#we have our own bubbles and safe spaces and fantasies and dark contents and as long as we post signs and tags it's all good!

[opalescent-cheetah]

I Don’t Know What To Do (About This Dream And You), 5/5 - Methydoll

Summary: Baseball players and mythical beings are a potent combination. After Crystal catches her eye on the baseball field, Nicky makes a decision that turns her entire world upside down. Meanwhile, Crystal is caught in a mysterious dreamscape, chasing a creature with eyes like liquid gold.

Inspired by these songs: “She’s So High” - Tal Bachman; “Digital Love” - Daft Punk; “Baby” - Francesca Blanchard

Chapter Summary: A confession, a rescue, and a revelation.

A/N: Final chapter of my fic for @cobblestaubrey​ ! Happy holidays!!

Ao3 // Previous Chapter

Chapter 5 - Nicky

Crystal is back.

Nicky can see her silhouette, outlined by the moon. She’s standing at the edge of a forest, looking around.

Looking for me.

It’s almost physically painful, running away from Crystal when all Nicky wants to do is sweep her up into her wings and embrace her, but she knows it’s for the greater good. She isn’t sure how she’d live with herself if Crystal found out the truth. 

But intrigue and infatuation pull her closer, even if every shred of logic shrieks at her to stop. 

She darts between the trees, a moon-pale shadow, her movements masked by the rustling of the breeze as it caresses the canopy. There’s nothing wrong with admiring Crystal from afar, watching over her like a guardian angel. Crystal doesn’t even need to know she’s there. 

Stopping a few trees away, Nicky settles into the branches, digging her sharp talons into wood. Too late, she realises how flimsy the branch is - the wood is hollow with rot, and before she can comprehend what’s happening, it breaks with a sickening crack.

Her wings knock the surrounding trees as she tries to catch wind and she tumbles, her feathers scraping against rough bark, the space too cramped for her to fly. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Crystal stiffen, and realises with a sinking stomach that her cover is blown. 

But this means too much to Nicky for her to give up so easily. She scrambles to her feet as soon as she hits the ground and runs, as fast as she can, to the edge of the forest. Her gangly, birdlike legs are awkward, and she constantly finds herself tripping over her own talons.

It doesn’t help that Crystal is a baseball player, with sharp reflexes and hard muscles. Nicky lunges upwards, beating her wings against the cool night air, but it’s already too late. 

She feels warm hands wrap around her ankles, ripping her from the sky. With a hard thud, she and Crystal tumble to the ground, rolling to a stop in the soft grass. It takes Nicky a moment to realise that Crystal is on top of her, her beautiful face mere inches away, effectively pinning her to the ground. 

Her breathless admiration gives way to terror almost immediately. Growling, she tries to push Crystal aside, but Crystal has been hardened by years of athleticism, and she doesn’t budge. 

“Get off of me,” Nicky snarls, thrashing beneath Crystal’s grip.

The edges of Crystal’s eyes are softened with nervousness, but her dark pupils are steely, unwavering. 

“No,” she replies. “Not unless you tell me who you are, and why I’m here, and-- and just answer my questions, okay?”

“What if I say no?”

“Then you’ll be stuck here,” Crystal says resolutely. 

Nicky isn’t sure what’s worse: having to bare her soul to the one girl she wanted to hide it from, or being pinned beneath her for the rest of the night, her heart hammering so hard she’s sure Crystal can feel it through her ribs.

“Fine,” she mutters, finally relenting. “Let me up, and we’ll talk.” 

“Don’t fly away,” Crystal warns, tentatively letting Nicky stand. She grabs her wing immediately, her body tense with nervousness.

Nicky rolls her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere. I don’t think I can, anyway - you’ve probably bruised half of my back.” 

“Sorry,” Crystal murmurs, sounding genuinely apologetic, and Nicky softens. She lets Crystal lead her up the hill to sit beneath the clear night sky, the breeze washing over them in gentle waves.

Up here, her eyes are pools of starlight.

Nicky wants to melt into them like chocolate. Briefly, she lets herself imagine what could happen if she let Crystal see every facet of herself; would Crystal wrap her up in her arms, hold her close and tell her she loved her regardless? Or would she run away like all the others, refusing to ever look back?

