(NOT the mini-story. I repeat, NOT Under The Sea in which "Stronger" is sung. MY OWN REASONS FOR THIS TITLE!)
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"Atlantica?" I repeat, staring in disbelief at the wide blue sea from the cliff my dad and I are standing on. Waves roar beneath us, drowning out my voice until it's just a tiny sound lost on the ocean.
Dad gives a lopsided grin. "Your powers are fire-y, yes? Done the right way, with the vast amount of water elemental magic down there surrounding Atlantica, your powers should be dampened. Of course, since it's a god's power, there's a chance it won't work and you'll just blow everything to----well, my home---but like I said, the amount of water magic down there is amazing. You should be safe."
"Should." I repeat, watching wave after wave crash into the rocks dotting the cliffs.
"Should." Dad agrees.
"So... what exactly are we waiting for?" I ask, backing away from the edge of the cliff and blowing the hair that has fallen out of my ponytail away from my eyes.
"Our tourguide, of sorts." Dad answers, watching the water.
"And that means...?"
"Someone to supply us with the proper spells and permission to enter the underwater kingdom."
"So... a mermaid?"
"Probably. Or a merman."
"Same thing."
"Mermaid is female." Dad points out, not taking his eyes off the water.
"Okay, so whatever. They're both half-fish."
"Half-sea creature." Someone says behind me. "Not all of our fins are fish-like. I know some very nice half-octopi merfolk."
We both turn, and sitting behind us on a rock (with notably normal human legs) is a smiling girl with black hair so dark it's almost blue, sparkling sea-blue eyes, and a crown made of some kind of gold coral and wrapped with damp green seaweed. She looks normal enough, tanned skin and lots of freckles, wearing a white crop-top T-shirt and pants of what oddly looks like scales. She looks barely twelve or thirteen.
She stands and brushes off her legs, swinging her wet hair behind her. "Hi. Princess Cerulea, at your service."
I tilt my head to the right. "Cerulean, you mean?"
She rolls her eyes. "You'd think so, wouldn't you? But no. It's just Cerulea. No 'n'. I realize it's weird, so everyone just calls me Ceru. Even strangers-that-I-have-just-met. kay?"
Dad smiles. "Hi, Ceru."
"Oh! Hi, Had!" she says happily, getting up off her rock to go and hug him. "Ohhh, then you must be---" she turns to me.
I stick my hand out. "I'm Ellie."
"Nice to meet you, Ellie." She says, shaking my hand.
"How exactly does everyone know my dad but me?" I ask, turning between the two of them. "Because from what I remember, dad said everyone was all hate-hate on him."
"Well, I meant on land." Dad said. "The mer-folk were always friendly."
"Probably because we know Poseidon." Ceru points out. "And he ordered us to be nice."
"Not that you needed it." Dad said.
"Right." Ceru agrees. "Humans are idiots, with the exception of my dad."
Dad's face lights up. "That's right! Eric and Ariel are still down there, don't they?"
"Yeah, after my big sister Melody---even though she's still in school---got the throne, Mom and Dad went underwater for a while. They're scheduled to go back in a few more weeks."
I cough. "When you guys are done reminiscing the days in which everybody knew who my dad was but me..."
Dad flushes pink. "Ah... sorry. We're going down with you, then?"
Ceru nods. "You have to be with a member of the royal family when you jump, or else the spell won't work."
"Excuse me---did you just say jump?" I yelp. they both nod and i feel all the blood drain from my face. "Yeah. Okay. Definitely not. Nope. No way."
"Oh, don't tell me the daughter of the god of Death is scared to jump into a little water?" Ceru teases, laughing when I glare at her. "Kidding. Trust me, okay? It's perfectly safe as long as I'm with you. Plus, that whole back-up can't-die thing you have would protect you either way. I'm pretty sure you're the only non-god person that could survive the swim to Atlantica."
"That's reassuring." I mutter.
"Good. Now, c'mon! Times a-wasting!" Ceru leaps forward, right to the edge, where she teeters for a minute before turning back to us. "You coming or not?"
"If we die, I'm going to kill you." I promise to my dad.
He shrugs. "Been there, done that."
I groan. "Jokes don't stay funny forever, dad!"
He just chuckles and grabs my hand, accepting Ceru's with his free one. "Ready?" She asks.
