Under the ocean, life is quiet. There are no wars or threats from distant forces and every thing that lives supports each other. Now, the creatures do fight and squabble, as does anything. But they are all united against the most deadly threat that they all face: Man. Even the sharks had learned to stay away from ships and shores for fear of being caught.

There is one creature under the sea that has the sole purpose of rising up against mankind. The Merpeople have always been gifted in the art of weaving enchanting songs to ensnare sailors and drag them to their dooms. With razor teeth and powerful tails, diving into infested waters is a death sentence.

Now, while Merpeople are very deadly, if the captain can prove himself worthy of their trust, they will vow to never attack their ship. This vow is only broken if the captain uses this trust against them. For decades, captains have tried and failed to keep the merpeople's trust. Some were overtaken by greed and attempted to capture a merperson in order to sell them. Others mistook them for fish and hunted them for food. Only one captain has ever managed to keep a vow sacred with the Merpeople.

Captain Arthur Kirkland was this captain. He regularly travelled across the merpeople's home. While he was a pirate, and a deadly one at that, he made it very clear to his crew that no merperson was to ever come to harm. If anyone disobeyed him, they would not live to tell the tale.

As it worked out, the Merpeople started helping his ship. If someone fell overboard, instead of a death sentence, they would appear on the other side of the deck. If they found themselves stranded in the middle of the ocean, they would appear at their destination by morning. Some sailors said the Merpeople used magic while others just called it a fortunate tide.

Now, any good sailor has interesting tales to tell. And this is one of them, with magic and romance and suspense. This is the tale of how Arthur Kirkland earned the merpeople's trust.

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One particular morning, when the seas were calm and the sun was bearable, two merpeople were resting on a rock. It wasn't particularly big, nor was it very small. The Merpeople were just enjoying themselves, as a human would play in the water. The mermaid wasn't exceptionally beautiful to other Merpeople and the mermaid wasn't exceptionally handsome.

The mermaid was fairly chubby with a shimmering tail colored with dark blues. Her skin was lightly tanned and her light brown hair was constantly tied into a braid to keep it from getting caught on everything. Her piercing navy eyes could easily catch anyone's attention, but she didn't want any attention except for her companion's.

The merman had a dark olive tan and a skinny tail that could have been mistaken for palm tree leaves. His short brown hair was always out of his olive eyes. At the moment, he was doing his best to make his companion laugh, even though he wasn't very good at it.

At first glance, no one would be able to tell that these young Merpeople were mates. Merpeople are very loyal and often mate for life. To see mates at such a young age has never been common, but when the rare pair is made, it is often obvious from the start.

While Merpeople do have voices, they often sign instead of speaking due to sound not traveling as well underwater.

The male signed, "The scouts have said that there is another ship coming. Do you think we'll be able to see it from here?" The female thought for a moment, signing back, "Probably, but isn't it dangerous? We could get caught and then where would we be?" The male grinned. "Natasha, you're worrying too much. Besides, we can swim faster than their ship, so it'll be no problem getting away."

Natasha frowned, tapping her fingers impatiently on the rock. "Lovino, be serious. This is dangerous for us." Before she could go off on a tangent, she froze with her eyes on the horizon. Following her gaze, Lovino saw a ship heading right for them with a speed that could match their own.

Natasha dove underwater, knowing full well that humans could be crafty in terms of seeing long distances. Waving off her worries, Lovino hid behind the rock to watch the ship as it came closer. As the ship advanced, Natasha continuously pulled on his tail. She finally got him to come under water as the people on the ship were able to be heard.

Glaring at his mate, Lovino kept the two of them close enough to the surface to see the sides of the ship. Filled with curiosity, he let his mate check their surroundings. When she started yanking on his arm, he turned to glare at her once more, only to find her expression full of fear as she tried to get them to swim away. Looking around them, he couldn't find what she was so afraid of. He hadn't even noticed that the ship had stopped.

A thick rope net dropped around the two of us, quickly and easily getting tangled with our limbs and fins. I happened to be closer to the edge, giving me less net to untangle myself from. I looked at the rest of the net and immediately saw Lovino struggling to throw the rope off of him. The corners of the net stretched far out of the water, up along the side of the ship. I swam over and started trying to break the net, pulling and biting at the thick ropes.

My heart dropped as the net jolted and started pulling up towards the ship. I began swimming down, trying to drag the net back down so Lovino could get out safely. I even twisted my arms into the loops of the net to get extra pulling strength. At first, it was working. Whoever was on the other end of the net quickly figured out that it was being pulled back and started tugging it more than I could keep up with. I got one of my arms out and started getting the other one out when the two of us were heaved out of the water.

Lovino desperately signed for me to go, to leave him to his fate. Stubbornly, I stayed, and even managed to start snapping some of the rope loops. Suddenly, we were dropped onto a solid wooden surface. It took me a moment to recover before I started crawling to the side of the surface, dragging the still struggling Lovino with me. Loud noises started crying out at me, sounding angry. I didn't stop for them. I didn't stop until I felt a sharp pain in my arm. I dropped the net and cradled my arm as these loud thumps came closer towards the two of us. When the thumps stopped, I threw myself over Lovino in an attempt to protect him.

Surrounding us were figures that resembled other merfolk, at least until where their fin was supposed to be. These must have been the humans the guards were always warning us about. I felt the stinging again, this time across my back. I glared up at the human behind me. Immediately from his appearance, I completely distrusted him. Maybe it was the hair the color of a burning ship or the unnaturally green eyes that held so much contempt.

He shouted something that I didn't quite understand to the people around us. It sounded like the language we would sing in, but the accent mushed the words together. I concentrated on attempting to translate his words. "Ready a tub with water," he shouted. He looked at me with a cocky smirk on his face. "Put the green one in. The blue one is too troublesome to make a profit." My eyes widened and I frantically tried once more to get Lovino off of the ship.

I was picked up by the neck by the flame-haired man and lifted up to his eye level. I seemed weightless to him as he thrusted a blade into my belly, effortlessly staining it with my silver blood. All I could hear was the heart-wrenching sound of my mate crying out. His cry was filled with pain and devastation. It obviously affected some of the men, who stopped what they were doing as their leader threw me off of the side like a dead fish. I didn't even feel the water embrace my heavy body before I lost consciousness.