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Unfathomable - Complete	By : ColdSilence Category: Kingdom Hearts > Slash/Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 11972 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: All of the Kingdom Hearts franchise is copyright to Tetsuya Nomura and Disney. No money is made whatsoever from this publication.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
Author: Cold Silence
E-Mail: writer.coldsilence@gmail.com
Pairings: Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi
Warnings: AU, Yaoi, Het, Mpreg, mer/human sex. Does that count as bestiality?
Special Note: I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.

Unfathomable
-Chapter Four-

Riku paid more attention to Larxene as she requested. They spent more time together, often swimming through the castle gardens of luminescent algae and sparring in the courtyard. Sometimes they ate privately or made special trips through the kingdom. It made their relationship appear as if it was flourishing, which discouraged the other mermaids. The eligible candidates began to quietly leave the castle because none dared to compete with an orca from Noctis. They feared Larxene, who would treat them like discarded fish bones when no one was looking.

Aqua bore witness to these unfolding events and became very worried. It truly seemed that Riku would choose an orca as his mate, which did not bode well for the other kingdoms. Everyone knew that once the power of the Trident was in the hands of the royalty of Noctis, war would be upon them all.

It was a crisis that the mermaid didn’t know how to resolve. Riku needed to be led away from Larxene, but if he truly admired her then that would be difficult. Aqua had trouble managing her own love life, much less meddle in the affairs of the bratty merman. Even so, she couldn’t float idly and let this tragedy take its course. Something had to be done.

That was why she waited for the opportune moment to speak with the prince. It was hard to get a word in edgewise recently with Larxene dominating all of his attention, so her chances of seeing him alone were slim. She visited his chambers during the cycle when most mers retire to sleep, but to her surprise, Riku wasn’t in his quarters or anywhere in the castle.

A quick check confirmed that all of the maidens were accounted for, which was both a relief and a concern. She was thankful that the prince wasn’t out cavorting with Larxene, but apprehensive that there was possibly another mer out there that had not been introduced to the court. The fact that Riku would keep it a secret meant that it was not a good match.

Her search for the prince eventually came to an end when she spied him swimming to his chamber at an inappropriate time of the cycles. She flattened her gills as she watched his mannerisms. The prince was being extra quiet and careful as he began to push the stone door aside. He was definitely hiding something.

“Prince Riku,” she sang to him.

Riku paused in the middle of what he was doing. He gave Aqua a cool look for interrupting him. It was obvious that she had been lying in wait considering the time and how she was emerging from a hidden alcove. "Have you finally decided to attempt to seduce me?“ he answered in guarded notes.

"I have a question for you,” sang Aqua, ignoring the way that Riku was trying to bait her. She swam over to where the prince was floating, careful to keep the decorative fins on her back lowered so that it didn’t appear as if she was propositioning him. "Have you decided on a mate yet?“

"What’s this all of a sudden?” Riku turned his sinewy body to face hers. "You act like you don’t care about these things, and now you ask me this private question.“

"Don’t misunderstand, I am not asking because I am interested in you,” scoffed Aqua. "I’m asking because the safety of my kingdom and others beyond hang in the balance. Who are you seeing when everyone else is asleep?“

The prince sang a low note of laughter. "You really want to know?” he clicked. Riku drifted closer to the mermaid, his aquamarine eyes bright and sharp as he got in her face. "Give me a kiss and I’ll tell you everything.“

Aqua’s gills flared as she floated backwards until her dorsal side met the smoothed rock of the palace walls. She glared daggers at the prince for asking something so bold and fresh. "How dare you,” she hissed. "I have told you several times that I have a chosen!“

"He doesn’t have to know,” sang the prince in dark notes. "You want private information, so you have to give me something private too. A secret for a secret. You can show me with your mouth why so many mers desire you.“

"You enjoy this don’t you,” seethed Aqua. The violet fins that lined her arms went erect, exposing sharp tines that would cut with a mere touch. "You like to break others for the sake of your own entertainment.“

"There isn’t a single mer in this water who wouldn’t give their tailfins to be in your position right now,” answered Riku smoothly. "Everyone secretly wishes to be dominated by me. Give in, and you can have your wish come true.“

Aqua shrieked with outrage and smacked the prince across the face with her palm. She wanted to use her claws badly, but the small shred of sense still left in her was enough to prevent a bad situation from turning worse. Making a mark on royalty would surely lead to terrible punishment. "There will come a time, youngling,” she sang stiffly, “that you will break something that actually matters to you. And on that day, I will pity you for being such an arrogant fool. You think you can have anything in the world, but love and loyalty will never be yours.”

Riku lightly touched the cheek that Aqua had struck, moving as if he was in a dream. After a few moments, he clicked, “This is the first time that anyone has laid a finger on me outside of a spar.” His lips curled into easy smile, one that displayed his sharp teeth. "Thank you. I realize now how much I like this feeling of pain. Now I know why mermen desire you.“

Those words confused and sickened Aqua. Just what exactly was the prince saying? Why would he enjoy pain? She made a noise of disgust as she flicked her tail to swim away at a fast pace. "You and the orca are suited for each other,” she hissed at Riku.

The prince watched the mermaid swim away, still wearing that easy grin. Aqua was so bold and unattainable. Riku always wanted the things that he couldn’t have. He was sorely tempted to make her his mate for the principle of it. If only it wouldn’t cause his father so much trouble.

