Chapter I

Now out in the open seas the crimson haired siren felt instantly more at ease, little feeling of suffocation she had suffered with whilst within the boundaries of the kingdom, but sadly the feeling was still there, swirling in her lungs. No matter how she wished it would disappear, it was a feeling so powerful she could just scream, or she wished a simple scream could get rid of it but it was there permanently. A truth she sadly knew. But she knew of a cure. The only way she would be free of the oceans grip was to crawl out of it all together, one could not drown when there was no water to restrict her. Though once upon a time she had loved her tail, and she had not been the only one, the stunning teal scales were envied all over and not just by the mer-folk. The only one that didn't fully appreciate the beauty of her fin was Ariel herself, as over the years she had grown to hate it. Hate it with a burning passion.

The fog in her head seemed to clear a little more the further she got away from her home, where everyone knew her name, where everyone always needed her for something, as if they knew exactly what she desired and purposefully dangled in front of her face, always out of her reach. The possibility of her happy ending already crumbling away with what she knew reality would bring to her, but yet she knew how much easier on her it would be to just forget about her dreams, to save her the fall from the height she would try to climb, she couldn't let it go.

Lost in her deep thoughts was the siren as on the horizon a ship was afloat and sailing right for her, a coincidence was out of the question at this point, this was no passing government vessel no, this was a pirate ship

X

The Jolly Roger tore through the force of the ocean breeze almost as much as it did to its more challenging waves, with ease and without doubt of the fine ship's strength and the even stronger crew that set its course. "Mermaid off the port bough!" a voice bellowed from up above so loud that the captain was sure that even the rats in the deepest corners of the lower decks of the ship heard the observation from the crow's nest. But he didn't need it to be announced to know that they were in the presence of a mermaid, he knew that they were creeping close and closer to their renowned territory, it was not surprising to see that one of the fiends had strayed away from home. Stupid little fish, whichever unfortunate soul was in their line of sight was unlucky indeed, they were about to be turned into sushi.

As the captain of the band of pirates stood on the main deck he couldn't help but grin as the most beautiful sight dived in and out of his view on the other end of his spyglass he peeked through. Now he did not grin at the thought of butchering the sea maiden, but of how her death would push him one step closer to his timely revenge, oh yes, everything always came back to his revenge. "Steady as she goes!" the leading man called up to the helmsman directing the mighty ship; their destination a careless redhead.

X

The fishing net dragged through the water like fingers through hair but despite its size it proved to have the upper hand on a distracted mermaid as the lass hadn't even seen it coming until it was too late, suddenly it was as if every direction had closed in on her, the otherwise endless ocean finally finding limits to trap her in. It did not take long for the fish to realize she was not on her own anymore and that she was not the deadliest being in the ocean at that moment, because someone had just caught themselves a siren and she knew that this was no blind catch.

No amount of thrashing and flailing could help her now, clawing was useless at the thick rope webbing that was her prison, her teeth would break on the stiff material without a doubt in mind but it still didn't stop her from trying. She tugged at the net until her nails tore and her knuckles stained white, her fin twisted and cramped too painful to move but what was even more painful was the thought of what her fate was to be if she didn't get herself out of this situation, how would her short lived life be taken away as she knew it would. She had not even enough time to think of the ways they would carve her fin, she was already being lifted, dragged from her home.

Though a mermaid can indeed breathe above water it was not a pleasant transition to endure, it was as if she could feel every imperfection in what they called air scratching at her throat, she thought that she liked being suffocated more than she liked breathing the unknown. Her cold heart beat heavily and loudly in her ears, feeling it jump in every vein. Bright, ice eyes were wide with fear as she was now looked out over the deck of a stranger ship, staring right back at her with bared teeth and darkness in their gaze.She could almost feel their eyes on her bare skin, her breasts, like disgusting smog creeping across her frame. She felt it horrid as it settled on her pale flesh, but as she squeezed her eyes shut she could almost swear she felt one's eyes try and settle on her face, as if searching for her eyes though her body was exposed and open to the rest of the men's eyes.

