A/N: So, this was inspired by LittleLongHairedOutlaw's POTO AU Fic Contest... but we'll see if I actually finish it before the deadline haha. I was trying to write a one-shot and somehow, it turned itself into a multi-chapter fic. XD

Chapter 1: Lost at Sea (Nadir)

In a small seaside village in France, there lives a man with many fantastical tales to tell. His skin is tanned from spending his days in the sun, and his hair is as black as a starless night sky.

Though his features have weathered with age, he remains a handsome man. His deep brown eyes speak of many untold stories. Of so much loss and so much grief but also so much love.

The children of the village adore him because he would always entertain them with tales of his travels and his adventures out on the open sea. His favorite is the one about the Pirate King who fell in love with a mermaid.

As a young man, Nadir never imagined himself living near the ocean. He grew up playing in the desert sands of Tehran, and it is there where he spent decades of his life as a police chief.

But his son Reza was a sickly boy. No doctors or medicines could heal him and all Nadir could do was help make his final days as pleasant as possible.

Reza had always wanted to see the ocean, and what father wouldn't want to grant his dying son's wish?

.

Some fresh air and a change of scenery did wonders for Reza's well-being. No longer was the boy cooped up in an empty house with no one to keep him company. Nadir enjoyed those precious few days they spent by the Mazandaran coastline—collecting seashells, dipping their toes in the pristine waters, watching the sun rise and set.

His Reza was an imaginative boy. Though the child's body was frail, his mind was a fertile ground—so full of ideas and memories and stories. Nadir would carry his son as they played in the ocean. The boy would point out the different types of fish and seashells and underwater creatures that they would find, happy to finally see the diverse marine life he had only read about in his favorite books.

"Father, do mermaids exist too?" Reza would look up at Nadir with doe-eyed wonder.

Nadir would chuckle. He didn't believe in such fairytales, but he wanted his son to enjoy his childhood. "Perhaps. But you won't find them here, my boy. Such creatures would never live in shallow waters."

"Oh! Of course!" Reza exclaimed.

Then, an idea seemed to spark in his mind. "Father, when I'm all better, may we go further into the ocean and see the mermaids too?"

Nadir could only smile. If he could make time stop, he would have stayed in that moment forever.

.

Reza didn't want to go to bed that night. He begged and cried and pleaded to stay up, to read a book with his father until dawn. "Please, father. I'm not sleepy at all!"

"If you want to get better, you'll need your rest, Reza." He said as he tucked his son in bed.

The boy eventually relented. Nadir stayed by his side until his eyes slipped shut.

The next morning, Nadir would come to regret not letting his son stay up for at least a few more hours. He had tried waking the child up, only to realize that the moment he had been dreading for so long had come to pass.

He kissed Reza's forehead, letting his tears drip onto the boy's lifeless form. He cried a prayer to Allah, asking Him to let his son find peace.

.

Hours and days and months passed. Nadir was merely surviving. Like a sailor lost at sea, trying desperately to find land only to be drowned by the harsh currents.

Every night, he would imagine himself leaving the mortal world and joining his wife and son in the afterlife. Every morning, he would wake up, frustrated that it was all a dream.

He kept himself going by finding work anywhere he could, and that is how he found himself aboard a merchant trading ship headed to France. His current career no longer distracted him from the emptiness of his existence and staying in his house alone only reminded him of everything he had lost.

It felt as though the ocean called to him.

As he sailed away from the only land he had ever known, he looked out onto the horizon. Perhaps if he followed the line where the sky met the sea, he would no longer feel so lost.

.

The sea was a fickle mistress. There were days when the tides seemed serene, and other times, strong winds and rough waves threatened to sink their ship.

Nadir and the other crew members kept themselves entertained by sharing stories during meals. Tales of sailors who were lost at sea or drowned by sirens or were searching for buried treasure.

One of the stories shared was the legend of The Phantom, a pirate vessel with black sails and a ghastly hull decorated with carvings of gargoyles, imps, and demonic creatures. It was said to move so quickly that no one would see it coming until it was too late.

The ship was rumored to be captained by a ruthless pirate king—a man who was followed not out of loyalty or respect but out of fear. No living men had ever seen his face, and those who did, did not live for very long.

Nadir had never been fond of ghost stories, but somehow, this one left a mark. For the next few nights, he would lay in his bed, imagining that eerie ship and the mysterious man who captained it.

.

