Sapphire loved the feel of the wind beneath her as she swung on the rope, the satisfying thump of the ship's wood as she landed, and the chaos of the fight.

Battles were brilliant. She'd decided this long ago, and never changed her mind. The guts and glory, the gore and grandeur. Though a pirate she was, she always made certain that fights were fair before she destroyed her opponents. Green was always warning her about barreling into things, but really, if he was the one picking the fights all the time, who was he to scold her?

But fights against Red's ship were different. They weren't the same as attacking merchants, sailors, fishermen, pirates, or even other smugglers. There were rules: nobody killed the fair-haired healer, the ship was not sunk, and Red was saved for Green's sword.

Still, it wasn't entirely dull. Though Green would be enraged if any of those silly rules were broken, Sapphire still found ways to have fun. She adored provoking the stiff, redheaded navigator—for angering such a steely man was almost as fun as angering Green. She almost felt as if she knew Red's crew well. She'd brawled with them thrice before.

She was just leaping to get to the narrow band of wood at the back of the ship when she spotted the golden-eyed thief with the obnoxious smirk. But gone was his sneer now. She slowed; before him stood a panic-stricken young lady with a damp dress and half-soaked hair that seemed to be drying fast. The crewman had just finished saying something—something Sapphire swore was "monster", but that couldn't have been right. It didn't matter, though; his gaze flickered to Sapphire and he drew his sword immediately, turning his back on the girl. Sapphire returned his unusually angry expression with a wicked grin, jumping nimbly back. He followed her into the fray, clashing blades with her.

And then came the marvelous sparring. Turning and whirling, slamming her own blade into his, then someone else's, then another man's arm. Losing herself in her own wrath, any man who fell into her warpath was sure to be sorry. Sometimes she wasn't even sure what she fought for. She was just a machine, a soldier, set on her enemy and pushed forth.

Did she ever go too far? Maybe. Maybe she should have invested her time in something more rewarding, and less…criminal. Sometimes those doubts crept into her mind even as she swung her sword.

But now she was lost in a mess of faces and flashing metal and blood and shouts. Here was where things got sticky; as the night grew darker, the fight was still at a standstill. On other ships, she was used to fighting the good fight until there were more openings, then helping her mates pillage whatever goods were about. But on Red's massive vessel, the men were tough and sea-worn. Basically pirates, but they considered themselves to be above outright attacking other ships. She would spit on their "code of honour" if she could; what special brand of coward were they for their lack of will?

They were tough—she would give them that. She was struggling with the men she'd crossed blades with. One holding a jagged dagger was getting too close for comfort. Was he new? He looked strong and skilled, and had a scar down his face; a former soldier?

She tried to call to the men of her own ship, but it was growing so dark that she could hardly see. The moon was obscured by black clouds; the stars were rare glints that glared down at her, mocking her misfortune. She was up against the side of the ship, she was fighting too many at once, she had bit off more than she could chew again, and it might just cost her life this time. At any moment, a knife could go right through her…

But instead, Sapphire fell.

Over the side she went, spiraling down, plunging into the shock of cold seawater. She gasped, air spraying from her mouth into the water, coming out in bubbles. Immediately she regretted this; very quickly her lungs began burning and she was sinking, sinking.

Her hard fall had propelled her deep. She clawed her way to the surface through the biting water desperately, but she didn't even come close by the time her vision faded. Her entire body was aching from strain and panic.

Finally, she let the sea take her. She let it claim her as its own. The water rippled softly around her, gentler than the angry surface. By now she had gotten used to the temperature, and it only prodded at her. Fish slid by, minding their own business. The bubbles leaving her were all gone. Her lungs throbbed intensely, but she couldn't do anything about it now. All she could do was take in the sea, her vision blurred underwater, as she drowned.

Down, down, down she sank, into the dark water.


