Featured song:

"When She Loved Me" Travis Atreo cover

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Benni walked around the beach outside his castle with Barko. He couldn't stop thinking about the girl he'd seen. People kept saying he had to have been hallucinating, but he felt someone touch his cheek, and he heard a voice. He knew that girl, whoever she was, she was real. A girl brave enough to jump into stormy waters and save him from drowning, Benni thought, what a woman. He just had to find her again, to thank her for saving his life, and to make her his lady. Benni played the song Omega sang to him on his flute. Barko barked as Benni stopped to breathe.

"That voice. I can't get it out of my head." Benni said. "I've looked everywhere, Barko. Where could she be?"

Benni couldn't see every detail of the girl who saved him, but he did know she definitely had beautiful brown eyes and hair as golden as the sun. But, he couldn't find any girl matching that description in any part of the kingdom he'd searched.

___________________

Wrecker, Hunter, and Echo got their sister by some rocks near the shore, just high enough so Omega could sit down.

"Omega, what were you thinking?!" Hunter scolded.

Omega wasn't listening to Hunter, though. She was too mesmerized when she looked down at where her tail used to be, and saw that she now had human legs.

"Well, look what the catfish dragged in." said a voice only Omega recognized.

The three mermen got into defensive positions then, but Omega motioned for them not to be afraid and tried to tell them this was her friend.

"So this must be the notorious Estrella." Hunter said.

"And you must be Omega's hermanos. Her brothers." Estrella said. And Omega nodded. "Hmm. And something is different about you, Princesa."

Estrella took a look at Omega. It wasn't her hair that was different, not the seashells in her crown or her outfit.

"She has legs, land horse." Echo said. "She traded her voice to the sea witch and got legs."

"A sea witch?" Estrella shook her head. "Oh, Omega, that's what I've heard the bipeds call bad juju. And your voice."

"That's not even half of it," said Hunter.

"Omega has to make a prince fall in love with her," said Wrecker.

"And he has to kiss her," said Echo.

"And she only has three days!" all three mermen exclaimed in unison.

Omega wasn't paying any mind to any of her friends at that point; she was busy trying to stand up, only to lose her balance and fall over, splashing everyone with water.

"Just look at her!" Hunter said. "On legs! Human legs!"

"Well, it would be strange if she had horse legs." Estrella joked.

"Not the time for jokes," said Echo. "What's Father going to say about this?"

"I'll tell you what he'd say," said Hunter. "He'd say he's gonna kill a merman, and we'll all likely be sushi by the time he's through. We'll be lucky if he just grounds us."

"Why don't we just tell him and he can do something with his trident or something?" Wrecker said.

"Are you nuts?!" Echo said.

"For once, Wrecker is right." Hunter said. "I'm gonna swim back and tell him like we should've done the minute-"

Omega grabbed her brother's hand before he could swim off and shook her head quickly, begging him with her eyes not to tell their father.

"Don't you shake your head at me, young lady. Maybe there's still time. We can get your voice back, you can go home with all the normal fish and just be...."

But then Hunter saw tears forming in Omega's eyes, which changed his demeanor faster than you can say 'mermaid'. If Omega wasn't happy before, why would going back to the very source of her misery help her now?

"And just be miserable for the rest of your life." Now that Hunter was hearing the words come out of his mouth, he felt terrible. He sighed. "Fine, I'll try to help you find that prince."

Omega kissed Hunter's cheek as a thank you.

"Maybe I am more sensitive than I thought."

"Only one problem," said Echo, lifting the end of his tail from the water. "We didn't trade anything to get legs of our own."

That would be a problem. Omega's brothers needed to be in the water to survive.

"Don't worry. Omega has at least one friend with four legs of her own." Estrella said.

Estrella helped Omega stand up by letting her hold onto her side. So far, Omega was already dressed like a human, well, one going for a swim anyway.

"First thing, Omega. To be a human, you need to master walking. I walk on four, but humans and other bipeds walk on two."

It wasn't going to be easy, but Omega held onto Estrella. Estrella instructed her on how to step, one foot in front of the other, and then got her to let go so she could try on her own.

