So here's a mermaid AU, I like this AU.. This kind of ended up set in the early 1900s, maybe about 1920s or 1930s. It's not explicitly stated in the story because I didn't know exactly when and I didn't want to deal with researching stuff but just keep that in mind. This is just going to be a short little ficlet, I've divided up into 5 chapters and I'll update them throughout the next few weeks since I'm off for Thanksgiving this week and to finish it off early. As always, this will be posted on AO3 as well as and also on my tumblr, which is on my profile for those who don't know. Anyway, here.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.
When Alice had been a child, her mother had always warned her to stay far from the seaside. There were dangerous creatures who lived in the depths of the sea, they will come to the surface and break the glassy ocean surface. They will take you away and trap you under the water until all you can see is black and everything is cold and you can't breathe anymore. That's what she said at least.
Her father was a sailor, which is why they lived near the ocean anyway. He was gone for months to far away lands, leaving Alice and her mother and her younger brother, Peter who usually occupied all her mother's time. It wasn't that Alice minded, she said. She didn't have any friends, she didn't go to school, but was tutored by her mother. She was quite lonely, but Alice would lie to everyone who even suspected it. Even herself.
The ocean, Alice found, was a sanctuary. When she was fed up with Peter's whining or her mother's nagging or just the silence of their home, she would disappear. The blond always found herself pulled back to the water's edge, where the waves crashed into the sand that tickled her toes because on the beach there was no need for any shoes.
Her home was a simple older house, set on a not so tall cliff. There were stairs from the house that led down to a gate with the ocean just past it. In between large rocks there was a short stretch of beach with khaki sand and sometimes even seashells. Alice used to collect them when she was little and her father took her down to the water just a few times, before he was gone again. A jar of them still sat on a shelf in her bedroom, now with a layer of dust because it had been forgotten a long time ago.
Her family very rarely ever came to their secret ocean side. Her mother didn't like the water, she didn't like Alice going out there either, but at seventeen Alice was too old to be frightened of silly stories. They couldn't scare her away anymore. Her mother didn't let Peter out either. The blond didn't mind that, Peter would interrupt the peace. Alice could count on one hand how many times she had come down to the beach with someone else, but the times she was alone were countless.
She found herself out there alone often, for it was a quick walk from her house. The blond would bring a book to sit alone and get lost in the story or she would just sit with her head on her knees and stare out at the watery horizon. Sometimes she thought of her father, far far away, too far for her emerald eyes to see. Sometimes she wondered what else was out there, beyond the smooth surface and the blue sea and sky.
Sometimes she felt more at home in this little stretch of ocean and alone than she felt up there in that house with her mother and brother and rarely her father.
Alice shut the door to her house quietly. Her mother was playing with Peter. She knew Alice went out there, but she had stopped saying things about it by now. It was still easier to slip away without a word than to even say out loud where she was going. A small book was in her hand, fading pages because it was old and had already been used when Alice had bought it from the bookstore in town.
She walked down the steps, noticing where they creaked and the sand that had been swept up the last few steps by a breeze. Alice stopped on the last one, staring at her little world that no one had interrupted in long time.
The blond could only see his left side. He hadn't noticed her watching yet. He was in the water by the rocks, it was deeper there, his lower half was hidden by the dark ocean. Although his top half wasn't anything to be forgotten. She could see his tanned skin that almost seemed a little shiny at some angles of sunlight. He looked strong and muscular. His hair was a golden color probably when dry, but now it was a darker blond, beads of water dripping onto the sand from the ends. There were weird lines on his neck and he was wearing some sort of crown, made of seashells and coral. It was beautiful nonetheless. He was just as handsome, Alice had to admit.
He was pressed against a rock, stretching out a long arm trying to reach a spiral shell that had been pushed up in the sand by high tide. The tips of his hair looked like they had just barely begun to turn blue. Not enough to be striking, at the short length his hair was, but it was more noticeable as she got closer to him.
"It might be easier if you got out of the water." Alice said. She stood just a few feet from the shell.
He froze, and looked up at her slowly with eyes, his beautiful eyes moving up carefully. His eyes were gorgeous as well, Alice had to notice. They were that perfect mix of the sky and ocean behind him, the wide, sparkling blue.
Alice took a few more steps, took the shell in her hand, and walked closer and squatted at the edge of the rocks. She held out her pale arm, as much time she spent out here, she could never tan. She offered the spiral to him.
He took it slowly without a word, turning it over in his hands. Alice looked him over even closer. "Thanks." He finally whispered.
"I've never seen anyone else out here before." He only looked back to her, seeming like he was unsure about what to say back. "What's your name?" Alice asked.
They were both silent while they waited for his answer. "Alfred."
"I'm Alice." She smiled slightly at him and he carefully returned it. She wasn't sure why he hadn't climbed out of the water yet. It couldn't be comfortable in this mid-winter weather.
The ocean breeze blew her long hair and tilted his crown. Alice reached out and fixed it, it was wet with ocean water. "Where's the crown from? You a king of something?" She joked when he looked puzzled at her touching him, but he hadn't stopped her.
"No, prince."
"Well, hello, Your Majesty." He blushed at her and closed his fist around the shell.
"I have to go." He said suddenly, looking behind him at the water, like it would rise up and take him right then and there.
"To where?" She asked.
"I'll come back, Alice." Alfred didn't answer her question. He smiled a soft smile at her and ducked beneath the water's surface.
Alice furrowed her eyebrows a minute later when he didn't break the surface again. The blond climbed over the rocks to where he had been. She couldn't see him underneath the surface. The soft waves splashed against the rocks and the spray hit her bare feet. Alfred was gone.