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The girls approach a rock formation a few feet ahead. Pearl holds the map up and it checks all the boxes for the area that lost supplies ship had last been seen. Gem stops the engine and the small fishing boat comes to a halt. Pearl chucks the anchor beneath the waves, throwing a thumbs up to Gem, who jumps into the water to check if the anchor is secured on a rock. When Gem breaches the surface again Pearl had put on her scuba gear and joined her with a swift cannonball off the hall. The two floated beneath the waves scanning the ocean floor for any suspicious looking rocks. Gem led Pearl into the ring of rocks searching the spikes when they started to rumble shifting the water. On the right a rock formation shifted making an opening to a prismarine lined hallway visible to the girls. Gem points to it rapidly, silently communicating Pearl to follow. As they approach you can see that the water is a doorway and does not go into the hallway or the hallway is full of air. Gem enters the water wall first stepping into the hallway where her tail and scales dissipate into human flesh. She motions Pearl to follow and with a splat the human gets a taste of the prismarine floor.
“Pearl…” Gem sighs as she struggles to stand up with the heavy gear on. Pearl unclasps the scuba mask and drops the air tank.
“Oh I'm sorry miss merling water princess, did you want me to angelicly enter while my scales turn into human and I land perfectly on my feet,” she slips out of the wet suit throwing it with the rest of the scuba stuff. The hallway was a long stretch, the walls were just the basic prismarine color and the ceiling held a couple sea lanterns for light other than that it just continued on.
“This looks like some sort of catacomb. Most prismarine palaces are heavily decorated to hide any suspicious looking traps, that being said, still be aware there could be a hidden tripwire anywhere.” As Gem spoke a little security camera peaked from the corner of the wall as they turned the corner. It spied on the two as they made their way farther down.
Pearl stops, she grabs Gem’s hand and pulls her back.
“What? Why did you stop?” Gem glances around the prismarine walls, all they glistened with was blue.
“Do you hear that?” Pearl turns around cupping her ear. A low grumble starts on the floor then goes up the walls and turns to a rattling and the rattling turns to a rushing and he rushing turns into-
“Flood!” Gem yanks Pearl the opposite direction as they sprint away from the tsunami. The water sweeps the girls off their feet and rushes them into the current bouncing off the prismarine walls. They round the corner but the current was too strong, even for a merling and both girls are knocked unconscious. Bubbles slowly admit from Gem’s nose as she gains consciousness, everything doubled in vision when she opens her eyes and that's when she remembers the final glance at the prismarine wall before she hits it too hard and her rib feels bruised. The rattle of metal echoes as she attempts to move her hand to rub the ache on her side. Since when were her hands chained?! Gem yanks on the chains, a bad idea because the cramp in her side gets worse and she's still stuck somehow dangling in a flooded palace and Pearl is missing and- wait what was that figure that just moved on the right side of her vision. She blinks rapidly as the figure makes itself clear to her. Two legs covered in scales with webbed almost flippers for feet, they had knees like humans but scales everywhere like a siren- oh my gosh it is a siren! Gem lurches backwards.
“Hi there little merling,” the siren spoke with a creepy smile, all those piranha teeth showing. “You won't be needing these anymore,” the siren unclasped the chains. Gem rolled her shoulders adjusting to the freeness.
“Who are you?” she cleared her raspy throat, adjusting the bruise on her rib.
“Oh, dear me I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Drift, I'm a siren if you couldn’t tell,” she spun around showing off her shimmery scales.
“I’m Gem. I'm also very confused. Where are we?” The room was almost like a bubble with glass ceilings lighting in the sunlight and sand covering the floor, an open hallway sat across from their position.
“A sun room,” Drift answers. Of course it’s a sunroom. The only thing in here, besides random chains hanging from the ceiling, is sun.
“And where’s Pearl,” her tone swiftly switched to serious.
“The human?” Drift’s given a nod of confirmation. “She’s held hostage in the prime minister's room.”
“Hostage?!” What the- why would they hold her hostage?
“Yeah, humans aren’t allowed in siren areas since that kingdom raged war on our main city, we almost threw you in with her if it weren’t for your gills poking through the glamor.”
“The Netherlands?” oh, that makes sense…
“Yeah, yeah whatever they’re called,”
“Drift, the prime minister summons you and the merling,” another siren parleys the message.
