Dark Mer

2

Three days. Three days to find who that strange fish-boy was and why and how he changed her hair like this. Rapunzel paced the deck and looked out at the sea. 'There's so much ocean out there...' She groaned, running her hands through her annoying-long-again hair. "Ohhh, where do I START?!"

"Okay, I can see that you're pretty stressed out. Let's start with braiding this hair, huh?" Cassandra walked over and started to neatly braid her hair. "Then we can focus on things like finding magical fish boys."

"I didn't imagine him." Rapunzel huffed.

"I didn't say you did." Cassandra assured her.

"He was singing the same tune my mo—kidnapper taught me! The same tune, just different words! What does it mean?! Are we...connected somehow?!" Rapunzel flailed her hands a bit. "And what was that crazy power?! And the glowing?! And the blue?!"

"I figure you are connected, seeing as just being near him made your hair...well, long." Cassandra said as she continued to braid her hair. "He's gotta have somewhere he stays, and he's probably as curious about you as we are of him."

"Yeah...but, where?" She sighed dejectedly. She really didn't want to have to go back without any clue of how to fix her hair.

--

Stay away from the boats.

It was a simple request. One that Varian could never seem to listen to. If he wasn't going to attack them for bringing their big, stupid boats too close to the Kingdom, he was at least going to study the inhabitants.

Starting with this curious weapon that the girl had dropped just before her hair changed. He examined it thoughtfully, running his fingers along the sides to study the shape. 'Round.' He decided, then moved his hands along the long part that seemed to be for holding it.

He looked up at the boat, which hadn't moved from where it was when he attacked it. He swam up the surface and slowly pulled himself up just enough to look in a window, his tail swishing back and forth curiously.

The people on the ship were moving on their feet rhythmically in a circle, switching partners from time to side while someone used an object that let out different sounds as they tugged on different cords.

He knew what this was. Music. His mother used to play it, and she loved watching the sailors dance around. She grew close to one female captain in particular...

He pursed his lips and shook his head. Bad memories. He was only a baby then, but he knew what happened next. His mother was captured by the female captain, a pirate, and taken away.

He heard a loud sound above him and looked up to see the white four-legged creature staring down at him. It let out another sound and he heard footsteps running towards the creature. 'Oh no.' He thought, diving underwater quickly.

"What is it, Max? What—"

"Rapunzel!"

The water rippled as something crashed into it and he looked over to see the girl from before swimming after him. Then someone else came in and swam faster than her and Varian gasped as she caught up to him and grabbed onto his arm.

In terror, he let out an ear-piercing shriek. The girl let go to hold her ears and he made his getaway.

--

"Cass!" Rapunzel cried as she helped her friend into a lifeboat so they could be pulled back up. "Cass, are you okay?!"

"I'm fine, Raps." Cassandra rubbed at her ears. "Yeesh, that was loud. That was the kid, then?"