I.O.N.

Enjoy.

Alix was dreaming fitfully, it had been a week since they'd started their return journey and the storm outside wasn't helping the reoccurring nightmare.

When Alix regained consciousness, it was to the pounding of her head, the sound of hushed conversations and a rather concerning voice in her mind screaming at her that something was wrong. She must have groaned or made some noise because suddenly her family was around her. Kim tried to ask her something, but even though he was crouching right in front of her, Alix could barely hear what he was saying.

Alix could see the worry and panic start to well up in his eyes, and she immediately went to comfort him, but the moment she raised her right hand, what was supposed to be her hand, all she saw was a bandaged stump. Horror welled up in her stomach and threatened to make her return any food she'd eaten recently. She clutched the bandaged stump to her chest and tried to fight the tears. For a moment she didn't even remember how it happened.

Then it all came rushing back. The wedding, Dylan threatening Tom and Sabine, the battle, Ivan clubbing Dylan, the relieved smile Kim shot her when they thought it was all over, Dylan rushing her, Dylan tackling her over the edge of his ship, unimaginable pain flaring in her right hand, a sharp pain in the back of her head, and then nothing.

Now, Alix didn't fight the tears, she was too shocked. Next thing she realized, Kim was crushing her to his chest in the tightest hug she'd ever felt. But she hardly even felt it. 'What am I going to do now? I can't be a Captain with no hearing! What changed? Why didn't I see this -'

Alix shot up, breathing hard, sweat pouring off. But even as she calmed down, the nightmare faded from her mind. A troubling thought, since her dreams were rarely ever just dreams.

But the sun was up, and there was little she could do about it now, so Alix put the nightmare behind her and dressed for the day. After a small internal debate, she decided to go with one of the slightly less formal captain designs Mari had made. Something told her, today would be important.

Adrien was bailing the excess water off the deck from the previous night's storm when he noticed something that definitely didn't belong. A fish scale. Or more precisely, a giant fish scale. Big enough that it fit neatly into the palm of his hand. When Adrien picked it up to get a closer look, he found that it was a nearly translucent shade of crimson.

Curious, and more than a tad concerned, Adrien went to shout for one of the others (or even try that telepathic bond he may or may not have had with Plagg) when he noticed another scale. And another. Completely overcome by curiosity at this point, Adrien followed them, wanting to see what kind of creature could have scales like that.

The trail led him to the fishing nets where Adrien found a young woman with a tail tangled up and glaring at him. Luckily for him, he passed out before she could start yelling at him.

Marinette was concerned when Tikki woke her up with a sense of foreboding and intense feeling that she needed to go check on Adrien. The foreboding was knew but wanting to check on Adrien first thing in the morning wasn't. She couldn't help but worry about him. Adrien was the newest one to sailing, let alone being a pirate. But she couldn't coddle him, otherwise, he'd never learn. So with an effort that can only come from long practice, Marinette pushed the feelings deep, deep, down and continued her morning ritual.

She was able to ignore them for a total of two hours before her resolve to let Adrien figure out his problem on his own broke and she was rushing to the edge of Tikki. When she finally got to Plagg (just a few seconds ahead of the others), Marinette was surprised to find a fainted Adrien and a seriously pissed off mermaid.

"Well, it is about time someone got here! I have been stuck in these nets all night and this human has been absolutely no help at all!" the mermaid complained.

"And you are?" Nino asked.

"Please. As if you sailors do not already know." The mermaid said as she flipped her short hair.

Alya tried to smooth things over a little, "Right now all we know is that you're a mermaid and that you aren't supposed to be here."

"Ow, my head." Adrien said as he regained consciousness. He sat up and looked around slightly confused.

"Adrien! You okay bro?"

"Yeah, just had the weirdest dream that a mermaid was on Plagg and - oh. Not a dream."

"Nope." Nino said grinning, having gotten over his own shock.

"Bu-but that shouldn't be possible! Mermaids aren't real!"

Chloe looked at Adrien like he was being overdramatic, "Of course they're real! We told about the time we went searching and ran into a bit of trouble with them."

"Yeah, but I thought you were joking!"

"Excuse me, but I am not a mermaid! I am a siren! And I demand that you return me to my Wisp this instant!" The siren exclaimed. Unfortunately, it seemed only Kim and Alix heard her.

"Well, that's just lovely!" Kim joked.

"We've got a homicidal drama queen!" Alix added.

"You are all being extremely rude. I demand to talk to your captain! Surely they will listen to reason."

That got Adrien's attention, who immediately slipped into his newly discovered 'Captain Mode', and said (much to the horror of half the other people on deck, and the humor of the rest), "That'd be me. I'm Catptain Chat Noir, and can I just say what a purrfect day it is to be meeting you. And this is my feline ship Plagg!"

"Kill me now." The siren deadpanned. But by this point, Adrien was on a roll.

"Awe! Purrhaps my puns are not up to your taste? It's quite alright, I know everyone can't have as clawsome a sense of humor as me. But maybe I can shell you on them? Of course, I completely undersand if you don't like them, not everyone was mermade for puns." This continued for a while as Alya and Nino just kept encouraging him.

"Does he ever shut up?" The disgruntled siren asked Kim and Alix, the only two who seemed to have sanity. As Marinette had left around the time Nino joined in on the puns, Chloe was currently trying to give herself brain damage, and the other three were still making puns with no sign of stopping.

"Yes, but only long enough for the others to join in." Kim answered with a shudder. This actually startled a laugh out of the siren, who winced right after, rubbing her tail. Alix noticed and realized how painful the ropes must have been on her.

"What were we thinking? Your tail must be nearly useless! Let us help you untangle some of this."

"Thank you... I am sorry, but I do not believe I ever got your names?"

"And you'll continue to not get it," Kim said with a smile. "but we can tell you what the people here call us."

"That would be acceptable."

"They call me Nabi. More specifically Captain Nabi, of the ship Nooroo."

"And I am Captain Paon. Of the ship Duusuu."

"Well Captain Nabi, Captain Paon, I am Kagami from the Whirlpools of Ending."

"Pleasure to meet you Kagami!"

Alix was going to add something, but then a stray thought crossed her mind, "Kagami, would you say you know anything about sailing?"

Confused, Kagami answered, "Like all my people I am skilled in any form of water transportation. Why?"

"Well, it's just that Captain Chat Noir is really new to all of this," Alix pointed to where the three of them were still laughing like idiots, and refusing to admit that some of the puns got to her too. "and I thought you might be willing to help him out."

Kagami eyed the young man she had first encountered and agreed that he would probably die without someone to help him, "Navigating will be difficult, seeing as I do not possess any legs to walk with." To Kagami's surprise though, Kim actually laughed.

"That won't be a problem! Captain Queen Bee has some stuff that'll fix that!"

"And this Captain Queen Bee would be?"

"Me." Chloe said as she walked over, eyeing the other two suspiciously, "Why, what are you planning? And why does it involve me?"

"We were just thinking that Chat could use a little help is all!"

"You're lucky I agree, but shouldn't you be asking the captain that?" Chloe reminded them.

"Oh! Right! Knew we were forgetting something!"

Kagami rolled her eyes with a laugh as Captain Chat Noir heard their proposal, they were all idiots. How had she started liking them again?

No wonder I couldn't think of anything for so long! This piece was trying to kill me!

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Hope you enjoyed!

See ya next time!