The night Ciel was born had been a cold, rainy December evening. He was born happy and healthy to two parents and grew up in a house beside the ocean. As he grew up, he and his parents would go down to the beach and play in the sand or the shallows of the water. His father, Vincent Phantomhive, was the one who brought home the money for the family, as he owned a rather successful fishing company. His mother, Rachel Phantomhive, spent her days with their young son, playing with him and entertaining him.
Soon enough, Ciel grew old enough to start going to the local private school where he began kindergarten.
"Mommy, Miss. Berry read us a story about a mermaid. Can we go out and find mermaids tomorrow?" He asked curiously one Friday when he returned from school.
Rachel smiled to her son, nodding. "Of course we can. I must warn you though- mermaids can be skittish. We might not be able to find one. If we do, we have to be really careful, darling." She replied. It would be heartless to tell him the truth- that such things didn't exist. It would be like telling him the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, or even Santa Claus didn't exist.
Ciel giggled and smiled happily to her, clapping his hands. "Yay! Maybe we can bring some mermaid food with, too! To let them know we're friendly."
"That's a wonderful idea, darling. We'd better figure out what they eat, though," She replied with a nod. "Come on, let's go to Daddy's computer for scientific research."
Ciel giggled and nodded, running with her out of the room to go up the stairs to Vincent's study. She scooped him up and set him on her lap before opening up the browser.
"Now, let's think for a bit. Where do mermaids live?" She asked him with a smile.
"In…in the sea!" Ciel replied with a smile to her, proud of himself.
"Good job, sweetheart. So, we have to find some good seafood. You can decide what you think the mermaids will like." She replied before finding a list of all different types of seafood.
"I think mermaids like sushi. Let's get some sushi from the store, Mommy." Ciel replied with a smile to her.
"I think we have some time before Daddy gets home. We can go right now, if you want." Rachel said to him with a smile.
"Let's go, Mommy!" he replied with a giggle, sliding off her lap and leading her away from the computer and back down the stairs. He excitedly got his raincoat and galoshes on, after noticing how rainy it looked outside.
Rachel pulled on her own coat before grabbing the car keys and walking out with Ciel. She helped him into the car before getting into the front seat. She smiled as she listened to him singing to himself as they drove while playing with the small toys he had in the back seat by his car seat.
Soon enough, they got to the grocery store and she helped her small son out of the car, leading him into the building with her, holding his small hand. Together, they found some sushi, along with seaweed and squid jerky.
"Having seafood tonight?" the clerk asked as he rung everything up for them.
"We're gonna look for mermaids tomorrow!" Ciel replied to him with a smile as he watched his mother pay for the food.
"Really? That sounds like fun. Good luck, kiddo." The clerk said to him with a smile as the little boy took the bag and helped his mother walk back out to the car.
"I hope we find a mermaid, Mommy! That'd be so cool!" Ciel said on the ride home with her, then helping her to get everything ready for dinner when they got back.
When Vincent came home, he looked at the seafood on the countertop and raised an eyebrow to his wife.
"Ciel wants to go hunting for a mermaid tomorrow." She explained to him.
"Searching, Mommy!" Ciel corrected as he did his simple math homework in his workbook.
"Right, of course. Searching for mermaids." She revised with a smile to Vincent.
"Oh, that sounds like fun. Do you mind if I join you?" He asked the boy.
Ciel nodded as he finished his homework. "You can join us, Daddy! We can use the boat!" he replied happily.
"Awesome. It sounds like fun." He replied before moving to help Rachel get things ready for dinner, kissing her cheek gently and lightly ticking her waist, making her giggle and push him away gently.
"Shoo, fly." She laughed to him, keeping close to him happily as they got everything set up and
Ciel giggled and sat at the table with his parents, eating his dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets with them, making the nuggets stomp around on his plate in the pool of honey. "Roar! Grrr! Scary dino!" he exclaimed as he played with his food.
"You show that scary dino who's boss, buddy," Vincent said to him with a smile. "It might get Mommy and bite her wrists."
"Oh, dear, honey save me quickly before it gets me." Rachel said to their son with wide eyes.
Ciel giggled and nodded, eating the nugget happily along with the rest on his plate.
The rest of the night consisted of a bath, then a story before bed. Naturally, Ciel asked for one about mermaids. So, Rachel read him The Little Mermaid and tucked him into the bed.
"Mommy, if Ariel had been a boy, could he still marry the prince? Or would the prince hafta be a lady?" he asked tiredly.
"If Mr. Ariel wanted to marry a prince, he could. It's totally fine, just so long as they love each other." She replied to him with a smile, kissing his forehead.
"Goodnight, Mommy." He said softly to her.
"Goodnight, Ciel. Sleep well."
He nodded and shut his eyes, falling asleep easily all through the night and just dreaming of mermen and mermaids living under the sea and eating dinosaur chicken nuggets with him.
At around noon the next day, they all went out to the dock with their life vests and the seafood from the grocery store, getting into the nice speedboat.
"Mommy, how do I look?" Ciel asked after putting on his small sunglasses.
"You look super cool, baby boy." She replied to him with a thumb up. He giggled and moved to sit next to her in the boat, his life vest already on his small body.
"Daddy, keep the boat quiet so we don't scare the mermaids." Ciel said as they moved away from the dock and out into the deeper part of the ocean.
"You got it, kiddo." Vincent replied, letting the boat idle after a bit as Ciel got some of the food out, taking out some squid jerky and tossing it into the water.
"Mermaids, come on out! We won't hurt you!" he called out to the water as the tossed in some squid jerky and some sushi.
They stayed out until the sun was about to go down.
"Mommy, I saw one, I saw one!" Ciel cheered just as Vincent was about to start up the boat to head back. "I saw its tail! It was really big and pretty with black and red scales on it!"
"Really? Wow, good job, darling. Ready to go back, then?" She asked with a smile, absolutely positive it had just been a large fish of some sort.
"Yeah, we can go back, now. Just let me give the mermaid the rest of the jerky." Ciel replied before tossing the last of the bag into the water and watching it disappear down below the depths of the ocean.
"Say goodbye to the mermaid, sweetheart." Rachel said to him with a smile.
"Bye bye, mermaid! Have fun with the food!" Ciel said with a smile, waving to the water before left in the boat to go home for the night.
About six feet beneath the waves, a young merman watched as the human boy, just a few years younger than him, sped away in the boat, moving to take the squid and eat it contently.
"Sebastian, honey, what are you doing so close to the surface? We've been looking all over for you, darling." He heard his mother say before she swept him into her arms, leading him back to their little dwelling down by the reefs.