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Unfathomable - Complete	By : ColdSilence Category: Kingdom Hearts > Slash/Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 11974 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: All of the Kingdom Hearts franchise is copyright to Tetsuya Nomura and Disney. No money is made whatsoever from this publication.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
Author: Cold Silence
E-Mail: writer.coldsilence@gmail.com
Pairings: Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi
Warnings: AU, Yaoi, Het, Mpreg, mer/human sex. Does that count as beastiality?
Special Note: I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.
Disclaimer: All characters from Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, Birth by Sleep, Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded, Kingdom Hearts II is property of Tetsuya Nomura. No money is made from this publication.

Unfathomable
-Chapter Eleven-

Everything changed.
Ventus was a transformative presence in Sora’s life. Every pull of water through his gills, every intentional flap of his fins, every thought and action that he took was for his son. A love more powerful than any he had ever known made the rest of the world insignificant. All he cared about was knowing and raising his youngling.
The two of them were always together. Ventus would hold onto Sora’s auricle as they swam together, or he would zip around his father like a small green comet orbiting its favorite planet. The youngling was as fast as his namesake, traveling like the wind on the surface. He was also very shy and preferred to remain anchored behind his father’s ear, where he could hide behind the drifting brown strands of hair.
As his son grew, Sora was starkly reminded of his own father. He wished that he hadn’t tried to grow up so fast, that he had cherished his time with him, even when they were doing things like sitting around on his research boat. He remembered all the things that his dad taught him and lamented that the knowledge was only useful to humans and not mers. Sora didn’t know what to teach his son regarding who he was and where he came from.
Mers could not cry. Instead, they expressed powerful feelings through vibrations that came from somewhere deep within. There were several instances when this would happen to Sora, and he could not control it. As reality set that he would never return to his home, his lamentations poured out of him.
There were times when Riku would swim to his cave and find it echoing with the sounds of Sora’s song. He would find his Chosen in the nesting chamber, bent over his youngling with his hands cupping the water around him, transfixed and unaware of his feelings humming out.
It was in those moments that Riku’s guilt became almost unbearable, however he could never let Sora return. Now that their youngling was here, he had to stay. Ventus needed him, and truthfully, Riku needed him too. He didn’t know what he would do if he lost Sora.
The prince tried to make up for it by granting Sora more freedoms. He let him through the barrier of their home so that he could stretch his fins and show Ventus their world. Sora participated in the gathering of food and hunting. He went to the marketplace to trade for pottery and tools needed in the home. He entertained himself at the festivals and theatrical shows displayed by other mer. No matter what the activity, Ventus was there, often drawing excited notes from the other merfolk who were seeing their future king among them. For any other mer, it would have been a full life, but Sora always felt as if something was missing.
It was during one of those outings that he ran into Aqua. She was overjoyed to see him and to meet Ventus for the first time. "Sora, he is beautiful!“ she sang happily as she tried to peer at the tiny mer hiding behind Sora’s auricle. "He looks just like you.”
"Yeah, he has my whole face,“ he sang sheepishly. "I was really surprised.”
Aqua smiled, and wondered how difficult everything must have been for Sora. To live as an Atlantian despite being human must have taken its toll - and now she was going to add another burden. "Actually, I was hoping to find you. There’s someone who really wants to speak with you. Follow me.“
Curious, Sora followed Aqua. He was taken to a grotto that was overgrown with flora that was larger than his own body. There, the mermaid pulled aside some of the vegetation, and revealed none other than the King of Atlantica himself.
Shocked, Sora could only give a stunned stare before doubling his body over in a quick bow. "Your majesty,” he sang, the notes falling over each other as he struggled to remember all the etiquette lessons that Aqua taught him before.
"Thank you for arranging this, Aqua,“ sang Triton to the mermaid. "You may leave us now.”
Aqua bowed, and then gave Sora an encouraging look before swimming away to give them privacy. Sora didn’t dare look up. The last time that he was in the king’s presence, he was so ashamed of what he had done that he couldn’t even speak. He felt some of that old feeling creeping in, making his cheeks flush purple.
