Chapter 4
Gajeel stood eel-rod straight and listened to his father's familiar lecture. The Merking's face was red with anger, his eyes flashing every time he turned tail and swam in front of his throne. Juvia sat on the arm of the throne, her claws crossed and a frown on her crusty face. Gajeel never understood why she always insisted on listening in on his lectures, but he did feel slightly guilty for messing up the annual festival she painstakingly organized.
Metalicana made another pass, yelling ramblings about irresponsibility and not caring for tradition and Gajeel couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"Tch, look who's acting all salty," he muttered.
The king paused mid-rant and swung to look at him. Gajeel swallowed and continued to stare straight ahead, hands clasped tightly behind him.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, sir."
His father leveled a finger at him. "That was a human term, wasn't it?"
"Uhh," Gajeel darted a glance to Lily, who hid behind a potted sea fern.
"By the Seven Seas, you were visiting the surface again, weren't you!?"
Gajeel relaxed his rigid stance and sighed. "It wasn't for that long!"
"Gajeel! We have talked about this! The humans...they're dangerous! What if they had seen you? Do you think I want my only son and heir to be snared by some...some...fish eating barbarian?"
"And what could they have done, huh?" Gajeel yelled in return, grabbing his spear off the nearby table and slicing it through the water. "I have trained with a weapon all my life, I am stronger than any merman here and-"
Metalicana brandished his trident. "Do not underestimate the humans, boy! They are a violent, angry species-"
"And we are not any better!"
Chest heaving, Gajeel glared at his father, both their weapons outstretched in a silent stalemate. It was a common argument, yelled enough times throughout his life that Gajeel knew it would never be resolved.
The king would never understand. He didn't feel the urge to visit new places, to learn new languages and cultures. His father was content to sit away in his castle with the same people and same festivals each and every seasonal current, only caring about who would compete and take the shears next.
He knew it was unwise, but with his blood still boiling like an underwater volcano, Gajeel broke the silence with the one thing he had never dared utter before. "Grandmaman would have let me."
The anger in his father's eyes chilled until his entire body floated rigid as ice. With all the wrath of a raging whirlpool, Metalicana took hold of his trident and thrust the pointed end down on his podium, his voice deathly calm. "I am never to hear of you visiting the surface again. Do I make myself clear?"
"...perfectly," Gajeel growled, spinning in the water and swimming away so quickly his tail ached.
He vaguely heard Lily calling out to him, but his mind was filled with every human insult he could remember. Anger burned behind his eyes. He swam past his outer room in the castle, past the seahorse corral, and toward a large sea wall at the far outskirts of the castle grounds. He dove headfirst into a curtain of long seaweed, his body automatically navigating the familiar passageways to the one place he could escape.
Glowing algae illuminated the tunnel and the soothing light slowly eased his anger into a dull ache. His frantic swimming calmed and he rubbed his burning eyes. The tunnel widened and the water cleared, its temperature vastly warmer than the tunnel he just left.
He circled the large, underwater cavern. The aging coral and warm sunshine made the waters sparkle with every color imaginable. Barrels and chests covered the cavern floor, all filled to the brim with every human gadget and gizmo he could find.
A small ledge stood on the side of the cave, the coral hard and dried from countless years of exposure to the air within the cave. Gajeel lifted himself out of the waves. His long hair dripped sea water onto the ledge as he crawled across the short distance to a small table and two chairs. The chairs sat at odd angles to the table, which was decorated with human disks and utensils.
He placed his hands on the edge of the table and used his momentum to pull himself up until he was sitting on a chair. His tail curled against the cool coral floor and he folded his arms on the table, resting his cheek against them with a long sigh.
Lily bobbed his head out of the water, his long body rocking gently in the waves. "You ok, brother?"
Gajeel shrugged. He poked the large disk with his finger and adjusted the small container in front of it. "How am I gonna make him get it, Lil?"
"Well, to be honest...it probably wasn't the best idea to bring up your grandmaman."
"Yeah, I know..." Gajeel groaned, leaning back in his chair, "but he just made me so angry this time. I mean, how can he think that this stuff is bad?"
Gajeel spread his arms, looking at the human trinkets with wonder. He never grew tired of visiting his secret cave, not even after a lifetime of collecting and gathering. Wendy managed to give him the names of most of the items, but even she didn't know what some of his treasures were. That just made them all the more precious and he longed for the day he could bring an actual human to his trove.
He took his eyes away from the water and adjusted the place settings on the table. It was the spot he was the most proud of. Seasonal currents ago, when he was only a fry in his eleventh current, Wendy had shown him a picture of a human home. A human family sat around a table with large smiles on their faces and happiness in their eyes. Gajeel decided then and there he would spend as long as it took recreating the scene. It hadn't taken as long as he expected to find the small items, but only recently had he been able to finally salvage a table and chairs. The chairs and table were mismatched and everything seemed to be made from a different type of wood, but he was proud of it nonetheless.
