Ocean Tales

A young boy was sat at the edge of a an empty beach, the pale moonlight highlighting his amethyst coloured eyes, giving them an unearthly glow against his fair skin, jarred by the pale blonde hair that hung from his face, a lone curl rebelliously hanging in front of his face.

For a moment, the boy was distracted from staring out into the ocean, ignoring the gentle waves that caressed his arms as he went cross-eyed to stare at the curl, trying to blow it away and move it away from his face. Alas, it didn't work.

A soft smile was playing at the boy's gentle lips, before slightly rough wave jolted him back to reality, the boy blinking in surprise for few moments, before sounds of music reached his ears.

Without sitting up, he turned, shifting slightly to catch the small cabins not so far away, alight with multicoloured lights and booming with unpleasant music. The boy sighed, rolling his eyes and turning his attention back to the sea, a frown now on his face as he rested his head on his crossed arms, unaffected by the sea that pushed him playfully, trying to divert his attention from the townspeople.

It didn't work.

Inside one of these cabins, one of the walls had been destroyed in favour of large windows and a glass door, making it easier to spot the flashing lights and hear the auto tuned singing of famous pop stars that most people didn't care to name.

Of course, one of these partiers didn't seem to be in the mood, leaning against one of the log walls while gazing out into the sea, crimson eyes spotting a figure simply lying there. A pale hand ran through snow white hair as one of the partiers approached him, green eyes looking as bored as he felt,

"Hey, Gilbert. What's wrong? Don't feel like joining in with the party?"

'Gilbert' as the crimson-eyed boy had been named, merely snorted with a retort of, "You're not enjoying it because Lovino isn't here, am I right Antonio?"

'Antonio' merely stared back, "Being with him is better than being here."

That caused Gilbert to frown, before dropping the subject, gesturing to the beach, "Who's that out there?"

Antonio frowned, following his friend's gaze before noticing him, "…I don't know. Wonder why he's out there."

Antonio then switched his gaze back to Gilbert, watching as his expression began to change, though that too, he might never tell,

"Hey Toni?"

"Si?"

"Make sure nobody knows I'm gone."

It wouldn't have mattered if Gilbert had asked anyone else, each one wouldn't have been able to identify the young boy on the beach. Well, there was one person. Well, it wasn't even a person.

That particular boy knew that too well, as he felt the sea tug at his clothes, drawing him closer, whispering his name,

"Matthew Williams."

The boy - Or as the sea knew him as, Matthew - didn't answer, continued looking up over the horizon, "Not now." he muttered, closing his eyes and humming softly to a tune only sung long ago, by a single person that a person who had lived centuries before would never be able to name.

"Matthew, come play. Aren't you lonely?"

Matthew didn't answer, because they both knew the answer. Yes, he was lonely, he didn't have a home and nobody but the ocean could name him.

Maybe he was worse than lonely…

Gilbert, being Gilbert, had approached his situation the hard way, having snuck around the beach to hide behind group of rocks, piled on top of each over in such a way that made it easier to look at the boy.

Gilbert frowned as he watched the small boy simply lie there, not flinching way from the water whenever it brushed against his face.

Yet he didn't go out to question it.

Matthew had finally sat up, curling in on himself as he continued to stare out into the water,

"Matthew, come play. Don't be lonely."

Instead of ignoring the calls this time, Matthew stood up, taking a step into the water that curled around his bare foot, before taking another step. And another, and another.

Eventually, when the water neared his waist, he climbed up onto one of the stray rocks nesting in the sea, he simply sat there for a moment, before the water jumped onto the rock, successfully splashing him. Matthew wasn't amused,

"I'm not going to play if you're going to be mean."

"Sorry."

A grin and then Matthew stood up, turning to face the moon before looking into the sea, judging where the sand would be and once coming to a conclusion in his mind,

He jumped.

Gilbert frowned as he heard the splash as Matthew jumped in, not calling out but moving from his hiding spot so he was sat on top of the pile of rocks, waiting for the boy to resurface.

There was one thing he wasn't counting on surfacing though.

The surface of the water in which the boy had jumped in began to shimmer, as if the moonlight favoured that spot, before the water parted and revealed…

A tail.

Gilbert only saw it for a few moments as it breached the surface, edges of red clashing against the snow white in the centre, both colours coated with a pale violet that reflected from the moonlight.

It took his breath away.

And then it clashed against the water and vanished, leaving nothing but ripples running away from the water and an awe-stuck Gilbert sat on the rocks, jaw hanging open, before snapping it shut when he heard voices.

"Did you see that?"

Gilbert tore his gaze away from the water to the shoreline, spotting two figures that he couldn't exactly make out,

"Yeah! Imagine the money if we caught…Whatever it was."

Gilbert frowned, his gaze drifting over to the water again as he pictured the boy that had jumped in, unaware of the two figures looking for something to sell. His frown deepened because he wanted to help.

It was that moment that he caught sight of blonde mop of hair.

