Deep in the sparkling blue embrace of the ocean, a whole kingdom thrived under the salty waves.

Colourful fish danced and performed tricks for their friends and family.

Plants of all shapes, sizes and colours swayed to the calm rocking of the ocean tides, and creatures both great and small bid each other safe passage through the vast blue body of water in which they lived.

Only one creature of the ocean was still.

Safely in a bed of seaweed lay a mermaid, her scales glistening in the morning sun.

She laid on her back, the seaweed brushing over her scales with a delicate touch, and dreamed away.

As she dreamed, the sunlight warmed her from above.

The fish passed over her quietly to not wake her.

The rocks underneath her back held steady below her, and the ocean gently rocked her into a deeper sleep than before.

The mermaid continued to dream, until all of a sudden, drop by drop, something dripped above her and made rippling shadows over her still frame, frightening the fish away.

Opening her eyes, the mermaid rose with a baffled look on her face.

From what she could remember, there wasn't a storm mentioned anywhere.
So what was making all those ripples?

Curious, the mermaid swam up to the surface, her tail forming bubbles as she rose higher and higher to the surface of the sea.
'Swish, swish' went her tail, sending her further and further upwards.

Once her head rose above the water, the mermaid gave a soft gasp and looked around.

The sky was as blue as the sea, sparse fluffy clouds floating lazily above her.
Seagulls cawed as they soared in the air, and the mermaid could see the ocean sparkle like a sapphire ring.

Intrigued, the mermaid kept looking around, cautiously swimming through the salty sea.

It was then, and only then, she saw something that grabbed her attention.

A modest wooden pier with waves lapping against its sides.

And on that pier, batting at the water, was a tall creature covered in fur.

The creature was as big as the mermaid herself, but instead of her body ending in a tail, it ended in two long legs that were gently tucked under her body.
Pointed ears sprung up on top of the creature's head, while an eel-like tail -also covered in fur- wiggled as the creature gave the water another bat for good measure.

The mermaid was amazed!

She had never seen another being like this!

Swimming closer, the mermaid floated a little closer, briefly ducking under the water once more when she saw the being look up, swimming just shy of the wooden pier and breaking the surface once more.
She bobbed in time with the gentle waves that lapped against the pier's wooden support beams, staring spellbound at the tall figure that crouched before her.

"Hello" the mermaid spoke, her voice as soft and soothing as the sounds of the sea.

Startled, the one on the pier jumped back with a gasp, their eyes large with shock and sparkling in the sunlight.
Their tail curled around their body, but they stayed where they were, staring back at the mermaid.

"Who are you?" the furred female asked with a curious look.

The mermaid smiled modestly, her tail slowly swishing from side to side beneath the waves.
She rested her arms on the wooden pier, laying her head on her folded arms and looking up at the other lass with innocent blue eyes.

"I'm a mermaid, my darling," the mermaid replied softly.

"Do not be afraid, I mean you no harm. These waters are my home, they have been my whole life."

"The waters are your home?" the lass on land echoed curiously.
"Is it not cold? Or dangerous?" she wondered.

The mermaid giggled softly in response.
"Why, yes. Some parts can be dangerous" she answered.
"Even so, there are many parts of the sea which are beautiful and full of life. If you so desire, I could show you those sights" she offered, yet the other hesitated.

"I don't know if that's a good idea. I'm afraid" the lass admitted with a tremble.

Her pointed ears folded flat against her hair, and she looked down at the wooden platform in shame.

"Afraid, my darling?" the mermaid mused, straightening up curiously.
"Afraid of what, exactly?"

"I'm afraid that I will lose my way. My guardian has warned me about the water. She tells me that my kind does not belong there" the familiar explained.
"She tells me that felines cannot go in the water. I am afraid of what may occur" she added sadly.

"My dear" the mermaid cooed in sympathy, resting a scaled hand on top of the feline's paw.
"It's alright to be afraid. If it's any comfort to you, I will be by your side, as your guide, and I will make sure that you will be safe, I promise."
With a hopeful smile, she looked up at the feline with pride and joy in her eyes.

"Please, my friend. I would love to show you the sights from my home, if you would like to see them. I will stay with you for as long as we are together" she assured her.

"But I will not be able to breathe!" the feline whimpered fearfully, giving a little shiver.
"I will drown if I'm not careful!"

"My magic will aid you, my dear friend" came the mermaid's quiet reply.
"I will make sure you're safe and at ease while exploring the ocean floor. But only you can make this choice. You can decline if you wish."

