uhhhh it's getting harder to come up with words to fill in between the title and the story
ehhhhhhh HOPE YOU ENJOY :D
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He wasn't sure how the gold could glitter as it did. No sunlight should be able to reach this far down, and yet, as he circled over the vast piles of that valued mineral, the wealth winked at him with a mysterious light. Cross didn't answer its flickering call, his narrowed eyes searching for something special. It had to mean something.
His long tail rippled behind him, the extended portion of his caudal fin flicking as he drifted closer to a small heap. The gold was cold, the worn coins smoothed by endless currents clinking gently against each other. He dug through the pile, separating the various precious currencies and gems. He didn't know what exactly he was looking for. He came here with the mindset that he'd know it when he found it. He wasn't sure he knew if he believed that or not.
Cross abandoned the pile, darting to another, larger mound, digging through it with vigor. There had to be something here, right? This place was massive, an endless ship graveyard that was in one of the many wasteland-ish portions of Nightmare's domain. Countless fallen ships, with their hulls torn and bodies broken in pieces, lay scattered across the plain, their gutted insides spilling out in heaps of crates and stolen goods. It was strangely grotesque, despite the lack of organs and bone and the overabundance of wood and weathered tar.
It was so far away from the trench that Cross was sure Nightmare wasn't aware of it. And even if he was, surely he didn't have knowledge of every single treasure and gold piece that littered the sandy ocean floor. At least, he hoped not.
He pulled out a large crystal from his current pile, turning the heavy ruby in his hands, mulling over it. It glittered obnoxiously, throwing out silver dots in spinning clusters. Frowning, he let it go, watching it practically drop to the seafloor, disturbing the sand. Yeah, no. The ruby stayed where it fell.
Diving into another pile, literally, Cross cringed at the chill of the various metals against his body. As fun as his scavenger hunt was, he really didn't like how this stuff felt. It was. Too familiar. Like the doctor's horrible tools. Shivering, he grabbed at anything that had a different shape from the coins and yanked himself out of the pile, swimming away with a huff, examining his findings.
A pearl necklace, which he dropped with a scoff, a strange foil, which he tossed aside, and a couple other trinkets, all of which he discarded. Groaning at the lack of success, Cross grumpily approached another pile, slapping at the various coins distastefully. A soft shine caught his eye, a muted yet vibrant shimmer beckoning from a small stack of crates. Head tilting, he hurried over, pushing the boxes over and looking for the source.
He paused, a hand on a half-rotten box, his eyelights dilating. This. He held the precious, precious item to his chest, ideas popping into his mind as he scanned the wreckage, a proud smile growing on his face. This was exactly what he was looking for.
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Cross tried to keep his expression flat, tried not to give away his excitement, but nearly every time he spoke, his voice would raise into a chirp. Thankfully, it was only twice, but it was enough to have Killer trying to snoop in his business. "C'mon, crossy! 'm sure it ain't that big of a deal, just tell me!" For the sixth time, Cross shot him a glare and hissed, "No."
It seemed to only invigorate Killer. With a snort, the shark mer began swimming in tight circles around Cross. "You know you can't resist forever, criss-cross!" Killer sang, smacking Cross's upper arm with the tip of his tail. Aggravated, Cross dipped away, fingers clenching as he felt Killer snag onto his dorsal fin. He dragged him along, twisting and turning to try and shake him off, but the idiot held on, whooping and cheering like it was a game. Cross was tempted to try taking a bite at him, but his common sense kept him at bay.
"Killer." Cross's tail lashed, his cheeks heating at the sudden rumble of Nightmare's voice. Hushed as it was, the water still vibrated with it, the feeling soft against Cross's bones. He shook off the blush, wriggling out of Killer's slackened hold and giving him a final slap with the longer end of his tail. Killer cried out in offense, but Nightmare's voice cut in before he could retaliate. "Killer, leave him be. I will not ask again."
Grumbling, Killer stuck his tongue out at Cross and dashed away to join the rest of the shiver elsewhere, clearly pouting even as the distance grew. Cross glared at the back of Killer's skull until he couldn't see it anymore, scowling at his shivermate's childish behavior. Nightmare chuckled under his breath. "He is mannerisms can be quite entertaining if not exhausting." Cross's scowl dropped, his mouth twisting into a thin line as he glanced up at Nightmare, his nerves kicking in. The urge to just ask itched at his throat, but he swallowed it down, clearing his throat instead, anxiously scratching at his cheek.
Nightmare hummed lowly, the water rushing as he held up a hand, beckoning Cross closer. "Come. I wish to speak with you," Nightmare said, and Cross felt his bones prickle with a spike of adrenaline. He wouldn't get another opportunity like this. Quickly, before he could psyche himself up too much, Cross swam up to settle in Nightmare's hand. Twiddling his thumbs, he began to fidget, hesitantly asking, "Uhm.. Can I ask what it's about?"
The corner of Nightmare's eyes wrinkled, a smile gracing his face. Cross couldn't help but think it was beautiful on him. He wasn't sure he'd seen Nightmare smile before, much less this softly. Nightmare brought his other hand around, long elegant fingers curling and reaching out to stroke down the length of Cross's spine. "You needn't be so nervous, Cross. You are not in trouble. I simply wish to 'check up' on you." Cross melted under the gentle caress, a soft chirrrup escaping him, his scales tingling in the wake of Nightmare's touch. "Would you mind indulging me," Nightmare murmured, chills rippling over Cross's body. Already feeling woozy from the touches, Cross's eyes drooped with some sleepy contentedness.
