Blue Echo (Yuri On Ice / Victuuri Mermaid AU)

Yuri, out of place

The sleeping caverns were in full commotion by the time Takeshi arrived. Yuko was yelling directions at their daughters, and the three small fry were doing their best swimming from cave to cave delivering supplies and doing what their mother requested.

The sleeping caverns was a network of caves, both connected and separate, where the entire nest resided. The elders and their families resided in the largest caves above, while the rest of the nest lived in cluster caves of three to four families. Yuri's cluster included himself, and Takeshi and Leo's families. The first set of caves had no assigned families to them, they were just open to anyone for any reason or to take care of ill natare, like today.

There were five natare in group B. The four fingerlings that had been officially branded as mater's, and their exposure chief, Minako. Each of them rested in a bed of algae, their cries filling the cavern while Yuko, a nursing natare, tried tending to all of them at the same time.

"Yuko!" Takeshi reached his aman as she was giving a red-haired female natare an anti-toxin. She glanced at him over her shoulder, her eyes reflecting her delight in seeing him, but never missing a beat while she treated the ill group.

Yuri swam quietly further inside the cave, he had seen this type of illness before. Contact poisoning. Something invisible and colorless in the water until you came into contact with it. That the whole group had been affected meant the poison area had been wide and many more creatures would be affected by it, not just natare.

In the last algae bed near the back of the cavern Leo laid down, his arms wrapped around his aman, Guang-Hong. Yuri swam to them, he really was just in the way by being here, but Leo was part of his cluster, he wanted to check on him.

Guan-Hong took shaky breaths, his petite body pale and clammy, but unlike the other ill natare, Guang-Hong was quiet. Leo held Guang-Hong close, fingers gently rubbing the petite natare's skin. Only Leo could ease Guang-Hong's pain like this as his aman, as his bonded pair. Yuri had seen it before, in memories he barely recalled when his mother was sick and his father never left her side. When Yuko was having the triplets and Takeshi clung to her.

Leo placed a kiss on the back of Guang-Hong's neck. It was rare to bond so young, to bond even before coming of age. They had been inseparable from the moment they met and had bonded even before Guang-Hong had been branded as a mater. Their bonding story only theirs to tell.

The petite natare opened his eyes, and looked around for a moment, like he was searching. "I'm here," Leo whispered in his ear. Guang-Hong turned his head until his eyes met Leo's, his lips turning upwards into a soft smile and Leo embraced his aman tighter.

Yuri tried not to let the jealousy hit him, it made him feel wrong, it made him feel sad, it made him think of Victor.

"Yuri," Yuko placed a hand on Yuri's shoulder. "You shouldn't be here. Takeshi went to get the families of the others, their presence will help even if they have no amans, this place is about to get too crowded, Takeshi asked me to tell you to wait in the monitor cavern."

Yuri nodded. There was nothing he could do here but take up space. "Call for me if I can help," he still offered with a weak smile then left.

The cries of the ill natare could still be heard as Yuri exited the sleeping caverns and entered the tunnel that led to the monitor cavern. The tunnel was wide enough for two of three natare, but it was always a tight fit so Yuri was forced to slow as he spotted the blond fingerling resting at the halfway point between the two caverns. It was strange to be just doing nothing in the middle of a tunnel, but Yuri tried not to think too much about what went through the heads of fingerlings. The blond natare's eyes followed Yuri as he swam by. "Humans destroy everything," he said loudly. "Don't you agree?"