Extra barrels and crates filled with his more breakable trinkets lined the coral shelf. He learned early on to keep his most valuable treasures up and out of the waters, where the strong tide would occasionally wash away some of the unsecured containers. It was hard work, carrying everything out of the water, but it allowed him to have easy access to all of his figurines. Because of that, he periodically sorted through his items and placed them on the wooden shelving unit behind the table.
"So when are you going to switch out everything?"
Lily bobbed in the water. Gajeel glanced behind the table where a wooden shelving unit sat propped up against a large bump in the coral. "I was actually just thinking about changing stuff. What do you think we should set up this time?"
"How about the small humans?"
Gajeel smiled, already reaching to the wooden shelves and taking down the stone animals. "We haven't used those in a while!"
"Maybe that will help you get over your frustration that you'll never see a real one." Lily bubbled and ducked underneath the water, getting ready to catch the crate holding the small stone statues.
"Not a chance, you catfish! I'll see a human eventually, just you wait!"
Gajeel placed the animals into a crate and slid it into the water. Lily guided it to the bottom of the cavern and Gajeel jumped into the water.
"I already checked the outside opening, before you head over there. It's still secure."
"Great," Gajeel reached into the crate and sorted through the statues, looking for his favorites. "I was wonderin', since we had that storm a few days past."
"Don't get too comfortable, the water's been smelling weird lately, so I think we're in for another one."
Gajeel nodded and selected a mini stone statue of what he thought was a human female dancing. He swam back to the ledge and climbed onto the smooth surface. He wasn't nearly as paranoid about the escape route as his friend, but then again it was Lily's idea to add the extra precaution after a section of the shelf had broken off and fell into the water. The remora insisted on the escape route after that, claiming he had no plans to be crushed by a falling cavern.
After setting the dancing statue on the shelf, Gajeel took more trinkets back into the water. The sun's reflection gradually inched its way down the cave wall and the waters drew dark. Gajeel sat by the shelves and just removed the last statue of a large animal with thick, long hair around its neck when a loud crash came from the opposite side of the cave.
Lily shrieked and Gajeel dove into the water, swimming behind a tower of crates. A pile of miniature tridents and spears bubbled near the main entrance and loud, angry yelling reached his ears.
Gajeel moved a barrel and Lily peeked around Gajeel's tail.
"Juvia!?
Heart racing, Gajeel yanked the crab from the rubble. "Juvia? What are...how did you find me?"
"It is a good thing the king ordered Juvia to follow the angry prince! What is this place?"
Gajeel rose to the surface and shook water from his face. "It's my um...collection?"
He sat the crab on the coral shelf and watched her raise a blue eyestalk at him. "Oh Juvia sees...it is Gajeel's collection. And Juvia is sure the king would be most interested to know-"
Gajeel caught the crab right as she jumped into the water. "No, you can't…Juvia! If you tell him, he's just gonna destroy everything!"
"We've been working on this for seasonal currents!" Lily leapt out of the water and tried to suction onto Juvia's shell. The crab snapped her claws at the remora.
"Juvia cannot believe the two of you have been foolish enough to do this right underneath the king's tail!"
"But we've been extremely careful," Lily tried to placate the blue crab.
Gajeel shrugged, trying to convince his father's most trusted advisor. "It's not that big of a deal. We-"
A loud boom echoed through the cave, making the water quiver. Gajeel's hands shook and he dropped Juvia into the water with a loud plunk. Lily jumped into the air and latched onto Gajeel's tail as soon as he hit the water again, his entire body shaking. Another boom followed the first, sounding even closer to the cave.
"What in the Seven Seas is that?" Gajeel whispered, arms beginning to tingle.
"Juvia thinks that it came from the surface. We must return home-"
"The surface?"
With a pounding heart Gajeel jumped into the water, heading directly to the outer wall. He ripped the seaweed from their escape route and squeezed himself through the narrow opening. Beating his tail against the current, he quickly swam the short distance to the water's edge and broke through the surface. He flung wet hair from his face, his hand stilling when the water cleared from his eyes.
It was a human ship. Larger and newer than any of the others he had visited underwater. It was whole, not water-logged, and slowly moved on top of the waves. Gajeel's pulse pounded in his ears and he struggled to breathe. Thunder exploded over the ship, its light illuminating the small figures bustling back and forth along every corner of the moving ship.
Juvia and Lily floated to the surface, their protests turning into gasps loud enough to be heard over the thunder exploding above the ship. The light trailed down in spirals and swirls, covering the ship and surrounding water with color.
