Author's note: Ok, here's a new series I've had in my vault for sometime so this was to be rated T but I decided t change it to M because I haven't written a lemon in God knows how long and it's going to be a heck of a lot different from the other Mermaid stories you've read on here. Also, next week won't be a chapter, I need to do some more catching up; but I truly hope you all enjoy it! I don't own Fairy Tail.

Ocean's Tides

Rated M

Chapter 1: Summer Vacation.

"Ocean is more ancient than the mountains, and freighted with the memories and the dreams of Time."-H. P. Lovecraft

The scenery before Levy continued to pass by her quickly as she sat in her best friend's pick up truck and waited to arrive at her best friend's beach house. Yes, beach house. Levy McGarden's best friend Lucy Heartfillia was wealthy as wealthy could get. And this summer, her and a few of their friends were going to spend the entire summer at Akane, the local beach town.

"Excited Levy?" Lucy suddenly asked to try and diffuse the long silence. Levy McGarden, a girl with wild light blue hair, huge honey brown eyes and pale skin looked at her fair skinned, large chested, blonde best friend who's attention was on the road that was ahead of them.

"Yeah," Levy admitted "I'm looking forward to it. I've been dying to get out of town for the longest time."

"I know," Lucy giggled "I could tell by that longing gaze you give out when you read an adventure book." Levy looked at her best friend in both shock and embarrassment; was it that obvious?!

"I-I don't do that!" Levy blushed. Lucy bursted into laughter at that moment.

"Yes you do! I could tell you really want an adventure!"

"Can you blame me? It's the same thing everyday for me. Get up, eat breakfast, get changed, school or work, it gets boring!" Levy let out a groan and let her head hit the back of her car seat.

"Well, this summer vacation should be able to get your mind off of all that. Plus, you'll get to try that new surf board Jet got you for your birthday."

"I've been looking forward to use it for quite sometime!" Levy admitted "I read a lot of books on surfing so this should be awesome!"

"And who knows." Lucy smirked devilishly "You might meet The One." Levy's face turned beet red at that statement.

"T-that's jumping the gun a little bit!"

"I can imagine you now, walking on the beach during a sunset with him, kissing, getting wild under-"

"LUCY!" Lucy laughed at Levy's reaction.

"I'm teasing Levy. You have to let me do that every now and then you know." they soon arrived a two story house that was across the street from the ocean and pulled into it's driveway. The moment Levy stepped out of her best friend's truck, the scent of the salty sea air hit her nostrils immediately, as if to greet her.

"Oh! Smell that fresh sea air!" Lucy said in awe and twirled around her beach house's driveway "I can get used to this!"

"It's definitley different from freshly cut grass.." Levy admitted while getting out of the car and grabbing one of her bags from the back.

"Hey girls!" a voice called out from the house. The girls looked to find a Sakura haired boy in a red shirt, tan cargo pants and flip flops coming down the stairs on the porch; this boy was Natsu Dragneel, Lucy's boyfriend of three years "Ready for the summer?"

"You have no idea." Lucy groaned while dropping her bag "First thing tomorrow, I'm going on the beach!"

"Come on girls," Natsu said while helping them get their bags into the house "Gray and I were gonna start beer pong! Better hurry up before he and Erza turn it into a drinking contest..." smiling at the thought of that, the girls raced into the house, unpacked their stuff and partied that night.

The next day, Natsu, Levy, Lucy, a young man with pale skin and bluish black hair, a young woman with a large chest and scarlet hair and two men, one with orange hair and one that was very overweight were heading to the beach.

"Ah!" Lucy said while stretching "Nothing like the beach to start the summer off right huh?"

"That's for sure!" Natsu said while setting up his beach umbrella, once he finished he looked at the bluish black haired man and a devilish smirk appeared on his lips "Gray! I'm gonna kick your ass at volleyball!" The dark haired boy named Gray gave Natsu a look to ask him if he really was serious or just not too bright.

"Dream on flame boy." The dark blue haired boy called Gray replied "Volleyball is my thing!"

"I think we're better off going into teams." The scarlet haired woman interuppted, shocking the two boys.

"Seriously Erza?" Levy laughed.

