Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Curious Children

The kingdom by the sea was the crown jewel of the coastline for its famous boardwalk (and all the rides and attractions upon it, from the great ferris wheel to the giant of a wooden roller coaster), scenic town, strong and supportive creative and performing arts society, and an impressive castle on a hill with an incredible view of an ocean that seemed to stretch on for miles and miles.

It was upon the shoreline of this kingdom that two children poked at something they found upon the wet sands. The sky was clear and blue, the weather was mild and pleasant, and the ocean itself was calm as the reflection of the sunlight made it shimmer as if it were made of precious stones instead of water.

“The heck is it?” A girl of about nine years and six months used a stick to poke at a clear jelly like object that somehow found its way on the beach. “It kind of looks like snot.”

“I don’t think so.” A dark haired boy with glasses and who happened to be two months younger than the girl also poked a stick at the odd thing. “They do show up a lot.”

“But what if it was snot?” The girl moved her dark brown hair away from her tanned face and cracked a grin at the boy. “Imagine a great sea beast having a sick day and blowing chunks up through the water.”

This made the boy snort and laugh. “You have a good imagination, Lisa! I wish you were like that more often!” He then poked his stick as hard as he could into the thing for pure curiosity. Lisa made a face at this as she realized she said something that was rather childish and gross and she tried to shake it off as if it didn’t happen.

“Why are you two off on your own on this beach?!” Both children turned in alarm to see an old and dirty looking man with a walking stick giving them a grin that revealed quite a few missing teeth. “And why are you poking something that could be alive? Don’t you remember the tales of the king under the ocean?”

Both children quickly got up and dropped their sticks as they stood side by side and were ready to bolt away from the stranger if they needed to. “The king under the ocean?” The boy asked. “But he’s just a local legend.”

“Billy let’s go, he seems like a nut case.” Lisa whispered to the boy as she grabbed his shoulder.

“Oh, but you of all children should know of him!” The old man was all too eager to tell the tale as he leaned in closer to them. “You know if you don’t treat the ocean and all who inhabit it with respect, he’ll send someone to drag you down into his domain and keep you locked up as punishment! If you stray too far from your parents on the shoreline or if you are all on your own out here, he’ll do the same. If you swim too far out, then you have no chance of seeing the surface ever again because he’ll grab you by your boney little ankles and–!”

“We know that’s an old ghost story to get us to behave and it’s not going to work on us like we’re a couple of five year olds!” Lisa defiantly told the old man. Instead the old man let out a chuckle as he slapped the hand that was resting on his walking stick.

“Oh you silly child. You know what causes the sudden storms with little to no warning around these parts? It’s all him because he’s that dang powerful and they happen when he gets angry! The more enraged he is, the more dangerous and deadly the storm!”

This caused both children to glance to the ocean for a moment as if this really could happen on cue.

“Even when you think all the merfolk are down there in the ocean away from you, you still aren’t safe!” The old man leaned farther towards the children to the point that he could have easily fallen over (his cane was about ready to finally tip over and fall in the sand). “And their king? He’s a right scary old monster who doesn’t care how young or good hearted you both are! They say he is more than willing to personally punish naughty children who misbehave–he enjoys it!” The old man’s grin widened to the point that it could have gone from ear-to-ear. “So I wouldn’t be taking him so lightly!”

“Now that’s a great pack of lies if I ever heard any!”

The two children turned around to see a woman protectively stand behind them and the old man yelped and nearly fell over as he almost had a heart attack from her sudden entrance. The wind kept blowing her dark brown (almost black) hair in her face and she was forced to tuck it behind her ears to reveal a face that had light freckles and eyes that were as blue as the sea itself, if not bluer. Despite her age ( she looked as if she could have been in her very late twenties to early thirties) she somehow managed to look rather young without any visible sign of extreme hardship wearing her face down.

“Stories like that will only traumatize people from going anywhere near the ocean!” She snapped at the old man before gently grabbing the hands of Lisa and Billy. “It’s bad for the kingdom!”

“Yeah, but you don’t want the king under the ocean snatching up the young prince and princess of this kingdom, now do you?!” The old man chuckled again after he regained his composure. “Better keep an eye on them, pretty lady, or else you’ll lose them for good! He’s as mean as he is ugly, both inside and out!”

The woman sighed and lead the children away from the man and towards the castle. “Remember not to throw your trash in the ocean!” He yelled.

“Crazy old loon.” The woman muttered under her breath. “Probably going to get himself into a heap of trouble.”

“Do you think it’s all true, Miss Edith?” Billy asked. “The storms do happen without warning.”

“Well if they are, I’d give this ‘king’ a piece of my mind.” Edith admitted as she stared at the ocean. She almost pitied the supposed king under the ocean for being the indirect cause of the storms–that would be a connection no one in their right mind would want. But if he was real then you would also think that he’d be aware of it and try to keep his temper down when people needed to be out at sea. “The fishing hasn’t been good lately.”

“I’d want to met a merperson.” Lisa confessed in a soft voice. She knew she was getting too old for such things, but a small part of her longed to have this become a reality. Lisa turned to the ocean and added “Not a mean one, but a nice one. I want to know what it’s like down there.”

“Yeah, like if they have toilets.” Billy snickered.

“EW!” Lisa made a face at this as she struggled not to laugh. She told herself several times that she was already above this sort of humor, but she was failing miserably at it.

“Oh come on, they have to be like fish! They drink and swim in their own–”

“STOP!” Lisa cried out, but she ended up snorting out a laugh that made Billy laugh in triumph. This also made Edith laugh as they finally made it to the pathway to lead them back up.

“So, since I have the ingredients would you two like crab melts for dinner later tonight?” Edith asked and the eyes of both children lit up. “Oh heck yes!” Lisa’s mouth watered at the thought of the tasty meal.

“But anyway,” Billy returned back to the previous discussion. “Yeah, it would be pretty neat to see a merperson.” Billy turned towards the ocean. “I doubt they all are as bad as that old man makes them out to be.”

Unknown to both Billy and Lisa, this was true. Not all merfolk were as bad as one might think and in fact some were equally as curious about their land counterparts.

*****

“Almost... got it...”

Deep within the depths of the ocean, in a place not too far from the kingdom upon the land, a young merchild who was part orca struggled to pull something out of the mud and rocks. He screwed his face up as he pulled the handle of the object as hard as he could before he turned to see another merchild playing with a dolphin. His friend was supposed to be searching, but the dolphin was proving to be a huge distraction to him once again.

“HEY I COULD REALLY USE SOME HELP HERE!” He yelled.

“Oh!” The merchild who was part dolphin finally snapped out of it and left the mammal to join his best friend. He also grabbed onto the handle and they both pulled as hard as they could. This time the object managed to yield and within seconds it came out–the force knocked the two back and they went sailing with their new found treasure (with a perfect duet of startled yells as their accompaniment) before they could finally come to a stop.

“What the heck is this?!” The merdolphin finally let go of the object while the merorca held it out–it was some sort of red suction cup attached to a wooden handle.

“I don’t know, but someone must have wanted it to be like an octopus’s suction cup.” The merorca chuckled as he looked at the object. “Humans come up with the weirdest stuff sometimes.”

“We should totally keep it!” The merdolphin’s eyes sparkled as the dolphin came to join the two. “Think of the things we could try with it!"

“Well we won’t know for sure until we head to you-know-where.” The merorca hinted as he went to his bag and put the object inside while making sure that it was carefully hidden amongst the other odd things they found that day. He then slung it over his shoulder as he turned to the merdolphin. “Ready Harold?”

“Ready as always George!”

*****

After carefully moving a large rock aside the boys went in (and made sure that the rock was closed completely afterwards) before they swam up to their secret domain.

Somehow there was an odd formation that stuck out above the ocean. It looked like either a large rock or a small mountain of an island, but it was hallow on the inside, and holes that were spaced around the top permitted warm beams of sunlight to enter the hidden grotto. The grotto was above water, so it was almost like one could have their own small swimming hole.Yet the grotto was also filled with various objects from the human world that the boys had found, from bottles, a spyglass, an oar, fishing lures and fishing poles, nets, toys, a life ring, some odd circular white thing, a flyer advertising a location on land that looked like fun, and now a weird red suction cup on a stick.

“And another one for the collection!” George beamed as he set the object in a special spot and snapped his fingers for a dramatic flourish.

“Oh hey you did it!” Harold grinned. “You did the finger snapping!”

“Yeah, it took me a bit to get it down.” George grinned back as he did the gesture again after taking out the rest of the objects they both had found. “Can’t really do it that well in the water. Want me to teach you before we get to business?”

And so the boys spent a couple minutes learning how to attempt the gesture of snapping their fingers with some success, until Harold finally said “I think I’ll get it next time. I need my fingers for drawing.”

“Ok, ok.” George went to get some special paper ( made out of carefully woven and bleached seaweed and wood, and designed to survive underwater) and ink to jot down some ideas. “So I had some ideas in mind for a new comic.” He grabbed a pen that was carefully made from the bone of an animal.

“I’m listening.” Harold grinned as he got his paper, ink, and pen, and set it all on dry land so that he could begin to draw whatever mental images George would gift him with. For the next hour, both boys shared ideas and drew them out for the next comic they planned to make. George would share his ideas and tell the story while Harold would draw it all out as best as he could.

Now you would find it odd that a merperson would know about what comics were, but one of the earliest discoveries the boys made together was a collection of comics from the human world that somehow fell into the grotto. Call it fate or sheer coincidence, but the boys were drawn to it and it sparked something in them that they didn’t realize they had, but it had always been there waiting to come out–the desire to create something for fun that could combine their talents. These comics not only gave them some clues about what the human world could possibly be like (though they were smart enough to tell fact from fiction), but they were able to come up with their own. With George’s writing paired with Harold’s drawings, they came up with as many comics as they could and each one gradually became better than the next.

As George played with the tooth of an orca that was attached to a necklace of thin strands of entwined red and yellow ropes around his neck, he threw out an idea. “I got a good one for you–how about Kraken Kid? He’s the son of the Kraken, but instead of breaking ships apart...” George pondered for a moment. “How about he guides them back to land and fends off other monsters from attacking his ships?”

Harold grinned as he began to draw the character. “Alright, I think I have a design in mind. Unless you have something you want to throw at me.”

Of all the stories the two enjoyed within the human comics, they liked the tales about the ‘superheroes’ who seemed human in appearance but had powers or gifts that made them seem so much more while also using those powers to protect others and stop forces of evil. They were almost like fairytales and myths on their own and they impressed and delighted the boys so much that they wanted to try to make their own.

On their own the two were good, but both boys lacked more exposure to comics, in addition to the additional tools and education that were needed to improve their talents.

Unfortunately there was a good reason for that. It was a reason that they had to hide everything they found in here as well as pass the comics to other merchildren in secret as carefully as possible. The grotto was the only place where they could truly be themselves, for even their own home was not safe from the strict rules of their king. Everything they were doing was regarded as illegal and just flat out awful, and it frustrated the both of them. It was enough to make both boys almost wish for one of these superheroes to show up and make things better for everyone, but stories were stories for a reason. All they could do was rebel against the king in their own little ways, in addition to collecting human objects and just being creative.

“Got it!” Harold showed George the drawing of the character he gave him to create. A friendly looking sea monster with a determined glint in his eye swam by a pirate ship with a bunch of relieved crewmen upon it.

“Yeah that’s it!” George clapped his hands. “Ok, sorry about distracting you, I just wanted to throw it out before I forgot about it!”

“Ah, it’s ok,” Harold waved it off. “I don’t mind a little distraction now and then. Ok, where were we?” He turned back to the comic the two were working on and tugged at his own necklace of small strands of green and white entwined rope for one quick moment.

For some unknown reason, the king forbade all forms of creativity unless it had an actual function in society. It could not be used to entertain or to express oneself and it got to a point where all stopped questioning it. All but two merchildren who couldn’t help being who they were and who had a taste of the fact that creativity could be used to make life much more fun for others besides the makers.

The boys’ artwork, hoarding human objects... all illegal and yet they did not care. They would not have done this all on their own and as long as they had each other they both felt that they could keep doing this without any worries.

Time gradually passed and at one point the boys could hear the ocean acting up a little without any warning. They could hear the waves roaring as they crashed against their second home and a light spray came out of one of the low holes in the rock walls. They both were aware of what it possibly signified, but the sky hadn’t turned dark so there was no real concern about it.

“Done!” Harold sighed as he finished a drawing and let go of his carefully carved pen made out of a fishbone. “We’ll have to resume another time.” He noticed how little sunlight they had left and he frowned since he wanted to keep going.

“One day we’ll get to actually see the sky and the sun without this stupid ceiling in the way.” He voiced his wish to George. “Stupid royal-pain-in-the-butt won’t let us because ‘Oh humans are bad, so everything on the surface is bad!’” He deepened his voice to make it sound like the king and waved his hands in the air in an act of mockery. It made George laugh as he set his own paper and pen aside.

“That would be great.” George agreed as he looked up to see what little of the forbidden sky could be seen. A seagull flew past one hole and another one sat within view of another. “He’d have everything in here destroyed if he ever found out.” He shuddered at the thought and prayed with all his heart that such a thing would never come to pass. Both he and Harold had been really careful with their secret so far.

“I really wish we could do this at home.” Harold glanced down at the comic they were making. “It would save so much time.”

George hummed and tried to think of something to cheer his friend up. “Well, how about the next time we go looking for something, we go to that valley of rock formations in the east? We haven’t gone there yet.” It was the best he could come up with since he didn’t have the means to solve their other problem.

“With the eels?!” Harold squeaked. “George are you crazy?! There’s a reason we aren’t allowed there! Those things could swallow us whole! They wouldn’t even need to chew us up into tiny morsels!”

“Well that’s where we need to put our skills to the test!” George laughed as he ducked back down under the water. Harold could only sigh before he himself went under.

*****

“Come on Serenity, let’s go home.” Harold told the dolphin when the two boys finally sealed up the entrance to their hideaway. The dolphin made a happy sound and when the two held onto her dorsal fin, she took them back to the ocean kingdom as fast as she could.

“Wait a minute, there was a meeting at the castle today, right?” Harold suddenly realized. “You don’t think the ocean acted up because of... you know.” He snickered.

“Oh!” George snickered back as he used his free hand to slap his forehead. “I totally forgot about that thing we did before we left!” He laughed. “Oh man, it must have worked!”

“I’m so glad we weren’t there, but at the same time I wish I was.” Harold’s snicker turned into a laugh. “If you know what I mean!”

“I totally know!”

Neither of the boys had seen that one of the seagulls that had been near the grotto was not alive. In fact it was a mechanical seagull with a small camera-like device that had been recording everything it had seen since the merchildren first came into the grotto. When the two had finally left, it finally flew off to find its creator somewhere along a part of the coastline that was well hidden to both those upon land and within the ocean.

Chapter Text

As they headed back to the castle, the merboys (plus one dolphin) had to pass the area where their school was tucked away and was made of a series of grottos and caves. As they did, they caught sight of something that made them both stop and hide for a moment.

“This is the fifth time this year!” A merman loudly grumbled as he tried to scrub off a mural of starfish picking at their nonexistent nose upon a flat rock wall. “Who keeps doing this?!”

“That took us like an hour to make!” Harold grumbled to George. “And that was the last of the colored algae I had on hand.”

“Come on, let's go before he catches us.” George grabbed Harold by the hand and lead him back to the castle, with Serenity following close behind.

The whole kingdom looked beautiful from a distance, but it also looked barren when you were close enough. There was little color besides the neutral tones of the ocean and its floor, beyond carefully placed coral and plant life. There were little to no objects made by hand–no statues, no murals, no sculptures–yes one could see a pot or two, but there was nothing creative or exciting looking round here. It just all seemed too orderly, like all the structures were identical to each other. If you heard a bit of music playing or someone singing, the music would quickly stop before you could get close enough to figure out who it was. Most of the life came from those who lived in the kingdom as they went about their way, but most of their conversations were not entertaining to overhear for the two merboys. Some merfolk even fell silent when the two passed by, for they knew that they were children who lived in the castle and could talk about whatever they saw to the king.

If only those people knew that George and Harold held little to no loyalty to the king. Instead they regarded them, as well as those who lived within the walls of the castle, as individuals to keep their walls up against at all times. The boys themselves didn’t like the suspicious looks a few merfolk gave them as they made their way to the castle.

The castle under the ocean would have once looked beautiful and would have given its people a sense of security, but within the last few years it seemed to become an imposing fortress instead. The parts that looked like shells with long spines made the structure look dangerous, towers that spiraled up to the point that it looked like they could pierce the top of the ocean made one feel too small, and the visible wings seemed to stretch on for miles, even if it didn’t seem to be the case. Even if the outer appearance seemed neat and orderly, you could find places where some sort of rusty brown and red looking stuff was trying to creep up at the bottom edges, no matter how hard one could try to get rid of it. There was also little to no plant life on the outside to liven the place up a bit for those visiting or passing by. Those who were the most uneasy avoided going inside it, while those who worked or lived within its walls had accepted it as a recurring thing in their lives and got over it.

“Well, this is it.” Harold sighed as he turned to Serenity. “See you later.” He patted the dolphin’s side and he and George watched as Serenity swam off to look for her mother.

****

Now it just so happened that both George’s parents and Harold’s mother worked within the castle, which meant they were among the very few children who lived there in a separate wing. Normally any child would be thrilled at the idea of living in a castle, but not for the boys when they knew that the walls had eyes and ears and that the king slept within a good few yards from their own rooms.

“Almost there, almost there.” Harold frantically muttered as he and George swam through the great halls of twisted columns and high raised ceilings. “If we’re lucky, the meeting is over and they won’t catch us.”

Unfortunately Harold’s wish was to be denied as they heard talking within the throne room. Both boys came to a complete stop before they could be within full view of the opening to the room and they ducked behind one of the two columns on each side of the opening.

“Isn’t that Melvin’s parents?” George whispered as he and Harold peered over the column to take a look.

There was quite a few merfolk in the throne room–among them included a female merdolphin and a male merorca who happened to be George’s father and Harold’s mother. Near a magnificent throne were the kingdom’s two leading scientists and they were presenting some sort of issue to the one who sat on the throne.

“Lately the waters of the ocean have been clear.” Dr. Sneedly (a merman who was half octopus) began as the person on the throne began to slowly drum his fingers against one of the armrests. “Pollution has been pretty low over the last decade.”

“But we detected something along the coastline and found traces of a chemical we can’t identify.” Lady Sneedly joined in as she held up a vial that held some sort of brownish black liquid that floated on top of the water that was also within the vial. “And whatever it is, its highly flammable.”

“Which also means that it could be poisonous.” Her husband added. “If not through ingestion, then through its fumes.”

“And we have a theory or two that we would like to test out, but we need permission to go up to the surface world. We can let you go into the lab if you need further proof, but if more of this appears in the ocean, it could be trouble.” Lady Sneedly lowered the vial as all eyes cautiously glanced to the one who sat on the throne. Even George and Harold looked at him as they waited to hear his response.

Upon the throne was a rather large mershark, whose lower half bore a few faint scars and whose upper half seemed to be that of a large and overweight man, whose deep scowl and slightly furrowed brow made him look far older than his actual age. His adornments included well crafted and designed bracers upon his arms, a sash of dark blue and green that was worn diagonally across his body (and which barely did little to cover his massive frame or the faint but still visible stretch marks around his stomach) and included the kingdom’s symbol on a bronze medal above his heart, along with a well crafted necklace of shark teeth. There was no crown, but he had only a small amount of wild looking dark hair on top of his head–the hair was obviously fake, but no one knew just how it stayed on underwater and none dared asked him.

This was the king under the ocean. Formally addressed as ‘Your Majesty,’ informally so as Krupp–his last name–but only few were ever able to get away with calling him by his first name. Though the amount of respect most people had towards him was low enough that they wouldn’t have used his first name to begin with.

Finally he spoke with a voice that was both rough and harsh. “Uh, no–if everything was dying then maybe I’d consider it.” He denied the two. “If you want to do your tests, that’s ok,” He waved in a dismissive way. “But I don’t see any reason to let you go up.”

“But what if this is dangerous?!” A merwoman asked. “I mean humans have thrown toxic materials into the ocean before–”

“If no one is dying then I don’t see any reason to let them go up!” Krupp snapped at the woman and barred a very sharp and painful looking set of pointed teeth at her, and she nervously shrank back. “Now I don’t want to argue about it, I’m done for the day!”

Krupp sank back in the throne and took a deep breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Does any one else have a complaint to make about–” He stopped when he noticed that there were two young eavesdroppers peering out by the edge of the entrance.

Both George and Harold pulled back and hid behind the column. “He saw us!” George gulped as Harold clutched his chest.

Upon realizing who the two eavesdroppers were, Krupp felt an increasing tension within himself as well as his anger about ready to rise up. “Everyone except Beard and Hutchins can leave.” He forced himself to say as he tried to get himself to calm down as best as he could. Almost immediately everyone hurried out of there as fast as they could, while those like the Sneedlys only calmly left the room. As soon as everyone left, Krupp’s gaze turned towards the blonde merdolphin and the merorca with the mustache. He wasn’t sure if their brats were still listening, but he almost hoped for it since they needed a little reminder about something.

“So,” Krupp tried to force a grin that was scary and not friendly, thanks to those sharp teeth of his that were on display. “You both remember why the meeting had to be extended, right?”

George’s father and Harold’s mother exchanged a nervous look. “Yes,” Harold’s mother cringed. “Yes we do.”

-Flashback to earlier/sometime during chapter one-

It was another update about finances and economy, and the merwoman who was doing the talking was using a voice that was soothing, but the amount of details she included would make it easy for one to fall asleep under that combination. Even Krupp was trying his hardest to stay alert, yet he was already finding his mind drifting elsewhere.

“And so, if we were to take fifty percent of the income, then we could–”

And then somehow a squid (that had been kept in a large seashell that had been tied up and that had small crabs attacking the rope until it broke) fell down and ended up getting half of the ocean king’s head stuck in its large mouth.

“AAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!” All eyes glanced up in shock to see Krupp shooting out of the throne and failing his arms around for a second as a couple of the squid’s tentacles got caught around in his arms. Because his eyes had been ‘covered up,’ Krupp was now temporary blinded as he yelled out “WHAT IS GOING ON, WHAT IS ON ME?!” He then gabbed onto the squid and pulled at it as hard as he could, but the terrified squid held on for dear life as the mershark was swimming around the room like an enraged creature. Some were horrified and others were trying really hard not to laugh as Krupp frantically swam and flailed around the room as if he were being possessed or performing a wild dance without any proper rhythm or grace.

“Here I got it!” A merman tried to swim up to grab onto Krupp, but he was knocked aside by the king’s powerful tail.

“GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF!” Krupp pulled at the squid as he swam behind the throne. Finally he pulled so hard that the squid went shooting off and crashed into a pillar–the force causing it to spit out the toupee that it accidentally took with it, which shot right into the face of its enraged owner.

At that moment, there was a terrifying yell of anger that seemed to rattle the throne room and it put everyone on edge.

-Meanwhile-

“Come on, come on!” A fisherman growled as he tried to reel in a fish from his boat, despite the fact that the ocean began to get rocky. “Come to daddy, big guy! I’ve been out here all day!”

Without warning, the water made a huge wave that forced the boat up and then crashed down, sending the fisherman flying out with a yell and landing into the ocean several feet away while his fishing pole fell elsewhere into the water and was lost to him for all time.

-Now back to the present-

George and Harold snickered to themselves. “I really wish I saw that!” Harold admitted. However things were not as amusing in the throne room and they stopped when Krupp continued to talk to their respective parents.

“You know, if I could, I’d easily fire the both of you.” Krupp growled at Harold’s mother and Geroge’s father as he leaned towards them. “I want to do it because your kids have been nothing but troublesome since I first saw them together... but I can’t because its not legal or regarded as ‘ethical.’” He rolled his eyes and made finger quotations before he glared at the two. “So if you don’t want me to start punishing them, I expect you to actually do your job as parents and do it yourselves!” He snapped. “They should be your problems, not mine!”

“See, he’s going to get you eventually.”

Both George and Harold turned around and cringed when they saw a young merboy with a smug smirk and a condescending look in his eyes. “Now you’re at the point where you’re putting your families in hot water as well as yourselves.” Melvin Sneedly told them.

“Go away Melvin!” George snapped.

“Yeah, this doesn’t have to do with you!” Harold growled.

“Oh, but since my parents also work for the king, I have every right to be here too.” Melvin grinned. “The only difference is that my family gets the lab all to themselves while you have to live in a wing with everyone else. Which also means that I’ll also eventually be there to see what happens when he finally gets you. You honestly don’t think you can keep the pranks and who-knows-what-up forever, do you?” Melvin gave them a knowing look.

“Go away!” Both merboys hissed.

Melvin shrugged. “See you at school tomorrow.” He then swam off and the boys finally glanced around the pillar to see their parents come out and neither one looked happy.

“Oh!” Harold’s mother was startled at the sight of her son before she calmed down. “Come on.” She grabbed Harold’s shoulder and made to lead her son away, while George’s father did the same. Yet both boys glanced into the throne room one last time and ended up locking eyes with Krupp, whose scowl seemed to deepen at the sight of them, and it seemed as if this made him look even more older than usual. They didn’t need to be up close to see the fury in his dark eyes and he didn’t need to be up close to see the nonchalance in their eyes either.

Krupp could not stand the two boys and he knew very well that the feeling was mutual through their pranks. It didn’t faze him in the slightest that a child could hate him that much–or that a child would be terrified of him–but the fact that the boys never gave up their pranks and acted so disobedient and unrepentant drove the mershark insane. He already had so much to deal with! All these two did was make his life much harder than it needed to be!

He didn’t like children to begin with but he held a special hatred towards the merboys.

“I’m getting sick of those two and their stupid antics!” Krupp growled and threw his hands in the air when he could no longer see the two or their parents. “I can’t believe I ever let their parents work for me! That was the dumbest mistake of my life!” He snarled as he tried to think. He had a strong feeling that there was much more to the boys than just the pranking and he wanted to end it before it became a problem. He wanted to have a reason to get them to stop or–even better–finally break their rebellious spirits. He knew all too well that the power of denial could be effective when done properly–after all, he had his own fair share throughout his life. And if he had to suffer for it, then he saw no reason why someone else didn't have to pay for making him even more miserable than he needed to be.

“What is the one thing that could get those two to finally stop?” He wondered as he gripped his hands together. “To finally break their spirits for good?”

****

Later when it was night time and the lighting from the orbs illuminated the rooms, George and Harold sat in the small area where Harold’s family lived and they sat around a rock to try to put a puzzle of carefully carved gem stones back together. There were far too many pieces in the puzzle, though Harold’s little sister of about six years sat by her brother and occasionally offered up a piece to the boys to help them progress.

“You boys really need to stop this.” The two looked up to see their respective parents. Both George’s father and mother were side by side–the later wearing a string of pearls around her neck as well as in her hair–and Harold’s mother was on her own without the husband who left their family a few years back. “We don’t want something bad to happen to both of you.” It was George’s mother who spoke. “And I know you don’t like the king, but–”

“He deserves it.” Harold gave the puzzle a small scowl as he placed an arm around his sister. “He’s against any form of art and creativity, he wants us to think the surface world is bad–”

“He won’t even let you sing to guide humans home anymore.” George looked up at his mother. “Don’t you miss that?”

“It’s like he’s against anything fun!” Harold added. “All he does is come up with rules! He hates kids and he’s not even nice to you guys! It’s like he doesn’t know what it was like to be a kid! Like he literally can’t be nice to anyone!”

“Name one good thing he’s ever done!”

Harold’s mother sighed as she went over to sit beside Harold. “We aren’t fond of how he is running the kingdom.” She admitted. “And yes, he doesn’t seem like a nice person, but being in charge is not an easy job and he had a very strict upbringing as a child in order to be prepared for that responsibility. It really doesn’t help if you have to make it harder for him through your pranks.”

“It’s not going to change my mind about Krupp.” Harold firmly told her. “I mean why does he even hate the surface world so much?”

Harold’s mother had a strange look in her eyes. “There was a time when... well I suppose when he was as curious about the human world like the rest of us.” The boys scoffed at the impossibility of this idea as Harold’s mother continued. “And he did have a temper, but it was never as bad as it is nowadays. He was more patient and compassionate to others... happy even.” She smiled at a memory from long ago. “In fact I’m very sure you would have liked him if...” She paused and frowned. “But one day he changed and ordered all contact with the human world to cease and made it illegal for us to go up to the surface. It was as if something happened and he hardened his heart against everyone and everything.”

“Gabby’s dad says Krupp had his heart cut out.” All eyes turned in shock at Heidi as she looked at her mother as if this was an honest fact. “He wanted to be meaner, so he took it out and locked it away.”

While this disturbed George and Harold, they let out a couple of snickers. “I could totally see that happening!” George grinned at Heidi, who grinned back. “I bet he keeps it locked up under his bed by whatever he uses to keep that toupee on!”

“George!” George’s mother shot her son a warning look.

“It’s not going to change my mind either!” George responded back. “I’d have to see it in order to believe it!”

George’s mother glanced to the puzzle on the rock. “George, people are like a puzzle.” She started in a quiet voice. “You will only see a small amount at first and you may or may not like it, but it takes time until you can get a complete picture. You have to really look to see how the pieces fit and that can also take careful thought and effort. Krupp may seem like a bad person, but you need to try to look closer to see how his pieces fit and what his picture will be like.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Harold groaned.

“What George’s mother is suggesting is that there may be a reason the king is the way he is.” Harold’s mother told him. “In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if there was at least some good still hidden inside him.”

Both boys (plus Heidi) pondered over this, but it was so hard to imagine any good inside Krupp and they couldn’t see him as anything but the cruel hearted tyrant they knew for as long as they could remember.

“Could you tell us more about the surface?” George then turned to his dad. “I mean since you went up there? And not just popping up for a look, but actually going on land?”

The adults looked a little nervous, but then George’s dad smiled as he recalled the surface world. “Well, you needed a special bracelet in order to turn into a human–the change is painful–” he grimaced as he recalled the pain “–and it took a long time to learn how to walk upon land, but it was worth it.” He closed his eyes. “We would go up to the surface kingdom and it was like entering a completely new world. So many different customs, so many unique buildings, contraptions designed to provide fun, and so much to take in that it was almost overwhelming. The problem was that the power of the bracelets could only last up to three days, so you couldn’t be up there forever unless you knew how to use them correctly.”

“What happened to the bracelets?” Heidi asked.

“They were destroyed.” George’s dad frowned. “To keep us from going up there and to avoid temptation.” The boys scowled as they realized who was responsible for that.

“I’d like to hear more about the surface world!” Heidi grew excited.

George’s father laughed and he began to recount tales of something called a ‘boardwalk’ and all the attractions upon it, and the children all eagerly absorbed the information up. Both George and Harold quickly realized that this boardwalk had to be the place advertised on the flyer they found because George’s father mentioned a wheel that sounded identical to the one on the picture. They both took what they learned and mentally filed it away for future projects, just as they had done with George’s father’s other stories.

“And for some odd reason, humans feel the need to wear a rather strange garment under their clothing, even if it wasn’t going to be out on display.” George’s father chuckled. “Some odd white thing and it was too short to be pants... what was it called again... under... underpants?” He struggled to recall the word.

The boys had no idea why, but the very word ‘underpants’ sounded extremely funny and they cracked a laugh at this. “Underpants?!” George laughed and he laughed even harder when he heard him say the word.

“Underpants!” Harold doubled over laughing after he also said the word, which made George laugh to the point that he felt himself ready to cry.

“Yes, it was pretty funny.” George’s father chuckled.

Both families were unaware that a mechanical octopus was recording the whole thing and it eventually swam away when the stories were over.

****

Somewhere hidden on the coastline near the ocean was a seemingly abandoned research facility that was partly submerged in water. It was so well hidden and so hard to reach that you would have to look down the cliff it was against in order to see it, and the walls of earth that surrounded it made it hard to spot it from the ocean.

Yet it had actually been occupied for some time and was redesigned to have corridors built into the walls of earth to make it easy to watch the ocean. Within the building was a collection of technology that only a well paid scientist could have access to and most of it was already a few decades ahead of its time, like the various cameras built into robots disguised as animals of both land and sea. Their maker was observing the footage of a family of merfolk as well as footage taken of the surface king’s children and both of which were projected into screens.

“Ugh, stupid little brats.” The short man who looked like a small devil thanks to the way his white hair stood up on opposing ends snarled in annoyance. “Finding disgusting or ridiculous things to be funny.”

“Are you still looking at footage at this hour?”

The small man turned around to see his assistant, who had a bored look on his face. “Professor, I really doubt your quest for revenge is going to go anywhere if you keep spying on them.”

“Shut up Louis, I know what I am doing!” The professor pointed an accusing finger at the young man. “I think I’m close to figuring out how to execute my plans! Or do I need to remind you why I’m doing this?!”

The young man sighed since he heard this tale ever since he started working for this bizarre man with the odd accent. He was under the belief that the professor hired him because he wanted someone vent to more than for the need to have help.

“Two kingdoms used to live in harmony!” The professor spread his hands out. “Each one dependent on the other for various reasons! And I worked for both of them at various points of my life! First it was for the king under the ocean, and I had access to all sorts of materials and supplies that few could only dream of having on hand!” He pointed a finger at the monitor that showed the merfolk.

“Oh yeah, how did you accomplish that if you were underwater?” Louis briefly snapped out of his thoughts.

“The lab was designed like a submarine, Louis.” The professor deadpanned. “And I didn’t trust being turned into one of them with their special charms. Though I would have liked getting a mermaid kiss from one of the hotties.” He had a wide grin at the thought of this before he continued. “I could conduct experiments and build things that could benefit both races! I used a secret name so that I couldn’t be found by my rivals and I was left in peace! I even did the king a special favor for him at one point and got a free lab rat out of it, and how am I thanked?!” He then leapt up and yelled

“HE KICKED ME OUT WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A WORD OF RECOMMENDATION!” He snarled and huffed. “Apparently that back stabbing fat sack of lard wanted to cease all connections to the human world and he wanted nothing to do with my creations! He said that they were too dangerous and too much of a bad influence for his people! All that work went to waste and it was all thanks to him!”

“And then there was the surface kingdom.” The professor grew a scowl. “At least they had the courtesy to let me do my experiments and complete them! At least they didn’t find them dangerous! And once I finished an invention that I knew would earn their eternal love and gratitude, what do they do?! THEY LAUGH AT ME THE MOMENT I GAVE THEM MY REAL NAME SO THAT IT COULD BE REMEMBERED FOR ALL TIME!” The man’s face began to turn red as he slammed his foot onto the floor several times. “AND NOT ONLY THAT, BUT THE KING KICKED ME OUT! AGAIN!”

The man took a few breaths to get himself to calm down, while Louis could only stare and wonder if the old man needed some much needed medication. “Do you need medication today?” He tried to ask. “Any prescriptions or...” When the professor laughed without warning, he decided against it.

“Oh, but I got an idea!” The professor rubbed his hands together. “The way things have been in the last ten years... the storms that have been getting worse, the drills for oil out in the ocean that I secretly helped fund... the Royal Navy getting on edge... the very fact that shark-face’s people are getting angry with him... what fun would it be if I were to somehow pit the kingdoms against each other?” He chuckled as he turned to the footage.

“Now I know that the surface king would do anything if something were to happen to the smiling snot-nosed children he adopted as his own.” He looked at the smiling faces of Lisa and Billy. “But shark-face is too powerful for me to attack his kingdom head on, and he doesn’t have anyone close to him for me to use against him... as far as I know of course.” He quickly added before grinning at the screen of the oblivious merfolk–specifically at the young merdolphin and merorca. “But I know what makes him tick and if I can encourage a series of events to create the worst storm in living memory...” He let out a laugh.

“Oh lets just say I observed enough to know that there’s still a few things hidden in the forbidden chambers of the castle to encourage a couple of rebels to take action.” He chuckled as he turned to a nearby desk to place a rolled up piece of paper into a bottle and put the cork into the hole so that the paper could stay inside. “Pretty soon that notorious temper of Krupp’s is going to become is fatal undoing.” The professor gave the bottle a wide grin. “And all will regret what they’ve done to me!” He declared to the heavens and shook his fist up in the air.

****

If the reader was expecting school for merfolk to be any different than one for humans, then I am afraid to say that the only thing that is different is the subject matters and content. And just like in a human school, teachers not changing the way they taught to appeal to different learning methods, or at least not making the lessons more enjoyable, was a problem in the kingdom under the sea.

Both George and Harold–along with their classmates–were forced to listen to another dull lecture from their teacher about the dangers of the human world. Both boys were easily distracted, with George trying to plan out a story in his head while recalling everything he could remember about the valley of rock formations, and Harold was doodling a picture of his teacher, only she had tentacles on her head, along with those on the lower half of her body and she looked twice as scary. They both caught Melvin shooting them dirty looks on occasion for not paying attention, but neither one cared.

“But above all, if you ever see a human sinking down into the ocean, do not try to rescue them and especially do not kiss them!”

This finally caught the interests of the students. “Uh... why would we even want to kiss a human?” A merboy asked as he and a few others made a grossed out face at the idea.

Ms. Ribble was for once in agreement with the children as she continued on. “Because at your age you can grant a human up to an hour’s worth of air, but that will give them enough time to be aware of us and try to seek us out.” She sneered. “And don’t even think about doing it to seek out some stupid fairy tale romance in your lives!” She snapped when she saw a few young mergirls have dreamy looks in their eyes. “You don’t know what they want with you, so you can drop it!”

“Well there’s not much of a point if we have to keep kissing them.” A mergirl pointed out, to the increasing disgust of a handful of her classmates. “Mom said adults can grant up to six hours of air–”

“Swear to me that we’ll do anything but that if we ever need to save a human.” George hissed to Harold behind his hand as quietly as possible.

“I already want to vomit.” Harold responded in agreement.

“Yes Janine?” Ms. Ribble asked when one mergirl raised her hand.

“What would happen if the king kissed a human?” Janine asked with very genuine curiosity in her eyes.

All eyes stared at her as if she was insane and grew a second head on top of her head, and even that risky question made George and Harold stunned at the very idea.

Just the idea of it was impossible to imagine and yet someone did.

“I mean of course he wouldn’t.” Janine nervously laughed. “But if he the most powerful of us all, what would happen?”

Ms. Ribble had a not so pleasant look on her face. “The last time that ever happened with any known ruler, the total was up to three days of being able to breathe under the water. I can’t imagine him ever doing that, so don’t bother holding your breath.” She told the kids who were starting to look more horrified than grossed out. “Now please never ask a stupid question like that again!” She snapped at the mergirl who dared ask the question.

“Why would anyone even want to kiss Krupp?” Harold whispered to George. “He’d bite their tongue off!”

“He’s too cranky and mean for anyone to want to kiss him.” George chuckled. “That’s probably why he’s never gone on a date.”

“Yeah, the only person he’d ever like would have to be just as nasty as him!”

“Boys if you don’t shut your traps, I’ll make you put sea sponges in your mouths for the duration of tomorrow’s class!” Ms. Ribble growled at the boys when she heard them talking. “I want to see you paying attention and taking notes!"

****

Later that day, George and Harold stared at the rock wall that once had the mural they worked so hard together to make.

“Well... always next time.” George tried to shrug it off before turning to a young merboy sitting in a large clam shell. “What do you think Tommy? Should we do a kraken, a ship-wreck, or something more adventurous?”

Tommy glanced from the wall to the boys. “It’s your call.” He told them before closing the lid of the shell over him as if he decided to be a pearl that day. Both George and Harold could only stare in confusion at the sight until a couple mergirls came towards them.

“Hey, uh, guys?” They turned to see an eight year old merchild and her six year old sister. “Could I–” She quickly looked around to make sure no one was around before she moved closer and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Could I barrow one of your comics for a day? My sister really likes them and she’s still struggling with reading.”

The eyes of both merboys lit up. “Of course!” George whispered in delight. “You know where to find us and what time, right?”

“Yup!” The mergirl grinned before turning to her sister to give her a thumbs up. “We look forward to it!”

“Later Keisha!” Harold waved to the older sister before waving to her little sister. “Later Kira!”

“Bye!” The little merchild gave the boys a shy smile before grabbing her sisters hand and they went off.

“That’s the sixth time they came for a comic.” Harold gave George and excited grin.

“I know, right?!” George grinned. “We totally can’t get caught at this rate!” He then glanced to the rock wall again. “If we can sneak a few comics past everyone, then we can sneak past the eels!”

****

A few miles from the kingdom under the ocean was a valley of rock formations that went so far down that some of them vanished into the depths and you couldn’t see the bottom of where the rocks met the sand. There were several holes and most of them were so small that only a child could be able to fit through them, yet this was not a place for a child to play, for eels as wide as the length of a child and several times as long lurked around this area in hopes of catching prey that was foolish enough to enter the area. Many stone signs had been placed around this area with warnings like ‘GET BACK!’ or ‘TOO DANGEROUS!’ or ‘NOT SAFE FOR KIDS! EELS LIVE HERE’ or ‘SERIOUSLY I’M NOT JOKING GO BACK!’ or ‘OK, YOUR FUNERAL THEN.’

George and Harold glanced down at the edge to where they could look down into the ominous valley below. Serenity was close by, but she gave the valley a nervous glance as she was afraid of what lurked down there.

“Well, this is what adults get when kids like us are denied creative and more productive outlets.” Harold began. “You’d think they’d learn that by now.”

“Ok, if we act fast enough, we might not get caught.” George told Harold as he took some kind of algae from a pouch in his bag. “We won’t go too far down, we’ll just go into the holes that they can’t get into.”

“I hope your right about that.” Harold nervously nodded before pulling a flat stone out of his own bag. “Ready when you are.”

George quickly smeared the algae onto the stone in Harold’s hand and almost immediately a faint glow of green light illuminated the stone. As soon as he was done, he pulled out a similar stone from his bag and repeated the same gesture. “Don’t lose it–it’s really hard to find bioluminescent algae.”

“Right.” Harold nodded before turning to Serenity. “Go on and hide for a bit. When you see us come, you’ll come after us.” He told the dolphin, who nodded in understanding and swam away towards a patch of sea grass.

As soon as the two were done, the merboys quietly swam down into the forbidden depths. Both kept their eyes alert on the many holes in the formations, the pillars of rock that extended upwards, the moving shadows and the twisting figures ahead of them until it was safe and they were out of sight. With only stones smeared with bioluminescent algae to guide their way in the growing darkness, they entered the nearest holes of the rock formations. Both George and Harold were nervous about coming upon a giant eel, but they were determined to make it out alive.

The time spent down in the darkness of the gaps was nerve wracking for both merboys. They not only had to keep a constant eye out for danger with only the illuminated stones to guide them, but they had to pause before each turn or choice in direction to make sure that there were not any eels hanging around. They also had to make sure that they stayed close enough to hear each other and they used the rest of the bioluminescent algae to make marks in the tunnels so that they knew how to get back outside–especially if there was a direct escape back out.

Time gradually ticked by, and neither merboy found anything interesting, nor did they encounter an eel. There was no treasure of any sort in the tunnels, but there was always a faint sound from outside that kept them on the edge of their fins. Even their hearts were pounding out of a nervous fear that they could be swallowed up at any moment, but their burning curiosity kept them going.

“Hey George, I think we should leave soon.” Harold nervously began when he heard a strange sound that sounded a little too loud for his liking. “Some of these tunnels are too narrow for my liking.”

Meanwhile, George had aimed his stone at many directions as he glanced around the tunnel to see if he could find something out of the ordinary. He was about to respond back to Harold when something caught his eye and he aimed the light down at a red object that was stuck in the sand. He titled his head in confusion at it before carefully grabbing it, along with all the sand he also caught in his hand. He shook the sand out of his hand, but held onto the object and maneuvered it within his fingers so that he could see what he found.

It was a red ring with a white and red spiral upon the top. It did not look like something that came from the ocean, but it was not made of a metal, nor did it have a precious stone embedded in it. It looked like something George could have easily fit onto his finger, but there was something odd about holding it–it was like there was a faint warmth coming from it that gave him an odd sense of comfort that was somehow familiar and not quite.

“Hey Harold! You’ll never guess what I found down here!” George then yelled to his friend without taking his eyes off the ring.

“What did you find, George?”

“I think it’s some sort of ring!” George put the ring into his bag. “Here let me–!” He looked up and felt his heart freeze when he saw a monstrous face glaring at him at the other end of the tunnel. Its beady white eyes seemed to glow in an eerie manner within what little darkness there was left in the tunnel and they were fixed on the young merorca with all the intention to make him his afternoon snack.

“SWIM AWAY!” George hollered as he quickly turned around and swam back to Harold while the eel immediately chased after him.

“GEORGE?!” Harold called out in panic. He turned around in time to see George zoom out of a tunnel and yelling “GO!” as he headed towards his best friend. Trusting George’s word, Harold swam ahead and George quickly followed after him right as the eel popped out and went after them.

“GO, GO, GO, GO!” George yelled as the two swam as fast as they could–faster than they ever had in their entire lives–as the eel rushed towards them. Neither of them bothered to check the other tunnels they passed as they followed the trail of markings they left behind on the walls. Harold quickly scooped up some rocks as they passed by and he threw one at the eel point blank in the head, but it shook it off and let out an enraged shriek at its prey.

At one point another eel in a tunnel saw them rush by and just as it charged towards them, it slammed right into the side of the eel that had been after them. This stopped the already angry eel from going after the boys long enough for them to get further ahead, but it quickly got over the shock and resumed the chase.

“WE’RE ALMOST THERE!” Harold yelled as the tunnels started to look more familiar. Both he and George shot right out of the nearest hole and swam out, while behind them the eel slammed its head against the walls around the much too small hole.

Both George and Harold were not out of danger yet though. Two more eels caught sight of them and they glared at the merboys in a hungry manner, which was enough to make the two freeze for a moment.

“Great.” George moaned sarcastically while Harold quickly eyed how some of the rock formations twisted and turned to make uneven arcs.

“I got an idea!” Harold grabbed George’s hand and swam towards the formations. This caused the two eels to swim towards the two as fast as they could. Harold turned his head to see how close the eels were and paused when he got to the arcs. Just when the eels were close enough, he swam towards one of them, causing the nearest eel to follow the two around the series of arcs the boys went around. Harold kept the other eel in mind though and he made sure to lead that one through a wild chase around the arcs too until finally both eels collided against each other and the merdolphin quickly looked at his handiwork.

Both eels had gotten tangled up around the arcs and parts of their long bodies pressed together kept them from escaping. As much as they wiggled and writhed in anger, neither of them could break free.

George let out a pleased laugh of triumph as Harold smirked at his handiwork. “THAT WAS AWESOME!” George yelled as they both swam up as fast as they could from the valley of rock formations, while also making sure that there was no more danger that they needed to avoid.

(“DANG IT STEVE, WHY DIDN’T YOU STOP?! YOU SAW WHAT THEY WERE DOING!”) One of the eels that was tangled up roared at the other eel.

(“WELL THAT’S YOUR FAULT ANDY, NOT MINE!”) The other eels roared back as he tried to wiggle free from his trap.

(“NOW I’M GOING TO GET A HEADACHE AND A SORE SIDE TOMORROW!”) The eel that first went after the merboys roared at the other eel in the tunnel. (“THANKS A LOT, GREG!”)

(“WELL EXCUSE ME FOR NOT NOTICING YOU, HECTOR!”) The eel that slammed into Hector sarcastically roared back.

Meanwhile, George and Harold laughed as they held onto Serenity and retreated to their secret grotto. As they did, George took his new treasure out of his bag and gave it a small smile. “How did something like you get all the way down there?” He asked it.

****

“What do you think it is?” George asked Harold as they stared at the ring in his hand within the sanctuary of their grotto. “It looks more like a toy than a piece of jewelry.”

“I don’t know, but I’m getting a weird feeling about it.” Harold admitted. “Maybe it's an enchanted object? Like maybe there’s a genie inside?”

George pondered this for a moment before putting the ring on and rubbed it like in the stories. The boys waited for a few moments, but nothing happened.

“I wish for a bunch of human comic books.” George tried again. “Or for Krupp to change the laws in our kingdom so that we can have things be fun like they used to be.”

Again they waited with a little more hope, but still nothing happened. George even waved his hand in case the ring was meant to cast a spell, but still nothing happened.

“Abra Kadabra!” He chanted, but it didn’t work.

“It’s useless.” George sighed in defeat as he took the ring off and set it aside by his comic books. “We went through all that danger for nothing.”

“Its a nice color though.” Harold admitted as he looked at the ring. “You don’t see a shade of red that like very often.” He turned back to George and placed his hand on his shoulder. “But hey, maybe next time we’ll find something good. So what if we found an ordinary ring and nearly became lunch for those eels? We lived to tell the tale together and that’s what matters more, right?”

George smiled and placed his hand over Harold’s and grabbed it. “I’m so glad I have you for a best friend, Harold. The way you got us out of trouble was incredible and I don’t think I would have come up with that on my own.”

“Me too, George.” Harold smiled. “I don’t think I would get to experience any kind of adventure without someone like you. We get each other, we get in trouble together, and we’ll always have one another. There’s nothing in the world that could ever tear us apart.”

“Remember the first prank we ever pulled?” George asked as his grin widened as he let go of Harold’s hand. “When we filled the hall with sea urchins?”

“Yeah and everyone threw a fit!” Harold laughed. “Oh man, it was enough to get us sent to Krupp! I think that had to be the first time we both saw him!”

“Yeah, he just had the weirdest look on his face! He must have thought that we couldn’t have gotten them all in there without getting poked too much! He had no idea what to do with us and just gave us both a warning and to not touch them ever again!”

“That had to be the only time he was ever impressed with us!” Both boys were doubling over and laughing.

“And that was when he used to just tell us off and told us to quit doing that!” George chuckled and then sighed. “Nowadays he just explodes at everything. It must be an old person thing.” He guessed as his eyes drifted down until he frowned at something. “Hey when did that bottle get here?”

Harold also looked to see a glass bottle that somehow landed into the waters of the grotto without shattering against the rocks. It even seemed to contain an actual message inside it.

Harold grabbed it and was about to pull the cork that kept the message in the bottle out of its tight hold until he remembered something. “The comic for the sisters!” He set the bottle aside and grabbed one of the recent comics he and George made. “I can’t believe we almost forgot about that!”

“Oh yeah!” George’s eyes widened. “We can’t keep our readers waiting!”

“This should be a good one!” Harold gave the comic a quick look before putting it into his bag and went back down into the water, with George following suit.

Had the two known that meeting the sisters that day would start a disastrous chain reaction, they would have avoided meeting them altogether. If they thought the ordeal with the eels was terrifying, then they were in for something much worse than anything they could have considered up to that point in their lives.

****

“Here.” Harold handed the comic to Keisha while her sister waited beside her. “This one has selkies in it.” Her informed her.

“Oh wow!” Keisha’s eyes widened at the artwork on the front of the cover. “You’re getting so much better at your drawings, Harold!” She showed the comic to Kira, who gave the two merboys a very happy smile. “I owe you big time.” Keisha told them. “You guys are risking so much with making these and giving them to us!”

“Just making our classmates and friends happy is rewarding enough.” George confessed. “As long as ‘Bruce’ doesn’t find out and you don’t come over to the ‘jaws.’”

“Huh?” Kira looked at the older children in confusion. “Who is Bruce?”

“Remember the codewords?” Keisha whispered into her sister’s ear. “That’s the name for you-know-who and where he lives when these two lend us the comics.”

“Oh.” Kira realized and gulped; like most children, Kira was terrified of Krupp.

“Oh yeah, why did you guys take so long to get here?” Keisha asked. “Its not like you to be late for these meetings.”

“Uh, well we were at the valley of rock formations where the giant eels were.” George couldn’t help but admit with a cocky smile.

“NO WAY!” Keisha gasped. “But our parents told us never to go there!”

“What was it like?” Kira asked with excitement. “Did you find anything good?”

“No.” Harold lied (they didn’t need to admit all their secrets to their friends). “But it was absolutely terrifying!”

“Was it terrifying enough to make you pee?!” Kira squealed and laughed. It was enough to make the other three laugh their heads off, though they were unaware that a classmate was listening to the whole thing and taking as many mental notes as he could.

Melvin grinned as he swam away. He decided that he wanted the two jokesters to suffer, so he had full intent to tell their parents about where they went that day. He also had information to save as a back up plan, but it was going to be for someone else.

Chapter Text

George and Harold laughed as they swam by Serenity. “You know we still need to make a prank that’ll force Krupp to chew his way out of something!” George elbowed Harold in the ribs. “Those teeth look like they could chomp through anything!”

“We’d have to make a perfect trap if we can’t get him stuck in a rock formation like with the eels.” Harold laughed. “If we had wood, we’d be all set! He’d probably chomp through that in no time flat!”

“Hey,” George excitedly began. “I think I have an idea of what underpants are supposed to look like. You know those things that the superheroes wear over the clothing on their legs? I think that’s it!”

“No way, they’re supposed to be white!” Harold laughed.

“So what if I made up a human superhero in just his underwear?” George continued. “I mean, we never made a human main character, so why not one that we know we like?”

Harold laughed even harder. “That does sound pretty amazing!” He was almost in tears until he began to take a moment to compose himself. “But that would be the riskiest comic we could ever make.” He frowned. “That would get us in so much trouble if we were caught.”

“We’ll he’ll be our special secret project then.” George decided. “Plus I want him to be an adult that’s amazing, not mean, and would let kids be kids. He’d be someone who is genuinely heroic, kind, and likes kids. Someone who wouldn’t look down on us... someone who can be happy and determined despite all odds.” George had a melancholic smile at this. Both their parents were good adults, but it would have been nice if there was at least one adult in the world that they could talk to who would encourage and support them as well as their talents. Someone they both could be comfortable around.

Harold smiled. “I think I can see him in my mind.” He admitted as George’s words began to form a figure in his mind. The picture wasn’t clear yet, but he could see a huge, cheerful grin and eyes wide and alert with optimism. Finding the right form to breathe the life that George was granting into wasn’t easy, but it had to match the soul. “Yeah, I suppose next time I’ll show you what I came up with.”

“BOYS!”

The two looked up in alarm to see both George’s mother and Harold’s mother, with Haruka–Serenity’s mother–by the latter’s side. The look on their faces was an angry look of disapproval and both boys realized that they were in trouble for something. Even the mother dolphin had a not-so-pleased look in her eyes and the little dolphin by Harold’s side cowered back a little.

“Why were you two at the valley of rock formations?!” George’s mother angrily demanded and the merboys froze up in alarm.

“How did you know?!” George asked as he worried that one of the sisters must have blabbed on them.

“A classmate of yours told me that you were bragging about it to a couple of girls.” Harold’s mother answered as she frowned at Harold. “May I ask why you were there?!”

Neither boys could bring themselves to answer this correctly. “We were playing near there, that’s all.” Harold replied. “We were curious about the area and went to get a closer look.”

“Give me strength.” Harold’s mother nervously clasped her hands against her forehead for a moment before she lowered them. “Do you really want the king to find that out?!” She asked. “It’s bad enough he thinks we’re horrible parents, and I don’t want this to make things worse for all of us!”

Both George and Harold remembered what Krupp yelled at their parents and while they were not happy with him being mad that them, they did feel awful that it had to happen to their parents before today of all days. There was so much that they could not dare tell their parents and they had to keep it that way so that they would not be horrified to the point that they would ground them for life. Or else something far worse could happen in the future.

“Sorry.” Harold mumbled as he looked away from his mother and grabbed his arm with one hand.

“We’re sorry.” George crossed his arms together and looked the other way.

“You both are to come straight home after school for the next two weeks.” George’s mother informed them. “All homework must be done first and your chores will now be double the amount.”

“We’re going straight home now.” Harold’s mother began in a serious tone of voice that screamed ‘and no ‘buts.’

“Of course.” Harold sighed in defeat as he placed his hand on Serenity’s side.

Unfortunately, this was not the worst moment in the chain reaction of events for the two. That was going to happen the very next day, which would also be one of the worst moments in their lives up to that point. George didn’t realize it when his mother sang a Gaelic song to entertain her son and husband later that night, and Harold didn’t realize it when Heidi hugged him after he helped her with homework while their mother was finishing up with writing some notes down later that night.

****

The next day at school started off as normal. George and Harold found that the school sign said ‘DO PLEASE KEEP THE OCEAN WATER CLEAN AND PRISTINE’ which was quite a mouthful and seemed a bit too much. So they decided to change it up and have a much needed laugh to get them and their classmates through the day.

The sign now read ‘DON’T PEE IN THE OCEAN’ and it didn’t fail to make them laugh during their way to class.

As usual, both boys didn’t prepare for the day when they finally did get to class and instead they began to mentally plan out ideas for stories and drawings, with George’s brain being more focused and Harold’s being a bit more all over the place. It wasn’t until Ms. Ribble mentioned something that they were able to break their thought process.

“By the way, the king is coming by at some point today and we weren’t told when, so I expect all of you to be on good behavior.” She growled at them.

All the children became alarmed by this and some were terrified, but none could rival the terror of George and Harold. There was no telling why Krupp would want to come over today of all days and they were not prepared for it.

“How did we miss that?” Harold hissed to George as his eyes shone with panic. “We weren’t told about it!”

“We need to get rid of the sign, he’ll know it’s us!” George gulped before an even more horrible thought struck him. “Wait, a classmate saw us tell Keisha and Kira about the eels. What if they blabbed on us about the you-know-whats to him?!”

The boys were now incredibly scared. “If he finds out that any of the students have our you-know-whats...” Harold realized “Who knows what he’ll do to them!”

“Or what he’ll do to us!”

“Bathroom!” Harold yelled to Ms. Ribble and raised his hand up, earning a few disgusted looks from his classmates.

“Same here!” George stammered as he raised his hand up too.

“One at a time.” Ms. Ribble reminded them with annoyance.

“He can go first then!” George sat down and Harold swam out (and grabbed the required pass to be outside as he did).

As soon as he was out of the area, Harold swam to the sign as fast as he could and instead of putting the sign back the way it was, he swiped it clean off. It was indeed a rare moment of selflessness for both him and George as they had to work fast to spare their parents and their classmates from Krupp’s wrath. They were already in a lot of trouble from their parents and they didn’t want any more of it from their least favorite person in the world.

“Ok good.” Harold swam back to class, satisfied that one thing had been taken care of.

During break time, a few students who had George and Harold’s comics also realized what danger they were all possibly in, so the boys held their bags out for frantic children to toss the comics in as secretly as possible from the eyes of the adults. Each return spared a child from a terrible fate, while increasing the merboys’ own as the comics filled the bags up. It was right before recess that they were able to get one of the last few comics back, but only one was left.

“We need to get Keisha and Kira’s comic!” Harold hissed to George. “Where do they usually hang out when they are together?”

“By those seashells near that wall we painted.” George hissed back.

Right before the bell rang, Ms. Ribble then said. “Oh, and the king finally showed up, so remember what I said. Your behaviors are a reflection of this school and I don’t want you all screaming your heads off.”

Both George and Harold were mentally screaming their heads off. There was no place where the comics could be hidden away in such a short amount of time, nor a place where they could risk making a transfer without their bags. They had to make a huge risk and get to the sisters as soon as possible. They had to pray that neither of them brought the comic with them.

Both George and Harold bursted out past their classmates as other panicked children hurried out to keep to themselves and be as quiet as possible if they couldn’t find a place to hide. They all did not feel at ease with playing when the king was nearby.

“Keisha!” George yelled to the sister when they saw her and the mergirl turned around as they approached her. “Please tell me ‘papers’ is back at home.” George begged as he used the code word for the comic. “‘Bruce’ is out of the ‘jaws’ and we’ve been collecting them!”

Keisha shook her head in fear. “No, I think my sister wanted to look at it a bit more. I couldn’t find it anywhere this morning!”

The boys groaned. “Hurry, we need to find her!” Harold begged.

“I think I know where she is!” Keisha swam ahead. “Be careful following me, ok?!”

The merboys gave her a head start before they swam after her seconds later to avoid suspicion.

Keisha hurried across the grounds, while other students were already on edge. Some watched as she turned a corner towards the seashells and she saw that Kira was hiding behind one of them and clutching the comic against her chest. There was no place on the school grounds that could be safe enough for the comic to stay hidden–not even in her own bag.

“I heard George and Harold were collecting the comics.” Kira frantically told Keisha. “My teacher wouldn’t let me take my bag outside!”

“Well mine did!” Keisha grabbed the comic and stuffed it in her bag. “Hurry up!” She grabbed her sister’s hand and swam to where she knew George and Harold would be (it would look too suspicious if they took any other route and they both were too well in view at this point). She turned around and swam back as fast as she could, but didn’t hear the shocked cries or see the looks of dread–especially those of George and Harold as they came to a complete stop–and all of a sudden–

SMACK!

Keisha felt herself collide against something both soft and hard all at once, and she was not only knocked back into the ground, but the force sent her bag to the ground and the comic was forced out of it. She quickly turned and made to go after the comic, but the moment she heard her sister gasp in terror and a huge shadow fell upon the both of them, she knew exactly who she ran into.

Both George and Harold could only stare in horror as one of their worst nightmares was about to unfold and their hearts stopped as their stomaches rolled around within their frames.

As Kira could only stare up with pale faced terror, Keisha slowly turned her head to look up and come face to face with a large and terrible looking mershark looming over the both of them. His eyes were on the comic book that came out of the bag and as he gritted his sharp teeth, those eyes glanced back to the older sister. The look in his rage filled eyes was enough to make everything within her die out.

“How did you get that?” Krupp began in a low voice that almost sounded more like a snarl.

Both George and Harold held their breaths as all those around them were now transfixed on the awful scene that was about to unfold.

Keisha couldn’t bring herself to say a word as she felt those awful dark eyes drilling into her. She knew that she couldn’t lie her way out of this and that someone was going to be horribly punished, yet a part of her couldn’t bring herself to pin the blame on her friends or her sister since she felt that this was also on her. “I–” She averted her eyes away from Krupp as her body began to tremble. “I–uh–I–”

“LOOK ME IN THE EYE AND ANSWER ME!” Krupp’s furious and loud outcry made every child jump or flinch, but especially the sisters and Kira looked about ready to cry as Keisha flinched. “IF YOU DON’T TELL ME, I’M GOING TO ASSUME YOU MADE THAT IDIOTIC THING THAT CAME OUT OF YOUR BAG!” Keisha tried her hardest not to whimper as the giant of an adult made to grab the comic and Kira let out a panicked gasp and flinched when it looked like he was going to go after her sister instead. Keisha felt herself about ready to break down and cry in front of Krupp and both boys saw what was about to happen. “SO IF YOU’RE TRYING TO PROTECT ONE OF YOUR CLASSMATES, I’LL–!”

“IT WAS US!” George finally couldn’t take it anymore as he grabbed Harold’s hand and squeezed it tight. He couldn’t let the older sister get in trouble because of them so they might as well get this over with.

Harold took a gulp and squeezed George’s hand back. They knew all too well that no other adult was going to come to their aid and the other young students would be overpowered in mere moments. Whatever was going to happen, they still were at least able to have each other.

The two watched as Krupp slowly turned around to face them, while all the children around George and Harold hurried away from them as far as they could. The boys watched as the realization in Krupp’s eyes began to grow and they were expecting him to burst out in anger as he crumbled up their comic in his hand. His brows were so narrowed that they could have reached the tip of his oddly shaped nose, his eyes narrowed to the point that they were barely visible, and his shoulders tensed up to the point it looked like they almost reached his ears.

Seconds passed, but instead of an outburst, there was a smile that slowly grew into a grin of triumph that seemed to reveal almost all of his horrible teeth. It was not a pretty sight and this actually scared the boys more than anything else the humongous adult could have done.

Krupp let out a chuckle though his teeth as he approached the two, who held their ground. The chuckle increased as he began to slowly slap the now rolled up and wrinkled comic into the palm of his free hand and the crazed look in his eyes made them shudder.

“Oh... of course it would be you two.” He let out a giggle that sounded childish and yet also incredibly sinister at the same time when he finally came to a stop before the two. He easily towered over both boys and his massive size made it feel as though neither one could quickly swim around him, and they knew that even if they did, he would catch up to them within seconds if not stop them in no time flat.

“Yeah, it was us.” Harold tried to sound nonchalant as his hands trembled. “So you can’t punish Keisha and Kira–”

“Oh, but maybe I should.” Krupp had an all too pleased tone in his voice as if he loved the idea. “Maybe I should punish all the students you have corrupted with this trash–” His grip on the comic tightened up some more “–you insisted on wasting your time on.”

“Well you can’t because they gave them back to us and you’ll never find them because we won’t tell on them!” George shot back.

“Well unfortunately for you bub, at least one of the students was respectful enough to tell me what you’ve been up to!” Krupp shot back with even more force as a few students nervously looked up to the top of the water to see if a change was occurring. The way the light of the sun was reflected was flickering way too rapidly and then the sky above the ocean seemed to slowly grow dark to the point that the light gradually began to vanish. “And don’t think they didn’t tell me about that little excursion you both made yesterday, because they did! Though knowing the both of you, I’m honestly not surprised you’d be willing to risk your necks for bragging rights!”

Both boys felt their blood turn cold as they found themselves backing away from the mershark and yet he still came slowly after them inch by inch like a predator stalking its prey. They were not afraid of Krupp, but it was in this moment that they truly were and it was hard to avert their eyes from the pair that stared at them with intense hatred.

“I’ve had to put up with you two and your shenanigans ever since you both met each other!” Krupp roared as he flung his arms out. “Far more times than I’ve needed to! I gave you the warnings and I warned your parents, but I guess it couldn’t get through your heads, did it?! DID IT?!” He snarled. “Prank after prank, and did you think you or your families would be free from the consequences?! You honestly think that you can do whatever you please?! You think you can sneak something like this behind my back when I clearly said that it’s illegal?! Because unfortunately for you two, I’m the one who is in charge and calls the shots!” He snapped as he pointed a finger at the boys. At this point George and Harold were literally backed up against a wall and there was no escape. “And so long as I’m around, you’ll have to deal with me and my rules whether you like it or not!”

“It’s just artwork that we created together!” Harold finally snapped back in a moment of courage. “We aren’t harming anyone with it! What is so bad about it?!”

“IT’S A WASTE OF TIME AND RESOURCES!” Krupp snarled as he waved the comic in his hand as the waters above all their heads began to turn violent. “ANY FORM OF ART OR CREATIVITY IS POINTLESS, MINDLESS, MEANINGLESS, DESTRUCTIVE TRASH! JUST LIKE EVERYTHING ON THE SURFACE AND ALL WHO LIVE THERE! IN THE END IT’S JUST GOING TO GET DESTROYED LIKE ANY HOPE YOU TWO HAVE OF GETTING OUT OF THIS SCOTT-FREE!” And to George and Harold’s equal horror, Krupp took the comic in both hands and began to tear it up into several pieces. “YOU ARE HERE TO LEARN, NOT TO HAVE FUN, AND THAT GOES FOR ALL OF THESE NAIVE KIDS AROUND HERE!” He threw the scraps up into the air in a nasty dramatic flourish. “YOU GOT THAT, YOU LITTLE BRATS?!” He practically yelled into their faces when he moved a little too close to them for either of their liking and they could see almost every detail on his face.

Both George and Harold could only stare in silence at the remains of their hard work as it sank down to the ground. Both of them experienced a strong bout of pain when they saw the very thing that they created together over the span of a few days destroyed in mere seconds before their eyes. It was so bad that it was like being punched in the gut and, combined with the severity of Krupp’s outburst towards them, both boys were unable to think of a retort to fight against him with. All the fire and light in their eyes died within mere moments.

In fact they both mentally shut down as Krupp heavily panted from his outburst and glared down at them with no regret towards what he had just done or for how badly he had internally hurt both George and Harold. “Give the rest to me.” He demanded and the boys cringed. “NOW!” He yelled when he felt like they were taking too long and this made them both flinch.

Harold let out a defeated sigh and took the other comics out of his bag while feeling like he was sending someone to their death, while George felt the same way as he did the same thing. They didn’t want to see the comics get destroyed, so they both shut their eyes as Krupp ripped the comics out of their grasp to the point that it felt like he could have torn their arms off while he was at it.

Just before he could rip the other comics up, Krupp then saw how tightly entwined the hands of the two children were. Even in this moment when he cornered them, they sought reliance from each other. They did this all together and they always did everything together.

Then he knew for sure how to break their spirits. He couldn’t help but grin once more as he realized just how easy this had to be for him.

“You know I’ve been debating about how I could punish you two if this day ever came.” He let out a breathless chuckle. “Over and over in my head I’ve thought of countless ways to put an end to you and make you behave. Because I’m generous right now, I’ll let you off with a warning, but–” he let out a frantic laugh and slapped his cheek as his moment of triumph was about to be at hand, which made the boys look up in dread. Finally he calmed down again, but there was a crazed look in his eyes.

“If I ever see or hear of you doing one more prank, make one more comic, or give one to a classmate–anything–then I’m going to have you both locked up for as long as I see fit. And the catch?” He smiled wickedly. “You won’t be sharing the same prison. I’ll have you both separated to various ends of the kingdom, without any form of contact to each other. I won’t even let your families or friends tell you about each other. I’m going to isolate you two to the point that you’ll both wish you never became friends the day you first met each other and that you were just like the others. I’m going to destroy your precious bond until there’s nothing left of it, and I promise you this,” He leaned towards them as far as he could to the point that all they could see was his face inches away from their own as he made his declaration with a wide grin. “Nothing will ever change my mind.”

He hovered over the two for a few moments and took in the look of alarm in both their eyes. He knew the message reached them exactly as he wanted it to.

For a few seconds more, his eyes were just locked with theirs.

And with that, Krupp crackled out a laugh as he turned around with the rest of George and Harold’s comics and left the two frozen where they were. He could see that all the children were frozen with fear and some looked away from him. Honestly he preferred it that way since he was able to scare them all into learning a valuable lesson that day.

“Thanks for letting me know about this.” Krupp casually told Melvin as he passed by the child. The other kids near him shot horrified and enraged looks as they realized who was responsible for this to begin with. Melvin didn’t even have a chance to feel even a little proud of himself when he finally noticed how much the nearest classmate wanted to beat him up.

“What is wrong with you?!” He hissed as soon as Krupp was out of earshot. “That was not cool, man!”

“Yeah, those two could get sent to prison thanks to you!” Another student snarled at him.

Meanwhile, Keisha and her sister nervously approached George and Harold. The older sister tried to open her mouth to apologize, but she gave up as she knew it was pointless, while Kira tearfully whispered “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought the comic with me.” Keisha then pulled her sister away from the merboys.

Both George and Harold could only stare off into nothingness as the students nervously began to leave the area or retreat elsewhere. They were all horribly shaken by the encounter, but none as much as the two who got caught up in it.

Finally Harold let out a growl, let go of George’s hand, and swam off to leave the school grounds as far as he could.

“Harold!” George gasped as he swam after his friend as fast as he could. No one bothered to go after the two, either because they knew that they needed to be alone, they wanted to comfort the boys but didn’t know how, or because they knew that they could not associate themselves with them anymore.

“Harold stop!” George yelled after his friend as he went towards the grotto. “Harold, wait up, what are you doing?!” Harold finally stopped and when George caught up to him, the merdolphin turned around to hug the merorca as tightly as he could and screamed into his chest in tearful anger. In turn, the merorca hugged his friend back as hard as he could and gritted his teeth while shutting his eyes, which began to form tears. George didn’t even protest when Harold dug his nails into his skin and it only made him tighten the hug as he rested his head against his best friend’s head while his own body trembled. Eventually Harold’s screaming died, but then they turned into deep sobs.

“Why?” Harold sobbed. “Why does it have to be this way?!” George’s response was to hug him even tighter. George himself found himself wishing from the bottom of his heart that he could have an answer for this, but he knew it would not be enough to satisfy them.

“My mom was wrong.” Harold’s speech started to waver through his sobbing and he had a hard time breathing. “There’s... there’s nothing inside him that’s good. He’s a complete monster both inside and out!”

****

The boys skipped the rest of school to hide in the grotto–the only place where they could ever be themselves. There was no joy this time, but a sorrow that lingered within the walls. Both George and Harold’s eyes were red from crying and they both felt as if all their energy had been spent.

“It had to be Melvin who ratted on us.” Harold hugged his tail against his chest as he stared at a wall. “He always does stuff like this.”

George let out a sigh as he examined the unfinished comics they still had left. “Of course.” He turned around and then noticed the bottle with the message inside. Curious as to what was inside it, he took it and made to open it up.

“We’ll never be free.” Harold continued with a voice of hopelessness. “One thing is all it will take for us to lose our freedom... to be separated forever. I’d rather be imprisoned with you for the rest of my life then let that happen.” He closed his eyes. “He did that on purpose you know.”

George looked up from the paper before he could read it. “What?”

“Krupp made us into an example in front of the others!” Harold threw a hand out. “He wanted the others to see what would happen if they got in as much trouble as we did! He scared them into submission! He’s a cruel hearted manipulator who knows what he is doing!” He dropped his arm and went silent.

Meanwhile, George looked back at the paper and saw that it was a map. A map of some sort of room, and some notes were jotted down upon it, but one was written for one area that especially caught his attention– ‘There should still be a few more bracelets that the merfolk use to become human here’–and then he saw the name of the place written on a corner of the paper.

This made George pause for a moment. Then an idea came to him and the wheels in his head began to spin and turn.

“Harold, what’s the one rule in this kingdom?” George asked his best friend.

“To never go up to the surface world?” Harold asked in confusion.

George looked up to give his friend a determined look. “That’s exactly what we’ll do. No, even better–we’re going to break into the forbidden chambers and see if we can find the bracelets to turn us into humans.”

“What?!” Harold gasped in disbelief as George went over to give him the map. Harold stared at it as George continued.

“Think about it, what if it was required to save a few? Everything in that place is off limits for a reason! If we break that rule of his, it could show everyone that we aren’t afraid of him.”

“It would look like we were running away from him.” Harold pointed out.

“Which is why if we came back and spread the word about what we saw on the surface world, it could encourage everyone to leave and then Krupp will have no one to order around! Even better, they could kick him off the throne!” George grinned in excitement as he grabbed Harold’s arms. “And if we become humans and get enough stories of our own to tell, we can show him that he’s wrong about the surface world! This would be the ultimate act of rebellion against him!”

Harold laughed. “He would hate that! And then all the kids won’t be scared of him anymore!”

“It’s perfect!” George cried out. “And if we can figure out how to manipulate the power of the bracelets, we can stay up there for longer than three days!”

Harold’s smile suddenly died as a troubled look came to his eyes. “But if I do that... it’ll look like I abandoned mom and Heidi, the way dad left us.” He bowed his head looked conflicted. “I don’t know if I can do that to them, George. It’s bad enough that things have turned out the way they did. It would kill my mom.”

“Yeah, except Krupp will tear us away from our families eventually and I can’t live like this anymore.” George pointed out. “Tell me you don’t feel the same way.”

“I do.” Harold admitted. “But George.... we’d have to create a distraction to get into the chambers and he’d know it was us no matter what!” He was frustrated. “And if we’re caught, that’s it!”

George sighed and ran his hand through his hair before he noticed the red ring and he went over to take it and he held it in his hand. For some reason, holding the ring gave him a sense of comfort, but it was also giving him a strange bout of determination and certainty that he couldn’t explain. “We both survived the eels together.” He began. “We both kept our talents and this grotto a secret for as long as possible.” He put the ring on his index finger (a perfect fit) and held his hand out towards the sun that peered though the many holes. “I don’t know if we have a god of luck on our side, but I refuse to back down without a fight. We made the stupid mistake of showing Krupp that we were afraid of him, and now we can show him that we aren’t. It's time to take action because if we can’t have the hero we want to make a difference, we have to do it ourselves... together.”

Harold stared at George with awe. “Please tell me you’ll keep that speech in mind for a story.”

George let out a sheepish chuckle and scratched his head. “Heh, maybe I should, now that you pointed it out.”

“Well, I’m sold.” Harold nodded and smiled in determination. “Let’s show the big dumb shark how much trouble we really can be. You got any ideas on how to get inside?”

“I have a few.” George nodded. “But we’ll need to take a few things with us. We should stick with the surface kingdom if we succeed... also I’m taking this with me.”

George looked at the ring. “I had a good feeling when I first found it, and I’m feeling it right now. I think this might be our good luck charm.”

****

Two guards were positioned outside the hall that lead to the forbidden chambers within the castle.

“Ugh, it itches!” A guard complained as she used the tip of her spear to scratch at her tail. “I think I’m allergic to something I ate earlier.”

“Quit that, you’ll start flaking or worse!” The other guard beside her grimaced.

“I can’t help it, its burning up!” She moaned. “I was considering having oyster shells attached to my tail today! Just my luck too!”

“Ok, that’s a sign you shouldn’t do that to yourself.” The other guard winced.

Meanwhile, George was positioned on one side of the area the guards were in from outside with a string of squids tied together by their tentacles in a row. It was the same case with Harold, who had Serenity by his side. Both boys had their bags with them, which were filled with human objects to help them when they would have need of them.

“Hopefully someone really needs ink.” Harold muttered to himself before grinning at Serenity. “Ok, go!”

Serenity swam up as high as she could until she reached the top of the roof of the area.

“Ok my friends, squirt it all out!” George told the squids as he tugged at the tentacle of the nearest squid, while Harold did the same with a grin.

One by one a squid was tugged in a chain and each one squirted out a strong jet of ink into the open windows of the area. This caused a series of yelps as the guards soon found themselves in total darkness.

“WHAT’S GOING ON, I CAN’T SEE!” The male guard yelled as he rushed out of the hallway. The female guard stopped scratching herself and also rushed out in a hurry and a yell of her own.

“Oh, sweet, free ink!” A royal notetaker who was passing by grinned in delight as he took his ink bottle out to get the ink.

George and Harold quickly swam inside the area and went into the hallway as fast as they could. They only paused momentarily and hid behind columns when they heard someone about to swim towards them and sure enough there were guards hurrying to investigate what just happened. They swam past the pranksters, who then hurried towards the doors of the forbidden chambers and they opened the nearest door.

“Ok, where are they?” Harold asked as he and George looked around the room. There were all sorts of bizarre stuff in the room and strange contraptions that they never saw before. Some even looked as if it could have come from the human world but they didn’t have time to look at all of it.

George pulled the map out and looked before pointing in the right direction. “That way!” He swam as fast as he could and Harold followed close behind until they reached a blue cabinet made of coral. He pulled it open and Harold proceeded to take a look and pulled open all the drawers.

“Bracelets, bracelets, bracelets... found them!” Harold pointed to what he thought were the bracelets. “Wait, let me double check.” He opened the other drawers to make sure there weren’t anything else to mix them up with and when he was able to confirm that he correctly found the right objects, he went back to them. There were only three bracelets and all three had various shades of green beads with only one large white colored bead. Only two of them seemed to be tied together by a ribbon and looked closer to their size, while the other one was more of an adult size and looked a little more worn and well used, compared to the other two.

“Got it!” Harold snatched the two bracelets tied together. “Uh...” He paused when he saw a small booklet under the remaining bracelet entitled ‘Super convenient booklet on using transformation bracelets (plus notes gathered by frequent users)’ written by frequent users.’

“Ok, I’m not going to even question that.” Harold shrugged and also grabbed the booklet and he threw it–along with the bracelets–into his bag before quickly shutting all the drawers to cover their tracks.

“Good job, buddy!” George praised and shut the cabinet closed when Harold moved back. “Ok, we need to get out of here!”

“What if the guards come back?!” Harold pointed out.

“You taught Serenity to use that catapult to launch Big Eight, right?” George asked. Outside, Serenity pressed her body against a lever to an underwater catapult and it sent a large adult sized octopus into the already darkened hallway. Seconds later, a scream erupted from the hallway.

“Yup, she did!” Harold squealed with joy. “My baby is all grown up!” He cheered as he and George quickly swam out of the room as fast as they could.

Just as they had suspected, there was chaos and pandemonium within the darkened halls, but the ink was slowly vanishing and things were becoming more visible as merfolk tried to get the ink out of there or else get as much free ink as they could while facing a large octopus who made to grab for the nearest merperson he could get to and hug them. The two merboys swam as fast as they could into the halls and out of one of the windows in just the nick of time before they were noticed, or before they heard a familiar voice yelling “WHAT’S THE MEANING OF ALL THIS YELLING?!”

Right as George and Harold swam above the roof and Serenity joined them, there was a moment of silence. Then, right after the boys grabbed onto Serenity’s dorsal fin and she swam off in a diagonal direction towards the surface and the surface kingdom, an enraged scream erupted from the very hall that George and Harold escaped from.

A few workers in the castle quickly backed away from their king as fast as they could as he stared at the blackened hallway with a mix of disbelief and rage. His body was haunching over as his fists trembled, his teeth were gritting down on each other, and his face was getting redder than the reddest thing you could ever imagine.

“GEORGE! HAROLD!” Krupp screamed and the castle walls were literally shaking from the force of his outburst. “WHERE ARE YOU TWO?!”

“Oh crud!” George’s eyes widened as he turned his head towards the castle.

“Hurry, Serenity!” Harold pleaded to the dolphin, who swam as fast as she could across waters that were beginning to get rocky and kept her from going in a straight path.

“RIGGGGGGHH!” Krupp yelled, turned away from the scene, and panted so much that he could have passed out and his face turned a deep shade of scarlet.

“So... you both want to do it the hard way?” He growled though his teeth as one eye started twitching. “You want to blow your only chance away within a day?!” He let out a maniacal laugh despite himself. “You know what?! I almost wanted you to so I could finally have this excuse to get you both! IF YOU TWO RAN AWAY FOR GOOD, I COULD CARE LESS, BUT IF I EVER FIND YOU TWO WITHIN MY KINGDOM EVER AGAIN, I WILL KEEP MY WORD!” Krupp yelled out his warning, hoping that they could hear him wherever they were. “YOU HEAR ME?! I WILL SEPARATE YOU AND NOTHING WILL STOP ME FROM GIVING YOU BOTH THE PUNISHMENT YOU BOTH DESERVE!”

****

When the boys and the dolphin finally went out far enough, the dolphin decided to go up to the surface. The boys held on tight and their hearts frantically raced in their chests as Serenity took them towards the world above as the blues changed from deep blue to light blue and the light above grew ever brighter.

Finally Serenity burst through the surface and both George and Harold were able to see the sky stretch on endlessly without a grotto to cover most of it up for the first time in all of their lives.

“Whoa...” Harold gasped in awe as George also looked around their new surroundings.

Both boys could only stare around them as Serenity took them towards a strange location where a long, large stretch of land could be seen almost a mile or two away. It looked like a large town or city, with structures they’ve never seen before, but they both could see something like a large wheel, as well as a grand looking structure on top of a high point of land.

“Keep going!” Harold told Serenity. “We aren’t safe till we reach the shore!” The dolphin understood and resumed her travel as the boys swam beside her, with their bags safely in their grasp. She took them closer and closer to the legendary kingdom of the surface, which the boys silently observed. Up here they could already smell new things or feel the wind against their faces for the first time, and the colors of their new surroundings were so bright or new that it was almost overwhelming. They couldn’t even acknowledge what they just accomplished because they both were taking in all they could. Harold didn’t know how he could replicate what he saw in a drawing and George didn’t know how he could describe what he was seeing in words.

It wasn’t until Serenity took them to a very small cove hidden upon the shoreline that the boys finally let go of her and swam until water met sand and they couldn’t swim anymore. Both collapsed into the sand and for one moment they savored the new experience of properly feeling the sun against their bodies before Harold looked to George. “We... we made it to the surface world.” He could only say with eyes that were wide with awe.

“Yeah.” George had a hard time believing this. “We... we did.” He looked at Harold. There was a pause before both boys yelled “We made it to the surface world!” and they quickly hugged each other.

“We actually did it!” Harold cried. “We’re free!” He was already in tears, but this time they were happy tears. “We’re free!” He couldn’t help but say it again.

“Yes we are!” George also cried and laughed. “We don’t have to worry about that stupid tyrant catching us up here!”

“We can do anything to our heart’s content!” Harold grinned as his hug tightened.

And it was true. Both boys had accomplished the impossible and they were free to be a part of the surface world–free to openly be themselves–for the very first time. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted off their bodies and they felt like they could breathe freely once more.

“I knew the ring was good luck!” George looked at the ring on his finger for a moment. “I’m never going to doubt it ever again!”

“Well it was from the surface world, so it had to bring us luck!” Harold replied as he let go of George to look at it. In the sunlight, the red color of the ring was bright, as if it was meant to belong in the light of the sun instead of the darkness of the waters below. “I guess if we were meant to find it, then we were meant to come up here!”

And it was true. The ring was from the surface world and George was right in how it gave him a sense of comfort and determination. Yet neither boy was aware of the story behind the ring and how it got to the place where they found it. “We’ll have to both wear it!” George declared. “I don’t know how it got all the way down there, but we should share it to be on the safe side!”

“Ok, ok.” Harold then went for his bag and took out the bracelets. “Ready?” He undid the ribbon and he and George looked at the symbols upon the white beads–one had a red and orange sun painted upon it while the other had a light blue moon. “I’ll take this one, if you don’t mind.” Harold pointed to the moon.

“Sure, I don’t mind.” George gleefully took the one with the sun. “I can’t believe we’re going to do this!” He was excited. “Krupp will throw a fit if he finds out about this!”

“What if it hurts?!” Harold asked nervously. “Your dad said it’s painful.”

“Which is why I came prepared.” George went for his bag and took out a couple pieces of driftwood. “We’ll chomp down on them and on the count of three we’ll put them on together.”

“I prefer being part dolphin.” Harold admitted as Serenity watched the two from where she rested in the ocean water. “But I’m willing to give this a try.” Harold accepted a scrap of driftwood and bit down on it while George did the same. Both boys were both dreading and looking forward to this moment and they shared the same nervous look in their eyes. They both took their bracelets and waited to see who would speak first.

“One.” George finally gulped as he bit down on the driftwood.

“Two.” Harold trembled as he and George held their dominant hands out and ready.

“Three!” George cried out and forced the bracelet over his hand and onto his wrist while Harold did the same thing.

They paused for a moment.

“Uh...” Harold began. “How long will this take to–” He then let out a sharp gasp and tensed up as he felt a pain in the lower half of his body. George felt it too and it took his all not to scream, but it soon became impossible and it was barely muffled thanks to the driftwood he bit down on as hard as he could.

As the pain began to increase and it felt like everything was splitting apart and things were growing inside them at the same time, the two quickly grabbed onto each other and they dug their nails into each other's flesh while screaming through the driftwood that they chomped down on as hard as they could. They always had each other's backs, and they still would in this agonizing moment.

Chapter Text

It was the last few minutes of that day of school for the fourth graders, and while all the students were listening to their teacher reading a novel to them, Billy was quietly observing a poster of a work of art all the way from Paris, while Lisa was reading the last part of a story of a collection of fairy tales. Yet something about the fairy tale in question was bothering her and not because it wasn’t a happy story, nor was it because both her and her brother talked about a related subject a few days ago on the shoreline, but it was the ending and the outcome for the main character that was bugging her.

The bell rang and the teacher set the book down with a smile. “Alright class, we’ll resume where we left off tomorrow. I hope you all have a good day and remember that it’s ok with you need to stay on the school grounds if no one is here to pick you up.”

After Lisa and Billy put their things away and left the classroom, Mary Louisa–a classmate of theirs–came to them with a smile. “I hear the cinema is finally playing ‘Cat Kong.’” She told them with eager excitement. “Once break comes in a few days, we should all see it.”

“As long as we don’t get a sudden storm to worry about.” Billy pointed out before frowning. “When the sky turned dark earlier, I thought we would get one today.” He then let out a chuckle as he looked at Lisa. “Hey, maybe the king under the ocean got mad at something like that old guy said.” He told her in a joking manner.

“Yeah, or maybe the sky was just cloudy earlier.” Lisa pointed out as Mary Louisa tried to look at what book Lisa held against her body. “Hey what book is that?” She asked.

“Oh it’s nothing.” Lisa covered up the book with a swan on it’s cover with her arms as best as she could. “Just a boring novel.”

“Oh.” Mary Louisa shrugged. “We’ll see you!” She waved the two farewell as she dashed down the hallway.

As the siblings went towards the hallway with the intention to get onto the bus, Billy shot Lisa an accusing look. “You know, there’s nothing wrong with admitting that you like fairy tales.” He pointed out. “Hans Christian Andersen was a grown up when he wrote those stories, and I know adults work on cartoons.”

“I know, but I don’t want to seem like a child when I’m a teenager.” Lisa pointed out. “I mean, I’ll have to start caring about clothing, hair, and getting a boyfriend, and then we’ll both be expected to act like adults when we graduate from high school, and–”

“You shouldn’t have to let that all be your entire world.” Billy frowned. “I mean that sounds really stupid and I don’t think adults have to be adults all the time. Dad likes playing with us, and Edith still plays games with us. Look, not everyone is going to like it if you have to completely change yourself. I like you the way you are.”

“I don’t know.” Lisa frowned. “With the way things have been at home and here in the kingdom... we might have to start acting like adults soon.”

****

“Almost... have it...” Harold forced himself to get up on his new legs for the third time, but he wobbled so much that he ended up collapsing in the sand yet again. George wasn’t fairing any better and he had to sit down on a rock and recover for a bit. At this point, it had been almost half an hour since both boys turned themselves into humans and it was quite an adjustment for them. Yet as soon as they got over it, they went right to trying to stand and walk with varying results.

“I knew this was going to be hard, but I didn’t think it would be this hard!” George grumbled as he flexed his feet. “They all bend too easily!”

“Well, we didn’t have anyone to observe beforehand.” Harold crawled towards his bag and took the booklet out. “Any clues in here that could help?” He asked as he opened the first page.

‘Just hold onto something as you walk for a bit.’ One passage said, while a hand written note beside it said ‘keep yourself against a surface to support yourself.’

“Uh...” Harold turned his head to the large rocks in the sands. “Ok, maybe this won’t be too bad.”

“Can I look at that after you later?” George asked. “I need to make sure that book isn’t all made up.”

“Yeah, in a m–” Harold paused when he saw that Serenity was still in the ocean a few feet away and was silently observing the two boys. “Oh whoops.” Harold frowned as he realized he forgot about her and then called out to her. “Hey Serenity... I don’t know how long we’ll be gone for, but you can’t let anyone find out where we are. Don’t let mom ask you, don’t let your mom get you to reveal where we are, and especially do not let Krupp find out!” He warned her before turning to George. “Hey how long should we be up here for? You didn’t say anything about that, did you?”

George thought for a moment. “A week.”

“A week?!” Harold gapped. “That’s too long!”

“Long enough to get as much as we need if we want to go back!” George pointed out. “The longer we’re up here, the more we’ll be able to share!” He got up off the rock and tried to hold his balance on his feet again.

“Where will we go when we need to take these off?!” Harold held up his wrist with the bracelet on it.

“We’ll figure it out, it’s just one thing at a time!” George slowly moved downward to get used to bending the legs.

Harold sighed and turned back to Serenity with a smile. “Sorry girl, but it’ll be seven days until we come back. Please don’t try to check on us, it’ll get everyone in trouble.”

Serenity let out an understanding, yet still melancholic sound that made Harold a little regretful, but he couldn’t risk even one visit from her. Before he even had a chance to say goodbye, the dolphin turned around and swam back out to the ocean, whose surface shimmered from the sun in the sky, and which already developed small white waves as if to signify that its temper was currently mild. He watched until she sank into the waters and he finally turned around to see George successfully walking–although shakily–towards his own bag before collapsing next to it and picking up the booklet to read a few pages.

“Be sure to get clothes as soon as you can when you are up on the surface.” George read the passage before seeing a hand written note that caught his eye. “Apparently if you don’t, they’ll scream and try to attack you.” He raised his eyebrow at this. “Wow, that’s scary... hey, Harold we should probably get clothes pretty soon. We can’t be seen like this.” He called to Harold without turning around.

“Where could we even find clothes?” Harold asked as he made to try to stand up once more. George paused at this and tried to think.

“I... guess we’ll have to ‘borrow’ some.” He admitted.

****

The bus was not allowed to go on the castle grounds without permission, so Lisa and Billy had to wait for their ride in a neighborhood at the base of the hill where their home was on the top. Not much happened while they waited, until Billy turned around and frowned at something. “Hey Lisa, that gate is usually closed, right?”

Lisa turned around to see that one of the houses whose backyard overlooked the shoreline had a back gate that was somehow open, and that there was a wooden box by one side as if someone used it to get over the fence. They both knew that the person who lived there wouldn’t be home around this time, but they could hear faint talking in the backyard that sounded like the voices of a couple boys. They also knew that the person who lived there didn’t have children.

“Break in?” Lisa asked in concern.

“Break in.” Billy agreed.

“Check on it?”

“Might as well, Jacob will be here any minute to help us out.”

The two siblings quietly snuck to the gate and the voices got louder.

“No way, that’s what underpants look like?!” One voice laughed. This puzzled both siblings, and yet they still went inside to find–

“AAAAH!” Lisa yelped and covered her eyes as Billy stared in confusion.

Two boys–one dark skinned with short black hair, and the other one with a messy set of blonde hair upon his head–were stealing clothing off the laundry line while also trying their hardest to stand upright on wobbly legs. The first boy was wearing a shirt that was far too big for him and made to rest against a wooden pole, and the other one was trying to put on a pair of underpants. Both were fairly covered up and somewhat decent despite also having a lot of sand clinging to their bodies, but it was enough for Lisa to turn red with shock.

“Uh,” Both George and Harold looked at the unexpected duo that found them with both amazement and concern. The boy had short dark hair and black framed glasses, and the girl had a natural light tan skin tone and a yellow ribbon in her dark brown hair. Apparently it didn’t take too long to encounter humans and especially those who looked to be about their own age.

“This isn’t what it looks like!” George panicked as he grabbed his bag, while Harold quickly snatched a much too large shirt to put on.

“Uh, no it does.” Billy scowled at the two boys and crossed his arms.

“It’s painfully obvious!” Lisa cringed as she lowered her hands from her eyes to make sure that it was safe for her to look before she also scowled. “You’re stealing and we know who lives here, so you can’t lie to us!”

“Look, we really need clothes right now, and we don’t have money, so could you help us out?” Harold pleaded after he finished poking his arms through the sleeves of the shirt. “We’ll do something to make money, but–”

“This is illegal!” Lisa barked and pointed a finger at them.

“Well we already got in trouble for something illegal today, so we don’t care!” George threw his hands out as Harold quickly went to put his own bag on and slung it across his body. “We don’t need a couple of rule obsessed kids to tell us right from wrong!”

“So could you two please just go away?!” Harold pleaded.

Both siblings paused. “You don’t know who we are, do you?” Billy asked.

“No and I honestly don’t care right now!” George threw his hands up.

There was a honking noise from around the house that alarmed the siblings, but Lisa was quick to shake it off and ran to George. Before he knew it, she grabbed his wrist. “You’re coming with us!” She commanded as she pulled him away from the pole.

“Whoa, jeez!” George protested as he felt like his arm was going to be yanked off and he tried his hardest to keep his footing. “We don’t want any trouble, kid! And watch the wrist!” He panicked as he saw how close Lisa was to pulling the bracelet off, but then his footing gave way and he collapsed into the grass.

“George!” Harold panicked and made to grab his friend’s foot as Lisa struggled to pull him away with all her strength. Meanwhile her brother went to get Jacob to help out.

“How is a girl this strong?!” George was alarmed as Lisa pulled him away with all her strength until Harold caught his foot.

“Hey just because I’m a girl, it doesn’t mean that I clearly get out more than you!” Lisa snapped back.

“Hah, try us!” Harold challenged as he tried to pull George away from Lisa, but his lack of experience with walking caused him to also collapse to the ground (not to mention all the walking they were able to accomplish at this point already tired them out). This was enough to slow Lisa down, but by then Billy came to the yard with Jacob close behind.

“Whoa, look at that!” The man in his late twenties let out a whistle. “We got a couple of troublemakers!” He cheerfully went over and easily picked up both George and Harold. “Are you runaways?” He asked as he eyed the bags.

