This story was written for Rougeofdoom, who very patiently put up with me being excited about it but never actually sitting down and editing it. Since it got a bit out of hand, it'll be a threeshot. I'm not totally sure when the rest will be uploaded, but expect it soon! I will try really hard to have it done by the end of the month, promise!
I hope you enjoy, Rouge, and thank you so much.
To Princess Jade Harley of Prospit, the seashore was always an interesting place. Sometimes, it evoked sadness as she recalled memories, places that were all but lost to her now and forever. Sometimes, it reminded her of the majesty of nature, huge waves rising and crashing upon the rocks and the sand. And sometimes, like today, it brought a smile to her face as the water shimmered brightly in the afternoon sun, seabirds wheeling and calling overhead.
She twisted the ring shining around her finger, still strange in its novelty, and watched the waves. Being in a city, a real, actual city, was also something new to her, and just as exciting as having this ring that marked her engagement! It was silver and set with a big, sea-green stone—something to match her eyes and her personality, Dave had said as he gently slid it onto her finger—with two smaller rubies to frame it. Simple and elegant and oh so symbolic!
The sound of a child bursting into tears nearby distracted her, and Jade quickly turned on her heel to see if she could identify the source. There, a little boy and a little girl, siblings most likely if she went by their similar appearance, were standing on the beach. The girl was crying and the boy shaking his head, lower lip in a pout as he crossed his arms petulantly.
"Hello," Jade intervened cautiously, smiling at them amiably. "What's wrong?"
"He—he said mermaids don't exist!" the girl hiccupped, glaring at her... her brother, Jade figured.
The statement took her aback, though, and she sat down in the sand in surprise. Both children looked at her oddly, one a bit tearful and the other still stubbornly pouting. Jade decided that she'd definitely sat down on purpose and patted the ground next to herself, picking up a seashell and toying with it.
"Sit with me. I'll tell you a story," she offered, enjoying the feel of the sea breeze as it picked up her long, black hair, making it stream out behind her. It really was an idyllic day!
"A story about mermaids?" the girl asked, sitting down and crossing her legs. "I want a story about mermaids!"
"Mermaids aren't real," the boy scowled, scuffing his feet against the sand as he weighed his options, then finally plopped down as well.
"How do you know that?" Jade asked him, wrapping her arms loosely about her knees and turning her face up to the warmth of the sun. The wind smelled of the sea, reminding her of some people she sorely missed, but the golden sand under her and the surf that was tickling her bare feet (feet!) were more than enough to keep her from feeling melancholy.
"All the other grown-ups say so," he shrugged. "And anyway, I've never seen one."
"All the other grown-ups don't know," she corrected. "You've never seen any of the Princes of Derse, either, but you know they exist, right?"
"But everyone talks about them," the boy protested, before realizing he'd fallen into his own logical trap. "Oh."
The girl squealed victoriously. "So mermaids are real! I knew it!"
Jade laughed. "Do you still want to hear the story?"
"Yes, yes, yes," the little girl beamed. "Please, miss?"
"Alright," she smiled happily out at the clear blue sky and turquoise ocean. "Once upon a time, not too long ago, there was a mermaid who lived alone near an island, with only a solitary storm spirit for company..."
Months in the past, but not many...
Jade laughed as she cavorted through the waves, using her tail to merrily flick spray into the air above her as she swam in the warm sun. Around her were miles of open ocean, a small island the only landmark on the horizon. It had a little cove that made a cozy home for a lonely mermaid and provided shelter from big storms that blew through on their way to the coasts.
"Hey!" complained that air, shimmering into the form of a blue-eyed, cloud-white boy with a shock of black hair who comfortably rode the currents of warm air rising from the sea surface. He wiped the droplets from his glasses onto his blue tunic, though he didn't really need the lenses to see—he just thought that a fashion picked up from humans would make him look cooler. ("Cooler for who, you dork?" Jade had laughed at him. He'd just grinned back, and continued to wear them.)
"Oops, sorry," she giggled with a distinct sorry-not-sorry vibe. Slowing to a stop, just bobbing in the water, she peered up at him curiously.
John was her self-appointed brother, just like she was his self-appointed sister. He was a young storm spirit, while she was a mermaid of about the same age. One day, a terrible storm—one that John had accidentally started, and had no idea how to control or stop—had thrown him halfway across the ocean, and the surface currents it generated had ripped her away from any merfolk settlements, and while flying or swimming around being lost in general they had found each other. Both had been children, confused and lost and despairing, and had latched onto each other. Neither of them really had much memory of their original families; John was all she had, and she was all he had. They'd found this island cove to be their home, and for years they'd stayed here.
Right now, he was sitting with one ankle on his knee, leaning on one arm, on thin air, which for a storm spirit was totally normal. It had freaked her out originally, just like her affinity with water had done to him. Now, she accepted it without second thought. Noticing her scrutiny, John flicked his airy fingers and blew a puff of air into her face with a mischievous grin.
"What're you looking at?" he teased.
"Oh, nothing special," she replied with a smirk, breaking into laughter at his surprised expression as it morphed into indignance.
"That was uncalled for!" the spirit said with a playful pout, blowing another, stronger puff of wind into her face. It carried enough force to lift a few locks of her wet, black hair from her back, and she sank beneath the waves for a moment to get out of the way of the jet of air. Resurfacing, she used the large fins on the end of her tail to splash him fully in retaliation, not just flicking him with spray this time.
John yelped and fell from his lofty perch, landing on the surface of the water with a splash, though he didn't sink. Jade grinned at him, folding her arms triumphantly.
