M.B.C.R says: well its been awhile but here we go. After taking a break from this story to write RvB and other stuff I finally got around to finishing it and... well, posting it now.

Rated M for nudity and sexual themes.

She felt like she was sinking and she could only assume that she was. The weight pressing in around her and squeezing the oxygen from her lungs—she didn't have the energy to swim, nor the energy to open her eyes.

Behind the safety of her eyelids, her eyes flickered back and forth—there were shapes moving in the water around her. She could feeling it... she could the pressure against her lips before a presence pushed its way past and down to her lungs.

The weight was no longer pressing in around her, but the weight of something... of someone still remained. She peeled her golden coloured eyes open; the salt in the water stung at her injures, at her eyes.

It was a body that was pulling her through water. She wanted to open her mouth to do something, anything really, but she was just so extremely tired. She couldn't see pass the crown of blood-red coral on the body's head. The crown arching up into horns that her people would compare to the Devil, colour so extremely sinister and frightening that she was surprised her heart didn't lurch. Deep red eyes bore into her, and her eyes began to grow heavy again.

The dark welcomed her again; the weight of arms around her pulled her through the water, the body moving in motions she wasn't familiar with.

She woke up with the water lapping at her waist, black hair filled with sand and swept out around her in a halo of ink. Her stomach lurched, pulling bile up her throat and onto the sand. She grimaced, the water and stomach acid mixed into a disgusting dark green goo that sprayed out into her hair. She gagged again at the image.

She forced herself into movement; a slow and painful crawl towards the water where she quickly submerged her entire being into the shallows. Sucking in a breath when she surfaced again; golden irises scanning the environment she found herself in.

It was beautiful, in a strange and new way. There seemed to be no way in or out of the cove from land; the beach completely hidden from the outside world. She would go so far as to say that the only way in and out of this place was underwater. Turning away from the water she noted a decent grouping of trees and vegetation.

No animals though.

Wading out of the shallows, the woman tossed the heavy jacket from her shoulders and onto a growing pile. Her pistols, knives and sword were quickly tossed onto the pile as well. The gun powder useless now that it was wet and the blades were making her tire quicker than she'd like. She adjusted her breasts in her corset, returning the flesh to a more comfortable position.

It looks like she was stranded here for the time being; she had no idea just how long it would take her to leave this place. She had no idea what happened to her other crewmates, nor the Captain. But if the fiery explosion in her memory hinted at anything, then they might not be faring as well as she.

There was a splash from the water behind her and she quickly turned, hand poised over her hip only to remember that she removed her steel moments ago. There was a large swordfish sitting on the bank a few meters from where she had woken, large red gashes were taken out of the fish's hide and she returned her gaze to the water.

A dark dorsal fin unlike anything she had ever seen emerged followed by a seemingly never ending line of spikes and ridges before it dipped back into the dark waters of the cove. That was not a fish, shark, or dolphin—that tail was too abnormal for any of that. Like a mixture of a shark's dorsal fins but the hide of an alligator.

The woman made her way towards the underbrush, pulling at twigs and fallen branches before pulling them back towards the sand. If that fish was left there for her consumption by some strange fish creature then she was going to be sure to eat it—didn't want to possibly insult the thing when she had no way out of this place but the water.

She returned to her fallen jacket and knives where she fished out the flint in one of the inside pockets of her jacket before grabbing the dagger. She returned to her wood pile where she quickly organized it into a proper fire starter. Pressing the blade against the flint and pulling downwards—cursing the three times the wood wouldn't catch or the one time the blade nicked her nail.

Eventually the wood caught aflame and the woman sighed heavily. She tossed the flint back towards the pile of clothing and made her way to the large fish. Stabbing into the carcass, she began to pull strips from it. She didn't care much about the taste at the moment, more concerned about getting it into her stomach before her body decided to fight against her again.

Settling into the sand, the woman held one of the fish chunks that she had skewered on her dagger over the flame until it was cooked enough. She bit into the meat, tearing the thing apart with an appetite she wasn't aware she had. She quickly added another chunk from the little pile in her arm onto her dagger and repeated the process three more times until her stomach felt heavy and content.

She grabbed her gear still in a pile by the water, dipping her jacket into the surf then pulling it back out and making her way towards a low hanging branch in the underbrush to throw it over.

The water behind her splashed again and she turned quickly towards it. She was greeted with red—a blood red colour bleeding into brown. She slowly made her way back to the water to try to catch a glimpse what the red coral was connected to. All she got was a glimpse of dorsal fin and more dark spikes.

She sighed heavily, flopping back into the sand and stared up at the cloudless sky. Thinking back to the night before—the ship was under fire. Rival pirates in the area where trying to steal their sailing grounds, the Captain gave the command to steer them into dangerous waters—legendary waters that no sailor liked to travel. The ship was still under fire and there was a huge explosion that knocked her overboard.

She remembered sinking—remembered drowning.

She snapped her eyes open and quickly looked around. She was still here. It was still mid-day and the world was passing her by far too slowly. She spared a glance to the sword fish to her left... the sword fish to her left. She sat up with a fright; where did the giant fish go?

How did she not hear the thing get dragged back into the depths of the ocean?

She left her spot in the sand to throw more wood on the fire. She should really take this opportunity to explore her surroundings. Gather more wood or maybe some edible berries or something, also—fresh water. She couldn't exactly drink the stuff in the cove, unless it was some type of magical water that was in fact not salt water.

She grabbed her sword and set off into the trees.

...

She returned just as the sun was beginning to dip down towards the ring encircling the hidden cove. She really was stuck in here with the only exit being through the water. Where the strange fish creature was...

She did find some fresh water though but she wasn't too sure on how fresh it actually was. But beggars can't be choosers so she drank her fill and filled up her water pouch; that should last her until she returns the next day. On her way back she found some tree fruit and gathered a small bunch of bananas.

She returned to her little base camp with her hands filled with wood and bananas. The fire from before had long died out and she had expected that.

Setting her finds down either by the other pile of wood or near her jacket, the woman pulled out her flint and dagger and repeated the process of lighting another fire—that one catching quicker than its predecessor. Rubbing her hands together as she watched the flame grow with each branch and twig added, until logs were placed and the sky was falling to darkness.

Her heart thundered in her chest with each passing moment that the environment around her fell to night, the stars overhead beginning to peak out and sparkled. There was a humming coming from the water—a deep bass-y tone that shook her to the core.

She glanced away from the fire and into deep red irises. She sucked in a breath of shock and the humming continued as the creature bobbed in the water. It moved closer before pushing further back again. She crawled towards the water line and the figure followed her lead.

"You're the one that brought me here," she finally spoke, fingers sinking to cool tide. The light of the fire behind her bounced off his crown of deep red coral yet only showing the shine of the water against his ebony scales. Like the black scales absorbed the light and refused to share it with anything else.

The scales framed his light gray skin around his eyes. His forehead covered in sharp deep black scales that crept down the back and side of his neck and over his shoulders. The spikes only grew the further they traveled down the creature. He had a face and chest so similar to that of a human, only larger in size and covered in dark scales. He had other markings sweeping over his body, a bright white in contrast to his colouring.

They must be some sort of tribal markings.

The creature chuckled, and even that had a deep bass ring to it. Like everything that escaped this creature's mouth could be used as a song. She gulped—she knew exactly what kind of creature this was.

Every place called them something different—sirens, sea dragons, fae of the sea, a nymph... merfolk.

She had heard story upon story about a man who wished to make a mermaid a right wife out of her. Heard it so often that she stopped rolling her eyes at the notion—and not because she believed 'im, but because they'd roll right out of her head if she did it anymore. "You're aware of my kind," the male spoke sending a shiver down her spine.

She could only nod in reply as she watched creature advance closer to shore.

"And yet you hide that fear well," he grinned showing off sharp teeth. Of course he could sense just have terrified she was, wasn't that always the case with those rumored supernatural beings? He hummed another musical note, "I won't hurt you."

His eyes called to her like rubies, she crawled out into the water—the waves not registering in her senses. She continued to wade out into the surf, until she stood rooted on her feet with the water just past her waist. The creature grinned its sharp toothed grin, black scaled claws wrapping around the back of her cloth covered thigh and pulling her in closer. She startled under the touch, golden eyes blinking the daze away.

She wasn't aware of her body's movement until that moment; those eyes drew her in, captivating her. The creature grinned, his hands caressing the back on her knees. She stumbled backwards at the pressure, knees buckled and feet sliding in the sand as she tried to regain her footing again.

She slipped under the water, heart jumping in her throat as she resurfaced with a gasp. Those deep red eyes much closer now that her head was only above water, the creature's claws trailed over her arms now. From elbow to wrist, the sharp texture of his scales making the hair rise on her arms and the back of her neck.

The creature spoke in what she could only assume was his mother tongue, the words far too musical compared to anything she had ever heard before. His claws wrapped around her fingers and he began to pull her towards deeper waters. She pulled back; the panic making itself known as she pushed away from the creature. "What are you doing?" she worried, watching as the creature's brow climbed up and his deep red eyes roll in annoyance.

"Swim," he replied in her language, taking hold of the woman's hands again and pulling her forwards with a stronger grip than before. Her heart lurched, pressing up against her ribcage. "I won't hurt you," he repeated once her feet stopped dragging against the sand. She could feel his tail brush against her boot. The appendage easily longer than her whole body, longer in fact, and all covered in the same dark scales and spikes. He pulled her closer towards him, laying her hand on his shoulder where she gripped the ridges arching up out of skin.

He hummed, pressing a hand to the small of her back and pulling her under the water with him. His lips pressing against hers, his free hand taking hold of her chin and forced her mouth open. She felt the same presence as the night before enter her body. She could see his eyes dilate into slits now that both of their eyes where open and staring at the other. His brow rose as he pulled away from her, his black tongue licking his lips.

"Relax, little Brizo," the language wasn't familiar but she understood it. She understood every word that rolled off that black tongue of his. But her name wasn't that of a Greek goddess long past, she was no goddess of sailors or a maiden of the sea. She was a human, a pirate, and a woman who found herself in the clutches of a merman under the water's surface.

"That is not my name," the water didn't clog her airway nor limit any breathing. Her vision had also changed; the water no longer dark and frightening and the creature no longer a colourless shape blending in with the shadows. She could see each dip and swoop of his scales... could see the clash of white on black of the tribal marking decorating his every inch of his body. "What did you do to me?" she spoke again, still shocked that she wasn't choking.

The creature guided her to the sand, where it took to hold her against with hand on her waist, "your kind likes to refer to it as a mermaids' kiss." The creature grinned, "But I am no maid." He removed his hand from her, taking up a lazing position on the sand beside her. Her body began to float upwards—he rolled his eyes, returning his hand to its earlier placement.

"You're not speaking my language," she concluded ignoring that last part. She already assumed that he was male; she had never seen such an angular—masculine—face such like that belonging to a woman. "And yet," she narrowed her eyes at his face, "I understand everything you're saying."

The creature laughed, "Clever little fleshling. It's true I'm not speaking your language but mine. That kiss allows it—understanding the speech of the sea, and breathing underwater." He leaned in, bumping his nose against hers, "all temporary. And vomiting up the sea water that's bound to have found its way into your lungs is a small side affect."

