Jackie Mermaid AU
A/N: This is my take on the 'Jackie's a mermaid' theory. I hope you enjoy. Reviews are appreciated (grammar, writing style, characters, enjoyment, etc.). Maybe even put in an idea you want to see, I don't know. Any and all stories are up for adoption if you'd like.
Jackie Lynn Thomas has always felt a weird connection to bodies of water. There was this unexplainable feeling of serenity whenever she visited the beaches or drifted on a boat in the middle of a lake. It was a sense of belonging, a sense that all of the fish and mammals in the water were calling out for her to join them. However, a feeling was just a feeling. She was a terrible swimmer for some reason. Her legs just did not obey what she wanted them to do. Instead of moving them up and down, she kept moving them from side the side. On the other hand, she had full control while skateboarding.
Her family planned a small trip to the beach one day. The Diaz family also planned to go to the same beach on the same day. Jackie hung out with Star and Marco for some time. Star suggested that they go swimming.
"Oh, no thanks," Jackie politely declined. "I'm not good at swimming."
"Don't worry, Marco can teach you," Star responded. "You don't have to worry about drowning with him around."
"Uh, well…"
Marco could see Jackie's discomfort on her face and went to dissuade Star. "We could do something else, like building sandcastles."
"Yeah, let's go build a sandcastle," Jackie grinned.
Star pulled Marco in and whispered, "What are you doing? This could be your chance to get close to her!"
Marco whispered back, "If she doesn't want to swim, then we shouldn't force her. Besides, she looked really uncomfortable with the idea."
The three were beginning the structure of what Star called "the greatest and biggest sandcastle the world has ever known." Jackie and Marco gathered buckets of sand and water while Star built the castle using a bit of magic.
"It's not cheating if it still obeys the laws of physics," the Mewnian princess stated.
As she was gathering sand, Jackie suddenly halted in her movement as a sound of sweet delight entered her ears. She turned and stared into the ocean's vast expanse. Sweet, soothing music that tempted her to walk right into the deep blue. She dropped her bucket of sand and made steps towards the ocean. Marco noticed and walked towards her.
"Hey, Jackie?" he asked.
She made no response and continued to walk forward.
"Jackie?" he asked once more while snapping his fingers in front of her face. Seeing no response again, he grabbed her shoulder. She blinked rapidly as she tried to get her bearings.
"You okay?" Marco asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied and smiled weakly. "I guess I zoned out a bit there."
"You sure?"
"I'm sure. Besides, I have you to rescue me if I do anything weird."
There were no more incidents of the wonderful melody all through the afternoon. Star magicked up the sand castle; it stood proudly at measurements of four feet cubed. For one bold second, the palace of sand stood in all of its majesty. Then it promptly fell flat onto the ground. Star placed a sand tombstone of the mess and the three saluted to the fallen kingdom.
Inside her hotel room, Jackie flopped onto the bed. It had been an exhausting but fun afternoon for her. She knew that Star was energetic, but not that much. Star could be compared to an actual star in the sky, a glowing ball of energy that lasted for eons. Jackie rested her head on the pillow and yawned. Her parents decided to make dinner along with the Diaz's and that would be in about one to two hours.
'A little nap wouldn't hurt,' she thought. She closed her eyes and slowly drifted into sleep as the same melody she heard on the beach entered her ears. She fell asleep with a serene smile on her face.
Jackie wriggled her body around inside a cloth bundle, babbling and reaching her arms out to a woman. The woman smiled and picked her up into a hug. The woman hummed a hymn. Its soothing melody reached into baby Jackie's ears. That combined with the warmth of the hug cause Jackie to fall asleep.
...
An explosion shook the entire place. The noise woke up Jackie and she cried out loud. Another woman from before pulled the baby into a hug.
"Shh, shh, it's alright," the woman comforted Jackie. She placed the baby back down and performed a spell. Her hands had a green glow around them. She put her hands on Jackie's head and continued to comfort the baby. A tentacle whipped the woman and knocked her away. Behind the tentacle was a sea witch. Unknown words and blows were exchanged. The woman used a spell that pushed the sea witch back with a torrent of water.
The woman went towards Jackie and said, "Goodbye. And may you never return." And then- blackness.
Jackie slowly opened her eyes and got out of the bed. She looked at the time and saw that it was only six o' clock, one hour before dinner. She stretched her body while recollecting the dream she just had. It seemed too vivid and real to have been just a random dream. But then again, the brain could be fooled into thinking that something was real when it wasn't. She decided to chalk it up to her being exhausted.
