Lukas

What could be said about my twenty fifth birthday so far? I mean, I had to work out on the sailing boat again and didn't manage to get the day off. In a small town like this it's hard to get even a day off on your birthday. The town needs it's fish, after all. I didn't mind though. For starters, today like many other days consisted of a bright blue sky touched with a few clouds, not too many, and calm waters. Makes my job easier. Besides, it allows me to spend the day with the breeze in my face and observe the scenery. That is, until a large gust of wind blows right into my face, causing all my hair to fall into my eyes (and my open mouth). Gross. I really need to get a hair clip to tie it back. If not that, then a haircut. It's getting far too long these days.

Anyway, it was just me, admiring the sky and the sea, ignoring the two co-workers bickering behind me. Ugh. This again? "Listen to me, what you're claiming is complete and utter nonsense! Shit like that doesn't exist!" My ears prick at the word 'exist' and I'm suddenly interested in the argument. So, I tear myself away from the railing of the sailboat and make my way over to the two men.

"This is what's wrong with people nowadays! You never believe anything unless you see it with your own eyes!" The other co-worker, Harald, spits, waving his arms around. Harald is significantly older than Jan (the first man) being 40, whilst Jan himself is more around my age, and the two fight constantly. It's so fucking annoying. "Come on, dude. Merfolk? That's fucking ridiculous. They. Don't. Exist. It's a scientific fact," Jan pinches the bridge of his nose, exhaling. Ok. No. Disagree. Strongly disagree. This man does not know how wrong he is. If I didn't hate Jan enough already. God's sake. "I've got to butt in here, Jan. Merfolk exist. And that's a fact." There. Said my piece. If there's anything I know, it's that magical creatures exist. Anyone who says otherwise is an idiot who needs to open their eyes.

"If it's such a fact, Lukas, where's your evidence? What proof do you have?" Jan continues to spew his nonsense, clearly not thrilled that I've joined in as he shoots me a glare. "He doesn't need proof! This is what I'm trying to say, sometimes you've just got to believe blindly. You believe in God, don't you, Jan?" Harald interjects and immediately I see where this is going. Now, in terms of the proof I have, I think being good friends with a troll counts as one. So if trolls and fae exist, merfolk do too.

"What's that got to do with anything?" What an idiot. But I can't say that I'm friends with a troll. It would be goodbye small town, hello mental institution. And I don't want that. "Well, you blindly believe God exists, how is this any different? There's no evidence that God exists, so shut up and quit hounding us." Yep. Exactly where I thought it was heading. Jan growls at us but strolls away, going to help with the nets.

"Thanks for coming to my aid, Lukas. It's nice to know someone your age still believes in these things. Happy birthday, by the way," He grins at me and a small smile works its way onto my cheeks in response. I like Harald, he's always been really pleasant to me, especially when I started and hadn't had any experience. Jan, however, has not. So he can go fuck himself. This town has quite a few Catholics and the like, so I'm quite used to talking to plenty of nice religious people. So, I don't hate Catholics. Just Jan. "Thanks, Harald. I'm always here to back you up on mythical creature debates. Always."

I turn my attention back to the ocean, an old fairytale taking up my mind. Of a mermaid who falls in love with a prince and trades her voice to be with him. Huh. I forgot that was a thing. Must be nice to be able to love normally and not be broken like me. God, I wish I weren't broken. And, for a split second, too quick for me to catch a proper look, I think I see a red tail, driving down into the depths.

Must be nice to be free.

Mathias

"Mathias Køhler! Will you slow the fuck down for just a second!" My best friend shouts from far behind me and, in my rush to stop swimming, I almost crash into a rock. When will I finally look where I'm going? It's a mystery, that's for certain. While Leon attempts to catch up to me, clearly not used to being a flounder (wish I were a shapeshifter, how cool would that be!), I admire the rows of sunken ships before me, a grin stretching across my face. "Why did you want to be a flounder again?" I ask, not looking back, my grin turning into a shit-eating one. "Because" Leon puffs, "I should practice every single form so then I am well rounded in all of them. So you, Mathias, can shut the fuck up." Still don't understand why he has to do this now but ok.

