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In the cool summer night's breeze mixed with the salty sea air, a woman and her beau walked, upon the docks of a small coastal town in Clover. It brought back memories for the blond, who had once accompanied an old friend of hers to the summer festival that annually would be held nearby; where sailors and young lasses would converge and happily converse. Back in those days, she and her dear friend would sneak off from noble duties and expectations hoping for a dance with lads less caring about their titles and money - perhaps, because they wouldn't likely be allowed to marry them anyway.
She remembered those days with a bittersweet feeling of melancholy, thinking back to how she met her own sailor. Thinking back to the days of love and the days of strife, when fate would bring them together, just to pull them apart. Fate... and gold.
Bitterly, she recalled one particular conversation, more of an argument hidden behind a harmless facade. Two sides seeing two different things - a lonely woman not wishing her love to go to sea, and a man misunderstanding, thinking he needs to seek gold to keep them comfortable.
"William, when you go, I fear you will never return again."
"Got your head in the clouds again, Charlotte?" a teasing, deep voice remarked, pulling her away from that scene.
She felt a faint blush of indignation blooming in her cheeks. "I do not - I am only thinking back..." she trailed off, looking to the dark-haired man, who now appeared doting as he wrapped his arm around her. The warmth of his body beside hers felt comforting. More so than she'd imagined she'd ever experience around some pompous nobleman.
My heart is pierced by Cupid,
I disdain all glittering gold.
There is nothing can console me,
but my jolly sailor bold.
She'd remember Mereoleona being more keen to boast about the men whose attention she had gained than usual. Of course, as a noble lady she would turn heads; but that summer she seemed entirely occupied by the thoughts of one particular sea man.
While not dressed rich, he did not strike poor, while not pompous, he seemed to have the manners of someone raised above the station of his fisherman's job. He didn't appear the best fit or it either, scrawny and light as a leaf, but that didn't seem to stop him, apparently. And while Charlotte had never seen much in him - his face appeared severely scarred and beyond that, he just wasn't her type - Mereoleona seemed drawn to him.
His hair apparently the colour of freshly fallen snow and soft too, his eyes like lilac-purple lisianthus. He'd seemed charming and full of smiles - not those of men who merely wished to sneak under her skirts, nor into her coffers, but warm and friendly ones -, and relaxing to be around. Soon enough, the woman would frequently wander off to follow him, not caring what her family thought of her constant straying.
In fairness, she could not judge. As hard it was to admit back then, she too found herself at her happiest around her rugged man, who didn't waste time with false pleasantries, and lies of deep love.
They'd soon be waving their men off the docks, and longing for a swift return as they'd return to that mundane life, expected of a woman of high breeding. The suitors, the dances, the many different deals struck using them and not with them, all to be rejected much to the chagrin of their fathers.
"You are a woman of the Roselei house. You must marry well; not to some poor peasant, but to a man who can provide for you!" So she would hear every evening words she would ignore. She would think lady Mereoleona would too, the dazzling shine of gold coins growing more nauseating by the day. All that money would not keep her warm at night nor make her smile in delight.
My happiness attend him wherever he may go,
From Tower Hill to Blackwall, I'll wander, weep and moan,
All for my jolly sailor, until he sails home
Nights would be spent by wandering, dreaming of sweeter days, wrapped in the warm embraced of a lover out at sea. Days filled with daydreams and longing for the freedom to marry a simple peasant man, a man who could make her feel.
Mereoleona's exclamation that she would elope had take her by surprise - Charlotte had choked on the afternoon tea, almost staining her silk and lace blue dress. However, the woman proved resolute, and, once Mereoleona Vermillion made her mind up on something, hell couldn't stop her. It was admirable, really, for her to be so willing to give up her life of comfort. Especially having been raised a very high-ranking noble, worth much more than most noble ladies.
My name it is Maria, a merchant's daughter fair,
and I have left my parents and three thousand pounds a year.
