mekachu04 | KiKi'tober

Week 3 (Shape Shift) : Curse

The silence in the bathroom was thick and heavy, broken only by the soft, rhythmic sound of Killer’s breathing as he finally succumbed to sleep. Wire, his dark eyes reflecting a depth of understanding he rarely showed, finally voiced the question that had been hanging in the air since the terrible confession: "That's why you refer to Killer as male?", - he asked, his voice low and calm to avoid disturbing the sleeping mermaid. He needed to understand the full shape of their tragedy, to comprehend the protector who was forced to become an executioner. "Did they make you watch what they did to *her*?". The use of the past pronoun felt alien, yet necessary, a stark acknowledgment of the life that had been violently erased

Kid’s entire body went still at the question, fresh wave of ancient agony distorting his features. His jaw worked, teeth grinding together as if he could physically crush the memory. He looked down at the peaceful, sleeping face pressed against his chest, his hands, which were capable of tearing a ship apart, trembling as they cradled Killer’s form with impossible gentleness. The question was a spear aimed directly at the core of his oldest, most festering wound, the memory of his own powerlessness. He had to force the words out, each one tasting of ash and salt. "They chained me to the mast", - he began, his voice a gravelly whisper: "They wanted me to see. They thought it was funny, the angry red-headed boy who couldn't do a damn thing"

Heat, his face pale, saw the storm building in Kid and sought to anchor the story in a simpler, though no less painful, fact. "How old were you?", - he asked softly, hoping to guide the narrative away from the immediate edge of that specific horror. The image of the two runaways was already forming in his mind, bittersweet picture of youth and hope that made their eventual fate all the more devastating. He needed to know what was lost, to measure the weight of the innocence that had been stolen from them

Kid was silent for a long moment, his amber eyes seeing not the bathroom walls but the faded image of a different time. "We were barely adults", - he finally murmured, the words heavy with the weight of centuries. "Killer just turned twenty, and I was sixteen", - a ghost of a smile, fond and infinitely sad, touched his lips. "*She* was the sun of my life, you know? So curious, so adventurous, always dreaming of running away from the boring, grey life we lived in that port town". The memory was a precious, painful thing, a sliver of light from a time before the darkness consumed everything

Then, the light in his eyes died, extinguished by the inevitable recall of what came next. He began to speak again, his voice dropping into a low, monotone recitation, a defense mechanism against the soul-crushing details. He told them of the horrors that were done to the vibrant young woman he loved, the systematic breaking of her spirit and body by the traffickers. He described the sounds, the cries that eventually faded into a silence more terrifying than any scream, the cruel laughter of the men that was a constant, hellish soundtrack to his imprisonment. He was forced to witness every moment of her degradation, his own rage and despair building into a silent, screaming inferno that had no outlet

He spoke of the moment his chains, weakened by rust, finally broke down. He fought his way to her, a sixteen-year-old boy driven mad by grief and a love so strong it had turned into something desperate and deadly. He found her broken, a hollow shell of the sun-bright girl he adored, her eyes empty and staring at nothing. The traffickers had taken everything from her, leaving behind only a vessel of pain

It was then that Wire's first question found its horrifying answer. Kid’s voice broke, a raw, ragged sound as he confessed the unthinkable. "I looked into her eyes", - he whispered, his grip on the sleeping Killer tightening reflexively: "and I saw only a plea for it to end. The person I loved was already gone, shattered beyond any hope of repair"

The act itself was a mercy, a final, devastating gift of love from a boy who had nothing else left to give. It was the only way to free the one he cherished from a living nightmare, a choice that would forever brand his own soul

The death was swift and brutal. The remaining traffickers, enraged by the loss of their "property" and the death of their comrades, fell upon him. Kid could offer little resistance. The feeling of steel piercing his body, his last sight the face of the girl he had loved and lost, his final thought a desperate hope that they would find each other again in whatever came next

The transition from human to merfolk was a blank space in his memory, the gift from the sea itself. "I don't know how long it took", - Kid murmured: "we just.… woke up. On an isolated beach, somewhere we'd never been. The sun was rising, and the water was clear and calm". It was a rebirth they had never asked for but were given nonetheless

