Just An Ocean Apart

What Am I Doing in a Place Like This?

    "You look surprisingly happy Sherlock." Mycroft commented as they sat at their dining room table. It wasn't a feast and they didn't have guests, so the large table was occupied only by Mycroft, Mrs. Holmes, and Sherlock. Mrs. Holmes was an older mermaid with sweeping blonde hair tied back with multiple pearls and shells, wrinkles lining her saddened face. She sat in her chair and watched as the servants brought over the usual feast, lobster, fish, crab, all sorts of underwater delicacies that Sherlock almost considered as cannibalism.
"I'm...well...thinking." Sherlock admitted, staring at his plate and thinking when he should make his night raid. Probably tonight, he didn't know when they were planning on leaving and he should most certainly act before they started off.
"Thinking about what?" Mycroft asked curiously. Sherlock looked up at his brother and scowled.
"Stuff." He snapped. Mycroft sighed, his stupid pearl and emerald crown glinting in the underwater light. But of course he couldn't be upset for long as the servants placed platter upon platter of food in front of him, Mycroft loved food more than he loved his own brother. Except all he did to the food was eat it, give it a quick death. For some reason he wanted to draw out Sherlock's long and painful, make sure he suffered plenty before the end.
"You're not thinking about that human boy, are you?" Mrs. Holmes asked. Sherlock just sighed, poking at his salmon and not really wanting to talk about it.
"Maybe I am, I can think about him, can't I? Or do you want to erase my memory as well?" Sherlock snapped.
"We're not going to erase your memory, although it would be a lot more convenient if we did." Mycroft sighed. Sherlock made a loud noise of annoyance and continued to pick at his food, not feeling much like eating with the anger boiling in his stomach.
"I'm sick of you whining about this boy, honestly Sherlock I was able to get over the death of your father, be thankful that your love is still alive." Mrs. Holmes snapped. Sherlock groaned again, here we go, playing the guilt trip card.
"Do you know anything of this ship that has docked above us?" Mycroft asked. Sherlock just stared at him in annoyance, as if trying to make him answer his own question. But Mycroft just stared at him with that annoying face, when he tried to act as if he didn't know anything when in fact he knew everything.
"How could I possibly know what's going on with that ship? I've been under the watch of my spy for the past year." Sherlock snapped.
"Victor is not a spy, he's a body guard." Mycroft insisted.
"What exactly am I in danger of?" Sherlock snapped.
"Yourself." Mycroft pointed out. Sherlock just groaned, but honestly he couldn't argue much with that. so he just rolled his eyes to show that he was done talking and went back to pretending to eat his fish.
"The ship has people frightened, they're afraid the humans might discover our presence." Mycroft went on.
"Assure them that everything is fine, that the ship will do us no harm." Mrs. Holmes assured, peeling the crab meat from the shell with her long painted fingernails.
"What if they're fishermen? What if they will kill us?" Mycroft pointed out. Sherlock couldn't help but chuckle, obviously Victor had been worried about that as well.
"Sherlock what's so funny?" Mrs. Holmes wondered as soon as Sherlock so much as cracked a smile.
"Nothing's funny, I wasn't laughing." Sherlock lied.
"You think this is a joke? That fisherman are a joke? Your brother sits on your father's throne because of those evil nets, your father's remains are spread across the ocean floor and trapped in fishermen's ice tubs, and you seem to think this is some sort of joke." She snapped.
