T_T *slowly lowers story with a fishing line*

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia nor the songs from The Little Mermaid: Return To The Sea

"Willem, please come out." Ezio sat outside the apartment complex, his head resting against the Vash's door while his arms wrapped themselves around his tail. "My fratello was only trying to get you mad. I don't care about Patty or any of those other mermaids. Fratello, tell him!"

Amadeus crossed his arms in a huff, "Why should I?"

"Because it's the truth!" The little merman knocked again, "Willem…"

"This happens every time I come to visit, Ezio." The blonde merman's voice sounded muffled through the coral door but that was ok. At least he was talking to him.

"And every time it happens you learn that Amadeus is just being a jerk." The little Italian saw that his brother lowered his eyes sadly, his blonde curl drooping by his twin's words. "I know it's not fair to justify him for being mean but…he's a lot like you. You both really care for me and I think he gets a little jealous because I always talk about you and always hang out with you when you come visit me. But neither of you should be jealous. My heart is big enough for you both. My fratello is my twin and our bond is never going to change no matter what happens. And you…" Ezio poked his index fingers together bashfully, "You're my special best friend and that's never going to change either. Well, maybe someday when we're older if you want but until then…"

"You really mean that?" Willem and Amadeus said together, the smaller blonde opening the door to be able to see his friend. The two shared a glance and for once there wasn't any animosity between them.

"Of course I do guys. You know I don't lie."

Willem closed the door to unchain the lock and opened it fully to pounce onto his friend, "You're awesome, Ezio! I'm sorry I was acting like a-a-uh…" The blonde looked over his friend's shoulder and saw that his cousins were dragging Peter towards the surface frantically. He caught Patrik's head jerk telling him to hurry up. "I have to go. I'm sorry."

"But you just got here."

"I know and I'm sorry but I have to go with my cousins. We-uh…we just came to pick up something but I promise to ask my mom and dad I can come visit with my uncle Lars when he comes for the concert next week."

Ezio lowered his eyes, "Ok."

The blonde merman returned his attention to his brooding friend and lifted his chin, "I promise. Oh!" Willem pulled off his hat and plucked the pearl, "I found this at a sunken ship on my way over. It reminded me of your eyes."

Ezio took it, a blush gracing his bronzed cheeks, "Grazie." He kissed his cheek shyly before moving to the next. "It's really beautiful, Will."

"Oh Poseidon," groaned Amadeus, "I'm still here you know. Go with your cousins or whatever. I'll take my bruder back home." He pulled his brother away from the other blonde's embrace and glared halfheartedly at him, "We'll see you around."

Willem put his black hat back on and smiled bashfully, "See you later, Ezio." The young Nordic turned on his fin and swam after his cousins, leaving the twins staring after the trail of bubbles he left in his wake.

The Trident stopped glowing when Peter hoisted himself onto a very familiar boulder. He rolled onto his back, his body molding onto the smooth rock like it had been specifically refined just for him. And that was the thing; casting his blue eyes wearily to his side, he glared miserably at the wall around his father's castle through his fringe.

"Peter," called Erik, gently poking at his tail to get his attention, "I have your hat."

"Thank you." Peter placed it on his head before wiping at his eye.

"Are you ok?" Patrik hoisted himself onto the rock as well, blocking the blonde's view of the castle.

The young prince sat back to offer room for Erik as well. "No, not really," he sniffed. "I just never knew that Atlantica was so close to home." At the two mermen's confused expression he nodded behind him, "That's where I live."

"Whoa."

"It's beautiful," murmured the little silver haired merman. "But…why would you build a gate around such a pretty castle?"

"I didn't, it was my-"

A slight splash on their right drew their attention to Willem, who was grinning broadly, a slight flush on his cheeks. "Hey guys. Sorry to have disappeared on ya like that. Did ya find it? The fork thing?" He noticed the gold gleam and his grin grew, "Ooh goodie, you did!"