Jerking in surprise, Gilbert watched as the water parted slightly, watching as Matthew stared at the two figures, but the two figures caught sight of him,

"Hey, look!"

The two were whispering something to each over and Gilbert was simply entranced as the mop of hair began to move closer to him. It was when he glimpsed a flash of red and white that he bothered to listen to the two on the shoreline,

"Look, there it is!"

And it was also when one of them pulled out a gun that he knew he should probably start moving.

However, instead of running back to the house and pretending nothing had happened, he quietly crept down from the pile of the rocks, before reaching into the water and when the boy was close enough, grabbed his wrist and yanked him backwards, just as there was a loud bang and a bullet tore at the water where the boy had been only moments before.

Gilbert didn't even hesitate to stop to stare, though the boy seemed to have no problem in doing so, so after tightening his grip on the boy's wrist, he stepped into the water and began to guide him to a place that only he and two other people knew of. Antonio was one of those people.

It actually happened to be a small cave, with water that still managed to sneak in and make a little pool, Antonio and their other friend Francis would spend time here as children and often scare the adults that had no idea where they were.

But Gilbert shoved those thoughts aside as he dragged the blonde boy behind the clumps of unknown plants that hung from the upper rocks, before letting go of the boy's wrist and climbing onto the rocky land that made the cave that uch more fun. It was then he realised the boy wasn't reacting, so he lent forward and gave him a poke. No reaction,

"Hey, are you ok?"

Nothing. Gilbert frowned, moving to actually look the boy in the face, blinking in surprise as his gaze was met by wide, violet eyes. There was a silent pause, before the boy seemed to snap out of it and looked away with a murmur of, "Sorry…"

"Hey, it's ok. It's not everyday you get unawesomely shot by idiots. I'm the awesome Gilbert Bieldschmidt, who are you?"

"I'm Matthew Williams."

"Well Matthew," Gilbert grinned, sitting down on the rocks and watching Matthew, who was still in the water, "Aren't you going to come out?"

"What?"

"Of the water."

"Oh…" Matthew frowned, staring at the water and then back at Gilbert, "I can't."

Gilbert cackled, "Of course you can!"

"No really…I can't."

That stopped Gilbert's cackling as he frowned, "What? Are you stuck or something? The water is deep enough…"

"No…" Matthew mumbled, looking everywhere but at Gilbert, "It's more complicated than that…"

"Complicated is un-awesome."

Matthew sighed, sinking into the water slightly before asking, "Do you really want to know?"

"Would I be asking if I didn't?"

Matthew sighed, before floating over to where Gilbert was sat and watching him warily, before raising what should have been his legs.

Instead was a tail.

It was the same tail that he had seen earlier that left him gawking as Matthew leaned against the little shoreline, "I thought that was some fish or something!"

Mtthew stared for a few moments, before pushing off the shoreline and hiding in the surface, causing Gilbert to sit up and grab his wrist again, pulling hi to the surface, "No fair, you're not hiding from me, Birdie."

"I'm a fish. Not a bird."

"You're my bird."

Matthew blushed lightly, "What?"

Gilbert cackled, "You heard the awesome me. But um…Didn't you have legs before?"

Matthew blinked, "You saw me?"

"Yes. My eye sight isn't that bad."

Matthew frowned before answering the question, "Well, I got scared by people trying to shoot me."

"How does that change anything?"

"When I' scared it's harder to change back. Plus the sea is rather possessive."

"So…You're merman and human? And how is the sea possessive?"

Matthew groaned, sinking back into the sea into before yelping as Gilbert yanked him back out, "What was that for?"

"For ignoring my awesome questions."

"How are questions awesome?"

"Because I asked them."

"…I think I prefer the idea of people running away when they found out." Matthew mumbled, causing Gilbert to start cackling again,

"You just can't handle my awesomeness."

"I'm still here…Sorry."

Gilbert's cackling grew louder, "Oh man, you're pretty awesome."

"Because I have a tail or because I'm still here?"

"…Both."

Matthew smiled, before moving out of the water and sitting on the rocky shoreline gain, Gilbert staring at his tail all the while before looking up at Matthew, who shifted uncomfortably at the stare,

"If you were to turn back, would you be wearing clothes?"

Matthew spluttered, earning a laugh from Gilbert as he watched the boy's face turn red, "What?"

"You heard the awesome me."

"…No." Matthew squeaked and Gilbert laughed again,

"I knew it!"

It was at that moment that a wave crashed over Gilbert, leaving him wide eyed and spluttering while Matthew tried - and failed - to hide his laughter,

"I don't think the sea likes you."

"Well the sea can't handle my awesomeness."

The retort was another wave covering Gilbert, with Matthew dipping his hand into the calmer part, looking at the annoyed expression on Gilbert's face,

"Not so lonely anymore~"

A/N: Because I'm bored. I can't getmy brain to continue writing Ancient Incantations at the moment (IM SO SORRY ABOUT THAT BY THE WAY!) And I've never written any mermaid/mermn fanfictions so I decided to give it a try. *shrugs* So...What do you guys think?