They were moving so fast. So much faster than Alden. But their engines didn't have stamina. They had fuel. As long as they had fuel, they would pursue him. Panting, Alden came to a stop at a flat stone and leaned on it. They were far from the city, at least. Far from Athena. His chest burned, and he wanted to keep going, but he couldn't. Looking back at the red vehicle, he started to turn and raise his hand. Something, however, burst from the machine, and attacked him, grabbing his tail and pinning him right to the stone. Alden let out a shocked cry, but didn't dare move his tail for fear of damaging it. Then he wouldn't be able to swim right, and the fin would never grow back. As the submarine drifted over him, Alden gasped, lowering himself as a compartment opened, and something descended. A net, thicker than what the merfolk used to catch their food. It entangled him, and Alden reached up, trying to find the opening.

The huge, metal thing ceased its constant beeping, and suddenly, Alden was enclosed. Darkness... Darkness filled his vision, and for a moment, the water was still. Then his world shook violently, and he felt himself being raised. The stabbing pain in his tail stopped suddenly, and a light flickered on above him. It wasn't like the sun. It was glaring, harsh, and forced him to close his eyes. Then the world stopped moving. He looked down, ahead of him. Humans. They were oddly distorted, and as he finally ripped the net off his head, Alden moved forward, but hit a barrier. Glass. He was in a tank. Staring around, he found that some of the sand and a bit of seaweed had come up with him, and littered a cold white-blue floor. The place looked like an egg with a window that allowed the humans to gawk in at him. As he pressed his hands against the glass, one of them ran off.

"Hey!" Alden tried to call to them, but his voice seemed oddly muted. "Hey, what are you doing here?" They didn't seem to hear him. As though the place were... soundproof? The vessel lurched, and Alden felt as though he were moving without having to work. A bubble system flushed on, moving the water and oxygenating it.

Alden's insides felt twisted and turned over as the submarine twisted out of sight. It was as if they were following a path they'd already laid out, and if they were to be followed by undesirables, they would be lost quickly. He felt the world tilt left, then right, and from the window above his prison, around the circular light that kept him illuminated, he saw stone pass now and then. As though they were moving through tiny cave-like areas.

The sub shuddered for a moment, and he suddenly felt himself rising. The sensation was horrifying, since he couldn't control it, and it was as though his world had left him behind, all semblance of order shot into oblivion. Panic rising, he moved about, twisting his tail around him and hitting the window. A couple on the other side of the glass glanced his way, but as the sub shuddered yet again, they stood from their places and went around to a door, which opened.

Someone new came in. He was large, square, and the expression on his rather distorted face was of seriousness, which as he approached Alden, became one of shock and awe. Turning to one of them, he thumbed at Alden and pointed to the ceiling of the other side of the glass. As he watched, something started clouding his vision. It was light purple, and began to spread as Alden moved back quickly. "What...?" He waved it away, but it hit the glass and came back at him. Breathing it in involuntarily, he tried to cough it back out, but it constricted his chest, as though putting him to sleep without his wanting to. The water became heavy, thick. Gasping, he went back to the glass and tried to pound on it, but couldn't find the strength. He fell, and closed his eyes on the gawking faces.

He woke with a gasp, a flop as though he were a fish out of water. In fact, he was out of water. Only slightly. Blinking to focus his eyes, Alden lifted himself up and looked around. Now the egg he'd been in was clear all around. Lights were on above him, but the tank he was in now was topped. He was on a sand-dusted platform right above a tank of clear water, but he was focused more on his surroundings outside that. The lid above him let his voice echo as he tried to speak, glaring at the humans in attendance. His hair was plastered to him, his jewelry gone. Without them he couldn't hone his power, couldn't do anything. Feeling lightheaded and weak, Alden pushed himself into the water below and was immediately reawakened. But the water was so still. So... clean. He felt uneasy in it. Swimming around the area, which was rather large, he passed many people. They all wore the same thing, and now he couldn't see the sun. He was in a building.

