Maria laughed through her nose (if that makes any sense, I have no idea how else to describe it), amusement in her eyes, “Of course. If you’re the only merman in existence, as you so claim to be, us humans want to know what makes you tick. And how we can make more merpeople.”
Meanwhile…
Carter felt like it took too long for them to get back home, but thank gosh they got there soon. The only problem was Carter had to walk part of the way, since the car couldn’t drive up to the entrance. He limped his way back -with Elecia’s help, of course- to the cave. “So… would you care to explain why you were living in a cave?”
Carter sighed, having a slightly difficult time to get in with the crutches, “It’s hard to explain.”
Arria willed his heart to slow, to calm down and no show any morsel of fear that he felt, “Fine. Do your worst.”
Meanwhile.
The three mermenmade the quick distance between their home and the cave, worry etched into their features. They popped their heads up into the water.
“Carter? Where’s Arria what happened to your foot?!” Herla looked at him with wide eyes.
“Good,” Maria merely stated before closing the door behind her and locking Arria in the room. Alone.
Meanwhile…
Carter nearly fell over in surprise at the voice, but relief washed over him when he saw Arria’s friends. “Oh my gosh I’m so glad to see you,” He said, limping in as fast as he could, “We went out for our date, and on the way out of the movies we were kidnapped and then sold in an auction, and then Arria changed in front of them and almost died, and we were trying to swim away but they got a boat and when I was diving down the motor caught my foot and then the guy c-cut it off to discipline Arria and then he made this deal thing and- and-“ Carter didn’t know he started crying until he fell to his knees in the sand beside the water, his eyes alone begging Gallion, Herla, and Mulir for some kind of answer.
Elecia watched from the cave entrance in shock, barely able to form words.
Arria swallowed, eyes staying on the door in silence. The faint drip, drip, drip was starting to plague him and he let out a small yell of annoyance and curled up in on himself, hands over his ears.
Meanwhile.
Mulir swam closer to Carter, “Breath, Carter, breath.” He told him gently.
“So, let me get this straight,” Herla said slowly, “You were kidnapped, sold in a… an auction, Arria nearly died and then he made… no. No he…”
Gallion tensed, “Last time he did that was…”
“Yeah, and it didn’t end well,” Herla muttered, “He said he wouldn’t unless it was a real problem so…”
The three mermen exchanged glances, a silent conversation between them.
“Do you know where he is now?”
“I- I don’t…” Carter replied dejectedly, hopelessness sinking into his eyes. “All I know is that the lady was named Maria…” How am I supposed to find him, I need to get to him…
“The nurse told me where they picked him up,” Elecia added from the corner of the cave, reminding Carter of her presence. “And here I thought you too we eloping…” She muttered, then approached the side on the water and looking at the mermen with disbelief in her eyes.
The three mermen looked to Elecia, then to each other, then to Carter, then back to each other in another silent conversation.
“Where?” Herla asked, “If we even know just a little bit we can go look for him.”
“It was [Insert location here cause I don’t feel like thinking]. And I heard the limo they left in drove south, so that means two things. One, obviously, that it’s south of [location]. Two, that it’s someone who’s rich. At least that narrows it down a little bit.” Elecia told them, watching at Carter’s leg for a moment before giving him a look. Something along the lines of he shouldn’t be doing this when he should be in the hospital.
He ignored her, biting his lip, “Do you know how to make the potions that Arria made? So I’m can get my fin, so we can go faster.” Because for all Carter knew, Arria was just being auctioned off again to some power hungry individuals.
Mulir nodded his head, “I haven’t made them for a while but I know how too,” He sighed, “It’ll take a while to swim out there, maybe a day or so, you know that, right Carter?” The last thing they wanted was for him to hurt himself before they found Arria. Yet it was a long way away and the quicker they got there the better but… Carter and his injury needed to be take care of.
“Yes, I know. But it’s the fastest way to get to him, I’ll just be dead weight if I try to go by land.” Carter said, clenched his fists and not even thinking about his own health and safety. “Besides, if Maria saw me with a fin… I’ll be able to distract her enough for you to get Arria.”
"You.." Herla sighed, "You don't know what Arria has told Maria. If he's said there's other merpeople or not. Best to go in as human then other." The other two nodded before Mulir swam off to go make the potions.
Carter was about to open his mouth in slight protest, but Elecia cut him off, “So, now that we got all that figured out… Am I allowed to ask how you all met each other now?” She raised her eyebrows pointedly at Carter before glancing at the Gallion and Herla.
Herla crossed his arms over his chest, “Carter met Arria first, he helped Carter when he was stung by a string ray,” He shrugged, “Arria showed Carter the city and he met us. Simple.”
“The city?” Elecia raised her eyebrows even further, and Carter huffed an annoyed breath.