"Yeah and now Miss Natalya can make my tail permanent."

"But why, Peter?" Erik squinted to make out the mosaic on the walls, "You home looks warm and the wall has pretty symbols."

Patrik frowned, "Not just any symbols. Those are runes, ones that protect whatever resided within them."

"My dad. He thinks that the sea is dangerous so it doesn't really surprise me that he put them there."

"Oh, well, what was he trying to keep out?"

At this, Peter recalled the argument he had with his papa and his anger returned tenfold, "It wasn't built to keep things out. It was built to keep me in." Gripping the Trident in his hand he jumped back into the water, "Come on, let's go."

As the young mermen made their way back to the cooler waters, they discussed everything from their parents to what they liked to do for fun aside from exploring and painting. Well, except for Erik, to him making artworks was really the only source of fun that existed. The others learned that Peter was in fact a prince where he came from and that it was his uncle who was king not his father. "My dad said that we were going to take a very long trip some day when it was safe but neither he nor my papa ever said safe from what."

"Wow, that's something." Willem swam on his back as they neared the cave. "You know, our family resort is around your home. We all go there in the summer, it's really nice. Kind of like a lagoon with lots of pretty trees and flowers."

"Yeah," added Patrik. "Maybe when you become a permanent merman you can join us sometime."

"Mhmm." Erik swam over to Peter and wrapped his little arms around his neck to allow himself to be dragged through the water on his back. "Then we'll be friends forever and we can paint all the time." Peter blushed with sweet joy. He'd never had friends let alone best friends, this would be amazing!

The red head beamed, "We'll be inseparable."

While his cousins continued to discuss with their new found friend how amazing life would be after he became a real merman, Willem let his mind wonder. His father had mentioned that they would be taking a vacation down to the lagoon in the near future. Maybe they could invite Ezio and his family to come with them as well; after all his uncles Tino and Berwald were very good friends with Ezio's dads. It was rather funny actually; Uncle Berwald and Ludwig had a lot in common. But before the young blonde merman could reflect on those similarities, he felt a rather uncomfortable tingle in his tail. One that he recalled feeling just a few hours ago when they had that encounter with that-Willem turned back around and saw the dorsal fin of a-, "SHARK!"

"What? Where?!" Patrik let out a panicked scream and plucked his baby cousin from Peter's back, "Swim, Peter! It's a shark!"

Peter felt his heart give a panicked thump but soon realized that it wasn't what they thought it was. "Wait, guys! It's just…Damien." He sighed sadly as his friends became nothing more than dots in the horizon.

"Leaving so soon boys?" Damien turned back into his chibified version with a proud smirk. "Man, those ninnies sure can swim, huh?"

"That's not a polite thing to say," said Peter with a frown, "Besides, those guys are my friends. Had it not been for them I wouldn't have been able to-"

But the dark haired merman waved him away with a scoff. "Psh, you mean you call those yellow bellied sea slugs your friends? They're- oh, hey!" Silver eyes widened at the Trident clutched tightly in the prince's hands, "You actually got it."

"Well, yeah. I said I would and I did." Peter blinked at the sudden change of mood on Damien's face. One moment he was being a jerk and now he was staring at him with grateful adoration.

"Peter, you have no idea how much this means to me, and Nat. Come on, let's go make some magic." The Chibi merman tugged on Peter's arm to lead him further into the cave where Natalya was waiting. A sadistic smirk growing on his face as he pondered how long it would take him to catch up to the other three mermen. Sure they weren't children anymore but he was sure that they'd taste just as good.

Feli noticed that Arthur start to pant a few miles into their journy as they followed Millen and Vladimir and picked him up so that they could keep up. The young sea prince flushed with embarrassment while his friend simply beamed at being able to keep up while carrying someone larger than his sons. However, the Italian merman couldn't bring himself to tease Arthur, it wasn't the time. Maybe when this was all over and Peter was safe.

"Feli," whispered Arthur. "Look, they're going into that cave."

