Nathaniel woke up to the warm caress of sunlight on his face and silently groaned before forcing himself to sit up. He brushed his hair from his eyes and tiredly got dressed before approaching the door leading out into the hallway.

The redhead eased his door open slightly, only to be bombarded with the sounds of hushed, excited whispers being shared between a few of the servants. Nathaniel halted his movements and curiously listened in.

"I never thought that this day would come!"

"The prince is finally getting married!"

"I bet that the ceremony this afternoon will be lovely."

Nathaniel's eyebrows knitted in confusion as he processed their words. Marc was getting married? The green-eyed prince hadn't spoken a word in the last day about anything regarding a marriage. Unless...Marc was going to ask the redhead to marry him. The blue-eyed boy's heart skipped a beat at the thought of taking Marc's hand and uniting with him at the altar.

A soft smile made its way onto Nathaniel's face, and he quickly glanced in a nearby mirror to make sure he looked presentable before leaving his room. He quickly crossed the hallway and to the stairs, his excitement ascending as he descended with every step. But as he reached the bottom of the staircase, he stopped dead in his tracks as an unfortunate sight greeted him.

Nathaniel's smile instantly faltered and was soon replaced with a look of disbelief. The shy redhead hid behind a nearby pillar and he secretly watched the scene unfolding in front of him. Marc was standing completely still and staring blankly ahead at one of his advisors who was explaining the day's schedule.

The blue-eyed boy's gaze landed onto the woman latched onto Marc's arm who could pass for his twin if it weren't for the vindictive gleam in her eye that seemed to escape everyone but Nathaniel's attention. The redhead watched as the advisor held onto one of the woman's hands and happily spoke to her.

"Congratulations, my dear."

Before Nathaniel could puzzle over why the unknown woman was being congratulated, Marc spoke in a monotone manner and the blue-eyed prince suddenly couldn't breathe.

"We wish to be married as soon as possible."

Nathaniel's face showed his understanding of what was happening and he felt like his heart was being squeezed tightly as the realization that Marc was going to be marrying someone else sunk in. He unconsciously shook his head as the word no yearned to escape him. He started to take heaving breaths as hot tears pricked the corners of his eyes. Marc didn't want to be with him. The green-eyed prince felt nothing for him. What was he going to do?

The redhead's thoughts buzzed with despair and he anxiously ran his fingers through his hair before fleeing to his room as tears began to trail down his cheeks. Unknown to Nathaniel, his hasty escape was noticed by the woman at Marc's side. She smirked and sneakily rested a hand on the seashell resting against her chest while laying her head on Marc's shoulder.

Nathaniel sat on a crate at the end of the dock and could only gut-wrenchingly watch as the ship where the wedding was taking place began to depart in the direction of the rapidly setting sun. He took many deep breaths in an attempt to remain calm. Thoughts and visions of what could have been flashed through his mind and only caused the pain in his heart to seep deeper.

The redheaded boy continued to watch the ship as it took Marc further away from him. He started to silently sob, not knowing that Marinette and Alix were watching from the water with twin expressions of sadness filling their gazes. Alix looked between the departing ship and Nathaniel. Something didn't make sense to her since she saw in Marc's eyes how much he cared for the blue-eyed boy. She felt a sudden wave of determination fill her and quickly swam after the boat to get some answers.

The small mermaid quickly caught up with the large vessel and she heard a familiar voice drifting from the side. Alix gripped a ledge and hoisted herself up to peer through the hole. She watched the woman that Marc will be wed to getting ready for the wedding. The Nathaniel lookalike pinned her hair up while talking to her own reflection.

"Aren't I such a divine looking bride? As I predicted, everything is going according to plan. Soon that foolish, love-stricken merman will be mine and the ocean will soon belong to me as well."

The sickly sweet sentences slid gracefully off of the woman's tongue before she took off her necklace with the shell and Alix watched with horror as the woman's appearance changed and Lila was the one sitting in front of the mirror. Alix ducked her head down and silently retreated back to the dock to tell the others about her discovery.

