People asked me to do a sequel and while I don't want to write a huge multi-chapter sequel, I did have some stories in my head that needed to get out sooner or later. It's only going to be just two chapters.

It had been many weeks since the horrible storm that happened during the festival and since then the ocean had been calm, which was almost a record. Boats were free to be out on the ocean without fear of another storm happening, though some owners were still not convinced and were on high alert.

It had also been five days since the prince and princess of the kingdom upon the surface received a letter from the king under the ocean that also contained the only means to visit the underwater kingdom. It had taken some persuading with their father to be allowed to go, but he gave in and it was at a specific location at the base of the hill where his castle resided upon that they waited upon the rocks by the water.

Nearly half an hour later, a familiar figure emerged from the depths of the ocean and he found himself staring up at the king of the surface kingdom for the second time in his life.

Mason locked eyes with Benjamin and tightened his grip on the shoulders of his children–he did not forget what happened last time and he was still cautious of the mershark.

"Hi there." Lisa shyly, yet awkwardly waved at him. "Uh, nice to see you again."

"Thanks for letting us go visit." Billy tightened his hold on his bag.

Benjamin had no clue how to respond besides an awkward wave, though somewhere deep inside him a very small part was happy to see the two once more.

"I trust my children will return to me unharmed, yes?" Mason demanded to Benjamin. "I'm giving you one chance."

Benjamin flinched at this. "Yeah, I already told them that I don't want to have to deal with them getting captured again."

Mason scowled a little at this, but then he sighed and knelt beside Lisa and Billy. He gave them both a hug. "I'll watch for a little longer." He told them.

Both children nodded in understanding, then Lisa turned around and jumped into the water and her brother followed suit seconds later.

One part of Benjamin wanted to carry the both of them while the other was not comfortable with this as they came closer to him. The first part won over and both children found themselves getting scooped up and held against him with one arm while the other was used to swim as far out to the ocean as possible.

"So, I know it's supposed to be painful." Billy took a red bracelet out and examined it. "But I don't think dad'll want to see that. You can just take us as far as you can–uh, no need to do anything else."

"What do you mean 'anything else?'" Benjamin asked.

"He means you don't need to kiss us like you did with Edith." Lisa bluntly told him. This caused him to let go of them and he let out a series of strange stammering noises that were incredible to listen to. It was hard for the children to believe that this was once the same monster that almost took their friends away and while he was horrible looking back then, he just looked silly now. He finally recovered and scooped them back up, and all the while he began to grumble incoherent words as he resumed taking them out.

He didn't notice them looking carefully at him. They tried to look in his eyes to see if there was any trace of the other version of him that they knew the most–the one who was the complete opposite of him.

"By the way," Lisa spoke up after awhile. "I'm glad you're back to normal again."

Benjamin nearly froze at this and stared at the two. He had no clue what to say to that–it wasn't something he was always ready to be open about.

"This is fine." Billy turned to see that they were quite a ways away from Mason and they could barely see him. Lisa took her bracelet out and Billy nervously stared at his–he saw first hand what the change was like for someone and he knew it was going to be like that for him and Lisa. He took a deep breath and put it on, and Lisa followed suit.

What followed was an immense pain in the lower halves of both children and while Billy grabbed onto Benjamin's arm and ended up digging his nails into the adult's flesh, Lisa began to sink into the ocean and without even thinking twice, Benjamin grabbed the child and hugged her against him before she could accidentally drown. He was forced to watch both children try so hard to not scream as they tightened their hold on him.

The sympathetic side that had been lost to him for ten years agonized over this and wanted to take away their pain. He knew what they were going through... The boys went through this almost every day because of him–

Don't think about that.

They were so tiny–tiny trembling figures in his huge grasp–but soon they calmed down and ceased their shaking. "Hey, are you alright?" He asked them.

"I didn't think it would hurt so much." Billy whimpered. "Is that what George and Harold had to go through all the time?"

They were going to have a new reason to hate him, weren't they? "I guess, but..." Benjamin looked at them when they looked at him. "At least your teeth don't change like mine do." He let out a weak laugh and an awkward smile that revealed the shark-like teeth. It was a bad attempt to reassure them and he knew it–they weren't laughing.

"I want to see!" Lisa moved away from Benjamin and he watched as the two sank into the water–curious to see how they looked now.

This is so stupid. These kids should be afraid of me, not the other way around.

I want to show them everything!

It was easier when I didn't have to deal with this.

George and Harold will be happy to see them again! Wait a minute, I promised to keep an eye on them!

Benjamin sank into the water to see the newly transformed children, who were both laughing with delight as they embraced the changes and their newfound ability to breathe under water. The young princess now had a tail of a combination of brilliant red, yellow, and orange, and blue, while her brother's was silver with traces of yellow, orange, and black. Billy had already taken his shirt off at some point, but Lisa firmly kept her's on, which was flaring up a little under the water.

"Hey I don't need these anymore!" Billy took his glasses off and stared at them in surprise.

"This is amazing!" Lisa squealed with delight. She turned to the adult and tried to swim to him, but her body didn't respond as it normally should have and all she could do was wiggle in place and flail her arms around. "Uh," She now had an embarrassed grimace. "Maybe not that part." She nervously looked at Benjamin. "Um, could you teach us how to swim please? We don't really know how. At least not like this." Even her brother gave him a pleading look.

The compassionate side won over once more and Benjamin held his hand out. "Yeah, I guess it would look weird if you weren't swimming like everyone else."

The lesson was quick, though he still had to keep a hold on the two upon returning to the kingdom since it was still difficult for them to swim long distance and they had as much grace as an awkward crab that kept walking sideways. Eventually they came upon the kingdom and Benjamin watched from the corner of his eye as the two stared in awe at the place and absorbed everything they could. How could they see such a mundane place as if it were the most wonderful place in the world? Then again this was a places of fairy tales to most human children. It made him wonder if that was how he looked when he came into their world, and once again that small part of him buried deep within was delighted and wanted to show them everything. He had to force it down because he knew that he couldn't exactly do that and so he took them to the castle.

He let go of the two when he got close enough and lead them in. He ignored the curious eyes of the staff and visitors who were wondering who the heck the two children were and why were they with the king without appearing afraid or uncomfortable around him–some of them gave him distrustful looks while others found the children staring right back at them. Eventually he came upon who he was looking for–both Grace and Moses were discussing things in the throne room. He coughed to get their attention and they turned to face him.

"Um, look you're among the only few who'll keep their mouths shut about this." Benjamin began before gesturing to Lisa and Billy. "These two are the children of the king from the surface world."

The two adults stared at the children in confusion at first, but when they saw the bracelets upon their wrists, they were stunned. "You actually gave them those bracelets?" Grace asked. "I thought you had those–"

"Look, I don't know how exactly to make things easier between our kingdom and theirs, but they're the only two I can trust to represent the surface. Also, they know your sons."