{{———————————————–}}

One day, Riku took it upon himself to bring Sora to the secret place where he stored all of his human things. The cave was accessible underwater, but the first time that they tried to journey there, his friend was nearly injured from the force of the currents that threatened to drive their bodies against the rocks. It took some time before another crawlspace leading to the cavern was found at the shoreline, allowing the boy to visit.

The natural chamber was a dangerous place. In the daytime, its interior was illuminated by sunrays that broke through small openings along the ceiling. Moonlight did the same, but with it came high tide. The cave was completely inundated during the evening hours, making it uninhabitable for an air-breather. When the water level was low, a shelf revealed itself from the receding ocean. Sora would perch himself on top of that rocky outcropping and wait beside the natural pool for Riku. The mer would swim up to the air pocket to spend time with him until the place flooded and forced him to leave.

Coming to the cave became a regular ritual for them instead of meeting by the docks. It was more secluded and they could act more freely there. Riku expected Sora to be in their secret place whenever he surfaced and would become irritated if the human wasn’t there. On those occasions, the boy would be greeted with a splash of water to his face for arriving late.

Sora learned to take the mer’s rude behavior in stride. He saw the prince’s outbursts as the childlike reactions of an ignorant being. If Riku understood that he had to attend school, eat at home and spend time with his friends, he was sure that the merman wouldn’t be so angry when he was away for too long. However, these were things that were lost in translation, especially when Sora attempted to explain them while the mer was too angry to listen.

Thankfully, the times when they got along outnumbered the instances when they didn’t. Sora began to feel close to Riku, and sometimes he would talk about the difficult things that were happening in his life, regardless if his companion could understand or not. These often one-sided conversations always made him feel better.

Riku tried to understand what it was that his companion was saying, especially when the topic was about the surface world. Sora was charged with the duty of explaining the various human items that the mer had amassed. Sometimes the boy would laugh until his sides ached at the ridiculous things that the prince found interesting, such as toenail clippers or lost tubes of lipstick. Other times it was sad to explain why there were beer bottles and plastic wrappings in the water. It was hard to convey the concept of pollution and ignorance to Riku, and he was never sure if his friend really grasped what he was trying to say about those things.

It was bittersweet when the merman began to present the bottled messages that Sora had thrown into the water over the years. The boy was amazed that his friend managed to keep so many intact. Some of the papers were still salvable, and the merman would listen raptly as he read what they said.

They eventually came across a message that Sora wrote nearly six months ago. Its existence made the boy laugh emptily. He was reluctant to read it out loud, but the mer urged him on until he finally gave in. His voice was melancholy as he read the old letter: “Today is a great day. I met someone who actually believes that you exist. Her name is Kairi and she’s beautiful. No one has ever believed in you the way that I do until now. It’s almost like fate. It’s because of you that I feel close to her.”

Riku listened intently with his arms folded on top of the rocks and his tail submerged in the water. He understood that the letter was about him and the mate that Sora had chosen, but he couldn’t discern why it caused sadness in his human. He urged for further explanation with a sharp look from his eyes.

The letter crinkled as Sora rolled it up in his hands. He said quietly, “She was my first girlfriend. We did everything together. I even gave her my virginity. She was older than me by a year, so she knew a lot of things, but she never treated me like I was stupid. I really felt like I had a friend in her.” Warm tears began to prickle at the corner of his eyes. "She tried to call me, and my dad answered the phone. He told her that I was busy and hung up on her. You know how hard it is to call someone when you’re on the other side of the world? She probably won’t get another chance for a long time. My dad is so stupid, he doesn’t even know that I was dating her.“

Riku was alarmed by the tone of Sora’s voice and his body language. It seemed that something happened to his human’s mate. In a way, it made him glad because it meant that the boy could spend more time with him. His sadness, however, wasn’t something that he would wish on him.

"My friends were so jealous that I was with her,” continued Sora. "I kind of ignored them for a while. She was my world. Now she’s gone, and the only one who’ll listen to me about her is you.“ He hunched over the message in his hands, as if weighted down by his own sorrow. "I’m really pathetic. I can only tell my problems to a fish.”

The prince narrowed his eyes, and then he unfolded his arms and pushed himself out of the water. He dragged his heavy tail onto the rough land so that he could be at Sora’s side. "No fish,“ he said in a breezy and quietly stern voice. Riku took one of his friend’s hands and pressed it against his chest so that he could feel the rapid cadence of his heart. "No fish,” he repeated, and then he returned the same hand to the boy’s own chest to feel the slow pound of his human heart.

Sora understood what Riku was trying to say. He smiled wanly and relented with a quiet, “I get it. No fish.” A sigh escaped his lips, and when he looked over at the mer, he found that he was giving him an intense gaze from only a few inches away.

Memories of Kairi flooded Sora’s mind. She had been so good to him from the very beginning. He remembered their first kiss and the first time that they made love. At the age of 16, Kairi already had a wealth of experience with lovers, and she took Sora under her wing and treated him like a king. They did things that were normal and they did things that were wild. Despite how much her father tried to control her, Kairi was a free spirit.

His relationship with her made him feel like he mattered. At home, his parents were too busy with their jobs to care about what he did with his life. There were times when he wanted to flaunt his relationship with Kairi to his mother and father, to show them that he was growing up and they were missing it; that he no longer needed them or their opinions. He was in love and every time that their bodies touched he was breaking their rules and blazing a path of independence away from them.