Triton straightened up his spine as he regarded Riku’s Chosen. The human still had a dingy tail, which mean that nothing had changed in him since the last time they met. His gills flared briefly before he spoke, “May I see my grandson?”
Sora nodded, and he reached for his ear to coax Ventus from his hiding spot. He herded the little youngling forwards with his hands, and sang a soft note of encouragement. "It’s okay little guy. It’s your grandfather.“
Ventus tried to stay hidden behind Sora’s fingers. Triton immediately beamed with a radiant smile upon seeing the youngling. "Will you look at that, he has our tail! You are definitely a royal, you little pearl.”
Seeing the open joy on Triton’s face eased some of Sora’s trepidation. "Sorry he’s so shy. We had a rough time with the egg, and the doctor said that it might affect him. We’re hoping that he grows out of it.“ Sora stretched out his hands as he herded Ventus over to Triton, offering him up to the king.
Triton made clicking sounds that had no meaning as he gathered the youngling to himself and made faces at him. This seemed to send Ventus into a frenzy, because he immediately began zipping around his grandfather like a bolt of green lightning, before returning to hide in Sora’s hair. This made the king chuckle.
"That happened to one of our daughters. She was always shy afterwards, but a very dependable girl,” he sang with a grin. "So the carrying was difficult?“
"I thought I was going to die,” clicked Sora honestly.
"I suppose a human would see it that way.“ Triton looked Sora over, and then asked carefully, "How is Riku?”
Sora was surprised that the king would ask that at all. All this time he thought that the rift between them was so deep that they would never reconcile. "He’s doing great actually. Lately he’s been doing a lot of exploring outside of the kingdom. We have everything we need, and he has a lot of friends. He’s a good father.“
"Friends?” Triton seemed honestly surprised by that. Then he frowned to himself, and sang, “I sincerely apologize for what my son has done to you. If I had raised him to be a better mer, then all of this would have been different.”
"It’s not all his fault. I was stupid too,“ sang Sora regretfully. "But you know, when I was going through everything with Ventus, he was really good to me. I couldn’t have made it without him.”
"And yet he keeps you stranded in the ocean,“ clicked Triton. "Surely you are not staying here by your own choice.”
Sora turned his gaze downwards. It was hard to hide his feelings regarding his freedom. His entire body still hummed with the sorrow of it. "It doesn’t matter anymore. Ventus is here now, and I’ll never abandon him.“
As if to assuage Sora’s grief, Ventus began to hum as well. He had yet to make words, but his melody was full of love. Triton’s expression softened as he heard it, and he yearned for those moments in time when Riku used to sing like that too. "Are you certain of that human? You would abandon your world for ours? Your youngling’s name means wind.”
"You know that?“ sang Sora in surprise.
"I know a great many things not of our world,” sang Triton imperiously. "My son is making a grave mistake by keeping you here.“
"I don’t think he even knows how to work the Trident anymore,” sang Sora. "Lately its been doing things on its own.“
"The Trident obeys the will of the bloodline, but it also follows its own truth. If it were in my hands, you would be returned to your human form instantly.”
"You can do that?“ sang Sora in bewilderment.
"Easily.”

From that point on, Sora decided to allow his son to visit his grandfather. It was easy to see that Triton cared deeply for Ventus, and Sora didn’t want his youngling not to know his family. Besides, there were things that the king could teach Ventus that he could not. He was no mer, and Ventus needed a mer upbringing. He depended on Triton to fill that void.
Unfortunately, those visits had to be held in secret because Riku still didn’t want anything to do with the king. Sora was conflicted, on one hand he felt guilty for keeping such a secret, on the other he felt vindicated. After all, Riku’s feelings were petty and did not benefit their youngling. It also felt good to act as if he was not under the prince’s full control.
Still, he couldn’t hate Riku, especially when he saw how Ventus loved him. The youngling was not shy around his sire, and he would often play in Riku’s long silver hair. Sometimes he simply clung to it with his fins splayed outwards, becoming a beautiful green beret. It melted Sora’s hard feelings towards the other mer, because Ventus belonged to them both.