Taking a deep breath, the feline familiar felt her ears spring back up. Her once fearful expression was replaced with a determined look of confidence.
She looked into the hopeful eyes of the mermaid and gave a nod of affirmation, a smile gracing her face.

"Very well!" the feline declared.
"Let's go together, my friend!"

The mermaid was overjoyed to hear this!
But first thing's first, she thought.

She delicately cupped her hands in front of her, focusing and wishing with all her might.

In seconds, something small began to form in her cupped hands.

The thing was shiny and round, the see-through and smooth form having an oh-so beautiful sheen to it, seeming to sparkle in the sunlight.
It grew bigger, and bigger, and bigger still, until it was the size of the feline's head.
Once it was big enough, the mermaid held it out to the amazed feline familiar.

Resisting the urge to bat the newly-formed bubble, the familiar allowed the bubble to be put over her head.
She felt it slip on snugly as if it was merely a knight's helmet.

She could still breathe easily, and it made her feel safe.

Without hesitation, the feline lowered herself into the water, feeling her paw pads sink into the calm, cool brine.
She took the mermaid's hand and off the two went, the feline following the mermaid's lead as they swam further under the blue waves.
Bubbles gushed and floated around them thanks to their movements, drifting lazily up to the surface and disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Both of them swam on, the familiar taking a minute to note the mermaid's beautiful finned tail that sparkled and shimmered different colours in the light.
Red, then gold, then orange, and red once more like a candle's flame.
She couldn't look away, until the mermaid gave her hand a squeeze.

"Look around, love" she whispered in wonder, and so the familiar did.
Everything around them was simply abuzz with colour and movement.
Pink and orange corals reached up to touch the blue sky above, seahorses playing among the reeds nearby.

Shells and shiny pebbles littered the floor, being moved along by the current.
Fish and molluscs popped out to greet them from caves and hidey-holes, or swam beside them without a care in the world.
Large and majestic whale families warbled long-forgotten songs for the two girls as they moved overhead, briefly casting a safe shadow over the pair before they floated on across the ocean.
Even the sharks offered welcoming grins while going about their own business, much to the delight of the feline and the mermaid.

Oh, what fun they had on their adventures!
Exploring the deep caverns, singing to the music the ocean creatures made, and dancing wonderfully beneath the waves.

Neither of them wanted this to end, not one bit!

In fact, neither of them had noticed how late it had become.
The sun had almost set completely behind the horizon, many of the fishes fleeing to their hidey-holes to sleep for the night, while the sea became darker and colder.

The feline and the mermaid both swam hastily back towards the pier, the familiar scrambling back onto the wooden wharf and shaking the salt water off of her body like a playful pup.
She could hear the waves gently washing ashore and back again like a graceful dance, the smell of the sand and salt lingering around her, and at her back she could hear the tall trees on land whispering comfortingly, as if they were welcoming her back to shore once again.

"Today was a wondrous adventure" the familiar spoke softly, grabbing the mermaid's attention.
The two shared a smile, both silent for a second or two.

"Will you join me again?" the mermaid asked, and the feline nodded.

"In a heartbeat, my dear friend," the familiar answered sincerely.
"Would you object to joining me above land sometime?" she pressed in a curious tone.

The mermaid thought for a moment, and shook her head to signal no. No, she would not object to that. She'd be cautious, but it would not be impossible.
"It will be a challenge, but we will find a way to do so" she mused.
"I would give anything to meet with you again, my dear one."

"Then let's meet again!" the familiar declared confidently.

Without any hesitation, the two took each other's hands in solidarity, marking their mutual agreement.
Stars in their eyes, they bid each other goodnight, before the mermaid sunk out of sight once more.
The familiar watched her go, then stood silently, and walked into the direction of her mentor's calls.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The days turned into weeks, then into months, and the girls could feel their bond growing stronger than it had ever been.

Countless times, the two would meet and spend days on end together, watching the day turn into night on the beach, taking part in festivities in their little seaside town from markets to masquerades, to even taking walks along the sandy shore in tranquil silence.
It was simply magical, and the two wouldn't have traded those times for anything in the world.

That is, until their families began to get suspicious of their whereabouts.

The mermaid's father, the king of the seas, began to grow paranoid and annoyed at his daughter's frequent disappearances, as did the witch living on the land who could not find her familiar for hours at a time on most days.

Enough was enough!
They had to investigate what was happening with the two girls, at once!

