This is my first story in the oneshot collection. These stories are the ones I had originally planned on making multi-chaptered, but fell disinterested in the plot. If you feel inspiration, or would like to continue any of them, PM me and I can give you the other parts of the plot for each story.
Plot bunny: merfolk AU
The Fall of Atlantis
Allen watched the ships on the harbor, his gaze glued to the bustle of mundane life made romantic by the light of the setting sun. He wondered what it was like, to sail on those ships, to swim in the high seas. He longed to touch the sea and fall into those blue depths. Alas, Allen's guard never let him venture close to the docks. Rarely was he even let out of the palace.
"Allen," Lenalee said softly. He turned his head to look at the girl. He gave her a gentle smile, though the girl could see how sadness corrupted that sweet smile. She frowned, coming to stand him. "What's wrong?"
"I want to…"he trailed off, his eyes wandering to the distance. His heart felt a tug, and Allen swore he heard a mournful song in the air. It burdened his soul all the more. "Am I to be imprisoned here and watch as time passes me by?"
Lenalee's eyes went wide, and she took a seat next to Allen on the decorated couch. A breeze smelling of the ocean wafted through the open window, and pain crossed the young man's feature.
"Tell me, Lenalee, why I feel so sad here if I am meant to belong?" he continued. The girl did not know how to respond. She toyed with the belt cinching her dress at the waist.
"You are the guardian of Atlantis," she replied. "Without you, this city would fall to the sea."
He looked away, shamed by his selfishness. Lenalee felt guilty for manipulating her friend, but she knew her duty as a priestess and as the one who gave people advice.
"Your brother told me an earthquake came and the people prayed to the gods to save them, for their city was in such disrepair that the buildings crumbled into the depths of Poseidon," Allen began, his mind wandering naturally to the reason he could not venture far from the palace. Lenalee nodded, unsure of where he intended to go with this conversation. Still, the girl humored him.
"And the gods gave us you, the son of a faithful hunter of Artemis," she added. Allen looked at the bands of metal on his wrists, and became all too aware of the ones on his ankles and the one around his neck as well. He felt more like a prisoner than a savior.
"But why do I not remember who I am, or volunteering to save this city?" he asked.
"Perhaps Artemis did not ask you to do this, and made you forget," Lenalee suggested. "What does it matter now? You are here, you are the heart of the city and cannot escape."
Allen shook his head in frustration.
"I know that something is missing!" he told her emphatically. The girl flinched, feeling the crackle of power rolling off of him. He noticed, immediately calmed himself down. He murmured an apology to her, guilt washing over him.
Lenalee bit her lip when he looked away. She could not stand to see her friend sad, and in her heart she longed to tell him the truth, and give him the freedom he so longed for. Alas, she knew the fate of Atlantis if she did, and she had sworn to protect her beloved home. And to protect beautiful Atlantis came at the high price of freedom.
"The moon talks to me," Allen murmured. "I feel his pull, and long to slip into the depths of the sea that reflect his glorious face."
"His?" Lenalee questioned, her heart skipping a beat. Allen paused, an expression of confusion crossing his silver eyes.
"I meant hers," he corrected uncertainly. He then fell silent, and Lenalee knew that he had resigned himself to his fate of being a prisoner for the rest of his life. For that was a truth they both knew, but never spoke aloud, and the truth which Lenalee knew even better than Allen. Though he indeed did guard the city, he was its prisoner. It was truly a sad fate to have, and Allen's kindness made it all the harder for her to bear. Lenalee rose, leaving the room as quietly as possible.
As soon as she was gone, Allen cast a hesitant, hopeful glance over his shoulder. Then he followed her steps, sneaking out of the room before she could send Link to watch over him. Over the months since he had met Lenalee, he noticed that she would pity him and gave him a few merciful minutes of solitude before his next companion came to join him. At first, he appreciated those minutes; but he quickly saw opportunity and learned the patterns between Lenalee and Link.
Today, he took advantage of Lenalee's kindness and escaped from the palace and walked the streets of Atlantis, unguarded for the first time in years. Or rather, since he could ever remember. And he had lived for so many years…
Allen did not know where he traversed, nor what force compelled him to take the path he took. But somehow instinct controlled him and he found himself at the stone docks, the side with fewer boats, a place reserved for the richer merchants who wanted privacy. And Allen walked with him bare feet towards the edge of the dock, eyes glued to the beautiful blue ocean before him. His feet carried him to the edge and before he could step out, his foot met a solid wall, and green rippled in the air before his very eyes.