Without Kairi, all of that was taken away. He felt lost and he didn’t know what to do. Sora found himself sliding back into his routine life beneath his parent’s rule. Nothing new ever happened and his family still treated him the same. The only thing that changed was the breathtaking loneliness that he now carried and the complete and utter loss of intimacy.

Riku gave him a glimpse of those few glorious months that he had with Kairi. He saw in the merman the same free spirit that he saw in her, and the attention that the prince gave him was akin to the way that she used to fawn over him. The oddness and secrecy of their companionship gave it a special feeling; once again, Sora found something that mattered and made him feel as if he was breaking away and achieving his own freedom.

The prickling at the corner of Sora’s eyes stopped. He didn’t feel like crying anymore and was content instead. Nevertheless, a tear slipped from his lashes as its weight coaxed it into falling. Riku was fascinated by this happenstance. How could humans make water like that? He leaned in and touched his tongue to the boy’s cheek to taste it.

“Hey!” protested Sora. The mer’s action surprised him so much that he gave a little jump. "Don’t lick me!“

Riku responded by placing his hands on Sora’s shoulders to make him stay put. He wasn’t done investigating yet, especially since that tear tasted like pure ambrosia to him. How could he get the human to do that again? The prince wanted to have more of that tasty liquid. He thoroughly laved Sora’s cheek to scrape up all traces of the water into his mouth.

"I said stop!” cried Sora. He turned his head to get Riku away from his cheek, but he quickly realized the error of this move when their mouths touched. It hardly counted as a real kiss, but it was the first time that anyone else had touched him there since Kairi. For a moment, the ache that Sora carried with him lifted as his body remembered the comfort of another’s touch. That fact alone stunned him into silence.

Riku stopped when he felt the brush of Sora’s lips and the resulting stillness of the human. He knew what the sudden tension in the boy’s body meant. The prince was unsurprised; after all, he was the most handsome mer in all of Atlantica. Mated or not, it was inevitable that his friend would find him attractive, even if they were from different species.

These vain thoughts fed Riku’s pride. Wouldn’t it blow the mind of every mer to know that their crown prince had broken a deep unspoken taboo and mated with a human? The mere idea of it tantalized him. How would he even go about it? What did they do for sex? Would Sora forsake his previous mating and perform the act with him?

To experiment, Riku pressed his lips insistently to Sora’s mouth. The human tried to recoil, but the prince trapped his face in place by firmly placing his hands against the sides of his head. It felt amazingly warm, as if the boy’s body was generating the same kind of energy as the ball of light that rose above the water. Sun, that was the word that had been taught to him. Sora was as warm as the sun.

The sensation was completely different for the boy. Sora recoiled because the kiss was unexpected and cold. Riku’s body was just as chilled as the water it came from. He somewhat expected a fishy flavor, and the thought of that made him laugh internally. However, Riku merely tasted like the salty ocean, and he was just as relentless as the waves.

Sora placed his hands on the mer’s chest to push him off, but his traitorous fingers felt numb as he remembered raising his arms up to hold Kairi. He wanted fulfillment, and the worst part was that he knew that his ex would be alright with this. She wanted him to be free to give himself to anyone he wanted because she loved him. Between that knowledge and the yearning in his body, it was hard to say no.

What would Kairi do if she were me? wondered Sora. Adventurous, experienced and adoring Kairi. A girl that had seen and done many things before meeting him. She had been with women as well as men. Her lovers were all precious memories that she liked to openly talk about.

In the end, Sora decided that he would make his own precious memory, one that he hoped to share with Kairi someday. He knew that she would be proud of him and maybe a little jealous over what he was about to do. The boy took his hands off Riku, which surprised the merman enough to make him pause. Riku watched curiously as Sora tugged on the edges of his swim shorts until they lowered, then roughly grasped his cock and balls with two hands.

“I’m going to teach you a new word,” said Sora huskily. He squeezed himself wantonly, his eyes glazing over as he gazed at Riku’s face. "The word is, penis.“

"Penis,” repeated Riku with an arched brow. He remembered seeing that thing before, and he was just as unimpressed now as he was back then. It mildly interested him as it began to swell and grow, but it was still no match for the average size of a merman. The prince gave Sora a wicked look as he said, “Small.”

“Least I have one,” retorted Sora. "Are you sure you’re not a mermaid? You’re pretty like a girl.“

"Show me penis,” said Riku. He wanted to know how it worked for humans. Was Sora going to drag it around on the ground like a lonely dolphin? To the mer’s eyes, it was so short that he couldn’t fathom what they did with those things.

“Alright,” said Sora, and then he smiled. He took one of Riku’s hands and guided it down to his genitals. Carefully, he opened the mer’s hands and showed him how to wrap the fingers around his shaft. "Don’t scratch me,“ he warned Riku. It wouldn’t be pleasant if his dick got gouged by the other’s claws. Then he applied pressure to his friend’s hand to coax his grasp into squeezing, and showed him how to move his palm up and down.

Riku was amused at what the boy wanted him to do. With such small penises, it was no wonder that humans could only do this much. Luckily for Sora, he was a fast learner, and soon he was moving his hand without assistance. He could feel pulsing against his palm and he marveled at the loose skin that followed his strokes and briefly wrapped over the pink end of the shaft’s head.

