It was a completely different world.
Aurelia had been swimming before, but not like this.
She felt connected to every rock, every grain of sand.
It was her home, where she belonged now. She was scared, terrified. She wanted desperately to be brave and able to adapt easily and thankful for the new life, but this wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to be a human, with legs. She wanted to breathe in air, and get married, and run and have children and a family and a little house, maybe in a village like the one she'd grown up in.
There was no possibility of that now. Her long hair floated around her in the sapphire blue, and she flipped her tail uselessly. She felt an instinct of what to do, but kept finding herself trying to walk, ending up floating around in the water pointlessly. Schools of fish swam past her and she hid from them, behind rocks, trembling. She wasn't cold, or warm, but a balanced temperature. Her body felt good, like it was home. It was her mind that was troubled.
She sensed something behind her and turned, seeing another mermaid looking at curiously. Neither of the females moved.
Suddenly the mermaid swam up directly to Aurelia.
"Who are you?" She asked, her eyes blazing "Why are you here?"
"I'm … Au-relia" she tried to speak like she did in air, but couldn't form the words.
"Ariel?" the mermaid said "Nice name. Listen, I don't know how you found here, but I'm going to have to take you to our king and queen. We don't get many new mer people here, and all of them have to be questioned. Its all for the mers protection, of course. You should understand that" the gir-mermaid was pulling Aurelia along by the hand.
"I'm Nixie" the girl said. She had long, brunette hair, and a green tail, but it was more of a teal green compared to Aurelia's darker, mossy green one.
"Where do you come from" Nixie asked. Aurelia could barely form words. Nixie, on the other hand, couldn't stop talking.
"Is it nice where you live? What are your mer people like? Are there a lot of rules there? We have many rules here. We're not supposed to go near Pirate cove, but I saw the most handsome man, I think he was a pirate! How exciting, we have a statue of a pirate in the human collection. He's not as handsome as this pirate though! he only has one hand, how strange! I might sing to him, maybe he'll fall in love with me" Nixie joked, making Aurelia's stomach twist with emotion. Jealously? No, of course not. She liked Nixie, she wanted to protect her from the evil pirates clutches, of course. Rumplestiltskin was wrong- mermaids were nice. Just shows what he knew.
Being led by someone made Aurelia feel like she had a new purpose.
The sand sloped up, revealing a silver castle. Mermaids swum around it, carrying bundles of seaweed or sifting through sand with rake, just like in the human world. They all stared as Aurelia and Nixie went straight to the centre of the castle.
The main room had two giant thrones in, and a couple occupied them, lovingly holding hands.
"Well, well, well, who's this?" the man said. He had dark black hair, thick stern eyebrows and a massive beard. His tail was a bright gold that shone, similar to the crown on his head.
"A new mermaid!" The woman gasped. She had long silver hair and a silver tail, with a young, pretty unusual face. "Come to us, my little creature. What is your name?"
"Ariel- her names Ariel" Nixie said proudly. Aurelia didn't bother to correct her. Perhaps she was Ariel now. "I found her by Pirate cove! She doesn't speak much"
"Perhaps she doesn't get a chance" The King said, frowning at Nixie. "You may go now dear, I believe Coral needs you to help her with the cleaning treasure duty"
Nixie huffed, waved to Aurelia, then turned and swam away. Meanwhile, Aurelia had an inner debate. Lie, or tell the truth.
The mermaids treated her kindly, they couldn't be that bad. But then again, they thought she was one of them. What would happen if they found out?
"My name is Ariel" she said, deciding. "I come from a far away lan- sea. We did not have a king or queen, but lived as equals. My home was destroyed, mer killed. I am now looking for a new home"
The queen clasped Aurelia's hand. "Then you have found the right one, sweetheart. You will remain in our palace, everyone will welcome you and show you our seas. Welcome, Ariel, the little mermaid. Welcome to Neverland!" she smiled.
"Neverland?" Aurelia gasped. So that was where she was. The place Peter had wanted to take her.
"We do have a few rules" the king interrupted her thoughts. "No trouble making. Of any kind. We will gladly welcome you, but we do not want our peace disrupted. Secondly, try not to go too near Pirate cove. The pirates there are cruel and may catch you, and if any of us go after to help rescue you, we may be caught too. Thirdly- and most importantly- there is a sea witch names Myrtle that lives fairly near to us. You won't stumble upon her, you have to be looking for her. By all means do not go near her, or make a deal with her. She is evil, and nothing good with come out of a bargain made with her" the king said, seriously, his brown eyes earnest.
"You can trust me" Aurelia said "I know too much about making deals than I want to"
"Well that's perfect. Now, I will call our son, Prince Kai, to escort you to your room" he whistled, a melodic tune coming out in bubbles.
A dolphin -Aurelia had to double take- entered, with a young man riding on the back. She double-taked again, the merman was handsome. His face was young, and good looking, but he had the same stern expression as his father. His face lit up.
"Who're you?" he asked.
"Her name is Ariel. She is to take one of the guest bedrooms- one of our finest" the queen said "You've been through a lot, my dear, now rest and you can join us for dinner tonight"
Aurelia thought bitterly that the queen had no idea what she'd been through, then felt bad after the kindness being shown to her. Then she wondered what Mer people ate. Obviously not fish, that would probably be considered cannibalism. Plants maybe? Aurelia never liked vegetables, and sighed.
There was an uncomfortably silence as the two mer swam through the castle. Aurelia decided to break it.
"So… whats neverland like?" she asked. Kai turned to her, his face enthusiastic.
"Oh, it's brilliant. You'll love it!" He gushed "There's pirate cove, which is always fun to swim around- being careful, of course. There's hangmans tree, and crocodile creek, which we can swim up to. And there there's the Indian camp, and tiger lilly" he looked down blushing. Aurelia detected a romance blossoming.
