Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Come back here, you brat!” The captain screamed, running through the alley, one hand clutching at his breeches to keep them aloft and maintain some amount of dignity in front of his crew, despite having already lost sight of his quarry, who unbeknownst to him was watching from a rooftop and finding the whole sight quite hilarious.

From the rooftops, Amelia Watson took a second to admire the belt buckle she had snatched, embossed with pearls and rubies. Honestly, it was an eyesore and she was doing the world a favour by pulling this beauty from that greasy idiot. 

Taking one last look at the scene below and chuckling to herself, Ame pocketed the treasure and slunk back into the shadows to wait for things to die down a bit. 

Mud covered her boots with each step. Drunken sailors, trash, and followed stench were common for Ame’s senses to such extent that Ame sometimes considered her nostrils burnt from the toxic smell. But soon enough she was struck by the fresh salty breeze of the dock part of the island, and with a smile, the rogue pirate headed forward.

The town of the Skull’s Eye Island was pretty big for the outlaw hideout. Thanks to the cliffs surrounding the island and the only one way to get to the harbor, the pirates were able to make a good defense against the Navy. And thanks to that, the town itself became a bustling place. Numerous taverns, big pirate group residences, a huge trade market, and of course treasure exchange house. To which Ame happily made her way.

But Ame’s attention was caught by the conversation. She heard the word “murmaid” and “sell” which made the rogue pirate frown. She knew legends about mermaids and sirens, but she never believed in any of them. 

Until her eye glanced over a fish tank with… someone swimming inside.

Ame couldn’t believe what she saw. She slowly got her way to the group of pirates, who stood beside the tank, sneaking through the barrels and boxes. Soon, she stood before the tank. It was huge, with this size being able to fill half of the deck of the small ship. Soon, through the muddy water inside, Ame recognized the huge tail, and then, the mermaid herself.

The girl, as Ame assumed by the look, was pretty small, definitely shorter in the “human” part in comparison to Amelia herself. But the mermaid’s tail was… Big. Really big. Even from the outside, Ame could tell that the girl was strong, with her tail slowly swaying in the water, hitting with hard thumps against the glass. The tail was covered in scars, some fresh, red cuts, some already healed with lighter blue scales. Ame hummed, trying to be as quiet as she can, trying to leave, not wanting to be caught, but before she was able to do so, her attention was caught by the light knock on the glass.

When she looked, Ame saw the mermaid’s eyes. Blue, deep blue, the color of the ocean, filled with sorrow and despair, and with the plea.

‘Help’

Ame’s heart ached, knowing how it feels to be trapped in a such hopeless situation. The rogue pirate looked again at the crew, to see the fact that they still talking. After that, she slowly, without a sound, came closer to the tank, looking for the lock. When she saw one, Ame took some simple metal straws from her pocket, trying to pick the lock. Ame knew she could do that, she just needed some time.

But before she even could feel the turn of the lock, she felt a heavy tug on her shoulder. Soon, she was turned and pinned to the tank itself, hissing from the blunt pain.

“Didn’t know there are rats in the dock.” With a low voice captain - Amelia assumed - brought the attention to her, which garnered attention of his crew. “Ye’r not being sneaky, you shithead. And y’should know what we do with brats like you.” The captain grinned with a full of rotten yellow teeth mouth. “Throw her into prison cell! We will sell her with that murmaid!”

Ame’s heart froze. Now, she was in big trouble.

***

‘Those assholes could have been at least careful…. Oh, who am I kidding…’

Ame groaned, trying to sit somewhat comfortably. Her hands were cuffed, and her sides burned because of the hits by the crew. The only thing she could remember from the two hour ride in the prison cell is that she is going to be sold as a slave. Which wasn’t in her plans.

At least, as she was left alone down there, Ame was able to think. First, the cuffs were a simple rope, which is a plus, so her first goal was just to take them off. As she did that, she checked her pockets, and to Ame’s relief, nothing was stolen from her pockets. 

‘Probably thought I don’t have anything valuable… What idiots.’

Ame grinned to herself, taking a look at her surroundings.

It was a simple hold of the ship, pretty big, with some boxes and barrels tucked into the headpiece and visible glimpses of treasure chests on the side. Besides her stood the tank that got her in the trouble, with the merfolk swimming inside.

‘To be fair it was my fault though… The poor girl did nothing.’

Ame let out a sigh, looking at the tank, and leaning against the bars of the cell.

“Hey. Are you there?”

She stretched her arm as far as she could to knock on the glass. Ame did it once, twice, but there was no response. Ame frowned. When they only met, the girl inside was in a bad shape, sure, but she was moving. But then… Why she didn't respond to the sound?

Then, Ame looked at the amount of water inside and it made her eyes go wide. The water was pretty much to the brim, only a few inches away from the cap. So it meant that probably all oxygen was gone, and with a seal on the cap, there was no way for the air to be refreshed.

Ame heard a weak thump against the glass.

When she turned to see the thumping was coming fromm her fears were confirmed. The poor girl lay at the bottom of the tank, her breath shallow and eyes weak. She hold on to her throat, mouth wide open and the flaps of her gills moved heavy and slow, as she tried to grasp as much air as she possibly could. 

Ame turned out her pockets, trying to find something that could help. Her eye soon caught the glimpse of the belt buckle and she got an idea. She aimed for the top part of the glass to not let any water spill, and, when she took the piece in her hand, she struck as hard as she could with the front part, using the gems. 

As she was hitting, Ame noticed how the girl inside looked at her, with hope in her eyes.

“Just gimme a moment…” 

Ame struggled, trying to break the tank, not having enough leverage because of the bars. It took a while before Ame noticed the crack in the glass. With the last hit, she broke a small window, cutting herself in the process, but she didn't care a bit about the wound. Ame looked at the mermaid, leaning closer to the gap, gasping for some fresh air. 

With relief Ame looked at the girl, smiling. The sight made Ame less tense, but the fact she was still stuck on the enemy ship wasn't a good thing. And as soon as the pirates find out she broke the glass, Ame will get another round of beating. 

Ame let out a sigh, frowning and rubbing her temples.

“Now we need to escape…”

“I-I can help.” The mermaid called with a raspy quiet voice, looking at Ame through the glass.

“Hah, you are a merfolk anyway, don't make me laugh.” Ame smirked, sad as it was. “The moment you will be out of the water, you will be useless and an easy target.”

The mermaid frowned. “Not like we know each other enough to be worried…”

“Well.” Ame grinned. “I got into this shitty mess because I wanted to help you. Let me worry about this, us, a bit more before we escape, okay?”

The girl smiled back, weak, but enjoying the talk.

But their chat was interrupted by something. Some noise happening on the main deck, that Ame couldn't fully recognize.

She tried to focus. Soon she was able to make out words. Loud grouchy voice of the Captain, who wasn’t happy with the situation going on. 

“Prepare the canons… Wait… What do they mean?” Ame got tense again, soon hearing the words she didn't want to hear.

“Enemy ship?!”

And the moment after, the ship tilted heavily to the side, the loud sound of wood breaking from the heavy hit, mixed with screaming and yelling, filled Ame’s ears. With a groan, she bent down and tried to cover her head, so not to be blasted.

“H-hey!” The girl squealed trying to get Ame’s attention “Your cage!”

Looking from the position, Ame noticed, that the door was struck and, to her luck, now wide open. Trying to keep herself low to the ground she slowly escaped the jail.

“I will go look, you stay quiet.” 

After the mermaid gave a nod, Ame approached the stairway to the main deck. As she peeked from the side, the rogue pirate’s heart froze.

The ship got raided.

It was a mess. After an unexpected hit, the enemy crew boarded the ship, engaging in fight. The sound of metal hitting against metal, the pained voice from the wounded and shots, blood covering the floor. Despite all of the chaos, pure and horrific, it was as beautiful as watching a dance. Step by step, moving in the spar of life and death, on the verge of being eaten by the depths of the ocean. Courage, fear, anger, frenzy. 

But soon everything came to a halt by the yell of another captain. The main deck of the ship was finally connected by the boarding bridge, and, with the lighter thumps of boot on wood, no, of heels on wood, the captain of the enemy crew joined the stopped battle.

And Ame wished she was dreaming because of who she saw.

It was Calliope Mori herself. The legend of the seas, living myth, and captain of the ghost pirates. Her posture was great, looking down at everyone in her sight. In her hands was the infamous scythe, Rickora. Her dominant aura made every opposing pirate drop their weapons on the spot, some even buckled and fell to their knees.

Ame felt a cold shiver run through her spine. Mori herself glanced at her. 

And the rogue pirate knew she is in trouble.

She ran as fast as she could back down to the hold of the ship. She knew that Calliope didn't care about merfolks, so as soon as she was done with her, Mori will bombard the ship and the mermaid will sink to the bottom of the ocean, trapped inside of the shipwreck. So, Ame needed to get the girl out.

To her relief, there was a gaping hole from the canon shot, right opposite the cage.

Ame hummed, thanking mentally the canon who got her out, soon trying to pick up the lock again. Once the cap was unlocked, she tried to get the mermaid out of the tank.

“What's happening?!” The girl screamed a bit.

“There’s no time to explain.” Ame shouted, holding the mermaid in her arms. “I need to get you off the ship. You are in danger.”

“But what about you?”

“I will stay.”

“Why?! You will die then! J-Just go with me, I can help.”

Ame shook her head. “If I go, it's possible that Mori will go after you. You had enough danger in your life and I don’t want you to risk it any more.”

“O-okay.” The mermaid got closer to the hole, ready to jump. “Before I leave, can I know your name?”

Ame smiled “Amelia. Amelia Watson.”

The girls’ eyes glimmered for the moment “Gawr Gura. And thank you.”

And as soon as Gura jumped into the water, Ame heard the shout from the stairway.

“Didn’t expect to find you here, Watson.”

The cold face of death met Ame’s blue eyes. Calliope walked slowly towards Ame, the rogue pirate not able to move, frozen by the only presence of the infamous pirate.

“Fate is a strange thing, isn’t it?” Ame smiled, weakly.

“Don’t joke around. Your family always was a pain in the ass.” Calliope grumbled, her scarlet eyes piercedthrough Ame’s very soul. Mori’s expression was stone cold, but her eyes filled with a strange sense of hatred and want of blood. “I’m in a good mood today, so I give you a choice. Tell me where your Uncle is and I will spare your life.”

Ame gulped. “I-I don’t know. Honestly, I have no idea.”

Moments passed, seconds, though it felt longer. Calliope let out a sigh, leaning back.

“What a shame.”

All of a sudden, Ame felt a sharp pain. She looked down. Her eyes trembled. Rickora's blade pierced her.

“Navy also wants your head, but I have no desire to play their games. So the only way is to kill you.”

As she said that, she pulled the blade, leaving Ame bleeding on the floor.

“Goodbye, Watson. Tell some tales to the fishes.”

And as pain filled Ame’s mind, right before she blacked out, she heard Calliope speak again-

“Sink the ship with the crew.”

Chapter Text

The weather was nice. Quiet. 

Shallow waves, fog covering the water, the debris and junk from the sunk ship floating around. Here and there - corpses, already tried by sea life. The grave of the sea  in its prime. 

But one living soul was still there, holding on, laying in one of the floating pieces of wood. 

Amelia, having survived by miracle, struggled to keep her breath and consciousness. The wound on her shoulder was still fresh, but not bleeding. Instead, the gap, where Rickoras blade pierced, was covered now by ice. The skin around pale bright red, as if from frostbite. Pain, pulsating; cold, numbing. 

Ame didn't understand how much time had passed. She felt dizzy. It might have been hours, or only minutes, since the fatal blow. She didn't know how she even survived the cannon shots, but maybe it was a joke of Fate. Ame tried to keep her eyes on the shark roaming around her: Gura. She didn't know why the mermaid decided to stay, but she appreciated it: even if she died, she wouldn’t die alone.

Soon Ame felt the waves becoming stronger. It was strange, because the wind blew in a different direction. The waves were pushy, with a rhythm, as if something was approaching her. 

