Chapter Text
Your name is Natalya Kirsakov, heiress of the Kingdom of the Arctic Ocean, and you are bored out of your mind. No one will tell you anything, and it’s annoying the shit out of you. Why can’t they trust you not to mess something up? If they just let you in on whatever it is they’re plotting, you’re sure you could help. Well, there was that one time where you spooked the narwhals, or that one time you accidentally spilt something into the food in the kitchen, but other than that, you haven’t had a single slip up!
All you know is that something’s happening, and you have to stay in your room until someone comes for you. Haha yeah, like that’s ever going to happen. You sit on your bed and pull a trunk towards you. You grab a length of seal leather from your bedside table and pull your hair back, braiding it as tightly as you can against your skull. Once that’s done and secured (damn, my hands hurt, you think as you shake them out a bit), you pull out the contents of the chest: a full set of imperial guard armor, obtained for you by your friend and sometimes friend with benefits Anton. He’s one of the few people on the guard that you actually trust to know who you are when you’re training with them.
A few years ago, you decided you were bored with princess lessons and snuck off to see the boys your age training. They had helmets and fake spears, and you were hit with the best idea. Sneaking into the trainee armory, you snatched yourself a set of armor and disguised yourself as one of the trainee boys, melding seamlessly into their ranks. You spent years learning how to fight disguised as a boy, and once you thought one of the boys, Anton, wouldn’t give you away, told him who you were, and everything was fine until Maksimilian happened.
Maksimilian is this asshole that you absolutely hate. He’s smug and has an inferiority complex and is honestly kind of hot but he always has to act like he’s better than everyone, which is kind of why even now you don’t really care that he knows just because of the way the whole thing went down.
What happened was this: you were in training, listening to your instructor, when Maksimilian had the nerve to go and correct him on something. Now, you liked this instructor, and pretty much always have. He was a great guy who never really pried into anything that wasn’t explicitly his business. You also kind of identified with him, ‘cause he would tell storied from when he was still in training and how he was the smallest and weakest in the class but won a few one-on-ones by using his head. You always liked the days he was teaching, and tried to memorize the teacher rotation (this one came once every eight days) just to make sure never to miss one of his classes. So of course, it was natural you’d take offense.
The slip up wasn’t even that big a thing. You’re not entirely sure what exactly it was, maybe mislabeling one of the blades, but before he could correct himself, Maksimilian was on him.
“It’s a this-and-that.” The way he said it, with such smug satisfaction, infuriated you, and you leapt onto him.
“Nikifor,” the teacher said after he pulled you off the boy (that’s what you went by during training), almost sighing it. “I appreciate that you’re willing to do that for me, but if you’re going to duel, please do it when class is over and you’re not disrupting us.”
You hung your head and nodded, and you could practically feel Maksimilian smirk. You shot a look at him. “Unless he’s scared,” you goaded, and Maksimilian tensed up, sneering.
“Of course not.”
What ended up happening is that the entire class was so excited about the prospect of a fight between two of the highest-ranking students in the year that the teacher couldn’t control the class, and they ended up spilling out into the nearest arena. You shot him an apologetic look as you followed your classmates out.
You don’t remember much detail about the fight, but you know that at one point in time you almost lost. Maksimilian had nicked the side of your chest armor, and two of the three straps holding it together broke. At this point in time, you had started to grow boobs, and so while it wouldn’t have been a big deal a few years ago, now you were instantly conscious that if your armor fell off now, you were screwed. That somehow gave you the motivation to bump up the intensity, and in a flurry of spear twirls, Maksimilian was disarmed and had a spear head pointed at his throat. It’s honestly one of your favorite memories, and you’ve drawn the scene a couple times. Of course, your drawing skills are shit, so it never looks like more than a few scribbles.
Maksimilian was pretty pissed off after losing a one-on-one to you, so while you were trying to sneak back to your rooms, he ambushed you in the hallway. Your armor was still damaged, so when he managed to hit the same lucky spot, it fell off completely. He took off your helmet. You somehow managed to convince him not to tell anyone, but he’s held it over your head ever since. At least he never treats you differently for being a girl.
Anyway, you pull your armor out of your trunk. Nikifor had long since stopped going to training once people started paying more attention to where you were, but you have an excellent use for him now. Pulling the armor on, you grab your spear from the back of your closet and peak out into the hallway once before making your way down to your mom’s office. No one you pass on your way there stop you; something about the combination of full imperial armor and the regal pace you’re moving at keep people from questioning you.