Once his friend mastered jacking off, Sora reached for his balls and rolled them in his hands. Riku’s movements were making them jiggle in a way that had him breathing deep with pleasure.

"What is?” asked Riku. He was eyeing what Sora was doing with curiosity.

The boy bit his lower lip to help compose himself, and then he answered throatily, “Testicles.”

“Test-tee,” repeated Riku, stumbling over the syllables. "Kals. Test-tee…"

Sora laughed and reached up to affectionately touch Riku’s cheek. "It feels hot because of you.“

Some of Riku’s bemusement melted. As silly as Sora moved, his euphoric face told how much he enjoyed the prince. His cheeks and nose were flushed red, and his eyes had dimmed to a deep blue that rivaled the night sky. The mer was unexpectedly spellbound by this human’s desire. He lightly touched the other’s pale lips with his free hand, knowing that the hot gasps that puffed over his skin was an experience that no other ocean dweller would know. Saliva stretched across the red and pink spaces of Sora’s mouth, and Riku leaned down to dip his tongue inside to taste it.

He found that human teeth were blunted and safe to graze. Sora was considerate of his exploration and did not close his jaw. Instead, he carefully sucked him in and rolled the appendage against his palate with slow, deliberate strokes. Riku found that human kisses were comparable to mers, with the exception that the tongues did not flow as deeply into the throat.

The prince’s wet hair spilled over his shoulders in a spiral veil as he drank from Sora’s mouth. There too, the taste of moisture was divine. He became so distracted by it that he forgot to play with Sora’s cock, which caused his human to groan in frustration and insistently remind him to move with a squeeze of his hand.

This action displeased Riku. How long was this human going to make him service him? The prince was used to being waited on, not the other way around. He released Sora’s cock and vainly flipped his hair over his shoulders. The merman leaned away from the boy and narrowed his eyes to an expression that said: Entertain me, because you are boring me.

Sora deflated at the lack of physical contact and the look on Riku’s face. Just like that, he was reminded that this wasn’t his loving and attentive Kairi that he was dealing with. No, this was Riku, suffering from some form of merman ADHD with a dose of jackass on the side. The boy huffed. "Riku, sometimes you can be a complete jerk!” he complained.

The merman smirked at Sora. While the human ranted, the scales at the front and center of his tail slid sideways to grant exit to his own very long and prehensile cock. It stretched upwards towards the ceiling, towering over both of their heads. "Penis,“ he said with a note of superiority.

Sora’s eyes widened as they tracked up the long pink appendage that Riku was flashing at him. "You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said weakly.

While Sora stared in disbelief at Riku’s dick, the merman snatched him up in his arms. He was alarmed by this, because there was no telling his friend was going to do with something that long. The boy struggled to be freed, but the prince kept him firmly pinned against his chest with his claws.

The fear in Sora’s eyes was a great source of amusement for the prince. He turned his human so that his back was against his chest and his legs fell to the sides of his tail. This position allowed Riku to enjoy the heat that came from the other’s body, and it gave the boy a clear view of what he was planning to do with his “penis.”

“W-wait!” said Sora in a panic. "What are you going to do with that?!“

The prince merely smiled deviously as he lowered the sinewy cock down to Sora’s stomach. It slipped beneath his t-shirt and traveled up his chest, leaving a wet, sticky and cold trail everywhere it touched. The boy arched away from that crawling sensation, his entire body shuddering from the horror of it.

"Cut it out, this is too weird!” yelled Sora. The appendage continued to creep upwards until it popped out of the collar of his shirt and wrapped around his neck. The boy stilled, afraid that he was about to be choked to death, but the long cock remained loose around his Adam’s apple. Then he gasped when he felt its very tip probe the corner of his mouth. He turned his head away when he realized what it was that Riku wanted him to do. No way! he shouted in his mind. Sora kept his lips firmly pressed together. I don’t want that thing in my mouth!

Riku laughed at the show of reluctance. As his human turned away, he met his tightly pressed lips with an open mouthed kiss. Sora didn’t fall for the distraction, however. He kept watching Riku’s cock with wide eyes, unable to tear his stare away from what it was doing. It peeled away from his cheek and segmented its tip, its parts separating into a four cornered flower of pink flesh. A very thin, delicate white tendril with a bulbous tip stretched from its center and waved in the air as if searching for something. The boy shook as it probed along his face like a careful, slow centipede.

“It good,” crooned Riku in his breezy voice. "No bad.“ He nuzzled Sora’s face tenderly, and then quickly let go of one of his arms so that he could force his jaw open. Caught completely by surprise, Sora yelped, the sound turning into gurgles when the cock was forced in. The boy’s first instinct was to bite and spit the feathery soft petals tickling his tongue, but Riku had the foresight to wedge his fingers against his teeth to prevent him from clamping his jaw shut.

Sora tossed his head in an attempt to get that thing out of his mouth. His newly freed hand clutched uselessly at where it wrapped around his neck, finding that he only caused it to dangerously tighten. His heart was pounding a mile a minute. The boy was afraid that Riku was going to hurt him. What if the merman forced his cock down his windpipe? What if he ripped a hole in his mouth? So many horrible scenarios presented themselves in his mind, and it was all he could do but cry as Riku had his way with him.

