#Ikaris demands to know if this has anything to do with the fact that Thena has been disappearing every single day for months now

[softquietsteadylove]

Oh my dear, please continue the mermaid AU.

Maybe something where Thena tried to protect Makkari from a fisher net and got caught. Gil seeing the boat at the dock, Thena in the net and he cuts her free when no one is looking.

🖤✨ Hugs an much looove!!! ✨🖤

Gil went still in the middle of pulling the chord of the small motorboat. He was just about to head home, but he leaned over the edge, staring into the water. He saw it--he knew he did.

There!--a streak of red, so quick if he had blinked at the right time it would have been gone. But he had seen it, he was certain. He wasn't sure why, though. He looked around him, making sure no one was around his end of the docks to see them in the dark. He whispered, "Makkari?"

A little distance away, a head popped out of the water to glare at him. Just like Thena.

He waved at her, although she disappeared from view. Just a for a second, though, before popping up in front of him again.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered, knowing that even if she couldn't hear him, that she could tell what he was saying from watching him say it. "You shouldn't be this close to land!"

She rose slightly with the help of her tail thrashing rapidly under her. She moved her hands too fast to follow, too.

Gil blinked and shook his head. "I-I don't know what-"

Makkari huffed, slapping her hands down and splashing him as she did so. She pressed her fingers together before bursting them outwards, like an anemone. Her lips moved.

"Th-Thena?" he guessed, and she pointed at him and nodded.

Makkari pointed to herself, and then moved two of her fingers around in a swimming motion.

"You and Thena were swimming," Gil narrated as he watched. Again, Makkari confirmed he was right. Her other hand dove down over them, but she flicked one finger against the other. Her left hand pulled up only one finger. "You and Thena...then you got caught?"

She shook her head.

"Thena," he corrected, his heart dropping when she stared down into the water. "Thena got caught."

Makkari nodded, gesturing over her chest.

"Thena protected you from a net?" Gil guessed, to which she offered a miserable nod. He didn't have time to dwell on it, though. And neither did she, since she had endangered herself plenty just to come and find him. He leaned so far over the edge of the boat he was close to falling in. "Makkari, what boat was it?"

She turned in the water, pointing over to where the larger, more heavily equipped boats were docked. The crews were probably in the pub currently, drinking away a long, hard shift.

Gil finally took the plunge, slipping into the water as quietly as he could. Makkari looked a little bewildered, but he released the edge of the boat in his hand. "Can you show me?"

She appraised him and how serious about this he was. She just swam off, although Gil could tell she was moving at a snail's pace for her own ability. It was for the sake of leading him. He moved gently in the water, kicking minimally and angling his hands. "If I go by dock, someone might see me. The less people who know about her, the better."

Makkari seemed almost impressed by his reasoning. She eyed the boats they passed, seeming familiar with each one. When they finally arrived at the largest boat, she pointed, spelling it out with her hand.

Gil frowned at it: the Deviant. "I know this guy."

Makkari looked at him, splashing him slightly again to prompt him to continue.

Gil huffed, pulling himself up to the ladder. "Kro--it's illegal, but he'll take poaching contracts sometimes."

Makkari tilted her head at him, and again he was reminded of Thena. His heart lurched in his chest.

"We have a responsibility to fish only what's needed, avoid species that are endangered, that kind of thing," Gil listed, moving up one ladder wrung at a time as he looked at Makkari below. "Kro will basically hunt anything if he's getting paid. And he's pretty cruel about it, keeps trophies and stuff."

Gil's blood chilled even further, and not just after his impromptu evening swim. If Kro thought he had truly caught something as magnificent as Thena, then who could say what he would do with her?

Gil looked around the deck, making sure no one was on it. It seemed unwise to leave her unguarded, but maybe they had all left to go spread the news and gain even more of a crowd for their big reveal. He snuck onto deck, soaking wet boots and all.

The arm was still held aloft, the net with their catch still suspended. Gil's gut twisted as he saw a few shimmering scales scattered around under it. "Thena?"

"Gil?"

He rushed to her as carefully as he could. Her voice was small and fragile. She was obviously exhausted from the struggle, and he couldn't imagine what it felt like to be captured like a wild animal.

