Prince Oceanus's brow arcs ever so slightly in curiosity at the sudden change in demeanor.
She glides through the water as if she's been a mermaid all her life. It's a strange occurrence considering he hasn't a clue as to what has changed.
That fearful expression that had been fixed onto her face has dissolved into one of calm. A new confidence exudes from her to take the place of her previous uncertainty.
And, before he knows it, he's frowning. Surely this cannot be the same girl that had been so unnerved before?
He hears the relieved exhalation of breath from his sister standing behind him. Why she insists on befriending a human of all things is beyond him, but the fact of the matter is that she simply doesn't belong here.
And perhaps that's why her sudden ability to move through the water aggravates him so.
Even the Great White seems to grow increasingly frustrated with its fleeing dinner. Its movements become more frenzied as it picks up speed in an effort to catch up. Each time it gets close enough to bite down, Serena darts away like a playful dolphin.
Prince Oceanus's frown deepens into a scowl. Enough of this foolishness...
"...Enough." Everything seems to become still at the authoritative command. The shark's eyes, having been rolled back to reveal the whites in preparation for the attack, have returned to that soulless dark color.
It swims in a circle, consistently moving to maintain the oxygen passing through its gills.
Serena comes to a stop as well, lightly panting as she tries to recover her breath. All at once, she had regained full control of her body while also experiencing a sudden bout of fatigue.
Abruptly, she turns an irate glare on the prince—swimming up to him rather quickly for someone so tired.
"This is how you teach a person to swim?" She cries out as she jabs a finger into his chest. "You're honestly insane! What were you trying to do? Kill me?" Although her voice goes quieter, her anger is no less obvious.
Prince Oceanus simply crosses his arms whilst giving her a dispassionate look. "You are alive, are you not?" Serena says nothing as her continues, "If I had been trying to kill you then you would be dead now instead of pestering me."
Serena grits her teeth in annoyance as she lowers her hands to her sides. She clenches them into fists, forcing her body to calm down as Princess Arcelia slowly swims up to them.
"Are you alright?" She asks quietly, giving Serena a once-over to check for injuries.
Serena breathes a tired sigh as she nods her head. "Physically, yes. Mentally...well that's another story." But she doesn't elaborate, nor does Princess Arcelia press her to. It's obvious by Serena's guarded stance that she has no desire to speak of her current feelings.
Prince Oceanus, either oblivious or apathetic, gives Serena a look and begins to swim off.
"Come, we have more important matters to attend to." It's not even a request, that much is clear. But Serena hardly has the energy to fight with him about it. So, she follows after him.
"Why the hell couldn't this have just been a bad dream?" She mutters quietly as she swims along a few paces behind Prince Oceanus. "He was honestly going to let that thing eat me!" Her murmured grievances don't go unnoticed by the prince, but he doesn't care for them in the least—simply choosing to ignore them instead.
Princess Arcelia remains behind and when Serena questioningly turns back to her, she shakes her head. Serena lingers for only a moment before hurrying after the prince after noticing that he had no intention of waiting for her.
A tense silence settles between the two as they leave palace grounds through a hidden entrance. Serena has no desire to disrupt the silence—preferring to deal with the discomfort rather than listening to impending insults.
Instead, her mind drifts back to the mysterious voice she heard and that song again. She didn't fear the voice, nor the following occurrences after the lullaby. If nothing else, it was a little strange, especially given that she seems to have been the only one that heard it. It was a kind of out of body experience without being outside of her actual body.
Unfortunately, the more she thinks about it and tries to understand it, the more confused she gets until she develops a full blown migraine.
For now, she'll just leave the topic alone for another time.
The darkness seems to thicken the further in they go in, and an unnerved feeling overtakes every other emotion within Serena's body. The chill of her surroundings seem to pierce right through her and insight a shutter to run up her spine.
Meanwhile, Prince Oceanus doesn't seem the least bit bothered by his ominous surroundings. Is he even concerned about the fact that something could jump out and grab them at any given moment?
Serena studies his face intently from his left side. Nope. His face doesn't have one ounce of concern written on it. She releases a sigh as she warily looks around at the blackness that surrounds them.
"So...where are we?" She asks hesitantly as she hugs herself to give her even a little peace of mind. However, she's given no response—being completely disregarded in the sense that he doesn't even spare her a glance. This infuriating man...!
Her fear momentarily forgotten; she turns her thoughts to her brothers instead. She hasn't tried to broach the topic of her return to the surface to the king again since her arrival. For one, it's difficult to gain an audience with him, and Prince Oceanus's strong dislike of humans doesn't inspire in her the desire to ask.
Briefly she did entertain the idea of asking about this strong distaste, but as soon as she sees him it dies on her tongue. An air of intimidation permeates the air around him and he constantly gives her a disdainful look that discourages all such questions from being spoken aloud.
