Little Merman - Babysitter

^{Title: The Royal Babysitter
Main Characters: Sebastian and Ariel
Setting: Several years before Little Merman}

Sebastian had never been the fastest swimmer. He guessed he could blame that, completely, on the fact that he had legs and not a tail.

"Be grateful," his father had told him, time and again, whenever he complained about it. "We breathe air and water. We are bound to neither world, and so we can belong to both at the same time. Someday, you'll realize how much of a blessing that is."

Sebastian sincerely doubted that day would ever come, but he held on to those words, because he knew better than to just wave off anything his father told him. He was a wise man, yes, and a very kind one for taking Sebastian as his son. He had traveled all around the world, visiting many oceans, and had settled down in Atlantica to raise Sebastian. The young crab knew that King Triton himself had asked for his father's advice once or twice in the past. And King Triton was really wise, so that must mean his father was even wiser than the King.

So, in the same way he'd trusted the man's words regarding his legs, he'd trust the newest decision the man had taken regarding him.

"You'll make a good companion for the Prince, Sebastian," he heard above him, and clenched his fists more tightly by his sides as they headed deeper into the castle hallways. "You are level-headed and very mature for your age." There was a pause, and Sebastian turned two round brown eyes to the man towering over him. "It'll be good for both of you in the long run."

Sebastian had no clue what his father was talking about. But again, he knew better than to just wave him off. Besides, these might very well be the last words he heard of the man in a very long time. He could say all he wanted about this being good for him and for Atlantica, but the bottom-line was still obvious to Sebastian: the man was leaving. He had been here for nearly twelve years, now, and his instincts were calling him back to sea. This man was just not meant to be a family man, and Sebastian knew it.

"Of course, dad," Sebastian told the man, tearing his eyes away from his back and instead focusing on the walls of the castle. It was just the second time he had been here, and he already felt threatened by it's size. He would get lost for sure! He had tried to keep track of the turns they made, but got lost after the fifth "right". All those turns and flights of stairs and twists, just to get to the Prince's room...

'Wonder what the Prince is like', Sebastian thought to himself, moving his eyes back to the front, staring at his father's back and the large spiraling shell he carried, letting himself get lost in the way light reflected off it.

The Prince was supposed to be around Sebastian's age. He was also supposedly avoiding merfolk contact, because he was still mourning Queen Morgana's recent death. Those two facts were all Sebastian knew about the Prince of Atlantica. He had seen King Triton from afar a few times, and just yesterday he'd come to the castle with his father to get the King's approval of the young crab. But the Prince, he'd never seen. He wasn't often allowed out of the castle, from what King Triton told him yesterday.

"Here we are."

They had come to a stop before a large doorway covered by delicate cloth, weighed down to the bottom by several beautiful stones. Sebastian had thought there would actually be a door there… there were few in the castle, and were kept for only the important areas of it. Then again, they had to cross a door to get into the tower where this room was, so maybe that was enough. Sebastian's father reached out, gently tugging the curtain out of the way and nudging his son's shoulder lightly to prompt him in before him.

The room was… well… quite huge. Not as huge as the Throne Room, of course, but far bigger than any bedroom Sebastian had ever seen. The ceiling was domed high over his head, the walls were decorated with shining shells and bright stones, and the wide windows across from him had a beautiful view of Atlantica's town and, beyond that, the coral fields. A large clam bed sat between other regal-looking pieces of furniture, such as a stone vanity and a small dresser, holding the royal attire the Prince would be supposed to wear when he appeared before the townsfolk.

The Prince sat beside the bed, head resting sullenly on his crossed arms atop the bedclothes.

Sebastian reeled back and felt his shell bump against his father's legs. He felt the strong urge to hush his father when he called "Prince Ariel," to the boy beside the bed.

However, when the head lifted and turned in their direction, Sebastian didn't see any tears (although he could tell from where he stood that the eyes were painfully red), but a harsh scowl directed at them.

