Fandom: Creepypasta

Third person p.o.v

"Any sign of land yet, Toby?" EJ asked, climbing out of his cabin and resting his palm on Toby's shoulder.

"Not yet," Toby responded and pulled his telescope away from his eye.

"What about Bloody Painter and his crew?" EJ's eyes surveyed his own crew, and a small smile crossed his face. Ben was being taught how to tie a properbutterfly knot by an insistent LJ. Masky was making Hoodie taste something he had cooked up in the kitchen, and Jeff and Dark Link were arguing about something while they were swabbing the deck.

"No sign of those assholes yet, either." Toby said, which made EJ chuckle. None of his crew members were fond of Bloody Painter for multiple reasons, one of them being that Bloody Painter's crew were notorious mermaid hunters.

A year or so back, they were all one big crew, but then Toby joined, and Bloody Painter got extremely paranoid about everything. He insisted that Toby was bad, and that he was going to hurt the group. EJ waved them away, but Bloody Painter's fears didn't stop. Secretly, EJ thought that BP was losing his mind, more then he already had, a year was a long time to be at sea, but he didn't voice those concerns.

Shortly after that, Ashley, Toby's girlfriend and long time leader of the crew, fell into the sea during a thunder storm and, unfortunately, her body was never found. Bloody Painter insisted that mermaids had taken her and demanded that they search for the mermaids responsible. EJ had disagreed, Ashley would want them to keep searching for an island to make their home, which caused a huge fight between EJ and Bloody Painter.

Some of the crew sided with EJ, and some of them sided with Bloody Painter, so they had split. Bloody Painter's group had been dropped off at a nearby harbor with just enough gold to buy themselves food and a new boat, and EJ's group had continued on their way.

Mermaids were beautiful creatures, at least, according to legend. EJ had never seen a mermaid before, but stories all told that they were hybrids. Half human from the waist up, and half fish from the hips down.

Bloody Painter's crew were fond of searching for the elusive beings, and whenever they found them, they would, supposedly, keep them in special tubs on their ship. No one knew why, but EJ's crew definitely did not approve of their actions. Just because Bloody Painter thought mermaids were responsible for Ashley's death, he had no right to kidnap the things. The stories all said that mermaids were kind, gentle souls who mostly kept to themselves. They were vegetarians, typically eating seaweed and other underwater plants, and with a single song, they could tame even the most dangerous of ocean creatures (some mermaids had supposedly been spotted swimming, and even playing, with sharks).

"Good that." EJ said and removed his hand from Toby's shoulder, moving about the ship and checking on the rest of his crew, completely unaware of the pair of sparkling dark blue eyes that were watching him curiously from the side of the boat.

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RANDOM NAME WARNING

"You've gotta stop going up there." Brenda huffed, brushing Kate's hair with more force than necessary and making Kate wince in pain.

"I'm sorry," Kate said sincerely, pausing momentarily as Brenda dragged the seashell comb through her hair again. "But they're just...they're so different from us! They have legs! Can you imagine what it's like to walk? Or dance? Or run?"

"No, I can't." Brenda said, waggling her tail. Brenda's tail was long, strong, and dark, with stunning flecks of white and silver that almost seemed to glow.

Kate rolled your eyes. "Pretend for a minute that you have legs. Wouldn't it be fun to run?"

Brenda shook her head. "I'll stick to swimming, thanks."

Teresa laughed, a light, tinkling sound, from her bed, a large rock covered with sea moss that was more comfortable than you'd would expect. "Please, like you wouldn't love to go up there. You might not want to run, but I know you want to try jumping. I've seen you practicing."

Brenda spluttered out a response just as Harriet and Sonya swam into the room, their eyes bright and their tails swishing excitedly. Sonya's tail was coppery orange, but in some light, it shimmered as though it were made of pure gold. Harriet's tail was dark like her skin, but it was lighter than Brenda's. There were streaks of a deep red on it, matching the strands of red in her short hair.

"Look at what we found!" They said, almost in unison, thrusting something into Kate's hands. Kate looked at them in confusion, before lifting up the white fabric they had put in her arms. It appeared to be a human man's shirt, and after a moment of Kate trying to figure out where she had seen it before, she felt her cheeks grow warm.

This was his shirt.

"Where did you get this?" Kate asked, admiring the piece of fabric. It was surprisingly well made, with intricate swirling patterns sewn onto the sleeves and around the collar that she had never been able to see before.

"Someone dropped it, and the wind carried it off the ship." Sonya explained.

"We were around to catch it when it finally hit the water, thought you might appreciate it." Harriet added on, winking at Kate's blushing face.

Kate groaned. "What am I supposed to do with his shirt?"

"Wear it." Teresa chimed in, and Kate buried her head in her hands (and, incidentally, caught a whiff of the masked boy's smell from the shirt; sandalwood and a hint of lemon).

