Guilty pleasure fic. Expect really rare updates, and not so great one too. Another almost freestyle story here. Might just be long drabbles at the end.
Cover art made by me! Spend a lot of time for this one. Pretty proud of it.
Also, I decide to write in uppercase this time.
Lucilicca – or Lucy for short, has a weird gene.
She's a mermaid. Though, a very peculiar one.
From her physical appearance, she had the usual mer look. Beautiful, pale skin and of course the prominent tail that replaced her legs.
But what's odd is that her ears were replaced with fins, and her arms had pectoral fins. Her back has it too, dorsal fins reaching down until the end of her tail. She resembled a lot of fish parts rather than just a fishtail most mer had. Even her teeth are sharper, resembling carnivorous traits.
Lucy is the odd one out.
Fortunately, she never met any other mermaid beside, well, herself. She doesn't have to deal with getting ostracised or any case like that.
Another thing is that she can change her form. Human form and mermaid.
Unfortunately, there's a side effect.
When she changed into her human form, she lost her voice. When she changed midway her vocal cords just disappeared. She can only talk if she's in her mermaid form.
She doesn't mind it. The villagers were kind to her. They accept her for being a mermaid, and they don't pressure her on talking. But she loves her mermaid form, even if dragging herself on land is tough sometimes.
Makino, the barmaid at the village, insisted on changing to her human form whenever she stepped foot on land. Lucy doesn't want to, since she wouldn't be able to speak. She wants people to hear her, she wants attention, and she has many things to say. But Makino persisted, saying she was worried if she kept dragging herself on land. Plus, her scales dry more easily than the usual mermaids, and it can damage them badly.
So she complied. She still had some trouble walking, but slowly she's learning.
She wore her usual clothes, but she had to wear a skirt for convenience purposes. Whenever she changes forms she doesn't have to pull her pants down since the skirt doesn't have any separate parts. She can change it freely and the skirt will still stay on her waist. Besides, it makes her tail prettier, even if Lucy doesn't like wearing it.
She mostly hangs around the beach, or sometimes just soaked in the river in the village. Half of her body was in the water while she just happily hummed a song.
Unsurprisingly, her voice in mermaid form is beautiful. Many books depicted mermaids as having such a wonderful singing voice, and they're right.
Her lyrics, however... not the greatest. So she mostly just hummed a melody instead of creating her original lyrics, but she still does that once in a while.
"Lucy!"
Makino called out to her. She turned her head around, tail flapping and splashing the stream of water. Her fins perked up, and she ran to Makino.
Or, well, crawl to Makino.
"Makino-nee!" She leaped into Makino's lap.
She patted Lucy's head, "Lucy, you know you can change to your human form if you want to walk.."
Lucy only smiled at her, "Nah! I like my mermaid tail better!"
She only sighed, before standing up. "Let's go to the bar, okay?"
Lucy nodded and changed into her human form since the bar is far from the river she bathed in.
"What would you like for lunch, Lucy?" Makino asked as she prepared some utensils. Lucy swiftly changed into her mermaid form to talk.
"Fish! Meat!"
She chuckled and began cutting some fish. Lucy continued humming a song, which is pleasant to hear in the bar. The villagers love to hear her singing, it makes them often visit Makino's bar in the hope for their little Lucy to be there.
After a while the food was ready, she chomped down the fish and mumbled 'delicious' once in a while. Makino laughed at her antics but also felt happy that Lucy loved her cooking.
"This is so good! Thanks for the food!" Her tails swayed around happily.
Makino gave her a glass of water to which she drank it.
"Ah, Makino-nee," She put down the glass of water after wiping her mouth. "Why can't I swim in the ocean?"
Makino stopped wiping the glass in her hand and looked at Luffy, "It's dangerous, Lucy. I know you're strong underwater and any aquatic creatures nor the currents won't hurt you, but..." She trailed off.
Lucy somewhat understands her.
"I'm worried, Lucy. You can swim if you like, but please don't go too far from the village," She gave her a weak smile.
Lucy nodded, "Ok, I promise."
Weeks passed by, and Lucy was strolling across the beach. She collected pretty seashells for fun, thinking of making a bracelet or necklace out of them too.
She then stared at the ocean, waves gently washing her feet and the sound of wind breezing through. She closed her eyes.
'The ocean...' She thought.
She tried to sing, the feeling right now was perfect. But she had forgotten that she was in her human form, her voice won't come out.
She frowned. She changed into her mermaid form, and jumped into the shore. It felt so different from the river. Perhaps it's because the ocean is truly where she belonged, the homey feeling hits her so differently.
She swims for a while before sitting on a rock, just barely out of the surface of the water.
"Her voice is one no one knows
Alone, beside a murky abyss, she stares into its depths."
She began to sing, freestyling the lyrics. She's surprised herself with how well the lyric is compared to when she's singing casually.
"When she opens her mouth, she sings lulu lula la…
Her voice echoing resounding reverberating
Back and forth beneath the waves,
"What she sings
What not a soul knows are
Songs all sung once and never again"
The song began to reach its climax. Her feelings intensified, she gave it all away to the song she sang at the moment.
