Gotham City, New Jersey
It was another year before AC had another close call with his powers. Instead of dismissing them and trying to ignore the burden that he had been dealt, he began to use them more often, strengthening his abilities rather than suppressing them. He started to feel more relaxed, which led to him doing more stuff with his friends which relaxed him even more. They attended every Avellino's party from then on out. As he got older, his light brown hair had began to curl and darken to form an odd contrast with his pale blue eyes, which teenage girls found very interesting. AC had to admit the parties were becoming one of the highlight of his weeks, that and seeing Cat whenever they crossed paths.
She had started "working" in the Narrows more often than before, which he didn't mind. Of course, neither of them considered themselves a couple, but AC's friends sure did. On one particular party at Avellino's, Van was being a dick, as per usual, and interrupted AC right as he was about to get to first base with one of the sophomore cheerleaders. "AC, don't you think that your girlfriend wouldn't be so happy if she saw you snog another girl?!"
The girl looked at him in mild disgust and walked away quickly. "Damn you, Van!" AC shouted with mild frustration in his voice.
He held his hands up in surrender and told him, "Just doing my job keeping you safe! That girl was bad news, I could tell."
"No offense, Van, but you aren't exactly the best judge of character," AC commented slyly.
Van yelled over the music, "No, I'm serious! That chick's dad is the Captain of the GCPD and I kinda doubt he'd like a petty thief, school dropout and overall bad guy breaking his daughter's heart! I'm just lookin' out for you, bud." He gestured to a cute Asian girl who'd been eyeing AC all night and said, "She, on the other hand, is a different story."
"Who is she?" AC asked with a bit more enthusiasm than he had intended.
"Calm down there tiger," he paused and laughed, "Get it? Tiger because you're dating a girl called Cat? Oh come on! That's good!" AC looked at him with a mild scowl, so Van said, "That girl's name is Vicki Vale. She's staying with her aunt in the city, temporarily, so she's a good choice if you ask me."
"How do you know everything?" AC asked, with a grin.
"I make it my business to know everything about everyone, especially people whose names start with V. Now, you gonna go talk to her or should I?"
"Nah man, I got this one." Van cheered him on with a slight smirk and then went to the bar to try and talk the bartender into believing he was 18, which was funny because you had to be 21 to drink, but AC didn't think Van needed to know that.
AC approached the girl calmly with a small smile. She smiled and said, "Hi."
"Hello, love," he said in his thickest European accent. Over the years, his natural Norwegian accent had blended with his Irish, British, and Italian neighbors in his apartment building to form a weird accent that combined parts of all of them. The British part came with calling every pretty girl he met "love".
She noticed it and asked, "Oh, are you not from around here?"
"What?" he called. He pretended that couldn't understand her over the music, so she nodded towards a booth in the back and they sat down. He smiled and said, "I'm from Norway, but the accent is a blend."
"Ah, so you could hear me," she noticed. He shrugged and she continued, "I didn't catch your name…"
"It's Arthur, but everyone calls me AC. And you're Vicki, right?"
"Yep, that's me. So…what was life like in Norway?"
He shrugged again, "Cold." She giggled girlishly and he stated, "No, really, it is. One man once told me that he came out of his house one day to find a penguin frozen solid on his doorstep."
She tilted her head, "Penguins don't live in the Arctic or Norway for that matter."
"That's why I didn't believe him," he commented flatly. She laughed again, this time with a curious look in her eye, like she was examining him, making judgments based on his looks and personality. He asked, "Are you from Gotham then?"
She shook her head, "Metropolis, actually, but I'm staying with my aunt for a few months while my parents get a divorce."
Well, there goes that conversation, AC thought. He responded, "I'm sorry," but she shook her head.
"No, I am. This probably isn't the best place to have a conversation about something like that."
He told her, "I never knew my mom. She left when I was an infant and it's been my dad and me ever since, so I know the feeling." They sat in an awkward silence for a few moments, neither knowing what to say after talking about such a deep subject.
AC was saved by a huge crash and a yell that came from the bar area. He saw Van in a flash as he tried to punch a guy the size of a linebacker, who simply caught his fist and turned to his friends. AC knew what would happen next. Apparently the ogre of a man didn't know the number one rule about Van: never let him out of your sight. Van rushed him again, bringing his foot up between the behemoth's legs. He dropped quickly and with a sound of outrage, the bartender and two older men grabbed Van and tried to drag him outside. AC rushed after them, already going for his switchblade when one of the ogre's friends grabbed him. He didn't have time for this so he twisted the older boy's arm behind him and pulled on it, bringing him toppling down to the ground with a crack coming from his wrist. AC busted through the door and found the bartender pulling his arm back to punch Van. That's when the calm that he had been building up and all the feelings of mildness and tranquility vanished. He felt everything freeze for a moment and then something erupted inside of him and he blacked out.
