An Eclipse for a Pirate

Is it really him?

                           Y/N p.o.v

   It had been days at the island, by now there were bags under everyone's eyes, including yourself. You had thought it would take only a few hours, but you were incorrect about your estimate.
   You watched as the sun slowly fell under the sea, creating the same orange and pink in the sky that had filled the day that glorious moment. Slowly your eyes shut, and for a moment you had seen a tail come from the ocean...wait..a tail? Your body shot up in glee, watching as the last droplet joined the water.

   Soon you were in the water, having realized that your crew fell asleep while waiting along with you for the mermaid so many tales had been told about. But that didn't matter, did it? You cared for finally seeing that tail and what the rest had looked like that had been hidden all these years. Swimming in the water in a full outfit possibly wasn't your wisest choice, now being soaked and cold from the unforgiving seas. You saw it once again, but this time with larger detail, the scales were a golden orange with black and white stripes accompanying it. Was it coming closer..? The memory of the tales told of mermaids struck you, leaving a hole in your soul. It was always ending with a sailor being brought down to Davy Jones locker after hearing the singing they allowed to escape from their vocal cords.
   'Oh no..' You thought, but there wasn't any singing, was it distracted by something else? Had it not seen you? Those ideas filled your head before you could realize something had grabbed you by the ankles, yanking you down into the water. Out of fear, you held your breath and shut your eyes as much as possible...but nothing happened, you could feel what seemed to be hands maneuvering across your body, wanting to see just what you were.
   Slowly, your eyes opened, but didn't sting from the water hitting them, but instead there was an air bubble around your head just like a helmet you would see blacksmiths wear when working with metal. You stared at the beast in front of you..it was as beautiful as you had thought. Speaking to it was out of the question, unsure if it would be even able to speak english or at all. As you looked down, their hands were on your sides, feeling the clothes and the body shape you had.
   Its hands had long finger, but the tips weren't sharp as some stories had told, instead being rounded just like yours, its skin was an orange tint..and its head, it was almost like a circle, having two eyes with no color to be seen other than white, having fins around the head to resemble the sun that you had seen it with so many times, the beginning of the fish started where the bellybutton was. People had always spoken of mermaids being women with long and beautiful hair, sitting upon rocks while singing to lure in victims to eat or drown as a sick joke. If those were true, why is it different? It's keeping you alive for what purpose? You felt a bit bad for wanting to sell the one thing you had been searching for nearly 3 years..
   You had changed your mind, you won't be selling this creature, nor telling anyone that you had found it, only that it would be best to leave with what you had now instead of more than what the sea had given you. Lost in your own thoughts, you'd nearly forgotten just exactly what was in front of you, or what it was doing for that matter. The only reason you've been interrupted from your thoughts was from what felt to be a lick..was it tasting you? Fear had hit you, maybe it was going to eat you alive, you tried struggling before it grabbed your wrists, looking at you in confusion. Even with no pupils, there was an obvious amount of understanding what is allowed and what isn't. Maybe it was normal for mermaids to do this? You shook your head, focusing on what was happening; your crew was asleep, making it nearly impossible to get help. A mermaid had a hold of you, and you're unaware if you're going to be eaten or not.
   You sighed inside of the bubble, deciding to accept your fate of being eaten by what seemed to be nearly a 7 foot creature of the sea. At least it would give you a name around town, as the captain who had been eaten by a mermaid while their crew had fallen asleep.
   At least that's what you thought before blinking into realization, the mermaid had let go of your wrists to give you..a shell? Was this a gift? You held it gently in your hands while inspecting it, the shell was in perfect condition, the grooves on it being rough while the inside entirely smooth. The colors were dark but had shades of reds and oranges attached. You looked at the mermaid who was looking at you, seemingly wanting approval for the gift, however before you could even say thank you in any way possible, it looked at the sun, panicking as it grabbed you. You held onto the shell with all your strength.
   Before you knew it, the mermaid was spinning around with you before swimming towards the ship, 'was it going to throw me?!' You thought, however it came with you as the two of you flew through the air, landing on the dock of the ship. Before even having a chance to continue saying thank you..it was gone..

   You slowly stood up, shaking yourself off as though you were a wet dog after a bath, going to your captain's quarters to change. Once you had the chance to, you stared at the shell. It had cracked from the fall however it didn't change much of the shape. It was added to a shelf of items you had collected that seemed to be from the mermaid itself, though it could have been just some debris on shore.
   The shelf had only a few items, a scale, the newly added shell, and a bottle that had the same colors as the fins of the creature.
   Quickly you went to your notebook, drawing what was the missing piece of the puzzle, that being the top-half of the mermaid itself. You added a note of it, like how its eyes are like a pearl, how it's 7 feet tall, or their ability to have a bubble appear around your head. Ideas of imaginations filled your head of the creature more than it had when you first saw it.

[1135 words!]