"However,!
"None of those songs were
Ever meant for any other to hear.
That, not one being who tells of her songs knew.
"Ah…
her body quivers,
Like an invisible plucked string,
Never exhausting her endless store of songs.
"Surely, surely, if you would hear her words
They would be ingrained in your chest,
"However, however, those words
Once leaked out to the surface would become
"As foam
As foam
As foam"
She lowered her voice, feeling the wind and the splashing water once more.
She finally opened her eyes, and realised what she had just sung.
The strong feeling was still resonating within her, she felt so alive after singing that. Like her true potential had come out all at once.
"That's.. strange.. but I like it!" She smiled proudly. She then jumped into the water again and swam back to the shore.
Lucy ran as quickly as she can, trying to get used to it. She kept trying to yell Makino's name, but of course, it won't come out.
She saw Makino at the front of the bar, moving barrels. Without patience, she hopped and changed into her mermaid form mid-way.
"Makino!"
Makino, out of reflex and had experienced this multiple times before, managed to catch Lucy.
"Lucy! What's the matter?" Makino held Luffy carefully.
She smiled giddily, "I sang today!"
Makino raised an eyebrow, confused. "Sing? You always sing, Lucy."
She shook her head, "No, I sang with lyrics! And they're good too!"
Makino blankly stared at her, before laughing. "Sure, Lucy. I'm sure it's great."
She said it modestly, but Lucy thought she was just trying to cheer her up, not believing that her lyrics were great. She pouted.
"No, they really are great! It goes like..."
She trailed off. She couldn't recall the lyrics.
"Eh..? Why can't I..." She placed her hand on her head, trying hard to remember the lyrics.
Makino gently grabbed her hand and placed it down, "It's okay, Luffy. I'm sure you'll remember it, let's go home for now, it's getting dark. Okay?"
Luffy frowned but nodded anyway. Maybe she'll remember it.
She can't remember anything.
Maybe if she went to the ocean water again? For some reason, whenever she tried to sing again, the previous feeling she felt from the ocean isn't there. Nonexistent. Perhaps she needed that to be able to remember – or sing another beautiful song. The weird, strong emotion.
She walked down the stairs and waved at Makino.
Makino gets her intention and waved back and Luffy ran outside. Immediately her eyes went toward the shore, the smell of the salt and the noise of the waves can already be heard.
She went to a different area. The last beach she went to was far from the bar, this one is right a few distances away from the bar. The place where most ships dock to trade supplies.
Some of the villagers waved to her, she waved back while grinning. When she arrived at the dock, she shifted into her mermaid form and jumped into the water.
She swam swiftly until she was far away from the docks.
She reached her head out from the water's surface. Peeking around. It's just the ocean.
There's no rock for her to sit on, but she can sing just fine while floating.
The emotion came back, and she opened her mouth to sing.
"Benn! I'm starving!"
Shanks whined at his first mate. Benn sighed, exhaling the cigarette.
"That's what happens when you decide to eat the entire stock."
Shanks pouted, "I was hungry."
"Yeah, but we're all hungry too. You could've eaten a normal portion with all of us and we will still have some leftovers," He scolded.
Shanks sulked on the ship's railing. He could hear some of his crew snickering in the background. Shanks stare at the sky, before noticing seagulls flying around the mast.
'Land must be close, then,' He thought.
It was quiet, a bit unusual for his pirate crew. They're always loud and boisterous, but he supposed the food shortage makes them less energetic.
Plus, they're still trying to find a good place to take a rest from the new world.
"Small pebbles one could hold with small hands
Collect as they fall, journeying to the bottom of the lake,"
His eyes widened, head lifted from the railing. Is he imagining things now?
He heard a singing voice. A really beautiful one too, the most pleasant he heard in years.
Is he that hungry that he's hallucinating sounds now?
"Those are fragments of tears
Tears someone let flow which
Become stories
"But not one of those
Could be called the truth
Instead all are tall tale songs,"
He began searching the nearby waters, trying to find the song source. He didn't see any land, and the ocean is too deep now.
"However,
May someone listen to one,
One out of those many songs.
Before that nameless maiden's life is ended."
He sprinted to another deck, the song goes louder. Again, he looked everywhere on the waters.
Lo and behold, he saw a head on the surface of the water.
A small one, possibly a literal child.
"Ah…
Scooped up in one's hands,
Was a small and dull sparkle,
Which they kissed lovingly."
Only their heads can be seen, the kid is floating in the middle of the ocean. He was baffled at the sight, not to mention the song they were singing.
It's mystical. Surreal. He can't believe what's happening in front of his eyes, and his ears.
"However, however at this very moment
Now, that pain is gone, into the water, becoming
"As foam
As foam
As foam"
The kid stopped singing, opening their eyes.
They immediately look at the ship, and then at him. Their eyes locked for a moment, both frozen on spot. The kid's eyes widen before they quickly retract their head back to the water.
All that is left is just a foam of bubbles.
A/N
If you're curious with the song, the title is exactly this chapter's title. I recommend checking it out, it sounds very good.
See you in months!