Galeophobia {crankiplier}

Catch & Release

TW // blood, very small amount of gore

{ Ethan's POV }

"Come ooonnnn! All we do is stay inside the kingdom! Don't you wanna know what's out there?" Ethan said to the dark-haired displeased mermaid in front of him. "What's out there is death, and you know that. There's a reason we built these walls." She said grimly.
"But the shark kingdom is probably really far away! We'll only swim around the outside of the kingdom! You've been so worried all your life, shouldn't you go outside atleast once?" Ethan said in a sad tone, the mermaid still not changing her expression. "Please Kathryn?" Ethan said in a softer tone. There was silence for a moment until Kathryn sighed defeatedly. "Alright, alright... but whenever we get out there, we are hugging those walls. And I better not see you swimming any farther-" Kathryn stopped her sentence as she realized Ethan was already excitedly swimming towards the exit.
"Wait- Ethan!" She called after him, trying to catch up with him.
The two managed to sneak out of a hole in the kingdom's wall, starting to slowly swim next to the bottom of the wall. Ethan looked out at the opposite direction of the kingdom. "Wow... It's so..." He paused, examining the vast blue ocean. "Empty." He finished. "Mhm. I don't know why you wanted to come out here in the first place, there's nothing but ocean." Kathryn said. "Well if there's nothing out there, then i guess you wouldn't mind if i did... this!" Ethan changed his direction to swim farther out and away from the wall. "Wait no- Ethan get back here!" Kathryn yelled, annoyed. "oH nO iTs sO scAwrY oUt hErwE!" Ethan said in a taunting voice, slowly swimming further away. "Ethan!" Kathryn yelled again. "Ooo what's that!" Ethan said to himself and quickly swam down, and further from the wall. "ETHA-... He's gone. Shit..." Kathryn said and then swam after him.

Ethan had seen something shiny in the sand, and when he came up to it, it appeared to be a small round metal thing half-buried in the sand. Like a ball or a marble. "Ethan we need to go back to the kingdom now or we're both gonna get in trouble!" Kathryn said from a few fins away. Ethan didn't respond to her, continuing to stare at the shiny metal.
"Ethan? Are you really ignoring me?" Kathryn said, annoyed. Ethan reached his hand out and tried to grab the metal thing. "Ethan we need to get ba- AAAA!" Kathryn jumped as a net suddenly came out of the sand and trapped Ethan. "Wh- Wait what??" Ethan said with distress. "H-Hold on Ethan! I'm going to get help! Just- Just stay right there!" Kathryn said in a panicked voice and immediately swam towards the kingdom. "Wait no! Kathryn!..." Ethan tried to call out to her but she was already too far away. Ethan struggled to move in the small net, and then remembered the stories the seal guards would tell of the sharks making nets and traps to get seals better. Ethan's heart stopped as he realized this was most definitely a shark net. "I... I need to get out of here!" He said to himself, then started thrashing in the net, trying to break himself free. In the process of that, he actually managed to tangle himself more, the netting wrapping around his tail. Ethan tried to get out of the netting, but he suddenly felt a sharp burning sensation around his tail, realizing the net had cut him. He saw small amounts of his blood float up into the water, which only made him panic more.

