A/N: First section is taken from the final page of "The Crossing Of Ingo" the most shippy yet unsatisfying and cliff-hanger-y end to anything ever
I understand the pattern Faro is making, and what it says to me. Two together are stronger than one. And something else too, which is that everything that happened has joined us together so tightly that we'll never really be apart. We'll be away from each other for a while, but it won't change the pattern that joins us. … We're all woven together now. The future's there too, waiting to unroll.
I wish I was away in Ingo,
Far across the briny sea,
Sailing over deepest water...
I can hear Dad's voice clearly as if he were still singing. You don't have to wish for anything now, Dad. You're safe.
I am in Ingo. I am at home.
Conor's calling for me, telling me it's time to leave. But I can't, Faro's not stopped circling, and I am hypnotised by the glow of the sunwater around him, the surreal colour of his tail, not brown like a seal, but not any other colour either, magical. I continue to watch him, smitten with the enthusiasm he performs his party trick with, the tiny flash of his smile I can capture every dozen turns as he slows enough to gasp in a breath.
"Sapphire!" Conor shouts, sounding concerned, but I barely hear him, lost in the beauty of it all, I don't want it to end, don't want to leave to the mundane averageness of human life.
Dad always said I was destined for something greater than that, I suppose he did often somehow know best, even if it took a while to realise.
Then don't. Faro's mental voice suggests, a smirk audible despite the absence of his face and sound.
I blink, surprised, startled out of my reverie, the trance broken as I look away from the shape he was carving in the water, the pattern I could imagine as the Tide Knot, or the fire of the Earth, or the path of Fate. I had never truly considered the idea of never returning to land, always considered it to be simply a pipedream, preposterous and fanciful notion.
Though I have dreamt about it, several times imagined it before falling asleep, the idea of never returning to air, remaining in Ingo so long that my legs began to fuse together and my skin tinge blue with cold until it no longer bothered me and I had a tail instead of cleft legs.
No. No, I mustn't – it's like an addiction, if I think about it I'll want it.
I mustn't think about it, but I do. In the depths of my mind I long to elope with Ingo, never return to the loves and cares of land. It would be so easy.
And that's exactly why I shouldn't, the easy way is never the right way. Mum says it all the time, has told me often enough that our lives (though she knows so little of them) have proved it to be true.
I can't, for Sadie, for Mum, for Rainbow, for Granny Carne and all those things I'll miss. I can't, but I want to, so badly.
I shut my eyes, hold my breath and surface, treat it like a sticky plaster, one tug and it's off rather than the slow torment that is presented otherwise.
But God it burns! I cough up water, expelling Ingo from my lungs but the she does not want to leave me, as if she sees my reluctance she brings the power of Moryow to fight against my body. I gag and choke, unable to breathe in around the ocean in my chest, and unable to expel it.
I begin to panic, my brain pipes up that I am going into shock as Ingo remains within me on land, the violent contrast is seen as an attack by both worlds.
I can't breathe.
"Saph!" Conor yells, and this time his words are fuzzy as my brain loses oxygen – strange how science can come to mind at the most unhelpful of times.
Sapphire! Faro's frantic voice sounds in my head like a foghorn as Conor starts pounding on my back, but Ingo refuses to budge, staking it's claim on me.
If I can't have you, no-one can. The seas seem to say from within my chest, wrapping coldly around my heart as my vision fades.
Conor hauls me upright, jerking my body painfully, it feels like he's punching my bel—
Mine! The possessive tone rings throughout my head as distinctively wetter hands take hold of me, a flash of concerned green eyes swim in the dimness of my mind.
Oh...
The dryness of my mouth dampens, Ingo leaves my body and flows elsewhere, persuaded by the soft touch of Faro's lips. I stop trying to breathe or see, as I wouldn't expect to be able to. Magic, I think briefly before pushing closer to the warmth of Faro's body, wrapping my arms around him, he returned the gesture tighter, an example of the Mer's strength. I revel in the taste of salt, the smell of it filling my nose and the breeze across my face. My limp hair is stirred by one of his hands – oh, he's gripping my hair, the gentle tug against my scalp sends a tingle of delight to my stomach.
I've no idea want I'm doing but I gasp in a breath and return to it, the cool rush of oxygen pleasant but a shadow compared to whatever it is Faro is doing to my lips.
I'd like to highlight right now that I've never been kissed before, and that's why it took me a full minute of the activity to realise what it was.
If Conor is trying to talk to us – which I'm sure he is – I don't hear, my ears are clouded with the sound of my blood and pulse and heartbeat, all racing with each other and Faro to see who can win, though I don't know what the prize is.
You. You're the prize. Faro puts in and I feel like I could burst with, with... I'm not sure, but I'm so happy and light and I know I've forgotten something but I don't care.
Gasp for breath, open eyes to see Faro staring at me, eyes large and curious as ever, green and golden like kelp and his pupils are huge. I lean back forward – ow, nose is sore now but I don't care, fixed now.
Soft and hard and green and blue and sky and sea and everything. It's so warm, sunlight and tingly and rushing like a current. I can feel it in my toes and hair and spine and it's so strange but so right.
Ingo swells back over my head and I don't mind, I follow Faro with his beautiful eyes caressing me as if I'm the most perfect thing in all of Ingo, even though I'm not, I don't belong here at all.
"You do." he whispers against my neck, pulling me into a gentle current "You belong with me a'm karadow."
A/N: As you may have guessed, I've no idea how to write a kissing scene, I've researched but theory sometimes is no good without practice. I wrote this because Found Out is giving me major issues since a huge change is coming up and I'm in the boring bit before it happens and I'm kind of dreading the reaction... I needed fluffy stuff okay! And if you're wondering why Ingo is behaving strangely – seriously, if you had Sapphire, would you want to let her go without a fight? (Well, other than to Faro, we'd all give her to Faro as long as we could watch and take pictures ;)
