Blue Echo (Yuri On Ice / Victuuri Mermaid AU)

Yuri, disconnecting

Yuri swam quickly through tight corners and small passages of the nest, reaching his cluster quickly. Skipping the entrance to his cave and going straight to Leo's instead.

"Leo!" Yuri called.

He was met by a hush. A request to be quiet. A finger over lips.

Leo sat gingerly on his bed, his fingers absentmindedly running through Guang-Hong's hair. The fingerling slept soundly, body instinctively reaching for his aman — his true mate's — touch.

"You're ok," Yuri whispered as he approached, not wanting to wake the fingerling.

Leo nodded sadly, then kissed Guang-Hong's forehead, before covering his body with more algae and swimming out of the room with Yuri following him.

"Yuko said Guang-Hong should be fully recovered in the next few days," Leo said.

"You fed him. Never left his side. You saved him..." Yuri felt a stray tear roll down his cheek. His thoughts with the ones that didn't make it. The five mater fingerlings that died, and Minako.

Leo shook his head. "We saved each other." The young natare moved his tail restlessly. "I feel so guilty," he lowered his voice. "Why did only Guang-Hong survive? The others had their families with them. What was the difference?"

Yuri touched the locket around his neck. "You're his aman," he whispered.

"That shouldn't matter." Leo's voice broke and Yuri agreed. It shouldn't matter. But somehow it did.

They sat on the common area of the cave. "You're parents..." Yuri queried, noticing the empty half of the cave.

Leo didn't take his eyes off the room where Guang-Hong was. "They were called to the emergency elders meeting. There's been rumors... that things are going to change."

"Five maters died." Yuri bit his lip.

"How many are there left now?"

"Only three unmated. Four if we include Guang-Hong."

"He's mine," Leo snapped. There wasn't animosity in his voice, just facts.

Yuri nodded. He understood. The indescribable pull of being with your aman. Of belonging with them, of feeling possessive of them. Right now all he wanted was to be with Victor, make sure his human was well fed and healthy.

"The entire nest knows we're each other's aman." Leo continued. "It's not our fault we realize it just after last year's mater assembly."

The mater assembly... Yuri had almost forgotten... "They'll likely push up the assembly date now," he said deadpan. The assembly happened once every two years. It was when unpaired maters could choose their mate or if their time was up, get one chosen for them.

"It's your last assembly isn't it?" Leo asked, like he knew what Yuri was thinking. Everyone in the nest knew. Yuri was considered too old to be an unmated mater. He had gotten away with it so far because he was an orphan, and because group B had given the nest hope that the lack of maters in the nest would be a thing of the past. Now that the group was gone. There was just so much leniency the nest would allow. If any.

Yuri felt the dark bubble rise within him again, along with the bitter cold across his skin. He was never going to be allowed to leave was he? He was never going to see Victor again. He told Victor he would come back, Victor said he would wait.

How many times had he heard Victor's stomach rumble with need. How many times did he bring food to the human? How long would Victor survive without him?