Billy gasped at this, as did Lisa. "You're George and Harold's–?" He began and then it hit the parents as to who the two children were. In fact, he could easily see the resemblance between both adults and their respective sons.

"It's such a pleasure to meet you at last." Grace smiled back at the boy.

"We owe you and your father for watching over the boys." Moses also smiled. "They've talked a lot about your world, but especially about you two. You've meant a lot to them, Your Highnesses."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you too!" Lisa smiled. "You can just call us Lisa and Billy. No need to be formal... uh, Mrs. Hutchins and Mr. Beard?"

"Of course." Grace chuckled a little. "In fact, have you had a chance to visit them yet?" When they both shook their heads, she held her hands out. "Well perhaps I can take you to the school myself–unless–" she looked up at her king. "Unless someone else wanted to go if they weren't busy?"

A part of Benjamin was screaming at him to do it–to reunite the friends once more and see their reactions–but then something was triggered in his memories. Children cowering in fear at him–losing all control as he yelled at those girls before turning his anger on the boys–the yelling, the threats, the–

To Lisa and Billy's confusion, the mershark looked like he was going to be ill and he quickly swam away from them and went elsewhere.

"What was that all about?" Billy asked a concerned Grace and Moses.

Moses let out a sigh. "It's probably not our business to talk about it."

"So this is a school for merchildren." Lisa glanced around in awe. It wasn't anything like the school she and Billy went to, but it was noticeably a bit more bare in comparison to theirs–there wasn't as many artwork or trophies on display for one thing. "I didn't think they'd have schools for merfolk at all."

"George and Harold said they went to a school, remember?" Billy replied before frowning. "Or at least I think they said so."

"Well, we got to keep looking for them." Lisa looked at the doors. "Now which one was it again?"

Meanwhile in the room in question, George and Harold were trying and failing to listen to another history lesson from Ribble and they were bored out of their minds. They shot each other knowing looks as they waited for the moment that freedom could be delivered so that they could hurry off to make comic books. Despite all the danger they had to endure during their adventure to the surface awhile ago, the merorca and the merdolphin still preferred it to the never ending boredom that was the classroom.

"Ugh," Harold ended up smacking his face into the desk, causing other kids to look back at him.

George hummed as he looked at Ribble and pretended that her hair was made out of seaweed for ugly looking fish to swim through. It made him smirk a little, but it wasn't helping his creative juices for his brain.

The door opened, causing some kids to turn their heads to see two young merchildren that they had never seen before. This caused Ribble to stop mid-lecture and turn to them with a sharp "Hey, can't you see we're busy right now?"

"Uh, is George and Harold here?" Billy finally asked as Lisa turned her head to see the two.

At that exact moment, both boys looked up and when they saw Lisa and Billy, they froze and dropped their jaws in shock.

"Hi!" Lisa waved before Ribble could make a retort.

In the span of about three seconds, both the merdolphin and merorca lit up with joy, torpedoed their way through the room, and crashed into the royal siblings with huge embraces ready for them.

"It's you!" Harold grinned as he tightly hugged Billy.

"You're here!" George laughed as he nearly squeezed Lisa to death.

"Hey, now's not the time to hang out with classmates!" Ribble snapped, but she went ignored as the young ones reunited.

"It's so good to see you again!" Lisa cried as she hugged George back.

"We missed you so much!" Billy told Harold. "You have no idea how much we wanted to see you again!"

"Did you hear me?!" Ribble demanded as the others grew increasingly confused. Who were the other two merchildren that the boys seemed to know?

"Wait a minute." It then hit the boys as George said it first. "How are you down–?!" He let go of Lisa and looked her over again as Harold did the same with Billy. When they saw the obvious physical signs that something was completely different about their appearances, they were stunned. The expressions on their face of wide eyes and open mouths were almost amusing as the realization kicked in.

"How–?" Harold stammered as he pointed to Billy's tail. "How did you get a–?"

"IF YOU TWO DON'T SIT YOUR BEHINDS BACK DOWN AND IF YOU TWO DON'T GO BACK TO YOUR CLASS, I'LL DRAG YOU BACK BY YOUR TAILS MYSELF!"

When playtime came, George and Harold had many questions to ask the royal siblings, and yet they couldn't help but show them off to the other students. Even Heidi was brought over to see the two again.

"Hey guys, these are Lisa and Billy!" George gestured to the siblings, who stared in wonder at the other merchildren. "They're good friends of ours!"

"Yeah, let's show them how fun things can be under the sea!" Harold added with a grin.

"Wait a minute!" Keisha immediately recognized the siblings as did her sister. "Those are two of the human kids from up above, aren't they?!"

An awkward silence fell amongst them.

"Well yeah," Billy nervously laughed as Lisa wrung her hands. "I guess we are."

"But don't tell anyone that, ok guys?" Harold pleaded. "They want to be able to blend in and not get in trouble! We want them to be able to visit again!"

"Yeah, so don't let anyone know!" George added. "Especially Melvin!" He glanced around to see that the red head was some distance away, but he was not in hearing shot.

"That's fine." One merchild nodded his head.

"We won't tell, your Highnesses!" Kira shyly added.

"Aw, just call us Lisa and Billy!" Lisa pleaded. "None of the fancy titles, ok?"

"What's it like visiting the ocean for the first time?" One merboy asked.

"It's amazing!" Billy grinned.

"Is it easier to have legs or to have a tail?" Another asked.

"At this point I'd say legs, but we haven't been merfolk that long." Lisa admitted.

"Have George and Harold ever had to kiss you to keep you from drowning?" Heidi asked.

"EWW!" Many children were grossed out as George and Harold shuddered and stuck their tongue out while Lisa and Billy were startled.

"No, that never happened." Lisa admitted as Billy blushed. "Absolutely not!"

"Oh, well it would have been ok if they did." Heidi shrugged.

"Hey, you want to play with us?" A mergirl asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"Oh, we're still trying to learn how to–hey!" Billy found Harold pulling him by the arm towards the others.

"Come on, time to have some fun!" Harold told him.

"Yeah come on!" George grinned as he lead Lisa to the others.

Of course, they didn't stop at just the waters of the school. After school was over, George and Harold took the royal siblings to as many of their favorite places as they could.

"Go ahead and leave a message or a drawing!" The two grinned as they gestured to a rock with a bunch of graffiti, including romantic messages, silly doodles, and rude messages.

"Ok!" Lisa grinned as she and Billy took the colored algae from the boys and began to paint.

"This is amazing!" Billy laughed in delight as he held onto Serenity's dorsal fin as the others watched on.