When you reach the door, you nearly sigh in relief. Anton’s on guard duty, the only one there.
“I’ve been sent to aide you,” you say in the manliest voice you can muster. Anton looks at you for a moment, obviously confused, before you whisper the word beluga under your breath. It’s been your code word for years. Once he knows that you’re you and he didn’t read the day’s roster wrong, Anton relaxes a bit and you take the place on the other side of the door like you’ve rehearsed it. To be fair, it’s not your first time infiltrating the ranks. You can’t really talk to Anton otherwise, so he tries to take as many single-man jobs that look like they could be double-man jobs as possible. This time though, there’s no time to talk. You need to listen. Your mom’s voice drifts through the crack in the door.
“-will be here in a few hours. She doesn’t know why she’s coming, Lucia made certain of that.”
You shoot a look over to Anton, who whispers, “Lucia?” to you. You shrug.
Pretty much everyone’s heard the story of the sea queen, the new Aqua Regina. She’s the former princess of the North Pacific, and is pretty much the sole reason everything is as peaceful as it is now. Her daughter, princess Lani, is basically your best friend. The two of you are even closer than you and Anton are. If what your mom is saying is what it sounds like, then Lani is coming for a visit.
You hear your mom’s chair squeak against the floor and you’re off like a bolt, racing back towards your rooms before your mom can catch wind of what you’ve been doing. You’re certain she’s known about your little escapades to the guard training for years, but she’s never once brought it up. You don’t really understand what she’s playing at. Princess Noel is basically a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in several inches of regal postures and kind smiles. But if it keeps you from having to explain yourself, you’re happy to let your mom continue playing whatever one-sided game she thinks she’s playing. You were never really a contestant, and you stopped trying to outsmart her years ago. But hey, at least she’s around. You’ve spent countless nights comforting Lani over long-distance communication devices when she was breaking down again. Lucia, no matter how great a queen she may be, is a busy woman, and she’s been forced to choose between her kingdom and her family. Lani has her father, but Kaito’s almost as, if not just as, busy as his wife is, and that just makes it even harder on poor Lani. She’s one of the few merpeople in the world to have more than one parent, and both of them are too busy to spend much time with her. There’s a small part of you that resents the sea royals for that.
Just as you finish stowing your armor, you hear a knock on the door.
“Natalya?” your mom asks. You haphazardly throw your spear into the depths of your closet and turn to open your door. Your mom has her hand raised, like she was going to knock again, and she lowers it quickly.
“Hey, Mom, what’s up?” You lean against the door frame, effectively blocking off the view of your room. You haven’t had the chance to make sure everything’s properly stowed.
“Can I come in?” your mom asks. You hesitate for a moment, but you let her in. Saying no would only make her suspicious. “I have news.” The two of you glide over to your bed as the door clicks shut behind you and you sit down.
“What’s going on?” you ask, pushing as discreetly as you can against the trunk under your bed. Your mom shifts a bit.
“There’s—” She starts before hesitating. “There’s been some trouble south of us,”
“You’ll have to be more specific,” you comment. “Pretty much everything is south of us.” Your mom chuckles.
“Yes, I suppose so.” She sighs softly. “There have been attacks.”
You instantly sit up on the edge of your bed. “What? Where?”
“The North Pacific. Terrorists have been ravaging major cities, including the imperial city.”
Pictures flash into your mind, paintings and other depictions of the destruction Gakupo heralded twenty-some years ago. People screaming and fleeing and falling victim to various attacks. You weren’t alive when the last Great War was raging, but your history teachers have told you enough that you have a pretty good idea of what’s happening now. “Lani…” You look up at your mom. “Is she…”
“She and her family are fine, and she’s coming to stay with us until things have calmed down.” You breathe a sigh of relief. “She’ll be here in a few hours.”
You nod, and your mom starts for the door again, but stops like she’s not sure if she should say anything else. The entire thing is kind of awkward, you’re glad when she turns around again and continues for the door.
“I’ll see you at dinner,” she says over her shoulder. You nod again and she leaves, leaving you to your thoughts.
Lani is usually one to travel in style. She has money, and she’s not afraid to flaunt it. While you’d rather use good looks and cunning, Lani isn’t afraid to bribe someone to get what she wants. And she’ll be as showy about it as possible. This is probably why you didn’t realize she was here until she barges into you room and startles you out of your nap.
