Count On Me (Don't Tear Me Down)

“Do you think Yang or Sienna would like to join us?” Weiss asked. She wasn’t really sure if they’d like to join them for dinner or not. It just felt like it might be nice to have dinner with more people than just her and Sun. She was already getting a little lonely, admittedly. She was used to having Winter around all the time along with her friends. She really was already missing home to some degree even though it’d not been that long since she’d come up on land. “We can go and ask them. Plus, we can do some lessons on writing and stuff afterward. Sound good?” Sun’s tail curled again and Weiss nodded. If she was going to spend any time up here on land, she was going to need to learn to read and write… It was going to be a pain to her to do so, but she needed the skill. At least she, Sienna, and Yang were all starting off from the same relative skill level…meaning nothing. They walked to Yang and Sienna’s room, then knocked on the door. It took a moment for Johnathan to answer. “We’re having dinner. Wanted to see if Yang or Sienna wanted to join us for food, then some writing lessons. Ask them for us?” Johnahtan nodded and retreated into the room, closing the door behind him. He opened it again a moment later and shook his head. “All right then. After lunch tomorrow!” Sun grinned. He really was a kind guy. He did have some anger issues due to his parents, but that was understandable. He nevertried to take it out on other people though… Johnathan nodded and withdrew into the room. Sun looked at Weiss. “Well, let’s get some grub, then hit the hay.” Weiss just lookedat him. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, let’s get some food then go to bed. Sound good?” “I mean it’s still light out but yeah… Today has been kinda long.” Weiss sighed. She wasn’t used to really doing any of this. She was used to swimming everywhere but walking around like this was tiring. The water did create drag, but she was used to that. She knew how to handle that but all of this walking… She was tired. She really just wanted to curl up and sleep. This castle was massiveand having to walk everywhere was exhausting. He looked at her. “You do seem pretty tired… How about I carry you down? It’ll be a long walk down to the kitchens.” “You really don’t have to… I need to get used to it.” “I’m offering because I wantto, Weiss. I can carry you to the kitchens, then back up to our room.” He kissed her head and she smiled a bit. He really was sweet. “All right…” He got down and offered his back to her and she climbed up. The trek to the kitchens was quiet, partly because Weiss wasso tired. She wasn’t entirely certain what to say at this point. It was one thing if she were talking to Yang or Sienna… They were strangers and she needed to get to know them. But Sun… She’d known him for years. She felt comfortable in silence with him. So she tucked her head against his back and closed her eyes. She couldn’t sleep with a walk so bumpy, of course, but she was definitely feeling the waves of exhaustion roll over her like waves in the ocean. She needed some food pretty badly and needed to sleep. Once down in the kitchens, he sat her down in a chair and cooked as quickly as he could. He brought over a… She wasn’t sure of the words. It had a flat bottom and the outside was brown and kind of hard. She tapped on it with her knuckles, getting a hollow sound out of it. “It’s bread, Weiss.” He sounded amused. He cut it with a knife and put some yellow substance on it and offered it to her. “Here. try it with some butter.” “What’s butter?” “It’s made from milk.” She looked at him. “Yeesh… I’ll have to take you out to the barns tomorrow.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “But anyway, try it. It’s good! The bread is fresh.” Weiss could feel the warmth from the bread and the butter was turning to a liquid. She took a bite and her eyes lit up. “Wow, this is amazing! Why don’t we have this underwater?” “Because you need grains like wheat which only grow on land, you need mills, and you need fire.” “…Yeah, that would definitely explain it.” She finished the piece and looked down at her plate. She wanted more of the bread before it got cold. “More please?” “Don’t fill up on the bread alone. But here.” He cut her a thicker slice and slathered it in butter. She ate it quickly then turned her attention to her plate. She had eaten with Sun a few times on the beach, so she had some knowledge of how to use forks and knives and such at least… She was clumsy with them, though. They never used anything like this underwater… It was mostly just plants harvested from the coast along with fresh, uncooked fish. She was used to eating everything raw, so it was a little weird to eat things that were cooked… Still, it was pretty yummy so she saw no reason not to eat it. Plus, it