“Oh come on!” Harold was exasperated at the turn of events as he found both him and George getting dragged off to who knew where. “Why does this keep happening?! You two guys couldn’t have let us be!” He snarled at the two children who followed the adult.

“Not’ guys,’ my good men!” Jacob laughed. “You were just caught by the prince and princess of this kingdom.”

As the boys were taken to Jacob’s yellow and cream colored automobile, they paused to take this information in before looking at the two children who found them. They both had looks that said ‘you really didn’t know that?’

“WHAT?!” Both George and Harold were both amazed and horrified. They never met a prince or princess so close to their age, but this was the second time in a row they got in trouble with a member of royalty that day and it looked like trouble was still out to get them.

“This is never going to end!” Harold slapped his face. “What is it with today?!” He yelled at the sky.

“Well it can’t get any worse, right?!” George nervously laughed.

****

The boys found themselves trapped between Lisa and Billy in the back of the vehicle that they had never ridden before as the man named Jacob whistled an unfamiliar tune. It was as if he was making them all fly through the air as he drove them up a hill and towards the castle, yet both boys couldn’t enjoy this that much when they felt like they were going to get in serious trouble yet again.

Both George and Harold could not help but just stare at the huge building when they finally came to their destination. The roofing was a faint sea green, and the exterior was reddish brown and white, and most of the windows were made of colored glass. The front courtyard wasn’t incredibly huge, but it had various kinds of plant life and a water fountain smack dab in the center of it all. To complete the look, the castle had a perfect view of the ocean and much of the town and the boardwalk by the ocean.

“Oh wow, this is not like home.” George couldn’t help but comment as he and Harold stared at the castle in awe.

As soon as the automobile came to a stop, the boys found themselves forcibly pulled out by Lisa and Billy. “Hey we can walk!” Harold protested as Billy yanked at his arm.

“That’s not what it looked like to me.” Billy told him as Jacob soon placed a hand upon the shoulders of the two ‘guests.’

“You guys pretty much fell on your faces.” Lisa added.

“Don’t you worry!” Jacob tried to give the boys a reassuring smile. “You two will just get a warning at best.” Both boys just shot each other an uncomfortable look as they recalled what happened the last time they were given a warning. The boys then found themselves struggling to walk alongside Jacob as Lisa and Billy went ahead of them towards a set of double doors.

Even on the inside this castle was so much different than the one under the ocean as the windows to the scenic outside allowed light to come in, and there seemed to be more color and details wherever you looked. It felt far more inviting and not as overwhelming. There were also many paintings upon the emerald green walls and Harold especially kept trying to glance at each painting as long as he could.

“Most of those are local.” Billy told Harold when he saw him glancing at the paintings on the second floor. “Dad’s a big supporter for the arts. He even has an actual Morisot and a Mucha that he’s going to help exhibit.”

“Don’t tell them that!” Lisa hissed while this made both boys stare at the prince in shock as if they couldn’t believe what they were hearing. The king here actually supported the arts?

“How did they not know who we are?” Lisa whispered to Billy. “In fact, they are acting like they’ve never seen anything before. Did you see the way they stared at Jacob’s automobile like it was new to them?” Billy didn’t have time to answer as they came to their father’s study and they could hear familiar voices arguing inside.

“Two times in a row today! You can’t tell me that seems odd!”

“We both know the ocean out here is unpredictable, it could have been a side effect from the first one.”

The siblings slowly opened the door and peered in to see a man with sandy blonde hair, glasses, and a loose maroon turtleneck sweater arguing with someone else. A dark haired woman with glasses, a diagonal scar across her face, who wore a uniform that signified that she belonged to the Royal Navy, and who carried an oddly shaped cane by her side, was glaring at the man. “You might have lived here all your life, but I know the ocean better than those who’ve lived longer on land!” The woman snapped. “I can tell the difference between a natural storm and a freak storm!”

“So the sky turned a little cloudy at different times and one set of waves was different than the other.” The man pointed out. “What else could cause it?”

“If the stories are true, then we need to find a way to get down there and stop the storms!” The woman yelled at the king. “Otherwise this kingdom is going to collapse! The storms have been getting worse over the past ten years and the spring festival is coming up! Think of how many tourists will try to go out there! We can’t protect the kingdom out on the ocean if this keeps up!”

“Even if I could–even if that story was true–we would need access to a submarine and it would take too long to send a post for one.” The king sighed as he adjusted his glasses. “I can’t control the weather, and I’ve got other things to be concerned about that could also ruin us all. Look, we’ve been at this for too long, Chief Mate Anthrope.” He held his hand out. “We should save this for tomorrow when we both have a chance to clear our heads.”

“And if we don’t?” Chief Mate Anthrope snapped. “What if the boardwalk gets destroyed tomorrow?”

“I don’t know, I need time to think on this!” The king frantically threw his hands out and took a deep sigh. “You made your point, can we discuss this tomorrow? I promise I’ll come up with some ideas and I’m willing to hear yours.”

Anthrope merely stared at the king and grunted in acceptance before turning around to walk out of the study. When she saw Billy and Lisa, she nodded to them in acknowledgement before leaving down the hallway.

The king held his face in his hands as Lisa and Billy walked in, followed by Jacob and the two boys who realized who the adult was and grew afraid of him. The moment the man looked up and saw Lisa and Billy, he smiled and it was like the bags under his eyes vanished, but he then frowned a little when he saw George and Harold. “Uh... did you two bring over friends from school?” He asked.

“These two were stealing clothes from Mr. Greggor’s backyard.” Lisa pointed to the boys. “They also didn’t recognize us.”

“They might not be from around here though.” Billy pointed out. “It’s not like everyone knows what we look like.”

The king had a thoughtful look in his eyes and both George and Harold nervously waited to hear what he had to say. Neither of them wanted to deal with yet another king who could be just as awful as Krupp.

Yet the more they looked at the man, the more that they saw that neither of his children shared any similar physical traits with him. In fact, the prince and the princess didn’t share any similar physical traits either. Even their hair colors were too different to make them seem related.

“Boys, I’m not going to demand why you did what you did.” The king walked over towards them and both boys instinctively moved away from him, with Harold actually darting slightly behind George and putting his fists near his mouth as he grimaced from how close the man got to them, while George’s shoulders rose up and he became stiff.

This puzzled the king and then he saw an odd look of fear in their eyes. “I know times haven’t been good lately, and I’m sure you both have a few stories of your own.” He cautiously continued. “Still, I would like to know why you felt the need to, in order to make my choice, so if you want, you can just tell me a few things.”

Both George and Harold were not comfortable with any of this. It had been hours, but they still recalled how Krupp cornered and yelled at them–how utterly enraged he was–to the point that both the image of him ripping their comic up and staring them in their eyes was still too painfully fresh. This man was different–he was a lot more calm and patient with a much more mild temper–and he wasn’t getting into their faces, but they still didn’t know what to say to him. Harold was especially quiet and was the first to look away, and George took over when he saw that Harold was probably not going to try to say a word.

“Well, Your Majesty.” George gulped as he began to spin a story that was going to be only a little truthful. “We were in such a rush to leave that we didn’t get our clothes... you see... where we live, the k–... person in charge is just downright awful and we had to escape from him. We also lost the clothes we did have when we went out for a swim, and we don’t have any money, so we took what we needed.” He glanced at the much too large shirts he and Harold were wearing before nervously looking back at the king. “So... we’re sorry. We’ll work to pay for them if we need to... or we can just return them tomorrow and leave.”

The king thought for a moment. “Sounds like something out of an adventure novel.” He couldn’t help but comment.

“We aren’t making this up, we had to leave!” Harold finally blurted out. “If you met the guy George is talking about, you would know why! He’s such a huge angry jerk that he hates kids and he even tore up a comic we worked on together just because he hates art!”

There was an uncomfortable silence and Lisa and Billy stared in horror at the two boys and the king suddenly had a very concerned look in his eyes.

“We only want to stay in town for a week and then we’ll go.” George confessed. “And I promise we’ll return the shirts, just... we don’t want to go to jail.” He pleaded. “Please don’t punish us.”

“Boys, I’m not going to.” The king reassured them. “In fact I think working to earn what you need is admirable and I wouldn’t mind if you helped out here for a bit. We could use a little extra help around here with cleaning up the castle since it’s so big and there are places I know the servants can’t reach.”

“Dad, they stole clothes!” Lisa protested. “What if they’re lying?”

“I have a strong feeling that they are telling the truth.” The king told his daughter. “I can see that they both went through some things that they aren’t open to talking about, and I am not going to press them for it.”

“Uh, how can you tell?” Harold shyly asked as a part of him wondered if the king really bought the story George told or not.

“Your eyes and the way you seemed afraid of me told me quite a bit.” The king admitted. “But I can see you both mean well, so I am open to giving you a chance and a guest room to you two. And you both look like you could use a bath and something to eat.” He noticed how much sand covered the boys.

“So we won’t get in trouble?!” George laughed with relief.

“As long as you are willing to make up for the theft, I promise that won’t happen.” The king smiled as his children shot him confused looks. “Could you take them to the guest rooms and call on Marietta?” He asked Jacob.

“Actually we’d like to share a room!” Harold quickly blurted as he realized he and George needed some privacy during their time here. “Uh... please, Your Majesty?” He corrected himself.

“That’s fine, and you don’t have to refer to me as that.” The king smiled. “You could just call me Mason if you’d prefer.”

The boys just stared at Mason as Jacob waited for them. “Th... thanks.” George finally stammered.

“Sure.” Harold could only say before they turned to follow Jacob out of the study. Meanwhile, the siblings shot their father a confused look.

“I need some time to myself, so we might need to resume this discussion later.” Mason told them. “I’ll see you both at dinner.”

“Sure.” Billy reluctantly agreed as Lisa seemed more eager to resume the discussion. Still they both left the study, but right before the door shut completely, Billy turned his head to see his father go to the bookcase behind his desk and pulled at it until the door blocked his view.

Inside the study, Mason pulled the bookcase away to reveal a passageway that lead down to a room only he knew about and would reveal to his successor when the time came. He stared down for a few moments before moving the bookcase back in place. “What’s the point?” He asked himself. “I won’t ever get a response.”

****

Moments later, both boys found themselves at the mercy of a large servant who decided to wash both of them at the same time in the bathroom to their guest room.

“We can do it ourselves!” Harold protested as the woman tossed soapy water on top of his head while he and George sat in a huge tub of water with a foam of bubbles on top of the surface.

“I don’t trust some young urchins to know how to properly clean themselves before eating with royalty.” The woman named Marietta clicked her tongue as she tried to get the knots out of Harold’s messy blonde hair. “I got a couple boys of my own, so don’t think I’m going to squeal at the sight of you. Good thing I had some of their old clothes that I was planning on donating on hand.”

George glanced around until he saw the toilet nearby and laughed when he saw a familiar white ring on it. Did we actually consider that a treasure? He wondered. I hope Harold saw that!

“Ok, your turn.” Marietta grabbed George’s arm and began scrubbing it down with a sponge.

“Hey watch the bracelet!” George panicked as he saw how close the sponge was to knocking off the only thing keeping him in his current form.

“Don’t worry, I won’t knock off your little friendship bracelets if you don’t want me to.” Marietta huffed. “God lord, you two were covered in so much sand. Did you two get in some sort of fight?”

****

“Dad, are you really sure you can trust those two?” Lisa asked as she and her brother sat by their father in the large dining room. “There’s something about them that’s... I don’t know.” She tried to ponder what it was and gave up. “They both are really odd.”

“Well I’ll give them a chance and see what happens.” Mason told them as one of the servants finished setting the food at the table. “It takes awhile to figure someone out and besides it was only a set of clothes they stole.”

“Doesn’t that still count as theft?” Billy asked, but before the king could reply, another servant opened the double doors from out in the hallway to allow George and Harold inside. Both of them were given a set of clothing to borrow for the time and both of them were struggling to adjust to the new garments (that was actually just the right size this time) and the way they felt on them.

“At least they gave us underwear.” George quietly snickered to Harold, who laughed before they came to the table. “Uh...” George and Harold were both trying to figure out where to sit while also hungrily staring at the food.

“You can sit anywhere.” Mason kindly told them and both boys chose to sit a few seats away from the family since they weren’t completely comfortable around them just yet.

“Uh, what is this?” Harold pointed to all the food on the table.

“Just chicken, steamed broccoli, and scalloped potatoes.” Billy shrugged. “Nothing too special.”

“Unless it was made by Edith.” Lisa pointed out as she eagerly looked at the food with full intention to consume it. “She’s the best cook we have!”

“Thank goodness for that blessing.” Mason smiled as he looked to the guests. “Go ahead and help yourselves.” He told them.

While it was a slightly average dinner for the Royal Family, it was not to George and Harold. They had never seen this kind of food before and at first they had small helpings, but when they finally got over their cautions, they took as much as they wanted. Everything about this dinner was almost new to them from the way the scalloped potatoes were soft with a slight crunch thanks to the melted cheese and bread crumbs with herbs cooked in, the crunch of the slightly firm broccoli, and the flavor of the chicken that was cooked until the skin was a crunchy golden brown. It was enough to make them excited and eager for more helpings to savor and the Royal Family just watched as these two strange boys ate it all like it was the best thing in the entire world.

“Edith is going to love this when we tell her.” Billy grinned at Lisa, who couldn’t help but stay cautious for her family’s sake. Meanwhile, Mason just silently observed the two boys and the way they ate and swallowed all the food down down with glasses of locally made cherry limeade.

Mason didn’t know what to make of the two, but he was able to figure out that they didn’t get along so well with adults, from the way they had seemed to be uncomfortable around him, and it seemed to prove their story true. He didn’t know why they barely had much with them when they were found, or why they seemed like they didn’t get enough sunlight, and the way they had been cautious about the food and then eagerly ate it all like there was no tomorrow made him concerned as to what happened to the two to bring them all the way to his table.

He found himself praying that these two were not treated in any horrible way, but he was afraid that there was a small case of it. Still, he wanted to try to keep an eye on the boys to be on the safe side.

“If you speak to the staff tomorrow, I’m sure they will appreciate some assistance here and there.” Mason finally spoke and the boys paused to listen to him. “Lisa and Billy still have a few more days of school until spring break, so you might not get to hang out with them until a certain time of the day.”

“You go to school?!” The boys both cried out as they looked at the siblings who were not entirely sure if they were ready to befriend these two were not (and the feeling was mutual).

“Uh, yeah?” Billy shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”

“It can be fun sometimes.” Lisa admitted.

“School isn’t fun though.” Harold pointed out. “It’s boring! Wouldn’t you guys get a tutor or–”

“I wanted them to have as normal of a childhood as possible.” Mason told the boys. “Besides there is far more to learn in school than just within the text books. You never know what will happen or what kind of people you meet in the classroom.”

“I suppose.” George admitted as he thought about all the pranks he and his best friend pulled off and all the classmates they met and helped brighten their day with their comics.

“Oh shoot, I forgot, I didn’t ask for your names.” Mason cringed and apologized to the boys. “I’m sorry about that. In fact, I don’t know if my children had a chance to properly introduce themselves or not.”

The boys looked at each other before they both decided to be honest. “I’m George Beard.” George told him.

“Harold Hutchins.” Harold shyly raised his hand and waved.

“I’m Lisa,” Lisa finally caved in before giving them a warning look. “And please don’t call me ‘princess.‘ I already get that a lot.”

“You can just call me Billy like everyone else.” Billy chuckled at his sister. “I mean a lot of classmates add our titles or just call us by our titles for fun or because they are intimidated by us, so you guys don’t have to.”

“Ok!” Harold gave Billy a big grin. Yet unknown to them all, a small mechanical bird was watching the scene from outside one of the large windows before it flew off.

****

After everything was said and done, the boys were lead back to the guest bedroom they were using while the royal siblings did homework or else read in the castle library. “I really don’t trust those two.” Lisa said to Billy for the umpteenth time as she laid down on the blue love-seat with a couple books by her side.

“Yeah, we know.” Billy threw back as he worked on his math at the large table. “We’ll still need to try to give them a chance like dad suggested.”

“Ok, but if they take something, I’ll have them kicked out.”

“You are a passionate warrior of justice, Lisa.” Billy couldn’t help but comment. “Actually, speaking of dad, I think he’s hiding something in his study.” He was about to explain what he saw, but then Mason opened the library door and took his glasses off to rub his eyes.

“I’m not looking forward to the meeting tomorrow.” The adult grumbled. “It’s bad enough I had to deal with the demand for those drills out on the ocean.”

“Isn’t that bad for the environment?” Billy asked as Lisa remembered something and took out the book she had been reading in class earlier that day.

“It can be if we don’t know what we’re doing, and especially if there is life in that part of the ocean.” Mason admitted as he sat down beside Lisa while she opened the book to the story she was having a problem with. “The problem is that the fishing has gotten so bad, and the storms haven’t helped with tourism or to encourage people to stick around, so everyone is looking for another source of money. And if something goes wrong with trying to get oil out of the ocean–or there isn’t any oil–then we’re ruining the ocean.”

Billy winced at this as his father put his glasses back on. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“Hey dad?” Lisa turned to Mason and held the book open to reveal an image of mermaids swimming in the sea, as well as the first page of the story linked to it. “I have a question about something.”

“Oh?” Mason turned to face his daughter.

“You know this story, right?” Lisa showed Mason the story. “The one about the mermaid and how she sold her voice to become a human? Well, in the end, the little mermaid doesn’t turn into sea foam, but she becomes a daughter of the air and she is told that she can only get a soul if she commits good deeds for three hundred years.”

“Yes.” Mason nodded. “I’ve told you this story when you were much younger. What is the problem?”

“Why would she want to help children out after all she went through?” Lisa frowned. “She suffered so much to get what she wanted and in the end the prince didn’t even love her to begin with and he even treated her like a common pet. Why help others find happiness when she didn’t get her own?”

Mason thought for a moment as a curious Billy gave them his full attention. “Well... the mermaid did suffer more than she deserved. But you see Lisa, someone who has suffered quite a lot can empathize with others and they can understand them... relate to them sometimes. They might even be the person one needs in their life. The mermaid understood suffering, so she now knows that acting upon goodness and helping others find the happiness they deserve can be just as rewarding as finding one’s own happiness. And her willingness to make a sacrifice out of the goodness of her heart and to not act on anger–in spite of everything that happened–was what allowed her to become a spirit of the air.” He paused. “I know that might sound hard to do in the hardest of times, but believe me that it’s possible. Those who can still smile in spite of all they’ve endured are those who are capable of bringing great joy to others who need it the most.”

Both children quietly pondered this in their minds.

****

Meanwhile, in the secret research facility by the ocean, the professor was laughing and rubbing his hands together as he watched the screen showing the footage of the Royal Family and the two guests from earlier that evening. “Oh this is perfect!” He laughed. “I knew those brats would have to take the bait, but to go right to being with the king and his children?! Its almost too convenient, but I’ll take it!” He fell onto his back in his seat and laughed even harder.

“So you mean to tell me that your entire revenge scheme relies on children?” an unamused Louis asked as paused in eating an apple.

This made the professor stop and he shot up in the seat to look at Louis. “No, they’re my back up plan! Always nurture your back up plans in case the first plan goes wrong! I know this could make the other king mad, and I need to do some prodding in other things if I want to get guaranteed results!”

He turned around to look at the monitor. “Just look at them! Unaware that I’m going to overthrow their homes!” His grin widened with wicked glee as he rubbed his hands as fast as he could. “There’s so many things that I can make go wrong with the way things are, and I got that robot I’m still working on for my absolutely last backup plan! I can even try to snag that power over the ocean from Krupp if I play my cards right! Tensions will get worse, attacks are bound to happen, jobs will be lost, people who like violence will get front row seats, and children will cry their eyes out!”

He let out a laugh. “No one will realize what’s happening or who is actually pulling the metaphorical strings! No one can stop me! And I don’t say that because I’m willing to tempt fate or because this might be the result of a writer who is too unoriginal to come up with anything better for me to say! There is no one who can stop me and I dare you to bring them to me!” He let out an over the top laugh as he raised his clenched fists into the air. “Victory is guaranteed!”

“Dios mio.” Louis groaned in his native Spanish while the oblivious professor laughed on. (“I pity whoever had to work with this lunatic before me. I don’t even know why I accepted this job to begin with.”) He muttered to himself before resuming his snack.

****

“Ungh.” George flopped onto the large bed in the guest bedroom with burgundy colored walls that he and Harold were to share. It at least had its own bathroom and a tub, but they both decided that they would have to resort to the tub for sleeping in order to conserve the power of the bracelets. They also had the door to the hallway closed to be on the safe side. “I still don’t feel comfortable about being in this castle. It’s bad enough we didn’t get off to a good start with the king and his children of all people, and I think the princess is going to be someone we need to watch out for.”

“Billy seems decent.” Harold said as he finished drawing something on some stationery paper by the desk and a plate of sweet smelling, but strange brown looking things with more brown things in them were moved to one side so that he could work. “But we’ll have to keep an eye out on both of them. Anyway, how’s the reading?”

“I just finished browsing through the book and I am now one hundred percent certain that it’s all real.” George held the booklet up. “I found my dad’s notes and recognized his handwriting.”

“No way!” Harold grinned as he turned to face his friend. “He helped with that?”

“Yeah, there’s so many notes we can use to our advantage!” George sat up as he waved the booklet in the air. “One of them says that if we choose to let the magic charge back up, we should sleep overnight in a place where there’s salt water. You know, other than the fact that the title of the book is so awful–like super awful that it almost hurts–it seems a little helpful.”

“What’s the difference between salt water and just water?” Harold asked and George shrugged.

“Well, I think that white stuff in that small bottle that was on the table was salt.” George admitted. “After that, we’ll need to find more... we could ask where to get some, or we’ll have to be sneaky about it. We’ll have to sneak into the kitchens for some.”

Harold laughed. “A stealth mission for a condiment... that would make a good story.” He took his drawing, got up, and went to George while taking the ring off. “Here.” He handed it to George and sat on the bed beside him. “I thought getting that ring would be the highlight of our lives, but I guess not.” He mused and kicked his legs into the side of the bed as George put the ring back on his finger. “Yesterday we were being chased by eels. Now look where we are.”

“Yeah.” George mused as he looked at their new surroundings. The room was bigger than their own rooms, and much less dark, and it had a window that let them see into one of the side courtyards and the ocean beyond it, but it was all unfamiliar and strange at the same time.

Harold handed George the drawing and George looked down to see an overweight man with absolutely zero hair on his body, but he had a cape with dots upon it tied around his neck and a set of underpants large enough to cover his belly button and almost reach up to his chest. His face was not complete yet, but he had a joyous grin upon it as he had his chest puffed up and he stood with his fists against his hips, which made him seem confident and ready for action.

George chuckled in delight. “It’s perfect!” He grinned at Harold. “He’s perfect! You’re truly an amazing artist!”

“He’s not done yet, but I’m getting there.” Harold admitted with an equally large grin. “I don’t know why, but wearing the ring helped a little with getting the right shape.”

“Yeah, it has that effect, doesn’t it?” George mused as he glanced at the ring for a second and set the drawing aside upon the bed. “It helped with coming up with that plan to get the bracelets.”

Harold sighed as he thought back on the events. “You really think we can keep this up for seven days, George?”

“Of course!” George playfully punched Harold’s shoulder. “Remember what we’ve done already?”

“Yeah but...” Harold drew his legs to his chest. “What if we get caught again? And what if we end up hating this place or...” He shook his head. “Call me crazy, but it doesn’t feel like our troubles are over yet.”

George put his arm around Harold and smiled. “Hey, we’ll do the best we can. We’ll learn all that we can, do as much as we can, and we’ll worry about the hard parts later. We should try to enjoy it while it lasts.” Harold smiled back at George as the latter raised his free hand that also had the red ring upon it. “Because before we know it, it’ll all be over in a snap!” George snapped his fingers for emphasis.

Now in that moment, both boys assumed that they would be equally reassured and that they would spend the rest of the night preparing for what was to come. Nothing out of the ordinary would ever happen.

What they didn’t expect was for the ring to suddenly flash out a red light from its center and, before either of them had a chance to react, something red shot out of the center of the ring and crashed into the middle of the floor in a matter of a few seconds.

There was a moment of silence filled with both surprise and awkwardness.

Both boys just stared at each other.

Did... what just happened... actually happen?

“Uh... George.” Harold slowly began. “What just happened? The ring just did something.”

“I don’t know.” George admitted and both boys turned their heads to see what the ring ejected from within its hold.

Right in the middle of the floor was what appeared to be a rather large merperson laying facedown on the floor–with arms resting right against their sides– with what appeared to be a few faint red lights around them that slowly died away into nothingness.

Both boys stared at the body for a few seconds.

“There was someone inside the ring?!” George gapped and looked at the ring on his hand. Whatever happened, he didn’t get that odd feeling from it anymore, but he was now having a different reaction to it.

“So it really is special after all!” Harold slapped his head. “What did you do?!” He turned to George.

“All I did was snap my fingers!” George stared at the hand he used to make the fated action. “Wait, that’s all we had to do?!” He was the one to slap his head this time.

“Wow, just one simple action.” Harold didn’t know whether to be impressed or let down by this. “That’s kind of... um... not exciting as a chant I guess. Good thing we didn’t do it earlier.” He cringed at the possibilities of what could of happened.

“This is a new development.” George let out a weak laugh. “Oh wow, this is going to complicate things.” He looked at the figure on the floor. “Should we make sure they’re even alive?”

Both boys got off the bed–with George unintentionally knocking Harold’s drawing to the ground–and carefully approached the large and overweight looking person. “Looks like a mershark.” Harold noted the lower half as he and George sat side by side together to examine the newcomer. “Great white.” He decided after careful observation to determine which kind of shark, though he didn’t dare make the comparison to the only other merperson they knew who was also that exact type of mershark.

George slowly made to touch the mershark, but to his amazement his hand went right through the person as if they were merely a spot of air that rose up to a pleasantly warm temperature.

“Ah!” George drew his hand back in alarm and he took the ring off his finger as Harold examined the upper half of the body. “What the heck is this thing supposed to be?!” He asked as he held out the ring to examine it better. “And who is this?!” He demanded as he looked at the person. “Is it a ghost?!”

“I think it’s a man.” Harold told Harold. “I mean, obvious things aside...” He took in the large width of the man’s body and that his completely bald head had an oddly familiar shape about it. There was also the odd fact that, like most merfolk, the mershark also wore some sort of adornment around his neck, but it was more like some sort of bright red cloth that didn’t look like it could have belonged in their realm.

“This isn’t good.” George groaned as he backed away from the mershark. “We can’t explain anything if they find him in here! Or why he’s not human, and that’ll get us in a lot of trouble!”

Suddenly there was a faint moaning from the figure and he shifted a little, which made the boys scoot away from him in alarm.

“He’s waking up!” Harold nervously pointed out as he huddled his fists near his mouth.

“It’s ok, we’ll just figure something out!” George hissed as they watched the mershark slowly try to push his upper half up before collapsing back to the floor with a faint thud.

“There’s so many things that could go wrong here!” Harold hissed back. “I mean what if he hates humans and mistakes us for them?!”

“Then we’ll explain a few things!” George quietly replied as the adult tried to get up a second time and this time he succeeded in getting his upper body completely off the ground, though he still used one hand to support himself. As the stranger held his head in one hand as if recovering from a headache, George added “As long as we stay calm, we can figure this out. It’s not like we’re doomed or anything.”

“Hmm?” The mershark perked his head up and moved his hand away from it when he realized there was someone in the room with him. This simple action was enough for both boys to tense up as they waited in anticipation to see his face.

Please don’t be evil, please don’t be evil. George repeatedly thought in his head.

Hang on, he looks a little familiar. Harold was puzzled as he took in the man’s features a bit more. Why does he look familiar?

The mershark finally turned around as best as he could, and when he saw the boys he let out a surprised “Oh!” and then fully turned (almost rolled) around to give the boys a huge and cheerful smile that revealed a set of pointed teeth. “Well hello there!” His eyes shone with child-like excitement as he happily greeted them with a wave. “Could you two boys tell me where I–?!”

To the mershark’s complete surprise, the boys both let out screams of wide eyed terror and proceeded to crawl away from the mershark as far and as best as they could before holding each other for dear life, and even then the screaming didn’t stop.

“We’re so doomed!” George yelled.

“No we’re dead!” Harold wailed.

And the reason for the screaming that the puzzled mershark was unaware of, and who was badly startled by the reaction to the point of flinching and dropping the smile to replace it with a look of confusion? Because, a few things aside–including the fact that he looked like he was wearing some sort of red scarf around his neck with a sea shell flipped upside down to keep it in place, that his lower half went so high up that he didn’t appear to have a navel, the complete lack of any visible hair on top of his head, and the concern for the two frightened boys within his dark eyes–the mershark looked and sounded almost exactly like Krupp to the point that he might as well have been Krupp.

Chapter Text

When we last left off on our story, the boys were screaming their heads off in terror despite finally being safe and far from their troubles, but it was all for a good reason. Why, do you ask, dear reader?

“Krupp?!” George yelled as he stared at the mershark that not only came out of the red ring, but also looked almost exactly like the bane of both his and Harold’s existence.

“How did he find us so soon?!” Harold was in hysterics as he and George held each other as tightly as possible.

Confused as to what was going on, the mershark looked around to make sure that the two weren’t terrified at anyone else before giving them an apologetic look and held a hand out in protest. “Wait, I’m not going to harm you!” He then tried to drag himself towards them, which only freaked the boys out even more.

“That’s even more terrifying!” George squeezed Harold as they both tried to get back up and run for it, but because they both had one leg locked around the other while they were huddled up, they ended up collapsing back to the ground.

“Please, I don’t mean to scare you!” The strange mershark pleaded as he waved his hand out towards the boys in his attempt to get closer to them, while failing to acknowledge that they were still trying to get away from him. “I just want to know where I am!”

“This is all a nightmare and we’ll wake up soon!” Harold frantically laughed as he and George tried to scoot away from the mershark who struggled to get closer to them.

Just as he got close enough that his hand could have grabbed onto them, he collapsed and just barely caught himself in time. However, this caused his hand to go right through George’s shoulder.

“AAAAAAHHHH!” Harold screamed and slapped a hand to his face.

“AAAAAAHHHH!” George also screamed as he quickly realized what happened to him and he felt his blood turn to ice at the sight and felt his heart stop at the seemingly gruesome sight.

“AAAAAAHHHH!” The strange mershark let out a horrified scream of his own and, when he quickly shot his hand back from the young boy, he also literally flew backwards into the air and was now hovering a couple feet off the ground.

George’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed to the ground and struggled to breathe, much to Harold’s horror. “I’M SO SORRY, I DIDN’T MEAN TO DO THAT!” The mershark panicked at the sight while hovering about a foot off the air. This made Harold turn his head and let out another “AAAAAHHH!” At the sight of the floating mershark. “NOW HE’S FLYING! WHY IS HE FLYING?!” He yelled.

“WHAT THE DEVIL IS ALL THIS RACKET?!” A woman with glasses and brown and silver hair pulled into a tight bun opened the door to the guest room.

At the sight of this, Harold yelled and felt his heart stop again as the mershark turned around in confusion to look at the woman. “Uh... I...I...!” The boy pointed a trembling finger at the mershark who then perked up and smiled as if he didn’t reach a hand through someone. “Oh, hi there!” He grinned and waved at her.

There was nothing Harold could do now. The secret he and George were sharing was about to be exposed and then awful things would happen to them to force them to go back into the ocean, be separated forever, get one meal per day and no dessert, and they would end up eventually facing unspeakable horrors from the future!

The woman looked to where Harold was pointing and frowned. “What, what is it?” She demanded.

This caught Harold, as well as the odd mershark in the room, off guard. “Uh,” Harold raised an eyebrow in confusion as the mershark frowned and tried to say “Hello?” again. “You can see him, can’t you?” He asked.

“See who?” The woman demanded as she walked into the room and looked around. “Look, if you boys saw a spider, I won’t be having you screaming your heads off. I have work for you to do tomorrow and I don’t want you shrieking every five seconds at every pest unlucky enough to enter the castle!” She frowned in stern disapproval.

“I’m not a spider or a pest! I’m–” The mershark looked down and saw the difference between himself and the others. “Uh... I don’t know what I am.” He was puzzled at this and tried to reach out to grab the end of his tail. “What is this?” He asked, but he ended up rolling over in mid air when he reached out far enough.

“You don’t see him?!” Harold asked in disbelief. “He’s right there!” He pointed again at the mershark, but the woman just shook her head.

“Boy, I can’t see whatever you want me to see and I honestly don’t want to get caught up in any of your silly games.” She walked to the door. “Now some of us need sleep, so good night!” She closed the door behind her, right as George finally got up and held his head in his hands with a moan.

“I saw my whole life flash through my eyes.” He groaned as he looked up and finally saw the mershark hovering above the ground as he looked between the boys and himself. Seeing this almost made George scream and alert the woman to the room again and it would have happened if Harold didn’t quickly clamp a hand over his mouth.

“Shh!” Harold hissed as George screamed into his mouth. “Someone just came in and they couldn’t see him!” He told George, whose eyes widened in surprise at this.

“Seriously?!” He asked after moving Harold’s hand from his mouth.

“Yeah, but I don’t know why!” Harold admitted.

“Uh, am I scary to you because of how I look?” Both boys turned to see the mershark giving them a questioning look that made him seem like an innocent child. Both boys took a long look at Krupp’s strange look-a-like. He did have the exact same features and a near identical body shape, he had the same oval shaped head, the same small ears, the same round nose, brows, and even the exact same eyes. But unlike the king, there were no signs of stress or any harsh lines in his face to make him look older than his actual age. There was no bitterness or stern judgement in his eyes either but instead there was something unfamiliar and almost child-like. “I can tell we don’t look the same.” He noticed.

“No!” George protested. “You look like someone we–I mean we’re like you too!” And as Harold let out a protesting cry of “George!” The boy stood up and took off his bracelet. “Here, look–”

There was a sharp pain within George’s lower half of his body and moments later when he lost his footing he found himself falling and crashing almost face first into the floor.

Harold winced as he saw his friend laying on the ground and back in his true form while the mershark let out a gasp of realization and clapped his hands together. “Ah, I get it! You all can turn into whatever it is we both are–Wait!” He frowned as he realized that the shape and colors of George’s lower half were not like his own. “He still doesn’t look like me.”

“No, it’s just us two that can do that!” Harold quickly corrected as he held out the wrist with his own bracelet. “We’re merfolk like you, but we’re disguised as humans when we wear these!”

“It hurts so bad.” George moaned into the floor. “And now my face hurts too.”

“Why would you disguise yourself as something you aren’t?” The mershark ask before his eyes lit up. “Are you both on some sort of secret mission?!” He moved closer to Harold, who flinched and scooted away from him. “Is it something I can be a part of?!” He asked as he raised his fists up to his chin with glee and got so close to Harold’s face that it forced the poor boy to relieve a horrible moment when the adult revealed a smile that–while not the same (especially because the tips of his teeth were more rounded than pointy)–was still almost all too familiar.

“I’m going to destroy your precious bond until there’s nothing left of it, and I promise you this. Nothing will ever change my mind.”

“Get away!” Harold yelled and made to smack the mershark who looked like Krupp away, but his arm only passed through the adult who backed away when he recognized the emotion of terror. “Why do you even look like him?!” Harold cried as George put his bracelet back on while still laying on the ground. The blonde haired boy then closed his eyes and covered them with his hands. “I’m going to count to three and you’ll vanish! We both imagined you up and you didn’t come from out of the ring!”

“Wait, I still don’t understand!” The mershark panicked. “Who do I look like and why does it scare you so much?!”

“One!” Harold cried and the mershark panicked even more when he realized the boy was serious.

“I don’t know how to make myself vanish!” He protested. “I don’t even know my name!”

“Two!”

“I would remember you if–what is my name?!” The mershark cried as he held his head in his hands. “This is really scaring me, young one!”

“Three!” Harold cried out and a silence followed.

The boy lowered his hands and opened his eyes, but all he saw was George back in his human form. The strange mershark had also vanished as if he was never there to begin with.

“Where did he go?” Harold asked George as he stared at his legs.

“Why am I still wearing pants?” George asked.

“What?” Harold was taken by surprise by this question.

“WHY AM I STILL WEARING PANTS?!” George threw his hands up in the air and gestured to his legs, which were still covered in pants. “I mean, shouldn’t those have ripped off when I changed back?! What kind of rule is that?! That doesn’t even make sense!” He looked up into the sky. “Hey, what gives?! Who up there says that I can keep the pants?! Will they be a part of me when I don’t wear the bracelet?!”

There was an awkward silence when whatever higher force that George wanted an answer from didn’t respond to him.

“Well, on the other hand, I think I made him vanish.” Harold gestured to where the mershark used to be. “I didn’t think that would work.” He frowned. “Who was that guy anyway?” In Harold’s opinion, the man was very strange and the fact that it was as if he had been Krupp if he suddenly became a completely different person (and decided to ditch the fake hair) made it even more odd. Still it was hard to give someone an once of your trust when they looked like your least favorite person in the world.

“I don’t know, I don’t care right now, and honestly I’m ready for bed.” George confessed. “I’ve had enough trouble for today.”

“Yeah, me too.” Harold confessed as well as he felt his heart rate slow back down.

At that point, the two decided to sneak into the kitchens to look for the salt. They did find a container of it, along with a huge bag of the white minerals, and they scooped some up to put into a small glass. They had to be careful though because they could hear a woman humming from a small hall in the kitchens and they quietly snuck out of the area before she could appear or before they could see her.

The boys locked their bedroom door and shut off the lights before they went into the bathroom to fill the tub up with a combination of warm water and salt that they dumped right in. As they did, George glanced once again at the ring (which he picked back up off the floor) and wondered if what had happened did happen or if it was all in their head. When the tub was filled to his and Harold’s satisfaction, George set the ring on the sink counter and then went to turn the lights off. The only light both boys had was the light of the moon and stars in the dark night sky from the only window in the room.

“Would this count as night one?” Harold asked as he shed his clothes off.

“I guess, unless we didn’t get to do too much today.” George admitted as he too shed his clothes off.

“We’ll have to wash up again before tomorrow morning.”

“We’ll also have to come up with a way to sneak salt in here. They’ll be onto us if we aren’t careful.”

“Yeah,” Harold set the clothes aside before getting in the tub. He took the bracelet off and had to fight the urge to yell when he felt the switch and grabbed one side of the tub as tightly as he could. “Ah, that hurts so bad!” He hissed. “Why does it have to hurt?!”

“Scoot over.” George got in and followed Harold’s lead, while reacting the same way, but this time he squeezed the hand Harold offered to him for comfort. “I can’t believe we have to do this for the next few days!” He groaned as he tensed up from the pain while Harold began to relax and soon put his bracelet onto the floor in a spot where he knew he could find it and did the same with George’s bracelet when the boy passed it over to him.

Harold sank into the water and stared up at the ceiling as thoughts of home and his mother and sister ran though his head. George also sank into the water and when he sensed that his friend was quiet, he asked “Hey, are you alright?”

“Huh?” Harold snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head. “Oh, I’m fine.” It didn’t sound convincing to George, but he decided to let it slide for tonight. They both went through so much and they were at the mercy of unfamiliar territory, so all they had now was each other.

“You think our parents would let Krupp lock us away?” Harold finally asked. “I don’t know if what we did was enough to deserve that, but it was enough to make us run away.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they start arguing or chew him out for it.” George admitted. “It’s probably going to get to that point sooner or later. Though I kind of hope that it’s going to be enough to convince them to leave and find work elsewhere.”

Harold let out a small moan that made it hard to tell if he agreed with George or not.

“We’ll be fine.” George smiled as he rolled over and hugged Harold. “We have a new day to look forward to and so much to see that it’ll make our eyes pop. Think of all the folks and classmates we’ll help.”

Harold smiled and hugged George back. “This’ll be the longest sleepover ever for any kid our age.”

George laughed and yawned. “Goodnight.”

Harold shut his eyes. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight!”

The boys instantly became alert at the sound of the cheerful third voice which already became all too familiar to them.

“Harold?” George whispered. “Is he in this room with us?”

There was a silence. Slowly both boys turned their heads and looked to the side to see a familiar bald headed person wave in what little light there was in the room while being right at the edge of the tub. (He did enter around the time Harold started staring up at the ceiling, but neither boy was aware of this).

“Goodnight...uh... what were your names–?”

In a state of panic, George yelled and splashed some water at the mershark as Harold also cried out in alarm. For some reason, the mershark suddenly flashed with a red light and then vanished from the room as if he was never there to begin with. Both boys panted as they felt their heart racing in their chests from that unfortunate encounter.

“George.” Harold was finally able to gulp. “That didn’t make you pee yourself, did it?”

“No.” George shook his head. “But it almost did.”

“Good, because I thought I was going to do the same. And I am very aware that this is also our bed which we are currently sharing.”

Both boys shuddered.

*****

The boys almost completely forgot that they were no longer in their homes the next morning. They thought something was wrong when their parents didn’t come to wake them up and they were able to get some more time to sleep. So when they woke up, they were startled at their surroundings until they remembered what had happened the previous day.

“I almost thought it was all a dream.” Harold confessed after they both cleaned up and he changed into a human again. “Well, some of yesterday would have been a nightmare.” He admitted.

“Yeah, but I don’t think our newest problem was a dream.” George (who had also changed back) picked up the red ring. “What exactly happened to make him vanish like that?”

“Well we know how to make him appear and we can’t have that.” Harold pointed out. “We should leave the ring here.”

“But what if someone comes in and takes it?” George pointed out.

Harold gave in and took his necklace off. “Well, how about I put it on this until we can get something to hide the ring with?” He held it out. “Maybe we shouldn’t even have it out in the open if someone knows what it is and can use it against us.”

“Good thinking.” George attached the ring to Harold’s necklace and returned it to him right as they heard a knocking sound at a door.

“Breakfast!” A woman’s voice called from the door to the hallway.

“In a minute!” George yelled as he hurried to put the rest of his clothes back on while Harold put his necklace back on. The young writer finished first and hurried to the door to unlock it. Just as Harold walked out of the bathroom, George opened the door and almost yelped in shock.

A woman with extremely messy shoulder length hair that was covering half her face held a tray of pancakes, fruit, and two glasses of orange juice, and stared down at the boy. “Sorry about my appearance.” She gave him an embarrassed smile. “I forgot to prepare the lunches for Lisa and Billy last night and I had to hurry it up before I could make everyone breakfast.” She went in and set the tray at the desk as the boys cautiously backed away from her. “Also, you boys need to go find Ms. Gambino to start your chores for the day in about twenty minutes.” She gave them a wave. “Have a good morning!” She tried to sound cheerful, but it was clear she needed some time to perk back up. Both boys let go of the breaths they had been holding when she closed the door and they waited for a few seconds before they dared to speak again.

“Ok, that was a little creepy.” Harold admitted as he went over to the bed, picked up the drawing he made from off the floor, and set it aside as George went to get a plate of breakfast. “Do some humans look that messy?”

“She’d probably look better if she moved her hair out of her face.” George admitted as he sat down on the edge of the bed and began to eat.

“Unless she was hiding something behind that hair of hers.” Harold pointed out as he also went to get his food before thinking. “Hey, what if she wasn’t human, or if she was hiding a deformity?”

“I don’t know, maybe we’ll see her again.” George admitted as he chewed through his pancakes. “But that would be cool if we weren’t the only ones in disguise.” He looked at the top of the dresser in the room to see an article of clothing that the boys had been given that was called a tie. How the heck do you even put that on? He wondered to himself. It looks dorky, like something Melvin would wear.

*****

The boys found themselves in a ballroom with cream colored walls, marble flooring, staircases that lead to a second floor, lots of windows with a view to the back gardens and the ocean, a grand piano, and a crystal chandelier that had been lowered down to their level.

“I want the crystals to shine brighter than a bride’s diamond ring.” Ms. Gambino–the head of the staff and the very same woman who came into George’s and Harold’s room last night–informed them as she pointed to the rags in a small bucket on a couple of chairs. “You have the perfect hands for this task. When you are done, you can start dusting the banisters on the left staircase, and then the right if you have time. Just because we won’t have any balls coming up real soon, it doesn’t mean that I want to see a thick layer of dust develop over time from lack of use. And boys?” She leaned forward as she adjusted her glasses. “I will know if you didn’t do your jobs, so don’t slack off. And I want you to be careful with the chandelier because it’ll take you more than a few days to pay back for it if I don’t have your heads first.”

The boys gulped.

“You can stop at around eleven until I can come up with something else for you both to do.” Ms. Gambino turned and headed towards the doors. The boys grabbed the rags and proceeded to start the seemingly laborious task of cleaning all the crystals and they didn’t say a word until the woman left the room.

“Well, she’d get along with Ms. Ribble.” George chuckled as he polished the first crystal. “Say, how about whoever cleans up the most crystals does only a quarter of that staircase?”

“You’re on!” Harold grinned and the boys were able to turn the task into a competition. Of course they both eventually lost count and gradually the game turned into a discussion about the other castle. They both recalled a ballroom similar to this one, with a chandelier that was made of polished glass, strings of pearls, and gems. It also happened to be one of the few beautiful things they both liked within the castle walls, and was also one of the few things spared from their pranks. Of course, they didn’t recall the ballroom ever being used that much for it’s intended purpose and even then it was used only once or twice a year.

“Actually, Mom said that Krupp rarely shows up to those events.” George recalled while cleaning a crystal while also recalling that the balls were among the few times she was ever allowed to sing in public. “She said he doesn’t enjoy them and really hates dancing for some reason. He must be really bad at it.” He snickered at the thought of this.

“Then why does he let it happen?” Harold asked.

“He probably doesn’t want people to hate him too much, but I don’t think that’ll help him.”

Eventually the process ended a lot faster then the boys anticipated. The discussions, the game, a few story ideas from George, and the fact that the chandelier was divided into easy sections made the job easier, but it wasn’t comforting to their hands.

“Ugh.” George shook his hands as he got up and tried to bend his legs. “That was definitely not fun. Why would anyone want to clean this place up?”

“It’s a pretty nice room, I’ll admit.” Harold confessed as he did the same thing. “Could you imagine having your birthday in here? Besides, look outside the windows.” He pointed and George looked to see the ocean that was far beyond the green gardens that surrounded the castle. It changed his mood and made him let out a low whistle as he stared at the sapphire blue waters of their home.

“Wow, I can’t believe that’s what home looks like from here.” He couldn’t help but comment. “I can’t believe that’s how everyone else sees it. And look!” He pointed. “It just goes on and on! It’s like it could merge with the sky at any second!”

“Yeah.” Harold smiled and frowned. “How many classmates haven’t even seen something like this in their entire lives? How bad could this all possibly be?”

George laughed. “I think we’ve already missed a lot in class today!”

This also made Harold laugh. “Oh yeah, we’re totally going to miss school for a bit, aren’t we?!”

“I don’t miss it.” George grinned.

The boys then began to clean the banisters and it was not a fun task, but it was faster than cleaning up the crystals and they were again able to shoot ideas for stories to each other as well as come up with stories about what possibly went on in the ballroom in this castle. It was by the time that they finally reached the bottom of the stairs that a new voice suddenly broke through the conversations.

“Excuse me?” Both boys looked up and were startled when they saw a familiar woman with half her dark hair covering her face, only this time her hair was brushed out and looked smooth, she wore a lemon yellow knee length dress with a white apron tied around her waist, and she was carrying a plate of orange slices and a couple of forks beside them. Upon seeing the looks on their faces, she chuckled. “I’m sorry, I guess I have a bad habit of sneaking up on people and scaring them half to death.” She spoke with a quiet voice that had a hint of roughness to it as she offered the plate to them.

“Here, I cut up some oranges for you.”

The eyes of both boys lit up and they accepted the snack with a ‘“Thank you” and ate the slices while they sat on the stairs as the woman smiled at them.

“I was told about you two and I thought I’d get you something to keep your energy up.” She sat down beside them and moved her hair out of her face and tucked it back to reveal a face with freckles and the bluest eyes that both boys had ever seen. So she wasn’t secretly ugly to the boys as they first suspected, and she wasn’t drop dead gorgeous, but she had a pleasant and surprisingly youthful looking face that made them feel relaxed around her. “I know this job probably wasn’t fun, but you two seem to be doing a good job. Those crystals are shining like the surface of the sea when the sun hits it just right.”

“Thanks... uh...” George began.

“Oh it’s Edith, but you can call me Miss Edith.” She waved her hand with a smile. “Lisa and Billy call me that too.”

“You know,” She began. “I imagine you two don’t want to stay in here all day. I could use some help carrying things in town and I could let Ms. Gambino know so that it can count as earning your keep.” Both boys stared at her in surprise and yet she saw an eagerness to escape and a desire to see the town shining in their eyes.

“We can check out the town?” Harold asked in delight.

“You’ve never been here before?” Edith asked and when both boys shook their heads, she clapped her hands together and grinned. “Well I’ll show you around then! I’ve lived here almost my whole life so you have yourselves a proper tour guide!”

*****

Both boys and Edith were taken into town with the help of Jacob and his automobile, which the boys admired as they also enjoyed the mild weather and calm blue skies above their heads. During the ride, Harold asked “So what do you do at the castle, Miss Edith?”

“Oh, I’m one of the cooks.” Edith gave him a modest smile when she turned around to face him and George. “I’ve worked there ever since the prince and princess were very small.”

George then remembered something from last night. “So are you the one who made the dinner last night?”

“Yes, that was me.”

“It was incredible!” George’s mouth watered in memory of the meal. “That was one of the best things I’ve ever had!”

“Yeah, same here!” Harold agreed.

“Aw thanks.” Edith chuckled with a modest smile as she smoothed out her white sweater. “I mean it was just a simple meal, but I’m glad it made you both happy.”

Upon being dropped off in the heart of the town, George and Harold found themselves by a huge clock tower surrounded by pathways, lamp posts, and colorful flowers. They looked around and found themselves surrounded by buildings unique in designs and colors, and some stores had colorful advertisements or signs up.

“Oh wow!” George was breathless as he and Harold looked around in delight, while Edith watched from behind and held onto her bags. “This is amazing! I’ve ever seen anything like this before!”

“George look!” Harold pointed to a wall upon one of the shops, which had a mural of a forest and woods with a large brown animal neither of them recognized. “That must have taken ages and they didn’t wash it off yet!” He grinned.

The boys followed Edith as she lead them through the large town and talked about its history, yet she occasionally turned her head to see that the boys were more interested in the world around them as if everything was new to them. Everyone in the town seemed more open and friendly, and when they followed Edith to a store that sold herbs and plants for baking, they saw a man play a harp by a lamp-post for money–something that would have easily been regarded as a public disturbance back home. No one gave them suspicious looks because they were known to be troublemakers or because they lived in the castle. And it seemed that everywhere George and Harold looked, there was a work of art upon a wall or there was a statue somewhere on display.

“Why is there so much artwork around here?” Harold asked Edith.

“Well the people here really support the visual and performing arts.” Edith told him and George. “There’s a few locals that specialize in a few crafts and who people go to for master classes. Even the theater here is regarded as one of the best and you can see a Shakespeare play and an opera almost every year. Though I’m not a fan of Shakespeare myself, he’s too wordy for my liking.” Edith confessed with a shrug. “Actually, I started my apprenticeship here in town.” She admitted with pride.

“But anyone can cook, right?” George was puzzled. “I mean, why go to a school for that when you can get it from a book?”

“Well that’s the funny thing, George.” Edith grinned. “Creating a good dish is like art. You have to experiment with all kinds of things in order to get the right taste and it can make others happy if you get it right. Sometimes you need to think outside the box to create something new that they’ll really want to have more of. I like making others happy with what I like to do best and it’s one of the few ways I can reach out to others.” She sighed and her smile became melancholic for some reason.

Both boys took her advice to heart as their liking towards this friendly adult steadily grew.

They continued to follow Edith, though they would occasionally see a store that caught their attention and dragged the woman over there to check them out, like a sweet shop with all sorts of colorful and strange candies that they never saw before and which made their mouths water. There was also a store that, for some reason, only sold socks, and there was a small toy store where most of the toys were made locally, but there were also games, comics, and joke items like whoopie cushions that made them laugh so hard that they fell to the ground. Yet the greatest store they found was an art store that displayed all kinds of tools and mediums for crafting and making other wonderful creations.

“Oh wow!” Harold was especially delighted with this store and seeing all of its goods so openly on display for sale. “Oh my gosh!” He went to the boxes with colorful sticks inside them which especially caught his attention. “What are these?!” He pointed to them as he asked the owner of the store.

“Those are crayons.” The man smiled when he told the young artist. “Colored wax and a big hit with kids your age, but I know adult artists who use them too.” Harold looked longingly at them and desired to have a box, but he was too afraid to ask Edith to help him out since he didn’t want to take advantage of her kindness, not to mention they were trying to work towards getting and keeping their clothes.

Yet Edith noticed this and she kept it in mind when they all left. She didn’t bring it up until one point when the boys were already tired out from so much walking and they needed to sit down.

“So you like to draw, Harold?” She asked the blonde haired boy.

“Oh, uh... yes?” Harold shyly admitted. “That’s not bad, is it?”

“Of course not!” Edith frowned. “Why on earth would that be bad?”

“We both had to draw and write in a secret place back home.” George confessed as he grimaced at the bad memories. “The person in charge doesn’t really approve of drawing or writing for fun. He hates it all for some reason, so we had to go somewhere where we couldn’t get caught.”

Edith felt sympathetic as she suddenly understood why Harold and George were behaving so oddly towards a few things today and she did recall her employer mentioning a few concerning things to her when he told her to keep an eye on the boys. Yet she also felt a small bit of anger inside her towards the person George mentioned. What kind of person would discourage a child from expressing themselves or even deny them the simple joy of drawing?

“Wait, you said drawing and writing?” Edith asked for clarification.

“Well I draw, but George writes.” Harold pointed to George. “We make comics together.”

“It’s nothing really!” George laughed it off in an awkward manner. “I mean, I have so much in my head that I need to get it all out somehow!”

The boys didn’t think too much on this, but it made Edith think a little more. She only stopped when she needed to pick up some produce and try to bargain for some fish at the market, only to discover that the price rose up yet again.

“Not again.” She moaned as she held onto one bag. “Stupid storms ruining everything.”

“What’s wrong?” Harold asked in concern.

“The price of fish and crabs keeps rising on me every time I come over here.” She explained. “We’ve been getting some odd storms here and it disrupts the fishing to the point that there’s barely any around here and the fishermen have to go farther out than usual to get them. And a good part of how people make their living relies on the ocean, but it’s no good if we keep getting storms. Not to mention dangerous.” She frowned as she gazed towards the calm blue waters in the distance. “Apparently this problem started up almost ten years ago without any warning. People around here are joking that the king under the ocean has a bad temper and he’s causing all the storms... not that I believe any of it.” She admitted. “It’s all just part of the local fairytales told to entertain children and tourists.”

Both George and Harold shared uncomfortable looks at this bit of information which was more true than Edith would ever suspect.

Still, they continued to assist Edith with her task as best as they could, though they kept glancing at the boardwalk with all the fun rides and they wanted more than anything to see it up close. “Do you think we’ll get a chance to go over there at the boardwalk some day?” George asked Edith.

“Well you might have more fun if you go with Lisa and Billy, but you might get a chance sooner than you think.” Edith said. “The spring festival is coming up in... six days I think. Or the end of the week.” She corrected herself. “It’ll be a lot of fun, but there’ll be a lot of people going over there if they aren’t going to go out into the ocean for fun or to get their wishes granted.”

“Your wish gets granted how now?” Harold asked as he raised an eyebrow at this.

“Oh, it’s this silly tradition that started up a long time ago, but people swear up and down that it’s a real thing.” Edith admitted. “So the story goes that if you have something that belongs to the ocean–like a shell or a bit of coral–then you go out there and toss it back into the ocean during the festival. And if you go out far enough or if you return something of high value to the ocean, then your one wish gets granted. But believe me, I’ve tried it before many times since I was your age and it didn’t work whenever I wanted it the most.”

After awhile, Edith suddenly stopped outside one store and turned to face Harold and George. “I uh–I need to run a private errand or two.” She told them. “But I expect you to be here when I’m done.”

When both boys gave her a questioning look, she smiled. “Oh don’t worry, I’ll be back in a snap!” She snapped her fingers to the sudden dread of both boys. They both knew Harold was still wearing the ring and they knew what was going to happen next.

Just like the last night, a red light shot from the ring hidden under Harold’s shirt and once again someone who was both familiar and not quite had landed on the ground between the boys and Edith in a very ungraceful manner, though Edith herself didn’t notice him or the light that happened a few seconds earlier.

“I’ll see you soon!” She waved and hurried off while the boys looked down to see a familiar mershark laying face down on the ground and who shook his head before rolling over a little onto his back as best as he could. He looked up before beaming at them with a friendly smile. “Oh hi again!” He waved. “Is it me or did you both get taller?”

Both George and Harold looked around to see if anyone else saw just just happened, yet no one was looking their way with the expected look of shock or even a scream ready to be let loose.

“Ok, why is it that only we can see you, but no one else can?” George knelt beside the strange adult who looked at his surroundings with child-like awe. “That’s like the second time that should have happened and yet no one is screaming at you.”

“Are they supposed to scream at me like you did?” The mershark pointed to himself in confusion while still laying on the ground.

“Well, yeah!” Harold threw his hands towards the mershark. “You look out of place, not to mention–I mean, have you looked in a mirror and smiled at yourself yet?!”

“So,” The mershark began as he sat upright. “If I could change my appearance like you two, it wouldn’t scare anyone?”

“I don’t know if you could.” George admitted as he got up. “I don’t even know what you’re supposed to be. You could be a ghost for all we know.”

“Oh, but I found out that I can last night!” The mershark responded with much giddy delight in his voice and smile. “Look, I’ll show you!” He suddenly flashed red before the boys could ask him what he meant and both George and Harold flinched back and covered their eyes with their arms. “Is this better?” He asked a couple seconds later. Both boys lowered their arms and when they saw what the adult transformed into, they could only stare in stunned silence.

Their strange companion had indeed turned himself into a human (somehow) like George and Harold and was now standing upright so that they were forced to look up at him instead of the other way around.

Except he looked and dressed exactly like the underwear wearing superhero that Harold had drawn and showed to George. The cape that was tied around his neck was red, but it was designed the same exact way with all the black dots, the white undergarments were hiked so high up that it almost reached the adult’s chest, and that was pretty much it; only George and Harold could see this spectacular display of public indecency.

Neither boy could take it and the companion watched as both boys exploded with laughter and collapsed to the ground. They rolled around as they laughed so hard that it was hurting their stomaches and they were on the verge of tears.

“He made himself look like our superhero!” George laughed.

“No it’s even better!” Harold laughed and wheezed. “He looks like Krupp if he–!” He was unable to finish that and laughed even harder, but George got what his friend was trying to say and he also let out a hard laugh. “This is awesome!” He exclaimed.

The strange companion watched and, while he didn’t understand what was funny, he could see that it made the boys happy and their laughter made him smile with relief and pride–a smile that also showed that he had a normal set of teeth instead of the all too familiar scary set that the boys were more than familiar with. “Well that settles it!” He declared as he placed his hands on his hips. “I’m staying this way if it makes you happy!”

Harold laughed even more as George tried to say “No, that’s totally ok! You don’t have to!” though his laugher.

“But if it’s the opposite of scaring others, then I want to stay this way!” The odd companion firmly told him. “Nope, I like this and I’m keeping it that way! I’ve made my choice and you can’t tell me otherwise!”

“Oh wow!” Harold finally calmed down as he and George got up. “Wow, it’s like we brought our creation to life before we were done with him! Did you see my drawing by any chance?” He asked the adult.

“Well, when you told me to disappear, I didn’t know how to, so I hid.” The companion confessed and rubbed the back of his head with slight embarrassment. “And while you were gone, I did see an impressive drawing on the ground and I thought to myself ‘well maybe I need to look like that if it won’t scare those boys’ and it worked... somehow.” He frowned as he looked around the town. “This all looks familiar to me, but I don’t remember anything about myself. Not even my own name!”

Even though the boys were still uneasy about this odd person, they did feel a small bit of sympathy for him.

“Well, all we know besides the fact that you came out of a ring we found is that only we can see you, but no one else.” George pondered this. “I wonder if it’s because we’re not actually humans.”

“Well we can’t test that theory out.” Harold pointed out as their companion looked around some more. “I bet the moment we get in the ocean, it’s over for us.”

“And I don’t think Krupp would take it well if he saw that he had a long lost twin.” George grimaced.

Harold then had a troubled look in his eyes. “Oh no... you don’t think that thing about sharks eating their siblings applies to him too, do you?! What if this guy is a long lost twin?!”

George pulled a disgusted face at this. “Ugh, gross! But I don’t think Krupp has any siblings. Or does he?” He frowned.

As the boys tried to think, the adult who wore so little suddenly tensed up and had an alert look in his eyes. Neither boy noticed when he began levitating off the ground a few inches, but they did notice when he suddenly and literally flew off down one street.

“Hey wait, where are you going?!” Harold yelled as he and George were forced to go after the odd person who was unnoticed by everyone else.

Now it just so happened that around this time, at the end of an alleyway behind one of the many stores, a couple of eleven year olds had cornered a small seven year old who was struggling to escape the clutches of the older boy, who had an arm wrapped around her as tightly as possible while his twin laughed as she played with a handful of dirt.

“LET ME GO!” The little girl cried as the boy twin held a hand over her mouth. Now matter how much she kicked and struggled, he would not let go.

“Aw look, the little rosebud thinks she’s got thorns.” The boy twin laughed.

“You’ll be a very dirty flower when I’m done with you, Rose.” The girl twin grinned as she looked at the dirt in her hand and then glanced to a bucket of water. She dipped the dirt filled hand in and got it wet to turn it into mud. “Flowers aren’t pretty when they’re dirty.”

“What did I do to deserve this?!” The little girl named Rose cried and shut her eyes as the girl twin came towards her. “SOMEONE HELP!” She screamed, but the boy put his hand over her mouth right as she screamed the first syllable of her cry of distress.

“Hurry it up!” The boy told his twin sister. The girl nodded as Rose continued to struggle.

At that exact moment, George and Harold’s odd underwear wearing companion came to a stop and turned to see what was about to happen to the small child. “Stop right there you two!” He pointed at the young antagonists as he yelled at them. “You should be playing with others your age, not harming them!”

The twins didn’t seem to hear the odd adult, but their target did and she turned her head and raised her eyebrows in shock when she saw the man wearing so little clothing.

“No one is going to help you, kid!” The girl twin made to raise her arm and the adult responded by flying right at her as fast as he could with all the intent to grab her arm before she could throw mud at the small child. Unfortunately he ended up flying right through her as well as the stone wall to her side, though he would have crashed into her any way if that hadn’t happened. Still, the girl had felt a strange blast of intensely hot air that made her stop, right as George and Harold came rushing to the scene.

“Whoa, jeez, did you feel that?” She asked her brother as Rose looked in concern towards where the strange adult had vanished. “It’s like summer came without warning!”

“Hey!” The siblings turned to see George and Harold glaring at them. “Pick on someone your own size!” Harold crossed his arms together.

“Yeah, what did she do to deserve this?” George demanded.

“Hey, if you want to join her, be our guest!” The boy twin snapped before grinning.

“Unless you want to have a go with painting the roses with mud?”

“Well the way I see it, it’s now three against two.” George then smiled and took out the tie he stuffed into his pocket. “Well, three and a tie.” He took it out and both he and his best friend went towards the two bullies.

“Get any closer or she gets it!” The girl twin warned, but a moment of courage made the Rose think and she grabbed the boy’s hand so that his fingers were covering her mouth and she bit down on them as hard as she could. The male twin yelped and let go, and Rose darted to the safety of the side of the alley as her saviors charged towards the startled twins.

SMACK! George whacked the girl twin as hard as he could on the arm with the tie and forced her to drop the mud onto her feet while Harold tackled the boy to the ground. The girl twin also yelped when she was struck, but George was quick and smacked her twice in the legs as Harold opted to keep the boy pinned to the ground and have him laying face down on the dirt.

“It’s not so fun when it’s you, isn’t it?” Harold demanded as he held the boy’s head against the ground to the point his mouth was touching the dirt.

“We don’t resort to the level of violence like this!” George growled as the girl bully nervously backed away from him while he cracked his tie in the air like a whip. “But we’ll make an exception for people like you!”

“And that girl can help either one of us and get revenge on you guys!” Harold added. “So we’ll be nice and let you walk away, ok?”

“Ok, ok, we get it!” The boy cried. “We’ll go!”

“What are you saying, Jack?!” The girl twin growled in annoyance.

“Forget it, Stacy, this kid’ll give me a wedgie at this point!”

“And my tie thirsts for justice!” George warned as he waved the tie at Stacy. This was enough to make the girl give in. “Fine!” She snapped and ran out of the alleyway. Harold also got off Jack and the boy twin ran from him as fast as he could.

George let out a sigh as Harold walked towards him. “I need to learn how to wear this!” George grinned at the tie in delight. “Think of the power I could have with this! No one would bother us!”

“Uh,” The boys turned to see Rose give them a shy smile. “Thank you.” She stammered. “They keep picking at me and I don’t know why, and I needed to get medicine for my mom when they found me. I don’t know if they’ll stop, but–”

“Hey, nobody deserves to be bullied.” Harold gave the girl a kind smile. “We’ve gone through it a few times ourselves, and we’ll have someone’s back if it ever happens to them.”

Rose gave them an appreciative smile before looking at something behind the boys. “And thank you too, Mister!” The boys turned and to their shock, they saw that she was addressing their companion, who reappeared at some point and who also happened to be a couple feet behind them. He too was equally shocked to see that the child could see him to the point that his eyes looked as if they could almost pop out of his head.

“You can see him?!” George pointed to the man.

“Yes.” The girl nodded before smiling at the adult. The underwear wearing adult then let out a gasp and then gave Rose a huge smile that could make the brightness of the sun pale in comparison. It was a smile of pride and confidence, as well as relief, but it was the kind of smile that showed optimistic happiness.

“Well, I’m glad to see that you are safe, young citizen!” He saluted the young child, who smiled and giggled at this. “Shall we see you off in case those misguided hooligans come back?”

“I just need to get into a store a few streets down.” The girl admitted as George and Harold could only stare in wonder at the man. “But I would appreciate that.”

“Then lead the way and we shall follow you until you have safely arrived at your destination!” The adult pointed the way out of the alleyway in a dramatic flourish and the girl let out another giggle before she did indeed lead the way.

And so, the boys and their enthusiastic companion made sure that Rose arrived safely to the store without any further trouble. George and Harold watched as their adult friend chatted with the child, and while adults turned to look, they didn’t react in the way the boys would have guessed–not like how Lisa had squealed at the sight of them being in so little clothing. It was as if they could see Rose talking but it was more like she was talking to someone who might as well have been an imaginary friend who wasn’t there and not a man in so little garments.

And yet the boys didn’t feel so uneasy around the strange person anymore. Yes, he looked an awful lot like the king, but there was so much joy and kindness within their companion–and more importantly, he was treating them as well as the little girl like equals instead of looking down on them like most adults they knew of–that there was almost no way it could have been him. The smiles never invoked fear and the way he held himself upright showed more confidence than the slouch that Krupp always seemed to have. His eyes were brighter and almost seemed to sparkle compared to the malicious glints or cold, calculating glares of the other adult. Even the voice was the same but it sounded smoother and more energetic, compared to the gruff tones the boys were more used to hearing. Finally that urge to help and that strong sense of concern the energetic man had made him seem far more heroic than the awful ruler the boys ran away from the day before.

“Thank you!” Rose waved to the three of them. “I hope to see you again!” She smiled.

“Bye!” The adult gave the child a friendly grin and joyfully waved farewell to her while the two boys beside him also waved, but with a little less energy until she went into the store.

“Maybe you aren’t as bad as we thought.” George admitted to the adult as he and Harold lead him back to the place where they were supposed to meet Edith. “We thought you were someone else, but you’re too, uh, heroic to be him.” He decided on the correct word after a moment’s pause.

“You know, the funny thing was that we did make that drawing for a superhero we were creating.” Harold also admitted. “I just didn’t realize just how real he was going to become.”

“You created me?!” The companion seemed excited by this.

“Well no, the thing is that–” George didn’t know how to explain it. “We didn’t realize you were in the ring at the time, and we didn’t intend for you to look the way you do. But considering how things are, I’ll take it!” He chuckled as having a person around who looked exactly like Krupp, but in underwear, was pretty funny. Not to mention a nice way to lose their fear of him for good.

“So you really don’t remember anything about yourself or who you are?” Harold asked. “Well we got to at least give you a name for awhile until you can remember what your actual name is.”

“Yeah, like Captain Underpants.” George snickered as he stared at the strange man’s large white garment.

“What?!” Harold laughed. “George that’s brilliant, but I don’t think he’d want to be called that!”

“That was the original idea, remember?” George responded back as he pointed to his head. “Our superhero, our creation!”

“Yeah, but he’s not a fictional character or some pet, we got to name him something else!” Harold couldn’t stop laughing. “How would you feel if someone called you that and you didn’t like it?! Shouldn’t he have a civilian name?!”

“Uh, boys?” The two turned to see their companion shyly raise his hand up as if he had something to say or wanted to answer a question in class. “I, um... I actually like that name. Could I have it?”

The boys’ eyes widened. “You actually want to be called ‘Captain Underpants’?” Harold asked.

“Well if I’m supposed to be a superhero, then I should have a good name, and I like the sound of that one.” The adult confessed.

“Are you really sure?” George asked. “Nothing else? Nothing normal, like–?”

“Nope, I like ‘Captain Underpants!’” The supposed superhero smiled but then stopped. “Though come to think of it, did we ever get formally introduced? I don’t recall learning your names.”

“No, I don’t think so.” Harold realized as he shared a look with George, but then he smiled at the adult. “But I’m willing to start again so, hi,” He waved. “I’m Harold.”

“And I’m George, and I’m willing to give you some of my trust.” George was more cautious.

“George and Harold.” The strange man who could only be seen by a handful of children and who liked to be called Captain Underpants (despite how ridiculous it should have been) tested the names of the boys he was now friends with before giving them another bright smile that would make the sun itself jealous and he held his hand out for a handshake. “It’s a pleasure to meet two fellow crusaders of justice!”

The boys let out a well meaning laugh and ignored the fact that they couldn’t actually shake the adult’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Captain Underpants.” Harold returned the smile.

“Whose Captain Underpants?” The boys turned around and almost yelped when they saw Edith with half her hair in her face again and a few additional items in her bags.

“Uh, just someone we came up with!” Harold nervously laughed as he and George tried to ignore their companion, who noticed Edith and quietly examined her while also admiring her visible blue eye. “He’s our superhero!”

“Well he sounds like fun!” Edith chuckled and smiled before shuffling her feet in a slightly shy manner. “So... I thought about what you boys told me and I decided to get you something.” She put her bags down and reached into one of them to pull out a box of crayons, a set of pencils, and two pads of two different kinds of paper. Both boys stared in shock as Edith handed the crayons and the blank paper to Harold before handing the pencils and lined paper to George.

“This is...” George began as he couldn’t believe what just happened as he looked at the paper and pencils he now possessed. “You actually got these for us.”

“Are these really for us?” Harold gave Edith a wide eyed look. “But we didn’t do enough to earn them!”

“Well I don’t think you boys want to spend all your time on chores at the castle.” Edith told them before tucking the hair in her face back behind her ear. “Besides, I don’t know if we have enough for four children and I don’t know if the court artist would be willing to share his things, but you boys have been helpful enough to earn them, so it’s my gift to you. They are all yours to make your comics or whatever else you love to do.”

Both Harold and George could only stare at Edith. For as long as they had lived, they did not know of an adult who would encourage them to do what they loved the most. Their parents would have with all of their hearts, but they could not due to their circumstances. And yet here was an adult who bought them the materials they treasured above all else, as well as giving them something more to encourage them to create to their heart’s content. It was almost too good to be true and yet it was happening and they were overwhelmed by this one simple act of kindness.

Before Edith knew what was happening, she found the two young boys hugging her as tightly as they could.

“Thank you.” George said with all his heart as he buried his head into Edith.

“Thank you so much.” Harold struggled to hold back the coming tears as he bowed his head. “I promise we’ll repay you somehow.”

Edith hesitated, as this was such a powerful reaction for such a simple few gifts, and yet this clearly meant the world for these two boys. “You don’t have to do that.” She told them before she gave them a warm smile and hugged them back. “But I appreciate that and you’re very welcome.”

What Edith and both George and Harold didn’t see was how Captain Underpants had been reacting to the woman with the blue eyes. At first he thought the woman that boys seemed to know had one rather lovely (correction, it was striking) blue eye and also seemed to be very nice and good hearted, but then she moved her hair away to reveal another blue eye as well as a face that made him breathless and unable to be aware of anything else in that moment. The whole world just came to a complete stop for him and in that moment it was all centered on her.

He couldn’t remember much and he hadn’t seen quite a lot since he first came out of the ring, but something about this woman’s lovely face was doing something to him that he couldn’t explain that nothing else had done to him yet. It made something inside him grow warm (as well as make his face feel warm) and it made him forget to breathe, and to see that smile and the kind warmth in her eyes made his heart race in a way that was almost scary and exciting. Something about her made him want to do nothing but stare at her for as long as he could or at least commit her face to memory. He was drawn to her and he couldn’t figure out why, but something about her made him so happy that he couldn’t think straight. Helping others and seeing them happy made him feel good, but seeing this woman did something similar to him and yet not quite at the same time.

He didn’t know what he was experiencing, but he at least knew that he already liked the woman that was being hugged by his young friends.

Captain Underpants didn’t dare say anything, but he couldn’t help but give the lovely lady with the blue eyes a huge goofy smile as a blush crept into his face.

*****

As the boys and Edith were driven back up the hill towards the castle, only George and Harold were aware of Captain Underpants sitting on the edge of the top of the seat between the two of them with his cape flapping behind him in the wind. They didn’t know why he was doing it, but their gut instincts told them that what he was doing was not safe, especially given the fact that this automobile did not have a roof of any sort. He didn’t seem to be aware of this and instead he seemed to be staring rather intently at the ocean as if something about it was puzzling him.

“So only that girl saw him?” Harold asked in a quiet whisper. “Maybe only kids can see him.”

“Yeah, we need to make sure the prince and princess don’t find out.” George whispered back. “We don’t know how this works and we can’t risk any questions.”

Edith turned her head back to look at the two boys in the backseats whispering about something and thought about how they reacted earlier in town. Of course they were children, but they reacted to it all as if it was like seeing a new world for the first time. Things like the clock tower, the many paintings, and the stores amazed them, and they had so many questions. Their excitement and enthusiasm was hauntingly familiar to her because she recalled another who acted almost the exact same way, despite being much older then they were. It was someone she hadn’t seen for a long time–almost ten years ago, to be exact–but she was sure he would have gotten along rather well with these two boys.

Without warning, the automobile lurched really hard and Edith almost had a heart attack when she was snapped out of her thoughts. George and Harold lurched forward and yelled in alarm, but their large friend who sat on top of the seats ended up getting launched head first right down into the automobile with his arms flailing out the entire time. The end result made his legs stick up at an odd angle and his cape was now flung over the upper half of his body and his head while the boys were forced to move as far away to the side as possible since his rather large rear was very much at their eye level and the now disgusted duo did not want a face-full of that.

In the middle of the road, a black and white spotted cow that somehow got all the way up the hill mooed as Jacob angrily honked at it. The animal didn’t budge and didn’t even seem to care as she stared off into space.

“WHY IS THERE A COW IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD?!” Jacob yelled.

Chapter Text

The throne room was rather small in comparison to the much larger rooms of the castle, but it was still ideal for holding meetings or discussions. While modest in appearance, the throne itself was the most detailed object in the room as it was made of wood and marble and touches of red with the kingdom’s symbol (a scarlet carnation) was repeatedly carved into the wood. Mason didn’t like the idea of being the only one sitting down, so there were a few tables and a handful of chairs that were moved up towards the throne, with the end result looking like something that may have been more suited for a courthouse then a throne room.

“So, before we begin,” Mason looked at those who were seated at the tables, including Anthrope who was giving him a stoic look “You all do understand that we wouldn’t be able to get a submarine over here in time, correct? We don’t have time to see if the local legends are true.”

There were a few disappointed looks at this, but everyone either nodded or voiced their understanding. The idea of needing to go to the extent of getting a submarine was ridiculous for a number of reasons, but the king had to get it out of the way.

“First off,” Mason began. “I want to be reminded as to how the drills were funded to begin with. I thought I made it clear that we were not going to do that for as long as I have held this position.”

“There have been a few people who have demanded for them for just as long.” One woman replied. “Quite a few of the wealthier members of the kingdom have contributed to their construction, but there was an anonymous donation that was made that helped speed the process up.”

“And it never occurred to anyone that a storm could have happened during construction?” Anthrope finally interjected.

“Or that a leak could have happened to pollute the ocean?” The current leading scientist asked. “It would only make the fishing worse. What if it got into the lakes?”

The door to the hallway suddenly opened and the loud sound alerted everyone’s presence to Edith, who was wheeling in a serving cart with a glass pitcher of water and smaller glass cups. It took her a moment to realize that the meeting was already in session and her face turned red with embarrassment.

“Sorry!” She stammered as she hurried the cart into the throne room. “I’ll just leave it here!” She brought the cart in between the tables and the throne and let out a nervous laugh. “I’ll just... get out of here.” She nervously pointed to the door before hurrying out of there as fast as she could and the meeting didn’t resume until she finally left and the door shut behind her.

“Well, we only know that there is at least one drill off the coastline.” One man admitted as he got up to get himself a glass of water. “And we can reach a truce to halt construction for the rest to see if this even works or if there is any oil out there at all.”

“So what about the spring festival?” Anthrope turned back to Mason. “Seeing as you think we can’t stop these storms.” She glared at him.

“We will evacuate the boardwalk, the beaches, and the docks and piers if that happens.” Mason answered. “We’ll have the staff trained in case we need to get people off the rides. We can also have the boats stay within a certain distance near the land. If you want to stay out on the ocean to keep an eye on things, then you have my permission.”

“We still have a shipment coming in sometime before the festival if all goes well.” A woman pointed out as she also went to get some water. “There was some error that caused a delay, so we had to wait before–”

Mason fought the urge to take his glasses off and pinch the bridge of his nose. It felt like this would never end and he wondered just how many adults his age had to be so completely idiotic. His own children were more intelligent than those who were causing these problems to begin with.

*****

Inside the safety of the guest bedroom, Harold tried out the crayons by drawing a picture of Serenity and Haruka as he sat at the desk. Occasionally he paused to listen to George as he recounted the events of exactly how they got the red ring to Captain Underpants as the two sat cross legged on the bed together. Upon giving complete freedom to recount the story to someone, George went into great detail and grew excited as he used many gestures and was nearly bouncing up and down during the whole thing. His gift for story telling definitely caught the attention of the adult, who was pretty much leaning in as close as he could in anticipation and especially when the story got suspenseful, though the kicker was him gasping as he drew back when George began to go into detail about when he and Harold were being chased down.

“So Harold had the brilliant idea to have them follow us around these rocks and we got them to weave through them this way and that way, and they got so wound up in them that they crashed together and ended up getting stuck!” George gestured to Harold and made his hands weave in and out in front of him for emphasis. “We ended up using them against each other and you could see that their bodies had weaved all around the rocks and they could barely move! It was so awesome, you should have seen it! So anyway, after seeing that they wouldn’t escape, we got out of there as fast as we could and we lived to tell the tale!” The tale left the boy breathless and he had to take in a few gulps of air as Captain Underpants had a huge smile on his face and clapped his hands in applause.

“That was terrific!” he praised George. “I could practically see it all in my mind! I admit I was a little terrified, but I’m glad you both escaped unscratched!”

“I recalled it as best as I could,” George let out an awkward laugh and scratched the back of his head. “You have no idea how much we wanted to tell that story to someone.”

“Well I wouldn’t mind hearing more stories from you, George!” Captain Underpants grinned. “You have a certain way of telling them and I would love to know what kind of stories you can come up with if you were so good at recounting something that happened before!” He then noticed Harold drawing and he hopped off the bed to take a look at his picture before smiling at it. “Even you, Harold! I doubt I could draw as well as that! I don’t know what it is, but I can tell it’s amazing!”

George stared in amazement at the adult and even Harold turned around in surprise at this. “What, did I say something wrong?” The adult looked at each boy with a worried glance.

“Nothing, it’s just that... we’ve never heard an adult say something like that to us.” George admitted. “Besides our parents.” He corrected. “There’s been an awful lot of supportive adults up here, so it’s taking awhile to take this all in.”

“Yeah.” Harold nodded. “Yeah, this is all so new to us.”

“Well I’ll be as supportive as I can be for you boys!” Captain Underpants declared to them. “So if there is anything I can help you out with, I shall do my best! No, not my best, that’s not good enough! I shall do everything in my power and push myself to help you however I can!”

Despite the fact that the strange adult was not the shiniest pearl in the oyster, the boys genuinely appreciated this, though they were not sure if the man would truly be of help just yet for a number of reasons.

“We’ll see if anything will come up.” Harold shrugged. “But in the meantime, what exactly happened to make you go back in the ring?”

“What do you mean?” Captain Underpants asked.

“Well, snapping our fingers brings you out, but we don’t know what would bring you back in. I mean if we needed you at the time we would want to avoid that!” Harold quickly said when the adult began to frown at his words.

“We don’t have a lot of time to figure that out.” George reminded Harold. “We still have half an hour and I have some ideas I need to share with you for the comic.”

“Oh you’re right!” Harold pointed a finger up in the air before turning to Captain Underpants. “Uh, we need some alone time as artistic individuals to get our minds going. So you can go explore if you want, but just remember what we said about the other kids who live here. Do not let them see you!” He warned. “If they find out about you and that you are friends with us, that might ruin the reason why we are up here to begin with and our mission gets ruined.”

“So you are on a mission!” Captain Underpants was amazed.

“Don’t let them see you!” George reminded the adult. “We’re pretty sure only kids can see you and we can’t risk it!”

“Oh!” Captain Underpants was snapped out of his thoughts before he saluted them. “You can count on me! In the meantime, I shall go off and explore as you suggested!” He went to the window and the boys watched as he jumped right through it and half yelled and half sang “TRA-LA-LAAAAA!” as he went off into the sky.

“Ok, he’s gone.” George went to grab his pencil and pad of paper and sat back down on the bed. “Ready to hear about our superhero?” He asked his best friend with a delighted grin.

“Dying to hear it!” Harold grinned in excitement. “Have you been inspired by a great muse?”

“You’re my greatest muse, but recent events and one living, breathing embodiment of our creation also helped out a lot!” George replied as he readied his pencil. “So, here is how we begin!”

And so, George began to tell a tale of his own involving a superhero in only a cape and underwear, and Harold absorbed it all as the pictures formed in his mind and were ready to be brought to life on paper. They were a couple of Pygmalions who already brought Galatea to life and it was time to make something they could share to the world if they couldn’t share the real living and breathing creation.

*****

Now George and Harold’s odd friend did indeed explore as much as he could of his surroundings and was distracted quite often to the point he would change directions and go elsewhere (also what happened was enough to become it’s own interesting story). Yet there was a location he did have in mind, and that was by the shoreline where the sand met the vast ocean, and it was upon one of the many large rocks that he sat and stared out at the blue waters ahead of him.

Captain Underpants didn’t recall everything, but there was something about this whole area that felt oddly familiar to him. Even stranger was the fact that he had this odd feeling within him that was trying to pull him towards something in particular and he didn’t understand it until he looked out at the ocean. Something about it was puling him towards it, but it was more like there was something specific about it–not the whole thing, but a specific part of it far beyond the shoreline.

“Mommy, look!” He was snapped out of his thoughts and turned to see a small boy holding onto his mother’s hand while he pointed at the man on the rocks. “There’s a man in his underwear!”

Captain Underpants gave the boy a friendly smile and waved. “Hello!” He greeted him.

The woman looked to where the boy was pointing and chuckled. “Oh you have such an active imagination! I don’t see him!”

“But he’s right there!” The child insisted and pointed as hard as he could at the odd adult.

“Maybe we need to head home.” The woman tugged at the boy’s hand and lead him away to a path that lead back towards a street. In the meantime Captain Underpants watched for a few seconds until he turned back to the ocean and decided to seek out what he was being drawn towards. He got up off the rock and began to fly out and over the ocean.

The farther he got out, the more that pull began to get stronger and stronger. It was to the point that nothing else mattered and he became fixated on whatever was causing this. But what was it?

Finally he had gone out for quite a few miles and the kingdom behind him was now far away and barely visible. He looked down at the ocean below him, where he felt that pull coming from whatever was below and within the dark depths.

He knew he was too far away from the boys, but he had to find out what was causing this. What was this strange pull he felt and why exactly did he feel like he needed to find what was on the other end?

He let himself drop down towards the ocean.

The moment his feet touched the water, everything for him turned black while he also exploded into particles of red light that shot back towards the surface kingdom. Sometime later, George and Harold were still working on their comic together. Harold was drawing while George told the story while also posing for Harold.

“Almost got it!” Harold was doing the finishing touches of the drawing of George’s pose when all of a sudden a now familiar red light went through the window and went right through Harold’s shirt to go into the ring that was still hiding under it. This made both boys surprised and Harold nearly screamed at the odd sensation of something hitting against him which made him drop his crayon.

“What was that?!” Harold asked as George stared at his friend.

“I think whatever made him vanish happened again.” George could only guess.

*****

The rest of the day was uneventful. The boys once again ate with the Royal Family and they were able to share how their day went (minus a few things) while praising the town. Mason was pleased to know that the boys were sincere and willing to work after all, though his children were still a little cautious in their own ways towards the boys.

Yet Billy was currently more suspicious of his father and wanted to see what exactly Mason was hiding. He didn’t make an attempt until much later in the dead of night, when everyone but him and his sister were asleep and he lead her to the study.

“This better be worth it, Billy.” Lisa yawned as her brother opened the door to their father’s study. “We had to wake up at midnight for this.”

Her brother shushed her as he took the flashlight from her hand and waited until they were both inside the study room, and the door was closed behind them, until he dared turn on the flashlight. “That one.” He went over to the book case and made to push it with some difficulty. Lisa then joined her brother and helped shove it to the side until there was a gap large enough for them to squeeze through. Billy aimed the light down and to their surprise there was a set of steps that lead down to somewhere.

“Whoa, secret passage!” Lisa raised her voice in excitement and quickly slapped a hand over her mouth when she realized her mistake.

“What’s dad hiding down there?” Billy wondered out loud and he lead his sister down the stairs with the light of the flashlight to guide them. The temperature dropped slightly, which made both children relieved that they chose to wear socks to silence the sound of their feet in the first place. Finally they came upon a door that was slightly opened and Billy opened it.

“Wow.” He and his sister were amazed to find some sort of odd contraption with a huge glass tube that went down into the floor, and some sort of rectangular glass box with a strange looking slot on top of it was in the tube, at the far end of the small room. There was also a desk with a chair and a handful of papers placed in various wooden slots within the room.

“Wow.” Lisa went to the contraption to examine it. “What is this stuff?” She wondered as Billy grabbed one of the papers from the slots and silently read it.

”Thank you for letting us know in advance about the shipments your kingdom is going to receive. I’ll try to not let anything happen so that the boats may safely arrive to you.” Billy read out loud and scanned the contents of the message. “In the meantime, I want to make a request to not let anyone near Lapis Cove next Saturday because some of my people need it for a training exercise.” He looked at the date which was dated about twelve years ago.

He went to another slot and grabbed another paper, which also had the same exact handwriting. “I wouldn’t advise going out into the ocean for a bit. There are some creatures we still need to deal with and I don’t know what their intentions towards humans are just yet.” Billy raised an eyebrow at the word ‘humans’ and checked the date, which was a couple years farther than that. “I know this is a good season for fishing for your people and I promise I will make it up to you later.”

“I think dad was in contact with someone.” He told Lisa when she looked away from the contraption. “I can’t figure out who, but–well look.” He handed the letter to Lisa and she silently read it as he went to read a few more letters.

Most of the messages were short and it was clear that their father was corresponding to the same person in all of them. It would have helped to have had letters from Mason to understand what was going on since nearly all the messages were updates about events or issues related to the ocean, and some requests, though a few thanked the king for keeping him updated about certain things. They were all sorted according to year per slot, but the siblings soon noticed that a few slots were completely empty while a few more had only one or two letters.

“These are from ten years ago.” Lisa grabbed one letter from a slot that wasn’t crammed with a bunch of letters and the two examined it together as she read it. “I promise you shouldn’t have to worry about the storms for awhile, so fishing should be good for you guys. The sun seems to be nice around this time and the weather should be good for everyone. I hope you and your people are having fun and that...” She smiled. “They seem really happy. They aren’t talking too much about the ocean in this one.”

They continued to read the letters, in which the writer’s tone changed from short and to the point to slightly going off task and marveling about their kingdom. Though when the next letter was dated a few months later after the one that was written around mid-summer, they were caught off guard by what it said.

“Stop contacting me, I don’t want to hear from you again.” The handwriting was noticeably harsh as Lisa read this one. “I don’t even know why our kingdoms need to stay in contact if I can’t trust humans.”

“Ok, that’s odd.” Billy was puzzled by the use of the words ‘our kingdoms’ and ‘humans.’ He went to grab the remaining few letters.

“I don’t care.” He read one. “Seriously I’m not joking, leave me alone.” He read the next. He looked at the next one and gulped when he saw the amount of cursing in it before putting it away and read through a few more harsh letters. Finally he got to the last one, which had extremely harsh handwriting as if the writer was in a great haste and was also incredibly angry. “Listen bub, either you leave me alone or I promise you’ll have a storm that’ll clean out half your kingdom.” Billy read.

Both siblings paused in confusion at the odd but very ill tempered threat.

“A storm?” Lisa raised her eyebrow at this. “Well, whoever this was, dad must have sent his letters in that thing to them.” She glanced at the contraption.

Billy took his glasses off for a moment and rubbed his eyes. “We should put the letters back, in case dad ever comes down here. We can go over this tomorrow morning.”

*****

The next morning, both George and Harold were assigned to help with the gardening by pulling out hard to reach weeds in the back gardens that would ending up being more noticeable over time. It was the first time that they were given a chore that gave them the freedom to get a little dirty and wear worn out shirts that were a few sizes too big for them for protection (and to keep their actual shirts underneath somewhat clean and safe from getting ripped up by stray twigs).

On one hand, it was a bit of a backbreaking and more physical chore as they ripped weed after weed out of the ground and tossed them into buckets, and they were very sure that the gardener wanted them to do the entire back garden. On the other, they were allowed to get dirty and encounter strange insects that hid amongst the plants and dirt, and they were free from being trapped indoors.

At one point, George got up and stretched from pulling weeds around a bush. Like Harold, he gained quite a bit of dirt around the legs and a few scratches, but the exposure to the sun was darkening his complexion to the point that it would no longer look odd to adults if he and his friend were unusually pale. They didn’t get much exposure to the sun under the water and it helped them with the illusion that they were as equally normal as everyone else.

George stared at Harold and saw that the blonde haired boy was gazing at the sea with a sort of miserable longing in his eyes. George knew that there was quite a lot that Harold was missing within the ocean, and he had a feeling that his family was number one on that list. George himself missed his family from time to time and he also missed the freedom to swim in wide waters. Unfortunately there was no telling what could happen the moment they took so much as one step into the ocean.

A dark part of his mind wondered what sort of prison the two would be kept in if they failed. Would there be a tower of sorts where one boy was stuck at the top and the other below? Would they be forced in caves that would be inescapable if they grew too big? Would they be denied what little sunlight they had known before this adventure and be trapped in the dark, away from light and color?

In a moment of empathy, George took the ring out of his shirt. The ring finally had its own string of thin rope which was also carefully wrapped around the band of the ring to ensure that it would not fall off and now George was currently wearing it around his neck. Was Captain Underpants aware of when he was inside it? Was it dark?

George snapped his fingers and once again the adult appeared before him.

“Wait a minute, how did I get back here?” Captain Underpants looked around with a deeply puzzled expression until he noticed George and his eyes lit up. “Oh hi again!” He grinned at the boy. “I explored like you both suggested and it was positively fun!”

“Uh, what exactly... where were you before you saw me just now?” George asked.

“Oh, well...” The adult had an unusual awkward expression as if there was something he did that he wanted to keep a secret and then began “Well, I was exploring the ocean and I tried to go into it, but the next thing I knew, I appeared right here.” He noticed the sky. “And the sky looks different too! Why does it look brighter now?”

Does he not remember being in the ring then? George felt relieved by this. He had no idea how long the ring had been trapped in the caves and if Captain Underpants had been awake for any of it, then it would have been something out of a nightmare.

“Where is Harold?” Captain Underpants asked as he looked around. “Harold?!” He called out as he began to float up and looked around. “Where are you?”

“I’m here!” The blonde haired boy popped his head out of some bushes and smiled. It looked as if his body was the bushes instead of an actual body and the sight of it made George laugh a little. “I could hear you and George talking!”

George knew he would somehow find a way to keep him and his friend safe. They would not be locked up away from the sun or from each other.

*****

Meanwhile, Edith paused while cutting some fruit up as she heard two of the castle maids talking to each other.

“So he’s taking you to the theater?”

“Yes, and he says he’ll even take us out to that nice restaurant in the downtown area!”

“Oh, you are so lucky! He’s not going to bore you with another story about his pets, is he?”

“Hey, I like dogs and I think it’s sweet when a man loves animals and treats them like family. It says a lot about someone.”

Edith sighed as she listened to the women. She herself never had a boyfriend, even at this point in her life, and she probably should have been married by now. She knew she wasn’t as beautiful as one of those film stars, so it wasn’t like men were lining up for her. Not only was it so hard to find the right kind of man (a good, honest, confident kind of man), but it was hard to talk to them when she found the right one or was approached by them. She didn’t know what to say half the time. Other women made it seem so easy and she didn’t want to come off as too pushy after hearing so many sob stories, though she had some bad experiences herself. Her aunt used to help her out with these sort of things, but she was no longer here for that.

She didn’t like the idea of being a woman who expected to always go out in style for dates and get jewelry for every kind of anniversary. She liked saving the extravagant for very special occasions and besides, a simple walk around town for a few minutes or cloud gazing on a good day was just as romantic.

The only time she ever came close to finding someone she wanted to be with, with all her heart, didn’t end well. Maybe it was her own fault for not confessing her feelings sooner, but she lost her chance and now he was gone forever. It had been so long since she thought of him, but for some reason the memories were now coming back, along with the heartache.

She wanted to stop thinking about all of this. She didn’t enjoy getting into a self-pity party.

Edith turned her attention away and set down the knife and apple she was cutting up, but then froze when she saw two brown bags that should not have been on the counter.

“Oh no, no, no, no!” Edith stammered as she grabbed two chucks of hair at the top of her head. “NO!” She wailed. “DANG IT ALL TO HECK AND BACK!” Why didn’t Lisa and Billy grab their lunches and why did she not notice that sooner?! This was a day they specifically wanted a lunch from home and those bags also contained snack food for an early part of the day. The poor kids must be starving by now and they were going to go without a lunch and be miserable! There was also the fact that this could get her in trouble with her boss, but that was the least of her concerns. She couldn’t go deliver it herself because she had to tend to keep an eye on some treats that Mason wanted to be delivered tomorrow to the orphanage as a gesture of goodwill.

But she could trust two boys to do the task for her and she was ready to give them a good excuse for this. She ran out to the gardens and had to catch her breath the moment she stopped at the top of the balcony and the stairs. Both boys (and, unknown to Edith, a certain someone who was very much happy to see her again) turned their attention towards her when they finally noticed her.

“Hey, I hate to ask you this.” Edith panted. “But I need you boys to do me a favor!”

*****

Both George and Harold stared up at the humongous building of white and rusty brown that was in front of them. It was not like their own school, but it still gave them a sense of uneasiness. They were torn between making this quick since it was a school and checking out a new school at the same time. Yet Jacob told them that he would pick them up a little later so they were pretty much stuck.