"Ve~" He let go of the sea prince and looked over a rock. Sure enough, the two mermen swam inside. "This isn't as far as I thought they'd be."

"Yeah and I'm almost positive that Natalya is inside with Damien." Green eyes narrowed in effort to see inside the dark cavern but all he could make out was the trail of bubbles the two had left in their wake. His stomach clutched into knots with anxiety, "What if Peter is inside?"

"Well if he is, we'll find him."

"Feli, wait!" Arthur tugged at his friend's arm to bring him back behind the rock, "I need you to go to my brothers and tell them where this place is. Tell them to send word to Alfred as well. I'm going to go find Peter."

"Ve, are you kidding me?!" The sea prince widened his eyes in awe. Feli actually raised his voice at him. And this wasn't his usual 'who ate the last of my pasta' voice, this was his no nonsense papa voice. He opened his mouth to speak but his friend continued on. "Like hell I'm going to let you go in on your own."

"Fe, listen-"

"No, you listen!" The auburn haired merman took Arthur's hands in his, "Those stingray bastards are in there." Feli ignored the way Arthur's eyes widened at his expression and continued on. "And if your right about this, then so is that sadistic sea witch a-and oh! And so is that damn little shark that tried to eat us." His grip tightened around the pale hands, bringing them over his heart with wide eyes, "What if she has those freaky tentacles, Artie?! She'll use the suction cups on your pretty face or worse. What if she hurts you?!"

The sea prince's shocked face had softened to the point where he was now regarding his best friend fondly, "You really haven't changed at all have you. Feli," this time Arthur grasped the Italian's hands in his, "now you listen to me, mate. I don't want to hear you blaming yourself for something that was utterly and completely my fault. Besides, we can't both go in someone needs to tell big brother and the others where we are."

"Feli? Prince Artie?" The duo looked up to see two puffins land delicately onto the icy rock shielding them. One of them slid along the side, turning into a merman the second he hit the water. Lukas gave a slight bow towards Arthur, "Young highness, what are you doing here?"

"Yeah," chirped Mathias from his perch on the rock, "Did you two find Peter yet? You haven't by any chance seen my own son have you, Feli? Berwald was watching them and he told me that they were with this new merchild, showing him around and what not. His kid and Emil's boy are also missing you don't suppose-mmph!"

Lukas reached out to grab his older brother's beak and held it shut with a glare, "Shut up, you idiot. Why on earth Tino thought I should bring you along with me is beyond me. I am perfectly capable of searching this place on my own." He turned to Arthur and explained, "I've been getting huge waves of negative energy from this location and I wanted to check it out seeing as though it has been interfering with my own work a-and-and…hm, er, Your Highness, why are you looking at me like that?" The Nordic eyed his prince warily as the blonde exchanges with Feli as if communicating telepathically. "What?"

Arthur extended in arm out to Mathias in invitation to perch himself on it which the Nordic did without hesitation. He motioned Lukas over as well so that he could address both of them, "You guys, I need you to do me a huge favor…" Both Nordics listened carefully.

The pale blue scales on Peter's tail were beginning to ache but the young prince tried to pay no attention to it. More than likely it was because of the sudden change of temperature between the waters inside Natalya's cave and the warmer waters he'd just come from. At least, that was what Peter kept telling himself. He didn't want to even consider the fact that his time was almost up not that it mattered. With the Trident about to be handed over to its rightful master, the pain would surely go away and he'd soon be able to go play with the others.

Peter followed Damien down a tunnel that led into a underwater room were Natalya sat on a vanity. She ran a comb through her long hair before securing a purple bow on top. Peter tried to withhold a gasp at her milky eye but she heard it anyway, startling her from her grooming.

"Ah, there you are, comrade." Natalya wrapped her eye patch around her dead eye and swam up to the boy, "I was really worried about you, dear." When she got closer her good eye lit up with delight.