"I wasn't laughing, I don't think father's death is funny, don't accuse me of something so horrible!" Sherlock exclaimed, feeling the need to flip a platter to show his annoyance. This day seemed to be getting worse and worse. As the night went on, Sherlock was able to finally pace freely in his bedroom, wandering around and thinking about what he could possibly do to stop John from marrying someone other than him. The destruction was a good idea of course, but he couldn't think of how he could take a whole human ship down himself, all he had were a couple of rocks and coral, and they wouldn't stand a chance against the wooden hull. So what could he do? He couldn't talk to John of course, and even if he did John would think he was insane. There was no way he was going to be able to brew a potion and talk to John as a human, and he couldn't reveal himself as a merman, so what to do? Sherlock groaned, tapping his fingers against his tail and thinking....thinking. John couldn't get married, it simply couldn't happen and he was the only merman that was able to stop it, only he and Victor knew anyway. Victor! That idiot could be manipulated again, he could help! With those stupid muscles and the need to show off he would most certainly do a lot of damage to the ship, he would be a very good helper, and if it all went south and Mycroft caught them, it would only be too easy to make the whole thing out to be his plan. But how could Sherlock convince him? Even though he was obviously a complete idiot he still had loyalty to the king, and there was no way Sherlock was going to kiss him or something disgusting like that, no, John was the only one deserving of his lips. Sherlock sighed heavily, but he saw no other option. If he was going to stop John from setting sail, he would need someone else, he couldn't do this alone. So he swam out of his bedroom and out of the castle, trying to think of where he might find Victor. Mycroft would know where his house was, but it would be too suspicious to ask Mycroft, especially since Sherlock spent all of his time trying to avoid him. The only reason Victor wasn't stalking him at the moment was because Sherlock wasn't supposed to be out of the castle walls. Ever since his adventures on land, Mycroft had put him on a curfew, he couldn't leave after dinner. Of course that wasn't going to stop Sherlock, he wasn't the easily contained and there had been times where he had too easily snuck out just to lay on his coral and watch the sunset through the waves. It never looked like it did on land though, it wasn't nearly as breathtaking. There were merpeople swimming around town, mostly out to dinner at this hour, along the muddy roads, window shopping the best they could now that most stores were closed, taking their significant others to dinner or taking their children to get ice cream or just floating down the streets to get some exercise. Sherlock swam around, thinking that Victor probably didn't spend his days cooped up in his house, no, someone with such a big ego will be wandering around town, trying to attract as many mermaids as he could before pushing them all away and flirting with the bloody prince. Sherlock groaned, he really did hate that man. So he swam into the local pub, not old enough to drink but no one took any notice, they were all too busy sitting on their little stools and drinking whatever it was they were drinking, flirting with each other, kissing in the darkened corners, or eating at the booths. Pubs really were a disturbing place; even if Sherlock could drink he certainly wouldn't want to. Alcohol does things to people, makes them complete morons, and Sherlock didn't want to end up like them. The pub was lightly lit, with the bar stretching around the perimeter, mermaids pouring and mixing drinks and handing them out to annoyingly flirtatious mermen, it was disgusting. But, as guessed, Sherlock saw the golden tail of Victor Trevor gleaming in the light, sitting on a stool and sipping his drink and chatting to two mermaids, who were on either side. Of course they probably fancied him, they were sitting very close and occasionally would put their hand on his muscular bare shoulder, but he shook them off with a laugh and continued his conversation.
"Victor, can I have a word?" Sherlock muttered, trying to be as discrete as possible. But of course there was no such thing as discrete when Victor was involved, and his face broke into a pearly white smile, stretching from ear to ear.
"Sherlock Holmes, what a pleasure!" he exclaimed, wobbling a little bit as he turned to face Sherlock. Oh god, he was drunk.
"Ooh, the prince, I've never seen you before." said one of the mermaids with a pink tail and matching shell bra, her long golden hair draping over her shoulders with shells tied in with pieces of kelp. She was eyeing him up and down, but Sherlock managed to scowl the best he could, focusing his attention on Victor.
"A word? Please?" Sherlock muttered, getting very annoyed with Victor already. Victor just smiled, as if this was one of his biggest accomplishments.
"Anything for you Sherlock." He agreed, but didn't seem to want to move. Sherlock groaned, trying his best to fight the urge to smash a bottle over this idiot's perfectly combed brown hair.
"In private, if you don't mind." He muttered. Victor's face lit up even more, if that was even possible, and slid off of his chair. Obviously he was expecting this to be more than a little chat, and Sherlock really couldn't wait to see the disappointment on his face.
"Oh Victor, you'll come back won't you?" muttered the mermaids in disappointment, pulling their hair onto one shoulder and pretending to be extremely lonely. Victor just smiled at them, but nodded.
"Of course I will, keep my seat warm, this will only take a moment." he assured, waving at them before swimming after Sherlock's retreating tail. Sherlock swam through the doors and to a little alley in the back, where they couldn't be overheard. Victor was following obediently, looking very proud of himself, if not a little bit dizzy.
"What's this all about, your majesty? My shift is over, unless you just missed me." Victor muttered. Sherlock sighed heavily, observing the graffiti on the walls as he thought of what to say. Victor floated there patiently, staring at Sherlock's face and making it very obvious that his blue eyes were gazing at Sherlock's lips.
"I um, you know that John's supposed to get married, right? You were there." Sherlock muttered. Victor's face fell, and it was every bit as satisfying as Sherlock had hoped.
