The glass bottle lay quietly on Lance's desk. He couldn't stop thinking about it.
No matter what he did, what he tried to distract himself with, he couldn't bring himself to not look at it. He'd already written about a dozen letters in response to the original. He'd even chosen a final one— which he planned to return to the beach when he got the chance.
The reason Lance had so much free time: when he'd gotten back from his... adventure, his parents made him stay in his room for two movements(weeks) straight as a punishment, only to come out for meals. Luckily enough, they actually didn't know that he'd gone to the land because he'd made a deal with Veronica that in order for her not to tell them, he would do all her chores for the next six phoebs(months). If his parents had known, his punishment would surely be much longer than two movements.
Lance sighed and picked up the letter once again. He'd put a seal around it so that it was waterproof and the paper wouldn't disintegrate from the water. The mer lay down on the bed and read the letter for what seemed like the millionth time.
Soon, after who knows how long, the letter dropped from Lance's hands. He stared at the ceiling, his eyes wide. After reading the letter over and over again, the mer had finally come to a realization. For a while he'd felt as though he didn't quite belong, like he needed to find the place where he did but just didn't know where to look. Now it was as if... as if the land was calling him somehow. The letter he'd found had to mean something— didn't it? Whoever wrote it needed help, and it seemed Lance had to be the one to help them. Based on the letter, it seemed as though they hadn't told anyone about their problems.
Lance swam out of his room as fast as he could. He stopped when he reached the kitchen, and peeked around the corner. His parents were there; his mother working on something on her computer(a light blue screen illuminated from a slim metal bar), and his father preparing a fish for dinner. Lance cautiously swam into the room and made a quiet chirp sound to let his parents know he was there. They both looked up.
"Lance? ¿Que haces afuera de tu cuarto?" His mother asked. Lance took a deep breath and sighed. His heart began beating faster from the anticipation.
"I think..." He started, unsure how to word his request. "I think I want to go to the land for a while." His parents' eyes widened.
"What makes you think you can go to the land?!"
"W- wait!" Lance exclaimed. "Please, let me explain." His father sighed and walked over in front of his son.
"Bien, explica."
"Okay. I've felt... different for a while. Like I don't quite fit in with everyone else. I've been in a bad place." Lance's parents exchanged looks. The mer's eyebrows furrowed and his tongue brushed against his fangs. "I know you know! And I don't care!" Lance yelled. Tears formed in his eyes and floated up to the roof.
"I just want to get a chance to not feel so..." Lance groaned and sunk to the ground, hitting his head against the wall in the process. His parents didn't say anything, both unsure about what to say.
"You want to... get a chance to not feel that way?" Rosalina enquired, finally breaking the silence. She stepped forward and put a hand on Lance's shoulder. Lance nodded lightly.
"There's nowhere here for me to do that," He half-whispered.
"Entonces... ¿donde necesitas ir..?" His mother asked, hesitant, though she already knew what the answer would be. Lance mumbled something inaudible.
"Lance..." His father whispered, moving to Rosalina's side.
"The land," Lance whispered more clearly. "Please. There's something there for me. I can feel it." The mer looked up at his parents. Their faces were unreadable.
"¡Claro que no! It's too dangerous! You've heard the stories about humans. They would kill you if they saw you," Leandro snapped. Lance backed away a bit. His pupils turned into slits, like a cat's.
"I know it's dangerous, but please listen to me," Lance reasoned. "Those legends were from centuries ago. Lots of things have changed. Can't you open even the tiniest sliver of your mind to believe that humans may have changed as well?" Leandro looked towards his wife. She nodded, and Lance stared at them, confused. His father sighed.
"Lance, we aren't going to say that things haven't changed. We know better than that. But your Papi also knows first hand what humans can do." Leandro brought the end of his tail in front of him, looking at a large jagged scar that cut a large portion of his tail fin and moved up two feet up the side of his tail. Lance had never known how his father had gotten that scar, but now he finally connected the dots to what his mother had said.
"You— humans?" Lance asked, perplexed. Leandro nodded. Lance shook his head. No. They can't all be like that, right? He hesitated before speaking.
"No," He started, his voice breaking. "They aren't all like that. He's not like that." His parents were silent. Lance's eyes widened when he realized his mistake.
"¿Quien?" His mother questioned.
"Leandro Carlos McClain, what did you do?"
Lance chuckled nervously. Quiznak. "Uhm..." He looked up at his parents, both wearing disapproving glares. The mer took a deep breath. "Yes, okay? I know what you're thinking, and yes, I did." Both of them opened their mouths to speak but Lance cut them off. "But don't start thinking that I went onto land. I didn't. I stayed in the water, and saw a human from the distance. Yes, he saw me, but he didn't do anything. He just stared at me. Whatever happened to you, Papi, I don't think it's like that anymore. He didn't seem to even know I existed." His parents stayed silent, taking in this information.
Lance's father placed his hands on the mer's shoulders, "Mira, maybe humans don't know we exist anymore. But we have to keep it that way, it's better for all of us."
"But Papi—"
"No buts. You are not going to the land. Entiendes?" Lance looked down to the floor.
He nodded, "Si." His father smiled.
"Bien," He kissed the top of Lance's head. "Now, go back to your room. You're still grounded you know." Leandro smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
"Okay," Lance whispered, turning and leaving the room. He noticed the pictures of his family on the walls along the hallway. He looked so happy in those. What changed?
