Demonika: I thought you people would know the drill by now with me and name changes but I can promise you this is my final name change, this name has been rolled out on almost everything I do so get used to this name from now on.

MM cast: *stare*

Demonika: So... it has been a couple of years since I've touched this story but with a good reason! To give it a good kick, a reboot as it were, to make it better than what it was cause looking back at it oh my lord... my how my ideals have changed since then, poor little naive me...

Luchia: What exactly was wrong with it?

Demonika: Some parts of the plot, my way of telling it, where it was headed, I feel like it needs to be changed so I'm giving it the change I think it deserves after all this time. Whilst I have a fair bit of the ground work for the story and a fair part of the later half of the old one that I still really like looking back at it, I feel like the beginning was rushed, not really fleshed out and some of it felt so meh to me, so let's hope this new version is what I hoped and more! ^_^

Kaito: As always, Demonika does not own Mermaid Melody and its characters in a way, shape or form, but does own any OC's who may appear in this story.

Demonika: And with my long blab of me not being satisfied with myself why I want to re-write it, let us begin this familiar but new tale!

Mermaid Melody Season 3: Book 1

Chapter 1: A call from the sea

With the fight with Mikeru and Mikaru over and life seemingly heading back to normal, everyone felt like the book had been closed on their tale. Life was very peaceful, and Kaito had even moved into the Pearl Piari on somewhat of a request. Nikora thought it would be easier for Luchia as she could enjoy his company more often, but for their group it meant he was more nearby. They made a good profit from selling off Kaito's old apartment too, it was in a great location after all. She knew that even with that chapter coming to an end, that there was a new one waiting for them. No matter how much they had grown to love the land, they would all one day need to return to sea, the next chapter of their lives.

And life had truly been very peaceful as they had hoped it would be. No sea demons had prepared to attack them, school life was coming to an end in the next year, it seemed like it couldn't be more perfect for them.

But when you're a denizen of the sea, nothing is ever peaceful forever...

*Ding dong*

"I'll get it!" A voice shouted running down the stair case. It was Luchia. In the year or so that had passed Luchia had grown a little bit taller and had grown her hair out a bit more too, now running down to just above her mid-back now. She was wearing different magenta pajamas now as well. She'd ditched her long sleeved top for a non sleeved vest version in a similar colour, and more mid length baggy trousers. Kaito had also bought her some new slippers with little chibi bunny faces on the front of them and ears poking out, all in a pastel pink and white palette.

She rushed down as fast as she could to get the door, curious as to who would make a call to their place in the middle of the night. When she opened it, she was greeted by a face that seemed so familiar to her yet she was not sure why.

"Yo Luchia, long time no see huh?" the stranger said.

Luchia looked the stranger up and down trying to work out who they were, the stranger frowning in response.

"Luchia, you don't recognise me?"

She took another good look. The stranger was a female with sea blue eyes, and hair of a similar colour in a soft wavy bob with jaggered straight fringing running across the top of her eyes. She was wearing a pretty fluffy light pastel orange coat with a white fur collar, dark coloured leggings and some mid length black boots with wide white X straps on them.

It took her a little while, but Luchia thought she had finally twigged who it was. "Yukari?"

The stranger gave her a massive grin back, the two launching into a hug, both excited to finally see one another after so long.

"How have you been?" Luchia asked excitedly. "But more importantly what are you doing here?"

"Did Nikora not tell you in advance that I was coming? Hold that- I guess she didn't or else you would have recognised me sooner," Yukari snarked back with a cheeky grin.

Luchia pouted. "It's been a little while since I was last home do you think I would have remembered with everything that's happened?"

"I guess not," Yukari replied giggling to herself a little. "Oh right, have you seen-"

"YUKARI!" A loud voice shouted from the top of the stairs. Nikora had fallen asleep in waiting for her to turn up. "You're late." Nikora hadn't exactly changed much herself. As a thank you present for letting Kaito live with them, he'd bought her a similar pair of slippers to Luchia's own but with pastel purple instead. Her outfit otherwise was almost identical to Luchia's except her choice of colour, that being purple of course.