Crystal knew nothing of the pirate drowning in the sea so far below her, but she knew that the pale girl protecting Green's ship had gone. It was a relief, but it also made her stomach bubble with worry. The girl had obviously known who Crystal was, and Crystal herself had recognised her from somewhere. What was her name? Pansy? Primrose? Petunia?

There was little time to dwell on it. The fighting grew so quickly. Crystal knew nothing of how to use a sword, so she swiped a knife from someone too involved in the fray to notice, and darted through the chaos. She managed to get below deck and stumbled about until she could hear Yellow's voice singing ever so softly.

Yellow and Orange were hidden away in a storage room. Yellow sang a lullaby to her frightened son, not faltering even when Crystal appeared with a knife in hand, still slightly damp from her ocean excursion. Orange's eyes were shut tight, but he was certainly still awake. Noises from the brawl traveled all the way to the dark space where they were. Crystal sat beside them and set the knife down. A last resort, for self-defense.

When Orange drifted into a light sleep, Yellow whispered, "Did something happen to you? Did they hurt you?"

Crystal shook her head. There was no way to write, and her voice was lost once again. Even if there were some ink and parchment, Crystal wouldn't even know where to start. She wouldn't even know what to say to Yellow.

Instead, she leaned against her caring, newfound friend, and she cried.

The fight ended deep in the night. Green's sister, Sapphire, had been flung overboard accidentally, and swallowed in the sea. The attacking pirates retreated, and Red's ship sailed silently, haunted through the night.


Pushing dawn on her shoulders, the girl broke out of the water and into she early-morning air. She skittered across the surface of the sea, not nearly as swift or graceful as the Lady, but just quick enough to get back in time. She had to, or else the Lady would be left on her own to sort out…whatever had taken place.

She'd destroyed everything. She'd gotten far too close to the earthens, and now somehow the Lady had gotten mixed up in it. Now the Lady would be in trouble as well. Now both of those ships would have to sink.

Now Pearl…

The girl clutched at the thin band round her neck. She shouldn't have gotten so very close.

Though she had swum the whole night through, she was just barely on the outskirts of the bay. She dived back down, the water lighting as the sun steadily rose. Already folk were out and swimming about, though a few drifted towards the outer limits when they saw her approach. One caught her eye immediately.

"Lady Blue!" she cried out desperately. The older maiden knitted her eyebrows together and swam forth to meet the girl, there in a flicker. It wasn't anything unusual for people to leave the colony to travel, but the expression on the girl's face and her frantic strokes must have been enough to tell that something dreadful had occurred.

"Peony, what's gone wrong?" Blue asked, guessing at the name, it seemed. The girl didn't bother to correct her.

"It's Lady Crystal," she replied instantly. "Something's happened, and I'm not sure what, but Lady Crystal is in horrible danger."

Blue didn't need to be told anything else. She was off in a flash, swimming off in the way that the girl came from.

The girl herself spun and tried to follow, however, Blue was just too fast. When the girl had gone far enough away that the couldn't make out the bay in the distance behind her, Blue was no where in sight either. She figured, though, that she'd keep going until she came across the ships again, or Blue, no matter how exhausted she was.

But she didn't get that far.


Sapphire woke coughing and spewing with one thought: to get the saltwater out of her lungs.

Only after she had hacked sufficiently and cleared most of the water—leaving her throat raw and her stomach roiling—did she realize she should have been dead. She should have drowned in that sea.

She rubbed grit and sea salt from her eyes as she heard ebbing waves and mumbling voices. Scrapes seared her skin. The rising sun glared down at her. She blinked up at it.

Oh, the sky. The sky was such a marvelous canvas of colours, so light and welcoming compared to the brand of blue that was only found deep in the sea at night.

Sapphire glanced around. She was on her ship! Her mates surrounded her, jeering and laughing that good old Sapphy had survived. The captain's sister had braved the wild, raging seas, but they'd decided her savage grace was far too much to bear and spit her right back out.

She sat shakily. "How did you sorry lot find me?" she asked.

