What Lies Within the Deep Blue

IMPLICATIONS

tw// swearing, violence, panic, death (mentioned)

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The last three days had become a balancing act on the edge of unbearable. Between the utter boredom and anxiety-coated conversations, there was a tense silence that permeated the air around them. They still had roughly a weeks worth of oxygen left to go around but as the merfolk's celebration came and went, George began to worry.

Surely their trial would have started by now... and where was Dream?! His heart hurt with every thought of the mer. Had George really meant so little to him? Or maybe he was injured... had he even made it out alive?

A loud shrill, that was amplified everytime it bounced off a cave wall, quickly snapped him out of his worrying - almost positive he'd go deaf from the sound of it. George rolled his eyes; not even bothering to lift his head off the coat he'd been using as a pillow to find the source of the commotion.

Every morning was the same. The rather rude entrance meant there was a new pile of raw fish to keep them alive - Niki had gagged the first time she watched Techno shrug and slurp down an eyeball ("What? They have a lot of protein...") and George couldn't exactly say he missed the taste (he'd gotten used to having spices over the years) but his stomach didn't curl into itself with disgust like the rest of the crew's expressions indicated.

This time, however, an unfamiliar voice cleared their throat.

This caught George's attention.

The merman swimming near their shore didn't match the description Tubbo had given of the mer that usually delivered their breakfast - they never stuck around for very long but apparently the boy had caught a glimpse of a black and white tail disappearing into the depths that first morning - this one, however, had a dark green (maybe brown) tail with shimmering gold accents.

His presence demanded everyone's full attention but no one dared move - unwilling to test what buttons would beach the merman's dangerous undercurrents.

The deep scars that littered the merman's body gave it away.

The sight unsettled George. He knew what it meant... the mer had been one of the lucky few to have been captured and lived to tell the tale.

The intensity of his stare as it passed over each member of the crew seemed to confirm it.

Is that what would have happened to Dream...? Could he have survived? The thought made him sick to his stomach - more than raw fish ever could.

Seeming satisfied, the mer's scales lit up to say, "It's safe."

George watched as two more mermen emerged from the depths - he wasn't sure how he hadn't noticed them earlier.

The first was a wiry thing with a white streak through his ginger hair to contrast the bright orange (or maybe it was also green) and inky black of his fins. Arms crossed over his chest as dark eyes stared disapprovingly at them all.

The second was... "Dream!"

George almost hadn't recognized him with the sheer amount of gold jewelry that littered the mer's mesmerizing body - the clan's signature obsidian earring hung from his pointed ear (he couldn't stop himself from thinking about the one his mom had gifted him before he left). But he didn't dwell on it. Not when the blissful feeling of relief washed away the tension in his shoulders and soothed the anxiety (that had plagued him since waking up in the dreadful air pocket prison) allowing him to jump to his feet instantly.

The beautiful merman was alive and well... it was more than he could have hoped for.

Sprinting to the water's edge as fast as his legs could carry him, unfortunately, resulted in the first, scariest looking mer to lunge at George dragging him down from his full height to the sand in an instant with the weight of the merman's dark, green tail and sharp claws being branded inches away from the artery in his neck.