It's short, but I'm half way through the third chapter already. ^.^ I'm glad you guys aren't hunting me down for writing something so AU. And Fairytail-cedes says she likes it! So here it will stay and we shall continue!

And, if you have the time, please tell me what you think of this random story of mine.

Chapter Two

"I am a siren, and for my adoration of mankind, have been caught in fishing nets one time too many. And in those fishing nets I have learned too many unfavorable things about human intentions and the lack of trust and goodwill; I'm not going to allow myself to be caught, anymore. Sirens do well at singing the sirens' song and dragging vile people to their deaths, and for good reason!"

― C. JoyBell C.

She slept on the ocean floor for the first time in her life. Though the sand was comfortable enough, and being a mermaid somehow made the ocean water feel warmer, she slept fitfully. Every sound outside of the hush of waves jerked her awake with thoughts of sharks, poisonous manta rays, or who knew what else. Just because she had turned into some mermaid didn't mean she suddenly had a special knowledge of what lived in the ocean. Just to be sure, though, she kept only a foot or two of water above her and allowed the low tide to pull her out as the dawn drew near. Even after sunlight came, she dozed on, somehow finding some peace in the turquoise, sunlit water that the night hadn't given.

She finally gave up on getting any more rest when she could no longer ignore the ache in her stomach. The last time she had eaten a good full meal had been at lunch the day before, which didn't help her exhaustion and anxiety at all.

There was no use helping it. She'd have to find a place to dry off to go on land for some food. Hopefully, her parents wouldn't have noticed the old credit card she had picked off of them, and further yet, hopefully credit cards didn't get ruined by ocean water.

Brushing her hands over the ocean floor as she went, she pushed herself forward. The speed which her long, powerful tail gave her still made her a bit breathless with excitement, even after traveling for hours that way. It sent her zooming past more than a few schools of silver fish, which bolted the moment they saw her. A few crabs had been seen scuttling around, but since they reminded her of spiders, she left them well alone, and they left her alone. But though she had gone miles, it seemed like, she hadn't seen much more than sand. She wondered if the majority of sea life waited off the shelf of land she had yet to find the bravery to reach.

After swimming a bit, she surfaced, careful to check for signs of boats or docks. What she saw made her stomach drop. Ocean. The beach itself was far to the west, and she realized a second later that it wasn't even the main continent itself, but the shelf of land that hugged Texas's bay. She hadn't realized she had gone so far out to sea by following the cliff-edge.

At the distance, her stomach gave an ugly grumble. She wrapped her arms around her waist.

"Why didn't I think to pack some canned food?"

Because the credit card plan had seemed good enough.

"Damn it." Well, she might as well get going. Couldn't starve now. Some mermaid she was turning out to be. Couldn't even figure out how to find food in this stupid endless bowl of water. How was she even suppose to find other mermaids—or, er, merpeople? They did exist, right? She existed.

Not wanting to go down that train of thought (again), she ducked down into the water and started out once more. Since the depth of the water made seeing into the distance difficult, she had to pop up every now and then to keep the Northside edge of the shelf in sight. Somewhere around the time the sun reached its zenith and she had halved the distance, a small, off-white yacht of some sorts came into view, still and quiet in the water. Annoyed, she made sure of the distance, and ducked down for good, mumbling about stupid reach people who couldn't just stay to going on cruises. Probably on their way to the Bahamas or something.

Her stomach squeezed tight, slowing her as the rest of her muscles cramped along with it. Swimming took a lot more of her torso muscles than she had previously believed, and they already protested plenty from the crappy night sleep on an ocean floor.

Thus, when she finally saw the floating lines of thin ropes, she was too food-deprived to care about swimming around it. She could see the hunk of raw fish on the bottom and the half a dozen or so crabs that had already congregated to it and knew well enough that the chances of them lifting up the net just as she swam over was slim to none. Not to mention she was human—ish, and wasn't stupid enough to get caught in something so arcane. She swam through without a thought.

A tug on her shoulder yanked her back painfully. Her yelp flew up in a stream of bubbles.

"What the..." The sportsnet bag had somehow twisted around one of the many ropes holding apart the net. Groaning, she went about untying it. Couldn't leave her means to food behind after all.

It wasn't till she had undone the first string that she noticed the squares of rising green lines. Her food and sleep deprived mind just stared at it blankly, still not registering the threat. The crabs had gone wild and scuttled up the walls of rope like poorly trained rock climbers.

Then the dead fish head squashed against her scaled behind and the net scooped up her tail at an awkward angle. A rope pressed in hard against one of her sides, shutting the gil and knocking the breath from her.

What...?

Panic clicked in. Adrenalin pumped in like hot-wired needles. Water turned to white foam about her as she flailed, completely forgetting about the tiny, tungsten pocket knife in her bag. All her attention was on that small opening at the top that grew brighter and brighter with the nearing surface.

You have got to be kidding me!

Her last protection peeled away in a rush of cold air. Crabs caught to her fins, dead fish smeared over her arms. She grasped tight to the net, clawing her way up to the opening. In her desperation, she didn't even bother taking in the yacht or her captors.

She had just gotten her arms into the opening and thought she tasted freedom when it all fell away and the hard, too-hot floor slapped her in the back with a crunch of unfortunate crabs. Her vision burst with stars as her head slammed against it.

And through the stars, she just made out wide blue eyes staring down at her, framed by wind-tossed black hair.