Head above water
Masterlist of my other warhammer fics here.
Summary: A drowning diver finds herself being rescued by an unlikely, fascinating creature. It's the start of something wonderful.
Or: You've heard of swimming with the fishes, but we'll be flirting with them here. Mer primarch AU inspiration comes from @nightlordlover, I'm just playing with the concept a little. I hope you enjoy!
Relationship: Mer!Sanguinius/Fem!human
Warnings: Descriptions of injury, blood, and near drowning
It had been a calculated risk.
Such is the very nature of scavenging, in the end. It's a nicely profitable venture, if one has the skill and the spine for it, but a dangerous one nonetheless. This goes doubly so for any mostly unexplored areas- which this rusting, waterlogged carcass of a city most definitely falls under.
So yes, it was a calculated risk, she thinks with barely suppressed panic as another wave washes over hear head, but the odds seem to have aligned against her today.
The loop of jagged, metallic wire cuts deeper into her leg as she strains just a bit further out of the water, gasping for a breath that feels like nowhere near enough before diving down again. In the morning sun's punishing light, she watches as the knife that could have been her salvation continues on its merry way to the cluttered sea floor. If it hadn't slipped out of her trembling fingers, that is.
Another mistake on her part, the last of a long line which started by her coming here in the first place - but one which might very well lead to her death.
She tries to reach for it anyway, swims down on muscles that don't quite respond properly anymore. It's in vain. The wire - or cable, or whatever it is - does not let her move far enough, her only reward for the attempt being an agonizing stab of pain in the muscle of her calf. Only years of experience stop her from crying out, and losing what little air she has in the process.
Pushing herself back up to the surface after takes staggering effort. With every attempt to cut free, to untangle herself, she weakens.
The barbed metal hadn't cut through anything important, but it had sliced deep and tangled tightly. With every second, her lifeblood leaks away into the uncaring ocean; every dive tires her more and more. It's an almost clinical realization, in the back of her mind- she will most likely die here, today.
The thought is awful in its intensity, sharp and staggering.
Despite the wars which ruined the world, plenty stories of old remain. Of those, many tell the tales of hubris and its consequences, of greed driving people to their deaths. Of reaching too far, and plummeting down.
She thinks she'll be joining them soon- though there will be little left to tell her story. Only her little boat, anchored only a few dozen meters away. Only the gap in the local community, soon to be filled by someone new. Just another fisher-scavenger, like hundreds of others.
Her death, as unimportant as theirs.
Her vision swims. Her lungs ache, even as she dives down again and again, cutting her bare hands on the wire to no avail. She will fight until the end- but it appears that end is approaching fast, despite her best efforts. With every moment, the tide rises, submerging her deeper beneath the waves.
Then- something in the water shifts.
It's only a feeling at first; unidentifiable, yet oddly tangible, as if the sea herself is holding her breath. A sudden, overwhelming knowledge she is not alone anymore.
She sees it, then, in between two desperate, too-short breaths. A glint in the water, the shadow of something enormous- below her, beside her, all around her. She only gets a second to feel properly terrified about it before a powerful wave pulls her under.
Despite the scratched surface of her goggles, the giant, inhuman face staring back at her stands out clearly in her vision. Her astonished gaze collides with a pair of large, dark irises, surrounded by crimson-flecked gold. Equally as golden hair wreathes its head like a halo, along with blood-red fins lining the sides of its face.
She does not get the time to study the creature any more, because its hands - enormous and clawed and suddenly shockingly close - begin reaching for her leg.
An instinctive fright drives her to flinch away, as fruitless as it is with her still trapped in place, but the hands do not dig in, do not tear at flesh or rend bone from bone. Instead, they grab for the sharp wire on two sides of her calf. They wrap around it, and tug.
Beneath the strength of the sea creature's hands, the solid metal snaps in two, sliding out of her flesh with a flash of white-hot pain. It makes her breath catch, stinging seawater invading her mouth as she desperately kicks up to the surface-
And breaches the waves with gasp, free at last.
Then she's breathing, coughing and wheezing, her lungs fighting for the air they'd been denied for far too long. As she hacks up the water out of her airways, weak and pained and so, so relieved she could cry, she distantly feels large, long fingers wrapping gently, deliberately around her waist. Supporting her. She does not fight to flee them, this time.
