The Mermaid and The Beast

Chapter 4- Jake and Bluetail's Predicament

"She's BACK!"

Jake smacked his forehead and covered his fellow Sharkanian's mouth abruptly.

"Be quiet, Plummer! Remember the promise we both made, Spark can't find out!"

Plummer was, like Jake, a rather friendly Sharkanian who didn't have anything against merfolk; however, Plummer took it more to the extremes, and he was a known partygoer.

Plummer was of the few male Sharkanians who had not joined the army, he was of the pacific type (rare among Sharkanians). He wore no clothing or armor, save for a blue scarf he had found the other day in a sunken ship; he had seen humans wearing those long pieces of cloth, and found it rather comfortable. His eyes were the normal reddish pink, and he had two long fangs sticking out from his mouth, but pointing downwards.

"I'm sorry!" Plummer whispered in low voice, giving the still sleeping mermaid an enthusiastic look, "I never thought of ever seeing little Sparky again! And she's grown into quite the beautiful mermaid."

Jake rolled his eyes when his friend referred to Spark by the name he used to call her when she was born.

"What do you intend to do with Sparky?"

Jake sighed in sadness, "I'm trying to convince Commander Jaskket to release her, but I'm not having any luck at it. I guess she'll be staying here for some time."

"And what will you do? I heard what Hookbait tried to do to her…"

"Don't remind me! I swear I wanted to tear him apart right then!" Jake's blood started to boil upon remembering the previous day, "What did Emperor Shaga do to him, anyway?"

Plummer let out a hearty laugh, "You should have seen it! It was very funny! He forced Hookbait to clean The Albino's cage! He almost lost his right arm!"

"That's all? I imagined the Emperor would do something worse than that."

"You have no idea," Plummer snickered, "The Albino hadn't eaten in three days."

Jake's eyes widened a little, and a small grin appeared on his lips.

"That changes things."

"Anyway, you haven't answered my question," Plummer regained his serious look, "What are you going to do with little Sparky?"

"I…" Jake looked down and closed his eyes; "I'm going to protect her with my life as much as I can, like I promised her mother."

"But you won't tell her the truth, will you-?"

"Of course not! She can't know I'm her father! It'll completely ruin her life-!"

Now it was Plummer's turn to cover his friend's mouth abruptly, looking back nervously as Spark shifted under her covers before settling down. Both Sharkanians let out a relieved sigh, and Jake softly removed Plummer's hands from his snout and motioned for his friend to follow him. The two silently swam out of Spark's cell and closed the door carefully so not to wake her up. Then they swam up, just above the prison and made sure there was no one around.

"I bring myself to tell her the truth, Plummer," Jake sighed sadly as he sat down on one of the barrels, "Even if I wanted to, what would she say? She would despise me with all her might, and I wouldn't stand it… I wouldn't be able to live in peace if I knew my own daughter hated me…"

"Come on, she doesn't seem like that type of merfolk-" Plummer was interrupted abruptly when Jake shot him a glare of genuine sorrow and pain.

"You weren't here, Plummer!" he hissed, "You didn't see her face when she said she was abandoned from birth! I wanted to tell her that I was there for her, even if she didn't notice me!"

Jake took his hands into his head and sobbed silently. Indeed, without anyone knowing (especially Spark), he had snuck into Atlantica to take a look at his daughter, even for a few seconds. He had seen her grow indirectly, for he was only able to go into Atlantica every few months, or even a year. Unfortunately, her Sharkanian side was often present in her behavior to some extent, mostly in her interest for Sharks.

"Look, Jake, I know it hurts, but you did what you had to do. You had no other choice, you said it yourself all those years ago, if she stayed she would have been executed. I bet Odette would have insisted on taking her if she had survived, anyway."

Upon hearing his beloved wife's name Jake closed his eyes shut and tried to contain tears, which Plummer took as a signal that he had said something wrong… again.

"I'm sorry, Jake, I didn't mean to…"

"It's alright… I just need to be alone for a while."

Plummer understood and quietly swam away, not before giving his old friend a glance.

"By the way, I think you should get something to eat. You look live you have been starving for years, pal."

