The Little Siren: A Mean Gills adaptation of The Little Mermaid

Chapter 1

Scott swam around the the coral reefs, searching for human relics to add to his collection. His friend, Lauren, had told him that a ship had passed by today, so he was hoping to find something they might've dropped. Humans were very clumsy creatures. Interesting, but clumsy.

As he searched, the shimmering red scales of his tail flashing in the watery light, his mind started wandering.

This often happened. It didn't seem like it, but the coral reefs of the Undersea could get very boring.

'I wonder what humans do for fun..' He thought, lazily swimming around. 'Whatever it is, it's probably more exciting than my father's parties.'

Scott's father was the Ruler of the Undersea, King Pix.

Pix was a fair, but firm ruler who had a special hatred for humans. Scott's mother had been killed by some fishermen when he was just a young boy. This prompted the king to put in place a new rule: No going to the surface.

If he was being honest, Scott found it silly.

Why blame an entire race for one individual's actions? There must be plenty of nice humans out there.

Scott sighed and shook his head, looking closer between the colorful structures the coral had formed. He spotted a strange object sticking out of the sand, hidden underneath a blue-green coral mound.

The cyanette quickly swam down to it and dug it out. He peered at it, curious as to what it was.

The trinket was long and cylindrical. Half of it was a bit smaller than the other and the middle was full of some clear material.

Scott smiled and put it in his bag. It was a small but effective thing made out of a net he'd found in a shipwreck.

"Scott!!"

He spun around to see a siren with long purple hair swimming towards him, an angry look on his face.

It was Scott's brother and the heir to the throne, Xornoth.

Xornoth was a big stickler for rules and tradition, preferring to stay on their father's good side. He also had this... 'friend' that was always hanging around him. Scott found the boy, who was called Joey, quite weird. At least he didn't mean Xornoth any harm.

Xornoth swam up to Scott, fury written all over his face.

"Why are you out here?!" He questioned, magenta tail swishing from side to side in anger.

"What rules say I can't be out here?" Scott challenged, irritated.

Xornoth spotted the trinket in his brother's bag.

"Oh, don't tell me you're looking for human stuff again." He groaned.

Scott huffed, crossing his arms. "I don't see what's so bad about it."

"Th..there's nothing necessarily bad about it-"

"Then stop bothering me." Scott glared at his brother and swam away, leaving Xornoth behind in a cloud of bubbles.

Scott swam into his grotto, grumbling.

It was so unreasonable. Why was everyone so worried about his curiosity with humans? It wasn't like he was doing any harm.

He made room for his new trinket among the many, many others that he'd collected over time.

The shiny artifacts lined the cavern walls and floor, fascinating human tools that Scott had found on his many adventures.

He lay down on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.

Everything around him was amazing, yes, but he wanted more.

He wanted to be up there with the humans. He wanted to learn what they knew, dance with them, talk with them. He wanted to walk and run and jump, laughing.

Scott wanted to be part of the world of humans.