One Wish

[Melville's Best Friend]

One Wish
Melville?s Best Friend
Chapter 1



The waves gently rocked the boat as if it were swayed by a soothing song. The clouds passed smoothly over the sun-dazzled sky as the sound of waves against the boat drifted those onboard into a deep semi-sleep. The sun beat on their bare backs with fervor, and the wind?the wind was non-existent. It was what drove men mad.

?I have cabin fever,? Duo exclaimed while flopping next to his long-time friend.

His companion glared and wrote figures down on a chart in hand. ?Check number 13,? his voice was tranquil--yet deep and commanding. Duo blew his oblong brown bangs out of his face and leaned over with his arms crossed. ?Heero, I?ve checked thirteen twice this morning. It hasn?t changed, and besides,? he said lying down with a grin that made a Cheshire cat envious, ?I?m on break.?

Duo Maxwell was a hard working man. On occasion. Or, rather?when he put his mind to it. Duo was never meant to be on the sea watching buoys and calculating when weather was going to turn ugly. He was made ?for the stars? as he put it, and he was stiff and reluctant to perform his tasks with anything more than half his best. Away from work, he was fiery and full of life. His manners were crude, his tongue brash, and his temper quick. He was annoying and constantly getting on Heero?s last nerve, but Heero befriended him and depended on him, and the two were inseparable. If only because of Duo.

?If you?re on break, then take it in the break room,? Heero said, getting up to check on number 13 himself. As Duo had said, it hadn?t changed.

Heero Yuy was a man of his word; a hardworking man with a hand for sailing and a brain for math. He, too, missed his calling, but he had never taken the time to dream of what wasn?t the ?here and now.? He was not a complicated man. He said what needed to be said when asked. His tongue was mostly still while his brain?s waves moved constantly. He was a man who lived off his heart, but a man who didn?t always know what his heart was saying. He was honest and callous, but had cared for those he loved. If only because they were all he had.

?Heero, let me ask you something,? Duo said, eyes closed. ?What kind of life is this?? Knowing Heero wouldn?t answer, Duo continued. ?I mean, aren?t there machines that can do this sort of thing for us? Don?t get me wrong, the money?s good, so I don?t really want to get replaced by a machine?it?s just?This,? he waved his hands around at the sea, ?is BORING! SNORZEVILLE! DULL AS DIRT AND TWICE AS ANNOYING!!!?

?If it?s so boring, Mr. Maxwell, perhaps you should give your two-week notice.?

Anne Une, his boss, stood beside him, smirking. Her long brown hair was tied in a knot on the back of her head, and her sunglasses were pushed down so that Duo saw her eyes which danced with laughter. He smirked, ?You cut me to the quick, boss. I merely meant that I want a wife and a baby Duo or two,? he gave his best fake smile and popped his neck.
Anne raised an eyebrow and pushed her sunglasses back up. ?If you keep screwing around with that Hilde girl off the coast, you may have those kids in a few months.?

?If that was a joke, it sucked,? he said, pouting. He placed a bandana from his pocket over his eyes to block out the sun. ?But if it was sarcasm, it was even worse.?

Anne laughed and turned to Heero, ?Anything abnormal??

Heero handed his boss the chart and stated that nothing seemed wrong.

Anne looked at him. ?Odd for this time of the year, don?t you think??

Heero crossed his arms and shrugged. ?There might not be a bad one this year.?

?I?m sure that would make regions happy,? Duo muttered.

Anne smiled, ?Don?t give your hopes up. El Nino happens every year, you two, and this year, we?re going to catch it before it happens, and warn these people.? She kicked Duo, ?Break?s over. Back to work, Maxwell,? Anne said while walking down to the lower level.

The TAO (Tropical Atmosphere Ocean Project) had been working for months trying to calculate when and where El Nino started, when it would occur, and, most importantly, how long islanders had to prepare for the destruction. There had been established a number of buoys that calculated the rise and fall of the oceans? depths and changes in temperature, and recorded them all. The buoys sent signals via the Argos satellite system and the data was sent back to the boat where the men and women aboard drew conclusions from the data they received. Uncommon for the time of year, no abnormal patterns had been detected. Yet.

Duo sighed, got up, and placed the bandana over his head. ?Whadya? think? I feel like a pirate!!!? he smiled and stood proudly. ?Yo ho, Yo ho!! A pirate?s life for me! We?dance and we prance and we dance and we prance tee hee hee hee hee heeeeeee!!!!!? Duo danced about the boat and hummed the song as he did so. Heero couldn?t help the smile that found it?s way to his lips.

?If Anne catches you like that, you?ll--? Heero was interrupted as the boat rocked violently? something rammed into its side. A startled cry came after the thud, and the men grabbed the side of the boat for support. Anne was on the deck in a flash. ?What was that?? Duo ran to the side of the boat. ?I dunno, but it left one huge dent in your boat.?

Heero looked at the water. ?It was an animal. It had to be. I heard it cry out.?

Anne and Duo were too busy looking at the dent to hear him. ?What animal that big?in these waters?? he glared. ?I?m going down there.?