"I can't just wear his shirt!" Kate protested, and her friends looked at her curiously.

"Why not?" Brenda was the first to ask the question that everyone was thinking, surprisingly. "You stare at that boy for at least an hour every day, and now you're not gonna wear his shirt?"

Kate nodded. "That would be correct. I should give it back." Even as Kate said the words, she clutched the shirt a little tighter. It was the closest she were ever going to get to the captain of the ship, called The Glade, its name written in beautiful, looping white paint on the weathered wood, and she kind of didn't want to give it back. Kate knew she should, it being the polite thing to do, but the shirt was soft and it was his and it would probably make a pretty nice pillow. "I take it back. I'm not returning it." Kate mumbled sheepishly and folded the shirt up, tucking it under a rock so it wouldn't float away.

Brenda snorted. "Knew you wouldn't."

Kate gently smacked her on the head before waving at her friends and disappearing through the cave opening. She wanted to see if she could get another glimpse of the tall, gorgeous boy before the day was over.

"She's going to get herself in trouble, you know." Brenda pointed out, and Teresa and Harriet nodded.

Sonya shrugged. "I think it's sweet."

Harriet smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Of course you do."

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Kate sighed, resting her chin on the palm of the her hand and gazing over at the ship longingly. Kate wanted to talk to the captain. She still didn't know his name, though she thought it started with an E?, but from how he ran his crew, she thought they would get along well. He seemed nice.

Unfortunately, a lot of people seemed nice, and Kate couldn't talk to any of them without telling them that she was, in fact, something that most humans didn't believe existed. If they did believe that she existed, they could end up wanting to capture her, and her safety, as well as the safety of her family, was not something that Kate were willing to risk.

No matter how cute the captain was.

Speaking of the captain...he was wearing a shirt without sleeves, which, wow, okay, that wasn't fair. In the five or so months that she'd kept an eye on his ship, his crew, and him, Kate had yet to see him in a shirt like that.

And his arms were a lot nicer than his loose-fitting pirate shirts would suggest. Kate stared at him and his nice, firm arms before letting out a groan of frustration and slipping back into the water. Unbeknownst to you, the captain had turned his head at the sound, and caught a glimpse of a shimmering dark lightish blue tail, with flecks of yellow and black. Kate didn't hear the startled noise he made, and Kate didn't see the curious gleam in his eye as her tail disappeared beneath the water. No fish he had ever seen had a tail like that.

Turned out mermaids were real. Huh. EJ had been leaning towards the idea that they were, but having never seen one before now, he didn't often share that opinion with his crew, or anyone, really. Now that he knew, EJ vowed to pay extra close attention to the water surrounding his ship. He wanted to know if mermaids could talk, or sing, or if they even understood English.

Or if they had the ability to murder one of his best friends, because if they did, he owed Bloody Painter a huge Fuckin' apology.

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Kate smiled to herself, mindlessly stroking the brightly colored fish as they swam by her, but still keeping an eye on the wooden ship to her left. There was a storm approaching, she could tell, and the waves were rougher than usual. She wanted to make sure that none of the men (ie: the captain) onboard fell off in the dangerous weather.

Kate rolled her eyes, as, of course, one of them did.

It just had to be him, didn't it?

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"I want all of you to get below decks, now." EJ hollered, scrambling around as the rain started to pelt the ship and his skin, sending shivers down his spine. Most of his crew listened, thankfully, except for Toby.

"Did you not hear me,m dumbass?" Newt called out, lashing the sails down with a rope so they wouldn't tear during the storm as Toby collected barrels and tossed them into the hatch.

"Don't know how long the storm's going to last," Toby argued, and he had a point. Storms in this particular area could last a few days, if you were really unlucky. "Juust making sure we won't die of dehydration or starvation once we get down there."

"Make it quick then! It's not safe to be up here." EJ said, and Toby nodded. He grabbed another barrel and threw it down the hole into Masky's waiting arms, and Toby was just about to grab another one when the ship rocked suddenly and he slipped.

He slid down the wet floor, and he would've fallen right off the ship had EJ not been there to catch him. EJ dragged him to his feet and practically pushed him into the lower half of the boat. EJ moved to climb down as well, but before he could, the boat rocked again, even more sharply than the first time, and EJ's feet were knocked out from under him.

EJ skidded across the wood floor, and he didn't have time to grab onto anything before he was tossed overboard.

The first thing EJ felt were flashes of pain all over his body. He had hit the water, hard, and the action sent twinges of discomfort to every limb on his body.

The next thing EJ felt was how cold the water was.

"Fuck." EJ cursed, right before his head slipped underwater. He struggled to break the surface, gulping in lungfuls of air before he was thrown back under the water. The waves were too strong for him to swim properly, and he could barely see anything with the water that was still falling heavily from the sky.

