Damaged But Never Broken

Too good to be true

Ink and Error had a quiet day today. Just swimming around and picking up pretty things that Blue might like. Well… Ink let himself be carried around a little from the current. Error just followed him, not too keen on how easily Ink gets distracted by his surroundings. But on the other hand, it was what saved the lives of the two pups.

They had been moving along the edge of a cliff looking for pretty rocks when Ink spotted something glittering. Error let him out of his sight for a moment. He had found a stone that he just had to grind a little, then he would look like a soul. But Ink's panicked call for him had made him drop everything and rush to his mate.

"Ink! What's going on?!” Error worriedly checked Ink for any injuries. When he didn't find any, he breathed a sigh of relief and looked around for the source that could have upset Ink so much. And quickly he had found the source. But he definitely didn't like what he saw.

A broken glass case lay in front of him. In and of itself, this is not a concern. However, what made all of Error's instincts scream was the fact that there were two young Mers inside, one barely old enough to not count a baby anymore, too young to be without his mother. In fact the little one looked the best, had it only had small cuts on it. But the other… Error was surprised that he hadn't become seafoam yet. His tail was covered in scars, old and new, some of which had reopened. Most worrying, however, was his head wound, which ran from the top of his skull down over his eye sockets. He looked like someone had tried to smash his skull. But maybe he wasn't seafoam yet because this mer was different somehow. The second dorsal fin and the faint glow, not from simple magic, emanating from its scales.

“We have to help them Error. They are both children. We can't just leave them like that!” And Error didn't object. Not when his own instincts were urging him to take care of them both.

"But we must hurry. The big one is in dire need of healing if you don't want it to turn to seafoam."

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

Even before Kesar opened his eyes, he knew something was different. The water around him was clear, not like the little containers the bad man keeps them in. In addition, nothing hurts anymore and he was lying on something soft. Everything was something the bad man would never allow. To him they had never been more than animals with a little more sense than average. Kesar knows that being treated like this hurt his mother in particular.

"Will they be okay?" asked a soft male voice that didn't fit anyone in the lab. Had the bad man hired someone new again?

"I did my best to heal them. It's up to them now if they want to wake up.", another voice said, making Kesar even more nervous. While that voice was a bit lighter than the first and just as friendly, it was usually never a good thing when the bad man had visitors. He always had to hurt Orion then...

"You have to be patient, Ink. We don't know what the land folk did to them. It's possible that they don't even know other Mers or what they are.” The third, much deeper voice made Kesar want to flee. So many people had never been with the evil man! It just couldn't mean anything good. But… He couldn't just leave Orion behind. Not when his brother did his best to keep him safe. He even took mistakes made by Kesar on him and took the punishment for it. He couldn't leave him, not when his brother sacrificed so much for him. So Kesar waited until he thought the people were farther away before quickly loping himself up and laying on top of his brother, growling. His purple green eyes shone with magic and he was ready to use his magic to protect his injured brother.

"Go away!" Kesar growled, trying to look menacing. He wasn't distracted by the fact that the people in front of him have tails like him and his family. The bad man probably just wants to deceive him, like a new experiment. He will not be fooled!

"Wow wow wow, slow down little guy. We don't want to harm you.", said the skeleton with the white bones with strange patterns on them and which had many little tails, two of which were longer than the rest. "My friend and I found you and the other one injured in a glass case that the land folk use. Both of you were injured and unconscious. I couldn't just leave you guys like that and sign your death!"

Kesar looked at the three skeptically. He didn't trust any of them. But still they weren't lying, all of Orion's wounds looked like they actually had the time to heal. But he still couldn't trust the whole thing. It could also just be a bad man's trap. "I don't believe you! Go away, leave us alone!”

"How about this.", began the dark skeleton, which had tear marks on its cheeks and a long blue tail. Kesar really liked the color. Too bad it's a fake. Kesar would have liked to see it in real life. But it would probably never come to that. Not with the bad man who will never let them go. "We all calm down and talk in peace? A fight won't benefit either of us. I'm Error and this is Ink and Blue. Who are you?"

Kesar was slowly withdrawing his magic, but not yet ready to move away from his brother. He would watch the three very carefully. One wrong move and it would be over. "I am Kesar and this is my brother Orion."

Kesar really hoped he wouldn't regret it.