We Could Sail The Seven Seas (Newt X Reader)

Author's Note: Newt is a sailor/pirate and the reader is a mermaid!! I change a lot of stuff from the books, obviously!!  ((:  This is kinda like a Little Mermaid AU, but not really?? I combine lots of stuff about mermaids from lots of different things and I just made some stuff up ahhhhhh. This is kinda like a Disney movie?? Like the ending is cheesy as hell but I love it  (((:

"Any sign of land yet, Tommy?" Newt asked, climbing out of his cabin and resting his palm on Thomas's shoulder.

"Not yet," Thomas responded and pulled his telescope away from his eye.

"What about Galileo and his crew?" Newt's eyes surveyed his own crew, and a small smile crossed his face. Minho was being taught how to tie a proper butterfly knot by an insistent Chuck, Frypan was making Winston taste something he had cooked up in the kitchen, and Zart and Clint were arguing about something while they were swabbing the deck.

"No sign of those shanks yet, either." Thomas said, which made Newt chuckle. None of his crew members were fond of Gally for multiple reasons, one of them being that Galileo's crew were notorious mermaid hunters.

A year or so back, they were all one big crew, but then Thomas joined, and Gally got extremely paranoid about everything. He insisted that Thomas was bad, and that he was going to hurt the group. Newt waved them away, but Gally's fears didn't stop. Secretly, Newt thought that Gally was losing his mind, a year was a long time to be at sea, but he didn't voice those concerns.

Shortly after that, Alby fell into the sea during a thunder storm and, unfortunately, his body was never found. Gally insisted that mermaids had taken him and demanded that they search for the mermaids responsible. Newt had disagreed, Alby would want them to keep searching for an island to make their home, which caused a huge fight between Newt and Gally.

Some of the crew sided with Newt, and some of them sided with Gally, so they had split. Gally's group had been dropped off at a nearby harbor with just enough gold to buy themselves food and a new boat, and Newt's group had continued on their way.

Mermaids were beautiful creatures, at least, according to legend. Newt had never seen a mermaid before, but stories all told that they were hybrids. Half human from the waist up, and half fish from the hips down.

Gally's crew were fond of searching for the elusive beings, and whenever they found them, they would, supposedly, keep them in special tubs on their ship. No one knew why, but Newt's crew definitely did not approve of their actions. Just because Gally thought mermaids were responsible for Alby's death, he had no right to kidnap the things.

The stories all said that mermaids were kind, gentle souls who mostly kept to themselves. They were vegetarians, typically eating seaweed and other underwater plants, and with a single song, they could tame even the most dangerous of ocean creatures (some mermaids had supposedly been spotted swimming, and even playing, with sharks).

"Good that." Newt said and removed his hand from Thomas's shoulder, moving about the ship and checking on the rest of his crew, completely unaware of the pair of sparkling __e/c__ eyes that were watching him curiously from the side of the boat.

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"You've gotta stop going up there." Brenda huffed, brushing your hair with more force than necessary and making you wince in pain.

"I'm sorry," You said sincerely, pausing momentarily as Brenda dragged the seashell comb through your hair again. "But they're just...they're so different from us! They have legs! Can you imagine what it's like to walk? Or dance? Or run?"

"No, I can't." Brenda said, waggling her tail. Brenda's tail was long, strong, and dark, with stunning flecks of white and silver that almost seemed to glow.

You rolled your eyes. "Pretend for a minute that you have legs. Wouldn't it be fun to run?"

Brenda shook her head. "I'll stick to swimming, thanks."

Teresa laughed, a light, tinkling sound, from her bed, a large rock covered with sea moss that was more comfortable than you would expect. "Please, like you wouldn't love to go up there. You might not want to run, but I know you want to try jumping. I've seen you practicing."

Brenda spluttered out a response just as Harriet and Sonya swam into the room, their eyes bright and their tails swishing excitedly. Sonya's tail was coppery orange, but in some light, it shimmered as though it were made of pure gold. Harriet's tail was dark like her skin, but it was lighter than Brenda's. There were streaks of a deep red on it, matching the strands of red in her short hair.

"Look at what we found!" They said, almost in unison, thrusting something into your hands. You looked at them in confusion, before lifting up the white fabric they had put in your arms. It appeared to be a human man's shirt, and after a moment of you trying to figure out where you had seen it before, your felt your cheeks grow warm.

This was his shirt.

"Where did you get this?" You asked, admiring the piece of fabric. It was surprisingly well made, with intricate swirling patterns sewn onto the sleeves and around the collar that you had never been able to see before.

