Of course mermaids were only the stuff of fairy tales. The sort of things you told kids to excite their imaginations or to get them to go to sleep at night. And then the darker variants were there to warn people and keep them safe, to prevent them from doing things or going places they shouldn't.

Yes, mermaids were either pretty princesses with shimmering tails, or deceptive sirens that led sailors to their watery graves. But those were only stories; mermaids weren't real.

At least, that's what You was trying to tell herself, her thoughts chanting like a mantra - "They're only stories, mermaids can't be real, they can't be! They're just make believe-" - as she found herself face to face with an actual mermaid; one with short orange hair the same colour as her scaly tail, big red eyes and a big warm smile as well. Not that it did anything to make You feel more at ease.

"Are you okay? You might still be a lil dizzy after your time underwater," the...creature asked, tilting her head. You didn't answer immediately, her mind racing and torn between her aforementioned internal panic - "She's an actual mermaid, oh god, I'm probably still asleep, this can't be real, oh shi-" - and trying to remember what had actually happened to her.

Underwater? Why was she underwater? In fact, where was she? Was she not on her father's ship?

When she actually decided to take in her surroundings, finally taking her eyes off the mermaid, You found that she was indeed not on her father's ship; instead, she noticed she was in a shallow cave, with a thin strip of sand hugging the back wall. She absentmindedly noted that that meant the tide was probably out, but that it could also come back in and fill the cave fairly soon.

Her attention was snapped back to the mermaid as she found a hand waving in front of her face, and a voice- her voice, the mermaid's voice, calling, "Heeeeey. Are you okay?"

You finally seemed to find her voice, and suddenly began spewing a stream of questions. "Wha- Wait, where are we? Where's my father's ship? What happened? Why am I here? Who are- what are you?!" With that last question, You jumped to her feet and began backing away. Or at least she attempted to do both; the roof was far too low for her to stand at full height, and she found herself at the cave wall after simply leaning back slightly.

The mermaid however seemed undisturbed by You's fanatically hostile behaviour; still smiling, she shifted herself till she was seated with her tail to her side, and then began answering You's many questions, "Well, my name is Chika, and I'm a mermaid, as you can see," - she gestured to her tail, almost proudly, as though to prove her point - "we're in a cave on the other side island from the human settlement, and I brought you here cos you fell from your human boat early this morning when that nasty storm was going on. Its waiting at the settlement."

Two things from the mermaid's- Chika's description stuck out to You, at different rates; first was the "storm" part. That did indeed jog her memory, and she did recall the ship rocking sharply, the shouts from the rest of the crew as they rushed to their stations to deal with it...and then the scream of her father as she fell over the railing into the ocean after a particularly violent jolt.

Shaking her head of any horrifying thoughts about her father, she thought about the second thing that she'd noticed; "settlement", which would mean a village. It was probably Uchiura, the village the ship had been docked at for the past week; they'd left it that morning as they planned to continue to their next destination, however the storm clearly had other ideas and had forced the ship to turn back.

"Wait," she said, her mind beginning to race again, though this time for the sake of forming a plan rather than just panicking, "so we're just on the other side of the island from Uchiura? Then I need to go right now, I need to find father and show him that I'm okay!" She began to walk forward, though her steps were tiny due to lack of proper land, even as she stepped into the water.

She slowed to a stop when the water reached her knees, her head beginning to ache and her vision briefly going white - which made sense given what Chika had told her; she'd fallen from the ship into storm crazed waters, nearly drowned, and had been unconscious for however long. It probably would be best for her to sit and wait till she was fit to actually move, an act that Chika herself then said as much, "Wait, you should really wait here till you're feeling better!"

Common sense was telling You that she should stay and rest till she felt well enough to actually move. Common sense was also telling her that the tide would probably come through soon and unless Chika was willing to help her move when that happened, she'd probably drown if she stayed.

However, overriding common sense was her stubborn side, which insisted that she press on regardless of her headache, that she make her way to the village as quickly as possible, find her father, and forget this encounter with the fairy tale creature, with the hope that it would eventually relegate itself to such a misty memory that she'd look back and think it nothing more than a very vivid dream.

She shook her head to clear her swimming vision, though possibly making it even worse in the process and making her headache smart even more, and kept moving through the water, ignoring the mermaid behind her, calling for her to wait. She waded further, assuming she was on a gradual downward slope, only to go to take another step forward and then finding herself submerged in the water as she stumbled over the sudden drop into the deep.

She reemerged, spluttering and coughing as Chika laughed behind her. You turned sharply - or as sharply as she could while floating in water - to glare back at the mermaid, hoping that her annoyance was clear enough in her gaze to shut the other girl up. Chika did indeed stop laughing, though more because she calmed herself and less due to You's heated stare.

Then to You's surprise, Chika began shuffling herself through the water until she entered the deep end and was floating next to You, where she then put her arm around You's waist and pulled the sailor's other arm over her own shoulder.

"Wh-what are you-?" You stuttered, feeling her face grow warm at the sudden close contact. Chika giggled, "Well, if you're gonna insist on leaving, then I might as well help you. Just make sure you rest when we get to the beach, okay?" You nodded, deeming that a fair request, though her voice couldn't actually speak for her at that moment. Nevertheless, Chika was happy with her response as she nodded herself.

"Good! Then let's go!" Thus the two began swimming out of the cave, with You getting dragged along by Chika than actually swimming alongside her, though whether that was due to her own weak legs or Chika's stronger strokes, she couldn't tell.


I don't know how many chapters this will end up being, or if I'll even be able to finish it before I get hit with a massive block (Though trust me when I say I'm obviously gonna keep trying to write this), but this shouldn't be too long a story anyway. I hope. :''D Fortunately I'm already working on chapter 2 and I hope to stay a chapter ahead of posting to ensure this gets finished.

I don't have much else to say about this, but I hope you enjoyed this first chapter.

Concrit is always welcome.

Fufu x