At breakfast the place next to her is empty. She'd gone to bed last night without saying anything at all. Now she regrets it. She doesn't want to anger him firstly because it's his ship, and secondly because she just doesn't want to anger him at all. After she stopped talking last night no one else talked anymore either. The silence of all the other men becomes unbearable. As she looks around everyone is just minding their own business. She sighs, putting down her piece of bread.

"Does he usually just kill around?" She questions no one in general, breaking the silence. They look up, all to her.

"We're pirates, Ariel. that's what we do." Thomas replies. And then other conversations around the table start up too. It crosses her mind that no one really talks to her as long as she doesn't start talking to them first. She shakes her head.

"That's probably just an understatement. Pirates aren't supposed to pay for things either, but you did yesterday."

"For most of it." Thomas admits with a small grin. She gives him a disapproving look to what he just shrugs.

"But does he?"

"He may have killed a man or two... three," Jack acknowledges. "He's not taken aback of it, let's say that. Especially if you touch his precious things."

"Then what was that last night?" Thomas smirks.

"Congratulations Ariel, so early on the encounter and you've already got to see his vulnerable side." The conversations she may or may not have started when she started speaking up first end abruptly when Killian walks in, taking place next to her.

"Good morning." She whispers, he doesn't look up, just nods and starts eating. "All right, are you going to be like this the entire day or?" What had been silent falls more silent, she can even feel the tension, as if she said something that could cost anyone else's head of they said that. He looks at her, sighs and looks away again, the moment he does everyone else looks away too. "Do you want me to apologise or something?" She whispers, Killian shakes his head to what she smiles. "Good, because I wasn't going to." She says and gets up. "I'll be in my room."

At the end of the breakfast he sits alone with Jack at the table. He hasn't spoken a word since Ariel left the table, neither did anyone else.

"Must I apologise to her?" He questions.

Jack shrugs, "If you want to show her how vulnerable you are once again, then yes."

"Once again?"

"Last night you pretty much showed how precious she was to you by nearly killing a man who just wanted to dance with her."

"Are you mocking me sailor?" Jack laughs softly.

"Yes, Captain. Yes, I am." Killian shakes his head carefully, not bringing too much movement to his head. "How did she get to you so quickly?"

"She's gonna..."

"Help you find Rumpelstiltskin, yes, I know. Anyone can help you find him so if anything happens to her it shouldn't bother you too much."

"But it does."

"Exactly, and why is that?" Killian shrugs, looking up as he hears a soft melodic singing. The beautiful sound takes his headache away, making him yearn to come closer, in order to feel no pain anymore at all. Jack snaps his fingers in front of his face. "That's her." He hisses, "She's singing." Killian gets up.

"I'll go to her." The singing when he walks towards the room, however, doesn't seem to get louder. It appears as if the song can be heard from all over the ship at the same sound level. He opens the door and sees Ariel dancing around the room in a long dress, the bottom blue, a corset like part in black and the sleeves white. He finds a smile on his face, realising how pretty the girl is. She's singing a slow version of the song they danced to last night. He closes the door behind him, she doesn't even notice she's not alone. She has her eyes closed as she dances, almost floats through the room. He steps towards her, pressing his chest against her back, taking her hand in his and she stops humming to look who's standing behind her. Ariel's eyes getting darker, as if they're turning black, yet she smiles at him sweetly as if she didn't get mad this morning and starts murmuring as he moves his arm so that she can twirl underneath.

"Ariel?" He speaks up as he guides her. She nods, her soft murmuring slowly becomes singing again. "You're not just a mermaid, are you?" She smiles.

"What do you mean, Killian?" She chants.

"I have reasons to believe you are a siren." He answers, letting her twirl again. Hey eyes turn into the green eyes they were before as she stops singing, letting the silence fall before she speaks up again.

"Does my song haunt you, Captain?" They're dancing to complete silence.