Ame only hoped that if was death, it would be fast and painless. 

She saw out of the  corner of her eye a ship. Small one, maybe a sloop, if not smaller. Ame heard steps, presumably only one person, some words she couldn't comprehend. 

Soon she felt that something was pulling her up. Ame groaned, the pain in her shoulder becoming stronger. She tried to fight, but it resulted in a weak wobble of her hands, as if she was an upset kid. 

Ame didn't understand what was going on.  Was she saved? She didn't know, the only thing she could understand was the beautiful purple color of someone's hair, who gently put her on the deck. 

"S-shoulder…" Ame meekly spat out. "Pain…"

 Her ears filled with ringing, as the pain became stronger, but she could understand that the person seemed to be worried. Ame only hoped that she would be saved for real. 

***

When she opened her eyes, Ame saw a wooden ceiling. 

It took her some time to understand, before shooting up straight into a sitting position, only to be striked by pain. But, to her surprise and relief, it wasn't that bad and cold, and when her hand reached her shoulder, Ame felt cloth. 

It seemed that she was on someone's ship, and this someone was good enough in first aid. She looked around, trying to understand if she was in danger. 

The ship itself looked small. The space was cramped, with barrels standing around, boxes filled with items whose use Ame didn't know, clothing, and books. There were only two beds, on either side of the ship. Besides the bed she wasn't occupying stood a small table with a map and cartography tools.

Ame inhaled, and then carefully stood up, holding a gasp of pain. When the moment passed, she made her way to the table. 

The map wasn't perfect, but it was good enough to understand the surrounding area. Was pretty big too,  spanning several islands in its radius. Some islands were marked with a skull, and some with a black crow. 

"Huh… both pirates and Marines bases… but why… "

Ame didn't have time to think. Soon she heard steps, which made her rush back to her bed. It also made the pain start to sting again, yet Ame hoped the stitches, if there were any, hadn't come off. 

Within seconds, Ame met the person who had saved her. 

The girl's long purple hair, gathered in a ponytail swayed over her black traveling robes, dust and mud gathering right above the ankles. Around her sides, a deep purple corset of a strange yet familiar pattern embraced her form, laced in her back to her shoulder blades. Something shone around her neck, catching the light and Ame's attention - a pendant in the form of a golden eye.

The girl's eyes were a nice, bluish-grey color. Her skin was pale, but not sickly. She wore composed concern on her face, her eyes looking directly at Ame, hand firmly holding the sword handle on her side. 

"How do you feel?"

Her voice was soft, gentle, but cautious. 

Ame gulped. "P-pretty okay. Thanks." Ame placed a hand on her shoulder. "For the help."

The girl became visibly less tense. "It's nothing. I wish I was a better help."

Ame smiled. "Don't worry, it's enough, really." She pressed her fingers against the wound, finally feeling the stitches. "You did a great job."

The girl smiled back, softly. "I’m glad." She sat on the other bed, sighing, then looking back at Ame again. "But I want to know who you are. And why you were… the only person alive."

"I was trapped in the ship’s jail." Ame noticed Ina's questioned look. "Long story. Anyway, the thing is, the ship got raided. I was stabbed and left to die but…" Ame chuckled, with a sour smile. "I guess I got lucky."

The girl chuckled lightly. "Seems so. But, what's your name?"

"Amelia… Amelia Watson."

The girl’s eyes went wide for a second. "Now I'm surprised that the raider didn't take your head…"

Ame smirked. "Well, I mean, I still was left with a blade-sized hole in my shoulder. Not exactly left free."

The girl giggled, covering her mouth slightly. "Fair. By the way, my name is Ninomae Ina'nis. Ina is fine." 

"Glad to meet you, Ina." Ame smiled, looking back at her. "What is your plan though? This doesn't look like a big ship, so I suppose you are the only person here… and you don't exactly look and sound like a fisherman or trader."

Ina hummed. "True, because I don't belong to any faction." She stood up, coming closer to Ame and sitting down beside her. "I'm on my own… so I suppose you got lucky again, huh." Ina giggled. "The Goddess seems to like you."

Ame huffed, rolling her eyes. "For me it looks more like mocking."

"Two sides of the same coin. To answer your question… I don't have much of a plan. I travel where I can, trying to not catch much attention, and study the sea. Just to be as free as I can."

The word caught Ame’s attention. "Free huh…" She hummed. "Can I stay then?"

Ina smiled, gently. "Sure. Just don't catch much attention with your pretty face, and it's good." She stood again, getting to the clothing boxes. 

Ame felt pink dust her cheeks. "Thanks… by the way, why were you around?"

"Scavenging." Ina took a  clean shirt, rag pants, and boots. "Living my type of life means constantly being low on resources. So if I see an opportunity to have a bit more I will go and get it." Ina smiled shyly. "And I don't like battles in general. So, the only way I can do it, is gathering valuables from shipwrecks… and other garbage. I also take those."

"Thanks." Ame huffed, getting dressed. "Well, it’s not the worst. For some time I had to live from leftover trash in the city, when I was a kid."

Ina chuckled, speaking with a bitter tone. "Well, seems like we are way more similar than I thought." Then she smiled. "Welcome to the crew of the Shallow Waves."

"Happy to join."

Their talk got interrupted by a sudden tilt of the ship. Then another, on the opposite side. It felt as if someone was trying to shake the ship. 

“What’s happening?”

“I don’t know.” Ina sounded surprised, standing up and heading towards the staircase. “We should be alone for miles.”

Ame hummed, frowning. “I think I might know who it is… wait for me.”

Soon, both of them stood, holding on the starboard rails of the ship. They looked down, trying to find the cause of the tilt, only to find a very upset looking mermaid.

“Gura?”

“Ame!” Gura huffed, pushing the ship. “I will get you out, give me a moment!”

“No, it’s fine, please stop.”

“You know her?” Ina looked at Ame, gasping from another shake.

“Y-yeah, she saved me actually… Gura, please, the girl on the ship treated my wound! I’m fine!”

 A moment passing, Gura looked up at Ame. She studied the blond, worry on her face. “You sure?”

“Y-yeah.” Ame chuckled with relief. “If i wasn’t, I wouldn’t be able to talk right now.”

Then the mermaid puffed. “Even then, I will not leave you!”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to!”

Ame sighed out. She didn’t expect the mermaid to be attached to her, but it’s what some legends told about saving the merfolk.

“Okay, but I will not leave the ship either.”

“Well, then, I will just sink it!”

“Hold on a second.” Ina spoke, seemingly looking upset. “First of all, it’s MY ship and it’s me who decides what to do next.” Ina looked down on Gura. “Second, why are you so attached to Ame?”

“Not your business! And now give me Ame back!”

“Gura, stop!” Ame screamed before Gura could start tilting the ship again. Then she looked at Ina, pleading in her eyes. “Listen, can we just take her to the team? We have reasons, and I don’t want to abandon her alone in the sea, where she could get caught again. Just… bear with us.”

“How can you imagine her joining us?” Ina got indignant. “We don’t have anything to contain her safely! And anyway, why can’t she just go back home?”

Gura snapped. “Because I can’t!” She sobbed. “I don’t have one…” She looked at Ina, eyes filled with tears. “Just… please, let me be with Ame. I don’t want to go…”

This caught Ina by surprise. She took some time, thinking, visibly considering. Then, she sighed. 

“Okay. But we still need to find a container for her. She’s still a mermaid and I don’t want her to roam around as bait.”

“Or…” Ame hummed. “We can make one!”

“Huh?”

“Why not?” The blond grinned. “There’s a lot of trash around which we can use and I saw some large boxes down the deck. We can figure something out.”

Ina looked at Ame, and then at Gura, seeing the pleading in their eyes.

With a sigh of defeat, Ina rolled her eyes, and headed to the staircase. “Okay, I agree. I will go get some ropes, nets, and hooks to start collecting stuff, you will plan what we should make for her.”

Ame smiled. “Sounds good to me!”

***

After some time, the container was ready. It was a medium sized rectangular “bath”. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough and well sturdy. With a bit of struggle, Ame and Ina managed to place Gura in the already full-of-seawater bath at the lower deck.

“I still don’t understand.” Ina huffed out, gasping for air, sitting on the bed. “What happened between you two?”

“Well. To be short, we just saved each other in a very rough situation.”

Gura nodded in response, trying to get comfortable.

“Well, that’s something.” Ina looked at Gura. “And if you are joining our team, I need to know your name. Mine is Ninomae Ina’nis.”

Gura seemingly felt shy, trying to hide her face. “G-Gura. Gawr Gura.”

“Something wrong?”

“I just…” Gura bitted her lip. “Sorry for snapping earlier. I feel bad.”

Ina let out a sigh. “Don’t be. I understand, and everything is settled down.” Then she smiled. “And you are now part of our small crew, so we will call it even, what do you think?”

Gura smiled back, weakly, but visibly less tense. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Alright then.” Ina stood up, heading towards her map table. “Well, our next goal is to get out of here.”

Ame frowned. “Is something wrong?”

“Well the ship that got sunk was part of the slave trading company, and the last thing I want is for them to get us.” Ina hummed. “So, we just need to scatter out of this place and lay low at some island. And then we will draw up our new plan.”

“Neat.” Ame felt relaxed. “Well then. If you need help, I will do anything that’s needed. But, to be fair… even if it’s a small ship, I’m surprised you are able to control it so well. How?”

Ina smiled back. “Magic.”

Ame chuckled. “Jokes, huh?”

“No, seriously.” Ina giggled, her fingers dancing and small mist appearing at the tips. “I was a Mystique in the past.”

“Oh…” Ame looked at Ina’s outfit again. “That makes sense.”

Gura growled.

“Gura?”

“Are you a bad one?” Gura pierced Ina with her eyes.

Ina let out a sigh. “Don’t worry, I’m not.” A strange note of sadness sparked in the girl’s eyes. “I’ve not been part of the order for a long time now.”

“Huh.” Ame grinned. “Well then, seems like all three of us complement each other perfectly.” She passed her eyes between the girls and herself. “Perfect team I must say.”

Gura and Ina took a second, looking at each other, then giggling softly.

“Yeah, seems about right.” Gura smiled.

“Humu.” Ina nodded. “Anyway. It’s time for Shallow Waves to head out to our new destination.”

Ame grinned, standing up. “Let’s go then. To our adventure.”

Chapter Text

The Sea Crown is one of the biggest islands on the sea with a massive town scattered on the land, being the trade, culture, and religious center of the nation. And it was all thanks to the Navy holding this town and island in its iron grip. 

The center of this island was the Crow's Hold, an enormous building made of stone and steel. And in the HQ sat the Fleet Admiral, Ouro Kronii, the Crow. 

She was looking at some documents, lifelessly turning page after page, ignoring the presence of her subordinates, a group of three vice admirals, standing before her table. Kronii let out a sigh, tired, the sting of a headache appearing. 

"Could any of you explain to me why you let Mori's ship slip through our watch?" Kronii's gaze was heavy with judgment. 

"N-no, Commander."

Another sigh. "You were given a pretty simple task, to take care of the waters around the Skull's Eye. Just watch with your eyes glued to the damn waters and report any sign of Mori's ship appearing." Kronii's voice rose a bit, her gaze locked on the guy in the middle. "Then why the fuck, did one of the biggest ships in the world manage to appear and sink another in broad daylight, with no response from the Navy?"

"We don't have an answer, commander." One of three answered, seemingly nervous, lip quivering. "But, to our defense, we were spread over a radius of a hundred miles."

"And what were you doing, let me ask?"

The speaking guy gulped. "There were problems with a pirate group that we needed to take care of-"

"And for a mere group of pirates, you needed the whole Navy fleet available in your area of responsibility?"

"B-but, Commander, we-"

Kronii slammed her fist against the table, all the officers shivering. "Silence! You had the simple task of taking care of the area." Kronii groaned. "The Order gave us vague, but so much needed information about the next stop of one of the worst scourges of our sea, and we just fucked it up, because you wanted to chase some bandits instead. Do you understand who you are?"

