A/N: I should be working on something else…

But I just love this universe. It's such a weird twisted version of the Disney classic… similar, yet not the same. I love it. :3

C'mon, you know you love it too. ;-)

Disclaimer: Don't own DN or "The Little Mermaid". I just like to fuck with their characters and plot. A LOT. ^.^

Title: Broken Links

Bottomless Blue: Part III

Light groaned as he finally felt himself come to, the blinding pain behind his eyes causing him to stumble forward and hit the piles of rock and moss settled beneath him

"Light…?"

Pushing his body up with strength he didn't realize he had just quite yet, Light glanced up and stared at the small manini fish twirling around him in a daze.

"I huuuuurt Light…" Misa moaned in pain, a small bruise against her left side highlighting just where it was she 'hurt'. "Are you ok Light?"

Flicking out his fin so as to straighten himself up, Light slowly nodded. "I've been better, but I'll live. I don't see any blood, so…"

"Maybe we should go back to the palace?" Misa haltingly requested, her body screaming with aches and pains. "I'm really tired Light."

Humming out of habit, Light checked to see if he still had the small bag he had come with (still safely tucked beneath his elbow, thank Poseidon) and floated upwards, gazing up at the ocean boundaries and shocked to see the Sun's rays bounding down upon them from the surface.

"Misa…" Light crooned. "How long do you think we've been knocked out?"

"I don't know, a little while?" Misa tapped her bruise with one of her fins, eyes narrowed with irritation. "Why?"

"Look up Misa."

Slowly glancing up, a distorted look of fear began to creep over Misa's chubby face as she too noticed the beams of light reflecting down into the waters.

"… … Holy Barnacles on a barnacle sandwich!"

"WHERE IN SEVEN OCEANIC HELLS IS HE?"

"I don't know your majesty!" Teru cried out as he ducked behind Sayu's floating tendrils of hair, though just as irritated as his king, not nearly as forbidding about. "I did not see him come in last night nor did I see him at rehearsal, but I assumed that he was simply getting ready on his own! Light has been known to do that on several occasions sir!"

"THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH TERU! I WAS HUMILATED, HUMILATED, IN FRONT OF MY OWN SUBJECTS AND YOU CANNOT EVEN TELL ME WHERE MY SON IS, LET ALONE WHERE HE COULD BE!"

"Daddy, please calm down…" Sayu whispered as she held onto her father's arm, attempting to pacify the enraged king before he did something that both he and Light would come to regret. "I'm sure he was held up or… maybe he was even hurt…?"

"THIS IS LIGHT YOU'RE SPEAKING OF!" Shrugging off his only daughter, Soichirou held onto his trident with a maddening grip, it's eerie glow tipping off just how angry he actually was. Taking in a deep breath as soon as he noticed the scandalized look on his youngest child's face, Soichirou attempted to calm his own temperament and speak as rationally as he could. "I-I apologize, dear. I just do not appreciate being humiliated in front of all the nobles within the ocean seas! That boy needs a lesson in respect! He had done this far too many times to be taken seriously in any way!"

"But father, don't you think you should at least listen to what he may have to sa-"

"SILENCE!" The king's bass-like voice echoed throughout the palace and into the far-reaches of the sea, stunning multitudes of sea-creatures into a halting quiet. "I don't care what he has to say! Everyone, go and search for my son, the heir to the crown of Atlantica, Prince Light; whoever brings him to me shall be rewarded beyond compare!"

Sayu backed away from her father in a submissive gesture that didn't quite become her; had Light had been there he would have scolded her for taking their father's words with little fight of her own. But that was what differentiated the two of them. Whereas Light would fight for his opinion to be heard and be taken seriously Sayu would settle into the background and swim away from confrontation altogether.

Hoping that her older brother would not be hurt too badly by what her father would do, Sayu prayed to the ocean god that he would take pity on Light.

He was her only pillar of support in this damning castle after all.

"Light, we have to get back to the castle! The musical and you're father's party-"

"We've probably already missed it by now." Light stated logically, swimming away from the castle. "Look at the sun; the time has come to pass where the musical would have started. And if that rumbling earlier was any indication, then when we get home, I won't be allowed out for a long while."

"But if we tell him the truth-"

"What, that we both got hurt in a debilitating sunken ship? How worried would he be once he found out we were scrounging through human artifacts Misa? He'd be even more infuriated than he is now." Light smiled slightly as he began to swim closer towards the surface, the familiar rock causing his excitement to grow in bounds. "While I have the time to spare I might as well visit Matsuda and do some surface explorations of my own. Nobody would even think to look for us up here!"

Misa sighed as she toddled after her friend, hoping against hope that whatever the king had planned for them would not be as painful as she was sure it would be.

"LIGHT!"

The auburn-haired merman winced as a large seagull laughed at his sudden emergence, the ruffled feathers and large tube set against his eye a strange addition to the bird's appearance.

"Ahoy there!" Matsuda yelled out as he flapped a wing,

"Hey Matsuda." Light genially waved back, holding back his laughter as Matsuda continued to squawk indignantly, eye still trained through the tiny hole at the end of the tube he was holding. "What are you doing?"

"Watchin' out for intruders of co-WOAH! How did you get here so fast?" Matsuda exclaimed as he finally put down the tube, eyes wide with surprise. "You're a fast one, Light!"

"Right…" Light was sure it was better to just not ask. "I came by with some new things, Matsuda but I have to be quick! My father is… really not in the best of moods right now."

"Whatcha do, miss out on one of his concerts again?" For someone so dimwitted at times, Light was amazed by how perceptive Matsuda could be in instances like these. Instead of say so, the merman shrugged. "Not the first time, won't be the last."

"Right…" Matsuda stole Light's own exasperated response. "Now what do you have to show me, Princely Prince?"

"Here!" Shoving his bag into Matsuda's face, Light grinned as the seagull took out the aforementioned object that had caused him to miss his father's royal obligations in the first place. "Oh my… it's a dingle-hopper!"

"A dingle-hopper?" Though the royal merman hated sounding as if he didn't know what thins were, Light knew in this case it was not by his own fault that he was ignorant of the object's name and use. "What do they use it for?"

"Uh… To uh… do their… hair! Yeah, to do their hair!" Ruffling the silver instrument through Light's own silky locks, the young merman smiled as he reached for the dingle-hopper and held it to his face with both hands.

"A dingle-hopper…"

"Uh, Light…?"

"Yeah, Misa?"

The golden fish created a small splash as she jumped in fear, causing the prince to turn his head to where Misa was 'pointing' to and nearly diving back into the water in shock. "A ship! And it's coming right this way!"

"Light, we have to go now!" Misa screeched, ducking back into the water with a speed that belied her small stature.

"Crab-cakes! I've got to go, Matsuda! Bye." Jumping back into the water before the large ship got a clear shot of either Light or Misa, the light-haired prince sighed as he stared up at the sailing monstrosity now directly above them.

'I wish I didn't have to hide…' Light thought to himself as he swam deeper into the ocean, golden-brown eyes full of curiosity and lament. 'Maybe one day…'

Holding onto his tiny bag, Light snuck around the coral and sea-rocks, hoping to at least make it but into his grotto before he was apprehended.

Knowing his father, his patience was probably nil at this point.