This was something that happened a lot, and their playful fights usually ended in draws, just like this, because the both of them couldn't keep straight faces long enough to continue. As the midmorning lengthened into midday into afternoon, Jade occasionally dove beneath the waves to nearby atolls to find different species of coral, which she liked to study patterns in. When she came up one time near the end of this particular journey, though there were a few other stops she wanted to make, John had a serious, pensive look on his face as he looked up at the clear, cloudless sky.
"We should head back to our island," he warned. "There's a big storm coming. Like, huge, I haven't felt one this big in a while."
The day was pristine and pure and not very stormy at all! But Jade trusted his judgment—he was the storm spirit, after all. If he said there was a storm coming, she believed him. The fact that he said it was very large worried her, though. John usually figured he could handle things, and she was the one to tell him to be careful. If this storm was big enough that it concerned him, well... it was probably time to turn tail and swim home, for sure.
"Okay, let's go," she agreed. "Just one thing, I want a little sample from what's right below us, I'll just be a second!"
Diving down again, she looked around at the different colorful corals that lined the shallow rocks. There, that green twisty, convoluted one! She didn't have any of it in her collection. Breaking it would be bad for the coral, but the idea was to find a piece that was about to break off and grow elsewhere. She would just transplant it, and until she moved it to her cove she could just use mermaid powers—at least, she thought they were mermaid powers? She didn't really know any other mermaids—to hold it steady in stasis.
But as she was swimming back up to John, a pattern in the waves caught her attention. It was very subtle, and one that she hadn't heard or seen in a long time. Jade stopped just below the surface to listen more carefully, looking around with a scanning gaze. But she didn't see anything out of the ordinary...
Popping her head out of the water, she looked up at John. "There's a ship somewhere nearby."
"A ship?" he repeated. "In this kind of storm? Oh man, Jade, that's gonna be bad."
"Maybe we can help..." she started to suggest, trailing off when he shook his head vehemently.
"This is a really, really big storm. I don't want to lose you. It's... it's as big as the first one, but I swear I didn't do this one." He really did look agitated, she thought, and soothingly reached out a hand to stroke his. It was strange, holding the wind, but she had gotten used to the feeling over the years. The wind was just her brother.
"Okay," she agreed, not without a pang though. Those poor people on the ship... "Let's go home."
It truly was a storm of massive proportions. The evening sky, normally a soft orange dusted with creamy pinks and light lavenders, was all but black and menacing, the ocean a menacing green-grey with waves so tall that Jade felt a bit of fear at the idea of swimming in that. She sat in the shallows on the shore on their island, in a small cave under the dormant volcano that had created it. John hovered next to her, seeming nervous and fidgety just like her. Neither of them really was a fan of inclement weather.
"Those people on that ship are probably goners," he muttered, shaking his head. There was a bit of a grey tinge to his usual cloudlike, bright white complexion, born of anxiety as he clutched her webbed hand. Jade winced at the reminder of the ship; lightning flashed and illuminated the gaping maw between two mountainous waves beyond the safety of their island harbor. She shrank back into the rocky sand, pulling her tail up with her so she could sit with it curled around herself almost defensively.
"Maybe we should have tried to warn them," she sighed, resting her head against his shoulder. He was cool to the touch, more so than she was, and leaned against her warmth.
"I don't know how much good it would have done," he replied sadly. "It's not like they could get out of there fast enough. Unless you wanted to bring them here..."
"I don't know," she shrugged slightly. "But it doesn't matter now. They're ... they're probably at the bottom of the ocean—wait," she sat up suddenly. A dark something had been illuminated on the heaving seas by a flash of lightning... was it the ship? "John! Did you see that?"
"See wh—oh! Holy mackerel, it's the ship you saw!" he gasped. "Oh no, they're—"
He didn't finish, watching with wide horrorstruck eyes as the ship slowly, painfully began to twist and fall to its side as it went down the steep side of one of the huge waves, the two crests on either side like the gates of night as they closed over the top of the wooden vessel.
"Oh no," Jade murmured, awestruck and horrified at the same time. Both of them stared at the spot where the ship had gone down for a long few heartbeats, thinking about the people who were going to go to watery graves right outside their happy little cove, and then because she just couldn't bear the thought of so many people dying right in front of her, Jade made what was probably the stupidest, most reckless decision of her life.
She dove back into the water and began swimming as fast as she could, below the surface to avoid the choppy seas, to the site of the last she'd seen of the ship, ignoring John's panic-laced cry behind her. It was dark, even darker than swimming at night when at least the moon illuminated the surface of the water, and the currents were agitated and didn't want to cooperate with her, but with effort she pushed her way out of the shelter of the harbor into the open ocean.
It was a different world. She'd never been afraid of drowning, but since the childhood accident that had brought her here, she'd been terrified of losing control of herself in the water, and she felt perilously close to that here, buffeted by strong winds if she went up and dragged this way and that by the water if she went down.
"Jade!" the wind carried John's screams to her whenever her head broke the surface. "Jade! Where are you? Jade!"
"I'm—" water filled her mouth before she could finish, and she sputtered for a moment before leaping up enough to cry "I'm here! John!" before going under again. The ship, the ship! It had to be around here somewhere, though it was probably torn to pieces by now by the waves.
"Jade!" the wind called frantically again, sounding closer—but with the air, one could never be too sure.
"John!" she shrieked back, looking around wildly. There, there was a spar of wood, she was getting closer!
