Chapter Text
"GET THAT HALFING!!!"
"YOU'RE DEAD NOW YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING!!"
"WE'RE GONNA SHOW YOU HOW WEAK YOU HUMANS REALLY ARE COMPARED TO US FAES!"
Sebek heard as he was running away from his bullies.
They weren't usually so aggressive, but Sebek happened to test them by fighting back and now he suffered the consequences.
Sebek ran and ran, trying to lose them they threw rocks, sticks, branches and pebbles at him, most he dodged but unfortunately not all.
Sebek lost them, but now he was lost.
He looked around cautiously, after wandering for a long time he found his way out of the forest, the scenery was now a beach.
He didn't know a beach existed here, it seems to be blocked off by high mountains and a lot of trees. He was surprised he found this place.
"Woah.. the water is crystal clear!" Sebek exclaimed, like always a bit louder than he meant.
At his discovery, Sebek searched and wandered around the area taking in the beautiful scenery.
His feet feeling the warm sand, significantly relaxed him. -He put his shoes in his school bag-
As Sebek was walking along the seashore he noticed a passed out merfolk.
"Huh..? Oh no!" Sebek exclaimed as he ran towards the merfolk, he set down his bag and grabbed the merfolk by the shoulders.
Sebek dragged the merfolk into the water, which was quite difficult as the merfolk was quite big compared to him. (And no I don't mean in body shape, I headcanon Azul to be bigger in mer form ok? Ok)
He sighed as he sat down on the sand next to his bag, he watched as the mer floated in the water. He was getting worried but he knew nothing of merfolk so he couldn't provide any help, which made him feel utterly useless.
Cough cough
Sebek heard as he looked at the merfolk moving.
"Huh where am I?" The now conscious merfolk asked.
"I'm not quite sure myself! You see I wandered here unknowingly and I think I'm lost" Sebek tried to say in a quiet tone, but like always his tone was louder than intended.
His loudness startled the octopus merfolk and he curled up on himself, but then slowly unraveled himself up again and gave a glance to Sebek.
"You're not human.. what are you?" The merfolk asked another question.
Sebek was ecstatic by the merfolk's words.
"IM A FAE!! YOU'RE A MERFOLK RIGHT!?" Sebek yelled in excitement.
"Ouch.. you're loud, but yes that's correct, I'm an octopus merfolk, it's good to meet you um.. what's your name?" The octopus asked.
"IM SEBEK!! what may your name be?" The crocodile acquired.
"Well Sebek my name is Azul! Azul Ashengrotto!" Azul exclaimed, as he puffed up his chest and pointed to himself with his thumb, clearly proud of his name.
"Oh we're going by full names? You should of told me sooner! My full name is Sebek Zigvolt! My grandfather is Baul Zigvolt! Have you heard of him??" Sebek excitedly asked.
Azul looked at him with a confused look in his eyes as he tilted his head in confusion.
"I guess not..." Sebek said quite sad.
"Well I'd love to hear about him, but I should be going back home, it might take me a while to get back to the coral sea since I don't know where I am, but here!" Azul gave Sebek a shell. "If you want you can call me from the shell! It's how we merfolk communicate from afar!"
"Woah... THAT'S SO COOL!!!" yelled the young half fae."I'll call you for sure! Farewell have a safe journey back home Azul"
"Hehe you too Sebek!!" Yelled Azul as he swam away.
Sebek sat on the sand, he pulled out his sketch book, he drew an octopus and a crocodile playing together at the beach.
His first ever friend, at least he hoped.
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The door creaked open, as Sebek tiptoed his way into the house.
Sebek got carried away and spend the rest of the day at the beach and because he was lost it took him a really long time to find his way back home so by the time he came home, it was dark.
As Sebek was making his way upstairs he heard footsteps.
"..Sebek? Where have you been.." asked his mother with a concerned tone, her son wasn't the type to stay out late.
"Oh I.. uh.. was at a friend's house um.. studying! Yeah we weren't looking at the time.. we were too focused studying to notice how late it was.." Sebek prayed his mother believed him.
"A friend? Aw I'm so glad you're making friends Sebek but please do make sure you come back home on time next time." She answered believing her youngest child.
"Well I'm tired! I'm gonna go to sleep, goodnight mother!" Sebek yelled as he ran to his room.
"Mother.. oh how I miss when you called me mama or mom.. father taught you to be way too formal my baby.." she exclaimed, quite sad at how formal her son addressed her.
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Luckily for Sebek the next day was a weekend, so he made his way to the beach once again. This time though with more ease.
When he made it there he was a bit taken a back.
What he saw was Azul sitting there, half his body in the water the other half on the sand. He was reading a book.
"AZUL!" He yelled to catch the merfolk's attention, and that he succeeded. Azul turned his head and stared at Sebek who seemed to be running at him at full speed.
Azul being friends with the Tweels was able to dodge Sebek, as Sebek slipped and crashed onto the ground. Sand shot up at the impact.
