The first thing Carlos was aware of when he came to was the music. Maybe not music exactly, it was more like... singing.
Carlos frowned as he attempted to open his eyes, squinting in the light of the now rising sun, someone was singing.
A face came into Carlos's line of vision , the boy squinted again, futilely attempting to bring the blurry face into focus despite having lost his glasses. He was vaguely able to make out pale skin along with light hair and bright blue eyes, but any detail beyond that was lost to the haze of his bad eyesight. There was something pink shifting in his peripheral vision but it was all he could do to gather the energy to tilt his head slightly, nevermind sit up and strike up a conversation with the mystery person.
The person was closer now, leaning over Carlos upon realising he was awake, Carlos frowned, desperately trying to bring the person's face into focus to no avail, their mouth was moving. The person, who Carlos realised now must've saved them from drowning in that boat crash, was singing to him.
If Carlos wasn't so disorientated he probably would have blushed as the mystery saviour brushed a wet strand of hair from Carlos's face, the song wasn't one Carlos knew, he wasn't sure he even understood the language the person was singing in, but he didn't need to understand the words to know that the sound was beautiful, the gentle melody washing over him as he lay exhausted on the beach.
Just as the brunet opened his mouth to say something, he wasn't sure what, to the person, a sound came from the other side of the small cluster of rocks he was laying behind.
"Carlos?"
That was EJ, they had agreed to meet back on the beach, Carlos remembered, if he was alone it made sense that his friends would have come looking for him.
The person before him seemed startled by EJs voice, hastily scurrying away from Carlos, who finally gathered the energy to pull himself into a sitting position, reaching out to the teen, because at this point Carlos was fairly sure whoever saved him was of a similar age to him.
"Carlos?"
He turned, EJ had finally materialised behind him, the expression of relief at finding Carlos was clear on his face, he couldn't bring himself to care about that for the minute, wordlessly turning back to face the stranger, only to be met with an empty beach.
"Los, are you ok?"
"He's gone."
"What?"
Carlos turned back to face EJ, the relieved expression having been replaced with one of concern as Carlos hauled himself to his feet, using the rocks beside him as leverage.
"The person, a guy I think, he was just here" Carlos insisted, staring out at the now calm sea.
EJ seemed unconvinced, "Los, did you hit your head?"
"What? No. I mean, yeah, I think I did but I didn't imagine this, he was just here" Carlos insisted again, his voice raising to almost a shout as he turned back towards the sea, half ready to wade back in in search of the person, whose voice was still ringing in his head.
EJ, seemingly catching on to Carlos's determination, gently grabbed the younger boy's arm. "Ok, I believe you, but you need a shower and food and sleep, you can look for whoever it was tomorrow, ok?"
Reluctantly, Carlos allowed EJ to pull him back from the seafront, if he were to truly kick up a fuss about going back to the house, EJ could very easily over power him, the outcomes would be the same and Carlos decided he didn't need to seem any more like a crazy person than he already did by being dragged home kicking and screaming.
With one last glance at the now calm and seemingly empty sea, Carlos turned and headed back to the safety of the Caswell house.
***
Seb was dead. Not literally of course, but the sun was high in the sky, shining across the water as he made his way back towards the palace. There wasn't a hope in hell that no one had noticed they were missing.
Finally having decided that they were definitely far away enough from the shore line that the human, Carlos, Seb recalled his friend calling him, wouldn't spot him, the blonde allowed himself to slow to a stop, leaning against a small patch of coral. There was no point in rushing home now, his father would know he snuck out, so until Seb could come up with some form of damage control explanation for his absence that didn't involve saving the life of one human and almost being seen by another, it was in their best interest to lay low.
Part of Seb felt like never going back, in reality they knew what was waiting for them when he got home and it was an explosion followed by being told he's grounded until he's 50, and then he'd be stuck. Stuck in the one place they were desperate to escape for god knows how long.
For a moment Seb entertained that as a possibility, simply not going back, swimming wherever the current took them, finding a new beach to watch where they would let him learn the secrets of the surface, where no one knew him, no one could watch him or judge him, maybe then they would finally feel free.
A second part of Sebs brain was willing him back to the beach, to call after Carlos and whoever his friend was, to tell them who and what he was, to talk and learn and thrive in the world he so desperately wanted to see, even just for the day.
Neither of the two options were practical, as much as Seb would love it, sitting on a beach in broad daylight was a recipe for disaster, and he wasn't nearly organised enough to survive running away, but that didn't mean he had to go home yet.
The patch of coral wasn't too far from his cavern of human artefacts, as long as no one caught him on the way there, it would serve as a decent enough hiding place for a while, maybe even long enough to ensure that when they did return home his father would be to relieved that they were safe to remember to be angry with them, it was a long shot, but at that moment it was the only shot Seb had.
Trying to push down the urge to cry that had been building, the blonde pushed back up from his spot and brushing away a stray piece of coral that had settled on their tail, headed for the underwater cave, the sooner they could close their eyes and forget that this had ever happened the better.
The cave was closer than Seb remembered it being, perhaps in his haste to avoid being spotted by Carlos's friend he had swam farther than they realised, it was a welcome surprise though, the longer Seb spent in the open ocean with the knowledge that there would be palace guards and possibly even their father himself out looking for him, the more anxious they felt.
Upon finally reaching their hiding hole, Seb practically threw himself at the piano, not even bothering to properly secure the rock that served as the door to the cave back in place properly. They should've.
Still, back in their one safe space, Seb felt like he could finally catch his breath, he wasn't sure how long they had been out by that point, it had been dark when they left home but the sun began to rise sooner than he would have expected, it was possible that it had only been a few hours, maybe even less, Seb had no idea how long it took for the sun to rise, nor did they have anyway of knowing how long he sat on the beach with Carlos.