wasn’t like she could go down to the ocean for every single meal. It was an hour to walk just one wayso there was no way she could justify a two-hour round trip every time she wanted to eat. She was starting to understand horses now. Walking everywhere just was notreasonable. She finished eating and they finished up the now-cool bread. After, Sun offered his back to Weiss again and she climbed on. The meal felt heavy in her stomach. Cooked foods were a lot heavier than the light, fresh meals she was used to underwater. She didn’t mindhow it tasted, but it only added to her exhaustion. She once again closed her eyes and tucked her head against Sun’s neck until they got to his room. “Let me get changed then we can go to bed, all right?” “Okay.” Weiss slipped the sandals off and sat on the bed. Sun came out of the bathroom a moment later, dressed in lighter clothes. He laid down and opened an arm for her. She nodded and tucked up against him, closing her eyes and drifting off into sleep, the meal still heavy in her stomach. ☼ The next day, the sun rose and Sun opened his eyes as the light streamed in through his windows. He could feel Weiss laying there, but from the way she breathed, she was definitely awake. She was definitely a lot tenser than she should be if she were asleep. He gave her a soft squeeze and she tensed a little, her head snapping up and nearly cracking his nose as she did so. “Oh, Sun… You’re awake. I’m sorry. Did I wake you up? I tried not to move too much…” He shook his head. “No, no, you’re all right. I’m just surprised you’re up before dawn. I rise with the sun and such like most people…” “Mermaids are usually up before dawn. This is pretty normal for me.” “Ah, gotcha… Well, sorry if you’re cramping or anything of the like. If you wanna move, you can move.” Weiss nodded and rolled away from him once or twice then sat up, stretching her arms and back. He sat up as well. He wasn’t trying to keep her from moving or anything like that… He just had his rhythms that he was used to. “How long before dawn are you awake? If it’s not toolong, then you can just wake up and I’ll wake with you.” It would be a little bit rough to wake before dawn, but as long as it wasn’t egregious, he could wake up with her. “Not toolong really? I don’t really know hours and stuff like you do.” “Well, wake me up tomorrow and I can determine how long it is. But if it’s not too long, just wake me up and we’ll be up. I can work on writing with you.” Weiss frowned. “I don’t see any magic lights here… Where are they?” He tilted his head. “We don’t use magic lights…” He slid off his bed and grabbed the candle on the nightstand. “We use candles. With fire.” He paused. “Well. I guess it makes sense you’d need to find alternate methods of lighting. Fire doesn’t exactly work underwater.” Weiss nodded. “Yeah, it doesn’t.” There was nothing in her tone to be aggressive or blame him or anything. Well, that was good. He didn’t want to come across like an idiot to her. Water put fire out, so it only made sense that mermaids wouldn’t know about them or use them. They still used the sun, but it was apparently a lot darker underwater than it was on land. She’d mentioned how bright it looked up on the beach compared to her castle underwater. They apparently had pretty large windows compared to the arrow slits that didn’t offer a whole lot of light in his room… “Anyway, how about we get some breakfast then we can do whatever want to?” he asked. “That sounds fine.” She frowned though. “Your meals feel so heavy. Cooked foods are really really heavy compared to the light delicacy that is uncooked seafood.” Sun shrugged. “Not a lot I can do about that. Uncooked foods, mainly meat, can make you sick if you eat it like that. I mean you’d probably handle uncooked fish just fine since you eat it on the daily, but I wouldn’t trust it for me. I’ve known people to get sick because they didn’t cook their chicken, beef, pork, or seafood right. It’s not worth the risk. Unless you just want to eat nothing but fruits and veggies?” Weiss shook her head. “The meat is good. It just feels reallyheavy in my stomach is all. It’s weird compared to how I normally eat underwater is all. We can go.” She stood up and offered him her hand. “Before we do that, I need to get dressed.” “Oh, okay.” He slipped into his bathroom and changed, then he took her hand and started downstairs with her. “Hopefully they should be done with your clothes in the next day or two… I feel bad that you stick out so much.” Weiss shrugged. “This is completely normal for mermaids. We really only wear the tops because land dwellers find bare breasts offensive for some reason.” She tugged on her very small top which really just barely covered her breasts. Sun couldn’t help but feel his cheeks heat up. She’d mentioned that before. Apparently, mermaids