"And you've even brought me my Trident back! Oh, what a clever boy you are," she cooed as she reached eyed the golden weapon in the merman's hand.

"Give it to her, give it to her," growled Damien, shocking Peter. He shied away from the duo and brought the Trident to his chest in fear.

Natalya shoved the miniaturized shark behind her with a glare, "Forgive him, comrade. He has a bit of a size issue. Always has as far as I can remember. Even back when we first started…socializing with one another he was always jittery about one thing or another." The mermaid gave a small smirk at the angry hiss Damien sent her way. Turning back to the young merman she extended her hand, "The Trident."

But Peter didn't move, the ache in his tail was beginning to become unbearable. He wiggled it about a bit. "It's odd," he murmured to himself, still flipping his tail about in effort to sooth the scales, "It's almost like my tail is trying to tell me something."

"What was that, Peter?"

"Er, nothing, Miss. It's just that my tale is really starting to hurt and I'm not sure why."

"Ah, well it'll be good as new as soon as you hand me my Trident. I'll be sure to fix it so if you would please hand it over..." Again Natalya reached out her hand for it, this time Peter inched forward to hand it over.

"Peter, no! Don't listen to her!" Arthur swam as fast as he could to intercept the Trident but Peter pulled away just as Natalya's fingertips brushed the golden neck. She let out an annoyed hissed, her eyes darkening for a second before remembering herself. She could still do this. If she played her cards at the right moment, she would still get the pleasure of ruining Arthur emotionally before dragging him over the glass.

In all honesty, the mermaid would be lying if she said that she could come up with something more painful than the resentment of a child towards his parent. Well, she probably could but something told her to keep her mouth shut and watch it all fall into place before her. Natalya felt the corners of her mouth twist into a grin as she watched Arthur and Peter regard each other in shock.

Arthur's eye brows were nearly invisible, hidden behind his fringe. Green eyes widened in amazement in seeing his son with the very same tail he had been born with. Well, perhaps not the very same, this one had obviously been forced on by dark magic if the scales were anything to go by. The poor things were starting to shed, leaving behind a trail of bloody spots and the fin itself was showing signs of wear and tear. Still…the older blonde's attention darted to the black scales near his son's fin.

"Papa?" Peter was in shock himself. He couldn't believe it. The man who had warned him about the sea and it's horrors. The man who had forbade him from entering the domain that gave him so much joy, who had built a wall specifically to keep him from it, was swimming here before him with a tail of his own. A glorious tail of ruby and silver scales and he was maneuvering in the water with such grace, flipping his tail back in forth as if he had been born with- wait a minute. Blue eyes stared up at green, betrayed tears suddenly welling in them, "Papa you're a-"

"Peter," breathed Arthur just as his son spoke at the same time as he, "you're a-"

"Merman," they said at the same time.

A heavy silence fell over them as father and son continued to stare at each other. Natalya decided to poke at the embers. "Arthur, my darling, it's been such a long time hasn't it. How nice of you to come." She swam over to him and sneered at the auburn haired merman next to him, "And you've brought you're little boyfriend, Fettuccini."

Feli narrowed his eyes at the mermaid, the bubble of nervousness he had felt when they entered the cave popped and in its place a bubble of anger emerged. Forgotten resentment towards her sister and the hate that he had concealed for forcing him and his husband to stay away from their best friends made his tail flick about angrily, "My name is Feliciano you uncultured mollusk."

"Oi," growled Damien, shoving Feli away from the mermaid, "watch your tone with Natalya, bastard." He swung his tiny fists out to punch the larger merman but they hardly made an impact. The chibi growled again.

Feli held him at arm's length away, "Yeah, well, 'grr' yourself, Chibi. Go stand at the corner before I show you what I do to bambini who misbehave as badly as you have."

Damien gaped, "The nerve on- Nat! Get that thing and hit me; one hit and he's mine."

"Little comrade, if you would-" Natalya started but Peter cut her off.