When Charlotte had confessed she had the guts, the red-haired woman had insisted she should try it, should she really want freedom. As it was, living like they were doing, they lived a life in a gilded cage, with no choice of who to marry. They could not leave the town, especially not with the secrets two women such as themselves held. Not as long as they were tied to their family names.
Come all you pretty fair maids, whoever you may be
It ended up being a simpler choice than she'd assumed - the challenges would only come after cutting ties with her family and running from home.
Yami had not been so surprised, nor had he said anything about it, simply agreeing without more words. It might have been disheartening to some, but him simple approach to life was what made Charlotte's heart race. And they would get married soon afterwards. Nothing fancy - no long dresses, no large gatherings - just a paper legitimizing their union, and a kiss. Not that it mattered, so long as they could be one another's now.
From Mereoleona's tellings, however, William was more concerned. He insisted that though he adored her, he could never make a woman like her, who deserved the heavens, happy.
It was that initial conflict that would follow them even after he caved in, even as Mereoleona gladly ditched the expenisve silk and lace dresses in favour of simple linen, and a house the size of a castle, for a little hut by the coast. Sure, it was perhaps a little naive that all anyone needed was love, but they'd both were willing to put up with more than their beaus expected or even seemed to understand.
Even as fish would grow scarce, and other work would dry up and the lean days came along, even for all the hunger pangs, they would still not sell their love, not for a kingdom.
One day, Mereoleona would come to her speaking of how stubbornly William insisted on working himself to death if he had to, indignant that he wouldn't listen to her. By the next it seemed they'd reconcile - at least, for the time being - and the conversations flowed from talk of love to talk of the new life they were living, to advice they'd overheard from other sailor's wives. It could be hard, the new labour they were dealt with, but the acknowledgement and affection they received for it felt reward enough all those years of dealing with a different kind of labour for less pay in that respect.
Then, during a particularly poor season, both Yami and William dropped something of a canon ball at them. They would be joining the navy.
Recruitment posters were up around town, the king needing men to deal with pirates and thieving nations at sea, and willing to pay a decent some of money. Certainly more than they would have gotten for their jobs until then.
She'd never thought Yami would insist on this too, and it stung for him to place money so highly. God, was she sick of the world revolving around it.
The feathers were ruffled across from them where Mereoleona and William stood, arguing too, similar opinions jumping between them. She knew it wouldn't be just them, but plenty of other women and men. She could hear consolations from husbands to their wives.
Such sweet promises.
But while she was a noble, sheltered in many ways, she knew that some of them would be in vain.
She knew nights could get wild among drunk sailors. She also knew people could die in naval combat, could drown, could bleed, could get crushed in the chaos.
"I will return to you," she'd heard William insist, and shortly after, Yami said much the same to her.
"You're not getting rid of me that easily, Charlotte." His soothing voice, and the playful sparkle in his eyes made it difficult to stay mad at him.
Parting would be a passionate, tearful affair, and she had expected that. She hadn't wanted for the heated kisses to cease, or for her bed to grow cold as her man left the room. She knew it'd be a while before she could feel his warmth again.
She joined her friend that morning, watching her part with her fair-haired lover. As if kisses could rewrite the brain and change one's mind.
"We'll be back before you know it," Yami assured her, before dragging William away from Mereoleona's embrace. "Alright, lover boy, let's get moving, before braid face tells us off for showing up late to our first day at work."
In the end though, and for all their arguments, the two seemed most reluctant to leave each other.
Some days, she wondered if deep down the younger sailor already suspected something about how this would all turn out.
"I am never letting him out there again," Mereoleona had decided by day two of their separation. She'd spent most of the conversation staring out at the window, her glare burning right through the glass. Of course, she could empathize; she missed Yami dearly, but it wasn't like they had much of a choice in anything.
They were women.
There was little say they had there. Never mind that the death of their spouse would be emotionally painful. The sailors would leave their wives without someone to provide at a time when men were typically the breadwinners. The option wasn't really there for women.