“Well we better not keep her waiting,” Drift swims out of the sun room into the prismarine halls. Gem follows not too far behind. These prismarine walls were way more decorated than the ones her and Pearl had stumbled upon that got them into this mess in the first place which indicated she wasn’t in the same building as before. She follows the orange siren up a bubble column and around four corners until her pace slows down. A very fancy gold trimmed double door sits guarded in front of them.
“This is the prime minister's room, make sure you’re on your best behavior or that’s what they tell us in school,” Drift straightens her posture as the doors are opened. The two entered the room, the back of an adorned chair greeted them.
“Welcome Princess,” the prime minister spoke as she slowly spinned her chair around doing that menacing villain hand thing. “What brings a merling like you to my colony?” Gem caught the yellow glimmer in her siren eyes, her scales reflected like a prism garnished with pearly jewelry- right Pearl where is she?!
“Hm?” The siren chased Gems' eyes around the room as she searched for her friend. “Oh, you’re looking for your human friend aren’t you. Don’t worry she’s safe,” and with the push of a button the window in front of them turned clear and a tank with many guards surrounded an aired cage, there sat the lonesome human once again. Gems eyes widened as she took in the scene.
“So answer my question darling. What brings you to my waters?” She slams her hand into the wooden desk with a rattle of the nails barely holding it together.
“I’m here on a mission to find out what happened to one of our supply ships. Its trade route passed through here before we lost signal.” Gem restates.
“What were the containments of this ship?” The prime minister's stance changed, she kicked up her legs and started picking at her claws neatly taking in the relayed info.
“I’m unaware of what was stowed upon this ship other than it was property from the water kingdom to be shipped across the land.” Gem tells the truth, she was never briefed of its containments strangely. You’d think on a missing supply ship mission you’d be told what was being carried on said ship. “We come in peace, that human you have caged has no relation with The Netherlands,”
“But she’s a human isn’t she? She’s not a fish like you. How would she be a citizen of the water kingdom if she can’t be underwater without that weird suit thingy?” So they were being watched… that catacomb entrance was most certainly a trap.
“She’s a citizen of the forest kingdom,” so what Gem might’ve lied about that, if they called up Katherine anyway she’d vouch in Gems favor.
“How did you acquire one human below these depths, she can’t breathe in the water?” she twirls a curl of hair in her claw.
“An air tank?”
“And what will she do without an air tank? You left it at the entrance,”
“I can give her the ability to breathe underwater if necessary,”
“Hm… I believe you. You have a lot of devotion for this human. I can smell it.” The prime minister turned around to look at the tank allowing Gem to release all the tension she held up in her shoulders. Who knew staying political was so pressuring, she made it through without any sarcastic comments or getting dragged to the brig.
“We have your missing ship containments and those other merlings are being held in another holding sun room. We didn’t realize your kingdom would make this a political statement and I refuse to join you if you try anything like that.”
“Why did you capture our ship?”
“Oh it’s simple, you wander into our territory, you're now our property and we were interested in what property you held.” Note to future shipments, avoid siren territories. “Turns out your containers could only be opened with a special passcode that only a select few know and I’m hoping you’re one of those since none of the passengers knew it.” She did in fact not know the password but she could very well guess, with the amount of ease dropping her and Grian do on their parents meetings it couldn’t be too far off from a simple birthdate.
“If I give you the password will you let me, the human & all the other captors free?” Gem tried not to be pushy but she didn’t really have the high ground here.
“Yes.” Well that was easier than expected, with only the same sacrifice of a used password they can just change later. The prime minister leads the two into a gloomy elevator, she hits the down button and they slowly descend. This could’ve been the perfect time for crappy elevator music because the three just stood there in dead silence the entire 5 minute ride down, awkward.
The doors open to a very gloomy storage basement. Gem could’ve sworn she was being kidnapped by the stench of old water.
“Alright merling put in the password,” the minister snapped her fingers in order. The council will never ever learn of her ever doing this, okay.
“The password is probably my brother Grian’s birthday,” she places her webbed hand on the key pad and grants her access to the two step verification. She starts typing in the numbers going slowly so they’re paying attention. “2-2-5-2-0-0-8” the pressure releases and the crates door opens. A green squiggly tentacle starts to arise from the darkness of the crate, it circles around Drift wrists and tries to pull her in.