A holding tank.

Men and women stood around him, writing on their little clipboards and conversing with one another, though he couldn't hear them. Just like they couldn't hear him. Rage built up in his stomach---Alden lunged forward, smashing into the side of the tank. "You've ruined the entire race!" He yelled, voice echoing up and out of the water. "You've disrupted the entire ecosystem of the city, the towns and villages, every smaller kingdom! You humans, you human bastards! Give me my things back, you thieves, you killers, murderers, vagrants!" He balled up his fists and pounded the glass, but it wouldn't give. The humans seemed a bit riled, though, and huddled together, comparing what they had written. Alden backed away. He was caught. Caught. What would the others do? Lorett.

Guai.

Diana.

The city...

Today, Alden couldn’t move. His tail was sore, and from time to time, lost scales. Recently he’d requested to be moved to a larger tank, one he could actually move about in, and his captors had done as asked. Only a week ago he’d revealed he could speak English perfectly fine, and that had certainly shocked them all. He’d been put through many intelligence tests using underwater technology, comparing shapes, understanding words, animals, or simple things. Of course he did these without a word, but they were easy on the body. Then they put him through rigorous testing of stamina, strength, speed. One after the other, he was forced to lift weights of various sizes, swim in powerful currents, and was constantly approached to be tested, have blood drawn, hair samples, and each time he was semi-conscious in case he fought back.

Since he’d revealed he could speak, the tests had only become harder. His new home was very, very large, but still claustrophobically little, and now his observers and the researchers had gathered enough confidence to dive into the water with him. But that only forced harder tests, which left him so fatigued he couldn’t even move. Often he was lying on a mound of sand that had been brought in to cover the hard floor of his tank, and sometimes he thought he could see flashes of cameras as a select number of spectators were allowed in to see him. The little ones pounded the glass unchecked, and older ones tapped with their fingers. The incessant noise made him want to scream, but he wouldn’t dare reveal that he could speak to these people. The only thing he could be grateful for was that his captors hadn’t told these gawkers he knew English.

Forcing his arm up, Alden hid his eyes from the light above. He was glad that the water was around him to hide his frustrated, angry tears. He was trapped forever, it seemed. And these people wouldn’t stop testing him until they ran him to death. What of the kingdom? He hoped Guai could take care of things while he was away. Guai, though, knew only how to advise on ideas brought to him, not make them up himself. And Diana and Athena? He was sure Athena made it back to the city. Was sure that he’d ceased searches in the area. After all, a lone merman in the middle of the ocean didn’t lead anywhere. He could be a nomad, or the only one. Though he’d refused to answer questions presented by the researchers. He just couldn’t think anymore.

The water vibrated as the doors across the room opened, then closed, followed by the voice of what he assumed was some head researcher, the one that was always there when he was put through a test or talked to. He was a middle aged man so Alden could determine, a few sprigs of gray around the dark brown nest around his ears. And who was beside the guide? A young lady with blue hair. Blue hair... And those eyes. Dark. Dark blue. Her face was so familiar. Alden shook his head. Couldn’t be her. But then... That face was too similar to Diana’s.

Gritting his teeth, Alden managed to raise himself up and go to the surface as the head researcher and tour guide led the way up to a scaffold that encircled the tank’s edge. “Alden.” The researcher, who had introduced himself one day as ‘Mark’, crouched down. “This is Diana. She’s here to spend time with you. She’ll be evaluating your mind, your personality, and various other things.”

“Why don’t I just tell you what I think?” Alden said venomously. “I wouldn’t dare hold back!” He dove back down, making it a point to flick water specifically at Mark, and he did so. His tail was in pain, his shoulders and stomach, but Alden could always find a moment to make their ‘job’ a little harder. This fake world of misplaced water, trapped fish and plants, all drifting around in a semi-content and slightly mindless state. It was horrible to see...

