WARNING: cursing
It's summer vacation and Luz was going on a cruise with her mother Camilla, to Merroway Cove.
It's a beautiful, tropical island far from the mainland. The cove has crystal blue waters, and several patches of coral with tropical fish.
As the boat was pulling into the harbor, the captain walked outside of his quarters to make an announcement to all the guests.
"Attention all you land lovers! Welcome to Merroway Cove! Now enjoy your stay and keep your eyes peeled! If you're lucky you might catch a glimpse of a mermaid!"
Luz silently chuckled watching all the small children jump up and down with excitement. 'Mermaids huh? That's a nice thought but, that's impossible..."
The next day, Luz woke up right and early, excited to go explore the coral reefs and tide pools. "Now mija, if you need me, I'll be sitting on the beach reading my book. Stay safe ok?"
Luz grabbed her goggles and snorkel and happily ran to the door of their room. "Oh I will, see you mamá! Diviértete!" Luz slammed the door shut and ran down the hall to exit the cruise.
Amity's POV:
It happened again. Another boat has entered the cove with tourists. None of the people who come seem to do any harm to the cove, let alone have interest in going out of their way to search for my people, but whenever those humans come, we merfolk have to go into hiding. It's so frustrating! But as long as we obey the rules, we'll be safe from harms way.
—-
Luz hopped on the beach and took in the beautiful view. The beach seemed to go on for miles, and a beautiful rainforest stood peacefully ahead.
Luz looked to her left and a saw a narrow trail that was almost completely covered with ferns and other plants. She smiled and headed towards the mysterious path.
As Luz walked down the overgrown trail, Amity popped her head out of the water to take a look around. She instantly spotted Luz and squinted her eyes to get a better look. "A human has never gone past the main beach before." Amity dove under the water and cautiously followed Luz from the side.
The trail ended a few minutes later, and Luz found herself at the shore of a private looking lagoon. A series of rocks surrounded the spot, with a rocky archway leading to the open ocean.
Luz turned around to see the cruise no where in sight. "I'll just go back the way I came, no biggy." Luz then made her way to the water and walked in the shallow pool.
It was about a foot deep and there was a ledge at the entrance of the cove. As Luz made her way to the rocky arch, she saw just how deep the water was after that point.
Luz then took a deep breath, and dove into the water, now exploring the coral reef beneath her.
Amity hid in a rock formation and watched the human swim. She was very graceful and cut through the water with ease. Amity was almost impressed.
Something shined brightly in Luz's eye in the distance. She swam closer and looked down at the glowing thing. It was very blurry but Luz thought it was some sort of old crab trap?
She hovered over the metal thing and taped the top lightly. 'Just an old hunk of junk.' Luz then swam up to head to the surface, her foot kicked the contraption in the process. A metal ring suddenly closed tightly on her ankle, preventing her from going up for air!
She flinched in pain from the sudden tightness and flailed her arms as fast as she could to get free! The latina wasn't going anywhere. The trap was practically glued to the ocean floor.
Luz sunk herself down to try and unhook or break, something! Nothing worked and Luz was losing her ability to hold her breath.
Luz suddenly couldn't take it anymore and exhaled whatever air she held on to, sending a clump of bubbles the surface.
Amity saw the whole thing and emerged from her hiding place, zooming towards Luz! The latina looked around and saw a blurry creature heading straight towards her! She panicked and flailed her loose limbs trying to get away.
Luz's body was starting to give out, and she began to see spots in her vision, her body slowly losing movement. She was going to drown. Amity saw this and blew a large air bubble, shooting it towards Luz.
The bubble smacked Luz right in the jaw and expanded around the lower half of her head, giving her nose and mouth a space to breathe!
Luz gasped and stared at nothing while she regained consciousness.
Amity made it and hovered in front of Luz. "Don't worry, I'll get you out." The Blight dove down and examined the rusty, metal contraption. Her ankle was stuck pretty good.
Amity yanked the ring but it didn't budge one bit. She looked around and saw something small glowing in the sand. She swam over and found a small metal key. Putting it in her hand, Amity swam back to Luz and found a hole she could use to unlock the cuff.
Freeing the latina, Amity grabbed her hand and swam to the surface. Luz gasped as the bubble around her head popped. She sighed in relief as the mermaid wrapped her arms around Luz to support her.
