A Fairy's Tale (Eustass Kid & OC)

Chapter 5: Memoirs of a Little Hero

(A/N): the girl up there ^^ is how I imagine Loklynn as a six year old. She's a cutie patootie, I'm an absolute sucker for freckles, because everyone in my family has them XD I know Loklynn has black hair, but my mom and dad were both born blonde and now both grow dark hair, so I figured it's not too big a stretch.

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Eleven years ago....

A six-and-a-half year old Loklynn awoke to what she thought was an earthquake. The closet shook and swayed violently, knocking both her and the boxes that concealed her off the top shelf.

She dazedly pulled herself to her feet, thinking for a moment that the marines had discovered her. What was going on? She could hear people running around and shouting outside the door. It was really loud.

There was another shake, this one accompanied by a distant boom and a muffled cracking noise. The room tilted, and all of the boxes and cans and cleaning supplies toppled off the shelves and slammed into the door along with her. The door, which was sorely in need of repair and not very strong to begin with, swung open under the weight. Loklynn was sent flying out into the hallway, bowling over several Marines on her way to smashing into yet another wall.

"What the hell?"

"Is that a kid?!"

Loklynn bolted up and out of the unfortunate dog pile, dodging around the legs of the crowd of frantic soldiers.

"Maintain your positions!"

"The ship is done for! We have to retreat!"

"Hold them off with everything you got!"

From the sound of things, the ship was going to sink, like one of the pirate ships in her bedtime stories. That meant she had to get away too, and quick. Drowning didn't sound like very much fun!

But then something crossed her mind that made her hesitate. What about the people in the ship-jail? If the ship sunk, would they be trapped?

She thought about her friend Piper and how she didn't have any legs to run with. Were there others down there who had tails instead of feet? Piper could breathe in the water, but... what if they couldn't? What if... what if they died?

she couldn't let that happen. Never! Never, never, never! She'd drag them all out of the ship one by one just like piper if she had to!

Filled with the grim resolve of a child's moral compass, loklynn changed course and hurried back. She knew where the captain's quarters were, just around the corner; the keys had to be there!

She burst through the door and began her search, struggling to keep her balance as the floor tried to sweep itself out from under her feet. The good luck that had kept her alive thus far came in clutch once again as she saw a hefty ring of keys hanging from a hook on the desk. Thanking the heavens for their help and promising she'd never be bad again, she snagged them and dashed towards the brig.

There were no more stomping feet to weave through as she ran. They all must have gone up to the deck, she thought, and for good reason: the floor was covered in water, and getting deeper by the minute. By the time she made it to the ship-jail, it was all the way up to her thighs. She was only three and a half feet, but never mind that.

The prisoners were all shouting over the rushing water.

"Hey! Don't leave us down here!"

"Help us! Please!!"

"I don't wanna die!"

The only ones who weren't shouting were the colorful people with funny fins.

Everyone stopped when loklynn appeared.