Journey to Atlantica: Bruce's Adventure

by tragicbeauty1991

A Finding Nemo/Little Mermaid crossover fic with a little Shrek twist. Bruce the shark must overcome his fish-eating habits and help save Atlantica from an evil merman who wants the throne. I don't own any of it except my OC's Ty and Atalaya. Bruce/OC

Chapter 1: The Journey Begins

Nemo sped past the coral as fast as his fins could carry him, a blur of orange and white against the beautiful rainbow-colored reef. Quickly he rounded a corner near the drop-off where he saw his friends Pearl, Tad, and Sheldon playing, blissfully unaware of the approaching danger. Tad grabbed Nemo's lucky fin and pulled the young clownfish to a stop.

"Whoa! Nemo, slow down! Where ya goin' in such a hurry?"

Nemo struggled to get loose from his friend's grasp. "H-He-he's coming! He's coming," Nemo panted.

"What? Where?" Pearl inked as she twisted around to check the parameters.

"Heeeeere's Brucie!"

The other three turned around and gasped as the great white came at them like a torpedo.

"Swim, Nemo! Swim!" The butterflyfish and his companions watched in horror as the shark drew closer and closer to their friend. "Look out, Nemo! He's right behind you!"

The clownfish rounded another corner and glanced back to see a wall of razor-sharp teeth gleaming in the sunlight just inches from his tail, but when he turned around again, he realized he'd made a grave error – he had mistakenly cornered himself against the hull of a sunken ship.

"Hahaha! I've got you now!"

Nemo backed against the wall and prepared for the inevitable, squinching his eyes shut.

"Hey, Nemo," Bruce leaned in close and tapped him on the shoulder, "you're it!"

"Aww! Man! Again! I've already been 'it' three times today!"

Bruce backed up and flashed a grin, "Sorry mate, but you're the one who wanted to play a game."

"Yeah, but not tag! I always get caught 'causa my bad fin, and then I can never catch up to get anyone else. Besides, you're a whole lot bigger than I am! 'Snot fair," he pouted.

Bruce started to say something but was cut short.

"So, did he get you, Nemo?" Sheldon the seahorse suddenly appeared from behind the shark's dorsal fin. Tad and Pearl were close behind.

"Man, that was some chase!" commented Tad. "Just like a real shark chase!"

Bruce winced as he thought back to the time he'd lost control when he'd first met Marlin and Dory. He vowed to himself he would never let that happen again. Sometimes he wondered if he should even be playing tag with the kids at all…What if by some unlucky chance he happened to get carried away? Or worse, what if he got hungry? He hoped with all his might that his young fish friends would never have to witness "a real shark chase." Bruce shook his the unpleasant thoughts from his mind as a nudge on the fin brought him back to reality.

"Huh? I'm sorry, mate. What was that?"

Tad, looking mildly annoyed repeated his question. "I said, 'So who's it now?' Did Nemo make it to home base or are you still it?"

Bruce gave Nemo a quick wonk before turning back to Tad. "Well, that depends…Are we still usin' the ship as base?"

"The ship? I thought we said the sponge beds were base."

By this time Nemo had caught on and was swimming up to the confused butterflyfish. "We did say they were base."

"Which means…" Bruce flashed Nemo a knowing smile before the young clownfish reached out to tap Tad on the fin.

"You're it!" Nemo yelled.

"You….You tricked me! No fair!" Tad sputtered.

"Yep! And you fell for it! Hahaha!" Nemo sent Bruce a grateful look before speeding off with the butterflyfish hot on his trail and Pearl and Sheldon close behind.

Bruce let out a deep, hearty laugh and shook his head as he watched them disappear behind the ship only to see another familiar orange and white face emerge from the coral to his left.

"Nemo! Nemo! Oh, Nemo, what did I tell you about playing near the drop-off?"

Bruce casually swam over to Marlin, careful not to startle the worried-looking fish. "'Ello, Marlin! What seems to be the problem?"

"Oh! Hello, Bruce," he said flatly. He looked up at the shark calmly, but his eyes betrayed a hint of mistrust that still lingered from their first encounter. It pained the great white to think that he could ever have wanted to harm his friend, and though it hurt him to see that he had not fully regained Marlin's trust, he couldn't really say that he blamed him. "I was just looking for Nemo," said the clownfish. "He said he was going out to play with some of his friends, and I specifically warned him not to leave the park, but when I went to the sponge beds, he wasn't there. Have you seen him?"

Bruce looked down nervously. "Actually, I guess I should apologize. I guess I'm the reason he left the park. Se, they were playing, and…"

"Hi, Dad!"

"Nemo! Where have you been? What did I tell you before you left this morning?"

"You-you said not to leave the park, but…"

"But nothing! Nemo, you know better than to go to the drop-off alone! Remember what happened last time? Nemo, I'm trying to let go a little, but you can't just go to the drop-off without an adult."

"But I-I wasn't alone, Dad. Bruce was there with us!"

"Yeah," Tad laughed, "and you should've seen how fast he was swimming when Bruce started chasing him!"

"He WHAT?" Marlin glared accusingly at the great white.

"Marlin, I-I can explain! It's not what you think! I would never…"

"Nemo, we're going home NOW!"

"But-but Dad!"

"No buts, Nemo!" Marlin turned and began swimming back to the anemone with his son in tow. Nemo glanced back over his shoulder, giving Bruce an apologetic look.

Bruce made no attempt to follow but hung his head sorrowfully as they swam off. In the distance, he could just make out their conversation.

"Nemo, I can't believe you! How could you be so foolish as to play tag with a…a…a bloodthirsty shark!"

The last words, familiar as they were, stung worse than a forest full of jellyfish. Bruce squinched his eyes closed to ward off the tears. He glanced up momentarily to see that the others who had not left yet were becoming increasingly uneasy around him without Nemo to act as mediator. Being left alone with a great white on the verge of tears was somewhat unsettling, and none of them really knew what to say.

Tad was the first to break the silence. "So…heh heh…Who wants to go play on the sponge beds?" he asked a bit too enthusiastically. It was a pitiful excuse for a reason to leave, but the others were quick to agree, saying good-bye to the great white, and leaving him alone to ponder the day's events. He remained there for a few minutes staring after them before sighing and turning back toward his home in the old submarine to help Chum and Anchor prepare for the next FEA meeting.

Upon arriving at the sub, Bruce noticed that something seemed out of place. He couldn't quite put his fin on it, but there was a strange, tense feeling in the water. Whatever it was, he didn't like it. He swam cautiously over to the opening and peered inside. "Anchor? Chum? You in there?"

When he got no answer, he started to turn away. "Maybe they went to pick up Dory," he muttered to himself. He smiled as he thought of the blue tang. Though she was a bit forgetful, she never seemed to hold a grudge against anyone…not even when that someone had been a crazed shark who'd tried to eat her. Come to think of it, maybe her forgetfulness was the reason why she forgave so easily, but Bruce didn't care. It was nice to have at least one friend who trusted him, though perhaps at the price of her safety. Even Anchor and Chum tended to bring up the past sometimes. Though they were usually just joking, it still hurt for him to remember what he'd nearly done. He was always afraid one day it might happen again – afraid he would betray her trust – though he had no intentions of doing so. Still, she was a ray of sunshine in his day.

"Marlin's a lucky li'ul bloke," he thought to himself. Just a few weeks ago, Dory and Marlin had announced their plans to be married. Bruce remembered the day that Dory had come to the FEA meeting and told them all the good news. She'd been so excited that she'd been even more bubbly than usual (if that's even possible), and to tell the truth, the sharks had been a bit worried about her until she finally calmed down enough to actually make sense. Of course, they were all overjoyed to hear the news and took turns congratulating her, but secretly, Bruce had felt a pang of jealousy and sadness. Not that he was jealous of Dory – he loved her, but only as a friend, of course. But he'd never been one to get the girls' attention. Most of the female sharks he met were either put off by his strange habit of befriending what they considered to be an appetizer or else they were scared of the stories they'd heard…terrible stories of another shark who'd carried his same name – a maneater who'd terrorized humans and sharks as well. To his "friends" – if you could call them that – hew as Bruce, to others, he was the dreaded "Jaws." Some were so terrified of him that they dared not even speak his name, but to Bruce there was only one word for the cold-hearted killer.

"Father."

The word felt strange in his mouth, and he spit it out bitterly, as though it were a piece of flotsam, yet there was a hint of longing in his voice, too, which quivered and threatened to shatter at the slightest disturbance.

He broke from his thoughts and swam over to the side of the broken submarine, scraping off some of the algae that had caked the surface over time until it shone like a polished mirror in the afternoon light. He swam back a few feet and looked with disgust at his reflection. He had the same blue-gray skin as his father, the same pointed snout, the same jagged, razor-like teeth that formed a menacing, evil grin even when he tried his best to look friendly, and the same icy blue eyes that glazed over black whenever he lost control.

He looked down shamefully, turning way from the submarine. No wonder everyone swam for cover when they saw him coming. In a way, he despised his father – for giving him his name complete with its bad reputation, for giving him his monstrous appearance and overzealous appetite, but most of all for leaving when he was so young, leaving to terrorize the humans and never coming back…alive…Yet, how could he hate someone he'd never known for more than a few months of his young life? And worse still, how could he miss him so terribly?

A sudden commotion jolted him back to the present, and he realized that he'd been unconsciously swimming toward the anemone where he'd assumed he'd find Chum and Anchor talking to Marlin or Dory. What he did see made him stop dead in his wake. Sharks swarmed around the anemone, circling dangerously close and snapping at the fish, who were scrambling to get away. One especially hungry-looking shark had cornered a bunch of fish beneath a low overhang nearby and was thrashing around violently, trying to stick his jaws in far enough to reach the group, which Bruce immediately recognized as Dory and Nemo's three friends who he had played tag with earlier that day. Chum and Anchor were doing their best to fend off the intruders before someone got hurt – which could possibly send them into a frenzy, too – but weren't having much luck, as they were seriously outnumbered. Without hesitation, Bruce swam into the midst of the fray.

"What's goin' on 'ere?" he boomed over the noise of the battle, sounding every bit as terrifying as his father.

All the sharks froze, any thoughts of catching dinner instantly erased from their minds and replaced by a paralyzing fear. Well, all the sharks except for a certain mako and hammerhead, who immediately swam up to meet their friend.

The hammerhead reached him first. "Bruce, mate! Thank goodness you're 'ere!"

"Yeah," the mako said. "We were worried our fishy friends might end up as someone's main course!" Chum sent an angry glance at the other sharks gathered overhead. Thankfully, the sharks were too shocked by the great white's presence to think over the mako's rather odd comment.

"Where did they all come from?" Bruce asked.

At this point, one of the other sharks, who was obviously the group leader, got up enough courage to speak. "S-South Africa," he whispered.

The three FEA members looked up in surprise.

"You sure came a long way, mate. 'Snot time for the migration yet, ya know." Bruce approached the trembling tiger shark but stopped midway when he realized he was scaring him even worse. "Why'd ya come all the way out 'ere?"

"There…there was an oil spill not far off the coast," he said, glancing in Bruce's general direction but refusing to make direct eye contact. "All the fish started dyin', and it was gettin' so bad ya couldn't hardly breathe! It's been weeks since most of us 'ad anything to eat, and we 'eard the fishin' was good 'ere so…" He trailed off on seeing Bruce's look of worry and disapproval.

Bruce edged closer to the shark and for once in his life tried to look as menacing as possible. Indeed, had he looked in a mirror, he would have seen that he looked very much like his father at the moment. If there was one thing that made Bruce angry, it was someone who dared to threaten his friends.

"You can't fish 'ere." His voice was low and gravelly; his face, cold and unfeeling. He looked around at the other sharks, who immediately drew back. His voice grew louder and more threatening. "If any of you so much as touch one of the fish on this reef – " He suddenly whirled around and snapped his jaws just inches away from the face of the tiger shark, drawing gasps from the crowd. Bruce generally hated violence, and he desperately hoped that he wouldn't be forced to carry out his threat – causing him to go right back to square one in his twelve-step program – but he was prepared to do whatever it took if it meant saving his friends. Hopefully, he thought, his scare tactics would be enough to drive them away.

"But we're starvin'!" one of the other sharks piped up.

Bruce glared at him and for a moment pondered whether he should go ahead and attack, but he realized guiltily that he knew exactly what they were going through. He considered inviting them to join the FEA but decided against it when he realized that it might soften his threat and backfire. There had to be someplace he could find them some food far enough away so that his friends wouldn't be at risk.

"Bruce," the great white looked over his shoulder to see Chum. "They can't stay 'ere. They'll be a bad influence on the F – " One stern look from Bruce mad him stop mid-sentence. "Er, I mean, they'll eat all the fish on our hunting grounds."

Bruce sighed and tried to think of some solution to the problem. Then, suddenly, it dawned on him. "Chum, Anchor, take these blokes over to the 'arbor."

"The harbor?" Anchor looked confused. "The Sydney harbor?"

The humans are always fishing there or chumming the waters…" He paused, thinking of the last time he'd been near chummed water, and shuddered inwardly as he remembered the feeling of becoming the monster he hated so much. "I think you two might be able to handle it better."

"B-but isn't the harbor – er – dangerous?" the tiger shark spoke up again, hesitantly.

Bruce sent him a look that was enough to make even the bravest shark cower. "Not as dangerous as I'll make it for you if you stay 'ere."

The tiger shark swallowed hard and grinned nervously. "Well, um – er – I, uh, guess we should get goin' then…Heh heh…" He scooted away from Bruce. "So, what were your names again? Chum and, um, Anchor, is it? Lead the way!"

"Just over this way, mate. Follow me!" Chum took charge and started off in the direction of Sydney while Anchor remained to pick up the rear and round up any stragglers. He noticed that Bruce had turned and was headed off in the opposite direction.

"Bruce, mate! Where ya goin'?"

"To find someone who can 'elp us get these newcomers back 'ome," he called over his shoulder.

"Where's that?" The hammerhead stared after his friend quizzically.

This time Bruce didn't look back. He merely kept swimming forward, a determined look in his eyes. "Atlantica."

Chapter 2: New Friends and Foes

The journey to Atlantica from the Great Barrier Reef was not an easy task. For one thing, it was nearly half the ocean away. Secondly, Bruce had only a vague idea of where he was going. To him, Atlantica might as well have been a myth. He knew few, if any, other fish or sharks who had actually been there, but he had heard stories of the magnificent white limestone castle, the beautiful abalone shell gates, and the king's pearl garden where the merfolk collected giant pearls from the oceans finest oysters and carved them into statues. It was the merpeople's largest, most prestigious city and served as both the political and intellectual center of the entire ocean world.

Bruce had never met any of the merpeople – few lived as far away from the capital as Australia – and he worried about their reaction upon seeing him. As a general rule, merfolk and sharks tried to avoid one another. It wasn't that they hated one another. They just had a sort of mutual understanding that they would not bother one another built on an uneasy mistrust. However, the current king, a middle-aged merman by the name of Triton, was a just and noble ruler, and Bruce hoped that perhaps he might consider helping him once he understood the situation.

