A/N: In case you guys aren't familiar with some of the terms…
BC - Buoyancy Compensator: Inflatable 'Jacket' divers wear to establish neutral buoyancy under water.
DV - Demand Valve: Delivers air supply to the diver. Also known as a regulator.
DM - Dive Master: Person leading, organizing the dive.
SPG - Submersible Pressure Gauge: Guage that reads a diver's air supply, depth ect.
Bar - Unit of pressure.
Rubber duck - Type of boat.
Mets - Metical: Currency of Mozambique.
Hope I covered everything :)
I own nothing…
…
Prologue
…
A cool breeze wafted in the warm summer air, ushering golden clouds over a sea of blue and turquoise that crashed onto the sandy beaches. Salt water lapped up against small, shallow pools surrounded by rock and coral that held the treasures of the underwater world.
Only to be picked up by a small pair of hands and then thrown onto a pile once a little girl saw, to her disappointment that it wasn't what she was looking for. With a heavy sigh she turned her attention to another pool of seawater.
Her hand reached for the many seashells in it while the other kept her from falling in face first.
With her movement only making a murky puddle of sand out of the small pool, she could only reach blindly for what lay at the bottom.
Once the girl had something in her grasp she violently jerked her hand out of the water, as if her new treasure was going to slip through her fingers at any second.
Her eyes wideded in surprise when she saw a small honey coloured cowree shell with white dots scattered all over, resting in her palm.
It looked even better than what she was hoping for.
"Ilse!"
Not to far away a woman in her late twenties looked up, briefly taking a break from collecting samples of water ,shells and peculiar shaped corral to see the ten year old girl rushing towards her.
"Hey, look. Look what I found!" She yelled ,proudly raising her fist into the air.
"Ymir be careful!" The woman called out, watching with wide eyed concern as the little girl climbed atop and leap over the obsticale course of rock and coral between them.
"I am being careful!" Ymir insisted once she caught up to her, squarely meeting the other's apple green eyes and pointing down to her feet. "I'm even wearing my shoes."
When Ilse looked down she couldn't help but to smile, seeing those small toes curled around flip flops that were atleast three sizes too big.
"Those are mine and wearing them doesn't mean you can run around without looking where you're going." Ilse scolded, poking a finger at the girl's forehead. "What if you fell and cut your knee last time?"
Ymir swatted the woman's hand away with a huff, clearly annoyed.
"Then you fix me up like last time." She stated as a matter of fact and crossed her arms.
Her newly aquired cowree shell was forgotten for the moment once she noticed the numerous plastic and coolerbags around them.
"Are you being weird again?" The brunette asked, looking at bags labeld '27' and '28' that held nothing but oddly shaped shells and coral.
"If you mean by weird as in making a living... Then yes." She answered with a frown, inspecting another potential 'sample' before throwing it back into the ocean.
"You get paid?" Whether the ten year old was geniunly surrised or just sarcastic Ilse didn't know.
Instead of answering she kept her attention on her work, leaving Ymir to set off on her own.
For the next hour or so she kept herself busy by swiming ,building sandcastles and scanvanging for any interesting object that washed up on the beach.
By the time the sun started to sink into the purple horizon Ymir was exhaused, soaked, hungry and covered with red sand rashes.
Ymir kicked up sand in every direction as she stomped towards Ilse who was still hunched over another pool.
Finished or not, she wanted to go home. Now!
Ymir tugged hard at the other's shirt. "Hey. You're done working so let's go."
Ilse didn't move an inch and kept staring ahead at the waves crashing against the rock formations around them.
Work? Who was she kidding. Most of the time it just felt like she was shovelling sand looking for somekind of miracle. All while scraping some money together for a day's meal.
It was times like these when she wondered if it was better to let people more capable care for Ymir, but Ilse knew that would never happen.
Not after how attached they had gotten to eachother over the years. Even if the girl wouldn't admit it…
"Ymir. Do you think I'm crazy?"
The woman was too lost in thought to notice the girl tie something to her wrist.
"Nah. You're just really weird."
Once she was finished Ymir took a few steps back, admiring her handiwork with a proud grin.
"What's this?" Ilse asked, and looked down at the white, purple and orange shells tied with leather strips around her arm.
"A bracelet duh...I made it."
The woman's eyes widened even further, twisting her arm around to get a full view of the bracelet.
Only then did she notice the smooth green stone among the shells. "You made this...for me?"
Ymir had her hands on her hips, the grin never leaving her face. "Yup. I spent weeks working on it. The old lady who sold me that crystal said it was good luck."
As she said those words an unexpected laugh escaped the woman's lips.
"I would have never thought that'd you believe in the power of spiritual stones." She teased with a poke at the brunette's forehead.