She pushed his face away from her, "excuse me? Is that what that goo was?" The whites of his eyes flashed black at the hand still in his face. She brought it quickly back to her chest where her heart thundered in her chest. She wondered if he could hear it.

She turned her attention away from the creature and towards the sky that reflected through the water. It was beautiful, but the stars always were. "Does it always look like this?" she gestured at the stars, the water, everything.

He followed her gaze, shrugging when she caught his gaze. "Every so often a star dies," he turned his attention back towards the stars.

"That's impossible," she huffed pulling away from him and swimming along the sand. Her temperature was starting to grow a little too chilled for her comfort.

The creature hummed, following from above. "Your kind has a shorter lifespan than mine," he expressed. She could hear the roll of his eyes; that unnerved her. She was growing used to this being; it was too early for that kind of thoughts and feelings. She was still so terrified of him and everything that their flesh-eating, soul-sucking kind stood for.

"Then how old are you?" she used her hands and arms to keep her seated on the ocean floor—pushing and fighting against her body's buoyancy. The creature arched his torso down, rolling his shoulders and neck in a lazed predatory-like way. Reaching out as he circled her, her fingers trailed over his tail to the caudal fin. She didn't notice the second dorsal fin until now for it was only slightly larger than the biggest spike that arched from his seemingly endless hide.

The whites of his eyes returned to black when he finally turned back to face her, laying a hand on each knee to keep her rooted to the sand. "We age differently that you." His head tilting from side to side like he was taking her in from different angles, "your kind goes by years. Right? Months falling within seasons?"

She nodded.

He hummed deep in his throat, "We go by maturity cycles. From conceivement our kind is considered to be a living being. Actual birth defers with each type of merfolk; it may take one water cycle, or as you call years, or more. Then pups or guppies, adolescence," his speech cut off into something she couldn't understand.

She blinked, "what was that?" she asked.

The creature frowned, repeating the word again. It was just another mess of musical notes and pitches.

She shook her head, "I don't understand."

He huffed rolling his dark red eyes, "sexual maturity—for a lack of a better term. It's when our kind typically find a mate." Her language flowed so easily out of the creature's lips and off his tongue. "It sounds too simplified in your speak," and there it was. Right back to using his own language.

She rolled her eyes at him, flopping back into the sand. The creature shifted through the water until his head and blood red crown blocked out the sky. "How does that thing not fall off?" she reached up to tap one of the huge horns twisting up and out of the crown. He tilted his head towards her; she had originally thought that the head piece was made from coral, but the texture wasn't like anything she's ever felt before. "What is this made out of?" she wrapped her fingers around the horn, pulling at it gently

He winced, "its fashioned around some pre-existing scales. Then there's a band wrapping around my head that helps take some of the weight off."

She forced his head from side to side to take a look at the make. She could see the band that he was talking about; it was easily over looked with how his hair fanned out and covered it. "What does that mean?" she leaned in closer and shifted out from underneath him as to get an overhead view. She couldn't even see his hair line, let alone these supposed scales.

"It means that when this was made, it was meant to slip over and hook into the pre-existing scales and," he paused to think of a proper word, "horns." He removed her hands from his head, pushing upwards to the water surface. She was towed along by the claws wrapped around her wrist.

She breached with a large intake of breath followed by a cough—dispelling the salt water that must have settled in her lungs. His arms around her waist kept her afloat as she continued to cough up another lungful of water.

"Why did we surface?" she croaked.

They floated slowly towards the shore, "your time was almost up." He dropped her off as soon as her feet were able to remain flat against the sand.

"How long does it last?"

The creature grinned, "A couple of hours." Her eyes widened, suppressing a shiver that dared to form. They were under water for a long time and it only felt like a couple of minutes... maybe an hour at the most. He dipped his head under the water, tail splashing the water as he settled into a more comfortable position.

"I don't even know your name," she informed him as soon as his head peaked back out of the water.

He grinned, "I don't know yours either." He pushed up out of water, his face so extremely close to hers. She thought these creatures tore the flesh from men, and ripped the soul from a living being. This merman only seemed to want to constantly touch her.

"Blake," he titled his head in confusion at the name rolling off her tongue, "my name is Blake."

The whites of his eyes shifted back in black and he hummed deep in his throat; the note vibrating in her stomach. His grin grew as he dipped back into the water and pushed off away from her—the black shape of his tail sinking into the depths.

He didn't resurface again; she pushed out with a flat hand causing the water to splash and spray out. "You didn't answer my question!" she shouted to his memory, a hard frown molding her features. When he didn't surface she growled out, "typical man! No different in any race!"

She turned, wading back to shore angrily. Mythical creature or not, she was going to smack that fish tomorrow. Even if it was the last damn thing she did.

...

He didn't show his face for two days but she'd find an assortment of fish left for her in a sac (and that one deer spread out in the sand). In this sac she pulled out a few gold coins, rolling one between her fingers and over the knuckles. Rolling her eyes, she tossed the coins back into the bag. The gold was useless here, but if she was out of this place than it might just be of some use.

She tossed the gold back towards her clothes before wadding back out into the water. Every day she would dive into the water and swim for as long as she could. Each time she'd try to hold her breath for longer and longer, and each time she only lasted for the same amount of time before she had to go back up for air.

She dove under the water, kicking her feet and pushing her arms forward. She wanted to go into the deeper section of the cove, where the water stopped being crystal clear and sunk into a deep blue. Following the dip in the sand towards darker water; she startled, oxygen escaping her lungs when the creature popped out of the dark.

His scaled arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her towards the surface. She coughed, hacking up the water she swallowed in her fright. He took her in with a furrowed brow, leaning as far back as he could while keeping his arms around her waist. "So this is what a human female looks like," an eyebrow arched upwards as he studied her.

She pushed herself out of his hold, "it's impolite to ogle a woman while she's naked!" She slapped her hand against his light coloured chest, his eyes growing dark. Feeling his tail brush against her bare calf, reminding her just what she was planning on doing just then. Intrusting herself to him for a moment, she stopped treading water to grab each side of his face and kissing him.

She didn't feel the pressure that normally came behind the kiss. Maybe she had to open her mouth—his pupils dilated, and the sclera still matching the colour of his scales. He raised a brown brow at her, "I have to kiss you for it to work."

He saw through her.

"Well then, get to the kissing. I have stuff to explore," she kept her hands pressed against his cool cheeks. She shut her eyes at the feeling of his lips pressed against hers, even as she quickly opened them. What she wasn't expecting was his tongue against the roof of her mouth and flicking at the back of her teeth. She jolted back in shock, "what was that for?"

Finger nails digging into the hide on his shoulders, the same ones that rolled smugly. "Consider it payback," he leaned again, showing off his pointed teeth.

"What about those other two times then, huh?"

He frowned, "I saved your life with the first one." Okay, she'd give him that one but not the other one. She told him that, watching a pout begin to form on his lips before the roll of the eyes set in and his expression switched into annoyed. His clawed hand tangled into the hair at her nape, pulling her down into the water after him.

Their lips pressed against the other's, mouths opening and the presence returned—trailing down through her throat and into her lungs and belly. "Don't swim behind me, you pervert," he rolled his eyes at her warning taking them towards the darker part of the cove.

"Technically, I'm naked as well," he grinned pushing off of her and taking to swim on ahead. From this position she noticed a few scars on his caudal fin as well as both dorsal fins. It was so subtle that she wasn't surprised that she missed it before; most of them were covered in his tribal markings as it was.

"You have that headgear on, so no you're not." He stared back at her, one brow cocking further than the other. "You never told me what it's called," she pointed out. She had three things that she needed to do today; find out about his weird crown, explore the darker part of the cove, and figure out his damn name.

"There are no words that translate into your known vocabulary. It's a material found in only the darkest parts of the ocean, most of our kind don't dwell that far." That explanation didn't help anything.

"So everything that you're saying is in your own language but I can only understand it because there's a translation for it in mine?" She was surprised that she was only grasping this now, it makes sense though. At times his speech was awkward and some words weren't exactly right.

She took his silence with being correct.

The creature turned to throw a look over his shoulder. "Blake," her name rolling off his tongue in her own language made her halt. He looked to be tossing a notion of something around in his head, shaking off the thought before pausing again to study her. "Tomorrow I'd like to show you something."

The serious look in his eyes kept her from saying fuck it, show me now. She nodded instead.

...

He beached himself to watch her set up her fire on throw on her clothes. His tail swaying back and forth in the tide, no splash or sound escaped him. It reminded her of a cat with his deep red eyes following her every movement and tail flicking. He lay there propped up on his elbows, head tilting to the side in his confusion.

She was finding it easier to decipher that look. He gave her that one and the black-eyed look the most. She had yet to really find out what that last one meant though.

"What's your name?" she finally asked, now that he was good and stuck. She had the feeling that the creature didn't want her to know it and that only made her want to know more. She was a pirate after all, it was in her nature.

"You won't be able to pronounce it."

She dropped to the sand in front of him, taking his head in her hands and glared at him. Again his eyes darkened, "I didn't ask if I could pronounce it. I asked for your name."

His pupils dilated, "how about you give me one instead."

Grinding her teeth in annoyance, she removed her hands from him and took to walking back towards the fire. If this guy wanted her to name him than so be it! Throwing another log onto the fire just to displace some frustration, "at least tell me what letter or sound your name starts with."

He replied back in the bass musical voice of his; the sound so unique that the only thing she could pick out of it was a weird version of the letter A. She watched the smug look form on his face, knew it was exactly like he said—she wouldn't be able to pronounce it. She wanted to throw the stick that she had in her hand at him.

Turning back to the fire to poke at the now burning log she'd just thrown in. She thought hard for a name that was both simple and meaningful of the creature. "Adam," she finally turned back to look at him, "I'll call you Adam."

He tilted his head in confusion.

She continued on, "it means of the red earth." Well, she didn't lie. The creature seemed to only raise a brow at the meaning but not raising any fuss as a clawed finger continued drawing something in the sand.

...

The next day found her in one of the many cave systems under the land surrounding the cove. It was amazing just how many twists and passages there were. How Adam knew his way around here was a mystery.

The 'thing' that he wanted to show her were multiple things in fact, making the sea dragon's name relevant all over again. It was a hoard unlike anything she had seen. There was gold and gems, but also big chunks of the material that made up Adam's crown. There were a few skeletons sitting in the corner, a small pile that she refused to look at.

Adam dug through the largest pile of gems and gold, the rich purples and reds drawing her attention. He pulled out a satchel filled with amethysts, running a clawed thumb over the purple gem before taking her hand and setting the gem in it. "You said you liked purple," was his only excuse.

She didn't question it, not verbally at least, but in the safety of her own mind she kept wondering why he would give her all these things. The gold, the gems, and the food... He brought her back a deer! A deer! That had to take a long time to catch. And let's not even get her started on the touching and personal space violations.

"I do," she finally replied curling her fingers around the glittering gem. Adam pushed off deeper into the cave, pushing her back into the largest pile of his hoarded glittering objects. "I like red too," she added as she settled back into his collection.