"...I am not in the mood for visitors." His voice was hoarse and dismissive, his shoulders tense, and his short black hair was a mess. Sebastian could feel himself frown back at him: he was definitely not what he'd expect a prince to look like, even in mourning.

"I'm aware, my prince," his wise father said amiably, placing a hand on Sebastian's shoulder and urging him forward a few steps. The prince's eyes moved to their legs, his scowl lessened by what seemed to be wonder. Had he never seen crab-men in his life? More importantly, had he not been taught it was rude to stare? "But by the King's request, I've brought my son to you. He will be residing in the palace from now on, and has been appointed as your personal assistant."

The scowl twisted into a sneer. Granted, the prince's upturned nose had little effect when he was sitting on the floor. It still made Sebastian's face fluster with anger.

"Personal assistant? He's too young. What's he gonna do? Suck on his thumb?"

He's so childish! Sebastian growled inwardly. But he reminded himself that his father was here, and that he was not supposed to allow for childish behavior in the prince. If he had to label himself as anything, it wouldn't be "personal assistant", but "royal babysitter".

"My Prince, I'm older than you." Maybe. By a few weeks, at least. "If I'm a thumb-sucking baby, what does that make you?"

The prince blinked, and Sebastian felt proud to have whipped the mocking look right off his face. His face scrunched up in a frown, and he turned away from them, tail lashing a little under him, pushing him closer to the bed. "Out. I wish to be alone."

Sebastian bowed when he felt his father do so, and was ready to turn on his heels and walk out, but he found his father kneeling by the doorway, facing him.

"Oh, no, Sebastian. You're going to stay – Prince Ariel's dismissals do not apply to someone with your duties," he whispered softly, hand resting on Sebastian's shoulder once more. He was quite fond of the gesture, and Sebastian was glad to say it calmed him. "You're expected to stay by his side at all times, my boy. Keep him safe. He's a bit of a prankster, and has been ignoring rules lately." He paused, and his next words felt much more personal. "It is now time for me to leave, Sebastian. I don't know when I will be back, or if I'll be, but I trust you to grow into a fine man. I know you'll do a great job. Make me proud, my son."

Sebastian fought hard against the sudden stinging of his eyes, and wrapped his arms earnestly around his surrogate father's neck. He felt soft strokes along his arms, and let go after just a few moments. A kiss to the forehead seemed to seal the deal. "Take care." The man stood while Sebastian whipped at his eyes, not before chanting a polite "Farewell, Prince Ariel," to the other boy in the room.

The young crab boy braced himself with a deep breath as his father walked out of the room, and then turned to face the future ruler of Atlantica. He flustered once more when he saw the noble looking straight at him.

"What?" he all but demanded. The Prince looked away, and Sebastian ventured to think he was ashamed of being caught staring.

"Nothing," the prince said quickly, eyes now fastened to the window further away from him. "I told you to leave. I still want to be alone.

"I'm not going anywhere, Prince Ariel. You can't dismiss me," Sebastian replied, shoulders tense.

"Absurd," Ariel accused, his ears folding, surely in contempt.

"Maybe so. But there's nothing you can do about it, my Prince."

And then he was sincerely at a loss. What was he supposed to do now? The prince wasn't doing anything bad right now, and he did look like he wanted to be left alone. He would just sit there, huffing and glaring at Sebastian every once in a while, but otherwise just keeping still by the bed. So Sebastian settled for looking around the room.

His manners kept him from touching anything, but so long as the prince didn't complain (and he didn't), he allowed himself to indulge in curiosity, leaning closer to anything that looked interesting, having to tip-toe to be able to look at the things atop the dresser. He didn't like swimming if he didn't need to, because he had to kick and flail his arms and it was a bit awkward, specially when no one else did...

There was a soft touch against his arm, just a small wave. But it was enough to tell him the prince was moving.

When he turned around, he only saw the tip of a green tail disappearing beyond the delicate curtain that was his door.

Sebastian pursed his lips, and began kicking his legs against the water to move faster – walking was no problem, but it was really hard to try and run underwater. You didn't get anywhere fast enough.