"Yeah, yeah." Ymir grumbled with a wave of her hand, much too hungry to waste anymore time arguing.
"Can we go now? I'm starving!"
Ilse nodded with a chuckle, wadding into nearby waters to srub off the layer of sand that has started to coat her legs before gathering the rest of her belongings.
With coolerbag in hand, ten year old on her shoulders Ilse started to head home, briefly stopping at the launch site to catch her breath.
"You'll think we'll find one?" She asked after a long silence passed between them.
"You better." Ymir scoffed. "If you don't find one of those mermaid things ,then that old hag is gonna pay."
In a few days she, Ymir and Hanji; a close friend and collegue would set out to sea on another research expedition. It would be the fifth one this month and none had been successful thusfar.
Ilse was anxious to say the least, but something felt different. The wind was stirring up a new emotion in her that she couldn't quite pinpoint.
Maybe Ymir was right and this time…this time she would reach the treasure that was waiting for her beyond the horizon.
In silence she continued onward. The shells around her wrist sounding new hope in the breeze, Green crystal shining like a star in the fading sunlight...
…
Ten Years Later
…
Over the horizion. A few miles from the where the Kosi Bay border seperated South Africa from Mozambique.
Along the sand dunes and roads, littred with makeshift stalls, bars and resturants scattered about like washed up seashells, lay Ponta Do Ouro.
A small beach town brought to live by the locals and tourists, nestled against the ocean where all the colours of the rainbow could be found the bottom.
Where the swell picks up and carries surfers across the horizion and the aromas of local spices and seafood take you home.
Children ran about the campsite while the adults were catching up around a campfire under the shade of a tree. Thoughts of labour and stress washed away long ago.
The only people who dared to work under the watch of the scortching Mozambican sun, were those who's job it was to give tourists a vacation they won't forget.
'The Whaler' was one of the many diving charters and tourist attractions in Ponta Do Ouro.
With it being the high season, employees were busy throughout the day washing sand coated gear and loading up cylinders.
One after another, effortlessly being lifted up and crashed down onto the splintering planks by a lanky brunette, covered in a sheen of sweat.
There was nothing she wanted more than to escape the heat and soothe the angry red skin, that couldn't hide away underneath a sweat soaked tank top and shorts.
But it seemed as if the sun's torture wasn't enough for she was also punished with a seemingly endless day of work.
So instead she continued to load off gear that would be needed for the first dive the following morning.
Why people would wake up at six in the morning to go out to sea was beyond her. As long as she gets money to drink away at Fernando's Bar, Ponta Do Ouro's 'finest' attraction Ymir couldn't care less.
But her carefree attitude was quick to turn into annoyance, replacing her blank expression with a frown and cleched jaw.
Because for atleast the third time that day she was faced with the same cylinders, painted with red and blue initials.
'A.L' and 'M.A.'
"Are you fucking kidding me?" She exclaimed grabbing the cylinder until her knuckles turned white. Almost slipping out of her hands before someone else took it.
Ymir let out a frustrated sigh as she turned around to grab one of the few cylinders left, spotting one Jean Kirstein heading her way.
"Kirstein!" She yelled, loud enough to be heard from the other side of the campsite. "Since when did Ackerman and Leonheart discover fucking Atlantis?"
Clad in a pair of shorts, 'The Whaler' T shirt and flip flops he gave the impression of being an easy going guy. But his frown and narrowed glare said otherwise.
"If they did I wasn't told. Too busy with idiotic divers who don't know the difference betwee a DV and a BC"
"That still doesn't explain why Ackerman and Leonheart are trying to evolve fucking gills!"
Jean sighed. "Both of them are closing in on 500 dives and now they're racing eachother to see who can hit the mark first."
"So they're spending over a thousand Mets to see the same godamn fish everyday?"
Although he wouldn't say it…atleast not to Ymir, Jean was glad to see that he wasn't the only one affected by those two's diving frenzy.
"Fucking insane." Ymir muttured, wiping the sweat from her brow. "So how's the diving?"
"Levi's group saw about seven blacktips this morning." Jean recalled with a frown.
"You sure Braus hasn't got some kind of stash?" Ymir asked, knowing very well how much she loved her food.
It wasn't uncommon to spot a reef shark now and then, but over twelve sightings in one week…
Something wasn't right.
Jean just shrugged, eyeing Ymir as she loaded off the last cylinder before he opened his mouth to speak.
"So what do you want?" She beat him to it.
As Ymir turned around a warm breeze wafted through the air, brushing away the strands of hair that covered her face. Just enough to reveal a pair of golden eyes that stared back intensely.
"I doubt you're here just to make small talk."
"Nothing gets past you, does it?"Jean grunted, rubbing the sun's heat off of his neck. "I'm going out on a dive tomorrow... you free?"
