AUTHORS NOTE: Hello my lovely people. This is my very first story. I got the prompt from a Tumblr post. Feel free to review

Pairing: Emma/OC Emma/Regina

Rating: T-for language.

The ride wasn't smooth sailing, in the literal sense. They were all exhausted from the sway of the boat, lack of food, amount of work they have done, the lack of sleep, and just the overall situation. Neverland was turning out as it was exactly promised, a place no one wanted to visit. It was a land that ran by imagination and some minds were too dark to venture.

Emma Swan was leaning over the railing just gazing out, hoping that the sunset would offer some good news. She spotted something that shone like a diamond, it was colorful and moved at a fierce velocity. Either she was hallucinating or that thing just whispered her name, over and over again. "Emma, Emm-mmmaa…" the mermaid said in a sultry voice.

She was most definitely not hallucinating. In front of her swam a mermaid. She had long light blue hair tied up in a ponytail. The mermaid brushed her ponytail in front and to the left side of her breasts. She cocked her hair to opposite side and stared at Emma. Her fin kept moving side to side, almost like waltzing under water. It was a shade brighter than her hair and had silver designs from top to bottom that shown each time she switched the course of her swaying. Her bra was black with silver lace linings, and it had a small shell in between her breasts for an accessory. Her boobs were perfectly round and not so big, about a C-cup Emma guessed. Her eyes locked with the mermaids, two sparkling, big, round, sapphire eyes. "Hello?" Emma hesitated.

"Why hello there Emma," the mermaid cheered.

"Who are you?" A moment of silence took over. The mermaid gazed and finally smiled brightly at Emma.

"My name is Sapphira and I am here to help you."

"How do you know my name?"

"Emma, Emma," she soothed as if she were talking to a child. "So many questions and none of them are relevant. You have to ask the right questions."

"Relevant? What the fuck are you talking about?" Emma clearly exasperated took a deep breath before continuing, "You said you are here to help, do you know where Henry is?"

"I do not, but not to worry I can help you navigate these waters. Merfolk are not so kind to visitors, but you, Emma is a special one." Sapphira dove and swam away. Emma was left with a hundred questions and no answers. The mermaid was shady at best, but there was something to her that had Emma feeling she could trust Sapphira.

Emma paced around the Jolly Roger very confused and found it best to not share her interaction with Sapphira to anyone on the ship. She needed more information before she went around sharing. What was there to share? A mermaid, a mermaid who… she had to admit she found quite attractive. There was something about Sapphira. The mermaid had a smile that could light up the darkest room, but those eyes were the most intriguing part of her. Sapphira had some of the most mesmerizing eyes Emma has ever seen but they had a hint of sadness, a hint Emma had only seen in one other person: Regina. "Penny for your thoughts, dear?" Speaking of the devil, Regina interrupted Emma's thoughts.

"Regina!" Emma shrieked, "What are you, uh, is there anything I could do for you?"

"First, you can breathe and try to relax will you. Second I just came to let you know dinner will be served in 10 minutes."

"Oh. Yes. Thank you."

"Emma, are you okay?" Regina sounded worried.

"I-uh- I'm just worried about Henry." Emma mused.

….Regina squeezed Emma's arm offering her sympathy and demonstrating her understanding. "I know Miss Swan." And so both Emma and Regina walked towards the kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~~

Emma couldn't sleep that night so she went up to the edge of the Jolly Roger and stared at the shining moon reflecting off the water. The moon helped her relax and think a bit, with all the commotion on the Jolly Roger she didn't have any time for herself. She was startled by some movement underwater.

Sapphire commented. "So Emma-tell me"

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Emma shouted.

"Oh sorry, did I startle you?"

"No shit!"

Sounding sincere the mermaid commented, "that was never my intention, my apologies."

"What are you doing here?"

"I heard you."

"You heard me?...Is that so?" Emma questioned as she quirked her eyebrows. Sapphira nodded. "And what exactly did I say?"

"That you are lonely. Emma, I am here to be your friend."