It takes her a long minute to catch her breath. Her body trembles and her eyes water, but she is alive, alive. Alive against all odds, and all thanks to…
She knows what she'll see when she looks up, more or less, but the sight of it - of him, probably - still makes her stiffen.
It's not her first time seeing a mer. She'd never been nearly so close to one before - she isn't stupid enough to risk that - but she'd gotten a few decent looks over the years. The bright, arterial red of this one's long, sharp ear fins and scales is distantly familiar, in that she'd seen this - species? variant? - before. But that's about where the familiarity end.
For one, he is much bigger. Far too big to be one of the regular examples of his kind, even from just the parts she can properly see. If he were a man, he would most likely be twice her height, at the very least. Being what he is, his toned torso instead trails off into crimson scales and a long, elegant tail, the shadow of which she can see curving below the two of them, the appendage easily three times her own length. A giant, spiny dorsal fin juts out of his back, and what seems to be several others lining his tail, the red of it speckled with what looks shockingly close to real gold.
His face is large as well, elegant in a way that reads as distinctly other in a way she struggles to put into words. The entirety of his physique is subtly wrong in multiple ways, like a blind artist having drawn a man on description alone- though he is by no means ugly, her oxygen-deprived brain cannot help but note.
No, quite the opposite. The creature, the mer, is astonishingly, inhumanly, staggeringly beautiful.
It would be mesmerizing, were it not for the look in his eyes. While his expression is neutral, perhaps even friendly, there is something behind his gaze that sets her carefully honed instincts on edge- and she isn't about to disregard it. It's kept her alive for this long.
"You should take more care with your safety, little one" he says then, those uncomfortably sharp eyes tracing over her features, making their own inspection of her in turn. She is surprised to find his voice is unnaturally dual-toned, though still oddly pleasant, the sound of it thrumming through her bones despite the low volume. Human speech does not seem to come naturally to him, either- his words are carefully pronounced and accented, and the same tension she saw in his eyes carries through his voice as well.
It's enough to put her on edge, and she is quick to reply. not wanting to earn her unexpected savior's ire.
"I promise I'm usually more graceful with my work," she says, trying for a small, grateful smile. It mostly even works, though she's sure there's something of a nervous edge to it. "Still, thank you for helping me. And, ah… sorry if I intruded on your territory."
The mer blinks, the sun gleaming off of his golden lashes. "You have nothing to apologize for. Neither me nor mine hold any claim to this area," he says. "There is little of interest for us here, and both my sons and I tend to avoid the sunken shallows."
It's her turn to be surprised now, her brow raising. "Why were you here, then?" she asks. If he hadn't been nearby to hear her splashing about, how could he have even found her.
In response, the mer's pretty face stiffens, his expression twisting slightly with what almost looks like shame- and suddenly, she has a strong suspicion as to what the answer will be. "Ah," he pauses, seemingly fighting with his words before continuing, "you have been bleeding a fair amount, and-"
Everything suddenly clicks into place. "You wanted to eat me!" she exclaims.
The giant's expression turns outright sheepish then. His shoulders seem to hunch in on themselves under her gaze, and he looks, for all intents and purposes, like a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"I did not know you were a person," he defends himself, his melodious voice quietly subdued; filled with what she now recognizes as tension coming from restraint, and no lack of shame. A struggle against his own predatory instincts. "Only once I got closer did I see what you are, and took notice of your plight."
He looks into her eyes, then; there is something pained beneath his gaze, almost pleading. "I know you have no reason to trust in my word, but I would not kill a person purely for sustenance. Not like this. I mean you no harm."
"But you are hungry," she says bluntly, studying his frame with new eyes. His pupils are large and dilated, even in the sun's bright light, similar in appearance to a feline with prey in its sights. She sees the way he refuses to look near the water, where her leg still sluggishly bleeds into the ocean; the way his breath is too even, and just a little too shallow. How he struggles against himself.
His lips twist into a small, mirthless smile. His mouth is carefully closed as he does so. "Always," he says, as if divulging a painful secret.
And- this should disturb her, she knows. It should scare her. She should ask this creature to let go of her immediately, clamber onto her boat and leave as quickly as her fraying sails will carry her. He may not want to hurt her in this very moment, but he is still dangerous. Lethal, if he wished to be.
