It was a beautiful day in Oceanside, California and everyone was outside getting ready for the biggest ceremony of their lives.

Students who would normally be in school right about now had the day off along with the adults who normally worked during the day since they had to finish getting everything ready for the ceremony which was only a few hours away.

For centuries, the humans of city of Oceanside have always been aware of the mermaids and krakens that lived beneath the seas, and to keep the peace with both of them, every few years a human was given to the mermaids.

One human was always born with the mark of the mermaids on them, but never the krakens who had never participated in the ceremony as no one had ever had their mark on them until one day a girl was discovered to have the mark on her back.

The girl in question is named Saphira, she has no last name since no one knew where she had come from or knew what happened to her family, one thing everyone in Oceanside knew was that catching Saphira was not going to be easy.

Saphira was known to be a thief as she kept stealing things like food, clothes or money in order to survive, and since Saphira didn't want to become a servant to the krakens, she knew that she had to hide in order to avoid her fate.

But, on this day, Saphira's luck was about to run out as she was chased by the angry venders as well as other people that she'd stolen from. "Get back here you little brat!" The vendors and angry customers yelled out at her.

"All this fuss over a loaf of bread a couple of bucks?" Saphira asked herself in annoyance, she needed to get to high ground or else she'd be caught for sure, and there was no way Saphira was going to let that happen lest she be forced into the ceremony tonight.

Looking back over her shoulder, Saphira had no choice but to play her favorite song in order to help herself avoid the people chasing her not just to get back what she had stolen, but also to capture her in time for the ceremony, so she started the music.

Everyone who heard the music decided to play along for fun since it would rile up the vendors and the people who Saphira had stolen from, and because some people wanted to help Saphira get away from the mob in case they decided to hurt her.

[Play One Jump Ahead from Aladdin]

[Saphira]

(Music)

Gotta keep

One jump ahead of the bread line.

One swing ahead of the sword.

I steal only what I can't afford...

And that's everything!

One jump ahead of the lawmen.

That's all, and that's no joke.

These guys don't appreciate I'm broke.

[Vendor owner one]

Riff Raff!

[Vendor owner two]

Street Rat!

[Vendor owner three]

Scoundrel!

[Saphira]

Take that!

Try a different tack, guys.

[Vendor owners 1 and 2]

Rip her open!

[Vendor owner 3]

Around the back, guys.

[Saphira]

I can take hint, gotta face the facts.

Could really use a friend or two!

[Female students]

Huh? Oh, it's sad, Saphira's hit the bottom

She's become a one woman rise in crime.

[Female Teacher]

I'd blame parents 'cept she hasn't got 'em

[Saphira]

Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat.

Tell you all about when I got the time!

(Music)

One jump ahead of the slowpokes.

One skip ahead of my doom.

Next time, gonna use a nom de plume.

One jump ahead of the hit men

One hit ahead of the flock.

I think I'll take a stroll around the block.

(Music)

[Vendors]

Stop, thief!

[Woman]

Vandal!

[Saphira]

Abu!

[Man]

Scandal!

[Saphira]

Let's not be too hasty.

[Busybody Woman]

Still, I think she's rather tasty.

[Saphira]

Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat.

Otherwise we'd get along.

[Vendors]

Wrong!

(Music)

[Saphira]

One jump ahead of the hoof beats.

One hop ahead of the hump.

One trick ahead of disaster.

They're quick, but I'm much faster.

Here goes! Better throw my hand in,

Wish me happy landin',

All I gotta do is jump!

At the end of song, Saphira had landed safely on the ground thanks to the blanket she'd used as a parachute. "I win!" Saphira said with a laugh, she thought to have been victorious in her escape, however Saphira didn't see the other people behind her.

"Not so fast!" Captain Gordan Lighthouse said as he grabbed her, he was mad at Saphira for always sneaking into his lighthouse during stormy weather. "Let me go!" Saphira shouted at him, Captain Gordan threw the young girl towards some women who caught her.

"Get Saphira ready for tonight's ceremony!" The first vendor ordered; the women kept ahold of Saphira so she wouldn't get away. "Let go! I don't want to serve the krakens royal family!" Saphira shouted in fear as she was dragged away.

None of the people watching Saphira could deny the fact that they were worried for her, since this would be the first time the krakens would participate in the ceremony as she was the first person to have been born with the mark of the krakens on her back.

No one knew what would become of the young girl since no human has ever had to serve the krakens royal family before unlike with the mermaids who treated their human servant with kindness, so it was anybody's guess as to how Saphira would be treated.

Inside the ceremonial beach house, the women washed then dressed Saphira in a light purple shirt under some blue overall shorts with white socks and black sneakers before brushing her mid-length black hair then braiding it with her bangs framing her face.

Now everyone could see Saphira's beautiful purple eyes, and now knew that she has tan skin. "We're very sorry about this." The busybody woman said softly, Saphira didn't respond to anything any of the women said as they apologized to her.

Once the women were done getting Saphira ready, they made sure that she had some more food to eat due to the fact that she'd only had bread to eat for breakfast before locking her in a guest room so she could rest up and not escape again.

Saphira sighed sadly as she accepted that her fate was sealed, but that didn't mean that she had to like it. "They'll probably tie me up in order to keep me on the beach tonight." Saphira said to herself, she wasn't happy with how today turned out.

Saphira prayed that if the Queen of the krakens wasn't satisfied with her, that her death would be quick and painless, but for now Saphira decided to get some rest as she planned to not go down without a fight if this was her last day on land.

Frist chapter done! This is a Ruby Gillman AU story, where the mermaids and krakens live in peace, and in this story, somethings will be different than in the movie.

For one thing, Queen Nerissa and Chelsea will be mother and daughter for real, Ruby and her family live in the ocean with the other krakens as members of the royal family.

I haven't seen Ruby Gillman, so I'm making this up as I go and I don't own the song in this chapter or Captain Gordan, but I do own Saphira, and I switched some of the lyrics in the song.

Please review and no flames!