Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and its characters. Mashima Hiro-sama does.

A/N: Since I love GaLe so much, and there were not enough stories about them to satisfy me, I decided to write my own one and to share it with people here. This is my first attempt at Fan Fiction and in English too, so it's far from perfect, but I still love it. As for the story itself, there were no mermaid stories yet! Must correct that! Ah, must warn you, my grammar and punctuation is pretty bad, so there will be some mistakes. But I'll try my best to improve.


Prologue

A Distant Memory.

Past:

It was dark. Natural occurrence for this part of the day. But usually there was a soft silver light, that helped the poor creatures, used to life in daylight, that were so unfortunate to get lost at night. However, moonlight couldn't reach this place. Only the very surface was graced with it's mysterious shine.

The ocean was pitch black at night. The water was cold, not freezing, but still chilling. During night-time all colourful fishes hid in their homes. Their time of the day was over. It was predator's turn to roam the depths of the ocean. They didn't need light to sense their pray. No-one in their right mind would even think about going for a swim at this time.

A small lithe body was sliding trough water with amazing speed. Not feeling the chill, not wavering for a second. The creature seemed to not feel even a bit of fear.

It was a mermaid. A very young one. It was just a child. The poor dear got lost, she was away from home at such hour for a reason. But lets not dwell on that right now. It is a tale for later.

Little mermaid's tail was covered with dark green scales. They would glitter beautifully in light, but there was none. Her shoulder length blue hair was flowing freely behind her, it is underwater, after all. The big brown eyes weren't bothered by lack of light. All mermaids could sense their surrounding area very precisely.

The girl was in an unfamiliar territory. Strangely, she has not yet sensed even one living creature around. It relieved her, there were no predator sharks near, but it worried her at the same time.

Sharks were the most fearsome bloodthirsty beasts of the ocean. They were kings among predators, especially great white sharks. Other marine animals feared them the most. Except...

This child's mother once told her about even more dangerous creatures. Those lucky (or unlucky) enough to encounter them were just a few. Even fewer got trough alive to tell about it. Most didn't believe them, but our young mermaid was smart enough to consider it a possibility.

Mermen were mostly... home and peace loving creatures. They thought of adventures and exploring as too dangerous and unnecessary. The blue haired mermaid thought otherwise. She thought her people were just scared, or plain stupid. But, we'll keep the details for another time.

Suddenly, she sensed something. Something very dangerous. The girl was scared, paralyzed with fear. She was in the wrong place, instincts screamed for her to get out of there and fast! But her limbs and mind were frozen.

The water around her moved, as the unfamiliar beast swam around the mermaid in circles. From what she could sense, it was huge, and long. Like a water snake, which she saw near the surface one day. Only much bigger and more threatening.

The snakelike creature stopped circling her. Its head was right in front of the girl. In the darkness she could only see two blood colored eyes with slitted dark pupils.

"A dragon!" was the little mermaid's last thought, before she lost consciousness.

Present:

She woke up with a start. "That dream again... or a memory?"

The same mermaid, only older already, stretched on her bed. It was a big pearl clam. The girl had this dream for a long time. She could not remember, if it was real, or just her overactive imagination was playing tricks on her.

But it felt real... if it was, then why she couldn't remember what happened after?

Past:

Deep under the ocean a huge cave system lies. It's a place only a few strangers know about, and they were smart enough to avoid it. It is the dragons den. A whole clan of dragons lives here. This happened a long time ago...

The dragons had one leader, who was the strongest among them. His name was Metalicana. Everyone obeyed him, but he knew, that there were those, who wished him death. Those who wanted to get their claws on his neck, and take the status away from him.

But he would never let them. He had a family to protect. He cared for them deeply, but rarely showed his feelings and seemed rather harsh to them. It was hard to be the leader, a leader must not show softness, and he didn't. He taught his son to act the same, because he would be the next leader someday.

Metalicana was hunting at night, as usual, when he sensed something strange nearby. It was so tiny. He swam towards it, his black scaly body slicing trough the water. He circled the foreign being a few times and stopped to take a better look at it.

"Ah, a mermaid, still a child."

