The Mermaid and The Beast

Chapter 8- Tortured Memories

"That girl…" Shaga muttered under his breath as he massaged his temples, "I don't know where she got it from… her mother was never so capricious…"

"Your highness?"

The Sharkanian Emperor turned around from his seat and spotted Jake floating a few steps away, holding his trademark spear in both his hands, "The Albino is ready, but Spark doesn't have a way of keeping up with us." He explained

Shaga didn't take the bother to look at the soldier, "Then take her with you in your shark. I don't care; just don't bother me right now. I'm not in the mood to deal with that."

The soldier bowed, "As you wish, your Highness."

Having accomplished his task, Jake turned around to leave, but froze when he heard the Emperor's voice again, "Jake."

Sensing the Emperor wanted to talk with the soldier in private, the rest of the present guards, Jaskket included, left the throne room, leaving Shaga and Jake alone.

"D-Did I do something wrong, your Highness?" Jake gulped

"She is your daughter, isn't she?"

Jake's blood went cold, his heart started racing and time seemed to stop for him; the Emperor knew it, that was it. But it wouldn't hurt to try and get the idea out of his head, would it?

"W-What are you talking about, your Highness?" the soldier trembled, but tried to dissimulate, "She is a mermaid, she cannot be my daughter."

"You can't fool me, Jake. She has many of your traits, not only the color of her tailfin. I figured it out when you first brought her here and asked to have her under your care. And as for her heritage, I don't need to be an expert to realize she is half-mermaid, half-Sharkanian. If she were a normal mermaid, I wouldn't have put her to care for my Albino. "

Knowing his secret was out, Jake pleaded, "Please, your Highness! Don't harm her! She means everything to me! She is all I have!"

"I never said I would lay a fin on her, did I?" Shaga replied calmly, "Personally, I have nothing against half-bloods, even though I know you and that mermaid girlfriend of yours were not married. That's why you had to give her away, didn't you?"

By then, Jake had tears rolling down his cheeks in pain, he couldn't contain it, all of his words were reopening wounds in his heart he thought had already healed, "I had no other choice…" he whispered, "If I had kept her, she would have…"

"You don't need to continue," Shaga interrupted him again, "I know the law, my great-grandfather was the one who put it, after all. Besides, she would have been seen as a freak if she stayed here; after all, she takes more after her mother than you, Jake."

"I don't mean to be disrespectful, Emperor Shaga," Jake spoke up, having regained his self-control, "But what is the purpose of this talk?"

"I wanted to ask you for... advice," the Sharkanian Emperor turned to give Jake a glare, "But say anything about this to anyone and I'll have you fed to the Albino."

"Why would you need my advice, your Highness?"

"It's… Artemisia. I don't know what to do with her anymore; she just won't listen to me. I just don't understand what's wrong with her, she never was so rebellious when she was small. I tell her not to do something, and she does it anyway. I don't know if she does it on purpose to make me angry or if she simply doesn't care."

"What can I say, your Highness?" Jake fiddled with his spear, "I didn't have the chance to raise Spark, so I wouldn't know what to tell you. But maybe growing up without her mother affected her very much."

Shaga closed his eyes at the mention of his late wife. She had died when a human ship crushed her to death on a rock when Artemisia was just two years old, so his daughter only had a few memories of her. But he recalled that moment very well; after the ship sank after crashing against the rock where she had been, he had rushed to her side and taken his beloved wife in his arms. But she didn't last more than a few minutes, after which she made him promise he would always protect their child, then she died in his arms.

It was the only time in years he actually cried.

"Maybe you're right…" the Emperor finally spoke with a solemn tone, "She's a girl, after all. I don't even want to remember the hell I went through when I was supposed to give her 'The Talk'."

"That's not all, your Highness," Jake continued, "I know you just want to protect her, but she is no longer a child. She is already sixteen, and she hasn't tamed a shark yet, as customary. Besides, if you spent more time with her, perhaps she would open up to you. That's all she needs, your Highness. She needs her father, she needs you…"

The room became silent for what seemed an eternity, until Shaga broke the silence, "You are free to go."

Jake gave the customary bow before swimming away silently, once again losing control of his emotions.

Jessop was asleep when he heard his cage being opened and his master swam in, climbed up on the saddle and made the shark swim at top speed, out of the stables and out of Sharkosia, to the no-fish's land. It was neither in Sharkanian nor Atlantican territory, the few places where Sharkanians and merfolk could meet up and not be at each other's throats. After a while, when they came to a sunken galleon in the middle of those wastelands, Jake pulled his shark's reins violently, making him brake abruptly, and swam off the shark's back, into the galleon.

Once there, he broke into tears.

Jessop heard his rider's sobbing and grew worried; after all, his master was not the kind of Sharkanian who would shed tears unless it was for a very good reason. Jessop slowly swam inside the galleon and spotted his master kneeled on the wooden ground, his forearms on the ground and his hands clenched into fists. The shark let out a purring-like noise from his throat and gently nuzzled his master's side, as if asking him what was wrong.

Jake reacted by the touch of his shark, and managed to calm down for a little while, sitting down and leaning against the wall; Jessop proceeded to nuzzle Jake's cheek with his large snout playfully in an attempt to cheer him up, like when he was little. Jake had not the heart to smile, but he lifted his arm and petted his shark's head softly.

"You're always trying to make me smile, aren't you, Jess?" he chuckled humorlessly, "

Jake took his attention off his shark and looked around the galleon's interior; it brought him so many memories… it had been where he and Odette had been staying while her pregnancy lasted, and where his daughter had been born. He could still recall when he first held her in his arms…

Jake couldn't breath.