It was downright reckless, selfish, even, to go off possibly to one's death like so, and leave the woman behind. They were unlikely to receive much reassurance by way of word of mouth or letter during those long days at sea. They were unlikely to know anything of their lover's condition until their ship would return to port.
And it was all down to money.
Even Yami had confessed to that much, and he'd never seemed to care about finances before.
By day ten, Charlotte was starting to question her choices. If she hadn't known Yami as thought as she had, who knew what could happen out at sea. It made her nauseous with fear. Perhaps they'd sail to other lands and meet fairer women still. Or perhaps the stormy seas, which now acted up, waves crashing against the shore, and the clouds above cold and grey, would pull their ship down, and Yami would drown in the waves.
Not even a sailor as strong as him could surely survive the wrath of the wild ocean should he go overboard. And in thinking so she had managed to completely unpick the end of her linen sleeves. Lengths of string hanging out despite all the careful hemming.
Who love a jolly sailor that ploughs the raging sea
While up aloft in storm, from me his absence mourn
And firmly pray, arrive the day, he's never more to roam
She'd even taken to attending church regularly again over it. Her prayers, her questions, however, yielded no answers and gave her no comfort. Nor the warmth she sorely missed.
Along the shore she'd walk afterwards, asking the waves silently to calm, her wishes carried away by the backwash.
During one of these walks, that she'd spotted Mereoleona, curiously in a very different form than the accepted and usual one. Instead of legs, below the surface of the water was a scaled tail, tipped off with fins, of a rusty, faded colour. Clearly, she was not taking this well.
Charlotte couldn't help but panic. Goodness knew what would happen if a mermaid got spotted by humans. Certainly, their secret would be out and that couldn't have good consequences. "Lady Mereoleona -"
"I am done waiting around," the other woman exclaimed, before pulling away from the rock she'd been resting by.
Rushing to the water's edge, at first the blond contemplating on stopping her friend. Yet, she halted, as a swash touched her feet, reminding her of where her own love was -- far, far from her. She had wanted to reassure Mereoleona, but had barely been able to reassure herself. And her confidence was slipping by the day.
"Feel free to join me, or stay, but I will find that foolish husband of mine." Despite her word choice, the red haired woman's voice spoke of deep concern. With a flick of her tail, the mermaid turned away and swam off in the direction of open ocean.
Charlotte looked up to heavens that seemed to be coloured in disapproval, reds mixing with the greys and whites of clouds. Yet, the cool waters reminded her of how deadly the oceans could be. If they were dangerous for someone like herself, they could no doubt bring disastrous consequences to any mere man who dared swim in it.
She kicked off her footwear, stepping farther into the water, following the backwash slowly away from the shallows, until the salty liquid reached her waist. Then she took a plunge, feeling a tingling in her legs as they fused together. She kicked them downwards, only to be reassured they had successfully transformed into a tail and then swam off after the older mermaid, after the ships that had left the port days ago, after her sailor bold.
The seas were rough - more so than usual - and unexpectedly icy, even though as a mermaid she would ordinarily not feel this cold in the water.
She and Mereoleona had been headed in the direction their husbands had told her - in her case hoping that he wasn't lying either to comfort or placate her, and she wasn't sure about the other mermaid. The other one just seemed determined, driving through the waters that tried to push back in vain.
When first they were sure they were getting close, they could hear canon fire. Two partially wrecked ships showed up in her field of vision afterwards. She could practically smell the gun powder. To avoid being seen, she dove under water, but not before catching the name of one of the ships. "His Majesty's Hope", with four leafed clovers carved into it, had already been a sorry sight. And one well-aimed hit was sure to sink it.
She felt sick to her stomach, but what could she do?
What could either of them do?
Mereoleona circled the other ship around like a sharp, possibly thinking of ways to sink it in anger, but she seemed to come up blank. They were mermaids, not some magical beings that could control the water... and even if they could, it'd take a lot more of merfolk than this. Charlotte could see her trying to crawl the ship side, but the mermaid promptly dove back in -- possibly because she'd almost been caught.