"At all." He lies, the song does haunt him, the sound of it is so enchantingly beautiful. "It just occurred to me that mermaids don't sing or are stunningly beautiful." He continues to lie. Ariel's eyes look in to his as they dance for a little longer.

"If it comforts you, I don't know how to use the powers." He smiles carefully, because he knows he's using them right now. A siren who does not know she's using her powers is probably even more dangerous.

"I'm not scared of you Ariel." Killian tells her and stops dancing. "Thank you for the dance miss," He says gently, "But I have a course to set sail to, so I must go." taking her hand between his and kisses the back of it. "And eh..." He mutters, looking at her but not letting go of her hand. "I apologise for my behaviour last night, I don't want you to be angry with me." She smiles at him and squeezes his hand a little.

"I'm not angry, I just don't understand." Killian shakes his head.

"Neither do I." She smiles wider and he lets go of her hand. "See you later on, lass." She nods and watches him as he leaves the room and closes the door behind him. Jack leans against the bar on the other side of the promenade. "You were right." Killian tells him. "She's a siren."

"Then, shouldn't we tell the men?" Jack questions, Killian shakes his head. "For their own safety?" Killian guides him away from the room, thinking she might hear them.

"For their own safety, it's best they don't know. She doesn't even know she's using her powers. If they spill only the least bit that she is using them, she'll only learn it faster. And she may not want it now, but that's what sirens do, they kill, and then we're all doomed."

The sun had shined all day and as the sun begins to set Ariel walks out of her room, barefoot, feeling the heat of the wood under her. She finds Killian standing on the steering wheel, staring out of a long bronze tube-like item. She walks up to him, as she's on the staircase he puts the tube down and looks around, meeting her eyes. He smiles and invites her to come up further.

"What's that?" She points to the tube-like item. He hands it to her and leaves it for her to figure out. "I saw you looking through it, so I suppose..." she moves it to her eye, squeezing one eye shut to look through it. Endless blue is all she sees at first, until the turns herself, flinching as she sees an incredible close up of Killian's blue eyes. He chuckles as she hands it back to him. "So it makes things bigger?"

"Sort of," He answers, turning the wheel a bit. "It allows you to see further than your eyes can."

"Well if I stand really close to you I can see how incredibly blue your eyes are too..." He snorts, trying to hold back a laugh.

"But in order to do that, you would have to come closer. This thing is like coming closer, except you're not." She nods and sits down on a box next to the wheel, her feet unable to touch the ground, she wiggles them a little through the freedom of not having a tail. "So what do you do in your room all day?" He questions, looking at her as she twirls her hair around her finger whilst looking down on her feet.

"I found these bound papers, an entire shelf full of them. They all have stories inside of them." Killian smirks.

"You mean the books?"

"I suppose so, are they yours?" He shakes his head and takes a deep breath.

"No, Milah's. She would get tired of me and then lock herself in her room and just read these books." Ariel nods.

"Did they tell you already who Milah was or?" He questions as she doesn't ask.

"No I asked them." Killian frowns.

"How did you found out her name?" She leans over, stroking her cold fingers over his warm skin as she moves the cloth of his sleeve away, revealing the tattoo.

"I saw it at dinner the other night." He nods.

"I see." She pulls back her hand and looks around. At what seems to be the end of the sea, the sun almost seems to touch the water. She smiles looking straight into the fading orange sun as it goes down under more visibly. Until it disappears completely. She turns back around to face Killian who looks as if he hadn't looked away from her ever since she looked away. "Have you seen it before?" He questions, she nods.

"I used to come up to look at the sunset. I thought it was beautiful. I still do."

"Hey Ariel?" A voice with a hard 'r' calls for her. She leans a little forward on the box, looking down, her hair falls over her shoulders, tickling her back at it does. She smiles at a blond-haired man is looking up at her with two plates in his hands.