He blinked in surprise as a pair of arms wound around his waist, and EJ was unable to protest as the arms deposited him on the nearby shore. "Who," EJ started, spluttering up water and trying again. "Who are you?" EJ asked, trying to get his eyes to focus on the person who had saved him. The rain was still showering him though, and his eyes were absolutely refusing to focus.

"A friend." A soft, musical voice answered, and EJ suddenly felt like he was being cocooned in a warm, fuzzy blanket. He felt a hand on his temple and he hissed, trying to get away. The hand immediately disappeared. "You hit your head when you fell, I think," The voice said after a moment, and then the hand returned to his temple, very lightly pressing down on the wound. Newt made a sound of protest, but when quiet, soothing singing filled the air in a language he didn't recognize, and the pain in his temple died down, he fell silent.

The last thing EJ felt before he drifted into an easy sleep was a pair of soft lips brushing against his forehead.

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EJ blinked into consciousness slowly, looking around his surroundings curiously. He was resting on the beach of a small island that The Glade had passed by earlier. His crew had considered stopping on the island to see if it was a suitable place for them to set up camp, they couldn't sail the world forever, but they had deemed it too small and continued sailing.

"Hi." Kate spoke quietly, shyly, and EJ's gaze flickered over to her. He couldn't hold back a gasp when he saw her tail. "Sorry," Kate said apologetically, trying to hide her tail from his curious glance.

"No, no," EJ protested, shaking his head. "It's beautiful. You're beautiful." EJ said, without thinking. "I mean, ah," Newt said, running a hand through his messy black hair nervously and trying to avoid looking at her stunningly gorgeous blue eyes and her black hair. It was stringy and dripping with water, but he still had the ridiculous urge to tangle his fingers in the black strands. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

Kate smiled and let a soft laugh bubble out of her throat, and EJ could've sworn he had died and gone to heaven. The sound of her laughter was pure magic.

"Thank you." Kate said, and her smile widened a fraction. "You're rather attractive too, captain." That was an understatement. Even with his hair mussed up from sleeping on a beach all night, and his mask was in a odd position from the nap, he was still, easily, the most fetching man Kate had ever seen (Kate didn't actually see a lot of men, but still).

His confused face was even more adorable than his sleepy one. "How'd you know I was a captain?"

Kate ducked her head, trying to avoid the gaze of his captivating chestnut eyes. "I may have been keeping an eye on your ship." Kate murmured sheepishly.

Some gears seemed to be turning in his head before he spoke excitedly. "It was you I saw the other day!"

Kate raised an eyebrow. "I don't follow."

"I saw your tail, just your tail, a couple days ago." EJ explained, smiling at Kate as he offered her his hand. "I'm Jack, by the way. But everyone calls me EJ."

Kate looked at his hand in confusion, lightly poking it.

Jack's smile softened when he saw how bewildered she looked. He grabbed her hand and shook it with his. "It's called a handshake." He said, and Kate nodded in understanding. "I take it you don't do that when you meet a new merperson?"

"We usually just touch tails." She said, shrugging. "I'm Kate, by the way. It's nice to officially meet you."

"Likewise." EJ responded, his gaze slipping back to her tail. "Can I," He started, only to stop himself. Kate smiled at him encouragingly. "Would you...is it okay if I touch your tail? I've never seen anything like it and-" Kate cut off his rambling by gently taking his hand in her own and pressing it to the brightly colored scales. "Woah." EJ whispered, more to himself than anything, his hand lightly trailing up and down her tail.

Kate tried (and failed) to suppress a shiver, and EJ hastily jerked his hand away from her. "Sorry, did I hurt you?" EJ asked immediately, and Kate shook her head.

"Our tails are just extremely sensitive. You didn't hurt me, you just tickled me." Kate clarified, and EJ breathed a sigh of relief, hesitantly bringing his hand back to your tail.

"That is fuckin' amazing." He muttered, his eyes flicking up and down her tail, admiring the different colored scales. "My crew would love you." EJ noted, and he suddenly froze, looking at you anxiously. "My crew, are they okay?"

Kate nodded. "They're fine. After I brought you here, I guided their ship to a part of the ocean where the water was calmer. I told my friends to keep an eye on them, so they shouldn't be able to leave. I can bring you to them, or I can bring the ship over here, your choice."

"Can you bring me to them?" EJ requested, and Kate nodded.

"I'll be a lot faster if I can go underwater, but you can't breathe underwater," Kate said, before an idea hit Kate. "One second." She murmured something in a language EJ didn't understand, pressing a finger to your neck and then pressing the same one to EJ's neck. "Sorry, there's one more thing needed before the spell can work." Kate apologized, and EJ was opening his mouth to ask what that thing was when she gently brushed her lips across his, still open, mouth.