“Nami, wake up!” She jumps on you and you groan, trying to push her off and sit up. She keeps chanting your frankly absurd nickname, but you refuse to budge. You draw the line at poking, though, and you open your eyes slightly, squinting against the light.
“Lani, if you don’t get off me I will get Anton in here to personally pull your ass off.” Lani pouts, but she complies. She’s never really been comfortable around Anton, but never tells you why. You suspect it’s because of the way the guards in the North Pacific treat her. As the daughter of a princess, you have a certain amount of leeway with things, and not really all that much responsibility. Lani, on the other hand, is a full-fledged princess, and while Aqua Regina is centered in the North Pacific, Lani has just as much work as your mom or any of the other princesses. Because of this, her guards keep a much tighter watch on her, and she really only ever lets loose when she comes to visit you. You’ve tried explaining several times that Anton is your friend before he’s a guardsman, but she won’t listen to you. You don’t see the point in trying to convince her.
“Fine,” Lani says, sliding off you. A knock sound at the door.
“Princess?”
Lani sighs and straightens, composing herself. “Yes?”
“Dinner will be served soon. Her Lady the High Minister requests you dress up.” You can see Lani droop at this, and move to your closet. You’ve always hated dressing up, but at least your high minister tolerates your insistence to wear ceremonial armor instead of useless frills.
“Thank you,” Lani says to the person behind the door. “We will be down shortly.” Lani waits a moment before crashing on your bed. “I just want to sleep,” she says. “And besides, I left all of my good clothes back home. You rummage through your closet and pull out something that should fit her before throwing the mass of frills and lace at her.
“You can wear this. Regina knows I’m not going to.” You pull your (high minister approved and frankly ridiculous) armor out and lay it on your bed next to the skirt.
“Really?” Lani starts investigating the skirt, nodding in approval. “Thanks!”
You smile, flashing her a grin, and move over to your vanity. There’s makeup scattered all across it, and you pick up an eyeliner pencil, drawing sharp, dark lines around your eyes. Lipstick comes next, and once all of your war paint is applied, you’re ready to go. Lani’s makeup is much more understated, but it suits her. She doesn’t need it to look intense; she gets it purely from the contrast to her normal, bubbly demeanor.
The two of you are out the door within a minute, and as you swim down the hall, Anton joins you at your side; giving the excuse that he’s escorting you. You roll your eyes but smile nonetheless. It’s nice to have both of your best friends with you.
When you enter the main dining hall, your mother and the high ministers of both the Arctic and the North Pacific and several high ranking nobles are already seated, leaving only your seats open, on either side of your mother.
“I’ll see you later,” Anton whispers as he bow and takes his leave. Guards don’t eat with the royal family. Not unless they’re the head of the guard, who’s already present and one of the few mermen at the table. The majority of the Arctic council is female, with only a handful of mermen, and the North Pacific isn’t much better. You’ve heard through the network that the Indian Ocean is almost the opposite, with a lot of equality.
You sit down in between your mother and the high minister. They’re making conversation with each other and completely ignoring you, and the North Pacific high minister is lecturing Lani on one thing or another. You stir idly at your salad (ew) as you let you attention drift from one conversation to another. None of them are all that interesting.
Suddenly, a guard member (he’s North Pacifian, and you see Lani raise her head with a worried look on her face) bursts into the room, apologizing.
“We’ve been followed,” he says, and suddenly there’s a sword through his chest (lung wound, nonfatal as long as gills are continued to be used and the bleeding is stopped) and he collapses off to the side. You instinctively inch closer to your mom, and you feel her press something into your hand. You keep your eyes on the sword though, and as the blood in the water starts to clear, the person wielding the sword is revealed.
He’s remarkably short, with a stupid-looking cape and a ray pistol strapped to his hip. You almost burst out laughing, but it’s clear from Lani’s expression that this is serious and he’s not a person to be trifled with. The head guard pulls out a ray pistol of his own, but instead of shooting the intruder, he shoots the door way above him, and the debris clouds the water (damn, how’d he ever become head guard of his aim’s so far off?). You feel yourself being dragged by the arm, and get wacked in the face by something. Lani instantly whispers, “sorry,” and you realize she’s in the same situation you’re in. Someone is dragging the two of you away from the scene, and when you catch a glimpse of bands of pearls around a dark blue tail, you realize it’s your mom.