"Someone dropped it, and the wind carried it off the ship." Sonya explained.

"We were around to catch it when it finally hit the water, thought you might appreciate it." Harriet added on, winking at you.

You groaned. "What am I supposed to do with his shirt?"

"Wear it." Teresa chimed in, and you buried your head in your hands (and, incidentally, caught a whiff of the fluffy-haired boy's smell from the shirt; sandalwood and a hint of lemon).

"I can't just wear his shirt!" You protested, and your friends looked at you curiously.

"Why not?" Brenda was the first to ask the question that everyone was thinking, surprisingly. "You stare at that boy for at least an hour every day, and now you're not gonna wear his shirt?"

You nodded. "That would be correct. I should give it back." Even as you said the words, you clutched the shirt a little tighter. It was the closest you were ever going to get to the captain of the ship, called The Glade, its name written in beautiful, looping white paint on the weathered wood, and you kind of didn't want to give it back. You knew you should, it being the polite thing to do, but the shirt was soft and it was his and it would probably make a pretty nice pillow. "I take it back. I'm not returning it." You mumbled sheepishly and folded the shirt up, tucking it under a rock so it wouldn't float away.

Brenda snorted. "Knew you wouldn't."

You gently smacked her on the head before waving at your friends and disappearing through the cave opening. You wanted to see if you could get another glimpse of the tall, gorgeous boy before the day was over.

"She's going to get herself in trouble, you know." Brenda pointed out, and Teresa and Harriet nodded.

Sonya shrugged. "I think it's sweet."

Harriet smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Of course you do."

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You sighed, resting your chin on the palm of the your hand and gazing over at the ship longingly. You wanted to talk to the captain. You still didn't know his name, though you thought it started with an N?, but from how he ran his crew, you thought you would get along well. He seemed nice.

Unfortunately, a lot of people seemed nice, and you couldn't talk to any of them without telling them that you were, in fact, something that most humans didn't believe existed. If they did believe that you existed, they could end up wanting to capture you, and your safety, as well as the safety of your family, was not something that you were willing to risk.

No matter how cute the captain was.

Speaking of the captain...he was wearing a shirt without sleeves, which, wow, okay, that wasn't fair. In the five or so months that you'd kept an eye on his ship, his crew, and him, you had yet to see him in a shirt like that.

And his arms were a lot nicer than his loose-fitting pirate shirts would suggest. You stared at him and his nice, firm arms before letting out a groan of frustration and slipping back into the water. Unbeknownst to you, the captain had turned his head at the sound, and caught a glimpse of a shimmering __e/c__ tale, with flecks of __s/c__ and __h/c__. You didn't hear the startled noise he made, and you didn't see the curious gleam in his eye as your tail disappeared beneath the water. No fish he had ever seen had a tail like that.

Turned out mermaids were real. Huh. Newt had been leaning towards the idea that they were, but having never seen one before now, he didn't often share that opinion with his crew, or anyone, really. Now that he knew, Newt vowed to pay extra close attention to the water surrounding his ship. He wanted to know if mermaids could talk, or sing, or if they even understood English.

Or if they had the ability to murder one of his best friends, because if they did, he owed Gally a huge shuckin' apology.

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You smiled to yourself, mindlessly stroking the brightly colored fish as they swam by you, but still keeping an eye on the wooden ship to your left. There was a storm approaching, you could tell, and the waves were rougher than usual. You wanted to make sure that none of the men (ie: the captain) onboard fell off in the dangerous weather.

You rolled your eyes, as, of course, one of them did.

It just had to be him, didn't it?

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"I want all of you to get below decks, now." Newt hollered, scrambling around as the rain started to pelt the ship and his skin, sending shivers down his spine. Most of his crew listened, thankfully, except for Thomas.

"Did you not hear me, ya bloody shank?" Newt called out, lashing the sails down with a rope so they wouldn't tear during the storm as Thomas collected barrels and tossed them into the hatch.

"Don't know how long the storm's going to last," Thomas argued, and he had a point. Storms in this particular area could last a few days, if you were really unlucky. "Wanna make sure we won't die of dehydration or starvation once we get down there."

"Make it quick then, yeah? It's not safe to be up here." Newt said, and Thomas nodded. He grabbed another barrel and threw it down the hole into Frypan's waiting arms, and Thomas was just about to grab another one when the ship rocked suddenly and he slipped.

