Colors of the Sea (A DNF Fanfiction)

Chapter 72: Revelation

I know I'm late and I'm really sorry. My phone broke and I had to get a new one 🫠

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The next day George was woken up by a lot of movement.
The flow the others were creating in front of his tent blew some sand inside, right into George's nose and ears.

He shot up, complaining loudly about irresponsible mermen and started cleaning his nose and ears. When he was done, he realized nobody had answered his  complains.

Deciding he would go take out his anger on whoever was outside, he left his tent, obly to find the others creating a huge crowd on the opening in front of him.

Punz was swimming a little closer to the surface than the rest, symbolizing that he was going to speak, surely to make an announcement.

He cleared his throat, effectively gaining everyone's attention. "As you have probably already heard - or not - your teammate Dream has been revealed."

George inhaled sharply and looked around until his eyes found Wilbur's. To his surprise, Wilbur looked just as confused as he was. George turned towards Punz again.

Could he mean...? No, impossible. Nobody knows... right?

Punz took a deep breath. "He's a siren."

Loud murmuring errupted in the crowd, the mermen were confused and shocked. So was George. How could he know? Did Wilbur tell anyone?

Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Wilbur. "It wasn't me, I swear", he whispered. "Someone must have eavesdropped on our conversation." No matter how honest Wilbur seemed, George couldn't trust his words.

"Have you seen Dream this morning?" That question threw the blue-tailed merman off guard. "No...", he muttered, horrified at the realization.

"Sadly, he escaped when I tried to catch him." Punz cleared his throat again, uncomfortable with having to admit his failure. "We believe he was spying on our military for the king. If you have any informations about him or other sirens hiding among the merfolk, please speak up now or come see me later."

Silence.

Helpless anger flooded through George, all fights between him and the siren were forgotten. Spying? He was just trying to get home! Does every being that is not of your own species or race has to be an enemy?

It was a small comfort that Dream had atleast managed to escape. But now he was somewhere out there, all alone! There was no way that stupid funny adorable dork could survive in the open sea on his own!

"Please come with me, George." "What?" George turned around and realized everyone was looking at him.

He immediatly put on a fake smile like he had learned to in his lessons in behavior. "I apologize for not paying attention. Would you be so kind to repeat your sentence?"

Wilbur looked at him as if he had just seen him swallow a whole shark alive. George pretended not to see it and kept smiling.

Punz was not smiling. "Please come with me", he repeated, sounding very serious. The mermen, still whispering among eachother, moved aside, creating a little path for George.

Of course they all knew who had joined their group along side Dream and George could feel them eyeing him up and down, looking for any sign he might be a siren, as he made his way to the front where Punz was waiting for him.

When he had almost reached it, he had enough of the others talking behind his back and looking at him with disgust. "Like what you see?", he asked with a smile and posed. "You know, if you have something to say about me, you can say it to my face."

The crowd seemed uncomfortable, until someone yelled: "You're a traitor!" George searched for the guy with his eyes but couldn't spot him.

"Just because Dream fooled me like he fooled all of you", he lied confidently, "I'm not a traitor. So if you want someone to blame, blame yourself."

And with that, he left with Punz. The last thing he saw was Wilbur at the back of the crowd mouthing: "Good luck!"