Chapter Text
Diana couldn't believe she was doing this. She was on a rickety boat, big enough for a 9 member crew but in the cold setting of a spring's night it held 3. She stood on the upper deck, holding the wheel as she steered in the vast ocean. Hannah was on one side of the boat, lantern peering down to the watery abyss and Barbara was on the other. The captain, the first and second mate of the great feared boat the Artemis was in some random ship they borrowed in search of a fairy tale creature.
It was stupid. It was reckless. It was a waste of their time.
But somehow Amanda of all people managed to persuade her to do it. Maybe it was the dramatic flare of the words, the hurtful laughter from the male captains who always shun them for sailing.
"Girls belong in barkeeps and houses, not in a floating box in the open." They say after several drinks. "The sea is for men. It's bad luck for women to board." And to an extent, Diana would agree that it's bad luck for a woman to sail. But only for the men who came home with nothing when they hit a gold mine on their travels.
But she knows full well that it was the convinced tone of her voice that made her go look. How Diana knows, in her muck and wear Amanda would sail and won't come back until she had proof. Maybe if she did it Amanda would see reason and this whole scenario would just be another story to create laughs when they drink together under the warm glow of a music filled tavern.
Honestly, how could anyone find a mermaid?
They're a secretive race. Only rare sightings here and there and often faked to grab attention of the local people. Mermaids aren't real. They are an image for a dying sailor man's desperation to survive, or as a fable to the children and naive. Diana is neither of them.
"How long must we be out here for Diana?" Hannah asked, the constant chime of her feet tapping on wood falters a bit as Diana turns her head to look at her. Barbara as well falters her search, turning as well for answers. The slight fatigue hidden in both of their eyes tells her all too well that they've been here long enough.
"Not long, I hope." She sighs, her blue eyes looking ahead in the distance before they narrow. The grip on the wheel tightens, a hardened mask was placed on her as she peered closer. Her eyes narrowed in sudden realisation, a sensation of chills ran over her arms, goosebumps appearing under her long sleeves. "In fact we'll be leaving now." She orders as she heaves her strength to one side, turning the boat around.
"Diana?" Barbara asks, a hint of fear in her throat but Diana ignores it, crude swears repeating under her breath as she glances back at the incoming obstacle.
"There's a fog up ahead, I don't want to touch it with just the three of us." She grunts as she cups her hand over. "Release the sails girls!" Her first and second mate glance at each other before they raced to get them open.
"Something is not right here." Hannah admits as she feels the push of the wind drive them back to shore. "I checked the winds and the skies, there shouldn't even be a fog." She glances up and Diana can see the the fear in her eyes as her mouth trembles as she swallows down her words. "Or a storm."
Diana looks up as well, her mouth clicking in annoyance as she looks back at the fog, somehow closer to them then ever before. "This is exactly why we're leaving." Diana argues as she holds down the blue hat perched on her head. "Stay calm ladies," she assures as the skies roar a clash of thunder as lighting dances near by.
"Ready yourselves! Double the ropes!" Diana orders against the howling wind and the cracks of lightning. The waves juggles their boat, moving up and down with large steps. Diana felt her fingers tremble on the wooden grips and she only hopes that they came from the dropping temperature.
She manoeuvres their boat away from the large waves smashing around them. Rain starts to pelt down at them only adding to the freak weather that is happening. The boat shakes, salt water lashing at their feet as they ride over crashing mountains of water. Her eyes harden, determined to get them out of this hell.
"Hannah! Barbara!" She screams, shielding her eyes from the rain thundering on her ears, the tips going red with numbness. "Tie yourself in!"
A growing shadow looms over her, her mind goes blank at the sheer height of the wall they're up against. She can't hear Hannah's scream or Barbara's cry to tie herself in as well.
She watches the wave topple in a painful slowness that she has seen all too well in the sidelines. Where that one person would freeze as the ocean takes them down to the locker of Davy Jones.
She just never expected for it to happen to her.
The sudden force slaps her awake. The rush of water pushes her out of the deck. Her eyes widen as her hand scrambles for a grip on the side of her boat. Her mouth was open yet her screams became jammed in her throat. She only managed to get a glimpse of Hannah's face before the watery grave stole her away.
Her mouth loses control, the water pours in her lungs as she fights the struggle to breath. Her tongue is covered with the sickening taste of salt and blood. The energy in her body leaves as water rushes around her. Diana knew it right there and then.
She was going to die.
Diana saw the shadowy figure of death swim towards her. A long stick in hand in her blurry vision. Her eyes form a glare, wishing to meet Davy Jones head on with a defiant stare that her reputation saw fit.
Yet her eyes close as something presses against her lips.
Away are the revolting taste of salt inside her mouth, the sweet taste of heaven filling it instead. Her mind has gone blank, a sudden warmth glows inside her chest as her heart pushes her lips closer to whoever was kissing her.
Their lips were so soft and delicate like a feather that Diana moves her lips slow against theirs in fear that they would break the touch. Fire burns inside her as Diana's back tingles like a spark as a hand presses their bodies closer.