“Ugh, school.” George grumbled. “Why? Just why?”

“Well, maybe it won’t be as bad.” Harold admitted. “You heard what those two said.”

“I know, but it’s like we have to be at a school, no matter what.”

“Why are we here again?” Both boys turned around in alarm to see Captain Underpants staring at the large building in wonder while floating a few inches off the ground.

“Why are you here?” George asked as he realized the potential problems.

“I don’t know what else to do.” The adult admitted with a shrug.

“Uh, look.” Harold was a bit more panicky. “Remember how that girl from yesterday could see you? We can’t have that happen here!”

“Yeah, also those two we told you about go to school here, and if they see you, then we’ll get in big trouble!” George added.

“Also, no adults go walking around in their underwear here and I don’t think that’s a good idea for a place like this. Can’t you change your appearance again?”

“I don’t know how to fix that and I really don’t want to wear such restricting garments.” Captain Underpants told the boys and George slammed his hand into his head in disbelief.

“Could you at least try not to be seen?” Harold asked. “At least don’t let a kid see you? It’s crucial for our mission.”

Captain Underpants was torn by this because he wanted to meet more individuals who could see him, but he didn’t want the boys to get in trouble. “You can count on me!” He saluted. The boys were not fully convinced, but they went up the steps and into the school building while the adult followed close behind.

*****

“Ugh.” Lisa moaned as her stomach growled as she tried and failed to focus on the teacher’s lecture for a history lesson. “I could eat five bears at this point.” She realized that both her and her brother had to pay the price for their adventure last night and in their moments of being extremely tired, they completely forgot about their lunch bags which also had their snacks. Meanwhile, her brother was chewing on the neck of his own sweater after succumbing to the delusion that anything could be edible. One of his classmates stared at him in slight sympathy before he turned back to listen to the lesson.

Finally the bell rang for lunch and all the kids hurried out after packing, though the siblings were much slower since they were hungry, tired, and didn’t want to watch their classmates eat their lunches in front of them.

“I’m totally going to raid the kitchens when we get back home.” Lisa grumbled as the world seemed to spin around her.

“No, we should try to go to a candy store or something.” Billy slurred as they went out of the room.

“Whoa, you guys look awful.” The two glanced up and were surprised to see George and Harold staring at them. The other two could see just how badly the siblings needed sleep as well as food in their stomaches.

“Here.” Harold held up the paper bags full of food for the two. “We brought them to you.”

The siblings stared in amazement at the bags and in that instant, the boys become their knights in shining armor. “You’re our saviors!” Billy let out a weak laugh before tackling Harold in a big hug.

“Uh, ok.” Harold nervously looked down at the boy who was hugging him while holding the bags out and away from him as far as he could.

*****

“Peanut butter and apricot jam!” Billy moaned in delight at the sandwich he ate while his sister devoured a large peach as they and the boys sat under a tree while the other children played out on the wide playground around them. “You are the best in the whole world!”

“That looks like a butt.” George pointed to the peach Lisa was eating and gave the fruit a smirk. The girl rolled her eyes and kept eating the peach while George and Harold examined their surroundings and noted how much happier the students seemed here compared to their own school.

And by some crazy miracle, George and Harold’s secret friend was hiding up in the same tree. He was rather well hidden and he quietly observed the children playing while also looking down to watch George and Harold interacting with the two children they didn’t want him to accidentally expose himself to. Apart from what he was told, they both seemed very nice.

“All the kids seem pretty happy here.” Harold finally said. He and George had also noticed how the walls of the school were lined with posters, artwork from various grades, and even trophies and ribbons from various competitions from baseball to chess. All of it seemed to brighten up the place and made the school feel positive and supportive towards its students. “Are the teachers here strict, or is there something else, like a big secret?”

“No.” Billy answered after finishing the sandwich. “I think the school has a thing where they want the teachers to be nice and extremely helpful as possible so that we all can be able to understand our lessons and eventually graduate.”

“Yeah, they want everyone here to graduate with at least a high school degree if they won’t go off to a college.” Lisa admitted. “Dad wants us to try to get into a college or university before he decides which one of us takes over.”

“What do you mean by that?” George asked as he played with a metal canteen full of water that he had taken for himself. “Shouldn’t it be the oldest that gets the throne?”

The siblings (who were now almost fully recovered) shared a look before responding. “Technically Lisa is the oldest, but dad wants to decide based on which of us is more up for ruling over this place and which one ‘has mastered the right qualities.’” Billy did air quotes at this.

“Well as long as you don’t end up becoming strict or do something like outlaw fun, then I’m sure you guys’ll be fine.” George shrugged before adding. “But which one of you has the shortest temper?”

“What?!” Lisa demanded while Billy wordlessly pointed to her. This made the boys laugh and even Billy chuckled as his sister shot him an annoyed look. “Billy, what the heck?!”

“Just asking!” George shot Harold a knowing look. “I doubt your people want a ruler who gets angry a lot!”

“I try to keep myself in check!” Lisa protested at George. “My brother and I both know how important this will be in the future, so we’re trying to prepare!”

“I hope this doesn’t relate to that, ‘trying to grow up too fast’ thing.” Billy reminded her before turning to the boys. “She says she’ll have to start thinking about boys and clothing soon, so you better not be in town when that happens!”

“Billy cut that out!”

“And you’ll start spending too many hours in the bathroom making yourself look like a Hollywood actress.” He told her.

“No I won’t!”

“You know you’ll also have to worry about things like zits too. Have you seen the middle school students and how they look like their faces will explode?”

“Oh my gosh!” Lisa threw her hands up in the air and got up. “Fine, be mean to me!” She stormed off and ditched the boys. “I wasn’t trying to be!” Billy protested, but the girl did not respond.

“She thinks she’ll have to outgrow the things we like as kids when we get older.” Billy admitted to the boys. “In addition to the whole pressure of her having an equal fifty percent chance of becoming the next ruler and all the things that have been going on lately. She actually has a sense of humor, it’s just getting it to come out that’s the hard part.”

The boys grimaced at this. “That doesn’t sound like fun.” Harold admitted. “Why would anyone want to be in a hurry to grow up? In fact no one should force a kid to grow up too fast.”

Interestingly enough, that was what was on Captain Underpants’ mind when he watched the young girl leave and listened to the following conversation. He knew he was not supposed to talk to either the girl or her brother, but he desperately wanted to try to help somehow. Something about a child being denied any kind of fun, or being forced to worry about something an adult should worry about, didn’t sit that well with him.

“Honestly, not knowing which one of us will be picked ahead of time isn’t fun because one of us is going through all of this for nothing.” Billy sighed and decided to change topics. “You guys want to check this place out a bit?”

“Yes!” George and Harold got up and the young prince followed suit and lead them towards a group of kids playing with a ball.

“You know, I wish the school was closer to the ocean.” Billy told the boys. “I always thought it would be cool if you could see a dolphin outside your window during a lesson.” He paused when he saw Harold give him a strange wide eyed look. “Uh, are you ok?”

“You... love dolphins... too?!” Harold’s voice rose in excited disbelief as George gulped in fear for what was to come.

“Well they are my favorite sea creature.” Billy admitted with a small smile. That triggered Harold to let out a sound of excited delight. “You love dolphins too!” He sang and grabbed the prince’s shoulder. “What do you love about them?! Tell me everything!”George slapped his face as Billy nervously, yet also shyly explained. “Well, they make a cute sound when they seem to be happy. Also it’s wonderful when you see them go out of the water and flip in the air.”

“EEEEEEEEE!” Harold’s grin widened. “I so agree with you!” And with that, the boys continued on their way while two of them began to talk about dolphins and one was forced to listen in. At the same time, they unintentionally abandoned a certain someone who was still hiding in the tree and now had no idea what to do besides waiting and observing.

“It’s you!”

Captain Underpants looked down and saw a familiar child from the day before waving up at him. “Hi again!” Rose waved.

“Oh hi!” The adult gave the child a huge smile and waved. “Uh, your name was Rose, right?” He asked.

“Yup! And my mom is feeling better now, so I was able to go back to school after helping to take care of her yesterday!” Rose thanked Captain Underpants as a boy approached her.

“Who are you talking to?” He asked.

“That’s the guy I was telling you about, Ethan!” Rose pointed up into the tree. “The one with the boys who stopped the twins from flinging mud at me!”

The boy looked up and his eyes widened. “Whoa, you weren’t kidding!” He waved at Captain Underpants. “Hi!”

Meanwhile, Lisa sighed as she stared out at the ocean in the far distance. “If only I could go out there and away from all of this.” She sat down on the grass. “Maybe it’s not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.” If there was a way to fix all their problems, it would have been nice. However, the ocean was now reminding her of those odd letters from last night. Who exactly sent them to her father and what happened to cause them to stop and grow nasty towards him and the kingdom?

“Humans,” Lisa tried to think of the words that were used. “Ocean.... storm.” She frowned. “Storm... you’ll have a storm that’ll clean out half your kingdom.” Didn’t the old man say that the king under the ocean could create storms through his anger?

Wait... no way. Was it possible that... was there an actual king under the ocean then? If there was, then why would he be in contact with their father and then stop talking to him? Why would he threaten the kingdom?

Then there were the storms that happened without warning. And the old man said they happened because the ocean king had a temper.

“Oh my gosh!” Lisa’s eyes went wide. “Oh my gosh!” She stared at the ocean in amazement. “It’s all real?!” Suddenly she had an idea. If the other person was indeed this other king, then she and Billy needed to try to write a letter about the issues their people were facing, as well as warn him about the oil drills out in the ocean that concerned their father. Maybe he wouldn’t respond, and maybe he would get angry, but they had to give it a try.

Meanwhile, George was feeling slightly left out as Harold continued to talk about dolphins and art with Billy as he lead them around the school grounds. He looked around until he saw Lisa staring out at the ocean and he thought about what his mom told him about people being like a puzzle. He didn’t mean to be mean to the girl, he just didn’t like the idea of a kid ending up as bad as Krupp. Ironically this did make him think about the mention of the bitter adult having a strict upbringing as a child. Was it worse than the childhood Lisa and Billy had right now, where already they were worried about things no kid should need to worry about?

He found his eyes drifting back to the tree they were all at awhile ago and felt his heart stop when he saw a small handful of tiny children talking up at something within it. “Oh no.” He cringed and ran towards it without warning Harold. Sure enough, he found the children talking to Captain Underpants who seemed to have forgotten his promise as he happily chatted back to them.

“What are you doing?! We told you not to let yourself be seen!” George yelled up at the adult behind the small group of children.

Startled by the appearance of George, Captain Underpants flinched with a yelp and ending up falling out of his spot and crashed onto his stomach onto the ground in front of the children.

“Oh no, are you ok?” A third grader asked as George pushed through the crowd and stood in front of the adult.

“We are going to get in so much trouble!” George told the adult. “You could get in trouble if an adult was able to see you!”

“But they can’t!” Captain Underpants reminded without moving from his spot.

George looked around and saw that both Harold and Billy were looking at them from a distance and George could see the interested look in Billy’s eyes, while Harold had horrified understanding in his. George quickly began to think–something caused their companion to vanish back into the ring with a red light. First time involved splashing water at him and the second time involved him mentioning trying to go into the ocean–then it clicked.

George took the cap off the canteen and tossed the water at Captain Underpants as hard as he could. To his surprise and sheer relief, the adult bursted into red light which quickly went into the ring hiding under his shirt.

“Oh thank you.” George was relieved that he was able to fix this in the nick of time.

“Where did he go?” Rose asked in concern while all the other children were surprised at what just happened.

“Listen guys.” George turned around to face the other children. “You cannot tell anyone about him or what just happened. The adults will freak out if they hear that a man came onto the school grounds in only a cape and underwear.”

“He wasn’t doing anything wrong though.” A boy pointed out.

“I know, but he’s kind of clueless about some things.” George told them as Harold finally came up to join him. “He’s kind of like a kid himself.”

The bell to end recess rang out and all the children were forced to go indoors, including Billy who was seconds away from coming towards the small group by the tree. When all the children by the tree left George and Harold, the former turned to the latter with a sigh and held up a canteen. “It’s water. That’s what makes him go back into the ring. We’ll free him in a bit, but he’s due for a talk.”

“If it’s water, then we’ll need to always have it on hand.” Harold decided.

*****

Upon returning to the castle, the boys were able to bring Captain Underpants out and reminded him why he couldn’t let himself be seen by the other children, and especially by Lisa and Billy. He apologized and felt awful over the fact that he broke that promise, though both boys could see that he did enjoy speaking to those other children. It made them feel a little awful, but they had to stay firm with him and they tried to reach a compromise by giving him complete freedom to go wherever he liked with their one request in mind.

Of course Captain Underpants wasn’t the only one to get in trouble for disobeying. When Ms. Gambino found the two, she had them get back to work, though she soon turned her attention to Edith.

“Those boys are my responsibility, not yours.” She sharply told the much younger woman and both boys paused to listen from around one end of the corridor. “You aren’t the king and your place is in the kitchens. I won’t let this happen again or I’ll inform His Majesty about this.”

“But Lisa and Billy needed their lunch and I couldn’t give it to them.” Edith stammered. “Plus we can’t keep children cooped up in here all the time.”

“Well that was your fault for not paying attention and giving their food to them sooner!” Ms. Gambino retorted and Edith seemed to cave in on herself from the attack.

“Times are hard and you don’t want to find yourself tossed out onto the streets for being out of line.” She then turned around and walked down to the other end of the corridor.

“We should prank her.” George whispered to Harold.

“Yeah, but wouldn’t that get Edith in trouble too?” Harold asked.

Neither boy was happy with this situation.

Later on after they finished a few more chores, they opted to take their project into the castle library where there were larger tables and more space to run around or to strike poses for references. The boys never saw a library so large or full of so many books and it was very tempting to read as much as they could, especially in the case of George who was more of a reader than Harold was. They took a few with photos of actual places in them for references and once again they resumed the creation of their comic, with the boys being able to get more creative with what a human school was like after seeing it first hand.

Sometime later they were unaware that Lisa and Billy had entered the library and the two stared at the boys as they were working on the comic together.

“What are you doing?” Billy asked as his sister held onto a book she was currently reading.

“We are making a comic!” Harold responded with a smile and waved. “You can read it when we’re done!”

The siblings went over to take a look. Harold was in the middle of drawing Captain Underpants fighting some monsters and both siblings were taken by surprise by the superhero’s appearance. “Is he in his underwear?” Billy asked.

“Yup!” George confirmed. “But you can’t find out about him until tomorrow. We should be done by then!”

“The drawings are pretty amazing.” Billy complimented Harold as Lisa stared in puzzlement at the superhero and wondered why the boys came up with him. Then again, boys are boys. She thought. They always like weird things.

“Thanks!” Harold was happy at this compliment. “You can be our first reader if you want.”

“I’d like that.” Billy gave the boy a shy smile.

“You can read it too, if you want.” George offered to Lisa, who was hesitant. She was as curious as Billy was, but this didn’t look like something she wanted to be caught reading, like that book of fairy tales. She was also still a bit cautious about these two strange boys who seemed to insist on wearing those odd bracelets.

“Uh... I don’t know.” Lisa shrugged. “I’m not a huge fan of comics.” She went to a couch to read her book as far away as she could from the boys. This annoyed George a bit, but then again Lisa was a little more uptight than her brother and he wasn’t fond of those kind of people to begin with.

“Well I am, so I can’t wait.” Billy reassured the boys. “It looks out of the norm, but I’ll give it a try.”

Once again, none of the children were aware that Captain Underpants was quietly observing them all from high atop the bookshelves, but was ready to fly through the walls if he needed to. He tried to keep an eye on them all since he was curious about them, but also because he didn’t want to get caught again and have the boys get angry at him. He wondered if the siblings had something to do with George and Harold’s mission and while it was nice to see the prince bonding with them, it was the princess he was concerned about.

There were some things Captain Underpants was curious about in this place and he still felt that odd pull towards the ocean (which doubled his curiosity after what had happened to him), but there was something else that he realized. He had this sense of being... well it was hard to describe, but it felt odd, like something was missing.

And yet when he saw someone in distress, he forgot about those concerns because that urge to help overwhelmed everything else. He didn’t fully understand what was going on, or what George and Harold’s mission was, but the girl who seemed to be in too much of a hurry to grow up looked like she really needed some fun in her life, alongside her brother. Her brother was able to befriend George and Harold and was able to relax, so now he had to figure out how to get the sister to relax, laugh, or even befriend George and Harold. He was not the smartest person alive, but something in his gut told him that girl had to be friends with the boys.

If Captain Underpants was very careful tomorrow, he could be able to fix this.

*****

After Lisa explained her theory to Billy, they returned to the secret room to try to write a letter later that night.

“You better let me do this.” Billy told Lisa as he sat down at the desk and got the pen ready. “I can try to copy dad’s handwriting, but we need to word this carefully. I might even need to write a second letter in case they rip up the first one.”

“Are you sure they’d do that?” Lisa asked.

“If I wanted to be left alone, I’d eventually start ripping them up.” Billy tried to think like whoever the writer was if it wasn’t the supposed ocean king. “So I might even need to give them a note to tell them not to do it.”

“Try mentioning the drills and the lack of fishing.” Lisa reminded Billy.

“Yeah, we need to keep this to a minimum.” He admitted. “We shouldn’t mention ourselves, just to be on the safe side.” And with that, Billy carefully composed the letter to whoever their father had been in contact with. He asked Lisa on occasion for some input on a few lines he was planning to write before changing them. Upon completion, Billy then added at the top of the letter ‘PLEASE READ THIS, IT’S URGENT! I’LL END UP SENDING ANOTHER ONE OF THESE IF YOU DON’T RESPOND BY TOMORROW EVENING!’

Lisa took the letter and both her and Billy tried to figure out how to work the contraption. They were able to get the letter in the glass box when they inserted it through the slot at the top, which then sealed itself up as tightly as it could. They put it in the tube and when Lisa found a lever that she and Billy pushed down together as hard as they could, the letter went shooting down the tube.

“I can’t wait to see if they respond.” Lisa was hopeful.

“Yeah, but they still might not respond.” Billy pointed out. He thought for a bit. “It almost seems like the surface kingdom and the ocean kingdom are supposed to be working together if the stories are all true.”

“Yeah, but if it is, then I wonder what happened to stop that.” Lisa stared at the contraption. “What exactly happened ten years ago?”

Meanwhile in an entirely different section of the castle, Edith was asleep in her room while unaware of the presence that was in there with her.

Captain Underpants was very sure that being in another person’s room (especially a woman’s at that) without permission wasn’t noble. Yet it was very dark and he couldn’t see much in the room to begin with, and maybe this would just be a one time thing so he wouldn’t have to feel too guilty about it. Plus, while he was aware that Edith couldn’t see him, a part of him desperately wanted to try to talk to her for quite some time and at least he could pretend that he could in the dark.

Though the idea of it was making him flustered for some reason.

“Uh, so...” He stammered. “Well, I suppose I could say anything I want to.” He reasoned to himself before he tried again when he turned back to the sleeping woman. “I saw you arguing with that woman earlier, and you were very right. Those two children were miserable and they were happy when you sent the boys and their lunches to them.” He stopped as he remembered that he probably shouldn’t talk too much about the boys if they were on a mission and he continued with that in mind. “You did the right thing and I agree with you–as impressive as this place is, no one would want to be stuck in here all the time.”

There was no response, but Captain Underpants went on with a bit more confidence.

“It sounds like you took a risk by putting those children before your duty and I think that is very heroic of you. Though it also would be a shame if you did get fired because those kids like you very much. You are a very nice person and you shouldn’t let people like that woman bring you down.”

“Also, I think your eyes are very striking.” He found himself saying with a smile without realizing it in time. “I’ve never seen eyes as blue as yours.”

There was a silence as he felt his face get warm. Maybe he shouldn’t have said that last part, but he couldn’t help himself. “Well, uh,” He stammered. “Anyway, I know you probably can’t hear me, so I can leave you alone if you want. Or you can pretend that this is all a dream. I don’t want to bother you and come across as disrespectful... or worse.” He felt himself getting embarrassed. “Uh, I’ll... just go then.”

He left the room feeling conflicted about whether or not what he just did was ok or not. He already messed up on one thing that day and he didn’t want to do it again... yet a part of him wanted more than anything to try to talk to her again at some point.

A lot of these strange feelings and sensations were very confusing to him, and this one was among them.

Chapter Text

The next morning, both Billy and Lisa made sure to get their lunches from Edith. “We’re sorry about yesterday.” Billy apologized to the woman after he and his sister grabbed the bags. “We had a lot on our minds last morning and we didn’t get enough sleep the night before. We didn’t mean to get you in any trouble.”

“I should have paid more attention myself, so it’s not your fault.” Edith gave them a smile. “I’ve been having a lot on my mind too, like why the salt is vanishing on me all of a sudden.”

“Maybe we have a salt thief.” Lisa tried to suggest and it made the woman chuckle until they heard voices from out in the hallway.

“Oh my gosh, he kissed you out in public?” A maid squealed to another maid.

“He did!” The other maid giggled. “We were walking and he thought it would be fun to kiss in front of a bunch of people. But I liked it more when he kissed me good-night when we were alone by the clock tower.”

Edith let out a sigh that alerted Lisa’s attention to her; Lisa didn’t like how the woman went from happy to sad so fast and she was sure that she completely understood why. “Come on Billy, let’s go.” Lisa went out into the hallway and her brother followed suit, but she still gave Edith one more glance. The woman was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t even wave them good-bye.

I wish there was a way to help her. Lisa thought. Even if Edith always seemed happy and hard working, it was clear there was something she wanted very much and it was something the princess knew she could not easily grant.

*****

It was another day of cleaning for both boys and this time they were expected to wipe away the dust in some areas in a hallway that were hard to reach. Ms. Gambino wanted them to wash the large windows too, but fortunately it was pointed out to her that one would need a ladder and some supplies that the boys would probably have a hard time using. Still, the boys wanted to be able to go outside and be free to explore because they didn’t learn much when they had to do these chores.

There were some things to help pass the time. In this hallway there was a painting that they critiqued and wondered about, and the windows allowed a nice view of part of the town down below and the ocean that went off into the distance. And of course if you had an adult in very little clothing marveling at everything he saw and would talk his head off about anything that came to mind, it was bond to make your time exciting. Captain Underpants wanted to know everything about what the boys were up to and it was hard to do so in a place where someone could overhear you, so George at least tried to calm him down by talking about the secret place where he and Harold used to draw and place the human objects they collected.

Meanwhile Harold got up after getting some dust off a window ledge and found himself staring at the ocean once again. Every time he did, his mind would think about the things he left behind and missed. He missed playing with Serenity and he missed his classmates, but he missed his mom and sister more than anything. A part of him wished that they could call it quits and go back, even though he knew what the price of that would be. Another part of him also wished that he could have thought about taking Heidi away from the ocean kingdom when he had the chance since there was one bracelet left when they found theirs. She would have loved this place as much as Harold did and he did not want her trapped down in the ocean with a cruel adult for a ruler. Heck she might even have liked Captain Underpants for more than just because he took on the form of her brother’s drawing.

Harold then thought about the starfish he made for Heidi for her birthday. He made it with seaweed, shells, colorful stones, barnacles, and anything else he could find and he did it in secret. When he gave the starfish to her, she was so amazed and she gave him a huge hug while calling it the most beautiful thing she ever saw. Heidi also wanted to show her friends the starfish, but instead she had to keep it hidden away in their room where it could never leave.

Harold then thought about his mom–hard working, beautiful, funny, and deserving of far better then their dad. They always fought and then one day he just left. It was one of the worst days of Harold’s life and he hated watching his mom break down and cry and he found himself angry and sad that his father–someone he loved and thought was one of the most amazing people ever–apparently didn’t love his family enough to even bother to try to stay in touch. (Oddly enough, the king must have had some sort of respect towards his mom because he learned from her that Krupp promised some sort of punishment upon his dad if he ever came back. Except when he asked her what that punishment was, his mom went pale and told him she would tell him when he became a teenager). The loss of his dad didn’t help him with how shy he was back then and made him more withdrawn, but everything changed for the better when he first met George.

It made Harold thankful for George’s friendship, and George’s dad was the closest thing to a substitute for a dad. Harold wanted to confess how he felt to George about feeling homesick, but a part of him was afraid so instead he found himself singing quietly to himself as he went to clean another ledge. “A ‘níon mhín ó, sin anall na fir shúirí. A mháithairin mhín ó, cuir na roithléan go dtí mé. Dúlamán na binne buí, dúlamán Gaelach.” It was some song his mother used to sing to him and Heidi and he had no idea what the words meant, but he sang it anyway.

“Dúlamán na farraige, be’fhearr a bhí in Éirinn.” He sang and hummed one part before going to the next as he continued his work.

“Tá ceann buí oir are an dúlamán Gaelach. Tá dhá chluais mhaol are an dúlamán maorach. Bróga breaca dubha are an dúlamán gaelach. Tá bearéad agus triús ar an dúlamán maorach.” Harold then finally realized that someone was singing along with him and it was not George.

“Tá ceann buí oir are an dúlamán Gaelach.” Harold stopped and turned around and was very surprised to see that it was Captain Underpants of all people who was singing the song with him. “Dúlamán na farraige, be’fhearr a bhí in Éirinn.” He continued singing with a huge smile and closed eyes while oblivious to the fact that he was on his own.

“How do you know that song?” Harold finally demanded and the adult was startled awake, stopped singing, and ending up flying into the air when he realized the child had stopped singing. He then realized what he had done and nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well I–” He paused. “How do I know that song?” Captain Underpants rested his chin in his hand and went into a thinking pose for a moment before shrugging. “Hmm, I can’t recall.”

Harold then shared a look with George. That was a song that most of their classmates also knew–in fact George’s own mother knew that song and sang it to him too. And somehow their companion knew that song.

Harold looked at Captain Underpants again and once again he observed just how similar the man was to Krupp. Harold swore that there was no mention of the king having a twin or a sibling and he could have bought that possibility, yet the voices of the two were also exactly the same despite that one sounded friendly and energetic and the other sounded grumpy and angry (and never ever sang, as far as Harold could recall).

The boys continued with their work, but eventually Harold’s mind began drifting back to home again and he stared out a window to look at the ocean that held memories both good and bad. Soon he just ceased and kept staring out at it.

“Hey maybe we should come up with a prank on Ms. Gambino on our last day.” George tried to tell Harold. “She wouldn’t be able to punish us. What do you think?” But Harold didn’t hear his best friend. Harold didn’t notice George looking at him and the boy turned around to gesture for Captain Underpants to come over before he cupped his hand around his mouth and whispered something into the adult’s ear.

I hope you and Heidi are ok, wherever you are now. Harold sighed as he closed his eyes and thought of his mom. I guess George has something from his dad to remind him of home, but I don’t. Harold didn’t want to get jealous of George for his dad’s handwriting being in that booklet and being something close to personal value to him, while the other boy couldn’t think of something he had to remind him of home.

“Hey Harold, look!” The blonde finally heard his friend call to him and turned around, only to come face to face with a huge dolphin that was flying in the air and was somehow wearing a familiar cape and pair of underpants (somehow being a key word for the latter).

Harold observed the bizarre sight for a few moments before a huge smile formed on his face and he began to laugh. He collapsed to the floor and laughed so hard that he began crying tears and had a hard time breathing.

The dolphin changed back into Captain Underpants, who was pleased with his work and when he turned to face George, the boy gave him a thankful smile as well as a thumbs-up of approval.

*****

A little later on, both boys ended up having lunch with Edith at a round table in a small spot near the kitchens.

“If you ever want, I can make you a treat.” Edith told them. “I know how to make all kinds of sweets, from ice cream and cakes to food you can get at the boardwalk, like carmel corn.”

“What’s carmel corn?” George asked Edith as he and Harold gave her a confused look.

“You’ve never had it?” Edith was stunned but then grinned. “Well I promise that I should have enough ingredients to make it here and you wouldn’t need to wait to go to the boardwalk!” And with that she helped teach the boys how to make it, first by making popcorn from golden seeds that exploded into white puffs and then by making a sweet and sticky brown substance in another pot before combining them all together. During this time the boys jokingly threw out gross sounding recipes for the fun of it, like ‘booger-berry pie’ and the woman laughed her head off at each one–her laugh was strange sounding, but not discomforting to the ears–before jokingly adding in a few of her own, like spaghetti with worms for noodles and mud, grass, and rocks for the sauce. It was quite a lot of fun for the three and finally Edith was able to present the boys with the carmel corn.

She watched as the boys ate it. At first they were cautious of the stuff, but when the look of delight at the sweet discovery shone in their eyes, they happily ate as much of the sweet stuff as they wanted and even played with its stickiness by mashing the treat into misshapen creatures of their imaginations.

“Should I make it again sometime?” Edith asked.

“This is so good!” Harold moaned in delight as George gave Edith a huge smile of appreciation.

“This is so good!” Edith froze as a memory flashed through her mind of another who reacted in an exact same way to the treat.

“Is something wrong?” George asked as he noticed Edith looking as if she remembered something that was troubling her.

“Huh?” Edith snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head. “Oh it... it’s nothing.” She stammered. It couldn’t be a coincidence that they reminded her of him in that instant, could it it? These two acted the exact same way to the treat. “I need a moment.” Edith went out to look for something in one of the pantries in an attempt to try to think things over in private.

“It’s too bad we don’t have more people like her back home.” Harold commented after swallowing up his mouthful of carmel corn. “They wouldn’t let you-know-who treat us like he did.”

George nodded before an odd thought struck him and he snorted. “He probably thinks we’ll never come back, but it would be really funny if he missed us.”

Harold snorted and laughed. “Yeah, there’s no way that would happen in a million years! I bet you anything he probably wanted to throw a party or something like that if he thought we were gone for good!”

George laughed a little more before staring at the ceiling. “I sure don’t miss him. Wherever he is, he’s probably back to being his usual crabby self. The only difference is that we aren’t there to keep him on edge.”

*****

The floor of the hallway was filled with various sea urchins of various shapes and sizes. While the merfolk could have easily swam above them all, the sight was enough to send them into a panic and fall under the belief that there was an infestation. It was enough to alert Krupp, who found himself staring in disbelief at the sight as a few adults were trying to pick the creatures up and get them out of there without getting injured, resulting in some of them holding onto a spine or two and holding the creatures as far out as possible so as to not get poked.

He then found himself looking down to face the two very young and very small culprits responsible for this mess.

Both of them were around the age of five or six and had the faces of innocence that would melt the hearts of more weaker minded people. He knew the blonde haired child since he was an infant, and his mother started working at the castle a few years before he was born. The other one with the whale’s tooth on his necklace had recently moved in with his own parents. Both of them stared up at him with eyes full of curiosity and nonchalance towards what they had somehow accomplished. They had no visible injuries, but closer inspection revealed a very small cut on both their arms and it was enough for him to pick up a very faint scent of blood (being part shark had some advantages, but it wouldn’t make him go into a frenzy). They knew who he was, but there was no trace of fear or awe within them and instead they looked at him as if he were any other adult.

Krupp looked up once again at the many sea urchins in the hallway (How the heck were two young merchildren able to accomplish this before anyone else could notice?!) and then looked down at the boys again before letting out a sigh. “I’m going to regret this aren’t I?” He asked himself before addressing them with his arms crossed in front of him.

“Well I can’t exactly make you both clean this all up since it was bad enough you were able to get these in here and you knowingly risked injuring yourselves... which was pretty stupid on both your parts if you ask me. Plus I’m guessing your parents will have a punishment in mind, so there’s no point in punishing you today. But if I do get a word about you doing this again, you both will be cleaning this up after yourselves. Got that bubs?” He asked as he leaned forward and towered over the two who did not move back away from him.

These two children out of the many he encountered down here were not afraid of him, he realized as the boys silently stared at him with the nonchalant eyes that made him feel uneasy. Finally Harold said “Alright” and George followed up with a “Sure” and they both nodded.

That was Krupp’s first time he ever saw the two together and unfortunately for him it was also the first time they would begin a series of pranks and other acts of disrespect. Little did he know that these two would soon represent everything he was against and challenge his word as if, by some divine prank, he was fated to be tied to those two in some way or another.

Krupp sighed as he stared off into nothingness inside his room wile recalling that memory. It was very spacious, but it contained little to no personal possessions that were of value to him and there was a sort of darkness to the area as if any form of light couldn’t get rid of the shadows and would only make them larger instead. At least here he could be free from everything and everyone, but the downside was that it left him to thoughts and memories he didn’t want to be reminded of. He could focus on the present when he worked, but when left alone, it was another story.

The very thought of being freed from the two pranksters made him immensely happy and relieved to the point he almost wanted to celebrate, but then for some reason those feelings didn’t last. Krupp didn’t know why, but something about the aftermath made him feel even more hollow then he usually felt nowadays. It should have been a success, but it wasn’t how he thought it would turn out. The uneasiness that something could happen without warning within the castle was gone, but it felt like something else had vanished alongside it. As if a bit of life had somehow vanished and left behind a noticeable hole.

Were those boys the only actual life of this entire place and did he actually miss it? The idea of ever missing the boys was as stupid as it was hilarious to Krupp. Why would he even want to miss them after all the trouble they gave him when they were around?

And also to his great anger it turned out that he hadn’t been freed from those two just yet. Both George and Harold’s parents were horrified and angry when they found out about his encounter with their sons and the warning he gave them, and then they lost it when they found out that it lead to the merboys swimming off to who knew where. He personally didn’t care about where they went and a part of him wouldn’t have minded if that reckless behavior got them into trouble again. Yet he now had two sets of parents who were neglecting their duties to search for their sons, which lead to inconveniences. Then again it was their fault for not disciplining the two properly, not his.

Krupp wondered why some divine power had to insist on throwing this problem at him in the form of those two boys. What did he do to deserve such a hassle that he didn’t need? The very idea that George and Harold–two children–were his least favorite people in the entire world over everyone or anyone else almost made him feel ridiculously pathetic at times. Yet hearing them and all those other children laughing, singing their heads off, and having fun set him off into fits of annoyance and anger until it got to the point that he never stopped to think of why that was such a problem for him or how that originated in the first place. And the fact that the boys never gave up, despite the number of times they were told otherwise, and willingly disobeyed him in the face of their ultimate punishment, annoyed Krupp even when he was sure that they were gone for good in almost every way but one.

The odd thing was that he had intended to destroy the rest of their comics, but by the time he could finally get to that (after many distractions), something in him stopped him. It was an odd feeling of happy satisfaction and pride, but it wasn’t for what he was about to do. It was the feeling of having done something, but not for the act of about ready to do something.

It just happened without any warning and for some reason it gave him an odd warmth he couldn’t ever recall feeling before or for a very long time and he couldn’t figure out why. Then the feeling vanished and left him confused to the point that he almost forgot what he was supposed to be doing.

And then for some reason the idea of ripping up the comics made him hesitant and he soon found himself flipping through their pages out of sheer boredom while away from spying eyes. He was exposed to the true talents of Harold and George, and while the comics were as childish as he had expected, a part of him began to understand why their classmates were also willing to risk everything to be able to read them. In fact he realized by that point that he completely forgot about punishing the few who he did catch holding a comic in their possession, but he had no desire to deal with another set of parents who were angry at him.

A very small part of him reluctantly admitted that the comics were decent, but they didn’t give him the joy that they would have when he was the age of those kids. Reading the comics didn’t bring back any of that odd warmth he experienced but it made him feel as if the boys were somehow still here, which was annoying at best. And yet within the pages were signs that the boys had some knowledge of the human world, despite his best attempts to keep it away from himself and the others. He had no idea how that was possible, but it only made his resolve to keep out the world above, and all that it reminded him of, even stronger than ever.

He didn’t know if he scared off George and Harold for good or if their act was one of great defiance, but he didn’t care so long as he wouldn’t have to personally deal with them and all the bad influences they could invoke anymore.

Krupp was taken out of his thoughts when he heard a voice behind his door. “Sir? You know how that one contraption hasn’t been in use for ten years? It’s still working and something came out of it.”

This puzzled him. Which contraption? The only one he could think of was–wait. He scowled as he felt his mood go bad and his irritation rise. “Just destroy it!” He snapped at the door.

“Well the letter had a message at the top that insisted you read it and that you respond or else another one will be sent!”

Krupp growled to himself and slammed his head against a desk. “What does that idiot want this time?! I told him to leave me alone!”

And yet he ended up going to check on the letter anyway (mainly out of curiosity and also because he wanted to be left alone for good after this).

*****

To whom may it concern,

I know it has been a long time since we have talked and I know you threatened to destroy my kingdom if I ever responded back, but this is urgent and it may concern your people.

All these storms that have happened without warning is threatening our livelihood. We aren’t able to fish out in the ocean (or get any fish) and it’s discouraging people from touring the kingdom. A lot of people will lose their jobs because of this.

Also, I don’t know if you are aware of this, but an oil drill was built out in the ocean, despite my best efforts to stop it. I know that this could ruin the environment, but my people are desperate for other means to make a living.

We have to stay in contact about this. I honestly don’t know what to do, but I need your help if we want to prevent a disaster.

Krupp stared at the letter as he felt his anger rise. So the idiot was blaming him for all of his problems then? He didn’t have full control of those storms and half the time they were caused because of what he had to deal with! And if he was so worried about the drill, then why didn’t he have told him sooner before it was even built?! Krupp let out a laugh of sheer disbelief and a part of him wanted to let things play out without responding in order let the humans suffer for their own mistakes of where they chose to live.

Wait a minute, he stopped. Krupp recalled that the Sneedlys showed him something that they found out of the ocean and they said it was flammable. Did that have a connection to this?

He growled out a series of incoherent words as he crumpled up the letter and went over to grab some paper to write something back. “Oh like heck I’ll ever help him!” He snarled as he began to write without taking time to think about what he was writing.

*****

Finally the boys finished their comic and, as promised, Billy was the first to read it. Lisa didn’t join him in the library like she usually did and so the boys had it all to themselves. The comic was proven to be a success and Billy was kneeling over and laughing his head off half the time and needed to catch his breath before he could finish reading, but when he did he had a huge smile.

“Oh my gosh, how do you guys come up with this?!” He was amazed and had a huge grin on his face. “That was amazing! The story and the artwork is incredible! How did you even get those poses?” He asked Harold.

“George posed for me.” Harold shared a smile with George. Both were pleased to see the reactions of a reader who read one of their own comics, which was not often.

“You guys should keep doing this.” Billy told them. “Keep at it and maybe one day you could do this for a living. You’d make a lot of people happy.”

Meanwhile, Lisa was heading towards the library door and was playing with one of the ties to her sailor shirt when she heard her brother talk with the boys. She paused as her brother continued “Really, I don’t know how to describe it–your comic is that good. Oh yeah, my dad knew we wanted to see this one movie for awhile and he said he can’t come, but he could send money to pay for tickets for you guys if you want to join.”

“That would be great.” Lisa could hear Harold’s voice.

“Hey, I don’t think I let you guys see my room.” Billy realized. “My sister might not let you see hers, but I don’t mind showing you mine.”

“Ok.” George agreed and within seconds the boys left the library and headed down the hallway without noticing the young girl standing several feet from the library door.

Recalling what the boys said about the comic, Lisa cracked open the door and sure enough she could see the comic laying on the table where it had been forgotten.

Why was it so easy for her brother to make friends with the boys and not her? Was it really because she wasn’t a boy, or was it because he was more open to giving them chances? She was curious to look at the comic and see if there was a clue. A part of her was curious ever since she saw it the day before, but what if she was caught reading it? She didn’t want to be laughed at if she was caught.

Lisa was unaware of someone who was nearby and watching the look of conflict in her face and he could see that she wanted to read the comic. It was finally time to change that, he thought to himself as he ignored what he was told and decided to do what he felt was right.

“You should read it, it’ll be good!” A man’s voice–cheerful and full of life–suddenly spoke behind Lisa’s back.

The princess turned around to see who spoke to her, but there was no one there.

“Don’t be afraid.” The voice encouraged the little princess, who turned around to try to find the source of the kind sounding stranger. “You look like you could use a good laugh.”

“Hello?” Lisa asked as she looked around. “Whose there?” But no one responded. She even looked in the library, but the man she was looking for was not there. Instead there was only the comic waiting and beckoning to her. She went in and looked around until her eyes drifted down to the comic and an image of a large, bald headed man with a joyful smile and who were nothing but a red cape with black dots and large white underpants.

“The adventures of Captain Underpants. Written by George Harold. Art by Harold Hutchins.” Lisa read the words on the cover. She took the comic book and sat down on her favorite sofa. Curious as to what those two boys had made, but drawn more to the strange, yet joyful figure on the cover, Lisa opened up the comic and began to read.

The comic told a tale of a new kind of superhero. One who, according to the writer (whose spelling wasn’t so great half the time), was faster than a speeding waistband, more powerful than boxer shorts, and was able to leap tall buildings without getting a wedgie. Despite the odd sense of humor, Lisa was hooked and continued to read and watch Captain Underpants as he fought some very bizarre and often grotesque foes that made the princess snort and laugh. It was a very strange world that this superhero inhabited and he was someone who should not realistically exist in her world for a number of reasons. Even the world of the comic acknowledged his strangeness and when told to put on clothes, the silly superhero would only laugh and say that he was happy the way he was.

And before the princess knew it, she was laughing the hardest she had ever laughed in a long time. She was laughing until she was almost crying and she tried so hard not to rip the comic book up on accident in her fit of laughter. She didn’t recall ever being this happy after all the concerns and worries that had been piling up on her and she no longer cared about being caught enjoying something so childish and yet so much fun.

After she was able to calm down and get to the end when Captain Underpants had defeated the bad guy from taking over a school and brainwashing all the children into becoming his slaves, and everyone cheered for him, she read the last line “And so, Captain Underpants made sure that all the kids were safe, happy, and would act like the way kids should act because he fought for truth, justice, and all that was pre-shrunk and cottony.” She smiled at this. “I would definitely want to meet you.” She admitted to the character as he flew off into the sky on the final panel. As odd as he was, there was a warmth and charm to the childish superhero that made him seem fun to be around.

There was an odd laugh and Lisa looked up to see her brother and the boys staring at her from the door. The boys had an odd look in their eyes as if there was something funny about what she said, but her brother seemed really happy.

“I was just curious!” Lisa protested as she got up. “But... but it was good.” She admitted with a smile. “I don’t recall ever reading something that funny before. I really liked the story.” She smiled at George.

“Well it’s nice to know that–” Harold began but then paused. “Look, about yesterday when we asked which one of you gets angry... we’re sorry.” He apologized.

“Yeah, we did take it too far.” Billy admitted with a grimace. “I was just trying to lighten the mood.”

“It’s ok.” Lisa sighed and nodded. “I hope you don’t mind that I read the comic.” She tried to hand it to George when she went over to them.

“No it’s ok.” George waved a hand in protest. “The more happy readers the merrier. Thank you for reading it.”

Lisa took a deep breath and smiled. “So I don’t mind if you guys go to the movie with us.”

“We’ve never seen one, so we want to go.” Harold told her. “You said it would be at seven, right?” He asked Billy, who nodded.

“We should all get ready.” He grabbed his sister by the hand and the siblings lead the boys down the hallway.

Unknown to the siblings, the real Captain Underpants had listened to everything and watched as all four children hurried off. Seeing that he had succeeded in his goal to have the princess become friends with the boys–and even better, he made sure that she was truly happy–made him incredibly happy and optimistic for the future as he rested his back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling as he placed his fists on his hips. Seeing what he had accomplished and seeing all four children happy gave him a strong warmth inside him that wiped all his problems and worries away, even if only for a moment. That feeling that he had done something right and good for another felt so right to him. It gave him purpose even when he had no idea who he was supposed to be.

So long as he was here, he would make sure nothing bad would happen to those children. He would not let them be sad and he would not let any harm come to them. He would do everything in his power to protect them, he swore as he smiled to himself and closed his eyes. There is nothing in this world that will ever stop me.

*****

Meanwhile in the lab of Doctor and Lady Sneedly, Krupp was impatiently waiting for them to be done so that he could talk to them about what it was that they found and if it was what he thought it would be. It was only halfway filled with water in order for them to conduct certain kinds of experiments and keep things from mixing with the water, but the downside of this was that this allowed the occupants to have an idea of just how cold the ocean water currently was around this time. The walls were covered in metal and other odd materials and the lighting was strong enough that it would have almost been like being up in the world above on a bright day, but it didn’t help Krupp’s mood.

Krupp could feel the rage steadily raising within him as he felt his control over things slipping away. First with those two pranksters and now with those foolish, destructive humans who ignored the fact that others lived in the ocean for their own gain. He wanted to tear something up and–

Something warm exploded within him and his anger vanished away to be replaced with something pleasant. Something that made him feel light and calm and made the fire inside him die before it got too out of hand. Something that made him... happy?

Krupp’s eyes went wide as he clutched his chest. He wasn’t in pain but the strange feeling still caught him off guard because of how it changed him without warning. It already happened a few times before and now it was happening again. He was feeling happy for no reason and he had a sudden desire to protect something that was precious to him with his very life, but he had no idea why or what on earth he would want to protect. And it wasn’t even something, it was more like someone, but why?! He didn’t have anyone he wanted to protect! There wasn’t anyone he liked enough to even feel a little bit of that!

“Are you alright, Your Majesty?” Lady Sneedly asked in concern as she looked up from her vials and tubes.

What is this? Krupp thought in a panic as the feelings wouldn’t go away, no matter how hard he tried. What is happening to me?!

Being happy for no real reason then for the sake of being happy... when was the last time that ever happened? Why did he feel as if the sun was shining down on him and everything was so right when in reality nothing was supposed to be right now? Why did he feel things he was so sure he didn’t want to feel?

Then the feelings vanished as fast as they had come and left him feeling hollow, confused, frustrated, and a little miserable. Krupp didn’t do anything for many seconds and didn’t hear either of the Sneedlys until he finally looked up and was able to remember what he was doing.

“It’s nothing.” He tried to resume a stoic look. “So what exactly was that stuff you found and where did you find it?”

“Well we weren’t sure, but we think it might be from the human world.” Doctor Sneedly admitted. “We didn’t go up to the surface, but we traced it to a structure near the coastline that was a few miles from where the outskirts of the surface kingdom is. There seemed to be a little more of it around there.”

“And the structure? what did it look like?”

“It was hard to tell, but I think it looked like something made to extract something.” Lady Sneedly admitted. “Kind of like one of those oil drills that–” her face fell when she realized what she just said as well as what exactly the odd stuff they found was. Both she and her husband nervously stared at the king as he realized what had somehow escaped his notice. “That the humans made.” She finished saying as that was all she could do now.

Krupp realized in that moment that somehow he made a mistake in not having this taken care of earlier, and yet his pride was too strong for him to admit this out loud. Instead his anger was directed at another and it burned and steamed within him in mere seconds as he gritted his sharp teeth together and he felt his body begin to twitch. His hands tightened up into fists and before either scientist could react, Krupp let out a terrible yell and punched a hole into the wall so hard that the impact made it crack and shake the foundation and even a few vials and other objects that were all around them. It hurt his fist and he didn’t care, though it was enough to worsen his mood a little more.

“You’re going to take me there!” He demanded. “I told their king not to have that in my ocean and he didn’t listen! If he wanted to warn me about it, then he should have done it before this got too far!”

Lady Sneedly slowly backed away as Doctor Sneedly stammered. “But–you aren’t actually going to destroy it are you?! We need to have a way to stop the flow if there even is any oil!”

“WELL FINE THEN, WE CAN DO IT TOMORROW AT NIGHT!” Krupp threw his hands up as he roared out in anger and nearly scared both scientists to death. Even Melvin–who had been secretly watching from a corridor–was a bit afraid of the king’s wrath for once. “I DON’T CARE HOW LONG IT TAKES, THEY ALL NEED TO BE TAUGHT A LESSON! THAT THING IS GOING AWAY WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT!”

Krupp then took a deep breath and panted as his body slouched over after that outburst and he looked around the lab while cradling his hand. A human scientist he allowed to work here once used this place to conduct experiments and do almost whatever he pleased while saying it was for the benefit of both races. Instead he only made everyone uneasy due to the questionable nature of half his work and he never even bothered to tell them his name, under the idea that he ‘wanted to keep his identity hidden from enemies’ or whatever that meant. Krupp felt he had every right to banish that scientist because–like in this case–it only further proved how destructive humans could actually be.

However, none of his people–not even the Sneedlys themselves–were aware of a procedure that had been done in this very room that Krupp remembered all too well. A procedure done by that very same human scientist as a matter of fact. Everything tied to that memory only increased his anger at being in this lab and he had a strong desire to get out of there before he was consumed by more unwanted memories.

“If you don’t come up with a way to stop it, then I’m doing things my way.” Krupp growled at the family of intellects while unaware of a mechanical octopus spying on them all from a window. Instead the infamous rage was consuming him as he mentally cursed everything about the world above for all that it had done to him as well as what it denied him. He was denied many things in his life, including the chance to punish George and Harold, and he was denied any real joy in his life while having to watch so many others live it out around him, but he would not be denied the chance to lash out when given the chance.

And he didn’t care who would get caught up in it.

*****

“Hey Edith,” Harold greeted the woman as he and George saw her finishing up with cleaning some dishes. “We are about to go, but we wanted to show you the comic!” He showed the comic to Edith before setting it down on the table.

“Yeah, and thanks again for giving us the stuff to make it!” George thanked her. “We promise that we will repay you somehow!” He added before he and Harold could hurry off.”

“Oh boys, you don’t have to–” Edith tried to protest but the boys had vanished.

“Oh well,” She sighed but smiled and, after washing her hands and drying them, she went over to the table to pick up the comic and she smiled when she saw the cover and the joyful looking character upon it. “Oh, so you’re Captain Underpants.” She chuckled as she smiled back at him. “It’s certainly a pleasure to meet you at last.”

Edith sat down to read the comic book that the boys created. She heard the waves from the ocean acting up again and she scowled a little before she shook her head and began to read. She wanted to focus on a character who seemed positive and lived up to his name and not a character who currently seemed to be in a foul mood if the stories were true.

*****

The movie that the boys saw was unlike anything they had ever seen when they saw it with the siblings. It was a new form of story telling they had never seen before and the sets, puppetry, and stop motion that was used helped to make the world seem believable. It was to the point that the boys were almost convinced it was real until they remembered that Lisa and Billy told them that movies were like story telling. The siblings were surprised to hear that neither George or Harold had seen or heard of a film before hand and it was so interesting to watch them marvel over the cinema and how it was like a castle to them. They even ended up consuming the whole bag of popcorn that they shared together before the movie got anywhere close to its halfway point.

Both Harold and George enjoyed the film and while they didn’t get all the jokes, they were able to laugh alongside the other viewers. Their only complaint was that the film was in black and white, but other then that, it was something they were going to keep in mind when they would talk about the human world to their classmates when they finally went back home.

“That was amazing!” Harold laughed as all four children walked out of the theater. “You’d think it was all real if you didn’t know any better!”

“Yeah, good thing we could tell the difference!” George also laughed as he grew thankful that they didn’t bring a certain someone along with them because he was really sure that Captain Underpants would have thought it to be real and then he would have tried to defeat the ‘monster’ and ruined the film and the experience for them all. He was thankful that when he and Harold told Captain Underpants that they wanted to be able to hang out with the siblings for the night, the adult was surprisingly fine with this and didn’t even bother to ask to come along.

“Yeah, it’s amazing how far film is advancing.” Billy admitted. “There wasn’t even sound until a decade or two ago. But I’d love to see a cartoon film–not a short film, but something just as long as that one.”

“Or maybe a film in color.” Lisa admitted. “I wish we could see everything for how it looked when they were making it.”

“Yeah,” Harold agreed. “Everything is better when it’s in col–” He and George accidentally collided into someone and forced them to the ground on accident. “Oh, I’m sorry! Are you ok?!” He shot the person a concerned look.

“NO, I AM NOT OK!” The boys were surprised by how angry the person was and they flinched back away from him and the box he dropped when they collided together. The short man with glasses so thick that you couldn’t see his eyes and his white hair that stuck at two different ends was bizarre to behold and his anger was almost more amusing to watch than upsetting. “You should have looked where you were going, you foolish child!” He growled as he stamped a foot into the ground and pointed an accusing finger at the young artist.

“Hey!” George snapped at the man as Harold backed away from the adult. “He said he was sorry!”

The man growled at the two but then he stopped when he took a look at the two boys. He then turned to see the prince and princess looking at him in concern and anger and he grimaced. “Oh, never mind.” He shook his head as he grabbed his box and walked off.

“I wonder what his problem was.” Lisa wondered. Of course none of the children dwelled too much on the angry adult and went back to talking to themselves.

Unfortunately none of them realized the real reason why the adult recognized them. “That was close!” He sighed to himself when he was sure that he was out of earshot. “I can’t believe I ran into them like that while getting parts!” He then laughed to himself. “Oh if only those two knew that I was the reason they are even up here to begin with! They would have done more than apologize! In fact they still may prove to be of use to me when the time comes! It doesn’t matter how or when, but they will bring down both these kingdoms whether they know it or not!” He let out a laugh.

As the professor expected, things were steadily getting bad for both kingdoms and it would be a matter of time until something would happen. If not, then he would improvise his way to get results.

*****

The strange person who resembled George and Harold’s creation found Edith napping in the kitchens and she was resting her head against her arms on a table by a calendar and some notes and books. Only a little bit of her face was exposed while the rest was hidden behind her arms and her veil of hair. George and Harold’s comic book was laying face down and indicated that she read the whole thing, which made him smile. She clearly had good taste and his liking towards her increased.

But should he try to talk to her again? He didn’t have anyone to talk with when the boys weren’t around to talk to.

“Hi again!” Captain Underpants cheerfully greeted the woman. “It looks like the children are happy today and they are all finally friends! You should have heard them laughing over the comic the boys made! I thought it was terrific myself and I see that you read it too!”

Edith stirred in her sleep.

“Today I learned that I could sing!” He grinned with pride. “Oh, I guess I didn’t tell you! I don’t remember anything about myself!” His smile faded a little as he was reminded of this. “It would be nice to remember who I was or if I have a name. I like the one I’m using and I bet its far better than whatever my real name is.” He tried to stay cheerful.

No response.

“How did it go?” Captain Underpants asked himself and tried to sing the song as best as he could. It wasn’t on tempo like how Harold sang it, and he missed a few beats, but he still tried his best. He got as far as he could before he gave up and gave Edith a shrug. “It’s not perfect but it’s a start.”

No response besides moving her head a little to reveal more of her face.

Captain Underpants let out a huge sigh before he could continue. “I don’t know why, but I keep coming to you for some reason. You are very nice and kind to those children, and you clearly have a sense of humor, but you are also dedicated, hard working, and willing to put others before yourself. Also you have a nice pair of eyes.” He gave her a warm smile. “I might have said a few of those things already, but I’m just saying what I can.”

No response. Now he was starting to feel like a complete dummy. “This would feel better if I knew that you would want me around or not.” He admitted. “I might not even be the kind of person you would want to be around and I am probably being rude and bothering you.” He let out a weak laugh but it only made him feel worse about this. “And I want to respect your boundaries. I know I goofed up on a few things and...” He paused as his confidence shrank to the point that he didn’t know what to do.

“I wish you could respond back to me.” He sighed as he went away. “I wish you could see and hear me.”

Moments passed before Edith finally woke up. She rubbed her eyes and looked around for a moment.

“Hello?” She asked. “Is someone here with me?”

No response.

*****

That night, Lisa and Billy went down into the secret room where they discovered that the mystery person finally responded, but what they found was not a pleasant message.

“I don’t care about your problems and you should have warned me before you thought of having the drill built, bub!” Billy read with a frown. “You might as well have asked for a war! Now leave me alone!”

“Ok, that’s it.” Lisa growled as she grabbed some paper to write back to the person. “Well maybe this wouldn’t have happened if you stayed in contact with me! Trust me you would have known if we wanted a war with you, and I at least told you about it, didn’t I?! Don’t do anything you will later regret ‘bub!’” She snarled as she wrote out the letter.

“Don’t get him mad!” Billy worried.

“He’s already mad and I’m not letting him off so easily!” Lisa angrily replied as she took the letter and sent it into the contraption.

“If we don’t get a response, we need to stop this.” Billy warned her. “If this really is who we think it is, we could get everyone in so much trouble!”

Lisa sighed as she held her face in her hands. “I just wish this could all stop. I want things to return back to the way they once were.”

Billy nodded in understanding. There was so little they could do at this point and he doubted they would get a letter back.

“Well on the bright side, we could take George and Harold to the boardwalk tomorrow.” Billy pointed out. “We could use some fun and I think they said that they wanted to check it out.”

“Yeah, you are right.” Lisa nodded with a smile. “We should do that.”

Chapter Text

“Didn’t my sister say something about a rumor that Krupp cut out his heart?” Harold asked George when they had a moment to discuss the similarities between the king and the hero that night when they were supposed to be asleep.

“Yeah, but wouldn’t Krupp want to keep it somewhere better hidden or nearby in case someone like us were to find it and use it against him?” George pointed out as he stared up at the dark ceiling. “It seems pretty careless if you threw your heart into an eel infested place and expected to stay alive without one of them swallowing it up. I’d buy the twin theory–”

“Except he can’t be a long lost twin because they sound way too similar.” Harold pointed out. “I mean I know they almost sound different at first–one sounds a little more chipper and brighter and the other sounds like he’s ready to grumble or yell–but when I remember things and I listen closely, it almost sounds like I’m hearing the same person. And we would have known about any other siblings he might of had already, unless he wiped the memory away from everyone’s minds.”

George tried to think. “We would need to try to see if we could get Captain Underpants to remember before we can do anything about that, but we don’t want to push him if everything goes horribly wrong. Can you imagine what could happen if the two met? I hate to say it, but Captain Underpants is stupid enough that he could easily be manipulated and he could get us caught. Maybe we won’t be able to make him remember right away, but something is obviously going on that we don’t know about.” He frowned. “But if Captain Underpants was the heart, then why isn’t he an actual heart?”

Both boys were grossed out at the idea of owning an actual organ from the person they hated most and they both felt a small urge to vomit. “Ugh, that would be super weird and super gross.” Harold grimaced.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’d want to touch it.” George stuck his tongue out.

“I could be reading too much into this.” Harold confessed. “Maybe the answer is simpler than what we’re thinking, but Krupp is hiding something. Mom said he used to be less angry and more patient, but then something happened. There has to be a reason he wanted to cut us all off from the surface world.”

George paused. “You know how the ocean sounded pretty active when we went to the theater? I think something must have got him mad again.” He knew what the ocean sounded like when the waves got larger and when a storm was occurring. What they saw wasn’t too alarming, but the fact that it happened without warning was a sign that something happened to get the king angry.

“Yeah.” Harold agreed. “I can’t imagine what though since a lot of things set him off. We aren’t there to get him mad, so it’s not our fault.”

Meanwhile, one of the two individuals that the boys were talking about had found himself right above a specific spot out on the ocean yet again.

“Hmm, I feel a strange need to go somewhere down below.” Captain Underpants rubbed his chin in thought. “But last time I tried this, I found myself back to where George and Harold were.” Even though some time had passed and quite a bit had happened since his last attempt to go into the water, the hero still felt a pull towards a specific spot down below as if he needed to be wherever it was. If it wasn’t that feeling he was having, then it was the other one that had bothered him.

He realized it was like he was missing something or he was one part of something much bigger–it wasn’t just the lack of memories, but there was something else that felt off and he couldn’t figure out why, like the memories were even less important. He wanted to figure out why this was, and he wanted to remember who he was if that had any connection to it. What if it had to do with the odd need to be out here?

“Well, at first if you don’t succeed, you try again!” Captain Underpants cheerfully grinned as he pointed a finger up into the air. “Perhaps this time it will work!” He then decided to try something different and flipped upside down so that he could fall into the ocean head first when he ceased flying.

Seconds after he did this, and right before he could break through the water, he dissolved into red lights.

Around this time, the boys had finally fallen asleep while they kept the ring in it’s usual spot in the bathroom. Yet the light that returned back into the ring created enough noise to awaken one of them.

“It wasn’t us this time, I swear!” George yelled in alarm as he shot up and accidentally pressed his hand into Harold’s stomach hard enough to force the boy awake with a startled cry and sit up out of the water.

“What, what’s going on?!” Harold looked around. George took a few moments to calm himself down before he had a suspicion as to what happened. He snapped his fingers and–sure enough–their adult companion appeared barely a second later.

“Did I make it in this time?!” Captain Underpants asked as he looked around in excitement before he realized that the room was familiar to him. “Oh,” He frowned. “Huh, I guess it didn’t.” He scratched the back of his head.

“Hey.” He turned around to see two very annoyed children sitting up in the water filled bathtub. “Whatever you did to make yourself go back in the ring,” George began “Could you maybe not do it when we need to sleep?”

“Oh,” Captain Underpants grimaced in shame and got up. “Sorry about that.” He went away and the boys were unable to fall asleep for another couple of minutes until they could finally relax after the sudden scare of the night.

*****

The next morning was uneventful and the boys were cleaning up yet another hallway near the throne room. By this point they were getting exhausted by this daily routine.

“Shouldn’t there be a law against making children work?” George grumbled to Harold as they cleaned a glass case with a vase inside it. “I’m starting to think that school would be a lot more fun than this.”

“Well on the bright side we don’t have to stay here for too long.” Harold tried to be optimistic.

They continued to clean as a few men left the throne room after a meeting with the king in regards to the festival. It was around this time that Edith was bringing in a serving cart to take into the throne room ahead of time instead of during the next meeting (and embarrassing herself in front of everyone).

“Excuse me miss? I think I’ve seen you around here a few times.” Edith was snapped out of her thoughts and looked up to see a man around her age looking at her in interest. “Do you work at the castle?” He asked with a smile.

“Uh, yes?” Edith replied with uncertainty. “I’m one of the cooks.” This made the boys stop with their chores and they glanced around the corner to watch what was happening (partly because they were a little bored at this point).

“I see.” The man was thoughtful before he smiled. “That must be quite an honor. I am helping to organize events for the festival. Perhaps you could offer some recommendations for a fundraiser dinner on that day? I’m going to be free this evening.”

Edith felt her heart stop. Is... am I being asked out? She wondered. But... but he said he needed help with his work. That’s not a date, is it? “Uh...” She stammered. “What exactly did you have in mind? I mean are you asking me out or...?” She let out a nervous laugh.

“Would that be bad?” The man asked with a concerned frown. “If you are seeing someone, I don’t want to make them mad, though I suppose they beat me to the punch.”

“Yes.” Edith blurted before realizing her mistake. “I mean no! I mean it’s bad if you tried to ask me out if I were seeing someone!” She tried to correct herself as she backed away from the man and waved her hands out in protest. “But I’m not seeing anyone–I mean I wouldn’t mind going out with you–I’m completely free and I have nothing to do–”

Edith then bumped into the cart and let out a yelp when she wasn’t expecting it, but then she kicked it on accident and the result made the cart go back into a wall, and the impact made the glass objects on top give out a warning rattle. “Oh no!” She panicked. “I’m sorry, I need to get this inside before anything breaks!” She grabbed the cart and maneuvered it into the throne room as fast as she could. However, the man seemed to get the wrong impression of what she was trying to say and he vanished by the time she came hurrying back out.

“Wait, I–!” She cried out in protest as she looked around to find the man, but he was gone. Embarrassed by her actions and deeply regretting her choice of words, Edith let out a great sigh of disappointment and grabbed her arms as she hung her head and headed back to the kitchens.

“I can’t do anything right, can I?” She mumbled to herself. “A guy shows interest in me and I mess it all up.” She stared out the window and frowned. “I messed up my chance to say the right thing again. Maybe that’s why he left me all those years ago.”

“Who did?” Edith nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the boys give her questioning looks. For once they managed to sneak up on her without warning instead of the other way around.

“Oh you boys scared the living daylights out of me!” She held a hand to her chest and let out a nervous laugh. “It’s nothing–just the woes of romance. Or lack of.” She corrected herself with a regretful sigh. “I don’t think it’s anything you boys would be interested in. I know you aren’t at that age yet.”

“Yeah, we really aren’t interested.” George bluntly admitted as he crossed his arms together while Harold was a bit more sympathetic.

“You know, maybe we can help you practice talking to guys. It doesn’t sound like you get to met a lot of them that often.” The blonde offered. “Maybe we could do a pretend conversation.”

“I guess so.” Edith admitted. “Well, I guess I can try to play along. Any practice is better than no practice.”

Moments later, they all found themselves in the library and Edith was sitting in a chair facing the sofa where the two boys sat.

“Why do I have to be the guy?” George asked Harold.

“Because between the two of us, you are the most confident with talking to people and you’ve had better luck charming others with more than your looks.” Harold answered.

“So you think I’m good looking?” George gave Harold a cocky smile and raised an eyebrow at him.

Harold rolled his eyes and smacked his head with his hand with Edith let out a chuckle. “You know what I mean! I’ve always been bad with making up stories and you usually do most of the socializing!”

“Ok, ok!” George shrugged before turning to Edith. He took a moment to cough and compose himself as he tried to envision himself as an adult. This was going to be insanely awkward, but they wanted to repay Edith somehow so he had to do his part.

“Ok, so if you want, I can pretend to be someone else or you could imagine me as someone else, ok?” He asked the woman, who nodded. He took a deep breath and began.

“Well hello sweet thing, what is your name?” He gave Edith a cocky smile as he casually rested his head against the back of the sofa.

“Uh, it’s Edith.” Both Edith and Harold were a little weirded out by George’s change in behavior, but they went with it.

“Edith huh?” George grew thoughtful with his choice of words. “That’s a... uh, pretty name. Mine’s, uh, George, but it’s not as pretty.”

“It’s a nice name.” Edith replied.

“Uh,” George struggled when he realized this wasn’t as easy as they thought. “What do you do for work?”

“I am a cook at the castle.”

“Oh that’s awesome!” George pretended to be excited. “I’m a writer, but it would be cool if I was the royal writer... or something like that.” He shrugged.

“Don’t you mean court poet?” Edith asked.

“Would guys be ok if the woman corrected them on things like that when they first meet up with each other?” Harold cut in.

“No.” George protested and Edith looked a little less confident about that. “I mean, I don’t know, maybe it’s ok–let’s just continue. Anyway,” George continued “I like to travel a lot.”

“Where to?” Edith asked. “I love to travel myself. It would be fun to visit multiple countries in one month, like in Europe.”

“Uh... uh... here and there?” George realized the problem with this. “You know I honestly can’t think of a place I’d want to go to.” He broke character to admit to both of them. “Let me try something else... What do you like to do for fun? Maybe I can have fun doing it with you.”

“Isn’t that too forward?” Harold asked, but George shushed him with a wave. “Well, I like baking.” Edith thought about this. “But I also like to take walks around town or out in nature. I also enjoy reading and listening to music and dancing to it. I know some people don’t like classical music, but its relaxing for me. I suppose I have a few more, but I would be interested in hearing some of yours first.”

“I wonder if a guy would start flirting at this point.” Harold grew thoughtful. “George think of something to flirt about!” He commanded.

“How would I–?” George sighed and decided to ask. “So what do you like to bake?”

“Well I like baking all kinds of things.” Edith started. “Sweets like pies, candies, and cakes are fun since children love them so much, but I enjoy making comfort foods like casseroles.”

“Ok, I guess I’d flirt about this somehow.” George struggled to think. “What would I flirt about?” He looked at Edith to try to come up with something nice to say that an interested adult (and not a child who saw the woman as an adult) would probably tell her, but it was awkward when the woman was way older than him.

“I’d imagine any of it must be as wonderful as her two blue eyes.”

George nearly screamed as he flinched in his spot and even Harold was startled when they looked up to see Captain Underpants resting his arms on top of the sofa while looking straight at Edith with a smile on his face.

“When did–?” George began, but then he saw that Edith was concerned by how the boys acted. He tried to think as fast as he could before Harold quickly mouthed ‘just let him help’ and hid this by pretending to scratch his cheek.

“Uh... I... I imagine any of it must be as wonderful as your two blue eyes!” George blurted to Edith.

The woman’s two blue eyes widened at this before they lit up and she gave the boy a warm smile. “Aw, that’s so sweet of you.” She thanked him. The boys let out a sigh of relief as their companion’s smile widened with delight.

“You’re welcome... uh.” George looked at Captain Underpants for help since it seemed the adult was wanting to help. “Uh..” He coughed to get the adult’s attention and the man was snapped out of his thoughts. When he saw George whispering “Do you want to help?” he nodded before turning to Edith.

“Tell her ‘I’m sure the treats you make are probably a lot more sweeter.’” He told George.

“I’m sure the treats you make are probably a lot more sweeter.” George repeated as Harold chuckled.

This made Edith let out a giggle. “Oh my... uh,” She tried to think. “Are you from around here too, or are you just visiting?”

“This place looks familiar, but it would be fun to explore with someone who knows about it.” The fourth person in the room that Edith was not aware of replied to her.

“This place looks familiar, but it would be fun to explore with someone who knows about it.” George repeated.

“Oh, well I wouldn’t mind showing you around.” Edith offered. “There are some very nice sights to look at, and sometimes if you wait for the right time of day they’ll look even prettier.”

“There certainly are.” Captain Underpants agreed with a dreamy look in his eyes as he rested his jaw and chin in one hand.

“There certainly are.” George repeated as Harold wondered what the heck that meant. Yes, their unusual friend was surprisingly good at flirting, but that was an odd thing to say and it puzzled the child.

“Well if you’d like, I could either take you somewhere to talk about this more or I could go ahead and show you around.” Edith was now far more confident. “I mean when I’m done with my work.” She added as Harold looked up at Captain Underpants.

“Well if it was with someone as knowledgeable about the town as you, I would like that very much.” Captain Underpants said and Harold noticed the way he looked at Edith as he said this. It wasn’t a look someone saw too often, but when you did, it was clear that someone was looking at the person as if they were the most amazing person in the world, even if they didn’t do anything special in particular. Even the way he smiled and the look in his eyes hinted at a strange sort of happiness and longing.

“Well if it was with someone as knowledgeable about the town as you, I would like that very much.” George repeated when Harold realized what the look meant.

“OH MY GOD, YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON HER!” Harold slapped his hands against his head disbelief.

“What?!” George shot Harold an incredibly confused look as Edith and even Captain Underpants–who didn’t realize Harold was referring to him–were taken by surprise by this. “No! She’s way too old for me and she’s not my type!” He threw a hand out to the woman. “No offense!” He quickly apologized to Edith.

“Not you.” Harold hissed into George’s ear. “Him.” He pointed to Captain Underpants and both boys looked up to see the adult’s eyes widen when he realized the boys discovered his interest in the woman, and he shot upright and away from the sofa.

“Uh... heh.” He didn’t know how to respond and his face grew red with embarrassment, but that was more than enough to confirm the suspicions of Harold.

“Sorry, we need to go.” George grabbed Harold by the arm and pulled him off the sofa and out of the room while leaving Edith behind. Not knowing what else to do, Captain Underpants did the only thing he could think of and jumped through one of the windows so he could go somewhere to recover from the shock of the whole matter.

The boys hurried down a hall and didn’t stop until they were alone and rested against the wall. “Oh... ok, wow, this is new.” George was dismayed at this new problem. “How did we miss that?!”

“I don’t know, he’s not always around whenever we are with her.” Harold admitted. “But yeah, this might be a problem.”

“I honestly don’t see how that could work out–like, even if you changed one thing, there’s no way that could last.” George groaned. “He was using me to flirt with her and he meant everything he said! No wonder he was so into it!”

Harold laughed at this. “Ok, that’s pretty funny!”

“No it’s not!”

“Yeah! Yeah it totally is!” Harold didn’t relent. “Especially since you didn’t realize it until I told you!”

“You won’t let me forget this, will you?” George groaned.

“Maybe... maybe not.” Harold nearly sang as he tried to give George an innocent look. “Plus you managed to work on your skills of seduction– oomph!” Harold was smacked in the face by an embarrassed George.

*****

Later, and after much friendly teasing towards George from Harold, the siblings came back home and told the boys they would all go to the boardwalk.

“FINALLY!” Harold cried out in joy as George let out a cheer and leapt into the air. “You have no idea how badly we were waiting for that!”

“Well now we can go.” Billy smiled. “Plus our break starts today. It would be smarter to go now than when the spring festival starts up in a couple of days.”

And so, they went into Jacob’s automobile, and Edith came along so she could keep an eye on them. By this point George was still embarrassed by the accusation and he sat as far away as he could from the woman, who remained up front with Jacob while the children sat in the back.

“This is going to be awesome!” Harold was nearly singing out his excitement. “We’re finally going, we’re finally going, we–” the automobile suddenly stopped. “Wait, why did we stop?”

In the driver’s seat, Jacob had a dark look in his eyes. “So,” he growled. “We met yet again.”

A certain cow was chewing on something while standing in the middle of the road. “I’m going to find your owner and tell him to lock you up.” Jacob warned the cow in a low voice as he pointed to it.

“Moo.” The cow merely said while staring at the ocean.

Jacob grumbled before he was forced to drive around the stubborn creature as carefully as he could. “I won’t forget this.” He warned as he passed by the creature. “Watch and wait.”

A moment of awkward silence passed after they got away from the stubborn (or just plain stupid) cow.

“So, Edith.” Harold began a few moments after the incident. “Did you like the comic we made?”

“I actually enjoyed it.” The woman turned around to smile at them. “You both are very creative and I love your sense of humor. You should keep making more of them.” “And what did you think of Captain Underpants?” Harold shot George a knowing look and gave him a cheeky grin that made the other boy scowl.

“Well he was very unusual, but he was also pretty enthusiastic and fun.” Edith admitted. “I don’t know how you two came up with such a character, but he was pretty enjoyable to read about.”

Yeah and apparently he’s real and he’s got a major crush on you, even though you can’t see or hear him. George mentally thought out what he wanted to say. The look on her face if he said it would have been priceless, but he kept his mouth shut and looked out at the ocean. Both he and Harold were about to have yet another small moment of triumph against Krupp and he hoped that one day he could tell his dad about what they were going to do today.

Dad... George frowned a little as he thought of his parents. He tried to shake it off and think happy thoughts. Again, both he and Harold were about to do something that could help challenge Krupp and all his strict rules.

*****

The boardwalk was a popular hotspot for many, with many rides, stalls, games, a few local stores, a small open theater, and a spectacular view of the ocean and the nearby piers and beaches. All sorts of pleasant smells and sounds filled the air and there was so much to visually take in that George and Harold didn’t know where to even start.

“So, since this your first time and all, what would you like to do?” Edith asked the boys.

“EVERYTHING!” They cheered with eager excitement.

And everything they did–or as best as you could in a small amount of time. The children went up blue and white towers and went down the slides that spiraled downward, and they went upon a carousel with all sorts of creatures and animals that went up and down, while others sat in well crafted benches as music played from a machine for the ride. They came across a walk through attraction that was intended to scare visitors and was closed for the day, but would have provided twisting corridors and performers in costumes who would scare visitors who would also be lead astray by mazes of mirrors from within.

The boys were especially drawn to a huge wooden, red and white roller coaster that, while not too huge, was a behemoth of a structure in their eyes. “Whoa!” George and Harold’s eyes went wide at the promising sight before George turned to Edith. “Can we ride that?”

“If you want.” The woman made an uncomfortable face at the ride and even Lisa slowly backed away until she grabbed the adult’s hand, while Billy eagerly stepped forward.

“This is going to be awesome!” Harold yelled as he threw his hands up in the air when the boys went on the ride about ten minutes later and were slowly being taken up to the very top.

“This will definitely be awesome!” George agreed as they were about ready to reach the top, while Billy was stuck in between the two with a big smile of his own.

Finally they reached the top, gravity took over, and the boys and the rest of the riders were forced downward–their stomachs rolling around inside them–before they turned this way and that way. The boys were thrown this way and that way, their legs and arms were shaking, and they screamed with excitement, though it gradually changed when both George and Harold started to feel queasy.

Moments later, the two ran to the nearest garbage can and hurled out whatever remained of their lunches into it, while Billy looked away and was still recovering and holding his stomach, while Lisa merely ate some cotton candy on a stick without looking at them.

“You guys want to try it again?” She asked when the boys finally pulled their heads out and wiped their mouths off.

“Yes!” George grinned.

“But not today.” Harold moaned as he clutched his stomach.

Gradually the children went to the games, where people would play for stuffed toys, goldfish, and all kinds of trinkets. When Harold managed to throw a ball at some bottles and knocked them all down, he was given a stuffed bear, but he handed it to Billy when he remembered that he wouldn’t be able to take the thing back down into the ocean with him.

“Aw, thanks.” The prince smiled at Harold, who smiled back.

Another game the children came upon was what was known as the high striker, in which someone would hit a button with a hammer and send a puck right into a bell with all of their strength.

“I knew someone who hit this thing so hard, the puck almost knocked the bell right off into the air.” Edith recalled. “He must have set a record that day.”

“What if we struck it together?” George asked Harold. “I want to see if we can hit the bell.”

“Oh heck yes!” Harold grinned. “Teamwork!”

All eyes watched in amusement as the two tried to swing the hammer with all of their combined strength, but the puck didn’t hit the bell and it barely reached the halfway point before it went back down.

“Better luck next time!” The person in charge tipped his straw hat at the boys. “But nice try with that teamwork you used.”

“Who could hit that thing so hard you can almost knock the bell off?” A frustrated George asked Edtih. “You would have to be really strong for that!”

Edith thought for a moment but then she chuckled. “Someone very unique and a lot stronger than he would seem to be.”

“I wonder if she meant you-know-who when she was talking about the high striker?” Lisa asked her brother when Edith went ahead to get a drink a few minutes later.

“Who?” Harold asked in interest.

Lisa had a dreamy look in her eyes when she began to explain “Well, there was someone Edith really liked a long time ago–he was like her friend or something, and he was supportive of her wanting to follow her dream and wanting to be able to support herself. He also sounded really sweet and kind.”

“Ick.” George stuck his tongue out. “Not interested. Harold and I already had to deal with some romantic stuff today.” He shuddered at the memory of having to serve as a romantic messenger for a lovesick adult in only his underwear and a cape.

“It’s not a happy story though.” Billy turned to the boys with a frown. “Especially considering that he pretty much left her without saying goodbye in the end.”

“That’s harsh.” Harold winced as he felt a twinge of sympathy for Edith. No wonder it was so hard for her to talk to guys–someone made her lose confidence in that area whether he meant it or not. What exactly happened and who was the jerk who left her?

Then again, maybe he wasn’t worth thinking about.

“Oh look, she’s back in town!” Billy pointed to a purple, black, and magenta tent that was tucked between two stalls. Outside the tent, a wooden sign with strange symbols and a large blue eye displayed the words ‘Madame Miyuki’s house of magic: fortunes, magic, and potions.’

“Uh, that’s not real, is it?” George raised an eyebrow at the sign before sharing a suspicious look with Harold, while Billy yelled to Edith that they would be going into the tent.

“Maybe not, but it’s still fun to pretend.” Lisa admitted before darting inside. The boys shrugged before they followed her and her brother in, though they wondered what kind of message they could form if they could rearrange the letters of the sign.

Inside the tent were charts of star constellations upon the walls, various crystals and dreamcatchers, animal skulls, cards and talismans on a wooden shelf, another shelf with various vials of colorful fluids or dried plants and grounded up powder, an iguana resting in an open cage, and right in the middle was a table covered with green cloth and a crystal ball resting in a small wooden bed. Right behind the ball and facing the customers was a woman with a strange crystal dragonfly pin in black hair that was pulled back in a stylish bun, and she wore a green and gold scarf and a loose magenta kimono over otherwise average looking street clothing.

“Ah, do I get to read the hands of royalty today, my young ones?” Madame Miyuki smiled at the prince and princess as her purple eyes shone with a reassuring warmth.

“Yes please!” Billy took out some paper money to give to the fortune teller. She smiled as she accepted the money while the siblings sat down in the wooden chairs on the other end of the table, while Harold and George watched on in interest.

“Your hands.” Madame Miyuki instructed as she held her own out.

“You go first.” Lisa nodded to Billy, who held his hand out. The fortune teller took it and used her finger to trace the lines on his palm and she moved his hand this way and that way as she looked at the lines with a careful, calculating eye.

“You will encounter some difficulties in your life.” Madame Miyuki told the prince. “You will be wrongfully judged when you are comfortable enough to reveal a secret about who you are upon the age of fifteen, but if you stay true to yourself and ignore the voices of cruelty, then you will find great happiness.”

Billy was confused by those words, but he smiled in appreciation. “Thank you.” He thanked Madame Miyuki as she let go of his hands before doing the same procedure to his sister.

“I see you are a romantic at heart.” The fortune teller smiled at the princess. “You have already found the one destined to share his life with you. However it will not be until you reach the age of nineteen that you will discover your true feelings towards him. Do not be forceful or too pushy when you are ready, unless you want to risk driving him away from you.”

Lisa’s eyes went wide and she blushed as Billy let out a laugh. “Oh, uh, ok.” She stammered as she moved her hand away from the fortune teller.

“How about you two?” Madame Miyuki turned to George and Harold. “Would you like to have your fortune told?” She held her hand out.

“Eh, sure.” George shrugged.

“Yeah, ok.” Harold nodded.

Both boys switched places with the siblings and when they held their hands out at the same time, the fortune teller hesitated when she saw the identical bracelets on their wrists. She then smiled and accepted Harold’s hand.

“Ah, the hand of an artist.” She smiled at the boy after observing it for a time. “I will say this–stay true to yourself and do not try to conform into something that you are not comfortable with. You are destined to find success and bring happiness to others as long as you don’t give up your sense of humor.”

“Ok?” Harold was surprised by this.

Madame Miyuki then turned to George but then she stopped and made a strange face as if something perplexed her for a few seconds. “Could you please take that ring off? It’s interfering with my ability to read your future.”

Both Harold and George were taken by surprise with this request. “How did you–?” George looked down to see the ring and the rope it was attached to sticking out of his shirt. “Oh.” George took the necklace off and handed it to Harold before his palm could be read.

“Thank you.” Madame Miyuki sighed with relief before accepting George’s hand and read it. “Ah, you are also a creative soul. Well, like your friend, you must stay true to yourself and do not conform into something you are not comfortable with. As long as you don’t give up your sense of humor, you will bring happiness to others alongside your best friend.” She smiled at George and Harold. “You boys have a strong, powerful bond and I promise that it will never be broken if you stay strong and stay connected. Even the physical embodiment of your friendship will be there to help keep you together when others will try to tear you apart.”

Both George and Harold were amazed at what the fortune teller had to say, though they were not entirely convinced by her words. They sounded like they could have meant anything and she may as well have said random gibberish for the sake of dramatic effect.

“Ah, one word in private with these two, if you please.” Madame Miyuki told the siblings before the boys could get up.

“Ok.” Billy nodded. “Thank you once again!” He went out the tent and Lisa followed suit. When they were gone, Madame Miyuki stared at the two boys for a few moments. “Hmm, I didn’t realize who would be coming in today.” She hummed in thought.

“So?” George pressed. “Look, we don’t have a lot of money on us–”

“Only children who are genuinely good of heart can see him.” Madame Miyuki interrupted the boy.

The boys now gave the woman their full attention as they stared in confusion at her.

“What?” Harold stammered.

“Only children who are genuinely good of heart–those whose hearts tip in the favor of committing more good deeds than bad–can see the one who protects you and keeps your secrets.” Madame Miyuki gave the boys a smile as she pointed to the ring. “That’s something that has confused you two, hasn’t it?”

The boys were now completely surprised. “You aren’t actually a fake?” Harold asked. “You’re the real deal?”

“Yes, and if you two change my sign, then I promise I won’t be of any further assistance next time.” Madame Miyuki shot the boys a warning look. “I mean it–do it and I promise you’ll both be very sorry. A prank for good is fine and well, but if done out of spite or for the fun of it, then it will not always end well for you two–or anyone else for that matter.”

The boys shuddered as the fortune teller went to one of the drawers and pulled out a bright blue potion in a small glass bottle with a cork stopper. “You both are very lucky to come as soon as you did. You need to soak those bracelets in this potion tonight to replenish their powers. Due to the circumstances, I won’t charge for it this time and I promise your secrets are safe with me.”

“Wait a minute.” George was now suspicious. “How exactly–?”

“I’m going to be on break soon, so come back another time.” The fortune teller thrusted the potion into Harold’s hands. “If you ever want to come back, my hours are one to two, three to five, six thirty to eight, and special hours for clients interested in the supernatural are eleven to three in the morning. Now I have a potion I need to finish for a customer, so I hope you have a good day.”

The boys gave the woman one more confused look before they finally left the tent while feeling confused at what just happened.

“Does she know who we are?” George asked.

“I think so.” Harold stared at the bottle before putting it away in his pockets. “She knows about Captain Underpants and the bracelets.” He added.

“Hey!” The boys looked to see Lisa waving while Billy stood close by. “Want to go up on the ferris wheel?”

The boys looked at the ride in question and they grinned; all concerns quickly went out the window.

Soon they all ended up on the ferris wheel that George and Harold had been especially looking forward to. The ride was a lot smoother in comparison to the roller coaster and as they rose higher and higher with their friends, they found themselves above both land and sea and were granted with a view of an endless ocean on one side and an endless stretch of land on the other.

“This is incredible.” Harold smiled as he and George looked around. “Everything seems to just go on and on without ending. You guys are so lucky to live here.”

“I suppose.” Lisa turned to the ocean and gave it a thoughtful look. “We’ve grown up by the ocean our whole lives and we’ve been curious about what’s under there. There’s so many stories surrounding it about merfolk and monsters living within the ocean.”

“It would be nice to see other parts of the world.” Billy added. “Sometimes hearing the ocean at night can get a bit repetitive.” Billy frowned when he saw the strange look the boys gave to the ocean. It was like they were afraid of it for some reason. “Is something wrong?” He asked them.

“Huh?” George snapped out of his thoughts. “Oh, it’s nothing.” He shook his head and changed the topic. “So where’s your mom? Shouldn’t there be a queen?”

“To be honest, we never had a real mom.” Lisa admitted with a shrug. “Billy and I are actually adopted. Dad never wanted to get married and he said he didn’t want to have a woman grant him an heir for the sake of having one. He said he wasn’t interested in finding love.”

“But he wanted children and he wanted to prove that he could have a family without passing down his blood to another.” Billy added. “We were both adopted when we were infants, so we barely remember what our lives were like before this one. No one has bothered us about being adopted though–it makes dad angry when people do, and he can get downright scary when you get him mad.”

“It would be nice to know who my birth parents were.” Lisa confessed as she stared out at the ocean again. “I don’t know much, but I was told that I’m one half Hispanic and one half African American. One day I’d like to find out more about who I am and where I came from when I’m older, especially if I’m part of a culture that I might not know enough about.”

“It would be nice to have a real mom, but we’ve grown up around so many women that they have all acted like moms to us.” Billy continued. “Even if she’s more like a big sister, Edith is probably the closest we had to one and we did try to set her up with dad once.”

“But she laughed and said that she likes guys who are on the large side and not as skinny as a beanpole.” Lisa laughed. “Dad was so shocked at that and asked us if he really was that skinny looking. He isn’t, but it was still funny.”

“What about you guys?” Billy asked. “What about your families? How are they doing?”

This was a question George and Harold were not sure they were ready to answer as truthfully as they could. There was so much they couldn’t reveal about themselves to their friends. “It’s hard to explain.” George finally answered. “Maybe some other time.” He added as Harold stared out at the ocean and thought of his mother and sister again.

“Yeah, maybe some other time.” Harold admitted, even if he wanted to feel free to be more open about himself. Why was it that even here they couldn’t reveal all of their secrets? Yes, they could be someone else, but the wrong choice would get someone in trouble.

After some time had passed, the children got off the ride, though they briefly split up while staying close by. Both George and Harold had much on their minds that they tried not to think about and each one fought it off in their own way.

George took a moment to stare out at the ocean as he stood on the wooden beams that kept everyone from falling down several feet below. Lisa then noticed the necklace he wore and asked “What kind of animal tooth is that?”

George was startled and confused when he looked at Lisa, but then he realized what she asked and he grabbed the tooth and looked at it. “Oh, it’s a tooth from an orca. You know, the black and white whale?” He asked her.

“I’ve seen pictures.” Lisa nodded with a smile. “They’re pretty neat looking.”

“My dad was tending to an orca after it bit into something that it wasn’t supposed to and this tooth fell out.” George began. “The day I first met Harold, my mom had this turned into a necklace and I’ve never stopped wearing it since then.” He looked at Lisa with a smug smile. “They say that orcas can overpower sharks when they fight for prey. That pretty much makes them one of the most powerful creatures in the ocean.”

Lisa let out a whistle of approval. “That’s impressive!” She then gave the boy a warm smile. “You two are really close, aren’t you? Like best friends?”

“We are best friends.” George smiled. “Life wouldn’t be as fun if I had anyone else.” He turned around to face the ocean. “Actually I don’t think I would have lasted long without him. I would have never done half the things I’ve done with him and they’ve been really amazing.”

“Like leaving from where you two came from?” Lisa asked. “You make it sound like it was as if you won your freedom when you did.”

George paused. “I don’t want to talk much about it... but yeah, the moment we finally left was incredible. We did the impossible and now we’ve gotten to meet so many amazing people and see so many cool things.”

“Maybe you’ll write a book about it one day.” Lisa joined George on the wooden beams and stood beside him. “You’re a pretty good writer George. I would like to see what else you can come up with in the future.”

“I prefer writing comic books.” George shrugged. “But yeah, maybe one day I’ll have the patience to write an actual book. Just not right now.”

Meanwhile, Harold and Billy stared at a calliope and its colorful exterior and mechanics as it played music. “It’s pretty neat, isn’t it?” Billy asked. “I can’t think of too many things where you can combine music and art together... well except for a performance for an opera or something like that.” He admitted.

“Yeah, it is.” Harold smiled before he frowned. “Can I ask you something?” Harold asked. “Was there ever something you wanted to tell your sister and you were too scared to admit it? Or you felt like you needed to tell someone and didn’t know who to turn to?”

“Yes.” Billy nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“There’s something I want to tell George.” Harold confessed. “It has to do with us being here. We can’t stay here for long, but there’s a part of me that wants to be somewhere else.” Harold didn’t want to reveal that he was homesick, which would lead to more questions.

“Oh,” Billy was disappointed at this. “I see.” He looked at the ground and realized that the two boys that he and his sister became friends with were not supposed to be here forever and it sounded like they were trying to go somewhere. He enjoyed talking to Harold especially, and it made him unhappy.

“Hey, we’ve enjoyed our time here!” Harold tried to correct himself when he saw how sad the prince looked. “It’s just that we can’t stay here forever and I don’t know if we’ll be able to return any time soon! There is somewhere I want to go, but that would get us in so much trouble and George would hate that!”

“But you’re scared of telling your own best friend about it.” Billy thought. “And you don’t want to tell us about what made you guys leave, which I can respect. But Harold, how badly do you want to tell George about this?” He looked at the blonde. “You should talk to him. Or talk to someone you can trust. You shouldn’t feel like you have to keep secrets from those you care about, or you’ll go nuts.”

“But what if it was a secret that could get us in trouble?” Harold asked, which made Billy think.

“I honestly don’t know.” The prince sighed as he clasped his hands together. “I really, honestly don’t know. Maybe if I was older I’d have a better answer.”

Harold thought. “Hey, I could draw something for the both of you before we leave. Something to remember us by.”

Billy smiled. “I’d like that very much, Harold.”

Meanwhile, Edith also stared out into the ocean as she thought of someone that she hadn’t seen for a long time. Her eyes drifted to a stall where she used to work at about ten years ago and she was taken back to a memory of when she began to fall in love without realizing it. She recalled a man who saw the world as if he were like a child and everything was all new to him, and he helped a child get her doll from off the roof of the stall opposite of her, even though he wasn’t asked to help the child out in the first place. She remembered the girl hugging him and calling him a hero.

“You are thinking about a long lost love, aren’t you?” Edith turned around to see Madame Miyuki out of her tent and giving her a knowing look. “I have seen that look countless times in my life.”

“He wasn’t a long lost love.” Edith shook her head. “I don’t even know if he even liked me that way or not.”

Madame Miyuki gave Edith a look as if there was something she desperately wanted to tell her, but instead she held her hand out. “Would you like to know of your future? I don’t always need my crystal ball for the events that will soon happen. Perhaps something you have waited for will soon come your way.”

“Sure.” Edith held her hand out and the woman took it. She looked at the lines on her hand and closed her eyes for a few moments. As she did, a frown of worry began to form on the fortune teller’s face and that concerned Edith.

“Ten years ago, a terrible monster was created and is now feared–in some cases, even hated–by both land and sea, yet his heart is one with the air.” The fortune teller began. “Some day soon, in a place that neither land, sea, or air can claim as their own, he will come to take away all who you hold most dear. He will drag them down with him to his world where they shall be doomed to suffer for his wrath and foolishness. If you can confront him before it is too late, you can help bring about his end, but you must not lose courage and not back down when you glance upon his face. There are ways to defeat him, but his flaws will be his undoing and his ultimate end will be through that which he rejects above all else.”

Madame Miyuki paused. “And do not be afraid to be angry when you have every right to. It’ll actually do more good than you will think.” She added.

Edith was confused by those words. “Wh–what?” She stammered. “Are you saying I’m going to face a monster? Is this one of those metaphorical things that I need to read into?”

“Eh, that will depend on things.” Madame Miyuki let go of Edith’s hand and shrugged. “It could end up becoming literal or metaphorical depending on what you will find and how you will react.” She then gave the woman an odd frown. “But I’m afraid that you will not like what you will discover, Edith.” She then walked away and left Edith behind.

“A monster feared and hated by both land and sea?” Edith asked herself as she stared at her hand. What kind of creature was that? She never heard of such a thing, but it sounded like something out of a Greek myth. And why would she be scared if she saw his face? Was he supposed to be hideous looking? Then again most monsters were always said to be scary looking to begin with.

But if such an encounter was to happen, how would she know? What was a place that neither land, sea, or air could claim as their own?

“Oh Edith.” The fortune teller sighed as she went to her tent. “If only you knew exactly whose heart you stole all those years ago.” The poor woman was going to be in for a nasty surprise when the time would come. There was so much Madame Miyuki wanted to tell Edith, but it would make things much more difficult than they needed to be. There was much that she needed to discover on her own, and not even a warning would enough to prepare her for the truth. She took one more look at the ocean before she went into the tent.

*****

Down below, in a place close to the school and yet not close enough to cause any disturbance, Krupp was (yet again) not in the best of moods. It was one of those days where everyone was trying to demand too much of him, and not only did he experience another brief mood shift from out of nowhere, but the human king also tried once again to send a letter to him. While the forceful and to the point nature of the message was oddly refreshing and almost concerned him, it didn’t help improve his mood in the slightest (and if he had paid more attention and didn’t rip up the letter, he would have realized that the hand-writing wasn’t as neat and perfect as it should have been).

After waiting to hear anything from the Sneedlys and being told to wait until nighttime, he just wanted to get as far away as he could from everything for a bit–it didn’t matter where as long as it was far away, and as tempting as it was to go up, his pride was too great for that option. Right now he sat down on a spot upon a huge rock column and he rested against the wall as he shut his eyes for a bit and tried not to think of anything.

At least Krupp tried to until he opened his eyes and noticed that something that looked like red flowers growing in a few spots on the column of rock somehow. They moved in a slow, gentle and mesmerizing way under the water and it was a pretty sight, but the brightness of the red and the fact that the flowers were red bothered him.

“You know, red is actually a good color on you.”

He ceased thinking when that old memory came to his mind and he stared at the plants.

There were some things from his past that he tried no to think about, but for some reason he recently began to recall some memories that he tried so hard to bury as far away from him as he could. Memories of a time when he was still stupid and naive, when he was under the illusion that he could have true happiness. All it took was to see these under water flowers and it triggered a memory and a face from a past that he wanted to forget. There was a reason he had grown to despise the color red (especially the brighter shades of the color itself) when it was already tied to unpleasant memories.

Krupp grumbled as he reached towards the flowers and was about to rip them out when a voice from behind called out “Harold?!”

