Yuri is a natare. A mermaid. He knows how to follow the rules that keep his kind safe. So why does a human dancer named Victor makes him feel like breaking all of them?
Yuri detached himself from what was happening as the humans struggled in the water. Yet he didn't feel anything, not really, just a sort of shame that they looked so much like him and yet weren't able to survive through a level one submersion.
Once or twice the thought to intervene crossed his mind. It was a flicker of guilt inside him, to watch them die while he did nothing, but he couldn't do it. Saving humans... That was absolutely forbidden. The punishment for it would not only be unpleasant, it would be final.
Once the vessel had sank. Once the cries had died out. Yuri broke the surface again, glancing around the debris left behind. He needed to count the items for the recovery team. Most of these things would end up sinking and could potentially harm the life below. As a monitor he had to try and remember as much of the items as possible and note anything harmful or useful to his kind.
Chairs, tables, plastic, all things he'd seen before in the storage caves. Things that needed to be cleaned. A few small human trinkets caught his eye here and there, those would be left to the expertise of the minute-objects team. The last thing Yuri took note of was a dozen or so floating jackets that the humans had been unable to utilize because the ship sank so quickly. These he needed to collect and sort together as a group for retrieval.
Yuri tied the fifth of the jackets to form a group and swam for number six when he stopped short his swim. A human was wearing the sixth one. He hadn't noticed in the dark. The human wasn't moving though, so it had likely already succumbed to the event. Yuri sank a little under the water, his eyes still above. He really didn't want to do what he had to do next. It was part of his job that if he found lifeless humans that hadn't vanished beneath the water, to make sure they did. That meant removing the life jacket from the human so it could sink.
Yuri took a deep breath and swam forward, leaving the group of jackets he had already collected behind. He gently grabbed the life jacket attached to the human and pulled it towards him. Strands of silver hair fell on his hand. Yuri let go as if bitten.
He sank down the water hastily and swam a few feet below. His heart beating loudly, his hand still feeling the strands across it. Why had he ran away? This was part of his job and responsibility. This was the first time a ship had sunk in his area. Some monitors spent their entire careers without any events. This was probably his only chance to show everyone he could do a good job as a monitor. Besides, the human was already gone. It would only take a few seconds to do what he had to do, then he could forget about everything.
Yuri took another deep breath and broke the surface again. Just don't think, he told himself as he swam closer to the floating body. Don't remember.
The jacket felt heavy when he pulled on it again. He lingered in front of the human, concentrating on the straps keeping him in the jacket. Yuri searched for a way to unbuckle them.
"Are you the rescue?"
Yuri froze.
He could hear everything. The slosh of the water. His heart in his ear. The human's shallow breathing. Why hadn't he heard it before? Had he been too distracted? Had he been—
"I don't remember you." The human's voice was barely a whisper, his eyes struggling to stay open. "Are you from the crew?"
Yuri just stared. He'd learned different human languages during his monitor training, but had never practiced it so he just shook his head.
"You don't have a life jacket? Stay close to me then." The human moved, and the strap Yuri had started unbuckling came off, making the human sink under for a second. The human quickly rose back up, his breathing broken, he coughed. "Do you see another life jacket? I don't think this one will hold us both."
Yuri tried vocalizing some words, the weak noise coming from his mouth something undecipherable. The human suddenly reached for him, fingers against Yuri's cheek. "It's ok, you can keep mine. I don't think I'm going to make it anyways." The human's fingers were warmer than anything Yuri had felt before. "Just do me a favor. There's a necklace around my neck. Take it."
Yuri held his breath while his fingers ran along the human's neck, finding the thin string of metal. The chain was long and it was easy to remove it from the man's neck and put it on around his own.
"If you survive, take that to my family."
"I will." Yuri found himself saying. His unused voice raspy and hesitant. He wasn't even sure he had said the right thing, they were his first human words after all.
The human smiled, his eyes closed again. Yuri unstrapped the final buckle and slowly watched him slip off of it. His head bobbing only once before sinking under the water.
Yuri forgot how to breathe. He couldn't save humans. He would be punished. He could be killed. It was better this way. Only a few more moments and the human's suffering would end. He would become part of the ocean. The world would never see him dance again. Yuri would never see him dance again.
Yuri took in a sharp breath. He would only be punished if they found out right?
Without thinking he submerged quickly, using his entire strength to swim quickly towards the drowning male. Grabbing his waist and pushing him up until they broke the surface again.
Yuri took a few seconds to catch his breath. His eyes never leaving the human's face. He had just saved a human. He'd just done something he could be killed for. So why wasn't he more frightened?
The silver haired male took in shallow breaths. His head resting on Yuri's shoulder. He was still in danger. Humans were not designed to survive in the water.
Yuri looked around at the remains of the sinking ship. Taking note of as much as he could see. This would have to be enough for his report.
He looked up at the moon and the stars, noting his position, and where he had to go.
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