{learn the pace}

Naminé gasped as she was dropped onto the floor of her cabin, her hair cushioning her fall. She blinked up at the red haired man who slammed the door behind him, staring down at her with a glower that was half irritation and half pity. The blonde scrambled onto her knees, feeling a wave of panic envelope her, and she flung herself onto her hands.

"I'm so sorry!" she cried, wincing as she shifted the weight off her injured hand. "I didn't mean to bring the wolf over, honest!"

"What?" Axel asked blankly, his glare sliding away, and his expression turning startled. "Hey, hey, calm down! The wolf belongs to us, kid, don't worry about that!"

Naminé gazed at her hands, watching her arms tremble pitifully, and she blinked up at him. "But… you said…"

"Ya shouldn't have done it," Axel muttered, leaning back against the door. "That was the truth, okay? But damn, if you hadn't, he might've…"

"Died," Naminé whispered, bringing herself off her hands and rubbing her aching wrist. "I saw the metal spitters… the, um…" She licked her lips. "Guns?"

Axel laughed, a short, hearty thing that made his face light up. "Aye!" he snorted. "Guns. Oh, hell, I forgot you know nothin' about the world. Must be hard, taking in all of this new information. I find it all crushing as is."

"It's not—" Naminé choked on her words, her jaw clamping closed on her tongue, and she hissed through her teeth. "I mean, being here frightens me, but I… I wouldn't go back to where I was. I'm happy to be learning about the world."

"Funny." Axel cocked his head. "You were on your hands and knees only a few moments ago, eh?"

Naminé swallowed and nodded. "I think I… misjudged you, Axel. You are kinder than Vanitas."

"No." Axel pushed off from the door and dropped on one knee before her, so she could see the abnormal brightness of his green eyes. "See, we hate you. I hate you, got it memorized?"

Her eyes widened, her stomach lurching at his words. "What have I done?" she gasped, scrambling away from him. His face grew grave in the lantern light.

"No one's told you," Axel whispered, rubbing his face tiredly. "There's a reason for that… perhaps Vanitas just wants to keep you calm, but I ain't like him. I think you should know why you're here."

"Why, then?" Naminé cried, jumping to her feet. "Tell me, what wrong could I possibly have done to a group of pirates?"

Axel watched, his gaze never betraying his apparent hatred, and he smiled a little. "Ya wouldn't remember, I'd think." He rose to his feet as well, and stretched his arms up over his head. "But your blood is cursed to us… I mean, don't get all bent out of shape about it, because we're cursed too, but you…"

"What?" She stared at him, the dim light bouncing shadows around the small room, and the girl breathed air that tasted of sweat and salt heavily, trying to wrap her head around Axel's words. "How am I cursed? Axel, please, explain instead of evading my questions! Why do you hate me?"

Axel shook his head, his smirk widening. "I've already told you too much, princess," he said softly, turning on his heel and moving toward the door. Naminé stared after him, stumbling forward, her mind telling her to stop him, but she knew he wouldn't tell her anything else.

"Axel, wait!" she cried, tripping over her air, and falling hard on her stomach, her chin smacking off the wooden planks. "Oh, ow…"

"Wow, smooth." She heard the man laugh, a snide chuckle that made Naminé flush. Maybe Axel really did hate her.

She pushed herself up, brushing the blood from her chin, and she look at Axel's face. "Thank you," she choked. "Axel, I don't care if you hate me. You saved me, alright? I'm in your debt."

"Wha—?" Axel's eyes widened. "Ya shouldn't say shit like that, Naminé."

"It's true, though," she said, shaking her head. "I can make up… whatever it is I did to make you and the others hate me. I'm indebted to you, Axel."

He stared at her, his jaw setting in an odd way, as if he was fighting his emotions, and he turned around. "I am kinder than Vanitas," he said quietly. "Which is why I ain't telling anyone about this. But be careful what you say from now on. There's magic in words, princess, and you gotta be careful how you use them, or else they'll bind you down. Ever wonder why faeries can't tell lies?"

"Faeries?" Naminé asked distantly.

Axel rolled his eyes. "Never mind, I should go. I don't think the captain saw you, be thankful for that, but be careful. I can't protect you, and honestly, I ain't a knight. I hate you. I can't protect someone like you." He left without another word.

Kairi's head bobbed in the water as she gazed up worriedly at the ship, keeping up with its slow speed. With no one to steer it, it was going nowhere. She listened to the sound of screams and unknown cracks, possibly from handheld cannons. Regular sized cannons blasted away, firing at the helpless ship, and Kairi stared helplessly as more men crossed over to Sora's ship.

