Fina swam all the way back to Atlantis, thinking of excuses for her being gone for too long. Surely her father and her sisters were worried about her. She knew she couldn't tell them she rescued a human, they'd kill her! Mermaids, for centuries, have been keeping their existence a secret. If any human found out they actually existed they would be hunted like the sharks and whales. Telling her father the truth was out of the question. But Fina didn't know how to lie. She's never had to lie before and she worried if she would be able to get away with it. "Oh moons, please just let me get away with this!" Fina prayed almost crying. "And let me be able to return to the man I saved." She was now approaching the palace. She went straight to her father.

When she entered in the palace she was immediately confronted by one of her oldest sisters, she had a distressed look on her face. "Oh Fina you were gone for so long, what happened!? Some hours after you left the Sea Witch predicted there'd be an awful storm! We were so worried that the waves would be too powerful for you, and that you'd accidentally be seen by humans!! Oh Fina I'm so glad you're okay!!" Her sister cried hugging her. Fina held onto her shaky sister, "Oh Azreal, it's okay. The only reason why I was gone for so long was because the rough waves pushed me into another part of the ocean. I, I wasn't seen by any humans." Fina reassured her hoping she sounded convincing enough. Azreal stopped crying and looked at Fina, "That's good, now let's go see Father, he was the one worried about you the most." Fina took a nervous gulp.

When they got to his office the King was busy writing on scrolls. "Papa Fina's returned home." Azreal announced. The King's head shot up and looked at his daughters. "Oh Fina, thank the moons you're okay!" He went up to her and hugged her, motioning for Azreal to leave the room. When she left, the King lead Fina back to his desk. "You know I was really worried that something terrible would happen to you before I gave you your birthday present." He reached into one of his drawers and pulled out a small wooden box and handed it to Fina. Fina opened the box gingerly and was astonished at what she saw. It was a beautiful silver bracelet with 6 different colored stones. Red, yellow, green, purple, blue and silver, all the colors of the moons. Each stone radiated with it's own light. "Thank you Papa it's so pretty!" Fina said and slipped the bracelet onto her wrist. The instant she put it on she felt her skin buzz with strange energy. "That used to belong to your mother, she traveled very far to collect all the stones. Those stones are called moon stones. They are enchanted with the power of the moons, you can use the stones to cast spells. The more you exercise your power the stronger they will become. I know you have natural talent for it, because your mother did." Fina looked at her father curiously, in all her years her father never said much about her mother only that she died when she gave birth to her. No one else knew much about her mother either.

Her father noticed her expression and quickly changed the subject. "So Fina how was your visit to the Overworld?" Fina took a nervous breath. "Oh uh, it-it, was fun, the sky and everything was so pretty." She hoped her father wouldn't ask for her reason for being gone too long, she barely managed to lie to her sister she didn't know if her lie would work on her father. "What else did you see?" "I saw lot's of things! Birds, clouds, the Sun...." She trailed off thinking of other things she could make up. "What about boats did you see any boats???" Fina took a few seconds to think and decided it was okay to tell her father about seeing the boat as long as she didn't mention she went near it. "Yes, I saw one boat." "Really, you're lucky not many mermaids get to see boats! What about humans, did you see any humans?" "No, I didn't get a chance to since I didn't go near it." Fina said trying to sound disappointed. "Good. Fina, I have another surprise for you." "Really, what is it?" "You're going to be married to Ramriez!" Instead of seeing Fina burst out with joy like he expected, Fina's face fell into shock dread and horror. "What?!!! Ramriez?!" "What's wrong with you Fina, I thought you'd be happy!! Ramriez will be a fine husband for you!"

Fina knew she shouldn't have acted out in such a manner, after all she knew how marriages happened for royalty. The parents would have most of the say in who their daughter would marry. All her life Fina grew up knowing she'd marry a stranger, a man she didn't love. And she was okay with that because she never dreamed she'd fall in love with a human. She thought of many excuses to give to her father to not marry her to Ramriez. But the only one she could think of was that she didn't love him, her heart already belonged to the handsome human. It was useless trying to argue with her father. If she was ever going to see the human again she'd have to come up with a plan, but first she'd have to know how much time she had. Fina softened the look on her face, "I'm sorry for acting ungrateful Papa. I am happy that I'm going to get married to Ramriez, really." "Thank goodness, I thought for a second there you went crazy." "Papa when is our wedding date?" "Ramriez and I discussed it, we decided that in order for all our guests to make it we need some extra time, so we set the date in two weeks." Fina bit her bottom lip thinking if two weeks be enough time. "Really. Well I'm awfully tired, I haven't slept in one day after all. So I'm going back to my room." "Yes daughter, you'll need all the rest you can get until your wedding. Things are going to be quite busy."