A shudder rippled up Ariel's spine, but that only seemed to excite the sailors more, far too much to be the mere royal navy's men no-they were pirates. Filthy, thieving and devilish...pirates.

There in the lead among the crew, standing away from the net but closer than the others dare to step forward was a rather rugged looking man, he had to be the captain here she thought without a doubt. She had thought the air gone from her lungs but that became apparent not when her blue eyes locked with his of almost the same shade. A smirk plastered on his lips, a satisfactory smirk as if he had just the sweetest of riches but of course from the captain's point of view he had indeed.

"Well well..." The smug one said taking a few steps closer to the hanging siren, that smirk still plain on his face and hiding something, a certain something that she guessed to be the reason she was dangling by a net over a band of thieves and not in her ocean home.

"Such a pretty lil' lass we have here," She paused raking his eyes down her frame and resting on her green, alluring fin before slowly dragging those blue eye back to meet hers again. "Or mer-lass." He said and his crew chuckled. He did not lie though with this statement, from first distant sight of the mermaid he had thought her to be beautiful and that didn't seem to make a difference up close to her.

Red curls were damp and clung to the fish's creamy looking skin; it was an intense crimson that could catch anyone's eye from a mile away and all he could think was that he couldn't wait to see what those locks looked like when dry and at their full fierce flame. A thought that was dangerous in his mind. The pirate stepped even closer to the net in which she hung. "What's your name, love?" He asked with the same look on his face, smug, and of all proud.

Instead of answering the man's simple question the siren just stared at him, eyes narrowed fiercely and trying to hold back a hiss that burned in her mouth. She would not give him the satisfaction he obviously thought that he deserved by requesting her name, as if it didn't shame her to admit that the princess of the sea had allowed herself to be fished right out of her own kingdom. Anyway, she would never do anything for this man. There was not a sailor in the sea who knew not her name and with that the name of her six sisters along with her father; King Triton, son of Poseidon. Knowing the young mermaid's name would mean holding a great amount of power to the captain of this ship...

They stared for a good minute before finally the man broke it to tip his head back and chuckle. He made a gesture unseen to Ariel but the sound of rope cutting brought to her attention what would soon follow.

The finned girl fell to the deck with a thud and the crew laughed as she gave out a shriek landing on her shoulder the fish yelped as a sharp pain split up it quite obviously from the impact she took as she plummeted to the hard wood of the vessel's deck. The pain in her shoulder had distracted her from the heavy weight of the loose net now pressing down on her and with her bummed shoulder all she could do was kick her fin and claw with her uninjured arm at the floor to crawl out from under the net. Maybe if the mermaid had stayed in one place without a fuss then the crew wouldn't have started to approach her, their heavy footsteps echoing in Ariel's ears clearly though she wasn't looking at them. Her heart hammered in her fast rising and falling chest that with her hair in a curled mess over her shoulders and back; left it bare.

The first touch was a tight grab by a rough hand to her injured arm, the second uncut nails dragging down her fin, she had stopped counting at merely two as soon there were too many hands and feet stomping, grabbing and tugging at her hair, limbs and much tender chest to keep up. She felt her throat start to clench up in fear and her eyes shot up to seek those of the captain but he could not be seen behind the band of rowdy pirates and this was when she knew she must do something, or she'd be violated and murdered. This may be the last chance she had to do something.

Sucking in a breath as deep as she could without it being knocked out of her by the force of the men she finally let out the force that most neglected as a gift that a siren possessed with their voice; a scream.

The scream was loud enough to be heard from miles and still send a shiver down one's spine. The demanding men around her stood stunned for a minute by the blood curdling scream but for the shortest moment before near all of them dropped to the floor. Those who were smart enough and saw what was coming were educated enough to cover their ears from the bursting sound and now the only sailors remaining conscious were a group of maybe six who stood back with the captain who seemed perfectly fine and anything but surprised.

Tears burned in the mermaid's eyes as she kicked and shoved desperately to push the bodies of the unconscious men off her sore and damaged body and Killian watched the scared half-lass push the limp men away from her shivering and now bleeding and bruised frame.

Annoyance nipped at him as the majority of his men were out cold and would remain so for a while if not hours. But watching the small lass like that shattered the cloud of anger and it replaced with sympathy.

