Chapter I
I swam for what felt like hours, getting chased by bandits as I had just gotten my crown back and I saw a tower in the distance. The bandits that are chasing me saw me as I was leaving the fort. They were chasing me because of the fact that they knew someone was still alive from the kingdom. I am the only survivor of the raid of my kingdom, I only survived it due to a power I had. It was the power of Invisibility. I have had it since I was born, no one knew how I got it. My mom thinks it might have been from my dad's side of the family, but I do not know. Beside me was Sirius, my little Axolotl, as we hid inside of a tunnel in the trench near the tower. He was swimming beside me as we ran from the bandits. Once the bandits were gone, which took a few hours, Sirius and I swam up to the tower and into it. "I hope no one is here, if there is I hope they don't mind us staying here." I said softly to Sirius. I saw a clownfish swim up to us. "Are you a friend of the person that lives here?" I asked the clownfish. It nodded and motioned to a silhouette laying on something inside the room. It seemed to be a silhouette of a shark merfolk like myself. But the fin was different. It was a great white's fin instead. I slowly moved over to the silhouette and then it jumped when it noticed me. "Who are you?" It sounded like a boy.
“My name is Morrigon. I’m sorry I
your tower while you were resting. My axolotl and I needed a place to rest. We’ve been swimming away from bandits for about 12 hours straight.” I explained to the boy. There was some light that shines into the room due to a hole in the roof. It shined on the boy, revealing a very cute shark boy, around my age, maybe a bit younger. “My name is Gladion.” The boy said. “I heard the bandits but I can’t leave this tower. If I tried to tell them to leave, I would be a sitting duck.” He said. “Why can’t you leave.. If you don’t mind me asking.”
“I can’t leave because of a curse my parents put on me.” Gladion said. The clownfish swam over to him and nuzzled him. “I’m sorry they did that to you. I lost my dad I was born and my mom was killed in front of me.” I said softly. “I’m sorry that happened to you.” He said softly. I frowned a bit. “Don’t be sorry. It’s been 15 years since that happened.” I said. “You were 5 when it happened?” He asked. I nodded. “Indeed I was.” I said. “I, um, if you don’t mind me asking, why were you swimming away from bandits? Did you steal from them?” “Kind of, call it taking back something.” I said. “What did you take back?” He asked. I showed him my crown which was in my satchel that I had. “Isn’t that the crown of the Princess of the lost kingdom of Reodora?” Gladion asked.
“Yes, yes it is, I didn’t only take this crown back, but also the rest of the Royal family’s crowns.” I said. “I want my home back...” I said softly, feeling my eyes swell up from tears. “I hate to ask because I feel like I’m invading your privacy, but are you the princess? They said the princess was never found so no one deemed them as dead or alive.” Gladion explained. “I... It’s okay, I feel like I can trust you. I haven’t met anyone who I could trust since the day I lost my brothers and my mom. But to answer your question, yes, yes I am the princess. But I am non binary and use they/them pronouns.” I explained. Gladion smiled a bit at me. “So I’m not the only Royal person who’s been alone for a long time.” He said sadly. “Don’t your parents visit you?” “Only to bring me food.” He said sighing.
“That sucks. But why would they only visit you to bring you food if they love you?” I asked. “It’s because they send guards to check on me at other times. Speaking of which, you and your axolotl need to hide. They are going to be here soon.” Gladion said pushing me into a cabinet. Sirius and I hid inside the cabinet and stayed quiet. We were used to doing this since we’ve done it so many times. Oh I haven’t mentioned what I, gladion, Sirius or gladion’s clownfish look like. I have dark skin with red eyes and orange hair. I have purple highlights in my hair as well. I also have a piece of cloth that covers only my breasts. I have a C cup and I have a scar on my right arm from a fight with the sea witch that destroyed my home. The scar is in the shape of an “r”. I consider this scar as a sign of a victory. My tail looks like a lemon shark’s tail and so does the fin on my back. I have a mostly human looking upper body, aside from the fin. I have sharp teeth and can smell blood from about 30 meters away. Sirius is a brownish pink axolotl and he is relatively big for most axolotls. He’s about the size of my arm.
Gladion looked like this: his body is semi slim, his tail is blue with black sparkles on a few of the scales. I didn’t see them very well at first. His tail also has a shark fin at the end. He has black hair with purple eyes. His skin is somewhat tanned. And his clownfish, who was also hiding with me and Sirius was black and white instead of the typical orange and white. I saw two figures come in through the window of the tower and Gladion sitting on the bed. “He’s still here my queen.” Said one of the guards. I think he was saying that through a shell since we can use those as a form of communication down here. I had to stay very still, and I mean very still because there was a knife on the floor of the cabinet I was in. I had to make sure none of us got cut by it. It seems Gladion doesn’t want his parents finding out about his pet or anyone else staying inside the tower.
