The Little Sea Witch #Wattys2015

~Once in a Lifetime~(1)

The Little Sea Witch

It was just another average day in the sea. A certain aqua haired sea witch was out swimming in open waters. The reason, she was looking for seashells. They were the main component for a spell she was learning. If all else failed, she'd use them for covering her breasts. She knew of a place where she could collect as many shells as she needed. It was a peaceful reef; it took about 2 hours for her to get there, and nobody was around except a couple of fish that lived in the reef.

She had found the reef when she needed to take cover from a storm above, the area constantly got storms making the waters rough above and below. Humans stayed away because the area was known as a ship graveyard. Only humans, that did, were either fools or unlucky. Today was one of those days in which an unfortunate ship would sail said waters.

While the sea witch was collecting shells, she noticed the fish began to retreat back into their homes. She then took her bag made of kelp sewn together and swam into a small underwater tunnel into a cove. She tossed her bag on the rocky floor. She quickly opened the bag checking if she had everything. She didn't, she was missing one shell that was only found in the reef.

Annoyed she dove back down and went through the tunnel and back into the reef looking for the last shell. At that same time, as she was searching, a ship above was sailing through the violent storm. The crew was sailing back from their voyage and passed through the waters at the wrong time. The crew was desperate to get through the storm; the Prince, the sole heir to the throne was on the voyage.

The prince was above deck trying to be as useful as possible. In an instant, as one of the crew was going overboard the prince pulled him back and ended up being swept up by the ocean himself. As he tried to gasp for air his lungs filled with seawater. He was drowning, and it was painful. His lungs were on fire, and he was slowly slipping out of consciousness.

The sea witch had found what she was looking for and not long after did she hear a splash. As she looked for the source she, saw a human drowning. She froze, she never saw a human before and didn't know what to do. She knew that humans breathed air and would die soon without it. The issue was allowing the human to see her. Land dwellers didn't handle things that were different very well and would most likely kill her if seen. Then again, it was the question of if she would allow another living thing to die.

The sea witch flicked her tail and swam as fast as could to the human. She grabbed a hold of the front of his shirt; she dragged him through the tunnel leading to the cove. Once they surfaced, she pulled human onto the rock floor next to her bag and then pulled herself up as well. The cove had another tunnel that led to the surface of an uncharted island, so getting him food and the air was handled. Simple for him, the sea witch wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Yet she wanted to stay at the same time, and make sure he was okay, but there was a rule, and the human would probably kill her.

The sea witch decided that she would leave him after she saw if he were dead or alive. As she reached out to touch his face she finally, got a good look at him. He had skin kissed by the sun and hair as white as the sea foam; he was muscular with scars all over his upper torso. How he dressed was even odder, he wore a white shirt that didn't cover his whole torso the sides were completely exposed, it wasn't even a real shirt. He wore a golden belt that connected his white now see through outfit, his wet clothing clung to his skin. On his wrists, were gold bracelets that had a red gem of some sort embedded in it, and there were gold bands on his upper arms. He even appeared to have odd pieces of gold on the side of his neck that appeared to be stuck to him.

She could feel the warmth transfer to her hand after she touched his cheek. She never had felt this kind of warmth before. She ripped her hand away from him when he began to stir. She dove into the water leaving her bag behind. As the prince woke, he was surprised to find he could breathe again only after he violently coughed up the seawater in his lungs. He was in so much pain, his throat was raw, his lung burned, it hurt to breathe, he didn't even try to talk he was too weak. He began to breathe slowly barely fighting off sleep; his lids were heavy.

The sea witch was about to leave through the tunnel when she remembered she forgot her bag. She cursed herself for doing so; it was risky, but she needed the shells. The sea witch swam through the tunnel into the pool of the cove. She waited a few moments to see if the human was awake and decide it was safe to resurface. She reached out to her bag... "D-did you save me?"

The sea witch froze; the human spoke to her, she didn't know how to react. She was seen; she turned her head to see the human was barely awake. She prayed she could slip away leaving him thinking it was a dream.

"I asked if you saved me." The human said again to her only this time his voice was stronger.

She panicked; she could reply or disappear. She got an idea; she moved towards the prince pulling herself up to be seated next to him. The cove had any light hardly. The prince could only make out the color of her hair to be the same color of the cove water, she wore shells on her breasts and had shells stick out from the sides of her head. She leaned in closer putting her small thin finger to his lips.

"Shush, I'm nothing but a mere dream..." She trailed in a soft tone she slow slipped into the water with her bag.

"I would at least like to have something to call you." The prince replied back before she could disappear.

She could have left that very instant never to be seen again but instead this human pulled her in somehow. She felt something she didn't know pang in her chest.

"You may call me Yamuraiha." She said before disappearing back into the water leaving no trace of her ever being there.

The prince was in the cove all alone now and slipped back into a peaceful sleep. The prince would wake again hours later when he heard a cannon go off. He got up and soon found the tunnel that lead to the surface of the island. As he stepped out he expected to be blinded by the light but instead found it dark. It was night now, the prince searched for the noise; the noise came from a ship not too far from the island. The question was how he was going to get their attention, and then to say an idea sparked.