Cutler Beckett clung to the wooden beam with all his might though his ribs protested the action strongly. A sharp pain that he had, unfortunately, gotten used to in his not very long life. He panted into the wood as he tightened his grip. The sea water soaked everything from his chest down as the flames of the sinking ship lit the night. Pirates. He detested pirates. The hatred burned as much as the pain in his chest. A crack of the ship brought him back to look at it.

He had escaped the pirates' roving look for survivors somehow. He was not one to think twice about good fortune. Though they had left he was now alone in the dark waters. Soon enough it would be swarming with sharks who would pick at the dead. The sea would claim everything and the evidence of this scuffle would sink beneath the waves. It was appropriate, he supposed. Though he had spent so long clawing and grabbing for what should be his.

To prove himself and to take the power his father denied him. To die in such a way before he could truly take his place in the East India Trading Company was almost unfair. But life was never fair. To become powerful enough to spite his father. A humorless chuckle left him that devolved into a sob as his ribs protested again. It was like getting beat as a child or even a young man again. He felt something flick against his leg and wondered if that was the warning before he was dragged to die. His eyes opened to see a woman's face.

He blinked stupidly as her wet hair graced her skin. Her face was divinely beautiful and her eyes seemed to glow with the color of the sea. He felt the flick against his legs again and he realized that it was a fin. His eyes met the lady in the sea as slowly he realized what was before him. A mermaid? Or perhaps a siren? The legends of them luring their victims to feast on their flesh went through his memory as if it had faded. It did not feel real. Was he hallucinating? On the doorway to death and imagining a beautiful woman to carry him into hell? "I sense a destiny around you," a voice sweet as honey whispered before smooth fingers ran down his cheek. It felt so real.

"W-Who are you?" He asked though he cursed at himself for stuttering like a fool. Though it hurts just to voice that question. He felt the water move as she moved around him. Her movements dance like and graceful. He tried to keep her in his eyes. Dangerous. Mermaids were dangerous. He knew the warnings well enough. Pirates, Sailors, and the Navy all feared the creatures for their taste for human flesh. She swam to his other side as a chuckle left her.

"Is it rude not to introduce yourself first?" She teased and looked towards the fire that still covered the ship. It was steadily sinking and soon he would be left among the dead. If the mermaid killed him it would be at least an interesting way to die. Though he would weep for his lost chance for glory. "My name is Cassia," she whispered and he moved the name around in his head. Greek in origin but the girl spoke with an accent of a British woman.

He blinked again as that head disappeared in the water. Did he hallucinate that whole thing? His body protested as the flames started to flicker to nothing from the sinking ship. Soon he would be alone much like the dead navy personnel. He hated pirates. He heard the sound of breaking wood as he clung to the piece of wood that held him above the precipice. He wanted so badly just to close his eyes and stop fighting. "Will you give up so easily?" That honeyed voice whispered seemingly all around him. "Is there nothing to fight for?"

He opened his eyes as he tried to summon the inner strength that had served him well. The wellspring of his willpower and his desire for power. "Yes," he whispered and flinched through the pain but ruthlessly bit down the urge to cry. He turned to face the mermaid, Cassia, only to see a giant plank of wood. Wide and sturdy enough to fit him. She smiled at him and he felt his heart stutter at the look. She was way too beautiful to be natural and with slim hands she helped him to the makeshift raft. A cry leaving him as his ribs impacted the wood.

"I will find things to help you survive," she whispered as her hands rested on the wood. "You never told me your name, sailor." Smooth fingers danced across his brow and down his jaw. Gentle and enthralling he opened his eyes to look at her. The fire covered her skin in a beautiful hue and from the way he was laid he saw what he expected. She was naked. Intellectually, he knew she would be. Mermaids were creatures of seductive wiles. Why would they wear clothes? Still his cheeks stained pink as he looked away. The slim lines of her throat and her chest pleasing even with his eyes shut.

"Cutler Beckett," he whispered and his throat throbbed in how uncomfortable it actually was. Raspy and painful from the mouthfuls of sea water during the fight. He shivered as he recalled mouthfuls of salt water as the ship exploded around him. His level of calm helped him survive and avoid those out for the blood of the sailors. A shiver left him from the wet clothes and the pain. He was getting delirious. He watched the mermaid's face twist in concern before a luminous fin was all he saw as she dived under the water.