He slid down the wet floor, and he would've fallen right off the ship had Newt not been there to catch him. Newt dragged him to his feet and practically pushed him into the lower half of the boat. Newt moved to climb down as well, but before he could, the boat rocked again, even more sharply than the first time, and Newt's feet were knocked out from under him.

Newt skidded across the wood floor, and he didn't have time to grab onto anything before he was tossed overboard.

The first thing Newt felt were flashes of pain all over his body. He had hit the water, hard, and the action sent twinges of discomfort to every limb on his body.

The next thing Newt felt was how cold the water was.

"Bloody fuck." Newt cursed, right before his head slipped underwater. He struggled to break the surface, gulping in lungfuls of air before he was thrown back under the water. The waves were too strong for him to swim properly, and he could barely see anything with the water that was still falling heavily from the sky.

He blinked in surprise as a pair of arms wound around his waist, and Newt was unable to protest as the arms deposited him on the nearby shore. "Who," Newt started, spluttering up water and trying again. "Who are you?" Newt asked, trying to get his eyes to focus on the person who had saved him. The rain was still showering him though, and his eyes were absolutely refusing to focus.

"A friend." A soft, musical voice answered, and Newt suddenly felt like he was being cocooned in a warm, fuzzy blanket. He felt a hand on his temple and he hissed, trying to get away. The hand immediately disappeared. "You hit your head when you fell, I think," The voice said after a moment, and then the hand returned to his temple, very lightly pressing down on the wound. Newt made a sound of protest, but when quiet, soothing singing filled the air in a language he didn't recognize, and the pain in his temple died down, he fell silent.

The last thing Newt felt before he drifted into an easy sleep was a pair of soft lips brushing against his forehead.

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Newt blinked into consciousness slowly, looking around his surroundings curiously. He was resting on the beach of a small island that The Glade had passed by earlier. His crew had considered stopping on the island to see if it was a suitable place for them to set up camp, they couldn't sail the world forever, but they had deemed it too small and continued sailing.

"Hi." You spoke quietly, shyly, and Newt's gaze flickered over to you. He couldn't hold back a gasp when he saw your tail. "Sorry," You said apologetically, trying to hide your tail from his curious glance.

"No, no," Newt protested, shaking his head. "It's beautiful. You're beautiful." Newt said, without thinking. "I mean, ah," Newt said, running a hand through his sandy-blonde hair nervously and trying to avoid looking at your stunningly gorgeous __e/c__ eyes and your __h/c__ hair. It was stringy and dripping with water, but he still had the ridiculous urge to tangle his fingers in the __h/c__ strands. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

You smiled and let a soft laugh bubble out of your throat, and Newt could've sworn he had died and gone to heaven. The sound of your laughter was pure magic.

"Thank you." You said, and your smile widened a fraction. "You're rather attractive too, captain." That was an understatement. Even with his hair mussed up from sleeping on a beach all night, and a light film of sleep coating his eyes, he was still, easily, the most fetching man you had ever seen (you didn't actually see a lot of men, but still).

His confused face was even more adorable than his sleepy one. "How'd you know I was a captain?"

You ducked your head, trying to avoid the gaze of his captivating chestnut eyes. "I may have been keeping an eye on your ship." You murmured sheepishly.

Some gears seemed to be turning in his head before he spoke excitedly. "It was you I saw the other day!"

You raised an eyebrow. "I don't follow."

"I saw your tail, just your tail, a couple days ago." Newt explained, smiling at you as he offered you his hand. "I'm Isaac, by the way. But everyone calls me Newt."

You looked at his hand in confusion, lightly poking it.

Isaac's smile softened when he saw how bewildered you looked. He grabbed your hand and shook it with his. "It's called a handshake." He said, and you nodded in understanding. "I take it you don't do that when you meet a new merperson?"

"We usually just touch tails." You said, shrugging. "I'm __y/n__, by the way. It's nice to officially meet you."

"Likewise." Newt responded, his gaze slipping back to your tail. "Can I," He started, only to stop himself. You smiled at him encouragingly. "Would you...is it okay if I touch your tail? I've never seen anything like it and-" You cut off his rambling by gently taking his hand in your own and pressing it to the brightly colored scales. "Woah." Newt whispered, more to himself than anything, his hand lightly trailing up and down your long, thin tail.

You tried (and failed) to suppress a shiver, and Newt hastily jerked his hand away from you. "Sorry, did I hurt you?" Newt asked immediately, and you shook your head.

"Our tails are just extremely sensitive. You didn't hurt me, you just tickled me." You clarified, and Newt breathed a sigh of relief, hesitantly bringing his hand back to your tail.

