Mermay au
Sailor!Aizawa adopts siren!shinsou
All human sailors consider sirens to be enemy beasts - intent only on killing them all. Some sailors have never seen them while others have seen many - and killed many. None who have fully fallen under the sirens' song have ever returned from the sea, drowned by the witch-beasts.
The crew Aizawa's a part of has encountered and killed many sirens. He has felt their pull himself and resisted - so much so that its almost considered a unique talent among his crewmates. He just shakes his head and tells them to stay focused.
One day after a storm, the ship docks on dry land - a small island beach - to survey and fix any damage and mess caused by the storm. Taking advantage of the chance to walk on solid ground, Shouta explores down the beach leaving the rest of the crew behind.
Near a rocky outcropping he hears a sound - like melodious talking but he cant quite make out the words over the waves. Cautious, he draws his knife and approaches.
The first thing he notices is the blood in the water. Too much. Whoever spilt it is either dead or close to.
He looks further in and she notices him the same time he recognizes her.
A siren.
His hand tightens around his knife.
She curses him, then begs him to leave her be. Pleading, not compelling.
His eyes notice what shes holding so tightly to: a child.
His grip relaxes and he all but puts his knife away. Shes dying and wants to keep her child safe, she wants him gone as much as he doesnt want to be there.
He turns to leave, pretend he never saw anything and wander around elsewhere, but she calls out to him.
Her begging for solitude turned to a cry for help. He turns back, confused.
She shakily holds the child out towards him. Shouta is mildly surprised to see two young purple eyes blink at him. The child is alive, and unharmed.
"please," she begs. She knows she won't survive. "Protect him?"
... What? He can tell she's serious but that only confuses him more. Why would she expect a human to protect her child? How would that even work, assuming he wouldnt just kill the thing outright?
She begs again and he steps closer, finally sheathing his weapon. She holds out the child and Shouta can see it has legs. No fish tail like its mother. Is it human? Can't be, no human has eyes or hair that brightly colored.
"His father - human," she says. Her eyes flick away and he follows to the corpse lying bent across the rocks. Certainly dead - definitely human. He sees the wreck of their little boat scattered around. Was she travelling with him? The child...
Shouta blinks as his worldview readjusts somewhat. So sirens and humans can intermingle, huh. Okay then. Half human half siren baby with legs. Dying siren mother. Him.
Oh goddamn it.
He cant just walk away and let a child starve to death when he could do something about it. He's not a monster.
He kneels down next to her and nods.
"Okay. Ill protect-" he glances at the child, a few years into life maybe "-him. I'll keep him safe as long as I can."
Her relief come with tears, and she clutches her boy back to chest as farewell.
Before she can give the child to Shouta, he tells her, "Take your time, say your goodbyes. Im not in a rush."
She sighs and focuses back on hiding her pain from her child. Shouta sits back and processes everything he's coming to understand about these people he thought were monsters.
He listens to her sing brightly, comforting her boy who doesnt seem to yet realize that his mother is growing pale and weak. Her dark purple eyes and hair stand out brightly against pale skin. She calls him "Hitoshi" and asks Shouta to keep him near the water - he agrees. He sees thin gills on the boy's neck but the mother holds him above shore without issue. The boy- Hitoshi's eyes and hair are a paler purple, possibly owing to his father's blond.
At some point Shouta gets up and scavenges the wreck - looking for anything useful or sentimental. He doesnt find anything - some food scattered on the rocks, already soaked through, no spare clothes other than what the father was wearing. He takes a long look at the man's face and tries to commit it to memory - to honor his memory, if not just to remember for the child's sake.
He hears something change in the mother's crooning and turns back to her.
She's at death's door now. When she holds Hitoshi out to him, this time Shouta takes the child. The boy blinks at him, confused but unafraid. Shouta holds him close under his jacket.
He looks back at the mother.
"thank you," she says. "Treat him well, good man. Protect him. Please."
Shouta feels the burden of what he's accepted land on his shoulders. He breathes through the weight.
"I will do everything I can for him." He promises.
She watches Hitoshi as she lays in the sand and doesnt get up again.
Shouta sighs.
"Alright then. Back to the ship for us."
Hitoshi blinks, his gills flex, he sits calmly. Shouta refuses to question his choices.
He stands, and carefully climbs back over the rocks, mentally rehearsing what he's going to say to the crew and captain.