The Deep Oneshots

Anteline: Fears

Hey guys! On an interstate highway and bored out of my brain right now so I'm writing. Hope you guys enjoy!

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Chapter info: Trigger warning: Hammerhead is not a good guy in this at all. Not much but it's slightly darker than normal. The Nekton family always assumed that hammerhead was crazy. But they didn't realise how much worse it was for Maddy and Finn growing up in that environment. Now Ant and Fontaine and Finn and Maddy are in college, and Ant gets to see Maddy from a different light. But is he only her friend because he views her as a special case to make himself look better?

Long ass chapter ahead :D

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"Ha, look who's come crawling back." Fontaine cackled.
 
"You're only 2 years older." Ant pouted. 

"Says the person who declared he would never become a snob who went to college. And look where you are now. The day before you start." Fontaine teased, messing his hair.

"What, ok." Ant took a deep breath and flattened his hair.

"Kids, don't fight. Promise me you'll look out for him." Kaiko begged her daughter.

Fontaine watched Ant check out his schedule, and chat to Griffin about what things he'd decorate his dorm with, beginning with Jeffery of course. "I promise. But I'm a senior. This is my last year. My classes and even my dorm aren't super close to his."

Fontaine spotted Finn in the distance, and visibly paled before gently turning her mother in another direction.

"Griffin will be there with him too I suppose." Will smiled. "No need to worry."

"No need, Will he's our baby!" Kaiko whined. "He needs to be safe."

"Mom could you please stop embarrassing me?' Ant begged.

Fontaine laughed at her brother and parents, who had now said their final goodbyes to Ant. "Okay, final photo!" Kaiko grinned.

Ant pulled a cheesy grin and made a mental note to frame the photo later. That was a keeper.

~~~~~~

"I'm so glad we get to dorm together." Griffin enthused around an hour later. The boys had been decorating and unpacking, so the room was messy and mishmashed but it was theirs, and they were excited.

"Same!" Ant grinned. "And I'm glad to be rid of the pirates for a while. I'm pretty sure Finn goes here but he's not really a pirate so does that count?"

"Well he kinda can't be a pirate if he's dating Fontaine. I'd say he's been cured." Griffin nodded.

"True. Wise words master. Unlike Maddy of course. I've never seen someone who is so piratey through and through." Ant grimaced.

Well, maybe that wasn't true. Fontaine had always teased Ant over his obsession with Maddy. He didn't think it was that. He just found her............Odd. Maddy has always been a terrible pirate. And as they'd gotten older, they'd continued to fight over random things, only, up until she was 17.

Then they abruptly stopped, and he rarely saw Maddy at all. He'd only seen her a handful of times since then, which was 4 years ago. Honestly, and he would never admit this outloud, but he kinda missed it. He'd always keep an eye out for her, but then, even if he saw her, since he knew she was always there, but she never came out, and the dark orca came up with knight and rebreather tech to disable their stuff, meaning they rarely went onboard anyway.

But if he ever actually saw her, the fear in her eyes made him want to punch someone. He feared exactly what happened on that sub, especially when whenever they saw Finn he sported bruises on most of his body.

"Earth to Ant." Griffin chuckled. "Thinking about her?"

"What, no!" Ant spluttered.

"Liar." Griffin smirked. "Anyway, let's go grab our schedules so we can pick out which books to use and crap."

"Ooooh, using naughty words there Grif, should report back to your dad." Any smirked.

"Fuck you." Griffin laughed, flipping his middle finger. "Let's go."

The boys headed downstairs, locking their dorm behind them, and collected their class schedules.

~~~~~~

"C'mon Mads, you've been staring at that wall for a while now. You sure you're ok?" Finn asked, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I didn't know mom went here." Maddy winced, her sharp eyes scanning the wall where senior graduates were lined on plaques. "Dad never said.'

"As if he would." Finn rolled his eyes. "C'mon. Guys don't share with girls here, so don't worry. I asked that we could be near each other, but they won't move my dorm since I've been here for a couple years now."

"It's cool. I'm tryna see this as a fresh start. I'm never going back." Maddy said firmly. She forced herself to look away from the wall, missing a mother she barely knew, and followed Finn down the halls into the main entrance.

"Just a warning this place is huge.' Finn grinned. "And it does get confusing. You know who you're dorming with?"

"I'm on my own." Maddy smiled. "I asked."

"Mads this is the perfect opportunity to meet new people." Finn sighed.

"Yeah well it's also the perfect opportunity to get used to being around people to begin with. I've barely been out of my damn room in 4 years Finn, since that incident." Maddy spat.

