A/N: Whew, I can't believe I barely got this done on time. Life and school got so very busy for me, so I apologize if this seems very rushed, but I couldn't let myself, and perlaret, down by not finishing it because I am so in love with this idea. I ended up choosing the mermaid prompt because the other ones I had already started working on before the fic exchange, were prompted by others so therefore sitting in my prompt folder, and I've been wanting to write mermaids for a long time now haha. Though because of the time contraints I had fro myself, I wasn't able to do the full storyline I planned out for this fic. Worry not though, I plan to continue this little series because I really fell in love with what I have written already! So I hope you enjoy what I've written perlaret, and I hope you'll enjoy the parts I will be adding to this once life calms down ^^ Thanks to Megan and Morgan for betaing this for me very last minute, and please enjoy!
Eliza lifted her head from the water, smelling the ocean breeze. The waters were warm today, not much different than any other day, but something in the air had felt off. She brushed it off, ducked her head back under the water, kicked her pink tail for momentum, and swam toward the shore.
She hadn't admitted it to anyone she knew — the amount of people she knew was limited to Brit, whom she didn't care for that much, and the fish that swam in the ocean — but she had taken interest in the human world recently. Eliza would watch the humans that played on the beach together — she made sure to keep herself out of sight on her daily excursions — and her interest grew each day. The way the humans played together, how they seemingly had a stronger connection with their own kind than she her own, and all their mysteries of what made them tick was what really interested her.
Her only problem was that the world of mermaids and humans never mixed. It wasn't too taboo of a topic — Eliza didn't care much, but she did have her own mermaid following, which was impressive considering how big the ocean is, that would blow things out of proportion once they caught wind — but she didn't feel the need to state her interest due to it not causing any potential problems or questions. Out of sight, out of mind, she would remind herself every time she made the long swim close to the shore. Besides, there was no harm in watching humans from afar anyways.
The red-headed mermaid poked her head out from the water again, checking to see if she was on the right track to her usual spot, and spotted a boat close by. Eliza had never seen a boat this close up before, most were far from where she usually swam, and she cautiously swam closer to it. To not take a look at the ship would be a loss of learning more about humans would be a loss, and Eliza couldn't take that opportunity.
When she was close enough to see who was on the boat, she noticed it was a man. He looked a little out of place, she thought, but she probably would too if he caught sight of her in the open water. Thinking on her tail, Eliza submerged her head enough under the water so that only her eyes were above water. Her red hair would stand out on the open water, but it was her only option to where she could watch the man from afar.
His black hair shined in the harsh sun, reminding her of the dark, underwater caves some mermaids liked to hang out in — which were totally last year's trend and were completely lame now, she noted. Which was exactly why she was keeping her interest in the human world on the down-low because the second merpeople caught wind of her interest, it'd be all the rage and she'd have to find a new hobby.
Eliza drew her attention back to the man on the boat, and out of her thoughts. Her eyes swept over him, and she couldn't help but think his outfit was strange looking. He was dressed up far more than any other human she had seen, most wore plain clothing when they were out, and it felt very out of place on the small boat in the middle of the ocean.
The man's dark hair glinted as he shifted his position on the boat. The way he carefully stepped over whatever was inside of the boat interested Eliza — granted the way humans got around interested her, but there was something in this man's cautious steps that interested her. When his face contorted slightly, his balance swaying inside the boat, caused Eliza's eyebrows to knit together.
Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion, and Eliza wasn't sure what she should do. She could do the obvious and save the man, exposing herself, or she could let him drown and continue onto the shore to watch humans from afar that wouldn't cause her involvement. The second option sounded like the best option, but there was something that drew her to the man that she couldn't explain.
The moment the man started to topple over into the water, Eliza had already kicked off toward his general direction. There was an overwhelming feeling of protection as she watched him fall into the water, and she knew she at least had to get him back to his boat, if not back to shore.
Eliza's arms enveloped around the man's sinking body, and she tugged on his upper body to bring him to the surface. She didn't expect him to be as heavy as he was, he didn't look too built like the other humans she had observed, but she figured it had to be the cloth and excess clothing he was wearing compared to other humans who visited the ocean.