Swimming at top speed and following the currents, Bruce made good time, stopping only to take enough time to grab a quick bite of kelp whenever he got hungry. Occasionally, he would snack on various human debris he found floating in the ocean when he got desperate. It wasn't exactly appetizing, but at least it filled him up. The last thing he wanted to do was to show up at the palace on an empty stomach. Finally, he reached the outer edges of the Caribbean, where he was careful to avoid the usual cruise ship or fishing boat that passed by, but as he neared his destination, he ran into a serious problem. The kelp that he was used to eating ceased to grow here, and there was little garbage to be found here, unlike in the open ocean. He had been travelling for weeks now and had been fortunate enough not to have had a single "fish-attack" along the way, but as the food began to run low, he found it harder and harder to resist the urge to go up to a passing fishing boat to look for scraps or to go hunting himself. It wasn't that hard for him to resist when no other fish were around, but with potential food swimming all around him, it became increasingly difficult for him not to give into his cravings.

"Fish are friends, not food. Fish are friends, not food," he repeated. He had to keep reminding himself again and again. Sometimes the only thing that kept him going was the memory of his friends hiding beneath the overhang from the intruding sharks, so he decided to focus on his goal rather than his stomach. But the hunger was growing into a gnawing, empty pain, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could ignore it.

Finally, famished and worn out, he arrived. And what a sight it was to see! It was all he had ever heard about and more. Nestled in the very center of what he'd heard humans call "The Bermuda Triangle," it was a vast city of shell and precious stones, coral of every hue of the rainbow, and hundreds of merfolk and – FISH.

Mmmm…Lunch.

NO! NO! NO! He did his best to shake off the thought. You didn't come all this way to make a fool of yourself in front of the king.

But you're so hungry! And look! There's food all around you! All you have to do is –

"Shut up!" he yelled. A few passing dolphins looked at him like he was crazy and quickly kept moving. "Arrgh…" Why does this always have to happen at the worst possible time?

Bruce needed to find some kelp, and he needed it fast. Without Chum and Anchor there to help him, he feared what kind of damage he might cause. Maybe if he could just get into the king fast enough, he could leave soon and go searching for something – anything but fish – to eat.

Bruce darted behind a huge boulder and took a minute to shake off the hunger, took a few deep breaths, and prepared himself to meet the legendary king. He was surprised when he saw that he was not alone. A few feet away, a young mermaid – who he judged to be about twelve – with long, fiery red hair and an emerald colored tail was digging through a bag of what appeared to be human items. Curious, he swam closer to see what she was doing. He was just about to ask where she had found the "treasures," as she called them, in hopes of perhaps finding a shipwreck full of items that just might work for a meal when suddenly, a small blue and yellow fish darted out from behind another portion of the rocks just in front of her.

"Hey, Ariel, dontcha think we should be heading back soon? Your father's gonna be really mad if you get home late again, and – uh…A-ariel?" The fish gulped. "Th-th-there's a shark RIGHT BEHIND YOU!"

"Don't be silly, Flounder! Sharks never come this close to – " Her eyes went wide as she turned to face Bruce, who was still staring at her and the small fish with a mixture of curiosity and hunger. "Swim, Flounder! Swim!" The two friends raced away as fast as they could.

"No! Wait! Come back! Please!" The shark's mind told him to chase after them – to catch the terrified fish and end his hunger – but the thought of his friends back home made him stop. It took every ounce of willpower he had to keep from barreling after them, but for the moment, he managed to remain calm, staring after them and feeling suddenly alone as he had on the day he'd played tag with Nemo and his friends. Bruce turned to leave when he noticed that the pair had stopped.

"He's…he's not chasing us…" the mermaid commented.

"Good! Maybe we can make it back alive!"

"But why isn't he chasing us?" she pressed.

"I don't know, and I don't care!"

"He looks…lonely." She started swimming slowly back toward the shark.

"Well, he looks hungry to me! C'mon, Ariel, let's just go! Please?"

"But I wanna know!"

"But-but Ariel! Oooohh!" Flounder grudgingly followed suit, taking care to hide behind his friend as she approached the great white.

"Ummm…uh…Excuse me…Mister Shark?" Bruce looked up, surprised to be addressed by the young mermaid. "Uh…are you okay?" She looked up at him with big, blue eyes that held genuine concern.

Bruce felt rather touched at her seemingly insignificant act of kindness. "Yeah, I'm fine." He decided it was better not to let her know how he was really feeling at the moment. No need to frighten her or her fishy friend unnecessarily.

"If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you chase us?"

"I'm…a vegetarian." He waited for the usual laugh or suspicion, but the girl just stared at him, eyes wide with curiosity rather than fear.

"Really?"

Bruce simply nodded as Flounder, who had been hiding beneath Ariel's hair, stuck his head out. "Of course he's gonna tell you that, Ariel! That's how all the sneaky ones do it. They pretent to be you friend and then – BAM! You wind up as their dinner!"

Ariel turned to look over her shoulder. "Flounder! That was rude! Apologize!"

"No, no. 'S alright, I understand. I get that all the time." He paused for a minute before continuing. "I really am a vegetarian, though…or at least, I try to be," he mumbled.

"Whatta ya mean 'try'?" Flounder asked.

"I'm head of the FEA," Bruce explained.

"FEA?" the mergirl questioned.

"Fish Eaters Anonymous…I 'aven't eaten a fish in close to two months, now," he stated proudly.

"What about…ya know…other stuff…like seals?" Ariel didn't want to offend the shark. She was simply curious.

"Or mermaids!" the blue and yellow fish piped up.

"Flounder!"

"Nope! Nothin' but kelp…well, that and a few pieces of garbage from some old shipwrecks." Bruce laughed, plainly exposing his rows of razor-like teeth.

"Wow! I've never met a vegetarian shark before!"

"Because they don't exist," came a muffled voice from her hair.

"FLOUNDER!" She turned back to Bruce and tried to apologize. "I'm sorry. Flounder's just being a guppy!"

"AM NOT!"

The girl ignored him and continued her conversation. "I'm Ariel. What's your name?"

The shark hesitated, knowing the reaction he'd probably get if he told them the truth. He used to proclaim his name proudly whenever he introduced himself, hoping to come across as friendly, but over the years he'd come to realize that approach usually ended up having the opposite effect. But Bruce was never one to lie, so he lowered his head. "Bruce," he said in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

Naturally, this sent Flounder into a panic. "I told you he was dangerous, Ariel! I told you! Haven't you heard the stories about the maneating shark who terrorized the oceans and killed all those humans a few years ago?"

"Flounder, those are just silly stories made up to scare little kids and guppies like you! They're not true…Are they?" She looked up at him with pleading eyes, not wanting to believe that her new friend could ever have done such a terrible thing.

Bruce dropped his gaze, not wanting to meet her eyes. "They're true, alright," he said softly.

"See! See! I told you they were true! Oh! C'mon, Ariel! Let's go!"

"They're not about me!" Bruce snapped and immediately regretted it when he saw the fear in their eyes. He turned away so they wouldn't see how much it pained him to say the next words. "My F – " It was all he could do to keep the tears back, but he managed to get through it with only a slight quiver in his voice. He took a deep breath. "My Father died that last night he made an attack…I decided then and there I didn't want to be anything like him…'E truly was a heartless killer."

Ariel swam up and put a comforting hand on his left fin. "I'm sorry. I lost my mother when I was little, too."

Bruce didn't say anything, knowing that if he did, his voice would surely break.

Ariel broke the silence. "So, if you're not here to harm anyone, why'd you come to Atlantica?"

"I need to speak with the king," he replied, extremely grateful for the change in topic.

Ariel laughed. "Well, why didn't you say so?" She began swimming away before turning around to motion him on. "C'mon! I'm sure Daddy would be glad to talk to you!"

Bruce looked up incredulously. Had he really been speaking with the princess all this time? "Uh.."

"Well, c'mon! Ya wanna see him or not?" Without another word, the young mermaid turned and sped off toward the castle. Bruce followed obediently, still in shock that he had had such a stroke of luck.

When they reached the palace gates, two mermen guards greeted Ariel and Flounder, but when Bruce approached, they crossed spears.

"Hey, buddy, where do you think you're going?"

"Only those with an appointment can see the king."

Realizing the trouble he was having, Ariel immediately turned back. "It's okay. He's with me."

The guards eyed him suspiciously but finally moved out of the way. "Well, alright. I guess it's okay if you're with the princess. But don't try anything funny."

Bruce knew exactly what they were talking about and looked at them with disgust that he felt certain must have been mutual before swimming silently through the gates and speeding up to meet Ariel and Flounder, who had swum on ahead.

As they drew near the castle, Bruce received a lot of frightened looks and nasty stares, but he was too busy taking in his surroundings to notice. Accustomed to living in an old sunken submarine, he had never seen anything as spectacular as the palace that lay before him. Not even human structures like the Sydney Opera House could compare to this castle. With pillars nearly as wide as he was long and spiral staircases that led to the top several stories high, it was truly a place fit for the king of the ocean. Bruce marveled as they passed shell mosaics of past kings and queens and took note of the great dining hall filled with white limestone tables that were polished 'til they shone like mirrors and which – unfortunately – brought his terrible hunger back to the forefront of his mind, but it was soon forgotten again as they came to a halt before the great throne room of the king.

"Well, here we are!" The mermaid swam up to the base of a great shell-shaped throne made of the same white limestone as the rest of the place and overlaid with mother of pearl where a merman who could only be the legendary King Triton sat speaking with what appeared to be a small crab with a heavy Caribbean accent.

"Daddy," the mergirl said excitedly, "there's someone here who wants to see you."

The king was an impressive sight to behold. He was well-built with rippling abs, broad shoulders, and arms that looked as though they'd been chiseled out of bronze by a master sculptor. His shoulder-length hair was completely white, and he had a thick white beard that came nearly to his waist, giving the impression that he was as old and wise as time itself, but his eyes were kind and had a sparkle to them that betrayed his youth. On his head sat a pointed crown of gold, which matched the thick golden bands that encircled both wrists. His right hand fingered a gigantic, fork-like apparatus that served dually as his scepter and the powerful trident with which he administered justice. Through small in comparison to Bruce, he was much larger than the average merman, and for the first time in his life, Bruce couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated.

The great king looked up from his conversation with the crab, who Bruce thought he'd heard addressed as Sebastian, and took notice of his daughter. Surprised to hear that he had a visitor – he knew of no appointments scheduled – but always eager to speak with his subjects, he answered her in a deep, fatherly tone. "Well, by all means, show him in, my daughter."

Ariel and Flounder – who by now had become somewhat accustomed to the shark's presence and was floating beside his mermaid friend – swam off to the side and motioned for Bruce to proceed. He did so slowly, as if unsure of whether or not he had heard them correctly. The moment he came into the light, the king's grip on his trident tightened and his eyes took on a more serious gleam.

"Ariel, get back!" he warned, aiming the tip of his trident in the shark's direction, believing him to be an intruder rather than the guest he had just invited in.

In a flash, Ariel was by his side, gripping her father's arm tightly. "No, Daddy! It's okay! He just wants to talk to you."

Hesitantly, he lowered the weapon, never taking his eyes off the shark. "On what terms do you wish to speak with me? Are you friend or foe?"

"A friend, Your Majesty," Bruce bowed his head slightly, doing is best to show that his mission was peaceful and hoping that he'd said the right thing. He was unaccustomed to being in the presence of royalty.

"Hmmm…" The king still looked a bit suspicious but was obviously surprised that a shark would address him with such respect. "Very well, then. State your name and purpose. And…" he added somewhat reluctantly, "do forgive me for being a bi quick to jump to conclusions."

Bruce swam in a little closer. "Apology accepted, Your Majesty. I guess you can tell I'm not from around 'ere." The shark's rich Australian accent was quite obvious as he spoke, and he smiled at the irony of it, exposing his teeth and causing Sebastian, who was still sitting wide-eyed on the armrest of the throne, to convulse in fear. Noticing this, he stopped smiling and continued. "I live on the Great Barrier Reef, not far from the Sydney 'arbor. My friends and I are 'aving some trouble, and we were 'oping you could 'elp us…If you're willing to, that is."

The king looked at the great white thoughtfully. "What kind of trouble? Hurricane destruction? Reef damage? Humans?"

Bruce shook his head. "Other sharks, actually. Said they came from South Africa. Apparently, there's been an oil spill. Killed a lot of the fish, it has. Made the water uninhabitable for sharks, too. Said they'd 'eard there were a lot of fish along the coast of Australia, so they decided to move in for awhile."

"And you want your fishing grounds restored?"

"Uh…no, Your Majesty. Ya see..well…" Bruce felt silly telling the sea-king about his eating habits. He'd most certainly think that he was lying if he told the king he was a vegetarian. "I…don't really eat…um…"
It was here that Ariel jumped into the conversation, saving Bruce the embarrassment of explaining. "He's a vegetarian," she said matter-of-factly.

"A shark who doesn't eat fish?" The king raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"No, Your Majesty. Just kelp. It's a…sort of a new thing we're tryin'…I 'aven't 'armed a fish in two months now. Even got a few fishy friends back 'ome. That's the problem with the new sharks, see…They're not, um, converted yet."

"I see." Triton tugged at his beard thoughtfully.

Sebastian, who had yet to say a word since the shark entered the throne room, decided to speak up. "An oil spill is quite a serious matter, Sire."

"Indeed. But I'm not sure there is much to be done. It's nearly impossible to clean up, and I'm afraid the best we can do is to evacuate the area and offer places for refugees. Perhaps…but this is the first I've heard of the spill."

"The shark speaks the truth, Your Majesty. My relatives just returned from a trip to South Africa a few weeks ago."

All eyes shifted to the doorway where a handsome, clean-shaven merman who looked to be about twenty rested against the doorpost. He was slim but heavily muscled with a dark blue tail the color of a midnight sky. His eyes were a dark, deep brown – so dark that unless you looked closely, you would think he had no iris at all – and his copper brown hair fell to his shoulders in gentle waves. Around his neck there was a shark tooth necklace, which made Bruce slightly uncomfortable, and his left arm bore the tattoo of a gleaming trident. He looked strong and confident. There was a somewhat arrogant air about him that made Bruce automatically dislike him, and judging from the look on Ariel's face, he wasn't the only one who felt that way. Triton, on the other hand, looked overjoyed.

"Ah! Titan! Do come in!" The king turned back to Bruce and prepared to make introductions. "This is my soon-to-be son-in-law. He is to marry my eldest daughter, Atalaya."

The young merman nodded in the shark's direction. "Nice to meet you. Name's Titan, but you can call me Ty."

"Bruce," he replied flatly.

Ty's eyebrows shot up in mild surprise, as if the name only vaguely interested him. Sebastian, on the other hand, let his jaw drop and remained speechless. Triton didn't flinch, but looked at the shark with a fatherly gaze that seemed to show recognition.

Ty smirked. "As in the Bruce? I thought the humans killed you in that last little escapade of yours."

"My father," Bruce corrected, his voice revealing a hint of irritation.

Triton stared at Bruce for a long time before he spoke, choosing his words carefully. "I knew your father," he replied quietly.

"Most everyone's 'eard of 'im, Your Majesty. I'm not proud of what he did, and I can't change it. But I can change what society thinks of me and other sharks. That's why I started the FEA – Fish Eaters Anonymous."

"No, no. I mean, I truly knew your father. Grew up with him, actually." The king had a far-off look in his eyes, as though he was remembering his younger years. "He was a good shark, he just…let his instincts get the better of him."

"Sir?" Bruce was on the verge of tears again but refused to weaken in the presence of the king.

