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neoncherryblossom · 1 day

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show me a fire i can't put out

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The depths of the boiling seas have always been near impossible to comprehend, its creatures even more so. Bedtime legends say it’s almost impossible to know just how many beasts down there are sentient and kind, and how many yearn for the taste of witches' blood for the fools who dare trespass into their domain. That if you see something akin to a witch but one with gills, it’s already too late to run.

Darius has never heard a legend be that wrong before.

The people who wrote the legend probably should have met the creatures they were writing about.

(Read here or on Ao3

Word Count: 2967)

Darius wasn’t sure what his Papa thought he was going to do when he had nervously left for work and told him to please wait at home.

The house was boring.

Darius hummed as he skipped alongside the sandy floor, his sandals kicking up little dust clouds as he went. This time, his Papa’s job made them move to a little house near the beach. In all his eight years of living, Darius had never been to the beach before! He’s never seen so much sand. Was his Papa really expecting him to stay in the house and not explore his new home?

(His new home for now. Until his new home would become his old home when they had to move again.)

Darius shook his head to shoo the bad thoughts away, his braids smacking the sides of his face. He was here to explore! Not feel sad.

But there wasn’t much here for him to do. He didn’t have a bucket so he couldn’t build a sandcastle, and there was no one else around for him to talk to or play with. He didn’t know what he had expected when he came here, but a whole bunch of sand and some rocks too close to the boiling sea wasn’t it.

He sighed and crouched down, his fingers picking the sand apart to pick up the small shell that caught his eye. He raised it up, allowing the sun to reflect off its shiny surface before dropping it again, brushing sand off his shorts as he straightened up.

Not any normal shell would do. Darius was going to find the bestest shell and wrap it up and give it to his Papa. Not today though. He doesn’t want his Papa to find out he didn’t follow the rules, even if the rules were silly.

(And no, he was not going to collect more than one shell, he couldn’t carry them all and there was no way he was going to ruin his pretty blue t-shirt just to pick up shells.)

He continued walking, green eyes trained downwards as he scanned for the best one. It was when he picked up the tenth shell, a large peach one that was bigger than his entire palm did he notice the odd red that painted its base, and the tinted colour sand below it. Darius clenched the shell tighter and looked to where the trail ended behind two rocks, and that’s when he heard it.

Scratching.

He couldn’t stop his gasp as he took a step back, the scratching sound coming to a halt. He froze where he stood, his hands clenched painfully around the shell as he listened, his breaths caught painfully in his throat.

Was it a beast? He couldn’t do anything if a beast decided to attack him, and there was no one else around!

(Is that what the rules were for?)

He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, but eventually, fear burned away to cautious curiosity, and he slowly tiptoed towards the rocks, ready to bolt at the first sign of life.

Any sounds he might’ve heard were gone as he creeped closer, the squeaks of his sandals being the only thing that interrupted the quiet of the beach. He was being ridiculous. Papa was right, Darius always had an eager imagination, he must’ve imagined the scratches because he was lonely!

Darius nodded as his small fingers grazed against the rocks, his other hand holding his shell over his chest. There wasn’t going to be anything there, nothing at all! After this, he should probably head back, Papa might be coming soon-

He slowly peeked his head over the rocks and came face to face with two large, glowing eyes.

The screams that ripped out of his throat were an accident, his body twisting to move as his feet scrambled only trip over something, scraping his arms as he fell onto a rock. He gasped, tears burning his eyes, but he kept crawling away because something was there, someone was there and-

Was crying.

Darius paused, slowly turning his head back towards the rocks.

The person behind the rock kept crying quietly, the odd scratching sound getting louder.

Darius sniffled and wiped his eyes, his fingers glazing over the shell he had dropped in his panic. He paused, before he stood back up, scooping the shell into his arm. He slowly walked towards the rocks, peeking over it and dropped the shell on the other side, ducking back out of sight as the person- demon he thinks- gasped and sniffled, an odd sound being pushed out of it’s throat before it fell quiet again. Darius waited until he heard shuffling then he slowly crawled around the rocks this time, careful not to scare the person again.

He peeked his head and cleared his throat to let the person know he was there, but it still flinched and moved backwards, tears leaking from its eyes as it stared, clenching his shell tightly to its chest.

Now that Darius wasn’t as scared, he tilted his head, examining the demon. The demon was probably a boy from the looks of it and he didn’t look like any demon Darius has ever seen before. Water was lapping over some of him, but he didn’t seem like he was in pain. His head was surrounded with seven thick dark orange points- a mane Darius realized numbly, but oddly flat?- the top one the biggest panning out to much smaller ones. Darius could see the demon’s torso, which was all thin and orange but what caught his attention was the demon’s face, the odd witch ears that poked out, the baby fat that covered his small face even more than his own and his eyes, big and wide, the part where his were white the demon’s were yellow, and his middle parts were pink.