Omega felt so many things as she walked on human feet. The sand felt warm, but also dry and kinda sticky since she was wet. It felt kinda icky, but she loved it anyway!

___________________

Benni, meanwhile, walked with Barko, when the dog suddenly smelled something familiar. Barko started barking and running down the beach.

"Huh? What? Barko!" Benni exclaimed.

Barko eventually came upon where Omega and Estrella were walking.

"Someone's coming!" Hunter exclaimed.

The mermen took that as their cue to dive, whereas Estrella ran and hid behind some big rocks, leaving Omega alone as Barko came up and ran around Omega. Omega wasn't sure what to do next, so she climbed on a rock, and Barko jumped up and licked her.

That was when Benni managed to catch up to his dog.

"Barko! What's gotten into you, fella?" Benni said.

And that was when Benni caught sight of Omega.

"Oh, I see."

From a distance, Benni and Omega's eyes met. Omega quickly tried to fix her hair and seashells.

"Are you okay, Miss?" Benni asked, coming over and petting his dog. "I'm sorry if this knucklehead scared you. He's harmless, really, uh..."

That was when Omega smiled at Benni and fluttered her lashes, hoping Benni would recognize her.

"You seem very familiar to me. Have we met?" Benni asked

Omega nodded. Benni saw her eyes, and she definitely had beautiful golden hair.

"We have met. I knew it." Benni held Omega's hands. "You're the one I've been looking for. What's your name?"

Omega tried to say her name, but then realized she didn't have a voice anymore.

"What's wrong? What is it?"

Omega motioned to her throat.

"You can't speak?"

Omega shook her head shyly.

"Oh, then you couldn't be who I thought."

Omega got Benni to look at her again and tried to tell him with her eyes it was her, but he didn't seem to understand. Then she had an idea. She made a motion like she was writing on a notepad.

"What is it? You're hurt?"

Omega shook her head and made her motion again and tried to act out how she saved Benni from drowning. Still, the boy didn't understand.

"No, no. You need help?"

Omega facepalmed. She tried once more, but only succeeded in falling into Benni's arms.

"Whoa, careful! Careful, easy." Benni said. He got a look into Omega's eyes again. "Gee, you must have really been through something."

You have no idea. Omega thought in her mind.

"Come on. Come on. You'll be okay."

___________________

Benni brought Omega to the castle. There, some of the maidens set up a bath for Omega. Omega was fascinated by all the foamy bubbles in the tub.

"Washed up from a shipwreck. Oh, the poor thing." said Shaak Tii, a togruta, and one of the top caretakers in the castle. "Don't worry, Dear. We'll have you feeling better in no time."

Shaak took Omega's clothes to get washed up.

The laundry workers were all talking about how Benni was going on and on about this mystery girl.

"I mean, you must've at least heard about this girl." said one laundry maid. "She shows up in rags and doesn't speak. Not my idea of a princess. If Benni's looking for a girl, he should strive for better."

"Who says she couldn't be good?" said Ahsoka. "I heard she was washed from a shipwreck. Not exactly ideal for showing up in nice clothes."

As you can probably guess, everyone heard quickly about the girl Benni found on the beach. As if that weren't enough, people thought Benni was crazy to be searching for a girl they were sure he'd only imagined.

The same went on in the dining room as Benni stood and looked out the window, thinking about the girl who saved him. Today, the royal family of Ipsidon was being visited by Prince Anakin and Princess Padme from the kingdom of Naboo.

"Benni, listen to me. Nice young ladies just don't swim around rescuing people in the middle of the ocean and then flitter off into oblivion like some-"

"They could," said Gabby, the visiting royals' little girl. "Maybe a girl did rescue Benni, but she disappeared because she was scared."

"I'm telling you, Obi-Wan. She was real." Benni said. "I'm gonna find that girl, and I'm gonna marry her."

"How do you know the girl you found at the beach isn't her?"

"For one thing, the girl who saved me sang. This girl can't even talk."

"How do you know she doesn't have a sore throat? Once, my Uncle Carmine and I, we were competitively singing, and I sang so high and loud I couldn't talk for a week."

