*Dan's point of view*
Half a year later
"Have fun!" My mum called to me. She knew where I was going, as always. I smiled and swam to the surface. I opened my eyes and saw the bright blue sky. It was nice to go to the surface every once and a while. I rested my arms on the deck and waited for Phil. I knew it wouldn't be long until he came out of the woods.
A lot had changed since the first day we met. Instead of meeting once or twice, we meet every day. We became.. boyfriends.. in a weird way. We'd kiss, we'd talk, we fell in love. Phil's mum, who I only met a few times, was very kind and respectful of our relationship. She agreed with Dan that I would be the person he should marry. We talked to my parents and they said that I could marry him and become human, as long as I visited them every once and a while. In a few months, we'd be married. At least, that's what I thought.
Usually Phil came up to me with a skip in his step and a wide smile. Today, we was sprinting to me. His face was full of panic. He stopped at the dock breathing hard. He knelt down, his face read terror. I knew his father was terrible, but he was never this freaked out before. I grabbed his shaky hands.
"What's wrong, My Prince?" I asked immediately. I watched the tears rush down his face. I put my hand to his cheek and wiped them away (or at least tried to with my wet hands). He leaned into my touch. Oh yeah, that's the other thing that changed: he was no longer flustered so easily. He heaved more breaths and gripped my hand tighter.
"It's my mum," He whispered. It felt like my heart shattered. He told me all about his mum. She was sick at the moment, terribly sick. It kept getting worse, he was scared she was going to...
"What happened?" I looked back and forth between his blue eyes. They were so beautiful, I hated to see tears coming out of them.
"She.." His voice cracked, I nodded. I felt tears grow in my own eyes. I had only met her a few times, but she was unbelievably kind. My future mother-in-law was gone. "I'm sorry." I rubbed his hand, he sighed.
"It gets worse," He whispered. I frowned, how much worse could it get? "You know how we were going to get get married in a few months?" He chewed on his lip. I nodded, that was something I thought about all the time. He looked away from me, I pulled his face back and gave him a gentle smile. "Now that my mother is gone..." He hesitated and started to cry again. "My father is making me choose."
"What do you mean, choose?" I tilted my head.
"He's making me choose a bride, Dan," He looked at me sadly. My throat tightened, I felt sick. Marry someone else? "And there's no way around it," He shook his head. I glanced down at the water. Suddenly, I had an idea.
"Phil, would you be willing to marry me right now?" I looked up at him, he looked confused.
"Of course I would," He stated.
"Could you leave this place.. forever?" I asked.
"If it meant I could be with you."
"You can never love anyone else.." I trailed off.
"Why would I ever?" He laughed.
"Then I have a solution. We always talked about me coming to land.. but what if you came to the water?" His eyes widened.
"I could become a mermaid," He whispered.
"Are you up for it?" I asked.
"Yeah," He thought for a moment. "Definitely, yeah!" He nodded. "What do I have to do?"
"Well.. it's really dangerous," I set my hand on his knee. He set his hand on top of mine.
"I don't care it'll be worth it," He nodded. I bit my lip, deciding my next move.
"Get in the water," I decided.
"I never learned to swim.." His cheeks went red. I smiled, I loved when his cheeks got red. His eyes had a scared tint to them. "My father never let me near the water.."
"It's ok, I got ya, come on in." I held out my hand and he took it. He got in with a splash and clung onto me. My heart rate sped up, this was the first time I'd ever been this close to him. Usually I'd lean over the dock, but this was so much better. It was kind of nice being able to touch him. Luckily, I'd been swimming my whole life, so it was easy to hold him up. He looked up at me, terrified. "Are you ok?"
"I.. um.. yeah-sure," He let go of a breath.
"I need you to do something for me," My eyes lingered on his lips. Fuck it, I thought. I kissed him. It was a long and passionate kiss, it was full of love and fear. The sight of Phil dying wouldn't leave my head, so I knew this could be the last time I ever kissed him. I pulled away and put my forehead to his. This was the first time we'd ever kissed this close, too.
"Can't wait to do that for the rest of my life," He giggled. I hope, I thought.
"I need to to do something." As much as I wanted to keep him safe here at the surface, I knew I couldn't. "I need you to-"
"Stop! Let go of the Prince!" Suddenly the voice of the guard in front of us pounded in my ears. Phil looked at me with wide eyes: it was now or never. I looked at the two guards and then back at him. They had found him, and if I didn't leave now they were going to take him.
"Kiss me," I commanded.
"What? Dan, now's not the time-"
"Kiss me and don't stop," I held his body tighter to me. "You hear me? Don't stop, no matter what. Even if you think you'll die, keep kissing me," I stated, the guards were coming closer. They were shouting, but I wasn't listening. All I could focus on was Phil's face.
"Promise me," I stared into his eyes.
"I promise," He nodded.
"All right, go!"
Phil smashed his lips on mine and I plummeted into the water. At first, I focused on the constant kissing. The way his lips felt against mine. How every time he'd stop one kiss, he'd start a new one. How every once and a while his tongue would brush against mine. I focused on the feeling of his body clinging so tightly to mine. How his chest pushed against mine and our fast heartbeats became one huge one. How his hands clung on my neck and his legs around mine. Then, I realized I had a job to do. My job wasn't to kiss him back, it was to save his life. I swam. I swam as as fast as I could manage. I could barely see the bottom of the ocean, just over a hundred feet. The way down get like a thousand. That became my new focus.
It was only about ten feet left when I felt Phil growing limp in my arms. His kissing started to slow down. I grabbed his head and gave him one last passionate kiss. This is it, I thought. Then, I brought Phil to the bottom. It was like there was an explosion of light. I went flying to the sea, trying to keep my eyes on Phil. The light was gone and I swam to him.
My heart was beating out of my chest, but I let go of a breath once I saw him lying there. He was definitely unconscious, but that didn't matter (not too much at least). He had a tail. Thank the fucking gods! He had a tail! He was alive! He was unconscious, but alive.
I swam down to him and grabbed his wrist. Sure enough, there it was. Three small golden dots, same with mine. We were bonded, for love, life and death. I picked him up and brought him with me to the castle. I smiled at his tail, a shimmering sky blue, just like his eyes.
After a small bit of swimming I got to my castle. I got inside and met with my parents. My father came up to me with wide eyes.
"Who is this?! Is he ok?" He asked frantically.
"This is Phil," I smiled. My mother swam to us, probably after hearing his name being mentioned. "And he's just fine."
"This is really him, huh? You two are bonded, correct?" She pointed at his wrist, I nodded.
"I thought you were going to become human?" My father smirked.
"Change of plans," I stroked his cheek.
"Well, let us know when he comes to. It's time to introduce the new Kings."
———————————
Thank you Axellnicorn for the idea of this chapter!