Chapter Text
“I believe this is the man you are looking for?” Azul and Jade stepped away from the bar, towards the guards, as Azul tried to keep his voice as even as possible. He gestured at Jade who exposed his sharp teeth in a charming bow.
“Oh dear, it seems you have caught me. Whatever shall I do?” At least the eel had the decency to sound somewhat upset, Azul could live with that mediocre performance. A guard held up a poster next to Jade's face, squinting to closely examine the portrait.
“They do look remarkably similar–”
“No!” The Captain of the Guards booming voice shouted across the room, silencing everyone near. “See the fine print? The man we are looking for has an identical twin brother. You can tell them apart by the black strand in their hair!” The Guard walked straight up to Jade, with none of the caution Azul would advise when getting close to either of the twins: they bite. “See, it’s on the left, not the right like in the photo.”
Jade chuckled lightly, his laugh displaying no humor and only danger at the Guard still in his face. He tilted his head and smiled, “Well then, I wouldn’t say we are identical, hm?”
Azul would feel bad for the poor man, but frankly, he had this coming.
Clearly, he had enough self preservation skills to realize the heaping pile of shit he just got himself into, and backed away from the sharp-toothed man in front of him, just as more guards filtered into the restaurant. What was different about this round of guards was that they came with two large men locked together in handcuffs. Likely Floyd’s former accomplices.
Azul hated this, it wasn’t good for his or the Snuggly Ducklings image; this was what he wanted to avoid in sending Floyd away. “Look, officers, I sincerely do not know where the man you are looking for is–”
The last round of knights rushed into the dining area, yet it wasn’t multiple people, it wasn’t even one. Azul was beyond confounded when a horse showed up, gaining the surprise, shock, and awe of all the guards. Apparently it was some famous horse? The thought of humans being odd bounced around in the back of Azul’s brain as he watched the scene before him unfold.
“Vorpal!” The Captain of the guard shouted with glee, adding to the confusion of Azul. The horse neighed loudly, and stomped in, sniffing the ground below him for some sort of track. He stopped in front of Jade, sniffed a bit before sneezing and pulling away to continue searching. Like a dog. A horse…searching…like a dog. In a restaurant.
“Sirs, I understand this is a priority case but you must see that having an animal in a dining establishment is unsanitary at best–” The octo-mer was quickly cut off with many loud hushes from various members of the guards. Jade, over his momentary confusion at being sneezed on, covered his mouth slightly to laugh at Azul. Oh, whatever, he got sneezed on by a freakishly large beast.
The horse– Vorpal, Azul remembers his name being– made his way behind the two mers and to the bar, neighing loudly as if he won the lottery. Won the lottery…this fucking horse was making Azul think stupidly, like a horse could win the lottery. Well, anyway, when the guard gave the beast confused head tilts and shakes, the mer could swear up and down that Vorpal made a face at them before flicking the small lever Jade did minutes earlier.
Fuck.
“Theres a tunnel!” The Captain exclaimed, captain obvious over here.
“A tunnel that just leads to an extra storage room I assure you–”
Yet again, Azul was rudely cut off, “You hush, we have to search it anyway. Both of you stay here.” The Captain said, already going beyond the bar and into the tunnel with a few of his men. “Manny, guard the prisoners.” With a tight ‘yes, sir’ from Manny, the rest of the kingsmen left, leaving the restaurant to nearly just its patrons. Yet now it was completely torn apart.
“Shall we go after them?” Jade asked, leaning over slightly to look at Azul.
He sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. “No. It isn’t great they’re being followed, but Floyd can take care of himself. Mostly. We have a restaurant to run, and now,” He looked back up, disdain laid bare across his features, “one to fix.”
Jade nodded solemnly and both began moving toward the kitchen. Azul called out behind them, “Everybody, start cleaning up this place. Jessie, go take a lap around outside and make sure no other guards and their pets plan on barging in. And please for the love of the seven, Guard make sure to keep those prisoners secure. I do not want them loose in my restaurant.”