Jake rolled his eyes, but felt his stomach growling, as if agreeing with Plummer. But the Sharkanian was still reluctant about leaving Spark alone after what happened with Hookbait… he wasn't sure if there were others who had similar intentions, but he prayed there weren't… Besides, Plummer was right, he hadn't eaten for almost two days, and if he continued like that he would surely pass out sooner or later.

Jake searched through his armor and took out a slip of paper, unfolded it and stared at it for a while. It was a picture of a mermaid. She was resting on a field of green algae, smiling sweetly, her long, electric blue hair tinted with red flowing in the water, and her solid sapphire blue tailfin was slightly tangled with a few algae. Her hazel eyes were lit with joy.

The Sharkanian caressed the mermaid's cheek with his finger sorrowfully, then glanced at Spark's sleeping figure in the cell, "She is identical to her mother…"

Taking one last glance at Spark's sleeping figure, Jake tucked the picture away in his chest plate and swam away to the dining hall.

Sky led Bluetail through crystal doors, which led to a terrace filled with corals and underwater flowers of every bright color possible; she always went there to clear her thoughts or when she was very stressed out. On the edge of the terrace, there was an aqua green coral table, with two matching chairs on each side, and a jar with red flowers on top of the table. Sky motioned for Bluetail to take a seat; the swordfish complied, although with some difficulty on accommodating himself.

"You plan on sneaking into Sharkania to rescue Spark?" Sky inquired taking her seat

Bluetail nodded, "Yes. I don't care if I get killed in the process; I just want to make sure she is safe. I wanted to ask you some advice, you have been to Sharkania before, haven't you?"

Sky sighed before replying, "Yes, I did. But I'd rather not talk about it at all…"

The mermaid had gone to Sharkania for a not so pleasant affair; one of the children had run away from the Orphanarium, and a few days later a letter from Sharkania was delivered to her, asking if she had lost one of the orphans. Sky had to go all the way to Sharkania, where the leader of the army, a battle-scarred Sharkanian named Jaskket, gave the merchild back to her, and warned her to be more careful with how she dealt with them. The next time they would not be so 'merciful'.

"Do you know of any way I could get in?" Bluetail asked

"I'm not sure… I didn't sneak in there, I was asked to go fetch one of the children… but I guess the sunken ships cemetery would be a good place to start. The child I went for told me that it's close to Sharkosia and there are many places to hide from patrols. But it's also filled with great white sharks, and it's very dangerous." Sky explained

"Great whites? I've dealt with worse things than that-"

Sky interrupted him, "But not normal great whites. Those sharks are the largest around these parts; they're used by Sharkanians as mounts. Not even a giant seahorse would be able to hold its own against one of those sharks."

Bluetail looked down in thought, but gave Sky a look of determination, "I don't care! I just want to see my friend again! I want to bring her back home, no matter what!"

The couple remained silent for a few minutes, before Sky gave the swordfish a small smile.

"You love her, don't you?"

Bluetail immediately blushed deeply when she asked him that, giving him an almost purplish color. He trembled as he spoke, "W-What are you talking about? She is my friend!"

Sky grinned, "Don't deny it, you are blushing and sweating."

Bluetail looked down in defeat and let out a sigh, "Fine, you got me! I love Sparky and I'd give up my life for her! Are you happy now?!"

Bluetail let out a sneeze and his nose got stuck in the table, making him blush even more, making Sky giggle.

"Uh… Would you lend me a fin?"

"Spark, wake up, girl."

Spark let out a yawn as she felt a hand on her shoulder shaking her awake softly. She rubbed her eyes softly as she looked up to see Jake giving her a small smile,

"I thought you were hungry, so I brought you something," he held out a plate with a sliced fish for her, before sighing, "Well, I don't know if you eat fish, and I didn't want to wake you up, so…"

"It's okay. Actually, I love fish."

Jake was rather surprised by her answer and watched as she gently took the plate and started eating, with no trace of disgust or anything on her face.

"You… like fish?"

Spark nodded as she took another piece of fish into her mouth, "Yep. Is that a problem or something?"

"No, no! It's just that… well, I've seen that merfolk live alongside fish, and I didn't think I would ever see one who actually ate them, like humans do."

"I can't really explain it either. I love fish, and as you saw my best friend is a swordfish, but there are times when I crave for fish meat, even though I don't like killing them." Spark looked down at the pieces of fish, "In fact, this is the first time I've ever tasted fish in my entire life."