Kate pulled away only a second later, smiling apologetically at him and looping his arms around her neck. Kate dragged her body over to the water, easily sliding in and with a few flaps of her tail, she was already twenty feet away from the island.

"Hold on tight," Kate warned. "I can go quite fast." EJ just nodded dumbly, his lips still tingling from the not-quite kiss.

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Kate made it to The Glade in no time, helping EJ climb onto his ship. His crew cheered, and Kate turned around to dive back into the ocean when EJ's voice stopped you.

"Am I gonna see you again?"

Kate smiled, turning back to look at him. "If you want to, sure. I'll be around." She said teasingly, gesturing at the ocean.

"Thanks for saving me." EJ spoke softly, and you grinned.

"No problem, jackasses." Kate said, and EJ was (pleasantly) surprised to hear her using his own slang against him. Kate really had been watching him for a while. "I won't always be there to save you, be more careful next time, okay?"

EJ nodded in response, and Kate flashed him one more smile before plunging into the sea.

"You fucker," Dark Link said, pretending to scowl as he clapped EJ on the shoulder. "Thanks for telling us you were friends with a fuckin' mermaid!"

EJ rolled his eyes. "I wasn't friends with her before now, fuckface."

"So, do I have a shot with her then?" Dark Link asked, waggling his eyebrows. Why did the mere idea of that make EJ's stomach drop? EJ forced a smile.

"Maybe. You'll have to talk to Kate about that, I don't know if she wants to court a lowlife." EJ said, and Dark Link grinned.

"I'm just messing with ya, EJ, don't worry. You called dibs, I got it."

He shouldn't have been as he relieved as he was at Dark Link's words.

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"You talked to him, didn't you?" Brenda asked the moment Kate swam back into the cave, a goofy smile still etched onto her lips.

"Yeah. His name's EJ and he's adorable and-"

"And he's a human." Brenda cut in, and Kate frowned.

"I know." At her skeptical look, Kate's frown deepened. "I know he's a human. I do. But there aren't exactly a lot of options for me to pick from, are there? You and Teresa have each other and Harriet and Sonya have each other. I have no one. In case you haven't noticed, there aren't exactly a lot, or any, really, mermen around. Or mermaids. I haven't seen another mermaid in ages."

She sighed and wrapped her arms around Kate in a gentle hug. "I just want you to be careful. We worry about you." Brenda murmured, and Kate nuzzled into the embrace.

"I'm being careful, I promise."

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Over the next couple of weeks, Kate became friends with EJ and his crew. She learned that they were all orphaned, like herself, when a plague swept through both the land and the sea. It targeted adults, and it killed almost all of them instantly. The ones that hadn't died were not safe to be around, they were violent, angry, and unstable, so EJ had gathered up all the teenagers he could find and put them on board his father's old ship.

Currently, EJ and his crew were searching for an island that was free of adults. They had been living on The Glade for almost two years, and in EJ's own words "We can't stay on this shuckin' thing forever, can we?". Kate had nodded and agreed, and promised to keep an eye out for any available islands.

That's what she's been doing when it happened.

Kate had been circling an island, inspecting it, trying to see if there were people on it, when she suddenly felt something wrap around her torso. Kate struggled to get out of it, mind too frazzled to even think of using magic to free herself, but she couldn't. Kate was pulled backwards and roughly pulled onto the deck of a ship.

Kate opened her mouth to shriek in the hopes that one of her friends would hear but before Kate could get the sound out, a calloused palm was pressed against your lips. She bit down on the skin, hard, and the person drew their hand away from her with a scowl and a curse.

"I'm not going to hurt you." The boy said, crouching down so that he was at eye level with Kate. "I'm Bloody Painter or BP" He introduced himself before speaking again. "I just want to know if you've seen someone."

Kate looked at him warily. "Who?"

"A girl named Ashley?" He tried hopefully. "She had pale skin and white hair, and she was knocked off our boat during a storm. Just wanna know if you've seen her." The boy's voice was soft and genuine, and Kate frowned as she shook her head.

"I haven't, I'm sorry." Kate said apologetically, before she remembered something. "Actually..." Kate had a vague image in her head of a feminine looking shape falling into the sea a year or so ago.

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The storm was raging, and the currents were strong, even for her. Kate was swimming back to the cave when she felt the area around her tremble as something hit the water. Kate swam towards it, blinking in surprise when she realized it was a girl.

"ASHLEY!" She heard a male's voice call after the girl she then realized the female was officially lost at sea.

Kate couldn't bring her back the cave, it was underwater and she would drown, but she couldn't bring her to shore either. The waves were thrashing and Kate was already tired from a day of swimming around, she knew she wouldn't make it there with a person on her back.

