Another entry for the Rune Haven contests. ^-^. This one ended up being so short compared to my other stories but at least I got something written up for this! The theme for this one is "ghost". It's going to be my first RF story for RF3, yay Pia! So yeah, enjoy! XD
Pia munched on the squid by the beach. This was show the squid not to mess with fish! "You won't kill any fish again!" she exclaimed as she gulped down the last of the squid. Nodding happily she walked up the beach to go back to the bath house but before she got too far away from the beach she thought she saw something shiny in the water. She turned in the direction of the ocean and squinted and saw there was something shiny in the water.
Wondering what it was (maybe it was a giant squid that was eating all the fish) Pia took a step towards the ocean. Before she could get anywhere though, she heard someone calling her name.
"Hi Mais!" said Pia when she saw it was the young farmer that lived in the tree. The young man was holding a sword and his silver wolf was at his heels. It looked like he was off to explore another dungeon. "Bring me back some more evil squid!" she called after him.
Mais nodded. "I will. Come on Fenrir," he told the wolf before they walked away.
Pia turned her eyes back to the ocean to see if she could see whatever it was but it was gone. She shrugged; it was probably nothing, before returning to the bathhouse.
The rest of the day went by uneventfully. Pia did her work at the bathhouse without much trouble. Well there was a little incident of Sakuya finding a collection of squid in the corner of the woman's side of the bathhouse but Pia didn't focus on that. Sakuya didn't understand how rewarding it was to eat squid while taking a bath. Doing her two favorite things at the same time was a lot of fun!
It was late at night and Pia was finishing her last round of cleaning the bath before turning into bed. Because Pia had taken so much time eating squid today Sakuya and Shino had already gone to bed by the time she had started the cleaning. The mermaid was humming a tune while she scrubbed the bath when she felt someone watching her.
"Whose there?" asked the mermaid as she turned in the direction she thought someone was watching her. "The bath is closed now," she said to the young woman who was standing in the doorway.
The woman didn't respond. Instead she just stood there and watched Pia with a gentle smile on her face. Pia just stared at her for a few moments and blinked. The woman looked familiar in some way. Maybe it was the long pink hair that fell to almost the ground or the fins that stuck out of the woman's head.
"Ummm," said Pia. She didn't know what to do. It would probably be nice to invite the woman into the bath but it was after closing time but maybe the woman traveled from far away to go to this bathhouse. Maybe she was a bathhouse enthusiastic! "If you want, you could take a bath," said Pia with a smile. "I have some squid too if you want any."
The woman shook her head. "I'm happy for you," she whispered in a soft musical voice. A voice that seemed so familiar and warm to Pia even if she couldn't figure out why exactly. "I've been watching you for the past couple of days," whispered the woman. She smiled. "You seem so happy. I saw how you lived with this family and how you interact with the people of the time and how you eat the squid you love so much." She closed her eyes and brought her clasped hands to her chest. "I'm happy you were able to find a loving family."
Pia took a step towards the woman. "Who are you?" she asked.
The woman lifted her head and smiled at Pia. "I don't want to bring up any sad memories for you so I will not say but…" She paused and seemed to want to say something else but she thought against it. Instead she said, "I'm happy you were able to get out of it okay."
Pia took another step towards the woman but she froze when she saw the woman was becoming see-through. "Wha!" exclaimed the young mermaid.
"Pia," whispered the fading woman. "I…I love you sweetie." Those were the last words she spoke before she vanished competly.
Pia lifted a hand to her face and felt water clutching her skin. She stared at the water in her hand in confusion for a few seconds. She didn't know why she was crying. She didn't know why the tears wouldn't stop. "What is going on? Who was that lady?" whispered Pia as she collapsed to the floor and cried.