When he came to, Van and Percy were holding his body between them and walking back towards the Narrows. He asked what happened and Van shook his head, "I don't know. I was out of it, I guess."
"Did you see what happened, Percy?" he asked, honestly worried someone had seen something that they shouldn't have.
Percy shook his head, "I was in the bathroom when I heard the commotion and when I got outside everyone was already down, except Van."
"I thought you didn't see anything, V?"
He shook his head again, "I think I drank something because what I saw wasn't possible… you lost a fight!" Cracking his familiar, crazy grin he laughed at AC's annoyed face and asked, "What does that make your street fight record? 300 and 2?
Percy shook his head, "That's probably pretty accurate, actually. Have you ever lost a fight before today, AC?"
"Not that I can remember, so who was the first one?" he asked with an attempt at his charming grin.
Van joked, "It hasn't happened yet, but I assume that one day Cat will get pissed at you." He smiled, "I bet this is the first time that we've ever had to carry you home from a party."
"And it's hopefully the last," he said, attempting to stand. The force in the back of his head had returned, putting all of its pressure into one point. The pain was excruciating so he decided to remain limp and let his friends carry him all the way back to his building. He told them goodnight and that he'd be fine to get upstairs by himself. Percy seemed hesitant, but they eventually left him to ascend to the sixth floor in solitude. Thank God neither of them had seen it, because he had a pretty good idea of what happened. Before he blacked out, he heard the rushing in his ears and the pain in his head left. He had used his power over water to knock the three men out, but using his powers so much with so little practice had worn him out, leaving himself unconscious as well.
When he arrived at his door, he noticed that lights were shining through the crack at the bottom. He swung the door open, expecting to see his father back from one of his many adventures in the Atlantic, but instead, he found that there was a teenage girl sitting on his couch. He cleared his throat to get her attention, already reaching into his pocket for his dagger.
She turned to him and smiled, asking, "Are you Arthur Curry?"
The tight grip he had on his switchblade diminished and he nodded, "Yes. Who are you?" The girl had nearly red ginger hair and bright blue eyes, but hers were a more royal blue than his were.
She stood from the couch and flipped off the tiny TV. It had been on one of the major boxing matches that night, which AC thought was slightly weird. She held her hand out, "I'm Mera."
The stood in awkward silence, and she just looked at him with a blank stare. He asked, "Not to be rude, but, why are you here?"
"Oh," she blushed slightly, "I apologize. I was sent by the Atlantean Council to retrieve you from Gotham."
His eyes went wide and Arthur questioned, "For whom?"
She shoulders slumped, "You really don't know anything, do you?"
"Know anything about what?" he asked, growing agitated at the belittling look that she was giving him. "You're the one who broke into my apartment, so you're the one that has to explain!"
"I didn't break anything!" she countered, her ears turning the color of her hair. "Everything here is perfectly unbroken!" She gestured towards the small kitchen, "Well, except that table but it was broken when I got here! So can we go now? I'm starting to feel dehydrated from being on the land for so long. No wonder you get the headaches."
That stopped him in his tracks. "How do you know about that? I never told anyone."
"You didn't have to," she replied with a smirk. "The Atlantean Council sent me and they already know all about you. Your mother's a member and she's the reason that you can do the things that you do with water."
"My mother? My mother is dead! She disappeared off the island when I was a baby and was never seen again!"
His anger had returned fully at the mention of his mother and she held her hands up in surrender. "I swear to you, Arthur Curry son of Tom Curry, your mother is alive and well and she wants to see you."
"Well you can tell her to," he swore and she cringed, "off then! If she really wants to see me she can come to Gotham which is my home!"
Mera sighed and shook her head, "I'm sorry, Arthur. I didn't want to be the one to tell you this…"
"What?" he asked with a slight edge in his voice.
"Something terrible happened to your father last night. His boat…it was caught in a storm. A group of Atlanteans rushed to save it, but most of the crew had already drowned when they got there." She looked down, refusing to meet his horrified gaze. She paused for a moment, and then uttered five, simple words that broke his heart. "They couldn't find your father."
A/N: This probably isn't necessary for most of you reading this, but if you hadn't caught on yet or just didn't know, Arthur Curry is the real name of Aquaman. This is my take on how him growing up in Gotham would change and shape who he'd become later. I just wanted to clear that up in case you didn't know his real name (since I didn't know until I got the idea for Prince of Atlantis and had to research him).
And, okay, so it may be a little bit too late to describe the main protagonist's physical features, as the new version from Justice League has very different facial features than the Aquaman from the comics, but the version of Arthur that I'm using is the one from Justice League played by Jason Momoa. Sorry if you already had a picture of AC in your head that differs, but my lack of writing experience shows in that I assumed you knew what I was thinking.
Next chapter should be coming out very soon, so stick around as the plot of the story will be really picking up speed in the next two or three chapters. Thanks for reading my ramble! –JP