Ocean Blue Eyes//A Garmau AU

5

It's been two days since Garroth and Zane got separated. The older prince has been trying to track out, at this point, an exit. He was originally aiming to retrace his steps but, he found that it was practically impossible to find their trail at this point. For food, he has been eating anything he could find lingering along the walls and holes of the caverns. Mostly kelp to put it simply. During this time though, he's been extremely worried for Zane and his family back at home. Knowing them, they've made a whole search party for him. Blaze and Laurance are going to have his head, Lucinda was going to ask a million questions about how he was doing and what he was thinking, and his father would never let him out of his sight again. The blonde could only imagine the lecture Zane might've received already at home without him there to support him.

"I'm so sorry Zane...", Garroth sighed, taking a break to eat again. Night was returning again, his freckles and scales glowing as the darkness started to encapsulate the caves. This worried him knowing that there was a low chance of him finding a way until dawn. "Another day wasted." 

He started to find a place to rest for the night but, while doing so, he saw that there was a ray of light coming from the ceiling. His heart did a flip in his chest as the feeling of hope washed through him. He swam as quickly as he could to the ray and when he reached it, he smiled from ear to ear. The hole was big enough for him to slip through it...barely but, he could. As he slipped his way through, excitement grew. 

"Yes! I'm finally out!", He cheered. Yet, that excitement was tarnished a bit. As he looked around, he didn't recognized a thing. The land was flat and even the fish was different. They weren't as bright and colorful like the ones back at home. He took a deep breath, not wanting to freak out at that moment. It would just make things worse. "Okay..just start getting a sense of direction." 

He gripped the sword on his hip a little tighter as a sense of security and started to explore the area. The moment was interrupted though when he saw from the corner of his eye a school of fish were caught in a net. Looking up he saw the bottom outline of a boat. He's only heard of them in stories, never seen one in person. His father and mentors always warned him about them. How their nets and strings could harm him and other sea creatures. But, he couldn't just float there and watch as this school of fish got whisked away. He swam over quickly and drew his sword. Once he was close enough, he used the blade to cut open the netting. 

"You're free! Go!", He shouted and the fish rushed off. As he began to make his escape, he saw that the end of his tail was caught in the netting. Panicked, he tried his best to free himself except the blade of his sword was too big to cut the net without hurting himself. Instead, he started to cut away at the large ropes that were pulling the net up. It seemed that when he cut one, another two appeared. 

He was probably a few feet from above the surface when he was finally loose. Thankfully with the weight of the netting he was able to quickly make his way back down. When he reached the sandy floor, he looked back up to see the outline of humans looking down. He heard their distant voices wondering why the net somehow got away. He sighed in relief. He was so close to being caught. The secret being revealed. 
He kept thinking about that situation as he tried to untangle himself. Once his tail was released, he saw that burns had appeared where the rope was rubbing against him. 

"Perfect.." 

In pain and irritation, he moved forward. But, his mind kept going back to the boat. The thought of humans should've frightened him but, curiosity overpowered it. He wondered what they looked like, what they sounded like...
He turned back and, at considerable distance, he made his way to the surface to catch a peak. He stopped before reaching the surface. This was wrong...he knew it. If his father ever found out, he would be furious but, he wanted to know. He wanted to do this. For himself. Something was calling him to do it. He didn't know why but, it felt like he had to. So, he did. 

When he broke the barrier, the cold hit him instantly. Hair was stuck to his forehead which was an unfamiliar feeling to him. When he moved it aside, his skin was being nipped by the breeze that was hitting him gently. A smile came to him as he was overfilled with joy. He was feeling something that no one like him had felt in so long. The air. It was beautiful to him. It felt amazing to have it fill his lungs. It felt so much different than the water. The world he grew to know was bigger now. What brought him true beauty though were the colors of the sky. There was an array of different oranges, pinks,  and purples as the sun was going down. It was so drastically different than the image of coral that he thought was colorful. The sun though, was so bright and warm even as it was only half of it. It caused the prince to theorize what it was like when it was all the way up in the sky. The cawing of the birds were music to his ears. The animals he was used to were silent under the waves. He wasn't used to it to say the least. 

"It's breath-taking..", He muttered to himself. 

As Garroth took in everything he could, he saw the boat from eariler off in the distance. It was heading west and he was intrigued on where it was going. Home? As he squinted his eyes towards that direction he saw something even more mind blowing to him. Land. The idea of rocks that were always dry amazed him and the urge to go see it was hard to push away. 

But, he did. Garroth knew if he went, it only meant danger. Knowing his luck on top of it, it might be worse. So, saying goodbye to world above, he ducked his head back down. As he did so, a loud sound came. He bolted his head back up and looked around. Behind him, he saw large black clouds looming towards him. Rods of light came crashing down and the same bang followed. The nice breeze he noticed before was building up. It felt strong and picked up the water around him. A wave hit his face and as he tried to wipe away the salt water from his eyes, another one came. He went down, trying to get back to safety. Unfortunately, the current was stronger as well, pushing and tossing him around. He couldn't believe how fast the storm grew. As he broke the surface again, water only met him aggressively as if to push him back down. He noticed that the ground was starting to get closer to the surface meaning he was getting closer to land. 

"Crap!", Garroth shouted as his back hit the sand below him to only be picked up again.

He tried his best to overpower the current but, it was like it was against him. So, the best solution that he came up with was let it happen and just make sure he wasn't hitting anything that could seriously harm him. As he struggled to do so, he started to feel tired. He so grateful when he was close enough to land that he could just hold still. The cost though was that he was fully exposed to anyone who saw him. He looked around and in the pouring rain he saw no light. He was by cliffs, water hitting them instead. He was close to a small sandy beach where he assumed it would be safe to stay until the storm died down. He pulled himself towards it and when he was half-on the shore and half-in the water, he collapsed of exhaustion and fell asleep.

He didn't even feel himself being picked up. 

Word Count: 1424