*Listining to X by Nicky Jam & J Balvin*

Found this picture while looking through fanart.

I love this concept so much 💝

I'm surprised no one caught the 'Under the sea' song reference I made in the last chapter.

Oh well.

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Everyone was silent, Rose and Juleka looked over at Alya who seemed less than happy to see the red head there. When no one responded Nathaniel spoke again. "Where did she go?" He asked.

Alya crossed her arms glaring at the merman. "Why? So you go tell Chloe about it again?"

Nathaniel sighed from the harsh response looking down for a moment and then back at the orange mermaid. "I didn't mean it I swear. I was just...worried about Marinette."

"You were worried huh? So instead of I don't know.... talking to her or one of us for instance. You thought going to the princess was going to help?"

"I was confused okay!" Nathaniel shouted in frustration. "Marinette was in love with a human Alya! A HUMAN! How many times has our kind been murdered by those beasts! I was only trying to look out for her!"

"Everything was fine until you got Chloe involved! Everything was fine until YOU got involved!!" Alya shouted back. "No matter what you say it's not going to change what you did! It's not going to change the fact that it's the stupidest thing any fish in this entire ocean could do and now because of you I may NEVER see my best friend again!"

Nathaniel flinched  at the mermaids tone and Rose swam over to the Auburn haired mermaid resting a hand on her shoulder. "Alya....what happened to Marinette?"

"She....she's gone." The orange mermaid spoke. "She's not coming back...."

"What do you mean?" Juleka asked. "Do you have any idea where she is?" 

"I...I...can't say...all I know is that she won't be coming back to see this." Alya gestured to the broken treasures scattered around the sea floor. "I...I need to go." she sent one last glare towards Nathaniel and swam out of the cave.

Rose was silent before turning towards the red head. "I hope you're happy." She said to him. "I know you meant well Nathaniel, but you know as much as any of us how Chloe can be."

"I..." He tried to speak, but was barely able to find the strength to. "I just wanted to protect her."

No other words were exchanged, Rose swam out of the cave with Juleka following behind. Juleka turned around giving one last look to the merman before continuing to follow her friend out into the open water.

~~~~~~

Marinette stared into the mirror with a smile while she brushed her hair with a dinglehopper. Plagg who had been laying on the bed jumped over to the dresser next to the mirror and sat in front of the blunette. "So what's the plan fish legs?" He asked.

Marinette set her dingle-hopper down on the dresser and thought about it. What was her plan? She had that outing with Adrien tomorrow, but how was she going to get him to kiss her before sunset?

The cat licked his paw, "Hey where's that Wo-yo you found the other day? That might be pretty useful for tomorrow." Marinette frowned pointing at the window towards the sea. "You left it in the ocean hmm?" Marinette nodded. "Oh well, guess you're going to have to do it the old fashion way. Just smile, sit still, look pretty and you'll have the Prince wrapped around your paw in no time."

Marinette sighed, looking at herself in the mirror. 'Was that really all it took? It couldn't possibly be that simple.' she thought before jumping to the sound of a knock on her door. Slowly, she stood up and went over to open it, she opened the door all the way when she realized standing on the other side was Mylene.

"Hi there!" Mylene greeted with a bright smile. "I was just about to head on home, but I wanted to see how you were doing first." Marinette smiled, thinking for a moment she lifted her hand towards her chin and extended it forward. "Oh! You're welcome!" Mylene said proud that the blunette remembered the sign. "You catch on pretty fast." Marinette stepped aside so the young maid could enter. "I still have a little time before I have to leave the castle. I can teach you a few more signs if you like?"

Marinette nodded enthusiastically, while Mylene taught her a few other signs, Plagg made his way out of the room.

~~~~~~~

Plagg headed over to the beach to his usual spot, "Tikki? Tikki are you still here?" he called out.

The head of the small red fish came out into the surface. "Right over here, Plagg."

Plagg hopped over on the surface of one of the large rocks that sat on the edge of the water and Tikki swam over in front of him. "Hey there angel fish." The cat greeted with a Cheshire grin.

"Hi Plagg." Tikki greeted back. "How's Marinette doing? Did she get Adrien to kiss her?"

