Welcome dearest readers to Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Wow, that is a moutful. I know, you are probably thinking: what is with all of these new stories? Let me just answer that with the fact that I have no life and I love a challenge. I really, really, love to write different things. So why not a merpeople (to be politically correct) AU? We need more stories about mermaids anyways! What is so bad about that: oh right, because I am in the middle of a thousand different stories. Urg. Okay, so there are seven kingdoms (representing the seven seas) consisting of: Eastern Atlantic, Western Atlantic, Eastern Pacific, Western Pacific, Arctic, Antarctic and Indian. There is going to be a focus on the Atlantics, but I bet you already guessed that seeing the pairings. Now that I am done rambling, please enjoy!
Warnings: Strong language.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.
"Come on!" Alfred called swimming farther up to the surface, with his older brother swimming nervously behind him.
"Are you sure we should be doing this? It is getting late and Dad wanted us for a war meeting," Matthew explained cautiously. The two were the only heirs to the Western Atlantic Sea Kingdom and their father, of course, was the King. That meant they never really had leisure time to wander around the ocean carelessly with meetings and lessons that normal merpeople did not have to attend to. And the times that they did have free time, they had to be escorted by one of the kingdom's guards which usually ended up in a visit to the town for an errand. This was only for protective measures from their father, as they were currently warring with the Eastern Atlantic Sea Kingdom. But today was different. Today was one of the rare days when their father sent them off so they don't annoy him or possibly embarrass him, mostly Alfred, in front of the other royals. "What if we see a hum-human?" he asked choking on the last word in an attempt to stay away from the surface. He has only heard stories about the surface, seeing merpeople were prohibited to go to the surface. But it is not like anyone actually listened to those rules.
Alfred scoffed "nonsense. I've been up to the surface plenty of times that Dad didn't know about, and I've never seen a human." He thought about all of the times he had the warm sun beat down on his golden hair and tanned skin, a sensation the cold murky water could never deliver.
"That's because you had Arthur with you," he deadpanned although he continued to follow his brother's sapphire tail like a trail of bubbles.
Alfred blushed and swam, dazed, in circles. Quickly, he recovered by asking "so?"
"He's very knowledgeable," he explained shielding his eyes from the sun's streaming rays. The two had almost made it to the surface, but had yet to break the waterline.
"Okay, I'll go first and show you how easy it is," Alfred said before bobbing his head above the water and ripples circled around him, practically welcoming him. The hot breeze of June dried his tanned cheeks as he smiled at the golden sun.
Matthew inhaled shakily. "O-okay," he said shakily before breaking the waterline and gaped. The sky was painted from every color from gleaming gold to incandescent indigos with a yellow orb falling slowly among the horizon.
"Isn't it just beautiful?" Alfred said with a sigh gazing innocently at the sky. "Artie said this is called sunset, whatever that means. But he said what follows sunset is even more breathtaking. Miniature lantern like orbs fill the black sky! I've always wanted to see it, but that is past our curfew." The picture engulfed Alfred's mind, desiring to someday see the orbs of light. "When I'm King, I will allow anyone to see the lights!"
Matthew rolled his eyes at his younger brother. Even though he was the older one, he never wanted to be King, perchance. Even from birth, their father chose Alfred as future King. "Always the dreamer, now aren't you?"
"Hey, a merman can dream," he said outstretching his arms in a feeble attempt to touch the sky.
Matthew tugged on Alfred with awareness finally reaching him. "I know this is beautiful and all, but do you mind if I go back under, eh?"
His younger brother chuckled. "You were like me the first time I came above the surface, so naïve."
He pouted with his arms crossed angrily over his bare, wet chest. "Whatever. I am not going to get in trouble for your fascination with the human world!"
"Fine," Alfred agreed foully following his brother's amethyst tail back to their Kingdom. The Kingdom was located many thousands of fathoms below the waterline. A few Kingdoms were found once or twice, but only ruins. The humans kept claiming they found some city called Atlantis, whatever that meant, when it is nothing more than abandoned cities of merpeople.
"And where do you think you two are going?" a cold voice asked. His heavy, seductive accent blatantly belonged to the Eastern Atlantic Sea Kingdom. There were only around five of them, but it still outnumbered the brothers.
The two brothers cringed upon realization they were being hunted, or at least followed. It was a better predicament than a run in with humans. That would not have ended well. There were legends that humans would hold creatures of the sea hostages in clear tanks for enjoyment or eaten, which was utterly cruel.
The two began to swim away as fast as they possibly could. "Come on Mattie, faster!" Alfred cried to the dark ocean below, scared to look up to see if his brother was captured or not.
"Let go of me!" Matthew struggled as he was wrapped around a black net that human fishers used.
The leader of the group held up his hand with a devious smile plastered on his face. "Well, well, what do we have here? Prince Matthew of the Western Atlantic Sea Kingdom."
Tears bloated his eyes as he shouted "I command you to let me out!"
The group threw back their heads and laughed the same intolerable laugh. "Spunky, isn't he?"
"King Francis will have fun with you later," the leader said with a devious smile and hauling him back to the Eastern Atlantic Sea Kingdom's Capitol: Paris.
When the Kingdom was back in sight, Alfred turned around to see the hunters were no longer after him anymore, although Matthew had yet to join him. "Matthew?" he called to the dark ocean in a panic.
Silence. Not even a ripple or bubble in the shadowy sea.
His brother, gone? And worst of all, he was all to blame. "Mattie!"
TBC...?
Author's Notes: I feel like this story is so confusing so I might end up scrapping the idea completely. Urg. It will probably be short, anyways. There's not much to write, it seems all too predictable. Urg. As much as I love writing, creating AU after AU is quite tedious. I might just stick to one story, if I have to. Or not (that is my go to phrase). If you get a chance, please review, I would really appreciate it to know if I should continue or not. Please follow my tumblr betweendreamsandrealityy, with two Ys for updates. Ugh, I have no idea what I am going to type up next. Please, give me suggestions! Until next chapter, if there is one.