Wattpad has been deleting my chapters more and more lately, I've been attempting to fix it, but nothing works. Luckily, I always keep backups.
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Wels poked his head out of the water, his eyes shimmering with wonder as he studied the shopping district. Oh, what he wouldn't do for a pair of legs! He would love to meet that human again, not to mention explore their world.

Of course, TFC was probably looking for him...The merman knew he would be in trouble due to him swimming off without supervision, not to mention swimming near the shore. How long had he been gone for, again? Probably enough to cause him to go into a frenzied panic.

The prince dove back underneath the water, his tail stirring up bubbles as he began to swim back. That is, until he spotted a lime green glow coming out of an undersea cave near the ocean floor. Wels was always a curious merman, but the magical glow seemed to hold his attention, as if he were stuck in a hypnotic trance.

Entering the cave, the green glow only continued to become brighter. He swam deeper through the tunnel, the seagrass and kelp like a jungle that the prince struggled to navigate through. The further he went, the harder it was to turn back.

"Hello? Is...Is someone there?" Wels choked, his tail managing too get tangled in seaweed and the underwater greenery. He couldn't move, the grass refusing to let go, like it was hugging him and squeezing his tail.

Yelping in pain, the kelp tightened more and more, with the grass curling further up his body. "S-someone! H-hel-...Help!" He gasped, out of breath the plants seemed to crush his chest.

With his vision fading and breath escaping his lungs, Wels couldn't seem to focus well. He was panting desperately, which was much more difficult as the vines and sealife crawled over his gills, attempting to strangle him.

He thought it was over, unable to stay awake much longer. A faint groan slipped from his lips, the prince shutting his eyes as his consciousness began to slip. As he passed out, the plant-life and vines unwinding and releasing Wels from his hold.

Swimming through the water, a figure waved their hand to part the kelp with magic. "My, my.." A voice purred, "The prince? This is wonderful.."

—

Wels woke up groggy and disoriented, moaning in pain as he felt the repercussions of the seaweed that had almost crushed him. His tail hurt, which would make it difficult to swim back home. No big deal, but TFC was going to freak out once he saw the vine marks.

Sitting up, the prince ran a hand through his hair, laying in a soft bed of seagrass. Where was he, exactly? Wels couldn't remember, his head was foggy. He glanced around the cave, spotting a figure standing in front of a cauldron that let out an eerie lime-green glow.

"Ah, finally awake, are you?" They asked, turning around so that the prince could study their appearance. She had long, fiery orange hair, decorated with flowers. Her pale face was covered with stitches and scars, and her eyes radiating with a light green glow. Her mermaid tail matched the lime color, with her scales sparkling in the cave's light.

"W-who are you?" Wels coughed, a bit taken aback that he was in some sort of undersea cave with a stranger.

She grinned, eyes twinkling. "I'm the answer to your problems." She purred, swimming over to the prince while placing her hands on his shoulders. "I can feel a deep desire in your heart, and with my magic, anything you wish for can be yours..."

The prince eyes slightly widened, sparkling with green magic. "R-really...?" He asked, feeling a sort of trust towards the mysterious woman. Wels couldn't understand it, though he felt like that she could help.

"Yes, yes... Now, swim up to the cauldron. State your desire and I will grant your wish. I'm here to help poor unfortunate souls like yourself."

He swam closer, staring at the green potion that sat in the cauldron. Staring into his reflection, it was like Wels could see it. His gills were gone. He was human. His greatest desire. Turning to the undersea witch, the prince was grinning ear to ear. "I want to be human!" The prince cried, while she simply nodded.

"Of course," the woman with fiery orange hair smiled. "I'll need a piece of your hair, however."

She plucked a strand of Wels' golden hair, grinning a bit with cruelty shining through her eyes. "Alright!" the witch said while holding a happy smile, swimming over to a chest that was covered in seaweed. She brushed off the kelp, the storage box creaking as she opened it.

"Drinking this will turn you human—" she said, pulling out a glittery blue potion. "—but it will be instant. You must get to the surface, so you don't drown. Understand?"

Wels eagerly nodded, snatching the bottle. "Thank youuuuuuu!" He yelled while swimming out of the undersea cave. As he disappeared, Cleo smiled to herself, staring down at the strand of hair that rested in the palm of her hand.

