MERMAIDS! MERMAIDS! MERMAIDS!
Hello everyone! So, even though it hasn't been all that long since I finished my Slave AU for this...very...same...ship...um...BUT ANYWAYS! I've recently moved to college and things have been crazy. Please don't expect really fast updates and please try and understand that I'm going to have to take my sour time with this as college is a very busy thing. Wow. Great Summary Annie. You're really selling this story. Ugh, sorry. Here's the actual summary:
The mers have lived in Below Surface since the humans attacked and sunk Atlantis. Centuries have passed, and the descendants of Clarines have all but forgotten it was their very own kingdom to declare the war that turned the Atlantians into the mers. But the mers, on the other scale, have never forgotten. Shirayuki is not excluded in that hatred. It's finally her turn to sink the next pirate ship that passes through her pod's waters-but plans change when she realizes the pirates hold the current Prince of Clarines as a prisoner.
I hope you enjoy, and remember, review!
Shirayuki had been following the pirate ship for four days.
The ocean felt amazing across her skin and scales. The water was warm from the sunshine, and the salt filtered through her gills easily. Her tail easily swatted the water, powering her after the boat's hull. It was a windy day Above Surface, but she only could tell because the ship's twenty oars weren't rhythmically dipping in and out of the sea. The sails on the boat instead left a shadow over the waves.
Shirayuki was close to the surface, just below the point where the waves would lift and drop her. A little disappointing, as Shirayuki found that to be one of the best ways to play with the sea. But no, she couldn't risk being spotted by the pirates aboard the vessel.
It was her turn to sink them. She'd become very apathetic to the process. It wasn't as if it were hard. She simply had to sit on a rock in their sight, maybe sing a little, and then watch as they steered their boat right into her rock. Men were always drawn to her irresistible, long and wavy bright red hair.
However, the plan had been put off when she overheard one of the pirates speaking. Apparently, the Prince of Clarines was aboard that ship.
The Prince of Clarines…she couldn't kill him. Not only was he the next air to the throne, the Clarines kingdom was right at the border of the sea. Their kingdom, while almost all living there didn't know this, was the kingdom that invaded and sunk Atlantis.
All the mers of the Below World knew this and hated Clarines-and all humans-for it.
So why wasn't Shirayuki jumping at the chance to sink the ship?
She clutched at her bag's strap. It was tied with seaweed, the bag itself leather that humans in the Above Surface had littered her Below Surface with. Inside, she held a knife made out of sharpened shell, a comb made from a sharp rock, scale polisher, and her oyster that held her magic pearls.
Shirayuki hadn't given up on the idea of sinking the pirate ship. But she had let them stray far away from her usual sinking point and wasn't sure where the next best one was. So, for now, she focused on another plan-get the Prince off of the ship, and into the sea.
Shirayuki didn't want to drown him. She wanted to question him-thoroughly. To see if any Above Surface dwellers of Clarines knew of their true history of murder and genocide. Then she would drown him.
The pirates had begun another song, pulling her from her thoughts. She released her bag and let her hands swirl the water around her. Her bracelets clinked against each other soundlessly. The song was muted thanks to the surface, so she couldn't make out any words. Just the rhythm. But it was no doubt ghastly and crude. She wondered if the Prince was suffering because of it.
A pod of flying fish darted over her head. They jumped through the waves, playing in the way she wished she could. Each jump was landed with either a small shower of bubbles or the ocean simply reclaimed its dwellers, amused.
Join us! One called out to her, its voice faint and quiet. Then, in a flash of blue scales it broke the surface again.
Shirayuki laughed and spun around once. "Maybe another time. I have to keep myself hidden."
Why? Another asked. It had just landed again, and it swam down next to her. It began to circle, constantly moving. It brushed her stomach and arms with its fins that worked like wings.