"Why? Is the new DM scared of a little water?" She teased and sauntered off to back to the Whaler.
"You know Levi is going to kill you once he sees your shitty handwriting."
Standing in front of a whiteboard on the makeshift wall made of dried reeds and wooden poles, she counted the names scribbled down. With each name she loaded another weight belt onto her shoulder.
Seven. There were seven people scheduled to join the first dive tomorrow. Not including Annie or Mikasa which Ymir was glad for.
"I haven't got all the names yet but the boat will be full of newbies and I can't buddy them up with eachother."
"Mikasa?" Ymir asked, already dreading another day's work.
"I'd ask her first but Levi cut her and Annie's repetitive dives so they're both out."
For a moment Ymir was silent, almost if she was conscidering it.
"Seven divers." She stated, glaring over her shoulder. "If you can't handle a group that small then they're all fucked."
Then again with Ymir…things were never that simple, but Jean wasn't about to give up and quickly caught up before she could stomp out of sight.
"All of those guys are rookies. It'd be too risky without atleast a couple of experienced divers."
As much as Jean hated to admit it, his reputation as a DM depended on the divers that would be looking after the newbies.
"So what's in it for me?" Ymir asked, having already figured out his situation and how she was going to take advantage of it.
"How about a couple of rounds at Fernando's?" Jean said finally, only then realizing how much he needed a drink.
He looked expectantly back at Ymir, who's expression shifted from boredom to slight interest.
"I'm listening." Ymir said, a small smile on her lips as she slung the last belt off her shoulder over wooden pole with the rest.
Jean scoffed. He knew that this favour was going to cost him.
"What? Do you want me to get your gear and teach you how to fucking swim too?"
One of the reasons why people didn't go to Ymir for help was because that once you were in debt to her she wouldn't let you forget it
"How about you throw in a favour and we'll cal it a deal."
Jean clenched his teeth, looking to the side as if someone…anyone else would ask for the job. No such luck.
"Fine." He finally hissed through clenched teeth, practically hearing her satisfied smirk as she spoke.
"You can pick up my gear later today. Have it ready by six."
With that said and a pat on his back Ymir started making her way to the bar, a slight skip in her step.
Jean trailed from behind, wondering how much he was going to regret his decision.
…
The Next Day
…
It was barely dawn but with the sun starting to peak over the horizion, bathing all it touched in warm light the temperature was already unbearable.
The heat was forcing every camper out of their tents and into the clear ocean water. Either that or to turn up AC's belonging to those fortunate enough to own a beach house.
If it were any other day Ymir wouldn't have bothered to get up much less show up to dive. But there was no way that Jean would let her get out of their deal.
Especially after she drank and threw up what was left of his pay, leaving him to escort her shit faced ass back home.
If Jean knew that she would get drunk so easily then he would've dosed her with a few shots of tequila and threw her drunk into the water instead.
Atleast the others weren't as much trouble Jean thought as he looked over at the other two experienced divers.
Sasha Braus. A girl about Ymir's age who was shoving food non stop into her mouth.
'Talk about integrated weights.' Jean thought with a snort of amusement.
All of it happening while being cheered on by Connie Springer, her much shorther friend who's was constatly mocked by Ymir for having a head that resembled a stick of roll on deodorant.
Whether it was because of the later's searing headache or just the fact that she was cooking in the morning sun, Ymir bore an expression that screamed serial killer…more so than usual.
She continued to stare the rookies down like a hawk while shouting ridiculous questions at them like a dril sergeant.
All because of the fact that for the next two hours she would be stuck looking after a girl that was probably to scrawny to even lift a weightbelt.
Then there was a love sick couple who managed to get their gear in order whilst sucking on eachother's faces non stop.
Followed by a stick figure with a bowl cut that was even worse than the DM when it came to lubing up his gear and a bunch of others which Ymir didn't either notice or care for.
The only pair that didn't look like an underwater suicide waiting to happen was the blonde and brunet causually chatting away with their gear set up long ago.
Seeing that eveverything has been loaded up and most of them were waiting for the briefing to start, Jean stepped forward.
"Alright." He anounced with a clap of his hands, all attention on him. "Before we get going let's just go through the dive plan."
Both Connie and Sasha groaned in annoyance, but were quickly shut up with a death glare from Jean.
"So the reef that we'll be diving at today will be…"
About halfway through the briefing, Ymir zoned out.
She already knew this shit, bottom time, buddy system, safety procedures and every single reef better than most.
All of it was either second nature or permantly engraved into her mind.
So why bother?
"Alright. Now for the buddy pairs." Jean announced, grabing what was left of Ymir's attention. "Buddying up with me will be Mina and Thomas."
"Connie." Jean turned to the oblivious couple, still whispering into eachother's ear. "You'll have Hannah and Franz."
