Chapter 11
Gajeel swam the length of his room, growling at the closed door where he knew his father's watch dog-fish waited. It had only been a single sun cycle of his forced banishment, but his blood still boiled at the mere thought of what his father had done.
He threw a potted sea fern against the coral wall, startling Lily and Juvia where they lay on the bed. The remora snuck in soon after the guards dragged Gajeel into the room but his father's most trusted crustacean served as a silent warning from the king.
"I told you he would never understand, Lil. Just look how he has me guarded now," Gajeel snarled, growling at the crab until her eye-stalks twisted away.
Lily was wrong. No matter how many times he talked with his father, Gajeel knew the king and he would never see scale to scale. His father was a merman through and through, never willing to compromise on anything. And foolishly, Gajeel tried to live up to those expectations. He trained with a weapon for his entire life. He fought and won countless fights and festivals and his crown of hair showed he was a son any merman would be proud to have. But he had never felt so accomplished, never had the feeling that he had done exactly right, than when he saw Levy's beaming smile as she thanked him for saving her life.
His father was a porgy if he thought for one current that Gajeel would ever repent. He would never have a drop of guilt for going to the surface and would never feel a scale of remorse for talking to Levy. She was the single greatest thing that had happened in his life, and there was no way in the Seven Seas that he would ever deny his feelings for her.
"What are you going to do now?"
Gajeel looked at the remora with a sigh. "I don't know. But I'm never gonna repent, ya know that." He added another glare to the crab, daring her to say anything.
Lily nodded. "I figured. But the king won't let you out until you do."
An idea formed in his mind. It was risky, but it was his only option. "I know," he whispered, glancing at the door. "And that's why I'm gettin' outta here myself."
"What!?" Lily cried out, Juvia following suit.
Gajeel grabbed the fish by the mouth and tossed a blanket over the crab to keep her screech from alerting the guards near the door.
"Quiet. If you snuck in, then that means I can sneak out. I'll head to the surface, find a new cave to live in, and I'll be set."
Lily huffed, but at least humored him enough to keep his voice low. "And how are you going to keep your father from searching the entire ocean for you, huh?"
"It sounds as if you might need some help," came a whisper from one of his bedroom windows.
Gajeel spun on his tail, nearly dropping Lily in the process. Two eels floated into the room, their long bodies trailing under the shark leather covering the windows. Gajeel eyed their movements, his body poised and ready.
"No need to be alarmed," one of the eels whispered. Its body was covered in dark scales and a spattering of white stripes trailed over the surface. A darker eel swam by its side and the two looked at Gajeel with unblinking eyes.
"Who are you?" Gajeel growled, releasing Lily. The remora suctioned onto his tail and Gajeel resisted the urge to fling the fish away.
"We know someone who…helps…unfortunate merfolk like yourself."
"No thanks," Lily quivered, "We're not interested."
Gajeel flicked the fish on his head. "Who is it?" he asked, eyeing the two eels.
"Acnologia," the dark eel whispered with a startling grin.
Warning shells rang in his ears. Lily suctioned even tighter on his tail, the fish's entire body shaking. Juvia wiggled out from her barricade and hurried to his side.
"Gajeel! You can't go, your own father banished him from the castle long before you could even swim on your own!"
"Juvia agrees! His Majesty would never agree to this!"
The mere mention of his father dried any drop of caution Gajeel still had.
"And based on how stupid my father's most recent decisions have been," he curled his lip and glared at his friends, "I doubt there was actually a good reason for Acnologia's banishment."
"Then you will come with us?" the lighter eel asked.
Gajeel huffed. "Of course I am."
"Gajeel!"
"You can just stay here if you're too much of a scaredy fish."
Gajeel yanked Lily from his tail, wincing at the pull of the suctions around Lily's mouth. The remora yelped, but Gajeel ignored the fish.
"Very good," said the darker eel.
The lighter eel nodded. "We will watch the guard. Look for our signal."
They swam out the window and Gajeel hurried to his spear resting on the far side of the room and attached it to his hip. He carefully lifted the curtain, staring at the guards patrolling the coral floor below the castle. Every few heartbeats one of the guards would look up at his window before moving along their patrol. Gajeel studied their movements, looking for any break in the pattern.
A guard swam the corner of the castle and a light flashed next to a large sea fern. Gajeel bolted out of his room, a tightening and pinch on his tail the only indication that Lily and Juvia joined him.
He hurried to the light and ducked behind the fern. Its large branches swayed in the current and Gajeel had just tucked his tail under him when a guard swam past his bedroom window. Gajeel lay completely still, his heart pounding.
"Follow us," the eels whispered together.
After checking his spear, Gajeel swam after the duo. Lily remained completely silent, but he could feel the fish shaking on his tail. Gajeel felt a slight pang of guilt for bringing his fry-hood friend into his mess, but the remora knew what he was getting himself into and could leave any time he wanted.
Lost in his own thoughts, Gajeel only briefly noticed the changing seascape around them. The eels led them past wild sea horses and caverns, cliffs and crags, until they reached a barren sea floor devoid of all life. Gajeel slowed his tail, looking around him in wonder. He had never traveled to that section of the ocean before. And judging by the ache in his tail and the twinge in his lungs, they must have been traveling for longer than he realized.
Underwater volcanoes spouted hot water to the surface and a sea cliff rose in front of them. But it was the enormous skeleton looming in front of him that made his hands twitch toward his weapon.
The remains of an ancient water dragon lay on the ground, its pristine white bones washed clean by the countless tides and currents. Gajeel eyed the skeleton as he approached, pausing to study the creature. He couldn't remember a single merfolk who had seen one of the ancient beasts. Many claimed they were simply legends and his own grandmaman would tell him tales to scare him into bed when he was a young fry.
"We…we shouldn't be here," Lily quivered.
"J-Juvia agrees."
Gajeel paused, looking back the way they came. Had the guards alerted his father of his absence? Did the king even care?
"This way," the eels hissed, circling around him.
Their bodies pushed him forward and he turned his back to the ocean behind him. There was nothing left for him back at the castle, only misery and a father who never listened. It was up to him to chart his own path and he wouldn't let anyone get in the way.
After checking his weapon once more, Gajeel hurried after the eels. They swam down the narrow neck of the skeleton and entered a wide room. Coral shelves and furniture lined the walls and ceiling, sea glass bottles filling almost every empty shelf Gajeel could see. A wide bowl sat in the middle of the room, filled with a bright, bubbling liquid. Gajeel craned his neck, trying to see past the light.
"Come in, come in…there's no need to be shy."
Gajeel startled, his hand moving to unsheath his spear. A low laugh came over his shoulder and a hand clamped his arm.
"Now, there's no need for that," a dark shape swam in front of him. Gajeel studied the figure, eyeing his dark tail and blue fins.
"I'm afraid I wasn't expecting visitors, so please excuse my appearance, it was…well, it was deemed a suitable punishment for my exile." The merman laughed and ran a hand over his bald head. "But do come in, I have been waiting for so long to meet you…"
The merman clasped his hand and dragged Gajeel forward. Gajeel inched away from his hold and stared at the merman's smiling face.
"It is so nice to finally see you after all these seasonal currents…nephew."