Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Malcolm flicked his tail fin, watching kelp sway in the gentle current it created across his favourite garden. He shifted up onto his side atop a soft bed of sand and grasses, tucking his hands under his head, and stared out at the kelp fields that stretched before him for miles. The gentle dance of the grass always helped calm him. The iridescent greens and blues along the stems and blades, creating beautiful patterns as they swayed past each other, twisting and turning the currents. It was his place of contemplation, and peace.

His Father had shot down his suggestion of exploratory missions to the surface again. His fury at Malcolm’s disobedience in front of the council, who had all shown a willingness to consider it, had been clear. The memory of his Father’s fingers digging deep into his shoulder, echoed in what would be a bruise by tomorrow. To everyone else it would have appeared a show of affection, with his Father’s smiling mask that he presented to the world. Malcolm knew what lay beneath that mask and it terrified him, but he also knew that they couldn’t hide in Triton forever.

He loved to watch the slow dance of the grasses when he was upset, and sometimes would be rewarded with a visit from some sea cows. Their soft snouts snuffling at him always brought a smile to his face, even when his emotions were at their most turbulent. He would thank them with a loving pet, before they would meander back to nibbling at the soft sea grasses that they loved so much. He wished they were here today, but it was just him and the swaying kelp.

Malcolm loved his home, but he couldn't help yearning for more. To see the surface and meet the creatures that lived there had been a dream of his since he was a Merling. His Great Uncle Douglas had written of his adventures on the surface, and the fascinating surface dwellers. He had surmised that the surface dwellers had once been Merkin, or Merkin had derived from them at some point. His Father refused to listen to the theories, and called his Great Brother-in-law a dithering fool, a daydreamer who amounted to nothing. Malcolm had never met him, but his writing definitely didn't read like someone who was a fool, or making up tales. If he could just see for himself, then he could show his Father. Show him the truth, that they should at least try befriending the surface dwellers.

Malcolm rolled to his back, and stared up through the blue-green depths towards the filtered light near the surface.

He could just swim up and get a quick peek.

If he was lucky, the floating craft his Great Uncle called a boat would be near, and he could catch a glimpse of a surface dweller. Great Uncle Douglas had said that surface dwellers used them to navigate the oceans, because they couldn't breathe the way Merkin did, with only lungs and no gills. He told of them even using contraptions to dive into the water that gave them air from the surface. Malcolm was desperate to know more, and right now there was no one around to stop him. If no one knew, his Father wouldn’t find out, and he wouldn’t get in trouble, right?

Mind set, Malcolm quickly threw out his senses to check for any other Merkin, and when nothing but the echoes of fish came back, he shot off toward the surface. He would prove his Father wrong, even if it killed him trying.

Malcolm slowed his ascent as he neared the surface.

He could see a large dark shape passing overhead, its size rivalling that of a whale. He was so fascinated by the object that he didn't see the trailing net until he was tangled in it. His fins stuck in the rough material. It tore at his scales, and abraded his sensitive skin. He cried out as he pulled at the net and tried to twist his way out of its harsh confines. All that did was tear his fins to shreds, leaving his skin raw, and bleeding. His scales glittered off in a cloud in his wake as he was pulled along against his will. The force of the water being pushed through his gills hurt, seeing them stretch to almost tearing in the drag of the water. Malcolm knew if he didn't get free soon, his gills would be torn to shreds like his fins, and he would drown.

Just as Malcolm thought he would succumb to the pressure of the dragging water, it shifted…and suddenly, he was being dragged up towards the surface. He made a last ditch effort to free himself, thrashing with his tail against the net confines. It was all in vain, as he breached the surface still entangled in the net. The sun stung his eyes, so bright without the filtration of the water he had experienced all his life. The air against his skin and scales was overwhelming. It was light and tickling as it touched him everywhere at once, but nowhere at the same time. The air through his gills burned, and had him gasping for breath as his body switched to getting his much needed oxygen from the air around him.

The pressure of the water disappeared as he flipped over the side of what he now guessed was a boat, as his great Uncle Douglas described in his journals, in a tangle of fins, limbs, and net. The thump of his shoulder and hip hitting the hard bottom of the boat had him groaning aloud, and trying to move so he could see where he was.

A short scream at his side had him scrambling awkwardly to glance up, and squint against the glare of the sun into the beautiful face of a surface dweller. Her tight curls haloed around her head with the sun behind her, bouncing around her shoulders as she shifted her gaze to take him all in. Malcolm blinked up at her, speechless as she reached out a tentative hand towards him, said hand pulling back instantly as he wriggled back from her reach. She may be a beautiful creature, but he wasn’t ready to be touched when he was tangled in the net, and still in his water form.

“GIL!” her bellow startled him enough that he thrashed in the net, trying to get free. He hissed as the harsh material tore at his skin, and scales. Blood dripped as more wounds opened across his tail, torso, and trapped arms.

“Shit, no, please stay still. We’ll get you out. I promise,” the beautiful surface dweller pleaded, her hands outstretched towards him, but she didn’t touch him.

Malcolm panted as the muscles of his tail rippled and contorted painfully, his body preparing for his transition. He had been told the transition process from their water form to air form was painful, but as he had never even seen someone transition, he had no idea what to expect. The ripping pain in his tail had him screaming before he realised what was truly happening.

“Oh my God, what the hell!” a new, masculine voice shouted. A tall, male creature with a beard came into Malcolm’s view as he thrashed in the net, trying to get away from the all consuming pain rippling through his body.

“I have no idea, he came up in the net and just started screaming when I went to help him. I mean, what the hell is he?” the beautiful creature asked the tall bearded male.

“I’ve heard the old sea tales of Merkin, but never in my life did I think I'd ever see one,” the tall man replied, stepping in close to Malcolm as he continued to writhe on the deck, his muscles and bones shifting and reshaping.

“Jesus, what the hell is happening to him, is he…oh my god, he’s shifting. Dani, get a knife, we need to get him free now,” the bearded man shouted to his beautiful companion.

Malcolm lost track of what they were doing as the all consuming pain took over, and overwhelmed all his senses.

The last thing he heard and saw before he blacked out was a whispered, “I won’t hurt you” as a glint of shiny metal in the beautiful creature's hand came into his view.

Chapter Text

Malcolm woke with a groan, his skin feeling like it was stretched too tight over his body, and burning hot. He tried to lick his lips, but his tongue was dry and just rasped across the cracking and bleeding skin. His head pounded, and his stomach churned as he tried to pull himself up to sit.

“No, no, try to stay still. We’re nearly at the docks,” a male voice encouraged from his left. He turned slightly to look at them and realised it was the bearded man…Gil, from earlier.

Malcolm scrambled to sit himself up and away from the surface dweller crouched beside him. The rapid movement did nothing for his headache, and just ratched his nausea so that he nearly gagged into his lap. His lap, that was no longer his scaled tail and fins, but wounded, and bleeding legs. And…was he naked?…Malcolm hastily cupped his now exposed genitals and blushed furiously. He had forgotten about that tid-bit in their transformation to land form. How embarrassing.

Malcolm shuffled so that his sluggishly bleeding legs covered him, and left his hands free to defend himself…just in case.

Malcolm shuffled himself back into the edge of the boat as the surface dweller he now knew as Gil, stretched out a hand towards him, a container of some sort in it.

“It’s water…in the bottle, it’s water. You look thirsty,” Gil said to him as he gestured with the bottle towards him.

Malcolm looked between the surface dweller’s eyes and the…"bottle", what Gil had called the container in his hand. He could see water moving in the container with the bumping of the boat across the surface of the water, as they moved swiftly towards land.

With his throat so dry he could barely swallow anymore, Malcolm reached out with a small hiss, the wounds on his arms reminding him they were there. He snatched the bottle from Gil's hand, and brought the opening to his mouth. Cool, clear, fresh water filled his mouth, and he spluttered a little, adjusting to drinking fresh water instead of salt. The bottle was emptied before his thirst was and he looked longingly into it, as if more would suddenly materialise when his throat still burned with thirst.

“More,” Malcolm begged as he extended the bottle back to the surface dweller Gil, hoping that given he could understand them, they would understand him too.

Malcolm pulled back on himself a little when the man stared, looking at him in shock, “shit, I wasn’t sure you could understand us. I had no idea you’d have the same language.”

Malcolm moaned as the muscles in his legs cramped, grabbing on tight to the foreign forms that were now part of his body, and seemingly determined to hurt him.

Malcolm cursed as the cramps continued to strain his muscles, and the water he had managed to drink churned heavily in his belly. A particularly strong cramp pulled in the back of his leg, and he couldn’t help but howl his pain as it felt like the new limb was going to snap in two with the tension.

“Dani, we need more water, now!” Gil called out to the front of the boat, as he reached out a hand towards Malcolm. He stopped before touching him when Malcolm pulled away, only to make the cramps pull him back into whimpering moans of agony.

All the pain of his cramping muscles got to be too much for his rebelling stomach, and he found himself tipping to the side to vomit all the precious water he had just taken in across the floor of the boat.

He panted between retches, as his stomach seemed to try and turn itself inside out. Soon, his vision started to spin, and blur. The sounds of the boat, and frantic shouting between the surface dwellers now clustered in front of him, cut in and out. With a quiet whimper he slumped to the floor, as his vision faded to black, and his hearing muffled to nothing. The echo of his cramping muscles the last thing to fade as he lost his hold on consciousness.

The next thing he knew he was floating in glorious water, and he could feel soft, but firm arms encircling him, holding his head above the water.

“I think he’s coming to,” a female’s voice called softly over his head, the arms holding him shifting their grip to release his own from his sides.

Malcolm, still not fully conscious, tipped his head to the side to see who was holding him, and once again saw the beautiful brown eyes looking back at him with concern.

“Hey there, you feeling any better?” the beautiful surface dweller that they had called Dani asked him, as she lifted one of her arms and stroked the back of her hand against his cheek.

Malcolm blinked at her, unable to process for a moment what was happening, struck by how beautiful she was with her now damp curls framing her face. The multitude of browns that shimmered through the curls had him mesmerised.

“What can we do to help you?” Dani asked as she shifted him in her arms so that they could see each other better. Malcolm blinked at her again, before reaching up a hand and trailing it over the delicate curls that weren’t damp from the water closer to the top of her head. The colours were so different to what he was used to seeing.

Suddenly he realised he was being held up in water by a surface dweller. He quickly twisted himself out of her arms, and flicked his tail to launch himself across what he could now see was some sought of large container holding the sea water they were both in.

“Hey, it’s ok, I promise. I’m not going to hurt you ok? I feel bad enough that our net caught you up in the first place,” The woman tried to assure him as he hovered near the other side of the container.

Malcolm quickly glanced around and took in where he was. The large container he and the woman were in was set to the side of a larger structure, that appeared to be made of some sort of metallic substance. There was machinery all to one side of the structure, some of which looked slightly similar to the boat they had been on, but most looked completely foreign, and he had no idea what it could be for. The thing that concerned him most was that there were now two more surface dwellers watching him along with the woman in the container, and Gil from the boat, who was standing outside the container, watching Malcolm with a curious and seemingly concerned gaze. One of the new surface dwellers was a tiny woman who looked ready to jump out of her skin, with her eyes alight and virtually bouncing on her feet. The other was a man, who was large and intimidating, looking at Malcolm with a wary gaze and clenched fists, almost as if he was holding himself back.

Malcolm startled a little when the intimidating man spoke, “Dani, don’t get too close. We have no idea what he is capable of.”

“JT, don’t be a dick.” Dani retorted as she turned to address the intimidating man.

Malcolm frowned, and his fins stiffened in indignation, wincing slightly as the wounds from his tangle with the net finally started to register again. He thought Malcolm was the threat here? They had pulled him up in a net, and dragged him into their boat, then dumped him in a container of sea water like some sort of prized catch. How was he the threat?

“You have me trapped. Anything I do will be to defend myself,” Malcolm hissed softly, glaring at the man that had spoken.

“Whoa, whoa, no one is holding you here. We just didn’t know how else to help you when you fell unconscious on the boat,” Gil tried to assure him, his hands raised in supplication.

“Then why didn’t you just put me back in the sea?” Malcolm growled at him, still not believing that they didn’t have malicious intent.

Gil stepped closer to the container, looking up at Malcolm with eyes that looked sincere, “we had no idea if you would drown if we dumped you in the water while you were unconscious. We thought it best to bring you in with us, and put you in the tank so we could keep your head above water, and out of sight of prying eyes while you recovered.”

Malcolm darted his gaze across all four of the surface dwellers, even the intimidating man appeared to have relaxed a little, and looked like he genuinely wanted to help.

Malcolm sighed, and braced himself against the side of the container that Gil had called a "tank". He used his arm to take some of his weight in the water. His tail was aching from the wounds, the strain from multiple transitions, and the cramps in the boat. Overall, he was exhausted and really didn’t think he would stand much of a chance fighting his way out of here. Especially since he couldn’t swim his way out. Resigned to having to trust the surface dwellers, he nodded his head, “Ok, I believe you.”

The tiny woman that had been seemingly vibrating with excitement, stepped up close to where he was resting on the edge of the tank.

“Hi, I’m Edrisa. I’m the resident fish expert around here, and I would love to help you out with those wounds…Oh, that sounds like I think you're a fish. I don’t, I know you're a mammal…like us…but, different.”

Malcolm blinked at the woman in confusion, “uh, ok…my name is Malcolm. Pleasure to meet you…I guess?”

Malcolm couldn’t help but smile back when the tiny woman beamed a bright smile at him.

“Oh my, you are pretty,” Edrisa sighed as she slid her gaze across his whole form.

Malcolm blushed, and didn’t know where to look, ending up examining the wound on the back of his hand to deflect from the awkward moment.

Gil stepped up behind Edrisa and started to steer her away from the tank, giving Malcolm an apologetic smile as he guided her away.

“Don’t mind Edrisa, you'll get used to her. She’s a little…unique, but she is brilliant,” Dani’s soft voice next to him startled him a little, as he hadn’t noticed her moving over to him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Dani apologised as she lightly touched his shoulder.

Malcolm found himself relaxing at the touch rather than being fearful. He smiled softly at her as she offered her shoulder for him to rest on, and nodded when she suggested they move over to the steps embedded in the tank so that he could rest easily.

Malcolm groaned a little as he lifted himself onto the first step, and leaned back to rest his elbows against the next one, stretching his tail out in front of him. The pull of his tight muscles reminded him it had been a harrowing day.

Malcolm turned to look into Dani’s beautiful brown eyes as she gently squeezed his shoulder, “is it ok, if I check over your wounds? I don’t want them to get infected, and a couple look like they're still bleeding a little.”

Malcolm nodded, offering up his closest arm for her to check. He grinned a little as she made small tsking noises trailing her soft fingertips over the grazes and scrapes across his arm.

“That net really did a number on you, didn’t it? We’re going to have to modify it so that we aren’t hurting anything else when we bring it up,” Dani mused as she shifted his arm this way and that to see where the net had dug into his flesh.

“You regularly bring up seafaring folk in your nets?” Malcolm asked, quirking a judgmental brow her way.

Malcolm took pity on her, as she floundered and rushed to try to explain, and justify herself.

“It’s ok, I’m not really accusing you of anything. Just trying to understand why you would be pulling things from the sea,” Malcolm asked as Dani let go of his arm, and moved around to his opposing side to check the other one.

“Well, we're a research team. We’re trying to work out the impact humans are having on the environment, and in particular the ocean. Part of our research is checking in on sea life,” Dani replied as she continued to examine his arm, pausing her trailing fingertips briefly over his colour flares that wove down them.

Malcolm frowned and pulled his arm out of her hands, “what? You experiment on them?” Malcolm asked, shifting marginally away from her as he looked for a response.

Dani held up her hands in surrender, “NO! God no. We just check on their condition and they go straight back. If they aren’t doing well, we bring them here until they're back to full health then release them again.”

Malcolm relaxed, and offered her back his arm, “oh, ok. That doesn’t sound so bad, but I can tell you the trip up in the net is no fun.”

Dani looked at him with her deep brown eyes, her expression almost sad. The iridescent flecks of gold and yellow that he could see in them, made them seem to shimmer so that he almost got lost looking at them. He had never seen brown eyes before. All the Merkin in the colony had variations of blue, green and yellow eyes. Malcolm couldn’t help but be caught up in the depths of her seemingly endless pools of gold flashing in soulful brown. Dani blushing and ducking her head away, had Malcolm apologising and moving back out of her space.

“Sorry, it’s just, your eyes are so beautiful. I can’t help looking at them. The yellow and gold shifting in them is mesmerising,” Malcolm sighed, reaching out a hand to cup her chin.

Dani chuckled and squirmed a bit as his webbing caught on her chin a little.

It was Malcolm’s turn to blush as he pulled his hand away and looked down to his lap, trying to come up with a way to salvage the awkward moment.

Dani’s fingertip on his chin had him looking back up into her fond smiling gaze.

“You're pretty mesmerising yourself and I assure you, my eyes are just brown,” Dani replied with a chuckle.

Malcolm blushed and looked into her eyes again, the swirling flecks of gold and yellow dancing in her gaze.

“Not to me. To me, they are beautiful pools, with shimmering gold and yellow flashes dancing and darting through them constantly. It’s really rather distracting,” Malcolm confessed, his hand resting lightly on her shoulder, careful not to catch his webbing on her this time.

Dani smirked and gave him a side squint, “are you flirting with me Malcolm?”

Malcolm pushed himself back, almost slipping off the step in his haste, with Dani’s arms bracing him being the only thing to stop him toppling back into the main part of the tank.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok. I’m just teasing you. You're very sweet. I promise I haven’t taken any offence,” Dani assured him while lightly stroking his arms after he was resettled on the step.

Malcolm was about to respond when Gil’s voice interrupted them, “how is he Dani? Does he need any patching up?”

Dani dropped her hands and spun around to face Gil, who was looking at them both with an amused expression.

“Um, ah, no. So far all good. I haven’t checked his…err, tail yet, but his arms and chest seem to be fine. Just grazes,” Dani replied with a light blush, pinking across her cheeks.

Gil cleared his throat and mumbled something under his breath, before he chuckled and shook his head at them.

“Ok, I'll leave you to finish your "examination", but make sure you don’t tire him out too much Dani. He’s had a big day,” Gil replied with a grin aimed at them both.

Dani spluttered a response that Malcolm didn’t fully catch, and he looked at them both, puzzled at the silent conversation that seemed to be going on between the two surface dwellers.

“It’s ok Malcolm, Dani will take good care of you. Just rest and get your strength back, then we can talk about how you stumbled into our net,” Gil told him, his eyes crinkling in curiosity.

“Thanks Gil, I appreciate you all helping me,” Malcolm thanked him as Gil turned and left them to it.

Dani looked at him and gestured to his tail, “so, ready to finish this so you can rest?”

Malcolm smiled and shuffled so that his tail was resting lightly over her legs beside him, “sure, just be gentle with me.”

Dani’s laugh was like the most beautiful melody, and Malcolm knew that he had to know more about this enchanting creature. Maybe he could stay a little while…surely they wouldn’t have noticed he was gone yet…

Chapter Text

Malcolm swam hard, his maturing tail fin propelling him faster through the water than he ever had before. His need to get away from the Colony Guardsmen pushed him to his limits. He just wanted some freedom, his childhood was an endless merry-go-round of lessons, and meaningless rituals on court etitique, and expectations of what he would do when he ruled one day. He just wanted a small escape from the constant glaring eyes. From the men that looked at him with contempt and impatience at his constant requests to visit the ruins beyond the reef, as they ushered him between lessons, never taking their eyes off him for a second. Now that he had finally grown in some of his tail fin, he had a chance to get some precious time alone to explore.

He quickly darted into the reef, turning in and out between the high pillars of sharp coral that jutted out from the rock formations. Seeing his opportunity coming up, he risked a glance over his shoulder to see that the Guardsman were out of sight around a corner, then dropped down into the hollow he had found a few weeks ago. He waited as still as possible as the wake of the Guardsman swimming past washed over him, ruffling his hair and fins.

He smiled to himself, staying in his hiding spot for another minute, before popping up to check he was in the clear, then swimming off with a sharp flick of his tail toward the ancient ruins of the old Colony.

After a good couple minutes of swimming beyond the reef, he started to come across crumbled structures that were once the outskirts of their previous Colony. Homes to his ancestors that were lost to conflict, and time. Malcolm slowed his pace, taking in the broken down walls that spilled across the ocean floor, creating new homes for fish and crustaceans alike. Malcolm felt a pang of sorrow at the scarred walls that showed evidence of the conflict that took place many years ago. The conflict that drove his Colony into the under reef caverns they now inhabited. Malcolm marvelled at the beautiful patterns across the flooring of one home. The intricate and colourful mosaic muted with settled silt and crumbled walls, but still beautiful to behold.

A flicker of movement off to his left had him darting behind a wall, peaking out to see what it was. Unable to see anything, he started to swim toward where he had seen the disturbance.

Malcolm couldn’t help but gasp as he moved past one of the crumbled ruins to see his Father, hovering over a large wooden chest. The smile on his Father’s face sent a chill down his spine. He had never seen his Father look like that before.

He had to know what was in that box.

He moved back behind the wall, watching and waiting for his Father to take his leave. He was on high alert, constantly looking around waiting for his Father’s personal Guard to appear, but he never did. Finally his Father moved off towards the Colony, the chilling smile finally slipping from his face so that his usual open and happy one replaced it. It was almost like a mask dropping into place, hiding the sinister smile beneath. Malcolm shivered again, wondering how he had never seen this side of his Father in his 11 years of life.

Finally his Father was gone and he slowly slipped out from behind the wall, swimming towards the chest sitting in the middle of one of the broken homes.

As Malcolm approached it, he could feel his skin prickle with goosebumps and he snuck quick glances over his shoulder to ensure no one was watching him. Seeing nothing but the endless ocean and the occasional fish, he settled himself to hover in front of the chest, reaching out tentatively to touch it.

Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself and lifted the lid of the box. He reeled back with a cry of surprise when he caught a glimpse of a woman curled up tight in the box. Her tail fin was tattered and ripped as it lay in the box under her rear, her arms curled over her head that was tucked into her chest to fit inside the ornate box.

Malcolm pushed away from the box, his eyes unable to leave the woman who started to shift and squirm. Just as Malcolm was going to call out for help, hands grabbed him from behind, and pulled him away into a heavy body. Malcolm went to scream but a hand clamped over his mouth and nose before he could. A beard scratched at his ear as his head was pulled back. He screamed into the hand covering his mouth and nose as the other arm clenched tight around his torso, sealing his gills shut. His vision started to fade as oxygen became scarce. The last thing he heard as his vision faded to nothing was Father’s voice whispering into his ear, “I wish you hadn’t done that.”

Malcolm screamed as he thrashed, trying to get away from the phantom hands clinging across his body from the nightmare. Water rushed into his throat as he managed to throw himself off the steps into the deep water. He spluttered and choked to clear his lungs as he came to full wakefulness in a rush.

“Malcolm! Hey, you ok Kid?” Gil’s concerned voice filtered through Malcolm’s panic as the remnants of his memory faded.

He turned to look up at Gil, leaning in over the tank side, reaching out offering a hand to get back to the step.

Malcolm’s hand shook as he stretched to reach him. Gil took his hand in a tight grip and pulled him up onto the step, bracing him with a hand to the base of his neck. The gentle squeeze of his fingers was reassuring rather than threatening, and Malcolm nodded to him in gratitude, unable to gather the breath to speak yet.

“What was that?” Gil asked as he sat on the edge of the tank, encouraging Malcolm to lean back on the wall to catch his breath, his hand remaining a steadying presence.

Malcolm licked at his lips before looking up at Gil, considering what he should tell this almost stranger about the complexities of his life.

“It’s ok, Kid, you don’t have to tell me. Just know that we are here to help you. I won’t let anything happen to you, you have my word on that,” Gil promised him as he pat his shoulder and moved to step down from the edge of the tank.

“Gil…,” Malcolm called, his hand grabbing at Gil’s as the older man started to step down.

Gil stopped and gave his hand a squeeze in encouragement as Malcolm took in a shaky breath.

“Uhhh, thanks. I…I’m not ready to…to talk yet,…but thanks,” Malcolm sighed as he dropped Gil’s hand and ducked his gaze in shame.

“It’s ok. You just met me, I don’t expect you to spill your life story. Just so long as you know, that I’m here when you're ready. Clearly you have some heavy stuff going on, and if we can help you, we will,” Gil assured him as he stepped down and looked back to Malcolm through the tank wall.

“You can trust us Malcolm. Whatever it is, it will be ok,” Gil promised as he continued to watch him with a sad smile across his face.

Malcolm had no idea what he had done to invoke this man’s loyalty, but everything was telling him he could trust him. Malcolm had never really had that feeling before. Most of his life he had to tread carefully, never knowing who he could trust with the secret of what sort of person his Father really was. Maybe, finally he could trust someone, and tell the awful truth about just how depraved his Father really was, and what his life had really been like to this point. It was just that Malcolm wasn’t sure if he was ready to open that Pandora’s box of memories that he had shut down for so many years. Maybe it was time to face the truth, and work out if he really was worthy of the throne that would one day be his.

Meanwhile back at the Colony

“What do you mean you don’t know where he is?” King Martin growled into the face of the Captain of the Guardsman.

“He never returned from his usual afternoon visit to the kelp beds,” the Captain replied with a nervous swallow.

Martin moved into the Captain’s space, leaving barely an inch between them, his eyes boring into the man’s own, his face twisted into a vicious snarl.

“Why was he left alone? He is supposed to be under supervision at…ALL..TIMES,” Martin spat out. His spittle hitting the man’s cheek.

The Guardsman cleared his throat, his body leaning back away from Martin’s anger, “He…he has requested to be left alone at the kelp beds for…ah, private contemplation.”

Martin’s eyes flared with barely contained rage, and he sneered at the now trembling man in front of him, “private contemplation, what the fuck, pray tell, is he doing during his private contemplation…oh that’s right, you don’t know, because YOU LEFT HIM ALONE!” Martin screamed into his face.

“I’m sorry Sire, it’s never been an issue before. Prince Malcolm always returned to the Guards’ waiting spot after an hour or two in the kelp beds. He just watches the sea grass, and plays with the sea cows,” the Captain said, his voice shaking with fear as Martin paced in front of him, hands clasped behind his back.

“He plays with the sea cows…of course he does,” Martin sneered as he rolled his eyes at the man.

“Get search parties together and start a grid search for him. Report back as soon as you have anything, he needs to be FOUND!” Martin ordered with a roar. The Captain, startled, ran out of the room to follow his orders with a slam of the door.

Martin turned to the door as he heard it open again. He slipped on his most charming smile as his Queen stepped through the doorway.

“Really Martin, I could hear you yell down the hallway. What did the poor man do to deserve your wrath today?” Queen Jessica asked as she moved to sit in the chair by the journal stacks.

“Malcolm is missing my love. I am just concerned for our boy’s safe return,” Martin replied as he swam over to hover by her side, gently gripping her shoulder.

“What?! Malcolm’s missing? Why didn’t you tell me sooner!?” Jessica cried as she pushed up from her seat to hover in front of Martin, touching her tail fin to his in her distress.

Martin took her into a gentle hug, twinning their tails together, and rubbing gentle circles into her back to reassure her, “I only just found out myself, love. I’m sure he'll be fine, and it’s just a misunderstanding. Don’t fret Jess, they'll find him safe and sound. I’m sure of it.”

A flash of rage flickered across Martin’s face as he nestled her head onto his shoulder, and continued to calm his fretting Wife.

Oh, they would find him. There was no way he was letting that boy go. He was his heir apparent, and would do as he was told. One way…or the other.

Chapter Text

Malcolm’s gaze darted between the four people standing outside the tank. They had all shown signs that they weren’t a threat to him, but it was a little intimidating having them all staring at him in silence.

“Ah, so what’s up? Did..ah…something happen?” Malcolm asked as he swam over to the steps and hitched himself up so he could look at them as he leaned on the lip of the tank. The position made him feel slightly less like a specimen in a jar.

Gil stepped towards the tank and raised his hand in supplication. “No, no. Sorry Kid, we didn’t mean to worry you. We just…well, we thought it was time to discuss what’s next,” Gil replied, his voice hesitant and soft.

“Oh, ok. Yeah, I suppose that’s fair. You’ll be needing your tank back for the recuperating creatures. Though, I suppose I could be put in that category,” Malcolm mused, chuckling lightly to himself.

“Malcolm, we may not know you very well, but we don’t see you as one of our projects. There is no time limit to you being here with us. You aren’t a prisoner and you aren’t a burden,” Gil assured him as he stepped up and reached out his hand to squeeze Malcolm’s forearm that was resting on the lip of the tank. The other three nodded agreement behind him.

“You look like you need a hand, Bro. We ain’t about tossing people out on their ass…well tail…fin…whatever,” JT agreed, stumbling over his words as he finished, breaking eye contact with Malcolm and staring at the floor in sudden interest.

Malcolm had to swallow back the lump that was suddenly lodged in his throat. He didn’t really know these people, but they had shown him more care than his Colony and family had in years.

Malcolm bit at his lip and looked each of them in turn, the small nods of encouragement leaving him smiling softly.

“Ok…uh…thank you. I…ah…I guess I owe you all an explanation,” Malcolm began.

“No Malcolm, you owe us nothing. We just want to help you…if we can,” Dani assured him as she stepped up to stand beside Gil, her eyes once again mesmerising him with their shimming golden hues.

Malcolm nodded and looked at them all again, making sure to catch each of their eyes, “well, I’m ready to give you one regardless. Your kindness deserves at least that, but first, I would like to do it without a tank between us. I think it’s time I get out of here. Will you help me?”

They all looked between themselves, before looking back at him with concern.

“Are you sure you are ready for another transition? It looked pretty painful,” Gil asked as he squeezed his arm again.

Malcolm nodded, “yeah, it was awful, but from what I have read, it gets better with more transitions. We get used to it, I suppose. At least that’s what my Great Uncle Douglas said in his journals. Hopefully he wasn’t lying,” Malcolm mused as he swallowed heavily at the thought of each transition being as painful as his first one.

Edrisa virtually ran up the edge of the tank, almost vibrating with her eagerness.

“Oh, I have something that might help with that. I was brushing up on Merkin lore last night and I stumbled across a medical journal, from like, the 1900s, that talked about a swath of experiments that had been done to see the effects of different medications on your system. It was so fascinating. Excruciatingly painful for the subjects at times, but hey it was the 1900s so no ethical standards really considered at the time…oh…,” Edrisa trailed off as Malcolm looked at her in horror.

The rest of the team looked at her with equal measures of horror and exasperation.

“Edrisa, I swear…” Gil admonished as he pinched his brow with his fingers, hanging his head with a shake.

“Oh God, I’m sorry. No I…I would never…I mean…I just mean to say, I found a list of substances that will act as healing agents, pain relievers, stimulants, and downers for you,” Edrisa pressed on in apology as she tried to explain herself.

Malcolm continued to look at her with concern, unsure on how to take the strange little woman.

“I’m sorry. I promise I would never hurt you,” Edrisa apologised, her face crestfallen and bleak. Dani and JT shared a silent look, and the twitch of a grin before they both stared steadfastly at the floor.

Malcolm took pity on Edrisa, and gave her a small smile. “It's ok. I can see you are a very enthusiastic researcher.”

Edrisa's blinding smile as she basically plastered herself to the side of the tank, had the rest of the team chuckling at her antics as Malcolm couldn’t help but grin at the ball of energy in front of him.

“Ok Edrisa, without all the horrific details, what did you find that can help Malcolm out,” Gil asked her with a fond, but annoyed expression.

Edrisa straightened her glasses and nodded excitedly, “basically I extrapolated that you can use most of the same pain relievers we can, but will take you a little longer to process, and excrete them.”

Edrisa turned to Gil with a serious expression tensing up her face. “Oh yeah and we will need to up the filtration rate in the tank. Malcolm’s rates of excretion will far exceed any of the animals we’ve held in the tank before and we don’t want him swimming around in his own…”

Gil, JT and Dani all cut her off with a cry of “EDRISA!” Before she could finish. Malcolm cringed in embarrassment as he worked out what she was saying. A blush staining his cheeks as he looked at anything but the people in front of him.

“Oh…ha, sorry!” Edrisa replied with a hand over her mouth.

Malcolm grinned through his embarrassment as he took in the other team members all shaking their heads and looking at him apologetically.

“It’s ok, I appreciate you looking out for me,” Malcolm smiled at her and couldn’t help but chuckle as she beamed up at him with a thumbs up.

“Right, well Edrisa, you go and sort out pain meds for Malcolm, and JT and I will sort out the tank filtration rates,” Gil directed as he shared a brief glance with Malcolm before he, and JT left to attend to machinery at the rear of the tank.

Dani looked at him with an awkward smile, “so, that was fun and not at all embarrassing. Welcome to Tuesday around here.”

Malcolm laughed with her as she grinned back at him with a shrug of her shoulders.

For the first time in years, Malcolm felt a sense of belonging and safety. He could get used to this.

Malcolm's eyes flickered between his arm and the sharp implement Edrisa held in her hand.

Malcolm startled as he felt her hand rest on his shoulder.

“It’s ok, I will be gentle, I promise. It will be a quick pinch and then it will be all done. Then we wait ten minutes for it to kick in and we'll get you out of the tank,” Edrisa reassured him as she rubbed soothing circles with her thumb on his shoulder.

He took a deep breath and let it out as he shut his eyes to what she was doing and nodded. He couldn’t help the slight flinch as he felt the sharp prick of the metal point going into his skin, but stayed still as he could as he felt the liquid rush through his vein as warmth spread through him in its wake.

He opened his eyes to Edrisa’s gentle smile as she pressed a small sticky patch over the bead of blood where his skin had been pierced. He prodded at it curiously, marvelling at the ingenuity of the patch.

Edrisa chuckled, “it’s called a bandaid. A little bit of non-stick gauze covered by a waterproof plastic covering, with adhesive on the underside to keep it on your skin.”

Malcolm grinned up at her with delight, “that is so clever. We just use a small piece of sea sponge and Kelp cloth if a wound is big enough to warrant wrapping. This would just be left uncovered at home.”

Edrisa’s eyes sparkled with tints of silver and green in her deep brown eyes as she grinned at him nodding with enthusiasm. “I can’t wait to pick your brain about all the differences. It’s so intriguing. Did you know that the reigning theory about the similarities between Merkin and Humans is that we split off when tribes of early Humans migrated to the coastal sea areas and after much time and multiple mutations Merkin split off to become pretty much permanent sea dwellers, while us Humans stayed as landlubbers.”

Malcolm shuffled closer to her getting more comfy on the step as he felt his muscles start to relax a little.

“My Great Uncle Douglas has pages and pages in his journals with all the collected theories on the splitting of our species. Actually he believes we are still the same species, just a subspecies,” Malcolm gushed as he got just as excited about one of his favourite topics, that usually no one was interested in talking about.

“Really? Oh, so like dogs and wolves, or trout!” Edrisa exclaimed.

“Now that would be very cool, I mean that would hypothetically mean that breeding between the subspecies would likely produce fertile and live young, potentially leading to a new subspecies. Do you know if that has happened? I mean a sexy mermaid seducing unsuspecting sailors has been in our folklore for years,” Edrisa rambled as she became more and more animated in her excitement.

Malcolm eyed her warily and darted a quick glance at Gil and Dani who were laying out what looked like a rubber boat on the floor, but had both stopped to stare in mortification at Edrisa’s rambling.

“Edrisa! I think it’s time to help Malcolm out of the tank, don’t you?” Gil called out, his voice stern and commanding.

Malcolm smiled awkwardly at Edrisa as she grinned at him, and jumped up and practically ran down the stairs to the machine that had been shifted up to the side of the tank by JT.

“That woman is unbelievable,” JT said as he stepped up the side of the tank, a large cloth held in his arms.

Malcolm examined the cloth, trying to work out what it might be for, while distractedly responding to JT.

“Uh, she seems to mean well. Just…ah…doesn’t seem to have a filter. I understand that. I have been accused of the same at times,” Malcolm defended her, knowing what it was like to be considered an outsider.

“Yeah, man. I love her, but she is a menace sometimes with that mouth,” JT replied with a little chuckle.

Malcolm continued to eye off the cloth in JT’s arms as he stepped into the tank, Malcolm just noticing the additional coverings now on his legs, seeming to be held up by straps over his shoulders.

JT grinned at him, “yeah I know, fashion king extraordinaire here,” he said as he swept a hand down gesturing at the leg coverings.

“I couldn’t be bothered with the wet suit, and I’m not getting all the way in, so waders it is,” JT advised as he started to spread the cloth out behind Malcolm.

Malcolm edged away from the material, unsure what JT was going to do with it.

“Oh sorry. This is a sling. We attach it to the crane hoist over there, and it will lift you out of the tank, putting you down in the inflatable. We thought that would be more comfortable for you then us all manhandling you out of the tank,” JT explained as he held up the cloth showing him the metal rings that would attach to the crane hoist.

“Oh, umm…ok,” Malcolm replied nervously, eying the sling with trepidation.

Malcolm gulped as JT pat him on the shoulder with a smirk, and started to wrap the sling around his shoulders and hips.

“Sorry dude, can you lift up, this needs to go under you,” JT asked as he lent over him, the sling base bracketed in his hands.

Malcolm darted a quick glance at Gil and he nodded his reassurance.

“You’ll be fine Kid, I promise,” Gil told him with a soft smile.

Malcolm nodded nervously then pushed his hips and tail up in the water to allow JT to slide the sling under him.

JT nodded to Edrisa, “swing it over and I’ll hook him up.”

“Hook me up, what?!” Malcolm exclaimed, shifting to untangle himself out of the sling.

JT hand clamped down on his shoulder, and he looked at him with an exasperated sigh, “dude, figure of speech. I will hook the rings up, not you.”

Malcolm grinned sheepishly with a chuckle, “right. Of course. Got it. Sorry.”

JT pat his shoulder once more before he focussed on attaching the metal rings to the crane hoist that was now poised over Malcom’s head. Malcolm stared up at it, and swallowed heavily.

“Up and out. It’ll be fine. No need to panic. Just breathe,” Malcolm muttered to himself as he fiddled with the sling arms that were now bracketing his body, making his stomach flutter with nervous energy, and the constriction of his movement.

Malcolm jumped as Dani called out to him.

“Hey! Malcolm, it’s ok. Just breathe, alright. It’ll be done in no time at all. We got you,” Dani said, her voice soothing to his frayed nerves.

Malcolm nodded rapidly with a heavy breath. “Just breathe. Yep, breathing. Check,” Malcolm mumbled to himself as he clung to the cloth, as the sling started to shift around him as the crane lifted.

Malcolm whimpered a little, blushing as soon as he did, as the sling slipped under his tail a bit and saw him thrust back into the sling at an awkward angle.

“You’re ok. One more minute and you're done,” JT reassured him as he helped guide the sling over the tank edge, then trotted down the steps continuing to guide it as it swung across the floor.

By the time the sling was lowering into the black rubber boat, Malcolm was panting and his claws had pierced through the sling where he was clinging to it.

“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t…sorry,” Malcolm apologised as he extracted his claws and avoided all their gazes.

Malcolm went sprawling when he startled at Gil’s hand on the back of his neck. His cheeks pinking up in embarrassment for the second time that day.

“Sorry Kid, I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s ok, you’re done. Let’s get you out of this, hey?” Gil apologised as he quickly started to release the hooks, and shift the sling out of his way.

Malcolm scrambled to lift himself off the sling, wincing as a pang of cramping muscle shot through his tail.

“It’s starting,” he warned as he looked down at his tail in fear of what was coming.

The pain as his muscles rippled and stretched under his skin was muted compared to his first shift, but it still hurt. He did his best to contain his moans as the shift progressed, but he couldn’t contain his scream as his tail spilt and his legs began to form.

“Malcolm! Edrisa, I thought you said this would help him,” Gil yelled as he braced Malcolm’s shoulders. Malcolm happily fell back onto Gil’s chest as the pain gripped his entire body, and he writhed while he screamed.

“I gave him as much as I could, it should be helping. God…I’m sorry Malcolm,” Edrisa cried her distress ringing clear in her breaking voice.

Malcolm grit his teeth and swallowed down his screams as the pain started to drop back.

“It is…didn’t pass out…this time,” Malcolm gasped out as the final shifts of his transition rippled through his legs.

Malcolm panted as he tried to catch his breath, his heart racing like he had swum for miles at top speed. He nodded his appreciation as Dani leaned in, and draped a large grey cloth across him, covering his naked lower half.

“Thanks,” He said as he smiled up at her. From the look on her face it was probably more a grimace than a smile, but it was the best he could do right now.

Edrisa edged over to the boat, tears shining in her deep brown eyes, the bright silvers and greens that usually shimmered bright were muted with her sadness.

“I’m so sorry. I thought I gave you enough. I must have miscalculated. What if I had gotten it wrong the other way? I could have killed you,” Edrisa apologised, her words rushing over each other as she started to cry in earnest.

“Edrisa! I’m ok, I promise. It was still much better than last time, believe me,” Malcolm assured her as he pushed himself up off Gil’s chest. Grateful when Gil helped guide him up to sit with his back to the soft rubber wall of the boat, as his arms trembled with the effort.

JT stepped up behind Edrisa and squeezed her shoulder as she looked up at him with a tear stained face.

“Not your fault. You were looking out for our boy. He’s good and you know to give a little more next time,” JT told her as he gave her a side hug.

“Now, why don’t you get some clothes for our fishy friend so we don’t all have to think about him being naked under that blanket, and us all getting uncomfortable,” JT suggested as he nudged her towards the doors at the back of the structure and avoided looking at Malcolm who suddenly felt very self conscious about his naked state under the thin covering.

Edrisa nodded as she wiped at her face, before scurrying off on her mission.

“Are you sure you are ok, Kid?” Gil asked, still kneeling beside him, his hand resting on Malcolm’s shoulder.

Malcolm nodded as he slumped back on the rubber wall with a sigh, shutting his eyes briefly to collect himself and take stock of his body. His muscles were still trembling from the exertion but the pain was completely gone.

“Well that was fun. Let’s not do that again for a while, yeah?” Malcolm joked as he took in all the worried looks from the rest of the team.

“Dani, grab him some water. He dehydrated quickly last time. Let’s not repeat that particular part of the adventure this time,” Gil directed as Dani raced off to the other side of the building to get a bottle of water like they had given him on the boat.

He could already feel his skin drying and his mouth getting parched. He guessed he was constantly absorbing it when he was in the water. Out here, he would need to drink it, and a lot from how quickly he was feeling it.

He took the bottle Dani presented to him with an appreciative nod. Chugging down at least half of it in one go, and feeling better instantly.

“Thanks, looks like I will need to drink a lot out here,” Malcolm reported to them as he quickly drank the remainder of the bottle, and handed it back to Dani.

“No problem, we’ll make sure we have plenty at all times so you don’t get dehydrated again,” Gil assured him as he stood up with a quick squeeze to Malcolm’s shoulder.

Malcolm grinned as Edrisa came running back into the room, her arms full of cloth, that Malcolm assumed were clothes like the rest of them were wearing.

“I got you the softest things of Gil’s I could find in his locker. Given you aren’t used to wearing clothing they are going to feel weird and annoying to begin with, but you will get used to it, especially if they aren’t too scratchy or restrictive,” Edrisa explained as she handed over the bundle.

She blushed as she explained that she didn’t get him any underwear as she didn’t think Gil would appreciate that.

Malcolm chuckled at Gil’s exasperated eye roll, making an educated guess that they were clothes to protect your genitals. As much as he was worried about protecting his suddenly external genitalia, he was happy to forgo something that had recently been on someone else's genitals. He blushed slightly as he shook away that thought, and picked up the items to examine them and try to work out how to put them on.

JT stepped in and took them from him, holding them up one by one and explaining how they went on.

“T-shirt. Body through here, head out there and arms through here, got it?” JT advised as he held up a white T shaped piece of clothing. His terse tone almost made Malcolm think that JT was angry with him, but he realised that JT was just a practical man, and used only the necessary words to convey his message when he was keen to move on from an awkward situation.

Malcolm nodded, allowing him to move onto the next piece that looked to be a grey upside down u shape. Malcolm figured this was for covering his lower half.

“Pants. These are sweatpants, so nice and easy, one foot in each leg and pull them up to your hips…done,” JT instructed as he handed the t-shirt and pants back to him.

Malcolm took hold of the t-shirt first, flipping it around until he had the large opening poised to slip over his head. He paused as he heard JT clear his throat.

“Right, well, we’ll clear out while you get dressed. Holler if you get stuck…I guess,” JT muttered as he again avoided Malcolm’s gaze and started to retreat to the door Edrisa had exited earlier.

“Thanks, I think I can work it out. It definitely doesn’t look too complicated. I mean you all manage every day,” Malcolm replied with a smirk, which shifted to a full blown grin as Edrisa giggled, and almost tripped over her feet as she kept looking back at him as JT practically dragged her out the door.

The T-shirt went on easy and was loose enough that it didn’t feel too constricting as he moved his arms. The shift of the cloth over his skin was a weird sensation, but not awful. He found he struggled a little with the pants, still unfamiliar with his legs so getting them to push into the holes was a little frustrating when his feet kept catching on the fabric. He finally got both legs in the holes. He figured he would need to lift his rear to get them the rest of the way up, and covering his genitals that alarmingly flopped around as he moved. He was beginning to understand why Humans wore under garments. Containing them would be much more comfortable. He quickly raised one hip and then the other pulling the pants up over his lap, breathing a sigh of relief to finally be covered. This form was going to take some getting used to.

He slowly shifted to his knees and then using the edge of the boat he pushed himself up to stand. He staggered a little, almost tripping over the boat wall as it moved under his hand, but was able to right himself and stand up fully with a quick shuffle of his feet and wave of his arms. He was glad he had done that while they were still out of the room.

He jumped a little and staggered again as JT’s voice rang out across the room, “dude, you decent.”

Malcolm shook his head in amusement. “Yeah, all done. Your sight is safe once again,” Malcolm joked as he watched JT peek his head around the door before walking in.

“Great, let's not have to see your junk out ever again,” JT smirked back at him as he beckoned Malcolm with a wave of his arm to come over near the door where they had all stopped beside a table and chairs.

Malcolm had to suppress his grin as Gil gave a heavy sigh and shook his head at JT. Clearly used to the antics of his team.

“Don’t mind JT, the man has the driest sense of humour for someone who spends most of his time on the sea,” Gil jibed back at him.

It was JT’s turn to roll his eyes, his face twitching into an amused frown for a second before his usual stoic expression returned. “Funny, boss. You should do stand up,” JT retorted as he took a seat at the table.

Malcolm smiled happily at the gentle ribbing that continued as they settled at the table. It reminded him of listening into the chatter between the Guardsman when they didn’t realise he was nearby. The sharp pang of loneliness clenched in his chest as he thought about never having really experienced that with anyone before. Always being an outsider in his own Colony. Never having any friends that weren’t paid to be his Guard. Shaking off his melancholy he moved to sit at the table in the free chair between Dani and Gil.

The soft smile Dani gave him as he sat down had a warmth blooming in his chest. He had to swallow back the lump in his throat when she gave his hand a quick squeeze as he took in a nervous breath as they all looked at him in anticipation.

“Right, so how did I end up in your net?” Malcolm prompted as he rubbed his fingers against each other as his nerves increased. Unable to look at them as he spoke.

“Take your time Malcolm. This is your story, tell it in your time,” Gil encouraged him as he squeezed his shoulder in comfort. Giving him a warm smile that saw the red and green hues in Gil’s brown eyes shimmer, as Malcolm looked back at him.

Steeling himself he nodded and took a deep breath before he plunged into his story. “Ok, so I’m actually the heir to the throne of Triton....”

Chapter Text

“…my Father, King Martin Whitly, is a tyrant and a psychopath,” Malcolm said, letting out a shuddering breath.

Malcolm smiled softly at Dani as he felt her take his hand in hers. Holding it lightly as he continued.

“When I was eleven, I found a woman…she was…he had her in a wooden chest…curled up in on herself…stuck in that tight space.”

Malcolm clenched his eyes shut as the memory of her flashed through his mind.