"Well, yes, but we don't have to think about John now, not when we're finally alone." He muttered, swimming a little bit closer and causing Sherlock to swim hastily away.
"We're always alone Victor, I hate merpeople, you know that. And you're a merperson, so I hate you as well, stay away from me. I'm here to ask a favor, not to break my loyalty to John." Sherlock snapped.
"John seems pretty keen on breaking his loyalty to you." Victor pointed out, but he stayed where he was, thankfully.
"He doesn't know what he's doing, now shut up and listen to me. I can't think of any other plan, so here it is. I want to destroy the ship, smash holes in it, flood it with water, make them take it away for repairs. Then John would be delayed just long enough for me to think up a better plan." Sherlock decided.
"If we destroy the ship they'll get suspicious, they might come looking down here for whoever did it." Victor pointed out. Sherlock was just happy he wasn't laughing at him; it was a truly awful plan after all.
"They won't think a merperson did it, they'll suspect their own crew, it doesn't matter what they think, as long as they can't set sail. I can't let John leave me; I can't let him love someone else." Sherlock insisted, leaning against the wall and staring at a large mural of an octopus playing four guitars on the opposite wall. Oh, the way merpeople spend their time would always amaze him.
"Sherlock, I know we're both thinking it, so I'm just going to say it..." Victor started.
"No, I don't love you, now shut up." Sherlock snapped. Victor sighed heavily, bubbles streaming out of his mouth.
"I was going to say that this is a horrible plan, and I don't think there's any way two mermen could stop what fate has planned." Victor corrected. Sherlock stared at him in annoyance, but realized what he just said.
"Does that mean you'll help me?" Sherlock asked with a hopeful smile. Victor sighed heavily, looking around to make sure no one was watching, but nodded.
"Of course I'll help you, it's kind of my job." he agreed.
"Don't tell Mycroft." Sherlock added, just in case this idiot went blabbing.
"I won't tell Mycroft, what do you think I am, an idiot?" he asked. Sherlock just smiled guiltily, not wanting to answer the question in case he lost the only help he had.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go destroy a ship or something." Sherlock suggested, staring to swim away when Victor grabbed his arm, pulling him back. Sherlock screamed a little bit, smacking Victor with his tail and wiggling away from his grip.
"Don't you dare touch me!" he exclaimed, retreating as far away as he could from Victor without smelling the horrible stench of the garbage cans.
"I'm not..." Victor sighed, obviously not feeling like defending himself. "We can't go now, the town is buzzing with people, someone'll see us, we have to go at night, when they're all asleep." Sherlock sighed, slanting his eyes suspiciously but nodding.
"Good idea." He muttered. Victor just sighed, looking as if he were rather annoyed by Sherlock's conservativeness.
"I wouldn't do that, you know. I know you don't like me; I respect your devotion to John. I wouldn't take advantage of you in anyway." He assured, the first time Sherlock had seen him look rather uncomfortable. Sherlock just stared at him in confusion, but nodded slowly. That made him feel just a little bit better.
"Alright. Thank you." He muttered. "Did you want to go back in the pub until we have to go? Those mermaids seemed pretty anxious for you to come back." Victor just laughed, shaking his head as if that were a preposterous thing to suggest.
"Of course I'm not going back, they were pests, I just wanted to have a drink and a conversation. If I come back I'll lead them on to much, I'll just wait with you." Victor assured. Sherlock nodded, looking around as if wondering if there was a better place to hide. They couldn't go to his coral, if Mycroft noticed his absence it would be the first place he would look.
"I guess we can just wait here, right? No one's going to come looking for the prince in an alleyway behind a pub." Sherlock decided, sliding to the ground and flopping his tail in the gravel road.
"No, I suppose not." Victor agreed, but he didn't make any move to sit. Sherlock sighed, letting his head fall back to the wall and staring up at the sky above them, it looked so far away and yet he knew he would be there soon. Except it wasn't going to be the same. The idea of going to the surface was glamorous in itself, with all the natural beauties it provided, but it wouldn't feel right if John wasn't there. He needed to go to shore to prevent John from leaving him forever, this wasn't a vacation, no, it was a mission, a desperate pathetic attempt to make sure John didn't leave him. To make sure he waited for Sherlock to return, even if he didn't know what he was waiting for. Soon he will realize that Sherlock is his only love, soon he would somehow break the spell and he would remember everything. Except, soon could be forever. Soon could also be never.