"No bad,” repeated Riku, the humor leaving his voice when he saw how terrified his human had become. He took himself out of Sora’s mouth and brought the boy’s other hand up to where he had wrapped his cock around his neck. Just as it had been done to him, he showed the human how to pet it with his fingers. "Good penis.“

Some of Sora’s fright receded when Riku took the time to let him get acquainted with his cock. Slowly, his mind’s perception shifted. This wasn’t some alien thing that was out to attack him; it was a part of Riku. As long as he kept reminding himself of that, he felt less afraid. He turned his eyes over to the mer, wanting to see that they had some kind of understanding between them. "You’re controlling it completely?” he asked.

“No hurt,” said Riku quietly as he kissed the wetness away from Sora’s cheeks; his tongue darting every now and then to gather up more of their taste. His claws lightly grazed Sora’s lip in silent request for the human to open his mouth once again.

Sora was reluctant, but eventually he dared to part his lips. The appendage eagerly made its way back inside, and he closed his eyes to endure the tickling against his tongue. This time, Riku didn’t need to hold his teeth apart; the boy was very carefully keeping his jaw lax to allow the mer to enjoy himself.

Riku’s gills flared soundlessly. If he was submerged, he would have been singing with pleasure. Without the water to carry his notes, the only indication that he liked this was the dreamy expression on his face. The prince wrapped his human in a tight embrace as he thrust his member quickly in and out of his mouth; the friction tanning the boy’s lips to a heated pink.

The speed that Riku moved was unexpected and Sora ‘mmphed’ around the appendage in protest. Its tip had closed up to protect from damage, and then it unexpectedly burst open with a rush of water. The liquid had a fruity taste to it, which the boy reflexively swallowed before choking on the rest. Thankfully, Riku had the presence of mind to remove himself from his human’s mouth before he drowned him in his seed. The clear ejaculate continued to spout from him like a hose, thoroughly drenching his friend’s shirt and crotch.

“Ugh,” groaned Sora in disgust. He spat the remainder of the fluid from his mouth and gave his soiled clothing a disdainful look. "Are you happy now?“ he said dolefully to Riku.

Indeed, the prince seemed very content. He kept Sora trapped in a bone crushing hug and nuzzled his brown hair with an expression of bliss on his face. It made the boy a little angry – Riku had achieved his satisfaction, but he was left bereft. His cock had gone completely flaccid from the ordeal and he was unwilling to try getting hard again.

Kairi was better, he thought bitterly to himself. She always finished what she started and met him need for need. The selfish way that Riku took advantage of him left him feeling cold inside.

Almost an hour passed before Riku finally decided to slide back into the water to replenish his tail’s reservoir. Sora took that opportunity to wash his face and clothing as best as he could. Once he made himself look mostly presentable again, he muttered a goodbye and crawled his way back to the shoreline. He hardly bothered to look at the mer in the eyes.

{{———————————————–}}

At first, Riku was very pleased with the act that he committed. He felt personally vindicated over the fact that he made a blowfish out of all the simpering, fawning mermaids that were vying for his attention. Although it was a secret that could never be revealed, just holding on to the knowledge of what he had done was satisfying in and of itself.

As time passed, however, the original feeling of self-empowerment began to curdle. Sora wasn’t meeting him at the surface anymore. Riku would wait at the secret place and patrol the shoreline, but there was no sign of his human. He made the dolphins speak to the birds in hopes of gaining more information, and as it turned out, the boy wasn’t hurt or in any danger. He was merely living out his life the way humans do.

The prince was being avoided, and he couldn’t understand why. Was Sora not satisfied in some way? Perhaps he had been too forceful when they mated. If only the human would just speak to him, then they could clarify any misunderstandings. It was frustrating that the boy could hide away so easily; whenever Riku wanted something, all he had to do was send a servant to fetch it. This was the first time that he ever had to chase anything on his own.

Everyone close to the prince noticed that he was on edge lately. They believed that it was because of the precarious situation with the maidens. Larxene had successfully run off every last suitor with the exception of Aqua. The lady from Lumina was the only mermaid who was able to withstand the orca’s cold nature. Years of war between their kingdoms fueled the intense animosity that was directed towards each other.

It was the perfect situation for Riku. He was waiting for the day that they would both disgrace each other and leave the castle, then he would be able to postpone having to choose a mate indefinitely. All he had to do was bide his time for the opportune moment to roll the tide to his favor.

To this end, he was always inviting both mermaids to spend time with him together as a trio. Entertainment always consisted of competitive games that brought out the worst in Larxene and annoyance from Aqua. It took time, but after several cycles of careful maneuvering, Riku finally managed to bring their tension to a head.

He brought the two mermaids to the sparring area. It was his intention to make them fight each other, but Aqua coolly declined when he initially suggested that she spar against Larxene.

Luckily, the orca gave him the opening that he needed. Larxene sneered derisively at Aqua’s refusal and clicked, "I don’t know why you waste your time on that weak mer. She has no skill whatsoever.”

“Don’t mistake my refusal to spar as a sign of weakness,” sang Aqua coolly. "I simply have better things to do than to indulge the prince in a fight among his maidens.“

"That’s a mean thing to say,” Riku clicked innocently, despite the fact that it was absolutely true that he was instigating this fight for his own entertainment.

