are graceful sea creatures", others say. Waving soft Dragon Silk, pure white as ice and frost. Once in a blue moon, a lucky few may find a mirage cast by these beings, an opportunity to get their hands on the mystical fabric said to never become moist even when soaked in deep water. Beautiful and gentle, when they weep, their tears will turn into shiny pearls. They have ways to heal incurable diseases, and the kindest ones are willing to grant wishes, even giving their heart to love a mortal.

But who could attest to this truth, if even the storytellers have no way of proving whether the words they speak come from experience or mere hearsay?

The sky that night was blackened as if heavens had chosen to abandon the mortal world, thunder striking like the wrath of a mighty god. Dark clouds agglomerated into thick, massive wisps, sending ruthless rainfall down onto the earth. The tides were violent; the calm surface of the sea during the day was nowhere to be seen. For sailors exposed to this weather in the open, they could only pray that nature would still have some mercy on them. There was no use trying to escape; it was already good enough that their ship remained afloat and they were tied safely up there, not thrown into the raging water.

Somewhere on the chaotic water, sharp rocks of various sizes stood still amidst the splashes and crashes of the dreadful waves. The tallest ones were no bigger than the size of a standing grown man, while the rest looked more like fragments of broken big chunks of stones. Whether there was a titan of a mountain hidden beneath the surface, one could only try to guess.

Atop this cluster of rocks, on a slightly slanted, flat crag near the center, there was an unexpected object lying motionless, something so out of place that no one would ever imagine to see in the middle of the open sea. A human, a young boy in his adolescence, was sprawled there alone under the fierce thunderstorm. His clothes were torn and dirty, rags that could no longer be discerned what color they originally were. His face was deadly pale, with the black strands of his wet, unkempt hair sticking to his face. The only visible sign of life was his unstable breathing, causing his scrawny frame to faintly convulsed every few seconds or so.

Would someone find him in this stranded place? Even if he could survive the storm, what means could he use to return to land with nothing but rocks and water around him? The boy was shifting in and out of consciousness. He had swallowed and breathed in too much sea water, and he had vomited a lot of it, as well, until his internal organs were churning. It was painful to breathe; the heavy drops of rainwater kept hitting his face, choking his nostrils. His skinny limbs trembled from the cold, but this gale did not seem like it was going to end so soon, much less pitying an insignificant existence such as him.