Zene Oneshots

The Underwater Prince

Zane stared at his reflection in the mirror, wrapping strands of pearls around his body.

He wasn't going to lie, he did look good in pearls, just like his mother. But the shiny orbs were just so... well, colorless and they weighed him down. He knew he wasn't even supposed to swim fast, since he was royalty, but he still didn't like the extra weight.

He felt the ripples of someone swimming towards him, and looked over his shoulder to see his older brother. Lucky blond, he didn't have to wear jewels. The only treasure he had to wear was his crown, and his cross necklace that connected him their family. Of course he could wear any other trinkets or jewels he wanred to, but he usually never did. If he did decide to wear something, it was always that golden armband with the glittering black rocks.

"Hello, baby brother." Garroth chirped, using the merfolk tongue.

"What do you want?" Zane asked, narrowing his eye as he went back to his pearls.

"Can't I speak with my own baby brother?" He asked, his ear fins tilting down.

"You usually want something." He shrugged, checking the wrappings around his torso.

"Okay, okay... mother asked me to put your harness on you." He sighed, holding up the gummy, clear and thing harness with a long cord. "Stay still."

Zane let out a long, heavy sigh, a stream of small bubbles leaving his pale lips. He straightened himself as much as possible, grimancing as the gummy material stuck to his skin. He would never get used to the feeling of the harness sticking to his skin, sliding under the scales on his tail to ensure a good grip on him. He still remembered the one night his mother had taken him outside of the palace, which wasn't very uncommon, and they had stayed the night at their cousin's home, where his mother had him sleep right next to her. He wasn't allowed to take the harness off, so he had to sleep with it. All. Night.

He whined as the harness tightened around him, signaling Garroth had put it on. Zane frowned at his reflection, as the harness did make his pearls less pretty. And they made him look like a little baby.

Zane followed his brother as they swam out towards the main room, where their mother was brushing her hair with a seashell comb. She smiled brightly at her two sons as she swam closer to them, embracing them both in a warm hug. When they pulled away from their hug, she attached the cord on her harness to the one on Zane's, making the Merman prince chirp out of annoyance.

"Please try to understand, ZuZu, the harness is for your safety." Zianna chirped to him, holding his head up with her hand. "I couldn't stand to see you end up like.. like your father..."

Zane knew the story of what had happened to his father. His father had been the king of the Merfolk Kingdom, and he had been making peace with the humans. Things had been going well, the Merfolk had even learned how to adapt to inland forms, when.. it... happened. His father had gone to meet with one of the human leaders, when the humans had made a cruel betrayal.

They had killed his father, the king of the Merfolk.

His mother had grieved inside of her chambers for days, weeks. Zane, as Garte's son, had grieved for his death as well, but not as publicly as his mother and older brother did. Even now, he could see all the sadness in his mother's eyes as she spoke about it.

"Why doesn't he get a harness?" Zane asked, flicking his tail fin at Garroth.

"You're brother is stubborn." Zianna answered, and rolled her eyes when Zane gave her a look. "Okay, he's a lot more stubborn than you are. The one time I tried to get a harness on him, he tried to bite your younger brother."