Triton sighed, placed his hand on Bruce's shoulder, and looked him dead in the eyes – something few mermen (or any other sea creature, for that matter) – would ever dare to do. "There is a purpose for every creature under the sun – fish, dolphins, merpeople, sharks – even humans. Some are meant to have political leadership, others to bring beauty to the world, still others to keep the population in check…Your father started out as a respectable hunter, but after narrowly escaping from a human contraption, he became bent on revenge, and he started hunting not to satisfy his hunger but because he took pleasure in killing. In the end…it got the best of him." He paused a moment to let the shark take in the information. It was obvious he'd brought up a delicate subject, and he didn't want to cause Bruce – or himself – any more pain than necessary. "I'm glad to see that you have chosen a different path than your father. Though it is a bit…unorthodox…I wish you the best of luck, and I shall do my best to ensure the safety of your friends back on the reef."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," was all the great white could manage, but he meant it with every fiber of his being, and he was glad to have finally found someone who could speak of his father as an individual rather than a "mindless eating machine."

"Sebastian," the king said, turning to the crab, "have the chariots ready at once, and tell the messengers to announce the need for refuges across the ocean for the oil spill victims. I want the fastest seahorses in Atlantica!"

"Yes, Your Majesty." The crab scuttled away obediently on his long, spider-like legs.

"Thank you again, Your Majesty," Bruce said. "You don't know 'ow much all this means to me."

But his words were partially muffled by a deep, rumbling growl from the pit of his stomach, and all at once his hunger came back. He hadn't remembered being this hungry for quite some time. Whenever he was at home, he'd nibbled kelp almost constantly to prevent putting any of his friends in danger. He knew all too well the warning signs of what was bound to happen soon if he didn't get something to eat, and the thought of it scared him. He tried to think about something – anything – other than food, but it just wasn't working. He closed his eyes briefly, temporarily suppressing his thoughts, and began to leave.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty. I – I think I should go now." He swam quickly for the door, knowing every he stayed there was one more second his new friends were in danger, but when he made it to the entrance, his path was blocked by Ty.

"Your Majesty," the young merman called back, "if I may be so bold, perhaps you would consider inviting Bruce to the banquet tonight. I'm sure he would love to join us."

"An excellent idea, young Titan."

Bruce turned around once more so that he was facing the king. "With all due respect, Your Majesty, I appreciate the offer, but I really don't think I should – "

"Nonsense! Why, having you here, it's almost like – like back when your father and I – but never mind."

Once the king had made up his mind, there was no arguing, and Bruce couldn't help but feel guilty if he left now after hearing Triton speak so fondly of his father again. He glanced over at Ty, whose devilish smirk confirmed the shark's earlier suspicions that he was not to be trusted. He didn't know what Ty was up to, but he was pretty sure it wasn't something he wanted to be involved in. Reluctantly, he swam back toward the throne. "It would be an honor, Your Majesty."

A few minutes after their conversation had ended, Sebastian had returned from the royal stables and announced that the messengers were on their way and that he'd met one of the royal chefs on his way back in, who said that the feast, which was to be held in honor of the future Prince Titan, would be ready in an hour.

Bruce groaned, already smelling the savory dishes being prepared in the kitchen. At least none of it was fish. One hour, he told himself, just one more hour and this'll all be over with.

His head spun and his mind reeled as he struggled to regain his focus.

By now the small crowd had dispersed, and the king had gone to check on the kitchen staff, leaving Ariel alone with Bruce in the hall. The shark's internal battle was visible now, and he swam quickly back and forth from one side of the room to the other to get his mind off the situation.

A slight tap on the fin caught him off guard, and he jumped a little when he looked up to see the princess staring at him with a confused expression. "Are you feeling okay?"

Bruce hated to lie, but how could he tell her what was really going on? How could he let his new friend know that – try as he might – he still couldn't resist blood when he got hungry enough? How could he betray her trust?

"I'm fine. I just…I just need a little time alone." Well, that much was true. "I, uh, think I'll just go out for a swim," he said, heading to the door only to blocked off for the second time that day.

She looked up at him with big, sad eyes, and – for a split second – looked all the world to him like Dory when she was in one of her rare sad moods. "It wasn't something I said, was it?" she asked.

Bruce sighed. "'Snot you, Princess. It's just…"

"Is it about your father?" she asked gently.

Bruce simply nodded and headed out the door. It was as good of an excuse as any, and to tell the truth, he would've said just about anything to get away, but it wasn't exactly a lie either. In a way, it was about his father. There was no denying that when Bruce went into a frenzy, he was every bit as bloodthirsty and terrifying as the legendary shark had been. He hated it when that happened – hated the fear he saw welling up in his friends' eyes, seeing them swim for their lives like some hideous monster was chasing them, and knowing that he was the monster but was absolutely powerless to do anything about it.

He remembered the feeling he got during his last relapse. It was as if some unseen force had grabbed him and was forcing him to do its will rather than his own. He'd tried to stop it when he felt it coming on, but no matter what he did, it always ended up the same way: All his fishy friends avoided him for the next few days, scared with an inch of their lives to come anywhere near him and cowering when he came around to apologize.

And the guilt. Oh, the terrible guilt he felt afterwards. When he said he was sorry, he wholeheartedly meant it and resolved to do better next time, but secretly, silently, everyone knew it would be the same.

Anchor and Chum had tried to cheer him up, but they didn't understand. Anchor had quit cold tuna, right from the get-go and hadn't had any problems since. Chum had had one relapse after the first few weeks, but after that he'd seemed to be just fine with eating kelp. They didn't understand how difficult it was for him. They meant well, he knew, but they couldn't really relate to the situation. They didn't know how bad it hurt to be deserted by your friends, how terrifying it was to lose control of your own actions, or how hard it was to live in the shadow of a father whose name had been feared across the entire ocean.

Sometimes Bruce got angry with himself for not being able to live up to his promises. It was so frustrating to be doing so well, to be thinking he was so close to reaching his goal only to lose another battle with himself and be right back where he'd started. True, he hadn't eaten a fish in over two months, but that didn't mean he hadn't tried. If Anchor and Chum hadn't been there to restrain him, more than likely he would have completely lost it and gone through with his carnivorous intentions.

An empty ache in his stomach reminded him of the present danger he posed to his new friends, but his heart ached even more so. If he ever harmed Marlin or Dory or – heaven forbid – one of the children, he knew he'd never be able to live with himself. He wanted so badly to blame his weak resolve on the sins of his father or simply the fact that he had been born a shark, but deep inside, he knew that he could never completely blame God or genetics for his lack of willpower.

He sighed, hoping the dinner would be ready soon, allowing him to quiet the increasingly loud voice that was urging him to behave like the beast he was. The sooner it was over with, the better.

Hearing a voice he thought was Ariel's, he rounded a back corner of the palace and headed toward its source, curious to see what all the fuss was about. As he neared one of the balconies, he heard a second voice, which he soon recognized as Ty. Silently, he approached, careful to remain close to the palace wall so that he would not be seen.

"Just a few more weeks, Mab," Ty whispered. "Just a few more weeks, and this will all be ours."

The first voice, which Bruce now knew belong to Mab, spoke again. "I can't believe our luck! The king adores you like a son. Honestly, he bends over backwards to please you. You've got him trained like a little sea lion pup! Ha!"

"Yeah. He fell for it hook, line, and sinker! Now all I've gotta do is reel him in."

"But what about Atalaya? How're we gonna get rid of her?"

"Once I rescue her from that tower and end the curse, she'll be so grateful, she won't be able to resist my proposal. I am, after all, Triton's obvious choice for a suitor. Then, after the honeymoon, I'll slip a little something special into His Majesty's drink."

Bruce's eyes widened.

"And the girl?" Mab asked impatiently.

"I've hired a few…shall I say, vengeful…friends of mine to do away with her. It'll all look like some horrible accident, but by then I'll be the king, and you shall become my new queen, and all the sea will boy to my every command!"

"You're sure this'll work?"

"By the time the sharks are through with her, there won't be any evidence left to convince anyone it was us."

"Speaking of sharks, why'd you invite that sniveling excuse for a predator to dinner anyway?"

"I needed to get him out of the way. I knew he'd be leaving right when I was coming to talk to you, and I didn't want to risk anyone finding out about our little secret. But come, the banquet is about to begin, and we mustn't be late."

"One kiss before we go," she pleaded.

"Not yet," Ty answered. "Not until all this is over and I can make you my queen. Until then, you are my sister."

Bruce waited until he thought they had gone inside before turning and heading back for the palace entrance as fast as he could to warn Triton and the others. Had he looked back, he would have noticed a slender, raven haired mermaid with violet fins lingering on the balcony. But as it was, he was in a hurry, and he didn't see the cold, green eyes watching as his tail fin disappeared around the side of the palace.

Chapter 3: The Monster Within

When Bruce arrived at the throne room, he was surprised to find Ariel waiting for him at the door in much the same place where he'd left her.

"Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you! The banquet's about to start!"

"Listen, Princess, there's somethi – " The sudden blast of a trumpet caught him mid-sentence.

"They're getting started!" Ariel gasped. "C'mon! If we hurry, we can slip in the back without anyone noticing!"

Bruce sighed and followed her back outside and through a back entrance way. Perhaps he'd be able to speak with Triton after the meal when his stomach was in a better mood.

The king was just beginning to speak as they entered, and thankfully, all eyes were on him. Sitting at the head of the long, white table with Sebastian on his armrest and Ty directly to his right, he looked the very image of power and authority. His voice echoed through the dining hall as Ariel swam up and took her place between one of her sisters and Flounder, who looked more than slightly uncomfortable at having a shark swimming beside him at the dinner table.

"Tonight, we gather to honor a most noble young merman – a merman who is to be my future son-in-law and your future king."

A murmur arose from the crowd as the prospect of a new king filled their minds. Most of them could not remember ever having a king other than Triton, whose father had left a vacant throne when he was but sixteen. The king held his hand up for silence.

"Having not been blessed with a son of my own, I have chosen to make my eldest daughter, Atalaya, your future queen. When I am old and gone – when my body is carried off by the tides and my spirit returns to bow before a King far greater than I – she will reign in my stead and by her side shall be the merman who has promised to rescue her from the sea witch's curse – the one to whom I will one day pass down my trident and my crown. Ladies and mermen, I give you Titan! May he rule over you with justice and mercy, and may God bless Atlantica!"

A deafening burst of applause erupted from the crowd followed by a familiar chant. "Long live the king! Long live the king! Long live the king!"

When the noise died down, Ty – who had risen from his seat to bask in the applause – proposed a toast to the king and began a lengthy speech about his plans to rescue and marry the fair Princess Atalaya, but Bruce didn't hear a single word he said. His voice was drowned out by another, more urgent enemy – hunger. It had crept up on him slowly, like the shadow of an ocean liner passing overhead, but now it was hitting him full force, and it was all he could do to restrain himself from the food that surrounded him. There was kelp salad and seaweed soufflé, cheeses made fresh from the palace's sea cow dairy and saltwater taffy and – something else caught his attention. Something familiar and yet something he hadn't had in awhile. A sudden flash of yellow and blue to his left caught his attention, and he then he knew. Fish.

Take it easy, mate. Just a few more minutes. Fish are friends, not food! Fisharefriendsnotfood! FISH ARE FRIENDS, NOT –

His attention suddenly snapped back to Ty who, having ended his toast, had reached to cut the first slice of the soufflé for the king when his hand slipped. Like a film in slow motion, Bruce watched as the knife came down upon the merman's thumb.

No. NO! This CANNOT be happening! Not here! Not now! Bruce could already feel the adrenaline surging through his body.

One quick stroke and the hand jerked back, leaving a stain of crimson in its wake. It wasn't but a drop or two, but it was enough.

Without warning, Bruce lurched across the table, snapping his powerful jaws and ripping the cloth from the table, upsetting the glasses and bowls. Food went flying across the room. Plates went crashing to the floor, and tables overturned as the mermen and women screamed and swam in all directions in a panicked confusion. Only one creature seemed to know exactly where he was headed, and he was hot on Ty's trail.

The young merman swam for his life, darting beneath a neighboring table, behind a pillar, and into the kitchen. He was surprisingly fast for a creature that was only half fish, but he made the mistake of looking back over his shoulder as the shark barreled after him and ended up backed into a corner in the throne room.

For a brief instant, Bruce had a flashback to the day he and Nemo were playing tag, but this time was different. This time, the monster had control. Bruce was pummeling toward Ty with immense speed, flipping tables like toy ships and devouring half the banquet food, along with anything else that got in his way. With fins slashing wildly, jaws gaping like an open tomb, and murder in his eyes, it would have been nearly impossible to distinguish Bruce from his father now. His thoughts were mechanical now – rip, tear, bite, kill – anything to make the torturous hunger go away. With a final snarl and a sudden burst of speed, he closed in on his prey, when a blinding flash of light engulfed him. There was a brief stinging sensation, as if he'd been attacked by a fleet of electric eels. He saw Ty throw a quick, triumphant smirk in his direction. And then everything went black.

Chapter 4: Es-ca-pay!

He awoke to the sound of clanging metal, which he correctly assumed to be the shutting of a cell door. He glanced up to see what was going on, but quickly closed his eyes again when he realized how blurry and disoriented his vision was. His mind whirled as he tried to remember the last thing that he had done, and then it all came rushing back – the secret, the banquet, Ty's slip of the wrist, the intense hunger and his relapse, and the biting sting of the trident. It had all happened so fast he hadn't quite had time to take it all in, and it felt strange and far-off, as if it had occurred to another shark in another place and time or as if it had been a dream of some sort – that is, at least what Bruce imagined a dream would feel like, considering sharks don't sleep. But his dorsal fin, which still tingled painfully from the trident's beam, affirmed otherwise.

He opened his eyes again, this time more slowly, allowing them to become adjusted to the dim light of the jail cell. Slowly, he swam over to the gate – only to find that he was restrained by a massive chain attached to a harness-like contraption around his midsection. I deserve this, he thought. He smiled sadly and shook his head. He was strong enough to snap the chains and burst through the prison gate if he wanted to, but he did not resist and decided to swim back to the corner, instead, where he stared at the ground shamefully. Maybe it's better this way…Maybe it's safer for everyone else…

No one had been hurt in the ordeal, but that didn't stop the burden of guilt from weighing down heavily upon him. Perhaps it was foolish to believe that a shark could change his nature – his instincts – but he had tried so hard…and now who would ever believe his story about Ty? Never mind the claim that his outburst had been an accident.

A gentle tap on the fin startle d him out of his melancholy thoughts. "Bruce?" a voice whispered. He spun around quickly to face the uninvited guest. His eyesight – like that of most sharks – was rather poor in the dark, but an unmistakable shock of red hair immediately identified the stranger.

"Princess – "

"You can just call me Ariel."

He hesitated. "Ariel, what are you – 'ow did you…How did you get in 'ere?"

The mermaid shrugged. "Swam through the bars. Why?"

"You shouldn't be 'ere. It's…not safe."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Bruce sighed. "You saw what 'appened."

A second voice came from closer to the entrance. "I thought you said you were a vegetarian shark! I told ya we couldn't trust him, Ariel! I told ya! All sharks are liars."

"It wasn't a lie! I am a vegetarian shark! I just – I just 'ave trouble sometimes and tried not to, but I was so 'ungry, and I – " His voice was thick with emotion now, and he had to pause to keep his feelings in check.

"But you're not hungry now, are you?"

"Of course he isn't hungry! He ate half the banquet – tables and all!"

"FLOUNDER!"