Kronii stood up, her gaze piercing the group, hands crossed over the chest, her black and gold coat framing her posture. "You are vice admirals of the Great Navy Forces, the Crow’s Watch. This coat-" Kronii gestured at her clothes "-is given to the best of us. We have a reputation to uphold, and we have very little room for mistakes. You are the symbol of law and order in our dangerous sea, the steadfast wing of protection for the common people. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-yes, Commander."

"Good." Kronii let out a sigh, sitting in her chair again. "I will overlook this mistake, but you’ll have to work harder as a result of this failure. I hope you understand that."

Two out of three nodded, while the last one frowned, coughing to get Kronii's attention. 

"You have a question, sailor?"

"Yes, Commander." The guy stood forward. "If you say that we are symbols… what about Miss Takanashi?"

"Make yourself clear."

"Yes, sorry, Commander. I meant… she has a lot less work than us. She never listens to anyone, except you; she is always by herself. She wears the coat as if it's nothing, but… you always speak highly of her. Why?"

Kronii arched her brow. "She's part of The Tori Admirals for a reason."

"Still, why? I don't understand. What makes her better than us?!" The guy almost screamed, pent up emotions seemingly finding release. "She does one-tenth of the job we do  and-"

"First of all, silence." Kronii hummed, interrupting the speech. "Second, even if she does, as you say, the tenth of the job you do, she does said job perfectly." Kronii looked over the group. "You are given simple to moderate tasks, but Miss Takanashi handles complex affairs. She rarely fails, and if she does, she fixes the problem in no time. You should take a lesson from her on how to do the work, instead of acting like a cadet, asking why the captain gets the cabin when he only handles the helm." 

For a moment, Kronii stopped, looking somewhere beyond the group, her lips curling upwards. "Speaking of the devil."

The group turned, only to freeze in place. 

Right before them stood Takanashi Kiara, the Admiral part of the Tori group. She stood tall, frowning at them , wearing her official clothes: a crow-black coat with golden framing and obsidian shade black mantle. She wore this coat only on her shoulders, with a golden long strap connecting over her neck. Under the coat were a wine-red sailor's shirt and black pants, the same color as the coat, with a golden sash over the waist, and a sword on her right side. Her pants were tucked in military dark-brown boots with small heels. 

Kiara scuffed, looking over the group, gaze traveling to Kronii. "Came as soon as you called, Admiral Ouro."

Kronii smiled for a moment, then looked at the three vice admirals. "You are dismissed. Consider this a break. Take time to reflect over your actions."

After that, the group scattered out of the room, leaving the two higher-ups alone. 

Kiara chuckled, crossing her hands on her chest. "Scolding the newbies again, eh, Kronii?"

Kronii smiled back, sighing. "Oh, you would do the same in my place, Kiara." She stood up, coming to the cabinet. "Tea?"

"Yes, thank you." Kiara sat on the chair on the other side of the table. "So, what’s the deal?"

“Well, I have two things. First, a new Right Hand will be joining your crew.” Kronii placed a cup of tea before Kiara and her seat, sighing. “You should stop scaring people from this position, Kiara. No one can keep up with your attitude to work.”

“Not my problem~” Kiara sang, taking a sip, and humming. “It’s my style of work, you know that. And the fact that I rarely fail proves that I am right, does it not?”

“Maybe it is, but it doesn’t mean you should go sailing around without a vice-captain in your ship, Kiara.” Kronii sighed again. “We need to follow the rules, and I let you slip too many of them to keep it unnoticed by the government. So please, at least give this girl a chance to stay, okay?”

Kiara’s brows twitched for a moment, and for a glimpse a hint of fire shone in her eyes . “Well, if the girl is cute, I will give her some slack.” She giggled, taking a sip. “What's the second thing?”

“Right.” Kronii opened the drawer, took some papers, and placed them before Kiara. “Take a look. It’s information about Amelia H. Watson, your next target.”

“Huh?” She looked down, studying the paper. “Well, she is cute, I’ll give her that… but why should I chase someone out of the blue? She doesn’t have any criminal records on her head.”

“It’s true, but I’m not asking you to kill her.” Kronii hummed, crossing her arms on her chest. “I just need you to find her and keep an eye on her. I don’t want that brat to do something stupid, like her uncle did all those years ago, and cause us more problems.”

Kiara’s eyes opened wide. “Wait. This is THE Watson?!”

Kronii nodded. “And maybe related to that, in the area where Amelia was last seen, Calli appeared. I have a suspicion that Calli tried to get information from her, but I have no idea what happened afterward. So, not only do I need you to track and keep an eye on Watson, I want you to ascertain whether she is alive or not.” Kronii smirked. “And if you are lucky enough, you could stumble upon Calliope.”

Kiara groaned. “Don’t try to buy me with that…” She took the documents, looking at the photo again. “Watson, huh… okay. When should I set sail?”

“As soon as possible. But first, meet your new subordinate, will you?” Kronii smiled. “She is very promising and hopeful.”

Kiara chuckled. “We’ll see.”

“Kronii, can you make me a cup of tea too, please?”

Both girls screamed and jumped in their seats, only to turn their heads and see another admiral in the room.

“Oh, Mumei, you are here already?”

Mumei, like Kiara, was also part of the Tori admirals. She wore the standard admiral outfit - a black coat with pants. But instead of a red shirt, like Kiara had, Mumei wore a dark brown one with a golden pin on the right lapel. Most of her outfit though was covered by a long dark brown cloak with a hood, which she took off to only show her smug smile.

“Yeah, was since Kiara entered.”

Kiara chuckled. “Well, you are a sneaky one for sure.” She slowly stood up, finishing the tea. “I will leave you, lovebirds, to each other. I have other things to do.” 

Kiara giggled after, waving her hand to both girls and exiting the room, leaving Kronii and Mumei alone.

Kronii leaned back in her chair, groaning. “This girl…”

“Love Birds…” Mumei frowned, eyes looking down.

“D-don’t worry about that, Mumei!” Kronii straightened up, nervously chuckling. “She is just joking, no one knows about our relation-”

“What’s the Love Birds?” Mumei turned her head at Kronii, her eyes full of earnest curiosity.

“What?”

“That a new group you’re creating?” Mumei pouted, taking the sea on the edge of the table, ignoring the chair. “Well then at least put me in it!”

“It’s not… not what she meant.”

“What then?” Mumei’s brow arched. “We are Tori Admirals, and then Kiara says some “Love Birds” stuff. It must be a new group you are doing!”

“It’s not.” Kronii sighed, her hand rubbing the temple. “Forget about it.” She looked into Mumei’s brown eyes. “I called you here for a reason.”

“Oh!” Mumei beamed, smiling. “Work! So, what’s my next mission?”

“You are so eager to serve, huh.” Kronii giggled, fishing a new stack of documents. “I need you to  track down, hunt, and bring me the merfolk called Gawr Gura.”

“Merfolk?” She looked down, seemingly a bit sad. “And no kill?”

“No, the Merfolk aristocracy wants her alive.” She sighed. “And I need this job done as fast as it can be. When I asked Lui, she said that some pirate group bragged about catching a mermaid to sell.” Kronii hummed. “I have no confirmation, but it might be Gawr. You can start following the trail from there.”

“Okaaaay.” Mumei took her documents, looking at Kronii with a cheeky smile. “But you best take me on a date after~”

“I-I mean…” Kronii blushed. “Of course. I will look at our schedules to set a date.”

“Good~” Mumei giggled, heading towards the exit. “Then I will do this job the fastest I can~” And then she left.

Kronii let out a sigh, rubbing her temple, a small smile on her lips.

“This bird…”

Then she looked out the window, frowning a bit. 

“Calliope Mori on the loose, Amelia Watson presumed dead, noble merfolk on the run; everything at the same time… I hope things will not get any worse than this.”

Chapter Text

Kiara was excited. 

Today she will go on a hunt, which, to be honest, was never a  major interest of hers. The only reason why she wanted this particular hunt is for the chance to meet Calli again.

Another thing on the agenda - welcoming the new vice captain of her ship.

Kiara didn’t know anything about the girl Kronii meant to place under her wing, but Kiara was a curious person, so she wouldn’t give any cutie a chance to avoid her gaze. And, if she was lucky enough, Kiara could  hit the jackpot and obtain a beautiful, formidable, reliable right hand.

With a smile, Kiara made her way to the girl’s quarters, knocking on the door. One second passed, then two, but no answer came. Kiara hummed, repeating the knock, harder this time, receiving in response a loud “yeep!” and the sound of something falling on the floor.

“S-sorry, give me a moment!”

‘Oh, she has a cute voice.’ Kiara grinned. “Don’t worry, take your time.”

A minute later, the door opened, and Kiara met her subordinate. 

She was about the same size as Kiara, dark skinned with long, bright magenta hair in a bit of a wild style, pointy ears sticking out. She wore the standard outfit of high ranked Navy sailors - black coat with silver framing, instead of the admiral gold, black pants and boots. Her shirt was snow white, with a little pedant on her  chest that looked like a winged heart.  On top of her head was a dark magenta beret with a little symbol of a crow at its edge. But what piqued Kiara’s curiosity were the girl’s heterochromic eyes,  in magenta and light blue, and her black horns with magenta underside.  What’s more, Kiara noticed something white peeking from under the girl’s beret…

Kiara blew that thought away, and smiled at the pretty, shy-looking girl, who was seemingly scared to look back.

“Oh, you are indeed a cutie.” Kiara giggled, noticing her slight blush. “I hope you know of me, otherwise it will be difficult to work together. But, if you wish for the two of us to become closely acquainted...” Kiara stopped her lips for a moment on a smug smile. “...I can give you some of my private time.”

The girl’s reaction to Kiara’s flirting made the phoenix scream inside from how adorable she looked, but Kiara knew she should restrain herself so as to not scare away her new right hand.

“Sorry, I will stop it~” She giggled again. “Anyway, my name’s Takanashi Kiara, an admiral and your boss now, nice to meet you.” Kiara put her hand forwards.

“I-IRyS, Ma’am.” IRyS replied, shaking her hand, a bit sheepishly still.

“Huh. Interesting name.” Kiara’s brow rose like her interest. “You are not from these lands, I assume? And stop with the ma’am.”

“O-okay, ma-... Sorry… But, yes.” The girl nervously smiled. “I moved here at a young age with my parents.”

“Then, I have a bit of… a personal question.” Kiara leaned forward a bit, looking deep into Irys’s eyes. “How did you get your eyes?”

The girl visibly froze on the spot, but it did not escape Kiara’s attention, how she quickly regained control of herself. “I was born with them… Sorry, if this answer disappoints you.”

Kiara hummed. ‘Answered it as if it wasn’t the first time someone asked, yet she’s definitely hiding something…’ Kiara shook her head. ‘Whatever, for now.’

“Ah, don’t you worry, I was just curious.” Kiara smiled. “It’s rare to see people with natural given eyes like yours.”

“Y-yeah.” IRyS finally smiled back. “I get that a lot.”

“Hehe. Well, anyway, happy to get you in my team! Hope we will get along~”

IRyS only nodded, with a happy look on her face.

“Anyway, let me give you a small tour of our quarters. You are here for the first time, aren’t you?”

IRyS nodded again. “Never was in high rank facilities.”

“Well, I will not dump a lot of useless info on your brain, I will just show you the important places, okay?”

With her agreement, Kiara led IRyS through the building. She rarely stopped somewhere for long, only doing so to make something clear or tell IRyS if she needed that place in any way. Kiara never saw much need for the vast majority of the rooms here, because why would she? She was a sailor, her home was her ship and the sea. And her goal, her target, was far away from the land.

“Anyway, that’s most of what you needed to know for now… IRyS?” Kiara looked back, and saw IRyS standing before a wall with paintings hanging on it. When the admiral came closer, she hummed in realization.

“Oh, you got curious about those?” Kiara chuckled. “These are portraits of the Fleet Admiral and the Tori group.”

“Huh… I can recognize Miss Ouro Kronii, you, and Miss Nanashi Mumei, but… who are the other two?”

