Author's Note: I haven't worked on a fanfiction piece for Twilight since like… 7th or 8ths grade. So like five years ago. That's crazy- so please be patient as I get into the groove of things! As you can tell from the tags and desc, this will be a Paul/OC fanfic. I don't want to give it away, but my OC, Cora, isn't human. You'll read about who and what she truly is in this chapter- I just don't want to outright spoil it and the lore behind it all. Also keep in mind that this first few chapters before Paul phases. That being said, the only current pack members are Sam, and Jared. Keep that in mind, please. Anyway, enjoy!
The sun had receded behind the shoreline of First Beach seemingly hours ago. The sea gulls took flight and returned to their nests for the night, beach-goers packed their bags and headed back home for a nice warm meal- even the waves seemed to calm as they licked at the sand and stone covered beach. If it wasn't for the rustling of branches and shrubs from the tree line only yards away from the ocean, one would possibly dare to call the scene peaceful.
A stranger, a scent not aligned to those of human, laid sprawled out on the beach, the moon's light reflecting off of her rather pale skin. Her body was illuminated as she stayed against the ground, her cheek stinging as sand dug into the side of her cheek. For how long she was out there, it wasn't certain. Maybe a few minutes? Or a few hours, possibly? If it wasn't for the entity shifting into the form of a human and sprinting out from behind the tree line, who knows how long she would have remained there.
Sam Uley approached the girl, caution rattling in every inch of his body. Never did he expect to see a girl- one who was completely stark naked and flung across the beach, just passed out, while he made his routine look outs. Something was off from her- maybe it was the smell of the beach that seemed to cling to her every fiber, or the fact that her legs was covered and dotted in large, violet bruises. He wince upon looking at them- whatever happened to her, must have messed her up quite a bit.
Trying to protect her modesty, Sam quickly took his jacket off and laid it over her, brushing her blonde hair out of the way as he did so. He carefully picked her up in his arms, slightly uncomfortable by the fact that she was in the state she was in. Despite it, he had to do something. She could of been attacked for all he knew, and required medical attention.
'There's an issue. Bring Sue immediately to my place- I found some girl passed out.' It was a small mental note, but Sam knew that the few other pack members he had would hear it and seek out assistance. In the meantime, he would have to get her somewhere warm, and have Emily dress her. Only after Sue was sure the strange girl was okay, would they call Charlie and have her taken down to the station to be evaluated.
When Cora came to, the ache in her legs was washed over by a pounding thud in her head. She groaned in frustration and pain as she rolled over onto her side. It wasn't until she opened her eyes to see the room before her, that fear jabbed into her. With all her might, the short girl pushed herself up, eyes wider than the full moon the night before. Where was she? When she realized just how dry and ashy her skin felt, Cora ripped the blanket off of her so she could get a better look at her bottom half. Where a large, fish-like tail had once been, was two actual legs.
"The tradition!" She harshly whispered to herself upon realizing what was going on.
A story told by the Elders in her pod, all merpeople were casted to the shore upon turning one hundred years old. At that time, it was their job to find and bring someone back to the ocean with them- willingly, or not. It was a test of sorts, one to see if they had learned everything that they were to be taught and to see just how strong their abilities were. Cora had quite a few friends go on said trip, some who came back in days, and others who were never to returned. It was forbidden to speak about it, and now Cora understood why. It was horrifying.
She wanted nothing more than to dive back into the sea and swim as far away from the odd environment around her, but she knew she couldn't. Abandoning the tradition would be abandoning one's pod. She would be doomed to swim the seas alone for eternity, fighting off sharks and environmental destruction on her own. No- Cora had to sort this out on her own, despite the yelling in her head that told her to run away. Before she could even get up and escape the foreign home, she was stopped. A woman with shoulder length, black hair strode into the room, a cup of water in hand and two other humans in tow.
"Oh good, you're awake. I was beginning to worry when you'd come to," the woman handed Cora the cup, and offered an innocent enough smile. "How are you feeling?"
"Dry," was the first thing to come to Cora's mind. A few times she had strayed to the surface, but never stayed long enough for the water to dry off of her. "Confused too, but fine I suppose. Thank you, I just- don't…" She struggled to find the words. She wasn't fine- she was far from it, but she couldn't possibly tell this odd human. She took the cup gratefully, chugging the entire contents in a few mere seconds.
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions. Sam here," she put her hand on the toned, shirtless shoulder of the pack's leader, "found you on the beach. I'm a nurse so he brought you here for me to check up on you. I called a friend of ours- Charlie. He works at the station, and is a good man. He just has some questions to ask and we'll get you home."
Cora didn't reply. She stared into the empty cup, unsure of what to say. She couldn't outright tell him that she had no home and that she came from the sea. They would think she had a barnacle brain! Uneasily, she lifted her left hand and tugged at a tendril of hair as she tried to make a plan of action. Maybe she could feign ignorance? Pretend like she had some sort of memory loss?
