"the moon and me are like this 🤞"
ᴍᴇʀᴍᴀɪᴅ ᴏᴄ
A tale of two impoverished sisters.
Luna and Marina were once nobles in an underwater kingdom formerly known as "Esdelle." That was until one day, humans came and wiped them out in what is now known as...
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⋆.ೃ࿔*:･₊ ⊹
Luna followed the men down the concrete steps to the stone path where a few carriages were waiting. From this distance, she could see the castle in full view. Her lips parted slightly as she took in the sight.
It was on a hillside, extremely massive and tall, reaching for the sky. It was crafted of a smooth, light grey stone, with navy blue and off-white accents. This place was for nobles, no doubt. She looked back at the path in front of her. The sun was rising above the horizon now, casting a light sparkle atop the rocks and the ocean.
They approached the carriages, and Luna cautiously eyed the mares attached to the front of each one. Dazai seemed to notice this, and he took the opportunity to make a small jab at her.
"What, you've never seen a horse before?"
Luna just looked at him, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. If only he knew.
"Come on, Dazai." Kunikida gave him a side-glance, clearly unamused.
There were a few wooden crates and boxes on the ground, looking like the contents had been rummaged through half-way and then abandoned for later.
A young, blonde boy came from around the corner of one of the carriages just then, carrying a stack of more crates. He was also in the navy uniform.
"Oh, hello." He said, looking up at the older men, then at Luna.
"Kenji," Dazai dragged out his name. "What do our goods look like?"
The young boy's head lowered as he gazed at the open crates on the ground. "Way less than last time.. At this rate, the people are really gonna start starving."
Dazai's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the boy. His voice lowered, his tone shifting to a more cold one. "I see.. we'll just have to start snuffing them out from the inside then."
Luna watched his eyes. They could look quite dark and chilling at times. Who was he referring to?
"Is that.." Kenji began to say, pointing at Luna.
"Our new friend, Luna? Why yes, it's her in the flesh," Dazai spoke, his lighthearted demeanor coming back, as if it had never left at all. "Get her seated, yeah?" He patted the boy's back and went with Kunikida to the carriage at the front.
The boy nodded and set the stack of crates in the back of the carriage, then turned to Luna, smiling a bit. He shook her hand.
"It's nice to finally meet you, miss Luna. My name is Kenji."
"Kenji.." She repeated his name.
He opened the door to the carriage, gesturing for her to climb in.
The inside was luxurious. The seats were of a soft leather cushion, light baby blue in color, and the windows had their own little white, lace curtains, giving passengers sufficient privacy. After a moment, they began moving.
"Where did you come from?" The boy turned to her. His tone was quite friendly, Luna realized. His entire look just screamed friendly. His kind, brown eyes, his lighthearted voice, and the little freckles scattered atop his nose. She felt a twinge of guilt knowing she was essentially going to lie to him with her next words. But if she wanted to get away, she had to have a plan.
"I'm from the Americas, so.. you guys are going to let me go after this so I can find my way back home, right?"
Kenji looked at her for a moment. "Wow, well, that would be an entire voyage.. Did you have any money with you?"
"No.."
He looked a little confused, tilting his head slightly. "Well, how exactly did you end up here in the first place?"
"What?"
"Well, you did just kind of wash up on our island last night. Did your ship wreck?"
"Oh.. Well, you see, I got into a bit of a predicament with my parents while we were on a boat trip.. I shouldn't go into the details, but to keep it brief, I was disowned."
"Really?" Kenji's eyes widened as he listened to her speak, then he looked down, seemingly thinking of something. "So then.. they just threw you overboard?"
She nodded. Kenji continued to look down at his lap, playing with one of his white-gloved hands.
"Wow.. In the village where I'm from, we throw people over cliffs, but.. That's only if they did something bad. Really bad," He looked up at her. "What did you do?"
Luna froze. She had an answer ready for that question, but she was unsure of how credible it would sound actually coming out of her mouth. She had already spewed enough nonsense to these people as it was.
"Well, it's a bit complicated. I would rather not speak of it." She decided to answer. Kenji nodded.
"It's okay, I understand. I think you should stay with us then. You're pretty much broke and defenseless, and we need to find out what's going on anyway.. we think you might hold some of the answers to our island's curse."
She just looked at him. That was right. That curse. She recalled Dazai's words from earlier that morning in the dining hall.
'...and in some cases, they'll cough up their own blood.' She thought to herself for a moment. This island killed people. Yet she was the exception apparently, making her a valuable asset to their civilization. She actually meant something to these people. Something they had never seen before.
She knew none of it made sense to them, but it made sense to her. She wasn't one of them. It only made sense that she was immune to a curse placed upon humanity. It wasn't like she actually possessed anything special aside from the waters she really came from.
But then it clicked in her mind.
Mother's wishbook.
That had to be the key.
She had the power to turn into a human overnight, there was no telling how many other possibilities there were of what else the book could do. She had less than a day now until she turned back. And when she did, she would simply go back down and write in the wishbook at the next full moon. And then she'd rid this island and all of its people of its curse.
Maybe she would oblige and stay with this group for today after all.
She pulled the curtain back slightly and looked out the window as they passed through some vegetation. "I know you guys serve under this 'King', but.. what exactly are you guys?" She turned back to Kenji.
"We're the Armed Sea Raiders, but mostly everyone just calls us the King's guard now that our duties are only on land. Our job is to maintain the peace of the commoners. There's only four of us here right now, but there's nine of us in total."
Luna's eyes widened slightly with interest, and Kenji immediately took that and continued speaking.
"There's Lord Kunikida and Dazai. Then under them, there's us. That's me, Kyouka, then Ranpo, our mastermind, and then there's the Tanizakis, Atsushi, and Yosano, our doctor."
"The doctor.." Luna began, recalling the woman from that morning. Her glowy eyes. Kenji looked at her.
"Yeah, Doctor Yosano. All of us are still alive thanks to her. None of us can even count how many times she's saved us."
The carriage suddenly came to a stop just then. Luna's door opened abruptly, making her jump a little. It was Dazai. He handed her a folded pair of clothes. She looked down at them.
"What are these?"
"Some decent clothes." Dazai responded dryly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then a hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Don't worry, you didn't think we'd let you run around in that asylum gown, did you?"
She looked down at her current clothes, then back up at Dazai. He did have a point. She ducked her head a little so she could see past him outside.
