Kingdom Hearts fic: Step Right Up - Chapter 1

[mistressofmuses]

Summary: Sora has always wanted to believe in mermaids, longing for there to be something more and exciting out in the world. He's been disappointed by supposed mermaids before, the costumed models never living up to the one genuine sighting he believes he had.
When a carnival advertises their "Real Live Merman", Sora goes to see him... and is horrified to discover that the carnival does have a merman, the one Sora saw once before, and worse, he's clearly being held there against his will. Then a mermaid comes ashore, bent on rescuing the one held captive, and Sora decides that he'll do anything he can to help them both.

---

Can you write an AU of your own AU?

In my previous mermaid AU, Scales, there's a brief line about what Kairi would have been willing and ready to do if Riku had come ashore and been found by someone less good and kind as Sora. So here's a version in which that happened. Written in part for whatif_au, Challenge #49: "Triple Threat" (using "supernatural", "ocean", and "stranded".)

---

Come one, come all!
Come to view the most Wondrous and Strange Creatures ever seen!
Mysteries of Nature, Miracles of the Unknown!
Giant Serpents! Captive Spirits! Fortune Telling!
A Live Mermaid!

Sora paused. He’d almost walked past the poster, taped to the streetlight on the corner. He’d seen them up for days—vintage-style gold letters on a crimson background—but this was a first time he’d actually read the whole thing.

It was the last line that jumped out at him, of course. A live mermaid.

Well, Sora had spent a day off in worse ways.

---

Even at an early hour on a weekday, it was $10 to get into the carnival, and more to buy a strand of tickets to spend on any of the games, though Sora declined. It was tempting to buy a few, as he walked past the brightly colored booths, set up with games of skill or chance, but he pressed on to the beckoning tents on the far side of the grounds.

He didn’t pass many other visitors; it had just opened for the day, and wouldn’t truly hit its stride until after dark. At least it meant there wasn’t a wait to get into any of the tents.

The captive spirits were… interesting, he supposed. Their tent was almost completely dark, the ‘spirits’ themselves the only source of light. They were colored shapes, dancing about in odd-shaped glass bottles. It was only once he’d watched them for a few minutes that he realized their apparently-random movements actually occurred in a set pattern, which then repeated.

The tent after that was the “Giant Serpent.” It was a very impressively large boa constrictor. It was longer than Sora was tall, but still, just a boa.

“I think calling it ‘giant’ is an exaggeration,” complained a younger boy, crowding closer to the glass. His mother made a noncommittal sound in response.

“It’s just a young one!” the attendant standing by the entrance said. “When it’s full grown, it will be able to crush your entire house without even noticing!”

Sora stifled a laugh at the boy’s wide-eyed expression, and then ducked out of the tent.

The mermaid was housed in the largest tent, the farthest from the entrance. Sora tugged at the hem of his shirt, unaccountably nervous about going inside.

“Step right up!” another attendant called out from just outside the mermaid’s tent. “Here’s your chance to see a real live mermaid! Are you coming in, son?”

Sora quirked a smile, and nodded. It was silly to be nervous. The mermaid was what he was here to see, after all.

The man held the tent flap open, and Sora stepped inside. The flap fell closed behind him.

It was dim, though not completely dark. Some soft lights subtly lit the sides of the tent, and illuminated the enormous glass tank that took up the majority of the space. Sora couldn’t even imagine the weight of it, all that glass and water.

And inside the tank was the mermaid.

She was pretty, with medium-length chestnut brown hair clouding around her shoulders. Her tail was a vibrant yellow, the shade of the scales perfectly matching her bikini top. The bikini was edged in small seashells. A strand of matching seashells wrapped around her waist, right where skin met scale.

She flashed a grin at him, and then arced backwards in an impressive flip, the flukes of her tail brushing the glass between them. She bobbed back upright and waved to him.

He forced a half-smile back and waved. The movement had seemed effortless. It was a shame the mermaid was completely fake.

The shells around her waist helped to disguise the edge of the false tail, and the costume was certainly made well… but he could still tell that it was rubber. The model was a great swimmer though, and definitely looked like she was in her element.

Sora tamped down his disappointment. He’d known what to expect, especially after seeing “captive spirits” that were really just attractive LEDs, and a regular snake cleverly marketed as a “baby giant serpent.” Even so, part of him had still been hoping.

“Isn’t she something!” the man who’d called him over to the tent said from just behind him.

Sora jumped. He’d thought he was alone, but the tent flap hadn’t moved. The man must have been watching.

“The costume is amazing,” he agreed. “And she’s very talented.”

“Costume?” the man said, affront thick in his voice. “This is no mere costume. Why, I first found this mermaid—”

Sora cut him off with a wave. “It’s fine! I’m not going to like, ask for a refund, or tell the kids it’s not real. I bet they love her.”