"That is shuckin' amazing." He muttered, his eyes flicking up and down your tail, admiring the different colored scales. "My crew would love you." Newt noted, and he suddenly froze, looking at you anxiously. "My crew, are they okay?"

You nodded. "They're fine. After I brought you here, I guided their ship to a part of the ocean where the water was calmer. I told my friends to keep an eye on them, so they shouldn't be able to leave. I can bring you to them, or I can bring the ship over here, your choice."

"Can you bring me to them?" Newt requested, and you nodded.

"I'll be a lot faster if I can go underwater, but you can't breathe underwater," You said, before an idea hit you. "One second." You murmured something in a language Newt didn't understand, pressing a finger to your neck and then pressing the same one to Newt's neck. "Sorry, there's one more thing needed before the spell can work." You apologized, and Newt was opening his mouth to ask what that thing was when you gently brushed your lips across his, still open, mouth.

You pulled away only a second later, smiling apologetically at him and looping his arms around your neck. You dragged your body over to the water, easily sliding in and with a few flaps of your tail, you were already twenty feet away from the island.

"Hold on tight," You warned. "I can go quite fast." Newt just nodded dumbly, his lips still tingling from the not-quite kiss.

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You made it to The Glade in no time, helping Newt climb onto his ship. His crew cheered, and you turned around to dive back into the ocean when Newt's voice stopped you.

"Am I gonna see you again?"

You smiled, turning back to look at him. "If you want to, sure. I'll be around." You said teasingly, gesturing at the ocean.

"Thanks for saving me." Newt spoke softly, and you grinned.

"No problem, greenie." You said, and Newt was (pleasantly) surprised to hear you using his own slang against him. You really had been watching him for a while. "I won't always be there to save you, be more careful next time, yeah?"

Newt nodded in response, and you flashed him one more smile before plunging into the sea.

"You shank," Minho said, pretending to scowl as he clapped Newt on the shoulder. "Thanks for telling us you were friends with a shuckin' mermaid!"

Newt rolled his eyes. "I wasn't friends with her before now, shuckface."

"So, do I have a shot with her then?" Minho asked, waggling his eyebrows. Why did the mere idea of that make Newt's stomach drop? Newt forced a smile.

"Maybe. You'll have to talk to __y/n__ about that, I don't know if she wants to court a bloody shank." Newt said, and Minho grinned.

"I'm just messing with ya, Newt, don't worry. You called dibs, I got it."

He shouldn't have been as he relieved as he was at Minho's words.

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"You talked to him, didn't you?" Brenda asked the moment you swam back into the cave, a goofy smile still etched onto your lips.

"Yeah. His name's Newt and he's adorable and-"

"And he's a human." Brenda cut in, and you frowned.

"I know." At her skeptical look, your frown deepened. "I know he's a human. I do. But there aren't exactly a lot of options for me to pick from, are there? You and Teresa have each other and Harriet and Sonya have each other. I have no one. In case you haven't noticed, there aren't exactly a lot, or any, really, mermen around. Or mermaids. I haven't seen another mermaid in ages."

She sighed and wrapped her arms around you in a gentle hug. "I just want you to be careful. We worry about you." Brenda murmured, and you nuzzled into the embrace.

"I'm being careful, I promise."

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Over the next couple of weeks, you became friends with Newt and his crew. You learned that they were all orphaned, like yourself, when a plague swept through both the land and the sea. It targeted adults, and it killed almost all of them instantly. The ones that hadn't died were not safe to be around, they were violent, angry, and unstable, so Newt had gathered up all the teenagers he could find and put them on board his father's old ship.

Currently, Newt and his crew were searching for an island that was free of adults. They had been living on The Glade for almost two years, and in Newt's own words "We can't stay on this shuckin' thing forever, can we?". You had nodded and agreed, and promised to keep an eye out for any available islands.

That's what you were doing when it happened.

You had been circling an island, inspecting it, trying to see if there were people on it, when you suddenly felt something wrap around your torso. You struggled to get out of it, mind too frazzled to even think of using magic to free yourself, but you couldn't. You were pulled backwards and roughly pulled onto the deck of a ship.

You opened your mouth to shriek in the hopes that one of your friends would hear you but before you could get the sound out, a calloused palm was pressed against your lips. You bit down on the skin, hard, and the person drew their hand away from you with a scowl and a curse.