“It’s just like humans, they have underwater cities, Elecia,” Carter explained, laying down on the sand becuase he wanted to save his energy, especially since he’d be walking without his foot.
(timeskip to when the potion is done?)
(Yup)
About half an hour or more later, Mulir came back with what resembled a beg made from seaweed. He was panting and held it up for everyone to see, “Potions to turn you all human and mermaid/man,"
"Did you get the…" Herla started but didn't even need to finish before Mulir nodded.
"Yeah, I did." He replied breathlessly.
Carter let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the bag with potions. “Alright, we need to hurry,” He said anxiously then glanced down at his leg. I need to get Arria out… now, before something worse happens to him.
“So what exactly are we doing?” Elecia asked with a small frown at Carter’s leg, biting her lip.
“We’re going to get Arria, what else?” Gallion raised an eyebrow at her while Mulir opened the bag and rummaged through it. A few seconds later, he pulled out two identical looking potions and handed one to Carter and held it out to Elecia.
“Wait, do you mean that I’m drinking that?” She raised her eyebrows, taking a step back.
Carter rolled his eyes, taking his own potion and tugging off his pants to leave him in just his boxers, “We have to hurry, and of course you’re drinking that. It’ll be the most efficient way to get there.” Elecia huffed a breath, following Carter’s example and peeling off her shorts with slight embarrassment and taking the potion. She gulped it up, and the next breath she was falling into the water with a small splash. She had a bright red tail and a stunned expression on her face. Carter gulped up his own potion a pinch of pain as his legs morphed. A sinking feeling settled in his chest when he saw his fin- half of it looking like it was ripped off. Carter sighed, it would have to do- he’d just work extra hard to keep up. He grabbed their pants, “Can we put these in the bag, so we aren’t running around naked when the potion wears off?”
Mulir nodded and grabbed both pairs of shorts, stuffing them into the bag quickly. Gallion and Herla didn’t say anything else as they diving down and out the cave, clearly anxious and wanting to get to their friend as quickly as possible.
“Come on, let’s get going.”
Carter started to swim, a little cautious at first. His tail didn’t propel as much as it used to when it was missing a chunk like that, but he just worked a little harder. Elecia was behind him, still a little stunned as she was getting the hand of swimming, but she was keeping up.
(Timeskip to when they get farther maybe?)
(Yeah)
The group swam for a good few hours without stopping, slowing down occasionally so Carter didn't injure himself further. After a while longer, the three mermen at the front had to stop to catch their breath.
Carter slowed, still anxious to get to Arria, but d-mn his tail hurt from swimming so hard. But I just need to get to Arria… Elecia was merely letting herself float in the water, tiredly asking, “How much longer do you think it will take to get there?”
Herla shrugged a shoulder, "A day? I have no clue." He sighed sleepily.
"We all need rest, especially you Carter. You've been working harder then the rest of us." Mulir said, fighting hard to keep his eyes open.
Carter opened his mouth with a protest, “I really haven’t, I can keep going even, maybe if we just-“
“Carter, we are not going to be able to continue, we need rest or else we’ll be too tired to even be able to help your fiance when we get there.” Elecia interrupted, putting a hand on his shoulder, “And you’re just going to hurt yourself more.”
"She's right, Carter," Mulir said gently, "And Arria will actually skin us alive if we let you hurt yourself more." The other two nodded.
"We need to be at full strength when we get there, so rest we must." Herla let out a long breath.
“Where can we go? Without, erm, drowning, that is.” Elecia asked, chewing her lips. Carter wrung his hands, ignoring the pain in his tail. He just wanted to make sure Arria was safe, every second wasted…
"I think there's a cave or something along those lines on the surface not to far from here," Gallion said, looking upwards, "It's about a ten minute swim."
“Alright then, we should hurry…” Carter muttered, taking a deep breath. He wished he could be with Arria, he wished he could know if he was safe… (Timeskip to the next day?)
(Yup)
The group rested well into the evening, gathering their strength for the next swim a few hours later. They new every second wasted was costing them but soon they were swimming again, heading towards where they presumed Arria was being kept.
Carter could hardly sit still towards the end of it. Though he had to admit, when they first came to rest in the cave he dropped like a fly, and had taken a long nap caused by exhaustion. But he was glad they were out swimming again. Ready to find Arria. Occasionally, Elecia would swim up and check the coast to see if any big cities were nearby. That’s where Maria would probably be, but sadly they hadn’t seen any cities yet…
Elecia was returning from the surface again, but this time she was shouting out, “Hey, there’s a huge city, we should check it out!”
"How close is it to the coast?" Herla asked, swimming towards Elecia, the others close behind him, "If we're all going to get Arria then uh, we're gonna need some more shorts…"
