Chapter Three: Other Mermaids?

A couple hours had gone by since they entered the forest. Both Steven and Spinel had been silent, anxiously waiting for something awful to happen, but it seemed for now, they weren't being pursued. Connie's plan to throw off the townspeople must have worked well enough to give them a good head start. Besides, it was like she said, who would think a mermaid would want to trek through the forest rather travel near the ocean?

"How are you feeling?" Asked Steven finally, leaning over a bit to try and see her face as he pushed her along the narrow dirt path.

Spinel had been spending these last couple of hours trying to wrack her brain for some explanation. There had to be some other reason Steven was doing this. He was an enemy to his people now. He couldn't be doing this for nothing. No human did something for nothing. That much she was sure of.

"...you know..." she began; disregarding his questions altogether, "I don't grant wishes or anything. That's a myth."

"Oh? I bet Connie would be interested in knowing that. It's a shame she didn't get to speak with you more. She had a lot of questions about mermaids..." Steven replied. He still hoped he and Connie would see one another again. She would be happy to ask Spinel everything she had been curious about her entire life.

"Hey, she once mentioned that each mermaid has one special skill or purpose. Is that true?"

Spinel appeared flummoxed now. So he wasn't after wishes either? Was he really like this, or just really good at playing dumb?

"...yeah, that's true."

Steven beamed, "so what's yours?"

Spinel blushed and cleared her throat, "I'd rather not say."

"Oh..." a clearly disappointed Steven sighed.

Glancing back, Spinel could see how dejected he looked and quickly turned her gaze away. Everything showed on his face and Spinel was a little confused as to why she felt bad for not giving him an answer.

"...one of my old friends, her trait was creation. She could create weapons, tools, and small structures."

His mood sprung back at once. "That's amazing!"

Spinel smirked slightly, "yeah. She made my weapon...and everyone else's. She really enjoys making new things, but it takes a lot of energy. Sometimes she makes herself sick."

"She sounds like a stubborn person, but I'd like to meet her," Steven mused. "Do you have a lot of friends back home?"

Spinel had enjoyed reminiscing about her friend, but Stevens question had brought her right back to reality. The reality that reminded her of how awful humans were.

"I have...a handful of friends back home. There used to be a lot more...before the war..."

Steven felt as though he'd stepped on a land mine. He had nearly forgotten about the war. After all, it happened long before he was born and had been over for thousands of years. Suddenly, he stopped walking when a thought occurred to him.

"Wait-you were a part of that war?!"

"...well, not as much as the others were...but, yes." She didn't want to say that her trait was next to useless in a fight.

"But...then that would make you..." Steven started, attempting to do the math in his head.

"I'm over six thousand years old." Spinel answered before he could finish.

Steven was completely thrown. He knew Mermaids lived long lives, but at most, he was thinking a few hundred years.

He looked down and Spinel and almost laughed at the prospect of her being thousands of years old.

"Well, you look great for someone your age." He joked, continuing to push her chair through the trees.

"Six thousand is actually pretty young for my kind..." she added with a pout, thinking Steven perceived her as some old lady now.

"Heh, well that must be why you're so pretty."

Spinel felt her cheeks burn once again. He was so loose with his compliments. Did he not feel foolish saying things like that? A human finding a mermaid beautiful or anything near it was strange. Even his friend Connie had complimented her like that. "You're weird."

"So I've been told," Steven chuckled.

Even though they were basically on the run for their lives, Steven couldn't help but find this pleasant. At least Spinel was speaking to him now and though she often seemed to be angry with him, there were moments when her eyes softened and it warmed his heart.

After walking for hours, Steven tried to find a place where they could rest a moment. The forest was dense, but he had to be doubly cautious. Though he found a place for them to hide, it happened to be behind several berry bushes, ones that were covered in large, sharp thorns.

"This is perfect. We can make camp here." Steven announced.

Spinel gawked at the thorns and once again thought there was something wrong with him. "You can't be serious, how are we gonna get through—Hey!" Before she could continue, Steven had already scooped her up from the chair, holding her high enough that she wouldn't touch the thorns.

