Sanders Sides Oneshots

Singing With A Siren Pt.1 ~ Prinxiety

Seafolk were myth across the entire world except in a small fishing village just off the coast of the mainland. The village was tiny, the sort of place where you knew everyone by name and seafolk were a little more than myths. Apparently, they were real.

The tales had started centuries ago. A young fisherman had caught no fish for weeks and the village was starving. He had been sitting in his small boat, casting his net out again and again. That's when a fin had broken the water and he saw the eyes of an old woman and a young girl peer up at him from the water. The man had panicked, thinking the two were drowned, long lost at sea. But then, the two dived under the surface and his net slowly grew full of thrashing fish, tossed in by the two people. The man had thanked them over a hundred times and the young girl had decided to climb up onto the boat. Instead of legs, she had the large tail of a dragonfish, the frills rippling in ruby pink and pale peach. She put one more codfish in the net before going.

When he got back home, he told his village all about the curious old woman and young girl in the water, the fish and the young girls' condition. People were sceptical, but then more people insisted that they had seen people with fishtails for legs sitting on the rocks that surrounded the island. Soon, seafolk and mermaids were a part of everyday life. Fishermen were unfazed by hands tossing fish into nets and they never feared wide eyes staring up at them from underwater.

In tribute of the young fisherman who had first met the seafolk, the village had made its' own holiday. On the day of the fisherman's' birthday, every year, the people of the island took a day off work. Everyone relaxed, everyone rested and every household would cook. Then, the festival would begin at dusk.

Multi-coloured lanterns that hung from houses and fences were lit and would be the only other source of light other than the candles on the beach and the stars. The village people would dance through the village to songs praising the sea, the moon and the people of the ocean. And then, the tribute would be paid.

All the food that had been cooked by the people would be laid out on taunt plates of seaweed and large oyster shells, and then it would be pushed out to sea once the moon was in the middle of the sky.

The festival was called, 'The Feeding Of The Sea,' and had been mandatory for six hundred years, back when the young fisherman had still been young. Even though the seafolk had stopped appearing two hundred years ago, the people still celebrated them. Everyone still believed they were out there.

Except for Roman.

Roman used to believe stubbornly and he had searched every cove for the seafolk since he was old enough to walk. But, over time, the lack of discovery and made him lose interest and had turned him bored of silly little tales. He was no longer interested in stupid people with fishtails, his village was wasting their time.

And 'The Feeding Of The Sea' happened to be his least favourite day of the year. What a shame it happened to be his birthday and his friends insisted he joined them in the festival activities.

"C'mon, Roman!" Whined Patton. "You haven't been to a 'Feeding Of The Sea' festival since you were six and you're eighteen today!"

"Patton's right, Roman," Logan said, siding with his boyfriend, as usual. "Even if no mermaid has been seen in two centuries, we can still pay tribute to them. They've saved the village after all."

Roman sighed loudly. "Guys, those stories are made up. Seafolk aren't real and this is wasting my time."

Patton gasped. "This isn't a waste of time!" He whimpered sadly. "It's fun!"

"Seriously, Logan, you can't actually believe this is real!" Roman tried.

Logan shrugged. "I do, actually. My grandmother says she saw one, once, as a little girl."