♯┆ Rafayel saved you from the shipwreck but you were stuck on the rock formation and entirely at his mercy. Did he regret saving you?
𝜗𝜚˚⋆ cw: mentions of drowning, death of parents, injuries, blood, eating of raw fish, vomit.
masterlist
You're five again.
The air burns with salt and smoke. The sky above is no longer blue, but choked in ash, flickering orange and red as fire races across the sails. The ship groans beneath your feet as it tilts in process while you prepare yourself to jump into the blue. Your plushie is clamped tightly in your tiny hands and you register your name getting called in such a desperate way. Your parents already went overboard, trying to get their beloved daughter to jump into their arms where it would be safe but your tiny mind was too scared to take the leap.
When you finally gathered the courage, the world lurches violently. The floor beneath your feet splits apart, boards splintering as something heavy falls and you're suddenly thrown sideways into the smoke and chaos. Your small hands try to reach out for something - even if it was just your plushie for comfort - but there was nothing solid, just the cold water. You're only realizing slowly that you got knocked into the water, far away from the now frantic voices that were calling out your name.
Cold surrounds you instantly and swallowing every single breath. The fire dims above the waves, muffled by the churn of the ocean as you surface, coughing and gasping. Your tiny hands grab a floating piece of wood, driftwood already soaked and heavy, but it still holds your weight. You cling to it, numb fingers digging in as salt stings in your eyes. There are no more screams. Just the soft sound of crackling fire behind you, and the ocean hissing, always moving, always hungry.
You call for your parents, over and over until your voice can no longer take the strain and no sound leaves your lips. You're left alone and shaking like a leaf in the middle of the ocean. It was only a matter of time until your body gave out… or until you too, were dragged below the surface, either by gravity or the mermaids out of your story books that dad loved to read to you.
You don't remember how long you drifted, minutes, hours maybe. Time slipped away and blurred together with the cold, the wind and the hallow ache in your chest where fear settles in like a second heartbeat. You're alone, cold and so very tired and keeping afloat seemed heavier with every breath you took.
But then, he came.
You didn't see him at first, just a change in the water's rhythm. a quiet swell, a presence just beneath the surface. And then a face. Pale, calm and strange - half hidden behind lavender locks of hair floating in the currents like beams of moonlight. Eyes of something that doesn't belong on anything human. Deep, violet and glowing faintly in the dark.
He doesn't speak, only observes. Then, his strong arms pull you carefully from the driftwood to keep you afloat instead. You're too exhausted to fight at this point, too dazed to ask why or how. But you know that this wasn't one of your nightmares, it simply felt too real, the taste of salt on your tongue was too strong for it to be a dream.
When your eyes open again, you were laying at the shore where you set sail with your parents. You taste sand in your mouth and feel the sunlight warm your tired body. the shore is empty, but you're alive. Your parents are gone - the ocean swallowed them and would never return them to you. Of course, no one believes you, when you tell them about the mermaid who saved you, so you stopped talking about it. In fact, you never returned to the ocean, or any body of water for that matter.
The dream faded slowly, like light filtering through the depths. Your eyes opened with effort and everything felt heavy - your limbs, your thoughts, the air. The chill clung to your skin like a second layer and the sharp, uneven press of stone beneath your body told you that you're not in your bed - far from it actually. When you shifted, your muscles groaned in protest and your eyes blinked open against the dimness so the world around you took shape.
You were on a rock formation, jagged, wet, and covered with saltwater. The ocean stretched endless on all sides with the violence of the storm reduced to a distant hush. Waves lapped against the base of the rocks with slow, steady movements as if the ocean is finally catching its breath. The sky above remained a deep, pre-dawn grey, clouds thick and unmoving. The sun wouldn't rise for at least another hour.
Your head throbbed with each heartbeat. When you carefully sat up, it felt like your head might actually split from the pressure. You touched your temple, fingers brushing a tender, sticky spot near your hairline and you slowly realized that it's dried blood.
Your other leg ached sharply and when you glanced down, you froze. Seaweed was tightly wrapped around it like a makeshift bandage. Not tangled, not randomly - someone had done this with care. The strands were pulled tightly to stop the bleeding and tied off cleanly. All you knew, was that it hadn't been you, which made your heart stutter in your chest.
When you tried to piece everything back together, everything was fragmented. The wedding, screams, the ocean swallowing the ship, salt on your tongue, water in your lungs… and those violet eyes. You didn't know if they were real or just something dredged from a drowning mind. Still, you shifted your weight to stand, instinct pulling you upwards, but the sharp pain in your leg aided gravity to pull you back down. The pain in your leg exploded through you like fire when you collapsed onto the rocks with a gasp, your hands scraping hard against the stone in the process.
The sound of your breath echoed, but no one answered. There were no figures in the distance, no land, just the endless sea. You were alone, and suddenly the cold wasn't the only thing that made your lips tremble.
You didn't know how long you sat there, skin chilled and blood sticky on your leg. The silence grew so loud that it made your ears ring. Every wave that hit the rocks sent tremors up your spine and the longer you waited, the more certain you became: no one was coming.