Azul and Jade finally disappeared into the back, getting ready to prepare more food, items, and whatever else they did to keep this shabby place running. Unfortunately, they walked away too quickly, missing the prisoners freeing themselves and following the guards, Floyd and Riddle into the tunnel. They also missed Jessie, one of the few employees they managed to hire here, being threatened by a beautiful red-haired woman just outside their doorstep.
Oh well, it’s likely not that important anyway.
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Riddle stayed quiet walking through the dark tunnel. It wasn’t dark for long though, Floyd grabbing a torch that hung on the wall, lighting it quickly. He kept his focus on Leo, who still seemed slightly shaken up by the previous events, poor thing.
“So Goldfishie,” It seemed Floyd, however, was not comfortable keeping things quiet. “Whadya’ talk to Azul about?”
“Hm, nothing much.” Riddle shrugged, slowly petting Leo. He spotted an old broom on the wall of the tunnel, one very much like the one he practiced flight magic with. He grabbed quickly, thinking it could be useful eventually, before rejoining Floyd. “He did mention you weren’t from around here though. Actually, where are you from?”
Floyd squinted at the red-head slightly, a little put-off by the question it seems. “He actually said that?” Floyd mumbled, before regaining his signature care-free smile and shrugging. “Nowhere super exciting, that's for sure. I’m from the Coral Sea.”
Riddle paused for a second. “As in…one of the islands in the Coral Sea?”
“No, like I lived in the sea.”
“Wait a moment, Floyd Leech, are you a merman?!” Riddle fully stopped, staring wide eyed and open mouthed at the tall man next to him.
Floyd stopped moving and looked at Riddle, as if he was the odd one for being so surprised. “Yeah?” He turned forward and continued moving, leaving Riddle shell shocked behind him. “Like I said, kinda boring.”
“Thats not boring at all!” Riddle had to jog a little to catch up the man– mer, whatever. His legs were still needlessly long. “I have so many questions, like–”
“Nah, that's annoying.” Floyd cut him off quickly, crossing his arms behind his head. “I was in the sea, now I’m on land. That’s all there is to it.” He smiled sharply and glanced down at the redhead, “You however have an interesting backstory I can’t wait to hear more about.”
Riddle crossed his arms as best he could while holding a dinky broom, one he was surprised Floyd hadn’t brought up yet. Leo squeaked at the movement. “What do you want to know?”
“So, I can’t ask about the hair–”
“You just can’t touch it.”
“Or the mother–”
“Defenitly not.”
“Frankly, I’m too scared to ask about the porcupine–”
“Hedgehog.”
“Nuance. So here's my question,” Floyd's eyes were gleaming with pure curiosity, one Riddle might almost equate to a child. As if what he was about to ask was truly a mystery. “If you wanted to leave that tower so badly, why haven’t you?”
“Why haven’t I?” Riddle laughed nervously, looking at the pink hedgehog in hopes he could give Floyd an answer for him. “Well, I guess it’s incorrect to say I haven’t–”
“Leech!” Suddenly, loud pounding of boots echoed throughout the cavern, cutting off any conversation between the two. Riddle could hear the metal armour pieces clashing against each other.
They both turned their heads sharply, “Floyd?” Riddle asked, hoping to hear anything as a reply from the mer. He could vaguely make out the face of some angry guards. The same angry guards that they had narrowly avoided in the bar. “Floyd?!”
Finally regaining his senses, Riddle felt Floyd put a large hand solidly on his back. “Run.” He said quietly, before pushing the redhead forward, causing him to trip over both of his feet and sprint as fast as he could. “Run!”
They two didn’t run for very long, the end of the tunnel wasn’t exactly far. Riddle’s eyes quickly adjusted to the bright sunlight as he and Floyd stood on top of a rocky cliff outlooking a dam. The wooden construction was massive holding an impressive amount of water and entirely encased by rock. Riddle would’ve marveled at it more if he had the time, unfortunately the loud clanging of boots didn’t exactly let him.
He looked down, spotting two fairly large people with bright orange hair. “Floyd? Who’s that?”
Floyd looked a little bit shaken. “Uh, they don’t like me?”
