Regina
Regina always admired the princess from a distance. Basking in the sunlight on the rock near the shoreline with the waves crashing over her, her dark eyes trained on the blonde-haired beauty walking in the sand. She couldn't see Regina of course, the little mermaid with the apple red fin made sure of that. It would be a breach of her mother's overly controlling law.
As princess of Atlantis, Regina was not allowed out often, and when she was she often snuck from her castle to explore near the humans. She had a fascination with them. If she managed to swim far enough out she could see their own castle with a town just nearby. And, in that castle was their very own human princess. A human princess far more beautiful than any mermaid or merman Regina had ever met under the sea.
What she would give to meet her, to talk to her, to have her own set of two legs and dance with her. But it was impossible, and her mother would never allow it anyway. Her mother resented humans. She told Regina from a young age that humans killed the only person she had ever loved. They betrayed her, used her magical abilities for greed.
But as she looked at the princess, she didn't understand how someone so radiant could be bad? The princess always came to the waves with a troubled look on her face, like she was in deep thought or worried about something. Each day Regina would come to this rock to see her human, wishing for the day she could meet her and ask her so many questions.
That day came sooner than Regina imagined. The princess was on a ship with the human king and queen. It looked as if they were having a party, the raven-haired queen was dressed in gold and the blonde-haired man in royal blue. The princess was not in a dress like her mother, rather she looked more like the king. Her blonde hair fell in waves down her back, a royal blue tunic that pulled in at the waist with a belt adorned her little frame. She had a sword at her hip and a tiara on her head. Regina exhaled a dreamy sigh as she watched her knightly princess.
But she noticed the storm coming. The wind picked up and the waves became choppy. The humans seemed to notice too and began to stir their ship back, but the storm came in the blink of an eye. The waves reach above the ship deck, knocking barrels off. The king and queen managed to get in their own boat to safety but as they reached for their princess the ship tipped the opposite way. The princess slipped down the side of the ship and into the angry waves with a single clap of lightning.
Regina moved on instinct, she dove into the water, her fin moving her faster than she had ever swam before. Her heart was louder than the thunder overhead. When Regina reached the princess she wrapped her arms around her chest and used all her might to swim her to the surface. As quick as she could she had the princess on the shore.
Regina brushed the wet blonde locks from the pale princess's face. In a split second, she made her decision. Regina placed her hands over the unconscious girl's chest and began to sing.
She sang to the sea goddess. With all the magic in her being, she willed the princess to live. To breathe, to survive. She sang to heal her, the power of a siren's song was stronger than most humans knew.
Regina nearly cried when she saw the princess's eyelashes flutter before she coughed out the water from her lungs. Relieved, Regina sat back. The girl's eyes fluttered open for a split second. Then Regina heard the human king and queen calling frantically for "Emma".
Emma. Her name is Emma. Princess Emma.
As the voices drew closer Regina quickly retreated into the sea. Quick to make herself disappear under the waves. Her heart still racing, a smile on her lips, she had saved her princess. Her human princess. Emma.
Her mother would kill her if she ever found out.