The merpeople of Atlantica took their seats in the place as the trumpets began and a small seahorse went up to present.

"His Royal Highness, King Triton!"

King Triton came riding down in a seashell chariot with dolphins pulling him as fanfare played for him and the audience roared. His trident lit up as a chandelier.

"And presenting the distinguished court composer, Horatio Thelonious Ignatius Crustaceous Sebastian!"

Two fish pulled a small seashell chariot that he rode in, waving at the audience, kazoos playing, met with a modest applause.

He pulled up next to Triton, who jacked over, whispering, "I'm really looking forward to this performance, Sebastian."

"Oh, Your Majesty! 'Dis will be 'de finest concert I have ever conducted. Your daughters and son - 'dey will be spectacular!" He flipped upside-down in his shell.

"Yes. And especially my little Arius," he said quieter, feeling pride well up in him.

"Yes, yes. He has 'de most richest voice, hm?" Mumbling under his breath as he rode away, "If only he'd show up for re-hassle once in a while..."

A spotlight appeared on Sebastian as he swam to the podium and opened his book. Looking around, he lifted his baton, striking up the band. Seashells opened, two girls in each, beginning to sing.

Daughters of Triton:
Oh, we are the daughters of Triton
Great Father who loved us and named us well

Triton proudly lifted his head at his little girls.

Daughters of Triton:
Aquata

Aquata:
Ah ah ah, ah ah ah, ah ah ah

Daughters of Triton:
Andrina

Andrina:
Ah ah ah, ah ah ah, ah ah ah

Daughters of Triton:
Arista

Arista:
Ah ah ah

Daughters of Triton:
Attina

Attina:
Ah ah at

Daughters of Triton:
Adella

Adella:
Ah ah ah

Daughters of Triton:
Alana

Alana:
Ah ah ah

A giant seashell slowly rose in the middle of the stage, the sisters circling around it.

Daughters of Triton:
And then there is the youngest in his musical debut
Our only little brother, we're presenting him to you
To sing a song Sebastian wrote, his voice is simply bliss

Sebastian grinned back at Triton. Back onstage, the seashell slowly opened.

Daughters of Triton:
He's our brother, Ari -

The girls gasped when the seashell showed to be empty. Sebastian, who also gasped, nervously looked behind him at Triton's glowing trident and angry face.

"ARIUS!"

-

"Arius! Y/n! Wait for me!" Arius barely heard as he excitedly eyed the sunken ship.

Y/n looking over her shoulder, sighing. "Flounder, hurry up!" She glanced at Arius, his red hair floating upward and his eyes...lord, those eyes.

Panting, Flounder shimmied to the vicinity, complaining, "You know I can't swim that fast."

Ignoring him, Arius sighed, "There it is. Isn't it fantastic?" He pointed at the ship.

"Yeah, sure...it - it's great. Now let's get outta here." He tried to swim away, but Y/n caught his tail between her fingers just in time.

"You're not getting cold fins now, are you?" Arius asked, annoyed, then swam towards the wreckage.

"He totally is," Y/n said and followed him.

"Who, me? No way. It's just, it, err...it looks - damp in there. Yeah."

"We're literally underwater." Y/n rolled her eyes, barely slowing down.

"Well, uh, I think I may be coming down with something. Yeah, I got this cough." He pretended to cough unconvincingly, the two merpeople giving one another amused looks.

"Alright," Arius relented. "I'm going in." He swam through the hole, green tail disappearing.

"Mhm. You can just stay here and...watch for sharks," the mermaid added casually as she followed.

Nodding, he agreed, "Okay. Yeah - you go. I'll stay and - what?! SHARKS! Arius, Y/n!" Flounder tried to swim after them, getting stuck in one of the broken windows. "Guys, I can't..." He struggled as he attempted to pull himself through. "I mean...please, help!"

Arius giggled, swimming back. "Oh, Flounder." Grabbing his fins, he tried to pull him through.

"Arius, do you really think there might be sharks around here?" he whispered, not noticing a huge fin behind him.

Overhearing, Y/n, grabbing one of his fins from Arius, teased, "Flounder, you guppy!"

"I'm not a guppy..." he grumbled as they pulled him through.

As they swam through, Flounder kept nervously talking to himself before he could chicken - er, guppy - out. "This is great...I mean, I really love this. Excitement, adventure, danger lurking around every corn- AAAAHHHH!!!!!" he screamed, seeing a skull and swimming back quickly, Knocking over a wooden beam in the process. "Arius! Y/n!"

He swam into Y/n's hair, who looked back at him, trying not to giggle. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Sure. No problem. I'm okay." On the contrary, he continued to tremble.

"Shh..." Arius gently shushed, swimming to a higher level in the ship. Looking around, his eyes landed on a piece of silver. "Oh my gosh..." He swam excitedly towards it, picking it up. "Oh my gosh! Have you ever seen anything so wonderful in your entire life?!"

Y/n glanced at him, holding back what she really thought was so wonderful.

"Whoa, cool!" Flounder went from a grin to confusion. "But, uh, what is it?"

"It's a mini trident!" Y/n squealed, taking it and making Flounder hold it, spinning around with him. "King Flounder! Ruler of the Seven Seas!" She took it back and gave it back to Arius. "In all seriousness, I'm sure Scuttle will know."

No. No, he would make something up and pretend he knew what he was talking about. But for such an idiot, he was quite clever in his inventions for human artifacts.

