“I’ll do it,” Carter proclaimed proudly, then laughing, “I mean, how bad could it be?” He offered his arm to Arria as they swam into the glow of the city, smiling a little. He wanted to send a message to Yuri, to tell him to back off, in a way. To stop harassing Arria.
Arria had to stop and he doubled over laughing, “Oh are you in for a ride Cater. This is gonna be some show.” Once he returned to his senses he took Carter’s hand, still giggling a little and swam to his friend usual hang out spot.
Carter rolled his eyes, his glance going through the merpeople crowd in search of familiar faces. He would do anything for Arria, it didn’t matter. And he knew he needed to prove to Arria’s friends that he was a decent guy, and nothing like Yuri.
It didn’t take long before Arria spotted his friends. Sitting in a small garden on the outside of town, a bunch of caves lining the view in the distance as well as a massive ravine, the three mermen spoke laughing about something or another. Once they spotted Arria, they smiled but frowned when they saw Carter.
“Before you say anything bad guys we have some news.” Aria said looking to Carter to tell them.
Carter bit his lip a little, shyly glancing at Arria’s friends hesitantly before looking at Arria again. He smiled, “I- Well… I proposed to Arria.” He held his breath for the reaction, a tiny bit tense and nervous.
The three mermenks jaws dropped, Gallion and Mulir eventually smiled.
“Congrats, guys. But Carter do anything bad again and you’ll have to deal with us.” Gallion said, laughing a little. Herla frowned a little.
“How do we know you won’t do it again?” He asked, crossing his arms.
Carter took a deep breath, relaxing just a little bit, “Well, for one, I know I can’t get intoxicated like that again. But, I’m willing to do anything to make it up, to prove myself.” Carter said confidently, nodding his head as if to affirm it. He wasn’t positive there weren’t any drugs in the merpeople world, but that still didn’t matter. He was more aware of what could happen, and he’d always make sure to never let his food and drink leave his sight at a party.
Arria and his friends all exchanged a glance and then grinned, “Oh I think we know just the thing.” Aria said, letting go of Carter’s hand to swim next to his friends, trying to hold in his laugh.
“I am ready, then.” Carter nodded his head, eyeing Arria suspiciously. “What do I need to do?” I’ll do it, I’ll do anything, Carter kept telling himself. This was infinitely important, he needed to show he was a good guy.
“In the ravine,” Herla started, “There’s a Crystal we’ve been trying to get for a while. Huge thing, can provide lots of power.”
“The only problem is, is that it’s stuck deep in the rock.” Gallion said, shrugging.
“We’ve managed to pull most of it out, but one more more pull should do the trick.” Arria added.
“But, the ravine is full of sharks that do not want to comply to our kingdoms rules so it’s dangerous.” Mulir said.
“Your job, is to retrieve the crystal without dying.” Arria grinned.
“Sharks?” Carter’s voice squeaked just the tiniest bit and he couldn’t stop the paling of his face, “I- I can do th-that. Where might I find this um… huge crystal?” Carter asked, trying his hardest to put up a brave front.
The four mermen swam to the edge of the ravine and pointed. Sure enough, deep in the raveine on the other side, was a huge crystal, nearly falling out out of the rock. Surrounding it, were lots of sharks.
Carter looked down to the sharks and gulped, before saying nervously, “How do I- how should I- that crystal is huge.” He seemed to go paler. How on earth am I suppose to get that thing out? And those sharks…
"It's actually pretty light and it's most of the way out anyway so all you need to do is jiggle it a little and it'll pop right out!" Mulir grinned at him.
"If you can do this then we'll accept you as part of the group, but if not…" Herla shrugged. Truth was they already had accepted him, this was just for fun for the mermen.
“I- Alright, I’m going,” He affirmed, stretching his arms before glanced at Arria and taking a deep breath. Carter cautious started to swim towards the crystal, hoping the sharks wouldn’t notice him. They typically don’t attack humans… unless they look like a fish…
"Good luck!" Arria called out giggling a little before sighing, "If he gets eaten by sharks I'm killing you three myself."
"We would expect nothing less." Herla said, grinning at Arria who suddenly felt really nervous for Carter.
Carter made the move to swim above the crystal first. Sharks don’t tend to look upwards. He cautiously swam directly above the crystals, feeling somewhat short of breath just from panic. It’s okay, get a hold of yourself, you’re doing this for Arria. He reminded himself, then fearfully dived straight for the crystal, ready to punch at any shark.
Arria put his hands over his eyes as Carter dived, the nerves growing with every passing moment. God he hoped Carter could do this, he knew he could but there was lots of sharks. Come on Carter, you can do this.
Carter nearly crashed into the crystal, but stopped himself just short and pulled at it. Sharks, sharks, sharks, sharks- Carter heaved his weight into the crystal and felt it wiggle out, but his focus was on the impending doom around him.
Arria bit his lip as he could see the crystal coming loose. He smiled a little but it faded when he saw a shark change its attention from whatever it was looking at to Carter.
"Carter! Hurry up!"
Carter pushed harder, feeling it come entirely loose. He quickly put all his strength into heaving the crystal. He knew -gosh the dread- about the sharks surrounding him. About how their attention was turning towards Carter.
"I'm going to help." Arria said but before he could get away, Gallion pulled him back.
"No, keep up with the illusion. He'll be fine. The crystal is nearly out anyway." He said and Arria nodded with sigh. He knew Carter could do this.
Carter heaved the crystal up, then started fleeing as fast as he could- which wasn’t that fast because of the crystal’s size. I just need to get to Arria. Carter looked at the sharks, and pure fear struck him. I’m prey.
Arria smiled a little when he saw Carter swimming away, crystal in his arms. He did it, now hurry up… come on Carter…
"Damn, he actually did it." Herla muttered.
He felt it. As if the atmosphere changed. A shark -or maybe it was more- was coming after him. He turned, and dropped the crystal, completely stunned from fear. A great white, lunging at him like he was prey. He dove after the crystal, catching it and pumping his tail harder upwards. Arria, Arria, Arria, Arria- Carter knew -just a feeling in the pit of his stomach- that the shark was lunging after him again.
Arria had had enough and swam after Carter, the shark paused for a moment and turned its attention to him instead of Carter. This was a bad idea… Arria swerved and the shark followed him, giving Carter time to swim up to the top of the ravine.
Carter finally got up to the safety where Arria’s friends were, panting as he dropped the crystal in front of them. He only paused when he didn’t see Arria there. His head jerked around. Arria. No no no no no no- Carter took off, adrenaline taking over as he swam back for Arria.
Arria was about to hit the other edge of the ravine when he took a sharp turn up and the shark hit the wall. He paused for a breath before noticing Carter. He swam towards him and grabbed his hand when he reached him, "Don't just stop, come on!"
Carter nodded, swimming like mad for safety, making sure not to let go of Arria’s hand. He was panting by the time the reached Arria’s friends, doubling over and trying to regain a normal pulse. Arria’s safe.
"Wow, good job man," Herla said, patting Carter on the back, "Welcome to the group." He grinning at him and Arria flipped his friend off, earning a laugh from the guys.
"You okay Carter?" Arria asked.
