Beneath The Surface

Chapter 3: The Beauty Of The Ocean

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.