Armin and Annie swam to the dark part of the coral reef.
"Now, if you want to go explore, you have to know how to swim against the ocean current." Annie explained about the basics of swimming under the ocean.
"Sounds doable, I can swim pretty well" Armin shrugged even though he was kind of nervous.
"Alright then, go ahead and give it a try, swim upwards." Annie was confident that Armin wasn't gonna handle the ocean's current.
Armin slowly started swimming upwards, "hey, this isn't so ba- AHHHHHHH" Armin was getting the hang of it until the current swept him away.
Annie started laughing at Armin's little accident, Armin shuffled towards Annie.
"In what way was that funny?" Armin folded his arms.
"Oh come on, admit it, it was fun" Annie smirked at the angered boy.
Armin slowly smiled, "ok...that was pretty fun honestly..." he rubbed the back of his neck.
Armin took notice of Annie's smile, from what Hange told him, Annie hasn't smiled for anyone ever since her parents passed away.
Hange also said that she had the most beautiful smile than any other mermaid.
They were right...
"Alright Armin, hold on to me" Annie wrapped her arms around Armin.
"I uhm- okay!" Armin did the same as well, "you clearly can't swim against the current, so you'll have to hold on to me." Annie said.
the two swam upwards, almost leaving the darkened area.
Armin and Annie saw a large palace when leaving the dark area of the coral reef.
"Wow! It's so beautiful!" Armin's eyes sparkled at seeing such a wonderful sight.
Armin's face lit up with joy when he saw a large blue whale for the first time.
Annie showed me the wonders of her beautiful world and we laughed the whole way through the reef.
I was having so much fun...I loved being around her, she understood me and I understood her...
.
.
.
"Do you still have your eyes closed?" Annie took Armin to a little special place for him to practice, "yes, just tell me when to open them!" Armin told her.
"And...open them!" Armin shot his eyes open.
He was shocked to see that this "special place" was nothing more then a dark area.
Except this one was more eerie and rather terrifying,
"Annie?! Where are you?! Come on, this isn't funny!" Armin was starting to get creeped out by the abandoned area.
Annie swam towards him out of nowhere and let out an ear piercing scream, but it was more than a human scream, instead, it sounded more like a screaming beast.
Armin quickly swam upwards out of fear, Annie laughed at how Armin zoomed away.
Armin, now mad at her for scaring him badly.
"Was it necessary to do that?!" Armin puffed up his cheeks.
"Technically yes, but you should be thanking me" Annie smirked,
"For nearly giving me a heart attack?!" Armin folded his arms.
"Well yes, for teaching you how to swim against the ocean current, you did a great job doing it all by yourself!" Annie folded her arms as well.
Armin thought about it for a moment, "come to think of it, I was able to swim upwards without being swept away..." he thought to himself.
Annie grabbed his arm, "come on! No time to start thinking!" Annie swam away with Armin behind her.
Petra and Mike left their hiding spots, "is he the water breathing human that you are referring to?" Mike asked.
"Positive, it's him..." Petra whispered to him.
"How come he has fins? He even looks like one of us..." Petra raised her eyebrow at Mike.
"Don't be fooled, Mike, it must be some sort of magic, plus we have to examine the way his skin is under sunlight or moonlight.
Remember, merpeople only have shimmery skin, unlike humans..."
Meanwhile...
The remaining survivors from the sunken ship were now stranded on an island.
Captain Levi looked out at the ocean, feeling guilty and petty towards himself.
Christa looked at her sorrowed Captain, "Captain Levi?" She asked.
"It's my fault that he's gone now..." Levi didn't know what to do but grieve at the loss of his adopted son.
"I was so careless...he was right there in front of me and I didn't do anything!" Levi yelled out.
"You don't know that, he's probably alive somewhere on a different island!" Christa did everything she could to make the Captain think positive.
"What do you know?! Did you even see WHERE he drifted off too?!" Levi slammed his fist on a nearby boulder.
Christa backed away from the angered and sorrowed Captain.
Levi was already saddened enough, losing Armin was a worser punishment than death.
Christa slowly approached the Captain, "you can't think like that...WE can't think like that, if we do then it'll surely happen." Christa calmly said.
Levi raised his head, confused, "We? What did you feel towards him anyways?" He asked.
Christa's cheeks were bright red, "I-it was platonic! I admire him and I have great respect towards him!" Christa tried to cover up the fact that she had feelings for Armin.
"But he's probably safe on another island, but we have to think of a way to find Armin and get back to civilization!" Christa encouraged the Captain, but deep down, he was still saddened.
Meanwhile...
I was having so much fun with Annie that I couldn't imagine leaving her world.
Annie kept reminding me that it's not safe for me to be here.
