Mer!Klance.
A mermaid rescues a drowning sailor from the ship that had been his doom, but there's still a crew to be saved and a unique friendship to be forged.
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I hope I didn't abandon this fic permanently, but don't expect updates in the near f...
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This beauty was done by wolfpainters. Still on tumblr.
xXx
Keith accepted the fact that Lance was gone after about fifteen minutes of staring in the direction in which he'd disappeared. The current seemed to be taking him in the correct direction so far, so he wasn't about to complain about that, but he was pretty uncomfortable with the idea of not knowing where Lance was or how to get his attention.
As the sun rose higher, he crossed his arms and stared across the open expanse of the waves, wondering what to do if Lance wasn't back by the time the current died out. Would he just start rowing? How much farther would the current take him? How much longer would Lance take? What if Lance came back and couldn't find him? What if Lance didn't come back at all and he couldn't find the ship without the fishes' help?
The more he thought, the more he worried. It didn't take long for him to realize that he just needed to stop thinking about it and hope for the best.
He took a sip of water from one of the waterskins, partially to ease his mind and partially to quench his thirst. He still had enough supplies to last him for a couple weeks, if he was stingy, and...
And he was alone. In a small boat. In the middle of the ocean. With no land in sight. At the mercy of the waves and wind. With the late morning sun possibly burning him.
"Alright, then. Time to think of something else," Keith said aloud quietly.
Were there other mermaids? Lance hadn't mentioned any, but that didn't mean they didn't exist. What would they be like? Were their tails all blue like Lance's to blend in, or did they all have their own unique color? What was their society like? Did they just act like underwater humans, or did they have their own customs and traditions? Were they all as inquisitive of humans as Lance, or were they more reserved? Were they close to their relatives? What was their societal structure like?
He chuckled to himself. Maybe he should think of something a little less far-fetched. Something more practical.
How was he planning on saving the crew? That was a good question. He could stop at a port and hire some men to help, but he didn't have any money. He'd have to promise that, one, he'd somehow get enough money to pay them, and two, they'd live long enough to get paid, and he wasn't sure he could guarantee either. And without men, he certainly couldn't make a full-scale attack. Unless Lance had lots of deep-running connections in the mermaid world, that option was out of the picture.
He could sneak on board and save them, assuming the lookout didn't see his boat from a distance. If Lance came back and was still planning on helping, he could serve as a distraction of some sort. Any sailor in his right mind would be drawn irresistibly to look at such a strange creature as a mermaid, even if it was barely within view. Then Keith could get on board unnoticed, free the crew, and get them onto the waiting boat. That seemed like his best bet, but he couldn't be sure that there wouldn't be more lookouts that hadn't been distracted by Lance to spot him from afar and tell the others.
