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There was something different about Paul. John pushed it aside most days. He couldn’t put his finger on why he was different really. Because that’s just how Paul was. Sometimes he’d look out the window longingly. And when John asked what he was looking for, Paul would only laugh and say “yellow submarines Johnny.” Then John would be laughing too and suddenly he’d forgotten the sad look on Paul’s face.
Then one day some lad with pink skin and a guard uniform barged into their house shouting about “blue meanies.” Once they found Paul, the guard instantly went to his knees.
“Oh it’s you! Your majesty! This is a mercile! Pepperland will be saved!” The guard looked up to Paul with wonder. But Paul seemed just as shocked to see him.
“Come on old Fred, you know I’m not like that anymore.” Paul said. And yet, Paul accepted his bow. He went down to his level and clasped his hands as he lifted him up.
“But I have found you. Surely you will help Pepperland!” Paul turned to John, Ringo and George.
“Well lads, what do you think?”
“Sure why not. He seems insistent.” Ringo said. They followed Fred to his yellow submarine. At the sight of it, Paul teared up. It made John remember all those times of joking. It did not seem like a joke anymore.
“Paul, what’s gotten into you?” John asked. Paul shook his head, and said nothing as they entered. John was just about to demand a further explanation before they took off, and entered what Fred called, the Sea of Time.
Everyone got rather small. Including Paul, which was adorable. Until he started crying. Ringo, in his equally small and cute form, wattled up to comfort him by giving him a big hug. But Paul was practically inconsolable.
“I wanna go home.” Paul begged.
“Back to Liverpool?” John asked, surprised by how young he sounded. Paul fervently shook his head.
“Back to Pepperland. I miss Pepperland.” Ringo and John glanced at each other. George came up to them with his eyes ridiculously big for his small size.
“What do you mean Paulie?” Before George could ask any more questions, the time changed again, and suddenly they had all grown quite old. John enjoyed poking fun at everyone’s long beard until he grew one of his own. Safe to say, they were all very grateful to be out of the Sea of Time.
The next one, according to Fred, was the Sea of Monsters. Paul went white as a ghost when he heard it. Instantly, Fred went to Paul’s side in a salute.
“Don’t worry your majesty, I'll protect you!” John gawked at him.
“Your majesty? He doesn’t look like the queen.” George said.
“You’re not are you?” Ringo asked.
“I’m not The Majesty. But uh I may be a majesty…”
“He’s the princess of Pepperland! Forced to be hidden away because of the Blue Meanies when he was just a lad. Oh I remember that day. I had to take you away in the middle of the night. And I told you to look for the Yellow Submarine, that’s how you’d know if it was time to come home.” Fred said. As if he were embarrassed, Paul ducked his head.
“Paul…we had no idea.” Ringo said.
“It’s okay Ringo. Of course you didn’t, no one’s supposed to know about Pepperland. And I never thought I was going to go home.” John felt an ache in his chest at the sight of Paul so sad.
“But now we’re going into the Sea of Monsters.” Paul continued with a shiver. Fred placed a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s going to be alright lad. We’re in a yellow submarine.” Fred said, it made Paul laugh. But the fear behind his eyes remained.
John immediately understood Paul’s fear. The Sea of Monsters was a dark place. With alien creatures that had wide gaping mouths with many teeth. John even spotted one shaped like an ice cream cone.
“I don’t think I’ll ever want to eat ice cream again. It might want to eat me.” John said.
“Look at the teeth on that one!” George pointed to a fish that grinned. To see if they could get out of there faster Ringo had wandered over to the control panel while they were distracted.
“Don’t press that one!” Fred shouted, too late, Ringo had pressed the panic release button, and shot out of the submarine. Into the abyss full of monsters below.
John watched Ringo bounce around like he was on a polo stick as he escaped certain death left and right. Paul shook Fred by the shoulders.
“We have to save him! We got to save Ringo, this is all my fault.” John walked up to the control panel. Full of bits and nobs he didn’t understand, but one was clearly labeled ‘rescue button.’
“Huh that’s handy, just press a button.” John pressed the button and just like that, the ship swerved through monsters to rescue Ringo from a strange—John didn’t know how to describe it—the multi-colored horse looking thing he was riding. He’d see that in his nightmares.
