A Merman's Soul (COMPLETED)

Chapter 3

"Eat." Daniel said, tipping a few dead fish into the tank and locking it again quickly. Logan growled and backed himself into a corner. Daniel rolled his eyes. "Fine. Starve then."

"Happily." Logan growled and snapped at Daniel, making him jump. Logan laughed humourlessly as Daniel hissed at Logan and stomped back up to the deck.

Logan stared after him before growling again and snapping up the fish, not realizing how hungry he had been.

Logan looked up to see Patton clattering down the stairs, smiling a little. Logan felt another strange tug in his chest and his markings started to glow ever so slightly.

"Hi Logan." Patton said cheerily, sitting down next to Logan.

"You are happy to see me Patton?" Logan asked sceptically.

Patton rubbed the back of his neck guiltily. "Not really. I'm just a cheery person."

Logan flicked his tail. "I don't blame you for not liking me. Merfolk have quite a vicious reputation."

"Have you met Emile? Is he alright?"

"I haven't met him personally but he's a very good friend of one of the princes I work for so I have seen him once or twice."

"Princes?" Patton asked, intrigued.

"Well, yes." Logan laughed slightly. "You don't expect merpeople to run amok do you?"

"I suppose you don't. You swim rather than run, don't you?" Patton asked, giggling and hiding his face in his hands as Logan rolled his eyes.

"I walked right into that one, didn't I?" Logan realised his mistake too late. "Patton, don't you-"

"You didn't walk into anything. You did swim into the joke, though." Patton said, giggling uncontrollably.

"You, er, like to make puns I take it?"

"Yep." Patton said, grinning and still giggling. The sound sent a jolt down Logan's spine and made the blue markings on his arms glow even more.

"What do those markings represent?"

"Hm?" Logan looked down at his arms. "Oh! They, um, they just regulate my body heat. If I'm too cold, they light up and warm up my blood and if I'm too warm, they turn darker and cool down my blood."

"Oh. I didn't realise that it was cold." Patton said, looking around the brig as if expecting there to be something to show that it was cold.

"Oh, well, um, merfolk are quite different to you people." Logan said, mentally face palming at his terrible lie.

"Why does the word 'human' hurt you?"

"What?!" Logan asked, alarmed. "The, the word hu-hu... it doesn't hurt me to say it, okay?!" He finished sharply.

"Then say it." Patton said firmly, glaring at Logan.

"That, that is really unnecassary." Logan stuttered as Patton crossed his arms.

"If it's so unnecessary to say the word human, then say it."

"I, I... I don't have to do anything that you suggest if I don't want to." Logan said, crossing his arms and glaring back at Patton through the glass. Patton sighed and let the matter go.

"You have a prince in your community, do you?"

Logan nodded and flicked his tail again, nearly shooting into the side of the tank. "Two actually. Remus and Roman. Next year, Roman will become king." Logan smiled slightly. "It'll be a shame I won't get to see it."

"What do you mean?"

Logan smiled bitterly. "I imagine that after your captain has ripped my scales and tears from me, I'll be of no further use to him and he'll kill me and send me to some freak show to be gawped at by the public."

"No, Captain wouldn't-" But then Patton stopped. Janus was greedy, there is nothing he wouldn't do for money.

"See, you can't deny the facts." Logan said, flipping onto his back to reach out and touch the locked lid of his prison. "I'm a dead man. It's only a matter of time."

Patton looked down sadly before shaking his head and standing up.

"I know what you're doing. You-You-You're spinning me all these tales, telling lies to me to make me feel sympathy for you. Well, it won't work." Patton hissed acidly, narrowing his eyes at the startled merman. "You're just a beast. A-A monster! And you deserve to be locked up. The less there are of you in the ocean, the better."

Then, Patton stormed away before the guilt of what he had just said could consume him.

"Pat? Pat?! Patton?!"

Patton looked over to Virgil, lying in the hammock next to him. "Oh, sorry Virgil. What's up kiddo?"

"Why don't you answer that yourself? Are you alright? You've been staring into space for the last five minutes and, Pat, you've been crying."

Patton wiped his eyes hurriedly. He hadn't noticed that he'd been crying. "Oh, sorry kiddo. I didn't mean to worry you. I'm fine, really I am."

Virgil looked at Patton sceptically. "Do you, do you hear that?" Patton asked, his ears pricking up. Virgil listened and, yes, he did hear something.

It was something that neither of them could place but it sounded like a song or melody of some kind. It was melancholy and despairing. The sound filled Patton and Virgil with sadness. Then, as soon as it had started, it stopped.

Virgil looked at Patton and Patton looked at Virgil. They shrugged and decided not to investigate.

Down in the brig, Logan suddenly stopped singing. He had just remembered where he was and what would happen if his song carried on. Logan had never enjoyed singing that much anyway. Merfolk like Roman loved singing, merfolk like Logan just did it to relieve stress or to get rid of any irrational emotions they were feeling.

Patton's words kept revolving around his head. "You're just a beast. A-A monster. And you deserve to be locked up!"

"Maybe I do deserve to be locked up like this." Logan muttered, poking at the glass in front of him, scratching it with his claws. "I've never done the world any good, maybe this is just destiny." Logan sighed. "Whatever will the prince say when he finds out his advisor is dead?" He thought, panicked. "The prince! Oh, I do hope he's alright. He was part of the ambush on this ship and he was hurt pretty badly. I hope that he'll make it through. We can't have our newest monarch turned to sea foam."

Logan sighed and scratched at the glass with his claws again. He wasn't going to get any sleep again, he could feel it in his bones. Tonight, one thought played on his mind more than others. Patton and the hurt in his eyes as he cursed Logan and called him a monster. The anger on his face and the confusion in his eyes.