*note: Kristina belongs to fluffytriceratops on Tumblr

Kristina was a simple fisherman. She would get out on her little boat. Fish enough for herself to eat and sell in her local village, then she'd take a nap, or fix her fishing rod, or take care of her boat. It was a good life. It wasn't easy, but it was good, and it allowed her to take care of her withered but fiery grandmother.

One hot day Kristina was out on the water. The sun was beating down on her, and her luck for catching fish was nonexistent. She was about to reel in her line to try a different spot when she felt a pull on her line.

Kristina reeled in her catch, thinking it was a large catfish that would at least feed her and her grandmother for the night, when out of the water popped a giant snapping turtle. Her hook in its sharp beak.

Kristina thought about killing it and taking it home. It's not catfish, but it would still feed them. Plus snapping turtles are aggressive and can hurt you. Even if it wasn't edible, it'd still be a good idea to kill it to keep it from overeating the fish population.

Kristina sighed at the sight of the snapping turtle hissing and writhing on her boat floor. She also knew that turtles could live a life longer than any human's and she felt bad about cutting such a life short. Especially since they can help the local plant life.

Risking her fingers, she managed to get the hook out of its beak, then she cast the snapping turtle out into the water. Then she rowed her boat to a new part of the water and started over.

As her line was out, a gentle wind blew over the water and washed over her. It lulled her to sleep until a mysterious voice echoed her name. Kristina bolted to her feet as she stood in the middle of her boat. Looking around for whoever said her name, but all she saw was water to the horizon. Then the water before her started to broil and out of the water rose a large, buff, handsome young man with images of turtles swimming under water on his silk robes.

Kristina stared in awe at him as he said, "You have passed my test. Your kindness and generosity shines through personal hardship. I am Prince Raph of the Sea King. As your reward, would you like to marry me?"

Kristina accepted his offer.

Raph turned back into a snapping turtle but was now large enough to comfortably sit on the back of, and down into the water she went with him. The light never left them as they swam to the bottom, and Kristina never felt the wetness of the water.

The palace was huge and other worldly, and the people of the castle came out to greet the prince and his new bride with songs and dances, food and drinks, and merriment and cheer. The wedding and after party lasted for three days, filled with love, hope, and joy for a new beginning.

When the party had ended, Kristina told her prince, "Now that the wedding is over, I need to return to the surface. I wish to tell my grandmother the good news."

Prince Raph wept into his hands at her words and Kristina consoled him, not understanding why he was so sad, despite him telling her he had a bad feeling about her going. She was still determined to go back to the surface.

"Since I can not convince you to stay, take this," he said giving her a sealed bejeweled box, "and do not open it no matter what."

Kristina agreed, and she was led back to the surface by the guards of the castle.

Once her feet touched the sand, she was alone on the shore, and she walked to where her village and home should be. The landscape was more or less the same, but when Kristina went to the spot that should hold her village and home, she found the area empty. All that was there, was rotting wood.

She walked on and came across a couple and asked them what happened to her village. They told her that her village hasn't existed for three hundred years. They told her that everyone only knows about the village because of the legend of the missing fisherman that went out fishing one day and never returned.

Distraught, Kristina went back to the shore, but when she tried to return to the Sea King's palace, she found that she didn't know the way. She tried everything she could but with each attempted at a new idea, Kristian became more and more panicked. Then she remembered that her prince gave her that special box. It must have what she needs in it.

She opened the box and a soft puff of smoke and steam rose out of the bejeweled box and Kristina suddenly realized that she was warned to not open it. The young fisherman watched as her hands rapidly aged to wrinkles, to bone, then to dust. Never to be seen again.