Panic was slow at first - a drip, not a flood. It started in your chest, curled into your throat until it had consumed you whole. Before you could stop yourself, you were clawing at the slick stone, dragging your body towards the the edge and towards the ocean. It didn't matter that your leg screamed with every movement. It didn't matter that your muscles shook beneath your weight. You just needed to get off. Needed to do something, anything - because anything was better than waiting on a rock in the middle of nowhere for a slow death.
You reached the edge and braced yourself as you shifted forwards. But just as your body tipped, a shadow moved beneath the surface. It made you freeze and hold your breath.
The surface grew still - too still. And then he rose. Not all at once, just a slow parting of the water, a gentle ripple of something surfacing on its own terms. His head emerged first, dark lavender hair slicked back and fanning out like ink across the waves. Only his eyes caught the dim light, that deep violet, impossible hue reflecting faintly in the glow.
"Once wasn't enough little human?" He asked with a smooth and steady voice, like it had been waiting beneath the tide just for you.
You could only blink at him. There was a distant throb in your temples again and for a moment you wondered if you were hallucinating - if this was the final trick of a failing brain. But then he tilted his head and those unnatural eyes narrowed with curiosity. Could you even understand him?
Despite yourself, a small, bitter laugh slipped past your cracked lips. "I thought I had to drown to see you again," you mumbled hoarse. "Seems i was right."
His mouth curved faintly, not quite into a smile. More like amusement laced with suspicion. As if he was trying to decide if you were serious. Or just stupid… or both.
"Strange little thing," he murmured. His tone wasn't unkind, but it wasn't quite soft either. There was a rhythm to his voice, something a little too precise - like he was still practicing how to sound human. "Most humans don't come back for a second look."
You swallowed hard, unsure how he meant his statement but you wouldn't let your fear show. "I didn't plan on it."
"But you did," he stated. "And now you are here again, broken, bleeding." His gaze dropped briefly to your injured leg, then slipped back up. "You humans are fragile things." His tone was unreadable. The way he spoke gave you a feeling that he either wasn't used to talking to humans, or that he wasn't used to be interested, to care.
"I didn't ask to be saved," you said quietly, though the words lacked bite. You were far too exhausted for defiance.
"No," he agreed. "But you didn't fight me either." He didn't say it with any real accusation. If anything, he sounded thoughtful, and you weren't sure what to make of that or what he wanted from you. Perhaps you were a toy, a temporary indulgence. Maybe he genuinely cared for you - or you were just his next meal, seasoned by salt and sun, and bruised by misfortune.
The thought lingered as you sat curled on the stone, arms wrapped around your legs despite the ache to fight off the cold. The sea had quieted, but your thoughts haven't. Rafayel watched you, not always directly or from the same angle, but you could feel his eyes on you. It felt like a strange pressure under your skin, the feeling of being studied. Like you were something rare caught in a net. Not quite prey, but not safe either.
When he returned, it wasn't with words or comfort. He emerged in silence, the water parting around him, like it recognized him as something elemental. His hair hung in slick ribbons over his shoulders, clinging to his skin like kelp. He moved like he belonged to the ocean and it to him - limbs sleek, otherworldly, a little too fluid. You stiffened when he neared, but he didn't speak. Instead, he dropped something onto the rocks beside you. It slapped against the stone with a wet, frantic thud.
A fish. Still alive, its mouth opened and closed in soundless gasps, body flailing with desperate motion. You blinked at it and then at him. Rafayel tilted his head slightly, an expectant look on his face.
"…You want me to eat that?" You asked, unsure if that's what he meant.
He didn't answer, but his expression alone made it clear: obviously.
You recoiled a little, disgust curling in your stomach. "I'm not… I can't."
His brows furrowed, confusion tightening his features. Then - perhaps trying to be helpful - he picked up the fish again, sharp claws gripping just behind its gills. Without warning, he brought it to his mouth and bit down with a crunch, tearing off the head in a single, fluid motion. Blood dripped down his chin as he chewed, razor sharp teeth glinting.
Your stomach lurched at the sight. You turned, bile rising in your throat before you could even process what you just saw. The sound of your retching echoed off the rocks and for a long moment neither of you spoke. You could hear the slap of the now headless fish as it hit the stone again, useless and still twitching. When you finally dared to look at him again, his expression has soured.
"You really are pathetic," he muttered more to himself than to you. He licked the blood from his fingers with a flick of his tongue, unbothered. "Even Siren children aren't that picky." His voice sounded snarky, judging you for how squeamish you were.
You wiped your mouth with the back of your hand, still heaving softly. "You just but it's head off… in front of me!" You defended yourself, sounding as if he was out of his mind.
Rafayel could only scoff. "That's the soft way. The heads the hardest to swallow so i was just being considerate."
You didn't have the strength to argue with him since he genuinely sounded offended. Like he had offered you some rare delicacy and you threw it back in his face. There was something unreadable in his posture, one hand submerged in the water and the other drew idle circles onto the surface.
"Frail," he spoke up finally, his voice low. "So easily broken. I wonder how you survived this long." You weren't sure if his words were meant as an insult or an observation, perhaps both.
Rafayel was quiet after that for a while, eyes on the horizon, though his lips moved quietly - muttering things to himself that you couldn't understand. Things, maybe not meant for you at all. In his world, weakness didn't exist. The weak ones got eaten, torn apart, shoved into the shadows and left behind. That was the law of the deep and he knew it all too well.