As nice as it is to imagine that Crystal could be an exception, Nicky is not going to take that chance. 

“So what did you want to know?” she asks, her voice hard-edged and rough, when the silence between them has stretched on too long.

Crystal frowns. “Why am I here? Did you really heal me that night? Is that - is that why I keep seeing you?”

“Slow down, one question at a time,” Nicky mutters. “We have all night, you know.”

“Sorry.”

Nicky exhales slowly, knowing she shouldn’t be so harsh. But it feels impossible to let her walls down after so many years of reinforcing them.

Just tell her enough to satisfy her. Nothing more.

“Yeah, that was me,” she finally says. “And yes. That’s why we have a psychic connection now. This place is my dreamscape.” She gestures vaguely at the rolling hills surrounding them.

“So I’m in your mind?”

Nicky nods.

“Wow,” Crystal murmurs, sounding awed. “Wait, but why did you heal me that night? Are you, like, my guardian angel or something?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Nicky says. It’s easier to simply agree.

Crystal smiles, and it kindles the fire in Nicky’s chest. Her sweet expression vanishes just as quickly, though, replaced by a contemplative frown. 

“So who are you? And why do you look like my friend Nicky?”

“I can take many forms,” Nicky says, lying through her teeth. “This ‘Nicky’ character must be at the forefront of your mind, so your subconscious has created me in her image.” 

“In your dreamscape?”

“Our minds are psychically connected,” Nicky reminds her. “They, uh… they work in tandem.” 

Crystal frowns, her brow creased in thought.

“Alright,” she finally says. “I guess that makes sense.” 

Nicky almost lets out a sigh of relief. She’s safe, for now. 

“So why did you choose me?” Crystal asks. “Aiden didn’t get a guardian angel when she was hurt.” 

“Uh…” Nicky falters. “You’re special.”

“Me?” Crystal scoffs. “Alright, I’ll take it.”

Yes, you, Nicky thinks. You’re the most special person to me.

Stars above, when did I become so cheesy?

They lapse in and out of comfortable silences and taut conversations. Nicky almost feels content, sitting here beside Crystal, even though her veins still thrum with a quiet worry. She spends the night admiring Crystal out of the corner of her eye, watching the way her lips move and how her skin seems to glow in the moonlight.

She hates that she has to lie, hates feeling like she’s on the edge of a thousand-foot drop, but if that’s what it takes to spend more nights like this with Crystal, she would do it time and time again. 

~

Crystal is already out on the field, her back turned, when Nicky arrives. Her fluffy curls bounce beneath her cap as she stumbles, trying - and failing - to juggle three baseballs.

She doesn’t notice as Nicky strides up behind her to rest a casual hand on her shoulder. Crystal yelps, leaping away, and Nicky dissolves into laughter.

“Hi,” Crystal gasps, breaking into a giddy, lopsided grin. “I thought you were, like, some murderer or something.”

“Quite the opposite,” Nicky smirks, aching when she realises that Crystal may never know how true that is. “What are you up to? Training for the circus?”

“Something like that.” Crystal tosses a ball at Nicky, laughing when she drops it. “I see we have quite a bit to work on.”

Nicky rolls her eyes good-humouredly, bending down to pick up the baseball. “Oh, shut up, you.” 

Crystal walks with her to get a bat, laughing and chatting the entire way, and Nicky can’t help but wonder what’s given her this sudden boost of confidence. When they met at the cafe, she was bubbly and talkative, but somehow more reserved, as though she was brushing the water’s surface with her fingertips. Today, it feels like Crystal has dived right in - into whatever they have, into the growing spark that sizzles between their twin smiles.

“Do you know how to hold the bat?” Crystal asks, picking one up and twirling it in her hands.

“No,” Nicky admits. “Like I said, I don’t do much sport.”

“That’s no problem. Here, catch.” Crystal tosses the bat to Nicky, who haphazardly catches it. “I’ll show you how.” 

Her gentle, encouraging smile lights a fire behind Nicky’s ribs. Or maybe it’s the way her freckles seem to glitter in the light, or how her beautiful curls frame her sun-dappled face. Nicky swallows heavily, trying to dispel the flames. 

Of course, it doesn’t work. It never does. 

They return to the field, standing in the open air and golden sunlight. Crystal’s smile seems to shine beneath the shade of her baseball cap. 