Bound to the heart of Atlantis, your heart and her heart are one.
Frowning, Allen put his hands before him, and he reached into the open air. His fingers met a barrier, and he saw the same ripple of green. He could not ouch the ocean, though it was so close, he could feel the tiny drops of the sea spraying onto her face.
You can never leave this city.
Allen pressed harder, but he could not break through the barrier. He could not touch the ocean, that beautiful sea calling to him.
Allen collapsed on the ground hard, staring into the distance as the last fingers of dusk met the horizon. Sadness and grief rested in his breast the longing in his heart like a stone that made him heavy, made it difficult to even breath. He felt…inconsolable. He would not understand that day, as he sat there with tears lingering in his eyes, but later he would. He mourned the separation from the sea and its briny waters. Allen mourned the loss of the connection he had felt even though he had never come so close to Poseidon's territory before. But he knew he felt sadness, so his sang his pain to the wind and the salty sea, his voice soft and full of soul.
He did not know the power of his voice.
The sun set's dying colors faded to black, and the stars came out to dance, moving across the night sky at a snail's pace, though Allen paid no heed. The moon came too, just a tiny sliver of white. It hung high above him when Lenalee and Link finally found him. Both wore angry at first, but the look in his eye touched them so deeply that they could not berate him more than half-heartedly.
Link pulled Allen to his feet, and Lenalee draped a blanket over his shoulders. Together they led him away from the docks. Though as they were leaving, the wind shifted in direction and Allen heard a voice on the wind whispering in his ear.
Come again tomorrow.
It made him stope, the action confusing his two caretakers.
"Allen, is something wrong?" Lenalee asked. Allen tilted his head, listening to that strange, comforting voice.
Meet me tomorrow where man meets sea; there you will talk to me.
"Walker?" Link questioned.
"Nothing is wrong," he said at last, then followed them back towards the palace.
That night, when Allen slept, he tossed and turned in his bed. Whispers, sweet whispers, and promises, old promises, slithered into his dreams during his sleep. And as he half-dreamed, half-lived these things, he received strange images in his mind he could not truly comprehend and he felt foreign emotions he was not sure belonged to him. When he woke, Link noticed his pallor and questioned him. Allen simply explained that it had been his longing to see the sea again, that it would soon pass. But Link suspected otherwise and after Lenalee's shift ended, Link escorted him to the docks again, and even went to the market place in order to give Allen privacy to believe him or his depression. Allen knew all of this, though Link simply grumbled that his wife needed food for their dinner. After all, Allen knew Link, and understood him well. Hence his manipulation to convince Link to take him out. Link would never have brought him to the sea if not for his careful acting—although Allen truly did feel compelled to be at the dock.
The young man, a boy really, went back to the docks no longer in use and crumbling into the ocean. He went to the edge once more, and sat on his knees to wait patiently. Allen felt nervous, and though he was not sure what to expect, he instinctively knew what to do. He parted his lips and sang a tune that shocked even Allen, for it reminded him of the desperate cries of a child for his parent. He broke off almost as soon as he began, confused. He had not known he was so broken.
A ripple in the water drew his attention, and quickly Allen forgot his thoughts and states of emotions. He became alert, focused on the trail of ripples coming towards him. With bated breath he waited. It seemed a century had passed, when the ripple came close enough for him to see a dark shadow beneath the water. And Allen thought it was magic when the shadow began to surface, a dark head of hair breaking the glassy water. He saw dark skin, bare, and then he saw piercing gold eyes. It was those golden eyes that made time freeze for Allen.
My kin.
A gold tail briefly surfaced as the man swam nearer, a tail of what Allen now to be a man of the merfolk. He knew stories of mermaids, but not of a man. Surely a man would not serenade sailors to their deaths with sweet songs of seduction. His suspicion became solidified when the merman swam to the stone dock and leaned on the edge with two elbows, without parting his lips once for song.