Tattered fins fluttering as the woman squirmed and moaned her distress. Scales flaking off as they rubbed against the tight wooden confines…

“It’s ok Malcolm. You’re safe here. I promise,” Gil assured him as he lay his hand gently on Malcolm’s shoulder. The warmth of his palm through the thin material of the T-shirt, helping to ground him.

Malcolm nodded, biting at his lip before he continued, “My Father found me and cut off my air, shutting down my gils until I blacked out.”

“When I woke up, he made it…he made it very clear that if I ever spoke about what I had seen, he would make my life a living hell,” Malcolm told them as he fought to stop the memories from taking him over. Pausing to take a few deep breaths and lick at his drying lips.

Before he could ask for more water, Edrisa was handing him another water bottle. He drank it down gratefully. Taking his time to give himself some space before launching into the next part of his story.

Finally, not able to delay any further, he fiddled with the label of the bottle with his free hand, Dani still cupping his other one in her warm hands, and continued on.

“I promised him I wouldn’t tell, just to get him to let me go…but knew I had to try. He couldn’t be allowed to continue. I had one Guard, Mr David, who always looked out for me and was really the only person I had ever been able to trust in my life. I went to him and told him what I saw,” Malcolm said with a sad, soft smile at the memory of his beloved friend.

“He believed me, and told me he had seen my Father do terrible things too. He didn’t want me to tell anyone else at first. Said he was scared for me…I should have listened. But I didn’t.” Malcolm admitted, his breath hitching as he did his best to stay calm. Dani’s fingers rubbing over the back of his hand, and Gil’s hand squeezing his shoulder helped him to hold back the panic that bubbled beneath the surface.

Taking another deep breath, he rallied on, blinking back the tears that gathered as he spoke.

“I told the council with Mr David by my side. I took them to where I had found the girl…she was long gone. Not a trace left of her. Not even a single scale in the empty box left to rot in the ruins,” Malcolm told them mournfully, as he fought not to cry.

“The Tritions all shunned me, accused me of treason. My Mother begged my Father to save me from banishment and he agreed, telling our Colony that I was delusional and that he would get me the finest help available to cure me of my sickness,” Malcolm grit out as his anger rose at remembering his Father’s patronising lies as he stood by his side, his fingers digging into Malcolm’s arm as he held him in place.

Malcolm shook himself and cleared his throat.

“Father ensured I understood what a grievous mistake I had made. I will never forget Mr David’s screams as my Father made the other Guardsman cut him to ribbons in front of me,” Malcolm told them, eyes closed to the world around him as the tears he had tried to hold back, slipped down his cheeks.

“Oh Malcolm, I’m so sorry,” Dani cried as she brought his hand into her lap and squeezed it.

Malcolm looked to her through his tears and tried to smile his appreciation of her support, but the painful memories bombarding him, stopped him from doing more than a pitiful grimace. Malcolm felt bad and tried to push his emotion down as he saw Dani start to cry too.

“I’m sorry, I don’t talk about this very often,” Malcolm apologised as he wiped at his tears with the back of his hand almost dropping the empty bottle he was still clutching.

“Here, let me take that,” Gil told him gently as he took the bottle and placed it down beside his chair.

“If you need to take a break, we understand,” JT encouraged him, shifting in his chair as his eyes darted everywhere but directly at Malcolm.

Malcolm bowed his head, willing himself to get his emotions back under control. He looked back up at them, his eyes now red rimmed, tears still threatening to fall.

“I need to tell you. You need to understand what it could mean for you to help me,” Malcolm replied, staring back down at his slightly shaking hand in his lap, as he felt a tear escape his hold.

Malcolm jumped a little as he felt small arms wrap around him with a sniff of tears. Malcolm smiled fondly as he looked to see Edrisa wrapped around him, her head buried in his neck.

“We’ll protect you. No matter what, right Gil?” Edrisa said as she stepped back and looked over to a slightly amused Gil.

Gil smiled at her as he rubbed Malcolm’s shoulder.

“Of course we will. Whether you wanted it or not, you have gained a family with us Malcolm. And we protect our own,” Gil told him, his voice hardening along with his features as he talked about the protection of family.

Malcolm nodded to them all as he struggled to rein in his emotion. His face contorting with his grief and happiness all at once.

He had to clear his constricted throat before he could speak again.

“Thank you…I know we have only just met, but…I…you make me feel safe. I…I don’t remember ever feeling that really. It’s…nice,” Malcolm thanked them, trying to convey just what having that feeling means to him.

“We got you,” JT replied with a nod, and again flitted his gaze away when Malcolm caught his.

Malcolm took a deep breath, straightening up in his chair and continued on.

“Anyway the point is, he is a dangerous man, who gets what he wants, when he wants it. I have been trying to sway the Council recently to consider making contact with Surface Dw…sorry, Humans. Many of them are open to it, but my Father…well…I don’t think he will allow that in his lifetime,” Malcolm advised, nodding his thanks to Edrisa who had retrieved another bottle of water for him. He regretfully took back his hand from Dani’s to open it, drinking half, before replacing the lid. He sat forward, his elbows resting on his thighs, absentmindedly picking at the fabric covering them.

“My Father uses the tragedy of Atlantis to hold us…” Malcolm attempted to explain, but was cut off by JT.

“Altantis…like Altantis, Atlantis,” JT asked, leaning in towards Malcolm, his face quirking into a half grin with his curiosity.

“Uhh, I guess. That was our Colony that was said to be destroyed by…ah Humans well over a century ago. It was in the ruins that I found the girl in the box,” Malcolm replied, unsure what JT was asking him.

JT leaned back in his seat with a huge grin, his hands laced over his scalp. “Holy shit, fucking Alantis right there and we never even knew.”

Malcolm gestured with his water bottle at JT. “You’ve heard of Alantis too?” Malcolm asked in excitement.

“Yeah man, I loved the story of Altantis as a kid. It’s one of the reasons I was drawn to work with the sea,” JT enthused.

Malcolm pressed forward, almost lifting out of his seat as he became animated about learning what the Human’s told of his ancient home.

“So what is the story? I would love to hear it. We could compare our version of events,” Malcolm asked them, looking at them all to see if they were as excited by this discovery of mutual history as he was.

Gil smiled at him, his features soft and fond.

“All in good time Malcolm. How about we sort out some practical matters first?” Gil gently prompted as he squeezed his forearm.

Malcolm smiled abashedly, hanging his head with a quick nod.

“Of course. Sorry. I love history. Stumbling across my Great Uncle Douglas’ journals was one of the best things to happen in my childhood. I lost many hours to his adventures and collected information about Humans and Merkin alike,” Malcolm apologised, sitting back in his seat and finishing off the bottle of water, before dropping it down beside his chair.

“It’s ok Malcolm, we’ll tell you whatever you want to know, but first we need to work some things out to keep you and us safe, yeah?” Gil prompted again.

Malcolm nodded, “yes, sorry. Go ahead.”

Gil shifted in his chair to face him and leaned forward, his stare intense, making Malcolm sit back tangling his hands together in his lap nervously.

“You’ve made it clear that if your Father finds you, there will be dire consequences for you and possibly us, yes?” Gil asked, his face scowled.

Malcolm nodded reluctantly, “yes, I have put you all in danger being here and I’m sorry.”

“Shh, none of that, it’s not your fault your Father is an asshole,” Dani told him, her hand tugging at his again to take it into her own. Her thumb rubbing over his palm, grounding him instantly.

“To true dude. He sounds like an A grade douchebag,” JT agreed with a nod.

He ducked his head with a shy smile in acknowledgment of their support. He wasn’t sure what a douchebag was, but got the sentiment.

“Exactly, we don’t blame you at all Malcolm. I mean, hell, we pulled you up in our net. If anyone is at fault here it is us. So no more apologising, ok?” Gil reminded him with a pat to his knee.

Malcolm nodded in agreement, “right, ok, sor…yeah.” Malcolm finished with a chuckle as he almost apologised again.

“So what is the likelihood of your Father being able to track you here?” Gil asked, his face grim.

Malcolm swallowed down his guilt at possibly putting them in danger.

“I…I don’t know. I don’t think he would assume I would have gone to the surface straight away. I play my part as the meek son well. I think it would take him some time to work out to look for me on the surface. And as for how, I…I don’t know if he would be willing to have Merkin on the surface for long. It would ruin his rhetoric of the evils of the Surface Dwellers,” Malcolm replied, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

“Though, he does have a very loyal Guard force who will do whatever he commands. I doubt he would have an issue sending them to retrieve me,” Malcolm said with a heavy swallow. His hands trembling slightly in his lap at the thought of the Guardsman coming for him in the night. Even on land they would be deadly.

“Would he though? Retrieve you. Wouldn’t his problem be solved if you just never returned,” JT asked, his scepticism clear.

“Oh he will. My Father doesn’t lose face, and me disappearing without a trace, or God forbid, someone finding out where I am? No..he wouldn’t risk that. He won’t stop until he either has me back or I’m dead. Thankfully he would prefer me alive, but I don’t necessarily need to be happy about it,” Malcolm told him as he pressed his hands between his thighs to stop them trembling at the thought of what his Father’s wrath would be.

“That’s not gonna happen my watch, ok Kid?” Gil promised, his hand coming to rest on Malcolm’s.

Malcolm looked over at him and had to quickly look away as a pang of emotion speared through his chest at the warmth in Gil’s deep brown eyes. He barely knew these people and yet, they already felt like family to him, more than his own had ever felt. He would do whatever he needed to do to protect them from his Father. Even if that meant having to give up what he just found.

Chapter Text

Malcolm had been left to his own devices while the others attended to some essential tasks that couldn’t wait.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting and thinking on where to from here and how to get through this without taking down his new friends with him, when he heard his name called.

Malcolm looked up from his contemplation to see Dani and Edrisa walking towards him with armfuls of overflowing plates.

“We thought you must be starving by now, so we got you a selection to choose from,” Edrisa called out to him as she almost dropped one of the plates she was carrying, it only being saved by a quick grab by JT.

Malcolm couldn’t help but smile as well as Edrisa beamed at JT and gushed her thanks to him. The stoic man gave her an amused smile and a nod, before moving to take one of the chairs nearby.

Malcolm looked over the selections of food placed on small table that JT has dragged into the middle of the circle of chairs while Malcolm had been in his own head and not really connecting what was happening around him.

Some of it he recognises, mostly the seafoods, fish, prawns, oysters, mussels and scallops. Though there was much that he didn't recognise, the smells coming from many of them were delicious and made his mouth water. Usually his stomach was a little delicate and he just stuck to fish and seaweed most of the time, but it had been quite some time since he last ate and he was starving.

As he was looking over the offering, Gil joined them as well with a small pat to his shoulder in encouragement as he took a seat in the circle.

“Wow, it all looks amazing. I have no idea what a lot of it is, but I will give it a try. I do have to warn you my stomach can be a little fussy with food at times, but right now I could eat a small whale,” Malcolm joked as he picked a piece of fish, realising that it wasn’t raw as he was used to.

Malcolm’s curious gaze at the bite size piece in his hand must have been obvious as Edrisa piped up.

“Oh, it’s steamed, well cooked. That is heat applied to kill any bacteria or viruses living in the raw food, while also changing the chemical composition of the food and often the taste.” Edrisa explained as she systematically pointed out what food was cooked on the plates. It turned out there was a lot.

Malcolm took a tentative bite of the fish, it’s usually chewy texture was gone and the pieces fell apart in his mouth. The flavour was almost richer but not. He really didn’t know how to describe it but it was delicious and he happily popped a couple more pieces in his mouth, trying all the different seafoods that appeared to be cooked.

“Wow, I…it’s so different, but I love it,” Malcolm told them happily.

All four of them grinned at him as they all started to eat their favourites.

Soon Malcolm was working towards being more adventurous and JT encouraged him to try a piece of steak. He took two bites and felt the bile rising in his throat.

Dani must have picked up on his distress, as she quickly passed him a piece of cloth and told him he could spit it out if he didn’t like it.

Malcolm turned away and spat out the strong flavoured meat, having to breathe through the nausea that threatened to ruin his day. Once he had control of his stomach again, he shot JT an apologetic look, but the man didn’t seem to mind too much and just shrugged and happily ate up some of the steak pieces himself.

Malcolm found that he was happy to stick with the white meats and seafood. The dark meat turned his stomach instantly and he nearly embarrassed himself when he tried a piece of lamb and gagged instantly.

He really liked the cheeses, their creamy texture unlike anything he had experienced before. He decided to stop eating them when his stomach felt a little heavy after the sixth piece.

He moved onto what they called candy and yeah, that was definitely his favourite new food. So sweet and tasty. They had cautioned him that it was not something to eat often as all the sugar wasn’t good for you. Edrisa told him that there was a good chance that as he had evolved without access to simple sugars, his body wouldn’t digest it well and he would be a candidate for diabetes if he wasn’t careful. Malcolm had no idea what that was, but given how serious Edrisa had been when she told him, he figured he would need to watch out. He figured a little bit here and there would be ok. His favourite so far was a red licorice called a twizzler. They were sugary and tasty and chewy which he really enjoyed the feel of.

It didn’t take long and he was full and if he was honest he had probably had a bit much with his belly beginning to ache. He ignored it and focussed on what the team were saying.

“Right, well we need to get some more work done. Malcolm, JT will get you set up in one of the storerooms we have free. You are welcome to make it your own so you are comfortable. I brought in some furniture for you, that will make it easier for you. It will be your permanent room for when you are out of the water,” Gil told him with a smile.

Malcolm smiled back, feeling a little overwhelmed at the kindness from these people who barely knew him. If he could just convince his Father that not all Humans wished them malintent. Malcolm sighed as he thought about his home and his Father.

He must have got lost further in his thoughts as the next thing he knew Dani was standing in front of him and gently rubbing his arm as she checked in with him.

“You ok?” She asked her beautiful deep brown eyes simmering with the floating flecks of gold that captured his gaze everytime he looked at her. He almost reached out a hand to touch her cheek, wanting to caress the skin to see if it was as soft as it looked.

He couldn’t help but blush a little at where his thoughts had taken him momentarily. He was a guest here and didn’t really belong here. He didn’t need to be falling for the pretty woman who was so gentle with him, Malcolm berated himself, refocusing Dani and the team.

“Sorry, got a little lost in my head. I do that sometimes, fun place,” Malcolm smirked with a roll of his eyes at his sarcasm.

Dani huffed a laugh at him and patted his arm, “you don’t have an exclusive on trauma dude. We’re all a bit broken here.”

JT made a face at them and mumbled just loud enough for Malcolm to hear, “not damaged.”

Malcolm grinned and ducked his gaze to the floor before JT could catch his amusement.

“Come on you lot, we don’t have all day. Let’s get a move on and get Malcolm settled so we can get our actual work done,” Gil called out to them all.

Malcolm felt a small pang of guilt but pushed it down when he caught Gil’s knowing look at him, clearly saying he knew what he was thinking and to stop it.

“No Malcolm, that was not a slight at you. It was a hurry up to my lazy ass crew members,” Gil told him, holding his gaze.

Malcolm gave him a quick smile and turned to follow JT who was heading towards a door at the back of the building. Malcolm winced and rubbed at his belly as a painful cramp clenched his muscles tight. He looked around and breathed a sigh of relief when it appeared that no one had seen him. He didn’t want to hold them up from what they needed to do anymore than he already had today.

Over the next hour he did what he could to help JT to rearrange the few contents of the storeroom and set up a bed and sleep area for Malcolm. All throughout it, Malcolm continued to feel the cramps in his stomach, doing his best to ignore them and keep going to help as best he could. If he was honest, he didn’t feel like he was actually that much help other than deciding where he wanted to put his bed and how to arrange it. JT ended up just directing him to hold things and pick things up for him rather than let him assemble anything. Sadly, it appeared that his construction skills were not the best.

As they were finishing up the room, Malcolm was starting to really regret all the food he had tried. His belly was cramping harshly to the point where he had almost given away how he was feeling to JT when he gasped at a particularly nasty cramp that caught him by surprise and had him stopping to catch his breath.

JT frowned at him as he leaned on the shelf he was standing next to and wiped at the sweat that had suddenly sprouted on his brow.

“You ok dude?” JT asked him as he made to step towards him.

Malcolm pulled himself upright and laughed it off, “yeah, of course. I’m fine, just pathetically ill equipped to help with manual work it seems.”

JT chuckled and went back to finishing tightening the last screws in the set of drawers they had been putting together for him.

Malcolm massaged his still cramping belly, willing the nausea that had slowly been rising over the last hour away. He was going to have to ask where their elimination area was soon. He was pretty sure that his body was not at all happy with what he had eaten.

Malcolm dropped his hand from his stomach as JT turned back to him, tool held up in triumph.

“All done! Are you happy with where things are?” JT asked as he started to put the tools away and pack up the left over packing materials from the furniture they had put together.

Malcolm moved over to help him, bending down to pick up some of the packing material when a nasty cramp pulled at his stomach. The pain was almost like when he was transforming and his right leg gave out from under him as groaned in pain and panted to try and stop himself from vomiting all over the floor.

“Hey! What’s going on? Oh man, are you gonna hurl? Please don’t…GIL!” JT called out backing away from him slightly, his face a little pale.

Malcolm did his best to keep it together and not revisit his lunch, but the nausea was only getting worse, with saliva pooling in his mouth. He clamped his hand over his mouth and pushed himself to his feet with a groan and rushed to exit the room before he embarrassed himself.

“Malcolm, hey you ok? Oh shit,” Gil swore him as he almost ran into him as he was hurrying out the door, desperate to find somewhere to privately ride out his misery. He whimpered as Gil quickly grabbed his hunched shoulders and guided him towards a large bin. He had almost made it to the bin, when he couldn’t hold it back any more and vomit spurted out around his covering hand and across the floor and the side of the bin.

He stumbled the last step, only Gil’s hands stopping him from tripping and making more of a fool of himself, as he heaved into the bin.

“Easy Kid, you’re ok,” Gil assured him as he rubbed soothing circles into his heaving back as his stomach worked to rid itself of everything he had eaten.

After an agonising ten minutes, his stomach finally stopped its relentless clenching and he was able to catch his breath and spit out the nasty taste from his mouth. He couldn’t help the soft moan that left him as he looked down at his shirt and saw that he had managed to get his mess all over himself.

Gil guided him up to standing and gave him a grimacing smile as he took in his state.

“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up. Do you think you’re done or will there be a repeat performance?” Gil asked him as he led him to the door that led to their locker room.

Malcolm whined slightly as the movement made his stomach slosh alarmingly and he quickened his steps with Gil.

Gil pushed them through a couple of doors, passed a row of metal cupboards and into a small walled off area. The little room had a white open seat that appeared to have water in it, that was set against the back wall and a roll of paper was hanging on a bracket on one of the side walls.

Malcolm swallowed heavily as his nausea swelled again and looked to Gil with confusion, unsure what was expected of him.

“Sorry Kid, it’s a toilet. We ah, we…deposit our…ah…our bodily waste in it,” Gil told him as he rubbed at the back of his own neck seeming a little embarrassed about it all.

Malcolm continued to look at him puzzled, until he processed what he said and he lurched forward and vomited again into the toilet, quickly dropping to his knees as his stomach clenched hard and had him choking as it was forced from him.

Gil helped steady him and rubbed at his back again. When he was finally done again, Malcolm wiped at the tears that had smeared across his cheeks from the violent heaving and coughing.

“Jesus Kid, did you throw up your stomach lining too?” Gil asked, his voice sympathetic and hesitant.

Malcolm slumped back onto his haunches and rested his back against Gil’s legs as he tried to catch his breath and not cry at the shame of it all. He had just managed to throw up all over himself in front of them all and Gil was still here holding him up.

“Sorry…just give me a minute. I’ll clean up my mess,” Malcolm apologised as he willed his shaking limbs to cooperate and work to pull himself up and off Gil.

Gil’s hand on his shoulder stilled him and had him looking up at Gil through a teary blur as his eyes continued to water.

“It’s ok, just rest there and make sure you are feeling better first,” Gil assured him as he leaned over him and pressed a button on the top of the toilet.

The rush of water in the bowl before him startled him a little, but he was very happy to not have to look at and smell his mess any longer as he watched it be washed away. He made a mental note to ask about how it worked later, right now his curiosity was quelled by the mild cramps still pulling at his lower belly, warning him that vomiting wasn’t the only way his body was working to get rid of whatever had disagreed with him.

“Ugh, Gil. I..please, can you go. I need…ugh…please,” Malcolm begged, a blush heating up his face as his lower belly clenched tight and gurgled ominously.

Gil must have heard it too as his face paled slightly and he made a hasty retreat out the door.

“I’ll be right out here if you need…uh…yeah, just call out,” Gil called out awkwardly from behind the closed doors.

Malcolm quickly divested himself of his clothes and dropped over the toilet just in time. The next fifteen minutes were sheer hell as his body expelled everything he had eaten that afternoon and what felt like that year. He whined as quietly as he could as fierce cramps continued to pull at his belly and he thankfully only dry heaved over himself as his body continued to rebel viciously.

He sat and shivered in misery for another ten minutes before he contorted himself enough to push the button and have the water wash away his shame. Malcolm did his best to clean himself up with the paper and flushed that away too.

As he was getting shakely to his feet he heard a tentative call out from Gil.

“You still alive in there Kid?” Gil joked.

Malcolm sighed, feeling utterly drained and disgusting.

“Yeah, mostly. Ummm, are there some other clothes I could wear, maybe?” Malcolm asked, his voice raspy and raw from the vomiting.

“Of course, I’ve got some here, but thought you might want to wash yourself down first,” Gil assured him, his voice soothing and gentle.

Malcolm took a few breaths to push back the emotion welling within him, threatening to overwhelm him.

“Sure, that would be good,” Malcolm eventually replied and covered his nakedness with the soiled clothes as Gil pushed the door open and motioned to the wash clothes and towel laid out on the bench against the wall. Gil showed him how to turn the water on to fill the small bowls, that Gil told him were called sinks. He showed him how to get what he called soap out of a contraption on the wall, that would help him clean off the disgusting residue he could feel on his skin. He nearly lost the tenuous control he had on his emotions when Gil gave a quick squeeze to his neck along with a sympathetic smile and left him to it.

Malcolm looked at himself in the reflective surface above the sink. His face looked haggard and drawn, his lips dry and cracked. He was a little shocked to notice that the bright colours that ran through his hair in his water form were still there. They were muted and dull, but still there. He hadn’t noticed any of the others with colour markings in their hair so figured it was unique to Merkin.

After he worked out washing his hands, he cupped them the running water and took a few tentative sips. Thankfully the water didn’t make him feel worse, so he took some more to try and combat all the water he had lost, pretty sure that he was getting dehydrated again. With a heavy sigh, he made quick work of washing the rest of him and felt much better once he was done and had a new set of clothes on. His belly was still sore, but he didn’t feel sick anymore.

He made his sheepish way out into the main area, his soiled clothes bundled up so the mess was contained and held away from his body. His muscles were still feeling a little shaky after his ordeal and he took it slowly so that he didn’t do something like trip and embarrass himself even more.

Edrisa immediately rushed to him as he came out and stretched up a hand to feel his forehead. She released a relieved sigh as she took it away, obviously happy with how his skin felt. He looked at her puzzled and she smiled sweetly at him.

“Sorry, I should have asked. I was just checking if you had a temperature. Not the most accurate way, but with how sick you were, if you had one it would be very evident,” Edrisa rushed to explain as she herded him over towards her work station. Motioning for him to drop his old clothes into a bin that appeared to have cloths in it. The figured it must be a receptacle for things that needed cleaning. He blushed slightly at the thought of someone touching his soiled clothes, but before he could take them back, Edrisa was urging him towards her table.

“Pop up on the table for me,” Edrisa told him as she bustled around and slipped on a pair of hand coverings.

Malcolm looked at them with trepidation, unsure why she was now not willing to touch his skin. Edrisa must have seen his staring and smiled at him and waved her hands around.

“Oh sorry, these are gloves. They are just to protect you and me if you have a virus or other nasty that is making you sick,” Edrisa told him as she readjusted the seemingly too large gloves on her hands.

Malcolm shrunk in on himself a little looking around at the others that were hovering near the table.

“It’s ok Malcolm, it’s just a precaution,” Dani assured him and rubbed his shoulder gently before stepping back to let Edrisa get back to her examination.

Malcolm let her prod and poke him and ask him all sorts of questions, some that made him blush and wish he could sink into the floor.

When she finally seemed to be satisfied she told him that he probably had just had a reaction to one of the foods or a combination of them, but her best guess was the cheese.

Malcolm frowned and asked her why that food and she explained that as he had never been exposed to the lactose and proteins that are in the milk that makes the cheese, he doesn’t have enough of the right enzyme to digest it properly and unfortunately his body then worked to get it out of his system.

“I’m so sorry for causing so much trouble and for all the mess,” Malcolm apologised, ducking his head to avoid everyone's eyes that he could still feel on him.

Malcolm flinched a little when Gil dropped a hand on his shoulder.

“It's ok Kid, it’s not like this is your fault. We should have thought this through and just given you one or two new things to try, not everything at once,” Gil assured him as he squeezed his shoulder.

Malcolm went to slide off the table, but when his legs hit the floor they almost buckled under his weight. It was only his grip on the table and Gil's quick grab for his arm that kept him standing.

“Whoa, hey, you alright?” Gil asked him, worry giving him a furrow between his brows.

Malcolm blinked a few times to get the shifting room to stop its spinning before he could reply.

“Ummm, I’m a bit dizzy,” Malcolm confessed, seeing no point in hiding anything from them after everything they had witnessed earlier.

Edrisa tutted and told Gil to get him back on the table. Malcolm whined a little and asked if he could just go to his room and lie down.

Edrisa looked at him with uncertainty and flicked her gaze between Malcolm and Gil, clearly unsure what to do.

Malcolm gave her his most pleading look he could muster with how drained he was feeling and she squeaked a whine and after a quick look to Gil, who shrugged his shoulders at her, she gave him a nod.

“I think you’re dehydrated again. If you promise to lay down on your bed and not move around, I can hook you up to an IV in there and get you feeling better again.

Malcolm didn’t know what an IV was, but figured if it let him lay down in his bed and hydrate at the same time, he could live with it.

Dani stepped in to help him back to his room and Edrisa gathered her supplies and followed him in.

“We’ll have to get you some things to make this place a bit more homey. If only you had a picture of that Great Uncle Douglas of yours,” Dani said in passing as she helped him sit on his bed.

She dropped down beside him and took his closest hand into her. He looked at her puzzled and she smiled shyly and told him that the IV meant a needle and he didn’t seem to like the last one that much so thought he might like some support.

Malcolm squeezed her hand and did his best not to drown in her beautiful eyes. He was in so much trouble. She was seriously one of the most beautiful people, Merkin or Human, that he had ever seen. Malcolm bit the inside of his cheek and willed himself not to blush as he felt her thumb rubbing soothing patterns on his hand.

Edrisa told him he probably didn’t want to look while she did this and Dani pulled his attention back to her.

“Hey, once you are feeling better, how about I take you outside. We have this little bird that lives in the tree in the vacant lot beside us. I’m pretty sure it belonged to someone once, but no one claimed it when I put up posters, so we have just been giving it food and leaving it things to build its nest,” Dani told him, her thumb never stopping in its circuit on his hand.

“There you go, all done,” Edrisa said as she applied some of the sticky tape on the back of his hand, covering a needle and tube going into his hand. He quickly looked away and swallowed hard as his stomach roiled uncomfortably at the sight.

“Oh, ok. Umm, hang on and I will wrap it up for you so you can’t see it, would that be better?” Edrisa asked him kindly while still holding his hand with the needle.

“Yeah, ok. I think that would help,” Malcolm agreed, unsure if it would make a difference as now that he knew it was there he was conscious of the needle being under his skin and it was making him feel clammy and faint.

“How about we lay you down and then you don’t have to see it at all and you can focus on other things, yeah?” Dani asked him as she looked past him to Edrisa.

Malcolm nodded vaguely, his head feeling fuzzy and light all of a sudden. He let them guide him to laying down on the bed and feeling Dani scope his legs up so he was laying with minimal effort on his behalf. Once he was laying for a few minutes he actually started to feel a little better.

“It looks like that may have helped, you don’t look quite so pale now,” Dani told him as she rested his hand she’d been holding over his stomach.

Malcolm felt a warm sensation push through the needle and shivered a little at the sensation. Dani rubbed his arm and assured him he was ok. The soothing motion of her hand, had his eyes fluttering closed. He struggled to open them so he could thank them for helping him, but everything was all just too heavy and he drifted off into sleep.

Chapter Text

Malcolm shot up in bed with a gasp, his heart racing as remnants of his dream scattered away out of reach. The last wisping threads of it swirling through his mind, too fleeting for him to grab hold of them, but clear enough to know they were about his Father again.

He leaned into his hands as he sat on the side of the bed. The heels of his hands pressing deep into his eyes as he willed his heart rate to drop to normal again. He looked up quickly as he heard a tentative knock at his door.

“Hello? Umm, come in,” Malcolm called out, his voice croaky and a little worn from his bad day yesterday.

“It’s just me, you doing ok? I brought you some water,” Dani told him as she slipped through the now open door and handed him a bottle of water.

He smiled his thanks at her. Surprisingly not as thirsty as he usually was on waking when on land. He figured it must have been from the IV that Edrisa gave him yesterday. He looked down at his hand seeing the little plaster that Edrisa had told him about covering where the needle had pierced his skin. He shuddered a little at the thought of it and smiled up at Dani as she rubbed a soothing hand down his arm.

“You ok?” She asked again, her dark eyes looking at him with concern.

He nodded and took a sip of his water, the liquid soothing on his slightly raw throat.

“Thanks, that feels much better,” Malcolm thanked her, his voice returning almost to normal.

“No problem. So, ummm, I thought you might like to get outside and see the world a little more than inside this lump of metal,” Dani joked as she looked briefly before her eyes darted away from his gaze.es.

Malcolm beamed at her, his excitement at the prospect of seeing the outside making his heart speed up almost to how it was when he woke up.

“Really? Do you think it will be ok? For me to be outside I mean?” Malcolm asked his excitement clear in his voice, making him blush a little.

Dani grinned at him with a wink, “you’ll be in cognito,” She replied holding up a bright red object in her hand, mimicking placing it over her hair as she winked at him.

“Oh so it will cover my hair and hide the colours,” Malcolm guessed as he took the offered head piece and pulled it over his hair like Dani had shown him. It sat snug over his head, the front of it extending out over his face so he had to tilt his head up a little to see Dani who was still standing above him. Dani leaned over and tucked the hair that had been pressed down over his ears behind them. Her proximity made her beautiful eyes that much more mesmerising, that he couldn’t help but stare into them.

Dani gave a quick grin before ducking away, her lips quirking in an amusing way as she seemed to fight her expression.

Malcolm gave her a puzzled look, “what? Did I do something wrong?” Malcolm asked, his expression dropping into a sad frown at the thought of offending her.

Dani shook her head with a short laugh, “no, no, you…it’s fine…you’re fine…I mean. Yeah, imma shut up now,” Dani finished with a sigh.

He wasn’t sure what had happened, but he hoped it didn’t mean that he made her uncomfortable. He didn’t think he had, but he really didn’t understand what he did to make her pull away from him. He dropped his gaze to his lap and his fingers fidgeting with the edge of his shirt as he tried to soothe his nerves.

“Hey, Malcolm. It's ok. You didn’t do anything wrong. I promise. Come on, let’s get you a quick bite to eat and we’ll get you outside to meet our resident bird friend,” Dani assured him as she offered him a hand up.

“Ok, that sounds good to me. Well, so long as the food agrees with me,” Malcolm grimaced as he remembered what had happened the day before.

Dani’s eyes widened a little in alarm, “yeah, we’ll do whatever we can to avoid that happening again. It didn’t sound at all pleasant,” Dani rushed on, finishing with a grimace.

“Yeah, sorry. It definitely isn’t something I ever want to repeat, that’s for sure,” Malcolm replied with a grimace of his own.

Dani led him out to the communal dining spot from yesterday and offered him a selection of the cooked fish. He happily took a few pieces knowing they were a safe bet.

Dani nibbled on some pieces of fruit, apple if he remembered correctly, and watched him as he slowly ate his fish.

“It’s a shame we have to hide your hair. The colours are really pretty. Do all…ah, do all Merkin have it? Are they all the same?” Dani asked, tilting her head to the side and squinting at him as she asked.

Malcolm smiled and happily told her that it was a less common trait in Merkin and mostly found in the founding family bloodlines. He explained that after so many generations it wasn’t a guarantee any more that if you were of a founding family member that you would have the colours, but more likely than not. Malcolm explained that it had skipped his late Grandfather, but his Mother, all her siblings and he all had it. He went on to explain that each other pattern was unique to the Merkin, with no two being identical in colours or patterns. He was usually having purples through his colours. Not many Merkin had that colouring with green, blue, orange and dark red being the most common.

“I’m the only one in my family with purple. Actually the only one that anyone can remember for a long time,” Malcolm told her as he finished off the last piece of his fish.

“Wow, that’s cool. Makes you extra special,” Dani said with a soft smile, her eyes lighting up with the golden flicks of colour.

Malcolm smiled back at her, ducking his head a little to hide under the lip of his head covering from her beautiful gaze. He was in so much trouble. This beautiful creature was weaving her way into his heart so quickly, but there was no way that she would ever see him the way he saw her. She was stunningly beautiful and he was, well he was just Malcolm. Slightly broken and now a burden on them, that could see his Father’s wrath come down on them all.

Malcolm’s smile slipped from his face and he worked to smoother the anguish that was fighting to win dominance.

Dani’s light touch to his arm had him looking back up. Her concerned brown eyes hitting him hard so that he could only give her a quick nod of assurance before he had to look away, lest he get lost in those beautiful eyes once more. He needed to shield his heart better. He would need to leave them at some point to protect them and if he got too attached it would just end up too hard to do.

Steeling himself he stood up with her and they headed towards the outside.

The blinding sun was the first thing he noticed as Dani pushed open the door and they stepped out. He had to shield his eyes at first, not use the unfiltered light around him. His eyes teared up and he had to wipe at them as his vision blurred more and he almost stumbled into Dani’s back when she stopped in front of him.

“Sorry, it’s really bright out here,” Malcolm told her as he rested his hand on her shoulder to not lose her in the overwhelming glare.

“Shit, I didn’t even think. Here come sit over here and I’ll be back in a sec,” Dani said as she guided him to sit on a chair near the doorway.

He kept his head down and used his hands to shield some of the intense light coming from all sides. By the time Dani came back out and touched his shoulder, his eyes had adjusted a little with the shielding in place, but as soon as he moved his hands, he had to squint and reshield them to stop the tears that sprang back with the harsh glare.

“Here, let me put these on you, it will help,” Dani told him as he felt her slide something over his face, part of it hooking over his ears.

He looked up at her and was relieved when the bite of the sun was removed with a warm brown hue over everything.

He couldn’t help but beam back at her when he looked at her and saw her smiling brightly at him.

“Sunglasses! Ooh and they look good on you too,” Dani told him with another smile.

Malcolm blushed a little and thanked her for the glasses. He could now look around and see the world around him without feeling like his eyes were being seared from their sockets.

“Edrisa said you will adjust with time, it’s just that your eyes are used to filtered light. She also said, you will need to be careful in the sun. You might be more susceptible to skin cancers too,” Dani cautioned him as she handed him a container that had the word ‘sunscreen’ embossed on it.

“Here, you rub it on your skin. Ummm, I can help if you like? It’s hard to get it all rubbed in on your face when you can’t see it,” Dani told him, taking back the sunscreen and pressing some of the white substance onto her palm.

Malcolm hesitated for a second, unsure if this was a good idea, but swallowed down his nervousness and nodded his assent, “ok, thanks.”

“Close your eyes for a bit, I need to move the glasses,” Dani warned as she slipped the glasses from his face.

He clenched his eyes shut and she rubbed his shoulder, “it’s ok, don’t tense up. I will be gentle, I promise,’ Dani murmured as she started to smooth the creamy substance across his forehead.

He took a deep shuddering breath and forced himself to relax, his eyes unclenching and his shoulders dropping. Soon the soft, gentle touches to his face had him relaxing more and he almost whined when she told him she was done and slipped the glasses back over his eyes.

He blinked up at her and smiled his thanks. He almost missed the shy smile she gave him back as she ducked away and started to walk over towards a large tree that stood proudly in the empty lot beside their warehouse.

“Come on, I want you to meet someone,” Dani told him, waving him over.

He quickly moved to stand beside her, staring up in awe as the massive trees’ branches swayed in the light breeze above them.

“Wow, it’s beautiful,” Malcolm told her a huge smile on his face as he watched the now safe sunlight filter through the leaves to create dampling patterns across their skin and the ground around them.

High up in the branches he caught a flash of colour, bright yellow amongst the greens and browns of the tree. It flashed from branch to branch, hardly settling before moving on to a new spot.

Malcolm pointed up into the tree at the moving bundle of yellow, “what is it?’ Malcolm asked as he turned to look at Dani, who was watching him with a fond expression that quickly shifted into a curious look as she cleared her throat.

“Sorry, what? Oh, it’s a tree,” Dani replied, her hands fidgeting behind her back as she looked up to where he had been looking.

Malcolm smiled with a chuckle, “ah, no. I know what a tree is. Great Uncle Douglas loved them and drew a lot of them. No, the little yellow creature up there. What is it?” Malcolm asked as he pointed again to the small little yellow creature now sitting on a branch above them, seeming to watch them as they watched it.

“Oh, sorry. That’s who I wanted you to meet. It’s our resident bird. Someone must have lost them at some point as it seems very domesticated, ah tame. But when I put up notices, no one claimed them. So we have been leaving them food and nesting materials hoping it will be ok out here,” Dani told him as they both continued to watch the curiously little bird, who was now hopping down the branch inching closer and closer towards them.

“It’s so pretty! Such beautiful colours. Do they have a name?” Malcolm asked enthusiastically. Completely intrigued by the little creature.

“It’s a parakeet, but we haven’t given it an actual name. We didn’t really think to, to be honest,” Dani told him as she looked away sheepishly.

Malcolm made one of his high pitch whistle calls he would make to call to sea creatures at home. Dani startled beside him and gave him a strange look, but his focus was all on the little yellow bundle. The little bird, instantly whistled back to him, becoming very animated and intent on him knowing their story. Unfortunately he couldn’t understand it, but whistled back enthusiastically hoping it would like it.

It was obviously the right thing to do as it suddenly dropped down and landed on his outstretched arm.

He froze as he felt its little clawed feet scratch across the skin of his arm.

“Oh my god! Wow, it’s never done that before,” Dani said excitedly but quietly.

Malcolm looked over to her with a happy grin while keeping as still as he could.

“Such a happy little creature,” Malcolm replied quietly, watching the bright little bundle hop up his arm until it was resting on his shoulder. He did his best not to move too much lest he startled them.

“How about Sunshine,” Malcolm mused, turning to look at Dani who was wearing her fond expression again, this time it stayed as he smiled back at her and bit at his lip lightly at the nervous energy suddenly in the air.

The little bird suddenly nipped at his earlobe and he jumped a little with a cry. It was enough to scare it off and it flew back up into the branches of the tree, whistling shrilly at him. Clearly unhappy with his reaction to its playful nip.

“Sorry Sunshine!” Malcolm called up to the little bird, who promptly hopped to a higher branch and turned its back on them.

Dani’s ringing laughter joining his had flutters of emotions bubbling up in his stomach as they pressed their hands to their mouths to stifle their noise as the little bird gave another indignant whistle at them and flew up into the higher branches where it was hidden from view.

“Oh dear. I think we offended them,” Dani said, the hint of her laughter still present in her tone.

Malcolm smiled at her, taking in how beautiful she looked in the dappled light of the tree and couldn’t say anything at the tight lump in his throat at the sight before him.

Malcolm cleared his throat, his mouth getting dry, remembering it had been a while since he had anything to drink.

“Ummm, I think I best go back in. I’m getting a little dry,” Malcolm told her, struggling to look at her without needing to look away as the emotion fluttering in his chest kept threatening to choke him.

Dani's face seemed to fall a little, seeming disappointed that their venture outside was ending. Malcolm went to take it back, but before he could Dani had turned back to the building and started towards the door.

Malcolm’s shoulders slumped in defeat. It seemed that he was good at disappointing people. With a last sigh as he looked up into the tree, trying to get a last glimpse of his new little yellow friend, he admitted defeat and he slowly made his way back into the building.

Dani was waiting for him when he stepped through the door.

JT gave him a smirk and a raised eyebrow, “digging the new look dude,” JT said as he continued on past them.

Dani rolled her eyes at him, “jerk. Just ignore him Malcolm,” Dani told him as he quickly pulled off the hat and glasses awkwardly catching them in each other and nearly dropping them.

Malcolm shuffled on the spot, not sure what he was meant to do next, feeling awkward as he stood beside Dani with the hat and glasses held stiffly in front of him.

“Hey Gil?” Dani called out, starting to walk towards where Gil appeared to be working on some machinery at the rear of the building.

“Guess who befriended our resident bird? Coming down and sitting on his shoulder and everything,” Dani told Gil and Edrisa as they started walking over to them, smiling at Malcolm who couldn’t help but feel a little awkward under the scrutiny.

“Of course he did,” JT called out over his shoulder as he dug into the fridge near the eating area. Pulling out some of the sweet food left over from yesterday.

Malcolm chuckled at JT’s ongoing ribbing. He had started to figure out it was JT’s way of showing him he was one of them. Not treating him differently to how he treated the others. Everyone got teased if the opportunity arose.

“Even gave them a name…Sunshine. Pretty cute, huh?” Dani said as she grinned over at him.

“And he whistles, like, you know, dolphins,” Dani told them, her excitement clear in her voice.

Edrisa immediately jogged over to them, stopping in front of the two of them, looking back and forth between them, almost hopping with her excitement.

“Oh gosh, can you show us?” Edrisa asked him, her eyes pleading behind her over large glasses.

Malcolm looked to Dani for help, who just shrugged. When he looked to Gil for help, he just give him an amused grin, “up to you Kid,” Gil told him with a chuckle.

Malcolm cleared his throat nervously, coughing a little when it caught a little with how dry his throat had gotten.

“Oh here, have some water first. You have to remember to drink…A LOT. Or you will dehydrate again and that won’t be pleasant for you,” Edrisa tells him, pulling a water bottle from the back pocket of her pants.

JT just stares at her, “have you been carrying that around to give to him,” JT asked her, his voice incredulous.

Edrisa squirmed a little under his scrutiny, adjusting her glasses before answering, “maybe. I didn’t want him to get sick on my watch is all. I have a duty of care to all sea creatures…” Edrisa replied, JT cutting her off before she can go any further. Malcolm blushing and looking anywhere but at Edrisa after she called him a sea creature.

“Yeah, moving right along, so Malcolm, you whistle,” JT says as he draps an arm over his shoulder, steering him away from the two women, “know any show tunes, yeah, never mind. How about you help me with the filtration system upgrade?” JT asked him as he continued to steer them over towards the complex system of pipes and machinery next to the main tank.

Malcolm looked at it with trepidation, having no idea what any of it did, given their filtration systems at home consisted of seagrass beds and kelp fields. He was feeling a little out of his depth.

“Ummm, sure, ok. Ah, what do you need me to do?” Malcolm asked as he continued to stare at the machine trying to work out what might need to be added to it, and where to ‘upgrade’ it.

JT looked him over and must have seen his utter confusion and remembered his inept skills at construction from the day before as his face registered his doubt.

“Mmmm, on second thoughts, how about you give Gil hand with the Jet Ski. Not too much damage you could do there,” JT said with a tight smile and a pat to his shoulder.

Malcolm rolled his eyes at him and moved over to see what Gil was doing as he leaned over a large machine that looked like it might be made to be on the water, with its front base rounded and curved like a boat’s.

Gil looked up from where he was bent over the craft and shook his head at JT before gesturing Malcolm over to watch what he was doing.

“Don’t worry about him, I’m sure I can find things for you to help me with,” Gil assured him with a light squeeze to his shoulder.

Malcolm gave him a sceptical look and peered over into what Gil was tinkering with and swallowed nervously as all he saw was even more complex machinery that he had no idea the function of.

Gil handed him a metal object that he called a socket wrench and showed him where to place it and how to turn it. He almost felt like he was helping, when it all slipped and he skinned his knuckles on part of the machine and the socket slipped off the wrench end and fell into the bowels of the machine.

Malcolm cursed and sucked at his stinging fingers, while Gil looked forlornly down into the machinery trying to see where the socket landed.

“Ahh, why don’t you get Edrisa to have a look at that hand of yours while I try and find the socket,” Gil urged him with a pat to his back after turning him towards where Edrisa and Dani, who were still huddled by the door talking.

“Edrisa, got a patient for you,” Gil called out as Malcolm glared at him without heat and Gil grinned at him good naturedly.

“Oh no, what did you do?” Edrisa cooed as she almost ran over to meet him.

“Uh, just took off a bit of skin. I’m ok, really,” Malcolm replied, holding his hand protectively to his chest as she made to grab for it.

“Sorry, ah, can I see it? It might need to be cleaned so you don’t get an infection. Your immune system wouldn’t have been exposed to a lot of our pathogens, so you will need to be diligent in keeping any injury clean,” Edrisa told him, peering at his abraded and sluggish bleeding skin on his knuckles after he reluctantly handed it to her.

Dani walked behind him and whispered in his ear as she passed him, “she won’t bite, I promise, well I don’t think she will,” Dani chuckled as she continued on to go and help Gil with his search for the part Malcolm dropped.

Malcolm couldn’t help the small shiver that ran through him at Dani’s warm breath brushing over his neck as she whispered to him as she passed him.

“Oh, you ok?” Edrisa asked as she pressed the back of her hand to his forehead.

“You don’t feel warm, but I should take your temperature to be sure. The temporal one won’t be as accurate, but I think you will prefer that to the one I use on the sea creatures,” she told him miming doing something that he really didn’t want performed on him.

“Edrisa! Stop terrorising the poor Kid. Just help him wash his hand and let him be,” Gil called out, admonishing her for her antics again.

“Sorry!” Edrisa called out to Gil, then turned to him and scrunched her face in apology, before leading him by the hand to her work area and pulling out bottles and plasters and laying them all out on the table before slipping on a pair of gloves.

“Jump up on the table for me,” Edrisa told him as she patted the metal table in front of her.

As he went to push himself up on the table the world tilted a little to the right as a wave of dizziness swept over him suddenly.

“Woah, woah, what was that? Are you alright?” Edrisa asked, her voice almost shrill, catching everyone's attention so that he soon had everyone standing around him with JT’s firm hands holding onto his shoulders as he shook his head to clear the dizzying fog.

“Yeah, sorry, got dizzy for a second. Do you think I could have some more water? I can’t remember what I did with the bottle Edrisa gave me,” he told them as he looked around himself vaguely as if the bottle would appear in front of him.

“Damn, you’re probably dehydrated again. Do you want me to set you up with an IV?” Edrisa asked him as JT helped him sit up on the table, keeping one hand on his shoulder as he stood beside him. Malcolm smiled his thanks to him and got a short nod in return.

“Ummm, no. I…can I just drink instead? I don’t want another needle,” Malcolm told her his eyes pleading as he looked at the small intense woman in front of him.

She appeared to physically wilt at his words, “oh god, no. Of course you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I won’t force you,” she told him, her eyes glassy with tears.

“Woah, he just said he didn’t want a needle, not accuse you of torturing him. Chill and get the boy a drink,” JT told her, looking back at Gil in alarm.

They all jumped a little when Edrisa suddenly shouted, “I got it! The camel back! Wait here!” before she dashed off to one of the back rooms.

They all looked at each other and shook their heads, Malcolm confused about what a camel back could possibly be.

When she returned with a bag with a hose attached, he was even more confused.

“Here, slip the straps over your shoulders and suck on this,” Edrisa directed, quickly and deftly putting the camel back on him.

He tentatively sucked on the hose she had handed him and was pleasantly surprised when water came out across his parched tongue.

“Mmmm, thanks,” Malcolm mumbled around the hose between sucks of water.

“That will give you 3 litres before you need a refill and easier to remember with it on your back,” Edrisa told him, beaming at him as he adjusted the strap under his arm, causing him to jump a little at the intrusion in his space.

“Ok, I think he’s got it now. Let the man breathe,” JT told her with a pat to her shoulder and a raised eyebrow at Malcolm.