Alden hated himself. Hated himself for acting like that around Diana. The Diana he knew. He knew her well, there was just no mistaking her eyes. After all, one's eyes expressed so much, regardless of what the person or creature wanted to show. He watched Mark as he went down the scaffold and through a door somewhere beyond a series of aquariums along the walls. He'd had to deal with Mark for ages, it seemed. Ages. A man that just didn't understand the ways of the merfolk, didn't understand that the balance of the kingdom and its underlying cities, other branching kingdoms, and life in general in the ocean would be severely disrupted by the altercation of the main kingdom's royal family. Though there were no others in Alden's family line, he and others before him had the power to assign and lift other, trusted friends to power should something happen. He'd intended to tell Loretti that she'd be next. Then after her, Diana. After all, Loretti had spent most of her life within the palace. She'd learned from the best. And Diana... Well, she had shown how well she could adapt, if pushed a little. And now she was here.

Alden lifted himself back to the surface, painfully drifting toward where she sat scribbling and pondering. She was here. He should have known she'd show up. She was definitely persistent, and Alden had to commend her on that. It was something any great leader should have within them. Usually he used his arms to help gain speed. But now they were almost dead. He really had to force them up to the lip of the tank. “Hey there, Diana.” He muttered, and leaned against the tank. “Feels like it's been years. But I guess I stopped counting after the fifth day, so everything just... just melded into one another. I can never tell when it's day, when it's night. You have no idea how glad I am to see you. Is your sister okay? I never saw if she got away.” He closed his eyes. So tired. Usually he'd be run all day long. Before Diana had been brought in, he'd had to endure more physicals. Including one that tested his ability to adapt to heat and cold throughout the water. That had been... new.

Alden’s joints tried to scream at him as he kept himself on the side of the tank. He shuddered. “It’s okay, Diana. I figured you two could put something together. I just... I can’t think anymore. I could have... I could have done something. A long time ago. It’s as if the researchers are trying to keep me... weak. Weak, so I don’t fight back too much. If anything, you have to tell them to stop testing me. I can’t take it. I’m too tired...” He breathed hard. His arms wanted to let go.

Gritting his teeth, Alden pulled himself up a little more. “I’ve never made a friend with anyone as quickly as I have with you.” He admitted almost breathlessly. “It’s a great pleasure to know someone like you, Diana. I just hope things can become relatively normal again, someday soon. I have some things to tell you, I just can’t here.” His shoulders gave out, and he finally drifted back down under the water. He picked up his tail a bit, but only enough to be able to move to the bed of sand he’d been given a few days after his capture. He’d never, ever felt so weak. The vulnerability was insulting, and a bit unnerving. He wanted to go back home. See Guai and Loretti and his people and visit his parents’ graves. He even wanted to take on the guise of a human, but couldn’t because his golden items were taken. Even the one Diana had made for him.

Guai was tired. He hadn’t slept well in a week. He had never been in the role of leader, and now, he had little choice. Loretti was focusing on the ill, those that had fallen to a virus not long after Alden’s vanishing. The human presence was gone now, and Alden, Diana, and Athena, her sister, as well. Either Alden had been caught and the sisters were searching for him, or it was the other way around. Guai disliked the idea of any negative outcome. And if they were all captured... He shook his head, leaving his room in a bad mood. He couldn’t focus...

Loretti approached from the hall to his left. “Father, another’s fallen ill. A child.”

“Take them on, I’ll be there in a moment.”

Loretti paused, studying her father’s face. He seemed to have aged decades in just a few weeks. “Okay.” She spun and took off, flitting out of sight in a moment. Guai hung suspended in the still water for a moment, watching the clear pipes along the walls deliver warming magma to each room in the palace. None had died yet from their illness, but now it was beginning to attack the young. He didn’t know how much longer the first group could fight.

“Guai!” Tevin appeared suddenly, coming from the direction Loretti had gone. “A couple patrols came across several bottles floating near the city, along the surface. Two of them are too faded to read, but the third is... recent. We couldn’t bring them down---the ink wanted to run once they hit water.”

