to the place where mermaids dwell

"Beauty in the water,
Angel on the beach.
Ocean's daughter.
I thought love was out of reach
'Til I got her."
-Train "Mermaid"

Penny is a mermaid, Talon is a pirate, and I don't feel like capitalising my title. Deal with it. This will be a short story, not trying to drag this out too much.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with mermaids and pirates so I thought why not combine my two loves. Mostly based off of the merpeople klance aus that I have recently become obsessed with.

-Enjoy!-

The sound of swords clanging together could be heard throughout the entire ship on that clear midsummer day. The fight was so loud that the crew of the SS MAD couldn't even hear the sound of the calm waves lapping against the side of the boat. While the sounds of the duel were rather disruptive to the pirates, they knew better than to intervene. Afterall, interrupting the Captain during a duel was like asking to be thrown overboard and fed to the sharks. So the crew went about their business as a young man, no older than seventeen, fought his hardest to prove himself. He took a step back, his big black boots made the deck creak and groan underneath him has he parried and advanced. But the man he was fighting with was clearly the better swordsman and had the upper hand. Within minutes the duel was over, the young man fell to the ground, his opponent's sword raised above his head.

"I won't tolerate this loss." The man spat angrily, his voice low and raspy. The man shook his head and lowered his sword. "How can I expect you to take over as captain of my ship if you can't even beat me in a duel?"

The young man stood up on shaky legs, he opened his mouth to speak, but no words escaped.

"Leave." The man demanded. "Out of my sight."

The young man turned and ran below deck. He caught the eye of a few crewmates, some giving him sympathetic looks, but he paid attention to none. He didn't stop running until he was safely in his room. Only he and the Captain had private rooms, he guessed it was a perk of being the Captain's nephew. The young man sunk into his bed and buried his face in his pillow. He wished that there was a way to prove to his uncle that he was capable of becoming the SS MAD's captain. Captain Claw was the most feared pirate to ever plunder the seven seas. He had killed and robbed more fleets than any known pirate ever had before. The bounty on his head was more than any criminal in history. Him and the SS MAD, which stood for Madness and Damnation, had become infamous.

Now if only he had someone who could continue to carry out his legacy. When a man was in possession of a large fortune, the inheritance often went to his firstborn son. Captain Claw, however, didn't have any heirs. Luckily for Claw, but so unlucky for the boy, his brother's only son had become orphaned rather young, which meant that Claw had an heir. Captain Claw trained his nephew harder than he trained any of the men in his crew. And Claw promised that one day, he would give the ship to his nephew when his skills surpassed his own. Unluckily for both Claw and Talon, that never seemed to happen. Talon had become quite the talented young pirate, there was no doubting that. But no matter how hard he trained, he always lacked something, something that was preventing him from surpassing his uncle.

Talon skipped dinner that night. He couldn't sit at the table with his Uncle after that crushing defeat, nor did he want to get lectured in front of the entire crew. Talon stayed in his room studying the multitude of maps that he would use to navigate the waters that lay ahead. The sea had always been a part of his life. He didn't remember his life before, when he lived with his parents on land. All he remembered was the ship and the endless ocean. The ocean had always fascinated him. He had heard tales of monsters, of great beasts that hid in the deep. Dangerous creatures lived in the unknown waters, he had heard tales from many sailors over the years. Giant squids whose tentacles pulled boats apart. Monstrous demons that could devour a pirate's ship whole. And then, there were the mermaids. The mermaids, he had been told, were beautiful women who had tails in place of legs, their voices were sad to be so beautiful that it would compel a man to drown himself. Talon had heard these stories among many others, but wasn't sure that he believed in any of them. He liked to think of himself as more of a man of science than anything else. It was impossible for such a thing to exist, wasn't it?

It was nighttime when Talon left his room and made his way up to the top deck of the ship, the wood creaking under his weathered boots with every step he took. He held a gas lamp in his hand, the yellow light emitting just enough light for him to make sense of the darkness. It was a clear night, the full moon hung bright and luminescent in the sky, and reflections of a million stars dotted the dark ocean water. The waves lapped calmly against the side of the boat as it slowly travelled forward. Despite the light from the gas lamp, Talon could see nothing beyond the deck of the ship. There were no other lights that he could see, none from other ships, nor any stray light from land. They were miles from civilization. If he had to guess, he'd say that the closest port was at least another day of sailing away. He looked up at the stars, a sailor's most important companion on any voyage. The stars were how sailors navigated the cold and treacherous waters of the unknown. Talon took a deep breath, inhaling the smell of salt water. He closed his eyes and listened to the calming sound of the waves gently hitting the side of the boat. t was a frequent past time for the young man, he found the sound to be relaxing. But there was something off about the sound this night. Instead of hearing the calm waters, Talon heard singing.

