(Sequel) John Laurens X !Mermaid! Reader

°Chapter 4: Corals°

"This is gonna be fun," Y/N said as she and John swam through the reefs. "Small trip with someone who hates you," She continued. "Sounds like a good time to me-" "Can you shut up?" John barked. "It's not easy swimming with this tail and you're not helping," He said. "Sorry, my bad," Y/N smiled at him before looking ahead of her. 

The reefs bellow them housed thousands of small creatures. John had been staring at them for a while. This was something he had never experienced before. He could swim when he was still human, but he couldn't look at the wonders of the sea. A sudden state of bliss washed over him as he kept staring at the reefs. Watching the tiny fish swim in and out. Crisscrossing across the complicated patterns. 

"Hey, John," 

Slowly and unfocused he looked up at Y/N who was swimming a whole end above him. "You're swimming downwards," She commented. "You're going to swim right into the reef. It's pretty darn sharp, I wouldn't do that if I were you," She explained. John looked ahead and saw that he had indeed been swimming downward. He took the time to get beside Y/N again before tearing his eyes from the coral bellow.

"If I remember this place well," Y/N said. "We'll bump into a village soon. We should probably get something to eat from there," She suggested. John remained silent which made her sigh. They had been traveling for a few hours in complete silence now. Y/N tried to ease the tension but every time she attempted to, John shot her down and the tension grew. 

Later that day, they eventually did spot a nearby underwater village. The villagers had utilised the caves as homes and had sculpted some of the exterior to look more pretty. The temple in the middle of the village was actually once just a hollow rock which the sculpture then made into a fine looking structure. They drew inspiration from ancient Greece. 

The sight of two strange merfolk caught some people's attention. It wasn't very usual to see one let alone two of them. Merfolk either liked to be alone or in a small flock. They didn't like to be in pairs. Especially sirens. They liked to be isolated.

"They're kinda looking at us," John remarked uncomfortably. "Welcome to my life," Y/N said before swimming up to the one the villagers. He looked like a guard, maybe a soldier of the village. He was wearing an armour piece around his chest and holding a big spear. "Hi!" Y/N smiled, standing still right before him. "My friend and I came from the space across the reefs. We'd love to stop by and buy some food for our trip," She explained. 

"Why are you traveling?" The merman asked in a deep, intense tone. Y/N slowly grew nervous as she answered: "Y-You see, good sir, we are helping a friend retrieve an object he lost. We should be heading up North for a few days and we can't travel that far without food," 

"Last time a siren came by and said the same thing before she stole a whole week's worth of supplies," The guard told them. "So our village isn't open for visitors," He said, grabbing his spear with both hands. "So you and your friend can leave," He demanded. "Ah, okay. My bad, we'll just... be over there if you change your mind," Y/N sheepishly said, backing away with John trailing close behind her.

They stopped by the reef and pouted a bit. "What'd we do now?" John asked, folding his arms. "Do you think we could last a day or two without food?" He asked. "No, we'd be swimming all day. We need energy," Y/N explained. "I have some ideas," John said, swimming to one of the nearby corals. He carefully grabbed one of the razor sharp parts with a clump of seaweed and pointed it at Y/N.

"We kill the guard," he suggested. "What?! No! And don't do that! Coral isn't meant to be broken like that," Y/N immediately shot back. "Okay, coo coo cool. I have no ideas then," John said, clasping his hands together. "Gimme that," Y/N spat, grabbing the piece of coral.

"Papa!"

Both John and Y/N looked up as a tiny little boy swam up to the guard who had just denied them access. "Timmy?" The guard asked and turned around. "HA! He called his child Timmy. What a basic b*tch," John smiled. Unamused, Y/N elbowed John right in the stomach. 

"Mama's in trouble! A sailor saw her above water and they're trying to catch her," Timmy said as he held onto his father's hip. "What?!" The guard said widening his eyes. "Where is she?" He asked as Timmy swam into the village with his father trailing close behind him. "Well, guess our problem solved itself," John shrugged swimming toward the village as well. "John, we can't just-"

"Y/N, I'm not here to make moral decisions. I'm here to get food and then join you on your stupid mission," John said turning toward Y/N. His eyes reflected how indifferent he was to the whole situation and even showed some genuine boredom. "I don't care what happens to these people," 

"Well, I do and you said you'd stick with me," Y/N hissed and swam after the father and son. "Y/N!" John yelled but she didn't listen. "This b*tch," He mumbled before swimming after her. They swam across the village. At some point, the father and son swam up and so Y/N, from a safe distance, swam up as well. 

Once above water, Y/N looked up and saw both the father and son's head and shoulders poking out of the water. When she looked up even more, she saw a big ship. "Oh no," She mumbled as she saw some sailors toss their net into the water. 

"I think we got 'er!" One of the yelled as they vigorously started pulling at the net. "Aerwyna!" The father yelled as he dove back under to grab the net by its base. "Wait. You're telling me a woman with that kind of name said 'Yes. Let's call our son Timmy' John said, raising a brow. "Johnathon, shut up," Y/N said and dove down as well. 

Down under, she could see the man pulling at the net, to keep it underwater. Y/N hurried down to the net where she caught a glimpse of the woman who had her tail wrapped and tangled in the net. Looking up she noticed that the net was being held together by a single thick rope. She looked down and saw that she was still holding the coral John had so carelessly torn off. 

She swamp up above the two and with two quick slices, the rope snapped and the three of them sank a few feet. Above water, the sailors fell due to the immediate loss of tension. John saw the whole thing unfold from afar. With folded arms, he looked back up, seeing the ship from underwater. 

Figuring he could leave Y/N alone for a second while they cut the woman free, he swam back up and looked at the sailors who had just attempted to catch the mermaid. Somehow, they looked a bit familiar. 

"What're you guys doing?" A loud voice boomed. "Captain, we saw this huge fish. We figured that it'd be a good meal," One of the sailors said, looking at the torn rope. "Guess it was big enough to bite itself free," He mumbled.

"We can't afford any fresh produce right now. It'll rot in a day if we can't preserve it correctly. Which we can't," The booming voice spat back. Finally, the man stepped toward the edge of the boat so John could take a closer look at him. His eyes widened when he saw who it was.

"Stop trying to fish and get us back on course," The man yelled. "Yes captain," The sailors said and headed back to their posts. 

John widened his eyes before he got back underwater. The splash he made as he headed down, caught the man's attention. He looked at the bubbles which slowly disappeared in the waves before heading back to his crew.