He awoke with a start. The deafening sounds of thunder and crashing waves erupted all around him. Their ship had chanced upon a terrible storm, and the ocean was violently rocking them back and forth. Nadir quickly jumped out of bed, getting his ankles soaked in the flooded floor. He watched in horror as more water leaked into their cabin, slowly burying their ship into the sea's murky depths.

All around him, men were rushing to move up to the deck and get on a lifeboat. Nadir could not see clearly amidst the darkness and fog. He could not move amidst the chaos of scrambling bodies. Someone seemed to accidentally hit him from behind, knocking him to the floor.

His vision blurred and everything faded to black.

.

Weightless.

He felt as light as a feather. He doesn't recall how he fell to the ocean. All he remembered was that his body felt weightless as if he were floating in the air, up in the heavens.

He vaguely remembered the feeling of being pulled down, down, down into the dark waters. Grasping for air and struggling to swim back to the surface. He couldn't see or hear anything. His body seemed to be surrendering to the inevitable.

Silently, he wondered whether he would be meeting his wife and son again soon. Their faces flashed in his mind as the cold, dark ocean forced him down with its icy grip. He reached for them as water filled his lungs.

The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was an outstretched arm covered in shiny green scales.

.

He doesn't know how long he's been floating, how long it's been since the storm and the chaos. All he knew was that he could feel himself drifting away, and he was fully prepared to meet his fate.

But something pulled him out of the water and dragged him back to life. After feeling weightless for so long, to suddenly be pulled back to the cold, hard ground was unnerving. Every fiber of his being longed to be back in the clouds. He tried to open his eyes but the sun's harsh stare blinded him.

He felt firm hands apply pressure to his chest, making him sputter and spit out seawater. Coughing and clutching at his chest, he looked up at the man towering over him.

The man wore a red vest over a white shirt and had a tri-cornered leather hat adorned with a black feather. His long black coat danced with the wind, its tail end rippling like the waves. His bony fingers gripped a silver sword with a red and black hilt designed to look like a skull.

And of course, there was that mask. A horrifying black thing that covered his entire face, barring his lipless mouth and yellow eyes.

The man's face was impassive, but Nadir still felt as though he were being thoroughly examined.

Somehow, Nadir knew that he was looking up at the Pirate King.

.

Being rescued by a ship full of pirates came with a price. The crew seemed to regard Nadir as though he were a barnacle stuck to their boots. He was made to clean the deck while everyone was asleep. The first mate threatened to whip him if the deck was not spotless by sunrise.

Aboard The Phantom, the nights seemed endless. There were moments when Nadir was sorely tempted to jump off. But there were never any islands in sight and he was not eager to spend countless days treading water.

The first few nights aboard the vessel were quiet… until he heard it. Near the captain's cabin, Nadir swore that he could hear someone singing. It was a woman's voice. Strange yet hauntingly beautiful.

Soon the woman's song was joined by another—a man's, this time. The two voices melded together seamlessly as if they were made for one another.

Hidden behind one of the masts, Nadir watched the captain who seemed to be singing to something in the waters. Entranced by the harmonious melody, he moved closer to take a look at who—or what—was singing with the pirate. But the creature below saw him and rapidly swam away.

Nadir could've sworn that he spotted long blonde curls and glimmering green scales.

The Pirate King was furious. He grabbed Nadir by the neck and pinned him to the mast. "Do you realize what you've done?" he sneered.

"I meant… no harm. You… must… believe me." Nadir choked out.

The Pirate King's yellow eyes seemed to examine him, sizing him up and piercing right through him. Somehow, his gaze hurt more than the sharp edge of a sword. The captain's grip on his neck tightened, and Nadir said a quick prayer to Allah in his mind.

But then, the most unexpected thing happened… He let Nadir go.

The Pirate King turned away from him. "She left and may never come back again because of you."

"I apologize. Truly. I didn't know…" Nadir pleaded weakly; his throat still sore from being strangled.

"No. You don't know." He made no effort to mask the frustration in his voice.

Nadir's head was swarming with questions. He wondered if his eyes had been playing tricks on him or perhaps his tiring days at sea had taken a toll on his sanity. "A mermaid… I've seen one with my own eyes yet I can't believe it."

The Pirate King's silence confirmed that what he had seen was no hallucination. He looked out onto the open sea and gazed at the stars.

After what seemed to be a long time, the captain finally spoke up again. "Mermaids aren't allowed to reveal themselves to humans. And now that you've seen her, she may be in danger."

This revelation piqued Nadir's curiosity even more. "But you're human… aren't you?"

The Pirate King turned to face him. A small, wicked grin formed on his lipless mouth. "Where on earth did you get that idea?"