She could feel the man kicking and flailing in her arms, trying to break free, but Eliza's grip tightened as she kicked toward the surface. There'd be a long conversation she didn't want to have with the strange man — mostly involving why she was out in the middle of the ocean with no boat — but she could always swim back under the water where he couldn't follow her.
Once they broke through the water, the man's chest heaved as he took in gulps of air. His shiny, black hair was even more shiny with the water mingled in with the dark strands, and Eliza had to hold herself back from touching it.
"How, why, who are you?" the man asked through his gasps.
He wasn't facing her yet, and Eliza wasn't sure if he had seen her tail, but she figured she'd have to spill the seaweed at some point. Until that point came though, she was going to lie her tail off.
"Eliza, Eliza Dooley," she replied.
"Well, Miss Dooley, I owe you my life," he said, placing his hand on the side of his small boat. "I'm Henry Higgs, by the way, and if you weren't here, I don't know if I'd have been able to breathe again."
He turned to face her after the last words slipped from his lips, and Eliza swore she had never seen a more handsome creature. His dark eyes, coupled with his dark hair, had more depth than the ocean's deepest caverns. It made her heart stop, and she shook off the feeling because she wasn't sure where it had even come from in the first place.
"Yeah, I guess you would've been at the bottom of the ocean," she laughed.
"But, may I ask, how did you happen to be out here, Miss Dooley?"
Crap, she thought. Of course the first human she'd get the chance to interact with would be a perceptive one and not let the shock of almost dying cause him to forget details like that. At least that's what she had heard in tales from her parents when she was growing up, but those were only old fish-wives tales.
"Okay, I know you totally just had a near-death experience, so you may want to get back in your boat for this one."
He did as she said, with some help from her, and got back into his boat. Henry smiled at her, offering his hand to her as to pull her into the boat.
"Oh I'm good, Henry. I don't need to be in the boat to show you why I'm out here."
"Won't your legs get tired if you—"
"That's the point here, give me a second."
Eliza took a deep breath before diving under the water. The nerves she felt as she turned over so her tail would stick up from the water were making her dizzy. She felt exposed like this, but there was no other way for her to prove what she was or even come up with a believable lie. There was always the option of just swimming away if things got too sticky, she reminded herself.
After thirty seconds, Eliza pulled her tail back into the warm water to break through the surface and face Henry again. When she saw his face, his mouth was hanging open, and Eliza knew she was going to have to start this conversation.
"Are you going to say something?"
"So, you're telling me you're a mermaid?"
"Yep."
"And that there are others like you?"
"Uh huh."
"I have to be hallucinating from almost dying, mermaids aren't real."
"Henry, I literally have a tail that's attached to me. You can't hallucinate that." Eliza lifted her tail from the water, making a big splash in Henry's direction.
"Fine," he replied skeptically, shielding himself from the spray.
"See, not the strangest thing that could've happened to you."
"Try being in my position and finding out mermaids are real."
"Oh come on, Henry, there have to be weirder things in the human world that are stranger than mermaids."
"You obviously haven't been to the human world."
"Well duh, I have a tail. Kinda can't walk with a tail, Henry. You're the first human I've ever spoken to," she said.
"Hmm," he replied.
"What?" The look on his face concerned Eliza. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, and she was considering diving back underwater if this turned out to be a bust.
"Let me make you a deal. Since you saved my life, I'll teach you about the human world."
Eliza's heart swelled, and she couldn't believe what she had just heard. Maybe this was the best option, and she'd also have something to gloat about before anybody else found out about it.
"Deal," she said quickly. "Meet me around here tomorrow around the same time and we can talk places to meet that we can both be near."
Before she could hear his reply, Eliza dove back into the water. The warm feeling that flowed through her body, intensified by the warm water around her, felt better than any new added member to her small following could have ever felt. Henry Higgs was going to be the answer to all her questions she had about the human world, and she couldn't wait to meet him and his shiny, black hair again.