Water and Earth, White Collar AU, PG-15,
Nov. 20th, 2010 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
veronicasleepsTitle: Water and Earth
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
veronicasleeps
Rating: PG-15
Characters/Pairings: Neal/Peter, Kate, Elizabeth,
Word count: ~1400
Warnings/Spoilers: AU,
Summary: “Merfolk are not human. They belong in the water as humans belong on earth.”
Notes: Neal is a merman. (Think the 1975 russian movie version of the little mermaid, e.g. legs and human appearance.)
+
“You dreamed of the land again.” Neal isn’t surprised. Kate always knows when he has the dreams and she always comes by in the morning to let him talk about them even though she doesn’t like the dry land. Even though she is scared of it.
“It’s just so beautiful,” he whispers, looking around discretely to check if nobody is around. “The way the sun hits the earth and the stone and makes it warm, and the beautiful flowers that grow on the grass. Don’t you think they look much more beautiful than the plants down here? And they sway in the wind, it’s so much different from the way the water moves.”
“Yes,” Kate says, her tone doubtful. “Of course, were you to leave the water for more than a few earth minutes, then you’d flap around and die, just like the fish that the humans drag onto the dry land.”
Neal frowns, “I just can’t help it, you know?”
He ignores Kate’s eye-roll, her disapproval is nothing new. “Sometimes it feels like I don’t belong here. Like I should breathe air, and feel the breeze of th-”
“The wind in your hair.” She breaks into his word. “I know. Everyone knows. Just make sure that the Sea King doesn’t hear you day dreaming out loud again. He doesn’t like your infatuation with earth, and I can so understand why. It’s just not natural.”
She shakes her head, so hard that a small shell loosens and slowly floats down to the floor.
“Besides,” she suddenly grins and picks it up, “It’s your birthday next week, so you definitely don’t want to anger him if you want to get any presents!”
+
The palace’s caves are filled with people wishing him well and laughing and dancing. Neal smiles at them and accepts their presents; occasionally he takes a drink with a group of guests, and he’s pleasantly buzzed by the time he reaches the throne room.
The sea king is on his throne, looking for all means as if lost in his thoughts, but when Neal approaches him, he looks up with pursed lips and a frown on his face and gestures Neal to come closer.
“Are you aware of the laws that govern all merfolk, Neal?”
It’s a strange question, Neal thinks, because as far as he knows everyone is brought up reciting them for the first few hundred years of their lives.
“Yes, sir.” There isn't anything else he can possibly answer.
“Recite them for me. I want to make sure you understand them completely."
Neal swallows, his throat suddenly more dry than it ought to be. He knows what this is about. Somebody obviously told at him again.
“I-” He takes a deep breath. “Sure.”
“Number One?” The King prompts, and Neal shifts, staring at his feet.
“Merfolk are not human. They belong in the water as humans belong on earth.”
“Good. Go on.”
“Humans are of no interest to merfolk. Interaction is strictly forbidden and will be punished severely.” Neal doesn’t look up at the king, he keeps his eyes on the base of his throne and goes on reciting the rules without more prompting. He doesn’t want to anger him any more than he already has, even though he isn’t sure if he has done anything wrong.
“As long as humans travel the sea in their vessels they are to be left alone, but should they be in the water without protection, they may be freely claimed by any merfolk who wish to do so. Broke-” He is interrupted.
“That’s enough for now. I don’t need to hear more. Seems like you understand perfectly.”
The king catches Neal’s eyes with his and nods his head in the direction of the exit.
“Walk with me,” he says, “I’m sure that your present will cure that unbefitting curiosity of yours.”
Neal isn’t sure at all; to be honest this doesn’t sound like something he’d like to see.
“Your Majesty,” he begins to protest, but the king's already gone.
+
Neal can’t wrap his head around what he’s seeing.
From the very top of the palace -from the part that extends mountain-like from the water- almost the entire kingdom is visible.
While usually the sea is calm and the breeze is quiet, peaceful tranquility all the way to the horizon, today the waves are crashing against the palace’s stone walls and a raging storm has turned the crystal blue water into an icy cold tsunami, and in the middle of its, so small against the waves that Neal can barely make it out, is a ship.
A wooden human ship that is as defenseless as a newly spawned fish egg, and it’s losing the fight against the storm, without question.
Neal is horrified by the human screams that he can faintly hear on the wind, and he knows that they’re dying, all the human sailors unable to breath under water. He knows that they’ll be lost in the sea.