They made a lot of memories together in their cave. They often played together in the anteroom, mostly games to teach Ventus how to swim and sing his words. Riku would twine his tail around Sora’s and hold him contentedly while Ventus ate. There were a lot of moments of amusement as his Chosen learned how his body would change as a result of carrying the egg.
For instance, Ventus fed from Sora’s nipples. They didn’t grow or become swollen in any way, but they still gave sustenance to the tiny youngling that would cling to his nubs with his small claws and suckle. Sora found it so embarrassing that he often hid during feedings, which only caused Riku to tease him about it.
Eventually Ventus grew his teeth, which made the feedings nearly unbearable because he started to chew. Sora tried his best to switch his youngling to a kelp diet as soon as possible, and would often swim away from Ventus’s attempts to go back to drinking from his nipples. This often led to small tantrums from the youngling, who would start vibrating his disapproval as loudly as he could until Sora relented.
"You have got to do something about this nipple-biter,“ pleaded Sora to Riku. "He’s eating me alive!”
"I can’t blame him, you’re really tasty,“ sang Riku with amusement.
Sora pouted. King Triton would know what to do. When it came to dealing with these sorts of issues with his son, he often took advice from the older, more experienced mer. Unfortunately, he couldn’t just swim to him anytime he wanted without alerting Riku. "Maybe your dad will know what to do. He’s had lot of kids right?” sang Sora tentatively. Carefully testing the waters around this topic.
Riku’s expression immediately closed off at the suggestion. “We don’t need to ask him anything. We’re doing just fine on our own.”
"Don’t you think you’ve been mad at him long enough?“ clicked Sora in exacerbation. "It’s Ventus’s grandfather, he should know his family. And there’s probably a ton of king-stuff that he’s going to need to know.”
"I’m not letting Ventus live the life that I did,“ clicked Riku. "I want him to know the world and have a choice. He won’t be king because he has to be. He’ll be king because he wants to be.”
"So that’s it? You’re just going to let him grow up without knowing who he is and where he came from?“ asked Sora.
"I don’t want to go back to living palace life,” answered Riku. "I like being out here with you. Doing things my own way, living the way I want. If I make up with Father, I’ll have to give all of this up.“
And so, Prince Riku and King Triton never reconciled. The cycles passed, and Ventus grew older. He became about three yards long from head to tail, and his notes formed words. He couldn’t fit behind Sora’s ear anymore, but he could be hugged and played with in new ways.
Sora wondered how much time passed on the surface. How old was he now? Did his parents stop looking for him? Did they have other kids? Were they even still together anymore? Were they sad? These questions haunted him as he watched Ventus grow. He wondered if they would have been happy to be grandparents, or freaked out that his son had a tail. Sadly, he resigned himself to never knowing.

   Ventus eventually became old enough to attend teachings with other mer. The wisest mer would gather all the younglings together and show them how to read and write in their language. Sora found it very difficult to allow Ventus to attend. It was the first time that they would be apart, and Ventus was just as apprehensive. He clung to Sora’s arm, refusing to let go and join the other younglings his age.
"What a cute little minnow you got there.”
Sora looked up and found himself face to face with an orca with long, black hair that held one silver streak. He was startled to see the patch over the mer’s eye, but he tried to be polite and not bring any notice to it. "Thanks. He’s really shy, and this is his first time here, so,“ he sang with a note of embarrassment.
"I get it! First time letting him away from the pod. It’s got to be hard. You’re going to be all alone, he’s going to be all alone.” Braig leaned his body to the side to get a better look at Ventus, which earned him a poisonous look from the youngling. "What’s with that face! You’d think I just stole his favorite clam.“
"I wouldn’t take it personal, he just not used to people,” sang Sora. He then turned in the water to face his son and gently petted his drifting hair. "It’s going to be alright, Ven. You’ll make lots of friends and have fun. And when you’re done, you can tell me all about how it went, okay?“
Ventus continued to frown, but eventually he hugged Sora one last time. Then he reluctantly flicked his tail to join all the other young mers who were gathering together.
"He’ll be fine,” clicked Braig. “He’s tough. But just in case, I’ll have my nephew watch over him. Lea!”
