Sunk Cost (Patreon)

(Setting: Charybdis’ real identity is discovered by Scylla’s mother. The current Matron of the pod. He was imprisoned, sentenced to death and moved below the hold. Scylla is having mixed feelings. Even though the wounds of betrayal remain fresh in her mind, she knows that he is doomed without her help.)

The clanking of chains was the very first sound Scylla could discern from the cistern bellow. High pitched rattling against stone. As she neared, a cacophony of growls and wails joined in. It would have amused her, if she wasn’t too focussed on the nervous twists her stomach was currently making.

Two guards were positioned outside. Both their faces twisted in fear, clearly looking like they’d rather be anywhere else. Scylla flashed an innocent smile.

“I wish to speak to the hag...”

The first and larger guard puffed up his chest and looked like he was about to protest.

“-Unless you want me to get my mother first?” She quickly added.

That was enough and the pair reluctantly pushed aside the rock that closed off the cistern. Scylla took a deep breath. The wailing stopped almost immediately as she entered. The rattling echoing across the stone and slowly dying out. What was left was a deafening silence. Scylla’s pectoral fins tensed up as she approached the dais they had placed the hag upon.

“Come to gawk?”

His voice sounded different. Rougher. An enormous chitin tail curled over the edge of the platform, slowly shifting like a serpent, spikes protruding where plates intersected. Scylla gritted her teeth, clenching and unclenching her fists as she approached. How strange that she would actually mourn the loss of his tail. Well, his fake tail as she now knew. His new appearance was grotesque by Mer standards. Bonelike protrusions ran up his collarbones all the way to his shoulders and around to his back. Her eyes trailed the length of his tail, which barely fit on the dais and ended in a boney membraned tip.

“I figured you had to be 3 steps deep into your escape plan by now. But I see I was mistaken.”

The chains her mother had placed upon the hag remained intact. Not that Scylla ever had a doubt about that. The Matrons magic was not to be underestimated and that happened to be exactly what Charybdis failed to understand.

“What makes you think I am not?” Charybdis jerked on the chains and his tail curled up and around the dais in response to the strain, but after a couple of seconds of the magic refusing to give, his torso went limp once again.

“I’m practically out of here already.” He was grinning. She could tell without even looking. That stupid smug grin she hated.

“Clearly. Good, you won’t need my help then? Guess I’ll be on my way.”

That got the hags' attention, even from the other side of the room, she could see his ears perk up. A faint smile curled on her lips.

“Wait.”

The matron-to-be coily cocked her head to the side as she turned back.

“Hmm?”

A weighty silence fell between the two.

“Let’s say…hypothetically, you’d be able to help me get free. Why would you?”

It was a fair question. At first she had been content to let the hag rot in the cistern. He could starve down here for all she cared. The insignificant affection she harbored for him, turned to anger and spite by his betrayal. But even though she wished to hold onto that feeling with all her might, she felt it slipping away with each passing day. Replaced with something even worse.

Heartache.

“You thought you could toy with me just like that and not owe me a debt? No Diz…. I won’t be taken lightly like that and I won’t be part of your scheme to take over.”

Charybdis let out a low chuckle. The sound heightened every last one of Scylla's senses until she was on full alert.

“That is rich. Mind you, dearest. I wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for your little scheme.”

Scylla’s face flushed. Anger bubbling towards the surface of her skin.

“You dare blame me for your misfortune?! After I was the one betrayed?!”

“I do, after all, you needed me to fail. You needed me to fall flat on my face in front of sweet old momsy, just so you could stay your puny little self and cower behind your mothers tailfin for another year. Isn’t that right?”

Yes. He was dead on in fact. Only she hadn’t meant for it to go this far. Her prospect mate was supposed to be disgraced, yes. Imprisoned? No.

“Yes well, You were supposed to be a Mer. I see now that was a part you were clearly never meant to play. Hag.”

“Oh, I played that part to excellence, dear. Mer or not. That’s exactly the problem here. I might be a hag, but you, Scylla, are a serpent. And somewhere along the way, you discovered that, at the end of the day, we were not all that different.”

Every word drew Scylla closer to the top of the platform. She was a missile of hot red rage and he was the imbecile holding up a bullseye. Without realizing it, she crossed over the threshold that confined his tail to the platform. The chitin spiked drawing dangerously close as she whirled herself upon the dais.

“I. Have. Never. Met anyone as coincieded and infuriating as you.” She spit, brandishing the point of her finger as if it was a spear and pointing it towards Charybdis.

