A (h/c) young princess was playing on the beach with her older sister and their parents.

"Throw the ball Erica."

"Okay [Y/n], get ready." Erica threw the ball to her younger sister,but the ball went over [Y/n]'s head, down the beach.

"Oh no." Erica said with her hands over her mouth. Her parents came over and knelt next to her.

"What is it Erica?" Her father asked her.

"I threw the ball too far."

"Oh, that's no problem. I'll go get it for you." Her father said getting up.

"Don't worry dad, I'll get it." Little [Y/n] said from her spot.

"Are you sure sweetie?"

"Yes Dad, I'll be back before you know it." She said already running down the beach to look for the ball.

"Be careful honey." Her mom shouted after her.

"I will mom."

[Y/n] ran to the far side of the beach, and she saw the ball she was looking for. The young princess picked it up and was about to turn around when she saw a small yellow and blue fish looking at her.

"Hello." She said to the small fish who just looked at her curiously and then swam away. [Y/n] shrugged and was about walking away when she heard a giggle. She followed the sound of the laugh until she came to a small cave by the beach were a young boy about her age was playing with the fish she saw earlier.

[Y/n] gasped smiling softly as the red haired boy splashed around with the fish. She took a step forward and her foot slipped into the water, alerting the boy of her presence.

The boy turned and gasped when he saw her, then he dived into the water, the fish following him.

"Wait!" [Y/n] dived into the water, thinking he was drowning, but coming out when she didn't see the boy.

"Hi." She gasped and turned, seeing the boy she was searching for.

"Hello." She said smiling. "Why'd you run away?"

"Oh um……that's because I haven't seen a human up close before." He said looking at her curiously.

"Human? What'd you mean? Aren't you a human too?"

"No."

"Uh? Then what are you?"

The boy relaxed back into the water and lifted his bottom half. [Y/n] gasped at what she saw, for in place of where legs supposed to be, was a bright green tail.

"Wow!" The young princess exclaimed, her (e/c) eyes wide in amazement." "You're a mermaid?"

"What? No!" The boy said putting his tail back in the water. "Mermaids are girls."

"Oh, so you're a merboy?"

"Um……sorta."

"Cool." She said and the two kids smiled at each other. "I'm [Y/n]."

The girl said putting out her hand for a shake, the boy looked at it confused. "Oh you shake it."

"Why?"

"I don't know. It's just what people do when they meet each other." The boy took her hand and started swinging it, making her giggle and stop him, showing him how to do it right.

"Here like this. Now you tell me your name."

"Oh I'm Aaron."

"Nice to meet you Aaron."

"And this is Flounder." He introduced the yellow and blue fish [Y/n] saw earlier.

"Hi Flounder." The fish rushed behind Aaron. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No Flounder's just a bit shy." Aaron said glancing at the fish behind him. "Come on Flounder, say hi."

The fish swam up to [Y/n].

"Hello." The young princess gasped in surprise.

"It just talked."

"Flounder's a he. And yes he talks."

"Well fish don't talk up here on the land."

"They don't?" [Y/n] shook her head. "Well fishes talk a lot down in the sea."

"That's so amazing. What other sea animals talk?"

"Well……"

"[Y/n]!" Her father's voice sounded.

"That's my Dad. They must be looking for me." The young princess said.

"They?" [Y/n] nodded.

"My parents and older sister. They must be worried sick about me." She said looking out of the cave.

"Oh. So you have to go now uh?" Aaron said looking down sadly.

"Yeah." [Y/n] said, also sad. "But don't worry, we'll see each other again. How bout we meet here again tomorrow?"

"Really? Sure, of course." Aaron said excitedly.

"That's great." [Y/n] said coming out from the water, going out the cave.

"See you tomorrow, bye Aaron."

"Bye [Y/n]!"

                 *****************

The young princess and the merboy met Everytime they could and became best friends. Always playing together and learning all about each other's worlds. [Y/n] will give Aaron books and trinkets from the land, while Aaron in turn will tell her tales of Atlantis.

Years past and the two still remained friends, even after [Y/n]'s parents died, they were still friends.

Entering adolescent years, [Y/n] developed a crush on the young merman and as the years went by, that crush grew into something a bit more.

For Aaron, he never really saw [Y/n] as anything more than a best friend, but he couldn't deny there was something more between the both of them.

"My sister and I are going on a little cruise tomorrow, so I'll be gone for a while." 16 year old [Y/n] said to her best friend as she sat on the bank of the ocean, her feet in the water.

"Really, how long will you two be gone?" Aaron asked, his arms crossed, resting near [Y/n], his torso and tail in the water.

"About two weeks top."

"Oh, that's really a long time."

"Come on, you know you can visit me on that boat right?"

"Yeah, not really."

"Why not?"

"No one can see us remember? If we're seen we could be captured." Flounder said to the girl.

"Well you'll not exactly be captured." [Y/n] said.

"Hello? Tails, fin, fish?"

"Yeah, you're right." They all fell into silence.

"So, two weeks uh?" Aaron said, a bit sad.

"Oh come on, you can survive without me for two weeks." [Y/n] said bumping him with her elbow.

"Of course I can't. Oh no [Y/n] what am I going to do without you? I'll be so devastated, I'll die." Aaron said dramatically making [Y/n] and Flounder laugh.

"Grow up Aaron. You'll be fine, besides you'll have Flounder to keep you company." Aaron shrugged.

[Y/n] looked up to the sun and saw that it was setting.

"Oh is that the time? I have to get going before Grimpsy comes looking for me" [Y/n] said getting up, dusting herself off.

"You mean the boring old caretaker?" Flounder asked.

"Flounder!" [Y/n] scolded.

"What? Your words, not mine." Flounder said defensively making Aaron laugh.

"He's not boring. He's just……"

"Just…." Aaron trailed.

"Shame on you two. Using my own words against me." The boys laughed. "Anyways I have to go. Bye boys, see you in two weeks."

"Bye [Y/n]!" The boys said in unison.

                      **************

A royal ship is seen sailing on the vast ocean, birds flying around, fishes swimming around happily.

SAILORS:
I'll tell you a tale of the bottomless blue
And it's hey to the starboard, heave hi
Look out lad, a mermaid be waiting for you
In mysterious fathoms below

"Isn't this great? The salty sea air, the wind blowing in your face…."

"A perfect day to be at sea!" [Y/n] said completing her sister's sentence, making both girls giggle.

"Oh yes...........delightful." Grimpsy, their Royal advisor and caretaker, said sarcastically, leaning over the side of the ship, seasick.

"A fine strong wind and a following sea. King Triton must be in a friendly-type mood." One sailor said.

"King Triton?" Erica asked curiously.

"He's the ruler of all merpeople sis, the King of all Atlantis." [Y/n] said to her sister.

"The lassie's right." Another sailor, hurling in fish, said. "Thought ever good sailor knew about him."

"Merpeople! Erica, [Y/n], pay no attention to the nautical nonsense. Merpeople don't exist." Grimpsy said.

"Oh, you don't know how wrong you are Grimpsy." [Y/n] whispered to herself, clenching the seashell necklace around her neck, that was a gift to her from Aaron.

"But it ain't nonsense. It's the truth! I'm telling you, down in the depths of the ocean they live." The sailor said and the fish in the hand jumped away and landed back in the ocean relieved.

SAILORS:
Heave ho, heave ho
In mysterious fathoms below