The man tilted his head slightly to peer at Allen from a different angle, his gaze curious. Allen too studied hi, noting the hair of curly waves, the mole beneath his eye, the row of crosses crowning his forehead. He looked dangerous, yet Allen did not fear him. Instead, the young man felt kinship with this merman.
"You called," began the stranger in a breathless voice. "At last, you called."
"You answered," Allen responded. The man smiled, tenderness in his gaze.
"Family will always answer," he replied simply. His warm smiled faded. "You do not know, do you?"
"What do I not know?" Allen asked.
"Who you are, who I am, the reason you are here," was the answer given. "You cannot remember, can you?"
"No," Allen admitted freely. "Will you tell me?"
The merman agreed, and on that day he introduced himself. He was called 'Tyki'. He was a Noah, a merman. He also called himself Allen's uncle, and told him of family members he knew nothing of, yet the young man came to love with every story. Allen also found himself loving Tyki, recognizing him as someone important in his life. A friend, a confident, family. But as had happened the night before, Link sought out his charge. Tyki knew before Allen did, and disappeared in the water before they could be caught conversing together—however, he promised to meet Allen the next night.
After Allen retired, having met Tyki and spoken with him for many long hours, the young man dreamed again. He did not know it, but the moon shone into his room, the tiny sliver it was, and cast its pale light on his form. And it whispered to him, filling Allen's head with dreams and memories he would not remember clearly come morning light.
Allen dreamt of a man, someone with greed and evilness written in his heart and on his face. He held in mortal hands a green crystal, a rock which cast a glow upon him, illuminating dark deeds to come.
Leverrier, a mortal man who dared trespass in the land of the gods. He stole a relic from them, the breath that was once used to birth life into the first creations of the gods.
Allen saw the evil man place the crystal on top of a rock, and he saw the anger when nothing happened. On a lone island, where desperate people fled, everyone lost hope.
He had no power to wield the breath of life, and could not make the empire he wanted, he had promised to create.
Allen watched the image in his mind change to a child playing in a pool of water near the great ocean, pure and made of white. He looked like the beams of moonlight, as if he were a nymph: made of beams of light that kissed the earth and mingled to take human form. The moon watched the child from the sky, holding him in its light like a parent would. And human-esque forms came towards the child, morphing into mortal man's form. And in the shadows hid the evil man, his eyes gleaming in the darkness as he waited for an opportunity to come along.
Leverrier took the child of the Old Man in the Moon, and of the sea-folk, the Noahs.
The boy flinched as his dreams took a turn for the worse. He curled into a ball as he slept, feeling the pain of the moon-child as the evil man forced the crystal into the child.
He bound that land-walker to the breath of life and used him to bring forth a great city. He shackled the child of the moon, and tied his life to the heart of the city.
The child was bent over that cursed island's soil, weeping as his body twisted and writhed inside, pain filling him to the brim. A bulge worked its way outward, and the stone re-emerged from his chest. It fell to the ground like a see, and from it grew stone, becoming the very thing the evil man had wanted: his empire. Silver bands shackled the moon-child's hands and feet and throat, symbols of his tie to the city. Around him the city grew, the center where he sat on his knees becoming the throne room. Before him floated a staff, the very same crystal attached to its end, shaped like the heart of a flower. The Heart of Atlantis.
The Moon and the Noahs threatened to destroy the city if their lost child was not returned, but to destroy the city was to destroy the heart; to destroy the heart meant they would also destroy that child. They dared not attack Atlantis. Instead, they waited.
Allen saw himself asleep in his dream now, chilled by the eeriness. He had never seen himself before, reflections being a forbidden thing. But he recognized the limbs, and those silver restraints. And he saw how the beams of moonlight bent to form the faintest outline of a man leaning over him, caressing his cheek and hair, speaking in his ear as he slept.
And the moon watched over his son, whispering in his son's dreams words of comfort coaxing him to remember—
Allen awoke, sitting up in his bed. His gaze wandered to the window where the moon hung and a sea breeze wafted in. Things looked the same as ever. Nonetheless, Allen felt different, and a name touched his lips unbidden.
"Mana," he whispered, and it seemed as though the sliver of the moon shone a little brighter.
