Atlantica

Ch. 12

Ariel and Triton were floating just outside the palace grounds. They had been looking in Never Land that whole morning, even asked the mermaids if they knew anything. And according to them, both Melody and Peter were there for two days, but they left early that morning. No one in or out of Never Land had seen them since.

"Oh I hope she's alright." Ariel said worryingly.

"I'm sure she's fine Ariel." said Triton. "I may not know Peter as well as you do, but you and I both know he wouldn't let anything bad happen to her.

"I know" Ariel sighed. "I'm just so afraid she might-"

Ariel stopped. Just out the corner of her eye she saw a small yellow fish with blue stripes on his back.

"Flounder!" Ariel cried as she swam forward and hugged the small fish.

"Daddy!"

The fish wriggled out of her grip and swam like a missile behind a large rock.

"Now what?"

A second later the small fish came back with a bigger fish. He looked around curiously then his eyes found Ariel.

"Oh, sorry." she said shyly.

"Ariel!?"

"Flounder?!"

"Ariel!"

Ariel and Flounder shoot towards each other and hugged each other tightly. Triton and Sebastian smiled at them.

"Boy, you're sure not a guppy anymore." said Ariel teasingly.

Flounder chuckled. "You can say that again."

At that moment a bunch of other little fish came out, playing with a clam shell. As they continued, the clam fell one of the fishes head.

"Ow."

"Children…" Flounder swam towards them. "What did I say about playing kick the clam on the reef?"

"Sorry dad." they said in unison.

"Kids." Flounder chuckled.

Ariels smile fell and she hung her head, a sad look across her face.

"I'm sorry about Melody." said Flounder.

Ariel looked up and him. "Flounder, I really need your help."

Flounder looked around for a moment, then he smiled. "Wild seahorses couldn't stop me."

Ariel smiled and hugged him. They all looked at each other before setting out to search for Peter and Melody.

Peter and Melody were laying behind a very large rock, just a few feet away from Atlantica. They peaked their heads over the rock to look at the gleaming glowing palace. Peter had just gotten up to head towards it when he realized Melody didn't move. She just sat there, staring at the palace.

"Mel?"

Melody blinked and looked at him. "Sorry." she said sheepishly.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, it's just…" she looked up at him. "Atlantica wasn't that far from Never Land."

Peter looked at her. He had not giving this fact a thought. He had never thought about how far Never Land was from it, not even when Ariel had lived there. But now that he thought about it, Atlantica was pretty close to Never Land after all, and after all this time too.

"Hey Peter?"

"Yeah?"

"I was just thinking, don't you think it'll be a little weird if someone sees you. You know, you being a human and this far under water."

Peter shrugged. "Yeah. But don't worry, I'll just stay hidden."

"And if someone finds you?"

Peter laughed. "Find me, you kidding? Stealth is my middle name."

Melody rolled her eyes. Boys. "Alright, lets go then."

Melody and Peter floated up and swam to the palace. As soon as they crossed the gate, Peter floated over somewhere and disappeared. Melody rolled her eyes. She had to admit,(only to herself, never to him)Peter was pretty sneaky. She continued to float along, gazing at the beautiful kingdom.

"It's so beautiful…" she breathed turning on her back.

As soon as she did she bumped into someone. She heard them grunt and she sat straight.

"Sorry, my…"

The merperson turned and Melody almost gasped. It was very good looking mermaid boy. He had long blond hair with lighter blond streaks, bright green eyes, broad chest and a green tail. He smiled down at her.

"Sorry, my fault."

Melody gulped and looked up at him nervously. She wanted to say 'hi', but the word wouldn't come out. Instead a ruff choking sound came up through her throat. The boy looked at her curiously.

"I don't think I've seen you around here. What's your name?"

"I'm…Mel…Mel…"

At that moment two more mermaids came up. One was a pretty girl with light brown hair with a pink flower in the parting, blue eyes, a bright purple bikini bra and a purple tail. The other was a boy with dark eyes, black bowl cut hair and a dark blue tail. The blond boy turned to them.

"Hey guys, meet Mel-Mel."

"Hi." said the girl kindly.

"Hey, you wanna hangout with us?" asked the other boy.

Melody smiled and nodded. At that moment in the distance they heard a low rooster call. They all turned to see were it came from. Melody rolled her eyes and sighed. Peter must've been watching her and was trying to get her attention.

"What was that?" said the girl.

"I don't know." said the blond boy. "Oh well, you guys ready to go?"

"Yeah." said the dark haired boy.

"Actually," said Melody. "I just remembered I have something to do."

"What?" asked the girl.

"It's complicated. Maybe next time?"

They all nodded. "We'll see you later Mel-Mel."

Melody smiled as she swam away. She would tell them her real name next time,…if there was a next time. As she continued she could fell eyes following her and she smirked. Wherever Peter was he was watching and following her. After a minute she came to what looked like a throne room. She looked around and saw multiple mermaids and mermen decorating the room for something.

"Psst, Mel…"

Melody turned and saw Peter crouching behind a pillar. She swam over to him.

"There you are. Anyone see you?"

"No." Peter hesitated. "Well,…actually one mermaid girl saw me-"

"Peter!" Melody shrieked quietly.

