This is going to be very little mermaid-y, but please bear with me. I apologize for any inconsistencies, especially Ikuto's OOC-ness ;u; it'll wokr out, I hope.
Amu, do you know want to know why we sing? It's a protective charm, so that we never get hurt. Cherish you voice, Amu, and one day you'll understand its power.
Liar. You liar. I don't understand, mom, I don't understand at all. This, This thing isn't a charm; it's a curse.
"Alright, lads, listen up! We've been entrusted with delivering these goods to King Tadase and I intend to go through with that! Our destination lies just yonder, but we're not out of the water just yet."
The man's eyes reflected the navy seas as he chuckled at his pun, but it went unnoticed by his audience. Unperturbed, he pointed at an island ahead of them.
"There, our last obstacle! I presume you all are familiar with its stories?"
He glanced around his deck as his crew begrudgingly nodded.
Don't worry, boys; I've got a plan. Not only do I promise you that we will pass through unscathed, we'll even catch us a siren."
Disbelief rippled through the crew, immediately followed by dissent.
"You'll get us all killed!" one cried.
"You might as well walk us off the plank!" another insisted.
Cheers of disagreement rose in volume until the first mate interfered.
"Settle down, you pusses! Are ya men or aren't ya!?" he roared, "I don't remember allowin' any cowards onta my captain's ship! If yer death is so certain, yer more than welcome to jump overboard!"
Hesitation flashed through the crew's as they weighed their options, but they remained in their positions.
Amu enthusiastically hummed as she ran her fish comb through her long tresses five-hundred times, just like her mother taught her. Shortly after her eighteenth year, her hair had reached the necessary length to join the shoal of elders on their excursions. She sat on a smooth rock in the nesting area, and appreciated the pools where she'd spent the entirety of her life. Finally, she would see what was beyond. She slipped into the tepid water as a flurry of tails passed her and she recognized other younglings who would also participate for their first time.
The pinkette smiled and joined the school, consisting of about ten mermaids, as they swam toward the entrance of the enclosure for one last lesson. They crowded around the familiar oval face and purple locks that were Karen.
"Now girls," she started, "today, you will become women. Everything we elders have taught you has been in preparation for this very important occasion, the day you will carry on our traditions like our ancestors before us have for millenniums. It is our way of life, the sole reason we have survived so long, and the utmost respect must be maintained at all times."
Her eyes glinted at the last sentence, but the darkness immediately vanished.
"Naturally, powerful tails are essential," she continued, "so only those able to leap over this wall will earn the right to participate."
The water vibrated with excitement as mermaid after mermaid cleared the tall obstacle. Amu easily jumped the highest, gracefully entering the water with just the slightest disturbance of the water.
She eagerly resurfaced and observed her surroundings, only to be met with disappointment. The rocks were the same dreary ones within the nesting area, peppered with spikes that punctured their tender skin, only taller, and there were more, both below and above the water.
The elders, at the front of the group, easily navigated between rocks, before coming to a break where the amount decreased. The younglings spotted a strange material, one they'd never seen, that littered the path and stared in awe.
"That," Karen whispered, "is wood. Now, you know what to do, ladies, just like we practiced!"
The girls nodded and searched for a smooth surface to perch on. Amu scouted an emerald-streaked stone that differed from the bland gray she'd known her whole life and quickly worked her way to it before anyone else saw it. Karen chuckled a few waves behind.
"That was your mother's favorite spot," she reminisced as Amu looked at her questioningly, "before she was taken from us."
Her expression became grim, but a scouter interrupted her.
"Target approaching!" the scouter shouted, before hiding with Karen and the elders behind rocks.
Amu nervously cleared her throat, slapping her tail impatiently against her seat. This was it, the purpose of her existence, after so many years, she would finally find out the meaning of her life. When the ship broke into their line of sight, the pinkette noticed it was made of the same material all around her, and began to sing.
Their voices reverberated off the towering rocks, saturating the air around them. They each sang a unique tune, but together their voices harmonized into a single chorus.
They were promptly shocked into silence when another sound, one entirely foreign to them, rang above their voices. They glanced around, unsure of their next step, but when Amu matched it with a new refrain, they commenced once again.
The pinkette trilled with her entire being, and it was as if the stone supporting her amplified her vocals. The strange melody was unlike anything she'd ever heard before and inclined her to join. She searched for its source as the ship neared her position and spotted it at the highest point of the vessel, a blue-haired thing with "wood". It resembled her folk, expect it had two tails that steadied it rather than one and obscenely short hair, but it was blocked before she should observe it more closely by another thing who climbed over the railing ship and crashed into the water.
She watched the closest mermaid to her frantically looking around for help as the thing swam up to her. Slowly, more things crashed into the water, and as one neared Amu, she heard the strange sound stop abruptly. She halted her song and glanced up to see the blue-haired thing moving around, yelling as it yanked other things away from the water. The singing ceased as the girls sat petrified, causing the things to pause in their pursuit, apparently disoriented, when the elders attacked.
Some emerged from below the ship, pulling those close enough to its edge into the water. Others grabbed those nearing the girls and dragged them beneath the frenzied waves. Melodies were replaced by shrieks as the elders' pretty faces contorted into unrecognizable expressions.
The bewilderment on the things mirrored that of the girls as they struggled against the elders in vain. The rest of the elder scratched at the ship, removing "wood" from it as it slowly slipped past, but Amu's focus was on the blood that pooled around her.
Wibaw: Boom, pow, I'm sorry ^^;
It went better in my head, I swear.
Opinions, anyone? This is essentially a rough draft that I just drilled out so there will be revisions. But rates and reviews would be nice ;u;