Malcolm ducked his head to hide his chuckle as JT moved Edrisa out of the way.

“But I haven’t checked his hand yet,” Edrisa protested.

“It’s ok, I will take him to wash his hand, it looks fine now. Not even bleeding. Just a couple of scrapes,” JT told her as he guided Malcolm off the table and over to the sink in the kitchen area.

Malcolm mouthed his thanks to him as JT left him to wash his hands with the soap that was similarly set up as in the bathrooms. He was starting to get the hang of this whole land experience.

Once he was done and had reassured Edrisa that he was just fine, he pottered around helping them all where he could, handing them tools, picking up dropped items, cleaning out tanks and helping to refill them.

By the end of the day he was pretty tired, but felt like he actually had been helpful despite the less than auspicious start.

After they had all shared a meal, for which Malcolm stuck with the fish again, it was getting closer to the time for them to leave for the night.

Malcolm found himself feeling a little nervous at the prospect of being in the building all alone.

Gil must have picked up on his nerves and came and sat beside him.

“What’s troubling you Kid?” he asked him as he handed him a glass with an amber liquid in it.

Malcolm looked at the liquid with a curious frown, not knowing what it was.

Gil grinned at him, “it’s scotch, give it a go. It will put hairs on your chest,” Gil told him, gesturing for him to take a sip.

Malcolm took a tentative sip. The amber liquid was smooth with an almost smoky taste spreading across his tongue and then as it hit the back of his throat, the burn hit him and he coughed and sputtered as the drink went down his throat like liquid fire, until it smoothed out again.

Gil laughed and patted his back, “Sorry, Kid. I guess you aren’t really for the hard stuff yet.”

Malcolm gave him an incredulous stare then laughed along with him as he set down the drink and just enjoyed the sounds of the team relaxing and teasing each other.

“You still didn’t tell me what’s bothering you,” Gil pressed a little later, his stare intent as he leaned in to watch him closely.

Malcolm squirmed a little under his watch and eventually confessed that he was a little nervous about being here alone.

Gil gave him a fond smile and told him not to worry, that one of them would stay with him overnight while he was with them, just in case his Father turned up or he needed some help.

Malcolm started to protest, but Gil held up his hand and shook his head making the words stall before he could say them.

“It’s already been decided and Dani has volunteered to stay…again,” Gil told him with an amused quirk to his lips that was almost hidden behind his facial hair. Malcolm wasn’t sure what it meant but was happy and nervous about Dani staying the night.

“We’ll set up a bed for her in your room, if that’s ok?” Gil’s intense stare as he said that had Malcolm swallowing nervously, before he nodded and stuttered out a yes.

Gil gave him a smile that saw the crinkles in the corners of his eyes fully on display as he patted his arm and moved off to collect JT before they carried something into his room.

Before he could follow them to see what they were doing, Dani sat down beside him.

“So, uh, is it ok if I bunk with you again tonight?” Dani asked him, her eyes skipping away every time he caught her gaze. Her fingers fidgeting in her lap.

Malcolm smiled shyly back, realising she was nervous too.

“Yeah, of course. Happy to have the company, if you can put up with me,” Malcolm agreed, dropping his chin to his chest as he bit at his lip, looking up at her through his lashes.

Dani’s quick shy smile before she looked away, had his heart beating rapid fire in his chest and a warm flush filling out throughout it.

Maybe he wasn’t completely alone in his feelings after all.

Chapter Text

Back in Triton

Martin stared at the stoic man before him. His posture rigid and tense as he stared just over Martin’s shoulder waiting for him to be allowed to speak. Martin enjoyed watching them sweat.

“Well spit it out man, don’t keep me waiting,” Martin retorted with a wave of his hand at the man.

“Of course your Majesty. There is still no sign of the Prince, my Lord,” the man replied, his voice clipped and tense just like his posture.

Martin fought the snarl that was fighting to break free of his throat at the news.

He had clearly underestimated Malcolm. He had always thought the boy had promise, but didn’t think he had true rebellion in his veins. A small spark of pride flared alongside the anger at being defied by his own offspring.

Martin turned his back to the man, thinking on what would be the next best step. They had been searching for a week now and no sign. Surely the boy wasn’t that good at hiding. Clearly he had help, but who. No one would dare defy him. Except his own Son it would appear.

Martin growled low in his throat as he turned back to face the man still held ridgely in position awaiting his orders.

“Keep searching, go further afield to caves beyond the reef in case he has had help to hide out in there,” Martin commanded.

The man bowed and made to leave, but Martin called him back with one last command, “tell Nicolas I need to see him immediately,” Martin told him, dismissing him finally with a wave of his hand.

Martin flick his tail angrily, he couldn’t believe they hadn’t found Malcolm already. Surely he wouldn’t have defied him so much as to go to the surface. He had been talking about his alliance idea, so young and naive to the ways of the world. Surely he wouldn’t have been stupid enough to venture that far against his expressed disapproval.

Martin sigh in frustration and moved to sit at his desk.

Just as he was about to sit the Captain of his elite guard swam in through the outer door.

“You called for me, your Majesty?” Captain Nicolas asked as he came to a stop beside Martin’s desk.

“Ah, yes. Thank you for coming so quickly Nicolas, I trust I didn’t pull you from anything too important,” Martin enquired.

Captain Nicolas gave a small grim smile, “nothing too important your Majesty. Just keep the riff raff in line and in their place.”

Martin smiled back knowingly, “ah yes, a job you are very good at,” Martin praised him.

“Thank you, your Majesty. I do try, though, truth be told it is not hard when you enjoy your job so much,” Nicolas replied with a wicked grin.

Martin laughed, “yes, it’s always good to enjoy your work. Now, I have a task for your guardsman. I fear my misguided and errand Son may have gone to the surface against my expressed order not to. I need you to get word to the surface teams to keep and eye out for him and report if they do see him. I don’t want them to engage if they do, just report back. If he is on the surface, I want to be one of the ones to retrieve him. He needs to know just how displeased I am at being defied. If you get my meaning, Nicolas,” Martin told him with a hard look.

Nicolas nodded, “of course your Majesty. Consider it done.”

“Thank you Nicolas, you may go,” Martin replied with a wave of his hand towards the door.

Nicolas bowed deeply then exited the room. Martin turned to the portrait of his family on the wall, his ira increasing as he stared at his Son’s likeness timidly smiling back at him from the painting.

How dare he make him look like a fool. He would regret ever setting fin outside Triton if he had anything to do with it. He would make sure his delinquent son would receive a lesson that he would not soon forget.

Nobody defied Martin and got away with it…nobody.

At the Arroyo Research Centre

Malcolm had been with the team for a week now and was in the swing of helping at the team with all the work in the warehouse. He felt he was mostly being more helpful than he was a hindrance. He was actually starting to feel remotely useful and not just a burden for them to care for.

He particularly enjoyed helping Dani and Edrisa with the animals in their care in the centre. He was able to help them identify issues that they previously struggled to identify because of his understanding of the creatures and sometimes being able to communicate with them on a basic level.

He had been worried that it would freak them out when he worked out that they couldn’t, but after the first time he had done it without thinking they had been absolutely fascinated and he had happily offered his help.

It had been particularly enjoyable watching Dani’s delight as he communicated with the young Dolphin they had in one of their large tanks that was in the back of the second warehouse. They had thought that there was no hope in saving the creature as it had pretty much given up eating at all. When he had asked the dolphin what was wrong, the lovely little fellow had almost flipped himself out of the tank in delight at having someone to talk to.

Dani grabbed his arm and looked at him in awe, “did you just talk to the dolphin,” Dani asked, her voice pitched high with her excitement and her eyes sparking with the beautiful gold flecks.

Malcolm ducked his head and bit at his lip, not sure if he should actually tell them he could.

Dani cupped his chin and made him look at her. Malcolm swallowed down his nerves, “ummm, yes?” Malcolm replied tentatively, still unsure if it was the right thing to do.

“Oh my god, that is so freaking cool. Do you know how much this will help us?” Dani told him before she leaned in and kissed his cheek, startling both of them.

“Oh shit, sorry…ummm, I just…I got excited and…yeah, nevermind,” Dani said her cheeks reddened as she stepped back out of his space, almost tripping over her feet in her haste.

Malcolm stood blinking trying to process what happened, watching Dani look everywhere but at him.

Edrisa had a beaming grin on her face and was looking back and forth between them, getting more and more animated as they both got more uncomfortable in the silence.

Edrisa grabbed his arm and started to pull him closer to the tank while she gave Dani an exaggerated wink that he was pretty sure she didn’t mean for him to see. Dani’s eyeroll and head shake at her told Malcolm something was being communicated that he didn’t understand. Dani meeting his eyes and smiling shyly before ducking her head away as her face reddened again made the fluttering warmth return to his chest. Before he could process what it all meant, Edrisa had pulled them up in front of the tank and the young dolphin was eyeing them suspiciously.

Malcolm trilled softly to him, trying to put him at ease that they just wanted to help.

The dolphin flicked its tail so that water splashed out across them and then darted to the otherside of the tank.

“Well, that was rude,” Edrisa said, wiping at the water now dripping off her face.

Malcolm chuckled, “I think he is trying to tell me that he doesn’t believe we just want to help.”

Edrisa frowned at him and then at the young dolphin now swimming in a loop on the opposite of the tank.

Dani stepped in beside them next Malcolm, when he turned to look at her, her earnest eyes had the fluttering sensation back in his chest.

“Is there anything you can do to put him at ease?” Dani asked as she looked back at the young dolphin that was now hovering and watching them intently from the other side of the tank.

“Maybe,” Malcolm replied, biting at his lip, worrying at the skin there that was already becoming abraded from his previous instances of it.

A gentle touch to his cheek startled him a little.

“Hey, you’re going to hurt yourself if you keep that up. There’s no pressure Malcolm. If you don’t want to do something, you don’t have to. No one is forcing you to reveal yourself, ok?” Dani reassured him, her fingertips almost feeling like hot brands on his skin he was so hyper aware of her touch.

“I…it’s just…” Malcolm stuttered trying and failing to express himself in his nervousness.

“It’s ok, I have trust issues too. You only just met us and have had to give so much of yourself already. It’s ok if you don’t want to give it all yet,” Dani told him, her hand dropping to rub gently on his shoulder.

A heavy splash of water broke the moment and had them all looking back over to the young dolphin who was basically giving Malcolm the equivalent of an eyeroll in his body movements.

Malcolm chuckled and felt a blush staining his cheeks, now even the dolphin was amused at his expense.

Malcolm moved around to the other side of the tank, the young Dolphin still giving him an amused smirk.

Malcolm darted a nervous look at Dani and Edrisa who were both looking at him with a mixture of excitement and encouragement. He took a deep breath and using the high pitched whistles and trills that he had learnt from his hours spent playing with the dolphins back home, he told the young dolphin how the team had helped him.

The dolphin was sceptical to begin with but once Malcolm was done, they were looking between Malcolm and the women on the other side of the tank and with a trill of assent they moved over to hover in front of Edrisa and Dani.

Edrisa was looking at Malcolm in awe, her eyes bright and sparkling as she basically bounced in place in her excitement.

“Oh my god Malcolm, that is amazing! How do you get to such high tones, some of them I’m sure were out of our hearing range, but I could detect the vibrations,” Edrisa gushed as she moved around and pulled him back to where they were standing in front of the patiently waiting dolphin.

“Ummm, I don’t know, we all can. We use whistles to call to each other at times, over larger distances. Maybe it’s something that has evolved, I’m not sure,” Malcolm replied, shuffling in place, still unsure about having revealed this side of himself.

“No seriously Malcolm, that is amazing. If you’re willing, you could be a huge help to us,” Dani told him with a gentle touch to his arm that had that fluttering sensation shifting through his belly.

Malcolm smiled at her happily, “of course! Anything I can do, I’m more than willing. You’ve all helped me so much, I just want to be useful too,” Malcolm replied with a small wave of hope running through him at the thought.

A shower of water spraying over them all reminded them that their little friend wanted some attention now too.

They all laughed as they wiped away the water from their faces and the young dolphin nodded their amusement at them.

“So, are they ready to eat now?” Dani asked, reaching into the nearby water filled container and pulled out a good sized fish.

Malcolm smiled and nodded, “I think so.”

“Here goes nothing, but if they don’t and they leave it on the bottom again, you are the one going in there to get it out,” Dani teased him as she tossed the fish into the tank. The fish barely hit the water before the dolphin was on it and ate it in a couple of quick gulps.

Its happy squeaks as it breached the surface of the water hovering on its tail fin, a pretty good indicator it was happy.

Malcolm trilled at them, tell them to stop showing off to the woman. Malcolm immediately blushed at its quick reply back and its thoughts on what it had been watching from the tank.

“What did they say?” Dani asked with a suspicious smirk on her face.

“Ah, oh, noth..ing important. Just ah, enjoyed the fish,” Malcolm stuttered out, his face hot with his embarrassment.

“Hmmm, sure they did,” Dani replied with a knowing smirk before she laughed a little and shook her head at him.

“Anyway, we have more animals to feed and some important information to give to Gil. That is if you’re ok to tell him, of course,” Dani said in a rush as she looked back at him with a slightly worried frown.

Malcolm smiled at her and nodded, “yeah, it’s ok. It’s not really a big deal. I just…I wasn’t sure if you would find it weird. I mean, I already am pretty weird and almost literally a fish out of water…” Malcolm said with a self depreciating frown before he was interrupted.

“NOT A FISH…ummm, sorry, yeah. You’re not a fish, a subspecies of homo sapien is my guess, but definitely not a fish,” Edrisa interrupted him with a shout, looking a little contrite when both Malcolm and Dani looked at her slightly shocked at her volume.

“Yep, got that loud and clear, not fish boy,” Dani replied with an amused smirk as she darted a quick amused glance over at Malcolm.

Malcolm chuckled, “yes, thanks Edrisa, no I’m not a fish, just a…ah, figure of speech,” Malcolm replied smiling softly at them both for their quick acceptance of his differences. If only his own Father could accept that and embrace what could be with a collaboration of their kinds.

Malcolm sighed, his happy mood gone with the reminder of his Father. Would his presence see these good people pay for his reluctance to face his Father directly? He would do what he could to prevent that, but as time ticked by he worried that threat may be moving ever closer as he knew his Father and there was no way he had just let him go.

A hand on his shoulder had him coming back to himself and he gave Dani a self conscious smile.

“Come on, let’s go share this with Gil, he might have some ideas on how you can help us out,” Dani told him with a little pat of her hand on his shoulder and a small shared smile.

When they found Gil he was waist deep in the machine that Malcolm had almost managed to lose the socket wrench to. Malcolm’s nervousness returned when he heard Gil curse as there was a cluttering of metal on metal.

“Dammit, nearly had it,” Gil called out, his voice echoing in the bowels of the machine.

“Hey Boss! Got some news that might cheer you up some,” Dani called out to him as she walked up to where Gil was peering into the machine again.

Gil looked over to them slightly distracted, before leaning back into the machine in his search.

“Yeah, our resident watery wonderboy has another amazing trick up his scales,” Dani replied with a quick wink to Malcolm that had him ducking his head in amusement.

“What?” Gil asked, his face a picture of confusion as he popped his head up to see what Dani was going on about.

“Malcolm, he can talk to the fish,” Dani replied with a cheeky smile.

Instantly Edrisa piped up,”actually he can talk to the sea mammals, but now I think about it, maybe he can talk to fish as well,” Edrisa corrected her, before turning to Malcolm with a quizzical look.

“Can you? Talk to fish too? I mean, they mostly communicate by non vocal means but some do use sound, so it’s possible,” Edrisa asked in her endearingly rambling way.

“What?! You can communicate with sea mammals? You mean like mimic their vocalisations?” Gil asked, stepping down from the machine, wiping his hands on an already messy rag.

Malcolm swallowed under Gil’s sudden scrutiny, all the nervousness of revealing this ability coming back full force.

“Uh, yeah, dolphins, whales…and ah, yeah some fish too, but not all of them, but we think that might be because they just don’t care enough to listen,” Malcolm replied with a small chuckled at the thought.

Gil grinned and gave a laugh that saw his face light up and the crinkles at the corners of his eyes grow.

“Wow Kid, you are just full of surprises aren’t you?!” Gil told him with a pat to his shoulder and another happy grin.

Gil looked over to Dani and Edrisa, “we could really use that when we’re on the boat,” Gil mused as he gave Malcolm’s shoulder a distracted squeeze.

Malcolm looked between them all as he could see them thinking through what this could mean for them and frowned when he saw Gil turn to him with concern.

“But Malcolm, you can’t come on the boat with us,” Gil told him, his face showing his concern and sorrow.

“What? Why not? I mean, that is where I could be of the most use surely. Being in the water is kind of my element after all,” Malcolm replied, already ready to put up a fight.

“I know Kid, but, it would also be where you would be in the most danger of discovery. We can’t protect you there like we can here. I couldn’t ask you to put yourself in danger like that and not just from your Father. He would only be one of my concerns,” Gil told him with a sad frown as he gave a knowing look to Dani who was now standing beside him.

“But, you’re not asking me, I’m offering. You have done so much for me and all I seem to do is be a drain on your resources. Let me help and feel like I am pulling my weight,” Malcolm pleaded, the need to help becoming tangible and urgent.

“Please, I just…I just…I don’t want to feel useless anymore,” Malcolm confessed, looking away from Gil’s sad and knowing gaze.

“Hey?” Gil called to him as he crouched down to catch his eyes, standing again with both hands gripping his shoulders as Malcolm looked back up at him sad and resigned to being forced to remain behind.

“Kid you aren’t useless. There is plenty you can do to help around here and stay safe. Honestly as scary as your Dad sounds, he is not my only worry for you Kid. In some respects I get why he didn’t want to work on relations with us Humans. We aren’t all good Malcolm. Far from it. Just like your Father, there are Humans that would exploit you for your gifts, for who you are and what you represent. I want to protect you from that,” Gil told him, his brown eyes glittering with shifting colours that only enhanced his sorrowful expression.

“I get that, I do and I appreciate that you want to keep me safe, but I’m a grown man and can make my own decisions about what I am willing to risk and I think this is a risk worth taking. Not to mention that I miss it. The ocean is my home Gil, you can’t keep me from it forever,” Malcolm replied earnestly, taking a deep breath as he finished, hoping that he hadn’t ruined the friendship he had been working hard to create.

“Oh Kid, I…shit. Yeah, you’re right, it is your choice and you’re not a prisoner here and can ultimately do what you want, but please Kid, think about it before you rush into this. If anyone saw you…” Gil apologised, his voice fading off as he looked to Dani with a concerned frown as his hand dropped back to his sides.

“We could take precautions. Disguise him to get him on the boat and make sure we aren’t near his Colony when we’re on the water with him,” Dani said as she moved up to stand beside Malcolm, gently squeezing his hand in support.

Malcolm turned to look at her in surprise, a soft smile slipping across his face as he squeezed her hand back.

Gil sighed as he looked at them both, his gaze flicking down to their joined hands and soft smile tipped the corners of his mouth in fond amusement.

“Ok, I see I am out numbered here and probably will be for the foreseeable future if this continues the way it’s looking,” Gil replied with a knowing look at Dani that saw her ducking her head and untangling her hand from Malcolm’s. Malcolm looked between them not sure what he missed, but wishing that he could have Dani’s hand back. He clasped his hands in front of himself and tried not to show his confusion.

“Alright, you can come out with us this afternoon, but you have to…,” Gil started his hands coming back up to brace Malcolm’s shoulders.

Malcolm grinned as he looked him in the eye and cut him off, “...be careful, I know,” Malcolm jumped in, flashing a quick grin to Dani who was struggling not to laugh beside him.

“Well aren’t you two going to be a fun pair,” Gil snarked back with an eyeroll at both of them.

Malcolm tilted his head in confusion and looked between them, trying to figure out what Gil was getting at. When Gil just raised his eyebrow at their joined hands again, Malcolm blushed, not even realising that Dani had grabbed it again.

Gil gave Dani an intense look that Malcolm had no idea what it was meant to convey, but Dani clearly did as her face turned very serious and she gave Gil a curt nod, before she gave Malcolm’s hand one last squeeze and let it go.

Malcolm looked up at Gil as Dani moved off with Edrisa protesting in tow.

“Did I do something wrong? I don’t mean any harm and promise I would never hurt Dani,” Malcolm said with a swallow, figuring that Gil must have realised his burgeoning feelings for Dani.

Gil gave him a small fond smile, “you’ve done nothing wrong Kid and I see already that you would do anything to protect that girl. Just…,” Gil said, seeming to change his mind on what he was going to say as he cut himself off and took a deep breath and looked at Malcolm with a warm smile.

“Just trust your instincts Kid, that will keep you going in the direction that’s right for you both,” Gil finished, giving him a quick pat on the shoulder and turning back to his machine.

Malcolm stood there looking between Gil and where Dani and Edrisa had moved off to near the tanks lining the back of the warehouse, unsure what he was meant to do now. If he understood what Gil was saying he had told Malcolm it was ok to feel this way about Dani, but then he had given that intense look to Dani and now Malcolm was so confused and unsure. They weren’t even the same species, how could he possibly think and feel that way about her? But then his mind supplied him with all the moments that had sent his heart racing in his chest just from looking at her and then he was feeling guilty. It wasn’t just because she was beautiful, which was undeniable in Malcolm’s view, but she had supported him so much since they had hauled him up in their net and set off this intense adventure.

Then it struck him. Dani was the one that hauled in the net. Was she just feeling guilty and that’s why she was being so nice to him?

A hollow pit opened in Malcolm’s chest and he had to swallow down the rush of emotion that struck him. She didn’t actually care about him, she just pitied him and was feeling guilty. That explained why she had been so kind to him. And of course he had taken that to mean she felt the same as he did.

How could he be so stupid? What could he possibly offer to Dani, she was beautiful and smart and so full of life, why would she ever want him? He wasn’t even Human. Malcolm bit at his bottom lip, hissing a little when his skin split and blood welled across his lip.

It didn’t matter. He would still make sure that no harm came to her because of him. He didn’t need for her to love him…love, is that how he felt about her? He wasn’t sure yet, but ultimately it didn’t matter. He would continue to care for her, but he would never expect her to feel the same way. Or make her feel uncomfortable because she couldn’t feel the same way he did. Malcolm licked away the blood off his lip and moved over to watch Gil working on the machine. Gil gave him a long look, almost like he was looking into his very soul. The concerned sadness that flickered across Gil’s face before he looked away to go back to searching through the machine, made Malcolm’s heart pang a little. Gil knew and was worried he would get hurt. The man barely knew him, but had shown him more care than his own Father had in the last twenty years of his life, ever since he had discovered who his Father truly was. Malcolm didn’t know what he had done to get so lucky to have these people find him, but he would do whatever he needed to, to protect them from any harm his life could bring upon them.

Malcolm thought the oversized floppy head covering was a little excessive, but if it eased their concerns, he was happy to oblige. The thought of being out on the water was lifting his spirits a little, but he still struggled to be as bright and happy as he had been. Clearly it was obvious, well at least to Gil and Dani, who kept shooting him concerned looks when they thought he wasn’t looking their way.

As he slipped on the sunglasses that Dani handed to him with a concerned frown, he just nodded his thanks and silently followed her out of the warehouse. He did his best to focus on getting to go out on the boat, but it was hard when Dani turned back to look at him and the sun filtered through her beautiful curls and his heart went to racing again. He cursed his stupid heart for falling for someone that he could never have. He mental shook himself and gave her a small smile before dropping his gaze and continued to follow her down to the docks.

He hesitated slightly when she extended a hand to him to help him on the boat. The brief flash of hurt across her face made him feel guilty and he quickly fumbled to take her hand and almost tripped as he went to climb in, falling against her when he finally made it on. He quickly backed away from her apologising and silently cursing himself for being an clumsy idiot.

“Sorry, sorry…ummm, I…I’ll just go sit over there and get out of the way,” Malcolm apologised, quickly making his escape to huddle into the seat near the cabin out of everyone’s way. A quick glance back at Dani let him see a frown crease her face before she seemed to shake it off and went to help Gil and JT ready the boat for leaving the dock.

Malcolm didn’t really pay attention to what they were all doing, just stared out at the open water beckoning beyond the stretch of boats lined up nearby. He couldn’t help but think that he was once again being a burden rather than a help, but hoped that once they were on the water he could actually help. He had an idea for how he could make life a lot easier for them all but wasn’t going to say anything until they were out on the water, in case Gil reneged on his agreement to let Malcolm determine what he could and couldn’t do. He wasn’t used to having that much freedom and even though he trusted Gil, he really didn’t know him enough to be sure he wouldn’t change his mind and ban him from the boat.

He had quite enjoyed the feel of the wind through his hair after he had pulled the head covering off once they were out of the docking area.

Gil had given him a frown, but he had just shrugged and shook his hair out so the wind could catch it and put his face into the wind and enjoyed the calm salty spray hitting him as they sped across the water.

He had made sure to keep his water intake up as he could feel the sun sapping the moisture from him quickly. Dani had smiled encouragingly at him when he had refilled his water pack on the way out. He had only been able to give her a brief smile before he retreated back to his spot, his heart not able to take how beautiful she looked with her hair pulled back in a tail and her beautiful brown skin almost glowing in the sunshine.

It was a good hour after they left the docks before they started to slow the boat and get ready to drop their anchor. Malcolm had assured them that they were a long way off from Triton and the likelihood of any Merkin being near to see him virtually zero.

Happy with that assurance they had worked to secure the anchor and readied themselves for the work they needed to do to monitor the tagged fish and test the water quality. Malcolm watched from his seat by the cabin, waiting until they were all occupied with their tasks and facing the other way, before he quickly stripped off his clothes and slid over the side into the cool welcoming waters. He couldn’t help but smile at the feel of the salty water across his skin. He took a deep breath and clung on tight to the rail and waited for his transition to trigger.

When the first muscle cramp hit he bit down on his lip to stop himself from alerting the others, blood well out across his barely healed lip. He silently cursed as the intensity of the rippling muscles and shifting skin and bone ramped up and he struggled to contain the whimpers that threatened to spill from his throat. When the skin of his legs merged and his fin and scales started to form out from his tail, he lost his battle to hold back the cries as it felt like fire was rippling across his skin. He clamped his free hand over his mouth as soon as the first whimper escaped, a single tear dripping down his cheek as he fought against the urge to scream at the pain rippling through his lower half as his bones made their last shifts into place and the skin over his gils ripped open and drew in the salty water around them. The brief sharp sting of the raw skin was enough to bring a few fresh tears sliding down his cheeks.

“What the fuck? Malcolm!”

JT’s cry from above him almost had him losing his grip on the rail and it was only JT quickly grabbing his hand that stopped him from slipping into the water completely before he was ready.

“Thanks,” Malcolm panted with a wince as the last muscle cramps shot through his tail as his transition ended.

“What the fuck are you doing man?” JT cursed at him with a glare as he continued to grip his hand tight.

Malcolm looked up at him begging him to understand that he just needed to help.

“Ummm, helping?” Malcolm replied with an uncertain smile.

Gil’s head popped over the side to look, giving him an exasperated sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

Malcolm winced and tried to look as contrite as he possibly could.

“What if someone had seen you? Malcolm, people don’t have to be right next to us to see out here,” Gil scolded him, his face creased with worry as he scanned the surrounding area, letting loose a heavy sigh when there were no boat anywhere in sight.

“Sorry, I just…this way I can help you. I can easily retrieve the tagged fish for you, without scaring them too much and the bigger mammals I can check their tags without them getting stressed,” he told him, trying to get Gil to see his reasoning.

“Fine, there is no point in wasting you going through the transition after all,” Gil reluctantly agreed with a put upon frown.

Malcolm beamed up at him, finally feeling like he could be useful and help out his friends. He couldn’t resist dropping into the water and using his tail to surge up high out of the water and flip himself over backwards in an elegant dive, being careful with his tail to ensure he didn’t splash Gil or JT at the railing of the boat.

“Show off,” JT called out to him as he resurfaced.

Malcolm laughed and flick a bit of water at JT as he scowled at him.

“That was cool, what else can you do,” Dani called out to him from the back of the boat.

Malcolm smiled and winked at her and dived back under the surface of the water and raced along the side of the boat, before he launched himself out of the water backwards and twisted into a tight barrel roll and slipped back into the water with barely a splash.

Malcolm couldn’t help but beam with happiness as Dani clapped and cheered, while Gil gave him a fond smile.

They all laughed as JT just rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath as he walked away, “bloody fish boy showing off. Don’t have time for this.”

Gil pat JT on the back as he walked past him still muttering and grinned down at Malcolm as he did a full backflip into the water.

“Ok, ok, you are very talented, now did you want to help us or not,” Gil told him as he leaned over the rail to talk to him.

Malcolm quickly swam over to below Gil and nodded, waiting for what they wanted him to do.

“Ok, we need to check on all the orange tagged fish today. We are over the largest concentration of them going by our trackers gps signals. Want to go catch us some fish?” Gil told him with a grin.

“Now that I can help with,” Malcolm replied with his own grin before he dived down into the murky blue depth, relishing the freedom of swimming as fast as he could down to the coral reef that was alive with colour and the glittering flashes of fast swimming fish.

He mades quick work of finding as many of the orange tagged fish as he could and soon Gil was telling him that if he wants it, he has a permanent spot on the team.

JT’s muttered, “so long as he stops showing off,” made them all laugh as JT scowled at them again, before he reluctantly gave Malcolm a put upon smile and welcomed him to the crew.

When Gil called it a day and told Malcolm it’s time to head back he begged him to let him swim back beside the boat for a while so he could get some more swim time in.

Gil frowned at him and looked to Dani and JT for their thoughts, but they just shrugged and looked anywhere but at Gil and Malcolm.

Malcolm gave him his best pleading eyes he could and promised to be careful and that he would get back in the boat as soon as Gil thought they were getting too close.

Gil huffed out a sigh and shook his head at him as Malcolm beamed back at him in delight, a happy trill leaving him as he backflipped in the water in his excitement.

“Alright, alright, don’t make me change my mind,” Gil scowled at him, putting his hands on his hips as he huffed at him.

Malcolm laughed and promised to be good, while Dani and JT struggled to hold back their amusement.

“Kid’s got your number already Gil,” JT teased him with a wink to Malcolm.

Gil growled at him to shut up and get the boat moving to the echo of JT and Dani’s laughter as they hauled in the anchor and started up the motor.

Malcolm couldn’t remember the last time he enjoyed himself as much as he did on the trip back to the docks. He gots to play with some friendly dolphins who questioned him about the boat and the Humans and he told them they are friends and only want to help the oceans and its creatures. They chattered back and forth until they pulled off to meet up with the rest of their pod and Malcolm went back to watching Dani’s profile backlit against the setting sun as he leapt out of the water between underwater swims. The melancholy of the earlier part of the day was forgotten in the delight of leaping through the lux as the sun shimmered across the wave tops from the wake of the boats’ passage through the water.

All too soon Malcolm heard them calling to him and the boat slowed to a stop. He stopped to hover at the back of the boat next to the back gate.

“Sorry Malcolm, I hate to spoil your fun, but we are cutting it close and I don’t want to risk anyone seeing you,” Gil apologised to him as he stretched out a hand beside JT at the back gate.

Malcolm gave him a warm smile and accepted his and JT’s hands and with a heavy flick of his tail they helped to haul him into the boat.

He slid across the floor coming to rest against Dani’s feet. He looked up and smiled, giving her a quick wave. She just shook her head and chuckled at him. He gave her a grateful smile when she held up a blanket and draped it over his lower half.

“Oh thank god. I did not need the stripe tease today,” JT joked as he pushed a bright orange padded vest under his head.

“No reason you can’t have some comfort while you split yourself in two,” JT shrugged when Malcolm gave him a questioning look at the cushioning under his head.

“Thanks,” Malcolm replied as he braced himself for what’s to come.

They are all a little tense as they wait out the minutes until the cramping starts and he pulls himself up with a wince as his tail bucked and contorted with the rippling muscles and shifting bone.

“Fuck, I’m really happy I don’t have to go through that shit every time I go in the water. It would make showering a real bitch,” JT joked, his cheeky smile faltering as Malcolm accidently let out a whimper as a particularly large shift of bone sends an echoing crack across the boat.

“Jesus Kid,” Gil says as he crouches down beside him and helps to take some of the weight of his arms as Malcolm pants and winces through the rest of the transition, doing his best not to let the pain of it show too much.

Malcolm breathed a sigh of relief when the last muscle spasms left him and he could move without setting off another round of cramping.

“You good now,” Dani asks, her face pale and eyes a little glassy.

Malcolm smiles at her as he pants to catch his breath, “yeah, I’m good. That’s definitely getting easier,” Malcolm assured her as he shuffled to lean himself against the wall of the boat, Gil helping him as he went.

“Sure kid, that looked like a walk in the park,” Gil replied with raised brows. Malcolm gave him a smirk in return.

“At least I’m not screaming anymore,” Malcolm told him with a grin.

“Yeah Kid, that’s not reassuring at all,” Gil replied him with a frown.

Malcolm shrugged and looked over to his clothes, “ummm, can one of you pass me my clothes so I can get dressed,” Malcolm asked timidly.

JT rushed over and retrieved them, “here, stop making me think about you being naked under there. It’s not right,” JT mutters as quickly walked off to the back of the boat after handing over the clothes.

The rest of them laughed and Dani and Gil turned away to give him some privacy while he slips his clothes on.

Once he was settled in his seat, they set back off for the docks, Malcolm was tired from his full day, but couldn’t wipe the smile off his face as he remembered the glimpses of Dani’s profile highlighted against the sun, a happy smile on her face as she watched him skip through the water. It had been one of the best days he had in a very long time.

Off in the distance across the water

The research vessel bobbed on the water, the anchor holding them in place as the crew retrieved specimens from the sea and off the seafloor.

Pete gazed out across the expanse of the ocean surrounding them, keeping an eye out for incoming vessels and any other threat to the crew.

He stopped and blinked, trying to process what he had seen through the binoculars. It couldn’t be. He placed the glasses against his eyes again and focussed them in on Arroyo’s research vessel. He knew the Queen Jackie anywhere and always kept an eye on them when they were nearby. It was well known that there was no love lost between Gil and Vivan.

Peter readjusted his focus onto the side of the boat where he had swore he had seen something large and humanoid swimming beside it just moments ago. When the creature leapt out of the water alongside the boat with its human shaped torso and massive tail fin, he almost dropped the binoculars into the water. He stared in amazement as the creature leapt out of the water again, twisting so that it did a complete roll through the air so that he could clearly see that the creature was likely male.

Dr Capshaw was never going to believe this. A genuine Merkin. Pete grinned and reached into his pocket for his phone. He zoomed in with his camera as far as he could but it wasn’t the best with all the motion, but you still make out that something not completely human was swimming alongside the boat. He almost cheered when the boat slowed and the Merkin moved around to the back of the boat. The zoom still couldn’t pick up a clear picture of the creature and he cursed the shitty camera on his cheap phone. He rummaged around the deck trying to find one of the other crew's phones that was better quality, but by time he had found one, the boat was moving off again he couldn’t see the creature anymore.

He scrolled through the photos and video he got. It wouldn’t be good enough for outing him to the world, but he was sure it would get Dr Capshaw's interest enough to investigate just who was helping out the Arroyo crew.

A hell of a boring day had just turned into a fantastic day.

Chapter Text

Capshaw Marine Institute

“Dr Capshaw, you are going to want to see this,” Pete called out to his boss as the crew brought in the gear from their day on the boat.

“What is it, I’m busy,” Vivan scowled at him as she looked up from her microscope.

Pete pulled out his phone and brought up the video of the Merkin, it was blurred and distorted, but when the Merkin leapt out of the water and barrel rolled through the air, Vivan gasped.

She looked at him sharply, pulling off her black rimmed reading glasses, “is that what I think it is?” She asked him.

Pete grinned widely and laughed a rich deep laugh, “oh yes, a genuine Merkin.”

Vivan grinned back at him, “where did you see it, that boat seemed familiar,” Vivan asked as she pulled her glasses back on and watched the video again.

“Dammit, of course it’s with bloody Arroyo. Bastard has always had everything just fall into his lap,” Vivian cursed as she slammed down the phone on the table causing Pete to wince as he heard a crack.

Pete gently took his phone back, discreetly checking the screen and sighing a small breath of relief when he saw there was only a small crack in the top corner of the screen. Nothing that would inhibit its function.

“We need that Merkin here. No doubt Arroyo has just made friends with it and doesn’t have a clue about the scientific gold mine that has just landed in his lap,” Vivan spat out, the venom in her voice making Pete take an unconscious step back.

“Pete, get the boys together, we have a hunting trip to organise. There is no way we are going to waste this opportunity to study this Merkin properly. Arroyo will never have the guts to do what needs to be done to get a true understanding of how they came to be and if they truly are a subspecies of ours. I, on the other hand, have no such qualms about getting the job done,” Vivan told him, her smile predatory as her eyes glazed in thought.

Pete smiled along with her. There was a reason he liked working with Vivian. She didn’t mind if he let his curiosity run a little wild and tested a few more theories than was necessary, or ethical. So long as he got the job done, she didn’t care how he did it. So long as he cleaned up any mess, she was happy.

Pete sung softly to himself as he moved off to collect the rest of the team. The boys were going to enjoy this one.

He’s got the whole world in his hands…

Arroyo Research Centre

Malcolm bowed his head and sighed as Gil continued to pace with his hands and arms as animated as his speech as he told Malcolm just how worried he was about exposure.

“You aren’t a prisoner here Malcolm, but I need you to understand just how dangerous today’s stunts were. Anyone could have seen you. Up here you don’t need to be in eyesight to see and if someone saw you…well I dread to think what could happen to you if the wrong people saw you,” Gil told him as he stopped in front of him with his hands on his hips, his face drawn with his concern and agitation.

“Now you sound like my Father,” Malcolm muttered as he continued to avoid Gil’s eyes.

Gil’s quiet gasp had him looking up to see a flash of hurt flicker across his face before he could suppress it and school his features back to concern.

“Sorry, it’s just, I know there are bad people everywhere. I just don’t want to have to hide for the rest of my life. I may as well be back in Triton living under my Father’s reign of terror if all being here means is hiding in the shadows and never being able to be myself in my natural environment. The water is my home Gil, I can’t abandon it completely,” Malcolm told him fighting his instincts and holding Gil’s gaze as he finished. Pleading with him to understand.

“Ah Kid, I…I get it and I will do what I can to protect you, but please understand there are more people out there like your Father, who will stop at nothing to get what they want and for some of them that will be you. The discovery of the century. I have met a few “scientists” that would expose you in a heartbeat if it meant acclaim and recognition for themselves. Just be careful out there ok?” Gil replied, stepping in and putting his hand on Malcolm’s shoulder and giving it a light squeeze.

“I know you don’t really know us that well, but damn if you don’t feel like family to me already Kid. If I can protect you, I will. But I won’t stifle you Malcolm. You’re your own person and won’t stop you from being yourself. Just…take care ok?” Gil pleaded with him, his hand giving Malcolm’s shoulder a last squeeze before he stepped back and gave Malcolm a sad but encouraging smile.

Malcolm had to swallow back the emotion that hit him with Gil’s declaration. He had never felt more accepted and, dare he say it, loved in his life. His Mother had always loved him, but she was always a bit distant and cautious in her affections towards him, lest his Father think she was coddling him. In a matter of weeks, this fierce but gentle man had shown him more care than he had experienced since he was a small child and his world had been shattered by seeing his Father for who he really was, a monster.

Malcolm nodded his thanks to him, unsure if his voice would betray his emotion if he spoke right now. He took a second and then cleared his throat, before looking up at Gil and around to the rest of the team, who were all looking at him with varying degrees of concern.

“Thank you, I can’t tell you how much it means to me to have you all care about what happens to me. I haven’t really felt what that’s like in a very long time. Today was…it was seriously one of the best days of my life. I have never felt so free and happy. I…well, I can’t thank you enough for letting me have that,” Malcolm replied, his voice wavering as he finished.

He gave Dani a watery smile as he felt her small hand take his in hers and give it a reassuring squeeze.

“Right, well, that’s enough of that for one day. I’m going to pack away this gear if anyone’s interested in actually doing our, you know, real jobs,” JT teased, the slight smile on his face taking the bite out of his comments.

Dani rolled her eyes at him as Gil shook his head and Edrisa giggled. Malcolm gave him a quick grateful smile and volunteered to help pack up their gear.

“Ahh, yeah, no offence dude but I think it would be best if you helped the ladies feed the fish,” JT replied as he backed away slowly, a smirk twitching at the corner of his mouth.

“Hey, I can help pack things away. I didn’t break anything, well not in the last couple days at least,” Malcolm replied indignantly, remembering with a grimace the lost socket and the fish finder he had dropped and cracked while trying to put it away on a shelf the other day.

JT just smiled at him and waved him off as he moved off to deal with the gear they had all carried in from the boat earlier.

Dani patted his shoulder and gave him an amused smirk before leading him to the rear warehouse to help with the feeding and last checks of the day on all the animals in their care.

“I didn’t mean to drop it, it just slipped out of my hands…” Malcolm said in his defence as Dani continued to grin at him as they walked.

“Ok butterfingers, let’s get this done and then you can tell JT just how wrong he is about you and your accident proneness,” Dani replied with a raised brow over to Edrisa who was following behind them.

“Don’t worry Malcolm, I broke one of the microscopes in my first week here. Thought Gil was going to fire me for sure, but we are worth more than our physical abilities. Though your physical abilities are very impressive from what Dani told me about your prowess in the water today. Man I wish I could have been there to see that, not sure I would have been able to concentrate very well, but phew, what a sight,” Edrisa rambled on as she followed them through to the walkway between warehouses.

Malcolm darted an alarmed glance to Dani who was grinning and shaking her head. Malcolm couldn’t help the grin that spread over his face as Edrisa continued to talk about how she would have loved to have seen him leaping through the waves in all his naked glory.

“Ok, that’s enough of that train of thought for today Edrisa. Can you please grab the raw fish for the feeding?” Dani interrupted as Edrisa was about to launch into how they could capture his best angles while he was in the water.

“Oh ok, sure. Just be a minute,” Edrisa replied with a smile as she bounced off with a happy grin on her face.

Malcolm and Dani shared an incredulous look then burst out laughing as Edrisa disappeared into the room off the side of the warehouse where the fresh fish for feeding were stored.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. She’s harmless, just has no filter between what enters her mind and what comes out of her mouth, unlike the rest of us,” Dani apologised with an amused smile.

“Oh, so you have the same thoughts, just the filter to stop them,” Malcolm replied cheekily, the rush of the afternoon making him braver than he usually would be.

“What? Um, yeah, I mean, no…just…oh my god,” Dani stuttered with a pretty pink flush spreading across her face.

“Sorry, I was just teasing. I know she means well. It’s just a little embarrassing at times with how…ummm, obvious she is about it all,” Malcolm replied, taking pity on Dani’s clear embarrassment.

Dani laughed and ducked her head looking back at him shyly before she nodded and motioned for them to get started on the work at hand. Malcolm stepped in beside her and together they started working through the chores for assisting the animals.

Between the three of them they had the work done within the hour and all the animals secure for the night.

They met Gil and JT back in the main warehouse, ready to bid each other good night.

“We need to be vigilant now that you are venturing outside more. If you do attract attention, we need to be ready to keep you safe. Dani has volunteered to stay with you again tonight. Though we’ll look at more than one of us staying in the future,” Gil said as he ran his hand through his hair and looked to all of them, before coming back to look at Malcolm and continued with a sigh.

“I just…, I don’t know. My gut tells me we need to be ready. It hasn’t steered me wrong before, so I’m not going to be a fool and ignore it. You should be safe enough tonight, but tomorrow we'll make sure at least two of us are here to help if things go south,” Gil told him with a grim expression, his jaw tense and the muscles twitching as he clenched it as he spoke.

Malcolm looked between Gil and Dani, suddenly concerned that he really could be putting his new friends at risk.

“You don’t need to stay here. I will be ok. I don’t want to put any of you at risk unnecessarily,” Malcolm replied his concern increasing with Gil’s obvious worry.

“No Kid, we aren’t leaving you here alone. I don’t doubt you can defend yourself, but an extra pair of hands or two can only help if something does happen,” Gil told him with a grim look between him and Dani.

JT stepped forward and went to speak, but Gil cut him off before he could.

“No, it’s ok JT, they should be fine for tonight. You and I can alternate from tomorrow. You have a little one at home to worry about. Dani’s tough, she will be able to help take care of our boy,” Gil interrupted with a quick smile to Dani.

Malcolm huffed in indignation, “I’m not helpless. I might not have the physical prowess of you two, but I have been trained in self-defence. No Son of my Father would be left to be completely defenceless,” Malcolm reminded them.

Gil smiled at him and gave him a nod of acknowledgement.

“Yes, sorry. I didn’t mean to imply you couldn’t look after yourself, but it’s not likely to be just one person coming for you, now is it?” Gil replied, the concern creasing his face once more.

Malcolm gave a heavy sigh, “no. Father will send his Guardsman and they are the elite of his Guard. I wouldn’t be able to hold my own against a few of them for long.”

Gil gave him a solemn nod and looked to Dani, giving her a hard stare until she gave him a tight nod.

“Ok, we’ll see you both in the morning. Be vigilant and hopefully my gut is wrong,” Gil said with a pat to Malcolm’s shoulder and a quick look to all of them before he headed out the door.

JT and Edrisa followed him out with a quick goodbye to them both. Edrisa was unable to leave without racing back and surprising Malcolm with a quick hug, before she ran back to the door where JT was waiting for her as he shook his head at her antics.

Malcolm waved to them both as they slipped out the door and turned to Dani with a hard swallow.

“Well, I guess we’d better lock this place up well tonight. I don’t know about you, but Gil’s speech has made me a little hyper aware of my surroundings and its openness,” Malcolm told her with a grimace as he looked around the open space around them.

Dani gave him a knowing look and headed to the exit JT and Edrisa had just left through and pushed home the bolts at the top and bottom of the door. Malcolm followed suit with the other main entrances to the building, letting out a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding when they were all secured as best they could.

“Right, let’s see what we have to feed ourselves. I don’t know about you, but I’m always starving after a day on the water,” Dani said with a smile as she came back to stand next to him.

Malcolm grinned and nodded, following her into the kitchen area to help where he could in preparing themselves some dinner. They settled on fish and pasta. Malcolm was slowly expanding his food options but was still very cautious and struggled to eat as much as they would all offer him. He had never been a big eater, his nervousness at what was coming his way next with his Father always making him feel a little sick and suppressing his appetite. Now that his illusion of safety had been shattered again with Gil’s clear concern, he was struggling to get much of his dinner down.

Dani looked at him with concern, her beautiful brows pinched and furrowed.

“You ok?” She asked him as he pushed his fish and plain oiled and herbed pasta around his plate.

Malcolm gave her a small smile, “yeah, just not that hungry at the moment. It’s all…all a bit much I guess,” Malcolm replied, giving up on pretending he would eat more and putting his fork down beside his plate.

Dani gave him a sympathetic smile and assured him it would be ok, before grabbing their plates and wrapping his up to go in the fridge to try again later.

Malcolm made quick work of washing the dishes from their meal and putting everything away so the kitchen area was again clean and free from clutter.

Without even talking about it they both went in different directions and checked that all the doors were secure and all the security cameras and lights functioning. Once they were satisfied, they moved into the back room that had become Malcolm’s new home.

“Hey, did you want to see what you look like in the water?” Dani asked him as he took as seat on his bed.

“What?” Malcolm asked slightly startled by her question.

Dani blushed a little and gave him an apologetic grin.

“Ummm, I may have taken some photos and video of you frolicking today. You looked so happy, I just couldn’t resist and thought you might want to see…well what we see,” Dani told him, her gaze flickering from his own to the floor as she rocked on her feet.

Malcolm beamed at her, “I would love to. I have never seen what I look like when I’m swimming. We don’t have things like your cameras. I guess we all seem a bit backward to all of you,” Malcolm finished with a sigh, realising this was another reason Dani could never think of him the way he thought about her.

Dani shook her head at him and gave him an incredulous look, “what? No one thinks that Malcolm. Just because your society doesn’t have the same things as us, doesn’t mean you are backward, or lesser than us. Just different and there is nothing wrong with that,” Dani assured him as she sat down beside him and gently rested her hand on his arm.