I had my tail folded up so I wouldn’t cut my tail. After a few minutes, the two guards left and Gladion opened the door to the cabinet. The clownfish and Sirius swam out first and I carefully did so I didn’t cut myself. “I’m sorry about the knife being in there, I really need to move it from there.” Gladion said. “It’s okay, I had to make sure I didn’t cut myself though.” I said softly. When I swam out of the cabinet, my face was two inches away from his face. His eyes locked on mine as we stared at each other. “I- sorry..” He said backing away from me. “No, it’s okay Gladion, it felt nice. I never had anyone talk to me like you have. It’s been years since I have talked to someone in such a calm manner.” I said with a small smile. He looked at me, quite shocked that I was fine with the closeness. “I haven’t been that close to anyone since my last hug with my mom and brothers.” I said with a frown. Gladion quickly hugged me when I frowned which took me by surprise since I wasn’t expecting the hug.
I hugged him back and I noticed that his head was in the crook of my neck. I felt him breathe against my neck as we hugged. “Thank you for the hug... I really appreciate it.” I said softly. He looked me in the eyes softly as I looked back at him. His eyes were so pretty... And he had kissable lips too... I wanted to kiss him, I’ve never felt this way with anyone. I am ace, and never felt sexually attracted to anyone, but I feel romantically attracted to Gladion. He was just so cute and handsome... I felt our faces getting closer and I took the chance. I kissed him softly on the lips. I closed my eyes when I kissed him so I couldn’t see his reaction, but our kiss felt magical. He had kissed me back and held me close. I held him close as well. We pulled away from the kiss and we both turned bright red. “I-I don’t know what came over me..” I said letting him go. I swam over to the window and sat on the edge. Gladion swam up to me and sat beside me. Sirius swam over to me with Gladion’s clownfish too. “That kiss felt magical Morrigon. And I liked it. It did surprise me but, I loved it.” Gladion said. I blushed a bit. “I never felt romantically attracted to anyone until I met you. I’m asexual by the way.” I said softly. “I’m pansexual, and I’ve never been romantically or sexually attracted to anyone. That’s because I’ve been alone in this tower for a long time.” He explained. “Pottypot has been with me for years. Ever since I was a baby he’s been by my side.” Gladion said.
“It’s the same for Sirius. Me and him have been friends since I was a baby.” I said. I stood up and looked at him. “Remember how you said you were cursed?” I asked. Gladion looked a bit shocked but nodded. “Yeah.” He said. “Well that kiss was magical was it not? Maybe it broke the curse? A first kiss is pretty powerful, that’s what my mom said.” I said with a soft smile. He nodded and then pushed himself off the edge of the window. “I was only able to swim about 1 meter (3.3 feet) away from the tower.” Gladion said and then he swam out about 10 feet away from the tower. I, Pottypot and Sirius swam up to him. “Your curse is broken!” I said excitedly to him. He hugged me and kissed me again. I blushed a bit, but kissed him back happily. We pulled away from the kiss and smiled at each other. “I can finally be free...” Gladion said happily. I nodded and Sirius and Pottypot swam into our arms and hugged us back. “I would say it’s time for you to pack up some things and we can travel together.” I said with a smile.
Gladion nodded and all four of us swam back to the tower so he could pack up some stuff. He packed his own crown and he packed some of the food his family brought him. “I am ready to explore the ocean with you.” He said smiling. I smiled and gently held his hand. “Can I call you my boyfriend now...?” I asked. He nodded. “Yes you can and I will call you my partner.” He said. “You can call me your girlfriend, partner, or boyfriend I don’t care. I am just happy to be with you.” I said with a smile. He smiled back and I noticed both Pottypot and Sirius were tired. “They can sleep in my satchel.” I said as I opened it so they can take a nap inside it. Both Sirius and Pottypot swam into it and they napped together. I smiled softly and so did Gladion. “Where shall we travel first?” He asked. “Do you want to see the remains of my kingdom?” I asked him. He nodded. “I would love too.” He said with a smile. “Then I will lead the way.” I said swimming towards my kingdom. “Hey, this is also the way to my kingdom. I guess our kingdoms are neighbors.” He said with a chuckle. I nodded with a little giggle. He smiled softly and held my hand as we swam. Our satchels were on us as we swam. “I am so happy to be with you.” I said. “I was so alone before meeting you.” “I was too before I met you...” Gladion said. After a few hours of swimming, we saw two figures in the distance. “Is that my mom and dad?” He asked as he was looking at the two figures. “Maybe?” I said. “I am pretty sure it is, but they are probably going to be happy that I am with another merfolk.” He said. I nodded, and we kept swimming towards them.