Yukari bowed to her and apologised for being late but she'd gotten a bit lost on the way, the instructions on the map that was sent weren't exactly clear.

She made her way downstairs and gave Yukari a hug as well. "All that matters is you made it here nice and safe. Since Luchia is awake we might as well get along with the discussion, into the kitchen."

"Nikora wait!" Luchia said trying to get her attention as she walked away, she felt rather confused.

Another voice could be heard yawning from the top of the stairs now too. "Luchia, what's going on? First the door rings then I hear excited giggles and then-" Kaito paused when he saw the other girl who was with Luchia.

"Ah, Kaito, this is Yukari, she's a mermaid from my kingdo-"

"Luchia!" Yukari screamed as she covered Luchia's mouth with her hands.

Kaito took a second to get why she did it but then spoke up to comfort her. "Yukari was it? It's perfectly fine for me to know your secret. My name is Kaito, last Panthalassa Prince of the seas and Luchia's boyfriend. Nice to meet you." After getting his memories back despite still being on land, he'd taken up the pride of his role as a prince and greeted people from Luchia's kingdom like they should. He began walking downstairs to meet her.

Yukari was quite shocked for a moment to hear those words but rearranged herself. "Pleasure to meet you," she said holding out a hand for him to shake.

Before he could shake it a roar came from the kitchen. "Are you guys getting your butts in here anytime soon?! We have really important issues to discuss!"

"Coming!" Both girls cried running into the kitchen to calm Nikora down. "Oh and Kaito, you'd better join in with us too, the conversation needs your attention too."

"I'm coming..." he replied in a groggy tone, letting out another yawn, he still wasn't quite fully awake yet.

They all took at seat down at the only table that had the chairs take down and waited whilst Nikora boiled some tea.

"I guess I should explain a little bit more about who I am," Yukari spoke up breaking the silence. "As Luchia said, I'm from her kingdom, one of her more personal servants as it were. The reason why I'm here, is because the kingdom felt it was best to send someone close to Luchia to help explain the current situation we have."

"Is everything alright?" Luchia asked, perking up from her last few words.

"In a way yes, and in many other ways no," Nikora replied for her as she carried the tray of fresh tea over, placing it down in the center of the table. She took her seat and her tea, warming her hands up around it. "It's been 4 years since Luchia was properly back home, the kingdom is wondering when their princess will return to them."

Luchia's face dropped a bit when she heard that. "Has it really been that long since I left?"

"It really has yes," Yukari replied taking over. "Sadly, as much as you'd like to think you could stay on land forever, that isn't the case. You are a princess with duties that need to be fulfilled, one of which is being there for your people. As we said, it's been 4 years without you."

Luchia was preparing herself for the worst. Before Nikora could tell her, Luchia spoke up. "May I take a guess?"

Everyone remained silent, Luchia taking that as her sign. "I have to return don't I?" The three looked quite shocked to hear it from Luchia's mouth. She out of all of them loved land the most and would usually be the least willing to return, so to hear her say it was quite the shock.

"Spot on," Nikora said. "It's high time all of us returned. You, Hanon, Rina, Hippo and me have been here far too long. And as said, you 3 are princesses, as much as I know you would all love to remain here, we are all bound to the sea it's where we belong, it's where we must return to."

Luchia just looked down at the table, refusing to look up at anyone upon hearing those words. When she spoke, her voice cracked up a bit. "It would be foolish of me to think I could stay here forever. It's as you said, I'm a princess after all, I can't leave my kingdom alone. But at the same time..." Luchia was unable to continue what she wanted to say, the words refused to come out, her voice breaking up as tears begun to fall onto the table.

Kaito wrapped his arms around her and dragged her over to him, letting her rest against him and sob.