Malcolm gave her a thankful smile, ducking his head as he looked at her, not ready to meet her fierce gaze head on. He swallowed heavily as her soft fingertips cupped his chin and lifted it so that he was looking at her fully.

“You are good and worthy Malcolm, don’t let anyone else tell you any different, ok?” Dani told him her beautiful brown eyes, earnest and shimmering with the gold flecks that gave them so much depth that Malcolm felt like he could drown in them.

Malcolm gave her a shaky smile and a quick nod before she dropped her hand and fumbled to grab her phone.

“Here, watch this,” Dani told him as she did something to the phone and suddenly Malcolm could see himself leaping and dipping into the waves beside the boat. The rush of the wind and the thump of the boat pushing through the waves didn’t drown out Dani’s happy laughter as the images of him in the water rolled across the small screen.

Malcolm grinned at her as he looked back and forth between her fondly smiling face and the small screen.

“That’s me? Wow, that’s amazing. I…thank you Dani,” Malcolm replied, not able to wipe the grin off his face as he watched and listened to the delightful sound of Dani’s happiness captured on the small device.

They spent the next little while watching the videos and them both critiquing his performance. Soon they were both laughing as they leaned on each other’s shoulder replaying the moment that Malcolm’s accidental tail flick saw JT get a face full of sea water to leave him spluttering and cursing at an oblivious Malcolm.

“Oh we are so showing this to Gil and Edrisa in the morning. That is priceless,” Dani laughed as she replayed it for at least the fifth time, losing her composure and rocking back while she held her belly as she laughed.

Malcolm felt the now familiar warm feeling of contentment swell in his chest as he took in the beautiful image of her laughing in delight. Moments like these he knew he would cherish forever.

A sudden sharp sound of metal screaming under stress had them both jumping up from the bed and looking to each other in alarm. The lights shutting down a moment later had them reaching out to touch each other in the sudden dark.

Dani quickly pocketed her phone and shifting around the room seemingly searching for something. Malcolm realised what she was doing when he saw a piece of the left over wood from the construction of the furniture in his room in her hands. He quickly hunted around the room and grabbed the long and heavy flashlight that was still on one of the shelves around the room.

He saw her give him a nod her eyes glinting in the low light of the room as she positioned herself next to the door so that she would be ready to hit anyone who came through it. Malcolm felt his anxiety sky rocketing, his breathing getting laboured, his throat tight and dry and his belly queasy and roiling. Swallowing down the urge to pull Dani away from the door and huddle in a corner, he took position on the other side out of the reach of the swing of the door, so that he could get anyone as they stepped through and held himself steady as they waited and listened for movement.

As the minutes ticked by with no further sounds of entry, Malcolm started to think that their security upgrade had been successful and slowly let his tense and trembling muscles relax a little. It was of course at just that moment that the door to his room burst open and multiple people pushed into the room at once.

Malcolm swung his heavy torch at the nearest dark figure, the jolt of the strike travelled up into his arm as he hit the intruder's arm.

“Aaaah, fuck!”

The scream from the man he struck told him it was a good hit and he swung it back to have another go. Before he could bring it back down, a piercing scream from Dani had him dropping the light from his suddenly nerveless fingers.

He looked to her in panic and his heart nearly stopped as he saw her almost bent in half as someone dressed all in black and a mask over their face, roughly pulled her arm up her back.

“Dani!” Malcolm screamed as he launched himself across the room to help her.

He was drawn up short as Dani was pulled back up and she cried out in pain again as her arm was wrenched behind her back once more. Seeing the shimmer of the tears sliding down her cheeks from her pain was like a knife to his heart and he stopped advancing and just watched what the other people in the room were going to do.

“That’s better. Now, no one needs to get hurt, just everyone take a breath and we can be reasonable about this,” a female voice said from behind the mask she were wearing. She was standing beside the person holding Dani in a tight grip, but watching Malcolm, her eyes intent from behind her mask.

Malcolm moved himself slightly so that he had all of them in his sight and couldn’t be blindsided by anyone. He raised his hands slightly showing they were empty now and looked between Dani and the woman who appeared to be the one in charge.

“We’ve just come for you. We know what you are, and we have some important questions we need answered. You come with us without a fuss, and no one will get hurt,” the woman said, her tone having an edge that made Malcolm’s skin crawl.

The room erupted into chaos as Dani kicked back into the knee of the person holding her and she pulled loose of their hold as they howled in pain and dropped to grab their injured limb. His mask slipped from his face as he hunched over himself and groaned and growled what he would do to Dani if he got hold of her again.

Malcolm reached out and pulled Dani to his side and angled himself so that he was slightly in front of her. Her push to his shoulder let him know she was not happy with him doing so, but he couldn’t watch her be hurt again because of him.

“That’s enough, shut up Darryl, I can’t think with your incessant yelling,” the woman yelled, looking around at the two other people with her and signally them with a nod of the head to help him.

“Dr Capshaw, of course it’s you and your inept crew. I should have known,” Dani snarled at her from behind Malcolm’s shoulder.

He whipped his head around to look at her, her face a mask of fury directed at the woman across from them.

“Well, this is useless then, isn’t it?” Dr Capshaw said with a dramatic sigh as she ripped off the mask and fixed her slightly mussed long dark hair.

“I was hoping to do this as painlessly as possible, but it appears that neither of you are on board with that,” Dr Capshaw continued with a pointed look to the two men that Dani and Malcolm had managed to hit.

“Well, you did break in to kidnap someone in the night, I’m not exactly sorry for lashing out,” Dani snarled back as she pushed against Malcolm’s restraining arm he had put up as Dani shifted forward in response to Dr Capshaw.

“We’re not going with you. You all need to leave now, before I call the Police,” Dani threatened, pulling out her phone from her pocket with her thumb poised to start dialling.

Dr Capshaw’s laugh rang out in the room.

“Oh sweetheart, that’s so not going to happen,” Dr Capshaw said with a grin as she pulled a black object out of her jacket pocket and pointed it at Dani’s head.

Malcolm had a pretty good idea what it was. His Great Uncle Douglas had written and drawn weapons that seemed much cruder than this sleek and small device was, but it had all the same features that the drawings had. His Great Uncle had put many warnings about the weapons throughout his journals saying they could be deadly.

Malcolm looked to Dani and pleaded with her as he looked between the weapon and the phone in her hand. Slowly Dani extended the phone over to Dr Capshaw’s outstretched hand and Malcolm let go of the breath he hadn’t even realised he was holding.

Dr Capshaw looked between them and then smirked as she nodded to the tall man beside her. He advanced on them and Malcolm took a defensive stance ready to hold his own if he needed to, before he could position himself fully in front of Dani, Dr Capshaw did something with the weapon and it made an ominous clicking sound and he felt Dani freeze beside him. He looked at her and she shook her head minutely, her eyes flickering between him and the weapon.

“Don’t Malcolm, that’s a gun, it could kill us both,” Dani told him, her eyes begging him to stand down.

Malcolm looked to the man in front of him and dropped his hands to his sides. The predatory smile the man gave him as he stepped behind him and grabbed his wrists sent a shiver down his spine. He jerked in the man’s arms as he heard Dani whimper slightly as her hands were pulled behind her back again beside him.

“Please, don’t hurt her. It’s me you want. Just leave her here,” Malcolm pleaded to Dr Capshaw who just looked at him as if she had caught the best fish in the school.

“Oh little Malcolm, I couldn’t possibly leave her behind now, she will be so useful if you decide you don’t want to work with us on our “experiments”,” Dr Capshaw virtually purred at him as she stepped into his space and traced a fingernail down his cheek.

Malcolm shuddered at the contact and pulled his head back out of her reach. The man who gripping his wrists, jerked his arms back to the point of pain, so he had no choice but to comply and stop moving. He couldn’t help but squirm away again as she reached out her hand again to touch his hair.

Dr Capshaw shot a look to the man holding Dani and Malcolm froze as Dani cried out in pain as the man twisted her arms up her back.

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry, I won’t move, please. Stop hurting her,” Malcolm begged, shifting so that he was in easy reach of the woman’s hands.

Dr Capshaw’s lips twisted into a cruel pantomime of a smile and gripped his chin tight in her hand so that her fingernails dug painfully into the skin of his jaw.

“Much better. Oh, she is going to be very useful isn’t she? You will never misbehave if your sweet Dani is on the line,” Dr Capshaw mused with a laugh.

Malcolm glared at her but knew that he was done, he couldn’t risk them hurting Dani. He would have to comply with whatever they wanted and hope that it wouldn’t be too long before Gil, JT and Edrisa tracked him down.

“There you go, now you get it don’t you?” Dr Capshaw smirked at him as she patted his cheek.

“Darryl, give them the tranq. I want them out for the trip as planned,” Dr Capshaw said as she stepped back towards the door and signalled for the man who Dani had kicked.

“What? We’ll comply, you don’t need to drug us,” Dani yelled, struggling in the man’s arms.

“I don’t care, you can’t cause me anymore trouble if you are unconscious,” Dr Capshaw said as she continued out the door with one last glance over her shoulder.

Malcolm looked at Dani in alarm as Darryl aimed another type of weapon at them, this one bulkier and different to the other one. He couldn’t help but struggle as Darryl came closer and aimed for his neck. The sting of the dart as it hit his skin was intense at such short range.

“Come on, let’s go before it kicks in too much and we have to carry you,” the man holding him said as he pushed him towards the door.

Malcolm looked back at Dani the room doing a lazy spin as the drug started to hit his system and he stumbled over his feet as he was pushed through the door. He cried out as he watched Dani wince as a dart hit her shoulder through the material of her shirt.

Malcolm’s muscles started to tremble and his whole body started to get heavier and heavier as they made their way across the warehouse floor. He struggled to stop himself from falling as his feet dragged on the floor and tripped him up.

“Come on, surely you can’t be that much of a lightweight,” the man behind him growled as he pulled on his arms and shoved him forward.

Malcolm struggled to focus on where he was going as the floor undulated beneath him and felt like it was slipping out beneath him as his legs turned to jelly and his knees threatened to buckle under him. Malcolm shook his head trying to fight off the drug that was quickly pushing him towards unconsciousness. Malcolm barely managed to keep walking as he was dragged across the street to a waiting van, the side door already open. He lost his fight to keep his feet as they made it to the van and his legs finally gave out under him. He cried out as his arms were pulled up behind his back and the muscles in his shoulders screamed at the rough treatment. Involuntary tears streamed down his face as he was hauled into the van by his arms, one of his shoulders making a loud popping sound as he was dumped onto it on the floor of the van. His scream echoing into the open space of the van was the last thing he heard as he saw an unconscious Dani being dropped into the van beside him. He mumbled out an apology as his eyes slipped shut, the haunting image of Dani slumped next to him, her beautiful hair spread out in a halo around her head his last sight as he succumbed to the pull of the drugs and darkness claimed him.

Chapter Text

Capshaw Marine Institute

Dani’s first waking thought was that she really needed to get something to soften the cot at the warehouse and remember to turn off the lights before they go to sleep. It wasn’t until she started to move and felt the slide of cold polish concrete that she remembered what had happened and where she probably was. Dani scrambled to sit up and looked around frantically for Malcolm. She couldn’t help the small cry of shock that left her when she saw him sprawled out on the concrete not far from her. Clearly still unconscious from whatever they had given them.

She crawled over to him and stroked back the hair that had fallen across his face, hiding it from view. The greens, blues and purple that ran through it, were even more muted than they normally were in his land form. She felt for his pulse, not realising she was holding her breath until she let it out with a huff as she felt the calm beat of it under her fingertips.

Not knowing what to do she shuffled closer and shifted him until she had her back leaned up against the wall and his head resting across her legs stretched out in front of her. She looked down at the strange man that had literally dropped into their lives and didn’t know what to do with the rush of emotion that swamped her. They had only known each other for a matter of weeks now and already she was sure that she wanted him to remain in her life in whatever capacity he would be willing to be in it. The need to protect and care for the man, and dare she say love him, was almost overwhelming. She ran her fingers gently through his hair, needing to touch and know he was ok.

A small twitch of his cheek as she continued to stroke his hair had her shifting to get a better look at his face. A grimace creasing his features had her pulling him into her, drawing him up a little so he was leaning against her.

“Malcolm, hey? You’re ok,” Dani whispered to him as she cupped his cheek and continued to stroke his hair, hoping it would help settle him.

She smiled as he hummed and curled into her, rolling over so that he was facing her and huddling into the comfort of her body.

“I got you, just rest,” Dani assured him, rubbing gentle circles into his back as he tucked his face into her lap.

She smiled down at him as he took a breath and relaxed fully again, his weight across her lap increasing as he succumbed to full unconsciousness again.

She looked over to the door, knowing she should be trying to get them out, but figuring it would be fruitless, they wouldn’t go to all the trouble of kidnapping them and then not locking the damn door. Knowing she wouldn’t be able to rest until she at least checked, she gently shifted Malcolm to rest on the floor and quickly tried the handle and as expected it didn’t budge at all. Resigned to the fact that they wouldn’t be getting out anytime soon, she took back her position and went back to stroking Malcolm’s hair and let her body relax with the calming motion of her hand until she too dropped off to sleep.

It was Malcolm stirring to wakefulness that brought her out of her doze. She sat up straight, a small moan leaving her as her neck and back muscles protested that terrible sleeping position she had been in and looked down to see Malcolm’s deep blue eyes blinking up at her.

“Hey there, you ok?” Dani asked, pushing a stray strand of hair out of his face as he struggled to focus on her.

“Dani,” Malcolm croaked at her, a grimace flitted across his face with the sound and his hand came up and hit the side of his face.

“Woah there, you’re still a bit out of it by the looks, just take your time,” Dani cautioned him as she grabbed and squeezed his flailing hand.

“You ok?” Malcolm whispered, the words coming out raw and broken as he said them.

Dani looked at him in alarm, seeing now that his lips were cracked and dry.

“Oh shit, you need water and fast,” Dani told him, shifting herself ready to move out from under him.

She stilled as she felt him grip her hand tight and stared down at him. The soft smile he gave her as he looked up at her, had her heart skipping a beat or two.

“I’ll be ‘k,” Malcolm rasped, his tongue licking at his dry lips, but doing little to change the poor condition of them.

“No, you need water. I’ll be back. Just hang tight,” Dani told him as she pulled her legs out from under his head and gently guided him back to the floor. His lack of resistance just fuelled her concern for his condition.

Dani glanced back at Malcolm as she raised her hand to hammer on the door. The pain etched into his face as he strained to hold himself up to watch her, drove her on.

“HEY! HEY! WE NEED HELP! HE NEEDS WATER…NOW!” Dani shouted as she banged her closed fists against the metal door holding them in the room.

She turned apologetic eyes back at Malcolm as she heard a small groan and saw him curling into himself a little with the loud banging.

“Sorry, just hang on,” Dani soothed him, her worry ramping up as she could see him trying to hide just how miserable he was from her. His pained smile was more of a grimace than an actual assurance to her.

Just as she was about to apologise to Malcolm and start banging again, the door wretched open and Dr Capshaw’s worker Pete glared at her in the doorway. Her years in the industry meant she knew who he was and his reputation. The last she had heard he had barely escaped jail time for cruelty to animal charges due going way too far with experiments. Not that Dr Capshaw’s reputation was much better.

“Stop that racket or I’ll tie you up,” Pete growled at her, his menacing stare made her shiver involuntarily.

Dani swallowed down the fear that was clawing at her throat and squared her shoulders and glared back at him.

“He needs water now, he’s dehydrated,” Dani told him, pointing back at Malcolm who was slowly pushing himself to his hands and knees. The way he was swayed, showed he was not in a good way.

“What’s wrong with him? The drugs would have worn off by now surely,” Pete replied with a frown, pushing past her and stalking towards Malcolm.

“HEY! Don’t you hurt him,” Dani yelled as she grabbed for his arm as he barged past her.

She couldn’t help the yelp that escaped as she fell to the ground from his push. Malcolm’s worried face staring as he tried in vain to crawl towards her had her scrambling to get back to him.

Malcolm’s small cry as he was quickly pulled to his feet by one arm had her jumping up to pull at Pete’s arm that seemed to be the only thing holding Malcolm up at the moment.

“Leave him alone you bastard,” Dani cried, scratching and clawing at the hand squeezing Malcolm’s arm so hard that he was grimacing in pain as the fingers of Pete’s hand turned white with the strength of their grip.

The snarl that Pete gave her before pushing her away again, had her flinching in fear before she could control it. She never liked to let a man have power over her, but this man’s menace was dripping off him and she was genuinely fearful of what he was capable of doing to them.

“No, don’t hurt her, please,” Malcolm cried, his voice broken and raw as he tried to get between Pete and Dani, his limbs uncoordinated and slow to move.

“Shut up, both of you,” Pete growled at them, his deep voice echoing in the small room.

Dani’s heart clenched as she watched Malcolm wince at the loud noise. He really was in a bad way already. Maybe it was the combination of the drugs and dehydration, but it seemed to have progressed a lot quicker than it had previously. He had seemed to manage overnight fairly well before, just needing to get water into him when he got up to prevent a headache coming on. Currently he looked like he had been without water for over a day.

“Enough already, sit down and shut up and he’ll get his water soon enough,” Pete snarled, pushing Malcolm to the floor with little care.

Malcolm’s groan as he collided with the concrete sent Dani’s need to protect roaring through her chest and she held her ground in front of him as Pete stepped menacing towards her. The cruel smirk as he looked her up and down had a shudder running through her, but she refused to give the bastard the satisfaction of seeing her rattled and snarled back at him to back off.

Pete's amused chuckle and slow lick of his lips sent goosebump racing across her skin and she almost took a step back, until she felt Malcolm’s hand touch her ankle in support. She glanced down at him and nodded at him as he looked at her with pleading eyes.

“I’m ok Dani,” Malcolm rasped to her, squeezing her ankle to convey his concern for her.

“Awww, look at the two lovebirds, how sweet,” Pete mused with anything but sweetness in his expression.

“I’m sure Dr Capshaw will be thrilled to test the bounds of that relationship,” Pete finished with a deep laugh as he turned and left the room. The heavy click of the lock felt more like an ominous knoll of what was to come.

Malcolm’s groan as he pulled himself to sitting and dragged himself to the wall had Dani quickly squatting down beside him, visually checking him over for any new injury.

“Are you ok?” Dani asked as she leaned in and pushed the hair back out of his face. His small smile at the gesture gave her a little hope that he was holding his own.

Malcolm sighed and leaned back against the wall, his eyes fluttering closed briefly before he looked back at her and nodded. Dani’s heart clenched at the dark circles under his clouded blue eyes, marking the exhaustion he must be feeling.

“Yeah, I’ll be ok. Please Dani, don’t put yourself in danger for me,” Malcolm pleaded with her, his hand clutched hers, his movements still alarmingly uncoordinated and like he was moving in slow motion.

“Hey, no. Don’t do that. You are my frie…,” Dani hesitated a moment, not able to call him her friend when he already meant much more to her.

“You are important to me and I’m going to do what I can to help you, you understand,” Dani told him, her voice wavering slightly with the fiery need to protect this man.

Malcolm’s face went through a complicated series of expressions as he stared back at her, settling into a sombre resignation as he gave her hand a squeeze and then pulled back, almost like he was pulling back into a shell.

“Hey! You stay here with me, ok? No running away into that head of yours. I’m gonna need your help to get us out of here,” Dani told him, lifting his chin so he would look at her again.

Dani saw as he pulled himself back and used everything he had to smile at her. She almost felt guilty when she saw the effort it took for him to do it. She wasn’t sure what she said that made him pull away, but she would do what she could to ensure he knew he was worth whatever might happen to her if it meant he was safe.

Dani sat down next to him and encouraged him to lean on her. She smiled as she felt him sigh and rest his head against her shoulder. She leaned him forward for a second and braced him with her arm, pulling him further into her side to help him get comfortable. Warmth spread out through her chest as he smiled up at her before resting his head back on her shoulder and closing his eyes with a contented sigh. It wasn’t long before she felt his body slump into her as he succumbed to sleep once more, his body needing to conserve what little energy he had left.

Dani was starting to worry that they weren’t going to come back as the time pressed on with no one coming with water or even to check on them. Just as she was about to risk disturbing Malcolm and getting up to bang on the door again, the heavy click of the lock sounded and the door swung open with Dr Capshaw’s three assistants stepping through.

“Time for the science to begin,” Pete said with a cruel smile sliding across his face.

“Come on, get up,” Hector told her as he pulled at her arm and hauled her to feet, leaving Malcolm to slump to the floor in her wake.

Dani tried to squirm out of Hector’s grip but he just squeezed hard and pulled her arm up behind her back as he pulled her away from Malcolm’s slumped form.

“Hey, get up!” Darryl shouted at Malcolm as he kicked at his stomach with his booted foot.

Malcolm woke with a startled groan, curling in around his stomach, his eyes blown wide as he looked around the room. He seemed to relax a little as he caught Dani’s eye and she nodded at him that she was ok.

His glare up at Darryl had her fighting to hide her grin. The boy was feisty, she would give him that.

Darryl just ignored him and grabbed his arm and pulled him up to stand. Malcolm’s face drained of colour instantly and his eyes rolled back.

“Shit, don’t faint on me fish boy, you got a big day ahead of you yet,” Darryl cursed at him, slapping his face to bring him around.

Dani snarled at him and fought to get to Malcolm, but Hector just laughed at her and wretched her arm behind her back again, pulling her up short quickly.

Dani watched in dismay as Malcolm’s head lulled on his neck as he battled to stay conscious. His face was almost grey once he finally stopped swaying and the bob of his throat said he was battling hard to manage the nausea he was no doubt experiencing if his pallor was anything to go by.

“Don’t you puke on me boy, or you’ll be cleaning up your own mess,” Darryl threatened him as Malcolm breathed heavily beside him and swayed a little on his feet.

“Just get him in the damn tank, Darryl. We don’t have time to waste,” Pete called out from the doorway, beckoning them all to hurry up with a wave of his hand.

Dani strained her neck to try and keep an eye on Malcolm as she was pushed out the door in front of Hector. Malcolm’s gasping breaths were the only thing letting her know he was still behind them. When she heard him retch with a string of curses following from Darryl, she couldn’t help but silently cheer that his aim was good, despite how miserable he was obviously feeling. When she was able to see him, he actually looked a little better, with a slight bit of colour back in his cheeks.

“Gross, you’re gonna pay for that fish boy,” Darryl yelled at him as he shoved Malcolm towards the large tank in front of them, Malcolm tripping over his dragging feet and dropping to his knees with a hiss of pain.

“Hey! It’s not his fault, I told Pete he needed water over an hour ago. Blame him,” Dani spat out at him as Darryl hauled Malcolm back to his feet and basically dragged him the rest of the way to the large tank.

“Just get him in. Capshaw wants to know how long he takes to shift to his water form, so get a move on,” Pete called out as he gathered a tablet and a clipboard from a bench on the side of the open room that centred around the large water filled tank that Darryl was pushing Malcolm up the side steps of.

Malcolm started to struggle a little as they reached the top, looking back at Dani with panic in his eyes as he eyed the water and then himself.

Dani clued in on what was worrying him and called out to them that his clothes would weigh him down and make his transition harder.

Pete just smirked at her and then nodded at Darryl who had been holding Malcolm up.

“Good! That will make this all the more entertaining. Push him in,” Pete said with a laugh as he stood near the bench and made a note on the tablet.

“YOU BASTARDS!” Dani shouted at them as she thrashed in Hector’s arms, struggling to get free as Darryl pushed Malcolm into the tank. Malcolm flailed out trying to stop himself but failing and falling with a large splash into the water.

Malcolm frantically thrashed around in the water trying to remove his clothes. He had his pants off just as it appeared the first cramps took hold and his efforts lost their coordination and he just writhed in the water and pushed to the surface gasping for air as he managed to slip the shirt over his head. They could see the muscles of his legs ripple under his skin as the transition progressed. Dani turned her head away to give him a small measure of privacy as he gasped and groaned his way through the transition. The running commentary from Hector and Darryl was turning Dani’s stomach as they cheered as Malcolm’s bones shifted and his skin merged. His scales and fins pushing through his skin had them crowing and high fiving each other at their “mother load” of a discovery.

“He’s not a thing for christ sake. He’s a person and not here for your amusement,” Dani yelled at them when her fury at their blatant disregard for Malcolm in this whole process got the best of her.

“Honey, I hate to break it to you, but you have fallen for a fish. Look at him, he’s a creature of the sea, not a person,” Pete told her, his voice full of contempt.

She lunged towards him, having no idea what she would do when she got to him, but the desire to hit him was too overwhelming.

“Whoa there sweet buns. You’re a feisty one, aren’t you,” Hector laughed at her as he pulled her back from her lunge at Pete.

“Tie her to the chair. I want her to have a front row seat. If he doesn’t comply, use the prod to get his agreement,” Dr Capshaw told him as she strutted into the room and casually dropped an electric prodder at Hector’s feet.

Hector grinned at her, “yes ma’am,” he replied as he pulled Dani over to a metal chair and dumped her into it.

Dani kicked out at him and struggled to get free of the chair, but stopped cold as she heard Malcolm cry out.

“Uh ah, none of that, or I will make his time with us…extra painful,” Dr Capshaw said with a cruel smirk as she twisted Malcolm’s hair in her hand again as she stood at the lip of the tank with her hand fisted in his hair. Malcolm’s grimacing face halted any thoughts of fighting her way out, or to him.

“That’s better,” Dr Capshaw smiled sweetly at her and let go of Malcolm’s hair, who quickly swam away from her and out of reach of her hands. Her predatory smile at him as she pulled a smaller electronic device from her pocket and touched it to the water had Dani’s skin crawling. Malcolm’s resulting scream as a shock arced across the water from the device had Dani screaming his name and begging them stop.

“Please, he’s done nothing to you, why are you doing this?” Dani begged them as she watched Malcolm work to catch his breath, his bright blue eyes scared and worried.

“I’m just letting you both know that if you don’t do as you are told, when you are told, there will be consequences. Nothing more. Behave and this will be a…well not pleasant experience, but it won’t be torturous,” Dr Capshaw said with a wicked grin and a wink to Malcolm who cringed back from her as his eyes watched her hand that held the small electric prodder.

“Bitch,” Dani muttered under her breath as Hector finished securing the zip ties holding her wrist and ankles to the chair.

“What was that dear?” Dr Capshaw sneered at her as she held the electric prodder back into the water and pressed the button, her eyes never leaving Dani’s as she pleaded with her to stop as Malcolm cried out and writhed in the water.

“STOP! PLEASE, I’m sorry. Please don’t hurt him anymore,” Dani begged, pulling at the restraints, not caring that they were rubbing her skin raw. Her breath hitched in her chest as she felt tears welling as Malcolm continued to thrash in the water.

Dr Capshaw’s face slid back into a pleasant smile and she slipped the device into her pocket as she stepped down from the edge of the tank and walked over to Dani. Dani fought to keep the tears from falling but when she saw Malcolm slumped and clinging to the side of the tank barely keeping himself above the water she lost her fight and a few tears tracked down her cheeks. She glared up at the woman standing before her.

“Do you understand now dear? Or do you need a few more lessons to really get the message,” Dr Capshaw asked with a cruel grin, hands in her pants pockets, leaning on one hip as she looked down at her.

Dani took in a few breaths, willing the fiery anger in her chest down as she glared at the woman.

“Yeah, I get it,” Dani grit out at her. “Loud and clear,” Dani finished off, biting her cheek to stop herself from saying anymore.

“Good girl,” Dr Capshaw said as she patted Dani on the head as she moved off with a wave to the others in the room to continue.

Dani continued to bite at her cheek willing the tears that kept welling to stop as she stared at Malcolm in the tank. His scared blue eyes looked back at her as he moved over to hover in the water closest to her. His fear sent a shard of guilt into her already shattered heart. All she could do was pray that Gil and the team would find them before they push Malcolm past his limits.

Their experiments continued on with little regard for Malcolm’s wellbeing and needs.

Firstly they wanted to understand his respiratory system, so instead of using ultrasound or x-rays they decided to just shut down his gills and see if he could use his lungs in water as well.

Dani almost cheered when Malcolm knocked Hector clean into the tank as he leaned into the tank to wrap Malcolm’s gills in cling wrap. She couldn’t help but laugh when the man came up coughing and spluttering and Malcolm slapped him across the face with his tail fin, almost knocking him out.

“Think that’s fun bitch,” Darryl cursed at her as he pressed the electric prodder into her shoulder, sending burning currents rippling through her muscles. Her scream involuntary as the agony ran through her.

“STOP! PLEASE! I’m sorry, I'm sorry. PLEASE, don’t hurt her,” Malcolm’s scream filtered in through the all consuming pain.

She gasped in great gulps of air as the pain finally stopped. She struggled to sit back up in the chair, her muscles quivered and trembled under her skin in the aftermath.

“Dani, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Are you ok?” Malcolm pleaded to her, breaking her heart.

“I’m ok,” she panted out as she straightened and tried to give him a reassuring smile, but clearly failing when his face crumpled in anguish as he caught her eye.

“Should be saying sorry to me, asshole,” Hector cursed him as he grabbed him and wrapped the plastic around his gills. Dani kept Malcolm’s gaze as he remained still and didn’t fight Hector.

“Please, don’t do this, you’ll kill him,” Dani begged as Hector finished the wrapping and pushed down on Malcolm’s head holding him down under the water.

Dani continued to beg as Malcolm began to thrash after a minute or so and struggled to get to the surface.

“He can’t breathe! Please, let him up. He’ll drown,” Dani begged as he watched Malcolm really start to struggle to get to the surface.

“We’ll see won’t we. Nothing like the survival instinct to kick in any dormant abilities,” Pete replied with a grin. His eyes gleamed as he took in Malcolm’s struggle.

Just as she was sure Malcolm would lose his fight to not take a breath into his lungs, Hector hauled him up to the surface. Clearly it wasn’t completely fast enough as Malcolm coughed up water and struggled to get his lungs to take in the air as he was held above the surface.

“Damn, lost me fifty bucks. I was sure he’d have a back up to his gills,” Darryl moaned as Hector beamed at him, clearly the winner of the bet.

“There’s something wrong with you. He’s a living being, you are torturing him,” Dani spat over her shoulder at Darryl. He ignored her and stepped over to helped Hector out of the tank. Hector gave Malcolm a kick to his still plastic wrapped gills as he exited the tank.

“Freak,” Hector sneered at Malcolm as he carelessly sliced at the plastic wrapping, leaving lines of blood down Malcolm’s chest when he finally finished cutting the plastic away. Malcolm flinched with a hiss of pain when Hector pressed on one of the deeper cuts on his chest.

“No more stuffing around or next time I will make sure you need stitches, get it?” Hector growled at him as he held up the knife.

Dani swallowed back her fear, genuinely scared that these maniacs would kill Malcolm if they pushed them too far.

“Got it, sorry for the swim,” Malcolm grit out at Hector as he leaned out of his reach and swam to the other side of the tank.

“Don’t get too comfy over there. There's plenty more in store for you yet,” Pete called to him from his perch on the stool beside the long bench against the wall.

Dani shared a worried glance with Malcolm and closely watched Darryl prepare what looked like a forklift but with a scoop bucket attached to it instead of the usual forks. Dani didn’t like where this was going one little bit.

Once Hector was back in a clean and dry set of clothes, he and Darryl set about setting up a small portable tank off to the side, but still within sight of Pete who appeared to be the observer for all the experiments. Dani had to fight the urge to pull at her restraints as they pumped sea water into the small tank and Darryl lined up the modified forklift to the big tank and lowered the bucket to just over the surface of the water of the large tank Malcolm was currently swimming in.

“Right, get yourself up in the bucket,” Darryl told Malcolm.

Malcolm looked over to her, hesitating a moment. Dani felt a hand come down on her shoulder and saw Malcolm’s face drop in fear, before he pulled himself up with a swift flick of his tail fin and flipped himself into the waiting bucket.

Darryl quickly moved the vehicle around and manoeuvred the bucket over the smaller tank and dropped Malcolm into the water with a large splash. Malcolm looked over to her, his confusion clear. She shook her head, letting him know she was just as confused as he was. Not sure what they were going to do to him.

When she heard the tell tale sound of water being suctioned, she looked to Malcolm with dread, they were going to make him transition. Over and over and over until they worked out what exactly the triggers were and what conditions were needed.

Malcolm obviously figured it out too as he moved away from the intake valve and swallowed heavily as he looked over to Dani, holding her gaze as if it was a life line. She guessed it probably was right now. The only person in this whole place that gave a damn about him.

Once the water was fully drained they all watched Malcolm waiting for the inevitable. Malcolm just watched Dani, never wavering in his gaze as a full five minutes ticked by. Soon enough a grimace flashed across his face and he dropped his gaze and clearly fought not to give them any sign of just how much pain he was in. His sharp gasp as his tail fin split had Dani fighting back tears again as she helplessly watched him hold off from crying out his pain as his body shifted and reformed in the shallow empty tank.

Finally it was over and Malcolm leaned back on the wall of the tank panting to catch his breath after his ordeal. Dani blushed as she realised she was staring at his naked form and ducked her gaze away to give him a modicum of privacy.

“So five minutes in or out of water to shift,” Pete mused as he tapped on the tablet screen.

“Now to work out how much water you need to trigger your shift. Hector, three quarters full this time,” Pete called out to Hector, gesturing towards the pump.

Hector grinned at Pete, “with pleasure.” Then went about refilling the tank and Dani stared at Malcolm in horror. It was too soon, he couldn’t transition again yet. He needed a break to rebuild his energy and let his muscles rest. They were going to kill him.

“No, please. You can’t. Look at how much it takes out of him. Give him a break before you force him to transition again, please,” Dani begged, pulling at the restraints again in vain, needing to try and get to him to protect him.

“Nah, he’ll be fine. Won’t you petal?” Hector replied with a grin and a smirk at Malcolm.

The next few hours were filled with Malcolm’s screams and cries as he was forced to transition, over and over again until they finally got discover that so long as the bottom half of his tail was in the water he wouldn’t transition to his air form while in the water and vice versa if his legs were submerged to below his thighs he wouldn’t transition to his water form. It appeared that once the water reached his hips he would transition. By the end they were having to hold him up his legs were trembling so bad from the muscle spasms that ran through them with each transition.

Once they were satisfied that they had an accurate picture of the conditions for each transition they started to drain the tank of the sea water and started to prepare to shift the water intake over from drawing from the large sea water tank to the water main of the city.

“What are you doing? You can’t seriously be thinking of making him transition anymore!” Dani exclaimed as she realised they weren’t stopping for the day, but setting up for the next round of experiments.

Malcolm whimpered as Hector pushed him off the side of the tank he was resting on and he splashed back into the water that was quickly draining away again.

“Please, no more,” Malcolm cried as the water disappeared and he braced himself to transition again.

Dani couldn’t hold back the sobs as she watched Malcolm thrash and scream as his body spasmed and contorted again for what felt like the hundredth time that day. By time it was done, Malcolm wasn’t screaming anymore and just lay motionless on the floor of the tank. She stared at him waiting for him to move when a drop of red caught her eye.

“MALCOLM!” Dani screamed as she watched a red thread of blood trickle from his nose and down across his upper lip to drip onto the damp floor of the tank.

‘Hmmm, guess he does have a limit to his transitions in one day. Pity,” Pete mused as he tapped away at the tablet, motioning to Hector and Darryl to deal with Malcolm’s unconscious form as he walked away, no doubt to report his findings to Dr Capshaw.

“Oh god, Malcolm. What have you done?” Dani cried as Hector and Darryl lifted his naked body out of the tank and Malcolm didn’t stir at all.

“He’ll be fine. Stop whining. Between his screams and you carrying on, I’m getting a headache,” Darryl scowled at her as they moved past her, Malcolm’s limbs hanging and swinging as they walked towards the room they had previously been locked in.

She twisted around in the chair as much as she could, her wrists screaming as the skin tore against the hard plastic of the zip ties. She watched them the whole way to the room, praying to see Malcolm to respond in some way, but there was no change, his body limp and unresponsive between them until they disappeared into the room.

Dani fought to hold back the sobs that threatened to take over again. Her worry for Malcolm eating at her like a live thing.

When Hector eyed her warily with a small knife in his hands, she quickly promised to stay still so long as he would take her to Malcolm. He eyed her suspiciously before he leaned in and quickly cut all the zip ties holding her to the chair. She rubbed at her raw and bleeding wrists and stood when he motioned for her move. She staggered a little as she stood up, the hours of sitting in one position making her legs muscles weak and tingling with pins and needles. She willed herself to remain upright as Hector pushed her toward the room and she managed to get there without tripping herself.

She couldn’t hold back the sob when she stepped through the door and saw Malcolm carelessly sprawled across the floor, with no care for his modesty or condition. She almost didn’t notice the slam of the door behind her with her focus all on Malcolm.

She rushed over and dropped to his side, looking around the room for something to cover his nakedness with, but coming up empty. Looking down she came to a decision and stripped off her outer cotton shirt which left her in just a thin black cami. She shivered a little in the cool air in the room and quickly draped the shirt over Malcolm’s lower half. She used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe away the blood that still slowly trickled from his nose down across his cheek to the floor. She couldn’t stop the tears that flowed as a bead of blood replaced the one she had just wiped away. She quickly gripped him under the arms and pulled him over to the corner of the room and sat with her back to the corner, wedging Malcolm between her legs to lean against her chest and rest his head back on her shoulder. She hoped the position would help to keep him warm and stop his nose bleed.

Once they were settled she let the emotion of the day overwhelm her and sobs wretched at her chest, tears streaming down her face to fall into Malcolm’s hair. She hugged his chest tight, desperate to feel the rise and fall of it as he breathed against her, reassuring her that despite all that they had done to him, he was still with her and he would be ok.

They just had to hang on.

Chapter Text

Arroyo research centre - Early Morning the Previous Day

Gil flipped his keys around his fingers and dropped them in his pocket as he walked up the block towards the research centre. It has been his pride and joy for the last twenty years of his life. He had built it up from scratch, slowly expanding it as new research opportunities came in. A far cry from his early work career in the water police that gave him the urge to see the destruction of the aquatic life he saw daily turned around and do something to try and save them. It had been hard work making the career change with many sleepless nights working on his degrees and research applications and then slipping on his uniform and doing his day job while dreaming of what he could be doing instead. But he had made it work and after many years of working for others, he finally had his own centre doing the research that was important to him. He had seen the length that some people would go to get their piece published or their name attached to a new find. He had vowed long ago that he would never let recognition get in the way of good research and care for those that lived in the oceans that humans continued to pollute.

Gil's thoughts turned to Malcolm and the risks he had taken to get a chance to get to know humans to see if their species could live in harmony. He was worried that he wouldn’t be able to keep Malcolm safe and that he had no idea just how awful some humans could be. Though given what he had grown up with under his Father’s hand, he clearly knew there were cruel people in the world. Malcolm was just one of thoses that would constantly look for the good amongst the darkness, determined to find more than cruelty and distrust in everyone. Gil would do what he could to help him and see Malcolm’s people respected and cherished for the marvel that they were.

Gil’s happiness shattered as he turned the corner to the entry of the warehouse to see the door ajar the lock damaged beyond repair.

“MALCOLM! DANI!” Gil cried as he ran into the building frantically searching for any sign of them, only to find Malcolm’s room door wide open and his room in disarray and empty.

“Oh God, please let them be ok,” Gil whispered as he moved back out into the main area scanning for any other signs of break in or robbery, but finding nothing out of place or missing.

“No, please don’t let it be his Father. God kid, I’m so sorry. Jesus, what will he do to Dani?” Gil muttered, running his hands through his hair as he looked around the building, his eyes being drawn back to the buckled door.

A noise at the entrance had him moving forward before he even realised he was.

“What the fuck? BOSS!” JT’s voice echoed through the door as he barrelled in, his eyes catching Gil’s immediately.

“What happened?” JT asked his eyes scanning the area as he continued to move towards Gil. His previously military training was evident in his demeanour immediately.

“I don’t know, but it looks like it was targeted, nothing but Malcolm and Dani missing and the only room with signs of a struggle is in Malcolm’s room,” Gil replied as he looked around the room again, hoping that he had missed something.

“I’ll bring up the security footage from last night. See if we catch anything useful,” JT replied, his mind clearly already on the tasks ahead as he turned away and headed to the rear of the warehouse where the security room was housed.

They had managed to load up the footage and just started the tape rolling when they heard a cry from the main room. They both looked at each other and stood up in unison.

“Edrisa!” they predicted in sync and quickly raced out into the main shed.

“Oh God! What happened? Where’s Malcolm and Dani?” Edrisa cried out to them as they came into view.

Gil shared a look with JT and stepped up to Edrisa, gripping her shoulders in support as he looked her in the eye as he delivered the news.

“They’re both gone, kidnapped, it appears. We’re trying to figure out now the when, how and by whom,” Gil told her, bracing her as she swayed a little in his hold at his words.

The tiny woman covered her mouth with her hands and tears welled in her eyes.

“Was…was it…was it his Dad?” She asked as her eyes pleaded with Gil to make it all better.

Gil sighed and pulled her in for a brief hug.

“I don’t know Edrisa. Help us to find out. Can you check over Malcolm’s room while we scan the security footage? Anything unusual could be useful. You have a great eye for detail so let’s put it to use,” Gil asked her as he nodded to her in encouragement as she took a deep breath and recentred herself.

“Yeah…yeah, ok. I…yeah, I can do that. Ummm, should we be calling the Police?” Edrisa asked as she went to step away.

Gil paused and glanced at JT who shook his head minutely in response to his silent question. No, they couldn’t risk exposing Malcolm. They would need to do this themselves.

“We can’t risk them finding out about Malcolm’s true origins. It’s not safe enough for him to think about going public right now and we don’t know who did this. So far everything is pointing to his Father, but we need some facts to be sure. We are scientists, we know how to do this,” Gil reassured her with a squeeze to her shoulder.

Edrisa nodded at him, blinking back tears before she hurried off to Malcolm’s room as Gil and JT went back to the footage.

They had been watching the feed in fast forward for a good twenty minutes before anything of interest showed up on the monitor.

“Son of a bitch. Look how brazen they are. Right there with a crowbar to the door. Bastards,” JT cursed as they watched the four darkly dressed and masked figures huddle around the door until it burst open.

They quickly checked the timestamp and took note of the time, 10:24pm. They would have just settled in for the night or getting ready to, when they broke in. Now to try and work out who they were. Gil didn’t have cameras set up in the internal spaces of the facility. He didn’t like to have his staff think he was watching them or didn’t trust them. He would trust them all with his life and had while on the water in the past. Now he cursed the lack of visuals inside and just hoped that they would get something from their exit that would give a clue to their identity.

JT cued the video to fast forward again and within minutes they had the group exiting the building with Malcolm being dragged and Dani carried out of the building.

Gil actually growled as he saw a clear picture of Dr Vivian Capshaw held on a freeze frame on the monitor as she looked back towards the building, as Malcolm and Dani were loaded into the back of a van in the foreground.

“How did that bitch find out about Malcolm?” Gil ground out through clenched teeth.

“Of all the people to stumble across Malcolm, it had to be her. Jesus JT, we need to get them out now. God knows what that woman will do,” Gil cursed as he stood and started to pace in the small room.

Gil sighed as he saw JT give him a knowing look but shook his head at him.

“Boss, we don’t even know if they have them at her place. They could be holding them anywhere,” JT tried to reason with him. Gil knew he was right, but everything in him wanted to race over there and rescue his team from that god awful woman.

Much of his early days in the field had been working under her lead, before her spectacular fall from grace when Gil blew the whistle on some of the horrendous practices she was encouraging in her teams. He had never agreed and had walked out before he would be a part of her insanity. He had made sure that as he did, he took proof of her appalling work and unethical practices. It had broken his heart to leave the animals in her hands, but it was the only way he could bring her down. Unfortunately her lawyers had been powerful enough that she was still able to practice in the field and escape jail, but her reputation was forever tarnished and she struggled to get the big funding grants that she had secured easily in the past. Now her once large scale network of research laboratories was down to one facility and a three man crew. Pretty much on Gil’s scale, but unlike him, she hated it and would stop at nothing to find a way to claw her way back to the top of the pack.

Gil shuddered to think what she would be guiding her team to do to Malcolm right now. He had no idea what she would do with Dani. He assumed Dani had recognised them at some point and they took her with them. It was the only thing that made sense for why they took their masks off.

“GIL! JT! I FOUND SOMETHING!” Edrisa’s shout brought him out of his musing and he followed JT to Malcolm’s room where Edrisa was excitedly pacing and holding something in her hand.

“What is it?” JT asked as he stepped in beside her and peered at the silver object in her hand.

“Tranq dart, one’s that no one uses anymore because of the adverse side effects to animals when they have been used,” Edrisa explained as she frowned at the silver dart in her hand.

“What?! They used animal tranquillisers on them?” Gil asked incredulously as he started to pace in the doorway.

“Yes! Extremely reckless,” Edrisa replied with another frown at the dart as she held it up for them both to see.

Gil watched JT bring his anger back under control after a spasm of pure rage flitted across his face. He would need to watch him. He knew JT was a good operator, but hurt people he cares about, and you might just be pushing some buttons that couldn’t be unpushed.

“We’ll get them back. I don’t care what it takes,” Gil promised, catching JT’s angry gaze and nodding his understanding to him.

“Oh yeah, no way they are not coming home, but how do we stop them outing Malcolm?” JT grit out, his jaw muscles twitching with the tension he had in them.

Gil sighed and squared his shoulders, “I have some ideas. I don’t like them, but I think they will work. First things first though. Let’s get our crew home,” Gil replied, stepping up between the two of them and dropping a hand on each of their shoulders. JT gave him a curt nod back and Edrisa just gave him a teary smile.

“Edrisa, can you keep the place running while JT and I go and check out Capshaw’s facility to see if we can work out where they are keeping them?” Gil asked her gently.

Edrisa's face fell for a moment, before she hid it behind a wane smile.

“Yeah, sure. I can hold the fort,” Edrisa reluctantly agreed.

“I know you want to come with us, but honestly, you will be the most help here. Malcolm will need you with all your equipment when we get him home. God knows what they have put him through and what state he will be in. I want you ready for anything because we could be bringing him in, in any condition,” Gil told her, his voice wavering a little at the thought of what they could have done to Malcolm based on what he has seen them do to specimens in the past.

Edrisa looked at him almost panic stricken and nodded quickly before she took a deep breath and seemingly put all her fear away to stride off towards her med station and started working on preparing for Malcolm’s return.

“Right, let’s go find our crew,” Gil said to JT with a pat to his shoulder.

In JT’s car outside Capshaw Marine Institute - late afternoon that day

“Boss, I know you want to go in there, but if we don’t know if they are actually in there and it turns out they aren’t we could lose any chance we have of finding them,” JT told him, his face pinched but calm.

Gil sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, recentering himself and reluctantly nodded back at JT.

“Yeah, I know, but we have been here for hours and nothing. No movement around the building at all,” Gil replied, his frustration seeping into his voice.

“I know, but that could mean they aren’t even here, or just that they are busy with Malcolm,” JT replied. His wince as he said it hit Gil hard.

Busy torturing him to he meant. Capshaw was ruthless in her pursuit for what she wanted and she would want as much information as she could get as quickly as possible. A live specimen was always preferred but if they died in the pursuit of knowledge it was just an inconvenience to her. They needed to find them and fast.

After another hour of watching and waiting the door to the facility opened and two of Capshaw’s crew walked out heading towards where they were parked in JT’s nondescript SUV. They dropped down into the footwells as the men came closer, basically walking past the car, their conversation filtering through to them in their cramped hiding spots.

“Did you see those two, seriously, fish boy is in with a chance. That girl is smitten I reckon. Hmmm, I wonder if Capshaw will keep them and try to breed them, get us some mutant fish kids. That could be worth a mint,” a male voice said.

“You idiot, he’s a fish, how the hell will he breed with her? You’re such a moron,” a second deeper male voice replied, his voice dripping with contempt.

“He looked like he had all the bits, I reckon it might work. Wouldn’t know ‘til we tried,” the first male replied indignantly, his voice trailing off as they both moved out of Gil and JT’s range of hearing.

“The fuck? Did I just hear what I thought I just heard,” JT said his eyes comically wide as he stared over at Gil across the seats.

