Mer AU! The Cursed Family

A Totally Normal Swim

The next day, Kaitlyn did indeed return to the reef. And Nora was an absolute mess.

They talked for a while until the princess perked up.

"How about a race! The first one to the yellow tree shaped coral wins."

"Okay! Prepare for defeat your highness"

"You with the nicknames"

Lucky for Kaitlyn, Nora wasn't looking to see the princess blush.

They readied themselves at the starting line as the race was about to begin.

Nora was confident she would at least make it a close race as she was a fast swimmer.

The race began with the two speeding off.

At first, Kaitlyn was ahead. However, Nora reminded herself of a trick. Start off slow to wear out your opponent.

And she then continued to ignore it and speed up.

They were neck and neck.

Kaitlyn suddenly halted as a shadow loomed over them. Nora paid no mind to it and assumed it was a cloud.

"Nora, wait!"

She turned to look at the princess who was desperately ushering for her to come back to her.

Nora began to swim, but she was too late.

A sharp pain went through her left shoulder. She didn't scream. The last thing she wanted to do was worry Kaitlyn. But it was too late for that.

Kaitlyn was already rushing over to her friend. Something was clearly wrong. Nora looked down at her shoulder as the water around her turned red.

A harpoon was lodged in her shoulder. She looked up at the shadow above them.

It wasn't a cloud. It was a ship. The humans on board were clearly hunting large fish and mistaked the two for just that.

Kaitlyn was now by her side. She cut the rope with a shard of sea glass to avoid pulling out the harpoon in case Nora bled out.

Nora's breathing became heavy. She was exhausted from the race plus being harpooned.

Kaitlyn put Nora's good shoulder around her neck and put her arm around the injured one's waist.

Oh yes, because flustering her is the greatest idea in the world.

She swam her back into town and to the nearest hospital. Kaitlyn had to yell at the nurses to stop bowing to her and help her friend.

Eventually, the harpoon was out and sent to the army to be recycled as a weapon for them, and Nora was bandaged up and in recovery.

"Thank you..." she muttered before falling asleep.

Kaitlyn didn't leave her side once while she was at the hospital. Her parents would show up occasionally to check up on the two and express their pride that Kaitlyn helped her friend.

Kaitlyn thought of Nora as more than a friend.

'No, that's silly... Nora wouldn't think of me like that...' she thought.

Props to Nora for almost reading her mind and squeezing Kaitlyn's hand subconsciously in her sleep as she thought that. It was almost as if she was saying she did think of her like that.

Cute. But that is where I leave you. Until next time readers...