“Alright,” she says, “show me how you think it’s done.”

Nicky racks her brain, trying - and failing - to remember how Crystal held the bat during her games. She never did pay attention to the technicalities, she realises. She was too busy admiring Crystal. 

Crystal giggles at her awkward attempt and steps behind her, looping her arms around Nicky’s. 

Nicky’s breath hitches as one of her mind’s wild fantasies suddenly comes true. She knows Crystal is only being helpful, but something about this still feels so intimate. She can feel Crystal’s heartbeat against her back, feel her warmth where their bodies touch. Their arms brush, Crystal’s hands finding Nicky’s, her skin as soft as feathers.

Crystal gently adjusts Nicky’s grip, and the bat is suddenly much more comfortable to hold. Nicky can feel Crystal’s smile against her neck. 

But she doesn’t pull away. Her hands linger, turning Nicky’s skin to fire everywhere they touch. 

When Crystal speaks, her voice is low, quiet, her breath soft against Nicky’s ear.

“You know,” she murmurs, “I met my guardian angel in my dreams.”

Nicky swallows heavily. 

“Did you now?”

“Yeah.” She traces the back of Nicky’s hand with her thumb before she begins to move away, the tips of her fingers trailing along Nicky’s arm. “She looked like you.” 

Her voice is tinged with something that sounds like awe, and it puts Nicky at ease. Even so, she can’t help but be disappointed when Crystal steps back. The air feels far too empty, hollow with the loss of contact. 

“Oh,” is all that Nicky can think to say.

She forgets how to breathe when Crystal moves to face her, her eyes smoldering. Nicky has never seen her look so intense, and yet so nervous; her eyes spark with a thousand flames, but her anxiety is written into every line in her face, in the slight tremble of her lips.

“She said she wore your face because you’re always at the forefront of my mind,” Crystal adds breathily, her eyes never leaving Nicky’s. “And she’s right. I think about you a lot, Nicky. I think you’re--” she falters, clearly losing her nerve. “I think you’re wonderful. And I’d like to keep getting to know you better, if you’ll have me.”

This isn’t real.

There is no way this is real.

If her heart weren’t slamming into her ribs at a hundred miles an hour, Nicky would be amused by the fact that Crystal used their dreamscape conversation to ask her out. But instead, it’s all she can do to stand, frozen, gaping wordlessly at Crystal.

Not even in her wildest dreams did Nicky envision their outing today going like this. It’s better than anything she ever imagined. 

Crystal, clearly unnerved by Nicky’s lack of a response, seems to retreat back into her shell. 

“I’m sorry,” she stammers, backing away from Nicky, her eyes seeking out the shivering grass. “I’m sorry, that was too forward, I shouldn’t have--”

Rushing forward, Nicky interrupts her by pressing their lips together, fireworks bursting in her chest the moment she makes contact. Crystal stiffens for the briefest moment before she relaxes into Nicky’s arms, twining her hands in her hair.

“I think about you all the time too,” Nicky gasps as they pull away. “And I think - I think it would be lovely to keep getting to know you.”

Crystal breaks into the most beautiful smile, radiant with their shared happiness. “You mean that?”

“I’ve never meant anything more.” 

Crystal giggles joyously, pulling Nicky in for another kiss. This one is slower, more passionate, easy with the lifted weight of their confessions.

“This is the most exciting game of baseball I’ve ever played,” Crystal laughs against Nicky’s lips.

~

Later, warm with lingering touches and golden sunlight, they retreat to the shade of the dugout. It’s almost as though there’s a magnetic force between them now; it ensures they are always touching, even if it’s something as small as the gentle brush of fingertips or the bumping of shoulders as they walk.

Crystal is still chatting and smiling as she stoops to get their water, but something gives Nicky pause. 

She can sense someone - or something. She forces herself to tune Crystal out and focus: her powers, suppressed as they are by her human disguise, have picked up on a dwindling life force. The dull ache of suffering thrums in her chest, forcing her to take a deep breath.

“Are you okay?” Crystal asks, sounding concerned. “Do you - do you want some water?” She holds out a bottle and Nicky takes it gratefully. In the brief silence that follows, she hears a small, shaky noise, one withering with the last shreds of hope. 