Anne turned around. ?What? Why??

Heero had gotten goggles and had put on his trunks by the time Anne had heard him. ?Heero, wait.?

Duo interrupted. ?Heero, if it was an animal, and if it?s hurt, it could??

?I know. I?ve dealt with injured animals before, Duo,? he said strapping on his tank.

?Look, dude, don?t be the hero and try to save the thing. If it?s gone, man, it?s gone, and I don?t want you torn apart because in its injured state, some animal didn?t want you too close.?

Heero continued to get ready for the trip into the sea. Anne glared. ?How about protocol, Yuy? We?re forbidden by law to have anything to do with life out here. You can?t go in there after?whatever it was that hit the boat.?

?We have a responsibility to help them, though, if it was our boat that injured the animal. Call the coastguard and have them come to help.?

Anne opened her mouth for a comeback, but Heero had already jumped into the water.

She glared at the spot where he had been standing. ?He is so fired.?

?What is that, the fourth time this week?? questioned Duo.

?Fifth, but who?s counting,? she glared at the sea.


The water felt good on his burning skin and he glided through it easily. Its silky feel felt like a second skin, and he drank the feeling as if it replenished his soul. The tank on his back seemed weightless as he swam freely and allowed himself the once-in-a-lifetime pleasure of viewing the world around him. The ocean bottom was a sight to behold; there was a shade of every color on the ground.

The floor was unlike any terrain he had seen.
What one would call hills were covered with brightly-colored tubes and flowers that swayed with the moving water. Plants and sponges blanketed the floor with a rainbow all their own, and creatures of all kinds swam about without cares in the world. His presence didn?t even startle them. He could think of only one word: beautiful. This, he knew, was it. This was his happiness. So serene and so gorgeous. He reached the floor and stopped swimming to glance around. There were no caves, thankfully, so the likelihood that an eel or some-such animal was close by was diminished.

He started to swim in search of the animal. In his search, he found a faint blood trail that made his heart sink. Whatever had hit their boat was hurt. He followed the trail as best he could before his movements made it fade away. After a search of 6 or 7 minutes, he had almost stopped looking?until he caught a glimpse of a small green fin on the floor. After a second of staring at it, he was sure it wasn?t moving. Assuming it was what had hurt the boat, he swam to it.

The tail flickered and moved. Startled, he blinked a bit before rounding a rock corner to see it. Bubbles were the only things that greeted him. He sighed and closed his eyes. Whatever it was is ok. I can get bac?

He jumped as something moved behind him. Turning around as quickly as he could, he saw the tip of the same translucent green fin. He smiled. It wants to play! Having had no fun in weeks, and assuming the fish was clever, he took off after it. Twice more it eluded him, and when he had had enough, he decided to trick the fish. Although this was a nice break from his beyond-boring job, Anne and Duo were probably worried.

Or probably Duo. If anything, Anne wanted to fire him. Again.

While he took off after the fish for the third time, he pretended to swim away, but hid behind a rock and waited. Eventually, he thought, the fish would come out again, and he could scare it. He heard the noise of the fish swimming to where he had been, and he moved to startle it and end the game.

His eyes opened in complete shock when he saw it?her?it?A mermaid. In the one instant he saw her, his heart stopped beating. Her long blonde hair spanned all directions. Her eyes were light cerulean blue and they reflected the shining gold of her tresses and the sunshine?s kiss off the sea. Her tail reflected in the sunlight and almost appeared silver.

And I thought the ocean was breath-taking.

His heart beat again as she gasped in surprise then shrieked, and swam behind a rock close by. It took him a few seconds to get over his shock, but when he did, he went to see if his eyes had played tricks on him. He swam around the corner of a rock to see her, the mermaid, staring at him wide-eyed. Her chest heaved with panic and he could see her heart beating through her beautifully white skin. It was then he noticed her bare chest and blushed madly.

His sense took over and he reached out for her, trying to show her he was harmless. She shrieked and closed her eyes, afraid of his touch. When his hand caressed her cheek softly, she slowly opened her eyes. ?How interesting,? she thought. ?His touch is like that of the sea?? He was an arm?s length away, and he moved his hand back when she seemed unafraid. Her eyes danced with happiness as she realized he wasn?t of any consequence, and she swam about him, poking him, looking at the material of his pants, starring at his body hair, fascinated by his legs. She prodded him and giggled at him, and stopped suddenly when she looked into his eyes.

?Oh??her mouth formed the word and he couldn?t help but watch, in a stupor, her full pink lips.

He suddenly realized her face and body were close, and Heero gulped. ?Obviously, she doesn?t know about personal space,? he thought. Her hand moved a strand of hair out of his face as she continued to stare into his eyes. She gazed into them as if they were some precious jewel. As if all that mattered in the world were his eyes. In an embarrassed moment, Heero looked away and noticed, for the first time, her shoulder. Gasping, he moved his hand to touch it. She screamed at him and swam a bit away, though still close enough for him to touch her. He pointed at her wound. Obviously, she had been the one to hit the boat. And her shoulder was torn from the impact. Blood seeped out of it and she clutched her wounded shoulder and pouted.