Unable to deny Nightmare, Cross mindlessly agreed to humor him, rambling about various things. Nightmare continued to pet him with expert precision, occasionally asking a question or commenting. "You seem tired," he said at one point, and Cross vehemently disagreed. He felt better than ever. The conversation started to drag out, mindless rambling turning into mindless mumbling. Cross was helpless under Nightmare's petting, succumbing easily to sleep just like he would after a large meal. He nearly drifted off when Nightmare made an offhand comment about gifts, and the comfortable weight of sleep was gone in an instant.
He jerked up from where he'd relaxed into Nightmare's hand, shouting some wordless thing. Nightmare even jumped at Cross's sudden movement, the light cast from his socket flashing as he blinked rapidly. Cross shivered, shaking the fog from his head, "Um, Nightmare! I- uh." He lost momentum, fumbling with his words, "So, um. There's this place- I mean-"
Nightmare's head tilted and Cross's face flooded with color as he stumbled through his words. "Uh, would you like to, um, well, I-.." His tail whipped back and forth, his face darkening with purple the more he stuttered senselessly. A hint of amusement flickered over Nightmare's face and Cross sucked in a breath, announcing, "IHAVESOMETHINGFORYOU!!" His throat closed, anticipation stealing away his breath as he waited for Nightmare's answer. The much larger mer's tentacles drew across the floor, rolling over one another as he stared at Cross thoughtfully. After a long, tense pause, Nightmare asked, "Do you?"
Cross nodded sporadically, his filter vanishing and leaving him cursing mentally as he blurted, "I-I found it in one of the ship graveyards!" Nightmare raised a brow, "Oh? The one you visited a month ago?" The thresher nodded again, feeling silly as he asked Nightmare to follow him. "Follow you." Nightmare repeated.
Awkward, Cross rubbed his neck, "Y-yeah! I, um. I prepared a, a thing." His cleverly worded reasoning got Nightmare to cave in. Or perhaps he just pitied his pathetic demeanor. Either way, Cross was overjoyed that Nightmare actually agreed to join him. He gave a crooked grin, his tail twitching. "I promised you won't regret it!" Nightmare raised himself to a higher point, groaning as he moved, "Ah. You'd better hope so."
Cross wiggled excitedly, taking off in a certain direction. "I-it's just this way!" Nightmare trailed after him, mild intrigue written across his face. His tentacles pulled him along, worming over the ground. Despite his massive size, Nightmare moved silently through the water, leaving only the water disturbed by his movements. Not even his tendrils left indentions, the sand smooth and untouched.
It was easy for him to keep up with Cross, his slow speed canceled out by his size, so in the end, It was a short swim. Cross's destination was one of the large caves that Nightmare never used. This one was a gaping mouth of smooth edges and was well away from their usual stomping grounds. Faint light warbled out of the opening, cast by several glowing objects that floated at the roof of the cave. It was somewhat decorated, those several pseudo-lights scattered irregularly throughout a specific area, lighting up enough for Nightmare to see the elaborate set-up.
It wasn't unlike a legged dinner date. All those books Nightmare read had scenes very similar to this. It was rather interesting.
Cross beckoned Nightmare in, smiling brightly as he turned to begin setting up something on the floor. Nightmare could smell silver, though he couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. Utterly enthralled by all the discoveries he was making, Nightmare decided to allow this to play out. Hooking his hands around the cave mouth, Nightmare dragged himself in after Cross, all but plugging the cave entrance as he took up a seat against the wall.
He watched the thresher dash about, dragging things around and muttering to himself as he nitpicked his own set up. Finally, just as Nightmare's patience began to run thin, Cross cleared his throat and hurried into the cave to drag out a hefty crate. A very familiar smell wafted from the box, red misting around it as Cross pulled it out to set in the middle of the room. Nightmare's brows raised, his interest skyrocketing. Shyly, Cross motioned towards the box, "Um. It's for you."
Nightmare glanced between the box and Cross's earnest expression. "For me?"
Cross's clawed hands twisted in a nervous gesture, his chin dipping in confirmation, and Nightmare smiled, delighted. The water rushed, displaced as his fingers carefully plucked the box from the floor. The shark followed after his hand, watching his reaction eagerly.
"May I?" Nightmare asked, pressing his thumb on the top of the crate. At Cross's permission, he broke the wooden box, and a gush of blood wafted into the surrounding water, thick and coppery. A large chunk of what Nightmare recognized as a whale's heart sat in his palm, dwarfed into nothing more than a bite-sized thing, but it was nearly three times the size of Cross's skull and saturated with lifeblood.
Nightmare was floored by it, a small dash of cyan tracing his cheekbones at the offered confession, his expression softening. But, glancing at Cross's hopeful expression, he had a feeling that Cross had no clue what he'd just done.
Still, knowing that it was a gesture of affection nonetheless, he brought his other hand up to bring Cross closer. Cross's squeak of surprise was unfairly adorable, his tiny claws flailing in the water as Nightmare oh so carefully nuzzled his little thresher with a pleased rumble, "Thank you, Cross."
Cross's face was purple, the flush reaching down to his shoulders, and he was trembling just a little bit when Nightmare released him back into the water. "N-no problem, Night."
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oh yeah, it's also unfinished <33
and no, i won't be continuing it, sorry guys ehe :]
thanks for reading!!
onto the next chapter!!
the next one is an update to a series i haven't really visited in a while :]