Aquaria

Prologue

"Hope, my love, stay close!" Cautioned Hope's father, Klaus, from the shores of the beach his mother's house resided just up the hill. The blue eyed four year old disregarded her father's words, too busy being immersed in the cool blue of the water and the way she could see little creatures trekking through the sand for whatever reason they had that she couldn't possibly grasp at her age.

She giggled at the way the sand tickled her little toes with the tide dragging the grains over her sensitive skin and walked in closer, until the water was just past her ankles. She crouched down to grasp at the water, hoping to pick up the seaweed that was drifting by with the dancing waves that engulfed her little ankles when suddenly, an especially playful wave splashed the little tike, sending her falling backwards, onto her backside.

She giggled profusely, her teeth chattering as the initial shock of the wave hitting her slowly faded, and she let the warm rays of the Florida afternoon sun warm the drops of cold away. She quickly stood up again, and ran back into the water, this time not stopping until she was at her knees.

"Hope, sweetie, don't go past your belly button!" Called her father, whom she waved off before walking in further, until she felt the icy sensation inside of her belly button, and she could use her slimy seaweed to flow around under the transparent thing standing between her and her complete vision of her little hands. She giggled as she moved her entire body in time with the little piece of foliage clutched in her tiny fist, thoroughly enjoying the way it danced to the song of the gulls singing in the distance.

Suddenly though, the seaweed was yanked from her death grip, and she was pulled forward slightly, catching her off guard.

"Back up, Hope!" Called her mother, taking her attention back to where she was. She stepped back a foot, so the water was level with the bottom of her belly button, before squinting to look around for her seaweed, but was met with nothing.

Her shoulders slumped forward when she realized she lost her source of entertainment, and settled for walking backward a few more feet and plopping down on her bum so that she was at chest level with the water, seated in the sand firmly.

She folded her arms over the chest in dissatisfaction and settled for looking up at those same singing gulls as they flew, free to find as much seaweed as they wanted.

"Hope, look!" Pointed her grandmother, catching Hope's attention, then directing it to the horizon, where her eyes saw something momentous!

"Dolphins!" She gasped, standing to her feet immediately, to catch a better glimpse of the creatures that chattered as they flipped over and under the surface of the very water she was standing in. "Daddy, mommy, dolphins!" She cheered, pointing excitedly, not daring to take her eyes off of them, for fear of losing out on a single second of such a sight.

Then she saw a flash of yellow sparkle from behind one of the dolphins.

"Did you see that?" She asked curiously, and her parents and grandmother hummed affirmations in the way adults do to kids who are over excited about something so mundane.

Hope had never seen a yellow dolphin before.

It was only another second before the dolphins depleated from her sight, and she resorted to sitting back down, awaiting from that very spot to see another yellow dolphin.

She waited for what she saw to be ages (which was really just six minutes) before standing up and walking closer to her parents so she could sit on her father's lap and see better. She climbed up his legs, uncaring of the fact that she got his jeans soaked as she planted her bum in his lap.

She watched like a hawk for the next ten minutes before the gulls formed a circle and began to fly in formation about twenty meters out, dragging Hope's attention from whatever boring conversation the adults were having behind her, straight to whatever it was they were surrounding. She tried to stand up on her father's lap, but he got uncomfortable with her feet crushing his legs that he picked her up and set her on the ground.

She groaned at the loss of a vantage point and quickly climbed up the hill separating the beach from her grandmother's house, standing as close to the highest edge as possible, about five meters to the left of her family, to see what it was.

She watched the shadows of the birds move with them as the sun shifted, and one shift in particular emenated a purple and blue light that yanked a gasp from the youngest Mikaelson's chest.

She's never seen a purple dolphin either.

Or a purple... anything.

"Maybe it's a mermaid!" She gasped to herself, and stepped forward, forgetting she was on the edge of the hill and tumbling down, into the water. She gasped and coughed, spitting sand and salt water out of her mouth as she stood back up, only to catch the purple against the sun again.

She squinted and looked around in the water in front of her, excited to see the mermaid that was swimming with dolphins and distracting seagulls.

Suddenly though, she felt something on her hand that was holding her up in the water, and quickly moved it when she saw the giant creature crawling on her. She looked closer as it walked around beside her.

"It looks like a giant bug!" She said to herself in disgust, despite her fascination with the attrocious looking creature.

"He's a crab." An unfamiliar young voice assured close by, making Hope jump in fear before she finally met with a pair of eyes clearer than the water she swam in everyday.

"This?" She asked, perplexed, "it doesn't even have any claws!" she argued.

"Not all crabs have claws." Shrugged the little blonde haired girl before she picked up the rat-like creature, allowing it to walk around on the palm of her wrinkled hand.

"It's so ugly!" She sneared, and the little blonde girl glared at her.

"He has feelings!" She hissed, dragging her other finger along the spine of the creature. "And his name is Bulbo."

"Is he your pet?" Hope asked, intrigued with the strange girl who seemed not to want to come closer than five feet away.

"No, all of the creatures of the sea are free." She divulged, kissing the back of the creature before setting him back under the water to allow him to walk around, eliciting a strange look from Hope.

"You're weird." She judged, and the little blonde girl gave her a similar look.

"You're weird!" the stranger countered, and Hope decided she liked her.

"Hope, where are you!" Called her father, taking her eye from her new companion, to the direction of her father, before turning back, and being met with the same shimmery shade of purple, flipping away from her in place of that strange blonde girl.

"Hope!" Called her mother as the purple completely faded into the water again, "You're bleeding!" She called in fear as she assessed her daughter's scratched cheekbone.

"I am?" asked the girl, and Hayley chuckled with a smile before lifting her daughter out of the sand and into her arms.

"Come on, let's get you to- OH MY GOD, WHAT IS THAT!?" called Hope's mother as she frantically danced backward, allowing Hope the room to see it.

"He's a crab!" Hope informed of her mother, who scowled at it as it crawled across her field of vision.

"It looks like a rat!" She gasped, and Hope gave her mother a deep scowl.

"He has feelings!"