“George?! Harold?!” Another voice called out.

Hearing those names made him grumble and curse in his mind as he peered through one of the holes in the wall to see a trio of girls and one dolphin. He immediately recognized the blonde as Harold’s sister (he kept forgetting that one of the pranksters also had a sibling, though thankfully she wasn’t as much of a headache as her brother or his friend). The other two were the ones he caught in the possession of one of the pranksters’ comics. Great, it figured he wouldn’t get peace when he was so sure that nothing could bother him.

“Where are you?!” Heidi cried out as she got closer to the rock wall and looked around the side that was facing her, as well as the small areas down below.

“I don’t think they would be here.” Keisha told Heidi as Kira also tried to look around–none of them were aware as to who was on the other side of the large rock and they would have swam away as fast as they could if they did. “I would have gone as far away as I could from this place.”

“What if they got stuck somewhere?!” Heidi turned around to face Keisha with a frantic look in her eyes. “What if he was lying and has them locked up?! You know he would do that!”

“Yeah, they could be somewhere close by and we wouldn’t even know it.” Kira gulped as she trembled.

“Well on the bright side, they could be somewhere safe.” Keisha tried to reassure Heidi as Krupp wondered why the heck the girls were out here without any adults around (or why they had to bother him now of all times). “We should try another day–”

“I have to keep looking! Mom is miserable and I want to help!” Heidi cried as she grabbed her hair. “I hate the king! He always ruins everything! He’s such a big, fat jerk!” She scowled.

“Heidi don’t say that!” Keisha panicked as Krupp felt his anger go up at the small child. “Someone could be listening!”

“I don’t care! He can lock me up with my brother if he has him!” Heidi turned around and snapped at Keisha. “He can’t stop me!” At this point, Krupp got up and was about ready to go up, look down over the top of the rock, and yell at the girls to go away as loud as he could (and the idea of scaring them over the fact that he had been listening was too hilarious to pass up for him).

“Well maybe you have to accept that they’re probably gone!” Keisha yelled back.

“Maybe I haven’t looked hard enough!” Heidi yelled and threw her hands out as Krupp was about ready to force himself into view. “I have to come back!” She was almost in tears and the adult stopped when her words triggered something in his memories.

“You didn’t look hard enough for her! You have to go back! You have to go back!”

“I have to come back.” Heidi repeated herself. “I have to come back.” She stared at Serenity as she hugged herself.

The siblings stared at the girl before Kira went over and patted Heidi’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. “I’m sure he’s fine.” She reassured her. “They’re good at not getting caught.”

“Come on, let’s go.” Keisha sighed as she went to the younger girls and pulled them away. “I’m getting a bad feeling about this place.” She said in an uneasy tone as she lead them out of the area as fast as she could, while Serenity swam close by. Keisha had no idea how right her gut instinct was, and the adult who made her lose her courage many days ago stayed frozen where he was for a moment.

He wasn’t angry, but he was sent back to another time–even farther than the time he was previously thinking about–and he lost his ability to act and was forced to listen before it was too late for him to do anything and he ended up dropping back down. Within moments he felt as if his energy had been spent and he held his face in his hands.

“Don’t kid–just don’t.” Krupp tried to growl, but it came out as a tired sigh. “You aren’t going to change my mind. Nothing will change my mind.” Maybe there could have been a time where he would have felt bad, but now he wouldn’t dare bring himself to apologize to even a child–especially one who forced him to relive a memory he didn’t want to remember. He saw no reason to do so–or change anything, because he didn’t want to give in–instead he wanted to try to block everything out with the regained silence and peace before he had to deal with a bunch of other stuff later.

*****

When the children went home, it was close to dinner time. Edith had to hurry ahead to finish it (she had prepped it ahead of time and just needed to heat parts of it up).

“Do you guys know how to swim?” Lisa turned to the boys. “Maybe tomorrow we could go by the ocean and swim in it. If we can’t get onto a boat instead, that is.” She added. “Tomorrow should be a nice day to go out into the ocean.”

Both George and Harold immediately became hesitant and tensed up.

“Do you guys know how to swim?” Billy asked.

“We do!” Harold quickly replied. “We’re really good at it! It’s just that–”

“We’re a bit terrified of the ocean.” George answered as best as he could, and it was somewhat true.

“Why?” Lisa asked. “Bad experience or...” She grew thoughtful. “You don’t believe the stories about the king under the ocean, do you?”

Both George and Harold flinched in alarm at this, and Lisa didn’t know whether or laugh or take it seriously, considering the mystery letters that she and her brother were concerned over.

“If you two see anything suspicious out in the ocean, let me know.” The children all turned around to see Chief Mate Anthrope and a few crewmen who had come into the castle for a late meeting with the king.

“Oh, are you here about keeping an eye on the ocean again?” Billy asked the woman. “I know there was a storm last night. Not a huge one, but we heard it on the way to the theater.”

“And it was one that came without any sign of warning.” Anthrope frowned as her hands tightened on the cane. “And if it happens during the festival without any preparations, we could risk casualties. By that I mean people could die out there.” She clarified when see saw the confused looks. “But to answer your question, yes I’m planning on going out tonight to check on the oil drill since it’s been a huge problem lately.”

“Has that ever happened?” Harold nervously asked in regards to the storms. “Did any of the storms kill anyone?”

Anthrope paused as her hold on the cane tightened up some more and her eyes held a strange tension within them. “Yes. Yes they had.” She and the others then went into the throne room to visit the king.

“What does she mean by that?” George asked the siblings as he and Harold dreaded hearing the answer.

“Well, she lost her family to one of those storms about twenty years ago.” Lisa frowned. “But she’s also convinced it was the king under the ocean who was responsible. I think she’d want to get revenge on him for that one of these days, but she doesn’t want other people to go through she she did as a child ever again.”

“It’s pretty sad either way.” Billy admitted as both George and Harold began to grow uneasy. “She got her position when she was able to sail the ship through one of those storms–which is pretty awesome–but she’s really cautious about the ocean and takes her job seriously.”

“Uh, we’ll be back in a second.” Harold tugged at George’s hand and they headed to the bedroom. It was only there that they could finally began to talk about what was on their minds.

“George.” Harold asked. “When did Krupp take over the throne?”

“That was almost around that exact time.” George thought about what year it was now and went backwards twenty years. “I’m not sure, he would have been a lot more younger back then. I think his dad died and then he took over... I’m not entirely sure.”

“Did anyone say anything about him drowning humans intentionally?” Harold gulped as he tried to remember all he could. It was something no one back home brought up that much and especially not around Krupp himself.

“He probably would.” George grimaced. “No, he definitely would if he hates them so much.”

“How many people besides Anthrope’s family died because of his storms?” Harold trembled. “What if we caused a storm that killed someone?”

“We never got him that mad.” George tried to reassure Harold. “We pulled pranks and did stupid stuff, but nothing too harmful.”

Throughout the rest of the evening, the boys were unable to say a word to anyone. The realization that Krupp might have killed even one person (intentional or not) was not an easy thing to stomach, and it made their concerns about going back even larger than they originally were. Was Krupp actually the villain in whatever story they were caught up in? Were they just as bad as him if that were the case?

“Boys.” George and Harold later looked up from looking through the books in the library to see Mason by the door. “Could I talk to you in private?”

“Uh,” They looked at the siblings, who took the hint and hurried out of the room before their father shut the door behind them.

“I really appreciate all the help you have done around here.” Mason began as he sat down on one of the chairs to face the books. “And I apologize for Ms. Gambino–I wanted you to be able to help however you could and not have her choose for you.”

“That’s fine.” George nodded in understanding. “And we’re glad to help out.”

“I’ve decided that you both have done more than enough to fulfill your debt and you have provided some fun in my son and daughter’s life at a time when they needed it.” Mason smiled. “That alone is more than enough.” He then looked at his hands as he clasped them together before looking up at them. “I promised I wouldn’t ask too much, but I have reasons to believe you were telling me the truth when you first came here. So what I am going to ask is very important–from what I understand, you were under the care of someone who mistreated you. Are there any other children who are going through what you did? Are they being mistreated by this same person?”

Both George and Harold’s eyes went wide and they thought back to their classmates and the other children back home. So many of them were denied the chance to be creative, they had been yelled at, and they were told that they were not supposed to have fun, and it was all thanks to Krupp. They could still remember how he acted towards Keisha before they stepped in on her behalf and took the full blow of his anger.

The silence worried Mason. “Boys, I can’t stand the idea of someone being cruel to children, so if there is something I need to know, I need to take action. I promise you will not be in trouble and you will have my full protection.”

George grimaced as Harold bit his lip.

“If you have family back home who could be going through this too, then they shouldn’t be suffering either.”

Heidi came to Harold’s mind and he tried to fight the urge to blurt out the truth. It was so much that it was almost hard to breathe and he couldn’t register anything around him.

“All you have to do is tell me where you came from, who mistreated you, and I promise they will answer to the law.” Mason tried to reassure them. “Even if they found out who told on them, I will not let them get to you. There are specific punishments for cruelty towards children in my kingdom–”

Harold couldn’t take it anymore and he got up and left the library.

“Harold?!” George looked up in alarm. “Oh come on, not again!” He cried as he raced after his friend, but the blonde ran as fast as he could towards the bedroom and George was forced to run after him. By the time Harold made it, he was already exhausted due to lack of experience with running so much in his current form, and he threw himself on the bed and hugged his legs to his chest as George bursted in and closed the door behind him.

“Harold you made us look suspicious!” George cried out and threw his arms out. “He’ll press us for info and we can’t lie to him!” Harold cringed and grabbed his hair. “We’ll make everything a lot more worse than they should be!”

“We have to tell someone.” Harold moaned. “We have to tell someone!”

“We don’t have to, we have each other!” George pointed out and Harold felt as if he was going to hyperventilate. “We can’t tell anyone else!”

“I can’t, I can’t, I can’t–” Harold shook his head and George crawled up onto the bed. He wanted to tell George, but he couldn’t bring himself to after all the pressure he was facing. “George, I can’t–” He tried to breathe.

“Get ahold of yourself!” George tried to place a hand on his friend’s shoulder, but the blonde smacked it away with a cry. The action startled George and he begged “Harold please! Talk to me!” The young artist barely registered what he had done and felt awful, but he was getting to the point where he felt like something much worse was going to happen if he didn’t do something.

“We have to tell–I have to–I–AGH!” Harold–desperate for someone besides George to talk to in that moment and almost about ready to break if he couldn’t finally release all his feelings–snapped his fingers and Captain Underpants appeared on the bed in front of him.

“Oh hi again!” The adult saluted the boys with a smile, while oblivious to what was going on. “To what do I owe–”

“We ran away from home!” Harold spun around and threw out his words of confession to Captain Underpants with a frantic look in his eyes while also causing the startled adult to drop the salute. “We left our families and I want to go back because I miss my mom and sister, but I don’t want to tell George because of how much we have at stake and how much we sacrificed to get here! But I’m really sure my mom is upset because my dad already left us–and–and–and–” Harold felt his throat tighten up and he slammed his hands over his eyes.

“I just wish I told them before we left!” He sobbed as the tears finally came out. “I want to go back, but I didn’t want to upset George and–and–” He tried to breathe again and was able to continue after he had a moment to do so. “Our king is going to separate us forever if we ever go back home! I don’t want us to be separated, but I miss my family!”

As Harold cried, George could only stare at his friend and even Captain Underpants himself lost his smile and was rendered speechless at the outburst before a look of concern crossed his face.

“I’m sorry, George!” Harold sobbed. “I know we think we’re trying to do good, but then I think of the other things– I don’t feel like we’re good! Whatever that fortune teller said, it was all a lie! I feel like an horrible, awful person! I left my mom and sister the way dad left us, and I might have helped make things a lot worse up here than they should be because of the storms we could have caused!”

George had no clue what to do at first, but then he slowly moved his way closer to his friend. He looked at him before letting out a deep, mournful sigh.

“I miss my family too, Harold.” He finally admitted. “I try not to talk about it, because I knew you were probably thinking the same thing and we didn’t–I know we jumped into this without thinking too much–we were desperate to escape and we were so sure we knew what we were doing.”

He placed a hand on Harold’s shoulder and took a deep breath. He forced this plan without thinking about it long and hard enough, and now it was time to try to ease his friend’s worries. He turned to Captain Underpants, who had a look of someone who wanted to help, but wasn’t sure exactly what to do as he sat on the bed with the two.

“Almost all forms of creativity are banned back home, and they’ve been banned for as long as we can remember.” George began to tell him. “We can’t make comics unless it’s in secret. And contact with the human world is forbidden because our king thinks it’s all awful for some reason, and we don’t know why.”

And so, George began to help Harold tell the story about their homes, their lives, and how bad things were back home to someone who they felt comfortable being around. Someone who listened to every part of their story without interrupting, but had a look of conflict in his eyes. Someone who smiled when the boys talked about their families and how much joy they brought to their fellow friends and classmates through the comics they passed out to in secret. Someone who showed anger towards the king in George and Harold’s story for all he had done and especially to the boys, but he never blurted out a declaration to get him (surprisingly, considering his nature). Someone who was horrified at the injustice, who felt their sorrows, and finally understood the need for the secrecy, but took the time to just listen until it was all over, and even then he didn’t have anything to say about what he was just told.

The only thing that the two didn’t tell him was that the person they mistook him for was also the same person who caused them to run away in the first place. He didn’t need to know that and he didn’t realize it himself at any point in the story.

“And the thing is that we can’t tell anyone here because we don’t know if it will get us all in trouble.” George finally concluded. “We could start a war for all we know.” He shut his eyes. “The fortune teller said that only children who were genuinely good of heart can see you... but I don’t see how either of us can be good if we are such trouble makers.” He let out a weak laugh. “I know we aren’t saints, but I guess we can’t do everything right. I miss my parents too and we can’t stay here forever, but if we go back and we make so much as one mistake, we’ll be separated and no one can stop him.” George hugged Harold and rested his head against the blonde’s head. “Is that better?” He asked the boy.

“Yeah.” Harold nodded as he hugged George back. “I feel better now. I’m sorry about–”

“It’s ok.” George smiled as he closed his eyes. “It’s ok.” He repeated in a softer tone.

Captain Underpants stared at the two boys who hugged each other as tightly as they could and he was conflicted. He wanted so much to try to find whoever this villain was that was making the boys and everyone in their home suffer, and teach him a good lesson or two. But he was somewhere in a place where he couldn’t reach him no matter how hard he had tried, though it wouldn’t stop him from trying in case he got lucky. He wanted to be able to solve all the problems these two had, and yet he wasn’t sure where or how to begin.

Except... maybe...

Slowly he crawled towards the boys until he was close enough. He looked at his hands for a second with a determined look before he slowly tried to bring his arms around the boys and moved in as close as he could until they were almost against him and he could lock his fingers together. He closed his eyes and the end result made it look as if he had his arms around the boys in an awkward ring, but in truth he was trying his hardest to hug them even if he couldn’t be able to in his current state.

Both boys could feel a change in the temperature of the air around them–a pleasant, reassuring, familiar warmth that was comforting and made you feel safe. They both looked up and realized what their companion was trying to do, but the attempted gesture was not wasted–the action alone said more than enough.

“Thanks.” Harold let out a smile. He and George shut their eyes and Captain Underpants continued to hold the pose for as long as he could as he began to hum something quiet, unfamiliar, yet also soothing to them.

*****

Down in the ocean, two families were not faring so well.

George’s mother stared out at nothingness as her husband had an arm around her and kept her close to him while she rested her head against him. She shut her eyes and let out a quiet lullaby that she would have normally sang to her son, but it sounded empty and sad without its intended audience to listen to it.

George’s father thought about all the places they tried to look into–both families and a few daring, compassionate friends tried to figure out where the two merboys went, but there was still no sign of them. He gave up and found himself looking back at the castle and gave it an angry scowl while thinking dark thoughts towards the one responsible for causing his son and his best friend to run away.

Meanwhile, Heidi hummed a small tune as she looked down at the starfish her brother had made for her, while Serenity floated beside her. The dolphin let out a mournful cry as she wished she could reveal where Harold was, but knew what the cost would be. Instead she bumped the child’s cheek with her nose and Heidi patted the dolphin’s face before swimming to her mother.

Harold’s mother stroked Haruka’s side as she sat on a rock outside her home and stared out at the ocean. When she felt Heidi rest her head and arms in her lap, she looked down at her daughter for a moment before stroking her daughter’s hair and sang the song she would normally sing to her and Harold.

Neither family knew where their sons were. If they knew that George and Harold were in good company, that they had not forgotten them, and that there was someone comforting them around that exact same time (someone who would do everything in his power to protect them), they wouldn’t have had to worry. Yet they all still held onto the hope that they would soon find their boys, no matter what the cost.

Chapter Text

That night, in a place near the shoreline that was also near the kingdom (but not quite), the Sneedlys and their assistants were under the water by the large oil drill that penetrated up through the waters and down into the ground, though bits of that strange substance they found was floating around the water and mostly on the surface. Various equipment was nearby and Doctor and Lady Sneedly were examining various inventions, tools, and what not until a certain mershark approached them.

“Ok, this better be quick.” Krupp grumbled to them as he crossed his arms against his chest. “There’s a human ship coming and if who I think is on the ship is on the ship, then I don’t want to deal with her.” He didn’t hide his annoyance at this–even though it had been a long time since he went up, he knew enough to be able to recognize the very specific humans that frequently came out here. “If you don’t come up with a good reason as to why this wasn’t destroyed before I got here–”

“We’ve grabbed and built everything we could.” Doctor Sneedly looked up from one contraption. “Cutting through the pipe could be dangerous and time-consuming, but if we were to somehow plug the top of the pipe, we could prevent a leakage. Or reinforce the pipe with something to kept it strong if you intend to knock everything else over. If that pipe breaks, then it’s all our fault, not theirs.”

“But if we were to block the pipe, we would need to know how wide the pipe actually is and we can only guess based on the width and possible diameter.” Lady Sneedly added as her son was swimming around the pipe to examine it. “And if it’s leaking now, we would need to seal up any holes or various weak spots. So is it possible that we can at least get up there to measure everything out first?”

At that point, Krupp was losing his concentration since science was not a strong suit of his. He quickly shook his head when he heard what the Sneedlys demanded of him. “Hey, I’m not lifting the ban–!”

“Can you make a loophole and raise the water up or something along those lines?” Doctor Sneedly quickly cut him off. “It shouldn’t be that hard, right?”

Krupp was about to make a retort and began to point a finger at the scientist before he realized his point. “I... guess?” He thought about this. “But it’s a lot harder to do when I’m relaxed.”

“There’s also the fact that there are humans up there right now.” One assistant pointed up towards the structure. “Their boat is still close by. We would need to scare them away somehow.”

Meanwhile up above, the few workers that were at the drill were desperate to go home and when they saw a ship–the Seaworthy –out in the distance, they used a light to flash a message to them.

“They’re coming over.” The worker by the light turned to his co-workers. “We should be able to go home after a quick check up.”

“Oh good!” One of the workers looked at the boat that they used to get all the way out here. “I’m so hungry, I could eat an entire meal for four!”

Much farther away and near some sea stacks, another boat was docked by the rocks and a certain professor was eagerly awaiting for a specific moment as he held his finger over a button on a contraption, while he was listening to two kinds of conversations on some radios he had made. The first one was somewhere on the drill, and the other was carefully hidden down below in the depths of the ocean. “Any second now.” His fingers twitched. “Any second.”

“Hey mom?” Melvin swam to Lady Sneedly. “You said that stuff was supposed to be leaking from the pipes, right? That would be why all of this is around us and that structure.”

“Yes honey, I did.” Lady Sneedly turned away from her machinery to look at her son.

“There aren’t any leaks.” Melvin told her with a frown. “I looked around the pipe, the grounds, and I even tried to see if anything was dripping out of the pipe into the water from above. I didn’t break through to the surface and I didn’t let them see me.” He quickly added to prove that he didn’t do anything bad–he wasn’t going to let his own curiosity get him in trouble.

Lady Sneedly thought about this. “Then where is the oil coming from?” She asked as she looked up. “Is it farther up the pipe?”

“Hey, have we found any oil from this drill yet?” A human worker asked his friend from up above. “I thought we should have by now. We were told there would be some here.”

“I suppose so.” The other worker stroked his beard. “These things take time.”

“What if there isn’t any though?” The first worker asked, while unaware of the radio that was carefully hidden in a small nook on the tower, as well as a couple devices that were strapped to the pipeline. “What if it was all for nothing?”

“Why would they pay all that money to have it out here if there wasn’t?” Another worker asked.

“Your Majesty?” Lady Sneedly meanwhile went over to Krupp. “We need to get this place flooded and get the humans out of here now. We need to make sure there aren’t any leaks at the very top!” Unfortunately, she had no idea that this advice was also the cue for the moment the unseen threat was waiting for.

“I promised violence and now I will make good on that!” The professor giggled as he hit the button. “Showtime!”

Without any warning, there was an explosion of flames and black clouds on various points of the tower and the few humans who were on the tower were suddenly knocked back or fell into the ocean. The explosion could be seen by those on the ship–which was closer to the drill than it had been mere moments ago–and even by those under water.

Anthrope lowered her spyglass and turned to her crew. “Get over there as fast as you can!” She yelled as she hurried to the wheel. “Save anyone you find!”

“What the heck?!” One of the Sneedlys’ assistants–a purple short haired mermaid–freaked out at the sudden incident that occurred above the merfolk–most of whom had to dodge the debris that fell into the ocean before they could get hit. No one expected that to happen, and not even Krupp who didn’t know whether to be relieved or confused at the turn of events.

“I’m getting my boy out of here!” Lady Sneedly yelled at the king as she grabbed Melvin’s hand and got him away as fast as she could while her boy looked at the destruction with fear in his eyes.

“Stay put, we don’t know if a spill could occur or not!” Doctor Sneedly yelled at the two assistants who were about to make a swim for it and follow his wife and son. “If you leave, I won’t have anything good to say for your recommendations!” This made them stop as the promise of a good future was more crucial to them than their own lives.

The purple-haired assistant who freaked out first noticed the few humans that had fallen off and were trying to swim to safety to the structure or the boat while avoiding the flaming debris that fell into the ocean. All the while they were trying to also avoid the spots on the water where flames had bursted up when they touched the small oil spots. “Can’t we just save them without them knowing we are here?!” She pleaded to Krupp.

Unfortunately this only made Krupp mad as he whipped around to face the assistant. “They brought this upon themselves so you can forget it!” He pointed a finger at the assistant.

“Where’s the proof that it was their fault?!” The assistant couldn’t help but snap back.

Meanwhile, the professor who had organized the incident sat back in a chair he brought along and crossed his arms together. He grinned as he adjusted his glasses to see the ship getting closer to the oil drill. “This could have gone in many possible ways, but this is bound to be good!” He chuckled to himself.

As the ship grew closer and closer to the drill, one of the humans fell into the ocean. Unfortunately, this particular human could not swim and it was all too clear to the young assistant who decided to ignore the rules and swam towards him.

“HEY!” Krupp snapped as he saw the assistant try to swim to the human who was struggling to stay afloat. “WHAT DID I SAY?!” He caught up to her in record time and grabbed her tail as hard as he could before pulling her back down with minimal effort. “I’M NOT LETTING US GET EXPOSED BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID PITY!” He growled in her face.

“This isn’t right!” The assistant snapped back. “You can banish me for all I care, but we can’t let them die!”

“THAT’S THEIR PROBLEM, NOT OURS!” He yelled as the ocean around him began to get rocky and unsteady.

“WHAT KIND OF RULER ARE YOU?! YOU DON’T EVEN CARE ABOUT HOW WE FEEL!”

“I’M THE KIND THAT IS TRYING TO KEEP THINGS IN ORDER SO IDIOTS LIKE YOU WON’T TRY TO PLAY HERO TO THOSE WHO DON’T DESERVE IT AND RISK EXPOSING US!”

“WHAT IF HE HAS A FAMILY?!” The mermaid yelled as she struggled with all her might to get to the human, but her king only laughed. “You honestly think that’s going to be enough to convince me?” He asked.

At this point the human who was about to drown lucked out when one of his co-workers swimming in the ocean came over to help keep him afloat and grabbed onto a part of the tower as they waited for help. Down below, the assistant gave up the struggle and she felt relief when all the human workers finally got onto the boat.

“We need to get to the ship!” The head worker pointed to the boat that was close enough for them to get to. Another worker started up the motor and the boat began to rumble.

“And now, just for the fun of it and because I’m making a guess at this!” The professor pressed another button on the device. This caused a part of the pipe to explode and shatter, forcing those above to duck for their lives and pray that they wouldn’t get hit.

Down below, it was the same case as the merfolk swam away, but one did get it when a piece of metal managed to slice across the side of his tail. It wasn’t deep, but it was enough to make him scream and thrash in pain when he felt an almost burning sensation that was followed up by something far more agonizing.

And unfortunately for everyone–both above and below–it was Krupp who was dealt this injury.

“Oh no.” One of the assistants gulped as they realized what was going to happen next as a few more made to get out of there as fast as they could.

“Hurry!” The workers got the motor going and the boat headed towards the ship, which already had a ladder out for them to climb up before they could even get there. They had to dodge debris and a few fires, but unfortunately another problem was about to occur and the waves suddenly started pushing into the boat with more force than it should have mere seconds ago.

Krupp didn’t even bother to look at how bad the injury was–his mind was too clouded by the pain, along with the rage that was developing from the sensation, as well as the rage he was feeling towards the humans. It was because of their stupidity that this had to happen. They ignored the rules and now they were going to pay.

Krupp let out a low growl through the pain as he looked up to see the boat go to the large ship. He began to will all his thoughts into the sea as if it were a part of him as he swam down to one of the rocks below and held on as tight as he could. It was one thing to accidentally cause a storm, but gods forbid when he wanted one to happen.

Anthrope narrowed her eyes as she felt the wind suddenly become stronger than it had been mere moments ago and then she saw the waves take a turn for the worst and they grew in size without any sign that it would happen. At this point the smaller boat was struggling to get to her ship and when there was a rumbling sound in the sky, she realized what it meant. There was no way the timing could have been a coincidence. “He’s here.” She growled before turning to her crew. “Hurry!” She yelled. “We can’t let the waves push us over! Let me know when they all get on the ladder!”

“We’ll crash into the smaller boat!” A crewmen yelled as a crash of thunder erupted from the sky and lightning lit everything up for one moment. Dark clouds were beginning to come in to swallow up the stars and the moon and it was not a good sign for all.

Anthrope growled as she went back to the wheel. “You want to play it that way? Fine!” She growled at the ocean as the waves grew bigger and the smaller boat was getting closer. She turned the wheel to get close enough so that the crew could soon reach it, but then a wave crashed into her ship and unintentionally helped her out. It wasn’t enough to knock the Seaworthy over, but it was enough to raise alarm. She survived plenty of freak storms before and this one would be no different.

The waves were getting more violent and the water was getting rockier and harder to cut through, but the smaller boat managed to reach the ship and everyone on the boat hurried up the ladder as fast as they could. “Are they all on it?!” Anthrope yelled.

“Yes!” One of her men yelled, and Anthrope took that as her cue to go ahead. “Your stupid storm won’t get me this time!” She yelled at the ocean.

“No, you are not getting away!” Krupp yelled as he willed the waves to speed up and get to the ship without realizing that the person behind the wheel had yelled at him. “I’m not letting you win this round, you stupid stubborn woman!” He willed the ocean to create a wave large enough to crash into the ship, but in his haste he was imagining it from the back instead of somewhere more logical. All around him, the remaining few were forced to hide from the dangerous currents as well as the debris that could still hit them and cause serious damage.

Anthrope heard a strange sound and she turned around to look at the waves coming from the back. She only laughed as thunder crashed around them once again and the wind threatened to knock her off her feet. “Hah! You think you’ll get me this time! I got it so that you’ll only push us forward, not knock us over!”

And in some ways this was true. The waves that had been summoned were coming at an angle towards the ship that may as well have sped up its journey and not push it down into the ocean. And when Krupp realized this, he only got madder and tried to change direction. Of course, the person at the wheel was expecting this and only turned direction so that a disaster wouldn’t happen.

And to Krupp’s great anger, the ship was managing to get farther and farther away, no matter how many waves crashed into it. He tried to concentrate but the pain he was experiencing was getting worse by the ever changing waters pushing and tearing at the wound. Try as he might, the ship eventually went out of his sight and he couldn’t focus his entire attention upon it.

“ARGH, FINE!” He yelled. “BUT NEXT TIME I’M GOING TO GET YOU!” He winced and tried not to scream as the pain in his tail got worse. He had no idea what happened tonight, but this was all their fault and whatever would happen next would be because of them. Their king would pay somehow.

Unknown to him, the professor watched and felt satisfied that some progress had been made. It would only be a matter of time until something would happen to try get the two kingdoms at each other’s throats, but he had some ideas in mind.

Then he realized something.

“Uh,” He looked at his surroundings as the wind threatened to blow him over. “I guess it’s going to be while until I can get back, can I?” So long as there was a storm, he couldn’t get back and the boat he took wasn’t as sturdy as the Seaworthy. “I didn’t think this through.”

*****

Meanwhile, somewhere in the castle upon the surface and looking out the window, George and Harold stared at the ocean as the waves rocked back and forth and crashed into the water with a sound similar to that of thunder. They both had a feeling that a much larger storm was happening somewhere nearby and they could hear the actual thunder off in the far distance. They both realized what it signified, even though they had no idea what caused it.

“Harold,” George quietly began. “I just had an awful thought–what if Krupp found out about what we did and where we were before we’re done? There was a third bracelet that we didn’t take and anyone could use it. We wouldn’t even know who until it was too late.” He gulped.

“He’d probably create a storm even worse than this one, but we’d be safe as long as we stayed on land.” Harold thought about this. “He wouldn’t ever come up here if he hates this place.”

Both boys stared out at the storm outside their window as they tried not to imagine all the worst possible scenarios. Slowly Harold’s hand found George’s and when he made to grab his best friend’s hand, George responded and grabbed back while holding on as tightly as possible.

“As long as no one catches on or finds us, everyone will be safe.” Harold tried to reassure George as Captain Underpants stared at the two in silent concern from the bed he sat upon. “We won’t let anyone get caught up in this.”

*****

Somewhere down in the ocean at a much later time–when the ocean finally calmed back down–Krupp was having his injuries treated by a castle physician who he was pretty sure was not using anything to numb the throbbing pain in his side. The physician was forced to move back when the medicine he was applying stung Krupp and he was arching upward and repeatedly hitting his head against the wall before the stinging died down a little.

“Can’t you numb it or something?!” He eventually snapped through clenched teeth.

“It’s the best I have on hand.” To be honest it wasn’t, but the physician thought that Krupp didn’t really deserve any of it and especially not if the injury wasn’t severe enough to begin with. Also the injury was probably going to leave a nasty scar behind, no matter what he would do to it. “It should be all healed up in a couple days as long as you give yourself rest and don’t do anything reckless.” He cautioned. “I trust you can do that.”

His king merely groaned in dismay as he flopped back down. After a few seconds, he saw someone standing in the doorway with a cold look on her face–it was the female assistant.

“You still think the human was worth saving?” Krupp sneered at the mermaid. The assistant’s eyes narrowed at the king before she left.

Krupp was about to yell at the assistant for the look she shot him, but the physician touched a part of his injury with the medicine and he let out another yell and a string of nonsensical words as he writhed in pain. “I’m so glad you never got married, I’d pity whoever would be unfortunate enough to suffer that fate.” The physician huffed as Krupp tried and failed to fight off the discomfort. “You know, I really hope you won’t make a stupid demand to the surface kingdom for what happened, like sending a human sacrifice or an unmarried woman out for you–”

“What the–?!” This made Krupp sit up and stare at the physician with embarrassed horror as he stammered through his outburst. “No! No, I don’t want any of that!” He lowered himself back down as the thoughts gave him discomfort for various reasons and he covered his face with his hands to hide the blush. He had little to no luck with romance in his life, and the only time he ever came close to that with someone was–

The anger and embarrassment faded for one moment as a memory came to him of happier times. The image of the face he pictured calmed him down somewhat and while it helped to give him some peace, there was also a feeling of regret and emptiness. He knew what he felt should have been much different, but there was a sense of loss–like it was almost physically impossible to invoke the feeling he was looking for. What remained could only calm him down and grant a slight longing towards the person he had in mind, but...

There was no point.

He doubted he could ever go back to being the way he used to be. Even if he could, it would only make everything a lot more worse. He went through so much and everything seemed to go wrong that it was to the point that... well, there was just no point. Whatever he would try to do afterwards would just fail on him like everything else did before when he had a more optimistic outlook.

“Ok, now this next part is going to really hurt.” The physician looked at the huge needle, thread, and bandages. “You need to chomp down on something?”

Krupp shot the physician a dirty look and resumed his sour nature.

*****

In the early hours of the morning there were preparations being made for the festival as bright, colorful ribbons and paper flowers were being strewn up around the town, with red being the most dominant color used. Even the boardwalk was changing as similar decorations were being put up in preparation for the following day. Local bands and choirs–including the elementary school’s own band and choir–were rehearsing. Artists were hurrying to finish their works of art, while aspiring writers and poets were perfecting their abilities to read aloud their creations in the ways they intended to say them. Farmers were getting produce ready, as did other florists and herbalists with their wares–anything you could think of was coming together.

Even those who worked at the castle were getting ready for the next day. Those like Edith were scrambling to work on a lot of baked goods for fundraising events, while others were helping to coordinate the events and go over them with Mason.

Or at least the last part would have happened sooner if Mason didn’t have Anthrope visit him in the morning as soon as she could. She told him all that had happened and she even brought in the head worker from the oil drill to help explain the events. The king didn’t say a word from his chair in his office and his expression went from neutral to concerned.

He sighed and held his face in his hands. “This was exactly why I was trying to prevent the drills.” He then looked up. “What makes you so sure the explosions were caused by the merfolk? To take the risk to destroy something that could cause a leak would be even more destructive at this point of events.”

“There’s no denying that a storm happened right after that.” Anthrope reminded him.

“There wasn’t any oil that leaked out of the wreck–thank the stars.” The head worker sighed in relief before he frowned. “But talk about a waste of money! All that for nothing!”

“There wasn’t any oil?” Mason was surprised by this.

“Nope!” The head worker replied with a puzzled look. “Well, I mean there were some spots on the water where flames went up, but nothing was gushing out.”

“Then why was it even built to begin with?” Mason frowned before shaking his head. “I’m not to blame for the loss of all that money–I warned them and they didn’t listen.” He thought for a bit. Something about these events were troubling and something in his gut told him that something even worse might be waiting in the future if this went on.

“No one is allowed to go out beyond the edges of the town’s coastline and past the sea stacks–or past the lighthouse.” He decided. “The Royal Navy may be allowed, but no one else may go too far out until further notice.”

“Thank you.” Anthrope sighed as the head worker left the room.

“You think he was there?” Mason asked her when the door to his office was closed.

“The timing was way too perfect.” She reminded him. “He would of had to have been close by. Maybe he was right there.”

Mason grew worried. “The last thing I want is a war with him. This is not a good time for that and I would need a good cover up story for an evacuation if it came down to that.” He looked to Anthrope. “If we have to deal with another storm–not a small one, but one similar to the one you told me about–then we’ll have to do something about this.”

“So you are admitting that he’s real?” She asked him with a frown. His only response was a deep sigh.

“In this case I have to with someone like you.”

*****

Sometime later, Mason walked down the hallway and was initially unaware of when he passed George and Harold–the first boy was reading one of the library books while the other was working on a drawing–as they sat on the steps of one of the many stairways in the castle. “The way things are going, I almost wish for another ‘Science Gala disaster.’” He made air quotes at this as he sighed to himself. He didn’t want to start up a war, but–

“Huh?” Harold looked up from his drawing when he and George heard this. “What disaster?”

Mason paused for a moment when he turned to face the boys–it was clear to them that he had a lot on his mind and wasn’t happy about something, but he welcomed the distraction this curiosity brought. “Oh, it was something that happened around the time Lisa and Billy were almost too young to remember it.” Mason began. “There was a scientist that worked for me for a bit while he worked on his inventions and research. He was helpful, but kind of strange, if I have to admit. He came from some place called New Swissland.” He pulled a face at this. “I honestly thought he was making it up at the time. He sounded European, but I never heard of such a place. I thought he meant Switzerland or something close to that.”

Mason struggled to think. “He invented something–I don’t remember what it was, but it was impressive–and we decided to honor him at our annual Science Gala in the ballroom of the castle. It was all fine and well and he was happy about the whole thing, until–” Mason groaned and rolled his eyes as he remembered what happened next.

“What?” George asked. “What happened?”

“Well, he said he wanted to use a different name in case someone would steal from him. He chose that night–without consulting me or anyone else beforehand –of all nights to reveal his real name. I don’t remember all of it except for the last part. And... well we all thought it was a joke and a lot of people were laughing at him for it. He didn’t take it well and started yelling and throwing out threats at everyone, at which point I had to have him arrested.”

“And what was his name?” George asked as he and Harold leaned in. Mason let out a deep sigh as if he hated what he was about to say.

“The professor’s name was P–” The king groaned as he struggled to say it with much reluctance. “Professor Poopypants.” He winced when he finally said it.

The boys stared at the king in disbelief. “No way.” Harold’s eyes went wide as George’s mouth dropped. “His name was Poopypants?” Grins slowly formed on their faces. When the king nodded, they began to laugh their heads off.

“Poopypants?!” George wheezed.

“That’s incredible!” Harold chuckled as tears began to fall. “His name is Poopypants!” He said and it made the boys laugh harder than before as the king waited for them to calm down a bit. They did, but not by much.

“Well it turned out that not only was his country a real place, but they all have bizarre names that no sane person would ever give to themselves or their children.” He admitted. “So with all the issues that I would have faced, I told the scientist he was free to go, but he would be denied access into my kingdom, that we would cease supporting him, and that he would he sent back with a report of the negative actions he made towards us if I ever saw him again. No one has seen him since.” He paused and to think of something else to say, but upon being reminded of the other issues, he left the boys alone as they laughed on the steps.

“Oh wow, I’d hate to be that guy!” George giggled.

“He’s a scientist?” Harold chuckled. “I bet with all that work and research, he’d get ‘pooped’ out so quickly.” The boys went back to laughing.

“So is it a laboratory he works at?” George asked. “Wouldn’t it be more like a lavatory?” The boys laughed even harder.

“Oh man, that’s a name for a comic book character just begging to come into existence!” Harold laughed.

*****

After awhile, Harold and George went out to play with Billy and Lisa in the castle gardens. The siblings had nothing to worry about and were unaware of what had happened the night before–even the boys were quick to forget about the storm from last night. Instead they talked about the kind of things kids should have been talking about at their age and the boys shared the spyglass they brought with them to see a lighthouse a slight distance away from the castle, the town below as well as the boardwalk, and even some sea stacks out in the distance where they looked like huge rock towers that were poking out of the ocean.

The boys considered themselves lucky that the king didn’t approach them on the subject of where they came from that day and they hoped that they could avoid that as long as they could. Especially since their time was running short and they had one day left after today before they needed to go back to the ocean and face one of their biggest challenges yet. Yet they chose not to think on that and instead faced another pressing concern.

“What do you guys think of Ms. Gambino?” George asked the royal siblings as they tossed a ball around in the gardens. “Is she worth pranking?”

“Why would you want to prank her?” Billy asked George as he passed the ball to Lisa.

“She wasn’t being nice to Miss Edith and she’s been pretty strict with us.” Harold told them and ended up with the ball seconds later.

“She’s, uh–” Lisa bit her lip before nodding as Harold passed the ball to George. “She’s really harsh at times. But we’ve never pranked someone before.”

Both Harold and George shared a knowing look before looking at the siblings with eager anticipation. They were going to have a couple of accomplices and they looked forward to all the possibilities. “We’re expert pranksters.” Harold told them with a huge grin. “There’s nothing we can’t accomplish. Name it and we’ve probably done it.”

“Rearranging signs, fake animal ‘presents’ and seats with stuff on them or in them?” George asked with a cocky smile. “All child’s play compared to what we can do.”

“It does sound like fun.” Billy grinned as he thought about this. “I can think of ways to prank her tomorrow morning. We need to go into town for supplies first.”

“It’ll be awhile until Jacob is available for that.” Lisa pointed out. “He’s on break.”

“Oh drat.” Billy frowned. “We’ll have to wait for a long time for that. We’ll need to think of something else to do until then.” He looked at Lisa and then to the boys before laughing. “You should show them your secret talent.” He told her. “They’ll love it.”

“What secret talent?” George and Harold looked at the girl, who blushed with embarrassment. “William, no.” She moaned as she used her brother’s formal name.

“There’s no one here to judge us, Vasilisa. ” Billy pointed out while countering the use of his formal name with the use of his sister’s formal name and dropped the ball.

“Come on, just do it a couple of times.”

“Do what?” Harold asked.

“Lisa knows how to make herself burp.” Billy gave the boys a wicked grin. “I don’t know how she does it. I’ve tried and it’s impossible.”

“No way!” The boys were now interested in the princess as George exclaimed those words. “I want to see!”

Lisa looked at all three boys and grimaced. “Ok, but don’t you dare tell anyone!” She faced them and took a deep breath. She pushed her tongue against the hard part of the roof of her mouth and made to gulp–she bobbed her head forward in the process–and when she was ready, she made herself let it out. To the amazement of George and Harold, they heard a quiet belching sound from the princess who had a fifty percent chance of being the next to take the throne.

“That is excellent!” George cheered while Harold let out a well meaning laugh. “How do you do that?”

“I just push my tongue against the roof of my mouth, swallow, then force it out.” Lisa shrugged as she let out another one that made the boys laugh. “It’s easy when you get the hang of it.”

“No, that’s not something you can do that easily!” Harold told her. “Especially since I can’t see a girl doing that out in public!”

“Well that makes me better than boys, I guess.” Lisa smugly told him as she put her hands on her hips as her brother laughed.

Billy calmed down and then turned to face the boardwalk. “You guys will love the festival if you’re going to stay around for it.” BIlly told them. “I don’t think a lot of people will be out on the ocean this time to have fun or to get their wishes granted. But there’s a lot of other things to do.”

“It would be fun to go dancing.” Lisa smiled. “Except that’s usually for the mid-summer festival.”

“Dancing?” Harold asked as he thought of the ballroom in the castle under the ocean.

“Do you guys know how to dance?” Lisa asked.

“Er,” George bit his lip. “Maybe not the kind from around these parts.” He admitted.

“We could dance or something like that in the ballroom.” Lisa looked to where the room was. “It’d be fun.”

“Do you mean dancing for fun, or trying to dance with a partner?” Billy asked.

“It’s more fun dancing with people.” She told him. “You can partner up with friends.” She looked at the boys. “I can show you since dad taught us.”

*****

And so the children had the huge ballroom all to themselves.

Billy went gramophone and carefully took the record off the top. “Dad’ll kill us if we ruin the Louis Armstrong record–it’s his favorite.” He warned as he carefully put the record in a paper sleeve before setting it on a cabinet and pulled out a green envelope. He thought about using it for a few seconds before putting it on the gramophone.

“Ok, so who would like to go first?” Lisa asked. “Normally the man is the leader, but I can lead for you guys. And we’re dancing as friends.” She quickly reassured them. “No romantic stuff, I promise!”

“I don’t mind!” Harold walked over to the princess as the music from the record began to play a slow, yet sweet and lively melody.

Lisa smiled as she walked up to him. “Ok, so you put your hand on my waist.” Lisa took Harold’s left hand and guided it to her side where it was placed. “My hand goes on your shoulder.” She did this before taking Harold’s free hand. “And then you hold my free hand.” She raised his hand up to their side and held her fingers out. “Ok, just follow my lead.” Lisa smiled as she took one step to the side and Harold copied her. She lead him forward, to another side, backward, and she helped dance him around in a circle. It helped that the song was easy to dance in time to.

“And then sometimes they do this.” Lisa helped lift the blonde’s hand up and, while still holding Harold’s hand, she spun around in a circle, stopped and held her free hand out, before drawing back and held onto his shoulder again. “Got it?” She smiled.

“I don’t mind trying again.” Harold shrugged. Lisa smiled and the two repeated the steps as her brother and George watched on.

At this point none of the children were aware that Captain Underpants (who had been off doing his own thing and was watching all that was going on around him with great interest and much enthusiasm, even though he had no idea what was going on) was watching from the open doors to the hallway with a smile on his face. The kids looked like they were having fun and it was very tempting to try to join in. He wanted to be closer and be in the room with them, but he remembered his promise to the boys and stayed put.

Billy hummed the music as he watched his sister and Harold dance before he quietly sang the missing words that were not part of the track. “When words fail, what will I do? When words fail, how will she know how I feel? When words fail, will I fail too?”

Outside in the hallway, Edith had just started her break after many hours of work–she had to wake up very early and didn’t get much sleep beforehand, so she was struggling to stay awake. She was trying to once again tuck her hair behind her ear when she heard the music and stopped. “That music.” She whispered to herself as she let her hair fall back into her face while she tried to figure out the source. She knew that music–she danced to it once, a long time ago.

Curious as to why it was playing, she approached the ballroom doors and peered inside to see the young dancers, unaware that her appearance made Captain Underpants divert his attention away and he looked at her with great interest.

“Would you like a turn?” Lisa asked George. “Unless you want to dance with my brother instead?” The boy scoffed, but he smiled and went up to the princess as Harold let go of her and moved to Billy.

“It’s fun, trust me.” Lisa smiled at George as she held her hands out. George copied Harold’s position and Lisa looked as her hand held George’s–her eyes lingered on the strange bracelet that he and Harold both wore all the time–before she turned her head to face him and began to lead him in time to the music.

Edith silently watched the two dance with a sad smile. She could recall dancing to the song and she wondered how it looked when she danced with him. She could see that the kids were having innocent fun (which they needed with all the chaos that surrounded them), but when she danced to this song, she had experienced much deeper emotions beyond friendship.

Why was it when the boys first came into her life that she was being reminded of him as if it were just yesterday?

She hummed the melody of the song and closed her eyes as she tried to will herself back to that moment in time, when he was dancing with her on one of the happiest nights of her life. When it was night time out on the boardwalk, when a lot of people were dancing around them, and fireworks were going off, but she was more focused on the nervousness in his features before it gave way to enjoyment and there was total happiness in his dark eyes. Without meaning to intentionally do so she began to dance in a same pattern, unaware of whose attention she now had.

It was clear to Captain Underpants what Edith was doing, and she had a quiet sadness about her as she smiled and tried to dance without a partner. Her arms were positioned as if holding on to someone, but no one was there. It didn’t look right that she was dancing alone when the children were able to partner up together.

Despite his current situation, and despite that she couldn’t see him, he walked up towards her and waited until she was facing him, and when she did, he reached out to take her hand–it was at least nice enough to pretend and he watched long enough to try to do it too. And when it seemed like he was about to touch her–

It’s night time, there is music playing in the air while lights are strung up around him, and he’s dancing with her.

Her long hair is pinned back, and she wears a blue dress with a floral pattern upon it. He’s dancing with her as they hold onto each other and as he looks at her face as the light illuminates it, he sees how the blue of the dress brings out the blue of her eyes before she closes them, lets out a smile, and her grip on him tightens up in a reassuring way. Nothing else matters but her and her alone as his heart begins to soar and she is the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen in his short existence.

Startled at what just happened, he moved back away from Edith. He was confused as to what he just saw, and just stared at her in open-mouthed disbelief.

What just happened? Why did he see a much younger version of her? Why did that image suddenly fill him with an overwhelming sense of happiness and whatever that other thing was that also made him feel happy, excited, and or content whenever he saw her and only her?

Wait a minute... what if... what if... what if–?!

That wasn’t an image that came out of nowhere–that was a memory! It had to be! He didn’t know why he was so sure but he knew one thing.

“I–” He stammered as he stared at the woman and his eyes began to light up. “I remember you.” He then broke into a huge smile. “I REMEMBER YOU!” He let out in excited glee as he threw his arms out. “I REMEMBER YOU!” He nearly sang as he repeated himself. Finally he recalled something about himself and it turned out that he in fact knew this woman at some point in his life!

Unfortunately for Captain Underpants, even though Edith couldn’t hear him, the children could and Lisa looked up in alarm when she heard that familiar voice from several days ago while her brother stopped singing and looked up in confusion and both Harold and George froze up in horror. “Hello?!” Lisa yelled out. “Is someone there?!” She let go of George and ran towards the doors. Meanwhile, the two friends who were terrified over what could happen hurried after the princess.

Captain Underpants let out a loud, spectacular, and very dramatic gasp and slapped a hand over his mouth. How could he have been stupid?! He had a promise he had to keep and he was about to break it! He flew off as fast as he could as Edith was startled out of her dance and found herself facing Lisa as she bursted though the doorway and looked around to find the man. “Where is he?” She asked. “Where did he go?”

“Who?” Edith asked.

“The man!” Lisa turned to Edith as the boys stopped and watched. “I heard a man out here yelling ‘I remember you!’”

Edith paused for a long moment. “I have to be honest, I had my eyes closed for a bit, but I didn’t hear anyone other than you or the song.” She sighed and smiled. “You looked like you were having fun with the boys.”

George and Harold let out a sigh of relief as Lisa became increasingly confused. “I don’t understand, I heard him.” She looked around once more before she gave up and headed back into the ballroom as Edith went back on her way.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have chosen that song.” Lisa regretted. “That was the song she said she danced to with B–” She paused and looked back at the doorway and waited for a few seconds in case the woman was still there. “Well, it’s important to her.” She concluded before joining her brother.

“Ten years is a long time.” Billy said. “I don’t know what happened, but everything was a lot easier back then. That was around the time the storms became more frequent and Edith said that there was a storm that came out of nowhere on the day she was waiting for him.”

The boys thought that Captain Underpants’ strange outburst was odd, but then they both thought about how one of the storms killed Anthrope’s family when Billy brought up the storm. They both shared a knowing look before they went out of the ballroom together. The siblings stared in confusion at the two until Lisa turned to face her brother. “You heard that voice too, right? Tell me I’m not crazy.”

“I did.” Billy answered. “He sounded really happy whoever he was. Why is it a big deal?”

“I heard that voice before and I couldn’t see who it was!” Lisa frowned before she began to recount what had happened.

“Miss Edith!” George and Harold ran after Edith and eventually they caught up to her and she came to a stop to turn around and face them.

“Lisa and Billy told us about the guy you had a crush on.” Harold told the woman.

“And there was a storm when you were waiting for him. Did you find anything about what happened to him since then?”

“No,” Edith shook her head. “It was like he just vanished.”

“Could you tell us about him?” George asked. “Just out of curiosity.” He quickly added. Both he and Harold found the timing of the man’s disappearance to be rather odd–ten years ago, right when the storms became a frequent thing? They didn’t want to say that perhaps Krupp may have accidentally killed Edith’s crush, but then again maybe it would help her move on and be more confident with herself. Or maybe something could have happened up on the surface world to cause the king to sever the connection between the two kingdoms. Maybe they could finally solve the problem if they started learning about the origins of the storms.

“We can go to my room.” Edith suggested and the boys followed her as they were eager to hear something that could be useful to them. Though at the same time they also hoped a certain someone wouldn’t pop up during the story and ruin anything for them.

Speaking of which...

*****

“I remember Edith!” An excited Captain Underpants told a dog and a small kitten that was resting beside it as they both hid under a bush. “I can’t believe it, but I actually knew her before I lost my memories!” He looked up and saw something before flying towards it. “Hey cow that always makes that one man angry for some reason! Guess what?!”

*****

The boys found themselves in Edith’s bedroom, which was rather modest and very well kept. She had a few possessions out and about and she had a bookshelf above her bed with a few books and photo albums while only a few pictures and a painting was hung up upon her walls. Most of the photos were of her with family or just family members, but there was one of her with her arms around Billy and Lisa while they all were on the grounds of their school from a couple years back. She was currently facing the boys who sat on her bed while she sat on the chair from her desk.

“Remember when I said I had to be an apprentice in order to learn how to become a cook?” Edith asked. When the boys nodded, she continued.

“Well, around that time I had a very unusual day.” She thought back. “I was heading back to my aunt’s house when I found this man on the beach and he looked like he was struggling to get on his feet. Actually, it was kind of similar to how Billy and Lisa found you two, only he was trying to support himself upon a huge rock.” She smiled.

“So he didn’t have much on?” George smirked as he remembered the circumstances in which he and his best friend had been caught.

Edith hesitated as a pink blush crept onto her face. “Uh, something like that.” She slowly replied, though her words hinted at something more to the story. “Something like that.” She shook her head. “Anyway, he said he didn’t have a good day and lost everything, so I helped him walk back to my aunt’s house and gave him a meal and some clothes. My aunt–bless her soul–said I should have used a harpoon gun on him. She was an odd person, but she taught me how to use one among things.” She smiled at this as the boys had a small laugh at that part.

“What was the man’s name?” Harold asked and Edith paused. “It...” She closed her eyes and dared herself to say the name she hadn’t said in a long time. “It was Benjamin. Just Benjamin.”

“Anyway,” She continued and opened her eyes again. “He was a bit like you two in a way. The way he saw everything in the town was as if he was a child and it was all new to him, and sometimes he had the hugest smile on his face. He also once helped a child get her doll down from the roof of the stall that faced the one I used to work at. Her friend threw it up there somehow, but Benjamin went on ahead and helped her out without being asked to do so. It was so sweet.” She smiled. “Benjamin didn’t find it odd that I wanted to try to have a career and he supported me. He had odd ways of expressing it sometimes, but the first time he did on the day I met him, it felt honest and it was like he completely believed in me.”

“Well, he wasn’t perfect all the time.” She added. “Benjamin had some moments where he could get angry–and he would get rude during those times–but he at least tried to keep himself in check as best as he could. He didn’t have much to say about himself, though he said he didn’t have an easy childhood and it was hard for him to make friends because of his family. He said they felt intimidated by him and he didn’t know how to talk to them half the time.” A frown of understanding formed before she continued with a smile.

“But before I knew it, I was falling in love with him–this shy, but sweet man who was wonderful when he was confident and determined, and his smile was the kind that made you feel like all your worries could go away when you saw it. And when he was in the right mood, he was so much fun loving that you boys probably would have liked him. He wasn’t perfect, but he was someone who was wonderful and who I wanted to spend my time with.”

“Of course it got to the point where it got harder to talk to him.” She cringed and held her face in her hands. “I’m far better with kids than with adults when it comes to socializing. The shyness kicked in a lot more and there were times where I didn’t know how he saw me because he started struggling with talking to me too. I didn’t know if he was getting tired of me or maybe if perhaps he felt the way I did towards him. The idea of telling him how I felt was terrifying.”

“Then came the mid-summer festival.” Edith closed her eyes as she recalled that fateful night and moved her hands away from her face. “It was one of the best nights of my life, complete with fireworks out on the ocean, music, and dancing with someone that I had fallen in love with. I was happy when I danced with Benjamin, and the way he looked at me with that smile made me feel as if I was...” She let out a laugh. “Well, I felt special, like I was all that mattered, now that I think about it. He wasn’t handsome in the traditional sense, but I thought he was the handsomest man I ever saw in my life and the way he smiled and looked at me with his eyes so full of life and happiness... well who else would be as wonderful to look at as that?” She let out a happy sigh and smile, though her audience was not as into the romantic part of the story as she was.

“But,” Edith’s face fell as she remembered what came next. “I told him I had to leave the next day and go to another town in order to complete my apprenticeship. I sprang it on him without warning and I told him I wanted to see him one more time before I had to go.” She took a deep breath. “He seemed upset by something during this time and what I told him made him seem out of it–like it made it worse.”

“And so the next day, I waited out on the pier for him. I had one last chance to gather up the courage tell him how I felt and maybe even get his address. I can’t believe I never asked for it before that day and I later hated myself for it. I waited.... and I waited.... and waited.” Edith’s voice grew quiet and she looked at her hands as they were clasped together in her lap.

“He didn’t show up.” Harold quietly stated.

The woman let out a deep sigh of regret. “I was such an idiot. I couldn’t bring up the courage to tell him how I felt and by the time I did, it was too late. I don’t even know why he didn’t show up. Did he get tired of me? Was he mad at me? Did something happen to him?” She looked up and it almost looked like she was struggling to not cry and was barely succeeding. “I don’t even know if he would have loved me back or not, so I don’t know if it was all for nothing. Benjamin never gave me an address to write him back to, and I want to be angry at him because it would make this all so much easier. I just don’t know what really happened to him and I regret that I never told him how I felt about him. And I try not to think about Benjamin, but I’ve never felt same way towards anyone else like I did towards him since then. If I ever had the chance to confess again, I would in a heartbeat, but I don’t know if I even could if I don’t know what really happened with him.”

She sighed in regret. “I still have a picture of us in that photo book I have up above my bed. I don’t know why and maybe I should, but I can’t bring myself to just up and throw it away. Too many good memories along with that bad one, I guess.” She shook her head.

“You have a picture of him?” Harold asked as his sympathy included a bit of curiosity.

“Yes, I put it there.” Edith pointed to a dark red photo album on the shelf. “I’ve tried to collect the memories that I could, and I suppose I lucked out with that one–it’s near the end on the front side of the last page; it’s just us two on the beach. Even if he didn’t love me back, he was one of the best friends I could have ever asked for–”

“Hey, Edith?” A woman called as they all could hear her knock on Edith’s door. “You’re needed right now.”

“Oh!” Edith shot up off the chair. “I’m coming!” She hurried to the door. “I’ll be back in a bit, but you can come back later if you want!” She told the boys before shutting the door behind her and left the two behind. Both boys felt awkward, but they felt bad for Edith’s loss. She did sound as if she had been really happy and then she had her heart broken. They even completely forgot the reason why they were willing to sit through the story and they didn’t hear her mention anything about a storm.

“What an idiot.” George huffed and crossed his arms together. It sounded more as if this Benjamin didn’t love her after all and that nothing bad like getting killed in a storm had happened to him–or worse, he probably saw her as a distraction that was cut short by the timing of events. “Why do people ditch or cheat on other people instead of being honest with them?” He asked as Harold turned to the album.

Harold had to know what this Benjamin looked like in case there was some chance they might have seen him, but also it was because he was curious. Who was this mystery person that stole and then broke Edith’s heart? In fact, why would she even compare them to this man and think they would have liked each other? Harold stood upon the bed and pulled the album off the shelf.

George turned to look at Harold and scowled. “Why bother? It almost sounds like this jerk wasn’t worth her time to begin with.” He got off the bed and went to the door as Harold sat down. The blonde opened the album up, moved it to the end, and turned the last page back to see the photo in question.

What he saw made him gasp so loud that it made George turn back in alarm.

George saw his friend looking at the page in complete shock to the point that he almost went white while his widened eyes were close to bursting out of their sockets. “What, what is it?” George asked but Harold couldn’t bring himself to say anything. George went back to the bed and sat beside Harold to take a look–only to also gasp when he saw the photo.

The black and white photograph was taken at one of the many beaches near the coastline and Edith and a man were standing close to the water. Edith looked to be either in one of the last years of her time as a teenager or else in her very early twenties–she was at least young enough to be called a young woman. The wind was trying to blow her then much longer hair (long enough to go past her chest) into her face, but she was able to keep it out with one hand trying to tuck it back. She looked incredibly happy as she gave the camera a small smile as the man stood beside her.

It was the man that Edith was with (and was probably somewhere around ten years older than her) that made the boys react the way they did, because they both immediately recognized who he was.

He was also much younger, but much more younger looking than the boys could have ever imagined–there were no stress or bitterness or anger on his face to make him older than he actually was. He faced the camera while grinning an embarrassed grin that revealed a set of perfectly normal looking teeth, but he looked at Edith as if she was his entire world and there was a warmth and adoration in his eyes that neither boy had ever seen from him in their entire lives.

“Oh no.” Harold shook his head in disbelief. “No... no way, it can’t be.”

The man in the photo–the man that Edith had fallen in love with ten years ago–was none other than Krupp.

“Krupp?!” George barely let out as he felt the urge to collapse to the ground in a daze. “Edith’s crush was Krupp?!” How was that even possible? And how the heck did she see anything in him of all people that was worth loving?! The man she described was nothing like the tyrant they knew for most of their lives. “Of all people she had to have a crush on, it had to be him?!”

“Is he happy?!” Harold barely squeaked. “Like good happy and not scary happy?! I didn’t think that was physically possible!”

“How can this be?!” George gapped. “Krupp hates humans, but this–this can’t be right!” He gestured to the photograph. “If he hates this place so much, why would he come up here and be happy with a part of it?! There’s no way that can be him! This has to be a mistake!”

“Yeah, but Krupp’s first name is Benjamin.” Harold reminded George as he looked at him. “Who else would it–” He stopped and then took another look at the photo. This guy looked liked Krupp and also had the same fake looking dark hair, and the same everything, but it was the look on his face that was bugging Harold. He had seen that look before, but not from him–someone who looked like him.

“Remember how Captain Underpants has a crush on Edith?” Harold observed the way the man–Benjamin–looked at Edith. “This guy is looking at her the same way Captain Underpants looked at her when we were trying to help her out with talking to guys. The smile is different but the look in the eyes are the same as his was at the time. Actually, change a few things and that might actually be him in this picture instead of Krupp.”

George stared at the way Benjamin was looking at Edith as well. “Huh, I guess I can see that. But Captain Underpants isn’t someone who gets embarrassed so easily–he’d be happy with being in front of the camera and I think he’d be hugging her or something like that. You know he would if he could.”

“And Captain Underpants doesn’t know who he is.” Harold tried to think.

“Well if this guy is Krupp, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so happy before.” George thought out loud.

Both boys realized something.

“Krupp would of had to have turned himself into a human in order for him to have met Edith.” George. “Dad said we used to come up here–”

“–And Krupp used to be curious as everyone else, according to my mom.” Harold added. “This would make him the biggest hypocrite imaginable.” He snorted and laughed. “Oh my gosh, that would really cause a lot of trouble back home.”

“He wouldn’t just tell anyone who he really was.” George thought. “But something happened around this exact same time and he cut us off.”

“You don’t think–” Harold couldn’t bring himself to say it as he looked at the young version of Edith in the photo. “No, it couldn’t be because of–?! Argh!” He held his head and felt the urge to hit it against the wall. “What is going on here?! What’s the truth and what isn’t the truth?!” He asked. “Nothing makes sense!”

George paused before taking the ring out and looked at it. “We need to show this photograph to Captain Underpants. Not here–we need to take it with us in case we get caught. Maybe it can jog his memory a bit.”

Harold thought about this after he took a moment to calm down. “Captain Underpants was yelling about how he remembered someone and Edith was outside the ballroom–it had to be her.” He shared a look with George. “And this Benjamin sounds more like him, not Krupp.”

*****

By this point, Krupp was just flat out tired from having to deal with a lot of complaints, a pain from the injury that kept him from sleeping, work, and–well he was just flat out tired in general.

He learned from the Sneedlys and their assistants that apparently no oil leaked out from the drill. That was somewhat helpful, but (according to the others) because there were witnesses to what had just happened, and because he lashed out with a storm, the humans would not take what happened so lightly and would demand an audience with them. It got to the point where he just stormed off and, in a fit of anger, decided to repeatedly punch the contraption that allowed messages to be sent to him from the king upon the surface (and vice versa) until he was sure he wouldn’t get anymore messages, though it left him with additional pain in his hand.

He hated people telling him that he was at fault for all of this and, combined with yet another random mood swing, he had enough and locked himself in his chambers where he planned to stay for quite awhile.

Krupp sat down on his bed and stared around his personal sanctuary, away from prying eyes. The haze of his anger was still throbbing in his head and he tried to calm himself down as he held his face in his hands. He just wanted a moment of peace to himself, where no one could judge or annoy him.

After a few moments, Krupp took off the adornments–the bracers, the sash, and the necklace. He then reached for his false hair and, after a moment’s hesitation, he slowly, but carefully took it off before setting it aside with the rest of his things.

He then briefly glanced to a mirror that he used to make sure his appearance looked right, but even from this distance he could see how worn out he currently was. He wasn’t entirely sure if who he was seeing in the mirror was himself–some broken, worn out, bald, middle aged, slightly scarred up and incredibly overweight individual who couldn’t find any real joy in his life anymore. Without the exterior he put on (both literal and figurative), he felt that all his weaknesses and flaws were out for all to see. He didn’t want to be seen this way and he didn’t want anyone to see him like this.

He looked down at the stretch marks that he had gained over the years and how they split down two different types of skin to the point that it looked painful as if they ripped his flesh open in the process. One of his fingers traced an especially deep split while the other fingers brushed against his skin and felt the gradual change from monster to man. As he did, he looked down to the faint scars he developed across the years–each exposed to the world with a story to tell, with the exception of those he always kept within.

Krupp let out a sigh, held his face in his hands again, and held that pose for a few seconds before collapsing upon the bed and felt it sink under him. He just wanted to shut down, block everything for a moment, and enjoy the silence. He let his mind wander for a moment as his mind surrendered to nothingness.

For awhile, there was calm, blissful silence.

Just silence.

“Benny?”

Krupp froze when he heard the voice that was wonderfully and painfully familiar. He had to be hallucinating from all the stress and anger. Or else he had to be dreaming. There was no way he could have heard that.

“Benjamin?”

Slowly Krupp struggled to sit upright and opened his eyes to see someone who shouldn’t have been in this room with him. Heck, she shouldn’t have been here for any logical reason to the point that he swore that his mind was playing tricks on him.

She looked exactly as she did ten years ago–he knew her pinned up hair had a few flowers pinned in the back, but if she took out the pins out then her hair would flow around her head in the water. Her blue dress with the floral print should have reached her calves, but it seemed to bubble and flare up in the water like the top of a jelly fish as she herself floated gracefully in the water while faint colorful lights drifted around her as if to signify that she was indeed some pleasant figment of his imagination. Her face was still the same as it was ten years ago and as how he wanted to remember her as–forever young, full of life, and far more beautiful than any other woman he had known, with a light sprinkle of freckles and eyes so blue that the sea itself would be jealous. This was how she looked during the best moment of his whole life before everything went wrong.

She was one of his greatest secrets that he kept from everyone else.

He stared at the phantom of the human he once knew–and who was also the last person he dared try to completely open his heart to–as she seemed to drift towards him with a small smile on her face. Her hand reached out to his face and he froze as his heart pounded when her finger tips almost seemed to gently brush down both his jaw and cheek to the point he swore that he could feel her actually touching him. His eyes were locked with hers and he knew that his mouth was hanging open like he was an idiot while struggling to breathe as her hand lingered on his face for a few seconds more until he shut his eyes and finally shut his mouth closed. He wanted to pretend that this was all real–to feel the caress of her fingers against his face–and he almost believed it, but then she backed away to give him some space and he opened his eyes again.

Then she smiled at him once more–a shy, sweet smile–and what little remained of his heart stopped for one second. “Dance with me?” She asked in a quiet, yet sweet voice as she held both hands out for him.

He stared at her hopeful, encouraging eyes until his eyes drifted down to look at her hands. He finally got up and slowly his hands went towards hers as if drawn to them like they were a way to solve all of his problems and get rid of the hollowness that plagued him for so long. It had been so long since he felt it, but he could almost feel a faint hint of the emotions he once held towards this young woman with the blue eyes–the feeling that once gave him happiness as well as pain. A part of him wanted so badly for this to be real and to feel the way he used to when he was truly happy.

Wait.

He hesitated and stared at her hands. Her hands were used to create and to offer aid–his were used to control or destroy everything he could touch.

“This isn’t real.” He closed his eyes and shook his head as he felt a sickness inside him. “You aren’t real. You shouldn’t even be down here with me. I’m making this up out of stress and self-pity.” He tried to rationalize this as hard as he could.

“But I could be real if you go back up and find me.”

“You aren’t real!” He snapped at her. “I can’t go back up there! I don’t want to go back up there, ever again! You’re probably married with a husband who isn’t such a useless, messed up wreck like I am and you probably have kids of your own who won’t freak out at the sight of me because they don’t live down here! I had to let you go for both our sakes!”

“For my sake or just yours, Benjamin?”

“Look at me!” He yelled at the phantom as he gestured to himself in a violent manner. “Look at you!” He gestured to her. “You could have anyone you want! You wouldn’t have wanted me if you knew the truth! We were better off without each other and you know it! It’s a miracle I didn’t do something even more stupid than what I did to you! Going up there was the worst choice of my life and nothing good came out of it!”

He growled and slammed the heels of his hands against his brows before gesturing to her. “Why are you even here?! Why do you have to look so young and perfect while I’m like this?! Are you mocking me?!”

The phantom of the girl he once loved only frowned in sorrow at him. “You keep lying to yourself even years after you took out the parts of you that you needed the most.”

“I DIDN’T NEED THEM! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT I’VE BEEN THROUGH! ALL THEY DID WAS CAUSE ME GRIEF THAT I COULDN’T HANDLE ANYMORE!” He was almost screaming as the rage he was oh so well known for was beginning to boil within him and he could feel the world around him shift and shake because of it but he didn’t care. “YOU WOULDN’T HAVE UNDERSTOOD! YOU DIDN’T LIVE THE LIFE I LIVED!”

The phantom paused during his moment of glaring at her–to dare her to torment him–before she began to slowly vanish away, lights and all. A small part of him panicked as he realized she was vanishing. “Wait a minute!” He cried as he tried to reach out to her. “I didn’t mean to–!”

“You threw me away–you threw your only reminder of me away, just as you suppressed and threw away the good parts of yourself.” She cut him off and he froze as her words were capable of far more damage than the injury from last night.

“If you fail to look within and reflect on your actions before it’s too late for you, you will be seen and remembered, but not with love.” She stated in a melancholic tone as if it was going to happen without question as everything turned black.

Krupp sat up wide awake and gasped as he felt his heart race.

It was all just a dream–she was just a dream.

He looked around the room, but there was no sign of her, as if she never existed. He let out a deep sigh as he tried to tell himself that he dreamt or at least hallucinated her, yet the hollowness within him was aching for what was lost. He wanted to feel the way he used to feel and have the desire to express how he felt towards those he cared about, but he couldn’t anymore as it just made the pain within worse and he didn’t have anyone left since they were either gone or they just hated him. Even his own dreams were out to antagonize him.

He gritted his teeth as he felt tears beginning to form in eyes that he shut as tightly as he could. He felt an urge to say her name, but the mere thought of it made him feel like he was going to be sick. He longed for her and yet he wanted to force her away from him.

Why was it that, along with the sudden mood swings, he would also have moments where she would come into his mind without warning? Why could he only barely feel a touch of what he once had towards her when those moments came before they quickly faded?

*****

Meanwhile, up above in the castle upon the surface kingdom, Edith had fallen asleep.

She was called to give advice on something and it was only for a very small amount of time. She felt that perhaps she should have stayed in her room and talked more with the boys, but the urge to take a nap overcame her and she ended up resting at the table before her head ended up going against the wall and she slumped in her spot.

There were things she wanted to tell the boys, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up. She wanted to tell them that the bracelets they wore were almost identical to the one Benjamin wore all the time–she couldn’t remember him ever being without it. There was also something else, but they would think she was insane and needed to be thrown into a loony bin–something she wished she had asked the fortune teller when she had the chance.

She sensed someone close by and once again she was sure that she was dreaming, but she stayed quiet. When she heard them speak, she fought the urge to open her eyes and waited to hear what they had to say.

“Oh good, you’re sleeping.” He sounded relieved and then there was a pause. “I remembered something about myself. I knew you–I think I knew you at some point.” He corrected himself. “I’m certain it’s a memory.”

“Are you ok?” He then asked. “You seemed sad earlier. I wanted to do something about it but...” He sounded like he was trying to stay as optimistic as he could, but there was a long pause that wasn’t reassuring.

“I’ve been able to help the children, but I don’t know what I can do to help you. You can’t even hear me and you can’t see me. And I–” There was a deep sigh and he sounded as if he was struggling to say his words. “I think I saw myself dancing with you and you looked really happy–and when I think of you and I see you, I feel... happy? No it’s like it’s something much more than that, but I don’t know how to describe it. But seeing you unhappy makes me unhappy, and–”

There was a pause and she wanted so badly to reach out to him. “I want to help you and I want to help the boys, but I don’t know how!” He sounded frustrated–not in an angry way, but in a more depressed sort of way as if it was taking his all to not break down. “I’m going to stay positive for everyone, but if something were to happen that I couldn’t be able to help–”

Edith then woke up and looked around, but the voice went silent and she couldn’t see the speaker. “Hello?” She tried to call out.

No response.

She stared out into the nothingness. She didn’t tell the boys that lately she had been hearing a voice in her sleep–a voice that sounded exactly like Benjamin’s.

She rested an arm on the table and rested her head upon it, but continued to stare off at nothing in particular until she closed her eyes. For one moment, she felt a slight change in the temperature and everything became pleasantly warm, like when she danced by herself outside the ballroom.

Then the warmth vanished and she felt alone.

Chapter Text

The boys had looked everywhere for Captain Underpants, but even though he would be the most easiest thing to spot he was nowhere to be found. They finally went into the guest bedroom to see if he showed up there, but no such luck.

“Where the heck is he?!” Harold threw his hands out as George took the ring out again and thought for a moment. “The one time we need him and we can’t find him!”

“I think I have an idea.” George replied as he went to the bathroom. Harold followed him and watched as the boy turned one of the nozzles of the sink and a jet of water came out. WIthout saying a word, the boy calmly stuck the ring under the water and waited.

Moments later, a set of familiar red lights zipped into the room and went into the ring.

“Huh.” Harold was impressed as George turned the water off and wiped the ring dry with a towel. “We should have thought of that earlier–would have saved us the trouble.”

“It’s lazy, but effective.” George agreed. As soon as George was sure the ring was dry to the touch, he snapped his fingers and out came Captain Underpants a few seconds later. He was cross legged as he hovered a few feet up in the air, but to the quiet surprise of both boys, he seemed withdrawn and depressed as he had one hand under his jaw and stared off at nothing in particular. They were so used to him being cheerful all the time that it was a little unsettling.

“Uh, are you ok?” Harold asked in concern. It took a moment for Captain Underpants to realize where he was and who he was with when he finally noticed the boys. In an instant he let out a surprised “Oh!” and moved his hand from his jaw before he had a huge smile on his face that seemed less honest and more like a mask as if to hide something. “Good to see you boys again!” He waved before frowning. “Is this about the ballroom? I didn’t mean to yell!” He quickly apologized.

“That’s not why we summoned you.” George replied as Harold carefully took the photograph out of his pocket. “Well, maybe.” He admitted before adding. “We remembered that you yelled that you remembered someone. Was it Edith?” He asked. “It was.” The adult admitted as his smile became more relaxed and more genuine.

“What exactly did you remember?” George inquired.

“Well,” Captain Underpants thought for a moment. “It was night time, there were lights all around me.... and I was dancing with her, but she looked younger. And happier.” He added. “The memory made me happy, but it made me feel something else. Except I don’t know how I could describe it.” He frowned but then smiled again. “But it was a really nice feeling.”

The boys shared a knowing look before Harold took the photo and hid Edith with his hand in case Captain Underpants would get the wrong idea about the image. “Do you recognize the man in this photo?” He asked.

The boys watched as Captain Underpants moved closer to them and stared at the photo as long and hard as he could with an expression that was meant to be serious, but the way his eyes squinted and the way he pulled off an exaggerated frown of concentration made him look comical instead. “I have to admit, I’ve never seen him before.” He confessed.

Harold stared at Captain Underpants in disbelief as George slapped his head. “Really? He doesn’t look familiar to you?” He asked. Was the adult really that stupid and could not see the resemblance?

“Nope.” The adult shook his head.

“Have you looked in the mirror at any time?” George pointed to the mirror and Captain Underpants looked. “Yes, I can see myself.” He grinned as he struck a pose. “And I look quite dashing!”

Despite his frustration, Harold fought the urge to laugh as he held the photo next to the mirror. “Ok, now look at yourself, then look at the man for a few seconds, then back again.” He instructed. A comparison had to work in this case.

Captain Underpants did as he was told. He looked at himself, then at the photo, then back again. “Boys, I don’t understand what this is supposed to do.” He admitted as he gave them a questioning look.

George and Harold let out a loud groan of frustration at the adult’s stupidity.

“Wait!” George took the photo and looked at it carefully before he not only hid Edith, but also the top of Benjamin’s head where his hair was. “Ok, now?” He asked as he held the photo up. “Do what we told you to again and look carefully at his face.”

This time when Captain Underpants obeyed he realized what he was being shown. “Oh, you mean to say that he looks like me?!” He pointed to himself as his eyes widened in surprise. He looked at the photo once more. “Wait, so do I have a twin, or–”

“We think he might be you!” Harold finally threw out what the boys wanted to tell him. “I mean we aren’t sure, but you look way too alike for it to be a coincidence.”

“Well if that is me, I certainly have odd taste in clothing.” Captain Underpants admitted as he looked closer at the photo. “What am I–I mean what is he looking at?”

“We’ll let you know later.” Harold admitted as George quickly put the photo in his pocket. Moments later there was a knock on the door from the bedroom. “Hey guys, are you about ready to go?” Billy asked from behind the door. “There’s a couple of places we can check out.”

“Oh?” Captain Underpants perked up at this. “Where are you boys off to this time?” He asked as George quickly turned one of the handles to the sink. Before Captain Underpants could get an answer, the boy stuck the ring under the water and the hero vanished in an instant.

“That didn’t work as well as I’d hoped.” George sighed. “It didn’t trigger another memory out of him.”

“Yeah, I’m afraid to say it, but maybe he won’t be as much help as we had hoped for.” Harold admitted before looking at the sink. “You know, we need to test to see how long we can hold our breath underwater as humans when we get back.”

*****

When the children went into town, the boys were impressed with the new decorations. “It looks like you guys threw around a bunch of toilet paper.” Harold snorted as he pointed to the long paper decorations that almost looked like the item in question.

“I guess.” Billy let out a giggle.

“And all the flowers?” George asked as he eyed all the colorful plants that were everywhere no matter where he looked.

“Well, because it’s spring.” Lisa admitted as she adjusted a stylish lilac colored hat that she was currently wearing on her head. “And... something about rebirth? Renewal?” She shrugged as her hands dropped to her sides. “Something about change, I think.”

They all went through many stores and carefully planned out how to prank Ms. Gambino with the help of the royal siblings who enjoyed the idea of getting into some mischief. The boys enjoyed their creativity and input over all the possibilities the siblings came up with and they looked forward to putting the plan in action because of that. They went to a lot of stores where they could collect some very useful supplies and when the siblings admitted how some unfamiliar or common items could possibly be used in the pranks, the boys were eager to use them as soon as possible. The trip made them wish that the siblings could remain friends with them for beyond how little time they had left in the kingdom upon the surface.

The children then went into the toy store to find some additional tools to use. As they did, they talked about the comic the boys made.

“I hope you guys make more comics of Captain Underpants!” Lisa grinned at the boys while holding some fake dog poop and having a bag of recently purchased pranking equipment hanging on her shoulder. “I couldn’t get enough of him!”

“Yeah, our classmates would love him.” Billy smiled as he eyed some fake spiders. “We need more positive role models nowadays.”

The boys snickered. “I don’t know about him being a role model.” Harold admitted but then he frowned as he realized something. “The thing is... that might be our only comic of him.”

“Why?” Billy was surprised as Lisa frowned. “You guys have something good–”

“We want to keep writing about him!” George admitted. “It’s just–” He stopped and sighed as he shared a look with Harold. “We have to leave after the festival tomorrow. And where we go is a place where people might not understand him or find him as funny as you guys find him to be.” He frowned as he realized just how little time there was left for them all. “I don’t think the comic book would survive the trip alone.” He realized that the paper would not last underwater and it would be destroyed the moment it would touch the water’s surface. In fact it was almost eerily like how Captain Underpants himself would return back to the ring the moment he made contact with water. Why exactly was it that he couldn’t touch water?

“So we want you to keep that comic.” Harold added. “We know he’ll be well loved and cared for by you guys.” And honestly, who else could they trust to take care of the comic? At least it would be a final parting gift and they could live in the knowledge that someone could at least keep one of their comics, away from hands that would be eager to tear it up into pieces.

Billy and Lisa stared in shock at the two. “I’m sorry, it’s just how it is.” George shrugged as he and Harold went over to look at some toys as they both tried to mask their feelings. Meanwhile the siblings stared at each other in dismay. Were they about ready to say farewell to the boys when they actually weren’t ready to?

Both sets of children silently looked though the sections in the store and they dreaded the moment they would have to part ways for their own reasons. The siblings had grown to enjoy the company of the boys and because they treated them as equals and not as someone high above them like most would. They didn’t expect them to always behave–they brought joy into their lives when they needed it. The boys had also grown to enjoy the company of the siblings for being open to their sense of humor and for not trying to bring them down–they were also a lot of fun to hang around with.

But unfortunately for George and Harold, the bright and wonderful world above was a place they knew from the beginning that they would eventually have to leave. Gone would be the new friends and gone would be the warmth of sun, the fun, the compassion, and the encouragement from others. They had a mission to focus on and for all they knew, they would be locked away forever–trapped in the dark and separated from their means to create and express themselves as well as from each other–if all went wrong.

There was one thing they could at least feel secure about–all these children of the surface world would never ever have to directly encounter Krupp face to face. The mere idea of it was unpleasant, and with their newfound friendship with the siblings, it was now important that the two would never find out about the true identity of the adult who was mean to George and Harold. Or better yet, that Krupp would never discover the friendships the boys made with them.

“Ugh, rough waters last night–I could barely sleep.” A customer complained to the owner as she brought a stuffed rabbit to the counter. “Also my husband’s friend complained that he could hear a woman singing her head off and she kept him awake near the lighthouse in the dead of night no matter how many times he yelled out for her to stop. Sometimes I wish we could get of here.”

“Too bad about the oil drill last night.” The owner sighed as the woman took paper money out to pay for the animal. “The thing was caught in an explosion and then a storm came to try to knock that ship over when it came to check the drill out.”

George, Harold, Lisa, and Billy froze and looked up in alarm.

“Yeah, I heard it came mere moments after the drill was destroyed, as if the king under the ocean just happened to be nearby.” The owner continued with a snort that indicated that he didn’t believe in the myth while he accepted the money and gave the woman her change back. “I mean it’s good there was no oil, but on the other hand it’s not looking good for this town. No oil, no jobs, no money.”

“I can’t imagine what’s going through King Mason’s head right now.” The woman was sympathetic as the owner put the rabbit in a paper bag. “Too worried to think of the festival I bet. Who the heck would pay to have an oil drill all the way out there if there was so little chance of there being any oil to begin with?”

The children were horrified upon hearing this for their own reasons. The siblings realized that nothing was ok, despite what their father would want them to believe right now, and that things were getting much worse than they had thought. The boys realized that Krupp was aware of that issue somehow and now had another reason to be mad at the humans, which could make their mission harder than it needed to be-it was all too easy to picture just how angry he must have been.

“You don’t think our letters made things worse?” Billy nervously asked Lisa as she stared at him with wide eyed horror.

“Oh man, this can’t possibly get any worse.” Harold gulped as he looked at George. “It’s only a matter of time until–”

“Hey what are you doing there?!” The owner saw a teenager stuffing some items from a shelf into his pockets instead of leaving them out in his hands or arms. “Hey!” The man snapped his fingers as he went around the counter to get to the teen.

“Oh no.” George felt his heart stop and he and Harold watched as Captain Underpants was summoned out on accident yet again. “Oh hi guys, what’s up?” He grinned and waved when he turned around to see them.

Lisa snapped her head up when she heard that familiar voice that sounded a couple of shelves close by. “He’s here!” She exclaimed to her brother, who was more interested in what was about to occur.

The teen snapped his head up in alarm and quickly snagged one more item before hurrying away as fast as he could. The customer hurried towards the door to try to block him, and even Billy tried to run and grab the teen’s shirt upon lunging at him, but he was too slow and fell to the ground.

“Stop thief!” The owner yelled as he pointed to the teen and hurried after him.

“A theft?!” Captain Underpants was immediately alerted to what was going on before he had a determined grin on his face before flying off after the young thief. “Don’t worry, I’m here to help!”

“No wait!” George cried out as he and Harold were forced to run after the adult. Meanwhile the teen had managed to knock the woman aside as hard as he could and escaped through the door and the store owner was after him a few seconds later.

In that moment Billy looked up and Lisa watched the door as a huge blur of red, white, and peach rushed though the door without it opening and seconds later their friends hurried after it. It was a fast moment, but to the siblings the blur looked oddly familiar.

“STOP!” Harold yelled at Captain Underpants as he and George hurried to catch up to him. “He’s not a kid and he can’t see you, remember?! You’ll just pass through him!”

Captain Underpants skidded to a halt in mid-air and turned around to face the boys. “But he’s getting away!” He protested as he threw his hands out towards the teen and the store owner who was running after him.

“You can’t do anything if you can’t physically grab him!” George frantically pointed out. “I’m sorry, but this is something you can’t do, no matter how much you want to!”

“But what if I want to help out?!” Captain Underpants was now torn between going after the criminal and arguing with the boys. “Isn’t there a way you can make it so that I can be seen by adults and not go through you?!” He pleaded to them.

“We don’t know!” Harold admitted. “We don’t even know where the ring came from in the first place!”

Captain Underpants opened his mouth and was about to say something when all of the sudden he noticed something behind the boys and then cheerfully waved at it with a smile. “Oh hello, Your Highnesses!” The boys were confused by the sudden change of his tone until they realized what he was saying and turned around.

Lisa and Billy were standing several feet behind George and Harold and were staring at Captain Underpants in complete and utter shock. Billy’s jaw dropped and his eyes were close to popping out of their sockets while Lisa’s face gained a spectacular blush when she caught sight of the adult man in just a cape and underwear.

Both Lisa and Billy were sensible children at this point in their lives. They knew fact from fiction, they knew the myths around the kingdom were just myths, and they knew that George and Harold’s superhero was a character they had made up. They did not expect to see that the man the boys were arguing with–the man who possessed the voice that had been encouraging to Lisa–was in fact a living breathing version of the superhero in all his underwear wearing glory. A person who was also flying a few feet off the ground which should not have been anywhere near possible and yet it was happening before their very eyes.

“Is–” Billy stammered as he pointed a finger to the adult. “Is that–guys am I nuts or is that your superhero flying right beside you?”

The words that ran through George and Harold’s horrified minds would have gotten them (as well as the writer if she ever revealed them, because she was trying to keep this story as kid-friendly as possible) in deep, deep trouble. Of all the things they had feared up to this point, this was one of them.

“Why yes I am!” Captain Underpants happily confirmed to George and Harold’s dismay. The superhero’s cheerfulness then faded when he realized what was happening. “Oh... uh... whoops.” He gulped as Lisa’s eyes widened as she fully realized who the owner of the energetic but kind sounding voice was.

“It was you!” She exclaimed as she slapped a hand to her cheek and pointed at Captain Underpants. “You’re the voice from the library and the ballroom! You were the one who suggested that I should have read the comic!”

Both boys stared at Lisa when they heard this before staring at Captain Underpants as their horror increased. “What does she mean by that?” George demanded as steadily as he could while the adult began to nervously sweat.

“Well, I wanted to help you guys be friends with Princess Lisa, since you were already friends with Prince Billy!” Captain Underpants tried to explain as he held his hands up. “And she didn’t look happy, so I tried to encourage her to read your comic–without being seen!” He added. “I mean it worked out alright in the end, right?! But this was before you told me about the–”

“Stop it!” George panicked and quickly and angrily cut Captain Underpants off before he could reveal anything else. “You already said enough!”

“We told you not to let them see you!” Harold cried out. “But talking to them behind our backs?!”

“Uh, what’s going on?” Lisa asked in confusion as she wondered what Captain Underpants was about to say before he was cut off.

“Oh no, we can’t fix this!” Harold groaned as he held his head as his panic began to rise. “We can’t explain this to them! We’ll have to explain everything!”

“Explain what?” Billy asked as Lisa stared at Captain Underpants in wonder. “That your– I mean that Captain Underpants is somehow real? But that’s incredible!” he grinned at the superhero. “Weird, yeah. But incredible!”

“No, you don’t–ARGH!” George cried out in frustration before turning around to face Captain Underpants. “Why do you have to be so dumb and impulsive and not consult us about things first?! Do you have any idea how many times you could have gotten us into trouble?! Like just now?!”

“But I didn’t mean to!” Captain Underpants protested as he felt hurt by George’s words.

“He’s right!” Harold pointed out and the discovery of what happened the night before and a bunch of other things were getting to him as well as the realization that their friend was probably going to be more of a danger than they had realized. “Maybe it’s better that you can’t follow us back home and can’t be seen by adults! At least we won’t have you to ruin things at the last moment!”

Captain Underpants stared at the boys in shock, as did the siblings who were surprised at how mean the boys suddenly became. Having both boys angry at him was not a pleasant experience, but this? “You don’t mean that.” He tried to protest as he shook his head in denial. “You don’t–”

Harold–not wanting to experience this–grabbed George’s hand and they both ran away. “Don’t you dare follow us this time!” George yelled at Captain Underpants.

“No wait!” Captain Underpants protested as he reached a pleading hand out to them. “George! Harold!” He cried out, but the boys didn’t listen and he was forced to watch as they hurried away from him. “Come back!” He cried one last time, but it was hopeless.

Hurt by their words and now upset with himself, Captain Underpants withdrew his hand and let out a depressed sigh as his face fell. “I just want to help you boys.” He quietly confessed as he dropped from the air and stood upon the ground.

“Why can’t we control him?!” George asked as he and Harold hurried to try to find water to drop the ring in. “Why dos he have to be so stupid?! And why does it have to be finger snapping of all things?!”

“We’re running out of time!” Harold moaned as he tried to look around. “We can’t figure out what’s going on with him around! He doesn’t even remember who he is!”

George let out a scoff. “Well it’s not like we can go back into the past to figure out where everything went wrong for everyone.” Moments later, George felt Harold grab him by the shoulder and he came to a stop. George turned around to see that Harold had something on his mind, as if he had an incredible thought.

“Maybe there is.” Harold gulped before explaining and looking George in the eye. “That fortune teller could help us.”

“The one from yesterday?” George was a little skeptical of this. “Are you sure you–”

“Just listen to me!” Harold shook George’s shoulder. “She knew more than she let on! We have to go to the boardwalk, find her, and get her to confess! She might even know why Krupp banned us from the surface world!”

George hesitated before nodding. “Ok, but we got to do this on our own.” He turned to a bus stop that was nearby.

Meanwhile Lisa and Billy were staring at Captain Underpants in both wonder and in sympathy. The superhero that they thought was made up until just now was sitting on the edge of the curb and rested his head in his hands in a very dejected manner that made him seem slightly child-like. Just moments ago he had been the most energetic and joyous grown-up that they had ever seen and despite his oddness, he invoked a sense of ease within them. Seeing him sad and depressed felt wrong–like this wasn’t how he was supposed to be and that the world would probably explode because of that. It wasn’t a happy sight for either of them.

“How is it no one is noticing him?” Lisa looked around to see that no one on the street was so much as giving the man a second glance or freaking out at the sight of him. Meanwhile, Billy stared at Captain Underpants and thought for a moment before he approached him and sat down next to him. The adult didn’t have the perfect physique like other superheroes that the boy read about and he seemed pretty heavy looking for someone who could be able to fly, but his large size made the boy feel tiny in comparison to him. Billy could almost sense a sort of power about the man, but it made him feel safe and even in the man’s depression, there was still a friendliness to him. It was almost no wonder he would be someone who would rush to a child’s aid and try to fight for a righteous cause.

“Um,” Captain Underpants turned around to see Billy giving him a shy look. “How did Harold and George... did they bring you to life or... I mean how is this possible?” He asked. “Were you real the whole time?”

Captain Underpants was about to answer, but then he remembered everything the boys told him yesterday and shook his head. “I already got in so much trouble with them.” He confessed. “I broke my promise to them and the last thing I want is to make things worse for everyone.” He really messed up big time with this. Plus the boys were the two that he knew the longest ever since... he first awoke? He didn’t know what to call that, but he felt a strong connection with those boys and for it to break–he had no clue what he would do, but he couldn’t imagine himself living in a world without them. The idea of it being otherwise was just wrong to him.

It was Lisa’s turn to approach the strange adult. “Did you really mean what you said about when you talked to me?” She asked as she held her hands together. “Why would you risk that if they didn’t want you to be seen by us?”

“You shouldn’t be worrying about adult things.” Captain Underpants admitted to her. “You should be worrying about whatever kids should be worrying about right now.”

This made Lisa think back to what was written in the comic. And so, Captain Underpants made sure that all the kids were safe, happy, and would act like the way kids should act because he fought for truth, justice, and all that was pre-shrunk and cottony. Oh wow, she had no idea how true those words would be. “Well thank you.” She gave him a kind smile. “I guess I did need it at the time. And it would have been harder to to be friends with George and Harold if I didn’t read the comic.” She frowned. “I don’t know what’s going on, but what they said to you wasn’t nice.”

“Yeah, maybe if we talk to them, we can get them to try to apologize to you and save your friendship with them.” Billy added. “I don’t know what’s going on, but we can try to respect their privacy. We won’t ask what’s going on if it bothers them so much.”

“You would do that?” Captain Underpants’ eyes lit up as he moved his hands away from his face and stared at the kids in disbelief.

“Well yeah, you must mean a lot to them and they clearly mean a lot to you.” Billy said. “Why else would they have made that comic? Plus I don’t think you’re dumb if you went out of your way to help my sister out when she needed it.” He smiled as he got up and stood beside his sister. “Let’s go find them and maybe we can try to fix this.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea!” Captain Underpants then smiled with relief as he got up on his feet. “Oh that’s right!” He realized he forgot something as he pointed a finger in the air and, to the surprise of the siblings, he bowed before them in a dramatic flourish as he went as low as he could while his arm went up to the sky as high as it could go. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you face to face, Your Highnesses!”

“Oh, uh,” Lisa blushed as Billy awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. “Just call us Lisa and Billy. No need to be formal, uh, Captain Underpants.” She let out a small laugh as she found herself saying those words out loud.

“Alright then!” Captain Underpants straighten up and put his hands on his hips as he grinned at the two. “Then I shall respect your wishes and refer to you by your names!” He then frowned. “By the way, where did George and Harold go?”

“Oh no!” Billy freaked out and he and Lisa hurried down to where the boys went while their new friend flew after them. “They shouldn’t be on their own!” He stated as he looked around to find the two.

Moments later and a couple streets down, they finally caught sight of the two. Except both George and Harold were seated on a bus that was already speeding off from a nearby bus stop. Both of them didn’t notice the others as they were too focused on wherever they were going.

“Oh nuts!” Lisa panicked as she, her brother, and Captain Underpants came to a stop. “That bus could have gone anywhere!”

“We can’t go after them all day, we’ll get in so much trouble!” Billy panicked before turning to the bus stop to see a few individuals waiting to get on the next bus. “Come on!” He waved to his sister and they went across the street and went to the nearest individual they could speak to.

“Excuse me?” Lisa approached a young woman as she wrote something down in a notebook. “Do you know where that bus went?” The woman looked up from the notebook, stopped what she was doing, and smiled at the princess. “Yeah, it went to the boardwalk.”

“Oh man it’s going to take awhile before we can go over there!” Billy grumbled. “There should be another bus coming to take us to a place close by that area, Your Highness.” A man told the prince.

“It should be coming in about another half hour.” A woman with a painting told the children as her son stared at Captain Underpants in amazement.

“I don’t know if we have time and we might need to make a phone call.” Billy nervously tapped his foot as he crossed his arms against his chest. “I don’t know if Jacob will be ok with that or not.”

“You could go after them yourself since you can fly, right?” Lisa turned to Captain Underpants. “Or you could you take us with you?” Her eyes shone with excitement at this. “Can you do that?!”

“I can’t.” As much as he wanted to take the children with him, the superhero frowned and shook his head. “I can’t actually touch anything and I’d just go through you. In fact I can’t be seen by anyone except children who are good of heart. Or at least that’s what the boys told me.” He thought about this.

