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The cold ocean closes in over her head, and she sinks fast. Her lungs try valiantly to hang on to their precious supply of air as long as possible, but Kuvira can already feel her body straining for more. It is fruitless, she knows. This is the end. This is the reward she gets for trying to repay a kindness.
Within moments, the bottom of the ship is just a tiny mar on the otherwise monotonous surface, and her vision begins to cloud as her body loses its fight to stay conscious. She knows as soon as she blacks out, her lungs will try to breathe, effectively drowning her faster in their attempt to save her. Before she faces completely, she sends up a prayer to the gods of old, the ones who watch over the seas, asking for it to be quick. She thinks they owe her that much, at least, for saving their favored creatures.
The light of the sun barely reaches her now, and she tries to make peace when she feels hands tugging on her legs, frantically trying to loose the chains. She looks down to see a mermaid there. Not just any mermaid, but the one she has come to think of as ‘her’ mermaid. The one who had saved her from drowning so many months ago. The one whose family she had saved, the act condemning her to this fate. Kuvira looks up at the surface, so very far away now, and back down at the mermaid. She kicks her feet, and the mermaid looks at her. Kuvira shakes her head. It is too late. She is too far away. Even a mermaid would not be fast enough to bring her to the surface in time. She thinks the mermaid’s wail must be one of anguish, for it pierces her heart like a blade. The mermaid then closes her eyes and bites her lip, and Kuvira wishes they could understand each other, for she would say she does not regret her actions and she dies with a clear conscious. She doesn’t know, however, how to relay this to the distraught creature, and she is about to lose her grip on consciousness anyway. It will be over soon.
But then, the mermaid’s arm wraps around her chest, her tail working to keep them from sinking further, and she presses her lips to Kuvira’s, her tongue pushing inside. Kuvira gasps, releasing the last of her air, taking in water, and she stares at the mermaid until an intense pain shoots through her legs. She screams, but the sound is trapped in bubbles and carried soundlessly to the surface. So she screams again and again as her body feels like it has been doused in fuel and set on fire. Her legs feel as though they have been broken, shattered beyond repair, and her lungs…she swears she can feel them shifting, moving inside her chest, and the skin and flesh of her neck feels like it is being flayed open. She writhes against the mermaid, her body struggling for release from this agony. She prays for death.
The mermaid’s hands are on her face, her neck, and her mouth is moving in words Kuvira cannot understand. When mermaids sing, their songs carry no words that human ears can discern. They do not need them to lure sailors to their death. It feels now, like this one is trying to comfort her, and Kuvira dimly wonders why she hasn’t died yet. Her air is gone, and her body is dying, she is certain. For how can anyone endure this pain and survive?
“…will be over soon.”
She blinks, certain she must be hallucinating, for the mermaid’s words begin to make sense to her.
“Just a little longer,” the mermaid says, and Kuvira knows this time she has heard correctly. “That’s it. You’re almost there.”
“What’s…happening?” Kuvira asks even though her words should not be able to sound underwater. The mermaid presses her lips to Kuvira’s forehead.
“It was the only way. I’m sorry.”
The pain begins to recede, and Kuvira realizes that she is breathing. “What the hell is-” She looks down at herself and screams. Her legs are gone, and in their place is a long, powerful tail. The tail of a mermaid. Her hands, now webbed between the fingers, fly to her neck and find gills there, which are allowing her to breathe. “What did you do to me?” she screeches, trying to push away from the mermaid.
“Please, you were drowning.” The mermaid’s voice is low and textured. Beautiful and sensual. “I you were too far from the surface, and I…you save my family, my children. I couldn’t let you die for it. That is why they did this to you, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” She realizes they are sinking again, and panic floods her chest as being pulled farther into the ocean. She tries to struggle to the surface, but the mermaid…the other mermaid, grasps her wrists, stilling her.
“Calm yourself,” she says. “You will only tire yourself out. You won’t reach the surface until we get that thing off of you.” The chain and the cannon ball are still wrapped around her new tail, dragging her down. “The bottom is not too far down. Just let it take you, and I can get a better look at it.”
“Take me?” Kuvira’s instincts balk. She needs to get to the surface. To get air to…to…breathe… But her lungs are working now, bringing life to her body, pulling in water through her neck, her gills, and she knows that the air of the surface will no longer service her.
“Just relax. Look at me.” The mermaid frames Kuvira’s face in her hands. She is truly beautiful, as all mermaids are, and her bright green eyes bore into Kuvira. “I changed you. It was the only way to save you. I’ve never…I didn’t know it would hurt you so much. I’m sorry for that. But you are one of us now. The ocean…you are safe. You will not drown. If you just relax, you’ll sink to the bottom, and I can get these chains off of you. And you will be all right. I promise.”
Kuvira stops struggling, and feels the weight of the cannonball taking her deeper. She holds on to the mermaid, her body still flooded with adrenaline, causing her to shake and flinch as she slowly tries to convince herself that she’s safe now. Soon, the cannonball thumps into the soft silt of the ocean floor, and the pull on her tail lessens.
The mermaid kisses her cheeks and then swims own Kuvira’s body. “This is barbaric,” she mutters, and Kuvira thinks that’s strange coming from a creature who regularly drowns sailors. Her nimble fingers work to loosen the chains. It takes several minutes, but eventually, she is able to free Kuvira’s tail.
“Thank you.”
The mermaid smiles at her and leans in to kiss her. Kuvira is startled as the mermaid’s naked torso presses against her.
“Hold on!” She pulls back. “What are you doing?”
The mermaid looks confused. “Kissing you.”
“Well, yes, I know that. I mean why?”
“We are…entwined now,” the mermaid says. “I turned you. I am responsible for you. We are…it’s difficult to explain.” She touches Kuvira’s chest, right over her breast. Kuvira still wears her shirt, but her pants were ripped away in the forming of her tail. “You and I, we are like one now.”
“I don’t understand.” They are drifting higher now, away from the bottom and into the dim light of the sun.
“You will. In time.” The mermaid’s tail twines with her, and Kuvira shivers at the alien sensations. “The kissing…it serves different purposes for us than it does for humans. A way to transfer powers.” Her eyes widen. “I realize…I do not know your name.”
“Kuvira.”
The mermaid closes her eyes and smiles. “It’s beautiful. Like you.” When she opens her eyes again, they are soft and full of affection. “I am Suyin. But you may call me Su.”
“Su.”
“Come, Kuvira, I will take you home.”