Colors of the Sea (A DNF Fanfiction)

Chapter 50: My fault...?

TW: Mentions of War, Kidnapping  and Discrimination, Kidnapping

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What an idiot...

It hadn't taken George a long time to realize Dream wasn't following him. When he had turned around he had seen his fin disappear on the side of the shipwreck.

Awesome. Now George had to go follow him and make sure he didn't get eaten or something. Just great. This way they would never catch up with the soon to be soldiers in time.

Groaning in annoyance he swam in the direction in which his siren friend had went, when a hand moved over his mouth. George froze in shock and instinctively started fighting the person, only to discover they were way stronger than him.
George kept screaming for help, despite his sounds being muffled by the hand in hopes that Dream would hear him.

The person dragged him into the shipwreck. They were swimming so fast, George couldn't see where they were going and he definetly wouldn't be able to find his way out. Finally, the person let him go and George turned around in anger when he was met with a pair of sky blue eyes glinting with mischief.
"I'm truly sorry about that", the merman said, despite not sounding sorry at all.

He was wearing a long coat like piece of clothing made out of dark green seaweed bounded by a belt. His hair was a dirty blonde colour and he seemed to be between forty and fifty years old, old enough to be George's dad. His main fin was dark grey and on his back two giant extra fin spread, probably the reason he could swim so fast. They reminded George of wings.

He looked around, only to be met with another pair of eyes, brown this time. The mermaid who owned the eyes had white curly hair reaching her tail and a brown tail. Beside a brown top she was wearing a green seaweed necklace. She was about the same age as the man and smiled warmly at George. He immediatly felt less intimidated by the situation.

"What do you want from me?", he asked. "We could ask you the same thing. Why would you come out here?", the merman asked back.

"My friend went in here, he's... not the brightest. He wanted to explore the shipwreck. I was trying to find him. What are you doing here?" The mermaid and the merman exchanged a look.

"We live here", the mermaid answered. "And we do so uninterruptedly, atleast we did until you and your friend came." "Oh, don't worry about that", George assured. "After I've collected my attachment, you can continue living here in peace. Although... why would you want to live here?"

"Well, you could say we're... outcasts. We're sort of hiding from society, this shared shipwreck is our safe space, where we aren't judged and can just be ourselves, which is why it's so important that this stayes a secret", the blonde man explained.

"Oh, well, we definetly won't be in your way. By the way, have you seen a group of men swimming towards the capital city? We're trying to catch up with them."

"Oh, yes, a group of soldiers passed by a few hours ago. They're resting not far away from here. But if you aren't with them, why would you try to catch up with them? Celebrate that you don't have to go to war!" The mermaid looked at George in confusion.

"Well, that's complicated... do you know what the reason for the war is?", he asked.

The merman looked uncomfortable. "The officials told us a lot of different reasons, but there's a rumor spreading that the second prince has disappeared and the king suspects the sirens might've kidnapped him, while the sirens officially accused us of having kidnapped their heir. Honestly, both accusations sound wrong. The princes are both wild young men, who knows what they may be up to. Although it is kinda strange that they both disappeared at the same time... if the rumor is true."

The mermans words echoed in George's head over and over again. I'm the reason we're at war?!