:-)

Crashing Waves

Chapter Ten

Jahni twitched his eyes back and forth between the rather interesting duo. The hermit crab couldn't help but be surprised by the girl's reaction: rather than being rightfully taken aback by a sandy nudist wrapped up in her blanket, she hardly seemed to notice that pressing issue, or at least if she did, she wasn't showing it. The girl just looked downright distraught at Jason's question, her face pale and eyes wide.

"I found him washed up on shore, can't remember a thing," Jahni piped up helpfully, but the girl didn't seem to hear him. She didn't even seem to notice his important presence until the oaf glanced down at the rock and she followed his gaze.

"Hey big guy, the chick can't understand me. Be a doll and translate, would ya?"

Jason frowned down at the crab before returning his intense, disoriented gaze to the girl. "You can't hear Jahni?"

If Jahni had a forehead to slap, he'd be slapping it by now. That doesn't sound crazy at all, he mocked internally. Seriously, how do I know more about humans than this kid?

The girl quirked one of her defined, well-sculpted brows. Jahni figured she must be royalty of some sort: your average Danish girl didn't look so perfectly polished, but he'd overheard people on the beach talking about how the posers who hang around court had specialized servants just to attend to their own vanity. Preposterous. If Jahni didn't warrant that kind of attention, no one did.

"Um, Jahni..?" she trailed off uncertainly.

"Jahni," Jason agreed in a spectacularly unhelpful way. "The hermit crab."

The girl frowned slightly down at Jahni, but in the end just nodded as if her question had actually been answered. Merlin, these guys were some serious weirdos. If he weren't so curious as to what their deal was, he would've scuttled off long ago.

"Ah, yes, of course," she murmured more to herself than anyone else, scrunching up her face as if in thought. "I… You must be freezing," she said eventually, taking Jason's state of undress into account for the first time. She didn't seem particularly bothered by it.

Either these two know each other really well, or this girl's just pleased enough by the half-naked muscle man gleaming in the moonlight that she's ignoring the impropriety of it. Even teenage royals could appreciate some eye candy, it would seem, Jahni thought, letting out an audible snort. He was damn funny sometimes. Jason frowned down at his body, once again looking hopelessly confused. It was kind of sad to see, if Jahni was entirely honest, and judging by the worried expression on the girl's face, she agreed.

"I'll get you something to wear," she promised him, her voice softening to something more comforting than her initial shocked tone had been. "I can't risk anyone within the palace discovering you though, so could you and Jahni please wait for me here?"

Jason, displaying some almost pathetic levels of emotional vulnerability, visibly latched onto her kind, familiar words, blue eyes widening when the girl turned to leave. "Wait!" he exclaimed suddenly, stopping the girl in her tracks. She turned back to face them, tilting her head in a way that suggested she was listening. "Who - how do we know each other?" he asked.

The girl's perfect posture wilted slightly, and her expressive face fell.

"My name is Elise Adeler," she told him in a quiet voice, lips quirking up in a fake smile that didn't reach her eyes. "And… I suppose you could say we're friends."

"Elise…" the boy trailed off. Faint recognition fluttered over his features, but he soon became slightly agitated, suggesting that his memories of Elise were out of reach.

The girl excused herself again, reminding Jason to await her swift return. Naked Boy looked even more lost without the girl, but Jahni was too preoccupied with his own shock to care much about that emotional wreck.

Jahni liked to be in the know; having lived on this particular stretch of beach for so long, Jahni knew a great deal more about the inner workings of the human world than most sea creatures did simply by listening into every conversation he could. That being said, he certainly recognized the name Elise Adeler.

"Naked Boy, how the hell do you know the Princess of Denmark?!"

Elise was already up the stairs and entering the castle when the dreadful severity of her recent encounter truly set in.

Jason had made himself human. She wasn't sure how, but the young man had certainly not had legs the last she'd seen him, and she could only assume that this change was intentional on his part. Or at least it had been, but it appears any and all intentions he once had were now gone, at least temporarily.

Jason didn't remember who he was. Jason didn't remember who she was.