Carlos. The name had been rattling around Sebs brain since they first heard it, it was a nice name, Seb thought, they didn't know anyone in the kingdom with that name. He seemed like a nice person too, in Sebs limited interaction with the human, he had seemed at least engaged by the mermaids singing.
Seb wasn't sure the singing had been necessary, but it was an old folk tale that the song of a mermaid could heal the ills of a human. Seb had no idea of the story's accuracy, but at the time Carlos wasn't moving and it was the only solution the blonde could think of, in the end the humans eyes opened which was all that really mattered.
Carlos had nice eyes too, they had seemed unfocused when he awoke, probably a result of losing his glasses, Seb now realised, allowing himself to smile at the strange, human concept of glasses for a moment. Still, Carlos's inability to focus on Seb was probably a good thing considering the situation, and it didn't change the fact that his eyes were beautiful.
Seb may have imagined it but the boy might have even smiled at them at one point, despite not knowing him, the idea of Carlos simply smiling at him made the blonde feel a strange sense of accomplishment.
With a new brand of rising panic as his eyes settled on a dented heart locket that floated lazily on the second makeshift shelf of his collection, Seb began to realise that this was perhaps more than the simple feeling of pride at saving a person's life.
Unfortunately, Seb wasn't given much time to consider this as the rock at the entrance of the cave, which they now, far to late, realised they should've secured in place, flew from its place, causing Seb to jump from his place at the piano, whirling to face the person now stood in the doorway.
For a moment the two of them were silent, for one sweet moment where Seb allowed himself to hope that things might still be ok.
Then his father spoke.
"Sebastian."
It was strange how just one name, just their name could mean so much in a single moment. It was just a name yet in that moment Seb felt as if he could be watching his last speck of freedom falling away.
They closed their eyes, "father, I-"
"What is this place?" his father asked, the contempt clear in his voice.
"Its where I go when i want to be alone" Seb said simply, "and where I keep the things I can't keep at home"
"You- how dare you?" their fathers voice raised and Seb shifted slightly because there was no way that could be a good sign, "is this where you've been all morning? I've had guards searching high and low for you, worried out of my mind and you've been languishing in this- this nest of betrayal?"
"No, I just got here, and it's not like-"
"Then where have you been?"
Seb hesitated, half regretting not allowing their father to believe he had been hiding out in the cave all morning, half wondering if he could go back on their previous statement and act as if he had at least been keeping out of trouble.
"Do not lie to me now, Sebastian" Triton warned, almost shouting at that point, it was all Seb could do to not flinch away as he answered.
"There was a boat" they finally answered, "it crashed and one of the people was drowning, dad, he would've died"
"What. Did. You. Do?"
"I just made sure he got to the beach safely, I swear no one saw me"
His father was quiet for a moment, Seb moved to speak again but one look at his father was enough to tell him that that would be a bad idea.
"You saved a human from drowning?" their fathers voice had returned to its usual quiet anger, and Seb still couldn't decide which type of anger was worse.
"He would've died"
"That's one less human to worry about" his father snapped
Seb was quiet for a moment, staring blankly at his father in the wake of the statement. The man had always implied that this was how he felt, but to hear him actually say it outloud was completely jarring.
"How can you say that? That's awful"
"Those monsters killed your mother!"
"Then why are you punishing me for it?" Seb practically screamed at their father, feeling all those years of frustration at his miserably restricted life come out in one single, horrible question.
The look on Triton's face was enough to make Seb regret what they said almost instantly, but the hurt on his fathers face quickly melted away into one of anger.
"What have I done?" his father asked and for a brief moment it seemed like the man might even apologise for his suffocating parenting style, Seb should've learned by now that the chance of that was one in a million, "I've allowed you to defy me unpunished too long, and now look at you, a traitor to your own people"
Seb opened their mouth to protest, but was cut off by a bright flash of light firing just over his head.
Anything Seb could possibly have said in defence of himself flew out of the window as the shelf of human artefacts behind them was blown to pieces, they were barely able to comprehend what was happening as the shelf above was hit by a second bolt from their fathers trident, sending a shower of golden sparks through the once clear water, a small shower of wood chips, mangled metal and broken rock cascaded down to the cave floor and it was all Seb could do to stare in horror as his father destroyed shelf after shelf of carefully collected artefacts until only the piano in the centre was left, a pile of rubble scattered across it.
Finally, Seb turned from the wreckage to face his father, the man's face was a blur through the tears beginning to brim in Sebs eyes, but even so, it was clear that the king's expression of fury was unmoved as his eyes settled on the last remaining piece of Sebs collection.
"Dad, please-"
His father seemed to have not even heard him, as he extended the trident to the piano.
Time seemed to move in slow motion as the final bolt of light hit its target, sending out an explosion of broken wood and loose wires, Seb felt a sharp stinging in his cheek as one of the pieces of the pianos debris scraped across his face, deep enough to draw blood, he couldn't bring himself to care as he silently moved to sit in the now still wreckage of the instrument.
"Seb, I-"
"Leave" Seb half expected their father to refuse, they didn't sound the most convincing, their voice shaking so much from their attempt to hold back the stream of tears building up, that he was barely able to understand himself, but he wouldn't allow himself to break down in front of his father, not now.
Despite Sebs clear distress, their father complied, turning back to the entrance of the cave with one last glance to Seb, who was still sitting staring down at the rubble, he simply stated.
"Get home soon" before disappearing back out into the open ocean.
Seb considered the man's words, they seemed painfully ironic in the circumstances, as his father had just destroyed the only place he had ever felt at home.
With growing determination as he clutched the loose wires from the destroyed piano, Seb decided, he wasn't going back.