"Save the sex for the beach aright?" Ymir chimmed in with a sly grin. Followed by Sasha's hysterical laughter and Connie's attempts not to by slapping Franz hard on his burnt back.
The couple were instantly at a loss for words, beet red in the face as their eyes wandered everywhere except to eachother.
"Knock it off Ymir." Jean grunted, the smile on his lips betraying the stern tone. "You'll be supervising Marlo and Hitch."
Both of them instantly broke a sweat under Ymir's intense glare.
"A mop and a fucking toilet brush."
More laughter from the other divers followed. Except for the two who were gradually getting annoyed, but none of them could speak out against Ymir.
"Thanks a lot horseface."
With that said Ymir grabbed her fins and mask and headed down the beach towards the rubber duck.
Most of the gear that she had belonged to Ilse since her own was either too small or had been sold long ago.
Once everyone had caught up to her they started to push the boat into the water with the women, then men jumping on at the skipper's command.
They sped across the choppy ocean, watching the houses, people and other boats grow smaller by the second.
With the whipping winds stirring up emtions that she couldn't quite place. Ymir wasn't sure if she was supposed to be excited like all the others or pissed at Jean for getting her in this situation.
Ymir tried to clear away her thoughts and stare at the passing horizion. But with the boat speeding non stop over the waves she only managed to shake up the acholic mixture in her stomach.
She better not throw up, because if she did then Connie and Jean won't let her hear the end of it.
After about 20 minutes the boat came to an abrubt halt. Life jackets were being handed back and the gear being put on.
When Ymir made sure that her BC was secure and that the air was turned on she took a quick note of the other two's fins.
Marlo's black and Hitch's purple.
Ymir might hate being put in this situation but she'd be damned if she had to go and find any of them.
"Alright guys masks on."
Ymir groaned, dreading the oncoming hour as she put on her mask.
"On my count."
The skipper cut the engine and the divers secured their masks and regulators.
"3…2…Go!"
With a one final breath Ymir fell backwards,the sudden surge of water overwhelming at first. But after regaining her senses she found herself floating, gently drifting down to the bottom of the ocean.
For a second Ymir felt like a kid again but the trip down memory lane was short lived. She still had two other divers that she had to babysit.
Ymir bit hard onto the mouthpiece, releasing a strong stream of bubbles out of the DV as if it was taking her annoyance along with the air.
Just as Ymir looked up, Hitch came crashing down onto her like a piece of lead, knocking off her mask and regulator out of her mouth.
'Fuck!'
If the brunette wasn't half blind and searching for her air supply she would have strangled the poor girl the first chance she got.
'If you survive this I'll be the one to drown you afterwards!'
With that thought Ymir descended deeper into the blurry blue mass that burned her eyes, following the small trail of bubbles that led in between corals to where the mask was hiding.
Once those two were standing on a sand bank close to the reef, she tapped her wrist a few times, asking them what their air supply was instead.
Both of them replied with their hands and fingers raised in front of them.
Marlo had 170 bar left whereas Hitch only had a 150.
'If these idiots keep on gulping air like that I might get about an half hour to enjoy myself.' Ymir thought and mentioned for them to follow her.
The reef was rich in fish live will all kinds of species swiming around them in a flurry of colour. There were scorpionfish, rockcods, rays and even some paper fish which Ymir hasn't seen in over three years.
But none of it was unfamiliar.
It was as if she was revisiting some old friends after being away for so long.
When she was younger Ymir could point out almost every species in Mozambique's southern waters, hoping to impress Hanji and Ilse.
It went without saying that they were at a complete loss for words in their amazement.
Ymir wondered if that made her lose intrest in diving and quit all together. Because it had become boring with nothing to see that she hadn't before.
But with her heart thumping in her chest, more so than she liked to admit, Ymir knew that it wasn't the reason.
Not too far away the rest of the group were closing in on a couple of lionfish, but Ymir kept her distance and make sure the other two did as well.
She wasn't going to let them near one of those guys and risk the getting stung. Altough the tought of pouring boiling water onto their poison infested bodies, was growing all the more appealing as time went by.
Hitch had the habit of drifting upwards whereas Marlo couldn't kept his hands off the damn reef.
About halfway through the dive, Ymir found a crease in a coral formation near the opening of a cave, where a honeycomb eel was nestled.
Hoping that it would keep certain people out of trouble, Ymir swam forward, luring the eel in and out of its hiding spot.
At one point durning dive white tip reef shark decided to show up and entertain the divers by chasing a rockcod around the reef.
Ymir could instantly feel the other two's panic and their hesitance to draw near. It was the first time that entire day that she had felt somekind of relief.
If Marlo and Hitch were anything like her. They would be chasing it just to get a closer look.