Kate brainstormed for a moment, trying to figure out what spell could get her far enough away from the storm and out of harm's way. Kate dragged the girl- Ashley out of the water and flicked her hand, gently bringing Ashley over to the coast and depositing her under a thick tree.

The spell zapped the rest of Kate's remaining energy, and she barely made it back to her cavern before she passed out.

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Kate went to look for the girl the next day, circling around the island as best as she could, but she was nowhere to be found. Kate always wondered about what happened to her, her guess was that a passing ship spotted the girl and took her onboard, but Kate weren't sure. Over the next year, she had almost completely forgotten about the incident.

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Kate had no idea that the girl she rescued was the friend EJ and his crew had lost, or at least the person that this boy was searching for. "I saved her." Kate said, blinking at him in surprise. "I remember there was a huge storm that night, but I saved her. I put him on an island and I went back for her the next day, once the storm had died down, but she was gone."

Kate shrugged helplessly. "I have no idea where she is, I'm sorry."

The boy sighed, rubbing a hand across his eyes tiredly. "Not your fault. Nice to know she's not dead." He murmured, carefully scooping Kate into his arms and depositing her back into the sea. "Let me know if you find him?" He requested, and Kate nodded.

"I'll keep an eye out." She promised, diving back into the ocean.

Kate didn't make it very far when she felt a hand close around her wrist. Kate jumped in surprise, turning around and blinking when she saw the girl she had saved a year ago.

(BECAUSE PLOT CONVENIENCE)

Her hair was longer than it had been, and her skin was even more pale them it was before, Kate assumed due to the lack of sun deep underwater, not to mention that she had a snake like tail instead of legs.

"Ashley?" Kate asked, looking at her in disbelief. She nodded slowly and looked at Kate curiously.

"How did this happen? Who did this to you?" Kate swam closer and circled around Ashley, eying the scales and serpent like features.

"You did." Ashley said, surprisingly not meanly or angrily.

Kate shook her head, her black hair fanning around her in the cool, blue water. "I couldn't have. Some of my magic is fairly strong but this," Kate gestured at her tail. "Is way above my level."

Ashley shook her head in response. "It had to have been you. You're the only creature I've met that even has magic."

This was hard to take in. Kate had no idea how she accidentally managed to turn her into a half serpent, half human hybrid. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Kate questioned, frowning at him. She could've helped her navigate the waters.

Ashley shrugged, pretty nonchalantly. "I didn't want to bother you."

"How would finding out you were alive bother me?" Kate asked, carefully grabbing her hand in hets, leading her in the direction of EJ's ship. Kate could always locate it by blocking out all other sounds for a moment and focusing only on EJ's voice (it was more effective than you might think).

She shrugged again, and Kate playfully whacked her with her tail, succeeding in getting the pale-skinned gal to barely smile.

"Next time, tell me you're alive, yeah? Your friends all thought you were dead, and according to EJ, BP's spent the last year looking for you."

"Really?" Ashley asked in a mixture of shock and disbelief. "That fucker's been looking for me?"

Kate nodded. "He's been searching all over for you. How come you didn't tell any of your friends you were alive?"

"I was trying to figure out if the whole being half serpent thing was temporary." Ashley mumbled. "So far, it seems pretty permanent."

Kate frowned. "I'm going to try to figure out a way to reverse whatever spell I put on you but," her frown deepened. "I don't know what spell I used to make that happen."

Ashley shrugged, patting her on the shoulder. "Hey, no rush. It's been a year and I've managed so far. I can last a bit longer."

Kate smiled weakly back at her, continuing on in the direction of The Glade while still trying to figure out how on Earth had she made that happen.

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"Hey, EJ," Kate said, smiling softly at him as she hoisted herself onto the side of his ship, letting the bottom of her tail brush against the water.

"Hey, little fish." EJ responded, and Kate wrinkled her noise adorably.

"That's not even kind of clever." She complained, knitting her eyebrows together and looking down at her tail. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that if I had legs instead of a tail, I'd be taller than you."

"Sure you would, Kate, sure you would."

Kate rolled her eyes before scooting off his ship, preparing to drop back into the ocean to retrieve Ashley. Ashley was the whole reason she stopped by, but, as usual, EJ was distracting her.

"Don't leave," EJ requested, a hint of seriousness in his voice that Kate didn't understand, and she grinned.

"Why? Would you miss me, Jack?" Kate teased, and EJ's eyes softened not the she could see.

"You know I would."

Kate had to force herself to not blush at his words. Calm down, Kate. She mentally scolded herself. He's a human. You're not. It would never work.

"Relax, ya big softie, I just need to get something. I'll be back in a minute." Kate spoke after a moment of her staring at him and him staring right back, slipping back into the sea before EJ could protest.