And yet, something within her chest settles instead, her previous wariness mostly fading. He was honest, she cannot help but note. And he helped her. He could have easily killed her, too, fed himself on her flesh, but this clearly predatory being chose to save her life instead.
It's not a crime, that a carnodon must hunt to live, and neither is this gentle giant at fault for his hunger. She cannot, will not, blame him for being what he is. Not when he has chosen to be kind in spite of it.
And besides- as people have pointed out over the years, she has always been too daring for her own good.
"Well," she says after a moment, a small but genuine smile quirking up her lips as she pats one of the arms keeping her afloat, "I appreciate the restraint, then. It's been quite nice, not dying today."
Whatever response the giant may have expected, this was clearly not on the list. The mer's eyes widen, his lips - shockingly soft looking, something in her brain cannot help but note - falling slack. Then he throws his head back, overcome with sudden, startled laughter.
And- oh, she thinks faintly, suddenly face to face with a mouth full of blades.
The mer's front teeth are mostly flat, not too far from human standard except for their size, but that's where the resemblance ends. Where a man's incisors would sit, a little pointed at best, this being has fangs. Long and visibly sharp, they resemble something a mythical blood drinker might posses, except at a scale those fairy tale monsters could only dream of. His molars are pointed as well, serrated at the edges and clearly meant for killing.
The teeth of an apex predator, she thinks, and some electric feeling slides down her spine.
However - and she curses herself for that particular bit of foolishness too - it's not entirely fear she feels, when she looks at them. They look lethal, certainly, but they also look…
The mer - and oh, she really has to ask his name at some point - is quick to put a hand over his mouth once he sees her looking, hiding those sharp, lethal looking fangs from her sight, and she tells herself she's not disappointed by that. His mirth is contagious, though, and she cannot help but grin as well, her comparatively much less impressive teeth on display.
…Well. Nevermind that, now. She banishes those odd thoughts to the back of her mind, trying to dispel the warmth crawling up her cheeks before it begins to show.
When he removes his hand, the small, closed mouthed smile is back in place, though it seems a lot more genuine this time around. His eyes seem to be studying her with a new intensity, roving over her features in a way that makes her feel seen down to her very soul. It does not feel predatory this time, nor dangerous. Just- warm.
It's an odd feeling. She doesn't dislike it.
Whatever it is, he snaps out of it soon enough. "Let me get you to safety, now," he says suddenly, decisively ending whatever little moment they were having there. He gestures with his head to where her boat still sits, only a few meters away, the vague length of his tail moving beneath them. "Would you like me to-"
"Oh- yes, please," she is quick to agree, the stinging pain in her leg making itself known once he starts moving the two of them towards the vessel. "I have some ointment and bandages in there too, so I can stop ah- bleeding all over you."
His mouth stretches into a slightly tense, yet amused smile. "That would be for the best, I think, yes," he says, his voice regaining its previous tightness at the mention of blood.
She assumes he might be doing his best not to think about it, though it doesn't seem easy. Like waving a steak in front of a hungry carnodon, she thinks, with a touch of wry amusement. She makes a note to avoid using the word for now. No need to make things harder for him.
The clamber up to the deck of her one-man sailboat is an awkward process. Her injured leg, which already didn't like the movement of before, certainly protests against actually climbing the little ladder she has hanging off the side. The mer does his best to help, but her bleeding calf so close to his face seems to be bothering him too much to bear. His hands tighten minutely around her waist, and even over the everpresent sounds of the waves around them, she can hear way his breathing stutters.
Definitely struggling now. She Does her best to hurry, finally managing to grip onto the ladder with tired hands and pulling herself up, feeling his hands leave her body as she climbs.
Then she's aboard, and she breathes a sigh of relief at the sensation of solid flooring beneath her feet. With a grunt of effort, she shuffles backwards, further into her boat at the same time she sees the mer-giant puts some distance between them with a few elegant motions of his fins. He appears to be doing his best to avoid looking at her, and she quickly shoves her bleeding leg behind her- though she doubts it'll help much. If he could smell her blood across miles of open ocean, just getting the leg out of his sight won't make a difference.