Eventually, the darkness deepens as they enter a stone structure that Serena can only conclude to be a cavern.
She hesitates at the entrance whilst Prince Oceanus swims in without a second thought. She lingers there nervously but stiffens when a strange howl pierces the silence behind them. She mutters a quick prayer and follows after the prince.
It hardly matters if she went back or continued forward. Vast darkness awaited her in both directions and if she is killed by whatever lies in wait within that darkness, then she'd prefer to not die alone. Regardless of her dislike of her traveling companion.
So, she musters up what courage she has and swims into the all-consuming darkness right behind that loathsome prince.
-
What time is it? Caspian groans as he sits up from his place on the couch. A couple of beer bottles lay scattered across the coffee table as a reminder of how he let himself go the night before. He pulls his phone from his pocket and squints as the brightness causes blue spots to take over his vision. Through the spots and the blurriness he's able to make out 11:30 a.m. Zale would probably be upstairs asleep by now and Arion is most likely lying about his room locked up in his emotions. And only god knows where Rodion is. For all Caspian knows he could be somewhere getting arrested for lord knows what!
"Looks like someone got wasted last night." Or there could be that possibility.
"I thought you'd be sitting in some cop's car right about now," murmurs Caspian—a tired tint to his tone and a lazy look in his eyes. He slowly sits up as he pushes a hand through his messy creamy blonde hair. A frown slips onto his face when his hand comes away with dandruff.
How long has it been since his last shower? His face screws up in thought as he stares at a random bottle that once contained Hennessey. How long has Rena been missing? He racks his brain for a minute, trying to pierce through the haze of an impending hangover. Already he can feel his head start to pound, but just before it fully sets in he comes up with an answer of three days. Three days since he last showered, three days since Serena disappeared.
Rodion makes no moves to come closer. Instead, he stands there holding his nose with a look of disgust.
"You need a shower. Bad," he comments as he waves away the air in front of his face to try and disperse the acrid scent.
Caspian simply rolls his eyes as he eases himself back down onto the couch. His head feels like someone is hammering away at it.
Rodion sighs as he leaves for a few minutes before returning with a glass of water and a pair of aspirin.
Caspian mutters a quick word of thanks before tossing the aspirin in his mouth and guzzling down the water. But he doesn't try to sit up again after setting the glass down on the coffee table.
Rodion shoves his hands into his pocket as Caspian turns his gaze to study him. Rodion's wild silver hair is coated in a thin layer of what appears to be ash. Though Caspian hasn't a clue as to where he could even go to get covered in ash to begin with.
A glint of silver on Rodion's left ear catches Caspian's eye. He got another piercing... Great. No sooner does the sarcastic thought passes through his mind does he notice the new tattoo adorning the length of Rodion's right arm. It's a dark blue tribal dragon that does little to make him seem any less dangerous. Especially given that savage look in his blue eyes that appeared the day Serena disappeared.
"Are you done appraising me or do I need to explain everything I've been doing in fine detail?"
Caspian shakes his head with a sigh as the headache ebbs away as a result of the medicine kicking in. He swings his legs around to plant them on the floor as he lifts his body into a sitting position once more.
"And if you must know, I was out looking for our sister. Something that nobody else seems concerned with doing!"
Caspian grits his teeth as he struggles to keep a glare off of his face. He's not in the mood to deal with Rodion's hardheadedness right now. And mentioning his sister now of all times is a low blow even for him.
But he says nothing about it. After all, they're all hurting in one way or another. Their mother's dead, their father went missing, and their sister disappeared along with him. Hurt can't even come close to what each of them are experiencing right now.
"Someone says they saw her," he murmurs quietly as Caspian gaze flickers to his expectantly. Rodion shakes his head as he chokes out, "She walked right off." It's such a quiet admission that Caspian almost misses it.
He stares dumbfoundedly, not quite knowing what to say. That empty feeling in his chest turns into a constricting grip that squeezes at his heart painfully.
Suddenly, a voice started shouting from the staircase. "How could you even think that? She's not dead!" When both brothers turned to look, they found their younger brother, Arion. His golden blond hair looks as though it hasn't seen a brush in days and his green eyes are fierce.
He clutches tightly to the white newel post with a vice. Neither Rodion or Caspian utter a word as Arion comes storming into the living room.
Caspian swallows thickly as he speaks softly to try and soothe his brother's rage. "Arion—"
"Shut up! Don't say a word! She isn't dead! She can't be!" His voice grows in volume until it can be heard throughout the house. At which point, Zale comes down the stairs rubbing his eyes sleepily with one hand while the other lightly tugs on his messy silver hair.
"What's with all the racket so early in the morning?" He yawns tiredly as he lowers his hands.
"Rion's just being stubborn is all," Rodion replies with a click of his tongue as he glances away from Zale's disheveled form.
"About what? He's been silent all week. What's changed?" Zale asks as he flops down in the chair carelessly.