“Ah! Get it off, get it off!” she tries to swim away taking the tentacle with her. Gem chuckles as it’s just revealed to be a piece of seaweed. “Oh uh, i’m allergic,” Drift throws it off in a hurry, embarrassment from her scare creeping across her face.
“It’s just all seaweed?” the minister pouts as she starts rapidly opening all the other crates just to find more seaweed. “I’m disappointed, I expected some riches from such a glorious kingdom like yours,”
“Well I’m sorry to disappoint but you are holding my friend captive and we would like to get out of your hair as soon as possible like you promised,"
“Alright alright… but i need one more test,”
“What?”
“How well does this human know you? You said this password is your brother's birthdate, does she know your brother's birthdate?” Oh stupid sirens and their trust issues.
“Oh dear human,” the siren sang, circling the cage, “your dear merling couldn’t give us the password to open the shipping crates. Would you perhaps trade it for freedom?” she snarls her siren teeth growing sharper by the second.
“Password?” mind you Pearl has been trapped in this cage for about 12 hours now and although she is surrounded by water it is not drinkable because it’s salt. Also I personally wouldn’t want to drink water from a city of sirens that has not been run through a water filter before because of pollution.
“I’ll give you a hint. It’s the water princess's older brothers’ birthdate,” Older? Gem doesn’t have an older brother oh, she means that password. It seems the sirens are a little slow.
“Ha, see the human doesn’t kno-”
“2-2-5-2-0-0-8,”
“Damnit, the human is smart,” says the siren who could’ve just googled that. A trident shoots by the minister's head as she sees her life flash before her eyes. “Who threw that?!”
“Fun fact me and my brother are twins,” Gem swings again but the siren dodges.
“Put her in the cage with the human!” Guards swarm around Gem pinning down her arms and legs before shoving her into the cage next to Pearl.
“I appreciate the heroic attempt but you failed,” Pearl remarks at the redhead laying on the ground as the air fades her shimmery scales away. Her curls shrink up as she flips them over her head before jumping to her feet.
“Thanks, but this is part of my plan,” Gem adjusts her footing before revealing the key to Pearl’s chains.
“Where’d you get that?” the key clicks the lock open and clangs to the floor.
“Grabbed it out of the pocket of the minister then needed a way to get into your cage,” Gem answers. Yeah that’s pretty much exactly what happened. By this point Gem and Pearl were the only ones in the surrounding room. All the guards had cleared out and were out of sight so the girls took their escape. The cage door slowly opens and Gem swims out. Pearl stops. Oh right, she’s human and needs oxygen to breathe, Gem forgot to account for that.
“It’s time for the whirlpool!” the minister comes on the coms. Her voice echoed through the water. Before they had a moment to react the water started swirling around very fast sucking both Gem and Pearl into its current.
“Pearl!” Gem tries to grab her but gets swept away. Pearl is holding her breath as much as she can, getting thrown around a wide room was making that difficult. Pearl gets thrown into the far wall knocking the last air out of her lungs, this whirlpool was starting to go black. The next thing she knew was hands grasping her arms and something warm brushing across her face before she lost consciousness.
“Pearl, Pearl please!” Gem dragged the other onto the nearest beach. They had been thrown out of the whirlpool close to land but she was still unconscious. Gem held herself up above Pearl, her curls handing down over her face as Pearl’s eyes slowly opened.
She awoke on the cold damp sand, a face looking over hers, her vision was still adjusting to the darkness surrounding her. The sun had fallen while they were beneath the surface.
“Hi,”
“Oh thank gosh,” Gem drops down onto Pearl chest. Her letting out a huff on impact wrapping her arms around Gem in response.
“What happened after I blacked out?” she started brushing Gems curls that were all knotted with salt water.
“I gave you my air..” Gem whispered so softly that it could’ve been mistaken for the wind. She shifts her position off Pearl to sit up and watch the waves roll in on her ankles.
“You mean like mouth to mouth?” Pearl sits up as well.
“No Pearl… I gave you the ability to breathe under water,” the waves covered up the silence between the girls as they watched the stars twinkle under the moon light.
