LXP: Before we begin, I would like to point out that I borrowed Adrien's pitch and the lyrics for "Her Voice" from the Adam Jacobs version of the song, not the Broadway version.*

Likewise, the song "One Dance" is a deleted song from the Disney film, which can be found on iTunes.*

*I don't own any of the aforementioned songs.

Enjoy! :)


CHAPTER ELEVEN:

SONGS FROM THE HEART

He was submerged in freezing blackness.

He kicked and squirmed and thrashed, but the water was thick like sludge. The deeper he went, the more it crushed him. He grasped his burning throat, reaching up with all his might...

Then, like a puff of smoke, the darkness vanished.

Warm, green light enveloped him, and he was floating up into the open sky. He had to close his eyes from the sheer brightness of it.

Then, he felt a hand touch his face.

He smiled. She was here!

He opened his eyes, but all he saw was an empty void of green light.

"I'll come back to you, Adrien. I promise."

He glanced around. "Where are you?" he cried into the void.

Her voice faded away, and he felt his hand burning...

"Ah...!"

Adrien sat up in his large, four-poster bed, his right hand tensing with a sudden, hot jolt.

Blinking awake, the prince almost banged his head against the headboard from what he was seeing.

His emerald ring – his father's ancestral ring – was glowing with a pulsing, green light. The same light that had saved him in his nightmare.

Adrien stared at the bright jewel curiously. He had never seen magic before. His mother often told him as a child that there was magic everywhere in the world. It was in the air you breathed, the ground you walked upon, and the sea you swam in. The trick about magic is, the Queen once said, it will only come to you when you aren't looking for it.

Adrien smiled and shifted his ring this way and that to admire the light.

Maybe his mother had been right. Maybe it was magic that had brought the mermaid to him when he most needed help.

The ring dimmed, and the emerald became dull and dark once more.

Or... maybe he was just going crazy.

Adrien sighed and fell back against his pillow. He knew he wasn't crazy. The dreams were proof of that. And that voice... No matter how hard he tried, the prince couldn't get the girl's song, or her spoken vow, out of his head.

I'll come back to you, Adrien. I promise.

Adrien squeezed his eyes shut tight. He must remember something else about the mermaid. Her face, her eyes... anything that might help. But the memory was very blurry, and Adrien had been terribly weak and light-headed at the time. The only thing he could recall without getting a headache was the girl's glistening, pink tail and dark hair.

The prince sat up again, frustrated. He wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon.

Careful not to wake Plagg, who was snoozing like a happy kitten on the pillow beside his own, Adrien climbed out of bed and threw on a white night-shirt to match his white pants.

A gentle breeze blew in through the open window, and the white curtains hanging from his poster bed fanned out like sails. The air carried the salty-citrus tang of the ocean, and Adrien knew exactly where he needed to go to clear his head.

Sneaking around the castle at night had been one of his favourite pastimes when he was little. King Gabriel had never caught him, but Queen Emilie had once. After she had scolded her son, she smiled, took his hand, and brought him to his favourite spot – their favourite spot – to watch the moonlight on the sea.

Adrien's bare feet tapped softly against the cold, marble floors as he slipped through the hallways, ducked behind corners until the night patrol passed, and made his way to the winding staircase outside.

This time, when Adrien descended the steps, he waded carefully in the ankle-deep shallows and moved up-shore along the beach. The sand was cool and soft underneath the prince's toes, and the drumroll of the tide rang through his ears like music.

Adrien closed his eyes and listened, feeling the wind kiss his face. Unconsciously, he ran his fingers across his cheek.

Ah-ah-ahhh, Ah-ah-ahhh...

The prince opened his eyes, scanning the sparkling, dark-blue horizon.

Nothing.

But he heard it. He heard her.

Ah-ah-ahhh, Ah-ah-ah-ah-ahhh...

Adrien inhaled deeply, and mimicked those clear, crisp notes as he sang:

"Where did she go?

Where can she be?

When will she come again,

Calling to me?

Calling to me..."

Adrien dug his hands into his pockets as he strolled along the shore. He watched each wave crawl up the sand and slip back down again. He gazed up at the moon and stars, wondering if they could hear him.

All the while, he let his heart do the talking:

"Once I searched for freedom

In the wild uncharted reaches of the water,

Once I looked for beauty

In the glimmer of the sunlight on the sea,

Once I hunted happiness

Beyond the far horizon

Strange that I would find them

Where I never thought they'd be!"

