Beyond the Sea

Alex spent a fair amount of time admiring his collection that night. Felicity had left not long after Alex had finally stopped thanking her for the statue she had found for him, leaving the young prince to his own devices. Alex’s obvious use of that time went to organizing the items in his grotto, keeping them clean and in place.

Smiling and humming along as he worked, Alex barely noticed the time going by, and soon enough, it was day time. Stopping himself abruptly in a pool of tiny bubbles, Alex grinned as a ray of sunshine shone through the top of his grotto, lighting up all of the metallic pieces aligning the walls. That was definitely his favourite part, when the metal items sparkled in the way they did when he took them up and out of the water to occasionally show Scuttle. Deciding it was time to head back to the castle, Alex started move out of his grotto, only to take a final look back inside, halting his exit. Letting out a sigh as the statue of the pretty princess with legs and feet and toes caught his eye, Alex flitted down to rest on the sandy floor. Hands in his elbows, he examined the sculpture some more, ever so jealous of the freedom that the real girl had.

The young boy’s obsession with the land princess, and her entire race in general, did not stop there. After he was finally able to unglue his eyes from the statue, Alex swam back to the castle, passing Sebastian along the way.

“Alexander,” Sebastian called, annoyance very obvious to Alex.

“I told you not to call me that,” Alex chuckled as he turned around to meet Sebastian, “Not even my father calls me that.”

“Well, nevertheless,” Sebastian frowned, “I trust that I won’t have to inform your father about your little adventure last night?”

“That’s up to you, isn’t it? And since you’re such a nice friend, you aren’t going to tell him, right?” Alex smirked, laying on his back and floating next to Sebastian.

“You’re missing the point, Alex! What I mean is, I won’t tell him if it you promise me it doesn’t happen again!” Sebastian raised his voice, spinning around trying to keep eye contact with Alex, who was now swimming in circles around him.

“I can’t promise anything,” Alex sang, knowing that Sebastian wanted to deal with King Triton just as much as he did.

Stopping Alex by grabbing his hand, Sebastian said sternly, “Listen to me, Alex!”

Sighing and looking at Sebastian expectedly, Alex rolled his eyes when Sebastian began with, “I know how much you want to go up there, but that is a big mistake.” Ignoring the shaking of Alex’s head, Sebastian continued, “You don’t know how dangerous it is up there!”

“It can’t be dangerous if so many people can live up there so happily,” Alex disagreed, “I’m sick of it down here. I want to walk, I want to run, I want to dance!”

“You speak one more word of this, and your father will know immediately.” Sebastian threatened, only coaxing a small laugh from Alex.

“I’m going up there,” the young merman whispered.

Shaking his head, Sebastian mumbled, “You’ve left me no choice.” With that, he began swimming in the direction of the castle. Alex kept still as he watched Sebastian moving away, confused expression set on his face. He had not actually thought that the other merman would let his father know of his escapades. Realizing that his father would soon be looking for him, Alex turned around and headed back to his grotto.

Alex lay on the floor of his grotto for what he would describe as hours, but were merely the dozen of minutes it took for his father to finally find him. Jumping at a loud bang, Alex sat up, and was met by a very angry King Triton.

“Is it true, what Sebastian tells me, Alex?” The King asked, trying to remain calm.

Knowing better than to lie to his father, Alex nodded meekly, not prepared for the roar his father let out in response.

“How could you disobey me in such a way?” King Triton bellowed, causing Alex to cower back onto the floor.

“I’m sorry, father,” Alex whispered, eyes sad as his father just shook his head, pointing his triton at the walls of Alex’s grotto. “No!” Alex then cried out, lunging towards his father. He was too late, though, and King Triton sent out beams of power towards his son’s collection of land items, shattering them all, piece by piece. Last came the statue, and Alex could only look on in fear as his father used the might of his triton to smash that, as well.

After taking in the damage he’d caused, King Triton just simply shook his head. Speaking in a much calmer tone, he told Alex, “Come back to the castle with me at once. You are no longer allowed to leave.”

“Bu-” Alex started, only to be cut off by his father stating, “No buts. Come, now.”

Realizing he had no other choice at this point, Alex followed his father out of his grotto slowly, tears welling in his eyes as he eyed the ruins.

Felicity was waiting for Alex in the castle when he arrived, and listened quietly as Alex went on about what his father had done.

“It’s all gone. Every single piece of it,” Alex sobbed, laying back on his bed.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean to hurt you,” Felicity whispered, laying down next to her friend.

“He did, though. More than he knows, I think.” Alex sniffled, images of his destroyed collection in his head just causing more tears to flow. “The statue, too. It’s ruined.”

“It’s alright. I’m sure you’ll be able to replace it, somehow, someday.” Felicity tried, not expecting the smile that suddenly graced Alex’s features to make an appearance any time soon.

“You’re right, I will.” Alex grinned, lifting himself off of the bed. “I’m going to leave, and I’m going to go find a way to get it all back. Maybe not back down here, but I’m going to experience it all again.” Ignoring Felicity’s wide eyes and incessant shaking of her head, Alex went on, “Don’t let anyone know where I’m going, okay? I’ll figure out a way to walk on land, and I’m going to find that princess, the real one.”

“I think you’re taking this too far,” Felicity warned, sighing as Alex responded with, “I most definitely am not. Please, Felicity?”

Shrugging in response to Alex’s pleas, Felicity let out a squeak as Alex wrapped her up in a tight hug, whispering, “Thank you,” into her ear.

Alex spent an entire day mindlessly swimming about, unsure of how to approach his idea. He had no plans whatsoever, so he found himself drifting about carelessly for quite a while, mind blank on how to handle the situation.

Soon enough, Alex was making his way into unfamiliar water, and the further he got away from the castle, the more relief he felt. It wasn’t as if he hated his home, not at all. He was just tired of it, bored out of his mind of all the familiarity. It was not as if the rest of the ocean was different, though. The relief he felt was based off the fact that the prince felt closer and closer to finding a way out of the sea as more and more time passed.

Realizing that he would have to find a place to stay soon, as he was both tired and hungry, Alex sat down on a rock to mull over his circumstance. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he noticed the flapping of tails not too far away. Alex felt both relieved and nauseated, as the sound could be coming from some that could help him out, or, on the other hand, some that could harm him. Deciding to take his chances, Alex remained in his spot as the figures, which he could now see, made their way closer to him. Eventually, Alex was met with two very strong looking mermen, complete with black tails. Sleek and striking, Alex eyes were trained to the scales, as they almost popped out of his head. No merpeople that he knew had black tails, all natural fins of merpeople were brightly coloured.

“Your tails-” Alex began, looking up at the two other mermen with confusion.

“Yes, they’re black.” One of them spoke, voice smooth yet menacing.

“But isn’t that not-” Alex tried again, only to be interrupted once more.

“But it is possible, my friend. And it’s possible the other way around, too.” The other one spoke, motioning for Alex to swim with them. The young merman was hesitant, as the other two creatures seemed quite troublesome. Alex was not sure if he could trust them, and it blew his mind that they were able to know exactly what he was after. Knowing that he would never live with himself if he left his questions unanswered, he followed the two mermen carefully.