Hi, this is my first Waterfire Saga fanfiction. Please, no Flames. I don't tolerate flames and I wouldn't do it to anyone else's story.

This may be a Crossover fic. But for now, it's here and see if you like it.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Waterfire Saga that belongs to Jennifer Donnelly

I know. This isn't the first time you've heard of something like this.

Let it not be said, I was always like this.

When you hear my story, you'd probably won't believe it, no matter who, what or where you are.

But hey, life's crazy right, human or mer?

To begin with, my name was not important. My life was not important. I won't say that it completely sucked, because that would be a total lie, but I never fulfilled anything. All hopes and ambitions. Waking up each morning, clinging to whatever fragile hopes you had left from the day before, and yet knowing that those hopes were easily shattered; that was difficult.

When I looked in the mirror, I saw nothing that would satisfy myself. I was too pretty to be plain or ugly, but I wasn't pretty pretty, that is, stunning. To make things worse, I had ultra-sensitive skin, hair, teeth, whatever. The slightest disturbance on my skin would cause it to react and break out in pimples. I hated it.

So needless to say, I managed. I was reading stories to my little niece- well, you could call her that. In truth, she and I had no blood relation. But she was the daughter of a close friend and I was babysitting. Her favourite stories were about mermaids. Mermaid princesses who lived in gilded palaces under the sea, surrounded by the mystical, magical deep blue otherworld that once existed in my imagination. I adored her so much, I not only added her nicknames as my passwords, but I promoted and read those stories for her. The Waterfire Saga grew to be her favourite. She could name every single mer realm and as a result, I could too.

So the night the fire broke out- caused by some hooligans down the street throwing Molotov cocktails, I took her to the back rooms gave her those stories to read to calm her. They didn't live in a safe neighbourhood. Those morons were out there because they held a grudge. One of their gang members had been chased from drawing graffiti against the outer walls of this house and next door and one of them ended up getting hit by a car. Now, they blamed us and wanted revenge.

I knew they were coming to this house. I screamed at them to get the hell away from here, and naturally, a Molotov Cocktail to the face while shielding my little treasure, was not a pleasant way to die.

Darkness. And then warmth.

I didn't know how long it took. All I knew was that I was in a warm, bubble-enclosed space, I was comfy and snug, but it seemed to be getting smaller as time passed. Or was I getting bigger? Either way, it took a long time, until the time came and it felt like I was really being squeezed out.

At this point, I realised that I was a) reincarnated, b) in utero all this time, and c) I was getting a second chance at life, even if I have to go through a whole lot of iiicckk to do it.

When I came out, I screamed. Boy, did I scream. It was terrifying, being lifted into the air, by giant hands feeling like you could be dropped any moment. Was this why most babies tended to scream when they were first born, apart from it being a truly traumatising experience (which unfortunately, I would never forget) and being thrust into the cold air and forced to breathe on your own?

But wait. Something did not feel right. I flailed miserably. I could feel my arms and head but they were surrounded in vibrating... Somethings. Not that different from my time in utero. To begin with it wasn't as light and empty a space as I imagined, and then there was the other issue.

My legs. Every time I tried to kick one of them up, it felt like a whole mass of something flumped up and down instead, heavy and flailing. Much too heavy for me.

Something was not right. And I got the feeling I was no longer in Kansas anymore.

"A merl!" A voice proclaimed. It spoke a different language but I could understand it all the same, like English. "A principessa of the House of Merrovingia- a true daughter of Merrow!"

Cheers and jubilation resounded throughout the room, while I was frozen in shock. If I could speak at that moment, I would have said, What the heck? But in ruder tones.

Firstly, the Italian? Principessa meant princess in Italian. What language were they speaking and why were they using Italian words as well? Secondly, Merrow? Merrovingia? Merl? Those words were only used in Jennifer Donnelly's Waterfire Saga series, the one Little Precious with her sweet chubby cheeks loved to read, about the mermaid princess and her friends who went to stop a monster.

So… WHAT. THE. HECK?!

"A beautiful daughter, Principessa," The voice- must have been the midwife- said. "A perfect, beautiful little merl. And she will grow to be a beautiful princess, third in line, after her big sister."

I blinked. My vision cleared. Holy crap.

I was being carried in the arms of a female creature with pearl grey skin. She looked like a human, but with pearl-grey skin and orange-amber eyes that glowed. She smiled, and handed me to another person.

