Chapter 1: (3576 words)

A long time ago, back when pirates roamed the oceans like packs of wolves, and kings and queens ruled over the poorer working class, there was something in the oceans.

The pirates knew this; the fishermen knew this; explorers, sailors, those in the navy, all knew this. But what was it? What could it be? Well, whatever it was, there were rumours that whenever sailors got lost out at sea, they were lured by strange mythical creatures, and once they got too close, they were devoured. Ripped to shreds.

Mermaids.

'What else could it be?' thought an extremely bored prince as he walked down the stairs to the kitchen for breakfast.

Really, he should be heading to the dining table to eat with his parents, the Washingtons, and his brother, Lafayette. He and Laf were adopted by the King and Queen when they found out that they couldn't have children.

Sighing, he snuck into the bustling kitchens. Yes, that's right. Kitchens. There were four. Four! He was used to it. They all were. Mr. Washington had been a prince since he was born, and he married Martha Washington when they were both really young. Lafayette's parents were dukes and duchesses, and he grew up in a large manor. They died when Lafayette was only two, and the Washingtons took him in.

And him? His father was a rich businessman. His mother was dead. His siblings were under his father's custody, in a mansion in one of the edges of the massive coastal city, where docks lined almost the whole coast, though there were some blank areas where the public could enjoy the warm summer afternoons.

He sighed once more.

He was lucky that he was taken in by the Washingtons. It made sense, though. His mother was friends with the Washingtons, and named them his godparents in case anything happened to her, whether his father was alive or not.

Unfortunately, his brothers and sisters weren't so lucky.

His mother had named many different people their godparents, though they were all close so the children wouldn't be separated all that much. Almost all of those had died in the with the same disease that killed his mother, and those that did survive were so traumatised with the deaths that they asked if his father could take the children back.

The Washingtons were the exception. They refused to give him back, since his father had always seemed shady in some inexplicable way.

Luckily, a cure to the spreading disease was found soon after, so his mother was the only victim in his family.

"Prince John?" asked a passing chef. Drat, he was hoping that no one would notice his presence. Honestly, what was he thinking, he was the prince, of course they would realise he was there!

"Yes, hello, Theodosia," he smiled at her once he realised who it was who had spoken. She was one of the best chefs in the castle, and she had always let him sneak some food away to his room. She nodded once she saw how he wanted to be alone.

"Thanks," he rushed and ran to the balcony of his room, though not without taking some croissants with butter on a plate.

He loved his balcony, since it faced the vast ocean.

There was always something about it that attracted him. He felt like it was calling him, to come and search it. He couldn't explain it, and it's happened all his life. For some reason, though, it was stronger than usual.

'Is something happening today?' he pondered as he finished eating his croissant and gazing at the glimmering horizon.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, "Prince John? Are you in there?"

He sighed for the third time in approximately ten minutes and walked from his balcony to the centre of his room, without forgetting to lock the balcony door, so no one would be suspicious. It wasn't that he couldn't go out on the balcony, he just felt like of someone saw him on the balcony, they would know about his weird… attraction to the ocean, and if they knew, they would send him away to an insane camp or something like that, "Yes! Come in!"

The door to his large bedroom opened. His room was decorated with shades of green and blue, mostly because green was his favourite colour and his love of the ocean. The castle tailor walked through, along with his brother.

"Hey, Herc. Lafayette," he greeted with a relieved expression, which quickly turned murderous, "Don't call me that! You freaked me out!"

His two best friends burst out laughing, "Sorry! Sorry!"

He rolled his eyes and sat down on his bed. Those two were the only ones who knew about this strange connection to the ocean, other than the Schuyler Sisters, so he was rightfully worried, "So, why'd you come here?"

"Well, Laurens, we have decided to go out on a date today!" Lafayette squealed. He and Hercules had gotten together four days ago, once they found out about their mutual crushes on each other, though not without a little help from himself and the Washingtons.

"That's great, Laf! So, why'd you come here to tell me?"

"We thought that you might want to go out as well, so Martha and George gave us all permission to leave the castle today," Lafayette explained. The Washingtons were incredibly kind, but were very protective of their children, and they didn't want anything bad to happen to them, so they usually didn't let them leave the castle most of the time, and when they did, he and Lafayette would have to be accompanied by guards at all times, except bathroom breaks, of course. "Also, the Schuylers are coming over for dinner so you should make sure that you're back by then."