“What do they say?”

“Well... Alden is alive, and being kept in a surface city by the shoreline.”

Guai’s tired eyes widened. “What? Where?”

“They give specific coordinates to the beach, a secluded place we can meet the messenger, the sister of Diana.”

“They’re all alive...” His voice was low, but still carried. “We have to meet her.”

“Shall I gather a party?”

“No.” Guai went past Tevin. “Only you. When Loretti is free, tell her to come to the city’s front entrance, and let the guards know we’re leaving, and bringing Alden back as soon as possible.”

“Yessir.” Tevin turned and almost ran into another guard as he fled through the hall. “GUAI.” He yelled involuntarily. “Guai, the nearby kingdom. They’re threatening attack, saying that we’ve broken order---”

“Keep watch on them.” Guai turned to face the guard. “Lorett and I are going to find Alden.”

“You know where he is?” The guard grew wide-eyed.

“Yes. I don’t know how long it’ll take, so keep everyone calm. I want you to be in charge for now.” He lifted one of the few gemmed necklaces off and handed it over. “This is my gift to you until we return, until we bring Alden and the others back.” He nodded, something that was returned by the guard, and he swam away. They were finally getting somewhere...

Alden's joints were more sore today than they had ever been. Now he couldn't even allow himself to float up to the surface of the tank. When someone went by that wasn't Diana, he flinched away and hid his face. He kept losing scales. Now the bed of still sand was littered with his scales, which flaked off as he became more stressed and lethargic. What other creatures went through this type of humiliation? He'd heard of zoos. These humans didn't respect life. They stole rare and beautiful creatures from their native lands and put them in shoddy representations of where they lived, or caged them entirely, like they had Alden himself. Some, like Alden, were also put through these endurance tests, which he'd started rejecting fully. No one dared lift him out of the tank on their own, so he'd gotten away with it.

Of course no one would listen to him should he say he wouldn't be able to do something. Perhaps they took him as a child. Perhaps they didn't understand what he'd said when he noted his true age. Or they just didn't believe him... He could almost see his parents---they had never been captured in all their lives. They'd never even allowed themselves to be glimpsed. Now he felt like a failure alongside a useless excuse for a merman. What good would he do his kingdom? What right did he have to call the kingdom his? He was a disgrace to his family, to his parents. They would probably turn their backs and shake their heads and sigh in disappointment. The thought brought tears to his eyes that no one could see underwater. “Sorry...” He whispered, draping his arms over his head. “I could have done better.”

Frustration, fatigue, and anger at himself and his keepers sent Alden into a useless spin of wordless showmanship. He'd resulted to banging his head slowly on his side of the tank, in a constant, heart-beat pattern, ignoring words to stop, to cease, to calm down. All he could hear was the thud of the hit, the slight jar of his skull resounding under hair and skin. He'd hoped to feel a bit more at ease when Diana was around, knowing she and Athena, perhaps the others, would be helping in some way, but now he just felt useless. And seeing Diana so detached had... cut his heart out of his chest, in a way. Now he only felt cold, as if someone had filled his ribcage with ice from the Arctic oceans far, far away.

Now all he could hear were the combined voices of his mother and his father. "What kind of son did we have? One that is so quickly, so flawlessly snatched up by the threat of humanity? Trusting himself to such a length? A failure! A disgrace to the royal bloodline! Neptune and Poseidon should be shaking their heads in disappointment!" He gritted his teeth, banging his head a little harder without realizing it. "Alden! You little fool, perhaps we should have had a second child? One that would not go out searching for one, single mermaid when an entire city, an entire kingdom and outlying colonies rely on you, solely on you!"