"H-hey, wait a second, you're gonna get all cut up! Don't just—"

"—if you don't stop yelling, someone is going to hear you," Steven insisted as he pushed through the thorny bushes, doing his best to keep Spinel out of harm's way. Though he winced a bit as the thorns snagged at his clothes and slit his skin, it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Once he made it through the first patch of bushes, there was a small clearing in the middle. "See? It's perfect. And it's like we have a little barrier around us. Hopefully that will keep the animals away." Steven placed Spinel down onto the grass. "Now, just wait here. I'll go get our things and look for some water. ...I guess I'll also need to get some firewood. Huh, I wonder if I can actually manage to start a fire without matches," he joked before taking a step to head back through the bushes.

Steven's words repeated in her head. Wait here? "NO!" She screamed out, apparently alarming a few birds that were nestled up in the trees around them.

Steven nearly jumped, turning back to Spinel. "Wha...are you okay?"

Spinel quickly turned her head and hugged her tail as she sat against the grass.

"I-I'm fine. Just hurry and-and try not to get too cut up."

Clearly she was lying, but he did have to get firewood and water before it got too dark to see. "I'll be back as soon as I can. ...just...don't worry, okay?" Steven reassured her before reluctantly making his way back through the bushes.

Spinel glanced in the direction where Steven had wandered off and she started to feel herself begin to tremble.

"Stop it..." she whispered to herself, hugging her tail tighter as she closed her eyes. Rocking herself lightly, Spinel waiting in silence, the only sound around her was her heavy breathing as she tried to calm herself down. The silence of the forest was only making it worse.

How long was this going to take? How long was she going to have to wait here alone? Even when she was being held Captive on that ship, she was never alone. Suddenly, she felt a cold hand graze her cheek and a distorted voice whispering, "Why don't we play a game?"

With a start, Spinel gasped and snapped her head up, expecting to see someone there, but was met with only the dense Forest around her. She sighed, covering her face in her hands, doing her best to block out the memories, luckily for her, that's when Steven came pushing through the bushes once again. How much time had gone by? He was holding up the wheelchair with one hand, all of their supplies in its seat, and in the other hand, he appeared to have found some water that he stored in the only empty container they had.

"Sorry, it took a while to find some water," he explained as he set everything down. He was so fixated on keeping everything from falling, he didn't notice Spinels expression right away, but now that he got a better look...

"What happened?!" Steven exclaimed in a panic, quickly dropping to his knees to inspect her before looking around them. She looked terrified. Had someone come while he was away?

Spinel wasn't fully aware of the face she had been making, but when she saw Steven there, she just stared at him in stunned silence.

"I...I'm fine," she answered finally. "You should be more worried about yourself," Spinel insisted once she saw his torn shirt and the cuts along his skin.

Steven was not deflected by her concern, but so long they weren't in immediate danger, he decided not to press her about it. He knew she had many reasons to be closed off, he just hoped that soon she would be able to trust him.

"This is fine. I'm a fast healer," he replied, reaching over and pulling the water jug towards her.

"So...I don't know if you can just drink it, or if you need to just uh...pour it on you, but this was the best I could do for now." He finished awkwardly.

Spinel still felt a little shaken, but Steven was trying so hard, she felt bad for being so rude. "…Thank you," she said with a sincere smile.

Steven's heart jumped lightly when he saw the warm, soft expression in her eyes. She really was beautiful. Clearing his throat, he got to his feet, "Y-you're welcome. I should uh…see if I can start a fire." He was actually worried that he wouldn't be able to start one. He'd never started one without any matches and he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Spinel. After all, he promised to save her and how much faith would she have in a guy that couldn't even start a fire?

Spinel drank some of the water as she watched Steven gather the firewood he had collected. She knew there a lot of terrible humans, but how many of them were like Steven? He must have been the only one. He had to be.
"…Well if you can't start one, I definitely can't," Spinel tried to joke.

Steven laughed as he piled up the wood, "I guess there aren't many fires in the ocean, huh?"

"Not so much," Spinel replied, giggling a bit despite her attempt to keep her guard up.

Steven was once again taken aback. His grin widened. Maybe she was warming up a little sooner than he thought. The atmosphere felt much lighter and even though it took Steven more tries than he would have liked, he was finally able to start the fire just in time for the sun to go down.