"Oh really?" she said, with a slight smirk, making Kai cringe even more.
"You're going to love it Ariel!" he said, then they came to a room. "Well, I have to be off, help build and all that. Have a nice day!" he smiled and swam off so quickly it was just a blur of water.
Aurelia walked into the room. It was all blue, green and purple tones, with a sandy floor. There was a window where the sea floated in and out, a ray of sunlight from the surface of the water shining down. There was a beautiful mirror and a vanity desk, made of a smooth marble material, and beautiful golden combs embedded with diamonds and pearls. Aurelia felt like royalty. There was no bed, just a large rock but when she laid down upon it, she was surprised to find the green moss covering it was incredibly soft and comfortable.
Aurelia laid her head down- just for a second- and fell straight asleep.
The next two weeks were fine. Aurelia- now Ariel- had met many new mer people, had joined in their community. She had become particularly good friends with Kai – whenever he was around- and Nixie, who's bright and bubbly personality comforted Aurelia. The food they ate was fine, mostly plant food as she suspected, and fruits that she didn't mind. Often she went to the surface but didn't stay for long, pining for home.
Aurelia was in her room, sleeping, when she was awoken by shouts and yelling. She swam quickly to outside the castle, where about 50 mer were gathered, looking up at the surface of the sea. There was a ship, and it seemed to be on fire.
Aurelia looked around, and no one was helping.
"Why is no one doing anything?" she asked Nixie, angrily. "People might need our help up there"
Nixie grabbed her arm, pulling her away from people "What on earth are you talking about? We can't help them, Ariel, they're humans. They shouldn't be on our seas anyway" she said, flipping her hair back. Aurelia couldn't help but stare at her, confused. She had no idea there was such a divide between the two species.
"Then why is everyone waiting?" Aurelia asked.
"For the shipwreck. One it sinks, and we check all the men are dead, depending on its condition we keep it intact or break it up and hand out everything inside. Ooh, I do hope we get some more cutlery, that'd be nice" she said gleefully. Aurelia stared in horror.
There were people dying up there. Her people. She was human, not mermaid, despite the weeks of building a life here, and adapting to the new lifestyle.
She swam up to the queen, who looked impassive.
"Your majesty, I'm sorry" she said "I understand that this is your land and sea and I have no right to interfere, but where I come from, we don't let people- or creatures die, no matter what they are. So I have to help" she said. The queen looked into her face, hard.
"I agree" she said. "alright. You may go- I will send Kai and Varro to go with you. Be careful" and she turned and went inside, the other mer following, still staring at the ship, waiting for it to fall. Aurelia began to swim higher, the water getting warmer and warmer until she broke the surface, where the fire inches away from her scorched her face.
She saw a man face down, and turned him over. It was one of the pirates. He spluttered and coughed. She swam, holding hid hand and tugging him along. Because he was fairly heavy, it took long time, until Kai and varro joined her, helping her.
They all worked together, grunting with exhaustation as they hauled countless bodies.
Aurelia turned another man over, and gasped. It was Hook. He wasn't breathing.
"Killian?" she asked, her voice sounding small. She shook him. His lips were blue, and his eyelids were closed, looking peaceful.
"KAI, VARRO, HELP" she called, and the three dragged him to the beach. She clambered awkwardly next to him, her tail barely in the water.
"Ariel, no!" Kai gasped "Look at his hand- it's a hook. He's the head pirate- the captain. Leave him"
"No, I know him" Aurelia insisted "I'm not going to let him die, whatever he's done"
"I cannot stand by this" Varro said "I appreciate you want to save these… humans, Ariel, but this man will bring nothing but trouble. His ships crash into our waters, he is a pirate. I must go" he patted Aurelia on the back. Aurelia could see Kai too was torn about this. She couldn't worry about him now.
"Kai, go and check on Tiger Lily and her family" Aurelia ordered, and he hugged her, before swimming off.
Suddenly, she was alone, the bodies of pirates unconcscious, some alive, some dead, around her. But she only care about one. She didn't care if they could see her, she only cared about one thing.
She pumped down on his chest repeatedly, until she was out of breath.
"Come on, Killian. Come back to me, come on. You can do it"
She leant in, pressing her lips to his, pushing air into his mouth and lungs.
"Killian, don't you dare leave me" she said, angrily. A hot, angry tear rolled down her cheek, as she pressed her lips to his once more, feeling him breathe in.
Suddenly, he was breathing, his hand reaching up to touch her face, winding in her hair.
Then he kissed her. His mouth was soft, and gentle, and it was only for a second, a perfect second, but sense came to her in a rush and she pulled away, flushed.
"Nice to see you" Hook drawled, smiling up at her.
"You insufferable crook!" she shouted "I save you- risking my own life- and you… you- well"
"I what?" hook asked with raised eyebrows, leaning on his elbows.
"Take advantage, you know you did" Aurelia frowned at him, making him smile.
"how could I take advantage? I'm the one nearly dying here" Aurelia laughed, but suddenly, his face drained.
"Oh God, I just remembered- you're not you! Well, you are, it's just you're a… a" he looked down, his face shocked at her tail.
"A mermaid? Well, yeah. Considering you were there, and all. Or maybe you were too self absorbed in your own problems to think about mine" she said bitterly.
"Oh don't be like that Aurelia. And we were getting on so well earlier" he gave a lazy smile.
"I have to go" Aurelia said "You're welcome"
"No, don't go- Aurelia, we can fix this-"
"Oh, and you owe me. Big time" she said, and ignoring his protests, she flipped back into the sea, swimming back.