Eleanor paused when she felt heavy drops of rain pouring over her hair and the salty air hitting her nose. "My word, the weather was just fine moments ago. How could it have gotten this bad now?"
She looked around the deck, trying to see through the growing fog that was obscuring her vision, when she spotted a bucket that was overflowing with water, rainwater surely to have at least part of the salt that sea would have offered.
Originally, Eleanor had a plan to make use of the lifeboats and scoop up seawater but the complaining noises of the crew being woken up by the first mate caused her to quickly grab the bucket and rush back to the room that housed the merprince before anyone spotted her.
The door to the merpince's room was soon kicked open by Eleanor holding the large bucket with both of her hands.
"Hey! You're back early. What happened to you?" Prince Colton said, examining how wet her body looked now.
"I honestly don't know. Before I visited you, the weather was just fine and now there's a bad storm." The woman eagerly held up the bucket. "Anyways, let's not worry about me. Let's get you free!"
The bathtub that held Prince Colton gushed and overflowed as the rainwater poured all over it and the merpince. The merman's tail flopped around happily as it took in all of the new salt bringing new life to the once stale water.
Prince Colton grinned. "Thank you so much! I owe you greatly for this. Now that I have some salt, I could show you some of my magic. Allow me to demonstrate."
The merprince closed his eyes and began to whisper a chant."Neptunus vires det libertatem vinculis."
As soon as he finished, his arms began to be enveloped by glowing blue water. When the glowing reached its peak, Prince Colton fought against his chains with one last pull, and his restraints broke in a million pieces.
The merprince looked at his hands with delight. "It worked! I'm finally free now!"
Prince Colton looked around the tub and then the ground. "Now all I need to do now is to get back to the ocean… But how?"
Eleanor pointed to herself. "If you want, I could carry you."
The merprince chuckled. "Are you sure you can manage that? Mermen aren't exactly known for being light to carry, especially with how the muscles in our tails weigh us down a lot."
Eleanor nodded. "I've handled chores around the ship before. I've carried many heavy things, surely carrying a merman or a mermaid can't be an impossible challenge." She opened her arms wide to Prince Colton, eager to help.
The merprince thought about his options. It wasn't like he could just get up and walk towards the ocean. He needed all the help he could get, and right now Eleanor was the only member of the ship who didn't want to take advantage of his status as a royal sea creature. With an understanding thumbs up, he answered, "Okay, I accept your offer."
With a grin, Eleanor scooped up Prince Colton bridal style. She was immediately taken back at just how heavy he was. "Man, you weren’t kidding. You merfolk really are heavy." She said with a huff.
Prince Colton couldn't help but chuckle again "Indeed. You can thank my mother for my long tail length and my father for the muscles in there."
The two of them giggled before they were suddenly interrupted by a loud roar of thunder.
"Oh no…" Prince Colton said, his face becoming pale.
"What's wrong? It's just thunder." Eleanor said.
"No, it's not that. Think about it. The change of weather to a harsh thunderstorm in less than a few minutes. That's not something that just happens suddenly."
It was Eleanor's turn to turn pale as well. "Do you think…?"
"I do. My father is surely the one causing this with the trident. He knows I'm here, and he's mad." Prince Colton turned to Eleanor. "Run! Before the ship sinks!"
As if on cue, the sound of thunder roared throughout the sky. Filled With adrenaline, Eleanor soon ran out the door with the merprince in her arms.
Immediately, she was overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of the crew scrambling around the deck in panic.
"Quickly! Quickly!" The first mate yelled. "To the lifeboats."
Lighting flashed across the sky as the rain began to pour in even harder, drenching everyone on board besides Captain Blackstone.
As the fog began to fill more across the ship, Eleanor took a deep breath and ran across the deck towards the back of the ship.
Throughout the commotion, a young pirate spotted Eleanor running with Prince Colton.
"HEY! What's Elle doing with that merm-" Immediately the pirate boy was smacked hard on the head by the first mate.
"Do you want to live for not?" The first mate scolded the boy. "Either you get on the lifeboats or die here!"
With a groan, the young pirate followed the order.
Unfortunately, much to the first mate's chagrin, the younger members of the crew were busy getting the older pirates on the lifeboats first, thinking they deserve a safe place to rest at the mainland while the young boys try to take care of the ship through the storm.
The sight of severe nativity caused the first mate to hit his forehead with his hand. Grumbling, he turned to Eleanor running towards the end of the ship with the freed merprince in her arms and began to smile.
"Go, Eleanor. Go get your reward and get out of this ship. You already made your father proud, including me."
After what felt like forever, Eleanor finally reached the back of the ship, the quarterdeck, where nobody from the crew could spot her putting the prince back in the water.
"Well, here we are." Eleanor sighed as she bent over the ship's railing. "All you need to do is jump and you'll be free."
"Thank you very much!" Prince Damon said as he leaped from the girl's arms and splashed into the ocean with the comfort of a boy who spent all his life in the sea.
He popped his head from the water and smiled. "Now all you need to do is jump in and get your reward!"
Eleanor soon looked uneasy. "My reward?"
Suddenly, thunder roared again and this time the lighting that accompanied it struck the sail, causing fire to trail down the main mast.
It was then that Eleanor turned as she saw two massive waves forming in the distance, large enough to consume the ship if they hit it.
Eleanor gulped as she realized Prince Colton was right. This weather wasn't natural, something really wanted to destroy her father's ship, and it had the power of sea to do just that.
"Eleanor, please!" Prince Colton yelled. "Jump! Before you sink with the ship!" It was now the merpince's turn to offer his arms to Eleanor.
"But… but… What about my dad?" Eleanor said with a cracked voice.
She turned to see the fire consuming the ship and the ship beginning to tilt from the sheer force of the fast moving water below. Eleanor wanted to run to see her father one last time, at least before she got her reward. Yet, something in her heart told her that her father wouldn't want her to risk burning to death just to be with him.
As the daughter of a pirate, she repeatedly heard the phrase "a good captain always goes down with his ship" thrown around. Now she felt the full weight of it.
“Goodbye, daddy.” stated Eleanor sorrowfully, tears coming from her eyes as she gave a final farewell to the place that had been her home before finally taking the jump.
She closed her eyes and hoped that, if she were to die, that the pain would end quickly.
Instead of her body directly hitting the water, Prince Colton leaped from the ocean and caught her before the two landed in the water with a huge splash.
Underwater, the merprince smiled as, for the first time since they met, he had Eleanor fully in his loving embrace.