One of the younglings detached from the gathering crowd. From the length of his body, it was evident that he was much older than Ventus. He was a five foot long mer with an unusual tail that was striated with red and white coloring. Instead of butterfly-like dorsal fins, his were segmented into multiple parts that fluttered together as he swam, but moved individually once he stopped. His hair was long and bright red, and his eyes were a vibrant green. The mer had an air of self-assurance as he stopped before Sora and Braig. "You bellowed?“ he sang smoothly.
"You see that little shrimp over there?” Braig gestured to Ventus, who was awkwardly floating on his own. "I want you keep a close fin on him. Make him your best friend.“
"The green one?” confirmed Lea with a rakish smile. "He’s cute. I’ll take care of him.“ With that, he swam in the direction of Ventus.
Sora raised a hand to try and stop the strange looking mer out of instinct, but eventually he lowered it. He had to stop babying Ventus sooner or later, as much as it pained him. Already he missed him, even though he could still see his son right before his eyes.
Braig placed his hand on Sora’s shoulder in a too casual way as he sang, "So what are you going to do now? You’re not going to back to that empty nest are you?”
Sora frowned. He hadn’t thought that far. Now that Ventus would be going to teachings, what was he going to do? This was the first time that he had so much time on his hands to spare. “Honestly I don’t know. What do most stay-at-home mer do when the younglings are away?”
The orca gave Sora a big grin. "What else? They make more younglings.“
A sudden feeling of shock made Sora’s body grow cold. Although having Ventus was a blessing, if he had more younglings, then he would be permanently stuck in his current situation. Lately, he had been entertaining the thought that when Ventus grew older, maybe Riku would let him see the surface world again. But if he laid more eggs…
"You know how it goes,” sang Braig with a wry expression. "Isn’t your Chosen waiting home for you now? Keeping the clamshell warm. First time alone in a long time. It’s the perfect time to put another egg in you.“
"There’s no one waiting at home for me,” lied Sora. He knew damn well that Riku was waiting back at the cave, and was likely expecting to spend a lot of time with him since Ventus would be away. Sora had been looking forwards to having the comfort, but now it gave him a feeling of foreboding. "Do.. you know of somewhere else that I could hang out at?“
"Even better. I know where you can make friends,” sang Braig with a leering grin.

Braig told Sora to swim to the outskirts of Atlantica. There, he would meet mer who were in his words, “Just like you.” Sora took it to mean that they were parents who were sending their younglings to their teachings for the first time. However, when he arrived at the designated area, he found something else.
There was a group of mer foraging among the corals who had the exact same tail as him. In all the time that he spent in Atlantica, he thought that he was the only one who had such a drab, boring tail - but he was wrong. These mer had simple tails and dolphin-like dorsal fins in colors that had no gradients or luminescence to their scaling.
When they spotted Sora, they swam over to him immediately. They were incredibly friendly and curious. They introduced themselves as Wakka, Selphie, and Tidus, and from the moment Sora met them, he felt included in a way he hadn’t experienced since leaving the surface. Although Riku now had a lot of friends, they never acted casually towards Sora because he was the Chosen of the prince. These mer didn’t seem to care about his status.
They invited him to join them in foraging. They showed Sora delicious foods he’d never had before. They told him stories about their travels through the ocean - apparently they were adventurers that went from kingdom to kingdom in search of good food and company. They were curious about Sora, and they asked him a lot of questions as they circled around him and touched him fondly with their hands and tails.
"So your youngling is going to his teachings for the first time, but you still have those scales?“ sang Selphie with amusement. She was referring to the hardened scales that still peppered Sora’s tail. Riku was trying his best to pick them out every chance that he got, but Sora continued to buck the issue and hold on to his armor.
"Yeah,” answered Sora with a grin. "It annoys the mer I’m with.“
"And that person is an Atlantian,” chimed in Tidus. "I can’t believe it! Those guys are all about their Chosens or whatever. If you ask me, being a Chosen is like being someone’s personal slave. Not for me!“
"Mers should be allowed to do what they want, ya!” agreed Wakka.
"Yeah,“ sang Sora. He straightened up his spine, feeling as if he was finally speaking among mers who understood his true feelings. "I didn’t have any choice. He just picked me and now I’m stuck living in his cave doing what he wants. It’s not fair.”