“Right, them.” Kiara hummed. “Well, it’s understandable why you don’t recognize them. Compared to me and Mumei, they are not usually leading fleets. They are doing… a different type of job.”

Then Kiara pointed her finger to the far left portrait, on which was drawn a girl with short pink hair accompanied by pink wings on the side, folded upwards. 

“Her name is Takane Lui. She is behind all management in the institution and usually takes care of the land bases of the Navy. She’s constantly at work, tweaking the defenses of every base and trying to keep an eye on every branch of the Navy there is.”

Then her finger moved a bit right, to the portrait of a visibly tall girl with long white hair, but instead of a black outfit like the other admirals, she wore a white coat with a beautiful blue and white dress with a belt-like accessory.

“This one is Pavolia Reine. Her area is diplomacy and-”

“-getting the aristocracy of the government on our side to secure financing for our needs.”

Both Kiara and IRyS turned their heads to be met with the woman  they discussed - Pavolia Reine herself.

“Reine!” Kiara’s eye’s shone bright. “What are you doing here? I thought you were on another mission in the island kingdom.”

“Yeah I was. The king was pretty boring, so I wrapped up my job pretty quickly.” She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. “Those men are so easy to read, it’s laughable… Anyway-” Then she turned her gaze at IRyS. “-who is that?”

Reine came closer, and Kiara squinted. The Phoenix noticed the tensing of IRyS's body due to how close Reine got to the girl, looking deep into  her eyes. The girl’s hands trembled and her lips quivered, the muscles on her neck almost moving on their own.

Kiara groaned. ‘She’s doing this shit again.’

“I-”

But before she could say anything, Kiara decided to stand up between them, with a cold look in her eyes, feeling a little bit pissed off. “Okay, Reine, please stop studying my own subordinate.” Instead of a light hearted voice, a sharp sword came out, cutting through Reine's threads.

The heat in the room seemingly rose, little flames dancing in Kiara's eyes, and the feathers behind her ears began shining in teal and orange, to which Reine bit her lip slightly.

She huffed,  for a second looking back. Then she giggled, closing her eyes. “Oh, you are no fun, Kiwawa.” She sighed out. “I was jooooking~”

Kiara could taste sour on her lip, but she managed to smile back while feeling her eyes twitching. “It could be fun for you, but for my poor right hand it’s the first time. So please be kind.” Kiara felt herself cooling down, sighing and relaxing a little bit. “Anyway. She is my new vice captain, IRyS.

“Oh.” Reine’s brows twitched. “Glad Kronii was able to find you someone.” She looked back at IRyS, but softer this time. “And what a pretty girl she is. And, hm.” She looked at IRyS’s horns, humming. “Demon magic, huh?”

“Y-yeah.” IRyS giggled. “Just a  souvenir from my land.”

“Preeeetty.” Reine sang, a small glimpse of mischief in her eyes. “So you are literally horny, huh. Well, I could help you with that, if you want.”

Kiara never saw someone’s face go red in mere seconds, which made both herself and Reine laugh.

“Oh she is indeed a pretty one.” Reine turned to Kiara. “And you are a lucky one too.”

Kiara huffed a bit, smiling. “Heh, thanks.”

“Anyway.” Reine murmured. “I need to report back to Kronii. So you two have fun~”

But before they could continue, Reine leaned towards IRyS and Kiara could barely hear what she said.

“Admirals know full well what those eyes could be, as does any other worthy of being considered as one of the strongest of the world… So be careful, IRyS.”

“Reine…” Kiara squinted, turning her head.

“I’m going, going~” She giggled playfully, soon disappearing behind the doorway.

Kiara sighed, looking at IRyS. “Excuse her, she loves to study the people she likes. I hope you feel okay.”

IRyS nodded, letting out an exhausted sigh. “Yeah, I just… felt strange.”

“It’s okay, that’s Reine’s magic.” Kiara smiled. “Anyway, we are done here for now. Let’s get to our ship, shall we?”

***

Kiara’s ship is her pride and joy.

One of the biggest galleons in the navy, its wood a dark red color, matching the black sails with the picture of a fiery red bird, whose wings were covered by fire. The figurehead was also in the likeliness of  the fiery bird, but more detailed and majestic, fully capturing the beauty of the phoenix.

And it bore a fitting name in Kiara’s opinion. The Phoenix’s Pride.

Kiara deeply cared about her ship, and she was happy to see how stunned IRyS was, looking with amazed eyes at the scenery.

Kiara grinned, her hands at the sides. “Like what you see, huh? Well, that’s not all! This ship boasts one of the largest on-board arsenals  in the fleet, and it has the  largest amount of weight carrying capacity in the world!” She chuckled. “I like when I don’t need to hit port too much, I love the ride.”

“More like the hunt, aye?” The few people besides the ship recalled, making Kiara huff and frown.

“Oi! Don’t make fun of me, chims!”

The people only laughed at the comment, continuing the loading of the ship, while Kiara felt a small tug on the sleeve from IRyS. “Chims?”

“Oh, it’s how I call my crew! Don’t ask me why, the idea came after one of my dreams, hehe.” Kiara grinned brightly. “All the members are quite skillful people, and only those who could handle my way of working stay. And, even if you are such a cutie, I will not make it any easier for you, gotcha?”

IRyS’s cheeks dusted in pink, making Kiara give a smug smile. “O-okay. Anyway.” Kiara looked at IRyS, whose face had calmed and whose eyes sparkled with determination. “What is our mission?”

“Atta girl!” Kiara giggled. “Well, I usually only take missions to hunt down someone with a long history, but this one is a bit new.” Kiara took papers from her coat pocket and gave them to IRyS. “Our target is Amelia Watson, and for now we need to just keep our eye on her, so the mission promises to be fairly long.” After that the mischievous fire bloomed in her eyes. “As long as that girl doesn’t try to do something stupid, that is; otherwise, I will get her eyes!”

IRyS giggled. “Sounds more like a fun game to you, Captain Kiara.”

Kiara huffed. “Excuse you, I take my work very seriously!” Then she smiled, looking at the ship again. “Anyway, let’s go! We will find you, Amelia Watson!”

***

Amelia loudly sneezed, making the other girls jump in their places  - and splash water around, in Gura’s case.

“Ame, are you okay?”

Ame only shook her head, shrugging and trying to get the sneeze fully out. “Yeah, sorry girls. Don’t know what came to me… Forget about it, its just a sneeze.”

After that all girls relaxed, but Ame still thought, if its really was just a sneeze.

‘Ugh, just a coincidence…’

Chapter Text

Gura is a mermaid, of the powerful kind some would say. The shark mermaids are rare and so strong that they usually form their own bandit groups or become leaders of armies. Incredible strength, stamina, agility, and offensive power usually resulted in any mermaid of this kind becoming a legend.

But that was also the problem. They were powerful on the offense. The same couldn’t be said about any other dispositions a living creature may adopt. The dispositions a mermaid would naturally be forced to adopt when something was happening on land.

Gura was bored out of her mind. She was floating in the port’s waters right beside their ship, waiting, for hours, for her friends to come back. She would love to go with them, to look around, but she couldn’t, for obvious reasons. 

The only thing she could do right now was groan and do another circle around the ship. She’d already lost count of how many this made.

But soon she heard some loud noises. Curious, Gura perked up and grabbed the edge of the stone wall of the port to look, only to see two girls running towards the ship. Gura finally smiled, waving her hand.

“Ame! Ina! You're finally back!” She grinned widely. “What took you so long?”

“No time, to explain!” Ame screamed back. “Quick, get to, the ship!” She breathed heavily as if she had run a full marathon, bags dangling on her shoulders.

Gura made a confused sound, only to look back to the town, seeing a cloud of dust. She squinted to identify what caused it. And then fear struck her.

Towards them, with a vengeance, ran an angry mob of town people. 

“Shit.”

“Gura!” Ina called, standing on the pier and looking for Gura. “Oh, thank the stars you’re here!” A relieved sigh left Ina’s lips. “We’ve to run as fast as possible! No time to get you on board, sorry…”

“It’s fine!” Gura motioned with her hand. “Just go fast, I’ll follow and catch up when there’s no danger!”

The nervous smile parted for her. “Thank you!”

The shark saw her companions sail off, herself staying behind with the intent of slowing down any persistent pursuers. The desisting ones simply came to a stop at the edge of the pier, above her, all eyes on the departing seacraft.

“Damn ruffians! To think two pairs of hands would deprive us of so much stock! At least raid us with a full crew so we can live this down, ya piece of shit!”

“...but what can we do? They seemed like the perfect team, just those two.”

None seemed to notice Gura. It was as if she had been no contribution to the pair’s success and the town’s grievances. None at all. She watched the boat go until it was swallowed by the horizon. In much the same way, Gura dove into the waters.

***

Once they were far away from the island and the danger, it was time for Gura to get onto the ship.

As she was hoisted up by her out-of-breath comrades, Gura thought. A lot. About her friends, her situation, and her… uselessness.

Gura was frustrated. 

Not at her friends, for making the townspeople angry by trying to get the most supplies for the least possible amount of money, and not at the mob for trying to catch them.

She was frustrated with herself.

As Ame and Ina carefully carried her into the lower deck, by the armpits, like a burden, all Gura could do was wait.  After they let her slide into the tub, like ballast, the only thing left for Gura was to sit, and watch as her tired friends got started on the mundane work the ship required.

Gura felt utterly useless.

The shark groaned, shifting in the tub trying to find some sense of comfort. She tried to muffle her own thoughts by dipping her head into the waters, only to hear the loud sound of something crashing on the floor and a loud yelp of pain. When Gura raised her head above the water, she saw Ina, sitting on the ground, rubbing the back of her head.

“I-Ina!” She said, leaning against the edge of the tub. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah just slipped. Nothing serious.” Ina smiled gently. “But… what happened?”

Looking at the floor, Gura saw a small pool of water Ina had to have slipped in. It was part of a continuous trail, coming from the upper deck and ending at her tub. 

“Oh… sorry, it’s my fault… I just made a mess…”

“It’s okay, nothing bad happened anyway.” Ina giggled, wincing while standing up. “Well, I wanted to mop the floor later anyways. Don’t worry about it.”

Gura frowned, only looking down to hide her face.

‘You always say that…’

After that, she lay in the tub trying to nap and kill time as much as possible. But soon enough, she was awoken by a nice smell of food. When Gura peeked, she saw Ina standing at a strange stone construction with glimpses of fire behind the iron cage at the bottom.

“What is that?” Gura asked, worry in her voice.

“Oh? Are you talking about the stove?” Ina gestured. “Don’t worry about the fire. It’s a special construction that uses magical flames from fire-infused stones. It can look like a real fire, but there’s no danger of the ship catching on it.” Ina hummed. “And anyway, the insides of the ships are usually coated in lacquer- don’t ask what that is, hard to explain is what- so we are safe.” Ina smiled, returning then her attention to the cooking food.

“Huh. Never seen something like that.”

“Oh? What do merfolks use then to prepare food?”

“I mean, most of the food we get is farm grown, so it's safe to eat raw. But we do have cooking methods… I just never got the time to use them or to know how they worked.” She shrugged. “But I do remember my brother using the stones on underwater volcanoes to cook food when we were camping.”

“Oh! I would love to see it when we have time.”

Gura smiled at Ina’s excitement. “Yeah. Would love to show you.” But then, she felt her own face making a sour expression. 

‘No… I will find a way to come back home… Even if I was-’

Her thoughts were swiftly interrupted by a yelp. When Gura looked up, she saw a knife falling out from Ina’s hands, and Ina herself holding her finger.

“I-I’ts okay, I just cut myself.” Ina nervously giggled, trying to hide her wound, but Gura had already noticed. It wasn’t too serious, but it seemed pretty deep and long, blood already dripping on the floor.

But, instead of being worried, Gura felt excited.

“Ina, come here to me. I can help!”

Ina seemed confused but, to Gura’s joy, she obliged. When the girl was beside the tub, Gura gently grabbed Ina’s hand.

