above and beyond

Chapter 15

Sonia could listen to Gloria talk about her home for hours, and never get bored with it. She is entranced by every detail, and that, combined with her shock to hear Gloria talk, to know that the spell was secured with Hop's assistance, is enough to keep her from teasing the two of them about their relationship too much. Now that she understands the basics of what Gloria had to do, she probably thinks that it was meant to be Hop all along.

Perhaps, in some weird way, it was, but there is no way for Gloria to prove anything like that. But she knows, at the very least, that she is where she is meant to be now, able to spend her days with Hop just as she has been, but this time she can talk, carrying on conversations with human after human, knowing now that she is one of them, and that she always will be. She spends a lot of time with Sonia as well, helping her finalize notes about this mysterious world under the sea.

The three of them have still not told Leon anything major about it, so he is still unaware that Gloria is the mermaid that saved his life, but nobody gives him a hard time about believing in such things anymore. He seems to understand without needing to ask, when Gloria recovers her voice but not her memories, and she and Hop vow to tell him everything that they can soon enough.

She is going to tell him everything, eventually. Perhaps she will not confess her feelings, not at first, but she is going to at least tell him who she is, maybe even that he inspired her to come on land, that she did it so that she could meet him. But, for the time being, she is going to wait before she tells him how she feels, until she has a better understanding of those feelings, and how they fit in with her feelings for Hop.

For the time being, she tries to help Sonia understand her world, and tries to think of ways that they might be able to bridge the gap. That is a major undertaking, of course, and one that her people have often feared, so she is not sure if there is much that either she or Sonia will be able to do. But she wants to at least start small, so that maybe becoming human does not have to mean leaving everyone else she cares about behind for good.

First and foremost, she will find some way to contact her mother and Nessa, and then maybe she can still talk to them, even if she has to lean over the side of a boat while they stick their heads above water. Maybe there will be some way for her to introduce Nessa and Sonia, and the two can work together, combining magic and scientific research, just as Hop had once suggested.

Gloria has a feeling that the two of them could be very good friends, and might even be able to cover some important ground together.

~X~

After a few weeks of simply enjoying her human life, going out with Hop and talking as much as she can, sometimes even singing, Gloria finally decides that it is time to talk to Leon. Of everyone, he knows the most about her old form, even if he does not realize it, and she can't keep him in the dark about that anymore.

"I have something that I need to tell you," she says, once they finally have a chance to speak to each other alone. She finds that she is not as nervous around him as she used to be.

"Is it that you were the one who saved me from drowning?" he asks, so casually that it nearly knocks her off balance.

"How long have you known?" she asks, once she has properly recovered.

"I didn't necessarily know, but I always wondered. I mean, I never got a proper look at her, because I was so out of it, and then there you were, with legs instead of a tail, and you never mentioned knowing me," he says. "But there was something familiar about your face, and, to be honest, your story didn't add up, but you seemed like a good person, so I played along."

"It was me," she admits. "I'm...surprised you believed it all so easily, it sounds crazy when I talk about it. I used to be a mermaid, and I wanted to become human. Losing my voice was a temporary side effect, but...Hop helped me with that one."

Leon smiles fondly at the mention of his brother and says, "You two look good together. I'm glad that he makes you so happy. But...well, I just have to know! Why did you want to be human?"

"I always have, for as long as I can remember. I always wanted to become a human, and I'd been trying for so long, but honestly, when I met you, it made me want to really try," she says, giving him a warm smile. "I felt like I might have a place with humans."

"You do, and you always will. You're always going to have a place with us," says Leon.

For now, she will not tell him about the way his smile still makes her heart skip a beat.

~X~

"I love you," she tells Hop sometimes, just so that he can hear her say it. At first, she also needed time to get used to the sound of her own voice, but now, it is all for Hop, who still marvels at it, even months after she regains the ability to speak.

"I love you," she repeats, when she sees the way he smiles, and he repeats it back to her, taking his hand. Today, he is going to teach her how to swim, something that she has recently discovered she has no idea how to with her new legs.

Hop thinks it's hilarious that he is a better swimmer than a former mermaid.