The ribbon between them burned red hot for a few moments before it disappeared into their skin. Arria immediately felt the deal between them, like a nagging in the back of his brain and burning against his wrist. He released a breath and quickly made his way over to Carter, wrapping him in his arms and running a hand through his hair gently.
“Arria Arria Arria Arria Arria,” Carter sobbed, “Make it stop, please, make it stop,” He pleaded uselessly, “J-Just wake me up, I don’t want this to be real, please, I want to be home,” Carter whispered, each breath he took drenched in pain so he tucked his head into Arria’s neck, “Please… I want to go home with you…”
Arria shushed him softly, "I know, love. I know it hurts but we're going somewhere with people who can make the pain go away," He looked to Maria and that bond flickered, "I know you want to go home, and you can. You'll be able to soon, I promise." He released a small breath, pulling Carter closer to his body gently.
(Pls dont ever stop RPing this pls pls pls dont kill Caria dont kill my new ship.)
(this is like my favourite rp to stalk asdfghjkl)
(I know right!! It is so awesome I spent a night reading up til where they stopped and now it's a highlight of my day to see what happens next!!)
Carter was so focused on that pain and on Arria, that he didn’t notice the boat had started up again. But he whispered quietly, “I w-want to go home with you. You’re home.” Carter wrapped his arms around Arria and tightened his grip, “I love you.”
Arria smiled a little, wiping away a tear, "I love you more. And no matter what happens, I always will," He closed his eyes and rested his chin on Carter's head. Everything will work out fine… "You're going to be okay."
“But-“ The boat slowed, and Carter vaguely realized they were at docks. “You, get in the cabin,” Maria hissed at Arria coldly, and the guard was already going to grab Arria and pull him into the cabin’s safety of prying eyes. Carter held onto him tighter, “D-Don’t go.”
"I love you, Carter. Remember that." Arria placed a soft yet loving kiss to his lips. He hooked an arm around the guards shoulders as he was pulled away and out of sight from Carter and any other eyes that might see him. He'll be fine. He'll be fine. He'll be fine. He'll be fine…
Carter reached out weakly, the world blurring with a new flood of tears forming. But a stranger picked him up not a few moments after Arria was hidden, and it seemed like a whole crowd of people was swarming the boat, some people even had cameras out and Carter was helped out of the boat by strangers’s hands, and he heard an ambulance before he finally blacked out from blood loss.
As soon as Carter was gone, Arria couldn't contain his whimper and the sob that escaped him. he watched the ambulance pull away, Carter inside and he fiddled with the ring on his finger. For Carter… you doing this for him and he'll be fine because of it… He wished there was another way, but there was none that he could see.
Maria looked at Arria -now, most of the people were gone- and ushered her guard, “Come on, my limo is here, and I’d like to get back soon,” The guard picked Arria up, and they exited the boat to find the limo pulled up right next to the dock, and Maria let the guard and Arria go in ahead of her. This time, there was a cooler full of water secured next to the seat.
Arria let out a small relieved breath when he noticed the water. At least this time he wasn't going to die. Once he was seated, he dipped a hand into the water before running it through his hair, a;ready feeling too dry but there was water, and that was all he needed… apart from Carter.
It took a few hours, Maria and her guard mostly silent, but eventually the limo stopped before a large building. Maria strutted out of the limo, leaving the guard to grab Arria and bring him inside to a room equipped with a large tub of water- something that Maria had ordered ahead of time. “We can talk about my plans tomorrow, I’ll let you get settled.” She smirked, greed dancing in her eyes still.
Arria rolled his eyes at her as he was placed into the tub of water, "Fine. Whatever then…" He muttered. He rolled onto his side, back to Maria and let out a small sigh through his nose. His tail swished lazily back and forth as well as he could. He just wanted to go home.
(Could we timeskip to the next day?)
(Yup, that's fine by me)
Carter woke slowly, for a second reaching out to a person that wasn’t there. His eyes nearly shot open when he realized he was in a hospital bed, and that Arria was no where to be seen. The memories of yesterday hit him harder than he expected, sitting there breathing for a few seconds. Then he was already swinging his legs over the bed, trying to stand and find a way back to Arria. Only he fell -making a fairly large crash that was bound to alert someone- as soon as he put weight on his legs. On a foot that wasn’t there. On a bandaged stub. Tears were welling in his eyes by the time a nurse came in with a gasp, immediately calling other’s to help.