Diana moves her hand instinctively to brush their face, either cupping it or to tangle her fingers through their hair. In the darkness of her vision her fingers thread through the weightless strands of hair, surprised at how soft it is. Like walking in the sand under the rays of the setting sun.
The heat of their touch evaporates the water inside, her lungs filled with oxygen again as the lips part, again in a slow painfully way that makes Diana feel death once more.
Her eyes are closed, her mind focused on trying to capture every single, every sense. To the taste of exotic fruits of her lips to the soft lingering glow it left behind.
Her eyes open again despite the body drawing her to sleep. It locks on the dark brown iris of her kisser, the same shade of the setting sun. The tussles of sun kissed hair that her hand is covered in, the red touch on her cheeks as she breathes in slow steady breaths. Her brain fights to be awake, her lips trying to speak in words she last spoke many moons ago.
She mutters it under her breath, a small smile appearing when she hears the gasp of surprise from her saviour.
Disbelief is her finals thoughts as her eyes close. The fact that her saviour understands what she just said solidifies the insanity of it all.
She, Diana Cavendish just kissed a mermaid.
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She's falling again.
She can see the beauty of the blue sky grow distant, the wind whistling in her ears, her heart pounding in her chest. Despite it all, there is an excited smile on Diana's face, her eyes close into a playful scrunch as her body bundles into a ball. She splashes into the ocean, a fire relight inside her as the cool waters surround her once more.
Her eyes blink opens as she feels the rush movement around her, a hand on her back as she is twirled in excitement. Bubbles of laughter escape from Diana's mouth as the underwater dancing slows down and Diana faces her saviour once more.
She swims close, a shy smile on her face, her beautiful deep brown eyes gleaming in the beams of the sun. She places a hand on Diana's cheek, Diana closes her eyes to relish the comforting warm touch. Her blue eyes open slowly as she threads her fingers through her hair, admiring the soft touch as the mermaid swims closer. Her mouth opens and-
"SQUAWK!"
Diana blinks, reeling back from their interaction as she looks at the confused mermaid in front of her. Diana's mind does a flip as a seagull replaces her beautiful face.
"SQUAWK!"
In an instant Diana's opens her eyes as she lifts her head. Her head turns, absolute anger and rage in her eyes at the seabird next to her, picking at on her ripped sleeves. It pauses, looking at her with blink.
"SQUAWK!"
In an instant Diana lashes at it, curses leaving her mouth in a pace that would make Amanda proud. The bird shuffles back in surprise before it flies back, it's companions following as Diana turns on her back and hurls pebbles at them.
Diana watches them fly away to the ocean line before her sapphire eyes becomes locked at the ocean line. At the rise of small waves and when they crash on the beach a bit beyond her. Her mind flashes on the nightmare of last night. The monster wave, the inevitable conclusion of death before it lingers on the saving kiss from a fairy tale.
Diana groans in her palms before she splutters away, not realising how it's covered in sand before she sighs looking back on the blue ocean in front of her looking innocent and loving like it didn't almost kill her.
Her mind reels back to the kiss, the details that causes her heart to beat feverishly and her cheeks to be coloured red. Diana shakes her head, desperate to not even think about it. She needs a distraction. At the word Diana turns to the pier walkway that was littered with drift boards and shambles of last night's storm. Her eyes linger on a familiar tavern as her mind decides on one thing.
She needs a drink.
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"You're alive!" Diana hears before she even sees whose inside the tavern. Her stomach was squeezed with such strength that she didn't even need to see the bright red hair shoved in front of her to know who it is.
"And I would continue to be if you stop trying to squeeze the life out of me." Diana wheezed as Amanda lets go immediately. Diana's set glare for her leaves the moment she sees moisture curl around Amanda's green eyes with her cheeks puffy and red and a broken smile on her face.
"I'm sorry Diana-" she pauses, a teary laughter in her voice as Amanda hastily moves her hand across her eyes. "I'm just really glad you're okay." Diana's face pales as the anger is swallowed down her throat. "We thought you died."
"We?" Diana pales as she looks over Amanda's shoulder, body trembling in hopes of seeing Hannah or Barbara.
Amanda nods her head. "They're in the Crow Bar."
Diana wastes no time to run out of the Shooting Star tavern and across the board walk. Her feet kills, every step bringing agony to her body but she knows it's not even a small fraction of what they're feeling.
She knows what it's like to lose someone at sea. Everyone in this industry does, but losing a captain is like losing the ship itself. It would leave a hole in their heart that nothing could ever fill.
Diana burst through the Crow Bar doors. All eyes turned to her but she only focuses on how Hannah and Barbara's eyes gleam in this dim lit room as they race into her arms. The people inside cheers as they collapse into the floor together, tears and hugs spilling all over the floor.
"Enter the eye of the fucking shit storm and comes back like it was nothing. Whoever said a woman on board is saying fucking bullshit." She hears one of the veteran sailors laugh and she laughs too as she hugs her friends closer. It was decided there and then.
Diana needed to meet that mermaid again even if she was an illusion.
She needed to say thank you.