Allen did not fall asleep again and he watched the moon set and the sky lighten into dawn. He watched the sun rise, his view of the world different than before. He finally felt at peace, and with this peace came a strange sense of confidence. And defiance. Allen looked out his window and felt no fear when he cast his gaze down at the street far below. Following this odd sense of defiance, Allen took out some clothes, picking the largest he could find in the hopes they would fit an adult man. Then he climbed out of the window, gripping the brick with ease as he clambered down. As soon as his toes touched the ground, he was sprinting through the market place, through the docks, to the old forgotten ports crumbling into the sea at the edge of the city. There he stood in the early dawn, the sky still gray. With a full heart, he sang to the sea and the ears that listened down below. Ten minutes passed, and as sure as the sun rises in the east, he saw the ripples of Tyki's approach. When the head broke the surface pf the water, Allen was given an amused grin.
"You are here early," Tyki remarked, golden eyes knowing. Allen ignored this observation and simply held out the larger clothes he had brought with him.
"Will you accompany me into the city today?" he asked Tyki. The merman was interested and curious. He changed into a mortal's form, rising from the water as naked as a babe. Allen helped him dress and together that walked through the city. The boy took the time to introduce his uncle to all of the things Lenalee, and even Link, had introduced to him. Street food, street entertainments, readings of poetry, theater; more than once they had almost encountered the palace guards, who were looking for him. But when not hiding, they spent their time experiencing human life and enjoying it. When the sun began to lower itself once more, and Tyki walked once more to the place where they had first found each other.
"Did you enjoy yourself today?" Allen asked him as they made their way back down the way. Tyki strode next to him, studying Allen carefully, trying to understand why the boy had introduced him to so many mortal inventions.
"I did," he admitted.
"I did as well," Allen responded, a smile ghosting across his lips. "These mortals, though they have so few years, enjoy their time. They do what they can, and others build on the things they have done."
"Do you truly think so high of them?" asked Tyki. "Their time to walk the earth is so very brief."
"And yet one human may touch the lives of a thousand others," the boy retorted good-naturedly. "Even the gods cannot claim to effect so many in such a brief number of years."
The ocean and crumbling piers were now in sight.
"You respect them, then?"
"I love them," Allen answered, stopping for a moment. He turned towards his uncle and let his gaze meet Tyki's. "I took you into the city so that you could see the world I love, hoping that you would see that I care for these people. I want to protect them."
Tyki's expressive gold eyes softened, becoming vulnerable and sad.
"IF you protect them, then you lose your freedom," he reminded Allen. The boy gave him a look of determination.
"So be it," he said, and they headed out towards the water once more. He felt Tyki's troubled gaze on his back, but the young man ignored it. He had already decided how he would live his life. No one could stop him.
Once they reached the ruined docks, Tyki stripped out of the human clothing and shed his mortal form to return to the sea. As he sat on the stone, dipping his tail into the salt water, Tyki reached out to touch Allen's forehead.
"No matter what you say, or what choices you make, the sea will always be your home," Tyki promised him. "You simply need to call, and the Noah will answer."
"I know," Allen replied. "I will—"
Something whistled in the air, a thud that interrupted Allen. He could not balance himself on his knees and pitched forward. Tyki caught him, eyes wide as he saw the shaft in Allen's back, the blossoming red on the pristine white clothes, on his hands. Quickly he shifted Allen, shielding him from the approaching bowman who had been too far for him to sense.
"Allen?" Tyki asked, cradling his nephew. He could see the pain, confusion, and fear in the boy's face. From the corner of his eye, he saw the culprit pause, aiming again. The arrow shot past them, grazing Tyki's arm. Tyki wanted to drag Allen to safety. But Allen could not leave Atlantis. And Allen understood that.
Go, the boy mouthed, begging Tyki to obey. The merman's eyes filled with tears and he shook his head. Go.
The man pressed a kiss to Allen's forehead, pulling the arrow through the rest of the way so that Allen would bleed out and die more quickly. So that he would not suffer. Then Tyki slipped back into the ocean, mourning the member of his family that he had lost twice, knowing this would be the last time.
