warnings for blood, gore, and needles.

The journey to Chanyeol's apartment is surprisingly, thankfully, blessedly uneventful.

He had braved taking the main roads, knowing that the little side streets and back alley exits would be slippery with frost this time of year, and he did not want to run the risk of falling over and making things worse. With the village already stirring to life, chimney's puffing smoke and small fishing boats sailing away from the docks far behind them, Chanyeol had assumed that he would come across at least one or two people as he carried the injured creature in his arms to the other side of the island. It's early enough for school children to be wandering along the pavements, clinging to their parents as the wind whips around them, or for trucks loaded with shellfish, carp, and eels to ramble down the roads, belching smoke as they pass.

But for some reason, the streets are completely empty. The only living thing that approaches them the entire journey is a stray cat, thick black fur matted and covered in dirt. It hisses at them as they pass, and Chanyeol is about to shoo it away when the being in his arms does it for him. A growl vibrates from the back of its throat, sending the cat scampering away with a yowl.

Chanyeol tries his hardest not to jostle the being in his arms as he laughs.

Up close, the creature - or mermaid, Chanyeol supposes he should call it - is less scary than he had at first assumed. In fact, it's rather beautiful. It had passed out on his shoulder about ten minutes after Chanyeol had left the beach, head lolled against his neck, buried in the curve of his shoulder, and at this angle it looks sort of sweet, with its golden, pearlescent hues and long eyelashes fluttering against its cheeks. The gills on the side of its neck are still opening and closing, but they're weaker now, and it's at the sight of them that Chanyeol remembers that merpeople are, as far as his knowledge goes, not supposed to be out of water for long periods of time. It urges him to speed up his paces, moving at a half-jog while smothering the urge to jump a fence and steal some water from a fellow villager's garden hose when the merman's breaths starts coming out in weak, dry wheezes.

Thankfully, it isn't long before they finally reach his apartment block. Chanyeol's arms ache and his back is straining at every movement, and he prays to God not to bump into any other residents as he nudges the door open with his foot and shuffles into the block, running up the stairs when he hears movement nearby. The act of him leaping up flights of stairs jostles the creature in his arms awake, and it starts wailing in pain, claws digging into his back, causing him to trip on several steps. Chanyeol didn't even realise it had claws.

It's crying is loud and will surely wake someone up, so he forgoes being careful in order to reach his apartment on the fourth and highest floor as quickly as possible. He only mildly regrets it when his back feels mauled beyond recovery, sensitive against the fabric of his shirt.

Chanyeol is not a careless man, but he can be quite forgetful sometimes. It can be easy, he argues, to forgo doing certain things, like locking his front door, when he has grown up in a village practically devoid of crime, its inhabitants so close to each other that they might as well be family, unlike the towns and cities in the mainland. He thanks his past self for being so comfortable with his surroundings as he forces open his front door with a kick and barrels inside, stumbling over discarded shoes and newspapers as he swivels around to slam it closed.

The creature in his arms whimpers and hisses at the loud noises. Blood from its tail is dripping onto the carpet. Chanyeol needs to get the injured mermaid somewhere safe and wet before this situation gets any worse.

He heads for the bathroom, once again using his foot to push open the door. It's a small but comfortable room, with enough space for a separate bathtub and shower, alongside the usual necessities, and creamy white walls that are still slightly damp from his morning shower. It was one of the main reasons he started renting the apartment in the first place, and he's quite fond of it. He ignores all the blood staining his nice clean floors as he looks around for a place to put the mermaid before he can do something to help it.

Keeping an eye on the injured creature’s tail, Chanyeol kneels down to gently lower it into the bathtub.

At first, the mermaid doesn’t want to let go. It lets out a panicked shriek, digging its claws even deeper into Chanyeol’s shoulders, and Chanyeol almost drops it when sharp forks of pain ripple through his already battered skin and muscles. Shushing the creature as best he can, he makes sure it's touching the bottom of the tub before pulling his arms away and letting go, instead bringing them round to coax the creature's claws out of his body.

"It's okay, it's okay. You're fine here, please let go of me."

He takes the mermaid's forearms in his own and rubs them in his hands in what he hopes is a comforting manner, keeping his voice low so as not to scare it. Its arms are strangely soft, human skin dotted with a few patches of roughness that Chanyeol assumes are stray scales, and very slowly the creature stops spitting at him and lessens its grip around his neck, choosing to wrap its arms around itself instead. Wet heat is dripping down Chanyeol's spine, but he ignores it. There are more important things to worry about, like the fact the mermaid is shivering, heavy pants spilling from its dry throat like a dying fish.

