The lifeboat was made of rough, unfinished wood. Every move that Ariel made, she seemed to scratch herself on a loose shard or a particularly knobby plank. The water barely covered her up to her waist, keeping her tail necessarily wet, but preventing her from being able to fully submerge herself. Even as she felt the waves rock the ship and ran her fingers though the saltwater surrounding her, she couldn't seem to calm her nerves.

She was a prisoner, a feeling the young mermaid princess knew well. All her life, the ocean was her backyard, but she could never venture beyond. The land was a temptation that she longed to taste, but could never quite reach. Humans were a fascination, but never one she thought would be her downfall. Now, she was trapped alone in a tiny lifeboat, her only companion a cruel man whose beauty from afar didn't match his soul up close.

Though she had always felt trapped by the sea, she had never been alone before. Always surrounded by other merfolk and marine life, Ariel never found herself wanting for someone to talk to, and even now, though she felt the pain of isolation, she didn't want to speak to Captain Hook ever again.

He was rude – his eyes that had looked so sad gazing out over the tides now looked cold and unforgiving. How could one man have such different expressions, she wondered. How could the man who looked to be yearning so desperately for something down in the depths now be so detached from something he plucked out of them?

Left with no other option for solace, Ariel began softly singing to herself, her fin running languidly through the water as best as it could in the small space. She sang a song that she had heard a different sailor sing, years ago. This sailor's boat had capsized, and he was the lone survivor of his crew. She had found him floating on a piece of driftwood, singing so sadly that she couldn't help but save him, swimming him to shore. That man had been kind. She had been a fool to believe all men would be.

"Your tongue is a rudder. It steers the whole ship, sends your words past your lips or keeps them safe behind your teeth," she sang softly, remembering the solemn voice of the stranded sailor. This song seemed perfect for her as well, stranded and alone. "But the wrong words will strand you, come off course while you sleep, sweep your boat out to sea or dashed to bits on the reefs. The vessel groans, the ocean pressures its frame. Off the port I see the lighthouse through the sleet and the rain. And I wished for one more day to give my love and repay debts, but the morning finds our bodies washed up thirty miles west."

Suddenly, the door to the captain's quarters slammed open, revealing her captor, his face flashing with both anger and something more forgiving.

"What are you doing?" he seethed, stepping in the room. Behind him was his entire crew, looking mesmerized by her song. Instead of stopping, as her fear of the captain suggested, she just began to sing a little louder.

"Calm me and let me taste the salt you breathed while you were underneath," she sang, locking eyes with the captain in the doorway as her clear voice captured both Killian and his crewmen behind him. "I am the one who haunts your dreams of mountains sunk below the sea. I spoke the words but never gave a thought to what they all could mean. I know that this is what you want. A funeral keeps both of us apart. You know that you are not alone, need you like water in my lungs."

She made the mistake of pausing in her song as she neared the end. Though the men behind him still seemed entranced by her voice, Killian shook his head and came to his senses. Slamming the heavy door behind him, he stalked over to the lifeboat, grasping her arms tightly.

"You stupid girl," he tried to yell, but it came out as more of a whisper. Ariel noticed the sudden weakness in his voice, and her fear began to subside. "I didn't want them to know about you. They will want you for themselves."

"I – I was lonely. I wanted to sing, because I have nothing else I can do," she replied simply, feeling his grip on her arms loosen. "I didn't know anyone could hear me."

"Mermaid -" he began, but she interrupted him.

"Ariel. My name is Ariel."

"Ariel, then. Do you have any idea what the voice of a mermaid can do to a man? It's why your kind is so dangerous to humans. Your voice alone could drive a man to his death. And God, do you have a beautiful voice." Killian's voice was barely above a whisper as he finished, the memory of the spell her voice had cast over him sending shivers down his spine. She sounded exactly as she did in his dreams. It was the same song that she sang.

The first reactions that came to her mind were biting and sarcastic. She wanted to shout at him that maybe she should just keep singing so he would let her go, but the vulnerability in his eyes gave her pause. He seemed to be out of breath, and for the first time since he had ensnared her, he didn't look stony. Ariel could see a glimpse of the emotion she had seen in him as he looked out over her ocean hiding in his eyes. Before she even realized what she was doing, she reached out and placed a hand on his arm. At first, her touch seemed to startle him, then it erased the softness she had just seen in his face.

"There will be no more singing on my ship," the captain said in an icy tone, standing up and walking away from her.

"You may have been able to take my home away from me, but you can't take my voice," she argued, but quickly retreated to the furthest edge of her lifeboat when he shot her a challenging glare. "You wouldn't, you just said yourself that it is powerful."

"Aye, it is. But you will keep that pretty, powerful tongue to yourself as long as I say you will," he said, a sharpness to his voice as he ran his good hand along his hook in a threatening gesture. "Plus – there's a rowdy crew out there that would love to get a piece of lovely little mermaid such as yourself. You wouldn't want that, now, would you Ariel?"

Ariel shook her head, sinking back down into the water as low as she could. As he turned to leave, she called after him, "Captain Hook!"

He turned in the doorway, half of his face hidden in the shadow of the brightening sun, and even though she was terrified of him, she couldn't deny how handsome he looked in that moment.

"Thank you for protecting me," she said, barely above a whisper.

"Call me Killian, love. Killian Jones," he muttered back, before shutting the door and leaving her once again alone.

-x-

The song Ariel sings is "Play Crack the Sky" by Brand New, and it's gorgeous, for anyone who wants to give it a listen.