"Ah, but he's right, ya know. Ariel, I'm – I'm so sorry. I know you've got no reason to forgive me, but – " The great shark was in tears now, and he turned away to hide his shame.

The little mermaid squeezed his fin gently. "I saw what Ty did," she said softly. "It wasn't an accident."
"What?" Bruce sniffed.

"I think he was trying to set you up…Almost like he thought you knew something…" She giggled. "I almost wish you would've caught him. Oh! I can't stand that boy! I don't know what Daddy sees in him that makes him think he's so great."
"Ariel, there's something you need to know about Ty."

Ariel rolled her eyes. "You mean besides the fact that he's a total jerk?"

Bruce laughed. It felt good to know that he hadn't lost his new friend. "Yeah, besides that. See, I overheard him and that little dark-haired sheila – "

"Mab?"

"That's the one! Anyways, I overheard 'em talkin' and..I think your sister's in danger. Your father, too."

"What? What did he say? What's he up to?"
"Ariel, child!" A thick Caribbean accent that unmistakably belonged to a fuming Sebastian drifted in from behind Flounder, who was still at the entrance of the "dungeon," which was actually part of a natural underwater cave. "What are you doing in dere wid dat – dat monster?" He pointed a claw in Bruce's direction. "Get out of dere! If your fadder finds out he'll – mmph!" A hand shot across his mouth.

"Sebastian, shhh! You'll wake up the guards!" She glanced over at the two mermen who had been sleeping beside the entrance. They stirred ever so slightly at the sound of the voices coming from within the cave but quickly returned to a comfortable sleeping position. Slowly she released the crab.

"Hmph! Dose two could sleep tru a hurricane! I should tell His Majesty to get some new guards. And as for you, young lady, come wid me. Your fadder had been looking all over for you. He wants you to be dere to say good-bye to Titan before he leaves on his quest."

"He's leaving tonight? But I thought – "

"After our little…incident…he decided to leave early, seeing dat dere was no banquet to stay for." The crab glared angrily at the prisoner.

"Sebastian, please! You've gotta stop him! Atalaya's in danger and – "

"Which is exactly why he is going! To rescue her from de curse before her birfday!"

"No! Ty is the danger! Don't you see? Bruce told me he overheard a conversation he had with Mab and – "

"Ha! You're going to believe what he says? Ariel, open your eyes, girl! He tried to kill de young prince!"

"He's not a prince yet!" And if I have it my way, he never will be, she added silently. "The only reason Bruce attacked him is because he cut himself ON PURPOSE!"

"Did de shark tell you dat, too?"

"No! I saw it for myself! It was a trap! Please, Sebastian, you have to believe me!"

"I saw it, too," Flounder added quietly. The others, including Bruce, looked shocked. "I didn't wanna admit it because I was afraid of you," He looked up at Bruce, who refused to make eye contact out of guilt. "But if Atalaya and the king are in danger, we've gotta do something!"

"Da king is in danger? From who?"

This time it was Bruce who spoke. "Titan and Mab. They want the throne. She's not really related to him. Just posing as his sister until she can become the queen. Ty's willing to dispose of everyone who keeps him from obtaining full power – including the king and Atalaya. He wants control of the ocean, and he wants it all to himself."

"Why dat's – dat's treason! Da king must know immediately!"

"He won't believe it," Flounder interjected. "He thinks Ty's the greatest thing that ever happened to Atlantica. And even if he did believe it, we wouldn't get a chance to tell him until after Ty left."

"Den dat's de perfect opportunity!"

"Yeah, the perfect time for Mab to find out we know and get rid of all of us. Who knows how may spies they have? They c-could be w-watching us right now!" The little blue and yellow fish darted behind Ariel – who had come out of the cell – for protection from any unseen enemies. He expected her usual retort that he was being "such a guppy," but what he heard instead made his jaw drop.

"Then we'll just have to fix the problem ourselves!"

"How're we gonna do that? By killing Mab and Ty?"

"By being the ones who get to Atalaya first."

"Ariel! If your fadder finds out you've gone missing, I'll be crab cakes before de day is tru! Besides, someone must be here to make sure Mab doesn't get any ideas."

The girl opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a distant shout. "ARIEL!" It was the king.

"Ooooh! Why does he always have to ruin all the fun?" Ariel pouted. She always loved a good adventure,, and saving her sister and the kingdom definitely seemed like a worthy cause to go missing, but as much as she hated to admit it, Sebastian did have a point. Her father would most certainly notice her absence, and both he and Mab would know something was up. She heard her father call her name once again. They would have to hurry. "Oh, alright," she sighed. "Flounder and I can stay here and spy on Mab, and you and Bruce can go rescue Atalaya."

"What?" the others all said in unison.

"Well, you said someone needs to watch out for Daddy, and spying on Mab will be kinda an adventure…So Flounder and I'll stay here – that way he doesn't suspect anything – and then you guys can go get Atalaya before Ty does. Not many creatures will bother shark."

"Why me?" Sebastian squeaked.

"Because you and Daddy – and now Ty – are the only ones who know where the castle is. He blindfolded everyone else on the way there and back the first time, remember? And he guards that map with his life!"

"I don't know about this, Ariel," Bruce added. "Are ya sure ya wanna send me on a mission after…well, you know…"

The little mermaid swam over to the bars of the cell and wrapped her hands around the two closest to her face. "Bruce, without you, we wouldn't have even known there was any danger. I still trust you…"

"I wish you wouldn't," he sighed. "Sometimes I don't even know if I can trust myself. I just wish…I wish there was some way I could make it up to your father."

"Well, saving his oldest daughter and his kingdom would be a great place to start, don'tcha think?" She smiled gently at him, and he returned the smile, if only half-heartedly.

The sound of trumpets and chariots in the distance drew their attention.

"Ty's leaving!" Flounder exclaimed.

"Den we'd better get goin'!"

"Uh…one problem." Bruce motioned to his chains, knowing that while he could break them, it would most certainly attract the attention of the guards, who were still sleeping at the mouth of the cave, and probably frighten his friends.

"Not for long!" Ariel swam toward the guards.

"Ariel! What are you doing, child? Get back here!"

But the little mermaid ignored the crab's warning and gently began to pull the keys free from one of the guard's belts. At that moment, another trumpet blast caused them to stir.

"Wha – hm? What happened? Oh! Princess Ariel!" They quickly bowed, realizing that they had been caught sleeping on the job.

She eyed the keys, which had slipped to the ground when the guard had gotten up from his reclining position. The guards looked at her expectantly.

"Oh! Daddy sent me to tell you that Ty's leaving. He wanted you to check the chariots before he left, but," she stopped to point at Ty's chariot in the distance, which was quickly approaching the city gates, "I think you're a little late. I'd hurry if I were you!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

In a flash, they were gone. Ariel scooped up the keys and immediately swam through the cell bars to undo the chains. She proceeded to open the cell and swim toward the back of the cave.

"Uh…Ariel," Flounder said swimming over to his best friend, "out is that way." He pointed toward the entrance of the cave.

"Not if you don't wanna get caught. There's still too much goin' on out there right now. We'd be caught for sure." She tossed a couple of rocks aside while Sebastian and Bruce came over to get a closer look.

"What are you looking f – " Sebastian didn't have time to finish his sentence.

"Aha! Found it!" She held up what appeared to be a golden key, which she promptly inserted into a hole between two other rocks. Slowly, she twisted it slightly to the right, causing a small trap door to open. The others watched in amazement as, leaving the key on the floor, she swam through, wondering if they should – or in Bruce's case could – follow her.

Sebastian peered through the hole. "Ariel? Ariel?"

"Over here!" They turned to see her head popping out of another, larger trap door in the floor a few feet behind them. She motioned them forward. "Follow me!"

They saw her head duck down again, followed by a flash of emerald fins. Curiously, they followed her into the tunnel, which was dimly lit by a type of fluorescent coral that grew along the walls. It was a tight fit for Bruce, whose fins scraped the ceiling and walls, but finally, they reached an exit and emerged into another portion of the cave flooded with moonlight.

The walls were bare, but they would soon be filled with innumerable objects from the human world, treasures that Ariel scavenged from shipwrecks that she currently had hidden away in an old pirate's ship not far away.

Ariel, who had gone back to close the trap doors behind her, came up behind them as they admired her future treasure grotto. "Pretty amazing, isn't it?" she said. "No one else knows about this place, but I like to come here and think. It's so…peaceful and private. Almost like I have my own special little part of the ocean…" She frowned suddenly and added more softly, "Too bad it's not my own little piece of land."

"Ariel, you know dat de human world is strictly forbidden!"

"I know! I know! But a girl can dream, right? Oh, well. I guess you two had better be off." She swam through the opening at the top and the others followed suit with Bruce having a difficult time squeezing through the opening, which was slightly smaller than the last trapdoor. Finally, though, he managed to squeeze through, causing a few of the surrounding rocks to slip, nearly closing off the hole.

"Good luck with the rescue!" Ariel chimed, waving to her friends. "Bye, Sebastian! Bye, Bruce!"

"Ariel! Wait!" Sebastian clamped onto her tail, suddenly uneasy at the thought of hanging onto the fin of a great white for the majority of the journey. "How will you explain to de king where we went?"

"I'll just tell him Ty needed you to go with him, and as long as no one knows where Bruce went, they'll be searching all over the place, but they'll never think to look near the castle. Now hurry! We don't have much time! Ty could be halfway there by now!"

Sebastian knew that it would take more than a few hours to reach the castle where Atalaya was hidden, but he also realized that this was no time to take risks with wasting time and letting Ty get a head start. Reluctantly, he let go of her tail and swam up to Bruce's back, where he grabbed onto his massive dorsal fin.

He sighed. "De tings I go tru for de king! Good-bye, Ariel! Good-bye, Flounder!" He watched them leave, immediately regretting his decision to go on such a long journey with a potentially dangerous shark as his only companion.

Sensing the tension, Bruce tried his best to reassure the crab that he was in no danger. He smiled slightly and looked over his shoulder at Sebastian, who was trying to appear as unappetizing as possible. "Well, looks like it's just you an' me, mate."

The crab smiled back nervously. "Yep. Just you and me." He swallowed hard and held on tightly as they began to move, the great white's enormous fins slicing through the inky waters of the Atlantic.

Chapter 5: Atalaya's Story

"So, about this curse thing," the great white asked, "What exactly is it anyway?" He slowed to maneuver between the small underwater steam vents that were becoming increasingly prevalent, slipping out of the way just before the one to his left shot forth a sudden burst of boiling hot ocean water.

"Dat's just it," Sebastian gripped the dorsal fin tighter as another burst of steam shot up in front of them. "No one knows. Well, no one except de king, dat is."

The crab had gradually become accustomed to the shark's presence and now spoke comfortably with him, though he still became a bit nervous whenever he heard Bruce's stomach growl, at which point they would stop and look for kelp or, in desperate situations, whatever human junk happened to be floating around.

Sebastian's thoughts turned back to the shark's question. "De only ting anyone knows is dat it was such a terrible curse dat His Majesty had to send her away for her own good and de safety of Atlantica."

"'Ow did it come about? The curse, I mean."

The crab sighed. "Dat is quite de tragic story…" He paused for a moment before continuing. "Do you remember Queen Athena?"

"I've 'eard of her, of course. Never knew too much about her, though, what with bein' on the other side of the ocean and all. Never was one much for politics, either. But I do remember 'earing others talk about her. Said she was the most beautiful merqueen ever to rule the ocean, some did." He stopped suddenly, a pang of shame and sadness distorting his face. "Even father said so." The words were a whisper, barely audible amidst the blasts of the steam vents, their hollow peaks exploding with a froth of bubbles hot enough to reduce the strange duo into shark fin soup with a side of crab cakes in a matter of seconds.

"She was beautiful," Sebastian continued. "And smart. And her singing voice – Oh! Dat girl could sing like a siren!" He chuckled softly. "You know, de king always said dat was why he married Athena. He liked to say dad her beautiful songs had put a spell over his heart."

There was a dreamy, distant look in his eyes as he spoke, and the shark waited patiently for his friend to continue, being all too familiar with the power of memories and the feelings they evoked. The crab's face fell as he started to speak again.

"It was her love of music dat was her undoing. De king got her a special music box to celebrate dere marriage. She loved dat ting so much…One day when His Majesty, Queen Athena, and dere daughters were playing on de rocks near de coast, a ship came up. In de commotion to get away, Athena realized she'd left de music box…When she went back for it, de ship was too close. It crashed into de rocks, and Athena was crushed between dem. She died before de king's very eyes dere was nothing he could do to help."

They swam in silence, each lost in his own somber thoughts, Sebastian remembering Queen Athena and Bruce recalling a similar incident in his own life – the day of his father's death.

Bruce finally broke the silence. "So where does Atalaya fit into all of this?"

"Atalaya, well…she was…a lot like Ariel. She had her mudder's adventurous spirit. At de timem of de queen's death, she was ten years old, and as de oldest of de girls, she felt it was her duty to take care of dem. Being still a child, she thought dat de best ting she could do would be to bring back Athena, so she did what seemed to be a necessary evil – She went to Ursula, de most powerful sea witch in all de ocean."

"I didn't think even sea witches could bring someone back to life."

"Dey can't. It is one of de few tings dey can't do, but dat didn't stop Atalaya from trying. You see, Ursula found a loophole in de rules. She couldn't bring de queen back to life, but she could turn back de time and give Atalaya de chance to change her mudder's fate. So dey made a deal. In exchange for de chance to prevent her mudder's death, Atalaya gambled her own life away. If she succeeded, she would serve as Ursula's personal slave until her dying day. If she did not, it would cost her her very life."

Bruce listened intently now, gaining a sudden admiration and respect for such a brave young girl. What would he give up, he wondered, if he could go back and change things with his father?

"Needless to say," Sebastian went on, "de ting did not go as planned. Thankfully, His Majesty found out in time and convinced Ursula to retink de death penalty. He agreed to make her magic more powerful if she would lighten de sentence. But de fate of de princess may have been worse dan death. Instead of killing her, she placed a terrible curse upon de girl – a curse dat could only be broken by true love's first kiss before de sunset of her eighteenth birfday."

"When's her birthday?"

The crab looked sullenly at the sea floor. "One week from today."

Chapter 6: Rescuing Atalaya

Despite its decrepit exterior, the ancient was an impressive sight to behold – a long-forgotten piece of merman history that had faded from the memories of all but the oldest members of the race. Long ago, hundreds of generations before Triton came to power, it had been the center of a great metropolis, the paragon of merman architecture, and the pride and joy of mermen throughout the sea. In fact, it had once been their capital. Originally it had been a colonial offshoot of the legendary city of Atlantis, the ur heimat of all merfolk. But as more and and more humans began to search for Atlantis, the merpeople had abandoned it and made the remote castle in the Caribbean their new home. It remained this way for many years and would have continued to serve as the capital for a great while longer had it not been for the epidemic that ravaged the kingdom a few centuries ago, wiping out nearly half of all the merfolk and driving the survivors away to establish a new capital – the city of Atlantica. Now it lay in ruins, barely a shadow of the city it once was.

Once a stately basalt fortress complete with ramparts, guard towers, and a throne room nearly twice as large as Triton's, it was now little more than a pile of rubble with the roof caved in in various places and the elegant gothic spires caked with barnacles and encrusted with coral. A single guard tower stood sturdily amid the ruins, a lone sentry standing guard over the broken and bruised bodies of his companions. At the top of the tower, the faint glow of fluorescent algae illuminated the barred window.