“Please, don’t ask questions until I’m done.” Gura felt her cheeks getting warm. “I know what I’m doing, but it's a bit… embarrassing.”

“What do you mean-ah!”

But Gura didn’t let Ina finish, placing the wounded finger on her rolled-out tongue and then closing her lips on it, starting to suck and lick the wound.

“G-Gura?!”

Gura saw how red Ina became with each second that passed, but the shark decided to just roll with it. Soon, Gura started to notice her method working, with Ina making small noises as if something small was puncturing her skin. After five minutes, Gura took out Ina’s finger from her mouth, smiling widely.

“As I said, I know what I'm doing, hehe.”

Ina gasped in surprise, and Gura wagged her tail proudly. The wound was now gone, with not even a scar left.

“Incredible… but, how?”

“Dunno.” Gura shrugged. “Just something about the fluids of merfolks having very good healing effects. It’s all I know.” But then she frowned. “And seems like it’s the only useful thing I can do…”

“What do you mean by that?” As Gura looked up at Ina, she saw the surprised expression on the girl's face.

‘Shit, she heard me.’

“N-nothing!”

“Gura.” Ina sighed. “I know you are lying.” Ina took the stool and placed it beside the tub. “Is something wrong?”

“I'm telling you, everything is-”

“Inaaa, I’m done with making sure our ship is sailing straight. We should have no troubles for the night-... What's happening?”

Gura groaned out, seeing now Ame joining the group.

“Gura seems to have some troubles.”

“No, I am fine!”

Ame made a noise. “Gura, you clearly aren’t. For the past week, we’ve been together, you’ve looked more and more troubled by something.” She came closer. “We are friends, Gura, and we should trust each other. But not only that, we are crew. And if someone from the crew is having trouble, we should all help. So please, tell us.”

Gura frowned, then groaned again, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples out of frustration.

Seems like she was caught.

“Fine!” Gura looked at both girls. “I’m feeling unbelievably useless!”

“What?”

“Yeah! I can’t do anything but just sit in this stupid tab or float in the water, while both of you do something on the ship or some island! I’m tired of being nothing, but just a bother to you two!”

But then she felt a hand placed on her head. As she turned, she saw Ina, patting her head, and smiling.

“You are not a burden to us, Gura.”

Ame giggled. “Yeah. If you were, we wouldn’t have agreed to take you with us. You are important to us because you are our friend.”

Gura never felt something like that. Something heavy finally fell down from her heart, making her burst into tears. She smiled, her tail wagging happily. 

“S-sorry, guys.” She giggled. “I was dumb…”

Then she felt two of the girls on each side capturing her into a tight hug. “No, you are not.” Ame giggled.

“We understand why you felt like that.” Ina, on the other side, smiled.

“Thank you…” Gura felt happy and free in her mind. But, soon, another thought came to her mind. “I still wanna be able to help both of you…”

“Well.” Ame leaned back, breaking the hug. “While having a tail it will be quite a struggle tho…”

“Humu.” Ina closed her eyes, seemingly thinking. “If only there was something to help you change…”

At that moment, Gura felt the rush of one particular idea in her brain. She knew: it would be a struggle, but… with her two friends, it might work.

“I… I have an idea, but it’s kinda tricky.”

“Huh?”

“There’s one artifact of merfolk civilization, that gives the wielder great powers. I even heard this thing allows the user to walk on land.” Gura then frowned.

“But there’s a problem, I guess?” Ina hummed, listening to Gura.

“Yeah. The artifact is hidden and the coordinates of where it’s kept are divided in two pieces scattered around the world. But, I know the first half of the coordinates. The issue is the second.”

“Why so?” Ame frowned.

“It’s kept at a Navy’s base.” Gura sighed. “Remember how we met, Ame?”

“You were captured by pirates, that I remember for sure.”

“They got me because I came to them to ask for help. I thought I would be able to negotiate them into raiding the Navy base…”

“Gura…” Ina groaned, and Ame facepalmed.

“I know! I wasn’t thinking!” Gura whined. “I was just trying to find some help! Not like I would be able to raid that base alone!”

“Yeah, but I don’t think three of us would be able to do much more than just you.” Ame sighed.

“I know, it’s why I didn’t talk about it before…”

“Well, we are dead in the water again…”

“Hm…” Ina stood up. “Actually. Gura, do you know the name of the base where the coordinates are kept?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Just tell me, I will look up something.”

“Ugh…” Gura frowned. “I think its Sea Scale Base?”

“Humu.”

Both Gura and Ame watched Ina coming to her map table, taking a book out of a drawer. Soon, they saw Ina smile.

“I think we might have a chance…” Her voice sounded excited. “But we have to plan things out.”

“Huh? Why did you become like this after looking up this book?” Gura looked at Ina and the book she was holding, only noticing the small symbol of dice on the edge of it.

“Well.” Ina giggled. “I will tell you… tomorrow. For now, let’s have dinner and rest, okay?”

Ame stretched out, groaning. “Well, seems like our first big adventure is happening.”

“Wait, hold on.” Gura looked at both of them in shock. “Don’t tell me you both are gonna help me raid the damn Navy base?”

“We want to help you, sharkie.” Ina giggled. “We told you already.”

“Yeah. And if it means attacking the Navy, then so be it.”

“G-Guys…” Gura felt tears coming again.

“No, no, keep the emotions for after.” Ame smiled. “We have to do something before celebrating. For now, let’s do what Ina said. Some food and rest. Okay?”

Gura sniffled. “O-okay.”

Chapter Text

The darkness of night, only broken by the moon looming above the water. The Shallow Waves anchored, a fair distance from the island with a keep on its coast. 

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this.” Ame sighed, looking at their target: the Navy base, where the second part of the coordinates so needed by Gura are held. 

“Are you still nervous about it?” Ina giggled, preparing the girls for the mission. “It’s too late to say no, we already made a promise, after all.”

“I know, I would never turn back on my words. It’s just…” Ame bit her lip. “I’m worried. There’s only three of us to take on the entire base… and you’ll stay on the ship.”

“I know. But, we have a pretty decent chance.” When Ame turned to Ina, she caught the bag thrown her way. “Made of waterproof leather. Should keep safe anything you get from the keep.”

Ame sighed. “Why are you so sure about the information you got? And who even gave it to you?”

Ame saw Ina smiling mysteriously. “I heard it from some rats, and I trust them. We helped each other back in the day and became really good partners. And if I would ask anything-” Ina gave her leather wraps, covering something long; Ame had a good hunch on what it was. “-they would help me without question.”

“Well, if you are so confident about them…” Ame looked at what she got, weighing it to make sure. “Rifle?”

“If something would go south, it's better to have a weapon other than a sword.” Ina smiled. “Bullets are in the bag by the way.”

“Thanks. But…” Ame chuckled. “I’ve never used a rifle before.”

“Pray it stays that way.” Ina nonchalantly replied. “But if push comes to shove, you can always push someone’s face in with the butt of it, Amelia.” Ina followed her practical advice with a practiced wink.

Ame groaned. “Oh, yeah, sure, I bet that'll prove to be so useful.”

Ina chuckled. “And you did tell us that you used pistols before. You should probably be able to make a shot or two if necessary, that's it. We are on a different type of mission after all, the rifle is just for safety measures.”

Ame hummed. “True.”

“Also, don’t forget this.” As Ina said, she gave Ame a paper scroll. “It’s the plan of the base. I myself have no idea how the rats got it, but I think it could be useful.”

Ame chuckled. “Oh for sure it will.”

“Hm… I think I did everything I wanted… For now, go talk to Gura about the mission, I will cast a spell on the ship, so we can be able to get closer.” Ina placed a hand on Ame’s shoulder, the blond feeling the soothing grip of the girl before her. “Everything will be alright. I believe in you two.”

Ame smiled back, softly. “I hope so… Thank you again.”

Ina nodded. “Now go, talk to our shark. We don’t have much time to waste.”

“Gotcha.”

As she went down, Ame was greeted by the very excited-looking shark, waving at her.

“Ame!” Gura smiled brightly. “Are we ready yet?”

“Yeah, Ina prepared us for the road.” Ame sat beside the tub, opening the plan of the base, just to frown at it afterwards. “Hm, I see how they got it…”

“Something wrong?”

“Yes and no.” Ame sighed, leaning against the wall. “The plan Ina got for us is very informative and shows where they possibly  keep all the important stuff, but… it’s pretty old.”

“What dat mean?” Gura frowned, confused. “Not like they can change the base in seconds.”

“The layout, no; but I have no idea if the rooms’ distribution was changed.”

“Oh…”

Ame sighed. “Yeah. But… at least we’ll have some orientation.”

“So, what will we do?”

“You will help me travel to the island without notice. I will try to sneak into the keep without making a sound, while you wait there.” Ame pointed at the layout.

Gura huffed. “I'm touched that you think I could understand plans and papers of humans, but you have to explain what the hell you mean, idiot.” 

Ame looked at how wide Gura’s grin became, only rolling her eyes in response.

“Oh shut up, fish breath.”

Both of them ended up smiling.

“But really. What did you mean?” 

“What I showed is an underwater gate. I have zero idea why they have it, but it could be related to what they keep inside.”

Gura frowned. “You mean…”

“Something to do with merfolks, right.”

Gura groaned. “I hope they are not here…”

“Same.” Ame chuckled. “Last thing I want is to fight someone who’s way stronger than any human.”

“Ugh… We will deal with each wave as it comes…”

“Right. So, I want you to wait beside this gate. I will raise it a bit for you to sneak in. After that, we would go in to search together. I don’t know exactly what those coordinates look like, so I would need your knowledge of merfolk’s tongue to find the right thing. After we’ve confirmed we’ve grabbed what we need, we just leave as fast as we can.”

“Got it.” Gura moved her tail a bit, thumping it against the tub. “Hope you are strong enough to carry ol’ heavy me.”

Ame grinned. “Oh don't worry, I will just drag you like a sack of oranges.”

“Oi!”

***

‘Well, the information wasn’t false then.’

Ame was smiling, widely. She sat on the hill right beside the base itself, watching how empty it looked at first glance. It seemed like an auspicious welcoming scenery for her and Gura. If it truly was this deserted, their mission would go much more smoother than expected.  It’d mean Ame would have to worry less about sneaking by, having much more time to focus on her work.

Yet the night was still too young for her to thank her lucky star.

‘Okay, let’s get to work.’ 

With that thought, she slid slowly to the walls, finding the right spot to throw the hook over. As she waited for the lone guard to pass, she did. After several failed attempts, Ame finally managed to leave it stuck, making the attached rope stable, and soon climbed up.

As Ame reached the edge, she looked at either side of the wall. Empty. With a smile now crouching on the wall itself, trying to not get noticed by the guards  roaming the base,Ame checked her map to confirm how to best get inside.  Clarification made, she looked at the inner yard. 

Also empty. Just three sailors sitting beside the crates, playing cards. The main entrance into the building a clear coast.

Ame smirked, sneaking to the staircase. With no hiccups, she got to the door, checking constantly on the troops to not get caught. And to her luck, the door opened without noise.

Now, she was inside. Firstly, Ame looked for the path to the basement, to open the way for Gura. As she did, no issues appeared on her way, not even a single patrol. It was really good, Ame thought.

‘Maybe too good.’

***

Subaru was simply a petty officer. Just a bit higher in rank than regular sailors, but, compared to them, she had way more stuff to worry about, and way more things she could get punished for. 

But Subaru didn’t mind that. She was ready for such work: it was always her dream to get into the navy, and slowly, but surely, get to the top and protect the one she cares about. 

In sum, she was low-ranked but hard-working.

Yet right now, most of all, she was furious.

She sat on a chair in her office room, burning the midnight oil over the relevant papers, trying to untangle the mess she was facing right now. 

“Damn, I can count the available troops with my hands…” Subaru groaned in a raspy voice, leaning back on the chair, and closing her eyes. “Why is my commander such an idiot… chasing ghosts and for what?!”