“That would explain a few things.” Billy looked around to see that no one was staring at the strange man or trying to get him away from him and his sister–no one but one boy who quietly observed the conversation they were having. “But I don’t know if I feel like I’m ‘good of heart’ if I can’t do something to help my kingdom. In fact I don’t know if there will even be a kingdom to watch over, what with the way things are going.”

“Yeah, me too.” Lisa admitted with a sigh. “We might have made things worse with those letters like you said.”

“Hey don’t say that!” Captain Underpants frowned at the children. “I think it’s good that you can see me! In fact, maybe that means you both will make good rulers some day!” He then smiled with confidence at them. “Ruling a kingdom isn’t easy, but as long as you try to stay positive, determined, and are willing to accept help, then I’m sure you’ll do fine! You have each other and you have a lot of friends and subjects willing to help you, like these fine citizens!” He gestured to the people on the bus stop. “Any act of kindness or help will take you far! Just don’t beat yourself up or take more than you can handle! Take it one day at a time and be confident and smile!” He added.

The siblings stared at the adult with new admiration. “Wow... that’s uh,” Billy was impressed. “That actually sounds like good advice. Thank you.” He smiled.

“Yeah, it does.” Lisa agreed before she frowned. “Hang on a minute. How do you know any of that? Have you had experience before?” She gave the adult a curious look. “You couldn’t have been around us for that long.”

Captain Underpants pointed upward and was about to reply, but then he realized what Lisa meant and was just as puzzled as her. “Uh... huh.” He scratched the top of his head. “How would I know that?”

*****

“I hope she’s in there.” George stared at Madame Miyuki’s tent.

Harold let out a sigh as he began to think back to what he and George said to Captain Underpants. “When this is over, we need to apologize to Captain Underpants. I’m starting to regret that we yelled at him–he was really hurt.”

“Yeah, but we had to say something and he was about to blurt out our biggest secrets.” George pointed out. “Look, we’ll make it up to him once we’re done. This is more important right now.”

Harold nodded and accepted this before they went in.

To their relief, the boys found Madame Miyuki petting her iguana inside her tent. “Well, I’m glad to see that my sign hasn’t said something utterly disgusting yet.” She smiled before turning around to face them. “I had a feeling you would come back today.”

“How exactly did you know about Captain Underpants?” Harold began.

“And how did you know that we aren’t human?” George asked.

“The bracelets gave you away.” The fortune teller confessed. “I have clients who use them or at least they used to. Fortune telling tends to be a nice way to make a little side money, but my true professions lay with those who are part of the supernatural, like you. In fact I used a bracelet similar to your own, but it had the reverse effects and allowed me to visit your kingdom. As for your companion, I sensed a positive energy from your ring and it took me a moment to realize someone was inside it, which was why it was interfering with my readings. Also reading your fortunes gave me some knowledge about him.” She chuckled. “To think that your greatest creation would be him of all individuals. I do love the irony of it all.”

“But if you can see the future, you can see the past too, right?” Harold asked as he took the ring and the photograph out. “Madame Miyuki, we really need your help. We need to know if Captain Underpants has a connection with the man in this photograph.”

“And we need to know what happened ten years ago that caused our king to cut us off from the surface world.” George pressed. “No one is happy back home and we need to put a stop to his stupid rules once and for all.”

Madame Miyuki took the photograph and gave it a sad smile as she stared at it for a few seconds. “Ah yes, the incomplete fairy tale.” She mused before looking at the boys. “Yes, I can show you what happened ten years ago. But I’m afraid the problem started long before that exact moment and it all ties to one individual. An individual who is fated to be linked to you two, no matter what timeline, universe, dimension, or era.”

This confused the boys. “What does that mean?” George asked.

“Well, the long version would be too confusing–and hard to handle–but the short version is that you were fated to encounter this man in the photograph since birth.” She said as she set the photograph down.

Madame Miyuki took out a pillow which she set down in front of the crystal ball on the boys’ side of the table. “Keep your hands wrapped around the rope of the ring’s necklace.” She instructed.

The boys sat down and the woman helped the boys entwine the rope around their wrists before resting their arms on the pillow. “I have to warn you about something.” Madame Miyuki cautioned. “What you discover may not be pleasant and may not have a happy ending. Are you absolutely sure you want to discover the truth?”

“We have to know everything we can!” Harold determinedly told the fortune teller. “Don’t hold anything back. We want all the details.”

“Just the ones we need!” George added.

The fortune teller paused before guiding their hands to the crystal ball until they could touch the cool surface. “Ok then.” She took a deep breath. “Clear your minds and gaze into the crystal ball.” The boys watched as the crystal ball began to slowly light up. “Close your eyes.” She instructed and the boys did so.

“It’ll all be over when we get to the end.” The fortune teller’s voice echoed in their minds as everything around them began to fade. “Do not be afraid.”

Chapter Text

“I know very well what you want,” said the sea witch. “It is silly of you, but you shall have your way; you will become wretchedly unhappy, my beautiful princess.” -Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.

*****

The fortune teller’s voice echoed in the minds of the boys. “ I’m right here... now open your eyes.” The boys did and to their shock they were back under the ocean.

“Oh no!” Harold freaked out at this. “Are you nuts, lady?! We can’t breathe in these forms!”

“And yet you can talk under the water how now?” Madame Miyuki’s voice asked.

The boys paused as they realized they had somehow been forced back into their true forms. “Oh.” Harold let out a nervous laugh. “Ok, never mind then!”

“Hey who is that?” George looked to see a merperson looking out a window as she sang to a young merchild who had his head in her lap as he rested by her side. The lady wore precious stones and pearls around her neck and in her hair, and though she was a little on the hefty side, she was also very lovely and pleasant looking and she was singing a familiar song as she stroked the child’s head of wild looking black hair.

“A ‘níon mhín ó, sin anall na fir shúirí. A mháithairin mhín ó, cuir na roithléan go dtí mé. Dúlamán na binne buí, dúlamán Gaelach.” She looked down and smiled at the child before taking a pendant off a counter. “Do you see this?” She asked and the child who was slightly on the hefty side himself looked up at the object. The boys took a good look at the child–who seemed to be about their age–and immediately recognized him. He was much younger than they would have dared imagined him to be, but there was no denying who it was.

“Is that Krupp as a kid?!” Harold stared in disbelief as did George. It was so hard to believe the idea of Krupp ever being a kid and yet here was the proof. The big, scary and cruel adult was now before them as a child who was completely unaware of the fear and unease he would someday inflict upon others. “Then that the woman is...” Harold looked back at the mermaid and made the connection.

“This is a Star of David.” The former queen held up a blue colored stone pendant attached to a chain. “It’s a symbol from a human religion known as Judaism, but it holds great meaning and each tip of the star also apparently has some sort of special meaning. I found it when I explored the surface world; perhaps one day you too will get to see the surface world, Benjamin.”

“You think dad’ll ever let me?” Benjamin asked and both George and Harold were almost taken by surprise from hearing a child’s voice coming out of him.

“Well he better.” The queen replied. “Imagine all that you could learn up there. You can’t grow as a person if you don’t experience as much as you can.”

“Maybe I’ll get to make some friends.” The boy sounded hopeful at this and the boys could tell almost instantly that this was something he wanted more than anything in the whole world. He was almost like one of the shy children from school whose day would become brighter when the boys would offer a comic or play a prank for their amusement. He was like one of the children that the boys could almost easily befriend if it were possible.

The queen gave the child a kind smile. “I know you will and you don’t have to wait to go up there for them. Friendship takes time, but you will know when you make a friend. They care about you and they never give up on you, no matter what.They’ll always have your back when you are in trouble.” Her words made George and Harold look at each other and smile before turning back to the scene. “As long as you remember to be patient and treat others with compassion, making friends should not be that hard.”

The child then gave the queen a very familiar looking smile–a smile the boys knew very much because that was the exact kind of smile Captain Underpants tended to wear.

“Your Majesty!” The mother and son looked up to see a guard swim in. “There’s an emergency! A family is trapped and there’s sea creatures swimming towards that area!”

The queen let out a determined scowl before giving the pendant to Benjamin and went to grab a trident out of it’s display case. She looked at her worried son and smiled reassuringly at him. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it.” She swam off.

“Get ‘em!” Her son then grinned and cheered as he threw his hands up in the air.

Everything suddenly turned black and then the boys found themselves in the throne room where Benjamin was peering behind a column (much like how they did a few times themselves). The atmosphere felt wrong and depressing and the boys soon realized why when they saw a merperson hold out the queen’s trident–which was now broken in half–to an adult who was even more decked out in finery and adornments than his son would ever be as an adult.

“I’m sorry.” The merperson couldn’t look the king in the eye. “They got her... she tried to save them, but one of the monsters–” He sighed.“This was all that was left.”

The king stared down at the ruined trident and there was a mix of emotions in his eyes. Sadness, yes, but also anger. “You stupid fool.” He growled. “I told you to let them handle it. And in the end they didn’t even make it back alive.” He took both parts of the trident and his trembling grip tightened up on them.

“Shall we bury it since there’s no body?” The merperson asked and that was when the young child who overheard everything realized what had happened.

“ No.” Young Benjamin shook his head in desperate denial. “No, no, no, no.” Both George and Harold turned around to watch him tremble. “No! No she can’t be dead! You didn’t look hard enough for her!” He yelled at the merperson who turned around with a look of sympathy in his eyes. “You have to go back!” He cried. “You have to go back!”

“Get him out of here.” The king told one of the attendants, who nodded and took the child out of the room.

“NO!” The child screamed as tears began to fall and he tried to swim back in, but the attendant pulled him away. “Don’t bury it! Please don’t! She wouldn’t want that! She’ll come back! She’ll come-”

The scene shifted and the child was now a year older. However he was outside the castle in a faintly familiar area and was humming to himself and examining some nearby plant life while being oblivious to the merboys who were approaching him.

“Hey, isn’t that the little fat freak?” One of them asked and the boy immediately had a horrified look on his face before he turned around to face the group.

“Yeah, didn’t he try to make friends with us last time?” Another asked with a laugh.

“Uh... hi?” Benjamin got up and slowly backed away. “Look, I don’t want any trouble for you guys, ok?”

“Hey let’s have fun with him!” The third boy gave his friends a grin. “Is it true that sharks go nuts if they smell blood?”

“Yeah, but we don’t want him to go after us.” The second boy swam in front of Benjamin as he backed away and accidentally bumped into him. He then grabbed the child, who screamed in protest as he was thrown at the first boy.

“STOP!” Benjamin screamed, but he was ignored as the first boy laughed and threw him at the third boy, who saw some red colored coral that looked both rough and sharp to the touch. “Why don’t we test it out with that stuff?” The third boy grinned at the coral.

“Oh no.” George shook his head. “No, don’t do it.” But the bullies laughed and both George and Harold–who were already sickened by their actions–closed their eyes before they could see their victim get thrown into the coral with his back facing it.

The resulting scream was as awful as it was painful to hear. The two could almost feel the pain that Benjamin felt in that moment and Harold tried to clasp his hands over his ears but he could still hear the scream.

Everything turned black again and the boys found themselves in a different part of the castle. Benjamin was around the same age as last time, but he was cornered by a middle aged merwoman who had her hands on her hips. “Give it to me.” She demanded.

“No!” The boy snarled as he clutched the star pendant to his chest. “My old man can’t remove every memory of my mother! She gave it to me and you can’t have it!”

“Religion and politics must not mix!” The woman snapped at him. “Especially a human religion from the world above!”

“I won’t do that when I take over!” Benjamin snapped back. “Just let me keep this!”

“Is something wrong m’am?” A servant came into the room and the woman turned to him. “Restrain the boy so I can teach him a lesson.” She commanded.

Realizing what was happening, Benjamin tried to swim away but then the woman suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled at him. The roughness of the action forced him to let go of the necklace which went sailing outwards and crashed into a wall, causing both the upper right and top most tips of the star to snap off and cause the pendant to become separate from the chain.

The boys watched in horror at this sight and they felt sympathy for Benjamin as he wordlessly stared at the now destroyed object. Then a very ominous and familiar scowl formed on his face as he gritted his teeth before letting out an animal like yell and lunged at the woman.

The scene shifted again and this time Benjamin was glaring at the king, who was staring out a window and not bothering to face his son. “Why did you feel the need to attack your governess and bite her?”

“I shouldn’t need her–I should be back at school with the others, like when mom was alive.” The boy snarled. “Also she destroyed mom’s pendant that she gave to me!”

“I won’t have you interacting with those other children and especially not after what you just did.” The adult responded back in a cold, almost empty manner. “Also there’s no point in keeping something that’s left behind by another when they pass away. It’s something that will end up having no use after you’re gone and it will just be destroyed in the end, like every work of art a child makes or a building that will be demolished for another in the future.” He then paused for a moment. “You aren’t learning to have fun, Benjamin–you’re learning to shoulder responsibilities.”

The merboy stormed off and George and Harold watched as he grabbed fistfuls of his black hair and pulled at it while struggling to not yell through clenched teeth.

The scene shifted again and a slightly older Benjamin–older but still a little too young to be considered an adult just yet–was huddled up on the throne as he held his head in his hands. Something clearly happened because he had a traumatized look about him, like he did a bad thing and feared his punishment. “Please tell me I didn’t just kill someone.” He begged to a merwoman.

“We don’t know entirely for sure.” The merwoman told him with a grimace. “There were survivors, but we know that not all of the humans on that ship survived the storm.”

“Oh god,” Benjamin moaned in dismay–no, it was something much more worse that that, as if the world had ended for him.“Oh god, oh god.”

“I’m sorry.” The woman frowned at him. “I don’t know what else to say.”

“I didn’t mean to do that!” He cried out as he let go of his face. “I didn’t even know anyone was up there at the time!”

The woman began to leave the room and the boys watched as she turned to another servant. “The king just had to leave little to no help on how to control his anger properly upon his death.” She whispered to the other. “Their relationship took a turn for the worse after the queen died, and now that he has inherited the power of–” She shook her head. “At this point he needs to get help on how to manage it. Others will take advantage of him that way.”

The scene changed and an older Benjamin (old enough to be an adult, but with less hair this time) was seated on the throne and he looked frustrated at a few merfolk in the throne room with him.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t provide additional funding for the school at this time.” One of them said. “We’ve tried to save as much as we could, but due to recent events there just isn’t enough. It’s either defend our borders or risk another attack.”

“Ok, that sounds new.” George was surprised by this as he looked at Benjamin. “Did he actually care about education at one point?”

“I wouldn’t advise going over there either.” Another added. “Most of those kids haven’t seen you before and they would be–” She struggled to find a substitute word for what she was clearly thinking “–intimidated.” The king only grumbled something that was hard to understand in response but they could detect annoyance in his tone.

The boys suddenly heard a couple voices from the hall outside the throne and they turned to see a mother with her son and daughter passing by and they were loud enough to be heard. “–So my teacher asked ‘if you could find the courage to do something you really wanted to do that you never did before, what would it be?!’” The son excitedly told his mother.

This made the boys tempted to think of their answers to this question, but then they turned around to see that Benjamin had overheard that question and it was as if a light had finally returned to his eyes after so many years. It was as if that question reached him and he had an answer, and when he looked at one of the windows, the boys had an idea as to what that answer was.

The scene shifted again and sure enough the two saw Benjamin staring at a set of familiar looking bracelets–more than the few that the boys had ever seen. He grabbed one with a spiral upon the white bead and looked at it intently as if making a big decision before looking out another window with determination and desire in his eyes.

The scene shifted again to reveal a familiar beach and Benjamin was hiding in a small spot hidden by rocks and where water met sand, while the viewers to his story were back in human form again. “Oh hey, look at that.” Harold examined himself, as did George. “At least it wasn’t painful this time... oh.” He realized that a transformation was about to happen, but not for them.

All of Benjamin’s adornments were gone and he looked at the bracelet with slight nervousness before finally putting it on. Seconds later he doubled over in pain and let out a terrible cry as he began tearing his nails into his arms–and judging by the sound, it was far more painful than what the boys had to go through–but the scene changed before the boys could witness the transformation in complete effect.

When the scene shifted–

“Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!” Harold covered his eyes as he let out a protest while George gagged and quickly shut his own eyes.

“We don’t need to see this!” George cried out in frustration. They only had one moment of seeing a very naked Benjamin trying to crawl up a rock and while their view had been mercifully blocked in the places it needed to be blocked, it was not a sight they wanted to see.

“Is everything ok down there?” A very familiar voice called out.

The boys finally mustered up the courage to open their eyes, only to see a young Edith scream and hit Benjamin over the head with a basket as hard as she could to the point that he collapsed to the ground. Both boys winced at this as they felt a moment of sympathy for the mershark who was now human. “Oh sweet heavens!” She cringed as she shut her eyes and backed away a few steps. “Why are you stark naked?!”

“What is that thing made out of?!” The man demanded right back as he groaned in pain while holding his now injured head and struggled to sit back up. When the young woman didn’t respond, he struggled to get back up by holding onto the rock and to force himself back on his feet, though they still felt wobbly to him.

“Ok, I admit that was a little awesome.” George grinned at Edith. She looked as she did in the photo, with longer hair and a younger face–she could have either been in her very late teens or was still at a point where she could be a young woman but not be called a woman just yet. She was still much younger than her soon to be crush, but the age difference between the two wasn’t wide enough to be cringe worthy.

“I... uh...” He struggled to come up with something as he moved around the rock so that his body wouldn’t be in her view. “I... had a rough day?” He tried lamely and Edith–who finally opened her eyes again by this point–was able to accept this for an answer. She let out a sigh and took a table cloth and handed it to him. “There, cover yourself up.” She offered.

The boys watched on as Benjamin covered himself and tried to explain in a sort of half truth as to why he was in his current predicament as a sort of tourist who didn’t exactly have a great day and was struggling to stay upright. There was a moment where the two observed each other’s appearance before Edith offered to lead Benjamin home and he accepted. The end result made it look like he would collapse and force her to go down with him when he leaned on her while she struggled to keep him upright lead him back into town. She wasn’t stick thin, but she still looked like she could have been easily crushed by him if he fell on her.

“By the way, my name is Edith.” She informed him. “Now that we’re no longer strangers.” She let out a chuckle at this.

Benjamin hesitated before finally answering. “Benjamin... mine is Benjamin.”

“Well nice to meet you, Benjamin.”

The scene shifted again and it was at the boardwalk. It was clearly sometime later after that first meeting between the two and the boys watched as the man they thought they knew was fully clothed and was walking amongst the world he was so much against, but instead of hating it he was actually looking as if he was trying to take it all in and enjoying every moment of it. Up here he was free to be someone entirely different and free from duties or burdens–he was free to simply restart. He just kept looking around and had a huge smile on his face that was both so unfamiliar and yet familiar at the same time, and the excitement in his eyes...

There was no denying it. To George and Harold, this man was acting exactly like his superhero look-a-like.

“So you got over that rough day?” Benjamin turned around and let out an amusing yelp before flinching back away from the stall where Edith was waiting behind the counter. “Oh, uh, surprise!” She waved her hands up in the air as she gave him an embarrassed grin.

“Uh, hi.... Edith, right?” Benjamin finally asked as he approached the stall. “What are you doing here? I thought you said you have an apprenticeship.”

“Well, I need to make additional money somehow.” The girl smiled as she turned to the treats on the counter. “And what better way than by doing something I like?”

The boys listened as they conversed together for a bit. Both were interested in the other, but then it got to a point where things got far more interesting than the discussion they had. There was a cry of distress and a small child was freaking out as she pointed at a doll that got stuck on top of the roof of one of the stalls. “Why did you do that?!” She cried to another girl beside her.

“I swear it was an accident!” The other girl protested.

“Do you guys need a hand over there?” Edith asked the girls. They turned around and when they responded with “Yes!” and “Please!” She turned around to look through the stall, but could not find anything to give her an extra boost of height to reach the doll. “If only I had something to stand on!” She cursed as Benjamin glanced at the look of anxiety in the eyes of the young owner of the doll.

Then to the surprise of both George and Harold, Benjamin headed towards the other stall to try to reach for the doll, but it was too far up for him to get it. “Uh,” He looked down at the girls. “What if I lift you up?” He asked the owner of the doll, looking a little unsure as to what he was doing.

“Uh...” The girl was understandably nervous about the large man in front of her.

“I promise I won’t do anything weird like run off with it, I’ll just give you a lift.” He tried to smile at her. The girl immediately raised her arms up without hesitating and the boys watched in amazement as Benjamin hoisted the child up with little effort before guiding her back to the roof, where she was able to reach out and grab the doll. When Benjamin set the child back down, she turned around and gave him a huge grin. “Thank you, mister!” She flung her tiny arms out and around his huge stomach as best as she could before giving him a quick hug. “ You’re a hero!” Before Benjamin could even reply, the girl hurried off with her friend following right after her.

“Oh my gosh.” Harold and George could not believe what they just saw. “Did he actually help a child out?” Harold asked.

“He did.” George’s jaw had dropped. “He actually did.”

The boys saw that Edith had watched the whole thing with a smile and they watched as Benjamin finally turned around to see Edith still smiling at him as she moved her hair from her face and exposed it entirely to him.

And that’s when the boys saw something they never could have imagined–the man before them was rendered speechless and stared at the girl in silent awe. It was like he was seeing something wonderful for the first time. It was as if he was capable of being moved by something that could be regarded as beautiful.

The scene shifted again to a future point at the boardwalk when Edith and Benjamin were hanging out like friends who were comfortable around each other, and the boys watched as Benjamin tried and failed at a ring toss game. He didn’t look too bummed out about it–he looked like he had at least enjoyed himself.

“Ah, that’s ok.” The vendor at the game chuckled as she went to a bin and took out a small prize to give to Benjamin. “We all have something we’re good at and something we just aren’t.” She dropped the item into his hand before heading to the next eager participant.

“Oh my gosh.” George’s eyes went wide when he and Harold saw what the object was–it was the red ring. It was much newer looking, but there was no doubt that it was the same one.

“Why would she give me this if I didn’t win?” Benjamin asked Edith as he stared at the red ring in confusion.

“Ah, you got a consolation prize.” Edith chuckled. “At least you were rewarded for effort.” She added as the man went ahead and put it on his pinky finger–the ring was way too small for any other finger. “You know, red is actually a good color on you.” She smiled. This made the boys look at each other and snort out a few laughs at the irony of those words.

The scene changed and Benjamin was smiling to himself as he sat on his throne while thinking about something that was enjoyable to him (and the boys had a feeling they knew what–or who–it was). It still looked a little unsettling due to the teeth, but it was also a lot more pleasant looking compared to the more nastier ones the boys had seen. Then a chuckle snapped him out of his thoughts. “What, what did I miss?” The boys turned to see a very familiar blonde haired merwoman cradling a small bundle in her arms.

“Mom?!” Harold gasped as George gave his friend a smile.

“I’ve never seen you smile like that before.” The merwoman confessed with a well meaning smile while not realizing that an older version of her son was there with her. “Something is making you very happy. It’s probably private, but I’m glad to see you smiling for a good reason.” The bundle in her arm moved and the merwoman looked down at it with love in her eyes. “I wish you could see this, Harold. The king is smiling a happy smile.”

Harold continued to stare in disbelief at his mom and the infant version of himself. “I... I was around during this time.” He rested a hand against the side of his head and let out a laugh. “Mom.” He couldn’t help but say before his mother looked up again and her expression became serious.

“Actually I’m here because the council is getting nervous. They’re questioning what the human scientist is up to in the lab. They mentioned that he was interested in the manipulation of emotions, whatever that means. They are also worried that some of his inventions might not be safe.”

“Say what now?” This caught George’s attention.

“He hasn’t done anything suspicious yet, but I don’t mind if we need to keep a closer eye on him.” Benjamin told the merwoman.

“There was no mention of a human scientist ever being down here around that time.” Harold thought as the scene began to shift. “I don’t know if mom ever told me about this.”

“No one did.” George thought about this. “I guess Krupp forbade the adults from ever telling us kids about him.”

The scene changed and it was a mid-summer evening. Edith greeted Benjamin outside a house and she wore a blue dress with a floral pattern while her hair was pinned up and had some flowers pinned in the back.

“Uh...” The boys watched as Benjamin’s face began to turn pink at the sight of Edith and honestly they couldn’t blame him since she did look very pretty in that moment. “Y...” He struggled to say and it almost looked like he was sweating. “You... the dress matches your eyes.” He could only finish. “Oh and hey–hi!” He let out an awkward laugh and waved as Edith gave him a smile but it widened when she saw something. “Oh?” She took his hand and looked at the red ring on his pinkie finger.

“Well you said I would look good in red, but that’s all I have.” Benjamin let out a nervous laugh. “I kind of feel like an idiot, but if you like it–”

“No it’s ok.” Edith shook her head as she let out a laugh and smiled while lightly tapping the top of the ring. “That’s so sweet of you–I really appreciate it.”

This made Benjamin’s face turn a deeper shade of pink and both boys swore they could almost hear his heart pounding from where they stood. “Well at least he’s not using you to help him flirt with her.” Harold nudged George in the ribs.

“Oh my gosh, Harold.” George groaned as he slapped his face.

The scene shifted and now the couple was dancing in a big circular area on the boardwalk with strings of lights hanging everywhere you looked, while musicians played on the small stage that overlooked the large ferris wheel that overlooked the ocean in turn. It was an area that was all illuminated by strings of lights.

Both George and Harold watched as the two danced to a very familiar piece of music that they heard in the ballroom. It was very obvious that Benjamin and Edith both enjoyed this moment and they enjoyed being together; the way they looked at each other–that look of pure happiness, contentment, but also longing–that told them everything the boys needed to know. They watched as Benjamin saw the other couples twirl their partners around and did the same with Edith–watching as he held her hand as she twirled around in a circled and her long dress fanned out around her. Seconds after she came back to him, Benjamin gave her a smile that she returned and there was no denying it–they both had fallen in love with each other that night.

And the odd thing was? Seeing the normally cruel hearted adult who would get so easily angry be truly happy and at peace was almost breath-taking. Seeing that look of adoration in his eyes that was so familiar and not quite almost made one forget his flaws and see him as someone who deserved a chance to be happy.

And Edith herself looked the happiest that the boys had ever seen of her. She had no idea that she had been caught up in a bizarre fairytale, but she was oblivious to this and she was happy just being with the man she had grown to love. Knowing Edith for who she was and knowing Benjamin for who he once had been–it was easy to see why he had fallen in love with her and she had fallen in love with him, despite how utterly impossible it all should have been.

“He really did love her.” Harold was amazed before realizing “They were in love with each other and they never realized it!”

“Then what happened?” George asked. “Why didn’t he confess?” As if to answer his question, the scene shifted to a moment that happened on that same night and a strange man was confronting Benjamin as he held onto a railing and stared at the fireworks going off above the ocean waters.

“So it was a simple human girl that stole the great ocean king’s heart.” Benjamin turned around in confusion to see the man looking at him with a knowing look, but there was something very spiteful within his eyes. “Is that the fairytale I get to witness, Your Majesty?”

There was a look of alarm in Benjamin’s dark eyes before they narrowed in suspicion and the boys saw a hint of the anger he was best known for. “And who are you?”

“Oh just someone whose been up here longer than you and seen enough to know what’s going on.” The man shrugged before pulling the collar of his shirt to reveal a set of scars that looked like bite marks. “Someone whose got a permanent reminder of you from his last encounter.”

“Huh, I guess he does bite people after all.” Harold couldn’t help but comment.

“Are you here to try to threaten me and get revenge?” Benjamin scowled. “Because it’s not going to work.”

“Of course not because we both are at a disadvantage.” The man let go of the collar. “But I’m afraid you have a very bad one when it comes to relationships. Tell me–does she know who it was that she was dancing with? Does she know what you are capable of?”

For a moment Benjamin looked ready to blow up in a spectacular fit of anger and go after the stranger. “If you are planning to hurt her, I’ll–!”

“Oh please, like I’m that stupid. But I know you for who you are. I know this–” He waved his finger at Benjamin’s seemingly human appearance “–is all an illusion. Are you planning on taking her down into the ocean with you if she screams at the sight of you? You aren’t someone that any person in their right mind would want to kiss.”

And then the boys watched as all the anger in Benjamin died and was replaced by horror, and he looked as if the world suddenly came to an end and reality smacked him in the face.

“I’m not intending on hurting the human.” The man added. “I’m just warning you that you better prepare for the worst. You aren’t much of a looker right now, so I honestly doubt you had a chance with her to begin with.” He then glanced up at the taller man’s head and reached towards the black hair upon it. “I mean, is that even real, or is it–?”

Benjamin quickly grabbed the man’s arm and pulled it so hard that he could have twisted it, but the panic in his eyes was all too visible to both boys–for a moment they felt that panic of possible public humiliation and for once they felt fear of that happening to him.

The man paused before finally pulling back and cradled his arm. “Looks like I got what I wanted then.” He merely commented as he casually walked away into the crowd of visitors in the distance while Benjamin could only stare after him.

“Oh jeez.” Harold dreaded what was coming.

“Yeah, that was pretty harsh.” George could only say as Edith came up to Benjamin and asked “Benjamin?” The man closed his eyes and tried to put on a smile before turning around to see Edith, who looked concerned. “Is... is everything alright?”

“...Kind of.” He admitted as he tried his best to nod. “You?”

“Um, there’s something I forgot to tell you.” Edith began. “I’m at the point where Mr. Goode thinks I’m ready to take on the next step in my apprenticeship... but that means I need to leave the kingdom for a bit and go to a town that’s a little farther in the mainland. And I’m needed to leave immediately... like tomorrow immediately.” She gulped as Benjamin looked like he was punched in the gut. “I mean, I don’t want to leave, but I have to.” She sighed. “I’m sorry this had to be so sudden. But I... I’d like to see you tomorrow at three-o-clock PM, before I have to take the train at four fifteen. I want to meet you at the pier near the ferris wheel.” She added for clarification. “Maybe we could exchange contact information?”

Benjamin couldn’t speak but only nod. From that moment on, he didn’t look at her and he looked lost in his thoughts as an obvious panic and dread increased and could be seen in his face as the boys followed him. It got to the point where it looked like he was going to be seriously ill until finally he turned around and told the girl “I need to go.” Benjamin squeezed Edith’s hand and hugged her as tightly as he could. To the boys, it was as if he was trying to hold onto her for as long as he could–as if it would be for the last time. “Oh, ok.” Edith sounded a little disappointed. “But I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The scene shifted. “I’m not looking forward to this.” Harold moaned. “I think I know what’s coming.”

Sure enough, they could see Edith staring out at the ocean from the pier and the sky looked like it was getting dark. She had been waiting for her crush for a long time and, along with her increasing anxiety, she looked incredibly worried and angry. She even began to bite her nails and cast frantic glances at the clock.

“He never showed up.” Harold recalled Edith’s story. “He was too scared to tell her the truth. He was too scared to tell her who he was or that–” He then realized it as George looked over the pier. “He was to scared to tell her that he loved her.” Unfortunately it made way too much sense when trying to see that situation from Benjamin’s point of view. Especially after having to deal with him at his worst in about ten years after this moment in time.

“No.” George stared down into the water with a depressed look on his face and pointed at something. “He did show up.” Harold followed his finger to where he pointed at and saw an incredibly depressing sight.

Benjamin was staring up at Edith while partly submerged in the water, under the safety of the shadows. The pain and heartbreak on his face and in his eyes was all too obvious and tragic as he did nothing but watch the girl above worry and wait for him.

“You stupid idiot!” Harold–depressed and angered at the sight–yelled at Benjamin before turning to Edith. “He’s right there!” He pointed down into the waters. “Edith, look!” He reached to grab her arm, only for his hand to pass through it.

“This is a memory, Harold.” George reminded him as the boy stared in horror at his hand. “They can’t hear us.”

“I know, but–!” Harold looked back down so see that Benjamin was holding onto a wooden beam for dear life as the waves started to become active as if a storm was about to occur. Even though he was far away, the look of anguish was all too clear on his face–he was visibly angry and visibly in sorrow over what he was doing by not facing her, but it was more than that. He then sank into the ocean a bit and before the boys knew it, the waves upon the ocean began crashing into each other.

Edith herself glanced up to see the ocean take a turn for the worst without any warning. She closed her eyes as the storm increased in power and after a few moments she held her hands in her face as the tears began to fall. At the same time, the sky began to grow cloudy and gray, and when she looked up it was as if a storm was about to come down upon them all.

The boys watched her leave and looked down in time to see Benjamin sink completely into the ocean to scream out in anger for what he had done and was unable to do. In turn, the storm became worse and the waves became more chaotic.

The first of the many unexpected storms that plagued the kingdom upon the surface had not been born out of anger–rather it had been born out of heartbreak.

The two were too stunned at what had just happened before the scene shifted again.

The boys found themselves in a familiar lab, except there was no water, there was much more strange equipment, the lighting was awful, and Benjamin was laying upon a strange table.

He looked so awful and so vulnerable–neither of the boys had ever seen him like this in their entire lives. He wasn’t wearing any adornments, at some point he removed the fake hair to reveal that he really didn’t have a lot left that was natural, and the bags under his reddened eyes made him look as if he was deathly ill. In fact, it almost looked like he had been crying too much at some point before this moment–he looked broken.

“Now I personally think love is an unnecessary emotion,” A male voice with an odd accent spoke out and the boys turned around to see an odd, short man with strange white hair that stuck out in opposing ends and strange glasses covering his eyes. “But are you really sure you want to try to remove things like optimism or hope from yourself? What if you lose something you might really need, like a bit of goodwill? You might need those a lot more than love itself, especially when you have a kingdom you need to manage.”

The boys turned to face the mershark and the tone of his voice was all too familiar to both of them. “I let my hopes get up for too many things and I always ended up disappointed. I’ve had to make too many personal sacrifices for the kingdom and it always tears me apart. And I don’t,” He sneered “ever want to feel the pain of a broken heart ever again! I know what I want, so do your job!” He yelled and the boys almost jumped–it had been so long, but they still remembered how scary he could get when enraged.

“Ok, ok, jeez! But I’ll need something to store these emotions in. I can’t just, like completely cut them out of you, you know? Do you have an amulet or some sort of trinket that doesn’t look especially important?”

Benjamin raised his hand up to look at the red ring that was still on his hand. “Actually,” He took the ring off and showed it to the scientist without looking at him.

Then it all clicked for the boys–the reason someone was living in the ring and the reason he looked an awful lot like Krupp–

“Oh no, no, no, no.” George grabbed his arms as Harold gapped, while the scientist stuck a needle into the mershark’s chest and pumped something into him before attaching some sort of wire to his head. “You were right–they aren’t twins.”

“And he didn’t cut his heart out.” Harold added as the scientist tied another wire onto the wring, with both wires connected to a machine. “At least not literally.”

“Whatever happens, don’t say that I didn’t warn you.” The scientist told Benjamin and the boys stared as a switch was flipped and Benjamin was blasted with some sort of beam of light.

“He’s cutting out his emotions...” George tried to put together what was going on. “He’s cutting out love and optimism–”

The scene shifted one last time and the boys found themselves at a familiar valley of rock formations while Benjamin was staring down at them.

Harold realized what was going to happen as Benjamin glanced at the red ring that contained the emotions and feelings he gutted out of himself. “No, don’t do it, you need those!” He shook his head as an all too familiar facial expression began to form on Benjamin’s face–it was the look he would one day give to the boys when he was extremely displeased or angry with them. The look he gave when the surface world or art was mentioned around him–the look whenever he saw something he hated. It was the look of something that combined determination and hatred as an ugly scowl formed and made him seem older than he really was. Benjamin’s hand clenched down upon the ring as if to crack it in half and the boys were terrified that he would break it.

And within that moment, they saw exactly when Benjamin died and became Krupp before he tossed the ring–the ring that contained the positive part of himself that he once had–down into the rock formations as hard as he could and watched as it rocketed straight into a hole that only a child could fit though if they were daring enough to try.

The boys could only stare in stunned silence as they were brought back to the tent and Madame Miyuki waited for them to say the revelation they gained from the viewing of the past.

“He cut out his ability to feel love and a bunch of other good emotions and put it all in the ring.” George finally stated as he stared at the ring.

Harold gulped as he looked at the fortune teller. “Captain Underpants is Krupp–he was trying to help us this whole time–” He didn’t know how exactly to phrase the irony of it all.

The fortune teller nodded. “He is a small part of one person–almost enough to be his own individual self–but deep down they are both one and the same. You just helped bring him out and gave him life, as you were meant to do.”

Madame Miyuki sighed as she stared at the crystal ball. “You can strive to become a better person through hardship and you can be willing to be brave to take a risk. Unfortunately all of Benjamin’s struggles and misfortune continued to add up and the idea of being turned down by the girl he loved and her rejecting him for who he was–or just being unable to live alongside her and be denied happiness–was the final straw for him. Some people cut themselves off and suppress the best of themselves, but he found a way to literally suppress and remove an important part of himself–the part which embodies the love, compassion, optimism, and courage he has forsaken and currently takes on the form of your character. But even if he hadn’t done the procedure, I’m almost more than certain he would have behaved the same way.” She paused before she continued.

“Because of his choices, that bitterness inside him has grown and spills out through his actions. Seeing others happy makes him mad and so he takes it out on others–thus his selfishness and recklessness is why both worlds have been separated. The memories were too much for him to bare and he was under the belief he was doing you a favor by placing that ban–”

“That doesn’t excuse him for being a jerk!” Harold protested in anger. “And now this only makes him an even bigger jerk.”

The fortune teller sighed. “No, it doesn’t.” She agreed. “And with the way things are going, I see that a great disaster will come to your kingdom in one way or another. And that bitterness and anger that has been building up inside him, combined with the lack of kindness, is steadily destroying him. You two will not be separated forever, but as the way things are now it will only be because of the downfall he will bring upon himself.”

Both boys stared at Madame Miyuki with horror.

“There is a way to stop that from happening.” She looked at the boys. “If that part of Benjamin that resides in the ring–the one you call Captain Underpants–returns to your king and he becomes whole once more, you might be able to stop him and save many others from a terrible fate.”

The boys felt a spark of hope at this until Madame Miyuki held a finger up. “Unfortunately, there’s a catch–he has to willingly and consciously accept that part of him back. He must want to be kind and willing to open his heart to another once more.”

“He’ll never do it.” George shook his head in dismay. “There’s no way we can get him to do that.”

“What if we told him Edith is still in love with him?” Harold asked. “That has to work!”

The fortune teller frowned and shook her head. “If he was too afraid to face her in the past, then I doubt he would try again. Also, I fear that it will not work out the way you would hope–love is powerful, but it’s not always able to save someone from even themselves.”

“Well what do we do?!” Harold threw his hands up in frustration. “There’s nothing we could do to convince him to be nice again! We’re only kids and he hates us! He wouldn’t listen!”

“I don’t know everything since the future can always change, even for you and me.” Madame Miyuki admitted. “And in the case of this man, he could either have a change of heart or he will be doomed to remain as the bitter, cruel soul you have known him as your whole lives. In the end the choice will be up to him.”

“But the futures you saw for us–!” George protested.

“Are the most likely outcomes based off your actions and decisions.” Madame Miyuki admitted and she let out a sigh. “I cannot give you an exact answer in this case–there are some things you need to be able to figure out on your own, even when you have a little help on your side.”

The boys continued to sit in their chairs as they tried to think of a way to solve the issue, but it was impossible–there was nothing that they could do to convince Krupp to accept his better half back again.

“Benjamin actually considered becoming human at one point.” The boys were stunned when Madame Miyuki revealed this. “It’s possible, but it’s ill advised because it’s extremely difficult to change and adapt to a new lifestyle upon land, especially if you were to do it for love. Now because you two are still so young and not bound by duty like he is, you might have a better chance than he did.” Madame Miyuki held out her hand. “If you two are absolutely sure that you would rather stay up here, you will come to me tomorrow with an answer and I can create a potion that can make your human forms permanent by the next morning.”

“What’s the catch?” A suspicious George was quick to demand. “Do we have to give up our voices?”

“What–no!” The fortune teller was horrified. “Why would I want that?” She sighed. “I’m just offering you a choice. With the way things are going, you would never have to see that man ever again. I’ll give you time to think on it, but I’d advise you not to go off on your own again for awhile–especially if there isn’t anyone else around.” Madame Miyuki cautioned. “And if you see creatures made of metal who move on their own, you must get away from them as fast as you can.”

“Uh ok?” Harold raised an eyebrow at this. “Thank you for you help.”

“Yeah, thanks.” George thanked the woman as they got up off their chairs while Harold put the ring back on and took the photograph back. Just as they made to leave the tent, the fortune teller stopped them with “I have an important question to ask you two.”

George and Harold turned around to face Madame Miyuki who had a thoughtful look in her eyes. “When confronted with someone who has done a great cruelty... could you be able to show compassion to them, even when you think that they don’t deserve it?”

The boys could only stare at the fortune teller before wordlessly leaving the tent.

Madame Miyuki then took out and looked at a vial that was halfway filled with a bright lime green liquid that she had poured onto the ring during the boys’ look into its original owner’s past. “Should I have been more clear on that one loophole?” She wondered before shaking her head. “No, it might not end well if they know beforehand.”

*****

It was only when the boys made it to the bus stop that Harold had a sickening realization about what the fortune teller said to them. “Oh no.”

“What?” George asked in concern.

“She didn’t say what would happen to Captain Underpants if he returned back to Krupp.” Harold felt his blood turned to ice. “George... even if we could make Krupp become the way he used to be once again... that means we would have to erase Captain Underpants from existence!” He gave his best friend a frantic look as George felt his heart sink.

Chapter Text

“Guys?!” Captain Underpants desperately called out as he flew around the boardwalk. “Guys where are you?!” He looked everywhere for George and Harold, but there was no sign of either boy.

“George?!” He asked as he looked behind the stalls. “Harold?!” He cried as he looked into each compartment of the ferris wheel. “Hello?” He peaked his head into a trash can. “Are you in there?!” He cupped his hands and yelled into the public bathrooms. “This isn’t funny!” He cried as he spun around the small circular area by the ferris wheel. “Guys I’m sorry I messed up! I promise I’ll ask next time!” He turned his head as he felt something within him he did not like and it only grew worse the longer he was unable to see or hear the boys. “Can someone help me?!” He pleaded to those who passed by, but because they were mostly adults or teenagers, they could not see the superhero. “Hello?!” He cried as he approached someone, but they walked through him.

He held his head in his hands and he felt like he was having a hard time breathing. Try as he might, he could not see either of the two boys. “Please let me find you guys!” He pleaded as loud as he could in case they could hear him. “Please come back!” The idea of losing them was horrifying, but there was a strange familiarity about it that he could quite place. As if it had somehow happened once before and he couldn’t go through it again, but why?

“Where are you?!”

*****

Meanwhile on the beach some distance from the boardwalk, a terrified Rose had ran as fast as she could–kicking up sand that slowed her pace with each step–before she went to hide amongst a bunch of rocks.

“Rosebud!” The voice of Stacey sang out before her brother joined in.

“Where are you Rosebud?!” Jack taunted. “We got a pretty flower crown for you to wear tomorrow and we put in a lot of effort to make it!” It was really just a bunch of seaweed, sticks, and other gross things.

Rose wanted to cry–why couldn’t they just leave her alone?! She was minding her own business and then they came out of nowhere chased her all the way down to the beach away from her mom, who had promised to buy her a special flower crown for tomorrow for her good behavior! She found herself wanting those two boys and that funny adult to come and aid her again, even though they were nowhere in sight.

“Rosebud!” The twins sang in a mocking tone.

She was so caught up in her thoughts and she was so focused on the sounds of the twins that she failed to hear the strange clanking sounds behind her. She was unaware of the machine that was almost shaped like a human (but not quite) that was slowly approaching her.

When she finally realized that there was something behind her making strange sounds, she made to turn around–

–And before she knew it, something cold and metallic clasped its hand over her mouth before she could even scream.

*****

The bus ride back to the castle had been silent for the boys as they pondered over what they had just discovered. Harold had handed the ring back to George, who looked it over and recalled how he had discovered it without knowing how it had gotten into those tunnels. Of all the human items in their possession that Krupp would have thrown a fit over, it would have been this seemingly small and innocent object. If he had caught them, they would have never been able to discover its tragic secrets.

Once they got off the bus, the boys walked the rest of the way up the hill to the castle and they stared at both the town and the ocean–two very different worlds with memories both good and depressing. One was home and another had become like a home to them.

“I guess mom ended up being right about Krupp after all.” George confessed. “There was a lot more to him than we thought.” He pulled out the ring again and looked at it. “This ring gave me hope that we could get up here and it inspired you to come up with Captain Underpants’ design. We just didn’t realize it was because it has everything that used to be good about Krupp.” He shook his head and let out a sad laugh. “If he hadn’t had ripped that all out and stayed the way he was, maybe things could have been different. We wouldn’t have been trapped down there and deal with so many rules. Instead all this happened because he gave up on himself and didn’t want to see anyone else be happy.” He let out a frustrated scowl.

“But wasn’t he like us in a way?” Harold asked George. “You saw what he had to deal with.”

“Why didn’t he try to at least talk to someone about any of it?” George shuddered as he realized what he said. “I can’t believe we’d ever see the day where we’d feel sorry for him.”

“Maybe,” Harold thought “Maybe its because he didn’t have what we have.” He looked at George. “He didn’t have a best friend he could trust.”

This made George quiet and even Harold was quiet for a moment before letting out a sigh of regret. “Now I feel really bad about not telling you about how I was feeling.” He thought for a moment. “But you know, I don’t think I would have done any of this without you. I don’t think I would have lasted this long if I was alone and I’ll never regret this adventure for as long as I live.”

“Me neither.” George agreed with a smile. “It’s like with those rock formations all over again.” He looked at the ring again and frowned. “We have some serious information that could ruin him for good. We have one day left to decide what to do because I don’t know how he’d react anymore.”

“But it’s not just him we need to worry about.” Harold looked at the town.

George also looked at the town and when his eyes landed on the theater, a thought struck him. “Hey I think we’ve seen that scientist before!” He slapped his head. “Oh my gosh, I knew he looked familiar! We ran into him when we were at the theater!” He explained to a confused Harold.

“Oh yeah!” Harold’s eyes lit up. “We did!” He was amazed at this revelation. “We met the last human to ever be down under the ocean and we didn’t know it!”

“Maybe if we find him, we could get him to fix Krupp if he won’t accept this back!” George grinned as he looked at the ring. “He had an accent and a specific look! It would be easy to find him if–”

“Except we don’t know where he went since that night.” Harold then gloomily pointed out. “And besides, Miyuki said that there was only one way, which isn’t really within our control.”

George hesitated and then hung his head in defeat. “Oh yeah.”

And with the belief that there was nothing they could do to solve that specific problem, the boys continued on their way.

*****

Eventually they finally came into the castle where Lisa and Billy were waiting for them in the hallways. “Is everything ok?” Billy asked when he noticed the troubled looks on George and Harold’s faces.

“We had some things to deal with.” Harold admitted as George put the ring back around his neck. “We didn’t mean to ditch you guys like that.”

“We aren’t the ones you guys need to apologize to.” Lisa pointed out. “I don’t know what’s going on, but Captain Underpants was just trying to be helpful and you guys were really mean to him about it.”

“Yeah, he’s actually been out looking for you this whole time.” Billy added.

“He has?!” George was surprised at this and so was Harold. “Oh no.” He looked at his feet in dismay. “I forgot about that.”

“Yeah me too.” Harold admitted as he cringed–they completely forgot about when they got angry at him. “He’s going to get into so much trouble without us nearby. We know how to get him back, but we need some time before we can face him again.” He told the siblings.

“Why?” Lisa asked.

“We just... we have a lot to think about.” Harold couldn’t bring himself to really explain it and even if he could, how could he? “We’ll bring him back, but we won’t be ready to talk to him until a little later.”

“Yeah.” George agreed and nodded. “We just need a few hours.”

Neither of them felt ready to confront Captain Underpants just yet–not after realizing who he really was. Harold in particular felt especially guilty as he looked at the window. He didn’t want to feel like he was letting yet another person down, even if said person was also (in an odd way) the same person he hated the most.

Would his family have to suffer for a little longer without him if they needed to spend more time up here?

*****

Around this same time in the deep blue ocean, Heidi watched as Keisha and Kira swam to her.

“Here.” Keisha handed a bag of food to the child. “Jeez, your mom really doesn’t want to take risks if she sent you out of the castle to hide from Krupp.”

“I hope you don’t have to hide for too long.” Kira told Heidi. “I hope your families can find George and Harold and get out of here.”

“Yeah.” Heidi nodded with a sigh. She wasn’t stupid–she knew her mom was afraid that Krupp would use her daughter against her somehow if she had been caught looking for Harold. That’s why she sent her to a secret spot where she couldn’t be found that easily.

“I’ll miss their comics.” Kira sighed. “They were so much fun–” Without warning, Keisha grabbed her sister and pulled her close as she stared at something in alarm behind the blonde. Heidi turned around and all three mergirls now faced strange looking sea monsters with metallic looking outer bodies had surrounded them in seemingly every angle possible. They almost looked like huge seashells with odd looking eyes upon them, but not quite at the same time.

“What are those?!” Keisha cried out in alarm as the monsters slowly drew closer to them like a predator after prey.

Heidi gulped and looked around before swimming upward. She heard the siblings cry out for her, but she wanted to at least try to make an escape. However she did not realize that the creatures were a lot faster than she would have thought as a few of them swam upward while the others went after the siblings–machinery and propellers allowed them to speed up after the mergirls and especially towards the small blonde.

And before Heidi knew it, one of them clamped its shell around her and trapped her within the pitch black darkness of its mouth.

“NO!” Heidi screamed as she panicked and tried to pound at the insides, but it wouldn’t open. “LET ME OUT! HELP ME! SOMEONE HELP!” She desperately cried out for help. “MOMMY! HAROLD!” Tears soon streamed down her face as she screamed.

*****

Dinner had been a quiet affair as the boys enjoyed what they were sure to be one of their last meals up on the surface.

The lemonade was just right with a good balance of sweet and sour flavoring. The crab melts were a wonderful combination of crab meat, white stringy cheese melted just right, a few herbs sprinkled in, and the right amount of buttery flavors to give one comfort and later make them feel satisfied with a full stomach. It was a good dinner for the boys, and the knowledge that it was going to be one of their last surface meals made them savor Edith’s food for as long as they could within their mouths and upon their tongues.

Billy and Lisa didn’t say too much since they now carried a secret that would be hard to explain to their dad. They couldn’t just say ‘Oh I made a new friend today and he was an adult in his underwear and he happens to be friends with George and Harold.’

Oddly enough, Mason looked really troubled by something and he kept giving his children nervous glances as if they would vanish at any point.

Meanwhile, Edith (after a long, long day of work) had finally returned to her bedroom to find that the photograph of her and Benjamin had been taken out of the album and was atop a drawing upon her bed. She found it really odd that the boys would have taken it out of the album to begin with and she picked it up while recalling back to when it had been taken. It wasn’t long afterwards that she tried and somehow succeeded in asking Benjamin to join her in the mid-summer festival.

She smiled as she looked at his face and the way he looked at her. She wondered what went on through his head at the time–he at least seemed happy.

Her eyes drifted down to look at the drawing and almost let out a snort before clasping her hand over her mouth and laughed in it. “Really boys?” She asked when she moved her hand away before she picked up the drawing of Captain Underpants flying off into the sky–with herself being carried off in his arms in a bridal style. Despite it was a child’s drawing, it was very clearly her being held in the superhero’s cartoonish, rubber-hose like arms, complete with the freckles, hairstyle, and blue lines for eyes. It was very strange and surreal, but also incredibly sweet.

“‘Thank you for the paper, pencils, and crayons.’” She read the message on the back of the picture when she flipped it over. “‘You have no idea how much it has meant to us.’”

“‘Yeah, and thank you for hanging out with us and all the good food.’” She smiled as she looked at the signatures of Harold and George, along with the date which showed that the drawing was created just yesterday.

She flipped the picture over again and smiled at the happy looking Captain Underpants. It was because she bought those things for the boys that this picture existed in the first place, and she felt like she had done something heroic that even the superhero himself would be proud of. She could see those two boys working on comic books for a living and she hoped they could use those talents and their humor to bring joy to others.

Then she frowned as she studied Captain Underpants a little more closely. Those eyes, that smile, that nose–it was a child’s drawing, but somehow Harold made him look good enough that he could almost seem real and invoke an odd familiarity, like she had seen him before, but where?

Wait.

A strange thought struck Edith and she held the photo with Benjamin up to the drawing of Captain Underpants (both images also had her in them somehow) and compared the two together. The two individuals almost looked similar to each other–they even had the exact same nose and head shape. It was true that the superhero was bald and Benjamin didn’t look like he was on first glance, but she had suspected many times before that his hair wasn’t real because she recalled that it almost looked like his scalp was shifting or slightly sliding out of place by an inch or so a few times. That would only happen if you were wearing a wig or a toupee–she suspected it was the latter because it was so odd that someone could have hair on just the very top of their head and nowhere else, but if her suspicion was correct than he was able to pull it off without looking too strange. She didn’t mind this idea, but it made her curious as to what he would have looked like without hair.

The boys could not have seen the photo before they made the comic–there was no way they could have known about it–so why was it that they somehow managed to make Benjamin into their comic book character?

*****

Somewhere along the coastline in the secret lab, a certain professor had just made the finishing touches to a certain device. And of course as the reader knows by now, this professor was Professor Poopypants–the one who was kicked out of the surface kingdom, who had removed Krupp’s good emotions, who had yelled at the children outside the theater, and oh my gosh I can’t believe I would ever write something involving a character with this name, and also, what would my fourth grade self have said while reading the books–

“Is someone talking about me behind my back?” Poopypants looked up from his contraption.

.....Moving on before I have to use duck-tape on the fourth wall that I almost broke.

“Anyway!” Poopypants clapped his hands and rubbed them together before stepping away from the device. “I have finished it at last!” He grinned. “My absolute back up plan of back up plans!”

Louis the assistant walked up to the professor and stared at the device. It looked like a huge circular metal and glass-like container and it had some sort of needle with a round tip at the end. “What is it?” He asked.

“This is what I’d like to call an extreme version of the device I once used upon the king under the ocean!” Poopypants gestured to the device. “If I encounter him at any point and I play my cards just right, I can extract his powers from him. All control over the ocean and the storms will be mine to use however I want upon whoever I want!” He chuckled. “Think of the possibilities!”

“What would happen to him?”

“Huh?” Poopypants turned around to face Louis. “Oh, you mean the overgrown shark? Eh, if he’s lucky he’ll be sent into a comatose state. It depends on how it’ll work.” He then turned to a medium sized contraption that he had been working on around the same time. “Also, I may just end up having to finally use my next creation–one blast to largify it and then I’ll go out there in style. If I need to,” He added as something caught Louis’ attention and he walked over to a huge contraption that was hidden behind a curtain. “Something that would win the respect of Jules Verne, HG Wells, and maybe that weird Lovecraft guy everyone obsesses over.” He chuckled. “Of course they would be begging for me to be friends with them if they were ever–”

“WHAT THE–?! WHAT IS THIS?!”

The professor turned around to see the assistant back away from the curtain with a horrified look on his face. “What are you intending to do with–what–why?!” He pointed to the curtain.

“Oh that’s just some insurance in case I need it.” Poopypants let out a wave of dismissal. “But honestly I’ve been relying a lot on chance and luck and now I need something to really anger both kings into attacking each other. And one way or another I know that will work.” He chuckled. “It’s not exactly something you can ignore, no matter how hard you’d try.”

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t agree to that when I first worked for you!” Louis shook his head. “I don’t care what you do, but that’s the final straw for me! I cannot let you do this anymore!”

The professor hummed. “Don’t really care, though I’m surprised you finally started caring about what was going on after doing the complete opposite up to this point. I mean I mainly wanted someone I could talk to, to boost my ego and boast about my schemes to.”

“You’re nuts.” Louis shook his head. “No wonder you got kicked out and were dumb enough to not change your name to something more sensible.”

The professor flinched before turning around to face Louis with a growl. “I am not dumb! Those people were for not focusing on my intellect that could have contributed to the good of the world! Not that idiotic short-fused beast down below and certainly not that too kind for his own good boy-scout up above!”

“Also, he’s the one who is nuts!” Poopypants nodded to something behind Louis. “Lots of bolts and nuts!”

“What–?!” Without warning, the assistant was grabbed from behind by a robot who stuck something against his neck and zapped him with a few volts of electricity.

“Eh, I’ll have him sent somewhere far away.” Poopypants shrugged over the sounds of the man screaming before he was knocked out and collapsed to the ground. “Maybe some place nice like Australia. Or maybe Ireland–Ireland is good around this time, yes? Or is it too touristy at the moment?”

He shrugged and went over to the monitors with the screens and as he leaned against a board with buttons, he accidentally pressed the play button for one set of footage he collected earlier that day. “Well, I can easily do this without an assistant. Everything should go smoothly by this point and I don’t see anything that can possibly get in my–”

A burst of laughter came out of the audio from the footage. “Poopypants?!”

Confused for a moment, the man in question turned around to watch a recording of the boys laughing while talking to the king.

“That’s incredible! His name is Poopypants!” The blonde said and it made the boys laugh harder than before.

This of course made the professor snap and clench his teeth together as a certain trigger within him had been pressed. He growled over Mason’s explanation of him before he left and he watched as the little troublesome brats continued to make fun of his name.

“Oh wow, I’d hate to be that guy!”

“He’s a scientist? I bet with all that work and research, he’d get ‘pooped’ out so quickly.”

“So is it a laboratory he works at? Wouldn’t it be more like a lavatory?”

“OH YOU TWO THINK I’M REAL FUNNY, DON’T YOU?!” Poopypants snarled as he slammed his hands on the board and his eye-brow twitched at the boys who laughed at his name and were unaware that he would find out about it. “WE’LL SEE WHOSE LAUGHING WHEN BOTH KINGDOMS GET WRECKED!” He pointed at the laughing boys. “I’LL BE LAUGHING TWICE AS HARD WHEN I SEE THE LOOKS ON YOUR STUPID SNOT-NOSED FACES!”

Oh, how he would enjoy that moment when it would come.

*****

The boys stared at the ring in the privacy of the bedroom; they had been able to put it under water as soon as they could and it had been an hour or so since then as they prepared to face Captain Underpants again. But even now they didn’t feel ready to look at his face and see him as someone else like they once did. They didn’t want to see him as who he was supposed to be instead of the person they had grown to accept.

Harold took a deep breath and was the first one brave enough to snap his fingers. Captain Underpants came out once more, but since he had no clue what had happened to him, he was still in the middle of looking for the boys. “Guys?!” He cried as the look of desperation was all too clear on his face. “Guys I–” He stopped when he finally saw the boys who just stared at him. “I–” He stammered. “I–”

Realizing that they were right before him, the adult clasped his hands to his mouth before closing his eyes and he tried to take a breath of relief but he was still shaken over what he had gone through. “I found you.” He looked about ready to cry. “I found you. You’re here, I found you–”

“We’re sorry.” George tried to apologize. Seeing how horrified Captain Underpants had been when trying to look for them–almost like how either of his parents would be scared if something horrible had almost happened to him–made him feel really guilty. “We’re so sorry about–well everything.”

“We shouldn’t have yelled at you.” Harold also tried to apologize. “We weren’t in a good frame of mind and we were frustrated. We didn’t mean to be mean and we’re sorry–”

“I looked everywhere for you!” Captain Underpants finally cried out, looking more frustrated at himself than angry at them. “I looked everywhere I could at the boardwalk and I couldn’t find you! I was going to look through the entire town and every single house if I could! I didn’t know if you ran away or if something happened and–” He broke down and curled up into a ball mid-air and hugged his legs to his chest and rested his forehead on his knees. “If something happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself because I know it would have been my fault!” It sounded like he was trying really hard to try to keep himself together and not sob. “You two mean a lot to me–you guys are my friends!”

Those words stunned the boys.

Even if they now knew who he really was, it was impossible to see any part of Krupp in Captain Underpants. He should have had every right to be angry, and yet he wasn’t blowing up at them. The panic he had displayed was almost familiar, but almost in the way that a parent or an adult guardian would–something that Krupp would never show. The expressions he had were not familiar and to hear the voice of someone who hated them say that they were his friends–

Before the boys could do anything, Captain Underpants let out a small attempt at a laugh and looked up. “Well I’m glad that I didn’t have to search all day for you!” He sounded like he was trying to brush off what just happened under the optimistic tone of his voice. “Plus I stayed with Lisa and Billy until they could be taken home. I didn’t say anything that you didn’t want me to say, so I was able to do something right today, right?”

“You... you did.” George could only respond and nod. He honestly didn’t know what else to say.

“Yeah, thanks for that.” Harold added.

It was more believable that Captain Underpants embodied everything that Krupp no longer had or at least had locked away, but at the same time there was enough of a difference to feel as if he was completely different from him. Yet he was still tied to his other half and his fate was on the line as much as the boys’ freedom was than ever before. His existence depended on what action they needed to take.

*****

Lisa silently read one of the books from the library which she had taken into her room and she was reading it on her bed when she heard a knock at the door and Billy calling out “Hey Lisa, can I come in really quick?”

“Yeah, you can come in!” She called without looking up and heard her brother come in and close the door behind him before crawling onto her bed beside her. She looked up from her book to see him take a small wooden box from the pockets of his pants.

“So, I’ve been thinking about something.” He said as he stared at the box. “What we saw today... what if the story about the ocean granting wishes was true? I mean there was no way George and Harold’s superhero should exist and yet he did, so what if...” He paused before opening the box up to reveal two sets of pearls. One pair had a slight peach-pink tone and the other had a brownish purple tone and they had a lovely sheen under the artificial light in the room.

“What are those?” Lisa moved her book to the side and took a closer look at the pearls.

“I once overheard dad talking about how these pearls were found in some oysters from the bottom of the ocean.” Billy explained as he looked at them. “I was hiding out in the treasury one time and he was hiding them behind some things in there. He said that once we turned sixteen, one set would be made into cuff links for me and another would be made into earrings for you.” He smiled before frowning. “But with the way things have been and considering how precious these must be, we could get our wishes granted if we toss them back into the ocean.”

“But why?” Lisa looked up at her brother.

“Because maybe we need a bit of faith that we can do something.” Billy told her. “I don’t know what we can do to stop the storms and help our kingdom out, but maybe we could start with a bit of belief.” He took out a couple pearls and gave Lisa the peach-pink one while keeping the brownish purple one. “We’ll go out tomorrow on a boat, make a wish, and toss them back where they belong into the ocean.”

Lisa looked at the pearl before closing her hand around it. “I hope your right about this. Otherwise we’ll just end up throwing away dad’s gift to us.”

“He’ll understand if things work out.” Billy nodded. “We just need to believe.”

Lisa thought about something. “Do you think we should we tell someone about the messages?” She nervously bit her lip for a second. “I mean we tried to do the right thing and let the other person know about the oil drill, but–” She sighed. “I don’t know.”

“Maybe after we toss the pearls, we can tell dad about them.” Billy decided. “It’ll give us more time to think on it.” He then grinned. “Say, isn’t it close to the moment that we get to prank Gambino?”

Lisa gave her brother a devilish grin in response.

Moments later, the siblings were able to join up with the boys again and, thankful that they had made amends with Captain Underpants, they got out the supplies needed for the job and made the preparations to initiate their devious scheme at midnight. Captain Underpants himself had no idea what they were doing and they only told him that it was going to be for ‘an act of justice’ so that he wouldn’t try to dissuade them. He bought it and even encouraged it, which was one of the most hilariously ironic things George and Harold had heard and they struggled not to laugh at it.

Things were not so cheerful as Mason finished making some calls on the phone–especially to Anthrope–before he finally stopped and held his head in his hands. “This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening.”

He was feeling awful and responsible for this–why couldn’t they have listened to him and not built the drill?! Now it came to a point he did not expect and he knew he had to take action as soon as he could.

On his desk was a glass bottle that was found by someone upon Anthrope’s ship–they had no clue how it got on there–but considering what was written in the message contained in the bottle, it was given to Mason as soon as possible and he felt the world was going to end when he saw what was written in a shaky hand that looked furious and angry:

‘TO THE KING UPON THE SHORE,

NOW IT’S TIME TO SEE HOW MUCH THE MYTHS ABOUT ME ARE TRUE. YOU FAILED TO RESPECT THE OCEAN. NOW ANY CHILD CAUGHT ALONE UPON YOUR SHORELINES AND UPON OR WITHIN THE OCEAN WILL BELONG TO ME FOREVER. EVEN YOUR OWN CHILDREN WILL NOT BE SPARED.’

And the worst part about all of this? There were already six cases of children that had gone missing along the shoreline that day and many of them attended the same school his children went to.

*****

Out on the ocean waters and some time after midnight, a ship was heading towards the harbor of the town.

“Ugh, I can’t believe we had a delay.” One of the workers sighed as he rested a hand against one of many crates. “I hear the waters around these parts aren’t so safe anymore.” He told a co-worker.

“Eh, maybe we’ll make good money for this delivery.” The co-worker shrugged as he saw that the town was getting ever so closer.

“What is even in these things?” The first worker asked as he patted the crate.

“Uh, just some stuff from stores from several stopping areas back.” The co-worker shrugged. “I mean I think that crate alone as a lot of the same thing in there. And then–”

“Wait, shut it!” The first worker hushed the co-worker as a puzzled look crossed his features. “Do you hear...?” He went around the crate to take a look and as he did, the co-worker paused to listen. “Do you hear singing?”

“Sé mo laoch mo Ghile Mear, sé mo chaser, Ghile Mear.”

Both of them heard the sound of a woman’s voice singing out a strange, yet beautiful song.

“Suan ná séan ní bhfuaireas féin, Ó chuaigh i gcélin mo Ghile Mear.”

“Yeah, I think so!” The co-worker closed his eyes to listen as the sound grew louder. In fact, many workers paused to listen once the song reached their ears.

”Seal da rabhas im’ mhaighdean shéimh,” The voice sang in a mournful tone. “S anois im’ bhaintreach chaite thréith,”

“I don’t like it.” Another co-worker shuddered after a long pause of everyone listening to the voice. “I’m getting the goosebumps over this!”

“Why would a woman be singing out at–” The first man paused. “Wait... isn’t this supposed to be where merfolk live? No it couldn’t be.” He shook his head. “Why would they–?”

“LOOK OUT!” A man screamed. “SEA STACKS AHEAD!”

All eyes looked up to see a set of sea stacks sticking out of the ocean. They almost blended in the darkness of the night and they posed a serious threat.

“What are you doing you idiot?!” One man yelled to the man behind the wheel of the ship. “You’ll crash into the stacks!” But the driver of the ship was too enchanted by the voice to dare stop.

“Bímse buan ar buairt gach ló, ag caoi go cruaidh ‘s ag tuar na ndeór.”

With a frustrated yell, the other man shoved him aside and pulled at the wheel as hard as he could.

“Mar scaoileadh uaim an buchaill beó, ‘s na ríomhtar tuairisc uaidh, mo bhrón.”

The resulting effects of how sharp the wheel had been turned not only made the ship jerk and knocked many to the ground, but the man accidentally turned in the wrong angle and when he realized he was about to make the ship crash, he turned in the correct direction before the boat could completely crash into the stacks.

However, this made a few of the crates launch off the top of their respective stacks of crates and they went tumbling into a few shelf like parts of the sea stacks.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” Another crewman yelled at the first man who tried to turn the wheel. “YOU ALMOST DROWNED US ALL!”

“WELL SORRY!” The other man shouted back.

“Oh man.” The first worker sighed after recovering from the shock of the whole events. “Well, we just lost some crates.”

“Better the crates then our lives.” The co-worker let out a nervous laugh as he looked to see that they were too boxes short. “Well, we just lost a few crates full of... uh....” He struggled to remember what was supposed to be inside them, but it escaped him and he merely shrugged. “Probably nothing important, super expensive or fancy that’d get us in trouble.”

Elsewhere a certain merwoman with pearls around her neck and in her hair ceased singing as she held her hands to her mouth and stared in horror at what she almost caused while sitting upon a rock hidden from the ship’s view. She never meant to attempt to drown those innocent lives–she was just trying to call for her son and his friend no matter how long she would have to sing for them.

“No, no, no.” George’s mother shook her head as she realized the consequences of her actions. “I didn’t mean to–I–” She lost her courage and jumped into the ocean water and swam away as fast as she could.

She didn’t want to be caught, but a part of her was screaming to go back up again. What if her son was close by or was trapped and couldn’t escape?! She had to find him! She looked everywhere she could and she was willing to break the rules to find George once more, even if it meant that she would be–

A hand grabbed onto her and tightened up upon it to the point that she wanted to yell before she was yanked to the side. Within seconds she found herself facing a rather ugly looking merman who she recognized as being part of Krupp’s spies for the kingdom borders.

“Oh, His Majesty is going to love this!” The merman crackled in George’s mother’s horrified face. “I knew following your singing would pay off!”

*****

Meanwhile the boys were dead asleep in the large bed which proved to be far more comfortable than the large bathtub (it was soft, for one thing).

Having realized that conserving the magic wouldn’t be of much use to them anymore, they decided to finally just take advantage of what they hadn’t used in that room just yet. At the same time, their underwear enthusiastic friend was sleeping in mid air while using his arms as a pillow within the same room. Neither boy was aware as to what was going on outside the castle and within the ocean, and both had fallen asleep.

Yet in the case of George, his sleep was already hard to enjoy, for all the worries he had tried to keep within himself were finally manifesting in a nightmare that made him toss and turn and break out in a light sweat. “No... no don’t...” He moaned as the blonde beside him was dead asleep and couldn’t hear him. “Harold.” He gritted his teeth. “Harold.”

“Harold!” George desperately yelled as someone pulled him by the arm through a darkened, water filled tunnel, away from Harold who was also being pulled away from him but in the opposite direction.

“George!” The blonde was howling out in panic and thrashing and wiggling in a desperate attempt to escape his captor. He was already in tears, which only made George more desperate to pull away. He even tried biting the man’s arm as hard as he could, but it was no use–it was like biting into something hard and not soft.

“No, don’t–” George moaned again in his sleep as his grip on the sheets tightened up. “Don’t hurt him! Don’t hurt Harold!” This made Captain Underpants wake up and notice that the boy was in a great distress within his sleep. “No.”

“NO!” George screamed as Harold was swallowed up into the darkness. Before he realized it, he was tossed into some sort of dark cavern and when he turned around, the door slammed shut and one half was made of stone while the other was made of bars spaced out just wide enough to taunt him with a glimpse of the freedom he had now lost forever, along with access to his friend. Only a very small pillar of light was allowed to escape into the cell from somewhere up above to remind him of what he once had.

“NO!” George grabbed the bars and tried to pull at them. “No, no, no–!” He then screamed and grabbed his hair. “This can’t be happening! This can’t be–!”

Then a sinister snicker met his ears and George froze up. He looked up to see a huge figure who was darkened by the shadows and his only noticeable features was a set of dark eyes and a wide mouth full of sharp teeth that was sadistically grinning at him. George slowly backed away as the figure laughed and held up the red ring before cracking it within his fist before the merboy’s horrified eyes.

“Now you’re both going to be as miserable as I am!” The mershark taunted. “Isn’t that going to be fun?!” He then let out a maniacal laugh.

George shuddered and shivered in his sleep as the nightmare reached a dark point and he couldn’t snap awake from it. “You won’t get away with–you won’t–”

Then he could feel a comforting warmth upon his shoulder and he felt his heart rate slow down, as did his shivering. It began to make the nightmare fade away and he became drawn to the warmth. “H... Harold.” George’s stammer gradually faded. “Harold.”

But it wasn’t Harold who was providing that warmth, for his back was facing the boy and he was several inches away from him. Instead it was Captain Underpants who was trying to rest a hand on the boy’s shoulder and he could tell that it was somehow working on calming George down. A very rare, very serious expression was upon his face, even if it could not be seen in the dark.

Once again, he didn’t try to do anything extreme–he just did what he felt was right, without having to say a single word. He had no intention of leaving the boy’s side until he was sure he was safe from whatever was tormenting him in his sleep. He even tried humming something without even knowing what it was, but it did not matter so long as it could calm the child down.

*****

Somewhere within the castle, an occupant was due to have a dream about a bad day that happened ten years ago.

Once again Edith returned to that day where she was waiting on the pier where Benjamin was to meet her and she was growing increasingly anxious and impatient.

She glanced back at the clock and then glanced back to the ocean before she realized something was different. The sky was clear without a cloud in sight and the water was calm, allowing several boats to glide across it with barely any rocking involved on their part. The part of her that was aware that this was a dream knew that this was not originally the case, so why–

“Oh, that looks like a lot of fun!” A cheerful voice exclaimed.

She glanced around to where the voice was–and then let out an unlady-like sputtering sound as she backed away a few steps. “What the–?” She gapped at the individual who looked out of place and was hovering on the other side of the railings above the waters below.

A living, breathing version of George and Harold’s comic book character–in nothing but a cape and underwear–was trying to get a good look at the boats out on the water. “I bet it would be fun to go out on them and relax!” He added.

“What–huh–what?!” Edith stammered as she encountered this insane element to her dream. Why was a child’s creation in this scene?! Seconds later, she let out a sigh and just accepted it as she rested her arms on the railing. “Well, I didn’t think you could be real.” She admitted and there was a quiet pause when the two stared out at the boats.

“He’s still not going to show up.” She spoke out. “None of this is going to change that. If I knew, I would have said it the night before, but it’s too late. I’m trying to forget, but I just can’t.” There was another pause.

“You know, you should try to ask them next time.” Captain Underpants told her in a voice that was familiar and yet not quite and Edith glanced back at him.

“Ask who?” Edith could not stop focusing on the fact that the fictional character was wearing so little and revealing so much that she was somehow feeling a blush in her face. It didn’t help that he seemed to be her kind of guy–playful, big but strong, and probably fun to be cuddled or held by.

“You want to ask the boys if they know him.” Captain Underpants elaborated for her. “You want to know why I look like him and why their bracelets look like his, right?” He paused. “You shouldn’t be afraid to say anything this time before it’s too late, Edith.” He then completely faced her and Edith stared in shock as she recognized the face of the hero.

“B–Ben-Benjamin?!” She stammered as he went up to her and put his hands behind his back and gave her a huge grin that reflected his energetic nature. Her eyes were now torn between looking at his face and looking at his very minimally, very comically dressed body, from his exposed chest to his rather shapely looking legs despite his large size. She moved her hair out of her face to get a good look at him and Capt–Benjamin–whoever it was–turned his grin into a small and yet quite adorable jaw drop upon seeing her face. Something about the way he looked at her in awe made her heart race a little.

“I’ve never seen eyes as blue as yours.” He then smiled a small, but sincere smile as he leaned closer to get a good look at her eyes as his own dark eyes seemed to shine genuine interest and something that felt familiar and sweet.

She heard something like that before–in that exact same voice–when she had her eyes closed and she thought it was a dream. “Wait... are you the voice I’ve been hearing in my sleep?” She asked.

Instead of responding, he let out a very pleasant and adorable sounding giggle and shifted himself so that he could get a few inches above her before carefully placing his hands on her shoulders and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead.

This made Edith shoot out of her bed with a face that felt several degrees warmer than usual. “What the–what just happened?!” She gapped and was like that for a few moments before she slapped her hands against her face and groaned. “I just dreamt about getting kissed by a child’s creation!” Oh wow did she feel a little pathetic about herself (and this was something she was not going to tell the boys). Well, she wasn’t going to be able to forget it anytime soon, and the superhero seemed to be a real sweetheart... but it made her wonder...

...Had she been dreaming up Benjamin recently to the point that she was now projecting him upon someone else?

*****

Krupp now had another few good reasons to be angry at George and Harold and he didn’t know which of those was worse–the fact that their disappearance drove their parents to go as far as to try to break the number one rule or because he had been forced awake at an ungodly hour because their parents had been caught around that exact time. Because of those two delinquents, he was now facing three adults who were surrounded by guards with spears out around them to keep them from escaping, and he really wanted to snap at something.

He had an irritated, yet tired look that made him both intimidating and almost pathetic, yet he tapped his fingers upon one of the arm rests before speaking. “Well I guess you all are horrible parents after all. You wouldn’t have been in this spot if your boys weren’t such troublemakers–you might as well have been encouraging them by not doing anything about it.”

The glare that all three adults shot at the mershark were those of outrage.

“Well you don’t know what it’s like to be in our positions!” George’s father snapped at Krupp.

“We tried to warn them!” George’s mother also yelled. “You think we were ignoring them this whole time?! You think we weren’t concerned that they would get into too much trouble?”

“Considering the number of pranks they pulled off–as well as a few other stupid stunts that could have endangered their lives as well as others–then yes, I regard that as bad parenting, which is why none of this should be my concern in the first place, or why I should have been awoken for this when it’s past midnight!” Krupp huffed. “You messed up, so I did what you couldn’t and they threw away my warning like it was nothing to them! I could care less about where they went, but none of you are going to go up to look for them!” He shot them a warning look as the blonde merdolphin gave him a calculating look.

“Why do you even have that rule to begin with?” Harold’s mother demanded. “And don’t say it’s because humans are bad. I know you have an actual reason for–”

“I’m not going to have you question me about that when you already know the answer!” Krupp snarled as he leaned forward and a few merfolk flinched.

“The boys can take things too far and yes it upsets me as a parent, and yes I would have a good word with my son if I ever saw him again, but they could be in trouble for all we know!” Harold’s mom continued as she threw her hands out. “I know you weren’t normally like this once–you would have been ok with it if someone needed to find their child–”

“Well it’s pointless because those rule-breakers are the kind of kids you raised, and besides, they couldn’t last up on the surface world without–!”

“You think we all are happy here because of you?!” The merwoman finally yelled. “You think everyone enjoys the feeling like one wrong move could set you off or that you’ll go off into a rage at any of our children for no real reason?! What the heck happened to make you like this, Benjamin?!”

There was a dead silence in the room as Krupp stared at her in disbelief–he couldn’t recall the last time someone ever said his name–but the anger of being challenged and being accused was already clouding his judgement before a scowl returned to his face. “I don’t have to answer to you.” He flatly replied. “I’m doing what I think is best and that requires order.”

“Then I see no point in staying here with my children any longer.” Harold’s mom coldly replied back. “I can’t believe how many are willing to stay here under your rule when you act like this.”

“Same here.” George’s father scowled at Krupp. “If we ever find our sons, we’ll leave this place. I’m sure that’s what you’d want, right? Or is always getting your way much more enjoyable to you? Because things like that is why the boys played all those pranks and left, even if we don’t like that it came to that.”

“Just let us find our sons!” George’s mother snarled. “Just let us go, even if it has to be for one more day, and then we’ll leave and never return!”

Krupp just snorted and shook his head. “Oh like that’ll move me enough to let you guys go up. What, are you going to try to appeal to a part of me that–?”

“You wouldn’t even help out a child if they were in danger, would you?!” Harold’s mom snapped. “Would the former queen have been ok with that?!”

“THAT’S NONE OF YOUR–!” Krupp roared, but then something stopped him that made his skin crawl and his eyes widen a little. It was that weird happy sensation, but now there was something crossed with concern and fear that he couldn’t explain as if he had an urge to protect someone and had no idea why. It was like that time in the lab again and he had no idea where it came from, except he had no idea that what he was experiencing came from the part of him that he casted off and who was currently trying to help a child though his nightmare.

And without him wanting to, it reminded him of a time when he was a child being comforted by his own mother before she went off and foolishly tried to play the hero and leave him when she up and died–

*****

Meanwhile, Captain Underpants was still trying to comfort George when a strange thought came to his head–a woman who was of a similar species like the true forms of the boys, yet not quite. A woman who was comforting him with a familiar song, before hurrying off with some sort of overgrown fork in her hands.

He stopped in confusion when the image of her hit him with something he couldn’t explain–there was regret and sadness when he saw her face, along with an unfamiliar happiness that she invoked in him.

Where did that come from? Was that a sort of memory like the one before? It felt like what she was doing was similar to what he was doing–trying to comfort someone.

*****

–Died and... and...

When did it get to the point that he would suddenly hate the few people he once really cared about? No, no–he couldn’t dwell on the past–but why the heck would any of this make him think of his mom?

He was not going to give in. He couldn’t give in! He had himself fixed so that he wouldn’t have any false hope and he had no reason to be attached to those troublemakers! They didn’t deserve any compassion! He didn’t need anyone or have to feel in debt to someone!

Then why the heck did this weird feeling inside him make him feel a twinge of sympathy towards their parents?

He took a deep breath and rubbed his temples as he tried to think–and the weird feeling was vanishing again–before he finally looked up to face the parents. “You want to make things hard for everyone? Fine.” He growled. “I’ll humor you all–I’ll lift the ban for one day–”

“Oh thank goodness!” George’s mom sighed in relief, though her husband and Harold’s mom were more cautious.

“I didn’t say it would be for you!” Krupp threw out before continuing. “Oh no, I’ll allow everyone else who has gone up before to go and have a look around. I don’t want to have anyone else be tempted to follow in your sons’ example–especially if it’s any of the other children. You all are going to be under house arrest because I know you’ll try to go up with the others. If they’re found and they got themselves into trouble like they probably did, then you can take them and get out of here–and I never want to see or hear about them ever again!”

“But if they aren’t in trouble and roaming around up there like they don’t have a care in the world...” He smirked at them–at least he could take an even greater satisfaction in this other option. “Well, like I promised them–nothing will keep me from separating them and locking them away from each other for as long as I like.”

Chapter Text

The sun had already risen up and looked as if it were hovering above the ocean by an inch or so. Besides a few clouds in the sky, it looked as if the morning would be peaceful until the festivities of the day could start up.

Or at least it would have, had George and Harold not heard what sounded like a faint scream from somewhere in the hallway that woke them up at exactly eight am. Both boys faintly wondered where the screaming was coming from until they remembered what they did the night before and they gave each other a knowing look when their eyes met.

According to the siblings, Ms. Gambino preferred to wake up at six in the morning–five thirty if it was to be a busy day. They snuck in her room to change the alarm on her alarm clock to this exact time.

The boys shared a devilish grin. “Nothing better to start the day then by knowing one of our pranks was pulled off to perfection.” George said.

“And the day hasn’t even started yet.” Harold replied.

*****

After Lisa put on an orange colored short sleeved dress with a white sash around the waist, Edith helped the girl attach a flower crown of scarlet carnations, orange roses, small white flowers, and pink begonias on the top of her head. “What are you smiling about?” Edith smiled at the girl’s mischievous grin that was reflected in the mirror.

“Nothing!” Lisa glanced at her brother, who came in when he was allowed to. Her brother’s attire included a grey vest with a scarlet carnation pinned in a lapel and a pink button up long sleeved shirt with a purple tie, but he shared the same look his sister did.

“Thank you for helping me with the flower crown.” Lisa smiled at the woman who smiled back. Edith herself wore a dusty rose colored dress with ruffly looking short sleeves and a loose skirt that allowed far more movement than the more popular form fitting skirts that others wore (and while she wasn’t skinny, the dress fitted her perfectly and looked flattering). A simple red rose was pinned in her hair to keep the usual curtain of hair off her face. She didn’t need any more adornments–she already looked quite pretty in Lisa’s eyes.

“You’re welcome.” Edith replied. “It’s nice to dress up for a special occasion. I hope I’m there when I see you all two grown up and dancing in the ballroom.” She finished her handiwork as she and the girl admired the final result in the mirror.

“You look nice yourself.” Lisa smiled at Edith. “I bet guys would be going to the sales for you and not the baked goods you made yesterday.”

Edith let out a chuckle and shook her head. “Now there’s a thought.” She then noticed a drawing of the ferris wheel against a sunset on the girl’s vanity. “I see the boys have given you a drawing.”

“Billy was given one too.” Lisa looked at her brother who looked down at the drawing he himself had brought in, which had quite a number of dolphins with various expressions on their faces–the artist was clearly a lot more excited with doing this image. “Just something before they–” She hesitated.

“Is something wrong?” Edith asked.

“George and Harold said they need to leave after today.” Billy admitted. “We don’t know why.”

“I wish there was a way to stay in touch with them.” Lisa also admitted. “It was fun being with them when we could.”

Edith hesitated before replying. “Well, I’d make the most of my time if I were you. And I’d say the things I’d want to say before it’s too late. There’s no telling if you’ll ever see someone you care about ever again or not.”

*****

Soon the siblings were joined by George and Harold. “So I take it the alarm went off?” Billy asked as they made their way out of the hallways.

“Yup!” Harold grinned–the outfit that he assumed would be his last included a white short sleeved shirt and a green and white stripped sweater vest over it. The ring was safely hidden away underneath and was still on the necklace-like rope around his neck.

“And we’re about to see if the second part of our operation went off without a hitch.” George also grinned. He was finally able to get a tie on properly and the red and yellow striped item suited him as if it was meant to be a part of him. He also carried a bag that contained a few things that he and Harold brought up with them.

The children could hear Ms. Gambino yelling at her staff and they stopped outside the double doors that lead to that specific room that they were in and peered inside.

“Not one of you had the nerve to wake me up?!” Gambino yelled at a staff made up of those who were afraid and those who were amused, such as Marietta. The woman looked like a complete wreck, with her bun done incorrectly and a few strands of hair flying out. Also she was fidgeting and grabbing at her clothes like she was trying to get at something.

“Well we know you have a strict schedule to follow, so we didn’t know that you’d have a moment of forgetfulness.” Marietta looked like she was trying not to smirk at the other woman’s misfortune.

“Half of you have made a number of errors throughout your time here, so don’t test me!” Gambino snapped as she began to try to get at her back and now it looked like she was trying to scratch it. “This is a busy day and none of us are supposed to slack off and have fun!”

“And yet you’re having a heck of a time with scratching yourself.” Marietta pointed out. This made the older woman pull an angry face and she tried to strand upright with her hands at her sides, but it was clear that she was still in great discomfort. This didn’t last very long because she soon started to scratch a spot above her chest. “Do you need a day off?” A maid asked.

“No I don’t need a day off, thank you very much!” Gambino snapped. “Now I shall see you at the appointed times!” She then hurried off and she began attacking a spot around her collar bone when she was sure that she was not in the staff’s sight.

“I doubt it.” A male servant whispered with an eye roll. As he did, Gambino noticed that one of the chalkboards attached to the wall had lost the message she put up about today’s events. It now read: ‘I EAT MY OWN TOENAILS WITH A SPOON!’

“WHO PUT THIS UP HERE?!” Gambino shrieked and pointed at the offending message as she felt her skin burning and the urge to dig at it increased.

All four kids ran away from the doors as quietly as they could. “Oh man, that itching powder we put inside her clothes actually worked!” Lisa snickered. “I know we had to do it carefully, but there’s no way she’ll last for very long! I bet she’ll have to take a day off!”

“She probably will, considering the extra stuff we rubbed on the fabric to make it even more itchy.” George agreed.

And the final insult came to Gambino when Edith walked into the room to join the others. She gave the head of the staff a confused look as the woman kept trying to get at the spots where it itched before she saw the sign on the chalkboard and bursted out in a huge fit of laughing.

“You think this is funny?!” Gambino snapped at Edith, who could only shrug as she clutched her stomach while still laughing. She could tell almost immediately from the older woman’s misery and disheveled appearance that she would not have to encounter Gambino today and deal with her commands, and honestly she was thankful for the young hands of fate who helped spare her and the others.

*****

Out on the ocean near the shoreline, the Seaworthy and her crew were on high alert. Mason faced the crew as Anthrope stood beside him with both hands on her cane. “We cannot afford any mistakes today!” Mason commanded. “If you see someone swimming out in the ocean, you will immediately bring them upon the ship! If you see anything unusual, report it to me! If you see a child anywhere near the shoreline or out on the ocean, they must be sent back to the mainland! If their parents are present, they must be made aware that they will be arrested on the spot if they do not retreat back to the mainland!”

The Royal Navy saluted to the king to show that they understood.

Unknown to those upon the ship, a merseal with blue eyes and pearls woven into her brown hair was hiding close by and had listened to all that the king had yelled out. She waited and glanced up to see Mason and Anthrope standing near the edge of the ship.

“We can’t let them know what we’re dealing with just yet.” Mason told Anthrope. “As long as the merfolk can see this ship, they’ll know that we are on to them. If a storm happens....” He glanced up at the sky and frowned. “We’ll need to be on high alert.”

“Of course.” Anthrope nodded.

“What the heck are they talking about?” The merseal frowned as she tried to listen carefully. Was this something Krupp needed to be aware of?

“Rescuing those children is now one of our top priorities.” Mason told Anthrope. “If you see one of the merfolk taking a child away, then you all have permission to shoot on sight.”

The merseal gasped and hid under the water so that she wouldn’t be seen. “Oh no, that’s not good.” She gulped as she realized things have gotten much more dangerous since she visited the surface world as a child. “What is even happening up there?!”

*****

The mid-spring festival was finally in motion when eleven thirty am rolled around. The decorations of ribbons and paper flowers, floral wreaths, and so much more could be seen throughout the town and all the colors were bright and jewel toned, compared to the soft pastels of Easter. The number of flowers throughout town were either beautiful to behold or were the worst nightmare for someone who had allergies.

To George and Harold, there were so many people out and about who seemed to crowd the streets and everyone was so happy and lively, compared to those down below in the ocean who had so few occasions to celebrate and be happy about. Girls and women wore flower crowns and men and boys had flowers attached to parts of their clothing (which both of the boys didn’t do). Small flags and sticks with flowers tied upon them were waved in the air, and everyone was ecstatic with joy to have something to celebrate and have fun over.

And yet a careful eye would notice that some seemed to be uneasy. Many were aware that even this day could be subjected to the wrath of the king under the ocean and the blue sky was filled with quite a few clouds. But there seemed to be another reason as parents kept a firm hand and an alert eye on their children.

Both boys didn’t notice this last part as they sat in the front row with Lisa and Billy while everyone was gathered in the town plaza and a member of the community served as Master of Ceremonies with a crown of flowers around his top hat.

“Today is a day in which we celebrate the heart of this season and all it brings!” The Emcee cried and held his arms out. “Life grows once more after the harsh cold of winter! Color is restored to the lands when the flowers bloom, and the warmth brings the promise of summer!”

Many cheered as George looked around. “There’s an awful lot of people here.” He and Harold almost felt claustrophobic because of the huge number of people around them.

“There should be a lot more.” Billy frowned. “Tourism has gotten worse because of the storms.”

Both boys shared a look of discomfort as the Emcee continued and a woman with an envelope came up to him. “And as per tradition, we have voted upon this year’s Spring King and Spring Queen!” The Emcee grinned as he accepted the letter and opened it up. “Two individuals who have served the community and worked very hard–two who deserve to be recognized!” He looked at the message inside the letter.

“Where’s your dad?” Harold asked the siblings.

“He said he’s busy today with something important and couldn’t appear.” Lisa replied with a concerned frown as the Emcee read the name of the Spring King. As a man named John Gibbons gradually went to the stage while everyone cheered around for him, the princess tried to think of why their father vanished without saying a word. As the Emcee listed the reasons why John was chosen, Billy tried to think of how he and his sister could get a boat to get out onto the ocean. There were a few docks to sneak onto from the boardwalk alone.

“And now for our Spring Queen!” The Emcee looked at the message. “Laverne.... uh,” He frowned. “Just Laverne?”

“This is Laverne!” Everyone turned around to see a couple of children leading a familiar figure up to the stage and all went silent. Even the Emcee was incredibly confused when he saw who Laverne was.

“Moo.” A familiar cow with a collar of flowers mooed as she was lead to the stage.

“What?” Lisa flatly asked as she stared at the cow.

“Why did you guys vote for the–” George began to ask but then shook his head. “Never mind, I’m not questioning this.”

And it was safe to say that during the parade, no one could get over the shock of the odd couple upon the float that was driven by a truck. Both the King and Queen wore specially made crowns by a local artist and John just had an awkward smile and waved to everyone while he tried to ignore the fact that his ‘queen’ was an actual honest to goodness cow who didn’t seem to care that she was now royalty and being stared at by those torn between laughing or scratching their head in confusion.

I’m going to eat a big steak when this is all over! Jacob mentally snarled as he was forced to drive the truck in question while his fellow passenger gave him a sympathetic look.

*****

Once the parade was over, everyone moved to various parts of the town to continue with the celebrations. A handful of people went to play sports and other physical activities in a park near the outskirts of the town. Some went to another part of the outskirts to check out a couple of real airplanes that had been flown into town. Others went to the temporary outdoor market to buy the goods that many were eager to sell to citizens and visitors. Many went to look at the artwork that was on display by aspiring or well known artists. But many went to the boardwalk, where most of the performances were held and many were eager to ride the rides and play games.

Yet the ocean appeared to be empty–no boats were upon the water as one might have assumed for a day like today, and there were signs scattered near the beach and the docks and any place close to the water.

“Oh no.” Lisa felt her heart sank, as did Billy when they saw the one of the signs on the boardwalk, which read ‘DUE TO RECENT HEALTH CONCERNS, NO CHILD UNDER THE AGE OF 12 SHOULD BE NEAR THE OCEAN OR THE BEACH UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.’

“What’s going on?” Harold asked as he and George approached the siblings while eating some food from the boardwalk and then they saw the sign. “That’s new.” He gave the sign a puzzled frown.

“Yeah, we didn’t hear about this.” Billy gulped as he turned to face the boys. “And we actually need to get onto one of those boats for a few moments.”

“Why?” George asked.

“We just want–” Lisa began but then shook her head. “It’s just to do something silly for one moment. Maybe we could have one more adventure before you guys have to leave?” She gave them a hopeful look.

“Do you mean the wish thing?” Harold asked before looking out at the ocean, which was the last place he and George wanted to be at right now. “Maybe you guys shouldn’t.”

“What?” Billy was confused by this. “I thought you guys would be up for this after–”

“We just don’t think that’s a good idea and Harold and I don’t really want to be out on the ocean right now.” George admitted. Something about that sign gave him a bad feeling.

“You guys will be fine.” Lisa was getting frustrated. “What could possibly be so bad about the ocean?”

“Your Highnesses?” Lisa and Billy turned to see one of the castle maids coming towards them. “Your father insisted on you two having an escort for today.” She held her hands out for them.

“Why?” Lisa asked as she raised an eyebrow. “We’re fine with our friends.”

“He just says you need an escort.” The maid repeated without clarification.

The siblings turned to look at George and Harold. “You really don’t want to even try?” Billy asked.

“Just trust us, I don’t think it’ll be a good idea.” George was firm on his stance.

The siblings stared at the two for a few more seconds before they went off, with the maid following them. Once they were gone, the boys continued on their way.

“What do we do?” Harold asked. “You know that this has to do with what happened with the oil drill. Krupp might be up to something that we don’t know about.”

“We don’t know that for sure.” George admitted before looking at the ocean, which now looked more like a prison. “We can’t control the storms and we can’t solve everyone’s problems. Plus I don’t know for sure if there really is a health issue, even if something about it is kind of fishy.” He then frowned. “I don’t really want to think about him.”

“And what about Edith?” Harold reminded George. “We could tell her about Krupp–”

“We can’t because it would break her heart.” George grimaced. “She wouldn’t want to know that he’s a monster in every sense of the word and I wouldn’t want her to feel like she was responsible for what he did to himself. We’d either have to tell her a few things or nothing at all.”

Harold took the ring out from under his shirt and gave it a sad smile. “But she’d want to know how he really felt about her. In a way he still does, right?”

“Captain Underpants does, even if he doesn’t realize it.” George replied. “But Krupp–”

They heard cheers of excitement and they turned to see a bunch of children and teenagers surrounding a big and colorful calliope. The owner–a girl–wore a fancy outfit with a huge colorful bow tie and a boater hat that covered up most of the blonde hair that was tucked underneath it. “Any song you can think of and my musical marvel of a machine will play it for you!” She grinned at her audience before she went behind the calliope to set it up. “I’ll take your recommendations after a little test of what she can do!”

Both George and Harold looked at the ring. “We have one more day with him if all goes wrong.” Harold reminded George. “We need to make the most of it before we decide what to do with the ring... with him.” He corrected himself. George smiled and nodded at this, and Harold snapped his fingers to make their friend appear within seconds.