He reared back, hitting his temple once more and feeling a sharp pain suddenly scream through his head. He was alone, so no one saw him fall onto the stagnant bed of sand with wide eyes staring at the fish on the other side of the room. He watched for a moment as the white angelfish flitted away, then closed his eyes. This was their plan. To weaken him so he wouldn't even think about escaping, or using his power, or somehow becoming human. Now all he wanted was to be a human. That was all he wanted now. To become human and run away, perhaps go back to his mother, his father, apologize to them for his insolence. His stupidity. Apologize to Diana and give the throne to someone who, perhaps, weren't so foolish as he. Alden closed his eyes. Suddenly he felt so... detached...

They periodically dumped powder into the water that was almost constantly circulating out of his new, slightly narrower tank. It dissolved quickly, tinting the water a slight greenish-blue and gave it the slight taste of some type of metal and limestone mix. Alden was able to move, but not much, so he resigned himself to lying limply on the soft, non-sand bed that the tank had been padded with. This time he wasn’t able to be observed from more than a few narrow windows, as the entire tank had been padded the same way to avoid another self-inflicted injury. The lights above the tank was pale blue now, easy on the eyes, but he couldn’t look up. His head was in desperate pain, and they had sedated him to make it easier to patch the wound on his head.

He was still groggy. Whatever they had shot him with had only recently worn off, and he had a feeling whatever they were mixing with the tank water every several hours was there to help keep him unwilling to go about repeating what he’d done before. And he didn’t feel like moving enough to do so. He could probably go up to the surface and try to pull himself up and out of the tank, just to see what they’d do. He felt as though he were close to death anyway. A swift current suddenly picked up and a powerful sucking sound gave way to a cooler current that signaled the circulation of the tank’s water, and Alden could hear voices outside the opaque walls. He closed his eyes, but still listened. A slight, even thudding suddenly came through, and a voice: “You’ll be outta there soon.”

Loretti and Tevin followed as Guai stepped forward. “Perhaps it’d be best to go to your house first, Athena. I feel we’d do better if we took a while to get our minds on the right track and catch up. But I swear, Athena, I don’t know what this illness is. It’s not written in any old texts, and the symptoms are all reminiscent of a combination of things, each unrelated.” He shook his head. “It begins with muscle aches, around the shoulders and neck and often in the tail joints. Then headaches, partial blindness and a lethargic behavior that doesn’t allow one to travel far. After that the fever sets in, and skin lesions that resemble burns and shedding scales.”

“It doesn’t seem to be spread through contact.” Tevin said at last. “It’s randomized, popping up in all the villages around the kingdom and now, the city itself. We’ve even heard of far-off towns and cities beginning to come down with this same illness. Eventually the fever becomes deadly if we can’t get it under control.”

“It started two weeks ago.” Loretti added, and almost stumbled a bit as they left the cove. Her knees were still a bit weak. “So far four people have died, two children among them. We have a feeling it has to do with Alden’s vanishing from the sea, but Guai wants to see it from a more... logical point.”

Guai nodded. “I’m sure it’s got something to do with the humans themselves. Perhaps their pollution so close to the cities... I just don’t know.” He sighed. “But we have to put everyone’s mind at ease, and the best way to do that is to get Alden back, and you and Diana.”

Guai nodded. “No on in the city has been able to research modern human pollution manners. Since Diana has first-hand knowledge and ability, I’m sure she’ll already know enough.”

Tavi looked to Guai. “And no doubt we’ll be able to find our own information too. I hear it’s extremely easy to find out just about anything you’d need to know about modern human society.”

Loretti smiled a bit, and looked up to Athena, accepting her hand and pulling herself up as the boys climbed up themselves. “Sweetie, I hope you don’t blame yourself.” She said, recognizing the apologetic look on the younger mermaid’s face. “It’s not your fault---not many in the city knew just how close the human threat was, and that was for good reason. We just didn’t want to cause worry or panic. Hm... I suppose that’s not of concern anymore.” She added regretfully.

Guai stepped forward. “Athena, do you know when we’ll be able to get close to Alden? Or if there’s even a way to do so? I... have the horrible feeling there’s something wrong with him.” He put a hand to his chest, willing away the pulling, empty sensation that overcame him when he spoke Alden’s name.