The winds driving the surface currents were pushing her farther and farther away from the safe haven of the island, just like they were pushing the fragments of the ship. Oh no, oh no, oh—
There was a human in front of her, clinging desperately to another wooden spar. He looked haggard, exhausted, panicked, desperate, all of these and more, as he clutched the board and clung to the thread of life. Jade gasped, swallowing more water accidentally and coughing, then began to splash toward him.
"Hey!" she cried over the howling wind. "Grab my hand!"
He turned his head at the sound of her voice, his eyes growing wide. "Who—who the hell are you? Why are you in the water? Were you on the ship? Fuck, fuck, fuck, oh god—"
"Shush!" she yelled at him. He was understandably distressed, but this was not the time to play the interrogation game! She swam closer and grabbed at his arm; he resisted, still gripping the wooden beam as tightly as he could. "Come with me! I'll get you out of this alive, I promise!" He wasn't looking at her, though, but casting his eyes behind her with an expression of dread.
Another huge, mountainous wave was about to crash down on them. Jade looked up with terror at the green monster, thinking fast. She would be okay, but he would drown, he couldn't breathe underwater like she could, this whole thing would be for nothing and she'd be lost for no reason and John, oh, how sorry she was for making this happen, she thought hysterically as the wave began to fall, the two of them in the bottom of the valley between it and the previous wave. She looked at the man; he looked even more terrified than she was, facing his impending death. Impulsively, she hugged him. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she chanted in the slow seconds as the water started to pour down on top of them—
A gust of air suddenly surrounded them both, a bubble of calm within the tempest. Jade let out a breathy sigh that turned into giddy laughter from pure relief as the bubble drifted to the surface again, and kept her grip on her new companion's arm. "John!"
"I'm here!" he yelled. Looking up, she saw him floating above her, seeming to struggle with all the gales that battered him from all sides and directions. "Can you make it home?"
"What about you?" she cried. "I'm not leaving you!"
"I'll be right behind you!" he promised, raising his arms as if to conduct a vast symphony of gales. The bright white of his body and the clear, sky blue of his tunic were a stark contrast against the black clouds, but as he frowned in concentration, Jade felt the surface currents begin to act somewhat closer to normal again as the winds calmed just a little.
"Can you—" she shifted her grip on the human's arm; he seemed drained. How long had he been trying to swim? "Can you give me an air bubble for him?"
It was asking a lot for him to do that on top of calming the storm, especially from a relatively untrained storm spirit, but John nodded grimly, his fingers flexing in her direction. "Go!"
He wouldn't move until she did, so without another word she dove into the depths, dragging the young man down with her. He struggled, panicking, but stopped when he realized he could breathe. Jade wanted to stop and explain to him what was going on, but there was no time, so she just swam as fast as she could in the rough ocean, directing it as best as she could with her water magic and keeping a trajectory straight for the cove.
There was a marked difference in the difficulty of swimming when she finally, finally made it over the rocks that formed the border between the shallow waters of the island harbor and the open sea. It was much easier now, and she swam back to the surface to allow the human to breathe normally again. He seemed to be in shock, having lost his piece of wood while she was rocketing through the deeps, and took a moment to start treading water.
She drew him to the cave and up onto the beach in there, but before saying a word to him she darted back outside to see if she could find John. The skies were a little more healthy looking, more of a deep grey now than black, and the waves were no longer huge mountains and bottomless abysses but rather rolling swells and deep valleys. It was still a big storm, by all counts, but one that was less deadly than before.
"John?" she shouted into the sky. "John! Where are you!?"
A blue and white figure was descending slowly from the clouds above her. He looked worn, shoulders slumping and head bowed, but as he reached the surface of the water, he brightened upon seeing her and flowed down to hug her tightly.
"Please never, ever do that again," he whispered against her ear.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, her arms awkwardly reaching into the air to hold him. "But I saved him. We saved him. Someone from that ship survived."
"I was terrified," he said.
"Me too," she admitted. "But I'm proud of you, and I'm so, so happy I didn't lose you."
"I couldn't bear the thought of losing you," he shook slightly.
"Hush, John, it's okay. It's all fine now. We're okay, we're together."
He was silent, just hovering barely above the water surface to wrap his arms around her. She flicked her tail under the water so that she didn't sink, reaching up to squeeze him. "Let's go inside?"
"Yeah."
They left the stormy sky and sea to swim and fly, hand in hand, back into the cave. There, Jade smiled softly at the young man they'd rescued; he was asleep, curled into a tight ball and shivering slightly from the combination of wind and soaked clothes. He must have been truly exhausted to fall asleep that fast, she thought.
She and John stayed awake a little longer, just trying to calm down from the harrowing experience. Finally, they both fell asleep next to each other, Jade lying halfway on the beach with her tail in the shallow water and John with his arms wrapped around her.
In the morning, Jade was the last one to wake up; John was gone and a little note in the wet sand told her that he'd be back with food in a little while. When she sat up, stretching and straightening her woven shirt, she saw the human sitting up and examining her tail; he jumped back, startled, when she flicked the end of it to lightly splash in the shallows.
"Good morning," she greeted warmly.
"You're a mermaid," he observed intelligently.
"Yes, I am," she agreed. "You're a human."
"Well no shit—I mean, yeah, I'm human. What about your ... friend? Blue guy? He's not human, but he didn't look like a mer-guy to me."
"He's a storm spirit," Jade said merrily, watching the expression of disbelief cross the human's face.
"No fucking way."
"Yes fucking way!" she laughed. "His name's John and he's my brother. Not biologically," she added at his confused look. "And my name is Jade! What's yours?"