"The delusion that she's still alive." Zale's eyes darken at this—a silent scowl forms on his lips. "And is she?" He asks a bit darkly as both brothers look at each other silently. Caspian shrugs and Rodion crosses his arms across his chest.
"Someone said they saw her walk off the cliff so there's no way..." He trails off as he grits his teeth without a sound. Zale stares blankly for a moment before standing up and walking back towards the stairs.
"And where are you going?" Caspian asks tersely as his eyes narrow at Zale who looks back with an acidic glare.
"Back to bed. There's no point getting excited over hopeless delusions of her being alive," he replies coldly before disappearing up the stairs.
"...So what are you going to do?" Caspian asks after a moment of silence. Rodion stares at the spot Zale was standing in silently before shrugging his shoulders.
"Don't know. Try to get on with life I guess," he says before going over to the front door. The whole time, Arion has remained silent. Gritting his teeth and glaring at the floor as if it's the reason for this mess that is their life.
He releases a quiet growl as he turns on his heels and run back up the stairs—seeing no point in trying to argue with his stubborn brothers.
Before Rodion walks out he says, "You should try and do the same Cas. Don't waste your life looking for something that isn't there." And with that, he was gone. Caspian stands there, unfeeling, empty. His brain is beginning to process the fact that there really isn't anything to hold onto. His family slipped through his fingers and there's nothing he can do about it.
But something inside just doesn't want to accept that he'll never see his baby sister or father again. That just can't be possible no matter what the facts are. He simply can't accept that they're gone. But then, now what? There's nothing he can do about it. So what do I do now?
"Beach..." And so his course was set. He'd do what his father did to cope with the loss of their mother. He'd stare out at the sea and sing the lullaby that his mother would sing to them so long ago to lessen the pain of their absence.
-
Arion stares listlessly at his bedroom wall. A cool grey that seems to encompass the only color he seems to see nowadays.
This is all there is to his life now. There's nothing else he can do. He has no idea as to where to go or what there is he can do. Nothing but sitting here, staring at a wall, torturing himself with memories of his sister and father.
Her smile has made itself a permanent residence in his mind's eye, and her voice plagues him at night when he sleeps. Calling his name with such excitement. An image appears in his mind, of her waving her hand, beckoning him to come swimming in the water that they're supposed to stay away from. That accursed body of liquid that's responsible for all of the misery in their lives.
The damn thing beckoned to her, called her, and ultimately claimed her. However, she's not dead, she can't be. This, he knows. His brothers have lost sight of this irrefutable fact and have decided to slowly distant themselves from her. They were betraying her by forgetting her.
He mindlessly glances over at the clock, sighs, and slips some shoes onto his feet in preparation to go outside.
Upon going downstairs, he finds that the first floor is empty. Caspian must've gone to the beach again and Rodion...to find some kind of trouble.
He continues out the front door—bypassing the car completely and walking along the sidewalk to the stores. He passes by her posters as he walks the streets. One of which finally, after holding on for so long, has released itself from the tape holding it and flies listlessly through the air.
He stares after the paper as it flutters about and disappears into the distance. The world is silent and colorless. A simple mixture of greys that blend together to make this world seem darker without her presence. Even the people walking about the streets seem formless to him. Blending into this colorless world as if they don't matter.
And they don't, at least, not to him. He'd search the entire ocean if it'd mean finding her but he can't. Human limitations bind him to the land and his sister remains out of his reach. He feels her calling and wants so badly to answer her so that she can find him but when he calls she doesn't come like she used to. He's run out of places to search and the only possibility is clearly the ocean but he lacks the money to purchase the resources needed to search it. He's distanced himself from his friends and classmates who had worried over him in that time. They were of less importance to him. They didn't matter. Nothing mattered until he found her.
Regret sinks its claws into him once again for the thousandth time in the last three day since her disappearance. If only he had stopped her from going to the sea that day. He knew as well as his brothers that they weren't allowed there and they should've known better than to let her continue going after their father had already disappeared.
The regret will remain and eat away at him until there's nothing left. He even wondered a few times if his brother felt that regret. However, those questions are pushed aside as he recalls the behaviors of each of them. Rodion prowls the streets at night in search of trouble, Zale has lost himself in women and pleasure, and Caspian has found a horrid solace in alcohol despite the searches he does every morning. Truly they've lost sight of their precious sister. So much so that her name has become something of a taboo within the household. They keep away from her room as it is now something akin to a sacred place to them and a painful reminder. When was the last time they mentioned her name? Even though it hadn't been that long since her disappearance it feels as though it's been years.
Arion's eyes water at the mere thought of her. He quickly wipes away the impending tears with his jacket sleeve and continues walking. He shouldn't cry—can't cry. There's nothing to cry about if his sister still exists in this world.
And she does. That's the belief that he must hold onto, because if he believes it then just mayhap it'll be so.
-
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