As the gems attempted to deal with the magic beings a world away, an orange-haired girl finished her day at school, bouncing in anticipation as she rode the bus home.
"Are you serious? Spirit Morph is nothing like Sunset!" Connie loudly ranted in the seat next to her. "Spirit Morph is all about adventure, action, and changing yourself for the better! Sunset is just supernatural romance with subpar vampires!"
"Hey." Audrey motioned to the book in her lap, Sunset: the second dusk.
"Sorry-." Connie calmed down. "I just- from someone like Beth- you know."
"You mean the bitch who's never read a book in her life? I get it." Audrey said, leaning back in her seat. "My stepmom tried to get me onto her swim team, 'having normal friends' and all that."
"That sounds like hell." Connie remarked, "Did she need floaties?"
"Actually-." The bus came to a halt "Oh, I'll tell you over text later."
Audrey waved to Connie as she ran towards the shore, the other girl none the wiser to what her not-so-human friend got up to without her.
Audrey Perkins was very much different from other girls. For starters, she was one of the few people in school who hung out with resident bookworm Connie Maheswaran regularly. Second, she was the only person in her English class to actually enjoy Vampire romance unironically, her proudest work lay in her creative narratives.
And then there was what happened when she found herself submerged in water. She didn't just get wet. Her skin didn't just wrinkle like most people after swimming for so long.
Her father and brother were out on a big trip for his birthday, so she snuck out onto the beach. Walking past the wreckage, she took one step after another into the crystal blue ocean.
As she did, little by little, her skin turned from a pale tone to a light shimmering blue, Her skin hardened into scales, as fins seemed to grow where her ears once were, and gills took the place of her lungs.
Audrey couldn't describe it, but she felt... free.
Moving underwater was so much more freeing than moving on dry land. While she averaged 15-minute miles during school she was faster than a speed boat under the waves. The sand under her glowed brighter as her eyes adjusted to her underwater playground, her tail swishing behind her as she approached her favorite coral bed.
She played in that bed for some time, when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She looked over but couldn't see what it was. Suddenly she felt uneasy, as she wasn't sure what was watching her, be it some nature documentary crew members, predators, or something else.
She began to swim up, until she heard something behind her.
"Princess?"
Audrey turned around. A tiny, meek creature who looked just like her, except...smaller, and green. She held her hands close, her thin tail swishing slowly in the tide.
"Your mother has summoned you, she says it's a matter of great importance."
"I-I think your mistaken?" Audrey giggled, a touch flattered.
"No your majesty, I can tell your sheer elegance from anywhere."
"M-My mother?" She asked. It sounded ridiculous. "Elegance? Are you trying to sell me something? I'm not a princess, I guarantee you..."
"Please just follow me, the queen awaits you."
Audrey floated behind the messenger hesitantly, watching for any signs of poachers or fishermen. The whole thing felt suspicious, but then again she knew nothing about her undersea half of the family. As far as she knew until now, this was just a curse that had nothing to do with her mother.
She followed until she saw what had to be the most beautiful castle she's ever seen. All sorts of people who looked like her. As she passed the locals, they all bowed before her. "Your highness!" one said as the messenger led her inside the castle. "Princess" said another.
As she was led up the castle and into the throne room, the messenger came to announce Audrey's presence. "This has to be a joke" she thought. "Or a dream."
"Queen Harbor, Your daughter has returned from the surface world!" The messenger announced as the meek girl entered the room.
"M-Mom?" Audrey asked awkwardly.
"My little guppie!" Her mother squealed, taking the small girl. "Your finally back! and just in time!"
"In time for-"
Another person emerged from the shadows. "Ah, princess. You are as beautiful as I imagined." They said. Audrey was a little weirded out by this guy. His tentacles wrapped around her form, pulling her close. "Heir Seline, pleasure to meet you."
"I-I uh-." Audrey had to admit he was kind of pretty, in a supernatural vampirish way. She slipped out of their tentacles before taking a few steps back. "Au-Audey, Charmed..." She had no idea what was going on.
"Nice to see you getting along with you're soon-to-be husband." Her mother cooed.
"H-Hu-Hus-hus-husba-and?" Audrey struggled to catch water as she gasped uselessly, she was barely a highschooler, how could she be married so soon?
