Tidal Force
A MERMAY ONE SHOT
A/N: Here we are with yet another thing I had no intention of writing but that grabbed hold of my brain and wouldn’t let go - a mermaid au (sort of, you’ll see) featuring Din Djarin. Hence why I am posting this in the very middle of the night (which is actually kind of appropriate for this story... again, you’ll see). I had fun with it, and I hope that you will, too.
Word Count: 2.7k
Warnings: deep water, brief mention of injury, female reader who is for all purposes a mermaid, departure from canon because if we’re throwing mermaids in we can also throw some canon out. i have spoken.
Summary: You’ve always felt drawn to the moon, you just never really knew why. Until now.
As far back as you could remember, you had always felt the pull of the moon.
It would start in your chest - a slow swell of longing that eventually became impossible to ignore. Not that you ever wanted to. Equal parts ache and bliss, curiosity and apprehension, it would tug you towards the open water with just one thought echoing through your mind:
Maybe tonight. Maybe this time.
You knew it was improbable. Even as you cut through the current, the cool water gliding over your skin and the iridescent scales of your fins, you knew. Even as you rose up, up, up through the depths, and those thoughts repeated over and over again, you knew. Even as you swam with all of your speed and strength towards the source of the pull, you knew what you were most likely to find - nothing but the thick, glassy ceiling that separated your world from the surface, from the topside, from the silver-white glow of Concordia’s kiss.
But maybe.
Maybe it would be the night that the legends were proven true. Maybe you would finally see the sky, feel fresh air, be kissed by the moonlight. A rush of warmth would bubble through your bloodstream. Maybe it would be the night that you left the sunken, sealed depths of the Sundari Sea, shed your tail and stepped out on dry land.
Maybe tonight.
You tried, each time, not to let your hopes soar too high. But the lure of the moon was no match for your will, and each time you rose only to be disappointed by the press of your palm against the crystalized barrier between worlds. You would sigh, curling your fingertips against the semi-transparent ceiling. The swell in your chest would begin to recede as you gazed up through the glass and wondered if any of it was true. If there ever even was a topside. And if there wasn’t, you wondered if you would ever be free of the pull.
Not tonight.
You would return to your home, swimming back into the deep and down through the channels that connected the sea to the underground system of beskar caves and saltwater lakes, where the rest of your kind lived. It was safe there. Secluded, yes, but safe from attack or invasion. You would curl back up in your bed and remind yourself of that, and as the current settled around you again, you recalled the stories from your childhood, falling asleep with your favorites playing through your mind.
The kiss of Concordia. The one who lived in both worlds. The sea maiden who rescued the topside king.
According to the myths you were raised on, Mandalore had once been a very different planet than it was now - one with lush forests that were rich with natural resources, one that was home to the most skilled warriors in the galaxy. These topsiders encased themselves in armor made from the beskar that lined the underwater caves, the very same mineral that the shimmery, chain-link clothing your people wore on their top halves was made from, and an agreement was made between the two worlds of Mandalore - that those above, in their impenetrable suits of steel, would offer protection from outside enemies to those below in exchange for access to the beskar.
For centuries the agreement held, and relations between the Mandalorians of the Sundari Sea and those who lived on land continued to remain peaceful. The legends even told of a sea maiden named Cyare and the leader of the land dwellers who had fallen in love despite not being able to share the same world. The man had been shot down in some skirmish over the sea, and the weight of his armor had dragged him down, fast. Unconscious and injured, he surely would have died had the sea maiden not found him and pulled him back up to the surface.
She stayed with him for days until he woke, tended to his wounds for weeks and cared for him until he was healed. The bond that was formed between them was so pure and powerful, so full of love, that on the night before he was to return home to his people, as the light of the full moon touched her skin, she was transformed. Her scaled tailfin became two legs, and she rose from the water to stand beside her beloved, the final barrier between their worlds broken.
The stories almost always ended with the prophecy that one day, another sea maiden of Mandalore would be called to rescue another Mandalorian warrior, and that their moonlit union would signify another long and prosperous era of peace and protection between the two worlds.
But it was just a story.
