Chapter Text
Alana yawned as she shuffled downstairs to go feed Hannibal and Will. Applesauce on her heels, looking to play. When they got to the living room Alana almost dropped the jar that had Hannibal's breakfast. Will wasn't in his cage. She rushed over to the tank that housed Hannibal and peered inside. She couldn't see Hannibal at all. She frantically tapped on the glass and waited for Hannibal to come out from hiding. It didn't take long for a smug looking Hannibal came swimming out. He looked expectantly at the jar in Alana's hand, waiting for her to drop it in as usual.
"Tell me you didn't eat him." Alana said.
Hannibal looked insulted before swimming back towards the rock structure covering the back corner of the tank. He reached in and grabbed something. He swam back out with Will in tow. Will looked exhausted, but whole and hardy. Alana breathed a sigh of relief, at least Will wasn't hurt. She peered through the tank and watched Will blush and hide behind Hannibal, whose smug look never faded.
Alana knew it was going to be a pain to get Will out of the tank, but she had to do it now, before the two got too attached. She left to go get the fishnet, when she returned Will was nowhere to be seen again, and Hannibal's rings were lit up.
"Listen, Hannibal, I know you've made a new friend, but we can't keep him. Will doesn't belong to us. He has owners who care for him very much. You don't want to separate them do you?"
Hannibal's face made a face at her and refused to let Will out of his cave. Alana sighed, Hannibal was going to be hurt when Will had to go home the next day. She sighed and dropped Hannibal's jar into his tank and left the two to their own devices.
***
Hannibal watched his mistress leave the room. After she left he rushed over to the jar that held the two goldfish. When they darted out he quickly killed one, not bothering to chase after it like he usually would. He needed to get back to Will.
Will dragged his kill back into his hiding place, where Will was waiting. Will rushed forwards to grab at the goldfish in his hands. Hannibal laughed as Will tore pieces off and scarfed them down. Hannibal waited until Will ate his fill before eating. Hannibal watched Will explore his home, artfully decorated with the bones of his kills. Hannibal finished his food and darted towards Will, intent on mating him again. Will heard Hannibal swim towards him and he took off. He looked back at Hannibal and grinned. He stuck his tongue out at Hannibal, teasing him before beginning to weave in and out of the foliage in the tank.
Hannibal was shocked when Will swam away from him, but he fell quickly in to the spirit of the chase. He watched Will's black and gold tail flicker in the light and smiled. He felt happier than ever, Alana would understand why Will's owners couldn't take him away. She would talk to them for Hannibal.
***
The next day Hannibal woke up to find a lock on his tank, and Will gone. He searched the tank thoroughly, but couldn't find any trace of the betta. He banged on his glass and waited for Alana to appear.
When she did, he noted the guilty look on her face, which told him all he needed to know. He glowered at her and swam into his hiding place, not accepting the food she offered him.
***
After a few days of Hannibal not eating, Alana broke down and called Jack.
"He won't eat. I think he's depressed about Will leaving him I bought another mer to see if Hannibal would take to him, but I had to take him out immediately because Hannibal tried to kill the poor thing." Luckily, for the mer, he was still in the bag Alana bought him in, so he could adjust to the water. Hannibal took one look at him and went ballistic, trying to claw his way into the bag, his rings flashing bright blue. The poor creature was in a different tank in her room. She would probably get a few companions for him instead of just returning him to the aquatics store. "Look, what I'm trying to say here is that I would like to buy Will. Name your price."
She heard Jack sigh over the phone. "Look, Will isn't doing too well either, he's so used to being in a tank by himself I guess that he misses his friend. I spent about $300 on him, so we'll say $345?"
"Deal. Can I come by today?" Alana was shocked, that went over a lot better than she was expecting it to be. Betta mer's were normally much more expensive than that, especially rosetail bettas, like Will was.
"Today?" Jack said.
"Yeah, Hannibal isn't doing well at all so I figure the sooner the better, right?"
"I guess. Well in that case come on over, I'm sure Bella will be happy to see you."
***
After Alana picked up Will from the Crawford home, she stopped by the pet store one last time to grab some neon tetras. She heard they were nice to have in a tank with bettas and she knew Hannibal only ate goldfish, so they should be fine. When she drove up to the house she could see Will perk up again, his tail flashing and his gills working.
"Ok, calm down." She said to the bag, long past the point of no return when it came to talking to the mers. "He's inside waiting for you."
She walked them up to the living room and took him to the large tank that was to be his new home. She silently placed the bag in the water and cut the top off, waiting for Hannibal to stop sulking and come see what she brought him.
Eventually Hannibal darted out from his hiding place in a rush of blues and yellows, before slamming into Will. Without skipping a beat he dashed back into his castle with Will in tow. Alana poured the tetra fish into the tank and watched them swim around for a bit before going off to get some work done.
***
Hannibal wasted no time shoving Will into his bed of moss and ferns kissing him and touching his hair. He wanted to make sure Will would never leave him again. Hannibal quickly pushed two tentacles inside Will's slit which had opened up the second Hannibal started kissing him. Will couldn't help the sharp noises he was making. Hannibal grinned down at Will before thrusting deeply into him.
"Mine."
***four weeks later***
Will was acting very oddly. Normally, he would swim around an play with the tetras in the tank, however lately he's been to sluggish to do anything of the sort. He's started picking at the plants in the water and moving them into his home. Alana asked a vet to come over and check him out. However the vet couldn't get a very good look at Will before he Hannibal came dashing out trying to bite the man's hands. Alana sighed and hoped Will got better on his own.
When she came downstairs the next morning it was to a very different surprise. There were about ten little mers were swimming around. Hannibal was watching over them, making sure they wouldn't get hurt. Most of them had tentacles like Hannibal, in fact only one little girl had Will's beautiful tail. It was black and fanned out, with blue rings running along the edges of her fins. She was sticking close to Hannibal, not willing to leave his side. Now Alana was extremely glad she had a ridiculously large tank for the new family.