“Hi again!” Captain Underpants waved at the boys with a joyful smile before noticing his surroundings. “Wow! There’s more flowers and decorations up around here!” He grinned at it all. “What’s the occasion?!”

“Just a festival.” Harold admitted with a smile before they heard the calliope play a cheerful tune. This made Captain Underpants turn around and his eyes widened at it. “That looks like fun!” He pretty much skipped over and stood behind the group of children and teens near the contraption to get a closer look at it while the owner stood beside it and smiled at her audience with pride. A few children glanced in his direction and their eyes widened, but they didn’t say anything.

“The greatest of joys are appreciated by those who are young and young at heart.” The owner of the calliope told her audience with a smile.

George and Harold smiled as their adult friend eagerly listened to the calliope before looking at each other. They both knew that they had to decide what to do with Captain Underpants if they couldn’t return him back to his true self.

“Could you tell her that her huge music playing box is amazing for me?!” Captain Underpants pleaded to the boys and they decided to just give in for the moment. For all they knew, they had one last day to feel the warmth of the sun and enjoy the world above with the friendly and big-hearted adult.

*****

Sometime later, Edith was near the huge circular area in the boardwalk. She and a few others were stationed at one of the many bake-sales that had all the food that she and the others had made for this very moment. From where she was positioned, she could watch local performers on the stage as various audience members watched them. Currently all eyes were on a young singer who was singing an aria from The Flying Dutchman.

“That’s a pretty song.” She turned to see the royal siblings watching as they stood beside her. “Even if I don’t understand it.” Billy added.

“It’s a woman singing about the legend of a cursed captain and his ship that is doomed to sail the ocean for all eternity.” Edith explained–she had seen the opera here as it was one of the last things she did with her aunt before the old woman passed away. “And he can only go on land once every seven years. She grew up with his story and falls in love with him upon seeing his portrait. She swears her love and faithfulness to him, because only that can break the curse.”

Lisa let out a deep sigh and smiled. “That is so romantic!” Her brother only grimaced and stuck his tongue out.

“It is.” Edith admitted with a sigh of her own. “It is.” Her eyes then glanced upon a couple holding hands together as the girl lead her significant other somewhere. It brought up those old memories once more–she could see Benjamin and herself in the couple’s place.

Lisa saw Edith’s reaction and she saw what the woman was looking at before realizing what was probably on her mind. Once again she wished that there was something she could do to fix that, but it wasn’t like she could have a ball with every eligible man present for Edith’s hand.

“Come on.” Billy whispered in Lisa’s ear. “Let’s figure out how to ditch our escort.” Lisa nodded to him and they went off, but she looked at Edith one more time as the woman finally resumed a smile and faced the stage.

Yet as the song was nearing its end, Edith could not help but recall the words of the fortune teller. It had been a few days since she heard it and she still had yet to fully understand the entirety of it–what exactly was a place that could not be claimed by land, sea or air? And what was the monster that was feared by land and sea? There were very specific words used and... well all her guesses were too ridiculous. Besides–sometimes the real monsters were the ones who were mean and looked down on others or were utter hypocrites.

Nearly half an hour later, Edith continued to listen as the high school choir began singing ‘Down by the River to Pray’ and she turned her head in time to see the boys passing by and observing all the sights of the boardwalk.

“You shouldn’t be afraid to say anything this time before it’s too late, Edith.”

She was scared of hearing the answer, but she had too many questions and ten years of not knowing. As if it were a sign, these two came into her lives with a set of familiar bracelets and a character with an all too familiar face.

Edith left the tables and headed towards the boys as fast as her white flats could allow her.

“I can’t believe we never got to use most of the stuff we brought with us.” George reached into the bag and pulled up the handle of the plunger. “What could we have used this for?”

“George? Harold?” Edith called out to them and the boys turned around to face her. She smiled as her heart began to pound in a nervous manner. “Could I ask you a few things?”

“Sure.” Harold nodded as George let the plunger drop back into the bag and Edith had no clue where to begin. She wasn’t always good with saying what needed to be said and she rubbed her nose for a second before she began with “Where exactly did you get those bracelets?”

George and Harold shared a look that was hard to read. “From home.” Harold replied. “They’re just friendship bracelets.”

Edith tried to think carefully since she knew the boys were not open to talking about their home... much like... “Benjamin always wore a bracelet almost exactly like yours. I never saw him without it.”

The boys realized where this was going. “Well... you could get them anywhere.” George confessed as Captain Underpants (who had gotten distracted by something yet again) headed towards them and smiled when he saw Edith again.

“I know you boys don’t like talking about home, but is there a chance you’ve known him?” Edith pressed. “You pulled the photo out of the album, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but we just wanted a better look at Benjamin.” Harold said in a half truth as he grew nervous. “Since he was important to you and all.” This especially interested Captain Underpants, who stopped behind the boys.

“So you never met him?”

“No and we were infants around that time.” George was anxious to leave. Edith could tell that the boys were hiding something and finally she had to ask the question that bugged her the most.

“If you’ve never met Benjamin, then why does your comic book character look exactly like him?” She asked. “You showed me the comic book, but that was before I ever mentioned him or the photo to you two.”

Harold felt his heart stop as George tried to laugh and say “Harold just got lucky with making Captain Underpants look like Benjamin!”

“Boys, this is serious!” Edith was growing frantic. “If you know Benjamin and he’s alive–I mean–do you know where he is–” Edith stammered before giving up. “Please just tell me!” She begged. “I need to know why he wasn’t there that day!”

The boys went quiet and Edith did not like the looks on their faces. They obviously knew something, but it wasn’t good–Harold grimaced and bit one of his fingernails while George gave the ocean a nervous glance. Just before Edith could say anything else, a crowd of children with lots of balloons ran towards her and she was forced to get out of the way.

The boys took their cue and made a run for it.

Around this time, Billy and Lisa hit a moment of luck when a man approached the maid who was following them. “Beatrice, is that you?” He asked.

“Oh!” The maid blushed and then went over to the man with a happy smile. “I can’t believe I’d run into you like this!”

“Now’s our chance!” Billy grabbed Lisa’s hand and when the maid had her attention completely on her boyfriend, they raced towards the ferris wheel where one of the many piers were, but they were wanting to go down a stairway that was close by to get to the docks to barrow a boat for a bit.

Along the way, they darted around some display cases that were near the ferris wheel and the cotton candy stall. “Some of these seafaring weapons go as far back as the day this kingdom was formed!” An elderly man gestured to the various harpoons, daggers, cannonballs, and whatnot to some curious visitors. “Of course nowadays if you really want to battle a beast of the sea, you’ll want this!” His placed his hand on the glass display case that featured a harpoon gun, with the ammo safely right in front of the gun. “One good shot and a careful eye and he’ll be down in seconds!” He grinned.

Lisa winced at this before she and her brother continued on their way. She knew about harpoon guns and that Anthrope’s cane doubled as one, but the idea of causing pain to another didn’t sit well with her.

*****

“Oh man, that was close!” George sighed as he and Harold held onto the railings as they found themselves near the calliope once more.

“Yeah!” Harold shook his head. “I couldn’t think of a way to tell her!”

“Guys?” the boys turned to see Captain Underpants and he had a concerned, yet slightly hopeful look on his face. “What did she mean by me looking like someone she knows? Am I Benjamin?” He pointed to himself.

The boys felt a part of them panic when they realized he heard that. The adult waited as they both debated about what to do and what to say–they didn’t think that this would happen, but now it was too late. But even if they could, how on earth could they tell him?

“The thing is...” George tried to begin. “The thing is... yeah, you are.” He gave up and just nodded.

“But not exactly!” Harold corrected as Captain Underpants’ eyes widened and his jaw dropped. “The man in that photo we showed you is you, not not quite.”

“But if I knew her and I meant a lot to her, then why couldn’t I remember her?” Captain Underpants asked as he felt awful about that. “Why can’t I remember anything else about myself?”

“Because,” Harold didn’t like doing this and he needed to try to explain it in a way the man could understand, given how low his intelligence could be at times. “When you–when Benjamin–he was one of the merfolk like us and he believed she wouldn’t love him if she knew the truth about him–he pretty much just gave up on himself. So he cut out the good parts of himself and locked it in the ring. In other words, you’re the good side of Benjamin.” Harold took the ring out and gestured to Captain Underpants who was stunned at this.

“Oh, uh... wow.” The adult scratched his head. “That’s uh... so I’m the good side of myself–or who I used to be–and that’s why I can’t remember.” That hurt his head a little. “I think I understand–” He frowned when he realized that the boys referred to him as the good side. “Then if I’m the good side, who is the bad side? Is there a bad side?” He clearly didn’t like the idea of that and that’s what made the boys dread what was to come. Still, they had to tell him–there was no point in avoiding this anymore.

They could hear the owner of the calliope singing along to the upbeat tune of the music playing from her machine as Captain Underpants nervously waited for the answer. As pleasant as it was, the music didn’t help them with preparing to tell Captain Underpants something that would not make him happy.

“The bad side of Benjamin–the one we’ve known our whole lives–” George gulped. “–He’s the reason we’re up here to begin with. He’s our king.”

The world stopped for Captain Underpants in that moment.

Did he hear that correctly? The bad side of who he once was, was the same villain who gave his friends so much grief?

He let out a nervous laugh. “Hah hah–that’s a good joke!” He tried to say as the frowns on the boys’ faces only grew. “My bad side is the same villain you’ve told me about–the one whose been mean to you and the others. You’re just joking about the bad side and I’m actually dead, which is why you’re telling me this, right?!” What made this worse was that he clearly preferred that over what he was just told.

He was in denial and that’s why Harold knew he had to tell him something that was going to be the final nail in the coffin. “When we first met you, we mistook you for someone else and screamed in your face, remember?”

“But I wasn’t who you thought I was!” Captain Underpants tried to point out.

“Yeah, but who do you think that person was if he looked so much like you?” George pressed.

The adult was about to protest before he stopped and recalled what happened. He recalled just how terrified the boys had been, how they tried to get away from him and how they screamed...

They thought he was...

....

“No.” Captain Underpants lost the nervous smile and shook his head as he held his hands out in protest. “No, I can’t be the bad guy! I can’t be your enemy!” He tried to deny and a hint of despair could be seen in his eyes–he couldn’t handle the simple idea of anyone being mean to these two, or any child for that matter, but this? “I’m not that person! I would never do what he’s done to you two! This is all just a cruel joke!”

“I’m sorry, but we don’t know how else to tell you!” Harold also felt a bit of that despair as he gave the man a pleading look. “We want to help everyone, but we can’t stop him! The only way we know how is impossible!”

“What if all the times I sabotaged you was because I’m actually a bad person?!” Captain Underpants was now on the verge of hyperventilating as he held his hands to his face while stepping away from the boys. “No, I’m not a bad person! I don’t want to be mean! I don’t want to be the villain!” He frantically shook his head.

“You aren’t!” Harold tried to reassure him. “You’re far nicer to us kids than he could ever be!”

“If we can merge you back with your other self, you can be whole again and you won’t have to be the villain!” George pleaded. “Benjamin, please–!”

“That’s not my name!” Captain Underpants frantically denied in a panic without realizing where he was going and walked through the railings.

“NO!” Harold yelled as he and George rushed to aid their friend, but it was too late and the man fell towards the water with a startled yell as his arms flailed all around him.

And seconds later the red lights returned to the ring, while the boys took in what had just happened.

“No.” Harold shook his head as he held his face in frustration. “He’s not going to help us.” He shook his head. “The one time we need his help and he won’t help us!”

George sighed as he placed a hand on Harold’s shoulder–in the end, they really only had each other. They tried to break it to their friend and it ended badly to the point that he now doubted that Captain Underpants would bring himself to help them once again.

Unknown to the boys, Madame Miyuki was watching the two from a close distance. She knew she could easily go up to the boys and remind them of her promise to make their human forms permanent, or else tell them something reassuring. She pulled out the vial she used on the ring and thought for a moment before deciding to turn around and walk away from them. She could not interfere with what would soon come next.

Moments later, George heard some splashing and saw a strange flash of silver. He looked down in time to see a strange mechanical creature hurrying off with a small boy in its grasp under the shadows of the boardwalk–a boy who looked like he was struggling to get out of it’s grasp.

“Harold, we got a problem!” George smacked Harold and pointed to the strange creature and it’s prey. Without even hesitating, the boys maneuvered through the safety of the railings and climbed down as fast as they could before jumping off into the sandy side of the area under the boardwalk and raced after the creature that seemed to try to stay under the dock.

“HEY!” George yelled at the creature as it tried to make a run for it, which was difficult when the boy it held was trying to escape as hard as he could. Finally George and Harold caught up to it and George ran and jumped onto it’s back while Harold grabbed for the legs. The creature crashed to the ground with the boy pinned against the sand, but George grabbed the head and pulled it back while Harold got up and dragged it away from the boy.

“GAH!” George cried out and fell over as he found himself pulling the head off the mechanical creature and sending wires and sparks up into the air. The boy crawled away and Harold went over to comfort him. “Hey are you ok?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” The boy (still shaken over the experience) slowly nodded. “I was trying to get a toy that I dropped and this thing grabbed me!” He then looked at Harold. “Hey, aren’t you the boys that came by the school? The ones who helped Rose?”

“Yeah that’s us!” Harold smiled as George examined the head of the creature and then its chest to see the letters ‘PP’ upon it. “And you are?”

“Ethan.” The boy replied before frowning. “Have you guys seen Rose? She’s been missing since yesterday and her mom has been worried sick.”

“We haven’t.” Harold admitted as he lead the boy out of the shadows and into the sun.

“Well she was last seen on this beach.” Ethan told Harold before something horrible dawned upon him. “In fact, my dad said that a lot of children have gone missing around the shoreline.”

This made Harold frown and George look up in alarm. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know.” The boy shook his head and frowned. “I really don’t know.”

“Well come on.” Harold looked around for a way back up. “We aren’t supposed to be here.” He and George now had another problem to think about, and he was getting a bad feeling about this place.

As Harold and George helped Ethan back to the boardwalk–and George took the head with him–neither of them saw that someone had been watching them from the ocean. Someone who came from the kingdom under the ocean, who instantly recognized them and could see that they had turned into humans and were conversing with one of them.

The merman quickly went back down and intended to tell the king as soon as possible.

*****

The siblings rode upon a small sailboat with a blue sail as they went out as far as they could upon the water. As they did, Billy asked “You remember what that old man said? About the king under the ocean taking kids who misbehave? You don’t think that after all that’s happened he’ll actually show up and catch us?”

Lisa stared out at the ocean. “Well, it’s not like we’re swimming out here, and he wouldn’t know who we are.” She shook her head and stuck a hand in the water before quickly pulling it up. “Whoa Nelly, that’s cold!” She shivered and dried her hand on her dress.

Finally the two made it to a spot they could agree upon. The beach was quite a ways behind them, but they were planning to make this quick. Billy took out the pearls, handed one to Lisa, and turned to the ocean. “Here goes nothing–maybe we need to talk to the ocean.” He took a deep breath before addressing the ocean.

“Uh, hello ocean? This is Billy.” He began. “For the past ten years our kingdom has seen countless storms that have affected our livelihood. We can’t fish and tourism is getting really low. We know an oil drill was built out here, but dad tried so hard to prevent it from happening. I don’t know what went wrong and I don’t know what has been going on, but I wish–” He took another breath “–As prince of this kingdom, I wish for a way to end the storms and to return peace to our kingdom. I don’t know how, but if a miracle could happen or if there was someone out there who could help us, we’ll take anything.” His grip on his pearl tightened up. “Please! Don’t let us suffer anymore! Please help our kingdom thrive without fear again!”

He then moved his arm back like a baseball player and threw the pearl as hard as he could and waited until he was sure it had returned to the ocean.

“Ok.” He nodded and turned to his sister. “Your turn.” He moved aside so that she could take his place.

Lisa stared out into the ocean and clasped her hands around the pearl. Right as she was about to make a similar wish, an image of Edith looking unhappy flashed in her mind. When she thought of her brother’s words, she was reminded of the woman who deserved to be repaid for all she had done. “Maybe your wish was enough.” Lisa said. “I want to make another wish for my pearl.”

“Ok.” Billy shrugged and Lisa turned back to the ocean. I have to believe with all my heart. This has to work. She thought to herself.

“Uh, ocean–this is Lisa by the way–I was going to make a similar wish, but I have another one. It’s for someone else though, so it’s not a selfish wish.” Lisa began. “There is a lady who works for our father–her name is Edith and she is kind and hard working and she’s done so much for us and our community. I think she would really like to find someone to share her life with, but it’s hard for her because she’s shy and there aren’t a lot of good guys out there. There was a man she fell in love with ten years ago, but he vanished and it made her sad. I think Miss Edith deserves to have some happiness in her life–to have someone who loves her for who she is and sees how amazing she is.” Lisa took a deep breath and raised her voice “So ocean, in exchange for this gift, I wish for Miss Edith to finally find her true love! And I don’t know what happened to him, but if it was supposed to be the man she fell in love with ten years ago–the man named Benjamin–could you bring him back to her, please?!”

Lisa kissed her hands before she took the pearl in one hand and threw it out towards the ocean as hard as she could. The pearl was too small to see, but she knew without a doubt that it made its mark and returned to the ocean.

“I really hope that wish comes true.” Billy confessed.

Lisa turned to her brother and nodded with a smile. “Yeah.” She took her spot by the sail. “Plus I’m pretty sure it was a fail-proof wish.” She chuckled. “It has to work one way or the other. What’s the worst that could happen?”

*****

As Krupp sat in the throne room, he found himself wishing for the umpteenth time that this day could finally be over. He was taking a huge risk lifting the ban on this day and he was ready to add more to the inevitable punishment for those two boys if they were ever found.

And it figured that the humans were on high alert for his people, according to the merseal who gave him the report. “Maybe we should stop the search and save it for another day.” She tried to suggest. “I don’t know what’s going on, but the last thing you want is another reason for them to be–”

“Well it’s not my concern if their kids get in the ocean.” Krupp huffed as he stared at the spot on his tail where the stitches had finally been removed. “Plus we already have a lot of children down here–there’s no reason for me to take a few more from up above.”

“Yeah, but if they think the myths about you are true–” The merseal threw her hands out “We need to let them know that we didn’t take them!”

“Well they’re just looking for someone to blame and it’s me because I’m the horrible monster responsible for all the bad stuff, right?!” Krupp snapped at her. “That’s their problem, not mine!”

The merseal just stared at the mershark before holding her hand over her mouth and quietly muttered “If only someone could strangle your fat neck.” She then took a deep breath and then told Krupp something she knew he couldn’t ignore. “Well apparently George Beard and Harold Hutchins aren’t the only merchildren that have gone missing recently. We’ve had at least five or six sets of parents who’ve come forth to say that their children have gone missing.”

For a moment, Krupp thought he would hate hearing whatever the merseal would say the moment she said those two names, but now he was puzzled. “Excuse me?” He raised his head from the hand it was resting in.

“We didn’t approach you on this until it became a recurring problem.” The merseal admitted. “Most of these cases happened yesterday and none of the parents know what happened to their children.”

“How could you lose a bunch of–” Krupp hesitated. First the boys vanished and now a bunch more kids had suddenly started vanishing not long after that. And come to think of it, when the boys’ parents had been brought in, there was no mention of the youngest Hutchins child and their mom didn’t seem too concerned by her disappearance–unlike when her no-good son vanished with his friend.

Did those two inspire the other children to also try to escape, despite his best attempts to reinforce his rules upon them? His body began to tense up as he realized that the problem was getting a lot more worse than he had thought.

“Doesn’t that seem a little suspicious to you?” The merseal asked while Krupp was lost in thought. “Both surface children and ocean children vanishing into thin air–err, water–you know!”

If he ever laid eyes on those two again–

“Sire!” A merman ran into the throne room and panted for a moment before looking up at the king with a huge grin. “I found the boys! They’re up on the surface and they were in human forms!”

There was a dead silence in the room. The merseal shot the merman a horrified look before glancing to see that her king was frozen on the spot with disbelief in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, what?” Krupp flatly asked. Did he hear that correctly?

“They were up on the beach in the human kingdom and they were in human forms!” The merman clarified and, oblivious to the danger, continued on. “It looked like they were wearing the bracelets we used to wear!”

Krupp felt the blood drain from his face and his confusion only increased. “What–what–what–” He stammered. Was that a stupid joke? How in sanity’s name did that happen?! “HOW?!” He yelled out as he threw his hands out. “That’s impossible! They can’t have known about that! I had those hidden or destroyed! How would two children be able to sneak into the forbidden chambers undetected without–”

Then it hit him.

“With... without...” Krupp slowed down as he recalled what happened about a week ago. Their last prank filled a hallway with ink and caused pandemonium amongst those who couldn’t see or were swimming away from an octopus desperate to hug whatever it could to death. It wasn’t just any hallway though–that hallway also lead to the forbidden chambers.

And the boys could not have known about the bracelets unless their parents told them, which meant–

No.

No.

No, no, no, no no–

Krupp shot off the throne and sped off towards the forbidden chambers as fast as he could. Anyone who saw him coming swam away and those who were not so lucky found themselves knocked away. All the while he was hoping that he didn’t hear those words correctly because if they were true–

He hurried into the forbidden chambers, rushed to where the cabinet was and slammed the doors open before frantically opening the drawers. Sure enough, two of the only three bracelets left were missing.

For a few moments, Krupp could only stare at the discovery. On impulse he grabbed the only remaining bracelet left and looked at it–it was the very same one that he himself used all those years ago. The very same bracelet that locked him in a human form and played the cruelest trick on him by making him believe he could obtain happiness in the world above.

The world above... where everything mocked him and represented what he couldn’t have–not happiness and not her.

Where George and Harold were currently hiding from him.

His grip slowly tightened up on the bracelet–everything was starting to make sense now. One of the parents of those boys must have told them about the world above and these cursed things. They must have figured out where they were. They set up a prank outside the hallway to obtain these and hurry away to the world above, away from him.

They didn’t just break his number one rule. They fully embraced annihilating it and took on human forms. Something he had forbidden from everyone.

Krupp barely registered that he was trembling or that he was heavily breathing or that he was gritting his teeth together as he glared in hatred at the bracelet in his fist. Those little pranksters were ruining him and everything he was trying to maintain! They were trying to bring the surface world into his world!

He should have punished them all those years ago when he first saw them together!

*****

“I think it’s a robot.” George said as he and Harold examined the creature’s head as they stood by the railings once more. “Like in the comic books.” He added and Harold thought for a moment as George recalled the two P’s on the robot. What did they stand for? Was the robot involved with the disappearances of the children?

“Maybe we should stay and tell the king as much as we can about our home.” Harold confessed to George. “We can’t put everyone’s safety in danger–they don’t deserve to suffer from Krupp. Especially if there is something going on that we don’t know about.”

“You know, I can’t believe what I’m saying, but I agree with you.” George nodded before he stared at the sky and frowned. “What... the...?” The clouds over the ocean grew dark and expanded in size–all gradually merging together–as a rumbling sound could be heard in the distance.

Lisa and Billy looked behind them to see the change in the sky and they could feel the water getting rocky underneath them–a warning that the water was not going to be safe in a few moments.

Edith looked up from staring at the baked goods to see the clouds become a formation–like a huge dark wave that was quickly approaching the boardwalk.

Anthrope scowled as she and Mason stared at what was happening in the sky. “Well, it looks like we’re in for a bumpy ride!” She informed him before hurrying to order commands at her crew.

The owner of the calliope panicked when she heard the thunder over the music of the calliope. “Everyone get out of here!” She yelled at the children as she shut off the machine. “Get out of the boardwalk or go find your families!”

*****

“Sir are you ok?!” Krupp didn’t hear the voice as his vision turned red.

Ever since he first saw them, those two merboys played prank after prank despite the many warnings. They went behind his back to create pointless works of art. They somehow knew about the human world. They had been constantly trying to break down what control he had and they made his life far more miserable than he deserved. He had been trying so hard to shut out the world above and all the bad memories tied to it–as well as those who proved that no good came from those who lived up there. He made sure that none could defy him and that he kept his promises when it came to punishments and control. Even when he tried to break the two, George and Harold had not only defied his warning and risked separation, but they plagued him with their absence and the families who were threatening to defy him.

But to break his rule and become humans? To go to this extent?! To bring back memories of that awful place and of her?! To possibly do what he could never have been able to do and rub it in his face?! To take away what control he had left by pulling this stunt and possibly inspiring others to rebel?!

Something in Krupp more than snapped–it bursted and erupted in his mind in red hot fire like an underwater volcano. It trembled and rocked like the waters around him and darkened his soul like the sky above the waters. He could feel his control over himself slip away but he did not care.

“So,” He growled. “You two think you can escape to the surface world and have everyone get angry at me?! You think you can get away and not expect me to find you?!”

He let out a crazed laugh before growling up at the sky. “Fine! If that’s how you both want it, so be it!” He swam out and didn’t stop until he was outside and could see the top of the water and the sky beyond it. Everything was as chaotic and angry as he felt within himself, but he didn’t care–he enjoyed the sight and wanted it to get stronger and he wanted the storm above to grow in power.

He wanted both worlds to feel the full force of his anger. He wanted those boys to know he was onto them. He wanted to personally deal with them–he no longer cared that he would have to do what he swore never to do again, even though it made him furious to no end. He was going to find those two annoying brats and make them pay dearly for what they had done to him. They were going to suffer.

“You think I’m going to let this slide?!” Krupp laughed a terrible laugh. “Oh no–I’m coming for you boys whether you like it or not!”

*****

“STORM!” A citizen screamed as the dark wave in the sky covered the ocean and now began to cover the boardwalk with its shadow.

“EVERYONE REMAIN CALM!” A worker yelled as people hurried to safety. “ALL ON THE RIDES WILL BE SAFELY EVACUATED!” All rides ceased and workers hurried to get everyone off the rides as fast and safely as possible, from the roller coaster to the ferris wheel.

All around George and Harold was utter chaos as people hurried for their lives as fast as they could–many ran into obstacles as well as each other–while parents and guardians scooped up their children to escape the coming storm. The boys watched as the waves began to build in size and they could see a streak of lightning shoot across the sky. It was able to make George lose his grip on the robot’s head and it fell into the waters below.

“Is this Krupp’s–?!” Harold gave George a terrified look. “George, what if he knows what we did?! There’s nothing else that could get him this mad!”

“I’m not sticking around to find out!” George grabbed Harold’s arm and they made a run for it.

“NO!” Billy yelled as he and Lisa hurried to get their boat back to the docks as fast as they could as the waves around them grew worse and they didn’t have a life vest to save them from a possible (and deadly) fate.

“Come on, we have to help evacuate!” One of the ladies by the bake sale hurried off to help while Edith looked around in alarm.

“George?! Harold?!” She yelled out as she was torn between staying in case they would come to her or running off to find them. “Lisa?! Billy?!” She yelled as she looked around for the children before she ended up getting trapped in a wave of frantic, terrified visitors who hurried to the safety of the exit from the boardwalk that was now blanketed by the shadows of the storm cloud above.

As George and Harold ran for their lives, the waves began to go beyond their usual reach and already covered and consumed the sandy beaches with water. Meanwhile, the dark wave in the sky began creeping over the town as its residents hurried to get to where it would be safe for them all.

At one point, George lost his grip on Harold and the blonde was sucked into the sea of terrified citizens. “HAROLD!” George screamed as he turned around and forced himself back through the crowd.

“GEORGE!” He then noticed the blonde waving and George forced himself through to grab Harold’s hand once more. Just before Harold could get sucked in, a hand grabbed his shoulder and he looked up to see the owner of the calliope gesturing for George to come over as she kept the blonde in view of his friend.

“You two better stick together!” She told George as she held onto the boys and waited until the crowd lessened a bit and she let them go. “Don’t let that temper of a storm suck you in!” She warned them.

“Thanks!” Harold waved in appreciation to the calliope owner while holding George’s hand.

“Come on, man!” George then went with the flow of the crowd as they hurried to the entrance back into town and eyed the waves that grew and made the ocean level rise upward. They swallowed much of the beach up and claimed it as their own before they started approaching the slopes that lead upward to higher grounds of dirt and rocks.

Meanwhile, Lisa and Billy finally managed to reach the docks, but because they were now submerged, they were forced to take the boat to a spot where they could quickly jump onto the stairways that lead upwards to the pier.

“Come on!” Billy grabbed his sister’s hand and together they ran up the steps as their boat was swept away. But just as they made it to the top and began to run–

“LOOK OUT, BILLY!” Lisa saw a boat coming and pulled her brother away in time. The ship crashed through the wooden pathway and left a huge gap behind in it’s path of destruction. To both the siblings’ horror, the gap was too large for either of them to jump.

“Oh no!” Lisa whimpered as she and Billy stared in horror at their predicament and glanced out at the dangerous waters that were now too dangerous for either of them to swim in.

“PRINCESS LISA!” The boys stopped and saw the maid screaming for the siblings. “PRINCE BILLY!”

“What’s wrong?!” Harold yelled as they ran to the maid.

“I’ve lost the prince and princess!” The maid was in a panic. “I can’t find them!”

The boys shot looks of horror at each other–they completely forgot about those two and that they had intended to go upon the ocean!

“We’ll go look for them!” George reassured the maid as he and Harold ran back towards the boardwalk–or more specifically, where they knew the docks to the boats were.

“What if we can’t find them?!” Harold asked George as they ran as fast as they could. It was much easier now that most everyone was gone or else there were only very few left, yet the wind was picking up and blowing debris and decorations everywhere. Flags and banners were rapidly flapping and a few posters started flying off surfaces.

“If something happens to them, it’s our fault!” George admitted. “We need to at least try to find them before the storm gets us! Besides, Krupp would have a hard time finding us!” He laughed despite himself.

Both boys hurried as fast as they could through the boardwalk which now became a huge obstacle course with many dangers. Even a few trashcans were knocked down and served as a danger for the two boys and though they began to feel out of breath, they didn’t stop and made it all the way to the ferris wheel where–

“I found them!” Harold pointed to where he saw two small figures huddled out on a destroyed walkway to the pier.

“How are we going to get them?!” George demanded as his worries increased. Harold took a moment to look around and saw a ladder tucked away by one of the stalls. “That!” He pointed and ran towards it.

Gradually the ocean levels rose up and the giant waves became bigger in size. It was now to the point that the water was five feet from reaching Lisa and Billy’s feet.

“Oh no,” Lisa whimpered as she held Billy for dear life. It felt as if the wind was going to knock them over if the ever increasing waves that grew in size didn’t do so first.

“Hey Lisa?!” Billy turned to her with a serious look. “I don’t know if we’ll get out of this alive or not... but I want you to know that in case we don’t, I’m glad that I have you for a sister!”

Lisa stared at her brother before nodding with a smile and hugged him as tightly as she could. “I’m glad I have you for a brother!” She meant it with all her heart as he returned the hug.

“Guys!” The two glanced up to see George and Harold all the way on the pier as they carried a metal ladder between them. “We’re coming to get you!” George yelled at the two.

“HEY!” Billy couldn’t help but smile and wave despite the danger while Lisa sighed in relief–it looked like they would be saved after all.

The boys hurried to the gap and Harold looked at his surroundings to see a way to get to them. “Here!” He pointed at the two spots where the gap wasn’t as large and both he and George hurried to get the ladder across to the other side before setting it down.

“Climb across it!” George yelled.

“You go ahead!” Billy let go of Lisa. “This was all my idea–I promise I’ll make it up to you!” Lisa was reluctant to leave her brother, but she hurried across with all the balance she could manage as the wind blew against her. After what seemed like an eternity, she made it to the other side where the boys smiled at her.

Billy took a deep breath and then followed in his sister’s footsteps with even greater care. He only paused to keep his footing when the wind felt especially strong and then he resumed until he could rejoin the others.

“Thank you!” Lisa cried as she hugged George. “I thought we’d be goners!”

“We aren’t safe until we get off the pier!” Harold reminded them and lead the way. “Come on!” He ran as fast as he could and the others followed suit.

But just as they were reaching the other side, George turned his head to see another boat freed from its binds and heading right towards them. “Harold behind us!” The blonde looked and, realizing they wouldn’t make it in time, was forced to lead them to the dead end side of the pier.

All four children made it in the nick of time as the large boat crashed through the pier–wooden planks snapped in half and chips and splinters flew out–one of them cutting through Harold’s upper arm.

Harold let out a scream and grabbed his arm the moment after droplets of blood flew out of the wound and into the wood while the bloodied splinter landed in the ocean.

“HAROLD!” George screamed and was quickly at Harold’s side as the boy squeezed his arm. The cut wasn’t deep, but it was enough to draw blood and make George queasy.

“I’m fine!” Harold whimpered through clenched teeth as the siblings could do nothing but watch in horror. George gritted his teeth and looked around at their situation. The gap was larger than the last one and much of the railings on both sides had been destroyed–one wave would be enough to knock someone into the ocean without anything to prevent it from happening. All four children were now trapped on the dead end side of the pier, the water had risen a few more feet, and the waves seemed to get worse with each second. It was only a matter of time until they were all swept away.

“What do we do?!” Lisa panicked.

“We’d have to swim, but the waves will sweep us away!” Billy panicked. “We’ll drown within mere moments! Not even the best swimmer could survive this!”

Both George and Harold looked at the waves and how far it would take to reach the boardwalk before looking at each other. They realized that Billy’s words might be true for a human, but for a young merperson it could be possible to reach the other side... yet that meant that they had to reveal their greatest secret to the siblings in order to save them.

Both boys would rather do that then let the two drown or die of hypothermia out here. They both knew what the other was thinking–their friendship was that strong.

“We have to let them know if we do it!” Harold told George as he squeezed his arm to try to stop the pain.

“Definitely!” George agreed as he looked at his bracelet with determination.

“Do what?!” Lisa yelled, but instead of answering, George held his hand out to her. “We know a way to escape, but you’ll have to trust the both of us!” He yelled at her through the sound of the angry waves that kept crashing into the ocean as well as each other. Had he paid more attention, he would have noticed that a good part of the storm was slowly being directed towards their direction.

“There’s something about us that we couldn’t tell you, but we don’t have a choice anymore!” Harold yelled as he looked at Billy. “You just have to believe in us and listen to every word we say!”

“And whatever you do, don’t scream!” George warned.

“What are you talking about?!” Billy yelled in confusion.

“There’s no time to explain!” Harold yelled as he went over and wrapped his arms around Billy as tight as he could, but made sure that he could get to the bracelet he wore at the same time before leading him to the broken side of the pier.

“Just trust us!” George told the two as he also wrapped his arms around Lisa, before guiding her to the broken side of the ruined pier.

Lisa looked to the dangerous waters below. “Are you nuts?!” She asked as she held onto George as tightly as possible.

“YES AND I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING!” George yelled at her.

“We’ll jump into the water and we’ll swim fast as possible!” Harold yelled. “And whatever you do, don’t scream when we are under water!”

“Now get ready to take a breath on the count of three!” George warned the two as he braced himself–there was no turning back now.

“And hold on tight!” Harold warned as he and George shared a look of determination. “One!” His grip tightened on Billy, who in turn moved around to wrap his arms around the other boy.

George took a few deep breaths as he felt Lisa tighten her hold on him while she prayed that he and his friend knew what they were doing. “Two!” He yelled.

Both boys physically and mentally prepared themselves for what would come next. George looked at Harold as the royal siblings looked at the waters and Harold opened his mouth and made to say ‘three’ when–

“Oh boys!”

At the exact moment George and Harold heard the new voice practically sing those two words, they both froze in their tracks and felt their hearts stop as their blood turned to ice.

They hadn’t heard that voice in a long time. They heard a version of that voice for the past few days, but not this one–not the voice that chilled them to their core and invoked horrible memories. The anger that was barely contained in this otherwise calm voice sounded like could explode out at any moment and it was more terrifying than a mere outburst of yelling.

That voice sounded like it was somewhere close by.

“No.” Harold whispered as the siblings looked around in confusion. “No, it can’t be!” He looked at the equally horrified George.

“W-who was that?!” Lisa looked around in confusion. “You heard that too right?!” She asked her brother as the two boys slowly backed them away from the edge of the pier. She looked at George and Harold and saw a look of absolute dread and fear that she had only seen once before on the day she and Billy first met these two. “Guys?!”

“He found us.” George felt himself shaking as he lost his grip on Lisa and looked around. “He actually found us!”

“Who?!” Billy yelled as he also looked around–all four children did, but for various reasons.

There was a splashing sound like someone emerging from the water and all four turned in time to see a large arm reach out over the edge of the pier and slam an almost monstrous looking hand upon the surface of the wood as hard as it could before the fingernails upon it dug into its surface.

Lisa screamed and backed away at the unexpected sight, but it was nothing compared to the ever increasing dread of George and Harold. They could only watch as another hand rose up and tried to grab the lowest wooden beam that helped serve as a railing, but it cracked under the weight of the hand’s owner and snapped in half. The boys could tell that the owner was struggling to climb upward, but it wasn’t funny when they knew what would soon be coming and he soon was able to easily pull both halves of the beam out and throw them into the ocean as if it was nothing to him.

They could do nothing but watch on in horror as the owner of those hands forced himself upward as water splashed up around him. They watched as he angrily pulled the other wooden beam out and threw it into the ocean before finishing his climb and grabbed onto the vertical posts for support as the water below him seemed to help keep his balance and keep him upright. They all had little time to see his face and by the time he recovered, he already had his head bent low into his chest and his back seemed to be hunched over as he held onto the wooden posts.

It had been a long time since both George and Harold had seen him and yet at the same time it felt too soon. His skin seemed pale in comparison to those exposed to the sun and every part of his body was tensed up as he tried to support himself. In their fearful eyes he seemed colossal in comparison to an average adult–human or merfolk. Droplets and streams of water ran down off his skin and his fake hair was almost completely flattened against and around his head like the inky black tendrils of some sort of creature. The darkness of the stormy sky casted a shadow upon him and would have made him seem like a dark mass, except you could see enough to make out a somewhat human-like figure–or at least that’s what it would seem until you saw that his lower half was definitely not human-like.

Finally he raised his head and the boys saw a terrifying sight–his sharp teeth and eyes that were so full of rage seemed to glint in the darkened sky and it was only when a strike of lighting flashed did the children catch a better glimpse of his awful face. His clenched teeth were barred to the point it was as if his mouth took up half of his face, his dark eyes were narrowed, his brows were angrily furrowed as water dripped down from his face and off his body–the whole effect only made him seem more hideous than usual.

Lisa cowered back and huddled close to Billy, who stared transfixed at the grotesque abomination before him. They both knew instantly that the being before them was not human and though they had no idea who he was, they knew immediately that this was someone to be afraid of.

As for George and Harold, their eyes were locked with the monster before them as they felt themselves die and their courage flooded out of them. Back home they were so used to seeing him that it was almost mundane. Now? It was like seeing him for the first time and knowing that he had come specifically for the both of them did not help matters. The terror they once experienced almost seven days ago had returned once more as the one they dreaded had his eyes locked on them and them alone.

“So,” Krupp growled in a low, trembling and ominous tone–filled with much anger and irritation–as his grip on the wooden posts tightened up to the point you could almost hear them crack. “This is where you’ve been this whole time.” His scowl then turned into a wide, predatory grin with the ends going up so high that they almost seemed to reach his eyes. It was a grin that could make one instantly sick if not outright afraid–in the eyes of the children it was more terrifying then the previous expression. “Did you two think you could ever escape from me?!”

The king under the ocean had come to collect the children who misbehaved and fulfill his oath to the two merboys who gave him so much grief.

Chapter Text

Edith reached the entrance of the boardwalk, where many residents and visitors were scrambling to get as far from the waves and and dangerous debris as possible. Edith turned to see that there were now very few people left in the boardwalk, but they were all hurrying to get out of there–it would probably be empty by now, but she couldn’t leave until she could find four children and know that they were safe.

She frantically looked around and tried to stand on a crate to spot the children, but there was no sign of them. “BILLY?! LISA?!”

“Edith!” Edith turned to see Beatrice–one of the maids–still standing near the entrance with a terrified look. “I lost the prince and princess and those boys went after them!”

Edith’s eyes widened in horror before turning back to the boardwalk. “You go on ahead, I’ll look for them!” She yelled. “Let others know, in case they already made it out!” She ran back in.

“Don’t go in there, it’s dangerous!” Beatrice pleaded, but Edith did not listen.

*****

George and Harold were frozen with fear at a face they had not seen for a long time. It was true they had seen a similar face recently, but that one had been filled with nothing but kindness and friendliness–this face was filled with pure anger. George and Harold had been so sure that this encounter would never happen and yet somehow it did and to make matters worse, there was no way to get out of it this time–they could not be able to jump the gap to the safer side of the pier and they could not jump into the ocean for their opponent could easily send them back to him. The sky was dark, thunder was crashing, and the waves were wild with no clear direction as if to signify that this point of no return was going to be a nasty affair.

So here they were, face to face with a more than enraged Krupp who, despite being partly in the water, had managed to loom over them and made them feel small in comparison to him.

Krupp had never wanted to lay his eyes upon these two ever again and yet for once in his life he was glad to see them–just not for the right reasons. There was once a time where he would have hated the idea of being looked at with dread and fear, but this time he enjoyed seeing just how utterly scared the two were upon realizing he had not only found them, but also cornered them without any of their pranks, parental excuses, or anything else to help them get out of this tight spot they got themselves into. He had sworn never to come up here again and yet it had to be these two who would make him break that vow and it angered him more than anything else. He finally had them in his grasp and he was willing to unleash everything on them and savor it as long as he could.

“So you thought it would be really funny to break my number one rule, turn yourselves into humans, and interact with the world above?” Krupp growled at George and Harold as they slowly backed away from him. “You honestly think you can make friends with them and not expect them to ruin your lives?” He then glared at Lisa and Billy–both flinched away from what they thought was some sort of monster with only very few human qualities.

It was an action that did not escape George and Harold’s notice and they were quick enough to regain their bravery to wordlessly step in front of Lisa and Billy with identical determined scowls in their faces. For one moment Krupp was taken by surprise by this act of defense–for one moment he was taken back to a time when he was ready to fight to protect her–then he growled and his eyes narrowed as they burned at the two. It wasn’t the first time they tried to protect another child, so why would this be any different?

“I set that rule up for a reason.” He continued. “I’ve had to put up with you two for far longer than I needed to and now you think its funny that you decided to pull this stunt, make your parents worry to the point I had to lift the ban for a day, and then force me to go after you?!” He snapped.

Both the boys stood their ground as they heard words that they were not surprised to hear. Then it fully hit them–the pure irony of what Krupp had just said.

“Wait did you seriously just break your own rule to get us?!” George realized.

“Oh my gosh, he did!” Harold giggled despite himself and this encouraged George to laugh–both forgetting about the seriousness of the situation at hand. Meanwhile Billy and Lisa were growing confused as to what exactly was going on and what this exchange meant. And why were the boys suddenly laughing at the one who caused them to panic not that long ago?

On the other hand, the laughing only enraged Krupp. This kind of stuff–the not taking things seriously–was one of the reasons why he had grown to hate hearing the sound of laughing and why he had grown to hate the boys to no end. And for them to point out his own mistake only made him–and the stormy water around them–much worse.

In response, a wave crashed up next one side of the ruined pier and caused the children to flinch or cry out in alarm–as well as making the boys cease their laughing as they remembered what was now at stake–as they backed away from that side of the pier and lost their attention on the mershark. That was when Krupp took his chance and lunged after the nearest of the two boys–making half of his body over the pier in the process–and grabbed his wrist.

“HAROLD!” George screamed as he felt Krupp effortlessly pull him towards him and Harold was quick to scream and grab George’s other hand.

“DON’T MAKE THIS MORE DIFFICULT THAN IT NEEDS TO BE!” Krupp roared at the boys as George tried to desperately pull away from the grasp that was as tight as it was cold and wet to the touch (so unlike the secure warmth that Krupp’s counterpart was somehow able to provide). With every intention to destroy the last of the bracelets and drag the two back into the ocean where they belonged, Krupp grabbed the bracelet around George’s wrist and pulled as hard as he could–only for it to not budge or snap in half from the full force.

“What the–?!” He looked in surprise at it–how could such a fragile looking thing not yield to his strength? Just as someone came to the boys’ aid, he then remembered–the magic infused within the bracelets made it so that they couldn’t break apart, no matter how much force they had to endure.

“LET GO OF GEORGE!” Lisa shrieked as she kicked Krupp in the side as hard as she could, but it didn’t work. A very nasty idea came to her and she reached out to grab a handful of flesh from his side, dug her nails into it as deeply as she could, and twisted it as hard as she could. Krupp definitely felt this and he let out a yell as he was forced to let go of George and ended up slamming most of his upper body upon the pier as his young attacker hurried away from him.

“What are you doing?!” George yelled at Lisa as Harold pulled him away from Krupp while the princess darted away from the mershark. “You don’t want him to take you too!”

“Well we don’t want him to take you guys!” Lisa gestured to Krupp as he winced and groaned.

“You’re the last two human children who should be anywhere near him!” Harold frantically warned her. If one or both of the siblings were taken away, then there really would be a war amongst the kingdoms.

At this point, Krupp forced himself to get up and made to lunge after the boys again–except he ended up falling back onto the surface of the wooden pier and really wasn’t able to do much else except to try to crawl after the boys in his current state. Most of his body was now on the dead end side of the pier, which let out warning creaks of protest from having to support his full weight and it gave the siblings a good idea of how large he actually was, which was almost twice the length of an average adult man.

“Pft–HA! HA! HA!” George couldn’t help but laugh upon seeing that Krupp was now pretty much trapped on the pier and couldn’t do much except crawl or thrash about like–what else?–a fish that was out of water. Even Harold quickly recovered and couldn’t help but snicker at Krupp’s predicament. Yet it never occurred to either boy that they should have taken advantage of this and jump into the ocean with the siblings while he was still stuck up there, as this was the earliest and best chance of escape from him.

Understandably, Krupp felt incredibly humiliated for this predicament and it only made him more angry. “I am so going to enjoy punishing you two when I get my hands on you.” Krupp snarled at George and Harold as they tried to stay away and keep the siblings away from him. “You think I wanted to be up here?!”

“Then stay down there if you hate this place!” George snapped back. “Why do you have to hate everything so much?! Why do you have to hate them?!” He gestured to Lisa and Billy. “This is all wrong!” He gestured out to the storm and the destruction it caused–the beach had vanished under the water that had risen so far up, many trees had been knocked over, and the boardwalk was in a very bad state as a lot of stalls had been knocked over and more than just the decorations had been torn up. “You’re ruining this kingdom–!”

“Humans don’t understand order or respect it!” Krupp roared as he slammed his hand against the wooden boards of the pier, upon which he slowly inched backwards towards the water. “Much like you two delinquents!” He pointed an accusing finger at the boys. “They get your hopes up, toy with your feelings, and give you pain! They create things that’ll only get destroyed by time! Neither world can be the same or co-exist like nothing bad could happen, so why do you insist on trying to be any part of one that you don’t belong in?!”

At this point Harold had enough. He was so tired of being afraid, so tired of Krupp being just so mean and disagreeable, and–now that he knew Krupp for who he really was under all this rage and stubbornness–took a huge risk and stepped in with “And you would know because you did the same thing we did yourself ten years ago?!” and held up his wrist with the bracelet for emphasis.

There was a moment of silence as George stood beside his friend and also shot an equally angry look at Krupp, who was not expecting to hear that and they could see him flinch at this reveal. He had no clue how the boys knew about that, but his determination to get the boys made him push that aside as well as himself backwards with all his might and crash back into the water.

And to the boys’ horror, they didn’t see him rise back up.

“Oh no, no, no, where did he go?!” George frantically looked around.

And before any of them could react, Krupp rose up on the other side and tried to grab Harold by the back of his shirt. When he felt the shirt collar pull against his neck, Harold let out a gasp and tried to reach out to George as it was almost like he was getting chocked.

“DON’T HURT HIM!” George lunged after Krupp and tried to pull his best friend away from the adult, but because Krupp was stronger, he was able to also pull George along with Harold.

“We aren’t going back with you!” Harold tried to growl at Krupp as he tried to use his free hand to keep the collar from his shirt so that he could breathe. “Not like this!”

“HEY!” Lisa yelled as she grabbed both boys before Krupp could pull Harold off the pier completely and she pulled back as hard as she could.

“What the–?! LET GO!” Krupp snapped at Lisa as he shook the boys in an almost comical attempt to shake the girl off of them–all three only tightened their hold on each other despite that they seemed to make some sort of wiggly looking line from being shaken by the much stronger adult. “I only want these two!”

“Their our friends, no matter what you say or who you are, gramps!” Lisa snapped back at Krupp as Billy quickly made to take one of his shoes off.

“Gramps?!” Flabbergasted at what the young princess just called him, Krupp snapped back “I’M OLD ENOUGH TO BE YOUR DAD’S AGE, YOU MOUTHY LITTLE–!”

At that point, Billy threw his shoe at Krupp as hard as he could and it made perfect contact against the side of Krupp’s face.

“AGH!” Krupp’s grip tightened on Harold, but he still reeled back and grabbed the side of his face. “DID YOU JUST THROW A SHOE AT ME?!” Krupp yelled in disbelief at the young prince, who only gave Krupp a determined glare and took off his other shoe to prove he would do it again. George took his chance and grabbed Harold’s shoulder, as well as the hand that held onto the back of Harold’s shirt before biting down upon the latter as hard as he could.

“GAH!” Krupp pulled back and almost knocked George over, but he and Harold were pulled back by Lisa in the nick of time and the kids got away from Krupp. The adult shook his hand for a second (because he was not expecting the boy to bite down on him so hard to the point that he almost drew blood) before seeing that the boys were backing away from him yet again. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS FOREVER!” He yelled–angry that he was getting bested by four children. “I TOLD YOU I WOULD SEPARATE YOU TWO IF YOU EVER DID SOMETHING LIKE THIS AND I’M KEEPING THAT PROMISE!”

“We know you went up here, you hypocrite!” Harold yelled back at Krupp. “You liked this place as much as the others did–as much as we do–and you shut us away because you were too scared to take a risk for your happiness!”

“I’M STILL YOUR KING AND MY WORD IS LAW, BUBS!” An almost red faced Krupp snarled at them, while ignoring what Harold had just said. “AND IF I HAVE TO DRAG YOU BACK AS YOU ARE NOW, THEN SO BE IT!”

At this, both Lisa and Billy stared in shock at Krupp as everything suddenly came together for them and they realized who this scary monster really was, as well as recognizing a very specific word that he used. “No way.” Billy barely whispered as Lisa’s eyes widened–this was the king under the ocean?!

But then without warning, Krupp had taken advantage of the area yet again and another wave splashed up on one side of the pier–this time right against the royal siblings, who were almost knocked back into the dead end side of the pier. George yelled as he and Harold made to go after the siblings, but he then remembered too late that the wave was not an accident.

Right as he and Harold reached the two, Krupp had somehow got to the dead end side in record time and this time he grabbed both boys by their arms.

“GEORGE!” Harold screamed as he felt himself get pulled away from the pier and quickly grabbed onto George’s hand and and wrist. George did the same and both boys held on tight to each other with the full knowledge that this moment could be their last moment of freedom or ever seeing each other again.

Krupp ceased moving backwards and his fury grew when he saw that the boys were yet again trying to hold onto each other. Their friendship still infuriated him for all that it meant and he wanted to see it get destroyed until there was nothing left of it. He growled as he tried to pull the boys apart from each other, but neither one let go.

“NO!” Lisa screamed as she and Billy ran to grab the boys by their legs and they both began to pull with all of their might–both of them were now freezing cold from the touch of the ocean having soaked them to the bone, but it did not stop either one from trying to save their friends. “LET THEM GO!”

“HELP!” Billy screamed. “SOMEONE HELP!”

*****

There was no one else that could see or hear the children in distress. The boardwalk was now practically empty as everyone had hurried away to safety–all except one woman.

“LISA?!” Edith yelled as she dashed through the now abandoned boardwalk. “BILLY?!” Her terror rose as she tried to find the missing children. “GEORGE?! HAROLD?!” She cried with all of her might but it was as if the wind was drowning out her voice and it succeeded in pulling the rose out of her hair. Her hair now got in her face as it blew around her head from the wind and she was forced to use one hand to keep it out so that it wouldn’t get in her way.

The once lively area was now a dangerous zone where debris of all sorts were scattered upon the ground and decorations had been torn off by the strong gusts of wind. A part of her mind felt like she was in one of those cartoons at the theater, where the wind could easily blow her away with the loose remains upon the ground (and Cab Calloway would be singing a surreal song in the background about an inappropriate topic, just to add insult to injury). She was forced to keep her eyes on a constant move for either any of the four children or something that could knock into her at any second.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a sign come tumbling at her from the side and with a yelp she jumped out of the way and shielded her face with her arms as a precaution. She barely avoided it in time before she continued to run ahead, even as her sides were protesting with pain.

Edith had so little to lose, she reflected as she ran and looked around. She never got the life she had dreamed of–she had found success and a good career, but she never got a significant other to share her life with, nor did she have any children of her own. Everyone she knew and loved had scattered elsewhere or else had died. She was a coward who didn’t know what to say (or couldn’t say it) when it mattered–she was no hero and she was no fairy tale princess or movie starlet.

But Lisa and Billy–those two were practically her family, like the younger siblings she never had. And those two boys who went into the destruction to find them–they deserved better than whatever life they escaped from. She would give her life away if it meant they all could be spared from this storm and grow up to become wonderful adults. She wanted to prove herself worthy of the times she had been there for them and for all that they had given back to her.

If I can’t find them–if something happens–I’ll never forgive myself!

She already lost someone important to her once because of her own cowardice and stupidity. This time she would fight for them with all she had.

“NO! LET THEM GO!”

“HELP! SOMEONE HELP!”

Edith stopped in her tracks to see something on the pier near the ferris wheel. The moment she saw an orange dress, she recognized Lisa and then realized that all the children were on the pier–and there was something with them that was large and hard to make out. Something in the water that was trying to get at them while it was in the chaotic ocean as alarmingly large waves crashed around them, yet that thing was unaffected and remained in perfect place. It was something that the children were trying to escape from, but couldn’t because of the huge gap in the now destroyed pier.

Some day soon, in a place that neither land, sea, or air can claim as their own, he will come to take away all who you hold most dear. He will drag them down with him to his world where they shall be doomed to suffer for his wrath and foolishness.

That thing out there was trying to take the children into the ocean, she realized as she felt her heart stop. That thing was the monster from the fortune teller’s prophecy and it was today that it was all about to come true, whether she liked it or not.

“No!” Edith now doubled her pace as her heart began to furiously pound in her chest. No, she could not afford to let this happen! She had to do something! She didn’t care about whatever that thing was or how dangerous he would be–he was going to pay!

Then she saw something as she approached the abandoned displays of the weapons from earlier–in one glass case was a familiar looking weapon that her aunt once taught her to use.

Adrenaline kicked in as Edith quickly diverted her attention to the harpoon gun. With a yell, she forced herself against the glass case as hard as she could with all of her strength and it crashed and shattered into shards upon hitting the ground.

It was time for her to quit being a coward.

*****

Both boys tried to desperately struggle away from Krupp and keep a tight hold on each other as they both felt Krupp’s hands side down their arms, towards their joined hands. “YOUR STUPID FRIENDSHIP IS GOING TO BE YOUR UNDOING!” Krupp yelled at them as they felt their hands slowly tugging away from each other. “NOW LET GO!”

George looked up at Krupp in frustration–there was no way this awful person could have ever been that once happy child from the memories he and Harold saw, the same man that Edith had fallen in love with, or even–

“GEORGE!” Harold desperately cried out again as he felt himself about ready to cry–was there no end to any of this?! It was a miracle that Krupp wasn’t able to immediately tear them apart, but their luck was running out!

The sight of Harold in distress made George furious, but then he noticed a hint of bright red poking out of Harold’s shirt–the red ring that once gave him hope that they could have escaped up here was inspiring him once more. Reacting on pure desperation and not knowing what to expect, George snapped his fingers as hard as he could.

“AH–!” Captain Underpants realized he wasn’t falling and then froze when he saw that both George and Harold were seemingly being pulled apart by a terrifying looking individual who barred an awful set of teeth and had his eyes shut tight as he tried with all his strength to accomplish his goal. If it wasn’t this that made Captain Underpants realize what was going on, it was the desperate plea for help in George’s eyes as his and Harold’s fingers were slipping to the backs of their hands.

“HELP US!” George was close to being in tears as he felt his grip on his best friend slipping away.

And for one of the very few times in Captain Underpants’ short existence, he felt a certain emotion, but not to the extreme it was about to get to.

His eyes narrowed at the one who was harming the boys–a determined scowl was on his face before he lunged forward over the boys and grabbed onto the other man’s wrists as tightly as he could. “LET GO!” He commanded with all his fury in the other one’s face.

At the moment Krupp felt someone grab his wrists, he felt a sharp burning sensation that made him yell out in pain and he let go of George and Harold. Both boys were pulled away from Krupp by Lisa and Billy, as well as through Captain Underpants, yet before they could hurry to get away, George and Harold realized something that made them stop and turn back to look at the two adults.

Captain Underpants did not pass through Krupp like he would have with anyone else. He was actually grabbing him as if he were solid.

“THOSE TWO ARE UNDER MY PROTECTION!” Captain Underpants yelled at Krupp as the latter tried to pull away from the former, but it was if the other one was as equally strong as him. He opened his eyes to see who had grabbed onto him, just as a flash of lightning broke through to give the area a few seconds of illumination.

Both Krupp and Captain Underpants ceased what they were doing for one moment when they saw each other’s faces, thanks to the flash of light–it was the only thing they could see at that point, but it was all they needed to see.

Captain Underpants’ anger died and he could only gap in confusion when he saw that the one who was harming the boys also wore his face. “What?”

A more than terrified Krupp cried out in alarm when he realized the one who came to the aid of the boys had both his face and his voice and he flinched away from Captain Underpants’ now loose grasp as the boys took the cue to grab the siblings by the hands and hurry to the edge of the pier. Yet as Krupp flinched away from his duplicate, the waves crashed up on both ends of the pier and one stopped the children in their tracks while the other crashed over Captain Underpants, who was then sent back into the ring before he could process what was going on.

Scared by what had happened–what had just happened and why did he see a human version of himself protecting the boys?–Krupp had little time to dwell on it before he saw that the boys had tried to get away while he was distracted.

“No,” Harold could only moan in dismay as Krupp’s eyes began to burn at them. It seemed like nothing they did could keep them out of Krupp’s clutches. And to make matters worse, the front of Harold’s shirt had gotten wet, which meant they couldn’t summon their protector any time soon, and there was no time to switch owners or dry the ring off.

Krupp let out a terrible growling sound and a wave crashed into all four children. “I’VE HAD IT WITH YOUR STUBBORNNESS AND PRANKS!” Both George and Harold were now wet and had been knocked far back enough for them to be within Krupp’s grasp. The adult gritted his teeth as he looked down on the two, who could do nothing but try to hold onto each other as tightly as they could, which only raised his anger and caused the already chaotic waves to get larger. They wanted to go down together? Fine. The human brats who kept trying to attack him? Fine, they could come on down with those two and learn what it would really mean to get on his bad side since they were just as bad.

Ready to finally just unleash it all, Krupp made to grab for the boys–as the siblings tried one last time to get up and go to their aid and as Billy yelled out a protesting “NO!”–and in an furious roar that was more animalistic than human, yelled “YOU TWO ARE COMING WITH ME, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR–!”

“LEAVE THEM ALONE OR I’LL SHOOT, YOU MONSTER!”

The new voice made Krupp flinch away from the boys and looked up to see who would try to aid the boys this time.

All eyes turned to see a woman in a rose colored dress that was flapping wildly around her legs in the strong wind and her dark hair blowing wildly across her barely visible face as she aimed a harpoon gun at Krupp from the other end of the gap. It looked like the wind was going to blow her away, but she was able to firmly stand her ground and hold herself as if she were a soldier or a warrior.

Upon recognizing Edith, the siblings felt relief and a little awe–they did not expect someone to still be out on the boardwalk after all that had happened, yet this woman had been brave enough to risk a lot just to get to them and even had a weapon to use against the other adult.

However, the boys felt an increasing dread as they realized who was before them and what could likely happen in mere moments–this was not going to end well. “Oh no,” George quietly let out in dismay as Krupp looked at the strange new comer with slight curiosity and much greater annoyance.

“I MEAN IT!” Edith yelled at the monster who was before the children. She could barely make out his features–no thanks to the faint darkness and her hair blowing into her face–and while there was something oddly humanlike about him she could also tell that he really wasn’t. “I’M GOING TO SHOOT!” She was scared, but she would do it if she had to.

In fact her finger was shaking as it inched closer to the trigger–one press and one good shot like her aunt once told her and the children would be safe from whatever raging monster this was. She already moved her aim to a spot where she knew for a fact that the shot would be likely fatal for whatever this thing was before her.

Surprised by the woman’s courage, Krupp was almost impressed–then he began to let out a laughter of disbelief and threw his head into the air and arched his back. Really? This dumb human thought she could hurt him while he was in his element and the wind would more than likely throw off her aim if a wave didn’t get to her first?

The effect almost made Edith lose her confidence–especially when she saw a set of jagged shark-like teeth in the creature’s mouth. Yet at the same time she instantly hated that nasty, villainous, and almost over the top sounding laugh. It was awful and full of mockery–the kind of laugh that made you feel like you were being picked on by someone who enjoyed being cruel, and made you feel that you had no chance of anything in life whatsoever, no matter what you did.

And it only made her more determined to just shoot him and shut him up.

“Is this the best help you two have now?!” Krupp laughed and scoffed at George and Harold who were growing worried for what could possibly happen. “One mere woman with a harpoon gun?!” He resumed his laughing while the boys looked from Krupp to Edith, who was trying to move her hair out of her face and her fear was replaced with a bravery and determination none of the children had ever seen before. If it wasn’t seen on her face, then it was in her stance.

Stupid wind! Stupid hair! Edith mentally growled as she tried and finally brushed her hair completely out of her face. “STOP PICKING ON THOSE CHILDREN AND FACE ME INSTEAD, YOU COWARD!” She was almost screaming as she looked at the still-laughing antagonist right in the eyes with as much determination and anger as she could summon.

And in the moment that the woman pointing the gun at him had moved her hair out of the way, Krupp’s laughing abruptly ceased as he was granted a proper look at her face–a fair skinned face with freckles and eyes so blue that they would have made the sea itself jealous.

A face that he remembered all too well.

Her eyes were so blue, in a face that was illuminated by the strings of lights above and around them, and he wanted to know what it would be like to caress that soft face that was adorned with a sprinkle of freckles.

The world came to a stop as the last of his amusement died away to be replaced with a stunned silence. No, it couldn’t be.

It was her–of everything he had expected to happen upon returning up here, he didn’t expect to see her to appear and come to the aid of these–he almost thought he was dreaming yet again, but when looking at her face...

Ten years had passed since he had seen that face–which had matured since then, yet was still beautiful to him (as a traitorous part of the back of his mind had observed)–but those eyes that were once so full of kindness and fun were staring at him with an intense anger and determination as their owner aimed her weapon at him as if he were a...

A...

As if looking into a mirror, he was able to see exactly what he looked like–what he really was and what he had become–through her eyes. He had been terrified of the idea of her ever seeing him like this and he thought he avoided that painful possibility, but it was now too late and some part of him realized that what he was doing only worsened the image he had invoked for her.

Edith took a deep breath as she tried to keep her aim on the monster who stared at her in surprised recognition as he still loomed over George and Harold. She could still barely make out his features from the distance and the darkness of the sky didn’t help, but she could see him slowly pulling back away from the boys–who were looking at their tormenter–as the siblings waited for her to save them as they shivered from the cold–the drenched clothing and flower crown that barely hung onto Lisa’s head told her what had happened. Her eyes went back to the monster–his body language–the awkward slouch, the moving the hands away from his would-be prey, the slowly inching away from the pier as if the violent waters were nothing to him–it was like he was a child who had been caught doing something awful and was guilty about it while also dreading certain punishment. It was as if he realized what he almost did would offend her. It was as if he was afraid of her and was trying to get away from her.

Grunting in determination, Edith resumed her aim–she was not going to let him get away after what he almost did! It was unforgivable and if she had to do this properly, then so be it!

“WAIT, STOP!” George quickly got up as he realized what was going to happen.

“EDITH WAIT, DON’T SHOOT HIM!” Harold yelled–almost pleaded–as he held a protesting hand out, causing the being behind him to stop and turn his head towards him and his friend in shock as if it were the last thing he expected either boy to say.

Edith hesitated in confusion–why did the boys suddenly jump to that thing’s defense–then another streak of lighting erupted to illuminate the area and it was long enough for her to see the face of the monster.

Edith had not assumed the monster of the prophecy to have anything human-like about him, so when she saw that a good part of him looked like the upper half of an incredibly large-bodied human man upon coming to the pier, she was a bit surprised. Yet she still could see the obvious signs that he was not human and she did catch a glimpse of the shark like teeth in his mouth, which seemed to be one of the few things she could clearly see from where she had stood. She had recalled the warning–you must not lose courage and not back down when you glance upon his face–so she had fully expected to see something hideous beyond any nightmare when the lightning granted her the clear view that she had been anticipating and dreading.

What she had not expected was to see the face of someone she had known ten years ago–the face of the man she had lost her heart to and had wanted to confess her true feelings to on this very same pier before she had to leave. A face that had changed (as if it were a slightly twisted version of the one she had known), yet was still easy to recognize, and those dark eyes were filled with helpless despair as he realized that she could clearly see him now.

And he could easily watch her as her eyes widened, her mouth opened in surprise, and her arms dropped numbly to her sides–the weapon that she was going to use on him slipped out of her grasp and fell into the dangerous waters below.

“Benjamin?” Edith half asked, half realized in a lost sounding voice as she just stared at the person she never got the chance to confess her love to all those years ago.

And in turn, the one who had been known to her as Benjamin in the world above could only helplessly stare back, unable to move away–unable to think of anything to do–as he now knew for sure that she recognized him.

Both were so ignorant to anything but each other that they completely forgot about the four young onlookers. Both Lisa and Billy had no idea why Edith wasn’t attacking or why she was looking at the mershark as if she knew him, but both George and Harold knew and they both could almost feel what both adults were going through–and they genuinely wished that it didn’t have to come to this because they knew it could only get worse.

Something caught George’s eyes and he realized that they all had completely forgotten about the storm. One of the many waves that kept crashing against the pier had grown to be colossal as it progressed in its pathway–and Edith just happened to be standing in the middle of said pathway, with no railings to prevent her from going into the chaotic ocean.

Edith was too lost in thought to realize what was going to happen.The monster who she had been warned about and who had threatened the children was–

“LOOK OUT!” George yelled and pointed to the wave. This snapped both Edith and Krupp awake and the woman only had enough time to glance around and see what was about to happen to her.

It was right when she made to run away that Edith felt the wave crash against her–knocking her off the pier and into the wave as it sucked her in–before she was tossed into the ocean without a chance to scream before everyone else’s eyes.

In that moment, both George and Harold were ready to go after the woman, despite the consequences, as it fully hit Krupp as to what had just happened and instantly something within him turned ten years worth of indifference, prejudice, and bitterness into a moment of full on horrified panic and desperation.

And before either boy could get to the side of the pier where the woman had gone, they heard an unfamiliar, panicked cry–almost a scream that shook them to their core–and they turned in time to see a great splash of water in place of where Krupp had just been–that was all they needed to know that someone else was going to try to save Edith and do a far better job than they ever could.

“We got to do something!” Lisa panicked as she and her brother looked at the boys. “She’s going to drown!” Without even hesitating, both boys went back to the specific child that they were going to try to save and wrapped their arms around them.

“Don’t scream!” George yelled as he pulled the bracelet off his wrist before jumping into the ocean with Lisa in his grasp.

“WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?!” Billy frantically asked Harold, but the blonde also took his bracelet off and jumped off the pier to join the other two.

Neither sibling knew what was going on as they held on tight and both felt the arms and bodies of the boys tense up as if they were in pain. George had been forced to put his bracelet in his mouth, while Harold quickly stuffed his own into the shirt pocket of Billy–both struggled to stay up above the water as they felt the currents threaten to suck them into the depths.

“Don’t lose my bracelet, I just put it in your pocket!” Harold yelled to Billy as he tried to swim as fast as he could. The prince was shocked that the boy was having little struggle in the water, but he also kept trying to swim alongside him.

“BILLY!” Harold and Billy glanced over to see Lisa waving for them as George tried to swim as hard as he could towards a place where they could crawl back up near the boardwalk. “We need to save Edith!” She pleaded to George. “That guy went after her!”

“She’ll be fine and he won’t hurt her!” George grunted as he kept the bracelet in his mouth.

A wave then crashed into the merorca and princess and knocked them into the water.

“GEORGE!” Harold yelled as he tried to swim, but all of the sudden it was as if the waves began to get frantic without any clear sense of direction and he was forced backwards away from the two.

Underneath, Lisa held her breath as best as she could as she felt George tighten his hold on her before trying to remerge back up while also forcing his bracelet onto her wrist to keep it safe. She then saw a flash of white and for one moment she was terrified that the king under the ocean was close by until she then saw that George’s legs seemed to be replaced with the tail of some sort of black and white sea creature. She almost gasped, but managed to hold her breath even as it finally hit her as to why the king under the ocean would have been after George and his friend to begin with.

How could she had been so stupid? It all made sense now.

Billy held on as Harold frantically cried out for his best friend. A wave then shoved them from the boardwalk and took them farther out into the ocean, before another one sent them upward into the air before crashing back down into the water. As the two sank into the water, Billy could see Harold’s lower half, but unlike his sister, the realization as to what the boys really were came to him a bit quicker, since be began to suspect it back on the pier.

Well, it looked like he and his sister had one of their wishes granted–they had befriended a couple of merchildren this whole time.

“HAROLD!” George screamed as Lisa took in a breath of air. “WHERE ARE YOU?!” He frantically looked around for the merdolphin, but he and the princess then noticed a wave coming and while he was able to swim out of the way in time, it also swept him further away from the boardwalk.

“GEORGE!” George then turned to see Harold crying out as he was taken farther away from the mainland as well as from his best friend.

“HAROLD, WAIT!” George tried to swim with Lisa in tow, but the waves, currents, and the holding onto someone of equal size made it hard to keep up as he and Harold continued to get attacked and forced down into the ocean, no matter how many times they tried to stay up. Meanwhile Harold was growing frustrated because they had been so sure that they could have overcome this together, yet to have to constantly stay on alert and keep swimming was making him doubt that any of them could so much as make it out of this alive.

Harold then heard a familiar cry and to his great surprise, a familiar looking dolphin swam up and he grabbed onto her dorsal fin.

“Serenity!” Harold cried in delight as Billy glanced at the dolphin in surprise. “How did you find us?!” He asked as the dolphin cut through the waves and carried him away.

“Wait, why aren’t we heading back?!” Billy asked Harold, who then realized what was happening and turned his head to see that Serenity was trying to get away from the mainland as fast as possible as if she were terrified of something.

“What are you doing?!” Harold freaked out as he tried to look for George and Lisa. “George is still back there!” He tried to find the other two, but no such luck. “Go back!” He pleaded to the dolphin who–for whatever reason–was heading right towards the sea stacks in the distance. “Why are we going there?!”

“BILLY!” Lisa screamed when she and George remerged back up, but at this point the waves and the roaring wind were mixed with the sound of her voice and now only a flash of lightning could help the two locate the others in the darkened waves.

George felt something bite onto the bag he wore and was being pulled to who knew where. One glance told him that it was a large dolphin that looked very familiar.

Isn’t that Harold’s mom’s dolphin? He realized as Haruka took him and Lisa away from the mainland. “Wait a minute, where are you going?!” He panicked as Lisa looked at the creature in awe. “We need to go back to the town!” The larger dolphin ignored him as she took them towards the sea stacks as fast as she could.

Neither boy knew about the circumstances that forced both dolphins to find them and get them as far from the king under the ocean as they could on the orders of their parents. And even with two human children in tow, the animals could not afford to turn back, for they knew who was behind the storms and who was still lurking near the boardwalk.

“You guys are going to owe us one heck of an explanation when this is all over!” Lisa demanded to George, not knowing that her brother was making a similar demand.

“And you better try to get us back before our dad freaks out!” Billy warned Harold.

“Yeah, I know!” Harold couldn’t help but retort before desperately trying one last time to call for George. “GEORGE?! GEORGE!”

“HAROLD!” George tried one last time to scream for his friend, even if neither one could hear each other over the chaos of the storm.

*****

So this was what it was like to be trapped in the ocean within the storm and feel its cold wrath beat down upon you and toss you about like you were a ball or a toy.

There was so little to think about other than the need to stay above the surface and the fact that the water was cold to the point that Edith was shaking and it threatened her ability to stay calm. But then again how could you when you were being tossed this way and that way and felt the pressure of the water against you? What could you do when you could barely hear anything under the water and you were trying so hard to keep air within you and the pressure was threatening to make you open your mouth? The few moments she could break her head through the water, she had little time to take in air before she was sent back down. Edith couldn’t even register where earth met water and where she could try to swim to for safety, and she had no clue where the waves were taking her. Her arms flailed about her, her hair would occasionally block her view, and her legs would get tangled up in the skirt part of her dress as it flapped in the forceful flow of the water. At some point she lost her flats and was now barefoot, but it was the least of her concerns.

It was so cold!

Some small part of her mind realized that she was trapped in the storm of the king under the ocean–his rage was going to consume her before she would know it. Another part of her mind was pleading to a divine power that whatever would happen to her now would at least be a fair exchange–the safety of the children for her own life.

If she wouldn’t die by drowning, then the cold would eventually claim her.

Yet despite that promise she had made, her desire to survive was strong and she had no idea where the storm was taking her. She had another chance to take in a quick breath of air before a wave pounded down upon her and sent her to somewhere unknown.

Somehow in all of the confusion, something latched onto her left leg and she had to fight the urge to scream in pain as if something was crushing into the area above her ankle. One frantic glance told her that a huge wooden beam (from either the boardwalk, one of the docks–who knew) somehow pinned the lower part of her left leg against one of the many larger rocks that lined the beach and the particular indent in the stone would make it impossible to pull herself free.

Panic settled in and Edith tried to swim down to free her leg and push the beam away from it, but the fierce pounding of the waves knocking against her and the tight hold of the rock and beam kept her firmly trapped without yielding–her possible fate would be prolonged at this point. She tried to pull free when she grabbed her leg and swam up, but the hold was too strong and when she tried to push the beam back once more, it still wouldn’t budge because it was lodged tightly against more rocks down below. She glanced upward to see that even if she could be able to pull herself free, she was so far down from the surface that it would be too late–and she was close to bursting from inside for her need for air.

And this was the state she was in when Krupp finally caught up to her and by now he was acting on adrenaline and a desperation that he didn’t even stop once to think about.

And the closer he got to her as fast as he could–despite the storm slowing him down to a point that he was more than frustrated–the more that he could see her struggling to free herself and he could tell that there was no way she could get herself free in time–he would not be able to get her free in time.

No, no, no, no, no, no! His mind begged and screamed when he saw her let go of her leg to try one last, desperate time to swim upward. PLEASE NO!

He had so much denied or taken away from him–a lot of things that he had done or tried to do didn’t work out well or backfired horribly on him–but he would never forgive himself he couldn’t save Edith.

Edith knew that it was too late as she tried to swim, but couldn’t get upward–she was trapped underwater, in the cruel grasp of the storm. This was how her life was going to end and her body was seconds away from forcing her to take a breath.

Even before he finally reached her, Krupp knew what had to be done–the version of himself that he had become across ten years was more than willing to forsake all the rules and bans he had set up, and the very small (almost ghost-like) part of him that was left of the lovesick, optimistic fool he was once screamed at him to do it to save Edith.

And just before Edith could finally give in and surrender to her final fate, Krupp wrapped a huge arm around her–nearly crushing her against his chest and massive stomach–lunged forward while taking a huge breath, and crashed his mouth against hers while keeping a careful hold of her head with his free hand to make sure that she couldn’t be pulled away from him.

Edith jolted when she felt as if someone were kissing her right on the mouth and the action forced her mouth open. It felt as if something was trying to breathe into her at the moment her body automatically made the action to take in air–and then something happened that made her feel strange. It was like her whole head was undergoing some sort of weird tingling sensation–especially around her nose and mouth–and her chest felt an odd warmth. Before she knew it, the slightly muted sounds of the ocean around her became more defined and clear as if she were above water. The cold of the ocean was fading until it felt only pleasantly cool and even the large hand that was cradling the side of her face and the back of her head–with thick fingers almost woven within her hair–ceased feeling cold and she could feel a faint warmth from it.

That’s when she realized what was happening and saw who was doing this when she opened her eyes.

The one who was kissing her was Benjamin.

Benjamin was kissing her.

For that one moment she forgot everything that had happened. A part of her had desired this once and she momentarily surrendered to that part of her and she shut her eyes as she was able to return the kiss back and force him to close his mouth shut–forcing to do whatever he was doing to make it more relaxed and natural. Without meaning to, she moved her arms back down until her fingers were brushing against the back of his head and until her hands slowly made their way to lightly touching his cheeks. As she did this, she felt all the tension in his body melt away–she could feel it in his hold on her, how his chest and stomach seemed to slightly deflate, and his face relaxed–as if she had some sort of calming effect on him. Even this one area of the storm seemed to calm down as if it never happened at all.

There was a time when he wanted to know what this would be like, the back of his mind remembered. The touch of her fingers on him–from the back of his head to his face–was not an illusion, but a reality. The hollowness within could only grow smaller as it ached for something more from this contact and he could almost feel the last of that angry haze fade as he was beginning to forget everything–as if the past ten years could be wiped away.

That was when it occurred to her–how was she breathing underwater while kissing him?

They say that if a member of the merfolk kisses you, you can be able to breath underwater for a certain amount of time. She remembered hearing that since she was a child.

And Benjamin was–

Edith let out a gasp of shock and pushed away, forcing Krupp to let go of her. He could see her fully taking in his true self–even with most of his physical flaws on full display–as her eyes looked him over, and he felt himself nervous as to what she was thinking.

While Edith was thankful that he managed to save her in time (in a way that she was not expecting), she still had too many questions and this didn’t make her forget about what had happened out on the pier as if it didn’t happen. She honestly didn’t know what to think anymore because she didn’t know who this was before her or if she even knew him at all. Yet she looked and she could see that he had aged a bit since she had last seen him, but it was still him, no matter how much had drastically changed before her eyes, both externally or internally.

He was a lot larger than she remembered, and currently almost (maybe even more than) twice her size in length now that she could see him in the water–

Then Edith realized she could breathe underwater and placed a hand to her chest and stared at it in surprise. Krupp watched her react to this and then it hit him as to why that was possible in the first place–what he had to do for that to happen–and Edith watched as he avoided her gaze as his body went back to being a little tensed up while awkwardly rubbing the back of his head and blushing a slight shade of pinkish-red as he became aware of the fact that he had kissed her.

She turned him from being one of the most feared, foul tempered individuals in both kingdoms into an awkward, blushing mess without having to do anything. And seeing her under the water with her hair flowing around her head and her dress flowing around her legs was an almost hauntingly beautiful sight...

As Krupp felt his face getting warm, he then saw that Edith was still pinned between the beam and the rock and remembered that he couldn’t afford to care about being seen as he was or the whole kissing her thing right now. Forcing himself to snap out of it, Krupp quickly forced himself to resume what he needed to do and swam down to carefully hold Edith’s leg with one hand while grabbing onto the wooden beam with the other. He pressed most of his whole body against the rock and then–with very little effort–began to force the beam away from Edith while using most of his lower body to keep himself pressed against the rock with all of his might.

Meanwhile, Edith could only stare in amazement–no one could have been able to do that–then she realized that her dress was still flowing around her in the currents and if he looked up, he would get a good glimpse of her under–she quickly pulled a chunk of her dress downward and felt her face grow warm with embarrassment. She went from wanting to shoot him to not wanting him to look up her dress, which was yet another thing to add to all of this confusion.

Finally Krupp was able to push the beam completely away from Edith’s leg and let the currents take it away before turning to see that the skin it had pressed against was badly bruised and had darkened to shades of ugly purples and blues. He was so startled by this discovery that he accidentally let go of her.

Without something or someone to hold her in place, Edith felt the currents of the storm sweep her away towards the ocean.

Horrified at the mistake he just made, Krupp looked up to see Edith pulled into the strong currents once more, with her trying to reach for him as the skirt flapped around her. “EDITH!” He screamed–finally saying her name after so many years of not daring to say it–as he quickly went after her.

This time he was able to swim with the current when he lunged after her and once he finally caught up, he grabbed her and used one arm to hold and keep her secure against his body and his hand carefully held her side as she quickly wrapped her arms around that same arm for dear life. This time he was not going to make the same mistake twice–he was not going to let her go.

Yet the storm was still active and dangerous and Krupp wrapped his other arm around Edith–his free hand was now balled up into a tightly clenched fist (because he refused to let himself do something stupid while he was now the only security and protection she had until she could be on dry land again). For once in a long time, he tried to mentally will himself to calm down–to try to stop the storm if it had to be so connected to his emotional state. Over and over again in a pattern he tried to tell himself to relax as he felt Edith in his arms as the currents of the ocean pushed them to who-knew-where.

Calm down, calm down! If you don’t calm down–!

But Krupp was never good at diffusing his infamous anger in a small amount of time and right now his anger at himself for putting her in danger was being added to the panicked state he was in. It was all too easy for him to get angry and cause these storms to happen–stopping them was an entirely different matter.

He caused this disaster to happen–he might as well have almost directly harmed her or even taken her life away. He somehow got to a point where she would have ended his life before she knew who he was. He knew she was going to hate him for what he did–honestly, he was hating himself more than he ever had before.

He was not her hero, no matter how hard he could try and he sure as heck didn’t look the part. What he had seen in her eyes–in the way she looked at him–on the pier was the complete opposite of a hero. He knew he shouldn’t have to care about this if he gutted out his ability to love her, so why was this all upsetting him? Why would her judgement of him hurt him like this when he stopped caring about how others saw him? Why did he still care when he was so sure his heart couldn’t break once again?

He could feel those emotions take on a physical form as the waves he was responsible for repeatedly attacked him as he tried his hardest to shield Edith from them. He could have sworn it was like the waves were specifically targeting him as they sent him to somewhere and he honestly didn’t care where anymore as long as he could get Edith to safety. Heck he could easily take her somewhere much safer down here than up above–she had three days of being able to breath down here, thanks to him.

Yet fate was not finished with Krupp as the currents of the storm forced him towards the sea stacks, where he would still need to face the results of his numerous actions.

Chapter Text

While Harold was terrified over being separated from George and tried to keep an eye out for him, Billy had already gotten over the truth of his friend’s identity and was now suffering from severe guilt as Serenity took them towards the sea stacks. The latter’s body had gotten used to the cold waters by now, but he knew that he would need to get warm as soon as possible.

“This is all my fault.” Billy hung his head. “I wanted to get our wishes granted out on the ocean. I never meant for us to get in trouble or for Lisa to–” He sighed. “Harold, I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, don’t say that!” Harold protested as he turned his attention to the prince. “If anything, it’s our fault. We’re the reason that storm happened to begin with; Krupp said he would punish us if he ever saw us again, but we didn’t expect him to actually go find us or go up here.” He then frowned. “Hey, uh, it doesn’t bother you that George and I are actually–?”

“Not really.” Billy admitted with a shrug. “I mean, it all started to make sense after what happened on the pier. Plus my sister and I thought it would be cool to meet one of you guys–I’m just glad that it was you two.”

“Wow, you’re really calm about this.” Harold raised an eyebrow at the boy. “Honestly, you’ve had a lot of secrets and after all we’ve seen within the past few days, this was the least shocking thing when I think about it.” Billy glanced over to see that Serenity finished taking them to the sea stacks and the waters were slightly calmer here.

The water seemed to have risen to a point that the boys could easily go on a part of the sea stack that seemed to form a huge ledge but looked like a big dent in the structure from a distance. On this ledge were a few large crates that somehow got up there and while the farthest one seemed closed and somewhat intact, the other one had been destroyed and most of its contents had been tossed out into the ocean, though some were still in the crate.

“Can I have the bracelet back?” Harold asked as Serenity reached a small spot that they could climb up and which was only a few inches above water.

“Yeah, sure.” Billy handed the bracelet to Harold before proceeding to let go of the dolphin and climbed up to dry land–instantly he could feel the slight wind against his wet clothes and the cold had returned in full force. He knew he had to hurry to find something to warm up before he could really suffer and getting sick or worse was not an option and he quickly took off his wet vest and threw it aside upon the ground, along with his tie.

Billy wordlessly ran ahead to take a look as Harold managed to crawl and slide up as best as he could and when he was finally out of the water, he slipped the bracelet back on. The blonde fought the urge to yell through the transformation and he began to feel a chill that was unfamiliar to him–apparently the body temperatures between humans and merfolk were quite different, which was something he and George failed to take into account. He took a moment to catch his breath as he felt himself begin to shiver before he moved away from the water.

He then remembered the red ring and quickly pulled the rope out to find that it was still there. “Oh thank goodness!” He sighed in relief as Billy finished his search.

“Here!” Harold looked to see that Billy had grabbed three packages from inside the destroyed crate and he quickly tore them up. The first one he opened lead to him ripping out some sort of large dark blue cloth with white triangles and he tossed it to Harold before quickly wrapping one around him.

“What is this?” Harold asked as he tightened the dark cloth around him and then tried to dry the ring off with a part of it as it absorbed the water off his clothes.

Billy looked at the package as he dried his hair off with his own cloth. “Uh... huh, it says it’s a set of curtains.” He paused and then shrugged before wrapped himself up in the matching dark blue cloth that he possessed. “Well it’s better than nothing.”

“I can’t believe our luck!” Harold was relieved that they were able to find something to keep warm with. “How did this even get here?” He asked as he squeezed out whatever water was left in his hair before drying it off with his curtain.

“It must have been the storm–maybe one of the ships lost some cargo.” Billy was thoughtful before noticing that Serenity was still looking at them from her spot in the water. “Is she yours?”

“Sort of.” Harold admitted before smiling. “You can pet her if you want.” He offered. Harold watched as Billy slowly approached the dolphin and reached a hand out over her head. Serenity playfully bopped her head against his hand and the prince smiled before carefully stroking her forehead. “Looks like she likes you!” Harold grinned at the boy.

Meanwhile, George and Lisa were also gradually approaching the sea stacks, thanks to Haruka, who had refused to let go of the merorca despite his many attempts to try to escape. George was growing increasingly worried as he looked for his friend before Lisa (who lost her flower crown to the storm) asked “So, you guys were merfolk this whole time?”

“Uh, yeah! Surprise!” George let out a nervous laugh (mainly because he was still worried about Harold). “Does that freak you out?!”

“I wasn’t expecting it.” Lisa admitted. “I mean, I figured you guys must of had some sort of issue back home–like something out of a Charles Dickens book–I didn’t think it was going to be... that.” She could only gesture to the storm. “What the heck even happened to get the king under the ocean so mad at you?”

“That’s a long story.” George grimaced.

“Well I can’t blame you guys for running away–err, swimming away.” Lisa corrected herself.

“We didn’t know what was going to happen when we came up here.” George felt guilty. “It was my idea for the both of us to come up. And now I really did get separated from Harold–and you’re now separated from your brother.”

“Hey, don’t feel upset.” Lisa tried to reassure him. “I’m sure we’ll find them soon. Besides, it’s pretty cool that I can say that I got to be friends with two of the merfolk!” Lisa grinned before looking at George’s bracelet on her wrist. “So this was what made you guys humans this whole time?”

“GEORGE!” George looked up to see Harold standing up and waving with a huge smile of relief as he kept a hold on the curtain and even Billy looked up from petting Serenity before he beamed a smile at his sister and also stood up. “LISA!” He cried out.

“Hang on, we’re coming!” George told them as Haruka hurried to the sea stack. Upon reaching it, Lisa returned the bracelet to George and Billy quickly helped her get up to dry land.

“Harold!” George breathlessly cried out as he and Harold–who knelt upon the small ledge that was used to get up to dry land–hugged each other as tightly as they could. George let out a scared laugh before resting his head on Harold’s shoulder. “I was so worried for you!” He almost sobbed.

“I was worried for you!” Harold confessed as he too almost sobbed and didn’t care that he was getting wet again. “I thought we really were going to be separated!”

“But we didn’t!” George laughed a more genuine laugh. “We made it out alive and we’re still free!”

Lisa was now wrapped up in a magenta curtain with green stripes and she and her brother watched as the two best friends continued to hug. “This is something we can’t share to our classmates.” She told Billy.

“No one would believe us.” Billy agreed as the boys finally let go so that George could go back to being a human. It was clear to the siblings that it was painful to the boy and they couldn’t help but wince and wonder just how often that had to happen to them.

“Wait a minute!” Lisa had a double take when Harold helped George get out of the water. “How come you guys are still wearing pants? Shouldn’t those have been destroyed?”

“I know, right!” George exclaimed, despite how he was now shivering. “It makes no sense!” He then hesitated as Lisa came up to him with a matching curtain. “We didn’t mean to get you guys involved.” George apologized after accepting the curtain from Lisa. He took his bag off and then wrapped himself in it as tightly as he could. Both he and Harold moved away from the water and they sat down, but not before giving the dolphins an annoyed look. “Why didn’t you just take us back? These kids need to be back home and their dad’ll kill us if he finds out!”

“You guys better take your shoes off.” Lisa told the boys as she took her own shoes off. “Trust me, wet shoes are worse than cold feet.” To which the boys were forced to turn away from the dolphins and follow Lisa’s example before tossing their shoes somewhere to the side. It helped lessen their misery a little bit, even if it wasn’t much.

“You know, I find it really odd that we found these when we needed them.” Billy looked at the curtains that he and the others were currently wrapped up in. “Its almost like someone’s looking out for us.”

“Yeah, or it would be like a bad case of lazy writing.” George laughed as he set his bag by his side. “But honesty, I don’t mind it.”

Billy and Lisa joined the two and sat down next to them. “You guys have a lot to explain to us.” Billy continued. “We can’t be out here forever, but I’m guessing we can’t go back anytime soon.”

“We have so many questions.” Lisa added as she tried to squeeze water out of her dress as best as she could. “I mean, if something happens we need to know. Do you guys have any more secrets?”

“We wouldn’t even know where to begin.” Harold groaned and held his head in his hands as George gave him a sympathetic look and patted his shoulder. “Everything you already know is the tip of the whole mess.”

Billy was thoughtful for a moment. “So... do you guys use toilets down there, or–how does that even work for you?”

George and Harold stared at the other boy for a moment before they developed huge grins and ended up falling over with laughter.

“All the things you want to ask about us and where we’re from, and that’s it?!” George laughed.

“Oh my–I can’t–!” Harold snorted and wheezed. “That’s incredible!”

Even the siblings found themselves laughing with the two over how ridiculous their first question was. For a moment they completely forgot about the issues that had just happened or that they were facing, and they could just be kids again.

George sighed in delight. “That’s a good question to start with.” He admitted as he turned his head to face the ocean–the sky wasn’t as dark as it had been when the storm started, but it was still completely cloudy with no ray of sunlight or blue sky to be seen. “We have a lot of time to answer them all, what with that storm out there.”

“Yeah, and I doubt its going to end anytime soon.” Harold added. “It was bad enough the first time we tried to swim through it.” This however made Lisa remember something important.

“Oh crumbs!” She grabbed her hair and went pale with horror. “We forgot about Edith! We left her in that storm with the king! He’ll kill her for what she almost did to him!”

Billy froze. “Oh no, we did!” He slapped his face and grimaced. “We might as well have left her to drown and it would have been all our fault!” He panicked as George and Harold shared an uncomfortable look with each other.

“He’s not going to hurt her.” Harold tried to reassure them. “As much of a big jerk as he is, I highly doubt he’d do anything to her.”

“What are you talking about?!” Lisa asked. “He made it clear that he hates us!”

“Except there’s.... uh.... one special case.” George nervously began. “You see–how do I put it this way?” The last time they revealed this secret to someone it didn’t end well. “He did the same thing we did ten years ago and...”

“Krupp–I mean our king is the same guy Edith had a crush on all those years ago.” Harold finished. “That was Benjamin you guys just met.”

The siblings stared at the boys.

“What?” Billy flatly asked.

“You have to be kidding me.” Lisa shook her head. “That–there’s no way it can be him. No. Way.”

When they both saw that George and Harold were not denying this, they were stunned.

“Oh, wow.” Billy cringed and held his head in his hands as Lisa looked as if a huge part of her died. “Wow, that–no wonder he stopped attacking and went after her!”

“Dang it, this is what I get for making that wish.” Lisa moaned as she slumped over.

“What wish?” Harold asked.

“Lisa wished to the ocean for Edith to find her true love and bring Benjamin back if it was supposed to be him.” Billy admitted and the boys jaws dropped as Lisa shuddered.

“What have I done?” She groaned. “I can’t take my wish back can I?!” She pleaded to the boys as something in the ocean made the dolphins alert and look around. “That guy was nothing like how Edith described Benjamin!”

“I honestly don’t know what to say.” George grimaced as Haruka began to let out warning cries to the children. “We were just as shocked as you when we found out.”

“We didn’t think it was possible for him to even like someone.” Harold added as Serenity began to cry out to them in frantic tones. “Or for someone to like him back that much.”

“That’s not the guy I had in mind for her!” Lisa frantically protested as Harold gave the dolphins a confused look and went over to them. “I wanted someone nice, kind, sweet and respectful for her! Someone kind of like–”

Lisa then had a bizarre thought as Harold asked Haruka “What’s wrong?” But the dolphin kept crying out a warning and even Serenity kept looking towards something in the ocean that they couldn’t see.

“George... Harold,” Lisa slowly began as she began making comparisons in her mind–how the heck did she miss it the first time? “I can understand it if that guy was the reason you came up here... but can you explain exactly why your superhero looks like Benjamin if you don’t like him that much?”

The siblings watched as both boys turned their attention to them with a look of surprise and dread. “Wh-what are you talking about?” George nervously laughed. “It’s just a coincidence that–” but the siblings gave them a look that said ‘do you really think we’re that dumb?’

“About that–” Harold began as the dolphins kept crying for the kids for whatever reason, but soon they gave the waters a look of horror before swimming away.

“Huh?” George was confused by the sudden change and joined Harold. “Why the heck did they stop?” Come to think of it, the waves were starting to act up a little. They both tried to figure out what was going on as they stared at the water.

Moments later, something bursted from the waters below within a couple of feet from the ledge and both boys were taken by surprise when they recognized it as Krupp, who was also holding Edith against him as she was holding onto his arm for dear life.

Still badly shaken by what had almost happened, the boys immediate response was to back the heck away from their antagonist and the water as he swam towards them. Yet Krupp almost looked as if he was driven to the near point of exhaustion and wasn’t even paying attention to them, while Edith looked a little shaken and had strands of wet hair covering a part of her face but was otherwise unharmed.

“How does he keep finding us?!” Harold almost felt like he was going to have a heart attack. Meanwhile, the siblings were taken by surprise by the new arrival, but when they saw who he was carrying with him, they rushed to her aid.

“Edith!” Lisa reached the water first and held a hand out to the woman. Edith looked up and as soon as Krupp brought her close enough, she reached a hand out to the girl.

Krupp only slightly lifted Edith towards the girl–though the effort granted him a full view of Edith’s back. Which meant that he was granted the sight of her water soaked dress clinging closely to her body, which revealed the outlines of what exactly she was wearing under the dress. It took him a few moments to realize what he was seeing and when he did, he almost dropped her and turned his head while feeling his face get a few degrees warmer than it had been.

Meanwhile, Lisa was able to help Edith get out of the water and back onto dry land as the woman was able to also push herself up. As soon as Edith was able to get completely out of the water, Krupp crossed his arms on the nearest rock–for one moment the boys were afraid that he was going to try to go after them again, but the adult crashed his head into his arms and stayed put as he was almost too exhausted to do anything physical. (There was also the fact that he didn’t want anyone to see his reaction to the fact that he had seen Edith’s undergarments through her very wet dress.)