The undersea witch swam over to her cauldron, dropping the strand into the bubbling brew. Colors shifted quickly, from a lime green to a dark and evil crimson. "Perrrrfect..." Cleo chuckled underneath her breath, snapping her fingers together.

Swirling and bubbling, the red potion turned into some kind of half-solid goop. It moved around and shifted, rising and taking a sort of human shape. It's form became more solid, forming arms, a body, a tail, and a head.

Cleo smiled with evil intentions as the strange slime changed color and texture, transforming into what seemed to be an exact replica of prince Wels. The only difference was that his hair was an inky black, the mysterious copy blinking a couple times to rid his eyes of their foggy appearance.

"Ugh, what...what the hell..?" He groaned, running a hand through his hair. "Where am I?"

"My home," Cleo purred, swimming around the cauldron that the prince's copy sat in to study her work. "how do you feel?"

"Fuh...fine..?" He said, clearly disoriented and confused. The mermaid chuckled, offering a hand to the clone.

"Before you speak," she said, holding up a finger as she noticed that 'Wels' was about to ask a question. "I must explain that you are not really prince Wels. You are simply a copy I created, and you are nothing more than I clone that I control."

The clone blinked. "Wh-...Why are you telling me this..?" He choked, his voice caught in his throat.

"I'm telling you because of what I created you to be.." she said, Cleo twirling a strand of the imposter's hair around her finger. "You're going to help me cause a bit of trouble, you'll pretend to be prince Wels and take his place. I created you as a being of evil and destruction, doesn't that sound fun?"

'Wels' blinked again, taking a moment to think before his face curled into a devious smile. "I'd love to." He said with an evil laugh, "What do I need to do, hm?"

"Be a spy for me, and then when ready, destroy those who may stand in my way. I will take over the throne, and soon I'll rule over both land and sea!"

"Sounds good, my queen.." he said while bowing obnoxiously, clearly sarcastic in his words. Cleo didn't mind, pointing to the exit of the cave.

"Just go already, make sure TFC doesn't suspect anything."

"Whatever you say, your highness." The copy of Wels grumbled as he rolled his eyes, swimming off.

The trip out of the cave was relatively quick and simple, the hard part would be finding the elder merman and convincing him that he was the real prince. Still, the 'Wels' couldn't help but feel like the prince. He had all of the memories that Wels had, so why was he any different?

"There you are!"

He froze up, turning to the sound of TFC's voice, who quickly tackled the 'prince' in a hug. "Wels, you are going to give me a heart attack one of these days! You've been gone for hours, where have you been?!"

"Oh, y'know.." he shrugged, "I've been around."

The older merman pulled away, frowning at Wels' darker hair. "Did you— ugh, your father is going to kill me. Dyeing your hair? Seriously?!"

"Come on, it doesn't look that bad."

"It looked fine before!"

'Wels' scoffed as he swam away, heading back to the underwater ruins that he called his home. TFC groaned, swimming up towards the surface. He gave a quick wave to Grian, alerting him that the prince had been found. The human gave a thumbs up, causing the merman to dive back underneath the water and follow Wels to the large ruins.

Grian waved goodbye, though his face was stuck in a frown. His mind still couldn't wrap around what Mumbo had done, all throughout the search for Wels the redstoner had been stuck on his mind. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, the strawberry blonde turned away from the shore. That wasn't what he should have been focusing on.

His leg was still in pain, Grian having no doubt in his mind that it was broken. Still, there was work to be done. Since he couldn't exactly swim with a broken leg, all he could do was think or ways to pull Wels and TFC out of their fairytale.

'One step at a time..' The builder thought, the chaos of the shopping district seeming to grow worse. Fairytale hermits were still stuck in their fantasies, running around without a worry in their thoughts. It felt like he had barely made any progress.

He tried to ignore the pain in his leg while limping back to the town hall, hoping to find Stress and Iskall with the Alice in wonderland hermits back to normal. Obviously, that was a lot to hope for.

Mumbo was off in the distance trying to prevent Ren from attacking Doc, the two clearly re-enacting the story of 'Little Red riding hood'. He and the strawberry blonde briefly locked eyes, with the Redstoner's instantly filling with regret.

Grian looked away, ignoring the taller Brit as he slowly made his way to the barge.