"All this time, Papa? Why did you tell me?" Peter hugged the Trident to himself as he eyed his father then over to the merman who Natalya had called his father's boyfriend. "And him? Who is he? Are you cheating on daddy?" His voice cracked at the end and the tears were now falling freely from his eyes, turning into little bubbles as the rolled down his cheeks.

The sea prince waved his hands to dismiss the thought, "Of course I'm not! I love your father very much, so much that I gave up my life here in the sea to be with him. This is my best friend, we're practically brothers. I left him and my tail behind so that I could be with Alfred."

Peter eyed Feli suspiciously before his eyes landed on the golden band around his ring finger, "You're married?"

"Si," answered Feli carefully, glancing over to Arthur. When the blonde nodded he added, "To your Uncle Gilbert's brother, Ludwig."

The Iron Cross around his neck, around the twin's neck, around his Uncle Matthew's and Gilbert's neck. How on earth did he miss that? No! Focus. Peter shook his head in disbelief, "My uncles knew? Daddy too? You…all of you kept this a secret from me?!"

Natalya took this chance to hug Peter close to her. She threw a smug look over his head to Arthur. "He kept the most important secret of his whole life from his own son," she admonished.

"Love," pleaded Arthur as he inched closer to his son, "please give me back the Trident."

"No! Give it to me, Peter. It's for your own good."

"Argh! She's bloody lying to you, son! Can't you see it?"

"I've given you what you always wanted. He's the one who lied to you all these years. Allowed for those children to bully you because he didn't have the nerve to tell everyone that the reason you don't have a mother is because you were literally the creation of himself and Prince Alfred."

Arthur clenched and unclenched his hands repeatedly. His heart was both on the verge of breaking from the look of betrayal on his son's face and hysteria from how dangerously close the Trident was to the sea witch's clutches. He took a deep breath to try and calm himself but it wasn't really working. "Darling, please believe me that I was only trying to protect you."

A flash of anger swept through Peter's blue eyes, making him look a lot like Alfred when people were stirring up trouble in the kingdom. "By fencing me in?! You knew how much I loved the sea. Why did you keep the truth from me?"

"And that's not all," purred Natalya, her own eye steeling with hate towards the two older mermen, "the blood of my brother and sister are on their hands."

Peter's tail froze, "What?"

Feli placed the hand not restraining Damien on Arthur's shoulder as he directed his glare to Natalya, "Don't."

Natalya ignored him and continued, "Da, didn't your Papa tell you at least that? Come now, Arthur." The mermaid's face twisted into a cruel grimace, "You could've at least used the tale of that night to scare young Peter. Maybe then he would've had more of an inclination to listen to you."

"Papa, what is she talking about?"

"Nothing, love," said Arthur quickly, his eyes shifting between the Trident, his son and the sea witch. "Don't listen to her."

"Why not? I'm the only one who is offering him answers."

"Your answers aren't even true!"

"Oh? So you mean to tell me that it wasn't your kin who killed my beloved sister? His father who murdered my beautiful brother in cold blood?"

"Oh, God," muttered Peter, suddenly feeling weak. "Oh, God, daddy did? Your kin?" His mind felt like it was spinning with everything he was being told. He didn't want to believe that. No, didn't Natalya say that it was the golden tailed merman who killed her brother? Or was it her sister? Oh, God, he didn't remember. Where was he again? Oh, right. Water, tail, one dad is a merman while the other is apparently a killer.

"My brothers did no such thing," defended Arthur without thinking, "I did."

"Oh bloody hell." Scratch that, both fathers were killers. The color drained from Peter's skin, his ahoge drooping and suddenly the Trident in his hands seemed too heavy.