The armored guards exited the tunnel, stopping at the mouth and adjusting their own visions. “Who’s that?”
“They don’t like me either.”
Against just about everything that Riddle thought possible, a horse then appeared, pushing his way through the guard. It almost seemed the horse had a personal vendetta against Floyd. If a horse was capable of that, that is. “Whose that?!” He may not have a personal vendetta against Floyd, but they clearly knew each other.
“Okay,” Floyd groaned and grabbed Riddle's shoulders, turning the red head towards him and making Leo squeak uncomfortably at the quick motion. “Let’s just pretend for a moment that everyone here doesn’t like me!”
Riddle glared at him, as this clearly didn’t seem like pretending. No one here liked his guide and Riddle was inclined to agree with them. He, however, didn’t have the time to ponder on any of this. Whether or not he had a sucky guide was not the issue at the moment, he had one that was willing to take him to the lights and he was going to make sure he got to the capital to see them.
“Hold on.” Riddle shifted the broom in his hand. He had only done this in practice, flying up to the top of his tower and then back down, never having actually flown a broom in the sky. He also had never used one this rickety. Well, this was better than nothing. He felt his magic pulse a little through his fingers before redirecting it into the wood. Then he mounted the object, quickly as the knights seemed to be approaching.
“Goldfishie, what are you–” Riddle kicked off and blasted into the sky, quickly as if he had done this before. The wind whipped through his hair, and he lifted one hand off the broom to hold onto Leo, it wouldn’t do well if he fell. “How are you doing that?!”
Riddle's nearly forgotten magic wasn’t that typical in the outside world. “That’s not important right now!” He shouts back, he can explain a few more things to Floyd later.
The unfortunate thing was this broom was worn far more than Riddle was used to. He had to land on a smaller outcropping of rock, barely tumbling onto the space as he couldn’t control the broom very well. He turned back to watch what was happening with Floyd, and was completely shocked.
He had known that the Guards were closing in on them both when he took the broom and left, Riddle had full confidence that Floyd could defend himself just fine. Which, clearly, he had. The mer found what looked to be some sort of pan and managed to knock out nearly all of the kingsmen chasing them.
Emphasis on nearly. Right now he was stuck fighting, with a frying pan, a horse who had picked up a sword with his teeth. “You should know this is the strangest thing I’ve ever done!” Floyd laughed, his voice bright and cheery, Riddle believed him too. Even if you grew up in the ocean, typically animals don’t fight with actual swords. Yet this animal was surprisingly good at fighting, knocking the pan out of Floyd's hand. “Two out of Three?”
Riddle couldn’t fathom how this man lost to a horse of all things, but he still was inclined to save him. He brought the broom back to his fingers and put some more magic in it, this time not riding it himself, but sending it towards Floyd. “Floyd, catch!”
Floyd managed to catch the broom Riddle was now remotely steering and gave a salute to the horse as he was leaving. But Riddle still didn’t have great control of this thing. Controlling it while he was on top of it was bad enough, now he had to control the broom while a mer who had never flown before was dangling off the end, not even properly sitting on the thing.
The broom dipped low, right towards the two orange haired men Riddle had spotted earlier. Riddle clenched his hand and brought it up sharply, barely able to bring the broom up in time. Floyd's long legs extended and he kicked both men in the face.
Riddle still couldn’t gain perfect control of the broom however pulling it up that quickly made it go even more out of his control. Just as Floyd was headed toward a large wooden beam, he shouted at the men, “Hah! You two should see your faces because you look–”
Well, that slam looked like it hurt, Riddle wincing as he saw it happen. Floyd regained himself quickly, however, and grabbed the broom before climbing up the beam towards where water ran down. Just as he did this, the red-head heard loud thumping.
Riddle turned behind him, only to watch the same, impressively smart, horse from before kick down one of the beams holding up the dam. Water burst from the top as the large animal made a bridge from his outcropping to Riddles, deftly crossing it.