He then told punks the final, crucial piece of the story, the moment that defined their new existence. "He looked at his reflection in the water for a long time", - Kid said, his voice gaining a note of awe. "And then he turned to me and said that he didn't want to remember the past life, that he didn't want to associate himself with *her* anymore. *She* was dead, broken by those men", - Kid continued, repeating Killer's words from centuries ago. "And *he* was alive. *He* was new and *he* was happy and *he* loved me with the same passion *she* did, but without the pain of that old life". It was a phoenix-like rebirth. Killer had chosen to leave the victim - the young woman - in the past, embracing a new identity that was clean from that horror

From that day on there was no question, no debate. Kid, who had loved her with the fierce desperate love of 16 year old boy, now loved Killer with the protective devotion of a merman who had been given a second chance. The pronouns shifted effortlessly, honoring his partner's will to live and be free. He never slipped, never faltered, because to him they were not two different people, but the same soul in its true form

The love that had defined their first life wasn't lessened but refined in their shared sacrifice and rebirth. It was the love that had literally bypassed death, enduring through the violent end of their human bodies and rising in the depths of the ocean. Kid’s protectiveness, his quick-tempered violence towards any perceived threat, wasn't just his personality, but the direct consequence of having once failed to protect the person who meant more to him than life itself

He would never fail again. Every insult, every laugh, every glance was filtered through the lens of that trauma, a ghost of the laughter from the traffickers that still echoed in the deepest chambers of his mind. His bloodthirsty nature was a fortress he built around the one good thing he had ever been given, a strike against the world that had already proven its capacity for unimaginable cruelty. To threaten Killer was to threaten the very meaning of his own existence, across two lifetimes

Heat and Wire listened, their own rebellious spirits humbled by the epic tragedy and love story unfolding before them. They understood now that the scars they could see on Kid's body were nothing compared to the one invisible, everlasting scar on his soul. They weren't just looking at a powerful mythical being, they were in the presence of the love so absolute it had defied the natural order

Kid finally fell silent, the memory of the horror had drained him of all his energy. He was just a man holding onto his only reason for existing across the vast expanse of time

Long story short:
KiKi r merfolks (still debating if i wanna Kil have female body as in his past life but he sees it as completely different one)
H&W r captains of Punk Pirates (they sail V.Punk, their story unchanged, mostly)
Killer saved H&W, Law and Luffy (i just wanna them interact more XD) during storm and then both KiKi helped them to return back to their ships (Kid was hostile with humans but Killer's curious about how's life on surface is going now and he misses being a human himself, so Kil begs Kid to follow the ships and Kid agrees)

They were following the trio for like a month or so. During still night both swam close to the ships, Killer pointing out shit to Kid, careless
Punk pirates decided to throw fishnets to catch anything for tmrw's meals (they had no idea KiKi r following them)
Killer didn't see the nets and got caught and pulled on the deck. Kid can do nothing but stay in the water and attempt to sink the ship
H&W order to carefully free Killer but nets cut through his skin and his fins and scales r torn and broken. Heat negotiates with raging panicking Kid and tells him not to sink them 'cause it might harm Killer further (debris never helped anyone)
Kid listens but he's attuned to every sound Killer makes
Law came to check Killer (overall he's alright, just having a huge ass panic attack and flinches at any human)

Captains decide that it's not a great idea to return him to the ocean 'cause he might panic further from unexpected movement and it would both hurt him and make Kid rage freely, so Heat has to ensure Kid about Killer's safety and tells him they'll keep Killer in the tub until he's better (at least mentally)
Law shambles Killer in the bathroom and Kid demands to be teleported as well (they did as he asked [more like threatened with immediate death])

Then i have no clear idea what happened, KiKi r staying on the ship for longer than intended and bond with H&W and Kid told them how one can become a merfolk (being born like one or die unnatural death in the sea). They were sailing the sea in lil boat when human traffickers caught them. After days of torture Kid managed to free himself from chains and kill Killer with his own hands (he could no longer see her suffer)

That's all for now, thank u for coming to my Tedtalk

UPD: yeah, the rejection of Kil's past self was kinda influenced by Shiruton - Victoria - Killer

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/proklyatiye-rusalki-mermaids-curse.html
First of all, the song that started it all (i had merfolk au for pretty long time now but managed to flesh it out just now)
I hope the player is working
It's the song about runaway girl who was raped by pirates and after her death turned into sea devil - mermaid (rusalka, if we use Slavic term) and avenged her death

