Blue

Chapter Two

Blue was down in the observation center the minute the sun was up. It didn't matter if the lights were out if the sun was up.

Finn wasn't in sight when he got there early that morning. Blue had no clue how he did that, it was almost chameleon-like what he did, blending in.

Yes– they had captured Finn, it was the ugly truth, but he wasn't kept in just a glass box like some kind of toy. Like the rock he had been lying on yesterday, they had added to said glass box natural elements like sand and rocks and plants. There were holes in the glass too, so fish would come and go.

It wasn't a whole lot better and it bordered on inhumane since Finn seemed self aware unlike a goldfish, but he didn't seem unhappy. He wasn't throwing himself against the glass or sending himself into panic, he was almost deceptively calm.

It reminded Blue that while Finn was beautiful, those were teeth-like fangs, he didn't deceive himself into believing they were just a trick of the light. Finn was beautiful, but they had no clue of his strength.

Blue wondered silently if maybe they were only researching Finn because he was letting them.

Blue was sitting on the ground watching a school of marlin fish swim around close to the ground, having not said anything yet, for all he knew Finn was asleep somewhere behind a rock, when he heard a strange sound, it started so faint Blue wasn't sure if he made it up at first.

It started at first as two long drawn out notes, the second dropping slightly in tone before a few seconds would pass and it would start again, the two notes over again like a record.

Then, a new melody came in, random notes like a child who had just gotten their hands on a piano, before the notes started to blend into one another like a song with a random melody.

It was louder now and Blue perked up, looking around the water with new interest before he saw a cloud of sand kicked up as Finn suddenly swam up from the ground to become visible to Blue, seeming to float through the water lazily as he glided closer.

If Finn was able to hear his heartbeat yesterday, the way it sped up in his chest, with nothing but his own two ears, Blue knew he could hear whatever the sound was around them.

With a motion so eerily human, Finn brought a hand up to point a finger at his own ear, looking at Blue with a look so clearly asking 'What is that?'

Though he could tell Finn knew exactly what it was, he asked Blue the question like he would to a dog, like the answer was so obvious but went right over Blue's head.

He smirked again– those sharp teeth flashing again– before he opened his mouth, bubbles releasing again, but this time he actually made sound, not words, but those same notes which were coming from around them.

They were long and eerie, with no real tone or volume, no way to distinguish a voice, but it was like a music box, like drawn out sounds of a bell which seemed to echo through the water.

Abruptly, the noise around them ceased, the last of the notes falling away. Finn spun in the water, his tail glistening and shining in the natural sunlight, he swam in front of Blue like he was preening like a peacock, showing himself and his talents off.

It was becoming increasingly obvious that Finn was arrogant by human standards. Everything he did he seemed to know was fascinating, but Blue couldn't call him arrogant if he had a right to be. And who knows? Maybe Finn was only average by Merman standards, if there was such a thing.

"Were those..." Blue trailed off. He had never heard a noise like that from any creature under the sea, nothing came close, so seeing Finn make those sounds himself, did it really mean there were more of... him? And they were so close?