“Goldfishie! Jump!” Riddle watched as Floyd tossed back the broom towards his direction. This was going to take some impressive maneuvering. Riddle grabbed hold of Leo again, backing up and running to jump off his outcropping, nearly being missed by the horse. The broom flew straight at him and he was barely able to catch it with one hand, using all of his body strength to flip on top of it and ride the splintering wooden cleaning tool as best he could.
The broom was at the end of its life span, quickly falling apart, no matter how much Riddle tried to push his own magic into it. It was all he could do to slow his own decent down to the floor, were he saw a small cave opening that he had assumed was the intended exit.
Once Riddle landed, he could hear Floyd above him, breaking more of the dam by going down the water as if it was a slide. The wooden beams lost their support and fell all around Riddle, Floyd jumping off the pillars as low as he could and landed somewhere near the red-head.
Great, now they also had to outrun a flood. How fun.
They dashed to the small cave opening, just as the last of the pillars all fell. Water rushed from above them, taking the soldiers, horse, and random two gingers with it. The wooden pillars stacked in front of them in such a way they couldn’t get out if they tried. Yet water was free to fall in and flood the cavern.
Well, ‘cavern’ was a stretch. It seemed Riddle made an error in judgment of choosing where to go; he thought he had led them both to exit Azul had meant to send them to, when in reality it was just a slightly carved out hole in the stone surrounding the dam. One that was quickly filling up with water.
Floyd dove underwater in hopes to find a way to get out of the cave, while Riddle grabbed the frying pan he was using previously and tried smacking it against the wall. Nothing was working. No walls were breaking, not a single rock was shifting. Yet the water all around them was still rising.
Holy shit, Riddle was going to die here.
Floyd resurfaced, slamming his shoulders against the cave walls, trying to push rocks out the way, scratching his hand before diving back underneath. It wasn’t long before he resurfaced yet again, looking entirely defeated. “It’s no use, I can’t see anything.”
Riddle didn’t want to give in so quickly. He hit the pan against the rocks, trying hard to wedge a crack between the ones at the top. He couldn’t hear anything over the sound of his own heart racing. The water had rushed up to their waists already. “Hey enough,” Floyd grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look forward.
“Aren’t you a mer?” Riddle gestured wildly. “Can’t you transform, or something?”
“If I reverted back to my eel form right here, I would suffocate you. There just isn’t enough space. Besides, that doesn’t change the fact we are still stuck here.”
“But–”
He pushed the hair that had fallen in front of Riddle's face behind his ear, “I said it’s no use.” A feeling of dread instantly washed over him. This was it, he was going to die. He was going to drown in a cave with no way out, and no way to see his mother again.
Riddle brought his hand up to his shoulder, feeling Leo crawl deftly onto his palm. He smiles sadly at the hedgehog before pressing their noses together. “I’m sorry, Leo, this is all my fault.” Riddle glanced at the eel who was watching him quietly, singular yellow eye glowing in the darkness. “I’m sorry, Floyd. I should have listened to my mother, I was never ready to leave.” He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
Floyd sighed and scratched the back of his head, both of them still trying to wade in the water. “ ‘ts fine.” He laughed humorlessly, eyes crinkling in the corner. “Just kinda pathetic, ain’t it Goldfishie? A mer drowning.” His smile slowly left his face, a forlorn expression on his face, “Azul an’ Jade would be so disappointed.”
Riddle tried to smile at the joke, letting out his own huff. “Yeah, maybe. But I’m a mage who can somehow connect with nature spirits and I still can’t get us out of here.”
“...What?”
At that moment, Riddle remembered something. One of the reasons his mother though him a special mage, something neither of them could explain. Riddle couldn’t figure it out no matter how much studying he did on the subject; he had some innate ability to connect to nature sprites. They lived in everything, the air, water, grass, any element. Maybe he could use that connection to get them out of this cave. It might just work! “Floyd I have an idea!”
“Goldfishie–”
“Just trust me!” Slowly they had been drifty towards the top on the cavern, but even that space had now run out. Both took deep breaths before dipping underneath the rising water. Riddle tried to feel every living thing around him, any slight sense of magic that might be near.
Eventually he caught something.
