#another door and a few others also come to mind vut this is the one that I wanted to do

[tornrose24]

Part 3

Note from Tornrose24: Trimaxion (who wrote this) over at fan fiction dot net wrote this out when we discussed a ‘what if’ AAU for ‘From fathoms below’ (as written under the name HolyMaiden24). The one shot she wrote where is whole thing started can be found here : https://tornrose24.tumblr.com/post/165032759997/a-little-something-from-your-friendly-neighborhood

parts 2 and 3 are on my page

Mrs. Hutchins grasped at her chest, startled beyond belief not only to run into someone besides his majesty but also to realize  that she’d nearly bumped into Edith out of all people.

“What… How-?”

“I SAID I’LL LOOK AT IT TOMORROW!!!”

The king shot straight up, nails biting into the mattress to keep from tearing into who ever was screaming bloody murder. The ugly scowl sent both women to unconsciously huddle closer together, neither one able to say a thing in their defense, especially after witnessing Krupp rise up like a demon to roar at them.

Edith swallowed a large lump forming in her throat, figuring she might as well face him now that he clearly saw her.

And saw her he did. The rant he was prepared to unleash died the moment he recognized just who stood before him.

His eyes grew larger the longer he studied her mermaid form, skimming down from her bra clad chest to the deep blue tail overflowing with purple and gold fins. They swayed in the water like the dress she’d so obviously discarded, striking him that regardless on what form she took, she was always absolutely breath taking.

The silence that hung between them might have gone on forever if not for Mrs. Hutchins, who clasped her hand more firmly around Edith’s and spoke, “I’m sorry to disturb you, your majesty. The Atlantian ambassador arrived and I thought you would like to greet him personally. I’ll take my leave and return Ms. Edith to her… quarters.”

Edith whispered a thanks to the merwoman.

But her relief was short lived when Krupp, who sat there compliantly the entire time, finally awoke from his spell.

“That won’t be necessary. I’LL deal with her.”

“B-but your majesty…” Ms. Hutchins quieted when he glared a hole clean through her, daring her to argue. When she didn’t, he pushed himself off the bed and waved for the merdolphin to leave as he approached, looking every bit like the dangerous shark that he was.

Ms. Hutchins gave one last reassuring squeeze for Edith’s sake, then bowed out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

By the time Edith turned back around, Krupp had already closed the distance between them, causing her to squeak and shuffle back a foot. She quickly remembered her lack of dress and threw her hands over her chest, suddenly very self conscious over being caught in nothing save her undergarments. It didn’t help matters that Krupp continued to stare her down, though surprisingly he kept his eyes trained solely on her face.

“Care to tell me what you’re doing in here? Or WHY you’re,” he gestured at her current state.

“Oh, this? Well, I… I’m really…” She wasn’t very good at coming up with lies on the fly, or lying in general to be honest. “I-It’s a long story, actually.”

“Is that right?”

She nodded, trying to back up even more. “I, uh. You see…” A swish from her tail sent her cartwheeling backwards, nearly knocking into a shelf had Krupp not been quick enough to catch her. His fingers wrapped around her wrist, steadying her enough to get her bearings. Even when she did finally float upright, his hold never really left her, and the embarrassed blush she felt creeping along her cheeks burned even fiercer.

She pressed a hand to her heart, feeling it quicken.

“Oh, um, th-thank you.”

Her words brought them both back to reality and he quickly released her, growling almost shyly, “You’re welcome, I guess.”

She made to move back once more, keeping herself from bumping into anything, still cowering in what he could only assume from being caught. But her actions didn’t seem to be based solely on fear. Her skin took on a rosy hue, and it seemed the more his eyes drifted along her body, the more she squirmed in place from the attention, curling her arms tighter around her chest.

As if to hide it.

After a few more seconds pondering on what her problem was, and looking her over from head to tail, his brows slowly began to lift up and up and up until reaching the tips of his toupee. The blood nearly drained from his face when a memory surfaced, one of her swinging a picnic basket at his head for seeing him… when he’d been…

‘Oh God!’

The Ocean King twirled around, mortified.

