My eyes are squeezed shut. I scream out in pain when my body hits the glass beneath me. The force winds me, and I cough frantically for a minute or so.
I whisper to myself. “Don’t look down. Don’t look down. Don’t look down.”
I suddenly hear voices, causing me to jump. I hear footsteps running, and then the sound of metal crashing. Two faces look down from a hole above me. One of them is a short-haired girl, and the other, a boy. They look surprised when they see me. I probably look the same, my eyes widening.
“They aren’t a crank!”
“How do you know?! We can’t save everyone, Thomas.”
There’s a pause. “We can try. We can’t just leave her/him here.”
The glass beneath me starts to crack. I can hear the deathly sound, though I force myself to not look down. My breathing picks up, and I call the pair, desperate. “Help me!”
“I’m coming! Hang on!” Thomas suddenly drops through the hole. He grabs on to any piece of rubble he can on his way down to me. “Don’t move!”
When he finally reaches me, I reach up with my hand, and I stretch out my arm, but the shift in weight causes the glass to crack further. “Oh! Shit!”
“Come on! You can reach!”
I keep trying. Just as I connect with the pads of Thomas’ fingertips, the glass cracks again before it breaks completely. I scream. Thomas is quick, though. He kneels down at just the right moment and catches my wrist.
“I’ve got you!” I reach with my other hand and grip his tightly. “I’ve got you!” He repeats.
-
After Thomas and Brenda had quickly introduced themselves and then led me out of the crumbling building, we made it to a small alleyway in what would have been a town.
“Are you hurt?” Thomas kneels in front of me. I’m sitting on the ground, gratefully sipping water from a flask.
“Surprisingly.. no. I think I’m okay. Thanks to you.” Thomas doesn’t say anything. He just looks me over a few times: as if inspecting for injuries. “I’m not infected, or bit.. or scratched… I promise.”
“It’s not that.. just.. I can’t help thinking- I mean..”
“Thank God, you found me when you did?” Thomas smiles, but it’s so small, you’d barely notice. He nods. “Yeah.”
“Thank you. So much… again.” I don’t even think before I throw my arms around him. I’m even more surprised when he actually hugs me back.
“We don’t ever leave people behind.” He mutters against my ear as he tightens his arms around my waist.
I smile against his shoulder. “Does that mean I get to tag along?”
Whew, I managed to do @whumptober2021 - for a second time! It’s an entirely Untamed/MDZS whumptober with a variety of pairings/characters and in total just above 100k
✨ All fics are linked below the cut or can be found in my whumptober 2021 collection ✨
(Please see tumblr and ao3 for detailed content warnings)
/ = Pairing || & = Gen/Character-Focus||⭐= Personal faves/recs
No. 1 - ALL TRUSSED UP AND STILL NOWHERE TO GO
“You have to let go” | barbed wire | bound - Jiang Cheng & Wei Wuxian - 1.8k - tumblr||ao3
“Step right up, step right up distinguished guests! See the wonderful merman in it’s natural habitat!”
As the pirate in front of him continued to speak, Na'loon tried banging on the glass, attempting to get the attention of the human audience. Mermaids could hold their breath for up to 2 hours, 3 if absolutely necessary and it was rounding out to about 2 and a half hours since he had been forced into the tank. Aside from the obvious problems of being dragged away from his family, forced into a tiny glass tank, and being carted far, far away from any large body of water, there was one more.
Mermaids did need air to breathe.
And the tank didn’t have any air holes at the top like the one they transported him in. His strength was slowly leaving him and he was considering just letting go, just sinking to the bottom and dying. It would be better than this miserable life with the traveling circus that’s for sure.
But just as he closed his eyes, prepared to meet his doom, a loud creaking noise filled the tank. He glanced up, wondering what foolishness the pirate had engaged in now, only to gasp in shock as his hair was gripped tightly.
“Now then wonderful folks! You may be wondering how it’s scales feel! Not to worry, for a simple fee of 5 gold is all it takes to have a touch!”