Bruce swam cautiously toward the base of the tower before pausing to inspect the surrounding pile of stone. "So, this is it, huh?"

Sebastian nodded soberly. "I remember de last time dat I was here. I hated to let dat child go…No one has been allowed to visit her since den udder dan de king himself. I haven't seen her in nearly eight years." He sighed. "I wonder how she is now…"

"Well, there's only one way to find out." The shark swam over to the entrance but stopped short when he realized it was blocked by a heavy boulder that had been sealed by the king.

Sebastian put a claw over his face. "Oh, mon! How could I have forgotten about dat! It took nearly ten guards to put dat rock dere! We'll never get to de princess now!"

Bruce surveyed the stone. It was quite large – almost half as large as he was – and the seal, though nearly a decade old, still held it firmly in place. Nevertheless, they had come all this way to rescue the princess, and rescue the princess they would. There was no way he'd let a little rock stand in his way. Suddenly, he flashed a toothy grin at Sebastian, who was still staring at the door in despair and frustration.

"No worries, mate! I think I can handle this one." He backed up a bit to the side. "Ya might wanna move outta the way, 'Bastian."

Suddenly, he shot forth, a sleek and silvery blur of a torpedo headed straight for the boulder. And he felt the adrenaline pulse through his fins, a sudden burst of energy that filled his body from snout to tail. And he was a predator again and the rock was his prey and he was in his element. And it felt good. Slamming into the rock with the full force of his body, Bruce felt the seal give way under the stress. For any other creature – even another great white – it would have been next to impossible to move the boulder, but for Bruce, it was like tossing a pebble, and the rock went rolling away down the hilltop upon which the tower sat, obliterating the skeletal remains of another half-standing tower like a giant wrecking ball before toppling over the edge of a rift and being swallowed up into the earth.

Satisfied, the great white looked up from his work at Sebastian, who stood open-mouthed, gawking at the amazing feat that the shark had just been accomplished and looking at Bruce with a mix of fear and admiration for his display of power

"How did you…How..did..you…How did you do dat, mon?"

The shark laughed heartily. "Sometimes bein' a great white has its advantages, mate!"

Sebastian looked up at Bruce incredulously. "If you could do dat, den why didn't you break out of de jail. You moved dat ting like it was no heavier dan a piece of driftwood! Dos chains and bars would have snapped like coral if you'd tried to escape."

Bruce looked down at his friend humbly, the brief pride he'd felt in being a shark replace by the shame of his natural instincts. "Sometimes bein' a great white has its advantages," he repeated quietly, "and sometimes it has its consequences." His eyes fell to the sandy ocean floor.

Sebastian swam up and sat on the shark's shoulder. "I tink dat in your case, de good outweighs de bad."

Bruce perked up a bit. "Thanks, mate." He paused a minute before continuing. "Well, what're we waitin' for? We've got a princess to rescue!"

"Dat's de spirit, mon!"

The crab clung to the shark's huge dorsal fin as he slipped inside the doorway and began swimming up the flight of stairs that led to the top of the tower. The walls were close together, and Bruce had a bit of trouble getting up the steps, his gigantic tail fin slapping the walls every few feet.

"Somethin' seem strange to you 'bout this, mate?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, seems to me it should be a bit harder to get to the princess. Shouldn't there be a guard or somethin'? This just seems a little too easy…"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than he felt his tail brush against something in the wall. There was a sudden click, and he turned his head just in time to see a lever fall down, triggering an enormous spiked wrecking ball to swing from the ceiling in his direction. Instinctively, he ducked, the ball missing his head by less than an inch but scraping his dorsal fin. Thankfully, the spikes did little to harm his tough skin, but the force of the blow was enough to knock Sebastian to the ground.

"You alright, mate?"

The crab hopped back up on his friend's shoulder. "Dat was too close, mon! Aaaahhh!"

The ball swung back again, forcing them to duck once more. They watched in awe and horror as it slammed against the opposite wall, shattering a glass enclosure that contained a giant hourglass, which tipped over and tugged on a rope that ran inside the wall up to the rafters, pulling loose one of the main support beams. It clattered to the floor and set off a chain reaction, releasing more of the spiked wrecking balls. Within minutes, the entire structure would be decimated and they would be crushed beneath the weight of the heavy basalt. Even Bruce wouldn't make it out alive if the whole building came down.

Sebastian turned to Bruce. "We've got to get de princess and get out of here! De entire ting is going to collapse!"

Bruce answered with a nod. "Hang on tight, mate!"

Swimming at full speed, they reached the top of the stairs in seconds, dodging falling rafters, basalt bricks, and the deadly spikes of the wrecking balls. Once there, they found a driftwood door that led to the tower's guard room. Thankfully, it was unlocked, and they managed to slip inside just before a large chunk of the roof came crashing down where they had been and partially blocking the way back out.

Bruce glanced around the room for any sign of the princess. There was a small driftwood dresser with a polished abalone shell mirror, a large, fluffy bed made of the softest sponges and draped with a translucent seaweed canopy, and the small barred window which they had seen from outside the tower. Then, a brief movement caught his attention. He threw back the seaweed veil that surrounded the bed, and there, lying asleep and blissfully unaware of the circumstances, was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. He paused for a moment, simply staring at the girl, unwilling to wake her from her peaceful slumber.

Sebastian's voice caught him off guard. "What are you doing, mon? We've got to get her out, now!"

Hesitantly, the great white put his enormous fins around her shoulders, noticing how tiny and frail she looked compared to himself. He shook her gently, hoping not to startle her when she woke to the sight of a large, unfamiliar shark in her bedroom.

The girl's eyes snapped open, revealing two pools of a startling blue that mirrored the shark's own eyes in their inky depths. She gasped and pulled away slightly, backing up against the ornately carved bedpost. He waited for the scream and the cowering, but it never came. She simply stared him down, a look of pure determination in her eyes. Not fear. Not hatred. Just determination.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?"

Sebastian, hopping off his perch on Bruce's back, dropped down to the bed. "No time to explain, princess! Aaahh!" A chunk from the ceiling suddenly came crashing down, barely missing the crab as he jumped to the side.

"Sebastian!" Her eyes lit up in recognition.

"'Bastian, you go out that window, there." Bruce motioned to the tiny barred opening. "I'll take the princess downstairs."

"But – "

"There's no sense in all of us dyin'. Least you can get out. Now, GO!" He wrapped a fin around Atalaya's wrist and began dragging her toward the door.

"Sebastian?" She glanced over her shoulder.

"Go wid him, girl! Hurry, now!"

They swam down the stairs as fast as their fins would carry them, Atalaya in the lead with Bruce close behind, doing their best to dodge the gigantic spiked balls that were still swinging wildly, smashing holes in the wall and nearly knocking over the hourglass, whose sand had all but run out. They didn't have much time left.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Bruce let out a sigh of relief and followed Atalaya toward the door when suddenly, she stopped short, noticing for the first time that something was missing. She gasped, holding a hand to her bare neck.

"My necklace! It must have fallen off! I have to go back for it!"

"Princess – "

"No!" She looked at him imploringly. "My mother gave me that necklace. I HAVE to find it!"

Swimming wildly toward the stairs, she scanned the ground as Bruce watched nervously from the doorway, keeping an eye on the single remaining roof beam that quivered with every blow of the wrecking balls.

"Got it!"

An awful moan echoed off the walls, and both stopped to stare in horror as the last beam snapped in two and a huge block of basalt came hurtling down just over the girl's head. This time, she screamed. In a flash, the shark pulled her out of harm's way and shoved her out the door, slipping out just before the lat grain of sand shifted to the bottom of the hourglass, and the entire building collapsed behind them.

For a moment they all remained frozen in place, staring at the catastrophic mess that was once the guard tower, pulses racing and eyes wide as they considered their narrow escape. Atalaya, whose knuckles were white from clutching fiercely to her mother's necklace, looked down at her hand as if to reassure her that the prized possession was still there then gradually loosened her grip and spoke. She looked at Bruce with grateful eyes.

"Thank you," she whispered. She smiled slightly and swam closer, extending her hand. "I'm Atalaya."

He took her hand hesitantly, feeling her smooth, warm skin against his own rough fin. "Bruce."

The shark winced as he imagined her response, but she seemed not to have noticed the eerie coincidence and continued as if nothing had happened.

"Well, then, it's very nice to meet you, Bruce. And thank you again."

Bruce simply stared at her, unable to tear his eyes away from the beautiful, delicate form in front of him. He let his fin linger on her hand a little longer until Sebastian cleared his throat rather noticeably. He quickly pulled away, feeling rather embarrassed.

"Uh, sorry," he apologized.

The mermaid princess blushed and looked down shyly. "It's okay," she giggled.

Her laugh was absolutely enchanting. It was a light, bubbly laugh, soft as a gentle spring rain on the open ocean and warm as the golden rays of afternoon sunlight that filtered down through the water above them. It reminded Bruce of the sound made by a human object he'd once found in the Sydney harbor. He struggled to remember what the humans called it. Wind something…wind chime, maybe? Yes, he thought, that must be it. Her laugh sounded exactly like a wind chime.

Sebastian cleared his throat again, this time a little louder.

Atalaya laughed again. "Sorry, Sebastian! So," she glanced over at the crab, "How exactly do you two know each other? And why did you come to get me? I mean, I'm grateful, but I thought…"

Sebastian interrupted her, brushing away her questions with his extended claw. "It is a long story, child."

"Great! I love stories! Maybe you can explain it to me on the way back home. Oh! I can't wait to see Atlantica again and Father and all of my sisters, especially little Ariel! Well, I guess she isn't all that little anymore. I've been away for so long…" Atalaya frowned. "I wonder if she even remembers me…"

The crab hopped up on top of a pile of debris so that he was almost at eye level with the princess. "Of course she remembers you, child! In fact, she was de one who sent us to find you!"

"Really?" Her eyes lit up happily only to become clouded with worry. "What happened? Is she in trouble?"

"Not just her. De entire kingdom is at stake if someone does not stop him!"

"Who?"

"Titan…" Sebastian hesitated to answer the question lingering in her eyes. "Your fiancée."

The look of shock on Atalaya's face was so intense that Bruce feared she might faint, so he decided to fill the silence, hoping it might distract her.

"'E knows that if 'e marries you, he'll be the next one in line for the throne…" A pained expression crossed his face before he continued, looking down at her in sympathy. "'E wants your father dead. And you."

"But, I don't understand…Daddy would never…I-I mean how could he not know that…" she trailed off, not knowing what else to say. "Well, what can we do about it now? My birthday is only a few days away, and if I don't find someone between now and then…Ohh…"

"Don' worry about it, girl. What matters now is dat we found you and made it out of de tower safely." She opened her mouth to protest but was silenced as the crab held up his claw. "And de sooner we get going, de sooner we'll be able to get to your fadder and straighten tings out. Come along now, child. We've got a long way to go."

"Wow! That was an amazing story!" Atalaya shook her head and smiled. "I never would have thought that a great white and a crab could end up being friends, but I'm really glad you did!"

They had been swimming for several hours now, and Sebastian and Bruce had just finished recounting the story of how they had come to meet one another and discovered Ty's plot. The two companions smiled, remembering the night they'd first left Atlantica and how – gradually – the crab's anxiety and the shark's shameful apprehension had melted away, replaced with a mutual trust and genuine friendship.

"I'm glad, too," Bruce concluded, realizing that, while he was truly happy to have earned Sebastian's trust, he was even gladder that this friendship had led him to meet Atalaya. He had been a bit worried about how she'd react when it came his turn in the story to tell about his little…slip up…at the banquet, but the girl had just nodded and listened sympathetically. She never ceased to amaze him.

Every time she looked his way, he noticed, it made his stomach feel strange…Not hungry…actually, he almost felt kind of sick…but in a strange, good way. Like he'd just eaten the sweetest kelp he'd ever tasted and it was almost too rich to keep down. He wasn't quite sure what the feeling meant, but whatever it was, he liked it, and deep down, he knew he liked Atalaya as more than just a friend, but it seemed unlikely – if not impossible – that she felt the same way, so he forced the thought to the back of his mind and chose to believe that he was just nervous because he was in the presence of royalty.

Sebastian interrupted his thoughts. "We should get going. It's almost sunset, and we need to find de nearest kelp bed if you want someting for din – "

"Sunset? Oh, no!"

The two sea creatures looked at the distressed mermaid in confusion.

"We have to find a place to stay, right now!"

Sebastian gave her a condescending look. "You can't tell me you're still afraid of de dark, child."

"No…" The mergirl looked down uncomfortably. "It's just…well…I don't really like to travel at night, and…"

"Relax, mate," Bruce chimed in. "You're safe with us…'Sides, I'm scarier than anything we might come across out 'ere." He laughed half-heartedly at the truth of his own joke. "'Bastian and I 'ave been pullin' all-nighters all the way 'ere. Goes faster that way."

"But you're a shark," she pointed out. "You don't have to sleep, and Sebastian is small enough for you to easily carry him when he gets tired." She shook her head. "I'm too big for that. I mean, I know you could carry me, but it would be kinda awkward and clumsy. I'd just get in the way. And I'm really tired." She grinned and playfully elbowed him in the fin. "Gotta have that beauty sleep, ya know!"

Bruce considered saying that he didn't see how she could ever be awkward or clumsy or how anything could possibly make her more beautiful, but he thought better of it, deciding to keep his thoughts to himself and letting her win the argument.

He sighed in mock defeat. "Alright, 'Bastian. You go 'elp 'er find a place to stay the night, and I'll go look for the kelp bed."

The crab slid from his back and onto Atalaya's shoulder before the shark turned to leave.

"G'night, Princess."

She smiled back. "Good night,

Chapter 7: Feelings

Morning sunlight glinted off the mermaid's crystal blue scales, sending a shower of tiny rainbows in a million different directions as she darted in and out of the thick kelp forest on either side of the path followed by the travelling trio, filling the surrounding currents with a stream of her innocent, childlike laughter. Bruce watched intently as the girl disappeard among the waves of green only to reappear somewhere to the left or right, playfully chasing a butterflyfish or mimicking a twirling Spanish lady. He caught himself grinning slightly as he watched and shook his head…That laugh was perfectly mesmerizing.

He swam on in the intended direction but realized that his movements were mechanical rather than deliberate. Though his fins continued to propel him forward, his mind was elsewhere.

The moment he had fist laid eyes on the princess, he had immediately recognized her beauty, but given the dire circumstances, he had had little time to truly appreciate the finer details that now caught his attention. The way her loose, golden curls swirled gently around her waist in the current. The way her icy blue scales sparkled and shimmered with every flick of her tail. The way her eyes – at once both calm and serene and as fierce and wild as the sea itself – shifted from blue to gray depending on her mood. Her porcelain skin, he noted, was flawless, and perfectly complemented the pastel color of her nearly transparent fins and rose coral hued lips. He was surprised to notice that, unlike all of her younger sisters except for Ariel, the princess' loose curls lacked a luxurious hairpiece, reflecting the sisters' wild, adventurous nature and distaste for any for m of society's conventional restraints. Her slender yet shapely figure was adorned in a very flattering top made from large calico-colored clam shells. A similarly shaped shell locket made of gold – Queen Athena's gift to her eldest daughter – looped around her neck, the broken chain temporarily tied in a bow beneath her hair. She was gorgeous.

A light tap on the tail brought his attention back to the journey. He turned to see Atalaya, grinning playfully back at him.

