Meet Me At The Coral Isles

Secrets

CWs/TWs: blood, cutting, knife, referenced transphobia

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Scott gasped and stumbled backward a bit, immediately going into a severe state of panic. This was it. He was going to die here, this bounty hunter was going to kill him, just like all of the other sirens that dared to mingle with humans. He was so stupid for leaving home. He shouldn't have left.

Grian's serious gaze softened and turned worried. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked, stepping forward to try and help.

Scott shrieked and tripped over his feet, falling onto the floor and backing up against the railing. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please don't kill me," he wailed. "I don't wanna be fish food!"

Grian paused. "Huh?"

Scott hiccuped, trying to relax but couldn't, as he leaned up against the railing. "Please, I don't want to die..."

"I... what?" Grian shook his head. "You don't really think I'm going to kill you..."

"Yes! You're a bounty hunter!" Scott shouted, shaking terribly. His stomach hurt from the trembling. "Bounty hunters kill things."

Grian rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yeah, for a bounty. There's no bounty on your head. Not unless you're some kind of royalty, but I doubt you are. I mean, you probably wouldn't be here if you were." He shrugged. "But as far as I know, you're a friend. And Martyn seems to like you, so I wouldn't kill you even if there was bounty on your head. I'm not going to hurt my kin for money."

Scott stared in disbelief, hiccuping and hyperventilating still but a bit calmer. Grian wasn't going to kill him? That was different. Really different. Every story Scott had heard about humans ended in the death of a siren. He supposed he was relieved, but he couldn't know for sure if Grian was telling the truth. Humans were deceitful, weren't they? "What's stopping you from killing me anyway?" he blurted, trying to back up more.

"Martyn would kill me if I did anything to you and, frankly, I don't feel like dying any time soon," Grian said bluntly. "And I'd get nothing out of it, so there'd be no point."

Scott looked Grian up and down, searching for a sign that he was untrustworthy, but he found none. Grian seemed to be completely relaxed, he wasn't fidgeting or looking around a lot, and he looked a little worried about Scott, even. "How can I trust you?"

Grian paused for a moment before pulling the knife off of his belt and putting the tip to the center of the palm of his hand. "I'll prove it." He put the smallest bit of pressure on the blade, just enough for it to break the skin, and dragged the blade down his hand to his wrist. He put the knife back in its sheath and held up his bleeding hand. "I swear on the blood drawn from my blade, I will not kill you."

"O-okay," Scott stammered, not sure what to think about what Grian had just done. Humans really were weird. "I believe you."

Grian smiled. "Great!" He glanced down at his hand and grimaced. "But this is definitely going to sting later. I'll give you some space to calm down whilst I go clean this up." He waved with his unharmed hand and walked down the stairs to the deck.

Scott took as deep of a breath as his lungs would let him, then sighed and relaxed against the railing. No matter what Grian did or swore on, it still didn't get rid of the fear of being killed by one of them. Grian may have been trustworthy, but that didn't mean the rest of them were.

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Scott stared nervously at Grian, who was sipping his tea peacefully at supper. He didn't know if Grian already told anyone else about him being a siren, but he wanted to make sure that he definitely wouldn't now. Perhaps if he stared hard enough, Grian would get uncomfortable enough to avoid talking at all.