The Eighth Wonder of the World (Ch. 1 of 5)

The waves are relentless as they crash against the body of the ship, flinging crew members about the wooden floors. Tony grits his teeth as he fights against the merciless rain, biting winds, and the rocking of the ship, making his was to wheel to steer. He makes a hard left, narrowly avowing yet another one of Poseidon's cursed whirlpools. His men fight hard, struggling with all their might to keep the sails in order and their bodies from being tossed to the sea. A vicious maiden the rough waters have always been, but today more so than usual.

"Captain. She won't hold out much longer!"

Tony turns and looks Bruce as the man struggles to keep the ropes in hands from slipping from his grasp. The captain looks to see Clint scaling the mainmast, swinging about as he tightens the ropes and keeps the sails in check. Thor is busy tying down the cannons—one has already clipped him as it moved with the rough rocking of the ship.

"Steve! Help Thor strap down those cannons."

The second mate nods briefly before he bounds over to assist his crewmate at his Captain's orders.

Captain Tony is a fearless man, but even he has begun to have his doubts. Another hard bank to the left and the ship rumbles with a vengeance, shifting heavily to her side and all but ready to topple and collapse. Tony loses his footing, sliding quickly with the rain water and slamming heavily into the ship's edge. The wind flees his lungs with the speed of a thousand winds, but he fights, eager to protect not only his men but his ship. But his vision is blurring and his head buzzes, humming and thrumming. He shifts, he sways, and then there is blackness.


The lapping of the cool water is soothing as it retracts and draws near to the shoreline, taking and returning aspects of the ocean in exchange for the sandy treasures the beach offered. The gulls soared cooing when fish bounded into their field of sight before swooping down to make a meal of it. The air is salty and fresh all in one and the sun is warm and Tony finds each characteristic melodic and calming. If only more days aboard the Romanoff were like this.

Romanoff.

Weather.

Not like this.

Urgently Tony sits up, knocking his head against hers. She flails back, hands flying up to her forehead and Tony follows suit. He rubs at his head with squinted eyes before he looks to her. She gasps when she realizes she has his full attention.

"You?" he starts but she quickly takes up a handful of sand, tossing the grainy particles into his face.

He quickly shifts back, standing to his feet as he rubs at his eyes and spits the sand out from his mouth. She takes the opportunity to try to get away, but Tony recovers quickly, throwing his body forwards lock his hands around the lower half of her tail. She keens, hissing with bared fangs as she twists to face him.

"Calm down! No need to go and lose your head!"

Despite his words and the nonthreatening tone in his voice she continues to writhe, twisting and hissing in the hopes he would let go. Honestly, she wasn't even supposed to be here! But his grip is firm—determined—and he does not relinquish his grasp. She's tired now, running low on energy from her desperate skirmish to free herself. Another pitiful hiss and she ceases her wriggling, taking the time to catch her breath and watch the man.

Tony eyes her with awe, genuinely speechless at her presence. How was this even possible? They were real. She were real. He slowly runs his eyes from her face and down to her tail, stopping when his hands fall into his line of sight. Cautiously he takes a hand and gently runs a finger down from the middle of her aquamarine tail to the end of her nearly transparent fins. She trembles at the touch, lightly tugging away from his touch.

It unnerved her. She'd never been touched by a human before. It was oddly enticing and altogether wondrously dangerous. She didn't know this man! What if he were a poacher, eager to take her away from the safety of the ocean?

"Do you speak English?"

His words surprise her and silently she watches him with keen interest and alarm.

"My name is Anthony Edward Stark, Captain of the Romanoff, but you can just call me Tony. Do you have a name?"

She notices that he's taken his hands from her person allowing her another chance to escape, but she doesn't instead folding her tail as she moved forward to gaze at him.

"Me, Tony. You?"

His words are slow and she smiles at his apparent desire to make conversation with her. She spoke English perfectly well, but she opted to remain silent in an effort to see what else the man would do.

"I'm Tony," he points at himself before he directs the very same finger towards her, "You are?"

"Saffron."

He sighs as his shoulders drop, "This is pointless. Of course you don't understand me…"

Suddenly he stops as he looks to her with widened eyes and she gives him a soft smile.