George was a little scared of the excited smile on Harold's face as he watched the prince ride his dolphin. "Uh, hey are you ok?" Lisa asked him.

"Harold wouldn't ditch me for your brother, would he? Once he meets someone who likes dolphins, he'll never leave them alone."

Lisa looked back at Billy and Serenity. "Well, on the bright side, we won't be down here forever."

"Oh how pretty!" Lisa cooed at the beautiful colorful flowers that swayed in the water while the boys looked at things that were less girly and more of their liking nearby (which was actually some pretty ugly looking fish). "Oh!" Lisa gasped as a seahorse swam her way. "Oh, you're so cute!" She squealed, but didn't dare get to close.

The seas horse drifted close to her and, before she knew it, it lightly kissed her on the cheek.

The princess couldn't take it anymore and fell over with delight. "I love being down here!" She held her cheeks as the seahorse swam off. "I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it!"

"What are we doing here?" Billy asked as they all gathered around a strange door with a sign on it.

"What do you think it is?" George asked as he and Harold snickered.

Billy and Lisa stared long and hard at the door for awhile more until it hit Billy. "You mean–is it–?!" A huge excited smile grew on his face.

"Yup, we have bathrooms down here."

Billy proceeded to rush in.

A few seconds later, there was a delighted "I KNEW IT! Wait a minute, then where does it all go?! Wait a minute... how does it all stay down?!... Wait never mind, I can see how now!"

"So that's where you found the ring?" Lisa gave the valley of rock formations a nervous look as she and the others looked down into it.

"Yeah," Harold confirmed as he and George shared a look. "Man, that was a long time ago. All we were going to do was explore this area."

"Instead we found the ring." George added.

"Then we almost became those eel's snacks."

"That whole visit changed everything!"

"Well I am not going down there!" Billy backed away. "I don't want to almost die again!"

"Yeah, neither do we." George grimaced. As if on cue, there was a roaring sound from down below.

"Let's get out of here!" Harold grabbed Billy's arm and made a swim for it, as did George with Lisa, and none of them intended on stopping.

("DANG KIDS!") The eel that saw them roared. ("THINKIN' YOU CAN JUST MESS AROUND AND BE FUNNY! NEXT TIME YOU COME BACK AS STUPID TEENAGERS TRYING TO IMPRESS YOU'RE FRIENDS, YOU'LL BE INSIDE US! AS MEALS!")

"Wow!" Lisa and Billy were impressed by the things Harold and George gathered across the years in their small grotto.

"Yep–our home away from home!" George grinned as he had an arm around Harold. "Every human thing we found always went here. We always tried to imagine what half of these things were used for." He pointed to a toilet seat. "We had no clue what that was for!" He laughed. "I can't believe we thought it was a treasure!"

"This is also where we make our comics!" Harold added as he gestured to the art and writing supplies. "We always did them in secret here, but ever since we returned, we could work on them back home now."

"We still kind of prefer working on them here. It's kind of hard to get used to the changes; it just doesn't feel right if it's anywhere but here."

"It'd be nice to read your other comics!" Billy noticed a comic on a shelf and picked it up. "I still can't believe you guys have special paper to use under water!"

For a good half hour, the boys shared their stories about their findings to the siblings, which each story having its own unique twists and turns, as they allowed the two to look and play with everything.

At one point, Lisa was looking through the comics when something caught her eye–a drawing of a familiar adult in just a cape and underpants. It looked very recent and she picked it up to quietly examine it–carefully tracing his outlines with her fingers–as the boys chatted with Billy over one of their comics. The huge, eager smile he had was all too painfully familiar.

"You really miss him." They turned to see her lifting up the drawing of Captain Underpants as she save them a knowing, yet sad look.

The excitement in George and Harold's eyes faded as Billy looked at them and quickly understood what was going on. One look at the drawing and all they could think of was the strange, yet funny adult who was also so sweet and quick to protect them when they needed it.

"Yeah," George quietly admitted. "We do."

"Well, he's still here in a way," Harold added. "It's just... not the same."

"It's better that Kr–that Benjamin is whole again and all." George corrected himself. "Sometimes he comes out a bit, but not always. Not enough." He sighed as he remembered that hug from before, when Benjamin was trying to reach out, but then lost his courage and moved away. "When it happens, it feels like him, but it's not."

"We're trying to accept him as he is now." George added. "But..." His voice trailed off.

"Well there's got to be a way to try to make it right." Billy told them as Lisa thought. "There's got to be something that you can do with him, right?"

"Actually..." Lisa noticed the flyer for the boardwalk as it reminded her of something. "There is something you should do for him. And we can help you."

Benjamin stared at the small red ring in his hand as he sat on his bed. Out of habit, he wanted some alone time, so he once again ditched the adornments and toupee and just stared at the ring in his hand.

To think that such a simple thing had been both a final reminder of the last time he was truly happy as well as his own prison. What could of happened if he hadn't have locked those emotions away? How could he have known that he would of accidentally created second version of himself?

If he hadn't, maybe he wouldn't have dreaded going anywhere near that school again.

Why did he suddenly get so sick at the mere memory of that day? It never did before–there was a time he took more than just satisfaction in it– then suddenly the sickness grew, even though he wasn't seriously ill. Something that once made him overwhelmed with happy relief now made him feel disgusted with himself.

How could you?! A voice howled inside his head when he remembered earlier. How could you do that to them?! Then without warning, something inside him forced him remember something that was both a past memory and yet the memory of another.

"He was yelling at us and told us our comics were a waste of time, and then he ripped it up in our faces." George recalled and Harold flinched in his hold, on that night they finally revealed what their secret mission was. "He was so awful–all the kids were terrified of him. We couldn't do anything or say anything ourselves–we were terrified and it was–" The boy took a deep breath as he himself felt his anger steadily rising at whoever this king was that put the two through so much. "It was the worst moment of our lives."

He couldn't go back to that school. Not when he had that memory firmly tied to it.

This was one of the reasons why he hated being whole again–he hated the immense feeling of guilt and anger directed at himself. Every day since he allowed himself to become whole, he always had something to feel guilty about. At least he didn't have to care when he was–

"Hi!" George waved as he and Harold were positioned right in front of Benjamin.

The surprised adult let out a terrific scream as he flung his arms back and collapsed onto his back on the bed at the unexpected appearance of the two. The moment he was able to quickly shoot back up, the merboys were greeted with a hilarious sight of their king being pale faced with terror.

"H–how–how did you–?!" Benjamin stammered as he pointed to George, then to Harold, then back again. "H–WHY ARE YOU IN MY ROOM?!" He snapped.

"You left your window open." George merely stated.

"WHAT'DYA MEAN, 'I LEFT MY WINDOW OPEN?!' HOW DID–?!"

