Taemin's sleep was restless, but it often was. As a merman, and as a human. It didn't matter where he was or how he slept, his mind would not keep still and his heart would not rest.

Alone, Taemin lay on one of the benches on the balcony, half-asleep and listening to the waves in the distance. Images and incoherent thoughts raced through his mind. In that state between consciousness and unconsciousness, everything made sense. Before someone called his name and broke him from his sleep.

Startled, he jumped up. His incoherent dreams fell away around him, and he was back in the real world, back in that palace with his empty heart.

"Taemin!"

The voice had been real, not just an echo in his dreams. And it called him by his real name.

He stood from the bench and ran to the railing, looking out at the palace grounds and to the shore ahead of him. It was dark, but he searched desperately for a sign of his sister out there. It had to be her calling him. She had come back to bring him home; or tell him that it really was impossible for him to return.

"Taemin," the voice said again, not searching for him that time, but acknowledging him. And he realized that the voice was not his sister's. And it was not looking for him out on the shore.

He spun around, startled to find that he was no longer alone in his royal suite. Yoori the Seawitch stood before him. Stood, on legs like his. She was in human form, with her tail and her gills and her fins all forgotten. She was so different, but Taemin recognized her. Somehow, it was obvious. Whether it was her face, her eyes, or her smile that betrayed her, he didn't know. But he knew who she was, and he knew why she was there.

"It's good to see you again, my prince," she greeted him.

"Why are you here?" he asked silently.

She nodded in understanding, "Right. Your sister told me you lost your voice. The price for your magic."

Jinri had gone to see her. That knowledge still made him uneasy, but there was nothing he could do about it now. "Why are you here?" he repeated.

And she seemed to understand him, "The little princess wanted my help," she explained, "She said you wanted to come home. Is that true?"

He took a moment before answering, before admitting to her the truth - that he had lost everything he had gone so far to obtain. "Yes."

"Humanity isn't everything you expected it to be," she stated, not asked. She sighed and stepped closer to him, admiring her own pair of legs through the slits in her black gown as she walked. "It's been cruel to you. I can tell. It's all over your face." She cupped his cheek, and he drew into her warm touch. As innately repulsed as he was by her, it felt comforting to be finally understood.

"Where is your human prince? Is he nearby?"

"Just down the hall."

"Hmm. So close, but so far," she said, echoing his own sentiments. "He doesn't love you, does he?"

"...No. Not anymore."

"You can't blame him too much. His human heart is a fickle thing. It's corrupt and its loyalty is fleeting."

"But it was so full. So warm. When I had his love, it was strong and enveloping."

"When you were a merman," she concluded, "When you were different, when it was impossible for you to be together - that was when he loved you. That was why he loved you. You were his moment of escape, and that is all. He loved you for what you were, not for who you are."

Taemin tried his hardest not to break, to be reduced to tears in front of that seawitch, but she had known his greatest vulnerabilities before, and she knew them now, so why did he fear showing her his distress? What did it matter? She already knew. She knew he was broken.

"There there, love," she comforted him, drawing him into her embrace. He rested his face in the crook of her neck, relishing in the familiarity of home she brought with her. He still didn't cry though. He refused to. He refused to let his love for Jonghyun reduce him to an emotional wreck in front of that woman. "You won't have to grieve much longer. Soon this will all be but a memory."

He drew back from her, wondering what she meant.

"I've come to take you home."

"You can do that?" he asked, surprised, "You told me there would be no turning back."

"Well there isn't," she clarified, "You can never undo what has been done here. And make no mistake, returning home will require a heavy price from you."

"What?" How much heavier? What would he have to give now in exchange for his original form? What else would the magic steal from him? And what would the seawitch require?

The woman reached into the folds of her dress and pulled out a bundle wrapped in seaweed. He took it from her and carefully unwrapped the covering, revealing a sharp knife hewn from stone. It was rough and intricate all at once, and so obviously dripping with magic. He felt repulsed holding it, yet at the same time, knew it to be his salvation.

"That knife will reverse the spell that changed you. All you have to do is kill your human prince."

"What?!" he exclaimed in his silence.

"Your love for him is what drove the magic, destroying that love for him will bring you home."

"But I can't!"

"Why not? He doesn't love you."

"But I love him!"

"And what good has it done you?" she questioned, "You've given up everything you've known and endured the violence that is humanity for him, and what did he do for you? Did he love you? Did he even recognize you?"

No, he had not.

“Of course he didn’t. And where is he now? He's not with you. From the talk in the palace, I hear he's pledging himself to another. He's done nothing but break your heart, Taemin."

"But..."

"All the love in the world is not worth this pain."