Luz's ankle throbbed a bit in pain so she remained still, treading water. Amity flicked her tail and pushed Luz back to the shallow pool. She placed her on the edge and hovered in front of the human, placing her hands on the cliff of the cove.
"Thank you." said Luz softly, admiring the beautiful mermaid in front of her. Amity had a long bright pink tail and wore a tank top made of seaweed. Amity gently nodded then looked at her ankle with concern.
"Does it still hurt?" "A little sore but I'll be fine. I'm Luz by the way, Luz Noceda." "Amity Blight." The human extended her hand for a handshake but Amity just stared at it confused. "Oh, it's a human thing. It's how we usually greet one another." Amity slowly extended her webbed scaly hand and cautiously shook Luz's.
"I've never seen a mermaid before! Heck I didn't even think they were real!" Amity jumped back at Luz's sudden outburst but giggled shortly after. "Haha yeah, whenever humans come to the cove, we go into hiding for a little while." Amity blushed and covered her mouth with both her hands. 'Why am I telling her this?!'
Luz looked at the now distressed mermaid and held up her arms in defense. "Hey hey it's ok. I won't tell anyone, I promise. Besides, no one would believe me anyway." Luz smiled gently at the Blight and scooted a little closer to her.
Amity looked her up and down before nodding contently at Luz's statement. It was like she read her mind.
The two then spent the next few hours talking and splashing each other. Luz and Amity swam to a different shallow part of the cove so Luz could comfortably sit down, her head above the water, while Amity circled around the girl observing her human features.
Amity flopped onto Luz's lap and knocked her backwards, staring at her round human ears. "They're so weird!" she said rubbing Luz's right ear in circles. Luz giggled and gently pushed Amity off of her.
"Luz!" yelled a faint voice in the distance. Luz and Amity turned in the direction of the call then looked back at each other frowning.
"Sorry, my moms calling. Thank you so much again." Luz stood up and started to walk towards the shore. Amity quickly swam after her until she couldn't go any further, as the water was getting too shallow. "W-wait! Could I see you again tomorrow?"
Luz turned back and smiled. "Yeah! I'd love to! Meet you here at the cove first thing tomorrow?" Amity nodded and turned back to the ocean swimming away. "See you tomorrow Luz!" And with that, the mermaid vanished into the sea...
That evening, Amity quietly swam into her coral home, making sure not to wake anyone up. She cautiously looked around the dark living room before sighing in relief.
"Gone somewhere mittens?" said a voice from behind the youngest Blight. Amity quickly turned around to see her two older twin siblings standing side by side, arms crossed.
"Just went around the cove and back looking for human trash." The twins weren't buying it.
"Hmmm, been an awful long time for you to just be looking for garbage. You sure you haven't been doing anything else? Maybe, seeing someone?" said Edric coolly.
"Yes. Now Goodnight." snapped Amity swimming past her siblings. She wasn't going to let the twins get anything out of her. Amity swam down the hall and entered her room, closing the door behind her.
"Ya know Edric. I think mittens is hiding something." said Emira facing her brother. "Agreed." The twins smirked at each other and decided they were going to follow their baby sister the following day...
The next day, Amity woke up right and early and zoomed out of her room towards the front door. She was almost there until a gentle but firm voice stopped her.
"Amity? Where are you going in such a hurry." "Oh, good morning father." said Amity facing the older merman. Alador was sitting at the kitchen table, reading a local fish paper. He chuckled at his daughters sudden shy nature and unconsciously flicked his purple tail fin waiting for a response.
"Well?" he asked in a gentle friendly tone. As he said so, Edric and Emira swam into the kitchen for breakfast. "Morning father." They said in unison. "Oh, just going out to clean up the cove again." said Amity slightly blushing.
"How nice of you dear. Just be safe, you know the humans have come to the cove again." said Alador returning to his newspaper. "I will." Before the twins could say anything, Amity had already swum out the door.
Alador glanced away from his paper and glared at the twins. "And you two, stay out of trouble..."
—-
As for Luz, she once again woke up at an early time and left the cruise waving goodbye to her mother. The latina ran down the beach and pushed away the large tropical leaves that blocked her path on the narrow trail.