You weren't exactly sure what suddenly set him off. One moment he was watching you with a kind of curiosity, violet eyes narrowed in confusion as you recoiled from the lifeless fish he'd dropped in front of you. Then, something shifted in his face - not dramatically, not with a dramatic burst of rage, but a flicker of frustration passed through him sharp enough to cut. When he looked at you and then at the fish you'd refused, something inside of him seemed to have snapped.
"I should have just devoured you," he almost hissed, his voice colder than the sea now. "Would've been easier."
The words didn't hit like a threat, not really. They felt more like an admission and you could see the truth in it - how much simpler it would have been for him, how much more natural. Whatever quiet thread of patience had kept him circling you like a puzzle worth solving, had frayed right there in front of you.
You didn't speak, couldn't move. There wasn't much to say after all and you weren't sure if anything would have changed his mind either way. Rafayel studied you for a moment longer with a strange expression, one that screamed that he wasn't sure if he was annoyed or simply disappointed, before he turned to disappear beneath the surface once more. There was no farewell, no splash - he just vanished as if the sea swallowed him in one breath.
Time after his departure moved strangely. The sky remained low and grey, thick clouds still bruising the horizon, though the storm had long passed. The light was thin, as if the sun had risen somewhere far away but refused to show its face. The sea stretched endlessly around you, always shifting, never changing. You stayed curled up on your rocks, wrapped in silence and salt, trying not to let the weight of his absence and silence crush you.
You didn't even know how long he was gone, hours for sure. Not even sleep would grace you with its gentle caress - every time you closed your eyes, vivid images of your first shipwreck flashed before your eyes. The ship, your mother calling your name just before it was swallowed by the waves. You could still feel the heat, smell the smoke and hear the wood splintering apart. How you'd washed ashore, just five years old and all alone
Now you were here again. Stranded, aching and confused. Only this time, you weren't even sure if anyone would come to save you. Rafayel had dragged you from the sea, any maybe that had been a mistake - perhaps it was a mistake and he realized it too late.
Eventually you began to speak out loud, not because you wanted to, but because the silence became unbearable. Little phrases at first, small thoughts. "This is fine." "He'll come back…" "He just has to, right?" But even your voice sounded strange, distant, like someone else's echo bouncing back from the stone. You shifted your weight from one side to the other in a fruitless effort to stretch out your aching spine, but your leg flared up with pain which made you hiss under your breath. "I won't die here. "
You tried to cry but it felt stupid. The stillness, however, made it worse - being surrounded by water and yet so incredibly parched, sore, hungry and unsure what the next hour would bring. The waves licked at the edges of the rocks like they were waiting, patient and hungry. He wasn't coming back. Maybe he really had meant to eat you, and when you proved to be too much of a hassle, he left you to starve instead. That would have been very fitting, wouldn't it?
Just as you let your head rest back against the stone, you heard a soft, distant splash. It wasn't loud, but it was enough. You sat up slowly, your heart starting to climb its way back up your throat. Your eyes scanned the water, unsure of you simply imagined it, but then you saw him. Emerging from the sea like he had never left, expression unreadable, his movements calm and controlled as he swam close to the rock formation.
Rafayel didn't look at you, only reaching behind him. His fingers were tangled around something thick and green, wet from the salty water. He dropped it onto your lap unceremoniously - a bundle of seaweed, cold and tangled, reeking of the depth of the sea. The weight of it surprised you.
"It's salty," he said with a low voice. "But you'll live." His voice lacked any emotion.
You looked down at it, blinking. He'd brought you food. Not an apology, not even a scrap of kindness in his tone, but still - he came back. Your fingers hovered over the seaweed before you picked at it carefully, pulling a small strip from the mess and lifting it to your mouth. The taste was awful, bitter and far too salty, but you forced yourself to chew regardless of the consistency. You swallowed and tried not to gag. It wasn't much, but it was far better than the headless fish.
"I-I need water," you murmured after a while, rubbing your mouth with the back of your hand. It sounded hesitant, almost too scared to burden the creature before you even more.
Rafayel turned towards you and his eyes narrowed as if you were trying to trick him. You could have sworn that you saw his eyelid twitch in frustration. "You're surrounded by it."
"I meant fresh… I can't drink this." You replied and your voice cracked at the last word.
He stared at you as if you'd just grown a second head, lips parting slightly in disbelief before he scoffed under his breasts. "Humans," he muttered, shaking his head. "Too fragile to eat, too good for the water. How do you even survive anything?" He sounded incredibly disappointed.
You didn't respond, lacking any answer, and he didn't expect you to. But after a short moment he moved again, adjusting the fins along his lower back as if stretching. His shoulders rolled once. Then, with the same ease as before, he turned to leave, ready to ascend into the ocean once again.
"I'll find it," he said almost begrudgingly. "But if you drown again while I'm gone, I won't be dragging you out a third time." He sounded like a dog owner arguing with his dog to throw the ball just one more time.
You watched him, eyes heavy lidded and body sagging from the exhaustion, but something tugged on your tongs just as he was about to dive under.
"You're not going to eat me, are you?" You asked, half joking, though your voice wavered around the edges. You tried your best to make it sound light, harmless.
Rafayel paused. Slowly, he glanced back over his shoulder with that strange glint in his eyes again, unreadable like the sea itself. His head tilted slightly. Then, that sound - a soft, low hum in the back of his throat.