Y/n followed Arius, leaving Flounder to panic when he heard...something. "What was that?! Did you hear something?"

But Arius was busy with another wooden piece that he found. "Hmm, I wonder what this one is."

"Mini trumpet?" Y/n suggested, blowing through it.

"Humans really enjoy their mini things!" Arius laughed, taking it and blowing, as well, but only bubbles would come out. "Maybe it doesn't work underwater."

"Guys..." Flounder pleaded.

Arius, annoyed, "Flounder. Would you relax? Nothing is going to happen."

Behind Flounder, a giant shark opened its mouth, slowly swimming closer. The smaller fish turned just in time, let out a scream, and swam just as the jaws came clamping down.

"AHHH! Run, run! We're gonna die!"

Arius grabbed Flounder and held him protectively, trying to swim away from the shark, who was still chomping at glass and boards. Grabbing Y/n's hand with a free one, they swam for the top deck, the shark breaking through, Flounder screaming again.

His bag getting caught, Arius, without missing a beat, pushed Y/n in front and tugged at his bag, the shark still biting through the ship. Meanwhile, Flounder got stuck in another hole. "Oh, no!"

Y/n pushed him through as Arius, successful in retrieving his bag, followed, pushing her through, then letting her pull him out and swim away as the shark broke through the wall.

Swimming without paying attention, Flounder hit a crossbeam, briefly knocking him out. Arius noticed him falling and, throwing his bag, swam after him, catching him through the ring of an anchor. Arius pulled him away, the shark lunging, getting stuck inside. Y/n swam up to him and handed him his bag, then both merpeople swam away.

Flounder, annoyed, swam up to the shark. "You big bully," he declared, blowing a raspberry at him.

The shark growled and chomped. Eyes wide, Flounder let out a yelp and swam back to his friends.

"Flounder, you really are a guppy," Arius chuckled, swimming for the surface.

"I am not!"

-

A seagull played around with a telescope, sitting on a tiny island on a warm day, singing to himself, "Fourteen hundred and ninety-two, dah-de-dum dee-do-do, rum-dim-dim, dee-do-dee-do..." He chuckled to himself as he put it on his head.

"Scuttle!"

Fumbling with the telescope, Scuttle looked through the big end, seeing Arius, Y/n, and Flounder far off, the first two waving at him. "WHOA! BESTIES OFF THE PORT BOW! ARIUS! Y/N! HOW YOU DOIN', KIDS?!"

He took away the telescope, seeing them right in front of him. "Whoa, whada swim."

"Scuttle, look what we found!" Arius thrust his bag at him while Flounder yapped.

"Yeah, we were in this sunken ship...it was really creepy -"

"Human stuff, huh? Hey, lemme see." Scuttle dropped the anchor on his tiny island, his foot caught in it, causing him to fall. Shaking himself off, he got up and looked through Arius' bag, taking it the silver piece. "Oh! Oh! Look at this. Wow. This is special - this is very, very unusual."

"What? What is it?" he asked excitedly.

"It's a dinglehopper."

'Dinglehopper? That's a new one.'

"Humans use these babies -" Fumbling, he caught it before he could drop it. "- to straighten their hair." He put it on top of his head, twirling it around. "See, just a little twirl here an' a yank there and, voila!" His feathers poofed out, giving him an afro. "You got an aesthetically pleasing configuration of hair that humans go nuts over."

Arius took it back, looking at it fondly. "A dinglehopper..."

Y/n took the wooden object and gently rolled it over to Scuttle, who picked it up. "Ah, this I haven't seen in years. This is wonderful! A banded, bulbous...snarfblat."

"Ohhh..."

"Now, the snarfblat dates back to pre-historical times, when humans used to sit around, and stare at each other all day." He got right in Arius' face, smiling creepily, silently. "Got very boring." He dipped it in the ocean, getting seawater and seaweed in it. "So, they invented the snarfblat to make fine music. Allow me." He blew into it, the water spluttering out everywhere, Scuttle coughing.

"Music..." Arius cringed.

"It's stuck!"

He began grabbing his stuff, shoving it back into his bag. "Oh, the concert! Oh, my gosh, my father's gonna kill me!"

"The concert was today?" Y/n asked, worried. "Damnit, Arius, I told you we should've marked this!"

Still busy with the snarfblat, Scuttle mumbled, still eyeing it, "Maybe you could make a little planter out of it or somethin'..."

Arius snatched it, swimming away, calling and waving, "Uh, I'm sorry! I gotta go! Thank you, Scuttle!"

"Anytime, buddy. Anytime."

-

Two eyes watched as Arius and Y/n swan back to the palace, her face shadowed by the dark. "Yes, hurry home, dear prince. We wouldn't want to miss Daddy's celebration, now, either we? Ha! Celebration indeed, bah! In my day, we had fantastical feasts when I lived in the palace."

A manicured hand reached for a single small shrimp while the rest of them hid, popping it in her mouth alive.

An overweight purple octopus dramatically draped over a bit of coral.

"And now look at me. Wasted away to practically nothing - banished and exiled and practically starving. While he and his flimsy fish-folk celebrate." She let herself float down to her lair. "Well, I'll give 'em something to celebrate soon enough...Flotsam! Jetsam!"

-

Two eels, watching the merpeople, looked up, telepathically hearing.

-

"I want you to keep an extra close watch on this rebellious little son of his. He may be the key to Triton's undoing..."