She made her way to the small pool bordering the sea and looked around the cove to see no Amity. She assumed she was early and stepped into the shallow water, making her way to edge to see if she could spot the mermaid in the deep end from above.
Amity sped through the water, swimming gracefully. The twins were swimming after her but couldn't quite keep up. She looked back for a second to see the twins chasing her. 'Gotta mislead them.'
Amity made a sharp turn around a rock formation, (close to where Luz was) and hid inside a small opening.
The twins lost track of their sister and stopped by the large rock to look around. "Ugh where'd she go?!" said Emira scratching her head with her finger.
Edric looked up and saw two, tan, human feet on the ledge of the shallow pool. Emira looked up and saw them too, now smirking and facing her brother. The two started to swim to the surface to get a better look. "Hmm, what have we here." said Emira coolly.
Luz looked down at the water but only saw rocks and sand below. She looked to her right and saw the same thing.
Suddenly, Luz saw two figures swimming to the surface in her peripheral vision. She turned to her left again and saw two emerald green tails swimming towards her.
Luz bent down and got on her knees to get a closer look. "Now!" yelled Emira. The twins sped up and zoomed towards Luz like a bullet!
Before Luz could react, the twins grabbed her arms and pulled her into the water, bringing her down close to the bottom!
Once they were deep enough, they tossed her a little ways in front of them, and circled around her for an examination. "Hahaha, she's so cute! And her ears are so round!" cried Emira with excitement. "No gills or fins too." added Edric poking Luz's arms.
Luz was in shock and blushed madly at the attractive pair. 'Bi panic bi panic!' When Luz realized she was running out of air, she attempted to swim to the surface but was pulled back down by the twins.
The twins held a tight grip on her arms and laughed as the human struggled. Luz kicked her legs before throwing her head up, releasing the last of her held breath, sending a clump of bubbles to the surface.
Amity swam out of her hiding place, realizing the twins found Luz, and zoomed into her siblings, whacking her tail into their faces! While the twins were taking the impact, Amity grabbed Luz and bolted to the surface! She swam so fast that the two shot up out of the water and landed on the shallow ledge of the cove.
Amity didn't stop swimming after landing and brought Luz to the edge of the shore, far away from the deep end.
As she set Luz down, Luz coughed up a lot, of salt water. "*cough cough* huh, thanks Amity."
The two heard laughter and Amity viciously looked back at the sea, shielding Luz from potential harm.
"What's wrong with you two?! She could've drowned!" Amity clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, revealing her sharp fangs.
"Hahaha awww we just wanted to have some fun with the human." said Emira coolly. "Besides, humans can't know of our existence." added Edric.
"One second Luz." Amity dove into the water and swam to the entrance of the sea. She leaped in the air in between her siblings and grabbed their finned ears, pulling them down under!
"Ahhhh ow ow ow mittens!" said the twins flailing their arms. The youngest Blight aggressively pulled on their ears and threw them so they hovered below her. "Listen you two! I know the rules regarding humans but I promise you, Luz wouldn't say or do anything to hurt us. She has a good soul." "How can you be so sure?" asked Edric cocking an eyebrow. "Just, trust me... Please don't tell our parents?" The twins looked at each other then slowly nodded. "Good. Now you can fucking apologize to Luz for almost drowning her!" cried Amity resuming her nasty tone.
She grabbed them by their ears again and dragged them to the surface. Once they popped up, Luz looked at the trio and flinched when they started swimming closer. Amity swam ahead and spun around Luz to reassure her.
Edric and Emira swam into the shallow end and sat a reasonable distance from Luz looking ashamed. "Hey, we're uh really sorry about earlier." said Emira gently. "Yeah."
Luz was still a little spooked but calmed her nerves and accepted their apology. "I-it's ok." she replied nervously.
"Soooo, now what?" asked Edric looking at one another. "Well, I was gonna show Luz around more and teach her a bit more about us." replied Amity. The twins shrugged and scooted a bit closer. "Sounds good." they said in unison.
Luz smiled and got up to walk to the shore to grab her goggles and snorkel. "I'm ready."
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Authors note: WOOOO that is a lot of words. Longest oneshot so far. Ya know I've come to like this one so much I'll probably turn it into a book. I never committed to one cause oneshots are short and easy (lacking a full length story and all). That's all for now thank you for reading!