"Dave. Dave Strider. Nice to meet you, Jade, and, uh, thanks for saving my life. I'm kind of fond of being alive, so that means a lot. But I don't suppose there's anything to eat on Middle-of-Fucking-Nowhere Island?"
Jade laughed. "You're welcome. I'm happy to have been able to help you..." her voice wavered slightly. All the other people who'd been on the ship weren't as lucky. "Oh! Food. Yes, John went to go get something or other. Probably fruit! Fruit's okay, right, Dave?"
"So long as it's edible, I don't give a shit," he shrugged. "I'm hungry."
For a lone survivor of a shipwreck, he sure seemed to move on fast. That was probably good, right? "Okay, good," she giggled. "Ooh, I bet a bunch of mangoes got knocked down by the storm last night! John will have gone a bit further out, but if you want to come with me I can show you the mango grove!"
"Mango grove," he repeated. "Sounds delicious. Where I'm from, it's usually too cold for fresh mangoes. They always have to be imported, which makes them either unripe or overripe. Which is a real fucking shame because mangoes are the shit."
"Mangoes are not! They are so good!" Jade frowned at him.
"That's what I said—oh, right, mermaid. It's a figure of speech we use where I'm from. Means that they are hella awesome." He nodded once.
"Oh. You humans sure have some weird idioms."
That made him snort with amusement. Jade wondered what it sounded like when he actually laughed. "Yeah, we do. No denyin' that."
She scooted back into the water, beckoning into the enticingly sunny, calm cove. The storm must have cleared up in the early hours of the morning; a few clouds lingered, but they were calm and fluffy, not menacing and dark. The sun beamed down dazzlingly on the waves that gently lapped at her tail, and it was another beautiful day, albeit much warmer than yesterday. "Well, this way to the mango grove!"
As they went, Dave walking along the shoreline and Jade swimming a few feet out in the shallow, barely-swimmable regions, she asked, "So where are you from anyway? Too cold for mangoes?"
"It's the kingdom of Derse. I don't know if you've heard of it on Middle of Fucking Nowhere Island, though."
"Of course I've heard of Derse!" she said, sticking her tongue out at him. "You guys are sort of rivals with Prospit, right? Some sort of negotiating thing going on right now?"
Dave gave her an impressed look as he hopped over a rock on the beach. "Wow, you're surprisingly in the loop for living in the middle of fucking nowhere."
Jade laughed, picking up a seashell that caught her eye. "Sometimes John and I go exploring, and we find harbors or people to talk to. But that's really all I know about Derse, honestly."
"Well, there's not too much to say about the place, really," he shrugged, strolling along. "It's not too big, everyone likes purple, winters are long, and we build the fucking best ice sculptures."
"Really?" Jade asked. "I've never seen ice, let alone ice sculptures. They must be so cold!"
"I told you. Derse is fucking freezing." Dave snorted, looking over at her. "You know, I'm still kind of trying to wrap my head around the fact that last night I got pulled out of the ocean by a mermaid and a storm spirit. I didn't even know you existed."
She stopped for a moment, pondering how best to respond to that. "I would be lying if I said I didn't know humans existed. But yes, Dave, merfolk and storm spirits exist, and we are people too, before you ask."
"I wasn't about to say something about humans being better," he scoffed, looking at her crossly. Oops, maybe her presumption had been a bit offensive. "Not all humans are closeminded jerks. You're not lesser, just... different."
Jade beamed at him. "Why thank you! I think that's one of the nicest things a human has ever said to me."
Dave just looked over at her, one eyebrow raised. "How many humans have said things to you," he deadpanned.
"Not too many! Maybe five, ever?" she admitted with a laugh and careless shrug. "But you seem nice anyway."
"Thanks," he snorted.
"You're welcome!" she said brightly, flicking her tail under the water to make a little splash just for fun.
The rest of the day was spent rather peacefully and uneventfully. John returned from a nearby island with a certain type of sweet, delicious berry that only grew in large numbers there, and the three of them headed inland along a freshwater stream until they reached its source, a small pond that bubbled up from a spring deep underground. It was there they spent the most time, talking and getting to know each other.
To Jade's delight, Dave got along with John just as well as he did with her. The three of them could all be friends now! It would be weird having a human around, but it was better than him being dead, right? Now they could all just enjoy life out in the ocean without worrying about freezing winters or political problems between far-off lands.
Jade's dreamy illusion vanished one night. John was sound asleep already, tired from cavorting through the air and experimenting with his wind abilities—great fun, to be sure, but still draining—but Dave was still awake when she came back from a late-night swim with a few pearls that had caught her eye.
He was sitting hunched in on himself and staring out to sea, around the same spot in which the ship had gone down a few months ago. Now, the ocean was almost as calm as glass, painted silver by the moonlight and the twinkling of the stars; it looked so peaceful that it might be hard to believe it could ever have been as perilous and wrathful as it had been that night. Jade slipped into the mouth of the shallow cave, propping her arms up on a rock next to him, one hand still holding her pearls.
"Hi, Dave," she greeted softly.
"Hey," he replied quietly, a strange note—was it grief?—in his voice.
"A pearl for your thoughts?" she tried the idiom. It roughly made sense, a trade of a material object for something intangible, but she never knew with human expressions. They were a difficult thing to master. Either way, she held out her hand, offering him a smooth, round pearl that shone softly in the moonlight. "I... I am using that correctly, right?"
His lips quirked into a half-smile that spoke volumes of sadness. "Yeah. You are."
