Aquata Cove Ch. 19

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"Mmmm..." Adam snuggled in his sleep, and rolled over. He blinked awake, and sat upright. Merrick is gone. "Merrick?" He got up and looked around. He passed Jamal's room, where he was snoring, and spooning buck-naked with a woman with blue and purple streaks in her hair. He rolled his eyes as he closed his door, and looked around the house. Yuri was gone, off to class, but Merrick was nowhere to be seen.

He went back into his room, and also noticed Merrick's trident is missing. He knelt down, and pulled the box under it, discovering Merrick's sea gear was gone too.

"Where..." He muttered, "Where did he go...?"

~~~

Adam searched the beach before going into the forest. His next place to check is Aquata Cove. He stepped onto and around the twigs and leaves, and finally heard the waterfall. He emerged from the woods, and smiled as he saw Merrick, standing there, facing the water, wearing this tooth crossbelts, his scallop shell shoulder pads, the kelp-band around his head, and holding his trident.

"Merrick! There you are! I wondered where you ran off to," He said. Merrick didn't respond. "Merrick?" Adam came up to the naked merman, "What's the matter, babe?"

"... Adam..." He finally said, "This is goodbye." Adam's smile faded.

"W-Wha? Wait, Merrick, it's only been three and a half weeks! You can't be leaving already-"

"No, Adam," Merrick said, "I mean, this is goodbye, for you and me."

Adam felt his stomach sink as he heard these words, "No... No, no no, TELL me you're joking! Please, please tell me you're kidding, Merrick! Yo-You-You don't mean you're breaking up with me!"

"If that's what you humans call it," Merrick said, his voice hollow and strained, "Yes. We have to stop this... You and I cannot be together anymore..."

"Wha-Why, why, why not, Merrick??" Adam said as he stepped up to behind the blonde, "Merrick, please don't do this... Please, don't..."

"You are a human. I am a merman. We belong in two different worlds. How can we hope to stay together like this? I am always in the sea, and you are always here. It's not fair for either of us to force you to wait on my arrival."

"I-I told you, Merrick, I don't care how long I have to wait," Adam said, his eyes starting to water up, "I love you, please don't do this!"

"Adam... I know I said I trusted you to protect me... But what you showed me - that movie-thing with the Primate merfolk... Whatever this government is - the power humans bow so easily to - I take it they can do whatever they want... I can't allow them to capture me..."

"Th-Then we'll just keep coming here then! We don't have to go to my house, or the pier! Please, I just want to be with you, Merrick!" Adam pleaded.

"And then there's your JOB thing... Every day, you leave me behind, and I just sit around, waiting on endless time for your return, bored and alone. You just go away and leave me to wonder when you'll ever come back, like I am just a toy to you..."

"Merrick, I TOLD you, I can't change that! I need to keep my job! You can't-"

"That is not the main reason, however," Merrick continued, without even looking at Adam, "You know full well I am the Adra Triton - someday soon, I will have to succeed my pod, in my Father's place. Even you must have realized that by now. I cannot mate with a human and lead my pod at the same time. I must find a mermaid to be my Noita. And you..." Merrick paused for a moment, "And you must find another man to love..."

"But... No, no no!" Adam said as he walked up to him, "I love YOU! I don't want anyone else! JUST you!" He walked around to face him, but those blue eyes kept staring down, towards the water, "A-A-And Merrick, you're gay! You've always told me you're not interested in mermaids! How can you just lie and fake love a mermaid?!"

"I have to try," Merrick said as he turned his head away from him, "I don't have a choice."

"YES, you do!" Adam said, "You can live here, on the land! With me! Please, can't you just leave your pod?? That's what Belinda did-"

"Do NOT compare me to that Latolcus!" Merrick spat out, "This is not the same thing at all. Adam, I cannot abandon my pod," He said blankly, "My pod is my life. I have to do this, as an Adra Triton..." He closed his eyes, "Just know I will always cherish the memories we've had together... But we can never be..."

"You CAN'T be serious," Adam said, feeling a tear run from his eye, "Merrick, please, I love you, PLEASE don't do this to me..." He turned the merman's face to look at him, "You mean more to me than anything in the whole world, you ARE my life-"

"Stop..."

"MERRICK!" Adam said, "Look me in the eyes, and tell me you don't love me!"

"Adam, stop this now..."

"5 years, Merrick, for God's sake! FIVE YEARS we've been together! Doesn't that count for ANYTHING?!"

"Stop it, Adam... This is the way it has to be..."

"No it doesn't dammit!" Adam said as Merrick pushed him aside. "Merrick, please don't break up with me!"

"I HAVE to, Human..." Merrick said as he stepped into the water.

"Wh-WHAT?!" Adam hastily stepped into the water, putting his hands onto Merrick's shoulder shells, "What did you just call me?!" He said, shocked as his heart sank horribly, "Merrick..." Adam huffed and sniffled, "Merrick, no... Please no," He said as he began to weep.

"Merrick!" Adam yelled, "Please..." His lower lip quivered as he shook his head, "Don't go... Don't leave me..."

"Stand aside," Merrick said, and looked Adam directly in the eyes, his own sapphires looking cold and unfeeling.

"You're a mistake I never should have made."

The words cut into Adam like a knife, "How... How can you say that?" Adam hushed.

"Goodbye, Human..." He said as he moved into the water, his body transforming as he dove down, and rose up again, in his true form. "This is the end between us. We are finished."

"Merrick, please, don-" Before Adam could chase him, Merrick turned around, and sent a harsh splash-wave at Adam, hissing a loud, vicious growl at the human. Adam gasped loudly as he felt a jolt of cold force spark inside his body, forcing him to topple backward, and fall onto a rock. He panted as he looked at the Adra, his eyes glittering with a white fluid while glaring at him with an anger Adam has only seen once before. The merman then dove into the water, his shimmering blue tail riding along the surface, before his white fin slapped the water.

"... Fine..." Adam breathed deeply as tears filled his eyes, and he got up, "FINE! Go away! Just- Fuck you AND your pod!!" He picked up a large rock, and threw it into the water, "Swim FAR away from me as you can, you fucking overgrown tunafish!" He hefted another rock, and sent it flying into the grotto, "Go on and fuck a mermaid! Have a hundred fucking Adras and forget ALL about me!" He kept flinging rocks into the pool until he started crying too much to throw anymore.

"But I will NEVER forget you!! YOU HEAR ME, MERRICK?! I will NEVER..." Adam dropped his knees, and sobbed, "Forget you..." He curled up, and cried on the rock, cringing as he felt his heart fell into pieces inside of him.

~~~

Merrick curled up after he left the tunnel and sealed the entrance with the clamshell, weeping profusely as he clutched his arm, and then part of the reef, wanting nothing more than to die after what he just did. His eyes are clouded around a shimmering mist of his own tears as he wept uncontrollably.

"What have I done... What have I done... I am so... I am so sorry... Adam... I am sorry... Please forgive me... I cannot forgive myself... Please never forget me... I can never..." He muttered as he shuddered with emotion, feeling like a horrible creature after destroying his and Adam's hearts. Those cruel, heartless words still echoed in his head, the look of utter devastation on Adam's face, haunting his mind, every time he closed his eyes.

'You're a mistake I never should have made...'

Merrick cringed each time he heard his own voice say that horrible statement. He can see his human's very heart shatter in his eyes.

"After... After all this time... I still... I still do not know..." It took every once of will power to pull himself out from the hidden spot of the reef, but stopping at the brink of the edge, "I still do not know what I should do..."

"... Shining Sea Mother... Please... Help me..." He whimpered as he dug his face in his webbed hands, and cried into them.