“Did you hear that?” she tries, hoping Crystal won’t think she’s going insane. 

“Hear what?”

“I think that… I think there’s something here.” She doesn’t elaborate; instead, she drops to her knees and begins looking around. 

It doesn’t take her long to find the source of the noise. Reaching beneath the bench, she carefully picks up a tiny, shivering bird, its downy feathers matted with dust and grime. It smells of sickness, of pain and suffering. As she cups it in her hands, Nicky can feel its life force fading away, disappearing faster with every passing second. 

“Oh no,” Crystal gasps. “Poor baby.”

“It’s dying,” Nicky whispers, half to herself. She strokes its tiny head, her mind whirling. She could save it - isn’t that precisely what she’s good for? - but that would mean exposing herself to Crystal, and Nicky doesn’t think she can bear the pain of losing her. Not so soon.

But is it worth sacrificing this life? The bird has barely seen the world beyond its nest. Its feathers are still soft with chick-fluff, and its wings have hardly tasted freedom. It has its whole life ahead of it, and Nicky would never forgive herself if she let it die. 

Her heart twists, already breaking at the edges, but her mind is made. She knows what she has to do.

“Crystal, I - I can save it.” She hesitates, voice trembling, pretending not to notice how tears are beginning to collect in her eyes. “But if you never want to see me again after this…” I will miss you forever. “I understand.” 

“What?” Crystal blinks at her, confused. “Nicky, why - why would I--”

As Crystal trails off into confusion, Nicky lets her disguise melt away. She feels silvery feathers poke through her skin as her arms shift into brilliant wings, her veins thrumming with an ancient power.

“Holy shit,” Crystal gasps, but Nicky pretends not to hear. She isn’t ready to face her yet. 

Instead, she focuses on the little bird. You poor thing, she thinks, cradling it in her feathers. You don’t deserve to suffer like this.

Inhaling deeply, she draws the bird’s sickness into her body, taking its pain as her own and relieving it of its suffering. Her feathers, normally so sleek and shiny, turn limp, and a wave of fevered fatigue washes over her. She exhales once the deed is done, placing the bird back on the bench, where it chirps happily at her. 

“You’re welcome, buddy,” she mumbles, smiling softly at it. “Glad to see you’re feeling better.”

“Holy shit,” Crystal says again. Nicky, bracing herself for the heartbreak, forces herself to finally face her.

But when she finally meets Crystal’s eyes, she doesn’t see fear or revulsion. Instead, her bright eyes shimmer with… awe?

Nicky can’t be seeing this right. 

She blinks, but Crystal’s expression doesn’t change. Her face shines with a shocked delight, with disbelief, with a childlike wonder. 

“Oh my god, oh my god,” she squeals. “That was you the entire time?”

“You mean in your dreams?”

“Yes! And in my room - you healed me?”

Nicky nods slowly. 

“Okay, that’s slightly creepy, but also, like, the coolest thing ever,” Crystal says, squealing again, before she seems to hesitate. 

This is it, Nicky thinks despondently. Time to say good-bye.

“Wait,” Crystal murmurs, “what about everything you said the other night? About being my guardian angel? Are you actually an angel?”

“No, no, I was - that was a lie,” Nicky mumbles. “I’m a caladrius.”

“A what now?”

There’s no point in hiding anymore. Nicky bares her soul to Crystal, sharing every detail from her ancestral magic to the friends she’d lost when she’d showed them her true form. Crystal listens, rapt, her eyes bright with an unwavering interest. 

“And that’s why I always ran away from you,” Nicky concludes. “So if you want to leave too, I… I understand.”

“Why in the world would I want to do that?” Crystal asks, sounding appalled. “All your old friends are idiots. This is literally the coolest thing that has ever happened to me, you know.” 

“Really?”

“I mean, it’s not every day you realise your girlfriend is a cal-- a cala--”

“Caladrius,” Nicky supplies, amused. The word girlfriend rings in her ears, still too good to be true. And yet, here she is, sitting in her true form across from the girl she loves, and Crystal is staying.

“Yeah, that.” Crystal giggles. “I mean, only a fool wouldn’t see how epic you are. If anything, I like you even more now that I know you’re, like, magical.”

Nicky feels herself flush at that statement. 

