A Prince, A Curse and One Solution: A Girl
Disclaimer: I do not own H2O Just Add Water
'Out of what seemed like nowhere, three mermen armed with tridents ambushed the lone mermaid. Bella did not stand a chance.' When Bella is captured and taken to an invisible underwater kingdom, she has no idea what is in store for her. What are the mysterious Prince's intentions? What does Bella have to do with the solution of the kingdom's curse?
A/N: Hey Everyone! Lord of the A.U. Fanfiction inspired me to write this fanfiction. They sent me original idea for this story. With a few tweaks and further development, this story was born. Without them, this story would never have been written. This is something I would never have thought of without a prompt - I don't usually write stories this far away from what could have happened in the T.V show. I am happy with it and hope you enjoy reading it also.
IMPORTANT: This story can be read as a stand alone, but if you have read my other story H2O: A Fishy Tale some things and characters will be easier to understand. This story is set between the first Fishy Tale and the Sequel. If you have not read A Fishy Tale, here are some things you should probably know:
-The girls are 28
-At the end of A Fishy Tale, the mermaids, with the help of their husbands and Bella inheriting millions from her deceased Great Aunt, they purchased Mako Island from the council if they promised to keep half the island open for the public. Naturally, the private half included the moon pool. The girls discovered how to mould water and gel it hard into houses...read the story for more detail.
-Bella's son is Jacob (aged 4)
-Cleo has Jennifer (aged 4) and has Andrea (almost 1yr)
-Emma has Eric (aged 3).
-Rikki has identical twin girls, Charlie and Leila (aged 4)
-I initially decided to include Anna [a OC Mermaid from Fishy Tale] has Daniel (aged 2), but I no longer feel like she fits in the story, so she kind of exists here, but doesn't - if you see her name, oh well :P
-EDIT: 17/11/15: I realised that Emma and Rikki should be pregnant during this story in the Fishy Tale 2 timeline (as I had previously mentioned above - I changed that now), but I had been including both of them in dangerous situations during the writing of this story...I had forgotten about this point. Therefore, in this story, they are not pregnant yet (as to avoid rewriting things) :P lol I hope that makes sense.I often realise things about my stories much later on :P
NOTE: Even if there are long breaks between chapter updates of this story and my others, I will never abandon a story without completing it. Never fear, new chapters are always underway. (The problem is that I go to university, work, and balance four ongoing h2o fanfic stories, as well as an original story.
Thanks for reading!
If you have any further questions, feel free to mention them in a review or PM me. Please review! I appreciate them all. I'd like to see what you think about the idea! Now onto the story:
Chapter 1
"No way." Bella whispered in disbelief, "I don't believe it." A tear escaped her eye, trickling down her cheek. "He can't be gone."
"I'm sorry sweetheart," her mother said over the phone. Her own voice shook with emotion. She let her daughter go before she too burst into tears. Bella hung up. She was shaking her head and tears were streaming down her face.
"He just can't be." She whispered again. She crumpled onto the couch. Bella heard a knock on the door. It opened.
"Bella, I was wondering if you and Jake wanted to…" Cleo said as came inside. She took in her distraught friend huddled on the couch. She rushed over and put her arms around the shaking form. "Bella, What happened honey?" she said trying to comfort her.
"D-daddy passed away last night," another wrack of sobs shook her body. She buried her face in Cleo's neck. Cleo didn't know what to say. She knew how close Bella was with her father. Cleo wasn't aware that Bella's father had been sick, he was only in his late fifties – what had he died of? When Bella was in a better state of mind she would ask how– she thought it would be insensitive to ask now.
"I'm so sorry." Cleo said in sympathy. Why is this kind of comforting so hard? What else do you say? Twenty minutes later the person they had been awaiting walked through the door. Will took in his wife's red eyes and rushed to be at her side. Cleo untangled herself and left the comforting to Will, going into Jacob's room. The pre-schooler was just waking up from his slumber.
"Hi Jake, do you want to come swimming with Jennifer?" Cleo asked him.
The four year old nodded enthusiastically. "Is Mummy coming?" he asked politely.
"She's upset at the moment, Jake. But you can ask her." Cleo held his hand as they walked back into the living room.
"Mummy, can you come swimming with me and Auntie Cleo and Jenny?" Jacob asked. When his mother didn't respond he added, "Please?"
"I don't think…" Will began. He was interrupted by Bella.
"Why not!" She exclaimed, "Meet me down at the moon pool." A grin spread across Jacob's face. It faded as quickly as it came.
"Why are you crying Mummy?" he frowned.
"Grandpa passed away," Will said softly. Confusion was all over the little boy's face.
"He has gone away, Jakey" Bella said with watery eyes.
"Where to? Can you not just visit him?"
Why was death such a hard concept to explain to a child?
