"I can't believe I'm really doing this," Kurt mumbled, eyeing the pool of water nervously. Blaine swallowed hard gazing into the water, nodding.
"Just do ittt!" A mermaid called from the other side of the pool. The water was more than large enough for the twenty something merpeople and Kurt and Blaine, yet it still looked painfully small. Maybe Kurt was just being paranoid, but he really didn't like the idea of having to, well, skinny dip. Ugh, even the words sounded dirty. What was up with these people's obsession with being naked.
"You all have to turn around!" Kurt yelled, a flush rising on his cheeks. He had a towel wrapped haphazardly around his hips, Blaine overly excited to get them from the gem earlier. This stuff had to be coming from the castle, Kurt was sure of it. The fabric of the towels were incredibly nice, and he knew his fabrics. Uh, it was a hobby.
"You're no fun!" Another mermaid called. Kurt rolled his eyes.
"Just turn around!" Kurt called, taking a little step back from the edge. Blaine shot Kurt a sympathetic look before taking a deep breath, pulling his half of the necklace's chain off his shoulders. They would seriously have to figure something out about that thing. Even if the chain was always the perfect length, Kurt didn't like being that tied to anyone.
"You're not seriously going to just-" Kurt began, but stopped abruptly when Blaine threw off his towel, jumping into the water without shame. The mermaids all cheered loudly, clapping and whistling. Artie looked especially proud, waving his arms around yelling 'That's my boy! That's my boy!' Kurt grimaced, bringing up a hand to wipe the water from Blaine's giant splash off his face.
"Come on, Kurt!" Blaine said, a smile wide on his face. Little droplets of water slowly dripped off his soaked curls. Kurt looked at all the still-cheering mermaids nervously. First off, he was flawless. Going without a shower a few days didn't change that, of course. He still didn't feel totally comfortable with-
The thought was caught up as Blaine grabbed Kurt's ankle, pulling him into the water like some sort of crazed sea creature. Kurt's scream was caught in his throat as his hands flew up. His towel slipped from his hips, falling forgotten on the gravel as he was pulled into the water. The merpeople's cheers and jaunts were silenced immediately as he was submerged.
Wow, Artie was right. The water really was nice. It was warm and unnaturally smooth feeling. The moment Kurt's head went under all outside noises were silenced, almost as if the water itself was soundproof. Kurt let himself drift to the surface, the outside noise returning seemingly ten times louder than before after he experienced the peacefulness of being submerged.
Kurt looked to Blaine, a confused expression on his face. He had totally forgot to be mad at Blaine, which was saying something. If there was one thing Kurt Hummel could do it was hold a pretty impressive grudge. Blaine nodded a little at Kurt's confused face.
"I know, me too. I wanted to see if it did that to you too." Kurt nodded a little. Despite the water being... weird, it was so refreshing. Kurt felt like he could stay in it forever. Suddenly, Blaine looked slightly excited, grabbing the necklace that was around Kurt's neck. Oh, yeah, Kurt was still wearing that. He should probably take it off, he probably shouldn't be letting it get so wet. They need to keep it in working order.
"We should probably keep this dry and safe," Kurt said, slipping it off his neck. Blaine held the necklace proudly.
"Yeah, probably," Blaine said, not caring much. He was excited because he finally got to use the amazing thing again. After spending so long trying to get it to work, learning the secret was nothing short of magical. "We need soap!" He said proudly, and waited for the soap to appear. His smiled flickered as he stared expectantly from the dangling gem.
Kurt looked from the gem to their towels on the gravel. A few bars of ivory soap had appeared, stacked neatly on each other. Kurt raised an eyebrow at Blaine, who was jiggling the chain violently, repeating his phrase. Each time he said it, a few more bars would join the stack.
"Uh, Blaine," Kurt stated, putting his hand on Blaine's shoulder. Blaine shrugged it off, not wanting to admit defeat to the stupid necklace. He didn't want to have to ask Artie for his help again. He always got so smug about it afterwards.
"Not now, Kurt," Blaine ground out, trying everything he could think of to get the stupid thing to work.
"But, Blaine," Kurt said nervously. There were a good twenty bars of soap now, if Blaine would just look he would see.
"Kurt, I am not asking Artie for his help," Blaine mumbled. Kurt rolled his eyes, swimming to the edge and grabbing one of the bars. There were now a good fifty, their pile collapsing. A few bars fell into the water, sinking to the bottom. Blaine was too absorbed to notice. Kurt chucked the bar at Blaine, hitting him square in the shoulder.
"Hey, what was that for," Blaine began, before seeing what hit him. "How did you," Blaine looked to see Kurt leaning against the edge of the reserve pool of water. He was glaring at Blaine with a very unamused expression on his face, catching and tossing one of the many bars of soap up into the air.
"You are so stubborn," Kurt declared, before throwing the other bar at him. Blaine made to grab it, fumbling slightly before getting a good grip on it.
"See! Look!" Blaine stated, staring at the soap proudly.
"You're full of yourself," Kurt said with a small smile. Blaine kept his proud smile as he lathered himself up with soap. Kurt looked away, blushing slightly.