"As I'll ever b----AH!" I scream as she dives off the cliff, pulling Dad and I with her. She laughs loud and clear, the sound bouncing off the waves that grow steadily closer with every second that passes. Just milliseconds before we go SPLAT on impact, the water turns glassy and reaches up to meet us, engulfing our group with a watery dome. The second the water touches her, Cerulea's scale-isn leggings morph against her skin, fusing her legs together until her human-y legs have turned into a mermaid-y tail made of shimmering green-blue scales.
I spit out salt water, surprised to find that I can still breathe even though I'm soaking wet and my black-and-white hair is floating around me like it does in normal water.
"You can breathe because you're with a member of the royal family." Ceru explains. "My blessing has spread to you and will stay there until I remove it. Don't worry, it won't wear off unless I on purpose take it away."
"Please don't tell me you have temper issues."
She smiles reassuringly. Somehow, it doesn't reassure me.
"You screamed like there was no tomorrow, Liss." Dad chuckles, elbowing me.
"By the way," I start, ready to change topics. "Ceru, how did you look human before and mermaid now?"
"A gift of being half-human." She smiles. "After mom turned back into a mermaid to rescue Melody, she retained the ability to do like I do, and then she passed it onto me. Plus, my grandpa sealed the magic. That probably helped."
"And my brother helped too, I assume?" Dad asks her.
"Yeah, great-grandpa is helpful in sea magic." She lets go of Dad's hand, and he lets go of mine. "You'll probably see him down here somewhere. He doesn't come out much anymore, but when he does, he seems as jolly as ever."
Dad grins. "Bet he wishes he hadn't chosen to stay down here instead of in Olympus."
"Did you not get that choice?" I ask.
"Technically, all 'evil' gods were exiled to the Isle. I'm sure I could go back now if I wanted to." He shrugs. "But I don't want to. Too much is here for me to leave."
"Mom would blush if she were here."
"Be glad she isn't. She and my brother used to be an item, and he still flirts with her whenever he gets the chance. Playful, since he knows we're married---but Poseidon is a terrible flirt."
"Seriously, what god hasn't Mom dated?" I demand.
Dad's gaze turns skyward like he's thinking. "Apollo. She never dated Apollo."
"She dated ZEUS!?"
"Well.... your mother is quite beautiful."
"Aww... That's so CUTE!" Ceru squeals. "Anyway, we better get going, yeah? My dad's waiting."
"Lead the way." My dad invites. She nods, and our bubble disappears. She swims off, and my dad and I follow her quickly as we can. Normally, it's kind of hard to move in water, but here it's like I barely have to think of what I want and I'm moving in that direction.
We follow Ceru for a while, mostly seeing black nothingness, until we're directed through a cave, and suddenly we crest over a sand dune and we're met with the golden glow of the kingdom of Atlantica.
"Welcome to my home." Ceru says, her voice practically shining with pride.
There's no right way to describe the underwater kingdom. Each spire of every building is filled with it's own unique design, no two carving looking exactly the same. Everywhere I turn, stone shines with gold and pearls, seaweed that seems to dance in the water, and merfolk that turn and wave cheerfully at us as we pass. Everything, even the merfolk, even us, seems to suddenly glow with it's own natural light, each with a different shade of light. Ceru's I notice is a faint sheen of blue-gold that melds perfectly to her glistening tail and eyes. Dad's is more electric, like his eyes, and when I raise my hand I notice that I seem to send off a shade. Not a light. A shadow seems to follow me.
My heart sinks, but nobody seems to notice the glow but Dad. He smiles at me sadly before taking my hand and following Ceru to what I assume is their gathering hall of sorts. Seated there is a man with a stark white beard and a radiant golden glow, one hand holding firmly to a trident. Seated beside him is a woman with a familiar green tail and scarlet hair, her glow matching her fathers. Beside her is a human man with happy blue eyes and deep black hair that his wife is trying and failing to tame.
"Dad! Mom!" Ceru swims forward eagerly and hugs Ariel and Eric, who greet her with enthusiastic yells.
King Triton leans forward. "So you're Princess Elicia, I presume?"
"Yes." I float there, unsure of whether I'm supposed to bow or something.
"And... Poseidon's beard, Hades is that you?"
"Hello, Triton." Dad says, smiling slightly. "Long time no see."
"Why, it's been too long!" Triton nods to him in respect. "Heard what happened up above. I'd've loved to help, but..."
