Written For:

- Drabble Game Challenge, Klaus/Caroline (prompt #5) for Sophy

Word Count: 692

When Klaus was risen from his slumber, he almost forgot that he was aboard the gently rocking deck of his family's ship. He sat up slowly, glancing over to the other side of the cabin. His brother Elijah was still sleeping soundly.

He had been woken by a strange, ethereal sound. A delicate song that sounded like it was vibrating from the very depths of the ocean beneath him. Klaus climbed out of his bed and quietly slipped up onto the deck, heading over to the rail.

There was nothing here. Nothing but the endless rolling black waves and the velvet midnight sky, marred by cloudy constellations and the bright, glowing moon.

"Over here," a whisper that seemed close enough to be breathing down Klaus's neck. He spun around, rushing towards the other side of the boat. He looked out, but he saw nothing. No boats, no sign of life. Until he looked down.

The pale blonde head of a young girl emerged from the waves, her bare shoulders just above the surface of the murky sea. She was beautiful, more beautiful than any woman Klaus had ever seen in all the centuries he'd been alive. Her face was heart-shaped, her mouth small and pink, and her long, golden tresses were plastered to her face and neck.

He stooped down to grab a rope, before throwing it over the rail. "Grab on," he called. "I'll pull you overboard."

The woman made no attempt to grab the rope, she simply remained where she floated in the water, smiling up at Klaus. He wondered if she could speak English, but then he remembered her previous whisper. "What's the matter? Let me save you, love."

"I don't need saving," she replied, and Klaus shuddered all over when he heard her voice. She was the only other person here, but yet it sounded like a hundred women had spoken at the same time, in varying pitches. Stranger still, she barely seemed to move her mouth when she spoke, just continued to bare her eerie smile.

"Was it you who was singing?" he whispered.

She smiled wider, if that was possible. "My name is Caroline."

"Klaus."

"I know," she continued in her strange, song-like voice. "I've been following you for a while on your journey through the seas."

"What are you?"

Caroline floated onto her back, lifting her lower half into view. Klaus noticed immediately that she didn't have any legs, but instead she had a long fishtail with dull green scales, adorned with floaty fins. She made no attempt to cover her bare breasts as she revealed her true form, and Klaus looked away politely, until she had returned her body to the modesty of the ocean. "You're a mermaid."

"It would appear so."

"I never knew such a thing existed."

"Many would say the same about your kind," Caroline smiled again, and Klaus found himself smiling back. "Klaus, would you like to join me for a swim?"

Klaus furrowed his brow. He really didn't fancy the idea of removing his clothes in the cold, winter air, and climbing into the freezing ocean seemed like an even worse idea. But before he could register what he was doing, he realised he was already naked from the waist up, and he was climbing over the rail and into the sea.

"You glamoured me," Klaus said, but Caroline looked pleasantly mystified. Nevertheless, he sank into the dark waves, clinging onto the rope for support.

"Swim with me," Caroline pressed, and he felt her tail winding around his knees. "You don't need to breathe, you're dead." She pressed her hands to his shoulders and pushed him beneath the surface of the water.

In the dark, eerie ocean, Caroline seemed to glow. It was as though her skin had come alive now that she was fully submerged; her scales were silvery, there was an iridescent tinge to her white skin, and her long, golden hair streamed around her like a halo.

It was a good thing that Klaus didn't have to breathe. He was sure that if he had to, she would have stolen it right out of his throat.