That disturbed her more than his transformation had; she hadn't been certain what Jason's plan had been when he departed weeks ago, but it could well have been to somehow transform himself into a human. It made sense, if she thought about it objectively: if he wanted to protect her from humanity, it would be easiest to do so as a human. However, she couldn't help but feel angry. In her weeks of worry, the idea of Jason's recklessness, unpreparedness, and slight (although rather charming) arrogance getting him injured - or worse, killed - had certainly been on the top of her list of anxieties. Right beside her fear for her father's condition. He shouldn't have done this for her, and it made her angry that he would have put himself in so much obvious danger for her. He had done something - he must have, it was simply too convenient that he lost his memories and sprouted legs at the same time - to himself in order to reach this state, and Elise didn't quite appreciate it. She regretted accepting his help in the first place - all she'd done was cause him grief. However relieved she was to see him, this situation terrified her.

What if he can't recover his memories?

Guilt threatened to overwhelm her. This was the last thing she wanted; he wasn't doing her any favors by putting himself in danger for her. Elise would rather suffer than be the cause of Jason's demise. She could endure everything, even without Jason in her life, so long as she knew that he was happy and safe.

Now, he was anything but happy, and Elise knew he wasn't safe. If Queen Emma found out about Jason and their (rather undefined) relationship, she would squash him like a bug to ensure her son's future with Elise, especially given the current state of Jason's mind. And Emma would certainly use his suffering against her, too. The thought of someone she cared about being tortured and held captive because of her positively haunted her, but that would definitely be Emma's course of action. The woman valued control, and if control over the heir to the Danish throne could be achieved through a hostage, she wouldn't hesitate.

And, Queen aside, Jason may be in danger from a third party that Elise had no way of knowing about; without his memories of how he became a human, or who had turned him into a human, had that been the case, she had no way of anticipating the actions of a possible enemy. Despite how jaded it made her sound, Elise did nowadays think that most people had ulterior motives, and depending on a person's motivation, they could be dangerous. If Jason had accepted assistance from someone, it was a safe assumption that he'd been transformed to become a piece in someone else's game. She didn't like doubting Jason's competence, but no one was ever safe from deception.

Elise just felt tired, hopeless, and so very worried for the safety of Jason. She hated being so weak that she couldn't protect those that she cared about. Her father was suffering and she could do nothing. Jason had undergone some sort of trauma in order to help her, and still she could do nothing substantial to help him. But she didn't have time to dwell on recent misfortunes; Jason was still shivering on the beach with nothing but a hermit crab for protection.

The princess briefly toyed with the absurdity of talking about a hermit crab like a person, but it was only safe to assume that Jason had retained his ability to speak with sea creatures. With so much on her mind, Jason making a hermit crab friend (no matter how large and unsettling Elise had initially found the creature) wasn't exactly a pressing issue.

Dry clothes. Finding dry clothes is what matters now. Elise would have to take things one step at a time, lest she overwhelm herself and become truly useless to everyone she loved.

Elise took the quiet back corridors reserved for servants, as she usually did, to avoid running into anyone from court who may threaten her plans. Allowing her feet to guide her by memory, Elise entered the small courtyard that her parlor overlooked; the washing was normally done here, since the space was hardly ever used by nobility. Sure enough, there were several clotheslines with various shirts, pants, and underthings flipping delicately in the breeze. Elise hastily grabbed the first set of men's clothes she could find that appeared to be in Jason's size. Erring on the side of caution, she was sure to select clothes that, if anything, would be too large for Jason. It wouldn't do for her to return to the beach only to find that the former merman was unable to button his shirt.

Elise's next stop was to her own chambers. Still wearing the maroon dress from her morning ride with Vincent and Emma, Elise withdrew a large hooded cloak from her wardrobe. It was a simple thing, black and sturdy, that she had gotten last winter, and it would hopefully hide her identity well enough that no one would recognize her outside of the palace. Shrugging it on, Elise grabbed a few moderately fine necklaces, unceremoniously clenching the glittering jewels in her fist and depositing them into the pocket of her cloak. It was always easy to bribe someone with jewels, and she had a feeling that she may have to resort to bribery at some point. At least she'd been careful to select ones that no one would associate with her: Elise had been gifted with many necklaces throughout the years, all of which were expensive, but most were nondescript enough to have value without it seeming too suspicious. Elise hoped to pass for a regular highborn lady, but not for a princess.

I need to take Jason somewhere safe, Elise thought as she hurried back out the door and into the servant's corridors once again. Somewhere that can offer discretion without being vulnerable to Emma's influence.