She'd seen his face when he and Ventus had tried to get her to speak, and something about him made her head spin. She'd never been this close to a human that wasn't Ventus… but she could rarely regard Ventus as human, not with his antics. She'd never seen him kill anyone, but she could smell the blood on his hands. He was no different from the folk, even despite his human blood. He had the mind of a faerie, clever and sharp witted, and he had magic in him. This placed him above humans in the eyes of the fae.

Not Kairi, though. Sometimes she was scared of Ven, of how time and magic has changed him. And she knew that Ven was afraid of her, in some way or another, because she wasn't human. Kairi was ageless, forever sixteen (a proper age, though in truth she had just turned ninety two), and she had watched him from the time when he had appeared, restless and so very humany. He kept his restlessness and added to it, pushing himself to his limits, trying new and daring things, doing everything except tear himself open to look within to see if he really was human. Sometimes Kairi heard him talk to himself, tell himself stories to keep his mind at bay. When he was lonely he would sit on a rock and stare up at the sky with the eyes of a drowned sailor (trust that Kairi knew this image well).

No one knew Ventus the way Kairi did, not even Light. Light presumed she knew him, but there was a lack of empathy that gave her a disadvantage. Kairi was half human, so she could understand. Even if her blood was cold, and her instincts were distinctly homicidal, she felt a connection with them. Unlike faeries, they had a sense of emotion that she wanted to envelope herself in. It was a weakness among the merfolk, a stigma, but she loved the feeling of emotions.

Kairi pushed herself down into the water, swimming downward as she allowed the pressure to take over her. She stared at her hands, wondering if she could manage glamour, like older mermaids could. She could make herself look human, if she wanted. At least appear so, even if the tail was still there. The human boy wouldn't have to know. She thought about it, mulling the idea of deceiving him in such a way, and she hissed through her pointed teeth, listening to her gurgles and glubbing.

She resurfaced quickly, only to find something horrific. The ship was sinking. She shrieked in terror, pushing herself forward, and screaming out, "Ven? Ven!" She wrinkled her nose at the scent of smoke, the blaze of the ship stinging her eyes and scorching her throat. She had to duck under water again to properly compose herself.

"Ven!" she screamed again, splashing in the water as she pushed away debris. "Gods damn it, Ven! Where are you?"

There was no answer, only the roar of the blaze, and the earsplitting cracks of cannons. She gulped water as waves lapped against her cheeks, her skin feeling prickly, and dry, and Kairi breathed to keep her panic at bay. See, mermaids hated emotions because it made them feel weird. Inside and out.

"Ven!" she called into the night, her fins flapping as she pushed herself nearer to the fire. "Ventus, you ass!"

The night was cool, and the air stung her face, and she felt like crying. But her eyes would not tear, and she began to scream, thrashing in place, the shrill cry ripping across the night in a piercing fashion, and stretching far and wide. She felt her face contort as she screeched, her skin rippling with the magic she was unleashing. She wanted everyone to hear her panic. She wanted them to revel in it.

When she was done, she ducked into the water and searched for a sign of a human body, but it seemed no one had fallen from the ship yet. She resurfaced, her skin normal again, and she pushed her hair back from her face, her fingers brushing over pearls and braids of colorful seaweed. She blinked as she spotted a familiar face.

"Ven!" she gasped, ducking under and darting through the water, appearing a few yards away. "Ven, are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

The boy was pale, the icy water creeping up his neck, and his mop of dirty blond hair sat in a mess of sloppy spikes on his head. His lips were blue, and gaping, and his eyes were hollow. For a moment Kairi thought he was dead.

"I'm fine," he croaked, not looking at her face. "I fell… didn't bother stopping myself, I just let myself go under. Thought I might try drowning, but…" He coughed, spitting water back into the ocean, and Kairi gave him a long, sorrowful look.

"Oh, Ven," she whispered, touching his shoulder. He gave her a small smile.

"I feel alive," he spat, blinking profusely. "My eyes hurt, and this water tastes terrible."

"You look dead," Kairi replied, her voice sharp. "And what do you mean, it tastes terrible?"

"Like someone just made me take a shot of salt," he said with a short laugh. "Gods, this is yucky!"

"You humans are so odd!" Kairi grinned, swimming around him. "Oh, you haven't gone swimming with me in ages, though, can we go now?" She'd forgotten the burning ship for a moment, despite the aching in her throat and eyes, and the itch at her skin.

"Gonna pass," Ven yawned, glancing up at the ship. "I'm gonna make sure Sora's okay before I head out, but I really need to dry this suit off. I do plan on going somewhere in it tomorrow."

