Dear minions,

As you can see, I am very excited to move forward with this AU (it hasn't even been a week since the first update!)

Just a side note, I will not be scheduling updates for this AU. Some readers have informed me that the chapters are a bit too short. Well, to make them longer, I will need more time, and more time leaves me open to Life happening and other obstacles getting in the way. It will also mean my Beta will need a little extra time to read through the content. and then I have to correct those mistakes. AND THEN I have to like what I wrote.

Its a very long process.

So a brief overview! There will be longer chapters, but not as often as you would like.

I would not mind receiving messages concerning a projected chapter update or a 'hey, did you forget?' message. It'll be the little nudge of motivation I will need to get it done!

~ All my love ~

Peach

=)

Enjoy!


Chapter 2

A ray of noon-time sunshine broke through heavy winter clouds and filtered to the bottom of a cavernous harbor. The light illuminated a pale-skinned siren for which the cove was named.

She flounced around the rocky ocean floor, using the new light to search for glittering treasures of the sea.

She perched herself on a column of rock, tickling a foundling crab with one dainty finger. Her cerulean hair billowed around her face and shifted with the underwater currents. The light from the surface glinted across her finned and scaly form, reflecting a colorful array of indigo and dark green. The incoming cold fronts sent chilled waters through her cove, leaching her skin until she was as pale as the full moon. They would migrate soon, far south where the water wasn't so cold.

Her eyes adjusted to the growing darkness as the sunlight disappeared. She didn't want to leave, the cove was her home.

There were no protective hideaways where they were going. No place for her to bask in sunlight away from human and merfolk eyes.

Maybe if master would move them somewhere not so inhabited. Migration meant a convergence of all the nearby colonies, which made living very crowded. The increase in their colony size made hiding difficult and venturing rules became unbearable. She would not see the sun for a long time.

"How long do you plan on keeping Juvia here for?"

As Levy's friend, Juvia really didn't mind staying with the little fish. Levy had an exquisite talent for finding odds and ends that they repurposed.

Levy crossed her arms indignantly, huffing at her blue haired twin, "I'm not keeping you here. You're the one that followed me."

Her friend made an irritated sound, angrily flipping a wave of hair that drifted into her line of sight.

Levy went back to the coral patch at the floor, sifting through the coarse sand bed when a glimmer of pink caught her eye. She dusted the broken little fan shell, clicking it against its pair. Juvia entered her peripheral and Levy swam to her side, fastening the trinket in the swell of her friend's blue hair.

When fixated, Levy leaned back to admire her work.

"How does it look?" Juvia asked timidly, fingering her new accessory.

"Lovely," she answered with a smile. Juvia's tail fin shimmered with the same blue sheen as Levy's, but instead of green, Juvia had pink highlights that now matched her hair clip.

Levy giggled and flung herself into a nearby current that carried her around the harbor with very little effort.

Juvia took Levy's seat on the short pillar, watching on with mild irritation as she circled the area with carefree happiness.

Like a breeze on land, chilled waters permeated the warm cove and sent a shiver down Juvia's spine.

Master had set the date for migration to tomorrow, but most of their colony had already left, primarily families with small children.

Levy had nestled herself in an alcove too close to the surface for Juvia's comfort. The ebb and flow of the waves rocking the little fish into a nap.

Juvia swam to her side, resting her arms against the ledge, dark blue eyes meeting sad hazel ones.

"Why're you sad?" she asked, twirling a nearby strand of her hair. Levy had tied it back out of her face with a bright leaf of kelp.

The little fish avoided looking at her when she spoke, and then hesitantly, "I-I want...to stay. Here."

She ran her hand over the wall of rock behind her, rising out of the water.

Juvia wrinkled her nose in disapproval, "You'll freeze."

Levy snorted with derision, "Not forever. Just tonight. I want to stay here for the night."

Juvia sympathized with the girl. She understood her attachments, and she could find no real reason to not indulge her. Well, maybe.

"You shouldn't play so close to the surface, you know," Juvia's voice held a slight waver of worry that made Levy sit at attention.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Why do you say that?"

Juvia leaned close to whisper in the little fish's ear, "The fishmonger might find you."

Levy let out a screech as Juvia playfully tickled her ribs. When Levy caught her breath, she pushed her friend away, snuggling deeper into the moss covered nest.

"No," she insisted and added, "he won't. I'll be fine."

They shared a light smile. The 'fishmonger' was a not so untrue tale weaved in order to frighten children into behaving.

"Do you want Juvia to come get you when we leave tomorrow?"

The little siren nodded with a sad smile. Their impending move was starting to settle in her chest like a heavy stone.

Juvia placed a chaste kiss to the girl's forehead, patting her hair before swimming away.

She ascended over the ships and wreckage that protected her friend's refuge like a morbid graveyard. The sharks alone were enough to deter the curious sirens, but being as small as Levy was, she persevered and came to revel in the playground that she saw it as.

Juvia steered clear of splintered masts and twisted metal bows, quickly traveling back home to the reefs where she would gather their things to migrate.