Once Upon A Twisted Tale (Ziam AU)

Chapter 8: The Great Escape ||

8. The Great Escape

I sat in the grotto with Harry swimming furiously around me. I was inspecting Liam’s trinket, mesmerized with its beauty; that, and the fact that it belongs to Liam. I knew this was definitely not how the story went, but I needed to try and make this tale my own.

I chuckled to myself as I thought of the stupid pun. I mean, come on. Tale and tail? That’s kind of funny in a literal sense.

“Zayn! Stop smiling to yourself! This is no smiling matter!” Harry said as he got in my face. I pushed him away gently as I rolled my eyes.

“You are just being a guppy.”

“I’m not a guppy!”

“Really? So then give the Prince back his necklace,” I said as I held out the medallion out to him. Harry eyed the trinket nervously before glaring at me. He stuck his tongue out and I couldn’t help but laugh. I just enjoyed Harry’s company, even when he was being a downright joy killer.

“You’re mean Zayn,” Harry said as he pouted. I smiled and tackled him, causing a rush of bubbles to erupt around us.

“But you love me!”

“Eh, you’re alright.”

I just smiled as I held onto the necklace and admired it a bit more.

“So,” Harry said as I floated to the ocean floor, “what are we going to do?”

“We?”

“Well, I’m not gonna let my best friend go at this alone!”

I felt my heart swell with pride. I knew Harry was the absolute best. I’m surprised nothing’s happened to him yet.

“Well, we have to find a way to give this back to him,” I said gesturing at the medallion.

“Give what back to who?!” A familiar voice shrilled from the rock behind me. I spun around, only to see a crab version of Niall looking at me with a grumpy face. I was torn between being mortified and laughing hysterically, so I went with the latter.

“Niall?” I asked breathlessly. If anything, Niall looked more upset than he did before.

“Child! How many times have I told you to not go off and make your father mad? Now you’ve done it! He’s furious!” Niall said as he floated down next to me.

“Oh really?”

“Yes!”

“Why is he mad?”

“You weren’t home when you were supposed to be! Like goodness Zayn, you’re a handful. Now let’s get you home.”

“I can’t go home,” I said simply. “I have to return this necklace.”

“Where’d you get that?” Niall asked as he peered at the item.

“Well, we went up to the land and we saw Louis. Man oh man was he crazy. Then Zayn here said he needed the prince and Louis went and-” I slapped my hand over Harry’s mouth, giving him a warning with a strict look. He turned bashful and simply shrugged as Niall exploded next to me.

“Zayn! How many times do I have to tell you that there’s nothing for you up there? Humans are evil!”

“No they’re not!” I said defensively.

“They only cause destruction and havoc. I mean, look how they treat our people. They eat our neighbors for lunch and it’s horrid,” Niall said as he shook his head.

“They’re not that bad. I’m going to prove it to you,” I said as I pushed myself off the floor and started swimming away. Harry and Niall were next to me moments later though.

“What are you going to do?” Harry asked as we swam through the waters.

“Yes Prince Zayn, whatever are you going to do?” A voice from the shadows asked. I stopped swimming and abruptly faced the dark area where the voice came from.

“Who’s there?” I asked. Harry and Niall had proceeded to hide behind me, but I couldn’t blame them. This was all eerie and stuff.

Not to my surprise, although Niall and Harry seemed pretty surprised, the gypsy emerged from the shadows, but in a new form. She had tentacles, as though she was part octopus.

“Ursula the sea witch,” Niall whispered from behind me. I smiled as I turned towards and barked out a laugh.

“Ursula’s your name?” I asked in spite. She just smiled and wagged a finger at me.

“You didn’t think it’d be that simple did you now Zayn?” She said as she floated onto a rock. “Now, I here you want to find a way for the land boy to notice you, correct?”

“Well yes,” I said cautiously as I eyed her.

“Well then let me help you,” she said.

“At what price?” I said as I crossed my arms. “Because what I’ve begun to noticed with you is that everything comes at some sort of ridiculous price.”

“Well-” But I cut her off with my tangent.

“Oh let me guess, you’re going to take away my voice? Because if I recall correctly, that’s how the story goes right? Well guess what, no thanks.”

“I won’t then,” she said simply.

“What?” I was astonished. She had to be kidding.

“I won’t take away your voice. I won’t do a damned thing to you. Here, just drink this when you’re on land,” she said as she produced a bottle from bubbles. No matter how evil she was, it was still pretty cool. I took the bottle from her and eyed her cautiously.

“What’s the price?” I spat at her.

“Free of charge sweet cakes,” she said before maliciously laughing and disappearing in a cloud of black smoke.

“Um, did she just ink herself?” Harry asked. I couldn’t help but snicker before Niall brought me back to reality.

“Zayn, you’re not actually going to take that, are you?” He asked as he eyed me and the bottle.

“Well, I’ve got nothing to lose, right?” I said with a shrug before swimming up to the surface. I felt Harry and Niall brush up next to me, and I smiled because my friends stuck by my side no matter what.

We bobbed up from under the water to see Liam playing with a dog on the shore.

“Well, here I go,” I said before unscrewing the bottle.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Niall asked before I brought the bottle to my lips.

“It’s now or never bud,” I said before taking a deep swig.

A/N: New chapter because you guys are simply awesome! All of the support you guys have given all these stories is simply phenomenal c: I love you guys xx

-Ariel x