The water lit up, light blue lights floating all around the two, flittering to and fro in the water. Floyd, understandably so, was shocked. He let out a muffled scream, air bubbles leaving through the water. Riddle only watched him for a second, before redirecting the sprites in the water, trying to tell them to find a way out.
The small lights gathered towards the bottom of the cave, circling around a couple of seemingly loose rocks. Riddle gathered up Leo in his hands, cupping the small creature close to his chest as Floyd swam towards the area indicated by the sprites. He looked backwards, as if asking Riddle if this was the right course of action. The red-head wasn’t entirely sure, but it was the only thing they could do, and so he nodded, prompting the eel to start pushing the rocks out of the way.
Hopefully, this worked.
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Edith waited at a tree, one that was conspicuously carved out. Honestly how no one had found this exit beforehand was entirely too shocking. It was the most obvious place, it even had a trap door with a duck on it. This wasn’t fooling anyone.
Then again, she was hiding a whole child in a massive estate in the middle of the woods, so maybe she shouldn’t be talking.
The trapdoor started moving and Edith ducked behind a large boulder. She peaked out over the side, only to see two large, ginger, men crawl out. They were not who she was expecting. Furthermore, they were drenched, head-to-toe. She had threatened that worker enough he likely would have told her if they had to swim at any point.
Most likely, there was another exit the worker didn’t know about. One that Riddle and that criminal took, instead of this one. That did however mean, they likely were not too far. They couldn’t have been anyway, there are only so many exits one can take.
Edith has to come up with a plan, and quick. She has to find her son, no matter what. She was just at a lost as to how.
“I’ll kill that Leech, I swear it!” One of the large gingers exclaimed, the other nodding in solidarity. That’s right, these two had some sort of past with the criminal. They likely hated him as much as Edith did at this moment. That gave her an idea, one that might just get her everything she wants and then some.
She just has to use these two to her advantage. Shouldn’t be too hard, she’s always been good at manipulation.
Edith climbed on top of the boulder she had previously hidden behind, an impressive feat if you ask her, considering the heels she was wearing. “Oh, boys~” She cooed, the men quickly turning around and drawing their knives.
“Oh, there is no need for that!” She reached into her bag and tossed down a small artifact, one of the few Fae related items she had kept in the tower since leaving. It was too precious to just get rid of, and worth far too much money. Edith had been hoping to use it as bait to lure Floyd away from Riddle, but using it to bait these two block heads into working with her is just as good.
Clearly, these men had been in the thieving game for a while, recognizing the object in all it’s worth immediately. They quickly started fighting over it, as if they were pack animals. Barbarians. Nevertheless, they could still prove useful.
“Well, if that’s all you wanted, then be on your way! I was going to offer you something worth a thousand crowns, and that wasn’t even the best part!” Edith laughed a little, selling her point to the idiots even more. “Ah well, c’est la vie. Enjoy your gem~”
Now, she just had to wait and– “...What’s the best part?” Ah, caught them hook, line and sinker. These men were so painfully simple that they couldn’t even recognize they were being manipulated. She smiled sweetly, reaching in her bag and taking out a wanted poster she had grabbed earlier near the Snuggly Duckling. “It comes with revenge on Floyd Leech~” she sang sweetly.
The smiles on their faces told Edith these two were all in. Perfect, this was going to be very easy.
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Floyd sat nearly completely still on a log they had managed to find, one big enough to seat both he and Riddle. He still wasn’t over the fact that he nearly drowned. They had barely been able to pull themselves up and out of the river in time, Floyd having to help pull up Riddle who was too busy making sure that stupid little rodent was still alive.
“Okay, okay, so explain to me again, what happened?” The worst part was that Riddle was the one to save them both, lighting up the water and using those lights to find any other way out. Floyd had spent most of his life in the deep sea, and he wasn’t foreign to bioluminescence, but that wasn’t it. That was something– different.
Riddle sighed, dropped a couple more sticks into the fire they had created before sitting on the log next to Floyd, letting Leo settle between them both. “Every element in nature has sprites, comparable to mini Fae, I suppose. They are tiny, imperceptible creatures of pure magic.”