"Prince Ariel!" he called, catching the glimpse of a flickering tail just as he poked his head out of the room.

TI was quite hard to keep up with the Prince, specially when he kept taking sharp turns into random rooms and hallways. He was obviously at an advantage: he probably knew the castle better than he knew the back of his hand, whereas Sebastian had no clue how he was going to get back to the Prince's room once he caught him. And yet, he still managed to keep up.

And really, it was all thanks to the servants. Ariel would get completely out of his sight in a hallway that branched out, and a servant would cheerfully say, "Oh, hello my Prince!", giving Sebastian a direction to go for.

"Prince Ariel, so good to see you come out of your room!" came a few minutes later, sending Sebastian down a flight of stairs.

The amused smiles some of the maids and butlers wore when they pointed more quietly in the direction Ariel had gone made Sebastian think they were plotting with the prince to aid his escape. But each and every one of the leads allowed him to keep up with the elusive fish prince, and he thought he heard a very non-elegant word escape Ariel's lips when he looked back to find him at the end of the hallway, heading his way.

He came to the conclusion that the servants were on his side. And he wasn't sure what to make of that.

In the end, two flustered children rested in the middle of the lowest floor of the Prince's tower, near to the stone doors that separated it from the rest of the East Wing. Sebastian rested sore arms with hands on his knees, hunched over, while the Prince sprawled no less graciously on the floor, chest heaving.

"T-that's not fair!" he declared between heavy breaths, shooting Sebastian his best patented spoiled-brat glare.

Sebastian merely narrowed his eyes and smirked back at him.

- Break -

A week in, Sebastian no longer had to rely on helpful, friendly servants to tail Prince Ariel. Between the Prince's constant attempts at escaping his watch, and his free time during the boy's private lessons, Sebastian thought he had a good grasp of the castle's lay-out. Or at least of Prince Ariel's most well-used escape routes.

Just in this week, he'd managed to thwart two escapes to outside the castle gates, three efforts at giving tutors slip-ups, and ten attempts at escaping Sebastian's own eyes. He was a child, and despite his swimming handicap, he had a higher stamina than any other person assigned to watch over the prince. Ariel had probably less stamina than he did, so even with knowing the battleground better, he'd never endure enough speed swimming to completely outrun his stubborn babysitter.

Now, it wasn't like Sebastian had the physical strength to stop the prince from going wherever he wanted. In fact, he was pretty sure he had no perceived authority in his charge's eyes. It was more like, Prince Ariel was unwilling to head to wherever he meant to go with an annoying crab kid tailing him.

That worked just fine with Sebastian.

And, if he was sincere, the constant chasing was doing wonders for not letting him think of his father's absence.

Of course, when the prince did manage to stay still around him, they were in a constant glare war, or quietly and discreetly mourning their lost parent.

"Stop following me around!" Ariel finally snapped, looking over his shoulder to where Sebastian was. He only received a raised eyebrow as answer. "I don't need a babysitter. Certainly not one my age. Don't you have something else you should be doing? Don't you need to go to school or something?"

Sebastian crossed his arms, but deliberately did not sneer. He might not like the prince one bit, but he would not display himself superior to him in any way. Even if, mentally, he was ages ahead of the brat.

"I am far beyond my grade. I also believe in self-education." His father had always encouraged him to learn on his own. It was just a bit different now, as he couldn't go and ask him about what he didn't understand. He'd just ask later to one of Ariel's professors, if needed.

"I also believe in self-education," Ariel repeated in a poor, high-pitched imitation of Sebastian.

"That's most unbecoming of a prince," he pointed out.

Ariel's cheeks flared, but he drew himself up haughtily. "At least I don't talk like a middle-aged urchin," he snapped.

"I'd like to think I'm more of a hermit crab," Sebastian shot back.

Whatever the prince had been about to shot back was cut off my the loud "Prince!" coming from the end of the corridor.

Sebastian turned his attention there, and felt his eyebrows reach up for his hairline. He'd never seen an octopus in Atlantica before, and he'd certainly not seen any more kids around the castle.

