The Little Merman

Chapter Eight: "The Bond Of Friendship"

By the next morning, Nate's sisters were swimming around the entrance to the palace kitchen with worried faces as Mark entered. Nathan always ate breakfast with his family in the dining hall of the palace. So, it was the first place he went to look for him. One of Nathan's older sisters started braiding her long white hair in her hands, her bright purple eyes looking around at her sisters as she asked nervously. "What are we going to do? We can't just leave him like this..." Attina raised her hands to calm her sisters, assuring them all. "Everyone just calm down." Swimming in more, Mark cautiously interjected. "What's happened?" The white-haired sister swam closer to him, blurting out. "Oh, Mark! It is just awful! Did you to have a fight?!" Blinking with a blank look, Mark shrugged. He wasn't sure it was safe to answer that. Attina swam over to push her sister out of the way, saying flatly. "Arista! Sit down." Looking to Attina for some more information, she informed him much more casual. "Nate's been acting weird all morning... And then he just... shut himself up in the kitchen. He refuses to talk to us. Dad will be coming down for breakfast any minute... What happened?"

Mark tensed a little, replying a bit guarded. "I'm not sure. I'll talk to him." Swimming around the coral dining table, Mark made his way over to the thick seaweed covered entrance to the kitchen. Inside was a tunnel lined in shelves with freshly caught fish and picked sea vegetables. In the far back corner, sitting on a rock counter, Nate was huddled up. His arms were wrapped around his bent tail that hung off the counter limply. His face was buried within his arms and in one hand, he had a fish with a bite taken out of it. It sounded faintly like Nate was crying. Slipping inside, he heard Nate hiss out aggressively. "Leave me alone!" Mark slowed, watching Nate's body tense up aggressively. Letting his ear fins fall back submissively, Mark asked him gently. "Nate...? What's going on?" Nate's body relaxed to the sound of his voice, his voice becoming softer as he whined out. "Why did you come back...?" Mark shrugged, honestly replying. "Because I always do." Nate sniffled, draping a hand over the back of his neck as he buried his face in his other arm more.

Mark moved a little closer, while Nate whined out. "You should stay away from me... I'll only hurt you more... I can't do anything right." Mark inhaled slowly before exhaling out in a warm tone. "That's not true." Nate lifted his head to show his eyes were red from crying and his ear fins were so far down that they weren't glowing in the dim lighting. Locking fragile eyes with him, Nate regaled a bit strained. "Don't lie. I can't do anything right in my father's eyes. The other merfolk think I'm a freak. And I'm a lousy friend to my only friend... Mark, please go away. I don't want to hurt you anymore..." Mark glanced at the exit but had no desire to leave. Swimming up to the counter, Mark took a sit by him. Grabbing the counter edge, Mark comfortingly told him. "You've never been a lousy friend. Sure, you get me into a lot of trouble and at times I do get hurt... But you've always been there to for me. You've never left me behind. And despite me always trying to take the fall... you never let me."

Putting a hand on Nate's tail, Mark continued warmly. "I grew up caring about you. I never cared about what others said because... I know the person you are. Just like I know that you act out when you're scared... You're afraid to fail. You're afraid of ruling the kingdom and bringing it to ruin because you aren't your dad." Nate buried his head back in his arms, rocking a little now as he cried. Moving his hand up to wrap his arms around Nate's shoulders, he pulled him closer to his chest. Nate resisted at first, but eventually released his tail to cling to him. Crying against his shoulder, he snuggled into him like a child in need of comfort. Pulling Nate's tail out across his lap like mother's did with their crying children, Mark wrapped his arms around Nate's torso to hold him close in a protective embrace. Laying his cheek against Nate's, Mark hummed softly to him to calm him down. His own mother had done it to him when he was younger... but Nate had no idea what that felt like. The Sea King never hugged his son. When Nate's crying stopped, Mark whispered into his ear. "I stay because I love you. And I care what happens to you. I don't want to see you get hurt... Especially, when you are trying so hard to be both the person he wants and yourself..."