Mermen in Melbourne

The Mistake

Austin grimaced down at his black spike covered tail, not willing to admit how scared he actually was. Tonight was his first night alone in the deep ocean. Tonight was his first night as a Nightcrawler.

"You will be fine," Tanner encouraged.

"Will I though?" Austin said.

"Of course you will. You are way better than me at like, everything regarding this shit and I have been here my whole life."

"That's exactly what I mean. I've been here a whopping two days and I'm expected to just get out there, good luck. It's stupid," Austin grumbled.

"Okay. Complain if you want to, but I know Tauruses who have basically got into water and immediately started hunting," Tanner said, ruffling Austin's hair. "Just remember, manipulative liars are going to share these waters with you."

"What? Manipulative- why didn't you tell me this before?" Austin asked. Tanner just smiled.

"You'll do fine."

And that's how Austin found himself swimming alone in pitch black ocean. "Damn. Didn't think it would be this dark," he said to no one in particular. "I should've asked Tanner how long I'd have to be here." Austin moved his hands around, trying to feel around for something, anything. "How the hell am I supposed to find anything? It's darker than Hot Topic in here," he muttered.

With a sigh, he set his arms down by his sides. He'd told Tanner that he wasn't ready. Tanner didn't listen, of course. Austin ran a hand through his hair. To be fair, Tanner had grown up doing this- perhaps he never knew what it was like to hunt alone for the first time. Perhaps he always had someone there, guiding him along.

Austin became resolute, at that point. He wasn't going to kill anyone, not tonight. Not when he couldn't see his hand in front of his face, couldn't swim in a straight line, couldn't hear another person for what seemed like miles. He sat down somewhere on the ocean floor.

And there he sat, for over an hour, staring into black space and thinking. Thinking about how wild this has all become. Thinking.

"Hey. You lost?" a voice with a clear American accent called. Austin jerked his head up, scanning his eyes across the water. It only just occurred to him that there's a chance of not only him killing, but also him being killed. "Don't wanna hurt you or anything, just wondering if you need any help," the voice said. Austin narrowed his eyes. The guy was speaking with contractions.

"Uh, this is kinda my territory, so it'd be cool if you back off. I guess," Austin said, trying to sound as tough as he could while screaming internally.

"Yeah, I get you. You just look a little... stranded, I guess. You need a light?" the voice asked. Austin weighed his options.

"Uh, that'd be cool, yeah."

A flashlight went on, illuminating the guy's face. He had slicked brown hair, and tattoos covered his arms. The way he held the flashlight, under his chin, made the whole thing rather eerie. "Hey. I'm Seth, by the way. I know you might have been wondering."

"Okay, but how are you using a flashlight underwater? That doesn't even make sense." Austin was growing more confused, as well as more freaked out, by the second.

"You're new here, aren't you? I bought a waterproof one up top, and it works pretty great. I do need to restock on batteries soon, but you know how that is," Seth said.

"Wait. Up top? You've been up top?"

"Yeah, I have. So have you," Seth said, grinning.

"How did you kn-"

"The contractions. The fact that you didn't question what batteries are. The way you look so lost. You're a Scorpio, right?" Seth said.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Well, I'm a Taurus, and I've met other Scorpios in your shoes. Lemme guess- you want to return home, but your Teach is saying that you can't," Seth said. When Austin's eyebrows lowered, Seth nodded. "You're not the first to be lied to. There is a cure, and my Teach has known about it for quite the while. If you join, we could make it so you can go back home whenever you want," Seth said.

"Oh," Austin murmured.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure they're lying to me? I mean, they seem pretty trustworthy and-"

"Is your Teach lead by a Virgo with a nearly shaved head, and has two bickering Capricorns that won't shut up?" Seth asked.

"Russell, Isaac, and Trent... Well, the one left, but. How did you know that?" Austin asked back.

"I've been screwed over by them at least four times. I don't quite know why, but they seem to have a thing against my Teach. It's only Matt, Blake, Gavin, and I, so I we're kinda small. Easy targets, I guess," Seth shrugged, and Austin sighed.

"Do you really think they're lying to me? I dunno why, but I, like, trusted them," Austin stuttered out.

"I get it. But I know them well enough to know that they won't stop until they're powerful enough to take down most of the Teaches around. C'mon, there's a boulder over there. We could sit down and talk a little, if you want."

So they sat. Austin listened to Seth's stories of his Teach, and Seth happily listened to Austin. Austin learned that Seth's Teach was made up by two Sagittariuses, Matt and Blake, a Gemini, Gavin, and him, a Taurus. Gavin was sort of their leader, like Russell was to Austin's group. Matt and Blake were stellar hunters, working with speed and sincerity instead of force and brutality. Even though he'd never met them, Austin felt like he was growing to like Seth's Teach, and sort of starting to dislike his own.

As the sun rose, Austin realised that he'd spent all night with Seth, just swapping stories of their lives both above and below the ocean. "Well, I'd better be going back. Blake doesn't like it when people are late for breakfast." Seth said, swimming off the rock that they were both sitting on. That's when Austin got a first glimpse of his tail. It was a beautiful shimmering pink, almost looking like quartz. "Oh, uh, yeah. It's um, it's pink. Not as cool as your sleek black, but, uh," Seth murmured, looking down.

"Shut up, it's super cool. Black's boring," Austin said, grinning once again.

"Whatever. See you soon, okay? Keep in touch," Seth said, swimming in the opposite direction of Austin's own Teach. That wasn't the last Austin saw from Seth Garcia- no, it was far from it.