“Phew, that was a ride. I didn’t know I knew how to ride a horse.”
“Ringo!” Paul practically talked him to the ground with his hug. John watched as Ringo, always eager for affection, tightly hugged him back.
“Thank you, your majesty!” Ringo said. Paul rolled his eyes.
“Come on, you've listened to me voice crack enough to know I’m not any royalty.” Ringo ruffled his hair.
“Oh it’s no surprise you're the royal when you think about it, right John?” George said. John glared at him. Thankfully, before John had to explain what he meant by that, they entered the Sea of Nothing. A white void full of, well, nothing. It at least seemed to calm Paul down. John sat beside him.
“I’m glad we’re out of the Sea of Monsters. That sea always gives me the shivers.” John tried to picture a young Paul, traversing the seas with Fred and entering the place he feared most.
“Are you…excited to go home?” John asked.
“I think so. I haven’t seen my home in so long. But I’m more excited to have this whole ordeal done with.” Paul said with a sigh. John didn’t know what to make of that. Did that mean he would leave the Beatles? Leave him? John was too afraid to ask.
As they continued to sail through the sea of nothing, they came across a curious looking creature with a long gray face and a brown furry body. John would be hard pressed to call him cute, but he wasn’t nearly as frightening as the blue meanies or the creatures in the sea of nightmares.
“Fred! Stop the submarine, I have to say hullo!” Fred did as his majesty commanded.
“Hello to what?” Ringo asked. Paul began to climb the ladder out of the submarine.
“Too my old friend Jeremy Hillary Boob ph.d.” He said with a wink.
Out of curiosity, they followed Paul’s lead. Jeremy, the strange little creature that only spoke in rhyme, was overjoyed upon seeing Paul, he leaped into Paul’s arms and gave him a hug.
“My pupil, my princess, so studious and curious, it’s glorious to see you once again!”
John leaned over to George.
“He’s a bit of a nowhere man isn’t he?” George nodded.
“Living in a nowhere land.” George agreed.
“Oh come on lads he’s not that bad. Paul seems to like him.” Ringo went over and introduced himself. Jeremy took a liking to Ringo—at least that’s what John assumed, you couldn’t really tell from him. But when they turned around, they realized they had wandered off, and the Yellow Submarine was nowhere to be found.
“The sea of nothing is the worst place to be lost!” Paul complained.
“Not to worry your pretty little head, the sea of nothing always leads to the sea of holes as the poet said!”
“Don’t worry paul I’m sure we’ll find our way.” George said. Paul’s shoulders slumped.
“Oh you’re right, Fred will meet us in Pepperland.” John strolled up to him and put an arm around his waste.
“Come on, you'll have to show me around.” Paul laughed.
“Not much to see!”
That was of course, until the sky and ground became littered with circular black holes. Now they couldn’t help themselves, George and Ringo bounced around with Jeremy, jumping through the holes as carelessly as they would run through a field. The ceiling became the floor when you went through a top one and vice versa. Paul jumped through a hole parallel to the one John was in. Which somehow brought them close together, his face inches from him.
“Suppose I should take you out on a date before I kiss you if you’re royalty.” Paul rolled his eyes.
“If you really wanted to kiss me you should’ve done it in the Sea of Time.”
“What when you were an old man?” Paul shook his head and tutted, he patted his cheek before disappearing to wherever that hole lead. John held his hand where Paul had touched him. There was something special about Paul. John was in love with him.
“There’s a green one over here lads.” All attention turned to Ringo as he jumped into the green hole. The green enveloped them, John turned to see Paul smile.
“Almost home.”
The sea of green lead the way to a land full of bright colors, trees made of flowers and the bluest sky John had ever seen with swirling multi-colored clouds. It made Liverpool look dull in comparison. They arrived on a platform with a strange man covered in green apples.
“Oh Lord Mayor! What happened to you?” Paul said.
“Sing him a song! It’ll make him better.” They all jumped when Fred came out of his submarine.
“Sorry I lost you lads, the sea of nothing is a hard place to find someone in.” Paul walked up to him.
“It’s alright Fred, I forgive you. But for a minute there I thought you were a blue meanie. What a minute, where's Jeremy?” John, George and Ringo glanced at each other.