A grin pulled at his lips showing off the sharp teeth hidden behind. Sinking down into the pile by her stretching arms out in front of him; like a cat, she couldn't help but muse with a grin.

"Do you not lay on your back at all?" she questioned watching him shift onto his side.

"Dorsal fin won't allow it. If I damage it I'll swim weird until it's healed, and even that needs to be seen to by healers—it's not even a guarantee that I'll be able to swim like I should."

She could only hum in reply; she couldn't pretend to understand it, nor did she want to seem uninterested. She tapped the center plate of his headpiece, following the shape down till the light gray skin of his nose where she noticed the first facial scar. Felt it more than saw in all actuality. She paused her downward movement to gauge the texture and lean in to see if there was any difference in colouring.

There was a slight change; gray skin growing lighter where the groves that the scarring was.

Continuing her exploration of his face she found another scar right near the tip of his nose, one running horizontal from brow to cheek on the left side and on the opposite there were two in the same location only running diagonal. She wonder just how tough his skin was and how quickly merfolk heal.

Adam pecked the corner of her lips, jolting her out of her musing and back to the moment. The sound that tumbled out of his mouth couldn't translate, "—let's make our way back to the surface." She stared in confusion trying to piece together what she had missed, but wrapped an arm around his neck so he could swim them back to the cove.

It would be a lot quicker this way.

And it was—her first inhale of breath after who knows long was always cut short by the lung full of water she coughed up afterwards. It always hit her like a punch in the gut; so sudden and harsh. "Don't chuckle at me, fish-boy" she leaned down to press her forehead against his headpiece.

Clawed fingers pulling and grasping at that back of her clothed knees; he was raising her upwards until both knees dug into what she could only assume were his hips. She adjusted her hold until one hand was buried in his hair and the other gripping one of the spikes that pierced out of his shoulder for balance.

He smiled, glancing down before up through his lashes—she couldn't help but give him a small smile of her own. "You can always never come up for air again—become a mermaid," he tossed the idea so easily. Almost like he's come to the conclusion long ago that this was what would happen.

She'd get addicted to breathing underwater, get addicted to the feeling of true freedom—that even as a pirate she could not find. She loved the sea; it called to her every day and night. And here was this creature of the sea tempting her with the idea of becoming one with the ocean and... and why couldn't she jump at the chance?

Her promise she made with her sisters—for her niece.

She was on her way back to port to deliver the money her family needed. It would've been her biggest haul... it would've lasted her family for at least a year.

She couldn't leave them like that—couldn't leave them with nothing. But she couldn't turn down the opportunity like this. "Ask me again at a different time," she whispered before leaning in to seal their lips together in a quick kiss.

He didn't bring the question up for the remainder of the evening.

...

He was back to drawing on the sand—shapes that would fit together before he would brush them away and start all over again. "I'll be gone for a few days," he told her, not even looking up from his sand drawings.

She flopped back in the sand, "why's that?" The sun was finally setting on another day spent in the cove. This one held no underwater adventures, only some lazy swimming and a lot of a beached merman.

"Scouting party—a strange tide is washing in and the elders are growing concerned."

So there was a whole civilization that had leaders and class-types. She filled this piece of information away for later. "Well, bring me back something fancy—got it?" She turned to waggle her finger in front of his face.

Adam snorted, a little grin forming.

...

She hadn't seen hide nor hair of Adam for what she could only assume was a week—time seemed to pass weird now that she was by herself. She'd wake up to find a pouch of fish on the shore each and every morning with no explanation as to who put it there. Maybe Adam had asked one of the other fish-folk from his... group? Pod? Clan? Maybe all of the above? She had no idea what to refer to a group of merfolk, nor did she know who was providing her with her meat intake but she appreciated it all the while.

She had a lot of time to think of her next plan of action; she had plenty of time to go over what she would say and how she would say it. She was going to go home; back to her two sisters and her niece. She was going to give them the money she promised and then she'd give them her farewells—join the see like every damn pirate wanted to do.

She had the words on the tip of her tongue as she waded out into the water, his blood red crown shining out in the setting sun. She had the words right there... and then he clipped the necklace around her throat and everything dried up.

She had seen him drawing these in the sand—the center piece matching the colour of his crown with a thick band of gold with a pair of amethysts framing the red. She rubbed her thumb over the center stone; inside there seemed to be a small flame flickering and she wasn't sure if it was the light that was making it seem like it or if there was actually something there.

"It's the best I'd be able to give you," his voice was soft, shy even, as he watched her take the accessory. "You said you liked purple," he continued now swaying in the coming tide. She noticed the matching necklace around his own neck—though the flicker of light in the center of his red gem was non-existent.

"I love it," she finally caught her voice. She smiled, "thank you Adam."

Maybe she should wait until the next day to ask him to take her back to shore. Back to the world outside these walls of earth and through the cave systems underwater—back to her family that needed her and were waiting for her.

He surged up out of the water, holding the back of her neck as he pressed his lips against hers. She could feel him quake with the effort that it took to maintain this position—she leaned towards him, pushing him back into the water. "You're going to strain yourself if you do that for too long," she scolded.

He huffed, pushing backwards into deeper water.

"I'm serious! Didn't you just come back from some scouting mission? I'm willing to bet that you kill at least one thing out there," she batted the clawed hands that went and made grabby hands at her. She could swim out the rest of the way on her own, thanks.

He rolled his shoulder, not admitting or denying that he might have killed something or not.

...

The next day neither felt like exploring the cave systems or lazing around in water. He wanted to run his hands up her sides and kiss her with every chance he could get.

She wasn't against this idea either—it'll be easy to blurt out what she needed to say. She could distract him kisses before and after her request.

The water pulled her loose hair up with tide before settling back down by her shoulders as the water settled back again. She was impressed just how gentle he was being, how hardly any of his weight was pressed on her even though half of his torso was on top of her. "I need to go home," she finally muttered out between kisses.

He pulled away, brows drawn in confusion. He didn't say anything so she continued.

"I need to get back to shore, I have to make sure my sisters and my niece is alright. I—" she licked her lips, "I need to be able to say goodbye to them."

He propped himself up, "what?"

"I'm taking up the offer that you gave me—the one to become like you." It dawned on him then, his tail smacking down into the water in a briefly uncontrolled glee and her hand moved to cover his mouth before he could cut her off. "I just need to say my farewells first and then I'll be back."

"We can leave right now," he mumbled behind her hand.

She shook her head, "I was thinking of continuing what we were doing moments ago for the rest of today." His face softened and she could feel the corner of his lip pull up into a lopsided grin, she pulled her hand away to make sure. Yup, still the same little grin. "Stop smiling like that," she pushed at his chest.

...

It was a far swim from the cove that she was tucked away in. They left late in the night, and even with the fish her heighten sight couldn't make out where she was going deeper in the cave. She was completely left to his devises—he was the one that was swimming, he was the one that could see.

He lingered in the shallows as she waded up to shore. "There's a huge trade route that runs through here," he said. She remembered this collection of islands, there's good hunting on this island. One of her Captain had loved the island next to this for its deer meat. She wouldn't be surprised it some of the other ships that her ship used to be allied with were in the area. They must have heard about the Phantom Liana by now.

"I'll start building a fire now." He hesitated, the conflicting emotions so extremely strong in his expression, "I'll be fine. What song should I sing when I come back so you know it's me?" She smiled, trying to lessen his conflict.

"Red Horizon," he replied... and she didn't really know that song. She knew the tune of it, but the song was scarcely sung onboard ships. It was a bad omen, the song was said to call in death and bloodshed so no one would sing it. She nodded though, watching the crown of red finally dip back down into the water and vanish from sight.

...

It took her three days to be found and it took her another month to make it back to Arkos Port. A month of threatening the fingers of men who waggled them a little too close to her for comfort. Two men were missing middle fingers and she couldn't find any fucks to give them. She warned them multiple times and yet they still kept trying—men can be stupid like that sometimes.

Her pockets tinked with the sound of gold, and she could already see one of the pickpockets' ears perk up at the sound. She needed to keep their eyes and ears away from her haul stashed away in her satchel. Now that's where the true collection of her riches were hidden. She flashed her pistol as she adjusted her heavy jacket, eyebrow rising in a challenge. They didn't take her up on her offer, but pickpockets were never the bravest of bunch when it came to head to head situations. They'd much rather work in the space behind her back.

There wasn't much in the expansion of the city that she could see—roads still covered in cobblestone and buildings still stunning roman beige to go with the architecture. On the hill still sat Nikos manor, and deep in the heart of the city still sat the huge gladiator ring that had just been re-commissioned. She quickly ducked down the alley to her right before hooking a sharp left.

She hated going to her family's home through the front way. She wasn't exactly a welcomed sight, being a pirate and all. This way meant that it was less likely for someone of authority to spot her and take her in.

She was carrying too much money to be caught now.

Slipping out of one alley before making her way into the other, she quickly spared a glance over her shoulder. If she remembered everything correctly she'd have to make two right turns, a left, another right and one more left before she'd reach her goal. She didn't glance down at the squishing sounds that her boots made on the stones—she really didn't want to see what was on the ground.

Kicking a rat off her shoe, she continued down her last right turn fingers fanned out as she shimmied through the tight space. Did she gain some weight in that cove or something? Or was it just her breasts? The last left turn didn't open up any more room so she had to continue to shimming through the opening until the mouth of the alley was just within her reach.

She had to pry herself from the mouth of the entryway; rubbing her tender chest in an attempt to rid herself the ache. "Blake?" she glanced up and towards the sound, a deep brown haired woman waved her over from the bar.

She waved back at the woman, "Trisha!" she called back taking the brown haired woman into a tight hug.

Trisha kissed each of her cheeks, "Rose and I were growing worried!" the barmaid exclaimed cupping Blake's cheeks. "It's been nearly five months since you were supposed to return, what happened?"

Blake took her sister's hand in hers and pulled her back into the bar that she had just left—the Belladonna household was living above the bar. This bar had been in the family since Great-Grandaddy won it from the Nikos family. "I have some things to discuss with you and Rose," she voiced rounding the corner of the bar; folding open the wooden opening and wincing slightly at the loud bang that followed when the heavy piece of wood slammed against the bar.

A couple of patrons jolted at the sound, their eyes snapping to Blake and her outfit. She had her jacket back on and covering her form from their drunken leering, and she most likely looked absolutely foul. All that salt water and rolling around in the sand that she had done must not have done her skin or hair much good. And that month on that ship—nor there was a ship that was filthy. "Auntie Blake!" the young lady behind the counter grinned at her as she took the coins from the patron.

She was a little girl the last time Blake had seen her. "You've grown since we've last met," Blake ruffled her hair before leaning over to kiss the exposed skin on her forehead. "Your mother upstairs?" the girl's smile faded as she nodded. It seems like the girl's mother hadn't faired any better in health since Blake had left. Blake nodded, "your Aunt and I need to talk to your Mum for a bit. You alright to mind the place?"

The girl nodded, glancing quickly towards her other Aunt (the woman nodded). Both Trisha and Blake took to the stairs leading to the floor above this, their boots clicking against the wooden floor as they passed through the open floor plan and into the room that belonged to Rose. Rose was the eldest Belladonna child and mother to Lena.