His eyes immediately flew open, just in time to see something dive down into the water. It was far too dark for him to make sense of what it was, but he couldn't deny that he had seen it. A tail, perhaps belonging to a porpoise or a large fish. Nothing out of the ordinary on the sea, but why had he heard singing? It couldn't have been a crew member, even if one was awake none of those men would be caught singing while sober. Plus, the voice was too high to be male and the SS MAD did not have any female crew members currently on board. Surely he was too far from land for there to be a person out there and he didn't see another boat. Who could have been singing this far out at sea?

After a minute, he began to hear the song again. It was so soft, so beautiful. An angelic, almost ethereal, sound that filled the quiet night air. A melody, the words lost to the ages, but beautiful nonetheless. Her song sounded melancholy, yet at the same time hopeful. Talon's eyes searched the water beneath him, looking for the owner of the voice, but could find none. Talon held the gas lamp over the side of the boat, letting the yellow light illuminate the cold waters, but still no sign of anyone. All he could see was the water and what looked like a bed of seaweed floating along the ocean's surface. Nothing out of the ordinary. The singing abruptly stopped, as though the singer had caught on that someone had been listening. Talon heard a small gasp, as though someone had seen him.

"Wait!" Talon called instinctively, even if he knew he might be talking to air.

Talon looked back at the bed of seaweed, only to nearly drop his lamp in the ocean. The bed of seaweed had turned out to be not seaweed at all, but a person. There was a person floating in the middle of the ocean. The figure looked to be female, with blonde hair that fanned around her head like a golden halo or a crown. Her skin was so pale, as though she had never spent a day in the sun. But the feature that shocked Talon the most, was the long silver tail she had in place of legs. Talon stumbled back before falling with a loud thud. He quickly stood up and looked back out at the water, but whatever he saw was gone. He must have been seeing things. He had to be. Women were not swimming out in the middle of the ocean and they certainly didn't have tails. He must have been even more tired than he thought.

The young man rubbed his eyes and turned to go back to his room. He was looking forward to going to bed, but definitely not looking forward to morning and the inevitable lecture he would get from his uncle.

"Talon." He heard the familiar voice of his Uncle. Of course, he would still be awake.

He guessed he was going to have this lecture now.

But to Talon's surprise, Claw looked over the side of the boat, scouring the water like Talon had just minutes ago.

"What was there?" It sounded more of a demand than a question.

Talon raised his eyebrow at his uncle, confused as to what he meant. He was tired, surely he had imagined the whole thing. There had been nothing there. Talon's silence only annoyed and angered Claw.

"Tell me what you saw!" Claw commanded.

Talon let out a long breath. "Nothing." He replied after a quiet moment.

"Tell me." Claw's eyes narrowed at his nephew.

Talon threw his hands up in surrender. He knew his Uncle wouldn't believe him, then he would be accused of lying and then he would be in even more trouble, just great.

"I thought I saw a woman," Talon finally admitted. "But she didn't have legs, she was-"

"Mermaid." Claw interrupted. His voice slowly grew louder, he pointed a finger at his nephew accusingly. "You saw a mermaid and you didn't catch her?"

Talon was shocked, to say the least. His uncle actually believed him? Talon thought that Claw would accuse him of telling stories, lying to save his ass. He never thought that he would be yelled at for not attempting to catch a creature that surely didn't exist.

"I didn't know?" Talon replied, not entirely sure what to say in this situation. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

Claw let out an exasperated sigh. "Boy, don't you know what would happen if you caught a mermaid?"

Talon shook his head. He wasn't aware that there was a value on the creature, nor that his Uncle was aware of their existence.

"A mermaid's tail is worth more than any treasure in existence," Claw told him. "And it's said that eating their heart will give the consumer immortality. With a mermaid's heart, I could become an eternal dictator, I could rule the world forever."

Talon looked at his uncle quizzically. Over the years Talon has heard many of his uncle's crazy schemes to gain excessive amounts of money and take over the world, some more ludicrous than others, but this was insane. He wanted Talon to catch a mythical creature and bring him her heart to gain immortality. It was ridiculous. He still wasn't entirely convinced that mermaids actually existed, that he hadn't been imagining the whole thing. Talon looked up at his Uncle and saw a look that he had seen many times, a look that usually meant Talon had to be put in some sort of life-threatening situation, he had an idea.

"Talon, I've decided to give you a new mission," Claw informed him. "And, if you succeed, you will immediately inherit the SS MAD."

Talon's eyes widened in both shock and excitement. He would inherit the entire ship? Just like that? Claw cleared his throat and placed a hand on his nephew's shoulder.

"Tomorrow we will be docking in Florice," Claw explained. "One of my old boats is docked there, I want you to take that boat along with two crew members, and you will have one month to complete a task for me."

Talon looked up at his Uncle, listening intently. A real mission, just for him. And if he succeeded, this whole ship would be his.

Claw paused for a moment before continuing. "I want you to find her, and I want you to steal that mermaid's heart."

-End of chapter one-

Yup, Talon's gonna steal a mermaid's heart alright. Wink wonk.

What's an update schedule? I'll update when I damn well please.

I'm not really a fluffy person, but I'm a bit drunk this weekend and drunk me is kinda a lil pansy piece of shit.

K, Mariella out, peace!