didn’t find breasts sexual in the way that a lot of land dwellers did. He didn’t understand it, but maybe it was body differences or something… “I’m just not looking forward to the cloth. I’m notused to having anything restricting me. Are my dresses going to be as long as Yang’s?” He shook his head. “No, they aren’t unless they’re winter dresses. We’re moving into the warmer seasons right now, though it can still get chilly at night. I’m sure you’ve noticed.” Weiss sighed and nodded. She didn’t have her extreme lattice of enchanted gems that protected her from various elements on. He could only imagine what it was like to suddenly feel heat and cold when she wasn’t used to that at all.He kept a couple blankets covering them at night so that way they wouldn’t get cold. “Well, once the jeweler is done with my gems, I won’t need longer dresses. I don’t needclothing to protect me from the elements.” Sun sighed. “Unfortunately, it’s just going to be expected of you to wear certain styles to match the season if you’re up here for an extended period of time.” He felt bad… But Weiss was going to need to conform to at least some sort of human standards if she was to be up here for any extended period of time. He still had no idea how to handle the wedding with Yang… He didn’t want to marry her whatsoever. She seemed nice enough, but even so… He didn’t want a submissive woman as his significant other. And was she eversubmissive… Weiss sighed. “I can’t believe how obsessed you are with appearances…” “Don’t youhave certain expectations when it comes to being a princess?” There was no aggression in his tone, just a genuine in question. Weiss nodded. “Yes, I have expectations of etiquette and such, but not really appearances. Mermaids don’t put much emphasis on appearance because, well, it’s not like we have clothes or anything!” She rolled her eyes. “This is all so stupid.” “I know it is in your culture, but you’re above water right now. Wouldn’t you expect meto try to adhere to mermaid norms if I went underwater?” That seemed to give Weiss pause. She was quiet for several minutes and nodded slowly. “This is just the reverse of that. You need to adhere to land norms when you’re up here.” Weiss nodded and sighed. “All right…” She picked at her food, obviously defeated. He felt bad, but it was a legitimate point. She was just…ignoring what he was telling her to do. His parents would look for any reason to try to kill her. The better she could adhere to land norms, the more she’d fit in. The better she could fit in, the more respected she’d be. He was just trying to help her reflect well not only on himself but herself as well. People just would notrespect a person that didn’t adhere to norms very easily. He wasn’t telling her to abandon all of her morals or anything like that; he was just telling her to try to be more open to accepting land norms. He squeezed her shoulder. “It’ll be all right, Weiss. I’m not telling you to abandon all your mermaid ideals and culture; I’m just trying to help you look good here on land. You can go back underwater at any point you want to.” Weiss nodded. “I still have time before I really needto go back…” She sighed. “What’s on your mind?” She hesitated for a moment. “It seems like I’m stuck behind a rock and a hard place here… I have to adapt to land norms and then there’s the threat your parents gave me…but then there’s my step-siblings who don’t care for me at all. I…just don’t seem to fit in anywhere.” His heart broke. Those step-siblings were incredibly cruel as was her step-father. He had never met them, but if he’d ever wanted to kill mermaids, it was them for being so cruel to Weiss. He didn’t want to kill just any random mermaid for no reason; he wanted Weiss to be freeof their abusive ways. He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Weiss… You’ll always have a place with me. I promise. No matter how my parents act or your step-family acts, I’ll always be here for you.” He would never let her suffer if he could help it. It sucked she couldn’t really be outside of his view right now… Maybe if he could get his parents to revoke the marriage, they could go back to how things were before. He’d been pretty happy with that… He wouldn’t be happy about the abuse, mind, but he’d be happy to let Weiss just be able to have time away from her family and stress-free on the beach. She really didn’t deserve what her step-family threw at her. She smiled weakly. “Thank you.” He slid over and hugged her. “You’re my best friend. How could I not want you to be safe, healthy, and happy?” Unfortunately, she wasn’t happy either on land or underwater…but she was far happier underwater since it was all she knew. He wished he could just run away with her…but his parents would absolutely decimate the mermaid settlement on the shores if they knew that was