This gives me chills.

Will stared blanklessly at a paper in front of him. It was suppose to outline the whole meeting but there were two problems.

It was boring and none of the information applied to him or needed his expertise. Or at least his input anyway.

"What do you think, Will? Do you think it's a good idea?"

Will looked up and tried to mask his shock. After being in this meeting for what felt like hours, his father finally asked for his opinion.

He noticed everyone's attention turned to him and he knew he had to answer carefully. Especially with his father practically staring at him as if the father could burn the right answer in his mind.

So carefully he tried to give a neutral answer.

"I will have to agree with everyone on this matter. Much insight has gone into this and even more planning so it would be a shame to not follow through. I gave my opinion I now turn the decision back to you advisers and king," Will bowed his head in respect and didn't miss the advisors small smiles of approval.

But what was even a bigger surprised was how pleased his father looked. He never looked so proud for his son as in this moment.

Will sat back and zoned out again when they returned to their discussion. I guess I answered correctly but now that just leaves the question. What exactly did I just do? What did I just set myself up for?

"William, you are excused for the day," his father came over and clapped his hand on his shoulder. "And you are doing the right thing for us all," he whispered with pride before swimming over to his advisers.

Instead of inspiring confidence and pride, Will could only feel dread, something bad was about to happen, he could just feel it coming.

Shaking the feeling away, he gladly swam out the door before he could say anything else. Swimming out he closed the door gently and went toward the crazy crowds.

He blended in as best as he could, but being the person he was and the fact people could recognize his purple hair from miles away, it was nearly impossible.

He swam by girls who waved and giggled. He ignored them.

He swam by a group of mermen that did nothing but send daggers at his back. He could even heard their, not so loud, whispers saying how he was nothing special and that they could beat him in a fight any day.

That he didn't ignore.

"If you are so sure you are going to beat me, then why not start first. Prove you can do something instead of throwing nonsense words that someone as stupid as you can't begin understand the gravity of them."

Will knew he was overreacting and that he let his easy to anger temper get the better of him but he could not let those words go. If they wanted to look like idiots in front of a growing crowd. So be it.

He would teach them a well deserved lesson. He may not be king but he demanded respect whether people liked him or not.

None of them made a move, instead they stood their like angry seahorses. Though they were angry he could see the regret they had and could see they wanted nothing more than to get out of there.

Will couldn't help himself as he smiled. "That's what I thought."

Slowly swimming away, he heard the angry sound of a tail flapping and he could guess the one it was. Waiting for him to get closer he moved to the side just as the merman threw a punch.

Stumbling forward, the merman fell on the ground and quickly got up angrily.

"I don't care if you are a prince or not. No one disrespects me and my friends like that."

Now Will anger began to come back at that. If there was anyone not showing respect in that moment it was that rude merman, who obviously didn't know how to pick his battles.

"I will give you this moment to go away. Which will be a lot less humiliating than if you choose to fight and lose," Will said with not a hint of emotion, just stating it as a fact. He could hear people snickering but he meant what he said and hope that stupid merman knew he meant it too.

"You're going to pay for that, Prince William," he hissed and Will sighed.

"So it's going to be the hard way. I tried to warn you."

As fast as lightning Will made the first move and landed the first punch. The force of the punch, knocked the merman's fast back.

He stumbled back, holding his aching jaw before charging forward again with new found speed and strength. But Will was ready for him. He grabbed his outstretched arm and flung it behind his back.

The merman yelped in pain and scratched at his arm but Will refused to let go and with a voice loud enough for everyone to hear he continued where he left off.

"I tried to warn you, but you didn't listen. Next time think twice before disrespecting someone. Especially if that someone can best you in a fight. Now go to your friends and back off," Will finished but he refused to let go until the merman started nodding his head in agreement.

"Yes I'm so sorry. I promise it won't happen again."

Satisfied, Will let go and swam away. The merman went to his friends before they all disappeared behind a corner. He could hear the laughs behind him but scanning the crowd he can also see some annoyed looks and scowls.