"Speaking of, I'd cover up your bruise." Finn pointed to the mark on her shoulder. "And I get it. Ant doesn't know. Fontaine knows my side."

"Well she's your girlfriend. I'll never understand how you managed to convince dad let you go here. Or how you ignore him despite his........ Attempts to keep you away from her." Maddy stated.

"Yeah, I know. But we're not paying for this. Fontaine got in on scholarship, but her parents didn't know. We worked out together that there is a way smaller fee for people with disadvantages, it's kinda like a scholarship but not quite. So she took her college fund and split it for us." Finn explained.

"What, but I don't want her paying for it." Maddy protested.

"I didn't do it for you if that makes it better." Fontaine answered, hugging Finn from behind. "I did it for Finn, in the hopes that you would also benefit. I don't know what your dad did to you but think of this as a fresh start."

Maddy smiled, a genuine smile at Fontaine. "That's ok advice Nekton."

"Thanks." Fontaine chuckled. "Kay, we should-"

"Griffin look out, god damn it!" Before any if them knew what was happening, Griffin ran past, someone Maddy vaguely remembered, followed by a quickly falling Ant. In an attempt to break his fall, he threw his arms out, only to hit Maddy, and take her down too.

"Fuck. Grif!" Ant yelled. Then he blinked, suddenly realising that he'd collected Maddy too. "Oh, uh, hi Maddy I mean, uh, Madeline."

"Let me up you bloody moron." Maddy winced, in pain. Ant immediately jumped up, his cheeks taking on a red hue as he offered her his hand to pull her up. She ignored it and stood on her own, glaring sharply at Ant whilst hugging herself in an attempt to stop the throbbing.

"I'm super sorry, see, Griffin was running and I tried to catch him but then he tripped me over and-"

"Didn't ask, don't care." Maddy rolled her eyes. "Finn can we leave please?'

"Uh sure." Finn agreed. "But you really..... Never mind. C'mon. See you later angel."

"Okay. Text me when she's settled in." Fontaine smiled. She kissed his cheek and then gripped Ant's shoulders, steering him away from the scene.

"I didn't mean to bowl her over." Ant groaned, clutching his hair. "Man Griffin did you have to?"

"I did it on purpose to make you walk in to her." Griffin smirked. "Sorry you fell."

"I fell?" Ant growled. "Did you not see how much that hurt her?"

"Nope. I was long gone. Hey man I gotta go, my dad is taking me shopping for all the crap I need." Griffin clapped a hand to Ant's back, then walked away.

"You're an asshole!" Ant hollered.

"Word of advice, little brother. I don't know alot, but I know Maddy really doesn't like you right now. Steer clear." Fontaine warned.

"Has she ever liked anyone?" Ant asked.

"Ant."

"I'm just as serious as you are. And I wanna know exactly why she winced like that. That wasn't normal, nor was the giant bruise on her shoulder." Ant stated firmly.

"You be careful. Your obsession with her is still an obsession. She might not want you prying." Fontaine sighed.

"I'm not obsessed. I'm concerned." Ant retorted.

"Fine. Wanna go grab a coffee?" Fontaine smiled.

"Yes! I'm so tired!" Ant grinned.

~~~~~~

1 week later:

~~~~~~

Class had started for the year, and immediately, Maddy and Ant felt swamped in work. Between never ending assignments, they'd barely had time to see each other at all.

Of course, neither of them had gone to high school either. So they were learning as they went and it was difficult, especially for Maddy.

Ant was adapting better and quicker than he'd expected to. He'd met this annoying jerk named Alpheus, who he vaguely remembered but couldn't figure out why. Despite his annoyance with the guy, he was fun to be around most of the time, and hung out with him and Griffin a lot.

But Ant hadn't seen anyone with Maddy. Infact, other than rarely seeing her with Finn, she'd been alone the entire time. That wasn't normal, right? Who would want to be alone?

"Yo Ant, you got a spare 10 bucks? I'm hungry." Alpheus whined.

"The hell? No way! I am not giving you money." Ant growled.

"But you're living off your parents royalties! As if 10 bucks will make a difference."

Ant ignored him as his eyes caught Maddy walking past silently, clearly listening to music as she walked through the computer room.

"You got the hots for her? Man that bitch is fucked up. She barely says a word to anyone except the headmaster and professors. Steer clear dude." Alpheus advised.

That flipped Ant's switch. "What the heck is wrong with you? You don't just talk about someone like that. And here's a news flash genius, if someone doesn't want to do something, there's probably a reason!" Ant yelled.

"Dude, calm down." Griffin interrupted. "Don't go too far."

"Fine, whatever. I'm going for a walk." Ant huffed.

