Chapter Text
It was only meant to be a simple hunt.
He spent days, begging his parents to let him hunt for himself. To his surprise and delight, they eventually agreed. Before he could even thank them, Moon swam off into the abyssal darkness of their home waters.
He soared around, cutting through the deep ocean with glee plastered on his face. Large red eyes scanning the never ending dark. He took quick glances at other predatory animals that called the deep their own. Rivals to his hunt, but to challenge them would be meaningless. He was inexperienced and picking a fight to steal prey from another would just lead to him getting hurt. He avoided his fellow sharped fanged, esca owning hunters.
Wandering through the abyss alone was an interesting experience. It felt new and exciting to hunt for himself despite the lack of anything within the darkness. Even with the keen sharpness of his vision, there was nothing of interest in sight. It would be impossible to tell up from down and north from south if one wasn’t used to the lack of visual information.
After much aimless swimming through the never ending black, the novelty of being on his first hunt started to wear off…
But then he saw it….
A small being in the distance, prey.
Moon silently stalked it from behind, eager to feast and boast about his success to his parents. His midnight blue scales helping him blend into the dullness. His purply-pink and yellow scales went dark, not letting out any trace of bioluminescence to give away his presence.
But his curiosity suddenly took hold.
What was this creature?
He had never seen anything like it.
It lacked scales, instead being coated in a weird, hard substance.
A shell, perhaps?
It lacked fins that every other creature he had seen possessed. It had a singular eye on the front of a small protrusion atop its tiny body.
He shook off the many questions about the new creature.
It was small, it was prey.
He would hunt how his parents taught him.
Moon effortlessly cut off its path, letting his head fin drift in front of his face. Esca glowing softly in the eternal black of the deep waters.
…He waited…
…It got closer…
…Wait…
The small creature became exposed by his esca’s light...
Instead of snatching it up and eating, Moon tilted his head in confusion. What he thought was the creature’s eye was just a black void. It still protruded like an eye, but it felt… wrong…
The creature didn’t have the normal reactions to the hypnotic glow of his esca.
It just sat there.
Unmoving and scarily still.
It wasn’t trying to swim after his esca like his parents demonstrated prey would normally do. Too entranced by the light to register the inevitable death that would soon embrace it.
Moon continued to stare, moving his esca this way and that to see if it would follow. The weird protrusion he assumed was its ‘eye’ followed his glow but never moved.
Confused and unwilling to entertain this thing any longer, Moon decided to move on, esca losing its glow, ready to be on his way…
The creature suddenly produced a light of its own, a brief flash flooding the darkness. Moon quickly covered his eyes to avoid being dazed.
Was it a warning?
Was this strange creature going to fight back?
The tiny thing had its own esca?
Was it trying to lure him?
Why did it briefly flash?
Was it hurt?
As Moon was caught up in his many questions, something suddenly tightened around his entire being.
He was constricted. Trapped.
What was going on?!
Moon started flailing around, but his bonds only became tighter.
How?!
How was this puny creature able to restrain him?!
Squeaks and warbles escape his maw, trying to mask himself in a small curtain of bubbles. But it didn’t let go. The bubbles didn’t deter his captor, nor confuse it.
It was relentless.
He should’ve listened. He was too eager to hunt alone. He didn’t understand the dangers his parents warned him about.
He should’ve listened to them.
Fear and pain flooded him as the constraints became tighter and tighter. He couldn’t move. His flailing only made the pain worse, but he refused to give in.
The world around him started becoming brighter. He was being taken into the higher waters.
No, no!
He couldn’t be!
He swore to never leave the safety of the midnight waters he called home!
He was not built for the world above.
He would not survive up here!
Moon’s eyes struggled to adjust to the light pouring in. Once they became used to the harsh blues of the higher seas, he saw what was surrounding him. It was a strange black mesh, similar to the light blue webbing between the digits on his hands, but it had holes. The holes were too small for him to slip a claw through to rip it.
He wanted so badly to rip it.
Tear it to shreds and destroy whatever was doing this to him.
Moon caught a glimpse of the small creature he was going to devour before everything went wrong. It was devoid of any colour, grey and lifeless looking.
No face to be seen, no expression. No glee of snagging prey, no annoyance of his futile flailing and wriggling to escape and be free.
That’s what scared him the most.
His anger became desperation, then fear. He could not escape the strange webbing that he was encased in. But he was driven by instinct to keep struggling.
The waters kept getting brighter and brighter. He was drifting so far from his home.
His parents.
His family.