The next person looked reasonably more human, to my relief. She had pale, almost silvery skin, absolutely flawless like mother-of-pearl and was very, very beautiful, with gleaming black hair, shiny like polished jet. Her eyes caught my attention: they were a fierce, sapphire blue that glittered fiercely with joy, love, warmth and adoration within them.

The eyes of a queen, I thought, though I didn't know why I thought that.

My new mother, I somehow knew. She leaned forwards and kissed my forehead, and my cheeks.

"Isabella?" A voice asked, hopefully. My new mother turned and I tried to swivel around as much as I could.

Mother grinned with exuberance and joy. "A merl!"

The person stepped into the light. And I saw him. A tall... Creature. He was very handsome with coppery hair with a tint of brown and green eyes. He reminded me vaguely of the handsome (yes, I admit, I had a weakness) men I had seen on a tour in Turkey, except the part that freaked me out, big-time. His legs, or rather, his lack of them. He had a tail.

That's right, a long, tapering tail with broad lancet fins at the end, longer than a human's legs should be. It was covered with gleaming, shiny scales that looked exactly like newly minted copper. I'm sure my jaw dropped.

Holy crap. I mean, Holy silt. He was a merman.

The merman- dressed in a close-fitting jacket in an emerald shade that complimented his eyes. Those eyes that were filled with joy and hope and an eagerness as well as love.

They widened. "Is this... Her?"

My new mother grinned. "Principessa Serena di Miromara of the House of Merrovingia."

Oh my gosh.

Holy crap- I mean, silt. I was in the Waterfire Saga. I was a freaking mermaid! Not only that, I was related to Serafina based on what I'd read. I was a freaking princess of Merrow's line.

Won't Little Precious envy that?

My new father swam forwards while Mother made way for him on the bed. The bed, which I realised, was padded with anemones.

This whole room had coral walls and the ceiling had a pattern of tube worms and ribbon worms which bloomed in colours like fuchsia, pale pink and magenta. Warmed seaweed covered the floors and my new father came up with tears (is that even possible underwater?) in his eyes, as he gently cuddled closer to my new mother as they gazed on me.

Seeing them look at me with such love, made me... Well, if babies could blush, I'm sure I would.

"She has your eyes," Father said mistily. He stroked my hair. Thank goodness his fingers weren't webbed. If I had been born and inherited the features of the mermaids in Harry Potter in the Black Lake, I would freak. "And your hair."

Mother smiled proudly. "Serena," she said warmly. I'd always liked that name- like so many girls. Well, I was a merl, now.

"Out of all our children, she looks the most like you," Father said wonderingly. "She has your hair, your eyes, skin and scales."

After the mild, barely-concealed panic attack I had when I heard I had scales, I tried to relax.

Just breathe, I reminded myself. Not their fault if a human would find me, they would dissect me, keep me in a tank, douse me with chemicals and put me on display in Sea World.

"The rest of them looked like me. With copper hair, green eyes and olive skin." Father sighed. "I was afraid that... Well, your mother and the court wouldn't be too happy if they saw our son, and then our first daughter looked more like Kaden mer than Merrovingians."

"Bastiaan," Mother admonished. "She would never feel such a thing. Neria knows, she's as close to Serafina as could be. My mother has no reason to feel such a thing! She knows that Serafina and Desiderio are my children and Merrovingia just as I am. Just as this little one is." She kissed me again.

Wait, what? Serafina? She was... My sister?

So, that meant that the mermaid holding me, my mother, was none other than Regina Isabella herself- or rather, the future regina.

That nearly broke my heart. I would soon lose my new mother and my father.

Just then a knocking resounded. "The Principessa Serafina and Principe Desiderio are here, your highness."

"Send them in," Isabella called, cuddling me closer.

The doors open and in swum two tiny merpeople. Both of them had coppery hair and green eyes with olive skin and copper scales on their tails. When they swam forwards, I noticed that they didn't always swish their whole tails or swim belly-down. They were upright and their fins were what swished.

I sighed, I had to get used to all this. But I wondered, just wondered, if I would ever see the surface again.

The sun. The skies. The clean, fresh breeze. The sand.

And what was I supposed to eat? Serafina, I remembered, ate things like worms and other stuff.

Ewww.

