belaruby au where bela dives for sunken treasures to sell, and on one of her dives she encounters a mermaid with a ruby-red tail and hypnotizing eyes. the mermaid's name is ruby. she tells bela she's been watching her for a while and has a proposition for her. ruby's looking for a knife a fisherman stole from her, but she doesn't know if the knife went back to the sea when the fisherman's ship sank or if the fisherman took it back to shore. in return, ruby will find items for bela to sell, going deeper and staying down longer than bela can. ruby meets bela's boat at the surface every day. she talks with bela while bela gets ready to dive. at first they just talk about treasures and the weather, but eventually their conversations get deeper. bela learns that ruby is an outcast in her clan. ruby learns that bela is similarly alone. sometimes when they dive they don't even look for sunken treasure; sometimes they just swim around, holding hands, and ruby will show bela her favorite things about the deep. bela eventually finds ruby's missing knife, and though she's heartbroken because she believes this will be the end of their relationship, she gives it to ruby because she knows how much it means to her. ruby is dumbstruck at first, but she regains her head and pulls bela down into the water - still fully clothed - to kiss her breathless. ruby's lips are salty but they're warm and plush against bela's, and neither wants to break the kiss now that it's finally happened. to bela's delight, ruby doesn't back out of their agreement just because she has her knife now. bela tells ruby she's going to go away for couple days. ruby says it's fine, she has something she wants to do anyway. bela has a feeling ruby isn't telling her something, but bela isn't telling ruby something either, so she doesn't call her out on it. what bela didn't tell ruby was that she had enough money now - thanks to ruby's help she takes in double what she used to - to buy a houseboat, and that's exactly what she's going to do. she buys a luxurious one that has a large deck close to the water. when bela goes to their usual meeting spot in her new boat, ruby is nowhere to be found. panicked, bela dives down. she takes several trips but there's no sign of her mermaid. maybe ruby did back out. bela's heart breaks. little does she know ruby is cashing in a favor from the sea witch tammi. her tail splits into two very human legs, her gills that allow her to breath underwater disappear and her lungs start burning with a desperate need for oxygen. tammi gives ruby a brief kiss on the lips, and all of a sudden ruby is on a boat. she lays there, naked and gasping, for several minutes until a familiar voice exclaims from behind her. "oh my god!" bela pulls ruby into her arms and nearly crushes her with the force of her hug. it takes several minutes for bela to release ruby. "what the hell did you do?" ruby grins stupidly. "that place wasn't my home. i'd rather stay with you." they kiss and live happily ever after in their houseboat