“Well,” she says, trying to play it cool, “I’m even more epic when I’m not carrying bird sickness. Wanna help me get rid of it?”

“How do you do that?”

“I just have to fly around for a bit and dispel it. A couple laps of the field should do… just make sure there’s no one out there, would you?”

“Aye aye!” Crystal says, grinning impishly as she mock-salutes. She darts out of the dugout, leaving Nicky alone with the freshly-healed little bird. 

“I guess I ought to thank you, eh?” she chuckles, gently stroking its head. It chirps cheerfully at her in response, leaning into her touch. It’s still covered in grime - that’s something Nicky’s powers can’t take away - but its eyes are gleaming with new life and vigour.

Nicky can’t help but wonder where it will go from here. It’s not even fully grown, and she worries that it will only meet a worse fate if she leaves it alone. 

“Coast is clear!” Crystal’s voice chimes in. 

“Crystal, do you think we should keep the bird?”

Crystal shrugs. “I mean - if you want to, I guess?”

“I do,” Nicky decides. “Here, hold it.” She passes Crystal the tiny bird, which tumbles and rolls about in her hands.

Crystal giggles, and Nicky can see her own adoration for the tiny creature reflected in Crystal’s eyes. 

“Let’s name it Jan,” she pipes up.

Nicky snorts incredulously. “Jan? As in our friend Jan?”

“Yeah! Don’t you think it fits? Look at its funky little face.” Crystal pats the top of its head. “Also, isn’t Jan, like, the whole reason we know each other?”

“I mean… yeah, actually, I guess she is,” Nicky muses, thinking back to that first game. She’d only gone to watch Jan, and now here she is, discussing the name of their new baby bird with Crystal.

“And, uh, she kinda convinced me to, you know, confess to you today,” Crystal adds. “So I feel like we should name this bird Jan, in her honour.”

“Alright,” Nicky agrees, smiling bemusedly. “I think she’d find that pretty cute.”

“Jan will think it’s the cutest thing in the world,” Crystal promises. “Now go and get rid of your bird sickness before someone barges in on us.”

Nicky laughs, swatting her lightly. “Alright, alright, I’m going.” 

She takes off, wind whistling through her feathers. Slowly, she feels the sickness shed itself from her body, dissipating into the warm summer air. With every beat of her wings, she feels revitalised, the fever and fatigue slipping into nothingness until all that’s left is a beautiful, brilliant joy. 

Feeling herself again, Nicky does a series of loops in the air, her heart soaring higher than her wings can take her. She can’t remember the last time she felt so carefree, so happy. After all, here she is, revelling in a taste of freedom whilst Crystal - her girlfriend - and tiny Jan watch her. 

When she lands, she disguises herself once again before leaning in to give Crystal a kiss, delighting in the knowledge that she will be able to do this again, and again, and again.

[empanator]

Portia Appreciation Week Day 2: The Sea

@portia-appreciation-week 

This is some kind of mermaid/soulmate AU. I just went with it for a little fun, but bit off way more than I could chew... I had to cut a lot of content to avoid digging myself too deep lol. 

Summary: A princess casts a bottled message into the sea. It is enchanted not only to locate her most compatible partner, but also with a power that will enable said partner to retrace the message’s path back to her. But what happens when her “true love” turns out to be a mermaid?  Pairing: Portia (Pasha) Devorak x Nadia Satrinava (The Arcana)  Rating: Safe for Work  Length: 1,927 words (4 pages) 

“To whomever may be the deserving recipient of this message, the power of sight has been bestowed upon you. Come find me. May we share in our truest of love.”

She felt a thrum in the atmosphere, a hardly perceptible tug towards an unknown destination. The tips of her fingers wrinkled in the dry air to which her body was unaccustomed. This letter, a tightly rolled sheet of elegant stationery housed in a glass bottle, had drifted into sight no more than a few hours prior.

At first glance, she brushed it off as a passing piece of material waste from land dwellers. As she approached it, intent on its proper disposal, it gained speed in a straight line towards her, enough so that it sailed past her with bubbles rising in its wake. She whirled with a stifled shriek, turning and grasping at the water around her as the bottle seemed to chase itself in circles. Finally, with a dull clink, it found its way into her hand. When she saw what was enclosed behind the tightly sealed cork, her curious nature took hold, eager to see what kind of gossip she could glean from the humans.