He nodded gratefully, "Thanks, Laf! Now, off you go! You should go on your date, and hey! Maybe I'll see you around!"

Lafayette and Hercules nodded, "See you, Laurens!" shouted Hercules over his shoulder, as the two eager teens speed-walked down the corridor.

Laurens chuckled and prepared a bag for his little outing. There wasn't much in it; just a sketchbook, some pencils and an eraser. He would have to bring some food with him, he was going to make the most of his day, and spend it all on the docks looking out at the ocean.

He should also bring a cloak so no one would know who he was, though he would only put it on after he outsmarted and escaped the guards.

"Hey, Theo," he greeted once he had reached the kitchen for the second time that day. He glanced at the clock in the room, and found that it was almost eight in the morning. Perfect! That left the whole day to doing whatever he wanted!

She raised an eyebrow at his hopeful mood, "Hello, Prince John."

He waved a hand at her, "Theo, you can call me Laurens, y'know. You're one of the only people in this castle that I'm friendly with."

Rolling her eyes, she shoved some sandwiches and a flask of water in his bag, though she seemed pleased that she had a friend, "Here, Laurens. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"What do you mean?" he asked nervously, "I don't have to do anything, that's the guards' job!"

She raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the answer, "Don't you lie to me, I know exactly what you do."

He sighed, obviously wanting to break the record for the number of sighs that someone does in a day, "Of course I will, Theo. Thanks for not letting me starve!"

"No problem, Laurens!"

He grinned as he raced down the corridor. 'A friend!' he hardly makes any of them, always wanting to be alone by the ocean. Most would think that he's super shy, or has horrible social skills, but it was completely the opposite. He had such a short temper, that any sign of homophobia would have him punching the person whose mouth had said such a thing. And he always knew what to say in a social situation.

It was just the ocean that was the problem. He was usually thinking about why he had such a connection, and when he wasn't doing that, he was drawing the gorgeous glittering waves.

"Morning Martha, George," he greeted, and he gave each a hug before announcing that he was going out that day.

"Alright, John. Don't forget to come before dinner, and do try not to lose that temper of yours," Martha reminded him in a motherly way. He felt guilty for replacing his own mother with Mrs. Washington, but she was the only mother-figure in his life at that moment, so he tried to not blame himself for doing something that wasn't really his fault.

George just nodded and gave him a pat on the shoulder, "Be safe, son."

Laurens nodded and gave the two one last hug before racing down the corridor again, though this time it was to the entrance of the castle, where a carriage was waiting for him. He could see another one further down the road. 'That must be Laf and Herc's carriage.'

"Good morning. May I have permission to take a ride out to the town?" he asked politely, putting his social skills to good use.

The two guards before him nodded and one of them opened the carriage door, letting the young Prince step inside. He was eighteen by that point, with Lafayette at the same age, though Herc was nineteen, and wasn't afraid to shove it in all of their faces.

Once he was a good fifteen minutes away from the castle, which was up on a mountain about half an hour's carriage ride away from the shore, he decided to make his escape. He was halfway to the shore, and would need to walk the rest of the way, but he didn't mind. That way, he would get to see the town from the perspective of the lower-classes.

He stood up, though secured himself so that he wouldn't go flying if the carriage hit a stone on the road or something like that. Once properly secured, he opened his bag and checked if everything was still there, and seeing that it was, he put on the dark brown cloak. He opened the hatch on the roof and jumped up so that he was standing on top of the carriage.

Checking that the guards hadn't realised yet, he then jumped off, though not before closing the hatch.

"Yes, I did it!" he celebrated, though quietly so that the villagers and townsfolk wouldn't be suspicious. Luckily, no one had noticed him jump off of the carriage. He walked to the docks, taking almost an hour because he liked to stop and see the many little shops around the town, and buying something so that the people who worked there wouldn't starve. Though the Washingtons were wonderful monarchs, there had been many food shortages after the small outbreak of the disease when he was incredibly young, since most of the farmers had died. Therefore meaning that there was a decrease in large balls, though he and his family never starved.