*A week later*

Fina had spent the last week practicing magic with her bracelet. It's true she had natural talent, which made getting higher spells in less time easy. Since knowledge about the moon stones were rare, Fina had to teach herself about using magic. Blue, purple and yellow moon stones were used for attacking. Green was aiding magic and the silver moon stone was a balance death and life. The red moon stone was offensive magic. The silver bracelet itself seemed to guard the wearer from silver spells. Using moon magic took some of her energy which made her realize that she shouldn't use too many spells in a short amount of time. It took four days to get all the stones to the second level power, and she spent the three last days practicing with the blue moon stone until she finally learned the spell she wanted, Slipara. At last she would be able to put her plans in motion. Most of that week she spent avoiding Ramriez and her father which wasn't a problem since everybody was busy planing for her wedding.

That night Fina didn't get any rest, she was too nervous. Tonight she'd be sneaking off to see the Sea Witch. Never in her life had she met the Sea Witch, but then again since she turned 18 she's been doing a lot of crazy things; she couldn't turn back now. She waited until she was sure everybody in the palace was asleep. She used a secret passage way out of her room, and starting going to where the Sea Witch's cave was. She knew there would be guards surrounding the walls that she needed to pass to be home free. When she saw two guards she hid behind a rock, closed her eyes and concentrated. In her mind she summoned the power of the blue moon, and whispered "Slipara." Within seconds the guards closed their eyes and fell into a deep sleep. She swam past them and was close to the wall, but then she heard a familiar voice nearby. To her horror she recognized it as Ramriez. She hid behind some corals used as decoration. She didn't think Ramriez would be on night patrol anytime this week since their wedding date was near. She closed her eyes once again, "Blue moon, lend me your strength" She concentrated and released the spell slipara from her finger tips in the direction she heard Ramriez. Suddenly the talking stopped she waited a few moments, and swam out from her hiding place only to be surprised by the tip of Ramriez's rapier pointed in her face.

When Ramriez realized it was only Fina, he put his rapier away. "Fina what are you doing sneaking around in the middle of the night like this?" He demanded. Fina was too scared to reply, she didn't know what to tell him or what to do. "Why wasn't he effected by the blue spell?" She wondered, she could try casting it again, but already knew Ramriez would be fast enough to get her before she finished the spell. Seeing how Fina was too shaken up to answer Ramriez decided to just drop his question. "Let's get back inside Fina." He said and reached out to hold her arm. Fina moved sharply back and gave him a tough look, "No Ramriez, I won't go back!" "Why, where are you going?" He asked suddenly getting curious, he'd never seen Fina act like this before, he wondered what she was up to. "I can't tell you where I'm going, just go back inside the palace." Fina demanded, she really didn't expect Ramriez to just go back inside, but it was worth a try. "Fina you're coming back inside with me, even if I have to drag you back inside." Ramriez said with a dangerous edge in his voice. Fina knew he probably would drag her back inside, but she couldn't allow it. This was her only chance to get away, if she messed up she'd probably be locked up in her room until her wedding. But she didn't know how to get past Ramriez, he was stonger and faster. She had the element of surprise on her side though, it would have to do. She thrust her body back as far as she could away from Ramriez, feeling the power of the blue moon fill her chest and released the energy from her hands. Before Ramriez could react he heard Fina's voice, "Wevles!" And he was caught inside a powerful whirlpool. Fina took the opportunity and dashed past him and over the wall. She didn't know how long Wevles would last, and she didn't know what Ramriez would do once the spell wore off. The only thing she could do was put as much distance between them as possible, and not get noticed by anyone until she reached the witch's cave.

Fina finally reached the cave breathless. She rushed all the way to the cave, and she was sure she heard Ramriez somewhere close behind her. Since he didn't catch her she assumed he went to inform her father, soon the ocean would be swarming with soldiers searching for her. She had to do what she came for quickly. She entered the gloomy cave, it was very cold inside. "Excuse me, is anybody here?" Fina called, she thought the witch was probably sleeping, it was still late. The response was the whole cave lighting up. "Hello Princess Fina, I've been expecting you." Fina turned to the direction of the voice, and saw an old pale mermaid sitting behind a big black cauldron. "How did you know who I was, and that I was coming?" Fina asked, she was completely freaked out by atmosphere in the cave. "I've known you'd be coming to see me because I see everything: the past, present, and future. Even the dead tell me their secrets." "So, you know why I'm here then?" "Of course, you came here to ask me if I can turn you into a human so you can return to your human love." Fina was getting more freaked out by the moment the witch knew so much about her! "S-so, can you? Change me into a human that is." "Yes dear, but come here, I must tell you what the consequences will be." Fina swam to the witch and sat on a stone in front of the cauldron. The witch had a serious look on her face.