"You are so whipped." Ben commented, clapping EJ on the shoulder as he passed his captain. EJ rolled his eyes.

"I am not." EJ muttered, but Ben and EJ both knew it was a lie. EJ would eat his captain's hat if he thought Kate wanted him to.

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"You ready?" Kate asked Ashley, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze as she looked up at The Glade warily.

"As I'll ever be." She replied, giving Kate a feeble smile. Kate gave her one in return, popping her head out of the water and calling for EJ and his crew's attention.

"I have someone I think you're going to want to see." Kate announced, and EJ's crew quickly gathered around the ship's railings.

"Please be another single mermaid." Dark Link pleaded, crossing his fingers. He winced as Toby's hand collided with the back of his head.

Kate laughed to herself "Something like that"

Ashley popped out of the water beside Kate, and she could hear EJ's crew murmuring in surprise. Toby, however, just flashed her a bright, beaming, teary eyed smile that made, and asking her how she's been, if she was okay, and was practically trying to jump off the ship to get to her. Je didn't point out the noticeable scales on her arms, even though he could see it, or the serpent tail that they could all see through the crystal clear water.

"I've been alright." Ashley said, shrugging uncomfortably at having so many pairs of eyes on her. "I missed you, dumbasses."

Hoodie and Masky smiled now too. "We missed you too." Hoodie said, practically bouncing with excitement. You all knew that he wanted to ask about the serpent tail, but he was trying his best to refrain from mentioning it.

Kate shared a look with Ashley before she spoke. "Before any of you ask, the half serpent thing is my fault." EJ's eyes widened at the statement. He had not realized that she was powerful enough to do something like that. The hopeless romantic part of him wondered if Kate could perform magic like that, but instead of turning someone into a half-serpent, turning them into a merman.

(I swear if I don't throw up by the end of this it's a miracle)

He hastily shoved that thought back, trying to focus on what she was saying. That was impossible and stupid and he shouldn't have let his mind wander that far because every time he did, he just made himself sad.

"I don't know how, exactly," Kate continued, her voice becoming sheepish. Kate turned to EJ. "You remember that storm you told me about? The one where you thought you lost Ashley?"

EJ nodded. "Of course."

"Well, I didn't know any of you yet, but I was in the area at the time. I saw Ashley fall in, and the storm was too strong for me to swim Ashley over to shore, but I used a little bit of magic, to carry her to the shore. I must have said the spell wrong or maybe I was just too tired, I don't know, but the next day I went back for her. And she was gone. And I just found out today that I did this to her and I have no idea how to reverse it and-." Kate was rambling now, and it took a gentle smile from EJ before she fell silent.

"I, personally, think that Ashley looks fuckin' awesome." Jeff contributed, and she smirked inslight confidence.

Ashley rested a hand on Kate's shoulder, giving it a light squeeze before removing it. "It's not that bad, honestly. Now I know where my crew is, at least." She shrugged.

Then splash! Toby finally jumped over the bars of the ship and out the hands of his fellow crewmates. He quickly swimmed over to Ashley gave her a hug, "I really did miss you! When you fell off I was so scared that I don't think I can stutter anymore!"

Yeah. The author thought as she re-thought the situation. Yeah that explains exactly why he hasn't stuttered once in this story.

Toby was crying and clinging to Ashley, "How come you didn't come find us!? How come you didn't come find me!?"

"That reminds me," Kate said and brought her gaze up to meet EJ's eyes. Jeff and Ben attempted to grab Toby off of Ashley, as she swam closer to the ship for them to try to hook them on the anchor. "I met Bloody Painter today."

Kate saw something flash into his eyes briefly, but before she could understand what it was, Masky started speaking. Kate tore her eyes away from EJ and landed them on Masky.

"How'd that go?" Masky asked, and Kate shrugged.

"Better than you'd expect, actually. Believe it or not, BP doesn't hunt mermaids like you guys thought. He just asks them if they've seen Ashley and then tosses them back into the water. He was very civil." Kate turned to look at Ashley watching her watch Toby being pulled out the water by a anchor. "I promised Bloody Painter I'd let him know if I caught sight of you, so you're going to have to pop by his ship and let him know that you're still around."

Ashley nodded. "Sure."

Kate flicked her gaze between all the boys before deciding that she should head back to her cave. Brenda, Teresa, Sonya, and Harriet were going to start worrying soon.

"I'll see you boys- and girl tomorrow." She started, waving at the Gladers (as EJ affectionately referred to them). "And Ashley," You locked your eyes with her. "I am going to try my best to switch you back."

Kate didn't give her a chance to respond, not that she was, before she dove into the depths of the sea.

"She's certainly something." Ashley said, looking after Kate in amusement, and EJ nodded absentmindedly.

"Good that."

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"Did you know it was possible to accidentally turn someone into a human-serpent hybrid?" Kate asked the moment she swam back into the cave.