Finishing with her stretches, she turned on the T.V. to see if anything good was on. She sat down on the couch and then the melody from back at the beach reached her ears again. Jackie thought it was just the T.V., but the music didn't stop when advertisements started to play. Curious to see what was the source of the song, she turned the T.V. off and listened carefully. The music seemed to be coming from all directions; it didn't get louder or softer when she turned her head around. Instead, it stayed the same volume no matter where her ears were pointed at.
She went out onto the patio and the same thing happened, the volume stayed the same no matter where she turned. Jackie closed her eyes and focused.
'The beach,' a voice whispered in her head. She opened her eyes in shock and looked all around her. Was there someone playing a trick on her? Maybe it there was a small device that played the music and sounds in the room. Yeah, that's it. Maybe Star thought it was a funny idea. But why would the princess do that? She didn't seem like the type. Marco didn't seem like type of person who would do such a thing either, but Jackie didn't know him well enough for that judgement.
Jackie exited the room. She figured that if the music was coming from the room, she wouldn't be able to hear it if she was outside. But the music didn't stop. Instead, it got minisculely louder as she walked down the stairs. Was there a device on her? She patted herself down and was unable to find anything. Either it was extremely small or it was a spell.
'The beach.' The words repeated in her mind. The beach? How could any sound be able to reach from there all the way to the hotels? The distance between the two wasn't that big, but no music should be able to be heard from that far. The two words continued to echo in her mind. She gave up and decided to go down to the beach. She went out of the hotel, across some streets, and onto the sandy shore. The music incrementally got louder as she walked closer. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Star creating sandcastles with her wand. There were some that stood against the wind and there were the unfortunate ones that fell upon their creation. Jackie smiled.
'That music must've been Star trying to get me out to see the sandcastles,' she reasoned.
She walked towards the princess and waved. "Hey Star!" she shouted.
Star turned and and smiled. "Oh, hey Jackie!" She waved back.
"So, what are you doing?" Jackie asked.
"I'm trying to find out a way to beat the world record for biggest sandcastle," Star replied and tapped her chin with the wand. "Did you know that the tallest sandcastle is forty eight feet and eight inches? If I could only add just one more inch, then I could beat it."
Jackie replied, "I'm sure if you keep at it, you can beat it."
"Thanks. So, what are you doing here?"
"I heard some music and-" Jackie stopped talking and turned towards the ocean. The sweet melody was back and this time she could clearly hear the source. She didn't know why or how, but the sounds were clearly coming from the ocean.
"Uh, Jackie?" Star questioned. She looked at the ocean as well but didn't see anything unusual. The sun wasn't setting just yet.
"Can you hear it?" Jackie asked.
Star held her hand up to her ear and listened. There were the sounds of the waves and the birds, nothing out of the ordinary.
"Hear what?" she asked.
"The music," Jackie replied.
'Music?' Star thought to herself. What was Jackie talking about? The closest thing to music was the noise that came from the radio on the hot dog stand some yards away. Or was she talking about the sounds of the ocean being like music?
Jackie took steps into the water. "The wonderful music coming from the ocean," she said. "The soothing, sweet melody that tempts all towards the ocean."
"Are you feeling okay?" Star asked with a concerned tone. She knew Jackie was tired from traveling and then spending the entire afternoon playing, but this was something else entirely.
Jackie continued to walk and the water now reached to her knees. Out of nowhere, tentacles wrapped around her ankles and dragged her into the water. She let out a shriek as she realised what was happening.
"Jackie!" Star yelled out and ran towards the water. Eight Octopi jumped out from the shore and onto the land. They sat on their tentacles and shot out ink at Star from their mouths.
Star pointed her wand at them and shouted, "Winterstorm Hyperblow!" A blast of cold air came from the wand, freezing and blowing back the blotches of ink. The spell also froze three of the eight octopi. The octopi readied another attack and Star readied her wand.
Beneath the water, Jackie was being restrained by the tentacles. The appendages wrapped around her limbs, making it hard for her to struggle. Behind the eight arms was the sea witch that she had just seen in her dreams. The sea witch smiled at her with a vicious grin. That grin only grew bigger as one tentacle knocked Jackie in the stomach. The fourteen year old girl expelled all the air in her lungs. She was trying hard to not breathe in the water.
'Star will rescue me,' she thought. All she had to do was survive this. She was struck in the stomach again. Out of shock, she inhaled the water and it filled her lungs. Instead of drowning, she felt something happening to her body. Her lungs changed into gills. Her legs were replaced by a single fish tail, covered in emerald scales. The sea witch bared her teeth at Jackie.