Before Benni could say anything else, that was when he saw a new but familiar figure entering the door.

"Don't be shy, Dear. Go on in." said Shaak.

And in came Omega, all dolled up in a lovely blue gown.

"Oh, Benni. Isn't she a vision?" Obi-Wan commented.

Benni couldn't say he wasn't mesmerized by how lovely Omega looked.

"Uh, you look wonderful." Benni managed to get out.

"Come, come, you must be famished." Obi-Wan said, helping Omega to a seat. "It's not everyday we have new dinner guests, and one so lovely, I might add, eh, Benni?"

Omega took a look at the place settings. It was definitely a lot fancier than Omega had placed the ones in her late collection of land trinkets.

Omega picked up a spoon and admired her reflection in it.

"I don't blame you." Anakin chuckled, looking at his own reflection in the spoon. "I like looking into these too."

Omega was introduced to everyone else, but none of them knew her name. Omega tried motioning again that she could write it down.

"She's been doing that since I found her." Benni said.

"I'm pretty sure she's trying to say she needs something to write with." Padme said.

That was when Obi-Wan's wife Satine showed up.

"I hope everyone's hungry," said Satine. "The chef is fixing a lovely menu for tonight."

Soup was served for dinner. Omega remembered Estrella saying this was something eaten with a spoon. Although, she'd never tried the stuff before. The way Estrella described it, soup was a food with a warm liquid, sometimes creamy base that was usually filled with things like meat or vegetables, as well as different spices that gave it different flavors.

Unfortunately, Omega had to learn the hard way to blow on her soup before taking a bite.

"Careful, it's hot." Satine said.

Now you tell me. Omega thought sarcastically.

Once her tongue cooled down and she blew on her soup this time, she found it tasted so yummy.

___________________

Meanwhile, Estrella tried to find a way into the castle. Omega was going to need all the help she could get. With her brothers needing to be in the water, Omega was going to need Estrella to help her find her way on the land. Except, that was not as easy as she thought.

The castle was heavily guarded, and it appeared that only the royal family's horses were allowed in the castle.

Estrella made her way to where she saw a stable, where there were a bunch of beautiful horses walking to a trough, where the stable boys had filled it with grains, oats, and hay.

"Alright, horses, eat up." said Bryce, one of the stable boys.

That was when the other stable boy, whose name was Hugh, noticed Estrella.

"When did we get that horse?"

Estrella snorted.

"Maybe she belongs to the Nabuian royals." Bryce said. "Better get her some reins. Here, girl."

But Estrella backed up, unfamiliar with these boys, and not liking the sound of being tied up. And instead she put up a fight.

___________________

Dinner was absolutely scrumptious. Omega took a taste of everything, loving that she had the chance to take in so many amazing flavors. Some things were sweet, some were spicy, some felt smooth on her tongue, and some were nice and crunchy or chewy.

And of course, no royal dinner was complete without a fancy dessert.

"You know, Benni. Perhaps our newest guest might enjoy seeing some sights of the kingdom. Something in the way of a tour?"

Benni, however, was having a moment of looking at Omega's beautiful eyes, so lost he didn't hear what Obi-Wan said.

"Sorry, Obi-Wan. What was that?" said the prince.

"You can't spend all your time moping about. You need to get out. Do something. Have a life."

"Easy, Obi-Wan. A tour actually does sound nice." Benni looked at Omega. "What do you say> Would you like to join me on a tour of my kingdom tomorrow?"

Omega nodded happily.

Suddenly, there was the sound of whinnies and a vase breaking out in the halls.

"Come back here!" shouted Drake.

"Uh-oh." Anakin said. "Sounds like one of the horses got loose."

And then a pink alicorn with curly blue hair made her way into the dining room, surprising everyone. Estrella ran around the room, being chased by the three stable boys, only for the three to bump into each other and for Drake to get a face full of whipped cream, which got Estrella stopping to lick the sweet stuff from his face.

"Mmm... delicioso."

"Benni, did you bring home another wild horse?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Bringing wild animals home is something I have done, but I can't take credit for this one."