“Maybe he wandered off? I’m sure we’ll run into him again.” Ringo said.
“We don’t have time to worry about him, why don’t you lads fix Lord Mayor?” John wasn’t sure he wanted to fix a man named Lord Mayor, but Paul seemed to care about him, so they sang a little tune. His stone skin turned lively and pink just like Fred’s. The minute his eyes opened he looked to Paul.
“Princess! It’s good to see you again Paul. I thought you would never return. I hope you don’t mind me ruling Pepperland in your stead.” He bowed. Ruling? John was under the impression that Paul was young when he went away. Surely not ruling an entire land at that age.
“I don’t mind Lord Mayor. Though I do wonder, how the blue meanies got so bad when they were banished not so long ago?” Paul asked.
“They planned an advanced attack my princess! Now only you and the Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band can save us! You must get the instruments.” Paul sighed.
“Of course. We shall plan our own attack against the blue meanies. Tell me where they are hiding the instruments?” Paul asked. John was lost. He had never seen this version of Paul before. Even during a show he was carefree, happy. He did not seem happy at all to be ruling again.
“At the tower. That’s their place now.” Fred explained.
“We’ll go there at night and escape at dawn.”
Together once night came, they made their way to the tower, hiding from Blue Meanies and their giant blue glove that seemed to enjoy blowing things up. John thought it could use a little bit of love, it appeared uniquely miserable with how much joy it got out of causing harm.
But he didn’t have time to dwell on that as they continued to sneak through all the other stone people to the tower. Paul led the way, but halted at the sight of all the blue meanies asleep by their hideout.
“Come on Paul we gotta go.” John whispered. Paul shook himself out of it.
“Right.” They tiptoed over the sleeping blue meanies and got into the tower. Paul had explained that the blue meanies would sleep during the rest of the night, and not wake until at least twelve in the afternoon.
Once in the tower, they were surrounded by gold instruments. Paul found a guitar that was identical to his own and handed it to him.
“How’d you know this one was mine?” John asked with a laugh. Paul shushed him. They closed the door and prepared for a long night. He settled down next to him as George and Ringo fell fast asleep close to each other.
“I can’t wait for this to be over.” John couldn’t help but disagree. Paul nuzzled his head against his arm.
“You looking forward to being a princess again, Paulie?” Paul looked up at him with a puzzled yet amused expression, his eyes slightly squinted. He really did have pretty eyes. And a cute nose, at least, John thought so.
“That’s what you're thinking about? You're silly John.” John huffed.
“I’m serious, don’t you like being a princess?” Paul stifled a laugh.
“Sure, I like bossing people around well enough, but I can do that with you any day of the week.” Paul said.
“You’re quite good at it.” Paul rolled his eyes.
“You love it.” I love you, John thought. But didn’t say, because Paul fell asleep.
In the morning, they gathered their shiny new instruments and as quietly as they could, snuck out of the tower. That was until George dropped a bag pipe. They all froze, and watched as it bounced up and down with a loud blazing noise. In an instant, all the blue meanies’ eyes snapped open to find the confronting sound.
“Intruders!” One blue meanie shouted. They fled around Pepperland as blue meanies chased them through the green grass. In order to stay beside Paul, he grabbed his hand. Paul tightened his grip.
George and Ringo managed to hide behind a crowd of stone people, but John and Paul were seen by the giant blue glove. It pointed at them, and charged.
“What do we do?” Paul asked. John stared at the glove, then back at Paul.
“I have an idea! Hey glovie lad, this is what love looks like!”
Without a second thought, he pulled Paul towards him, and kissed him. Paul didn’t pull away. And for a moment, all John could think of was the way Paul’s lips felt on him. Soft and warm. If he had stopped to think, he would’ve realized that the glove had stopped, and was now a pile of pink sparkles on the floor. It was Paul who parted first.
“I think we showed it a lesson Johnny.” Paul said. John turned around and saw the sparkles on the floor where the glove had been.
“Huh, I guess we did.” John couldn’t help but grin. Paul blushed all the way to his ears. He was about to kiss him again until they heard Ringo shout in the distance.
“John! Paul! Over here! We found a bubble!”
