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The Little Merman
Once upon a time, there was a kingdom deep under the sea, in the deepest part of the entire ocean. In this kingdom, there lived a little prince. The prince was blonde with big purple eyes, the same color as his tail, and he was small and sweet and beautiful.
The little prince was bored, so very bored, of living in the ocean. It was endlessly gorgeous and filled with wonders that the merfolk all knew, but the prince wanted something more. He wanted somethingâ¦different. There had to be more out there.
At age thirteen, the little prince and his two closet friends snuck away from the kingdom to go to the surface. It took a lot of convincing, but the prince got his dear friends, which took after orcas and dolphins, to travel with him. When they began to near the end of the water, the prince began to see lights of all different colors showing through the water. Once the trio broke the surface of the salty ocean, the prince's eyes grew wide with wonder.
A sky, as far as the eye could see. Huge explosions of multicolored lights in the air and the forgien smell of smoke enraptured him, pulling him closer and closer to the shore. His friends followed and tried to stop him, but he was too focused on the lights in the sky. Soon, he was on the shore, pulling himself onto the sand and cooing at the night.
"Nagisa! Nagisa!" A friend called. "You'll get hurt! Oh, Haru, help me get him!"
But it was too late. So entranced by the explosions and the colors and the lights, the prince didn't notice the figure approaching. It wasn't until the figure spoke that the prince looked up in utter fear. "Are you stuck?" The figure asked. The human, which the prince didn't even know were really real until now, was tall and had blue hair. He was looking down at the prince and looked a few years older. The prince only responded with a series of clicking noises from deep in his throat. "Do you not speak? Oh. You don't know what I'm saying, do you?"
The prince nodded. "I can." He said quietly.
"Well, are you stuck?"
"Don't hurt me, I'll go home." The prince whimpered.
"I'll put you back in the water." The boy fell to his knees. "Look." He gave him a tiny little push. "Just like that, until you can swim again."
The prince hesitated. "To the water." He said quietly.
And the blue haired boy took baby steps to putting the prince into the water. When the prince was up to his chin and the boy's shorts were soaked clean through, the prince looked up. "Thank you." He said quietly.
As a purple explosion hung in the sky behind the boy, and the boy smiled a perfect smile, the prince's heart stopped beating.
He was to marry this boy.
Before he could say anything, though, his friends pulled him away and the boy turned away.
After two years filled with doting endlessly over the memories of the blue haired boy, the little prince skimmed the surface every day at the age of fifteen to try to see him again.
Until one day, there was a storm.
A large thing, called a boat, was overhead. The prince loved watching the lights in the sky around the massive shape, the drizzle of rain against the surface of the water and the large waves knocking around the boat, side to side to side. Then, the lights got brighter and the boat suddenly shook. Bright, flashing orange lights that flickered over the water began to grow over the boat.
The little prince got worried.
As he swam to the surface and poked his head above the water, his eyes widened. The boat was being swallowed by large, red and orange lights. People were jumping into the water off of the boat and smaller boats were fighting to be untied from the side. The prince then caught sight of a familiar face, a shockingly familiar face, trying to help someone into a smaller boat.
"Him!" The prince whispered to himself. He didn't know what was happening, but his heart was overjoyed with seeing him again. He was about to call out to him when the mast of the boat spun and hit the blue haired boy in the back of the head, hitting him into the water. The prince swam forward almost instantly, watching him sink into the water. The prince waiting, watching the water swirl around the boy. It took him a few seconds to realize the boy wasn't going to open his eyes.
The boy was unconscious and dying.
The prince swam under him and lifted him with all of his strength to the surface. Flipping his magenta tail wildly, he struggled to keep the human's head above the surface. The prince looked around, unsure of where to go or what was going on. He spotted a large piece of wood, fresh from the boat, and swam towards it. He draped the human boy over it like a piece of seaweed. The prince began to push the wood and the object of his affection away from the wreck, far away, towards the shore.
When the sand got shallow, and the prince realized the boy was no longer a boy but a man much taller than him, he shoved away the wood and pulled the man as far onto shore as he could go. Half submerged in the waves, the prince lay next to the man, tracing his chest with his fingers. "I want legs." He muttered. "Then I could go on a boat with you."
The prince wanted so, so desperately for the man to wake up and fall in love with him.
So he sang.
He opened his mouth and sang softly. No words really came out, just notes, and they travelled through the sunrise and across the beach.
After a few minutes, the man stirred. "Wah...?"
The prince's eyes widened excitedly, nodding encouragingly. "Yes, wake up."
