Thanks for reading! And please comment constructive criticism, this will be a two-three shot.
For you Amaris, because you don't think I can write Clace.
A girl with red hair
She really didn't like harvest. Holding a woven basket while drifting in between the kelp, picking the greenest leaves, and closing the basket so they don't drift out should be lulling for some, but for her it was monotonous. Empty.
Yet she kept doing it. Her braids flowed back and forth in the rhythm of the current. Like the winds, the young girl smiled. Winds were not here in the ocean, but the tides mimicked the old fictional object. As she reached for another green leaf, the kept parted for a black-haired girl to pass through.
"Clary!" The other girl flicked swam up to the redhead and her dark tail glittered with the tiny specks of silver, "You have to come to the surface with me! There's been a shipwreck!"
The girl paused midway from plucking a ripe leaf from its stem. "So?" Her tone radiated impatience but if one listened closely one could hear the fear in her voice, "We all can't afford to ditch working on our farms when we please." Although she would never admit it out loud, the redhead was jealous of the other girls tall, flowing stature and midnight hair that contrasted with her stark white skin; almost the color of the dead.
"Come on Clary!" The raven haired girl begged, "You might find something to sell," at the word 'sell' the red head snapped up, knowing the harsh truth that one can never pass up the opportunity to barter for more goods. Maybe a driftwood comb.
"Okay, I'll go," Clary tried to push back the fear suddenly rising in her throat, like sand when human feet stomp it up. A shipwreck, the exact place where her brother was killed.
"Clary, I know about Jonathan, but sometimes you have to face your fears," Isabelle comforted, "And this would be for a good opportunity for closure."
Clary sighed knowing that Isabelle was right, and she quickly swam down to retrieve her satchel that she weighted to the bottom of the ocean floor.
"I need to get one thing," she did not check to see is the pale girl heard, but swam farther into the kelp field, knowing exactly where to go.
-/-/-
The pile of dark rocks was surrounded by swaying kelp, just like he would've like it, Clary noted and a she could feel the tear of air slipping out, and she reached out at caught the tiny drop. Jonathan said that he wanted his body to be buried in the kelp fields, and now he lay there, surrounded by a swaying reminder that they would remain farmers forever. Clary took a deep breath and swam closer and closer, and darkness soon engulfed her.
-/-/-
The cave was bigger on the inside, being half under the sand and Clary searched around for her witchlight. The cave was soon bathed in a blue glow and the mermaid could see the body wrapped tightly in dyed kelp, with a shell adornments speaking of a happy life, daring adventures, and a kind heart. But on Jonathan's heart lay his favorite possession, his sword.
The blade was made of granite, a rare stone of the world above. The hilt made of smooth glass, and designs of stars covered the hilt and the blade. The Morning Star, is what Jonathan called it, because it brings light to a dark world. When I die, Clary, I want this to be yours. Clary could feel tears streaming down her face and without thought she dropped the sword, let her head fall into her hands, and wept.
And a tail made of flames.
"Clary," a soft voice split through the darkness, "Clary? By the Angel, Clary." Isabelle found the poor girl huddled in the corner crying over Jonathan's body. The raven haired beauty helped the sobbing girl up.
"Isa—bel le." Clary's voice shook.
"Shhh, I know Clary," Isabelle calmed, suddenly feeling like her mother, "It's going to be alright, he's in a happy place. A happy place,"
"I still. . . want to go. . . to the shipwreck," Clary spoke in between the sobs, "Jon would. . . want me too." Clary bursted into tears—again.
Clary tried to help herself up from the hunched position, and Isabelle rushed to help her sit up. "Here eat this," Isabelle handed Clary a seaweed wrap, and Clary took it with shaky hands.
"Thanks. . Iz," Clary choked out, "Your. the. best. I still want to go,"
"If you insist," Isabelle twisted her hair into a knot, "let's go."
.
Clary reached into her satchel hoping she remembered to grab some seaweed before departing to go scour a abandoned ship—she didn't, and for the fifth time that day Clary's stomach rumbled. Isabelle kept plowing forward.
"Iz, do you have any kelp?" Clary hurried to keep up with Izzy.
Izzy sighed, "I do Clary but you'll be more hungry on the way back, we should save some for later."
Clary huffed, and pulled to help catch up with Izzy. "Iz, are you sure you say a shipwreck and it wasn't a hallucination?"
"For the 100th time I'm positive I say the darn ship!" Clary just stared at Izzy's outburst. "Sorry," The raven haired girl replied stubbly.
The sun shifted from directly penetrating the surface to lower in the sky, and Clary was getting worried. "Izzy, I think we should turn around. I think we won't make it."
"By the Angel Clary! We will make it!" Isabelle's voice ringed with annoyance, "Since when did you care of what Jocelyn worried about you!?"
Clary shifted her gaze away from Isabelle, and began to find a loose strand of her hair very interesting.
"I'm sorry, Clary," Isabelle's voice was surprisingly soft, "I just lost it there." Clary still found her hair interesting, and was frustrated at the other mermaid for snapping at her. "Find then!" Izzy's threw her hands up, "If you won't answer I won't care!"
An awkward silence filled the duo as they swam in silence towards a ship. "There it is!" Izzy cried out, pointing to a fuzzy outline just beneath them. "Clary? Clary! CLARY!" Clary looked up just to find herself looking at a shark, a big shark, a huge shark that would eat her in one bite. "SWIM!"
Clary darted for the abandoned ship, hoping it would have some cover. All she could here was the thump, thump of her heart and the swish, swish of her tail. A warning that she wasn't swimming fast enough. Clary propelled herself through the water, dodging any high up coral. Stay low to the ground, Jonathan's words echoed in her mind, sharks can't swim as agile, but is faster in open ocean. Clary quickly dove for the coral, ignoring the pain that rippled throughout her body when the coral sunk itself deep into her flesh, and ripped out when Clary tore it out.
The swimming almost became a dance: dips and turns, swirls and swooshes, and if she wasn't swimming for her life, Clary might've laughed and enjoyed herself.
Then a screamed echoed throughout the entire ocean and hung there in the suspended in the sea, "CLARY!."
Isabelle was trapped between serval colorful coral and was trying to fight the huge silver shark with a tiny dagger. Not thinking of the consequences, Clary rushed toward Izzy, sword drawn.
"Iz! I'm coming!" Clary would regret those words forever, for once she said them the shark turned, bared its teeth, and lunged at Clary. She had no time to register the pain, or how Isabelle's screams sounded like dolphin chirps, or that the shark had serval broken teeth, or that her hair was out of its braid, encircling her head like fire. She didn't register these things because the world went black before Clary even realized her sword had fallen out of its sheathe.