where he went. And it was the most likely place he’d go because he was Weiss’ friend. There was really noway out of this. Weiss tucked against him and closed her eyes. He ran a hand through her hair which was normally pulled back in a ponytail, but she was letting it hang free. It was weird to see it free, but as long as she was happy and comfortable, that was what mattered most to him. He really just wanted her as happy and comfortable as she could be. Unfortunately, that was nowhere underwater or on land… She really was stuck between a rock and a hard place. It was then that a ruckus came into the kitchen and he blinked. Sage had come into the kitchen and seemed to be talking to the cooks who were entirely disgruntled. “Get out of here; you aren’t welcome!” a lower servant said, raising a broom to him. “One sec Weiss.” Sun let go of her and walked over, putting a hand on Sage’s shoulder. “Sage, no. Be respectful of the cooks. Don’t be so casual.” Sage was the lowest ranking of the nobles and he was too casual. Sun could be casual with the cooks a bit, but he still showed them respect and manners when asking for anything. Sage’s manners always seemed to get him into trouble when he visited because things were so much differentat home for him. Sage frowned. “Why wouldn’tI be casual around ‘em? We’re really not that much different.” “I get where you’re coming from, but you’re still a noble. You need to have noble manners when talking to people. These people are not your equals and they know it.” He definitely had a bit of a thick skull at times. Justenough time elapsed between his visits that he always seemed to forget everything that Sun taught him. He just… Ugh. He did like Sage a lot, but he could be a bit of a blithering idiot at times. “Manners schmanners. I just want some grub.” “No, Sage. You’re a noble and you need to act like it.” He bowed to the cooks. “Forgive him. I know he causes trouble every time he comes here, but would you overlook it? He would like some breakfast. He can come eat with us.” “We’ll give him some food; it’ll just take a bit of time,” a woman said. “If you would sit down, Your Grace, we’ll bring it over.” “Thank you.” Sun yanked on Sage’s shoulder and led him over the table where Weiss sat, obviously confused by everything going on. “You’re no fun sometimes, Sun,” Sage said as Sun forced him to sit down. Sun shrugged. “You’ve never taken your role as a noble seriously. Someone has to teach you.” Sage’s parents hadn’t been born nobles as his father had been a knight that pledged fealty to a duke. He had earned the duke’s favor by protecting the duke’s daughter and that had made the duke give the knight, Sage’s father, lands. The duke had helped Sage’s father build a small manor home, nothing opulent, but it was fairly comfortable. Sun had visited once or twice with his parents and yeah, it was a nice little home. Nothing compared to the castle Sun had grown up and continued to live in, but it was a fine enough manor home for the lowest of nobles. “Seriously, Sun.Whatis the big deal? Yeah, I’m a noble but my parents weren’t born any.” He sighed. “You’re lucky you’ve never been to court like I have. You would get eviscerated if you acted like this in front of the king and queen.” Sun didn’t really leave his home often for his parents feared him running away like many of his older siblings had. But they still got summoned to court a couple times and Sun had been forced to go with them. If given the chance, he absolutely would have escaped. But his parents kept him on a short leash, so there wasn’t much he could do about it. “High court demands exquisite manners and you learned none of them because your parents didn’t.” His tone wasn’t accusatory; it was just a statement of fact. Noble manners were far, fardifferent from peasant manners which is what Sage had. Sage shrugged. “I’ll probably never get called to court. A lowly baron isn’t going to bring the eyes of the king. It’s not like I needto learn noble manners.” Sun massaged the bridge of his nose. There was no getting through that thick skull of his. This was a losing battle and he knew it, but he at least had to try every time he saw Sage. Unfortunately, it nevergot through. He hated that his best friend was so nonchalant. The servants expected a certain level of respect and distance from those above them, not someone trying to be buddy-buddy with them. Just… Ugh. The cooks brought something over to Sage quickly and Sun smiled at them sheepishly. “By the way…Thanks for not being offended I won’t accept anything from you,” he said to the cook. He couldn’t help but feel guilty over denying them their job. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them; he didn’t trust his parents and, if the cooks wanted to keep their jobs—and possibly their lives —they would haveto do what his parents said. “I understand. The way your parents treat you and your friend… Disgusting. But if ordered to poison your food, we would have to.” The man sighed. “Vicious, they are.” “Yes, they are.” He didn’t understand why his parents were so vicious. It wasn’t like Sun had done anything wrong as far as he could tell. Granted, anything was worth criticising and beating him over in their minds. If he didn’t measure up, then that was every reason to treat him poorly. But in his mind, he hadn’t done anything terribly wrong. They’d had… He wasn’t sure how many siblings he’d had over the years. They’d all either died or run away, no doubt because of how absolutely cruelhis parents were. He wanted to join them, but there was no real way. He was under constant surveillance and couldn’t have a moment to himself. He hated it. The only times were if he snuck away to the beach… But with as many of his siblings as had disappeared, there was no way in the world his parents wouldn’t go scorched earth in order to find him. He would only have a couple hours until they started looking in nearby villages and questioning merchants. He hated it here so much, but he was on a collar and leash and he knew it. “Do they treat you well?” “About as well as you could expect,” the cook answered. Sun winced. “I’m so sorry.” The cook shrugged. “It is what it is. As long as we do what they want, they won’t treat us too terribly badly. They pay us and it’s enough to feed our families.” “Well… At least you get paid.” Sun didn’t have any money to get things, really. His parents didn’t really allow him any sort of money because they were terrified he would pay a merchant to get on a train and then he wouldn’t come back. It was so frustrating that he couldn’t do anything he wanted to. He was on such a short leash. He wanted to see the big, wide world but even going into town or down to the beach was hard for him with how his parents watched him like a hawk. If only he could escape on one of those merchant trains or ships… But then he’d have to leave Weiss behind and he didn’t want thateither. He was stuck no matter whathe did. The cook nodded. “That’s really the only consolation for working here.” With that, the cook went back to what he’d been doing beforehand. Sage started to eat. “Man, this is somuch better than the stuff we have at home…” “Probably because we’re much higher nobles and we’re entitled to the best stuff the peasants have to offer…” Of course, they also had constant access to meat and such whereas Sage most likely didn’t have that. They could afford to raise cows and chickens for a certain amount of time, and then kill them for meat. Or they could have hunters go out onto their lands and kill deer, boar, and other animals. At least his parents didn’t attempt to get him to eat mermaids. The thought brought bile to the back of his throat and he forced it down. He felt Weiss’ hand on his arm. “Something wrong?” she asked gently. “Nothing I want to talk about.” He’d rather not tell her what he was thinking in this case. Normally he wouldn’t care what she thought about his ideas, but in this case, she’d be disgusted. He was pretty certain some sailors probably did eat mermaids… If they were caught and killed, then why not? He couldn’t imagine it… They were living, thinking beings. They weren’t thatmuch different from humans or Faunus. But a lot of people didn’t see it the same way which set his stomach to churning. Just… Guh. He tried to turn his mind away from the morbid thoughts. Weiss would be disturbed if he talked about it. He knew she at least wouldn’t blame him for it because with how his parents were… Yeah. They would absolutely turn him against her if at all possible, but he could see through their bullshit. He just really, reallywished he could escape. Poor Weiss was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Neither situation she was in was enviable and he didn’t want her to have to deal with either of them… “Well, this shit is pretty good.” Sage grinned and Sun shook his head internally. No regard for noble manners and he would never get Sage to listen about that. He wasn’t someone who had no manners; he just didn’t have noblemanners. At least Sage and his parents were so low on the pecking order that the king and queen would likely never really take notice of them. They were barons while Sun was a duke, or would be once his mother and father passed on. He really wished he could just poison them or something. Then he’d be free of them and wouldn’t have to tolerate their bullshit any longer. But then it would mean he would be chained to the responsibility of running the dutchy which…he didn’t want either. He just wanted to be able to be free to explore the world and then come back if he wanted to. Sage had pretty much whatever freedom he wanted. He could travel cross country