“It’s Peter, the prince of the island kingdom,” the king explains unbidden, calm as if there weren’t people dying in front of his eyes and Neal just barely keeps himself from bursting into an angry rant. “He and his entourage lost their course a few hours ago, when the wind kept changing direction.”
The king puts a hand firmly on Neal’s shoulder and it makes him flinch when he murmurs into his ear. “I claim all of them,” he whispers, forcing Neal to keep looking at the destruction in front of him, “All but the prince. He is yours to do with as you please. He is my present to you.”
+
It doesn’t take Neal long to reach the sinking ship. Water is his element, after all, and even the wind can’t touch him as long as he stays under the surface.
Finding the prince isn’t all that hard either, his crown is reflecting the pattern of the sea and it fairly glows when lightning strikes overhead, but taking him to the shore will take too long, Neal knows, the man has already swallowed too much water for a human.
He drags him to a cave that is only partly filled with water and tries to get him dry.
It’s fascinating, really, all that sun kissed flesh, and no sign of scales anwhere on the prince’s body, Neal can’t take his eyes of the first human that he’s ever seen up close.
He presses his ear to the other man’s chest and listens to his heart beat and to the way he draws in air; the rhythm is different than a merman’s but it’s alluring all the same.
+
The swim from the palace to the shore has never felt so long. Dragging an unconscious human body behind him and making sure that his face stays above water so that this rescue wasn’t for nothing is hard work, but when Neal finally reaches dry land and pushes the prince onto it, he feels a sense of accomplishment that is completely new to him.
It’s clear that the human really belongs on the land, not more than an hour after leaving the water he already looks a lot healthier than before.
Neal is determined to stay until the prince wakes up, just to see how he moves when he isn’t trying to escape death, so he lies down in the shallow water where he can keep an eye on him.
+
He realizes that he fell asleep when he hears strange noises and what sounds like human voices, but Neal isn’t sure because he hasn’t actually ever heard a human being speak.
Hiding behind a large stone so nobody will see him, he observes as three female humans approach the prince on weirdly shaped animals with four legs. They’re fast, and Neal retreats further into the water just to keep away from them.
He watches as they shake him awake, and as the prince opens his eyes and looks into the blue ones of the woman who has a hand in his hair, stroking it softly in almost the same way Neal had done earlier, he smiles and turns around to dive under the water. They’re beautiful together, and he almost wishes he could stay with them.
+
Fill for Fairytale on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
au_abc
Author:
veronicasleepsRating: PG-15
Characters/Pairings: Neal/Peter, Kate, Elizabeth,
Word count: ~1400
Warnings/Spoilers: AU,
Summary: “Merfolk are not human. They belong in the water as humans belong on earth.”
Notes: Neal is a merman. (Think the 1975 russian movie version of the little mermaid, e.g. legs and human appearance.)
+
“You dreamed of the land again.” Neal isn’t surprised. Kate always knows when he has the dreams and she always comes by in the morning to let him talk about them even though she doesn’t like the dry land. Even though she is scared of it.
“It’s just so beautiful,” he whispers, looking around discretely to check if nobody is around. “The way the sun hits the earth and the stone and makes it warm, and the beautiful flowers that grow on the grass. Don’t you think they look much more beautiful than the plants down here? And they sway in the wind, it’s so much different from the way the water moves.”
“Yes,” Kate says, her tone doubtful. “Of course, were you to leave the water for more than a few earth minutes, then you’d flap around and die, just like the fish that the humans drag onto the dry land.”
Neal frowns, “I just can’t help it, you know?”
He ignores Kate’s eye-roll, her disapproval is nothing new. “Sometimes it feels like I don’t belong here. Like I should breathe air, and feel the breeze of th-”
“The wind in your hair.” She breaks into his word. “I know. Everyone knows. Just make sure that the Sea King doesn’t hear you day dreaming out loud again. He doesn’t like your infatuation with earth, and I can so understand why. It’s just not natural.”
She shakes her head, so hard that a small shell loosens and slowly floats down to the floor.
“Besides,” she suddenly grins and picks it up, “It’s your birthday next week, so you definitely don’t want to anger him if you want to get any presents!”
+
The palace’s caves are filled with people wishing him well and laughing and dancing. Neal smiles at them and accepts their presents; occasionally he takes a drink with a group of guests, and he’s pleasantly buzzed by the time he reaches the throne room.
The sea king is on his throne, looking for all means as if lost in his thoughts, but when Neal approaches him, he looks up with pursed lips and a frown on his face and gestures Neal to come closer.
“Are you aware of the laws that govern all merfolk, Neal?”
