Chapter Text
Adora bit her lip as she sat down, the muscles in her legs tensing as they dipped lower into the cold, calm water. The wooden planks that built up the dock around her creaked in a way that would be worrying to anyone who wasn’t used to coming out here every day. In other words, anyone who wasn’t Adora.
A salty breeze billowed past her, brushing her frizzy hair to the side and forming small waves across the blue-green lake that stretched out in front of her. Adora formed small ripples of her own as she moved her legs back and forth. Warmth returned to them after almost a minute of movement.
Well, here she was. Again. Just like she’d been for the past week. Hopefully she’d see something this time. Even a small sign would be great at this point.
Adora rested her hands along the edge of the dock and let out a huff. She made some more tiny splashes with her feet. Anticipation continued to build in her gut.
One minute passed.
And then two.
And then…
And then the sky slowly shifted from light blue to a pale orange. Adora’s back began to ache as time passed. The last time she’d waited here, her thighs were the first things to start hurting.
Adora winced. Oh, wait. There it was. It was starting to feel like she was sitting on a bed of really tiny needles.
She shifted in place so her body wouldn’t stiffen up too much. Her legs were getting real pruney too, so she slowly raised them up and rested them on the dock, groaning as the blood began rushing through them again. It didn’t hurt too much, all things considered. She could afford to wait here for a little longer. Just… a little while longer.
The wind died down.
And then the sun moved further across the sky, bringing forth a pink tinge to the world.
Adora’s teeth began to chatter, and she hugged herself. The icy air set in, but that was fine. She could wait out here for just a little bit longer. Yesterday she’d only been able to keep watch for an hour. So all the time she was spending out here today was just her making up for that.
She repeated that thought over and over in her head, even as the sun began to dip below the horizon. Soon enough the pink hue surrounding Adora darkened to a deep purple, and bright points of light started to blink into existence. They swirled along green and pink nebulas, forming a map of constellations across the darkening sky. Adora didn’t have to look to know where each one was.
But as beautiful as the whole spectacle was, she couldn’t really appreciate it when it felt like her legs were about to freeze and snap off.
Adora winced for what felt like the tenth time today as she raised her sore arms and rubbed her stinging eyes.
“Ughhhh,” Adora groaned into her palms. Another wasted evening. A whole entire evening, and she had nothing to show for it. Again. Just like every other time she’d come here.
Her hands dropped to her side.
How long was she gonna keep this up? Maybe Shadow Weaver was right. Maybe she was wasting her time. Days of coming out here, and not a glimpse of the two girls that she’d seen last week. The same ones that had peeked out at her from below the surface of the lake while she was rigging the ship, their respective pink and brown hair swirling in the water around them.
The same ones who had also spooked her so bad that she’d fallen head over heels into the water.
It’d taken a while to explain how that had happened to the rest of the crew. Although she'd first had to wait until they stopped laughing. But when she told them what she saw, what did they do? They just laughed at her some more!
Adora grumbled to herself.
Just because no one had seen a mermaid in almost a decade didn’t mean they weren’t around anymore. It wasn’t like they’d gone extinct, right?
Adora frowned, and her hands tightened into a fist.
They weren’t gone. She had seen something. She wasn’t crazy. She just wasn’t. All she needed was proof.
A painful pang shot through Adora’s legs.
Adora hissed through her teeth. She set her jaw and tried to rub some warmth back into her feet. It didn’t look like she was gonna get any proof today, though. Just hypothermia if she stayed here any longer.
With a deep sigh, Adora moved to stand up. All this wasted time was gonna be hard to explain to Shadow Weaver, but maybe she could spin the truth and-
Her feet slipped out from under her without warning.
Adora barely had time to scream as her grip on the dock disappeared, and she fell. The murky water rushed up to meet her.
***
Her body went numb from the sudden cold. Icy daggers stabbed into her skin. The only warmth she could feel was the fire in her lungs as every ounce of air was squeezed out of her chest from the shock.
Bubbles shot up from her mouth. Her nose was starting to burn too. Everything was starting to burn.
Adora mentally screamed at her arms and legs to move, but all they did was scream back in pain, immobile after staying in the same position for so long.
...Not good.
She strained to lift her head. The only source of light were the stars shining down, refracting through the surface of the lake. They warped and twisted as the water continued to churn.
And soon, they began to disappear.
Adora fought as hard as she could to stay conscious. She just needed to get over this shock and swim back up. Just… stay awake… a little longer. She could… do this...
But the lights just kept disappearing, one by one. Darkness seeped into the edge of her vision. The fire in her chest faded, and soon the only thing she could feel was…
...cold.
Everything went black.
***
“... don’t know...do something!”
“...what exactly... I don’t… humans work!”
“...we can’t just… her here!”
Sound was the first thing that registered in Adora’s head. Two voices in the dark, fading in and out. One was high pitched and panicked. The other was… also panicked, but lower and more scratchy.
Wait. What happened? The last thing Adora remembered was…
Oh no.
Was she dead?
...She was, wasn’t she? Oh no, Shadow Weaver was gonna kill her for this.
Suddenly, a burst of sensations flooded her body
Cold. Warmth. Air drifting across her skin.
Pain.
Adora let out a groan. Okay, if she was hurting this much, she probably wasn’t dead. Her lungs still felt like they were on fire, but… there was air in them again. Yup, she was definitely breathing. Still alive, as much as it felt like her body was about to give out on her.
Every bone in her body ached, and an everlasting chill had buried itself under her skin. The only thing that didn’t feel freezing cold was her back, which was pressing down against something soft. Something squishy. Something that felt like slightly slimy skin.
Adora stiffened.
The voices had stopped.
A few seconds passed before Adora inched her eyes open. The darkness retreated, and a blurry mural of pink and brown met her sight.
Wait, pink and brown?
Adora’s breath hitched. Her body almost went into shock again before she mentally slapped herself awake. She rapidly blinked until the picture over her became clear.
Faces. Two faces. One of them was about a foot in front of her, with sharp eyes that had contrasting colors. Adora’s brain wasn’t working well enough to pick out what they were. Her gaze fell on the freckles dotting the girl’s pointed nose, and then to the damp, brown curls flowing down to her bare shoulders.
The other girl was right above her and had soft features. Round cheeks framed by a mop of pink and purple hair. A galaxy of stars seemed to swirl within them. She wore a pinched and worried expression as she looked down at Adora.
Her face was upside down.
Oh. Adora was in her lap.
“Glimmer,” the brown-haired curl uttered all of a sudden. She sounded even more panicked now. “What are you doing?”
Glimmer. That was the other girl’s name.
Something then pressed against Adora’s cheek. Cold and soft. It felt like someone’s hand. Fingers tilted her head up, until Adora was looking up at… Glimmer… again.
“Are you okay?” The girl spoke in a gentle voice. Her eyes seemed to sparkle just as bright as the stars behind her.
Adora’s heart skipped a beat. A few beats, actually.
She barely opened her mouth before the last bit of energy left her, and her vision went dark.