A rather unpleasant thought crossed her mind, causing her to outwardly grimace. She had an idea: it wasn't ideal, but it was certainly better than nothing.

Elise returned relatively quickly, despite how long the wait had felt to Jason. He had feared that she would never return, and that he'd been lost on the beach with no one but a hermit crab to guide him. Not that Jason particularly disliked the orange-shelled creature - he was good company, if a bit rude at times - but he doubted they would achieve much of anything.

"Here, I've brought you something to wear," Elise said in a slightly breathless tone, her face flushed from rushing around in the cold. She handed him a stack of fabric, which he took uncertainly and frowned down at it.

Certain things seemed familiar to him; it was a frustrating feeling, but seeing the rocks out at sea and hearing the name Elise had given his brain a jolt, like the memories tied to them were trying to reach him, and Jason just couldn't get a good enough grip on them. The clothes didn't elicit any semblance of a response, however, and so he just stared stupidly down at them, a bit ashamed to admit that he had no idea what they were for. Elise gave him a strange look before the realization dawned on her.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Of course, I'm sorry…" She trailed off awkwardly, unsure of what to do but reluctant to dress him herself.

Jahni made an impatient sound. "Seriously? You can't even put your own shell on?" The crab sighed heavily, Elise still unaware that Jahni was even speaking, which Jason thought was sort of odd: Jahni had a squeaky voice, but he was loud and opinionated enough for Jason to always hear him. "Tell the girl to relax and turn around, I can tell you what goes where."

Jason nodded, feeling a little embarrassed, though he wasn't really sure why. That was a common theme for him, it would seem - feeling and knowing things without understanding them.

"Jahni can show me," Jason told Elise, his voice still scratchy due to his dry throat. He wondered if there was anything that could be done for that, it was getting kind of uncomfortable, and he was still sort of dizzy. Elise looked uncertainly from the crab to him. "He says for you to turn around and he can explain it to me."

The girl did as she was told and Jahni began impatiently instructing him. He tugged brown fabric over his legs, a white 'shirt' with buttons going on after. The buttons were still giving him a bit of trouble when Elise turned back around.

The girl, noticing that he'd covered himself, stepped towards him uncertainly, blinking wide green eyes up at him while he frowned down at his shirt.

"Here, let me help you with that," she said quietly, gently tugging the shirt from his clumsy hands and undoing his work with deft, quick fingers. "You've mismatched the buttons," she informed him with an amused chuckle. Once again, Jason was unsure of what she meant by that, but she was already refastening the buttons by the time he thought so ask about it, so he just decided to stay silent.

He instead just turned his attention to the girl in front of him: she was close to him, and Jason thought he'd recognized a faint, sweet scent coming off of her when a breeze tousled her brown hair. She was also kind of short, if he were entirely honest; she had to tiptoe just to do the buttons near his throat, but she still left a few undone. Strange.

Her face inclined upwards to look at him when she was finished. She's pretty, he realized in a detached sort of way. Her eyes were a bright shade of green, defined by dark eyelashes, with a small, upturned nose and full pink lips. Her complexion was clear aside from the faint freckles that spattered her cheeks and nose, her cheeks flushed slightly from the cold.

"Excellent," she said, giving him a brief once-over, and nodding in approval. "I'm sorry I was only able to find socks, but you'll have to do without shoes for now. Once we've found a place for you to stay that won't matter, anyways."

He didn't know why he'd possibly need more clothes than what he already had on, but he decided not to press the issue. Elise was familiar, he felt he could trust her, but his mind offered no hints beyond her and the ocean. He just shrugged in response, unsure of what to say.

"I believe I've an idea for where you can stay."

Panic jolted through him. "Can't I stay with you?"

Elise's eyes widened, a pink flush coming to her cheeks as she adverted her gaze. "I'm afraid there isn't much discretion where I live," she explained hastily. "I'll stay with you for as long as I can, don't worry."

He sighed heavily before nodding. He didn't like it, but what choice did he have?

"Jahni, are you coming?" he asked, his voice dull and flat.

The hermit crab twitched irritably. "Heck no, good luck with all that, buddy. Nothing's worth leavin' this beach, if you ask me. I'll see you around, Naked Boy."