"At least you vary what you eat," Jake laughed softly, "We Sharkanians eat nothing more than fish every day. I swear, I'm tired of fish, I've eaten nothing more than that since the day I was born."

As she ate the last piece of fish, Spark gave the Sharkanian an incredulous look, "You're kidding."

"No, I'm serious. We eat fish from the moment we have our first teeth, and meanwhile we are fed with mashed sardines. "

"Ew."

Jake snickered, "At least someone agrees with me."

"Jake, can I ask you a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Can you take me out for a walk?" Spark blushed and looked down, "I know I'm a prisoner here, but… I'm tired of simply being in here sleeping."

Jake thought for a moment and, after a while, gave the mermaid a nod.

"No problem, I just need to get you a disguise."

Jake glanced nervously around the entrance of the palace, making sure there was no one around, and motioned for Spark to follow him. The mermaid cautiously swam out, the upper half of her body painted in the Sharkanians' skin color; luckily, since her tailfin was of the standard dark metallic color, it was no problem at all. Surprisingly, Jake explained to her that female Sharkanians didn't actually have dorsal fins, only males. Spark had insisted on hiding her hair or something, but Jake simply told her it was not necessary.

Soon, she realized why.

Female Sharkanians were surprisingly less shark looking than males; they looked like mermaids who had painted themselves, like Spark just had, and sharpened their teeth. Their tailfins were horizontal and slim, and their build was much more thinner than males. They were also shorter in height and length.

Jake led Spark through Sharkosia, showing her points of interest like the marketplace, the army quarters and the sunken ship cemetery, where the wild sharks lived. However, after an incident with a shark pup, the two quickly swam back to the market place.

"That was close…" Spark panted heavily, but let out a laugh afterwards.

"Don't remind me…" Jake replied, "We almost lost our tailfins… twice."

"To think The Albino is much more dangerous than those makes me tremble. And you say only Emperor Shaga can actually get close to that monster?"

Jake nodded, "Yep. A shark would never attack its own master, no matter how wild, rough or aggressive it is. The Albino is one of the two only things the Emperor cares for."

"What's the second thing?"

Before Jake could reply, Spark caught the sound of something… screaming and baby crying. The couple swam towards the source of the sound, coming from a rather large sunken ship, but when Jake realized what was going on, he tried to take Spark away.

"Hey, Spark, did I show you the library? I think I didn't, come on…" he said, taking her hand and trying to swim away, but Spark softly slipped her hand off his grip.

"Wait, I want to see what's going on," she replied.

"Believe me, you don't!"

"Why not?"

Jake looked away in shame, "It's… delicate."

"What do you mean…?"

"No, father! Please, don't do it!"

Jake abruptly pushed the mermaid back and took her to the side of the ship, where they were covered by a shadow. Spark saw as two armored guards swam out of the side of the ship, followed by a much larger Sharkanian, who instead of a chest plate, wore an aqua green scarf-like collar which covered part of his chest and back, and the 'feather' of his hat was much longer. He had various scars across his face and arms, probably from past battles. He looked much stronger than the other Sharkanians, even though he had just the same build. He was carrying a crying newborn Sharkanian in his arms, but paid it no heed.

Jake closed his eyes in pain; he knew perfectly what was happening.

"Who is that?" Spark inquired, trembling.

Jake put a hand on her shoulder, "That's… commander Jaskket."

Suddenly, a female Sharkanian of about the same age as Spark, but with dark brown hair, swam after Jaskket, but was stopped by the armored guards.

"Father, I beg you!" she cried, tears in her eyes, "Don't kill him! He's my baby! Your grandson!"

Jaskket looked back at her with a look of anger and, if Spark knew him, perhaps she would have thought he had a little remorse in his eyes as well, "You know the law! You should have thought about it before giving yourself to that damn boy!"

He gave one of the guards a stern look, "Williams, stay with her and make sure she doesn't go anywhere until I get back."

The named guard nodded, "Yes, sir."

"NO!" the young female tried to swim after her father, but Williams held her by the waist, a sorrowful look in his eyes.

"Sapphire, stop, it's no use…" he whispered

Spark was frozen in shock as she saw how Williams led the female named Sapphire, who had now broken into tears, inside. What just happened? Was that Jaskket actually going to…?

