Disclaimer: I only own the main character and.. anyone you don't recognize. I also have an obsession with the heart shaped locket with a faded face and claws from POTC2 (the music "box" of Davy Jones) so.. I don't own that… Anyway.. yeah… the story!
The Legend
A novice sailor looked out to the clear, orange sunset. He thought it to be picturesque. A smile ran across his face. He had just set sail but a month ago. But he missed his family a bit. His 12 year old sister, his elegant mother and… his father's disapproving expression.
His father never approved of sailors and the life of the sea. "Too much corruption," he said, "Never know what will happen at sea. It's best to stay on land." A caution sort of tone was stamped into his father's voice.
As the sailor recalled this, he distinctly remembered the stern, look of warning upon his father's face. But the boy didn't care. The fact that one never knows what could happen at sea was what attracted it to him in the first place; a chance to discover. To see something no one has seen before. He took this thought and glanced down into the darkening water.
The water glistened mysteriously. He pondered about the creatures that might reside beneath the reflecting surface of the sea; mythological or actual, whatever they may be.
"Best be careful of what lurks beneath the glassy surface, lad." An old sailor peeked over the railing of the ship to grab the attention of the boy. The boy could feel a myth coming on. He had heard the same sailor telling tales about the ship, each seeming to be taller than the next. So, the boy made eye contact with the aged sailor to show his interest.
A grin swept across the old man's face as he began his tale.
"A young girl fell in love with a rough, mean, vicious pirate. The man bought her fancy clothes, extravagant wines, seemingly treating her well. But he also was the one to deflower her.
"She felt that they were to be together forever, she and her pirate. And he did more than just spoil her. He also taught her the ways of piracy; looting, sword fighting, sailing. She was taught all of the essentials.
"The girl indeed felt a love that was new to her. She felt special and provided for. She needed no other. But the truth was that the scallywag merely knew the way to a woman's heart.
"After leaving a port that the crew had stayed in for less than a day, the lass roamed about the ship. She felt weary, so she opened the door to the captain's quarters, which was where she slept. Beneath the sheets of a moderate sized bed she saw rustling; the rustling of three bodies.
"She stormed over to the bed and pulled the sheets straight off, to find her pirate laying there naked with two concubines. She quietly choked back tears and the blighter called to her, 'Hey, room for one more!' That set her tears off. She burst out of the room and slammed the door. She waited behind the door to see if he would come after her. But after three minutes, she heard the giggles and moans of the whores where she wished she was, alone with the pirate.
"The girl removed her weapons from their holsters and sheaths. A pistol, a knife and a sword were her options. A sword would make it a bit awkward for her to cut off her own head. A shot to the head from the pistol would have been simple and loud, so everyone could hear. The knife she could very easily plunge into her stomach, but then she would have a long and painful death.
"She stared at her weapons for a few moments. She soon placed them back where they belonged. She glanced at the cannons by her side, then to the cannonballs next to them. That was when a loud moan came from the one who was once her pirate and the girl grinned. She strapped a cannonball to her boots and fell purposely off the side of the ship.
"She sank deeper and deeper into the exceedingly murky water. The pressure from the sea constricted her lungs. The last thing she saw was a mass of finned shadows approaching her.
"She awoke with a start the find herself alive. The wetness of the water still surrounded her, yet she was breathing. She looked beneath her and saw that her legs were replaced with the tail of a fish.
"She felt her new fins in awe and saw a mermaid suddenly appear in front of her. The mermaid explained to her that she and her people had wanted the girl to live, so they gave her fins so she may live the life of a mermaid.
"The girl thanked the mermaid with a nod and set off on her own beneath the waves of the sea, filled with heartache.
"It's said that the lass preys upon ships at night, searching for the perfect man. She'll sink the ship so she can sneak about, yet the sailors don't drown. They just remain in their sleep until the sun rises.
"She looks about at every man aboard. First, she looks at your physical features, then at your soul, then lastly, into your past.
"Should the lass not find a man she deems worthy, she robs the ship of everything it's got. Then when the sun rises, the ship returns to the surface and the crew come off unscathed. But should she find a man, she takes him with her and leaves the ship beneath the sea. When the sun rises, every crew member awakes to find himself drowning.
"The only thing to come away from the mermaid's attack untouched is to have a string of pearls aboard. She'll take the strings, her favourite treasure, and leave the ship with nothing else."
The boy found himself thinking about this story at its end. He wanted to see this mermaid. "A real, live mermaid," he thought aloud.
"But there are far more terrible things lurking beneath the sea than mermaids, mates." The sailor had begun another story, less to the boy and more to any amount of the crew that would listen. "The Kraken, the beast what does the bidding of Davy Jones, is said to be the size of ten ships…"
The boy, tired out from stories, went below deck to sleep. He found his hammock and lay as comfortable as one could be in a hammock and dreamed of beautiful mermaids serenading him with enchanting music.
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The boy awoke with a large yawn. He stopped midway through and looked around at the dark water surrounding him. He saw a large glint of gold shoot quickly past him. Then the gold stopped and moved closer to him.
The gold was not moving by itself, but moved along in the fist of a greenish creature. As it came into focus, the boy knew it to be a mermaid; the mermaid from the sailor's tale.
She was not the mermaid mythology describes. The position of her fin made her swim with her spine horizontal. She didn't have much a nose as she did slits. He could see gills on her neck, opening and closing as her chest heaved up and down gently as she stared back at him. Her eyes a piercing green and her hair had the appearance of soft seaweed. Yet she still had human features. The boy felt that she had a haunting beauty
Tired of the boy eyeing her and taking in her features, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the hammock. She quickly departed the ship, boy in one hand, a fistful of gold in the other, and a long string of treasures tied to the end of her tail.
They swam for what seemed like hours, yet the boy remained to breathe under water. She soon brought the boy up to the surface. He first looked upon the features of the mermaid. She still resembled the mermaid he'd seen the night before.
The sun had risen now and he suddenly saw a dark ship, idle before him. The mermaid motioned the boy to climb aboard the ship. She then shot him a stern look and quickly dove beneath the water. The boy saw gold quickly flick above the water, then submerge beneath the surface along with the mermaid's tail.
The boy plunged his head under the surface, but he found he could now only inhale water, unlike the night before. He must have lost his ability to do so once he took a breath above the water.
The mermaid seemed to have disappeared, so the boy returned to the surface. He slowly climbed aboard the ship, to see a crew of men, with indifferent faces. He looked about at the crew, loyally stationed at their posts.
The boy admired the ship. Its mast was thick and centered on the deck. Its sails were a faded black and frayed at the ends. They clearly had endured all manner of storms about the Caribbean oceans. He squinted up to the top most point of the mast and saw the flag flickering with pride. The boy thought he could make out a hand clutching the blades of two cutlasses with a mermaid behind that as the flag's emblem. Had the boy not been admiring the flag, he would have seen a naked woman cross behind him to the captain's quarters from the side of the ship, the same place where he had climbed aboard the ship.
When the boy looked about the ship again, he noticed another member of the crew. A woman, clearly the captain, who was the mermaid from the night before.
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Whoo… long chapter.. alright.. all reviews are welcome; flames and positive. Sorry if this story doesn't include many characters from the POTC series. They'll appear soon, but they don't play a major role or appear very much. So, sorry to POTC fans like myself. However, if you enjoy a story a piracy, keep reading and reviewing . !!