"There must be something about you that he really liked. What are you hiding under all those scales?“ sang Selphie. She swam over and tried to pick at one of the scales on the base of Sora’s tail.
"H-hey!” Sora swam away a short distance, cringing with a purple flush. "That tickles!“
"Come on Sora, you can share. What’s the secret. How did you end up with an Atlantian?” sang Tidus. He circled around Sora and lightly dragged his nails in the area just above Sora’s dorsal fin.
Sora felt a chill go down his spine, right into his tail. The atmosphere felt electrified somehow, and he was confused as to what was happening. “There’s no secret, I was just me.” Even as he sang it, he could hear the lie on his own notes. Riku’s interest came from the fact that he used to be human, but that wasn’t something that he could tell these mer.
"It’s not nice to keep secrets,“ sang Wakka. He touched Sora on the shoulder gently. "We’re your friends ya?”
"He’s right, we’ll take good care of you. We won’t make you choose,“ sang Tidus. He placed his hand just above the place where Sora’s scales gave way to skin. "Right Selphie?”
"Right!“ she sang. Selphie wrapped her arms around Sora’s neck in a loose embrace.
Sora was starting to get an inkling of what was going on, but he couldn’t believe it. Were these guys like swingers? Even at his most wild with Kairi, they never even dreamed of bringing another person into the relationship. ”..Uhm..“ he sang uncertainly.
Just then, two very long appendages floated into his vision. At first he didn’t know what he was looking at, but then it dawned on him like a bolt of lightening. Those were penises. Tidus and Wakka were flashing their penises at him! He felt as if someone had just dumped him in a bath of ice water. He was so flabbergasted that he could hardly speak. "W-wait! That’s not—!”
Suddenly a ray of light cut into the corals next to them. The three mer immediately dived away, leaving Sora spinning in their wake water. A hand pressed itself to Sora’s shoulder to steady him, and when he turned to see who it was - he found Riku, wearing a thunderous expression on his face, and holding the Trident in his hands.
"I leave you to send our youngling to his teachings, and this is the first thing you do as soon as you’re alone?“ clicked Riku angrily.
"It’s - it’s not what it looks like!” sang Sora desperately. "I just met those mer, I had no idea –“
"You!” Riku ignored what Sora was saying and brandished his Trident at the cowering merfolk. "How dare you try to mate with MY Chosen!“
"We didn’t know your majesty!” sang Tidus in shrill notes. "We thought he was one of us!“
"We had no idea that your Chosen was a Scavenger!” added Selphie. "Nobody ever told us!“
"We’re really shocked, ya,” clicked Wakka.
"He isn’t like you. Don’t ever come near him again,“ clicked Riku, before flicking his tail in a rude way and dragging Sora off by the wrist, leaving the three Scavengers to stare off in shock.
Once they were away from the group, Sora asked Riku, "What do you mean I’m not like them? I look just like them.”
"You’re not like them,“ repeated Riku with a scowl. He stopped swimming to turn and face Sora. "Those fish mate with anything that moves and leave their younglings scattered all over the ocean.”
"Is that how you see me?“ sang Sora with an edge of anger. "Is that why you turned me into this?”
"What?“ Riku gave Sora a stare. "Why are you even singing that?”
"The Trident obeys the will of the bloodline,“ he sang, repeating what he learned from King Triton.
"And it also has its own truth,” finished Riku in notes of disbelief. "You went to see my father, didn’t you?“
Sora’s lips stretched into a defiant line. "He’s Ventus’s grandfather.”
"You took Ventus?“ Riku’s notes grew louder, his gills flaring wider as his notes mixed with shock and anger.
"Why not! Ventus deserves to know who his family is. Why does he have to suffer just because you’re so selfish?”
"I’m selfish? You took Ventus to see him without asking me. And we both know that the real reason you wanted to meet with him is so you can go back to the surface,“ hissed Riku.
"So what! It’s where I belong. I’m not happy here. You’ve done everything you can to make yourself happy - but what about me.”
"Doesn’t Ventus make you happy?“
"I had a life before Ventus!”
