Drowning & Floating (Ziam & 1D in The Little Merman)

C̷h̷9★𝕁𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕚𝕟 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖

Connor drags Zayn into the water. "Stop squirming you little brat." Connor mutters as Zayn keeps struggling.

Zayn snarls, "No!"

Connor rolls his eyes. "You can calm down, I'm not after you, or your little lover boy. I've much bigger fish to fry."

A deep, authoritave voice suddenly comands, "Dark Sea Wizard, Connor Jakob, stop this right now!"

"Dad!" Zayn cries in relief to see his father, holding his magical trident at Connor threateningly.

Connor pales a bit. "That's not in the plan... sh*t..."

Connor tries to regain his cool, still gripping a struggling Zayn. Connor hums, "Oh hey there King Forky, how's your trident being to you?"

No sound.

Connor tries, "Yo, Poseidon, my bud~"

nothing.

Connor rolls his eyes. "Seriously dude, what's not clickin'?"

King Posidon's patience is thinning fast. "Let Zayn go." Poseidon growls.

Connor seethes, "Not a chance, Zee is mine now. Besides..." 

Connor uses one of his octopus tentacles to hold up the contract Zayn signed. "...we had an agreement... and now... your stupid son is mine!"

Zayn instantly bursts out crying. "Dad, I'm so sorry! I really didn't know! He tricked me!"

Poseidon's anger boils over and Poseidon channels his power into the trident, firing it at the contract.

A brilliant flash of light is fired at the contract, but it simply turns to bubbles upon contact.

Connor beams, "Well would you look at that? I'm so good at legal stuff that it's unbinding and unbreakable! --Literally!" Connor starts cackling.

Appalled, Poseidon asks, "Why... why are you doing this?"

Connor sarcastically and sweetly hums, "Oh my dear Posidon, have you really not noticed the 49 subjects of your kingdom that have gone missing? No? Shame on you, King Forky-Trident-whatever."

Poseidon glares at Connor, not in the mood for games.

"I can see you'd like an explanation, but I've always been more 'show' than 'tell', mind you." Connor says before using magic to slowly turn Zayn into a writhing polyp.

As Zayn's tail slowly and involuntarily roots into the ground, Zayn starts getting bent over and smaller and everything about him seems darker.

"What are you doing to him?" Poseidon worriedly asks, rushing over to help Zayn, but Flotsam and Jetsam hold Poseidon back.

As Zayn's soft, smooth tanned skin begins to wrinkle and turn more like a dark-green dead plant material, Connor suddenly makes the spell pause, leaving Zayn in a dreadful half-merman-half-dying plant state.

Connor instantly picks up his charisma. "See, I haven't gotten to the part where I suck the energy, --magical and otherwise-- out of him. SO~ I can reverse the spell at this point and Zayn will be back to normal, all handsome or pretty or free or happy or whatever the heck you want..."

Connor then draws out, "BUT~ for me to undo this spell and for me to promise to never come near Zayn or his sisters again, I'd need someone worth their combined power, or perhaps beyond.... if ya know what I mean~?"

Poseidon pales when he understands Connor's plan; a checkmate that Posidon can't get out of.

"I think you know what I'm saying here, right? Your family's safety for the magic of the trident and the king: you. Deal~?" Connor sing-songs.

Before Zayn could protest, even though he technically wouldn't be able to speak since his lungs are being condensed immensely as a plant... King Posidon uses his trident to change the name on the contract to his own.

"It's done then!" Connor says, snapping his fingers. Within the blink of an eye, Zayn's back to normal and Connor lets go of him.

Poseidon didn't have much time to be glad Zayn was free before Poseidon found himself in Zayn's position. Connor wasted no time with sucking the energy out of Poseidon and the trident.

"No! No!" Zayn cries, but Zayn can't do anything to stop Posidon from being completely turned into a writhing polyp.

Connor picks up the trident first, absorbing its magic, turning the golden, shining trident into a dark purple, more unstable and dangerous looking version of it.

Zayn had been sitting by where Posidon's plant is, crying, but now he feels his rage furrowing. "You.. you monster! You horrible man!"

Zayn quickly zoomed to Connor and started trying to rip the trident from him. Connor quickly gets Zayn away and then shoves him against the ground.

"You insolent brat, you shouldn't be so rude to your master." Connor sing-songs, getting amused by Zayn's angry expression, which is quickly turning terrified.

With that, Connor proceeds to start punching Zayn against the rock.

Connor lands about two hits before Connor feels a sharp pain in his left arm. Connor turns and sees a sharp rock had cut him.

Looking up, Zayn cries out, "Liam!"

Liam has seen the light of Posidon's trident, and since Connor and Zayn were not far underwater, Liam was able to dive in and find them to help Zayn.

Liam had a look on his face that told Connor, "Try that again and you die."

Connor eyerolls. "How cute... Flotsam, Jetsam, get him!"

Flotsam and Jetsam waste no time charging at Liam.

Zayn panics, and thinking fast, he yanks on Connor's hair, making a blast of magic come out of the trident involuntarily.

It absolutely destroys Jetsam. Nothing was left of him except a small trail of bubbles floating to the surface.

"Jetsam!" Flotsam shrieks, beyond dismayed. Liam uses Flotsam's distraction to grab the Mer-eel's tail to swing him and chuck Flotsam against a rock, knocking him out cold.

"Flotsam! Jetsam!" Connor shrieks out. Instantly, Connor gets angry as he watches Zayn helping Liam to the surface.

"Fools! Those two idiots shouldn't have left me alone with the crown, trident, and a source of oceanic magic!" As Connor cackles, he puts on the crown and absorbs its power. Connor instantly starts causing ink to appear around him as he transforms.

Above the surface, Zayn has helped Liam stay above the water so Liam can catch his breath.

Keeping Liam's head above the water, Zayn pulls Liam close into a tight hug. "Liam... you saved me."

"Well, you saved me. Now we're even." Liam says with a small smile, hugging back with one arm so he can help them stay afloat.

After ending the hug, Liam gets a more serious expression on his face. "What do we do now?" Liam asks.

"Connor's basically the source of oceanic magic now, so we aren't doing anything! I need to get you on the land!" Zayn yells frantically, starting to swim towards the nearby shore.

"What about you?" Liam asks worriedly, still holding onto Zayn.

"I... I don't know..." Zayn admits, continuing to swim to the shore. "I know Connor's way more powerful now, but I can't just leave the merfolk down there with no help!"

Liam wraps both arms around Zayn. "I'm not leaving you here to deal with this alone.

Zayn sighs and stops swimming. "Li, I'm trying to keep you safe."

"Zee, if you're not safe, I'm not safe."

Zayn just stares at Liam, having all sorts of mixed feelings about that.

Liam reddens a bit. "I could have phrased that better."

Suddenly, something sharp and made of pure enchanted gold tears through the ship, separating Liam and Zayn, making them fall into the water and see the colossal monstrosity before them.