Adrien stopped near a large patch of wet rocks sticking out of the water like flattened teeth. He smiled and listened to the cascade of waves, each beat mingling with that beautiful song in the wind:

Ah-ah-ahhh, Ah-ah-ahhh...

Adrien closed his eyes and continued:

"In her voice,

I hear the ocean sighing

In her voice,

I hear the wind swept sky

And that sound; it haunts my dreams,

And spins me 'round, until it seems

I'm flying..."

Adrien opened his eyes and sighed heavily, "Her voice..."

Would this torment ever end? Was he cursed to listen to his mermaid's song for all eternity, his heart breaking with each passing day he spent away from her?

Adrien let out a breathless laugh. No, he thought with resolve. She promised she'd come back, and I believe her. I will see her again. And when I do, I will get on my knees and thank her to the moon and back for saving my life.

And then... I'm going to marry her.

Adrien grinned and climbed onto one of the rocks along the beach. The wind tugged gently at his golden, moon-streaked hair.

Whoever she is, he thought, I love that girl.

And the prince sang on, louder and stronger this time:

"Who'd have guessed that freedom

Is a melody that sings itself forever?

Who'd have known that beauty

Is a lullaby that echos in your mind?

Who'd believe that happiness

Is pure unending music?

Who'd have thought her voice

Is what I sailed so far to find?"

He leapt between the rocks until he reached the far end, where the water rose up in tiny, foamy walls around him. His clothes got splashed and soaked, but Adrien welcomed it and spread his arms out.

"And her voice,

It's there as dusk is falling!

And her voice,

It's there as dawn steals by!

Clear and bright, it's always near,

All day and night, and still I hear

It calling!

Her voice!"

Adrien held that last note for a long time, only stopping when the sea settled back down.

Panting and lowering his arms, Adrien stared out towards the flat, glimmering surface ahead of him.

He knew it was foolish to hope; foolish to even wonder, yet the prince knew she was out there somewhere – listening, watching, fighting to return to him.

Somewhere out there, she was singing her song; one that was meant only for him:

Ah-ah-ahhh, Ah-ah-ahhh...

This time, Adrien's own voice grew soft and heavy with longing:

"Strange as a dream...

Real as the sea...

If you can hear me now...

Come set me free..."

Adrien sighed and whispered, "Come set me free."

He stood there upon the break for a little while longer in utter silence.

Only when his feet grew numb and he started to shiver did Adrien hop back over the rocks, land back on the beach, and race back to the castle.

He stopped at the foot of the staircase, casting one last hopeful smile at the horizon.

Then, the prince blew a tender kiss into the wind. "See you soon," he said.

And with that, Adrien climbed the steps and proceeded back to his room, leaving wet footprints on the stone behind him.


"Ah-ah-ahhh, Ah-ah-ahhh...

Ah-ah-ahh, Ah-ah-ah-ah-ahhh..."

Up on the surface, Marinette cast her voice out across the moonlit ocean, sending it in the direction of the human kingdom – far, far away in the distance.

She knew she couldn't go there tonight. Bridgette may have given her the day off, but Marinette knew her family would send out a search party if she wandered too far from the Atlantican border. As much as she wished she could get away to find her prince, the little mermaid loved her parents too much to give them a panic attack.

If it wasn't for her family, Marinette would leave the sea and never look back.

Tikki floated beside Marinette in the water. The red kwami decided to keep her fins rather than take flight today. Besides, she liked wading around on the surface.

Marinette stopped singing and leaned back on the water, fanning her arms and fins out. A beautiful aurora glowed green and purple amongst the sea of stars.

Green... Just like Adrien's eyes. Or the emerald on his ring.

The Emerald Miraculous of Earth.

Marinette blew out a heavy breath, and she slipped underwater. She rubbed her arms as though she suddenly had a shiver.

Tikki joined her, blinking curiously. "You okay?" she asked.

The little mermaid brushed her hair behind her ears, pausing to touch her earrings as she did so.

"Tikki," she finally said, "do you believe that two people who barely know each other – two people from totally different worlds – are destined to be together?" Marinette looked over at her friend hopefully. "Was this all preordained to happen, or was I just... ridiculously lucky?"

Tikki smiled with a twinkle in her deep-blue eyes. "Luck and Fate are often one and the same," she explained. "And sometimes, we're all simply meant to become the people the world needs us to be." She came to sit on Marinette's shoulder. "Think of it this way: do you think Bridgette would have stayed behind and saved Adrien if your roles had been reversed?"

