Guest: Thank you so so so so much!

Antox: ksbsksbdksjksnsk thank you!

Anonymous noob the 2nd: No Hiccup doesn't have a peg leg...yet.

CHSHiccstrid: Uhhh! you are so nice! I'm glad you're enjoying it so much. Reading your reviews is always a pleasure..

.

.

[I could show you my world...if only you'd let me.]

.

.

.

2 months.

.

"You gotta strip first."

"Wai- What?"

"You heard me! Take off your clothes. You can't swim wearing them, they're too heavy and they'll only slow us down."

"Are you sure you're not just trying to see me naked?" He winked at her. "Cause if that's all, you just needed to ask-"

He didn't get to finish as she splashed water towards him by hitting her tail to the surface.

" Okay, okay! I got it."

"I mean it's not like I'm not exposed to you all the time...it's only fair if I see you too right?" she laughed.

"First of all, when did we agreed to this rule?"

"I just came up with it." she laughed.

"Well you're not exactly exposed to me."

"I'm not wearing any clothes. Ever."

"Yeah but...it's not like you have..."

He starred at her body, scanning around for any imperfection but it was impossible. She was perfect. She didn't have human parts from her waist down so she wasn't exactly exposed to him. Plus, her chest was covered all the time by her long hair so it wasn't like he had seen anything.

Not that he hadn't fantac-

NOPE. Shut up.

"It's not like I have...what?"

"I mean... nevermind."

"Oh come on human! You can do it!" She laughed at him as he took another step.

"Yeah...easy for you to say! I don't breathe underwater!" he shouted as he took off his shirt.

Astrid rolled her eyes.

"You're gonna be fine. I'm not gonna let you drown!"

Then his pants.

"Oh yeah? And how do I know this isn't one of your mermaid tricks?" he laughed.

"You just need to trust me." She offered him her hand and he reached for it.

Their fingers tangled as she pulled him in with her.

He was now swiming alongside her as they reached waters deep enough for him to swim without his feet touching the bottom. He wasn't sure about this. He promised her he would try but could he trust her? Yes he had feelings for her damn it! But was that reason good enough for him to risk getting drowned?

"Oh don't be such a baby! It's just a little water! I thought you were the Master of the sea!" She giggled.

Oh damn that smile. That laugh.

Yup. Drowning for her, was deffinitely worth it.

"I am the Master of the sea!" He said slashing water towards her.

"Then I am the one who should be afraid right? You might kill me and sell me to the merchants!"

"Oh I have other plans for you M'Lady." His cunning smirk grew as he approached her.

Suddenly he was too close to her. Still unable to touch his feet to the sand but he was too good of a swimmer. How was it that every time they instingtly got close to each other without realizing it? And now their breaths were dancing inches apart from their faces.

"Oh really? And what is that?" She swam even closer to him.

It wasn't like she had any control over her body right now. It was like a magnet pulling her towards him.

He looked deep into her eyes.

Her damn ocean blue eyes.

How could he resist? How could he stop himself? Was she feeling the same?

They both knew eachother too good at this point. She knew he wasn't going to kiil her.

Was he? No. He wouldn't. Just like she wouldn't. Right?

"Fried fishtail with MERMAID STEAK!" His arms tightened on the sides if her tiny waist as he lifted her up and tossed her into the air.

She wasn't expected it. Her scream sounded more like a laugh. And the giggles that followed made his heart feel warm.

"Oh no! The great Master of the sea got me!" She played along.

"Hmmmm what should I do with you now Mermaid?" He grabed her again and pulled her close to him.

"Stooooppp!" She couldn't stop laughing as his fingers were tickling her exposed belly.

"Well look at that! Are all mermaids so ticklish or is it just you?"

Looks like he found one of her weak spots after all.

"Hiccup I swear if you don't stop I-"

"I wonder...do you taste better boiled or raw?" His fingers traveled all over her body, as if he knew exactly her ticklish spots. "Looks like we're gonna eat shusi tonight mates!"

Her eyes started to tear up. She couldn't take it anymore. She had to stop him.

"Oh Captain you are forgetting something really important." she laughed.

"And what might that be M'Lady?"

"You're in my territory. In the ocean I have the advantage!"

And with that, she pushed his shoulders down until his head was sinked below the surface.

Her laughter is always a kind laughter, it is as song to a bird and comes in happy moments. It is the sound of her soul, something that comes when the smile of her eyes that overflows into the air. So when he hears my giggles, her soft expressions of joy, they are as much a gift for him as he is to her and a sign of their growing bond.

But something was wrong.

He wasn't coming up.

No.

No no no no no.

She couldn't have drown him right?

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!" He jumped on her making her heart almost stop.

"GOTCHA! Who's the Mater of the sea now?"

