Chapter Text
This wasn’t suppose to happen. She was supposed to be holding Ruby in her arms and welding the power of the trident. Not stuck in a cage, being watched and tormented by a crab and its owner.
Chelsea looked at the prom boat; it was playing loud music with the faint sound of laughter and yelling.
Chelsea’s cage was small and had barely any room to move. The girl felt really uncomfortable; she had been in the cage for hours and had not been given any food or water. She was dehydrated, and her head was spinning.
Chelsea began to feel a bit guilty. ‘Why? Why did I believe her? I should’ve known this could’ve happened!’ Chelsea began to remember why she was in this position, why she wanted the trident. Whose fault it was for putting her in this position. Her mother.
~Flashback~
Chelsea ran to her mother’s room. Her mother, Queen Nerissa, was in the hospital. And had been for the last 5 years. “Mom!” Chelsea looked at her mother. The once very powerful and pretty mermaid queen was on her deathbed, old and withered. “Chelsea, listen to me carefully,” Nerissa said, starting to cough. “You need to go to land; you need to befriend that kraken princess and steal back the trident! You are the only one.” Nerissa started to cough violently.
~Present~
Chelsea began to cry; she never intended to hurt Ruby. She only wanted to make Ruby fall for her. But she had failed—she failed her mother, and she failed the rest of the mermaid kingdom. Chelsea had never felt so helpless .
Ruby had told her that she fit in, but to Chelsea, she didn’t fit in. She felt that she stuck out. She felt that everybody only liked her because she was popular . Chelsea felt that nobody was going to be friends with her if they knew what she was really like. A girl who loved to talk and have fun, a girl who wanted to be worry-free
Chelsea know realized that was impossible. She was going to be friendless, and she was going to rot in this cage. She had run out of chances to fix her life. She was never going to be free. And the only person to blame was herself.
Chelsea tried to wipe her tears, but it was no use; the tears kept falling. Through her tears, she spotted a small knife on the edge of the boat that was within reach. Chelsea reached out and grabbed it. She smiled at it. She then looked around. Nobody was there, and Gordon had left the boat at the dock. Chelsea looked at her left wrist and placed the knife on it. Chelsea started to make small cuts on her wrist. The slight pain not enough to satisfy Chelsea.
Chelsea then started to make deeper cuts, which would definitely leave marks. Chelsea then did the same thing with her right wrist. She then tore her pants. Taking the ripped-up pieces and wrapping them around her wrists to hopefully prevent the blood from getting everywhere.
Chelsea looked at her wrist; she still wasn’t satisfied. She looked around the cage to see if there was anything else she could use. But the only thing she saw were the metal bars that made up the cage. ‘…I could’. Chelsea slowly began to bang her head against the cage. After a few minutes, Chelsea began to bang her head harder.
Chelsea continued to bang her head against the cage until she felt blood run down her face. ‘… that… wasn’t bad’. Chelsea gently put a hand on her face, when she pulled it away, she saw that most of it was covered in blood. Chelsea started to feel a bit lightheaded.
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Ruby was on the prom boat. Dancing with Connor. When she started to hear a faint banging sound, Ruby walked to the edge of the boat and looked over in the direction of the dock. Ruby noticed that Chelsea’s cage was swaying. ‘What is she doing?’ Ruby began to feel a bit worried. Ruby looked at Connor, who was waiting for her to come back. Ruby walked over to him. "Sorry, Connor, I have to go,” Ruby said, a hint of guilt on her face.
Connor was a bit surprised by this, but smiled. “That’s okay; I had fun tonight,” Connor said, blushing slightly. Ruby just smiled nervously, walked back over to the edge of the boat, and jumped off. As Ruby swam closer to the docks, she saw that Chelsea's cage had stilled. Ruby climbed onto the dock and walked towards the boat Chelsea’s cage was hanging off of.
