as i mentioned in this headcanon, Lizzie and Martyn are siblings. Lizzie is older by a year. Their mother is some ocean goddess, and their dad was mortal. Lizzie got most of the magic stuff, Marytn got less. Eventually, when Lizzie was 6 and Martyn 5, their parents split, and Martyn was taken with their crappy father. Lizzie and their mother fully cut contact.
In this time, Martyn's father remarried and had three kids- Pearl, Grian, and Jimmy in that order.
Their father was hard and neglectful, and sometimes physically hurtful, but not to a large degree. After he died, just after Jimmy was born, well, the three's mother, Martyn's stepmother, was very was abusive and neglectful to all four.
Martyn was a child, too, but he basically raised his siblings from then on. He got food for them wherever he could, whether it was by stealing from the kitchen when 'Mother' wasn't looking, taking food from the school canteen or trash, getting snacks from his friends, you name it.
He did make good friends with Scott -a neighbor, a former foster kid whose foster parents were rarely home at all. The two did find out they shared a birthday and immediately declared themselves twins. This never changed in the later years. Ever.
They also made friends with a slightly older boy, Ren, who was better off with a good family, and his parents did make sure to support the kids all they could, only not calling CPS because Martyn begged them, being afraid of being separated from his baby siblings.
Pearl was always responsible from an early age, seeing her big brother handle everything made her want to help. Grian was a menace, but always made sure to never go too far and was always there when Martyn needed a hug. Jimmy, well, he was littler than the others but he always made sure his big siblings knew how much he loved them. They made sure he knew they loved him back. The siblings + Scott were actually very good at communicating with each other, something they surprisingly never lost.
Eventually, when Martyn was 17, he got his own apartment with help from Ren and Scott, and managed to sue for custody and everything. He won, obviously, and he raised his siblings after that. Scott, of course, practically moved in with them.
Pearl, Grian, and Jimmy always knew they had a big half-sister, but like their big brother, never really gave it much thought and never thought she'd be there in their lives, knowing it would be bad to just chase after a person if whoever she was didn't want them.
Then, a few years later, with a mix of some event stuff, games, and coincidences, Martyn found himself in front of his older sister once more.
Her eyes were wide as she recognized him, possibly only by sensing the Sea blood in him, not just Sea blood but High Sea blood. His equally surprised siblings (and a wary Scott) were just behind him.
Lizzie made one move forward, and somehow Martyn's first instinct is to back up, to move himself between her and his -or their, really- little brothers and sister, wings flaring a little. And Scott's first instinct is to quickly dart forward in front of Martyn protectively.
Martyn will never forget the look in Lizzie's eyes when that happened. The shock. The realization. The hurt.
It was awkward in the coming months, and Martyn was just as protective of the little ones as the three were wary of Lizzie, and Scott even more so protective of all of them, Ren too, not to mention their friends, Cleo, Etho, Cub, and the others. But Lizzie, Joel, too, came time and again, wanting to be in their lives. So they were, eventually.
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