#warm waves

Arthur sighed, pushing himself strongly through the unending blue. His fins shivered, unable to be relaxed in the cold water. He pushed himself up for a second, staring at the greyness above. His head broke the surface, and his eyes narrowed. His expression was bored, tired even. Staring at the windy sky and the grey clouds, he lamented without sorrow.

“How they can enjoy this weather?”

The fin on his back curled against him. The wind against his shoulders was bearable, but it was not something he liked. He turned a little, and looked towards the far shore. A northen island, very far from home. 

They had been here for a while now, multiple days. They had made a small hideout near some reefs, somewhwre to stay the nights while they explored these seas. The fish around these colder waters was bigger and more abundant, one of the main reasons Vivi had chosen to come here for the season. 

He had no objections. He liked to travel as much as them, he loved to see the deep sea, every sunken treasure they had come across. But today… he wasn’t enjoying it as much.

Why didn’t they prefer to stay curled up in their hideout, he did not know. Lewis and Vivi loved to collect shells, the two loved even more to find shiny shells, and they knew that in windy wavy days, it was easier to find them on shore. It helped that humans would walk by the beach less. 

So… here he was. Beaching on the sand and letting the cold wind brush his scales and skin was not an activity he wanted to do today. 

He sighed again, and then sunk into the water with a small grumble, which was not possibly coherent. He swam down in circles, looking down into the black bottom with narrowed eyes. This sea was very deep, promising a very long swim to anyone that wanted to reach its sand down below. There was no way for him to find any shells, not without a very tiring journey to the black abyss. The water near the surface was cold, yes, but it was clear, full of light even if in a windy day.

Lewis had tried to coerce him to go to the beach, Vivi had taunted his lazyness; he just did not feel like it… They luckily understood. Sometimes, just sometimes, he did not feel like nearing the world he had left. It was not out of sadness. Sometimes, he liked to just… flow in the deep blue. It was always warmer than cold air, it was softer.

There were no rocks around him, only water. He closed his eyes, threw his arms behind his head and let his body face the surface underwater. His tail outstreched in front of him, slowly waving in small motions. His fins relaxed, and stopped struggling agaisnt the insistent current. His body drifted, and he did not care. 

“Maybe this weather is not as bad.”

Only in the water though.

He stayed like that for a long while, eyes closed. He almost felt asleep twice. Rocked back and forth, with not a single worry. He had all the time in the world, while the two he cared most for had fun. The light glinted through the water, creating contrasting flickers of white in the blackness around him.

The lights would hide it from his vision, but his hearing did notice the motion of another being, somewhere.

His tail whipped softly down, lifting him upright. He blinked and looked around, swearing he had felt a current that was not from the waves or wind. His eyes narrowed, and his back fin spiked. The thoughts of a shark entred his mind, and he began to tense and glare around him. He turned multiple times, slowly trying to spot whatever had alerted him. All was black, with light flickers, nothing he could see; no fish, no stray seaweed. He swore there was ntohing there, until he saw a shadow in between the dark. He winced for a second, because he recognized what he found, a black shadowy figure, bigger than a normal white shark, a back fin much like the ones they had. He swam backwards subtly, dreadful, until he recognized more. The figure was slowly sneaking towards him, and when it noticed it had been spotted, it halted sharply.

Both mers stared at each other. Arthur untensed as the killer whale mer drifted into better light. The unknown mer only had eyes for him, with a disappointed sly look on his face. His voice was deep, not matching the smaller frame he had, compared to Lewis.

“You’ve got some sharp eyesight.” Arthur was now looking with a more curious expression, and only frowned with the next words. “Didn’t manage to sneak on you.”

“Why would you-”

Arthur did not finish. He blinked deadpanned, and leaned a little back, because the killer whale dashed. In a second, the other male had rushed towards him, and had only stopped his lunge when inches away from his face. Arthur’s eyes stared at the sharp teeth clamped right in front of him. The mer was scowling right at him, as if expecting him to cower, or flee. Rightfully so, the whale was confused to see that Arthur only had flinched ever so slightly and that he was now staring nervously, not scared. The black haired mer leaned back with as much ackwardness as Arthur showed, comenting snarkily.

“What, you’re not gonna run off?”

Arthur leaned his head a little down, staring warily at that big strong stripped tail, one of a very swimmer. He asked, with a pose that hinted he was ready to bolt.

“Should I?”

The whale leaned his head in wonder, frowning.

“Usually, I don’t even have to exchange a word with the mers I pursue.” He grinned angrily, scoffing while grinding his sharp fangs. “They all run when they see me lunge.”

Arthur tensed, but did not flee or react scared when the mer swam around him, looking him up and down. All apparent agressiveness was gone, but he could tell the whale was not friendly towards him. 

“You got to have very low self preservation, or maybe its just dumb braveness. You don’t look too tough though.” The killer whale pushed himself straight, and then gave him a look with his arms crossed. “Which of the reasons is it?”

Arthur retorted snarkily, not liking the condescending look he was being given.

“You don’t look all that menacing either.” The whale was taken aback, baceuse Arthur pointed one of his side fins mockingly. He always was presumed a wimp, and he was not about to let a whale think that. “If you wanted me to be intimidated, you should’ve shown that tail can do more than trash around, because I’ve seen bigger and stronger killer whales. I bet you don’t even know how to punch, you just know how to clamp those teeth onto any fish that comes your way, dumb enough to not notice those huge white stripes in a sea of black.”