"I'm not going to hurt you." The boy said, crouching down so that he was at eye level with you. "I'm Gally," He introduced himself before speaking again. "I just want to know if you've seen someone."

You looked at him warily. "Who?"

"A boy named Alby?" He tried hopefully. "He had dark skin and dark hair, and he was knocked off our boat during a storm. Just wanna know if you've seen him." The boy's voice was soft and genuine, and you frowned as you shook your head.

"I haven't, I'm sorry." You said apologetically, before you remembered something. "Actually..." You had a vague image in your head of a dark lump falling into the sea a year or so ago.

------

The storm was raging, and the currents were strong, even for you. You were swimming back to the cave when you felt the water around you tremble as something hit the water. You swam towards it, blinking in surprise when you realized it was a boy.

You couldn't bring him back your cave, it was underwater and he would drown, but you couldn't bring him to shore either. The waves were thrashing and you were already tired from a day of swimming around, you knew you wouldn't make it there with a person on your back.

You brainstormed for a moment, trying to figure out what spell could get him far enough away from the storm and out of harm's way. You dragged him out of the water and flicked your hand, gently bringing him over to the coast and depositing him under a thick tree.

The spell zapped the rest of your remaining energy, and you barely made it back to your cavern before you passed out.

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You went to look for the boy the next day, circling around the island as best as you could, but he was nowhere to be found. You always wondered about what happened to him, your guess was that a passing ship spotted him and took him onboard, but you weren't sure. Over the next year, you had almost completely forgotten about the incident.

-------

You had no idea that the boy you rescued was the friend Newt had lost, or the person that this boy was searching for. "I saved him." You said, blinking at him in surprise. "I remember there was a huge storm that night, but I saved him. I put him on an island and I went back for him the next day, once the storm had died down, but he was gone."

You shrugged helplessly. "I have no idea where he is, I'm sorry."

The boy sighed, rubbing a hand across his eyes tiredly. "Not your fault. Nice to know he's not dead, at least." He murmured, carefully scooping you into his arms and depositing you back into the sea. "Let me know if you find him?" He requested, and you nodded.

"I'll keep an eye out." You promised, diving back into the ocean.

You didn't make it very far when you felt a hand close around your wrist. You jumped in surprise, turning around and blinking when you saw the boy you had saved a year ago.

His hair was longer than it had been, and his skin wasn't as dark as it was before, you assumed due to the lack of sun deep underwater, not to mention that he had a shark tail instead of legs.

"Alby? You asked, looking at him in disbelief. He nodded slowly and looked at you curiously. "How did this happen? Who did this to you?" You swam closer to him and circled around him, eying the shark fin on his back.

"You did." Alby said, surprisingly not meanly or angrily.

You shook your head, your __h/c__ hair fanning around you in the cool, blue water. "I couldn't have. Some of my magic is fairly strong but this," You gestured at his tail. "Is way above my level."

Alby shook his head in response. "It had to have been you. You're the only creature I've met that even has magic."

This was hard to take in. You had no idea how you accidentally managed to turn him into a half shark, half human hybrid. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" You questioned, frowning at him. You could've helped him navigate the waters.

Alby shrugged, a little sheepishly. "I didn't want to bother you."

"How would finding out you were alive bother me?" You asked, carefully grabbing his hand in yours and leading him in the direction of Newt's ship. You could always locate it by blocking out all other sounds for a moment and focusing only on Newt's voice (it was more effective than you might think).

He shrugged again, and you playfully whacked him with your tail, succeeding in getting the dark-skinned boy to smile.

"Next time, tell me you're alive, yeah? Your friends all thought you were dead, and according to Newt, Gally's spent the last year looking for you."

"Really?" Alby asked in disbelief. "That shank's been looking for me?"

You nodded. "He's been searching all over for you. How come you didn't tell any of your friends you were alive?"

"I was trying to figure out if the whole shark tail thing was temporary." Alby sighed. "So far, it seems pretty permanent."

You frowned. "I'm going to try to figure out a way to reverse whatever spell I put on you but," Your frown deepened. "I don't know what spell I used to make that happen."

Alby smiled, patting you on the shoulder. "Hey, no rush. It's been a year and I've managed so far, yeah? I can last a bit longer."

You smiled weakly back at him, continuing on in the direction of The Glade while still trying to figure out how on Earth had you made that happen.

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"Hey, Newt," You said, smiling softly at him as you hoisted yourself onto the side of his ship, letting the bottom of your tail brush against the water.

"Hey, little fish." Newt responded, and you wrinkled your noise adorably.