"Son!" Arthur tried to help Peter steady himself, "I didn't-it was an accident! They were dangerous. She is dangerous. I admit that my keeping all of this from you was the of the worst mistakes I've ever made but please believe me, son. She's lying. Thing's didn't happen the way she says they did. Thing's aren't as she says they are." He tugged his son away from Natalya's clutches and hugged him tightly. Running his fingers through his son's golden hair he tried to convey his regret and undying love for the boy, "If there was one thing in my life I could do over, son I…"

Peter was only half listening to what his father was telling him. All the thoughts in his head where confused and this back and forth of who was telling the truth and who wasn't was only stirring them up more. At the moment all he knew was that Natalya had given him what he wanted, gave him answers when he needed them while his papa had only denied him what he wanted and withheld the answers when he asked. Despite wanting nothing more than to just curl up in his Papa's arms and hopefully wake up from this nightmare, because this is what it had to be right? A horrid nightmare concocted from his cruel imagination. He would wake up and yeah, he may not have a tail but he'd have his normal papa without a fish tail and a cheerful Daddy who would never harm anyone. And when he would wake up then he would find himself snuggled between the two and they'd go out into town or maybe go visit Lord Beilschmidt.

But the sudden sharp pain in his tail told him that this wasn't a nightmare that he would easily wake up from. This was real; his family had lied and kept secrets form him. Tearing away his papa's hold, Peter swam backwards towards Natalya. "It's too late, dad."

"Peter, no!" Arthur and Feli watched in horror as Peter handed over the Trident to Natalya.

The young prince gasped and was shoved back into Arthur's arms when the golden sheen turned into an angry violet as soon as it made contact with the mermaid's hand. She cackled in victory, her tail suddenly changing back into that of an octopus, the black slimy appendages spreading out like a hand in glee. "Kol, Kol, Kol," she purred as she ripped off her eye patch to reveal Ivan's dead eye restored to a vibrant violet.

"Papa," whimpered Peter in shock. "Papa, what's happening?"

"I'll tell you what's happening, comrade. You've just handed over the means to command the power of all the seven seas!" Purple lightening radiated from the Trident casting an ominous glow within the cavern. Arthur tucked Peter between him and Feli to shield him as much as he could. They needed to get away from here and quick.

"Nat," called Damien, "Stop gloating and get back down here. We still have other things on our itinerary that require your attention."

"That we do, comrade." The mermaid reached out a tentacle towards the small fearful group. Arthur pushed his son back and friend just as the appendage wrapped itself the prince's torso to pull him towards the mermaid.

"Papa!"

"No, Peter, stay put." Feli wrapped his own arms around the boy, his honey color eyes not leaving his friend's. "Arthur! Let him go you," the merman trailed off in a long string of Italian curses more so for Peter than anything else. He would never say such things in front of his kids and therefor he was sure Arthur wouldn't want him to know what he was saying. That aside, he was seriously regretting not bringing a weapon with him.

"Mr. Feliciano, please let me go. I need to help my papa!"

"I won't, bambino. Natalya's dangerous."

"You damn right I am." The mermaid eyed Peter with mock sympathy, "It's a pity you didn't listen to daddy, comrade. He was only trying to keep you safe from me." She pulled Arthur against herself and rubbed her cheek against his, "What he did, he did out of love and…a-and, oh my." Natalya tightened her tentacle around the sea prince and ran a hand through his messy hair, taking a good look at him, "Where you always this handsome?"

"The bloody hell are you going on about?!" Arthur struggled harder against his binds, "Unhand me!"

"Well, I suppose plans can be changed," murmured Natalya to herself. "I keep you here with me, you suffer from heart ache in never seeing your human husband and family again. Your other snot nosed brothers well, they're already in a panic knowing that the Trident is missing not to mention that their only nephew is lost at sea. And as for Robert, well, perhaps, Big Brother did have the right idea in using you against him."

Arthur gasped as his lungs were slowly being squeezed as Natalya continued to tighten her tentacle around him. She ran a finger down his neck, "The beautiful part is that all of that will be the cause of Robert's undoing and I didn't even have to lift a finger." The mermaid turned her gaze to Peter, "I have you to thank for that, little comrade. Poor Peter, such a naughty boy you've been, stealing from your own uncle."