Not quite a yes. Not quite a no.
And then he was gone again, leaving you curled on the rocks beneath a sky that never seemed to shift, wondering how long you'd last before salt and silence finished what the sea had started
Notes: Takes place shortly after Diluc returns from his little murder trip to Snezhnaya, so he's still fairly on edge/a little volatile uwu. Prompted by user trilunedarling mentioning Diluc with a certain reader <3
Tags: Diluc x fem reader, strangers who are enemies to strangers who are still enemies, meet-ugly,✨threats✨, ~1.3k
Reblogs and comments are greatly appreciated
Minors do not interact
Diluc had found himself more than a little curious about you. Generally speaking, no one entered Mondstadt without his knowledge and everyone left some sort of trail. You'd seemingly appeared out of thin air in the middle of the city.
Neither Diluc nor any of his contacts knew where you'd crossed into the nation and your clothes bore more resemblance to the local style than to any foreign garments. The name you'd given wasn't unusual either. When prompted, because oh Diluc had sent many workers to strike up conversation with you over the week you'd been in Mondstadt, you'd shake your head and sigh while giving a vague explanation about being a student on leave.
Perhaps he was being overly paranoid. Of course his intelligence network wasn't perfect. Of course people would occasionally slip through the cracks. Of course it had been an invasion of your privacy to have someone tail you back to your lodgings.
Diluc's shoulders tensed when the tavern's front door slammed shut, his eyes immediately wandering to where you were still sitting. The Angel's Share was almost empty at this hour, even the grandmaster had left, but you remained like some listless shadow huddled in a corner. Despite not participating in any of the revelry, you'd spent the past five nights returning to the tavern and that corner, sipping fruit juice and observing.
Never anything with alcohol in it. Diluc couldn't decide if that was suspicious (keeping your senses unaffected to spy) or if it stood out so much that it would be foolish if you were truly trying to pass unnoticed.
It was only when you raised your glass towards him that Diluc realised he'd been staring. The slight twitch at the corner of your lips sent a shiver down his spine. Your gaze felt like it burned through him.
At a different point in life, Diluc might've walked over and attempted to strike up an earnest conversation. Instead, he slung the dish cloth over his shoulder and went to your little table with every intention of informing you that the tavern would close early tonight.
"Finally found the courage to come over? I didn't expect the most eligible bachelor in town to spend that long planning his move." Your eyes roved along his body in a way that made Diluc's skin crawl.
He matched your thinly veiled sarcasm with a dry huff of his own. "Very amusing. I'll be closing down shortly, better finish your drink." Diluc bit down on the tip of his tongue, trying in vain to keep his curiosity at bay. "Impressive for a newcomer to be familiar with old rumors. You must be well-connected."
"Closing already? How unfortunate." Your smile didn't falter as you scanned the empty room, the faint sound of conversation coming from the floor above. "And it doesn't take a genius to guess the identity of the wealthy redhead all the old ladies gossip about."
Despite his suspicion towards you, Diluc still felt his ears redden at the chance that the senior citizens were still betting on whose granddaughter he would marry. He shook his head gently, waiting for you to finish your glass. Hovering was bad practice, but he wanted you out sooner rather than later.
And the privacy to send word for someone to trail you and figure out exactly how you spent your days.
Much to Diluc's relief, you downed the last of your juice and got to your feet. But instead of moving towards the door, you touched a finger to his sternum, making Diluc's body go rigid.
"Shouldn't you tell the patrons above as well?" Your voice was laced with poison, coated in honey.
He took a step back and scoffed. "I'll see you out first."
"What a gentleman~"
The stalemate lasted a few breaths before you straightened your back. Still, you made no move to leave and Diluc clenched his jaw. How much more direct could he be without physically throwing you out the-
"Aren't you going to explain yourself first?" Your voice cut through his thoughts, the shift in tone not lost on him. "Since you clearly aren't buying my act, I'll drop the pleasantires. You've been staring. Not just tonight. And I'd wager you're the one who's been lurking outside my window too."
He could deny it, of course, but from the look in your eyes Diluc knew it was useless. Your awareness, however, only confirmed his suspicions.
"Who sent you?"
"Is it really your concern why a young lady is staying in town?"
Diluc lowered his voice to match yours, not wanting to raise alarm for the few drunken patrons still upstairs. He'd hoped to get you outside for this.
"Mondstadt's safety happens to be a priority to me. People seemingly appearing out of thin air usually spell trouble." It was Diluc's turn to encroach, taking the slightest step forward while his fingers itched to wrap around the familiar handle of his claymore. "It's a simple question, who sent you?"
Despite the difference in size, you didn't back down. Diluc swallowed when you raised a delicate hand, no callouses from wielding a weapon, and brought it up to cover your eyes. He could've killed you then. Wrung your neck like he'd done to countless others. But then you grinned. Sharp and cold enough that his blood froze.
"Fatui.." He all but growled the word, his frown only deepening when you removed the 'mask' that your hand had provided and saw the amusement in your eyes.
"Clever, I'll give you that.
Diluc caught himself stepping fully into your personal space, wanting to back you against something, to wipe that proud smile from your face and replace it with fear.
"Get out. Out of Mondstadt." His fingers twitched once more at his side. Summoning the claymore would be so easy. "Before I change my mind and bury you here instead."