"When exactly do you have to return then?" Kaito asked, he was deeply worried for how Luchia felt but they had to carry on the conversation.

"One week," Yukari replied, she didn't sound too happy either. "Enough time to notify the school of your leaving the area, and enough time for everyone to say goodbye to this world."

"There is one more thing Kaito," Nikora said grabbing his attention. "Even though you were raised up here and lived most of your life here, you are a prince to your clan. With everything else happening, we think it's best you return as well."

If he was shocked about hearing them having to return the last thing he expected was this. It put him into pure silence, even Luchia had stopped crying to looked up at his face. Nikora noticed he didn't look too good after hearing that.

"It's not as if we're asking you to be dropped off into the ocean somewhere and go to your clan. You see, there's one last thing that needs to be done when we return. Luchia is to be wed-"

"Seriously?!" Luchia shouted out in disapproval.

"Would both of you just allow me to go one single piece of information without having to stop?!" Nikora screamed back angrily. Luchia retreated a little at this, Kaito slumped back into his seat a bit trying to relax, and Yukari had her face in the palms of her hands. She knew this wasn't going to be easy to get through. "The suggestion at hand is if all of us have to return, and Luchia has to be wed, I see no reason why she shouldn't get married to Kaito, he is a prince after all."

Silence hung in the air for a few seconds whilst they took the time to process Nikora's words, both blushing after realising what had been proposed.

"Don't you think we're both a bit young to be married?" Luchia asked, trying to calm herself down on the inside.

"Not at all," Yukari replied with a smile, deciding it was her turn to say something after being dragged all the way over here. "You had your coming of age when you were 13 and a princess can be wed once she is 15, so it's not young at all really."

"I just have one small question," Kaito said finally finding his voice. "Did you prep all of this in advance hoping we would just go along with it?"

Nikora didn't exactly expect him to say that but thought of a response nonetheless. "Are you trying to imply the thought of getting married is slightly scary?"

Kaito blushed back a bit at her words before raising his voice a bit. "It's not like that at all. I had actually planned to ask Luchia next year when we were more of the age, so that's not the problem at all. My question is did you honestly think this all up without consulting us first on it? And even then, it doesn't feel like we have much of a choice in the matters eitherway."

"Except that's just it," Luchia spoke up. "I'm a princess, and you're a prince. We're both not from land at all, we belong in the ocean. Society will be what it will be and we have to fulfill our duties, even if they do feel a little extreme for the age that we are. But that's just how it is. I wouldn't really expect you to understand how it feels though, you've grown up here, the sea even though it is your life is still quite a mystery to you. I don't like this much either, I don't really want to leave land at all, but if it has to be done as part of my role as a princess, then so be it."

"Luchia..." Kaito was honestly stunned by her words, but he knew she meant every word she said.

Yukari could feel that the two were getting a bit overworked up on the matter, it was a lot to digest and think about in such a short period of time. "I have a suggestion, how about we all go to sleep and think on this more tomorrow when are minds are in the right place?"

"Sounds like a good idea I guess," Nikora replied. "I've said pretty much all there is to say, but yes, thinking more on it tomorrow would be better." She stood up from the table clearing away the tea and washing up the cups in the sink carefully.

"I'm think I'm going to go take a bath," Luchia said, standing up and giving Yukari a hug before she went up. Yukari looked over to Kaito who still looked a little shocked. Before she could say anything, he stood up and said goodnight, heading back upstairs. She sighed and glanced back over to Nikora who had finished washing up, shooting her a bit of a cold glare, and Nikora picked up on that quickly.

"What was with that glare just now?" Nikora asked confused.

"Oh you know," Yukari began to say standing up and pushing the chairs back under the table. "I come all this way to be helpful in our explaining of the situation, and you end up saying almost everything. Was there even a point to me being here?"

"I thought you might have wanted to see a bit more of land as well. Last time you were here was when I briefly showed you it as a child, and let's face it, it's not as if you will be seeing much of it either. I'm honestly going to leave those two tomorrow to think on it all before Monday rolls around. I thought you and me could go do some farewell sightseeing before you have to go back tomorrow night."