It's been 3 days and I was supposed to leave 2 days ago, but I know why I'm still here, it's because Annie couldn't imagine me leaving either.
Annie brought Armin to a large gateway but this gateway had no doors or anything.
"Where are we? Where does this lead to?" Armin looked over to a soft smiling Annie.
"You said you wanted to meet other merpeople right?" Armin's smile widened with excitement and quickly swam towards the entrance.
Annie rolled her eyes and smiled at the excited boy, quickly following him inside.
Armin couldn't stop smiling at seeing the merpeople.
He also felt extremely nervous about going up to talk to them since Levi raised him on the ship without socializing with anybody.
Armin looked around to see not only the beauty of the ocean, but what made the ocean beautiful.
Taking notice of couples of same-sex and different-sex, and small merchildren playing around.
"Hey, you alright?" Annie snapped Armin back into reality.
"I'm alright...it's just that for so many years I've never been in a place where people had...actual fun..." Armin looked down sadly.
Annie looked at Armin's sad filled eyes.
"Well look on the bright side, at least try to enjoy your time here while you still have the chance." Annie smiled at Armin.
Armin smiled, "I guess you're right" Armin laughed a little.
Annie's eyes gleamed from hearing Armin's laugh, except that she tried to hide it but failed at doing so.
She slowly backed away from Armin but was instead pushed back from someone bumping into her by accident.
Annie was pushed and landed on Armin's chest, Both Armin and Annie's eyes widened.
They both looked into each other's eyes.
Armin was feeling many different types of emotions, he was happy, nervous, and felt something that he's barely ever felt in years.
Annie wasn't sure whether to be nervous or happy, she's always felt empty since her parents passed away years ago.
But something lit up inside them that was more than happiness.
They both felt love...
The two of them started leaning towards each other...until...
"Annie!!" Two male voices broke up their moment.
Armin and Annie both looked over to see a tall blonde haired merman who is more muscular than Armin, and another merman with slick back dark brown colored hair.
"And who do we have here?" The blonde merman said, in a rather seducing voice.
"It's kind of rude not to introduce us to this cute looking merman.." Annie glared at her blonde friend.
"Guys, this is Armin, Armin these are my...idiotic 'friends' well one of them is more of an idiot than the other, Reiner and Marcel." Armin looked at the two mermen sort of awkwardly.
"And any friend of Annie's is a friend of ours" Marcel kindly smiled, Armin felt more comfortable around Marcel then with Reiner.
"Pleased to meet you two" Armin said.
"Can you two keep Armin company while I go get us some food?" Annie leaned in towards Armin's ear, "I'll be back in a bit" Armin nodded.
Annie swam away from the three mermen, "so what's someone like you doing hanging around with 'Ms. I have no emotions'?" Reiner leaned in towards Armin.
"Cut it out, Reiner, you're making him uncomfortable." Marcel tried to stop Reiner.
"It's alright, Marcel, I'm hanging out with her because she's twice the mermaid that you will ever be." Armin said to Reiner.
"Excuse me, what now?" Reiner was rather offended at hearing those words from Armin.
"I wasn't the one that called Annie 'Ms I have no emotions' nor did I act like a total creep!" Marcel snickered quietly, trying not to laugh out loud.
Without warning, Reiner pinned Armin against the wall, "I guess Annie's friend sure is feisty" Armin squirmed around, trying to break free but Reiner was too strong.
"Reiner, you're going too far!" Marcel yelled at his friend.
Suddenly, Reiner was pulled away from Armin by his hair.
"Ow! Marcel stop it!" Reiner yelled out, "do I look like Marcel to you?" Reiner's face went pale when he heard a female voice.
Annie pulled on Reiner's hair even more, "do that shit again to Armin or I'll be the one to knock you out." Annie's face changed from being a kind looking mermaid to a cold hearted one,
"Stay away from him you got that?" Annie gripped on Reiner's hair even tighter.
"Fine! Just let me go!" Annie shoved Reiner to the sand.
Armin couldn't believe that Annie did such a thing just to defend him.
"Sorry about him, Armin, I'll take him back home now.." Marcel apologized.
Annie's face expression changed once she turned to look at Armin, "are you alright?" She said in her usual monotone voice.
"I'm alright, thank you for helping me.." Armin smiled at her.
Annie rushed in to hug Armin, "I'm sorry about him, he's like that when someone rejects him.." Armin blushed when he saw Annie hug him.
He proceeded to hug her as well, Armin looked up to see the merchildren all gathering around, sitting on small cushions.
"Annie, what's going on over there?" Armin pointed to where the merchildren and other merfolk were sitting at.
"Oh...well about the 'getting food' I lied. I was able to convince the mermaid who read to the children to give you a chance..." Armin's eyes widened.