at the drop of a hat and visit Sun. Sun couldn’t even go to town or the beach for more than a few hours without his parents starting to freak out about where he was. He really, truly and utterly, despisedhis parents but there wasn’t anything he could do about their behavior. All he could do was attempt to tolerate it until they passed on. Thankfully, they were up there in years, in their sixties now, so he hoped and prayed they’d keel over sooner rather than later. “So what all do you want to do today, Weiss?” Weiss shrugged. “I’m not really sure… It’s not like I can just sit around and read all day or swim in the open ocean…” “You can always go back if you want. I’m not gonna forceyou to stay here all the time.” Weiss puffed out her cheeks a bit. “I likespending time with you, Sun. Plus, we have a ruse to keep up. If I’m not here, then how are we going to keep it up?” He sighed internally. Weiss definitely was a loyal one. Perhaps a bit too loyal for her own good when it came to him. She had friends underwater and it wasn’t like they spent all their time together. Why was she so utterly loyal to him of all people? He was just a goofball with strict, abusive parents. It wasn’t like he had anything to offer her. She was a sweet, kind, warm personality, if a bit naive on how things worked above land. But that was just because she hadn’t had extensive experience above the waves. The farthest she’d come before now was just the beach. Now that she was on land…it was all sorts of new and she didn’t have reference for a lotof things. “I’m not forcing you to stay up here if you don’t want to, Weiss. Though it is a long walk back… You reallyneed to learn how to ride a horse. Maybe we can do that.” Weiss flinched. “I still don’t like those things. They could kill youif you weren’t careful!” “Don’t you deal with things that could kill you like sharks?” “Not on a daily basis! Plus, for the most part, sharks stick to the deep, open ocean. They only come into shallower waters to breed more or less. And we generally avoidthem unlike open-ocean mermaids.” “Still… You should learn to ride that way you can easily get to and from a lot quicker. You can’t rely on me to carry you to and from every time… Though…you will need me to guide you to and from at least a few times so you know the way.” He wasn’t sure how much attention she’d paid when they’d gone through the first time. Though, for now, they would have to walk because she didn’t have proper riding attire. A wrap skirt and sandals would not be comfortable on a horse at all.Riding pants had extra padding for a reason and she needed at least a slight heel to stay in the stirrups more easily. All she had right now were her wrap skirt and sandals… Weiss nodded. “Yeah, that is true…” She frowned. “And I don’t trust your parents to allow me to walk openly between here and the ocean. They’ve probablyset up some sort of guards between here and there.” Sun frowned as well. “I…didn’t even think about that. But you’re probably right.” If he didn’t trust the cooks, how could he trust his parents to not set up jump points between here and the ocean? Granted a large swath of that walk was the unicorn forest where violence wouldn’t be tolerated by the forest’s overseer. Moonstone was incredibly aggressive when it came to protecting her forest. She would not allow Sun’s parents into it at all.They had violated the non-aggression order and were barred. If they set foot in there again, then Moonstone would be allowed to kill them as per unicorn law. The servants were still allowed in because they generally didn’t do anything to harm the forest or upset Moonstone. Sun had actually befriended the unicorn who wasn’t unreasonable… His parents sure thought she was though. “Still. It’ll be quicker when you learn to ride a horse. And it’ll let us go quicker and escape if something happens.” Weiss sighed. “You’re really not gonna give up on me learning to ride, are you?” He shook his head. “Nope. The usefulness of horses outweighs the risks a lot of the time. Plus, they’re aura breeds; they’re a lot less spooky than normal horses. We have some normal horses and I’ve ridden them and they’re a lotharder to handle than aura breeds.” Weiss sighed again. “Okay… When will you start teaching me?” “Not until you get a wardrobe where you can have pants and proper shoes. You need a bit of a heel to stay in the stirrups correctly.” “What’s a stirrup?” Sun explained about a saddle as best he could, but it was pretty clear Weiss couldn’t imagine what he was describing at all. “…I’ll show you when we’re finished eating.” He looked at her plate and saw her done. “Okay. Let’s go then. You wanna come with, Sage?” Sage grinned. “Sure!” Sun handed the dirty dishes over to the cooks to be cleaned. With that done, they headed out the door toward Weiss’ mortal enemy: the stable.