Time seemed to stop when you burst into laughter. Diluc acted before thinking, grabbing the front of your shirt and pressing you against the wall. Memories of blood, his father's, his enemies', had bile rising in his throat.
You were still laughing. You had to know what he'd done in Snezhnaya. Did the Fatui think someone like you could take him out?
"And then what? You kill me, and the sweet old lady in charge of my lodgings will grow worried when I don't come down for breakfast."
"You're using her, no one will mourn a spy." Diluc hoped you couldn't hear the hesitation in his words.
"Maybe that's true, but there's nothing there you could use to pin me to the Fatui. And old miss Schmidt already knows that I've been feeling a little unsafe, like someone was watching me at night through the window. Perhaps a young man with impure intentions? Someone who kissed me against my will at the bar he owns? Kill me and see if the knights can convince the public that letting you roam free is safe."
"I haven't-.." He grunted in frustration when you broke free from his grasp and slipped past him. A whine of his name left your lips, high-pitched and enough to stun him into confused silence.
"Sir! Get your hands off of me!" The voices upstairs went dead silent at your loud protest and Diluc felt his ears heating up.
He was about to argue, grab your wrist (archons, that would make him look horrible if anyone was peeking down from above by now) and stop your swift retreat towards the door. But it was too late, the wooden door slamming shut as you disappeared into the early morning.
This wasn't over. Diluc couldn't let it be over. He'd find a way to get rid of you.
♯┆ Rafayel saved you from the shipwreck but you were stuck on the rock formation and entirely at his mercy. Did he regret saving you?
𝜗𝜚˚⋆ cw: mentions of drowning, death of parents, injuries, blood, eating of raw fish, vomit.
masterlist
You're five again.
The air burns with salt and smoke. The sky above is no longer blue, but choked in ash, flickering orange and red as fire races across the sails. The ship groans beneath your feet as it tilts in process while you prepare yourself to jump into the blue. Your plushie is clamped tightly in your tiny hands and you register your name getting called in such a desperate way. Your parents already went overboard, trying to get their beloved daughter to jump into their arms where it would be safe but your tiny mind was too scared to take the leap.
When you finally gathered the courage, the world lurches violently. The floor beneath your feet splits apart, boards splintering as something heavy falls and you're suddenly thrown sideways into the smoke and chaos. Your small hands try to reach out for something - even if it was just your plushie for comfort - but there was nothing solid, just the cold water. You're only realizing slowly that you got knocked into the water, far away from the now frantic voices that were calling out your name.
Cold surrounds you instantly and swallowing every single breath. The fire dims above the waves, muffled by the churn of the ocean as you surface, coughing and gasping. Your tiny hands grab a floating piece of wood, driftwood already soaked and heavy, but it still holds your weight. You cling to it, numb fingers digging in as salt stings in your eyes. There are no more screams. Just the soft sound of crackling fire behind you, and the ocean hissing, always moving, always hungry.
You call for your parents, over and over until your voice can no longer take the strain and no sound leaves your lips. You're left alone and shaking like a leaf in the middle of the ocean. It was only a matter of time until your body gave out… or until you too, were dragged below the surface, either by gravity or the mermaids out of your story books that dad loved to read to you.
You don't remember how long you drifted, minutes, hours maybe. Time slipped away and blurred together with the cold, the wind and the hallow ache in your chest where fear settles in like a second heartbeat. You're alone, cold and so very tired and keeping afloat seemed heavier with every breath you took.
But then, he came.
You didn't see him at first, just a change in the water's rhythm. a quiet swell, a presence just beneath the surface. And then a face. Pale, calm and strange - half hidden behind lavender locks of hair floating in the currents like beams of moonlight. Eyes of something that doesn't belong on anything human. Deep, violet and glowing faintly in the dark.
He doesn't speak, only observes. Then, his strong arms pull you carefully from the driftwood to keep you afloat instead. You're too exhausted to fight at this point, too dazed to ask why or how. But you know that this wasn't one of your nightmares, it simply felt too real, the taste of salt on your tongue was too strong for it to be a dream.
When your eyes open again, you were laying at the shore where you set sail with your parents. You taste sand in your mouth and feel the sunlight warm your tired body. the shore is empty, but you're alive. Your parents are gone - the ocean swallowed them and would never return them to you. Of course, no one believes you, when you tell them about the mermaid who saved you, so you stopped talking about it. In fact, you never returned to the ocean, or any body of water for that matter.
The dream faded slowly, like light filtering through the depths. Your eyes opened with effort and everything felt heavy - your limbs, your thoughts, the air. The chill clung to your skin like a second layer and the sharp, uneven press of stone beneath your body told you that you're not in your bed - far from it actually. When you shifted, your muscles groaned in protest and your eyes blinked open against the dimness so the world around you took shape.
You were on a rock formation, jagged, wet, and covered with saltwater. The ocean stretched endless on all sides with the violence of the storm reduced to a distant hush. Waves lapped against the base of the rocks with slow, steady movements as if the ocean is finally catching its breath. The sky above remained a deep, pre-dawn grey, clouds thick and unmoving. The sun wouldn't rise for at least another hour.