"Blake," the woman smiled tiredly from under the covers. She looked pale—paler than normal. Blake hated seeing her sister like this; it was a constant image throughout her childhood. She feared that Rose would not have made it, but she did and now Blake feared that the woman would die before Lena was ready. "You've come home," she cupped Blake's cheek and Blake couldn't help but shake her head. The house—this city was never her home.

Her home was with the sea, with the rolling waves pushing against the wood of the ship and the salt water spraying against her skin. Her home was with the sea, it always had been. When she was tinny she would always be found walking along the shore picking up shells and swimming in the tide. Her family was what kept her grounded, boarded to the land, her family kept her from fully dipping into the sea and never returning.

She pulled the satchel from over her head, the pulled the bags of coins from her pockets. "I came to say good-bye," she set her finds in the eldest woman's lap. Blake couldn't hold her sister's gaze; she knew that she was being selfish, selfish to want to leave and never return to this place. But she couldn't take it, not when she knew what was out there—not after knowing the affects of freely swimming for the rest of her life.

"What do you mean?" Trisha pulled at her shoulder, forcing the youngest Belladonna daughter to look at her. "What the hell—what are you going to do, huh? Where will you go?"

The necklace hung heavy around her neck, the center jewel flickered from whatever light source that the thing produced. Blake spent many nights studying it and trying to figure out why it flickers and glows like it does. She settled by just saying it was a mer-folk thing so she could limit the headache she felt. "On one last sail," she smiled almost goofily—like some idiot hopelessly in love.

Trisha pulled her hand away from Blake, cradling it to her chest. She's seen that look on Rose's face when she had met Lena's father; she had seen that look every time the elder woman would even think of the man that ran out on this family to sail ships. And even now, now that he's returned to this city and now dressing up in a military uniform he would scarcely support his wife and child. "Who is this person?" Trisha couldn't help but snarl the question out. She couldn't lose Blake (not level-headed Blake) to some love.

Her tanned cheeks flushed and she glanced towards the window, "you wouldn't believe me even if I told you about him." The door to Rose's bedroom pushed open, the hinges creaking and Lena's face then body joined the three Belladonnas in the room, "Len—"

"A merman right?" she played with the jewels around her wrist. "From the North—skin gray with black scales, right?" Blake stood from the bed, taking a couple of steps to her niece. Lena tapped at her collar, where Blake's necklace would be. Blake glanced down, fingering at the bright red gem. "I didn't believe her when she said your ship sank... and everything else about him and..." she trailed off glancing down at her boots before quickly snapping her attention back towards her mother, then to her Aunt Trisha, then finally Blake. "Then I saw your necklace and it was just like what she said—it glowed like its living."

Blake's hands dropped to her sides and she licked her lips.

...

The flowing, colourful fins brushed against his scaled arms and face as the male circled him. Adam swatted at the colourful appendages. A series of harsh words pushed out through Adam's barred teeth and the colourful merman chuckled, "Dude, I don't understand you're weird as fuck ancient Northern language. Speak like a proper mer, dude!"

Adam snarled at Sun—all these mer-folk had the oddest of names down here. So human and... land-ish. They even looked human, with their variations of skin tones ranging from 'white' to 'black'. It's beige or light peach; they don't have a skin colour like snow. Adam knows what snow looks like and these mer's don't have skin that reminded him of the snow. Nor was the 'black' skin black, it was dark brown. Their skin tones didn't take an unnatural hue to them like the mer's in the North did—or the rare tribe hidden away deep in the swamps of an island to the South. Their skin did not absorb the light and refuse to release any of it.

"Red," and there was that thing too. They couldn't even pronounce his name let alone speak his native tongue—their species native tongue. Only the elders in the tribe (and the few scholars that pride themselves in speaking a quote and quote 'dead language') would refer to him by his given name, and even that was few and infrequent now that the tribe took to calling him Red after his eyes and choice of jewelry. "Sun. Do I have to go grab Velvet?"

At his mate's name Sun jolted back and out of Adam's face, his blond hair fanning out as he shook his head. Sage raised a green eye brow at his friend's action and shared a look with Adam when the male started to sprout excuses as to why the green haired male shouldn't go tell Velvet. "Sun," a female voice purred, her tanned hands trailing up the blond's side when she and her partner in crime swam up to join the group of three. "What's this about telling Velvet?" the brown haired female purred in the blond's ear, "the elders told us not to go into open water. There are no sailors to go seducing to their death either... or are you giving Red a hard time again?"

Coco and Velvet were close. Ever since the day that Coco and Fox had traded their human legs for fins, Velvet had taken a shining to the pair (except Sage; can't really out class someone in the 'fancying' department when they're mated to one of the individuals in question). So once Coco heard something you'd be correct in thinking that Velvet would quickly learn of the subject when the pair would meet up.

"No," Sun quickly exclaimed eyes wide and staring out into the open water. He snapped his attention towards Sage and Fox when the smell of blood pierced the water—everyone stared at the pair at the smell. Adam rolled his eyes, of course Fox bit him. Of course, it always happened—that male loved the feeling of flesh between his teeth (liked his flesh between Sage's as well if all the new and healing skin was anything to go by). "Come on! Guys! We're right here!" Sun groaned pressing the palm of his hands against his temple.

"Oh don't be a prude, it's only a little love nip—you've done worse!" Coco countered pinching his cheek and pulling.

Adam shook his head, staring out into the open sea—there was something in the currents that still unsettled him. Fox and Sage could feel it; they were part of that hunting party. The feeling felt cool, and the taste of ice water pushing its way past his teeth and settling deep in his stomach did nothing to help pass the feeling of his off as nothing. There was something shifting in the water and Adam was sure what it was yet—but there was something.

And until the elders knew for sure what it was no one was leaving without permission from them, and even then it would be groups of handpicked hunters. Only one small group at a time.

...

"A woman with the last name Arc had help lead a battle when all other lines of defence failed. This woman single handily gathered the remaining men, returning them to the battlefield and she also grabbed King Diodotus' spear which she used to drive into the heart of the war general of the opposition—Lady Arc did all of this while heavily pregnant."

Blake rolled her eyes at her niece's story.

Lena paused and sighed at the mental image that her mind was no doubt concocting, "And from that day on, they renamed the city Arkos to symbolize the great feat that the woman preformed. Although, their house had never merged they always remained close friends. It isn't until recently that a child from each house had fallen for the other. For the first time in four generations it seems that the houses will finally meet in marriage and later with blood." She ended with a joyful, childlike, sound of glee her grip on her rag that she was using to dry off the beer mugs clenched tight in her grip.

Blake never cared much about the history behind this city was or even how it came to being. She was more concerned with the waters and how she'd get back into that tide. Lena was the one so focused on history, and stories, and just anything that could spark her imagination. But the invitation that the Belladonnas' had obtained earlier today had sent the girl into a fit of giggles and squealing—Blake hadn't the heart to ask her about this 'Sea-er' that told her niece about Blake's Merman.

That's right, he was hers.

Blake wanted to meet this woman that lived by the shore—the one that told the people what ships had crashed, and where the fish would be so the fishermen could find them. Lena had told Blake in whispers that this woman even knew where each ship was located and what country it belonged to. She also explained that the woman could tell who the sea had claimed—weather a person lived or died by whatever cause of the sea (shark attack, mythological creature, canon fire, drowning, etc.).

Blake wanted to meet her—she needed to meet this woman.

But Lena promised to take her after the ball that was being held tomorrow evening. So like the proper aunt that she was, Blake listened.

...

The huge mermaid shook her head, reaching out and cupping her son's face with her equally large hands. Adam hadn't seen his mother for a long time—not since the last gathering of elders. And this was what this was. The giant mermaid pressed her lips against the red crown; she always used to kiss his head like this when he was a pup. "Listen to the elders," she finally spoke in the common mer-tongue. She was finished telling her son all she could about the top-secrete situation that gathered them all together.

"Of course," he replied leaning into her touch. His mother pulled away with a sharp toothed grin tapping against the center jewel of his matestone. She grinned, her dark covered brow rose as she inquired about it. "You won't know her," he replied back in the common tongue. She ran the pad of her thumb over the still jewel; he knew what she'd ask before she even noticed the lack of light. "She's human. She'll be back to trade her... legs after she bids her family farewell," he nibbled on the inside of cheek, pulling at the skin until the taste of blood appeared.

The scales covering her upper body flared up and she grinned, hugging her son to her chest. Her high pitched laugh rocked her chest as she smushed him in-between her breasts. "Like a proper sea dragon!" she exclaimed kissing his hair then crown and then finally pulling his face from her chest to lay kisses all over his face.

It was the scales and the less than human appearance that the northern group of merfolks had that earned them the name. Named after land dragons long ago—back when dragons still roamed the Earth. Adam's heard that dragons no longer fly through the sky like once did, and something about that saddened him. He's always wanted to see a dragon but their rein had long since passed since his concievement.

The glittering matestone around her neck flickered drawing his attention, "How's Pa?" His mother quickly launched into a story about the man, one arm stretched out and making gestures to go along with the stories and one clawed hand still massaging the hairs at the nape of his neck. He laughed along, picturing his father's face in these situations—the arguments that he had to break up between the Schnee tribe and one of Adam's brothers.

Seems that one of Adam's younger brother's was courting one of the Schnee daughters—Winter. Or something like that—both of the girls had human like names that started with the same sound. The Schnee's confused him—everything about them was white; white hair, white scales and skin, and ice blue eyes... some even going so light as white. And by white, Adam means white like snow.

None of this beige or peach colouring.

"And now I can tell Pa and your siblings about your mateship," she grinned back at him.

...

Lady Arc had a statue in the middle of the grounds on Nikos manor and Blake wondered if the Arc family was embarrassed of it at all. It was a lovely statue of a pregnant Lady Arc with King Diodotus Nikos' spear in one hand, the other pointing forward, and her hair blowing in the wind. It was all extremely dramatic, and Lena was in awe at it all.

They both had their best gowns on—which wasn't anything fancy in Blake's case, just a black and white dress with ruffles. It wasn't even short enough to be of any use on a ship—meaning that her tits were pressed up too high and no man could ogle her legs. And if a man couldn't ogle your legs, that means you weren't of much use on deck—Gotta have those babies out and about in the sea air in either pants or something a little more... shapely.

They showed off their invitations and were sent into this huge ballroom where people were already dancing and mingling—Blake couldn't help but roll her eyes. She was a pirate, why the hell was she here again?

Ah, yes.

Lena pulled at her arm and whispered the names of the upperclass in her ear. Giggling when she finally noticed Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc dancing just off center of the dance floor, "It's said that the only thing that Princess Pyrrha couldn't do was dance and that Lord Jaune Arc could—better than all six of his sisters combined!"

Blake smiled at her niece; the girl loved the royal family and she loved gossiping about them even more. Normally Blake would be a little more... lively during these conversations, but truthfully she just wanted to meet with this Sea-er woman and be done with it all.

She watched as the bodies on the dance floor swished round and round, the women's gowns spinning as the pairs glided across the floor. She was never much of a dancer to begin with—certainly not for these ballroom type things either—but she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to dance with Adam.

They must be have their own version of dancing down there.