“Jesus, we need to get them out of there now,” Gil replied, already pushing himself up in the seat.

Gil paused as JT grabbed at his arm.

“Boss, wait. We can’t let them see us. Not to mention we are woefully unprepared to break them out of there right now. Let’s get back to the warehouse and get some more supplies, including Edrisa,” JT reasoned with him as he craned his neck to try and see where the two men were.

Gil remained in place as JT ducked back down below the window level and signalled that they were about to come past.

Gil risked a peek as he heard a car move past them up the road. Confident that it was them, Gil nodded to JT who was already pulling himself up into his seat and readying to take them back to the warehouse.

Arroyo research centre - Early Evening that day

“Edrisa! We’re back,” JT called into the warehouse as they stepped through the buckled door.

They would need to find a way to secure it tonight and then he would be getting a new door installed with as many bolt points on it as he could.

“Did you find them?” Edrisa asked as she raced into the room from one of the back store rooms.

Gil nodded as JT told her about how they had confirmed they were there and what they overheard.

Gil rolled his eyes as she saw Edrisa’s curiosity take over at the breeding discussion.

“Well, if the theory that Merkin are a subspecies of Humans is true, they may actually be able to successfully breed fertile offspring. Now that would be a scientific discovery and a half. The first Human/Merkin offspring, well that we know of, there could already be some in existence. I mean…” Edrisa lectured before being cut off by both Gil and JT.

“Edrisa!” Gil and JT cried in unison. Gil shook his head at her as she smiled back at him sheepishly.

“Sorry, it’s just fascinating to think about, I mean in his land form Malcolm has the same reproductive system as a…” Edrisa started up again.

“Are you serious right now?,” JT said, cutting Edrisa off with a look of disbelief.

“Right, sorry. Focus on the rescue, breeding later…I mean…uh yes, never mind,” Edrisa muttered as she looked everywhere but at Gil and JT.

“Malcolm and Dani need us to focus on getting them out and we will need your help. What can we use to subdue anyone that gets in the way,” Gil asked, his face creased with a stern frown.

“Uh…do you…do you mean to render them unconscious?” Edrisa asked timidly.

Gil sighed heavily.

“Yes Edrisa, to knock them unconscious. I’m not about to go around killing people. Even if they have harmed my friends,” Gil replied exasperated.

“Right, right, sorry. Just thought I should clarify, you know, wouldn’t want to mix that up,” Edrisa replied with a nervous laugh and looks between Gil and JT.

Gil gestured with his hand for her to hurry up and tell them what they could use.

“Oh, yes. Ummm, well we do have tranq darts that are safe for both animals and humans. Would knock them out for a good few hours at least. Plenty of time for us to get in and out for sure,” Edrisa replied, looking over to her supply cabinet.

Gil clapped his hands together and nodded to her.

“Perfect, go get them ready. Bring a few extra darts just in case there is more than one of them there when we go in,” Gil directed her.

“Make sure you pack anything else that you think Malcolm or Dani might need immediately before we transport them back here,” Gil added as he walked over to the wall of shelving and pulled down a canvas duffle bag and began adding rope, flashlights and zip ties.

JT stepped in beside him and added crowbars, duct tape and water bottles to the kit. Gil lugged the bag over to Edrisa’s exam table and dropped it down ready for Edrisa to add her supplies.

He swallowed down his nervousness when he saw she added painkillers, IVs and a couple of blankets to the bag along with the two small tranquiliser guns and the full tray of tranquiliser darts. He didn’t comment that they wouldn’t need that many and checked in with her that she had everything she needed and with her nod zipped up the bag.

“Right, let’s go get our team back,” Gil told them, his face grim as he slung that bag on his shoulder and headed for the car.

Outside Capshaw Marine Institute - Present time mid evening

Gil and JT load the tranquiliser guns and grabbed out the flashlights and crowbars before handing the duffle to Edrisa.

“We’ll signal to you when it’s safe to come in, ok,” JT tells her as Gil moves to get out of the vehicle and scout around the building, careful to keep an eye out for cameras. There are cameras positioned over every entry point so they are going to be going in hot with whoever is in there probably knowing they are coming. Gil slipped back to the car where JT waited with Edrisa and the gear. Gil nodded his thanks as JT handed him one of the crowbars and a flashlight which he tucked into opposite sides of his belt.

“There’s no blind spots that I can see unfortunately, so we are going to have to go in hard and fast. You ready?” Gil asked JT as he did one last scan of the area checking for passersby.

“As I’ll ever be. Let’s do this,” JT replied, nodding to Edrisa as they ran off across the road to the side entrance that looks to be the easiest to get through in a hurry.

With their combined effort it took less than thirty seconds to pop the door open with the crowbars that they dropped in the doorway and grab their flashlights out to illuminate the darkened warehouse space.

Gil and JT fanned out through the room, Gil to the right, JT to the left and swept the room.

The startled yell from the right side of the room signalled Gil coming across a half asleep man who had been dozing in a chair before Gil’s tranquiliser gun to his neck woke him.

“Who the fuck are you? What’re you doing here?” the man shouted at Gil as he shifted back so that the gun was out of reach of a quick grab from the now very awake man.

“Here to get our friends, now tell us where they are and we won’t need to hurt you,” Gil growls at him, staring him down as he says it.

The man’s eyes flicker to the back of the room and Gil smiles at him as he stutters and blusters that he won’t tell them shit.

Gil just gives him a feral grin and says, “oh you just did.”

“What? I didn’t tell ya nothin’...” the man’s denial is cut off with the firing of the tranq gun and he looks at Gil in shock as his hand goes to his neck and pulls out the dart.

“The fuck. You shot me. You bazztid…” the cursed at Gil as he slowly succumbed to the drug and slid off the chair into a heap on the floor.

“Boss, he didn’t tell us where they are, why did you shoot him?” JT asked him nervously looking around the warehouse.

“Oh he did. They are back there,” Gil replied as he pointed to where the man had looked briefly when he asked where they were.

“Come on,” Gil urged him as he ran off to the back of the warehouse to a closed door. Gil dropped the tranq gun at the door and tried the handle.

He cursed when the door didn’t budge, the door locked tight.

“Dammit, should have brought the crowbars,” Gil cursed as he ran his free hand through his hair.

“I got it,” JT replied and lined up and kicked at the door next to the lock, bursting it open in one go.

Gil patted his shoulder with a happy laugh, “good man.”

They both stopped in their tracks as they moved through the door and directed their flashlights on the two people huddled in the corner of the room.

“Jesus,” Gil swore as he took in the sight of them. Dani was blinking up at them, her hand shielding her eyes from the light, stripped down to her undershirt with Malcolm cradled in her lap with her overshift draped over him. Malcolm was completely limp in her arms, clearly unconscious, despite the ruckus they had made getting into the room.

“GIL, JT!” Dani cried as she finally processed who they were.

“They…they…fuck…they made him transistion until he passed out,” Dani whimpered pulling Malcolm closer to her as she said it.

Gil crouched down in front of them, his hand reaching out to cup Dani’s cheek, his thumb wiping away a tear off her cheek.

“We got you. He’ll be ok. Edrisa’s in the car. She’ll take care of him,” Gil reassured her as he dropped his hand to stroke back the hair that had fallen across Malcolm’s cheek.

“Come on let’s get him out of here,” JT said as he moved around Gil and leaned in to pick up Malcolm from Dani’s arms.

Malcolm’s moan as JT adjusted him in his arms and ensured the shirt was covering him as best it could, had them all stilling and looking at the young Merkin.

“Malcolm? Hey? You with us?” Gil asked as he stoked Malcolm’s cool and clammy cheek as his head lolled back against JT’s shoulder.

Malcolm made no further signs of waking so Gil helped Dani up and they all rushed back through the warehouse. Gil and Dani picking up all their gear along the way. Gil did a quick check that the man they had tranquilised was still breathing and in a better position to stay that way, then follow JT and Dani out the door.

Edrisa was out of the car and running towards them as soon as they were out the door.

“Oh my god. What did they do to him? Let me see him?” Edrisa almost shouted as she ran alongside JT back towards the vehicle.

Gil raced after them. A feeling of being watched washing over him as he was running. He turned and looked towards the row of cars down the street and saw a bearded fisherman staring at them intently. Gil slowed to get a better look, but the man saw him watching him and slipped off between the vehicles out of sight. Gil almost went to follow him and find out who he was, but a cut off cry from Malcolm as he was shifted into the back seat of the SUV had him turning back and rushing to help the team with him.

“It’s ok, you’re ok. We’re safe now,” Dani said, hopping in beside him and pulling him into her shoulder.

Malcolm’s eyes fluttered for a second but he doesn’t come around, staying slumped into Dani’s shoulder.

Edrisa rounded the car and hopped in on his other side. She checked Malcolm’s pulse and nodded to Gil that he was ok for now.

Gil looked back up the street, searching out the fisherman, but the street was empty. He shook his head and hopped back into the vehicle as JT started it up. He kept looking for the man as they pulled out and headed up the street. He shivered when got that feeling of being watched again and did a double take when he thought he saw a dark figure standing in the shadows near the water’s edge. When he shifted in his seat to get a better look, no one was there and he just shook his head telling himself he was getting paranoid in his old age. He looked into the back seat taking Malcolm and Dani’s blanket wrapped forms. Malcolm is still unconscious and Gil’s face creased with his worry as he watched Edrisa preps Malcolm’s hand for the IV, Malcolm not even flinching as the needle slid home. He knows Malcolm is tough, but this has definitely been a trial for him. He hopes it is the last of it, but the shiver that ran down his spine as he thought about the figure he thought he saw, reminds him that you don’t always get what you hope for.

In the King’s Chambers in Triton - a couple of hours later

“You bring news of my wayward Son Watkins?” Martin asked as the bearded Merkin in front of him bowed deeply.

“I do your Majesty. I saw him this evening being carried from a marine research facility by a few Humans. He appeared to be unconscious, but alive. The Human’s were attentive of his needs and armed so I didn’t intervene as per your orders only to report your Majesty,” Watkins advised, his head still bowed slightly in subservience.

“Thank you, my good sir. I appreciate your loyalty to the crown. Did you find where the Human’s took my Son?” Martin enquired, his stare intense and eager.

Watkins nodded and replied, “yes your Majesty. They’re a crew from another marine research facility. I know where they have him housed.”

Martin gave a satisfied smile and nodded and dismissed the man with a wave of his hand. Before Watkins had exited the room fully, Martin called out to him.

“Keep a close watch on their movements and report back if he is moved from their facility again. I will gather my guardsman and we will retrieve my errant Son in due course,” Martin directed him.

“Yes your Majesty. He did not appear to be in any shape to be going far soon. You will have plenty of time to gather your best men,” Watkins assured him as he bowed again and exited the room.

“So you really did defy me completely, my boy. I’m almost proud, I really didn’t think you had it in you,” Martin mused to himself as he thought about his preparations to retrieve Malcolm. A cruel smile slid across his face as he thought about all the ways that he would ensure that Malcolm would never defy him again.

Chapter Text

Arroyo Research Centre

A steady hum of the filtration system that he has come to associate with the Arroyo Research Centre and his second home, was the first thing that registered into his consciousness as Malcolm slowly came back to wakefulness.

The first thing he saw was Dani’s beautiful brown eyes shimmering in front of him as she hovered beside where he was laying.

“Hey there, how are you feeling?” Dani asked him as he blinked at her, still trying to get his bearings and process what was going on.

“Are we back?” Malcolm croaked out at her. Swallowing heavily as he tried to wet his parched throat.

Dani nodded as she leaned in with a small cup in her hand.

“Yeah. Here, take it slow,” Dani urged him, tipping the cup slightly to his lips.

The cool water slipping over his tongue was one of the best feelings he could remember in a long time.

“Thanks,” Malcolm said as he tried to push himself up the bed, but stopped with a heavy groan as his muscles all screamed at him that any movement right now is a colossally bad idea.

“Yeah, take it easy. Everything is going to hurt for a while I suspect,” Dani told him, her hand coming to rest on his upper arm as she chewed on her bottom lip as she watched him.

Malcolm closed his eyes with a sigh as he lay back into the pillows propping him up and breathed through the throb of his over taxed muscles.

Malcolm slowly took stock of his body as he waited for the pain to go back to a dull ache. Every muscle felt like they had been over stretched then stretched some more, before being wrung out and pulverised.

In amongst it he felt the tell tale pinch of a cannula and guessed that he was being rehydrated…again. He was really getting sick of feeling like he had been left out in the sun for hours. His stomach grumbled and cramped painfully, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten in some time either.

After cataloguing his misery he finally reopened his eyes and instantly regretted taking so long when he looked straight into Dani's worried face.

“Do you need me to get Edrisa? Are you alright? Did we miss something?” Dani said in a rush as her hand moved to touch him but never actually touched.

Malcolm smiled at her and shook his head. The involuntary groan that left him as his muscles yelled at him again for daring to move had him apologising to her.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m ok. Just need to stay still for the next week I think,” he assured her, huffing a laugh to try and lighten the mode a little.

Dani’s face dropped further, much to Malcolm’s dismay. Did he say something wrong? He was trying to stop her from worrying not to make it worse. He would be fine, he just needed to rest for a bit.

He grabbed her wringing hands when she wouldn’t look at him, suppressing the whimper as the muscle pain flared again with the movement.

“Hey? I promise I’m ok. What’s wrong? Did they hurt you while I was out?” Malcolm asked, his own concern ratcheting as he thought of all the things they could have done to her while he couldn’t help protect her.

Dani’s eyes flashed back up to look at him, shock and confusion in her gaze.

“What? No, I’m fine. I…I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop them and they hurt you,” Dani said as she dropped her gaze to their entwined hands and squeezed his before she withdrew them from his hold.

Malcolm looked at her in shock. What could she have possibly done, that she didn’t do already, to stop them. She had been kidnapped because of him and tied to a chair for an entire day while she had to watch them basically torture him to transform over and over. Malcolm grimaced as his mind provided him with a technicolour flashback of the repeated transformations, twisting and contorting his body, over and over again. He shuddered slightly and then instantly regretted that as his abused muscles once again reminded him that they didn’t appreciate being used at all at the moment.

He steeled himself to the pain and then made the effort to push himself completely up to a sit, biting at his cheek to stop himself from making any noise of discomfort that might alert Dani to just how much that manoeuvre took out of him. He took a moment to let his breathing settle and the pain to drop back to the dull roar, then took back Dani’s hand in his.

“There was nothing more you could do. You were there and tied to that chair because of me,” Malcolm reminded her. He shifted the long sleeve of her olive green over shirt to reveal slim bandages circling her wrist. He felt a pang of hurt in his chest that it was because of him that she had the wounds in the first place. He gently rubbed his thumb over the material covering her wrists and looked up into her glistening brown eyes.

“This is my fault, not yours. If it wasn’t for me, you never would have been there or hurt. I’m the one that should be apologising, not you,” Malcolm told her his heart heavy in his chest at the weight of responsibility. Him just being here put them all in danger, but he was too much of a coward to retreat back to his home and face his Father.

Malcolm startled a little with a small hiss, as Dani slapped at his upper arm.

“Owww, what was that for?” Malcolm whined at her.

“Shit, sorry. Just…stop it. It’s not your fault that those crazy assholes kidnapped you. It’s not like you asked for it,” Dani apologised and admonished him at the same time.

Malcolm rolled his eyes at her and stared at her flatly, “well by that logic none of this is your fault either,” Malcolm told her.

Dani chuckled and took back his hand in hers, her thumb rubbing circles in his palm that saw him slumping back with a wince and relaxing back into the pillows again.

“I guess we both need to stop then, huh?” she said as she looked back up at him with a soft smile putting a glint of playfulness back in her eye.

Malcolm huffed a laugh back at her and worked to settle himself back into the comfortable position without setting off all his muscles again. He was only marginally successful and whined a little when his muscles sparked off to throbbing again.

“This sucks,” Malcolm said with a pout and leaned his head back, closing his eyes as his body grew heavy again with fatigue.

Dani gave him a sympathetic smile and told him, “yeah, Edrisa said you were going to be sore, and tire easily for a day or two while you get over basically running back to back marathons in equivalency of energy expenditure, or something to that effect.”

Malcolm hummed as the lure of painless sleep pulled at him, “yeah, that makes sense. Just…just gonna take a nap for a little bit,” Malcolm replied as he felt himself drifting off.

The last thing he felt was a light press of soft skin to his cheek. His mind supplied the thought ‘did she just kiss me?’ But he was too far gone and he succumbed to the blissful black of sleep beckoning him.

The next time he woke he was surprised to see Gil sitting beside him, reading what looked to be a research paper, but he couldn’t see the title to guess at the subject matter. He took in the man that had welcomed him into his home and presumably came to his rescue when he had managed to catch the attention of rival researchers. He didn’t know what he had done to deserve this man’s care, but he would do whatever he could to keep it.

He smiled when Gil looked up and a beaming smile creased his time worn face in happiness.

“Malcolm! Oh kid, it’s so good to see you wake. You had us all a bit worried there for a bit. How are you feeling?” Gil asked him as he dropped the paper he was holding to the floor and leaned in towards the bed.

Malcolm shifted a little on the bed, and though everything still hurt it wasn’t quite as sharp as it was when he first woke.

“I’m doing ok. A day or two and it will be as if nothing happened,” Malcolm assured him as he smiled back at him.

Gil’s smile dropped into a frown, his face a mask of concern and frustration.

“What? What’s wrong?” Malcolm asked as he shifted to sit up to better face Gil. A small grunt of pain growling in his throat as his muscle pulled in his exertion.

Malcolm nodded his thanks when Gil helped him to sit up and rearranged the pillows to better support him.

Gil took a deep breath and steepled his hands around his mouth as he leaned in resting his elbows on his knees. His serious expression as looked at Malcolm had him frown back at him.

“Firstly, I want to apologise that this happened to you at all. They never should have been able to get into the warehouse. JT and I have upgraded all the security and entrances around the warehouses. No one will get in here again,” Gil told him as he sat back up in his chair.

Malcolm went to tell him it wasn’t his fault, but before he could Gil held up a hand.

“Let me finish before you take me completely off the hook,” Gil said, his voice as grave as his face was stern.

Malcolm sunk back into his pillows, worried about what could possibly be coming for Gil to think Malcolm would blame him for any of this.

“I wanted to hold off until you were awake and I could talk to you about what I had been thinking, but I couldn’t wait anymore and Edrisa said that you could be sleeping on and off for days with what you went through. So I…I had to make a decision and I really hope it is the right one and that you are ok with it,” Gil told him, his soulful eyes almost pleading with him to be ok with whatever it was he had done.

“What is it Gil, what did you have to do?” Malcolm asked, getting concerned about what might have happened while he’d been sleeping.

“I made a deal with the devil, that’s what I have done,” Gil answered with a heavy sigh, his head dropping into his hands as he said it.

Malcolm stared at him in shock for a second.

“What?! You have devils up here? I…I don’t understand,” Malcolm stuttered in confusion, his mind whirring with what it could all mean.

Gil’s head popped up out of his hands and he looked just as startled and confused as Malcolm was.

“What? No, not a literal devil…I…ok. Let’s start again. The woman who took you, Vivian Capshaw. To stop her from outing you to the world before you are ready, I’ve had to make a deal with her,” Gil replied, his face tight with his tension and concern.

“You what? What do you mean made a deal with her? A deal about me?” Malcolm asked, anger starting to colour his tone as he asked his questions. His mind taking what Gil said in all sorts of directions that got more and more horrific by the second.

Gil looked flustered as he seemed to struggle to come up with the words to explain himself.

“Are you trying to tell me that you have agreed to let her take me under certain conditions?” Malcolm tried to guess when Gil hadn’t yet filled in the blanks.

“NO! Absolutely not. You’re not a thing Malcolm. I’d never do that. She was going to expose you, right now. Take everything she had and put it out in the world. I...I convinced her not to, by…well by agreeing that she could be the one to break the news when you were ready,” Gil told him, his head dropping back into his hands as he finished, seemingly unable to meet Malcolm’s eyes as he said it.

“How did you get her to agree to not release it anyway? I mean it doesn’t appear that she cares about what I want,” Malcolm asked in genuine curiosity. He had seen the woman in action. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t have cared if he’d died during her experiments so long as she got enough to tell the world. Malcolm shuddered at the memory of her shocking him as he looked on helplessly.

“I told her what I have on her. I have been keeping tabs on the woman for years. I know just how disgusting a human being she is and figured one day I’d need to stop her again. I have footage of her conducting deadly experiments on endangered animals. I have told her that if she leaks even a hint of your existence before you are ready, I will release it and watch the media eat her alive,” Gil replied with venom.

“Why didn’t you release it before? To stop her then,” Malcolm asked, vaguely horrified that this woman was allowed to continue her awful practices and harm animals without check.

Gil swallowed heavily and struggled to look Malcolm in the eye. When he did look up, Malcolm swore he was about to cry. Malcolm automatically stretched out a hand and grabbed hold of Gil’s, squeezing it tight when Gil took a breath and held his gaze.

“Because I’m in the footage and to take her down, I will probably take myself down with her,” Gil replied with a resigned sigh.

“JT has told me that it’s clear I’m not participating, but in this day and age in the media’s eyes, not intervening is just as bad as participating. And to be honest with you, I agree. I carry a lot of shame for the things I witnessed, but didn’t stop. That day was the day I decided to do what I could to expose her and hoped it was enough to shut her down,” Gil continued, his gaze locked onto Malcolm’s.

“In the end it wasn’t, but I thought it was enough to stop her from continuing her barbaric practices. Clearly I was wrong, and I will need to live with that for the rest of my life,” Gil told him, his voice breaking a little as he finished.

Malcolm squeezed his hand and looked at him with sympathy, his own emotions struggling to be contained.

“And you would risk all of this, risk everything…for me?” Malcolm asked the lump in his throat making his words thick and heavy.

Gil stared at him, his eyes ablaze with his emotions, the flecks that Malcolm could always see swirling deep with them so fast he couldn’t make out the individual colours.

“Whatever it takes, I will gladly give up to help you. To protect you. You’re important to this world Malcolm and I intend to make sure that when you enter it fully, it’s on your terms and your terms alone. If that means I have to sacrifice my career, so be it,” Gil told him the fire behind his words, warming Malcolm’s heart to the point that he couldn’t hold back his emotion anymore and ducked his head away to wipe at the tears that slipped past his restraint.

Malcolm almost lost complete control when he felt Gil rub at his back in soothing circles. The care being given was more than he had experienced in a long time.

“Why do you care so much? What’ve I done to deserve this?” Malcolm asked, his voice raw and strained as he continued to fight for control of his emotions.

“You’re a good person and good people deserve others to step up and be good people as well,” Gil told him as he stood up from his seat and leaned in and hugged him.

Malcolm couldn’t help but melt into the hug. The sense of security it gave him more than he had known in such a long time and he couldn’t help but let go of a few more tears as the emotion of it all overwhelmed him.. He was very grateful when Gil seemed to ignore the damp patch on his shoulder when he pulled back from the hug and gave him a warm smile, his own eyes a little more red rimmed than they had previously been.

“It’ll be ok. We’ll get you through this, I promise,” Gil assured him as he sat back down in his chair after one last pat to Malcolm’s shoulder.

Malcolm knew they would do everything they could, but would it be enough. He guessed they would all have to wait and see.

The next day Malcolm finally felt ok enough to get out of bed for more than just a pee break. He slowly wandered around the warehouse, his muscles still aching but nothing too much. By lunchtime he was getting bored with the light and mundane tasks Edrisa had assigned him while the rest of the crew were on the water.

“Is there nothing else I can do to help out?” Malcolm asked for the third time in a row.

Edrisa grinned at him over her shoulder as she finished placing one of the sickly fish back in their isolation tank.

“How about we stop for lunch? I would love to hear more about Triton…well, only if you want to of course. I mean, I could tell you about my home town if you like, but it would probably be reeeeeaaaallly boring to you,” Edrisa gushed as she stripped the gloves off her hands and dried off.

Malcolm grinned at her and agreed lunch would be a good idea.

“Sure, I could eat. I can even tell you about my Great Uncle Douglas if you like?” he replied as he followed Edrisa over to the kitchen area.

He had found that his stomach still didn’t tolerate a lot of human food so he tried to stick to simple things and did his best not to eat too much sugar. He found that his favourite sweet was a chewy licorice called a twizzler. Gil said it had zero nutritional value, but he didn’t care. It was fun to eat and his stomach didn’t get upset when he did. Edrisa would always let him have some when Gil wasn’t around and today was no different.

“Don’t tell Gil,” Edrisa said as she offered him the jar filled with the sweet treat.

He beamed at her and took two of the red twisted sticks, chewing on them as he helped her prep a simple lunch of fruits, salmon, cheese and crackers. He wouldn’t touch the cheese but the rest he could tolerate.

Once they had their respective plates of food they sat in the chairs by the kitchen.

“So, your Great Uncle Douglas, what did he get up to in his travels?” Edrisa asked as she bit down a piece of apple.

Malcolm grinned and launched into telling Edrisa about the tales his Great Uncle had written about meeting a pod of dolphins that accompanied him for a number of his travels and how the dolphins had saved him from a Great White Shark that had gotten too curious about his Great Uncle and what he would taste like. His Great Uncle had spent many months roaming with the pod over the years and had come to see them like family. He had written of his great sadness when one of the older members had passed away while he had been back in Triton between travels. Malcolm told her how it had been noted that a pod of dolphins had been present when the Colony had given his Great Uncle his send off to the great deep and it was believed that it was the same pod coming to pay their respects to their past travel companion.

“That’s so sweet. Did you ever get to meet your Great Uncle Douglas? Or do you just know him from his journals?” Edrisa asked, her food mostly forgotten as she listened in.

Malcolm smiled wistfully, clearly thinking back on a past memory.

“When I was very small, so I only have vague memories of what he looked like. I do remember him reading tales to me from his journals and instilling the wonder of the upper world and the Humans who inhabited it. It was his passion about his travels and the people that he met during them that made me believe that we could live in harmony. He proved that not everyone that lives above the sea meant us harm and that it was worth taking the chance.

Edrisa smiled at him, “he sounds like a wonderful man and I would have loved to have met him and heard all about his adventures,” she mused as she nibbled at a piece of cheese and urged Malcolm to eat more of his own food.

“You need to eat to get your strength back,” Edrisa prompted him, frowning at the small amount he had eaten.

Malcolm gave her his best pleading look, “but I’m full and if I eat too much it makes me sick,” he told her, rubbing absentmindedly at his already gurgling stomach.

Edrisa gave him a sympathetic look and urged him to eat just one more piece of salmon for the protein for the repair his muscle had been doing in his recovery.

Malcolm rolled his eyes and nibbled at another small piece of the salmon, earning him a fond smile back.

“Do you think they will let me go out on the boat tomorrow?” Malcolm asked as he put aside his plate, knowing that if he tried to eat anymore he would regret it later.

Edrisa gave him a frown and bit her fingernail nervously, “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I mean Capshaw’s crew saw you, what would stop someone else seeing you out there,” Edrisa reasoned.

Malcolm sighed. He knew she was right, but he desperately wanted to get back out on the water. He wasn’t sure he was ready to get in it, but he wanted to feel the spray of the water and smell the salt in the air. He wanted to taste home.

“I wouldn’t have to get in the water, just go out on the boat and help around the boat,” Malcolm argued back gently.

Edrisa raised her hands in surrender, “it’s not me you need to convince, I would let you do whatever you want. It’s Gil. He cares about you, like we all do and he doesn’t want to see you get hurt or worse,” Edrisa implored him.

“Yeah, I know, but I can’t stay cooped up in a warehouse for the rest of my life. I want to help our two species come together. I can’t do that from inside a shed,” Malcolm told her, his voice becoming impassioned as he went on.

“Well actually, I’m pretty sure that we are technically the same species of homo sapien and are two variants of subspecies. I believe that given that, our subspecies could successfully breed and produce fertile offspring. On the Marine Wonderworld Boards, it’s actually theorised that this has already occurred, but there has been no living proof of it…as yet,” Edrisa advised as she went off on her tangent.

Malcolm squirmed in his seat as he thought of the kiss he was almost certain he had felt Dani give him as he was dropping off to sleep on his first day recovering. Could she feel the same way he did? Was there a chance that they could pursue something more than friends? Malcolm blushed as his mind provided him with a flash of Dani haloed by the sun behind her as she hovered over him after he fell out of the net on the deck of the boat. She had been so beautiful from the very first, but it was so much more than that. She was funny and caring and treating like he mattered to her. She made him feel important and dare he say it, loved. He shook himself as he realised Edrisa was still talking about her theories on them being subspecies.

“...it would be fascinating to see what traits any offspring would take. Would they be able to transform between forms like you do? Or would they have one or the other and a few additional traits of the other parent? Would they form a new hybrid with new mutations that would benefit one or the other subspecies? There are so many possibilities. What do you think?” Edrisa asked, finally looking back at him for an answer.

“Ummm, I…I don’t know. I imagine it could be generations before true meaningful mutations would occur,” Malcolm replied, still uncomfortable talking about the breeding of Merkin and Humans, with a Human that he was very aware found him attractive.

“Oh but that’s not necessarily the case, random chance of mutations could see something really amazing pop up, or something truly awful, but if they truly are subspecies that shouldn’t be as likely, though something to be considered in any breeding pair…” Edrisa continued, only to be interrupted by the team coming back into the warehouse.

“Edrisa, are you harassing Malcolm about breeding with Humans again?” JT asked with a frown as he walked over to them to steal the leftover cheese and crackers from Edrisa’s plate.

Malcolm blushed and looked everywhere but at the team while Edrisa made excuses for bringing up the topic again.

“No, well, not really. It’s just really fascinating to think what could be produced from a pairing of a Merkin and a Human,” Edrisa replied earnestly.

JT rolled his eyes at Edrisa and gave Malcolm a pat on the back in support.

“Yeah, I’m sure it is, but I don’t want to know about your fantasies woman,” JT joked as he nabbed another piece of cheese from Edrisa's plate and Edrisa spluttered at him.

“What? I don’t, I mean I, well..it does make for some pretty hot dreams,” Edrisa replied with a cheeky grin and flicker of her eyes over Malcolm.

Malcolm blushed even harder as the rest of the team groaned and told Edrisa to shut up.

“Seriously, that’s nasty. No more. I already need mind bleach,” JT told her with a grimace.

Edrisa just laughed and moved off to help them unload the bags they had carried in from the boat.

Gil walked over to him and sat down beside him giving a light squeeze to his shoulder in greeting as he did.

“How are you doing? You look much better than yesterday,” Gil asked him with a smile.

Malcolm smiled back and nodded, “yeah, I’m feeling much better, thank you.”

“With that, do you, ummm, that is, would it be ok…well…can I come on the boat tomorrow?” Malcolm asked in a rush, worried about what Gil would respond with.

“What? You want to come on the water with us? Oh Malcolm, I don’t know. What if someone else sees you?” Gil responded with concern. His previous smile waning as worry and concern took over his features.

“I can just stay in the boat. I mean at first, to check it’s ok. I don’t even know if I will be ready to get in the water yet,” Malcolm replied with a shudder at the memory of the accumulation of transformations all in one day.

Gil’s concerned frown deepened. It was clear that he was torn.

“I will be ok, I promise. I won’t go in if we can see anyone around at all,” Malcolm promised, pleading with his eyes to be allowed back out on the water with them.

“Please Gil, I miss it. It’s my home,” Malcolm reminded him.

Gil sighed heavily and pinched his brow between his fingers, “fine, but if we get a glimpse of anyone out there, you stay in the damn boat, ok?”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Malcolm promised, a smile spreading across his face instantly.

“I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?” Gil said to no one in particular.

“Yeah, boss, but don’t you always?” JT replied from across the warehouse, obviously keeping tabs on the conversation as he was working.

“Oi, that’s enough out of you,” Gil admonished good naturedly and shook his head at Malcolm before heading over to where Dani was working with JT to unpack the gear from the day out of the water.

“He’s got you wrapped around his finger already Boss,” Dani teased Gil with a wink to Malcolm that sent butterflies rushing through his belly. All he could do was smile goofily back which just set JT to rolling his eyes at him and shaking his head at Dani.

“None of that. Edrisa already gave me enough mind bleach material, thank you very much,” JT told them, setting them both off to giggles which just made JT growl at them and wander off muttering under his breath, “Gonna be little fish people before we know it.”

When Malcolm could finally look up from his embarrassment, he was mildly pleased to see that Dani was clearly blushing as well and furiously digging in a bag that was clearly empty, in her efforts to avoid looking at anyone.

Malcolm chuckled to himself. He was so glad he had found this odd bunch of humans. Somehow he actually felt like he fit in for a change.

The morning was bright and sunny when they were carting their gear onto the boat ready for the day on the water. Malcolm was enjoying the fresh air and freedom of being outside. He still wore the hat to obscure his features, but he didn’t care when it meant he could be outside again and smell the hint of sea salt in the air again.

Gil pat him on the shoulder as he walked up behind him, “come on Kid, let’s get this show on the road,” Gil urged him as he moved them towards the boat.

Malcolm looked back at him when he suddenly stopped to stare at a figure standing in the shadows further up the dock. The man almost looked familiar with his shaggy beard and shorter stature. Malcolm shook it off. He didn’t really know many Humans, how could he possibly know him?

“What’s wrong?” Malcolm asked when Gil continued to stare after the man had moved off between the boats moored on the docks in the distance.

Gil looked back at him with a puzzled frown, then looked back to where the man had disappeared.

“I don’t know. There was just something about that guy that seemed familiar,” Gil replied, his tone vague and preoccupied.

Malcolm frowned for a second and went to mention that he seemed familiar to him as well, but before he could JT leaned off the boat and called out to them, “you coming or what?”

Gil laughed and rolled his eyes back to Malcolm, before slinging his arm over Malcolm’s shoulder as he led him to the boat. Malcolm took one last glance back at the other boats. He saw a shadow pass between two of the boats, but it was too far away to see what it was so he paid it no mind and climbed onto the boat with Gil.

Malcolm helped them finish securing the gear then took up his favourite spot near the cabin and settled in as JT steered out of the docks towards the open water. As the salty spread kicked up into his face he couldn’t help the huge smile that spread across his face and he tasted home.

After cruising for a good hour they were finally where they needed to be to check on the current batch of tagged fish. Dani came to stand beside him, her hand braced on his shoulder, her eyes never leaving his as he looked out over the water.

“You sure you’re ready for this?” Dani asked him quietly, her hand gently bracing his arm.

Malcolm looked over his shoulder at her, swallowing down the lump that suddenly lodged in his throat as he contemplated what he needed to do to actually be useful to them. The pain of the repeated transitions flashed through his mind again as he did.

Malcolm sucked in a sharp breath at the images and memories of pain, his eyes flashed to Dani’s knowing gaze.

“You don’t have to do this. We won’t think any less of you, if you aren’t ready yet,” She reassured him as Gil stepped up behind them and rested his hand on Malcolm’s shoulder.

“It’s ok if you don’t get in today, Kid,” Gil assured him.

“Yeah, I know, but I want to. I can’t let this hold me back. It’s my home and my natural form. Not something I should be afraid of,” Malcolm replied, squaring his shoulders with a deep breath.

“I know, but you have nothing to prove to us, ok?” Gil told him with a squeeze of his hand on his shoulder.

Malcolm smiled at both of them and nodded, “I know. Thank you. I got this,” Malcolm replied.

Gil and Dani gave each other knowing looks then moved off to give Malcolm some privacy. He took a moment to steady himself, then quickly stripped off his clothes and before he could lose his nerve and dived over the side into the calm waters beside the boat.

He quickly moved back to the edge of the boat and held on as he felt the first tell tale signs of his transition. His heart raced in anticipation of the pain and he grit his teeth as the first cramps rippled under his skin. In the end it wasn’t anywhere as bad as he was expecting. It was still painful but he could have done it without needing to hold on which hadn’t been the case before. As much as they other day had been torturous, it may have help his body adapt to the transitions so that it was much less painful than it had been in the past. Well at least something good had come from the horrendous day.

He finally looked up to see three sets of worried eyes looking down at him.

“You good?” JT asked him his gaze intent.

Malcolm smiled back up at him and pushed back off the boat to hover in the water beside it.

“Yeah, I’m great,” Malcolm replied, surging up with a massive flick of his tail to flip over backwards into the water and shower them all with salt water as his tail fin followed.

All three of them glared at him as he came up laughing at their disgruntled and dripping faces.

“Sorry,” Malcolm called out between chuckles.

“You are so not and you will so pay for that at some point when you aren’t expecting it my man,” JT grumbled at him.

Gil shook his head at him and told him to be careful.

“Remember, Humans are not the only concern out here,” Gil reminded him as he scanned the horizon, his brow furrowed with worry.

“We’re leagues from Triton Gil. It’s ok,” Malcolm tried to assure him.

“I know, but just be careful and don’t let your guard down out there just in case,” Gil told him as he stepped back to let Dani lean in to show him the list of fish they needed him to find.

“You’ll be careful, yeah?” Dani whispered to him as she leaned down to show him the listing.

Malcolm smiled at her, “I promise. You trust me, right?” Malcolm asked her as he reached up and stroked her cheek.

Dani held his gaze and gave him a soft smile at his touch, “yeah. You I trust. Everyone else, not so much,” Dani told him as she stroked his hair back out of his eyes and then stood back up, her eyes never leaving him.

Malcolm waved to them all briefly then dived in to start working.

He had been at it for a couple hours, when he saw a disturbance in the water off in the distance. Thinking it's another school of fish, he ignored it and headed back towards the boat.

When he almost made it to the boat, something made him look back over his shoulder. What he saw had his gils clamping shut and his body freezing to stillness in an instant.

Racing up behind him is his Father and his elite guard in tight formation with venom ejectors in hand.

Malcolm breaks out of his frozen state and races to the surface to try and get the team's attention, just as he is about to reach the surface he feels a sting on his back that can only be one thing. He’s been hit with a venom dart. He knew he had mere moments to get the team's attention before he would be rendered useless to fight back and would be easy prey to fall into his Father’s clutches.

He made one last huge effort and launched himself high out of the water. The venom was already coursing through him and his limbs were becoming unresponsive. All he managed as he felt himself fully breach the surface was a broken cry for help, before he was slipping back beneath the gentle swells.

He let out a sob as he heard Dani’s desperate cry for him ring out across the ocean before he was under the waves and cut off from their help.

Blackness crept into his vision as he felt the bruising grip of many hands latching onto his limbs. Just before he lostconsciousness, his Father’s snarling face swam into view and all he could do was scream as his world faded out.

“MALCOLM!” Dani’s scream as they saw Malcolm slip beneath the waves after he launched up out of the water with a guttural and broken cry would haunt Gil’s dreams for years to come.

“JT get us over there now,” Gil called out as he kept his eyes trained on the spot where Malcolm disappeared.

The boat roared to life and swung around to dart them over the 50 feet that separated them from their friend. Gil leaned out doing his best to see into the murky blue green depth. He reared back in shock when a Merkin lurched up out of the water, their face a snarling mask of hate half hidden behind a dense beard. The hatred in the Merkin’s eyes as he glared at Gil, sent a shiver of fear down his spine.

Before he can do anything more than blink, the Merkin flipped up their tail and disappeared beneath the surface, gone from Gil’s view in less than a second.

Gil looked back at Dani and JT’s devastated faces and knew that they were thinking the same as him. They just saw Malcolm’s Father and there was absolutely nothing they could do to help him now he was back in his clutches.

“Dammit!” Gil shouted out across the open water. He promised the Kid he would keep him safe and he had delivered him straight into his manic Father’s arms.

Gil ran a hand down his face and dropped to sit on the bench seat on the side of the boat. He looked up to see silent tears working their way down Dani’s face as she stared blankly out at the water where Malcolm disappeared. JT sat opposite him, his face a picture of the devastation Gil felt himself.

“What the fuck do we do now?” JT asked, his glassy eyes pleading with Gil to have the answers.

Gil swallowed back the lump choking him and answered him brokenly, “I don’t know.”

Chapter Text

Somewhere in the ruins of Atlantis

Malcolm shifted his arms to try and relieve the strain on them as he blinked himself awake. His heart raced as he realised his arms were shackled high above his head. He pulled frantically at the bonds trapping him, but all it did was chaff at his wrists as the braided grasses slid roughly over his skin.

He looked around himself, taking in the crumbling stone of the walls of the room that were covered in decayed murals of the golden age of the Merkin. Kings and Queens sat atop opulent jewelled thrones, masses of Merkin bowed in adoration of their Monarchs bearing gifts and bounty aplenty. At least that was what could be made out between the cracks and breaks in the walls and under the algae that had slowly crept over the ruins.

He was in Atlantis. The once opulent and thriving colony of the Merkin, now a hulking ruin on the seafloor.

Malcolm slumped in his bindings, letting his arms take all his weight as the reality of his situation came crashing down upon him.

His Father had found him and now he would be at his mercy. Malcolm feared that his Father would take his time showing him just how upset he was for his actions and he wondered if his Father would care if he killed him at this point. If he did die at his Father’s hands, he could just blame the Human’s and use his death to fuel the fears the Merkin had of them further.

Malcolm thrashed at his bindings and screamed his frustration and hopelessness into the empty ruin of a room. There was no one to save him here. He was completely and utterly alone.

As the fear and apprehension slipped away to hopelessness, he slumped down against the wall, his chin resting on his hitching chest as he quietly sobbed his despair, knowing that this would probably be the last place he ever saw. His chest clenched tight as the thought of never seeing his Mother again struck him. She was never truly aware of what his Father, her Husband, was capable of, but he knew that she had defended him when his Father had wanted to punish him when he was young. Even though she had not been able to shield him, he knew she loved him and would be horrified if she knew the true extent of her Husband depravity. He had resented her ignorance and refusal to see what a monster his Father really was, but now understood that she was only allowed to see what his Father let her see and if he could sway an entire Colony to believe his lies, how could he blame his Mother for believing him too. Deep down he had always hoped that she would come around to believing him over his Father, but as he aged he understood that she had been under his influence a lot longer than he had and had never actually seen the horrors he had inflicted on their people. He just hoped that no matter what horrible lie his Father told when he shared his death with her, that she would still remember the love they shared as Mother and Son and have some belief in him.

His thoughts turned to his new friends. Friends that he never thought he could ever have. People that accepted him for who he was and cared enough to help him when he had been alone in a foriegn world.

Gil taking him under his wing and striving to protecting from an imperfect world, all the while letting him still be who he was as a person.

JT grudgingly accepting him, but never seeing him as a burden, but one of their own. Always ready to lend a shoulder in his times of need.

Edrisa, bubbly and caring, loving and inappropriate but in a way that made him feel wanted and accepted rather than uncomfortable.

And Dani. His heart panged in his chest and tears welled once more as he thought of the beautiful woman who had stolen his heart in such a short time. Beautiful and caring, ready to sacrifice herself to keep him safe. Dani, who if he had another chance, he wouldn’t waste it wondering if there could be something more than just a friendship. The woman he loved and would probably never see again.

A wretched wail broke from deep in his chest as he mourned the loss of the people who had shown him more care and love in a few short weeks than he had received in a lifetime. His tears were lost to the surrounding water as he continued to cry as memories of all his treasured moments with them tortured him in a beautiful dreamscape in his mind.

After hours he finally managed to pull himself together, determined to face his Father strong and defiant to the end. If he had to die he would go down fighting and making sure his Father knew he couldn’t break him and bend him to his will.

As if the thought of his Father had summoned him, Malcolm looked up as he felt a presence enter the room. He couldn’t help but flinch a little as his Father stared back at him with a malignant stare that gave him little hope that he was wrong about how this would be going.

“Come to kill your wayward son?” Malcolm asked, pushing himself up the wall in a show of strength.

Martin threw back his head and laughed at him, making Malcolm frown in confusion.

“Oh my boy, you have me so wrong. I wouldn’t kill you. Yes, you have been an idiot and defied me and you will be punished accordingly so that you know that you can never do so again. But I have no intention of killing you,” Martin replied as he glided into the room and moved in close to where Malcolm was bound, remaining just out of the circle of Malcolm’s reach with his tail.

“Mostly you have disappointed me. I honestly thought you were much more intelligent than you appear to be. It’s a real sting to the ego to be honest,” Martin mused as he frowned at Malcolm and moved over to the wall beside him and examined the faded and algae-covered murals of Kings of the past.

“Do you know where we are Malcolm?” his Father asked him as he continued to stare at the mural.

Malcolm looked around at the crumbling walls and ruined murals surrounding them before hesitantly replying, “Atlantis.” Malcolm's voice cracked a little despite his best efforts to keep his fear in check.

Martin looked back at him and rolled his eyes, “yes, yes, but where are we in Atlantis? Do you know what this room used to be?” his Father admonished him, turning back towards him and gesturing grandly at the room around them.

Malcolm took in the crumbling ruin of stone and what appeared to be coral atop the platform at the other end of the long room and thought on the lessons he received about the old Colony. Suddenly it came to him. The throne room, they were in the old throne room of the palace of Atlantis.

“Ah, I see the light has finally come on,” his Father interjected sarcastically and Malcolm scowled at him.

“Yes, the Throne room of the Palace. I am told it was magnificent in its original form. Not that there is anyone still alive who witnessed it first hand of course, but the old texts give vivid details of its opulence,” Martin reminisced as he glided his hand over the old murals.

Malcolm couldn’t help pressing back into the wall when his Father turned and swam right into his space and gripped his chin, his claws digging into the flesh of his jaw.

“Humans Malcolm, that is who took this all away from us. This could have all been yours, but for the precious humans you seem to love more than your own kind,” Martin snarled at him, his face a grotesque mask of fury.

Malcolm went to speak to defend the Humans he had come to know and…love, but Martin cut him off.

“And before you sprout to me that you found some that never would do such horrible things, tell me Malcolm. What happened to you last week? When the humans took you in the dead of night. Was it pleasant? Did they wax lyrically with you and hang off your every word of the wonders of your Merkin home, or did they torture you?” Martin scowled at him and pushed his head back into the wall as he let go of his face and swam away from him in obvious anger.

Malcolm stuttered in confusion, how did he know about his kidnapping.

“What?! How…how do you even…know about that? Did you just leave me there?” Malcolm asked incredulously. He knew his Father would go to any length to get him back, but did he just let them take him and hurt him?

“No, Malcolm I didn’t know what they were doing to you until my man on the surface saw you dragged unconscious from the warehouse by your ’friends’. You really do think very little of me don't you?” Martin mused as he looked back at him curiously.

Malcolm scowled at him as he laughed incredulously.

“How could I think you would care what happens to me, you have me bound to a wall!” Malcolm yelled at him as he pulled at his bindings and flipped his tail in frustration at the secure hold they still had on him.

Martin rolled his eyes at him, “you were always so dramatic. I only have to hold you here because you took off and refuse to listen to reason about the future of our Colony,” Martin admonished him as he prowled in front of him and glared at his thrashing.

“How can you not see that the Humans would seek to control and harm us. Yes, ok, perhaps not all of them, but enough Malcolm. Enough to see our Colony and possibly our whole species wiped from existence,” Martin argued as he continued to dart back and forth in front of Malcolm.

“But if we have some to help us then…” Malcolm started before Martin cut him off with a hand held up in front of his face as he stopped in before him, his eyes aglow with his fury.

“THEY WILL NEVER HELP US! They will just exploit us and destroy our home. Look around you Malcolm, you are in amongst the ruins of your people before you. The ones that trusted the Humans not to harm them. LOOK!” Martin yelled at him as he gestured to the jagged hole in the ceiling, a gaping wound from the war that took the Colony from them.

Malcolm dropped his head in shame, his emotion warring within as he took in his Father’s words.

“Look at how they treat our wider home. They pollute our waters daily with their chemicals and waste just thrown careless into our home, choking us all on their refuge. Now you tell me that they will care enough to welcome us and let us live in harmony,” Martin told him with disgusted sneer.

Malcolm looked up at him, his face creased with the pain of his realisation that maybe his dreams were just that. A childish dream that could see his people destroyed because of his blind belief.

“I…I’m sorry Father. I…,” Malcolm apologised, his voice cutting off as his throat clamped down in his painful realisation.

“Yes my boy. You didn’t think, or listen. But you will understand,” Martin replied as he moved in right next to Malcolm’s space and snarled in his ear.