"I knew something didn't add up!"

Once back, Alix yelled Nathaniel's name and he looked up at her with a quizzical look while anxiously gripping his arm.

"I saw something on the boat! The woman that Marc is marrying is actually Lila! She's wearing some kind of necklace! I think that's what's allowing her to do it!

The small mermaid loudly explained while gesturing towards the ship in the distance.

Marinette and Nathaniel both looked confused and skeptical while listening to Alix, neither one not sure what to believe.

"Are you sure, Alix?"

Marinette quietly questioned her while Nathaniel's eyes filled with desperation. He couldn't allow Marc to be married to Lila! He had to do something!

The redhead instantly backed up and got a running start before leaping into the water. Marinette watched him before getting an idea.

"Alix, help Nathaniel get to that ship as fast as possible and make sure that the ceremony isn't completed."

Alix nodded and immediately grabbed onto Nathaniel before swimming out towards the boat.

Marinette dove and began to race back to the underwater kingdom to get the Queen. Alix pushed Nathaniel up so that he could begin climbing up the side of the boat. She then went to find help by using her connection with sea animals, that all merfolk have, to encourage them to get onto the boat and disturb the wedding. She was able to enlist the help of some dolphins and seals and smirked while leading them to the ship.

Marc walked down the aisle beside Lila, a blank look on his face the whole time. Lila glanced to the side to see Ziggy growling at her and she sneered at the dog before looking straight ahead again. Soon the two stop in front of the man performing the ceremony and he began to read from the book in front of him.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered to witness the blessed union of these two in holy matrimony. Do you, Marc, take Volpina to be your lawfully wedded wife for as long as you both shall live?"

While the man was addressing Marc, Lila looked at the sun with a small smirk of satisfaction resting on her lips as she noticed the bright circle beginning to dip beneath the line of the horizon.

"I do."

Marc droned while looking vacantly ahead.

Lila's smirk quickly turned into an angered frown when she began to hear the chatter of dolphins and barking of seals. Guests started to panic when several seals suddenly landed onto the deck and made their way around. Ziggy barked excitedly and ran around, further adding to the chaos.

One of the seals spotted Lila and she fleed from the sea creature as it approached her. Not paying attention to where she was going, she ran into the tall wedding cake and fell onto it, getting the dessert smeared all over her dress and head as a result. Lila growled and backed up towards the ship's railing where dolphins began to spit water at her.

Lila let out a shriek of anger and attempted to throw random objects down at the dolphins, not noticing Ziggy approaching from behind. The dog leaped up and latched onto the shell dangling from Lila's neck. Before she could make a move to get the dog off, the cord around her neck snapped and the nautilus shell went flying, smashing on impact at Nathaniel's feet right as he climbed onto the deck.

A small ball of light floated up from the remains of the shell and lazily drifted through the air while softly emitting Nathaniel's voice. The yellow color of Marc's eyes faded back to their usual green and he winced while holding a hand to his head. The dark-haired prince shook his head before looking around and noticing what was happening to Nathaniel.

Several of the guests gasped in surprise and Lila angrily watched as the light was absorbed into Nathaniel's throat, restoring his voice. Nathaniel sighed with relief and softly smiled at Marc.

"Marc."

Marc softly smiled as well as he recognized the voice to be one that he heard on the beach. Ziggy happily ran around Nathaniel's legs.

"You can talk."

Marc happily responded before starting to make his way over to Nathaniel.

"Marc, get back here now!"

Lila demanded, not caring that her own voice was heard.

But before Marc could reach Nathaniel, the sun set completely and the green-eyed boy watched with severe distress as the redhead let out a groan of pain and collapsed onto the floor, his legs replaced by a tail. Lila instantly laughed loudly, the sound full of wicked glee.

"You're too late!"

Marc didn't even have time to react before Lila grabbed Nathaniel and jumped overboard with the struggling merman. The dark-haired boy gripped the railing and looked down at the dark water, his mind racing with what just happened and what he knew he had to do.