"So?" she prodded, pressing the stone into his hand. "What's wrong?"
"Everyone on that ship is dead," he said bluntly. "Everyone but me. Why me?"
Oh no, she'd been afraid he might start grieving over that. It was perfectly understandable, but somehow she had wanted to always keep their little paradise unmarred by sadness. "Because you were the only one John and I saw. I'm sorry, I really am, Dave."
"It's not like it's your fault," he shook his head. "It was that storm—wait..." He turned to cast a suddenly suspicious look at John. "Or was it?"
Jade shook her head vehemently. "No. It wasn't. John would never cause a storm like that, I can promise you that much."
"Are you sure about that?" Dave asked, a trace of bitterness in his voice as he went back to staring at the ocean vacantly.
"Yes, I am." She sighed, swishing her tail around in mild agitation for a moment before she scooted up next to him on the sand so that she could slide a wet arm around his waist. "I never did tell you how a mermaid and a storm spirit came to be family, did I?"
"No." He sounded upset, not about her not mentioning their family history but... oh, of course. That ship had been full of his friends. How stupid was she not to have watched him more closely? How long had he been grieving in secret at night? It must have been months at the least, he'd been here over half a year. Her heart ached for him.
"It was several years ago. John and I are both seventeen years old, so we've been together for... wow, twelve years. He was with a tribe of storm spirits back then, and I was with a village of merfolk, I think. I don't really remember much about my early life. But anyway, one day I just swam out too far or something. I got separated from everyone. That same day, a storm was developing. John's tribe was going to channel it, but he accidentally got in the way, made it worse, a really, really bad storm. Worse than the one that we found you in. He didn't know how to control it, and he got flung far out away from the coast that he'd lived on. The storm system moved and within a few hours, it arrived a little way down the coast, where my village was. I was off near the open ocean, and I also got lost, pulled out to sea. I found myself near this island, and so did he. And we've been together ever since. And that's how I know he would never make a storm like that. One time was enough."
Dave was silent for a moment, the only sound that of the waves gently splashing against the shore. "Okay. I believe you."
"Thank you."
"But I ... don't take this the wrong way, Jade. I want to go home."
Jade stiffened, pulling away from him in a fluid motion. "Home?" she asked, not quite understanding. "You mean Derse? But Dave..." Was he unhappy here? Was it something she and John had done? Or was it that he just didn't want the company of a pair of outcasts, a mermaid and a storm spirit? Maybe he just wanted to be around humans again. That was probably it.
"You're taking it the wrong way," he sighed, reaching over and tentatively resting his hand on top of hers. "It's not that I don't like you guys, or that I don't like being here. I do. But I have family in Derse. I have a sister, and a brother, and a cousin, all of who probably think I'm dead right now. There are other people in Derse I need to be there for. I just... I should go back."
"You said 'should' that time," she pointed out quietly, hooking her thumb around his finger. "Dave... you never told me what you do in Derse."
"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that shit," he sighed, hesitating before he continued. "I'm third in line for the Dersite throne, behind my brother and my sister."
"You mean you're a prince?" Jade asked, surprised from her inner turmoil by this information. "That's so cool! Do you get a pointy crown and everything?"
To her surprise, he laughed—truly laughed, not those little snorts and guffaws that he'd been tossing out for the past months. It was one of those rare moments that she filed away to treasure in her memory, because his actual laugh was a melodic, ringing sound that brought a smile to her face. "I was legitimately worried you would actually think of me differently because I'm a prince," he grinned for a moment. "But I guess that's another human-specific thing. It's cool though. I like you being a mermaid who doesn't freak out because of who I'm related to. And yes, I do have a pointy crown."
She shrugged in the moonlight. "Royalty or not, a family is still a family. I know that if I was separated from John, no matter how many new friends I made I'd still want him back. We'll try to get you home, Dave."
He was quiet for a few heartbeats. "Thanks."
"I'd do anything for you," she smiled. "You're part of this family too, now. All I ask is that you don't forget us when you do go back."
"I could never," he said immediately, meeting her gaze intensely with his ruby-red eyes. "I could never forget either of you. Hell, I don't think anyone could forget the people who saved his life. Or for that matter, meeting a mermaid and a storm spirit. I've done both in one. I'm not ever forgetting you, Jade, I promise."
She smiled, a bit watery, but genuine. "Thank you. You know, that might be one of the nicest things a human has ever said to me."
He grinned at that, chuckling just a little. "And how many humans have said nice things to you?"
"Humans named Dave Strider who are Dersite princes have said lots of nice things to me," she giggled, shifting over so that she could lean against his side and wrap her arm around him again. "I'm going to miss you, you know..."
"I'll miss you too," he sighed, sliding his arm around her shoulders. "But I know I need to go back, not just for my family but also because I have a duty to Derse. I've been happily not giving a fuck for ... shit, how long has it even been? I don't know. Lately, though, I've been thinking about it, and I should go back. But that doesn't change the fact that I'll miss you guys like hell."
"I wish you didn't have to leave. I wish there was a way to at least bring Derse closer to the island. I'm going to hate not having you around! I really meant it when I said you're part of this family too, now," Jade said wistfully. It had been really nice, having more people than just herself and John. She loved her brother dearly, but she had come to love Dave, too.
He took a moment to respond, chuckling dryly before he said, "You know, that might be one of the nicest things a mermaid has ever said to me."
In the morning, bright and early, Jade told John about that conversation. He seemed surprised and more than a little sad, turning to look at Dave mournfully.
"You want to leave?"
