Work Text:
do you want to go to the seaside?
i'm not trying to say that everybody wants to go
i fell in love at the seaside
For as long as she can remember, Shay has always been drawn to the ocean.
(Her brother, because he's a huge nerd for all things Tolkien, jokingly calls it the Longing, and privately she agrees. She has no better words to describe this feeling.)
It's... homesickness, for a place she's never been. Even her dreams are filled with the sound of waves crashing to the shore and the smell of salt and brine; it's like someone reached into her chest and keeps tugging at her heart, trying to pull her towards the sea.
But she lives on the mainland, hours away from the sea in any direction, and the rivers and lakes of the country side can only soothe her so much before she's overcome with a wave of the strangest nostalgia.
So the day after her eighteenth birthday, she gets on a train and goes to see the ocean for the very first time in her life.
Stepping onto the beach, tired and wrinkled after hours and hours of uncomfortable travel, feels a lot like coming home.
Shay takes off her shoes and walks, enjoying the feeling of sand between her toes. She keeps walking for a while, avoiding man built piers and tourists, until she comes to a small cove. She has to climb over several rocks to get it to it; but she's glad she does it.
The water is clear and incredibly blue, the sand soft underneath her feet and it feels like she's the first person to ever discover this place.
She sits and watches the tide come in and feels at peace. A lifetime of stress and worries melts away, and she falls asleep to the soothing background noise of seagulls calling and waves crashing.
When she wakes up, the first thing Shay registers is that she's still at the beach. She can taste the salt in the air and feel the sand beneath her cheek.
The second is that she's not alone.
So she sits up and blinks the sleep out of her eyes. What she sees makes her jaw drop.
There, only a few feet away and clearly watching her, lies a mermaid.
It - no, she - is unmistakably a mermaid; the lower half of her body is covered in iridescent scales, shimmering green and purple and blue, and ends in a delicate looking fin. Her fingers are webbed and there are scales on the rest of her body, too, and strange pink markings on her face.
When Shay meets her eyes, heart pounding, she sees brilliant blue irises with purple pupils, eyes so obviously and terribly inhuman and- "Beautiful," she whispers.
The mermaid grins, revealing sharp fangs, but somehow Shay isn't scared. What she feels instead is closer to awe.
"I didn't think..." Mermaids even existed, she thinks, but somehow what she says instead is: "... I'd ever meet you."
The mermaid cocks her head before replying: "You're my soulmate, aren't you? Of course we'd meet."
Soulmate. The word looms huge above her, heavy with meaning, but somehow it feels... right.
"Of course," she echoes, faintly.
The mermaid smiles, again. "I'm Allura, Princess of the Altean Seas. You know," she says, twirling a strand of her white hair around a clawed finger, "I've been singing every night for years, trying to get you to come. So of course you arrive the one day I take off."
"Sorry," Shay says, feeling sheepish but still reeling from meeting her soulmate.
Allura laughs, those gorgeous eyes dancing with mischief. "You're sweet," she purrs, and Shay blushes.
"I'm Shay. Can I... Can I touch you?" I need to make sure you're real.
Allura seems to understand what she didn't say and stretches out a hand towards her.
It feels as natural as breathing for Shay to take her hand in her own and press a kiss to it. Allura's skin is smooth and cool against her own. "It's nice to meet you, Princess. Sorry I'm late."
And Allura blushes, the colour rising to her cheeks faint but noticeable against her dark skin.
Shay has a moment to feel triumphant about it before Allura weaves their fingers together and it's her turn to blush. Touching the webbing feels... strange, she decides, but not bad.
Allura smiles, pulling herself along to sit closer to Shay. She rests her head on her shoulder and gives a content sigh.
"What now?" Shay asks. She still can't believe she has a soulmate, that she's sitting on this beach practically cuddling with a mermaid and as happy as she's ever been. More than that, maybe.
"I just found you," Allura says, tightening her grip on Shay's hand possessively. "I'm not letting you go so soon."
"I feel the same way," Shay says. "I'll... I'll get a cottage, somewhere close to the beach. So we can see each other as often as we want."
"That sounds nice," Allura murmurs, from where she's pressed her lips to Shay's collarbone.
After a while, Allura sits up with a pout. "I need to get back in the water soon, or my scales will dry out."
"Oh. Um. Alright. Let me help you?", Shay asks.
When Allura nods, Shay carefully kneels and lifts her in a bridal carry. The mermaid is heavier than she was expecting, and the long fishtail dangles over the side, but Allura hooks her arm around her neck and she starts walking the few feet to the sea.
She wades in until she's up to her naval in the water and stops.
"Will I... You'll come back, right? I'll see you again?" And Shay hates how insecure she's being but she has to know.
Allura smiles at her, tightens her grip and presses a kiss to her lips. She tastes like the ocean and starlight and everything Shay has ever wanted.
"You'll see me again," Allura promises, before disappearing into the sea with a splash.
i'm just trying to love you
in any kind of way
but i find it hard to love you girl
when you're far away