"Oh," Kairi murmured. She said nothing else.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, staring at the sinking ship, Kairi thinking about how fascinating fire was despite its bitter taste and stinging effect, and Ven floating on his back, light as a feather against the water. Kairi breathed in the toxic air, and she wondered if her father had noticed her absence, or if Demyx had gotten himself into trouble. Often Kairi tried to imagine what he would do without her, but she waved that thought away.

He'd probably be better off, and Kairi swallowed the truth like a cube of ice, feeling it slide uncomfortably down her throat.

"Ven," she whispered finally, pointing at the ship. Ven turned to stare, his gaunt face gleaming in the moonlight.

He let out a soft hiss, and he moved forward slowly. "Where's Sora?" he murmured, ducking down into the water as a lifeboat came drifting past. The ship was crumbling now, and Ven stared, his eyes widening. "No. No way."

Kairi blinked at him, her eyes moving between him and the ship. The fire was losing its life as water filled the ship, and Kairi let out a little breath of fear. Was the human boy still on the collapsing, burning, drowning ship? She coughed a little, the smoke burning her throat. If she went too close to the fire, she'd die just from the toxins.

But Kairi was having trouble fighting with her conscience on this one.

She dove down, her fin splashing Ven in the face, and she swam down, observing the mass as it sunk into the ocean. She squinted into the darkness, though she could see fine, and she made out a human shape caught in the riggings as pieces of the ship sunk downwards. She zipped toward him, reaching into the knapsack that was tied tightly around her waist with tattered pieces of sails, and seaweed, and pulled out a long, rather sharp looking rock. She used it to cut through fishing lines and nets when she got caught (it happened more often then she'd like to admit).

Kairi grabbed the rope and began to cut, her rock slicing the bonds that kept the boy drifting beneath the water, and she stared at his face, marble-like in the darkness, and she sighed. The sound that came from her mouth was a faint gurgle. Kairi blinked up as the rest of the mass descended upon them, and she wrapped her arms around the boy, her fingers gripping his floating shirt. After a moment of awe, she bolted, dragging him with her, and she swam fast. Her fins swished against the water, and she felt everything move around her as if she was parting the sea with her speed.

She rose to the surface with a gasp, spitting smoke and water, and she dragged the boy up with her, staring at him with wide eyes. What had she done? Was he dead from the swim? Had he been dead when she had found him? Kairi looked around for Ventus, but he was nowhere to be seen. She breathed the sharp air around her, her fingers slipping on Sora's skin. She didn't know what to do now that she had the human boy.

She felt sick to her stomach as her fingers dug deep into his skin. She was disgusted with her first instinct, which was to drag the boy down to the bottom of the ocean and watch as he squirmed and thrashed himself to his own watery grave.

That wouldn't work, no.

"Hey," Kairi whispered, shaking him a little. His head lolled, falling against the water, and Kairi began to panic. She needed to get him to shore, and quick, or else he'd…

Kairi didn't want to think about it. So she swam, fast, but careful to keep his head above water. Her body was made for this type of thing, and the water moved around her in a way that allowed her to accelerate in speed. She breathed in air, and gulped water, and her muscles strained to keep hold of the boy, but she managed. She looked up at the sky and prayed that she might make it ashore in time to save him.

Mermaids were awful creatures, but men were so infatuated in their beauty that they didn't care much. Kairi hated her race, thinking them savage and disgusting, and this cause a large amount of self-loathing to take root inside her cold body. She wanted to be human, where people could feel without the harsh after affects, and the constant humiliation. She wanted to live where luring children off docks and feeding on their flesh was not a common occurrence, and have freedom for once in her life.

Kairi dragged the boy onto a beach a few miles away from the shipwreck. She winced as the air bit her skin, hissing at her and warning her to go back where she had came, that she did not belong. She paid no heed, and she shimmied ashore, her arms around his chest.

"Okay," she whispered, glancing around the dark beach, her damp hair sticking uncomfortably to her back, and her neck. She peeled a long strand from her forearm and frowned. "Okay, breathe. Breathe." She stared at him, poking his cheek in confusion. Was he dead? His limp body was sprawled in the sand, mouth agape and half filled with water.

She cocked her head to the side, and she brushed her fingers over his blue lips, humming an old sailor tune softly to herself. The boy was probably dead. She should go before someone saw and assumed she'd done the drowning. But Kairi was enthralled by the boy, by the strange difference of their faces, and by the awkward angle his legs were tilted, and by the tangle of brown hair that was mopped atop his head in tussled wet spikes.