You had been trying to tell yourself that for years. Others of your kind let go of those legends as they got older, moved on and accepted that they were nothing but tall tales spun to entertain imaginative children. None of them were pulled from their chambers in the middle of the night by some force of the tide each time the moon was full. None of them longed to have the chance to walk on land, none of them needed to know what the moonlight felt like.
Because it isn’t even possible.
There were other stories that you’d grown up with, but those weren’t ones you liked to remember. They told of war and destruction so brutal and violent that it had ravished the planet, left it stripped and scarred, decimated the oceans. Layers of crust and crystalized vapor overtook the entire surface, sealing the sea beneath them. Any topsiders who survived those wars had long since forgotten that the Sundari Sea had ever existed, and then they, too, had ceased to exist.
The legends told of an event known as the Great Purge - an attack on Mandalore that was meant to erase its people once and for all. That one, though the heaviest and most upsetting of them all, was unfortunately also the one that was most likely true. Afterall, no one had seen a topsider in close to a hundred years.
And that includes the moon. No one has seen the moon since before the Great Purge.
It was that thought that broke your heart the most. Because it meant that the stories and the prophecy were only just that - legends and fables. But even realizing this, you knew that the next time you felt the pull of the moon you would still follow it. Even knowing that it was impossible, you would still seek the open air and the silver light and the possibility that the land dwelling Mandalorians might return one day.
– – – –
“But the mines were destroyed in the Purge.”
How am I supposed to bathe in the Living Waters if I can’t even get to them?
He stood opposite the Armorer, the weight of her visor of her golden helm trained directly on him.
“This is the Way.”
Her reply was one he’d heard countless times before. But that had been the first time that it hadn’t felt like reassurance. Still, he returned the words and accepted the challenge. Because even if it was impossible, it was the only path he could take.
This is the Way.
When Bo-Katan had declined his invitation to join him on his journey to Mandalore, he had been further disheartened. She had once been the spearhead of the initiative to retake the ancestral homeworld of their people. To hear her say that Mandalore was lost, that she had no desire to return to it anymore didn’t make him feel any better about the chances of his mission being a success.
But I have to try. I have to.
“Then I will go alone.”
She glared at him from the throne in the great hall of her stronghold on Kalevala. “Then you’re a bigger fool than I thought you were, Din Djarin.” A mirthless laugh left her lips as she raised one hand towards the door. “Go on. Leave me in peace.”
He did as she asked then, but when he landed safely on the surface of Mandalore several days later and found that it wasn’t toxic or poisoned or blown to pieces like she and others had said it was, he felt far from foolish. For the first time since being told that he was no longer a Mandalorian, he felt something start to swell inside him. Hope. With help from R5 he was able to scan the surface and locate the ruins of the civic center in the city of Sundari, beneath which lay the mines and the Living Waters.
When he was attacked by a pack of Alamites along the way, he hadn’t noticed that one of them had managed to sink its tusk between his chest plate and shoulder pauldron. He’d dispatched them before the pain could register, and that had been further delayed as the last one fell with a thud, clearing his view and giving him his first glimpse at what he’d thought was impossible.
Redemption.
Instead of destroying them, the seismic activity of the Purge had actually deepened the waters, opening up underground aquifers that hadn’t been accessed in centuries. Stumbling forwards, he made his way into the shallows, reciting the words of the Creed aloud in the empty chamber. But halfway through, he lost his step and suddenly the weight of his armor and the pull of the water was too much for his battle-weakened body, and he was plummeting. Down, down, down to the depths.
– – – –
You woke with a jolt, gasping and clutching at your chest.
It had never been so strong. Where it normally began as a gentle pull, that night it was as though a hook had lodged itself in your heart and was dragging you into motion.
Tonight. You thought, and it was the first time that you felt so sure, the first time that there wasn’t a maybe attached. Tonight. Tonight.
You raced through the channels and rose towards the surface, but this time, instead of following the same path you always took, you felt the pull take you a different way.
But this doesn’t lead to the surface. This just leads to the old mines and the…
It was then that you remembered the last detail of the story about Cyare and the Mandalorian king. The pool of water where she was able to stay close to him after rescuing him had since been built around and used ceremoniously as a place of new life and fresh starts.
They called it the Living Waters. That’s… that’s where I’m going now.