Once the white tip started to lose intrest in the divers it wasn't long before the time eventually came when both rookies were low on air.
Accending was just as difficult as Ymir thought it would be and just when she thought that she was going to lose it, the three of them finally reached the surface.
Yanking off her mask and spitting out the DV, Ymir took a deep breath and let out a sigh of relief.
All she had to do now was watch Marlo and Hitch get back on the boat, while deciding whether she was going down again or not.
But Karma just wouldn't let her have a few minutes of peace.
It happened in a flash, one reflex too late and Marlo's weightbelt was sinking to the bottom of the ocean.
"Well fuck me." Ymir said, her expression indifferent as she looked at the clear ocean water where the belt was waiting at the bottom.
"I'm sorry." He stuttured, already backing away to the other side of the boat. "It was an-"
"Just go and get the damn thing." She cut him off with a wave of her hand.
"But…my air supply."
"Should be enough to take you up and down. Now get your ass moving before I dunk you in headfirst."
Usually Ymir would just chew him out and yell until the poor guy was close to tears, but frankly she was to tired to be angry.
It has been a long day. One that she wanted to get over with.
'Well I better go down to hold his hand.' She thought with a sigh and put on her mask, wasting no time in her decent.
Ymir expected to see Marlo from 10 metres away still looking around and not knowing what is left or right.
Instead found herself almost completely blind with a crimson cloud enveloping her as it rose to the surface.
'Oh god.'
Ymir didn't have to be a paramedic to know that Marlo was in trouble. Nearing the bottom she found him clutching his side and trying to stop the blood gushing from the wound.
All while thrashing away and ponting at what Ymir guessed to be his attacker. But nothing could prepare her for what she saw.
The sillhouete of an upper body that could only belong to a man, but it was the finned tail that made her blood run cold. Gently moving back and forward like seeweed in the currant.
Ymir blinked once, twice. The unfamiliar shape was gone in an instant, leaving behind an amalgam of sand and blood...
…
Back at Fernando's bar. Among all the people with their drinks held high as they danced to the beat of the music, Ymir found herself feeling tense.
Her gaze didn't move away from Jean who was sitting across her, silent while trying to make sense of what he had just heard.
After a lot of self convincing, Ymir decided to tell Jean about what she saw during Marlo's inncident.
Worst case senario. Jean labeling her as either insane or drunk. She hoped for it to be the latter so that she could play it off the next morning and get it over with.
So far Jean only left her in silence.
"I'm waiting Kirstein."
Waiting for Jean to laugh and tell her how delirious she was. That only little kids believed in fairy tales and that she should grow up. Ymir heard it all before, everytime Ilse went to someone for support.
At first Ymir resented all the people for it, but as time went by she too became skeptical of Ilse's beliefs. Right now, sitting in that exact same situation, Ymir couldn't hate herself more because of it.
The young man was silent at first, as if he was thinking over what to say before reaching for his pocket.
"They found this lodged in Marlo's wound. Part of some kind of spear he says..." Jean proclaimed with a sigh, putting down a pointed piece of coral on the table.
Ymir's eyes widened as she picked it up, noticing the engravings. It looked almost idenatical to the symbols Ilse had drawn in her journal, on the tables, walls and every inch of their house. As if it would all dissapear overnight.
"…But the medics are skeptical. Think it's just a piece of coral he might have fallen on. I was hoping you could tell me."
Jean took another swig of his drink before looking expectantly back at Ymir.
"Well what do you want me to say?" She asked, leaning back in her chair. "That a magical fish skewered him just because he decided to drop down unanounced into Atlantis?"
It only took one glance for Ymir to know that he too couldn't wrap his mind around what was happening.
"Glad to know I'm not the only one feeling like a dumbass."
"This is insane." He mumbled, raking his fingers through his hair.
"Pretty much." Ymir droned eyeing the melting ice floating in her glass.
Jean sighed in defeat, he didn't have the energy nor the mental stability or rather unstablity to deal with this.
"When is Ilse getting back?"
When he looked back at her, Ymir was biting her lip, suddenly finding interest in the information on the lable of her beer.
Hanji and Ilse had set out to sea about a month ago. On the day of their return Ymir had planned to take a day off so that she could be the first to yell at her for taking so long.
"The 24th."
Jean felt his mouth go dry.
That was two weeks ago and since then Ymir played it off as them being busy with research, and needing to stay longer than intended.
Not that many people cared enough to ask.
Even if that were true then Ilse would've called to tell her for how much longer she would be out at sea.
So that Ymir could go on a rant of how she was going to starve at sea or come back with green hair.
'It's what you get for taking your goddamn time!'
Just like she did all the years before.