“You two need to get out of here,” she says as she lets go of the two of you in a side hallway. Lani is clutching her pendant (much less empty than your own) and shaking slightly, and you realize that while your mom has let go of you, you haven’t let go of her. You’re clutching her arm, and she hasn’t made any move to shake you off.
Anton comes racing around the corner, sees your mom, and bows. “Your majesties,” he says. You mom beckons him over and he complies.
“Anton,” she says, and he looks up, surprise at the princess knowing his name written all over his face. “I need you to get these two out of here.”
You look at your mom with surprise. “You’re not coming with us?” you ask. She shakes her head and points at your hand, which is still clutching whatever it was she gave her. You gently uncurl it, revealing a deep blue pearl.
“I’ll be serving as a decoy,” your mom explains. “You two are going to land, hiding out, and keeping as low a profile as possible.” You hastily place the pearl in your pendant, not wanting to lose it. To think your mom trusts you enough to have this… It suddenly makes you feel guilty about all the things you haven’t told her.
“Mom, I—” The wall bursts down, and your mom pushes you in the opposite direction.
“Be brave, my little warrior,” and she’s gone. Anton starts trying to drag you away, and Lani starts helping him, and soon the two of them have pulled you around to where the intruder first broke in.
Lani lets go of you, and you thud to the floor. She rushes over to the North Pacifian guard that had rushed into the dining hall and picks him up gently, being careful of the hole in his chest. You finally stop sitting on your ass and get up to help her tear her skirt into strips. You don’t particularly care for the skirt, and are more than happy to rip it up, even if the high minister isn’t around to see it. Anton anxiously keeps watch, and he keeps muttering about how you need to get away from here. As soon as the guard is bandaged and slung over Lani’s shoulder, the now four of you race down the hallway, stopping periodically to make sure the guard is still alive. You stop as you pass your room. You pause at the door, and Anton yells at you to hurry up. You hesitate before bursting into your room, shedding your ceremonial armor and donning your imperial armor and helmet. Feeling much safer, you grab your spear from your closet and a long knife that you never got the hang of. After a second thought, you grab your ceremonial armor again. Handing it and the knife to Lani, you rush to catch up to Anton, who started moving the moment you exited your room.
You haven’t been in the open ocean much, just to travel between cities, and those roads are well-marked. You honestly have no idea where you’re going, and are pretty much relying on Lani to not get you completely lost. A few hours later show that your trust was not misplaced.
The beach was narrow but long, and in some places trees touched the surf. This is where you decided to beach yourselves. Lani stayed with the guard in the water, and only came out once you agreed to take watch. He was breathing, but just barely, and shifting and using his lungs would kill him. As you sat on the bottom of about eight feet of water, trying not to fall asleep, you could feel a presence coming towards you. You were awake instantly, brandishing your spear in the direction the presence was coming from.
To your surprise, it wasn’t a monster, but another mermaid. She was an adult, in her late twenties, and she was carrying a waterproof flashlight.
“Hello?” She calls. You drop your fighting stance and wave your hands frantically. Maybe she could help you find a place to hide you.
Her flashlight’s beam finally falls onto you, and she rushed up to meet you. “I’m looking for princess Lani and her companions,” she says. She’s got the blue tail of an Arctician, and you realize she doesn’t recognize you as anything other than a guard and a fellow Arctician. You yank off your helmet, and the few strands that have come loose from your tight braids float in the current. The mermaid’s eyes widen. “Lady Natalya,” she says.
“You said you’re looking for us?” You’re impatient to get to the point, and don’t really want to go through all the formalities. The mermaid nods, and sensing you want an explanation, starts doing just that.
“My name is Chantal,” she begins (from the Canadian side, you think), “and I’ve been stationed on land for a few years now, working as an agent to aide land-bound mers and help keep our existence a secret. I received an alert a few hours ago about your arrival from princess Noel.”
You perk up when she mentions your mom. “Is she okay?” you ask. Chantal nods.
“As far as I know, she’s fine,” she assures you, and you relax. “But I’m going to have to ask you to come with me.”
You shake your head. “Can’t,” you say. Chantal looks confused, so you gesture at the merman you’re keeping sentinel over. “He’s got a major lung injury, and he can’t shift until it heals.”
Chantal pauses, and then turns back towards you. “I think I can accommodate that,” she says, “but you’re going to have to go get the rest of your companions. I’ll watch him.” You hesitantly nod and start for the shoreline.