"I understand how confused you may be," the third person who had entered finally stepped forward. Her gorgeous, long black hair swept up into a ponytail. If it wasn't for the odd situation, Cora may have felt jealous of her. "Just know that we're here to help- we'll do our best to get you back home."
The smile she offered almost made the younger girl hopeful- however she realized she couldn't be. There was no way in hell that they would be able to help her. Hell, if they found out what she truly was, they'd probably would want her dead! Sue headed off, a device in hand-one that Cora couldn't quite understand. She held back a small sigh as she looked over her options. She was in no position to deny their help. It was either this, or let herself out onto the street. She was possibly the most vulnerable girl walking Earth for miles around. If she did that who know what would happen? She could be taken apart by one of those blood sucking Piranhas for all she knew!
Cora shuddered inwardly when she remembered the legend of the Piranhas. They weren't literal fish- hell, they didn't know what they were exactly. All the merpeople knew about them was that they were ones to look out for on the tradition. They never spoke about the traditions outside of the warning. These people- stunning, glittering people were incredibly alluring. So much, that a few mislead merpeople actually tried to take them back to the ocean for the tradition. They were quick to learn how wrong they were. Blood sucking humans, they were to be feared. They were almost like a natural enemy to the merpeople. Despite the little they knew about them, all merpeople knew to stay clear. Cora had hoped it was just some scary legend, but looking at the situation she was in now, she didn't know what to believe.
About an hour and a half later, Charlie had picked Cora up and took her down to the police station. He had asked her several questions- when her birthday was, how old she was, and where she had come from. Cora kept quiet on most things. She couldn't really say her age or her birthday. Surely they had a different year-counting system. The pod she had come from always focused on counting the years by the solar eclipses, making their timeline quite different- at least she assumed. And really, telling them that she was over one hundred years old would probably make them think she had lost it.
Suddenly, an annoying ringing began up, causing Charlie to reach into his pocket. "One moment," he mumbled as he left the room and took the call out in the hall.
Stronger senses was a gift all merpeople had, and in that instant Cora was happy to have it. She tried her best to listen in, however found herself only able to catch what Charlie had been saying. The odd device that he spoke on only cracked and came in fuzzy, causing a small crown to tug at the corner of the girl's lips.
"I thought she was coming out this summer?" Charlie huffed, obviously annoyed. He remained silent as he waited for the other person to reply, pacing back and forth in the hall. "Renée, she's my daughter too! I got her room all set up, I've been getting shit together. It's been too long."
His argument went unheard though. While Cora wasn't sure what was going on with whoever he was speaking with, but she could practically feel the sadness in Charlie's protests. From what she had gathered, his daughter was going to come and stay with him, but had cancelled last minute. Cora couldn't quite understand it, though- did all humans leave their family like that? Their pods were incredibly family oriented and focused on keeping good bonds. Yet here the humans were, struggling to see their own kids?
After several minutes, Charlie came back into the small office. His eyes landed on the young girl who sat at his desk. She couldn't be any older than Bella. He thought about what he would have felt if it was his daughter in this situation. A young girl, washed up naked on the beach, covered in bruises with her only memory being her first name. Her parents must have been devastated- running all around looking for her. He had checked the Amber Alerts, hoping to see she would match at least one of the descriptions, but came up empty. Here was a girl- no older than sixteen, who woke up to some nightmare with no one looking for her.
She didn't even know where she was from. If Charlie were to have her put into the foster care system, who knew what would happen? If her parents haven't reported her missing now, who knew when they would? Hell- that was if she even had parents. The odd girl would just bounce from foster care homes for the next two years or so, until she was 18 and dumped off to make her own life and figure out how to live on her own. As soon as she was legally of age she would be let out to slip away from the system and struggle to live on her own.
On his good conscious, Charlie couldn't let that happen. Being a police officer, he saw it happen a few times to several others in Forks. It was something that most tried to ignore- keep their head down and be thankful that at least some people volunteered to take the kids in until they were 'old enough to fend for themselves'. Most he had heard about went into the military, due to lack of money and in need of a place to stay. Cora barely reached five feet- doing that wasn't an option, that was for sure.
"Due to um, an awkward situation," Charlie took a seat across from her. He brought his right hand up and itched the stubby hair that lined his jaw, "I have a room available at my place. Usually with this sort of situation you are put into foster homes until you can remember or until family claims you. I checked the Amber Alerts though, and you don't match any descriptions of missing kids. I can talk to child services, and you can stay in Forks for awhile? Until you remember, at least? I know Doctor Cullen, and there is always Sue to help out."
"Y-Yes!" Cora quickly sputtered out. She woke up on the beach here- maybe her pod was nearby, waiting for her? She couldn't stray too far, that was for sure. She didn't want to be abandoned. "I would really appreciate it, Officer Swan. I, I can…" she trailed off as she tried to think of what she could offer in exchange. "Clean?"