"Hey, Bruce, Sebastian! Watch this!"

In a moment, she was gone, shooting upward and disappearing into a cloud of bubbles. Bruce stared open-mouthed as the mermaid cleared the surface, cut a flip in mid-air, and made a graceful arch back into the water. Before, he might have found this behavior annoying, reminiscent of the self-centered dolphins, who liked to show off for the humans with their exceptional acrobatics, but for some reason, this time it was different – like it was a celebration of life after years of living in the darkness of imprisonment.

That was another thing he admired about her. No matter how lonely she must have been in the tower, she hadn't let it get her down. She was still as innocent, sweet, and curious as Bruce imagined the ten-year-old mermaid who'd been left there nearly eight years ago.

The light, musical sound of her joyous laughter washed over him again, and he couldn't help but feel happy for her. He watched her wind between the masts of an old sunken ship, her naturally blonde-streaked tresses swirling around her body and glowing like burnished bronze in the sunlight.

Just then, a dark shadow came over the waters above them. It was a ship, and a rather large one at that. For a brief instant, Bruce feared it might be a fishing boat. What if they chum the waters? he thought. Then another – even worse – thought crossed his mind: What if they saw Atalaya? What if they catch her? The thought of losing control in front of the princess embarrassed him, he realized, but the thought of losing her to a fisherman's net downright scared him.

Sebastian noticed his worried expression and looked up to see Atalaya swimming uncomfortably close to the surface, examining the ship. "Atalaya, child, get away from dere! You know how dangerous de humans are!"

"I just want a closer look," she called back down to them. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

"Dat girl is so much like Ariel," Sebastian muttered.

She started swimming upward, but then stopped short and gasped in surprise. A smile lit up her face.

Bruce had begun to swim closer, anxious to let the mermaid too far from his sight. Sebastian called out from his perch atop the shark's dorsal fin. "Dat is close enough, young lady! What if dat is a fishing boat?"

To his surprise, the girl actually turned and began swimming back to them. She shook her head, still smiling. "It's not a fishing boat," she said. "It's a carnival ship! They're playing music! You can hear it closer to the surface. C'mon!"

She grabbed Bruce's fin and began to attempt to pull him toward the ship. Hesitantly, Bruce followed.

Sebastian was incredulous. "Are you out of your mind? What do you tink you are doing, mon? Don't encourage her! She'll – "

"Shhhh!" Atalaya held a finger to lips. "Listen."

Music wafted down through the waves like the gentle sound of rain upon the sea. It was soft and slow, eerie yet enchanting, as though it held the entire expanse of open water within the power of its magical spell. Even Sebastian, stick in the mud that he was, was captivated. It was some of the most beautiful music the royal composer had ever heard.

Atalaya grabbed Bruce's fin again. "Dance with me!" she said.

Bruce was shocked. Was the princess really asking him to dance? "Uh…I don't know…" He was afraid he'd make a fool of himself.

"C'mon! Pleeeease?"

That look on her face was so irresistible. How could he ever deny her anything when she was looking at him like that? Shoot, at this point, he would've swam right into a fisherman's net if she'd asked him to.

"I…I don't really know how…" He was stalling.

"Then I'll teach you." She took his other fin in her free hand and began slowly swimming in a circle with him. "See? It's not so hard!"

Bruce wasn't so sure about that. In fact, it was very hard for him to concentrate on anything other than her eyes for the moment.

"Now, spin me!" she instructed.

Bruce gave her a gentle twirl, careful not to underestimate his strength.

"Oh, c'mon! You can do better than that!" she teased. She laughed again when she saw the worry in his eyes. "I'm not some human's porcelain doll! You won't break me! Try it again."

He spun her again, this time a bit harder, though still quite gentle for a great white. He watched her spin. Round and around like a spinner dolphin dancing on the waves, like a warm current when it meets the cold waters of the arctic, like the tiny golden figure of her mother and father inside the music box Triton had given Athena on their wedding day. Her waist-length curls swirled around her waist and clung to her body, accentuating her curves and giving her an almost radiant appearance.

"That," she laughed, "was amazing!" She was slightly out of breath. "You're a fast learner! I knew you could dance if you tried." She smiled.

By now the ship had headed on, and only a faint whisper of the notes could still be heard over the natural song of the sea. Atalaya would have loved to listen some more, but unfortunately, the ship was headed in the opposite direction from Atlantica, and they needed to get moving if they wanted to get back in time to beat Ty.

"Well," she said "I guess we'd better get going. But that was a lot of fun! Maybe next time I can teach you to dance to something faster. You should come listen to Sebastian's music sometime. He really is a great court composer! Maybe…maybe you can come visit me at the castle sometime."

"I'm not so sure your father would be too 'appy about that, mate."

"Well, when I'm queen, you'll always be welcome in Atlantica." She smiled then gave a mischievous smirk. "Last one there is a rotten sea turtle egg!" She took off again, laughing and zigzagging through the kelp just as before, her silvery tail shimmering like diamonds with every beam of sunlight that touched her.

All Bruce could do was stare after her, as if in a trance. How in the world would he ever be able to leave her in Atlantica in some strange merman's arms to become the next queen? He didn't deserve her, he knew, but then again, Ty certainly didn't deserve her either. He would be chopped up and made into a bowl of shark fin soup before he'd let that little urchin have her. Truthfully, he hated the thoughts of leaving her with anyone, even if he was the best merman in the entire ocean. But he had to think of Atalaya first. Whatever was best for her would just have to be okay with him because he lov – no, he wouldn't allow himself to think that – because he really cared about her, and if she was happy, that was all that mattered.

"Bruce!" a voice from behind his dorsal fin called out. "Snap out of it, mon!"

"Huh? Wha-Oh…Sorry, 'Bastian. I was just…thinking."

"I know exactly what you were tinking, too, and don't you deny it! I've seen de way you look at her." He pointed an accusing claw at the shark. "Dat dere is dangerous tinking, mon! You'll be in hot water wid de king for sure!"

Bruce looked back at the crab, misunderstanding the meaning behind his accusation. He was hurt by his friend's sudden loss of faith in his ability to control his appetite. "Oh, no! 'Snot like that, mate! I would never hurt – "

"What?" Sebastian was somewhat confused before he finally understood their communication error. "No-no-no-no! Dat's not what I meant!"

"Huh?"

The crab's gaze softened. "You love her, don't you?"

"Oh! Well…I, uh…" The shark stuttered as he reassessed the crab's words, embarrassed both by his ease to jump to conclusions as well as his inability to hid his true feelings for the princess. Bruce wasn't sure if sharks could blush, but he felt certain that if they could, he'd be the color of one of those bright red buoys in the Sydney harbor. "Uh…" He sighed, not knowing exactly what to say about the situation. "Is it that obvious?"

"Anyone would have to be blind to miss it!"

Bruce paused to collect his thoughts before speaking. "I've never felt this way about anyone before. She's so…perfect. She's beautiful, brave, and a lot of fun to be around. And she wasn't scared of me. It's like…like she really understands me, ya know. No one's ever been like that around me before." He sighed again. "I know it's impossible. I just wish…"

"I know." Sebastian gave him a sympathetic look. "And so do I…but I don't see how it would work, and de king…" Sebastian shook his head.

"I know. I know. But, hey, a shark can dream, right?" He grinned as he mimicked Ariel's words.

"Yes." Sebastian eyed him suspiciously. "I suppose dere's no harm in dat."

Chapter 8: Discovering the Truth

"For de tousandth time, would you please stop dat!"

Sebastian glared up at the shark who had been circling him for quite some time. Had it been any other shark, he would have been scared out of his wits, but by now he'd learned to trust Bruce. The nervous great white had been "pacing" anxiously for nearly an hour now, and it was beginning to get on the crab's nerves.

Bruce paused and sighed before speaking to his friend. "Sorry, mate…I'm just sorta worried 'bout tomorrow. I mean, 'ow do ya think the king will react to seein' me again after…well, after what 'appened last time I was there? I'm not even s'posed to be out of the dungeon!"

"Don't worry about it, mon! I'm sure dat once everyting has been explained, tings will be fine. Tink positively, mon!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right, but even Atalaya seemed a bit upset today." He grinned. "It's 'ard enough for me not be nervous 'round her!" Sebastian gave him a slight look of disapproval, and he cleared his throat before continuing. "Seriously, though, what's eatin' 'er?"

"This time it was Sebastian's turn to sigh. "Tomorrow is de princess' birfthday. If de king does not find her a husband before de sun sets tomorrow – less dan twenty-four hours from now – de curse will be permanent, and she may be sent into exile again."

Bruce frowned. The thought of leaving her in Atlantica saddened him, but leaving her in exile would be too much. What was this curse everyone kept talking about, anyway? As far as he could tell, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the princess as she was. "Maybe…Maybe there's still 'ope. Time's not up, yet…" Suddendly, he brightened. "'Ey! What if we got her a birthday present? Ya know, ta cheer 'er up?"

Sebastian pondered the thought for a minute. "Well, it can't hurt," he concluded.

"Great! I know the perfect spot!" He turned to leave before looking back at Sebastian. "You comin', mate?"

"No, you go on." He yawned. "I tink I'll go catch some shut-eye."

Bruce shrugged. "Suit yourself, mate. G'night, 'Bastian."

The crab yawned again. "Good night."

He watched the shark swim off into the distance until he could barely make out the massive silhouette in the moonlit waters. He was about to crawl into a small covert in the rocks when a slight movement caught his attention. It seemed to come from the direction of an underwater cave where he distinctly remembered having left the princess when she retired for the night at sunset. Curiously, he crawled over to the mouth of the cavern and peered inside where a maze of tunnels split the path into several different directions.

"Atalaya?" he whispered. "Princess?"

He swallowed hard, then took a step into the darkened doorway, keeping close eye on the mouth of the cave and the safety of the moonlight. He took a few more steps and cautiously peeked around the corner of a tunnel lit by a small hole in the roof that allowed the moonlight to spill into the cave, a trickle of silver in an ocean of black. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw the glimmer of a fin slashing through the water. Sebastian whirled around and gasped as he came face to face with the gaping jaws of an enormous great white shark. And it wasn't Bruce.

"Aaaaahhhh! Bruce! Help! Hel – mmmph!" A huge fin muffled his scream.

"Shhhh! Sebastian, what are you doing here?"

The crab ceased his struggling, shocked that the strange shark knew his name as well as the fact that the voice was female…and it sounded oddly familiar. The shark stared at the crab with pleading eyes.

"Sebastian, it's me!"

It took a moment before reality finally dawned on him, and the shark released her grip. Sebastian's eyes were wide with disbelief. "Atalaya?"

The shark bit her lip and nodded sadly.

"B-but how did you…? I mean who…? What happened to you, child?"

Atalaya sighed. She didn't answer his question immediately, but instead began reciting a poem.

By a day a mermaid you shall be, beautiful and fair

A slender waist, a pretty face, and long and flowing hair,

But when the sun has set, my child, and all the ocean's dark,

A demon fierce, with teeth that pierce; you shall be a shark.

"That's the spell that Ursula put on me when I was a little girl," she whispered. "This is what it does to me every night. It turns me into this – this THING! I hate it! And if I can't find my true love by tomorrow night, then I'll be stuck this way forever!"

"Now, child, it's not dat bad."

Sebastian put a claw on her fin and looked up at her face. She was close enough to the doorway now so that he could see her full form, and now, for the first time, he noticed just how much she had changed. She was large – perhaps the biggest shark he'd ever seen besides Bruce. Gone was her slender mermaid figure, replaced with a large, bulky shape that somewhat resembled a torpedo. Her once smooth, porcelain-white skin was now rough and sandpaper-like, yet even as a shark, she was attractive. Rather than the slate gray color of most great whites' skin, hers was a glittering silver that mimicked the color of the moonlight on the ocean's surface. Every now and then there was a fleck of gold – remnants of her beautiful shining tresses. Only her eyes remained unchanged. They were the same deep sea blue-gray as before.

"I'm sure dat you are still de most beautiful shark in all of de sea!"

"But Sebastian," her voice was breaking, "I'm a princess. This isn't how a princess is supposed to look! I'm supposed to be beautiful, not terrifying! I look like a monster!"

"Nonsense, child! Why, any merman or shark would consider himself lucky to be wid you." Sebastian paused for a moment before continuing. "Speaking of which…you know, you are great white…and Bruce…Well, you two would make quite de couple."

Atalaya swam toward the back of the cave so that she was just out of reach of the moonbeams that threatened to illuminate her gigantic figure. She looked down sadly. "He's too good for me."

"What in de seven seas are you talking about?"

"He's so…sweet. He's gentle and kind…" There was a dreamy look in her eyes. "And he's so dedicated. Every instinct, every fiber of his being tells him to hunt – to eat meat, not seaweed or kelp! He doesn't really get any personal benefit from it…but he does it anyway…Just because he can. Because he has a good heart." She frowned. "He makes it look so easy, but it's not. I don't know how he does it."

"I'm glad dat you tink so highly of him, child. He is a very good shak – peculiar, perhaps, but good. And for all his efforts, he does deserve praise, but he is not perfect. You know about what happened at de banquet."

"Sebastian, you don't understand what it's like! I DO!"

"Why, you've never harmed anudder creature as long as you've lived, child!" His face fell when he saw the somber look on her face. "…Have you?..."

She looked away. "Why do you think Daddy banished me to the tower." It was more of a statement than a question. "Atlantica has been a safe haven for mermen and fish for centuries. It's the king's job to continue to maintain the peace at all costs…even if it means sending your own daughter into exile. When I became a threat, I had to leave. No one knew it was me but Daddy."

"What do you mean by threat?" he asked, not wanting to believe what he was hearing.

"I've killed fish, Sebastian! I've hurt some of my best friends! Do you even have any idea how hard it is just for me to be this close to you right now? I'm dangerous, Sebastian!"

She was practically yelling at this point, and poor Sebastian was at a loss for words. It was difficult for him to imagine Atalaya, the sweet, loveable, courageous young mermaid he had known since her childhood, as a fish-killer. Nevertheless, she was still his friend, and, like Ariel, he loved her as though she were his own daughter.

He put a claw to his chin in thought. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. "I've got it! You don't tink dat de king will find your true love in just one day, right?" Atalaya nodded. "And you're afraid of being stuck as a shak because you don't want to hurt anyone and be sent back into exile, right?"

"Yeah…" She raised an eyebrow, unsure of where Sebastian was going with this idea.

"So why don't you see if Bruce can help you? I'm sure dat he wouldn't mind. You could help each udder. And you could be together."

She shook her head. "It's not that simple. Daddy is counting on me to be the next queen. If I'm not a mermaid again by tomorrow night, I'll lose the throne!"

"Have you evah considered dat Bruce might be your true love?"

Had she been in her mermaid form, Atalaya would have been blushing. "Oh, Sebastian! I love him, I really do! More than anything, I do, but…"

"But what, girl?"

"But true love doesn't work when it's only one-sided."

"He loves you, too, you, you know."

"Really?" Her face lit up for split second before she frowned again. "No, he doesn't. He loves the mermaid-me, not the shark-me."

"He might if you gave him de chance."

"Not if he knew how bad I am at controlling my instincts…I would be a bad influence on him…I would embarrass him…He thinks I'm a wonderful person, but I'm not, and…I don't ever want him to see me like this. I don't want him to know what I've done." She swallowed hard and let a stray tear fall down her cheek. "Who could ever love such a horrible, bloodthirsty monster? That's why I can't say here with Bruce. Don't you see, Sebastian? That's just the way it has to be."

