Miraculous Ladybug - Deep Blue

Chapter Eight

The first thing Marinette saw when she opened her eyes were another pair of eyes staring right back at her. The exact same green eyes she saw the night before. She could feel the blush creeping up her neck and to her cheeks as her mouth started moving but no words came out. She was laying on the sand in an awkward position, her tail flopped out right in front of her and her hands laid beside her head. The boy was on top of her, and he looked extremely embarrassed. This staring and blushing went on for a while.

Adrien managed to compose himself. "U-ummm...sorry, I should get off you now, eheh...", he managed to stutter out, not meeting the mermaid's gaze. He picked himself up from the sand, making him able to see the mermaid more clearly. It took him a few seconds to realize who she was. His mouth gaped open as he took in her dark blue hair and bluebell eyes. His eyes finally traveled down to her tail, a beautiful crimson color, glinting from the sunlight streaming through the water. He realized that she was still on the sand, trying to get up, but failing miserably. How rude of me...he thought.

He held out his right hand to the girl and gave a warm smile. "Let me help you up." The girl hesitated for a moment before deciding to take his hand. The moment their hands touched, a warm fizzy sensation went through both of them, pulsating throughout the whole ocean. Adrien was so shocked that he almost let go of her hand, the girl had a similar reaction. She slowly rised from the sand, her eyes darting from his hand to his face. They slowly swam around each other getting a better look. Adrien finally broke the silence. "So...I take that this is your first time as a mermaid?" He grinned. The girl stopped swimming to cross her arms and give him an annoyed look.

Marinette couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was a mermaid now, which was beyond weird for her. The boy didn't seem to care though, and the fact that he didn't apologize for turning her into a "fish-mutant" tore her to pieces. "I wouldn't be a mermaid if it wasn't for you!", she snapped. The boy looked at her in surprise, probably shocked of the unnatural mean attitude the girl was giving. "Wait...what?", he responded, clearly puzzled. "If you're talking about you being a mermaid, that has nothing to do with me. Look...we got off at a bad start, let's start over." Marinette, arms still crossed, shortly nodded her head. "Fine...but you'd better make it quick."

"Well for starters...my name is Adrien, I am a merman...obviously", he chuckled to himself. "I um...am an orphan, but don't worry, I have an adopted family..." His voice trailed off, leaving the silence of the ocean to envelope the two. The girl slowly unfolded her arms, her eyes not meeting his. "Oh...I didn't know...I'm sorry. More silence followed. "...My name is Marinette," she finally said, meeting his gaze. "I am a normal teenager with a normal life."

Marinette glanced at her tail. "...Well almost normal", she said, giggling. "So...what do we do now?", Adrien asked. Marinette tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Gee...I don't know. My initial plan was to confront you for turning me into a mermaid with whatever weirdo powers you merpeople have, but then you said you didn't do it, and now I am beyond confused." She paused to take a breath. "I still need answers, however, I can't live in my world where there are water danger zones everywhere with the risk of sprouting a tail just about anywhere."

Adrien understood. How could he not? After all, if he was somehow turned into a human, he would probably be freaking out more than Marinette. Something in his heart told him something though, and the moment their hands touched, there was that warm fizzy feeling; exactly like last night when Adrien saved her from drowning. Maybe...maybe it meant something. It was like the ocean itself was calling them to find each other, mess with their beliefs and heart, but why? He decided to just speak up.

"W-what if you're meant to be a mermaid?", he asked cautiously, afraid of her answer. She stared back at him intently with a raised eyebrow. "Why would you say such a thing? I told you I am just a normal girl...it's not like I wished for this to happen." Adrien wasn't paying attention. He was too busy staring at her earrings, which were glowing a bright red. In fact...he glanced at his own hand. His ring was emitting a shiny white glow. Curiously, he swam closer to Marinette, until they were just inches apart. "Um...what are you doing?", she asked suspiciously.

"Your earrings...", Adrien began. "Why are they glowing?" Marinette noticed the soft red glow illuminating on her cheeks. She cupped her ears with her hands. "I-I don't know, this morning when I woke up, I found these earrings under my pillow, a-and I thought they were so pretty...so I put them on...", she rambled. "Hmmm...I wonder", Adrien thought aloud. He brought up his ring finger. The closer it was to the earrings, the more it shined. The earrings had the same reaction, and burned a brighter red. Marinette could feel the glow intensifying and saw what Adrien was trying to do. She quickly took off her earrings and inched them closer to his ring.

Sucking in her breath, Marinette glanced up to look at Adrien. The light from both jewels emitted a pink glow. Adrien caught her gaze before nodding curtly. Slowly, they joined the jewels. A split second passed by and there was a bright golden glow and a strong current pulsated through the ocean, knocking Marinette and Adrien to the sand floor once more, the jewels still clutched in their hands.