(This is last chapter in the perspective of Dream!

Dream groaned with annoyance, sitting down roughly on a wooden step behind him. He rested his elbows on his knees and brought his hands up to his face. The ship swayed gently through the water, making Dream sigh.

His fingers curled themselves in his dirty blonde hair as he tried to think of solutions to his big problem. Very big problem. Possibly the worst problem.

You see, he'd been at sea for weeks now, after leaving Schlatt's palace to capture a mermaid for the king.

That's right. A mermaid. A bloody mermaid. How the hell was Dream supposed to catch a mermaid? He was a pirate for god's sake, not a magic man.

Catching a mer these days was basically an impossible task. It was so impossible that Dream even scribbled a little list of all the reasons it was impossible.

: He's a pirate. He steals and fights people, he doesn't fish.

Mermaid sightings were at an all-time low. It was almost unheard of to see them these days. They'd been hunted and killed by people for years and years, there weren't many of them left.

To add on to his last point, mermaids weren't dumb. They knew not to go to the surface anymore. Any mermaid with half a brain wouldn't even look at the surface, let alone take a pleasant swim up there. Dream's only chance of catching one was if it was at the surface, not deep underwater where he couldn't even see.

Mermaids are hard to catch. They have sharp nails, or claws, Dream guessed. Their element is the water, Dream couldn't do jack shit about that.

So basically, Dream was screwed. Utterly and royally screwed. He'd have laughed at that 'royally' pun, considering it was King Schlatt's fault he was even in this situation, but his mood was just too down to find humour in that.

"Quit moping." a voice rang through the air. Dream snapped his head up, looking at his best friend, Nick (but his crew liked to call him Sapnap).

"I'm not moping, you're moping." Dream retorted, despite it making no sense. Sapnap raised an eyebrow questioningly but decided to ignore it.

"Dream, we're not going to get any further with this task unless you're actually trying." Sapnap told him bluntly, sitting down on the step next to him. Dream bit his lip. "I have been trying Sap. We've all been trying. It's been weeks! We're never going to find a mermaid, and if we don't, my crew will face the punishment. Do you know how stressful that is? As Captain, I'm supposed to protect you guys. My family. But I can't do that, because I've been sent on an impossible mission. I'm doomed." Dream vented, his eyes going slightly glossy. He was thankful for his mask at times like this.

Sapnap rested a hand on Dream's shoulder comfortingly. "We know you're stressed Dream. We're all stressed. But we're worried too. Seeing you all down in the dumps like this...it's weird. You're not supposed to be like that. You're our brave Captain. Not a moper." Oh great. To add on to all his problems, he now had to deal with the disappointment of his entire ship. Great.

Despite Sapnap not being able to see Dream's face, he knew from Dream's body language that he was hurt. Sapnap coughed, "You know that's not what I meant Dream."

Dream tapped his pointer finger against his knee a few times, before standing up briskly. He patted down his coat and murmured a curt "I know." before walking upstairs to the deck of the ship, leaving Sapnap sitting there.

Dream let out a heavy breath of air as he stood by the side of the ship. His hands were resting on the railing as he stared out to sea. Today was peaceful, at least. He didn't want to deal with raging waters along with everything else.

The sun shone brightly, warming his skin as he stood there. The waves were a bright but deep blue, and Dream felt, for the first time today, a small bit of peacefulness.

He at least had a chance to himself right now. Most of his crew was below deck. Sure, Fundy was up here tending to whatever it was he was doing, but he knew Tommy was downstairs along with the rest of those idiots, telling some sort of story. No one seemed to care that Tommy was just a teenager. His stories were captivating and gory. It became a daily occurrence for him to be belting out some treasuring tale, one that had apparently happened to him, which all the crew knew to be incorrect, but the blonde-haired boy had such a knack for it that his friends didn't care that they were made up.

The thought made the green-eyed man smile slightly, before his mood dropped again. He really liked these people. If anything happened to them, anything...it would be his fault. It's his duty to protect them.

Dream remembered their reaction when he'd told them what they'd been requested to do.

He'd walked up the dock, nodding to the soldiers standing guard. He'd looked up, and seen his crew peering at him with curious, worried gazes. He'd murmured something to the guards, what it was, he didn't remember.

He'd walked up in silence, getting everything ready for their departure. Then he'd turned around, all of them gathering together expectantly, before he'd clapped his hands and said "We're off to catch a mermaid." before retiring to his quarters.

He heard Sapnap say "What the fuck." before his door had swung shut and they had set sail.

Of course, later at dinner, he'd given them a more in-depth story about what they had to do and why, but that didn't matter.

Dream spent another few minutes standing there, letting his thoughts run wild until he heard the familiar sound of a dolphin call. A lot of dolphins too, it sounded like.