"Sorry, bro, but yeah, I do. I've gotta get back home. I've got another family waiting there."
Jade smiled a little at 'another' family. It made her happy that he was calling them family, too, despite how bittersweet it was that they only said it when he was going to leave them.
The past few months had been blissful, to say the least. It was a nice change from the kind of repetitive day-to-day schedule she and John had been living for years, because now they had a new person. In the first week or two, they'd all felt a little awkward, but Dave had rapidly grown into the family with ease, like the three of them belonged together. They had had such a great time together, all three of them, and also sometimes her and Dave! John had discovered a new hobby of flying high, so high that she lost him in the clouds, and on those occasions she and Dave would go swimming or exploring the island. Sometimes she complained that legs would make looking around in the forests or up the volcano so much easier; other times, he complained that a tail would make swimming much more doable and then she could truly show him what her world was like. But they managed well enough!
When she pulled herself from her little reverie, thinking about the dreamy, fantastic events of the recent past, John and Dave were still talking.
"It'll take a little while to figure out how we get you back to Derse," John was saying. "Ships come near here irregularly, so I don't think we can count on that... I might fly there and tell them to come get you, though."
"But John," Jade frowned slightly. "Do you think you can manage that? It's a long flight on your own, and if I come with you we leave Dave here alone. And would they listen to someone they didn't know existed?"
"Well, I mean, they could try and tell me I don't exist," John grinned, "but I think I could disprove that pretty fast, you know?"
Jade laughed. "That's true. But the flight! Can you do it alone?"
"I should be able to. I've been experimenting with flight abilities, actually," he said brightly. "Plus, you know I can just diffuse when I need to rest. No big deal."
"Okay, just don't push yourself too hard! Be careful out there," she warned, reaching up to pat his shoulder. "When are you going to leave?"
"I could go right now," he shrugged. "Whenever. It's your choice, Dave!"
"No, don't do that!" Jade jumped in to protest. "At least let's spend today together, please?" Maybe it was selfish of her, but she wanted to postpone John leaving, because it would be a slap in the face of her happy fantasy. John leaving for a few weeks to fly over to Derse would be a blatant reminder that he was going to go find people to take Dave away forever. And she didn't want Dave to leave!
"I've been away for months," Dave shrugged. "One day more won't make a difference. Sure, what the hell, let's party it up in this joint."
Jade beamed, clapping her hands happily. "Yes! Let's do that! We can have a party. We've never actually had a party before!" she said enthusiastically, flicking water over herself with her tail fins. "This is exciting! What do you do at parties?"
"There's music and food and dancing, right?" John put in, floating a few inches higher with a big goofy smile on his face. He was just as excited as she was, wasn't he?
"Whoa, whoa, slow down there," Dave grinned. "First of all, that was another figure of speech—no, don't give me that look," he added upon seeing both of their crestfallen faces, "let me finish my goddamn sentence. Second of all, I see absolutely no fucking reason to not have a party. Parties are the shit. And you guys having never actually had a party is one of the saddest things I've ever heard."
"Yaaayyy!" Jade cheered, excitedly slapping the surface of the water with her tail. "This is going to be the best party ever!"
John left the next morning, bright and early as the sun rose over the ocean. Dave was still asleep, but Jade had made sure to get her brother to promise to wake her up so she could see him off; she floated in the center of the lagoon and waved to the sky until long after she couldn't see the faint blue speck that was John anymore, just the endless cerulean eternity that had swallowed him as it faded into the horizon.
Yeah, it was probably fair to say that she felt more than a little melancholy. John could travel faster than she could swim—it was just part of what came naturally to him as a storm spirit, he could literally fly like the wind—and now that speed was of the essence, she couldn't accompany him. It was the first time they'd ever truly been separated like this, for so long. Even flying like the wind, the trip would probably take him five or six days, plus however long it took for Derse to ready a ship to follow him back to the island, plus another week or two for them to sail. All in all, he'd be gone almost a month! Jade couldn't remember the last time he'd been away for a month. Had he ever? She didn't think so; there had been times when they just left to wander for a few months, visiting coastlines and other countries, but those were leisure trips that they took together just for the thrill of exploring and seeing new places. Both of them went on those, happily, and even though they weren't on the island that they called home it wasn't so bad, because they were with each other.
At least she still had Dave here, for a little while. He would be with her, until John came back, and then he would leave her. It was unfair of her to blame him for it, because she completely understood that he missed his family—she was sitting here missing John, who would be gone for a matter of weeks, while Dave hadn't seen his siblings or parents in over half a year!—but all the same, she wished there had been more warning, that she had known from the start not to let him completely into her heart like this. Formerly, John had been the only one who occupied that space, but now they both shared it. Even though she'd known John far longer, she still loved them both with all of her soul.
Though... if she was perfectly honest with herself, Jade would have to say that she was starting to suspect that though she loved them both equally, she didn't love them both the same way. No, that was still off. She was long past the stage of "starting to suspect"; denying that was a lost cause. No, indeed. Jade was pretty sure that she was in love with Prince Dave Strider of the Kingdom of Derse, this silly, enigmatic boy with the beautiful voice and impeccable sense of ironic humor who had been swept into her life from a terrible storm one night and had never stopped turning her life upside down ever since. In love... what a strange feeling. In all the few books she'd ever read, bartered for on her and John's expeditions because reading and writing were amazing ways of passing down information and she refused to be uneducated on them, it had been described as a beautiful sensation accompanied by happy butterflies and a feeling of flying and soaring and—well. She somewhat felt that, but she felt nervous, too, and sad, and uncertain, and her books never mentioned anything about those feelings. Most of her books weren't even stories about romance or love, just interesting tidbits about the natural world or about legends and lore. How was a confused young mermaid supposed to know what to do in this situation?