Tiny things living in water? Floyd thinks he would’ve already known about that. It makes no sense. “I still don’t get it.”
Riddle levels him with a tired expression before reaching out his hand. “Here–just, give me your hand, the injured one. Let me show you something.” Floyd cautiously placed his hand in Riddle’s, who quickly encased the eels' larger one. He closed his eyes and started massaging Floyd's hand, clearly focusing on something, but Floyd couldn’t tell what. He looked down at the critter between them both, “What- what’s he doin’?”
The small creature motioned upwards as if to say keep his eyes on Riddle, just as the Goldfish hushed him. “Be quiet, I need to concentrate. Where water sprites are good at finding objects and moving water around, air sprites are adept at healing, as well as changing winds.” He opened his eyes slightly to look up at Floyd, a sincere expression showing through. “Just, please don’t freak out.”
Riddle closed his eyes again, and suddenly a very warm feeling overtook Floyd. It was as if he was floating on air, normally not a pleasant experience for him. However, this time it was as if the sun itself was granting him a moment of levity. It only lasted a second though, before Riddle opened his eyes and pulled his hands away.
Floyd looked between the Goldfish and the small creature between the two, before slowly flipping his hand over. It had previously gotten a cut on it when trying to move the rocks about, but now, nothing was there. No blood, no injury, not even a scar. Just, completely gone.
Floyd opened his mouth to say something, but Riddle beat him to the punch. “Please don’t freak out!”
The eel couldn’t help but laugh at that, a warmth settling in his stomach at Riddle’s reaction. “Ah ha, I’m not freaking out Goldfishie.” A bright red blush bloomed across Riddle’s face, and he suddenly wanted very badly to bite the red-head’s cheeks. “I just can’t believe you healed my hand!”
Riddle shook his head vehemently. “It wasn’t me, not really anyway. It was the air sprites, I was just directing them.” He huffed and looked directly at Floyd again, “And how many times do I have to tell you to not call me by that nickname?”
Floyd ignored him.“And those were the things that lit up the water?”
“Sort-of. Those were air sprites, you’d only find them in the air. What lit up the water was water sprites.”
Floyd was starting to piece things together now. He remembers learning something about sprites controlling every element around them, but he thought only Fae could interact with them. At least in the way Riddle did. It’s not like Floyd knew many mages, but he had heard even the most powerful human mages could only do so much when it came to sprites. “Okay, but how’d you make them do that?”
Riddle scrunched his eyebrows in thought, hesitating on how he wanted to say whatever he was going to say next. “I’m…not entirely should. By all accounts I shouldn’t be able to, it’s not exactly something humans are known for. We aren’t supposed to be able to interact with the sprites like that.”
Riddle huffed out a long breath, blowing some of his hair to the side and looking up towards the sky in thought. “I have been practicing to be a mage my entire life. That’s how I was able to control the broom back in the dam. It’s…all I’ve ever known. Study and learn and figure out how to use this weird power of mine. Afterall, being a mage runs in the family.
“But my mother can’t control, or even speak to the sprites as I can. This is something entirely unique to me. She said when I was an infant, she found me speaking to something in the air. Being as strong of a mage as she is, she could connect it to the fact that I could see them, or at least communicate with them somehow. A gift like that has to be nurtured, has to be taught and mastered before it can ever be left out into the world. That’s why–”
Riddle cut himself off, staying silent for a few moments, but Floyd was happy to continue that thought for him. “That’s why you never left the tower. And you still wanna go back?” Floyd couldn’t really understand why that particular thought made him so upset. He hated feeling trapped, at any point, but normally didn’t care what other people did with their lives. They weren’t him afterall. So why does he care so much now?
“No! Yes? I’m…not entirely sure.” Riddle stated, groaning in confusion for his own choices. Well, at least that meant Floyd still had time to change the Goldfish’s mind. “And I haven’t never left the tower, it’s just been a long time.”
“Oh? You looked pretty trapped to me when I got there.” Floyd snickered, putting his teeth on full display.