“The sky’s very pretty tonight,” Pearl takes gems hand in hers. She clings to it like she’ll drown again. “Much like you.” She turned to face Gem. Her cheeks blushed.
“Are you flirting with me?” She's hoping the darkness covers the red creeping in.
“Perchnace…” Pearl looks away.
“Perchance?!” Gem slams her hand down in the salt sand splashing water up her wrist. “You can’t just make me blush then say perchance!” She takes a fist of the soaked sand and swipes it across the other's face laughing at her shocked expression. “Would you perchance want to kiss me?” her hand brushes the sand soft off of Pearl face as she gives her the stupid grin.
“Perchance.” Pearl leans in, their noses briefly touching before their lips. Gem pulls her closer slithering her hand around her neck. The sand around them starts glowing, getting brighter and brighter until they’re surrounded by bioluminesces reflecting the stars. Gem pulls away first, lightly pressing her forehead to Pearls as she closes her eyes. A soft whirlwind brushes against their skin as Pearl shivers, wet, cold and sand. Gem chuckles as she wraps her arms around the other to give her warmth. They just sit under the moonlight for a second.
“We should find our boat,” Gem interrupts, she untangles their limbs and dives into the waves, popping her head up waiting for Pearl.
“Can I?” She stutters.
“Breathe underwater, yes” Gem sighs. She had mentioned this a time before. That she has the ability to give one person the breath of air underwater, she hadn’t expected it to be given to a human not to mention one who used to be with the enemy but she wouldn’t have it any other way. At least now they don’t risk her drawing again. Gem emerges from the waves to take Pearl hand guiding her back into the salty ocean. As they dip lower into the water a massive wave crashes into them Pearl preparing to get water up her nose shuts her eyes squeezing Gems hand harder. Once the wave clears Pearl realizes she’s beneath the surface, still holding her breath as Gem guides her further. Pearl doesn’t have the webbed limbs or tail Gem does, but she does realize her eyes sting less, and her ears don’t feel clogged, and Gem’s touch on her shoulders as she leans in to her ear and whispers “Breathe~” Pearl let’s out the bubble she was keeping in as she slowly sucks up the salt water only to find it comes out as oxygen.
“There you go,” Gem smiles. She continues guiding the two towards the shadow of a haul. Gem pops her head up dragging Pearl with her as she takes hold of their boat. The water spilling off the two once on the deck. Gem grabs the anchor. Pearl grabs a blanket, wraps herself up as she hits the engine button. Gem sets their cords for home. The girls watch as the sharp rocks fade from their vision, pearl arm wrapped around Gem as they cuddle up under the blanket.
In the morning…
They had arrived very early in the morning, docking the boat and walking up to Pearl’s house where they showered and camped for the night. The sun beams are drifting in behind the curtains. Gems tucked under Pearl's arms both curled up in each other’s warmth as they slept into the late date.
“I better alert my parents that we’re home,” Gem sits on the bed watching the other in the bathroom brushing her tangled hair out while she types her message.
“Gem?”
“Yes,”
“What are we?” Pearl sets the brush down on the counter.
“What do you want us to be?” Gem walks up behind Pearl grabbing her around the waist. She tilts her head to give Pearl that stupid smirk knowing it will make her falter. She presses a quick kiss on her lips. “Does that give you an answer?”
“Hm… i might be a second one just to make sure,”
“Oh my gosh~ come on Pearl I’m hungry,” Gem dramatically groans. Her girlfriend was taking forever. Her girlfriend… She drags Pearl out of her little house and down the path to the cafe. Gems hand in Pearls… her girlfriends hand in hers.
The doorbell rings as they enter…
“Hello girls, you seem very cheery today Gem, and Pearl looks dead inside,” Cleo greets them.
“I need my coffee, and she would like an egg bagel sandwich,”
“Alright coming up shortly, anything else?” Cleo arches an eyebrow. She’s definitely catching on.
“Oh uh… well I think you can guess,” Gem holds up her and Pearl's hands and smiles before they walk towards a table at the window.
“Finally! Took you long enough!” Cleo yells from behind the counter. Pearl drops her head into her hands.
“Just wait till we tell Grian…”
“Oh god no~”
What’s worse, having to tell everyone you were kidnapped by sirens or that you’re now dating… this is gonna be a long story.