Part Of Your World

three

Over the next few months, you would sneak out of the confines of the palace and go to Shipwreck Cove. Natasha and Clint would join you when they could, helping you collect trinkets from the wrecks and take them to your grotto. Your grotto was filled with all sorts of objects that you could only guess what they were used for.

One night, you were out late. You knew that you were pushing it, especially because you were alone. You were in your grotto, placing new items on the rock shelves and reorganizing where some of the items were placed. The full moon was shining brightly into the calm water, allowing you to see so clearly. You looked up, longing to swim up to the surface. Not too far away, you noticed a large, dark object coming closer along the surface of the water.

"What father doesn't know won't hurt him," you whispered to yourself before you swam up to the surface.

You gasped when you broke the surface, feeling a little chill due to the air. You looked over to where you had seen the dark object and noticed that there was a large ship there. Curious, you swam closer. You noticed that the ship was made out of wood, with some of the wood sticking out enough for you to grab on. There was a larger hole near the top that would allow you to see the commotion you could hear coming from the ship. You climbed the side of the ship, finding a good place to balance yourself before peering onto the deck.

There were humans talking and dancing about, men and women. They seemed happy, like they were celebrating something. There were three men playing music and an interesting four legged animal running around the people. You watched as the animal began sniffing the floorboards, heading towards you. Before you knew it, the animal was in front of you, licking your face. You couldn't help but let out a laugh, quickly stifling it before anyone could notice.

"Alpine!" A man called. The animal looked toward the man. "Alpine, here boy!"

The animal ran to the man, jumping up and barking. Your breathe caught in your throat as you got a look at the man. He was gorgeous. His black hair was slightly shagging, but not much. His eyes were the most wonderful shade of blue, matching the ocean. He was tall and built well.

You had never see a human like this. Actually, you had never seen humans at all with your own eyes. You watched as the man stood there with the animal, who kept barking at him.

"Hey, come on, mutt," the man joked to the animal. "What's got into, huh, Alpine?" The animal barked again and turned toward where you were. You quickly hid from view. "Is something over there, boy?" The animal barked and went over to the opening. The man followed. "There's nothing here, boy."

"Silence! Silence!" A large blonde man shouted for everyone's attention. The humans quickly grew silent. "It is now my honor and privilege to present Prince James—"

"Come on, Steve," the man who caught your eye interrupted. "We've been friends since we were kids."

"Right, sorry, Bucky. It is my privilege to present Bucky with this present from the court." Steve motioned to a large, covered object in the center of the ship. "Happy birthday, pal."

Steve pulled the cover from the object, revealing a large, gaudy statue of Bucky. He was holding a sword and stepping on top of what seemed to be a royal crest.

"Gee, Steve," Bucky muttered. "It's, err, it's—it's really somethin'."

"Yeah, the court had it commissioned," Steve stated. He seemed to not like it very much. "They had hoped it would be a wedding present, but—"

"Aw, come on, Steve, don't start that again. It's my birthday. You can't still be sore because I didn't fall for the princess of Wakanda, are you?"

"Bucky," a woman with curly brown hair stepped up beside Steve, "the entire kingdom wants to see you happily settled down. We want to see that happen."

Bucky sighed as he sat down on the railing of the ship, looking out to sea. "Well, she's out there somewhere. Just haven't found her yet."

"Maybe you're being too picky," Steve suggested, only to be quickly jabbed in the side by the woman's elbow.

"I will know her when I find her. Without a doubt. It'll hit me, like lightning."

Thunder sounded without warning as the winds picked up. You looked at the sky to see large, dark clouds rolling in quick. Lightning flashed through the sky before the sound of thunder. And then came the rain.

"Hurricane a'commin'!" A man frantically shouted. "Stand fast! Secure the riggin'!"

You watched as everyone raced to a place to secure the sails or down below the boat. The waves grew larger and larger, causing the boat to rock. It didn't take long for you to lose your grip on the boat and go flying into the water. You swam back up to the surface in time to see lightning hit the sail, catching it on fire. The fire quickly spread down the large wood pole and onto the deck. Those on the boat rushed to the smaller boats attached to the side of the ship. Because the people were too worried about getting off the ship, they didn't noticed the large rock in their path. The ship crashed into the rock, causing those not in the life boats yet to go flying off.

You were in shock, not knowing how to help or even if to help. Looking around, you tried to find the beautiful human named Bucky.

"Bucky!" Steve yelled from one of the smaller boats.

You followed where he was looking to see that Bucky was still on the boat, with the furry animal in his arms.

"Here!" Bucky shouted, tossing the animal down to Steve.

Before Bucky could jump, the ship exploded. You ducked down into the water to avoid being hit by the flying pieces of ship. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice Bucky in the water, trying to swim to the top. You rushed over, not caring if he saw you.

~~~

Bucky was struggling to swim up to the surface due to how heavy his boots were. Suddenly, you were in front of him. His eyes quickly scanned you. He almost gasped because of two things: how beautiful you were and that you were a mermaid. You looped your arms around his and began swimming him up to the surface. Bucky gasped for breath as he broke the water. He looked around frantically for you but couldn't see you. Before he knew it, Steve was pulling him out of the water and onto one of the life boats.

"She—where is she?" Bucky stammered.

"Where is who?" Steve wondered.

"The girl... The one who saved me."

"No one saved you, Bucky."

"Yes, someone did! She was a—" Bucky stopped himself. He knew the implications if he said he saw a mermaid. He would either be declared as crazy or the whole kingdom would be hunting mermaids.

"She was a, what?" Peggy probed.

"Nevermind."

Peggy and Steve eyed each other with both confusion and curiosity. Bucky's eyes stayed glued onto the water as they began to row away.

~~~

Once you knew that Bucky was going to be okay, you had swam away to a safer distance. You watched from behind some floating pieces of the ship as Bucky was rowed away. There was something inside of you screaming to follow him. You wished that you could. You knew though that you had to get back before your father realized that you were gone.

You swam off, not realizing that someone was watching her from below. Wanda's lips curled into a smile as a plan formed in her head. She had waited thirteen long years for a way to get to you and she was sure that she finally had it.

"Don't worry, boys," she whispered to herself. "Mommy's almost fixed this."