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Harsh rocking had never been an issue for Stephanie before, not when she spent almost all of her time in the crew quarters. But this was different, way worse than she had ever felt.
Rubbing sleep from her eyes, Steph pulled herself out of her nook, peeking past the barrels she used as a barrier from the rest of the crew quarters.
Frowning, she noted the severe lack of people for the time of night it was. Usually even after a drinking night by the time Steph’s lamp went out there would be a few people in bed.
Thunder rang out in time with another big rock of the ship. Steph stumbled forward, catching herself on one of the support beams. Panic started to make her heart beat rapidly, tears pricking in her eyes.
You’re ten, you’re too big to cry! She repeated in her head like a mantra, steeling herself as she quickly padded towards the ladder. It was second nature to climb up, peeking out onto the deck before she fully got out.
That very second, the only person in sight was launching himself off the side of the ship, yelling something to below him.
Scrambling, panic in her lungs, Steph pulled herself up and into a run towards the side. Water pelting against her body and under her bare feet almost made her slip, but she caught herself on the side just in time.
Just in time to see her father unwrapping the smaller boat from the side of the ship.
Just in time to catch his eyes, blue like hers.
Just in time to realise they were leaving.
“DADDY!” Stephanie screamed, eyes snapping towards the other ships, rocking in the storm. She leaned forward past the railing, hands slipping on the wood.
Her father had always called her a stupid girl, lucky he even let her leech off him and his hard work. But Stephanie knew she was smart. She knew her father was leaving her to die.
Arthur turned around, breaking eye contact and not looking back.
Something broke in Stephanie’s heart, something she thought she had been able to destroy. That little last bit of hope that he maybe, just maybe, cared enough to not want her to die.
Spinning around, Steph rushed to the other side of the ship, looking over the edge to see what was wrong. Something must be, right? Her father wouldn’t abandon his pride and joy for nothing.
Just as she peered over the edge, a wave crashed into the ship, and Steph had to clutch onto the edge as the other side dipped. Her feet scrambled for traction, useless as rain pelted her from all sides.
As the ship tipped, more of the wood was exposed and Steph gasped in horror at the sight of a giant gash in the wood, water spilling into the storage rooms and, most alarmingly, sinking the ship. Stephanie didn’t know how she had been able to sleep though something that big.
Shaking her head, Steph braced for her feet to come back under her as the ship tilted back upright. She wasted no time in running to the very back of the ship. Every step came with the threat of slipping and falling, but the young girl had experience in running away in less than ideal conditions.
Just like she had expected, the ship started tilting to the right and at the opposite end, near the gash. Stephanie didn’t know if anything she was doing would matter, if she would go down the same way, but anything she could do, she would do.
After all, one day she was going to find her father and show him how wrong he was for leaving her, that bastard coward.
Wiping away bitter tears, Stephanie focused on holding onto the side, pulling herself up with a tight, unsteady grip so the tilting of the ship wouldn’t have her tumbling off the side. Every muscle in her strained with every second.
Water was getting closer and closer, the waves louder with every second she spent avoiding the inevitable. Somehow if Stephanie managed to survive the ship sinking, how would she get to land? Pushing that dread away, she grit her teeth once more.
She needed to stay alive, she needed to stay alive, she needed to stay—
Lightning cracked in the sky, brilliant and bright. It drew her eyes up, wide and uncaring of the pelting rain.
The ship, weight shifted, flipped over and plunged the deck underwater.
Thunder, following so close behind, was muffled by the raging waters.
Black consumed Stephanie’s vision, just for a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity. When her eyes finally saw, it was too late. A broken off wooden beam slammed into the girl’s chest and sinking her further, deeper into the darkness.
Her golden hair splayed out around her, hands trying to push weakly at the beams. Disorientation and lack of oxygen, how long had it been, weighed her down.
It was so easy to let her eyes slip shut, imagine visiting her ma in the doctors. But something tugged at her heart.
Anger. Rage. Wrath.
No matter how nice it would be to just fall asleep now, she couldn’t, not when her Dad needed to pay.
Stephanie Brown, the girl with the ever fighting spirit, kept going.
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Jason usually didn’t go out during storms, but Jay had needed something from outside and had just frozen at the sight of a full blown ship sinking, right outside of the cave.