He crumbled the seaweed back around the knife and started pacing the room, wrestling with the opportunity that was before him, and with the painful truth of what she said.

"But your sister loves you, Taemin," Yoori continued, in softer tone, "And the child that will soon be born to us...he will love you." She placed her hands over her stomach, as if their offspring resided inside her body, not in the nest down at the bottom of the sea. Where it was no doubt waiting alone, without its mother or its father's protection.

"Why do you care?" he asked, "Why do you care what I do?" She had manipulated him before, backed him into a corner. And there she was, doing it again. He understood why she did it the first time, but what did she stand to gain now?

"I don't care," she said honestly, "You really are nothing but a means to an end for me. But I made a deal with your sister that I would convince you to use the knife."

So Jinri knew what it would require, and she wanted him to go through with it. She wanted him home that badly.

"Besides, I'm not a fool. I know you being home would be much more beneficial for me, and our child. Ultimately though, the choice is yours."

He didn't want to decide. He didn't want to have to choose between Jonghyun and his family.

Why had he gone so far? Why had he been such a fool?

The door to the suite unexpectedly opened. Taemin nearly panicked when he saw Jinki come inside, but surprisingly, Yoori remained perfectly calm, not the least bit alarmed, or ashamed that they had been plotting murder together.

It took Jinki a moment to notice them, which gave Taemin time to tuck the knife inside the back of his pants.

"I know you've been all glum and moody these past few days, but not anymore, Minnie. You're going to pull yourself out of your moping, and you're coming with me to the ceremony. I don't care what I have to do--" The attendant stopped abruptly when he came out to the balcony and realized Yoori was there, and Taemin warily watched the look of surprise and confusion on his face. "Who are you? What are you doing here? How did you get in here?" he demanded hurriedly.

"Oh, don't mind me," Yoori said casually, smiling sweetly, "I'm just here to visit my friend."

"How did you get in here?" he asked once more, now angry. He looked to Taemin for an answer as well, and he was glad for being mute. He didn't know what he would have told him.

"Minnie here let me inside," she lied, "I'm a friend of his from the theater."

"Oh," he said, surprised, "But the guards didn't tell me they had let anyone in."

"Must have slipped their minds," she shrugged.

While Jinki took a moment to be confused and critical, Yoori turned back to Taemin. She took him by the chin and drew in to whisper in his ear, "Just make sure you run for the shore before he dies. You don't want to be a fish stuck out of the water." She smiled, before giving him a soft kiss, then retreated. "Good day, kind sir," she said sweetly to Jinki as she past him by and left the suite, no doubt to disappear with her magic and never be seen in the palace again.

Even after she was gone, Taemin remained frozen in place, quaking from all his emotions.

"Are you sure she was your friend?" Jinki asked.

He lied with a nod.

"If you say so..." he shook his head once, then dismissed the matter from his mind, "As I was saying, Minnie, you're coming with me to the ceremony, whether you like it or not. It's a great honor to be invited, and it'll break Jonghyun's heart if you don't go."

Would it? If only. If only Taemin could possibly make him hurt as much as he did. Unconsciously, his hand tightened around the hilt of the knife.

"Now come on," Jinki said, pulling him from his dark thoughts, "I'm getting you dressed."

So that was what a wedding looked like. That was how marriage began. That elaborate ceremony was how a man bound himself to a woman for the rest of his life. That was how humans declared their love. That was how it all began, and how it all ended.

Taemin didn't want to be there, but he had let Jinki drag him there anyway. He let him dress him in the stuffy elegant clothes of royalty and stand him in a crowd of hundreds of important people. He was lost in a sea of faces, but still, the prince and his bride had noticed him, if only briefly. Meeyon smiled, satisfied. Jonghyun smiled, pitifully. Then he was gone from their minds, and their focus was once again on the moment before them.

Taemin thought it would have hurt him more, but it didn't. He was rather numb as he watched the prince and the priestess, as they both stood together before the priest and that large crowd. They stared directly at one another, overcome with both joy and anxiety. But they were certain that was what they wanted. Jonghyun no longer doubted his father's decision for his life. He no longer clung to his desire for freedom. His only desire was for his wife.

They exchanged their vows for everyone to hear, promising to be together for the rest of their life - promising to be there for each other, for their kingdom, for their families, for their children.

Taemin was reminded of his own family, of the child of his that would soon be born. And he realized that just as Jonghyun had made his choice, he himself had a choice to make. He had an obligation to his own family, to his own people, and his own child. He needed to go home, so he needed to do what was necessary.

He had to kill the man he loved.

A/N: Dun dun dun dun!

We're actually nearing the end of the story now. Sorry this thing is so frustrating to everyone. lol

Comments are always appreciated though, even if it is just you venting your frustration! :D