The Ultimate Prize [EnglandxReader]

Chapter Three

     "It's good ta' see you again, (Name)." Arthur grinned while his crew looked on in shock. Served them right for never truly believing in his quest to find the merfolk.

     The mermaid on the deck of his ship didn't seem all that thrilled at the situation though. Her shocked expression melted into a glare. Maybe she wasn't as happy to see the pirate captain as he would have expected.

     "Don't just stand there, ya' bums! Prepare the tub in my room! She'll be stain' there. The rest of you get us ready to sail!" Arthur's orders got the crew back in high gear.

     As the men scuttled around the deck, (Name) continued to glare. It would seem the next step in Captain Arthur Kirkland's quest was to reason with an angry mermaid.

     (Name) had a hard time believing that the man draped in red before her was the same boy she had rescued from the rocks all those years ago. His voice was so harsh and his eyes were piercing instead of the soft spoken, wide-eyed boy she had fondly remembered while she was under house arrest for all those years. There was no joy in this reunion for (Name) because it seemed that he had become the kind of human that merfolk's feared. Arthur had been hunting for merfolk, it seemed, and all merfolk knew that once one of their kind were lost to the clutches of humans, they never returned.

      The moment Arthur turned away (Name) began to struggle with the net that was still tangled around her (f/c) tail. Even if escape seemed unlikely, she'd be damned if she didn't try. Even if it meant dragging herself across the ship's deck.

     "Now ma chère, I wouldn't suggest zhat." (Name) froze as a member of the pirate crew approached. His voice though did more to soothe than frighten. It wasn't rough like Arthur's was now. "It seems you know our Captain 'ere, and if you are already aquatinted with 'im, you must know he is not a patient or forgiving man."

      The man's words only seemed to confirm (Name)'s fear that Arthur had changed for the worse. If only she hadn't saved him that night all those years ago, then he would not be hunting down her kind.

     "You're no better ya' frog! Don't make me sound like an arse, Francis."

     The man named Francis shrugged and backed away. Leaving (Name) at Arthur's mercy.

     "If ya' promise not ta' try anythin' I'll help you out of that." (Name) regarded the blonde pirate skeptically. The sword at his hip meant that if she did try to escape him after her tail was free, she might be a goner.

     Deciding to not test his patience or the edge of his sword, (Name) simply nodded and let him go to work at removing the blasted nets. By the time he had freed her two of his crew members had arrived to let him know that his room had been prepared.

      "Ya' idiots can finally do something right. Well, get to work with everyone else. I want to be on course for home by the time I return from my cabin. Understood?"

     "Yes ser!"

     (Name) tried to stay angry as she watched the two pirates comically run off to get to work.

     "Now, no funny business, alright?" (Name) didn't get a chance to respond as she was scooped up by Arthur. It was an odd feeling of weightlessness as her tail flopped gracelessly at his side while her face was cradled up next to his. She was forced to wrap her arms around his neck to keep the feeling of falling at bay.

     (Name) was too occupied with her awe at the fact that Arthur could even manage to carry her considering the sheer weight of her tail to realize that her window to escape was closing the farther he brought her into the ship.

     In Arthur's room (Name) was placed in a basin full of salt water that was a bit too small for her size. Her tail poked out at the end and she marveled a bit at the feeling of air on her (f/c) fins. Due to her family's ban on shoreline visits (Name) hadn't been able to leave the water in years. She'd almost forgotten what it was like to breath in air instead of water and what it felt like to have the wind run over her scales.

     Her pirate captor in the meantime had removed his coat and hat, making him appear to be much less imposing, and pulled up a chair next to (Name)'s tub. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he watched (Name) familiarize herself with the room and her awkwardly small saltwater sanctuary.

     "What are you going to do to me?" (Name) asked when she had finally gathered up her courage.

     Arthur seemed a bit startled at the question and the way her (e/c) eyes bore into him.

     "What do you mean, do ta' you?"

     "What do you do to the merfolk you're hunting? Do you kill them? Keep them as some sort of pet? Sell them? What are you doing to my people?"

     Realization dawned over the pirate captain as he listened to the quivering in (Name)'s voice. She was trying to be angry at him but she also feared for her life.

     "Oh (Name), I could never do that to you or the other merfolk. You saved me. I couldn't repay you with that. What kind of gentleman would I be then?"

     Arthur's words did nothing to soften (Name)'s glare. "Then what are you doing? Trying to capture us? If you're not trying to hurt us, why am I here?!" She trashed about in the tub, upset that she was the captive of a human, angry that she didn't understand why and hurt because it was the only one she'd ever helped.

     Arthur reached out and took one of her smooth hands between his rough ones, "because I've been looking for you since the night you didn't show. Every day since the night you rescued me I've thought of you, and finding you again, (Name). I've never had any intention of hurting you. I've only ever wanted to see you again."

     (Name) stilled as she watched his downcast eyes and her hand held in his. She could feel the truth rolling off him. Arthur truly meant her no harm.

     "How did you find me?" (Name) gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and looked up at him with curious (e/c) eyes. "Out of all of the ocean. How did you know I would be rescuing the dolphins?"

      "I didn't."

     "Wait? Then why..."

     "I was just looking to find a mermaid, any mermaid, that could lead me to you. So, I followed every lead I could. Yesterday, fishermen were complaining to me about mermaids slashing their nets so I came to see if they were telling the truth. And lo and behold I found the one mermaid I wanted to see again."

     Of all the times Arthur could have come to investigate this lead, it happened to be the one day (Name) had tumbled in to help the dolphins.

     "It would seem fate brought us together again, love."