So I was reading a whole bunch of Hans Christian Anderson and playing some Mother 3 and I realized "holy crap I know just what to combine!"

So here is a story about the little merman who wanted to gain a soul.

DISCLAIMER1: I own nothing, but Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid is pretty much Public Domain.

DISCLAIMER2: This is Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid, not your kawaii desu Disney Little Mermaid. There will be Religion. It will be Christian. There will be creepy scenes. They will involve mutilation and pain. This is not your politically correct little children's fairy tale, nosiree.

You have been warned, but come flame me anyway, I love hearing you guys rage about "ONOZ a religious thing wahhhh!"

So READ ON!

Once Upon A Time, like all stories begin, there was a young child who was very much different than an ordinary child. This little boy lived under the sea. Mermaids and mermen were rare creatures that loved to frolic under the waters, and they lived very long lives. Most mermen lived up to two or three hundred years old! This merman was only a little boy, however; little Lucas was not even old enough to swim to the top of the waters, where human fishermen dwelt who would catch little mermen and gut them like fish. His father, Flint, would constantly warn against going to the surface of the ocean; Lucas would die if he was too young to handle meeting a human.

"Humans are nasty, ugly, mean creatures," Flint and Claus, Lucas' twin brother, would tell Lucas, "They only care about devouring the creatures of the sea. Stay away from them!"

Lucas wondered if his family was telling the truth. He didn't want to believe it, because his mother, Hinawa, told him something different about humans. "Humans are creatures of passion and emotion. Humans are such special creatures."

"Why is that, Mother?" Lucas would ask.

"Humans are immortal, my son."

Lucas stifled a giggle with his two little hands. "Mother, that can't be true. Humans only live past a few years. They're lucky if they become a hundred years old. They can't be immortal."

"But they are. You see, while we mermaids live much longer than humans, when we die, we turn into a wisp of sea foam, but humans live forever in a different world, where the Creator of the world lives."

Lucas stared with wide eyes. "Humans get to do something so amazing? But why?"

"The Creator chose them to be special creatures that could meet with Him after they pass on. Just like we rise to the surface and look at the land, so they rise past the clouds to live with Him. That's why they can fall in love with each other and hold emotions that we simply cannot comprehend."

Lucas was amazed. He thought his mother cared for him and they possessed the same feelings that humans had, but Hinawa told him that things were different. Whatever they felt, humans felt it millions of times stronger. While humans felt sadness and grief much more heavily than mermaids, they also possessed love and kindness in such magnitudes that mere mermaids could simply not comprehend. The young boy swam around his mother as she sat on her rock, telling her stories, and he smiled. "Humans really are amazing, aren't they, Mother?"

Hinawa smiled at Lucas' exuberance. "They are the most wonderful things on this planet, my son. I couldn't wait until I was old enough to swim to the surface."

"I only need to be fifteen, right? Oh, I cannot wait to see the surface. Is it true that there is land that we cannot swim in and only humans walk on? Is it true, Mother?"

"It is true. There are trees and rocks and mountains that you can see on the land, but you cannot walk on it, for you do not have the limbs that humans have, which are called 'legs'."

For a long while after his mother's story, Lucas wished he could have legs and be a human and live forever with an immortal soul. He once confided in his brother and told Claus his dream, but Claus would have none of it.

"You can't be human. There's no point in trying. If we cannot live forever like humans, then let us frolic as long as we can before we turn into foam. That is the best thing we can do, don't you agree?"

Lucas didn't want to believe that he should just give up when he could live with the Creator of the world, but he also didn't want to be mean to his brother and tell him that he was wrong. So he lived and played with his brother until their fifteenth birthday, which they shared on the same day. Claus wanted to celebrate his birthday under the water, but little Lucas pleaded with his brother and asked him to swim to the surface with him. "You will never give up, will you, Lucas? Alright, let us swim to the surface and see if we can spot a sailing ship. And then let us be rid of such fanciful thoughts as gaining a soul as immortal as a human!"

The two were about to shoot for the surface, but they were stopped by their mother, who approached them. "Before you go, my darling children, take these along." Hinawa approached with oysters in tow. She attached them each to the children's tails, and the boys recoiled.

"Mother! You needn't brand us like this! We can find our way home!" Claus said angrily.

Lucas sniffled, but neither mermen nor mermaids could shed tears, no matter how much pain they went through. "It hurts so, Mother."

"You are my precious sons," Hinawa said, hugging her sons close to her, "and I love you both so much. Please wear them and show them with pride that you are my sons."

