Hey! Sorry have been MIA for a while, stuff's been busy. Here is my first long(ish) chapter, hopefully I can make the future ones even longer! That being said, I also am starting another story (in progress you guys probably gotta wait a month or so, but it will be a series.) Kaiko's Side of the Family, so updates here will be farther between. Also, adding something new to the story (not you Glaucus, but you too). Grammar! XD But seriously, I will try to make them easier to read, and more grammatically correct. It won't be perfect, but a step in the right direction. Alrighty, on to reviews (BTW, thanks to my amazing reviewers, y'all make my day)
TheShipHasSail: Thanks! Glad you liked it :D
The next morning the Nektons gathered in Fontaine's room. The day had been over after the ceremony, and they had all gone to bed. Nobody had explicitly said "Let's meet in Fontaine's Room!", but somehow the Nektons/Nereus all ended up sitting beneath the rock band posters. Again. Fontaine sat up in bed, bleary eyes, and shrieked.
"What the heck?"
"Oh," said Will, "Morning sleepyhead!". Fontaine moaned.
"What are you guys doing here again?" Fontaine rubbed her eyes.
"Dunno," said Ant.
Awake enough to get her sass on, she said, "What, is my bedroom just the awesome new meeting place now?"
"So," said Kaiko, narrowing her eyes at Nereus "You. Answers. Now."
"Well, it's as it looks." said Nereus.
"As what looks?" cried Fontaine
"After the Kraken attacked, I evacuated Lemuria, and we built a new civilization here." said Nereus
"So the entire time, Lemuria was here" yelled Will, "What was all that time we spent for?"
"Ah, you were searching for Lost Lemuria. We didn't know where Old Lemuria was, until now." Nereus said. The Nektons nodded. "So these people, they know about Lemurian culture, old geography, oh my gosh!" Will ran outside the Arronax, slamming into the doorframe in haste.
"Did he just leave?" asked Ant.
"I think he did..." said Fontaine.
"Alright then," said Nereus, "New Lemuria is huge, I'm sure you two can find something to do, Fontaine and I have training to get to, Glaucus, Tethys, and Qualcus are waiting."
Fontaine groaned. "But it's so earlyyyyyyyyyyy!"
"Time and I wait for no-one!" Nereus said cheerily. Fontaine groaned.
Ten minutes later Fontaine was dressed in her Nekton wetsuit and following Nereus down the sun was just rising, and although she wouldn't admit it, she was glad Nereus had woken her up so early. The sunset was the most breathtaking she had ever seen, it reflected off the water, and off the buildings. The sea spread out in every direction, and it was calm this morning, and the world was silent except for the quiet swish of the waves against the dock and the shore.
Nereus came to a stop outside of some sort of building. Like most of the buildings of New Lemuria, it was over the water, but this one was further out onto the water. The roof was domed, and it looked more like a relic than something you could live in. "Welcome to the Training Hall" said Nereus. Fontaine couldn't help but gasp, and Nereus grinned. It wasn't big, but there was something about it that seemed majestic. There was a group of people standing in front, and Fontaine knew two of them. "Glaucus!" she cried, running up to give him a hug. Glaucus had become a sort of uncle to the Nektons. "Fontaine!" He hugged her back.
"How are you doing with all of this?"
"Ummm..." Fontaine didn't want to insult Nereus to Glaucus, but Glaucus just chuckled.
"As you should be!" said Tethys, as she walked over and hugged Fontaine as well.
"I told Nereus he needed to explain more" Tethys gave Nereus a pointed look. Fontaine grinned. Two of the Guardians were on her side. She supposed Nereus was on her side as well, but it sure didn't seem like it.
The newest Guardian, Qualcus stepped forward.
"Hey!" she shook hands with Fontaine.
"Hi!" It had taken about a year because the Guardians took application seriously, but they had finally found a replacement for Proteus, so there were once again four Guardians.
Nereus ushered them toward a group of kids that Fontaine hadn't noticed before.