"Somewhere far away. We cannot go there for many years," Bella said.
"Why?" Jake began again but Cleo interrupted.
"Come on Jake, let's go to the moon pool." With this distraction, his mother was rescued.
"Will you be okay?" Will asked her.
"Yeah, I just need a long swim." Bella said. She stood on her tip toes and kissed him lovingly. "See you soon," With a smile she left the house.
Jacob, Rikki, her twin girls, Charlie and Leila, Cleo and her daughter, Jennifer were waiting for Bella.
"Let's go!"
After about half an hour of swimming, the four year olds became tired. Bella decided to continue swimming by herself while Rikki and Cleo took the kids back to their Mako Island Village. Now that no one else was around – specifically her son, she let all her grief out through swimming. With a cry of anguish she launched herself into turbo speed not caring where she went. She did not know how far she had swum or how long she had been gone for. She noticed she was very deep. She was all cried out. Cameron Hartley would always live on in her heart. With this she swam quickly to the surface – it took a while. She gasped for air – she had not realised her need while under the water. The half-moon was high in the sky. She must have been swimming for hours. She dove back under the water. Her mer-family would be wondering where she was. Her skin prickled; it felt like she was being watched.
OoOoO
"She will do quite nicely. Yes. Very well indeed." The merman said to himself before swimming away.
OoOoO
Out of what seemed like nowhere, three mermen armed with tridents ambushed the lone mermaid. She did not stand a chance. Each merman touched their tridents to each other's quickly creating an electric force field. Why the water itself did not become electrified was beyond Bella. It was futile. What on earth was going on? They swam forward taking her with them. The water in the distance, closer to the sea floor, shimmered. Suddenly, a kingdom appeared from nowhere. The first thing that grabbed her attention was a large glittering castle in the centre of what looked to be a city. It was made of a clear material. It dawned on her; it was made with gelled water – just like her own house back on Mako. Victorian style houses surrounded it. They were also made of water. Over the castle was a large bubble, reminiscent of a snow globe. It was a strange sensation when they passed through the bubble- it was like that was some resistance from it to let them through. A wave of sounds bombarded Bella's ears. How had she not noticed it when they entered the city? Mermen and mermaids were swimming around the streets chatting and going about their daily business. Bella marvelled at the stalls in the Bazaar – they were stacked stories high but opened onto the street because the mers just swam up to their doors. It certainly solved space problems. The castle was approaching. She was being taken inside and straight to the throne room. She noticed that the castle's architecture was like a Gothic Cathedral. Why there was a red carpet she didn't know – after all no mermaids walked. On the large throne at the end of the room a merman sat. His red tail had flecks of orange and gold scales and a band of gold encircled his head, contrasting brightly to his jet black hair. When the mermen with the tridents bowed deeply to him, I knew who he was – royalty.
"Dismissed." The merman said. The electric fence disappeared – I was free to move. "Now, who do we have here?" he asked with a smirk. She gasped as she realised – he had spoken. Underwater. She released her breath and took another. She was breathing clearly but she was in the water –she was swimming! The merman laughed at her expense. "It's called magic."
"But we don't usually breathe underwater do we?" she asked.
"No. As I said it is magic. Inside the shelter you came through, the barrier allows any mer here to breathe as if on the surface. This allows mers to establish kingdoms like this one. A civilised mermaid would know that." He said snidely. Bella was coming to intensely dislike this man.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Why do you want to know?"
"I can ask whatever I please," there was a dangerous fire behind his eyes. "That is no way to address the future king of Arkaan. Who are you?"
"I don't even know who you are." Bella replied.
"My humblest apologies," he said mockingly, "I am Prince Azure, heir to the throne of Arkaan. Now, I ask again, what is your name?" she could tell beneath the joking façade, he was becoming very angry. She decided it would be unwise to anger him further.
"Bella." She replied.
"Bella." He repeated, rolling the name around on his lips. "A good name."
"Thanks for your approval, I guess," she muttered. Azure ignored this.
"And where do you hail from? I think we have established you do not belong to a kingdom...so which pod?"
"Pod?"
"Oh no, you're a hurmaid!" he laughed.
"A who-what?" she was sick of being laughed at.
"A half-blood! You're half human! Which pod does your mother or father come from?"
"I'm…my parents are both human…" Bella responded confused.
"A Morphe-maid! When did you change?"
"When I was nine…"
"And how old are you now?"
Bella did not want to answer but she had a feeling that this Prince was much colder than what he was letting on. His blue eyes were piercing and cold, a cruelty underlying them they could not be explained.
"I'm 28. Why does that matter?"
"You are of child-bearing age."
"And why on earth would that concern you?" she exclaimed.
"I mean to take you as my wife." He said bluntly.
A/N: Review! Thanks for reading!