A moment later she slammed her fists against the table, almost screaming in frustration. “His stupid pride doesn’t help the situation at all!”

Subaru looked down at the papers, her eyes filled with anger. “Somehow I need to organize stupid patrols and guard placement, having so few people…”

“And I have to split them into shifts too…”

She groaned again, her hands on her head, scratching her scalp, face contorting , filled with emotions. She quickly stood up, grabbed the papers, and threw them from the table.

Subaru fumed, huffing, hands clenched into fists, shaking.

“And of course, if someone does try to attack us, who’s fault will it be?! Mine! And all because this stupid-” She punched the table. “-idiot-” Once more. “-can’t-” Yet again. “-calm his pride!”

With the last hit the table cracked and the next second it fell, now lying on the floor in two.

It took several moments for Subaru to calm down. As she stopped shaking, she let out a sigh, passing her gaze through the room, thinking.

“Well, I have to fulfill my duties now, but I will report him afterwards… I just hope no one will attack us until then.”

She looked down, sighing at the destruction she made.

‘...And I would also have to pay for the table… Great.’

***

Ame frowned, trying to stay focused. Maybe yes, it was easy, but she knew if something happened, she would probably get caught and possibly killed. With this in mind, she continued, finally getting to the basement.

As the map showed, it was a room with a pool and a way into the ocean, with only a gate serving as an obstacle. And, as she expected, Gura was already waiting for her, her head peeking a little bit above the water.

“Ame!”

“Shush!” Ame got closer, trying to look for a lever. “There are still people on the base.”

“I know, but it doesn’t seem like they’re doing anything.” The shark grinned. “Oh Poseidon, I’m so excited!”

Ame giggled. “Don’t get too cocky so early. We still need to get the coordinates.”

“Yeah, yeah… Now just open the fricking thing!” She mumbled, diving into the water to get ready.

Ame hummed, studying the room. Thankfully, it didn't take long to find the lever, and as she pulled it down just a tiny bit, Gura slid inside just fine.

“Okay, now what?” Gura asked, leaning against the edge of the inner pool. “As fun as it sounds, I don't think it’s a good idea to drag me around. Don’t wanna get ya caught.”

“But I don’t know what exactly we need!”

“Just look for the fancy merfolk mark, you doofus!” Gura barked back. “The paper on which it was written has a trident mark somewhere. And obviously, there are numbers! You are a smart girl, you will figure it out!”

Ame sighed. “And if I made a mistake??”

“Considering there’s no one protecting the place, just get back to me! I will be able to say if it's the right thing or not.” Gura grinned, her tail noticeably wiggling even under the water. “Easy, right?”

Ame sighed in defeat. “Well, I don’t have much choice anyway. Just lay low, I will do the rest.”

“I believe in ya, Watson!” Gura giggled, diving in again.

Ame only smiled back, returning to the main floor, and looking at the plan again.As it was depicted , the vault of valuable stuff should be deep in the building, right beside the Commander's office. 

Ame hummed, surprised yet again by how precise the map was, as she now headed to their goal.

With little to no struggle, she soon found, presumably, the room. In all honesty, to Ame the doors  of the two adjacent rooms were undistinguishable, and to be fair, she could understand why it was the case.

“Imagine trying to get into the vault and accidentally stumbling into the officer’s room and getting caught. Couldn’t be me.”

She smirked, thinking of what to do next, only to see how one of the doors slowly opened. As it happened, Ame quickly ducked behind the corner, peeking just a little bit to see.

And what she saw was great news, because now Ame knew what door to open.

She watched as the one outed as an officer by the rank insignias left the room; the frustration on the face of the girl making Ame smile.

“Oh you poor thing, I'm gonna make your day much worse.”

With an impish smile, Ame watched the officer walk away, and once she was gone, the girl quickly sneaked to the second door.

She opened her bag, grabbing the picklock. To her luck, yet again, the door quickly unlocked - “I should go gamble when we are done with the trident” - revealing the contents and making the little thief inside Ame squeal in excitement.

Shelves on the walls housing various artifacts and valuable treasures, chests and lockers that looked to be incredibly heavy,  folders of various important-looking documents. Everything inside transmitted to Ame a feeling of high importance and value.

And everything looked like it belonged to merfolks.

“Huh, so my hunch was right.” Ame hummed, eyes hovering over the various objects, attention being grabbed by one specially shiny thingamajig

As she looked closely, Ame saw a small basket full of big, orange-sized, pearls of muted gray colors, reflecting the light of lamps above. She smiled for a second, grabbing them carefully and placing them in the bag.

“These will sell for a pretty coin, hehe~”

After that, Ame switched her attention to folders. And when she opened one, she sighed. As she expected, it all was written in merfolk’s speech, which she had no idea how to understand.

“I should just grab some and go to Gura to ask for help…”

But as she moved to start grabbing papers, Ame felt a chill running through her spine, her mind screaming for danger. She moved her head just in time to not get struck by a heavy punch, passing by only a few inches away.

Ame’s eyes went wide, and following the arm that almost struck her made her notice a huge hole where it met the wall. As she looked at the one who did it, she felt cold sweat on her forehead.

It was the exact same girl who left the officer room earlier. And she was pissed.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” The officer screamed at Ame, the blond seeing rage inside the enemy’s eyes. 

Ame gulped. “I-I’m just lost!”

“Oh really?” The officer arched an eyebrow. “Lost in the vault? Do you think I’m stupid or what?!”

Ame couldn’t speak. Her thoughts were racing, searching for a solution, and she needed one, fast. Having found it, with zero hesitation, she grabbed hold of the rifle she had brought and smacked the officer’s head with its  butt. 

As the girl in front stumbled, grabbing the point of impact in a scream of pain, Ame hastily grabbed as many folders as she could take and fit in her arms, and ran. 

“S-Stop, you damn pirate!” Ame heard the officer’s scream behind her, but she definitely wouldn’t listen. 

The raider made her way, quickly, to the basement, shoving folders into the bag in a rush.

“Watson?” Gura peaked, noticeably worried, and Ame couldn’t fault her for that. “What’s happening?”

“I got caught.” Ame breathed heavily, dipping into the water and getting closer to Gura. “We have to run.”

“B-but the coordinates-”

“Gura, we don’t have time for that!” Ame screamed. “I grabbed what I could, so please, we have to go!”

“O-okay.”

And as they were about to leave, they heard a loud voice.

“In the name of the Navy, I order you to stop, you scumbags!”

“Shit… Gura!”

Ame could see that now Gura also was terrified. “I know! Grab me, and hold on tightly, it will be rough!”

As Ame circled her arms around Gura’s shoulders, the shark dived in, rushing forward under the water, leaving the officer behind, screaming curses

Ame thanked the Gods they had managed to escape.

***

Back at the Shallow Waves, Ame quickly called for Ina to help. As she saw the girl, she breathed out in relief. Slowly, she finally climbed up, getting next to Gura on board, who was trying to relax from an intense swim for their lives.

“What happened?” Ina’s voice trembled in worry. “You look like death itself was chasing you.”

“Almost…” Gura exclaimed, leaning against the boards of the ship.

“We almost got caught.” Ame breathed out heavily. “Didn’t expect the officer to be right behind me when I was looking for documents… Barely managed to survive, that girl had a damn strong punch.”

Ina seemingly became less tense, sighing out, making Ame chuckle nervously. “Well, the mission was successful anyway, I think.”

“Not if we count you almost dying in the process…” Ame saw Ina studying her. “And losing the rifle.”

“Oh… Crap. Well, I don’t think it’s a problem anyway, I got to use it though, as you suggested.”

Ina giggled. “Butt strike, huh? Anyway, what about the coordinates? Did you find them?”

Ame became frozen in place for a moment. “Uhm…”

“No, because this dummy was in a hurry to get her ass out of the problem.” Gura pouted.

Ame nervously laughed, feeling guilt gripping her heart. “Sorry… It was my fault, I wasn’t careful.”

And then felt a light slap from Gura’s tail. “Shut up, don’t be.”

Ina smiled. “Gura is right. It’s better to have you alive empty-handed, than dead grasping a treasure.”

Ame sighed, relaxing completely, even chuckling at the situation. “Yeah, you’re right. But, I did manage to get something out!” She smiled, opening the bag and showing the girls her loot.

And to Ame’s pride, she saw Ina’s eyes sparkling in excitement. 

“You found pearls?!” Ina’s smile was wide. “They are so expensive to get…”

“Yeah, so I plan to sell them-”

“No!” Ame got interrupted quickly. “They are very valuable. We should keep them for now, I just need to… find the other piece to make them work…”

“Eh?” Ame frowned in confusion. “What do you-”

“Oh, my Poseidon! Watson, you lucky dumbass!”

Ame groaned, being interrupted again, turning her head towards Gura. “Call me a dumbass again and I will show who’s the stupid one on this ship.”

“Will be you anyway.” Gura’s smug smile was wide and before Ame was able to protest, Gura showed her and Ina one of the documents. “Look! It’s the coordinates we were looking for!”

As Ame and Ina glanced through the paper, both of them beamed with excitement and joy.

“So, we were successful!” Ina giggled. “Such good news then! Now we can plan the next step. But for now, we should get out of here. I don’t think the Navy would spare any means to try to get to us, don’t you think?”

Ame and Gura grinned and laughed,  bumping their fists together. “We wouldn’t have done it without each other!”, they both said in unison.

***

Subaru was shaking. She felt with her whole body the cold of fear and shame, as she watched the Admiral ship getting closer to the base. With each passing second , the closer Subaru’s doom.

She felt screwed. All of her dreams of a Navy career were ruined because of a stupid incident. A stupid superior, a stupid pirate, and a stupid coincidence.

It wasn’t even her fault. But, she felt as if it was useless to explain. She didn’t manage to keep the base safe from intrusion, and there was no excuse for that.

As Subaru tried to calm her legs from shaking, she watched the galleon stopping at the harbor. In dread she watched as the bridge was placed and how slowly two figures appeared, surprising Subaru in the worst way possible.

Instead of one Admiral, now she would have to face two of them at the same time. 

“Admirals Takane Lui and Nanashi Mumei have arrived!” As the sailor on the ship announced, everyone, including Subaru, saluted.

“Dismissed,” Lui said calmly, Subaru in horror watching as the admiral was coming closer to her. “Well, I got the report. Could you explain yourself, why this base was invaded…” Subaru saw Lui reading the written report, gulping as she noticed the whip on her right leg. “...by two people, and they weren’t stopped?” Lui’s smile was icy cold, eyes closed, face filled with judgment. “How should I understand that, officer Subaru?”

“I…I…” Subaru felt her throat going dry, her arms sweating and her legs still shaking like a leaf on the wind. “I’m so sorry, it’s my fault! I wasn’t able to stop them, and… and…”

“Sheesh, Lui, stop making such a scary face.” Subaru suddenly snapped from her fear, noticing Admiral Mumei coming closer, yawning. “You almost made her die on the spot, and you don’t even have a full image, probably.” Mumei nodded slowly to her own words, only afterwards looking at Subaru directly. “Officer, could you provide us with your log book. I wanna see exactly what happened.”

“Y-yes ma’am!” The little hope inside Subaru’s heart lingered as she handed the book to the Admirals, watching in anticipation as they looked through it.

“Hm… Yep, as I thought.” Mumei sighed, giving the book to Lui. As the pink-haired woman looked at reports, she got more and more upset with each passing second.

“Officer Subaru…” Subaru yelped, her soul pierced by the Admiral’s voice. “I’m sorry for my premature judgment of you. It was wrong of me to assume the worst from you.” Lui’s smile warmed, and her eyes finally opened, revealing their light blue colors, making Subaru feel relieved and at ease. “But I would like you to lead me to your commander. I would need to have a long talk with him and get a proper explanation of why he left you understaffed. Am I heard clearly?”

“Y-yes, Miss Takane!” Subaru yelped again. “I’m sorry, but I can't do what you ask right now! Vise Admiral Piranh abandoned the base only recently and we just sent him notice! In the best case scenario, he will be back in 24 hours!”