Claus didn't like it, but he turned to Lucas, who nodded at his brother. "We will wear them. Come, Lucas. Let us see the surface." Lucas smiled brightly and nodded at his brother. Together, holding hands, the two swam furiously to the top in a race to see who could get there first. Claus won, of course, but Lucas was very close behind.

The air was beautiful and the water was like a glassy pearl. They were far enough out that they could only barely see a few bits of land in the distance. Claus found the entire sight very boring, and mentioned so with a frown. "I like the sea better. It is so much better underwater where I can swim. If I could swim in this air like I do in the sea, I would think it much nicer."

But Lucas did not agree with Claus. He thought that the surface was the greatest thing in the world. Humans could not live in the sea, however, and neither could mermaids live in the air and on land. It really was not fair. He saw the little bit of land so far out in the distance, and he yearned for it as if he had lived there his whole life. He was about to move for the land, but Claus grasped his wrist. "I'm bored, Brother. Let's swim to the bottom and meet with Mother and Father again."

But Lucas, for the first time in his life, moved away from Claus, and moved out of his brother's grasp. "I want to see the land, Brother," Lucas said softly, "Do you want to come with me?"

Claus made a face and looked away. "I don't want to. I'm going home. Come with me, Brother." But Lucas did not follow. He looked thoughtful and wanted to see more, and so, without Claus, the young merman swam off towards the land. "Be home for dinner, at least, you human lover!" Claus then blew a raspberry and dove into the water.

Lucas would not make it back for dinner, because he had found a ship as night fell, and trailed it as it moved away from the land. He so wanted to see the humans and watch them move about on deck. Some of them were not pretty, but some were very nice looking. Many of them were men, but he saw that there was a girl on board as well. Girls, like mermaids, were much different from boys and mermen, and Lucas wanted to see her. He swam close to the windows and waited for the waves to push him up so he could see into the windows. His eyes widened when he saw what was inside.

There was a girl, dressed in a short dress and wearing jewelry like his mother's tales of humans. Her hair was fiery red and her eyes were expressively blue, much like the sea. Fire and Water, what a perfect combination! Lucas wished he knew more about her, and so he stayed near the ship and listened to everything that was said.

Her name was Kumatora, a princess of the shore lands that Lucas did not swim to. She did not have long hair like the mermaids back at home did, nor did she wear a long, pretty dress like the girls mother spoke to him about did. Kumatora was different and special. The more Lucas thought about this princess, the faster his heart beat in his chest. Kumatora… Kumatora… Kumatora… the beautiful princess… He was becoming so fond of her, that he couldn't bear to think of anything but her. It was even her birthday; she was sixteen years old. "Only a year older than I!" Lucas told himself as he trembled with delight. Oh, if only he were a human! If only he could win the heart of the beautiful princess! If only he could love her and she him the way humans do and live immortally with the Creator of the world!

Lucas suddenly heard a crack that frightened his tiny self. He looked up and saw that there was a storm brewing. He remembered sometimes there were horrible things that would happen under the water from the swirling winds above in the sky. It was the storm that was making the waves so large and the ship get tossed so mightily! The ship cracked under the pressure, and the masts were snapped as if they were nothing more than reeds. Lucas dove into the water to avoid being crushed by the beams, and looked around in the dark sea. It was so dark that he could hardly see a thing. He had to wait until the lightning struck again and he could see the poor ship sinking into the sea. The little merman gave a horrible cry when he saw Kumatora sinking into the water. He swam to meet her, and he had a great desire to take her home with him. But alas, humans would drown in the sea, and Lucas wanted to make sure that Kumatora never died, he loved her so. When he came upon her, her eyes were closed and Lucas feared for a moment she might already have drowned, but he took her and dragged her up out of the sea, where he slowly brought her to shore.

The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon when Lucas brought Kumatora to shore. He laid her on the land, but before he moved to dart back into the sea where it was safe, he looked once at her soft, sleeping face, and before he knew what he was doing, he kissed her on the forehead. She smelled of the sea, which she had just come out of, and Lucas trembled. Oh, if only she could live with him or he with her! How he loved her already! There was a sound of a twig snapping, and Lucas rushed away suddenly. He hid among the foam when he heard someone approach. A young man, no older than he or Kumatora, came forward and gasped when he saw the princess on the shore. Lucas watched as the young man called for his family, and soon the princess was safe among creatures like her. She awoke and looked up at the child and his family, and smiled at them when they brought further onto land. Lucas was incredibly downhearted and sad that Kumatora would never know he saved her, but he could not shed tears. Slowly, dejectedly, he swam home, crying tearlessly into the clear sea.