I was looking through my half-baked fic folder and found this snippet. It was written October seventeenth and November twenty fifth of twenty fourteen. I really need to get back into writing.
I have two different mermaid au fic ideas; one is modern, the other isn't. This one is in a Pirates of the Caribbean era. Anna is captain of her own ship and discovers mermaid Elsa who is to be auctioned off and wants to save her.
The tank full of murky water sat at the back of the room the same as it had earlier that day. Anna and Kristoff tiptoed across the room, thankfully the two men on guard outside were engrossed in a card game and not inclined to check the room.
"Are you sure about this?" Kristoff hissed at Anna while spreading out the blanket he had had tucked under one arm.
Anna glanced back at him as she leaned over the edge of the waist high tank lowered both arms into the dirty water.
"Now's really not the time for second thoughts, Kristoff." She whispered. Then she cursed under her breath.
"What, she's not there?" Kristoff demanded incredulously.
Anna shook her head and pulled upwards.
"She's heavy, and I mean really heavy." She pulled a second time. "I can't get a grip on her like this."
Anna let go and rested her hands on the edge of the tank, drumming her fingers.
"I'm going to have to go in."
Before Kristoff could grasp her meaning she sat down on the edge and swung her legs over the side. Kristoff grimaced at the sight of Anna in the brown water.
"Great, Anna." He said exasperation. "That water's filthy, you going to catch something."
She grinned at him.
"Only a mermaid." She joked
Kristoff sighed. "Just hurry, Anna."
She took a breath and crouched, disappearing into the tank. Kristoff held his breath listening for any sound that would tell him the men outside were coming. All he could hear was his own breathing.
After what felt like forever but was only about three seconds Anna resurfaced in a spray of water.
In her arms was the limp body of the mermaid. White blonde hair was plastered across her face and her skin, just as pale, was almost glowing in the dimly lit room.
Kristoff moved to help Anna, grasping the mermaid under one arm and pulling. Anna hadn't been joking when she said the mermaid was heavy.
Between him and Anna they managed to get the mermaid half out of the tank. They were interrupted by a metallic clank. When they looked back the reason the mermaid had been so heavy became immediately clear.
Her hands were covered in iron manacles. The skin on her arms just above the wrists was an angry red, almost like a rash and Anna realized the mermaid was allergic to the iron. She remembered stories she'd heard as a child about how iron was poisonous to fairies.
Not just fairies, she thought grimly as she realized the mermaid's skin felt unnaturally warm.
She's sick. The iron is killing her. Maybe it's already too late.
Anna and Kristoff froze at the sound of footsteps. One of the guards must have heard something.
"The blanket!" Anna hissed at Kristoff.
He snatched it off the floor and looked back at Anna. She nodded at him and he pulled himself up into the rafters.
Anna readjusted her grip on the mermaid before taking a breath and sliding under the water.
Under the water Anna's back was touching the bottom of the tank and the mermaid rested on her chest like a dead weight thanks to the iron chains. Anna could feel the mermaid's sluggish heartbeat under her hands. Did they naturally have slower heartbeats or was it due to the poison. Anna was willing to put money on the latter.
Like I said, a snippet. And it like all my other ideas, needs severe tweaking for dialogue and atmospheric filler. I have many, many ideas that need lengthy iron-outs. *sigh* Someday...
