Peter POV
I came out of my exhausted haze, only to see Coralie's face outlined in a halo of gold, the moonlight on her blonde hair. She was positively angelic, making me wonder for a moment if I was still dreaming. We'd been searching for four days and found nothing, keeping me awake the entire time until I'd succumbed to the sleep. Still, those green eyes were far too vivid to just be a product of my subconscious brain.
"Hello, Peter," she smiled, "I'm back."
"Coralie, I-"
My moment of elation was suddenly cut short when she punched me across the face. I bolted upright, accidentally hitting my skull against hers in the process. Hard. We both groaned in pain, nursing our new injuries until I finally managed to get a word out.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"
"THAT STUPID KISS, YOU IGNORAMUS" She shouted back, rubbing a bright red forehead, "What? You thought I'd just forget about it?"
"Okay, but why did you need to PUNCH ME?"
"I don't know! I just saw your stupid smile and wanted to hit it, okay?"
"You're insane!"
"And you're a lying, manipulative scoundrel!"
"Just..." I paused, taking a breath to calm myself, "alright... are you hurt at all?"
"You just head-butted me."
"No, I meant from whoever took you... wait, how did you get away? Did they do anything to you?"
"Oh," realisation dawned on Coralie's face, "You mean while I was with Eren? We just talked, then I swam back here. It wasn't anything to be worried about."
"I was. Worried, I mean."
I couldn't meet her eyes when I said it, too frustrated and shocked by the words. Her cheeks immediately blazed pink, making me hope that my own face wouldn't be the same colour. Stumbling over to the desk, suddenly exhausted, I pulled out the bottle of rum I kept nearby, taking a swig to take an edge off the stress of the past few days.
"I'm sorry..." She mumbled, face turned away from me, "if you were concerned over me."
"Wanna tell me who the hell this Eren is?"
"He's... well, he's like me. I learned a lot about mermaids, actually."
A chill ran down my spine. Whirling back to her side, I placed my hands on her shoulders, eyes boring into hers.
"You met another mermaid?"
"Siren, but yes."
"How did he find you?"
"I don't kno-"
"Were there others?"
"No..." Coralie's face folded in confusion, "It was just us."
My body deflated, arms circling around her tiny frame and pulling her against my chest. The idea that there were more of her kind coming to take her had filled me with so much panic, It was a relief to know it most likely wouldn't happen again. One last question left my lips, breathed into her ear.
"Were you scared?"
She had tensed at the sudden physical contact, only letting herself relax after a few minutes, but when she did it was to loop her own arms around my neck affectionately if a bit awkwardly. Her small laugh vibrated her body, reverberating into mine.
"Getting kidnapped is getting old. I'm so tired, Peter. You were so far away, and I couldn't stop swimming until I got here."
"You still had enough energy to come pick a fight with me though."
"Yeah, and you deserved it."
"For kissing you?"
The memory of that moment on the beach, what seemed like ages ago instead of just days, played over and over in my head on repeat the entire time. I couldn't stop cursing myself, wondering if she would be missing had I not had that lapse in judgement. Part of me had blamed the storm, that electric atmosphere, for the loss of my control, but the other part knew it was because I saw her crying, in pain, angered and upset and wanted to do something, anything to change that. Vivid green eyes had called out to me constantly, in my imagination of wherever she was, afraid of some unseen terror. With her in my arms now though, It was peaceful.
"Amongst other things. Which we are going to talk about."
"Later," I argued.
After a moment, she nodded in affirmation, obviously not happy to be dropping the matter.
"Fine, Later it is then."
Thanks for reading!!! I'll update soon!
-Caroline