"Ah...Hello?" the man's vision was fuzzy and he couldn't see the person above him, but he could tell that they were gorgeous.
"Prince Rei! Prince Rei! Is that you?" A voice shouted. The blonde looked up and dove into the water, far away from the object of his interest.
Back in the kingdom in the ocean, the prince reunited with his two friends. Apparently, they had found something just for him.
It was a statue that sunk with the boat. It was tall, made of stone with a golden plaque. It was of his boy, his human. Tall with glasses and majestic and strong. He looked perfect.
They hide the statue in an underwater grotto, far from the prince's prying father's eyes. Every day, he would go and talk to the statue, talking to it like it was a real person. It became closer to him then his living, breathing friends.
Three years later, though, the king finally found the grotto. It was filled with human treasures and the treasured, important statue. He walked in on the little prince spinning in the water around the statue, singing to it. "Oh, Prince Rei! You're such a good dancer!"
The king scowled.
"You're so sweet! Oh, really? You're so funny!"
The king growled.
"Ah! Prince Rei! You're so cheeky! Don't touch me there!" Giggling. "Don't worry, I could never be mad at you!" He kisses the stone person on their cheek and blushes. "I love you!"
"Nagisa!"
"Daddy!" The prince jumped back, suddenly looking ashamed. "Please, you don't-"
"How many times have I told you that the human world is not to be messed with?!" The king yelled. "Where did you even get all of these things?!"
"Daddy! Please! You don't understand!"
"Who is this statue of?!"
"A human prince! I love him, Daddy!"
"He is a human!"
"Daddy, what are you doing?!"
"This is for your own good! Now, wake up from your daydreams and grow up!"
In a matter of seconds, the statue was gone, lost to gravel and into the sea. All the treasures were nothing but gold dust.
As the king swam away, the prince was left crying on the sea floor, head held in his hands. He was whimpering and sobbing and curling up into the sand.
Until he got an idea.
The prince had heard of a sea witch, deep in a dark abyss, who could grant any wish for a trade of any kind.
After telling his friends, the prince spent days looking for the abyss. After finding it, he spent a whole day swimming down, down, down, until he met the mouth of a cave with lights shining far out of it. He entered carefully and met a large man with a huge shark tail. "Hello, Prince Nagisa. I've been expecting you."
"Are you the sea witch?" The prince asked quietly.
"Yes. Rin." The witch replied icily. "And I know why you're here." He swam to the prince and swam a circle around him. "In love with a human."
"How did you know?"
"I know everything happening here, darling." The witch said. "I know more about the kingdom then you ever will."
"Help me, please. I love him. I want to have legs, to do what they call dancing and to be able to walk with him! I want to walk!" The prince cried. "Oh, can't you just see it? Dancing under the exploding lights with him." The prince crossed his hands over his heart and sighed. "I'd do anything!"
The witch grinned. "Good. I will give you your legs, Prince Nagisa-"
"Really?!" The prince dove forward and wrapped the witch in his arms. The witch sneered and pulled away, brushing off his tail.
"Don't touch me, merman." He snorted. "And to get your legs, you have one condition to follow."
"What is it? I'll give you anything!"
"Even your voice?" The witch growled.
The prince faltered. "My voice? But how will I sing to him? Tell him I love him?"
"Here, let's make a deal. I'll give you legs for your voice. If you get the prince to fall in love with you after three days, you'll win your legs back permanently and your voice. If you don't, then you will return to the ocean and become sea foam."
The prince was already trembling nervously. "But does that mean-"
"You'll die." The witch nodded. "Painlessly, though."
"So I have to get him to fall in love with me?"
"He needs to verbally say that he loves you. Out loud, to you." The witch said. His tail lashed in the sand. "Or you will become a part of the waves."
The prince took a deep breath then nodded. "Anything to be able to be with him."
"There's another catch." The witch said. "My powers are only so strong. Should you be submerged in water up to your neck, your tail will reappear. Also, your new feet will tire easily. Depending on how long you've been on your feet, you will feel like you're walking on broken sea glass. One of two hours on your feet won't be a problem, but a whole day would make your feet bleed and bruise."
The prince nodded again. "That's fine! I'd bare through any pain to be able to dance with him."
The witch chuckled and his shark teeth shown through. "Your loss. Good luck, sweetie." He took a vial and held it out to the prince. "Sing, Nagisa."
And he did, his voice being pure and clear and gorgeous for the last time. A silver thread came out of his throat and into the vial, which was promptly capped. "There. You're a mute. And you'd better get to the surface quickly, dear, your legs will be appearing soon!"