“What makes you think it’s a costume?” the man asked. This time he just sounded curious.

Sora wasn’t sure why he felt compelled to honesty. Maybe it was just the appeal of finally telling someone. “I’ve seen a real one.”

“Really.”

Sora nodded. “Out in the sea. A merman, I think, rather than a mermaid. But still the most beautiful thing you could ever imagine. There was something completely otherworldly about him. Your model is gorgeous too, but it’s not the same.”

“I see.” The man paused for a moment before continuing, “Well, my mermaid here is meant to awaken a sense of wonder at the magic that exists in the world. Sounds like you’ve already found it. A merman out in the sea, huh? Near here?”

“Pretty close,” Sora confirmed.

“Think you could show me where?” His tone was carefully too-casual, and there was something hungry in the words.

At that Sora shook his head and frowned. “No, I don’t think so. Sorry.”

The man held up his hands, placating. “I’d just love a chance to see one for myself, that’s all I mean. To do some research, you know? This is my show, my carnival. Maybe I could make my mermaid here just that much more convincing. For the kids, of course.”

Sora licked dry lips. “I don’t think I can help you.”

“Well, that’s a shame. You have a good day, now.” The carnival owner swept the tent flap open with a snap, a clear signal for Sora to move on.

---

Even if the owner of the carnival hadn’t sounded so strangely covetous about the idea of a real merman, Sora really couldn’t have told him where to look.

He’d only seen the merman once. Or, well, he thought he saw him once. A flick of dark and bright blue scales. And somehow the impression of vivid aquamarine eyes. Of course, that part wasn’t possible; the sighting had been from such a distance.

Rationally, Sora knew it had probably been some strange fish, or a trick of light on water. Maybe he’d been in the sun for too long that day. But he didn’t really believe any of that. Or maybe he just didn’t want to believe any of that. He wanted to believe that mermaids and mermen were real.

He kicked his feet against the docks, watching the sun set. He wanted there to be more out there.

---

The day after that, the bay was strangely crowded with boats. Sora wouldn’t claim to know every single boat that ordinarily docked on this side of the island, but he recognized most of them. He’d grown up here, and half of the boats had been around longer than he had.

The usual ones were each unique, with bright paint or fanciful names scrawled on them, loved by the fisherfolk who owned them and took them out to sea and back. These new ones were fishing boats too, but strangely anonymous. Nothing set them apart from one another.

The boats became an ordinary sight after that, though no one seemed to know what they were there for. The crewmembers were all strangers that didn’t seem interested in becoming anything else. The boats went out each morning, and returned each night, but never brought in any hauls of fish. Since they weren’t competing with the locals, no one really minded, but it was still odd.

I was several weeks later when there was a commotion between the boats, late in the evening, before the light had completely faded from the sky. Sora could hear the shouting, but not what it was about. There were lights on the boats, the kind used to illuminate nighttime construction, and they were blinding to try to look at.

That was the last time the anonymous fleet of boats docked in the bay. No one was really too sad to see them go.

---

The summer kept heating up, and Sora didn’t want to do anything but swim. He tried to decide if he should go out to the “play island”, as it was affectionately known, or settle for one of the closer swim beaches set aside for the purpose.

Eventually he decided on the swim beach, just for ease of access. The play island was plenty close; rowing distance for kids who were first trusted with little boats of their own. But still, the extra steps involved in getting his own boat ready to row out sounded like far too much effort.

The walk to the beach was a short one. Sora glanced at where the carnival flyer had been before; they’d been taken down some time before, presumably when the carnival was ready to move on to its next location.

The beach was crowded, but not completely full, and Sora staked out a spot near the lifeguard’s raised chair. He waved up at Tidus, an old acquaintance from high school, who was the one currently on duty.

He was sprawled in the sand, drying off, when Tidus climbed down. They exchanged friendly waves, and then Tidus waved to someone else walking across the sand toward the chair, also dressed in the bright red that marked her as a lifeguard.

Shift change, then.

As the new lifeguard reached the chair and started to pull her way up, Sora realized he recognized her, too.

Very pretty, with chestnut hair, now styled to flip up around her shoulders…

“Hey,” Sora said. “Didn’t you work for the carnival?” He blurted the question before he’d thought through what a strange question that was.

But she paused, and pulled her sunglasses down a bit to get a better look at him. “I did. Afraid I don’t remember you, though.”

“I saw you one day. You were the mermaid, right? You really sold the part. As well as any non-mermaid could, anyway.”

“I thought so too, until that jerk let me go. No warning or anything!”

“Really?” Sora frowned. “I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. “It’s fine, I guess. At least they were hiring lifeguards here. I’m Selphie, by the way.” She offered a hand.