Darius tilted his head the other way, his eyes narrowing as the demon’s ears and hair (hair?) pressed closer to his head. “Are you a boy?”

The demon flinched again for some reason, before his brows furrowed, his eyes darting to the side. He moved backwards, flinching again before he slowly nodded, one of his hands (with some really cool claws) pulled up the seaweed Darius hadn’t noticed was covering his bottom half.

“How are you in the boiling seas? Doesn’t it hurt?” Darius scooted forward and paused when he heard the demon hiss, the sound raspy and short. Darius quickly smiled and stuck his hand out. “Right, sorry. My name is Darius! What’s yours?”

The demon scuttled backwards, before suddenly lounging forwards, his teeth just barely missing Darius’ hand, little sharp teeth closing around air with a satisfying snap.

Darius on his part, did the absolute mature thing to do when someone tries to bite you, and stuck his tongue out.

“It’s rude to not tell me your name,” he huffed, crossing his hands over his chest (not because the demon was still baring his teeth in a kinda scary way). “Or are you just going to sit there and be mean?”

The demon slowly blinked, his glare fading away to a grimace. Darius frowned, slowly crawling closer as he watched the demon’s grip on the shell loosen up. “Hey are you…”

Darius froze, and suddenly it was hard to breathe.

(The weird red trail from before, how could he have missed it?)

The demon moved back again, the water turning even more red with every one of his movements.

“You’re bleeding!” Darius cried, ignoring how the demon hissed and covered his weird ears. Darius quickly closed the distance, his arms quickly moving under the demon’s arms. “You need help, c’mon-”

Two rows of teeth, some pointier than others, clamped onto his right arm and dug in hard.

He thinks screaming was a normal reaction to have.

He didn’t think another cry was the normal reaction for his attacker to have.

Darius backpedaled, cradling his bleeding arm as the demon thrashed about, a howl escaping his lips as his tail thrashed about.

Darius gulped as he quietly giggled, the sound strained and odd on his tongue.

The demon’s bleeding tail disappeared below the depths of the boiling waters, his eyes turning to stare back at Darius, glaring, tired, and what Darius now realized, scared.

The water rippled oddly, the red blending in with the rhythmic waves, lapping against Wolf’s- Darius is calling him Wolf now to forget his arm and the demon’s fish tail- forearms, seemingly not hurting him in the slightest.

(His papa’s words, the ones that told him not to approach strangers without him, to not rush over to someone he doesn’t know, to never bother beasts, echoed in his ears, forgotten until now. Ignored until now.

He was scared.)

“Are you…” Darius swallowed, his fingers covering his arm, blood leaking through regardless. It hurt and he couldn’t stop the whimper as tears burned his eyes. “You’re not okay,” he said again, his words getting angrier. “I was helping you, why did you bite me?”

Wolf pushed himself up (and Darius could tell Wolf was hurting himself, his small arms quivering) and let out a howl that made him freeze, the sound sending a chill down his spine before it devolved into coughs, rough and painful. Wolf looked at him again, tears peaking through the corners of his eyes before he lay back down on the sand, letting out quiet gasps as he scratched the top of his head, very different from how he was when his teeth sank into Darius’ arms.

(Wolf reminded him of a kid he used to know from school. One who would slap the teachers and cry for his mom to come back, retreating into a corner to cry, not wanting to be there.)

Darius looked at his arm, then looked at Wolf, looked at the scratches he hadn’t noticed in the rocks, and looked at how red the water was turning.

(Water shouldn’t be that red.)

Darius slowly crawled towards Wolf and paused when Wolf flinched and bared his teeth again, tears falling from the demon’s eyes.

“You’re hurt,” Darius stated, his eyes losing their glare as Wolf flinched. “And I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that. So I’m sorry. But you need help. My Papa is pretty good with healing magic, so can I please take you to him? We’ll bring you back here after if you want. And you can even keep my shell. I promise.”

Wolf glared at him, his nose scrunched as he bared his fangs, his eyes filled with anger and hatred Darius somehow knew didn’t belong there.

Darius simply tilted his head, before he slowly drew a spell circle in the air, watching Wolf’s eyes go wide and as he tried to scramble back, sharp teeth digging into their owner’s lips.

“Can I make an Everlasting Oath with you?” Papa didn’t even know he knew this spell, it was something one of the kids in his last school learned from her older brother, but- “If I make it, I can’t break my promise. Ever.”

(He wasn’t actually sure what would happen if he did.

The girl didn’t either.)

Wolf’s claws scratched the sand beneath him, quick breaths leaving him as he tried to make himself look scary.

“I need to shake your hand,” Darius exclaimed, slowly lifting his hand, the spell circle shaking. “I promise I’ll bring you to my house and I won’t hurt you on purpose. Okay?”

Wolf looked at his outstretched hand, looked up at him before a sob forced it’s way through his throat, rough and raspy.

“Last witch hurt,” Wolf whispered, making Darius jolt back. “Last witch…” Wolf sobbed again as the words broke, silent tears streaming down his face.