However, hearing cries and hollers, men clashing blades, gun shots and yet more canon fire, it seemed something in Mereoleona snapped, for she lunged out of the water, and attempted something no doubt insane. In shock, Charlotte could barely keep herself at the surface, watching and waiting. As much as something was pulling her towards Yami, she had no plan, no way she could surely take down any of the opposition with only her bare hands and though she could berate herself for her own poor planning, there was surely little she could do to help.
When finally Mereoleona dove back into the water - much to Charlotte's relief, the surroundings were painted red with blood. Panicking, the blond mermaid rushed to her friend's aid, only allowing herself to breathe when she noted the rips to her fins and damage to her tail was fairly minimal. She'd likely be able to push through and swim on her own, knowing the redhead's stubborness.
The opposing ship in the meantime had grown more panicked, it seemed... perhaps it even had no men to fire the canons or they ran out of material to fire, as their canons grew silent. And then, slowly, it seemed as though the ship started slipping into the water... sinking.
She could see lifeboats being deployed, those small wooden boats, unprotected from above, easy enough to jump onto, even over, for a mermaid. And, tearing away from Charlotte once more, that is exactly what Mereoleona did, with blood lust in her eyes, first circling the boat like a shark, and then lunging at whatever unfortunate soul she could find. "Monster!" she could hear a sailor, a stranger cry out in disgust and fear. A gunshot rang through the air like a bell and she found herself swimming, keeping to the depths so as to not be spotted - hopefully - up to the boat, dreading whether Mereoleona would even make it back into the water.
Then, two bodies dove into the water, one pushed down by the other. A stranger drowned by a vengeful mermaid covered in leaching red.
Mereoleona appeared more torn up now, but nothing indicated - thankfully - gunshot wounds. She couldn't say she even batted an eye over the sailor's undoubted drowning - he'd been among those on the side opposing and threatening her dearest -; even wished for his demise. If anything, this propelled her out of the water, onto the boat. There were still some pathetic criminals scrambling about, trying to reach for a weapon, while struggling for breath. Well, she supposed she could take them out of their misery, since her friend had already done the hard work.
However, after what felt like hours, this revenge felt more and more like madness. She'd even come upon a dagger which she gladly added to her arsenal, only to narrowly miss a shot, the side of her face bleeding, as she lunged for the man who had made the mistake of missing. The reloading time was enough to take the acquired dagger and stab him in the gut, which, in his shock, was left unprotected. She'd knocked out a would've-been-attacked with her tail, and received a hit from another desperate soul, cutting her tail, but he'd soon regret that, as a larger mermaid lunged for him. She heard a harsh thud and a crack. In falling back, his skull was likely split against the hard wooden benches of the boat.
Using teeth and nails wasn't out of question either - Mereoleona certainly didn't care - turning even more beastly, to the horror of any man who was unfortunate to find out just how sharp a mermaid's teeth can be.
Then, when their attack on a boat was done, they'd slip back into the water, though she found herself growing notably slower with each boat, injuries gradually making themselves more known. It seemed Mereoleona acknowledged this too, for she disappeared deeper into the water, where she remained for sometime, her blood lust seemed to be swapped for a pained look. Her affliction didn't appear to come from her wounds, however.
If it were concern, Charlotte could certainly empathize right now.
The sea had seemed to still.
Half-sunk, the enemy ship had surely surrendered by now, men scattered at sea. Charlotte had little energy to pursue them, no matter how much anger still burned within her. She'd let the ocean take care of these wretches.
As for Mereoleona, she'd switched her focused to the battered looking, "His Majesty's Hope", which, by the shredded masts, gunports and sails, too seemed like a ghost ship on it's last legs, not far from sinking into the depths. It was likely luck that had kept it afloat through the rapid fire of the enemy canons.
That same luck would not be afforded to the crew; at least, not to all of it.