Malcolm reared his head back and couldn’t mask the fear he felt at the malevolent stare his Father gave him.

“But I do…I understand. I was foolish,” Malcolm tried to appease him, pulling at his bindings and sighing in frustration when he couldn’t reason with his Father.

“No Malcolm. You think you do, but you don’t. Given time you will. You will understand why you will never defy me again and why your dream is just a fool's fancy that can never, and will never be,” Martin glowered at him. Holding his stare until Malcolm dropped his gaze in defeat.

“Bring in the equipment,” Martin called out towards the entryway of the room and immediately his Guardsman filed in carrying baskets of jars and a small table that they set up just out of Malcolm’s range and then lined up next to the table awaiting their orders.

Malcolm swallowed nervously as he recognised some of the contents of the jars, jellyfish tentacles, sea anemones, stinging coral and more. All the things that could hurt him, but wouldn’t necessarily kill him. Malcolm looked back up to his Father and shuddered as he saw the predatory smile spreading across his face as he took in his fear.

His Father was going to enjoy this.

Malcolm screamed as the first tentacles were laid across his gils, the muscles seizing and clamping down as the fiery burning pain spread in waves across his skin. He thrashed and writhed against his bindings trying to tear at the tentacles stopping him from getting much needed oxygen. Soon his thrashing slowed and his chest hitched as his body fought against the oxygen deprivation and he felt his lungs try to expand to force him to breathe. He begged with his eyes, too scared to open his mouth to scream again in case he took in the breath that his body was telling him desperately needed despite being under the water. His Father and his Guardsman just looked on in curiosity and indifference as he continued to struggle not to drown in front of them.

Just as his vision started to flicker and the need to breathe became overwhelming, the tentacles were pulled off and his gils reopened and much needed oxygen flowed through him again.

He slumped to the floor, his arms pulled high above him as he shivered and fought to hold back the whimpers that were caught in his throat. He chest heaved as his gils drew in the water to extract the oxygen, setting the burning pain from the tentacles firing as his skin shifted and stretched. He looked up to see his Father watching him disinterestedly, almost as if he was bored with what was happening.

“This is just the beginning Malcolm, you will learn that to defy me is pain and misery. You will learn it over and over until you can never possibly forget again,” Martin growled into his ear as he pulled his head up by his hair. Malcolm hissed at the sting, as his hair pulled away from his scalp and tried to push up into his Father’s hand to stop the strain but his muscles were too weak from the lack of oxygen.

“Father, please,” Malcolm begged with a whimper as his Father poked at the red and inflamed skin over his torso and gils.

“Take in your lessons well my boy. My Guardsman haven’t had someone to play with for a while and they can get too eager if their subject fights,” Martin revealed with a sly grin as he dropped Malcolm’s hair and let him slump back to the floor.

Malcolm did his best not to cry as he watched his Father glide out of the room without even a backward glance and left the four Guardsman in the room huddled around him, their strong tails poised ready to whip into him. He pulled into himself as best he could, trying to protect his vulnerable torso and face, but once the blows started he could do little but try not to scream. Every one of his screams that escaped him was met with chilling laughter and renewed vigour in the blows that rained down on him time and time again. Soon it all became too much and he passed out into a black and peaceful oblivion.

Arroyo Research Centre

“We have to do something,” Dani exclaimed as she paced back and forth in front of the kitchen area where the team was all huddled since getting back from the disastrous boat trip where Malcolm was kidnapped by his Father.

“What are we supposed to do? We have no idea where the Colony is and even if we did, do you think we could just swim on in there and not be met with…oh I don’t know….the equivalent of their fucking Army,” JT replied as he pushed at his thighs in frustration and stood to pace along side Dani.

“We can’t…we can’t just leave him,” Dani retorted with a crack in her voice that saw her turning away from them to lean on the kitchen bench with back to them as she tried to collect herself.

Gil stood and laid his hand on her shoulder and she had to fight down the sob that threatened to escape from her chest. His soothing touch almost broke her resolve not to lose herself to helplessness that clawed at her insides.

She turned back to look at Gil, the pain in his face creasing it so that he was looking as worn and weary as she felt.

“I want to help the kid too, but where do we start? I…I just don’t know how we can help him,” Gil replied, his voice raw and hoarse.

Dani had to look away from him lest she start crying and spun around to lean back on the bench and hugged her arms around herself, biting at her lip to hold in the sobs.

She couldn’t hold back the tears anymore when Gil moved in and wrapped her up in his arms, pulling her into a tight hug. She let the quiet sobs shudder through her as she pressed her face into his comforting shoulder and untangled her arms to grip on tight to his sweater.

“We just have to pray that he still has someone down there on his side. Someone as brave as he is to defy his Father,” Gil murmured as he gently stroked her back.

‘Please hang on Malcolm,’ Dani thought as she continued to cry on Gil’s shoulder as the overwhelming hopelessness overtook her.

Chapter Text

He struggled against the restraining arms, desperate to get free from the relentless push to transition over and over.

“Stop fighting or your pretty girlfriend’s gonna know the end of my fist real well,” the gravelly voice threatened into his ear.

Malcolm bit down hard on his lip and pushed down the urge to fight as he looked over to Dani, tied tight to the chair, calling out to him and to their kidnappers.

“Let him go. You’re going to kill him,” Dani’s voice was strained and raw from her repeated attempts to plead with the men to stop hurting him.

Malcolm gasped as the next wave of his transition started to take over and he was being consumed by the unrelenting pain of his muscle, bones and flesh rending and reforming again.

“Stop! Please stop!” Dani’s scream echoed through him as he screamed through the pain as his legs broke and merged into his tail fin.

“You fucking bastards, I’ll kill you myself when I get free of here. You’re all lunatics,” Dani’s shouts filtered through as his body contorted and writhed its way through the transition that seemed to be taking forever to end.

He looked at Dani and was alarmed to see her now all the way over at the other side of the warehouse, her cries almost not reaching him anymore as he once again started to fight against the hold. His arms tingling and numb and his shoulders burning with an ache that spoke of hours of strain.

No, this wasn’t right, this wasn’t how it happened.

He whipped his head around as he heard Dani’s blood curdling scream. His eyes bulged as he saw his Father behind her smiling cruelly at him as he lay jellyfish tentacles across Dani’s delicate face as she screamed and writhed in pain beneath his hands.

“NO!!! DANI!!!” he screamed as he tried to fight free of the grip on his wrist, his arms heavy and unwilling to cooperate with his directions.

The broken cries left Malcolm before he was even fully awake. The shock of a blow to his cheek pulled him abruptly out of his terrifying dream into the waking world that was full of a new batch of looming Guardsmen and a parent staring at him from across the room.

His whole body ached with the after effects of the previous session and the remnants of his dream. He tried to shift to ease some of the pain burning through his shoulders from the constant strain he had on them while he was unconscious, but his arms were numb weights that he couldn’t even really move anymore. That explained how they felt in the dream he guessed.

He looked over towards his Father who was content to watch him be tortured and wondered if he ever really loved him. He thought he had before he had found out who his Father really was. Many an evening had been spent in laughter as his Father acted out the tales of old and made fun of silly things in Merkin history. He had cherished all those moments, until they had been shattered from finding the girl in the box and then watching his treasured and loyal friend struck down in front of him as his Father stood by and made him watch every second of Mr David’s agonising death.

Now looking into his Father’s mocking eyes, he doubted that his Father was even really capable of loving anyone in the true sense of the word.

“So my boy, do tell, who is this mysterious Dani?” His Father asked in a teasing tone as some of the Guardsman chuckled their mirth at his expense.

Malcolm just glared at him and refused to rise to the bait.

“Aww, come now Malcolm don’t be shy. Tell us all the delights of the Human women. Did you sample a taste while you were off gallivanting on the surface?” His Father laughed with a leering expression.

Malcolm snarled at him in disgust and tried in vain to pull from his restraints once more.

“Oh son, do you think you are the first to fall under the spell of the Human’s. How do you think this ruin around you came to be? Broken hearts and promises and suddenly the Humans are no longer friendly and beguiling, but cruel and destructive,” Martin snarled at him. Moving to the table with all their implements of torture stored at the ready.

“Cruel and destructive? That reminds me of someone else I know,” Malcolm mused with a glare towards his Father. Not caring that it would likely see his torture prolonged today. It was going to be awul regardless, why miss the opportunity to get a dig in?

Martin scoffed at him as he toyed with the lid of the jar housing the sea urchins that had yet to be utilised. Malcolm swallowed at the thought and almost wished he could take back his jab.

“Cruel, oh my boy, you’ve seen nothing yet. Clearly our talk yesterday wasn’t as productive as I had hoped. You’ve much to learn still, both about the Human’s fickle natures and your insolence,” Martin replied, his voice almost sorrowful, but the cruel gleam in his eye as he nodded to his Guardsmen as he stepped away from the table towards the doorway, showed Malcolm that he was as far from sorry as he could get.

As the Guardsmen moved in to do his Father’s bidding, he noted that one of them appeared more reluctant than the others. He hoped this meant that not all of his Father’s Guardsmen were as loyal as he thought.

After the first five sets of sea urchin’ spines speared into his skin, he lost all thought of his chances of escape and just did everything he could not to whimper as the pain increased as more and more spines punctured the skin across his chest.

When they broke off the urchins, leaving the spines embedded deep in his skin he wasn’t able to suppress the cry torn from his throat. Each spine puncture throbbed in time with the beat of his heart and his gils fluttered in uneven gasps as the pain just kept increasing. When they began pressing them into his back, his world shifted away into a fog of greyed out pain and hurt.

A sharp slap of tail fin across his face brought him back to himself and the pain of his upper body coming back into focus instantly saw him screaming until his voice was hoarse. As his vision began to blacken and dim he took a second of comfort in the grimace that rippled across the reluctant Guardsman’s face and slumped into unconsciously hoping that they would take heart and do something to end his torment.

Hours, turned into days of pain, fear and hoarse and broken screams as the torture continued on day after day. As time dragged on and fever started to rage through his pain ravaged body, he began to lose hope again that he would ever be free from his Father.

“My boy is home, where? Tell me now Adolpho,” Jessica directed him as he whispered for her to keep her voice low.

“Please my Queen, we need to keep this to ourselves, lest your Husband, my King find out and punish us both,” Adolpho begged her quietly.

Jessica looked at him stricken. He was pretty sure that she had some idea of her Husband’s cruel nature, but doubted she truly knew the depth of his depravity.

“What? You mean Martin has him hidden somewhere? Speak plainly, I don’t understand,” Jessica whispered frantically, her hands wringing in front of her as she did.

Adolpho looked around them fearfully and after a deep breath, he disclosed that his friend was one of Martin’s Guardsman and had been put on a rotation of Guards to punish and secure Malcolm who had been found outside of Triton.

“What?!” Jessica yelled, then quickly covered her mouth in horror and pulled them both further into her rooms.

“What do you mean, punish him? Oh my great Neptune, what has Martin done?” Jessica pleaded with him to tell her.

Adolpho looked at her with sympathy and quietly told her of the horrors his friend had relayed to him and his fear that Malcolm would not survive Martin’s need for revenge.

“He’s not in a good way my Queen and I fear if…well if he is not helped soon, I don’t know if Prince Malcolm will make it through this,” Adolpho told her, unable to meet her tearful gaze as she looked at him in horror.

Jessica grasped at Adolpho’s hand, “please, you have to take me to him,” she pleaded, her grip on his arm tight, her claws digging sharply into his skin.

Adolpho sighed and nodded, “follow me my Queen.”

Adolpho carefully led to the old ruins of Atlantis and had her wait as he checked that his friend was still the only Guardsman on duty to secure the unconscious Prince and then drew her in with him to the old throne room.

His heart broke at the sight of their reining Prince curled in on himself in his bindings against the wall. It shattered when he heard Queen Jessica’s anguish wail when she saw him.

“Malcolm!” Jessica cried as he dropped down beside him, her hands reaching out to touch him but pulling back when she appeared not to know where to touch without hurting him.

“My Queen, please you must be quiet,” Adolpho urged her as he gently supported her shoulders as she slumped next to her unconscious son.

Jessica turned tear filled eyes to him and begged him, “please, we have to save my Son.”

Adolpho looked to his friend who was hovering nervously at the door and constantly checking for anyone to over hear or see them.

“I…my Queen, your Husband will kill anyone who helps him escape,” Adopho tried to reason with her, but as he looked at the unconscious and beaten young Prince in front of him, he knew that he couldn’t leave here without him.

“Please Adolpho, I can’t leave him here,” Jessica begged him, her tears spilling into the water around them as she shifted to rest her son’s bruised and swollen cheek on her lap.

“Of course not my Queen. Let me speak to my friend to see what we may do to help and keep us all safe as well,” he told her as he pushed down his fear of his King and found his courage to save his heir.

By time he had calmed his friend down and they had come up with a plan to hopefully see them all live to see another day, Prince Malcolm was coming to in his Mother’s arms.

“Malcolm, oh my, please my love, wake up,” Jessica begged as she stroked back her Son’s hair and leaned down to press a kiss to his temple as his eyes fluttered open.

Adolpho had to look away when he saw raw pain spasm across his Prince’s face. He had to strain to hear his murmured response to his Mother, the sound broken and raw. His vocal chords clearly strained from the days of yelling and screaming.

“Oh my boy, what’s he done to you?” Jessica asked, her voice breaking as more tears slipped into the water.

“Mother…,” Malcolm’s shredded voice replied as he looked up at her almost as if he wasn’t sure she was real.

Adolpho’s heart shattered further as his Queen cradled her Son’s head in her hands and keened in pain at what had been done to him. Knowing they had little time before they would be discovered and all chances of rescue gone, he left them to reunite and searched the room, cursing himself for not bringing supplies in his haste to comply with his Queen’s wishes. Finally he found a small knife on the table and moved back over to his fretful Queen and tortured heir to the throne. Being as gentle as he could, he cut away at the tight bindings still holding the Prince to the wall. He would never forget the cry that came from his Prince when his arms fell away from the bindings for the first time in days. The tortured sound was cut off as he saw his Queen clamp her hand over Malcolm’s mouth as bitten off sobs left her own throat.

“Oh my love, I’m so sorry,” Jessica murmured to her Son as he writhed in her arms in his agony.

“Adolpho what are we going to do? We have to get him away from my Husband,” Jessica called on him, her hands never ceasing in their comforting over her Son face and hair as he continued to moan softly in her lap.

“To…the sur…surface,” Malcolm whispered between his breathy moans.

“What? Take you to the surface? Darling, you can barely move,” Jessica sighed at him as she continued to stroke his hair.

Adolpho was about to move back out of their hearing to give them some privacy when Malcolm looked up at him and gave him a grimace of a smile.

“Adolpho…can help…me,” Malcolm panted as he continued to stare at him, his eyes pleading with Adolpho to help.

“My Prince, you’re weak, do you think you could make the journey?” he asked, uncertain he would have the strength himself to carry his Prince all that way.

Malcolm nodded to him, “just give me a few more minutes…my arms…,” Malcolm replied, cutting off with a pained grimace as he shifted his arms.

Jessica whimpered her distress, and pulled Malcolm further into her lap. All this did was disturb the wounds across his chest and saw him biting his lip until it bled to hold in his pain. Adolpho squeezed his Queen’s shoulder in comfort as she looked to him for help. It was clear the best thing they could do right now would be to let Malcolm gather his strength and get him out of here. Adolpho wondered if there was somewhere they could hide while he regained some strength, but it was clear his wounds would need medical care and he wouldn’t be able to give him that in a cave or hollow in the trenches.

A noise at the door had him look up in fear, only to let out a sigh of relief when it was just his friend checking on them.

“Is the Prince going to be ok?” His friend Lenard asked, his eyes nervously moving from the door to the Prince and back again as he did.

Adolpho nodded, “I hope so. I mean I think so. He wants me to take him to the surface,” he told his friend.

Lenard looked at Malcolm and grimaced, “I don’t know, he looks pretty bad. Do you think he’ll make it?”

They both looked to the Mother and Son, Adolpho noting that Malcolm was at least using his arms again without having to hold back screams. He guessed it was a good sign.

“If you’re going to do this, you need to go now. One of the other Guards could come at any time,” Lenard cautioned, his eyes again nervously looking to the doorway.

Adolpho nodded, “you’re right. What do we need to do to keep you safe though? I can’t have you punished for this,” he told him as he gripped his forearm tight in fear.

Lenard smiled at him, “you know how you’ve always wanted to hit me, well now’s your chance,” he said with a small chuckle that was quickly smothered as he looked back at their Queen and Prince.

Adolpho rolled his eyes at him, “I’ve never wanted to hit you. You’re an idiot. Come on, get back to the door and I’ll do my best not to hurt you too much,” he said with a sigh, not really wanting to do the next part of the plan.

Lenard wished Malcolm all the best and begged his forgiveness for his part in Malcolm’s pain.

“I knew you…didn’t want to hurt…me. I could see it…thank you for…helping me,” Malcolm told him as he shifted himself up out of his Mother’s lap and leaned his shoulder against the wall where he had previously been bound.

“You hurt my Son?” Jessica asked in a fierce whisper which saw Lenard scramble back in fright.

“Mother please, he…he did what he could in…in an impossible…situation,” Malcolm beseeched her as he reached out to her to hold her back.

Adolpho grimaced as he saw how much pain it caused him to make those small movements. Swimming all the way to the surface was going to be agony for him.

Lenard swam forward and bowed to Jessica and Malcolm.

“It’s my honour to serve you both and if helping you now means you come to rule our Colony in the future, it’s worth any harm I may incur,” Lenard pledged as he bowed once more and moved off towards the door.

Jessica turned to Malcolm and gave him a small smile, “ok, I forgive him.”

Malcolm chuckled at her and hissed in pain, his hands coming up towards his chest as he did. It was clear the barbs still embedded in his chest were causing him immense pain, but Adolpho knew they didn’t have time to remove them all now.

“Oh Malcolm, I promise that bastard will pay for what he’s done to you,” Jessica vowed to Malcolm as she leaned in to brace his arm.

Malcolm shook his head, his eyes teary and pleading.

“No Mother. He can’t know. Promise me you’ll act…as if nothing has happened. Promise me,” Malcolm begged her, his hand catching hold of hers between them.

Adolpho felt he was intruding once more when Jessica reached out and cupped Malcolm’s jaw with her hand, her thumb soothing circles into his cheek. Adolpho had to look away when Malcolm’s eyes closed in comfort, giving them the small measure of privacy he could.

“I’ll do my best. But you must promise me that you’ll come back when it’s safe. We cannot let that wicked man win,” Jessica urged him as she cupped his face with both her hands.

Malcolm’s genuine smile back at his Mother had Adolpho’s heart paining in sorrow for them and what his King was putting them through.

“I promise, Mother,” Malcolm agreed as he smiled.

Jessica then leaned in and kissed his brow and whispered something under her breath.

Malcolm nodded his head in her hands and pressed his eyes closed as she leaned her forehead against his.

He really didn’t want to have to hurry them, but Adolpho knew that if they didn’t go very soon, they would be caught for certain.

“My Prince, we must go,” Adolpho urged as he reached out to offer him a lift up from the floor when his Mother moved back. It gave him a small measure of confidence that they might just pull this off when Malcolm didn’t take it and flipped his tail and pushed himself upright to hover before him. It was clear it was painful, but he didn’t need help to keep himself upright. Maybe he was better off than he actually looked.

Malcolm and Jessica hurried through their goodbyes, Jessica trying to hug him but not being able to without hurting him. In the end she kissed his cheek, with her tears spilling into the water around them. Adolpho gave them as much time as he could before nodding to Malcolm and looking towards the doorway.

Malcolm nodded his understanding to him and pressed a kiss back to his Mother’s cheek and told his Mother to go.

“Get back to your rooms as soon as you can. You can’t be seen leaving here. Please be safe,” Malcolm begged her as he gently pushed her to the door. She looked back at him once, her mask of an oblivious and spoiled Queen dropping back in place before she turned and left the ruins.

When they got to the doorway Lenard was gliding a track in the debris and silt that was laid over the ruins’ floor. He looked up at both of them as they came through the door and smiled hesitantly, before it turned into a grimace in his nervousness.

“I’m sorry to have to do this, but if you’re unscathed they’ll know you had a part in it,” Adolpho told Lenard as he clasped his shoulders to halt his pacing.

“Yeah, I know. You need to make it really good, because if I’m conscious when they find me, they’ll try and torture who the attacker was out of me. Look, they may still try to do that, but I have a much better chance if I can claim I was grabbed from behind and never saw them,” Lenard told him, his face earnest despite his obvious fear.

Malcolm shook Lenard’s hand, a small grimace flashing across his face, which Adolpho wouldn’t have noticed if he wasn’t looking right at him.
“I can’t thank you enough for what you’re doing for me. If there was any way I could spare you of any of this, know I would in a heartbeat,” Malcolm told him earnestly, his pale face strained as he looked back to Adolpho, almost as if to implore him to show him another way to fix this.

Lenard beamed at Malcolm and shook his head, “oh no, it’s an honour to serve you my Prince and this is a small price to ensure your safety and the future safety of our Colony. It also helps me rid some of my guilt for my part in your current pain,” Lenard replied, his eyes never leaving his Prince.

Malcolm smiled back at him and squeezed his shoulder in thanks.

“You are a good man Lenard. Triton’s future is bright with Merkin like you in it,” Malcolm told him, his voice cracking slightly as he finished.

“Thank you my Prince. Be safe and journey home soon,” Lenard thanked him with a nod to Adolpho.

He had moved around behind Lenard, ready to get the next part over and get on their way to get his Prince to safety.

“Are you ready?” Adolpho asked, his hand resting on his friend’s shoulders lightly.

Lenard nodded with a heavy swallow, then spun himself to face the wall near the doorway. Adolpho pulled in his tail fin then let it flick out in a mighty thrust, pushing Lenard into the wall hard, his face colliding into the wall with a crack.

Adolpho had to swallow back the bile that rose in his throat at the sound that echoed in his mind as his friend sank bonelessly to the floor. He quickly checked Lenard’s pulse point and was relieved to feel the steady beat of his heart under his finger tips.

He looked up to see Malcolm watching him anxiously, so he nodded and told him he was ok.

“He’ll be fine. Just a nasty headache when he wakes up I suspect,” Adolpho assured him as he moved beside him and motioned for them to leave.

They worked together to get out of the ruins undetected, Adolpho checking in with Malcolm regularly, his worry increasing with each check in as Malcolm grew paler and his face more strained.

When they had moved out of the ruins and started away from Altantis and Triton, Adolpho let Malcolm take the lead to direct them towards where he felt he would be safe.

As time went on Malcolm began to flag and his pace decreased to the point where Adolpho called a halt to let him rest and recoup some of his energy. Malcolm just hung in the water, his gils frantically working to get much needed oxygen to his overtaxed and exhausted muscles. His skin was pale and the punctures and wounds across his chest and back were red and almost purple in spots. Adolpho had real concern that the extra punishment Malcolm was putting his body through to escape could set his recovery back, or worse.

“My Prince, are you sure you can make it to the surface? Perhaps we should look for shelter near here so you can rest and try to move on to the surface once you’ve recovered a little,” Adolpho urged him, his concern increasing as Malcolm seemed to struggle to lift his head to respond.

“If I stop now, I won’t be able to make it tomorrow. It’s not much further. I can do this, please,” Malcolm pleaded with him, his worn and weary face only making Adolpho’s worry increase.

“If you’re sure, My Prince? Did you want me to support you for a while so you can rest a little more as I swim us on?” Adolpho asked him as he lay a supporting hand under Malcolm’s arm. Adolpho cringed at the unnatural heat coming from his Prince’s skin. He was clearly running a fever.

Malcolm appeared to hesitate and then reluctantly nodded.

“I’d be grateful for your help. I’m sorry to be such a burden,” Malcolm apologised, his eyes not able to meet Adolpho’s own.

“Nonsense, My Prince. You’ve been through so much, it is the least I can do. Come, let’s go, so that you can rest properly and get the medical care you need,” Adolpho offered, tucking his arm under Malcolm’s shoulder and setting them off in the direction Malcolm had been leading them previously.

Adolpho wasn’t able to match the pace he had previously, but it was still faster than when he had called a halt. Malcolm did what he could to help propel them, but mostly his efforts were to keep him close to Adolpho so he didn’t knock them off course and help steer them when they needed to shift direction. Adolpho’s worry for his Prince just increased with his rising temperature and flagging efforts.

Finally after what felt like hours, they reached a docking area where a number of boats were moored. It was already late into the night, so they didn’t need to worry too much about being seen, but Adolpho was careful to check their surroundings before allowing Malcolm to surface at all. Malcolm quickly pointed out a boat that was moored near the main dock facing warehouses that were dark and silent in the dead of night.

“How will you get to your friends?” Adolpho asked anxiously, as he looked around the deserted docks in concern.

“I just need to get in the boat. They’ll find me in the morning,” Malcolm replied as he appeared to struggle to keep himself afloat.

Adolpho lent his shoulder for Malcolm to rest on as he looked at him with genuine concern. How could he possibly leave his Prince alone and exposed on the back of a boat in this condition? Just as he was about to refuse and tell him that he would wait with him until his friends came, Malcolm pushed off his shoulder and swam sluggishly through the water to the boat he had pointed out. Adolpho quickly followed him and once again linked their arms to support him in his swim. Malcolm’s grateful but exhausted smile did little to ease his concern about his Prince’s condition.

When they reached the back of the boat, Malcolm grabbed hold of the step at the back of the boat with his hands. The damage done from hanging from them for days obviously hadn’t improved from their swim and his grip slipped and his chest hit the back of the boat. His bitten off cry of pain, sliced through Adolpho’s heart at the agony his Prince had been made to endure at the hands of his own Father. Adolpho quickly grabbed his shoulders and supported him as best he could without touching any of his inflamed and clearly infected wounds. He was alarmed to note that his temperature seemed to have risen again and when he saw his Prince’s glassy and dull gaze he knew that the fever had truly taken hold.

“My Prince, your fever is rising. I can’t leave you here alone. Please, let me stay until we can get your friend's attention,” Adolpho pleaded with him as he felt Malcolm sagging into his grip.

“No…my Mother. If you’re gone…they’ll, they'll…suspect her….you have been loyal to her…always…He’ll know,” Malcolm told him, his speech mumbled in his exhaustion and fever.

Adolpho sighed heavily in frustration. He knew Malcolm was right. He has always been his Queen’s right hand man and had defended her against the King on occasion, which had seen him punished more than once. Not that he ever told his Queen this. He had vowed to protect her from her evil Husband long ago and wouldn’t give that up now. He looked over Malcolm’s pale and exhausted form and knew he had to make the impossible choice to help one of the other. He just hoped it wouldn’t cause his Queen to lose her only Son.

Malcolm looked at him with pleading eyes from within his pale and strained face.

“Please Adolpho, he can’t…take her…from me too,” Malcolm begged him and he finally nodded and squeezed his agreement into Malcolm’s shoulder.

He got Malcolm resting safely and securely then worked to find the latch to the rear door, finally opening it as Malcolm was looking like he would slip off into the water.

Malcolm gave him a grateful sigh when he grabbed for him and stopped his slide off the step.

“Come my Prince, let's get you in. This isn’t going to be pleasant for you, but I fear the longer we wait the harder it’ll be for you to keep quiet in the transition,” Adolpho urged him as he started to haul him up the boat into the open door.

Malcolm whimpered in his arms as his puncture wounds and the spines still embedded in his skin scraped and pressed against the boat and Adolpho’s chest. Adolpho did what he could to minimise his contact but there was little he could do, but make it as quick as he could.

Finally after much effort and pain on Malcolm’s side, he had Malcolm in the back of the boat, curled up on his side panting through his pain. Adolpho was hesitant to leave. Malcolm still had the agony of transition to go through yet and was clearly already suffering. How could he leave him like this?

“Go, please…my Mother…she needs you,” Malcolm pleaded with him as he grimaced in pain as the first muscle spasms rippled under his tail fin.

“But…” Adolpho tried, but was cut off quickly by Malcolm.

“GO!” Malcolm cried out at him, his voice not that loud but stern in its tone. Enough that the loyal servant in him couldn’t resist it.

With one last agonising look at his ailing Prince, he bid him good health and slipped away into the water. The final thing he heard as he swam away was the pained whimpers of his Prince as the transition took hold of him in its relentless need to shift him to his land form.

All he could hope is that his friends would find quickly with the rising of the Sun and that it wouldn’t be too late to help his Prince.

Chapter Text

Dani pushed out the door into the morning sunlight, lifting her face to feel the warmth of the sun on her face. The little bird that Malcolm had named Sunshine chittered and chirped at her as she passed their tree. Thinking of Malcolm had her mood crashing instantly. It had been almost a week since he was taken and everything they had come up with to try and find him and rescue him had been a bust. It was either impossible or useless.

They were all just trying to keep their minds off what could be happening to their friend. Dani was really struggling as her thoughts turned to what Malcolm had come to mean to her. The thought of possibly never seeing him again or even knowing what happened to him, nearly broke her.

Not wanting to send her thoughts spiralling again, she picked up her pace crossing the road and hurried with her gear towards the boat. As the rear deck came into view she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“MALCOLM!” Dani screamed as she caught sight of Malcolm’s sprawled body in the rear of the boat.

She dropped what she was carrying and sprinted to the boat, leaping over the side and skidding across the deck on her knees as she dropped beside him.

Her breath caught high in her throat as she took in his pale and shivering form. His back was covered in what looked like puncture wounds with splinters embedded in most of them. The skin around the wounds were red and swollen, with some weeping with obvious signs of infection.

“Jesus what did they do to you?” Dani whispered in horror as she took in the bruising and what looked like burns across his torso. They had tortured him.

“GIL!” Dani screamed back towards the warehouse, where the team were just starting to come through the door.

Her hands fluttered over him, not knowing where she could touch without hurting him. She leaned down to see his face that was pressed into the deck, his dry and cracked lips parted and slack in his unconsciousness. Each panting breath he took had them moving slightly. She winced as she saw blood well in one of the cracks, a tiny bead of blood against the dry and flaking skin. His face was flushed with fever and when she touched his forehead she almost pulled it back with how hot it was. He was burning up and clearly dehydrated.

“Dani, what’s wrong?” Gil called out to her. She looked up to see him jogging towards them and knew the moment he saw him as his face fell and morphed into horror.

“Oh my God, is that Malcolm?” Gil called to her as he ran towards them and awkwardly clambered over the side to drop down beside them.

Dani couldn’t help the tears that started to fall down her face as she saw her own horror reflected in Gil’s face as he took in Malcolm’s state.

“He tortured him. The fucking bastard tortured him,” Gil cursed as he looked over Malcolm’s shivering form.

They both were still in the shock of taking in what had been done to him when they heard JT come up behind them.

“What the fuck?” JT swore as he came over the side and around the deck to crouch on the other side of Malcolm.

Dani looked up at him, not bothering to wipe at the tears now slipping down her face to drip off her chin.

“He…he tortured him. How could…how could he…do this?” Dani asked, her mind not able to comprehend how someone could do this to their own family, let alone a Father to their Son.

Dani looked on as JT leaned in and took Malcolm’s pulse, JT hissing as he fingers touched Malcolm’s flushed and reddened skin.

“Fuck, he’s burning up. Come on, we need to get him inside, now,” JT told them, his hands slipping under Malcolm’s neck and knees. Dani tried to help but couldn’t bring herself to touch him when a broken moan escaped Malcolm as he was moved. Dani looked to each of them, her pain at hurting him echoed in each of their faces. She nodded briefly at JT and he sighed heavily, then pushed them up so he was standing with Malcolm cradled in his arms. Dani felt her heart break as JT closed his eyes with a grimace as Malcolm screamed out in pain as he settled him in his arms. Dani touched her hand to Malcolm’s cheek as his eyelids fluttered but never fully opened. Dani could have sworn JT let out a groan when Malcolm slumped back unconscious in his arms, but she would never call him on it. She honestly didn’t know how he was being so stoic with how much he had to hurt Malcolm to help him.

“Come on, let’s move,” JT said, his voice steely and commanding, but Dani could see in his eyes just how much this was taking out of him to put on the cool front.

Dani scrambled over the side with Gil and they helped steady JT as he carefully stepped them over the side of the boat. Dani gave his shoulder a squeeze as he gave her a quick pained look then nodded towards the warehouse before starting towards it in a fast walk.

Dani ran ahead of them and quickly pulled the door open, holding it in place as JT and Gil moved through. Sunshine’s distressed calls as they walked past them just added to Dani’s own distress. Dani whistled to them as she moved into the warehouse. She would need to remember to come out and give them some more feed later. That had been Malcolm’s daily job since he met them and named them and Dani was sure the damn bird missed him as much as they did.

As Dani moved in behind Gil and JT she jumped a little as they both called out to Edrisa at the same time.

“EDRISA!” Gil and JT yelled. The call startled the poor woman and Dani cringed as the dish Edrisa was holding in her hands shattered across the concrete floor.

“Far out, don’t do that,” Edrisa said. Dani had a moment of amusement as Edrisa stomped her foot as she turned towards them amongst the shards of ceramic scattered around her feet.

Edrisa’s scream as she turned to smothered the small moment of amusement instantly and broke Dani’s heart that little bit more.

“OH MY GOD IS THAT MALCOLM!” Edrisa screamed and then raced over to JT, her hands fluttering over Malcolm’s still form just as Dani’s had mere minutes before.

Dani helped to clear off Edrisa’s examination table as she continued to flitter around JT as he walked Malcolm over to the table.

“Are these spines everywhere?” Edrisa asked them, as JT placed Malcolm on the table on his side. Dani watched as JT took off his jacket and lay it over Malcolm’s hips, covering his nakedness. When JT’s eyes flicked up briefly to meet hers they were glassy and hurting.

Dani moved over to him and squeezed his arm, “you did good by him, thank you,” Dani told him.

JT’s fierce stare startled her a little, her eyes flicking from his intense stare to the muscle jumping in his jaw as he clenched it.

“I will fucking kill him. He’s a goddamn monster,” JT muttered to her as he watched Edrisa examine Malcolm before them. Her movements interspaced with frantic mutterings and the occasional sniffle. Dani knew exactly where she was coming from. She wanted to scream and cry at the same time. All she could do was watch and lend a hand when Edrisa needed something fetched or an extra pair of hands. Truth be told she had three extra sets of willing hands and there were a few times that they bumped into each other in their eagerness to help and feel useful.

“What’s the verdict Edrisa?” Gil asked, seeking the answer to the question they all wanted to know. Dani moved in to stand close to him and JT as he asked, needing the comfort of the closeness of the people she trusted most in her life as she waited to hear just how bad it was for their friend.

Edrisa looked up at them, her gloved hands held up in front of her, smeared with blood and other fluids Dani didn’t want to think of right this minute. Dani’s heart clenched as she watched a single tear slide down Edrisa’s face as she took a deep breath and cleared her throat before speaking.

“N..ot…not good. He has a massive infection from the spines that have been embedded in his skin for what appears to be many days. The fact that he was in sea water for the majority of that time is probably what has saved him to be honest. My fear is that the infection will become systemic if we don’t get on top of it. I’ve put him on as strong an antibiotic as I can and fever reducers, but…but his fever is still..way too high.

“Should we put him in the tank then?” Gil asked her, his hand coming around Dani’s shoulder and pulling her into his side. Clearly needing the comfort right now as much as Dani did.

Edrisa shook her head at them and brushed away a stray tear with the back of her wrist. Dani gave her a small smile of encouragement.

“No, I don’t think he’s strong enough for the transition right now. He needs all his energy focused on healing. A transition could kill him right now. Too much stress on his overtaxed system,” Edrisa replied with a sigh.

“I also need to get every single one of these spines and any broken pieces out. That is not a quick job,” Edrisa told them, her eyes dropping to look over Malcolm’s torso, which was still sporting numerous wounds with the spines still in them.

“I can help you,” Dani volunteered, stepping out of Gil’s embrace and up to the table.

Edrisa smiled at her and nodded, “that would be great. The sooner they are out the better,” She told her, gesturing over to her workstation for tools and gloves.

Dani busied herself washing her hands, slipping on her gloves and retrieving more tweezers. She looked up to see Gil and JT still hovering over the table seemingly lost with what to do to help.

“Hey JT, do you think you could grab one of Malcolm’s sheets from his room? I think that would be a better option for the long haul than your jacket,” Dani told him, her tone as light as she could make it in the circumstances.

JT huffed a small laugh and nodded before walking off to retrieve the sheet. Dani looked at Gil and her heart panged again at the pain and horror still filling her mentor's face. She was about to offer him some pathetic platitudes when he took a deep breath and clapped his hands together, startling them all a little.

“Right! Well…how about I rustle us up some chow. I know it’s the last thing on our minds right now, but we’re going to have a long few days ahead of us getting Malcolm back to full health. Keeping our strength up will be important, so we can keep going to help him,” Gil volunteered as he gave Dani and Edrisa a tight nod, the worry and horror still pinching his face tight, and then he spun on his heels and headed to the kitchen.

Dani looked to Edrisa who was looking back at her with the same expression of concern. This was hitting them all hard, but Gil almost seemed to be taking on responsibility for what had happened. They would need to keep a close eye on him over the coming days.

Just then JT come back with the sheet in hand and careful draped it over Malcolm, covering his jacket and gentle extracted his jacket from under the sheet.

“There you go bud. That’ll keep you decent and cool. You…ah…you…you hang in there kid,” JT muttered quietly as he squeezed Malcolm’s ankle, one of the few places without a bruise or wound. Dani gave him a sad smile and he nodded back at her, his lips pursing as he clenched his jaw as his eyes got suspiciously wet.

JT cleared his throat and nodded to them as he gave a gentle pat to Malcolm’s ankle.

“Right…ahem…just…ah…I’ll go check on the tanks. Least I can do while you and Edrisa are busy,” JT told them, his voice slightly unsteady as he said it.

Dani just nodded, her throat too constricted to say anything that wouldn’t send her into another crying jag and she was emotionally drained enough already. She had work to do and needed to focus. With a quick assuring look to Edrisa she stepped up to the opposite side of the table and started working on pulling all the leftover spines in Malcolm’s chest. Each tug and squelch of the spines as they pulled free of Malcolm’s abused flesh made her sick to her stomach, but she continued on and refused to let it get to her. He needed her right now, so it was time to suck it up and shut it down until the grisly task of removing all the spines was done.

It was when he started to whimper that she nearly broke. Edrisa called them to a halt as soon as she heard it and raced around to his front to check on his reactions. He was clearly coming closer to the surface now. It wasn’t clear if he was actually aware of his surroundings with his fever still so high, but he was definitely not fully unconscious any more.

“Malcolm, can you hear me?” Edrisa asked him as she gently cupped his face in her tiny gloved palm. Dani pulled off her gloves and stroked back the hair that had fallen across his face.

“No…more…please…” Malcolm whimpered his voice raspy and broken. Dani shuddered to think of the screaming he would have done to get it to that extent.

“He’s delirious and thinks he is still being tor…tortured,” Edrisa said as she looked back to Dani her voice breaking as tears spilled down her cheeks again.

Dani struggled to hold back her own tears, so pulled Edrisa into a quick hug before holding her shoulders at arms length and looking her in the eye.

“He’ll be ok. We’re going to make it so he’s ok, right?” Dani asked her, looking at her expectantly.

Edrisa nodded back through her tears and then looked back to Malcolm as she straightened her shoulders and wiped her tears away with the backs of her hands.

“Right! I think he can have more painkillers and fever meds now. Let’s get that done and get back to getting these damn spines out,” Edrisa said, her voice trembling but determined as she dropped her hands on her hips.

The next few hours were interspersed with brief periods of semi wakefulness which saw Malcolm mumbling and trying to push them away with uncoordinated limbs. Finally when they were done with removing all the spines and had washed out all of his wounds, dressing those that needed it, Dani and Edrisa were exhausted.

JT and Gil took over getting him dressed in a pair of boxers and settled into his room. Meanwhile Dani and Edrisa grabbed a quick plate of the food Gil had prepared for them all and slumped in their chairs, willing their aching muscles to stop.

Eventually Edrisa got up to go check on Malcolm and Dani followed her in. The scene they walked into warmed her heart instantly. Gil was by the head of Malcolm’s bed, wiping down his face and neck with a wet cloth, his other hand stroking Malcolm's hair as he murmured reassurances to him. Malcolm was restless and muttering fragments of words and sentences. The main thing coming through was ‘please’ and ‘stop’, over and over again.

JT was pacing the length of the room, flicking glances at Malcolm with every murmur he uttered. Dani stepped in front of him and gave him a hug. He huffed and resisted at first, but eventually he sank into the comfort and hugged her back. Gil smiled and nodded to her over JT’s shoulder. When she let him go, she guided him out the door, ignoring his small protests and took him to the kitchen and served him up a good helping of the ginger and garlic chicken Gil made them. She pushed him to the table and told him to eat.

“You’re as bad as Tally,” JT grumbled at her, but happily accepted the heaping plate of food and started to dig in. Satisfied that he will finish it without her being there, she headed back into the room just as Edrisa was coming out.

“He’s ok?” Dani asked her, her voice tight and strained as she wrung her hands in her nervousness.

Edrisa sighed, but nodded, “yeah, he’s ok for now. All we can do is keep the antibiotics up, keep the wounds clean and try and get his fever down a bit. The rest is up to him,” Edrisa told her as she gave Dani’s hands a quick squeeze and then moved off to the tanks with ill and injured creatures. She has more than Malcolm in her care, so Dani will do what she can to ease the burden of Malcolm’s care from her as much as she can.

Dani went back into Malcolm’s room and silently took her place next to Gil. She retrieved one of the cloths from the bowl of tepid water and gently started wiping down his arms and parts of his torso that she could without hurting him more. Slowly Malcolm’s restlessness settled and he seemed to drift off into a deeper and more restful sleep. Gil wiped a shaky hand over his face and looked over at him as he released a shuddering breath before he turned to look at Dani.

“How could he do this to his own Son?” Gil asks, his voice shaky and quiet as he studies her, his face creased with his pain over what’s happened to their friend.

Dani takes his hand in her and strokes her thumb over the back of it, “I don’t know, Gil.”

She straightened a little and cleared her throat before continuing, Gil’s painful gaze hard to hold without succumbing to her own emotion.

“He’s a monster, I guess. How else could you do this to someone, let alone your own Son,” Dani tells him, her own voice brittle and strained.

Gil nodded and smiled at her grimly, “yeah, I just…he’s such a good kid. Hell, my Jackie would have happily claimed him as her own in two seconds flat,” Gil said with a sad laugh.

Dani smiled fondly. She loved it when Gil talked about Jackie. It was not often that he gave them insights into his life before they met him, but they knew that Jackie had meant the world to him. It was clear that Malcolm had found a way into his heart that meant he was just as much family to him as his Jackie was and that they were.

“How do we protect him Dani? He’s going to come looking for him and once he figures out he came back here, he will hunt him down. A man that can do that to his Son, is not someone that gives up easily,” Gil asked her as he glanced at Malcolm’s still form in front of them.

“Don’t know boss, but we’ll do everything we can to try,” Dani vowed as she squeezed Gil’s hand in hers.

“Why don’t you go and get something to eat? I know you didn’t have any when you made it,” Dani told him with a gentle scolding tone and a smirk.

Gil chuckled a little and gave her an affirmative grunt, before pushing himself to stand with a groan as his joints popped and creaked from his posture for the last hour.

“Go on, go eat old man,” Dani teased as he stretched his back out with another groan.

“Oi, enough of the old man from you, young lady,” Gil scolded her with an affronted look that quickly morphed into a fond smile.

Dani waved him off, “yeah, yeah, no promises. Now get and eat. I got him,” Dani said as she shooed him out of the room and took his seat by Malcolm’s head.

Gil turned back at the door and smiled at her, “I know you do. He’s one lucky guy,” Gil told her before walking out the room leaving Dani a little stunned that Gil had noticed just how important he was to her already.

Dani looked down at Malcolm, his face was finally peaceful, his lips still cracked but no longer bleeding and flaking. His face was still flushed with his fever but at least it wasn’t giving him fevered dreams at the moment. He deserved some peace after what he had been through, but she was worried that this fight had only just begun.

Chapter Text

At first his sleep was peaceful and Dani’s worry started to drain away along with her energy. She had almost nodded off in her chair for the first time when his scream woke her with a startle that nearly saw her falling to the floor.

“PLE…ASE!” Malcolm’s scream broke as it rang out through the room. His voice was shredded and hoarse. Dani’s heart broke at the thought of how much he had been screaming over the last week for his voice to be so damaged.

Dani stretched out a hand and cupped his cheek, trying to ground him with her touch. His skin was burning at the touch, his fever clearly spiking again.

Dani hushed him as she wet the cloth and started wiping him down again. Trying to soothe him and cool his feverish skin. He continued to mumble and toss his head around in his restless sleep.

“Hey, you’re ok. No one wi’ll hurt you here,” Dani whispered to him as she stroked the damp cloth across his brow. He seemed to follow the cool touch of the cloth, so she dipped it again and extended the swipe of the cloth down his face and neck and across his chest and arms avoiding the wounds scattered across his torso. His breathy sigh as she did gave her a moment of encouragement that it was helping him settle. That was until his next scream echoed even louder than the first. The primal terror of it as it was ripped from his throat sent goosebumps skittering across her skin. She looked on in heart broken alarm as his unseeing eyes flew open and tracked an invisible horror that saw him try to shift up the bed out of its reach. His cry as he tried to move pushed her into action and she jumped up to hold his shoulders down to the bed. Unfortunately all this did was increase his terror and he started thrashing and clawing at her to be let go.

“Malcolm! Stop, it’s Dani. I won’t hurt you. Please, stop,” Dani called to him, her voice breaking as she pleaded with him to calm down.

His breaths were coming in frantic pants and his eyes were rolling in his head as he continued to thrash and moan under her hands, fully in the grip of his fevered nightmares.

A gasp from the doorway had Dani turning to see Edrisa’s tiny frame dashing into the room to help her.

“He just started screaming and he doesn’t seem to recognise it’s me,” Dani told her as Edrisa dropped in beside her and helped hold him down.

“His fever is much worse. I’ll up his doses a little more, but I can’t do too much more for fear of overloading his kidneys and liver,” Edrisa replied, her voice strained and trembling as she spoke.

Dani gave her a sympathetic smile, “you are doing amazing. Without you, he wouldn’t stand a chance,” Dani tried to reassure her, but she knew Edrisa was just as worried as she was that their efforts wouldn’t be enough in the end.

Slowly Malcolm’s moans and struggles waned and left him trembling with the occasional whimper escaping him. Edrisa nodded to her and gradually they both eased their weight off his shoulders and he remained still on the bed, except for the shivering that had taken the place of the thrashing.

“I…I’ll just…I need to…he needs…meds…I have to get…more meds for him,” Edrisa stuttered as she looked between their ailing friend and Dani.

Dani reached out and squeezed her hand in comfort.

“It’s ok. You can do this,” Dani assured her, ignoring the glassy sheen that had taken over Edrisa’s eyes.

Edrisa sniffled heavily and nodded to her, before quickly ducking out the door with one last pained look at Malcolm.

Dani flopped back into her chair and dropped her head into her hands. The heels of her palms dug deep into her eyes, trying to push back the sting of tears that threatened.

A rasping murmur had her looking up quickly to see feverish slitted eyes staring up at her.

“Malcolm?! Hey, you with me?” Dani asked as she shifted forward in her chair and cupped his flushed cheeks in her palms.

Malcolm’s eyes rolled a little and then settled on her again, seeming to be focussed on her this time and not some feverish horror.

“D..ni?” Malcolm asked, his voice cracking as he said her name.

Dani smiled at him with a happy chuckle, “yeah, it’s Dani. You with me this time?” She asked as she stroked her thumbs across his burning cheeks.

His eyes slipped shut for a moment before he reopened them with what seemed to be significant effort and nodded slightly. He swallowed and a tight grimace followed, his throat clearly still paining him.

“Thir..sty,” Malcolm whispered, his voice rough and scratchy.

“Oh shit, sorry. Of course,” Dani apologised as she scrambled to get him a cup of water.

She shifted around to sit on the edge of the bed by his head and as gently as she could helped to lift his shoulders a little. Unfortunately it still hurt him and she murmured apologises as he winced and groaned through his pain.