"That's not even kind of clever." You complained, knitting your eyebrows together and looking down at your tail. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that if I had legs instead of a tail, I'd be taller than you."

"Sure you would, __y/n__, sure you would."

You rolled your eyes before scooting off his ship, preparing to drop back into the ocean to retrieve Alby. He was the whole reason you stopped by, but, as usual, Newt was distracting you.

"Don't leave," Newt requested, a hint of seriousness in his voice that you didn't understand, and you grinned.

"Why? Would you miss me, Isaac?" You teased, and Newt's eyes softened.

"You know I would."

You had to force yourself to not blush at his words. Calm down, __y/n__. You mentally scolded yourself. He's a human. You're not. It would never work. 

"Relax, ya big softie, I just need to get something. I'll be back in a minute." You spoke after a moment of you staring at him and him staring right back, slipping back into the sea before Newt could protest.

"You are so whipped." Minho commented, clapping Newt on the shoulder as he passed his captain. Newt rolled his eyes.

"I am not." Newt muttered, but Minho and Newt both knew it was a lie. Newt would eat his captain's hat if he thought you wanted him to.

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"You ready?" You asked Alby, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze as he looked up at The Glade warily.

"As I'll ever be." He replied, giving you a feeble smile. You gave him one in return, popping your head out of the water and calling for Newt and his crew's attention.

"I have someone I think you're going to want to see." You announced, and Newt's crew quickly gathered around the ship's railings.

"Please be another single mermaid." Minho pleaded, crossing his fingers. He winced as Thomas's hand collided with the back of his head.

Alby popped out of the water beside you, and you could hear Newt's crew murmuring in surprise. Newt, however, just flashed him a bright, beaming smile that made your heart stutter, and asked him how he had been. He didn't point out the shark fin on his back, even though he could see it, or the shark tail that they could all see through the crystal clear water.

"I've been alright." Alby said, shrugging uncomfortably at having so many pairs of eyes on him. "I missed you, shanks."

Minho and Chuck smiled now too. "We missed you too." Chuck said, practically bouncing with excitement. You all knew that he wanted to ask about the shark tail, but he was trying his best to refrain from mentioning it.

You shared a look with Alby before you spoke. "Before any of you ask, the shark tail is my fault." Newt's eyes widened at the statement. He had not realized that you were powerful enough to do something like that. The hopeless romantic part of him wondered if you could perform magic like that, but instead of turning someone into a half-shark, turning them into a merman.

He hastily shoved that thought back, trying to focus on what you were saying. That was impossible and stupid and he shouldn't have let him mind wander that far because every time he did, he just made himself sad.

"I don't know how, exactly," You continued, your voice becoming sheepish. You turned to Newt. "You remember that storm you told me about? The one where you thought you lost Alby?"

Newt nodded. "Of course."

"Well, I didn't know any of you yet, but I was in the area at the time. I saw Alby fall in, and the storm was too strong for me to swim Alby over to shore, but I used a little bit of magic," You demonstrated by murmuring something under your breath and waggling your fingers in Newt's direction, plucking his hat off his head, and depositing it on your own head. "To carry him to the shore. I must have said the spell wrong or maybe I was just too tired, I don't know, but the next day I went back for him. And he was gone. And I just found out today that I did this to him and I have no idea how to reverse it and-." You were rambling now, and it took a gentle smile from Newt before you fell silent.

"I, personally, think that Alby looks shuckin' awesome." Minho contributed, and you smiled gratefully.

Alby rested a dark palm on your shoulder, giving it a light squeeze before removing it. "It's not that bad, honestly. Now I know where my crew is, at least." Alby said.

"That reminds me," You said and brought your gaze up to meet Newt's eyes. You flicked your hand, placing Newt's hat back on his head before continuing. "I met Gally today."

You saw something flash into his eyes briefly, but before you could understand what it was, Frypan started speaking. You tore your eyes away from Newt and landed them on Frypan.

"How'd that go?" Frypan asked, and you shrugged.

"Better than you'd expect, actually. Believe it or not, Gally doesn't hunt mermaids like you guys thought. He just asks them if they've seen Alby and then tosses them back into the water. He was very civil." You turned to look at Alby. "I promised Gally I'd let him know if I caught sight of you, so you're going to have to pop by his ship and let him know that you're still around."

Alby nodded. "Will do."

You flicked your gaze between all the boys before deciding that you should head back to your cave. Brenda, Teresa, Sonya, and Harriet were going to start worrying soon.