Omega got up and pet Estrella on her muzzle.

"Miss, is that your horse?" Obi-Wan asked the girl.

Omega nodded, hoping that would help keep her out of trouble.

The others thought Estrella must have been acting out because she was looking for her rider.

That was when Drake, Bryce, and Hugh came in with some reins to put on Estrella.

"Come on, Pinky. Hold still." said Drake, putting the reins on Estrella.

"Name's Estrella!" corrected the horse.

"Come on, girl. Let's leave the humans to have their dinner."

And before Estrella could say anything else, she was pulled out of the dining room.

"It's not everyday that dinner gets so much excitement," said Padme.

___________________

Omega finally got a pen and some paper to write down what she wanted to say to Benni, except when she did write it down, no one could read it.

"I know how to read in many languages, and this is not one of them." Obi-Wan said. "Do you know how to write in Basic?"

Omega sadly shook her head. She could speak Basic, which she learned from Estrella was what they called the language she usually spoke (in Koralmino, they called the language Koralese). Omega didn't know everything about humans, but she was pretty sure they didn't speak dolphin or any other sea language either.

"I can teach her," said Gabby. "I'm great at writing."

___________________

That night, a guest room was set out for Omega so she would have a comfortable place to sleep.

True to her word, Gabby began showing Omega how to read and write in Basic, starting with showing her the alphabet, and differentiating consonants from vowels.

"See, Omega?" Gabby pointed out the vowels. "A, E, I, O, and U are the full-time vowels. But the letter Y can be a vowel sometimes too. And each of the main vowels has a short and long sound."

Since Omega could already speak Basic, whether or not she had her voice, learning what sound each letter made on its own was easy. Remembering what all of them looked like and how some of them were silent in certain words was another story.

I mean, can you honestly say you didn't find certain parts of reading hard when you were first learning to read?

But, little by little, Omega looked at each letter, picked up a pen and began writing each of them by themselves. Except, Omega got distracted by the sound of a dog barking outside, and she left her work to go look over the balcony, where she could see Benni playing with Barko in one of the castle gardens. Omega looked dreamily at Benni as he was laughing and playing fetch with his dog.

Benni was having a lot of fun, and then he got the feeling he was being watched. Then he looked up and saw Omega looking at him from over the balcony. He waved up to her, and blushing, Omega waved back before making her way back inside.

Gabby giggled when she saw Omega come back in. Omega couldn't say it, but her face clearly said, "What's so funny?"

"You've got it bad for Prince Benni!" Gabby sang. "My mom and dad look at each other like that all the time."

Omega, obviously, said nothing.

"Benni's a nice guy. If I were older, I'd probably wanna date him too. Every girl in Ipsidon does, and so do a lot of princesses. Everyone keeps saying they wanna see him married, but I'm not so sure it's the answer he needs."

Omega wasn't sure what Gabby meant by that, and Gabby answered with,

"Benni lost his mom last year."

You can bet Omega was shocked by that. But before Gabby could say anything more, her mom called her.

"Gabriella, it's past your bedtime." Padme said from down the hall.

"Aw, Mom!" Gabby whined.

"Bed, now."

Gabby sighed and reluctantly left to go to bed before her mom would come in there and drag her to bed.

___________________

Benni eventually had to go inside to get ready for bed himself. But as he walked into the palace, he came across a picture that featured a beautiful woman in royal robes and a crown sitting on a throne, a little boy with blue hair like hers sitting in her lap.

On the placard that sat in the frame were the names of the two people. Queen Belinda Baro & Prince Benni.

Benni felt tears come to his eyes as he looked at this picture. Believe it or not, Benni wasn't always a prince, and his mom was not always a queen. But, that's another story.

For the longest time, it had been just Benni and his mom; they were very close, and Belinda loved her little Benni Bear so much. Unfortunately, the Baros were dealt an unfortunate card just last year when Queen Belinda suffered a terrible illness that spread through the kingdom, and being the woman she was, she ordered for medicine to get to the people first. The people saved some for her... but it was too late.