Yukari perked up at the thought of seeing a bit more of land and had a smile going from ear to ear. "Sounds great!"

Nikora went off to set up Yukari's room for the night, very slowly passing by the door to Kaito's room. She just hoped he would be okay with all of it in the end.

After half an hour or so, across the hall in the bathroom Luchia was just about finished with her bath when she heard the door begin to open. Assuming that it was Hippo, she did her usual thing of sending a wall of water flying towards the door. She had expected to hear Hippo scream and shout at her for doing it, but she heard no screams of any sort and slowly opened her eyes to find a dripping wet Kaito, looking not too amused by what she'd done.

"Erm- listen I'm sorry for that!" She apologies quickly. "I thought it was going to be Hippo so I acted in self defense!"

Kaito took a deep breath before saying anything. "Hippo isn't even here, he's been gone for over a week now, and does it really matter anyway? You're in your mermaid form when you have a bath anyway, it's not as if anyone is going to see anything."

"I guess..." Luchia replied shyly.

"I did just come here to brush my teeth but since you've soaked me, I guess I have no choice but to take a bath." Kaito took his top off and tossed it to one side of the room. He looked back over to Luchia, noticing that she wasn't intent on moving.

"You can still take a bath whilst I'm in it you know, I don't mind," Luchia said to comfort him for a moment.

Kaito then proceeded to strip down, and for once, Luchia didn't blush at all. She'd seen him naked too many times now to be shocked about it, and it wasn't as if Kaito hadn't seen Luchia naked a few times too. He sat down in the opposite end of the bath to Luchia, who then shifted herself over so that she was sitting almost on top of him.

"So, are you nervous about going back home to your Palace then?" Kaito asked.

"To tell you the truth, a bit. I miss it actually. As they said it has been 4 years since I've been there. Sure I was disobedient to a few people there, but I do miss everyone the more I think about it," Luchia replied, manning up about the situation. "But what about you? I'm more concerned for you than anything else. You've spent all your life here and now you're having to give it all up for me basically."

Kaito grimaced a bit at that and hugged Luchia tightly. "Don'y ever say that it's your fault. I'd do anything for you anyway. Sure it's a complete shocker that I have to return as well, but it's in the best interest that I do. And as long as I'm with you, I'd give up anything." He sat upright and titled her head backwards, bringing her in for a slow and passionate kiss. They broke apart once both deprived of oxygen.

They sat in silence for a good 15 minutes just letting the water wash over them and relax them.

"Well, I'm getting out then, you don't mind waiting whilst I dry off do you?" Luchia asked.

"No it's fine. Go ahead."

Luchia hopped out the bath tub sitting over the edge to dry off her tail, reverting back to her human self in her pajamas's. She looked over to Kaito as if to signal that he could come out as well.

"Just one issue, you soaked all of my clothes. Think you could maybe go find me some fresh clothes as payment?" Kaito said jokingly.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Luchia chuckled. "I'll be right back." She ran into his room and found a plain white t-shirt and a pair of blue boxer shorts. She chucked them into the bathroom and headed off to her room, leaving Kaito to change and go to sleep.

Once she had just settled down, she heard knocking on her door. She just said to enter, surprised that Kaito had visited again.

"It's gone past midnight now, what's wrong?" She asked. She never usually saw him this late.

"It's just- I'm having a few troubles sleeping. You mind if I spend the night with you?" He asked politely.

"We aren't married just yet you know," she joked as she hopped out of bed.

"I know that but can I just sleep with you this one night if it helps me sleep better?" Kaito pleaded.

"You know, Hippo's room is a lot closer to yours than mine, you couldn't just go sleep in there?" She said teasing him.

"Oh come on! Please just let me come sleep with you!" Kaito was no literally at the point of being a god, down on his knees begging at her feet.

