Author's notes:
Hetalia doesn't belong to me; it belongs to the awesome Hidekazu Himaruya.
The pairing for this one is Pirate!England and Fem!Prussia.
Salty Sea
She tugged on the ends of her fringe of her short snowy hair to see how long it was now. It barely reached the bridge of her nose. She frowned and sighed before letting it free to flutter in the chilly ocean breeze. She missed how long it had been before.
She drew in a deep breath of salty tasting air and let it out slowly. She let her hands rest on the rail of the ships main deck as she watched the waves wash against the hull of the ship, swaying the ship in a lulling motion. She closed her eye and wondered how the water felt. Was it still as cold as the day that the captain had pulled her from the salty sea? She shuttered recalling the chilly water shed floated in for hours after the ship she had been traveling on had been sunk.
Suddenly to her surprise, as if to grant her half thought out wish for warmer clothes, someone draped a jacket over her bony shoulders. She looked down at the red and black fine silk and velvet garment and pulled it around her to better keep her warm.
"You looked cold." The one who gave her the jacket said. He spoke in Low German to her, a language she rarely heard anymore and she couldn't help but smile when she looked up at him. The language reminded her of her late father.
The Pirate captain smiled down at her with shimmering jade eyes. He slid his arms around her thin waist and held her.
"You can speak English to me you know," She told him in English, though her strong German accent made the words sound much different then when the captain and the crew spoke. She placed her hand on his arms to remove them from her but, she stopped, feeling frightened that she may upset him.
The pirate captain was no longer the boy she'd met long ago when her father had brought her to the islands as a small Child. He played the role of a terrifying Pirate captain to a T. Yelling orders and ruling over his crew with an iron fist. At first she found it hard to believe that they were even the same person. Though away from the crew he showed his softer side, but she still feared him, after all she was in away his prisoner.
He hummed in acknowledgement and nuzzled his nose in to her hair. Even after being soaked in salty ocean water she still smelled of black powder and metal, yet at the same time she smelled of earth and sweet flowers. He tightened his embrace on her and breathed in her sent.
"What were you doing out here?" he asked. "Watching for mermaids?" he prompted.
"Below deck was stifling, I needed air." She said shaking her head.
"I see," he responded. "You know when I found you, that's what the crew thought you were when I first pulled you from the water?"
"A what?" she asked.
"A mermaid." He answered.
She laughed and turned around in his hold to face him.
"Oh, Ja, liebe Arthur, I'm a mermaid." She boasted. "But I've gone and cut off all my magical hair." she said threading her fingers in to her short locks and tugging on them. "What value do I have now?" Her tone turned bitter.
The captain felt uncomfortable being called by his real name, after all she was the only one that knew who he really was, but he shrugged it off and reached up and slid his hands through the woman's short hair.
She had cut off her long locks to better hide that she was in fact a woman. She knew from her father that pirates were not fond of woman on their ships, it was considered bad luck. Hiding her gender was not hard for her; she was not well endowed and though she was not particularly tall she was built to be a fighter not a princess. Acting as a man was also almost second nature to her sense she had spent many years dressing and behaving like one when she was younger.
Arthur's warm touch felt nice, but made her worry more. She dropped her hands to her sides.
"What am I? Am I your prisoner?" She asked not looking at the pirate.
He stopped moving and waited for a moment before speaking.
"No, Jul holding you prisoner would serve me no purpose." He answered and placed his finger under her chin to force her to look up at him. "I just enjoy having you here with me." He told her with a smile across his face.
His statement caused her mind to run with thoughts and questions. So many so that she didn't even know where to begin. Instead she pushed them all out of her mind and just laughed. She laid her head rest against his chest and drew her arms up so that she could feel his warmth.
"I like being with you too, Arthur." She told him.
Thank you for reading!