?Boat,? he heard someone say. Odd. Her lips didn?t move. She glanced at him and his eyes. She smiled and giggled at his obvious curiosity. Again she stated ?boat.? He heard it echo in the corners of his mind, and, in an instant, he realized: this mermaid was talking to him telepathically. His thoughts on her voice were all but fleeting; it was light but stern, sing-songy and magical. Beautiful and all-too real. Not to mention the fact that she spoke English. He blinked back his surprise. His head suddenly hurt from the shocks he had been blown in the past half hour. He cleared his head and tried to speak to her.

?I know,? he thought, one eye closed. ?It?s my boat.?

?Your boat?? she glanced at the boat. ?I have injured it??

He tilted his head. ?It hurt you. It is fine.?

She smiled and closed her eyes. ?I am fine. It will heal. There is a place that can heal. I can show you?? She looked at him with the same joy in her eyes that had existed earlier. ?Is this your face?? she tugged at the mask with him pulling it back. ?And these,? she pointed to his legs ?are curious. Do they swim?? She felt the fabric of his swimsuit. ?Strange puzzlement!!! Is this your skin? A part of you? What an odd creature are you! I see your eyes posses my home! Why are you in my home? The boat? Did the boat injure you? You are hurt? I know a place to heal! You could come to see!?

He shook his head, still trying to make sense of what he was doing?talking to a mermaid in the middle of the ocean?A curious mermaid in the middle of the ocean?who was as talkative as Duo. ?If you don?t stop the bleeding, a shark--?

?A shark!? Her eyes widened and she started swimming about frantically. ?A shark! I found your boat! The shark! You must come! Must go from boat! I found your boat because of the shark!?

Found? ?Is there?s a shark here?? His eyes widened. Before he could answer, he felt a wave of rushing water hit him. Upon turning to see what it was, he noticed the mermaid cringe and back behind him.

There, waiting in waters where the sunlight refused to shine, was her shark.




Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies. Thanks to those who read. ^__^

[bookworm]

Whoa! I luv the start of this fic, Melrose!!!

Luv it luv it luv it luv it!!!!

Can't wait for more!

[Tomorrow]

MBF... you are so bad!!!! I read the challenge on your site, and although I'm not going to finish the series in enough time to really respond to it, I'm going to begin writing a series about a mermaid (1xR, of course), based off of "The Little Mermaid." Not the Disney version... the original version. You've beaten me to it. ::wags finger::

However, this is awesome. I loved the descriptions, and Relena's so cute, being all curious. Heero was great, wondering about his sanity. Very original, so post when you can. ^______^

~Tomorrow

[Rose of Betrayal]

MBF! Why did you stop there? It was just getting so good...

[Raspberry]

This is really wonderful! I'm more than willing to read what's next! This story reminds me of one of Disney's stories... It was called "Ariel the Mermaid" or something like that. Though I don't remember if the title is correct, I am confident that this was one of the stories of my childhood So my point is: I LOVE THIS STORY AS MUCH AS I LOVED ARIEL WHEN I WAS 4!!! Great work Melville!

[Calla Lily]

MBF,

This is awesome and makes me squee! with an idiot's delight. Yes, indeed. I wouldn't say it remind me so much of Disney's "A Little Mermaid" than the other folklore that I've read regarding such aquatic creatures. (Besides, Disney scewed up the Hans Christian Anderson's original version.) So cool, your idea and I can't wait to see what's next.


~Calla.

As a last note, if Relena sings in open air, can she hypnotize sailors? Imagine that, Relena being a siren... *mind starts scheming*

[Eienvine]

Wow- Relena as a mermaid is one of the last things I would ever have thought of, but you're executing it beautifully! This, I can tell, is going to be an interesting story. Keep at it!

[Morrighan]

He-he-he... I reviewed this on your LJ already. I luv this!!!

Write, write, write!!!

[Melville's Best Friend]

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply...busy and stuff...


bookworm: Although I'm not melrose (lol), I thank you.

tomorrow: I am not bad. You need to write yours anyway and have everyone be happy and giddy. And I need to hunt silver down and see what's up with her and her lack of finishing her part of the challange. ^__^ WRITE AWAY, I COMMAND THEE!!!! Thanks for reading!

Rose of Betrayal: ^__^ I stopped there because it was the end of the chapter. *snerk* But DON'T WORRY! The next chapter will be out sometime...between now...and then. Thanks for the review!

Rasberry: It's called "The Little Mermaid" and it was about Ariel. That crazy fish! Eric has nothing on Heero. tee hee! Thanks for reading!


Calla: I'm glad it doesn't remind you of the movie...not the thing I was going for. *laugh* And I'm glad you liked! I've never read the original, so, meh. I dunno what that means in regards to the fic, but whatever. ^___^ Thanks for reading!

Eienvine: Yay! Thanks so much!!!!!!!

Morri: I'll write more, calm down. Thanks, though, for the double review.


HUGS TO ALL OF YOU!