Jason's mouth quirked to the side as his new friend scuttled off into the dark, but he simply shrugged when he turned back to look at Elise, dwarfed by her clothes, looking small and pink in the cold; if you asked him, some things were worth leaving the beach for.

The place she'd left him in was much more uncomfortable than the beach.

It was dark, lit dim with scented candles, the air heavy with perfumed smoke, further polluted by the sounds of pleasure faintly echoing from the further recesses of the building. Several women, of various ages and colors, looked at him as they'd crossed the room in such a way that it made him uncomfortable, and he trained his gaze at Elise's shoes instead, allowing her to guide him through the uncomfortable space.

Elise didn't take her hood down the entire time, which Jason found odd as it obscured her face, but the woman she spoke to didn't seem to mind. All it took was a flash of sparkle, pulled from the depths of her clothing, to pique the woman's interest. After a couple moments of discussion, the likes of which Jason was too distracted and exhausted to hear, he was being gently tugged down several hallways by Elise. The woman, who Elise later identified as the owner of the establishment, was named Madam Marie; she was a tall, dark woman with dark features. Her age did little to diminish the odd, exotic beauty she possessed.

Madam Marie led them to a discreet back hallway on the second floor, passing door after closed door until stopping at the end and opening the door with an old key. She gestured for the two to enter the room before her, a wide smile transfixed onto her face. Jason found the glint in her brown eyes to be unsettling.

Elise investigated the room with caution, almost like she was afraid to touch anything. Madam Marie simply stood in the doorway with her smiling face.

"I hope you find everything is to your liking?" Madam Marie said, her voice deep, with rich undertones of an accent unlike Jason's. He decided he liked her voice.

"Yes, this will do, thank you," Elise responded curtly and in an oddly cold tone.

Madam Marie nodded. "If you change your mind, I assure you other work could be arranged-"

"NO other work," Elise cut her off, her voice practically a hiss. "The terms we've arranged, nothing more, nothing less."

"As you wish," the older woman said in cool politeness before backing out of the room. With the thick wooden door shut, the room fell very quiet. The sounds of merriment all around them could still be heard, but it was a sound fainter than the gentle popping of the candles. It was almost a pleasant hum, and Jason suddenly found his eyelids very heavy; he stifled a yawn.

Elise poured him water from a basin in the corner, leading him to the bed to sit before placing it in his hands. Jason sipped it at first, unsure, before downing it in several desperate gulps, a great deal spilling onto his fresh shirt. Elise laughed gently – she sounded rather tired as well, Jason noted with faint concern – and dabbed at the water with the sleeve of her cloak, shrugging the heavy garment off when she was finished.

"Easy now, you'll make yourself sick like that," she scolded half-heartedly before pouring him another glass. Jason heeded her advice this time, feeling a bit embarrassed, taking slow, careful mouthfuls.

They were quiet for a time after that, Elise sitting in a chair in front of his seat on the mattress, her green eyes unfocused and glassy, like she was miles away. Jason wasn't quite sure what to think about – there were so many places for his mind to wander, all it could do at this point was wander – so he thought about Elise.

She felt familiar, something he didn't understand, but at the same time understood entirely; it was difficult to explain. Something about her was easy for his brain to wrap around, and he found himself drawn to her, as though her very presence put his frazzled mind at ease. He was very grateful that the young woman had found him on the beach, as he was now warm and dry, with the uncomfortable parch in his throat receding, but he couldn't help feeling curious and excited at the prospect of uncovering his relation to this mystery maiden.

Jahni had explained to him that she was a rather powerful person in the land he'd washed up on. She was a princess, legitimate royalty and the first and only heir to King Frederick. How could she have known him? Without her, after all, he wouldn't even know his own name.

"Elise, can I ask you a question?"

The petite brunette in question jumped at the unexpected breach in silence. "Y-yes, of course!"

"How do you know me?"

Elise's posture wilted, her expression crumbling and her emerald eyes drifting down to the floor. Jason immediately regretted upsetting her, his heart pounding uncomfortably as his mind fumbled around for a solution.

"...I, um, it's rather hard to explain," she said quietly before Jason could apologize. "It's a bit awkward to explain, rather." Her cheeks colored pink as she cringed. "I'm sorry, it must be very uncomfortable for you not knowing who I am, it's silly to make this about myself... It's always easiest to tell the truth, in the end; I'll try my best to explain."

