Little Merman - Klance Mermaid AU

Chapter Five

Keith had been spending a weird amount of time in Altea, a lot more than he usually did. Most of it was spent in the castle training with his sword, but he would sometimes venture out and into the city, finding the weirdest places to hide from Coran. Honestly, the amount of times he had hidden behind a wall and Coran had gone around the city trying to find him was hilarious.

One day, Keith found himself in the garden with Allura while she talked about her favorite plants. He wasn't really paying much attention, just kinda glancing at them, then looking off towards the direction of the mainland. He itched to go back and see Lance, maybe even get to know him more now that he knew him, but he could never get away from Coran for long enough. It had been a whole week.

"-and they really do wonders for the skin," Allura said excitedly, snapping Keith out of his daze.

"What?" Keith asked, not even trying to hide the fact that he hadn't been listening.

Allura huffed and crossed her arms, a slight pout on her face. "You weren't listening," se said, stating it, rather than asking.

"No," Keith said bluntly, "I was thinking about something else,"

"You mean someone else," Allura teased, poking Keith in the arm, "Still hung up on that human you saved?"

Keith blushed and swatted her hand away, earning a loud laugh from her that made him scowl. "No, I was just thinking about a new training exercise I could do later, when I'm away from you!" He didn't mean for it to sound rude, but he couldn't help it.

Thankfully, Allura was used to him and brushed it off. "Yeah, yeah, just come check out this Marulean flower Father planted not too long ago,"

With that, she dragged him off towards the edge of the garden to see some weird, blue plant. The kind of blue that matched Lance's eyes Keith thought, wilting at the thought. He really did miss his human.

He looked off towards the mainland, again, but was his eyes caught something else in the water. A merman, not too much older than himself was struggling to swim through the open water. He looked like he didn't even know how to swim.

"And this bit here can- Keith, where are you going!?" Allura shouted at her brother. He had begun to swim towards the merman, hoping to get away from Allura, but also because he felt a pang of pity every time the guy failed to push the water around him and move forwards.

The boy slumped and hung limply in the water, rubbing his face in frustration. "You okay there, dude?" Keith asked once he got close enough, startling the poor guy. He seemed to suddenly be able to swim, as he shot back a full four feet, his eyes wide and his mouth open, but no sound came out.

He didn't look familiar to Keith. His skin was tanned, like copper, and his hair was a bright shade of white that could rival Allura's. His tail was blue, matching the markings on his face and his eyes. Eyes that seemed strangely familiar to Keith, but he couldn't quite place it.

His eyes landed on Keith and he suddenly relaxed, but still had wide eyes. They didn't show fear, but something else. Awe? Surprise, perhaps?

"Keith," Allura's voice said behind him, "What are you- Oh!" She stopped right next to Keith, eyeing the merman with curiosity.

"Who's this?" she asked after a minute. The merman brightened at that and opened his mouth to respond, but, when no sound came out, he slumped forward in defeat.

He's mute Keith thought, tilting his head. He had never heard of a mute merman before, a concept that only existed with the humans. First time for everything, I guess he thought, watching as he looked up at the two royal siblings with pain.

"Can you speak, young man?" Allura asked, swimming up to him.

He shook his head, gesturing sadly at his throat, trying to play charades. His blue eyes flicked to Keith, seeming to look for some kind of thought from him, like they had met before. Keith gave him a weird look in response, but an idea sparked into his mind as he looked into his blue eyes.

"How about we just call you Blue?" Keith said, looking over his tail and markings. Yeah, blue could work.

"I like that," Allura said, looking to her brother before turning back to Blue, "Is that okay with you?"

Blue didn't look satisfied, but he nodded, still looking more at Keith than at Allura. Keith found it slightly unnerving and swam back a couple of inches.

Allura didn't notice and turned towards the castle. "Would you like to join us for lunch?" she asked Blue with a smile, "It looks like you could use some food,"

Blue stared at Keith a moment longer before nodding. Allura smiled and turned to swim back to the castle, but Keith grabbed her arm to stop her, a lazy expression on his face.

"What?" Allura snapped, yanking her arm out of her brother's hold. Keith merely sighed and pointed to Blue, who was attempting to swim over, his arms going out in wide arches, but his tail stayed motionless, sometimes twitching, like he was trying to move it in a weird way.

"That's why I came over here in the first place," Keith said, "He can't seem to swim correctly,"

Blue looked up at that and scowled at Keith, not denying it, but still trying to swim. After a minute, he stopped and made a desperate face that just screamed help me, please. It made Keith's heart thud against his ribs. He had no idea why, but that look seemed familiar.

"Hang on," Keith grumbled, following as Allura silently went over to Blue. They each took one of his arms and began to guide him towards the castle. While they swam, Blue watched Allura and Keith's tails, flapping his own to match their strokes. He still needed help, but, once they had reached the castle, he was able to propel himself forwards in little bursts.

"Children, just in time for lunch!" Shiro shouted when he saw Keith, who was swimming ahead of Blue and Allura, who had stayed to help him maneuver around.

"We brought company," Keith mumbled, taking his seat at the table. Shiro gave him a confused look, and looked towards the door when Keith nodded towards it.

The two of them watched as Blue and Allura came in, Blue still wobbly and unsure of himself as he swam around, but very much determined. Allura held onto his arm to make sure he didn't run into any walls and promptly laughed when she let go and Blue swam into a wall. He gave her a withering look, and tried to jump at her, but just ended up floating through the water.

"Who's this?" Shiro laughed out, covering his face with his hand.

Bue looked up at that, twisting in the water to get a better look at Shiro as he looked him over. He smiled and opened his mouth again, but rolled his eyes at himself when, once again, no sound came out. Slumping forward, he motioned for Allura to introduce him.

"Father, this is Blue," she said, gently guiding him to sit next to Keith, "Sadly, he can't seem to talk,"

Blue looked sheepish and seemed to blush, his face darkening. Keith regarded him with a confused look, then turned towards the stage at the end of the table with a bored look.

"I hope you like dancing, Blue," Allura said, turning to the stage with an excited look. He turned to the stage as Shiro settled into the seat at the head of the table. After a moment, the surtain parted and a dancer came out, dancing across the stage as the food was set out in front of them.

She didn't dance in any way that was bad, just moving around in lean ways that seemed to hypnotize everyone around her. At some point, Allura got to go up and dance with her, making weird giggles as she did so. Blue looked at Keith at some point, searching his face for something, but gave up at some point. When Keith laughed though, when Allura tripped on the stage, Blue's face lit up and he gave him a fond look. It was almost enduring and he wished Keith had noticed.

A/N: At some point, I'm gonna forget that Lance can't talk, but today is not that day