Four pairs of eyes turned to look at her in confusion. "What?" Brenda asked, pausing the brush she had been combing through Teresa's long, black hair.

"Did I tell you about how I saved that human last year? The one that fell off the boat because of the storm?" They all nodded slowly. "Well, uh, I had been swimming all day so I wasn't in the strongest shape, and instead of swimming him over to the beach, I used magic. And apparently she's been half-serpent half human for a year now and I have no idea how to change her back because I didn't even know that was possible." She said in one breath, rubbing her temples with her forefinger and middle finger.

"Are you sure it was you?" Sonya questioned, lifting her head up from Harriet's shoulder. "Maybe it was one of those sea witche-"

Kate cut her off by shaking her head frantically. "It wasn't them. It was me. It had to have been me. How do I change him back? Can I turn him back? If I figure out the spell to turn him back, could I turn my tail into legs?"

"Why would you want to do that?" Teresa asked, even though she already knew the answer and she didn't like where this was going.

You opened and closed your mouth several times before reluctantly giving her a one word answer. "EJ."

"Kate, no, you're not going to give up your tail just for some human you barely even know." Brenda interjected, and Kate nodded.

"I know. I wouldn't be doing it just for EJ. I want to explore something other than the ocean." Kate said, before shrugging like she wasn't talking about something as life changing as trading in her fin for legs. "I don't even know if I can do it." She smiled brightly at them. "No need to worry, yet."

Brenda, Teresa, Harriet, and Sonya exchanged a wary look as Kate swam back out of the cave, mumbling something about practice.

-----------------------

For the next month, that was all Kate did. She tried different variations of the levitating spell, trying to figure out how you had turned Ashley into a hybrid, all to no avail.

Kate huffed in frustration, hoisting herself onto the side of The Glade and waiting for EJ to finish tying a sail so he could make his way over to you.

She saw near the end of the ship Toby and Ashley were talking it seems he had pulled her out the water, holding her. Kate was slightly intimidated by how long Ashley's tail was now that she had a better look at it.

Even though it seemed to be most of her was out of the water and being held by Toby a lot of it was still in the water some of it sinking into the darker part of the water Kate couldn't really see in from where she was. Scary to know she had no idea how long it actually was.

EJ sat down next to her, and as soon as he did, Kate sighed and leaned to the left, resting her head on EJ's shoulder.

"You alright, love? You sound stressed." EJ asked, and Kate sighed again.

"I am stressed. I can't figure out how to change Ashley back, and if I can't figure out how to change Ashley back, I'll never figure out how to change-" Kate cut herself off before she could finish, and EJ raised an eyebrow at her.

"Change what?"

"Nothing." She said, shaking her head.

EJ turned to look at you fully, catching her chin between his thumb and forefinger and making her look at him. "It's not nothing. I've known you long enough by now to know when you're lying. What else won't you be able to change?"

Her eyes flicked away from his, not wanting to meet his gaze. "Nothing. It's... it's stupid. I should go, I have more spells to practice." Kate said and gently removed EJ's hand from her chin, flashed him a woeful smile, and slipped back into the water without giving him a chance to protest.

EJ groaned, running a hand across his face tiredly.

"Captain, if I may," Toby started, sitting down beside his captain, and EJ rolled his eyes.

"It's Jack, Toby, how many times have I told you that?"

"I know," Toby said, grinning. "But I have to pretend that we're a professional ship sometimes, don't I?"

EJ chuckled, but it sounded hollow even to his own ears. "I suppose. What do you need, anyway?"

"I think you should tell Kate how you feel." Toby said slowly, and EJ sighed, his gaze looking out at the sea.

"I think I should too. Fuck, I want to tell her, but she's a mermaid, Toby! A mermaid! I'm just a human. I can't. Even if she does feel the same way,"

"Which she does." Toby interrupted, and Newt smiled before continuing.

"She's still a mermaid. We'd never work."

"You'll never know unless you try, Jack. Plus look at me and Ashley. I know were were dating before her.. transformation but,"

He pointed to a tail disappearing in the water in a certain way that shows it was moving in a certain direction "She left a few seconds ago and you can still see her, I'm dating that. I'm happy and we're working out perfectly fine" Toby said full of pride but wise and clapped EJ on the shoulder before climbing to his feet and going to help Jeff with something. Has he did Ashley's tail was completely gone, she probably went to go visit BP.

For the rest of the day, EJ turned Toby's words over and over in his head, trying to figure out if Toby was right for once.

------------------------------

"We have something that can help you." Sonya said, swimming towards Kate cautiously as she entered the cave a few days later. She had been gone all day working on spells that could change Ashley back.

"And Ashley." Harriet chimed in.