“Sorry, I…I just don’t want you to choke on it. I can’t imagine coughing right now will be much fun,” Dani told him as she shifted her hands to minimise her contact with his wounds. Malcolm's quiet hum of agreement assured her he understood she was being as gentle as she could.

“Here, take it slow,” Dani urged him as she pressed the plastic cup to his dry lips and tilted it slightly, only letting a tiny trickle of water flow into his mouth.

After a few sips, he pulled his head away and sagged fully into her bracing arm. She eased him back to the bed with a grimace as he let out a whimper of pain as his back rested back on the sheets.

“Sorry, Edrisa is getting some more meds for you. Your fever is really high. I don’t know how you are even conscious right now,” Dani told him as she watched him struggle to wrangle his pain back under control while minute shivers continued to wrack his body every minute or so.

“Tha…nk..ou,” Malcolm muttered as his eyes fluttered closed again and a soft sigh left him as he slipped back under. Dani stroked back the sweat soaked hair that had fallen over his cheek when she sat him up and watched over him as he settled into sleep again.

Edrisa came and went, giving him the additional meds and changing out his IV bags. She offered to take Dani’s place, but Dani declined, not ready to leave him yet. She stayed in her spot at his head and just leaned back on the wall behind the bed, stroking at his hair anytime he stirred, helping him back into restful sleep.

Eventually, Gil came and made her swap out to go eat, shower and sleep.

“Come on, you are no good to him if you exhaust yourself in this. This will be a marathon, not a sprint. Go eat, shower and sleep. I’ll watch him,” Gil urged her, offering her a hand up. She reluctantly accepted the help and winced as her muscles protested the awkward posture she had been in for hours. She really could do with a hot shower.

“Thanks, I won’t be long,” Dani told him as she stretched out her aching muscles and started to make her way to the door.

Gil shook his head at her.

“Yeah, no. You’re not to set foot in here until you have had a proper sleep. You have been in here all night. Go rest and come back for the night shift tonight. The kid’s not going anywhere,” Gil directed her, pointing to the door with a raised brow when she went to argue.

She shook her head and grinned at him.

“Ok boss. Take care of him,” Dani agreed, hovering in the doorway, reluctant to leave Malcolm at all.

“You know I will. Now get,” Gil told her, his voice soft with affection.

Dani nodded and with one last look at Malcolm’s still form on the bed she ducked out the door to go and refuel and recharge, leaving Gil to his vigil.

Days of rising and falling fevers saw them all pitching in to help. The infection still had a tight hold on Malcolm, his body putting up the fight of his life to burn it off. Gil gave a heavy sigh as he watched over Malcolm’s currently still form. The poor kid had been in and out of delirium over the last few days, causing him to relive his torture, over and over again. Thankfully the fever had lulled a little again with his latest dose of medication and he was seeming to get some truly restful sleep. Gil just hoped it would be enough to see him beat the infection that raged within.

Gil dipped the prepared cloth in the cool water in the bowl beside him and wiped away the trickle of sweat that ran down from Malcolm’s brow down the side of his cheek. Malcolm's tense exhale and incoherent murmurings pained him greatly. He still didn’t know how he would be able to protect him from his Father. He and JT had talked at length about what they could do to the building and JT had already been working on the motion cameras, proximity alarm and reinforcing the doors and deadbolts on all the entries. Ultimately though, anyone determined enough would get in eventually and Gil knew that Malcolm’s Father was more than determined. Gil had been reluctant, but in the end he had agreed to JT’s suggestion that they needed non-lethal weapons to stop them if they got in. He didn’t want to start a war with the Merkin, but there was no way he would let that madman have Malcom back in his clutches after what he had done to him.

Gil continued to cool Malcolm’s fevered skin with slow and measured strokes of the cool damp clothes. He quietly spoke with him and told him of some of his adventures on the water throughout his career. He hoped that the familiar voice would at least get through to him and help keep him calm while his body battled on with the fever. As time ticked on since his last dose, his peaceful rest came to an end. Gil watched on in concern as Malcolm’s murmurs became broken words and his gentle twitches became thrashes that he had him needing to hold him in place, lest he toss himself off the bed. When Edrisa and the rest of the team came racing into the room after Malcolm let loose a scream that pierced through all of them, Gil knew that what they were doing was not going to be enough. They needed to make some tough decisions.

Gil looked up to his team standing around the bed, meeting each of their gazes, then took a deep breath before directing them on the next steps to save their friend.

“Get the rubber boat ready, we need to get him in the water. This fever needs to be broken before he cooks himself from the inside out,” Gil told them as he wiped the damp cloth across Malcolm’s red and fever flushed skin, while Malcolm cried out and pushed at Gil’s helping hands.

Edrisa stepped up to the bed to help him, her face drawn and pale, exhaustion making her eyes heavy and glassy.

“But Gil, the transition could be too much for him. The amount of energy he expends with each change could use up all the reserves of strength he has and we…we could…he could die,” Edrisa pleaded with him as she dropped to the edge of the bed and reached out a tentative hand to touch Malcolm’s fevered skin. Her sharp hiss at the touch, just renewed Gil’s resolve.

“You know we are past having a choice Edrisa,” Gil replied gently as he squeezed her hand.

Dani stepped up to the end of the bed, her gaze flickering between Malcolm’s restless form and Gil’s.

It felt like a knife to Gil’s heart when he saw Dani’s tough resolve of the last fews days shatter and tears started to slip down her cheeks as she looked at him as if he was asking her to kill him herself. He felt his heart clench tight in his chest when she dropped to the end of the bed and gripped onto Malcolm’s ankles as if it was the only thing keeping her upright.

“The fever is going to kill him if this goes on. We have to try,” Gil pressed, his plea backed by a painful moan from Malcolm as he shifted restlessly beside them.

JT nodded at him tightly, his face a stone mask that Gil knew was a lie. He had watched the man tending to Malcolm yesterday when he thought no one was watching. His soft assurances to the young Merkin that they would keep him safe while he fought on showed him just how much Malcolm had wormed his way into the tacturn man’s heart.

Dani startled them all when she suddenly jumped up from her spot on the end of the bed.

“Wait! When Capshaw’s team were testing him. There was a point where he didn’t transition even though he was in the water. Maybe if we put him in shallow water and just run some over the rest of him, he won’t transition?” Dani told them as she fidgeted in place, wringing her hands in front of her as she looked at all of them and finally settled her gaze on Gil.

He stared back at her for a moment and gave her an encouraging nod.

“We have no other options, so let’s give it a try. JT, get the dingy ready while we get Malcolm ready,” Gil directed as he shifted to standing.

“Sure boss, I got it,” JT confirmed before striding out of the room quickly.

Edrisa looked between Dani and Gil, her face pensive in the way she got when she was thinking of some tangent her mind had taken her on. Gil gave her a moment before prompting her.

“Edrisa? You look like you might have an idea, what is it?” Gil asked, flicking a hopeful glance to Dani who was also looking at Edrisa with a spark that hadn’t been there in at least a day.

“Dani? Did they ever test him in freshwater, or was it just salt water?” Edrisa asked, her brows pinched heavily in thought.

Dani shook her head a little as she responded, “only salt water. They were going to try fresh, but he passed out before they could,” Dani replied, a small shudder running through her as she did. Gil gave her a sympathetic smile, knowing that the memories from that time were still raw for her.

Edrisa gave a small smile and a nod, “we should use fresh water. I have a theory about what triggers his transition. Hopefully, I’m right and we can get him submerged and not trigger him changing,” she said in a rush, hurrying out the door after JT.

Gil looked to Dani and knew that the glimmer of hope he could see in her eyes was reflected in his when she gave him a tentative flicker of a smile before bending to start readying Malcolm to move. Gil quickly joined her and made sure the sheets were out of the way so that they could lift him easily when Edrisa and JT let them know the dinghy was ready.

It was another ten minutes before JT came back in to tell them it was ready for him. Gil met his gaze and reluctantly stepped back when JT gave him a stern look when he volunteered to carry Malcolm out.

“No offense intended Boss, but probably best if I do it,” JT chided him gently, his small smile softening the rebuke a little.

Gil rolled his eyes at him and stepped aside. They all winced when Malcolm cried out as JT slipped his arms under his shoulders and adjusted Malcolm in his arms as he stood up with him. Gil stepped up and squeezed JT’s shoulder in reassurance as Malcolm continued to moan in pain at the movement.

“Let’s get him in the water,” Gil told them, following JT out of the room into the warehouse to where the rubber dinghy was waiting, filled halfway with water.

Edrisa was standing next to the dinghy, her hands gripping the water hose with a white knuckled grip. When Gil nodded to her as they came up to the rubber boat she swallowed heavily, her face a mask of panic and fear.

Gil circled the boat and pulled her into his side, giving a hug of support.

“He’ll be ok. He has to be,” Gil told her before letting her go, her teary nod up at him did little to reassure his own racing heart that was betraying his own panic at what they were about to do.

Dani stepped in beside him and gripped his hand tight as JT slowly lowered Malcolm into the water. None of them were prepared for his instant reaction to the room temperature water.

JT almost toppled in after him when Malcolm started to scream, thrash and claw at whatever he could to try and get out of the water.

”B..rns…PLEASE!” Malcolm’s broken cry as his thrashing slowed as his energy drained from him, broke Gil’s heart.

He dropped to his knees beside the dinghy and did his best to keep Malcolm in the water and reassure him that it was to help him, not hurt him.

Gil looked around at all of their stricken faces as they all knelt around the boat, everyone one of them touching Malcolm somehow, trying to reassure him that he was going to be ok.

Slowly but surely he started to settle into the water, his movement gradually stilling until he was limply resting in their collective arms, his head and shoulders resting on the wall of the dinghy.

They all let out a gasp as his eyes fluttered open and he slowly looked to each of them. His eyes focussed a little more with each sweep of his eyes around the group until he finally gave a soft smile to Gil who was beside his shoulders.

“Hey there? You with us Kid?” Gil encouraged him softly as he pushed back the hair that had clung to Malcolm’s wet cheek.

Malcolm blinked up at him and sighed softly, “yeah. You…saved me.”

Gil had to swallow down the tears that threatened to spill as he watched Malcolm’s eyes flutter shut again, his face peaceful and content.

“Yeah Kid, we got you,” Gil replied, his voice tight and strained as he looked to the rest of the team who were all struggling to contain their own emotion. Dani and Edrisa had lost the battle and were openly crying as they each tried to reassure themselves by touching him. Gil nearly came undone when he saw Malcolm’s hand squeeze Dani’s when she took up his hand in hers.

Gil gave Edrisa’s shoulder a quick pat as she openly sobbed beside him.

“Well done. Looks like your theory was right,” Gil told her with a smile. Her beaming smile back at him through her tears made him chuckle a little. That was enough to break the tension for all of them and they all ended up chuckling through happy tears. JT was the only one who managed to hold his in, but Gil could see through his continued grip on the kid’s shoulder that he cared just as much as the rest of them what happened to this amazing young man that had literally dropped in their lives. He wasn’t sure how they would do it, but no matter what they would protect him however they could and give him a chance to build the life for his kin that he had envisioned. Even if that meant facing off against his powerful Father.

He was one of them now and they always fought for their family.

Chapter Text

In the ruins of Atlantis

Martin snarled as his repeated questions produced the same answer over and over from the small crumpled figure curled in on itself in front of him.

The days of relentless questioning and use of torture to encourage a different answer did nothing but get him screams and cries that they didn’t know.

Martin finally signalled to the other guardsmen to free the pathetic figure before him. The man clearly didn’t know who had rendered him unconscious and stole away with his Son. If he did, Martin was positive he would have broken by now.

“Treat his wounds and take him back to the barracks. I want him off my Guardsman’s duty indefinitely. If he couldn’t keep a prisoner, he clearly isn’t much of a Guardsman. Give him to the Queen for house staff. Triton himself knows the woman needs an army of helpers to keep the household running the way she wants it. Surely he can manage that,” Martin directed the nearest Guardsman, who nodded to him solemnly and quickly and efficiently bundled the whimpering man upright and headed toward the Colony.

Martin whipped his tail in frustration. Days had passed and he still didn’t know who had helped his Son escape. There was no way Malcolm could have done it without help. He had been weak and barely able to hold himself up in his restraints when he had disappeared. No, Martin knew he had been helped and by someone who had access to the innermost workings of his Guardsman. Otherwise there is no way for them to have known where he was holding him. Martin would find them, even if he had to torture each and everyone of his Guardsman until he knew who had betrayed him so severely. Then they would pay with their lives. In the meantime, he needed to find his Son again. He had his most loyal Guardsman, the ones he trusted with his life, searching the caves and any hollow he could possibly be hiding in, but so far there were no traces of him. Martin had his land dwellers staking out the warehouse of the Human’s Malcolm had befriended, but so far there was no sign of him, but Martin was almost certain that’s where he would eventually turn up.

Martin glared at the abandoned bindings that had held his errant Son and vowed he would get him back no matter what it took.

In the Palace of Triton

Jessica turned away from the door, willing back the threatening tears as Adolpho left her alone and went to tend to his friend Lenard, who had sacrificed so much to save her Son. She had not been able to spare him her Husband’s wrath, but she would do what she could to protect him from here on for his loyalty to his rightful King.

Jessica stared up at the portrait of the first King of Triton.

Her many Greats Grandfather.

Fate had intervened in her family becoming the ruling family of Triton. Every last heir to the Altantian throne had been killed in the saking of Atlantis. Leaving the Merkin scrambling for power in the vacuum that remained in the ruins.

The Milton’s had been a powerful family for many generations and could be traced back to when records began. They had a number of strong allies within the elite that survived, and so made the swift ascent to rulers of the kingdom of Triton with only a couple of deaths if the journals of one of her Great Grandfathers can be believed. His stories were often outlandish and surely embellished, so Jessica wasn’t sure if his accounts of those turbulent days were true. He was also a mere child at the time and recounting it as an adult, so likely only getting his information from gossiping servants and the like and from long distant memories. The end result was still the same, her family became the new royal family, with each first born male heir ascending to the throne upon the death of the previous.

Sadly Jessica being born and her Mother not producing any other live offspring from that point on, left her Father in a difficult situation, divorce her Mother and remarry and produce a true heir, or marry her off and have her offspring ascend after his passing instead. She should be thankful that her Father loved her Mother enough that he didn’t see divorcing her as an option and trusted her enough to produce an heir for him instead.

She had begged her Father to let her marry Martin. He hadn’t been from the best family, but what he lacked in standing he made up for in charm and looks. Her Father had reluctantly agreed and had to do a lot of work to appease some ruffled feathers of the other elite families who had expected Jessica to be married off to one of them.

Jessica can only regret not listening to her Father now. His and her Mother’s sudden death when Malcolm was barely two years old had rocked her at the time and she had allowed Martin to manipulate her into taking on the throne as regent until Malcolm came of age to take his birthright. She had then let him accumulate power while she wallowed in her misery of losing her loving parents. Now all she could wonder is whether their deaths had been the accident everyone believed them to be. There had been whispers of course, but nothing of substance, but if she was honest, she had been using the drugs too much to really take proper notice. Just like she had failed to notice the atrocities her Husband was commiting on the back of her family’s power and failed to notice the horrors he had been doing to their only son.

Jessica closed her eyes at the pain that pulled at her chest at the thought of what she had allowed to happen while she drugged away her pain. How she had failed as a parent to protect her Son from the horror that was her Husband and his Father.

She could only be thankful that Martin’s attempts to have another child after Malcolm’s “betrayal” had failed. She knows now, if she had another son, Martin wouldn’t have hesitated to replace Malcolm with them and shape them into the ruler he wanted.

Jessica shuddered at the thought of the suffering Malcolm went through at his Father’s hands. She desperately wanted to be with him and care for him and finally show him properly that she did love him with all her heart. She wanted to apologise for missing so much of what was going on and not stopping it.

Since Malcolm’s escape, Adolpho had been slowly filling her in on what had really been going on over the last couple of decades while she was in a haze of drugs and depression at being in a loveless marriage. Oh Martin had tried in the beginning and made a good showing of being a devoted Husband to her, but as time went on and her drug taking grew, his disdain and distance did also. Then the affairs had started. Well she thought it had been affairs, but now she knew it was much, much worse than that. He had been killing his own people. Torturing them to ensure his rule and control was unequalled.

Jessica swallowed back the tears that threatened. She didn’t deserve to fall apart. She had lived in a palace, surrounded by opulence and decadence while her people had suffered and her own Son had suffered. No, she would not allow herself the self indulgence of despair or tears. She would be strong for Malcolm, to be his ally when he needed it the most and would stand up to her Husband for her people when she needed to. Right now, she needed to maintain the facade and keep the mask of an alcohol-addled Queen oblivious to her Husband’s horrors while Malcolm recovered. Once he was ready, she would help him take his throne back from his Father, who had stolen it from him in the first place by changing the regency to allow him to rule until his death.

She was a Milton and Milton’s didn’t let anyone walk over them or take what could and should be theirs.

At the Arroyo Research Centre

“Take it easy. You don’t need to rush it,” Gil chided him as Malcolm pushed himself up from the bed and staggered slightly on his still unsteady and weakened limbs.

Malcolm rolled his eyes at his friend. Gil, Dani, JT and Edrisa, they had been with him around the clock. Catering to every one of his needs without hesitation or complaint as he slowly recovered and his body gradually healed.

Now he was just frustrated. He was sick and tired of being stuck in his bed. He wanted to help. Prepare for what was no doubt coming when his Father figured out where he had gone.

Gil had refused his offer of leaving and finding somewhere else to hole up. He had told him in no uncertain terms that if his Father was coming for him, he would have to get through all of them first. Malcolm had contemplated just leaving to try and keep them safe, but the thought of leaving them all to the whims of his Father had him discarding that idea in seconds.

“For the hundredth time, I’m okay Gil,” Malcolm assured him as he waved off the man’s outstretched hands to steady him.

Gil gave him a scowl that he was growing accustomed to seeing directed at him when Gil thought he was being an idiot.

“Your definition of okay and mine are two very different things, Kid,” Gil replied, shaking his head at him.

“Go and get your stubborn ass fed and if that doesn’t wipe you out then you can stay up in the kitchen area while we work,” Gil offered him as he walked close beside him, his hands at the ready to grab him if he stumbled.

Malcolm gave him a scowl in return and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other without stumbling. It was harder than he thought it would be if he was honest, but he wasn’t going to let Gil know that any time soon.

When they finally reached the kitchen area, Malcolm dropped into one of the chairs, his breath coming in heavy pants and his legs trembling at the exertion.

Gil gave him a raised brow and a sigh as he watched him work to catch his breath.

“Okay, so okay might be a minor exaggeration, but I will be, I promise,” Malcolm attempted to mollify him, giving him his best pup look that he had perfected against his nannies when he was young.

Gil's fond smile and head shake at him proved that he hadn’t lost all his manipulation skills in his convalescence.

“I know you are eager to do more, but you’ve been through a lot Malcolm. Don’t rush it. I don’t want to see you stuck back in that bed because you push yourself too hard too fast, okay?” Gil tried to reason with him.

Malcolm grudgingly nodded his head, well aware how close he had come to succumbing to the infection that had ravaged his body. It was only thanks to Edrisa and the rest of the team's care that he had made it through the ordeal. He didn’t want to ruin all their efforts being stupid, but he also couldn’t lay in the bed for another day.

“If I eat all my breakfast can I go out and visit Sunshine? I miss her,” Malcolm asked, his face sombre as his thoughts turned to his bird friend who would sing to him from her tree when he would sit out under her tree branches and feed her treats.

Gil sighed and pinched at the bridge of his nose. Malcolm had seen him do this more and more as Malcolm’s recovery progressed and he asked for more and more leniency in his restrictions.

“What if they see you out there? Your Father could have his spies anywhere. I don’t think we should risk it,” Gil replied, his voice tight with his worry.

Malcolm sat up straighter in his chair and gave Gil his full attention.

“I can wear the really big hat and big and bulky clothes so they will never know it’s me,” Malcolm tried to bargain.

“If it’s not one of us and looks like someone trying to hide, who do you think they will assume it is?” Gil asked him with an incredulous look.

Malcolm had the sense to look contrite and huffed out a resigned sigh, as he looked away dejectedly. He knew what Gil was saying made sense, but he was sick of being a prisoner in this building, in his room. He just wanted to spend a little while in the sun. He knew that the sunshine on his healing skin would feel heavenly and it would mean he would have something else to look at beside the walls in his room.

“I understand, but…I can’t stay in here forever,” Malcolm replied, his voice quiet and low as his thoughts turned back to his Father and what was likely ahead. He didn’t know how this could possibly end with anything but a confrontation and that was not something he wanted his friends to be in the middle of if he could help it. Maybe leaving was the right thing to do after all. Though, that wouldn’t stop his Father hurting his friends to find out where he had gone, even if he didn’t tell them and spirited away in the night, that wouldn’t stop his Father torturing them to make sure.

Malcolm dropped his head into his hands and pulled at his hair in frustration.

“I just want this to be over and no one in danger anymore because of me,” Malcolm grumbled, dropping his hands into his lap and gripping at his thighs until his knuckles turned white in his anger.

Malcolm looked up into concerned brown eyes as he felt Gil’s hand rest lightly on his shoulder, the older man crouched down in front of him.

“Kid, if I could make your Father leave you alone without putting any of us in danger, I would do it in a heartbeat,” Gil told him as he gently rubbed at his shoulder, conscious of his healing wounds.

Malcolm dropped his gaze with a small nod. His chest panging with his pent up fear and concern for his friends caught up in his mess.

“I don’t see that Father of yours stopping until we stop him….permanently,” Gil finished with a mutter, his face pinched almost in pain.

Malcolm looked at him in shock, never believing that his friend would ever suggest…killing his Father.

Gil shook his head and held up his hands in submission.

“No, no. Not like that. I would never condone killing someone. I just mean, we are going to have to face him and talk through what will happen from here and what you are willing and not willing to do and what we will do to help you enforce that,” Gil tried to assure him.

Malcolm looked at him in confusion. How would talking to his Father solve this. His Father was hell bent on Malcolm bowing to him and following his direction. He couldn’t see how they would be able to convince his Father to let him live his own life in peace.

“I don’t understand, how would we ever convince my Father to let me go?” Malcolm asked as he took in his friend's tense and concerned expression.

“I don’t know yet, but I think if we can make him understand that if he doesn’t let you go, we’ll expose Merkin to the world. He might agree, on the condition that you stay hidden,” Gil replied, his expression grim as he looked away from him.

“What? But that defeats the whole purpose of coming to the surface and trying to…” Malcolm responds almost jumping to his feet in his disbelief, but aborting the action with a groan as his wounds and over taxed muscles cried out their displeasure at that action.

Gil’s face creases in concern and he pushes Malcolm back into his seat with a sigh.

“Steady. I know you want to see our species working together and so do I, but if holding off on that saves you, then it would be worth the wait,” Gil urges him, his hand gently squeezing Malcolm’s neck in reassurance.

Malcolm concedes reluctantly with a small nod, before slumping back into the chair. Regretting it instantly when the still open wounds on his back pain him.

“Aah, yeah. Don’t do that,” Malcolm yelped as he sat back up in his chair, his face pinched with his misery at both his body’s betrayal and his current predicament.

“We’ll figure it out Kid. Rest, recover and we’ll tackle the issue of your Father when we have to. The stronger you are when that happens the better,” Gil told him with a frown as he stood from his crouch and moved to prepare Malcolm a meal.

Malcolm didn’t want to admit it, but Gil was right. It might be his dream to see Merkin and Human’s working alongside each other in the open, but if waiting on that meant he and his friends could be safe, then he would do what he had to.

From that point on, Malcolm begrudgingly did as he was told and rested as much as he possibly could. Within a couple of days he was feeling much stronger and was able to help out with simple tasks around the warehouse. Malcolm had been steadily working on Gil’s resolve about letting him have some sunshine time and finally after days of pleading and coming up with as many safeguards as he could, Gil finally relented.

Malcolm lifted his face to the sun as he stepped out of the back of the warehouse, standing in the alleyway between the two large warehouses that made up the research complex. The warm rays on his cheeks felt glorious after days of being cooped up in the warehouse and over a week underwater before that. The sunglasses meant the light didn’t hurt his eyes and he could enjoy the radiant heat on his skin without having to be blind to it as well.

“Come on, sit down. I know you are much better, but it’s not worth overdoing it and setting yourself back,” Dani urged him as she pushed a chair up behind him before hovering beside him when he finally sat.

Malcolm grinned up at her, enjoying the halo that the sun created around her beautiful curls as she stood over him.

“You fuss too much, I’m fine,” Malcolm teased her as she rolled her eyes at him with a smile of her own.

“Thank you for helping to convince Gil to let me come out here. It’s beautiful, just like you,” Malcolm thanked her with a blush as her face made a complicated series of expressions that seemed to land on pleased.

“Ah, thanks. I’m glad you are okay. It was hard to watch you so unwell,” Dani replied, her expression dropping as she obviously thought about the days that Malcolm had been fighting off his infection and it was touch and go.

Malcolm reached out and grabbed her hand giving it a small squeeze of support.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that with me, but thank you for everything you and the others did for me. I wouldn’t have made it without you all,” Malcolm thanked her, giving her hand another squeeze before letting it go to stare back up into the bright light of the noon day sun.

Malcolm had almost completely zoned out in his enjoyment of the sun when he heard a familiar trill coming from the roof of the back warehouse.

“SUNSHINE!” Malcolm called out in delight. The bright yellow bird darted down and dropped onto his outstretched hand at his call.

“Shhh, what if someone hears you and recognises your voice,” Dani said in alarm, looking around them to try and see if anyone was about, but all that could be seen was the metal fence that surrounded the complex.

“Sorry, I was just excited to see Sunshine. I didn’t think I would get to see her out here,” Malcolm apologised as he gently scritched under Sunshine tilted head.

Dani sighed at him and gave him an exasperated smile.

“I’ll get her feed. Don’t move,” Dani demanded as she pointed her finger at him with a sceptical look.

“What? I wasn’t going anywhere. Sunshine is comfortable. I won’t disturb her,” Malcolm replied with a grin and another scratch to Sunshine’s head feathers. The responding trill from Sunshine told them both that she intended to keep Malcolm’s full attention while she had it.

“Don’t let him get up Sunshine. There’s a good bird,” Dani told the bird with a wink to Malcolm.

Malcolm just chuckled at her and went back to cooing and scratching at Sunshine’s neck feathers.

It was a beautiful day all round. If only it could stay that way indefinitely.

Chapter Text

Malcolm watched as Gil and JT finished fitting the additional bolts to the doors and windows of the main warehouse. He hated that all of this was because of him. That they were in lockdown because of him.

Dani was basically living at the facility at this stage and refused to go home other than to get fresh clothing and to water her plants. She had told Malcolm he shouldn’t feel guilty about it. That it wasn’t his fault. That it was his Father’s doing, but ultimately if he hadn’t stumbled into their net that fateful day, they wouldn’t be going through any of this. So yes, he considered it his fault and didn’t know what to do to make it better.

Physically he was much better, still weak and needing to rest a lot more than he liked but overall he could pretty much do what he was doing before…well before his Father had him tortured. Malcolm shuddered as flashes of the days he spent at the hands of his Father’s torturers flashed across his vision, intermingled with images of Gil and JT packing up their tools and admiring their hard work. Soon the memories of his torture were completely blotting out the world around him. His heart hammered in his chest, his breaths quick and shallow as the world narrowed to pain and hatred and suffering.

Just as the world’s edges started to blacken and sway in time with his breaths, he felt small hands clasp onto his trembling ones and heard his name called in alarm.

“Malcolm, hey! Come on, you’re ok. Listen to my voice. Can you hear my voice?” Dani called to him, the sound of it was distant, almost like they were underwater.

That thought instantly increased his panic, he struggled to get free of the confining hands holding on to his.

“No…please…stop,” Malcolm panted out between gasped breaths as he struggled to get free as his mind supplied image after image of his capturers taking delight as they beat him and wretched at the spines that had covered his body. The phantom pains spiked with each racing beat of his heart across his skin.

Suddenly his hands were free, but before he could stagger away and truly get free, he was wrapped up in a bundle of arms and a familiar scent that instantly brought a sense of safety and calm.

“Malcolm, hey, it’s me, it’s Dani. You’re free, no one will hurt you here. I promise,” Dani whispered into his ear. The warmth of her breath against the shell of his ear helped to ground him.

Malcolm clung to her, his hands gripping tight to her shirt as the images continued to slam into him, but with less force and more faded than they were moments ago. His breaths still felt like he was sipping them through a straw and he held on tight, afraid that his trembling legs would give way under him any moment.

“It’s just me. You’re ok. Come on back to me, hey?” Dani murmured to him, her arms hugging him tight as she tucked his head over her shoulder so her hair was brushing against his cheek.

Slowly, breath by breath, he stilled his panic and the images flickered and faded into their usual background noise in his head. After a few minutes he was able to trust his legs to hold him upright again and he gently pulled away, ducking his head to avoid her scared and searching eyes.

Her fingers bumped under his chin so he had no choice but to look up into her glassy eyes.

“Hey? You ok now?” Dani asked, her voice shaky and tight before she cleared her throat and swallowed hard.

“We’ve got you, Kid,” Gil told him as his hand squeezed the back of his neck and pulled him into his side.

Malcolm nodded to them both, not trusting that his voice wouldn’t betray his turbulent emotions and see him break the dam holding back the terror of his time in his Father’s hands.

JT met his gaze from across the room and gave him a curt nod of support. It was almost enough to knock down his walls, but he pulled in a deep shaky breath and nodded back.

He would not let his Father control him from afar. It was bad enough that the man had controlled him for so much of his life already. Taking in another deep breath that was marginally less shaky then the previous, he risked using his voice.

“Thanks…all of you. You don’t know how much this all means to me. I’m…” Malcolm went to apologise, but was cut off by Gil before he could.

“No, you do not need to thank us or apologise to us. You’re our friend, part of our family, and we take care of our family, no matter what,” Gil told him sternly as he squeezed the back of his neck in support once more.

Malcolm had to swallow down the tears that threatened and gave them all a pathetic attempt at a smile as he held on tight to his dignity.

“Come on. Let me make you some tea,” Dani told him with a smile and a wave to follow her.

Malcolm gave her a curious look and looked to Gil for answers.

“What’s tea?” Malcolm asked Gil as he went to follow Dani on his still slight trembling limbs.

Gil gave him a gentle smile that saw his eyes crease in that way that Malcolm now knew meant he was genuinely happy.

“It’s a drink made from leaves. Don’t worry, I think you’ll like it,” Gil assured him with a light pat to his shoulder.

“Leaves, like from the trees outside?” Malcolm asked as he paused in his walk over to Dani to look back at Gil incredulously.

JT gave him one of his ‘oh this will be fun looks’, but was shut down with a stern look from Gil and he just shrugged and moved onto putting the tool box away.

“Don’t worry about it Malcolm. I’m sure Edrisa will delight in telling you the history of tea anytime you have a spare few hours. Just go and try it. You’ll like it, I promise,” Gil told him with a shooing motion towards the kitchen.

Malcolm breathed in the new scent in the air as he moved closer to where Dani was waiting beside two steaming mugs.

He couldn’t help the shiver that ran through him as Dani turned and smiled at him with that soft small smile that he was starting to see was reserved for him. The warm feeling of safety and belonging spread through his chest and he found himself smiling back, all traces of his earlier panic gone, in the face of Dani’s warm attention.

“You ok?” Dani asked gently as she handed him over one of the steaming mugs. The warmth from the mug seeped into his hands as he cupped them around the mug and took a deep breath of the steam, the smell strangely calming and soothing on his frayed nerves. He gave Dani a small nod and a shy smile before taking a seat. His muscles were still weak and trembling after his moment of panic. Dani sat down opposite him and blew across her mug, the steam wafting around her face, softening her already beautiful features. Malcolm sighed softly as his heart panged with want to reach out and caress the soft cheeks that held her beautiful smile. Instead he gripped the mug a little tighter and dropped his gaze to the steam wafting up from his own mug. The tea didn’t look very inviting, it just looked like brown stained water, but the intriguing smell that had a hint of what he had come to learn was honey, was enough to entice him into taking a sip. The sharp burn on his lips and tongue almost saw him drop the mug from his hands.

“Shit, sorry. I should have put some cold water in yours. You have to let it cool a little. Are you ok?” Dani swore as she lent forward and braced his arm in comfort.

Malcolm licked at his burnt lips and gave her a small chuckle. He had seen her blow on hers, he should have realised with the steam coming off the hot drink that it would be too hot to drink. He felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment at once again being the idiot foreigner.

“I’ll be ok once my taste buds grow back I’m sure,” Malcolm joked, wanting to lighten the mood. He was sick of everyone worrying about him all the time. They had done enough for him already. He needed to stop being a burden and start being a helpful addition to the team again.

Dani chuckled back at him and gave him another one of her soft smiles that sent his heart rate skyrocketing. Dani gave him a curious look as he struggled to not fidget in his seat under her intense attention.

Malcolm took another sip of the sweet scalding liquid, suppressing the grimace as it once again burnt across his tongue. The burn was a good distraction from his galloping heart and treacherous emotions. Even though he was mostly positive that Dani had some feelings towards him. He was certain they weren’t even close to how intense his were and he wasn’t going to force her to show him if there was more there. He was a mess, who in their right mind would even consider a relationship with someone so broken. Not to mention the danger being around him brought to anyone near him. Dani had already been a victim to that and he would do whatever he had to, to stop that from happening again. Once again he considered leaving in the night and taking them out of the line of fire, but he didn’t know for certain that would see them safe. His Father was relentless and he would use any means necessary to find what he considered to be his. Malcolm sighed heavily, his mood once again dampened by the threat of his Father hanging over them all.
“Hey? It’ll be ok. I know you’re worried about your Dad, and I am too, but we won’t abandon you to him. You know that right?” Dani asked him, one of her hands gripping his holding his mug.

Malcolm looked down at her hand briefly before looking back up to meet her worried gaze.

“That’s exactly what I’m worried about. He won’t hesitate to go through you all to get to me and I don’t want to be responsible for any of you getting hurt to protect me. That would kill me,” Malcolm told her honestly, his gaze dropping to his slightly trembling hands at the thought of any of them being hurt by his Father’s relentless hunt to possess him.

Malcolm startled a little as he felt Dani’s hand cup his cheek as she crouched down in front of his chair.

“I don’t care what it takes, Malcolm. We will keep you safe from him this time. I promise,” Dani told him, her voice steely and determined.

Malcolm swallowed down the swell of emotion at her words. He didn’t know what to say to this beautiful woman that had come to mean so much to him in such a short time. If they all survived this, he vowed to try and be courageous and tell her how much he admired her and maybe even how much she meant to him. But first they had to survive this and honestly, he wasn’t sure that was a certainty.

In the Palace of Triton

Martin paced back and forth in front of his desk. He was awaiting news from his land dwellers. Guardsmen who had been hand picked many years ago to keep a watch on the surface and report on what was happening in the world above them. Over the last couple of decades his fears of the blatant disregard the surface dwellers had for their planet was becoming more and more obvious. Oh they made noises that they cared and wanted to change their destructive and uncaring ways, but their actions all proved otherwise. They still polluted their oceans, Merkins only home, with their toxic wastes that they couldn’t seem to do without. He knew his Son had grand dreams of uniting their kinds once again, but Martin knew it was a fool hardy dream. The Humans couldn’t change their ways to save themselves, why would they bother for another species? No, he would get his Son home and slowly but surely he would show him he was wrong in his quest for unification and would come on board with Martin’s plan to assure the safety of Merkin for generations to come. Malcolm wasn’t ready to hear how he would do this. He had only trusted this plan with a select few that understood that there were times when others had to die so that many could live on, but underneath it all, he knew that Malcolm had it in him to be the ruthless leader he needed to be to take Merkin into the future in safe hands. Martin just had to show him what lay within and bring it to the surface so he could use it to rule like the King he was meant to be and be the Son that he knew Malcolm could be.

Martin was broken from his musing at a rapid knock at his chambers door.

“Come,” Martin called out, as he moved to stand behind his desk, his hands bracing the back of his chair as he stared at the doorway.

His trusted surface dweller Guardsman slipped through the door, checking the room for others before closing the door quietly behind him.

“King Martin,” Watkins greeted him with a small bow of his head.

“John, what news do you bring me today?” Martin asked, his fingers flexing tightly into the hard back of the chair as he stared down his long time Guardsman.

“Good and bad my King. I believe Prince Malcolm is indeed being harboured by his Human friends. They have turned the warehouse into a fortress. I can think of only one reason they would do that right now,” John reported to him, his gaze intense as he held Martin’s own steely gaze.

Martin drew in a deep breath a writhing sea of emotion crossed his face in an instant. The wood of his chair creaked under the pressure of his hands as he clamped down on it as he worked to smother the rage boiling inside him at others keeping his Son from him.

“What do we have to retrieve him?” Martin hissed through his gritted teeth.

John’s predatory smile back at him had some of Martin’s rage uncoiling and settling back into simmering anger.

“I have everything we will need, my King. I have been preparing as you have requested for all these years. I have many Human tools at my disposal. They won’t know what hit them,” John replied with a sly grin that had Martin’s own lips twitching into a smile.

“Good work. Get a loyal team together and we’ll leave tonight. I’m assuming the cover of darkness would be best for what you have planned?” Martin asked, his curiosity pipped at what John had planned to get them into the Human compound where his Son was hidden.

“Yes, my King. Darkness will be our friend. I best be on my way to prepare my King. It’s a tight timeline you have us on, but one I think will work nicely. I’ll update you on our return,” John advised with a bow, preparing to leave the room.

“Oh no, I’ll be coming with you my loyal friend. My boy has become a problem that I wish to see resolved myself. I also want to see what has lured him to stay with the Humans, in particular the female he has so clearly become attached to. She could prove useful if he is stubborn in his learnings in the future,” Martin replied with a knowing look.

John nodded, an impressed smile creasing his breaded features briefly before he bowed again and left the room without another word..

Martin smiled to himself. Soon he would have his troublesome Son back where he belonged and a means to keep him in line until he understood his foolish dreams were just that and Martin’s way was the only way they could secure Merkin’s future. Yes, finally things were looking up.

i>At the Arroyo Research Centre

The quiet conversation between Gil and JT stopped as soon as Malcolm stepped up to where they were huddled around a large open cabinet. Malcolm frowned and tried to peer around them, but they both moved to block his view.

“What’s going on?” Malcolm asked, concern twisting his face into a frown.

Gil sighed and shared a brief glance with JT, who gave him a small nod back, before he faced Malcolm again, his expression pensive.

“We’re just trying to be as prepared as we can be,” Gil tried to assure him without actually telling him anything about what they were doing.

“Well that’s as much of a non answer as I’ve ever heard. Let me rephrase that. What are you hiding from me?” Malcolm asked, as he squared his shoulders and stared Gil down.

A flash of guilt flickered across Gil’s face before he sighed again and after a small shrug from JT that saw Gil roll his eyes at him, Gil faced him, hands on his hips and nodded.

“Ok, that’s fair. I guess it’s time we let you know how serious we think this is going to get,” Gil told him before stepping back from the cabinet and revealing what he and JT had been shielding him from.

Malcolm’s eyes widened as he took in the array of what he knew to be tranquiliser guns and tasers on the shelves. His eyes darted to both Gil and JT who just looked on solemnly without saying a word.

Malcolm swallowed heavily, he knew that he Father was dangerous, he had told his friends just how dangerous he could be, but to see the array of weapons before him made it all that bit more real.

“We don’t want to hurt anyone Malcolm, but we need a way to defend ourselves and keep you safe. This way, we can subdue them and then try to reason with them. If that doesn’t work, then we’ll figure it out from there, but at least with these we have a fighting chance of getting this to go our way,” Gil told him, his voice quiet and committed.

Malcolm nodded, stepping forward to touch the shiny black weapons, his hand trembling slightly as he touched the cool metal. Without turning or moving his hand he addressed them both.

“Do the others know?” he asked quietly as he continued to tentatively touch the collection of non-lethal weapons.

“Yeah, Edrisa helped us with the best tranquiliser darts to be most effective against Merkin,” Gil replied as he dropped his gaze and stared at the floor a second before meeting Malcolm’s distressed gaze again with a determined stare.

“We have to be ready Malcolm, you’re Father will figure out to come here eventually and we can’t be naive and think he won’t be able to get in with what we’ve done to fortify this place. He’s clearly had Merkin on the surface for some time, so there’s a good chance that they will be coming at us with more than what Merkin would usually have at their disposal,” Gil told him with a pitying stare that stung his pride and had Malcolm squaring his shoulders ready to push away any comfort Gil might be ready to offer.

“Look Kid, I know this must be hard for you. Stuck waiting for your Father to strike and little we can do to stop it. Let us help you. You aren’t in this alone. We want to see your Father stopped just as much as you do,” Gil assured him, not touching him, even though it was clear by his torn expression that he wanted to.

Malcolm sighed, his pride withering in the face of his friends' loyalty and care.

“Ok, but you’re gonna have to show me how to use them. I’m good with a venom blower, but these are a little beyond my Princely defence lessons,” Malcolm agreed with a self depreciating smile. He jumped slightly when JT gave his shoulder a heavy pat and slung an arm around his shoulder.

“Don’t you worry little buddy, I’ll have you shooting within a hand span range by this afternoon,” JT told him with a waggle of his eyebrow and an encouraging grin.

Malcolm couldn’t help but laugh at JT’s antics, the tension of the moment melting away as JT grabbed a couple of the tranquiliser guns and led him over to the opposite back corner of the warehouse. He looked back at Gil and was momentarily surprised to see a worried frown creasing his face for a second. It was gone in an instant and replaced with an encouraging smile, but Malcolm couldn’t help but feel unsettled at Gil’s apprehension. Did he think Malcolm wasn’t capable of learning how to use the weapons, or was it more that he didn’t want him to have to learn? Malcolm suspected it was the latter, but the nagging voice in his head fed his insecurity and made him unsure. He would just have to prove himself to his new mentor. Really Malcolm didn’t have a choice but to learn and learn fast. If he truly knew his Father, their time was rapidly running out before he would make his move, and his Father would make sure it counted. He needed to make sure his defence was even better.

Malcolm picked at the food on his plate, the nervous energy permeating the warehouse making his appetite disappear and be replaced with a low level nausea that made eating a chore.

He looked around the small table and saw that other than JT, none of them were eating much tonight. Obviously sensing Malcolm’s eyes on him, JT looked up at him with his fork halfway to his mouth.

“What? It’s good. You should get into it. You need the fuel man,” JT encouraged him and then looked around at everyone else’s mostly full plates and self consciously lowered his fork to his mostly cleared one.

“Sorry JT, I think we’re all feeling the strain of the last week. Don’t miss out on our account,” Gil prompted him as he pushed his own barely touched plate away towards the centre of the table.

“Something is off, I tell you. I don’t know what it is but, even the animals were jittery this afternoon. I’m gonna stay tonight, just in case you guys need me,” Edrisa replied earnestly, her speech rapid and heightened.

Dani smiled at her and squeezed her arm briefly, “you really don’t have to Edrisa, but you’re welcome if you want to.”

Edrisa beamed back at her, before her expression quickly dropped back to a worried frown as she looked around the warehouse, almost as if she expected to see someone else in the room.

JT rolled his eyes at her, “you are such a worry wart. This place is trussed up like fort knox. Only a tank is gonna get them through those doors now,” JT tried to assure her.

Edrisa’s gaze darting around all the exits of the building assured them all that she was not in the least bit appeased by this news and clearly now expected a tank to come rolling in through the side of the building.

“You don’t think they would…no, no, that’s stupid. Yeah, ok. I’m just gonna go check on the animals again. See if they are settled now,” Edrisa told them with a shake of her head, before jumping up and racing off to the back warehouse.

JT stood up, abandoning his dinner and motioned towards Edrisa’s retreating back with a jerk of his head.

“I’m just gonna make sure she doesn’t vibrate herself out of existence,” JT said with a roll of his eyes.

Malcolm suppressed a grin at JT’s quip and moved to collect the abandoned plates. Gil smiled softly at him and with a light pat to his shoulder, moved off to check all the entry and exits of the building.

“Here, let me help,” Dani motioned to him with her free hands and took two of the plates he was trying to hold in his arms.

They moved quietly in tandem, the familiar task soothing in its normalcy. By the time they had the dishes washed, dried and put away, he no longer felt like he too was going to vibrate out of his skin, his nerves still frayed but now longer feeling exposed and raw.

“Tea?” Dani asked him with a gentle touch to his elbow.

Malcolm gave her a shy smile and nodded before going to the cupboard to retrieve the mugs. Before he could place them safely on the bench, there was a quick series of muffled bangs at the front entrance and suddenly the door was hanging off mangled hinges, twisted and warped out of shape.

Time seemed to slow down as he stared frozen at the doorway as smoke and dust swirled through the air around it. Sharp beams of light pierced through the doorway into the belly of the warehouse as muffled voices could be heard from outside. Malcolm vaguely heard the sound of shattering ceramic across the concrete floor as his nerveless fingers lost their grip on the mugs he had been holding. It blended in with Gil and JT’s startled shouts from the rear of the warehouse, his heartbeat too loud in his ears to actually hear what they were saying.

Malcolm’s breath froze in his lungs as a black clad figure emerged through the swirling smoke and pushed in through the mangled door. As the smoke cleared the image of his Father striding towards him snapped him out of his stupor and he quickly pulled Dani to him and ran with her towards the cabinets at the back of the warehouse.

“Come now Malcolm, don’t you want to introduce me to your friends,” Martin’s voice ringing out throughout the warehouse had shivers of dread running down Malcolm’s spine.

Malcolm met Gil’s worried gaze as he handed him and Dani a taser and a tranq gun each. Malcolm nodded as he took the weapons. Stashing the taser in his pocket and checking the tranq gun’s chamber for darts.

JT patted his shoulder as he moved to stand next to him with his gun held loosely in his other hand.

“Let’s go show them that we ain’t gonna just roll over,” JT urged them all with a quick nod to Gil as he stepped up beside them.

Malcolm pulled in a sharp breath as they walked back towards his Father, who was standing in the middle of the warehouse, flanked by six of his elite Guardsmen. The cruel smiles across all their faces, telling him that they weren’t going down easy.

The clash itself went so fast that Malcolm barely realised it had begun before he was facing off his Father after stepping in between him and Dani.

“I won’t let you hurt her,” Malcolm snarled at Martin as he stood fast in front of Dani who was pushing at his shoulder to let her help.

“Malcolm, I can look after myself,” Dani growled in his ear, before pushing off his back and swinging around to fire a dart off at an advancing Guardsmen, the Merkin dropping in his tracks after a few more staggering steps.

“Don’t worry sweet thing, I won’t hurt him too much. I have plans for him and you,” Martin called out to Dani’s back as she glanced back at Malcolm and Martin as she moved to help Edrisa who was pinned behind her station by two Guardsmen. Edrisa’s attempts to hit them with her tranq darts, missing the mark spectacularly with every shot.

“Hold him off, I’ll be back to help you in a minute,” Dani called back to him as she ducked in behind the table with Edrisa.

Malcolm focussed back on his Father, alarmed when he realised that Martin had taken advantage of his slight distraction to get in closer, now within lunging distance with the large gleaming knife held in his hand. Malcolm quickly swapped out his tranq gun for his taser and made to fire it. Before he could step out of his Father's range and fire, Martin had lunged in with the knife. Malcolm had no time to try and step out of the way or fire the taser. He dropped the taser and grabbed his Father’s lunging wrist and frantically pushed the knife away from where it was heading straight for his side. His Father was clearly not expecting his speed in reaction and continued his lunge in towards Malcolm’s body. They both gasped in horror as the knife slid silently into Martin's upper abdomen, Martin’s momentum plunging it all the way to the hilt with barely any resistance.

“Dad!” Malcolm cried out as Martin looked at him with a shocked, but impressed expression. Malcolm could swear it was pride that was reflected back at him as his Father started to slip towards the floor and the knife pulled out, now firmly in Malcolm’s grip.

Malcolm’s breath stuttered in his lungs as he looked between the dripping red knife and the red stain quickly spreading out from beneath his Father’s sprawled form.

The knife clattered to the floor as his Father looked up at him and smiled, his teeth stained with blood as he coughed.