"I'll see you boys tomorrow." You started, waving at the Gladers (as Newt affectionately referred to them). "And Alby," You locked your eyes with his. "I am going to try my best to switch you back."

You didn't give him a chance to respond before you dove into the depths of the sea.

"She's certainly something." Alby said, looking after you in awe, and Newt nodded absentmindedly.

"Good that."

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"Did you know it was possible to accidentally turn someone into a human-shark hybrid?" You asked the moment you swam back into the cave.

Four pairs of eyes turned to look at you in confusion. "What?" Brenda asked, pausing the brush she had been combing through Teresa's long, black hair.

"Did I tell you about how I saved that human last year? The one that fell off the boat because of the storm?" They all nodded slowly. "Well, uh, I had been swimming all day so I wasn't in the strongest shape, and instead of swimming him over to the beach, I used magic. And apparently he's been half shark-half human for a year now and I have no idea how to change him back because I didn't even know that was possible." You said in one breath, rubbing your temples with your forefinger and middle finger.

"Are you sure it was you?" Sonya questioned, lifting her head up from Harriet's shoulder. "Maybe it was one of those sea witche-"

You cut her off by shaking your head frantically. "It wasn't them. It was me. It had to have been me. How do I change him back? Can I turn him back? If I figure out the spell to turn him back, could I turn my tail into legs?"

"Why would you want to do that?" Teresa asked, even though she already knew the answer and she didn't like where this was going.

You opened and closed your mouth several times before reluctantly giving her a one word answer. "Newt."

"__y/n__, no, you're not going to give up your tail just for some human you barely even know." Brenda interjected, and you nodded.

"I know. I wouldn't be doing it just for Newt. I want to explore something other than the ocean." You said, before shrugging like you weren't talking about something as life changing as trading in your fin for legs. "I don't even know if I can do it." You smiled brightly at them. "No need to worry, yet."

Brenda, Teresa, Harriet, and Sonya exchanged a wary look as you swam back out of the cave, mumbling something about practice.

-----------------------

For the next month, that was all you did. You tried different variations of the levitating spell, trying to figure out how you had turned Alby into a shark hybrid, all to no avail.

You huffed in frustration, hoisting yourself onto the side of The Glade and waiting for Newt to finish tying a sail so he could make his way over to you. He sat down next to you, and as soon as he did, you sighed and leaned to the left, resting your head on Newt's shoulder.

"You alright, love? You sound stressed." Newt asked, and you sighed again.

"I am stressed. I can't figure out how to change Alby back, and if I can't figure out how to change Alby back, I'll never figure out how to  change-" You cut yourself off before you could finish, and Newt raised an eyebrow at you.

"Change what?"

"Nothing." You said, shaking your head.

Newt turned to look at you fully, catching your chin between his thumb and forefinger and making you look at him. "It's not nothing. I've known you long enough by now to know when you're lying. What else won't you be able to change?"

You flicked your eyes away from his, not wanting to meet his gaze. "Nothing. It's...it's stupid. I should go, I have more spells to practice." You said and gently removed Newt's hand from your chin, flashed him a woeful smile, and slipped back into the water without giving him a chance to protest.

Newt groaned, running a hand across his face tiredly.

"Captain, if I may," Thomas started, sitting down beside his captain, and Newt rolled his eyes.

"It's Newt, Tommy, how many times have I told you that?"

"I know," Thomas said, grinning. "But I have to pretend that we're a professional ship sometimes, don't I?"

Newt chuckled, but it sounded hollow even to his own ears. "I suppose. What'd ya need, anyway?"

"I think you should tell __y/n__ how you feel." Thomas said slowly, and Newt sighed, his gaze looking out at the sea.

"I think I should too. Shuck, I want to tell her, but she's a mermaid, Tommy! A bloody mermaid! I'm just a human. I can't. Even if she does feel the same way,"

"Which she does." Thomas interrupted, and Newt smiled before continuing.

"She's still a mermaid. We'd never work."

"You'll never know unless you try, Newt." Thomas said wisely and clapped Newt on the shoulder before climbing to his feet and going to help Zart with something.

For the rest of the buggin' day, Newt turned Thomas's words over and over in his head, trying to figure out if Thomas was right.

------------------------------

"We have something that can help you." Sonya said, swimming towards you cautiously as you entered the cave a few days later. You had been gone all day working on spells that could change Alby back.

"And Alby." Harriet chimed in.

"What is it?" You asked, looking at them warily. Up until now, they had been extremely unsupportive of your search. You understood why, you didn't want to give up your tail permanently, but you wanted to see what legs would be like (and if you had legs, maybe you would actually have a chance with Newt).

