Welcome to 'Cam - Centre of the Universe'. This will be a collection of one-shots, short and long, all dedicated to the wonderful and occasionally somewhat evil character of Cam. Why? Because he's my favourite. Despite starting off as a simple comic-relief geared side-character who barely even appeared in several episodes, (during which I sulked a great deal) I personally find Cam to be the most in-depth and interesting character in Mako Mermaids. Thus, this was born.

I'm currently taking my prompts from online prompt-lists and such, but please feel free to leave any suggestions for prompts or pairings- I'm willing to have a go at most things. Ratings will vary between chapters, and I will put warnings above all of them. Hope you enjoy reading and any and all feedback is welcomed and adored :)

Prompt: Photographs (Taken from The Ultimate Fanfic Challenge 200 Prompts)

Setting: Canon, set post-episode 26

Rating: K+

Pairings: Loosely implied CamxNixie

Warnings: Angst

Recommended Listening: Oblivion - Bastille

Photographs

The smell of the ink burning was bitter and foul, floating up in poisonous tendrils of smoke before dissipating into the air. It made Cam choke when he inhaled, but he didn't care anymore, closing his eyes and tilting his head back. He breathed in. The discomforting pain of poison on his tongue was almost welcome now.

He sat alone in his room. Another evening alone, another evening in the dark with the quiet. In the background he had his stereo on, crooning out mournful indie tunes of loss and fragile hope. He didn't hear the words coherently, but their meaning touched him in other ways, constricting his throat and dampening his eyes. His heart clenched and the flame burned. Another evening alone.

Scattered around him were the photographs. Most were pretty poorly taken; he'd never been an artist. He'd never really been anything- no, he wasn't going to feel sorry for himself again. This evening, he wasn't going to feel anything. He was going to burn his bridges, and then perhaps he'd have a chance at redemption. He didn't want forgiveness from the others, but from himself. He'd always survived on his own before, he could do it again.

Did he always have to lie to himself?

Slowly, almost reluctantly, he opened his eyes and sighed, looking down at the square of card held in his hand. Half of it had already burnt away and the edges were smouldering romantically as they enclosed around the remainder of Zac's smiling face, turning it to ash. The lighter lay in Cam's other hand, gripped loosely. Both his arms rested over his knees as he sat slumped in the corner of his room, leant against the walls.

There was nothing noble about him now, nothing powerful. No trident, no tail. No best friend, no Nixie. He'd retained only fragments of them, moments captured in photographs, his friends frozen and smiling eternally in time. And those smiles hurt him, more than anything else, because he knew that they were happy. Out in the ocean, blessed with all the wonders of the sea, all the magic of the world. Blessed with one another. And there he was, sat alone in his room, burning things.

The man on the stereo whined away, crying out his tunes so that all the world could witness his bleeding heart. Cam didn't have the energy to get up and turn it off. Instead he sat there and let it wash over him, listening to the sadness as the singer's voice cracked and broke. It almost felt good, in some unexplainable way, to give into the sensation. Relief accompanied the idea of not having to try any more, of giving up and sinking back into the music. He refused to cry.

Blinking rapidly to dry his eyes, Cam distracted himself by leaning over and searching for another picture to burn. The images that had once been tacked proudly across his walls now looked up at him in the half-light from the floor, barely visible in the moonlight. They became clearer when Cam clicked the lighter on, its feeble flame casting a soft, flickering glow across the faces of his friends.

He picked up the one taken of himself and Zac stood outside Zac's place, the pair of them posed with their arms wrapped around one another, grinning proudly. It had been taken after they'd finally unpacked the last box, Cam having come over to help Zac move into his new apartment.

After the task had been completed, they'd kicked back on Zac's new bed, laughing and joking and speaking of their plans for the summer. They'd played video games, eaten junk food and spoken ambitiously of the wonders they were going to achieve together in those two months of freedom. Back then it had been them against the world. Teenage boys with no out-of-the-ordinary worries and no magical powers save that of their own friendship. For the first time since the night they'd gone camping together, Cam wished for it to go back to those times of innocence. No dreams of power, no desire to rule. He just wanted his best friend back.

Staring numbly at Zac's triumphant, smiling face, Cam bent the flame to the corner of the photograph and watched expressionlessly as it caught alight. The paper withered and crumpled under the heat and the force of its own destruction, and with it Zac flaked away, dropping to the floor in fragments of grey and white.

Without quite realising it, Cam could feel tears staining his cheeks and, as Zac's grin disintegrated into nothing, he bent his head back against the wall and wept, his body heaving with ragged, abandoned breaths. He crunched the photo up in his hands, not caring that it burnt his skin. For the first time since his own betrayal he sobbed openly, unafraid of anyone seeing for he knew for certain that he was alone. That was the only thing he could be sure of nowadays.

Crying, unable to stop now that he'd started, Cam squeezed the ashy remains in his hand tightly and whispered in a broken, desperate voice,

"I'm sorry."