{ Mark's POV }

Mark and Tyler swam slowly across the sand, Mark scanning the ocean floor as Tyler bragged about some accomplishment he made and someone was proud- Mark wasn't really listening. All his life, Mark was praised for being a great white shark. He was supposed to be tough, a good fighter, ruthless.
But Mark never found joy in hunting or killing things like Tyler or the other sharks did.
He honestly thinks it's kinda weird that they have to hunt things that look so much like their own kind. "Hey- Hey Mark? Buddy, you alive?" Mark looked to the tiger shark next to him.
"Oh uh yeah- I guess I was just... thinking." Mark said. He heard Tyler laugh a little. "You're so weird sometimes"
Yeah, of course I'm the weird one.
The two continued swimming through the empty blue water, no prey in sight.
"Hey how about you swim that way, I swim this way, and then we'll meet up at the kingdom if we don't find anything" Tyler stated, noticing the lack of prey aswell. Mark just nodded and started to swim to his left.
The whole time, Mark was just. thinking.
He didn't hate Tyler, they had been best friends ever since they were pups, but he knew the kind of shark Tyler was. He was more normal, more willing. All his life, Mark has avoided killing seals, or anything for that matter, and let other sharks do the work. He was scared of what would happen if Tyler found out.
Mark was pulled away from his thoughts by the faint smell of blood in the water. His stomach churned in fear, knowing this meant he'd have to take something home.
He continued swimming in the direction, though slower. He got lower to the ground as he came across a small ledge, and peered over.
A small merman was struggling inside one of the trap nets the sharks had made.
He was pale, with unusual light blue hair. He had a light gray tail with a much softer look than a shark's tail. He could now see the culprit of the blood, his tail was caught inside the net.
Mark took a deep breath in, trying to calm his anxiety. He isn't a person, of course he's not. He won't feel any pain like sharks do.
He isn't a shark, he isn't a shark, he isn't a shark-
Mark swam over the ledge and got down closer to the seal. He immediately started screaming, and Mark realized how close to the seal's kingdom they were so he covered his mouth with his hands. Then he finally got a chance to look at his eyes, he first thought they were blue, but realized there was some green in them too, but they still complemented his hair and his looks and his tail. Really everything about this boy was complementary.
But one huge thing loomed over his entire face, fear. Mark had always been told that seals don't feel fear. That they don't feel anything, really. But this seal... this seal seemed different somehow. His face was flooded with terror, pain, and... confusion? Mark just now realized how long he had been staring and snapped out of his thoughts. "Ok.. uh." Mark stammered, trying to figure out what to do.
He knew he had to kill him, but after he basically reached into his very soul, he couldn't even think about doing that. He took another deep breath and just let his heart tell him what to do. "Ok... Don't. just.. don't scream, alright?"
Mark said softly. The seal looked at him some more in confusion, but soon nodded slightly.
Mark slowly moved his hands off of his mouth, the seal immediately moving again, trying to back away from him, keyword: trying.
"No- no wait i'm.. I'm not going to hurt you." Mark said in the most sincere voice he could muster. The seal remained quiet for a few more seconds. "Wh... Why?" The blue-haired boy stammered out in a very quiet voice.
"I..." Mark paused and thought for a second.
"I don't know." He finished and looked at the net. "Ok, be still. I'm going to cut you out of the net, alright?" He said, still trying to keep up his soft voice as to not scare him. The seal seemed to slightly wince for a second before cautiously nodding. Mark grabbed a piece of the net and bit it with his teeth, very easily being able to cut through the rope. He did it a few more times in different spots until the boy was able to get his upper body out and all was left was his tail.
"Oh boy... how did you get yourself tangled this badly? How long were you out here?" Mark asked as he examined the deep cuts the rope had left on his tail.
"I.. I ha- aven't been out h-here long?.." The seal whispered out in a shaky voice.
"Alright this might hurt a bit." Mark carefully lifted the net away from his tail, and bit a small portion of it, trying very hard not to get the blood in his mouth. He ripped off the rest of the net until he was completely free.
To Mark's surprise, the boy didn't swim away. He just stayed there, seeming to stare at Mark the same way he must've been staring at him.
"What's your name?" The seal asked in a less shaky voice, yet still the same quiet tone.
"My name? Oh uh... my name's Mark."
He answered. "Mark.... um. I'm Ethan." The seal said back, now beginning to fidget with his hands. Ethan. The name repeated in Mark's thoughts. They both went quiet again, just staring at each other in amazement.
But the silence was soon broken as Mark and Ethan heard the sound of talking and swimming heading towards their direction.
Ethan frantically looked at the direction of the talking, and then looked back at Mark, getting closer to him and grabbing both of his shoulders.
"Oh shit- Take- Take me with you Mark!"