Against all odds (Killian/OC)

1- Part of that world

The sound of rustling outside my cell door is what awoke me from my light slumber. What's going on? We just finished supper a little while ago. Is it already morning? The rustling went on for a while as if the person was trying to find out which key went in the knob. Weird… I decided to sit in my 'bed' and waited. After a while the door open and instead of that severe nurse that always brought me to the 'cafeteria' to eat/'social time', it was my friend Anna (my only friend in this hell hole) and with her there was a male nurse, I didn't get to see much of him because she ran to give me a hug.

''Anna what's going on?'' I asked her, surprise she was allowed to visit my cell. It's never happened before.

She released me from the hug but held me at arms length to tell me what was going on. She looked behind her, I looked at the man behind her as well and when our eyes met I could see recognition and shock in his blue eyes. He also had this big scar all around his neck. Strange… She then looked back at me. ''This is Jefferson and he came to release us.'' She told me in her French accent smiling but then her face grew somewhat darker as she said: ''He said that Regina is the one that locked me up and that Mr. Gold will protect me.'' But then her face turned somewhat uneasy and she asked Jefferson: ''Jefferson, do you think this Mr. Gold would help Eleanor too?''

Snapping out of his shock he answered: ''Don't worry Anna, I'll take care of Eleanor here.'' I smiled, I don't know why but I felt safe going with this stranger, I figured it can't be worst than here. ''Now ladies we should probably get going…'' And with that we put on the jackets he gave us and made our way to the entrance of this prison. As we were about to leave I saw who I expected to see earlier at my door, at her desk, asleep. We then made our way to Jefferson's turquoise car and hopped in. We were silent throughout the ride. He dropped Anna off in front of Mr. Gold's pawn shop.

I got out of the car with her and hugged her. ''We'll see each other again soon, okay?'' I told her once we finished hugging.

''Yes, of course. I can't believe we're finally free.'' I smile then hugged her again. Yes it felt incredible finally being able to go outside and just be free to go and do as we pleased.

''I'll come see you soon, alright?'' She nodded and went inside the shop while I got back in the car. Then Jefferson took me back to his home or should I say palace? It was almost as big as the hospital Anna and I stayed in. ''Wow, this is huge.'' I said wonderstruck. But then I wondered why was he doing this? I gave a soft sigh, then turned to him and asked: ''Why did you save me, us? And then offered to take me in. Not that I'm not grateful it's just…'' I left the question hanging not knowing how to finish it.

''Because a long time ago a stranger saved me and then we became friends…'' He got out of the car and said: ''And I don't abandon my friends…''He said that last part so softly I almost didn't hear it. What he said didn't make sense but whatever. I made my way up the stairs of this manor after him. He unlocked the door and went inside, as I was about to follow him I felt a pulse go through me and I stopped in my tracks.

-XOXOXOXOXOX-

I was swimming far away from our lagoon, when I saw a figure struggling to go deeper under the sea, as I approached I saw it was a man. A human man! What is a human man doing this deep under the sea? My sisters always told me to stay far away from humans, especially human men. They say they're all dangerous and cruel and plain evil. But seeing this man practically drowning, they couldn't be that dangerous if they're that defenseless. And so I dived deeper to where he was and dragged him to shore. He was still conscious but barely.

''Why did you do that?'' He asked me frustrated but tiredly. ''I was almost there.'' How rude! Here I just saved his life and instead of thanking me he just rants. I started to leave annoyed with him but he stopped me: ''Wait.'' I turned around and looked at him. ''I'm sorry. Thank you for saving me but I really needed to get that ink and it's just frustrating that I couldn't make it.'' Ink? I looked at him curiously with my head cocked to the side. ''Let's start over, my name's Jefferson.''

''Ariel.'' He gave me a small smile.

''Well Ariel it was nice to meet you but I really must go back to get that ink.'' He tried to stand but fell back on his butt. I let out a small giggle.

''You know you won't be able to get it right? You'll either give up or you'll end up drowning. Or the Kraken will kill you.'' I told him seriously.

He looked at me a moment. ''I don't suppose you would be willing to do it for me?'' He asked sheepishly. I giggled.

''And why would I do that? I already saved your life, isn't that enough?''

''Well is there something you would like?'' He asked me as he made his way toward where his clothes were in the sand. I started to think about it. I'm a mermaid there's not much we need if anything. He was almost done getting dressed when the sun reflected on something shiny attached to his vest.

''Whoa, what's that?'' I asked pointing at the small round object in question. He looked down at his vest then took it out with a small smile on his face. He then showed it to me.

''That's a pocket watch. It tells you the time.'' He then put it in my hands so that I could observe it more. ''Tell you what you get me that ink and you can keep it.''

''I don't want it.'' I say as I give it back to him. He makes a small frown at that. ''On the other hand, if you can tell me more about your world and about things like this pocket watch, you get yourself a deal.'' He smiled and shook my hand.

''Deal.'' He handed me a little vial. I took it with a small smile and dived back under. Okay, first I need to go get a small bunch of Noctiluca scintillans and put them in a shell. I found an empty shell on a coral reef and not that far from there I found those blue glowing little jelly balls and put some in the shell and closed it. I then went deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper until I could spot the Kraken, from which this special ink Jefferson needs is coming from.

Once I could see the sea beast I treaded carefully closer to it. Once I was close enough I released the Noctiluca scintillans and the giant squid had the exact reaction I was hopping for, it got scared and released some ink to get away. I think that's the only thing this big cephalopod is scared of, light. As soon as I saw the ink I crept closer with the vial to catch some. As if the vial was enchanted or something, it started to suck all the ink in the water into it. Weird… Once I was done I made my way back to Jefferson with it.

''Ah, you're back. I was starting to worry.'' I gave him the ink and he started telling me about things like telescopes, candles, fires, forks, compass and lots of other wonderful things I never heard of. It was great but we didn't stop at that he told me about his wife Alice and their 1 year old daughter Grace. He also told me about the different worlds he visited it was fascinating. I told him about my sisters and all the things I found in abandoned ships at the bottom of the sea, also about my desire to go explore the world like him but at the same time not wanting to leave my family. At the end of the day when it was time for him to leave we became great friends and I was sad to see him leave, but that's the way things go I suppose.

When I got home that night my sisters asked me what I did and when I told them I helped a human they were so angry it was incredible. ''Ariel are you insane? A human, who knows what he could have done to you. You could have been killed or worse… Maybe this one wasn't evil but most of them are trust me…'' Tritanne the oldest said in a bitter tone. She's the one that hate humans the most since she's the only one that remembers her life before being a mermaid. After a while I tuned them out, it was getting annoying. Instead I started thinking, humans aren't so bad, well at least Jefferson wasn't and the lost boys aren't bad either, well they're kids but that still count, right? I need to know more about them. As I went to sleep that night I couldn't help wondering what it would be like to be human, to have legs, to explore the world like Jefferson and maybe fall in love…

A couple of weeks passed with nothing new, I spend my days with my sisters in the mermaid lagoon singing and tanning or exploring the ocean floor in search of human things without much luck.

One night, I was swimming not very deep, when I saw the hull of a ship above me. The first thought that crossed my mind was, humans! I could finally see if I was right about humans and the fact that they might not all be bad. But I still kept my sisters warning in mind as I crept closer to see them, being careful not to be seen. That's when I saw him.