Sebek groaned and sat up, as he sat up he heard giggling and chuckling.
"You're ridiculous, how could you slip? Hahaha!" Azul said as he covered his mouth while laughing.
"Ah! It's not that funny! I was just excited to see you again!" Sebek defended himself.
"We saw eachother yesterday? How could you already have missed me?" Azul asked, more sarcastically than anything.
"How could I not miss my first ever friend!? Also we barely know eachother because you left so early!!" Sebek exclaimed pointing accusingly at Azul.
Putting a hand to his chest offended, "you can't blame me! I was here for quite a long time! My mother got quite worried, and the Tweels got very annoyed I went missing."
"The Tweels?" Sebek asked, not knowing of who 'the Tweels' are, they sound interesting to Sebek.
"Ah yes the Tweels, they're twin eels so I call them Tweels, they're my friends but they can be really protective sometimes." Azul answered honestly.
"Oh that's cool!" Sebek exclaimed. "Maybe I could meet them someday?" Sebek curiously asked.
"Well I don't think you would like them very much, they can be a handful at times, but I'll ask them if you wish!" Azul said with a concerned tone.
"I would love to!! The more the merrier~, at least that's what my mother says.." Sebek said, his tone saddening near the end.
"oh oh! Look at what I drew yesterday! When you left I ended up staying here a long time and I took that time to draw us! Do you like it?" Sebek showed Azul his sketchbook, inside a bunch of drawings of octopuses and crocodiles were shown. They were more like doodles but what do you except from a 10 y/o?
"Oh my! That's quite pretty! So you're a crocodile fae? That's quite fun if I say so myself." Azul exclaimed taking the sketchbook and looking at the drawings with more attention.
"Well.. I'm not really a fae.. everyone else says so at least, they call me half baked or just human..!" Sebek said, sad he looked at the sand. "Humans are weak! I'm not weak! But no matter what I do, the other faes will look down at me.."
Sebek happened to share too much. I mean who says that to someone he met a day ago? What was he thinking!? He's so self cent-
"The other mers make fun of me for being an octopus, you see we octopuses aren't.. well the fastest swimmers, we don't have much stamina" Azul replied, breaking Sebek's thoughts. "They also made fun of my body shape.. I've been having trouble eating since."
"Oh.. why would they make fun of your body shape? I believe having muscle is a good thing!" Sebek exclaimed.
"It's not really muscle? More like fat.." Azul grabbed onto his skin, uncomfortable.
"What's the difference? Fat and muscle are the same to me!" Sebek said obliviously, he truly didn't understand the difference. I mean fat is just muscle at the end of the day.
"That's not true!? How can muscle and fat be the same?? Fat is just extra meat on your bones making you a bigger target! It also slows you down. Muscle is.. isn't as heavy as fat.." Azul screamed a bit, he seemed a bit agitated..?
It was silent for a bit. Sebek felt like it was his fault Azul got angry. Azul felt bad for yelling at him, he was innocent after all.
"I'm sorry I burst out, I didn't mean to. It's just the other mers are so mean to me their words are constantly playing on loop.." Azul looked at Sebek, his eyes were sad, just like his words.
"It's quite alright! I actually understand what you mean fully.. my bullies say really mean stuff to me too! They told me that my only goal in life would be for me to stop living.. I try to ignore their words but it's quite hard! My siblings are able to make friends both fae AND human, but everytime I approach anyone they say I don't belong!" Sebek cried out.
"Oh me too! They say I should go wash up on shore! It seems me and you have quite a lot in common wouldn't you agree Sebek?" Azul questioned.
"Yeah.. my grandfather always says that people who fight the same battles are often destined to be close!" Sebek exclaimed, his eyes glistening and now full of life.
After that, they started bonding over their bullies and what has been said & done to them.
They laughed and chatted away the day, when they realized time passed, the sun was setting, they watched the scenery in awe.
"You know I believe the land world is very beautiful, as beautiful as the coral sea? Probably not, but it's just like us. Unique and beautiful in it's own way." Azul looked far ahead into the ocean, his eyes reflecting the view.
"I would love to see what the world looks like in the ocean. Will you take me one day?" Asked Sebek, he had a pleading tone, he held onto Azul's hand puppy eyes in the work.
"Uh! Umm I mean.. possibly? I could, and you're a crocodile! But will you be able to breath down there? You're a fae not a mer.. so maybe not! But still a crocodile! What's the chance of you NOT breathing down there.." Azul rambled, more to himself than Sebek.
Sebek let Azul rambled before he voiced his suggestion.
"Well we could try it out next time? It's getting late and I don't wish for my mother to be worried again, I'll see you tomorrow?" Sebek stood up, grabbing his bag.
Azul looks at him, and pushes him down into the sand.
"AH! oof!" Sebek let out as he met the warm sand once again. "What was that for!?"