"If you see Madeline say hi." Griffin grinned. Ant shot him a dark look, and picked up his backpack. Alpheus was not good for him.

He caught up to Maddy without even meaning to, and tapped her shoulder from behind. She immediately grabbed his wrist and twisted it, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Man alive woman, let go!" Ant begged.

Maddy ripped her earphones out and turned her head viciously to look at him. "Who the hell do you think you...... Ant? What are you doing?" She asked quizzically.

"I went to see how you were enjoying college, but instead you almost ripped off my hand." Ant pouted, rubbing it.

"Eh. Think that's bad?" Maddy smirked. "What do you want anyway?"

"I like literally just told you." Ant rolled his eyes. He quickly studied her form. 'She looks pretty today' he thought. She was wearing clothes far different from her usual attire, namely, a pair of ripped jeans and Black ankle Boots, and then a black longsleeve shirt with a dark green scarf around her neck. Her hair was out, (which was a sight to behold) and she had a golden necklace on.

Was that a locket? Wait, why was he worried about how Maddy looked?

"I like being here." Maddy said simply, pulling him back.

"You used to say a lot more you know." Ant sighed. "What happened to you?"

"Maybe I just grew up." Maddy rolled her eyes. "Big deal."

"Actually, it kinda is a big deal. You've gone from a fun loving, stuff sabotaging, loud mouth sass pants who loved tormenting the shit out of me to a quiet grump who doesn't go near anyone." Ant replied. "And you're not great at hiding bruises, also you are way too skinny."

He didn't know why that bothered him so much.

"And who's fault is that?" Maddy whispered. "Now would you please leave me alone? I'm going out with Finn in half an hour." She added, glancing at her watch.

"Oh. Ok. Um, could you give me your number?" Ant asked.

"Why?"

"Because I want it." Ant shrugged.

"Ha. No way. But nice try. Now go away." Maddy ordered, waving her hand.

"Well, for someone who's such a loner, you'd think you'd be happy to have someone actually want to talk to you." Ant smirked.

"I wouldn't choose to talk to you if it meant my life. Which it does. And news flash, if I wanted to talk to someone, I would've. Now if you don't stop bothering me, I'll break your wrist." Maddy said.

"That why you're bruised? Picking fights with your crew?" Ant asked.

At the mention of her bruise, Maddy looked uncharacteristically nervous. She ignored his question and grabbed her backpack, then walked away while putting her earphones back in.

"Hey, I asked a question!" Ant yelled.