"You left your window open!" Harold jabbed a thumb and sure enough, Lisa and Billy were hanging from an open window near the bed.

"Hi again!" Billy waved as he rested on top of Lisa.

"Don't mind us!" Lisa added. "Our arms hurt from all the swimming. Can we just rest here for a bit?"

Benjamin looked at the kids that were both in his room and almost in his room. On one hand he didn't want anyone in here (let alone children, the less pleasant side of him was reminding him). On the other, he wondered how in the heck he missed that he left a window open.

"So," George began "We actually wanted to thank you."

"Huh?" Benjamin was not expecting that. "For what?"

"For giving those bracelets to Lisa and Billy." Harold explained. "They got to see our world and we can play with them again."

"Yeah, thanks!" George grinned. "We got to have a lot of fun today."

"Well not with the part where we saw the e–OW!" Billy was lightly hit on the arm by Lisa before he could reveal the danger they got close to.

"Uh... you're welcome, I guess?" Benjamin was not used to hearing words of gratitude for him (not completely), so that part really surprised him.

"Anyway, there's another reason why we're here." Harold continued. "We want to give you a second chance–we want to help you see Edith again."

"Yeah, as a whole person." George added. "Not as a monster or as a guy in just his underwear. We want her to see the real you again–"

"–and help you get another chance to tell her how you really feel." Harold added. "No swimming away this time–you owe it to her."

At this, Benjamin froze up.

These two... wanted to help him... really?!

"That's some kind of joke, right?" He snorted. "You two think you can help me with something way beyond what you know about? Do you even know what you're saying?"

"Well we know why you split yourself up in the first place." George frowned.

"And you'd be very surprised." Harold added. "You still love her, don't you?"

Benjamin didn't respond.

It had been too long, but now he remembered why he loved her. For her kindness, her patience, her determination... for her laughter, for her voice... for those beautiful bright blue eyes he could never forget no matter how hard he could try. He wanted so badly to see her again... to hold her hand again and to feel her touch... seeing her once more for just one day wasn't enough for him.

"You mentioned something about wanting to see her again in the letter." Billy reminded him.

"You know, she said that not even the ocean would stop her from coming to see you." Harold added. "And if Lisa and Billy's bracelets somehow found their way to her..." He hinted. "Well, I'm sure she'd be happy to be down here with you too."

"Yeah, it'd be neat to see what she'd look like as a merfolk." Lisa joined in and smiled. "I bet she'd look really pretty."

The kids watched as the great mershark let that sink in. What they were not expecting was for his face to slowly turn red as his eyes widened and his mouth almost looked like a wiggly line.

"Why's he blushing?" George asked. "She'd just be down here and look like us."

Harold shrugged.

"So anyway, we were thinking that maybe we'd take you up to see her when you're ready." Billy added as Lisa (who was the only one who figured out why the adult was blushing) grinned a silly grin. This snapped Benjamin out of his thoughts.

"Wait–what–now–?! NO!" He protested and backed away.

"Oh come on, you owe her!" Lisa was frustrated. "Don't you want to see her again and–?!"

"I do! I mean–!" Benjamin tried to cover his blunder, but it was too late and he stammered. "I want–I mean I can't I–!" He mumbled something under his breath and huddled up as he crossed his arms against his chest.

"What was that?" George asked.

Benjamin mumbled a little louder as his brow furrowed.

"Sorry I–"

"I don't remember how to walk!" He finally snapped and threw his arms out. "There, happy?! You saw me humiliate myself in front of you while trying to get back to the ocean! I don't want her to see me crawling like that–!"

"Then we'll help you!" Harold promised. "It's not that hard if you have someone with you."

"Yeah, just find a moment in your schedule and we can go on up." Billy added with a smile. "Besides, don't you want a chance to go back up?"

The next day, the children, plus one grown mershark found themselves above the water when–

"Wait a minute!" Lisa panicked and looked at Benjamin. "You got something to wear when you change into a human, right?!"

"No, why?" Benjamin shot her a confused look.

It took two seconds for the kids to realize what mistake was about to be made... and two more for a very unwanted mental image to come into their minds as a result of that possible future mistake.

"NO!" George wailed and grabbed his head.

"AGH, MY EYES!" Harold screamed and held his head. "WHY WOULD YOU HAUNT ME WITH THAT PICTURE?!"

"EW, EW, EW, EW!" Lisa covered her eyes as Billy pulled a face.

"WHAT THE HECK HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU–?! Oh." It then hit Benjamin and he slapped his face at his stupidity.

Almost half an hour later, after finding a solution to prevent severe mental scarring, the kids had brought the mershark to a small cove near the beach that was hidden somewhere by the castle.

"Seriously?!" Benjamin looked around as all the kids were facing anywhere but towards him as they sat on the rocks.

"Just get it over with!" Lisa pleaded as she and her brother stayed on the rocks in their natural forms. Even George and Harold were in human forms and at the moment they wore the same human clothing they had taken with them upon returning back home after their adventure.

Benjamin sighed and put his own bracelet on.

Moments passed and through none of the children looked, they soon heard the effects of the transformation taking over the mershark. They heard him take a sharp breath of air before gasping and and letting out grunts of pain before they heard what sounded like him screaming into the water. It caused them to look as he desperately tried to stay upright in the water before lunging at the nearest rock and clinging onto it for dear life as he pressed his head against it. No matter how many times he had to go through with it, the pain within his entire body was so much and he ended up biting into his arm as he felt his teeth change.

Moments passed before he finally lost all tension in his body and slowly looked up and finally let out a sigh of relief that revealed a set of normal teeth in his mouth. Not the scary sharp teeth, but normal, blunt teeth that made him less scary and more average looking.

Benjamin finally let go–only to yelp when he found himself sinking.

"This shouldn't be too hard, right?" Lisa asked George and Harold as the adult in the water tried to flail his arms around him in a desperate attempt to stay up. "You guys went through this too."

"Yeah, but it's going to take a lot of trial and error." George admitted as Benjamin finally flung his arms around the rock and panted as he found himself able to stay upright.

"A lot of trial and error." Harold emphasized.

Moments later, they all were on a sandy part of the area. The lone adult was now dressed–or at least he was if wearing just a white shirt that remained unbuttoned and some underwear counted as being decent enough for the children to finally look at him.

"This is going to be stupid." Benjamin muttered under his breath as he tried to push himself off the ground and force his legs to straighten up, but it was all too sudden and he ended up toppling over. He tried again, but slower, and yet his legs gave away before he could lift himself up by a few inches.

It was like watching an egg with legs–you knew the thing was probably going to crack if it tried to support itself and failed one too many times.

*one minute later*

"Ok, let's try this!" George and Harold tried to pull Benjamin up on his feet as the adult tried to lift himself up–only for the adult to collapse and land in the sand.