Your head throbbed with each heartbeat. When you carefully sat up, it felt like your head might actually split from the pressure. You touched your temple, fingers brushing a tender, sticky spot near your hairline and you slowly realized that it's dried blood.
Your other leg ached sharply and when you glanced down, you froze. Seaweed was tightly wrapped around it like a makeshift bandage. Not tangled, not randomly - someone had done this with care. The strands were pulled tightly to stop the bleeding and tied off cleanly. All you knew, was that it hadn't been you, which made your heart stutter in your chest.
When you tried to piece everything back together, everything was fragmented. The wedding, screams, the ocean swallowing the ship, salt on your tongue, water in your lungs… and those violet eyes. You didn't know if they were real or just something dredged from a drowning mind. Still, you shifted your weight to stand, instinct pulling you upwards, but the sharp pain in your leg aided gravity to pull you back down. The pain in your leg exploded through you like fire when you collapsed onto the rocks with a gasp, your hands scraping hard against the stone in the process.
The sound of your breath echoed, but no one answered. There were no figures in the distance, no land, just the endless sea. You were alone, and suddenly the cold wasn't the only thing that made your lips tremble.
You didn't know how long you sat there, skin chilled and blood sticky on your leg. The silence grew so loud that it made your ears ring. Every wave that hit the rocks sent tremors up your spine and the longer you waited, the more certain you became: no one was coming.
Panic was slow at first - a drip, not a flood. It started in your chest, curled into your throat until it had consumed you whole. Before you could stop yourself, you were clawing at the slick stone, dragging your body towards the the edge and towards the ocean. It didn't matter that your leg screamed with every movement. It didn't matter that your muscles shook beneath your weight. You just needed to get off. Needed to do something, anything - because anything was better than waiting on a rock in the middle of nowhere for a slow death.
You reached the edge and braced yourself as you shifted forwards. But just as your body tipped, a shadow moved beneath the surface. It made you freeze and hold your breath.
The surface grew still - too still. And then he rose. Not all at once, just a slow parting of the water, a gentle ripple of something surfacing on its own terms. His head emerged first, dark lavender hair slicked back and fanning out like ink across the waves. Only his eyes caught the dim light, that deep violet, impossible hue reflecting faintly in the glow.
"Once wasn't enough little human?" He asked with a smooth and steady voice, like it had been waiting beneath the tide just for you.
You could only blink at him. There was a distant throb in your temples again and for a moment you wondered if you were hallucinating - if this was the final trick of a failing brain. But then he tilted his head and those unnatural eyes narrowed with curiosity. Could you even understand him?
Despite yourself, a small, bitter laugh slipped past your cracked lips. "I thought I had to drown to see you again," you mumbled hoarse. "Seems i was right."
His mouth curved faintly, not quite into a smile. More like amusement laced with suspicion. As if he was trying to decide if you were serious. Or just stupid… or both.
"Strange little thing," he murmured. His tone wasn't unkind, but it wasn't quite soft either. There was a rhythm to his voice, something a little too precise - like he was still practicing how to sound human. "Most humans don't come back for a second look."
You swallowed hard, unsure how he meant his statement but you wouldn't let your fear show. "I didn't plan on it."
"But you did," he stated. "And now you are here again, broken, bleeding." His gaze dropped briefly to your injured leg, then slipped back up. "You humans are fragile things." His tone was unreadable. The way he spoke gave you a feeling that he either wasn't used to talking to humans, or that he wasn't used to be interested, to care.
"I didn't ask to be saved," you said quietly, though the words lacked bite. You were far too exhausted for defiance.
"No," he agreed. "But you didn't fight me either." He didn't say it with any real accusation. If anything, he sounded thoughtful, and you weren't sure what to make of that or what he wanted from you. Perhaps you were a toy, a temporary indulgence. Maybe he genuinely cared for you - or you were just his next meal, seasoned by salt and sun, and bruised by misfortune.
The thought lingered as you sat curled on the stone, arms wrapped around your legs despite the ache to fight off the cold. The sea had quieted, but your thoughts haven't. Rafayel watched you, not always directly or from the same angle, but you could feel his eyes on you. It felt like a strange pressure under your skin, the feeling of being studied. Like you were something rare caught in a net. Not quite prey, but not safe either.
When he returned, it wasn't with words or comfort. He emerged in silence, the water parting around him, like it recognized him as something elemental. His hair hung in slick ribbons over his shoulders, clinging to his skin like kelp. He moved like he belonged to the ocean and it to him - limbs sleek, otherworldly, a little too fluid. You stiffened when he neared, but he didn't speak. Instead, he dropped something onto the rocks beside you. It slapped against the stone with a wet, frantic thud.
A fish. Still alive, its mouth opened and closed in soundless gasps, body flailing with desperate motion. You blinked at it and then at him. Rafayel tilted his head slightly, an expectant look on his face.
"…You want me to eat that?" You asked, unsure if that's what he meant.
He didn't answer, but his expression alone made it clear: obviously.
You recoiled a little, disgust curling in your stomach. "I'm not… I can't."
His brows furrowed, confusion tightening his features. Then - perhaps trying to be helpful - he picked up the fish again, sharp claws gripping just behind its gills. Without warning, he brought it to his mouth and bit down with a crunch, tearing off the head in a single, fluid motion. Blood dripped down his chin as he chewed, razor sharp teeth glinting.