No wonder she’d been acting so peculiar. She was practically naked in front of him and unlike the merfolk who held no such rules for propriety, a human would be completely uncomfortable found in this state.

LIKE SHE WAS RIGHT NOW.

“Y-you… you don’t have a dress on.” He grimaced, so glad he pointed out the obvious.

Edith didn’t call him out on that stupid remark, thankfully, chuckling awkwardly in hopes to break the tension, “It would’ve gotten in the way of swimming, though it’s not like it did me any good to take it off either.”

Dear lord, he was flushing all the way to his ears. Krupp swam towards his chest and dug through the blankets until finally landing on the cape. He held it out to her, making sure to keep his head pointed in the opposite direction she floated.

“Here. This’ll cover you up for now so you’re not… you know.”

Edith wasn’t sure if what she felt was shock or gratitude but either way she made to retrieve the clothing… only to flounder sideways once again. And to make matters even worse, Krupp just had to glance over and witness her uncoordinated attempts to swim.

He sighed heavily to himself, having to right her yet AGAIN and throw the cape around her shoulders, being mindful to keep both his eyes and hands away from any bare skin. Once she stood there snugly wrapped inside, the relief washed over them both.

“Better?”

“Better.”

“Good. Now you can tell me where you got this.” He held up her hand that sported the spiral bracelet, frowning down at her slowly dripping smile.

One look into that determined expression and she knew there was no point in lying. He’d most likely see right through it any way and press her for more details. Details she wasn’t willing to give him if it meant Heidi and the other children would be punished.

No, she’d have to think of something else. Something that wasn’t entirely false, but not entirely true either. A half lie perhaps? Could she get away with that?

Drawing the cape more firmly around herself, she figured the best course of action would be to simply tell the truth… and omit certain parts. After all, what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt anyone else.

“This old thing? It was a gift.”

“A gift? From who?”

Now came the hard part.

“I don’t know their name.”

Krupp gritted his teeth. The suspicion from before turned into full blown skepticism. “You expect me to believe that crock of-”

“It’s true!” In a way it was. She didn’t know all of the children Heidi brought in through the secret door. There were so many that would come to visit, asking all sorts of questions regarding the world above, that it became very hard to remember them all. 

“They come by every so often to give the kids and I gifts.”

“And this mysterious person, who you don’t kbow the name of, gets in HOW?”

“I-I don’t know. Underwater somehow.” ‘That’s right, Edith. Keep things vague. You’re doing good so far.’

The grinding sound from his jaw grew in volume. He lowered himself further into her face, squinting his eyes and unconsciously taking on the terrifying Ocean King persona.

Flashing his teeth, he brought her an inch from his nose, snarling, “Then how did YOU escape?”

Edith’s shoulders sagged. No matter what she told him now, either the guards that stood watch over the tower would face punishment (which they didn’t deserve) or the secret exit would be blocked off forever, ending any more visits from the merchildren.

What ever answer she gave would break her heart one way or another. She couldn’t very well claim ignorance over this detail, and well she knew it.

‘Why did I think I could do this?’

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, knowing she had failed everyone. How was she going to face Lisa and Billy (if she even got to see them again!) after she’d promised to find the bracelets that would set them all free?

Her lip began to tremble, her entire body shaking. Grief came crashing down on her so hard and so fast she didn’t even register Krupp speaking. At least not until he spoke her name.

She shook her head, unable and unwillingly to answer him.

Krupp didn’t know what to say.

Apart of him deep down urged him to comfort her, vut then again, why would he? He had every right to drill her for answers, to wring out every secret she kept from him and feel nothing for a lying, sniveling human (who nearly shot him he might add). He shouldn’t care if she fell apart at his tail! Many others had before and none of them moved him to lift so much as a finger to ease their suffering.

But on the other hand… none of them had been his Edith either.

Seeing her bury herself further into his cape, distraught beyond all measure, hurt something deep inside him. He could understand her fear, he could understand her secrets. Heck, he could even understand her reasons for wanting to escape.

What he couldn’t understand was why he cared, or more importantly… why it hurt.

So instead of dwelling on those thoughts, or forcing her to answer his questions (for he still planned on getting the information out of her one way or another), he simply sighed and decided to do the one thing he never would have done for any one else.

