Disclaimer: The characters belongs to Hiro Mashima
I did this as a gift, and because I wanted to do somethig like this but my gays don't fit here. So here it goes
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He met her one summer night while the full moon shone on the sky. She had appeared from the air, smiling bright and wide to him, while she sat at his side at the campfire.
He should have sent her away, a stranger woman alone at the shore at midnight was nothing but suspicious. But, he had thought her smile was cute and, even if he would have never admitted, he was feeling lonely.
Sea sometime had that effect on him, the constant pull of the tides remembering him of all the things he once had and lost. So, he left her stay by his side at the fire, basking in the flames' heat.
He didn't ask her name because he thought it was unnecessary. They talked and eat from his supplies, and maybe he even laughed a few times. Maybe. He wasn't sure when he had fallen asleep but when he woke up the next morning, she was gone. Which wasn't really a surprise and he had expected it, so he didn't know why it stung a bit.
Anyway, he couldn't lose time mourning for a brief encounter, so he loaded his boat and continued his trip. He would move to the next island, following the fish that were his sustenance. He was used at that point to survive and see the days come and go, like the waves of the sea.
She was looking at him while he sailed, her brown eyes followed the boat's shadow from below the water, as she had been doing day after day since she saw it for the first time.
She had been wandering through the sea for a long, long time, since her pod had expelled her. It had been just her and the endless water for so long that she didn't even remember. Until she saw the boat and the guy on it.
It was an obvious fisherman boat, so she stayed away from it and its cruel tools, under the water and far away on the horizon when she needed to breath. But she followed it, because she didn't have any other place to go and maybe it would lead her somewhere. Anywhere was fine, as long as she had someone else. Something different than the sea.
After almost two weeks of following the boat, she realized that it was just circling around the countless islands just as the dumb fish do all their lives. A storm forced it to stop at one of them and that was the first time she saw the guy. She had only see his shadow or reflect a few times, but with the storm raging around he needed to beach the boat and camp inland.
He was a young man, a bit too young to be alone by himself or so she thought. Didn't he had anyone waiting for him? Why was he wandering through the ocean while he could be at home, with a family that loved him? That was what she would have done, if she could. The sea was too big to travel alone.
He rid his boat again as soon as the storm was over, back to his slow travel that didn't lead him to anywhere. He didn't seem to like the land, although she had seen him looking at the water like if it could stab him from the back at any moment. He wasn't really wrong with being suspicious, but it was still strange. Why spend so much time at the sea if he didn't like it? There were so many questions and no answers.
Maybe that was why she felt brave enough to leave her skin behind and join him at the shore, one of the few nights he landed. Maybe it was her curiosity or maybe it was the pull of the full moon, which had always made her feel strange. Whichever the reason was, she found herself looking at his sleeping face, illuminated by the dangerous fire's light. She liked it. She liked him. And she ran away, just before the sun rose on the horizon.
He didn't expect to see her again. He shouldn't have see her again. He wasn't even at the same island at the full moon's night. He wasn't stupid though. He knew she wasn't just a normal woman, and he had known it since the first day, when she appeared at the shore of a desert island with nothing but her white dress. He wasn't sure what she was but if she was one of the legends that populated the seas, she might be dangerous. He shouldn't have left her to sit by his side at the campfire again but he did it anyway. And he did it again the next month, when he was almost waiting for her silhouette to appear.
It was almost unreal, magic and sometimes he thought it maybe was just his imagination running wild. Maybe there was no maiden with a white dress visiting him every month. Just him, the moon and the sea and their reflections playing with his mind. He thought it every morning, while he woke up to a dying fire and the loneliness of the beach. And yet, every night he looked at the sky, waiting for the day the lunar phase was complete so he could see her walking on the sand again.
Their nights were simple, they always started with him asking "You again?" and her smile shining bright. She never answered with anything but sitting by his side. Their talks were simple, about the sea, the sky, the weather and, sometimes, the fish. She knew a lot about fish. They both seemed to avoid anything else, anything that might be complicated. Anything that could make them uncomfortable.
It made him feel more relaxed than he had felt in a very long time. It was nice. Almost magic. A moment that was just for them. One night when he could just enjoy someone else's presence and just be him. However, he was human and therefore, he was cursed to make mistakes. And so he did, when he asked her what did she was. Her smile faltered and before he could say anything else she left. Just as she always came, she disappeared between the beach and the ocean. He was so surprised that didn't follow her at first and when he did, it was already too late. She had disappeared and she didn't come back next month.
She was a coward. There was no excuse. She shouldn't have run away. She was too embarrassed to show her face did she have to ruin the things? It was just an innocent question, she could have say anything and brush it off. But, the air between them as always been so light, so sincere, than lying to him in any way felt wrong. And she was not ready to say the true. Not that night. Maybe she would never be brave enough.
She was, though, not strong enough to leave the boat. She didn't want to face the endless sea alone again. Even if she ruined their nights, she could at least follow the boat's shadow. That had been enough once, and she thought it would be again. It wasn't. She found herself dragged to the surface, trying to get a glimpse of the face she had grown fond of. She liked his disheveled black hair, that she never dared to touch. She liked his face, that some rare times lightened up with a smile. She liked his body, that defied the cold weather of the north. She just… liked him and she should have told him.
However, she had been scared. Tales weighted hard on her mind, even after she dared to touch the sand for the first time. Her pod had always been a very careful one, that's why no one liked her. She liked the surface too much. She put everyone at risk. She didn't think. Too curious, too reckless. If people found them, they would take away their skins. Sailors and fishermen always did the same. Lure them to the shore and kill them. Steal their women when they could. Humans were cruel and mean. That's what they had always say to her, even when they expelled her.
And they words still screamed strong on her mind, even when she was unable to stop her fins to lead her closer and closer every day. Sometimes she had almost run out of air, because she didn't put attention to time, lost in the soft dance between the boat and the sea. A dance that she was also a part of, even if he didn't know. Day after day she joined them from below, slowly swimming with the current and trying to not scare the fish so much. Good luck they were stupid fish.
It couldn't last forever and she found out one day when, reckless once again, she swam up almost until her head break the surface. She had done it a lot of times before, but it was that day when the guy decided to throw his net by her side. The ropes tangled on her limbs and she was soon unable to move. he must have caught on the sudden movement when she tried to free herself, because he was soon hoisting the net and taking her from the water.
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