Aquaman

Chapter 3

"Dad, come on!" "No Althea, stay here." The 15 year old grumbled a bit before chasing after Arthur further down the shore "Dad, Atlantis is my home too. I have to help defend it." Arthur sighs at his daughter's persistence, she was stubborn like him. "While that may be true, it's too dangerous. You can't even defend yourself." "Yes I can!" Arthur turns to her with his arms crossed "Ok, let me see." Althea turns to the ocean and attempts to make water rise. She only manages a shaky attempt before it fell.

She sighed "I've been practicing though..." she mutters to herself "See, if you can't even rise water with ease then you can't fight against an army of soldiers." "But I can if you just give me a-!" "Enough!" Althea flinches at her father's yell. "You're staying here! End of discussion." Arthur waits for Althea to protest again, some of his anger turns to guilt when a look of hurt flashes on his daughter's face. But then she storms off and he goes to meet up with Mera.

Althea watches as Mera and Arthur jump from the cliff into the water, she goes back to looking at the ocean. Althea's kind of altantians weren't like Arthur's or Mera's even. Her kind were Lunar, which meant they were most strong by the power of the moon. Apparently when she was found by the shore it was a full moon and pouring outside. Arthur had thoughts about giving her to an orphanage because he couldn't be a parent, but he knew fully well that he was the only one that actually knew what she was and could take care of her.

In the end he was glad that he kept Althea, Arthur really cared about her and she knew that he was only trying to protect her. But....

A sudden splash caused her to jump and she looked ahead and saw a dolphin just staring at her "What the?" She approaches it and starts to pet it "Hi..?" The dolphin opens its mouth and Althea sees envelope inside it, Althea takes it "From Vulko?" She opens it and begins to read the letter.

I had a feeling that Arthur would make you stay to protect you, but you are the princess and the next heir to the throne. You have a duty to protect your people. You may choose to accept it if you want to, I have a feeling you do.

Althea smiles, he knew her so well. She looks at the dolphin "You'll take me to where they're meeting up?" She asks, the dolphin nods and turns around. Althea grabs its fin and lets out a yelp when it takes off at a great speed.

"You brought her here?!" Arthur yells when Althea approaches Vulko's side, "Yes, I did. Whether you want to believe it or not, she has a part in this too Arthur." Vulko says not fazed by Arthur's anger. Arthur turned to his daughter "I told you to stay home!" "Yeah well I'm going to protect Atlantis too!" Althea shouts.

"Enough! Both of you!" Mera yells, Arthur quiets down but still keeps his angry face, Althea does the same. Like father like daughter.

Vulko sighs and continues speaking "As I was saying, we believe that Poseidon's trident can save Atlantis from Orm's reign." Arthur shakes his head "And I'm telling you that it's just a myth. You two are chasing something that doesn't even exist." He says. Althea raises her hand sheepishly "How does the story go?" She asks.

Vulko smiles "The story goes that the trident was crafted by the greatest weapon masters in history. Crafted from Poseidon's steel for King Atlan, the first ruler of Atlantis. Legend says that the trident had the power to command the sea." He explains, "So what happened to it?" Arthur asked.

"Back when Atlantis was one, we became too hungry for power. The very power that sent our kingdom beneath the sea, gave us the ability to breathe underwater." Althea listened in awe "We evolved, but others regressed or became savage and the king spent the remainder of his days in self exile. Neither he or the trident were ever seen again." Vulko concluded. Althea looked confused "The king exiled himself? Why?" She asks "He felt responsible for what happened to Atlantis and its people."

"Yeah but I don't need a trident, I already have one of those." Arthur says pointing to his mother's "I could have it." Althea mumbles "No." Arthur was quick to say, "Besides it's just a fairy tale." "No Arthur, it's very much real." Vulko holds out a container of some kind "This was uncovered a few months ago. It's an ancient recording dated back to the first dynasty."

Arthur and Althea both examined it "I believe it contains Atlan's final message to his people and the whereabouts of the trident." Vulko says "So what does it say?" "We don't know." Mera answers "The technology is too old." She explained "The cylinder bears the markings of the deserter kingdom. You must take it there and retrieve the message." Vulko tells the three.

"The clue to Atlan's final resting place is inside of this." Arthur goes to grab it from Vulko's hand when an explosion suddenly occurred which knocked all of them to the ground. Arthur was quick to grab Althea and shield her from any wood flying, Atlantean soldiers walked into the ship and one of them grabbed Arthur by the hair pulling him up "Dad!" Althea was grabbed by two other soldiers.

Arthur began to fight off the soldiers while Althea managed to get free and kick both soldiers, Mera quickly grabbed the cylinder and ran with Vulko. Althea watched the two run and went to follow them before a soldier punched her in the stomach causing her to collapse. Arthur was busy fighting the last soldier, who seemed to be much stronger, when he saw his daughter on the ground "Althea!"

The distraction was enough for the soldier to activate his fist and punch Arthur sending him crashing to the ground, Arthur was trying to catch his breath when the soldier appeared above him "In the name of his highness King Orm, I place both of you under arrest." And with that the soldier kicked Arthur in the face, knocking him unconscious.