Elegant swimming possibly?

Lena pulled at her arm, "Auntie Blake, Prince Drakon is looking at you." Blake could see the awe sparkle in her eyes, and Blake wondered if her sisters ever told Lena about the moment that the Belladonna's could've married into royalty.

If it wasn't for Blake's heart already belonging to the sea.

The girl pulled at her arm again and hissed that the Prince was making his way towards them. Blake rolled her eyes at the saunter the man had in his step as he made his way towards them. He crossed a leg over the other and made a show in his large sweeping bow as he kissing at Blake's knuckles. "Lady Blake Belladonna, it is certainly a surprise," he said against her hand.

She rolled her eyes, "hello Drakon. I'm engaged."

She was lying; but it was the only thing she could think to say that would keep him from making a fool of himself... again.

He jumped, letting go of her hand as he did. Hands cradled against his chest as he stared at her with a mixture of awe, shock, and just a pinch of anger. Yes, Blake felt like laughing at this situation and everything revolving around it.

As it was already established, the Belladonna's had won their plot of land from the Nikos family generations ago. Since that time the Nikos' would send invitations to their events, and every so often a letter or two would be exchanged through the household. It was the Nikos' way to show that there was, in fact, no 'hard feelings' between the families.

And that's where Drakon made his appearance; the youngest Nikos son (and elder brother to a Pyrrha Nikos) had fancied the youngest Belladonna daughter. They were both children then, and with that came Drakon's childish crush on her.

Nothing happened—other than the few times that he told her, "one day we'll get married" which she laughed at and even one of those times threw a rat at the boy (he had shouted in fright and dance-jerked away from the vermin).

His bright green eyes stared at the stone that she was tapping around her neck; she could see his throat bob with the swallow. "It's an impressive stone," he licked his lips, "who should I send my congratulation letters to?"

Now she was starting to feel a little bad.

Just a little, it's been close to seven years since the last time he 'proposed'. She's been at sea for years, he should have moved past this by now. "You wouldn't know him, he's from an island close to the Lunar Sea," she fingered at the gem around her neck.

The maps for Remnant had so many different names for bodies of water (many had three different names for the same lake, Sea or Ocean), Blake would wonder at times if one day they'd finally come to a conclusion on just what to call it.

His eyes darkened, "those are some dangerous waters."

Blake knows, oh does she ever know. Pirates, giant fishes, and Sea monsters of legends were patrolling those waters. She's heard tales of the waters in the North—the Glimmering Circle—were turning with monsters that no one could describe.

"I'm aware," she smiled tapping again at the glittering stone around her neck.

...

Velvet's calico tail swished as she reclined over the coral, her fingers poking at her growing belly. She had just gotten her fertile eggs removed and stored away with the nurse-mates who would see to it that her babies were growing nicely.

There were different types of merfolk, the easiest way to tell the certain types from the other were their tails.

Through those means it was divided into what sea-dwelling animal held the same characteristics as the Mer. Some took after mammals (like whales and dolphins), other after fish (like clown fish and tuna), some after sharks (tiger and lemon), and then there was some that even took on reptilian characteristics (crocodiles and snakes).

But those guidelines were never concrete—a mere base tool in which a pup or guppy would describe their fellow Mer.

Velvet's type of merfolk tended to hold their young in their body until a time in which they could safely lay the eggs. Not all of these kinds do so, normally it's the role in their society that settles their decision—Velvet (and Coco and Sun if you want more examples) is one of the mermaids that seduce sailors into the sea where they'd take their soul before tearing the meat from their bones.

It isn't safe for her babies if she births them at the age in which they were ready. And she wanted to insure her young's protection.

If she had kept her job as a scholar and achieve keeper then she would've kept her young on her until she would expel them from her body when they were ready. But shortly after her mateship with Sun, Coco and Fox had joined their tribe of merfolks and Velvet had formed a close bond with them. And truthfully, it was Coco who talked her into this job that she had now.

She got to swim out so far away from home, until the water grew chilled with a temperature she wasn't used to. And it was still in their territory. It was a beautiful, life changing experience and she never wanted to stop swimming to and past the boarders.

She wanted to one day come close to being able to race with the Northern. A merman they've came to call Red—for his eyes and the crown of blood-like stone fashioned into a crown. With all her years of studying, his mother tongue was one of her favourite subjects to read and study. She was the only one in their group of companions (friends?) that could speak it.

Though she was nowhere near the level of being fluent.

He appreciated it though.

He had to teach her some of his more popular phrases—curses and insults. They were just curses and insults and they made her laugh at just how beautiful it sounded when he'd snarl them at Sun or Fox, and the rare times she'd hear him mutter them about a scholar or elder when he was leaving for a job or the former was saying how Red's language was a dead one.

"You'll be fine," he made it sound more like a question than a statement. Velvet nodded, rolling over onto her now empty but still seemingly growing stomach. She's told that it'll be like that for a few days until her body notices the missing young. She reached out and tapped her middle finger against the glimmer-less gem. "She said she'd return soon," he knew her too well.

She was happy for him, truly.

He had joined their tribe so long ago; Velvet couldn't even remember how old she was. But it was time where they weren't thinking of mates—not even close to it. She couldn't even remember the details on why he migrated from the North, but he did and he would come and go from the tribe often. Wearing that dumb (she loves it, she wants one but it was something that Northerners wore and had) headpiece of his and carrying his equally red weapons.

She had heard rumors of cities in the deepest parts of the Northern waters being carved from the stone. In their more natural state they were said to glow and illuminate the Ocean Floor. Even the Merfolk there gave off a faint to bright glow—or so she's heard.

Red hasn't been very loose lipped about his home tribe.

Velvet stared at the necklace that Red crafted, finger tapping against the red center stone. "Adam," she looked up when he spoke, her head tilting to the side. "My mate named me Adam," Velvet watched a small grin spread upon his lips as he stared out towards open sea. The whites of his eyes bleeding black; they always did that when he was feeling a shift of extremely strong emotion.

Anger, pain, grief... love and affection.

Velvet grinned at him, gripping his clawed hand with her's. "Adam is a nice name. It has the same starting sound as your given name," she used her hold on his hand to pull herself up and off the coral. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pecked his cheek, "Now what does it mean?"

She would've killed to be in this position long ago—when she thought her feelings of admiration and envy to be love. She loved him though still, as a brother she had never had an opportunity of having.

He took care of her and she took care of him—that meant more than anything.

He tilted his head away from her as he thought, his eyes squinting. "Something about red..." he sighed. Velvet's jaw dropped and she laughed—even this mate of his was naming him after red! Oh Sun would like this!

He cussed her out in his mother tongue, rolling his eyes as he moved to playfully push her face away from his.

...

The Sea-er was not what Blake was expecting—for the main point, she was young, beautiful, and colourful. Her skirts in a rainbow of colours of blue, green, yellow, orange, purple and pink. Her dark hair braided and coloured strands were mixed in with that as well. Her skin was a beautiful rich and a natural copper. She had bands of painted marking peaking out beneath her skirts and wrapping around her neck and arms.

"Ahh, you're Red's mate," the woman took her in from her boot to her hat. She paused to taste a sound on the time of her tongue, "I apologise, it seems that you've named him Adam." The woman gestured towards the chair in front of the table that had a huge open map of the world on it. In the four corners sat different jars filled with candle wax—the flame flickered in the waning light.

Lena hadn't accompanied her, despite her begging and pleading with her aunt—Blake didn't want anyone here. She had questions and history to learn and it would be best done without the girl here to ask almost a near constant string of questions.

"How do you know that?" Blake inquired as she took the offered seat.

The woman peaked between the curtains, locking her door with her other hand. "I've always had a strong connection with the water," Blake noticed when the woman turned her large dangling earrings appeared from beneath her hair.

They lacked that flicker in the stone that Blake's necklace had.

"Silly boy," the woman shook her head before bending at her waist to get a better look at the jewel. "He didn't even tell you what it means, did he?" she shook her head, already knowing the answer. "He went and gave you a piece of his soul—in your society you would consider the act of producing the jewelry as an engagement, and the giving of souls to be a marriage."

Her gaze narrowed, black creeping around the edges as her heart slammed against her ribcage. He had given her his soul—that's what the flickering light was. She wrapped a protective hand around the center jewel and clutched it—it even felt a little warm, but that could just be her imagination.

The woman cupped Blake's face, forcing her to focus on her, "and the light won't leave it until he dies."

Blake glanced at the earrings, "is that why you left?"

The woman smiled and shook her head mournfully, "my children have grown and had children of their own. My need to stay with them was no longer strong." She patted Blake's cheek rubbing a thumb over her cheek bone as she removed herself from the other woman. She strolled around the table to her cushioned seat, pulling the chair back and settling in. "I'm old, though I don't look it. I've seen plenty of things, heard many more. I've trained many a Mer in the job that I used to have—in the end, despite all my love and knowledge of the sea I wished to dawn on these fabrics and stroll around in a pair of feet."

She kicked a foot up, an ankle with a golden chain that would jingle with movement, and showed off her bare foot. "Since my mate's passing, and my roll of mother no longer a critical one I was able to make to land and settle here in Arkos," she grinned, her teeth sharper than a normal human, "and I must say the people here are entertaining—a mixture of stupidity, and blind kindness."

Blake laughed.

"There are a few things you need to know, and I'm not sure if your Adam would be able to tell you them all. And it wouldn't be for a lack of caring—more of the possibility that he might be on a mission or something of equal importance." Blake weaved her fingers together in her lap, preparing herself for the information the woman would no doubt give her.

"There is a hierarchy with Merfolk society, each Nation of Mer following a different form. The tribe that you've met is lead by a group of seven elders. Each merfolk is even a job—a duty—to perform in that society. Your mate is what you could call a warrior or a hunter. He's formed companionships with Soul Collectors—or the Sirens as your kind like to refer to them as—and a former scholar. The sirens gather souls of humans and bring their meat back for consumption. Human flesh is considered a delicacy and their souls are extremely valuable.

Souls are a main source of trade between the Northern tribes where their minerals," the woman gestured to Blake's necklace than her own earrings, "is plentiful. It's mostly between the tribe located on the Ocean floor. As a scholar you learn information about everything; from the old language of merfolk—the language that the Northern and far Southern tribes still primarily communicate with—to the migration of certain fish. You can gain information from human souls—if you consume them you gain everything that they know; memories, thoughts, feelings... it's an odd experience and only the highest of scholars perform this. That was what I used to do.

Now, your mate—Adam is a tribe from the North; the coldest, darkest, deepest parts of the Ocean. Where we get our fine jewelry from. In the North they have two ruling tribes, the Schnee's and Adam's family whose name roughly translates to Taurus. The Schnee's typically make their home as far north as possible, surrounded with ice and waters that normal Mer's typically can't survive in. They're the keepers of knowledge, and due to the extreme cold they will remain as the keepers of it. No being has successfully stolen from the Schnee tribe.

The Taurus' on the other hand make their home in the dark—like stated before—where the stones in their natural state produce a bright glow. Ours typically won't glow unless we're in a place of complete and total darkness. It's much like the Northerner's scales, they'll continue to absorb all the light it could so when a day comes that it's back in their home environment they'd use less of their own energy. You must have thought that his scales absorbed the light—that it was unnatural."

