Title: The Appearance of a Mermaid

Characters: Cloud/Tifa

Rating: Mature (for hints)

Disclaimers: I do not own anyone/anything from the forum Final Fantasy. Square Soft/Enix owns Final Fantasy and its characters. There is no copyright infringement intended. I do not make any profit/money or take any credit.

Summary: He never thought he would find one, let alone see the truth

A/N: Prompt for September 10th – Cloud/Tifa – Mermaid- AU – 'I guess the legends were true, mermaids are half-naked'

Timeline: AU

Word Count: 1,669

Betaed: Nope

The Appearance of a Mermaid

Cloud Stride stretched his hands over his head before sighing, his hands coming down and resting on the railing of the ship he was on. The sun was setting within the distance, the waves were turning choppy. He wasn't happy with the way the sea was changing, he had told his captain but his captain had brushed it off, dismissing it as nothing.

There was a flash of silver out of the corner of his eyes. He turned his head toward the sea but saw nothing. He felt wetness on his cheek and lifted his hand to touch it, coming back clear before he lifted his face and saw the cloud that had been slowly reaching in was now turning darker.

He heard crashing sound and looked down to see the waves were beginning to pick up. The feeling of dread started up within the pit of his stomach. He was beginning to think something bad was going to happen.

There was another flash of silver but this time closer to the hull of the boat. Curious, Cloud leaned forward, hoping to see what it was it when he spotted a tail before it disappeared under the waves. He frowned, leaning forward a little closer only to tighten his hands around the railing when a hand slapped against his back, almost pitching him forward.

He straightened up and glared at the grinning man next to him.

"You don't wanna lean that far out due, you'll end up falling over and we'll never find you!" he joked. Cloud just glared harder.

"Shut up Zack," he muttered. Zack Fair just chuckled as he placed his hands on the railing, frowning when he saw the waves before he looked at Cloud.

"What were you looking for anyway?" he asked. Cloud shrugged.

"I thought I saw something. It looked like a tail," he told him. Zack grinned.

"Hey, you might have seen a mermaid," he laughed. Cloud looked at Zack before looking out toward the sea with a thoughtful look before he looked up as the rain started to increase. The sails above them started whipping strongly. "Whoa…this isn't good."

"I'll let the captain know. You help the others with the sails," Cloud was already hurrying away toward the captain's cabin a Zack helped the struggling workers tighten the sails.

Cloud hurried into the captain's cabin, his captain sitting at his table with a compass in one hand and a pencil in another as he marked out the plot.

"Captain Sephiroth! The winds are picking up and the rain is increasing," Cloud gave his report.

"And I say again, you are just being paranoid," Sephiroth told him, not looking up from his map. Cloud gritted his teeth in frustration when the ship suddenly lurched sideways. The men yelled from outside as Sephiroth managed to catch a hold of him by grabbing the table. Cloud grabbed the door before the ship settled down.

There was a crack of lightning followed by the loud thunder. Cloud looked out of the window at the back of cabin and his blue eyes widen when he saw the lightning was moving closer before he rushed out of the cabin in time see a large wave crash into the side of the ships, rocking it off balance.

Cloud stumbled backward, his lower back slamming into the side of the ship, almost lurching backward if his hands had gripped the railing to hold himself up.

He pushed himself forward, slipping on the wet wood as waves crashed harder and the boat was lifted up from the front before it dropped back down. Workers were yelling as they tried to haul the sails, tightening them to make sure it went with the winds. They couldn't risk pulling the sails in.

He saw Zack shouting before he spotted Cloud. He waved, gesturing for Cloud to come over. Cloud nodded, scrambling toward the older man only for Zack's eyes to widen as they looked off to the side.

Confused, Cloud turned his head only for his eyes to widen when he saw the large wave that crashed into the side of the boat, the water sweeping against the deck of the ship and catching Cloud in the chest.

With the pressure, felt his feet lift up from the deck and he fell backward with the waves pushing him. Zack had a rope wrapped around his waist as he hurried over to the railings just as Cloud passed them, throwing out his right hand as his left one clutched onto the railing.

"Cloud!" shouted Zack as he reached out but he missed Cloud's hand by inches before the water swallowed the blonde, submersing him into the ocean.

