A/N: This fanfic was requested by Anna. Thank you for the request! If you want to request a ship + prompt, message me the request on here or on Instagram @encyclopediabrittana !
Simply put, Santana Lopez was in love, although she would never admit it. She leaned on the rail of her ship, watching the water gently splash as she rode by. The weather was perfect, sunny with a slight breeze. It was quiet except for the caw of seagulls and murmur of voices from the other end of the ship. Santana was so deep in thought, she barely heard the footsteps of a crew member as he approached her. "Captain? It appears we've hit something with the boat."
Santana turned to face the man. He was probably one of the new recruits, as she didn't recognize him at all. The man was also sent over to give her bad news. None of the seasoned crew members would ever do that; they'd just fix the problem. "It better not be another dolphin," she hissed. "You know the meat on dolphins tastes like shit."
She saw a visible bead of sweat form on his sunburned forehead. Santana pushed past him and headed to the front of the boat. Her entire crew was there, clustered, staring over the rail into the sea. "Get back to work!" Santana barked.
The crew scattered, scurrying back to their assigned jobs. Santana peered over the rail. Laying on a pile of rocks nearby was a mermaid. Santana turned back to yell at her crew. "Fuck you guys! You suck."
Santana looked over the rail again and sighed, this is what she got for having an entire crew of men. She tied a rope to the bowsprit and climbed down. She had to swim a few feet to reach the rocks and she cursed her incompetent crew the entire way. "Hey, baby? You okay?" she asked the mermaid as soon as she climbed onto the rocks.
The mermaid turned to face her. Chunks of her blonde hair were plastered to her face with water and her eyes were filled with tears. "Dammit," Santana muttered.
She hoped that the mermaid would be in better condition. It wasn't the first time they'd hit this mermaid before. With her crew's terrible steering skills and the mermaid's lack of brightness, it wasn't a surprise to have crashed into her again. Santana stood up to yell at her crew. "Put the anchor down. Looks like we'll be here for a while."
Santana could hear the frustrated complaints of her crew from above. "Hey, remember who hit the mermaid?" she pointed out. She heard the crew go quiet. "That's what I thought."
She turned her attention back to the mermaid in front of her. "Britt-Britt, does it hurt anywhere?"
The mermaid placed both hands over her heart. "It hurts here. Because you keep leaving me."
Santana closed her eyes. She should've expected Brittany to say something like that. Santana opened her eyes and reached over to put her hand on top of the other woman's. "How am I supposed to bring you with me? You don't want to be put in a tank and isolated from the rest of the ocean. I couldn't do that to you anyway."
Britany moved to put her head on Santana's knee. "I miss you though," she stared up at the pirate with big, pleading eyes.
"I miss you too. There's not really much we can do about it and you know it." Santana felt her heart ache as she looked down at Brittany, sad. blue eyes staring up at her.
She loved Brittany, although she would never tell her. It would just be signing up for heartbreak. Her crew wouldn't take her as seriously if they knew she had a heart. Brittany was a mermaid and she was a pirate; it hurt to admit, but they just weren't meant to be. Santana brushed Brittany's hair out of her face and listened as Brittany talked about their future. Brittany thought they were going to live together happily in the ocean with her merkitty, Lord Tubbington. Santana looked at Brittany, anguished. "Britts, you know I want that, but I have a ship to run."