"Mummy, is this the new baby?" "Is this the baby, Mum?" The children asked in turn. The little mer-boy was holding the merl by the hand. The elder of the children- the boy- must have been around seven or eight. The merl- Serafina, my mind corrected- must have been about three or four.

"Yes," Isabella straightened herself upon the bed. "This is Serena, your baby sister."

Serafina clapped in delight and eagerly held out her hands in excitement. "I want to see her!"

"Here," her father moved aside to bring room for the kids. He picked up Sera and helped Desiderio onto the bed. They both scrambled eagerly to catch a glimpse of me.

Well, it certainly sucked being tiny, I thought as I examined my new siblings. How in the world, was I reborn in a book? A fictional world? Of course, I had read dozens of fanfics regarding Self-inserts and OCs being reborn in the universe of Harry Potter, Game of Thrones even Percy Jackson but never Waterfire Saga. Despite so many little girls and older ones imagining and wishing to be mermaids, nobody had ever thought to write that.

Wait, why was I reborn in this? And why did I still have my memories?

"Serena," Sera said as if testing the name. "Mummy, can I please hold her?" She begged, green eyes massive.

She was so sweet, so tender-hearted, that it was impossible not to love her.

"Can I hold her too?" Des asked, pleading.

"Of course you may," Isabella sighed. She shifted, and made sure the children sat, while she safely deposited me to them and taught each of them how to hold a baby.

I was bundled up in a material which could only be sea-flax and it pressed rather uncomfortably around my- that's right, you guessed it, my tail.

My tail and fins. I had a tail and I had fins. Worse still, I could feel them. Ugh. I had a tail. Scales. And fins. Did I have gills as well, or was I amphibious like the mermaids in Pirates of the Caribbean?

But all those thoughts were forgotten as Serafina looked and cooed at me, with Desiderio not far behind. "Hello, Serena," she gurgled. "I'm Sera, your new big sister and I love you. I'm going to protect you."

"No, I am," Des puffed out his chest proudly. "I'm going to be the soldier someday. The High Commander."

"But I will be regina," Sera argued. "And Granny says it's my job to look after my people and family. Right Mummy?" She looked at her mother.

"You will both look after her," Isabella promised. "Both of you. I mean it. As the future High Commander and the future Regina of Miromara you must always look after your own. Always."

What is it like growing up as a baby mermaid?

Well, let me tell you, it was messy. It was harder than growing up as a human in some ways, because I still have my memories of my first life and boy, did I not have that much trouble- though I did not remember my infant days.

I was presented to the world, wrapped in what could only be Byssus or sea silk embroidered in beautiful patterns, held in my very proud parents' arms, and my grandmother's.

Regina Artemisia- I did like that name- was black-haired and blue-eyed like my new mother. Her scales were silver as was Isabella's under that gown. As it turned out, my scales (boy did it take a long time to steel myself to look down at my tail and fins in case I freaked out) were silver too, like my mother's. As mentioned, Serafina and Desiderio both took after our father, so his genes were surprisingly more dominant. Though the Merrovingia genes must have been dominant for millennia as well. I mean, Merrow their ancestor and one of the Mages of Atlantis had black hair and blue eyes, later silver scales.

In Deep Blue, they said that the Merrovingia, Merrow's family, ruled for thousands of years, four thousand at least. To have those traits carried and surviving for millennia to this day, to the present-day monarchs, that was impressive.

Speaking of which, which ethnic group did I come from? I was British in my first life- part Aussie too and part Kiwi from New Zealand. Merrow my ancestor, came from what was now modern-day Spain, but the Merrovingia spoke like Italians, and generally I assume that was where their part of Miromara lay in the Mediterranean. On the other hand- and looking up the different geographical locations and other stuff with Treasure after reading the books (boy, was she a die-hard fan) I learned that my new father, Bastiaan, had come from the noble House of Kaden in the Sea of Marmara. That was in Turkey. So I was Spanish, Italian and Turkish? Wow.

But putting the awe-inspiring details aside, my life as a baby was hard-as. What did you expect? Firstly, my crib was a clam shell. That necessarily wasn't the bad part. Despite me sleeping on a live creature, it was luxuriously soft. But prior to my new life, I had always suspected that mermaids laid eggs- after all, if they were either fish or amphibian, why wouldn't they? But no, my mother had a full pregnancy, and it was clear I did not hatch like a tadpole or a stickleback.