“You played a part, same as me. The only difference, at the end of the day, is that I got the outcome I wanted and you didn’t. I am free and you are left down here to rot.”

“Such a grand victory it is. What are you going to do next year? Find another sucker to manipulate? Perhaps he can end up here as well. My skeleton can keep him company.”

Mer can’t cry. Or at least nobody has ever seen a Mer cry, but this was the closest Scylla probably ever got. She was already sick of this whole farce. She didn’t even want another sucker.

“You lied to me. About everything. You’re not even a Mer! You’re a monster!”

Charybdis recoiled ever so slightly. Backing away until the chains holding him in place protested by clanking against the stone.

“We're all monsters in our own way. I just happen to also look like one.”

With that they reached an impasse. It became clear that neither of them could claim the moral high ground here. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps they really were alike. Scylla’s eyes locked on his face, which was mere inches away at this point.

“Beg.”

“Excuse me?”

“You want out? You want my forgiveness. Then beg.”

All emotion drained from the hags face. He blinked slowly, trying to make sense of the situation.

“You’re kidding.”

“Does it look like I’m kidding?” Scylla crossed her arms and summoned a triumphant smile. That’ll wipe the smile off his mug. There was no way he’d actually…

“Fine.

I’m begging you. My situation won’t allow me to grovel through the sand, so you’ll just have to imagine that.”

Well this was a nice surprise.

“I shouldn’t have gone as far as I did. And I shouldn’t have lied to you about who I really am. How am I doing?”

“It’s a nice start.”

Charybdis sighed.

“I’m sorry about using you and plotting to overthrow your mother.”

“And?”

“And what? What more maleficent acts do you think I'm guilty of exactly?”

Scylla scoffed.

“You toyed with me. Pretended to care for me. I told you things! Things I didn’t tell anyone. Made me feel like you gave a damn! And I was this close to falling for it too!” Now it was his turn to smile.

“Darling, you give me too much credit. I’m not that good of an actor.”

“Do you really think that lying any further is going to help you?”

Charybdis’ tail curled upwards, getting threateningly close to the mermaid.

“Lying? A lie would probably sound more believable. Hell. I’m having some difficulty wrapping my head around it as well, but I assure you. As much as your cutthroat personality ruffles my scales, somewhere deep down, I’ve found you to be… infuriating.”

Infuriating? Hardly the choice of words Scylla was expecting. Was that meant to be a compliment?

“I fully expected you to be the matron's mindless pup. Eager to please your mothers every whim. Easily manipulated and predictable. But you thwart me at every possible turn and it is. Utterly. infuriating.”

Scylla watched on bemused as Charybis’ chest spasmed down a burst of laughs. The hag threw his head back, a wicked grin sneaking up his face.

“And the problem is, I don’t even understand why. What you were trying to do was so painfully obvious to me, I knew you weren’t really looking for a mate. You’d marry a rock sooner than you’d tie yourself to any one of those idiot suitors. Me included! My plan was ruined right from the start.”

He was yelling at this point. Almost as if the reality of his own foolishness was dawning on him as the words came.

“But no, instead of taking the loss and retreating, winning your affections became some sort of weird alternate victory condition. I must be mad!”

“Is everything alright in here? Madam? We heard the fiend yelling.” The larger one of the two guards had approached the edge of the dais. Both Scylla and Charybdis jolted, their attention forcefully pulled away from each other and onto the concerned mer.

“Leave!” The pair commanded, almost in perfect unison. The mer in turn shifted his gaze between the Matron-to-be and the restrained hag, uncertain whether to leave his future queen in such close proximity to a sea monster or obey her command and skulk away. In the end his sense of self preservation took the upper hand, causing him to hightail it back to his post.

Charybdis lowered his head, seemingly in defeat.

“I have no intention of dying down here, Scylla. Whether you release me or not won’t change that. I merely pray that by the time I do get out, you’ll have picked out some poor schmuck and inherited your mother’s powers.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“So I can be rid of you completely, darling.”

Scylla let out a throaty chuckle. Bubbles rising from her lips.

“Sounds like you’ll be down here a while then. How troublesome. Looks like I'll need to disappoint you yet again.” With a flamboyant swish of her tail, Scylla turned  around towards the membraned tip of the hags tail. Throwing all caution to the wind, she slid her hand over the spiked ridge. It flicked away almost instantly. The chitin apparently offered more movement than she had anticipated.

“How strange…” she muttered to herself.

“Are you enjoying yourself? You know I could seriously injure you with just one well timed flail, right?”