So
The issue with "body" is that i based KiKi on slavic mythology (just partially)
Yk how Oda said that some adult merfolks can have human legs? I'm gonna use that as well but through the glimpse of slavic mythology

• Rusalka (mermaid) is young woman who was: 1) killed and throw in the water, 2) drowned herself (suicide) or just drowned, 3) the ones who were cursed by their parents . Most of those girls weren't baptised and married (see the song, the heroine avoided marriage), so they were considered evil spirits who lure humans in the water and drown or tickle them to death
• But the main difference with western mermaids is that rusalka is said to have human legs (and in Ukraine folklore, huge tits but ugly face. In overall mythology, rusalka is beautiful young woman or a girl with long fair hair, completely naked [they steal clothes and threads from humans to cover themselves] and wears flower crown) and they live in waters, forests and fields, therefore r considered the spirits of fertility (they're told to protect the fields from floods)
• Rusalka is mischievous, lively creature and they're said to help drowned humans and animals and could also live in human houses and help with chores (there's some ritual to be performed, smth about the slavic holidays and being able to catch the rusalka by surprise)
• Later, rusalka adopted features of western mermaids (fishtail)
• Some rusalka's r believed to be the brides of water devil/vodyanoy

And here i come to Kid
Some say that vodyanoy is fallen angel who was kicked out from heaven and turned into the devil, so he hunts and kills those unbaptised, criminals, the ones committed suicide
• Vodyanoy is mostly ugly man with fish or mammal features (most common r catfish, cow, horse and carp. He either has tail of one of them or hooves, but sometimes he's also depicted as just a man with long limbs). He's also an evil spirit
• He lives in the water or near mills (the millers in rus were suspected of having connections with vodyanoy 'cause they often did sacrifices and "fed" him [just threw in water small animals, cereals, etc])
• He's said to marry vodyanica (the difference from rusalka is that vodyanica was baptised before she drowned, therefore she's not an evil spirit) or rusalka [vodyanoy and rusalka sometimes described as the same creature, so that's why i kinda see Kid not as an ugly oldman but just a young man]

Both rusalka and vodyanoy r shapeshifters and can turn into mammals, fish or humans
Both r said to hunt criminals and harm the drowned ones (especially, vodyanoy who's overall hostile to all people)

Part of me wants Luffy to understand the connection between KiKi and be wary of Kid's protectiveness. He's still talkative and curious with Killer (they can both ask eachother questions to understand the other world better [it was ages, if not centuries, Killer was on the surface as human, and Luffy is eager to have "cultural exchange" even if he himself doesn't understand some things])

In some of slavic countries (might mistaken which ones, but i think it was Serbia, Bulgaria) rusalka also depicted as "overly hairy women", so ig it counts as fur coat XD
Rusalkas also lured peeps with their songs and games, especially during "water" holidays (Ivan Kupala a.k.a. the day when days grow longer and is officially swimming season)
It was recommended to never ever walk through freshly sowed fields alone and to never ever do any rituals near water alone (u could escape rusalka's tral if u had a cross or cross urself while she tries to capture u)
Also, fun fact, tho rusalkas r said to hate women, there's almost no "record" of them actually hurting any women (unlike men who were often drowned, killed or forcefully "married"). They did bother women: could steal their babies and raise them among other water deities, could steal their weave/clothes/hair brushes but I don't recall any story where rusalka killed a woman (mostly, they did everything to send girls away from water/fields/forests)
Not so funny fact: sometimes parents "wed" their dead daughter (mostly, drowned and unbaptised. Mind u, Christianity wasn't mandatory back then, so most of peasants were pagans still) to the wood post/idol, so she won't turn into rusalka (they'd just tied her down to the one, dress her in wedding dress and else. 'Cause rusalkas r mostly naked, it was smth like an amulet against the "curse")

And my fav part XD
Since all rusalkas r said to have long golden/wheat coloured hair, they brush it often while sitting on the trees/in the fields or at the river banks. If u ever pick up the forgotten brush (f.e. rusalka just actually forgot it or u scared her away), she will go to ur house and will mess around the house
And it could be a catastrophy 'cause house deity - domovoi (the keeper of the house) - is a natural enemy of vodyanoy (and therefore rusalkas)

And rusalkas r also believed to be invisible most of the time, only chosen ones could see them (as well as lured ones, drowning ones, kids)

'dolf on telegram - October 16, 2025

KiKi'tober - Curse