"Why not? Teams of two. Boys vs girls. Lucy, you're with me." Erza grabbed the busty blonde and made her way to the area where they would play volleyball. Levy watched the four begin to play their round of volleyball in delight before she heard her red headed friend Jet clear his throat.

"So Levy..." Jet suddenly said to Levy "You're going to try out your new board today?"

"Yeah!" Levy smiled while patting the board she was holding "I've been practicing my balance, studying books on surfing, I'm ready for this!" Jet smiled at Levy's words and watched as she made her way to the waters and began to surf, but she stopped in her tracks.

"What's that?" Levy asked curiously.

"What's what?"

"That thing over there! I think it's turtle!" she ran over to the moving object and found and a green sea turtle caught between plastic rings, trying to get out of it's perdiciment.

"Oh my God." Levy said in shock. She kneeled down, held the turtle in her hands and stroked the turtle's shell as if to calm it down and it seemed to do the trick. She took one of the plastic rings, gently held it between her fingers and studied it.

"These damn litterbugs." Levy grumbled as she continued calming the poor creature down. Knowing she had to do something, she looked to Jet "Jet, do you have your Swiss Army knife?"

"It's in my backpack." Jet admitted.

"Go get it, I need to let this little guy free before it this thing kills him." obliging, Jet ran to his backpack and soon came back with the Swiss Army knife. He handed the knife to Levy and she began to cut the pieces of plastic that the sea turtle was caught in. Once she got the plastics off, the turtle shook around to show it's thanks before Levy let it go back into the ocean "Bye little buddy!" Levy waved. she dusted herself off and looked at Jet.

"God, what I would do to those who litter! We have one ocean and it's not meant to be a trash can!"

"What can I say Levy." Jet shrugged "No matter what, people are going to do it. We can't force them to stop." Levy gave Jet a hard glare and then let out a sigh.

"I guess your right." she said "Only thing we can do is try to keep it clean." she was about to say something else when she suddenly turned around and looked at her surroundings; she could've sworn there was someone watching her. But as she continued to look, there was no one there.

"Are you ok Levy?" Jet asked which spooked her out of a trance like state.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine I thought someone was watching me. I guess I was just imagining things." she let out a laugh while rubbing the back of her neck "I'm going to go surf." after that statement was made, Levy took her surfboard and made her way to the ocean.

Levy jumped into the ocean and began to paddle her way to the farther out parts of the ocean. Soon enough, she came face to face with a giant wave and rode the wave. Even though she was just a beginner, Levy seemed to have grasped the idea of surfing pretty good. She wasn't into the heavy tricks like her friend Jet was doing just yet; but that will come with time.

"This is awesome!" Levy screamed at the top of her lungs while hitting another wave. Jet, who was right along side her looked at her with a smile that was full of love. It was no secret that Jet was in love with Levy. Back in their tenth grade year, he asked her out but she turned him down. He was heartbroken of course; but he wasn't going to let it get him down. As Levy reached another wave, enjoying the cool sea air and the warm sun, she spotted something- or someone was sitting by some nearby rocks.

It was a muscular man with tan skin, long black hair and what appeared to be piercings on his face, ears and upper arms. But there was one thing about this man that caught Levy's attention the most; he had no legs. He had a tail! A gray colored tail! Levy's eyes widened at the sight of this man. Was she truly imagining things or was this reality? The man looked back at her with a hard glare. Levy stared at the merman with no fear or shock, just pure curiosity and amazement. As they continued their staring contest, Levy suddenly lost her balance and fell off her board and the wave, crashing into the ocean. She soon washed up on shore with her surf board, safe and sound.

"Levy!" Jet screamed. Levy looked up and found her friends running over to her in concern.

"Oh my God! Are you ok?!" Lucy asked.

"I-I'm fine." Levy coughed.

"What happened out there?" Natsu asked with curiousity.

"I saw a man by the rocks!" Levy pointed out to the rocks "But he had-" she stopped herself when she realized the man was gone and there was only the pile of rocks he sat on "a tail..."

"A tail?" Erza asked "Like, a monkey tail?"

"No! Like a Mermaid tail! Only for a guy! I-I saw Merman!" her friends looked at her in confusion, concern and as if she was insane. Right then and there, Levy realized how crazy this sounded.

