The Regrets We Have

"Of course..." Lucy grumbled as she entered into the Princess's room to see the mer-Ami in a shining bright pink dress adorned in glowing pearls and shells. A few hours had passed and it was almost time for the Ball. 

"Apparently an advance underwater civilisation still acts as though it is the middle ages. Why couldn't this world be more... Urban." Lucy complained to herself while Ami stared at her figure in the mirror. 

"W-Well I-I get to marry a prince... So..." The mermaid giggled, noticing the miniature leviathan lying in the gigantic bed in the centre of the room. The princess's room was rather bare. Filled with posters of aquatic heroes of the past and old weapons hung up on the wall. 

"Hey L-Lucy, y-you've l-lived a l-long life, right? H-How d-do you impress your parents?" Ami asked with a nervous stammer as she turned to look at the lying leviathan. It took her a few moments to come up with an answer, waving a tentacle in idle disinterest.

"I never had parents. My mother birthed me in a sense, but she more tolerated my existence."

"B-But y-you h-have a dad, right?"

"No. You have no idea how demons are born, do you? I thought you would have learned this in school." The demon remarked with a light sigh as she dug through Dropllet's draws for something to read, only finding old history books. Yet Ami remained silent at Lucy's question. 

"I-I left s-school at seventeen... M-Miss C-Carmen home schooled me for the rest." She replied with a solemn look as she drifted around the room, though that only raised Lucy's interest. She had rather detailed documents on every one of her domain leaders, but Ami's one was actually rather incomplete. 

Lucy never really bothered to look into her past since it wasn't needed, but with little else to do until the ball, it wouldn't hurt to talk for a bit. "Miss Carmen? Why can't you refer to her as your mother?" 

"I-I dunno... I-I always called her M-Miss Carmen? I c-c-could call dad my dad but not her my mom."

"You are adopted correct? I have been meaning to ask this question for awhile actually. When I had people look into your past, they found nothing of your life before twelve years ago. You were never registered to any orphanage nor foster system, you have no actual last name registered and bizarrely, I found that you had heart surgery at nine years old. Fill in the blanks for me, dear." 

Ami was a bit surprised by all the questions before getting a bit flustered. It took her a few times to finally get the words out, and as she twirled her hair nervously, she said; "I-I'm... N-Not from The Iris... I-I came from a place called Earth."

"Earth?" Lucy said with a stifled laughter. "Who names a world after dirt? What a pathetic name for a pathetic place." She cackled. After Lucy's laughter died down, Ami began to open up a bit more about her life. 

Originally, Ami came from a Star known as Earth. While she didn't remember much of her time there, she remembers her family. The young girl grew up in a split household, with both her parents always being neglectful from what she remembered. 

They were always busy with work, never having time for her. It wasn't until her 8th birthday was it were she felt truly alone. None of her friends from school had shown up, her Mother and father all but bickering in the kitchen as she sat in front of the TV, watching an animated movie about a princess.

Movies were always her escape from reality and on that day she decided to recreate her favourite. A movie titled "What Angel Wakes Me". 

"I-It was this movie about a-a princess who m-meets three angels w-who try and wake her f-from her dream... B-But s-she doesn't want to wake up until she gets a kiss. T-The three try their best to convince her to wake up, but fail. T-Then the oldest of the three d-decides to kiss her instead, s-sacrificing his divinity to be with her in the real world instead." She explained.

"What Angel Wakes Me? Oh, I remember that film. The rodent forced me to watch it during one of her 'movie' nights. Wait a moment, you had that movie in your world?" Lucy questioned, leaning over the bed as she began getting invested. 

Ami, having been distracted by explaining her favourite movie, quickly got back to her long winded backstory. Anyway, as the night drew close and her party all but a sad reminder of her life, she went outside to get away from her parents' constant arguing. 

As the young girl played outside with her loyal dog, she began wandering the streets. A dumb decision she would later regret as she tried to escape her old life, wanting to run away and be a princess. 

A childish dream. 

A dream that ended with her being mangled under a truck. 

"Wait, wait, wait. You died? Are you making this up?" Lucy questioned with a raised eye brow. "If you'd let me finish, then you'd k-know." Ami grumbled. 

So Ami died. At only eight years old. A tragedy. But she found herself in a dark void with nothing but a chair, a desk and two people dressed in divine white attire. Yet the thing that was ingrained in her memories was how the two looked and acted.

Despite their saintly appearance, one had a long scratch scratch mark on his face and what seemed to be blood dripping from two long fangs, while the other had bite marks on her neck and claws that resembled a wolf's.

"They tried asking m-me questions and l-let me bring one t-thing from my old life. I-I chose the VHS tape 'cause I-I wanted something I loved with me... B-But they began arguing half w-way through it and n-next t-thing I knew, I was suddenly in P-Pandora's Melody. I-I stood outside the Tower of B-Babel for hours b-before a-a human couple spotted me. T-That's h-how I m-met m-my family... T-Then I met my sister.

S-She didn't l-like me very much... A-And I w-was bullied a lot in school... S-So I s-sat in my room playing games. I-I got kinda invested in M-Mollia after I h-heard the stories. B-But when Avette- I-I mean Avis left... I had no one to talk to.

Miss Carmen was busy working a-and dad died... So I followed her to the city a-and by accident I came across a flyer for Domain Leader try outs. Y-You know the rest..." She finished. 

Lucy let out a sigh, watching the bubbles leave her mouth before staring back at Ami with a more warmer look. 

