The delicate fingers of Mikasa's fiance weakened in her grasp. He turned his face away from her, not wanting to reveal his grief.
The situation the couple suffered in was a huge mess. Mikasa needed to marry him in order to provide a backbone for the kingdom. Without the other half all the merpeople would be in mass hysteria. She also wanted to finally start a family.
She flicked her white fin briskly. In the other quarters of the sunken ship, the woman found her worried parents arguing in sign language. It felt like a much easier way to communicate underwater.
She crept up to them. Her parents glanced at her in question.
(There may not be an existing cure here, but alas, I can assure you there must be something to help him that exists in Elsewhere.)
Mikasa's father frowned while her mother raised a hand to her chest as if to faint.
(You will not speak of such wretched words; Elsewhere is where those flesh eating giants exist!)
(Father, what other choice do we have? Please let me go in search for a cure.)
(My word is final! You will do no such thing.)
Her mother pointed a jabbing finger behind Mikasa.
(Go to your room!)
Frustrated, the younger woman glided out of the tense room. Instead of going to her chambers she sneaked outside where Annie lay on a rock plucking a sea anemone.
(He loves me not, he loves me. He loves me–)
Mikasa sat next to her.
(Who loves you?)
Annie threw the plant aside.
(Nobody.)
Mikasa decided to drop the subject. She watched as Annie lazily rolled over. The blonde's purple tentacles curled in the light current of the water.
(I don't know what to do. If the prince dies, there will be no king!) Mikasa fessed up.
Annie fingered the moss thoughtfully. (…You could always improvise.)
(How?)
(That's for you to figure out.)
As Annie faced Mikasa she could see the gears working in the oriental's mind. When she left, the blonde revealed a cunning smile.
Later that evening Mikasa waited until her parents were fast asleep. She sneaked past all the guards in the perimeter and finally made it across the boarder of the ship. She swam in the shadows of the merpeople's village into the middle of nowhere.
In reality she honestly didn't know what she was doing. There subsided no plan except for a few gold coins in her flimsy satchel. She figured the medicine would be intact with the humans. If they hadn't already been eaten that is.
Mikasa fastened the bag hanging from her shoulder. It was going to be a long way to civilization.
—
The mermaid collapsed on a boulder rising from the currents. She felt exhausted beyond her time. The sun shined down on her. It's warmth bestowed physical relief on her tired body. Pretty soon her tail would dry up and transform into two long legs. At least that was what she thought they were called.
Mikasa flopped over on her back. She raised a hand to her face, shielding her skin from the rays of the sun. A beach rested up ahead. If she waited for her transformation to complete she could paddle up to the shore before the salt water restored her fins.
She faced the shimmering sand. All there was were a couple of palm trees. No man eating giants in plain sight. Maybe there existed a town further down in the uncharted territory.
Mikasa flicked the papery scales off of her pale legs. She slid from the rock, careful not to scratch herself and free styled all the way towards the beach.
She had no idea somebody was watching her.
At the shore, Mikasa crawled on her knees to dryer sand huffing and puffing. As she reached a dune she hung her head in exhaustion. Her legs gave up from under her. She had not been well rested in her journey.
Thus, when glancing upwards, she came face to face with a man peering down at her. All the blood in her body froze as a blade suddenly rested against her neck.
Instinct kicked in and Mikasa jerked violently, doing everything she could to get away from the human. He snarled a hand through her hair and slammed her against a sandy alcove. Mikasa flailed but instantly stilled when the blade met her pale neck once again.
"I've might have demolished every single titan there is but to hell if you think I'm going let another threat wipe out the human race," he snarled.
Mikasa shifted in her position as best she could. Whatever he was trying to tell her did not seem friendly. She had learned a few European words thanks to an old fisherman, just not enough to understand the enemy before her. The sign language her people practiced had no correlation with English.
The man's withering glare deepened in blatant impatience. He pressed the sword deeper into her flesh, causing the woman to gasp.
"Can you speak? You sure are good at pulling off a human exterior, not that you're fooling anyone, angel fish."
"Fish," she repeated.
Mikasa knew that foreign word as well as human. She parted her lips nervously, slightly licking them. The male's pupils expanded, though not before tightening into suspicious slits once more.
"Well? You're not making this easy for yourself."
"Human," she voiced thickly, her accent humming, "human fish."
"Hmph. I suspected as much that you don't what you are."
The man released her and Mikasa slumped to the ground, a bit unsure of how to walk properly. He sheathed his sword in a metallic like case. Mikasa tilted her head at it curiosity. The gear reminded her of the material her family's sunken ship was made of.
"Tch. Name's Levi."
"Leviathan?" She asked.
So the man was a sea monster too?
"No, just Levi. Don't wear it out."
What?
Levi regarded the specimen coldly. She certainly didn't seem like a threat. If anything, she looked harmless sitting there in her bare skin. Pathetic, even. His brow softened.
Levi kneeled down to her level. He brushed a couple of her inky strands aside. Mikasa leaned in; the girl was starved of physical affection.
"I think you had better come with me," Levi said in a cynical but softer tone.