The dragon felt her fear. She looked him in the eyes and fainted. Black dragon wondered if he should leave her like this. He was cruel sometimes, but he wouldn't attack such an innocent being.

"What, in the name of Neptune, is she doing in a place like this? Mermen usually don't leave their own territory." Metalicana mused.

He carefully held the child with his paw and was deep in thought. Otherwise he would have noticed another approaching dragon.

"Hey, old man, whats wrong?"

A much smaller and younger dragon showed up in front of him.

"What is that? It doesn't even look edible." Stated Metalicanas son, while watching the thing in the older dragons paw with his crimson eyes, identical to his fathers.

"It's a mermaid, you foolish boy! Has the thought of studying ever crossed your tiny brain?"

"Hey, don't insult me! You're just smart because you're old! Well... she's kinda cute. What are ya going to do with her?"

Metalicana was a bit shocked after hearing his son's words. Not only did he call the mermaid cute, but a "she" as well. And the way he was watching her... this... couldn't be what he thought it was, could it? If so, then he could never leave this girl like this.

The big dragon signet. "You'll take her home."

"What? But how, the bloody shark, should i know where it is? I cant carry something this fragile! And what do i tell her parents? Hello, I'm a big bad dragon, I've come to bring your daughter back! " the younger dragon was panicking.

Well, that was an unusual sight to see. Suddenly, the little mermaid stirred. She opened her eyes slowly, still in a daze. She took in her surroundings with her senses. The girl stiffened.

There were two dragons beside her now. The huge one from before was holding her small body in his claws. It didn't hurt, so the mermaid didn't panic. The other one was smaller, still a kid, like her.

The said dragon was staring at her. She felt strangely attracted to this creature. She felt no fear towards him at all. A smile tugged on her lips and she reached out her tiny hand to touch his nose.

Both dragons were slightly shocked at this.

"Wha?"

"Hello!" said the girl "Wanna be friends?" she giggled lightly.

"Are all mershrimps this crazy? What if it's contagious?"

Metalicanas son didn't know why he was acting so rude. He felt weird around this tiny shrimp. Her smile made him all fuzzy inside. And her hand felt warmer, then it should have.

Was he sick, or something? Allergic to mermaids maybe?

"I wanna mommy..." the source of his discomfort complained.

Pearly tears started to form on the corners of her eyes.

"Okay, okay! I'll take you home, just don't cry!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, yeah." grumbled the dragon.

Metalicana was watching with amusement. This girl was so brave, how unusual.

"Dad, where do i take her to? And how?"

The little mermaid reached her hands towards his son. The leader showed him how to hold her carefully and told him where to go. And the kids took off.

Ocean currents were quite strong. One without enough strength or experience would surely be doomed the moment they got into one of those. Others have learned to use the ocean "winds" to their advantage.

The swim didn't take too long, with young dragons speed and the use of nearby current. It was like a highway for marine animals.

The tiny shrimp was chatting away happily. She fascinated him. He even answered some of her questions. It was actually fun to talk to her. She was very smart for her age.

He finally got to the Mermen Kingdom. The dragon couldn't afford to be caught, so he left the girl just a bit farther from the kingdom borders. He was going to swim away, when he heard her say:

"Will I see you again?"

"Maybe..."

Present:

He opened his eyes and stared at the sealing. This dream again. The memory of the tiny shrimp. It all happened so long ago.

When his life had been so easy. Before he lost almost everything dear to him. Before he had to take too much responsibility for a kid his age. Before he became so cruel, so lonely.

"Maybe..."


A/N: It may not look like it, but it will eventually look more like 'The Little Mermaid', but only a part of it. For what I have in mind, there should be a lot of other characters. The relations between them won't be as in the anime/manga (I'm just evil like that). Also, I'm sorry, but no NaLu. I just don't like them together, and will be impossible in this story, unless, you want Lucy to be a pedophile . And I were never able to write visual descriptions (almost got no visual imagination) so I describe everything more in a 'feelings and senses' way. And happy ending is guaranteed! (Unless I drop this story =_=" but I hope not)

Anyway, help me improve my writing skills by reading and reviewing~ Constructive criticism, suggestions, opinions are all welcome. (But no tomatoes and furniture please, spare the poor things.)

Sincerely yours,

whiblarat