And yet, the white-haired, pale boy heading their way was both. He was kind of on the short side, and his head looked a bit too large for his frame. There were a few red spots on his bare chest, and the webbing of fins on the back of his forearms flared out with obvious anger.

"Ursule," Ariel greeted, not taking his eyes off Sebastian in grim displeasure.

"I – we haven't seen you all week!" the newcomer accused, expression guarded. Only when he came up to them in the hallway did he spare Sebastian a look. But Sebastian obviously wasn't as interesting as the prince, because that same hesitant scowl was fixed on Ariel again. "Almost two weeks, really. Since... Ehm... Are you...?"

"Fine." Getting over whatever disapproval he had for Sebastian, Ariel turned to face the octopus, this time with a teasing smile. "Miss me much, then? I'm surprised you didn't come get me sooner, Big Head."

Sebastian had not seen someone turn red so fast in his life.

"S-shut it. You know we're not allowed too far from the Servant Quarters," he spat, crossing skinny arms over an equally skinny chest. He seemed unable to hold the prince's gaze, as he turned that annoyed look on Sebastian next. Sebastian straightened and fixed him with a cool glare as he was surveyed through narrow eyes. "And who is this? Some new friend you rather hang out with than us?" The venom in his voice was nearly palpable. Briefly, Sebastian wondered what he'd done to be so disliked.

"He's my personal assistant who does not go fetch me stuff when I ask, or assist me in any way. Daddy thinks I need a babysitter."

"Oh." Now there was only confusion in the red eyes watching him. "So you're like, grounded or something?" as he said this, he turned his eyes back to the prince. "You promised Orabelle you'd help with the baby."

Prince Ariel flinched at the audible accusation, and scratched behind his right ear. "Well, Sebastian here won't let me go anywhere..."

"Excuse me," Sebastian interrupted, frowning deeply. "I'm supposed to keep you inside the castle boundaries and out of trouble. I never said you had to spend all day studying or stuck in your room." The prince had been the one guiding them back to his room or the record room every time Sebastian caught him.

Blue eyes were wide as they turned to him. For once, there was no scorn in them, just a pensive curiosity.

"So... You mean, so long as I'm safe inside the castle, I can do anything I want?"

"Inside the castle and out of trouble," he felt forced to repeat.

"Yeah, yeah," Ariel waved him off, a huge grin taking over his features. While still far from what Sebastian imagined a prince to look like, it was much better than his constant scowls and sneers. "But surely, going to Servant Quarters and playing with other children is well away from your idea of trouble?"

Sebastian nodded slowly. "I'd still come along."

There were a few out-of-bounds areas in the castle, even for the Prince, but Servant Quarters was not one of them. There were plenty of guards there day in and day out, so if anything, it should be pretty safe for the prince to lounge around there. Sebastian was a bit more surprised he wanted to go. Wasn't that a little too not-glamorous for the spoiled kid?

"Perfect!" Then his hand was trapped inside the Prince's, and they were going down the hallway as fast as was possible with Sebastian not making any effort to move in either direction.

Ursule seemed too content to play along with whatever the prince wanted, and soon they were going through the wide stone arch leading into the servant's living quarters.

If the main hallways of the castle were lively, this place was crowded. Young guards lounged around in tables, chattering amiably as they fixed this or that piece of equipment. Young maids talked with cooks and laughed unabashedly as they folded clothes used on these same quarters, or passed snacks about the grounds of youngest people. Many faces Sebastian recognized from the prince's tower, and he wordlessly returned waves of greeting. Prince Ariel himself was very vocal about greeting anyone he knew, but he never stopped to make chit-chat.

Halfway to wherever they were going, two more children joined them, swimming alongside Ursule with bright smiles.

It took all of Sebastian's will power not to stare at the stubs they had for arms, or the long scars running on each side of their faces. He knew better than to stare. But he resolved to ask someone, later, what had happened to the kids.

