Itty Bitty Baby

It's a bit shorter than I wanted it, but here we are. I finally wrote a mer au and just in time for the end of Mermay.

Quick info on mermaids and sirens in this fic. Mers are typically smaller, brighter colored individuals with many tail frills. When they are young, they are a dulled down version of the color they will be when they are older. They also stay very small until about ten years of age when they rapidly grow. Sirens, while typically bigger, have duller colors their whole lives. Their proportions usually seem too lanky to be normal. They grow at a similar rate to the mers.

And as always, this fic is about the characters, not the content creators. If you ship any individuals from this book, dni. Also do tell me if I've overstepped any boundaries.

Tommy didn't know what happened. One second he was joyfully swimming in the sunny blue ocean waters with his pod, and the next? He was being pulled upwards with something painfully digging into his fragile scales.

His podmates seemed to share his sentiment of pain. They were shrieking and thrashing, almost crushing him against each other.

"Get the fry out! Get them out!" Tommy heard his mother's screams dominate the other's.

Tommy felt hands cup around him before he was being squeezed between the thing that was hurting him. It didn't hurt anymore, but now he's scared. He was about to bite the hands holding him when he no longer felt them. Whoever gripped him had let him go.

He was left floating sideways, so he righted himself and looked at his panicking podmates. They were crushed together in a giant silver colored sponge? Tommy didn't know they could be so large or have so many holes.

They seemed unsuccessful in getting anybody else out from the sponge.

"Thomas, you must go." His father looked sad. Why does he look sad?

His brother was now chewing on the silver sponge with zero progress. He looked scared, not sad.

"Don't let the big predator see you." His mom cried at him. What big predator?

Tommy was so preoccupied with all the strange things happening that he hadn't noticed the huge shadow that covered the previously sunny water. He looked up to see what was causing it and saw the huge silver predator his mom must've been talking about.

He squeaked fearfully and swam downwards, but stopped. How would his family get away?

"Thomas! You need to hide." His father was gritting his teeth now. He must be getting hurt now too.

Tommy chirped at them, trying to get them to follow, but they only looked at him in sadness and fear. They never stopped rising up towards the predator.

He did try following one last time, but a loud blaring noise screamed from the predator. That was all the more convincing Tommy needed before he flung himself back down towards their colorful coral reef.

—

Tommy wished he hadn't left his podmates. He could've tried to save them at the very least. Instead he swam away like a coward and left them all to that horrifying predator.

He couldn't blame himself too much though, he was still only a baby. He may be small now, but his parents had assured him he would get as big as them. They would let him hunt then too. What he'd give to be able to hunt right now. He's so hungry.

Baby mers aren't usually able to learn about hunting until they are at ten years old. Too bad Tommy's only six years old. He wouldn't be learning anything for another four.