"Your Highness," Juvia's frantic voice broke through the vibrations in his ears, "Juvia knows what the prince is thinking. Gajeel must remember what his father said…"
Gajeel nodded, his lips slowly lifting. "Absolutely. He said he must not hear of me visiting the surface again. So if none of us mention this little adventure, then I'll still be followin' orders."
With a flick of his tail he dove beneath the surface, using the booming lights to mark the direction the ship was sailing. He resurfaced every few seconds, hardly daring to take his eyes off his amazing find, before diving back beneath the waves. He waited for the thunder and light to disappear before swimming to the edge of the ship. The ink black water under the ship's shadow covered his approach and Gajeel could hear the sounds of humans above him. His tail twitched and his eyes darted over the wet wood, looking for a way to get closer to them.
"Juvia does not see a way up. Juvia is so sorry, prince, but alas it is time to head back home..."
Gajeel pushed the crab under the water and reached up to grab a piece of the ship that jutted out of the smooth surface. Arms quivering, he carefully climbed his way up the side of the ship, never more thankful for his father's harsh training and strengthening regime. The lights from the ship became brighter and the laughter from the humans urged him to climb faster. A large, wooden surface, almost like a coral shelf, rested directly beneath a hole near the top of the ship's belly.
Tail and hair dripping sea water, Gajeel settled himself onto the seat and with great restraint, ever-so-slowly peered through the opening. His breath hitched.
Humans!
More than a dozen roamed around the ship, many of which moved their bodies in a foreign dance or played strange musical instruments. Most seemed to be male, if their bulky build was anything to go by, but a lone female sitting near the back of the ship.
Her long hair the color of sea corn blew in the gentle ocean breeze and the appendage at the bottom of her legs jerked in a strange motion. Gajeel studied her crossed arms, wondering how she could possibly be angry at the wonderful things that surrounded her. Conversations flowed between the female and the rest of the humans, but Gajeel was only able to understand an occasional word in their rapid conversations.
A covered doorway behind the long-haired female opened and Gajeel startled when the humans burst into clapping and cheers. He ducked away from the hole in the ship, inching forward only when the cheering didn't seem to change.
A second female stepped through the opening, even smaller than the first. She waved to the cheering humans and Gajeel could only stare. Her pale skin looked smoother than a rare pearl and he never could have imagined a human having the same shade of hair as a summer sky reflecting over the smooth, ocean water. Gajeel shook his head and scoffed at himself.
What's up with that? I see one pretty human and suddenly I'm a poet?
Thunder and colored light erupted over the ship once more and made her skin gleam. Gajeel rubbed a sting in his chest and leaned his arms against the opening of the ship. His chin rested on the dry wood and he stared at the female as she walked across the ship's floor, nodding and laughing with the other humans as if they were long-time friends. Her smile threatened to blind him and a memory pulled at Gajeel's dazzled mind when he noticed his female's white, blunted teeth. Gajeel held back a sigh and adjusted his arms, content to listen to the female's bubbly laughter for hours.
His female slowly made her way around the top of the ship, her fellow female companion followed closely behind with agitated hand gestures. The blue-haired human responded to the tirade with something about calm down and still had time. Gajeel mouthed the words, forcing them into memory so he could ask Wendy their meaning the next time they met. The females slowly approached his hiding spot and Gajeel jerked backward, grateful that his dark hair and tail blended into the ship's shadows.
The long-haired female finally seemed to accept defeat, for she bent at her waist and went back to the rest of the humans without another word. His female leaned her arms against the side of the ship directly above him and smiled at the ocean. A breeze tickled the hair next to her cheek and his fingers longed to brush it behind her smooth ear. The smell of the ocean drifted over them and she sighed, a quiet hum coming from her upturned lips.
He let her soft song rush over him and studied the ocean where she was staring. He couldn't find anything special about the dark waters; it was the same as it had been the previous sun cycle, and would look exactly the same in the future. But perhaps to a human it was different. Perhaps the blue-haired female had the same longing about the ocean as he did about the surface. Maybe she too wanted to find a strange new place full of adventure and wonderful things just waiting to be discovered.
The breeze continued to blow and the scales on his tail and along his sides slowly dried in the surface air. It was the longest he had ever been out of the ocean. He rubbed his tail, wincing at the stiffening scales but not yet ready to return to the waters. He would remain on the ship for as long as possible, soaking in each and every conversation and engraving his human's face into his mind so he would never forget her wonderful smile.
He rubbed his scales again, realizing after a moment that the human's song had ended. Scratching a sudden itch behind his ear, Gajeel looked back up to see what activity she was doing next...and stared directly into the wide-eyed gaze of the human.
Do you know how tempted I was to leave y'all hanging right here at this cliffhanger lol? But I didn't cause I'm nice like that :D