"Let me finish! Anyway, I was floating behind a bush so she didn't see my legs and thought I was a merboy. She asked why I had a shirt, but I just said I was cold or something. It wasn't hard to get rid of her. But she looked like she wanted to stay."

"What is it with you and mermaids?" Melody teased.

"I guess I'm just that good looking."

Peter grinned as Melody rolled her eyes. She looked around to see where the trident was. Almost instantly she saw it sitting in a golden stand. Melody looked to see if there was a spot closer to it and saw a large bundle of bushes right next to it.

"Follow me."

Her and Peter floated out when no one was looking and swam quickly to the bushes. As soon as they got there Melody looked to see where the trident was. It was still in it's stand. Right next to the stand was a large throne, in it was a tall large merman. He had a long white beard, his hair was the same. He had soft gray eyes and was very muscular and had a bright blue tail. He had a tired sad look etched on his face.

"That must be him." Melody gazed at him. "He looks sad…"

"Yeah." Peter squinted at the merman. "He doesn't look like a thief."

At that point the merman got up off his throne. "We haven't time for this! I want every available merman searching! FIND HER, FIND HER!"

He started banging hard on a table, making the plates and candelabra fall and come crashing to the floor. Melody stared at him as she started to back up slightly. When she did he bumped into Peter. She turned to face him and found herself staring at his neck. She had to look up to look at his face. Even sitting down he was at least a foot taller than her.

"S-sorry." Melody stammered.

"Don't be…"

Peters whisper was barley audible, yet it seemed to carry throughout the whole room. Melody stared at him becoming unknown to anything else. She seemed to be melting under his gaze. Her heart wasn't just fluttering, it was thumping hard against her ribs, ready to burst from her chest and she felt so hot she thought she was on fire. What was going on? This had never happen to Melody around Peter before.

They stared at each other for the longest time ever, neither knew exactly what to say or what to do. Then Peter broke the silence

"Melody?"

"Yes Peter?"

Peter looked at her for a moment. "I…I…"

He couldn't tell her, he just couldn't. But he wanted to so badly. He wanted her to know how he felt, wanted her to know that he didn't ever want her to leave him.

"Are you ok Peter?"

Peter looked down at her and sighed. "I think we should get this thing done, don't ya think?"

Melody blinked at him. "Oh,…yes..."

They stared at each other for a long moment. Then Melody looked over the bushes and saw everyone in the room had left.

"This way." Melody whispered.

Peter followed her out towards the large golden stand. When they got to it, Melody stared at it, as if wondering what to do. She reached her hand out to grab it but only held it back. She reached again, and she backed up. She looked shyly at the ground. Peter knew what was going through her mind. Whether the trident belonged to the merman or not, if Melody took it she would be stealing. Peter opened his mouth to say something, but as he did he heard voices from behind him. He turned and saw the tall merman and someone else right behind him.

"He's coming back!" Peter urged.

Melody turned and gave the trident a defiant look before grabbing it tightly and yanking it out of the stand. Neither of them had even noticed that the chain on Melodys necklace had somehow snapped and it floated down to rest on the ground.

"Lets get out of here!" Melody said quickly.

Her and Peter shoot out of the room as fast as they could, leaving Melodys necklace behind.

Ariel, Triton and Flounder swam into the throne room.

"Don't worry Ariel, we'll find her." Flounder assured her.

Ariel looked at him for a moment then looked forward at the throne. She gasped.

"Daddy, the trident!"

They all gasped in shock. There in front of them was a large empty stand. The trident was gone. Sebastian floated over and landed on the golden stand.

"But dat's not possible! No body can remove de trident from de stand except you sire. You or one of your descendents."

As he spoke Ariel saw something glitter out the corner of her eye. She glanced down and saw a small gold seashell necklace on a broken chain.

"Melody…" she breathed, taking the locket in her hands.

"Who I was suppose to be watching…" Sebastian said, smacked his forehead.

He fell flat on his back and yelled in shame.

"Go ahead!" he shouted. "Crake me open, make a crab cake out of me sire!"

Ariel shook her head in confusion. "But if Melody was here, then Peter must've been with her. But how could they have gotten here?"

"Morgana…" Triton said under his breath. "If she gets her hands on my trident,…"

He turned to face the guards behind him. "Double the search parties! I want every creature on patrol!"

As he and the guards floated away, two dark shadows passed over Ariel and Flounder. They looked up and saw two gray manta rays gliding pass. Ariel squinted at them.

"Wait a minute…" she breathed. "I know those two."

Ariel began to follow the two rays, Flounder floating along behind her.

Peter shoot up out of the water.

"We did it!" he said happily. "We did it Mel! We…we…"

Peter looked around. Only now did he notice Melody wasn't around.

"Melody?…Mel?"

As Peter looked around he saw Melody was leaning against a large rock, staring in front of her. Peter floated over to her.

"Mel?" he asked. "What are you-"

But he had his answer ready as soon as he looked forward. Right in front of them, just as they had left it, was…

"All this time…" Melody breathed as she turned to face Peter. "…Atlantica was never that far from home."

"Yeah. Who would've thought right?"

Peter turned to look at Melody. Her face was half sad, half angry as she glared up at the castle.

"Melody?"

She did not answer, but continued to stare at the castle.

"Come on." she said harshly, turning away. "Lets go."

But even they began to swim away, Peter could've sworn he saw Melody look back before diving into the water.