Lui hummed. “Well, I could wait.” She sighed, turning her vision to Mumei, Subaru carefully watching both of them. “Sorry for disturbing you from your mission, Mumeishi.”

“Nah, it's okay.” She waved, turning her head towards Subaru, yet again making the girl freeze in place. “By the way. Could you please remind me who exactly were the intruders?”

“Uuuuh.” Subaru frowned. “Short-haired blonde and merfolk-mermaid with shark tail, at least as far as I and the other people who were able to catch sight of them could tell, Miss Nanashi.”

Mumei’s brows twitched. “Hm, did the intruder leave something of their belongings by any chance?”

“Oh! Yes, the blonde girl did!” Subaru quickly grabbed the rifle, that was leaning against the crates. “This, was her weapon that she left in a hurry.”

Slowly, as Subaru watched, a sinister smile appeared on Mumei’s face, wide and borderline crazy. “Excellent~”

And Subaru wouldn’t lie, she now was scared for the invaders.

Chapter Text

Gura couldn’t calm her heart. The tail swayed like a cat’s when itsees the mouse. She sat on the main deck of the ship, leaning over the rails, looking toward the archipelago. Numerous small sandy islands stood in a circle with a large radius, forming an eye, with the center of it being the darkening spot of the waters. 

The place where her trident was supposedly being held. Soon she will be getting it.

Gura turned her head, looking at the other two. Ame, standing before the wheel, slowly leading the ship to its destination. Ina, already changed into- as the girl described- a diving suit. The mermaid still had no idea how it would work, but she liked how slick it looked on Ina, covering the girl’s skin so tightly but seemingly not restraining any movements. But Gura still had some questions about how Ina would be able to dive so deep with her, but she didn’t know if she should to ask, because she knew it was related to Ina’s mistique’s past…

…but she still wanted to know.

Gura slowly crawled towards Ina, carefully watching the girl, studying what she was doing. Ina didn’t seem to be bothered by that, or at least she hadn’t noticed it, and then it happened. As Gura watched Ina slowly move hands over her body, silent incantations falling from her lips and purple smoke slowly coating the cloth and exposed skin, soon disappearing, as if sinking into her body.

Gura made a noise, which led to Ina peaking up and turning her head towards the shark.

“Uh, hi?”

“Well hello there, come here often?” Ina smiled, stretching. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing, I just, ugh,” Gura looked over Ina, trying to find anything that happened to her body after the spell, “was curious what that spell you made did.”

“Right, you probably never seen mistiques?” Gura nodded. “Well, mistique’s are accustomed to living at sea and sometimes even spend a lot of time under the waters, so many of our spells revolve around helping us. This one, specifically, enhanced my body in… a specific way.”

As Ina said that, she grabbed the collar of her suit and pulled it down, revealing her neck and… three thin slits on each side of the neck.

Gura looked at Ina in shock. “You people can do that?!”

“Not all of us, but those with some experienced - yes.” Ina smiled. Gura can see a glimpse of pride in the mistique’s eyes. “Also it generally helps my stamina, speed, vision and other stuff underwater, but the main change is the gills, yes.”

“Is it… painful?”

“Oh, immensely. I mean, it's a new organ that appears in your body and makes holes in it, so.”

Gura’s eyes went wide. “A-are you okay?”

Ina smiled. “Don’t worry, I got used to it. Part of the training.”

“O-okay.” Gura calmed down a little bit, but her eyes were still glued to Ina’s neck in wonder. “I still can’t believe humans have some sort of magic like that. Like, you don’t use an artifact for this?”

Ina shook her head. “You don’t need anything to learn this power yourself, but… it’s a hard path; very exhausting and draining mentally. Not all acolytes are able to go through the initiations.”

“It’s still… incredible, and the fact that you were able to go through all of it is” Gura looks at Ina, a small grin on her face, “amazing.”

Ina smiled back. “Thank you.”

“But honestly, how is it even possible? I mean, the whole mistiques magic thing. It’s not related to artifacts at all, so how does it works?”

Ina smirked. “Actually, technically, it is related to artifacts. This all appeared years ago, when a group of five sailors found very powerful artifacts which resonated with their souls and brought their deepest wishes to reality.” Ina smiled, sitting on one of the crates, sighing. “And, as you can understand, mistique’s magic was one of those sailors’ wishes. And, actually…” Ina took a second to get one of the pearls Gura recognized from their recent mission of getting the coordinates. “Those things are also the result of the wish.”

“No way.” Gura leaned a bit closer. “It’s why you didn’t want to sell them as Ame suggested?”

“Humu humu. It’s a bit of a complicated thing, and I need another piece of the puzzle to show how it works, but the function of these pearls is enormously helpful.”

“C’mon, Ina!” Gura groaned. “You’re teasing!”

Ina giggled. “Well even if I wanted to, we don’t seem to have time to talk.” 

Ina nodded towards the wheel, Gura seeing Ame coming closer to them with a sun-bright excited smile. “Well, girls, we finally got to the place!” Ame giggled, her hands on her sides. “Are we ready?”

Gura nodded, her smile mirrored Ame’s. “Yeah,” then she looked over to Ina, “but what about the plan?”

“Oh right. Well, as we decided earlier, I will go with Gura while Ame stays on the ship to watch over it. As we go down, we will have to stay on high alert, considering we have no idea if something is guarding the temple or not. If something is there, we will try to stay as far as possible from them and figure out what our next step should be.” Ina hummed, her brows frowning a bit. “From that point we would probably have only two options. Sneak pass it, or fight it.” She sighs. “And I for sure hope there is nothing bad.”

Gura huffed. “We merfolks usually too proud of ourselves and our privilage to live underwater to even place guards at important places, trust me, it will be a freebie.”

“Oh really?” Ame’s brow curved, lips curling into a smirk. “Experience speaking?”

“Yeah!” The moment after the smile on Gura’s face disappeared, her cheeks puffed up in pout. “Oi!”

Ina and Ame giggled, with Ina then continuing. “But, really, we shouldn’t be so overly confident. As much as I despise my order, they taught me about one simple rule.” Ina sighed as she stood up, stretching. “Be careful of what’s beneath.”

Gura grinned. “Nothing that I, and especially we, wouldn’t able to tackle!” She grinned proudly.

Ina smiled, patting Gura’s head. “Maybe you’re right.” 

“Well then,” Ame huffed, looking at the both girls enjoying their time, “If we are ready, we should start? As much as this place is beautiful, I don’t wanna risk being spotted by some random ass patrolling ship.”

Ina nodded. “You have a point. Then, Gura,” she looked at the shark, Gura noticing the gleam of determination in storm-blue eyes, “let’s do this.”

Gura grinned widely, nodding back with a heavy thump of her tail against the wood.

***

Ina insisted on Gura holding her hand during the dive, the reason being that Gura is more skillful and it would be easier for her to lead the way. Even though the mermaid fully understood it, ready and willing to help, Gura was incredibly anxious. Ina trusted her,life depending on Gura’s skills and knowledge, fully giving the shark control of the situation.

And Ina’s hand was incredibly soft, which made Gura flustered on an extra level for some reason.

Either way, their mission started. They moved through waters slowly, the luke-warm sea slowly changing into cold depths as light couldn’t follow them deeper, letting the darkness take its rightful rule. Gura moved slowly, carefully scanning the waters to catch any weird sound they could stumble upon, paying extra attention to Ina behind her, holding on mistique’s hand. 

Thankfully, their long swim was peaceful. A few curious fishes here and there and even a couple of roaming sharks greeted Gura on the way with their curious look to only continue on their own way. Nothing was stopping them, but there was something… strange, and Gura wasn’t able to put her claw on it.

“We should be near it.” Ina whispered behind her, voice muffled slightly by the waters.

“Oh. right.” She mumbled, looking down, scanning the area, but sadly, she couldn’t pick up any shape or structure that could have been a clue to where to go. 

And there still was this weird feel Gura couldn’t get rid off.

“Something is wrong?” Ina leaned forward, her face so close to Gura’s

“I-,” Gura was thankful for Ina not being able to see blush painting her face, “N-nothing, really. I-I mean, I can’t find anything that could lead us to the temple, but that’s it.”

Ina hummed. “Well you do look nervous, so I’m worried.”

“Oh.” Gura stuttered. “Well, I… It’s nothing, I just…” Gura grumbles. “I just have this strange feeling inside my brain. Like, as if my instincts are acting up, but the fact I don’t see anything is the problem. I don’t know what’s happening.”

Ina frowned, finger curled and pressed against her chin. “That’s concerning.” She frowned. “We should go further but be extra careful then. Seems like merfolks placed some sort of guardian near the temple if your instincts are right.”

Gura groans. “I mean, I’m not exactly sure if it’s even my instincts or me being dumb.”

“So you prefer be dumb instead of being wrong.” Ina smiled.

The mermaid huffed, but still smiled back. “Don’t put words in my mouth.”

Ina giggled, her hand slipped and curled around Gura’s again. “Okay. Let’s continue but with extra caution.”

Gura nodded, her attention again focused on diving deeper. As she went, the strange feeling was becoming louder and louder, causing dull pain to ring in her brain.

Gura stopped, free hand rubbing her head as she groaned. “P-please give me a moment-”

She felt a loud stinging scream of her instincts in her brain, making her duck down, tugging Ina along as well, with something large bolting past them, ripping through the water with large force causing a wave which pushed the pair away, staggering them for a bit.

“What was that?!” Ina gasped, her hand iron-gripped on Gura’s 

“Me being wrong! Seems like they did leave something there!” Gura screamed, her eyes peeled towards the thing that flashed by, and to Gura’s horror, this something now turning, thankfully slowly, towards them again. “And now it’s on us!”

Gura had to think quickly. She looked at the beast, trying to rationalize what they should do.

It was a massive shark, big enough to see and study it from such a long distance. Hulking muscles under its skin easily noticeable as it moves, covered by deep, slashing scars. The mouth of the thing was wide open, revealing rows and rows of sharp  teeth. It looked like a mythical shark Gura has read about in manuscripts before, but it was very real, and, seemingly, very determined on getting them. 

Gura dove down, fast, holding Ina’s hand tightly. She could hear the beast coming after them, the waters painfully sloshing apart on the monster’s way. Gura had to find the proper way to confuse and lose the creature. 

Soon, thankfully, Gura reached the land mass and underwater mountains. She streamed forward, her heartbeat rushing the blood through her body, her body tense but quick. Gura noticed the gap in one of the rocks, big enough for both her and Ina to get through, but small enough for the creature to not pass. Gura bit her lip, and then swam through the gap, looking and hoping for the creature to follow them and get stuck, just to give them enough time and room.

And thankfully, as they swam a bit away from the mountain, the monster tried to bash itself through the gap, causing the mountain to rumble and few rocks fall over, but overall getting stuck.

Gura sighed out, looking at Ina, “You alright?”

“Well,” Ina breathed heavily, the girl seemingly in distress, “we were able to get away from the thing, at least for now… But what is that?”

“I have few ideas, but we shouldn’t try to stay here for long.” Gura groaned, looking at the shark. “Just why is it here.”

“Well, it’s probably some sort of guard that merfolks placed?”

“I know, but it’s just… How the hell were they able to create such a thing? Sharks of its size are practically legends, they couldn’t exist naturally.” Gura groaned, her gaze wanders across the violently thrashing monster, noticing something strange in it. A shackled dark silver collar circled around its neck with chains going back and into the darkness Gura’s vision couldn’t get through. Most of the scars that were on them seemed a bit off, as if they were made on purpose. Too clean and accurate, crossing its body at the places as if someone tried to get to its vital organs. And there was something strange about the scar just right under its mouth. Small and seemingly old, two lines crossing each other in “x” shape. The strange scar reminded Gura of someone, and as Gura slowly figured it out, her eyes became wide in shock.

“H-how could they…” She whispered, her hands trembling in rage and blood boiling in her veins. 

“Gura-”

“I-I thought he died… They lied to me…”

“G-Gura, please-”

“I will find them and I will make them pay

“Gura!” The mermaid felt a harsh tug. “We have to go! It’s getting out!”