"It's…hard to explain." She couldn't use large words with flying fish. They weren't as cultivated as the mers. They never seemed to understand that they were sometimes even food for the mers. But Shirayuki didn't mind. She could use some company. As she had laid her claims on this ship, and her pod was the only one for miles, she hadn't seen any other mers yet.
The flying fish skimmed away from her, back up to the surface. She could hear the way they hummed as they flew in and out of the sea. They were so unconcerned, it was hard not to envy them.
Shirayuki looked back to the boat. Only around twenty tail flicks away from the barnacles against the permanently soaked wood, she was tempted to at least break the surface to see if she could see the Prince.
And as if the thought had caused it, something crashed into the water to the port side of the ship.
The flying fish above her all jumped collectively out of the water. They skipped away starboard, away from whatever the threat apparently was.
Shirayuki spread her fins and plunged her tail downwards, abruptly halting her. Her red hair looked as if it had streaks of sunlight in it as it swayed in her face. She jerked her head back so her hair stayed out of her face. As it cleared, she looked at the lump slowly sinking. She realized with a bit of a jolt it was a person.
He was no pirate. His clothing was the biggest hint to show he wasn't. It wasn't loose thanks to the wind and salt and sea. His boots were steel-toed, something pirates avoided. His pants were good fabric, not scuffed together or old. He wore a long-sleeved blue jacket with a gold trim, but it was open in the front to show his white shirt, now soaked through. His cheeks were slightly puffed as he held his breath. The brightest thing on him was his white hair, brightened from the sun's air. Shirayuki had never seen snow, but she had heard of it. He had the hair the color of snow.
He kicked helplessly, his hair rolling around the top of his head. But he still sunk, a large iron chain pulled him down by his hands. His fingers were white around the chain, trying to somehow stop his decent. But there was no use. He was going to drown.
Shirayuki's tail was moving before she could even think about it.
"So, you still wanna run your mouth?" The pirate taunted Zen.
Zen heaved a sigh through his nose. He turned on the flimsy wooden board, trying to hold his strong stance even as the ocean rose and fell, bobbing him around. "Gentlemen, I'm not the one who's most likely to run us aground."
The pirates growled. One, leaning on the other, took a swing of beer then spat it over the plank towards the Second Prince of Clarines. It fell short just over Zen's boot. The Captain of this ship, The Poisoned Rose, lifted his boot and planted it firmly on the plank.
Zen's feet jumped off the board, and for a terrifying moment he floated in the air. The heavy chains wrapped four times around his hands pulled him straight back down. He felt the impact in his teeth, but he remained standing. The ocean rolled, tauntingly, teasingly, menacingly just underneath his feet.
"Prince, you're playing a deadly game. If you haven't noticed, you're about to be shark bait, matey." The pirate said. His voice was croaky and crackled deep in his throat, as if his esophagus was lined with salt. "Do you really want your last words to be snarky?"
Zen sputtered a laugh. "I highly doubt I can entrust my last words to pirates."
The captain simply lifted his shoulder in a shrug, the oversized red jacket shifting. "We've been paid to make sure no one ever finds you again. We have to do what we were paid to do."
Zen smirked. "Let me guess-nothing personal?"
The entire crew roared with laughter. Behind them, The Poisoned Rose's sails flapped in the wind. Like the boat itself agreed with the ship, or was brushing him away from the wooden boards-the last dry land for miles. The wind pulled at his clothes teasingly and pushed at his stance.
"Ah, mate. You don't understand how personal you've made it." With that, the pirate stepped off the plank. "Say hello to the sharks for us." With all of the captain's might, he slammed his foot on the plank.
Zen flew again, but this time the crew moved fast. They pulled the plank just a little bit back-just enough that when he fell straight down, this time his feet weren't met with a landing.
Time slowed. He was aware of everything. The buzzing of a flying fish's wings as it desperately tried to escape the depths of the sea. The waves roaring as they rose, then hissing as the salt rolled against itself. The salty wind pulling his hair, as if suddenly regretting trying to push him and hold him up by his hair instead. But it was useless. He watched as the side of the ship slipped by. The wooden planks moved so slow he could count them.