Wolf can talk.

(Someone did this to Wolf. Someone hurt him and now he doesn’t trust that Darius won’t too.)

Darius slowly reached his hand out again and tried not to smile when Wolf didn’t flinch away, when his snarl turned into a small frown.

“I’ll make the Oath,” he said, even though that was something his teacher told them to never do, even if he didn’t know the consequences of breaking it, even if he wasn’t sure why he was willing to go this far for a stranger he just met. “I’ll make the Oath and I won’t hurt you. I’m going to bring you home and you’re going to be just fine. But you’re bleeding Wolf. I can’t just leave you like this.”

(He knows. That maybe when Wolf wasn’t hurt anymore, maybe Darius could have a friend.)

Wolf stared down at his hands and seemed to deflate, tears dripping as he scrubbed at his eyes, making Darius wave the spell away.

“Oh, no no no please don’t cry! I-I won’t make the Oath I just wanted you to trust me, I-I’m sorry Wolf, I’m so sorry-” He messed up he messed up how did he mess up he thought he was doing everything right, why was Wolf- “Wolf I won’t cast the spell please don’t cry!”

Wolf pressed his hands against his ears, whining quietly before Darius paused again, listening to both of their ragged breaths.

“You don’t like loud noises,” he whispered and at least Wolf was able to nod at him. Dumb Darius, dumb Darius, he needs to pay attention-! “Okay,” he continued, ignoring his thoughts for just a bit longer. “Can you come with me now? At least then, we can bring you to my home. Papa won’t be here for awhile, but he left food for me. You can have some too. Okay?”

Wolf looked up at him, then winced as his claws brushed the- and he really was Dumb Darius Wolf was using the seaweed as a bandage- before he slowly nodded, his eyes staring at him in a way that Darius knew he couldn’t mess this up.

“Okay,” Darius said with a nod as he stood up. “I’m going to have to lift you up. I… I don’t have a wagon and I don’t want to leave you… you don’t look too heavy. I can give you a piggyback!”

Darius smiled and winked, shooting Wolf a thumbs up. “This’ll work. It’ll be great. Y’know Papa always tells me I’m really good at improvising and that means making plans really really fast!” at least that’s what he thinks his Papa meant. His Papa used different words. “This’ll be eas- wait can you breathe out of water?”

Wolf gave him a so-so gesture, and Darius noticed that while he had sat up, Wolf wasn’t all that big. Darius could maybe even carry him in his arms like a baby. Speaking of.

“I’m eight,” he quietly declared, slowly hooking his hands around Wolf’s armpits and dragging him away from the boiling water, Wolf grabbing his shell as they moved. “How old are you?”

Wolf just looked up at him and blinked slowly.

“Huh,” Darius huffed, trying his best to ignore his cuts. “You’re a weird one, aren’t you Wolf?”

Wolf’s eyes narrow, but his jaws relaxed slightly, raising an eyebrow at him. Darius blinked in confusion before understanding dawned on him, and he flicked Wolf’s forehead, pulling his finger away from the teeth that lunged at him.

“I think it’s a great name,” he huffed as he slowly rested Wolf back on the ground, far away enough from the boiling waters. “Your howl reminded me of a wolfs’. Though what kinda wolf would you be?”

Wolf simply flipped onto his stomach and glared, his claws picking up sand and crushing the shell, small cracks appearing.

(Wolf’s claws were sharp. His teeth were even sharper. Darius had a feeling his Papa wouldn’t be so happy to learn why his arms were cut up.

But. Wolf had to be a kid. He looked like he could be younger than Darius, and his orange and green striped tail- which was a bit longer than he thought it would be- had such a big cut Darius had no idea how Wolf managed to bandage that himself.)

Darius turned around and lifted Wolf up, adjusting him so he was being held to his side. Wolf immediately wrapped his arms around his neck and rested his head against his left shoulder, his big eyes staring up at him, his body sagging against him. Darius huffed as he lifted Wolf’s tail to be pinned against his right side and winced as he felt the water burn his fingers. He swallowed whatever cry he had and straightened up, Wolf’s tail falling and the almost clear tail fins falling and smacking his knees, water seeping through his grey shorts.

“Don’t worry Wolf,” he said and he hoped his smile wasn’t as strained as it sounded. “You’ll love Papa. He’ll heal you right up, I’m sure of it. Until then, onwards!”

Wolf didn’t reciprocate his attempt at excitement, but he also was kinda bleeding on Darius’ back and he wasn’t sure whether or not that was hurting Wolf as much as it grossed him out, but it would be fine. He’ll change when he gets home.

With that, Darius set off home, a determined pep in his step as Wolf pressed himself against his neck. Darius hummed as he continued, sprouting more cuts than when he came and maybe a new friend, and Darius thinks his Papa won’t be too upset he broke the rules this time.

Hopefully.

#ITS MERMAY #cooking something that I hope I finish in time

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