It was brilliant and devastating at the same time. Sure, humans tended to be more hostile, but that didn’t mean Jason wanted them to die. Still, even while sinking Jason could appreciate the workmanship that went into building a shop as intricate and gorgeous as this one.
Still, despite how gorgeous the ship was, it wasn’t safe to stay in the open. Debris could easily make itself dangerous, especially with how fragile Jason’s tail was. Jason reluctantly started to pull back when a flash of gold caught his eye.
Treasure? No, that’s…
Jason froze, eyes on what was most definitely not the treasure all humans seem to desire so much. The gold flowed through the water, blocking what Jason was sure was a face.
A human, from the ship, with a long piece of wood pushing them down.
Jason snapped back into focus when the golden haired figure reached the ocean floor, the beam over their body and still, albeit weakly, struggling.
Throwing caution to the sea, Jason made a split second and very, very stupid decision. He pushed off the cave wall and raced to the fallen figure, luckily out of reach from the rest of the debris and close enough that Jason could get there.
The closer Jason got, his heart sank more and more. He hadn’t had a lot of interaction with humans, but what he did know is merfolk like him had similar aging signs to humans. As he took a good look at the human, the blonde haired girl with a small body, scars across her arms and big, blue eyes, Jason could tell she was a baby.
A baby whose eyes landed directly on him. A baby who froze in place. A baby who most definitely is about to drown if the way her eyes roll back into her skull is any indication.
Jason unfroze, immediately moving to push the wooden debris off the girl. It wasn’t that heavy, but with how malnourished she looked and her position under the beam, Jason wasn’t surprised she was rendered helpless.
Free of the rubble, Jason didn’t think twice in wrapping an arm around her midsection and pulling the blonde along towards the entrance of the cave. Bruce probably wouldn’t be happy about it, but if he gets pissy Dick will be on Jason’s side.
Slipping into the half hidden entrance, Jason rises himself to the very top, breaking the surface with a crash. The little cave had a small bank and small holes in the top of the cave for fresh oxygen to come in, but not big enough for anyone to slip in. The space was minimally decorated, only used for storage of things Bruce didn’t want getting wet, like books and maps.
Jason pulled the girl onto dry land, hoisting himself up to check her over. He tried to remember how Alfred would do it, but most of the things you checked on a mer would be completely different than a human!
Shaking his head, Jason focused. His hand pressed against her neck, a pulse point both mer and humans had. The heartbeat was weaker than it should be, but still present. Jason pulled her head to face him and checked for breathing.
Fuck–
Panic rose in Jason and his eyes shot around, trying to remember if there was anything he'd read about in the human books that would tell him how to get the girl breathing again. When he came up empty and his eyes landed back on the girl’s face, he was horrified to realise the blue tinge wasn’t a trick of the light, she was turning blue.
Okay, okay, calm down! Humans have lungs like us, but no gills. What would stop a human from breathing? Something in the lungs? Water in the lungs? How do I get water out of the lungs??
Bracing himself for very real and very likely failure, Jason placed his hands over the kids chest, right where her lungs are. With a grimace, Jason presses down, not crushingly, and pulls back up quickly. Nothing happens. Determined, and maybe a little desperate, Jason does it again. And again. And again.
It takes maybe five of these pushes when the girl shoots up and flings herself onto her arms, coughing violently. Deep, wracking gasps have her small form trembling uncontrollably.
Relief spreads over Jason, but he can’t help that worry still lingering at the way the girl was hunched over herself, not coughing anymore but continuing to gasp in air with the same fervour of her first breath.
Jason hesitated just a second before beginning to reach his hand out, just to brush her shoulder. “Hey, are you–”
At the sound of his voice, the girl flings herself away and further up the rocky ledge, eyes wide and fearful. Jason’s hand was still raised, but he was still, both of their eyes locked in a staredown.
Wet blonde hair clings to the girl’s face and neck, and she doesn’t seem to notice, or care, about the hair in her mouth. Her face is pink, the only exception being the bit of blue on her lips still. Her eyes are wild but unfocused, the slight sway she’s fighting adding to the whole scene.
In short, she looked scared. Really, really scared.
