Sorry for those following this story (and others of my work) that may have gotten multiple emails. I was trying to fix the line breaks and having issues.

Anyway, figured that out and here's Chapter 3!

It had been two days since the ship wreck and Molly was still floating around as if in a trance. Meena found it adorable but was still worried as 'the lucky merman' was not a merman at all. Worrying about what to do with her friend and how to hide this big secret from the king, she went for a swim to Molly's grotto. Once inside the cave, however she only found another secret. She left to find Molly as quickly as possible.

Sitting in one of the garden estates, Molly, who was supposed to be making seaweed and flower crowns for another royal event, was instead, picking the petals from the flowers.

"He loves me. He loves me not." Molly frowned and threw the stem over her shoulder as Meena arrived. "Another flower then." She picked up another and Meena giggled.

"You've got it bad."

"What?"

"Molly…" Meena started, trying to sound as kind as she could. "You've got to get your head out of the clouds."

"But… maybe I can see him again. Maybe… if I was human." Molly looked at her flower, sorrow in her eyes.

"I love humans too, but… you want to be one? Just to be with a man? Isn't that just a little too… much?" Meena loved her friend; she couldn't watch her be hurt by her own dreams.

"Sherlock is only part of the reason," Molly insisted. "I want to experience their culture. You've seen all we have in that grotto, what is all of it? And…my mother… I want to prove to my father that there are good humans, just like there are good merpeople."

"Molly, I just… I don't know if that's possible. Can't you do all that from here? I don't want you wasting away on dreams that can't come true. This is your home. In the sea."

"But…what if it's not?"

Meena looked at her with a sad expression. "Come on, I know something that will brighten your spirits." Meena knew what she had found would surprise and delight her friend.

The two mermaids swam to the cavern. Molly gasped when she saw the statue of Sherlock in her grotto. She swam up to its face, reaching out tentatively. The artist had captured his eyes and cheekbones so wonderfully. She smiled.

"Oh, Meena," she exclaimed, turning her head towards her. Meena's usual bright smile glowed on her face. "He's perfect." She placed her fingers around one of the statue's large hands. "Why, of course, Sherlock I would love to dance with you!" She giggled and twirled, but when she stopped the king was swimming in the entrance of the cave. "Father!"

Meena floated behind the weary man, looking frightened.

"Molly." He sounded pained. "I expect my rules to be obeyed. By my daughter most of all. I trust most of these objects have been found in the ocean, but I cannot stand to have you saving a human from drowning-"

"How did you…" Meena muttered.

"Daddy, I had to; he would have died!" Daddy was not a term they used often. It meant this situation was much worse than the king had originally thought.

"Contact between our worlds is forbidden." His words were final. Molly could tell from the tone in his voice that he would not let this pass as he had with the Bubble Festival.

"But-"

"There's nothing to discuss, Molly. This infatuation cannot continue." He aimed his trident at the statue and it started to glow.

"Daddy, no!" Bright light erupted from the trident and the statue of Sherlock exploded. All three merpeople shielded themselves from the blast.

King Triton left, and Meena thought the old king looked miserable. Molly sunk to the floor and wept over the pieces in her grotto. Sure it was just one statue, but it symbolized so much more. All her hopes had been blasted with Sherlock's pretty face.

Meena didn't know what she could do to help her friend. How had the king even known about the ship wreck? "Molly…"

"Just go," she choked out. Meena had a sad expression as she left her friend.

Molly felt more tears flow as she replayed the scene in her head. How had she even thought there was a chance of changing his mind? How had she thought she would ever be human, or see Sherlock again? She was absolutely pathetic.

"Poor, sweet child." Molly looked up to see a beautiful mermaid with long brown hair. "If only there was something I could do… Aw, well, I suppose…"

"W-who are you?" She furrowed her eyebrows, noticing the mermaid didn't wear any seashells for modesty.

"I represent," Irene spoke as she swam around the young mermaid, "someone who can help you. Make your dreams come true and all that."

"I don't understand."

Irene kept herself from rolling her eyes. "The prince of Mori has many powers…"

Molly stared at Irene, surprised the woman had suggested it. Didn't she know who she was? Molly had been the one to cut off the kingdom due to their use of dark magic.

"Jim? No." She scoffed, "No. I can't. Go away."

Irene shrugged a shoulder and clipped, "Very well. I just thought you'd like to experience human culture with your prince at your side." She moved toward the entrance, flicking a broken piece of stone toward Molly with her tail.

Molly looked at the piece. It was Sherlock's eye. It reminded her of the day on the beach when she had lifted his eyelid. Remembering that moment and what the mermaid had said, she made a decision.

"Wait! I'll go. Take me to him."

"Molly, what are you doing? Who is this?" Meena asked, swimming beside Molly and another mermaid. She had been worriedly waiting near the grotto for her friend to come out. She glared at the dark haired mermaid.

"I'm going to see Jim."

"Prince James of Mori?" she exclaimed in surprise. What had happened? What was this mermaid doing to her friend? Despite, her comments about the prince's supposed affections toward her friend, she did not believe the two should ever see each other again. The merman was a psychopath. "No, Molly, you can't-"

"Why don't you go tell my father?" Molly cut, shaking Meena's hand from her wrist.