You weren’t sure why, because you knew for a fact that the moon wouldn’t be visible from there. But the urgency you felt only grew with each beat of your heart, and you swam faster than ever to find out why. And you didn’t have to wait long.
As soon as you arrived, your eyes doubled in size as you saw him - the figure of a man from the world above, clad head to toe in shiny beskar armor just like in the myths, plunging through the dark, cold water to what would certainly be his demise.
I have to help him!
You couldn’t be sure if the thought came first, or if it was your grip beneath his arms, but once you had him securely in your hold, you darted straight up until you breached the water and were surrounded by the cathedral like cavern of the partially collapsed mines. With a powerful push of your tail, you lifted the man up onto the steps that led out of the water. For a few terrible seconds you waited, watching his chest for the rise and fall of breaths, wondering if you’d been too late. But just as you were about to reach out and touch him again, a cough came from under his helmet and relief flooded your whole being.
“You’re alive!” The rush of joy you felt over that simple statement was almost too much. Another round of coughing and sputtering came as his reply, and then you noticed the blood. Oh, no. Frowning, you looked down at him. “But you’re hurt. Don’t move, let me take a look.”
“Who…” He coughed again as you pressed both hands to the gap between the metal covering his body. “Who are you?”
You licked a few stray drops of water from your lips and told him your name. “I am a sea maiden of Mandalore.” Narrowing your eyes, you peered at his wound and sighed as you realized it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, and that you’d be able to patch it up with paste made from the grasses that grew in the lakebed of these waters. “Who are you?”
He panted out a few uneven breaths and groaned as he sat up slightly. “My name is Din Djarin. I-” He sucked in a breath and you pulled your hands away, sinking further down into the water. When he spoke again, he did so with a small but noticeable shake of his head. “I didn’t know that there were sea folk on Mandalore.”
That actually made you smile. “And I didn’t know that there were any topsiders left on Mandalore.” He tilted his chin, the curve of his helmet catching a reflection from the water, but before he could speak again he flinched and grabbed for his injured shoulder. “Hold on,” you told him, lifting one finger. “I’ll be right back.”
With that you disappeared beneath the water in search of the grass you knew to have medicinal properties, snatching up a handful and rising back up. Crushing it between your fingers and mixing it with water in your palm, you turned it to a paste and held it up. “This will help with your shoulder.”
He didn’t protest, nodding instead, and you moved quickly to apply the treatment. As you drew your hand back again, he said your name. “Thank you. For saving me.”
You smiled at him again, still buzzing with adrenaline from what had happened. “You’re welcome, Din Djarin of Mandalore.”
“Actually…” He sighed and circled the shoulder you had just finished tending to, clearly surprised at how quickly the salve had gone to work. “This is my first time here on Mandalore. I was raised on the moon of Concordia.”
You felt the shock that you were sure he saw on your face, your thoughts beginning to race wildly.
Concordia. The moon. That’s why- He’s why… Why I felt the pull tonight. It wasn’t the moon it was… it was him. He was what I’ve been drawn to. And now he’s here and-
“Are you alright? Did I say something to-” He reached for your arm then, and you realized that one of his gloves must have been lost when he was dragged down, because you felt his skin brush yours, as light as a kiss.
Tonight. Tonight. Tonight.
As soon as he touched you it started - a tingling sensation throughout your body. Looking down at your lower half, you watched in awe as the scales of your tail transformed into the same chain link material of your shirt, lengthening into a dress that covered a pair of legs instead of a tail.
“What… what happened, are you…” He rose somewhat shakily to stand beside you.
You grasped onto him, unsure if it was for his stability or yours at that point, but it didn’t matter. It was all true. The myth. The prophecy. Concordia’s kiss. It was too soon to tell if the rest of the story would ring true - the part concerning the romance and the lifelong bond that Cyare and the Mandalorian in the myth would share - but there would be plenty of time to see how that would unfold now that your two worlds had been joined. Lifting your eyes to the darkened visor you imagined his must be behind, you took a deep breath.
“I have been waiting a very long time for this night.” You nodded and swallowed a thick knot of complicated emotions. “We have to talk. About the future of Mandalore.”
Returning your nod, and gently gripping your forearm, he responded. “This is the Way.”
.
.
.
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