Here is the last chapter of this part of Beauties and Beasts along with a link to the second part on my co-writer's account! We have finally suceeded on coaxing that anxious kitty from under the car! She has her own account! And she's going to keep writing! YAY!

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"I have brought you my song." From out of nowhere, his pale blue fingers circled around a carved conch shell the size of his stomach, thin strings stretched across its surface. "We spend our lives perfecting a melody for our names, and this is for you."

The tanned body outstretched next to his groaned slightly and he stopped it with a swift kick to the neck, as graceful as if he meant to do it, as if he anticipated the movement and it was all part of the performance.

"I would look up to the stars, find a color just like yours /scatter my shells beneath the heaving tides that pull me farther from you /let my gold guide you to me in case I can't reach you first.

"And I would swim a thousand miles /I would climb the tallest peak /I would spend my whole life searching /just to be with you. Just to be with you.

"I find sunshine in your smile and a tickle in your laugh /I find beauty all around you, but I come with empty hands /open and outstretched, I reach for your light /the only thing that warms me when my heart is filled with night.

"And I would walk a thousand miles /I would start my journey new /I would spend my whole life searching /just to be with you. I want to be with you.

"I would make me wings if you lived in the sun /I would say goodbye to my fins, though I've loved them, if you walked away from my home /I would close my eyes with your last breath /I'd follow if there's no protest /there's no ocean I wouldn't search through /just to be with you."

He locked eyes with her and she knew he saw the tear falling down her cheek as he murmured, "Just to be with you."

Neara's lips trembled, as did her heart. She'd never heard anything so beautiful in her life, or even knew shells could make that kind of sound when seaweed was stretched across them. Or his own hair-- whatever. His voice sounded gravelly and hopeful at the same time, so weary and devoted. How could someone hold that much emotion in their voice? Especially comparing it to his speaking voice, when it was just a robot and--

Cold lips pressed against hers, soft with a little bit of friction, like an almost-bald basketball.

She pulled back with a jerk. "What are you doing?" Although she knew exactly what he was doing.

His eyes widened. "Sucking the eggs from your cheek pouch so I may fertilize them. Have you eaten them already?"

Ok, so she had no clue. "What?"

He sat back from her with a frown. "Have you not received your first eggs yet? Judging by the fat deposits on your hips and chest, you should have more than adequate reserves to sire offspring."

Her mouth dropped open.

"If you haven't, that's perfectly fine; I can wait another decade or so before I need to recharge my gonads."

"You're going... you need to..."

He settled his instrument against his side more firmly and slid his slightly-webbed hands down his legs, tracing the bright orange line, speckled with cream and navy before blending into his light blue skin. It almost looked green against the dark stone, especially against the fluffy blue-blond hair of the collapsed beastman next to him, who she didn't worry too much about because his chest still rose and fell.

"Um... what's your name?"

"Whatever you'd like it to be." His fingers ran over her name again. "I am meant for you and if there is anything that displeases you about me, I will change it. Even my coloring, I will change, although it will take me a cycle and I cannot protect you during that time."

"No, no, it's fine, you look fine, I just mean what do you call yourself? Like what do you answer to?"

"Willem." He paused and nodded to her. "You may use my name." He pulled back and stood up. She shut her eyes in anticipation of dangling manparts and found, to her shock, he was smooth like a Ken doll. "When you produce eggs, we will mate."

She didn't speak until he returned, a small hairy rock clutched between his fingers. Dipping it periodically into the pool, he tore out a small chunk in the middle and carefully washed the insides, extracting pale yellow strips of... what looked like tongue before arranging it before her.

"Eat quickly; they take on more rot the longer they sit."

Thinking that was true of most things, wondering if he was poisoning her, and above all, not wanting to offend him, she brought one to her mouth and took a bite. The taste of ocean overwhelmed her mouth above everything else and the texture was like a firm custard with bits of cooked egg. She nearly retched and barely managed to swallow.

He slurped the rest of the bowl and let it sink into the water. "Perhaps something else will be more to your liking." He left again and she stared at the other beastman's chest.

How did his hair stay so fluffy and soft-looking? Such a pretty periwinkle color. She brushed some of the strands from his face and her hand recoiled after brushing something slick and firm. Her jaw dropped again when she realized he had little fins on the side of his head instead of ears, thin membranes stretched tightly between bony strips of scale, thin red hoops pierced through the lowest... bone? As he breathed, his hair slowly moved from his chest, revealing two large gills on either side of his ribcage, edges fluttering pointlessly in the air. A scallop hung from his neck on the same sort of red material as his earrings that also matched a bracelet around his wrist. Whoever he was, he knew about fashion sense and judging from the scales, he was probably one of those mermen she'd claimed to be a part of.

Seeing his luxurious hair, soft features and delicate brows, she couldn't believe anyone bought that. Maybe they'd never actually seen a merman either and only ever heard about them because this guy's beauty... ethereal was the only way to describe it, like an androdynous fairy prince. David Bowie, she could say David Bowie. David Bowie meets Harry Styles... with gorgeous anime hair. She thought of Shay and how much she'd like to run her fingers through it... then have Curtis scalp him and take it for herself. She had a thing for nice hair.

The beastman softly moaned and she scooted backwards, not wanting to be within thrashing distance when he woke up.

Willem came back holding a small coral tray of sliced meat that looked painfully like fish. He set it in front of her with a smile. "These meats have a delicate flavor and texture, like lace kelp on the tongue, although I couldn't find any nearby."

She bit her lip when he passed a handful of shrimp to her, laying them on her lap.

"These are also delicious." Then he crunched into one, carefully gnawing around the head and tail before slurping them up.

Neara kept her hands in her lap as her fingers slowly warmed the twitching fish. "Wow, so many."

He nodded and bit into another one, sucking on the head. "They are better when they are chilled to the temperature of the ocean. Eat quickly."

She laid the soggy heap back on the tray and carefully dragged her palms across her skirt. "Oh, that's fine, I'm not too hungry. You can eat them. I'll wait for my mates to come get me."

"Ah. The ones on your arms." He motioned with one hand while the other scooped the fish from the tray. "They won't be able to retrieve you."

"Except they're going to." What the hell was his problem... his less obvious problem?

"Impossible. We are many spans beneath the surface of the ocean and hidden inside a mountain. I will bring you to them tomorrow. They cannot possibly..."

Immediately, and with almost comic timing if it wasn't so terrifying, the roof caved in although the first thing to hit the ground wasn't a wall of water but a gasping white tiger who quickly enveloped her in his body before both of them flew upwards through the thick water now flooding into the cavern. Fighting the urge to shout, 'Winston' and thus using up whatever air hadn't been crushed out of her, she kept her body clenched against his and tried not to think about how she had the lung capacity of a smoking mouse.

___________________________LINKS!_____________________

www.wattpad.com/1222168369-beauties-and-beasts-pt-2-chapter-150-151-counting

www.quotev.com/story/14839519/Beauties-and-Beasts-Pt-2