"What is it?" Kate asked, looking at them warily. Up until now, they had been extremely unsupportive of her search. She understood why, she didn't want to give up her tail permanently, but Kate wanted to see what legs would be like (and if Kate had legs, maybe you would actually have a chance with EJ).

Brenda held up two necklaces. "We may have given the sea witch that lives in the giant clam a couple of strands of our hair." Brenda said, shrugging.

"Why?" Kate questioned, taking the necklaces and looking at them in awe when she held them out to her.

"Because that was what she wanted." Brenda said teasingly.

"And because you're our friend." Teresa cut in. "And we want you to be happy. If you think you'll be happy with EJ, we want you to be with EJ."

Kate felt tears pricking the corners of her eyes, and she threw her arms around the four mermaids, hugging them as best as she could. "Thank you." Kate managed to choke out. "Thank you so much; I love you more than words can say right now."

Brenda broke the embrace, pushing her towards the mouth of the cave. "As soon as you put the necklace on, you'll grow legs. When you take it off, your tail will come back. Same with Ashley. Now," Brenda said and gently shoved Kate out the door. "Go get him."

-----------------------

Kate was finally able to locate Ashley fairly quickly, and as soon as she did, she grinned brightly at her.

"Someone's in a better mood." Ashley noted, and Kate just nodded, handing her one of the necklaces and gesturing for her to follow her. She did so without complaint, but she was looking at her in confusion.

Kate swam furiously towards The Glade, and when she caught side of it, she practically launched herself out of the water and onto the side of the boat.

"Where's the damn fire?" EJ teased, but Kate just shook her head and looped the necklace around her neck. After a tense moment of nothing happening, Kate felt a tingling ache in her tail. A few seconds later, a pair of legs replaced it.

They were tanish, like the rest of her skin, and there were still a couple of darkish blue scales sprinkled on them, but to Kate (and EJ,) they were perfect. The necklace also apparently came with a pair of shortened trousers, for which Kate were grateful.

"Kate," EJ said in disbelief, his eyes flicking from her legs to her face and back again rapidly.

"EJ," Kate said in response, slowly getting to her feet. She wasn't used to walking yet, however, so she slipped and would've hit the deck had EJ not been there to catch her. She blinked at the realization that EJ's arms were around her waist and that EJ's face was only inches away from hers, and EJ seemed to notice it too, shifting her in his arms. His mask was already moved to the side and at a angle where it wouldn't block them both.

All that did, however, was set her up so that it would be easier to kiss him. After a shy glance to his lips and then one to his eyes, she slowly leaned forwards and pressed her lips against his. EJ returned the kiss immediately, one of his hands leaving her waist and instead moving into her hair, threading through the damp, black locks like he'd wanted to do for months.

Kate arched into the touch and grasped EJ's shirt with both hands, pulling his body impossibly closer to hers. EJ released a small little happy sound, and Kate smiled against his lips, slowly breaking the kiss as she felt her chest tighten. She needed air for the first time.

She panted into EJ's neck, her arms around his shoulders as she hugged him. Kate needed him to stay as close to her as possible.

"I take it you figured out the spell, then?" EJ asked, nodding with his head to Ashley, who are after hugging and talking to her crewmates sat at the edge on the other side of the ship her feet dangling off it, kind of missing the feeling of being taller then she really was.

Kate shook her head. "Actually, no. I had some friends help me out."

-------------------------

A year later, and Kate's life was better than she ever thought possible.

EJ and his crew had finally found an island to make their home, and while they kept their ship, they named the island The Glade too. Eventually, EJ even extended an olive branch of peace and allowed Bloody Painter and his Grievers (the name EJ's crew had given to BP's crew) to move onto the island as well.

Teresa, Brenda, Harriet, and Sonya found a new cave that was much closer to the island, so they all didn't have to swim as long just to visit each other. Kate and Ashley were frequent visitors to the ocean (surprise, surprise), both with and without their necklaces.

Kate managed to convince EJ to go with her in mermaid form often, so much so that the Gladers started teasing him about it (not that he cared; he got to swim with her and watch her tail glimmering in the faint sunlight that seeped through the water).

Kate smiled softly to herself, looking around at her friends as a fire crackled and popped in front of them. EJ's hand was warm in hers, and she gave it a light squeeze before resting her head on his shoulder. She felt EJ brush a gentle kiss across her temple before he leaned his head against hers. She watched the fire in silence for a few moments before he spoke, his eyes on the long sleeved white shirt she was wearing.

"Isn't that my shirt?"

EJ didn't understand why Kate suddenly could not stop laughing, and he didn't try to, but he allowed himself to chuckle softly with her, pressing kisses to your forehead, cheeks, and nose before you fell silent. EJ didn't care if it was his shirt. Kate could have all his shirts if she wanted them. All he cared about was keeping her in his arms.