In Between Waves. [dramione - au]

WAVE 04 - under the sea.

Look at this stuff,

Isn't it neat?

Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?

Wouldn't you think I'm a girl, a girl who has, everything.

What would I give,

If I could live out of these waters?

What would I pay, to spend the day, out on the sand?

Part of Your World in the Little Mermaid.

XX

''Sisters'', the powerful voice echoed on the walls of the cavern, ''we stand here today to send one of us to procreate. The rules are simple. She must find a man to procreate within the next month. She will be given the ritual necklace. If she fails, she will be killed.''

The band of mermaids yelled, a yell coming from the bottom of their throat. A yell that would have killed a human being instantly, if heard outside of water.

They all had different colors of tails: from blue to gold, to green or even bright pink. They had long, gorgeous hair in which were hiding miniscule creatures such a tiny fishes. The color of their hair fitted the color of their tails, and shone with grace. The walls of the cavern, which was the palace of the queen of mermaid, were painted with gold and reflected the light of the underwater lanterns which were light with a rare form of magic.

''Hermione, please swim up to here.''

A purple mermaid swam up to the stand where the queen of the mermaid, Minerva, was waiting for her. Her face was half hidden by her light brownish, with pieces of purple hair. Her eyes were human shaped. This phenomenon was rare, and it made Hermione even more special to her queen. The more similarities the mermaid bodies would have with the humans, the easier it would be for the individual to walk the earth as one of them.

Hermione stood in front of her queen, slowly flipping her dark purple fins to stay in place without swimming higher than Queen Minerva.

''Hermione,'' all the yells stopped, ''you shall find a man to mark, use, and kill. No one ought to know about us, for the last time one of us swam up to the land, she vanished. Lily was brave, but she fell in love, and got her heart ripped, her fins cut and her blood drank by that evil witch. She is probably waiting for you, right now, knowing we have to start a new cycle of reproduction.''

Hermione nodded, feeling hew shoulders weighting with every word her queen loudly spoke to all of the 700 mermaids watching her.

''Do not disappoint me, Hermione.''

As the tradition obliged, she was giving a necklace made of pearls by her kingdom. Each kingdom had different pearls, and these necklace represented the right to be out of the kingdom for procreation, it was the only reason the cross the limits.

Hermione took the necklace delicately in her hands, and clasped it around her neck. There, she was ready.

At least, that was what she had thought at that very moment. But no more than two days after her departure, something terrible had happened. She was only looking for a man to drown and use, a single ship floating on the sea maybe, but it seemed as if the fishermen had been waiting for her for ages.

She'd never seen a boat before, let alone so many roaming the waters in attempts to catch her.

How could she catch only one of them?

Then what she had feared happen: as she was trying to catch one of the men, they had seen her. It had confirmed the presence of the creature and the word had propagated faster than dust in a storm.