"I've been waiting a long time for this," the octopus-lady said. She then used her tentacles to choke Jackie.
"Yes, I have been waiting a long time for this."
Jackie tried to pull the appendages away with her hands, but it was of no use. The sea witch was too strong and Jackie was losing strength with the loss of oxygen. Still, the now-mermaid continued to struggle. She didn't want to die like this, being choked by underwater by a sea witch. Why was this happening to her? What did she do to deserve this? And where was Star?
The last question was answered by Star yelling, "Super Rainbow Dolphin Slap!" A stream of dolphins and starfish rushed out of the wand and hit the sea witch. The sea witch was knocked away from Jackie. The mermaid gasped in breaths of water and coughed.
The octopus-woman growled at Star, "You dare interfere, landling?"
The princess formed an air bubble around her head and dived her head into the water. "Go away or I'll blast you to kingdom come!" she declared.
Star pulled Jackie behind her and readied the wand. The sea witch squirted ink into the water.
"Super Rainbow Dolphin Slap!" Star shouted. The dolphins and starfish went through the ink cloud, but Star aimed too high. The sea witch had propelled herself at Star. The force of the impact knocked the princess out of the water. The octopus-woman grabbed the shore with her tentacles and leaped up into the air, aiming for Star as the landing zone.
"Raspberry Ribbon Lasso!" Star yelled. A light-ribbon lasso tied up the sea witch in mid air. Star got up and swung the lasso in a full circle. The squid-woman was dragged on the sand before flying up into the air and thrown back into the ocean. The octopus-woman skipped on the water four times before sinking. Jackie stuck her head out from the water. Behind Star were dozens of unconscious octopi.
"Come on!" Star signaled Jackie to follow her. Further along the beach were rocks that stood above the water. The mermaid climbed onto the boulders with Star's help.
"Are you okay?" the princess asked.
"I think so," Jackie nodded.
"Good. Sorry I couldn't help you sooner. I was busy trying to fight those squid things."
"That's okay." An awkward silence followed.
"So, uh, you're a mermaid now, huh?" Star asked, trying to come up with conversation.
"Mmh," Jackie responded. She looked at her wet t-shirt. Her shorts somehow disappeared into nowhere. The good thing was that she was wearing a bra.
"I- hmm. Oh, I know who can help you!" With a pink cloud and a poof, Star's Magic Instruction Book appeared and fell onto the ground.
She opened the book and said, "Glossaryck!" The pages turned themselves until it reach where the blue genie-like creature was.
"What can I do for you, my princess?" he asked while bowing.
"What can you tell me about mermaids?"
"Well, mermaids are a combination of a human upper body and a fish lower body. They reproduce the same way as fish do-"
"Okay, nevermind," Star interrupted him. She pointed at Jackie. "What can you tell me about her?"
Glossaryck turned to the mermaid. "Oh, that's an Atlantean mermaid you've got there. I thought they all died out."
"What do you mean died out?"
"The underwater Kingdom of Atlantis fell a couple of years back. The reports said that rescue teams could not find any survivors in the wreck."
"Well, she was a human and now she's a mermaid."
"Hmm, disguising her as a human. A decent enough trick, I suppose."
"Is there any way to turn her back?"
"There's nothing that we can do; the mermaid has to be the one to perform the spell. It's simple enough, all she has to do is imagine her tail becoming legs and magic should do the rest."
"Did you get that, Jackie?" Star asked.
Jackie nodded and closed her eyes. The lower half of her body began to glow green. The grow glow stop and then… nothing happened. Jackie looked helplessly towards Star.
"Glossaryck?" the princess questioned.
"She doesn't have enough magic to use the spell," the blue genie replied.
"What?"
"It seems that someone started the process of giving her their magic ability and then stopped. As a result, she has a limited amount of magic." He turned towards Star. "Did she just turn into one?"
Star nodded.
"Turning into a mermaid also takes magic for the transformation to take place. The majority of it must've been used during then."
"So now what?"
"We have to find the one who started the process and have them resume it."
"Unfortunately, that mermaid is long gone!" the sea witch announced. The three on land turned to see the octopus-woman swimming near the shore. Star pointed the wand at her.
"And I should know; I'm the one that ate her, after all," the witch continued.
"Ate her?" Star questioned.
"Mermaids contain their magic in their lower halves." Glossaryck answered. "By eating said half, you could theoretically gain the mermaid's magic. Sailors have tried it before, but it didn't work."
Jackie's stomach turned. That… thing ate the woman she saw in her dream? And what about her parents? Did the sea witch eat them too?
