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Carmen stared up at the shimmering stars above her, a loose blanket haphazardly draped over her body as her small lifeboat drifted through the calm waves. She’d done it. She had left VILE behind and now, here she was, in the middle of the ocean and lost. She should’ve grabbed a map before leaving, but she had been too focused on making sure her treasure was safe. Unfortunately, now she was low on supplies and was hoping, praying that she’d stumble across an island soon. However, she had yet to see any land, and she was starting to wonder if she’d end up perishing before reaching the shore.
“Carm,” a worried voice called from the water. Carmen sighed and sat up, turning her attention to her aforementioned treasure as she peeked over the edge of the rowboat. The smaller woman stared at her from the water, clearly concerned judging by her expression. Carmen couldn’t help but smile a little, if she didn’t know any better she could have easily mistaken Ivy as just a normal person taking a quick dip in the ocean. But Carmen did know better and could spot the signs that the redhead before her was something far more magical.
She had met Ivy on a night similar to this one, the moon shining above the calm waves Carmen had been staring at from the beach of VILE’s cove. It had been peaceful yet lonely, but that melted away pretty quickly once Ivy appeared. At first, the brunette had mistaken her for a siren attempting to charm her, but the rather offended redhead had assured her that she was a mermaid, not a siren.
After that night the two had met on that beach often just to chat with each other. Hell, Ivy even followed the ship she lived on out to sea just to chat with Carmen which happened to be right before she decided to leave VILE, taking Ivy and her younger brother, Zack, with her.
“Carm,” Ivy’s voice dragged Carmen back to the present, shaking her head softly as she spoke.
“Yes Ivy,” The ex-pirate inquired in a tired tone as she stared at one of her traveling companions. “Shouldn’t you be asleep?”
“I should be asking you that,” the redheaded woman stated as she swam closer to the boat. “It’s late, ya need ta sleep. I’ll keep a lookout if that’s what’s keepin’ ya up.” The brunette shook her head softly, trying to come up with an excuse to keep her love from worrying about her. Carmen felt a warm hand cover her own, pulling her grey eyes back to Ivy’s worried dull green eyes. “Please tell me what’s up. Ya know avoidin’ it’s just gonna make me worry more.” Carme sighed and nodded softly, she knew she couldn’t get out of this one.
“I’m….running low on supplies,” the brunette explained. “We haven’t seen any land in days and I’m starting to wonder if we will…...not that it matters. Going near land would be,” she paused as she glanced at her girlfriend. “Dangerous for you and Zack.”
“Carm why didn’t ya tell us sooner…..why didn’t ya tell me sooner,” the redhead asked as she stared up at her love.
“I….I didn’t want to worry you, which seems to have failed by this point,” Carmen answered honestly. They were silent for a moment, the only sound that could be heard was the soft creaking of the boat as it rocked along the gentle waves. Then the brunette felt Ivy remove her hand and watched as the redhead dived deeper into the ocean. Carmen stared into the dark sea, guilt washing through her system as she realized that she had most likely hurt Ivy by keeping this from her. The taller woman sighed softly and thought that that was it for the night only to hear a slightly loud splash behind her and feel something crash into her back.
The brunette groaned as she turned, gasping quietly as she put together what had happened. Her girlfriend had apparently thought it was a brilliant idea to hop onto the small boat instead of just asking Carmen to help her up like usual. Ivy shifted her weight, giving Carmen room to breathe.
“Sorry bout that. Thought it’d be easy to just hop onto the boat…..then it wasn’t,” Ivy explained as she stared at Carmen. The brunette was silent for a moment as she did her best not to look at the redhead’s bare chest, her cheeks heating up in the process. But her fluster was quickly replaced with worry.
“Ivy, are you crazy what if someone-” Carmen began before being interrupted.
“It’s fine Carm, no one’s around,” Ivy gestured to the completely open, tail waving delicately as she spoke. “No ones gonna see me.” Carmen glared at her girlfriend for a moment before groaning softly.
“Fine Ivy, but if either of us sees any movement on the horizon, you dive back into the water, alright,” Carmen stated.
“Alright,” Ivy agreed with a soft smile as she let her body relax onto the taller woman’s. The brunette sighed as she relaxed, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman’s waist. Her eyes drifted down the paler woman’s body, a small gasp escaping her mouth as she saw how the moon bounced off the scales of Ivy’s cyan tail. She smiled as she felt the redhead snuggle into her embrace, a big goofy grin stretched across her face as her warmth engulfed the brunette.
“Enjoying yourself,” Carmen inquired with a smirk.
“Yup,” Ivy nodded softly as she relaxed into the brunette’s arms.
“You’re ridiculous,” the taller woman sighed but smiled despite herself.
“Yeah, but ya love it,” Ivy teased playfully as she looked up at her love, green eyes sparkling like brilliant jewels in the moonlight. Carmen rolled her eyes but knew she couldn’t deny this fact. She had fallen for the mermaid pretty quickly, so much so that she was risking her life to keep the redhead and her brother safe. The brunette met her girlfriend’s eyes once again before leaning down and capturing Ivy’s soft lips with her own. The redhead wrapped her arms around Carmen’s neck, deepening the kiss. She could tell the shorter woman was trying to express how much she meant to her, and Carmen reciprocated that happily. When they finally broke the kiss Ivy was the first to speak while snuggling into a more comfortable position as Carmen pulled the loose blanket over them. She did her best to cover Ivy’s tail, mainly because she simply wanted to have her girlfriend in her arms without having to worry as much.
“Promise me you’ll restock your boat if we find land tomorrow,” Ivy requested with a worried look in her eyes, her voice was loving yet subtly desperate. The brunette sighed, she knew she couldn’t say no to the mermaid when she used that tone.
“Alright Ives, I’m sorry for worrying you,” Carmen apologized solemnly. “That wasn’t my intention.”
“I know Carm and I forgive ya,” Ivy assured with a soft smile. “Now why don’t ya get some rest? You’ve been up for a while and deserve ta snooze a little bit.”
Carmen smiled and nodded, relaxing once again as she focused on Ivy’s warmth. Her eyes meeting the moon one last time before she finally felt sleep overtake her.