Marinette thought back to the night of the storm, particularly when her older sister dove down into the darkness to escape the danger.

I'm sorry, Marinette, but there's nothing we can do!

She felt her blood turn cold, and she shook her head with another shiver. "No," she replied grimly. "Bridgette wouldn't have given Adrien a second thought."

"Exactly!" Tikki said. "But you stayed behind, not just because you cared for Adrien, but because you knew deep down that it was the right thing to do. You put aside a millennium-old rule just to save an innocent soul." The kwami beamed. "If you want my opinion, I'd say that you were meant to become the Guardian of the Ruby Miraculous, just like you were meant to save Adrien's life."

Marinette smiled with reassurance. "So then... it's okay for me to love him?" Her tummy did a flip-flop when she said that.

Tikki lifted an eyebrow in a challenge. "You tell me."

The little mermaid giggled and gave her friend a cheek-hug. "Thanks, Tikki," she said. "You're the best."

The kwami gave her a kiss on the cheek and swam off her shoulder.

Marinette sighed with a smile, knowing now that her feelings for Adrien were genuine and good; that he was worth fighting for.

That someday, somehow, she would find a way to walk on land on her own two feet. To hold her prince in her arms. To sing and dance with him under the stars.

Marinette swayed back and forth, just imagining the prospect of sharing her very first dance with the boy she loved.

Then, she found her singing voice once again:

"There is music in the air,

Can you hear it?

It's in two, no, maybe three,

Or maybe four

And I see me dressed in white,

With two feet that feel so light

It's as though as they've never ever

Touched the floor!"

Marinette waved her arms as she twirled and glided through the water, keeping her tail straight so as to resemble human legs.

"One dance, just you and me

Beneath the moon, beside the sea

One dance, and it's happily ever after

One dance, and you will see

We're not so different, you and me

Just us two, me and you...

One dance!"

Marinette rose back up to the surface, shaking droplets from her midnight-blue hair as she gazed up at the midnight-blue, pearl-ridden sky.

"There are stars that fill the night,

Can you see them?

There are two, or three, or gee!

A million more..."

When she dove back down, Tikki offered up her tiny hand in a suave, gentleman-like fashion. Marinette curtsied with a giggle.

"And I see you in their light...

Oh, me? A dance? All right!

Just to move and glide with you

Across the floor!"

The little mermaid spun her friend around in a dizzying circle.

Tikki let out a playful laugh before letting go and watching her friend swim gracefully around her.

"One dance, just you and me

Beneath the moon, beside the sea

One dance, and it's happily ever after

One dance, and you will see

We're not so different, you and me

Just us two, me and you...!"

Marinette stopped dancing and looked up at the mirror-like surface, clenching her fists with determination and singing more boldly than she ever had before:

"I would change who I am,

Leave the sea for the sand

Just to stand with you!

I would leap at the chance

For a glimpse of a glance

Of one dance...

With you!"

Then, at the height of her hopeful dream, Marinette imagined Adrien right beside her in the water – not in any danger, and standing just as straight and tall as he would on land.

Marinette imagined Adrien taking one of her hands in his, and wrapping the other around the small of her back. She imagined him smiling at her with utmost devotion and happiness.

Then, the little mermaid danced with her imaginary prince, singing proud and true:

"One dance, just you and me

Beneath the moon, beside the sea

One dance, and it's happily ever after!

One dance, and you will see

We're not so different, you and me!

Just us two, dream come true!

One dance!"

Marinette imagined touching Adrien's face, just like she did on the beach. His gorgeous eyes slowly closed as he leaned closer, and she did the same.

But then... the illusion ended, and Marinette opened her eyes to stare out into empty, endless ocean.

She sighed, but did not despair. She just smiled and wrapped her arms around herself giddily.

Then, Marinette let out the final piece of her song with the sweet, soft caress of a warm breeze:

"One dance..."

Marinette stared up dreamily at the surface.

The music in her heart barely faded away when a cold, sultry voice broke the silence behind her:

"Aww, isn't that sweet."

Marinette gasped. That was definitely not Tikki.

The little mermaid spun around.

Floating right behind her – their slimy, eel-like tails and scaly skin gleaming sickly-green in the pale moonlight – were the two strangest, creepiest mermaids Marinette had ever seen.

Both of them were sneering at her with razor-sharp, pearly-white grins that reminded Marinette of hungry sharks.