"We'll get you sorted with a school- probably Forks High. Maybe you can get a part time job or something, start saving up for… the future." Charlie frowned slightly, seeming unsure of himself.
Cora nodded, though doubt began to rise up in her. A job? When she was with her pod, her job was to harvest different barnacles, algae and the like. Later, those would be used for medicine and food. But humans? What would her job be? She had learned from the Elders that they were very mechanical. When they explained it, Cora found herself struggling to understand. All she was able to comprehend was that they used something called oil, to power big machines and things like that often led to ocean disasters.
One day, they had come across an oil spill. They normally stayed away, but it was so disastrous that they couldn't just swim by and let the poor creatures caught in it die. They had saved dozens of birds, turtles, and fish. They had even helped a sea lion, of all things! They almost never roamed that near the beach! One late afternoon after desperately trying to clean up, they actually saw a few humans near the shallow end of the beach, trying to help. Humans had caused this disaster, yet some actually were trying to help clean it? The thought that all may not be bad had crossed her mind, but Cora was quickly chastised by her pod mates.
No, they were taught otherwise. Humans were bad. They caused destruction and pollution- they were reckless and headstrong. And besides, at the end of the day, the merpeople would have to lead a few unlucky people back to the depths. It was easier to think of them as monsters. Wouldn't they be doing the world a favor, then? A few humans lured in and wasted away would result in the thriving of a pod. At the end of the day those pods were the ones keeping the ocean alive, and if the ocean had ceased to exist, no humans would live.
Cora was snapped from her thoughts as Charlie sat down the phone he had picked up after asking her opinion. She was so wrapped up that she didn't even pay attention to the conversation he had or what was going on. From the looks of Charlie though, the phone call went well and child services gave Charlie the okay to foster the bruised girl.
She was thankful for that. The last thing she expected was to come across several people who seemed relatively worried, and cared about what happened to her. She owed Sam, Sue, and the woman who she learned later on was named Emily, her life- that was for sure. What if she had phased on the beach, before they got to her? Cora shuddered at the thought. There had always been tales of humans catching merpeople and putting them on displace. She would rather die than suffer that fate. Then she had Charlie- a complete stranger, who gave her hope and offered her a place to stay as she figured everything out.
"We should get going, it's getting late." Charlie pushed his seat back and pulled himself up from where he was once planted. "Besides, you're probably hungry. You can just chill out and watch television or something while I get pizza delivered."
"Television?" Cora questioned, following him out of the office.
"You don't know what a television is?" His eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as he casted an odd look in her direction. "Must be Amish or something. I'll check out the closest village to see if they're missing anyone."
Cora had been in Forks for several days now, and to be quite honest, she was proud of herself. She had spent the first few days delving into 'human culture'. She watch television- mainly H20 because she had found their portrayal of mermaids amusing, The Office and Big Brother. When she wasn't watching television, she flipped through magazines and teen novels that Charlie had bought her in efforts of getting her interests peaked. If she was into a book series or had a crush on the newest teen heartthrob, she'd have something to talk about with the other kids once she started school.
It was a culture shock, that was for sure. But Cora found herself actually somewhat enjoying it. Not having to hunt for their meals or swim her fin off from all the work she had to do during the day, was actually sort of relaxing. A few times while she was laid out on the couch, she half expected someone to come in and yell at her to get her butt moving, but she was quick to realize that, that wouldn't happen.
Cora sat at the dining room table as she flipped open the glossy cover of one of the many magazines Charlie was kind enough to get her. She had found a recipe for chocolate pistachio sea salt cookies listed among the fashion advice and celebrity gossip, the day before. When she saw it, she was determined to whip up a batch and give them to Sam, Sue and Emily as a thanks for the help they had given her earlier in the week. While she didn't know a thing about cooking, Charlie cautiously abided her request and got her everything she needed.
Now here she was, home alone with a handful of ingredients and an oven that she barely knew how to use. She could only hope that she didn't burn Charlie's house down in the process. Cora frowned slightly as she picked up one of the eggs and banged it on the table, getting only about half the yolk into the bowl, the rest coating her hand and the table below.
"Poseidon be with me," she mumbled as she got down to work.
To say it was a simple task to make the cookies would be an understatement. She burned her finger tips several times, and nearly broke Charlie's electric mixer only ten minutes into the project. Two hours after starting, she had completely finished. The cookies were only slightly burnt, to Cora's happiness, and she didn't burn the house down!
When Charlie got home, he rushed in and opened the kitchen window, letting the bit of smoke out. Just from looking at the cookies, he could tell that she had never made them before in her life. Despite how burnt and imperfect they were, he knew that Cora's saviors would at least appreciate the gesture.
"I get off early tomorrow- I'll come by and take you to the reservation around one to hand those out. We'll stop at Sue's first, then Sam and Emily's new place. That sound good?"
"Yep, looking forward to it." Cora put on a smile, but she wholeheartedly couldn't deny the anxiety that rose up in her.