“Why don’t we cut to the chase,” sang Larxene. "If you’re not here to indulge the prince, then you should leave. It is obvious that I am the one that he will choose.“

Aqua grit her teeth. Riku was the last mer in the ocean that she would ever desire, but she remained in the castle in hopes of somehow dissuading the prince from choosing Larxene as his mate. Ever since her altercation with the merman, she had made very little progress on that front. "Is that true?” she questioned Riku testily. "Have you already chosen?“

Riku lowered his lashes, hiding the sly look that was in his eyes. "I’m at an impasse. The both of you have qualities that I admire. Larxene brings up an interesting point, however. The one that I chose should not be weak.” He fixed his aquamarine eyes on Aqua. "If one of you defeats the other, then I’ll cast her aside for the stronger one.“

Larxene threw her head back and laughed shrilly. In her opinion, that all but guaranteed her mating with the prince. She couldn’t see Aqua as anything more than a weak mermaid that was easily defeated in battle. "I accept that challenge,” she sang gleefully.

Aqua gave the prince a deathly serious look. He met it unflinchingly. She couldn’t believe that the prince was making it this easy. All she had to do was defeat Larxene, and then Noctis would lose all prospects in gaining the Trident. It was a risky gamble, but Riku played the game well. He knew that Aqua wouldn’t turn down this opportunity.

“Very well,” acquiesced the mermaid. "I also accept this challenge.“

"The winner will be decided by whoever is disarmed first,” sang Riku smoothly. "My weapons are available to you both. The finest ore shaped by the deep ocean vents.“ The prince gestured to the side of the sparring area, where weapons of various shapes and types awaited their choosing. Atlantica’s stockpile came from underground volcanic rock that had been purified in superheated vents and smelted into the desired shape. As a result, the weapons were as colorful as the mers themselves, some of them gleaming a bright blue crystal, whereas others were as black as an abyss.

Larxene wasted no time gathering her favorite black daggers from the stockpile. Aqua took much longer to peruse the weapons available. She slowly floated past the selection until finally settling on a long, slender sword that held a translucent violet tint. Its edge was tested against the silt of the floor, which parted as easily as if it had the same consistency as the water that surrounded them.

Riku was eyeing Aqua with a predatory gleam, obviously enjoying this new sharp side of her that he managed to uncover. The mermaid could feel his stare, and she gritted her teeth in response to it. Don’t get the wrong idea, prince, she thought to herself. I’m doing this for my country. The sword in her hands was leveled at Larxene. "Come!” she clicked sharply.

Larxene sang a battle cry as she burst into a fast swim towards Aqua. She was as vicious in a fight as she was in social situations; quick to jab and pierce at weak unprotected areas with her weapons as well as her tongue. However, she was unaware that there was a very good reason why the captain of Lumina’s guard chose Aqua to be his mate. She was as calm as still waters as she met Larxene’s blows, and skillfully dodged and parried with as little wasted movement as possible.

“Is swimming around the best you can do?” taunted Larxene as she tried to cut Aqua’s fins with her weapons.

The mermaid narrowly avoided injury by twisting away from the attacking dagger and parrying the second with ease. Aqua leveled her gaze at the orca and answered coolly, “I am giving you the chance to surrender.”

Larxene sang in outrage at the mere thought of losing to her rival. She swam at the mermaid dead on, but this time Aqua didn’t dodge. Instead, she grabbed the orca’s wrist and used her momentum to swing her around. As they spiraled around each other, Aqua took advantage of the confusion to use her sword to disarm the dagger in Larxene’s free hand. Then she beat her tail to reverse the spin and forcefully twist the captured wrist until it released the second dagger. By the time their movement stopped, Aqua’s sword was angled at Larxene’s throat.

“Bravo,” sang Riku. He spread his showy dorsal fins to their full span to demonstrate his approval. “Lady Aqua wins.”

“Impossible!” sang Larxene. She wrenched out of Aqua’s grip and nursed her injured wrists. "How can a mer fed kelp on a crystal rock fight like that!“

"I trained alongside my chosen for ages long before we decided to mate, despite the fact that I was a mermaid,” clicked Aqua seriously. "I wanted to face his trials with him, even if it meant that my own life would change.“

Larxene flared her gills with a derisive sound. "A shame that he will die when Noctis razes Lumina to the ground!”

Aqua grit her teeth and moved as if to strike Larxene for her impudence, but Riku chose that moment to interrupt.

“A deal is a deal, Larxene,” clicked the prince. "I’m afraid that it’s time that you returned home.“

Larxene spun to face Riku. "This isn’t over!” she sang acidly at him. "I know your weakness. If you deny me, then I will expose you!“

"No one would believe the lies spewed from an orca,” answered Riku coolly. "Do you really want to make yourself look more like a fool than you already do?“

"You will pay!” threatened Larxene. "Mark my words!“ With that, she quickly swam away, clutching her wrists to her chest.

Aqua watched the mermaid go, and then she leveled her gaze at the prince. "What is she threatening you with?” she questioned.

“Nothing important,” sang Riku airily.

“It’s about your lover isn’t it,” pressed Aqua. "You’ve been seeing someone. As selfish as you are, you’ve probably already mated. She’s going to expose your scandal.“

"The only scandal I know of, is the fact that my chosen mate already has been promised to someone else.” Riku swam over to Aqua, invading her personal space easily. There was a wicked look on his face as he cooed in sweet notes, “Are you going to kiss me now that you finally have me all to yourself?”