One of the men let out a bellowing laugh. "Maybe she hit 'er head!" He looked down at her. "Sapphy, we backtracked and found you on some rocks. You had to've swam there."

"I couldn't have." She shook her head. "I was in too deep. Someone had to have brought me up."

The men exchanged glances and shrugged. Somewhere behind them, Green barked out, "Get back to your posts! This ship can't sail herself!" With little grumbling, the crew returned to their jobs. Sapphire glanced at her brother. His eyes flickered to her for the ghost of a moment, before he turned his back.

Pearl helped her stand up. When she was on her feet, he leaned in close and said, "I don't believe you got yourself to those rocks either."

"You don't?" she asked.

"You couldn't have. Sapphire, you're strong, but nobody is that strong. The rocks were too far from where you went down, and you must have gone deep. You were passed out when we got you, and when we were close enough…I heard a splash. Something brought you there, something beastly. I don't know what the hell it could have been, though." His eyes said that he did have an idea of what it could have been, but she didn't press him.

That night, the ship began passing again over the area where Sapphire had almost drowned. She knew it was a long shot, but maybe whatever had saved her was still there. Or, crazier, whoever saved her.

She knew the others would think her delusional, still oxygen-starved, but she had to find out if the creature that rescued her was normal or…something else. And she knew something saved her. She couldn't have washed ashore in time to regain her breath.

The ocean air whispered against her skin, its smell calling her to draw closer. Enticing her to fall into its depths again. Quietly, when the moon was out and nobody was paying attention, she slid down the rope ladder into one of the rowboats, lowering it to the sea. Most of the crew was eating, in their quarters, or not paying much attention to their station on deck.

She sat on the edge of the rowboat, sure of herself. Her near-death experience had been a freak accident, not anything she could control. Without danger, she could keep herself perfectly steady, even on the edge.

She dipped her toes in the bobbing water. Would her saviour recognise her feet? It was a long shot, but she had to try. She began tossing the smooth stones she'd gathered on land, as if she were just trying to skip them. Really, she wanted to know what the hell was down there.

She did this for a long while, never flinging too many in too short a time. She stared at the constant churning of the water, occasionally throwing her gaze up at the moon. It radiated light tonight, shining along with the stars, unlike the dark terror of the night she nearly drowned. Tonight, she was safe. Tonight, she would get answers.

After a long while, she began wondering if she was a fool. If whatever saved her didn't find the stones to be of much concern, or if it was long gone.

But about four stones later, she saw an unnatural ripple.

She gasped, jumping back into the rowboat. She peeked over its edge, wondering if she'd imagined it. But she prided herself on her perception of nature, of the jungle that was the sea and of forests on land. This was no illusion.

Tentatively, Sapphire sank another stone and called, "Can you hear me? Do you understand me?" Another ripple. She was certain that the first was an accident. Whatever it was seemed just as hesitant as she to meet. But this time, it wanted her to know it was there.

She mustered the courage to do the same. "You can come out," she tried, unsure if this would work. She judged her voice, attempting to be loud enough to be heard through the water, but still quiet enough to go unnoticed by anyone on deck. But the deck was so high above, and she was right here, right at the water with this creature. She let another stone go plopping down, directly below her. Perhaps she imagined it, but it sounded like the water moved, like something was poking its head out. It was a bit too dark to see ."You don't have to be afraid. I don't want to hurt you. I want to see you." She wanted to know if it could hear her. She held her breath.

And suddenly, with a spray of water, he was there. He was there, and he was beautiful. In the moonlight, she could see the dark hair plastered to the sides of his face. His eyes were round and dark red in colour, like blood. His features were handsome, unafraid but uncertain. On either side of his neck, there were slits. Gills. His chest was bare, but along his arms and parts of his torso were strips of scales that gradually melded with skin.

Sapphire knew her eyes must have been wide as dinner plates. Her breath had hitched, and she found it hard to get it back at the sight of him. She didn't know what to say. Greetings were insufficient. This was not a meeting of two strangers inside a shop or on the streets. This was something strange and new and very undecided.