"Can't you hear me?" Kairi asked, her voice hoarse in her throat. The ocean lapped at her tail-fin, but she could already feel the dryness of the sand suck her skin dry. Kairi's fingers traced his lips, and she fingered her own, frowning at the shape. Why were hers so full? Perhaps it was a mermaid thing? And she touched her eyes, her mouth dropping open. Why were his so small? Were Ven's this small? Were hers simply big? She was shocked for some reason or another as she stared at Sora, unconscious and unknowing.

"Shall I sing to you?" Kairi whispered in a hushed panic. "It may help. There is magic in words."

He was still warm to the touch, so Kairi thought she would give it a try. She flicked her tail, and licked her lips, and she began,

"Petit Arlequin, voulez-vous danser?" she sang in a hush, her voice carrying over the water, and lulling the waves that tickled her waist. "Un petit bonbon je vous donnerai."

Kairi breathed in the scent of land, her mind whirling with weakness as she tried to convince herself that she could stay longer, that the boy might like to see her face to face. Maybe he wouldn't notice her tail, or wouldn't care. But the land was zapping all her strength from her, and it was taking all of her energy just to stammer out her words. There was no melody, but her voice morphed her words and gave them one anyway.

"Je ne sais pas la cadence

Je n' sais pas comment l'on danse,

Je n' sais pas danser."

She breathed and stared at him, her fingers digging into the sand as she peered at his tan face. Kairi had been angry at Ven when he'd dragged her to that ship, thinking he was going to betray her, and she'd get caught in a fishing trap, but when she realized he was introducing her to a friend… she'd felt bad for doubting the boy.

"Did that make you feel better?" she asked quietly, reaching her sandy fingers toward his face. "I learnt it from a human. She sang and danced on a dock across the water for hours and hours, and I learned rhymes and songs I'd never hear underwater. She sang tales of battles and fire, and dance and flight. I've never experienced any of that. I never will."

The boy's mouth was still agape, and Kairi wondered if it would be wise to breathe into it. After all, a mermaid's kiss was magic enough to awaken him. But the girl realized she was too scared to do so. What if he was repulsed by her tail? What if he pushed her away, or worse, dragged her to his home and skewered her with a hot iron poker?

Kairi shuddered. "Humans have it easy," she murmured, pulling her tail closer to her and stroked her faint pink scales. "You don't have to worry about getting netted up, and there's no sharks to chase you, and no schoolmaidens to tease you because you haven't drowned a sticking sailor yet, and iron doesn't burn you, and you get to age, and feel, and breathe, and run, and fight, and fly—" she startled herself as the last word slipped through her lips, and she frowned. "Well, no, not the last one, I don't think. But all the others… you look pale, shall I sing again?"

The boy was a corpse, it seemed, laying sprawled in the sand, pale as a courtly faerie almost. She moved forward, her body tensing as she tried to capture his lips in a kiss, but she couldn't do it. She was frightened that she would make it worse, or it would work too well and the boy would go power mad. So she sat, staring, and unsure of what to do next.

She had no time to think anyway. She was grabbed from behind and yanked back roughly, and she screamed in shock, a terrible screech that split the night. She flailed against the arms that held her but stopped when she felt something hot slide against her throat. And then she began to scream again, this time louder, inhuman hisses and screeches tearing from her mouth, her pointy teeth bared, and she felt her skin ripple.

Whatever it was that was on her neck, it burned. Not simply burned, it scorched her skin, sizzling it at the simple exposure, and it made her throat tight and prickly. She flapped her fin against the sand, and tried to tear the arms that were around her away, but she couldn't. She felt weak, and disoriented, and she screamed in agony as the hot metal scathed her.

"What were you doing to him?" a cold voice growled in her ear, and she screamed louder, a shudder running down her spine at the human contact. Not even Ven got this close to her.

"Nothing!" she rasped, writhing beneath the man's fingers, her body convulsing against the iron pressed at her throat. "Oh, gods, please! Get… that thing…" she began to cough, her throat hitting the blunt side of the blade, and she cried out. Her head slammed against the man's chest.

"Why should I believe you, siren?" the man asked, his voice a sneer against her skin. She felt like she was smothering in fire.

She coughed, and screamed, and flailed wildly, but he would not let go. So she spat out, each of her words tasting like poison on her tongue, "I did not hurt him! I saved him!" Her lungs felt as if there was a fire lit between the two, and the smoke was leaking inside and filling up fast.

"He's lying, half dead, and soaked, washed up on a beach, and you expect me to believe you're here out of kindness?" The man half laughed, and Kairi sunk back against him, feeling the urge to cry. She didn't, however. She was too scared.