But then, sitting in the sand with the sensation that someone is out there in the world, pulling as though their souls are endowed with magnetism… Was… was it really meant for her?

“I shall be waiting each day for you. I trust that my spell has not led me astray.

My warmest regards,

Princess Nadia”

It must be. She knew a bit about magic and spells, and a princess in a royal court would surely make use of only the most reliable mages. She whispered to herself, “But what if—”

“Pasha?” She spun quickly at the sound of her name. It was her brother, Ilya, emerging from the water and beaching himself beside her. “Pasha, you can’t stay out of the water too long! You know I always tell you—”

She crumpled the letter with a gasp, trying to shove it back through the narrow bottleneck before Ilya got any closer, but to no avail.

“Pasha, what is that?” He poked his head left and right to see past her every twist and turn as she shielded the contents of her hands from his view.

“I-it’s nothing!” she stammered, clutching the bottle against her chest. “And quit being so nosy!”

Ilya sighed and backed off with his hands upturned defensively, knowing his sister would be more than willing to tussle (and more than likely to win) if he pestered her any longer. “Okay, okay. Just ah… make sure you don’t dehydrate up here, will you?”

“Speak for yourself,” Pasha smirked just before flicking her tail up from the water to splash her brother in the face.

~~~~~~~ 

It had been a couple of days since Pasha first received the message. She’d spent the first day in complete bewilderment, and the following days were much of the same. At least once per day, Ilya asked passing questions of anything that might be new in his darling sister’s life, trying gently to pry for information. Of course, he was met with sarcasm or blatant changing of the subject every time. She wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about all this yet anyway; why get anyone else involved?

In secret, Pasha’s excitement mingled with uncertainty as she pondered the same question over and over: Was this truly a serendipitous set of circumstances, or a case of mistaken identity? But the slight tug she felt on that first day grew steadily by the hour, it seemed, into unmistakable vibrations like a physical tinnitus she could feel in the water. The “power of sight” crept into other aspects of her daily life. Her dreams became infused with whorls of magic, recurring visions of a woman with smooth, brown skin and fiery eyes. The depictions, vivid as they were, were always of the same scene—the woman, perched on an old, wooden dock, staring out over the sea. She was hopeful. Lonely. Waiting. And with each of these nightly visions, though she began to lose sleep much to her brother’s concern, Pasha’s heart grew fonder. She, too, became hopeful, and decided to follow the pull that the spell had granted her.

Nearly a week after she first received the letter, she awoke at an hour early enough to swim away undetected. Pasha gave one final look around the rock and coral walls that comprised her home, and left.

~~~~~~~ 

It had been hours before she finally spotted a city in the distance, and dusk was fast approaching. Shallower and shallower now, Pasha was approaching a shoreline. She knew she was close, because the vibrations grew stronger so long as she maintained her course in the right direction. Vesuvia. She had heard of this land from some traveling merfolk she knew, but she had never traveled much outside her own sea village. Suddenly, the “sight” that had guided her all this way came to a halt. Not far in front of her, she spotted dark, hard-wood posts rooted into the seabed, supported by columns of stone.

Hidden behind an offshore rock, Pasha took a peek around its side, and her heart skipped as she saw a vision of great familiarity to her: The woman, sitting silently, serenely upon old wood, fixated on the horizon as the sun dipped lower in the sky. But this time, it was not merely a vision. The woman, Princess Nadia, was real. And she was beautiful.

Pasha swam cautiously closer, but remained under the water’s surface. She was afraid to emerge and be confronted by the reality—or possible reality—of the situation. What if the letter was wrong? What if she was holding out hope for a romance like the ones she heard in stories, only to be rejected? All the details of the week’s events fit together and culminated into that very moment, but Pasha could not shake her uncertainty.

She circled back around the rock a few times, and finally hung her head as her worries weighed on her shoulders, her mind, her heart. Defeated, she swam, casting a long, backwards glance at the wooden posts of Vesuvia’s port that grew hazier in her vision the further she swam. Shutting her eyes with a sigh of resignation, she drifted onward—until, with a jolt, she collided with something blocking her path.

She looked up, stunned. “Ilya?!” Confusion overtook her expression as her brother floated before her, arms crossed and a scornful frown on his face. “Ugh…” she scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Of course you followed me.”