*one minute later*

This time all four children tried to help him up and tried to get him to lean on the nearest child at his side, which happened to be Harold.

Unfortunately, not only was Harold too small too help support the much larger adult, but when he fell over, there was a scream as the boy was nearly crushed by his huge frame, causing the others to wince before they tried to roll Benjamin off of him.

*one minute later*

"Ok, why not just crawl to that rock and try again?" Billy pointed to the nearest large rock that was much bigger than any of the kids.

"I'm not going to crawl to a rock!" Benjamin snapped.

"We won't look if that makes you uncomfortable." Lisa reassured him before turning around. "See?" The adult didn't dare do anything until he saw that every child wasn't facing him before he turned around and tried to lift himself off the ground.

Benjamin grunted as he struggled to push himself and dug his feet into the sand in an attempt to stand up, when he slipped and fell, he was forced to start over again. The second time he was more successful and tried to walk around the rock with shaking legs while clinging to the rock.

Moments later, he stepped on a broken shell and there was a loud scream of pain as he lost his footing, his knees hit the rock, and he fell over into the sand as the kids winced at the sound as they quickly turned around. They learned a lot of new curse words within the next few seconds thanks to the enraged adult.

*one minute later*

"Ugh." Benjamin huffed in exhaustion as he flung his arms around the cow and tried to keep still–

"Wait a minute–a cow?!" Billy asked as the kids looked again, and sure enough, a very familiar cow somehow got on the beach.

"Why's there a cow on the beach?!" Lisa demanded. "When did the cow get here?! This doesn't make any sense!"

"Moo." The cow mooed and began to walk away, causing the adult holding onto it to slip.

"Wait, no, no, no, no–!" Benjamin frantically protested, but the cow kept going and he ended up face planting into the sand when he lost his hold on it.

*One minute later... uh... hmm...*

When this attempt was thwarted by tripping over a noticeably large sized rock, Benjamin was enraged enough to grab the rock and hurl it as far as he could.

Moments later, said rock–which had been hurled in the direction of the town–crashed through the glass window of a store, causing a nearby woman to drop her bags and scream, a young woman who was reading to flinch and stare at the window in shock, and a man ducked and screamed "OH NO, IT'S THE APOCALYPSE! I WARNED YOU ALL BUT YOU DIDN'T LISTEN!"

*One minute later–you're getting sick of this gag, aren't you?*

This time after Benjamin walked around the rock while clinging to it, he tried to force himself off of it and walked across the sand, but he only made a few steps before falling over once more.

"That's it, I'm getting sick of this!" He yelled as he looked up and slammed a fist in the sand and sent some of it flying outward in the process.

"Come on, you're getting there!" George pleaded as he and Harold hurried to try to help Benjamin up again.

"Yeah, you were able to get it once, you can do it again!" Harold tried to reassure him.

"Look, it's not going to work, ok?!" Benjamin was frustrated. "I'm not ten years younger and I'm not small like you two! I can't support myself anymore!"

"It is going to work!" George tried to promise him. "It wasn't easy for us either, but you'll get it! You just have to believe and let us–!"

"YOU THINK I'M OK WITH HUMILIATING MYSELF IN FRONT OF YOU TWO?!" The adult snapped at them as his scowl deepened. "I KNOW YOU'RE ENJOYING WATCHING THIS!"

"No we aren't!" Harold protested.

"NO, GO AHEAD AND LET IT OUT! JUST GET IT OVER WITH SO I CAN LEAVE AND FORGET THIS WHOLE THING!"

"Hey they're just trying to help you!" Lisa angrily protested as she stepped forward.

"WELL MAYBE THAT WORKED FOR THE DUMB IDIOT YOU ALL LIKE MORE, BUT I'M NOT HIM! I KNOW YOU WANT TO LAUGH OVER ME MAKING A FOOL OF MYSELF AGAIN, SO GET IT OVER WITH!" Benjamin glared as he starred down at George and Harold, daring them to laugh like they did on the pier when he had to humiliate himself in trying to capture them.

What he did not expect was for the boys to go completely quiet. Their faces fell as they looked as if someone close to them had died.

George made as if to say something, but then shook his head and grabbed Harold's hand before quickly leading him away from the adult, who was confused by the reaction.

"Should we–?" Billy quietly asked Lisa, who shook her head and walked off in another direction.

"Wait, where are you going?!" Benjamin demanded. "Why are you–?!"

"If Captain Underpants is really supposed to be a part of you, then you wouldn't have said that." Billy quietly told him. "You would have known better." He hurried after his sister as Benjamin looked from them to George and Harold. The second he saw the two boys, a strong pain that he was not prepared for shot through his heart.

"Guys, wait–!" He made to reach out to them and was about to get up, but then he stopped himself.

What was he doing?

Why was he thinking that he could ever be something he wasn't? Again?

Why was he feeling another bout of guilt that suddenly felt worse than any other time he felt it since he became whole again?

"What if this doesn't work?" George asked Harold as they wandered through the beach and turned down one direction near a cliff.

"It's been one day." Harold pointed out. "We can't just give up on him."

"I know, but what if he gives up? What if he ends up doing what he did again and we get Krupp back?" George nervously asked. "He never gave up as Captain Underpants!"

"Well then maybe we need to remind him!"

"Yeah, but what if he barely remembers? He barely remembered last time! You know how he tried to hug us! It wasn't the same!"

"If he doesn't believe us, he'll give up and he probably won't even bother seeing Edith again. He doesn't even believe in himself." Harold reminded George. "Now matter how crazy it all would have been a few months ago, we got to keep helping him."

"Yeah, but he's not believing in us anymore." George was upset. "He did, but now that–" He sighed. "I don't know. I just wish he trusted us more, but we're getting our hopes up."

The boys wandered for a bit, but little did they realize what was approaching them from behind.

"You know what?" Harold asked. "What if we tried something different? Maybe get him back in the water and have him try to–MPH?!" Before Harold could finish, a hand clamped around his mouth.

"Wait, why are we still here?" Lisa asked Billy–it turned out that they had not left the area and they were only a slight distance away from Benjamin.

"Because if dad found out we were on our own up here, he'd kill Benjamin and then ground us." Billy admitted.

Benjamin sighed as he still sat in the sand by the large rock and stared down at the bracelet. He kept telling himself he wasn't George and Harold's friend–he never was. If someone had asked him that awhile ago, he'd laugh in their face before angrily snapping at them to leave. Yet one half of him was wanting to go back to something that felt personal and not quite and wanted to try again, but he had no clue how. How could he if he had also hated them for almost their entire lives?

He lost his temper again and if he couldn't handle it now when around them then...

