Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Tidal Whims ❯ Urchin Boys ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: If I owned them I would not share.

Pairings: You'll see later. ;)

Constructive feedback welcomed and encouraged! Plus it make smy muse happy and makes him take note. ;)


~*~*~*~ signifies a change in time/place.

"______" signifies speech

'______' signifies thoughts




~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Two little figures hurried out from behind a tree, sitting behind a bench for protection from the other children as the teacher smiled and gave them a quick wink before settling herself on the edge of the fountain and speaking.

“Now, who wants to hear another tale of the merfolk?”

The cacophony that met her ears from the children was a bit beyond an affirmative.

“OUCH! Ok, ok you little sillies, quiet down so I can start!”

She laughed as the little ones all got seated quietly and her hearing returned to normal. For children they had huge lungs!

She noticed the two behind the bench scoot just a bit closer.

Smiling she started her tale.

“Now, long, long ago, in a sea so far away you'd have to sail forever and a day to reach it there lived a young merchild. He was the Prince of all the seas….”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“HEEEEEER OOOOOOOO!”

He wasn't getting caught by her. Nuh uh, no way!

The screeching little girl swam closer, her pink tail flashing all the pearls she'd taken time into wrapping around herself.

Honestly!

“HEEEEEEEEROOOOO!”

Ouch, there went his eardrums.

And no, still not coming out. Nope.

The girl pouted and swam around the kelp he was hidden in. Deciding that no Prince would lower himself to hide in such common weeds she swam off, still bellowing.

He waited until the ringing in his ears went away before coming out.

It was longer than she was out of sight and therefore a better gauge.

He'd finally managed to ditch the guards, get outside the city walls and the sun was shining beautifully through the ocean's surface. He wasn't about to let this day of exploring go to waste!

~*~*~*~*~*~

The young mer laughed in delight as otters swam around him, obviously curious, and seahorses tried to latch onto his hair for a ride.

He had never felt this free before.

A shadow moved overhead and the otters were quickly after it, scavenging a free meal.

He'd never seen anything like it before.

Gently disentangling his little friends from his hair he swam up to the shadow, curious.

It wasn't a whale, that was certain. And it couldn't be a true creature of the sea. This close he could see that it had no true flesh of it's own. It was almost like the bones of coral.

Swimming up under he knocked against the strange material. No, not like coral, like very hard sea grass.

There was a shuffling sound, like there was something in it, or on top of it.

He tapped again and there was more shuffling and the sounds of things rubbing together and voices.

They weren't the voices of other mer. They were strange, alien and familiar at the same time.

He wanted a closer look and swam to the side of the thing after dropping low.

There were faces! Faces like his! But what was wrong with their lower halves?

He swam a bit closer, seeing that they had strange skin of many colors, but all dull. And two fins instead of one!

His tail flashed above the water.

That's when it stopped being fun and started to be absolutely terrifying.

Something that reminded him forcefully of tangled kelp came down over him, cinched up around his tail so he couldn't back out of it. Looking to the surface he saw the figures holding what looked like weapons. And he feared for his life.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“But Miss Helen! What happens next!?”

“Yeah, what happens to the Prince? And why was he running away from that mermaid?”

“Now, now, quiet down children. I'm not quite done yet. Just need my little break for water so I can tell the rest of the story!”

The lady laughed as the children complained, but they did let her take a few quick sips of water before they started shifting in their seats eager for more.

“Now, where was I…..”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He was thrashing as hard as he could against the tangled thing around him, but it just seemed to make things worse.

So far the creatures that caught him hadn't tried to strike him with their weapons, for that's the only thing they could be, but they were managing to pull him closer to that hard-weed craft.

And he was tiring.

None of them were expecting the ebony flash that seemed to fly through the water.

On the boat the humans only saw a tall black fin that sliced right through their net lines before it vanished under the surface again.

Jumping to gather their harpoons and hooks, unwilling to let such a catch get away, they were thrown to their knees as a large green tail smacked the side of their boat, rocking it dangerously.

Weapons were foregone as tail after tail hit the side of their boat until they were praying to reach land safely.

Only when they had moved away towards the land did the attacking tails vanish beneath the waves.

On the sandy bottom the young mer tried to get himself untangled, frightened out of whatever curiosity he may have had.

Feeling hands upon him he cried out in fright, trying to pull away.

“It's ok, we won't hurt you.”

“Let's get you untangled.”

When the net finally fell away the young prince was faced with two odd looking merfolk. One had the most pure green tail he'd ever seen. It even rivaled the emeralds on his father's crown. And the other had a tail so black he was sure that it had to have been made from the darkest night sky.

“Are you alright?”

The one with the black fin had swum closer, gently taking his arms and checking them for abrasions.

The green one sat quietly back, observing from behind a fall of hair.

“Yes, thank you…”

“How rude of us, I am Wufei and my friend is Trowa.”

The green tailed mer gave him a small nod and a smile of acknowledgement. They looked about his age and he felt at home with them almost instantly.

“Thank you Trowa and Wufei. I'm Heero.”

“THE PRINCE!?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“What happened next Miss Helen?”

“Yeah, what happened?”

“That's enough for today. Your parents will be here soon to pick you up. You need to get back inside and gather your things.”

A quick peek to the bench showed that the small boys had vanished. After hearing about the homes they'd been thrust into she swore to herself that she'd never tell a soul they hid away in this park.

The elementary teacher had offered them a home once but they had simply vanished for a week and returned looking worse for the wear. She never tried that again.

All she did was leave a little cooler in the water behind where she sat, filling it everyday after school and returning in the morning to find the food gone and little treasures left in their stead. One day she had even found a kitten, half starved and forlorn with bright jade eyes, left in the open box. She hadn't the heart to turn it away and had resolutely taken it home, leaving pictures with the food for the boys to see.

Today her habit did not vary at all. Food left and cooler closed she followed her class inside to get ready for home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“She tells really good stories.”

“Yeah.”

“And she's really nice to leave food for us. I didn't know if she was going to take that kitten though.”

“She was. She wanted to help something and now she has the kitty.”

“yeah. What did she name it?”

“Jade, I think.”

“You're lucky you can read.”

“I've shown you some. I'm just not very good at it.”

“Nah, you're good. Just lucky you knew your folks.”

“Yeah. Duo?”

“Yeah Quat?”

“Are we going back there tonight?”

They had a special spot all their own. No one had ever found them there, just the stars in the sky and the fish jumping in the sea. They were lucky to live in such a warm area. No snow to worry about.

“Yeah, I think maybe we should stay there every night.”

“Yeah?”

Torquoise eyes brightened at the idea. He was younger than Duo by half a year so he'd taken to looking out for his `little brother'.

“Yeah. I mean it's safe, and there's lots of shelter for if it rains and the water's really clean.”
“Ok.”

The bright smile he got made the braided boy smile, tossing the ratty length of hair behind him.

Crawling out of their hiding place in a hollow tree they went to the cooler and got their day's worth of food and another picture of the kitten. She was growing fast.

It took them a little over half an hour to reach their little hiding place. It was near the ocean that the town was famous for, but in a little cove that no one else seemed to know about. Trees sheltered the entrance and grass and flowers hid the path. It opened to their own little paradise, or as much of a paradise as two urchins could have.

What they never quite understood was how that statue got there. There was nowhere for it to fit through the trees or caves and no boats would come through those waters.

It was their best secret. One mer sleeping curls over another like kittens. You couldn't see their faces, but it felt safe.

This was the one place two lost little children felt like they might believe in hope.