"Did you…" she paused, her voice weak. She asked the obvious question. "Did you save me?"

"Yes." His voice was silk.

"How?" That was all she could manage.

He lowered her gaze. His eyes fixed on the water, he leaned back, and suddenly, a tail was extending from him, out of the water, dripping.

The tail was serpentine and haunting, something from legends or nightmares. Sapphire had always thought the prospect of sea people—mermen especially—to be absurd, but this was no laughing matter. A sea monster would have this tail. Something slithering and sharp. Not human, or humanoid, or whatever he was.

She realized too late that her expression was probably horrified, because he sunk his lower half back into the water. She didn't want him to think he was horrifying. He was beautiful in a violent way, a way that demanded to be admired but not possessed. He answered the unspoken question that hung in the salty air. "I saw you sinking. I couldn't let someone die while I was right there. I couldn't do nothing."

She had a million inquiries swimming in the thick sea air before her. And so, of course, she clumsily asked, "Who are you?"

"My name is Ruby," he answered, and looked into her eyes again. It was as if this made him feel more normal, more like her. Having an identity. In a way, it did. It gave the mystery that he was at least one definition: Ruby.

Next question. "Are there more like you?"

A nod. "Many. We live in cities beneath the waves." His eyes shone in the light of the moon. He was just as fascinated by her as she was by him.

Timidly, she sat straighter in the rowboat and leaned against the edge, closer to him. "My name is Sapphire," she told him.

A smile. His smile was an enigma in itself. Oh, she could drown in that smile. "That's a magnificent name," he told her.

High above them on the ship, there was suddenly a noise like falling pots and a few shouts. Sapphire's head jerked up to the deck. Nobody had spotted her, or even seemed like they'd noticed her absence, but still she was startled.

"Do you have to go back up there?" Ruby asked. He sounded disappointed. How funny he was that he acted so human, when he was so different. It really felt like both an ordinary and completely foreign meeting at the same time.

"I probably should," Sapphire answered. "But can I talk to you again? Can you watch the ship and meet me again tomorrow night?" She thought she sounded too eager, but Ruby nodded. They were both curious beyond measure.

Sapphire rose and grabbed hold of the pulley. She turned to say goodbye to Ruby, but he had already slipped beneath the dark waves.

She hefted the rowboat up to its proper place and climbed the rope ladder back onto the ship undetected.

The next night, Sapphire slipped down the side of the ship into the rowboat, lowering it again. As not to raise suspicion, she had gone to dinner with the rest of the men, but she'd eaten it rather quickly and slithered out again. Someone had probably noticed, but she doubted they would infer anything odd. None of them could guess the truth.

Under only the gaze of the moon, she sat on the edge of the rowboat and waited. She didn't bring the stones again, not wanting to waste the amount that she'd collected, in case she needed to get Ruby's attention fast at some point.

It didn't take long for him to come. Still, he hesitated as he poked his head out of the water some distance away, calling, "Sapphire?"

An uncontrollable grin spread across her face. "I'm here!" He ducked back under and reappeared right before her, swimming beside the ship as it made its progress through the sea.

Gradually, they began talking. It started out as questions, their interest unhidden, but their visits slowly turned to something of normal conversations. Each night, Sapphire snuck down to meet him. The short time while the crew was at dinner became too little, so she instead went to dinners and met with Ruby after most of the men had gone to sleep. Then the nights were truly full and dark, the sky swollen and black, but a few lamps were always still lit on the ship, so that even though it was dim, she could see Ruby before her. As they grew to know each other, she found he wasn't so different from normal people. Sure, his people did things differently, but they were still people. She even found herself bickering with him often, little quips that never got her too angry, but wound her up nonetheless.

"Have you ever met another human?" she asked one night.

"No," he answered. "Just you. I've never spoken to someone truly earth-bound."

