swim with me? [klance au]

Rocks and Found

A/n: Hey guys, I'm making a slight change with the mers: to change into a human they have to be fully unsubmerged from water, not just by touching air. To turn back, they have to be fully resubmerged for at least five seconds. I'll be going back to change chapter 1 to fit that~ Hope you like these quick updates, I felt bad for not getting chapter 2 out in a week so I've been trying to really get the plot moving. Love ya 💕
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Above him, the waves were crashing on the rocks. Lance could hear the storm raging on the surface, and it helped to drown out the calls of Ulaz, Thace, and his father. The first two called with caring voices, reaching out, but his father's voice was a threat. Lance sat, huddled in the secret cove, only this time it didn't provide him laughter and smiles and warmth, only the silky kelp stroking his scales and providing him a hiding place.

The calls of his family had ended what Lance could only estimate half an hour ago was, but he stayed still anyways. What was he supposed to do? Go home and never be able to go to the surface again? His father would ground him, of that he was sure, and Ulaz and Thace would be sent back to their tribe nonetheless. Carlos was probably furious with them. Lance didn't care. Maybe he'd escape to the Marmora tribe, become a warrior and kick ass. That option was crossed off, though- as much as Ulaz and Thace loved Lance, no doubt they'd tell his mother he was with them.

Another option was hiding on shore, but that was more dangerous than Lance was ready for. The only other option that he could think of was staying with Hunk (Allura's dad would turn him in to his family on sight) but even that was a stretch- his mom would get beyond anxious and his father would only get more angry the longer he stayed away. However, there was no chance of Lance going home tonight, not with his father still drunk, so Hunk's was the best option. And hey, Hunk was good at giving advice. He'd know what to do, even if his huge heart sometimes clouded his sound judgement. Lance smiled a little as he could already hear Hunk saying, "Just swim on in and give your dad a hug and some boiled clams. He'll have no chance but to forgive you!".

Lance knew the way to Hunk's, and he'd have to do a lot of groveling for waking them up so late anyways, so he unfurled his tail from underneath him and poked out of the cove, looking around for the luminescent glows of other mers. The storm above him was loud and full of thunder, and he could already feel the fresh water soaking through his skin, clean and oxygenated.

After securing the clear coast, Lance swam out, but immediately regretted it. The currents were wild and ragged, pulling him in every direction. He was immediately thrown against the rocks and he shrieked in pain, ricocheting off before he was able to stabilize himself. He flared his sail, trying to regain balance, but he was hurled upwards, smashing off the rocks again and feeling a flash of white-hot pain down the side of his tail. He struggled desperately against the currents, flashing his luminescence spastically, trying to get someone's- anyone's- attention.

Aware that he was being carried towards shore with the ocean's giant, crashing waves, Lance scrambled for hand-holds on the rocks beneath him, but he was torn loose. Hyperventilating, he tasted his blood through his gills, but it was too dark and frantic to see the actual wound. Instead, Lance curled into a ball, retracting his sail in to protect it, and squeezed his eyes closed, arms crossed over his chest. Soon enough, the stabbing rocks transformed into sand under Lance, and his limp body was slammed into its grainy floor over and over again. The only thing he could do was continue to breath.

Lance didn't realize he was being washed ashore until he felt the pain of his tail splitting. Exhausted and struggling to hold his breath, Lance dragged himself onshore, clawing the sand with bleeding hands. "You can't be up here! You have to go back into the ocean! You're not safe!" His conscious screamed at him, but as he woozily looked back at the vicious waves, he knew that he might not even survive going back in. Disoriented and dizzy with pain, Lance dragged himself to a cluster of rocks a few meters away that stuck 4 or 5 feet out of the sand, tucking himself into a nook in their spaces, and promptly passed out.
...
"Shiro, I swear to god, this is the last day in our dorm room, and you're not even letting me sleep in? It's-" Keith squinted at his clock, "5 in the morning! On a weekend! Why am I friends with you?! I revoke our friendship, go away."