"Well because you let me ramble on, you should of told me we could try it tomorrow inside of making me blabber on and on! That was quite rude of you." Azul pouted, but he wasnt as angry as he claimed to be.
Sebek got up and was about to walk away but before he could.
"Wait! I have something for you." Azul called out, holding something in his hand.
"What is it?" Sebek asked, his interest piqued.
"Hold out your hand!" Azul demanded. Sebek did as he was told.
Sebek held out his hand, open waiting for Azul to give him something.
Azul carefully placed it in the palm of Sebek's hand.
"And here you go!" Azul exclaimed.
In the palm of Sebek's hand laid a shell bracelet, it had a bunch of different shells, all of them different and unique in their own way. It was a beautiful present.
".. I don't have anything for you right now.. TOMORROW ILL GET YOU SOMETHING ALSO!" Sebek yelled as he put on his shell bracelet, he is gonna cherish this gift forever.
"Ouch.. but ok! I would like that, we shall go the sun is pretty much gone.. wouldn't want our parents to worry. See you soon Sebek!" Azul quickly said before he disappeared into the sea.
Sebek made his way home, this time it took him a few minutes, he was home now the sun has just fully set. He looked at his bracelet.
"It's so pretty.. I shall give him something just as pretty!" Sebek told himself as he walked into his house. It was supposed to be dinner time, but the lights were off and there was nobody home.
Sebek walked in, he took his shoes off and quickly ran up to his room.
Sebek reached his door and opened it, he went inside and started picking out clothes to change into. I mean his current clothes were covered in salty water and sand? What kind of psychopath would just chill in this types of clothes, they were sooo itchy!
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Sebek was now in the kitchen, he was cooking something for himself, obviously something simple because he was still a child and his parents never had 'time' to teach him how to cook.
What time they did have was to attend his siblings' events and to take them out to celebrate when they got good grades.
That wasn't the case for Sebek though. Everytime he had a special event, he had to go alone and if he got lucky his parents would come pick him up and ask him how it went. And when he got good grades, which was pretty much always, he just got a 'good job', 'proud of you' and 'well aren't you so smart!'.
Sebek tried to treasure the praise, but seeing his siblings, classmates and even bullies get better praise, it made him feel like he wasn't good enough for better praise? But he felt that asking for more would simply showcase him as an ungrateful brat.
Sebek was done cooking, he was now sat at the dinner table eating all by himself.
He hated loneliness, the silence was so unbearable.
He took his plate up to his room and put it on his table surrounded by plushies and toys. He put some toy food infront of his plushies.
After that he went to his brother's room, as he entered he opened the light, it was quite dark in there despite the light being turned on. That's because his brother hated light and was going through a phase right now where if anyone shined light at him, he would hiss and run away.
Sebek thought it was ridiculous.
The reason he entered his brother's room was to find a music player, he found music enjoyable and it would be 100x better than sitting and eating in silence.
After a bit of looking, Sebek found it. He grabbed it and then went to look at all the music records his brother had, he found an old fae song. Sebek happens to love Fae songs, especially old ones since they have more emotion than the newer ones.
Sebek took the old fae song entitled 'timeless love', it was a song about a fae falling in love with a beastman, the beastman wished to live their entire life with the fae. The fae knew that they couldn't live their entire life with the beastman, so when the beastman was on their deathbed, the fae took their life and decided to spend their entire afterlife with the beastman.
The song was a saddening poem of love being timed.
Sebek loves such song, not only because the lyrics are heartbreaking in a good way but because the story makes him quite happy, he loved poems of love especially when it includes faes, let's just say he finds fae romance very appealing.
He put the song into the recorder, his room filling up with beautiful lyrics and amazing instrumental play.
Listening to music while eating was so much better than eating in silence. But dancing to music was better than eating while listening to music.
He ate his meal fastly and started dancing and singing along to the song. He was having quite a lot of fun despite being alone, I mean was he really alone? He had his plushies and toys, AND MUSIC!
Music can cure anyone's loneliness, believed Sebek. Maybe he was just trying to cover us his sadness with sad love songs but Sebek was happy.
While dancing, Sebek looked out the window. He saw the ocean.
Sebek stopped dancing and approached the window. He wondered if he could go to the coral sea with Azul, he loved swimming, and if the coral sea is as beautiful as Azul claims it to be. It wouldn't hurt to see it, not even a little bit.
He solemnly looked on ahead into the ocean, eventually catching himself drift into sleep. He was tired, how couldn't he be? He closed the music and took it back to his brother's room. He took his plate into the kitchen and washed it, spotless.
Sleep was taking him slowly, so he washed his teeth and climbed into bed. He was excited for tomorrow, since he and Azul would test out if he could breath underwater. Truthfully speaking he never tried it before, but now knowing that if he could he would be able to go to the coral sea with his first ever friend. He couldn't wait to try it.
Sweet dreams little crocodile, don't let the eels bite.