Blake fiddled with the jewel around her throat, "I have."

The woman stood, strolling across the room to a jug on top of a collection of books. She held out the bottle and Blake took it—rum, a pirate can never say no to a bit of rum. The woman uncorked the other bottle with her teeth and spat it across the room with a soft pop. She returned to her seat, setting the bottle heavily on the map. "The Merfolk of the North are creatures of legends—scales like dragons and a knack for hoarding like their land dwelling counter parts. But in that place you need to be a monster to survive against other monsters. The North is home to many creatures that are thought to be long forgotten—and two of those creatures are beginning their migration to the South Pole in a matter of days."

Blake was leaving in three days.

"How do you become a mermaid?" Blake asked, one hand curled around the neck of the bottle while the other was still around her necklace.

"By consuming a mixture—you really don't want to know what's in it. Adam will most likely give you a choice between the mixture of a Northerner or the one for this tribe. The tribe that he's a part of now has a vast collection vibrant colours but they won't be able to handle to water and pressure of his home. You won't be able to follow him if he visits—which he does."

Blake took a swing from the bottle, "what are some of the other differences?"

"The merfolk up North grow larger. Adam isn't even close to being fully grown, and he won't grow anymore than that until he finds a mate—you—and forms a proper bond with them. Merfolk evolved to fit with their mate; to... not have such extreme differences in size between the pair. Though he will still grow much larger, it may just be a matter of doubling his size rather than tripling—or so forth."

Blake thought this over—she'd ask Adam when she sees him next.

"The change will be painful and you won't be able to breathe any air from the surface for those few days of your transformation. He won't leave your side," she continued and Blake's attention snapped back into focus. "Any questions?"

Blake thought about this—she could ask Adam when she returns about the other things, mostly the stuff revolving around the Northern tribe (she'll pull the mate card if he would tell her). One thing stood out more than anything else.

"How does the song 'Red Horizon' go?"

...

There were eight of them in this scouting party heading towards colder waters. "This is bullshit," Scarlet snarled rubbing at his shoulders. Sage and Adam both huffed and rolled their eyes at his outburst. They had just survived the argument between Fox and Scarlet about five hours ago, and it was too early for another one to kick off again.

The last one had ended ugly—slurs were exchanged, and Mer's were held back.

In a non-heated and angered situation a different word would be used to describe Scarlet and Sage's past. The tribe that their parents had originally migrated from were birthed genderless and remained genderless until early to mid adolescence. It was then chemicals in their body would release.

And in the case against Fox was a lot of his past—he was human before this, both he and Coco were pirates. But before that Fox was onboard a slaver ship—it had sunk and he was pulled from the wreckage by the ship that Coco was on (it was how they had met). Scarlet had used all the insults that he could on humans, even dipping into the human's vocabulary and snarling those words at him as well.

The physical confrontation was quickly stopped before it could become more than just a swipe of claws. Sage—poor, dumb Sage—shouldn't have gotten into the mix. He was mated with Fox and shared a close bond since puphood with Scarlet, and it wouldn't matter who he held back he would still be in the wrong with one of them—it still surprised the party when he grabbed Scarlet in a headlock and hooked an arm under the red-scaled merman.

Adam had to quickly grab Fox—the male had raged at that. Was in enough of a rage to remove three of Adam's scales on his arm with his teeth and then proceed to sink said teeth into his arm as Fox's tail kicked and fought to get out of Adam's hold.

That argument started with a comment similar to this.

"Not again, we already have the mates fighting," one of the two females in the group huffed. There was that too that annoyed Adam. For the last while Sage has been swimming close to Fox, trying to touch him or gain his attention, only for the other merman to bare his sharp teeth and cursed at him in a human tongue before joining Adam at the back of the party and refusing to even look in his mate's direction since then.

Ruby and Yang were half sisters and new to the regular scouting party that typically made for these expeditions. Ruby was much younger than the rest of them, only at the tail end of her adolescence. But she had connections and one of the elders took a liking to the young mermaid. And Yang, Yang must have broken something she shouldn't have (or spoke out of line which has happened often) in her typical guard duties to end up in a scouting party to the North.

The group have been away from home for close to a full moon cycle (or a human month).

"There's other Merfolk ahead," the merman gestured for Adam to join him at the front of the group as they neared. Their main goal for this mission was to collect a small group of Northern merfolk and bring them back, and the second (if possible) was to see if they could find what was causing the unrest in the sea.

"Taurus!" the mermaid of all white colouring shrieked and Adam frowned. Her tail long and serpent like, with a large light blue fin fanning out around the tip. A Schnee. They were sending a Schnee down from their eternal winter wonderland to the near tropical waters of Central West—to what? Get a few documents before scurrying back home to add it to their collection? The mermaid continued on with her mother tongue.

Adam rolled his eyes at the 'keeping them waiting' and he nodded to the Schnee guard (he was plugging his ears as his mistress spoke), before settling on the male of black, dark gray, and gray colouring. He looked similar to Adam—with the spikes and grooves in his hide—even if he did come in a darker colouring. He grinned pointedly and held his clenched fist up to Adam. Their fist bumped and a greeting slipped from their lips.

Much like Sage and Scarlet, Adam and this merman were together since puphood. "Common tongue please!" Ruby shouted hands cupped around her mouth. The four Northern Merfolk started, staring at the young mermaid. She flustered, crossing her arms over her chest. "Sorry, but everyone was thinking it!"

...

She had to paddle her way into mermaid waters, her heart thundering in her chest as she dipped her fingertips into the water and drew circles. Pressing her face against the lip of the harpooning boat, which she stole away with in the middle of the night (hello, Pirate!), and drawing hearts and other shapes in the water now as well.

"In the Red Morning,

The sky is alive,

Swimming in blood of the fallen,

Out comes the sun,

Over the Horizon,

This is the song of the fallen.

Come the new day,

Welcome the change,

Throw out the bodies to decay—"

The boat rocked and Blake snapped back up to a seated position, her heart in her throat. A merman with storm gray (the type you would see right before a hurricane with a deep blue and green swirled around with the gray) stared back at her. His skin sun kissed and burgundy scales—this was not the merman she wanted. "You're not the merman I was expecting," she said swallowing the thump in her throat.

A mermaid emerged from the water by the tip of the male's tail. He propped himself up on her boat, head tilting in question. "Who're you lookin' for?"

"Adam," she replied not taking her eyes off the merman in front of her. He broke eye contact, finally taking in the necklace around her throat.

"You're Blake, right?" the mermaid voiced, and Blake was torn between keeping her gaze on the blond one and looking at her. She went with looking at the female. Blake nodded, smacking the merman's hand away from his attempt to grab at the necklace. He shouted rearing back before making a movement to heave himself towards her—she pulled the safety off from her pistol, the nozzle of the gun pressing against his forehead.

"Don't make me pull the trigger," she warned nudging it against his scaled forehead. The mermaid spoke something in her tongue and the male eased off with a pout. Blake kept the gun pointed at him, "so where's Adam?"

The mermaid remained in the spot where she had surfaced, "a scouting party was sent out to collect a member of the Schnee family roughly—" she paused to think of the words, "two months ago. They're due to arrive any day now."

Blake couldn't just leave and return later.

"Do you know how to get to the hidden cove?" she didn't exactly want to call it Adam's in case it wasn't just his. The blond nodded, "can you take me there?" He shrugged—that wasn't good enough. "Will you take me there?"

The mermaid behind him seemed to radiate joy—like this whole thing was a source of amusement for her. A touch of pride was there though, and Blake had no idea why. "You wouldn't make it," he taking hold of the boat again.

Blake rolled her eyes—why were men so difficult?! "Well if you bestowed some of that magic kiss of yours I would," she had had it with this guy already and if she was going to do this it needed to be done properly. She had a base camp to set up and there was only a limited amount of sunlight to do it in. "Now let's get to that kiss so in about two hours, if you don't get lost, I can start setting up camp." She holstered her gun and raised a brow at the merman.

The blond glanced back at the mermaid—she was laughing now—"you heard her, get to the kissing," she was able to wheeze out between her assemblages of laughter. The merman grumbled weaving a clawed hand through the hair at her neck, pulling her into the water.

Kissing this fish-boy and her fish-boy was different—so very different. He lacked the ease of the action, the timing between the moment she makes contact with the water and the moment lips met. She had gotten a mouth full of water in the exchange before the pressure swept down her throat and into her lungs and belly.

"You are a horrible kisser," Blake told him once the goal was complete. The mermaid quickly fell into another wave of hysterics.

"Shut up, as if Red is any better!" the blond flustered dragging her along as they took off towards the cove.

"He is. I've never inhaled water with him like I did you—you should work on that." She was frustrated and blondy-fish was being a jerk earlier, she should really be a little... more concerned with what she's saying but then again, pirates weren't known for holding back.

...

"So, who was stupid enough to sing Red's song?" Neptune brushed his hair back and shifted from the right to the left side before dipping his hand back into the salve and running it through his hair again. Coco reached over, dipping the tip of her middle claw and bopping him in the nose with the glob of green. He grimaced, rubbing the goo from his face and glowered at her.

"His mate," Velvet replied. The words hung over their heads for a moment before both Mer's jolted and kicked off the coral they were seated on.

"His mate is here!" Coco exclaimed cupping Velvet's face and stared in her eyes. "What's she like?"

"Sassy," Sun replied rubbing at his cheek. "She chewed me out," he pouted causing Velvet to begin her laughter anew.

...

The fire was roaring behind her as she waded into the surf, the sand squishing between her toes. She sighed, sinking into the water and ducking her head under. Pushing her hair back and away from her face as she surfaced again; it felt good to be back here. Her own little paradise.

The sun had just set and a fog was rising from the water, rolling in around her and she sucked in a breath. The mist was thickening, pulling up the wet hair from her arms. She skimmed the surface of the water with her palms and stared at the gem hanging from her neck. The light was flickering more than normal—glowing brighter.

She clenched her eyes closed at the intensity and when she opened her eyes again the flicker was back to normal, if not slightly dimmer then before.

...

"What in Hades were those things?" Scarlet hissed pulling out a tooth from his arm and stabbing it into his kill's head—'have your tooth back, you prick' fashion. The only ones not sporting injures were Weiss and the dark Northerner named Bane (there was a inside joke there that only Adam and he picked up on). The former had spent her time critiquing each persons (mostly her own guard's) fighting style and only lifting a finger when one of the giant fish monsters snuck got a little too close for comfort. Bane's hide was tough and he was familiar with these types of monsters so his lack of injuries was to be expected.

"Djnara, a common fish up in Dark North waters. Nasty tempers," Bane explained around a mouthful of Djnara. "Their hides are tough and it makes it difficult to combat against," the group was well aware of this fact. The only southern Mer that seemed to have no problem cutting through the monster of the deep was Fox.

And that fish was destroyed.

And initial wound to the chest cavity which became a gaping hole once the merman began pulling scales, flesh, bones and organs from the thing. Pieces of it were floating around him in a cloud of dark pink. He had injured himself sometime during the moment of first attack and tearing the Djnara apart from the inside out—no one questioned it, not after the orange-scaled tiger shark had snapped again at his own mate.