Ruby walked onto the boat and approached Chelsea’s cage cautiously. As Ruby approached the cage, she noticed that it was very quiet on the boat.
Ruby slowly approached the girl and noticed that she wasn’t awake. As Ruby moved closer, she noticed the blood running down her face and her bloody wrists. Ruby walked as close as she could to the girl and noticed the knife still in the girl’s hand. ‘Wha… d-did she… no she… she would never’ Ruby began to panic. She quickly pulled out her phone and called her mom. “M-mom!” Ruby's voice clearly sounded like she was in distress. “Ruby?” Agatha was clearly confused by Ruby’s tone of voice. “Chelsea… she,” Ruby couldn’t say it.
“What happened? Did she escape?” Agatha said, beginning to worry. “N-no… but she… she’s covered in blood and is… holding a knife,” Ruby started to pace. “What?! But… I’ll call an ambulance; try to stay calm,” Agatha said as she hung up.
~~
Ruby was still pacing around as the ambulance pulled as close to the boat as possible. As the EMTs and firefighters rushed to the cage to open it and help the girl, Ruby just watched. Still too shocked to do much. After a few minutes, Chelsea’s cage was opened, and she was put on a stretcher and moved into the ambulance.
As the ambulance was about to leave, an EMT walked up to Ruby and asked, “Do you want to come?”. Ruby looked at the guy and nodded her head. Ruby was sat in the front of the ambulance; all she could hear were the sirens of the vehicle.
~~~
Ruby watched as the EMTs moved Chelsea into the hospital. Ruby then walked to the front of the building to wait for her mother.
Ruby still couldn’t believe what she saw; she never thought Chelsea would do something like this. From what Ruby knew, Chelsea would manipulate anyone to get what she wanted, but hurting herself? Ruby had never thought about that; she had always thought Chelsea cared about her appearance.
As Ruby stood near the entrance to the hospital, she saw her mother running up to her. “Ruby!” Agatha pulled the girl into a tight hug. “Are you okay?” Agatha said, letting her daughter go so she could look at her. “I’m fine,” Ruby said, pulling away. “What happened?” Agatha said her tone becoming more serious. “I was on the prom boat when I heard a banging sound. When I looked at Chelsea’s cage, it was swaying a bit, so I went to check on her. When I found her, she was passed out and had blood all over her.” Ruby began to tear up from all the stress that was happening.
Agatha looked at her daughter, then started to feel bad. Agatha brought Ruby to the waiting area and sat her down. “We should probably leave soon,” Agatha said, noticing the time. “No! I want to know if she’s okay…” Ruby said, surprised at herself for saying it as loud as she did.
Agatha looked at her daughter, then sighed. "Okay... but as soon as we hear anything, we are leaving,” Agatha said.
~~~
After an hour of waiting, a doctor walked up to them. “Are you two with Chelsea van der Zee?" The doctor said almost mispronouncing Chelsea’s last name. "Yes,” Ruby said, looking at the doctor. “Well, I have good news; she will be okay; she just lost a bit of blood. But she will have to stay here for a few days”. Agatha looked at the doctor with a polite smile “Thank you”. The doctor smiled at her, then walked away. “Come on, Ruby. We have to go,” Agatha said, looking at her daughter, who was clearly lost in thought.
Ruby looked at her mother, then stood up. She followed her mother to their car. As Ruby looked out the window, she remembered something Chelsea had told her. “ My mother, Nerissa, died when I was six. She had wanted to get the trident back but couldn’t”. Ruby started to worry more. ‘What caused her to do this? Was this the first time she’d done this?'
~~~
Ruby was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Her head was filled with thoughts of all sorts of things. Thoughts about the battle, Chelsea’s betrayal, and Chelsea’s well-being. ‘Did she do this on purpose? Did she know she would get out? What could’ve caused her to do this? Was it the battle? Was it me...?' Ruby didn’t want to believe she could’ve been the cause of this.
Her thoughts were spiraling out of control…