Benni cried and cried when his mother smiled at him for the last time before taking her last breath and closing her eyes... forever. It was so hard on the poor child, and it still hurt. A whole year had gone by since then, and that was partially why Benni avoided the subject of getting married. The wedding wouldn't actually happen until he was eighteen, and he was only seventeen now. Still, it was a lot of pressure, and he was just getting through the loss of the first woman he ever loved, the first woman any man ever loves the moment he enters the world.

And with marriage usually comes parenthood sometime afterward, and Benni never had a dad. How was he supposed to be one himself, much less a husband? He thought.

After his mom died, Obi-Wan had been the one to take on the role as Benni's guardian, whereas Drake acted pretty much like a big brother, the kind that messes with you and kinda teases you, but loves his little bro and has a bit of a funny way of showing it.

Before his mom died, she was all the family Benni had. He missed her so much.

Benni could only think now of all the memories he had of his mother.

When somebody loved me

Everything was beautiful

Every hour we spent together

Lives within my heart

And when she was sad

I was there to dry her tears

And when she was happy, so was I

When she loved me

Belinda was such an amazing woman. Even after she became queen, her most important and favorite job was motherhood. And whenever she and Benni wanted to get away from it all, they would go sailing together, and Benni loved to feel the wind in his hair and watch the dolphins jumping about.

Through the summer and the fall

We had each other, that was all

Just she and I together

Like it was meant to be

And when she was lonely

I was there to comfort her

And I knew that she loved me

No matter how big Benni got, he never stopped being Mama's boy. And he wasn't ashamed of it. Other boys might've teased him for how close he was to his mother, but he didn't care. She was a treasure, and Belinda saw her boy as the ultimate crown jewel. Jewels could be replaced; expensive items, even they could be replaced. A person, someone you love, they cannot be bought, replaced, or sold. But sadly, loved ones can still be lost or taken away.

So the years went by

I stayed the same

But she began to drift away

The day Queen Belinda got sick, Benni was heartbroken. He desperately wanted his mom to get better, and to make matters worse, he had to stay away from her while she was sick to avoid it spreading to him.

I was left alone

Still, I waited for the day

When she'd say, "I will always love you"

And then came the day Obi-Wan told Benni that his mother wanted to see him. Benni immediately ran to his mother's room full of hope. He thought his prayers had been answered and that his mom was finally well again, but when he got there, he got the worst news of his life.

Lonely and forgotten

Never thought she'd look my way

And she smiled at me and held me

Just like she used to do

Like she loved me

When she loved me

"I love you so much, Benni Bear..." Belinda had said, holding her son's hand. And the last thing she said to him before her death, "In dark times, you may fall deep, but you can find a way up, or someone will be brave enough to dive in. Promise me, Son, you will never lose hope."

"I promise... Mommy." Benni had said tearfully.

When somebody loved me

Everything was beautiful

Every hour we spent together

Lives within my heart

When she loved me

It was Queen Belinda's death that made Benni always want to sail, and be near the water. When he was a baby, his mom had taken him to the beach, and according to her, he'd picked a beautiful little white seashell and brought it to her, and she wore it around her neck all the time. And now, Benni wore it around his neck in memory of his mother.

"Mom... I don't know what to do." Benni said, his hand on his mother's portrait. "Everyone's expecting me to find a wife, and it's driving me crazy! How do they expect me to fall in love before I turn eighteen? And with anyone else, no less. There's this one girl I do wanna make mine, but I don't know who she is. I mean, she saved my life. That's gotta mean something. If you could've seen her... you'd probably think she'd be a perfect daughter-in-law, and a great future queen."

Benni wasn't the only one who missed a family member though.

___________________

Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo managed to find the rest of their brothers, and they told them everything.

"I've heard of dumb blondes, but Omega has officially gone crazy!" Crosshair exclaimed.

"What was she thinking?!" Boba said.

"And how were none of us aware that Father had a sister?" Tech added.

"That's not important now. Omega is stuck up there, and we can't do anything to help her if we have to stay down here."

Tech started to think.

"Maybe there is a way we can help her." He said. "But it will not be easy."