RWBY (c) RoosterTeeth

Terror of the Tides

Sinking

Moonlight shone across the silent ocean, as perfect and still as a mirror. If someone had looked overboard into the ocean, it would almost appear as if the Argent Moon was sailing on a sea of stars. And with nothing more than the full moon and stars above as witnesses, their assailants were upon them before anyone knew what hit them. Not even the night watchman up in the crow's nest had a chance to declare their presence before it exploded with a cannon ball's strike. An almighty shattering sound magnified by the open ocean as the wood exploded and rained splinters down on the deck.

Summer Rose, a warrior and traveler of this vessel, had roused from her private cabin with the rest of the crew and scrambled to the deck, snatching her broadsword from her bedside but neglecting one thing. The shawl she used to cover her head and face, but more importantly - to hide her eyes.

She burst onto the deck to a scene which could only be described as organised chaos, hastily fastening the scabbard's belt around her waist while she rushed across the deck to the steering rudder. There the Captain stood by the rudder in his night clothes, telescope out and peering over the horizon to spot their attackers.

"Black Hunters!" The Captain growled, his bushy beard ruffling as he cursed their name when he spotted the reddish eye-like rune of their sails towards the port side, the red somehow shimmering in the moonlight. In spite of the overwhelming odds and their chances of surviving this ordeal being virtually nil, the Captain still issued his orders and prepared for their stand. "Hard to Starboard! Set the sails and prep oars! If they want us, they'll have to bloody well chase us! Prepare the cannons for a counter attack!"

Summer rushed to the railing to peer out, eyes narrowed when she saw the ship approaching. It was black, made of blackness so it seemed, except for that single splat of red colour on its sails. It glided across the night ocean with ease and silence, broken only by the rumbling boom and accompanying flash of its forward cannons. Chain-shots spiraled through the air at dizzying speeds which smashed a chunk out of the main mast. Yells and screams of warning rang across the ship as the wood strained and cracked under its own weight, before collapsing like a great tree over the side while men scurried away from its impact.

"Without the main sail, we won't outrun 'em captain!" The craggy quartermaster pointed out rather obviously, betraying no fear in his tone. Only defiance.

A panicked deckhand wailed. "By why would the Black Hunters be after a cargo ship?! We ain't got no gold or gems or silks, our holds are empty!"

The Quartermaster growled. "Do you duty, coward!"

Summer's hands gripped against the railing, fingers digging tightly into the varnished wood and her teeth grit in frustration. She was helpless in this. Had this been a battle on land - of sword and bow - she would've been easily able to assist in this conflict. Perhaps if they were boarded, she could repel the invaders. But it seemed like their attackers weren't interested in taking the ship or its crew alive. A fact she cursed greatly.

"She's the one!" One of the deckhands thrust his finger towards her amidst the calamity, eyes wide with terror and accusation. When Summer turned to look at him, the others who followed the deckhand's attention all gasped in horror, then joined in the furious cacophony of accusations. A roar that swiftly overtook the mad scramble for retaliation.

"Her eyes! Look at her eyes!"

"She's one of them silver eyed witches, she is! She drew the Black Hunters to us!"

"A cursed woman!"

"Throw 'er to the sea!"

"Give 'er to the Hunters!"

Other accusations joined them, stopping the crew from doing precious work that could save their hides from this mess. It was only now that Summer realized her error, that despite the pandemonium, she should have remembered to keep her cowl on. She grit her teeth as her eyes shone unnaturally of their own accord, just as they always did in the light of the full moon. Her hand curled around the haft of her sword before the Captain intervened on her behalf, thrusting his finger back into the bustling clambering sailors.

"Get back to work, you rum-soaked deck apes!" The Captain barked furiously.

Summer wanted to curse at the man who started it. Wanted to refute that damn simpleton's claims. She was no witch. She was no creature of magic. All she wanted to do was to survive like all of them. More to the point, why were these idiot prejudices even a factor when their very lives were at stake?! In the midst of an attack of all times?!

Another puff of flame escaped the enemy cannon's muzzles, and in her distraction Summer didn't hear the Captain's warning. The shot landed a lucky blow at the power stores. The deck exploded beneath Summer's feet, knocking her out and flinging her unconscious body into the depths.

It was a hard impact that knocked the air from her lungs and icy cold rushed over her as she sank to the depths. Snatched from her daze, Summer's eyes snapped wide as saucers, the saltwater stung and panic set in not long after. Especially when something distant, something dark and glowing appeared to be approaching her very fast. She flailed, trapped by the dark sea. Her vision was blurred from a mix of salty water and the pain. Leaving her almost certainly damned to this ignominious fate, to drown alone as seat or be devoured by some ungodly creature of the deep. Unable to tell what was what, unable to tell up from down or where the surface was for precious air. The very blurry thing etched by red seemed to flint back and further through the ship's wreckage and debris as it sank. It seemed she was knocked out for longer than just a few seconds, the entire ship had shattered upon the Black Hunters' barrage. Bodies, wood shards and cannons sank down at varying rates.

That red creature simply slithering through and around the debris so quickly and nimbly she scarcely believed something could move that fast. It was checking bodies, specifically. Pausing only for a moment to see if the person was in the right state to be eaten she expected.