"Yes?"
"Are you coming for dinner or are you having dinner with Hook?" The more he speaks the clearer it gets the man has an accent. She looks back at Killian who shrugs, but even she can read from his face that he wants her to stay. As she looks back down she sees the man is already on the stairs. "I figured the question was unnecessary right after I asked it." He smiles and puts down the plates on the boxes on the other side of the wheel.

"Thank you." The man nods and leaves back downstairs. Ariel gets off the box she's sitting on and walks over to the plates to look at it. "I have two questions actually. One, I don't think I've seen him before, who is that? And two what's this?" She points at the plate.

"Spaghetti and Mario." Killian's voice sounds right behind her, she looks over her shoulder just to see him shake his head. "Wrong order of answering your questions. The man is Mario, the dish is spaghetti." She smiles and takes a plate.

"How come I've never seen him before?" Ariel questions as she sits back on the box.

"He's our cook, he never joins us on trips on land. He gives the men a list of things they should bring and besides that he basically lives in the kitchen." By the end of the sentence Killian is laughing at Ariel's poor attempts to pick up the spaghetti with her fork. We walks over to her taking her hand in his, showing her how to twirl the fork around. She lifts her head to look at him as he shows her with deep concentration how to eat the spaghetti. His hand is rough, but warm and kind as they touch her fragile hands. She looks back down on their hands and he pulls away, leaving the fork with the spaghetti twirled around it. "Go ahead." He tells her and turns around to take his own plate. Ariel stuffs the spaghetti in her mouth, at first finding the texture of it sort of strange, but the taste is wonderful. She smiles as she finds Killian watching her as she chews, awaiting her reaction.

"What?" She questions when her mouth is empty. He shakes his head.

"Nothing, how do you like the food?"

"It's great, I love it."

It's long dark and silent as Killian looks away from the distance at last to look at Ariel. She'd just listened to the waves, the ship crushing through them softly, leaving a calm sound behind. She looks up from the stars as she sees him look at her.

"Shouldn't you go to bed, Ariel?" Killian questions as the sea is completely silent and the waves and her breathing are the only things he hears.

"What about you?" She asks, getting up from the box.

"No I'm staying up until the morning, then Jack takes over and I will go to bed. Just getting to land quicker." Ariel nods.

"That sound so lonely, can't I stay up with you?" Killian smiles.

"I don't think you can stay up that long."

"Try me." She smirks, sitting back on the box.

"Ah well, might as well use the opportunity to get to know you better, what did you do under the surface?" He asks, leaning against the box across from her, crossing his arms.

"Ran away from my responsibilities mostly." She answers, looking up at the sky, all clear, covered with thousands of stars.

"What kind of responsibilities could a mermaid... Siren possibly have." She smiles, facing him back again. "Please don't tell me I kidnapped a royal siren huh?" He jokes. Ariel smiles wider.

"Fine then I won't." Killian snorts.

"I was just kidding." He assures.

"I know, and I wasn't." He shakes his head.

"Will I be in trouble?" Killian teases, acting like the perfect gentleman who brought her home late by accident. She laughs and shakes her head.

"Nothing to worry about." He nods once.

"And what did you do while running away from your responsibilities?" He asks.

"I explored." She shrugs, "found out things my father wouldn't teach me, that kind of things."

"Like what?"

"Oh my Killian, so many questions." He smirks a little.

"Since you stopped asking questions, I suppose it's my turn." She looks in his eyes, lightened up by moonlight, yet darker as usual, they have something enchanting in them.

"I was very young when I first encountered a ship. It was the ship that took my mother away from me. On later age of course, it got me curious. I didn't dare to come too close in the beginning, but when I finally dared to get closer I saw the strangest men, I assumed they were pirates though they looked nothing like the pirates my mom would tell stories about. They-"

"Hold on," Killian interrupts her. "Your mom told stories about pirates?"

"Aside from singing her favourite thing to do was assume not all humans were bad, so when I had to go to bed, she would tell me human stories, that's what got me so curious in the first place." She replies.