Poor darling, he thought but shooed it away quickly, he heaved a long sigh and walked over to the girl. A second between each step was the quickest that he dared to move towards the frightened girl as he could see by the look on her face that she would scream again if necessary, he raised his unhooked hand up intending he meant her no harm and continued when she stayed put.

Ariel's chest rose and fell rapidly, so fast that if a human were as scared as she was they would pass out much like the men around her. She looked at the captain's face as he slowly approached her then allowed her eyes to wander down to his hand raised of his own protection, but why was his other hand hidden beneath his coat. She could only think of the worst and she scampered backwards the best she could until her back pressed against the cold wood of the side of the ship.

Killian followed the lass's gaze down to where her eyes were locked causing her to retreat. He had thought better to keep his silver appendage hidden as scaring the woman further would result in a ship full of sleeping sailors.

He rolled his eyes at her reaction and stopped where he was about a foot away from her. "Now, love, fear not. T'was merely my consideration of scaring you," He said with a soft smirk tugging at his lips. "I think it fair to ask not to release that beast of a voice again while I show you, yes? I'm not going to harm you." His words were sincere and he gazed at her with ice blue eyes, almost seeming trustworthy. Almost. He slowly and carefully removed his well polished hook from the cover of his draping leather coat to hold it up with his insisting hand. "See?"

Ariel's eyes of the same colour to the pirate locked onto the shining hook, and to her own surprise she actually calmed at the sight of it. It certainly wasn't comforting to think about what damage could be done with the appendage but because of the words that went with the uncovering, he was telling the truth.

Her chest slowed in its rising and falling slightly and she allowed the captain approach her now without taking his sweet time.

Killian crouched in front of the redhead whom had finally stopped struggling to escape the Roger, which was near impossible for one with no legs. His eyes loomed over her with fascination, but rest a little too long they did on her exposed chest. Not that anyone could blame the pirate and the rest of his crew for staring as it was not a sight they would protest to see and besides, all of them have had to make do with the mental images of a naked woman before them in their lonely nights, put a real one right before them so suddenly and they are bound to react. Killian had hoped they would have controlled themselves a bit more than they had though; he had to cheer on the mermaid for giving them what they deserved.

She could sense the man's stare hovering over the bare flesh of her front and her arms were quick to fold over it, shielding it from his eyes. To resist temptation he pulled his long leather coat he often wore and draped it over the woman's shivering shoulders. "There you are, lass."

She accepted the coat and held it close to her, looking down at the rough leather before trailing her gaze back to the captain's... of whom she had just realized had still not introduced himself, but then again neither had she. By the looks of things the secrecy wouldn't last long as the pirate had began to tell the siren his name.

"How rude of me, lass, I apologize for my forgetfulness." He said after a moment's realization. He bowed his head as he stayed crouching and made a gesture with his arms. "Captain Killian Jones, though I suspect you could guess my more colourful moniker; Hook. Welcome aboard the Jolly Roger, love." He said with a grin. Jones tilted his head and gazed down at the redheaded woman before him, she was terribly beautiful and he sincerely hoped that her beauty would not get in the way of his demands of her. He did hope he wouldn't have to take pity on her again but hoped even more that he wouldn't have to do what he first intended to do with the siren he caught.

"Now, do we want to try this again?" He made a face and held his hand out to the beauty for her to take it, a kind movement of a sort. "Do you have a name?"

Ariel looking into his eyes for some time before she found her hand rising and gravitating towards his own hand; it was warm but the pirate's hand was rough as it closed around her slim one comfortingly. "Ariel..." She whispered.

"Ariel," He repeated with confirmation. He knew exactly who this lass was now; none other than the youngest daughter of King Triton. Oh this had to be too good to be true... A wicked grin curved to Killian's lips and he gazed deeply into her eyes, without breaking the stare he called over to his remaining sailors standing behind. "Straighten up mates; it appears we've royalty aboard the Roger!" There was a gleam the mermaid caught in this Killian's eye, and the gleam was one of darkness and secrecy. It was a hell of a gaze but she sensed there would be a hell of a mission to go with it.