The sky was covered with thick clouds, patches of bright blue spotting where the white masses broke. The wind was strong and salty as it flowed throughBlaine's hair in the fine early morning breeze. The salty sea water sprayed on his face as he and his fellow Warblers took to sea.

Whenever the pressures of royal life started to settle in, they seemed to be able to sense it and suggested taking his yacht out for a spin. And maybe it didn't hurt that today was his birthday anyways – No Prince business allowed; a very strict Warbler's policy. They sped away from the kingdom, flying across the water, leaving all of Blaine's problems behind.

"Could there be a more perfect morning?" Blaine wondered to himself as he stood at the bow of the ship, staring down into the fathomless blue water.

Kurt awoke with a start.

He'd been dreaming about a wonderful dark-haired boy with the deepest brown eyes he'd ever seen. It was like he'd seen him before, but that couldn't be…it was only a dream, right? But still the silhouette of the boy lingered behind his eyelids, keeping his attention. He shook his head delicately, pushing the image to the back of his mind.

He fiddled with the ever-present shell necklace around his neck. His father had given it to him when he was very young – a keepsake from the mother he'd never really known. It was the only thing he ever felt that truly belonged to him and when he wore it, he felt closer to his mom even though she was gone. It was for this reason that he never took it off.

He stretched in his bed which was really just half of a large shell cushioned with the sea's finest pillows and sheets. He took in a deep breath of water and couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit resentful that he couldn't wake up to his lungs full of fresh air. Any human would have died living underwater, but Kurt Hummel wasn't a human; He was a merman.

"And an unhappy merman at that," he thought as he flexed the tail of his fin.

But why should he be unhappy? Not only was he creature that the human race wrote fantasies and tales about, not only did he get to live among a variety of sea creatures, have a voice all the other merpeople envied, and live in the most beautiful part of the ocean…No, there was much more than that.

Kurt was a prince. His father was known to the rest merpeople as King Burt and he was beloved by all in the kingdom as he reigned in peace. That meant that Kurt got to live in the castle and one day he would eventually take over the throne from his father. One day all of the creatures of the sea would bow to him.

It was every merman's dream, but Kurt couldn't comprehend what was so appealing about it. Lately, he spent all his time sulking and feeling utterly empty.

He rolled over in the giant bed and stared up at the seaweed canopy hanging above him. All he wanted was an escape – was that too much to ask? Something that could save him from his responsibilities – something that could free him.

Just then, he heard a sound as something swam through his window and right up to his bed.

"Are you awake, your royal highness?" a voice mocked.

Kurt smiled and turned over. Sure enough, there was Mercedes, a yellow and blue round fish staring at him with raised eyebrows. Kurt chuckled before feigning exasperation.

"You know me, Mercedes. I have to get my beauty sleep," he said dramatically.

She rolled her eyes at him teasingly. "Yeah yeah, just get up. I'm dying to get out of here already," she admitted.

"Well aren't we the adventurous one this morning?" Kurt asked. "Yeah, I'm up" he quickly sat up from under his sheets and threw them aside in one smooth motion. "Let's just take the window and forget the front door, okay?"

Mercedes threw him a questioning look.

"It's just that," Kurt said, running a hand through his brown hair, "I don't want to deal with my dad this morning, okay? He'll start talking about my royal tasks as a prince or something…and I'm just not up to it right now, alright?" he pleaded with her.

She nodded. "Alright, I get it - the pressures of royal life and all that. You're lucky you don't live with my mom. If I ever snuck out, she'd sell me as shark bait."

Kurt waved her comment away and quickly swam past her and through the window. She followed him hurriedly, taking one last glance back at his enormous bedroom. The sad thing was that Kurt's dad would probably never even know he was gone in the first place.

They swam for a long time further and further away from the kingdom, saying nothing to one another. Mercedes could sense Kurt's anxiety every minute that he kept to himself and finally broke the silence when she just couldn't take it anymore.

"Kurt, what's wrong?"

He slowed down his pace by a fraction as he considered her question. He should tell her; she was his best friend after all. But could she possibly understand? He didn't even understand it himself…

He took a deep breath, "Don't you ever feel like – I don't know – like you're meant for something else? Something more?" he asked quietly.

Mercedes seemed to mull it over for a second, obviously confused, before carefully answering.

"No, not really." She glanced at him, "Do you feel that way?"

He exhaled slowly, some bubbles escaping his lips. "Maybe a little bit. I just feel like I'm missing something in my life. Something being King won't give me."