Without even saying a word, Billy ran to the last package as his sister threw her arms around Edith in a tight hug. The woman turned her head to see the boys before she let out a sigh and hugged the child back. “Thank the stars you’re all safe.” She murmured as she placed a hand on the back of the girl’s head.

“We’re glad you’re safe.” Lisa replied as her brother took both curtains out of the final package and soon hugged Edith as he simultaneously wrapped both cloths of bright red with black polka dots around her. He let out a sigh and tightened the hug–he was more than relieved that the woman was ok.

Neither of the three saw Krupp slightly lifting his head up enough to watch this moment. Still badly shaken by what almost happened out there, he let out a deep sigh–he still felt a bit of that terror he had felt during that chaos and though the fabric covering Edith hid her bruised leg from the kids, he could still mentally see it and he wanted nothing more than to get away as soon as he could get the chance.

Lisa frowned as she realized something was off about Edith. “How come you aren’t cold like us?” She pulled away and grabbed Edith’s hand–she didn’t feel as if she had been in the freezing cold water, but it was more like when someone would come out of the water of a lake or pool on a summer’s day. Lisa then frowned. “How long in the water were you?”

George and Harold watched as Edith jolted at this, but oddly enough, Krupp became tense and moved his eyes elsewhere. It was like something about that question embarrassed him and that same question made Edith nervous. “Uh...” She bit her lip and looked away from Lisa as Billy also shot the woman a curious look.

That’s when George recalled something. “Hey,” He whispered to Harold. “She wasn’t gasping for air like the others.”

The boys took a look at both adults, who were acting as if something had happened. Edith in particular looked like she was blushing–then it made sense.

It made way too much sense.

“Oh,” Harold winced and pulled a disgusted face while George flinched and grimaced with an “Ugh!” as they were trying to fight off the image of something they didn’t think would ever happen in a million years.

Oh that poor woman! Harold shuddered and stuck his tongue out. She did not deserve that!

We did not need to know that! George felt like he was going to be sick and shook his head. Ugh, I’m trying not to visualize it, but it–ARGH!

It took the boys a few seconds to figure out that something was off and when they turned their heads, they could see that Krupp had seen their reactions to figuring out what exactly happened. For invading that sort of privacy, he was giving them a death glare worse than any he had given as far as they could recall.

Unfortunately for the boys, Krupp’s anger was returning and now he was angry at them for causing this whole mess to happen in the first place–he now had a new reason to hate them even more so than before. If those brats hadn’t have ran away– He growled as he straightened back up and give his complete attention to the boys.

“Give them back.” He commanded in a low voice as he held a hand out. “Now.”

The boys looked at the bracelets they wore before they looked back to Krupp. “Don’t make me ask twice.” He warned them. “I’ve had enough of your idiotic–”

“And we get locked up while you go on like none of this ever happened?” George narrowed his eyes back at the adult.

“Are you nuts?!” Harold added as he stood his ground. “You really want to keep doing this after what just happened?!”

“Is this all one big joke to you?!” Krupp yelled at the two, who managed not to flinch. “Why can’t it ever get through to your heads that you can’t do whatever you please or that your stupid antics have consequences?!”

“Well why do you have to be such a jerk when you get mad at everyone?!” Harold also yelled. “Why do you have to rub it in our faces when we mess something up like you enjoy us getting punished that much?!”

“Well you two seem to really enjoy having a laugh at other’s expenses and not care about them–especially when it’s not needed and never is!” Krupp angrily retorted.

“You think we don’t regret putting others in danger?!” George yelled back. “You think that we weren’t aware that we caused this storm?!”

“I shouldn’t have to put up with everything that’s happened today and it’s only made things worse for the both of you!” Krupp snarled. “You’re coming back, you’re getting your punishment, and you’re both going to tell me where the others are!”

“What others?!” Harold demanded.

“THE OTHER KIDS YOU INSPIRED TO RUN AWAY!” Krupp roared as he felt his pressure rise and the waves began to act up again. “It’s bad enough I have to deal with both your parents, and now I’ll have to deal with the parents of the kids who followed your lead–which by the way includes your sister–” He jabbed a finger at Harold “–no thanks to you two!”

Now at this point, the three who were arguing forgot about the other three. Billy and Lisa stared at the fight with increasing dread, yet as Edith listened, she recalled what had happened on the pier. She had too many questions inside her head and seeing Krupp yelling at the boys and hearing his words and remembering that he was alive after all this time made her own anger began to rise. She moved away from the siblings while still holding onto the curtains upon her–one of which was now draped around her shoulders.

“We don’t know anything about that!” George protested as Harold gave Krupp an incredibly confused look. “But honestly I can’t really blame them!”

“I DON’T NEED YOU TWO BRATS RUINING MY LIFE!” Krupp was now almost screaming while not noticing who was approaching and soon kneeling next to him. “SO WHEN I FINALLY–!”

“BENJAMIN!”

Momentarily taken by surprise, Krupp turned his head and had one second to see an enraged Edith raising a hand back as far as she could. Seconds later her hand slapped his face so hard that his head almost twisted off to one side as well as almost twist him around to the point that she almost knocked him back into the ocean.

There was a stunned silence that fell in that instant.

Lisa and Billy stared at Edith in shock–they rarely saw her get angry and not to that extent.

George and Harold stared in amazement–they never saw anyone get so mad at Krupp that they would do something like that.

The one who was most surprised (while still feeling a sharp stinging sensation on his face as well as a slight pain in his neck from the blow) was Krupp, who could not believe what had just happened. He had been slapped so hard that it almost felt like his neck would have snapped and his toupee–which was feeling a lot looser than it should have been–was almost knocked off. When he turned his head, he saw that Edith was now fuming.

“Ten years.” Edith began as she felt all her anger steadily building up again. “Ten years I’ve wondered why you weren’t there that day. Ten years I didn’t know if something happened to you, or if you just didn’t care about me! And you were alive and nearby the whole time and never bothered to try to find me and do so much as apologize and explain yourself?! WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST TELL ME THE TRUTH?!” She yelled.

The moment Krupp flinched at this, the boys (who more than took the hint, but felt as if summer and winter vacation came early for them) quickly and quietly moved away from him while giving each other huge grins. “Isn’t it obvious?!” Krupp demanded to Edith as he gestured to himself when he was finally able to recover and face her. “You think I would have been ok with telling you about this?!”

“I wouldn’t have cared!” Edith yelled in frustration. “I mean yes this is a lot to take in, but you clearly didn’t didn’t trust me enough to tell me your secret!”

“Because I thought you were going to scream and run off!” Krupp yelled back. “It was bad enough that others had to be freaked out by me back home! I’m not stupid!”

“Well you certainly are because I–argh! Do you think I’m shallow or something like that?!” Edith threw her hands out. “It would have made sense if you gave me a chance to accept it! I would have stayed in contact with you–!”

“And how would that have worked?! You can’t send letters to me where I come from!”

“I would of had my aunt hang on to them for you! She would have respected the privacy! Or you could have warned me if there was some sort of time limit, or whatever the deal was–!”

“You didn’t warn me that you were going to leave until the day you were supposed to! Do you know how inconvenient that is?!”

“I didn’t have much of a chance until that night! And I forgot until it was almost too late! Why didn’t you tell me if you weren’t going to show up?!”

“Look, even if we did stay in touch, it would have been dangerous for the both of us! You have no idea how many enemies I’ve made!”

“What does that even mean?! That just sounds like some sort of dumb excuse!”

“No it’s not!”

Neither adult was aware of the fact that all four kids were watching their fight from a distance, like it was a stage play. They had no choice since they were stuck on the sea stack with them and had nothing else better to do. At one point they looked out to the ocean and, while the sky was still the same color, the waves were now small and underwhelming compared to how they had been large not that long ago.

“Uh, maybe we shouldn’t be watching this.” Billy nervously looked at the others.

“No I want to watch!” George waved his hand to Billy with a huge grin. “You have no idea how much we’ve wanted to see something like this!”

“Yeah!” Harold snickered and nodded. “We want to see him get chewed out!”

“HEY YOU BRATS STAY OUT OF THIS!” Krupp snapped and pointed at the boys.

“DON’T CALL THEM BRATS!” Edith snapped right back.

“Do you even have any idea how much trouble those two are?!” Krupp demanded.

“They’ve been nothing but helpful and sweet to me! Sure they might be pranksters, but–!”

“That’s exactly my point!”

“Well whatever you’re trying to do to discipline them, it’s clearly not working! Why do you think I almost shot you?!”

“I was taking them back!”

“You were scaring them to death!”

“Well good! They deserve–!”

“No that’s not good, Benjamin, that’s just heartless!”

“They keep pranking me and making stupid, ridiculous comics behind my–”

“They’ve only pranked one person! And I’ve read a comic they made and I didn’t find it stupid or–” She then realized something awful. “Wait, are you the one who told them not to draw or write?!” She demanded as she remembered what the boys told her the day she met them, while also hoping that this wasn’t the case.

There was a pause. “How much did you tell her about me?!” He yelled at George and Harold–only to get slapped really hard on the face yet again.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” Edith yelled.

“WHY IS THAT A BIG DEAL?!” Krupp yelled back, despite the fact that his face was now hurting as he held a hand against the spot that was struck.

“Why is it so bad for them to be creative?! Maybe that’s why they’ve been pranking you or whatever it is that’s going on that I don’t know about!”

“Why are we still talking about them?!”

“Because I don’t know what’s going on anymore and you’re digging your own grave at this rate, Ben! Plus Lisa and Billy–” She pointed at the other two children “–those other two kids you scared?! They’re are my employer’s children and I promise you that something bad will happen to you if he ever finds out about this!”

“Yeah and all your stupid storms are ruining our kingdom!” Lisa snapped in and pointed an accusing finger at Krupp. “We didn’t deserve them, so dad’s going to be twice as mad when–”

“Lisa, please stay out of this!” Edith shot the girl a warning look before it hit her. “Wait, what–what did she just–” She looked at Krupp with a confused look. “What did she mean by ‘your storms?’”

Krupp grimaced at this and avoided her gaze as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. “Uh... about that... there’s another reason why I...didn’t say who I really...” He didn’t know how to say it as he drummed his fingers against the rock. “Uh...”

“He’s our king back home.” George finished for him and Edith was only more confused. “What?” She could only ask as she glanced back to Krupp. Not knowing how else to respond, Krupp could only nod and a very dumbfounded Edith could only just stare at him. “That’s... just a joke... is it?” She finally asked. “You’re the–”

“For once, I wish it was.” He admitted and Edith felt a part of herself shut down.

All this time, she thought Benjamin was just some sort of traveler who had been down on his luck and she had no idea how he was earning his keep or where he went when he wasn’t with her. And now she was pretty much told that she had once befriended the infamous king under the ocean who was supposedly responsible for all the storms and who supposedly snatched up children who misbehaved off the shoreline.

She fell in love with the king under the ocean without knowing it like this was all some sort of messed up story. She could almost recall that old man from more than a week ago taunted her about how the myth was true and–how the heck could she process this?

“Oh wow.” She held a hand against her forehead and felt a slight daze. “That... explains a lot.” She then frowned. “Wait, no it doesn’t!” She turned back to Krupp with an accusing look. “None of this explains why you didn’t show up or try to contact me again! Something isn’t adding up!”

“I told you everything I could, what more do you want from me?!” Krupp was getting frustrated, yet he couldn’t dare bring himself to tell her the truth–especially after all that had happened.

“I need an answer!” Edith cried out in equal frustration. “Do you have any idea how much I enjoyed my time with you?! Do you know how worried and frustrated I was when you didn’t show up like you promised, or how long I waited on that pier hoping against hope that you would show up?!”

“Yes and it killed me to watch you get upset and cry!” Krupp confessed. “I hated every second of doing that to you, and I’d take it back if I–!”

The moment Edith froze up and stared at him in wide eyed and open mouthed disbelief, Krupp realized with horror that he admitted something he should not have admitted–something that was now even worse than what he once had wanted to tell her. The moment her body slumped and she shook her head, he knew he hurt her again.

“You... you actually–but you didn’t even–” Edith’s voice lost its edge–she couldn’t believe this. Why would he even do that to her? This was worse than him not showing up at all–him watching her suffer and not even–why was a part of her not surprised by this?

“What is wrong with you?” She shook her head in disbelief and lowered her eyes. “You watched me and didn’t do anything? That is just... so messed up.” She ended up resting her face in one hand as she drew her knees to her chest as the person she thought she knew could only just stare and not know what to say or do.

“You want to know the worst part about all of this?” She bitterly asked after a few moments. “There was something I wanted so badly–so, so badly–to tell you that day–I was so afraid to say it before. I wanted to hate you for what you did to me, but a part of me wanted to get another chance to say it if I ever saw you again and–” She took a deep breath (why did she feel like she was going to cry?) and continued. “Maybe a part of me was hoping for some sign that there was a reason that you weren’t there that day. But after seeing you being so mean and knowing that you didn’t trust me enough–knowing that you just watched me get so miserable when you failed to keep that promise–I don’t know if I want to say it anymore. I don’t even know who you are anymore. I don’t know if the person I knew before was even real.” She shut her eyes and rested her head upon her arms while feeling more than hurt and confused than she had ever been. “You’re worse than a jerk. You know that?”

Krupp could only stare at Edith in dismay as he felt a pain he didn’t think he could be able to feel ever again. He had no intention for any of this to happen, and yet he hurt her again and now she really hated him–which made him hate himself more than he thought possible. There was no way he could make it up to her–he couldn’t even say sorry. He didn’t know how or where he could even begin to express that regret.

He had spent so long being as he was for ten years that he had no clue how to show any genuine compassion or to atone for whatever he had done to upset someone. Being nice and reaching out just wasn’t him. Heck, even with her now he couldn’t feel the same way he once felt towards her. It was like he was never in love with her to begin with, and he could barely even remember why or how that happened anymore–it all felt wrong to him and that made that hallow feeling worse then it ever had. And as wonderful as it was to have that one moment under the water with her, it was like those random bursts of feeling strangely happy until it faded as fast as it came and he couldn’t summon it up again now matter how hard he could try, like it was physically impossible for him.

And the words he wanted to say to her once would not help her suffering or wipe away those ten years. So he hung his head and just didn’t dare face her yet again.

It was a scene that none of the children enjoyed. They didn’t like seeing this reunion play out like this, or see it get resolved so badly. Yet George and Harold knew what Edith did not know and this frustrated the both of them. “Oh my gosh, just tell her why you didn’t face her!” Harold yelled at Krupp. “Trust me, she’ll understand and this whole thing can be fixed!”

Both Edith and Krupp turned their attention to Harold and while Edith was confused, Krupp was annoyed. “Do you not know the meaning of privacy?!” He demanded. Why did the boys have to torment him now of all times?!

“We know the real reason why you didn’t keep your promise!” George said as he stood up. “You can’t let this thing go on anymore!”

“And if you don’t, we’ll tell her!” Harold added as he also stood up. “We owe her that much!”

Krupp was getting more than annoyed. “You have no–”

“We’ll tell her way more than what you want her to know!” Harold continued. “We’ll also tell her what you did to yourself and why it’s lead to this whole mess!”

“Yeah, we know about that procedure you did on yourself ten years ago!” George added.

Krupp stared at the two as it hit him as to what they were talking about. “How... how did you–”

“HEY YOU DOWN THERE!”

To the shock of everyone, a huge ship had somehow snuck towards them–without any of them being aware of it–and was slowing to a stop in front of the sea stack.

“TAKING CHILDREN OUT ON THE OCEAN IS CURRENTLY ILLEGAL!” Anthrope yelled into some sort of megaphone from upon the ship at both Krupp and Edith. “WHICH MEANS WE HAVE THE FULL RIGHT TO ARREST THE BOTH OF YOU, SO DON’T DO ANYTHING STUPID OR YOU’LL REGRET IT!”

All four children were incredibly worried as they realized that things were about to get worse. Edith was especially terrified for many reasons as she stared at Anthrope, while Krupp was just super confused and wondered how the heck he didn’t even see or hear the ship come towards them. “You have to hide now!” Edith frantically hissed to Krupp as she leaned towards him and tightened her grip on the curtains she wore.

Krupp had no desire to get caught up in whatever was about to happen and made to move away and get back under the water. “HEY DON’T YOU DARE MOVE!” Anthrope snapped and pointed at Krupp when he only made it a foot away from Edith. Feeling his anger rising, he grumbled incoherent words as he began to regret what he was about to do. Slowly his hand went to his sash to grab something hidden within it.

“HEY PUT YOUR HANDS UP!” Anthrope yelled. “DON’T YOU DARE TRY PULLING OUT A WEAPON ON ME!”

“I WASN’T GETTING A WEAPON!” Krupp snapped at the woman and Edith slapped her face while the kids nearby could only cringe and dread whatever could happen next. “AND THEY GOT OUT INTO THE OCEAN ON THEIR OWN! NEITHER OF US DID ANYTHING!”

“THEN HOW AND WHY ARE THEY ALL THE WAY OUT HERE?!” Anthrope yelled back. “WHAT, YOU SCOOPED THEM ALL UP AND SWAM THEM OVER HERE, BIG GUY?!”

“DO I LOOK LIKE I COULD DO THAT, YOU MORON?!” Krupp’s fury was only growing as Edith was trying to figure out how to get him to quit making things worse for them all.

“WELL YOU’RE THE MORON, YOU DOLT, BECAUSE TWO OF THOSE KIDS ARE THE KING’S CHILDREN!”

Krupp was about to yell at the woman but then stopped as those words sunk in for him. He turned around to take a good look at Lisa and Billy (both of whom looked extremely uncomfortable at that moment) before turning to Edith. “Is she serious?” He asked her. “Those two are–”

“Yes.” Edith frowned as she nodded. “They’re this kingdom’s prince and princess.”

There was a lot of mental cursing running through Krupp’s head as he realized he had been dangerously close to taking away the two down into the ocean (just because they were friends with the boys and kept pestering him) or worse. And that would have made things a lot worse for him, considering that was a guarantee for a war. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He could only shake his head and groan.

“NOW HAND OVER THE KIDS, OR ELSE!” Anthrope snarled as Mason began to approach her and see who she was getting in a spectacular argument with. A few others on the ship had also stopped what they were doing to watch what was going on.

“FINE, YOU CAN HAVE THEM, BUT THOSE TWO ARE STAYING WITH ME!” Krupp pointed to the boys who both let out an annoyed groan.

“THAT COUNTS AS KIDNAPPING!” Anthrope yelled. “EITHER YOU GIVE THEM ALL OR YOU GET YOUR BEHIND THROWN IN PRISON!”

“THEY DON’T BELONG IN YOUR KINGDOM, THEY BELONG TO MINE!” And that this point the boys let out an even bigger groan of annoyance with a dash of dismay.

Mason hesitated as the Chief Mate and whoever it was down there argued. He turned his head to look at the ocean–the sky lightened up a little, but not too much, yet it was slowly getting dark again and the waves were starting to act up. He looked back at the man who was still in what had to be cold ocean water and, with a suspicious frown, Mason took a spyglass out to get a better look at him.

“WELL THIS ISN’T YOUR KINGDOM AND YOUR BUTT’S GETTING ARRESTED WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!”

“DO THAT AND YOU’LL REGRET IT!”

At that point, Mason was able to get a good look at the man and when he saw the signs that he was not human, he felt his skin crawl as he began to put everything together. He quickly took the megaphone from Anthrope before she could make a specific retort. “So I take it that after causing the storms at the oil drill and my town, you decided to go after my children.” He calmly asked as a test. “Could you care to explain why?”

The panic and terror of Edith and all four children increased by the thousands as Krupp retorted with “HEY I WARNED YOU IDIOTS TO NOT PUT THAT DRILL IN MY OCEAN–!” He cut himself off as he realized that not only did he accidentally reveal his identity to this man, but this man revealed who he was to him at the exact same time. The words that ran through his head in that moment would have earned him a third slap if he said them out loud.

“Anthrope, you have my permission to hold aim at him.” Mason felt his own anger rise as Anthrope smirked in delight and pressed a button on her cane. “With pleasure.” She growled as she aimed her cane at Krupp to reveal that a harpoon spear was now sticking out at the bottom of it and she held the object as if it were a harpoon gun–which it secretly was.

“Just why?!” George groaned, as did Harold and the siblings.

“What is it with you people and aiming those things at me?!” Krupp demanded as he gestured at the weapon in Anthrope’s hands.

“Don’t think I won’t attack, because you’ve already did a lot of damage to my kingdom and now you’re trying to take my son and daughter hostage, in addition to those two children and my employee.” Mason warned Krupp. “I’d personally come down there and take it out on you, but I’m a patient man with a kingdom of people who are suffering because of the storms and because you won’t communicate with me for reasons you won’t explain.”

“Hey, I don’t need to send letter after letter to you about everything that goes on!” Krupp pointed at Mason as his anger resumed again. “Yeah, nice try trying to send me a few and try to explain why you let that drill happen out there when I told you–!”

Mason hesitated in confusion. “What are you talking about?! I never sent you any letters about that!”

“Oh no,” Lisa grimaced.

“Actually that was us!” Billy quickly jumped in and yelled to his dad. “We found that one place and we sent a letter or two about that to him!” He pointed to Krupp who shot the boy a highly confused look–as did George and Harold. “Uh, yeah... that was... us.” He nervously laughed as he looked at Krupp. “I mean we guessed it was you based on what was written in the letters that dad kept, and that’s what helped us figure out who you were back on the pier.”

“You were pen pals with them and you didn’t know it?!” Harold asked Krupp before laughing, as did George at the sheer irony of the idea.

“QUIT TURNING THIS ALL INTO A JOKE!!” Krupp roared at them.

“DO ANYTHING TO ANY OF THOSE KIDS AND YOU’LL REGRET IT!” Mason was getting fed up with this person. “NOW YOU’RE GOING TO TELL ME WHERE YOU TOOK THE OTHER CHILDREN AND I PROMISE YOU WILL GET A WAR IF I FIND OUT YOU HARMED THEM IN ANY WAY!”

“I DIDN’T TAKE THE HUMAN CHILDREN!” Krupp resumed his attention to Mason. “WHY WOULD I WANT THEM WHEN I HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH–!”

“OH, SO TELLING ME THAT TAKING THEM OUT OF REVENGE FOR THE DRILL WASN’T WHAT YOU WROTE TO ME IN THAT MESSAGE YOU SENT TO ME?!”

“I DIDN’T WRITE ANYTHING TO YOU ABOUT THAT!”

“THEN WHY DID YOU SAY YOU WERE GOING TO TAKE THEM, INCLUDING MY OWN CHILDREN, WHICH I CAN CLEARLY SEE RIGHT NOW?!”

George and Harold then recalled the signs and the lack of boats. They also recalled what happened with that boy that almost got taken by the robot and told them that Rose and many other children went missing.

“George, tell me you still have the robot head!” Harold pleaded. George let go of the curtain he wore and reached for his bag. He rummaged through it, but he couldn’t feel the object in question. “Oh no, I dropped it during the storm!” He cringed as Harold began to panic. They could not afford to let a war or something much worse than that happen!

“KRUPP DIDN’T KIDNAP THE CHILDREN!” Harold stood up and yelled at Mason. “SOMETHING ELSE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT!” He added as all eyes turned to him and George.

“YEAH, OR SOMEONE!” George added as he stood up next to Harold. “WE LOST THE EVIDENCE, BUT IF YOU ALL JUST CALM DOWN FOR ONE SECOND, WE CAN EXPLAIN!” Yet in that moment, either boy noticed the contraption that shot out of the water and headed straight towards Lisa and Billy. “JUST GIVE US A CHANCE TO–!”

A deafening scream met both boys’ ears and they turned around in time to see both Lisa and Billy getting hoisted up in the air while being trapped within the clutches of some metal claw like thing that was attached to some huge metallic looking tube that came from out of the water.

In that instant everything went into a panic as whatever snatched up the two children began rising out of the water and sent up large waves because whatever it was, was humongous. It was enough to shake the sea stack and cause the unopened box to fall over into a huge hole by one of the rock walls and shatter upon impact at the bottom.

“LISA!” George screamed at the same time Harold screamed “BILLY!”

“NO!” Mason–more terrified than he ever had been in his whole life–hurried to the end of the ship that was closest to whatever the thing was while Anthrope could only stare at it in complete shock.

“NOW WHAT’S HAPPENING?!” A horribly confused Krupp demanded as he threw his hands at the thing while Edith could only stare at it in horror.

“DAD!” Billy screamed as he tried reaching for Mason while Lisa struggled to get free, despite that both of them were several feet in the air while whatever the thing was that took them finally submerged. It looked like some sort of giant, mechanical squid or octopus hybrid that almost looked a few decades ahead of its time and one of the many mechanical tentacles was currently holding onto the prince and princess.

“You want something done, you do it yourself!” A strange short man with glasses and hair that stuck out in two different directions grumbled as a part of the mechanical monster’s forehead moved to the side to reveal him at a series of control panels, screens, levers, and what not. Behind him was a strange circular contraption that looked like a glass and metal container with something like a needle on the top. “Why is it that kids have to ruin everything?!”

“Are you serious?!” Lisa went from scared to greatly annoyed as she and her brother saw the one who took them. “Are we really getting kidnapped?!”

The man ignored them as he observed those down below who were either terrified or just flat out confused before he saw someone who was going to prove to be the most problematic. “Ah, one more thing to do!” He pressed a button.

Another mechanical tentacle shot out, but this time it shot under the water and–not knowing it was going to happen to him until it was too late–Krupp found himself getting yanked completely out of the water, and within a span of a few seconds he crashed into one of the rock walls of the sea stack where he remained pinned against.

If getting thrown against the wall wasn’t painful for him, then it was the fact that the claw like appendage was pressed tightly against his chest and torso to the point that it was almost crushing him. It was enough to make him yell out before he tried to grab onto the thing and push it away from him, but it would not budge–the tips of the claws bursted through the rock to hold him in place and the contraption barely yield to Krupp as if it was made to withstand his power.

“BENJAMIN!” Edith shrieked in terror as she shot up and rushed to Krupp’s aid. As she rushed past the boys, one of the curtains she wore fell off her and onto the rocky terrain while the other one hung around her neck and shoulders. Meanwhile George and Harold could only stare at the huge machine in wide eyed horror as they both thought the same thing.

Just what the heck is going on now?!

Chapter Text

“It’s thanks to you two that my plan was almost ruined!” The strange guy who was controlling the huge mechanical monster angrily snapped at George and Harold as he pointed an accusing finger at them–his voice made more audible to everyone thanks to the speaker that was built in with the controls. “Fortunately, I still have a few plans up my sleeve!”

Both George and Harold had no clue what was going on since this man came without any warning. One tentacle of the octopus like machine was holding onto a terrified Lisa and Billy–both of who were several feet up in the air above the rocky terrain of the ledge of the sea stack with the aid of some sort of claw at its end. Another tentacle with a similar claw had somehow manage to pull their king out of the water and had him pinned against one of the walls as tightly as it could.

Edith managed to reach Krupp as he tried as hard as he could to push the contraption away from him but was somehow impossible as if the thing it was attached to forced all of its weight against him. She grabbed onto one of the ends and tried to pull with all of her might, but even her assistance was of little use and the contraption barely budged. She even tried leaping up a little to press her feet against the rocks to help her free him, but it didn’t work and she lost her footing with only her hold on the contraption to keep her from slipping onto the ground.

“Huh, look at that.” The man with the strange hair and glasses mused as he stared at Krupp and then looked to the siblings. “It’s the royal catch of the day.”

“I DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE OR WHAT YOU ARE DOING!” Mason began as he yelled at the man while those on his ship scrambled to get weapons ready in case of a fight. “BUT YOU WILL RETURN MY CHILDREN TO ME OR ELSE!”

The man turned his attention to Mason. “Oh hey, if it isn’t one of my ex-employers!” He gave the man a mocking wave. “I haven’t forgotten about you, Your Majesty!”

Mason stared at the man and when he recognized who it was, he let out a loud groan and slapped his face as Anthrope (who just rejoined him) shot him a confused look. “Why... just... why did it have to be him?” He asked.

“And I haven’t forgotten about you either, Benjamin!” The man turned his attention back to Krupp. Krupp ceased trying to escape and looked up as Edith turned around to look at who was addressing him.“I told you you’d regret firing me after all I did for you! Especially that one thing you had me do!” The scientist reminded him with a glare. “You kicked me out and didn’t let me take my research or my stuff back because you suddenly developed a case of prejudice against humans! You said my stuff was dangerous when it wasn’t!”

Krupp look one disbelieving look at the machine before looking at the man who created it. “You know this kind of proves why I was right to do that in the first place!” Krupp snapped in annoyance at him. “It’s really not doing you any favors right now!”

“Harold,” George nervously hissed to Harold “I think that’s the scientist that gutted out you-know-who from Krupp!” Harold pulled the ring out from under his shirt and looked at it before looking at the man. “Oh man, you’re right!” Harold shot George a nervous look.

“Also, if you think you can try to stop me now, you can forget it!” The scientist turned to Mason and everyone on his ship. “Because if you do–” He grabbed a stick on the control panel and moved it.

Lisa and Billy screamed as they felt the tentacle suddenly drop towards the ground at a fast pace.

George screamed “NO!” as both he and Harold raced to try to save the two, and Edith also left Krupp to try to make a mad dash to the kids and also screamed out a “NO!” of her own. But before they could reach them, the tentacle stopped a couple of feet before it swung back up with its prey still in its hold. By the time the tentacle stopped, both Lisa and Billy were shaking uncontrollably and were close to tears.

“–you can kiss both your successors good-bye.” The scientist moved his hand away from the stick as Mason shot him a dark look–the kind of look that one would hope not to see or get from a more than enraged parent.

“This is why I hate roller coasters!” Lisa whimpered as Billy tried to grab her hand to comfort her, but even the warmth of the curtains that they were still wrapped up in could calm them down.

Frustrated and having no clue what else to do, Edith ran back to Krupp and tried to once again pull the contraption free from him as Harold and George stared up at the siblings in terror for them. “Luckily the thing I need the most to put my plans back on track isn’t from you!” The scientist continued to talk to Mason, but then he noticed the woman who tried to get the mershark free.

As Krupp struggled to get free, he tried to poke his hand through the binds to reach the object he was originally trying to grab at and finally succeeded at the same moment Edith reached him. Then before either of them knew it, a third tentacle made its way to the woman who was suddenly forced away from Krupp upon being grabbed by the claws on its end.

“EDITH!” He screamed and reached out to Edith, who found herself forcefully slammed against the rock wall, before she found herself getting dragged towards the hole and right before she came to the edge, she was forced to a stop–only for a hidden appendage within the end of the tentacle to force some sort of mask like device over her mouth.

“MMM MPH–?!” Edith’s now muffled voice could only come out in confused and terrified sounds. With the mask over her mouth, it was impossible to tell what she was saying.

“Great, that woman was getting as annoying as the sound of her voice.” The scientist sighed in relief as the woman struggled to break herself free and tried to pull the mask away from her mouth. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” The scientist yelled a warning at Edith. “Keep struggling and you’ll get knocked out by the chemicals in that device!”

“MPH?!” Edith froze up and stared down at the mask that kept her from talking while Krupp glared at the scientist and began to feel enraged to the point that he was too angry to even attempt a retort. Unfortunately for him, Edith’s captor knew what was likely to happen for what he had just done as his attention turned back to him.

“Hey, don’t you even think about having one of your big hissy fits, you overgrown drama queen!” The scientist yelled at Krupp just as the sky was beginning to darken up again and the waves of the now iron gray ocean was starting to get big again. “It’s bad enough if one of your storms destroys this vehicle and I guarantee that you won’t want that!”

“And what keeps us from attacking all at once?!” Anthrope demanded and the man shot her a mischievous smile.

“Oh, lets just say that this thing is carrying precious cargo." With a press of the button, a part of the large machine opened up–metal panels twisted and moved aside to reveal a glass–like dome–and all eyes were greeted with an unexpected sight.

WIthin the glass dome were many children who belonged to both ocean and land. There had to be close to fifteen or more children and many of them were startled to see where they had been taken to and who was also there. Many of the children from the land were from Lisa and Billy’s school and looked fine, but those from the ocean looked ill and tired out–they had been away from the ocean for too long and the lack of water was taking a toll on them. Their skin was dry and rough and the lower halves of their bodies were either even more dried up looking or dull instead of shimmering.

“Oh no,” George could only stare wide eyed beside Harold who was just as horrified to recognize more than one of the faces of the merchildren. They both could recognize Keisha and Kira as they stared down in surprise at the two.

“HELP US!” Mary Louisa (Lisa and Billy’s classmate) yelled as she pounded on the glass with her fists as a young merboy–Tommy–beside her struggled to lift himself up to see what was going on. “THEY’RE GETTING SICK!” She threw her hand at the merchildren who were weak and struggling to stay awake.

“THEY NEED WATER!” One human boy desperately yelled to Mason. “THEY NEED TO GET BACK INTO THE OCEAN!”

Amongst the terrified children, Rose looked down at George and Harold as she carefully held Heidi–the young merdolphin rested her head in the other girl’s lap and was an unhealthy shade of white. She let out a tired sigh as she struggled to turn her head to look out before seeing Harold.

“H–Harold?” Heidi wheezed as she tried to focus on who she thought she saw down below her.

“So yeah, you really don’t want to attack me.” The scientist continued as many eyes returned to him. “And none of this would have happened for the reasons I think you know about.”

“George what do we do?!” Harold asked as he turned to his friend. “This is totally out of our control!” He grabbed the ring and looked at it. “It’s out of his control!” He shook his head in frustration.

“And as for you!” The scientist resumed his attention on Krupp, who had been mortified to see that he was very, very wrong as to where those other children had gone–he had been too focused on one possibility to even consider that this could have happened. “Thanks to that little experiment you let me do on you, I have the means to do something like that yet again on a much larger scale–except this time, I want to take all of your powers over the ocean from you!”

Krupp was now confused as his attention went back to the scientist. “I’m sorry, what?!”

“Well considering how closely tied it is to your emotional state, I can easily take them away!” The short man boasted. “And without the parts you let me take away from you all those years ago, you’ll probably go into a coma or just die! I’m nowhere near through with getting my revenge on you all and if I have to take your powers and cause a disaster big enough to ruin both kingdoms of land and sea, then so be it!”

“OH LIKE HECK I’M GIVING IT TO YOU!” Was the angry retort.

Though Mason was in a panic, he then figured out another, possibly, very incredibly, and utterly stupid reason as to why this all was probably happening. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” He angrily demanded.

The scientist turned to Mason. “I DON’T KNOW WHY YOU’RE AFTER THEM, BUT DID YOU SERIOUSLY TRY TO GET HIM TO ATTACK MY KINGDOM BECAUSE OF THAT ONE INCIDENT?! YOU KIDNAPPED THOSE KIDS AND MY CHILDREN BECAUSE OF YOUR NAME?!”

“YES!” The man roared at Mason. “THAT IS VERY MUCH THE CASE! SO WHO’SE LAUGHING NOW, HUH BIG GUY?!”

Both George and Harold were confused as to what was going on with that exchange but then they recalled something that Mason told them the day before. “Wait...” George’s eyes lit up. “Is that guy... is that–oh my gosh, Harold, do you think that’s–?!”

“I think it is!” Harold snickered despite himself. “I think that’s the guy he told us about!”

“Hey!” George tried his hardest not to laugh as he addressed the scientist. “Guy up in the huge robot thingie! Is–?!” His voice cracked. “Isn’t your name Professor Poopypants?!”

“Yeah, what of it?!” Professor Poopypants snapped.

Both George and Harold took one look at each other and, despite how serious the situation at hand had been, it was utterly destroyed at the reveal of the unfortunate name of the crazy scientist and they bursted out laughing.

“YOUR NAME ACTUALLY IS POOPYPANTS!” Harold practically squeaked as he collapsed to the ground and held his stomach while George toppled over beside him.

“I THOUGHT IT WAS A JOKE, BUT IT WASN’T!” George had a hard time breathing through his laughing. “Did you know that was his actual name?!” He struggled to ask Krupp. “You didn’t hire him without knowing it, did you?!”

“ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!” Poopypants angrily yelled at the boys. “I’ve taken your friends and your king hostage, and your laughing at me instead of cowering in fear?!” He then heard laughing from above and when he looked up, he saw that both Lisa and Billy were laughing in the grasp of the claw.

“That’s a joke, right?!” Billy chuckled as Lisa was howling and kicking her legs. “Your name really isn’t Poopypants, is it?!”

“It is!” The short man snarled at the boy, who ended up laughing some more. “Now less laughing and more screaming like you did–!”

“I’m sorry, I can’t be scared of you anymore!” Lisa giggled. “You just killed all the terror for me!”

And it wasn’t the boys or the siblings who found this funny. The other children that Poopypants had captured found his name as ridiculous as it was funny. The human were especially laughing their heads off and though the merchildren didn’t fully understand his name, they understood enough to have a laugh over it even if they weren’t feeling so well.

Even most of those upon the Seaworthy couldn’t resist laughing because they weren’t expecting that reveal. Among the few who didn’t laugh was Mason, who took his glasses off and pinched his nose in annoyance as he felt a headache coming on while Anthrope was snorting with laughter beside him. “What kind of idiot goes by that name and expects to be taken seriously?!” She asked.

The only other notable two adults besides Mason who did not laugh were both Edith and Krupp. While the former had no clue how to react to the reveal, the latter just stared at the scientist who used to work for him and wondered just how the heck his day went from incredibly aggravating, to incredibly terrifying, to incredibly stupid within the span of a few hours.

“THERE’S NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT MY NAME!” Poopypants shouted at them all as he felt his blood boiling and his pressure rising. “I BET A LOT OF YOUR NAMES ARE STUPID AND FUNNY TO OTHERS!” He noticed George and Harold laughing and gritted his teeth at them. “YOU!” He pointed a finger at them as they sat up. “YOU TWO ARE RUINING MY BIG MOMENT! YOU SHOULD BE AFRAID!”

“I’m sorry!” Harold chuckled while clutching the rope with the ring around his neck as he and George looked at Poopypants. “It’s just–all these problems you caused, your involvement with what happened with Krupp–and you just end up having one of the best names ever!” He and George resumed laughing as Poopypants felt an increasing urge to lash out.

Then a very nasty idea came to him and he gave the boys a crazed grin. “OH, YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT I FIND HILARIOUS?!” He flipped two switches. “THIS!”

Both George and Harold were laughing too much that they failed to see two more tentacles reaching out towards them. By the time they heard their names be screamed out by the siblings, it was too late as one tentacle grabbed George with a claw at the end and the same happened with Harold, whose startled reaction included him accidentally tearing the necklace with the ring off his neck and it soared and landed within inches from the edge of the hole that Edith was also inches away from.

“HAROLD?!” George ceased laughing and became outright panicked when he realized what was happening. He tried to pull himself free, but the claws tightened up on him to the point that his arms were pinned to his body and he could only wiggle in its grasp.

“GEORGE!” Harold–who was in a similar predicament screamed as he tried to reach his free hand towards George. He also tried to push the claw’s ends away from him but they wouldn’t budge.

“NOT SO FUNNY NOW, HUH?!” Poopypants yelled at the boys as all the laughter immediately died.

“George what do I do?!” Harold tried reaching for the other boy as he tried to reach his free arm at him.

“Snap your fingers!” George tried yelling back.

“It’s not going to work, he’ll only pass through us!” Harold cried in frustration.

Meanwhile, Poopypants took a look at the contraption behind him as he had an idea that would really benefit him. He turned to look at Krupp, who was just staring at the scene that was happening while Edith resumed trying to tear herself free from the claw that held her hostage, now that another set of children she cared about were in danger.

“You know, I warned you that there would be consequences for that procedure I did on you, Benjamin!” Krupp flinched when he realized the man was addressing him and he looked up. “I told you there were some things you would probably want to keep, but you didn’t listen! And now look where it’s gotten you–everyone hates your guts because it’s almost physically impossible for you to be nice anymore, let alone be capable of loving someone! So in other words, a lot of this has been your fault!”

“Why are you bringing this up now?!” Krupp demanded as Edith now stared at him in confusion.

“Because as tempting as it’s been to use your girlfriend against you, I thought of something far more interesting and I’m curious to see just how little compassion you have left in your heart!” The professor grinned as he forced the boys to move closer to Krupp. “So, either you give me your powers... or I crush these two before your very eyes!”

Both boys stopped struggling and stared wide eyed with dread at Krupp. “You’re joking, aren’t you?” Krupp snorted in disbelief and raised an eyebrow at the professor. “You aren’t actually going to do it.”

To which the professor flipped one of the switches and George let out a cry of alarm seconds later as he felt the claw tighten up around his chest and torso.

“GEORGE!” Harold screamed in horror as both boys realized that the man was not joking and that their lives were in serious danger.

“HE’S NOT JOKING! HE’S NOT JOKING!” George freaked out.

“See, either way I get something out of this and I really won’t mind if something happens to them!” The professor informed a startled Krupp who also now understood that this was not a joke in any way. “And from what I understand, you hate these two with a passion! So you might get something out of this too, right?!”

“MMMMPF AHHHMM MMM!” Edith tried to yell something at Krupp as she tried to reach a frantic hand towards him, but her words were useless if he couldn’t hear her plea through the mask over her mouth.

“LET ME GO!” Harold yelled as he tried to kick at the claw, only to feel it tighten up around him and the look of panic he made at this was all too clear to George. “Harold?!” George gasped before he shot the scientist a dirty look. “Hey if you want us to apologize about the name thing, we’re sorry, ok?!”

“YOU HAD YOUR FUN, NOW I’M HAVING MINE!” The professor yelled at the boy as he flipped a switch and George felt his own prison tighten up on him by an inch.

I thought this was supposed to be a kid-friendly adventure we were going to have! George panicked. What the heck happened to make everything go so wrong?!

“WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO SPARE THE CHILDREN?!” Mason yelled at the professor. “NAME WHATEVER IT IS YOU–!”

“YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!” The professor snapped at the human king. “UNLESS YOUR KIDS WANT TO GO FIRST!” He reminded him.

The boys continued to struggle–they knew they had no chance of Krupp sparing them. It was pointless to plead to him if he was going to be forced to choose between them and his power, as well as everyone else. They knew he would never show them genuine mercy in a million years, especially after all that had happened.

“LOOK IF YOU WANT TO GET RID OF US, THEN JUST DO IT TO ME!” Harold yelled, knowing that the safety of everyone else was going to be far more important, and if he could change it up so that he could save George too, then so be it. “GEORGE IS AN ONLY CHILD!”

“HAROLD NO!” George frantically protested, not wanting his best friend to have to make that sacrifice for him. “I’M THE ONE WHO GOT US IN ALL THIS TROUBLE! IT SHOULD BE ME!”

Up above, the siblings could do nothing but watch until they realized what they could do instead.

“DON’T LET THEM GET CRUSHED!” Lisa frantically yelled down at Krupp as her brother stared in dread at the sight of George and Harold inching closer to their demise. “THEY DON’T DESERVE IT!”

“PLEASE DON’T DO IT!” Billy pleaded alongside his sister. “YOU CAN’T HATE THEM THAT MUCH!”

And it wasn’t just the prince and princess who was scared for the boys to the point of pleading.

“NO!” Rose yelled as she held onto Heidi, who couldn’t find the strength to let out a scream of her own. “SAVE THEM!” Rose desperately pounded a fist against the glass. Handfuls of human children who understood what was going to happen also tried to plead on behalf of the boys.

“NO!”

“DON’T DO IT!”

“DON’T BE A MEAN JERK!”

They spent enough time with the merchildren to understand that the stories of the king under the ocean’s horrible nature were more then true and they tried their hardest to stop him from doing something incredibly selfish, but their words went unheard thanks to the walls of their prison.

Meanwhile, most of the merchildren were conflicted and felt that pleading to their king to spare George and Harold was pointless. They knew of his cruelty and no matter how much they wanted the boys to be saved, they truly believed that Krupp wouldn’t spare them–he didn’t care about anyone enough to make such a self-sacrifice for them, let alone for those two. Both Keisha and Kira (who remembered how mean Krupp had been that one fateful day) could do nothing but hug and look away in fear of seeing the best friends perish before their eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Harold!” George felt himself about ready to cry as the claws around him kept pressing into him. “I’m so sorry!” He apologized once again to Harold who was trying to push open the contraption keeping him imprisoned, but with no luck.

As the boys panicked over their fates, Krupp–who had no idea what to do–stared at them in confusion. Why weren’t they begging for him to spare them like anyone else would have? Like how their friends were begging him to throw away more than just his power for those two ungrateful pranksters? Did the two believe that he was not going to?

But honestly, why should he? After all they did, they had brought this upon themselves because they couldn’t stop finding something to have a laugh over. They ruined so much for him from the moment he had been forced to go back up–he didn’t owe them anything. They were just like so many ungrateful others who he had to make sacrifices for! They made his life a living nightmare and they ruined what little he had valued left! He wanted to see them get separated and it was coming true before his eyes! He was getting to see the two brats suffer and this was what they got for–!

Krupp felt someone staring at him and he glanced over to see Edith giving him a pleading look with her eyes–as if she also wanted him to choose the boys over himself. As if she was under some delusion he was still that same naive idiot from ten years back. If the boys had let her shoot him, they wouldn’t have been in this situation–they could have had more than just their freedom if they hadn’t tried to stop Edith at the pier.

But... then why didn’t they? Why would they try to have his life spared after all that he did to them? When they could have gotten rid of him for good without having to do anything?

...And why did they not keep silent when the human king was threatening him? Why would they tell him he was innocent during those accusations? If they hated him so much, why would they–

George screamed as he felt the contraption tighten up and it was getting harder for him to breathe. It was the same with Harold and no one could be able to stop what was happening. Neither boy so much as tried to plead for Krupp to spare them as if they instantly knew that he wouldn’t do so–as if he decided their fate the moment the choice was offered to him.

He didn’t expect either of the boys to try to willingly sacrifice their own life for the other since they were so reliant on each other... so close... as if they were the only security and light in each other’s life...

...They had something he never had when he was their age... something he wanted so badly back then... something he had once and it could have been more if he hadn’t been so scared... if he hadn’t been such an idiot. And apparently not even death could truly sever the bond he wanted so badly to destroy.

If he was currently in their position, no one would have jumped in for him because he was hated that much–at this point he doubted Edith would have after he messed things up so badly with her. She almost killed him when she looked at him with eyes of hate and now she probably wanted nothing to do with him after she found out how cowardly he had been.

As much as he wanted try to blame the boys for him almost drowning her, he knew deep down that it was really his–he thought she had been pathetic and stupid before he realized who was willing to face him as well as the storm–his hatred almost killed her.

In the end, lashing out at the world and trying to make everyone else miserable because he couldn’t stand others being happy... because he had been so miserable and was such a coward... that was what caused all of this to begin with, didn’t it? In the end, it didn’t make him happy–it never did no matter how much he wanted to believe it.

Now it was either let the boys pay the price for his mistakes... or risk his life and let everyone else pay the price for his mistakes... either way, he was going to be the bad guy and be hated forever, wasn’t he?

“Look, if you hate us that much–!” George finally tried to croak out to Krupp “–just make it quick! After all, we’re both just little brats to you in the end, right?!” He let out a weak laugh as he felt himself about ready to cry actual tears. He was close to giving up and just wanted it over with–Krupp wasn’t going to save him or Harold, so what was the point? “We know we messed up big time and we’re sorry!”

“George, I can’t–!” Harold pleaded as his breathing became shallow. “George!” He reached out once more for George, who braced himself for the inevitable.

“LAST CHANCE!” The professor yelled at Krupp, whose eyes were now shut and who began trembling in his struggle to make up his mind. “IF YOU DON’T CHOOSE, I’LL—!”

“OK, FINE! YOU CAN TAKE IT!” Krupp found himself yelling out in a desperate panic before he could think of stopping himself.

Incredibly shocked at what they just heard, both George and Harold turned their heads to see Krupp look incredibly lost and wide eyed as he refused to look anyone in the eye. Even the young merchildren were taken by surprise when they heard their king utter words that they were so sure he would not say. Did Krupp actually spare George and Harold’s lives?

Krupp himself could hardly believe what he had just said–what he was doing felt as if it was completely going against everything he was.

“Really?” The professor who had been expecting the other answer asked. “No take-backs?” His only response was a stunned silence. The professor hesitated before shrugging. “Ok, that was easy enough, I guess.” He pressed a button to make the contraption behind him rise up to take aim at his intended target before flipping the switches that controlled the fates of the boys.

Both George and Harold fell from the claws and onto the ground, and both struggled to breathe in as much as they could for as much as their lungs could take in, while Krupp just stared at the two. Some part of him still had no clue what he had just done or why he even did it... and some part of him had just... given up.

George lunged towards Harold and rested his forehead against his and placed his hands on the blonde’s shoulders. The blonde returned the gesture as they both tried to breath in as much as they could–they were not in pain, but they were badly shaken from what almost happened to them. They had a hard time believing any of it and once more they just wanted to hold onto each other for dear life.

Somewhere up above, the contraption had risen up a few feet from its spot and tilted until its tip was aimed at Krupp. Meanwhile, George and Harold finally stared at Krupp in complete shock as they struggled to recover–they could not believe what he had just sacrificed. They could not believe that he chose their lives over his power–and possibly more than that. Why would he do that?

Krupp then realized he lost his hold on the object he was planning to use as an attempt to escape, but what was the point? It wouldn’t of worked and there probably wasn’t any power left in it after being out of use for so long. He didn’t even know what was going to happen to him at this point, but he doubted he would survive it.

In the end, he was a complete failure–whatever he did was just going to make things worse for himself and everyone else. No matter how hard he tried, he was always going to end up being the much hated bad guy. All he was good for was destroying things and making everyone else miserable. He was never going to find or keep happiness, no matter how much he wanted it.

That’s what he got for finally taking that moment to look within himself and reflect–and hate what he saw more than anyone or anything else.

He finally glanced over to see Edith with a scared look in her eyes. He didn’t know what she thought of him anymore... he just wished that he saw this outcome all those years ago. If he did... then maybe he could have had that courage to just tell her how much she truly meant to him. How much he loved... but it was too late for him, even to the very end. What good did it do for a complete monster like him to even hope–?

George and Harold could do nothing but watch as a familiar beam shot out from the contraption behind them and hit their greatest antagonist. The lack of yelling or resistance beyond him flinching at the impact was far more eerie than what they had been expecting.

“MMMMAPHMMM!” Edith screamed into the mask and desperately reached out for Krupp, but her prison kept her in place.

Suddenly the beam changed its color to a sickly dark green and retreated back towards the contraption–and Krupp slumped back into the rock wall in a seemingly lifeless state with his eyes now closed.

“Krupp?!” George voice was slightly hoarse as he and Harold ran to Krupp’s side, but then the tentacle that had kept him in place let go of him and retracted back, while the mershark collapsed to the ground below as if he were some sort of lifeless toy.

“MMMMAPHMMM!” Edith screamed again and tried to desperately tear the mask off so that she could try to be by Krupp’s side. All it took was a few seconds of tugging before she felt something get sprayed at her mouth and nose and she found herself becoming unexpectedly drowsy within a few seconds. She struggled to stay awake and tried one last time to pull free as she watched the boys kneel beside Krupp to try to shake him and awaken him, but soon her vision was blurring.

“Hey are you alright?!” Harold tried shaking the mershark’s shoulder, but all it did was shake his head and cause the crooked and loose black toupee to fall completely off of it. Try as he might, Harold couldn’t get Krupp to awaken and open his eyes, and the latter looked incredibly miserable and broken as if his final thoughts caused him a tragic despair. George also tried to feel for a pulse but it was hard to do and when he did at the adult’s neck, it was alarmingly slower than it probably should have been. The adult didn’t die on the spot, but his current fate was not promising for him.

Moments later, Edith lost all consciousness and she fell into a slumber that caused her to fall over and into the hole she had been standing by. The boys heard a crash and turned around to see that she had vanished, but it was the terrified cry of “EDITH!” that made them look up to see the siblings still hanging up in the air–reminding them that there was still a lot more at stake.

“YES!” Poopypants hopped and squealed with delight upon seeing the now filled contraption. What was inside was a sickly dark green and brown fog-like substance that had an occasional spark of white, like lightning striking across a sky– it was the power over the storms in all of its physical form, tainted by the destructive rage of the previous owner.

“You see this?!” Poopypants pointed at the contraption and demanded to Mason and those upon the ship. “I’m not through with you just yet! This will give me full control over any part of the ocean, which means that if anyone gets in my way or makes fun of me again, I can use this against them as payback–starting with your precious coastal kingdom!”

Despite all that they had endured, the boys were not ready to give up just yet. “We can’t let this happen.” George looked at Harold with determination in his eyes. “We have to stop him before more lives are in danger.”

“Right.” Harold nodded in equal determination before he raced to George’s bag and George followed suit.

“YOU CAN’T DO THIS!” Mason yelled at Poopypants. “YOU CAN’T JUST HARM EVERYONE WHO MADE INSULTS TO YOU!”

“Oh, and you’re going to try to stop me?!” Poopypants demanded. “Try to blow this thing up?! Remember what I still have with me!” He pointed to the prison of increasingly terrified children before pointing up to Lisa and Billy. “Do it and they’ll go with me, just like that!” He snapped his fingers for emphasis–it was loud enough that the speaker he had equipped to make him more audible to the others could pick it up–before he pressed a few buttons on the machine.

Right as Harold grabbed George’s bag and handed it to him, Captain Underpants was summoned out from the ring yet again. The adult shook his head in confusion, but then saw the boys running towards the giant mechanical octopus. “Hey guys, what’s going on?!” He asked. “Why did that scary guy have my face?!” The boys didn’t seem to hear him as they raced to the machine, but they were forced to double their pace when they saw that the machine was now getting away and retracting all of its tentacles back, including those still upon the sea stack.

“HAROLD, GRAB IT!” George yelled at Harold while pointing to the tentacle that previously held Edith. Harold hurried over and latched on, and George did the same thing as Captain Underpants flew over to try to catch up to them as they were dragged across the ground.

“What’s going on?! What is that monster you just grabbed onto?!” Captain Underpants pleaded yet again. George turned his head to look at him, but then Harold yelled “LOOK OUT!” as the colossal machine began to send huge waves up as it made a speedy retreat. The machine knocked the Seaworthy to the side and out of its way as it sped off towards someplace between two kingdoms and the boys had to hold on for dear life as the tentacle shot over the waves.

When Captain Underpants saw what was about to happen, he flew backwards as fast as he could before the waves could crash into him and send him back into the ring. Now that he knew how bad the water was to him, he was starting to develop a strong fear of it–yet his fear of not knowing what was going on or why George and Harold were doing something that looked dangerous was much stronger.

“Once we get our bearings, we’re going after that thing!” Anthrope yelled at her men from upon the Seaworthy. “Don’t let that maniac get to the town!”

He had no clue what was going on, but Captain Underpants was not convinced that the vessel would reach the metal monster in time. He wanted to go after the boys, but they were going towards a place where he could not be of use to them, which was making him feel useless, which was something he did not like at all.

“What do I do?!” Captain Underpants wrung his hands in a panic. “I need to be with the boys–!” He looked down and saw that he was now above some big hole in the ground. Some sort of huge crate had crashed at the bottom, and–for some strange reason–Edith was laying amongst several white things that were in the crate.

“Edith?!” Captain Underpants flew down and knelt at Edith’s side. He could see that she was wearing something red with black polka dots that looked a lot identical to his cape upon her shoulders–oddly enough, he saw a huge cloth of that same color laying on the rocks above the hole. He could also see that the several white things underneath Edith were just a bunch of white colored sheets and clothing–including the exact kind of underpants that he was wearing. Yet he was more concerned about Edith as the woman looked like she was deep asleep with her eyes closed and strands of hair covering her face; she would have looked like someone out of a fairy tale to him if the circumstances were different.

“Edith, what’s going on?!” He tried to grab her shoulder, only for his hand to pass through it. “Why are you down here?! Where are the boys going?!” But the woman who gave him the strange, yet wonderful feelings, would not wake up.

Frustrated at not being able to touch Edith to wake her up (or just get her out of the deep, awful hole), and frustrated that he had no idea what was happening without the boys to tell him, Captain Underpants stopped and tried to calm down. “There has to be–” He tried to reason. “There has to be something I can–” Something stopped him. He felt that strange pull he felt towards the ocean again. But this time it was like something on the other end was tugging really hard at him as if whatever it was was close by.

Curious as to what it was, Captain Underpants reluctantly left Edith’s side and flew up to try to find the source. He felt the pull get stronger in one specific direction and he turned his head to see where it got so ferocious that he felt as if he had to go to the source as if his life depended on it. He then frowned in puzzlement when he realized that the pull was not to the ocean, but to someone. Someone who was laying unconscious on the ground and who looked an awful lot like he did the first time he had awakened and met the boys.

That pull he was feeling was towards the individual who was previously trying to tear George and Harold apart–the same individual who wore his face as if he had looked into a mirror.

Chapter Text

-Sometime ago/back during chapter 11-

Madame Miyuki stared at the vial she had used on the ring when the boys were viewing the original owner’s past. The green liquid within it was very hard to get, and without the option to have it consumed, she had to resort to her only other option.

She knew it was going to work on who she meant to use it on. She had foreseen it in the best possible future.

“You have suffered because of the actions you made when you were whole and scared.” She thought of that person in question. “Your heart is full of compassion and you have committed acts of kindness and justice despite the difficulties you’ve faced and will soon face. So with this vial comes a gift, although temporary and only for one day. When you listen to your heart and choose the right path... when you’re truly needed when no one else is left... should you come face to face with your other half and he is unable to act... that is when George and Harold’s creation and the living embodiment of their friendship may finally become real.” She smiled. “I promise you will get the happy ending you deserve, if you stay strong, determined, and compassionate.”

“After all,” She mischievously grinned as she tossed the vial up into the air. “Your other self might reject you now, but I wasn’t exactly clear to those boys on what could happen if he wasn’t awake!” She grabbed the vial as soon as she could. “Once you take over, this will make you the person you need to be for a few spectacular hours!”

-back to the present-

Captain Underpants cautiously flew over to the huge mershark who had his face and who had tried to pull George and Harold apart, but he soon saw that the other one seemed to be asleep and had his eyes shut. His mouth was only slightly opened, but his teeth weren’t as noticeable this time, which only made the comparison between him and Captain Underpants more obvious to the latter.

As soon as Captain Underpants was close enough, he noticed something green on the ground near the mershark and recognized it right away as a bracelet similar to the one the boys used to turn themselves human... like he did once before... wait, did he use one before?

He... he did. He remembered a bit of it now, even if it didn’t feel like that person from the past was really him.

He once did what they did, only it was to escape from the life felt like he had been trapped into... to find happiness in the world above... with a wonderful girl with eyes bluer than the sea itself... but then–

Captain Underpants looked at the mershark as he began to recall what the boys told him. That this tyrant who was so mean to them was him... no he was the bad half! And they said that he himself was the good half that he took out because he didn’t think he could be happy–

This isn’t right! He had mentally screamed to himself when he tried to rip out that ability to feel love or to hope or any other wonderful feeling–a part of him had second thoughts! Don’t do this to yourself!

If it can make my life better, then I’ll do it! He had argued back inside his head.

But what will happen to you if you can’t feel love or hope?

I’ll take my chances!

A part of himself didn’t want to do it because he knew what he was doing was more than just a bad idea. And that part that pleaded to stop–

It’s not too late!

SHUT UP!

–that part... That part was him.

...Oh.

Now it made sense to him.

Captain Underpants didn’t remember everything about himself, but he had now recovered enough to finally understand that the one before him was him, no matter how badly he wanted to deny it.

He was now kneeling beside his other self, who seemed asleep, miserable, and unaware of what was going on. His other self who tried to separate the boys and who was able to do things he himself could not, like actually being able to grab onto someone–he didn’t know whether he should be angry at him or find pity for him.

Somehow the boys were able to do something to his other self while he was gone, but now they were in serious trouble. What if it was his fault for whatever was happening? No! He couldn’t let it happen!

“Maybe you were upset enough to throw me away like I was nothing to you.” Captain Underpants told his other half as he felt himself growing frustrated and upset again. “But I wish you didn’t because George and Harold need help and I can’t just wait around and do nothing! I want to be the hero they deserve–no, that they made me to be! None of this would have happened if you tried to stay positive and didn’t choose to be mean to everyone! Maybe you hate them, but those two mean everything to me!”

The mershark didn’t stir, which only made Captain Underpants more frustrated as he reached out to shake him, even if he could not. “ARE YOU EVEN–! WHOAH!” At the exact moment Captain Underpants touched the mershark’s shoulders, a burst of red light came out, like when he would be sent back into the ring. Except this time, he wasn’t being sent back into the ring.

This time he felt himself get pulled into the other one’s body, as if something within him grabbed back and wanted to pull him in.

It happened so fast that he didn’t have a lot of time to react or register what was going on around him.

Seconds later, the light faded and the mershark’s body gave off a faint green glow before he shot up with a gasp of air and dark eyes wide with confusion. The usual cold, hardened gaze within those eyes was no more, but instead it was replaced with something more alert, warm, and innocent.

“What on earth just–?” He asked as the green faded as quickly as it came without realizing that it happened to begin with. He wondered why he was suddenly looking at a different direction instead of at his counterpart. And why did he suddenly feel so different, like he was heavy and light at the same time? “What did I–?” His hand automatically touched the ground in an attempt to support himself.

Then he felt a strange sensation under his hand and looked down. He felt the cold of the rocky terrain, but he also felt several small bumpy things under his palm. His fingers curled around something and when he lifted his hand to look at the object, he found the green bracelet that had a white bead with a spiral upon it in his hand.

Wait a minute.

He was holding an object; he never did that before.

He couldn’t do that–he should not have been able to pick it up as if it were solid to him. It should have gone right through him.

He froze up as he looked down and saw that his body wasn’t his own–it was the body of his other self. And he could feel everything around him, from the air to the rocks below him.

He was somehow inside his other self’s body, which meant... Well, he didn’t know entirely what it meant, but he knew what he wanted to do if his sudden realization was correct. It was what he needed to do.

George and Harold need me.

He stared at the bracelet with great determination before ripping off the bracer around his wrist as if the metal was just wet paper to him and slid the bracelet on in its place. Even before the transformation took effect, he starting ripping the rest of the adornments off like a newly freed prisoner ripping his shackles off.

“After that monstrosity!” Mason yelled on the Seaworthy. “We have to catch up to it before it’s too late!”

The crew hurried to try to get the ship to pick up speed while Anthrope barked out additional commands. Yet the mechanical octopus had broken off a part of one of the propellers when it made its getaway and the ship was moving at a slower pace than usual.

“Something’s wrong!” A crew member yelled. “That thing must have damaged the bottom of the ship!”

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?!” Anthrope yelled in frustration. Everyone was so busy trying to figure out what to do that they didn’t see the lone figure making a mad dash across the ledge of the sea stack. He snatched up the red curtain with black polka dots that was on the ground (and had seemed to dry out in record time) and he shook it off before tying it around his neck.

Moments later, he had gotten down into the hole where Edith was asleep upon the items in the destroyed crate. From those items, he snatched up one pair of underpants as things got chaotic upon the ship.

“That maniac has my children and is going to destroy our kingdom!” Mason yelled. “Can’t you hurry it up?!”

“We’re trying!” One crew member was in tears. “But at this point, we won’t make it in time!”

After finishing up with putting together his attire, the figure quickly wrapped Edith up with the curtain that she wore and when he flew out of the hole with her in his arms, he carefully set her down near the red ring that was once his prison. It didn’t occur to him to just take her upon the ship, or that he had actually picked her up in the first place, as his mind was now focused on only one goal in the form of two young, smiling faces.

“What do I do, what do I do?” Mason panicked, not realizing what was happening on the sea stack as a man in nothing but a pair of underpants and a curtain for a cape took to the sky as if he were a bird. As the crew struggled to get the ship going, something red, white, and peach colored flew off in the direction they were trying to get to as fast as it could.

******

George and Harold held onto the tentacle for dear life as the machine it was attached to sped towards a spot between the kingdom under the ocean and the kingdom upon the surface.

“Do you think we could swim after it if we fall off?!” Harold cried out to George. The fact that the boys were still hurting a bit from almost getting squeezed to death was not helping with holding on.

“I don’t know, but I’d rather hold on for a bit longer!” George cried back. “Ugh, I wish we didn’t ditch our shoes!” Not only was it cold, but parts of the metal of the tentacle felt slippery and made it hard to cling to. It didn’t help that neither of the boys had much experience with climbing anything in their human forms.

“LET US GO!” Lisa screamed as she and Billy glared at Poopypants. They had been forced into the spacious part of the mechanical creature where the crazy professor was piloting it and right now they were still trapped in the claw which had detached from the tentacle it had been a part of. They were inches away from the contraption that held the king under the ocean’s power over the storms and even the other kidnapped children of both races were nervously staring at it as they dreaded how it could possibly be used.

“That thing can’t be safe to use!” Billy protested to the professor. “Especially if you’ve never used it before!”

“When you have an IQ as high as mine, anything is possible!” Poopypants snarled as he turned around and pointed an accusing finger to the boy. “Now quit your complaining and get ready for the show!”

“You’re going to destroy our home!” Lisa snarled. “You won’t get away with this!”

“Oh but I will!” The scientist mockingly replied back. “They’ll all blame it on the ocean king and his people will blame it on him! Everyone else will assume it was a natural disaster! And since both of you are the future rulers of your homeland, I can use you to my advantage however I see fit!”

“We aren’t going to help you!” Billy growled.

“Maybe you won’t but I have a lot of devices that can turn you into my mindless slaves! In fact, maybe you might get your kindness ripped out, like I did to that overgrown shark!” Poopypants warned. “I got a lot of test subjects now! I could take away your ability to laugh, which I think will be my next step for vengeance!”

Both siblings stared at the professor. “That’s just stupid.” Billy could only comment.

“YOU WANT ME TO START CALLING YOU ALL NAMES INSTEAD?! YOU WANT TO BE PRINCE LUMPY AND PRINCESS BOOGER–!”

“Yeah no.” Lisa rolled her eyes. “We aren’t changing our names unless it’s our choice.”

“Yeah, we really can’t take you seriously if that’s going to be your next plan.” Billy agreed.

Meanwhile, the boys’ grip was loosening up and they were slipping towards the claw end of the tentacle as it flailed about behind the mechanical monster that sent up waves upon waves of water in its pathway. They still held on as tight as they could as they both tried to think of a way to get to the contraption that held Krupp’s power.

“Maybe when it comes to a stop, we’ll crawl to the center!” Harold suggested.

“And how do you think we can get that container thing away from Poopypants?!” George asked. “We can’t just shut that thing off while he’s still there!”

“Argh!” Harold realized something. “There’s also the kids he kidnapped! How can we get them to safety?!”

At this point, Poopypants was grumbling as he resumed piloting the mechanical octopus, but then he saw the two stowaways out of the corner of his eye. “WHAT THE–?!” He gapped in shock before growling and stopped the machine.

“WHOAH!” George and Harold held on tight when they felt the tentacle swing and almost knock them off. Then it quickly moved them over until they both were right above the control panel where Poopypants had maneuvered the tentacle to bring the boys to him.

“How are you still around?!” He demanded as he threw his hands at them. “You’re like little cockroaches that can’t be crushed, no matter how many times you try to make them explode!”

“Guys?!” Billy and Lisa stared wide eyed in surprise at the two boys, as were the young captives who watched everything in wonder and in dread.

“Uh oh.” George gulped as he looked down at Poopypants and the siblings before trying to quickly observe the area for anything to be of use to the two.

Harold glanced up to see the captives above the control panel section of the beast, but the moment he saw one of the captives, he froze up. “No,” His voice cracked.

“Harold!” Heidi wheezed and tried to pat the glass that separated her from her brother while Rose still held onto her. “Harold!” She cried again before she almost fell out of Rose’s grasp.

Seeing his sister kidnapped and in such an awful state made Harold snap.

“YOU!” His voice boomed out in fury as he gave Poopypants an enraged look. “YOU KIDNAPPED MY SISTER TOO?!” George looked up and when he saw his friend’s sister, he felt almost as angry as Harold did.

“Yeah, merchildren are surprisingly easy to capture when they don’t want to be anywhere near home or just hiding wherever they please.” Poopypants nonchalantly responded. “See, this is why you don’t want to run away.”

“I’M GOING TO–!” Harold almost let go to jump into the control panel area, but George knew it was going to happen in the nick of time. He grabbed Harold’s shirt and tugged at it. “He’s not going to let us get near him!” George warned. “Do you even think you can make the jump?!”

“WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, BUB!” Harold snarled as he curled his fingers into a fist. “I’LL BASH YOUR TACKY GLASSES IN HALF!”

“Oh, is that the thanks I get for helping you two get to the surface?!” Poopypants demanded.

“Wait a minute, what?!” George was confused by this and it also made Harold’s anger die out to be replaced with equal confusion.

“Did you think it was a coincidence that a bottle with a map to the bracelets came to you in your little hidey-hole?” Poopypants continued. “I did anything I could to get the kingdoms to go against each other. Anything to anger your king and add fuel! It took me a good year of spying for anything to help me out! And as annoying as I find you both to be, it’s thanks to you that he finally came up to the surface and gave me the chance to take that from him!” He jabbed a thumb at the container with Krupp’s powers trapped inside.

Both boys felt their hearts sink.

“No,” George whispered.

“You were using us this whole time.” Harold could only say.

“Yup! You snot-nosed cretins were just as responsible as that emotional wreck, if not more! All those stupid pranks and rule-breaking cost you big time!” Poopypants gave both boys an unsettling grin that revealed all of his teeth. “So go back home where you belong!” He snapped as he flipped a switch.

“NO!” George yelled as he and Harold held onto the claw of the tentacle as it began to wildly sway this way and that way in an attempt to knock them off and back into the ocean.

“NO DON’T!” Lisa yelled as she, Billy, and the other children began to panic for the safety of the boys once more.

“I can’t hold on!” Harold cried as he held on as tight as he could and felt his grip grow weak.

It was when the tentacle swung upward that the boys were forced to let go and were sent sky-rocketing upward into the dark sky.

“GEORGE! HAROLD!” Lisa and Billy screamed in terror and reached out as they saw their friends go up.

“Oh... uh... oops.” Poopypants shrugged before starting up the controls and made the mechanical beast speed off again. “That works too, I guess.”

“GEORGE!” Harold screamed as both he and George continued to go flying up into the sky.

“HAROLD!” George screamed as he felt his stomach flip flopping around inside him.

Both boys struggled to reach for each other, but they were unable to do so. They both knew that they could not survive what was happening to them–the ocean would most likely kill them upon impact. The moment in which they felt the force of their bodies slowing down, they knew the end was coming.

This was not fair–they both meant to just run away for a bit without anyone getting hurt. They had no idea that their actions would lead to the end of their lives as well as the destruction of the kingdoms. They didn’t mean to put others lives at risk, they just meant to cause trouble for the right reasons. There was nothing they could do to get out of this–no prank or quick thinking could help them this time.

Was this really how their story was going to end?

Once upon a time, there were two merboys who lived under the ocean in a kingdom controlled by a cruel hearted monster of a king with an iron fist. It was only through their friendship that the two merboys could find their voices–their stories and their drawings–and one day find the courage to take a stand.

“GEORGE!” Harold desperately tried to stretch his hand out to George as far as he could as both boys gradually came to a stop and got as high as they could go.

A small merdolphin quietly peaked out from behind his mother as she greeted a merorca and his wife and son, who stared at the other child with great curiosity.

“Harold, this is George.” Harold’s mother smiled down at her child while holding onto a then infant-aged Heidi. “He and his family will be living in the castle near us, so you’ll have someone your own age to play with.”

Harold shyly waved to George as the other merchild gave him a huge smile and waved back. However it wouldn’t be until the next day that they would properly get to know each other.

“HAROLD!” George screamed as he uselessly flapped his arms in the air to try to get closer before trying to throw his hand out to the other boy.

“Whoa, those are amazing!” George was impressed by Harold’s drawings that he thought he carefully hid in his room. “You made these?! I wish I could draw as good as you!”

“Thanks,” Harold shyly mumbled. “But I’m not supposed to draw. Mom says the king hates drawings.”

“Well I don’t!” George declared. “The king sounds dumb and you’re awesome! You know, I like to write, but mom says I need to keep my stories a secret for that same reason!” He scowled but then smiled. “If you keep my stories a secret, I’ll keep your drawings a secret. Deal?” He asked as he held his hand out.

Harold smiled and shook George’s hand. “Deal!”

The boys began to make the descent back down, like falling back down on that thing called a swing set, only it kept going and they could feel the wind blowing against their backs and roaring into their ears.

“He’s going to yell at us.” Harold snickered as George took a huge stick with a hook on the end.

“I know, but I need to know if he’s really bald or not!” George whispered mischievously as they both glanced to Krupp, who was snoring as he took a nap on his throne. George carefully maneuvered the hook and used it to take the black toupee off while the owner was none the wiser.

George almost lost his grip on the device as he snorted and Harold quickly clutched his hands to his mouth to control his giggling. “He is!” Harold squeaked.

“I know!” George giggled as Krupp mumbled something in his sleep while unaware of what just happened.

“Harold, look at me!” George pleaded to Harold when the blonde shut his eyes. “Please look at me!”

“I can’t, I’m scared!” Harold cried out in tears as he didn’t want to witness the demise of himself and his best friend. One time of that almost happening was more than enough and he couldn’t live through that again.

“I’m scared too!” George began to cry tears of his own. “Harold, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have made you go up with me!”

The boys stared in awe at their new discovery–a grotto above the ocean with a few holes that granted them glimpses of the blue sky of the world above.

“This is perfect!” Harold cried out in delight to George. “We can make our comics here and no one will know!”

“And we can hide anything else we find!” George grinned. “Any human stuff Krupp hates is ours for the taking to figure out!”

“We’ll share our comics with our friends, right?!”

“Of course! We can treat them like library books and give them to them in secret! We can even use code words so no one will know!”

“I love it!” Harold beamed with excitement. “You’re an awesome friend!”

“You’re an even more awesome friend!” George then corrected himself. “No–you’re my best friend!” He gave the merdolphin a huge hug.

“Well you’re my best friend too!” Harold hugged the merorca back.

As the boys continued to fall to their deaths, thoughts ran through their heads, including their memories and their regrets. They both regretted that their actions would lead to their families becoming miserable, that the kingdoms were now in jeopardy, that they let themselves be used by that maniac, but the worst of all was that they let each other get in this circumstance and that they were going to die.

A merorca and a merdolphin laughed with joy over a comic they wrote together in their grotto. Nothing in the world outside mattered to them or could get them down as long as they had each other. They both believed that anything could be possible with the other person at their side.

Harold felt awful about being too scared to open his eyes and reassure George in their last moments together, and he hated himself for it. He made so many stupid mistakes, like getting his sister caught up in all of this, and now he was letting down his best friend. All he could do was reach a hand out to try to show George that a part of him deep down was still not afraid.

Seeing that Harold would not open his eyes and not let him look at him one last time, George gave into his fate as he shut his eyes. He would never have persuaded Harold to run away with him if he saw this coming. If he did it all again, he would have given it all up just to spare Harold. As he held his hand out, he wanted to pretend with all of his might that Harold would hold onto it before they passed on together.

The two had a bond so strong that death itself could not break it. A bond so strong that it was given life into an unlikely source–a living, breathing symbol of their friendship.

When George felt a hand grab his wrist, he was convinced that it was Harold’s and he grabbed onto it. Seconds later, when Harold felt a hand grab his wrist, he was convinced that it was George’s and he also tried grabbing onto it.

In the rush of the moment, both boys swore that they were holding onto each other–yet neither one registered that the hand that grabbed them was too large–and the fingers were too thick–to be either one of their own.

Then they both felt themselves be pulled into something soft and firm at the same time and they felt something huge and thick wrap around them as tight and secure as it could and, before they realized it, the falling came to a slow stop.

Both boys took a moment to take in what just happened before they dared open their eyes. They were still alive and the ocean was still below them, but they had stopped somewhere high above it.

Both boys were still scared and wondered ‘What just happened?’ Then they turned around to see each other within an arm’s reach within the arms of their savior.

“George?” Harold gasped in amazement.

“Harold?!” George also gasped before smiling. “We’re still alive!” He now cried tears of happiness as he moved in the grasp of whoever or whatever the boys were pinned against and he hugged his best friend. Likewise, Harold hugged his best friend while crying genuine tears of joy.

“We are!” Harold cried out. “I don’t know how, but–!” He paused. “How are we–?”

Both boys then saw the huge pair of arms holding them as tightly as possible against the owner’s large chest and larger stomach, but they had also given them enough room to let them hug each other. They had an immediate sense of safety, but they also felt a familiar warmth and they both saw that one of the wrists of the one who saved them had a familiar looking green bracelet with a green spiral upon the sole white bead. Also, whoever it was that saved them was apparently flying high above the ocean.

“Who–?” George touched the wrist and the bracelet. But it was only upon looking up that they both saw who had saved them.

“Hey guys!” Captain Underpants happily greeted George and Harold as he held onto them, but his voice came out more as a deep sigh of relief over the fact that he managed to save the boys in the nick of time.

“Captain Under–?” Harold began with a smile of relief before he realized something was incredibly off. “Wait a minute.” He realized the man was actually holding the both of them against him.

Harold and George and Captain Underpants himself watched as Harold pressed a hand into the adult’s chest and though the warmth was familiar, the blonde’s hand did not go through like he thought it would. He could feel actual skin and he could feel the chest steadily moving up and down under his touch with each breath the adult took as if he were a living, breathing person.

“We aren’t going through you.” George’s eyes widened in shock as he realized that his hand also did not go through Captain Underpants when he touched him and he even looked at his hand on the adult’s wrist to confirm it.

George and Harold stared up at Captain Underpants who was momentarily confused by their reactions. “Captain Underpants... you’re actually hugging us for real!” George let out a joyful grin.

Captain Underpants’ eyes widened when he heard this. He was indeed actually holding onto the boys instead of trying to pretend–he had actually grabbed them, pulled them out of danger, and was now hugging them. He had been too caught up in saving them to realize it was possible, but now it was! “I—!” He stammered before he let out a breathless laugh and his whole face lit up with joy as his eyes seemed to shine and he had the biggest, brightest smile ever imaginable.

“I am!” He drew the boys in a tighter hug and laughed with joy as he spun them around in mid-air.

“I’m actually hugging you guys!” Captain Underpants felt himself ready to cry as he finally knew what it was like to actually hug someone and it was more wondrous than anything he could think of. He couldn’t stop laughing with joy as the boys returned the hug as tightly as they could.

“Whoa, careful!” George warned, but he and Harold were also smiling and laughing alongside their friend because they couldn’t help but join in his delight. Captain Underpants could feel them hugging him back during this and to him it was even more wonderful then giving them the hug. He even stopped spinning around so that he could really take in the moment.

George and Harold could feel the familiar warmth and they both could feel the reassurance and security that the adult gave them. His hold felt as friendly and comforting as it felt strong, as if to let them know that no matter what, he would be there for them. They genuinely felt safe and happy within that huge embrace for the first time in what felt like a long, long time.

“Thanks for saving us.” Harold buried his head into the crook of the adult’s neck.

“Yeah, thanks.” George tightened his grip on Captain Underpants’ cape as he also buried his head into the adult’s shoulder.

Captain Underpants let out a relieved laugh and closed his eyes as he enjoyed this for as long as he could–he wanted to hug and protect them and never let go now that he had an actual body. “I could hug you guys for as long as I can.” He sincerely admitted to them. “You have no idea how wonderful this feels for me.”

George wiped the last of his tears away with the back of his hand. “We know.” He admitted with all of his heart.

“Definitely!” Harold let out a small laugh. “It’s so good!”

Captain Underpants finally remembered that there were some rather pressing matters at hand. “So boys,” He began as he loosened his grip enough to let the boys move away and look at him. “Could you fill me in on what’s going on?”

The boys turned to see the mechanical monster getting closer to a spot between the two kingdoms out upon the ocean, and though they were startled by this, they were quick to realize that they now had a secret weapon–they had someone who could fly and possibly do more. They could finally redeem themselves and most importantly save everyone before it was too late.

George and Harold turned to Captain Underpants with determined looks. “We need your help.” George began. “Like, really need your help.”

“There’s a lot of people in trouble.” Harold added. “And we need to save the day before it’s too late.”

The hero had understood enough to know that something was up and he gave the boys a determined grin. “You got it! Just tell me what I should do and I’ll do it!”

Chapter Text

Now the reader knows that George and Harold avoided a terrible fate yet again, but Lisa, Billy, and all the other captured children did not know this. They were all understandably upset as well as traumatized about what had happened. Heidi was already crying over the assumed loss of Harold as she hugged Rose as tightly as possible. Both siblings had no idea what to do as they felt themselves give into despair the moment they lost their friends.

“What do we do, Billy?” Lisa whispered as she struggled not to cry.

“I don’t know, Lisa.” Billy shook his head as he too was trying not to cry. “I don’t know.”

The mechanical octopus finally stopped right at a spot on the ocean where the kingdom upon the surface was in clear view. The ocean waters had not dropped down, so most of the beach had been flooded and the waters had just reached the edge of many homes. If the water rose up even more then those homes would be destroyed.

“So!” The professor with the unfortunate name turned to his captives with a grin. “You want to see what I can do with this?!” He pointed to the contraption with the powers over the storms swirling within the container.

“You’ll get what you deserve!” Billy snapped at Poopypants. “Bad guys never win!”

“Yeah, well go read a history book and say that again!” Poopypants snapped as he pressed a button to make the contraption rise up as high as it could go and then he pressed a few buttons so that it could point to a spot out on the ocean. “No one can stop me in time and with your annoying friends out of the way, who else can?! Come on, I dare you to throw a name out, I’m sure I’ll laugh at it!” He raised his hand above one particular blue button that would ready the contraption. When the siblings shot him a death glare but did not respond, he replied “That’s exactly what I–!”

Suddenly the huge machine shook and it suddenly starting moving backwards.

“What the–I don’t have this thing in reverse!” Poopypants looked to make sure that this was indeed the case–It certainly was not in reverse.

Behind the great octopus machine, Captain Underpants was tugging at one of the tentacles as hard as he could while flying in the air while the boys also held onto him for dear life.

“Do you think he can pull it away?!” George demanded to Harold as they both had an arm around the adult’s neck and an arm hooked under his own while clinging onto him for dear life.

“Well he can still fly somehow, right?!” Harold pointed out. “Even if we can pull it away–!”

The tentacle bursted off the machine and sent Captain Underpant (plus his two companions) flying back before stopping a good distance away.

“–Or just pull some off!” Harold quickly corrected himself as Captain Underpants let go of the tentacle, which dropped into the ocean.

“What the heck just happened?!” Poopypants was stunned, but he then tried to once again send the machine back. Yet Captain Underpants quickly recovered, went after the machine (while not minding that the boys had tightened their grip on him) and repeated the same move with another of the remaining seven tentacles.

“CUT IT OUT!” Poopypants yelled at the machine and moved a lever so that it could go forward–except this caused the tentacle that Captain Underpants held onto to also snap off, thanks to the opposing forces, and he was sent flying yet again.

“This isn’t going to work, we’ll have to do something else!” George yelled at Harold.

“WHAT IS GOING ON?!” Poopypants no longer cared as to where the contraption would take aim and he made the mechanical machine turn around.

“Get us on top of the head!” Harold yelled at Captain Underpants and pointed to the exact spot. “We can try to figure out what to do inside that thing and free the others while you distract him!”

“Great idea!” Captain Underpants beamed as he did as he was commanded.

By the time Poopypants turned the machine around to see what was happening, he did not notice that George and Harold quietly slide down the head of the machine towards the cock-pit.

“OK WHAT DO I HAVE DO DEAL WITH NOW?!” Poopypants was now hopping and steaming with anger as he looked around and threw his hands in the air. “I HAVE NOTHING IN MY WAY! THERE SHOULDN’T BE ANYONE ELSE I HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT!”

“Unless you count me!” A jovial voice practically sang the words out.

All the captured children glanced out in surprise at the owner of the voice. Billy and Lisa gasped upon immediately recognizing who said the words. Poopypants was just plain dumbfounded.

“Surprise!” Captain Underpants waved a hand to them all as he hovered in mid air and grinned a huge, playful grin.

“No way!” Billy gapped before grinning alongside Lisa.

“It’s him!” Rose excitedly cried out as she rested a hand on the glass while holding onto Heidi who stared in amazement at the bizarre looking human that flew in the air.

“WHO THE HECK ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE?!” Poopypants yelled as George and Harold quietly dropped into the cock-pit behind him and the siblings before quietly going through a doorway.

“Someone who won’t let you get away with your nefarious plan!” Captain Underpants stuck a finger into the air. “Especially if it involves endangering so many lives!”

“Well I’m about ready to harm your life, you weirdo!” The professor went back to the controls and started using the levers and switches.

“Woah!” Captain Underpants momentarily lost his smile and ducked down as a tentacle swung at him. He was forced to go upward when another tentacle swung at him. Then he had to dart out of the way when both tentacles came at him and crashed together in an attempt to squish him.

“You can do it, Captain!” Lisa cheered for the hero, which only further annoyed Poopypants and he sent two more tentacles at Captain Underpants. The hero had to practically dance his way around them to avoid them when they spiraled together before coming apart.

Meanwhile, George and Harold ran around in the interior of the machine before coming across the backside of the glass prison where the children were. From their point of view, it looked more like some sort of capsule. “Guys!” Harold banged at the glass alongside George. “We’re here to rescue you!”

A few children close by turned around and gasped. One of the human boys hurried to a button on the door and pressed it. “You two are alive?!” He asked, causing the rest of the children to turn around in amazement and relief–this was especially in the case of Heidi who could not believe her eyes. Much like when they understood that the strange adult was going to indeed try to rescue them, the sight of the two increased a hope that they had not felt for quite awhile.

“Yes, now tell us what we need to do to free you all!” George demanded.

“You can either unlock the door with a key or turn our cell into an escape pod!” Mary Louisa told the boys. “But that creep has the key and I don’t think we should get sent out right now!”

“Argh!” Harold grabbed his hair. “Why couldn’t it be easy?!”

“Because nothing is ever that easy!” George groaned.

Outside, Captain Underpants had to weave under another tentacle and he had to fly back to try to figure out what to do without the boys.

“Get back here, you annoying half-naked pest!” Poopypants snarled as he sent a tentacle at Captain Underpants, whose instinct was to try to gab the end when it got close enough, before an idea struck him. With a grin, he began to tug at that tentacle as hard as he could.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Poopypants was shocked to see that this odd looking guy was indeed the one responsible for trying to pull him away and was currently trying to pull the machine with him with an inhuman strength yet again. Meanwhile, George had undone his tie while Harold held onto the toilet plunger from George’s bag and they reached Lisa and Billy.

“Shh!” Harold placed a hand over Billy’s mouth, and George did the same with Lisa, before either two could scream. “Guys it’s us!” The siblings turned around and jolted when they saw the two. “Listen, does he have a key on him? We need it to free the others!”

“We don’t know.” Billy hissed to Harold after the boy uncovered his mouth. “You’ll have to fight him to get it!”

“HAH!” Captain Underpants succeeded in pulling the tentacle off–only to get another tentacle to smack into his side and knock him away. Lisa gasped and let out a “NO!” to George and Harold’s equal horror, but the professor was too busy laughing over his victory to notice and turn around.

Captain Underpants had been knocked so far back that he almost crashed into the ocean before he was able to force himself to move back up into the air. He had almost forgotten what happened each time he tried to go in and he had to be twice as careful now.

“And now back to where we started!” Poopypants slammed a hand upon the blue button. The moment the boys heard a humming sound and the tip of the contraption lit up, they knew they had to act fast.

“Hey!” George yelled as he and Harold got up and readied their makeshift weapons. “We aren’t done just yet!”

Poopypants turned around and shrieked as he jumped in alarm before jabbing a finger at them. “I THOUGHT YOU TWO FELL TO YOUR DEATHS!”

“Yeah, but a good friend of ours saved our skins!” Harold pointed to the contraption. “And we aren’t going to let you use that!”

Poopypants snarled. “I should have captured you two and put you into one of those freak shows for the humiliation you’ve put me through–!” George stepped in and smacked Poopypants across the face as hard as he could with the tie. It was enough to knock the startled short man to the ground, but he caught himself in the nick of time. “What the–?!”

“GET HIM!” Harold yelled and ran after Poopypants. The adult was chased into a corner and the blonde proceeded to smack the adult on the middle of the head as hard as he could with the toilet plunger.

“OW–HEY THAT HURTS!” Poopypants snarled at the boy.

“So will this!” Harold forced the suction end of his ‘weapon’ over the professor’s mouth and got it sucked into it with the suction it caused.

“MPH MMM PHM MPH MPH!” Poopypants kicked and pulled at the plunger as Harold kept his hold while George tried to figure out which button to press to stop the contraption. “Argh, there’s too many of them!” The boy complained.

Meanwhile, Captain Underpants had returned to the fray and upon seeing what was going on he decided to try to pull at a few more tentacles before they could be a problem to him.

“MPHMPHMPHM!” Poopypants continued to spout hard to understand words when he saw what Captain Underpants was doing. Thinking quickly, he flipped a switch and sent one of the tentacles at the boys.

Captain Underpants saw the contraption moving and when he saw that it was about to grab the boys, he quickly flew above them and pushed against the ends of the law like part of the tentacle, just as the boys looked up in alarm.

“Thanks!” George waved to Captain Underpants as Harold glared at Poopypants and shoved the end of the plunger into his face before the man could try to pull it off of him.

“You’re welcome!” Captain Underpants had strained from trying to keep the claws away from the boys, but now that Poopypants was not controlling it anymore, he was able to pull it away from them.

“Which button was it?!” Harold asked George as he felt the octopus get tugged in another direction.

“I don’t know!” George admitted. The force of Captain Underpants pulling the tentacle off soon resulted in both boys flying backwards, with Poopypants getting pulled along for the ride before he was pulled completely free from the plunger and went flying smack into a wall, to the delight of his prisoners.

“DO YOU EVEN HAVE AN IDEA OF WHERE THAT THING COULD HAVE BEEN IN?!” The short man yelled at the blonde before struggling to get back up.

“What are you doing?!” Harold got up and went to Captain Underpants. “The thingie is going to go off any second!”

“What’s a ‘thingie?!’” Captain Underpants asked.

“THAT!” Harold gestured to the contraption. “It’s going to–!”

There was a piercing sound and the tip of the contraption flashed before a beam shot out from it and towards the ocean.

“Oh crud.” George could only say as he and Harold watched on in horror.

At the exact spot the beam hit the ocean, the waters sent up a bust of waves before they began to part and the sky began to darken as it had done when the storm hit the boardwalk not that long ago. There was enough light from the beam and the now glowing container within the contraption to grant the boys sight of what was happening.

Gradually the waves from that spot began to get bigger and the water surged as it went in different directions, gradually building up into huge hills before turning into even larger waves–the largest any of the children had ever seen.

“Guys, what should I–ACK!” Captain Underpants ducked in the nick of time as another tentacle tried to swing at him. It got caught in the pathway of the beam and a part of it blasted clean off and flew off to who knew where. But as he was distracted, a tentacle grabbed onto one of his arms and he soon found himself trying to pull free as it waved him around in the air.

The boys heard a clicking sound and they turned around to see Poopypants with one hand on one of the controls to the tentacles while using the other to aim some sort of colorful device at the boys. It almost reminded them of the harpoon gun, but not as dangerous looking.

“I’m getting really sick of you two!” Poopypants yelled as made to press the trigger. Unfortunately for him, he forgot that storms equaled waves, which meant rocking anything within the ocean, and that included the giant octopus like machine. The machine began to rock and the short man soon lost his balance as well as his aim. “Oh come on!” He flailed his arms about as he tried to keep still.

“YOINK!” Harold snagged the weapon from Poopypants and threw it into a wall as hard as he could, where it broke on impact before he and George could find out what it would have done to them.

“HEY!” Poopypants protested, but another wave rocked the machine and sent him flying into ground while the boys collapsed to their knees, yet they recovered a bit faster than the scientist and hurried back to the controls.

“Which one is it?!” George smacked one button but it let off a loud alarm that made them all plug their ears.

“This one?!” Harold pressed another one and while the alarm stopped, poorly timed jazz music began playing instead. “Nope!” A press of the button silenced it.

“Maybe this one!” George pressed a button and the captured children found that an opening in their prison rained down apples for them to snack on.

“This one?” Another button was pressed, but all that came out from the speaker was “!YAWYNW TI EDOCED OT GNIYRT ROF SKNAHT! T’NSI TI TUB EGASSEM LANMILBUS A NEEB EVAH DLUOW SIHT!”

“STOP MESSING WITH THE CONTROLS!” Poopypants yelled as he struggled to get back to his feet. “YOU COULD KILL US ALL!”

Another wave sent them crashing onto their feet again and shut the man up when he crashed into one of the supports for the contraption.

“It was a blue button!” Billy yelled at the boys as he and Lisa struggled to keep themselves from hitting anything while still trapped in the claw prison. “Look for a blue button!”

“You stay out of this!” Poopypants yelled at the prince before turning to face George and Harold. “NOW GET AWAY FROM THAT THING BEFORE–!”

“I pick you up?” And indeed Poopypants was picked up by the collar of his jacket by Captain Underpants, who was flying above the rocky and unstable flooring. The hero gave the smaller man a cheeky grin as he exclaimed “Why that sounds like a good idea! I think you need to relax and hang around for a bit!”

And Captain Underpants proceeded to hang the professor by the jacket onto a part of the contraption that held the container up a good few feet in the air.

“HEY!” Poopypants snapped at Captain Underpants as all the young viewers–especially George and Harold–laughed or giggled at the end result. Especially because the waves kept moving him around in different directions. “What gives?! And why aren’t you being attacked by the–?!”

“Oh I took care of them!” Captain Underpants jabbed a thumb out at the remaining tentacles that were either somehow tied up or had been destroyed by the beam. “Now if you excuse me...” He then went to Lisa and Billy.

Meanwhile, George and Harold went back to the blue button. “I hope this works!” George nervously pressed the button. He and Harold turned to the container and waited as they held onto parts of the panel to keep them from losing their balance.

Meanwhile, Captain Underpants finally pulled apart the claw like parts that had trapped the siblings and both stumbled away from it as far as they could. “Are you both alright?” He asked as they both tried to keep their balance while he himself was practically sitting on his legs a few inches off the ground.

“Yeah, thanks!” Billy let out breathless laugh and smiled before he wrapped his arms around the adult as best as he could and hugged him tightly. “We owe you one!”

Captain Underpants merely laughed and smiled as he returned the hug. “Just seeing you safe is good enough for me!”

Billy let go and held onto one of the contraption’s supports for a good measure as Lisa also hugged Captain Underpants. Yet before the hero could let her go, Lisa placed one hand on one of his cheeks before kissing the other one. “Thank you for coming to save us!” She gave him a warm smile before moving away from him as her brother stared at her in disbelief.

“Ugh!” George and Harold shuddered and stuck their tongues out upon seeing that.

Taken by surprise by what had happened, Captain Underpants could only awkwardly rub the back of his head and give Lisa a small smile. “Oh, uh, you’re welcome.”

“Wait, why isn’t it stopping?!” Harold demanded as he realized the beam was still going. He looked out to see the waves crashing furiously against the shoreline. “What do we do?!”

“You think I’d make it that easy?!” Poopypants laughed as he still struggled to get himself free (with little success). “You’d have to follow a series of steps in order to undo it!”

“Oh come on!” George moaned as Captain Underpants rejoined the boys. “Maybe you haven’t pressed hard enough?” Captain Underpants asked as he looked at the blue button before raising a fist as high as he could into the air. “This is the right button, right?”

“WAIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Poopypants asked, but the hero ignored him as he slammed his fist into the button. This action, combined with his superhuman strength caused his fist to break into the button, go through the panel, and not only ruin everything within, but he also got shocked from the electricity in the process.

