Cross My Heart

Chapter One

Curiosity coursed through his veins as he watched the human from far below the surface. The way the human's body cut through the water was always jarring to see and he wondered how they could do that with the way their body was designed. It was clear that their flailing limbs didn't have the same dexterity that merfolks' tails had when moving through the water.

Swimming up from his spot in the coral that he was hiding in, he continued to watch the human as they swam through the surface of the water. The fish nearby darted away, not interested in becoming his next bite size snack.

He watched from afar for most of the afternoon, seeing the bright sun slowly pass over the surface of the water, fascinated with this particular human. Lotor was used to seeing the many sizes that humans came in as they spent parts of the day swimming in the area near land. It was a vast contrast to what merfolks could come in. While their body frame were slender, making getting into smaller or even narrow places easier, they could also pack on a lot muscle if they joined in the hunts often for food that the rest of the community needed. Still seeing the human he watched have the similar frame to those of the younger mermaids or mermans gave him enough intrigue to stay put.

He was not interested to get back to his home where he would be given some form of work to keep him busy. A prince can never rest, even if it was well deserved.

As the hours went by, Lotor could feel the tides pulling out from shore. He could also see the human's body start to tire out. As the tides continued to pull out, the human seemed to be dragged out with it and the odd looking limbs started to flail just a bit. Swimming closer, Lotor brushed up against where the tail would be if they were a mermaid.

He could feel the panic that the human gave off as they tried to keep above the water, their limbs moving frantically once more. He could also hear an odd sound above the surface, piqued his curiosity even more. Lotor brushed up against their odd limbs once more before breaking the surface. The air that he took in instead of water stung his gills and lungs.

The feeling of air rushing to his lungs was uncomfortable at best and at worst might possibly kill him if he didn't go back under the water soon. As he struggled to keep himself from coughing at how dry the air was against his gills, Lotor felt the something pressing against his body. Annoyed at the situation he found himself in, he considered using his claws to scare off whatever creature was brave enough to come close to him during such a tense moment.

"Hey don't use those against me when you've already scared me! I have a family to get back to and I would like to do so without any claw marks." Came a stern voice as he moved to strike his claws.

Lotor paused for a moment with his hands and claws poised in the dry air. Turning his upper body towards the human, Lotor saw that they were clinging to his torso and giving him a look that made him drop his hands back into the water.

It wasn't usually in his nature to notice the beauty of other merfolk nor the creatures surrounding him. It was taught that beauty usually meant danger for him as the prince of the Galra territory. Many wanted to murder him for what his father had done or to keep the line of succession of the Galra royalty from continuing and would do so in a number of ways that would first catch his attention. But in this moment Lotor couldn't help himself admiring the beauty of this human.

The short strands of their hair was wet with sea water which made it cling to their head and the nape of their neck. The colour of their hair was also a dark brown that was a rarity to see from his own people, flaring every kind of colour with pride. Those who had the same colour of brown that this human had would be regarded highly by the general populace.

The skin was also different from what Lotor was used to seeing with several areas of the body being various shades of light brown. There was also small spots that were spread out all over their body, giving them a unique appearance to him.