"Well, what do you know, looks like I can start a fire. …after…seven or eight attempts…." He trailed off, taking the blanket and Connie's book from the supplies they had. He handed the blanket to Spinel and sat in front of the fire with Connie's book. Not only was it an old book about mermaids, (that Connie had no doubt gotten at some antique store,) but Connie had stuffed a lot of notes inside of it, most of which she had clearly written in a hurry. Steven smiled sadly. He could just imagine his friend frantically trying to write down everything she knew that might help them. She did so much for them in such a short time. Slowly flipping through Connie's notes, he saw the map that Connie mentioned. It was pretty messily drawn and the notes around it didn't make much sense. She must have only written down some key words. Steven read them aloud, hoping that would help him make sense of it. "Underground. Capital. Experimental. Peridot. …I'm not sure how these go together."

"Did you say…Peridot?" Spinel asked, scooting herself a little closer to Steven, trying to take a peek at the book.

Steven lowered the book and closed the distance between them. It was harder for Spinel to move on the ground, so he wanted to make it easier if he could. "Yeah, in these notes that Connie wrote down. She said the woman that might be able to help us is a couple of towns over. She drew this map, but she doesn't mention a name, just these random words around the map."

"Peridot IS a name!" Spinel exclaimed with an excited smile. "Does it mention her anywhere else?!"

Steven felt a little pressured now, thumbing through Connie's notes as quickly as he could.
"uuuuh…oh! Right here!" He pulled out a piece of paper that was surely crumpled up before, but had been smoothed out. Again, it was a bunch words that didn't seem to connect. Once again, he read them aloud, this time for Spinel who was practically digging her fingers into his arm in anticipation.
"Peridot. Lost. Capital. Off Color. Legend. Lapis."

Spinel stared at the notes, nearly hugging Steven's arm now. Her heart was racing. After all these years, she didn't think she would hear those names ever again. Peridot could have been a mistake, but when she heard the name Lapis in there too, there wasn't any doubt.

"They could still be alive…" Spinel whispered.

"What?"

"My friends! Peridot and Lapis Lazuli! Those names are names of Mermaids that disappeared a long time ago! Your friend can't be more than, what, 15 years old?! If she heard about them in her lifetime, there's a chance that they're still alive!"

This was the first time that Steven had seen Spinel so genuinely happy and hopeful.
"Well, Peridot's name was written on that map that Connie drew down. Maybe that means we can find more information about her when we find that mystery woman." Steven suggested, doing hoping to add to her new mood.

"I hope so…" she whispered with a smile. "Lapis was caught by humans during the war. Peridot was her mate. After the war ended, we thought the humans had killed Lapis, but Peridot insisted she was alive and said she wouldn't stop until she found her. …When Peridot never came back…we assumed the humans had caught and killed her too…" Spinel explained sadly. "…but if their names are still known to humans, maybe…there's some hope."

"All mermaids are taken to the capital for the royal family. No one really knows what they do with them there. …So you never know. I we can find your friends, we can get you guys home together." Steven added with a smile.

"You're strong, Steven, but I don't think even you can carry three mermaids on your shoulders while running from the entire royal army." It was meant to be a joke, but when Spinel looked at his face, he wasn't laughing. Instead, it almost appeared that he had stars in his eyes as he stared at her.

"You said my name," he stated.

"Huh? Well…yeah?"

"Up until now you've only said 'you' or 'idiot.' This is the first time you said my name." He explained further, overjoyed by this outcome. They had taken so many steps today. "Does this mean you trust me a little?" He asked, mostly to tease her.

Spinel blushed, just now realizing that she was still holding his arm. Removing her hands, she hugged her tail to herself in an attempt to hide her face. "J-just get some sleep so we can get to that mystery woman. We'll sleep in shifts…so I'll take the first watch."

The grin didn't leave Steven's face, but he didn't want to push his luck, instead, he leaned over and kissed Spinel on the cheek before laying himself down on the grass.
"You're the boss," he replied as he closed his eyes with a smile.

Spinel sat there, completely shocked still. She brought her hand to her cheek, feeling the heat from her flushed face. "Y-You—" Spinel stammered in embarrassment, while Steven simple chuckled happily.