Gil collected the scales on the deck and shoved them in his pockets, determined to leave not a trace of evidence for them to keep. He stood, hooking his fingers through a loop in the net. "I'm so sorry, Angelfish."

Thena sniffled, blinking her tired, bloodshot eyes at him. "I didn't think anyone would come."

Gil shook his head at the mere suggestion of it. He could see her eyes were raw from crying. Her skin had red marks from her struggling against the net. He could even see where she had tried to gnaw at it with those fangs of hers. But these nets were thick, made to be durable--they had to all but be sawed open.

Thena leaned into his touch as he brushed two fingers against her cheek.

"It's okay, I'm gonna get you out of there," he whispered, pulling out his pocket knife. He reached up, sawing at the top of the net with the serrated back edge.

"How did you find me?" she whispered, her voice unable to muster more strength to it after the worst day of her life.

"Makkari came to me," he whispered back, sawing desperately at the top of the net. It was a terrible angle for it, and his arm was already burning from the effort.

"We were swimming," Thena sighed, shifting miserably in the bottom of the net. "The whole boat shook when it blared its horn. It interfered with her echolocation, and she didn't realise the net had hit the water. I moved her out of the way of it."

No wonder Makkari had looked so miserable when she finally found him.

"I knew she'd find someone, but I assumed it would be Ikaris," Thena murmured, her fatigue getting the better of her. "Although I guess he wouldn't have been able to rescue me up here, anyway."

Gil tossed his knife down catching Thena in his arms before she could fall to the hard deck of the boat. She clung to him, and he held her tighter than he ever had before. "You're okay."

Thena buried her face in his chest, her whole body trembling from head to tail.

"You're okay," he repeated in a fragile whisper. He felt around for his knife, shoving it back in his pocket and adjusting Thena in his arms. "We gotta go, Angelfish."

She held tight as he stood, moving towards the back of the boat. "What if they know it was you?"

"They won't," he rushed out as he slid down the ladder, just barely keeping them from splashing into the water by one hand. Thena's tail came to life once submerged again, able to keep her afloat better than he ever could.

Makkari was by her side in a flash, wrapping her arms around her.

Thena nodded, weakly but firmly, "I'm okay."

Gil swam closer to them, still watching around them for signs of people on the pier. "You two have to get as far away as possible. I mean it--don't come anywhere near the surface for at least a week."

Makkari balked at him, although Thena didn't seem surprised.

"Kro won't be happy his catch got away," Gil murmured, looking up at the side of the Deviant. "He'll be looking for you specifically, and he'll cast wider and deeper until he finds you."

Makkari nodded, ready to speed away already. She pulled at Thena's arm, frowning when she resisted.

Thena moved closer to him again. "I want to stay with you."

Makkari's jaw dropped.

"Thena," Gil sighed, but she cuddled right up to his side in the water. "It's not safe, Angelfish."

Makkari startled even more at the little nickname.

Thena shook her head at that, though, burying her face against the sopping wet sleeve of his shirt. "The safest I can be is with you."

Gil hated to admit it, but maybe she had a point. If her other option was staying at the bottom of the ocean for a month straight, maybe it was better to just keep her with him. With any luck, it would be the last place anyone would look for her. "I don't know, Thena."

"Please?" she whispered, using those big, amazing green eyes of hers on him.

He sighed. What a sucker, he was--a suckerfish. His hand found hers in the water. "Okay."

Thena looked at Makkari, her hand moving as she spoke. "Tell them I've found somewhere safe to hide. That's all you need to say."

Makkari gave Thena a look, shrugging widely at the total lack of explanation it offered.

"Just tell them," Thena asserted, and certainly Makkari only acquiesced given what Thena had been through. "And you: like Gil said, no more boat chasing for at least a moon cycle."

Makkari made a face at both of them, moving her hands and flicking water at them.

Thena rolled her eyes at her.

Gil smiled; for all their squabbling, the two hugged each other tight as they prepared to part ways temporarily. Gil received Thena at his side again, although he nodded at Makkari. "I promise I won't let anything happen to her."

Makkari narrowed her eyes, hissing at him before slipping under the surface and speeding off in the blink of an eye.

Thena sighed, burying herself against his shoulder and using her tail to keep them both afloat. "Can we go home?"

Gil pressed a kiss to her forehead, "yeah, Angelfish. Let's go home."