A devil of the deep. Summer had heard of such things; legends said they feasted on human meat, that they took humans as lovers and killed them once they'd served their purpose. This creature, the blurry vestige she could make out was black and red - just like the vessel that attacked her transport. A comparison that gave her no comfort whatsoever. And when it spotted her, its glowing red eyes zeroing in on her, her panicked heart thundered even more furiously in her chest.

Even as the edges of oblivion were setting in on her, Summer reached for her sword in a futile attempt to draw it from its scabbard. Her entire body ached, but she would rather die by her own hands than let a demon of the depths take her for its twisted schemes. But despite her hopes, when Summer did manage to wrap her fingers around its hilt, it remained stubbornly locked in place. The creature moved closer, face to face with Summer, and she was astonished to realize the face was that of a rather handsome man. Red eyes and short black hair that swayed gently with the waters.

That aesthetically pleasing aspect did nothing to dull the thought in her mind that she had to defend herself. Her clawed fingers scratched against the creature's cheek, enough to score lines through its human flesh. The creature flinched and backed away while Summer desperately clung to life, even as the last of the vital air she needed left her mouth in precious tiny bubbles. Her vision clouded, dark was closing in and her last desperate bid to live faded.

She didn't see the creature, the merman, slipping something from a pouch on its side into his mouth. Its black and red claws cradled the sides of her face and pressed his lips to hers in a parody of the Kiss of Life. The tiny sphere, a pearl no bigger than her fingernail, slipped into her mouth and the deceptively gentle claw stroking her throat reflexively caused her to swallow it.

The second she did, her entire esophagus seemed to light aflame. The pain snapped her back to complete awareness and she managed a glare at the merman as if he'd poisoned her. For all she knew, he just had. And she was unwilling to be party to whatever devilry he was attempting. In the water, she doubled over, sputtering and coughing up the last of the air in her lines when she felt like three thin cuts were being scored up either side of her neck. And when the pain was over she - swallowed a breath.

Summer gasped for air, sucking in precious lungfuls and coughed loudly as the pain vanished completely. She brushed her fingers against where she felt the wounds and her blood frozen when she felt ridges. Strange ridges in her flesh that opened and closed in time with her breathing. As absurd as it was to suggest, the only word she could conjure to describe them was 'gills'.

"Are you calming down now? Can you understand me?" The merman moved a little closer.

"Wh-what was that?! What did you just do to me!?" Adrenaline fulled her actions, the brush with death just now spurring her into a reckless rage.

"Relax. Just take a deep breath. You're safe for the moment at least." The merman insisted, turning his scowling red eyes upward.

"Safe? How can I be safe? I was-" Summer glanced up and her heart dropped to her stomach, she must had sunk at least three hundred metres. The Black Hunter vessel that attacked them was a speck to her eyes. Whatever it was that had given her gills, must have given her a tolerance to seeing in salt water too because she no longer felt any irritation in her eyes.

"They've killed many boats and ships over these waters, I don't mind telling you that we're getting a little bit annoyed at you humans having spats over our kingdom." The merman explained. His fingers brushed against the scratch marked gouged into his cheek and pulled his hand away to inspect the damage, or see if there was any blood. "Brilliant way to repay a merman for saving your life. You took a chunk out of my cheek."

"Okay, but... how in the hell am I able to breath? I'm a human, I'm about ninity-nine percent sure that I can't naturally breath underwater." Summer jabbed a finger towards her neck, indicating the new set of gills. "And what on earth did you do to me?"

"What you swallowed was an sea pearl - its effects are temporary, so don't worry about that. And what I did was save your life." The creature explained, her crossed his arms and Summer couldn't help admiring the sculpted torso and arms. Only for a fraction of a second, this creature was a sea demon after all. Even if his upper body seemed to be chiseled from stone but an artisan's hand. His lower half was of a long grey-black tail of roughly nine feet, accented by crimson fins.

"Why?" Summer asked, still processing the series of events that led her to this predicament. She blinked, "The Argent Moon, the Crew- what happened-?"

The Merman pointed a long black and red claw at the sunken vessel below them, torn and shattered and wedged precariously in a reef of coral. Whatever magic allowed her to breath in water, also enhanced her vision it seemed because moments ago the water was dark and black, now everything was rendered clear as if she were on the surface. She could see the outline of the vessel and made to swim for it in a vain hope that there were more survivors but a vice-like grip around her wrist stopped her from getting far.

"I'm not too crazy about you diving down into wreck. More importantly, I need to get you somewhere safe." There was a measure of remorse under his dutiful tone.

"Somewhere...safe? What are you-" Summer's questions trailed off as a wave of fatigue and light-headedness overcame her. Her hand pressed to her forehead as her adrenaline seemed to dry up. "I don't... I-"

In a second, the darkness overcame Summer once more in a rush and she'd lost consciousness. Even in the presence of a sea devil, she couldn't keep herself conscious. She didn't hear the merman curse in some... alien tongue, or his webbed claws catch her before her body sank further beneath the waves.

Author's note:

I didn't like the old approach. I've tried a new one. And the fiction's thumbnail art was done by Mr-Blind on Tumblr. A massive thank you to them for getting it ready in time for me to finish this work. :)

I welcome feedback and criticism,

Aurora313