And as if things couldn’t get worse, Moon felt his scales become exposed, no longer feeling the great ocean around him.
He was above the water, and this terrified him.
His flailing became worse as his nostrils took over his gills for breathing. The sensation of using them was uncomfortable, he never used his nose unless his family traversed though air pockets in the caves that populated the safety of the deep.
But he couldn’t focus of such things when his mind was spiralling.
He was trapped, scared and alone.
Uncanny limbs grabbed the abnormal webbing that squeezed him. The hold was rough and dry.
It felt disgusting!
Hands with no webbing between their fingers lifted him further into the air and onto a strange vessel that floated in the water. He continued to fight and attack anything and everything around him.
“Woah! This one’s feisty!” The creature holding him bellowed.
“Just throw it in the tank! We still have a few hours until we’re expected back! And we still need to check out that coral reef down the coast!” Another voice called out.
“Call the divers back! It’s time we move on!” A third yelled through the air.
Voices of an unknown language echoed around him; he closed his eyes. Not wanting to see these horrible monsters that have taken him.
He was the prey now.
He was in the place that these creatures called home.
Instincts took full hold of his movements, he whipped and thrashed around his arms and tail violently. Each pant for breath betraying his true feelings of helplessness and terror.
Despite his efforts being fruitless, Moon continued to struggle.
He will not die to these alien air breathers without a fight!
The creature holding his bonds was able to keep him relatively still within its arms. It produced horrid noises in its mother tongue. It was clearly pissed, but Moon did not care.
He would not give up.
The arms eventually wrapped around his flailing tail. Snaring it close to their chest. The pain was immense, Moon was losing the feeling in his tail as the crushing grasp cut off his blood flow.
A creaking was produced by the vessel as one of its walls moved out of the creature’s way.
Moon wanted to attack, to bite and to slash. But his tail was numb, and his body was aching from his struggling.
He soon found himself in a dark place. But this blackness held no safety. No promise of being in the waters he was used to.
Gills resuming their role in feeding him oxygen as he was back in the familiar liquid. But there was no room for movement. It was the first time the darkness felt so scary.
His family will not find him here, he is too far.
He held his own esca in his clawed hands, it shines gently in his palms. The soft glow was the only thing he could recognise.
He was not being torn to shreds yet.
He knew the monsters were biding their time. He will succumb to their hunger eventually.
They taunted him with waiting. Waiting for them to choose the moment he will be flooded with fear once more.
But for now, he pants in vivid panic. Curled up in the small tomb of darkness. Waiting for them to tear him apart and join his ancestors in death…
Sunlight trickled through the water, dancing along the coral, rocks and sand that were all too familiar to the little mer. He sat eerily still within the branches of coral, eagerly watching the water in front of him. His wide, childish eyes watched in fascination at every little movement that caught his attention.
His claws twitched in anticipation, frills pressed against his head fin, watching a small school of silver fish swim by. Sun’s hands darted out from the coral he camouflaged with, snatching up many of the fish. His four tendrils doing the same. Small feelers flying out of their bud like casings, ensnaring more of the fish.
“Look Eclipse! I caught so many!” Sun turned to his guardian, fangs on full display as he smiled.
A larger, fully grown, red and orange mer emerged from behind. No longer hiding his darker scales within the duller coral. Two long tendrils follow, gliding alongside his tail. Yellow tinted teeth exposed as Eclipse fondly returns the gesture. He kneaded Sun’s head frills as they lax from his head fin.
“Nice one little sunshine! You are an excellent hunter!” Eclipse gave Sun’s head frills an affectionate ruffle while congratulating him. He was easing Sun into hunting for himself, and he was passing each lesson with flying colours.
Sun happily munched down on his prey, relishing the victory of a successful hunt. He devours the six small fish he managed to get in his grasp before swimming off.
“Sun! Wait up!” Eclipse called, following Sun as he meandered through the multicoloured corals. Sun was giggling as he initiated a playful game of tag, using the winding branches to his advantage.
Eclipse wandered through the reef, eyes scanning every nook and cranny that Sun could wriggle his way into.
“Where, oh where could the little sunspot be?” He asked out loud as he stalked around, looking for any sign of the mer child.
…
…
…
The longer he went without an indication of Sun, the more a sense of dread started to build.
…
…
…
Sun would start random games like this often, but he never strayed far.
Eclipse poked his head into caves, lifted rocks and gently parted forests of seaweeds. Every glimpse of yellow or red would have his head snap to their location, only for his eyes to narrow or fall as they did not belong to who he was looking for.