He came back to himself to complete darkness except for the pinpoints of stars above him. The constellations lazily come back to his sluggish mind. A warm blanket rested over him and he looked at it in surprise. "I used the fire to dry it for use," she whispered in the darkness. He jerked to face her and hissed as his chest protested the action. Broken ribs most likely or supremely bruised when he hit the banister in the force of the attack. "Before the ship sank," she added and he could see it had now started to sink. A shark fin barely reflected past her shoulder.

"Are you not frightened of sharks?" He asked and knew it was a foolish question. Mermaids were predators and hunters. His pain must be ruining his mind. He could barely see her eyes but amusement shined deep in them. They seemed to glow with specs of gold as her arms rested on the wooden plank. Her giggle soothed a part of him into relaxing even with the blanket over him.

"They are frightened of me," she whispered and watched him. "Sleep. I will keep watch for any sailors." He went to protest when a song started to leave her. A song that sapped his strength and his will. He fell asleep even through the pain. When he awoke the sun was high and his face was covered from the high sun. He moved it down with a groan and looked around. Driftwood and a few things remained from the attack. The mermaid was gone and he wondered if she had abandoned him. Considered him better left for dead.

He would not be surprised if she did. The injuries to his ribs left him useless to save himself. Maybe he was prolonging the inevitable. That his ambitions would go nowhere. The water broke to show the face of his unlikely rescuer. A fish in her slim hands that fought madly. Her free hand turned almost to claws as she ripped the fish's throat out. Claws, fangs, and her eyes glowed effervescent gold. A monster under the surface of her unearthly beauty. He found that very attractive. Beautiful but hidden with ruthlessness and strength.

He drank in the sight as he realized he was very thirsty. She pulled the guts from the fish and it stained her hands before the sea washed it away. His eyes were drawn to her as she swam closer with the fish. Those sharp fingers splitting the fish in half before laying it next to him. She smiled at him as the animalistic features faded to an innocent beauty. The dichotomy between her two sides was driving him crazy. He felt the need to possess her. A lust he knew he should hide. She had rescued him from certain death. "I brought you the canteens I could find," she whispered as she pulled them up. "Hopefully the sailors have water in them instead of alcohol."

His lips quirked in amusement at her joke but he took the offered canteens before sniffing the first. A gulp of water soothing his throat as he relaxed back on the wood. "Why are you helping me, Cassia?" He asked as he sat up slowly. A gasp of pain left him as his body protested. He saw her eyes shine in concern as she gripped the wood. "I am alright," he breathed out as he looked at the flesh of the fish. She had brought him food and water. She was showing a commitment to caring for him. Though if he was not rescued in time he would die either way. Why did he send Mercer ahead?

"You wonder why I have not eaten you?" She asked and he gave a firm nod. Her eyes went far away as she looked at him. She was thinking strongly about her reasoning. He took to picking at the fish and forcing it into his stomach. The taste was unappetizing but he would make do. He took the time to observe the mermaid in the light of day. He wanted to memorize everything about her. The curve of her lips. The way her hair, the top dried from the sun, was brown with strands of red and gold. The expressive blue-green eyes and innocent face. The slim throat that led to a perfectly formed body.

"My father was a sailor," she whispered instead. "One day while lost at sea from an attack he met a beautiful sight. You remind me of him. Bright and burning of ambition. A destiny unfulfilled." She smiled but the weight of her words settled heavily on him. The uncanny, almost supernatural, sight of a mermaid was never mentioned in the tales. How often did men get to actually conversate with a mermaid? It was either the men wanted to rape them and the mermaids wanted to eat them.

"What happened to him?" He asked and he saw her face fall. A sadness entered her eyes that he wanted to do all in his power to fix. That he wanted that sadness washed away. She focused on him with a sad smile. A smile of a woman who had seen too much. A smile Jane had always given him after a bad day with his father.