The answer was swift. Aqua attempted to backhand Riku again, but this time, she didn’t manage to make contact. Instead, Riku caught her wrist mid-swing and held it in a firm grasp. "Do you really think that I’ll let you do that twice?“ he clicked.

"You forget that I am holding a sword in my other hand,” seethed Aqua.

“Run me through and you’ll have outright war on your hands,” sang Riku. "But I see a different future for us. One in which you run off with your original chosen and permanently leave this castle.“

Aqua’s eyes went wide with realization. "You planned this all along. You wanted me to win this spar knowing that I would disgrace you by leaving.”

“Win-win, wouldn’t you say?” sang Riku. He let go of Aqua’s wrist and began to swim away. Once the scandal unfolded, the mers would assume that he was devastated by the loss. That was the excuse he needed to postpone finding a mate. The sand was falling exactly where he wanted it.

“As I suspected, you couldn’t care less about any of those mermaids,” Aqua clicked to the retreating Riku. "Which begs the question, who is the one that has your attention, and why haven’t you presented this mystery mer to the court?“

"Who knows,” sang Riku airily. He twisted in the water lazily, displaying all of his white fins in slow, rotational movement. "Maybe it’s another orca.“

Aqua gripped the hilt of the sword tighter. There was no telling if Riku was serious or not. Until she verified who the prince’s lover was, she couldn’t leave the castle and return to Lumina.

"By the way, keep the sword,” added Riku. “Consider it an early mating gift.”

{{———————————————–}}

Larxene left the palace as planned, leaving Aqua as the sole candidate for mating. King Triton was greatly disturbed by this development. Everyone knew that Aqua was already spoken for; Atlantica’s ties to the Lumina kingdom were in peril if a dispute arose.

The king decided that it was time to speak to his son. He summoned Riku to the throne room and greeted him warmly, and then launched into a long speech about responsibility and sacrifices.

At first, Riku endured it, but when it became obvious that his father wasn’t getting right to the point, he interrupted. "Father, if there is something that you’re trying to say to me, then please do so,“ he sang. "I’m old enough to understand.”

Triton hesitated, and then he straightened his spine and finally said what was on his mind. "You should dismiss Aqua from the palace. She is not the right one for you, son. There are too many political barriers that are against your favor.“

Riku kept up a façade of calm while internally he boiled with anger. Even though he was planning to be rid of Aqua anyway, it upset him that his father was putting his nose into his personal business. "I thought that choosing a mate meant following my heart,” he answered evenly. "Even if there are barriers, if my heart desires it, why cast it away?“

"I struggled with the same thing when I was your age,” sang Triton sagely. "You are royalty, my son. As a result of that, our happiness must come second to the happiness of our people. That is what it means to have great power. If someone with selfish desire were to possess the Trident, then all mers would be in peril.“

"Don’t you ever get tired of it?” questioned Riku. His hands fisted at his sides. "Having to set aside yourself for the sake of strangers?“

"I am proud to carry this mantle,” sang Triton. "So long as I remain true to the people, I have their loyalty and their love. Someday, you will have those same things, and you will understand why making the sacrifice is negligible in the end.“

"I understand, father.” Riku’s teeth were starting to grind. "I have to think about this.“ He gave the king a bow, and then he swam out of the throne room.

Triton looked worried. There wasn’t anything that he could do to shield his son from reality this time. He thought that he had prepared the prince for the inevitable truths of being born a royal, but now he wasn’t so certain.

As Riku swam through the hallways of the palace, a voice sang out to him from behind one of the columns:

"Sacrifice yourself for the sake of strangers? Give up on love? As if! Sounds like a load of sponge to me.”

The prince stopped propelling himself forwards and turned to the mer addressing him. Floating nearby was the scarred Braig. The orca wore a bemused expression on his face as he clicked, “You’re not really going to do what he wants, are you?”

“It’s none of your business,” retorted Riku, and then he resumed his swim.

“You should come to Noctis,” continued Braig despite the growing distance between them. "You would like it there. Our royalty run free, doing anything and everything they please. We even allow our orcas to visit the surface world.“

Those words stopped Riku dead.

"If an orca so wished, they could even consort with a human,” added Braig. Then he widened his uncovered eye and clasped his hands over his mouth. "Oh my, I just said a taboo didn’t I? Naughty me.“

"You’ve been following me,” clicked Riku icily.

“That’s such a harsh way to put it. I’m merely looking out for the well being of the prince of Atlantica,” answered Braig. "No hard feelings, right? Besides, don’t you want to know what your human has been up to?“

Indeed, Riku did want to know. Badly. He twisted to give Braig an expression that said that if he didn’t cough up the information, then the prince would personally rip it out of him.

"It’s such a drag, really. You could have used the Trident all along to know what’s going on at the surface world, but your silly father insists on using it – oh what’s that word he likes to use – responsibly. Things are different in Noctis, of course. If there’s something that needs to be seen, then we’ll see it.”

To demonstrate, Braig lifted the shell patch off the scarred side of his face. The eye that was hidden beneath it glowed with gold color, and then it projected a beam of light outwards. Riku quickly swam out of the way and beheld that within the light, there was a vision of Sora. He was someplace on the beach, and he was holding hands with a human female.

