Author's Notes: Y'know...I really wonder why nobody has killed off Caren, especially since a lot of people hate her because of her voice.
And it's surprising, you know, that the first person to kill off Miss Purple Pearl will be...me. Caren is my favorite mermaid, after all, but she is going to die in order to make this fanfiction work.
Wow.
Disclaimer: No own MMPPP.
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Shades of Angst
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Noel sniffled slightly, took one more look at the coffin, and burst into tears all over again. Coco held the deep blue princess, whispering comforting words. Tears streamed down the elder princess's face as well.
Lucia was hugging Kaito, her eyes bloodshot and still pouring. Kaito looked remorsefully at the dead body and wondered for a second why he'd never bothered to try to make friends with the poor deceased girl.
In the coffin, with a sobbing Hanon and silently crying Rina towering above her, was a Mermaid Princess. Her name had been Caren. She'd ruled over the Antartic ocean.
Seira sat in her chair, knees pulled up to her chest. Tearstreaks marked the young girl's otherwise flawless face.
All around, representatives from Caren's kingdom and fellow Mermaid Princesses mourned the dead girl. Subaru'd even shown up; he sat alongside Seira, face pale and mouth muttering words of denial.
Even in her death, the princess was resplendent; she wore an elegant lavender and silver gown, those being her two choice colors. The gown was long enough to cover up her mermaid tail, so that questions wouldn't be asked from Subaru, who'd never found out about her secret. He didn't seem to notice that her hair was different from when they'd met; her flourescent purple locks were pulled up beautifully with large, beautiful hyacinths, and her signature corkscrew curls had never been altered. Her eyelids concealed shining violet irises; Rina wished that the girl would jump up and glare at her with those eyes, just one more time...
"We are about to begin," A man dressed in black announced. The funeral-goers took their seats. Subaru continued to whisper words of denial, which everybody ignored.
The man walked up and started the usual, 'She was a kind, loving' crap that he never meant. He'd been in charge of too many funerals.
"...And now, would anybody like to come up and say something about her?"
Noel dashed up onto the stage before any of the other Princesses could. "Caren...Caren was my little sister...my twin sister..." Noel choked back a sob. "We...we'd never...we met each other when we were both about eighteen, and...she died so soon...I never really got to know her as well as I wanted to..." She started bawling in front of everybody on the podium. Seeing her friend in that sort of condition, Coco left her seat and led Noel gently off the stage and through the courtyard.
Rina came up next. "Caren and I weren't the best of friends when we met...in fact, she just about hated me. But eventually, we got to know each other, and we had very similar personalities...it clicked, and all of a sudden we were very good friends." She turned her head towards the mermaid, eyes misty. "I will never forget her...Caren will live on, in our hearts, in our dreams...in our memories. Don't forget her." She bowed slightly and left the stage. A few people applauded.
"Caren was killed in a tragic car accident," Hanon began. "Lucia and I were there with her. She was so brave - there was a little girl in the middle of the road, and an eighteen wheeler was coming at her..." Hanon stopped to wipe the moisture from her face. "Caren scooped the little girl up and started making sure she was okay...the car hit, and the girl turned out fine, because Caren sustained most of the damage..." Hanon bit her lip. "Like Rina said, we shouldn't forget this huge sacrifice she made for this person she didn't even know."
Seira stood at the podium and stared at the corpse. "Caren, we loved you, and we still do. I really, really hope you're fine up there. That you've moved on to a better place..." Seira gave the body a broken, sad smile. "Do say hi to Sara for me..."
Lucia was the final person to come up. "Once, we asked each other how we wanted to be buried or whatever when we were deceased...I said I wanted to be cremated, and Caren told me to tell every human at her funeral her biggest secret so that she would turn into bubbles." The princesses that were still there screamed out, and Lucia was sure she heard Rina yell, 'Don't do it!'
The pink princess ignored these pleads. Lucia took a deep breath, then -
"Caren was a mermaid."
The dead body began to start smoking, and her flesh melted into foam. Blood ran out between the froth, but Lucia ignored it and continued. The mermaids began sobbing and shrieking again, and Hanon actually attempted to throw something at Lucia for doing this to the dead girl. Of course, she evaded the shot.
"She only would've turned into bubbles if she'd told a human. But she said that if she told me to tell a human, she would still turn into bubbles. Smart girl." Lucia's eyes softened. "She wanted to turn into bubbles so she could always be part of the sea she'd always loved." At this, the princesses sobered and stared at the coffin filled with white and lavender bubbles.
Subaru, who was the only human at the funeral besides Kaito, fled immediately after hearing these words. This whole thing made no sense whatsoever.
Everybody seemed to ignore Subaru.
"Shall we now? Make her a part of the sea she'd always wanted to be part of?" Lucia motioned to the coffin.
The princesses came up and lugged the heavy object towards the ocean, which wasn't too far. They proceeded to dump the contents into the water. The water gleamed red where the blood had hit, but Lucia, Hanon, Rina, and Seira were too sad to bother looking.
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And of course, Nanami Lucia had a dream that night about a seven-year-old unborn mermaid...
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I think I owe Suzu-chan, was it, for the gruesome turning into bubbles description? If it wasn't Suzu-chan, thanks anyway. But I think it was, so...thanks Suzu-chan! Yep, this is a new mermaid story...except this one isn't all Mary Sues and romance. It's a more angsty, sad, friendship ficlet. R&R!