“Captain Underpants!” George and Harold yelled in a panic as Captain Underpants let out a painful yell and pulled his fist free from the control panel, while knocking over a plastic box that was over one button.

Meanwhile, the beam shuddered and died, causing the contents of the container to lose its glow. There were still chaotic waves upon the ocean, but otherwise it looked like the boys and the hero had succeeded.

Poopypants let out an angry yell, but then his jacket ripped and upon being set free he crashed onto the ground. Right before he could even get up, the siblings hurried to him.

“Oh no you don’t!” Billy growled as he and his sister grabbed onto Poopypants’ arms.

“LET GO OF ME, YOU BRATS!” The scientist shrieked.

Meanwhile, Captain Underpants had collapsed into a sitting position and was clutching his hand as the boys carefully knelt beside him. “Are you ok?” Harold looked at the adult’s hand–it looked a bit singed, but otherwise it seemed fine.

“I feel pain.” Captain Underpants said in an almost delirious tone before giggling. “It’s so unpleasant!”

“Got it!” Billy grabbed the key from an enraged Poopypants before he and Lisa glared at him. “You will be arrested for multiple things, including attempted murder, child endangerment, and trying to cause a war!” He warned.

“That includes kidnapping multiple children, theft, and nearly harming many lives!” Lisa added. “And we’ll make sure you answer to both kingdoms!”

George and Harold helped get Captain Underpants back on his feet and the man struggled to pull himself up and used the nearest control panel for additional support. Yet as Captain Underpants did this, his hand pressed the button that had been under the plastic box–a big, red button with a warning under it that said ‘DO NOT PRESS UNLESS IT’S AN EMERGENCY!’

The moment the button had been pressed, an alarm rang out that startled everyone and George and Harold looked to see that a timer next to the button had been set to three minutes and started to count down.

“YOU PRESSED THE SELF-DESTRUCT BUTTON YOU IDIOT!” Poopypants screamed as a horrified Lisa and Billy let go of him.

“We can’t save everyone and get the container off in time!” Harold panicked to George. “It’ll take too long!”

George grimaced and tried to think before looking at Lisa and Billy. “Come on you two!” He pulled Captain Underpants towards the inside of the machine, and Harold followed suit.

“Ok, tell me you guys found the key!” George looked at Lisa and Billy when they came to him, while Captain Underpants waved at the frantic children trapped in their prison.

“Yeah, we have it!” Lisa held up the key.

“Good!” George swiped it from her hand and hurried to unlock the door. “You and Billy are going inside!”

“What?!” Billy demanded.

“We can’t let that maniac escape with those powers!” George finally opened the door and gave Captain Underpants a firm look. “This is an escape pod, so make sure it get’s as far from this thing as possible!”

“You got it!” Captain Underpants saluted with a smile as Harold forced Billy and Lisa into the prison with the others.

“Wait, no!” Lisa protested, but George closed the door and pocketed the key. He noticed an ’In case of an emergency evacuation, pull lever’ sign and pulled the lever beside it.

“NO!” Billy yelled as the back of the machine opened up and the children could see the sky and the ocean on the other side. A series of clicks could be heard before the capsule-prison started moving downward out of the spot it had been in, but Captain Underpants was quick enough to figure out what was going to happen before he swooped over and held onto the capsule.

“It’s ok, I got you all!” He grunted as he forced himself against capsule to keep it from going too fast before he could gradually let it slide enough so that he could eventually be under it when it reached the edge of the exit where there was nothing but the ocean below them all. Finally he was able to hold it above himself with ease before flying off to a safe spot as fast as possible.

“Maybe we can still get it out?” Harold asked as he and George hurried outside and back to the damaged controls, but then there was a clicking sound that made them stop.

“No, you wont.” Poopypants snarled and the two turned around to see him pointing another device at them that also reminded them of the harpoon gun, yet not quite.

“Where do you keep getting those things?!” George demanded.

“And how come you haven’t tried to escape yet?!” Harold also asked.

“I have a lot of hidden areas that I built into this thing–which is about to get destroyed no thanks to you two!” Poopypants gritted his teeth. “Also I couldn’t really get to my personal escape pod while you all were back there!”

“Oh, ok I see.” Harold nodded.

“Also, why would you have a button that would make this whole thing explode?” George asked. “That makes no sense!”

“THAT’S NONE OF YOUR–actually, now that you mention it,” Poopypants scratched his head in puzzlement “why would I put that thing there? Did I fall for some sort of villain trope? In fact, I didn’t give myself any time to name this creation!” He shrugged. “Eh, it was probably in case I’d get caught.”

“Even if we can’t get it back, that thing is going to get destroyed too!” George then pointed to the container. “You lose Poopypants!” He then looked at Harold and the both snickered. “I can’t believe I said that!”

“Unless either of you are the original owner, that container remains intact and those powers are still mine to use!” Poopypants was growling. “That thing will be too hard for you to take back but I can send it to my escape pod within two seconds! Did you really think it was going to be easy?! This thing will remain a weapon, and even if you succeed, I doubt either of you want to return it back to the king under the ocean if he’s still alive! Especially if it’ll cost you your freedom!”

The boys momentarily flinched at this and looked at each other in alarm as they knew he had a point.

“You see?! No one wins!” Poopypants laughed as he went towards the control panel and held his hand over another button to send the container to his escape pod. “You’ll both–”

George used his tie to smack Poopypants across the face.

“Hey!” Poopypants growled. “I was about to do an impressive villain speech–!”

“Don’t care.” George answered as Harold made to grab the toilet plunger once more, but he noticed that they only had around a minute left on the timer. This forced him to make a quick choice and perform a grand trick upon the adult.

“Wait how would that villain speech go?” Harold knew that they needed to buy time and have faith.

“I don’t want to hear it!” George protested, but Poopypants took the bait. “Oh, so you want to hear it?” He asked. “Well, here it is! You’ll both have to live with your failures if you survive because children are stupid and gullible and almost all of this has been your fault! I still get to keep those powers and do whatever I want with them thanks to you two! Neither of you are as smart as an adult like me, and I’m smarter than most adults on this earth!”

George snorted at this as Poopypants continued. “So you got lucky and some flying fat guy in his underwear came to help save the day, but you have nothing to make you special or to benefit society! You two are hopeless causes! All you both are good for besides being pawns is causing trouble!” He was about to raise his hand over the button again, when–

“Hey!” He turned around to see an angry looking Captain Underpants hovering right behind him. “Don’t you ever be mean to a child and say things like that!” He scowled and punched the short man square in the stomach which sent him flying into a wall yet again but this time it was hard enough to create a good sized dent.

“Come on!” Captain Underpants quickly hurried to George and Harold before scooping the both of them up and held them close to him.

“Wait a minute, the container!” Harold protested as he looked back, but Captain Underpants flew off as fast as he could from the machine without stopping.

“ARGH!” Poopypants was foaming at the mouth as he got up. “I’m not going to be defeated by a couple of bratty kids and a weirdo in his undies!” He then saw that the countdown to the machine self destructing was now around ten seconds.

He let out a terrified scream and, with instinct to survive kicking in, he hurried to the inside of the machine, ran towards his escape pod, and hurried to get it to open, though it barely budged.

Then–

....

....Uh.

....Hmm.

*****

A blonde haired female with green eyes paused with typing out the story on a laptop as she struggled to think.

“Ok, I don’t know what I should do.” She began. “I mean it would be easy if I just made him ‘go boom’... but I know he has fans who would get angry if he died... I mean I know what his fate is in the books, but he’s alive in the movie and I don’t know what would happen if there was a sequel to it. Or even a series.” She sighed. “Should I just make the machine explode and let the reader decide his fate–?”

*****

“OH MY GOSH WRITER LADY, JUST MAKE A DECISION AND QUIT BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL!” George angrily yelled up into the sky as Harold shot it an annoyed glare while they were still held by an incredibly confused Captain Underpants.

*****

“I agree with you on that.” The writer nodded as she took some duck tape up to fix the fourth wall and typed something up. “So the writer fixed the fourth wall and then erased what just happened from the minds of our heroes so that they weren’t aware of that incident happening to begin with.” She paused. “You know what? I’m going to let the reader decide, just to be fair.”

*****

The machine was engulfed with huge clouds and flames of oranges, yellows, reds, and blacks as a huge explosion ensued. Several pieces flew everywhere out into the ocean and the size of the clouds and smoke that erupted from the wreck were sure to linger out on the waters for awhile.

It was both awful and awesome to behold for George and Harold.

“Ok, I admit that was kind of cool.” Harold grinned as he and George looked on while Captain Underpants held onto them. “I mean, that guy might have died, but on the other hand we saved everyone!”

“Yeah!” George grinned before frowning. “Uh, where exactly did you put everyone?” He asked Captain Underpants.

“Oh, I set that thing somewhere–” Captain Underpants looked around “Oh there!” Sure enough, the nearby capsule was floating upon the ocean as if it were like a huge boat. It even had large white things around it for some reason that seemed to help keep it from sinking.

“Oh thank goodness!” George sighed and laughed. “I was worried that thing was going to sink!” He then froze up. “Harold, the container!” He glanced in panic to Harold. “We need to get it out of there!”

“We do!” Harold freaked out. George took out the key and held it up for Captain Underpants to see. “Get the kids out of there as fast as you can!” He quickly took his bracelet off and forced that and the key into Harold’s hand before forcing himself out of the adult’s grasp and dropped into the ocean below.

“Hold onto these for us!” Harold took his bracelet off and then handed the three objects into a startled Captain Underpants’ hand before he also dropped into the water.

“Wait a minute!” Captain Underpants protested, but it was too late as both boys were now completely underwater. Panicking, he had no idea what to do, but then when he saw the capsule again, he hurried down towards it. Upon seeing that the passengers within were shaken but fine, he put the bracelets halfway in his mouth before frantically trying to unlock the door with the key. Because the boys already unlocked the door, it took him a couple of tries and he unintentionally locked the kids back up again, but finally he got it down.

Finally the door opened, to the relief of those inside the capsule. “It’s ok, we can get out on our own!” Lisa reassured Captain Underpants. “Go help George and Harold!”

“But I–!” Captain Underpants turned and stared at the wreck, which was slowly sinking into the water.

*****

Down below, George and Harold swam to the wreck as fast as they could. They separated for a bit while they looked around until Harold finally spotted it. “George I found it!” He yelled.

Harold swam to the container, which was still attached to the contraption–the contents within were still active, but not a danger. Unfortunately, Harold knew that the hard part would be separating the container from the contraption, and it looked like the thing was tightly secured to it. Neither of them were strong enough to haul the whole thing through the ocean or to anywhere on the surface.

George swam towards Harold and when he saw what they were looking for, he tried to look around for a means to separate the container from the contraption. He tried to look for the controls, but they had been destroyed and were nowhere in sight. With a sigh, George turned around and tried to tug at one of the beams.

Harold swam beside George and also tried pulling at the beam alongside him. Yet even despite their best efforts, it would not budge. They tried another one together, but that also didn’t work. It was enough to make George smack his hand against the thing in frustration.

They tried everything to pull it out, from pulling it out from the top to trying to shove into it from the side but the container would not yield. Not even their combined strength would be enough to pull it off.

“Oh come on!” George punched the container. “Why couldn’t this be in something smaller, like a bottle?!” He tried one last time to push against the container, with Harold doing the same thing right beside him.

Then without warning, there was a loud creaking sound and container jolted in the direction the boys were trying to push it towards.

“AGH–What the–?!” Harold looked up in alarm as did George. Only to see something that they were not expecting at all.

“Did you need help with this?!” A very familiar looking mershark waved at the boys as he shot them a toothy smile and held the container above his head to keep it from falling downward.

The boys stared in disbelief as they found themselves facing Captain Underpants in the water.

They very much appreciated the help, but on the other hand...

“George,” Harold began. “Do you get the feeling that something should be happening right now? Or should of? Because normally him and water–”

“Actually I do.” George whispered back. “Like something about this shouldn’t of happened.”

The boys kept staring at Captain Underpants, who patiently waited while still hovering within the water. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out why this scenario should have been impossible.

“Ah, it’s probably just our imagination.” George shrugged.

*****

The now gray clouds were gradually parting and created gaps to allow beams of sunlight to shine though. The waters were now calm and it was these waters that the merchildren had quickly thrown themselves into upon escaping from their former prison.

All the human children made sure that the merchildren escaped first and even helped them escape through the open door.

“FREEDOM!” One of the merboys cried as he threw himself into the ocean. Within mere moments of being submerged in the water the merchildren felt their energy return to them and they began to feel more awake and alive. Meanwhile the human children gradually came out of the prison and sat upon the floatation cushions that surrounded it.

“You don’t think they went back to get that thing, do you?” Billy asked Lisa. He currently wore both bracelets that the boys had been wearing on one wrist, while Lisa wore a very special bracelet that had to be twisted in the middle in order for it to stay on her own wrist. It almost looked like she was also wearing two bracelets.

“I think they did.” Lisa admitted as she looked at the others. While they were happy to be free, many of them were not exactly trying to swim back home. This was especially the case for the merchildren who were clueless as to what to do now that they were both free and up in the surface world, which was supposed to be forbidden territory to them all. The rest of them did not have the means to get back to the mainland as soon as possible and lacked the strength to swim back.

After awhile of waiting, recovering, and not knowing what to do, George and Harold eventually emerged from out of the water. “HEY!” George happily waved at them all before swimming towards Lisa and Billy. Then Captain Underpants also emerged from the water right behind them before following the two.

Most of the merchildren took only one look at Captain Underpants before moving away from the adult as fast as possible. Like George and Harold before them, they saw someone entirely different–someone cruel–when they could finally see him up close and they momentarily forgot that he had helped save them all. Most of the human children, however, gave him curious looks and had no idea who or what he was.

“We got that container as far from that monster thing as we could.” Harold told Lisa and Billy when they reached them. “It’s right under us–it’s not going to be a danger to anyone.”

“I hope.” Billy couldn’t help but frown. “But what now?”

Before the boys could think, there was an joyful cry of “Harold!” Harold turned around, only to to find a yellow and peach thing smack right into him and hug him tight.

“You’re ok, you’re ok, you’re ok!” Heidi hugged her brother as tightly as she could with all her newly regained energy. Even if a part of her was upset that Harold had left, her happiness at seeing him again was much greater.

“Heidi?!” Harold grinned in joy as he hugged his sister back while George smiled at them. “I’m glad to see you’re ok!”

“Yeah, thanks to you guys!” Heidi moved away from her brother and smiled. “You, George, and–” she hesitated before turning to Captain Underpants and froze. “Uh...”

It took him a moment, but then Captain Underpants remembered exactly why half of the children were giving him nervous looks, and it made him nervous as well as hurt and sad. He didn’t even know what to say or do with all the young eyes upon him.

“You saved us!” The adult turned around to see Rose standing up and smiling at him from upon the white floating things while those beside her looked up in surprise. She then leapt off her spot and into the water, causing a good sized splash in the process. She immediately started swimming to Captain Underpants before throwing herself at him. “Thank you!” She hugged him to the surprise of a handful of unsuspecting children.

Understanding the need to break the ice, Lisa followed Rose’s example. “Yeah, thank you, Captain!” She jumped into the water and also hugged the adult after swimming towards him.

The appreciation startled Captain Underpants, but then he smiled and returned the hugs. “You’re welcome!”

This made George and Harold relieved. They had been about ready to reassure the others, but it didn’t look like it was needed from them as much as they had thought.

“WHEE!” One of the human boys also jumped off and performed a canon ball. The water that splashed out hit a few startled merchildren and the boy smiled when he emerged. “FREEDOM!” He cried out and splashed one of them. The merboy who got hit stared in shock at the human boy before grinning and splashed him back.

Within mere moments, the rest of the human children abandoned ship as a friendly water fight quickly ensued between two young races, or else they began swimming around in the water. For the first time in what felt like forever, they all felt happy and free. It was as if they had never been captured to begin with.

To George and Harold, they were seeing both human and merchildren laughing and playing with each other, without caring about consequences, cold water, or anything else. This was something that would remain in all of the minds of the children–the barrier that had been set up for ten years had been shattered within these few moments. This was something that could not be taken away that easily.

“Come on, toss me into the water!” Lisa tugged at Captain Underpants’ cape. Not knowing what to expect, the adult did so and the young princess was sent flying outward and let out an ecstatic cry of delight before crashing into the water amongst the other children.

“Me next, me next!” Rose excitedly pleaded. Now understanding the reason why why the children wanted him to do this action, Captain Underpants happily repeated the move with the smaller child, who laughed her head off as she went soaring upward before crashing into the water.

“Does anyone else want a turn?!” Captain Underpants asked, to which a handful of children swam towards him and he let out an increasingly huge smile before taking up the next child, who happened to be Kira. Keisha was slightly more cautious while watching from a distance, but upon seeing that the adult truly meant no ill will and enjoyed being with the children, she was finally able to smile and forget the past before moving towards him.

As George grinned at the sight, Harold turned to Heidi. “He’s ok, he’s a good friend of ours.” He reassured her upon seeing that she was still cautious.

As Heidi slowly left her brother to go to the adult, Billy swam to Harold. “So, you have a sister?” He asked with a smile.

“Yes.” Harold answered back and Billy’s smile widened. “She’s so adorable! She looks just like you!”

“Uh, thanks?” Harold had no clue how to react to this.

“Um,” Captain Underpants turned around before he could pick up another child and found Heidi shyly looking up at him. “You saved my brother and George right?”

“As a matter of fact I did!” The adult smiled at her. “You must be Heidi! Harold said a lot of good things about you and missed you very much! It’s nice to be able to meet you at last!” He shot his hand out and the surprised girl soon grinned before accepting the vigorous handshake that resulted from the gesture.

“We should probably take them back home soon.” George told Harold after they watched the handshake from a distance, but the two shared a knowing grin.

“Yeah, we probably should... but not yet!” Harold chuckled and splashed George. George was quick to splash Harold back and the two laughed as they got caught up in their own splashing game and tried to make each wave larger then the next one.

It wasn’t long until George soon Harold tackled him in a hug. “This is one of the best moments of our lives!” George cheered.

“It totally is!” Harold agreed.

“Hey guys!” The two turned around to see that the hero they helped create together was right behind them. “Do you guys want me to do the thing that all the others seem to like for you?”

Before George and Harold could respond, Lisa grinned and threw a hand into the air. “TO GEORGE, HAROLD, AND CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS!” She cried out.

“TO GEORGE, HAROLD, AND CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS!” Billy also cried out with a smile as he threw a fist into the air.

Soon all of the other children let out their own cries or gestures of appreciation or praise to the unusual trio that saved the day. To know what it was like to be openly liked and celebrated as heroes by so many was so incredible to George and Harold that they were rendered speechless. Captain Underpants appreciated the cheers and was happy, but more so because he was able to save all the children alongside his friends and see that they were all safe and happy.

George and Harold were then hoisted up onto the shoulders of Captain Underpants, who picked both of them up was if they were lighter then air to him while smiling at each of them with pride.

George and Harold gazed upon all the children that they rescued, who all smiled and cheered for them and Captain Underpants, before they looked at each other and smiled once more before giving each other a high five above the head of the hero.

Chapter Text

Those upon the Seaworthy had seen the destruction of the great octopus machine from a distance and thanks to the damage the ship sustained, she could not get to it in the same amount of time it would have taken her on a better day. She was very slow right now and to be able to get back to the kingdom would take a very long time.

By this time, Mason was a complete wreck and had no clue what action to take. He was afraid to find out what had happened out there and for the fate of all the children, including his own. Not even the fact that the sun was breaking through the gradually diminishing clouds could calm him down.

“Your Majesty?!” A woman hurried to the man. “You need to come see this!” Her king looked at her and upon noticing the urgency in her face, he hurried out of the cabin and followed her to where many crewmen and members of the Royal Navy were staring speechlessly at something out in the water.

“Hey!” All the captured children and their ocean counterparts were swimming in the water in a spot that wasn’t too far away from the ship. They were all completely fine and happy as they waved to the ship to get their attention.

“Hello!”

“We’re ok!”

“We’re safe now!”

Mason stared in shock beside Anthrope and the others. “How did–?! Quickly!” He took command. “Get them out of the water!”

As the ship moved closer to the children, he stared in anticipation at the group. Where were his children? How did they all escape from that maniac? What happened out there?

When the ship was close enough, the children grew more excited. “Please don’t shoot our friends! They didn’t capture us!” One of the boys yelled as he pointed at a merchild.

This startled the adults and especially Mason. “We won’t!” He quickly promised. “But where are–?!”

“Dad!”

“Daddy!”

Mason felt his heart stop when he heard those voices somewhere close by. He turned to look at the back of the ship and sure enough there were two children waving to him while being held in the arms of a figure flying in the air above the stern side of the ship.

Mason raced up the steps and hurried to get over to the stern part of the ship as fast as he could. He didn’t stop until he found himself facing a large-bodied man with a delighted smile on his face as he carried both Lisa and Billy in his arms, with each child having an arm around him as if he were a friend. The two children were giving Mason huge smiles and when Mason ran towards the two, the man who carried the children placed them gently down upon the ship.

“DAD!” Billy cried out as he and Lisa hugged Mason as tightly as they could when he kneeled down to their level.

Mason could hardly believe what was happening and when it hit him, he let out a deep breath of relief and buried his head between his children’s shoulders and hugged them tight. He closed his eyes as he wanted to take in and confirm that they were both safe and in his arms once more. It was taking everything for him to not cry.

Satisfied to see that Billy and Lisa had been returned to their father, Captain Underpants smiled before flying off.

The three hugged for quite some time before the children let go of their father. “Please don’t get mad at the merfolk.” Billy pleaded. “They were being tricked by that crazy guy like he tricked us. Please let the merchildren go back home to their families.”

“Harold and George saved us!” Lisa smiled before turning around “Them and–” but the strange man had vanished and was nowhere to be seen. “Well, George and Harold promised to explain some things to you.” She continued.

“We went on a boat to get our wishes granted.” Billy took over with a guilty frown. “The king under the ocean didn’t capture us–it was our fault that we got that far out from home.”

Mason paused before giving the two an apologetic smile. “There are some things I should have told you and that was my fault. But we can go over this another time.”

*****

George and Harold were back at the sea stack in human forms and had taken up the abandoned curtains to warm back up as they stared at the container that contained the powers over the ocean and which was above the surface once more as it rested against a rock wall. The contents within were calm now, with only a faint spark of white showing up now and then.

Harold sighed as he took the red ring out to look at it. “So Captain Underpants was only able to take over Krupp’s body because that stuff isn’t in him right now.”

“And if he touches it, then Krupp will probably wake up and kick him out.” George added. “But what’s going to happen to us?” He paused. “I can’t believe this, but almost dying twice in a row isn’t as scary as what could happen at this point.”

“We could just keep it away from–” Harold paused. “George, why did he spare us?” He looked at the boy with wonder. “That was so out of character for him. You don’t think there’s just a small part left in him that–?”

Both boys sensed that they were not alone and turned around to see that Captain Underpants had returned but his attention was focused upon the person he was kneeling beside.

Edith was still dead asleep in the safety of the curtain she was wrapped up in and the lost part of the one she lost her heart to was looking at her as if he had no clue what to do. It was like he wanted to reach out, but was too afraid to do so.

“It’s ok.” George reassured Captain Underpants as he and Harold went over to him. “We can take her back to the ship and then when she wakes up, she’ll see you.”

Captain Underpants turned to look at the boys. “What if she doesn’t want to see me?” He was clearly afraid of this. “I mean, if I did something awful to her–I’m not sure, but I think I–”

“It’s ok, we’ll be there.” Harold promised him. “We’ll try to explain things to her as best as we can. We owe you for saving us.”

The adult gave the boys an appreciative smile before turning to Edith. Very slowly he reached out and carefully picked her up, and she felt a lot lighter than she should have been to him. He held her close to him, with full intention of never letting go until he deemed it safe to do so.

When they all went to the ship and the boys tried to explain to Mason what had been going on (while leaving a few private, personal matters out of it) and why both kingdoms had been separated, Captain Underpants remained by Edith’s side. He didn’t go as far as five feet away from her and waited with an incredible amount of patience.

*****

When Edith struggled to wake up from the darkness, she could hear voices that slowly became clear to her.

“Look! she’s waking up!”

She became aware that someone was holding her close to them and she could hear a steady heartbeat since her head felt as if it were resting against their chest. Whoever it was that was holding her, she felt safe with them–something that happened with another not that long ago.

Her breathing steadied as she finally opened her eyes. She found herself upon the back part of a ship heading towards the kingdom, and judging by the blue, orange, and pink hues of the sky it was getting close to sunset.

And sitting in front of her were four children who were smiling at her with relief and delight.

“Edith?!” Lisa asked as she kept a blanket wrapped around herself, like Billy did.

“Lisa?” Edith struggled to ask. “Billy?”

“It’s ok, the bad guy was defeated before he could destroy both kingdoms!” Billy smiled at her before looking at George and Harold. “We’re all safe!”

The memories of what had happened before she had been knocked out finally came back to her–that machine, the crazy man, the children in peril, Ben–

Benjamin spared the two boys in front of her–saved their lives at the possible cost of his own, she remembered; a part of her began to worry. What happened to Benjamin? Was he ok?!

“It’s good to see you’re awake!” Harold smiled at the woman.

“Yeah!” George agreed. “We were able to save the day and save everyone with some special help!”

“Where’s Benjamin?” Edith asked. She then felt a tension in whoever was holding her as their fingers tightened up and their chest expanded as if they were now holding their breath.

“Uh, he’s safe too... in a way.” George answered and all the kids looked as if there was a secret they were dying to reveal.

Upon seeing Edith’s confused look, Harold nervously frowned. “We need to tell you something.” He took a deep breath. “After Kr–after Benjamin left all those years ago, he was depressed about a lot of things, including making you upset. He so upset about all of it that he had parts of his feelings removed and... uh... they took on a life of their own?”

“They all turned into–” George cut in and paused. “See, there’s this other version of him besides the one you saw today. Edith, the reason Captain Underpants looked like Benjamin is because he is him... sort of. Not really, but sort of. It’s hard to explain, but he’s real–we didn’t just make him up.”

“There’s someone we want you to meet.” Harold pointed to whoever was holding Edith and the kids now watched in anticipation for what was about to happen.

It was only then that Edith became aware that she was wrapped up in one of those curtains she had back on the sea stack as she slowly moved her head to face whoever it was that was holding her. She saw a very familiar looking bracelet on a familiar wrist and this was what prompted her to look up and see someone who just so happened to be wearing the other matching curtain.

For one moment time stopped upon her seeing a very familiar face and blue eyes were locked onto a set of dark eyes.

This face looked similar to the one she saw earlier today, but instead of looking pale and monstrous, this one seemed human-like and healthy as if he had been exposed to the sun for a certain period of time.

The owner of the face formed a huge, excited smile and his eyes lit up with joy when he saw that she was looking at him. But it wasn’t just any smile–it was a smile she remembered from ten years ago. A smile that she had fallen in love with and had missed for a very long time.

A couple seconds passed before reality caught up to him.

“Oh!” A startled Captain Underpants now knew for sure that Edith was actually looking at him–could see him–but he had no idea what to say and became flustered. “Uh,” He gulped. “Y-you don’t know me, but I’ve seen you–though you’ve never seen or heard me–not in person, I suppose, but–I don’t mean any of this in a weird way!” He tried to correct himself when he saw her eyes widening at him. “I’m a friend of George and Harold!”

That was not why Edith looked at him like that. It was because she recognized his voice–not just because it was Benjamin’s voice she was hearing, but this voice was the exact voice she had been hearing for almost a week. The energy, the warmth, the way he sounded nervous–

“But I mean it’s a pleasure to actually meet you at last!” The man before her regained his confidence. “You’re a wonderful person and–!”

“It’s you.”

Captain Underpants stopped his attempt to make talk and watched Edith stare at him in awe as she made to get up to face him–the curtain upon her falling off her shoulders in the process. “I thought I was going crazy because I couldn’t see anyone, but you’re real.” She continued before she broke into a huge smile of her own and tucked the curtain of hair away from her face and behind her ears. “You’re actually real! I heard your voice and it was you all along!”

“Uh, yes?” He didn’t know what else to say before he processed what she said. “Wait a minute, you heard me–?!”

Before he knew it, Edith embraced him as tightly as she could and his arms shot outward in surprise as she buried her head into his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry.” She apologized. “I heard you and I didn’t do anything about it. I–” She tightened her grip on his cape. “I’m so sorry.” She repeated. “I should have known.”

For some reason, it didn’t matter if this was Benjamin or some made up hero who just happened to have his face. Something about him felt right in a way that was hard to explain. This man felt like Benjamin to her as much as the one from earlier today but she knew this man’s eyes and his smile. He also created the feelings she thought she’d never be able to feel again.

Captain Underpants could not believe what he had just heard, but then he smiled and returned the hug. “Hey it’s alright.” He reassured her–the woman who made him feel something he could not explain. Something about this felt so right to him and for her to see him and to be able to hug her back was making that happy feeling more stronger and more wonderful than it had ever been, and it felt comforting. It was like he hadn’t had this for a painfully long time and he wanted more of it–he wanted to have this one moment stopped for as long as possible. He shut his eyes as he was careful not to crush her as he moved her closer to him and felt the comforting warmth of her holding him and of being able to feel her in his embrace. “I’m just happy you can finally see me.” He confessed.

The four children quietly watched the strange, yet sweet moment between the two adults. They seemed happy to be together at last and they forgot all about who had been with them, which was why the four of them silently got up and went back down so that the other two could be alone.

“That was both one of the cutest and weirdest things I’ve ever seen.” Lisa grinned.

“I didn’t know what to expect.” Billy admitted. “I thought she wouldn’t keep a straight face around him.”

“Yeah, that was a lot easier then what we thought.” George also admitted. “Even if we didn’t get to tell her everything.”

Billy then frowned. “So what’s going to happen to you guys?” He addressed the boys. “If you don’t return those powers back to you-know-who, you won’t have to be locked away.”

“Yeah, we could give it time and try to repair the friendship between both kingdoms before that can happen!” Lisa was hopeful. “You guys are heroes to us, so you should be for your home! You can’t lock heroes away!”

“We’d ask you to stay, but we don’t want to keep you from your own families.” Billy added. “You could keep those powers away from him and we could help.”

George and Harold shared a sad look. “We can’t.” George admitted. “As long as those powers are out in the open, we’ll risk what happened today all over again. They need to go back where they belong.”

“And we don’t know what it would take to make him change his mind.” Harold admitted.

Lisa and Billy thought about this. “Why can’t you just talk it out with him?” Billy finally asked. “There has to be something that can change his mind. You guys probably understand him better than anyone else.”

“Yeah and maybe keep him away from the ocean when that happens while you’re at it.” Lisa added.

“That’s not–” Harold protested, but then a thought struck him. He thought long and hard about it before turning to George. “George, I think there’s a way we can try to make him whole again.”

“How?” George asked. “There’s no way that can happen!”

“There is.” Harold said. “Lisa and Billy are right about something. It might not work, but it’s a long shot.” He turned to Lisa and Billy. “We have something we need to do–there’s one more person that needs our help and it’s probably going to be the hardest thing we could ever do. If it doesn’t work, we’ll probably get locked away since it’s our one shot, but we have to try. Even if it doesn’t, all the kids from our home know about what happened up here and they’ll turn everything upside down sooner or later.”

“Harold,” George clasped a hand on Harold’s shoulder and whispered in his ear. “If it does work... you know what we need to do, right?”

“I know.” Harold felt a bit ill at the idea of it as he whispered back. “I don’t want to do it to him. Not after he’s finally able to–”

“If it doesn’t work,” Lisa struggled not to cry in frustration “We’ll never see you guys again. We’d tear the ocean apart if we could just to help you!”

The boys stopped as they turned their attention back to their friends. “We had a really amazing time up here, thanks to you two.” George smiled at her. “That’s never gonna be taken away–” Lisa ran up and hugged George tightly, startling the boy. He hesitated before he smiled and hugged her back.

“Please send some sort of sign that you guys are ok!” Billy pleaded to Harold. “Otherwise I don’t think we can live with you guys locked up away from each other!”

Harold smiled before hugging Billy. “It’s ok.” He tried to reassure the boy. “We never give up that easily, so don’t worry about us.”

The boys finished hugging the siblings and swapped so that they could hug the child they didn’t get a chance to hug. “We’ll keep the comic book safe!” Lisa promised. “We’ll always treasure it!”

“That’d be great!” Harold smiled as he and George moved away. “Really, that would mean a lot to us!” He struggled not to cry himself.

George turned his head back. “We... we might need to tell her now.” He already felt regretful. “I kind of wish I could give them more time but–”

“Me too.” Harold nodded his head before the boys went back. As they did, they heard laughing and talking and they hesitated before peeking out to see what was going on.

While the boys had no idea what Edith and Captain Underpants had been talking about, they could see that both of them seemed happy and comfortable in each other’s company. Edith didn’t seem to have any reaction to the choice in attire that her companion wore and she had a huge smile that the boys hadn’t seen from her for what felt like a long time. Captain Underpants had a huge smile on his face too, and it was clear that finally being able to talk to her was what made him especially happy in that moment.

“So,” Captain Underpants then frowned and was nervous once more. “I understand that I... uh, that I’m a part of someone you once knew. I remember something getting taken out of me–out of him. And I have his body–or is it mine?” He was puzzled by this. “I guess that’s why you can see me now?” He shook his head. “I don’t know, it’s really confusing! It hurts my head trying to put it all together!”

“It does sound confusing.” Edith admitted.

“He didn’t do anything to hurt you, did he?” Captain Underpants concernedly asked. “You were nearby when I found him asleep and you were sleeping too. I know he was trying to tear the boys away from each other when I first saw him.” George and Harold winced at this and wondered if they needed to jump in before he ruined something.

“No!” Edith panicked and shook her head. “No he–!” She sighed as she recalled what he told her. “Not... physically. I thought I knew him, but I don’t know anymore. You seem like the person I knew more than he does.” She admitted.

Captain Underpants took a deep breath. “I admit I don’t remember everything that happened when I knew you, but I get the sense that something bad happened–I think I know, but I’m not sure–but I feel like it must have made you unhappy, so–” he grabbed her hand “–I’m sorry! If there was something I did to make you unhappy, I’m sorry with all of my being! I don’t like seeing you unhappy, but something tells me that I–that he–that we did!” He let out a regretful sigh. “I wanted to be able to talk to you for so long. I was so happy when I had a memory of you–so happy that I felt like telling everyone I could see–and I did!” He let out a laugh that died down after a moment. “But I’m fine if you don’t accept my apology. Just getting this chance to talk to you–I’ll take it even if it has to be the only time! It’s just–if there was something that had happened, then I want to apologize if he hasn’t. You deserve to be happy and I wish there was something I could do for you.”

Edith had no clue what to say as she stared down at his hand on hers and she maneuvered her hand until her fingers were entwined between his own–just like a time many years ago. It felt comforting, familiar, and right to her, like it was a perfect fit.

“Edith, this guy is Benjamin as much as the guy that was at the pier with us was.” George finally stepped in, causing Edith and Captain Underpants to look at him and Harold. “There was a big, honest-to-goodness reason he didn’t face you on the pier that day and why he took out a part of himself. But we can’t tell you that.” George admitted. “I think that’s something he would rather tell you.” He looked at Harold as they shared the same thought and made the same decision before facing her. “I think we can try to fix everything and try to make him whole again. I don’t know if we can, but if we do and he can be nice again... could you be able to give him another chance to tell you?”

“Since he ended up sparing us and all,” Harold added. “I suppose there’s still a chance that he can still be the same person you knew.”

“And we promise we’ll let you know if we can get him to be a better person.” George also added as Lisa and Billy listened in. “We’re sorry we never told you before. We owe you big time for that.”

Edith looked at the boys before turning back to look at the one who looked so much like Benjamin–who was also Benjamin somehow, yet not quite, but still felt like him. She saw a sad, but hopeful look in those dark eyes. How could this sweet, caring man also be the one who acted so cruel towards those children?

Why did she still feel hopeful after her heart had been crushed for a second time? Yet the boys made it sound like there was indeed a real reason for that first time–something she wanted to know for a long time. Being in the presence of this man made her feel things she thought wouldn’t happen again and if Benjamin had been willing to give up so much for the safety of these two boys, maybe...

“I can’t believe what I’m saying, but I’ll do it.” Edith turned to look at the boys and gently squeezed the hand she held. “He owes me. I’ll give him one chance–and you tell him that he better be there when that day comes or he’ll be in so much trouble. Not even a raging ocean will keep me from pounding down his door.”

“Oh we will!” The boys grinned eagerly at each other as Lisa and Billy walked towards Captain Underpants.

“Um,” Billy began as the adult let go of Edith to face him. “Thank you for everything.” He smiled. “It was great to know you and that you came to save us when we needed it.”

Captain Underpants smiled at the boy. “It was great to know you too!” He got up and hugged the boy.

“I wish we got to hang out with you longer.” Lisa admitted after Billy let go of Captain Underpants. “It was fun while it lasted.” She took a deep breath–unlike her brother, she sensed what the boys meant by making Benjamin ‘whole again’ and she tried not to cry.

Captain Underpants also smiled at Lisa as he opened his arms up and the girl rushed in to hug him one last time. “Hey, maybe we’ll see each other again.” He tried to reassure her. “You never know.” He added as he felt the girl tighten her hold on him before she let go and took another breath to calm herself and nodded as she stood next to Billy.

“Uh,” Harold hated doing what needed to be done. “We... we need to get going.” He reminded Captain Underpants. “We need to go back.”

“Yeah,” George slowly nodded his head as he remembered what it would mean to go back to that sea stack. They almost forgot that their freedom wasn’t the only thing that would be in jeopardy.

“Oh,” Captain Underpants was not thrilled about this, but he nodded his head in understanding before kneeling beside Edith once more. “I don’t know if we’ll see each other ever again. But having this one chance to talk to you means a lot to me and I can be happy with that if this is all I’ll ever get.”

Edith paused before giving the hero a sweet smile that made his heart skip a beat. “It was wonderful to be able to talk to you face to face.”

Captain Underpants smiled a huge smile back before hesitating. “Uh, I wish I could have more to say. There’s so little time and I don’t even know–” Without any warning, Edith leaned over towards him and kissed him on the mouth.

Greatly (but pleasantly) surprised at what just happened, he could only stare in shock as she closed her eyes and gently rested a hand against one of his cheeks while another hand rested on his shoulder.

George and Harold stared for two seconds before slapping their hands on their foreheads and shut their eyes, Billy looked away out of not knowing how to respect the moment, and Lisa just watched with a huge smile that kept widening with sheer delight.

Edith let the kiss last for a couple of seconds before moving away from Captain Underpants and let out a small, shy laugh as a blush crept into her face.

Captain Underpants had almost shut down when it hit him as to what Edith had done, but when he was able to recover, he practically lit up and had a dazed, yet happy look on his face as a really huge smile formed on it. “Oh, uh–!” He laughed for a moment before he got up on his feet and walked (more like stumbled) backwards without meaning to. He let out another delighted laugh as he placed his hands on his cheeks and moved towards the edge of the railings of the ship.

“Oh no not again–CAPTAIN!” George cried out as he and Harold hurried to reach the incredibly lovestruck adult, but it was too late and the man fell over the railings with a cry of alarm.

Seconds later the cry changed into a holler of delight–to be more specific, an excited “TRA-LA-LAA!”–and they all watched as he flew up and around the ship in an erratic pattern like he was someone who had no clue where they were going or was else doing some sort of awkward dance with no grace. Captain Underpants was so happy that he wasn’t aware of anything else and was laughing and yelling out incoherent things in his excited joyfulness.

It was enough for almost everyone on the ship to stare at Captain Underpants. The adults were flabbergasted at the sight of a grown man flying around in nothing but a cape and underwear while the human children that were being taken home had huge smiles on their faces.

“Well that made him happy!” Harold couldn’t help but laugh as George chuckled at the sight.

As Edith watched in amazement at Captain Underpants flying, it triggered something in her memories.

“Ten years ago, a terrible monster was created and is now feared–in some cases, even hated–by both land and sea, yet his heart is one with the air.”

Yet his heart is one with the air.

Any doubt she had left vanished in an instant and she couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief–that person who flew all crazy in the air with very little on and who was so insanely happy over her kiss was Benjamin. Something about that was both amusing and adorable at the same time.

Seeing him get excited and happy made her heart race in a pleasantly good way.

Finally Captain Underpants collapsed on his back before George and Harold upon the floor of the ship with a great thud and he still had a dazed smile on his face as he let out a small giggle.

“Uh,” Harold waved at Captain Underpants. “We need to go, remember?”

“What?!” Captain Underpants became alert and then he remembered what he was supposed to do. “Oh!” He let out a chuckle and scooped up the boys before getting back on his feet. He looked at the siblings and then locked eyes with Edith–who was still smiling at him–before he was finally ready.

“Bye!” He began to fly upward and waved farewell as he held the boys against him in one arm while they looked back at the trio on the boat.

“Bye!” Lisa waved alongside Billy to the boys and Captain Underpants.

“See you next time, I hope!” Billy hollered at them as Edith waved at the three.

George and Harold waved back as they held onto Captain Underpants and when the adult finally moved his hand so that he could use both arms to hold them, he flew off to the sea stack–though since he was still in a happy daze, he didn’t exactly fly in a straight path and was also bobbing up and down a little.

“Uh, can you please be careful?!” Harold pleaded as felt the adult wobbling from left to right.

“And don’t drop us or make us sick?!” George panicked.

“You guys have no idea how wonderful that was!” Captain Underpants couldn’t stop smiling.

“We don’t want to know!” The grossed out boys protested at the same time.

The trio on the boat watched as the three flew off and they didn’t stop watching until they had vanished from sight. “So,” Lisa turned to Edith with a huge grin. “Why’d you kiss Captain Underpants? Do you like him?”

The woman startled at this and held her face in her hands as her face turned a deep shade of pink. “What?” She stammered.

“Yeah, he really liked it.” Billy also grinned at her. “You must be a really good kisser.” He couldn’t help but tease Edith.

“Uh, could we have this discussion another time?” Edith pleaded as she felt herself smiling at this.

Chapter Text

While the boys both anticipated and dreaded the return to the sea stack, they also were quick to notice that their companion wasn’t just having a hard time keeping steady during the flight, but was also steadily dropping downward towards the ocean even before they were near their intended destination. It looked as if he was going to crash into the ocean, and he barely reached the sea stack in the nick of time.

“Hey are you ok?” Harold asked Captain Underpants after he let go of both him and George upon the rocky terrain.

“I don’t know.” The adult was puzzled. “Everything feels heavy all of a sudden.” He tried to hop into the air and was able to stay a few inches up for a couple moments before he dropped back down. “I’m having a hard time staying up.” He frowned in disappointment.

“I don’t know why it could be happening now.” George tried to think. “You shouldn’t have been able to fly in that body in the first place. How the heck did that even happen in the first place?” Whatever the case was, something about the hero not being able to fly felt like a bit of a relief to the boy.

“It could have been an added ability or something,” Harold also thought before frowning “Or–” He gave George an alarmed look. “George, what if he’s going to wake up?!”

George grimaced at this before looking to the capsule which was still safe and intact. “I don’t know but–” Then it hit him.

The moment they knew had to come was almost at hand.

It felt all too soon for them. Even if they knew it would come, they still didn’t feel ready. It felt like a punch to the stomach.

George gave Harold a pained look. Harold looked at the capsule and then to George and understood. They both turned to Captain Underpants, who patiently waited for them. “We need to tell you something.” George took the adult’s hand, as did Harold, and they lead him to the capsule. Once they reached it, both boys reluctantly let go of the adult before turning to face him.

“The reason we think you have that body is because the stuff in that thing isn’t inside Krupp right now.” George began. “We think he was knocked out and that’s how you could get your body back–because he’s asleep at the moment.”

“So is he still in here?” Captain Underpants pointed to himself. “The idea of having someone in me sounds a bit unnerving, to be honest.”

“I think so.” Harold admitted. “But the thing is, this stuff is too dangerous to have out in the open, and we have to put it back inside you. But once we do that–” Harold paused “–Once we do that and he wakes up, he’ll probably force you out or something. You’ll probably end up how you were before it happened.”

“But if that happens, I can’t hug you guys again!” Captain Underpants was now understanding and was starting to panic. “I won’t be able to help you guys fix everything if I can’t go with you–!”

“It’s not just that!” George cut him off as he and Harold steadily grew upset with what they had to do. “In order for you to go back to the way you were, before Krupp forced you out, he has to want to accept you back! Like genuinely want you back–we can’t force it! But if that happens–!” He struggled not to cry. “We don’t know what that’ll do to you! You might disappear forever! You might not remember us!”

“If there was a way we could make it so that you don’t have to vanish, we could!” Harold also struggled with not crying. “We’d do anything to have you around instead of him, but it’s not right! We need to do the right thing but–!” He hugged himself as he felt his eyes well up with tears. “We’re sorry! We’re so sorry!” He struggled to say as George began to shut down and also feel the tears coming. “This is all so unfair! We know and we’re sorry!”

“Despite all the crazy stuff that’s happened, you never put us down like most adults.” George told Captain Underpants. “You listened to us. You actually liked what we liked–you liked our comics. You didn’t stop us or tell us it was a waste of time.” George struggled to choke out. “You were there when we really needed it, even if we weren’t expecting it! And Harold’s right–none of this is fair! Even if you weren’t real or your own person, you were real to us and–!” He rested his face in his hands.

They both hated having to do this. They just hated it. It was unfair, mean, and not what they wanted to do to him.

Moments passed before the boys felt themselves get drawn into a tight embrace by Captain Underpants, who knelt down to be at their level. They immediately hugged him back as he struggled with his own thoughts and emotions, but instead chose to comfort the boys.

“Hey it’s ok, you don’t have to apologize.” He tried to reassure the both of them as he closed his eyes and smiled. “You know what? I’m glad I was there for you; I’m glad I was able to help and I’m happy to call you my friends. Even if it wasn’t for that long, I enjoyed spending my time with you two. And I believe in you guys with all of my heart that you’ll make things right. So whatever happens, I want you to know that when you two succeed–if it means it’ll help make things right for everyone and you two get to stay together–then I don’t mind if I disappear. Just–” He hugged them closer to him. “–Promise me at least one thing? Please don’t forget me? I want to be remembered as a friend.”

George and Harold felt the embrace for as long as they could as they hugged back as tightly as they could–they would probably never feel this unique warmth and hug ever again. It was the hug of someone who believed in them and the hug of that person who would appear in your life who seemed to shine brighter than the sun itself.

“We promise.” Harold promised.

“We won’t forget.” George nodded.

Captain Underpants let out a sigh of relief at this. “Thank you.”

A few more moments passed before the boys finally could let go of Captain Underpants, but it took him a few more moments before he could let go and gave each boy one individual hug. Once he did this and moved away, they both saw that despite that he was smiling he had been crying too–the tear streaks on his face confirmed it.

He let out one small laugh before using his hand to wipe away what was left of the tears off his face. “You two are going to grow up and be amazing. You know that?” He laughed once more before reaching out and playfully ruffled their hair. “I really hope you two can keep making those comics. Especially since they make everyone happy.”

“We will.” Harold grinned, as did George.

Captain Underpants grinned back before turning to the capsule. “So how does that stuff just get back in me?”

“Uh, punch through it?” George suggested.

“That would work.” Captain Underpants agreed as he got up and walked up to the capsule. He stared at it for a few seconds before moving a fist back as far as he could and hesitated with quiet determination before punching a hole through the glass as hard as he could.

As the contents within the capsule began to escape back into the original owner, George and Harold held hands as tightly as possible.

*****

After putting the original inhabitant of the body somewhat back together with a few things they found, the boys only had to wait when the bottom of the sun was touching the ocean until Krupp finally awoke.

Krupp felt disoriented as he tried to push himself into a sitting position and held his face with one hand and his fingers brushed against the toupee that had been placed back on his head. He struggled to remember what had happened as he tried to get his bearings, before seeing the backsides of two familiar looking boys staring out at the sun that was beginning to set. He couldn’t remember the last time he ever saw the sun and it almost hurt his eyes to try to look at it.

Then it occurred to him as to what exactly happened and the only question that popped into his terrified mind was ‘Where’s Edith?!’

He tried to crawl, but then realized that a few things did not feel right. The first thing that he registered was that for some reason he was not only wearing a white shirt that was unbuttoned (how and where did that come from?) but one of those red and black things that Edith had wrapped herself in was hanging off his neck and shoulders.

It was only when he saw the lower half of his body that he let out a loud shriek of alarm. “WHAT THE HECK?!” How did he get stuck in a human form and why was he also wearing under–then he saw on his wrist that a familiar bracelet was upon it and there was also some sort of red and yellow cloth that was tied up next to it with a huge knot.

“No, no, no, get off, get off, get off!” Krupp panicked as he tried to rip the bracelet off, which was the exact moment the boys finally turned around. But when it didn’t work, he tried to pull at the object that kept it in place when–

“WAIT, STOP!”

Krupp looked up to see that both George and Harold got up and stood side by side. They were both relieved, yet a little panicked at how fast things were going.

“You two did this to me, didn’t you?!” He yelled and pointed an accusing finger at them before trying to force himself up onto his feet, only to stumble and collapse back to the ground. He tried once more and it still yielded the same humiliating and painful result. It made him angry to the point of growling in frustration–if he was able to walk before, how come he couldn’t now?! Also, he now realized that he was nowhere near the water and he had no desire to crawl back to it in front of these two troublemakers–it was bad enough that they were standing and looking down on him–he was being humiliated and he hated it. He tried ripping off the tie that kept him from pulling the bracelet off, but it would not pull free.

“If you’re trying to go find Edith, she’s safe.” George finally said. “We were able to defeat that crazy guy and all the other kids are safe and heading back home. She’s on her way back home.”

This made Krupp stop what he was doing. He let go of the tie and slowly looked at the boys as Harold added “It’s true, we even gave you back those powers.” He then moved a few feet closer to Krupp, as did George. When they stopped, they looked at each other before George took a deep breath. From out of his pocket, he pulled out the red ring and showed it to Krupp.

They watched as he stared in confusion at the object, but his eyes widened when he recognized it. He hadn’t seen it in so many years and yet–

“This is what we found at the rock formation.” George explained as he held onto the ring. “We know it’s yours.”

Krupp had a few seconds to register what he was told before he dragged a hand over his face in dismay. He forgot about where the boys had gone to–of course it had to be them of all people to find the ring.

“We also know what’s inside it.” Harold added. “We know you were up here, we know how you really feel about Edith, and we know you took out parts of yourself and put them in the ring.”

“Look, we get why you did it.” George continued. “We know why you hate this place and why you’re always so mad, but it’s not right. You can’t do this to yourself anymore–you have to accept Ca–you have to accept them back.” He quickly corrected himself.

The boys waited as Krupp stared at them for a few seconds.

Then he let out a snort and let out a laugh of disbelief.

“Is this your way of trying to change my mind about separating you?!” He asked and shook his head. “I told you nothing would ever change my mind! How stupid can you get?! You honestly think that’s going to magically change everything?!”

When the boys didn’t respond, he continued. “Or wait, let me guess. You think that’s going to make me nice or something stupid like that, right? That I’ll stop it with the storms and let you both go, or that I’ll let up on all the laws? Are you two really that naive?!”

George and Harold looked at each other–as they had suspected, this was not going to be easy, but they weren’t entirely sure which words to say. “We aren’t doing this for us.” George replied. “Trust me, we wouldn’t have woke you up if that were the case.”

“Well whatever you’re trying to do, it’s not going to work!” Krupp spat. “I’m not taking that back because I don’t need any of it! I’m fine without it!”

“Then let me ask you something.” George tried to stay patient. “Have you ever been happy since you stopped feeling love or optimistic about something? Like, really, really happy? And us getting in trouble doesn’t count.” He quickly added. “And you know Edith is close by. She’s been here this whole time and she’s not leaving any time soon. Don’t you want a second chance with her?”

Krupp stared at George before he growled. “You have a lot of nerve to be bringing–”

“Just answer the question, Krupp!” George demanded. “Are you as happy as you were back then?! Are you happy with how life has been for you for the past ten years?! You still have a chance–!”

“Do you honestly think I was really happy up here?!” Krupp demanded right back as his fury grew. “Have you had to live with a lot of disappointments throughout your miserable life?! You think your life is worse than mine ever was?! Do you think I want to feel those things when all they did was make me miserable?! Make me feel awful about what I did to her?! Tell me–do you know what it’s like to have your heart broken into shreds and thrown at your face–?!”

“YEAH, NO THANKS TO YOU!” Harold finally couldn’t take it anymore as he let himself have his outburst, which startled Krupp as well as George. “HOW DO YOU THINK WE FELT WHEN YOU RIPPED UP OUR COMIC IN FRONT OF OUR FACES AND SAID THOSE AWFUL THINGS TO US?! YOU THINK EVERYONE IS HAPPY THAT YOU WON’T LET THEM MAKE ART OR WRITE FOR FUN?! OR EVEN HAVE FUN AT ALL?! SO YOUR LIFE WAS AWFUL AND YOU FELT LIKE YOU COULDN’T BE WITH EDITH, BUT IT DOESN’T EXCUSE YOU TAKING IT OUT ON ALL OF US AND ACTING LIKE A JERK ABOUT IT!”

Harold struggled to take a breath as George watched him. When he was able to calm down enough, he continued. “Also, my dad left my family. I was so upset and so was my mom–I thought he loved us. I thought he loved my mom–loved me, loved Heidi–I didn’t want to escape with George because I didn’t want to be like my dad. We both hated doing that to our families and we wanted to go back almost every day we were up here. So don’t you dare think that we don’t know any better than you. Heck, maybe we’ll never understand you, but at least we want to try.”

Krupp was unable to respond back as the words sank in. Unable to respond upon remembering those things–what happened a week ago and how the boys reacted when he tore up the comic to make his point–did he have that reaction when he was a child and–?

“No, you won’t.” He could only shake his head after a moment and tried to deny their words. “You won’t–you can’t–”

“You want to know something insane?” George finally cut in as he tightened his hold on the ring. “I don’t get why you keep hating us, but I now I think it’s really because we have each other. I mean, besides the pranks we’ve done. I don’t know, I could be wrong about it–” he admitted “–but we know you didn’t have a great childhood, and we know about what happened with Edith and how much she really meant to you. And that insane thing? Despite everything, I–” He shut his eyes for a moment and opened them again “–I almost wish we had been there when you were a kid. I wish you had someone you trusted and felt comfortable talking with about what was going on and with Edith. And you can call us crazy, but if we were born a few decades earlier we would have tried to have made you our friend because you seem like a person who really needed one.”

This took Krupp by surprise. He was not expecting George to say that of all the things either of the two could have said. What shocked him even more was that those words made him think back to the past he tried so hard to forget–the past that gave him so much grief.

Some part of him deep down remembered that old childhood desire to have a friend–a real friend. As much as he hated these two, he couldn’t help but remember wanting a bond so similar to their own. He had no desire to be pitied by them and yet deep down he knew that if these two had been willing to defend and aid his younger self like they did with all those other children who seemed to adore them... all those children they tried to protect from him... all those children who looked at him with fear...

He didn’t know whether to feel repulsed by the thought or moved by it. As much as he hated the idea of being friends with the two–

“That would have been nice.” He quietly admitted before he could stop himself. Then when he realized what he just admitted, he pulled a disgusted face as the boys gave each other smirks before looking back.

George and Harold watched Krupp, who was unaware that there was a third person with them. A person who watched him from behind as he listened to his side of things and began to understand and, for once, felt sympathy towards him.

“We talked to Edith since you spared us earlier–we didn’t tell her anything you would have wanted to say to her.” Harold confessed and this made Krupp raise his head. “She’s willing to give you one chance to tell her why you weren’t there–the actual honest truth that she deserves to know, and we think she deserves to know–and we know you probably don’t want to right away, but it won’t mean anything if you don’t feel the way you used to feel towards her, right?”

George held the ring out. “We aren’t doing this for us, we’re trying to do it for you. If you aren’t going to accept those feelings back for her, then at least do it for yourself before it’s too late.”

Krupp stared at the ring. He barely remembered what it was like to be truly happy, he couldn’t remember the last time he felt hopeful and positive, he couldn’t even remember how good it felt when he was around Edith or why. A part of him that barely remembered was missing those times and wanted to feel that way again, but–

“I can’t.” He shook his head.

“Why?!” Harold demanded. “Why don’t you–?!”

“I can’t be that person again!” Krupp protested. “It’s been too long! I’m too broken–it’s too late for me!” He threw out. “It’s not going to make things right again! No one would like me as if nothing bad had happened, and especially not her! I don’t even know how I can make someone like me! I never did! I don’t want to feel the way I felt when I had to–you’re just wasting your time on a stupid idea that I can–why am I even telling you two of all people any of this?!” He held his face in his hands in dismay. He was opening himself up and he couldn’t stop himself and he had no clue why. “What makes you even think that me of all people can change? It’s such a stupid waste of time!”

He gritted his teeth as the boys kept watching. “I don’t even remember why I loved her in the first place.” He muttered as he deeply regretted this with all of his heart. “After all that’s happened, what good would it do to have those feelings back? She hates me, so why even bother?”

George and Harold looked from Krupp and to Captain Underpants, who was right behind him and heard everything he said.

“Well first off, don’t you need to be compassionate when trying to make friends?” Captain Underpants finally spoke up as he moved closer to Krupp.

Upon hearing his own voice say those words, Krupp flinched and moved his hands from his stunned face. He didn’t say those words, so why–?

“I mean, helping others out worked for me and it could work for you too.” Captain Underpants continued with confidence as his counterpart slowly turned his head and stared at him for a few seconds.

Then Krupp let out a terrific scream that was appropriate for someone who was seeing their mirror reflection smiling back at them and who didn’t even flinch at his reaction.

“WHAT THE–WHO THE–WHAT THE–?!” Krupp stammered as he gapped and pointed a finger at Captain Underpants.

“I know I should probably hate you for all you’ve done.” Captain Underpants continued as he walked towards Krupp, who tried to push himself back away from him as fast as he could. “You forced me out, you were mean to the boys as well as everyone else... but I really don’t want to. It wouldn’t do me any good.”

“WHAT’S GOING ON?! WHO ARE YOU?!”

“I wish you saw things the way I saw them.” Captain Underpants added. “There’s a lot of bad stuff, but not everything has to be like that. I guess it’s ok to be angry, but it’s not good if you’re angry all the time.”

“YOU CAN SEE HIM TOO, RIGHT?!” Krupp demanded to George and Harold as he pointed to his look-a-like and it look all the boys’ willpower to not laugh at this. “IS THIS ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR PRANKS?!” When he looked back, Captain Underpants was standing within inches from him. This caused him to let out a panicked yell as he tried to once again get up and run away, but he tripped and fell–with Captain Underpants barely catching his arm to keep him from landing face down.

“LET GO! GET AWAY FROM ME!” Krupp panicked as he pulled his arm away as hard as he could and Captain Underpants stared at his own hand. He realized what he just did before smiling once more.

“You know, I wish there was a way that you could have my memories.” Captain Underpants admitted as he knelt in front of Krupp, who was backed into a corner and could not get away. “Then maybe you could know how I feel about George and Harold and especially Edith. How I feel about everyone and everything.”

“I don’t want your stupid memories, you weirdo!” Krupp snarled as he tried to force himself forward to get around Captain Underpants. But Captain Underpants grabbed his shoulders and forced Krupp to face him.

“LET GO OF ME!” Krupp screamed as he tried to smack Captain Underpants arms away in an attempt to force him to let go. “LET GO!” He tried as long and as hard as he could to pull free, but the hero would not budge, and after a few tries he found himself gripping the other one’s arms to support himself from falling over into the ground again.

“Why can’t–” Krupp panted. “Why can’t you–what are you even–?!”

“Because I care about you and you’re the last person I need to help before I go.” Captain Underpants squeezed Krupp’s shoulders in a reassuring way. “I have to help others who are in trouble and that includes you too.”

“Also,” Captain Underpants gave one last smile to the boys before looking back at his counterpart. “When you forced me out of you all those years ago?” Krupp looked at him in confusion as Captain Underpants’ smile widened with genuine sincerity.

“I forgive you.”

Captain Underpants then let go off Krupp so that he could move forward and hug him.

It caught Krupp so off guard that his hands still hovered out as Captain Underpants continued to embrace him as tightly as possible, without letting go. As his counterpart did so, Krupp felt that strange feeling he had over the past few days–that burst of feeling happy for seemingly no reason.

The moment it finally came together–the moment Krupp then understood where those emotions were originating from and who this was supposed to be–Captain Underpants shut his eyes and tried his best to remember everything that had happened from the moment he first woke up.

A place where people helped each other out when bad things happened or trouble would show its face. A place that was wonderful when there were ways to find joy in something as simple as playing in the water, sitting within trees, or looking up at the clouds in the sky.

There were the bad things–people who were mean, but could be stopped if you had the determination, the power, or worked together with someone. Like fighting that large monster and that crazy man who was mean to all those children and especially to his friends... But that was his fault in the first place, wasn’t it?... No, he was able to right that wrong.

Two children with too much on their shoulders who felt like they had to grow up too fast... He was like that once. At least they had each other–they could have easily ended up like him... Until two boys came and he made it his goal to get them all to befriend each other–to make them happy and be kids... Would the same have happened if it were for him?...

George and Harold–both talented and creative, they used those abilities to bring joy to those around them. To Lisa and Billy who needed to laugh the most, especially to Edith–even him. They wanted to try to make things right and make everyone back home happy, but escaping to the surface world to tell everyone about what they did came with huge risks–they would never see each other again if they failed, everyone would still be miserable, and they didn’t want to abandon their families... Seeing them be so miserable and so broken-hearted seemed so wrong that he felt guilt... He so badly wanted to hug them and comfort them, but he couldn’t as he was.... As he was with all heart but no physical form...

Then there was Edith, full of kindness and compassion, and beloved by children. She gave the boys the things they wanted because she wanted them to be happy, be creative, and because they helped her. She had to put up with a horrible woman who was mean to her for trying to fix a mistake the only way she could, and he hated seeing her be put down... The sight of it was killing him and making him angry... He wanted to do something about it but couldn’t. He couldn’t be seen by adults and that included her. He hated seeing her all sad and alone... That was his fault, wasn’t it? If he hadn’t have left her–... But when he saw her smiling and those beautiful blue eyes lit up, she was beautiful. He knew her, he remembered her... Remembered her dreams, her playfulness, her shyness, and her determination. Remembered the night of dancing when he could believe and was optimistic for a better future. Remembered when his heart was overflowing with adoration and he wanted to be with her forever because it was hard to imagine a life without her... He missed being with her.

He remembered the terror he felt over losing the boys–of needing to be with them and reaching them in the nick of time–he was so happy to be able to finally hug the boys after so long. He remembered being able to save all those kids, save the day, and feel worthy of being called a hero. He remembered finally being seen by Edith and to hold and talk to her, and to hold her hand... The way it used to be... It made him so happy... It made him feel right in a way that he hadn’t felt in a long time and he didn’t want to forget it or lose it. He wished he had been there to live those moments out. He wished he had a second chance and could live through those moments and fix his mistakes...Once more, without forgetting or vanishing... He wished he could be like that again. He wanted to be like that again...

...He wanted to be like that again...

He–

He opened his eyes to find that he had been hugging nothing but the empty air.

Wait, he wasn’t hugging the other one back, that had been him–he looked and saw that the bracelet was on his wrist, so why was he thinking he was the other one? Had he hugged him back?

Why did he feel so strange? Why did he feel happy to be alive and to see the ocean and the colorful sky? Why was it that when he turned his head to face two boys–both of whom looked surprised, sad, yet hopeful all at once–why did he look at them and felt nothing but relief? Because he was... because they were... the memories were his and yet they weren’t–

“What... what’s happening to me?” His voice came out more afraid than he meant it to. “Guys what happened to–?” That term was both familiar and not familiar and he stopped as he clasped a hand over his mouth, only to feel that he had been crying.

He was feeling too many overwhelming things to the point that he didn’t know which was which or whose was whose. Guilt, sorrow, relief... happiness.

George and Harold slowly approached him as he tried to make sense of everything and had to deal with memories and feelings that were his and yet not his all at once. Had he paid more attention, he might have noticed that the sun had completely set behind them.

Then before Benjamin realized it, Harold slowly moved in to hug him and George followed suit. He was so shocked by the gesture that he moved his hand away and stared down in bewilderment at the two boys who–for the first time and yet not the first time–hugged him as if he were a close friend.

It was something that felt unfamiliar–something he hadn’t experienced in so many years–and something so wonderfully familiar that it was comforting.

It was too much–it felt good to be hugged and to feel like he was wanted–

Benjamin broke down as he hugged George and Harold as tight as he could as he let the tears escape until he became a complete, sobbing mess. It was painful but it felt so wonderful at the same time. He shut his eyes and bowed his head as he held onto them and had no desire to let go because of how much he felt like he needed (wanted) to hug them and be hugged back. This pleasant feeling he was experiencing... he knew what it was. It was what he felt when he was with these two... it was that feeling he felt when he had those short bursts of happiness that came out of no where, but this time they stayed and didn’t go away. This time he didn’t feel hollow anymore and he never wanted to feel that way ever again.

To George and Harold, it was a hug that was both unfamiliar but also familiar. They didn’t care who they were possibly hugging anymore.

Everything had gone right. Benjamin was whole again.

Chapter Text

In the aftermath of the kingdom under the ocean feeling the effects of two storms in a row in one day, the calm brought several missing merchildren who hurried back to families who went from terrified to relieved. Almost immediately the children began to tell their families of what happened and where they had gone, as well as who fought to free them. It was such a shock to hear and it was almost hard to believe.

Heidi was among those children with such stories when she was taken back to her family’s chambers. Both George and Harold’s parents were shocked to hear that George and Harold had indeed been up on the surface, but they were also surprised what they had done, who had spared their lives at one point, and that they saved several children as well as prevented the destruction of their home.

The next time the doors opened again, they looked up to see George and Harold staring at them in disbelief, as if they had been gone for years instead of days.

Harold’s mom shot up from her spot, as did George’s parents who grabbed each other’s hands. Were they truly seeing their sons back home?

Both the merdolphin and the merorca bolted to their families as fast as they could with huge smiles on their faces.

“MOM!” Harold crashed into his mother and wrapped his arms around her as tight as he could.

“DAD! MOM!” George cried out as he also crashed into his parents, who were quick to hug him.

“Harold?!” Harold’s mom clasped a hand to her mouth and struggled with her tears before giving in and hugged her son back as Heidi watched on with a big smile.

“George!” George’s mother let out a sigh of relief as she tightened her hold on her son and her husband hugged them both as tight as possible. “Oh thank goodness, you’re alright!”

“I am so sorry!” Harold tried to explain. “We didn’t mean to make you upset!”

“We ran away because we wanted to try to find a way to make things better for everyone!” George told his parents. “I know you’re probably mad–!”

“No!” George’s dad shook his head. “We’re just glad you’re safe!”

“You’re here.” Harold’s mom struggled through her sobs. “You’re here.”

After so many days from being away from their parents, both boys were happy to be home with them once more. It had seemed like an eternity to them, but they were home at last.

“Wait a minute.” George’s dad frowned as he let go of his son and wife and looked at George. “How exactly did you get back home? How did you get in here without getting caught?”

A terrible silence fell among the adults and Heidi as Harold’s mom also looked at her son in concern. Both George and Harold had an unsure look in their eyes which drifted towards the door frame where they all could see a figure awkwardly, yet quietly move away.

It was Harold’s mom who acted fast as she swam out of the room and saw the huge mershark retreating away.

“So what is this?” She demanded. “Are you giving us one last day with our sons before you take them away from us?” This caused her king to flinch and stop in his tracks.

“Well say something! Are you–?!”

“I’m pardoning them.” His voice came out as if he couldn’t believe what he was saying. Even the merdolphin was taken by surprise.

“Is... is that a joke?” She asked and he shook his head. Slowly she swam towards him and took a good look at him.

Most of his adornments were missing and he was looking down at an unfamiliar fabric of red with black dots in his arms. She looked at his face and saw that there was no cold glint, angry fire, or some other unpleasant look in his eyes–for the first time in a long time he seemed lost, vulnerable, and remorseful. It made her wonder if what Heidi had said did indeed happen, but what else happened? What happened to change his mind as well as his behavior?

“If this is a joke, it’s not–”

“It’s not!” He protested, but it lacked the venom and force it would normally have had. “It... it isn’t.” He sighed. “We–” He stopped himself and there was a quick flash of pain in his eyes before he corrected himself. “Your sons saved two kingdoms–there’s a bunch of kids who’d prove it. Everyone would be at my neck if I locked them up now. So they’re both free.”

She continued to stare at him for a few seconds, not sure if what she was hearing was indeed correct. She turned and began to drift away, but then–

“Wait!”

She stopped and looked in confusion at him. He seemed oddly scared at whatever was on his mind, but also hopeful at the same time.

“I need help with a few things.” He began. “I know you guys want to leave, but... I know I screwed up and I want to try to make amends for what I did for the last ten years. I don’t know how to start and no one would believe me if I just say it, but... I need help. Like starting tomorrow if you’re willing to stay a bit longer.” He then pulled something out of the fabric and handed it to her. “Also, give these to them. They earned them.” He swam away before she could question what he meant about any of it while holding onto the objects.

When she returned, she handed the objects to George and Harold, who stared at them in surprise before looking at the doorway and then back to each other.

They honestly had no clue why he’d give them back the bracelets and they were more surprised when Harold’s mom said the words they never expected to hear.

“He’s not going to lock you away. You’re still free.”

They stared in shock at each other before they smiled and hugged each other as tightly as possible.

*****

As to be expected, there were changes. They didn’t happen immediately and took time, but they did. The ban upon all forms of creativity had been lifted after nearly ten years as well as the ban for visiting the surface world.

The kingdom under the ocean began to brighten up as murals were restored and statues and sculptures that had been kept away were brought back out. Music that once had to be kept quiet now came out loud and clear for all to listen to. Plant life thrived in places they used to thrive in and restored color back to certain places, including the courtyards of the castle, which slowly looked a little less threatening and more brighter and newer.

The biggest changes were in the school, where art and music not only thrived once more, but the children were a lot happier and seemed to be doing a lot better academically because of this, which was almost a shock for many of the staff members.

George and Harold were especially happy to be able to freely distribute their comics to the other merchildren who were happy to read them again–as it turned out, they actually were one of the only things that made school enjoyable for them and their presence had been greatly missed. It helped that the boys had learned much from their time on the surface world and used their new knowledge to not only tell their stories, but also tell others about the surface world. Of course, what happened that last day had been so well known by that point that the two were regarded as heroes among the children.

“Here you go.” George grinned as he handed a comic book to a small merboy.

“Thanks!” The child grinned and swam off to find a place to read it. George and Harold then heard someone approaching and they turned around to find Melvin with an odd look in his eyes and his arms crossed tightly against his chest.

“Uh,” Harold frowned. “Yes?” Neither he or George had forgotten what Melvin’s tattling almost cost them.

The red head let out a sigh. “Look, I’m not here for one of your dumb comics or to blow up your egos with praises. I’m here to say sorry.”

The two pranksters stared at Melvin in confusion. “Come again?” George asked.

“Look, I’m sorry I told the king and that you could have been locked up!” Melvin snapped. “And yeah, I guess you did things that saved our home, but don’t expect me to be praising you or anything, ok?”

“It would have been funny.” George laughed.

“But the apology is accepted.” Harold smiled.

Melvin nodded as if the whole thing was an assignment he had to complete and went away. He passed Keisha and Kira on the way and even Heidi was with them.

“So.... things are good between you and him?” Keisha asked as she gave Melvin a concerned glance.

“Pretty much, but I doubt anything will change.” George admitted. “We still don’t like him.” This earned a chuckle from the older sister as Kira looked thoughtful.

“You’re new comics are great and all.” She began, “But how come you haven’t done any of that one human? The funny, nice one who helped you out and played with us?”

A silence fell upon the boys. It had been a long time since he was mentioned, but–

“Yeah, what happened to him?” Keisha asked. “Is he doing alright?”

“We didn’t know if you guys would like reading about him.” Harold admitted. “But I think he’s doing fine.”

“Well if you guys chose to make a comic about him, we want to read it first.” Kira smiled.

When the siblings left, Heidi remained with the boys. She was the only one they confided the truth to–the only person they felt that they could trust. Not even their own parents knew the whole truth. “You miss him a lot, don’t you?” She asked.

George and Harold let out a sigh. “Captain Underpants is back where he needs to be.” George replied. “I mean, I guess he’s still here but–”

“It’s just different now.” Harold admitted.

“Well maybe he’s not gone forever.” Heidi replied. “Who knows?”

“I doubt he’s still.... never mind.” George shook his head.

Ever since that eventful day, the two hadn’t seen Benjamin too often. It was so bizarre and yet so nice that he willingly changed things for the better, and things were a lot better and happier now than before their adventure. Yet when they looked at him, it was hard to ignore everything that happened–hard to ignore that somewhere deep inside him was their friend. They wanted to see him again, but they knew better; yet it would have been nice to have some reassurance–to see that happy grin and the light in his eyes once more. Unfortunately Benjamin never came near them or even said one word since that day, as if he was avoiding them.

Even when they came back to the castle that day and saw Benjamin talking with others in the throne room, he didn’t seem to see them at the entrance. He seemed so caught up with talking to the others, only there was less angry shouting, the lines and tension that once aged him and made him look unpleasant seemed to have gone away, and even his posture was noticeably straighter. It only took one flash of annoyance in his eyes to remind everyone of the individual he had once been.

“Come on, let’s go.” George tugged at Harold.

It was only when they left that Benjamin finally looked up and saw them. Like usual–ever since the night he was put back together–there was some part of him that wanted so badly to abandon everything and reach out to the two. Even now it screamed at him to please just go to the two and do something. (I’m still here, guys! That voice wanted to yell to the boys). He wanted to try to put everything back together in his kingdom first and it was far easier to do this then to allow himself to reach out and say hi to two children who a part of him had hated for so many years... who he committed a huge wrong towards.

If he acted like this, then what if...

He looked at the certain window. There was something else he was afraid to do, but he needed help with that. However, it looked like he needed help with this one other thing first.

*****

The next day, up on the surface kingdom, a letter had been sent specifically to the children of King Mason from the secret room with the letters from the king under the ocean. The letter was contained in a slightly bulky envelope and when both Lisa and Billy opened it up in the library, they were in for a shock.

“Is... what is–?” Lisa took out one of two bracelets, both of which had red beads and one white bead.

Billy read the letter, “To Princess Lisa and Prince Billy,” He began. “I’m sorry I scared you that day and made things a lot worse than they needed to be, but I don’t think saying that could ever be enough. I did some stupid things and I’m sorry I almost ruined everyone’s lives up there. And destroyed a lot of property. And I’m guessing your dad expects me to pay back for that or something.”

The two shared a chuckle at this, though they knew that the homes and the boardwalk were still being fixed up and the fishing was thriving once more.

“Also, I don’t know how much you know about me, but I–the other one has memories of you that I can’t get out of my head. I don’t know if you know what I’m even talking about but I guess you two also know we’re both the same person. But I’m just going by what I can remember... and you two didn’t deserve the stress I gave you.

And also I didn’t punish George and Harold. They’re both free and I guess they’re happy. I haven’t been pranked lately, so that’s a good sign. Unless I just tempted fate.”

The siblings stared in shock at those words. “Billy, do you think he’s telling the truth?” Lisa gapped.

“I... I guess?” Billy continued to read.

“Anyway, to try to make things easier between everyone, these letters probably won’t work all the time and I know you two will want to see the boys again, so I’m giving these bracelets to you. I think you would be better representatives for your kingdom than anyone else if you ever want to come down here, as long as you don’t tell everyone who you are for awhile because I don’t really want to have another kidnapping to deal with. And also so long as your dad won’t try to kill me again.”

Lisa shrieked and squealed in delight as Billy felt his heart stop as he took in what he just read. “Billy, can those turn us into merfolk?!”

“Hang on, hang on!” Billy continued reading with a smile on his face, but it soon turned into a frown.

“Also, a part of me can’t believe I’m asking help from a couple of kids, but I need help with two things. I know the boys miss the other me–the other me that you all liked more and who was better with you kids–and a part of me wants to do something about it. But what do I do about that after all that’s happened? I have those memories and part of me wants to reach out to them, but what exactly should I do?

Also I want help for when I’m ready to see Edith again. If she still wants that.”

The writing had gotten smaller, as if the writer was hesitant and scared.

The siblings looked at each other and began to think.

Later that evening, Benjamin was given two letters in one envelope. Though slightly different, they both contained similar answers, but one answer was almost exactly the same.

*****

“I’m so glad we don’t have to help clean up a castle anymore.” Harold sighed in relief as he and George sat in one of the courtyards and looked at the plant life around them while unaware of someone who was listening from behind. “Can you imagine how long that would have taken if we stayed?”

“Probably our whole lives!” George laughed at this with Harold. While Benjamin didn’t understand what they were talking about at first, memories filled with happiness and fun were creeping up into his brain to help him out with this. “Maybe going back to school was a better choice after all!”

“You don’t think he’d consider making us scrub all the floors as a punishment if we pull another prank?” Harold laughed. While this annoyed Benjamin, it didn’t as much as it should have while a part of him was screaming to get closer and say something.

“I hope he doesn’t remember and get ideas!” George snorted but then froze. “Ah shoot.” He hung his head and sighed. “He wouldn’t want to remember anymore. It’s probably why he’s never tried talking to us.”

“He’s still here though, right?” Harold asked. “Right George?”

George did nothing but stare up at the top of the ocean where the sun was somewhere farther up.

“Then again, I guess it’s not like we can say, ‘oh hi Benjamin, do you remember when you were Captain Underpants and did this one thing while we were busy?’” Harold tried to laugh it off, while not realizing the person they were talking about was inches behind them now. He sighed and hung his head. “I guess it’d be stupid to hope for one small thing.”

The part of Benjamin that remembered and missed these two so much couldn’t take it anymore and took over.

Both George and Harold found themselves getting hugged by someone from behind and at first it startled them. After awhile, it took them a few seconds to realize who it was.

“I’m still here.” He struggled to reassure them and though doing this gesture felt good, he was also quickly feeling awkward about it. “I’m sorry I’m... not the same... I’m... not good with this stuff.” He sighed. “Great, I’ve been making you sad.” The other part was giving up and Benjamin let go of the two before moving away and he tried to get away. Sometimes he had moments like these where he almost wished he didn’t accept those feelings back because this horrible pain was familiar and he remembered why he tried to cast them off in the first place. Then he’d be reminded of what that nearly costed him and why this felt much better.

George and Harold looked at each other–confusion quickly turned into understanding. “Wait!” George hurried after Benjamin and grabbed his hand, startling the adult and forcing him to turn around. “Look, if you ever get bored with all the talking about that boring stuff in the throne room, we don’t mind if you want someone else to talk to about less boring stuff.”

“Yeah, it’s ok.” Harold chimed in. “And by the way, thanks for not separating us. And for letting us all be creative again.”

“Yeah, thanks!” George smiled at this. “Really, that meant a lot for everyone else! Especially the other kids! They’re all happy and everyone at school is doing a lot better now!”

They watched as Benjamin looked at the both of them and took in the fact that those words were for him. His mouth moved as if to try to smile, though it came out as an awkward smirk–the true smile was within his eyes which looked more familiar to them. “You’re welcome.” He was able to reply.

As Benjamin turned around, George asked. “So you need someone to talk to? About things besides all that boring stuff? You want one of our comics to read?” He and Harold had amused grins at this. Benjamin turned his head around and paused.

“Yeah, that would be nice.” He waved his hand without being clear as to what he was answering to and continued on his way. “And by the way,” He added. “If you even dare think of pulling another one of your pranks on me during a meeting or discussion, I’ll have you do a lot more than just clean the floors.”

That almost wiped the smiles off the boys’ faces. Some things were never going to change.

Benjamin had a small laugh as he thought about two lines in both letters.

“I’d hug them and talk with them.”

“I’d let them know things are ok and hug them. It sounds like you need it just as much.”

Even if things could never be the same, he felt as if a weight had been lifted off his chest. Somewhere deep down, a small part of him looked forward to seeing the boys again.

*****

One late spring day, when the warmth of summer was approaching, Lisa hurried towards Edith’s room and pulled the woman towards it. “Whoa, slow down!” Edith begged as the girl threw the door open. “Why are we heading to my–?”

“Not now, I need to think!” Lisa set a red rose she plucked from the castle garden upon Edith’s dresser and let go of the woman before she swung the closet doors open.

“No, no, ick, not pretty enough.” Lisa moved many of the dresses out of the way. “Wait!” She stopped on one and grinned. “Perfect!” She took out a short sleeved dress that had a print with small blue, pink, yellow, red, and purple flowers against a white background. “Put this on!”

Edith had no clue what was going on, but she did as she was told. “Wait!” Lisa opened up the woman’s vanity and scanned the contents before grabbing a bracelet of pearls. “This!” She gave to Edith. “And this!” Lisa picked up the red rose and a bobby pin.

“Are you done yet?!” Billy’s voice called out from behind the door.

“Almost!” Lisa replied as she attached the rose into an increasingly curious Edith’s hair (which kept her hair out of her face) and then put the bracelet on her wrist. “Alright, now we’re ready!”

“You’re having me all dolled up, just for a walk on the beach.” Edith couldn’t help but say as she stared at herself in the mirror.

“Oh trust me, I bet it something good will happen!” Lisa shared a knowing grin with her brother upon opening the door and seeing him.

“Alright then?” Edith decided to just play along, even though she was very suspicious about what was going on.

“They’ll be there, right?” Lisa whispered to Billy when they moved away from the door.

“Yeah, and as long as that cow doesn’t show up on the road, we should get to the beach in time.” Billy whispered back.

Minutes later, the siblings hurried to get Edith out of the castle and ignored everyone who watched on in confusion.

“Oh you look very pretty, Edith.” Marietta smiled at Edith, who felt like her arms were going to be pulled off.

“Hey, where are you going?” Mason was walking in the halls and he looked up from his paperwork as he saw his children hurry to the front of the castle.

“No time to explain!” Billy threw out.

“Later daddy!” Lisa added.

As Mason watched his children hurry away, he recalled how they had developed a habit of wanting to go to the beach–they would come back soaking wet for the past few weeks and talk about trying to help someone out, and then they decided to spend their allowance money on men’s clothing of all things–until they had to clear something up with him.

“I guess this is the day.” Mason smiled knowingly. “Well I hope everything goes well.”

*****

Edith and the siblings were driven towards the beach (without any cows to block the road this time) and both children had kept their eyes on a watch to make sure they would get there on time. Edith was still confused–sure, it was a sunny day, the weather was nice, but why did she have to dress up while the siblings opted to dress in more casual clothing?

Somewhere down on the beach, George and Harold were not only having another visit to the surface, but there was also a certain adult with them. Unlike Edith, he knew what was going to happen and he was a peculiar display of anxiety that would have been amusing to watch in other circumstances.

“Hey, uh, you look like you’re going to be sick.” George noted and he stopped digging his feet in the sand while Harold quit doodling something in the sand with a stick. “You need some air?”

Benjamin was frantically tapping his fingers on the rock he was standing against and he was looking extremely tense and pale, not to mention super fidgety. For the first time in almost ten years he was wearing proper human attire (what little his other self had when he chose to hijack his body did not count) thanks to the aid of the royal siblings. It was just a set of brown pants and a red shirt and the only other thing he had was the green bracelet upon his wrist.

“This is stupid, what am I doing?” He moaned and ran a hand over his face. “It’s not going to work. Maybe she won’t show show up.” He tried to tell himself. “Maybe she’s just busy. Maybe I’ll just come back–”

“Oh my gosh, really?!” Harold was annoyed. “Ten years and you’re still going to freak out about one little meeting?!”

“Yeah, right now it’s kind of hard to believe people get afraid of you.” George added. “You’re going to stress yourself out to death before you come up with any more excuses.”

“Watch it, bub!” Benjamin snapped his head up with a finger pointed at them and a familiar scowl on his face. “I don’t need any of your attitude!”

“Said the guy who needed our help.” George reminded him.

“And a distraction.” Harold added but then noticed Billy and Lisa coming down towards the beach, with Edith right behind them. “Hey there she is!” He grinned at Benjamin.

Benjamin froze and looked around to see what Harold meant before seeing her. Seconds passed and–to both George and Harold’s dismay–he made a panicky sound and darted behind the rock.

“Oh no you don’t!” Harold grabbed one of the adult’s wrists, as did George. “You’re not freaking out on us!”

“I can’t do this, I can’t do this!” Benjamin felt like he couldn’t breathe and that the whole world was going to end. The terror over this one thing hadn’t gone away and he didn’t want to do it. He wanted to see her but at the same time he wanted to get the heck out of there.

“Oh come on!” George let out a loud cry of annoyance as he and Harold tried to pull at the man, but he was too strong for the both of them to get him to move so much as a step.

“Was that George?” Edith asked with a smile as Lisa and Billy grew excited and got closer to the rock. “Are the boys here?”

“Come on, you owe her!” George reminded Benjamin.

Harold then tried something he knew would work. “If you don’t do this, you’ll owe us and you’ll have to do something for us without backing out!” He warned Benjamin.

That did the trick since a certain part of the adult hated the idea of this. With an angry growl, he forced himself out–almost pulling the boys with him.

“Oh like heck I’ll ever owe you two!” Benjamin told the boys, who innocently smiled up at him. “What?!” He demanded, but they only looked to their side and he followed their gaze. He saw Lisa and Billy, but when he saw who was with them and staring at him in surprise, his little burst of anger died and he found himself gapping like an idiot. Edith stared at Benjamin–she didn’t expect him to be here, but suddenly the enthusiasm of the children made complete sense.

“See? He’s here, like we promised!” George and Harold grinned at Edith as the latter said those words. “And now we’re just...” Their grins turned sheepish as they slowly moved away from Benjamin. “...Are going to leave you two alone.”

And before either adult could do anything, all four kids hurried away from them to go someplace else. The two barely registered their escape as they could only look at each other.

“Uh,” Benjamin took in Edith’s appearance. “You...you look nice.” He finally stammered out. “Yeah, you look... nice.” He wished he could have something better to say because she looked better than nice–she was beautiful to him like she always was.

Edith had no clue what to say–she wasn’t prepared for this, even though she said she would be–and instead chose to notice something. “You’re wearing red.” She then smiled. “I was right–it really is your color.”

“Uh? Oh yeah, I guess I am.” Benjamin looked down at himself before letting out a nervous laugh. “It’s better than just a ring.”

“Or a curtain.” Edith chuckled over the memory.

Benjamin had no clue how to respond, other then blush and rest against the rock. “Uh... yeah, that too.” He sheepishly admitted as Edith finally approached him. She sat on one of the rocks and studied him.

“Do you remember that by any chance?” She asked as she watched him carefully. She wanted to see if that face she saw that day was still there. “That was you on the boat, right?”

Benjamin thought about what she meant. He tried to pull up the memories of what she was talking about, then instantly got what she meant. “Kind of.” He admitted. “I mean, he was me, but it still feels like another person’s memories are in my head. Sometimes they’re nice, but sometimes they’re just embarrassing.”

“Do you remember how you reacted when I kissed you?” Edith couldn’t help but grin at this. “And it wasn’t the one underwater.”

“Not the one under–?” Then a certain picture came up into his mind that held the emotions of giddy delight and pure stupidity. He was torn between blushing and punching himself in the face at the same time.

Oh boy do I! One voice in his head cheered.

I should have strangled that idiot! The other one snarled.

“Yes?” He tried to answer, but the rapid changing emotions and the blush in his face already told Edith everything she needed to know and she giggled as he forced himself to sit down because standing for too long wasn’t comfortable (even with the help of the kids, it was still hard to adjust being back on land again). “It’s not funny! That other guy was an idiot who thought going around in underwear was a good idea!” He protested.

“He wasn’t an idiot, he was a sweetheart and he was still you. And also I saw you in much less than that the first time we met.” Edith couldn’t help but burst out laughing as Benjamin realized she had a couple of points. He let her have her laugh–it was so good to hear her laugh again, he truly missed that sound–and he took it in as she slowly calmed down and smiled as she stared out at the ocean.

“I never thanked you for saving my life.” She thought back to the last time they saw each other and her smile grew melancholic. “I’m sorry I didn’t do it before. So much was going on.”

Benjamin knew what Edith meant and looked at her leg to see that there was no longer a huge bruise upon it. The memory of what happened–what almost happened–still haunted him and he held his face in his hands in shame. “Benny?” Edith frowned when she saw this.

“You almost died because of me.”

“It’s not your fault–”

“I let my anger take over like I always do! I didn’t realize you were going to be there and–” He let out a weak laugh. “You saw me for what I really was–I didn’t want you to see me that way but I acted like it. You saw what I was about to do.”

“Don’t say that.” Edith didn’t like how upset he was at himself.

“It’s true! There’s a reason those tales about me are always told! I almost let them come true and you would have–!” He took a deep breath to calm himself down. “I can never forgive myself for letting it happen. I’ve been trying to make amends for everything I’ve done–and I’ve done so many stupid, hurtful things that I wouldn’t know where to begin–but there’s no way I could ever fix hurting you that day. Or for hurting you all those years ago. I didn’t mean to–I didn’t want–” He shook his head. He knew what had to be done–he knew that his confession would be the only way to heal one wrong.

“When I first came up here, I wanted to try to do something different with my life–I felt trapped in a cycle and I wanted to take a chance and do something for myself for a change.” He began. “I didn’t know what to expect and I wanted to feel like someone else for a change–someone normal or wasn’t looked at in fear–but instead I felt like I could be myself and I was happy for that.” He smiled a little at this.

“You were almost always happy.” Edith remembered with a smile.

Now came the part that made him terrified. But some part of him was encouraging him to try–she deserved to know the answer and how he truly felt.

“The real reason why I didn’t face you that day–” Benjamin felt his heart pounding and his hands felt shaky. “The reason was because I–” He ran his hands over his face before he continued. “When I was with you, I was the happiest I had been in a long time. And I wanted to be with you for the rest of my life!” He blurted out before he could lose his nerve.

Edith’s eyes widened at this.

“I wanted so badly to be with you. I felt happier up here with you than down below without you. But then I realized–I thought that it couldn’t work.” He let the words come out. “We’re not from the same world. I was too tied to mine because of who I am and I knew I’d have to tell you but I was afraid that you’d scream and run off if you saw how I really looked. And I wanted to be with you so much that I was willing to give everything up to be up here with you–I didn’t want to take you away from your world and make you unhappy–but I don’t know how to do anything up here and I would have gotten in your way–and you didn’t deserve that with the future you wanted for yourself. It wouldn’t have been fair!”

He tried to compose himself. “I thought letting you go was the right thing to do. And seeing you sad and upset killed me–I hated that I made you upset and I hated myself for it. But I was such an idiot that I didn’t want to go through the agony of loving someone and dealing with the heartbreak–I was fed up with all the constant disappointments in my life. I thought tearing that part of me out would make things better. Instead it just made me more angrier and everything else worse and I ruined so many people’s lives but especially yours.”

“I’m sorry I’m not good with words.” He shook his head as he struggled to take something out of his pants pocket. “In fact I’m not good with keeping my anger under control, and you deserve someone better than me.” He finally took the object out and approached Edith.

“I wish I tried to give you my heart before I was stupid enough to throw it away.” He looked at the object. “I put that part of me in this and tried to throw it away when it could have been with you.” He gently took her hand and placed it in there. “But I’d rather you be happy instead. So if you don’t want to see me ever again, I understand.” It killed him to say that, but he knew it was probably the truth.

He got up and walked towards the rock which he rested against and stared out into the distance. There he did it–he finally told her the truth. It was painful, but it was finally over and he didn’t expect anything more at this point, even if a small part of him was hoping against hope for something. He still wanted to at least have her friendship, even if he felt selfish in desiring something much more.

Edith absorbed everything Benjamin told her.

He had loved her. After all that time of not knowing and wondering about it, he had loved her.

How she was so dumb? She should have known better!

She looked down at the object in her hand–it was a familiar red ring with a spiral upon it. The ring from ten years ago that Benjamin once wore for her. It looked a little scratched and beaten up, but it was still the same bright red. Almost the same exact shade of red as the cape of–

Wait.

There was something she had considered since the trip back home. If the man she had kissed on the boat–the man who she first knew by his voice and his words, who took on the identity of a superhero a couple of children had created, who she felt comfortable around, who was so kind and sweet, and who reacted with much excitement when she kissed him–

Edith looked up in amazement to see that Benjamin was starting to walk towards the ocean, which made her panic.

“Benjamin wait!” She got up as she clutched the ring in her hand and he stopped to face her. “Do you still feel the same way you felt about me ten years ago?! Do you still love me?!”

Benjamin only stared at her for a few moments before he slowly, awkwardly nodded. It confirmed what she put together and that was all she needed to know.

She smiled. “I do too. That’s what I wanted to tell you on that day all those years ago and, if I have to be honest with myself, I don’t think I ever stopped loving you.” Benjamin felt like he lost the ability to breathe and it was as if his heart stopped. Did he hear her correctly?

Edith walked towards him. “And I don’t care who or what you are–a king, a hero, or just Benjamin–or where you come from. I don’t know what will happen, but I’m not perfect myself and I want to do everything I can to try to make a relationship with you work somehow.” She opened her hand with the ring. “You gave me your heart–your sweet, wonderful heart–and now I want to give you mine.”

Benjamin could hardly believe what he was hearing.

In the end, she loved him despite everything. She wanted to make the impossible work... and so did he.

Slowly a huge smile broke upon his face–it was a silly, but happy and wonderfully familiar smile.

With a delighted laugh, Benjamin ran to Edith and scooped her up in a hug and almost knocked her over in the process.

“Yes!” He laughed and, before Edith knew it, he picked her up by the waist and easily hoisted her into the air. She let out a startled cry and grabbed his shoulders in the nick of time before he began spinning her around, yet she couldn’t help but laugh and smile alongside him. “Yes, I’ll take it! I mean I’ll take care of it! I mean it’s yours so–I don’t know what I’m saying, but you know!” He laughed as he stumbled through his words, but no longer cared.

It was when Benjamin slowed to a stop that Edith’s smile widened as she let go of his shoulders and her hands cupped his face. She leaned forward and kissed him gently, yet deeply and he returned the kiss back he carefully lowered her back down to the ground. One of his arms wrapped around her waist as his free hand gently cupped one side of her face and he had no desire to let go of her for as long as it could be possible.

Finally, after ten long years, they were truly together at last.

A slight distance away, the whole entire thing had been watched by four children. Each had their own reaction to it, but the happiness they held towards the couple was equally the same.

Lisa squealed in delight and was unable to tear her eyes away. “Finally!”

George and Harold watched on with smiles of their own before looking at each other. “You know, it’s good to see him happy.” Harold admitted.

“Yeah it really is.” George also admitted. “It really is.” He then chuckled. “We better get out of here before he finds out and his mood changes again.”

They all quietly left the beach and the couple to their privacy.

“Well, all’s well that ends well.” Billy smiled before turning to the boys. “Thanks for everything you’ve done.”

“Yeah.” Lisa added. “You made a lot of people happy.”

“You think you have some time to hang out?” Billy asked.

“A little bit, but then we got work to do.” Harold admitted as he took a comic out of his bag. Upon its cover was a familiar superhero with a huge grin and wore nothing but a pair of underpants and a red cape with black dots. “There’s someone who people want to get to know more about.”

Lisa and Billy took one look at the hero and nodded in understanding. “Of course.” Billy smiled.

“Let us get a chance to read it when you’re done!” Lisa added as she and her brother hurried on ahead.

Meanwhile, George and Harold looked at the image of Captain Underpants and smiled back at him. “Hey George?” Harold began. “I’m really glad we took that risk and came up here. I’m glad we made everything better.”

“Me too, Harold.” George agreed as he placed an arm around Harold’s shoulders. “And I’m really glad we did it together.”