From the Sea Beneath You

Chapter 5

The next day, Varian and Rapunzel swam to their hideout.  Together, they moved the stone slab and entered.  They gasped when they saw the statue from the ship on the previous day had managed to land in their cave.  

"What are the odds?"  Rapunzel exclaimed as she ran her hands across the stone.  "It's beautiful.  The sculpture must have taken ages to make!  My compliments to the artist!"

"I can use this as a reference to help me make the clothes humans wear.  What are these called again? Pants?"  Varian rambled.

"Ah!" Rapunzel squealed with excitement.  "This is the best luck!"

"I'm so excited, there's so many uses for this!" Varian agreed.  "Why, we could even-" he was cut off upon hearing another voice.

Fredric was in the entrance to their hideout.  His face looked angry as he looked around the room.  "I consider myself a reasonable merman. I set certain rules, and I expect those rules to be obeyed."

"Father, these things were dropped in the ocean.  We didn't go to the surface for them," Varian defended him and his sister.

"Is it true you rescued a human from drowning?"

The siblings froze and looked at each other.  "Where did you hear about that?" Rapunzel inquired.

"I have eyes around this place and word eventually comes around to me," he said.

"You've been spying on us?"  Varian's voice rose a little in a mix of shock and anger.

"Contact between the human world and the mer-world is strictly forbidden. You know that! Everyone knows that!" Fredric stormed.

Varian's cheeks puffed with anger.  "He would have died!"

"One less human to worry about!" Fredric snapped.

"But you don't even know him.  How could you know?" Rapunzel asked, trying to take a more civil approach.

"Know him? I don't have to know him. They're all the same. Spineless, savage, harpooning, fish-eaters, incapable of any feelings!"

"But they have families like us!  Siblings like us!  They were so scared when they thought they lost the human we saved!  Then they rejoiced when they found him!  You can't tell me that they don't have feelings!" Varian argued.

"You don't get to talk to me that way!" Fredric scolded.

"I will if it makes you hear me for once.  You never listen to what I have to say, so I'm going to say it!  I want to go to the human world!  I want to explore it, learn from what they have! I want to-"

"Varian…" Rapunzel whispered as she set a hand on his shoulder, pleading with him to stop.

"Have you lost your senses?" Fredric shouted.  "They're humans!  They're cruel!"

"I don't care!" Varian snapped.

"So help me, Varian l, I am going to get through to you. And if this is the only way, so be it!"  Fredric pointed his trident and began to zap the human objects.

Varian's eyes grew wide with horror.  "No, wait!  Stop!!"

"Dad, wait!  Please," Rapunzel begged and grabbed her father's arm to gain his attention.  Both their pleas fell on deaf ears.  He finished by blasting the statue.

Varian swam in a circle, looking for anything that wasn't damaged.  He couldn't find anything through his tears so he sank down to the ground and sobbed.  Rapunzel gave her father a look of betrayal and swam away, knowing she was angry.  Fredric slowly turned and left with a guilty expression starting to play on his face.

"Poor child."

Varian's head shot to his right upon hearing the voice.  An eel had found her way into the cave through the sun hole at the top.

"Poor, sweet child," she continued.

"Who… who are you?"  Varian inquired.

"Don't be scared," she said.  "I am a friend.  At least, I'd like to be.  And as a friend, I can help you make your dreams come true."

"How can you do that?"

"Easy, if you become a human, then exploring the land will be simple."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"You can use your father's trident, can't you?"

"Yes, but I'm not allowed to go near it.  I would have to take it and I-"

"He took everything from you.  Wouldn't it be fair if you merely borrowed it for a moment to gain what you've always wanted?  I can help you get it."

Varian thought about this and took her argument into consideration.  Still angered over the loss of his and Rapunzel's collection, he looked at the eel with a fierce look.

"Alright, let's do it."

She smirked.  "Very well."