Chapter Twelve- New Home Journey

"Welcome home, Seto. I trust your visit was a pleasant one."

"It's good to be back, Father. The visit started out good, but as aspect of me soured their opinion of me. Joey and I are still engaged and plan to be married nonetheless."

"That's a shame. What aspect did they not approve of?"

Seto had anticipated this question and had an answer. "Our marriage practices. They believe royalty should only marry royalty. One would think they would accept me as I am a prince, but…" He shrugged, not sure how to finish. He truly didn't know how to end his explanation.

"That's fine, son. Now, we're about a month from your wedding so let's talk outfits. Hopefully, Joey will visit soon so he can choose his outfit and get fitted."

"I'm sure he will."

Gozaburo and Mokuba headed back to the palace, but Mahad and Seto lingered. "Seto, what really happened?"

"The sister saw me change back to human and she likely told the queen. Joey and I will have to meet and swim elsewhere. Speaking of swimming; Mahad it was amazing! The open water, breathing underwater, and my tail! A beautiful gold color!"

Mahad smiled at Seto's enthusiasm. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. Now, about Joey. It might be time to tell the king and your brother the truth. After all, the wedding's in a month."

"Yes. It probably is. So, what have you been up to Mahad?"

"Oh, I was examining the remainder of the scraping I took and found a way to reverse Joey's change in the form of a spell."

"A spell? You mean you could change Joey's power to be exactly like mine?"

"Exactly. Merman for three days and human the rest of the time. Plus, I…did make more of the potion which used up the scraping."

"More? Sounds like you thought of taking it."

"I confess I did think of doing so, but decided to wait and hear how it felt. I may indeed take it."

"Oh, please do. Joey would love to have more company."

I would love some company right now, Joey thought as he nibbled on a sea roll. He had been unable to acquire any food or drink when he was exiled. However, he came upon a village and the people, recognizing him as the prince, gave him food and drink to sustain him for the remainder of his journey. He was now an entire night away from Seto's kingdom. He had slept most of the day away in a nearby cave and when he awoke, he consumed the rest of his foo before leaving the cave. He quickly surfaced to make sure he was going the right way before ducking down and moving on.

Meanwhile, Marina was still steaming about Joey. He had exposed himself to a human and fallen in love with him. He must not be allowed to interact with any more humans. I will send him a dire warning. She rose from her seat and summoned her power. In addition to granting human or merperson form, she could also raise undersea storms. She could vary the strength and size of it as well as direct it. She focused on Joey and summoned a strong storm that would engulf the area her ex-son was located. She sensed that the storm was brewing and smiled in exhaustion before retiring for the night.

Joey flapped his tail harder as strong currents started coming up. He was having trouble controlling his direction. The currents picked up in intensity and undertows were starting to occur as well. Joey was surprised by how quickly and suddenly the storm came up. Then again, maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Mother does have the power to raise storms. This one is clearly directed at me.

Joey seized onto a rock as a powerful undertow caught his fins. He pulled his way forward and felt his fins come free. He sped away from the undertow only to have a rock hit in the side of his torso due to the force of the currents having dislodged it from the floor. He cried out briefly but kept going. The storm was displacing sand, making it hard to see. Joey squinted around to find a place to anchor himself until the storm had passed.

He felt currents pull on his fins and lower tail. He glanced back to see a whirlpool had grabbed hold of him and was pulling him in. He flapped his tail harder to escape, but the force was too strong. He was sucked into the whirlpool where he was pounded with sand, rocks, and shells. The whirlpool dissipated and Joey beat a hasty retreat from the area. He saw a shallow area ahead and headed for it. He moaned as he surfaced and flopped his upper body onto the sand, his tail still in the water. He hurt all over and was exhausted from the storm and his attempts to escape. His eyes landed on a familiar dock in the near distance before losing consciousness: He made it to Seto's kingdom.

"Seto, the three of us plus Mahad are going to the shore this morning," Gozaburo announced. "Apparently some undersea debris washed up on our shores and we're going to clean it up."

"Just the four of us?"

"That's right. It's our duty as royals that our subjects have a clean shore to enjoy."

Seto nodded and once breakfast was over, the quartet headed for the docks and shore. Gozaburo said that he would clean the docks with Mokuba while Seto and Mahad handled the shore. The two friends moved along the shore, tossing seaweed, rocks, and shells back into the sea. The broken pieces of wood were placed in a pile in the back of the shore that would be collected later and as Seto tossed some more wood into the pile, something bright flashed on the far end. Curious, he moved toward it to find it was a fishtail: A royal blue fishtail.

"Oh my God! Joey!" he exclaimed, catching Mahad's attention. The prince dashed up to his boyfriend who was unconscious on his back. He fell to his knees before gently putting the blonde's head in his lap. Mahad crouched down to examine the merboy.

"He looks like he got battered by a storm. I would have to guess an underwater storm as we did not have a storm last night. It would also account for the debris."

"Poor Joey," Seto murmured stroking the hair. This small movement caused Joey to stir. His eyes fluttered open and slowly focused on their faces.

"Se…to? Ma…had?" he croaked.

"Easy, Joey," Seto soothed. "It's all right."

"No…it's not. Mother…raised a storm…directed it…at me."

"Why?"

"She's disowned me, banished me from the palace, and exiled me from the kingdom because I refused to stop seeing you. She probably didn't want me to interact with other humans."

"We need to have you tended to," Mahad said.

"Too late right now. Have to wait for dawn tomorrow."

"True. However, I have a gift for you." Mahad chanted as he put a hand on Joey's chest. A glow spread from hand to chest before fading.

"What was that?"

"I reversed your ability. After tomorrow morning, you can be a merman for three days and be human the rest of the time."

Joey gaped. "You mean like Seto?" His face lit up at the idea. "Really?"

Mahad laughed. "Really."

"Seto! Mahad! Find something?" called Gozaburo from the far end.

Three pairs of eyes looked at one another with resignation. The time for the truth had arrived.