I could not move very well. My fingers were fat my limbs were heavy and uncoordinated, not to mention that tail. Ugh, why did that thing have to be so heavy? Apart from being chubby-as, cause I was a baby, it was so heavy. I mean, I could barely move as it is, that tail was almost as big as the whole of me put together and the fins weren't even that developed.

I grew frustrated. When I was frustrated, I often cried. When I was tired, I cried. When I needed a change, I cried. When I was hungry, I cried.

Two things here: yes, mermaids do go to toilet. Why are you surprised? Fish poop, though I don't know if they pee, all the time. My diaper if you can call it that, was a band wrapped around where my groin would have been. Mer bodies had openings, just the ones on the tail, for ahem, various purposes, were safely hidden away, unlike humans, by certain scales and could only open when they were used.

Secondly, I was fed milk. I expected to be handed to a wet nurse but Mum had that already covered for me. I had to give it to Isabella, even though Serafina wished they were closer together and sometimes wished her mother would act more like a Mum than a regina, in the beginning, before she was a regina, Isabella was a hands-on-mother. Her duties prevented her from being there all the time, but even though she had a nanny at the ready, she and Dad were often there to feed, change, bathe, dress and play with me, and my brother and sister helped a lot with the last bit. To say that being fed without a bottle was gross is an understatement. I just closed my eyes and got on with it. Thankfully, they began bottle feeding me soon enough. Though what they used- pumped milk, seal, dolphin or whale milk or mermaid formula I had no idea.

But aside from that, my days as a baby were very boring.

I could barely move, I mostly slept, ate or got bathed, changed whatever. Or I cried or got played with by my new brother and sister. Sometimes, my new gran would come and see me. But Regina Artemisia was busy being the queen. So, I just got... Bored.

And depressed. I mourned for my old life. I wanted to go home. Don't get me wrong; I was totally excited. Not everybody could get a glimpse, let alone live, in the wonderful, awesome, exciting and mysterious world of the supernatural merfolk, hidden from human- or Terragogg eyes- but there you go. I missed my old family. I regretted I would never have the chance to make up for past grievances. Never got to say goodbye.

In the meantime, I got scrubbed with the softest white sand in the grotto for my daily bath, fed the milk that I still wondered was mer-formula, my mother's or some sea mammal's, was changed, handled around and then got pathetically depressed because I was going to lose my new family and again become parentless if not dead, once the time came.

Okay, so the bad person in this series was this guy named Orfeo. He was one of the Six Who Ruled, the powerful sorcerers of Atlantis. Per the series when his wife Alma died, he went mad with grief. He started sacrificing humans to the goddess Morsa to steal their souls to create a monster called Abbadon. When the other mages heard, they tried to stop him. As a result, Orfeo got so enraged, he unleashed the monster which caused Atlantis to sink. Merrow, my oh-so-venerated ancestress, called on Neria the sea goddess to save the Atlanteans.

Neria responded by turning them into merpeople. Not all of them had tails, scales and fins as was commonly believed. I must have seen several different kinds of merpeople, though the ones with tails and fins were the most common. When Serafina came to visit my nursery her nursemaid who accompanied her had the torso of a blue crab. She even had the pincers. I was terrified, I admit that she would accidentally pinch me when my nursemaid gave me to hold, but Tavia was sweet and gentle, not at all- pardon the pun- crabby as humans would say.

Then my own nursemaid had the soft tentacles of an octopus. A good thing too. She could do a whole lot of stuff with those limbs, not just her arms and hands. Great for taking care of a baby.

But I digress; firstly, Orfeo was the bad guy. And so was Vallerio.

I had seen my mother's brother only once before during my Naming Ceremony and my official presentation to Miromara. I did not get a clear view of the realm's duchessas, but Portia Volnero might have been among them. And her daughter Lucia, who was secretly my uncle's daughter, my cousin.

I had really hated Lucia in the books. She reminded me of the typical Queen Bee of a school, the type of girl who would prance around in glittering high heels and neon-coloured lipstick and short skirts in the middle of the hallway. She was selfish and spiteful towards Serafina for no reason apart from jealousy, but took everything- her parents, her home, her people and her betrothed- away from her. But then again, I also remembered that the bully was also a victim. It wasn't right that my new grandmother would ban Vallerio and Portia from getting married. It wasn't Portia's fault, for crying out loud, or Lucia's, that they were born into a line of rotten ancestors. But the treatment that everyone gave them seemed enough to turn them bitter.

