Lapis Lazuli: The Lost Mermaid

Chapter 16: Drowning in Stress

"Lapis, wake up!" the faint voice of the Keeper echoed.

Lapis awoke in the chair she was sitting in at Garnet's fortress. Her head was spinning and then she remembered what she witnessed before her very eyes and the disquieting information she just discovered.

"My birth mother is the queen of mermaids." the young said, her voice barely a whisper. "I am a princess."

"I'm so sorry you had to find out this way." Garnet told her, sympathetically. She tried put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but Lapis quickly swam away and out of the Keeper's fortress in a fit of self doubt.

Her group of friends who were still waiting outside for her saw that the blue teenage had returned to them, looking like she was about to cry.

"Lapis, what happened?" Steven asked, seeing his big sister so sad.

"I am the princess of Iridecsa." Lapis answered before raising her voice in a mix of anger and grief. "My mom is Queen Hope!"

"WHAT!?" Amethyst said, mouth agape as the other mermaids and Lapis' human friends gasped in surprise.

The young blue mermaid whimpered softly before she quickly swam away in total devastation, seeking a place that was out of way to cry to herself.

"Lapis, wait!" Jamie cried, trying to stop his girlfriend from swimming off. However, Connie and Steven held his arms to stop him.

"Hold on, Jamie." the little human girl said to Jamie. "Lapis looks like she needs some time alone."

"I don't like the idea of Lapis being alone for too long in this great big ocean." the teenage boy conveyed, trying to free himself from the grip of the younger kids.

"Me neither." agreed Pearl. "Especially with a character like Jasper lurking around. We better get Mr. Universe and follow Lapis. She was swimming southwest so let's head off that way."

Lapis had found a flat rock sticking out of the water's surface and sat there, hugging her tail and sobbing. But then, she lifted her now tear-stained face when she heard the sound of a familiar voice calling her name, "Lapis?"

"Dad?" she answered, realizing that it was her adopted father. And sure enough, the Mermaid's Cradle was pulling into her view. Surrounding the ship, the heads of the princess's human and mermaid friends emerged from the surface of the boat.

"Your friends told me that you swam off, feeling upset." Greg said. "Are you okay?"

"Dad, I'm sure you didn't know so it's not your fault." Lapis told him after she composed herself a little bit. "But how could you not know that my mother was the queen of mermaids."

"What?" the mermaid's father questioned, being taken by surprise by what his daughter confessed. "Okay, someone needs to fill me on all this."

Lapis had used her locket to transform into a human so that she could get on the Mermaid's Cradle and talk to her dad. She filled Greg in on the events of the young mermaid's past the Keeper mermaid showed her, including the fact that she had a queen for a mother, a princess for an aunt; and that she is a princess herself.

"And that's it." the young princess said, wrapping up the story.

"Wow, that's a lot to take in." Greg admitted, laughing nervously after getting all caught up.

"Yeah, I know." Lapis replied, heavyheartedly as she turned to the side with a sad look on her face. "How couldn't I have been aware of my own birth right?"

"Are you okay, sweetie?" her adopted father asked distressed daughter.

"It's just that I can't believe how shortsighted I've been about my origin and my family." the mermaid princess admitted grief-stricken, putting her face in her hands. "I feel like an idiot."

"Lapis, you were only a baby." Greg mentioned, comforting his adopted daughter by putting a hand on her shoulder. "It's not your fault. There's no way you could've known or remember something like that."

"I guess so." the blue girl agreed, calming down.

"You're not mad at your mom, are you?" her dad asked her.

"No, I'm not mad at her and she did what was best for me anyway." Lapis answered, softly. "I'm not mad at anybody. I'm just confused and really stressed out, and not just because I'm being stalked by a crazed, masculine sea witch who wants me to marry me against my will. The thing is, I thought I finally got it, like I understand who I am and where I come from, but for some reason I feel even more lost now."

The kind human man opened his arms for an awaiting embrace, which Lapis gratefully accepted. There was a brief moment of silence between father and daughter.

"Do you still want to find your mom?" Greg inquired, breaking the silence.

"Yes." the blue girl answered, confidently standing up. "Yes, absolutely. Now that I know the truth about my birth mother, I want to hear from her side of the story. It's all the more reason why I want to reunite with her."

Despite the emotional baggage that the young princess now carried, Lapis was more determined than ever to get back to her birth family. She was not ready to abandon the quest now, especially since she and her friends have made it this far.

She rushed over to the railing of the boat and called out to her friends, "Guys, the journey is not over yet. We're only a few ways closer to Iridesca, so let's get back to going with the flow!"

The mermaids and the human kids cheered full of relief as Lapis dove back into the ocean and use her magic locket to transform into a mermaid once more.

"We are mermaid kingdom bound!" Amethyst hollered at the top of her lungs.

The group of friends continued on the path of the compass underwater, but not before Lapis shouted out to Greg, "Hey, Dad!"

"Yeah, Lapis?" he responded.

"Thanks." the mermaid princess replied back, smiling warmly at him.

Lapis felt very lucky to have Greg as her adopted father. Whenever things got weird for Lapis that she couldn't share with Jamie, she'd share with him. Greg would always be there for Lapis to vent to and give valuable advice (and even a comforting hug) in return.

"Good luck, kiddo." he said to his adopted daughter before she submerged into the waves.