Continuing on, he ignored their looks and didn't bother to stop. He couldn't believe his anger got the better of him but in his offense it was for a good reason. If there was one thing he had no patience for was when idiots didn't respect the people around them. Whether of high status or not, respect should be given until proven otherwise.

He swam by, creating bubbles as he went. He could see all the shops, and all the merpeople that were pulled to the beautiful, but deceitful display. Each little shop decorated to pull merpeople in so they could spend money.

It was stupid in his opinion and not just because he had the money but because he had everything he needed.

The way merpeople lived was even if someone were the poorest merman or merwoman alive, they would still have food more than enough to live. Not to mention they would have clothes and still be left with money.

It was a system that astonished him in a way he couldn't understand it. Sure the higher rank a merperson was, the better off they would be, but merpeople lived in such a way that everyone could live fine. Happy even. Never needing to worry about food or clothes or other necessities, and every merperson at one point or another found their other half.

Well all except me I guess.

Will watched a couple go by, happy and content and even in love and he couldn't help but envy their openness and their happiness. He feared one day he would never find someone he loved and his father will have to one day force himself to marry someone he didn't want to marry.

The perks of being future king. He could never see any merwoman being able to see past his crown to actually get to know who he was. He was more than just a future king but he doubt anyone would be able to realize that.

The only merperson that had been able to really see past his crown and gotten to know him as a merperson was Mia.

She understood him in a way no one else did. They have been friends for as long as he could remember. To which he was more than grateful for, his friendship with her meant everything to him.

Shaking his head a bit, he didn't realize he had stopped completely. Even more embarrassed that he let his thoughts travel he continued on, he swam slower and observed the people as they bought stuff.

The merwomen stood in long lines to buy the latest in fashion. Shells all held together by kólla, also known as a glue that could hold anything together. All the shirts and tank tops made with that glue was held together by small and large shells and lasted for years.

And on the other side were just as excited mermen, all waiting in line for the newest shirts. Unlike the merwoman's shirt made with shells, the merman's shirts were made out of seaweed they coated in kólla to make it shine and last for years as well.

He smiled, containing his laughter at how excited they all got. It was rather silly to him but he brushed it off and left the area.

Deciding he needed a break, he headed toward the surface, toward one of his favorite spots. Going toward his rock, he could feel the waves crashing, a sure sign of high tide coming their way.

He popped his head out first before heading over to his spot, noticing one of his favorite sea birds. The bird noticed him and started squawking loudly, piercing into his ears but he smiled anyway.

"Hey Scuttles, I see you've had dinner," Will stared at the red crab the bird shredded through, pieces everywhere and off to the side was a yellow blue fish, still untouched.

"Saving the fish for later?" Will asked and slowly the seabird squawked nodding it's head up and down.

Slowly and gradually a light came toward Will and he looked up to see a ship off in the distance. Great.

He rolled his eyes and turned back toward Scuttles. "Seems I have to go. It would be best that you eat that soon, you know how much the other seagulls like that fish too."

With that he turned around and dived back in but not before he saw the seagull start to eat the fish. He smiled and went toward the bottom. When he finally reached the sand, he stopped swimming and lied down on the sand, looking up toward the boat that stopped right above him.

He could smells the stench and the smoke not far behind and guessed it was a pirate ship. But as he focused in more on the design of the ship which was a bit fancier than a pirate ship, he came to the conclusion that it wasn't a pirate ship.

Though there were pirates on that ship. That he was sure of.

He closed his eyes and tried hard not to listen in on their conversations, which proved to only be more difficult as the voices became louder and louder. No doubt they were coming toward the side of the boat, closest to him.

He tried to tune out on the conversation but he could make out a woman's voices in the mist of men voices. It was a pretty intense conversation.

He opened his eyes and stared at bottom of the ship, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"I didn't do..."

Immediately when he picked up on her voice he stopped and tuned them out. He knew it would be easier than easy to listen in and hear what was going on but it was not his place. He would not metal and interfere with matters that he could not be involved in.

Closing his eyes again, he instead listened in on the waves, crashing viciously against the ship. The waters are not being kind today.

Then there was a crash.