"There will be no way of becoming a mermaid ever again when I turn you into a human." "That's fine, I can never return home after what I just did." "And once the spell wears off you will die." Fina felt a chill run up her spine when the witch said die. "The only way to remain human forever is to get the man you love to marry you." "How long will I have?" "On the fifth day when the sun completely sets." Fina wondered if she would be able to get the man to even fall in love with her in five days. "Why do I have to get him to marry me? It's too impossible!" "Because even though you will look like a human, you will still be a mermaid. You know the difference between mermaids and humans. Humans have souls, we don't. When they die their souls live on in the sky, when we die we simply cease to exist. A human body can only last five days without a soul. When you marry a human a piece of their soul will merge into your body, only then you be human." Fina stared down at the sand deep in thought. She thought about her home, Atlantis, and all her happy years growing up. Then she thought of the human again. "It doesn't matter, if I stay here and marry Ramriez it will be the same as death. I'd be grateful for any time I'd have to spend with the man. And I came here risking everything just to have a chance with him. Even if it means putting my life in danger, I will be willing to go through with it." The witch looked at the determined blue eyed princess.

"If that is still your wish then I will grant it, but you will have to pay me first." That caught her completely off guard, "I'm sorry I didn't come here with any money..." "I don't need money, there is only one thing you have that I want." "What is it?" Fina asked. The witch went over to Fina and reached out her hand in Fina's hair. "I want some of your hair." "My hair?" Since Fina was a child her father always insisted that she grow out her hair, because her mother had long hair. Just out of plain curiosity Fina asked, "Why?" "You hair reminds me of the Sun." The witch pulled out a sharp dagger and handed it to Fina. "Cut off your hair up to your shoulders, that should be enough." Fina took the dagger, gathered up all her hair into one hand and with one swipe cut her hair and gave her golden locks to the witch. The witch took it and put it aside. The once long haired princess shook her head, it felt a lot lighter. Some minutes passed while the witch was putting together her strange brew. And before the witch put in her final ingredient, she gave Fina some more final warnings, "When you become human, your eyes will no longer be blue." "Why?" "The color of your eyes is only native to mermaids, no human has eyes like yours." Fina wondered what color her eyes would become once she was human. "And there is one side effect of this spell, and that is you will lose your memory." Fina gasped, how was she going to get the human to marry her in five days if she didn't remember him or the fact that she would be human for only a limited amount of time. A part of her told her this was coming, of course becoming a human would come at a higher price than just cut hair and different eye colors. "So my memories will be completely erased?" "Not erased, you'll get your memory back." "When?" "I don't know. One of the ingredients to turn you into a human causes temporary memory loss. I don't know if you will get your memory back soon or seconds before you die." It was too late for Fina to say no, she already cut her hair. "That's fine." The witch nodded and threw in the final ingredient.

A bitter thick smell came from the cauldron. The witch started speaking in another language, Fina felt butterflies in her stomach. The witch rose her hands above her head, then dark smog arose from the cauldron mimicking the witches hands. The smog soon formed into hands, and grabbed Fina's petite body and lifted her high off the ground. Fina's lungs were burning from the stench of the smog, she helplessly tried covering her nose and her mouth. Then a sharp splitting pain came into her fin. The pain was mind blowing, Fina felt her tail bone slitting to form two legs. She tried to ignore the pain thinking of the human she was doing it for, but it only helped her ignore the pain for only a second. Then she couldn't breath. Fina then realized that she had to get out of the ocean before she drowned. She kicked her new legs and started paddling with her arms, but she couldn't move as fast as she once did without her tail. She swam higher passing the hole in the cave, swimming as fast as she could in the direction the light was. She kicked helplessly as the her lungs burned for oxygen, she shut her eyes and held onto the hope that she'd reach the surface any second. And finally she did, she threw back her head and released her breath gratefully sucking in air. Since her body was in so much pain, she floated on her back, letting the ocean waves carry her human body to wherever it wanted. Fina passed out before she even knew her body had landed in the same exact spot where she had brought the human man.
Author's Notes: Phew Finally done with this chapter! Sorry this chapter was too long, but I hope you enjoyed it. **Whoo Hoo!! Thank you Zelda for being the first person to write a review on this fan fic! Even though you weren't showering me with compliments, criticism is always welcome (reasonable criticism). Don't worry I'll try making this fic more interesting, I'll put in more VxF fluff, and fix up the first few chapters!** Next chapter: Vyse and Fina will FINALLY meet! But will Vyse remember Fina?! And how will Ramriez respond to finding out that Fina turned herself into a human? Will Ramriez be the destroyer of Vyse and Fina's relationship or will fate just be too cruel?!