Meanwhile…
Maria walked through her halls, opening the door to Arria’s room without knocking. Her face was blank -bored, even- as she walked in.
Arria hadn’t slept a wink that night. To lost in thought to really care. Even though he was sleep deprived, he sat up faster then he ever had in his life when he heard his door open, Maria walking inside. He frowned at her and sighed, “Care to knock next time?”
“Why should I care?” Maria told him with a annoyed look on her face as she looked down at Arria, “I’m sure you’d like to know about I’m going to do with you.”
Meanwhile…
Nurses frantically helped Carter back onto the hospital bed, one of them scolding him for trying to stand when no one was around. They had gotten him a pitcher of water, and they told him someone had come to get him and take him home when he healed up enough. Carter couldn’t waste time, waiting there for leg to heal enough. I need to get Arria… The only relief he got was when Elecia walked in.
Arria snorted, "At least you've got that right. So please, enlighten me." He glared at her and crossed his arms over his chest, tail twitching in irritation. He'd been here not even a damned day and already was completely done with this woman.
“Well, just imagine how much money I could get from the government if I gave them a real life merman,” Maria smirked with greed caught in her eyes, “And then imagine how much more money I could get if I gave them the location of a colony of merpeople.”
Meanwhile…
“What happened to you? I gave you my car for the night, then you come back home missing a f-cken foot.” She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him, “You better have a decent explanation.”
Carter frowned a little, “Elecia, right now Arria’s in trouble. I have to get to him. I know I need to explain a lot, but I doubt you would believe me. Just-“ Carter’s voice wavered slightly, “please, Elecia. I need to save Arria rather than sitting around here and talking about what happened.”
Arria rolled his eyes, “There are no other merpeople you stupid woman. If there was people would know about them by now,” The lie rolled of his tongue easily, “The government will think you’re lying anyway. A prank that you’ve just placed a… a costume on me and claimed I’m a real merman.”
“What do you mean there are no other merpeople? You came into existence somehow,” Maria pointed out nastily, “And they’ll have to believe when I show them.” But she frowned nevertheless, starting to pace.
"I don't even know how I came into reality. If I knew, I'd tell you but honestly I don't know," Arria narrowed his eyes at her, "You don't think I haven't searched for others like me? If I had found them, do you think I'd be anywhere near the surface?"
Maria scoffed, “And what about your little friend? Did he know about anyone else like you?” She slipped out her phone, fingers dancing across the screen quickly.
Meanwhile…
Elecia watched him for a few moments that felt like eternity. Then she finally opened her mouth, “So what can I do?”
Arria snorted, “Of course not. If I don’t then he definitely doesn’t.” He sighed and muttered some inaudible insults towards Maria under his breath.
“He found you, what makes you think he didn’t find anyone else?” She sneered, but was already walking out the door as she added absentmindedly, “Someone will be coming to examine you probably tomorrow or the next day.”
Meanwhile…
Somehow, Elecia managed to get crutches, and was currently in the process of sneaking him out of the hospital. “This is stupid,” She muttered, leaving him in the elevator as she went to distract the attendants in the lobby. Once she had them talking about a picture hanging on the wall opposite to the doors, he made his way out as quickly as he could. Elecia was next to him a couple moments later, taking him to the car before anyone noticed he was gone. “So where are we going again?”
“It’s… a cave. Not too far from your house.” Carter could only pray he’d be able to find an extra potion in there, or even better would be finding one of Arria’s friends…
Arria’s eyed widened slightly and he felt a heaviness started to wiegh on him, “E-Examine? What do you mean?” He swallowed a lump in his throat. Oh gosh…
Meanwhile…
“Where would they be? It’s not like they could have gone far.” Herla crossed his arms over his chest, eyes flicking between his two friends.
“I don’t know. Maybe they went on land or something.” Mulir shrugged a shoulder, “Where were they staying again?”
“Some cave,” Gallion waved a hand, “Let’s head over there, we might find them.”