Had she always been like this? Maybe Fontaine was right. Maybe he really was obsessed.

~~~~~~

Why was he so nosy? The thought bothered Maddy all afternoon. She struggled to focus on her brother, and Fontaine (who she still didn't trust) was offering to take her out. She needed to answer them of course, but she struggled to pull her mind from Ant's curiosity over her bruises. And she didn't really know why it bothered him that she seemed different. If he only knew why she was different. She just didn't realise he paid attention.

Maddy grew up in a different family. Her mother died when she was only 3. Her memories of her mother were very few. And when her mother had died, hammerhead had gone crazy. Becoming a even more evil pirate. Of course at first, so long as his kids toed the line, Hammerhead seemed like a good dad. But as soon as they even slightly questioned him..........

"Maddy?"

She was grateful for her brothers voice, which brought her from her thoughts with a shiver. But her thoughts of Ant stuck. No matter how badly she wanted to think of what he might be wearing, or How'd he'd done his hair that morning, Maddy felt her body and brain begin to throb. Even outside of home, that memory stuck.

'You can never go near that Nekton. So help me if I even see you look at him. Do you hear me?'

"Sorry Finn. Just got lost in thought." Maddy offered.

"Liar, you looked absolutely terrified." Finn poked her side. "You ok?"

"Just.......Ran into Ant before. It kinda shook me up a bit." Maddy smiled.

"He doesn't know, and it's not his fault. Go easy on him." Finn advised.

"He didn't do it directly, but dad would never had done it to me if Ant didn't exist." Maddy shrugged.

"You know that's not true. He did it to me for years, you were only good until you didn't agree with everything. Let's be serious, if you'd agreed to shoot that guy, he wouldn't have cared about Ant. It was just an excuse." Finn replied.

Maddy pondered his words for a moment. He was right about that, she supposed. Maddy had always had a habit of playing dumb around her dad. Ignorance is bliss, and it had been up until she was 14. Her dad had always been her protector, a slightly crazy guy who loved his kids. She didn't know that he was hurting Finn. And it had changed pretty badly when her dad tried to ask her to shoot what he called 'a traitor', simply a crew member who wanted out.

She refused. She thought he was kidding. He wasn't. Infact, he'd gotten so angry that she wouldn't do it. Hammerhead had assumed they while his good for nothing son might not have been the perfect obedient robot he wanted, Maddy had always liked him better, so she'd fill that void.

But Maddy had a conscience. No matter how hard she tried to please her father by acting bad, she simply wasn't. It was easy to use slang, mock the Nekton's, get excited when they found treasure. But killing someone was too far. Maddy would never do something like that. And then, it had all changed. Gone were the daddy daughter times and the affectionate hugs. Some days, her dad would barely look at her. He seemed to hate her.

It broke Maddy. It was like she'd been disowned, even though she lived there. Up until she'd turned 16. Hammerhead had overheard Maddy telling Finn that she had a crush on Ant. It was stupid really, she knew it was pointless and such. But it had been far worse than that. Her father had become so angry, he refused to feed her for a week.

Then came the beatings. At the end of each day, he'd beat her furiously, in attempts to 'scare' her out of her liking Ant. He didn't seem to get that it didn't work like that. But slowly, it did work. She could never see Ant, she was always trapped in her room, hidden from view. And the more pain was associated with Ant, the harder got to even know he was on her sub without beginning to panic and brace herself for pain.

Now he was here, and had suddenly decided that she wasn't as bad as he thought. Maybe. She didn't know quite what he was thinking. But her instincts told her to steer clear, and she was going to try.

"Yeah. I guess you're right.' Maddy simply replied. "So what's for dinner?'

"Why, I'm not cooking, I'd burn the building down. Let's order pizza." Finn grinned. "I'll call Fontaine."

"Yo, I like her and all, but I'm not third wheeling." Maddy choked.

"But." Finn protested. "Fine. Fine. I'll just order. Hang on. What flavour do ya want?"

"I don't really know." Maddy frowned. It had been a long time since she'd had pizza. But maybe she should at least try. Was she really skinny?

"Ok. Pepperoni is always good.' Finn hummed, typing on his phone.

"Hey Finn, do you um...... Do you think I'm skinny?" Maddy asked.

He looked up, seeming cautious, but nodded slowly anyway. "Yeah. You have been for a while."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Maddy questioned.

"Because I was flatout trying to keep you from hurting yourself. And if you hadn't noticed, other than dad himself, everyone on the orca was skinny. Why the sudden worry, Someone say something?" Finn demanded.

"Yeah, um, Ant. But he kinda said it like he thought it was bad. You know how some guys like super skinny girls? It was like he thought I should have had a bit more weight.' Maddy told her brother, a confused look resting on her brow.

Finn smirked to himself, because he knew that Fontaine had mentioned Ant's interest in Maddy quite a few times since they'd been a couple. Fontaine was convinced that he liked her but didn't realise, and Finn was glad he was in effect, bothering Maddy. She needed the help.

"I don't know Mads. You are very skinny." Finn shrugged.

"Yeah well I almost put him on his ass with a broken wrist so there." Maddy stated.

"Ok Mads. Chill out. He might be good for you. You've been pretty skinny for a long time." Finn smiled.

"I don't need fucking fixing." Maddy hissed. "I'm fine.'

"I know. But who said he would fix you? Maybe he annoys you so much you'll do anything to get him off your back. And you can't fool me Mads, I know you still like him." Finn grinned. "I'm your brother. I know.'

"I don't." Maddy denied. "Why don't you invite Fontaine? I'm feeling generous. Just don't go all gooey and we'll be fine.'

Finn smiled happily, but mentally bookmarked the conversation for later. Somehow, he knew it wasn't over.

~~~~~~

Ok, Maddy was really confusing him. Interestingly, Maddy and him were studying the same thing, which put her in most of his classes.

He laid in bed quite annoyed that night. He couldn't pick what he was feeling. It was like the answer sat right there waiting for him, but he couldn't reach it. It kept him awake, well, that and the fact that Griffin was playing video games in his room.

But it bothered Ant that Maddy had seemed so skinny. Why wasn't she eating enough? He'd seen girls concerned for their weight. But Maddy had never been overweight. She had always been.......Perfect. So why suddenly lose so much weight?

He picked up his phone and texted Fontaine, hoping she could give him Finn's number. He didn't want to ask her directly, but he did still want Maddy's number.

She sent it to him, and he thanked her before messaging Finn to see if he would send it through.

"Hey man. Um, I can, but why?" - Finn.

"It's gonna sound weird." - Ant.

"I'm a pirate dude. Just shoot." - Finn.

"I just feel like I need to have it. And she seemed super skinny today, but she completely ignored me when I tried to ask." - Ant.