“Sora.” He shook her hand. “Did the carnival shut down or something?” He’d assumed it moved on, but doing so without its star performer seemed unlikely.

“No, just headed onto the next stop, inland a ways. Said I’d been great, but that they had a replacement, and wouldn’t be needing me anymore. Kind of a surprise, but like I said. Guy was a jerk.”

“Well, welcome to the Islands. I’m sorry for the circumstance.”

“Hey, I’m a strong swimmer, and being a lifeguard is easier than playing mermaid. The uniform is more comfortable, too. Nice to meet you, Sora.”

---

The conversation with Selphie kept him up that night. Why would the carnival, which had built its advertising around having a ‘live mermaid’, fire her? Especially claiming to have a replacement? He couldn’t imagine anyone really doing a better job than she had.

Unless…

It was a completely stupid thought. He shook his head, pushing the thought out of his mind before it fully formed, and then continued to fail to sleep.

---

In the morning it was still a completely stupid thought, but he couldn’t let it go.

A quick internet search told him the carnival’s new location, a spot about an hour inland. And their simple website had an image of their new flyer:

Come one, come all!
Come to view the most Wondrous and Strange Creatures ever seen!
Mysteries of Nature, Miracles of the Unknown!
Giant Serpents! Captive Spirits! Fortune Telling!
A Live Merman!

The stupid thought was starting to seem just slightly less stupid, yet somehow also worse.

---

Sora borrowed his mother’s car. He didn’t have his own, with everything in walking distance, but she was always willing to let him use hers.

The drive was a nervous one spent singing along with the radio and tapping the steering wheel, but never quite hearing the songs he was listening to.

This time it was $20 to get in, and there was already a line despite the early hour.

Sora paid his fee, not even responding to the question of whether he wanted to purchase any game tickets.

The other people who’d come in at the same time splintered off, pulled away to ring toss booths and simple shooting galleries. More approached the tents for the fortune-teller, and the so-called spirits, and the not-so-giant snake.

Sora only cared about one thing.

The tent advertising the merman had a line outside. The same man as before—the owner—stood at the entrance, allowing one person in at a time, and waving them out after a minute or two.

When it was his turn, the man didn’t appear to recognize Sora. Though why would he?

The tent flap fell closed behind him. The inside was still only dimly lit, with one large tank at the center. It was the same one that Selphie had been in before.

But in the tank was a merman.

Sora’s breath caught in his throat and it felt like his heart stopped. He stepped forward.

This could very well have been ‘his’ merman; the one he thought he’d seen, and treasured the very possibility of. His torso looked human, with slightly tan skin. The scales of his tail were iridescent, shifting between a dark blue and bright cyan. The edges of each scale were picked out in bright silver. His hair was also silver, long and weightless in the water.

This tail was no costume, the scales fading gradually to skin. And Sora could see gills in his neck, flexing ever so slightly as he ‘breathed.’

Where Selphie had looked joyous in her role, the merman looked anything but. He was beautiful, but he barely moved, making small motions just enough to keep him upright, but otherwise listless.

As Sora approached, he looked up. His eyes were exactly as Sora had imagined them to be, despite knowing he couldn’t have seen them before. They were the vibrant, aquamarine color of tropical waters.

Once he saw Sora, he almost lunged forward. Sora almost winced, but it wasn’t a motion of attack. It was desperate, the merman’s hands splaying on the glass. His fingers were faintly webbed.

Sora reached out, placing his hands on the opposite side of the glass.

The merman keened, some sort of wordless song. If Sora’s heart hadn’t stopped before, it felt like it could have now. The sheer longing in that song pulled the same feeling to the surface in him.

“He must like you,” the carnival owner’s voice interrupted. “He hardly ever sings anymore.”

Sora spun to face the man. He scrubbed at tears he was unsurprised to discover.

“How could you do this?” he asked.

“Do what, son? Share the unexplored wonders of the world with the public?”

“He doesn’t want to be here!”

“Does a fish want to be confined to a fishbowl? Or to a garden pond? Or fished up by a trawler to become dinner on your plate? They’re dumb animals; they don’t want anything.”

“He’s not a fish,” Sora protested. “And you have to let him go.”

“No, he’s a merman, and he’s mine. Now please, it’s time for the next customer to have a turn.”

“I’m not leaving! This is wrong. Can’t you tell how unhappy he is?”

“I can’t tell anything except that you need to take the hint to leave. Grateful as I am to you for the tip about the creature, I can’t have you disturbing the other guests.”

Sora bristled. So he was recognized. “No! I’m not going anywhere!”

Things went downhill from there, as the owner called for security.

The merman’s song started up again, more frantic and even panicked, as a pair of men who looked like they probably did a strongman act hauled Sora out of the tent.

They escorted him none too gently off the property and made it clear he would not be allowed to return, whether he bought a ticket or not.

[next chapter]