Thankfully the merpeople left the boys alone for the most part. Although, there was one instance where Artie somehow launched himself off the top of the waterfall. Kurt and Blaine had no idea how he got up there to pull off such a feat. They were left staring blankly as the mermaids cheered before shrugging the situation off.
They weren't sure what to do with all the extra soap Blaine had gotten, so they opted to just shove it in the pool and let it sink to the bottom. They figured the bars would just dissolve in the water and the merpeople would all get squeaky clean. If not, well, they would be long gone by the time anything bad would happen. It probably wasn't the most responsible thing to do but hey, they had a world to save. They couldn't hang around wondering what to do with infinite bars of soap all day. Sheesh.
The boys dried off, getting dressed and prepared to head off again. Puck was leading them to he opening in the wide circle of trees when they were stopped by someone. They looked down on the mop of what had to be unnaturally blonde hair, wondering what was wrong with this guy. He was so short, but he didn't look like a little kid.
"Uh, hey there, little guy," Kurt said awkwardly, looking down at the boy(?) who had stopped them. The blonde made an annoyed sort of face, and Kurt had to bite back a giggle. Maybe it was because he was so small, but the blonde boy had one big mouth. Kurt tried to stop himself from staring, but it was hard.
"Sup, Trout Mouth?" Puck said, smiling smugly down at the blonde.
"Stuff it, Puck," the blonde said, silencing the centaur. The blonde redirected his attention to Kurt and Blaine. Blaine didn't trust himself to talk, the little guy looked so ridiculous. "Hello, I'm Sam Evans," Sam said, extending a hand to Kurt, who had to lean down a little before shaking, then Blaine.
"Hello, Sam," Blaine said, a small smile on his lips. Sam had to be between three and four feet tall, but Kurt was never too good at gauging heights. "How may we help you?"
"I was separated from my tribe by a pack of crazy goblins," Sam stated, looking slightly sad. Kurt felt a small pang of sadness for the poor little guy. Sure, he didn't know what it was like to get driven out of his home by goblins, but he knew what it was like to get plucked out of your home. Kurt bit his lip a little, thinking about his dad. If anything, he was doing all of this for his dad. He needed to see him again. Kurt shook his head, trying to clear his mind of those thoughts. It was easier to just not think about his dad. It made him too sad.
"Do you want us to help you get back home?" Kurt asked slowly, looking down at Sam sympathetically. Sam was probably a little older than him, if Artie's age was anything to go by, but due to his height Kurt couldn't help but think of him as a little kid. Sam nodded a little, biting his lip.
Blaine watched Kurt nervously. He wished Kurt would talk to him first before just inviting people to join them like that. Kurt was looking at Sam like he were some sort of lost little kid. Blaine could sympathize with Sam, but he didn't know anything about him. He didn't want to put Kurt at risk like that. He knew any sort of qualms he had about Sam tagging along were as good as gone when Kurt made a loud 'awww' noise before dropping to his knees and wrapping Sam up in a tight hug.
"It'll be okay, little guy," Kurt soothed, patting Sam on the back. Sam looked slightly awkward at first.
"I'm older than your great grandparents," Sam stated before Kurt shushed him. Sam looked a little uneasy still, but leaning into Kurt's embrace. It wasn't long before Sam started crying, and Blaine realized they might as well have picked up a toddler to join the ride.
Puck led the boys plus Sam, they still weren't entirely sure what Sam was, out of the community. He did that same ridiculous thing, making the three boys cover their eyes as they walked out so they wouldn't know where exactly the opening was. Artie had to of taken the stream out, as he was waiting in a nearby stream for the trio when Puck allowed them to open their eyes again.
"Oh, Sam, hey," Artie said upon seeing the trio walk up to his stream. His tone was calculated and careful, like he was nervous of upsetting Sam.
"Hey Artie," Sam said. "Uh, Kurt and Blaine are going to help me find my tribe." Artie nodded, as that much was obvious. "Do you have any idea where they would be? You seem to have a hand in just about everything." Artie thought for a minute.
"Honestly, I have no idea. The Korrigans have always been pretty secretive, as they should," Sam nodded, looking a little sad. "I've heard rumors, though." Sam perked up a little. It was good Artie might have an idea as to where the Korrigans where at, but that also means some heinous beings might have an idea too. Sam swallowed dryly.
"Where do you think they could be hiding?"
A.N. Okay, Guys, this is where I need your help. I can give Tina a bigger role, making her have to show the group the way to the Korrigans, also giving Sam a larger role. ~Orrr~ I could make helping Sam find the Korrigans more of a smaller thing, getting rid of him in just another chapter or two. Or if you guys have any other ideas, I would love to hear them. Thanks :3
Also, I'm spicing things up and putting the note at the end~ Ohoohoohoo I'm so spontaneous and cool. But yeah my girl Korrigan wanted Korrigans so I'm sorry if anyone was really banking on Sam being a trouty catfish thing, as was suggested D: Oooh also any other ideas for characters are more than welcome, I have a lot more figured out since I've started asking but suggestions are always welcome. I just decided on what Sue is so I'm super excited to work her in~ God and I'm pumped for the Warblers to get all up in this~ I should shut up before I spoil everything.
dslfkjdskf Also, I need to stop staying up super late to finish chapters. I'm dying/crying blood from staring at the screen. Hope you enjoyed.