The Little Mermaid (MirAndy Style)

Chapter 1

Emily was a nervous wreck. It was the day of the biggest musical moment of her career, and if crabs could sweat, she would have flooded her shell. She had gotten up early and polished her red carapace so it shone brightly, and carefully reviewed her sheet music for both herself and the copy for the band multiple times to make sure that they were coordinated perfectly. Climbing into her small carriage pulled by two goldfish, she jiggled one of her eight legs, mentally preparing herself. Breathing deeply, Emily heard King Richard be announced, and a thunderous applause soon followed. Then, she heard her own name be called out. Show time. Calmly, she snapped the reins, making the two fish rear up and eagerly swim out. A bright light followed her out, and she tried her best not to squint. A mild applause scattered throughout the crowd, but Emily would not be deterred by the lack of enthusiasm. She steered her shell up to where King Richard was sitting proudly and hovered by his head.

"I'm really looking forward to this performance Emily," King Richard said with a sparkle in his eye.

"Oh Your Majesty, this concert will be the finest you will ever hear," Emily said proudly. "Your daughters will be spectacular!"

"Yes," King Richard crossed his arms and grinned widely. "Especially my little Andrea."

"Of course. She has the most beautiful voice," Emily plastered a grin on her lips and snapped the reins to guide the fish to the podium. Muttering under her voice, she grumbled, "If only she'd show up for rehearsals once in a while."

Emily landed on the stand and let her hyper fishes go. She climbed out and then reached back in to pull the heavy music out of the shell. She scuttled up the podium and plopped the music down, causing a few bubbles to drift up. Puffing out her chest, Emily pulled her conductor's baton out and tapped the edge of the stand. Raising it, the band all took a huge breath, and then Emily lowered it again and began to conduct the upbeat, cheery tune. Everything was going smoothly, until it was Andrea's turn to shine, and when the shell opened to reveal Richard's youngest daughter was missing, the whole entire room gasped. Emily weakly slunk down into her shell, and the band faltered except for one fish who awkwardly kept spluttering out the next few notes until the eel next to him jabbed him in the side.

King Richard grasped his trident and his eyes shone a fiery glare. "Andrea!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andrea's already large eyes were even rounder as she looked at the sunken ship not 20 feet away.

"Andrea! Wait up!" her best friend, Doug cried out.

"Dougie! Hurry up," Andrea hissed, waving her arm.

The juvenile Atlantic blue tang swam desperately up to Andrea, breathing heavily. "You know I can't swim that fast Andy!"

Ignoring him, Andrea fixed her gaze on the old ship in the distance. "There it is," she breathed and cupped Doug's face from the side. "Isn't it fantastic?"

Doug looked at the ship, not understanding his friend's fascination with it. It looked more like a death trap to him. But he couldn't look like a wimp in front of Andy-she was the bravest person he knew, and he didn't want the brunette thinking he was a baby. So he swallowed and stammered, "Yeah...um, it's great. Uh, can we go now?"

"You're not getting cold fins now, are you?" Andrea looked affectionately at her best friend before flipping her tail and swimming towards the abandoned ship. Doug frantically followed his courageous friend, trying to come up with an excuse. Finding a not-so plausible one, he decided to run with it.

"Me? Nah!" Doug coughed. "I think I'm coming down with something! Listen, it's terrible!" he coughed hard again.

"Alright," Andrea beamed. "You can just stay here and look for sharks!"