Sebastian yawned involuntarily, and Atalaya smiled softly, her rows of jagged teeth sparkling in the moonlight. "Guess you'd better get some sleep. Big day tomorrow."

"Don't worry, child. Everyting will work out. You'll see."

Chapter 9: Heartbreak

Bruce had been scouring the sea floor for hours, looking for just the right gift for Atalaya's birthday. He had originally planned to look for pearls at an oyster bed he had spotted earlier in the day, but when he had approached the oysters to enquire about their wares, he was greeted with the snapping closed of shells followed by the silent treatment. Though he tried for quite some time to convince them of his peaceful mission, not a single oyster would open up. Had he truly wanted to, he could have easily used his powerful jaws to crack their shells with little effort, but clearly, that would have been a violation of the FEA philosophy, and therefore, was completely out of the question.

Frustrated, he continued to search fruitlessly until he came upon what appeared to be the wreckage of an ancient Spanish galleon – a treasure ship, no doubt! Bruce grinned. This was perfect! Certainly he would find something in the wreckage worthy of a princess. He glanced around, uncertain of where to begin, when a flash of silver caught his eye. Too still to be a fish, he thought. Swimming closer to examine the object, he caught his breath. It was a wind chime.

Carefully, he scooped up the precious object in his right fin, using the left to clear away the sand that clung to it, revealing a tiny silver mermaid perched inside the open shell of a silver clam shell at the top of the chimes. The workmanship was clearly that of a fine artist. In fact, it was so realistic that he half expected the tiny woman to swim right out of the shell! It was exquisitely crafted – though not half as gorgeous as the princess herself. It didn't capture the sparkle in her eyes or the slight blush of her cheeks, but then, Bruce doubted that any artist – no matter how well-renowned – could ever duplicate such things. Breathlessly, he gently grasped the silver chain that looped through a tiny circular extension of the clam shell and let the chimes clink together. It was amazing. Like the sound of waves lapping against the shore or the way that he imagined fluorescent plankton, swirling like golden pixie dust in the currents, would sound if they could sing. Like magic. It wasn't quite the same pitch as her laugh, he decided, but it was close enough. This was the perfect gift! He cupped a giant fin around the wind chime to muffle the sound and sped back toward the cave where they had stopped for the night. He couldn't wait to show Sebastian what he'd found. He was sure Atalaya would love it.

As he approached the cave, he heard voices. He drew closer and determined that the voices belonged to none other than Sebastian and Atalaya. He was about to turn away when he heard what sounded like his name somewhere in their discussion. Were they talking about him? What did Atalaya think of him, he wondered. His heart pounded so hard that he feared it might burst from his chest. He debated whether or not he should listen in. It wasn't really any of his business, he supposed, and generally, he tried to avoid eavesdropping, but if they were talking about him, he did have a right to know what was going on, right?...He swam a bit closer. The princess was speaking again.

"…Who could ever love such a horrible, bloodthirsty monster? That's why I can't stay here with Bruce. Don't you see, Sebastian? That's just the way it has to be."

His countenance fell. Bruce felt as though he'd just swallowed a lead weight. He let the wind chime fall to the sand, then turned and swam away, leaving in his wake a trail of stirred up sand and the fragments of his broken heart.

After Sebastian had left, Atalaya began to seriously think about his words. Was it possible that Bruce really was her true love? Would he love her even as a shark – despite her mistakes? Would he understand? Were she to remain a shark, could he help her? Should she tell him her secret? For hours she wondered and worried, swimming back and forth until she felt sure that the currents generated from her movements must be eroding a rather large hole in the sand. Finally, frustrated and tired from pacing, she made up her mind to show him the truth. She wasn't really sure if the whole "true-love's-kiss-breaks-the-spell" thing would work even if he did love her since, technically, they weren't the same species. But at this point, she didn't care. If being with Bruce meant being a shark for the rest of her life, then so be it. And if she lost the throne…well, she'd just have to figure that one out later.

Swimming over to the entrance, she paused at the threshold, noticing a faint glimmer a few feet away that she had not noticed before. Cautiously, she swam closer and hovered over the strange object. It appeared to be a tiny mermaid perched within an open clam shell with a silver chain on top and small silver rods dangling below. It was a human item, that much was certain, but like her fiery-haired sister, she had an innate curiosity and a strange attraction to danger and the forbidden. Carefully, she picked it up, only to drop it after being startled by the sudden tinkling sound that it emitted. She picked it up again, this time grasping the chain in one fin and using the other to make the chimes move. She smiled, delighted by its beautiful melody. It reminded her of when her mother used to sing her to sleep. Feeling certain that it must have been a gift from Bruce, she felt the heat rise to her cheeks and her courage faltered. She couldn't let him see her like this. Not tonight. I'll tell him in the morning, she thought.

Chapter 10: Saying Good-bye

Sebastian was up and ready to go by the time the first rays of dawn had pierced the surface of the sea, staining the water a magnificent shade of rosy pink. Today was the big day, and they needed to get back to Atlantica as soon as possible – preferably before sunset. He was just about to go looking for Bruce and Atalaya to tell them that it was time to leave when he heard a voice behind him.

"Bruce? Bruce? Where are you?"

It was undoubtedly the princess. She swam up to him, once again a mermaid.

"Sebastian, have you seen Bruce? I've been looking all over the place, but I can't find him."

She realized how ridiculous that must sound. Seriously, she thought to herself, how hard can it be to find a twenty-something foot, several thousand pound shark?

Looking at her in her radiant mermaid form, it would have been easy for him to dismiss the events of the previous night as simply a bad dream, but something about the way those stormy, sea-colored eyes looked at him told the crab that she knew he knew her secret.

"Hmmm…Dat's strange. I haven't seen him, eider. Not since last night."

Just then a large, familiar shadow passed overhead. Atalaya swam up to meet him. "Bruce! There you are! I've been looking all over for – Are you okay?"

"Fine." She could practically feel the ice in his voice. The mermaid bit her lip.

"Maybe this isn't the best time to say this, but there's something I need to tell you."

He turned to face her, and for the first time since she'd met him, Atalaya felt truly afraid of his presence. "I know."

"Y-you heard?" she asked, a bit embarrassed. "All of it?"

"I 'eard enough."

Atalaya looked down. "I thought you would understand," she whispered.

"Oh, I understand, alright." He shook his head. "I thought you were different…But you're just like everyone else." He started to say something else but stopped short. He shook his head again and turned to leave.

A pinch on his tail made him peer back over his shoulder. "Bruce, mon! What are you doing? Atlantica is dat way!" Sebastian pointed a claw in the opposite direction to indicate his point.

"'S only a day's journey, mate." He smiled sadly at his crustacean friend. "I think it'd be best if we part ways 'ere."

"But-but – "

"Sorry, mate. 'S time for me to be movin' on. Tell Ariel I said good-bye." He winced. "And give the king my sincerest apology. I won't forget you, mate. G'bye, 'Bastian." He nodded toward Atalaya. "Princess."

"Bruce, wait!"

The mermaid stretched her hand toward him. For a moment, their eyes met, reflective pools of sea gray and sapphire blue, locked in silence. Finally, Atalaya dropped her eyes, unspoken words caught in her throat. He turned to leave once again, knowing that this time, there would be no turning back. The girl's hand slipped to her side.

"Don't go," she whispered.

She stared after him for awhile, watching his hulking, torpedo-like form grow smaller and smaller against the crimson morning sea. Sighing, she turned to head home.

"C'mon, Sebastian, we'd better get going." There was no response. "Sebastian?"

She felt someone grip her left arm.

"Aaaahhh!"

A strong, bronze arm wrapped around her other shoulder and clamped a hand over her mouth. He grinned evilly and placed his lips close to her ear. The voice was as smooth and silky as his chestnut-colored curls. "Hello, Princess."

Chapter 11: Love Conquers All

Bruce had barely made it a couple of miles even thought the sun was now high overhead. Ordinarily, he would have traveled much faster, but his mind was elsewhere, so the going was slow. He tried to think of home to lift his spirits. He was going back to the FEA, to Marlin and Dory and Nemo and all his fishy friends, to the beautiful Great Barrier Reef. He should be happy, he thought, but for some reason, the thought of going home just wasn't as comforting as it should have been. Going home meant leaving Atlantica behind, and leaving Atlantica meant leaving Atalaya.

No matter how hard he tried, he simply could not exterminate her from his mind. He kept feeling her eyes in the water around him, glimpsing her tail in the shattered pieces of a mirror from an old shipwreck, hearing her laugh in the clicks and whistles of the dolphins who whirled and flipped through the air like trained acrobats.

But then her words echoed in his head. Who could ever love such a horrible, bloodthirsty monster? They hit him like a blow to the gills. He sighed. Would the hurt ever go away? This was almost worse than when his father had – but, no. There was no sense in bringing up that, too. It would only make things worse.

His stomach growled. He'd been too upset to eat anything the night before, and now he was paying for it. There was no kelp in sight, and he was ravenous. He rolled his eyes.

"Great," he muttered to himself, "one more thing to worry about."

He was about to search for a kelp bed – or the debris of a shipwreck if he got desperate – when a red streak from out of nowhere came crashing into his right pectoral fin.

"Bruce, mon," the crab panted, "tank goodness I found you."

"'Bastian?" he asked, somewhat surprised to see his friend again so soon. "What are you doin' 'ere? I thought you were with – " He faltered.

Sebastian picked up before he had the chance to continue. "She's been kidnapped!"

"What?"

"I left her for one split second, and by de time I got back, Titan and his henchmen had her! He knows dat we told her de truth about him, and he treatened her to marry him widout question unless she wanted to see her fadder killed right before her eyes! And de worse part is," he puffed, "he has been made second in command! He carries de king's trident!"

Bruce studied his weary crustacean friend, carefully pondering over what he had just learned. He gave it his best effort to appear indifferent, but his eyes betrayed the worry in his heart.

"What do you want me to do?"

"What do you mean, 'What do you want me to do?'?" he asked incredulously. "We have to save her!"

"Why should I?" Bruce asked, suddenly angry. "She hates me!"

"How can you say dat?"

"She called me a bloodthirsty monster!"

"She wasn't talking about you!" Sebastian yelled. "She was talking about – " He stopped, realizing he was about to betray Atalaya's secret. "She was talking about someone else," he added quietly.

Bruce was shocked. "Really?"

Sebastian nodded.

"So…she doesn't hate me?"

"Hate you? Ha! Dat girl is head ovah fins for you!"

The shark froze, feeling certain that his heart must have stopped beating. "What?" he whispered.

"Confound it, mon! De girl LOVES you!"

For once in his life, Bruce felt the sudden urge to cut a backflip but thought better of it and decided to take a different approach. "Well, what're we waitin' for? We've got a princess to save! Uh…again…"

Sebastian gave the shark a good-natured punch on the shoulder. "Dat's de spirit, mon! Let's go!"

Back in Atlantica, the royal courtyard was bustling with excitement. Word had spread that Ty had returned, and with him, their beloved Princess Atalaya, whom he had not only rescued from the tower but also saved from the same bloodthirsty shark who had ruined the royal banquet and escaped the palace prison. Today was both her birthday and her wedding day, and to celebrate, the king had been planning an elaborate ceremony for weeks. All of Atlantica had been invited, and not surprisingly, all but the very old, the infirm, and the very young showed up. Today was a day that would go down in mermaid history, and few wanted to miss the opportunity to witness such an event.

Currently, the bride-to-be and her fiancée were floating beneath a beautiful archway decorated with magnificent corals and sea plants from the palace garden. The king himself hovered behind them, reading the wedding vows from a weathered old scroll. Ty was beaming with pride, and the princess – bless the dear child – was crying tears of "joy." A giant clam shell chariot tied to the most beautiful seahorses in the royal paddock, waited nearby, ready to whisk them away on a honeymoon the moment the wedding was over. The chattering of the crowd fell to a hushed silence as the sea king asked first his future son-in-law, then his daughter, to make their life-long vows.

"I do." Ty's voice, rich and melodic as a siren's song, flowed over the crowd. He was still holding the king's trident, a symbol of his status as second in command and future king of Atlantica.

Triton turned to his daughter and smiled warmly. It had been so long since he'd seen her. "And do you, Atalaya, take Titan to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

Atalaya froze, eyes wide with fear and uncertainty. The crowd began to whisper again.

"Poor girl. She's so nervous, she can't speak!"

She glanced from Ty to her father, then back again. To the crowd, he appeared as chivalrous and debonair as ever, but to her, there was no mistaking the murder in his eyes. Breaking from her trance, she threw her arms around her father's chest. "Oh, Daddy, I –"

"STOP DE WEDDING!"

Gasping, everyone turned to see Sebastian, riding on the tailfin of the largest great white they'd ever seen with Ariel and Flounder by his side. Screams filled the courtyard, and the crowd began to scatter.

Atalaya looked up. "Bruce?"

"No! No! It's okay!" Ariel tried unsuccessfully to calm the crowd. "He's with us! He's –" The little mermaid looked up to see the king glaring down at her. She gave an innocent smile. "Heh heh…Hi, Daddy."

"Ariel! What is the meaning of this?"

"Daddy, you have to stop the wedding. Ty's dangerous! He's planning to – "

"Dangerous? You miss your own sister's wedding to go looking for human things and then come back with that – that shark and call Titan dangerous? Why, that shark – "

"I wasn't out exploring!"

"Young lady, DO NOT interrupt – "

"He put me and Flounder in the dungeon!"

Sebastian joined in. "It's true, Your Majesty! He has a plan to take over de trone, and – "

"This has gone far enough! Sebastian, I'm very disappointed in you. Ariel, take Flounder home, and then go to your room. And as for you…" He turned toward Bruce. "I trusted you once, and you made a fool of me. I should have known you'd be just like your father. I let you off easy putting you in the dungeon. Had you waited long enough, I would have set you free and banished you from Atlantica, but even then you betrayed my confidence that you would have the decency not to try to escape. This time, I won't be so forgiving. Titan, my trident, please."

"I don't think so, Your Majesty."

Triton turned to face the boy. "What…did…you…say?"

The Atlanticans who had not fled grew suddenly silent, jaws hanging agape at the audacity of the future prince.

"Well, well, well…If it isn't the king's pet crab and the shark who claims to be a vegetarian." He gave Bruce a look of utter disgust, as if he was nauseated by the very sight of the great white. He chuckled darkly. "Thought you'd get to be the hero, didn't you? Rescue the princess and save the day so you'll be adored by all of Atlantica – maybe even have her for yourself. Figures," he sneered. "She looks like your type. Unfortunately, I needed her to get this." He wielded the trident with all of the power and pride of an evil emperor. "Of course, I was planning on doing away with her and her father quietly, but since your ruined my little surprise, you leave me no choice. Pity," he glanced over at Atalaya, who was struggling to get loose from the iron grip of his left hand. "I was so hoping to enjoy our honeymoon first."

"Let me go!" she screamed.

He wrapped his right arm, still holding the trident, around her and pulled her closer. He leaned in to kiss her when she unexpectedly bit him on the nose. Had they been in less serious circumstances, Bruce would have laughed.

"Why you little – " In a flash, he swiped a cake knife off the table behind him and held it to her throat.

"No!" Triton reached forward, only to be sent hurtling over backwards by the force of a bolt from the trident.

"Seize them!"