Chanyeol reaches over to turn the tap on. He debates whether to use cold water or hot water, or both, but settles for just cold when the merman instantly stops twitching and stares at the gushing tap with wide eyes. Chanyeol uses the moment of stillness to block the plughole, and soon the bathtub is filling up with fresh, clear water. The mermaid has lost a lot of blood and is minutes away from passing out again, its head resting against the back wall, eyes shut and breaths shallow, but it lets out a relieved sigh when the water reaches its body, and then, to Chanyeol's amazement, makes a strange clicking noise, somewhat like a dolphin. There's a cup on the sink that Chanyeol uses to rinse his mouth after brushing his teeth, and Chanyeol grabs it, filling it up with water from the bath before leaning forwards to slowly pour the contents of the cup into the creatures mouth.

With a sound that is almost like a moan, the mermaid swallows the water eagerly, sipping and lapping at the rim of the glass in a way that reminds Chanyeol of a thirsty dog in the height of summer, clicking noises growing louder with ever gulp. In a way, it sounds like purring. Some of the weed on its head has fallen off where it's rubbed against the tiled wall, slipping down its neck and chest into the bath water, revealing more of the shimmering gold scales that must be there to protect its skull. They’re really quite beautiful. Chanyeol distracts himself from the throbbing in his back and finger by counting them.

When the glass is empty, Chanyeol refills it, repeating the process again until the mermaid stops drinking and lets the water trail down its chin and neck, wetting its gills. Chanyeol places the empty cup on the floor, trying not to think too much about the bloody handprint wrapped around it.

The creature seems sated for now, heavy breaths mirroring the steady rise and fall of its chest, eyes no longer pinched tight. But Chanyeol cannot relax yet. It may no longer be suffocating in his arms anymore, but it's still badly injured. Blood from its tail is pooling down the side of the bath, dripping onto the floor. Chanyeol needs to do something soon, or else he'll have a dead fish on his hands.

Jumping up from his knees, he dashes out of the room. There's a first aid kit in the kitchen, hidden somewhere under the sink, and a sewing kit in his room. He manages to find the former, bumping his head on the bottom of the kitchen sink in his eagerness to find it as quickly as he can. He quickly patches up his own bleeding finger before hurrying off to find the latter.

He's about to enter the bathroom again when he remembers the barbed wire, curled around and piercing through the poor mermaid's tail. He shudders momentarily before turning back and entering his room. Dropping the kits on his desk, he gets onto his hands and knees and digs under his bed. There should be a toolbox there, a gift from his dad he only used once to build a shelf that immediately fell apart the moment he put something on it, and after a few moments of frantically waving his arms about, his fingertips finally touch hard plastic. Pulling the box out, he clicks it open and digs around inside for a pair of wire clippers.

The apartment is silent as Chanyeol makes his way back to the bathroom, pausing the short walk only briefly to rummage into his coat pocket for a lighter. When he enters the bathroom the creature is lying on its back, head and shoulders completely submerged, tailfin now gingerly touching the floor. The bathtub is close to overflowing, and Chanyeol dives forward to twist the tap off before it drips over the edge. The tail wound is still bleeding all over the place, and even the water near the taps has turned a murky shade of pink. Chanyeol grimaces as he settles down on his knees at the far end of the tub, unpacking the first aid kit as quietly as he can so as not to disturb the resting beast.

For a second, he briefly considers calling one of his friends, like Baekhyun, a young nurse from a city in the mainland that works in the hospital on Chanyeol's island, and he is far more qualified for something like this than he is. Or maybe even Sehun, who he knows would help him out in a heartbeat, no questions asked. It's a ridiculous idea, and Chanyeol shakes it out of his head almost as soon as he thought of it. He can't back out now, not when this creature needs him. He can only pray that he doesn't make anything worse.

Standing up, he goes to wash his hands, forming a plan in his head. There's no way he can just pull the barbed wire out, so he has no choice but to clip it in the spaces between where it cuts through the membrane and flesh. If he makes the sections small enough he can just pull them through. It'll be messy and painful, but at least he might be able to get it all out before disinfecting the wounds, stitching them if necessary. He has a needle and some suture thread, and a lighter to disinfect it. If all goes to plan, the whole process could be over in minutes. He highly doubts that it will, but that doesn't stop him from hoping this nightmare of a situation will be over soon.

Chanyeol mumbles a quick prayer before bending down to pick up the wire clippers, dropping down to his knees to shuffle closer to the mermaid's bleeding fin. The biggest entry wound is on the outer edge of the fin, wire tearing through flesh and bone as opposed to the soft membrane. With shaking hands and a racing heart, Chanyeol lines up the clippers as close to the entrance wound as he can without disturbing it, and snips.

