Loyal Riptide

Part 2 Chapter 11

       Her vision was filled with blurred colours of mostly greens and yellows and once her eyes dilated she realized she was back under the willow tree in the refugee camp just outside the market square. She slowly sat up with pain stinging her muscles as she moved them to be met with Kaiyu's lime green hair and eyes. "Kaiyu..?" She whispered softly, wondering if she was just imagining things. Except when he took her hand she knew that he was real and quickly brought him into a big hug despite her muscles protesting the sudden movements.

"I thought you were dead, I watched you get shot." She said, taking in his soaked face. Aenons don't get the burden of getting wet when in water, so to see that Kaiyu is wet- She trailed her eyes to his ears to see them webbed as if he had flippers on his ears and then she noticed the same with his fingers. "I did die," Kaiyu began, noticing the things that has caught her attention, "some things are still foggy in my mind between the time I died and then resurrected."

At this point Shiro, Hizashi and Dorian came closer so they could hear everything from Kaiyu himself, but Gordy was still resting on her blanket nearby. Kaiyu wore the same thing he wore the day he died which from what she has heard from around her the events of blowing up the cliff happened three days ago. "I guess I should start when I died..." Kaiyu trailed off, poking his webbed finger through a hole in his blouse where he was shot.

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     Sirene ordered her fellow mer-people to stand down and lay low in a cave near the entrance to the Aenon kingdom where they stayed for two days. After getting word that the human king was almost assassinated during the Aenon queen's annual gala she felt as if Asa weren't there then Dorian would be dead. That led to her leading her people to Aenon where she waited for the right time to join the battle. 

After a few hours of pure chaos happening with screams filling the ocean currents she ordered everyone to stay in the cave as she went out to investigate. She stayed near the ocean floor to not risk being detected if any of Taura's men were to come at her with harpoons or their coral weapons and such. After getting close enough to the main lagoon's docks she swam to the surface and plotted herself against the mountains base and watched as Asa and her friends run away.

She noticed Kaiyu was with them, too. She was always fond of him ever since he tried to save her from her mother all those years ago, despite it not working out she was forever in his debt. She had met with him many other times after that as he would tell her stories about things he learned, things that don't exist or even just talking about his day. Ever since being thrust upon with this gig of being a queen she felt closer than ever to Kaiyu's world and kingdom and now she wondered if she could ever bring her people to respect the Aenons like she did.

She watched as Kaiyu stayed behind as she fought off his own people and she cried in horror but quickly clasped a hand over her mouth when she saw the bullet enter his body. He fell in the water and quickly sank to the ocean floor, his blood leaving the water discoloured around as he sank. She dive bombed to his side and placed her hand over his heart where he'd been shot to contain the bleeding but by that point she knew that he was already gone.

She couldn't watch as he layed dead when she could so something about it, something her mother forbade her to ever do but she was gone now, too right? She had to take that chance even if it meant his own life changed forever. She slowly placed her lips against his and waited and waited until she pulled away to find him still pale and lifeless. She wondered if what her mother told her was all a lie, but she felt his body grow warmer and his ears began to reshape into the webbed ears all mer-people had.

Kaiyu's fingers did the same with light green scales formed around his chest then make its way down to form a long tail like her's with the green colour getting darker as it went down to the tail. His eyes fluttered open and she could smile as her tears only got soaked up by the ocean water. "I'm sorry." Was all she was able to bring herself to say as she just changed who this man was. Kaiyu examined his new body parts and after it wasn't disappointment, anger or sadness but joy as he looked into her sparkling blue eyes and smiled back. 

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       "I still have my coral weapons and I only have my tail when in the water as Sirene told me she only activated half of the mer-people genes all of us have. Being a race of Atlantians and mer-people and all." Kaiyu explained, ending with a sigh. Asa went to open her mouth but was cut off by a huffing and puffing human running up to them, catching his breath when he stood and then bowed low to Dorian.

"Your highness there has been reports of Taura being spotted heading for West Gate as more reinforcements were heading this way. How do you wish to proceed?" The human said, giving a long slow sigh after sputtering it all out. Dorian's eyes widened and he glanced over to Asa, "bring all the soldiers that are here back to West Gate and Asa I'll need your army, too." He replied, pointing to the human to round up his own army. 

"But how can we know who to trust? This same army you're wanting me to lead were all too keen on killing us I might add." Asa replied back, shakily standing up. 'Don't worry, Asa. Over the past few days we have been testing those who are still loyal to the crown and dealt with the ones who weren't." Kaiyu explained, leading everyone through the market square where it was filled with Aenon knights and even civilians. "This is it?" Asa murmured softly, taking in the eager eyes of those standing in the square looking up to their queen.

"Too many were brain washed by Taura's ways and how she saw things... These are the most loyal as they come by." He said, Dorian meeting them at their sides. "I'd also might like to add that most if any will be fighting." Dorian started, stuffing his bandaged fingers into his pockets. "Over the years she has been at my kingdom she was planning on sinking it to the ocean floor with bombs placed within the old coal mines and along the forest's borders." Asa spun her attention to him with a concerned look, "so we are having everyone retrieve the bombs, but why is she wanting to send West Gate into the sea?"

Dorian gulped, "I haven't been fully truthful with any of you of who Taura truly is." He confessed, turning to face his friends. "But Taura is a part of one of the few remaining tribes of Atlantians after Atlantis was decimated." Everyone looked either shocked or confused until he spoke up again, "by my kingdom's old peach treaty with the Atlantians from many years ago we were not allowed to speak of any of the remaining Atlantians their still may be in concern for their safety and ours. So, we passed off Taura as being an Aenonian just to stop raising suspicion. I'm sorry." He apologized.

"What she plans on doing with my kingdom is creating the new Atlantis."

Asa clenched her fists and pinned them against her sides. She wasn't mad at Dorian in any way except just how stupid and mad at herself she was. She was too paranoid and busy trying to protect her own kingdom that she forgot the influence Taura still had on Dorian's. She shook off the thoughts jumbled up in her brain and stepped forward to face the crowd waiting eagerly for what she was going to say. She didn't know what she was supposed to say to them. Does she say how sorry she was, that everything will be okay or does she simply lead them into another bloody battle that could end up killing everyone. She guesses that the only to address everything and has happened is to start from the very beginning, so she opened her mouth and the one word she uttered she used to start felt fitting and long over due.

"Hello." She said.