Mercedes was worried about him, but said nothing aloud. Instead she changed the subject abruptly.

"Well, I don't know about all that," she said, "But would you at least tell me where we're going? I don't think I've ever been this far away from home before."

"Really?" Kurt asked, surprised. "I go out here all the time. It's nice to think in the clear, open water." He turned to look her in the eyes, "We're going to one of my favorite places in the world – the sunken ship yard."

"I'm not gonna lie, that sounds kind of creepy. Like a graveyard of ships or something," Mercedes admitted. "It kind of screams 'keep out'."

"It's nothing like that, I promise," Kurt hastened to assure her. "There's just this huge cruise ship that sank a few years ago and it's remained mostly intact – great condition, really. I go there and look around sometimes, trying to find the things that are salvageable," he indicated the leather messenger back slung over his shoulder.

"Most of all, I love finding the clothing left behind," he confessed. Mercedes looked at him like he was insane, so he plowed on before she could interrupt. "I mean, a lot of wealthy people must've sailed on that ship because there's a lot of high class pieces left behind. I, for one, find it fascinating."

Mercedes snorted. "Yeah, well I, for one, find it useless. You know no one down here wears human clothing. The mermaids stick with shells and that's about the extent of our fashion," she pointed out.

"I know," Kurt groaned. "It's really sad, actually. What I wouldn't give to spice up some of those merpeople's outfits," he said with genuine longing in his voice.

Mercedes swam quickly to pass him and popped up right in front of his face, effectively bringing him to a stop.

"What?" Kurt asked confusedly.

Mercedes narrowed her eyes. "Kurt, you can't talk like that. Fashion, clothing – all that stuff belongs to the human world. It's not right for you to be talking about it like that; acting like you could ever be a part of that while you're down here. It's forbidden. You, of all merpeople, should know that," she concluded, fins on her hips.

Kurt looked down, suddenly ashamed he'd said anything at all.

Mercedes continued, "You know what those humans are doing to our community, Kurt. Just last night, hundreds of fish disappeared. Their families are devastated; they'll probably never see them again. To humans, fishing is a business – something to make money off of. They don't understand what your father is trying to do down here everyday: letting all fish live in harmony." She shook her head. "I'm just worried about you, okay? Humans are – well, they're dangerous. What would you do if one day I didn't show up anymore? I just don't think you should idolize their ways."

Kurt sighed deeply before swimming around Mercedes, the ship yard in sight.

"Look, they might be 'evil' or 'dangerous' according to you, but I think they're also genius. They've made so many amazing things in such a short time and maybe if they're able to make such wonderful stuff, they can't be all that bad."

He'd said it mostly for himself, to justify his actions. But it justhad to be true, didn't it? Surely all humans couldn't be so cruel.

They finally came up to a huge white ship sitting rather serenely on a large, flat rock. If it hadn't been for the sole fact that it was underwater, Mercedes might've thought it a perfectly functioning vessel. Kurt had been right when he said it was upscale - the ship had to be at least two football fields long and extremely tall. No wonder Kurt spent a lot of time there; he'd probably never even gotten through the whole ship.

Kurt watched Mercedes gaze of wonder as her eyes swept the ship's exterior. He nodded and smiled a bit.

"Impressive, right?" he asked, turning to see her reaction.

All she could muster was an open-mouthed nod.

"Come on," Kurt said, grabbing her fin and dragging her through a broken window. "Today I planned on looking in the first class quarters. There's probably some real treasure there."

They passed a rusty ballroom, a corroded dining hall, and a wide staircase before finally reaching the rooms they were looking for. Kurt rushed inside an open room while Mercedes floated tentatively just outside of the door.

"Are you sure it's…safe?" she asked.

"Of course it's safe, silly!" Kurt said, "But, if you're so worried, you can just stay in the hallway and watch for sharks."

"Sharks?" she exclaimed. "Nuh uh, I didn't sign up for shark duty. I'm sticking with you." She hastily swam inside, almost bumping into Kurt.

"Calm down. Geez, you're such a guppy," he teased.

Mercedes huffed at the nickname. "I am most certainly not a guppy."

Kurt just ignored her and started rummaging through the broken closet. His favorite things to find, by far, were shoes. Maybe that sounded a little ridiculous; but to someone who didn't have feet, it was exciting to find something so foreign yet still so beautiful.

"Whoa," he sighed in awe as he found what looked like a black lace-up boot.