They all dropped to a knee, and Nereus elbowed Fontaine in the stomach and whispered, "Psst! Fontaine, bow at the waist!" Fontaine did, not wanting to start a scandal. Everybody rose up and seemed to relax. As she rose up, Fontaine recognized one of the kids. Kymara. Ugh.
Nereus came up. "Fontaine, you know you are High Queen, these are your Crown Royals"
He started walking as he lectured. "The High Royal is less of a political figure, we have the council for political decisions, but they are more like the figurehead of Lemuria, and their main job is to take care of Lemuria and protect our ocean, and the Crowns are like her assistants."
Nereus went off on a tangent about how the Training Hall had been the place High Royals and their Crowns had trained for generations, and Fontaine started to notice her surroundings. The Hall was just as impressive from the inside as from the outside. The passageway they walked through was made of some kind of white stone, and paintings of previous High Royals and their Crowns were on the walls.
Something was bothering Fontaine.
"Fontaine!" cried Nereus, exasperated.
"Are you even listening?" She snapped out of it. Nereus stopped in front of a door and then ducked into a closet. "Just going to change into my Guardian robes. You all should too." He handed out articles of clothing to the Crowns and Fontaine. Fontaine looked with contempt at the garment in her hands. It looked almost like a blue version of the Guardians robes, but it was dark blue and fancy looking. Fontaine turned to Glaucus. He stifled a giggle behind his hand. Fontaine rolled her eyes. Fontaine stepped into one of the little rooms and threw it on, it was surprisingly soft, but still annoyingly ridiculous and weird.
Fontaine was so glad Ant wasn't here, he would have cracked up and teased her about it for ages. Yet, as Fontaine stepped out into what she guessed must have been some Lemurian locker room, she glanced at her reflection in the polished wall. She looked kinda... powerful. Nope. Nevermind, she just looked ridiculous. She glanced back at the Crowns as they stepped out of the locker rooms, they had on little tunics that looked like what Fontaine had except not so fancy. Theirs were pale teal, and were tunic length instead of Fontaine's heavy robe. "Lucky." thought Fontaine.
Nereus, still being annoying and cryptic, moved on. Or maybe he wasn't being cryptic, and Fontaine just wasn't paying attention. Either way, they ended up in a small classroom. "Figures", thought Fontaine, "I travel the world in a submarine discovering creatures and nearly dying and finding a lost civilization, get turned into the high queen of a magic island in the middle of the ocean, and then I land back at a school"
"The Training Hall is designed simply." said Nereus. "This is the classroom where I will teach Magic, then Tethys's Defense, after that is Qualcus's Rescue, and the one down the second hall is Glaucus's Lemurian History. The last room is for you, between classes you can meet there to eat and meet each other. This is your team, and you must become as thick as thieves." Nereus looked pointedly at Fontaine and then at Kymara. Fontaine got the message, but she didn't like it.
"I still don't know who these people are, Nereus" I reminded him.
"Oh, that's right! Introduce yourselves please, full names and titles."
I rolled my eyes.
A diminutive kid with glasses stammered "Hey, I'm Crown Prince Jamriann De-Mare, you can call me Jami"
Kymara introduced herself, but the only thing Fontaine could hear was the word Alpheus.
Alpheus, Alpheus, Alpheus, Alpheus, Alpheus.
It repeated in her head like a song.
The song was interrupted by the other kid in the room, who looked as bored as Fontaine "I'm Crown Princex Lexian Caspi, You can call me Lex."
Fontaine spoke up. "High Queen Fontaine"
Nereus elbowed Fontaine and whispered what to say in her ear.
"Oops, sorry" Fontaine stammered,
"Fontaine of Lemuria"
I feel like I have to apologize here because that has to be the corniest chapter ending ever! XD I couldn't resist though. Anyway, that turned fantasy fast! Lots of new OCs here. I loved writing Uncle Glaucus, he is super fun to do. With that I shall sign off, see you guys for the next chapter! I already have it started, it has been my favorite to write so far. *Note: I keep catching myself in first person, so I am going to try from Fontine's point of view next chapter*