"You spoke?"

She nods.

"In English?"

Again she nods, the smile on her lips growing.

"Saffron. That's a lovely name."

"Anthony is a delightful name as well."

"Just Tony will do."

"No. I'd rather address you properly."

Tony raises a single brow and silence a falls. A silence that allows the captain some time to really appreciate her figure. Gentle curves arcing into a magnificent pale blue tail that moved in time with her move. He smirks appreciatively and she eyes him with apparent confusion.

"I'm glad you're alright," she says softly as she sweeps a strand of damp hair behind her ear.

"What?"

"I mean, when I found you I wasn't sure you'd make it."

Tony almost wants to slap himself when he finally thinks about the situation. His crew. Where was his crew?

"Where are the others?"

She tilts her head to the side at his question, plainly uncertain as to what he was inquiring.

"Was there anyone else around when you found me?"

Silently and slowly she shakes her head, searching his eyes for whatever emotion he was feeling. Remorse and guilt is evident in those blue eyes and it startles her to see that she feels his emotions in turn. He lets out a heart wrenching sigh as he runs a shaky hand through his brown hair. She bites on her bottom lip as she searches about the area. She really shouldn't do what she was about to do.

"Well… if you're friends are as much of survivors as you are…"

"They are."

His voice was firm, leaving no room for doubt.

"Then I think I know where you may be able to find them."

Tony is all ears and she pauses to take in the sharp masculine curves of his face. His eyes are intense as he watches her expectantly and she finds there to be burning sensation starting from her chest to the tips of her fins.

"There's a village not too far from here and it's the only place of civilization for miles. So it's likely that your comrades—"

"Wound up there…" Tony trails off after he finishes her train of thought and she nods repeatedly.

"I could take you there," she says so soft that if the man hadn't been so close he wouldn't have heard.

"What?"

"I said that I could take you there, that is if you wanted."

Tony frowns as he tears his eyes from her face and they meander down to her lack of feet.

"And how exactly would you go about doing that?"

Her face flushes red and she bites on her bottom lip before she looks back to the man. She blinks repeatedly, embarrassed, a few times before she speak.

"Would you offer me your coat?"

Tony is visibly confused and she repeats her words. He nods uncertainly but still he shimmies out of his coat and proffers it to her. She take it with a nervous smile and then she cough lightly.

"Umm…would you mind turning around?"

Again Tony is confused, but he says nothing and does as he's told, standing to his feet and dusting himself off beforehand. She waits to make sure he doesn't turn back around before she takes in a deep breath and close her eyes.

There's a gentle breeze,

Soft blue lights,

And calmly she exhales.

"You can turn around now."

Turn turns with questioning words on his lips, but none of them are vocalized when he takes her in. She has his long coat wrapped around her body and it stops just before her...knees?

"How? How in the seven seas did you…?"

She shrugs with an embarrassed and proud smile, "I've always been able to."

"Can the others? The ones like you I mean."

She draws her lips together in a thin line before shaking her head.

"No. Just me."

Tony nods absently as he takes in what he can see of her body left unveiled by his coat. He nods satisfactorily and she cocks her head to the side in wonder.

"Is something wrong?"

He rips his eyes away and looks back to her face, "No. Nothing is wrong at all."

She smiles softly and she takes a shaky step towards him. She wobbles and Tony is quick to grab her just in case.

"You sure you're up for this?"

"I'm fine. It always takes a little time for me to adjust."

His arms are on her clothed waist and her fingers grip at the silk fabric on his shirt. Silently she gazes at him, taking him in. She'd seen plenty of humans, but this one…well he was certainly special.

"Could it be you've fallen for me already?"

"What?" she asks sweetly, confused by his words.

Tony laughs and shakes his head before smirking again, "It's nothing for you to worry about. Ready to head out?"

She nods ecstatically and she pulls back finding her balance on her own.

"Anthony, I promise to get you to Amore!"

"I'll hold you up to that."

Hesitantly she reaches out and take Tony's hand. His heat is tingling and it travels all throughout her body, but she makes sure the man does not see as she pulls him up and over the sandy dunes and into the forests.