"That life is gone!“
Sora and Riku argued their way back to the cave. Upon arriving, Riku raised the Trident up and a powerful forcefield billowed into existence around their home. It was the first time in a long time that the trident obeyed him so completely and clearly.
The intent behind the barrier shocked Sora. He couldn’t believe that Riku would willingly go this far just to trap him. "You can’t keep me here!”
"I can and I will. You’re mine Sora. Believe that,“ clicked Riku.
Sora felt something inside crumble to pieces. All thought that he could ever be happy living a mer’s life broke along with his heart. He swam away to the sleeping chambers, where he would make mournful vibrations.
Riku knew as soon as he heard the sorrowful notes that he had done something terrible - but what else could he do? Sora proved to be naive enough to nearly make a blowfish out of him by swimming with those promiscuous mer. Even worse, he thought that the Trident gave him an ugly tail because of his own will.
No Sora. You look like that because that’s how you think of yourself.
But Riku couldn’t sing those words out loud. He didn’t want to hurt Sora in that way. So instead, he staked the Trident into the anteroom of their home and trapped him until he could figure out how to fix this. The first idea that came to mind was to bring Ventus. Their son always made Sora happy, so he left to find him.

   Ventus was shy with the other mer and stayed off to the side of group. He would have stayed that way all throughout the teachings, but he was approached by an older mer with a striped tail. Although he was apprehensive at first, eventually he accepted Lea’s attentions.
It was the first friend he ever had. Lea was interesting and playful. Ventus hoped that his parents would let him see his new friend again.
"Hey,” sang Lea in his softest note. "Is it true that the one that carried you is a human?“
Ventus turned a curious look to the other mer. "What’s a human?” he asked.
"You know. Those weird monsters that live on the surface.“
"He’s not a monster,” protested Ventus.
"But if he is a monster, and you came from him, doesn’t that make you a monster too?“ asked Lea.
Ventus stared down at the seafloor as he tried to process this. Could he not fit in with the other mer because he was a monster himself? His fins wilted at the thought.
"Don’t feel bad,” sang Lea. "I like you even if you are a monster. We’ll be best friends, right?“
Ventus looked up at the other mer, who was tilting casually in the water as he awaited the answer. Slowly, Ventus gave a nod.
"Ven!”
Ventus recognized those notes. Instantly his fins perked. He barely had time to lift his hands up before Riku swooped in and grasped him in a hug. "Hey tough guy. How was your first teaching?“
"I made a friend,” sang Ventus. "His name is Lea and he has a lot of stripes.“
"Stripes huh.” Riku was so involved in swimming away with his son that he didn’t even spare a glance to the aforementioned Lea, who was left floating in their wake water.
Lea gave a smirk as he watched the two swim away. Braig revealed himself from the corals that he was hiding behind, and swam over with a seaweed satchel full of lava glass. "Good work, Lea. Here’s the spoils, as promised.“
"I told him all the stuff that you wanted me to tell him,” he sang as he received the bag. "But I don’t get it. Why convince him that he’s half human? Do you just like torturing younglings?“
"Nah, just trying to win a bet,” sang Braig with a rakish grin. "Do me a favor and stick with the little guy. Make sure you get real close to him.“
"As long as you keep paying me, that won’t be a problem,” promised Lea with a grin.

Riku brought Ventus back to their home. He gently carried his son through the barrier, and they both passed easily. “Ven, go to Sora,” Riku urged the youngling. "There’s something I have to take care of.“
Ventus nodded, and then he swam into the cave to seek out his father. Left alone, Riku swam towards the local foraging areas in search of Namine. Upon finding her, he said apologetically, "Sorry to bother you, but I really need to talk.”
The blonde mermaid looked surprised. "Of course, my prince. Someplace more private?“ At Riku’s nod, she gathered up her things and swam with him to an area with quieter waters.
Riku was agitated. He swam in circles, his fins folding and unfolding with uncertainty. This behavior drew a concerned look from Namine. "Prince Riku…”
"I have a confession to make,“ interrupted Riku. "My Chosen is not a mer. He is a human.”