“A what?!” John shouted back, when they got no reply, Paul shrugged.
“I suppose we should go see what he’s on about.” But Paul didn’t let go of his hand.
They followed Ringo’s voice to find a group of people trapped in a strange opec dark gray bubble. They tried all manner of methods to get them out, but nothing bore fruit.
“Wait a minute lads, I have a hole in me pocket.” Right when John was going to ask what he meant by that, he pulled out one of the holes from the Sea of Holes, and placed it on the globe. Instantly the globe began to dissolve.
To their surprise, the people trapped inside were complete replicas of John, George, and Ringo. Paul, was noticeably missing from the bunch. The minute he was freed, the second John took one look at Paul and hugged him so tight his feet left the ground.
“I thought you’d never come back! It’s good to see you, my princess.” Paul, to John’s dismay, hugged the imposter back.
“Old Fred made sure of that. Conscripted me and my mates to rescue you lot.” Paul explained. The imposter John glanced over his shoulders at him and smiled. John couldn’t help but feel like it was judgemental. George began talking to the other George, and Ringo to the other Ringo, but John could not bring himself to like his imposter. Who had his hands all over Paul, who did not push him away.
But seven was better than four, so they worked together to form the full set of the Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band to send away the blue meanies once and for all. John did not understand why they hated music so much. A group of seven did make it easier to chase away the blue meanies that remind, and once they did, they heard Jeremy’s voice.
“Come on guys, we should make sure he’s okay!” Before he could be at Paul’s side, his imposter took his place. John glared at him. Unfortunately, his imposter didn’t care. They found Jeremy next to a beautifully psychedelic looking tree, as he talked circles around what appeared to be the blue meanie leader.
“Love instead of hate? That’s preposterous!" The blue meanie shouted.
“Love instead of hate is as simple as yes instead of no. All you have to do is stop and go.” Jeremy said. The blue meanie halted and considered.
“Why…yes. Yes! That’s it! Yes!” He picked up Jeremy and tossed him in the air, John watched as Jeremy laughed, happy as can be. John looked to Paul and sighed.
“Well I suppose you won’t have to be dealing with them anymore.” Paul looked to the real John, instead of his imposter.
“No, no I won’t,” he said, and smiled.
Pepperland hosted a celebration, which the “original” Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club insisted on playing, including Paul. Ringo wandered up to him, that familiar lost look on his eyes. He understood why George found it so charming.
“You know, Paul could want to stay here, it is his home.” Ringo said.
“I know that I’m not stupid.” Ringo giggled.
“Sure. Which is why you’ve only ever acted instead of asked. But sure, not stupid, I’m going to talk to George now.” A wise choice, because John was going to snap at him.
But he was right. He had to talk to Paul now, or else he’d never get another chance. After their final set, John pulled him aside quickly, and made sure his imposter could get to him just yet.
“Are you staying here?” John asked, he couldn’t get the words out fast enough. Paul looked confused, then he laughed. And continued to laugh. Which John thought was very rude.
“You are a bit dumb aren’t you? Every version. Let me spell it out for you then. I’m not staying here. It may be my home, and I love it. But I made a new life for myself, back in Liverpool with you John. I thought I made that clear when I kissed you.” John’s head spinned. Paul wanted to stay? He wasn’t going to leave him? When it was clear he needed further convincing, Paul walked up to him, and took his hand.
“I love you Johnny.” At that, John melted completely, and kissed him again.
“Wait, I kissed you!” Paul laughed.
“Is that any way to treat royalty?” Paul asked.
“Of course I forgot, I’m supposed to take you on a date first.” John bowed.
“Will you, your majesty, give me the honor of going on a date with me in Liverpool?” Paul giggled, it was a lovely sound.
“Why yes, good sir. That sounds delightful.”
After the celebration ended, Paul said his goodbyes. Fred was particularly sad to see him go, but couldn’t force him to stay. The Lord Mayor was overjoyed, because it meant he continued to stay in power. The second George and Ringo were disappointed, but understood. Jeremy said goodbye by writing a poem about a machine, so John didn’t know exactly how he had felt. John hated his imposter more when he said he wasn’t surprised. But before he could say anything about it, Fred scooped them all up for a one way ticket back to Liverpool.