Your stomach lurched at the sight. You turned, bile rising in your throat before you could even process what you just saw. The sound of your retching echoed off the rocks and for a long moment neither of you spoke. You could hear the slap of the now headless fish as it hit the stone again, useless and still twitching. When you finally dared to look at him again, his expression has soured.
"You really are pathetic," he muttered more to himself than to you. He licked the blood from his fingers with a flick of his tongue, unbothered. "Even Siren children aren't that picky." His voice sounded snarky, judging you for how squeamish you were.
You wiped your mouth with the back of your hand, still heaving softly. "You just but it's head off… in front of me!" You defended yourself, sounding as if he was out of his mind.
Rafayel could only scoff. "That's the soft way. The heads the hardest to swallow so i was just being considerate."
You didn't have the strength to argue with him since he genuinely sounded offended. Like he had offered you some rare delicacy and you threw it back in his face. There was something unreadable in his posture, one hand submerged in the water and the other drew idle circles onto the surface.
"Frail," he spoke up finally, his voice low. "So easily broken. I wonder how you survived this long." You weren't sure if his words were meant as an insult or an observation, perhaps both.
Rafayel was quiet after that for a while, eyes on the horizon, though his lips moved quietly - muttering things to himself that you couldn't understand. Things, maybe not meant for you at all. In his world, weakness didn't exist. The weak ones got eaten, torn apart, shoved into the shadows and left behind. That was the law of the deep and he knew it all too well.
You weren't exactly sure what suddenly set him off. One moment he was watching you with a kind of curiosity, violet eyes narrowed in confusion as you recoiled from the lifeless fish he'd dropped in front of you. Then, something shifted in his face - not dramatically, not with a dramatic burst of rage, but a flicker of frustration passed through him sharp enough to cut. When he looked at you and then at the fish you'd refused, something inside of him seemed to have snapped.
"I should have just devoured you," he almost hissed, his voice colder than the sea now. "Would've been easier."
The words didn't hit like a threat, not really. They felt more like an admission and you could see the truth in it - how much simpler it would have been for him, how much more natural. Whatever quiet thread of patience had kept him circling you like a puzzle worth solving, had frayed right there in front of you.
You didn't speak, couldn't move. There wasn't much to say after all and you weren't sure if anything would have changed his mind either way. Rafayel studied you for a moment longer with a strange expression, one that screamed that he wasn't sure if he was annoyed or simply disappointed, before he turned to disappear beneath the surface once more. There was no farewell, no splash - he just vanished as if the sea swallowed him in one breath.
Time after his departure moved strangely. The sky remained low and grey, thick clouds still bruising the horizon, though the storm had long passed. The light was thin, as if the sun had risen somewhere far away but refused to show its face. The sea stretched endlessly around you, always shifting, never changing. You stayed curled up on your rocks, wrapped in silence and salt, trying not to let the weight of his absence and silence crush you.
You didn't even know how long he was gone, hours for sure. Not even sleep would grace you with its gentle caress - every time you closed your eyes, vivid images of your first shipwreck flashed before your eyes. The ship, your mother calling your name just before it was swallowed by the waves. You could still feel the heat, smell the smoke and hear the wood splintering apart. How you'd washed ashore, just five years old and all alone
Now you were here again. Stranded, aching and confused. Only this time, you weren't even sure if anyone would come to save you. Rafayel had dragged you from the sea, any maybe that had been a mistake - perhaps it was a mistake and he realized it too late.
Eventually you began to speak out loud, not because you wanted to, but because the silence became unbearable. Little phrases at first, small thoughts. "This is fine." "He'll come back…" "He just has to, right?" But even your voice sounded strange, distant, like someone else's echo bouncing back from the stone. You shifted your weight from one side to the other in a fruitless effort to stretch out your aching spine, but your leg flared up with pain which made you hiss under your breath. "I won't die here. "
You tried to cry but it felt stupid. The stillness, however, made it worse - being surrounded by water and yet so incredibly parched, sore, hungry and unsure what the next hour would bring. The waves licked at the edges of the rocks like they were waiting, patient and hungry. He wasn't coming back. Maybe he really had meant to eat you, and when you proved to be too much of a hassle, he left you to starve instead. That would have been very fitting, wouldn't it?
Just as you let your head rest back against the stone, you heard a soft, distant splash. It wasn't loud, but it was enough. You sat up slowly, your heart starting to climb its way back up your throat. Your eyes scanned the water, unsure of you simply imagined it, but then you saw him. Emerging from the sea like he had never left, expression unreadable, his movements calm and controlled as he swam close to the rock formation.
Rafayel didn't look at you, only reaching behind him. His fingers were tangled around something thick and green, wet from the salty water. He dropped it onto your lap unceremoniously - a bundle of seaweed, cold and tangled, reeking of the depth of the sea. The weight of it surprised you.
"It's salty," he said with a low voice. "But you'll live." His voice lacked any emotion.
You looked down at it, blinking. He'd brought you food. Not an apology, not even a scrap of kindness in his tone, but still - he came back. Your fingers hovered over the seaweed before you picked at it carefully, pulling a small strip from the mess and lifting it to your mouth. The taste was awful, bitter and far too salty, but you forced yourself to chew regardless of the consistency. You swallowed and tried not to gag. It wasn't much, but it was far better than the headless fish.