"He was killed in an attack on the sea," she answered sadly. "Taken by cruel men with guns and cutlasses. My mother grieved to death shortly afterwards and I was left alone." The sadness in her tone was palpable even in this situation. His mouth dried as he considered what to say. What would even be proper to say? He did not want to be rude to his beautiful rescuer.

"The other mermaids?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. The question he was truly asking was hidden behind it. Mermaid culture was unknown to him as everything else. Only that every being was female and had a taste for flesh. They also mated with humans to produce more children. The girl laid her head on her arms with a smile. Another sad pitiful smile that reminded him too much of his sister.

"Even among them I am an outlier," she answered truthfully with a shrug from her slim shoulders. "Falling in love with a human and raising your child with them is not how things are normally done." At that her mouth shut and a frown pulled down her lips. A painful conversation. A wound he had carelessly made her rip open to his questions. Guilt was an odd feeling to feel and he hid the urge to squirm at it.

"My apologies, Cassia," he whispered and he saw her eyes land on his own. Her gaze was searching and softening in quick order as she rested on the wooden plank. "I am...an outlier in my family as well," he admitted and swallowed the feeling that lodged itself into his throat. He did not know why he felt the urge to rip open his wounds as well. Perhaps to fill the silence of the ocean and the burning sun. Her blue-green gaze was calm and a smile came from her. "My father was not the..." he added and looked away at the flash of emotions. The pain that wanted to rip his mind to shreds. Tempered by his hatred for the man and his reprehensible treatment of his mother.

"He hurt you," she whispered in a voice as soft as silk. Her fingers touched gently to his jaw and he paused. His eyes met her own and her look made him lose his breath. A protective care for him that made him feel weak. He wondered if that was her doing by being something so unnatural but found the question pointless. He smiled sadly as he felt her hand glide over his cheek and jaw. He felt the urge to kiss and take but held back. She deserved more than such rude lust. "More than just the emotional scars," she added and her tone was so sad.

"Do not weep for me, my fair rescuer," he teased and it was a tactic to get her to perk up. He would not be able to handle her tears or sadness. A chuckle left her and she laid on her arm. Her hair moved and graced her face as he watched. She was something that was unattainable to possess but it burned in him. The idea of her as his own. "At least my last sight on this earth if I am not rescued is the sight of someone so fair," he added wistfully and she sat up in the water.

"I could go looking?" She asked with a wide smile. "I will not go far. Your wounds will make it hard for you." He stared at the girl, this mermaid, who offered her help to save him. A part of him wanted to refuse and to not have her leave him. He very much wanted to be rescued and he hoped that Mercer would lead the charge to rescue his boss. He nodded and she smiled at him again. Her fingers running over the stubble that was making itself known on his jaw. "Relax," she whispered and the soothing song of a mermaid dragged him under into sleep.

He awoke to the dark night sky. He was floating alone amidst the destroyed wood that served as the ship he had been on. A canteen quickly served to soothe the ache in his throat. Even with the blanket to block the sun his skin still hurts. He would not last long on raw fish and a few canteens. His wounds would not allow him. He sat up with a twinge of pain as he heard a sound that was as surprising as the mermaid. The sound of oars through water.

He glanced that way and saw light in the darkness. He wondered if they might be a threat? The splashing in front of them dissuaded that notion. The swimming of a mermaid. The light hit her gold scales in an explosion of crystal tinted light. "Sir!" Mercer called and if he could Beckett would not be surprised to see a smile. "She had not lied." His eyes went to Cassia who smiled at him wildly. Happiness clearly reflected as she rested on the wood. The Navy personnel were staring at the mermaid wide eyed. One was shaking as he gripped the oar.

"This should be where I leave you," she whispered to him and his hand rested on her wrist. His chest gave an uncomfortable yank not unlike his bruised ribs at the thought. The light moved and her blue-green eyes seemed to glow gold. "Cutler?" She whispered and his name in that voice made his desire all the more poignant.

"Please," he whispered. "At least till we get close to land. Stay with me?" She looked up at him and then the men in the ship. She met his eyes and he saw her weakening will to refuse. Was she drawn to him the same way he was to her? He wet his lips at the thought and she nodded. His smile was so wide it almost hurt his jaw. How long had it been since he felt such joy? He wanted to possess her and he would do all that he could to keep her.