A look of shock washed over Namine’s face. That expression remained as Riku described the entire situation, beginning from how he found Sora, to how he was transformed, to now living as a mer thanks to the power of the Trident. As she came to understand the situation, she said in hushed notes, “So when you said that he wasn’t like other mer, that’s what you meant.”
"Yes,“ answered Riku. "He means everything to me, but all he wants is to return to the surface and go back to the human world. What should I do? He can’t possibly leave, we have a youngling together.”
Namine folded her hands together and stilled her tail, taking her most respectful pose as he considered her words. "Younglings don’t keep mer together, it is the vows that they take as Chosen. It’s a decision that comes from the heart. If he has not made that choice for himself, then you can’t force it, my prince.“
"Then what should I do?” asked Riku plaintively. “I can give him anything he wants. How do I get him to stay in the ocean?”
Namine swam over to the prince and gently placed her clawed hands on Riku’s forearm. "You can’t,“ she sang quietly.
The prince scoffed and turned away from Namine. "You’re no different than my father.”
"Human, Mer, no matter what he is, you have to put yourself in his fins.“ Namine tried to swim into Riku’s field of vision. "If you want him to swear his heart to you, then first you must understand him. How would you feel if you went through all that he did?”
"I know he’s not happy. I’ve tried everything to change that, but nothing ever changes,“ clicked Riku in bitter notes.
"That’s why you can’t make him stay in the ocean,” sang Namine somberly. "You must set him free so that his heart can be made whole.“
"And what if he never comes back?”
"So be it. If he is truly your Chosen, then you must put his happiness before yours.“
"Even if I wanted to, I can’t do that to Ven,” lamented Riku. He felt utterly stuck in his current situation. Having a youngling complicated his decisions. No matter what choice he made, he knew the one who would suffer the most was his son. The sheer frustration of it all vibrated out of him in a way that it never had before.
Namine was surprised by the poignant feelings that the prince was expressing. She never knew that the prince had been suffering this much in secret. The mermaid quietly embraced the prince to comfort him.

Ventus found Sora in the sleeping chambers. As all younglings his age, he did not call to him as Father or his Carrier. Instead, he sang a simple set of notes that only ever changed with his intonation. They could be sharp or gentle, slow or fast. For now, it was concerned, as expressed in the questioning way he addressed the vibrating mer.
Sora stopped his sorrowful notes when his son came to him. He knew that he couldn’t show sadness in front of Ven. His own father had never cried in front of him, and now he understood why. Someone had to keep it together in order to give confidence to vulnerable children. As he embraced Ventus, he wondered how much his parents kept hidden from him for his sake. "Hey Ven,“ he sang with greater courage. Sora felt bad that he relied so much on the youngling for strength, when it should have been the other way around. "How was your teaching?”
"I learned this!“ sang Ventus with excitement. He floated down to the sandy floor and drew what he had learned today.
Sadly, Sora didn’t understand any of it, which disheartened him. It was yet another thing that he would not be able to help his son with. "That’s really good. What does it say?”
Ventus sang the note that it presented, eager to share the knowledge. "I made a friend too. His name is Lea. He has stripes.“
"Friends are nice,” sang Sora, feeling his mood lighten a bit. "Does he have stripes like a lionfish?“
"Yeah, but my tail is still better.” Ventus puffed up chest and held out his dorsal fins to proudly display them before his Carrier.
That earned a flat look from Sora. "Please promise me that you won’t turn too much into your Dad. There’s more to life than just pretty fins, you know.“
Ventus lowered his fins and swam close to Sora. "Is it true that you use words like ‘Dad’ because you’re a human?”
A stunned look colored Sora’s face. "Who told you that?“
"Lea told me,” sang Ventus. "He said that makes me human too. If that’s true, then I want to see the surface world! We can go right?“
"No, we can’t. Mers aren’t allowed to go to there, and your Dad wouldn’t like it,” explained Sora.
"But we aren’t Mers!“ Ventus sang emphatically. He swiftly swam out of the bed chambers to the anteroom.