Ignoring him, Scylla continued her inspection, following the length of his tail until it curled behind the platform. Her eyes shot towards the glowing chains fastened to stone dholms on either side of the room.

“You might have to.”

“Pardon?”

“We need to make it believable. There’s no way she’ll believe you just ‘escaped’ from your binds.”

Chains rattled as Charybis' back straightened.

“Is this a trick?”

“Yes.” As she spoke, Scylla circled around to Charybdis’ back. The hag shivered as she ran a finger up one of the bony spikes along his neck. His reaction stirred something within her.

“I thought you’d be hideous. Offensively so. But you’re really quite plain.” Charybdis twisted but couldn’t quite look at her, his chains stopping him short of turning more than a few inches.

“Where’s the slime? And the tentacles?”

“I feel that it is in my best interest that I don’t answer that question.”

Scylla ducked under his arm to look him straight in the face. The sudden flustered look suited him.

“Hmmmm, do you love me?” Charybdis froze.

“Didn’t you just call me plain?”

“But not hideous.”

“I suppose there's that.”

“Diz…”

“Is me getting out of here tied to my answer?”

Scylla bit the inside of her cheek, but eventually let out a sigh and shook her head.

“Get me loose and you’ll have my answer.”

Piece of cake. Scylla knew how she could undo her mothers magic. The same power flowed through her veins after all. She rolled her shoulders in a catlike motion and intentionally trailed the edge of her tail against the hags waist as she darted towards the first shackle. A soft curse escaped him. The sound was enough encouragement to steady her nerves. Scylla pressed her hands against the runes on the icy metal and a sharp pang shot through her core.

A shiver coursed through her body and she could feel Diz tentatively tug in his restraints.

“Is everything alright?”

“Of course, give me a minute.”

Everything was not alright. Scylla could feel the seal on the chains give way to her will alright. In fact it was all too easy. So easy in fact, that it dawned on her what breaking this seal entailed. She wouldn’t just undo her mothers magic. The power was hers by right, and by breaking the seal, she’d be stealing it away from her mother.

This also meant that if she was wrong, sealing Diz away again would be her responsibility.

Moments later, a clank of metal hitting stone rang throughout the cistern. The sound sent chills running down Scylla’s spine. Diz’ eyes went wide as he too sensed the powershift in the room. It would be okay. Scylla took a deep breath and headed towards the next shackle.

Only when the third and final shackle, binding the base of his tail to the dais, slowly drifted to the floor, did she dare to turn around. She half expected him to immediately lunge out of the room, but he stayed put, carefully massaging his wrists.

“I knew you could do it…” she nodded. Too dazed to speak. It was too soon. She was only meant to get power like this after finding her mate. Small bursts of panic reared their ugly head, but before Scylla could crumple up to a ball, the hag coiled around her. A stern expression on his face.

“She’ll know you were the one to set me free.”

By giving Diz his freedom, she in turn sacrificed her own. More and more of her mothers power would start to transfer to her in the coming months. She could feel it, just as easily as she could feel the hags' tail wrap around her waist.

“Yeah well. I've skipped a couple of steps, but at least now I won’t have to find some poor schmuck, as you so aptly put it.”

“No, Indeed you won’t.”

Scylla let herself be swept up in his arms.

-

The moment Scylla touched those damned chains, the entire room shifted. Her tiny form blocked the view of the clasps that tied him down,but he could tell something was off. He no longer felt her mothers oppressive power weigh down on him, yet he wasn’t quite free yet. Instead, he was being pulled towards Scylla’s little red frame, like she had become the gravitational center of the room.

“Is everything alright?”

“Of course, give me a minute.”

Her response came too quickly, but he waited, patiently. Then after what seemed like an eternity, the shackle gave way and fell to the floor. Diz had to remember to breathe as the mermaid sauntered over to the second shackle in a daze. Once his arms were free, he let out a relieved moan and started massaging his poor limbs. Scylla undid the final shackle and turned around, her face white as a sheet.

“I knew you could do it…” No response came. Diz understood. She’d betrayed her mother. No ruse would hide her crime. Her mothers power would forever stain her hands.

“She’ll know you were the one to set me free.” That got a reaction out of her.

“Yeah well. I've skipped a couple of steps, but at least now I won’t have to find some poor schmuck, as you so aptly put it.”

Charybdis’ stomach turned. His fingers curled up into a catlike claw. There was now way he’d let another suitor near her. Male or female. He’d rip out their throat sooner than considering it.

“No, Indeed you won’t.”

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There is a 2K wallpaper and Psd included for those who want it. <3