Zen wondered if he was really about to die. He pulled on his chains one last time, but they were cold and sturdy. His executioners were ready to hold him down until his bones crumbled at the bottom of the sea.
And then time continued as usual.
The water caught him in salty hands. The water rushed to block all air. Bubbles surrounded him and went up, while he continued to go down. Immediately, the human instinct for air attacked him. He started to kick desperately. Zen was a great swimmer-when he wasn't being dragged down by iron chains. To his dismay, he couldn't straighten his body. He hoped to maybe manage to put his head forwards, then move his hands back and forth to create a pumping system. But the chains were just too heavy for him to straighten himself out. Then, his kicking was only pushing him sideways through the water. If not that, it only pushed him farther down.
He clenched his teeth and gave a massive kick, but all he did was spin slightly. His hair swept across his face, brushing so calmly over his forehead. He realized it would probably be like that for the rest of time, until the salt finally decomposed it into nothing.
And suddenly, he felt hands. Soft and small, but strong, they slipped between his arms and his body. He turned his head, trying to see who was behind him. The fingers curled around his armpits, and he was suddenly lifted. Something soft fluttered around his ankles.
He looked at the hands. They looked human, but how could anyone else be in the water with him? They weren't the hands of a pirate-they were clean and female.
The surface broke over the back of his head, so when he sharply lifted his head water was thrown from his hair. He coughed, rising and falling with the waves. He kept expecting to go under again, but the hands never left his arms. They kept his mouth and nose away from the ocean. The waves didn't seem to hinder them. "Who-Who are you?" He asked, wanting to demand it but too grateful that he was alive to say it in anything but wonder.
Shirayuki circled him. He turned sideways thanks to her movements, but that was alright. This is the Prince of Clarines. She thought, as her hands grasped him by his armpits and she looked upwards, kicking up to the Above Surface. She didn't need air-she could breathe it, but it hurt a little bit and she could only handle about fifteen minutes of it before she inevitably drowned without the ocean's salt filling her lungs.
His hair swirled on his head as he tried to take a glimpse of her, but she kept her grip on him tight-he wasn't going anywhere but up. Why am I doing this? She thought. Her and his head broke the surface of the water. It was slightly disconcerting to be taller than him-and only by a flipper.
The Prince tossed his head up, gasping in air in only the way a fish would after returning to the sea. It was almost comical, but then he started to cough and all humor left the situation. Shirayuki may have hated humans, but she wasn't sadistic.
"Who-Who are you?" He asked.
Shirayuki spoke English. She only knew it because her siren songs were in English, and she wanted to know what last words the sailors were hearing. She had to start up her act of questioning him. The original plan was still in place-it was just starting unexpectedly. "Who do you think I am?" She responded.
He coughed again, although this time it seemed a little more disbelieving than trying to breathe. "Why are you out in the middle of the ocean?"
Shirayuki scoffed. "You're welcome."
The Prince took a deep, steadying breath. "Thank you." He said it in such a grateful voice Shirayuki was actually a little taken aback. Then she tightened her grip on him again, and kicked in time with the ocean to keep his head above water. He strained his arms against the iron on his wrists. "I'm in so much trouble still. And so are you. Did the pirates throw you overboard too?"
Shirayuki took a deep breath. She spun him around, and stared right into his eyes. She was startled by the depths of blue-they reminded her almost painfully of her favorite coastal reef's waters, the deep blue different than most blue as it wasn't controlled by the sunlight. They widened, his breath rapid. The eyes danced over her face, down, then back up again. "You-you're a…" He managed.
She lied on her stomach smugly, and lifted her tail out of the water just for a minute. Her fin spread as it touched the air, feeling the sun, then folded again as she touched the water again and went back to keeping them afloat. "Did you forget all about the race you destroyed, human?" She asked, deadly calm.