She'd titled her head then. "What do you mean by that?"

"My people…once we're completely out of the water, we begin drying, and our scales turn to skin. Our tails dry into two legs. We can pass perfectly as humans, only we can't speak. Our voices belong to the sea."

"You can change like that?" Sapphire was surprised. She didn't think that was possible.

But he nodded. "We can change to that, and back when we're in the sea once again. I'm not sure why, since not too many of us go to the land, but I would imagine it would be helpful. I've changed a few times, to see what it would be like. It's strange, not being able to talk."

"But your scales…they just turn into skin?"

"See for yourself." He held his hand out of the water long enough that she could see the band of scales around his wrist. It didn't take long for them to meld with the skin, fuse with it until they were gone. Sapphire reached out and felt along his wrist. It was soft, as if it were normal skin. Ruby's eyes were on her, burning her, but she didn't look up, afraid of what she would see in that red gaze of his.

Instead, she dunked his hand back in the water, and the scales immediately popped back into place. She took his hand in both of hers, feeling his soft, strange skin, and then the slick scales.

Without any words, he lifted his other hand to hold hers. For a moment, their hands were joined in silence. He broke the quiet—but not the tension—in saying, "Your hands are very warm." Sapphire couldn't meet his eyes again. She knew her hands were rough and calloused, not nearly as gentle and yielding as his. Still, she hadn't realised just how many nerve endings she had in her hands until he was holding them in his.

"What do you call yourselves?" Sapphire asked a few nights later, long after she'd heard the snores of the crew. It was an important question, standing out against the little arguments and silly inquiries.

"We have plenty of names, for ourselves and you," he admitted.

She raised her eyebrows. "Oh?"

He smirked. "Yes. We call you two-legs, or earthens, or landfolk, or just humans…"

Sapphire reached into the water and splashed him. "You do not, you liar."

"Yes, we do!" He laughed, ruining his seriousness. "I'm not lying!"

"Fine. Then what do you call yourselves?"

"Most of the names we go by are ones you already know. Merfolk, like mermaids and mermen—not one of my favourite terms, mind you, so don't start using it—as well as Nereids, nymphs of the sea. I guess we could go by sea sprites, or anything like that. But mostly…" His expression darkened. "Mostly we are called Sirens."

"Why?" She had a feeling she already knew. She'd heard plenty of sea tales regarding Sirens, but she'd always thought they were only tales.

"You know why," he returned, not meeting her eyes. "I told you that our voices belong to the sea. You know what Sirens do. They enchant people with their songs, so that they sink their ships and drown."

"But Sirens aren't supposed to look like…that," Sapphire protested. "In the stories, they're not like you. They're not anything like you." In myths, sometimes Sirens were even depicted as bird-like.

He shook his head. "You don't know what I'm like."

"You've never tried to sink my ship—"

"One Siren can't take on a whole ship on his own," Ruby snapped.

"—and you've never tried to drown me," Sapphire finished. He was silent. "You saved me, Ruby."

"I just couldn't let anyone else die," he explained. "My people killed so many of yours. I felt that I had to make up for it." He was close enough to the rowboat that he was gripping the edge of it so tightly with one hand that his knuckles were white.

Sapphire, too, was close to the edge as well, kneeling on one of the wooden seats inside as she leaned her hands on the edge. "Then why are you still here, Ruby?" she asked angrily. "Why are you still talking to me if I'm just someone you couldn't let die? Why are you here with me, if you're so awful? If you really cared nothing for me, then you wouldn't stay and ask me questions and bicker and talk with me! So why are you here? Why?"

As her voice grew into a shout, Ruby grasped the edge of the rowboat with his other hand, on the other side of her hands. He barely had to move to lift himself from the water suddenly, kicking his serpentine tail, to press his lips against hers for a moment. Sapphire was frozen, her words cut off, her eyes wide. And then Ruby broke away, letting go of the boat and sinking into the water. She saw the flick of his tail beneath the water as he swam away, and then he was gone.