Upon entering his bedroom, Lance glanced down to the long spear leaning against the wall. He picked it up, trailing a nail along the smooth metal tip. He looked down at the bandage around his tail. I don't fit in here anymore anyways... would anyone really miss me...?
"No..." The mer whispered, coming to a realization. He grabbed his satchel from off the bed and raced around the room, filling it with everything he thought he'd need. His phone(yes, mers have phones), extra bandages and ointment for his wound, and some other things. While grabbing a dagger(for protection), Lance noticed a picture frame that had fallen over. He picked it up to see a photo of him and Hunk, from when they first started secondary school. Lance set his hand against the photo.
"Sorry, buddy," he whispered, tears coming to his eyes. I have to do this. He placed the picture gently into the satchel, along with his response to the mysterious letter, and slung it over his shoulder. Lance pushed open the window above his bed, but paused. He looked back to the door for a moment.
Nope, not gonna hesitate. I have to do this. For... for everyone's sake. They'll be better without me. The mer shook his head and squeezed through the window. First thing's first, he thought, I need to know what to expect on the land.
~ ♆ ~
Lance opened the door to the town library. The building seemed fairly small from the outside, but was much larger on the inside. There were countless shelves stacked with books and scrolls, and at the center was a simple coral counter with a mer behind it. They had purple skin similar to the prince's— meaning that they were a Galra, or at least half Galra, like Lotor(who was half Altean, half Galra). The Galra were a race of mers who, unlike Alteans like Lance, didn't have a specific kingdom. They lived all over the world, often moving from village to village and never really settling. Another thing that made them different from Alteans was that their tails more resembled shark tails, while Alteans' had longer, and more fragile, transparent fins.
The particular Galra in front of Lance had short, jet-black hair with long bangs that fell over her face. She had two sharp horns sticking out the top of her head, and her yellow eyes stared Lance down with a look of boredom.
"How can I help you?" She asked Lance. He began swimming to the right of the desk, in the direction of the back of the library where historical scrolls were.
"Uh, I'm okay for now. Just looking around," Lance flashed a smile and swam away. He could feel the mer's eyes on the back of his head, though. After a couple doboshes(minutes), Lance finally found the stack that held the scrolls he wanted. There wasn't much on the land; everything that seemed like it would contain information ended up useless.
Finally, though, after what seemed like ages of searching, Lance found a scroll that proved to be useful. It was buried in the back of the library, at the bottom of a box of old and ancient scrolls. Around the thin fiber was a dull golden ring, no longer shiny. Engraved in the ring were scratchy letters that read, "Legends of the Land." The blue-scaled mer let out an excited thrill and swam over to a desk hidden in the back corner. He rolled out the scroll and his eyes widened.
The first thing that Lance noticed was the intricate title at the top of the page. In the top corner was a small, but brightly colored, red shape that had written inside, "By Altean Law it is forbidden for any mer to approach or walk on land." Thanks for the reminder, Lance thought. Wait— it said walk? Mers couldn't walk, they didn't have legs.
...Right?
Lance shrugged off his questions and continued reading. The scroll mostly consisted of the same old legends Lance had heard growing up, all which portrayed humans as destroyers, evil, and basically a scourge upon the whole planet. The mer sighed. This couldn't be true. He wouldn't accept that. Sure, there were probably some humans who were bad, just like there were mers who were bad. But they couldn't all be like that.
Lance rolled up the scroll, putting it back where it was previously. He smiled to the librarian as he left.
Soon the mer reached the borderstones, and then the water began getting shallow. He poked his head up over the waves, taking in the familiar sight in front of him. He was still amazed by the stars above. Lance swam to the beach, where he had to pull himself forward once he couldn't swim anymore. He dragged himself onto the beach, keeping the end of his tail in the water.
He was already starting to feel tired; it took a lot of energy to move out of the water. Finally he pulled himself all the way onto the beach. Lance shook some sand off his hands and looked towards his tail, which lay limp behind him. The very end of it was still in the water, so he swished it towards him. He used his hands to help himself move closer to the rocks that lined the shore.
Lance rested his back against the hard surface of a rock and sighed. Maybe it was a bad idea going onto the land— it was impossible to move anywhere with his tail. He also had to— technically— stay out of sight from the humans, which would be hard to do.
"Who am I kidding," Lance whispered to himself, "There's no way I can manage here without being hunted or something." There was a slight tingling sensation in his tail, but it was probably just sand that had gotten caught under his scales. He sighed, picking up the photo from inside his bag. Maybe I should just go home... All of a sudden Lance felt a sharp pain go through his tail.
"What the—?!"
The mer's luminescent markings began glowing brightly, but Lance hadn't directed them to. A glow emitted from beneath Lance's scales, and the pain got more intense. Lance closed his eyes, teeth clenched and about to scream. What is happening?!
As soon as it started, though, the pain stopped. Lance waited a moment, expecting it to come back, but when it didn't, he hesitantly opened his eyes. They went wide as soon as he looked down to his tail. —Or rather, where his tail was.
Lance let out a shaky breath; in place of the scaled tail beneath his waist, was now a pair of tan-skinned legs.
A/N:
Hey all! Sorry this update is a bit late, I got a bit of writers block while writing this. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it! (also; drawing above is done by me. Just a quick piece I did for this chapter a few days ago :)
- Soni <3