Jason nodded, unsure of what to say. He instead watched her with intensity as she flustered herself. She fanned at her reddened face, taking a deep breath before beginning.

"I've always lived in the palace. The place where I found you was palace grounds, and that's the beach I met you on months ago. We met on a rock out at sea during a storm…" Elise smiled fondly at the memory, and Jason found himself so suddenly floored by the sight of her that he had to gulp to regain composure. "You saved me: I couldn't swim and was terrified of storms, and you got me back to shore. We started meeting there every day we could after that.

"What started out as swimming lessons quickly evolved into, well, something else. I proved to be a pretty quick learner, but I enjoyed your company, a lot." She blushed again and sighed. "We were very good friends, until one night you found me upset after a dinner I'd had with my family, and you found out I was to be engaged to my horrible step-brother Vincent. Then you – I – we kissed." Elise could no longer look him in the eye at this point, her demeanor suddenly becoming rather meek. Jason was glad for it though, as he himself was experiencing a series of personal shocks.

"That was the last night I saw you. You, ah, told me to wait for you and disappeared for weeks after."

"How could I disappear?" Jason suddenly interjected, his brow furrowed.

"That… Well, as hard as this may be to believe, y-you didn't have legs last I saw you."

Silence.

"I'm sorry, what?!"

Elise laughed nervously, tugging at the ends of her hair seemingly out of habit. "Well, you see, you told me of your home under the sea. In a place called Atlantis. That's how you were able to save me from the storm – this is the first I've seen you able to walk."

Jason's blood chilled in his shock. He wasn't a human before? It made sense, her story, and naïve or not he believed her entirely, without a shadow of a doubt. He seemed to maintain memories of his past like instincts, things he acted on but didn't understand entirely, and his instincts thus far had proven, well, wrong in this world. Jahni's disapproval of his decision making was testament enough to that. And then there was the matter of his communication with Jahni – something Elise was unable to do, as a human from birth – because theoretically, shouldn't a merman be able to speak with his neighbors?

"Humans aren't aware of the existence of mer-people, I'm afraid," Elise continued nervously, wringing her hands as she attempted to gauge his reaction. "So I don't know much more than what you'd told me."

"It's okay," Jason assured her quietly, his brow still tensed in thought. "I believe what you've said."

Elise sighed, looking at him with wide eyes and tilting her head to the side, as she so often did when he said something that seemed to surprise her. "I'm glad," she told him, flashing another smile that made his heart pound.

"So, we were... Lovers?" he asked uncertainly, his ignorance shielding him from most embarrassment.

Elise's eyes widened, her pink lips parting in surprise. "I suppose so, tentatively, at least."

Jason began to process what he'd just been told - it was certainly a lot to take in. They remained in a comfortable silence for some time before Elise's gaze drifted to a high, narrow window above the bed. The sky seemed to be growing lighter.

"Oh dear, I'm afraid I have to go for a while," she said hastily, jumping to her feet and swaying as her blood rushed from the sudden movement. Jason was quick to reach out a hand to steady her, again moving as if by instinct. He stood too, only calmer than his companion, although how he did so was beyond him. The idea of Elise leaving him so soon filled him with a childlike panic.

Her expression softened at the concern in Jason's blue eyes. "I'll be back as soon as I can, the people at the palace can't know that I've been gone all night." She was already tugging her cloak back on, using the hood again to conceal her face.

"You promise you'll return?" Jason couldn't stop himself from asking; he was afraid of already losing her so soon after finding her.

Elise paused, her hand on the door handle. Jason couldn't see her face, so he was ignorant to the small smile that tugged at her tired expression, but he could hear the wistfulness in her voice, and he felt the intimacy behind her words. It sounded too familiar, in a stronger sense than the tugs at his subconscious had been before:

"I will always come back to you. I'm not going to allow anything to keep me from you."

Jason was silent a long while after she'd locked him in. He'd drank enough water to fill his belly and was staring at the ceiling, lying flat back on his mattress, when words simply tumbled from him, floating to the surface of his murky mind.

"And I will always wait for you," he murmured as he drifted off to a heavy sleep.

A/N: I'm terrible. Off hiatus? Who knows.

Thank you to those who've supported me regardless, I owe so much of my growth as a writer to you all.