I hated gossip. I hated rumours. But now it seemed that being the daughter of the future regina and the sister of another meant that I would be subject to the same treatment. I sure as hell did not condone what Vallerio did, and I didn't trust Portia. But there had to be another way to keep them from trying to kill everyone other than treating them badly and isolating them.

If they still persisted, then very well. But I had to give it a shot.

For my new family.

I had to treat them well. I had to stick up for Lucia against all those bullies, or barracudas, just as I had to stick up for Serafina. I had to bring the two closer together. And I had to stop Miromara and Ondalina from going to war and Kolfinn from being killed. And help Astrid. Bring her closer.

Not to mention, Becca and Ava, Ling and Neela.

I exhaled. I remembered reading something about Ondalina and Miromara going to war and then a peace treaty which detailed the exchange of royal children. One Miromaran royal child in exchange for an Ondalinian one. What did they call it? That's right, the Permutavi. I heard Giulia, my nursemaid, talk to Tavia about it, outside the earshot of Serafina and Desiderio of course, as they would be very upset. Because Serafina was going to be regina of Miromara one day and Desiderio the High Commander, this meant that I- the youngest of the brood- would be the one to undergo the Permutavi. Right now, my mother's brother Ludovico- the one that helped Des and Astrid escape- was the one living in Ondalina with his family. Sigurlin, Admiral Kolfinn's sister lived in Tsarno, Miromara with her family. They had each begun a new life in those realms. And one day I would have to go too.

No, I wouldn't, I realised. For one thing, the invasion would happen before that could even happen and Kolfinn wouldn't be able to send Astrid, because he wanted to hide the 'weakness' and spare her and all of them the humiliation of people knowing about Astrid's inability to songcast.

Proud, I say, I thought as I drifted off to sleep.

"Serena," a voice murmured. "A lovely name."

I woke, but my eyes didn't snap open straight away. For one thing, I did not recognise this voice. It wasn't Giulia, my mother or my grandmother and it certainly wasn't Serafina but it was undoubtedly female.

I opened my eyes cautiously. A very beautiful mermaid hovered above me, one of the most beautiful I had ever seen. She had rich, glowing auburn hair and the most stunning emerald eyes.

"She looks more like a Merrovingia than Serafina," the mermaid mused. "Or Desiderio. This would prove to have... Complications."

I heard a sigh. A male sigh. "My love... I still haven't forgiven any of them. And I probably never will, but still. They're my family." His voice sounded pained. "She looks like Lucia, does she not?"

Wait. So, that was Vallerio. So, this must be none other than Portia Volnero.

"Speaking of which," Vallerio said quietly. "How is she?"

"Lucia?" Portia's voice sounded wistful and sad. "She's excelling in Canta Prax. She'll start Mirus soon enough." Despite the pain and sorrow, her pride shone through.

"I should be there." Vallerio's voice sounded pained. And although I really disliked that bag of silt, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him or Portia. The pain in their voices was undeniable. "I should have seen it. I should have been there when she was born, not that tube worm you had to marry called Sejanus. I should have seen her when she started to swim, I should have played with her, and watched her grow. I should have protected her and come to her every night when she had a nightmare."

"But you couldn't," Portia said softly and sadly. This erased my thoughts that maybe she was pulling the strings all along and didn't really love Vallerio. Or at the very least, loved him the way Lucia loved Mahdi- not real love, but thinking he was hot and good for her.

"I wish I could though." Vallerio said quietly. "This child will be exchanged as a part of the Permutavi someday. I hope she and Lucia finds love, along with my other niece and Desiderio. Hopefully, the next generation shall get it better than we have."

Vallerio moved closer to my crib. He was a handsome merman with a shock of gleaming black hair, fair, slightly tanned skin and sapphire-blue eyes. Well, at least in this life, I got lucky in my looks. If I took after my mother and Vallerio I was good-looking. Even Lucia, sea cow that she was, was said to look extremely beautiful.

But soon, I wondered, how will the bitterness and pent-up pain and anger grow? How soon before it compels Vallerio to kill his sister and send most of his people to the underwater version of death and concentration camps? Either way, I had a head-start because I know what was going to happen. And while I couldn't do anything to arouse anyone's suspicions- no doubt they would lock me in an underwater asylum somewhere thanks to Vallerio- I could get cracking.

First things first, get everyone off their wrasses and pointed at the right direction.