Yep, Ka Lung 'Leon' Wong-Kirkland is certainly something. For starters, despite being a full three years younger than me, he is my closest friend and confident. For... reasons we could actually get in a lot of trouble for being best friends and even just having a single conversation. All I'll say is our fathers have a huge vendetta against each other. Extremely chill and aloof, looks like he doesn't care a lot of the time (but actually does), very goal-orientated and hardworking (which others may not expect), mischievous, sarcastic... that's Leon. I'd say we make a good pair, similar in some sense, different in others. He's all down for doing something he's not supposed to... most of the time. Other times he tries to reign me back. The keyword is 'tries'.

He finally appears by my side, wheezing, "Alright, so you want to go inside one of them. That's cool. My only issue is, what if we run into sharks?" Then, I'll punch one on the nose. Simple. "Don't worry about that! It'll be fun! Tell you what, I'll go into that ship," I point straight ahead at one of the largest rundown ships. God, I want to get moving already! This is killing me! "And you can stay out here and keep any eye out for any of these sharks. Ok?" Do I wait and hear his response? No. I want to start this adventure already! I'm almost at the ship when I realise I haven't heard a response yet. Perhaps he's actually decided to do just that... "Wait!" Or maybe not.

After a while he appears by my side once more. Being a flounder really isn't working out for him, huh. The thought makes me crack up and he shoots me a glare between breaths. "You- you are a fucking dick- you know that right, Køhler?" He sighs as we begin to enter through a small crack in the hull. Finally. I hope I find some cool human gadgets and gizmos in here!

"I do."

Unfortunately, the inside of the ship does not seem as extravagant as the outside. It's dull. Empty. There's nothing here. Yet, I keep faith. I must be able to find something. Anything. This can't be it. Surely there's something. There has to be. I swim through the floors, sighing at the emptiness. That is, until a glint catches my eye. Can it be- "Aha!" I yank the pronged thing from the floor, examining its every detail. "Wow." Metallic, a bright silver, must be what caught my eye. Four prongs. Funnily shaped. It's beautiful. Whatever it is, it's beautiful.

"Mads," Leon whispers, waggling a fin at me, "Over here!" I swim over, still holding the beautiful, strange gizmo. Now that I think of it, it kinda resembles my dad's trident. Huh. Don't think they have the same purpose though. Once I'm there, he outstretches a fin (still insisting on the fish form I see), revealing a weird pipe thing. Also cool. And here I thought we'd struck out with this ship. Two cool things in one go! Nice! "What do you think?" He's struggling to keep it up, the weight of the gadget being much heavier than his current form, so I take it off of him. He's relaxing. Not so worried about sharks anymore, I see. "It's incredible, Leon," I breathe, my face lighting up, "And look what I found!" We compare items, curiosity bubbling up inside like a witch's cauldron. Humans are so cool. Everything they create is truly wonderful. "We should go see Mr. Puffin! He'd know what these gizmos are!"

Before my fish-shaped friend gets to respond, the room goes dark. That's strange. How can the sea go dark? We're not that deep. And it wouldn't just suddenly... go dark. Leon headbutts me anxiously, fear spread over his little fishy face, "Mathias. Shark." Shark. Oh shit. Yep, I see it. He was right to be worried. Shit! Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit. Man, did I fuck up. It'll be fine. It has to be fine. Surely it'll be fine. The shark cannot get in here. It can't possibly...

There's a window. A huge one. Oh fuck. Ok. Back away, Mathias. Slowly back away. Keep calm. It'll be fine. It'll be fine. Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit. Glaring at us, the shark begins to headbutt the window, and not in the anxious, friendly way Leon was doing earlier. No. It's trying to break the glass. And from the way the glass is cracking rapidly, I would say it's succeeding. I fucked up. I fucked up real bad. "This is why I was worried!" Leon groans to my left. "Yeah, dude. I know. Yell at me after, ok?"

The window smashes.