Emma just stared at Sapphira with confused eyes and a frown. Emma looked deeply into the mermaids eyes and realized she was telling the truth. She was indeed lonely, she missed Henry and on top of the Jolly Roger they were making no progress in finding him. Everyone was either fighting all the time or working on the fixing and repairing the ship. The only other person who understood what she was going through was Regina. How was Regina dealing with all of this? Oh! That's right. She spent the whole time taking it out on her parents, the ever optimistic "Charming" Family. It got to the point where Snow and Charming were so extremely annoying no one could stand them. Breaking the silence the mermaid questioned, "Is everything alright Emma?"

"I—uh—I am just thinking." Not wanting to scare the human away Sapphira signal her agreement. They just stood there looking in the direction of one another but not talking to each other. After a while Sapphira noticed Emma's head on the railing, her shoulders mirroring the steady rise and fall of the sea currents. Emma was asleep. Sapphira kept an eye on Emma, making sure she didn't fall overboard. The mermaid heard steps on board and decided it was time to leave. She smiled knowingly for she will return later. After all she was there for Emma.

Regina noticed Emma asleep, she starting tip toeing near the sleeping figure. For a moment she just stood there contemplating. For the first time Emma didn't look like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders in fact it looked like she fell asleep with a smile on her face. After 2 seconds of gazing, Emma started to stir and a frowned appeared on her face. It seemed as though she was entering a nightmare. Regina took this opportunity to wake her up. "Emma, wake up," she murmured.

"HENRY!" Emma shrieked. She threw her arms up as if to catch something and in the process she almost knocked Regina. To avoid any incidents Regina backed away from Emma. Emma was so frightened by her nightmare she became unsteady. Regina noticed that the blonde was about to fall overboard so she hugged Emma to avoid such incident.

"Emma…Emma!" Regina insisted until the blonde looked at her, "Emma wake up. It's okay. You are fine. You are safe. Calm down. Breathe." Regina tried to appease the blonde. Emma was able to get her footing stable. In a moment of gratefulness, she wrapped her arms around Regina's waist.

"Thank you Regina." Emma sighed. They stood there just holding each other, and after a while their breathings became the same. Emma sensed awkwardness creeping in so she tried to let go. Regina felt the change in demeanor and without a single word she let go, but it wasn't without a look of disappointment. Emma noticed but didn't comment on it, fearing that too much had already happened. So instead of dwelling on what had just happened, including the nightmare, she opted to ask about merfolk.

"You mean mermaids? Why do you want to know about mermaids?" Regina commented.

"Uh well you see Regina. I happen to have seen one."

"What? Why? When? Miss Swan please tell me you did not talk to them, they aren't to be trusted. Just ask Hook about what happened with him and Ariel and her precious Kingdom."

"Well you see I didn't necessarily—"

"No. Emma you didn't?" Regina interrupted, "What did she say, more importantly what did she want?"

"Wow. OK. Calm down your majesty. First, I didn't say anything. Second, she said she could help us find Henry!" Emma paused, letting the information sink in. Also she did not want to inform Regina that the mermaid seemed sincere in the fact that she wanted to befriend Emma.

"Miss Swan I know that you are not telling me everything. Does she know where Henry is?" Regina most certainly did not trust this mermaid. She sensed something was off and wanted to find out what that was.

"If she does, she didn't say. You know what Regina, I'm a bit tired. I'm gonna go eat something and possibly take a nap before Mr-leather-pants starts barking orders."

Regina stood there watching the blonde walk away. Sighing she turned around and stared at the sunrise. Wait? Is that the mermaid. Regina caught a glimpse of a long blue fin going in the water. Once she blinked the mermaid was long gone before Regina could really look at her threat.

Emma walked along the side of the Jolly Roger. "Emma, it's not true you know?" Sapphira said in hushed tones.

"Ugh. Sapphira, I cannot deal with this stress. I don't have time to talk to you."

"I heard what she told you and it isn't true, you can trust. In fact I know you trust me. I can see it in your eyes. But I understand if you don't want to talk. If you ever need me just call my name. Wherever you are, I will hear you." The mermaid swan away. Emma noticed how graceful and beautiful the mermaid looked. I can't do this, I shouldn't do this.

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-H