Many sea creatures steered clear of him as he scavenged around. He was practically bleeding anxiety and every living thing in the area sensed it.
His searching became more frantic, calling Sun’s name again and again as worry started gripping the edge of his brain.
Where was Sun?
He should’ve found him by now.
If Sun could hear his calls, he would surrender the game immediately to not cause more stress. So where was-
“ECLIPSE! HELP!”
Eclipse froze in his tracks, his name echoed though the water. His head snapped in the direction of more cries of desperation.
Sun was in trouble.
Eclipse chased the calls, noticing bubbles rising in the water. He recognised the patten the bubbles created.
Divers.
He looked down to see three divers fighting with Sun as he thrashed around in a net. They weren’t the friendly diver group that his human friend would sometimes accompany. They didn’t have the large letter markings on their suits.
These were poachers.
Eclipse’s growl thundered through the sea. The three divers all shuddered as Sun froze and stared wide eyed at his guardian. Eclipse casted a large shadow over the group, submerging them in darkness. Large yellow sclera and piercing orange irises skewered through the poachers, pinning them in place.
After imitating his namesake, Eclipse shot down through the water. He snatched one of the divers and dragged them down deep as he ripped their diving equipment off their body. It took much of his strength to pierce a hole in their oxygen tank.
The diver struggled against him, they pulled a hunting knife from their belt and slashed at him. The two engaged in a flailing fight, spiralling though the water.
Eclipse managed to tear many holes into the poacher’s suit, streams of red pouring from each one, before another diver joined the struggle. They shot a fierce harpoon into Eclipse’s side, barely missing his gills. He flung around, eyes wide as the second diver hovered above him, loading another harpoon.
The first diver took advantage of his split-second shock and slashed at his throat. They then shoved the small blade up his gills as he grabbed their face. Screams of agony bellowed through the reef, drowning out distant cries of sorrow.
Full of rage and fury, Eclipse turned the slowly drowning diver into severed limbs and red clouds. In his anger, he charged the second diver, taking another harpoon to the shoulder.
He pushed on, adrenaline and determination fuelled him, and he unleashed the same horrors upon them. His sharp fangs easily sunk into their pathetically soft flesh.
Eclipse’s bloodshot eyes darted around for the final diver. But he couldn’t locate them or Sun as the blood of him and the divers danced around the currents. Shades of red taunting him as his quick search was fruitless.
Sun was gone.
Taken.
He didn’t save him.
Sun clasped his eyes shut. Massive waterfalls of tears spilled as his nostrils took over the role of breathing. No longer in the safety of water, but he held a small hope that Eclipse would save him.
“Where are the other two?”
“Things went south. They’re tussling with a full grown down there. At least this little one was more tractable than the mer the drone scooped up.” The human proudly showed him off in the net and shook it, like he was a trophy.
Sun didn’t dare open his eyes. He knew humans who were nice, friends to Eclipse and him. He didn’t want to forever curse his view of their kind. He didn’t want to look into his human friend’s eyes and see a monster.
If he even did somehow get to see them again.
He felt the haunting presence of the second poacher almost consume him as they inspected his quivering form within the fish net.
“Red and yellow…. nice work! These colours are in high demand! This little guy is the ticket to fortune! At least until the market shifts again…”
Sun didn’t know exactly what the human meant, but he shuddered in horror.
Being able to understand and speak in human tongue (thanks to his human friend) was something he always thought of a blessing.
But now it was a curse.
However, it was not a secret he was willing to give up. He wanted to plead for mercy, but if they knew, their evil minds would only concoct a worse fate for him.
With all his willpower, he stayed silent.
Eclipse frantically searched and searched for any signs of the helpless mer or the cursed monster that took him.
But there was nothing.
No indication of Sun or the poacher anywhere…
His mind was racing. Internally cursing himself out for everything that had happened.
If only he found Sun sooner.
If only he was a little quicker.
If he didn’t let his guard down for those few precious seconds-
The pain was unbearable.
His adrenaline was crashing.
He couldn’t continue like this…
Eclipse reluctantly returned to his cave, leaving a trail of crimson water behind him.
He led down on the flat rock inside, his arms curled around the phantom image of the small mer he took under his wing all those years ago.
Bright and happy memories flashed into his mind. The many different shenanigans that the little troublemaker would get himself into. How he was always too excited when his childhood friend entered their waters. How he would sneak up on them, only to dive into their chest and nuzzle them relentlessly.
