Work Text:
1!
There was a boy on the beach.
And there was a boy in the ocean.
The boy in the ocean was curious. He had never seen a human before. And humans rarely come to this lone, forgotten island. Strange, the existence of the boy on the beach was.
But the boy on the beach did not move.
The boy in the ocean observed him for a very long time. But the boy on the beach did not move.
The boy in the ocean surges together with the waves, crashing against the beach. Not very far - lest he stuck on the beach - so the waves can take him back home to the ocean.
The boy from the ocean is giddy. This is the first time he came up on land, defying everything his family had told him, to save a boy on the beach!
The boy from the ocean crawls to the boy on the beach. He was relieved to see the movement of his chest, but the boy on the beach won’t wake - not even when the boy from the ocean touches his face, nor caresses his body. How bizarre. The boy on the beach has the same exact upper body parts as the boy from the ocean’s (well, except there’s apparent lack of gills and fins, of course). But instead of a tail, the flesh is separated into two limbs. The boy from the ocean is curious, but he keeps that for later. Afterall, he has a boy on the beach to save.
But the boy from the ocean doesn’t know how to save a human. So he did one thing he knew. A knowledge, passed through generations - the healing tears of a mer.
Imbued with the power of the ocean, and the magic of a mer, the tears can save everything. Surely a human boy too?
The boy from the ocean opened the boy on the beach’s mouth, and let his tears fall directly from his eyes into the pale, awaiting mouth.
Not waiting for the boy on the beach to awaken, the boy from the ocean quickly retreated to the edge of the beach, where the waves would take him back to where he came from.
But a moment of indecisiveness seized the boy from the ocean.
He never knows when he will see the boy on the beach again. This first meeting with a human could be the last.
So the boy from the ocean hastily crawled to the boy on the beach. Still not awake, he sees. The boy from the ocean took off his necklace made of shells and pearls, then put it on the chest of the boy on the beach. Then his gold bangles. Then his emerald earrings.
The boy from the ocean left all his treasures for the boy on the beach. He has a lot of treasures back home, (but the boy has none) and he wanted the boy on the beach - a human boy - to have some of his. So perhaps the boy on the beach might remember him. (he did). But alas, he wasn’t awake yet. So the boy from the ocean cut off the boy on the beach’s lock of hair with his sharp nails. A lock of wavy black hair, for his memento.
The boy from the ocean finally retreated to the edge of the beach, where the waves would take him back to where he came from.
The boy from the ocean looked back for just one more time, and found another pair of eyes staring back at him. The boy on the beach is awake!
The boy from the ocean smiled. He wanted to stay, but he couldn't leave the ocean for more than he had. A big wave came for him, so he wait for it to crash onto the beach, and let himself be engulfed by the waters he calls home.
2!
The boy in the ocean came back the next day.
The boy on the beach is gone. So he left his catch of seafood on the beach, hoping the boy would be alright.
3!
The boy on the beach is not gone.
He was just exploring the island. Afterall, he is to live there for a while.
4!
The boy on the beach remembered a great ship, heading toward the East Indies.
The VOC trading ship he had sailed with his father was attacked by pirates, in the dark of the night, during the worst of a storm. The seas were alive, rolling waves raised as high as if it would touch the sky. Every board creaking and groaning, the masts broken in half, unable to withstand the force of nature. But the pirate ship stands tall and mighty, not affected by the rage of the storm, as if God himself is on their side. (but he didn’t know it was the Dutchman, hateful against his own kin, cursed to sail for eternity.)
The sea is powerful in her rage, and so is the sky.
And then, the maelstrom.
At that very moment, every crew and passenger of Batavia knows that this is their end. God has forsaken them.
The ship capsized.
3!
The boy on the beach doesn’t know how he ended up on this island. Alive.
Everyone died. They must be. No one can survive that. The last thing he remembered was his father’s arms left their embrace on him. Cold, cold water seeping into his lungs, into his bones.
The boy on the beach thought this was a dream.
2!
The boy in the ocean was not exactly subtle in his approach.
He left trinkets and seafood everyday for the boy on the beach to find. Then he hide among the rocks.
This time, he didn’t leave unnoticed.
“Who are you?” a cold voice asked. What are you, the voice implied.
His tail splashed around, actually eager to talk to this human boy.
“Hello,” he croaked. He’s not used to speaking like a human. He doesn’t really know what language the boy speaks, but with his magic he could speak any human language and understand them.
“Who are you?” the boy repeated.
How dare that boy on the beach, he didn't greet the boy in the ocean nor have the courtesy to reply his greeting.
“I am Harry.” His tail splashed again, a sign of his building annoyance. “Who are you?”
The boy on the beach was silent for a while. Then he answered, “I am Tom.”
“You saved me, didn’t you?
“I did.”
1!
Later that night, when the moon hangs and the stars reflected onto the water like mirror,
When the sea was aglow.
The boy on the beach and the boy in the ocean found themselves sitting on a rock, talking about the past, the present, and the future.