But Ilse never did call and Ymir knew that the police won't attempt a search any time soon. All because of the woman's infamous reputation, Ymir could only wonder what had become of her.
"Looks like they got their hands full." Jean muttered, hoping to difuse the growing tension in the air.
"Tch." Ymir muttured, signaling for the bartender to bring them another round. "Thanks to those little fuckers."
"Not much anyone can do about that." After draining away the last of his beer, Jean slammed his mug down on the table. "One mention of mermaids and all that crap and you'll be a laughing stock."
"Good thing I have you around then."
With the piece of weaponry in her hand Ymir's gaze traveled over the carvings. As if it would give her an explaination to what was happening.
Jean let out a snort of amusement as he crossed his arms. "What makes you think I want any part of this?"
The sudden increase of shark sightings, Marlo's incident and Ilse's disappearance. It couldn't all just be some coincedence, these incidents were connected.
"Frankly I don't give a damn whether you want to or not. Besides…You still owe me one."
…
From the moment the sun rose over the horizion, the beach was teeming with life. Swimmers, divers, joggers all of them on the beach.
But once the sun started to set, casting dark shadows over the town all of them retreated back to their homes.
While the whiping winds cleared footprints off the sand, everyone sat cosily around a campfire.
All except for a small group of figures struggling to get a rubber duck into the water.
With the high tide setting in, the task seemed to be impossible.
But they pressed on and by somekind of miracle, managed to get the two passengers on-board and into the water.
As they raced across the ocean, Jean wasted no time in getting past the treacherous waves and into calmer waters.
When he was confident that the tide wouldn't be a problem that far in, he briefly glanced at Ymir.
Her eyes were a burning ember that stared ahead into her thoughts, and Jean found himself wondering what was going through her mind.
"I still don't get why you're doing this. What's the point?"
Ymir didn't say anything, and kept her gaze on the clouds forming in the distance.
Quite frankly she didn't know either.
Maybe it was because she wanted to be certain of what she saw that day. Or that she would be able to prove to the world what Ilse couldn't in years.
Or was it that deep down…she was hoping that maybe…it would somehow lead her back to what little family she had left?
But Jean didn't have to know that, he just needed to shut up and drive.
"So let's say you find this thing then what? You planing on talking to a fish?"
"Who knows…" Ymir drawled, voice drowned out by the sound of a rattling engine.
By the time they reached the reef, the sun had set and Jean had long ago given up on getting any kind of information out of her.
He cut the engine with a sigh, catching a glance of the star splattered sky as if was going to be his last and rumaged through a compartment under the steering wheel, before tossing a bouyline to Ymir.
"Since no one will be manning the boat we'll tie it to these in case the currant picks up"
Ymir smiled to herself as she stared at the beat up piece of orange plastic in her hands.
"Haven't had a dive like this in awhile, but you're in your element hu Jean-bo?"
Jean looked over at her, his intense glare unwavering as he slung his BC over his shoulder and fastened it with a few clicks.
"Just don't get yourself killed."
With that said the two of them decended into water, greeted by a freezing thermo climb and visiblity a few metres at best.
By the time Ymir reached ten metres it was pitch black with only a spot of colour where her flashlight shone.
The fact that there might be a hoard of sharks and various other flesh eating fish around made her even more on edge.
Then again she was risking her life for some make belief creature. Any other person would have thought of her to be just as crazy as the woman who raised her.
But when knowing how much work… How much of Ilse and Hanji's lives were put into their reasearch. Ymir knew that if there was even a slight possiblity of such a creature existing, the risk would be worth it.
After taking much more time than usual she managed to find the same coral formation where Marlo got himself impaled.
Just to settle her growing paranoia Ymir did a quick 360, knife drawn.
She knew that she had to keep her nerves in check. Her air supply was all the time she had left. After that there would be no way in hell, that Jean would ever set foot in water with her again.
So with no other options she forced herself to slow down her breathing and movements, before contiuing to navigate the reef.
Not that she was even sure what she was supposed to be looking for. A possible hiding spot, something that the creature could have left behind…a corpse?
After aimlessly fining through the cold mass, Ymir found herself wishing that she had paid more attention to the notes Ilse wrote in her journal.
Even if not many shared her passion, the woman was always very keen to share her knowledge with willing listeners. She wouldn't keep her life's work a secret from the world. Not after so many had scorned and ridiculed her.
Just when Ymir could feel the doubt of finding anything useful welling up in her chest, she found what she was looking for.
Swimming down to the bottom, Ymir shone light on what looked to be a long piece of coral. On closer inspection she could see that it was enrgraved with the same similar markings.
'For things that don't to be found, these fuckers are sure doing a heck of a job in letting me know they were here.'
She reached out to grab hold of what seemed to be another spear and pulled as hard as possible, only to let go in defeat when it wouldn't budge out of the rock.