"That's because it only works on sea creatures," the sea witch informed them.
"Who are you anyways?" Star asked.
"The name's Ursula, landling. And I'm the one who sank Atlantis." She turned towards Jackie. "You know, I've been waiting fourteen years for your return. That stupid queen put her magic in you. She knew that it would give me an incomplete magic pool. But now here you are to give me what I've always wanted."
"You won't be able to get to her!" the princess shouted.
"Oh, come on," Ursula said. "I only need the lower half. You can keep the rest. And besides, not even Rhombulus could stop me. What makes you think that you could?"
"Glossaryck?" Star looked at the blue genie.
"She's telling the truth," Glossaryck confirmed. "I even had to punish him for it."
"Oh, ho ho ho, music to my ears!" Ursula exclaimed. "Even all of the Magic High Commission fell to me, and with barely any magic too!" She looked at Star's expression. "Don't be so surprised, kiddo. The MHC was created by an idiot with an inflated ego. The so-called master of magic is nothing more than a child playing god. He created the commission, but there was one fatal flaw that he missed; put them under the water and they became slow and inefficient. I even evaded Rhombulus for three days straight until he crystallized an entire reef out of frustration and then left."
Ursula fake-cried and wiped the imaginary tears from her eyes. "Oh, what an environmental disaster that was! Those poor innocent marine life who were unjustly crystallized because of a temper tantrum from a blockhead!"
"Save your tears for when I beat you up!" yelled Star.
"Really, you're going to beat me up?" the sea witch taunted. "You couldn't lay a finger on me even if you tried!"
"I'll sink you to the bottom!"
"Hmmph. What arrogant words from an ignorant girl. Tell you what, since you're so confident, let's play a little game. First one to beg for mercy loses. And since I'm such a nice person, I'll give you time to prepare. I'll even allow you to bring that mermaid along as well as any other people. But it won't matter even if you bring fifty of your landlings. I'll take them all out eventually. How's that sound?"
"That sounds just fine. But I'm not going to be the one that loses."
"We'll see about that." Ursula turned back and swam into the ocean.
"Star, the only way for that mermaid to transform back into a human is to get the sea witch to give up her magic," Glossaryck said. "Either she gives it up willingly or the mermaid has to eat her heart."
Star cracked her knuckles and replied, "Then I'll just have to be extremely convincing."
"One more thing. I'd advise you to take the mermaid along. Sea witches are notoriously hard to catch in the water."
"I can handle it myself," Star argued. She cast an air bubble around her head and dived into the water.
Jackie looked at Glossaryck.
"Eh, she could probably do it by herself," he shrugged. "It was just a precaution."
"Are you sure?" Jackie asked.
"Star's always been this strong headed. She's always come out on top so it'll probably be fine."
Star looked at the vast amounts of water ahead of her, waiting for the sea witch to pop up. A quick spell allowed her to float in the water at whatever level she wanted to. Better than walking on the ocean floor. The disadvantage was that Ursula could now attack from below. Star scanned the area around her, wand pointed and ready.
The sea witch silently waited from behind a rock, looking for an opportune time to strike. When Star had her back turned to Ursula, the sea witch struck. Moving away from the rock, she propelled herself right at Star. The Mewnian princess's danger sense flared up and Star turned to where Ursula was.
"Narwhal Blast!" A group of narwhals flew at the sea witch, who dodge it by rolling away. As Ursula overshot Star's position, she sprayed ink into the water. Star swam away to relocate and readied her wand again. The sea witch hid behind the cloud of ink and listened for Star's location. Finding it, she was ready to strike. Before Ursula could do so, something sharp poked her back.
"Ow!" she yelled. She turned around and found the group of narwhals that Star had summoned. The sea witch knocked back the animals with her tentacles.
Star, hearing the commotion, swam around the ink cloud and found Ursula fighting off her creations. Smiling, she used the spell again.
"Narwhal Blast! Narwhal Blast! Narwhal Blast!" The creatures split up and surround the sea witch, making her unable to escape. As Ursula tried to knock them away to get out, the narwhals would attack her from all sides and surrounded her again. She moved an inch, they moved an inch. But for some reason, the ones at the bottom moved aside and formed an opening.
"Rainbow tether!" Star yelled. A beam of rainbow came from the wand and hit the sea witch. Seven ropes tied her up to seven poles, each rope matching the color of the pole. The poles were seemingly endless in height as they reached the bottom of the ocean floor. Ursula struggled against the ropes, but to no avail.
"Give it up," Star said. "You can't escape." In response, the sea witch squirted ink at Star.