The reaction is almost instant. As soon as the clippers slice through the metal, the mermaid leaps out of the water with a shriek so piercing and feral it makes Chanyeol scream as he jumps. What he sees before scrambling back into the far wall is two pitch black eyes and long, razor sharp teeth, hurtling towards him like something from a horror film. His neck and shoulder burns like fire, and when he looks down, he sees that the corner of his shirt has been ripped open, revealing four violently red scratches that stretch down from the side of his jaw to just above his left . Despite being rather shallow, they've already started to bleed, further staining what is left of his ruined shirt.

Chanyeol figures he probably deserved that.

The mermaid has dragged itself to the far end of the bath, tail pulled up against itself as if for protection, hissing aggressively in Chanyeol's direction. What was once a rather cute little creature, round eyes and soft, golden skin, is now a something akin to a monster, teeth like daggers extended out in fangs, and talons, stained red with Chanyeol's blood, poised to attack. What little seaweed that was still stuck to its crown has been pushed aside by two smaller fins on either side of its head that Chanyeol had not noticed before, both raised and lined with tiny spikes, the same pearlescent shade of black as the scales on its tail.

It must have been shocked when Chanyeol clipped the wire. It must have hurt a lot too. The last thing Chanyeol wants to do is scare the creature even more than it must be already.

The mermaid is still growling at him. It's a strange sound, like the hissing of an angry cat with the booming depth of whale song, and it only gets louder when Chanyeol shuffles closer. Stopping about halfway up the length of the bathtub, he raises his hands to show that there is nothing in them, and rests them gently on the edge of the tub. The mermaid starts to hiss and spit again, curling up into an even tighter ball, but Chanyeol doesn't move away, even though he is slightly terrified of being attacked again.

"I'm sorry for sneaking up on you. It must have scared you a lot. I'm sorry."

The growling doesn't stop, but it does get quieter. Chanyeol takes it as a sign that the animal is listening to him. "You need help, okay?" he says, keeping his voice low and unthreatening. "I need to get that wire out of you before you bleed anymore, or before you get an infection or something. I can't do that if you keep attacking me whenever I touch you."

The mermaid's eyes are large and round as they stare at Chanyeol from the bathtub. Although they are completely black, Chanyeol see's something human in them, a raw tenderness that shows pain and fear. The poor thing must be scared out of its mind, in a foreign habitat with a strange species poking and prodding at its wounds. Chanyeol hopes it can trust him, even just a little bit, to make sure it gets out of this situation in one piece.

"It's going to hurt, like really hurt, and you're going to be really uncomfortable for a while, but you have to let me do this. I don't want to hurt you, okay?"

Feeling unusually brave, he slowly and steadily reaches out a hand. The mermaid flinches away, still snarling, but it doesn't move to scratch him again when Chanyeol places his palm gently atop its head. The seaweed is slimy and the scales on its crown are rough and slightly sharp around the edges, but he starts to nonetheless, light, soft that he hopes will calm the creature down. He bites back a smile when, after half a minute or so, clicks start to mingle with the mermaid's growls. This might be working after all.

To his complete and utter surprise, the mermaid starts to uncurl its tail, stretching it out away from its body. It slowly lifts it out of the water, placing it with a soft thud on the edge of the bathtub, right where it was before Chanyeol spooked it. All the tension in Chanyeol's body seeps out as he lets out a slightly hysterical laugh, dragging his hand down from the creature's head to rest against its cheek instead. Elated, he beams at it with a smile.

"Thank you."

The mermaid does nothing but close its eyes, leaning back to rest its head against the wall again.

With that crisis averted, Chanyeol now has to move fast. The angle the mermaid had its tail when it was pressed against itself to protect it had merely forced more blood to seep out, turning the bath water an even darker shade of bloody pink. No wonder it gave up so quickly, Chanyeol thinks as he slides back over in the direction of the injured fin, it must be too weak to even want to fight back. Its chest isn't rising as strong as it was before. He really needs to patch up the poor creature before it's too late.

Grabbing the clippers, Chanyeol gets back to work. At the first snip, second overall, the mermaid snaps and growls, hissing through pointed teeth. Chanyeol does his best to ignore it, snipping away at the wire so that the only parts left are the small chunks still embedded in the mermaid's flesh. Chanyeol slides the rusty pieces of wire far across the room, as far away from both of them as possible. He can clean them up later, when he isn't performing amateur surgery on an injured mythical creature in his goddamn bathtub using only a first aid kit and some wire clippers.