The orca clicked in disapproval. "Looks like he’s already moved on to another mate. His first one left him, but I guess that’s not a big deal for humans.“

Anything else that Braig had to say fell on deaf ears, because Riku suddenly swam away at top speed.

"In a hurry now are you,” clicked Braig. He pushed the shell patch back into place, and the vision from his eye faded away. "Heh. The only place you can get everything you want is in Noctis. Won’t be much longer until you realize that.“

{{———————————————–}}

Sora had not been to the beach in weeks. Ever since that day with Riku, he avoided the shoreline like the plague. At first, it was because of the indignation that he suffered. Later on, his reason became self-disgust. What did he expect from fooling around with something that had a fish tail? Even if the mer was sentient, he could barely comprehend what they talked about half he time. There was no way to know if he even understood the significance of what they had done.

Finally, his feelings turned into shame. What right did he have to use Riku that way? Even if the merman seemed all for it, the act was still implicitly wrong. His friend was half animal, after all. It was not natural to do those kinds of things with him.

In the end, Sora decided that he had to move on. He needed a real girlfriend and a real relationship. Even if it was only to replace Kairi, he had to force himself to meet other people just so the wound in his heart would heal. He realized that his desperation for companionship caused the fiasco between himself and Riku. If that was what he wanted, then it might as well be with a willing girl rather than something not human.

That was why he was with Olette now. She was a nice girl that was in the same class as him. Unlike Kairi, she was reserved and shy. The more that he got to know her, he suspected that she was probably a virgin. Sometimes they would go to her house and his mind would supply him with all the possibilities of what that meant, but they always ended up just watching TV or doing their homework.

Sora didn’t mind. He honestly still felt dirty after being with Riku and was hesitant to be intimate with someone else as a result. Besides, Olette’s innocence was endearing because it made him think of what it was like when Kairi met him. He was probably a lot like her, completely naïve to the secrets that the body could hold. Imagining himself in Kairi’s shoes put him at ease.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t avoid the ocean forever. His father was pressuring him to go out on the research ship, and finally he relented. Olette walked him to the beach, and he held her hands and kissed her cheek before boarding his father’s vessel. Once aboard, he edgily scanned the water with his heart in his throat for Riku, but there was no sign of the merman. Maybe he gave up on visiting after being stood up for so long, or maybe he was just as disappointed in Sora as he was in him.

The memories of that awful day put Sora in a brooding mood. He dragged his feet as he did his duties on the ship while his father monitored the radar for the presence of dolphins. There was a pod about 50 nautical miles offshore, and that was where they were going to weigh anchor and perform the recordings.

Sora’s father noticed his son’s bad mood, and he said to him in an amused voice, "You’re that mad to spend a Saturday with your old man instead of hanging out with your girlfriend?”

“You would be the same way,” said Sora quietly.

“Son, let me tell you. Girls are a dime a dozen. You might think that the one you’re with now is the best thing since sliced bread, but I guarantee you that a year from now you’ll barely remember her name.”

Sora gave his father a glare. "Mom is just a dime a dozen, huh.“

"No no, that’s not what I’m saying.” His father pulled his gaze away from the radar for just a half second to give his son a stern look. "There’s no way you’re going to find the right one when you’re a teenager. You’re just not mentally ready. You have to be a man first before you get the right woman.“

"So I’m supposed to be single until I’m what, 40 years old, then I’ll be man enough to have a real girlfriend?” asked Sora testily.

“That would make your mother happy,” said his father with a laugh. "Just don’t get too attached to those girls you’re with now, and for gods sake, don’t get them pregnant.“

Sora gave his father an angry stare. The man was too busy watching his radar as if it held all the secrets of life to realize it. He wasn’t surprised that this was his dad’s version of "the talk,” which was coming too little, too late. Not for the first time, Sora wished that he was old enough to be on his own so that he could be away from the annoying man.

They spent a few minutes in silence; Sora silently stewing while his father continued his work. His dad put on his headset to listen to what the microphone was picking up, and then frowned. He adjusted some of the dials on the control panel, and when that didn’t satisfy him, he pulled his headphones aside and looked at his son. "Have you been playing with my equipment?“ he questioned.

"No,” said Sora sullenly.

“Come here for a second,” beckoned his father. When his son obeyed, he handed over the headset. "Listen to this.“

Sora placed the headphones over his ears. He could hear the usual echolocations of the nearby dolphin pod, but there was something else that was coming in very strongly. It sounded like a human voice, and it was saying the same thing over and over.

Sora. Jerk!

His eyes widened.

"Isn’t that something?” said his father with bemusement. "The ocean hates you today.“

"Very funny,” answered Sora nervously. He handed the headphones back and waited until his dad was distracted to run to the prow of the ship. Once there, he placed his hands on the guardrail and leaned over so that he could frantically scan the water’s surface.

“Riku?” he called as quietly as he could. He didn’t want to attract his father’s attention, not that it was easy to grab in the first place. "Riku, is that you?“

A few moments later, the mer surfaced. The expression on the prince’s face was thunderous. Riku learned of Sora’s current location from the dolphins, and he knew from their previous conversations that this boat was used to listen to underwater conversations. He decided to give his wayward human an earful, and that was only the beginning of all that he wanted to say.

The determined anger on Riku’s face made Sora realize that he was probably every inch the jerk that the merman claimed.

To be continued.
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