"Something wrong, my dear?" Seline asked, extending their hand.
"I- I have to go!" Audrey yelled, swimming out.
"Okay, come back soon!" replied Queen Harbor as she swam out.
There was a bit of silence for a brief moment.
"Was it something I said?" asked Heir Seline.
"No, she's living a double life on the surface." the Queen replied. Heir Seline was disgusted. The thought of the princess of Alantica living a double-life, on the surface, with all of those air-breathing, land-walking, hairless apes. What confused them even more was Queen Harbor's acceptance with this.
Meanwhile, Audrey couldn't get out of the water fast enough, as she rushed to the surface to quickly dry off before her brother saw her like this.
As she rushed to her room, she practically collapsed on the bed. Princess? Soon to be husband? Her mother being a queen? It was enough to make anyone's head spin. How would Connie react, how would her father react, how would Robert feel? Who was she kidding, he didn't even know she existed. He probably forgot about her, she thought.
As she pondered this, her father and brother came home. "Audrey, we're home!" Her father called.
Nathan went to his room excitedly after receiving a prize from Fun-Land, only for him to slip a note under Audrey's door. "Some guy wanted me to give you that." he said.
Audrey staggered to the door; she found a note with her name on it. She opened it, reading
Hey Audrey,
Meet me at Funland Arcade real soon. Steven's friend wants to hang out with us."
--Connie
Audrey threw on some flipflops and made her way over to the arcade, walking slowly to ensure her scales had all reverted back to human skin. she hadn't told Connie about her undersea adventures, knowing that she probably wouldn't believe her.
As she walked over to see Connie, she immediately looked to the person she was talking to. Her heart jumped when she found out that the "friend of Steven" Connie was referring to was, in fact, Robert Light. His eyes dilated when Connie and him turned to look at Audrey as she approached.
Audrey felt her face heat up upon seeing Robert, giggling like an idiot as he approached. Connie immediately took note, making joking hand gestures as she talked to Robert.
"So... what have you been doing lately?" Audrey asked.
"Well, I've been getting into this book series called Sunset. I heard it was kind of like Lord of the Rings, and I've been craving more adventure stories that isn't just a knock-off or breaks lore *cough*ringsofpower *cough*" he replied. She looked past him to find Connie with a smug look on her face.
"What part did you get to?" Audrey shouted, not realizing how loud she got. She had been waiting forever for someone else to pick up the series. "Because I just got to the part where the vampire prince tries to claim Bethany as her own but then her girlfriend comes to save her and both-."
"That's what he's trying to do?" Robert replied. Audrey realized she messed up. "Oh, and here I was thinking he was gathering ingredients for the Wagyu-stu Brew that could let him possess Bethany."
Audrey stumbled over her words, thinking he was mad at her. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoiled it and-"
"It's okay. There's like, what, ten more books with several more on the way?" Robert replied, laughing. "There's a lot more left to read anyway..."
The two gazed at each other for a while before they offered to play one of the games.
Audrey ran to Time Crisis, the only game she had gotten on the score board for. She put in a few quarters and started blasting, Robert putting in a few for himself.
Audrey thought for only a moment that he wouldn't be too good at it, barely able to make it past the first level, but he proved to be on a very similar level to her in terms of skill.
The two reached the first boss of the game, this being the first time Audrey had actually gotten that far. She blasted with a talent she hadn't shown before, actually carrying Robert through the match. But her mind still dwelled on her life under the sea, while she was too young to be married, she still wanted to know who her real mom was. It couldn't have been the queen of Atlantis, right? And what was with that Heir Seline? Sure, he was cute, but...something about him rubbed her the wrong way.
Robert looked concerned, picking up the pace, saving her in the nick of time. "Audrey, is something troubling you?" He asked.
"Uh- it's- it's nothing." She stammered, if she told Robert he would probably throw her into an insane asylum. No sane human being would believe there were actual mermaids in Beach City.
"Well, if you need anything, you can talk to me," Robert replied, opening his arms for a hug.
Audrey took it, holding him close. She wanted to tell him so bad, but he would probably turn tail the instant she said "mermaid."
As soon as she thought that, he hugged just a little tighter, as in, perfectly timed.
It was getting late, the game lasting hours longer than Audrey thought. so Audrey waved goodbye and headed home.