Peter hugged Feli in his despair, "M-my uncle?"

"King Robert, ruler of Atlantica, commander and chief of the seven seas and everything in between. Or at least he was until a certain little thief came along."

"But you told me," Peter trailed off as he thought back to earlier that afternoon, his eyes widening with realization. He was related to him! Now it made sense why he didn't feel nervous when he saw the red headed merman pace in the throne room, why it nearly broke his heart to see him so sad. They were blood…and he stole from him. He stole from his-Peter narrowed his eyes at the mermaid, "You tricked me! You said he was a murderer and a thief!"

"Yes, well, my kin and I are known to do that. Say, isn't that what my sister did to you and your stupid human, Feli? Only the vixen took it to a whole different level, didn't she?" Her smile threatened to crack her face, it was so wide, and it only grew with the shadows growing behind Feli's eyes. "Does your husband still talk about her?

Arthur stopped struggling, "Shut up. Feli, don't you listen to her."

"Does he ever moan her name when you two are together?"

"Stop it," whispered Feli, his arms falling from Peter's shoulders.

"I bet Natalya looked almost as handsome as Ivan as a man. Or did she take him as a woman? Did she make him question his love for you and your-"

"I said, STOP IT!" Feli swam out of Peter's grasp to attack the mermaid, only managing to scratch at a tentacle when Milen grabbed him and tossed him into a smaller cave, Vladimir tossing Peter after him. The Italian checked Peter for any injury, "Are you ok, bambino?"

Peter rubbed his eyes, "I-I think so."

"Bene. Come on let's get out of here before they seal us…in." Feli swam up to the opening just as Natalya finished sealing it, leaving only a tiny hole to talk to them through. "Let us out!"

Natalya ignored him, choosing to address, the young merman instead, "Tell me, comrade, was being a merman everything you ever dreamed? Was it worth it? Ah! And before I forget, your time as a merman is about to expire." Her cackles were heard even after she finished the icy wall. "Come along, Prince Arthur. We've got bigger fish to fry."

Arthur struggled against the mermaid, "What was the point of telling him that?"

"It was for Damien. He wanted him to suffer as well; don't think we don't know that he and his German also had a hand in the deaths of our families."

"You're insane!"

The mermaid simply grinned, "You have no idea."

Feli swam to the bottom of the cave and sat down on one of the rocks. He checked under his nails carefully for anything he might have gotten stuck when he attacked Natalya, "Ve, Peter?"

The young merman sniffed sadly, "Yes, sir?"

"You don't need to be so formal with me, bambino. Come here." He extended his arms wide in invitation, "Shh, don't cry, little one. Nothing bad is going to happen to you, ok?"

"But it's all my fault." Peter buried his face into Feli's chest, tears coming out faster, "I've ruined everything!"

"We can still fix this. Look." Feli gently pulled the young blonde away enough to show him what he found in his nail, "When I scratched Natalya, one of her scales came off."

Peter hiccuped, "Is that good?"

"Good for you, with this I can make you something so you can breathe a little while longer. Just long enough for me to break the wall. Hopefully it'll also be enough to sooth your own scales."

"How? If that's her's wouldn't it be bad magic?"

"Not necessarily, magic is magic. It's what you do with it that decides what kind it is. In Natalya's case, si, it is very bad. But-" Feli gently pulled back the flap of his pouch and brought out a sea shell and a small vile of white glowing powder. Taking a rock he ground the black scale until it too became as fine as the powder in the vile. He scooped it into the seashell and poured the white into it as well, mixing them carefully. "If used correctly magic can be used for good. This powder came from your papa's silver scales," he explained. "Our friend, Lukas, gave one of his black scales and blessed this, which is why it's glowing. It crossed our minds that something like this happened to you."

"What will that stuff do?"

"Ve. It'll do two things; one, heal your poor tail and two, activate your own magic."

"My magic?"