It’s a strange question, Neal thinks, because as far as he knows everyone is brought up reciting them for the first few hundred years of their lives.
“Yes, sir.” There isn't anything else he can possibly answer.
“Recite them for me. I want to make sure you understand them completely."
Neal swallows, his throat suddenly more dry than it ought to be. He knows what this is about. Somebody obviously told at him again.
“I-” He takes a deep breath. “Sure.”
“Number One?” The King prompts, and Neal shifts, staring at his feet.
“Merfolk are not human. They belong in the water as humans belong on earth.”
“Good. Go on.”
“Humans are of no interest to merfolk. Interaction is strictly forbidden and will be punished severely.” Neal doesn’t look up at the king, he keeps his eyes on the base of his throne and goes on reciting the rules without more prompting. He doesn’t want to anger him any more than he already has, even though he isn’t sure if he has done anything wrong.
“As long as humans travel the sea in their vessels they are to be left alone, but should they be in the water without protection, they may be freely claimed by any merfolk who wish to do so. Broke-” He is interrupted.
“That’s enough for now. I don’t need to hear more. Seems like you understand perfectly.”
The king catches Neal’s eyes with his and nods his head in the direction of the exit.
“Walk with me,” he says, “I’m sure that your present will cure that unbefitting curiosity of yours.”
Neal isn’t sure at all; to be honest this doesn’t sound like something he’d like to see.
“Your Majesty,” he begins to protest, but the king's already gone.
+
Neal can’t wrap his head around what he’s seeing.
From the very top of the palace -from the part that extends mountain-like from the water- almost the entire kingdom is visible.
While usually the sea is calm and the breeze is quiet, peaceful tranquility all the way to the horizon, today the waves are crashing against the palace’s stone walls and a raging storm has turned the crystal blue water into an icy cold tsunami, and in the middle of its, so small against the waves that Neal can barely make it out, is a ship.
A wooden human ship that is as defenseless as a newly spawned fish egg, and it’s losing the fight against the storm, without question.
Neal is horrified by the human screams that he can faintly hear on the wind, and he knows that they’re dying, all the human sailors unable to breath under water. He knows that they’ll be lost in the sea.
“It’s Peter, the prince of the island kingdom,” the king explains unbidden, calm as if there weren’t people dying in front of his eyes and Neal just barely keeps himself from bursting into an angry rant. “He and his entourage lost their course a few hours ago, when the wind kept changing direction.”
The king puts a hand firmly on Neal’s shoulder and it makes him flinch when he murmurs into his ear. “I claim all of them,” he whispers, forcing Neal to keep looking at the destruction in front of him, “All but the prince. He is yours to do with as you please. He is my present to you.”
+
It doesn’t take Neal long to reach the sinking ship. Water is his element, after all, and even the wind can’t touch him as long as he stays under the surface.
Finding the prince isn’t all that hard either, his crown is reflecting the pattern of the sea and it fairly glows when lightning strikes overhead, but taking him to the shore will take too long, Neal knows, the man has already swallowed too much water for a human.
He drags him to a cave that is only partly filled with water and tries to get him dry.
It’s fascinating, really, all that sun kissed flesh, and no sign of scales anwhere on the prince’s body, Neal can’t take his eyes of the first human that he’s ever seen up close.
He presses his ear to the other man’s chest and listens to his heart beat and to the way he draws in air; the rhythm is different than a merman’s but it’s alluring all the same.
+
The swim from the palace to the shore has never felt so long. Dragging an unconscious human body behind him and making sure that his face stays above water so that this rescue wasn’t for nothing is hard work, but when Neal finally reaches dry land and pushes the prince onto it, he feels a sense of accomplishment that is completely new to him.
It’s clear that the human really belongs on the land, not more than an hour after leaving the water he already looks a lot healthier than before.
Neal is determined to stay until the prince wakes up, just to see how he moves when he isn’t trying to escape death, so he lies down in the shallow water where he can keep an eye on him.
+
He realizes that he fell asleep when he hears strange noises and what sounds like human voices, but Neal isn’t sure because he hasn’t actually ever heard a human being speak.
Hiding behind a large stone so nobody will see him, he observes as three female humans approach the prince on weirdly shaped animals with four legs. They’re fast, and Neal retreats further into the water just to keep away from them.
He watches as they shake him awake, and as the prince opens his eyes and looks into the blue ones of the woman who has a hand in his hair, stroking it softly in almost the same way Neal had done earlier, he smiles and turns around to dive under the water. They’re beautiful together, and he almost wishes he could stay with them.
+
Fill for Fairytale on
au_abc