"Fine, come on in then," Luchia said waiting for him to stand up. He gave her a massive hug and let her hop back into bed, closing the door behind him. Luchia settled down in her bed facing the wall whilst Kaito slept on the other side, wrapping his hands around her waist. Both quickly fell into a deep sleep and stayed that way for the rest of the night.

When they both woke up the next morning, they found a note on the kitchen table from Nikora. It just explained that she'd taken Yukari out for a day of sightseeing before she returned that evening, and that Yukari says see you in 6 days. Both were reminded of the events of last night, and what was going to happen once those 6 days were up.

"So how do you feel about the whole situation now then?" Luchia asked, hoping that Kaito had mellowed.

"Honestly, I think last night was just shock more than anything else. So we're going to get married, and we're going to be living the sea. But you know what? As long as I'm with you, I feel like everything's going to be fine." He brought her in for a bit of a long hug, both then wondering what they were going to do for the rest of the day.

Eventually, Hanon and Rina joined them both for some breakfast. But the notice Nikora left didn't go unnoticed by Rina.

"Luchia? Why did Nikora leave a note saying she'd taken someone called Yukari sightseeing? Did something happen that we should know about?"

When the conversations were going on last night, Hanon and Rina were out like light bulbs in their room. They had each gone on a date and both felt pretty tired and conked out pretty quickly.

"Oh right," Luchia said with a low voice. "I was going to wait for Nikora to come back later to explain it but I guess I can give you the short of it." She tried to form the words but her mouth refused to say anything for them, so Kaito spoke up on her behalf.

"By Saturday next week, we all have return to the sea."

You could have sworn Rina and Hanon went into deep shock after hearing it. Suddenly, the door opened and Nikora walked into the kitchen. "Sorry that I'm back so soon, the weather turned sour pretty fast so Yukari just decided to go home." She stopped herself from talking when she was Rina and Hanon were there as well.

"Nikora, is it true?" Hanon asked, her voice breaking up in the same way as when Luchia had found out last night.

"Do we, really have to return this time?" Rina asked too, not wanting to say the words.

Nikora let out a sigh but composed herself to speak. "I'm afraid so. I can explain more details in depth in you wish but I'll keep it brief for you two. Luchia is to return to her palace and be wed to Kaito as part of her duties. As a compromise, your Kingdoms have allowed you to stay with her until such a time, but once they are married, you are both expected to return to your own kingdoms and continue your respective duties too. I know it seems extremely sudden and unfair but we've all been away from land for a good 4 years now. It's high time we return."

Hanon actually began tearing up realising something painful. "We have to say goodbye to Nagisa and Masahiro too... don't we?"

Nikora didn't want to say it, she even feared that saying yes would be just as painful as not saying anything. Both of them knew it meant yes. They both said sorry and left the kitchen to return to their rooms for a short while. Luchia was about to rush on up after them until Nikora barred her from moving. "I know you want to go comfort them but it's best just to leave them be for now. They'll need some time to process it all and find their own ways of saying goodbye." Nikora headed off out of the kitchen to strip out of her coat and wandered off somewhere.

Even with the weather being a bit grim, both suited up and decided to head out to go to a cafe. With Hanon and Rina as they were they decided that not even being in the house might be a good idea too.

Demonika: Oh man this 1st chapter was hard to do! It was mainly hard because of trying to set everything up for the rest of the story. That at the night before finishing this I went on a bit of a manga binge and was reminded how slightly different everything is at the end including the short epilogue (which I loved!) so I thought I'd put a warning that some parts of this are a little truer to some things in the manga and that the epilogue is somewhat being taken into account.

Luchia: You are really trying to get into detail on this aren't you?

Demonika: I just want it to be better than what it was. I mean everyone seems to want me to still continue with it, and I will get there one day. When I do, it's gonna be good, I mean sure some things will be different for sure but I am roughly headed for the same conclusion stop point as I was before.

Kaito: So please look forward to it