Eventually, he reached the docks, and his urge to approach it doubled. He knew he couldn't though. How would he explain that?

Never mind, he walked to the very edge of one of the docks which didn't have any ships, and breathed in the salty sea air. His urge to jump in lowered slightly, and he sighed in relief. Wow, what was that, the fourth or fifth of the day? He chuckled to himself and took out his drawing equipment, and drew the ocean for what must have been the millionth time in the course of his life.

Unfortunately, a boat stopped on the dock he was on, and on that boat just happened to be the most annoying person that he could think of: Thomas Jefferson. Honestly, he should run away before he exploded from rage.

Thinking that what he thought of previously was a brilliant plan, he ran for it. Sadly, the captain of the ship stopped him, "You, boy? We're do you think you're going?"

"Uhh, home?" Laurens answered.

"Captain Seabury? What is the matter?" questioned the annoying person. He didn't deserve to have his name thought of.

"Duke Jefferson! Err, this young man was just making his way home's all," Captain Seabury bowed pathetically. Jefferson just rolled his eyes.

"Off you go. Shoo!" he mocked. Laurens, though they didn't know that, simply nodded and ran off to another dock, far from the one he was just on. He didn't want to get in a fight and reveal who he was, though his temper almost got the better of him.

He walked along the pier, wanting to go down to the sand so that no one would find him until he would have to go back. He had been drawing for a good few hours, and the sun was burning bright in the sky, signalling that it was midday. Finally, he was at the very edge of the town, where there were almost no docks, since there were so many rocks sticking out of the water. They were all soaked from the waves, though the water had calmed down, and the sun was evaporating most of it.

Laurens strolled peacefully down to the very edge of the sand, where the calmed waves lapped against his ankles, since his feet were being buried by the waves pushing sand on them.

The movement of the water was peaceful, and suddenly, the urge to go in the ocean grew so strong that he couldn't take it anymore. It's not that it hurts, it's more like when you're really hungry, practically starved, and you see food, or if you're really itchy and you're trying to resist. There's no point, really.

Walking back out of the ocean and towards a large rock in the sand, he took off his bag and he hid it behind the stone so that no one would steal it, though it's not like there's anyone there to steal it in the first place.

He was wearing long trousers, but he rolled them up to his knees, and he was wearing a white shirt, though he always undid the top button so that he wouldn't suffocate. He took off his shoes and socks and placed them with his bag. Laurens waded through the water, though not any further than up to his knees; the servant who has to wash clothes would be furious if he got salt in his clothes.

There was a rock that had fallen down so it was flat in the water, and was quite low in the water too, so that the waves could wash over part of it slightly.

Seeing it as a good place to sit down, he climbed on it, though it wasn't that difficult, and he looked out at the ocean.

Feeling the waves hit his leg and the taste of the salty sea air on his lips dulled down the urge. Why was it so strong today? He wasn't sure, but he was quite worried that it would grow so much that he wouldn't be able to resist one day. It worried him immensely. What if they threw him in an insane camp? What if he never got to see Laf, or Herc, or the Schuyler Sisters, or George and Martha again? Even worse, what if George and Martha are the ones that sent him there? That would break him.

Suddenly, he felt a pull, as if his urge to go to the ocean was literally trying to tug him into the ocean.

Looking into the water, he thought he saw a hint of green in the forever murky blue. But the urge was so strong that he was worried what would happen if he stayed, so he stood up and ran off of the rock, back onto land, and all the way to his bag.

He rummaged inside and brought out a small pocket watch that he never actually put in his pocket. It said that it was almost five in the afternoon. Looking up to see where the sun was, he saw that the watch was correct. Drat! How long had he been there staring at the ocean? He should really get going now. Usually, dinner was at eight, but since there would be company that day, dinner would be at seven, and it took quite a while to walk there.

He waited for his legs to dry, and when they did, he rolled his trousers back down. He buttoned the top button of his shirt, and he put on his socks and shoes again, too. Of course, he put on his cloak so no one would see him, and he made his way to his castle.

The carriage he took when he left was just pulling up when he got there, "Oh, good afternoon, guards." He then ran for it, all the way to his room.