What if he couldn't manage it when he was with Edith? What if the other side to him won out and he went back to how he was in the last ten years? What if he couldn't truly change and he wasn't a balanced person? He didn't feel like it if the two sides of him kept fighting against each other, especially when it came to interacting with others.

"You aren't leaving those children alone while you're supposed to be watching them, are you?"

Benjamin let out a scream and flopped around in the sand at the unexpected voice. He turned around to see a woman sitting on the rock behind him–she stared at him with a thoughtful gaze in her purple eyes while her black hair was tied up into a stylish bun.

Both Lisa and Billy turned their heads in confusion and were very much surprised to see a face that they were not expecting. "Wait, isn't that–?!" Lisa gapped.

"Wh–what the–?!" Benjamin gapped at the woman.

"It's so wonderful to see you as you should be, Benjamin." She gave him a kind smile. "It took ten years for you to make the change, and in the end it was those two boys that helped you when you needed it the most."

"How do you know my–wait, who are you?!" Benjamin shot her a suspicious glare.

"I'm known as Madame Miyuki, and I know who you are, king under the ocean." She confessed. "To humans, I am but a mere fortune teller, but I don't need my powers to see that you are coming a long way from who you were these past ten years."

"So basically, you're making money lying to people."

Madame Miyuki shot him an offended look. "I wouldn't call it lying if I had revealed your past to George and Harold, including the bond you once had with your mother, your harsh upbringing, and as well as the fact that the way you met Edith was not so different to the struggles you were facing just now." She had a satisfied smirk when she saw the look of disbelief on his face. "So no, I'm not lying. I told them how it was that only they could see your other half–there was a reason only children who were good of heart could see you, Captain."

This startled him as an interest in her increased. "Wait–I'm sorry–wait I think they said that–why?" He asked. "Why children?"

"Because spirits of air are tasked with helping children. And given your view on them before these past few weeks, it's fittingly ironic." Madame Miyuki got off the rock and knelt beside Benjamin. "Especially given that a part of you was misjudging those two and was refusing to truly see them–I'm not here to start a fight with you." Madame Miyuki held up a warning finger the second she saw Benjamin flash an angry glare at her. "I want to check in with your other side–I know you're in there, and I know you're trying to mend yourself back together in both mind and spirit, but it isn't easy, isn't it?"

"I know you are struggling with letting yourself come out. Especially to those you care about. It's because of those boys that you can still love again." She smiled as she pointed at his heart. "It's because of them and the love that you are capable of giving that allowed their hero to become real. George and Harold still care about you–they cared about you as their hero and they grew to care about you as the monster, and now they care about you as who you truly are. You know they do, but you need to have a little more faith and patience. I know you've suffered and you're frustrated Benjamin, but you are doing a lot better right now. You cannot give up on yourself and certainly not on them or the others who are trying to help you."

There was a silence between the two and the only sound was that of the waves rising out towards the sands before falling back to the ocean.

"What makes you think I can be anything like him–like something I can't be anymore?" Benjamin quietly asked. "I can't just make myself not angry–"

"Don't." Madame Miyuki shook her head. "You are thinking about this the wrong way. They tried to tell you to switch it off, but they never told you to try to channel that anger through an outlet. They never told you how to control the storms, when all you needed was to direct them out through something more productive. But it's ok to be flawed Benjamin–nothing is supposed to be perfect. You don't have to be exactly like their hero, but you'll want to prove to those boys that you are still worthy of having had that identity be a part of who you are. You need to remind them that he's been here with them this whole time, if only you just open your heart a bit more and believe in others as well as yourself." She held her hand out. "You are a man worthy of being loved, Benjamin. You just need to open your heart and learn to trust."

Benjamin stared at Madame Miyuki's hand before slowly accepting it. The fortune teller looked down and smiled as if something pleasant crossed her mind at the instant they touched.

Then a troubled frown and a flash of terror shone in her eyes.

"You have to get back to the cove." She told him. "The boys are in danger."

"What?"

"The boys were tied up to a sinking boat and they won't be able to get the bracelets off!" She hurriedly told him. "And then there's a monster–They're going to drown if you don't do something!"

In that instant, something within Benjamin fully believed the fortune teller as a large panic overtook him.

George and Harold were in–!

No. Not again. Never again.

Lisa and Billy watched on–unsure as to what the fortune teller told Benjamin–but they were not expecting him to suddenly scramble up on his feet again and start running like he was about to lose something if he didn't make it in time. As if he hadn't been continuously falling down from trying to walk not that long ago. Sure he was stumbling about the place in the process and looked as if he was going to fall over but he was actually running as fast as he could force himself to.

"Wait, where are you going?!" Lisa cried out as she and Billy scrambled to get up and hurry after the adult while the fortune teller watched on in silence.

Somewhere in a small cave, the boys found themselves tied up on a small, beaten up boat that had seen better days as it floated on the water. There was a huge log that was blocking the boat from leaving the cave and the only other way out of the cave required climbing rocks that were too slippery with plant life and gunk on the parts that were submerged under water and they had nothing else to grab onto.

"Oh great, those two again." George groaned as he and Harold looked up to see a familiar pair of twins who were accompanied by two big teenaged boys.

"You didn't think we'd forget the humiliation you put us through, did you?!" Stacy sneered as she bent down to get a better look at the boys. "You ruined our fun with our favorite flower!"

"Luckily our cousins were in town to have some fun!" Jack grinned as he jabbed a thumb at the two teens, who looked to be the kind who were probably struggling with the academics of school life because they didn't actually care about their grades, and they looked just as malicious as the twins.

"Look, if you know what's good for you, you should probably get us out of here as fast as you can!" Harold warned. "Our friend isn't going to be happy when he finds out what happened, and trust me, you don't want to get him mad!"

"Yeah, if he doesn't get mad at us first!" George added.

Stacy threw her head back and laughed. "Oh yeah?! And who would that be?! The president?!"

"You two have fun down there!" Jack crackled as he made to leave. "Oh don't worry, we'll get you out of there when the sun sets! Just spend a few hours and think about what might happen the next time you pull one on us again!"

"He's serious, get us out of here or else!" George pleaded, but the bullies above paid no heed and left while laughing their heads off. One by one, they squeezed out of the narrow opening and hurried away.

"I really want to see Krupp blow up at another kid for a change." Harold admitted when they were gone. "Like, for once I want to see it–they deserve it."

George sighed as he looked down. "Uh, did they know that this boat has holes?" Harold looked down–sure enough, there was water quickly leaking through several holes in the boat and it was already past their ankles. They instantly knew what was going to happen if they remained on the boat for too long.

"We can't swim as humans!" George panicked. "We never learned how!"

"Oh no." Harold gulped before it hit him. "Wait a minute! Why are we afraid?! We can just take our bracelets off!"