Allen lay on stone dock, life bleeding out of him. But on his back, he could not be more at peace. He could see the colors of the sun and a few of the stars above him, and it was beautiful…
Lenalee came into his view, a bow in her hand and a grim expression on her face. Allen wanted to ask her why she had struck him down, but he supposed it was a part of her orders. Allen's heart was tied to Atlantis, but it was not the other way around. If his loyalty became questionable, then he may as well be killed before he could sabotage Atlantis in any way. As Allen's thoughts faded, he felt sad. He felt betrayed. Still, he could not squash the love he held for humans.
Allen slipped away, his last breath of life leaving his lips in a single sigh.
*_*_*.o.0.o.*_*_*
Link had heard a commotion when he was looking for Allen. He heard whispers of a girl shooting down a youth with white hair, and the whispers also added that the boy's body had been dragged back to the palace. Panicked, he took the quickest path he knew in the hopes that he would be able to catch up with Lenalee. He did catch up, and he was thoroughly shocked to find the rumors true. Allen had indeed been pierced through with something, and he no longer breathed. His silver eyes were closed, and he looked pale like death rather than being imbued with the glow of the moon. Link knew from the amount of blood staining his clothes that Allen was no longer alive. And Lenalee was carrying him on her back.
"What have you done?" he demanded angrily, fearfully. Not only had a gentle, innocent soul been destroyed, but—"Our city is in danger! He cannot protect us from the wrath of the gods anymore; he is no longer a hostage!"
"I know, but I saw him with a Noah," Lenalee snapped. "That Noah could have gone to the heart of the city if he knew that he could break Allen's bonds through it. We would have died anyways when Allen returned to the sea!"
Link took Allen's cold body away from her, hefting the boy into his arms.
"We must fix your mistake before it is too late," he said in a low voice, striding quickly through the streets. They hurried to the palace, Lenalee splitting away to find her brother while Link carried Allen into the throne room.
Link set the boy on the ground before the floating staff, laying him out carefully and gently. HE paused, feeling pain in his chest as he looked down at Allen's lifeless form, but he ignored his grief and anger. Both would have to wait.
Lenalee returned with her brother in tow. Link had never seen the man look so scared before, and that frightened him even more than before. He began to wonder if all was lost, and if he should run back to his wife in case—
"Bring him close to the Heart," Komui ordered him. Link shifted his burden once more and carried Allen towards the staff. Allen's body began to glow green near the stone, and in response, the Heart brightened. Komui joined them, putting his mortal hands on the staff. He began to chant in a language neither Link nor Lenalee understood. The heart of Atlantis grew brighter and brighter, the stone forming petal-like forms, and the crystal blossomed.
Allen's body became light within Link's arms—weightless, intangible—and he was surprised when the boy's prone form rose into the air. It gravitated towards the crystal. Komui's nose started to bleed and he looked faint; the man persisted despite the strain on him and continued to chant unfalteringly. Suddenly, in a brilliant flash of light, Allen's body disappeared. Komui crumpled to his knees.
Lenalee screamed, falling to her brother's side. Link could not tear his eyes from the staff. It still held the Heart, but now it was shaped like an egg, and made of normal stone.
"Komui!" Lenalee cried out, shaking her brother until his eyes came back into focus. She smiled in relief when his gaze finally caught onto her face. She clutched him tightly, ecstatic. All was right, all was well now. Allen was in the rock, safely recuperating with what remained of the breath of life. Komui had successfully saved everyone.
The world began to tremble and shake. Lenalee was startled at first, but then she remembered Allen's words.
Your brother told me an earthquake came…
The trembling became more violent. Shouts of panic echoed throughout the city. They grew into screams as the magnitude of the quaking earth grew.
…the people prayed for the gods to save them…
Komui had told Allen of the survivors spared of the earthquake, but who had no home. Despite the mercy given to them, they took a child of the gods to make their new home. And now, what had been done was to be reversed.
"Lenalee," Komui grunted. "Take me to the window."
With Link's help they made their way on unsteady feet. In the dark night, they saw unstable structures and stalls toppling over. There was the awful sound of cracking somewhere. Small fires were blazing where they should not, other flames dying where they used to burn. People screamed in panic and fear. Link backed away, then ran to find his wife in the city, hoping he could find her in the chaos. Komui and Lenalee stood frozen there, watching as their beloved city was being felled by the gods. There were cracks again, only this time, the siblings watched in horror as buildings collapsed and the edge of the city began to fall into the sea. They could do nothing more than try to keep their footing and cling to the window. And Komui wondered how long it would be until the palace collapsed as well, with them in it.