"No…" she muttered in disbelief

"Spark, we should head back…" Jake whispered to her softly as he took her hand, "They'll notice you are not in your cell."

It took a while for the mermaid to react, but she ended up following the Sharkanian, trying in vain to erase what just happened from her brain. She had heard Sharkanians were merciless, but this? It was just too much for her to bear.

"WHY WOULD HE DO THAT?!"

The first thing Spark did when she returned to her cell was break down into tears, not believing what she had seen. Jaskket was actually going to kill that baby, his own flesh and blood? Despite Jake's attempts to calm her down, he was not having such luck at it.

"HOW COULD HE DO SUCH A THING TO HIS OWN GRANDSON?!" Spark screamed, almost making the entire ship tremble, "IT'S JUST A BABY!"

"SPARK!" Jake yelled, finally getting the mermaid's attention, "Listen to me! I know killing a newborn it's not something to be proud of, but it's how we manage things here. I don't like it either, but there's nothing I can do about it."

"Why…? What did his… daughter do?"

Jake motioned her to sit down, and sat besides her, looking at the wall.

"It's not that Commander Jaskket doesn't love his daughter. He adores her, she's his whole world, but since his wife died when she was just a pup, he had to raise her all on his own while leading the army. He became overprotective of her to the point he didn't want her to get involved with males until she turned eighteen and became a candidate for marrying."

Spark looked up at the Sharkanian, "What did she do?"

"She… she started seeing a young male in secret from her father, and apparently, they 'did' it."

"Did… it?"

Jake nodded, "That's right. Long story short, Sharkanian law forbids that type of intercourse until marriage, and offspring resulting from those intercourses are…" he closed his eyes, "… put down."

Spark gasped and took her hands to her mouth, "Put down?"

"I'm afraid so. Commander Jaskket was probably taking the newborn to the surface to abandon him on a desert island and leave him to dry up under the sunlight."

"That's…" the mermaid started to tear up again, "… cruel. I know what she did it's not right, but that doesn't give anyone the right to take her baby from her. The baby's not to blame for his mother's mistakes."

"It's not that we like it, but we have no choice. Even Emperor Shaga must obey it if it ever happens to his daughter… I hope not."

Spark's eyes lit up in surprise, "Daughter?"

"Yes. Her name is Artemisia, and remember when I told you that there are only two things the Emperor cares about? Well, those are The Albino and Artemisia."

"Why haven't I met her?"

"Well, the Emperor is… worse than Commander Jaskket in terms of overprotectiveness. She is already sixteen and he hasn't allowed her to tame a shark. He thinks she wouldn't be able to handle it and might get hurt."

"And I thought King Triton was an overprotective father for his daughters…"

Jake sighed and turned to look at Spark. To think she would have shared the newborn's fate if he had not… abandoned her.

"Jake…" Spark whispered

"What is it?"

"If I ever get out of here… If Jaskket ever lets me go…" she looked up at the Sharkanian, "Would you come with me?"

That caught him by surprise.

"W-What do you mean?" he spoke with shock in his voice

"I mean… I'm completely alone in the world, and the only friends I have are Bluetail…" she gave Jake an affectionate look, "… and you. I thought that perhaps you could come with me to Atlantica."

Jake would have teared up if he hadn't learned to control his emotions years ago. This was a lifetime chance; the opportunity of being close to her even if she only saw him as a simple friend… a part of him was reluctant, however. There was the risk she figured out his secret and their blood relation, even though it would be practically impossible for her to even suspect it. HE would be leaving all of his life behind as well…

"I… must think about it. I mean, there are many factors that might get in the way, especially what merfolk think about my race. I don't want to be a bother to you…"

"You're no bother to me!" Spark wrapped her arms around the Sharkanian's build, "I have only known you for two days, but you're the closest thing to a father that I've even known!"

Jake's heart skipped a beat when those words left her lips.

He really needed to think about it.

Narcissus grimly stared the far edge of Atlantica's territory, and the start of Sharkania's from his black stallion. He just couldn't wait for the day he would have the chance to get his revenge on the monsters that had caused him so much pain. Conveniently, the private named Spark was being held captive; it would be best if she never made it out of there, she had probably found out that the camp he ordered her to infiltrate had never the intentions of attacking Atlantica.

If he was lucky, she'd probably dead by then.