What Lies Within the Deep Blue

UNEXPECTED GUEST

tw// blood, gore, child death, forced captivity, panic attack, body horror, survivor guilt

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"Please Nefoid! Just one more round!" George's little sibling, Callahan, begged with the glowing stripes along their body - gold tail already itching to swim away and big, blue eyes darting to find some clever place to hide.

The merling knew they had their older brother wrapped around their smallest finger when a young George blinked back, "Fine... but I'm only counting to 30 this time."

He couldn't help the warm amusement bubble up in his chest at the sheer happiness such a simple interaction could bring the little one. The two were six years apart and yet he found that the blissful time they spent together was something he always looked forward to.

"Ready or not, Calla! Here I come!" A young George blinked out - always having loved the way his own deep blue splotches on his tail lit up.

Before he could begin looking however, a trill echoed through the water. Kristin, his mother, must have been trying to get his attention before her dark tail's white spots blinked, "It's time to eat!"

"We'll be right there! Calla, I know you're watching me! We can continue after lunch, I promise."

A small chirp sounded from... above him?

He looked up.

There they were, confident as ever - smile as bright as the Moon Goddess herself. That is until a dark shadow loomed at the surface overhead. How had he not seen that coming!

Brown eyes widened. Vibrant blue tail carrying him as quickly as possible up to his sibling despite the sheer terror settling deep in his stomach. "Calla!? Come on, we have to go! It's not safe up here!" The boy quickly grabbed their hand and started swimming back down towards the safety of their cave for dinner and away from the shadow.

Heart racing, young George let out a sharp distress call to alert everyone to the danger and saw in the distance his mother blinking frantically at the sight but panic refusing to let him comprehend it.

His clan's leaders, Minx and her newly committed platonic life partner, Puffy, were already racing towards them at the sound of it - tridents shining at the ready to defend their people.

But things started shooting through the water's surface and before the young George could turn around to see, whatever they were, the two were cloaked in a cloud of blood. His gills burned as the metallic taste filtered through them.

Dread filled his stomach. It wasn't his own... his sibling's hand had gone limp in his own.

"Calla...?" He pulled back to fan the blood cloud away with his fluke.

His heart stopped.

Callahan floated motionlessly. A stick with a large metal pointed bit was sticking out of them. A human-made trident or harpoon, George would learn later. Their once glowing eyes and bright, expressive scales dulled as life drained out of them - forever silenced. Blood still poured out of the wound.

There was no time to process his own injured shoulder.

He wanted to throw up the little he'd eaten that morning. Eyes stinging with grief. The look of horror on his mother's face as she approached would haunt him forever. He wanted to explain what had happened but it felt like too much effort to brighten his scales.