Unable to spot them, he walked down along the deck further and spotted a group of them swimming around one spot, letting out happy calls.

Dream had always liked dolphins. They seemed so...happy. Sometimes he wished he was a dolphin. Free, away from duties, never tied down...a child of the sea.

He peered down and saw one of the dolphins move to the side, leaving the middle of their little group open for him to see. And as soon as he did see it, his heart spiked.

In the middle of the dolphins, was a fucking merman.

What kind of dumb luck did Dream have right now?

Holy shit.

He didn't dwell on it too long, as he now had to fulfil his mission. Catch a merman. He couldn't do it himself though.

He turned around and called out a loud scream: "Merman!" alerting Fundy who dropped a bag of flour in surprise. Fundy widened his eyes and ran downstairs, hollering for them to come up and help them. Within seconds, his crew was upstairs and on their feet, prepared.

Dream was holding a rope, and Antfrost ran over quickly, helping to throw it over the side. Ranboo and Sam came to support the rope alongside them, while Tommy and Wilbur were sliding out the glass tank full of water that they'd prepared.

Dream leaned over the side, seeing nothing but splashing in the water, and the calls of dolphins.

He heard a shriek, and noticed as they started pulling the rope up slowly, using all their power, that it was a dolphin caught in the net.

Dream's heart dropped, no no no no, they were so close!

But then, a miracle. The merman had come back! He could faintly see what was happening under the water. The merman had wriggled his way into the net, helping push the dolphin out. It leapt right back to the other aquatic animals.

The merman started to attempt to get out of the ropes, but Dream clicked his fingers and everyone started hauling the rope over the side.

The merman in the net was now out of the water, and Dream saw him try to escape, but he fell and seemed to cut himself on the rusted metal lining the rope. Dream winced when he saw a bit of blood mixing into the water that was dripping off the rope, but he ignored it. They could deal with any injuries the merman had sustained after the creature was safely on board.

The net was brought onto the deck, and they moved it far from the edge, just to be careful.

Ranboo let out a breath and looked at Dream, but then let go of the net. The rest of the men stepped away, unable to let out words to say anything about what was going on.

The merman gasped, and Dream stepped over towards him. He was going to try and talk to him, maybe he spoke? But that didn't work out, because as soon as Dream got near, the merman passed out. His head hit the wood underneath him, and Dream could hear a few of his crew wince for the merman.

Dream stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. But then he spotted blood staining a small spot on the rope, and he jumped forward. "Help me untangle him, be careful, he's hurt." Dream ordered, and everyone snapped out of it quickly. Philza and Sapnap helped him carefully untangle the merman, and when the net was fully off and discarded to the side, they all sucked in sharp breaths.

Previously, under all the ropes, they hadn't been able to see much of the merman's features. But now....he was beautiful.

He had dark, chocolaty hair, only a bit shorter than Dream's own hair. He was smaller in frame than Dream, but looked strong. Of course, all that swimming would have to do something, huh?

But what topped it off, most of all, was his beautiful blue tail. It was a rich type of blue, quite dark, and as the scales glistened in the sun, Dream could see all sorts of different shades blending into the blue. Dream blinked. Wow. A merman. A merman, on his ship. His ship!

Wilbur brought a cloth to the cut, and after cleaning it, looked up and said: "It's not too bad, we can clean it when we get him settled."

Dream nodded, and asked Skeppy and Badboyhalo to help carry him to the tank. The three of them did so, dropping him carefully in the water. The merman fit in the tank okay, in regards of length. His tail did plop over the side a little bit, but Dream told himself that would be fine. It was deep enough to submerge the mermaid fully, though it was cutting it a little bit close.

The crew helped push the tank into the closest room, the one under the upper deck that homed the steering wheel and barrels. It was an unoccupied room, and was mostly just used for storing paper and things. There was a large table in it with some maps, but Dream didn't often follow maps. He let himself and his intuition, along with his knowledge of the sea to help him get places.

Dream stood there for a moment, as the others left, giving him privacy. He'd done it. He'd succeeded in protecting his family.

A hand rested on Dream's shoulder, and he jumped slightly, before recognising it as Sapnap.

They exchanged a look, and gripped onto each other. "We did it." Dream mumbled.

Sapnap nodded slowly, and breathed out a soft, "Yeah, Dream. We did it."

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Woah! Hey!

I'm sorry, I know it's been a few days since the last update. I was lacking in motivation lol. But it's oKAy now because yaaay a chapter!

Remember: these are just characters, not the actual people. I'm using their online personas. If anyone mentioned in this fic ever expressed uncomfortable things about being in fics, I'll remove them! If the dream team decide they're no longer comfy with it, I'll delete the fic.

But for nooooow.....enjoy :)

Also, happy new years everyone!

-Bella

(co-posted on ao3)

02/01/21