"What? You think I told him about the ship wreck? I didn't tell your father anything!"

"Well then how did he know about Sherlock? You were only other one there!"

"I know. But I didn't tell him!" Meena cried to no avail, not noticing Irene's upturned lip. Molly had made up her mind and was going with this strange mermaid. All she could do was hope her friend would be safe.

Following at a safe distance, Meena watched Molly and Irene enter a dark looking cavern on the edge of the kingdom of Mori. If Molly didn't come to her senses, if anything went wrong and she needed help, she would go to the king.

Molly would never admit it to her ex-fiancé, but some of the objects they passed made her curious. It was a morbid fascination, she supposed. All these things on the shelves used for dark magic and she wanted to know about them. It was horrible, but some of these things… They looked human.

Irene led her to a larger room with orbs and bowls and evil looking instruments.

"Hello, Molly." From a dark corner, Prince James emerged. "You're looking well."

Molly almost swam back in surprise. She couldn't say the same of him. He seemed darker, more haggard. There were gray circles under his eyes and his once bright blue tail looked pale. She didn't respond. Maybe this hadn't been a good idea.

He giggled. She tried to keep herself from frowning; she had forgotten how often he did that. It wasn't so cute anymore. "Come on, love. We can get past this whole broken engagement thing, can't we?"

She waited for him to say something worth responding to.

"Aw, fine!" He relented with a pout, swimming to the other side of the cave. He looked through the shelves. "You're here because you want to be human, yes? You want to roam the beach beside your beloved prince." Molly's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Oh!" His eyebrows flickered up and he looked gleeful. "Yes, hehe, I know about your little crush. It's okay, princess. We're over; no hard feelings." He moved back down with a glass flask in his hand.

"Can you do it?" Molly asked, her arms folded across her chest.

"Turn you human? Of course." He held up the flask, some kind of purple liquid moving in it. "At a price."

"Of course," she responded, looking utterly unimpressed.

"So we have an understanding."

"What do you want, James?"

"It's simple, really. I give you legs; you sign this contract saying that Mori is back in the seven kingdoms." A scroll suddenly unrolled from his other hand, and he smiled that wicked smile.

"You're practicing dark magic," she scoffed. "I can't just let you back in. Besides I don't have the authority to do so."

"Oh, but Princess, I think you do. You see, you are using 'dark' magic. As part of the royal family, you are supposed to follow your Daddy's rules, and you wouldn't want to break any more of those, would you? Not when the whole kingdom would know about it. And you wouldn't be if you let us back into the seven kingdoms. Does it really seem so bad? Giving you human legs, doesn't hurt anyone, does it? Dark magic isn't dark if I'm using it to help others, is it? I mean, that is what we do. We only use it to help one another. Isn't that right, Irene?"

The mermaid had been floating in a corner quietly until this point. Molly had nearly forgotten about her. "Yes, your highness." She smiled kindly, and Molly felt a little intimidated by her glamorous looks. This mermaid was not to be messed with.

She took a deep breath. "Jim, I don't think I can-"

"YOU CAN. And one more thing. To keep those legs, you'll have to get this Sherlock to fall in love with you. Within…" He swirled the purple liquid. "…three days."

Molly gasped, then frowned. "If I have legs permanently… I won't return to the sea. I won't see my father or brothers and sisters again. I won't see Meena..."

"Oh Daddy will cry buckets and buckets," Prince James commented quietly, but the princess was thinking.

If Molly could prove the worthiness of humans, then contact between the worlds would not be forbidden anymore. She could still rule Atlantica from a distance, couldn't she? She would also be with Sherlock, and somehow that made most of it seem okay. The dark magic was still a concern though.

"You will make sure to control the dark magic to only be used for good causes?" she asked.

"Good causes, yes." Prince James looked at the glass, then turned back to her. "Just know if you fail in any part of this, I will burn you. I will burn the heart out of you and your kingdom. Do we have a deal?"

Molly gulped. This was a huge risk she was taking. "Yes, I think we do." She grabbed the pen he handed her and signed the document.

He let out a maniacal laugh and rolled the scroll back up using magic. "Yes!"

Molly could barely tell what happened next; it was all so fast. There was the sound of breaking glass as the prince threw bottles and things into a large bowl propped on a stand. Speaking magic words, the glowing liquid rose and swirled around them. She was swept up in the moving water and out of the opening in the roof of the cavern. Once high above the rock formation, a sudden but brief pain seared through her tail, and she gulped for air, not able to breath in the water anymore. She felt herself losing consciousness as Meena suddenly appeared, pulling her to the surface.

I feel like this chapter pulled a lot from The Little Mermaid, but I needed it to progress the story. I hope you are liking it though. Some more commentary is below if you'd like to read more of my thoughts.

King Triton: I think a lot of Sherlock's dad in canon and WritingWife83's Benefits of Boredom when I think of Molly's father. I just cannot imagine Molly's father acting like King Triton does in The Little Mermaid. I tried to make that come across in how he spoke to her. He is disappointed and wants better for her.

Also, the idea that Molly keeps calling Moriarty/Prince James "Jim" is kind of funny to me.

Thank you for all the follows, favorites, and reviews!