Damnit!
Begrudingly Ymir swam out of the way, giving Jean a chance to see if he could do any better. But she found him nowhere to be seen.
All while trying to surpress her increacing panic, she shone light in every direction, hoping to find him.
No such luck.
Taking no more than a moment, Ymir checked her SPG.
150 bar.
If she went up to check the surface, there should be enough air to let her dive for another half hour.
But before going up Ymir turned her attention back to the spear and took hold of the diving knife strapped to her thigh.
If pulling it out didn't work then maybe prying will. Ymir dug the knife into the gap and after a few moments it started to come loose.
But before Ymir could get it out a sudden impact from behind slammed her against the spear, snapping it in half.
With knife and flashlight in one hand she whirled around and after what seemed to be hours Ymir could feel it.
The currant.
Circling her like a beast, out of sight and ready to strike.
There was no warning.
It came lunging at her out of nowhere. In that split second all Ymir could remember seeing was razor sharp teeth about to rip out her throat.
But it never did.
The creature was shunt into the darkness, followed by a horrific screech and a thickening mixture of blood in the water.
There was something else in the water. Definately not Jean ,but another one of those creatures? Or something more frightening than man eating mermaid?
Whatever it was, Ymir wasn't about to stay and find and started her ascent.
With every metre closer to the surface her heartbeat quickened in anticipation. And as the moon above came into focus she started to have a difficulty breathing.
Ymir looked down at her SPG, sensing the fading air supply and watched in horror as the needle dropped from 120 to 0.
What was happening?
A few moments ago she had more than enough air to surface so why? Why can't she…breathe?
Didn't she properly open it before going down? Was there a puncture somewhere in her regulator, power inflator, BC?
Ymir wracked her brain for what the cause might have been while trying to reach for her cylinder's valve.
But when her lungs started to burn for air, panic turned into desperation. With a few quick movements she ditched her gear and started to frantically make her way to the surface.
But no matter how hard she tried, the ocean wasn't going to let her leave with the secrets that it tried to hide
With each passing second the burning in her chest became even more unbearable until her swift kicks were nothing more than halfhearted thrashes.
Looking up Ymir saw the moon, glinting like a treasure from above. She wanted to reach out and take it, take back second chance at life that had been stolen from her.
But she couldn't.
Like a fire in the rain, her fight and hope of ever returning to the surface, had died out.
With her body drifting like a leaf in the breeze, Ymir watched through half lidded eyes as a white circle of light grew all bigger and brighter.
The moon?
Or some kind of heavenly beacon that signaled her death.
Was this really it? Was she going to die here?
Even with her standing at Death's door, there was no sadness nor panic nor regret.
There was just peace.
A calming aura wrapped her up like a blanket, the push and pull of the current lulling her into an eternal sleep…
…
Like a light being turned on and off, Ymir's head throbbed in and out of consciousness.
More than anything she wanted to fade into a soothing abyss, but a searing headache wouldn't let her.
Ymir blinked once...twice before everything started to come into focus.
She was lying on the boat, fading darkness signaled the early morning hours.
Jean was lying next to her, passed out with a messlily wrapped up headwound.
At the sight Ymir became increasingly aware of the burning in her chest and body that shivered at the sligtest gust of wind.
She groaned and sat upright with much struggle, vision fading in and out of focus as she took hold of the rope fastened along the boat.
But just as she was about to pull herself back up Ymir froze, all colour drained from her already pale face when she saw it.
A small frame that had pale blue scales scattered all over, belonging to that of a young woman. Her face was plastered with sandy blonde hair that the salt and wind turned into dry clumps of knots.
But that wasn't what made her eyes frantically dart around in search of anything that could be used as a weapon.
It was the tail!
Pale blue, almost two meters long that ended in a tail fin and a couple of dorsal fins, looking like it was sharp enough to cut through human flesh.
It sat infront of Ymir and stared with its wide ocean blue eyes, making her even more self conscious of her burning eyes, dry throat, limp body...
How vulnerable she felt.
Ymir gluped down her growing paranoia or tried to. She was unable to make even the slightest of sounds, as she tried to ask all the questions flooding her mind.
What was this thing?
Where did come from?
Was there mo-
Ymir uttered a groan of agony when her head was hit with a fresh wave of pain, turning a headache into an overwhelming migrane.
Dehidration.
As her head lolled to the side, she could see the...thing, slowly getting up to her full length. The tail now two scaly legs that wobbled to the front of the boat.
It returned stumbling with a bucket picked up from the floor, filled to the brim with salt water.
Ymir eyed the small water cupped hands, held out in front of her skeptically.
"You…know that's going to…kill me…right?"
But the mermaid-like creature held out her cupped hands closer to Ymir, slight frustration forming a crease in her brow.