… their city was in such disrepair that the buildings crumbled into the depths of Poseidon…
They lost their footing and fell, Komui too heavy for Lenalee to keep standing. She was sobbing as she tried to pull her brother closer in attempt to protect him from the inevitable—pottery was crashing everywhere, furniture falling and moving.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I am so sorry! I've killed us all!"
Komui pulled himself from her, and then wrapped himself around his sister. Because what else could he do? There was no escape nor safety to be found.
"Men are fearful, gods are vengeful," he told her as gently as he could. He felt agony at the thought of his sister dying with him, and wished he could trade his life for hers. He could not help but weep at the awful realization that there was nothing he could do, and that this was meant to be their fate. He flinched as the walls of the palace began to crack, and soon the ceiling began to rain dust on them. Lenalee cried louder when the roof began to fall in, debris breaking in the center in small pieces. "This is the way of life…"
Lenalee clutched him tighter and he could not stop himself from crying openly as they clung to each other for one last comfort before they were crushed by the very roof that had sheltered them before.
"I'm sorry I could not save you," he said at last, voice cracking. Then the world shattered.
*_*_*.o.0.o.*_*_*
The city fell quickly, tumbling into the ocean as a tower crumples after removing its base. It was lost to the sea in less than ten minutes, and became a legend among immortals.
The few who survived did not understand what had happened, and when they told the tale of Atlantis, the stories varied. But it was readily agreed that the gods had done something to anger the gods, and they were punished for their transgression.
And no one knew of the staff at the bottom of the sea, standing upright on top of the ruins. It stood for centuries, the sea eroding stone and evidence of the city except for a few resilient pieces here and the staff. A thousand years passed, and then some.
*_*_*.o.0.o.*_*_*
"Yuu, what do you think that is?" Lavi asked his classmate.
"Don't call me that," Kanda growled, stomping over to look at the video streaming from the camera they had sent down into the water. He adjusted the laptop screen to reduce the glare and frowned.
"Do you reckon we found Atlantis?" Lavi joked as he pointed to a jutting rock with an eroded, but unmistakable right angle.
"Whatever it is, it's man-made," was all Kanda had to say on the matter. His eyes narrowed as he leaned closer to the screen. He tapped a finger over a smudge on the screen. "Go get a closer look at that."
"But it's just a shadow," Lavi complained. He obeyed anyways, using the controls to move the probe closer to the smudge. The closer it moved, the more distinct the 'shadow' became. At last, it became clear—a little too clear.
"Does it still look like a shadow to you?" Kanda asked Lavi smugly.
"No…look at this staff! It does not look like it has seen any erosion," Lavi remarked. "It can't have been done there for long."
Kanda pushed away, shedding the clothes he had on. He pulled on the wetsuit with practiced methodology, gathering his gear after he was done. He lowered himself from their boat into the water, and put on the mask. After testing the oxygen, he went down below and swam to the object they had found.
Lavi watched through the camera, laughing when Kanda flipped him the bird. He watched as Kanda carefully worked to remove the staff from whatever rock was holding it at the base. He wondered how it had ended up like that; had someone planted it there to mess with them?
As soon as Kanda put both of his hands on the staff and pulled it out of the stone, a gust of wind almost blew Lavi's hat off. He frowned, catching the accessory, and looked around. The wind had changed direction. And it made something creep up his spine. After a moment, he ignored whatever his instinct was trying to tell him and put his attention back on Kanda.
When Kanda surfaced, he held the staff up for Lavi to take first. Lavi did so, whistling as he held the glittering scepter.
"This must be gold!" he exclaimed as Kanda pulled himself back onto the boat. "What a creative hoax!"
"It may be a hoax, but it may not be one," Kanda responded, removing his scuba gear. Lavi scrutinized the staff. It looked brand new, exquisitely made, and the stone—was it basalt?—looked newly cut. There was no side of erosion, or even the growth of marine life anywhere on the piece.
"Why would you think that?" Lavi asked dubiously.
"The bas of the staff was surrounded by dead coral. It has been there for a while," Kanda responded. "Yet there is no damage to it, not even from the part secure by the coral. If a few years did nothing, I can't imagine how long it would take that thing to show signs. We should see what kind of metal that is—it feels too light."
