Landlocked || Mermaid AU || Jaegerbombtastic
"My family will worry," Mikasa protested yet again in vain to the man in the drivers seat. She scolded herself plenty for being stupid enough to accept a favor from a stranger with a car, for believing him when he said that the market on the other side of the hill had more beautiful china, for forgetting to check the time as she debated the gold printed koi plates or the tea set depicting a misty lagoon. Today started with good intentions, a shopping trip on the shore for a gift intended for Eren and his family, a small gesture of gratitude for all they had done for her after an unfortunate incident involving her parents and a fishing boat 5 years ago; now, it was slowly turning into a nightmare, a pulse-pounding, head-splitting, dry, waterless nightmare
Humans would call that an understatement. Merpeople, ones like Eren and Mikasa, would understand the horror it was to run out of time on land. Their bodies were unsuited for the thin aridness above the surface, unaccustomed to walking instead of gliding, having the soles of their feet pressed constantly to the surface of the Earth. She cursed herself for not being careful, knowing her awkward limp wold not have been enough to get away if someone were to detain her, yet here she was.
"Don’t be like that," He said. "Just for tonight."
"Stay"
Uncomfortable for humans, life-threatening to her. A new approach, as time was of the essence now. Every second was another scale shed, the moon high in the darkened sky. Anything that’ll get her back to the ocean was worth trying, the truth if it came to that.
"…Why don’t we go for a walk along the beach then? I adore the ocean..it is my life," She ventured, breathed a sigh of relief as he made an annoyed noise and turned the vehicle around. All she needed was to dip her useless toes in the water, dive in, never to be seen again. By the time they’d gotten back, she had worked herself into a half panic, throwing open the door and leaping out on her lame feet, carrying her precious gift in her arms. It must have been bewildering, or amusing to the tawny haired male driving the car, seeing her falter on at a desperate speed; that was what she was after all, desperate and half crazy to return to the comfortable depths of the sea.
Mikasa stumbled into the water breathlessly, anticipating the relief that was returning to her tail and fins, a feeling akin to stripping off a stifling sweater on a hot day, or releasing too-tight bindings…that never came. She waded deeper—knees, thighs, waist, neck, persistent until she was completely submerged. Her legs remained; god forbid she even attempt inhaling. Panic rose like bubbles crushed under a wave, a choking feeling—
—the unreal impulse to breathe, her body a prison within a prison, and the involuntary response to let go of her reason, the china plates sinking, racing her body to the bottom of the ocean.