“My Boy…we are…the same…I knew the…killer instinct…was in there. Proud of…you,” Martin rasped out at him. His breaths ragged and strained as blood spilled down his cheek as he spoke, his words punctuated by choking coughs.

Malcolm dropped to ground, the strike of his knees against the concrete not even registering as he watched the blood pooling faster and faster around his Father’s body.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no” Malcolm chanted as he crawled over to him and pressed down hard on the gushing wound in his Father’s belly. Unbidden tears blurred his vision as he begged for it not to be true.

“My Boy,” Martin rasped out once more as his bloody hand reached up and cupped Malcolm’s cheek, before he breathed out a gurgling sigh and his whole body slumped in death.

“NO!!!” Malcolm screamed as he watched the light go out of his Father’s eyes and his world crashed in around him. The touches of sounds and sights of the rest of the warehouse blurred and dim as he took in what he had done, what he had become…a killer...just like his Father.

Chapter Text

It took some time for the world to come back in and for Malcolm to register anything but his dead Father beside him.

He leaned back onto his hunches, and stared down at his shaking, blood-caked hands resting on his thighs. His Father’s blood, blood that he had spilled. His Father who he had killed and all he could say to him was that he was finally proud of him for becoming a killer.

Malcolm lurched to his feet and stumbled a few feet before dropping back to his knees and retching violently. His whole body spasmed with each new heave, nothing coming up after the first few rounds, but the crippling spasms seemed to go on endlessly until he was choking and gasping in breaths between retching coughs.

“Hey, Malcolm, hey. You’re ok. It’s gonna be ok. Just breath,” Gil’s voice drifted in between choking gasps for breath. The calm and gently urging as his hand rubbed across Malcolm’s back doing as much to settle him as the soothing rub of his hand. Slowly the retches stopped and he was left panting and gagging occasionally between gulps of air.

“That’s it, slow it down. You’re ok. We got you,” Gil’s voice was soothing and gentle as his hands braced Malcolm’s shuddering shoulders as he gasped in each breath.

“Breath with me. That’s it. Nice and slow. You’re ok. It’s alright,” Gil urged him as he pulled him into his side so that he could feel Gil’s slow and deliberate breaths against his own shuddering chest. Gradually his breaths slowed into an almost steady rhythm and the gagging stopped.

“I got him, boss. Go help Dani with Edrisa,” JT’s steady and solid presence was suddenly on his other side, his large hands bracing Malcolm’s arm and shoulder as he pulled him to stand.

The world spun around him a couple of times before it steadied and he could look around himself without falling. He couldn’t help the small whimper that left him as his eyes skimmed over his Father’s blood drenched body, his stomach lurching slight before he swallowed it down.

“It’s ok. I got you. Come on. Let’s get you away from this so you can calm down properly, yeah?” JT told him, suddenly standing in front of him and blocking his view of his Father.

Malcolm blinked at him a couple of times before croaking out what had filtered through his foggy brain.

“Edrisa?” Malcolm asked, his mind finally catching up with what JT had said earlier.

JT gave him a rueful smile and nodded over to where Dani and Gil were tending to an unconscious Edrisa.

“She’s ok, caught a misfired tranq dart. The woman can’t aim for shit in a panic state. She’ll probably have a hell of a headache, but she’ll be fine,” JT told him as he herded him towards his room and away from the chaos in the warehouse.

“The Guardsmen?” Malcolm asked, his chest constricting and his breaths speeding up again at the thought of his Father’s elite fighters loose.

“All having a long nap. Long enough for me to get you sorted before I need to have them all tied up. Now focus on you and get your backside in that bed,” JT reprimanded him as he pushed him gently through the door towards his bed. Malcolm tried to resist his efforts, but his trembling limbs were no match for JT’s herding skills.

“But…I…I need…my…,” Malcolm choked on his words as he thought again about what he had done. The tears that had been silently falling down his face all this time became sobs and his legs dropped out from under him as he was pushed back onto the bed.

“Rest and focus on just breathing. One breath at a time, nice and slow,” JT encouraged him, as he pulled up the blankets and slipped an extra pillow under his feet. Malcolm could feel his whole body trembling as he fought to get his breaths back under control and tears to stop.

“You’ll be ok. Trust me. Just breathe,” JT assured him before sitting beside him and placing his large palm on his chest and started to count out his breaths.

“One…two…three…four…in. One…two…three…four…out,” JT’s soothing voice pushed out all the thoughts tumbling over each other in his head. Eventually he was able to slow his breaths until he felt his clenched and shaking muscles start to let go and the shivering fade.

“Just close your eyes. It’s ok now. I got you. Just rest,” JT’s quiet rumbling voice urged his heavy eyelids shut, until they were too heavy to open again and he was out.

The first thing he felt was fingers running through his hair, over and over. It was so soothing that it almost lulled him back into sleep. That was until the image of his Father taking his last breath in a pool of his own blood flashed through his mind. He jolted upright with a gasp, almost knocking heads with Dani who had been the one stroking his hair.

“Oh hey, you’re ok. Just breathe for me,” Dani urged him as her small hands held onto his heaving shoulders as he fought to catch his breath. A tight band constricted his chest as flash after flash of him stabbing his Father, blood pouring from the wound as his Father looked at him in shock and then awe, before he fell to his knees in a pool of his own blood, cycled over and over in his head. His breath only came in short shallow gaps as the images assaulted him over and over and Dani’s increasingly panicked voice faded out to white noise.

A sharp pain on his cheek, brought the cycle of images to a stuttering halt and he startled to look at Dani, her trembling hand raised between them. He blinked at her as he slowly raised his hand to his now, stinging cheek, trying to fathom what just happened.

“Sorry, sorry. You just…I…I didn’t…sorry. You with me now?” Dani apologised, stumbling over her words and biting at her lip.

Malcolm blink at her again, the tight band now released from his chest so that fresh air poured into his lung as he drew in deep shuddering breaths. He closed his eyes and allowed the last few minutes to process as he could finally breathe freely again.

“Sorry,” he panted as he looked back at her. He wasn’t sure what he had done in his confusion, but knew it was his fault somehow.

Dani shook her head at him, her eyes glassy and full of sorrow.

“You didn’t do anything wrong Malcolm. You were caught in a panic attack. I…I didn’t…I couldn’t get you out. So I hit you. I…I’m sorry,” Dani apologised to him again. Malcolm saw a small tear slip free and run down her cheek, before she ducked her head away and brushed it off with a huff.

“Thank you…for helping me…for being here. I’m sorry you…you have to…ah…deal with me,” Malcolm told her gratefully, trying to convey just how much he appreciated that she had basically put her life on hold for him since he had dropped into her life.

Dani sighed with a sad smile, “only you would thank me for hitting you.” Her hand reached out towards his face, her fingertips just brushing against his cheek, when JT bustled into the room. Her hand snatched back into her lap, almost like touching him had burnt her and she pulled away back into her seat.

“Oh hey, you’re up…ah…yeah…so Gil wants to speak with you about a few things. Think you're up for it?” JT asked him, his eyes flickering between the two of them. Dani’s face was flushed a pretty dusty pink and she wouldn’t meet either of their eyes. Malcolm was about to ask her what was wrong when she cleared her throat and jumped up from her seat, giving Malcolm a quick half hearted smile before racing out the door.

JT’s eyes followed her before coming back to look at Malcolm with raised brows.

“Ooookay then. Sorry about ruining the moment, but there are some important things to discuss, that just can’t wait,” JT told him with an awkward smile.

Malcolm looked at him in confusion, completely at a loss on what to say to Dani’s abrupt departure. Had he offended her? He had no idea what he did wrong. He dropped his head to stare at his lap, why did he always make things worse?

“Hey? Malcolm, don’t go drifting off into that head of yours again. I know you got a lot going on, but we have to deal with this ok?” JT urged him, dropping to a crouch beside his bed and squeezing his shoulder.

Malcolm looked over to him with a heavy sigh, unable to pull his face into a smile for the man who had tried to be his friend.

“I’m sorry,” Malcolm whispered and mechanically went about the motion of getting out of bed. JT had to brace him when his legs almost didn’t hold him as he stood up. He nodded his thanks to JT and let him guide him out into the warehouse.

His feet and chest froze on him when he caught sight of Gil leaning over one of his Father’s Guardsman, his face stern as he spoke with the Merkin. JT’s hand on his shoulder helped to get his body moving again.

“Come on. You can do this,” JT encouraged him. His friend's words hit hard. He looked over to see JT looking at him with concern that was underlaid with assurance. JT nodded towards Gil and nudged his shoulder in Gil’s direction.

Malcolm swallowed down the fear that threatened to choke him as he got closer and closer to his Father’s Guardsman. All of them now awake and bound to the shelves lining the wall of the warehouse. Each one of them looked up at him as he approached. He was expecting hatred and disgust. Instead all he saw was resignation, trepidation and what almost looked like hopefulness. Well, that was from all but one, he was staring at him with a wicked grin, almost as if he was happy with how things had played out. It was alarming and disconcerting.

Malcolm moved to stand beside Gil, but as far away from the grinning Merkin as he physically could. He couldn’t help but constantly flick his gaze back to the grinning Guardsman. The Merkin’s creepy confidence and mirth in the moment seeming to grow with each of Malcolm’s glances.

Gil’s hand on the back of his neck brought him back to what he came out there to do. Malcolm cleared his throat and gave Gil his full attention, making a concerted effort not to look at the Merkin lined up beside him.

“You ok, Kid?” Gil asked him, his voice heavy with his concern as he gave Malcolm’s neck a comforting squeeze. Malcolm looked up into Gil’s concern creased face and nodded, unable to voice his true feelings in that moment.

A husky voice interrupted them before he could speak.

“So Prince Malcolm has finally come into his birthright. You know, your Father always said you had the killer instinct in you. I never believed him, but here we are,” the previously grinning Guardsman told him.

JT was at the Merkin’s side in an instant, glaring at him with his hands fisted at his side.

“Shut it Watkins. No one asked your opinion,” one of the other Guardsmen piped up from down the end of the line.

“Prince Malcolm did us all a favour taking down that madman. He would’ve ended up killing us all with his insane scheme,” the Guardsman continued. The other Guardsmen, bar Watkin’s, nodded their agreement.

Watkins snarled at the other Merkin, “King Martin was a great man. He would be our saviour. YOU were all just too blind to see his true vision.” Watkins glared at them all before turning back to Malcolm with a menacing grin.

“I hope you’re ready for what’s coming Little Malcolm,” Watkins sneered at him. Before Malcolm could respond in any way, JT stepped up to the Merkin and kicked at his bound legs.

“Shut the hell up asshole, or I’ll shut you up permanently,” JT snarled at the Guardsman. Malcolm was slightly taken aback by the venom in his friend's tone.

“Just ignore him, Prince Malcolm, he’s as insane as your Father was,” one of the other Guardsmen called out to him.

“Merkin will be happy to follow you once we explain what happened. He was going to kill you,” another of the Guardsmen shouted out to him.

Malcolm felt the panic rise again, his throat closed as his chest clamped down so that only the tiniest of breaths were getting through.

Gil must have seen he was struggling as the next thing he knew he was being guided away from the Merkin, Gil’s comforting hand squeezing at the back of his neck, his low rumble of a voice whispering in his ear over and over, that he was ok and to just breathe. Eventually Malcolm was able to shut down the thoughts of his fatal confrontation with his Father once more and looked up with a tearfilled gaze at his new friend.

“You’re ok, Kid. Just take it slow,” Gil encouraged him, his hand never leaving Malcolm’s shoulder. The weight of it and the light squeezes he gave him as he spoke, helped to ground Malcolm and stave off the panic.

“I killed him,” Malcolm whispered to him. His throat clamped shut as sobs threatened to release with his words.

“Oh kid,” Gil sympathised as he pulled him into a hug. His arms a comforting weight around his shoulders that he grateful sank into, tucking his face into the warmth of Gil’s neck.

“You had no choice. It was you or him. No one blames you Malcolm,” Gil tried to assure him as Malcolm clung on like he was a lifeline.

“It makes me a killer, like him,” Malcolm whispered back, before letting go and stepping out of Gil space, unable to meet his gaze.

“Hey! No! That’s not true. You are nothing like that man. You fight to protect your family, even your found ones. Just like we will fight to protect you,” Gil assured him as he forced Malcolm’s chin up so that he couldn’t avoid his intense gaze.

Malcolm bit at the inside of his cheek to stop the tears that burned for release. The feeling of love from this man who had taken him under his wing and become more of a Father to him than his own had ever been capable of being, was almost overwhelming.

“To that end, we need to work out what to do from here. What you want to do,” Gil told him as he guided him over to sit in the kitchen area.

Malcolm dropped into one of the chairs, staring down at his trembling hands resting in his lap. He knew what needed to be done, but he wasn’t sure he had the strength to do it.

Gil went to speak, but before he could, Malcolm stopped him with a raised hand.

“I know…I know what needs to be done. I have to take him home. He might have been a monster, but he was our King. He deserves a proper goodbye from his people. They deserve to say goodbye,” Malcolm told him, his voice solemn and resigned.

When he finally looked up and met Gil’s eyes they were sorrowful and glassy like his own.

“We can help you. Take you all in the boat so…” Gil tried to tell him, but Malcolm cut him off again.

“No, I have to do this. Me alone,” Malcolm stated, his voice firmer than it had been since he woke from his sleep.

“What? No! You don’t need to do this alone. If you won’t let us help you, let the Guardsmen help you,” Gil urged him, shifting forward in his seat and grabbing a hold of Malcolm’s still slightly trembling hands.

Malcolm gently pulled his hands from Gil’s grip, keeping his gaze as he did.

“I did this. It’s my responsibility alone. The Guardsmen can return with me, but I alone will carry him home. That’s my decision,” Malcolm affirmed, holding Gil’s gaze the whole time until Gil dropped his head to stare at his empty hands.

“Ok Kid. I don’t like it, but I understand. When do you want to go?” Gil asked, his voice suddenly tired and resigned.

Malcolm looked over to the Guardsmen tied up against the shelving, all of them except Watkins watching him with concern. He needed to show them that he was strong enough to be their leader one day. He had some ideas about right now, but one day he would be King and he needed to demonstrate in the darkest of moments that he had the strength to do it. He finally looked back to Gil and gave his answer.

“As soon as his body is ready. The longer we delay, the harder this will get,” Malcolm answered with a heavy sigh.

Gil’s face pinched with his worry, but he leaned forward and patted Malcolm’s shoulder.

“Alright, let’s get it done,” Gil replied before giving a weary sigh of his own. They stood together and made their way back to Guardsmen to deliver the news.

With the help of the Guardsmen loyal to Malcolm, it took them well over an hour to prep the body. Together they wrapped it in torn down sheets, Martin’s face left free as was tradition for Merkin burials. Normally they would bind the body in kelp, but the cotton strips would serve the purpose in the circumstances. When it was done the Guardsman had moved off to the side giving Malcolm a moment to collect himself. It had taken a heavy toll, his eyes red rimmed and face swollen from the tears that had slipped down his face unchecked throughout the process.

Malcolm stared down at his Father’s wrapped body, his face pale and slack in death. The man had given him so much grief throughout his life and now he was giving him more grief in death. He never imagined his Father would die at his hand and the weight of it lay heavy on his soul. He had come to hate the man, but he truly believed that no one deserved to die and would have done anything to find a way to avoid this end. Nothing he could do now would change what had happened. But he could face up to what he had done and allow the council and the people to decide his fate from here. First he had to get him back home. Gil’s hand dropping on his shoulder brought him out of his musings as he kneeled beside his Father’s cloth wrapped body.

“Dawn’s coming Kid, it’s now or wait until tomorrow night for the cover of darkness again. What do you want to do?” Gil asked him quietly. Malcolm looked up at him, his face was weary and pinched. This was taking a toll on his friends too. It needed to be now.

“We go now. I need to get him home,” Malcolm stated, looking back down at his Father’s corpse. Malcolm wouldn’t leave him to rot another day. He had still been their King and deserved for his body to be respected as such.

Final decision made, all the Merkin, bar Watkins, gathered around Malcolm and their deceased King. Watkins remained secured to the shelving for the moment.

“What are you going to do to Watkins?” one of the Guardsmen asked hesitantly, looking between Watkins and JT’s tightly coiled form standing guard over him.

“I’m not sure yet. But we won’t kill him if that’s what you're asking,” JT asserted as he shifted his stance, glaring at Watkins who was now also gagged after mouthing off as they started to prepare the body.

“Hold him for a day, then let him go. He hasn’t hurt us and now that my Father is gone, he won’t. We’ll deal with it if he chooses to return to Triton,” Malcolm spoke up, his tone taking on an authority that he really didn’t feel.

“What? No, he’s a lunatic. God knows what he’ll do if he’s free to roam,” JT argued, looking to Gil for support when Malcolm refused to budge.

“Are you sure? He…JT’s right, the man’s a lunatic. He could be a danger to you and other Merkin. What about your Mother?” Gil asked him, his face even more pinched with his worry.

Dani walked over to them, back from checking on Edrisa who was starting to come around from the tranquiliser.

“He’s the King now, it’s his decision. Who are we to question him?” Dani chimed in, her gaze never meeting Malcolm’s.

“I’m not the King yet,” Malcolm replied quietly, looking down at his feet in embarrassment when Dani wouldn’t look at him.

“Close enough. I say we do what he asks and see what happens,” Dani stated, stepping in beside JT to sneer down at Watkins still tied to the shelving.

“He doesn’t look that scary to me,” Dani taunted Watkins, pushing the toe of her boot into his hip making the man glare at her with a muffled grunt.

“That’s enough Dani. We’ll follow Malcolm’s request. It’s not our place to infer with Merkin matters anyway,” Gil directed her as he frowned over at Malcolm.

Malcolm nodded his thanks to him, and tried once more to catch Dani’s eye, but she studiously avoided his attempts. Malcolm’s shoulders slumped slightly in defeat and he turned to Gil realising it was time to say his goodbyes.

He swallowed down the swell of emotion that hit him at the thought that he might not ever get to see them again if the judgement of the Triton Council didn’t go his way. He struggled to find the words to express just how much Gil meant to him, with all he and the rest of the team had done for him.

“Gil…I…thank you…you have…I can never…,” Malcolm tried to tell him, before Gil stepped up to him and pulled him into a hug.

“I know Kid. Just…just come back some day…yeah?” Gil asked him, his own eyes suspiciously moist as he pulled back to look Malcolm in the eye.

Malcolm nodded, struggling to speak with the emotion filling his chest, “I’ll…try,” he promised, his voice breaking a little as he spoke. He cleared his throat, trying to pull himself back together.

JT walked over to him then and gave him an amused frown.

“I’m not hugging you,” JT stated with one of his dead pan stares. It broke the tension of the moment for all of them and they all chuckled at JT’s antics.

“I won’t make you, I promise,” Malcolm replied in amusement, grateful to JT for his unique brand of humour. JT gave him a small slightly sad smile and offered his hand to shake, patting his shoulder when he took it. Malcolm cleared his throat again as his emotions started to get the better of him again.

“Nope, none of that, go say goodbye to the girls,” JT chided him, pushing his shoulder towards where Dani had retreated into the room where Edrisa had been recovering.

Before he could take more than a step, Edrisa's tiny form came running out of the room and she jumped into his arms hugging him fiercely. Malcolm blinked in shock as he staggered back a little, thankful for JT and Gil’s bracing hands behind him that stopped him from falling.

Malcolm couldn’t help but smile fondly into her sleep mused hair when she snivelled into his shoulder, “don’t die.”

“Jesus,” JT muttered, before carefully pulling her away from Malcolm and pulling her into his side with a roll of his eye and shake of his head.

When Malcolm looked back to the doorway, Dani was standing in front of him, her face giving nothing away of how she was feeling. Suddenly the tension was back in the room and Malcolm struggled to make sense of what was happening between them.

The sorrow he saw reflected in her eyes when she finally met his gaze before it skipped away again, hit him like a ton of bricks.

Malcolm hesitated, not knowing if she would welcome a hug, or if it would just make her uncomfortable.

JT’s muttered, “for christ sake,” helped to get his limbs moving again and he stumbled slightly as he closed the gap between them and lifted his arms tentatively in offer of a hug.

Dani’s gaze darted from Malcolm to the others, hesitating before she sighed and then stepped into the offered hug. Malcolm had to swallow down the hurt at her hesitation and reluctance. He knew he had upset her, but he still thought they were friends.

“I’ll miss you,” Malcolm whispered, not game enough to say it loud enough for the others to hear. His heart nearly broke when she stiffened in his arms for a second before, murmuring something he didn’t catch, then stepped back out of his embrace, stuffing her hands into her pockets and not meeting his eyes again.

Malcolm took a deep breath and nodded to them all, dropping his gaze to his feet as he fought to keep back the tears that threatened.

“Right, well, time to go,” Malcolm rasped out, his throat tight and raw with his emotion.

Gil went to say something, but he knew if he let him speak he would lose the tight hold he had on his tears.

“Guardsmen, it’s time,” called out to the five Merkin standing beside his Father’s body, waiting for his direction. As one they surrounded his Father and picked him up. Malcolm took his place at his Father’s left shoulder and they made for the warehouse’s entry.

JT raced ahead and opened the door, checking for any passersby before he stepped through and beckoned for them to proceed.

Malcolm and the Guardsmen took his Father through the door and quickly raced across the road to the docks, moving into the shadows of the boat. They lay his body on the ground, quickly disrobing and leaving their clothes in a pile at the back of the boat, knowing that the team would take care of them. With a short glance back to the warehouse, he and the Guardsmen slipped into the water. Each of them bore their transition in silence, not wanting to risk any sounds drawing attention.

Just as the dawn was starting to crest, he took one final look back to where his friend stood solemnly watching and raised his hand in goodbye. Not waiting for a response, he turned back to take his Father’s body from the other Guardsmen. Once he had him securely in his hands, he drove under the water and started the trek back to Triton.

The swim back to Triton was long and exhausting. Many times the Guardsmen offered to take his burden from him as his pace slowed as his energy flagged. Each time he refused. This was his burden alone, he couldn’t leave this to others to bear for him. Every time he looked down to see his Father’s still and ghostly pale face, his resolve was renewed and he pushed on, determined to do his duty as heir to Triton.

When they finally reached the edges of the Colony, word spread quickly that Malcolm was home and had brought his Father’s corpse with him. Soon they had Merkin swimming alongside them, stealing curious and solemn glances at Malcolm. He didn’t hold their gazes for long and pushed his screaming muscles harder, determined to get to the Palace and deliver his Father and the news of what happened to his Mother and the Council.

Finally when he thought his body would not let him swim any longer, the Palace came into view and he dragged himself and his Father in through the ornate doors. Obviously already advised of his arrival, his Mother and the council members met him in the grand foyer just past the doorway. The sight of his Mother, her face distraught and teary, almost saw him lose his grip on his Father, who was suddenly an unbearable weight in his arms.

“Malcolm! Guards, help him,” his Mother called out, directing the guards to pull his Father from his arms.

“No, it’s…it’s my burden,” Malcolm cried as he resisted the Guardsmen’s efforts.

His Mother’s gentle hands on his shoulders had him looking up into her crying face.

“Please Malcolm. Let him go,” Jessica begged him, her hand cupping his cheek as he took in her words and slowly released his tight hold on his Father’s body.

Letting go of his Father was like releasing a dam. A dam that had been holding back his exhaustion and pain from the long trek with his Father’s heavy body in his arms. His muscles trembled and weakness flooded through his limbs. With a soft cry, he collapsed into his Mother’s fretful arms, her frantic calls for help, the last thing he heard before he drifted into oblivion.

Chapter Text

Malcolm scrambled back as a blurry image of a person hovering over him came into sight as he woke.

“Malcolm! No, no, it’s just me. You’re safe here,” his Mother’s voice filtered in through the heavy beat of his heart hammering in his ears as he frantically pushed back against the hard surface behind him.

He stopped, blinking and rubbing at his eyes until she came into focus. Her sorrowful but smiling face stared back at him pleading with him to see her.

“Mother!” Malcolm cried before moving into her outstretched arms, melting into the comforting embrace as she hugged him fiercely.

“Oh Malcolm. My poor boy. I’m so sorry,” his Mother sobbed into his shoulder, her body shaking against him as she cried.

Malcolm stroked at her back and nuzzled his head in against her neck. Taking in her comfort while trying to give her his own.

They stayed like that for another few minutes, before his Mother pulled back tentatively, still holding fast to his upper arms as she looked into his eyes.

“Are you ok?” She asked, her face pinched tight with her worry.

Malcolm nodded, not quite up to speaking yet from all the emotion still bubbling in his chest.
He couldn’t help but lean into her hand as she reached up and cupped his cheek. The gesture taking him back to so many comforting moments in his childhood.

“I killed him, Mother,” Malcolm whispered as he dropped his head in shame at having to tell her what he had done.

“He came at me so fast, I didn’t even really think. I just…I just grabbed the knife and…and…I…I murdered him,” Malcolm confessed, his voice breaking on his last words.

Malcolm felt her clasp his face with both of her soft hands, her thumbs rubbing softly on his cheeks. He resisted as she gently tried to push his chin back up.

“Malcolm, please. Look at me,” her voice breaking slightly as she pleaded to him, had him complying and having to hold back his tears as he saw only love reflected back at him.

“You are not a murderer. The only murderer is that vicious man that you defended yourself against. Do you understand?” She urged him as she continued to soothe him with her touch.

Malcolm couldn’t hold back the tears any longer and bowed his head as tears flooded his eyes to disappear into the water surrounding them.

“Oh my dear boy,” his Mother sobbed as she pulled him back into a hug, gently rocking them as Malcolm continued to sob on her shoulder as all the emotion of the recent event hit him at once.

Malcolm lost track of what his Mother was saying to him as he soaked in the comfort of her hold. Her fingertips weaving intricate patterns across his back as she held him, helped to distract him from the pain pulling deep in his chest at the enormity of what had happened.

Malcolm was the one to pull away this time and took the time to take in his Mother’s beauty and poise. The stress of it all was still evident there if you knew what to look for, but to the casual observer she would appear completely put together and not in the least bit rattled.

Malcolm admired her strength. Not only did she have the weight of what Malcolm had now done, but the weight of her Husband, their King being a murderous tyrant who had held the Colony in check for years with the terror of what could happen if they showed a shred of disobedience.

“What happens now?” Malcolm asked with a sigh. Even though he could see his Mother believed him, he wasn’t sure that would be the same view that the Council would hold.

She smiled at him softly as she took his hand into hers, holding it tight as she spoke.

“You will be crowned our new King, my beautiful boy. Just as you should have been when you came of age,” his Mother assured him, a bitter edge coming into her tone as she finished.

“Your Father has stolen so much from you, from us all, and for that I’m truly sorry,” she apologised to him, dropping her gaze to their clasped hands as she did.

Malcolm shook his head and then realised she couldn’t see his response so cleared his throat and hoped his emotions wouldn’t get the better of him again.

“No! None of this is your fault. He manipulated everyone, you included. We are all victims of his reign of terror,” assured her, squeezing her hand back in support.

“The Guardsmen have told me what he has done. He hurt so many of our own people. How? How could he do such horrendous things to his own people?!” she asked, her voice wavering as she spoke and her hands twitching within his hold of them.

Malcolm gave her hands another squeeze in support and held her gaze as she stared back at him with tears in her eyes.

“He was a monster, hiding in plain sight. The people that knew, didn’t have the power to do anything to stop him. But, he can’t hurt anyone else now,” Malcolm promised her. As he did, his mind flashed back to Watkins' ravings while he was held captive at the warehouse. Surely they’d just been the ravings of a mad man. What could his Father possibly put in place that would still be a threat to anyone once he was dead. Malcolm brushed the thoughts aside and focussed back on his Mother.

He watched his Mother take a deep breath and push down all her emotions again. Once again marvelling at the strength of the woman in front of him.

“You’re right, we need to focus on the future now. I spoke with the Council while you were unconscious. They’re all in support of your ascension to the throne. I’ll help you heal the Colony from your Father’s reign and together we can make it stronger than ever,” she told him, her face morphing into determination and pride.

Malcolm took a deep breath of his own, building his courage for what he needed to tell her about his plans for his and the Colony’s next steps.

He must have taken a little longer than he meant to as his Mother gripped onto his hands tight and asked what was wrong. He shook his head and gave her a reassuring smile.

“Sorry, nothing’s wrong. It’s just…well…I appreciate you going to the Council for me, but…I…well…I’d like you to rule in my stead,” Malcolm admitted to her, biting at his lip in anticipation of her response.

She reared back in shock, her hands pulling out of his and covering her mouth briefly before dropping to her chest as she blinked at him.

“But,” his Mother started to say, as he stopped her with a raised hand.

“I want you to rule as you should’ve all along. While I work to unite Merkin and Humans. Triton needs a ruler who can be here to lead them and help them heal. If I’m going to achieve unity between our two species, I need to be amongst both. I can’t be the ruler Triton needs right now, but you can,” Malcolm urged her, hoping she would understand his reasoning and be willing to take on this tough role.

“Malcolm…I…I can’t rule…no woman has ruled Merkin in living memory. It’s, it’s just not done,” his Mother replied, her fear evident in her tone.

Malcolm gathered her hands in his and leaned in towards her.

“None of that matters. What matters is that Triton has the ruler they need. Their gender means nothing, their inner strength, intelligence and compassion does and you, Mother are the perfect fit for the role. You are the Queen Triton needs right now,” Malcolm told her with pride. He knew he was right. His Mother had stayed in the shadows all this time, but even in that role she had influenced much. He knew for a fact that he was only alive into adulthood because of her and her influence on his Father to allow him to live and be “treated”. Without her there to rein him in, who knows how dreadful the man could have been.

“I…the Council…I don’t know Malcolm. They will take some convincing,” she replied, the idea clearly starting to settle with her.

“You already have a great deal of influence with the Council. Wasn’t it you that convinced them to keep my regency in place when my Father tried to have me banished instead of just allowing him to rule until his death,” Malcolm asked her, watching her intently for her reaction to his knowledge of some of the things she had done for him over the years.

“I…well…how did you know about that?” she asked him, her eyes darting around them as if the person who told him would step out of the shadows.

Malcolm chuckled and gave her a warm smile, “I still had some friends, very few, but some. Not to mention it was all the servants could talk about for days after your “discussion” with the Council. You have many Merkin loyal to you Mother. Many who would happily have you as their Queen,” Malcolm assured her.

She looked back at him nervously, but finally gave him a smile and a nod of agreement.

“Ok, but, are you sure? You could be King Malcolm,” his Mother questioned him, her eyes searching his as she watched him.

Malcolm nodded solemnly to her, “I’m sure. This is the best for the Colony. Triton needs you and I need to work to bridge the gap between Merkin and Humans once and for all.”

His Mother sighed heavily and gave him a worried smile, “you always were a stubborn little thing. Alright. Let’s go and face the music before I lose my courage and refuse this crazy scheme of yours,” his Mother agreed, taking his hand again and pulling him up with her, leading them out of his room and towards the Council rooms.

It was time to fight for the future of Triton.

In the end all of Jessica’s fears were for nought. Six out of eight of the Council agreed with Malcolm’s proposal to have his Mother ascend in his stead. Much to his Mother’s shock, many of them echoed Malcolm’s sentiments that she was the ruler the Colony needed in this time of healing and renewal.

Malcolm’s desire to unite Merkin and Humans was a much harder sell, his Father’s fear mongering about the Humans settled deep in the Council’s minds. It was only after days of testimony to the Council about his experiences with the Humans, that the final vote was made. Five of the eight Council agreed to his proposal to work with Gil and his team to develop a plan to officially announce Merkin existence to the world in a way that could safeguard and strengthen Merkin’s position amongst the Humans.

Malcolm cherished the time he had with his Mother, even if she was overbearing at times and constantly checking that he was ok. The funeral for his Father had been tough. The whole Colony there to see the King finally gone. The atmosphere had been solemn, but there was an unlaying feeling of hope. Hope for a better future after decades of fear.

His Mother had stood fast by his side throughout the whole ceremony. Her arm linked through his, lending him strength as they watched Martin’s bound body be handed back to the sea amongst the bones of the past ancestors. The shell of his body left for the creatures of the deep to take it into themselves and release him to the hereafter for whatever judgement lay in wait for him. They had both been contemplative over the next few days, the weight of the past still there, all while they tried to look to the future with hope.

That of course was not all that weighted on his mind. His friends, his family that had accepted him without question were always present in his mind. He would wonder what they were doing as he went about his day, helping his Mother and the Council to prepare for the coming Coronation. He would find himself wondering what Dani would think of all the adornments being prepared and Edrisa’s thoughts on the foods planned for the feast. He knew JT would think it was way too much fuss to be bothered with and Gil would be proud of him for his conviction to hold his course on his decision to hand over the throne to his Mother. Well, at least he hoped he would be. Truth be told he missed them all so much it hurt to think about them, but he couldn’t help but to muse about their thoughts and wonder if they missed him too. When he gave another heavy sigh as he fingered one of the decorations destined for the throne room, he felt his Mother’s hand squeeze his shoulder as she moved in beside him; her face lined with worry.

She had been picking up on his melancholy and his assurances that it was just over his guilt about what had happened weren’t enough to convince her that was all that was weighing on him.

“Please dear, I may not have been the best Mother, but I know you well enough that there is more bothering you than just your Father. Even though Posidon knows he was more than enough of a weight for us all, I can see there is more. Please my dear heart, tell me what I can do to help you,” she urged him, her face solemn and drawn in her concern for him.

Malcolm sighed and led them away from the bustling servants all working hard to prepare for his Mother’s coronation ceremony in two days time. His Mother looked at him with concern as he ushered them into a deserted room and shut the door after making sure no one else was present.

“Malcolm, now you are worrying me. What’s wrong?” his Mother asked as she glanced around the room nervously herself; his caution affecting her.

“It’s ok Mother, I just…I’d just rather this remain between us,” Malcolm tried and failed to reassure her.

“What is it?! Are you ill? Should I get a healer? Let me call….,” she asked him in rapid succession. His quick grab of her hand was the only thing that stopped her from racing back out the door to get him a healer.

“Mother! No, I don’t need a healer. I...I’m just…I miss her…I miss them all,” Malcolm quickly tried to cover his slip, but his Mother’s razor sharp ears had picked it up instantly and he rolled his eyes as he watched her transform into delight in front of him.

“Her, who? Do I know her? Oh my, one of the Humans? Oh Malcolm, you need to tell me everything,” his Mother gushed at him, pulling him over to sit with her in the set of ornate chairs at the side of the room.

“Mother, I…it’s…it’s not like that. Well, I mean…she’s…Dani’s…she’s amazing. I wouldn’t have survived without her…I miss her smile and her voice…she was always there...ready to catch me…help me through…I…I think I love her. I know I do, but…I think, I hurt her. I…I don’t know what I did, but…yeah…just me being me I guess. She…she doesn’t know how I feel,” Malcolm finished his rambling with a sigh.

Malcolm looked up to see his Mother looking back at him with a fond but sad smile.

“Oh Malcolm. My love, you are a beautiful young Merkin. The Prince of a species she has only just discovered exists. I don’t know what happened between you both, but I bet if you tell her how you feel, you might just learn that you aren’t the only one that feels something,” she encouraged him, giving his hand a light squeeze as she did.

Malcolm swallowed heavily, thinking back on their goodbyes, the hurt of her closing off to him still stung.

“No, I think I lost any chance of that by returning here. She was clearly upset with me. I think I betrayed her somehow. I just don’t know how,” Malcolm confessed to her, his gaze focussed on his hands that trembled slightly in his lap.

He looked up at his Mother’s sad sigh and saw her shake her head at him fondly.

“Malcolm, did you ever stop to think that for her the thought of you being gone and possibly never coming back could be too much to confront as she had to say goodbye to you as you prepared to bring your Father home? I wonder if she was angry at you at all, instead being more scared of showing her true feelings and interfering in your decision. One she probably understood, but hurt her all the same,” his Mother prompted him.

Malcolm looked back at her in confusion, testing out all of their interactions in that light and suddenly wondering if he had read it wrong all along. A small flame of hope lit in his heart and he smiled shyly at his Mother’s encouraging nod and happily let her embrace him in a much welcomed hug.

“I love you my dear boy, but sometimes you can be so dense,” she whispered into his ear as she hugged him.

“Mother!” Malcolm cried in mock offence as he pulled back from her hug as she chuckled lightly.

“Promise me you’ll tell her when you return after the Coronation,” his Mother pleaded with him.

Malcolm huffed with a self-deprecating smile, “yes Mother. I’ll try.”

His Mother sighed heavily with a sorrowful smile, “that’s all I can ask for I guess.”

“Come on, we have much still to do before the ceremony, back to work,” his Mother chided him, urging him up from the chair with the waving of her hands.

“Yes, yes, sorry, I’m going,” Malcolm agreed with a huff and followed her back out to the throne room to help her oversee all the preparation taking place. It was going to be a long two days.

Finally the Coronation day arrived, the Palace was decorated with golds, greens and purples. The fixtures elegant and subtle, rather than over the top like he thought his Mother would request. His Mother was draped in the royal cloak, made of hundreds of Merkin scales and adorned with pearls and iridescent coral. She looked the epitome of royalty as she made her way slowly towards the throne dias, the golden trident of Triton in her right hand, her family’s pearl encrusted sceptre in her left. Malcolm scanned the crowd of Merkin lining the large expanse of the throne room and was heartened to see hopeful and happy faces in the masses. He had been confident in his prediction of the Merkin’s response to his Mother taking the throne, but was delighted to see he was right. He knew his Mother could take the Colony through the challenging times ahead and help them all heal from his Father’s abuses.

A movement at the back of the crowd had him flicking his gaze to see what was happening. The fleeting view of a bearded Merkin, had him pulling a Guardsman to his side and directing them to investigate. Watkins had not been sighted over the last week, but Malcolm was concerned that if he got wind of the Coronation he wouldn’t be able to resist showing his face. He relaxed slightly when the Guardsman returned and assured him it wasn’t Watkins. He continued to proudly watch his Mother’s entrance. She was almost at the dias when another movement in the crowd caught his eye. This time he locked eyes with the Merkin and a shiver ran down his spine when Watkins grinned evilly back at him. Without a second thought, he launched himself off the dias and tackled Watkins to the floor just as Watkins raised a gleaming axe towards his Mother.

The throne room erupted into screams and fleeing people as Malcolm wrestled with the madman now over the top of him as they struggled for control over the weapon. He cried out as the blade of the axe pressed into his left shoulder, the sharp blade cutting deep into his skin before it was pulled away as the surrounding Guardsmen pulled Watkins away, disarmed him and bound his wrists.

His Mother was at his side in an instant, her hands hovering over his bleeding wound. The water surrounding them tinted pink from his blood loss.

“Malcolm! Oh my Poseidon, you’re hurt! Where is the healer?” His Mother called out in distress, her hands pressing in over the wound making him hiss at the spike of pain as she pushed his shoulder to the floor. Soon they were surrounded by people and he was lifted and whisked away to the side room that he had confessed his love for Dani in. His Mother hovered as the healer made quick work of cleaning and stitching the wound.

“Mother, I’m fine. Is Watkins secured?” Malcolm asked her as he pushed up from the chair, wincing slightly as his stitches pulled under their wrapping.

“My Prince, you need to rest, it’s a deep wound. You could pull your stitches easily,” the healer pleaded with him as they tried to encourage him to sit back down.

Malcolm waved them off and again asked about Watkins. One of the Guardsmen who had pulled Watkins off him, nodded to him.

“He is secure, My Prince. He won’t hurt anyone else,” the Guardsman reported, his voice hard and determined.

“Thank you Nicholas,” Malcolm replied with relief.

“Malcolm, you need to sit back down on that chair right now,” his Mother scolded him as she pointed at the chair behind him.

Malcolm smiled at her fondly, “sorry Mother, but we have Coronation to finish, remember?” Malcolm reminded her with a raised brow.

She sighed in frustration, scowling at him before rolling her eyes and making her way back out to the throne room. Malcolm followed her and marvelled that the crowds were all back and cheering eagerly as he and his Mother returned to their places.

“Poseidon save Prince Malcolm! All hail Queen Jessica!” the crowds chanted over and over.

Malcolm blushed at the attention and raised his right hand in acknowledgement, sending the crowd into a roaring cheer, making him blush harder.

“See, they all love you my dear. Nothing to fear,” his Mother murmured to him as she stepped up onto the dais, standing before the high priest of Poseidon who stood poised with the royal crown in hand.

Malcolm smiled at his Mother with pride as the crown was placed gently on her immaculately braided hair and all of Triton cheered for their new Queen.

Things were finally looking up.

Chapter Text

Malcolm glided into the shallows next to the docks and watched the entrance of the warehouse. He didn’t have a way to let his friends know that he was here, but he had made sure to arrive as the sun was setting so that he could catch them as they prepared to leave for the day.

He struggled to contain his excitement for seeing them all again. Especially Dani. He knew it was a risk, but after multiple rounds of encouragement from his Mother, he had decided it was worth the risk and he was going to let her know how he felt about her.

He had just about given up hope that he was going to catch his friends and would have to spend the night waiting, when the warehouse door swung open and JT stepped out into the night, looking back over his shoulder saying something Malcolm couldn’t hear.

Malcolm waited until JT turned back around towards the docks and then risked launching himself up on his tail and waved frantically at JT, hoping to catch his attention even in the dark.

Thankfully it worked. JT startled and with a cut off exclamation ran across the road to meet Malcolm at the side of dock.

“Malcolm! Wow, you’re back. I was starting to think they had drawn and quartered you or something,” JT told him excitedly. They both grimaced slightly at the imagery JT’s prediction evoked and Malcolm shuddered slightly at the thought.

“Uh, yeah, thankfully not. So lots to catch you all up on. Is everyone here still?” Malcolm asked eagerly, looking around behind JT to the door checking that none of the others had slipped out while he and JT were talking.

“Oh yeah, gangs all here. Just, ah, just wait here, I’ll go get you some clothes and stuff and you can come over,” JT replied, looking over his shoulder towards the warehouse as he did.

“Thanks JT, that would be great. Don’t want to do the naked run if I don’t have to,” Malcolm teased with a chuckle.

JT’s face twitched into a disgusted frown.

“Dude, no. Don’t put that image in my head again, ugh!” JT whined as he continued to screw his face up in disgust.

Malcolm laughed at JT’s antics and waved him off as JT trekked back across the road, muttering to himself as he went.

Malcolm found himself beaming when he heard Gil’s voice call out as he jogged across the dark road towards him.

“Kid! Oh man, it’s so good to see you! You have no idea how worried we’ve been,” Gil told him as he crouched beside the water and reached over to pat Malcolm’s shoulder. Malcolm couldn’t help the slight yelp as Gil’s hand landed heavily on the wound Watkins had given him.

“Oh shit, sorry kid. Are you hurt?” Gil asked, squinting at him in the low light near the docks now that the sun had fully set.

Malcolm shook his head, “nothing to worry about, just a small souvenir from Watkins,” Malcolm replied without thinking.

“What? Watkins! I knew it was a mistake letting that weasel…” Gil ranted, before being cut off with a squeal from behind him that materialised into Edrisa basically launching herself at Malcolm and seeing them both tumble back into the water as she hugged him.

Malcolm grunted at the pain that flared out in his shoulder but did his best to keep his enthusiastic friend above water, while trying not to pull any of his partly healed stitches.

“Edrisa!” echoed out as Gil and Dani, who had popped up behind Gil, called out to her in admonishment.

“For Christ sake woman, will you stop attacking him and get out of the damn water,” JT scolded her as Edrisa smiled at him sheepishly and disentangled herself from his arms as she backed out of the water, now dripping wet, but beaming with happiness.

“He’s back!” Edrisa exclaimed as she practically bounced on the spot next to the water while her clothes dripped water onto the ground around her feet.

All the other three rolled their eyes at her and Malcolm just ducked his head to his chest as he chuckled at his excitable friend.

“He’s hurt Edrisa, he doesn’t need you doing him more damage,” Gil chided her with a frown.

Edrisa’s eyes widen alarmingly behind her water speckled glasses.

“Oh my God, I’m sorry, I didn’t know. Do you need me to check it?” She apologised as she started to step back towards the water.

“No!” All four of them told her in unison, startling her a little and making her put her hands up in submission as she took another step back.

“Ok, got it, no touching,” Edrisa replied with a slight frown, before muttering, “not like I was going to jump on him again.”

Gil just closed his eyes with a sigh, before looking back at Malcolm fondly.

“How about we give him some privacy to transition and get dressed. Then you can check out that injury to make sure he really is as ok as he says he is,” Gil said to them all, but directed to Edrisa.

They all nodded and made to turn away. Malcolm tried to catch Dani’s eye before she turned, but she was too quick. He sighed and then went about pushing himself up out of the water, doing his best not to give away how much it hurt to do.

The transition was particularly painful after so long staying in one form and he struggled to keep his pained whimpers contained as his muscles and bones reformed. Finally it was over and he took a moment to catch his breath while his muscles finished settling in their new positions.

“You ok back there?” Gil asked, his back still to him.

Malcolm nodded then realised his mistake and panted out a breathless, “yes.”

“Wow, that was convincing,” JT snarked, ducking as Dani swatted at his head in response.

“Twat,” Dani cursed as she hit at him.

Malcolm chuckled at their antics before reaching for the towel JT had brought with him and proceeded to get dry and dressed. He left his shirt off for now, knowing that Edrisa would want to check his wound and change the dressing immediately and didn’t feel like manoeuvring in and out of the shirt twice if he didn’t have to.

“I’m done,” Malcolm told them as he tucked the shirt into his pants.

JT’s frown as he turned around had him frowning back in concern, worried that he had done something wrong.

“Show off,” JT muttered before rolling his eyes at him and turning back towards the warehouse.

Dani blushed as she looked back at him and ducked her head with a light chuckle as JT strode past her.

Gil laughed with her before stepping up to Malcolm uninjured side and pulled him into his chest with his arm.

“Come on, let’s get you inside and checked out before JT has a stroke from jealousy,” Gil joked as he ruffled Malcolm’s hair before he started back towards the warehouse.

“I heard that,” JT called back over his shoulder as he pulled open the warehouse door.

All that did was send them all to laughing as they slowly walked across the road to the warehouse.

Malcolm caught Dani giving him quick glances as they were walking and he tried to keep her gaze, but each time she ducked her head away with a slight smile twitching at the corners of her lips. His heart was pounding in his chest as they were nearing the door. His nervousness made him feel jittery and slightly light headed.

Gil let go of his shoulder to go through the doorway and he let Edrisa go before him. Taking a deep breath he turned in front of the door to face a startled Dani who almost ran into him.

“Dani,” “Malcolm,” they said simultaneously, before they both blushed and grinned at each other.

“So, ummm, I…I missed you,” Malcolm gushed out at her; his mouth suddenly so dry that he finished off with a cough.

“You ok?” Dani asked with concern; her hand coming to rest on his bare uninjured shoulder.

Malcolm blushed and nodded, “yeah, just nervous,” he admitted as he bit at his lip.

Malcolm watched in fascination as Dani’s pupils dilated and the beautiful gold flecks swirled through the narrowed brown.

“I, uh, I missed you too,” Dani whispered back as she stepped in closer to him.

Malcolm’s heart was in his throat, beating a mile a minute as his eyes drifted from hers to her soft parted lips. Knowing it was now or never, he looked back into her eyes and saw what he hoped was desire reflected back at him. Letting go of his doubt, he leaned forward and met her lips in a fast and passionate kiss. Her soft sweet lips, pressed against his, their tongues meeting and tangling in a furious dance as he let his love for her pour out of him all at once into his kiss.

“Hey, you two coming…oh shit, sorry!” JT exclaimed as he pushed open the door.

They stumbled apart, looking back at JT sheepishly, before blushing and laughing at the shock of the moment.

“BOSS! You owe me twenty bucks. I told you they would kiss before they actually talked to each other,” JT called back over his shoulder through the open doorway.

“JT!” echoed out as Gil, Dani, Edrisa and Malcolm all scolded him as JT just laughed and gave them a knowing wink.

Malcolm looked at Dani as he put a tentative arm around her shoulder. Her smiling and blushing face looking back at him before she leaned her head on his shoulder, was the best gift in the world.

They might have had a rocky path to get there, but Malcolm couldn’t wait to take the rest of the journey with Dani by his side.