And before she could tell John and ask for his advice, he was gone, and he wouldn't be back until they came to take Dave away forever. Forever was an impossibly long time. Forever was even more gigantic than the fluffy white clouds that hung in the azure sky far above her head. Forever was bigger than the blue infinity of the ocean. Forever was more vast than the endless sky itself, because even the sky faded to give way to the stars. Forever was longer than the stars shone.
Jade hated the concept of forever.
She was still drifting in the center of the relatively shallow lagoon, only her head above water and with tears leaking down her cheeks slowly to land in the ocean, when Dave woke up. She wasn't really aware of his consciousness until the rhythmic splashing behind her drew closer and his voice, right behind her shoulder, asked, "Sup?"
Startled, she floundered for a moment and pretended to go under the surface for a second, just so that she could pretend it was just seawater on her face and not teardrops. "Dave! You scared me!" Did her laughter sound forced? It sounded genuine, right?
He grinned, kicking his legs underwater to stay afloat as he tossed his head to shake his hair from falling into his eyes. It was longer than it had been when he first arrived, and more shaggy, but they didn't really have need for hair-trimming tools on the island, because while John preferred to keep his short he could just diffuse into thin air and reform however he pleased—within certain limits, but those were a storm spirit thing that she'd never really understood—and Jade let her hair grow long and luscious, even though it was pretty much always dripping wet. Still, she thought Dave pulled off the messy haired look quite well. He was really rather handsome.
"No shit, I had no idea," he snorted now, eyes dancing in amusement as he took in her appearance. "How long have you been out here?"
"Since dawn," she sighed, looking up at the sky again.
Dave apparently didn't need to ask what the matter was; it was obvious enough from her demeanor, or he was good at reading her. "You miss him, huh," he said more gently, moving closer so that he could reach out and brush her shoulder.
"I do," she agreed, shifting closer to him. "It's the first time we'll have been apart for so long, actually..."
"Sorry, Jade," he said sincerely. His fingers wrapped around hers in a gentle, comforting manner. Oh no, was there anything that wouldn't make her sad today? She was feeling more tears prick at her eyes, despite her most valiant efforts to hide them. Several seconds passed, Jade blinking rapidly to try not to cry as she squeezed Dave's hand.
Turning abruptly to face him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. "I—I'm going to miss you so much," she managed, her voice breaking with unshed tears. But she stayed there, swallowing hard against the lump in her throat and holding onto him.
His arms wrapped firmly around her as well, strong and lean with hard muscles under his pale skin. He was a swordsman, he'd told her, trained from youth by his brother, and that was why he had that graceful yet sharp mannerism to his movements. "Oh, damn... I'm going to miss you too, Jade, a hell of a lot." He sounded sad, almost hurt, and the selfish part of her that she was immediately ashamed of clamored that she should latch onto that and make him feel guilty for leaving—but no, how could she even think of doing that to him just out of her own loneliness? It wasn't right, especially not to someone she loved.
So she just stayed silent and held onto him as tightly as she could, memorizing the feeling of his bony shoulder against her cheek and his wiry but muscular arms holding her fast and his heart beating in his chest, hoping that she could just hold onto those memories forever and they would be as good as holding him even though she knew they wouldn't.
"Uh... Jade?" Dave broke into her despondent thoughts. "Not to be callous or anything fucking dumb like that, but can we go back to land now? I can't swim as well as you."
It surprised her into a little laugh. "Yes, Dave, we can go back to shore."
It was only the third day of the two of them lazing around and drinking in each others' company when it happened. Part of Jade was very happy, but the overwhelming majority of her mind wanted to cry when it did, out of frustration and sorrow.
The 'it' in question was ... well, not exactly a long story, but at least one that she hadn't seen coming at all.
It had started after they'd come back from a trip up to the spring on the slopes of the volcano. Jade was happily sitting atop one of the small rocky waterfalls that Dave had helped her up earlier, swinging her tail back and forth through the falling stream as she combed through her hair with her fingers, while Dave sat on a rock closer to the edge of the water and watched her with a funny little smile that spoke of fondness and... something else that she hadn't noticed until she looked back on it.
"Hey, Jade," he said simply, scooping up a palmful of water to toss at her.
She laughed and splashed back at him, leaning over and holding the edge of one of the slippery rocks for balance as she trailed her fingers in the shallow stream to flick the clear drops in his direction. "Hi, Dave!"
"Having fun over there?" he asked, the odd little smile turning into one of his usual half-smiles, though she'd been working on making the half-smiles into full smiles.
"Definitely! You can help detangle my hair, too. It's great fun," she teased, leaning over a bit further precariously so that she could poke his nose—oh shit her fingers were slipping—
Dave caught her quickly, clasping her against his chest before she could fall into the rocks or over the edge of the waterfall. It wasn't a long drop, but the pool below was shallow enough that a fall into it without angling her tail properly so that it didn't hit the bottom would probably hurt. She stayed absolutely still for a moment, her eyes wide as the adrenaline rushing through her calmed and her grip on his shoulders loosened.
"Careful," he cautioned, not letting go. Well, that was alright, she was just as happy to sit here in his arms.
"Thanks," she breathed, looking up at him gratefully. He seemed to be a bit on edge about something, was everything alright...?