His eyes were fighting as best they could to stay open. To not succumb to his deep and dangerous injuries. Blood slowly surrounded him like a blanket, spilling from his gills, neck, side, shoulder and other small gashes the first diver carved out in their panic. Everything hurt and the suffocating thoughts of what was in store for Sun tore at his mind.
Eclipse quietly sobbed to himself, hands shaking around the empty space that was once often occupied by his little ray of hope.
The light in his life.
He could almost hear Sun’s heartwarming laughter and soft words of kindness.
He failed him.
Darkness softly welcomed Eclipse as his eyes finally fell shut…
Sun was unceremoniously dropped into a small tank. The darkness within the room consumed his hope of being saved.
Eclipse was not coming for him.
Sun wheeped into the darkness. Mourning his freedom and the chance to ever see a friendly face again. The water of the tank shook his being to the core. He’s never been in water so cold before…
“Hey, are you okay?” A raspy voice softly filled the surroundings.
Sun was snapped out of his sobs. His wide eyes darting around, but he couldn’t see anything. “Wha- who’s there?!” Sun blurted out in shock and panic.
But he slowly realised the language. It wasn’t human.
A small glow filled the corner of Sun’s view. His head flicked to it, his terror filled gaze slowly turned to one of relief and sorrow.
He wasn’t alone.
A face slowly came into view next to the small source of light.
Another mer.
Their face was a soft grey and dark purple. The two colours patterned in a similar fashion to his own face. Soft red eyes stared back; large white irises greeted his own.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you….” The mer looked away in shame.
“No, no! It’s okay… I thought I was alone…”
Sun gently placed his hand on the glass separating them. Red webbing slowly stretched out between his digits. His fangs softly glistened from the light the other mer produced.
The blue mer met his gaze again. Guilt slowly being replaced with something he couldn’t quite read.
Hope perhaps?
“I like your bulb thingy.” Sun pointed at the esca that dangled from their head fin.
The other mer grew an uncertain smile before their whole body started glowing. Faint purply-pink and yellow pushed back the darkness. Giving Sun full view of them.
Sun’s eyes widened in awe at this mer. He had never seen anyone like them before. Eclipse never spoke of a mer that looked like this. The only ones he knew were bright and colourful like himself. Perfectly adapted for the corals and reef environments he called home. “Woah… how are you doing that?”
The dark blue mer lightly chuckled. Giving Sun a little spin, showing off their bioluminescence. “My scales and esca help me navigate the dark depths of my home waters. I use my esca to lure in prey and catch them off guard. Cool right?”
Sun eagerly nodded in agreement, briefly forgetting about their horrible situation. “Yeah, super cool! Oh! Where I come from, I can use my bright colours to blend into corals and wait for my prey to swim past without seeing I’m there. And then I snatch them up before they can react!”
Sun puffed his chest, proud of his own ways of hunting. This earned him another chuckle from the other mer. “That’s cool too!... But, what’s coral?”
The two exchanged confused glances.
They didn’t know what coral was. It must not grow where they lived.
“O-oh… sorry…” Sun fidgeted with his claws. How could he explain what coral is?
He tendrils twitched nervously as an awkward silence filled the room, drawing the darkness back despite the other’s glow never fading. Sun’s mind was drifting back to everything that happened.
The poachers.
Eclipse.
He could feel the threat of tears swell back into his eyes.
“Moon.”
“Huh?”
“… My name is Moon…”
Sun stared at him, taking in the information. He tilted his head slightly before his face brightened with a large smile.
“Woah, our names match! My name is Sun! Nice to meet you!”
Moon looked at him in shock from his sudden mood change and confusion at his statement. He shook his head, esca trailing around in the tank water. Moon gained a smile of his own. Smaller and softer than Sun’s.
“Yeah. Nice to meet you too-”
“Even our faces are matching!” Sun pointed to himself, gesturing to his own facial pattern.
Moon squinted his eyes, mouth closing in confusion before his eyes widened. Smile coming back as he nods.
“It’s almost like we’re brothers!” Sun exclaimed, his bubbly giggle lifting the weight of their fears for a moment.
Moon’s eyes lit up at the word. “… Brothers…” is all that he said.
But Sun knew he liked it. It was written all over his face.
Sun promised to himself that he and his friend. His brother. Would survive this torment. The horrors that await outside their small tanks. The shine in Moon’s eyes showed he made the same promise.
The two of them will survive this.
And maybe one day. Find a way to escape…
Art for this Chapter:
The bois! (So y'all know what they look like)
Moon, that's not edible!
Sun doesn't know what the drone is