If she had the strength Ymir would've turned away but instead she opened her mouth and slumped forward, eyes widening in shock.
The water…it was fresh and as Ymir continued to gulp it up she started to regain some of her strength her mind became clearer. If the woman didn't know any better she would've called it damnright holy.
Feeling more like herself Ymir's eyes started to roam over the strange girl's body, dissapointed when she saw the thickening of scales where she wished there wasn't.
As she drank the last of the water, Ymir met her gaze almost daringly as she licked the young woman's palm.
At the touch her hands jerked away, eyes wide with disbelief as she looked at her hands then back at Ymir, who smirked and leaned back with her head against the side of the boat.
"You'll…probably need to force the rest down Jean-Bo's throat." She rasped, eyeing the young man. "I don't really like him, but I don't want him dead either."
The girl followed her gaze and nodded as she reached for the bucket once again, but Ymir grabbed it first, stopping her dead in her tracks.
"How can you…understand me?" She demanded, only getting nervous glances as a reply from the girl who refused to meet her eye.
"Can you talk?"
She nodded, slowly and seemingly unsure as if wondering whether Ymir could be trusted.
"Prove it." She rasped, dry lips curling into a faint smirk. "Tell me how prety I am." Then continiued to chuckle when she saw her cheeks turn a shade of red.
"What's your name?"
The girl frowned as she met Ymir's gaze, searching amber eyes for any trace of distrust before opening her mouth to speak.
At first the sounds were alien to her, the words inchoherit before finally managing to choke out her name.
"Hiss…to..reea."
Eyes widened in shock, nearly at a loss for words herself.
"Historia?" She repeated after finally managing to find her voice again.
The girl nodded.
That name…why did it sound…familiar?
Ymir shook her head and glanced at the horision that was lighting up from a dark blue to pale grey, as if it would somehow divide reality from imagination.
"Mind telling me what happened last night?" She asked once her gaze drifted back once more, ocean blue meeting firery amber.
"Yeeou were…a-attacked."
The young woman rolled her eyes, voice dripping with sarcasm. "No shit." Getting slightly annoyed as Historia said nothing and continued to stare at her, head tilted to the side in slight confusion.
"Why then?" She grabbed hold of the ropes one more time and heaved her onto edge of the boat. "What the fuck did those things want with me?"
The girl swallowed, opening and closing her mouth a few times as a clear sign of not being used to speaking this much, or at all as her words were choppy and forced.
"Humans know…too much. They can't hide anymore. They feel threa…tend."
"They?" Ymir raised an eyebrow in question as Historia tried to recall names and words in the depths of her memory.
"You call them mer…maids?"
"What does that make you then?" She only vaguely remembered how the creature that attacked her and the one who fished her out of the sea, didn't look alike.
"I don't know…I'm not…their kin." She stuttured, growing all the more self conscious under the other's gaze.
"How can you speak my language?"
"Humans." She stated simply, but the all too famliar look in Ymir's eye, the overwhelming need to know more, forced her to keep on talking.
"They found me when I was little. I was hurt. Lost. Took care of me. Taught me my words."
Ymir snorted. "And none of them tried to gut you like a fish?"
For a few moments Historia stayed silent as she stared ahead at the horizion, briefly glancing at Ymir before a small smile touched her lips.
"You looked like her."
At the words, Ymir froze but her blank expression betrayed no emotion other than that of sarcasm.
"That's a shitty reason for risking your life. What are you, sucidal?"
"I'm…looking for someone." She explained, eyeing Jean as he started to stir and groan, not fully conscious yet
"There's…something…I need to give back." With that said, Historia grabbed hold of the bucket, nearly losing her footing as she bent over to scoop up more salt water.
"Good luck with that." Ymir scoffed. "They're long gone by now."
Historia shook her head as she set it down, her eyes never leaving the churning liquid.
"She's there." Her words were no more than a whisper and as Ymir observed the scene before her, she wondered if that's how she was able to make it drinkable.
"What makes you so sure?"
But she didn't ask, the idea seemed to stupid to put into words.
"She's alone…waiting." And as Historia looked up, she couldn't help but to wonder if it was lonliness that hid behind the disdain in Ymir's eyes.
"She's…Like you."
With that same freckle dusted skin and chocolate brown hair…same daring smirk that wouldn't hesitate to put her life on the line, if it meant that she would finally have all the answers.
Historia wondered if this person really was…
"...Yahmeer?"
As her eyes shot open with disbelief it was only then when saw it.
The leather bracelet with white, purple and orange shells tied around Historia's wrist, and the once shining green stone that was now dull, faded…
…And broken.
…
A/N: If you're curious then try looking up some of these places to get a better picture of how it all looks.
Thanks for reading!