Already, the prince was started to feel choked.
"Oh, your gills will be gone first. Hurry up!"
And Nagisa turned and swam, faster than he ever had before, up towards the blue, blue sky. Soon, he couldn't breathe and his tail began to get heavy and sharp, blood-curling pains shot through him. Once he had reached the surface, he no long had a tail. Instead, he had two perfectly smooth and toned legs. Feminine and pale, gorgeous and soft-skinned, the prince spent an hour admiring his legs in the early morning blue. He was so enraptured and in love with his new appendages, he didn't notice the figures approaching.
"Prince Rei! I don't understand your infatuation with the beach, sir."
"It's just...interesting to me."
"Sir! Sir! There's someone on your beach!"
The prince looked up and saw the figures advancing and heard the voices across the sand. He panicked slightly and crossed his legs, covering himself and his newly-there most private areas. By the time he looked up again, the man with the blue hair was feet away. "Hello? Are you okay?"
The prince couldn't bring himself to react. He was too starstruck to try to even communicate.
"Are you deaf? Are you injured?"
The prince shook his head.
"Can you not speak?"
The prince nodded.
"Do you have a home?"
The prince shook his head.
The man smiled gently. "You look familiar." He set his hand gently on the prince's shoulder and lightning shot through the once-merman like no other. His eyes widened and his lips parted and he tried to talk, but nothing came out. "Bring me robes!" The man said, talking to his servants. "Robes and a dress for this lovely creature!"
The servant brought robes then was sent to bath the boy. The boy, though, seemed terrified of the bathtub unless it was less than half full. He was washed and cleaned then his hair was dried and soft. The boy couldn't stop playing with the long blonde hair, enjoying that, for once, it was completely dry and human. While he was busy staring at himself in the mirror and seeing what he looked like for the first time, he was being dressed in a long, puffy pink dress by the servants. Afterwards, he was lead to a dining hall, where he ate his first human meal.
The boy didn't know, though, that it was actually fish he was eating.
The entire time, the man talked to him and told him about himself and the world around him. The boy listened intently, completely engrossed in the lovely words from the object of his adoration. After the meal, he was taken to walk around the castle and showed around his new home.
Once they reached a point on a bridge that separated the city from the castle, the newly-made-human felt a dull pain in his feet. As he continued walking, it became a sharper, more intense pain. He let out a yelp and staggered, to which the blue-haired human turned and supported the pink-clad boy. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
The boy shook his head and tried to smile, though tears were welling in his eyes. The prince set the boy down on the side of the bridge and lifted the skirt of the dress enough to see his feet. He took off his shoe to reveal a small, pale foot that was starting to turn a light purple with bruises. "Oh, my! You poor thing! These shoes must be too tight. I'll have a better pair made for you, cushioned and supported. I promise."
The boy's pain was forgotten and his mind was swept up but the feeling of love and adoration from the caring voice of his true love. He leaned down and tentatively put a hand on his shoulder, smiling and nodding in thanks. The man looked up and smiled at him with his large, shiny eyes and put his hand over the others. "You're so mysterious, you know. So sweet and innocent andâ¦new to the world. Almost like a child, as if you were birthed from the sea."
When they made it to the city, the boy was going barefoot and was starting to leave little spots of blood in his wake. The prince supported the little former-merman the entire time, showing him around and helping him walk. As the night grew darker, they returned to the castle and the boy spent his first night on land in a brand-new silk nightgown.
His room was dark and noisy. Unlike the ocean, still as death during the night, the waves were echoing in his room and the noise was soothing and beautiful. The night passed slowly and the boy could barely sleep with excitement. As he lay there, his feet haled slowly, the skin patching up itself. He explored his new body, touching his legs and his abdomen and everything in between, trying to figure out what everything was for.
He explored the walls, staring at the art and not understanding how a distorted part of life made it onto the sides of this room. He felt the carpet and wondered how it worked and how much he wanted one all for himself.
The next morning, he was brought cushioned shoes and a new dress. The dress was a baby blue with white lace and made him look pale and gorgeous. He ate an early meal with the prince and then they took a walk on the beach, were the water swirled around his still baby-soft feet. They ran and splashed in the shallows, up to their ankles, and laughed and played. The boy from the sea could not produce an audible laugh, but the way his body reacted was enough to know that the laughter was there.
Then, the boy winced. His toes had begun to get bruised. The boy ignored it though, and eventually the prince literally swept him off his feet and into his arms. "Your poor sensitive feet must hurt. Here, I can carry you up to the castle-"
"Sir, you shouldn't be doing heavy lifting!"