“Oh hush. For your information, I spent most of my formative years in the main house. In fact, I had even made some friends at one point, and we spent a lot of time in the alcove surrounding the estate.” Riddle looked rather proud of himself for this, puffing out his chest and all. Floyd only found this more amusing.
“You had friends, you say?” Floyd doesn’t think his grin could get any bigger if he tried.
“Yes I– you know what, no. I've spoken far too much about myself by now. Share something about yourself, Floyd Leech.”
The determined glint in Riddle’s eyes made Floyd think he couldn’t get away with skirting around the topic, but it really wasn’t that interesting. “I already told ya’ Goldfishie, there really was nothin’ interesting about my life.”
“I find that impossible, you lived in the Coral Sea. I’m sure whatever you say will be interesting to me.”
Floyd laughed at this, a genuine laugh that made his eyes crinkle and cheeks hurt. “Yeah you’re probably right.” Riddle scooted closer towards Floyd when he didn’t say anything further. He was right it seems, Riddle was not letting him get away with saying nothing.
“The surface is dangerous for mers, at least when we are still in our mer-form.” Floyd started, he normally didn’t share this particular part about himself. For some reason, he felt he could trust the Goldfish. “So when I was little, I wasn’t really allowed to venture anywhere close to the surface. At least on my own. But I was always so fascinated with humans. I mean, you guys are odd little creatures!
“I used to sneak up to beaches and sit behind rocks all the time, just to watch the humans. Me, Jade an’ Azul would go digging through shipwrecks trying to find any sort of cool human gizmo or somethin’. Azul even started a coin collection. Once, when I went to the surface, I found this really cool book. Just a boring ol’ kids tale, I’m sure. But it was about a super cool adventure that someone went on and, I dunno. To a kid who’d never been on land, that sounded amazing.”
Riddle smiled, the light in his eyes shinning brighter than ever, clearly still curious about the story Floyd had just shared. “So, you stopped visiting the surface and just moved here instead?”
Floyd laughed, but unlike before this one lacked humor behind it. “Nah, Goldfishie, I stopped coming to the surface when I got kidnapped.”
The smile on the red-heads face dropped instantly. “What?”
“I told ya’, mer ain’t safe near the surface in their mer forms. I was disobeying my parents every time I went up. And one time, a mer-hunter found me. I was caught in a net for a while before Jade and my parents found me.” Floyd whistled high and long. “Never really wanted to go back up after that. I still loved learning about the surface and all, and I’m definitely not afraid of no hunters. But the whole hassle and trying to hide from them just didn’t seem fun anymore.”
Riddle was quiet for a minute, something Floyd didn’t really understand. That whole thing happened a long time ago, it wasn’t as if he was still bothered by it. He managed to make his way to the surface anyway, hell he lives here now.
Slowly, Riddle intertwined their fingers, making Floyd look down instantly as his heart-rate picked up. “I think it’s wrong for you to have ever had to worry about such a thing. Especially so young, and doing something you clearly loved. I’m sorry.”
Floyd felt his cheeks warm considerably. He scratched the back of his head and squeezed Riddle’s hand. “Ah, you ain’t got to be sorry ‘bout anythin’. You weren’t the one who fish-napped me, and it was so long ago I barely even remember.” Floyd tilted his head down, meeting Riddle’s eyes with a soft smile. “But…thanks.”
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They needed more firewood. That became apparently obvious when it started getting even darker out, and therefore, even colder. Floyd said he would go look for some, saying how since he was so much taller, he could get the better branches for kindling. Riddle only hit him a few times.
Riddle sat on the log they had, petting Leo lightly before hearing a voice he never thought he would hear. At least, not this soon into his trip. “Well, I thought he’d never leave!”
Riddle stood up quickly, back as straight as can be, turning around on his heel. “Mother.”
Edith smiled and slowly walked towards him, as if she were a predator and he just a meek prey. “Hello, Rose.” She circled around him once before walking in for a hug. Riddle’s arms stayed pinned to the side, unable to hug her back.