"Super Geyser Windstorm!" A blast of water rushed out of the wand and cleared up the ink. "Give up your magic or I'll make you give it up!"
"Oh, what are you going to do, landling?" Ursula taunted. "Are you going to suck the magic out of me?"
Star tapped her chin with the wand. "That's not a bad idea. There's a spell like that, but it renders its victims in a coma-like state. But then that might be a good thing since you can't hurt anyone anymore."
"You're bluffing!"
"Nope." Star pointed the wand at Ursula and charged up the spell. "Say goodbye."
"Wait! If you put me into a coma, I'll die! The sharks will come and eat me! Doesn't that make you feel bad?"
Star thought about it for a moment. "Hmm… Not really no." Star thought about something else and cancelled the spell.
"Oh, but if you're in a coma then you can't pay for your crimes."
"Right, right!" Ursula nodded in agreement.
"I'll just alter the spell a bit then. Mystic Magic Transfer!" A cyan wisp went from the sea witch's heart to the wand. As magic was drained from her body, Ursula became smaller and smaller. Instead of being put into a coma-like state, she would now have to suffer the indignant size. The rainbow tether spell adjusted the ropes' sizes automatically to keep Ursula tied up. After all the magic was drained, the sea witch was a mere two inches in height.
"And now, for your punishment," said Star.
"Isn't this punishment enough?" asked Ursula. "I've learned my lesson! I won't attack any other mermaids for their magic! I can't even do that anymore!"
"You ate the tails of mermaids while they were still alive. You made an entire civilization fall for your own lust for power. This punishment isn't enough. If I release you now, you'll just be eaten up. Your punishment must be endless."
Star swam up to the surface where Jackie and Glossaryck were waiting.
"I got it!" she waved her wand cheerfully. She aimed it at Jackie and shouted, "Mystic Magic Transfer!" A cyan wisp from the wand flew into Jackie's body, resulting in a glow of the same color. After it was done, Jackie felt some sort of power flowing through her body.
"Try it now!" Star said.
Jackie closed her eyes and envisioned her tail turning into legs. A green glow enveloped her lower body. The glow disappeared and the tail was replaced by her legs. Thankfully, the clothing that she had on were still there.
"Thanks Star," the mermaid smiled.
"You're welcome."
"So what happened to the sea witch?"
"Oh, she won't be bothering us or anyone else at all."
"That's good." Jackie looked at the ground with a sad expression.
"What's wrong?" asked Star.
"It's - It's just that… why did this have to happen to me? Why do I have to be a mermaid? Why can't I just be Jackie Lynn Thomas, a regular Earth girl?"
Star pulled Jackie into a side hug and said, "We don't get to choose what we're born as but we can make the best of it."
"But Atlantis is gone now. Am I the only mermaid left alive? And what about my parents? Are they alive or did that thing eat them as well? Is Jackie even my real name?"
"Don't worry about it so much," Star comforted the mermaid. "There must be some sort of record kept. You heard what Glossaryck said, there were reports for the fall. So there must be some files in other dimensions that can help you. We'll help you find out what happened."
"Thank you," Jackie smiled with tears in her eyes.
At the bottom of the ocean floor stood a round, smooth, metal sphere. Inside of the ball was a sea witch trying to get out of it. This was the punishment that Star had decided for Ursula. The ball had microscopic pores that allowed water and nutrients to enter and exit freely. It kept Ursula alive, but that was it. No light could enter, nor sound. There was nothing but darkness and silence. The sea witch could somewhat move in the ball, but was unable to gain any speed. Eventually, she gave up and was left to her own thoughts. Then, after some more time passed, she would stop thinking as well. Stuck in a lonely metal ball at the bottom of the ocean for all eternity.
AN:
The original fight scene was supposed to have Star, Marco, and Jackie work together. Marco would walk on water and Judo-throw Ursula back into the water. Jackie would use supersonic bubbles to stun Ursula. Star would rip of Ursula's heart at the end. The heart would be boiled in a soup to get all the magic out and Jackie would have to drink that. Cancelled for obvious reasons.
The second revised scene was to have Star and Jackie work together without Marco as Ursula went to the bottom of the ocean instead, making Marco quite useless. Plus Jackie wouldn't have wanted any more people to know about her being a mermaid.
This was the final product as I thought that Jackie would be too shocked to even be able to fight. She just turned into a mermaid as well so she wouldn't be able to swim good enough to help. (I always get lazy at the end)
Being kept in isolation without any type of stimulus is a fate worse than death itself, isn't it?