Cloud gasped as he managed to swim his way to the surface only to find himself tossed back underwater by the never-ending waves. He fought his way back to the top but it was hard to keep his direction as the waves tossed him.

He could feel the lack of air getting to him and he slowly began to sink toward the bottom when he felt something brush his face. His eyes slowly opened only to see nothing but blackness. He looked back up to see the moonlight shining briefly on the surface and he tried to swim to the top again only when something caught his eye.

He blinked blearily when he saw a girl in front of him. She just smiled, her hand reaching out and grabbing his shirt. She moved inward, her lips pressing against his for a moment. His eyes widen when he felt air entering his lungs before she pulled away. He stared at her for a moment before his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he fell unconscious.

"Hello…" he felt something tapping his cheek. He blinked, coughing before he turned his head to see a female face above him. She had long black hair and dark brown eyes that were almost like red. She smiled when she saw he was conscious.

"You're awake," she informed him, her voice soft. Cloud frowned as he stared at her, confused before he remembered that he had seen her underwater. Sitting up abruptly, he stared at her.

Her long black hair covered her breasts…which he could tell they were bare as he couldn't see anything resembling a bra. Her lower bottoms had shiny silver scales…instead of legs, she had a tail.

"You….you're….you're…" he stammered, unable to form a sentence but the girl just seemed to find it funny as her lips widen.

"A mermaid?" she asked, tilting her head before she nodded. "I'm Tifa. I found you after you were washed overboard from your ship."

"Er…thank you…I guess," Cloud mumbled, unsure before he remembered something. "You kissed me!"

"Actually, it was a kiss of life," Tifa corrected matter-of-factly. "Merpeople can breathe underwater. We have the ability to give people air by kissing them. But I had also had to slip you something extra so you would fall asleep. I wasn't sure if you would fight me when I tried to bring you to the surface."

Cloud just stared at her and she smiled. "Don't worry, the effects have worn off. You'll be fine from now on." Cloud tentatively reached out a hand, his index finger pressing against her shoulder.

"You're real…mermaids are real," he muttered to himself. "Were you what I kept seeing near the boat before the storm came?" Tifa nodded.

"I could tell there was a storm coming but I couldn't warn you. I stayed nearby just in-case one of you got thrown overboard," she explained. Cloud sighed as he looked out toward the ocean once more.

It was now settled, soft waves lapping at the shore with the moon now shining brightly in the sky. He could see the ship in the distance, she looked better than Cloud had expected. Tifa also looked in the same direction before she sighed. "I need to leave." She slowly shifted herself toward the water.

"Wait…why?" Cloud asked, his hand reaching out and touching her elbow. Tifa looked back at him before she looked toward the ship, which was slowly nearing.

"Because of your captain…he searches for a mermaid," she explained before she looked at Cloud once more. "I cannot allow him to capture me."

"Why would you save me?" he asked. She smiled.

"Because of your heart," she told him, leaning in and pressing one hand against his chest, over where his heart was beating. "I can sense how pure it is." His hand covered hers as he stared at her.

"I'm…"

"Cloud," she interrupted. "I know of you…you have a strange destiny ahead of you…don't worry, don't fear it and don't doubt yourself. You will be fine." Cloud frowned as he opened his mouth but he was interrupted by Tifa pressing her lips against his once more.

Startled but soon tempted by her soft lips, his eyes closed and he responded to her kiss, his free hand slipping into her dark hair. He had kiss girls before but none of them had triggered this level of emotion before.

She slowly pulled away, resting her forehead against his before she tugged at the necklace that adorned her neck. It was a silver chain with a small coral pink shell attached to it. She placed it into his hand, curling his fingers over it.

"This will help you when the time is right," she promised him before she kissed him again and disappeared into the water just as he heard someone call his name.

Cloud stared at the spot where she had been before he sighed, standing up. He could see Zack and the other workers waving like mad. He smiled before he looked at the necklace in his hand and shoved it into his pocket.

"I…guess the legends are true after all, mermaids are half-naked," he murmured mostly to himself before waved toward the ship, letting them know he was okay and he wondered if he would ever see Tifa again.

The End