Mix and match: John Laurens X!Mermaid! Reader

~~Chapter 31: Love (Final)~~

3rd person's P.O.V

John stood on the edge of the cliff leading to the cold deep sea, his back turned to general Schuyler, her henchmen, and Y/N. But John didn't know that the general behind him was Peggy Schuyler. He recognized her voice but couldn't link it to a person. His toes dangled off the cliff and his knees slightly shook. He had always feared to fall off a cliff, that's why he stayed away from the high grounds as much as he could. His palms sweat as he tried to fight the rope around his wrists. The scariest thing about this whole experience was that he couldn't see anything. They had tied a dirty cloth tightly around his eyes. His breath was shaky. He felt the fresh sea wind blow into his face, making his loose hair lightly dance in the wind. It was silent. Silent. Except for Y/N begging Peggy to stop what she was doing. Peggy didn't answer to her cries.

John could only connect the dots drawn out for him. He heard Peggy talk to Y/N. It wasn't in a threating tone. It was rather in a very sweet tone. She thanked her for luring in an American soldier. Right at that point, John didn't know how to feel. He didn't want to speak to her, he didn't want to see her, he didn't want to listen to her.

Why would he want to?

Y/N, on the other hand, was straight up yelling at Peggy. Screaming and crying her guts out. Asking all the questions, yelling all the statements and crying all the prayers. Tears rolled off her cheek like raindrops would on a stormy day. Did this stop Peggy from doing her evil doings? No. In fact, it may have pushed her to continue the torture John was receiving. Making him wait for what was to come. Peggy couldn't care less if she was hurting Y/N in the progress. 

Yet deep down, Peggy did care. 

Deep down, she truly did care for Y/N. More than her sisters would. More than John did. More than any other girl would. She hated seeing Y/N like this. Crying her guts out as she tried to get loose from the grip of the redcoat, who was holding her arms in a tight grip. Why? Why couldn't Y/N just forget John and love her instead?

All Peggy ever wanted was to love and be loved. Was that too much to ask for? She had all the riches and needs she could ever want in her household except for that one thing no one can buy. Love. Y/N provided attention and laughter from the moment they met each other at the winter's ball. She showed Peggy understanding and care, something Peggy had been yearning for years upon end. Something she got a taste of and cherished to bits. 

Did that little detail of gender really matter?

Y/N and John was something else. John felt the same way about Y/N as Peggy did for her. Y/N, on the other hand, saw John as her escape. As a drug. The hanahaki disease was still tormenting her every day, she didn't know why. She thought she loved John and he didn't love her back. Because every time they kissed, her disease seemed to fade away. Was John the disease and the cure? How could that be possible?

Think about it. Presume you really love chocolate. You eat it whenever you can get your hands on it. You adore every aspect of it; the smell, the taste, the way it looks. It's perfection. But you wouldn't buy one single bar of chocolate to just look at it and appreciate its existence. No, you would eat it. You wouldn't marry chocolate. You would consume it. Chocolate is made for consumption. 

John.

John is made for mental consumption. 

John is the mere reason why Y/N had this disease. He is the reason why. So why should he just stand by and not do anything? He got Y/N into this mess, so he'll help and clean it up.

"General!" John jumped slightly, scared by the sudden sound. His senses were heightened just by his inability to see anything. Everyone's head turned, except for John's of course, and they saw a red coat. He was puffing, putting his hands on his knees. He was tired. Maybe it was because he had to run up a hill, maybe it was because a group of rebels was attacking. 

"The rebels, they're pushing our men towards their camp. If we continue to fight back, we'll lose a big portion of our soldiers and we will need recruits from Britain," He informed as Peggy cured under her breath. "Retreat," She grumbled before waving him off and turning her attention back to John. The messenger nodded and ran back down the hill as quick as he could. Peggy had to go too. She had to get back to her camp. She had to finish whatever she was doing and help her men. 

Peggy nodded to the soldier beside her. The redcoat pointed the bayonet that he had been holding toward John and narrowed his eyes, taking his aim. He tried to ignore Y/N's cries and tried to focus. Finally, a shot could be heard.

Hit or miss.

I guess he didn't miss, huh. 

(I'm so sorry, I'll continue)

Everyone jumped a bit. Everyone, including the soldier who was holding Y/N's wrists. He loosened his grip just a tiny bit, but it was enough for Y/N to jerk herself away from him and land on the ground. She looked up, panic in her eyes as she saw John fall on his knees and stumble off the cliff. 

Back to the chocolate example. If someone yeeted your chocolate off a cliff, you would jump after it right. (My friends read this and this was their reaction: 'No, we wouldn't. We would buy new chocolate.' And my comeback to this is: 'Well, you can't go and get yourself a new John, now can you?')

She immediately stood up, slipping on the dawn-wet grass and dived head first off the cliff. 

Peggy was shocked and immediately ran after her only to stop at the edge of the cliff and see John fall head first into the water and then Y/N. For a split second, she wanted to jump off of the cliff herself. And she diddly darn would've if her soldiers didn't drag her away from the edge of the cliff. 

"Miss, there is no way they survived. So don't think you are some kind of God. You will die," One of the soldiers lectured her as she yanked both of her arms away and told them to go away to help the retreating soldiers. As they left, she stared at the edge of the cliff. How could Y/N love something so much that she'd jump off a cliff for it? Would Y/N ever be able to love Peggy like that? Could she, now that she was dead?

Replaying the same scene, again and again, was the only thing she did before she had enough. She slowly turned around and made her way down the hill. 

End Book I