Raising his hands slowly in surrender, Jason kept his eyes on hers. “Hey there, are you feeling okay?”
The girl’s chest stutters in its clear rise and fall. She swallows, eyes flicking around rapidly before the brilliant blue lands back on Jason. Her eyes are more focused, like she's finally seeing Jason.
“No way–” She gasps out, choking on a cough. “Am I dead? I feel dead–”
“Nope, not dead!” Jason scoots a little closer, eyes furrowing in concern. The girl gets stiffer, and Jason sees a very familiar resolve in her eyes harden. It’s the look that says ‘I will fight and I won’t spare my teeth.’ The teen tries to make himself less threatening, lowering himself in a hunch and breaking eye contact. “My name’s Jason, as you can see I’m a mer, have you heard of merfolk?”
Her shoulders began to droop a bit, but he couldn’t tell if it was because of his posture or gentle tone of voice. “Yeah duh.” She scoffed, eyes flicking away for a second. Jason tried not to smile at the way she crossed her arms over her chest petulantly. “I’m not a dummy. Maybe none of the adults believed me but I always knew Mr Eddie at the tavern wasn’t lyin’ about it!”
“You’re really smart then.” Jason complimented, grinning. He didn’t miss the way her eyes lit up at the praise, like she was soaking it all in. “Can I have your name then?”
An adorable look crossed her face, contemplative and pouty. The silence only lasted a moment though. “Stephanie.” She jutted out her hand, holding it in front of her with a determined expression and challenging eye.
Jason smiled toothily and reciprocated, clasping his webbed hand with hers and shaking. Stephanie had a firm grip, and Jason was relieved to see she had stopped shaking.
“How did I get here?” Stephanie pulled away with a frown, breaking eye contact to look around the little cave.
Hesitantly, Jason pulled away as well. If she didn’t remember anything, he didn’t know how to break the news. Deciding from what little he knew about Stephanie, he decided the headstrong girl would rather he just ripped the bandage off.
“Your ship sank, I found you in the water under a beam.” Jason said, once again lowering his voice toa near whisper. It was quiet in the cave, the lapping waves against the rock barely masking the sound of Stephanie gasping, this time in realisation.
“My Dad–”
For the thousandth time, Jason’s heart sank and he was seconds away from going out there and looking for the girl’s father in hopes he might just be alive. He had been so focused on Stephanie that he hadn’t even thought of going out to see if there were any more survivors. But before he could, Stephanie’s eyes turned hard and angry.
“That BASTARD!” She screamed, scrambling up, eyes alight with rage and tears. “If I find him again I’m going to make sure he regrets everything!”
The visceral anger shocks Jason into silence. He observes how Stephanie shakes, unsure if it's because she stood up or out of rage. Her hands are balled into fists, teeth grit in a silent snarl.
“Stephanie…” Jason trails off when her eyes snap back to him. “It was a pretty brutal scene, if your dad was there, I don’t think–”
“No.” She cuts him off, sniffling. The blonde sits herself down hard on the ground in front of Jason, her rough palm swiping at bitter tears. “No he left the boat, all of them did.”
Jason really, really hopes he’s misunderstanding her. Pulling himself further on the bank, Jason places a grounding hand on her shoulder. “What do you mean?” Stephanie looks up and Jason’s heart breaks at the expression.
“T-They didn’t even wake me–” She sobs, full on crying now, knees pulled up to her chest. “They just left, and when I got to the deck my Dad– he saw me, it wasn’t even a mistake, he didn’t want me, never wanted me!”
Through snot and tears, Stephanie launches herself at Jason’s chest, and Jason pulls her in closer, arms wrapping around her tiny, malnourished figure.
Anger against her father and affection for Stephanie war in his head, fighting for their place as his priority. However, with the sobbing, shaking girl in his arms, Jason knows there’s nothing else to do but hold her, let the comforting words spill from his lips, a skill picked up from Dickie.
Jason swayed Stephanie in his hold, humming gently to her. She had dissolved into quiet crying, limp against Jason’s hold.
He knew it wasn’t the time to think about it, but how would Jason explain to Bruce his spontaneous acquisition of another sister? Oh well, Jason knew Bruce would be a better father than Stephanie’s sperm donor.