Sora followed his son through the tunnels, and when he emerged into the same room, he found the area bathed in crackles of energy. Ventus was pulling the Trident out of the floor. "No Ven!” clicked Sora in shrill notes. "You can’t touch that!“
"You won’t have to be sad anymore,” answered Ventus. The Trident was larger than he was and difficult to carry. Blue lightening crawled over its tines and surrounded his small body. The barrier around the home instantly ceased to exist. The youngling pointed the weapon at the boulder that sealed their cave, and instantly it was blown off the mountainside with a blast of power.
The mountain shook as if it was in an earthquake. Things were falling everywhere, and it was all Sora could do to swim towards Ventus to try to make him put the Trident down. However, as soon as he got too close, he was instantly repelled by the weapon. "Ven, you have to stop!“ he pleaded in loud notes.
"I’m taking us there, so no one is sad anymore,” sang Ventus defiantly. In his mind, he was making the right choice for the adults who couldn’t get it together. He was fixing own home and family in the most direct and simple way that a child’s mind could conceive. So he floated through the door, fins streamlined with determination. "Let’s go!“
It was all Sora could do to follow him and try to convince him to stop this crazy idea. He didn’t know where Riku was and there was no telling if it was safe for Ventus to handle the Trident. "Ven, people on the surface breathe air and we don’t. We can’t just go up there like this.”
"Then I’ll make us human,“ declared Ventus. He stopped his swimming and laboriously pulled the Trident up. "Turn us human!” he sang at the weapon. It responded by showering them with luminescent light, and when it faded, nothing changed. They still looked exactly the same.
"It’s not working for you,“ sang Sora with realization. "Just like it didn’t work for Riku when he asked it to change me.”
Ventus frowned. He couldn’t figure out how to fix this problem.
"Whoa, what’s with the light show around here?“
The two mers turned to the familiar voice. Braig was floating nearby, along with his presumed nephew, Lea. The latter swam around Ventus with a big grin. "Is that the Trident?” he sang with great interest. "That’s so jelly! Can I see it?“
Ventus tried to hand over the Trident to Lea, but as soon as the redheaded mer tried to touch it, his hand was zapped with a small prick of power, earning a strong "Ow!” and “Never mind..”
Braig was looking at the interaction with great interest. Then he lowered his notes as soft as they would go and sang to Sora, “I am so sorry.”
Sora gave the other mer a perplexed look. "Why?“
"Well, this is awkward,” sang Braig. He brought his hands to his face, as if he had just been caught in something terrible. "I was swimming around here, minding my own business, until I saw the prince.“
"Riku is here?” asked Sora. "Where?“
"I wish I wasn’t the one to have to tell you this.” Braig placed his hands on Sora’s shoulders and steered him over to an outcropping of rocks. Upon reaching it, they were able to look down into a grotto, where the prince was currently floating with a blonde mermaid.
Sora’s eyes went wide. They were hugging. In all the time that he had known the prince, he had never seen him show any affection whatsoever to anyone that wasn’t himself or Ventus.
"You guys never had a ceremony I hear,“ clicked Braig. "I don’t know how you can stand it. Just being someone’s option.”
In that moment, several hard truths made themselves known to Sora. The reason why Kairi could love him and leave him easily was because he was only her option, not her choice. The way that he had treated Riku from the moment they met up until now, was because the mer was only his option, not his choice. And because they had all treated each other in that manner, Sora now found himself as just an option for the second time in his life.
It was the most degrading feeling he ever experienced, and he had no one to blame but himself. He looked back at Ventus, and realized that he would be the one to suffer the most from all of that selfishness. Every part of him wilted at that reality.
"Don’t look so saggy. These things happen,“ sang Braig. "Tell you what. I’ll take you to a place where you can relax and think about everything. Unless you want to go back to your cave?”
Sora mutely shook his head. The last thing he wanted was to become trapped in that cave again. He wondered if Riku went cavorting with other mers whenever he did that. The thought of it turned his heart to ice.
"Good.“ Braig’s lips twisted into a sinister grin. "Come on Lea. We’re going to Noctis.”
"Right. Let’s go Ven!“ clicked the striped mer.
Innocent of what his Carrier just witnessed, Ventus followed his new friend with the Trident in tow.

To be continued.
- 10
- 11
- 12
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