Part of your world

Look At This Stuff

It was supposed to be good for Seb, that had been the whole point. Despite all their fathers shortcomings as a parent, his main goal had always been to protect his children, it manifested itself as being an overbearing helicopter parent at times but Seb could at least appreciate that he meant well. The concerts hadn't been a good idea though, not that they hadn't gone well, they had, but Seb hated them, he hated the classical songs they were made to sing and they way everyone stared at him with pure judgement in their eyes, even when the performance was going well. The people in the kingdom seemed to be waiting for Seb to mess up, and they werent sure if it was because they didnt want a gay, non-binary royal, Seb was unprecedented for the royal family in that sense, or maybe it was the badly kept secret of Sebs habit of visiting the surface, but they couldnt shake the feeling that the people just didnt like him very much.

At the end of the day it didn't matter all that much which of his two safe places they chose to hide, wherever they chose to stay, Seb never managed to shake the feeling of being utterly alone.

Surrounded by his collection of artefacts salvaged from the human world helped a little, Seb had always felt a connection to that world, so being with so many things that reminded him of it helped with the loneliness, but not completely, and if Seb wanted to keep the place a secret, he couldn't stay there forever, they couldn't risk a guard finding it when they came searching for him.

Besides, he'd have to go back soon and they knew it would be a better idea to return home of his own accord than wait for one of the guards (a group of whom were now referred to as "Sebs Keepers" due to how often the blonde wasn't where he was supposed to be) to escort him back, his father was always more angry when Seb had been dragged home over the times Seb had been able to play dumb and insist he had simply lost track of time.

With a heavy sigh Seb pulled himself into a sitting position from where he had been lying across the top of the piano with his tail hanging lazily over the side, using his fin to correct a wonky candle that had skewed itself slightly left in its candelabra. Time to go home.

Cautiously, Seb pulled back the stone that blocked the entrance to the cavern housing his collection, poking his head out to check for any guards that may have been sent out this way in search for him. All clear.

The sun looked brighter in the open water. Maybe that was a bad sign, it had been fairly dark up above when Seb had crept out earlier, but now the surface seemed to be alive with light, rays of sun shining through the water, illuminating small clusters of rocks and coral. Seb bit his lip, glancing around, there was still no sign of anyone coming to find him. No one would know.

Securing the stone back in the entrance to the cave, Seb pushed off from the sandy floor up to the light of the surface above.

The closer Seb got to the surface, the brighter the light seemed to become, bouncing across the waves that rolled through the water, some of its rays diving deep enough to begin illuminating Seb's pink scales, reflecting soft blue and yellow hues.

Their head broke through the surface. A wave of cold air hit Sebs face, causing the teen to gasp slightly as their eyes adjusted to the bright golden light of the beach before him.

Seb's eyes settled on a flock of seagulls that had settled themselves down on a small cluster of rocks that sat on a sandy embankment close to the beach. He reached out a hand cautiously, curious to see what the birds would make of them when a sharp yank of his tail dragged him back beneath the water.

Seb flailed slightly as the unknown force dragged him further down below the surface, huffing slightly as it finally dropped him not too gently on the Sandy floor of the ocean.

The teen coughed slightly as he pushed himself up from the seabed, dusting grains of sand from his scales, finally turning to face whoever had come looking for them this time.

Seb's face instantly turned from an expression of annoyance to fear.

"Father?"

That couldn't be right. Seb had to be imagining it, there was no way his father would've come looking for them himself, he was a king, he had better things to be doing than chasing his 'trouble child' around the ocean. He was supposed to at least.

Yet here he stood, arms folded, squeezed tight, clutching his trident with a face of absolute fury.

"What on earth do you think you're doing?" The merman asked, his voice a dangerous whisper.

Seb cringed inwardly, his father never yelled at them, never. But this? This terrifying quiet anger was equally scary.

"I- I was just..." Seb trailed off  "I just wanted to see-"

His father cut him off, "you wanted to see what? Seb? You wanted to see the people who threaten our very existence? You know if one of those humans catches you up there I won't be able to help you"

"Father there was on one around-"

"And what if there had been?" His father countered furiously.

Seb didn't reply, choosing instead to focus on the pink scales of their tail, they seemed much duller at the bottom of the ocean with the limited sunlight, there were no full rays this far down, so what was a vibrant rainbow of colours near the surface was a flat pink at the ocean floor.

The anger in their father's face melted away as he pulled Seb into a hug they couldn't bring themself to return.

His father took Seb's face in one of his hands, forcing the teen to finally meet his eyes, "I care about you a lot, Seb" the merman said, "I couldn't bear the thought of losing you after your mother-" he stopped.

His mother. She was the person their father always brought up when Seb tried to broach the topic of humans at all.

Seb didn't remember her very well, she had died when he was still very young, but Seb could guess that it was the reason for his fathers overbearing nature, even before Seb had expressed an interest in the world up above, his father had kept a watchful eye over his youngest child.

"You look so much like her, you know that?"

Seb did know that. It seemed to be all anyone ever told them as they got older, he looked just like his mother. They had the same pink scales, the same light hair that turned blonde when it dried, the same eyes. Maybe it was wrong of him but Seb often wondered if life would be easier if he didn't look so much like her.

None of their siblings looked like their mother, they had all inherited their fathers dark eyes and green tail, their difference in appearance alone would've been enough to make Seb feel different but with his fathers insistence on wrapping him up in cotton wool, Seb often felt more like a commodity than a living being. Sometimes when he was feeling particularly bitter they wondered why his father didn't just admit that Seb was so coddled because he was afraid to lose his mother all over again. When Seb thought about it for too long he became torn on whether to feel anger or pity towards the man.

Seb finally allowed himself to lean into his fathers hug.

"You are never to go above the surface again, you understand"

Seb squeezed their eyes shut, "yes" he answered, his voice barely above a whisper.

His father released them, turning back in the direction of the palace.

Seb wiped a single tear from their eyes, steeling himself as he followed his father. Time to go home.