"I-I need water," you murmured after a while, rubbing your mouth with the back of your hand. It sounded hesitant, almost too scared to burden the creature before you even more.
Rafayel turned towards you and his eyes narrowed as if you were trying to trick him. You could have sworn that you saw his eyelid twitch in frustration. "You're surrounded by it."
"I meant fresh… I can't drink this." You replied and your voice cracked at the last word.
He stared at you as if you'd just grown a second head, lips parting slightly in disbelief before he scoffed under his breasts. "Humans," he muttered, shaking his head. "Too fragile to eat, too good for the water. How do you even survive anything?" He sounded incredibly disappointed.
You didn't respond, lacking any answer, and he didn't expect you to. But after a short moment he moved again, adjusting the fins along his lower back as if stretching. His shoulders rolled once. Then, with the same ease as before, he turned to leave, ready to ascend into the ocean once again.
"I'll find it," he said almost begrudgingly. "But if you drown again while I'm gone, I won't be dragging you out a third time." He sounded like a dog owner arguing with his dog to throw the ball just one more time.
You watched him, eyes heavy lidded and body sagging from the exhaustion, but something tugged on your tongs just as he was about to dive under.
"You're not going to eat me, are you?" You asked, half joking, though your voice wavered around the edges. You tried your best to make it sound light, harmless.
Rafayel paused. Slowly, he glanced back over his shoulder with that strange glint in his eyes again, unreadable like the sea itself. His head tilted slightly. Then, that sound - a soft, low hum in the back of his throat.
Not quite a yes. Not quite a no.
And then he was gone again, leaving you curled on the rocks beneath a sky that never seemed to shift, wondering how long you'd last before salt and silence finished what the sea had started
I have several questions about your rules! Thanks in advance!
Do you do scenarios, oneshots, or headcanons?
If so, how many characters can we request for scenarios or headcanons?
Would you accept vague requests?
Would you accept specific requests?
Would you accept overly specific requests?
Would you accept hurt/comfort, and angst with a happy ending requests?
How many requests can I send at once?
Would you do the same prompt with different characters?
Can we request for gender neutral reader, etc?
Are there any characters you won't do in each fandom?
Can we request characters from different fandoms in a request?
Do you do poly ships x reader?
Would you mind if we request for Alternate Universes or Aus like AU where the character lives happily or Hanahaki Disease AU?
Would you mind if the request is suggestive, implied sex, or mentioned sex but no explicit sex?
Are you comfortable if we request any of this? Dom/sub, creampie, bondage, cunnilingus, spanking, finger fucking, size kink, deepthroating, threesome, virginity loss, squirting, nipple play, praise kink, shibari, voice kink, overstimulation, body worship, crossdressing, coming in pants/underwear, pegging, anal play, vibrator, and lingerie? I don't want to request anything that might make you uncomfortable!
For Love and Deepspace requests, can we request non mc reader?
What kinks would you accept for requests?
Can anons request smut?
Can we check with you if you received our requests?
hello hi!! that is a very long list haha but i will do my best to answer all questions!! ♡
i do all of them - if you don't ask for something specific i decide myself based on how inspired i feel if it's a oneshot/headcanons
i usually write for max 3-4 characters per post otherwise it gets too long. if you request more it might end up as 2 separate posts.
it depends!! if you just ask for example for makeout hcs like my last lads post - that's fine!! if you only ask "can you write smut with x" i would need a little more to work with.
i like specific requests because i know exactly what you'd like to see.
it depends!! as long as it doesn't go against my rules (as in my hard no's, including visual description of reader) or if you pretty much write the whole thing yourself already it's a little too specific for me.
yes. i'm also fine with hurt no comfort and dc as long as it doesn't go against my hard no's.
there's no certain number - but i'd just ask to be reasonable since i'm only a human and can only write so much.
absolutely!! i do so myself (see: getting caught red handed by the lads guys for example)
i can write genderneutral and female reader. although for smut i only write afab!reader
my rules state Caleb and he's the only one i can think about that i don't feel comfortable writing for.
sadly not because i like to separate my posts per fandom.
sadly not. i dont feel very comfortable writing poly ships (nothing wrong with it and no judgment, just a personal preference)
it depends on the AU!! for example i have written gachiakuta ranch AU, but i don't like some AU's; collage AU or the mentioned hanahaki disease one for example
absolutely fine by me!!
everything that's not listed in my hard no's is perfectly fine for me!!
ehh i'm gonna be honest - i never really have mc in mind haha. i keep my reader a clean slate unless the story requires something specific (for example the ship wreck in Tidebound that happened to reader in her childhood) - so yes, i guess!!
circling back to 15!!
i'd prefer if not so i know you're not a minor!! if you don't want your blog to be seen with the request just let me know and i won't share the request itself. (if it's me you're scared of - i don't judge you no matter what you request)
i have my workbench for that (that i need to update haha) because as said in my rules, i take the right to decline requests/don't write them and checking in makes me feel a little pressured.
again, just because i personally don't feel comfy writing for something doesn't mean it's wrong or that i judge you. it's just something i personally dislike therefore writing it would make me uncomfortable. to each their own and everything is fine.
please keep in mind that requests can take a while to get posted based on how inspired i am and how much free time i have considering irl stuff and all!!
