The Little Mermaid

Chapter Seven

The city of Atlantis was unnormally quiet. The news of the missing princess hit hard. Hakoda had sent out all available fish and merpeople to search for her. He began to worry that the worst has happened.

The seahorse announcer quickly swam into the throne room to give the sea king the bad news.

"Any sign of them?" Hakoda asked.

"No, Your Majesty. We've searched everywhere." The seahorse replied, "We've found no trace of your daughter, or Pakku."

"Well, keep looking. Leave no shell unturned, no coral unexplored." Hakoda ordered, "Let no one in this kingdom sleep until she's safe at home."

"Yes sire." The seahorse bowed before leaving.

Hakoda sat on his throne, saddened, "Oh, what have I done? What have I done?"

Meanwhile, Sokka swam out of the castle with a sad look on his face. Usually he'd be out helping search whenever someone from the city went missing, but this time it was his own sister.

He had to get over the thoughts that something terrible happened. He had to convince himself that she was alright and just hiding somewhere. He couldn't bear the thought of seeing her dead somewhere.

He was brought out his thoughts when he heard a familiar voice, "Sokka?"

He turned to see Yue swimming up to him, "Yue? I thought you would be out looking for Katara."

"I was going to... but I got worried when I didn't see you with any of the search parties." Yue replied.

Sokka looked down, "I just... had to get over some terrible thoughts before going out looking for her." Tears formed in his eyes, "I already lost my mother... I can't lose my sister too."

"Do you want any help looking for her?" Yue sked as he wiped his tears away.

Sokka smiled lightly, "Yeah, that'd be great."

The two began swimming away, Yue following Sokka. He lead her to his sister's cave, not far from the city. He had seen her go there many times and figured he'd find clues.

"Why are we here?" Yue asked

"I've seen my sister come here many times." Sokka replied as he started pushing the rock away from the entrance, "I never bothered her about it because I figured it was just a place to get away. Now I'm thinking I should've."

The rock rolled away and the two swam into the cave. Yue gasped when she saw all the broken artifacts at the end of the tunnel. Sokka, however, seemed unfazed since he knew his sister loved human things.

"Wow, I didn't know she was this obsessed with the human world." Yue said as she picked up a broken jewelry box.

Sokka swam around, looking at the different artifacts, "Mother used to tell us stories about the human world. Katara loved the romance ones, with the princes and princesses falling in love." He picked up a singed book, "I really liked the more adventurous stories. Like with pirates finding buried treasure and all that."

"How come your mother new so much about the human world?"

Sokka shrugged as he set the book down, "I'm not sure. She died before I was old enough to even consider asking."

Yue set down the box and looked around, "What if... what if she went closer to shore? Where the humans are."

Sokka looked at her as he contemplated her suggestion. It made the most sense, Katara did love the human world. And running away to be closer to the human world would be something she would do. Even if it was foolish.