No such information was being supplied or pried from the followers around them nor from the girls themselves.
After trying, and failing, many times to trick or trap them in order to get valuable information out of them, the witch and the ruler of the seas decided that there was only one thing for it.
They had to catch them both in the act!
If the two had malicious intentions, or -the deities forbid- something had bloomed between them by interacting, their guardians would put a stop to it before either got hurt.
After all, the sea king wasn't too fond of the ones who walked on land, nor was the witch willing to work with ones who inhabited the deep blue tides of the ocean.

So their plan was set.
Under the cover of night, while the stars glowed above and the moon was full and bright, the witch and the sea king followed the familiar and the mermaid at a distance.

They followed, watching closely, as the two reunited at the same pier they had first met each other.

Under the light of the moon, the guardians of the two friends witnessed in shock and anger as the mermaid was plucked from the water in one swift motion and carried onto the beach by the tall cat creature.

The witch and the sea king were furious!

This couldn't be happening!
It was forbidden for those on land to love the creatures of the sea!
No good would come out of it, only chaos and destruction, yet it was happening!

With a terrifying roar of fury, the sea king rose up further from the cold, briney waters.
Storms stirred up above, turning the waters the blackest of black with no light left in sight.
No animals of the sea could be seen below the surface, and no place in the deep ocean nor vast sky and land was safe from his wrath.
The witch who was also a witness to the scene gave a screech of rage as she readied her spells, the wind causing her hair to whip wildly around her face like tentacles, her eyes glowing a jealous green.

"WHAT IS THIS?!" they both bellowed, startling the mermaid and the familiar with the very sound.

The mermaid clung helplessly to the feline, her red tail fin twitching in dear as the feline familiar glared in defiant annoyance.

'What was so bad about a walk on the beach?' she thought to herself.

"I mean no harm" the feline spoke up, the mermaid looking on in shocked silence.
"We were simply taking a walk on the beach, that is all. I assure you."

"It matters not what you were doing!" the witch sneered, glaring at the mermaid in the arms of her disobedient familiar.
"This love cannot and will not continue! Neither of us will allow it!"

"I beg of you, please see it from our point of view" the mermaid meekly chimed in.
"She is a dear, kind being, and I feel safe with her. I cannot bear to be apart from her. She is the only friend I have, and I can't bring myself to leave her side."

"I will not stand for this insolence, my child!" the sea king boomed, as thunder rumbled angrily overhead.
"You will come home immediately, and we shall never speak of this again! Is that understood?!"

"No, Father!" the mermaid snapped, as her arms wound tightly around the shoulders of the feline.
"I won't leave her! Not now, not ever!"

"This is not a request! This love cannot continue forward, lest you both suffer the consequences of war once again!" the witch sneered with a glare.
"Now I implore you, dear cat, come back home and never return to the sea or this mermaid again!"

"I won't leave my friend, Mistress!" the feline growled, her green eyes alight with fiery rage.
"And there is nothing anybody can do that will make me leave her!"

"Very well. You leave me with no choice..." the witch hissed acidly.
She lifted her hands up and mumbled some strange words as the mermaid and the feline familiar gazed in shock.
A ray of purple light appeared between her open palms, growing larger and larger before it was aimed right at the duo.

The familiar and the mermaid stared in horror, both letting out a yelp as they narrowly dodged the magic blast. The beam of magic hit a tree, turning its bark to charcoal and its branches to gnarled, black sticks that threatened to snap and crumble to the ground.
The sea king raised his trident as the storm grew stronger and bigger, the sea becoming angrier with each wave upon the shore and the sky turning a cobbled grey and black.

Without a second thought, the familiar ran with the mermaid still held tightly in her arms.

Their hearts hammered against their chests in fright, the familiar running faster and faster, weaving in and out of the trees.
Lightning struck the sea and earth relentlessly, magic still being cast left and right by the infuriated witch, but the familiar still ran and the mermaid still clung on.
In and out of the trees and bushes they wove, hoping to keep evading them.

Yet another tree was struck.

And another, and another.

The ground was scorched with craters from the lightning bolts, thin lines of black smoke trailing up from the damaged soil.

And yet, the two still ran, until the pair ran further into the forest and disappeared from sight.

Neither the familiar or mermaid could be found, no matter who looked for them or where anyone looked, as if the two had vanished into thin air.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Just as it had happened before, the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months.
Seasons came and went, as did the sun, the moon and the rain.

The sea king and the witch both continued to search for the missing girls.
Whether it was out of fear, anger or desperation, neither of them knew, and neither did those around them.

All seemed lost, until one summer evening just over a year after the chaos took place, the witch was taking a walk through the very woods in which she had chased her missing familiar.
Everything seemed more tranquil and calm as the trees cast their vast shadows onto the grassy forest floor.