“Why you little…!”

Arthur yelped, seeing the mer clench his hands and lean closer. The whale tried to give him an angry push, but was surprised to find only water where Arthur had been. His surprised startled expression was not one would imagine a killer whale would show; Arthur raised and eyebrow, seeing him trash downwards, thrown off balance by his own dash. His tail whipped around, and after a couple frenetic swings of arm, he managed to swim upright again.

Arthur received a very angry and resentful glare, as if he had been the one intending to push. The whale looked emabrrased, even hateful while he yelled at him.

“This is why I hate your kind!”

Arthur cringed, confused as to why he would be the one to be hated, when he only had been swimming, until aproached.

“My kind? What the heck are you-”

He blinked because the whale looked shocked for a second, even scared. That second passed fast; his grey eyes filled with the most resentful disdain he had seen, an anger he did not understand. He was looking behind him, and when he looked back, he saw why.

He discerned Vivi in the blackness, swimming fast towards them, calling out faintly through the waters.

“Arthur! We’re back!”

Arthur smiled faintly, not relieved that he was not alone with the whale anymore, but honestly glad they were coming back already.

“They didn’t take too long…”

His thoughts were interrupted by the other mer, who snarled bitterly and angrily.

“Another one of you.”

Arthur stopped looking at her to give him a confused look, but before he could question him, Vivi reached them. The dolphin halted sharply, now realizing there was someone in front of Arthur, who she hand’t seen. She blinked at the mer, and almost let go of the shells she carried with her surprise.

“Who’s this, Arthur?”

The blond looked at the bluenete as confused as her.

“I have no idea, Viv.” He nodded at the whale, nervously. “And I don’t think he would be happy for us to try to find out.”

“Not at all.” Vivi frowned sadly when the mer answered, fist clenched, glaring at them both. “I really want you to leave our waters, right now. You only cause problems.”

Arthur snorted, and threw a hand onto his chest in disbelief.

“We are the ones causing problems?”

Vivi startled a little the whale when she swam a little closer, never fearful. She asked, offended by the glares and asumptions.

“Your waters? These waters belong to no one. We just-”

“V-vivi…! F-finally!”

Arthur and Vivi looked back. Lewis was swimming tiringly towards them, as if he had tried to swim as fast as he could. Arthur, judging by Lewis’ panting, knew that Vivi had swam too quickly and that Lewis had tried to keep up with her.

Lewis sighed, and smiled blissfully when he came to a halt besides the two. He was so relieved to have caught up, that it took him a moment to realize he was not only surrounded by Arthur and Vivi, but also another mer. He blinked, deadpanned, staring acwardly at the other mer, who was not only a mer, but one of his kind. It was something he had not seen in a long time, something unusual, something he did not know how to feel about.

If the grey eyed mer was shocked before, he was more when Lewis subtly but surely hid shily behind the other two, as if he would be less seen…

The smaller killer whale stared at them for a minute. He shook his head, the first to break the silence.

“How can you be with them?”

Lewis opened his mouth, but before he could speak, the mer dashed away, swimming deep to not be seen or followed.

Arthur and Vivi looked up to him, confused as ever. It took a minute for them to break the silence. Vivi asked, confused by the sad expression Lewis had now.

“What was that all about?”

Lewis sighed. He tried to explain, and only managed to sort his words after a few tries.

“Killer whales… have a very bad reputation, you know that.” He smiled at the two, holding their shoulders kindly. “You of course know that it is not true. But you also know that others don’t know it. My kind… suffers some hate from time to time. It doesn’t really help that other mers have been traveling in their regions recently, claiming their territory as their own. The world is getting warmer, thanks to humans’ actions, and their kind is losing the vast ocean they once had, cold enough to be their own. Less food resources, and less territory in which to swim without having to compete with others, more numerous than them.”

“So that’s why he said our waters.”

Arthur looked at her, eyeborws down.

“But that does not give him any reason to try to push me… I was only swimming, dammit.”

Lewis looked at him, worriedly.

“Did he hurt you?”

“No.” He snorted again, grinning. “If I can dodge Vivi, I can dodge a whale.”

He recieved a swat.

—————

In the night, his grey eyes opened. 

His white stripped glinted in the black water, while his tail moved and pushed him forward. He headed for some reefs, the only place he knew he would find food today.

That… if some stupid foreign mer did not take the place for their own. It was not easy to catch fish in the open, and he did not like the idea of having to hunt some seals. Last time, he got hurt trying to fight off one.

He neared the reefs slowly, scaning the area carefully. A lot of non killer whale mers had been in the region recently, and every time his people tried to near the reefs, they were confronted. Multiple smaller mer, agresive on sight, cursing and acussing of them wanting to eat their flesh… No reasoning or words would help. They were always won by sheer numbers and pushed away. 

He was the only one remaining here, stubborn enough to refuse to swim into colder waters. He would not leave, ever. He managed to scare, hidding in the dark, lunging near any unsuspecting mer silly enough to swim alone.

It worked, every time. He managed to keep the reefs less frecuented. He would make the other mers scared enough to never come back, wary and paranoid.

Something caught his eye. Near the reefs, in the colder water below them, where no other mers would sink themselves, something glinted. He swam closer, curious of that light. The more he neared, the more he realised that below, more fish roamed now. 

He halted in front of that light, staring even if he had multiple big fish that he could catch at arms reach. Multiple shiny shells, latched onto the rocks, a makeshift natural lure.