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The light was a dabbled blue above him. The water glided across his skin, as he explored the unknown depths. Everything was how it should be, and yet, something was missing. What he was searching for he could not tell you, but he continued to look through the kelp forests and coral reefs. He flicked his tail, and it sent him shooting across the waves to his next destination.
He broke the surface of the water. The sun shone down, he enjoyed the feeling of it's warmth on his face.
“First Mate off the starboard bow” someone yelled. He turned and saw a great wooden something looming over him. He dove.
“Iz!”
He stopped his decent and turned. That noise, there was something familiar about it. He slipped above the surface again. On top of the great wooden beast were people, strange people with no fins or tails. One person had long dark hair that fluttered in the breeze.
“Look, Ed, Izzy returned” the golden one that was near the one with the beautiful hair was making noises “Try talking to him, see if he'll come closer.”
“Hey, Iz. Looks like you got yourself into a hell of a mess.” The beautiful one was speaking to him, he wished he could understand him. He swam a little closer, there was something about his voice, could this be what he'd been searching for?
“Keep talking” said the golden one.
“It wasn't easy tracking you down, mate.”
He drew even closer, perhaps if he could just pull the beautiful one into the water with him.
“Don't worry, Izzy, we're going to help you.”
Then a net descended upon him, and he screamed.
He was so dry. His scales felt brittle, aching. He needed the sea, he could sense it, but he couldn't reach it. He was contained within the great wooden beast, it skimmed across the waters he so desperately needed.
There had to be a way to break through. He clawed at the wood frantically, surely if he kept at it he would reach the sea.
“I wouldn't do that if I were you, Izzy. The hull is made of the finest wood, and was crafted by the best ship-makers in the Caribbean.”
He shrieked at them. The golden one and the once beautiful one were watching him from behind a barrier where he could not reach them. Could they not see that he was in pain? Did they not know that he could not survive without the sea?
He turned away from them and their strange eyes. He laid his head against the wood, feeling the ebb and flow. He whimpered.
“Poor Izzy” said the golden one “I wish I could ease his suffering.”
“I know love, but better he suffer now then the alternative.”
He used his arms to cover his ears. Why wouldn't their treacherous voices cease tormenting him with their gibberish? Could they not leave him in peace? Surely it would all end soon.
Izzy woke up stark naked on the floor of the brig.
“What in fucking hell?” his voice sounded rusty from disuse.
“Oh, thank goodness, you're awake” said Stede.
“Finally” grumbled Ed.
Ed and Stede entered the brig, they both looked exhausted. Stede was holding a blanket, which he offered to Izzy. He sat up and wrapped it around himself, trying to regain some dignity.
“Edward, what in bloody hell is going on?”
“Well, that's going to be kind of hard to explain, mate.”
“What do you remember?” asked Stede. Izzy tried to sort through his thoughts, but everything was a bit jumbled.
“Water. I was in the water, and... I was swimming better than I ever had in my entire life.”
“Yeah, don't doubt that, considering you were a mermaid” said Ed.
“What?!”
“I think merman would probably be the more correct moniker” argued Stede.
“What the fuck are you both talking about?”
“Izzy, what is the last thing you remember before the water?”
“Um, I was on deck, sorting through a box of goods we pulled off that abandoned ship we found.”
“And what were you thinking about at the time?” asked Stede.
“What the fuck does that have to do with anything?”
"Iz, just answer, it will all make sense in a minute” Ed commanded.
“I was thinking that it was as hot as fucking Hell, and that I wanted to go for swim in the lagoon we had anchored in after I was done.”
“From what we surmised, you touched a cursed object, and it changed you,” said Stede.
“Bullshit, stuff like that is just old sailor's tales.”
“I would have thought so too, mate, if I hadn't seen you sprout a tail and dive off the side of the ship with my own eyes,” said Ed.
“Supposedly Buttons has seen something like this before-”
“Of course he has” grumbled Izzy.
“Yes, well, it was a good thing he had, he was the one to tell us that cursed objects often grant wishes in the worst way possible, and he also warned us that the results were usually only temporary.”
“Holy shit.” Izzy was overwhelmed thinking about the consequences, if he had turned back in the middle of the ocean. Izzy shivered.
“You could have died, Iz” said Ed “We spent days tracking you, which wasn't easy, trust me.”
“We finally captured you yesterday, when you came close enough to the ship,” said Stede.
“The net?" asked Izzy, suddenly remembering the feeling of being twisted and tangled.
“Yes.”
Izzy looked at the wall of the brig, and the deep gouges on the outer wall.
“Did I do that?”
“Yes” said Stede “I was quite worried about you hurting yourself, but we couldn't take the chance of you escaping.”
Izzy was having a hard time processing all this. The fact that magic supposedly existed, that he'd been a merperson, that he may of nearly died, but the hardest thing to understand was why they had gone to all this trouble for him.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you rescue me? That secluded lagoon was the prefect place to hide from the British while things cooled off. Why fucking risk it all just on the off chance you could save me?”
Ed and Stede shared a worried glance.
“You can't be serious, Iz.”
Stede kneeled down sitting on the floor in front of Izzy.
“Izzy, I would never leave you in such a state.”
“Come off it, you hate me.”
“Well, I do admit in the beginning things were a bit strained, but over the last few months I've grown rather fond of you. We care about you very much.”
“We?”
“Yeah, Iz,” said Ed, sitting beside Stede ”look I know I can often live within my own head a bit, but I don't want bad shit to happen to you, man. Just the thought of you out there, alone...” he couldn't seem to bring himself to finish the thought.
“Best not to think about it too much” Stede said squeezing Ed's arm, before turning to Izzy “Come now, let's get you dressed, and I'm sure some breakfast wouldn't go astray.”
Izzy tried to get to his feet, but he wobbled, it was like he'd forgotten how to use his legs. Ed and Stede helped steady him, Stede wrapped an arm around his waist, while Ed grabbed his arm on his other side.
“No worries, Iz, we've got you.” Then Ed did the most unexpected thing, he kissed the top of Izzy's head. Before he could fully recover from that, Stede kissed his cheek.
“There, my dear, we're going to take good care of you.”
Izzy had no idea what was going on, but he decided he damn well wasn't going to fight it.