"So, uh... there's something I want to tell you," he said as if in answer to her unasked question.
"Is something wrong, Dave?" she asked worriedly. "Are you okay—"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing like that," he said quickly, shaking his head. "No, I just wanted to tell you that I, uh... I love you."
Jade blinked, wondering why he'd found that so hard to say. "I love you too! I've told you that like every day, you dork," she hugged him, albeit a little awkwardly considering that she was leaning across the open stream.
For some reason, he seemed even more upset about whatever was bothering him. "No, that's—oh goddammit, fucking mermaid—I mean it like.. fuck this shit."
"Dave?" she asked uncertainly. "What's the—"
She didn't get a chance to finish her question, though, because Dave had closed the small gap between them with a kiss. It was hesitant and soft but still, it was her very first kiss and Dave Strider was kissing her, the prince that she had fallen in love with was kissing her—!
How could he do this to her, now, right when he had decided to leave?
Jade wrenched herself away from him, forcibly ignoring the pang that his shocked, guilty expression sent through her, and without a word pushed herself down the waterfall, angling her body so that she could land in the shallow water without harm. Once there she took off downstream, heading back to the lagoon and from there into the open ocean so that she could cry into the saltwater without fear of him seeing her.
The tears were already coming before she cleared the mouth of the stream, let alone the edge of the shallow lagoon that dropped into the deep waters of the ocean. Why, oh, why, how could he do this to her? Part of her wanted to sing from joy that he loved her in the romantic, in-love way, just like she did him, but most of her felt a stinging, painful sense of betrayal. "I love you," he had said, but only after it was confirmed that he was leaving and he was never going to see her again. He was leaving her! Forever! What was the point in telling her that he loved her now? It would just make her hurt more when he left!
Another sob tore itself from her throat. Jade kept swimming, further and further out, wanting nothing more than to get away from Dave Strider until her head stopped spinning and her heart stopped aching and she could finally get her thoughts in order. It was maybe unfair to him to pin all her hurt on him, but oh how easy it was to do, and he was the source of most of it even if he didn't mean to be.
In the distance, she could see a small coral island, much smaller in size than her and John's and Dave's—no, just hers and John's, Dave was leaving—but still large enough to be a landmark. She dove under the water surface, swimming down to the coral reef that lined around the shallows, thriving in the sunlight, and curled up on herself next to it, hoping that the bright colors and familiarity of this reef, one of the first she'd ever started studying, could cheer her up if nothing else could. Hours ticked by faster than she thought they could, and soon it was dark. Crying was tiring, she thought hazily, still feeling a bit numb from heartache as she looked up at the moon through the waves. And with that thought, the tears began to flow again, even though they were invisible underwater. It still hurt, it really did! Why couldn't they just be happy?
She cried herself to sleep late that night, and didn't wake up until almost afternoon of the next day. When the sunlight filtering down through the water finally roused her, Jade realized how hungry she was—she'd skipped dinner and breakfast—and debated what to do to fix this. Did she feel ready to face Dave? No, not yet. She'd cried a lot yesterday, but she hadn't organized her thoughts, hadn't figured out what to say to him. She would need a little more time. But since that was the case, going back to her main volcanic island was out of the question. Perhaps some of the others would be better.
There was the one with the sweet red berries that John often brought, like he had on Dave's first day—on second thought, if they were going to remind her of Dave, she didn't want them. Scratch that. Perhaps she'd just find some of the other island berries and fruits, maybe with some seaweed. It would be nourishing enough, though what she really wanted was a coconut. Unless she came upon any fallen ones, however, it would be impossible to get; mermaids did not climb trees.
Swimming from her coral reef out to another nearby atoll, a small one with a relatively deep lagoon—it was probably an older island than her own—Jade managed to get herself some fruit, picking up seaweed along the way and nibbling on it. Once her hunger was sated, she dove down to the bottom of the lagoon and lay in the sand there, watching the fish swim overhead.
She had to think for a while, now, and contemplate how to deal with Dave so that they could both be as happy as possible. Or at least so that he could be happy, because she was pretty sure there was no way she would come out of this happily. It was pretty much impossible at this point (and would have been whether she was in love with him or not. That was just making things worse).
Did she love him? Of course. That went without saying, there was no question about it.
Did she want to tell him that she loved him? Romantically, in the way he said he loved her? That was harder. On the one hand, she did, because he deserved to know and it would probably make them both happy until John got back. On the other hand, well... if she didn't tell him, he'd hurt for now, but he would probably move on from her to someone he could actually be with sooner, with less pain. It might be better in the long run.
But telling him could at least give them both closure. Maybe she could tell him, but also say that they shouldn't be together because they couldn't. That sounded good. He would be reasonable, right?
... Right?
Yeah, probably not. But she could hope! And it was a good plan, if all went well. They could just sit there and talk it out, rationally, and... things would just work out, somehow.
Oh, this was ridiculous! Why was it so complicated? Why couldn't everything just be as simple as "Dave is in love with me, I am in love with Dave, we can be happy"? This was so hard, it was dumb! Maybe she could just go talk to him. And see how it went from there.
She had a basic plan of how to approach him, at least. Now all she had to do was work up the courage to actually follow through with it. That... might be difficult, but she would have to do it, for both of their sakes.
She only hoped she would be able to pull it off without hurting either herself or Dave too badly.
AN: ... does this count as a cliffhanger? Oh my god if this is a cliffhanger I am literally the worst, hahaha. Well, it will be remedied soon!
Thanks for reading everyone! I hope you're enjoying it! :D