"Levy," Lucy said kneeling down "are you sure you ok?"

"I am!" Levy pouted "I swear I saw a Merman!"

"Levy," Droy said concerned "Merpeople don't exist."

"Droy's right Levy." Erza added "They're just myths and legends that had been passed down from generations to generations."

"But-" Levy tried to say.

"Levy," Lucy knelt down to her friend and put her hand on her back "are you sure you didn't imagine it?"

"I didn't! Just why won't anyone believe me!" she let out a frustrated sigh "You know what? Forget I said anything." at that moment, Levy decided to go back to her surfing to let off the steam her friends created. Leaving them all in a stunned silence.

A few hours into their beach day, Levy was still surfing and couldn't get enough of it. She was becoming comfortable enough to perform a few tricks. Lucy was watching as Levy came back into the shore on her board, taking a quick breather and looking at her friend.

"I'm glad you're having fun Levy!" Lucy smiled. An awkward silence formed between the two. Since their argument earlier, things have been pretty bad and hasn't gotten any better. Levy was still convinced she saw a Merman "Hey listen, we're going to make a quick stop at a fast food restaurant and come back. Do you want to come along?"

"No thanks." said Levy "I'm on a roll here, I don't want to stop."

"Ok Levy." Lucy said cautiously "It's your choice. We'll be back in fifth-teen minutes." with that said, Lucy, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Jet and Droy left to get dinner while Levy continued surfing.

She hit a few waves, catching her breath here and there and doing her best at her newest hobby,trying to perfect a trick she learned in one of her books. After multiple tries, Levy couldn't seem to get this move right. She took a deep, deep breath and began to make her way to the next wave. Levy began to "climb" her way to the top of this large wave that was making it's way and soon, she was at the top. Balancing as best as she could and soon getting the hang of it. As Levy continued her surfing, she began to wonder about the Merman she saw earlier that day.

"Was I really imagining all that?" she asked herself out loud "I mean, mermaids and mermen are just kids stories. Mainly told by drunken sailors in the 1800's. Maybe I should apologize for my outburst when they get ba-WAAAHHH!" not paying attention to what was happening, Levy lost her balance and fell off her board, crashing into the next wave and falling flat into the ocean.

Levy woke up in the ocean, deep in the waters, tasting a little bit of that salty sea water and realizing that she plunged under the waters. Levy began to swim up for air but realized she was getting nowhere; her board got caught in a nearby rock pile during the fall and to make it worse, Levy couldn't reach her ankle that was attached to the board. She tried her best to reach for the board, pulling, tugging and everything she could do all while trying to keep whatever oxygen she had left. She pulled, tugged and tried undoing the safety harness that was attached to her foot, just when she was so close to getting it, she felt her body unable to take the lack of oxygen and released some of her air supply. Her vision began to black out at that very moment. Was this it? Was this the end? Oh God, she had so much going for her! College was beginning this early fall, she just graduated high school and was top of her class, she was just starting her summer, it couldn't end like this!

As Levy looked around this place that would seem to be the final space of her death, she saw a dark figure speed pass her. She turned her head slightly and tried to get a glimpse of what passed her. A shark maybe? Oh great, if she was going to get eaten by sharks, best it be now than having her corpse eaten by seagulls. As Levy tried to get a glimpse, she felt something working at her foot. She looked behind herself and was probably certain the lack of oxygen was now getting to her, because the Merman she saw earlier was cutting the safety harness off of her ankle with a knife. Levy watched in amazement as the Merman who was using the knife made from what appeared to be broken seashells somehow fused into a strong, sturdy blade cut through the rope. When the harness was finally cut off, the Merman grabbed Levy and pulled her close to his chest. Her consciousness was beginning to fade more and more but then, she felt a hand lift her chin.

Levy's listless eyes looked into the deep red eyes of her rescuer and watched as he leaned in and locked his lips onto her's. She didn't feel air go into her system but instead a sense of warmth that she never felt before in her entire life. Levy could feel an odd energy going through her body but she still felt woozy. The Merman released her from the kiss and began to swim away with her before Levy's consciousness faded away to black.