Lavi's eyes widened as he realized that Kanda was right. It looked like gold, but it felt too light to be metal, or even wood. The stone at the end was the only part of it that weighed anything. While he studied the staff with a new light in his eye, he noticed a crack in the basalt, a light flashing green inside. Lavi brought the stone closer to his face, trying to peer at what might be inside. When he couldn't see what the substance was, he rubbed a thumb along it to see is the glow was the reflection of light or its own luminescence.
The rock split apart, revealing a green crystal that looked like glass. Lavi, startled, dropped the staff. Kanda shot forward to catch it—but that proved unnecessary when the staff remained suspended in the air.
"Please tell me this is in my head," Lavi whimpered faintly. Kanda's jaw clenched. Both men grew tense as the beautiful crystal began to glow. The whole staff shuddered. Green light blinded them.
When their eyes recovered, the staff was gone, and instead they found a boy of fifteen or so on the deck, unconscious. He wore ancient Greek clothing, though the pristine white robes were covered in blood, and pieces of silver metal were scattered about him, remnant of jewelry, or manacles.
The boy stirred, sitting up and looking around. He looked confused, and even touched the dark, wet stain on his clothes. He looked towards Kanda and spoke in a language that seemed foreign, sounded vaguely like Greek, but not entirely. It sent chills down Kanda's spine.
"We don't understand you," Kanda told him. The boy's eyebrows drew together. Then he spoke, in perfect English.
"Where am I?"
Kanda shared a look with Lavi.
"In the middle of the ocean," the red-head answered.
"And where is Atlantis?" the boy asked. "Can you tell me what direction to go in?"
Lavi swallowed, wondering if he was dreaming. Still, he had nothing better to do than answer in either situation, real or dream.
"Atlantis…it's gone. It became a fable a long time ago," Lavi answered. The boy looked shocked, and then whirled around, drinking in the sight of the endless ocean with fear. "We've been looking for it…"
"It's here," the boy murmured. "I can feel it, but I can't see it. Why can't I see it?"
"Who are you?" Kanda asked, his gruff voice forcing the boy out of whatever panic he had been about to fall victim to. The boy swallowed, looking uncertain.
"I am Allen Walker," he said slowly. "I am the patron god of Atlantis, the son of the moon and the sea."
Lavi blinked. He had never heard of that before, and Allen did not seem like a very Greek name. Then again, perhaps that was a translation…? Or it was all a hoax. Lavi glanced at his friend, who looked uncomfortable and easy.
"Atlantis fell into the sea and disappeared long ago," Kanda answered. "And people don't worship Greek gods anymore."
Allen's eyes filled with tears, and for a moment, the two students could have sworn that they saw what must have been a lifetime of pain and grief in a single tear. The boy let it fall, and no others. Then he looked towards the sky, to the ocean.
"There is nothing left," he whispered sadly, mournfully. Then he turned to the two. "There is nothing for me here anymore. Will you take me home?"
"Where?" Lavi asked wearily, tempted to pinch himself to see if he was still asleep. He was afraid of the answer, however. Even if it was real…how could this person be good? They had never heard of him before.
The boy smiled wryly, glancing at Kanda.
"To the land of ancient gods and monsters that you say have been forgotten," Allen answered. "To the sea where sirens sing, and my family waits for me. What other place is there for me?"
And so bean an epic tale in the modern age of man.
So it has weird pacing, weird wording, odd themes, and it is not very explanatory. This was originally the prologue, and I had wanted to make it longer when I posted it, but this is no longer going to be a multi-chapter fic. Actually, I think there are people who do worship the Olympians today. I'm not entirely sure, and I hadn't gotten to the point of researching actual facts for this fic, so yeah. Lots of historical inaccuracy outside of just doing whatever with Atlantis to fit my story. Sorry about that. Everyone's reviews have been so wonderful and I appreciate your support. I have seen some of you remark that you wish you could read the original. Unfortunately the original version has been adapted to fanfiction characters and follows the plot of DGM more than my own. On the other hand I have been developing the story on my own time and also hope to publish it one day. So keep up your hopes. I promise that if I ever do succeed in publishing it I will let you all know.