From out of nowhere, guards hidden among the crowd as ordinary citizens came forward to restrain the king and Ariel, tossing nets over Sebastian and Flounder so that they were completely helpless, but when it came to Bruce, they hesitated.

"Leave the shark," Ty called. "I'll do away with him myself. But first, let's have a little fun, shall we?" He forced the knife closer to her throat. "Ready to watch your girlfriend die?"

Bruce had never been so angry in his life. He spoke through clenched teeth, using every bit of his strength to fight the urge to snap the insolent merman in half. "If you kill her, I'll – "

"Foolish shark," he sneered. "Why on earth would I want to kill her," he paused, "when having you do it would be so much more…entertaining." He grinned evilly. "Hungry?"

In one swift motion, he removed the knife from her throat, raised his hand high, and brought it down hard, bury the blade deep into her side and staining the water red with blood.

Bruce went rigid. Everywhere he turned, everywhere he looked, the water was crimson, filling his nose, his gills, and his mouth with the sweet, metallic taste of blood. All of his hunger came flooding back. He could feel himself losing control, slipping into the cold, dark world of a mindless killer, giving into the primeval urges to hunt and survive.

But before he could give in, a distant, far away sound caught his attention. It was a scream. A scream of pain from Atalaya. Pain that Ty had inflicted. It grew louder and louder until it became the only thing that existed in his world. With a sudden surge of adrenaline, Bruce barreled forward, knocking Ty to the ground with the full force of his weight and tossing the trident far out of his reach.

He backed Ty up against a slab of rock. He desperately wanted to sink his teeth into the wretched merman, but something restrained him. H leaned forward so that his mouth was less than a foot away from Ty's head. "I could kill you right now if I wanted to. But unlike some people, I know that power's not all about pushin' your weight around. 'S 'bout showing mercy. Now get out."

The king, who had regained his trident during the foray, was glaring at Ty. "And until you can learn how to properly handle the power that comes with authority, young Titan, perhaps you should spend a little time learning about the true meaning of mercy." One quick flash of the trident, and Bruce found himself face to face not with an arrogant, handsome young merman, but a sleek little anchovy, quaking with fear. "You'd better hope the other sharks and fisherman are as merciful as Bruce." The king sent an apologetic glance to the shark, then glared at the little fish, who screamed and swam for his life.

He turned to face his betrayers. "Does anyone else need to learn a lesson?"

A somewhat incoherent murmur of "No, Your Majesty," rose from the crowd of traitors, who hung their heads in shame.

"Good."

Having taken care of the threat, Triton and Bruce turned to Atalaya, who lay on the ground, holding her side in pain. Using what little strength she had left, she reached up with her free hand to grasp Bruce's fin, looking up at him with a dazed, pain-filled expression.

"Bruce," she whispered hoarsely.

That magnificent sparkle had left her eyes, which had faded from a dazzling blue to a dull, lifeless gray. Bruce had seen that look before – had seen it all too often back when he was a carnivore on the faces of hunted fish and injured seals who'd begged for mercy at his fins but received none. But there was something different about her stare, something that beckoned him closer rather than sending him away. He swallowed hard. She was dying.

The blood still poured from her wound, making it difficult for the shark to concentrate, but he found that as long as he held her gaze, he could stay in control. As he found himself looking into her eyes, he was overcome with another emotion with which he was unaccustomed – fear. He was so afraid to look away from her beautiful face, so utterly terrified that if, for a single second, he so much as blinked, he would lose the only creature who he'd ever loved enough to overcome his bad habits and be the shark he truly wanted to be. And death, he realized, was something he could never control, no matter how much he might wish it.

A stinging at the back of his eyes threatened to turn into tears. He tried to force them back, but this was one internal battle he knew he would lose, and at long last, he gave in and looked away out of shame and self-hatred for showing his weakness. What would his father think if he could see him now, reduced to tears in front of all of Atlantica over a girl he'd only known for about a week?

"I – I'm so sorry, Princess," he stammered. "If I'd stayed with you, none of this woulda ever happened. I – "

"No," her voice was barely audible. "I'm sorry. I should have told you before now…" she trailed off. There was a faraway look in her eyes, as though she was not longer looking at Bruce but something or someone way off in the distance. The setting sun reflected off her hair, giving the mergirl a glowing, almost angelic appearance. She smiled weakly. "I guess…I can show you, now."

"Show me what?"

Atalaya made an attempt to prop herself up against a nearby rock. "Just…watch…"

As the sun slipped beneath the waves, its dying glow reflected off her mother's necklace, which suddenly became illuminated and began to grow larger and brighter until the glare was so immense that Bruce had to look away. He felt the waters around him begin to churn, forming a whirlpool of light centered around Atalaya, spinning ever faster and coiling ever tighter until she was no longer visible. A final magnificent surge from the center of the whirlpool blasted rays of light and showers of sparkling water in all directions, clearing the murky, blood-darkened water to reveal a large female great white with sparkling silver skin and sea-colored eyes. A jagged white scar trailed down her right side, all traces of bleeding sealed off by her thick shark skin. Around her neck was a very familiar necklace. She smiled sheepishly, exposing her rows of white, razor-like teeth.

There were gasps from the crowd. Some shrieked. Others fainted. But Bruce could do nothing but stare open-mouthed and dumbstruck at the gorgeous shark before him.

"Well…" she asked, "what do you think now that…now that you know the truth?" She bit her lip nervously.

Bruce shook off his stupor. "I think…" He paused to glance at Sebastian, who urged him to continue. "I think that you should know the truth about me, too. I…I love you, Atalaya." He blurted out the words before he had a chance to change his mind.

She gazed up at him, eyes brimming with tears of joy. "I love you, too, Bruce." Without even thinking, she closed her eyes and pressed her lips against his.

Initially, he stiffened, surprised by her sudden affection and unsure of how to react, but then he relaxed and gave in, returning the kiss. He felt a sudden surge of emotions unlike anything he'd ever felt before racing through his veins. He was powerful and weak at the same time, strong and emboldened yet disoriented and confused, completely free but a prisoner of her love, alive to the possibilities of the future and dead to all the memories of his past. His heart raced with joy. So this is what love feels like, he thought. Her kiss was gentle and chaste, but sweeter than any fish he'd ever tasted. And somehow, he knew he'd never have that problem again now that he had a reason to quit, a reason to hope – a reason to live.

He was so wrapped up in these thoughts that he failed to notice the swirling waters had again returned, and everyone in the crowd was cheering. The curse had been lifted once and for all! But when the rose-hued waters settled, their countenance fell. Nothing had changed. She was still a shark.

Atalaya stared helplessly at her father and Bruce. She'd been afraid that this might happen, but she'd been under the curse for so long that a part of her had really wanted to believe that she'd be a mermaid again. "I don't get it." She shook her head sadly. "I'm supposed to be myself again…I'm supposed to be beautiful."

Bruce took both of her fins in his and looked her square in the eyes. "But you are beautiful."

"Really?"

Bruce raised his right fin. "On my honor, or may I be chopped up and be made into soup," he said, quoting his infamous FEA mantra.

He grinned and Atalaya giggled – that same magical, light-hearted laughter that he'd become accustomed to. They stared into one another's eyes, completely lost in their own little world. So completely lost, in fact, that they had failed to notice King Triton floating uncomfortably close nearby.

"Well, now, Atalaya, you didn't tell me about all of this." He raised an eyebrow and gave her a stern look, but she couldn't help but notice a faint smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Embarrassed by the audacity of his actions, Bruce quickly released her fins and backed away. "Forgive me, Your Majesty. I'm sorry. I – "

Triton held up a hand. "Sorry? For what? Saving my daughter's life? Helping save my kingdom? I see no reason for you to apologize. In fact, if anything, I'm afraid I owe you an apology. Once again, I have misjudged you. For that, I am truly sorry, and for saving my daughter's life, I am eternally grateful. You are always welcome in Atlantica."

Bruce nodded courteously. "Thank you, Your Majesty."

"As for you, Atalaya," he looked sadly at his daughter, who was now significantly larger than himself in her shark form, "it has been wonderful to finally see you again. You remind me so much of your mother…Unfortunately, only merfolk can rule the throne of Atlantica, and if you cannot learn to control yourself, I'm afraid you shall have to leave once again." He placed a gentle hand on her right fin. "You are my daughter, and I will always love you – whether you are a mermaid or a shark…but I must think of what is best for Atlantica. I'm sorry."

"Yes, Daddy." She looked down, unable to meet his eyes, wishing she could disappear.

Suddenly, Bruce brightened. "Your Majesty, if I may, I 'ave a suggestion that might 'elp with the situation."

Triton looked up, interested, and nodded. "Go on."

"Remember when I told you 'bout the FEA? The support group my friends an' I started for sharks who want to stop eating fish? We're just gettin' started, and there aren't many members so far, but perhaps if the princess came to some of the meetings…" He trailed off. "'Course, it'd be entirely up to her if she wanted to come. Australia's a long way off and – "

"Bruce, I'd love to go!" She looked at her father with pleading eyes. "Can I, Daddy?"

"What? Go live with a young man – er, shark – who lives half-way across the ocean? I think not! No daughter of mine will be seen staying with anyone until she is married." His voice was stern, but there was a twinkle in his eyes.

Bruce and Atalaya glanced first at one another, then at the king. "Can we?" Atalaya asked.

"Well, seeing as we are still set up for a wedding, and it is quite clear that you care for one another…I don't see why not. That is, of course, if you're sure it's what you really want."

"Oh, yes, Daddy! More than anything, it's what I want!"

He turned to Bruce. "And you?"

"I'd be honored, Your Majesty."

"Then you have my blessing." He turned to the remaining audience of Atlanticans. "Hear, now, citizens of Atlantica: I hereby proclaim these sharks husband and wife in the sight of God, merfolk, and all sea creatures. Let it be known throughout the sea that from this day forward, they are under my protection. Long may their marriage last, and long live Atlantica!"

A roaring cheer erupted from the crowd. The king smiled warmly at his daughter and his new son-in-law. Ariel and Flounder high-fived, and Sebastian used a claw to wipe a tear from his eye. But Atalaya and Bruce were not aware of any of it…They were lost in a kiss again, and all they could see was their future together.

Chapter 12: Happily Ever After

"So, Marlin, ready for the big day?" the great white teased his clownfish friend.

"Oh, I hope so. I just know I forgot something. Something's gonna go wrong, I just know it is! I just – WOW! Dory, you look…great!"

The blue tang blushed. She had a wreath of seaweed "flowers" strung around her neck and an extra glittery sheen on her fins. "Oh, Marlin, you always say that…" She put a fin to her chin. "Or, at least, I think you do."

"Yeah, but this time you look really, REALLY good!"

Bruce winked at her. "Good enough to eat!"

Everyone gasped.

Bruce couldn't help but laugh. Ever since his mission to Atlantica, they'd all come to trust him much more than before, but every once in awhile, he liked to joke around with them, just to see their reaction. "Just kiddin' ya, mate. Seriously, though, no worries. I'm sure the weddin' will turn out just fine."

Marlin rolled his eyes. "Easy for you to say! Your wedding is already over!"

"Hey! Bein' married to a princess is no easy job, mate!"

"I heard that!" Atalaya swooped down from above. "Hey, Marlin! Hey, Dory!"

"Oooh! Oooh! Hey! I know you! You're that new shark from the FEA meetings. Ya know, Bruce really likes you. I think he has a crush on you, which I think is really sweet 'cause you two would make a cute couple, and – "

"Dory! They're already married! Don't you remember when Bruce came back from Atlantica and told us about the conspiracy against the king and how he married the princess?"

"A princess? Oh, cool! I've never met a real princess before. Ya know, when I was little, I used to want to be a princess…I think…" She turned to Marlin. "Hey, did you say something about a conspiracy and Bruce telling a story? I love stories! I wanna hear the story! Can I? Can I?"

Nemo swam up. He was nearly out of breath. "Dory! Where have you been? They need you back at the anemone to help set up the rehearsal, and Deb and Peach wanna make sure your kelp veil fits. They need you, too Dad."

"Awww…man, but what about the story?"

"Story?" Nemo asked.

Bruce put a fin around her. "I'll tell it to ya later, li'l sheila. Go on and get ready."

"Okay! Bye, Bruce! By Marlin! By other shark-princess-girl!"

"Dory!" Nemo called.

She waved a fin one more time. "Bye!"

Bruce laughed as Nemo and Dory swam away. "Got yourself a good 'un, there, mate."

Marlin smiled. "You, too, Bruce. Well, I guess I'd better be going. Nice seeing you again, Princess Atalaya."

She glanced at Bruce then back to Marlin. "Actually, it's just Atalaya now." Before he could speak, she answered the clownfish's unspoken question. "When we got married, I gave up the title of future queen. Only merfolk can claim the throne of Atlantica." She smiled at Bruce. "But that's okay…I got something much better."

"But-but if you're not the next in line, then who – ?"

"If the firstborn is unable to take the throne, the title passes to the second oldest – my sister Arista. Normally, they'd have a ceremony right away, but they're waiting until the migration season starts so we can come and see it. Daddy said if the FEA thing worked out, we could come spend half the year in Atlantica and half the year here on the reef. That way we can both get a chance to see our friends."

"How are you liking it here so far?" Marlin asked.

"Well, I still miss Atlantica, but ya know, every day I feel more and more at home. Anyway, when you've been stuck in a tower for eight years, you really can't complain!"

"DAD!" Nemo's voice echoed across the open waters. "Hurry up!"

"Coming, son!" He turned his attention back to the sharks. "Well, I wish the best for both of you. Don't forget, the wedding is at noon tomorrow! That is, if Dory remembers to show up! Good-bye, Bruce! Good-bye, Atalaya!"

"Be seein' ya, Marlin!" Bruce stared after his friend and smiled. He was glad he'd finally earned his trust.

"Ya know," Atalaya said, "you must be the luckiest shark alive. You have such great friends!"

"Yeah…and I've got you."

She laughed that lilting, melodic giggle of hers. "Oh, Bruce, stop it!" Suddenly she frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, it's just…well, when I found out that I wouldn't be the next queen, I really hoped that Daddy might break with tradition and let me choose who would replace me. I love Arista, but I was really hoping Ariel would take my place. We've always had a special connection, ya know? I know she's kinda young and reckless, but after all she did for me – and you – I really think she deserves it."

Bruce took Atalaya's fin in his own and remembered the first time he'd held her small, frail hand that day she'd escaped the tower. Being a shark, he'd always thought that mermaids were fragile creatures, but he soon realized that while she might not have been as physically strong as him, she was anything but weak. "Don't worry, mate. I'm sure she'll find plenty of adventures on her own. 'Sides, she's got 'Bastian and Flounder. And who knows, maybe someday she'll even get to visit the surface world and make friends with one of those humans she's so eager to meet."

"Nah, that'll never happen. Daddy thinks all humans are dangerous fish-eaters."

Bruce laughed. "Kinda like me? I can imagine it was hard for your father to let you come with me." He paused. "Bet you never thought you'd end up marryin' a shark, did ya?"

"No," she replied, "but I wouldn't have it any other way." She smiled. "Oh, that reminds me. Honey, how would you feel about another shark joining the FEA?"

"That'd be great! I didn't know you were familiar with a lot of other sharks. Who is it? Friend of yours?"

"Well, yes, sort of…"

"What's 'er name?"

She looked at her husband lovingly. "I was hoping her Daddy might help me decide."