And Ina was right. Gura saw the rocks around the creature cracking, slowly, up, and the monster itself slowly getting through it.

Gura inhaled deeply, trying to calm her trembling and rage, “You right. Let’s get on a good distance, Bloop is chained up so he can’t follow us for long.”

“Bloop? How do you know its name?”

“Because he is… was my pet.” She sighed, face grim. “I will explain more later, now we should go.”

Ina nodded, Gura could easily tell the worry crossing the girl’s face. Gura smiled weakly back, grabbing Ina’s hand and swimming up away.

Soon, they got out pretty far, only seeing a shadow of the monster swimming in the dark on the edge of its territory. Gura on the other hand didn’t feel easy at all. She was furious, anger boiling down to the point of her hands starting to hurt because she clenched her hands too hard, and pulsing pain in her eyes, the capillaries threatening to burst into a bloodshot.

Gura felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, soft rub following. She turned her head, Ina looking at her with so much care in the mistique’s eyes Gura’s anger faded away, but replaced by sadness. 

“This monster’s name is- was Bloop.” Gura cried quietly. “He was my pet and my best friend when I still lived back at home. I… Was very rebellious against my parents and family. My last straw was the day Bloop disappeared. They said he just died but they didn't let me see him and I trusted them anyway, and after that I ran away.” Gura sighed, she felt her body start to shake. “I… I can’t believe they did those things to him… How could they…”

She sobbed, loudly and freely. The tears were not visible but she could feel her eyes burning. Gura covered her face, whining, feeling lost and defeated.

Gura felt arms wrapping around her waist, holding her in a snug embrace, and a head lean against her shoulder. If this happened back when she was younger, she'd have pushed Ina away, but the weight from the other girl felt nice. Ina didn't speak, and gave Gura all the space she needed to grieve and cry.

Gura didn't hear anything from Ina, she wasn't even sure if it was because she was silent or because the sound of her own sobs were too loud. She felt hands moving slowly along her arms, squeezing and rubbing. It was nice, and it helped Gura to calm down a little.

Then she heard humming. She heard and could feel the humming. How it sounded light and droning, how it rumbled against her back. Gura grimaced again, teeth baring in a gnash, more tears fell down her face. The humming... it reminded her so so much of what her best friend—Bloop—would do when she went to him for comfort. Her tail wrapped around Ina’s legs in anguish and the sobbing resumed; choking on salt water and built up saliva, hunching over and curling in on herself.

It was several long, emotional minutes until Gura cried her last tears, sobbing dry, nuzzling into Ina and trying to grab for every warmth from her friend, listening to Ina’s voice and trying so hard to focus on it. But soon, she became silent, just lonely whimpers escaping her lips. Guta exhaled, heavy, looking up at Ina with red from crying eyes, and Ina smiled, gently, comforting, at her.

“Feeling better?” Ina asked quietly, her hand patting the back of Gura’s head.

Gura nodded, her voice still hoarse, “Y-yeah, a bit.” She sniffed, rubbing her eyes, regaining composure, “We need to continue.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” Gura’s voice reinforced with confidence, growing more and more in her heart, “We have to, it was our goal and stopping here will be foolish.” She clutched her hand into fist, “And we need to deal with Bloop. I’m not going to leave him here… not like this.”

Ina nodded, “Alright then. But you probably know the only way we can… “save” him from the state he is right now. Are you sure?”

Gura whined, her face soured from the thought, “Yes. Even if there’s a better solution, we don’t know one, and the only people who could give it are merfolks… We have no choice.”

Ina sighed, “In this case, I have a plan that might work.” Her face squirms as if needles punctured her skin.

“Ina? Are you okay?”

“Yes, it’s just… The plan will be dangerous, for both of us. And I’m not sure it will work.”

“Well, we don’t have any ideas right now anyway.”

“Right.” Ina sighs again, placing her hand on her sword handle, “I could use a spell that will probably kill Bloop. But I need some time to prepare it and the right alignment for an attack. And if I miss… I wouldn’t be able to use this spell for a long time.”

“So you want me to distract him while you charge the spell?”

“Exactly.”

Gura thought about it. When they were so close to the entrance, Gura saw several mountains and caverns and very rough patches of ocean floor that could help her maneuver and get some time for Ina to prepare. She needed to be just fast enough.

“I can do it, yes.”

“Well,” Ina smiled, arm placed on Gura’s shoulder, squeezing it in comfort, “Then we can give Bloop his well deserved peace and reach our goal.”

Gura smiled back, playful and determined. “Let’s do it!”

The way back wasn’t long, but it was tense. They had to get in position first, then to lure the shark out and start the chase, so they had to move carefully to the right spot. Thankfully, for now, Bloop wasn’t present, so they had an easy time getting on one of the small stone mountains, where Ina started to prepare the spell, unsheathing her sword and reading incantations, purple magic starting to flow out of her hands. She didn’t say anything to Gura, but looked at her with reassurance and hope in her. Gura nodded to Ina and swam closer to the temple entrance, thinking it would trigger the megalodon to attack her.

And as expected, she soon heard a loud rumble and a huge body swam out of the cave with its focus right on Gura. Gura looked back, her eyes sharp, scowling at the monster. 

“Try and get me!” She screamed, and as Bloop started to rush towards her, she swam away.

Bloop, to Gura’s surprise, was swift and nimble even with his hulking mass. But Gura had the advantage of her own size, moving through cracks in stone and small gaps in mountains with ease, forcingBloop to make hooks and turns to follow. But at the same time Gura constantly was thinking about making sure he was still on her tail, to not make him lose her and switch his attention to Ina. That was her biggest concern. 

A loud crack and crash forced Gura out of her thoughts, looking at Bloop right on her side, gaping maw of teeth aimed at her. She ducked down, swimming under him, almost scraping his belly, trying to get away. 

“Close call…” Gura sighed, looking up at Ina, still charging, waiting for the signal. “Come on, Ina…”

She continued to swim, like a marathon, and to her horror, Bloop was gaining more and more speed. Gura could hear, even feel Bloop being so close to her, mere inches away from her tail.  She was getting tired and apparently megalodon knew it.

Ina screamed at top of her lungs, Gura quickly looked up, Ina standing still and steadily, her sword held in preparation to attack, the blade glowing purple. Gura inhaled air in water, taking all strength left in her body, to make a last push, swimming towards Ina and past her. She turned back, looking at Bloop still following her, and him getting closer to Ina.

“Come on, Ina.” Gura’s voice wobbled, worry fills her mind, as she watches Ina still not making her attack. “Please, he’s going to get you!”

Ina made a thrust, and everything ripped in the sound of thunder and purple lighting. Gura couldn’t follow what happened, only bleaks of colors and sounds filling her mind, making her shudder and scream. She hears echos, voices, whispers and screams, but not Ina’s, of something else, and then laughter. Manacle laughter, almost mocking, but then slowly fading away. Gura looked up, with a struggle, to see Ina on her knees. Worry filled her heart as she rushed towards the girl, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her.

“Ina?!”

Her worries were quickly broken as Ina looked at her, a smile across her face, with a hint of exhaustion, “We did it.”

Gura gasped, making a move to the edge of the mountain, looking down and watching Bloop’s body slowly falling down to the ocean floor. trail of blood following him, dissolving in the water.

“We really did it…” Gura smiled, wanting to celebrate, but then sorrow filled her heart, “We killed him… Bloop…”

She was shaking, but then something wrapped around her, holding her still, in warmth and care. Ina, hugging her close, humming, “We did what we could. And I think he would be grateful to you for this.”

Gura took her time calming herself down in Ina’s arms, thinking and calming down, breaking the comforting silence after a few minutes, “You are right. It was a torture what they did to him… and we freed him from this pain.” Gura sighed, looking at the cave entrance, “And now the way is clear.”

Ina looked at the shark, note of worry in her eyes, “You sure?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m ready.” She snickered, “It was we are here for anyway.”

Ina smiled, nodding, grasping Gura’s hand, squeezing it gently, “Then let’s go.”

The rest of the way wasn’t hard. The cave itself felt like a maze, but thanks to carvings and ritual drawings on the walls it was understandable they were on the right path. Gura looked at the carvings, wincing at them.

“Something wrong?” Ina asked.

“Nothing… It’s just,” Gura sighed, “I remembered something bad.”

Gura wanted to thank Ina that she didn’t proceed with questions. She would explain everything, but… She wanted to take her time. And she wanted Ame to hear it too.

Soon, they finally got to their destination. It was a big room, covered in light blue crystal and stone, gold covering the rough edges of it, with fire slugs crawling on the walls, lighting up the surroundings. The stand in the middle held the weapon, their goal - a long trident that looked more like a work of art than a weapon. Blue material, smooth and glimpsing the light, illuming the room even more. The tongues of the blades, flowing out of the shaft with smoothness and grace encased in its structure, but seemingly still sharp at the point and its blades.

“Here it is.” Gura gasped, swimming closer to it, “Finally, I got it.”

Ina frowned, “It doesn’t looks like a simple weapon, that's for sure.”

“Because it isn’t,” Gura smiled, her hand grabs the shaft of the weapon,  “It's a treasure of the royal family.”

And as she pulled the trident from the stand, the flow of power filled her body. Her veins burned, gills flattened in pain, brain numb and pulsing, but she held still, clenching her teeth. Gura felt her body changing, rebuilding, evolving.

Soon, pain faded away, but Gura still breathed hard and hoarse. She inhaled, gaining her composure back, and then turning to Ina, with, still with remnants of small pain in the edge of her lips, and smiled. “It’s done.”

But something strange was in how Ina acted. Her eyes wide, with small pupils, wobbling lips, and huge, bright red blush covering her face entirely. Gura got confused, tilting her head on the side, “Ina? You okay?”

“Y-your body, Gura…”

Gura hummed, looking over herself and getting shocked at the same moment. 

Her tail had become smaller and moved a bit up, and in its place now sprouted two slender athletic legs. They didn’t felt wrong, almost if they always were here, but it still felt so strange for Gura to see her body changed so much. She looked over the rest of her body. Most scales she had before disappeared into human skin, and her fins had shrunken down, and now she actually could see how toned she was. But there was one more issue and she now understood why Ina was so red.

“...Ina can I take your cloak, please?”

“S-sure!”

Gura wrapped the cloak around her body, especially to hide her more delicate parts, feeling herself getting red from the situation.

“Well… I see what they meant with the legend.” Gura laughed nervously, trying so hard to not focus on what just happened.

“Oh? What do you mean?”

“Well, merfolks have a legend about a chosen one, who will wield this weapon and lead merfolks to the land to take over it.”

Ina hummed, “It does soundlike something an artifact would allow the user to do, honestly.” Gura watched Ina getting closer, taking her hand. “And it seems like you attuned to it perfectly. It will probably take some time to fully be able to walk on land, but still.”

“Y-yeah.” Gura didn’t know why she felt so shy around Ina being so close right now, but considering what happened just a few moments ago, Gura tried to get over it, and quickly. “Well, let’s come back to the ship, aye?”

Ina smiled and nodded, grabbing her by the arm, “Lead the way then.”

The way back was quick and calm. As they broke the surface of the sea, it was night already. Their ship floated so close to them, sails up, looking so serene. A rope ladder already was out, letting them get up quickly and with no problem (with some hiccups by Gura missing a step or two and then shrugging it off with a nervous laugh). But when they fully stood on the deck, something felt… wrong. Ame didn’t meet them at all. The ship was dead quiet and all lights were turned off. It all felt tension  filling, as if something happened.

They heard a noise, a struggle, and shuffle. They looked towards the headpiece of the ship, carefully, trying to not fall over in the darkness. And as they got closer, the torch lit up, revealing two people.

Ame was tied up, laying down on her stomach, with a rope gag in her mouth and rifle broken just laying beside her. And on top of Ame sat down another person, a woman, her brown hair falling down from the hood, with golden eyes locked at her, with a smile, illuminated by the torch.

“Oh, hi.”