She wasn't speaking. She just stood there looking at him in shock.

"Are you serious?! Don't you ever do that to me again! I thought..."

He noticed the sudden change on her mood.

"Hey...it's okay...I'm sorry okay? I shouldn't joke around like that."

But what came next was a strong punch in his shoulder.

"OWCH! Why would you-"

"That's for scaring me!"

Okay yes...he probably deserved that.

But before he could answer, she was already throwing herseld at him, holding him into a tight hug.

"That's for...everything else."

He automaticaly responded by wraping his arms around her body as well.

And they stayed like this for a while, without speaking, just feeling eachother's energy becoming one.

He could feel his chest going up and down on her cheek, he could feel her heartbeat slowing down the tighter he held her.

After a while they pulled apart, both blushing.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" she asked.

"Lead the way M'Lady."

She smiled.

"How long can you hold your breath?"

"Long enough." he hesitantly shrugged.

And with that, she took his hand and they both dived in.

...

.

.

.

Deep inside the water he opened his eyes.

So far down in the ocean the sunlight is a soft diffuse glow. Those once golden rays from above are only blue in this water and the deeper he sinks the less light can penetrate. The rocks are now silhouettes in the dim. The light from the sun dies quicker than the heat from a winter campfire. From time to time is surprised by a lone fish, invisible until it enters the feeble beam. It's cold too, colder than he imagined it would be.

Her graceful siluette was swimming in smlow movements above him.

He'd occasionly pop his head out of the water to take another deep brath and then dive back in alongside her.

The ocean was so different from underneath.

Another kind of beauty.

This deep in the sea, even through his bare skin, he can feel the temperature of the water drop. It isn't like a winter chill, bringing a shiver to the skin, but more like the welcome coolness of an autumn breeze. He can never get enough of these pure waters or the way everything is cast blue by the filtered light. Down here he is free to turn and move as he wishes, the ties of gravity faded to nothing.

"In the deep, there is freedom." he heared her voice inside his head.

"The sea has so many secrets, so many stories yet to tell and here we explore, admire the wonders and learn. Here my body has no weight that means anything, I can glide in any direction without fear of falling. This place, so far from the ordinary world above, is the wonderland of my dreams."

He can only admire her as she twirls in front of him. She is deffinitely the most admirable wonder down thre. And she deffinitely comes from a paradise like this.

A rocky wall, not twenty feet from him, stood up like a sky-scraper, straight and tall. Here and there it was broken by fissures and caves. Everywhere it was festooned with sea vegetation-seaweed, kelp, anemones. All these, with coral that rose like Gothic architecture, were entrancing.

Down hear his senses are altered. The sounds are lazy and the light gentle. It's truly a three dimensional world. He is as free as a bird in the sky.

The fluidity of life far below the waves brings a sense of freedom and levity. Perhaps it was feelings like these that lead to the first tales of merpeople - the longing to swim forever, never return. In this aquatic world money means nothing, what are interest rates to a dolphin? It's all utterly irrelevant. He watches the filtered light caress her skin and wishes he didn't need air to stay, but he does. As much as this watery world calls to him, he can only be a visitor from the dry world up top.

"It is here in the deep sea that I find myself." her voice echoing in his head again. "There is something about getting so far from the world you know that increases your connection to it. Without the distractions, the noise, the pollution, your mind is free to simply dwell on the things that matter."

How can he hear her?

He made a momement with both of his hands trying to ask her how she's doing that.

"It's the voice Hiccup." she simply smiled. "It's the ocean's blessing to us."

Or curse.

Hiccup nodded but he knew there was more to it. He knew she wasn't telling him something. Every time he tried to bring the subject to the voice she would toss it away. Either because she couldn't talk about it without crying...or she was hiding something.

So that is how mermaids are comunicating underwater. They use the voice. As in, echolocation. Interesting.

Still so many questions unanswered.

How many Mermaids are there? How are the Sirens chosen to be blessed with the voice? Who gave it to them in the first place? What else can it do? And why is Astrid so afraid of it? Why does she hate it so much? What are the horrible things she says she's done because of it? And why won't she let him in?

Treading deeper into the water, he could feel the ocean coaxing him further, pulling him in.

Calling him.

How soothing.

It was as if in an instant all of his troubles had disappeared.

Like he could forget everything.

"Here in the deep where every sound is so different and the light moves slowly around my outstretched fingers I feel my connections growing deeper. Every movement of my body becomes a form of meditation, removing thoughts that were never mine. So when I return, centred on who I truly am, I am ready to be the best version of myself I can be." she smiled at him.

"Down here...I am free Hiccup."

Free from what?

"Down here...I can be myself..."

And you can be safe from me...

.

.

.

[I will never sing to you...]

.

.

.

Heartbreak is coming. And you're not ready for it.