“How– How did you find me?” He stuttered out, frankly far too scared at the current moment to do much more.
“Oh it was simple really.” She smiled sweetly at him, a smile that made all his danger sensors ring, holding him by the shoulders. “I just listened to the sound of completely and utter betrayal and followed that.”
“Mother…”
“We’re going home, Riddle, now.” She used the tone that Riddle understood to be that he messed up. This was her strict voice, one had managed to avoid for so long recently.
But Riddle wasn’t ready to give up this amazing journey he was on yet. He hadn’t even gotten to see the lights, and Floyd…he smiled at the thought.
“You don’t understand Mother.” He kept still when she tried to tug on his wrist. “I’ve been on the most incredible journey and seen the most amazing things. I…I even met someone.”
“Yes, the wanted criminal, I’m so proud. Come on.”
“Wait! I think…I think he likes me.”
Edith stopped moving, turning her head sharply towards Riddle, making him step back in surprise, and a tad bit in fear. “Likes you? Riddle, my dear, that’s demented. You’re both men, you can’t like eachother–”
“But that isn’t true Mother!” Riddle exclaimed, clearly losing all self-preservation skills. Something in the back of his brain was telling him to be quiet, that he was making a stupid and wrong decision, but he couldn’t listen to that right now. He just wanted his mother to understand him so badly. “I’ve read books about this, men fall in love with each other all the time.”
“Love? Oh, dear. The fact that you have created a whole romance, one with a man, a wanted criminal at that, just proves that you are too naïve to be here. Think about this logically dear, look at yourself. Exactly why would he abandon tried and true morals just to be with you?” Her words were sharp, but said with such a sweet tone that Riddle started second guessing himself.
He crossed his arms, slightly in shame, as his mother walked towards him. Her voice regained that honey-sweet tone. “Don’t be daft my dear, come home–”
“No.” Riddle was done listening to her. He wanted to get his wish. He was going to see the lights, and maybe something could even happen with Floyd. He wasn’t going to let his mother, his mother who had trapped him for years, get in the way of that. Not today.
“No?” She asked, completely taken by surprise at her son’s outburst. He couldn’t really blame her, it wasn’t as if this was in Riddle’s character. “Oh, I see how it is. You leave the tower that I have painstakingly raised you in your whole life, and suddenly you know everything there is to know. Everything about errors, about living on your own, about love.”
Edith huffed and walked back, separating herself from Riddle. “Since you are so clever, so grown up now, why don’t you try something.” She picked out a small gem-looking object from her bag, one Riddle had previously seen floating around the house. He knew it was something expensive, but not exactly what it was. “Why don’t you give him this? He is a thief afterall, likely just looking for the next big payday, and trust me darling, this is worth a lot to him.”
“How did you–”
She tossed the object high in the air, Riddle instinctively catching it. “Don’t let him deceive you, my Rose. Trust me, as soon as you give him an item this valuable, he will leave in an instant.” Edith snapped her fingers to emphasize her point. “Unless, of course, you are right and he does love you. Why not put him to the test, hm?”
Riddle watched as his mother walked further and further into the darkness, no longer very visible from the firelight. Just as she reached a cluster of rocks, one that was just at the edge of the light, she turned around. “Do me a favor though dear. If he’s lying, and I assure you that he is, do not come running back to me. I warned you, and mother always knows best.” Then, she disappeared into the night.
Riddle stood stock still for a moment, before hearing another familiar voice behind him. “Hey, so I’ve got more questions on the whole mage thing– Goldfishie? Everything okay?”
Riddle breathed in and out a few times, he could do this. He knew there was something between the two of them, but what if his mother was right? He took another breath to calm himself down. “Yes, I’m alright. But don’t call me by that name.”
Floyd squinted at him for a second, as if judging whether or not he was telling the truth. Riddle was hoping he couldn’t see right through him. Clearly his prayers were answered as Floyd just shrugged and placed down more fire wood. “Okay, so what I was thinking–”
Riddle tuned out the rest of what Floyd was saying, opting to look back towards the boulders that his mother was standing near previously. Yet, there was still no sign of her.