The Mermaid and the Codfish
Some time ago, I was asked how I’d tackle a soulmates AU. I thought about it, and decided it would be an animal shapeshifter thing; soulmates can change into the same animal, but until they meet their soulmate, they’re stuck in a half animal form. This proves to be very awkward, and I kinda love it. This is going to skip around a bit as I cover various bits of OUAT canon.
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The bird woman takes Emma’s order, and Emma spares her a smile. The waitress returns it as best she can with a mouth that was half beak; her animal half was a near perfect division, her right side human and her left covered in brilliant blue Macaw feathers. Her massive left wing sags with only a right arm to act as counterweight. When she leaves, her feathers brush against Emma’s hair, and her dining companion frowns.
“They really shouldn’t let someone like her work here,” he says disdainfully.
Emma struggles to keep her smile plastered to her face. Her date is completely human; he’d found his soulmate years ago. And yet here he is, on a date. Having a soulmate didn’t guarantee loyalty. She absently rubs at her legs through the elegant slacks; her scales have begun to itch.
She listens to him prattle on about his favorite subject - himself - for a little while longer, before springing her trap. And when her skip inevitably runs, Emma is in hot pursuit. Her legs may have been ungainly, more suited to water than land, but she is accustomed to them. It was only a matter of time before she’d caught her skip.
Her peers may call her ‘fish legs’ behind her back, but Emma Swan always got her man.
This ABSOLUTE MANIAC managed to write a fish-headed Killian AU that somehow works and now I need to go lay down for a minute or two and think about all of our life choices.