Laurens dressed up for the dinner, knowing full well that the Duke Schuyler and his three daughters were rich, almost as rich as the Washingtons, and that their clothes would be very expensive looking, so he had to look good too. Isn't that how it always worked?

He then heard a knock at the door, the servant behind it was telling him that Laf and Herc had arrived, as well as the Schuylers.

Not long afterwards, he heard multiple pairs of feet running up the stairs to his room. "Laurens!" they all greeted after he opened his door and flopped back onto his bed.

He rolled his eyes but hugged all of his friends anyway. "So, what did you do on your date?" he asked Laf and Herc.

He and the Schuyler Sisters sat on his bed while the two in a relationship - well Angelica had an arranged marriage with some guy, he wasn't that fun to be around, so she convinced him to let her go to her family for the summer – stood up and told the story of how they wandered around the town and they went to a bar and drank a bit, though they are both really heavyweight, so it's fine.

After they had finished the story of their date, they all asked him what he had done. He gulped, but tried to let go of his fear, since they already knew about his attraction to the ocean, "I went by carriage, which I snuck out of, and I had a cloak to hide my identity, but, well, since this morning, my… thing with the ocean had been stronger than usual, so I couldn't help but go to the docks and draw, and then Jefferson came by! And…"

He told them what had happened with the water, but left out how he thought he saw something green in the water. It couldn't be anything anyway, right? He could have just seen some seaweed! 'But seaweed is so much darker, the green I saw was a kind of… a shamrock green, just a bit more vibrant than Kelly green (A/N: My friend prides herself on knowing lots of different colours, so I didn't actually have to search this online. Thank you if you're reading this!), so maybe I did see something.'

He looked deep in thought when he finished his story, though his friends just thought that he was feeling overwhelmed with his connection to the ocean. Angelica assured him, "It's okay, Laurens. We're here to help you with resisting the ocean's pull."

"Of course, if you need help, you can just send us a letter with one of the palace hawks," Eliza told him. He nodded at her words and the group had another hug again. Soon, though, there was a knock at the door, and dinner would be starting soon, "Come on, let's go."

(-Line break!-)

Dinner had just finished.

Not much had happened, the two families had spoken about the laws of the country, and especially the town. It had been decided that Mr. Washington was going to go to another town in the small country, and he wouldn't be back until a couple of weeks later. There were some criminals that needed to be dealt with and that was one of the closest towns to the border of another country, where George would try to keep peace with them.

The good thing was that it made it easier for Laurens to sneak out. He knows he really shouldn't but he really wanted to go back to the fallen stone, to see what that green thing could have been. There was a possibility that he really was just imagining it, but he doubted it.

Determined to find out what the green thing was, and with the urge of the ocean helping, Laurens decided to go back the following day.

Anyways, as he stood outside with Lafayette, Mrs. Washington, Herc, and Theodosia, who had come outside as well, he looked to the two retreating carriages, one with the Schuylers, and one with the King. He thought of a getaway plan, and as the remaining family went back inside, he whispered to Theodosia of his plans.

She agreed to help him, and he awaited the following day, where he would possibly find out what that green thing must have been.

A/N: Just for your information, I know that Philip Schuyler had more than just three girls, but I'm just going to pretend for now that he did only have three. Also, here are all of their birthdays:

Alexander Hamilton - 11th January 1757
John Laurens - 28th October 1754
Lafayette - 6th September 1757
Hercules Mulligan - 25th September 1740
Aaron Burr - 6th February 1756
Theodosia Bartow - November 1746

For this story, I'll be making them all the same age, at eighteen, with Theodosia, Angelica and Mulligan at nineteen, to make up for how old they are compared to the others in real life, and since Angelica is older than Eliza and Peggy. Hamilton and Laurens will be the youngest out of all of them, since I feel like their birthdays were recent, other than Peggy who will be seventeen.

So, this chapter, we learn that Laurens was adopted by the Washingtons and all that, and that he is super rebellious, though not many know that, other than the Schuylers and Herc and Laf, and soon to come… Alex!

Anyways, we also know that mermaids exist. Yup, seems pretty important to me!

See you at some point eventually, I guess!

Enjoy!