After surviving a bank robbery, with much thanks to Aquaman, Camille decides to complete her training to join the police force; to help people like he did and to redeem herself from a gruesome death that she was too petrified to stop. After being as...
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With each contraction came a pain that dominated Camille's entire being. In those moments, for those seconds that stretched into infinity, there was nothing else. She could hear screaming from other rooms, yet she made no sound at all. When the pain passed it was only for a minute or so and she breathed with closed eyes, unwilling to re-engage with life outside of her own body. The room might as well have been empty for all the awareness she had, and when they did talk, touch, gain her attention she found it so hard. To reply she had to find herself from the deepest recess of her own mind and drag herself forward, to use her voice, open her eyes. The midwife, or the Atlantean equivalent entitled 'Gurlan', was telling her that it was time...and though, mentally, Camille wasn't ready, her body was crying and pleading for the pain to end.
She was uncomfortable, floating inside of a mystic oval that they apparently used for the process of childbirth, and the only comfort to be found was that this had only been going on for one small hour. Compared to labour on the surface, that was a welcome miracle. What hadn't been particularly pleasant was how quickly the pain had started. One minute she was swimming to Mera's guard post, and the next she was being rushed to the Atlantean 'place of healing'.
Camille prepared herself to push, not because she was told to, but because her body didn't allow her any other option. She had thought it would be the most painful part...but that was when the Gurlan leaned forward and stuck a small device onto her hand. From her fingers came small strings of magic, or technology, Camille was in too much agony to actually process the scene.
Those veins of colour wrapped around her, and within the breathe of a second, the room was filled with the unmistakable crying of a newborn. Camille's eyes snapped open in shock. She had known that Atlantis had advanced technology to assist in birth, but not that they could skip it altogether.
Camille's vision was blurry, but she managed to lift her head just enough to see the Gurlan holding up the baby. Everyone within the room fell into low bows of respect, chanting the hymn of their very first branch of royalty. It was a tradition to praise and thank Poseidon for gifting Atlantis with a King. By this fact alone, Camille knew that she had given birth to a son. If it had been a girl, they would have been praying to Amphitrite instead.
"Dark-haired Poseidon, to you the waters of the world obey; those briny depths that brought us all into life." They prayed in ancient Atlantean. "Poseidon, maker and master of our kingdom, trident-bearer, earth-shaker, lord of all beasts of the deep, lord of the thrashing waves, sea-god. Bless this son with your immortal wisdom. Make him your weapon, your shield, and your messenger. For he shares the blood of kings, and is born to serve you."
They spoke above the severe and deafening sobs of the newborn, and Camille had to avert her eyes. Everyone was born crying, even underwater, and now he would spend the rest of his life discovering why...
Camille's head fell back. She still often forgot that there were no beds in Atlantis, so was a little surprised when she didn't hit against a soft pillow. God, she missed pillows. The fact that she could think about this, right after giving birth, truly hammered home how disconnected she felt from the situation. It was as if she was watching this scene play out as a whisper. She was there, but not a part of it. That wasn't her body that had just created life, and that wasn't her baby.