"Let me carry him! He's light as a feather. Just as beautiful, too!" The prince winked and smiled, making the boy in the blue and white dress almost visibly swoon. "Oh, I forgot to tell you! There's a party in the city tonight. I was going to take you. I was hoping we could dance, but your feet are so sensitive-"
The boy was pressing his finger to the prince's lip, nodding wildly.
"You want to dance?"
He nodded wildly then mimicked a sleeping motioned with his hands, putting his hands by his cheeks. .
"After you rest?"
He nodded again then the blonde shyly looked down at his feet. The toes were a dark, dark purple.
"You poor thing. I need to get you to see a doctor about those." He set the boy in the sand and took one of his feet in his hands. "You're skins really soft. But your poor little baby feetâ¦Are you absolutely sure about dancing?"
He couldn't stop nodding. He reached out and used the skirt of the dress to hide his feet. The blue-haired prince nodded and lifted the blonde into his arms and carried him to the castle.
That night, after a lovely carriage ride to the city, the blonde was watching couples spin and laugh. Soon, he grabbed the prince's hand, not wanting to waste any time without injured feet. He pulled him into the square and spun around, silently giggling. Then, his waist was grabbed and a hand slipped into his own and they began to dance and move around for the upbeat and poetic music. After dancing non-stop for a long time, the prince finally had to rest.
So the blonde, the lovely and newly-human blonde with the magenta eyes, twirled and danced in his short and puffy lavender dress, smiling and jumping around. Then, an unknown man grabbed his waist and pulled him unnaturally close. He began to fight against it and let out gasps of indignation. He was feeling uncomfortable and was trying to get the human's attention.
He couldn't, though, because he couldn't say no.
Until the prince's servant noticed and notified the prince.
The prince shoved away the man and proceeded to yell at him.
The boy was just confused.
And the boy pulled the prince away and tried to get him to dance but the man was more worried about whether the boy was injured or not. The boy kept trying to pull the prince to the square, until the prince noticed all the blood spots on the cobblestones from the poor blonde's sensitive feet.
"Your feetâ¦no, we can't dance, your poor feet! I need patch you up, aren't you hurting? Oh, you poor thingâ¦Fetch a doctor!" He called to his servant as the blonde shook his head furiously, trying to get him not to worry.
Back at the castle, the prince watched the doctor wrap the boy's feet. The entire time, the blonde heard sweet, soft words whispered in his ear. "It's okay, I know it burns but this might help your feet."
That night, the sky was washed in stars and the boy and the prince sat on the shore in the sand watching the stars and the moon. The prince taught constellations to the boy and taught him the beauty of the sky.
Then the exploding lights went off with huge bangs and the blonde leapt to his feet and pointed and smiled and jumped around excitedly. "You like fireworks?"
The prince turned around and formed the word silently on his lips.
"Yes, fireworks!" The prince said. "Look, they come in every color and size!"
And they stayed like this, running around and limping and watching the lights and laughing.
Before bed, the once-merman kissed the man on the cheek and the man returned the favor, on the corner of the magenta-eyed boy's plumb pink lips. The boy couldn't sleep and he went to find the lovely royal human.
He found the room and found the prince reading. They curled up and the boy in the long, silken nightgown fell asleep with blue hair tickling his noise as his head buried into the crook of a neck.
The next day they got dressed and ate a meal. They walk around town and the boy's feet last longer than usual before he collapses on a shop window sill and gets kissed in the corner of his mouth again and then taken home.
They sat all day and the little boy was read to and sang to and talked to and held close. And then sun began to set and the boy began to panic and he started kissing and kissing and kissing and touching and stripping. Then the windows fogged and the boy lost his innocence and silently whimpered as hands wandered and grabbed.
As the boy dug his fingers through blue hair and his hips were abused to no end, he heard words whispered into his ears. "You're beautiful, your amazing, you're gorgeous- oh, God!"
And as they slept side by side and the clocks all read about ten minutes to midnight, the little boy couldn't sleep because certain necessary words were lacking. He cried into his prince's chest.
The next morning, the prince woke up to find an empty bed. He must have just gone to his own room to get ready, no big deal.
So he got dressed with the help of his servants and walked down to the dining hall. He sat at the head of the table. "I've decided to tell him I love him." He said to a servant. "And I'm going to propose tonight, at sunset."
And he waited at the empty table for his true love.
He waited.
And waited.
"The ocean seems rougher today. More foamy."
And waited.