Her heart was beating all too fast. She had heard other girls talk about the same anxiously rolling stomach and shortness of breath and warmth that Sapphire felt. She had never believed it was real. She believed it was wishful thinking on their parts, all in their minds. To Sapphire, those feelings were nuisances. They were utter daydreams. But then again, she had thought that Sirens were myths, and one had just kissed her.

She wished she had the stones so that she could pelt them at him. She wished she could swim faster, so that she could catch up to him and give him a right punch for what he'd done. She wished he would return immediately so she could shout at him until her throat was raw.

She wished he would return and kiss her again.


Ruby didn't come back the next night, nor the one after.

On the third night, she brought the stones down and began dropping them again. There was a chance he might still be around. If he had kissed her, perhaps he was still hovering nearby. Either that, or he had gone for good, and it was all her fault. She would never see him again, and be left to her boring, empty world. It hadn't felt so hollow before Ruby saved her and changed everything.

She tried to control herself as the bag of stones slowly grew lighter. She attempted to calm herself, breathing deeply and ignoring the stinging in her eyes until tears were trickling right down her nose and she couldn't hold it in any longer. She cried as quietly as she could, ugly sobs escaping her. Hopefully she wasn't loud enough for anyone to hear her.

She hated him, and she loved him. How was that possible? How could she be so angry with someone that she cared so much about? She hardly knew him, and yet she was feeling so many things she never had before. Perhaps it was because he wasn't afraid to stand up to her and challenge her. And he listened to what she had to say. He had been there for her, for however short a time, and he had wanted to be with her too. She'd never had a friend like that. Nobody understood her but him, because he'd wanted to understand her.

She'd stopped throwing stones, and instead watched the stars, letting her tears spill down into the rowboat.

And then, she saw the tip of his tail, some distance away. She gasped and paused her crying, sitting up and waiting to see if she'd imagined it. But then, she saw him poke his head up the way he always did, far away. Maybe he was hoping she wouldn't notice, but she wasn't going to let him get away. Not this time.

"Ruby!" she shouted, and only waited a breath to dive into the sea. Waves buffeted her, and she could barely see in the dark, though she still plunged forward, swimming to him as quickly as she could. He seemed too shocked to try to escape. When she was close enough, she pushed herself forward, throwing herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. She held him tightly, crying into his chest. "Why would you do that to me?" she shrieked. "Why would you kiss me and then leave?!"

"Sapph, I…" He was at a loss for words. Slowly, he raised his arms to hold her. "I didn't think you would want to speak to me after I did that."

"You incredible buffoon! You blabbering idiot!" she yelled, weakly pounding a fist against his chest. She knew it wouldn't hurt him. "How could you think I don't care about you?"

His grip grew stronger around her. "Because I'm horrible. I've killed people, and you know that. Why would someone as beautiful and wonderful as you ever settle for someone as awful as me?"

Sapphire felt her face burn when he called her beautiful. "I'm a no-good pirate. I'm a woman looked down upon by everyone else. I'm grumpy and cranky, and you're this incredible being, Siren or not." She lifted her face from his chest, no longer crying, and looked into his eyes. Damn. Why did he have to be so stunning and so infuriating at the same time? She raised herself up and kissed him. His lips were salty and soft, and her heart had never felt so strange and fluttery as it beat against her ribs. She felt that she could spread wings and fly. She could do anything under these velvet night skies with Ruby.

Both of them understood that this was something fleeting and forbidden, and neither of them cared.


A/N: Here is Part II, as promised! Took me a month, buuut... ^-^"
Here's where the Franticshipping comes in! Drama, drama, drama. I hope everyone likes it because...well, I have a very vague idea of where this is going XD
But this basically ruins all of the mythology I've constructed for a fairyland-centric story I might be doing... XP

Rant over! Thanks for reading!
-Silvia

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokespe or anything else