"No....No kiss yet, but definitely some progress. Princey can't seem to keep his eyes off of her and tomorrow morning he's taking her for a tour across town."

"That's great!" Tikki said smiling. "She'll get him to kiss her then right?"

"Maybe....he doesn't know that she's the girl who saved him and without her voice....."

"....she can't tell him." Tikki finished with a sigh.

Plagg observed the water and looked around. "Hey where did that other mermaid friend of yours go?"

"She went back to the sea kingdom to make sure no one questioned why we were gone." Tikki stopped for a moment. "She's.....really worried about Marinette Plagg. I want to believe that she'll make it on time, but I'm worried too."

"Just have faith angel fish. I'm sure Marinette can do it." Plagg tried to reassure the red fish. "If there's one thing I know about fish legs she's not going to give up, and neither will Adrien, he'll figure out the truth."

Eventually......

~~~~~~~

The moon shined bright on to the ocean and below the sea, Nathaniel sat in a coral bed alone. The merman barely ate and couldn't bring himself to go to sleep, the guilt he felt was swallowing him whole.

She was gone, the love of his life was gone, and according to Alya, she wasn't coming back.

"Why didn't I just keep my big mouth shut?" He asked himself shaking his head and rubbing the side of his face. It was hard to stop thinking about it, to stop thinking about her was nearly close to impossible.

"Hey Nath." The red head looked up to find Juleka in front of him.

"Hey...." he looked around. "Where's Rose?"

"She's at home gushing about some Prince that's supposed to be visiting from another sea Kingdom soon."

He looked away from the purple mermaid. "Are you here to scold me too?"

"I could...but I think you've had enough of that today." She sat next to the merman. "I just came to see how you were doing."

Nathaniel sighed. "I'm sorry Juleka. I'm guess I'm just......I don't know."

"You were worried about Marinette. I get that, but be honest with me. Was that really all there was to it?"

He looked over at the dark mermaid. "What do you mean?"

"I see the way you look at her. It's really no secret that you have strong feelings for Marinette."

Nathaniel's face was as red as his hair. "W...What? I..it's that obvious?"

Juleka rolled her eyes at the green tailed merman. "You're as visible a barnacle on a whale."

"H..How long have you known?"

"For awhile now." She began to draw a picture in the sand floor."It's just easy to tell."

"How can you tell?"

Juleka stopped drawing into the sand. It was her turn to blush. "I can tell because.....it's the same expression I make whenever I see the one I love...." Nathaniel's eyes widen, Juleka was in love with someone, but who? Did Rose know about it?

 "....but he's in love with someone else." She continued with a sad expression. "Even if he didn't already had eyes for someone, I doubt I'd ever have a chance with him anyway.........sometimes it's best to let go before you end up getting hurt even worse." Nathaniel watched the dark haired mermaid's expression saddened. The look on her face said it all....pure heartbreak. Guess he wasn't the only one who was in pain from unrequited love. "I should probably get going. I'll see you around Nath." Juleka got up from her spot and swam away.

"Juleka wait!" Nathaniel reached out for her, but she was long gone. He continued to look in the direction that she swam in before putting his face in his hands. "What am I going to do?" he said with a sigh.

"What can you do?" a voice spoke to him.

Nathaniel gasped as he watched an eel slither it's way out of the shadows. "Wha...who are you? Stay away from me!"

"We are the ones with the solution." Another eel came out from the darkness.

"What are you talking about?"

"If you wish to save your precious mermaid." one said.

"You must follow us into the deep." said the other.

Nathaniel backed away from the creatures while trying to understand. "What do you mean 'save'? Is Marinette in trouble? Where is she?!"

"If you wish to know." They said in unison. "Follow us."

Nathaniel hesitated, he clearly didn't trust these eels, but he needed to know what happened to Marinette, he needed to find her so he could apologize. Alya was wrong THIS was the stupidest thing he could ever do in the entire ocean, but.....for Marinette, it was worth it.

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*Dancing in my room because I finished the chapter in more than 1500 words*

My Little sister: *walks in* *sees dancing*  *joins in*