The ribbon between them burned red hot for a few moments before it disappeared into their skin. Arria immediately felt the deal between them, like a nagging in the back of his brain and burning against his wrist. He released a breath and quickly made his way over to Carter, wrapping him in his arms and running a hand through his hair gently.
“Arria Arria Arria Arria Arria,” Carter sobbed, “Make it stop, please, make it stop,” He pleaded uselessly, “J-Just wake me up, I don’t want this to be real, please, I want to be home,” Carter whispered, each breath he took drenched in pain so he tucked his head into Arria’s neck, “Please… I want to go home with you…”
Arria shushed him softly, "I know, love. I know it hurts but we're going somewhere with people who can make the pain go away," He looked to Maria and that bond flickered, "I know you want to go home, and you can. You'll be able to soon, I promise." He released a small breath, pulling Carter closer to his body gently.
(Pls dont ever stop RPing this pls pls pls dont kill Caria dont kill my new ship.)
(this is like my favourite rp to stalk asdfghjkl)
(I know right!! It is so awesome I spent a night reading up til where they stopped and now it's a highlight of my day to see what happens next!!)
Carter was so focused on that pain and on Arria, that he didn’t notice the boat had started up again. But he whispered quietly, “I w-want to go home with you. You’re home.” Carter wrapped his arms around Arria and tightened his grip, “I love you.”
Arria smiled a little, wiping away a tear, "I love you more. And no matter what happens, I always will," He closed his eyes and rested his chin on Carter's head. Everything will work out fine… "You're going to be okay."
“But-“ The boat slowed, and Carter vaguely realized they were at docks. “You, get in the cabin,” Maria hissed at Arria coldly, and the guard was already going to grab Arria and pull him into the cabin’s safety of prying eyes. Carter held onto him tighter, “D-Don’t go.”
"I love you, Carter. Remember that." Arria placed a soft yet loving kiss to his lips. He hooked an arm around the guards shoulders as he was pulled away and out of sight from Carter and any other eyes that might see him. He'll be fine. He'll be fine. He'll be fine. He'll be fine…
Carter reached out weakly, the world blurring with a new flood of tears forming. But a stranger picked him up not a few moments after Arria was hidden, and it seemed like a whole crowd of people was swarming the boat, some people even had cameras out and Carter was helped out of the boat by strangers’s hands, and he heard an ambulance before he finally blacked out from blood loss.
As soon as Carter was gone, Arria couldn't contain his whimper and the sob that escaped him. he watched the ambulance pull away, Carter inside and he fiddled with the ring on his finger. For Carter… you doing this for him and he'll be fine because of it… He wished there was another way, but there was none that he could see.
Maria looked at Arria -now, most of the people were gone- and ushered her guard, “Come on, my limo is here, and I’d like to get back soon,” The guard picked Arria up, and they exited the boat to find the limo pulled up right next to the dock, and Maria let the guard and Arria go in ahead of her. This time, there was a cooler full of water secured next to the seat.
Arria let out a small relieved breath when he noticed the water. At least this time he wasn't going to die. Once he was seated, he dipped a hand into the water before running it through his hair, a;ready feeling too dry but there was water, and that was all he needed… apart from Carter.
It took a few hours, Maria and her guard mostly silent, but eventually the limo stopped before a large building. Maria strutted out of the limo, leaving the guard to grab Arria and bring him inside to a room equipped with a large tub of water- something that Maria had ordered ahead of time. “We can talk about my plans tomorrow, I’ll let you get settled.” She smirked, greed dancing in her eyes still.
Arria rolled his eyes at her as he was placed into the tub of water, "Fine. Whatever then…" He muttered. He rolled onto his side, back to Maria and let out a small sigh through his nose. His tail swished lazily back and forth as well as he could. He just wanted to go home.
(Could we timeskip to the next day?)
(Yup, that's fine by me)
Carter woke slowly, for a second reaching out to a person that wasn’t there. His eyes nearly shot open when he realized he was in a hospital bed, and that Arria was no where to be seen. The memories of yesterday hit him harder than he expected, sitting there breathing for a few seconds. Then he was already swinging his legs over the bed, trying to stand and find a way back to Arria. Only he fell -making a fairly large crash that was bound to alert someone- as soon as he put weight on his legs. On a foot that wasn’t there. On a bandaged stub. Tears were welling in his eyes by the time a nurse came in with a gasp, immediately calling other’s to help.
Meanwhile…
Maria walked through her halls, opening the door to Arria’s room without knocking. Her face was blank -bored, even- as she walked in.
Arria hadn’t slept a wink that night. To lost in thought to really care. Even though he was sleep deprived, he sat up faster then he ever had in his life when he heard his door open, Maria walking inside. He frowned at her and sighed, “Care to knock next time?”
“Why should I care?” Maria told him with a annoyed look on her face as she looked down at Arria, “I’m sure you’d like to know about I’m going to do with you.”
Meanwhile…
Nurses frantically helped Carter back onto the hospital bed, one of them scolding him for trying to stand when no one was around. They had gotten him a pitcher of water, and they told him someone had come to get him and take him home when he healed up enough. Carter couldn’t waste time, waiting there for leg to heal enough. I need to get Arria… The only relief he got was when Elecia walked in.
Arria snorted, "At least you've got that right. So please, enlighten me." He glared at her and crossed his arms over his chest, tail twitching in irritation. He'd been here not even a damned day and already was completely done with this woman.
“Well, just imagine how much money I could get from the government if I gave them a real life merman,” Maria smirked with greed caught in her eyes, “And then imagine how much more money I could get if I gave them the location of a colony of merpeople.”
Meanwhile…
“What happened to you? I gave you my car for the night, then you come back home missing a f-cken foot.” She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him, “You better have a decent explanation.”
Carter frowned a little, “Elecia, right now Arria’s in trouble. I have to get to him. I know I need to explain a lot, but I doubt you would believe me. Just-“ Carter’s voice wavered slightly, “please, Elecia. I need to save Arria rather than sitting around here and talking about what happened.”
Arria rolled his eyes, “There are no other merpeople you stupid woman. If there was people would know about them by now,” The lie rolled of his tongue easily, “The government will think you’re lying anyway. A prank that you’ve just placed a… a costume on me and claimed I’m a real merman.”
“What do you mean there are no other merpeople? You came into existence somehow,” Maria pointed out nastily, “And they’ll have to believe when I show them.” But she frowned nevertheless, starting to pace.