Still, it's the principle of the thing, and she really does want to make it easier on him. For both their sakes.
"Are you, uh…" she starts, watching the tense twist of his expression, "doing alright there?"
It feels a little odd to talk about, given the thing he's struggling with is the urge to eat her, but- the distraction of speech seems to help. The mer chuckles a little, clearly also not missing the irony of the situation.
"Yes, fear not," he says, and his deep, dual-tone voice is still tight, but otherwise steady enough. "My control will not falter now."
That hadn't been exactly what she'd been asking about, but- good to know. "I have some food onboard," she changes the subject, deciding it would be best not to linger on the topic further. "A baked fish, some jerky. It's not much, but if you're hungry…" she trails off with a shrug, "it's the least I can do, after what you did for me."
Against her expectations, the mer's face scrunches into something like revulsion. It's a funny look on such a regal, otherworldly face. Like a child displeased with their dinner, almost. "I am afraid dead meat is not to my taste," he says with a notably dolphin-like click in the back of his throat, "but I appreciate the thought."
Ah. That is understandable, she supposes - as well as slightly off-putting in its phrasing, but - fair enough. It makes sense, now that she gives it some thought. Predatory fish men most likely aren't meant to be eating their meals cooked.
"Sorry," she tips her head, accepting his answer, and watches him wave the apology off with a small smile. An uncertain silence stretches between them, then, filled only by the ocean's sounds… and she realizes she doesn't quite know what to do with herself now. Where to go from here, after all that's happened today.
She should excuse herself, probably. Go home, do something about the leg. She does feel all sorts of shitty, now that the adrenaline's faded and all her muscles are screaming for rest. Besides, she should probably go bleed somewhere out of her unlikely savior's general vicinity. Stop waving the metaphorical steak in front of his nose, before she gets quite literally bitten for it.
On the other hand, though- there is an actual mer here. A mer that speaks her tongue, and is for some reason happy to give her the time of day. An enormous, beautiful, utterly fascinating being which, if the open ocean sailors' description are to be believed could very well be one of the almost mythical primarchs. And she is supposed to leave, squander this rare, curious opportunity, just like that?
Some of her indecision must surely show on her face, because the being smiles slightly, the fins which make up his ears shifting slightly. "Go," he says gently, as he puts a few more meters of distance between them- though his eyes, she notes, never leave her for a moment. "Go home, lovely one. Flee from my hunger, for you do not deserve its bite. Tend to your injury. And take more care when exploring the sunken lands, next time," he says, then hesitates. "If you intend return here again, that is?"
There is something hidden behind those words. A quiet loneliness, she believes. A gentle request, too. He wants to see her again, she thinks, and the little thrill that goes through her body at the prospect nearly makes her shiver.
"Should I?" she says, testing the waters.
His head cocks to the side. "I will leave that up to you," he says evenly, refusing to press. Trying not to scare her off, maybe.
She shouldn't. She really shouldn't, but- lovely one. It echoes in her head, tingles in her stomach and around her midsection, where his hands held her tight. Lovely one. It sounded so sweet, in his echo-y, inhuman voice, coming from so beautiful, so fascinating a being. It stoked that curiosity, that thrill in her heart, the adventurer's spirit that led her to take up her dangerous profession in the first place, and-
Lovely one. Really, how is she supposed to be making good life decisions after that?
"I shouldn't be going into the water for a bit, what with my leg," she says eventually, a little apologetic, then has to suppress an undignified, endeared sound in the back of her throat at the way the mer's broad shoulders slump.
"But," she adds; lets a smile climb its way across her lips, fighting down the warmth in her cheeks, "I still have to make money somehow, especially since I'll be losing a day's worth of work. So, I think I might take the fishing rods out tomorrow, instead. Bright and early would be for the best. Perhaps you could show me to some decent fishing spots?"
The smile he gives her in is carefully close-mouthed, yet no less warm for it, and she knows, then, this will not be a choice she regrets, no matter how it all ends.
-
Damn, this took me a while! Life has been very efficient at taking up valuable writing time, but I'm still working on fics where I can. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! I might continue this, or I might not, depending on my time and whether people want to see more of it. Either way, it was fun to make!
Tagging: @hopefully-grimderp @beckyninja