The shark comes at us at full speed.

We swim for our lives.

"Fuck," I yell as we scramble to escape the ship. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." I am officially an impulsive idiot. I have no idea where Leon is and I'm pretty sure I'm about to die. Fuckkkkkkkkkkk. A hand grabs my arm, "This way!" Hand. Leon. He's finally given up on the flounder idea. Thank fuck. Smart move. Speed is of the essence, after all. So, Leon guides my through the ship, his head clearly working much more than mine, definitely not filled to the brim with curse words. I'm an idiot. An actual idiot. Fuck. Why don't I listen to anyone! Fuckkkkkk. I'm so fucking stupid. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. There's light and suddenly, we're outside of the ship. This is what I mean when I say my head's not in it! I examine Leon, his black and purple tentacles in full view. Sometimes I forget he hasn't got a tail like me. I'm so oblivious I swear to God.

Now's not the time to zone out again, Mathias.

Focus.

Now, where did that shark go?

Right behind us? Great.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Fuck.

However, when I swim forward, Leon doesn't move. He stays there, staring the shark down. I'm pretty sure the shark is going to eat my best friend. Holy shit. "What are you doing, idiot? Move!" But he doesn't. He just floats, eyes closed, mouth only slightly moving. The shark is bewildered so, in that sense, Leon is lucky. It's only delayed his death by about half a minute. Now, I'm not the best at describing things, so you'll just have to bear with me while the next events play out. A light bursts out of Leon, one I'm familiar with, one I've seen many many times before. He's transforming. Why is he transforming now? I don't understand. That is, until he appears as a shark. Oh! All it takes is a terrifying glare and Leon and I will not die today. Thank God. The shark retreats, and Leon becomes a merman once more.

"Next time, Mathias, I am not saving your sorry ass." Yeah. Figured.

"Let's go to this puffin of yours then."

*
"Ah! If it isn't my favourite merman! Found any more interesting stuff, you punk?" Mr. Puffin stares down at us from his buoy, waving a small black fin at us. "Rude," Leon mutters so only I can hear, which earns a snicker from me. "If I hadn't, then why would I be here? I have to consult the expert, after all." The best thing to do with Mr. Puffin is flatter him. He's quite an arrogant bird, though he does care, and speaks kinda tough-like. He's interesting to say the least. And he's my best bet when understanding humans and telling me what different gizmos are. "Absolutely! I am the number one expert on all things human, you made a good choice when trusting me, punk." Even if he is slightly insane. "I have this for you," I hand over the beautiful, strange, pronged gizmo. It's quiet sad to part with it, but I'll get it back shortly. He turns it over in his wings, examining every last detail like I had done earlier. "Ah, so what we have here is a dinglehopper."

A- A dinglehopper?

"What humans do with this dinglehopper is, well, it helps them keep their hair straight. They brush it with these dinglehoppers, you see," Mr. Puffin mimics the action and then hands the dinglehopper back. I run it through my hair a few times. Wow. That's really cool! Dinglehoppers are my new favourite gizmo. "What about this, Mr. Puffin?" Running on a burst of excitement, I hand over the weird pipe-thing. The bird glances it over, a smirk spread across his cheeks (do birds have cheeks?) - must be due to the ego boost. "Now this! This is an amazing gadget! You see, the humans use this to play music and dance to it. You just blow into it like this," He tries to demonstrate, but clearly lacks in musical talent as nothing happens when he blows into the pipe. Huh, music. Why does that ring such a bell?

I'm forgetting something, aren't I?

Fuck.

What was it- what was happening to do with music?

What was it?

Oh- FUCK!

"Oh my God! My dad's concert! I've missed it! I've got to go!"

I am so fucking screwed.

Typical Mathias Køhler behaviour.

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Ok, here's my new fanfic! It's Little Mermaid inspired, yes, but if you expect the entire story to follow the exact plot you will be incorrect. Of course I'm going to add a touch of originality XD

Hope you enjoyed! I'll see you in the next one!

Please let me know your thoughts :)
~Peanutsfan1