Anton gained a black eye sometime while you were gone, and you find it hilarious. So does Lani, apparently.
“What did you do this time?” you ask him.
Anton scoffs. “What makes you think I did this to myself?” he asks. He points to Lani. “She’s the one who hit me!”
“I don’t even want to know,” you sigh. “We gotta get into the water. There’s someone waiting for us, and she said she works for my mom.”
“Really?” Lani asks. She stands up and starts brushing the sand off of her legs. “Then let’s go!” she starts walking toward the water, but Anton grabs her arm.
“And how do we know we can trust this woman?”
“We don’t” you admit, “but it’s the only chance we’ve got right now, so I say we take it.” Lani nods enthusiastically, and Anton slumps in defeat.
“Fine,” he tells you. He doesn’t say another word, just follows you into the water. Chantal is where you left her, holding up her end of the bargain. At least you know you can in fact trust her. She helps Lani pick up the unconscious guard. The five of you swim along the shoreline until a small town comes into view.
It’s nothing like the cities back home. Cities back home (at least imperial cities) are all enclosed, with the entirety of the population living in what was basically a huge building. People really only go outside to hunt or to travel to another city. This one, though, is spread out, sprawling across a hill. There are a bunch of small-ish buildings, big enough for only a handful of rooms, and near the center, there were towers reaching up to the sky.
Anton’s reaction is priceless. You almost laugh, but catch yourself at the last moment. His eyes are wide and his jaw unhinged. Lani giggles. You suppose it makes sense that he’d react like that. You and Lani have at least done some travelling. Anton’s never left the imperial city, or the palace, for that matter. He has nothing to compare things to except that, and so it makes this town look all the more impressive.
You don’t get the chance to keep musing on Anton’s life experiences, though, because Chantal is trying to draw your attention to a hole in the ground the group is rapidly approaching. She goes in without hesitating. You grimace. You figured you wouldn’t be hiding out in style, but a hole in the ground is a little much, even for you. Lani looks absolutely disgusted, but you follow Chantal nonetheless. Anton is the last one in, and you see him look around once before following you into the darkness.
The walls are slimy with algae for a while, thing at the age of this particular hole. It doesn’t last, though, and soon your hand meet rough rock before the hole veers sharply upwards. You surface and are stunned by what you see. The interior of what you though was a natural cave is illuminated by artificial, foreign-looking lighting. There are steps in the far wall, leading up into something you really aren’t sure you want to explore.
Chantal hauls herself up into the edge of the small lagoon you’re all in, and you watch as she shifts. It’s definitely not as jerky as yours, and has an element of grace that can only be obtained by doing it thousands of times. She wasn’t lying when she said she was an agent stationed here, you think to yourself.
You help Lani lay the guard down on an underwater bench (you still don’t know his name yet, you realize) before tentatively pulling yourself into the edge too. Chantal throws a pile of cloth at you as you shift, and you realize that these are human clothes. They cover a lot more than you’re used to, but they serve their purpose, and you sit down against the far wall as Lani and Anton finish shifting and changing. Chantal comes back from whatever the stairs lead to with an armful of blankets and pillows and starts spreading them out on the largest empty space in the room. Anton moves to help her, and Lani comes to sit down by you.
“This is crazy, isn’t it?” She’s not referring to the town or the lagoon or even the baggy human clothes. No, Lani is talking about your entire circumstance, and you can’t help but nod in agreement.
“The fact that we’re here at all just shows how messed up this entire thing is.” Lani nods in understanding, but you go on anyways. “Royals haven’t had to actively flee to land in forever. Our parents sent us here as soon as things started to go bad. What does that have to say about what’s happening?”
Lani put her head on her knees in the middle of what you were saying, and she’s shaking slightly. You throw an arm around her. “Lani? Are you okay?”
“They destroyed everything.” Her voice was a whisper. “So many people died. People that I knew and talked to every day and some that I wish I had. I didn’t even know the names of half of them!” Lani’s whisper grows to an anguished sob, and while they’re still setting up whatever it is they’re setting up, you’re positive that Chantal and Anton are listening. “I couldn’t do anything to help them. Even with my pearl, I was completely helpless, watching them die!”
You squeeze Lani in a hug, whispering softly to her things like, “it’s okay,” and “we’re safe now,” but you can feel the little tendril of dread slither into your mind.