His next task is removing the embedded metal. The first aid kit beside him came with a pair of tweezers, and it's these that he uses to help poke the tiny pieces of wire, about a centimetre in length, through the thin sheets of membrane, leaving the piece lodged in the flesh of the tail for last. He expected the mermaid to hate this part the most, and it does, thrashing about in the water as it screams and cries at the top of its lungs, fangs bared as it snarls in Chanyeol's direction. It's so horrifically loud that Chanyeol has to briefly pause to dive into his drawers and pull out a washcloth for the creature to bite on. It does little to smother the sound of its suffering, but at least Chanyeol can continue to work without worrying whether his neighbours can hear the screaming or not. If they can, they haven't complained yet. Hopefully they just think he's watching a movie too loud, rather than not-so secretly torturing someone in his apartment.

The metal in the flesh of the tail is the hardest to remove. It's the deepest wound, the wire having somehow sawed its way through the thick layer of scales and flesh, several inches deep. The piece of wire inside is long, barbs tearing into the mermaid's body as Chanyeol carefully picks it out with the tweezers. He swallows down the bile that rises in his throat as he holds apart the wound with his fingers to see better.

Across from him, the mermaid has stopped screaming altogether, now only sobbing and whimpering quietly. Chanyeol wants to cry with it but he keeps on working, sweat beading down his brow as he fiddles with the length of wire. Finally, after what seems like hours but is probably only a minute or so, Chanyeol manages to pull it free, throwing it across the room to join the other pieces, letting out a satisfied sigh when it bounces off the wall and clangs onto the ground.

"It's almost over," he says to the creature, who is staring back at him through pained, hooded eyes. "Just one thing left to do, I promise."

Chanyeol takes a few seconds to ground himself, releasing a breath he didn't realise he was holding as he stands up to wash his hands. When he's done, he gets back down onto his knees and picks up the needle he had taken from the sewing kit. He takes the lighter from his pocket and runs the needle through the flame, and when he feels he has heated it enough to disinfect it, he threads the suture thread through the eye and runs both through an alcohol soaked cloth. He uses a separate cloth to disinfect the tail wound, dabbing away the dried and fresh blood surrounding it. The mermaid writhes and hisses at the pain, but Chanyeol doesn't stop until it's completely clean, or at least as clean as he can make it with the limited resources at his disposal.

He has absolutely no idea what he's doing, his only knowledge on stitches being the few he's had to endure at the hospital in his younger years, and his hands shake as he sews up the largest wound, following the simple instructions he has open on his phone beside him. The holes in the mermaid's membrane should heal up over time, but the tear in the flesh is too deep to just leave on its own. As much as Chanyeol hates the idea of sewing someone's skin back together, it's necessary if he doesn’t want the mermaid to keel over from blood loss or infection, and he performs every stitch and every tug with as much accuracy as he can. When the last hoop is made, closing the wound completely, he almost bursts into tears, knotting the thread through blurred eyes before snipping off the extra length with the discarded wire clippers.

That's it. He's done. It's finally over. For what seems like the first time that day, Chanyeol breathes, long and slow, collapsing from his knees to his bottom, arms hanging heavily at his sides, the objects in his hands clattering to the floor.

"It's over. You're okay. You're going to be fine."

Black eyes stare at him, bottomless and beautiful, and Chanyeol doesn't know if he can look at them anymore. He's covered from head to toe in blood, and he has no idea which stains are his and which ones aren't. He turns away from the bathtub, shock and disgust churning in his stomach, and the gravity of what he's just done hits him like a freight train, the room spinning around him in a blur of bright red, black, and sweet pearlescent gold.

He didn't realise how exhausted he was. His arms feel like they're made of stone. Somehow, he manages to stumble up onto his feet, shuffling one foot in front of the other to leave the bathroom and the mermaid behind him. He's so tired, so very, very tired, and, as he wanders over to his couch in a daze, he feels like he could sleep for a hundred years.

His last thoughts, as he collapses backwards onto the couch, inky blackness swallowing him whole, are of the clouds, the boats, the monotonous rhythm of the tide, and the delicate softness of wet skin under his fingers.

phew that was heavy... i promise that this is the last gory chapter i have planned for this fic! the rest is gonna be silly and fluffy, so it's only the first two chapters that should contain nasty stuff. i hope it was okay nonetheless!

as a side note, if you are ever caught in a situation where someone or yourself is hurt and needs drastic medical attention, please please please never attempt to fix it yourself unless you know exactly what you're doing or are with a medical professional! always try to get to the hospital or at least get help first before even considering to do it yourself. this should only be done in extreme situations when it is absolutely necessary! stay safe guys!

as always, thank you for reading! please feel free to come yell at me on tumblr or in the comments if you have any questions or simply just want to scream about stuff, i always reply and i'm always up for a chat!