"The octopus is Ursule," the prince confided as he slowed down, approaching a door near the end of a well-lit hallway. The windows of this side of the servant quarters had a pretty view of one of the outer gardens. "And the eel twins are Floatsam and Jetsam. Don't ask me which is which, I always forget about it."

"Huh." Was all Sebastian could offer, glancing at the trio, which seemed to be bickering... Well, Ursule was bickering, the other two just nodded or exchanged looks while the albino talked. From what he could hear, Ursule was explaining the new babysitter and complaining about some record he'd been unable to borrow, or something to that sort. He failed to see how the topics connected.

"Orabelle!"

They had come to a stop at last, and Ariel was speaking to someone past a cheap cloth door. It was drawn, so just tilting his head gave Sebastian a good look inside.

A very pretty lady sat on a low chair in the middle of the modest bedroom, cradling a chubby child in her arms. Said child was too busy gnawing on a soft cloth toy to notice them, but the woman turned her hazel eyes to them and smiled welcomingly.

"Prince Ariel," she greeted, inviting them to the room. Sebastian followed awkwardly, nodding to the woman when she turned her smile to him. "We hadn't seen you around here for a while. Have you been eating properly?"

"Yes, Ma'am," he said dutifully, and this was the most polite Sebastian had ever seen him act. "Was getting to know my new babysitter this past week." Who was promptly forgotten about as Ariel advanced towards the woman. Ursule's bickering switched from the hallway to the room, which was getting a little crowded. "How's she been?"

"Very well, thank you," the woman chuckled. The baby girl had finally noticed the prince, and was giggling and throwing her arms up in the water with little cries of "Ari! Ari!" The chubby child was passed on to Ariel's open arms, where he cradled her carefully. "Flounder missed you."

"She's been a bother, really. No one makes faces stupid enough as you, so we can't make her laugh much." At Orabelle's Look, Ursule amended: "Err... faces silly enough."

Sebastian rolled his eyes. "You should watch your mouth, really. Their minds are sponges when they're this young," he said. Ignoring the scornful glares (now what had he done, that the twins were also glaring?), he went to stand a bit closer to the small group. He was a gentleman, so even if it was a bit awkward, he wasn't going to try to meld with the background. "My name is Sebastian, Ma'am."

The woman shook his offered hand with a chuckle. "Orabelle."

Sebastian was going to tell her what a pleasure it was to meet her, but a small hand yanking on his hair made him wince instead.

"Awwww, Baby Flounder likes you," Ariel cooed with puckered lips, not seeming to mind the persistent tugs at his own hair by the same girl.

Sebastian wasn't sure how long they spent in there, just playing with the baby and generally wasting time. But it was hard to complain when Prince Ariel was looking so much less moody and grim, even if it was weird to be on the end of his friendly teasing.

It wasn't until later that day that Sebastian was informed that Ariel was, in fact, not supposed to spend time with Ursule, due to him being the son of a criminal or something to that sort. At the same time, the person who told him this didn't seem to condemn the friendship, himself... and none of the servants had seemed uneasy, either.

So, Ariel had reasoned, he hadn't really been "in trouble" because no one minded. And really, how dangerous could a couple of children be? And did he really think it was prince-like to break promises of watching over baby Flounder?

Sebastian had to agree to this logic, and agreed not to run off to the King to tell him. This proved to be a very bad idea.

Next week, Ariel used similarly logic arguments to, somehow, make Sebastian agree to an outing to a nearby anemone garden. Which was still outside the castle. He did tell King Triton of Ariel's night outing a few days later, which he felt made up for that slip. Yet, no more than two weeks later, he'd helped Ariel hide a baby dolphin (and not the merfolk kind)  in the castle, even when he was not supposed to have any pets in-doors.

He still wasn't sure how he had agreed to that one. He just knew Ariel's arguments had been very convincing at the time. Sebastian had taken the brunt of the punishment lecture that time, since he'd been in on the ruse for the whole week it lasted.

Being a Royal Babysitter was really a very hard job. And it was likely not to get easier as years went by.