He let it slid.

But only for tonight.

“Do you need help getting back to the lab?”

His voice startled her at first, causing her squeak a “what” behind the fabric. She didn’t know if she’d hallucinated that or not.

Krupp fumbled for a second, equal parts confused until it dawned on him she did not know the place she and the children resided in used to belong to the Sneedly’s. “Oh, uh… the tower. It’s pretty far from here and I can… I can escort you there if you like. Or… something.”

Out of all the things she expected him to say, that certainly hadn’t been it. Threats perhaps, punishments most definitely. But an escort to the tower? Without an interrogation? Edith could hardly believe it.

Her hesitation must have lasted longer than she realized, for Krupp set his jaw in place, slowly drawing back to release her arm and resign himself to her refusal.

After all, he did nearly make her cry. And he was still going to have to get to the bottom of her escape attempt eventually (he still had no idea how she ended up in his room or why).

But instead of pushing him away like he imagined she would, Edith reached for his hand, stopping its retreat to cradle between her own. A hesitant, almost thankful smile stretched across her lips, surprising the Ocean King more than anything. This much she realized when he sucked in a deep breath, not knowing how to react to kindness.

“I’d like that actually, if you don’t mind. I’m not much of a swimmer yet, and this place is pretty big. Oh, but you were trying to sleep before I… when I…”

The sternness in his eyes cracked ever so slightly to reveal a gentle spark in their depths. “Heh, don’t worry about it. It’s nothing really. I could swim laps around this castle without breaking a sweat. Practically do any ways.”  

His fingers closed around her own, swallowing them up due to their massive size. The familiarity felt all to real in that moment, dredging up old memories she’d stored away long ago and yet could never truly forget. It amazed her that even after all these years, the feelings buried deep in her heart could still stir back to life just by holding his hand.

“We should probably…”

“R-right. Yes. To the tower.”

The trip there was exceptionally shorter than when she traveled with Heidi, but it was no less confusing on the many turns they took. She honestly didn’t know how anyone could swim from one end to the other on a daily basis, as Krupp had stated prior, nor remember their way around given the sheer size of this place, but the king didn’t seem that bothered, neither did he appear hindered carting her along.

The only time he did appear the tiniest bit uncomfortable was when they passed through a crowd, mainly the maids, and allowed his entire demeanor to morph into the terrible tyrant they all knew and loathed.

Though they received several curious looks, and one merwoman even had to shut her friends mouth when she gaped, Krupp didn’t stop for anything or anybody until they made it to the doors outside the tower. He paused for only a moment to glower down at the two guards before shoving them aside to pass between them.

Edith whispered her apologies to them before being yanked through to tue other side, not at all surprised to see their terror filled faces turn into confusion when they recognized just who the king dragged behind him.

Eventually they came to the end of the hall and began their ascension to the first floor - that served more as a small pond to the entire facility - until finally breaching the waters surface.

Edith shoved her bangs behind her ears, looking around, then grinning when she saw her dress still folded where she’d left it.

“I guess this is the end of the road.”

“I guess so. I’ll, um…. I’ll leave you to do what ever you need to do and,” he lifted their conjoined hands from the water, staring pointedly at the bracelet, “I’ll be confiscating this, for obvious reasons.”

The glow in her smile dimmed substantially. She knew arguing would do little good at this point. In fact, it was a small wonder he hadn’t ripped it off the moment he realized she wore it and let her drown. It’s not like he couldn’t have kissed her if he really wanted to spare her life, but then again, she supposed she shouldn’t be looking a gift horse in the mouth. He let her keep some dignity in all this, though she had a sneaking suspicion the true punishment for her escapade was yet to come.

Awww… but also a little frustrating for the romantic in me. In a good way of course.

Can she not see his face or…? Well at least he didn’t take the bracelet off.

Ah so there WAS a reason for the red cape…. a still suspicious red cape *giggles*) Also…. HE SAW HER IN HER BRA! :D :D :D I loved his reaction! ANd I love how he was able to put it together by remembering why she whacked him that day! Nice to know that despite being a jerk, he still acts respectful to her.

Also I loved the colors you chose for her lower half, it sounds so pretty! :)