Klance, Plance and Kidge oneshots

For the love of Sirens

Landlings know not to come into the water. Lance could never figure out why, however. Until the day his mother told him about their inability to survive down where he lived. Just like merfolks  inability to survive up above. That doesn’t stop Lance from wondering though. And dreaming, and hoping, and praying that someday there will be away for him to walk with the landlings. But for now, he is stuck here. Underwater, with his sisters, brothers, all their kids, and everyone he’s known since he was born.

One thing Lance enjoys is wandering around, close to the surface, but not close enough to get in trouble.  He’d heard stories, and did not want to end up like the merfolk featured in them. Stuck in a net, dragged up onto the shore and slaughtered. They were called abominations and freaks, monsters, even, and it scared everything out of him.

Which is why he’s wondering how he’s found himself here, behind a rock fifteen feet away from the shoreline.

Staring, Lance rubs his eyes to make sure he’s not dreaming. Nope. He’s voluntarily in the water. Why? Why would a landling do that? Don’t they know of the creatures that reside in the water, even at that depth? Hell, even Lance has had issues with the jellies and dogfish that like to rest there. He flinches slightly as he sees the boy’s arm fly into the air, signaling others to join him.

“Come on!” he heard him yell. “It’s not like there are Sirens in the water, you’re just being a bunch ‘o lubberworts!”

What does he mean? I’m right here. Lance wonders. He feels a strong urge to make himself known, but can’t seem to bring himself to do it. He would so love to prove the boy wrong, but he knows revealing himself would only jeopardize her and her family.

“We’re coming, ya damn klazomaniac!” one of the boys still on the shore yelled. The boy in the water was now completely submerged, all the way to his inky black hair. He dunked his head under, and the colour changed to a dark purple. Lance  thought it was amazing, and toyed with his own brown hair. It had never changed its hue before. As quickly as he had gone under, the boy returned above water, and his hair was back to its original colour.

The other two boys, still lagging about on the sand, finally dipped their toes into the water. One with brown hair, and the other with a nearly white hue. They both jumped back, shrieking and yelling “it’s too cold!”

“Fine. Go back to your mummy’s. I’ll be here if ever you find yourself man enough to join me.” The boy flipped onto his back and floated in the water, a small smile playing on his lips. “And don’t worry Hunk, I won’t tell Shay you couldn’t handle the water.” They boy added as the other two turned to turned to leave.

“I beg your pardon?” said the boy with brown hair, Hunk. “I could last longer than you could dream there, Keith. Don’t cry to me when your toes turn blue, and you can’t walk. ‘Course, I’ll still be in the water, laughing at your misfortune.”

“Then get in the water, landlubber,” the white haired boy taunted. Hunk held up two fingers towards both of the boys, a gesture Lance had known to be an unkind one, before charging into the water and attacking the inky haired boy. Said boy stood in the sea and shook his head, spraying the others with water. Lance laughed slightly at the way they acted towards each other. Until one of them spotted the rock he hid behind.

“Last to the rock is shark bait!” Called the black haired boy.

“Damn you Keith!” called the white haired boy. He slowly plunged into the water.

“You’re one to talk there, Shiro,” started Hunk, “You’re barely in the ocean!”

Lance ducked down as they quickly made their way to the rock, not wanting to be seen. He decided that was enough time spent up at the surface for the day. He swam back down to his home to find his mother rolling seaweed together with other things found in the markets. Most people were too afraid to travel far out of the village, but those that did always returned with treasures and things to be sold.

After spending the day with his family and eating supper, Lance bid his family adieu and went to bed. He dreamed of the landlings and what it might be like to wander among them.

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All week, he tried to fight the urge to return to the rock, but was unable to do so and found himself lazily perched atop it, instead of behind like he was the previous day. Lance lay sprawled across the top of it, fingertips and tail in the water, basking in the heat of the warm summer sun. He wasn’t able to do this often, so he cherished every chance he had.

“Bloody hell.” Lance heard a loud voice from the shoreline. Damn it! He thought. He slipped into the water, hoping to not be seen again. Unfortunately, the owner of the voice was none other than Keith, the black haired boy from the day before. Lance felt his breath hitch as a set of deep purple eyes pierced his own. Keith marched his way into the sea, not breaking his gaze. His eyes lay focused on Lance's blue ones, and he swam out to the rock.

Lance was unable to move. Not from fear, not from paralysis, but because of curiosity. It often won battles in his mind, and he stayed.

“Hello.” He raised his head above water and gave a small wave. Keith jumped slightly, obviously expecting it to be a figment of his imagination. “My name is Lance. And you are?”

Lance, already knowing this boy’s name, didn’t wait for an answer as he lifted himself onto the rock once more. Keith was frozen in place, barely blinking as he looked at Lance in shock and wonder.

“Wh-what are you?” the boy asked.

“A Siren. You’re a landling, right?” Lance asked.

“Human,” corrected Keith, finally breaking his gaze to blink. He shook his head slightly, then looked harder at Lance, shrieked and fell backwards into the water, knocking his head on the rock beneath him. Lance would have laughed, had the boy come up right away. He didn’t however, and Lance dove down to see that he was floating, unmoving, and unconscious.

Lance grabbed Keith by the collar of his shirt and, knowing that he would be too heavy to lift, blew all the oxygen he could muster from his lungs to Keith's.

“Wake up!” Lance cried. He shook him by his shoulders and tried to drag him upwards, but to no avail. Lance was too weak. He couldn’t do it. He let go of the black haired boy and sank to the sea floor with him. Lance buried his face in his hands and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

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Weeks went by, and Lance finally found the courage to go back to the rock. He saw Hunk and Shiro, the boys that had been with Keith a fortnight ago, and he knew that Keith’s fate would be the same for them if he stayed.