Despite being in his element, he felt as if he was drowning. Odette was dead, he could do nothing for her; when she entered labor, there was a complication, and he learned it was either the baby or her. Upon insistence of Odette, the doctor, a long time mermaid friend of hers named Katara, had to perform an emergency c-session on the pregnant mermaid, effectively saving the baby, but killing Odette in the process.

He was on the other room, on the bed he and his beloved wife had shared for the past months; there was a thunderstorm on the surface, which made the mood even worse for him. Finally, after waiting for a long time, almost like hours, Katara swam into the room with a bundle in her arms.

"Jake?" she spoke softly

The Sharkanian looked up at her, "What is it?"

Katara offered him the bundle with a sad smile, "Congratulations, you have a healthy new daughter."

He panicked, "Wait! No, no, no… I don't know if I'm ready to-"

The bundle was in his arms before he knew it. Katara swam back and gently pushed his arms back so that the baby was pulled closer to his chest.

"Just hold her close to you. That's it. That way she feels safe. She isn't really used to the idea of the outside world yet."

Jake removed the blanket covering his daughter's face, and was amazed when he stared into the face of a newborn mermaid. The newborn had almost the same tone of hair as her mother, and her tailfin was a strong dark metallic blue, like his. But other than that, she looked like a complete mermaid.

"What's her name?"

"I…" Jake didn't get his eyes off his newborn, "I haven't thought of it."

Katara sighed, "Think about it, I'm going to prepare Odette's body to bury her, if you don't mind." She gave the Sharkanian an apologetic stare and swam out.

Before he knew it, he was left alone with a tiny baby in his arms. Jake paced a moment, then sank down on the bed. He gently stroked her little cheek in hopes that she might open her eyes.

They both jumped when she startled at the touch. He panicked when she crunched up her little face and began to cry. Unsure of what to do, he gently bounced her to let her know someone was holding her. Her features gradually softened into silence again. Slowly but surely, her little eyes opened just enough for him to take a peek. He couldn't help but smile upon seeing that they were a beautiful sapphire blue.

"Hello there, little one."

The baby stretched like she understood, and made one of the sweetest cooing noises he had ever heard. He chuckled and pulled the blanket tighter around her as tears rolled down his cheeks, "It's nice to meet you too."

Suddenly, a thunder roared out of the blue, startling the baby, who started to cry hysterically even after the echoing was long gone. Jake grew nervous and he held the baby even closer to him.

"Sh-sh-sh-sh,"he lulled her softly, "Please do not cry, my little one. It breaks my heart to see you crying. Your daddy is here…"

The baby let out a few more sobs before falling into slumber once again. Just then, Katara swam into the room with a sorrowful look to her.

"So, have you thought of the name yet?"

Jake looked down at his sleeping daughter and replied as he caressed her cheek gingerly, "… Her name is Spark."

Jake returned to reality with a sigh, tears still rolling down his cheeks. Although one of his fondest memories, it made him remember that Odette was gone and his daughter didn't know he was her father or that she was half-Sharkanian. He had vowed he would never let her know, but he was starting to doubt, after all, he did want Spark to call him 'daddy', but he was afraid of her reaction to the revelation.

But he couldn't take it any longer, he didn't have the strength to keep the secret any longer. He would find the best moment to tell Spark the truth… and pray she would not despise him.

When Jessop nuzzled against him again, Jake realized it was getting late. And he would need every bit of energy the next day, when they would go to Atlantica.

Besides, he needed to tell Spark she would be riding with him.

Merfolk swam into their homes, closed windows and doors shut and closed their curtains when they sensed the time was coming closer. Parents called their children into their homes, fish swam away into hiding and even the guards seemed to have a nervous air around them.

Sky was the only one who was peeking from the window of her office, waiting for the Sharkanians to arrive. She knew that most of the children were probably hidden under their beds in case a Sharkanian 'wanted to eat them', despite her insistence that Sharkanians don't eat merfolk… always.

Finally, she saw the familiar shapes of the sharks, and closed her curtain slightly; the least she needed was the Sharkanians spotting her. She first saw Emperor Shaga passing by riding the Albino, with Artemisia sitting behind him, having no mount herself. He was followed by various soldiers riding on sharks of different colors varying from gray to metallic blue; commander Jaskket's shark was a large male, although not as large as the Albino, with a grayish brown color, sandy underbelly and a few tiger stripes on its back. Sky then spotted Jake riding on Jessop, with an awkward-looking Spark sitting on his lap.

Sky sighed slightly, "To think that he is her father…" she whispered

Spark looked around Atlantica's empty streets, trying to spot someone peeking their heads from the window, to no avail. Bluetail was probably at the palace, waiting to see her, and she wished to pay him a visit as well.

"Is it always so empty or only when we come?" Jake whispered into her ear in curiosity.

"Only when you come, or when there's a cold current passing by." Spark replied.

"You two!" Jaskket made his shark brake to speak at the pair, "Stop talking until we get to the palace, would you?"

"Whatever you say, urchin." Spark looked away in annoyance, crossing her arms and earning a shocked stare from Jaskket.

"What did you just call me?" he hissed dangerously.

"Urchin, because that's what you are.!"

Jaskket clenched his fists in anger, but decided to take care of her in other occasion, "I'll deal with you later."

Jake gave the mermaid a shocked stare, "What was that all about?" he whispered

"I just put him in place." Spark muttered coldly, "I do not like him."

"You realize you just signed a death wish in blood, don't you?"

Spark gave the Sharkanian a confident stare, "He wouldn't dare."