"Please…" she whispered, her voice too hoarse for screaming, and the birdlike screeches she had cried out earlier nothing but an echo on the horizon now. Her eyes still stung from smoke, and the iron in the blade against her throat was making her nauseous. Her head spun, and she felt the urge to vomit.

There was a pause, a short silence, filled with the soft rolling of waves and the gentle caw of an early bird some ways away. And then he dropped her.

She hit the sand face first, and she gasped shakily, spitting out the taste of iron and smoke, her eyes swimming with unshed tears, and she quelled them. She reached out for the ocean, her throat burning as if someone had placed a collar around her neck and then set it ablaze. The man grabbed her before she could reach her home.

He spun her around, and she looked at him, her gaze transforming from broken to fierce easily enough. He clutched her by a shoulder, his other hand clutching that awful chunk of iron blade, and he stared at her, his blue-green eyes taking in her face. His expression seemed startled at first, but it faded fast to stoic. His features were slim, and his hair was silver, and cropped to his ears, and Kairi stared at his shoulders, noticing the soft roll of a translucent shimmer resided there.

"I swear upon the rest of my useless life, I did not harm the mortal," she choked out, glancing warily at the sword. She felt hot, and dizzy, and she wanted to drift. "Please let me go home."

"I'll believe that," the boy said slowly. He was not a man, she realized with a bitterness. His face was too young, though long as it was, and his features were drenched in youth. "A vow is solemn, even among your kind. You'd shrivel the moment you touched the water if that was a lie." He glanced at the waves as they tumbled against Kairi's tail. "Not the case."

"Right," she coughed, closing her eyes. "Please let me go."

"Why did you save him? What happened?"

"I…" Kairi stared up at him desperately. "When he awakes, ask him of it. I caught little from afar."

"And if he never awakes?"

Kairi scowled and rubbed her neck. "Not very optimistic," she murmured softly, rolling her eyes toward the sea. "I suppose you heard me singing, since you named me so quickly, knight."

The boy raised an eyebrow, and his lips drew out thin. He nodded. "I did."

"Then you should know the magic in a siren's song."

He watched her with weary eyes, the eyes of a knowing old traveler, and he said quietly, "Black magic. Darkness spun into words, that's all you sirens create."

"Magic isn't black and white," Kairi said hoarsely, her gaze a hard and accusing glare. "Magic is everything, every color and shade, a spread of rainbows and flowers, and with those comes the rain and thorns. If you live your life believing that black is bad and white is good, and that there is nothing between those, and nothing beside those, then you are doomed by your morals. I was born in the deep abyss of the sea, and yet I harbor no hatred for humanity. What of you?"

"Are you asking me my lineage?" the boy asked icily. "You aren't in a position to."

"I am asking you what color pleases you, since you obviously think that because I come from darkness, I'm evil." Kairi's lips twisted into a nasty, childish grin. "But I think I already know."

"Do you?"

"Yes," she coughed, pushing her hair from her face. "Darkness clings to you, sir— it clings to you more than it clings to me, or more than that glamour clings to your face to make you look a bit more human."

He stepped back, startled, because mermaids were not supposed to see through glamour. And she didn't, not really, she just notice it was there, a gleam against the streak of morning light. His grip slackened slightly, and she tore away from him, diving into the sea where she let herself be sucked into the tide, and dart far away from Sora, the boy she'd rescued, and his inhuman protector.

Yeah, I updated this again. It's easier to write than White Knight is at the moment, I'm going to guess because I have a lot left to go through, while this is the end with White Knight.

Another Aqualess chapter! The one I wrote most recently is actually mostly Aqua, so lol.

I really want to write more RiKai interactions, because THEY'RE KIND OF INSANELY FUN. I don't think I intended to reveal that Riku isn't human until later, but whatever. I like writing Kairi, it's quite different from her canonness. I guess the homicidal, blood thirsty sea creature thing is what makes me like her. I am dumb.

Hmm, who wasn't in this chapter? I think it was just Aqua, Xion, and Terra. OH THE NORMAL PEOPLE. Oh, except Vanitas, oops. Yeah never mind.

Another faerie song? Yes. I forget what this one is called, probably Little Harlequin, or something.

Hmm. I wonder when Shanna will review... I'd love to make a bet with Angie about this, because I'm sure Shanna's busy reading City of Lost Souls right now (that's what the new one is called, right? I don't read them, so I don't know).

OH HOLY CRAP, BET WITH ANGIE. I JUST REMEMBERED THAT I'M ABOUT TO WIN ONE WITH HER. IN A MONTH. (I think I talk about her too much in my Author's Notes, I should stop.)

Mmm. Review if possible? I want to know how I'm writing Kairi. She's really new to me.

-Dani