Brenda held up two necklaces. "We may have given the sea witch that lives in the giant clam a couple of strands of our hair." Brenda said, shrugging.

"Why?" You questioned, taking the necklaces and looking at them in awe when she held them out to you.

"Because that was what she wanted." Brenda said teasingly.

"And because you're our friend." Teresa cut in. "And we want you to be happy. If you think you'll be happy with Newt, we want you to be with Newt."

You felt tears pricking the corners of your eyes, and you threw your arms around the four mermaids, hugging them as best as you could. "Thank you." You managed to choke out. "Thank you so much; I love you more than words can say right now."

Brenda broke the embrace, pushing you towards the mouth of the cave. "As soon as you put the necklace on, you'll grow legs. When you take it off, your tail will come back. Same with Alby. Now," Brenda said and gently shoved you out the door. "Go get him."

-----------------------

You were able to locate Alby fairly quickly, and as soon as you did, you grinned brightly at him.

"Someone's in a better mood." Alby noted, and you just nodded, handing him one of the necklaces and gesturing for him to follow you. He did so without complaint, but he was looking at you in confusion.

You swam furiously towards The Glade, and when you caught side of it, you practically launched yourself out of the water and onto the side of the boat.

"Where's the bloody fire?" Newt teased, but you just shook your head and looped the necklace around your neck. After a tense moment of nothing happening, you felt a tingling ache in your tail. A few seconds later, a pair of legs replaced it.

They were __s/c__, like the rest of your skin, and there were still a couple of __e/c__ scales sprinkled on them, but to you (and Newt), they were perfect. The necklace also apparently came with a pair of shortened trousers, for which you were grateful.

"__y/n__," Newt said in disbelief, his eyes flicking from your legs to your face and back again rapidly.

"Newt," You said in response, slowly getting to your feet. You weren't used to walking yet, however, so you slipped and would've hit the deck had Newt not been there to catch you. You blinked at the realization that Newt's arms were around your waist and that Newt's face was only inches away from yours, and Newt seemed to notice it too, shifting you in his arms.

All that did, however, was set you up so that it would be easier to kiss him. After a shy glance to his lips and then one to his eyes, you slowly leaned forwards and pressed your lips against his. Newt returned the kiss immediately, one of his hands leaving your waist and instead moving into your hair, threading through the damp, __h/c__ strands like he'd wanted to do for months.

You arched into the touch and grasped Newt's shirt with both hands, pulling his body impossibly closer to yours. Newt released a small little happy sound, and you smiled against his lips, slowly breaking the kiss as you felt your chest tighten. You needed air.

You panted into Newt's neck, your arms around his shoulders as you hugged him. You needed him to stay as close to you as possible.

"I take it you figured out the spell, then?" Newt asked, nodding with his head to Alby, who was walking around on board and hugging his old crew mates.

You shook your head. "Actually, no. I had some friends help me out."

-------------------------

A year later, and your life was better than you ever thought possible.

Newt and his crew had finally found an island to make their home, and while they kept their ship, they named the island The Glade too. Eventually, Newt even extended an olive branch of peace and allowed Gally and his Grievers (the name Newt's crew had given to Gally's crew) to move onto the island as well.

Teresa, Brenda, Harriet, and Sonya found a new cave that was closer to the island, so you all didn't have to swim as long just to visit each other. You and Alby were frequent visitors to the ocean (surprise, surprise), both with and without your necklaces.

You managed to convince Newt to go with you in mermaid form often, so much so that the Gladers started teasing him about it (not that he cared; he got to swim with you and watch your tail glimmering in the faint sunlight that seeped through the water).

You smiled softly to yourself, looking around at your friends as a fire crackled and popped in front of you. Newt's hand was warm in yours, and you gave it a light squeeze before resting your head on his shoulder. You felt Newt brush a gentle kiss across your temple before he leaned his head against yours. You watched the fire in silence for a few moments before he spoke, his eyes on the long sleeved white shirt you were wearing.

"Isn't that my shirt?"

Newt didn't understand why you suddenly could not stop laughing, and he didn't try to, but he allowed himself to chuckle softly with you, pressing kisses to your forehead, cheeks, and nose before you fell silent.  

And then your lips were on his, molding against his like they were made for them, and Newt didn't care if it was his shirt. You could have all his shirts if you wanted them. All he cared about was keeping you in his arms.

Everyday, your life will never be the same.