Apart from the Ocean part 18

[estirise]

Title: Apart from the Ocean (part 18)
Author: estirose
Fandom: Kamen Rider Kiva
Words: ~900
Characters: Shinoda Aya (OC), Kuramae Noboru (OC), Ramon, Jiro, Riki, Megumi
Warnings/Rating: 13+/PG-13
Prompt: Table 2, prompt: Empty
Summary: Aya has to live with the fact that monsters don't think like humans.
Author's Notes: I'm hoping to use as many of the 25 prompts as I can for one story, and am therefore designating parts as I go along. Any left over prompts will be used as snapshots on Aya's life. Since the characters are Japanese, I've used Japanese name order here. The universe itself belongs to Toei and TV-Asahi, as does the original version of Kuramae Noboru. The universe that Aya slips into is from my "Boxed In" AU.

Aya woke up when she splashed into what felt like a pond. Maybe a lake. She would have instinctively swum up, but something landed on top of her, squashing her onto the floor of the large pond or small lake. Probably some artificial lake, she figured. Her gills flared into action, drawing in the oxygen from the water. After spending so much time in the salt water, she couldn't say she liked the fresh, but it probably did her some good anyway. Wet was better for her skin.

After what seemed like forever, the pressure let up, and she was able to swim to the surface. The first thing she noticed when she looked was Riki-san. The Franken smiled at her and reached out as if to help her out of the water and onto the dry land. "Es-cape-d."

She accepted the hand, and was pulled effortlessly out of the water. As she sat down on dry land, she got to see the third person - being - there. As much as she'd seen drawings of the Mermen, it was fascinating to see the real thing - had that real thing not been dangerous to the world at large. Of course, Riki-san was too.

The green form shimmered back into her father. "See? We got out of there. And you should have seen Riki; he pretty much ripped that fence apart. And Jiro figured out how to disable to security on the doors. Some technicians were careless when repairing something that the Fangaire did. The facility's not that high-tech."

Aya winced about the fence, and then remembered she technically had never seen it. "I see I came along too."

"Jiro and Riki and I agreed that we were all going, or none of us was going," her father said. "Besides, our tribe needs its Okoi-hatsuoki. Plus, you were in love with a Fangaire."

"I was not in love with Kuramae-san, I just dated him," Aya said defensively. Technically, that was before she knew what he was, and for that matter, before he abducted her into his world. "And that was before he kidnapped me."

"No," her father corrected, "You were in love with the Fangaire. I had to get you out of there."

"Ba-ad," Riki-san opined.

"And besides, I was trying to convince them that we deserved our freedom by cooperating with them and letting them see that we were suffering in captivity, and you guys ruined that," Aya said, ignoring their words. She thought it best not to tell them that barring that, she had been planning to escape and hopefully take Megumi with her, letting the Fangaire keep humanity safe from the three fullbloods.

"Hey, now we're not suffering," her father said cheerfully, totally missing the point.

"F-ree," Riki-san added.

"No, now we have no money, the Fangaire are certain to be after us, and if they capture us, we'll never see the ocean again," Aya said. "I can't stand having just that tiny pool again."

"You won't have to," her father said, "Because we won't go back again. Riki won't let them take us back."

"Pro-tect," Riki-san said meaningfully.

"We'll find a place on the coast, you and me and Riki, and we'll raise a new tribe," her father said. "You can find them for us, after they're born and we can take them away."

"Wouldn't it be safer if we just tried getting back to our own world?" Aya asked, thinking of new ways that the Fangaire could recapture them. "I have family back there, even if you two don't. And there are no Fangaire there intent on capturing us."

"Well, I have another child that I fathered," her father said, "But he's just a baby, we'll go back for him someday and make him part of the tribe. And Riki has a daughter too, she's your age. We'll go back for her, too."

Aya felt relief that she'd managed to save two people from the nightmare she was in by sheer ignorance. As it was, she was alone, she was more non-human than ever, and she was likely to be forced to help remake a species that killed humans.

If she hadn't had a purpose, a desire to make the Merman Clan in a way that she wanted, she probably would have felt empty. Someday, she'd get away from her father and Riki, find the babies, remake what was now her kind.

"A-ge ra-pid-ly," Riki said, looking at her.

"We still have to fix your aging, too," her father said. "And your siblings' aging. And Riki's daughter's."

"I have an idea on that," Aya said, "But first... I think we should get as far away from the research complex as possible. The closer we are, the easier it is for them to find us. Besides, my mixed blood makes me more salt water dependent." She looked around, finally realizing who was missing. "And where are Jiro-san and Megumi, anyway?"

"O-th-er wa-ay," Riki contributed.

"Jiro said that it was better if we split off, so he and Megumi went into the woods," her father said. "You and I and Riki could hide out in the water."

"And we still need to get out of here," she said. "I still think this is a mistake, but now that we're out, we might as well stay out." Well, she would, at least, and continue to prod the other two to try to make it to the dimensional gate and get recaptured.

Riki nodded. Her father smiled, stood up, and reached his hand out to her.

She took it.