Work Text:
Geralt didn’t know how he’d gotten here. Sure, he could tell you the paths he took, the trees he passed. And yet, as he sat in the small room in a rundown inn, singing to a mermaid of all creatures, he couldn’t fathom what had gone so wrong in his life.
He was passing through a small fishing village when he was stopped in the street by a panicked man and his son. “Witcher!”
Geralt sighed internally, “Yes?”
“Our nets—sea monster,” he panted.
The Witcher sighed again, this time audibly. “Did you see it? What kind of monster? Witchers don’t work for free.”
The man nodded vigorously, his son still standing next to him nervously. “Kill it and I will pay you whatever it is worth.”
It was supposed to be a simple contract, something big caught in a small net. Witcher goes in, kills the beast, goes to the next contract. Simple, normal. But those two words could rarely be used to describe Geralt’s life.
Geralt gestured for the man to lead the way, his golden eyes sharp as they near the beach. He could already hear the thrashing and screaming of the creature trapped in the net. “Stay back,” he warned as he drew his silver sword. He crossed the sand carefully. A Witcher could never be too cautious, especially when they approached an unknown creature.
As Geralt neared the thrashing creature, he slowed. A picture was forming, and it was not one he was liking. “Fuck…”
A long, muscular tail covered in iridescent silver scales was bleeding on the sand, the netting wrapped so tightly that it cut into the skin. As Geralt’s eyes continued to travel upwards, he was met with fair skin covered in light freckles and webbed fingers that ended in deadly claws. A little further up, a head with brown hair that turned with a feral hiss to glare at Geralt.
The Witcher found himself momentarily entranced by the merman’s stunningly blue eyes before the creature’s hiss and bared fangs brought him back to harsh reality. He was standing in front of a trapped creature that wasn’t known for attacking humans or causing any trouble that would warrant its death. Geralt sighed and lowered his sword before sheathing it once more on his back.
“Easy,” he pulled out a smaller dagger and crouched down near the thrashing tail. “I’m here to help you, not hurt you.” Geralt grabbed the net and began cutting it away, all while trying not to get slapped with a fin or clawed to bits. The merman was still flailing wildly, hissing and spitting at the Witcher like some kind of feral kitten.
“That’s it,” Geralt growled after a few minutes as he raised his hand to cast axii. The merman’s eyes narrowed at the gesture as if he were able to sense the magic gathering. Interesting… He calmed marginally at the gesture, just enough that Geralt didn’t need to cast the sign. “Hm,” he muttered curiously.
The net was wrapped around most of the merman’s body, the fibers sharp and tight. As soon as Geralt finished removing the netting, the merman looked at him for a second before he tried to crawl back towards the water. But his tail was clearly in no condition to return to the ocean without proper treatment first.
Geralt cursed his own bleeding heart and grabbed at the thrashing tail to stop the merman from slipping back into the ocean. “Stop. You’ll only hurt yourself,” he growled as the creature turned and began hissing again, his tail thrashing harder against the Witcher’s firm grip.
“I’m not trying to hurt you, you idiot,” Geralt hissed back, using all his strength to haul the merman over his shoulder, tail wrapped around his waist to prevent it from dragging on the ground. “Stop fighting me!”
The man and his son were staring at Geralt with wide eyes, their mouths hanging open as he returned back up the beach, merman slung over his shoulder like a particularly furious sack of potatoes.
“Where’s the nearest inn?” Geralt growled, the merman clawing at his armor and making noises sharp enough to make his ears bleed. He set off in the direction that was pointed out, promising to return the next day for his pay.
It was a struggle to haul the merman through the small village, the creature screaming and struggling over his shoulder as it clawed his armor to shreds the entire trek. Geralt kicked open the door to the inn and grunted a single word to the wide-eyed patrons and the young bard in the corner, frozen in surprise: “Bath.”
A few minutes later, he was settled into a room with a tub filled with cool, fresh water that he set the merman down into. The creature’s ears pressed back against his head as he hissed once more. Geralt hissed right back, the pair of them staring at each other for a moment.
Geralt turned away first, removing his damaged armor and swords. The merman’s hissing lessened once Geralt’s weapons were out of his immediate reach. And then they stopped as soon as a bard resumed his singing in the tavern below them. Geralt looked up in surprise as the merman fell silent, his eyes wide and slitted pupils dilating as the music continued. “Interesting,” he murmured.
The Witcher grabbed his first aid kit, kneeling down next to the merman’s tail. “Stay still,” he warned. The silver tail was still bleeding, a small puddle of dark blood forming on the floorboards. Geralt began to gently disinfect the rope burns, stitching up a couple of the deeper wounds. The merman was still and quiet the entire time the music played. To Geralt’s sensitive ears, the bard sounded like a cat in labor. But it soothed the merman enough to be able to tend to his wounds, so he didn’t complain.
It was going well until the bard announced the end of his set. “Shit…” Geralt groaned with a shake of his head, already certain of what was coming. As soon as the music stopped, the merman was flailing about in the tub again, water splashing erratically across the room as his screaming and hissing restarted. Geralt was nearly finished with the merman’s tail, but he still had more wounds to attend to.
In a rather desperate attempt to save his eardrums, Geralt began gruffly humming a lullaby he remembered his mother singing to him. To his surprise, the merman calmed almost immediately, his pupils widening once more. The Witcher continued to hum as he finished caring for the merman’s tail. He debated wrapping the silver tail in bandages, but decided against it in the end.
As Geralt sat back on his heels and sighed, the merman became agitated once more. “Don’t start with me,” Geralt growled. The merman’s eyes sharpened into slits, hissing. “I’ll be back.”
Geralt locked the door behind himself out of caution and collected two bowls of fish stew to bring back upstairs. When he unlocked the door and entered, the merman was still hissing loudly in the bathtub. He seemed to calm down a bit at the scent of the food but still wouldn’t let Geralt near him.
The Witcher sighed and began humming again. The merman instantly calmed, his shoulders relaxing as Geralt neared him. Geralt carefully held out the bowl of stew, the merman sniffing it cautiously before snatching it and practically inhaling it. Geralt blinked at him for a moment before carefully offering the second bowl of stew. The merman looked much calmer as he took the second bowl, even as Geralt slowly stopped humming.
The merman finished the stew and sank back into the water, his gills flaring in his neck. Geralt moved to sit on the bed, deciding to meditate for the night. He looks at the merman once more, only the bright blue eyes and brown hair visible above the water, save, of course, for the silvery tail that dangled out the side of the tub.
Geralt closed his eyes to meditate, hardly paying attention to the gentle splashing coming from the tub.
“Thank you...”
His eyes snapped open.
What the fuck?!