"Tell me about those stories." He demands.

"Oh... I can't really remember. I do remember that in those stories, there were always good guys and bad guys. The good guys always won. And then there was this one guy and he was always really handsome and kind, and he always got the girl."

"Not very realistic thus?" She frowns, shaking her head, not understanding.

"What?" He smiles.

"He will not always get the girl."

"Why not?"

"That's just not how it works, either way the girl will run off with another guy, or she'll die." Ariel shakes her head again, realising what he means.

"So because it doesn't work for you, it's not realistic?" He turns toward the steering wheel again, turning it a slight bit. "Do you believe you are undeserving of love?" She questions and he remains silent, not looking at her. She sighs, deciding to change the subject. "Is it always so cold here?" He nods, following her in the subject change.

"Always, would you like a blanket?"

"That would be nice." He opens the box on his side and takes two blankets out of it, handing one of them to her. She wraps it around her, looking back around. Nor the sea, nor the ship had she seen so silent before. It's kind of tiring. "Can I lie down?" He nods,

"Sure." And she does, the wood of the box is cold through the cloth of her dress, she looks up at the night sky filled with stars.

"Can you tell me a seamen tale of yours?" He smiles, thinks over it and starts talking. His voice soft as he does, sometimes absent, sometimes very much present. She likes the sound of his voice.

She sits back up when he's done telling, shuddering. He takes the blanket that's wrapped around him and lays around her, touching her cheek by accident. The only feeling that feels somewhat real, soft though. She looks into his eyes and they're looking back. Kind and warm, he smiles down on her, making as if an army of butterflies has just awoken in her.

"How can you think you're undeserving of love, it's not fair." She whispers. He shakes his head.

"Everyone I love will be killed, tortured or whatnot. Rumpelstiltskin made very clear that I would never find happiness again." She nods, "I don't want to put you in such danger." He says as he takes a step back, she reaches out for him, pulling him closer again.

"Do, please do." She whispers, "I don't care." He smiles, moving his lips to his neck.

"Are you sure?" He whispers against her neck. His warm breath tickles her skin. She nods and he presses kisses against her neck, up to her earlobe. She smiles briefly, moving her hand over his shoulder to his neck, to the back of his neck, stroking her hand through his hair. He looks back for a small moment, her eyes staring directly into his. She parts her lips, in order to get more breath. He leans closer. "Ariel." He whispers, right before their lips are supposed to touch "Ariel wake up." He moves his hand to touch her cheek. The touch of it feels so real, so different compared to other touches, that her eyes open. It's still a dark, but the sun is about to set. Killian leans over her, smiling a little. "Let's go to bed." He helps her sit up straight.

"Yours?" She questions as she gets on her shaky legs, he lays his arm around her waist and laughs.

"How much I would like that, lass, but I'll bring you to your room." She moves her hand over his back, clinging to his shirt, heaping the cloth up in her hand, as they step off the stairs.

"How much of it was real?" She questions as they walk on the deck, last night the deck was warm, now it's ice cold, stinging as she walks over it.

"What do you mean?"

"I dreamt, but I don't remember falling asleep." She looks up and sees him smirk a little.

"So you dreamt of me?" She shrugs, not intending on replying to that. "You fell asleep not much later after you laid down."

"So you didn't tell me those stories?"

"No I did, but I didn't think you heard them." He says as he opens the door to her room. He takes off the blanket off her and then she notices there's another one around her, and none around him. Maybe he did lay his blanket around her and maybe he did touch her face briefly. She lays down and he tucks her in, stroking her hair from her face whilst he's at it. A touch so familiar, like the one in her dream. He smiles and leaves as her eyes fall shut again.

AN; Thank you so much for reading this, but I'd like to ask if you could review too, just leave me a small note of things I should improve, like grammar and such. Really, I don't want a two page essay, just I mean, one sentence would be great too, but I'd appreciate it loads, and it would help me even more.
Thank you, again. Love.