"Si!" Feli smiled brightly at the boy and patted his head, "You got it from your Papa. Artie was going to go to school for his license to practice after you were born but," his smile faltered, "never mind. If we activate your magic then you should still be able to breath a while longer even with out your tail."

"But she used her brother's magic on me won't this hurt me?"

"No. Lukas is a lot stronger than her and him; his blessing should be enough to cancel out their effects." Feli pulled out a conch and poured a fraction of the vile into it before blowing into a corner to create a bubble, "Here you go, you'll need pure oxygen after I do this. Use it sparingly, if you can, ok? And try not to pop the bubble. The lungs should work but best be prepared, ve? Are you ready?" Peter sniffed again and rubbed his pink nose with a nod. He extended his tail with a wince, the pain now unbearable. He let out a pained cry when Feli started to rub the powder into his tail.

The older merman looked at Peter apologetically, "Ve, I know, little one. Just a bit more, ok? I'm almost done."

"It hurts!"

"Ok, I'm done. Better?" Feli ran his hand soothingly over Peter's back like he did for his own children when they were hurting. "Breath through the conch and slowly take breaths in the water.

Peter nodded, "Thank you, Mr. Feli." The young prince leaned against a rock and bent his tail forward, sighing in relief when the movement didn't shoot pain up his spine.

Feli watched for signs of pain but found none. "Okie dokie, now for this wall."

It's been nearly a month since I've last updated. Truth be told it's because of two reasons. One, my laptop gave up on life and I had to wait to buy a new one and two I have been REALLY tired lately but that's mostly because I've been waking up early to get to my classes. I'm a full time student this semester but mostly my afternoons are free so I should use time to write. When I get back in the swing of things, I'll post up chapters up once a week like I usually did, KK? On another note, I hope everyone has been enjoying this first month of the new year ^_^ I've found old love, Supernatural lol. Can't believe I never noticed how much Dean and Castiel care about one another, don't worry won't get into that though, just wanted to say lol. Also, Sherlock started up again, Woo! Alright, I'll stop. I'm going to close the Poll for which story you guys would like for me to write next, right now two titles are at a tie, El Dorado staring the Italy brother's and the pairing Spamano with Beauty and The Beast staring Finland and Sweden ^_^ I'm up for either, truth be told, I can't wait for Frozen to come out on blueray and such, I want so badly to write it with Italy and Romano. I watched that twice and that's all I saw. Italy as Anna and Romano as Elsa...of course with Germany as Kristoff. Obviously I'll but my spin on it =3 Anywho thank you to everyone who has stuck with me and this story. I won't make any promises that the next chapter will be out by this weekend because that one will be REALLY long. Kind of like the last chapter I wrote for this story's predecessor. Y'all don't mind right?

~Until Next Time, hopefully it'll be soon this time =)

Fallen Heavens: Lol, I'm glad you like it. I'll try to get it up there too. Maybe this Friday if I have time. ^_^ How is your story coming along?

pastaadict: You know, I didn't even realize I did that lol. When I read your review I had to go back and read it then it hit me lol ^_^` Thanks for the review.

aycee-san: Yes, lol. Next chapter, he'll catch his break. Poor guy deserves it after what the Kirkland clan has put him through =3. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

VivaAmerica: I love the kids too, it's actually a big part as two why I started the Little Merman lol. I wanted to get to the sequel so I could write about the kids. Thank you so much for sticking with me. =3

Marshal Thompson: Thank you so much for your review ^_^ I'm glad!

zoewinter1: Oh gosh, thank you =3 Yes, I am planning to write more. ALOT more, I have a list. Only thing though is that I also have my other story Love Has No Recipe that I'll also be working on but it shouldn't be a problem. I think, aside from this update, I've been juggling them pretty well lol

Sandra DeNight: I'm glad you liked it =3 Thank you again for your kind words! I hope that this chapter was worth the wait T_T, though I am terribly sorry that it took forever to get posted.