With regret in her eyes, and a sigh escaping her lips, she stopped for a minute to collect her thoughts and look around to gain her bearings, only to look up when she heard the sound of laughter and faint chatter coming from nearby.

Curious, the witch drew further and further into the forest, following the voices until she was greeted with the most surprising sight.

There, surrounded by a grove of towering pines and dappled tag elder trees, was a large pond. Almost large enough to be a lake.
But this wasn't just any old pond. Oh no.
This pond, bordered with lush green plants and topped with a handful of fluffy water lilies floating calmly on the pond's surface, was beautifully clear in the evening sun.

Birds soared above it, singing out their joyous songs, and a fox trotted over to take a tentative drink or two before it went on its way.

Not too far from the pond was a humble but cosy cottage built out of wood and cobblestone and painted a delicate snow white, making its mahogany coloured beams stand out amidst its stone background.

The witch could do nothing but stare in amazement at what she had found.

She made not a move, nor any sounds, only hiding cloaked in the darkness cast from the trees around her.
Her gaze soon fell on something at the edge of the crystal pond.
Or rather, someone was against the pond's edge with their lower half submerged in the cool water.

There, laying against the banks of the pond, was the mermaid she had encountered not too long ago.

The mermaid dreamed peacefully, just as she had done before, her tail in the water.
Instead of cold, hard stone and sand on her back, she was cushioned with soft green grass against her back.
Leaves were scattered around her head like a green and golden halo.
A smile lingered on her lips as she remained still, the sun splashing on her angelic face and on the surface of the crystal clear pond, making the water glimmer.

Just as the witch was about to turn around, she saw an all-too familiar face.

Stepping out from the cottage's doorway was her former familiar.
She was dressed in greens and blues, her hair protected by a simple red headscarf that left her two feline ears free.
Her green eyes shimmered, her golden furred arms bathed in yellow sunlight, and her nose twitching once or twice at the scent of the sweet tea and fresh foliage.
She balanced a tray on her hand with two ornate silver mugs, placing them on the bank next to the mermaid before kissing her forehead to wake her.

Once the mermaid had opened her eyes, she smiled, recognizing the tall feline female and chatting happily with her as they sipped their tea and stayed together at the bank of the lake.

Never before had the witch seen the familiar so happy and at ease, even under her employ, and yet here the two were, laughing and talking seemingly without a care in the world.

She opened her mouth to speak. To ask what was happening, to grab the attention of the furred familiar, but she was hesitant.
She was unsure as to why, but the witch found herself unable to utter a word.

A second, a minute, perhaps an hour, passed as the witch remained in the shadows of the tree trunks, reflecting on all that had happened to the two girls.

All the chaos that had come and gone, like a cloud of dust in a summer breeze.
The hardships and judgement the two had received by herself and the sea king.

But, despite this...she noticed how calm and content the two looked at each other's sides.

How happy and carefree the two seemed to be.

The witch knew it couldn't go on; it SHOULDN'T go on!

It was not allowed!

Still, she couldn't shake how jovial the girls looked, and how her former familiar cared so deeply for her love.

Why did she still feel this anger towards those who just wanted to love?
What would she be able to do to turn the situation back to normal?
And what's more, why did she have this sudden change of heart?

For once, in all her years, the witch couldn't answer any of these questions at all.
She couldn't separate them. She shouldn't, and she wouldn't.
After all, this was as it should be, old war or not.

Turning on her heel, the witch took her leave, casting one last look as the mermaid and former familiar talked and laughed while sipping their tea under the shade of their porch.

She made her way back to her cabin, the chatter and laughter of the girls at her back.

No reports of the girls' whereabouts were made, nor were they asked for.

Once the witch reached her cabin, she took a minute to look out of the window, mulling over what had just occurred.

Her former familiar was happy, and with one that truly loved her.

Surely she couldn't fault her for that, could she?

With a soft sigh, and a motherly look in her wizened dark eyes, the witch sent a protection spell their way.

She hoped that one day that she and her familiar would reunite, that the lovers would thrive for many, many years to come.
But most of all, the witch wished for their safety.

All the while, the girls remained cuddled up against each other, watching the mackerel sky.
They smiled softly, knowing they were both finally safe to live out their lives, free from judgement and free from the battles of the kingdoms.

Like a dream come true, the mermaid and the familiar lived happily ever after.

~THE END~

(A/N: the song was the thing that started this whole story. Thanks to this song -this vid in particular- it let me daydream the basis of this story, and it became some thing bigger, so there we go. Hope you all enjoyed, I welcome your feedback :D ~Snoopy)