"We're only a few days out from home. I'll live," was what he said before the, "fuck off."

The party had agreed to eat Fox's kill and the one that Yang and Ruby dispatched due to their mangled corpses. It wouldn't make for great carrying; meat will not be wasted. It was a wreck and even the new Northern merfolk watched the mated pair with concerned growing. It wasn't common for mated pairs to actually fight—arguing was different. But Fox was showing outright hostility and Adam was starting to worry.

He needed to separate Fox from the group as soon as possible, get him back to Velvet and Coco—anywhere that didn't have Scarlet or Sage sending him concerned looks. Sure, Scarlet was still slightly bothered by the confrontation close to a moon cycle ago. He said the things that he said and what he needed to in that altercation, and yes he would willingly admit that he said a lot of things that he shouldn't have and he felt horrible about it. But Fox wasn't talking to anyone and if he was it was short and clipped, and normally ending with a snarl or bared teeth.

And now he was injured and refusing medical attention and if Sage wasn't going to push Fox for it, then no one else could.

The party set out again just as the sun was dipping into the horizon, their catch towed behind them as they swam onwards.

...

Blake had met a group of merfolk during her second stay in Adam's little cove. They would come to the shore and drag her back to the city that they call their own. It was beautiful; the same mineral that Adam wore was fashioned into decorations on the buildings. And the scales—oh Poseidon those fins and scales! The colours and styles of them were just lovely, and Blake couldn't decide if she could consume the concoction from the South or the North.

There was a mermaid with purple scales!

Coco had said that Glydna was one of the elders—one of the testy elders. Oh yes, Coco had taken Blake under her... fin and took it upon herself to show her around to the best of her abilities. "I was a human once," she explained in English, "a pirate too."

At this moment Blake was sitting in the swallows with Coco and Velvet as the mermaid explained how she had turned into a mermaid. "I don't understand why he can't grasp this concept though. You understand though right? You get your hands on a nice booty and you just have to chase after it!" Blake laughed at the shrill that Coco's voice took as she shook her hands out in front of her. "And god damn it, that boy went and seduced a merman. How does someone even do that? I mean, we were marooned on that island; he got frustrated and walked off! And then BAM! Next thing I know I'm following after him one day and he has his tongue halfway down a merman's throat!"

The water around Velvet slashes as she laughs with her whole body. It was cute.

"And I'm staring at both of them now and I say, 'if this asshole joins your fishy ass in the sea you better make room for me too. I've been protecting this booty for years now and I'm not through yet!' and bless that fish for being used to Fox at this point 'cause he just smiles that sharp-toothed grin all of us tend to share and he just says, 'then what are we waiting for?'"

During the week that Blake had been in the little cove for, she had learned quite a bit—about Adam, about Merfolk culture, and about the changes between human and Merfolk culture. One big thing was the lack of racism, they knew slurs and they grasped the concept of them but they never implemented them. The closest thing that came to it was the differences in tribes and how each type of Merfolk had their differences.

There was a tribe in the Southern tropics that were birthed genderless and remained genderless until they reached adolescence. And that... that was actually really interesting and fantastic and Blake was just in awe by it all.

"I want to try something," Coco voiced sometime later. The brunette leaned into Blake's personal space, the jewelry wrapped around her hair jingling as she tilted her head. Blake noticed this too; every merfolk she's met and spoken to did that action in their conversation. She needed to figure out if it was an actual cultural habit or if it was spurred on by one of them and they all just subconsciously adopted it.

"Sure," Blake replies without hesitation. Coco's eyes narrowed with concentration and she cups Blake's face in her clawed hands—Blake already knows what comes next. Next comes the tug under the water and the press of lips against hers. And that part was met without any qualms. It was everything after that forced Blake to return to the surface spluttering and coughing up water.

"I fucked up, shit," Coco apologized as soon as she surfaced. "Never tried to before and I thought... well, it looks and sounds so easy to do!" she exclaimed and Blake waved her comment off. Maybe it was a born merfolk thing?

Neptune, Velvet and Sun didn't have any problems with delivering the mermaid's kiss.

"You're still a better kisser than Sun," Blake joked with a grimace, her throat tender from the sudden intake of water.

"Now you're just buttering me up for something," Coco grinned pushing away from the human woman and swimming out into deeper waters. Neptune and Sun breached the water's surface, their fins flared and hair plastered against their skulls.

"They're back," Neptune's voice rang out loud and clear. Velvet turned to Blake and held her hand out for the woman to take. So... so it was what she thought it was. Adam was back—she'd finally see him again. She couldn't fight the grin from pulling at her lips; it threatened to split her face in two.

Ozpin was the first to greet them as they swam into the city. "Miss Schnee," he greeted the Northern mermaid. "I trust that your company saw that you were safe," Adam couldn't bring himself to pay attention to the rest of the conversation. Not when there was a pink trail still following after Fox as he swam around from the group and towards the heart of the city.

Adam couldn't say where he'd go; would he go back to the den he shared with his mate (though this was unlikely) or would he hunt down Coco or Velvet and hideaway in their den as he healed. Would he even allow them to touch him and deliver the medical attention that he needed?

"Fox!" Sage called after his mate; the orange haired merman snapped his tail into a quicker swim. Adam wrapped his hand around the male's arm and kept him from following. "I can't just let him swim off like that, Red," he growled teeth showing as he threw glances between Adam and the empty space that Fox had disappeared towards.

"He'll find Coco and when he's better the two of you will work it out. Those words that he and Scarlet threw at each other weren't something to take lightly and he knows that. He's just still focused on the whole thing of you going to the defense of your puphood companion then your mate. So let him sort it out; he'll bitch to Coco and she'd chew both you and him out, then maybe Velvet and Sun and if you're unlucky Yatsuhashi will be thrown into the mess. And after that something will break and you'll fight like you normally do until one of you figures out what to do next." Adam shrugged, it sounded so simple when he stated it like that. So linear and... short.

He had no idea how long this process would take; he didn't even know if those people he mentioned would even get involved. Coco certainly, but the rest were a hit or miss.

Sage frowned, "you think?" Adam didn't bother with replying, he sounded like he was talking more to himself then anything. He tugged at long dangling bright blue earring that flicker with his mate's soul, the pad of his thumb pressing against the point of the jewel. Sage sighed; face falling back into a neutral setting, "I'll just go home then. See you around Red."

Adam nodded, "I'll keep Coco off you for as long as possible," he called after the male as he swam off in a downcast pace. Adam couldn't do anything to help either of them in this matter, and truth be told, he didn't want to get involved anymore than this. If he said something wrong here he'd be chewed out, and Fox was in a bad enough mood as it was.

He placed a hand over his injured hide, he should really go change the seaweed and slather on a new coat of ointment if he wanted his scales to grow back like they were before. "Red!" he glance up at his name and spotted the grouping. Velvet wrapped her arms around his neck and rubbed her nose against his.

He felt the bitterness of the trip chip away as she carted her claws through the hair sweeping around his neck. "It's been too long," he replied taking his hand away from his wound and laying it down on her scaled torso. His eyes remained closed as he knocked their foreheads together and just... relaxed.

The group was mumbling and the sound peaked Velvet's interest. "Your mate—Blake," he snapped his eyes open and leaned away, "she's showed up shortly after you left." He jerked his head towards the group and stilled.

There she was.

Her hair floating around her as she gripped onto Coco's arm—Blake. This was his Blake and she was here and... still stunning. Yes, she was still absolutely stunning. She was smiling, too happy to be smug. She wiggled her fingers in a wave and Adam could hardly feel the water pass over his gills—all eight of them. He didn't even notice Velvet was no longer beside him until much later.

Only after he had the woman in his arms and was pressing a hard kiss into her inky halo of hair. Only after her hand pressed against his injured hide and he flinched away from the touch.

"Welcome back Adam," she remembered to say before breaking out a lecture of taking care of himself better. He might have preened under her wrath—the poking and prodding—but he hid it when the group started their cackling at his love worrying over him.

He growled and snapped at Sun and Neptune when they got a little too zealous and went to grab at him. They ducked behind the mermaids' quick enough while the females huffed and referred to them as Sea Cucumbers.

He had beached himself in the surf that evening when they had to break for air. Her hands had pressed and slid over his scales as she took in his injures. There weren't many, the one that bothered him had a new collection of seaweed and herbs pressed in it along with whatever concoction Glynda had created to help him heal him. "You're missing a scale right," her knuckle brushed over the gills on his neck and Adam shuttered, "here."

"We had a small," he scrunched his forehead in concentration, "tussle on the way back. Their hide was tough. It's only a scratch," his eyes felt heavy and he didn't want to sleep just yet but the moon pulled at him just as it did the waves brushing up against his dorsal fin.

Blake's laughter sounded light and far away in his ears, "Go to sleep but just know that if you get beached in the morning I will laugh the entire time it takes to return you to the Ocean." He couldn't pick up anything after that but soon the sound stopped and all he could feel was the water brushing against his side and back and the exploring touch of His Heart.

It felt good swimming naked again. The weight of her clothes held her back as she stole rides from her fish-y companions. "What's the difference between the Southern Tribe that you're a part of now and the Northern ones?" Blake questioned as they hung in the presence of floating and sinking.

Her toes brushed against the sand when she went to drag them in the sand to slowly tilt them in a lazy twirl. She fingered around the gills on his chest, between the ridges of his ribs, playing with the scales peeking out around them. He'd shutter and hang his head. He wouldn't say anything or push her away so Blake would continue until he took her hands away the openings and settle them elsewhere on his person—normally his shoulders.

"What do you mean?"

His body was now starting to block out the sun as momentum took her back under his shape. "Velvet and Coco mentioned that I would have to eat something to turn and that I had the option." She watched for any flicker of emotion in his maroon coloured eyes—it looked warmer some days while on others it looked like the colour of his crown.

Her fingers must have twitched against his gills wrong 'cause in an instant his pupils blew out and his body jolted right before he took her hands away from them and clenched them in his claws. Her heart jumped to her throat as he pulled her towards him—closer against him. She could feel ever scales pressed against her as they sink to the ocean floor with his nose buried in her inky hair. She could hear the rumble as he growled and spoke into her hair but no noise escaped his lips.

"Adam?"

She could see the ball in his throat bob as he swallowed. She wanted to lean in and wrap her lips around it, giving it a nice hard suck. But the rise and fall of chest kept her grounded, in control of her body, until he pushed them back up off the ocean floor and the continued the lazy float they had before. "These Merfolk take a more... colourful option. They resemble the creatures—their tails. They're pretty." He spoke slowly, like whatever that had gripped him before was still lingering.

Blake had noticed that—the colours. Everything had a colour here. It was so bright here with all the different rich colours in the merpeople's tails and scales, their jewelry bright and shining, even their skin had a nice colour to it. The only thing that was bright about Adam was the crown and necklace, and his eyes. She couldn't forget about the eyes that would shift from a bright ruby to a deep red. "And the North?"

Adam was like a solid stain of ink in the paper, he stuck out in all the brightness. The light would draw into his scales and gray skin and it would drink it all in. His scales were tough, she remembers him saying that once. The ridges and patterns reminded her of an alligator but harsher—he was a magical fish creature, of course his scales would be special.

