Guess who was inspired after listening to the Descendants 2 soundtrack and finally finished this first one-shot?
Anyway, I recently discovered Émiko and fell in love with it.
So, enjoy this fluff!
Also, I'm not very good at French, so I apologize if I got a few things (or everything) wrong.
There where people on the beach.
Her beach.
No one ever came here, so what were they doing?
It was a rather large group, that much was quite easy for Iko to see from her position on the rocks a small ways from where the surf met sand. And one girl was straying from the group, a smile on her face as she ran towards the blue water.
She shouted something in their strange land-people language, and bent down to pick something up from the shallows.
Iko's hand flew up to her blue hair, and panic filled her body as she searched frantically through the shallow water surrounding her. Her hair clip was gone; her favorite pin that was made from the finest coral in the Caribbean. And it was currently in the possession of the strange blonde girl.
This was a nightmare.
She briefly considered casting a siren spell on the girl, making her run out into the waves and drop the small pin, but she quickly dismissed the idea. It would draw attention.
Another girl called out to the blonde one.
"Émilie," the scarlet-headed one said, "Avez-vous crème solaire?"
"Non," the blonde girl called back, "demander Ze'ev!"
"Oui!"
The blonde girl turned back to the water, and Iko began turning back to sea. The language they spoke sounded like french, but she didn't know that much of it. The only human languages she could speak fluently were Spanish and English, the two most common she heard when near the shore.
A sudden gasp startled the mermaid, causing the mergirl to slip on the rocks and into the water, cutting her arm.
The blonde girl stood over her, and Iko felt terror fill her veins.
They stood there for a few seconds, before Iko moved quickly, slipping away in the shallow water and swimming as fast as she could.
She had been stupid to remain there for so long after the humans arrived, she hadn't even been able to warm up as she'd forgotten to pull herself out of the water completely and allow her tail to see the sun. Now she was stuck with having to move constantly unless she wanted to catch a cold. Maybe she should just venture to the surface at night, then she wouldn't have to worry about the colder deep waters.
By the time she returned to the surface the sun had set, and the full moon was rising high above the dark waters and shinning moonlight on the empty beach. The people appeared to be gone, or so Iko thought.
The blonde girl came into view as she swum to the sand, and Iko let her curiosity overtake her.
"Who are you?" the mermaid demanded, "How did you find this beach?"
The blonde girl gasped at the sight of the mermaid, stumbling back and tripping on her heels into a thump on the sand. The girl recovered quickly, however, and slowly made her way to the edge of the water where Iko lay.
"Y-you're a mermaid!" she managed to stutter in awe, her voice holding a heavy accent.
"Yes, and you're a human," Iko replied, "I wish I were a human, they always seem to have much more fun on land."
"And what might your name be?" the girl asked.
"Iko, and yours?"
"Émilie."
Iko had never seen a human like this before, she was nothing like the humans in her stories, nothing like what her father described.
The small fascination and awkwardness of their encounter quickly faded as Iko asked what it was like on land, and Émilie replied as helpfully as she could.
"What is a fire?" the mermaid asked excitedly.
"Well, it's a flame of heat, where something gets so hot that it begins to burn." she explained, "It can be used for heat in the winter, and light at night."
Before either of them knew it, the sun was rising, and Iko wasn't nearly satisfied with the short time.
"How long are you going to be here?" Iko asked as the first rays of dawn appeared over the ocean.
"We are to stay here for a week in our friend's beach house, is there another time I can meet you?"
"Go to the starfish caves at sundown the tide doesn't rise enough to cover the path." she explained, pointing to a cliff around a mile down the beach.
"I will be there."
The week passed before long, and Émilie was set to leave back home to France. It was at this certain night that Iko made a decision. She would allow the girl to join her under the waves, if only for a few hours.
There was only a single problem, to give a human the ability to breath would cost her voice for an undetermined span of time.
Iko was positive in her decision.
When Émilie went down to the caves that night, all she heard was singing, a small golden light flowing from where the mermaid stood into the hair pin that Émilie had found that day on the beach, the one Iko had insisted that she'd keep.
The singing silenced when it entered the hair pin.
The mermaid held out a single hand to the human, and Émilie took it. She joined the mermaid under the water without hesitation.
What surprised the girl was that when she opened her eyes, there was no salty sting, no blurry vision, it was clear. Everything had the faint tint of white-blue, as if a cloudy filter had been placed upon her eyes. Starfish lined the sides of the underwater cave, a million glowing colors lighting the cave. In her awe, she found herself accidentally releasing her breath, she clamped her hands quickly over her mouth and nose.
Iko swum over to her, gently pulling her hands away and kissing her softly on the lips. Émilie unconsciously took in a deep breath, surprised to see that she was alive and fine.
Breathing underwater had a strange feel, almost as if she were inhaling snow. It was cold, yet comforting, like she was drinking icy water after staying outside in 100°f heat.
Iko smiled at Émilie's awed expression, taking her hand and leading her out of the cave, swimming to the nearby reefs. Her tail brushing the coral and causing a million glowing lights to appear, spreading down the entire area.
It was amazing, and Émilie never wanted to leave, she didn't want that moment to end.
It was as if she'd never lived until that moment.
Too soon it ended, the lights faded as soon as the sun rose, and as more and more light appeared the harder it was to breath.
Iko brought her to the surface, pulling the girl to the sand. Émilie stood, removing the hair pin and holding it out to the mermaid, a smile on her face as she whispered a single line.
"Thank you."
Iko simply curled Émilie's hand around the hair pin, the little mermaid smiling sadly as she heard the other people making their way to the beach.
If only she wasn't a mermaid.
If only the cost for last night wasn't her voice.
If only she could join the girl she fell in love with on land.
If only this wasn't just some silly dream.
Before the others could arrive, Iko slipped under the waves and down to the bottom of the ocean, where she belonged, where she would always be.