"Annie! You know I can't read my poetry in front of crowds!" Annie folded her arms, "you can't or you won't?" Armin felt like he was gonna faint.
"People are gonna cringe at hearing my poetry!" Annie grabbed Armin's shoulders.
"Listen to me for one second, you always kept telling me that you didn't think you were any good, no matter how many times I told you were amazing. But you are not trapped in that ship anymore! This is your one chance to show everyone how amazing your poetry is!" Annie yelled at Armin to knock some sense into him.
"I'm scared, Annie! I never did anything like this before!" Armin's heart was racing faster than ever.
"You've done it with me..you read your poetry for me..when you're up there, just look at me if you need to." Annie touched Armin's cheek with her finger tips, giving him a sense of calm.
Armin swam to a seashell where he sat on, he was given a folded piece of paper from Annie.
He unfolded the parchment paper to see a poem he wrote for Annie.
Armin blushed at reading this to himself, he looked up to see the children all looking at him, and other merfolk accompanying the children.
He looked at Annie who was sitting with the other merfolk, she nodded at him to go ahead and read the poem.
Armin cleared his throat.
'At first, you were a stranger to me, someone who decided to show up out of nowhere, maybe wanting to laugh at me, maybe even make fun of me for having other interests.
But I was indeed wrong, as the time went on, night after night, I started to get to know you better.
The better I got to know you, the more I wanted to see your face.
Ironically, I never got to see what you looked like, except I only heard your voice.
A monotone yet serene voice, the type to make anyone relax if they're feeling upset.
I've yet to know what you look like, and I've never got to know your name.
But what I appreciate the most is that you always made my day better, even after getting an earful from my guardian.
You've made me smile, laugh, and happy.
But if I told anyone about you, what would I say? That I was in love? Possibly.
Your voice fills me with joy, your quiet giggle makes me smile from ear to ear.
I wish I could see your face, for I bet that you could be the most beautiful creature ever to exist in the ocean.
If you ever build up the courage to show yourself, I'd be more than happy to see what you look like, cause I love you no matter what...
Armin looked up to see the children cheering and clapping, the merfolk clapped with the children as well.
Armin's nervous smile turned into a smile of happiness.
Annie's eyes gleamed with happiness. No one in her whole life has ever done something like this.
She rushed over to Armin, wrapping her arms around him.
Armin's face all of a sudden turned bright red, "Annie?" He nervously asked.
"I love you too..." she whispered to him.
Armin didn't know what to say, he never thought anybody would ever say that to him...
Later That Night...
Armin and Annie were sitting on her bed, talking about their day.
"I didn't really think it would've been for me...I thought it was for Christa.." Annie tucked her hair behind her ear.
"That was when I didn't know who you were, I didn't think Christa was you at that time." Armin held Annie's hand.
The two of them looked at each other again.
Annie slowly put Armin's hand aside, "Armin..." Annie took a necklace with an emerald jewel piece from her neck.
"What's this?" He asked her, "it means the world to me...Hange once told me that this necklace was an heirloom passed down from generation to generation.
It was the last thing I had from my parents, they gave it to me before I could understand what it was for, but I want you to have it." Annie explained as she held up the emerald necklace.
"Why me?" Armin said, a little worried, "it would mean so much to me if you wore it, a piece of me will always be with you, Everytime you look at it, you'll remember that I'll always be there. No matter what." Armin hesitated for a moment.
"I'll wear it everyday for the rest of my life, I'll keep it close wherever I go." Annie placed the necklace around Armin's neck.
Armin looked at the beautiful emerald piece on the necklace.
"It really looks beautiful on you" Annie blushed.
"Annie, please promise me that we'll find a way to each other." Armin held Annie's hand as he said so.
Annie held his hand back, "Armin, I love you, love always finds a way.." Annie placed her hand on Armin's cheek.
"Oh...get over here" Annie rushed in to kiss Armin again.
Instead of being surprised like usual, Armin started melting into the kiss.
Later That Night...
Armin and Annie had fallen asleep, in each other's arms.
Not even noticing Petra and Mike floating right next to Armin.
Armin started to wake up after having a feeling that he was being stared at, he was correct.
Except it was too late to react, Petra covered his mouth so he wouldn't scream out loud.
Armin struggled to break free from Mike's grip, he tried to scream for Annie but it was useless.
While Annie was still asleep, Armin was being dragged away by Petra and Mike into the ocean's darkness...
Hello everyone! Thank you for reading Chapter 3 of Beneath The Surface! So I've been playing a lot of Genshin Impact to the point that I'm probably obsessed now.
But I promise to upload the finale of Beneath The Surface sooner or later!
Thanks for reading and I'll see you on the next chapter! Bye!