"You have a kingdom to run." Dad finishes. "I get it. It's fine. It all worked out in the end." he smiles at me and I do my best to smile back.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Peru, why don't you show them to their rooms? Elicia---" he speaks directly to me. "---Don't worry. We had your father set things on fire when he stayed here years back. So even if your powers aren't dampened here, at least we have the means to help contain them."
His tone is so kind, so gentle, I can almost imagine why Ceru loves living here so much. I never had any doting grandfather or anything like that.
"Thanks." I finally say. Dad squeezes my hand and we follow Ceru out of the room. Ariel smiles at me but then goes back to talking to her father. Ceru beckons to us and we follow her down a few hallways before she stops.
"Here. Hades, your room is there---" She points to a blue-coral door, "---and Ellie, yours is this one." She gestures to a green door. then she swims off, yelling behind her, "If you have any problems, ring the bell in your room and we'll come if we can!"
"Well." I say in the silence that follows. "They're friendly."
Dad chuckles. "Well, merfolk never were poisoned by the ways of humans. Are you going to be okay?"
I rub the back of my neck. "I won't be going to sleep anytime soon."
He smiles and hugs me tight. "Just busy yourself. Practice your powers. Your ice ones should be multiplied down here, with all the---"
"--Water elemental magic, I know." I say, smiling weakly. "I'll try."
"I love you, Liss." Dad says, cupping my chin. "But---being down here isn't exactly good for me. It supresses what powers I do have left."
"What? Then why did you come down here?" I cry.
"Because A) I love you, and you're my daughter. B) I am not letting your mother down here when she's just getting a grip on her newfound powers. C) I am not letting you down here by yourself."
"Dad, I'm eighteen!"
"So? Gods don't really mature until they're three hundred."
"Gods, you're annoying."
"You've been reading too much Percy Jackson." Dad decides. "Bah! Authors always get it wrong. We'll fix that later. Now, I really must rest. I'll be back up in about an hour, all right?"
"Dad, seriously. Nap as long as you want. I'm fine." I promise.
He smiles and hugs me one more time before drifting into his room and shutting the door. I sigh and open mine. It's... well, normal-looking. For an underwater kingdom, that is. A coral-made bed with fluffy blankets, and a wardrobe that I'm tempted to check if there's a Narnia hidden behind since it's so big.
But instead, I toss my (for some reason) still-dry backpack onto the ground and flop onto the bed. It's a weird feeling to get used to being comfortable on a thing that moves under your every move, but I manage.
Can't sleep. I remind myself. Don't sleep.
I sit up and lean against the coral headboard. This whole room kind of reminds me of a shipwreck. A nice, cleaned-up shipwreck. (Author's note MAYBE SHE'LL FIND HER GRANDPARENTS DOWN HERE HUUUUUHHHH? JK JK JK TOTALLY JK)
I raise my hand into the air and twirl my fingers around in my fingerless gloves from my friends. Sure enough, I barely have to call it before I feel a cold chill crawl from my spine into my fingers, twisting itself into snowflakes that dance across my fingertips.
I smile, snapping my fingers and weaving the snowflakes into a simple circlet that lays itself delicately on top of my head. Conjuring some reflective ice, I look in the mirror and see with a flush of pleasure that I almost look like my mother. Minus the black hair.
Just to test it, I gather all my black hair away from my face, leaving only the chunk dyed blonde.
I've been told I take after mom, but I never really saw it before now.
But she's right there in front of me.
Inside of me too, I guess.
If mom got control of her fear and her powers---why can't I?
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Couple things---I just saw Kim Possible last week, and it was AWESOME. Like, I'm geeking out just thinking about it right now!
2) WE ARE ONE DAY AWAY FROM HTTYD #3, THE FINALE TO THE BELOVED SERIES!!!! AH!!! CANNOT WAIT TO SEEEEE ITTTT!
3) We are fast approaching---scary thought---the ONE YEAR anniversary of Elicia's Ice!! AH! I don't know exactly when, but I'll be posting a special chapter that day. Look out for it!
4), and FINAL THING. Promise! this is for one person in particular, Meloetta246. I just wanted to say that your thing really turned my day around. I've been kinda battling with myself on whether I should give Ellie up, since I've been dry on ideas that I think are okay, and I've been feeling like my quality has been going down a lot. But I'm really happy you still love it. You reminded me why I started, and how much I still love it. And however goofy my ideas are, people actually like them! So thanks!!!