"To lose your old life in exchange for a new one... None should ever be allowed to make that decision at a young age. I gave up my humanity you know. Very few know this, but since we are cousins in a sense. I will let you in on the secret of my birth." Lucy sighed before explaining the story of her birth.

Ami remained captivated and once Lucy had finished her story, she had thousands of questions. But one stuck out to her the most. 

"D-Do you regret b-becoming a demon?"

Lucy could only roll her eyes under her bangs at the question, but as she began to think about it more and more. She had a realisation that made her feel cold. It had never really been a thought to her, she was always a demon in her own eyes... 

So why did she want to be human again?

It was a long distant memory for her. Yet the first twenty two years of her life were of being a human. An artist. What was it she had actually done? What kind of life did she miss out on with a shorter life span? Maybe she could have been happy... 

"A-Are you okay?" Ami asked as she stared at the demon, who was lying limp on the bed, her bangs having parted to see that every eye looked more hollow then usual as they stared at the ceiling. 

"I think I regret every choice I ever made."

The mer-Ami stared at her with a worried smile. "D-Don't worry, w-we all have those feelings." As Ami tried to comfort the demon, Odyssey entered the room with a calm elegance and bowing to Dropllet. 

"The Prince has arrived. The King requests your presence in the ballroom now. I'll watch your pet if you like?" The siren said in a friendly sing song tone as she escorted Ami out of the room. Though the princess tried to resist, The Head Maid was surprisingly strong as she shoved her out of the room. 

With a loud bang, the door shut in Ami's face. "W-Well that's rude..." She grumbled and swam off to the ballroom with little resistance. 

Inside the princess's room however, Odyssey dropped his act as head maid in front of depressed demon. "Hey, you. We have a big, big, big problem!" He said in a panicked voice once he felt that Ami was out of earshot. Though Lucy remained still, still contemplating her life.

"What is it...?" She spoke rather dryly as her body slowly drifted around with the thin currents in the room. "W-Well..."

"The Prince of Redonium has arrived!" An ambassador wearing a more classical noble suit announced. Despite the fact that the prince and his envoys were human, they were given a magicked breathing half mask that allowed them to survive underwater indefinitely. 

Once Ami entered and seeing the crowd of both humans and aquatic demi-creatures all staring in her direction, she felt the pressure weigh on her. As she slowly made her way through the crowd and down what was the mermaid equivalent of stairs (a fancy looking ramp that really had no reason to be there other than decoration), she floated in the centre of the ballroom with a nervous smile.

The king and queen looked down at her from a balcony, watching their daughter with a sense of pride that only serve to increase her anxiety. But all that changed when she the prince himself stepped out of the crowd to greet her. 

Her eyes fluttered in shock and delight when her eyes laid upon him. His soft tanned complexion that complimented his dark crimson red hair moved hypnotically as it swayed in the water. She admired his noble gold outfit that shined under the neon glow of the ballroom's advance lighting. 

The two locked eyes for but a moment and in that moment Ami knew who she was looking at as she stared into his soft white eyes. 

She was staring at her soulmate.

And he felt the exact same way. Though two awkwardly shuffled over to each other, both afraid to make eye contact with the other as everyone watched with bated breath. Ami reached out a scaled hand out to grab his and as some retro blues jazz began to play, the two danced under a blue spotlight beneath the dark sea sky.

"I-I know w-we've just met... B-But I feel as though we've met before. I-I-It's kinda embarrassing, b-but could you tell me your name?" Dropllet asked with a light red blush as the two slow danced together. 

The prince let out a nervous squeak as he twirled his soon to be bride. "I-I'm T-T-Tuli. P-Pleased to meet you." He stuttered with a nervous smile. Ami had to try her hardest not to vomit out of nerves as the music began to pick up. 

"I-I've never met someone w-who's sparked such a feeling in me... I... Think I want to... MELD OUR SOULS IN THE EMBRACE OF THE VOID." Ami quickly covered her mouth as her voice distorted for a brief moment. 

But Tuli couldn't help but laugh as he ran his hand through her hair. "I-I'd like that too. You mermaids have such a unique way with words, you know that?" 

Ami couldn't help but think how great of a save that was. Yet as the two continued to dance with piercing gazes, the lights suddenly vanished. Left in pitch darkness, The young oracle saw it. 

In the darkness, both Tuli and Ami looked each other in their eyes. Their true eyes. 

Both without a face. 

Only a void in its place. 

A single swirling galaxy in their places. 

Both were bound to the void. 

Both were silent.

Only the murmurs and confusion of the crowd could be heard.

As the lights finally came back on, the two let go of each others hands. Staring at each other for a second. "What's your true name?" They both whispered together. 

"I'm... Penumbra." "I'm... Antumbra."

The two began giggling as the music continued. The cameras that were recording the occasion cut out as the two began dancing more freely, letting go of their worries to their kingdoms. "S-So, is your... Shadow as dark as the night sky?" The prince asked with a smile.

"It's a-as dark as an eclipse." She smiled. 

People couldn't really make out what they were saying to each other, but it seemed they were getting along. Though just out of view of everyone, Lucy and Odyssey stood with an air of unease between them. 

"Two... There are two of them. Mother help me." Lucy muttered under her breath as she watched the two dance. The demon noticed what seemed to be two largely vague shadowy shapes that resembled a man and a woman dancing between the two. 

It was a spectral sight that could only fuel the dread in Lucy's heart as the night continued on with luckily no more disturbances.