I sank onto the bottom of the body of water. Surprisingly, I found I had no issue breathing underwater...

That's when webbed hands covered my mouth and thumped my skull....

I opened my eyes. I was looking straight into a pair of  blue-grey eyes which were tinged with silver.

The eyes pulled back, I found myself face-to-face with a girl with a tail. She had  wild, blond hair and a pink tail. It was swishing back and forth, treading water. "He's awake!" She screamed over her shoulder. 

"Aella! Quit shouting! The whole sea can hear you!" Another girl replied, swimming over to us. This one had bright green hair, green eyes and a tail to match her hair. The one called Aella stuck her tongue out at the green-haired one.  "You just act all prissy cos you're the second eldest!" Aella stuck her tongue out again. "Aella, why?" the green-haired one shook her head, as if the weight of some terrible thing was solely on her. Five other fish-girls swam up behind the green one. There was a dark-blue-haired one with darker-blue eyes and a blue tail, a purple one, a light-blue fish-girl who looked super bubbly, a yellow one; and, in the rear, a little auburn-haired girl with a copper tail and amazing blue eyes that reminded me of someone....

"So, he is awake. Aella was not just pulling one of her pranks..." The Purple one whispered. Her voice had a quiet authority, one that commanded all listeners attention. 

 I noticed that the pink one was quiet and...respectful around the purple one....

"Serena, what is on his face?" The light-blue one asked, pointing at my mask...Of course! I wasn't even safe from prying eyes under the sea! 

"It is rude to point, Azure," The purple one-Serena-said to the light blue one, Azure. "But, I believe it is a masker of sorts. Humans, they are so insane! He must feel the need to cover whatever is under there up-perhaps he has had a negative experience when it was uncovered..." Serena trailed, "Mermaids do not judge so cruelly." 

So...These fish-creatures were called mermaids.

Interesting.

"Poor thing!" Was unanimously cried, "What a cruel society humans live in!" Was also cried. 

"May I take it off?" The little auburn one whispered, swimming up to me. "Now, Aerwyna, he may be sensitive to that...Ask him." Serena said softly. "Be careful." The green one said. "Yes, listen to Nerissa." Serena whispered. 

Cautiously, Aerwyna swam foreword. "H-hi." She whispered, her eyes expressive and wonderfully warm....

They were Christine's eyes!

My God!  How had I not remembered Christine? How had my memories of her been blocked? Did the Mermaids do this? What the hell?

I gasped, causing the auburn one to pull back. She looked spooked. "He is seeing something...." The yellow one said, her voice misty..."A woman....Brunette, blue eyes, perfect to him...." She said. "Celeste! Stop it! You know your fortune-telling scares me!" Azure whimpered. 

"So he was just remembering...?" Aerwyna whispered. "Yes." Celeste confirmed. 

Aerwyna swam closer, "May I see?" She asked softly. I was too dazed to say anything, so I just nodded. She pulled my mask off, then moved so the others could see. "Some would hurt him for this...." Nerissa said, nodding at Serena, Celeste, Aerwyna, Azure, Aella, and the dark-blue one.

"I could try to heal it...." The dark-blue one said, coming closer. "I doubt it would work, Amphitrite...." Nerissa and Celeste said. Amphitrite sighed, bubbles coming out of her mouth, "You are probably right..." 

"I was born with this." I spoke for the first time. The Mermaids gasped, "So you can talk! Why didn't you before?" Amphitrite asked. The others leaned foreword. "I liked listening to you...." I trailed. 

"So....Hey, do you wanna hear a joke?" Without waiting for my response, Aella launched into her joke, "What did the ocean say to the shore? Nothing, it just waved!" She giggled. The others groaned, a few slapped their foreheads with their palms. 

"Do you want to hear another?" Before Aella could say anything more, Nerissa covered her mouth. 

"I suppose we should be taking you back to the mainland...?" Serena whispered.  "I suppose...." I replied. "Shall we go, then?" Nerissa sighed, "Oh, we found this! Does it belong to you?"  She asked, holding up a sword with a jeweled hilt. "No...." 

"Please, take it anyway...." Nerissa said, handing it to me. I took the sword.

We started off.

We hit a current and then things got weird;

The mermaids were suddenly pressing themselves upon me...

Saying how gorgeous I was, how perfect, how they wanted to touch me...

Celeste pressed her lips to mine, then was pulled off by the others...

The only one who wasn't upon me was Serena. Once she saw what was happening, she gasped.She grabbed the other mermaids and dragged them forward, untill there were sighs and looks of confusion. Then, Serena came back for me. 

"Sea witch," She told me, pulling us to safety, "they cause mermaids, sea creatures, even humans, to lose their minds and then she takes them as her captives."

(A/N this is a pic of the sea witch)

"HELP ME!!!!!"

"Aerwyna!"

The sea witch had Aerwyna. Without a thought, I swam back through the water and slashed at the witch's arms, freeing Aerwyna. Then, I went after her head. 

It took some time, the thing was incredibly slippery. But, finally, I cut its head off.

"That was very brave of you." They said. 

"What else could I do?" "You could have swam away." "No, that wouldn't have been right."

"Thank you." Aerwyna whispered, hugging me.

"Here you are. This is where we stop. Farewell." Serena said.

I emerged from the sea and found myself staring at an immense mountain. 

Great. Just Great. 

Just my luck.