Heart of the Ocean

Chapter 1

Deep below the ocean waves in the warm waters of the Mediterranean two figures swim side by side.

"That was some storm last night, I couldn't get a wink of sleep with all the cross-currents," Steve says, running his hands through light blond hair, the perfect counterpoint to his black and grey seal tail.

"Well, I slept like a rock. Hey, do you wanna visit the coral reef to see if there's anything interesting to scavenge from that boat that went down?" Bucky answers, tucking a stray brunet hair back into place behind his ear with the minimal light reflecting off of the iridescent blue scales of his powerful tail.

Steve shrugs with a smile, linking their fingers together. "Sure, sweetheart. Lead the way."

Steve and Bucky had been together for most of their lives, ever since Bucky had rescued Steve from a shark that wanted to eat him. It came as no surprise to anyone when the two turned out to be mates. Steve was a selkie and Bucky a merman. They were an odd pair, but no one could deny the love between the two.

They had just entered the coral reef when the sounds of jeering merfolk reached their ears. Intrigued, the two slowly swam towards the sound. They reached a small ridge and looked down into the valley. A group of young merfolk were dragging along an unconscious human between them, laughing at how easy it was to capture her. The sight was common enough; merfolk would hunt unsuspecting humans and eat them for dinner. It had been that way for thousands of years and would be so for thousands more. It was only right considering the way humans hunted them in return.

Bucky himself had participated in his own fair share of human hunts, but this was different. Even from the ridge where he and Steve hid, Bucky could see that this girl was no threat. He jumped when Steve's tail touched his own and looked over at his mate. There was a burning fire in Steve's eyes that the merman had not seen in some time.

"We have to rescue her, she's done nothing wrong," Steve's voice was low but heated while his tail whipped furiously from side to side.

"Steve, I don't know if that's a good idea. Humans are dangerous-" Bucky tries to plead with Steve, but Steve abruptly cuts him off.

"Fine, stay here then, but I'm going to save her," Steve starts to move away, getting ready to charge in.

Bucky grabs onto his arm and pulls him back to his side with a long-suffering sigh. "Okay, I'll help save her. But we need a plan, and we'll have to act quickly. Here's what we're going to do." Bucky explains his plan while Steve nods, keeping an eye on the group of mers who were moving steadily further away.

"AAAHHHH!" Bucky is nothing but a blur of blue and brown as he charges through the small group of mers, sharp teeth bared in a feral snarl.

Startled, the group drops the unconscious girl and scatters. The largest of them, and clearly not the smartest fish in the school turns on Bucky, getting ready to attack him. Bucky had armed himself with sharp rocks that could serve as knives. The young merman launches himself at the brunet, who easily avoids the attack. They trade a flurry of blows, drawing the others from their hiding places to watch the duel. In all the commotion no one notices Steve swim up to the girl, draw her into his arms and swim her to safety. Once Bucky sees that Steve is out of harm's way, he deals a final blow to the young merman's temple with a hissed, "Never come after my mate again!", before swimming away just as fast as he'd arrived.

If only he knew just how right he was...