After the fighting ceased, a peculiar life-boat was being lowered into the water. Two sailors, one supporting the other, could be seen on the boat. Curiosity, or perhaps instinct, drove the mermaids closer, as the boat floated away from the royal ship.
Seeing the detail of the first sailor's messy dark hair and unkempt growing beard made her heart skip a beat. In both relief and horror. She had an idea who the other sailor might be now, thanks to the fairer hair, and that soured the finding that her precious sailor had been spared in all of this. Mereoleona seemed to recognise this too, as she was quick to leave Charlotte behind to get closer to the man in Yami's arms.
He was likely bleeding out too much externally, or had internal bleeding, and his injuries were much too severe. How else could she explain the serious look in Yami's eyes, as he regarded Mereoleona less with shock over her form, but a sort of remorseful aversion, unable to quite meet her gaze.
"Apparently this dumbass wanted to go down sleeping with the fishes or something..." he muttered, "thought him crazy at first..." his grey gaze swept over to Charlotte, "but 'm starting to get it now."
She turned red in embarrassment, dreading what else he might said.
Instead, she got, "so, yeah, turns out my wife is a mermaid. So, that's cool." And Yami scratching his neck.
"Mereoleona..." their little reunion was disrupted by the reminder of a mortally wounded man, who seemed to struggle for breath or to talk aloud at this point. Even so, she saw him smiling softly at his flame-haired mermaid, who couldn't quite smile back.
"You... really are amazing... you know that?" he wheezed, as he was pulled in by Mereoleona, with Yami letting him go.
"And you... are reckless," though her tone was harsh, the woman nevertheless embraced her sailor, pulling her down into the water with her. "Why, William?"
He gave her an apologetic look, but nevertheless, almost humorously said, "well... I said I... would return to you..."
"It shouldn't have been like this!" her features contorted in pain.
He conceded her point with a nod. "It shouldn't have..." The smile faded. "But... nevertheless... I am glad that... if I am to go down... it might be in your arms... if you'll have me." He reached out a bloodied hand to her face, brushing her hair to the side.
In a rare moment, she was sure Mereoleona's voice broke into something of a sob. "You fool..." she said, "you reckless fool..."
He pressed his nose against hers. "But I am your fool?"
"... You are..." tearfully the woman leaned into the gesture. "You will always be, in this life, and beyond."
Now, it seemed even William couldn't afford to keep up his neutral facade, tears falling freely down his face. "You... I ... Mereoleona..." his voice grew breezy, faint, his breath grown more ragged. "I love you..."
The mermaid pressed a hand on his lips, before replacing that with her own lips, kissing him deeply, as they slowly sank into the cold waters. William had closed his eyes, welcoming the depths without a fight, and as their bodies disappeared into the frigid darkness together, that was the last Charlotte saw of William. A mournful tune resounded from the depths just minutes later, and would carry for miles, for years.
My heart is pierced by Cupid
I disdain all glittering gold
There is nothing can console me
But my jolly sailor bold
---
Ten Years Later...
Seagulls above, and docks busy with people, a boy with dark hair and blue eyes rushed past the crowds, unable to be halted by his mother. "Yugi, come back here!"
Beside her, her dark haired beau chuckled. "Let the boy be, I'm sure he'll be back the moment he's hungry anyway," Which wouldn't take much time, as, if there was something Yugi was more than he was adventurous, it was insatiably hungry. Somehow, the boy could eat bowlfuls, one after the other, and not feel stuffed.
She sighed. "You're taking this far too casually," she insisted.
"Sure, and you could stand to relax, love," he said, kissing her temple. Blushing, she found herself with little more to say. It wasn't like she didn't trust Yugi... but...
She looked up to the vast sea expanding past the ships in the harbour.
She could swear a haunting, mournful tune had been weaved into the breeze, into the waves below. The same she'd heard ten years ago. It was fainter than before, but it was still there.
My heart is pierced by Cupid
I disdain all glittering gold
There is nothing can console me
But my jolly sailor bold