That was the thing about shipwrecks: you could never find a pair of shoes, only one. But that didn't stop Kurt from collecting them and practically salivating over them later. He ran his hands over the laces and he inhaled the smell of damp leather.

He remembered the first time he ever found a shoe, a few years ago. He'd even tried to put it on his tail fin, very much in vain. He remembered being so disappointed when he couldn't wear the shoe that he sat on the floor of his room and cried for hours, utterly heartbroken.

He stroked the boot in his hand once more, feeling an intense envy for humans and their so-called "feet". Why couldn't he have something as fantastic as this to call his own?

He shook his head and shoved the boot into his bag. He continued rummaging through the closet and found the vest to a tux. He'd seen tuxedos in paintings he'd found long ago and he held it up to his bare chest, once again feeling a pang of jealousy that he wasn't allowed to wear anything like this. Into the bag it went along with a pair of cufflinks lying on the floor.

"What are these things?" asked Mercedes, pointing a fin to a broken bookshelf.

"Oh," Kurt chuckled at her ignorance, "those are books. There are stories inside of them. Let me see."

He swam over and took a look at the titles: Pride & Prejudice, Aesop's Fables, andMoby Dick. Well, Moby Dick looked like it was about a whale, and Kurt knew plenty about whales, so he tucked it into his bag as well.

The rest of the room didn't contain anything too interesting and Kurt's small bag was already pretty full. He shrugged his shoulders and turned back to Mercedes.

"Oh well, let's get out of here." He had a sudden idea, "Hey, let's go see Finn. I always like sharing what I find with him."

"Who's Finn?" Mercedes asked, but Kurt had already disappeared through the door and out of the ship.

She wiggled her fins quickly to try and catch up to him. When she got out of the ship, she saw his ascending figure heading towards the surface. She sped after him, more than a little confused.

Kurt broke through the surface of the water and took in a deep breath of fresh air. His lungs adjusted easily, as if no change had been made at all. Air was so much lighter than water, so much easier to take in. He took another luxurious breath as Mercedes popped up next to him. They were floating at the edge of a rock and on that rock appeared to be some kind of nest.

Although, if you asked Mercedes, it just looked like a sporadic pile of twigs that some psychotic bird had piled all willy-nilly.

"Hey, Finn!" called Kurt.

A seagull's head popped up from the nest and looked around confusedly for a moment before spotting who had called.

"Kurt!" the seagull exclaimed. "To what do I owe the honor? No, don't tell me. You went to the ship again." Finn stepped out of the nest and walked down to where Kurt was resting his arms on the stone.

"Yes," Kurt started excitedly, glad that someone shared his enthusiasm about human artifacts. "I took Mercedes there this morning and we went into one of the first-class bedrooms." Kurt pulled up his bag and took out the boot, the vest, and the wet book.

"Wow," Finn examined the boot quickly. "Kurt, this isn't just a normal boot. It's a Jimmy Choo boot. I've seen all the high-class women wearing them around lately. He's a famous shoe designer. What a lucky find."

His eyes ran over the vest. "Of course, you know what that is. It's a vest that men wear with their tuxedos. You would look great in it…" he reveled as he held up the silky fabric.

"Ah, Moby Dick." Finn said, putting down the vest. "A famous whale tale." He chuckled at his humor. "I'm sure if your dad read human books, he'd love this story. I mean, after what he did with that Whale's Rights Bill? I respect him."

Kurt's eyes went wide with shock and he let out a panicked gasp.

"Oh my god! My dad! We were supposed to go over legislation today and then he was going to present me officially to the royal court!"

He knew he'd already missed it by a long shot but he hurriedly tossed all of his findings into his bag once more before hastily pushing off from the rock.

"Thank you for everything, Finn! See you later!" he called over his shoulder before diving into the depths once more. Mercedes followed closely as they swam at breakneck speed back to the castle.

"My dad is going to kill me," moaned Kurt, before swimming even faster than before, leaving the surface far behind him.

A/N: I love all of you willing to give this story a chance :D

[EDIT:] I'm very slowly going through this story and making minior changes to it. So if a few details change, you know why (:

ALSO, this was my very first attempt at fanfiction and I LOVE that everyone's still reading, but it's a teensy weensy embarassing for me at the same time because I'm sure there are basic mistakes in here and my writing style is different now; what I'm trying to say is don't judge me TOO hard, okay? I'm still very proud of this monster :D