"Oh yeah!" George laughed. "You're–!" He cut himself short when he and Harold looked down to see that there were ropes tied around their wrists and the ropes were also tied to two circular rope cleats on the middle of the boat. To make matters worse, the ropes were wrapped around both bracelets to the point that they could not be slipped off.

"Oh no." George grabbed the bracelet and began to pull at it, but it would not budge as its magic kept it from breaking apart. "Oh no, no, no!"

"HELP!" Harold screamed as he tried to pull his own bracelet off. "SOMEONE HELP!"

"HELP!" George screamed. All the while, neither boy noticed the sea creature that picked up their smell and was beginning to head towards their direction.

"COME BACK!" Harold screamed. "WE'RE GOING TO DROWN!"

"HELP!" George screamed as the water was now inching up their calves.

"NGH!" Harold had tried to bite at his ropes, but with little success. "This isn't going to work!"

"HELP!"

"What if the water isn't as deep as we think?!" Harold asked. "Maybe we could flip the boat over and–!"

"That won't work, we probably wouldn't be able to reach the surface!" George panicked. "I didn't think we'd die by drowning!"

There was an ominous growling sound outside that made both boys stop what they were doing. They slowly looked up to see a couple of black tendrils of some sort of creature latching itself onto the log.

"Or by whatever that thing is!" Harold panicked. "HELP!" He screamed.

"HELP!" George screamed again. He screamed even more when the creature began pulling at the log.

"GET AWAY!" Harold screamed as he tried to splash water at the creature with his free hand but the splash of water didn't reach it.

By this point, their voices were able to escape the confines of the small cave and it could be heard from outside. Someone had heard it and the moment he saw what was about to happen on the outside, he ripped his own bracelet off and jumped into the waters below.

"George!" Harold panicked. "We have to do something!"

"What else can we do?!" George pleaded as he turned to look at the monster, which revealed itself to be some sort of huge octopus that was three times their size when it peered over the log. Judging by how it narrowed its beady yellow eyes and let out an ominous growling sound, it was clearly not a friendly beast.

George screamed when he saw that the creature made its way to reach a tentacle out beyond the log at the boys, and the boy hugged Harold as best as he could with his free arm. "HELP!"

Harold was the next to scream when both boys heard a creaking sound from the log as the beast struggled to pull it free. "SOMEONE HELP!"

Then without warning, a huge hand grabbed the octopus by the back of its head and it did it hard enough that the octopus' eyes nearly bulged out of its sockets. The boys then heard another animalistic sound, but this one sounded a bit too familiar and a lot more angrier.

"GET OFF!" Benjamin growled as he tugged at the octopus. "YOU STUPID–!" The octopus would not yield, forcing him to open his mouth and bite down on it as hard as he could with his sharp teeth, making it cry out and let go of the log. Finally he was able to rip it free, but then it latched onto him and suddenly he was dragged down under the water.

"What's happening?!" Harold asked as he and George heard loud splashing noises. Neither of them could see what was going on beyond water splashing upward.

"If I had to make a guess, probably something no kid should watch." George admitted as they both heard an awful shrieking sound.

Meanwhile, Lisa and Billy (who finally caught up) were watching on in horror at what was happening.

"Oh–ugh!" Billy winced and slapped his hands over his eyes.

Lisa made an uncomfortable sound and looked away.

Finally after several moments, Benjamin remerged and with one good throw of the arm he sent the beast flying through the air before it crashed into the waves, which sent it farther away from the area.

Benjamin then turned back to see the two boys who were staring at him in disbelief as well as the fact that the water was inching up to their knees. Without even hesitating, he then turned his attention to the log and, to the surprise of both boys, he literally punched down on it, causing it to snap in half and made them jolt in their seats.

What happened next was almost too fast for either boy as the mershark charged into the cave and went towards them while shoving both halves of the log out of the way. When he saw the ropes that trapped the boys to the boat, he tipped the thing over to the point that both boys had to hang onto it for dear life as he leaned over to tear the ropes in half. Even before they knew that they were free, George and Harold found themselves tumbling into the water before getting scooped up into one arm and Benjamin held them tightly against his body as he swam back out.

Benjamin didn't stop until he was a good distance away from the cave, and at point Lisa and Billy were nervously watching from down below.

Benjamin took one look at the two boys, who nervously looked up at him. They had no clue how he was going to react after what just happened–they fully expected him to get angry and yell at them.

"Uh," Harold gulped as he and George dreaded his reaction.

Instead there was a lingering panic in Benjamin's eyes before he hugged them as tightly as he could and bowed his head between their shoulders.

"I'm so sorry," He whispered. "I'm so sorry, guys. I should have–I'm sorry."

The boys were not expecting this–not his apologies, nor the hug which felt familiar.

"Ben–" Harold began, but then hesitated before asking "Captain?"

The adult's only response to that was to hug them tighter in a way that felt very familiar.

"Look, it's not your fault, we didn't know that was going to happen!" George tried to tell him. "We didn't–!" He gave up and ended up hugging the adult back. "Thanks."

"Yeah, thanks." Harold added as he also hugged the adult back.

Lisa and Billy silently watched the three in the water. Neither of them dared say anything for a moment–any doubt that the hero was still in Benjamin was gradually vanishing.

"You know, for a guy that has a hard time walking," Lisa finally spoke up "You ran really fast to save them."

This made the three look up at her in surprise. "I did?" Benjamin asked before remembering. "Wait, yeah, I did." He was surprised. "Why was I able to–if I couldn't–?"

"Because you care about us." George grinned at him with a knowing smirk.

"Wait, no, I was just–!"

"You care about us!" Harold added as he also grinned at Benjamin. "You ran and beat up an octopus to save us!"

"No I don't–!" Benjamin tried to protest.

"Do you feel weird about hugging us now?" George asked. "It didn't feel like it!"

"Look, just because I ran to save your skins, it doesn't mean I–!"

"You like them!" Billy playfully teased as Lisa snickered. "You really are a big softie!"

"What is going on?!"

"Yeah, you're a big, cuddly softie!" Lisa giggled. "That's why Edith likes you!"

Benjamin let out a hilarious chain of stammering sounds as the two boys widened their grins before crying out in frustration and he let go of them, dropping the two in the water. "What is with you kids?!"

"We're encouraging!" George smiled when he rose out of the water, though he was very quick to latch back onto the adult at the same time.

"Me too!" Harold pipped up with a smile as he copied George.

"You know, we can try the walking thing tomorrow if you want!" Lisa added. "I want to see more of the world under the ocean!"

"Actually," George looked at Harold and gave him a mischievous grin. "There's one thing we need to do."

"Hey Jack!" Stacy tossed a rock in her hand as she eyed a young seal lounging by the water as they stood on some large rocks. "You think I can scare it off?!"