"Withstand colder temperatures and deeper depths, tougher scales, normally grow a lot bigger. We normally come in white, shades of gray, and black." He was keeping it simple, trying to not speak in favour of one kind over the other even with his bias point of view. He had loosened his hold on her wrists and she quickly moved them to the spikes on his shoulders.

"And if I choose to take after the Northern kind?" The thought of a rich purple fin colour did peak her interest and she had inquired about fins and the shapes of tails and scale colour when Velvet and Coco kept her company daily. They had told her in was based on her soul—nothing to do with genetics. Blake had only grown confused and uncertain with their explanation.

His face appeared in front of hers, eyes flicking from left to right as he took in her expression. His brow twitched under the crown of red he wore. "It'll hurt a lot more than a normal transformation. Your body will grow, how much is up to," he tapped a claw against the spot where her collarbones connected. She frowned, "you; our connection, your wishes, your soul. It depends."

It was again with the soul stuff.

"How long will it take for me to turn?"

"Three days."

By three days he didn't mean from that actual moment. No, he wasn't prepared! He didn't exactly have any Northern Silvian on him. It would've spoiled a long time ago. And even if he did have some on him he'd have to have it sit in the darkest dark he could—and even then that wouldn't be proper enough.

But there were three new Northern Mer's who just arrived and he knew for certain that any good hunter never left without a Silvian if they were leaving their comfort waters. There was a chance that he could get the Silvian from one of them without much trouble and the rest would be a waiting game.

"Bane," he clasped a hand around the back of the male's neck and nodded quickly to Coco. "I need some of your Silvian, or all of it. Just give me all of it." Coco's face pinched in amusement as Adam pushed out his words in awkward bursts. Her silence broke when the other Northern Merman's face pinched in confusion.

"Your mate decided that she wanted to take after the Northerns?" At that Bane's face smoothed out and a sharp grin spread out, dimpling his cheeks. Oh boy, Coco was doomed now. First those arms and now the Merman had dimples—she may have to get hid of all her other mer-toys... maybe keep Yatsuhashi, he knew what she liked and she rather enjoyed that.

"Why haven't I met this mate of yours?" the male inquired leaning in until his nose bumped against Adam's. The merman decorated in red jolted away from his best friend since puphood—their mothers had matured together in the same hunting party, they were more like brothers than friends.

Adam shrugged his shoulders shyly, lip twitching. "You can if you want," he made it sound like both a question and not. He didn't really want a bunch of attention to be drawn to his human mate—after her turn would be a different tale. He'd most likely swim circles and breach from the ocean in his excitement.

Blake was human right now; it was dangerous.

Merfolk eat humans, and the Northern Merfolk treated humans and their products like a delicacy—even more so the ones from the Deep. And it wasn't that he didn't trust Bane, he trusted the merman with his life and soul but this was his mate.

His squishy human mate who... who hasn't given him a part of her soul yet, but still. He was hers and he would do anything and everything to steer his companions away from her... until he didn't have to worry about her drowning all the time... and if he'd touch her he'd nick her with a claw and the blood would draw someone in.

Coco laughed, "Red—oh, sorry Adam doesn't want her being shown off until she's all fishy. Ain't that right, sweetums?" Adam bore his teeth at her out of familiarity, and like that Adam's timid demeanor was broken. "I think we did enough poking and prodding while Adam was away. He's getting a little nervous about having so many gorgeous Mers'," she threw a wink at Bane and the merman snorted but raised his brow in interest, "around his darling. Thinking she'd take a bite outta this fine caramel tail?" This time she waggled her brow at Adam.

The crowned Merman snorted, coughing at the vibration that shot down his throat.

Bane grinned, "Well you asked so nicely." He pulled the pouch from around his torso and pulled preserved eel stomach from the depths of his bag. Adam took the stomach and knocked his covered forehead against the merman's temple; he lingered, eyes pinched shut and Bane leaned into the embrace nuzzling against the brighter male. "I want to meet her though—when the two of you are ready, of course." Adam nodded, finally pushing away from his best friend and nodded towards the mermaid watching the pair with fond chocolate eyes.

Coco gestured to the den behind her, "If you need us for anything we'll be here—making sure the fighting lovebirds are finished fighting and making up now." Adam frowned taking the moment to actually see where he ended up (he went searching for Bane's trail; he didn't really care where it led him as long as he found him). He was outside the den that Sage and Fox claimed as their own—green, yellow and pink shells and coral crept up over the rocks in lovely well groomed designs.

"How did you get them—?" he cut his question off when he noticed the large bolder blocking the entrance of the den and he hummed in understanding.

"Go back to your mate, Red, we've got these two taken care of."

Adam had told her that he'd be ready that night—he held out the eel stomach, peeling a part of it back to show the weed that he need to her. And at that moment it was real—everything was so very real. He was real. She was wearing a part of his soul around her neck as she wrapped her arm around his neck and curled into his large body.

She was going to do this.

She was going to throw away her humanity and join the sea—she... she wasn't ready. She wasn't ready anymore. She still wanted it—oh Davy Jones' Locker did she ever want it. But... she needed more time.

She told him and he smiled—pressing gentle kisses against her inky hair.

It was another two days before Blake wadded back into the surf with nothing but her necklace around her throat. In her hands she held a bowl of black liquid; it would glitter and shine shades of deep purple and green in the moonlight—it looked and felt like tar. The smell was horrible.

She stood with the bowl cupped in the palm of her hands, her breath catching in her throat as she spared a glance up at Adam again—he was still there, still waiting for her to drink it so he could take her to his den and keep her safe for the three or so days it took for the transformation to complete.

She took another step forward, the water now up to her armpits and she smiled—she smiled up at the merman and brought the bowl up to her lips. Take it like a shot of tequila, she thought and she shot half of the mixture straight down her throat. It was heavy and odd—it tasted sweet and salty but still very... fishy.

The second mouthful went down without much thought—she pulled bowl away from her lips and licked the taste from them. Adam's claws wrapped around her arm, guiding her forwards and towards the deeper water. This would be the first time she'd go under water with him without being kissed.

"The gills grow first right?"

Adam nodded, water was slowly starting to encase the human—the sea was always a pirate's home and it would forever be hers. She closed her eyes and the pressure in her gut was quick to spread, white hot heat—a wave spreading up through her system.

The pressure felt the same; she's felt it with every kiss. The tar-like substance had ignited a heat down her throat that only the sea water could dilute—she sucked in sea water like a life source. Her belly burned, her throat burned and the arms wrapped around her only tightened.

She closed her eyes and let finally let the sea take her.

Blake couldn't tell you how long she'd been out of it—she'd wake to pain and burning, a constant ache that stretched her bones. She could almost swear that she could hear her bones popping in and out of place as the shifted into form. Her throat would rumble and she'd sob at the feeling—the flare in her neck each time she'd swallow.

The male wrapped around her with hum and kiss her face (her horribly sensitive face) each and every time she'd come to. His voice rose and fell in a melody that she had no idea how to understand.

She fell in and out of pain; with each time her eyes fluttered open the more she could move—with the more she moved the less pain Blake felt.

It started with her fingers, then her arm. She'd reach towards her companion and run her textured fingers over the touch skin on his face. She'd find his scars, following the texture until it would end and she'd quickly find a new one. Adam would take her hand in his and kiss the pad of each claw—she had claws now. Black claws just like his.

When she felt stronger she'd move her hips, swaying the weight beneath back and forth. She'd hum—a pitch she wasn't used to—and watch with a growing fascination as her tail brushed back and forth against Adam's horde (against their horde).

"Revestivia," he whispered brushing her bangs back away from the scales framing her face. "You're absolutely stunning," he translated and Blake's facial scales flared at the compliment—her skin unable to blush.

"How long have we been in here?" Her throat hurt as she forced her voice. "Has it been long?"

"Roughly four days." Adam didn't seem concerned as he helped her from the bed of gems, jewels, and coins. She could see the sharp contrast in colours, the different rays that would illuminate the den from the glowing gems Adam had littering and growing out of the ocean floor.

Blake's claws dragged over the coins as she slowly pushed herself up higher with lazy flick and roll of her hips. It was awkward, nothing was similar to how she used to swim before—she swam like Adam, like a shark, rather than the up and down motion that mammals were used to.

They swam in slow lazy circles, round and round (and round again) in their large den. A smile pulling at her lips as she weaved her clawed fingers through his. "Can we stay here or in the cove for a few days more?

"Of course love," Blake never noticed just how much strain Adam's vocal cords took when he spoke her mother language. And thinking further on that point she noticed the slight strain (like an accent) that he put on them to meet the Common Merfolk language.

She smiled, "say something in your mother tongue. I like how you sound." His eyes darkened, scales flaring ever the slightest as he pursed his lips. Blake's smile widen, she never even noticed the flare in his scales!

"Zenventavar Ieemivl—" her brain couldn't pick up the rest of the sounds tumbling out off his tongue and Blake couldn't help but openly stare as he continued on. His mother tongue would caress the letters and sounds that she was familiar with—she could catch tone and stressors in his speech. His tone dipped lower and lower, eyes blinking to black and even the scales on his chest and shoulders were beginning to flare up.

"Are—are you talking dirty to me?" she flustered finally picking up on the tone when his gaze swept down her body. Adam only grinned, all pointy teeth and flicking black tongue. Her scales lifted, eyes dropping to their intertwined fingers. When she glanced back up Adam's lips were pressed against hers—she groaned as they twisted in the water.

He was dragging her down to the ocean floor, fingers weaving through her hair and she gripped and pulled at his back and shoulders—she wanted him closer. So much closer, she wrapped as much as her tail around his as possible.

She was still smaller than him, she most likely always will be. But she'd grow, she continue to grow and so would he—they'd grow longer and larger, and she wouldn't have to worry about him being three times her size.

He bit, blood seeping into his mouth as he sucked the liquid from her lip. "Adam," she grabbed the dull gem around his neck and tugging loosely at it, "Adam how do I make yours light up as well?" It sounded better than how do trap part of my soul in a rock?

He shook his head, kissing a path down her neck—over her gills and she sucked in a bunch of water, body shuttering. "Just push," his words rumbled against her neck, against her gills. It made no sense—push. Just push.

Push what?

Push her soul into the rock and call it a day?

She frowned, gripping the gem harder as Adam continued to kiss and nip at the scales down her collar bone. She concentrated—mermaids and everything down here was magic, of course nothing made sense. So she did what the only thing she could—she thought and wished and glared at her hand wrapped around his necklace.

She glared and thought and wished until the stone heated and her heart ached. She thought and wished until she could finally bring her hand away from the jewelry. She thought she saw a flicker of movement in the rock—Adam pulled away from her, reaching towards the gem around his throat. His shoulders tensing, they tensed before bouncing—they tensed before Adam hung his head forward and chuckled into her gills.

"I don't know what I did to deserve you," he paused pulling his head up and away from the crook of her neck, "but I'm thankful for whatever it is that I did."

His pressed their lips together, his lips opening and closing as a soft private melody rolled off his tongue and onto her own.

[I love you.]