“I’ve been worried! You wouldn’t tell me what’s been going on, and I heard you leave right before your catfish Pepi decided to dive-bomb my face.” He gestures wildly, then grows serious. “But… I think you forgot something.” He produced a bottle from under his arm.

“How did you…?”

“The lid to your clamshell was open, and I found this lying right in the middle of the bed. It’s a little wet inside, please ignore that.” His eyes shift down towards the sea floor.

“Ilya… did you read my letter?!”  

“Okay, yes!” He winces. “I only followed you because I thought you might have needed it. You didn’t have to keep this a secret from me; I would have understood and given you space.”

“You would have followed me either way.”

“…Yes.” His embarrassment crept onto his face in the form of an obvious blush. He handed over the bottle, and Pasha accepted it with a sigh.

“Thanks. Just, let me handle my own business from now on, ‘kay?”

“Noted.” A grin spread across Ilya’s face as he waggled an eyebrow. “Now, get back there and woo the woman of your dreams!”

Of course, Ilya had no idea just how right he was about the dreams. Pasha could only punch him playfully in the arm before heading back towards the dock.

~~~~~~~ 

Gathering her composure, Pasha broke the water’s surface to reveal herself, a flash of her tail flicking out as she steadied herself. She looked up at the seated woman and addressed her with a bold greeting. “Are you Princess Nadia?” She held up the bottle. “I believe this was your message.”

Surprise flashed across the princess’ expression, hardly noticeable before being quickly replaced by something more peaceful. “A… mermaid… I see.” She shifted to get a more comfortable view. “Of course I have heard rumors of a sea-dwelling race off our distant shores. I had believed them to be no more than fantasy, yet here you stand—or rather float before me,” she said with an amused smirked.

This might not be a good thing, Pasha thought. “So, I wasn’t who you were expecting to get your message, huh…”

“Well, I had certainly expected my message to travel across the sea. If only I had known you were from the sea I may have dressed more… appropriately to join you down there.” She leaned forward to rest her chin in her palm, never breaking eye contact, grinning as Pasha sunk a little below the waterline to hide her growing blush. A moment of quiet turned to uncomfortable silence as Pasha only shifted her gaze away with a furrowed brow.

“Something appears to be troubling you, my friend.” Nadia’s voice was sweet and backed with genuine concern. “If there is anything amiss, you are free to speak your mind.”

Pasha’s eyes widened and snapped back to meet Nadia’s. She rose from the water just enough to expose her mouth and began to voice her concern. “Well… I mean, how did you know someone would obey your message? I saw you in my dreams every night, in this exact spot, waiting for an answer.” The pace of her words increased as if she had opened a faucet, unable to stop the rush flowing forth. “It’s like, what if you never received an answer? What if this bottle chose the wrong person? How do you know I’m really the one who deserved this message? I can’t help but wonder if I’m really supposed to be here or if it only felt right because the spell made me believe so.” Nadia listened, delight shining subtly in her eyes as her new acquaintance showed no more restraint or hesitation.

Once Pasha was finished expelling her thoughts, Nadia smiled softly. “I have made no such choices for you. Any desire you felt to come find me… that, dear, was purely your own. The power of sight was merely an aid, should the recipient choose to accept it.” She maintained an even tone, warmth and understanding filling her words. “And even so, if my spell found your hand by any mistake in this world,” she offered an outstretched hand towards the water. “How fortunate am I to be met with such a charming and quizzical being such as yourself?”

Pasha’s face flushed once more, but this time, she did not try to hide it. She inspected Nadia’s hand and reached up, droplets of water plinking along the shimmering stillness of the sea below. Their fingertips brushed together, a touch gentle as the land breeze, carrying with it the merging of their two worlds.

Nadia lowered her lips to meet the back of Pasha’s hand, the warmth of her kiss somehow coursing a chill throughout the mermaid’s body.

It didn’t matter whether there was such a thing as fate. But a choice, a bond, a desire—only these things had the power to determined their future. 

~~~~~~~

(Bonus note: Nadia partnered with Asra to draw out her untrained magic with his own and bind the message’s spell to herself. Ilya absolutely did not go home after giving Pasha the bottle. He was cheering her on from a distance.)