The stage was bustling with people as it always did, though no audience was there to view their performance. Despite this they played on, each focusing on their individual piece; adding to the theatre's lively atmosphere. Various merfolk, octopi, turtles and fish moved about as they cleaned and practiced for their upcoming concert. One of these merfolk, was a young merman freshly 16. His dark blue hair pulled back into a bun as he scrubbed one of the large clams in the center of the stage.

"In the mysterious fathoms below," He sang happily, cleaning some muck off. His name was Skye, and like his kingdom, he enjoyed music— especially singing. In a kingdom where everyone enjoyed and partook in music, only the most gifted were the ones chosen to perform for the palace. With so many competing for something that they all enjoyed either way, Skye never bothered to audition for such things. He was content to work the stage to prepare for the performances. Sometimes he performed with, or for, his coworkers. The princesses enjoyed his flute when they were stressed during rehearsals on occasion.

"Hey, isn't that a song from the humans?" His neighbor asked, the mermaid only just beginning to polish her clam.

Skye grinned and nodded to her. Though it was frowned by many to interact with the human world, especially since it could land you into hot water with the king, he didn't mind talking to her about it. Yin had been kind to him since they were guppies and was one of his preferred coworkers.

"You're correct! I heard it from a passing ship the other night and it's been stuck in my head since," he shared happily. He handed his dirty rag to a nearby octopus and thanked him for the polish he was given in exchange. Beginning to polish the clam, he continued, "I don't where they originate from, but they sung of King Triton with high regard!"

"They must be from the kingdom near ours, they're the only ones I heard call our king by his name. The visitors still think that his father is in charge," She added in. She paused her work so that she could tie her blonde hair back into a high ponytail.

"They shouldn't be speaking of our people, let alone our king, at all," A voice snapped.

Skye and Yin turned their heads towards the intruder of their conversation. While everyone was entitled to their personal views and was normally more than welcome to join their many conversations, this mermaid… wasn't, as nicely as they could say, the kindest. He'd like to think it was only because of the pressure she placed on herself, but she acted this way since they were younger before she was even chosen.

"They weren't speaking ill of us at all, Sirena," Skye responded, "It was praises of his wisdom and might."

"You're a disgrace, truly," She sighed, seeming bored of the confrontation she created. "It's understandable I suppose. Your lack of tune would be admired by them as a wondrous artist. You can sing their songs, but cannot sing ours properly, hmm?" Her ice blue eyes cutting into him.

Giggles followed as Nixie, Sirena's friend he presumed from how often they were together, listened in. Skye felt his face becoming as red as the clam he polished, refusing to look up at her. If Hades appeared before him to offer a deal for his soul, he'd offer it to him for free- he'd probably thank him honestly.

"It's good that an actual artist like me is singing the solo for tonight's performance rather than a mediocre merfolk like you," Sirena continued.

Skye bit back bitterly, "If we're lucky, you'll sing so low that we won't have to hear you," as he scrubbed harder than necessary.

He paused at the sudden quiet in the room. Skye looked up from his work to see everyone else silent, most looking over while some stared at the work frozen, but all listening. Sirena's shocked expression soon morphed into a harsh glare,

"What was that, bottom feeder?"

Skye shrunk under everyone's gazes, his bravery dwindling each second.

"Uh-"

"Is there a problem here?" A deep voice asked, their eyes swinging to the older merman approaching them. "Because I don't see anyone doing their prep work, do you want Sebastian to explode?" He inquired, stopping by the pair. "That crab won't settle for anything less than perfection and neither should any of you, got it guppies?"

A chorus of responded as the majority went back to their work and practices. Skye, Sirena and their supervisor, Dominic stayed in place. Yin had returned to polishing but her green eyes kept glancing at the trio every so often.

"Are you taking up cleaning, Sirena? Or are you going back to practice?" Dominic asked, causing the mermaid to huff and swim back to her singing partners. The merman sighed before looking back at Skye. Skye's throat tightened at the attention and fumbled for his polish so that he could get back to work.

"Be careful, Skye. She's not one to let go of grudges," His boss continued before swimming off to check the others' work.

Skye settled for humming as he went back to polishing his clam until it shined brighter than his orange tail. Reaching down he scooped up a bucket and scrubber, and waved goodbye to Yin as he swam outside. All he had to do was scrape his share of the barnacles off the rocks near the entrance and he'd be good for the day. He went about his work calmly, easily scraping the barnacles down into his bucket. Maybe he'd do some extra since he didn't have any other plans for the day. Skye began to swim towards the garden before tensing at the giggles that surrounded him. Nixie and Sirena coming into view, thankfully Sirena's brother wasn't with them. Skye relaxed somewhat that the bigger merman wasn't there, but he couldn't let his guard down with Sirena.

"Let's talk, bottom-feeder," Sirena demanded swimming up to him.

If anyone asked, Skye's going to say his body had a nervous twitch. But before Sirena could say anymore, Skye threw his arms out- tossing all the barnacles and their gunk over the duo.

Dropping the bucket, he flew forward, laughing loudly at his action and fear of it's consequence. A shriek came from behind, and continued towards the Undersea Valley. He made a few sharp turns before dropping into a geyser that skyrocketed him towards the edge of the valley. Without a beat, Skye dropped himself directly under the cave opening where the geyser shot him through into a patch of seaweed. Sinking as far into the sand as he could, he quickly pulled some of the dead seaweed over his tail to hide it's vibrance. Despite as much as he'd like to watch the opening for his pursuers, Skye bowed his head so that he could blend better with the seaweed. Yelling was heard from above for a moment before silence. Skye sat, silently terrified that he'd look up and see Sirena's grin above him. Eventually, he looked up and sighed in relief to see no merfolk above him.

"Are you playing hide and seek or something?" A voice asked lowly.

Skye felt himself die a little before turning his head. His eyes grew as he took in the leathery face with one white and one yellow eyes.

An eel Skye felt himself rise and move forward

There's an eel His eyes never left the creature beside him

An e- His thoughts were cut off as he ran straight into a rock wall. The last thing he saw was a pair of heterochromia eyes looking down at him.