「 She cast one more lingering,
half-fainting glance at the prince,
and then threw herself from the
ship into the sea, and her body
dissolved into sea foam. 」
That night, Callum's mind kept returning to Rayla, and how broken and beaten she'd looked as he took her from her cage and led her to a place where she could escape the castle. It was worrying how much she seemed to fade away right before his own eyes.
Claudia had appeared, fretting over how he'd suddenly disappeared.
They'd kissed, almost like they'd been doing it for years, and nothing had felt wrong about it. It was normal, safe, what he'd always wanted.
Yet why, then, was his love for Claudia seeming to slowly ebb away, just like the tide.
When he finally managed to force himself asleep, he saw a girl in his dreams.
And then he heard a voice.
He was surrounded on all sides by water, as far as the eye could see. Bits of debris drifted through the currents, the riptide pulling him downwards. Deeper and deeper and deeper.
Callum wasn't scared, though, and he didn't know why.
Then, a figure appeared before him. White hair spread out around her in a small halo, skin clear and flawless, elven markings evident on her face. Bright, coral eyes cut through the darkness, and the next thing her knew, he was being lifted onto the sand, a gentle hand pushing his hair off of his brow and letting the sunlight dry the water on his face.
Then, she sang.
Her voice was soft, hesitant, and enchanting. Creating a lull of the sea, pulling him into a safe, warm lullaby that brought back memories of home, of simpler times.
He'd opened his eyes only briefly, peering up at the girl — the elf, as he now realized — whom had saved him.
Callum woke with a start, adrenaline pulsing through his system as he frantically rolled out of bed, his eyes looking out the window gazing over the ocean. There was a figure standing there in the sand, right on the edge of the retreating waves.
Rayla.
Callum burst out of his room, not bothering to quiet his footsteps. He didn't care, he needed to see her, he needed to talk to her — no matter how that would be. He needed to confirm his suspicions, needed to know for certain.
Rayla.
He was an idiot, why hadn't he noticed before?
Why hadn't he seen what was right in front of him.
Rayla.
It was Rayla.
It had always been Rayla.
He ran through the castle's empty halls, making his way to the staircase that led to the sea. His feet hit the steps painfully, the breaking marble and exposed sandstone cutting into the soles of his feet. He didn't care though, none of that mattered. His pain was nothing.
"Rayla!" his scream cut through the silent night air as his feet touched the sand, the air around him thick and humid. It felt suffocating.
She turned, and Callum slowed to a stop, his breath catching in his throat.
She looked like a ghost.
Bits of light began twinkling over the edge of the ocean's horizon, painting the sky with faint shades of orange. It stained the sea red.
Yet Rayla was blue. Her image seemed to flicker and fade in and out of focus under the soft light, and Callum realized it was due to the color of the scales that covered every bit of exposed skin.
Callum took a step forward, hesitating, not wanting to take his eyes off of her in fear of her fading, yet too afraid to draw any closer in fear of a single touch sending her crumbling away.
"It was you, wasn't it?"
Rayla simply stared at him.
Callum took several, fleeting steps forward, a hand reaching out and taking Rayla's into his own. The scales felt like sandpaper under his skin, and he was worried for a second that his touch would force them to break and fall.
She looked at him with those eyes.
Those stupid, stupid eyes that seemed to hold the entire ocean.
Slowly, hesitating, Rayla nodded.
"You were the one. You were always the one— you were the one who saved me."
Once again, she nodded.
"Rayla, why didn't you tell me? You could've written it down, or signed a message or—"
The look in her eyes told him everything. Of course she didn't bring the subject up. If she had, it would've become obvious what exactly she was.
And he hated that he knew exactly how he would've reacted.
• • •
Rayla had grown used to the thought of death. The thought that, after the sun rose, she'd fall into the sea and crumble away into nothing but the foam on its surface.
Like the hidden sad story of the ocean, she'd be forgotten. Nothing but a distant memory, hidden from view to anyone dating to look in the first place.
Yet, when Callum looked at her, really looked at her, and asked her if she had been the girl, the one who'd saved him, for a split second it seemed like everything was worth it.
Her body was tired, aching in every possible place, and she knew that the pain would only worsen.
She was already dead.
She had no other choice.
She never really did in the first place.
Callum's hand was warm, and it occurred to her then how dreadfully cold everything else felt, how the light slowly peeking over the ocean's horizon only brought more ice into her heart, and split into her skin with an aching sensation of freezing to death.
No.
The sun was rising.
No.
She would never get to grow old, never get to see Tinker again, never get to apologize to Runaan for all of the times she'd disobeyed him. She would never get to explore the reaches of the world above.
Yet, staring at Callum, who stood before her with nothing but love in his eyes, she found herself longing to say only one thing.
I love you, her lips mouthed the words unconsciously, and the ghost of a whisper escaped with them. A silent promise, a silent vow that would stretch across every age, every universe, every war.
Until they would undoubtably meet again.
Callum didn't even hesitate when he whispered it back.
"I love you."
Rayla then closed the distance between them, placing her lips on his just as the sun rose up over the sea, its bright rays shooting spikes of pain through every inch of her body. Her skin seemed to burn wherever the light met its dry surface.
It wasn't magical, it wasn't a spell-breaking true love's kiss. It was already too late for that, too late to reverse what already happened.
What's done cannot be undone.
Those few, fleeting seconds felt like an eternity, and Rayla found that she didn't want it ever to end. If time were to freeze in that very moment, all would be well.
But time was cruel.
She found it hard to breath, that once again her body began deteriorating.
It hurt.
Rayla was the one to pull away, looking up at Callum, before signing the one thing she could think to say.
I'm sorry, she mouthed, along with the motion.
She walked towards to sea, feeling her hand drop from Callum's as he reached out to her retreating form.
Rayla looked back one last time, the ocean waves stinging her feet in the same way lava would claw at a piece of driftwood. She had known the price for her time one land, now she simply had to pay it.
Rayla turned to the ocean, and walked into the waves. The water seemed to rise up in the form of waves, rising over her head and pulling her out, away from the land. For a moment, the pain was blinding. It was that of every cell in her body being torn apart and destroyed.
Then, there was nothing.
And so, the little ocean elf dissolved into the foam of the sea.
____________
Well, y'all got ur Rayllum kiss ;)