"Do it!" Jack grinned. Stacy chuckled and threw the rock, which nearly hit the startled seal, who let out a cry of alarm. "Do it again!" He grinned and Stacy took another rock off the ground. She was about to toss it when–

"Hey leave that seal alone!"

The twins turned to see two children–one particular red haired child was instantly recognizable. "Don't hurt it!" Rose warned as Ethan nervously watched her.

"Well if it isn't Rosebud!" Stacy sarcastically waved. "You know, we were wondering where you ran off to after–"

"If you hurt that seal, the king under the ocean will come after you!" Rose warned. "And if he doesn't–!" Rose picked up a large stick off the ground and held it like a sword. "Then I'll stop you!"

The twins merely laughed at the girl as Ethan shot her a pleading look. "Don't do it!" He begged.

"What a stupid baby!" Jack snorted. "Stacy do it–I want to see if she'll do it!"

"NO!" Rose protested as Stacy grinned and made to throw the rock again–

Suddenly from almost completely out of nowhere, a huge wave surged over and crashed into the twins, knocking them off the rock and down into the sand.

"HOLY–!" Ethan's jaw dropped and even Rose dropped her stick in surprise.

Moments later, they heard screaming and the twins rose up–except that they were covered in gross, slimy looking seaweed with sticks, crabs, trash, and a strange opaque jelly like substance mixed or stuck into it.

"Oh god, what is this?!"

"THERE'S CRABS AND SEA SNOT!"

The younger children watched in amazement as the two screaming bullies ran across the sands while looking like tangled up abominations from the depths as the crabs on them were trying to hold on for dear life.

Elsewhere in the water, George and Harold were laughing their heads off as a certain someone was also watching alongside them with mixed reactions. "That was awesome!" Harold cheered.

"That totally was!" George agreed. "That was fun, wasn't it?" He asked as he turned to face Benjamin.

"Uh," Benjamin was uncomfortable. "I... I don't know–"

"Do you realize what you did?!" Harold had a huge grin. "You helped us prank them!"

With that, Benjamin's face went from uncomfortable to almost shocked.

"Oh come on, it was fun!" George pointed out as Benjamin held his face in his hand. "Admit it, it was fun!"

Benjamin shook his head, but if you looked closely, you could tell that he was trying really hard not to smile and was failing at it.

Unknown to them all, a certain fortune watched the whole thing with a smile before she continued on her way.

Some time later, Benjamin quietly watched as the children hung out together in the ballroom of the castle under the ocean as Lisa admired a viola that was on display.

"I want to play it!" Lisa looked as if she was trying really hard to resist the desire.

"Can you even?" George asked.

"Yeah, I've taken lessons for years!"

"Wait a minute–how do we not know this?" Harold asked. "In all the time we knew you guys, you never once–"

"I was taking a break." Lisa admitted. "But I want to play it again. Can I?" She turned to Benjamin. He hesitated, then nodded, causing the girl's eyes to light up before she carefully took up the instrument.

Minutes later a song both familiar and not quite was playing from the instrument. While the child performing it still had a ways to go, she was well beyond the beginning stages of learning it. In fact, she was literally the first child to ever freely play an instrument in the castle walls in the last ten years.

Benjamin's eyes drifted from the girl to George and Harold as they quietly listened and were uncharacteristically calm and attentive.

He wasn't entirely sure if that had really been him earlier–it felt like him, but now it was hard to believe. Was he even in control of those actions? But at the same time it felt right. He didn't have that hollow feeling anymore and he felt more grounded than he used to be. He felt something he didn't think he felt in a long time.

"Oh yeah that's right!"

Benjamin snapped out of his thoughts as George and Harold suddenly came up to him. "We almost forgot about this." George smiled as he pulled something out of his bag. "Something to barrow so you won't get bored." He finally took it out and he held out what appeared to be another hand made comic that he and Harold created together.

Benjamin remembered them mentioning this before, but he was still hesitant. "Are... are you really sure you want to give me–?"

"Yes!" Harold grabbed the comic and forced it into Benjamin's hand. "You can wait until later if you want!" He grabbed George's hand and they went back to Lisa and Billy, leaving the adult to stare at the comic. This time there wasn't a bad memory associated with it–this time, a good one could replace it. He then looked at the boys again as they smiled together. This time, that strange little feeling of fondness wasn't from out of now where, but it felt more genuine and more something of his own.

He felt like he needed to try again and this time he felt more sure about himself. He was feeling more optimistic this time.

The next time they were at the beach, the royal siblings had more clothes for him, to help him feel less embarrassed about himself. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

But this time...

This time George and Harold were right there as he tried to stand up and get off the sand. It was awkward and he felt wobbly, and when he tried to take a step, he almost bent over and collapsed. The next few steps were hardly any better, and at the fifth one, he started to fall–

–Only for the two boys to hurry ahead and try to stop him from falling with all the strength that they could combine together when they pressed against him until he was kneeling over. Yet he was grabbing them by the shoulders while trying to use all his strength to keep from knocking them over and into the sand with him.

They grunted and strained as they tried to help him stay upright as he tried to force himself up and force his legs to support him. He tried to recall how he was able to do this last time as he found himself being guided by the two as they held his hands for the next few steps and he didn't find himself feeling as afraid as before.

He almost barely noticed when they finally let go of his hands and when he was on his own. It took him ten steps before he realized he was on his own–it was still taking his all to stay upright, but this time he didn't feel as if his legs would give out at any second.

He looked down to confirm it and it took a moment to sink in. When it did, he felt a lightness in his heart that he couldn't recall feeling in a long time and he let out a breathless laugh as he rested his forehead in his hand.

When he turned around, he could see the children looking at him, but it was George and Harold who were grinning in delight for him.

The grins turned into gasps of shock when the adult ran up to them and swooped them up into a tight hug as he laughed–possibly the first proper, genuine laugh he had for awhile–and spun them around.

"Whoa careful!" George warned. "You're going to–!"

He ended up tripping and collapsed in the sand while still holding them, but he didn't care. Every part of him missed this feeling and he couldn't stop as he hugged the two as tight as he could.

Both George and Harold simply looked at each other and smiled before hugging Benjamin back. They didn't need to hear a word to know just how happy he was.

This time it didn't feel like their hero was gone or that he just faded in and out of Benjamin. This time it truly felt like he was there with them and he had been there all along.

So... angst and laughs and sweetness, am I right?

You can tell there was some things in the final chapter that might of desired more attention and one of them was the idea of Lisa and Billy getting to go under the ocean as I had teased at.

I also wanted one more chance for things between the boys and Benjamin to smooth out so it wouldn't be weird for them forever. After all, our favorite hero couldn't have been buried away.

Next time: we get to the cute romantic stuff.