Of Fins and Feathers

Icy Weather

    It had been a few days since the encounter with Aimee, and Tommy had a couple minutes to breathe, but he did have a couple of wonders about her.

    Seeing as Snowchester is a small empire that divided itself from the Antarctic Empire long ago, many of the citizens happened to be avian, however, he did not see any wings to adorn Aimee's back, is she some other hybrid?

    While it is possible for her to be a different sort of hybrid, it is very unlikely that she is simply a human, but, perhaps she was a member of another Empire before joining Snowchester, which would allow her to be human, but that would raise even more questions.

    Tommy lifted his pen from the document he was working on and let out a big sigh, he definitely needed some air, or he could possibly just suffocate right then and there.

    He stood up, streched his lanky legs, and walked over to his office door, slowly and quietly opening it.

    The hallway outside of his office was silent, other than the occasional flicker of a flame, at night the castle lit up lanterns instead of burning the Redstone lamps they used during the day.

    There's something peaceful about walking through the castle halls at night, when through the day the halls are bustling with servants, guests and nobles galore, at night, there is a silent chill and a calm stillness that overflows from the walls.

    As Tommy finally made it to the gardens, he could feel the freezing air that basically scalded him as he walked outside, he shriveled up slightly, trying to protect himself from the icy air.

    He really should have brought a coat.

     He slowly walked through the gardens taking in every smell that met him, he closed his eyes and just let himself take it in for a moment.

    When he opened them, he had made it to the pool-house.

    Tommy stared for a moment, wondering how he got here so quickly without looking where he was going.

    He opened the door, once again accepting the soft smell of flowers, this time accompanied by water.

    He circled the large pool contemplating something, he wasn't sure what he was contemplating, but it felt like something he needed to do.

     After a minute, he took off his slippers, put them to the side, and sat on the side of the pool, his feet slipping into the water, it was chilly and in need of warmth, but he could live with it.

    He waded his feet in the water, letting it slosh around, with the vibration of the water making rings puddle through.

    He sighed as his body slowly got used to the temperature of the water, then he turned his attention to the center of the pool.

     It was a deep blue, due to the fact that the water went tremendously deep, and the fact that the tile was blue to give the allusion of being an ocean or large riverbed.

    A drop fell into the water.

    As he saw this, he looked up to see if it was raining and there was a leak in the glass above him, but there wasn't.

    His eybrow lifted as he hummed in confusion.

    Until another one splashed in the water.

    He lifted a hand to his cheeks, feeling wet tears falling down them, he was crying.

     Why was he crying?

     He didn't feel sad, and frankly enough, he feels at peace.

    His eyebrows raise as he stares intently at the drops still falling in the water, logically he shouldn't be crying, nothing was wrong.

    He swishes his feet around in the water, messing up the sight of the droplets rippling in the water.

    Gods he's such a fuck up isn't he?

    His eyebrows furrowed and he bit the inside of his cheek, feeling the sting a little comforting.

    He couldn't even be a misfit correctly, had to go and mess it up, he was basically betraying his family and empire by enjoying the mers company like he was.

     He was just a fucking scaley, not even a real human.

    He rubbed his arm over his face, trying to push away the tears that were manifesting like a waterfall.

     And he couldn't even do that right, he can't even turn into a fucking fish tailed freak, he sits like a plain human, not avian like his family, not mer like his genes.

     Nothing ever was really expected of him anyways, being the youngest, his people wouldn't want him crowned, and now they definitely wouldn't, he's basically a last resort for his bloodline, but if they heard of him being one of the merfolk, they'd probably want him cut in filets and seared on a grill.

     A disgrace.

     His eyes were blurry with tears, and his chest was tight in something similar to grievance, almost as if he was grieving himself.

     It was getting harder to breathe, and he started hyperventilating, his throat surged in pain unlike anything he's ever experienced.

    His heart was beating far fast than it ever had the need to do.

     He leaned forward, panicked, he shoved his face in his hands, if a night guard saw him, they'd pity him and probably tell his brothers.

     He didn't want to be shoved in someones nest and be treated like he couldn't handle himself.

     He heard the sounds of footsteps, and did the first thing his brain could think of.

     He dove.

     Deep, deep into the water, deeper than anyone without gills should go.

    And it was fine, he couldn't feel the tears running down his face, they instead melded with the water, and it was almost relief that washed over him.

    Until his chest started tightening, and it sent him writhing in pain, he needed air, oh so badly.

    He started to try and swim up to the surface of the water, but he swam to deep before, he wouldn't make it in time.

     He could almost picture it, the young imperial prince, died before even gaining his wings, to drowning of all things.

    His mother would wonder how her merfolk son died to drowning.

    Dark, colorless, splotches start convering his vision.

    Hell, even he doesn't know at this point.

   Such a screw up.

   His vision faded into black.

    It felt like a star exploding among his brethren.