A/N: "And here we…go," -Joker

They arrived at the Southern Pier of Gotham City a few minutes later. Neither had spoken a word the entire trip, AC because he was still slightly in shock and Mera in shame. Her only job was to get AC to Atlantis unharmed and let his mother talk to him, and she failed. AC had barely looked at her as they walked; only ever glancing over if she started to fall behind. Obviously he was surprised and probably had hundreds of questions racing through his mind, but he wouldn't say if he did; he was very much like his mother in that way, always keeping her problems to herself.

When they finally got to the edge of the pier, he turned to her and asked, "Now what?"

She gestured to the water and said, "Don't get lost," diving in without another word.

He dove in after her, not allowing the mysterious girl out of his sight. As he broke the surface, he felt an unreal rush pass through his body, like all at once he could finally breathe. He felt more powerful than ever before, as if the water had unlocked something deep inside of him allowing his body to relax and start to pump with adrenaline all at once. He rocketed down into the murky waters of the Gotham River, heading for open water and completely forgetting the reason he was there in the first place. AC dove down deeper, feeling more powerful as the water became clearer and got salty. He continued on his downward spiral until Mera appeared next to him, grinning at the boy's enthusiasm for the water. She waved for him to follow her and sped off at an unbelievable pace towards the bottom of the ocean. He passed a few fish that he'd never seen before and had to force himself not to stop and pet them. They dove into depths that AC was sure would've killed any normal man but they kept on going, unfazed.

Finally, they came upon a ravine that they descended into, although much slower than they had been going previously. When they reached the bottom, she said to him, "Welcome home, sire." She swam into a cave and then disappeared into the darkness. AC followed hesitantly. Without thinking, his hand drifted to his switchblade which had miraculously stayed in the pocket of his black jeans. He swam after Mera, who'd vanished from his sight and for a moment, he swam in what felt like a limbo, a place with light or noise that felt eerie, yet peaceful. Shaking his head to clear it, he swam on and found himself rocketing forward on an extremely fast current. Losing all control over the water, he allowed the jet stream to take him where it wanted to. He let the waters take over for about two minutes until the stream stopped and he felt his control return. Looking up, his jaw nearly hit the ground as he got his first look at Atlantis, the Kingdom under the Sea. Giant, gold towers stood over the beautiful reefs that appeared on nearly every roof of every building. Schools of sea life zoomed around the city, the major ones being cheered on as they performed for the civilians. He saw a man with a dolphin for his lower half take a sand dollar from his pocket, break it into four parts, and placed a quarter in the pail underneath the fish. Some children came running (or was it floating?) down an alley, being chased by some teenagers around Van's age. Mera appeared next to him, startling AC out of his trance. She laughed slightly and she asked, "What do you think?"

"It's…" he was at a loss for words at the beauty of the city, "incredible! Are those towers made of real gold?"

"Oh yeah, gold is one of the main building materials that Atlanteans use. Isn't it currency on the surface?"

"Yeah, it is…"

"You okay there, Prince Arthur?"

"Prince?" he asked. She had also called him sire before he entered the jet stream. "Am I royalty or something?"

"Like I said, your mother is a member of the Atlantean Council and they rule Atlantis and all the waters of the world." She said it as if talking to a toddler, which normally would've offended him, but right now nothing could take him out of the trance he'd been put into. "She wants to see you, Arthur, and for my sake, we shouldn't keep her waiting any longer." As they swam through the streets, the Atlanteans began to notice Arthur and some even bowed to him as he passed. He was clearly different than most of them in appearance. He was much tanner than most of the regular civilians and instead of the shiny, skin tight suits they were all wearing, he was wearing regular street clothes from Gotham.

He whispered to Mera, "I could get used to this, I think."

She smirked and said, "Oh, if you think this is attention, then you're going to love the big party your mother is going to throw for you. There'll be so many people there trying to kiss your butt that you'll start wishing you were just a street kid. Believe me, this is just the beginning."

He ignored her last few comments and asked, "A party? Like a Welcome Home kind of party?"

She shrugged, "You could call it that."

"Do I get a plus one?" he asked.

"Probably, you'll be the guest of honor after all."

He thought for a moment and then asked her, "Okay then, let's say, there is a party. If the party took place, would you be my plus one?"

She scoffed, "You say that now, but wait until you meet the other girls in the Kingdom. The dainty ones that are soperfect and sweet that it makes you want to hurt them."

"They sound like airheads to me."

"So they're just your taste!" she said before she could stop herself. He asked her what she meant by that and she told him grudgingly, "I kind of followed you tonight…under direct orders, of course!"

"Wait a second," he stopped swimming and made her look him dead in the eyes. "Do you really think I was into those girls? Like I'd actually want to date them?"

"I don't know, Arthur, you seemed to be pretty into them, particularly that last one before your friend interrupted you." She rolled her eyes and told him, "I'm just saying that you should wait to make up your mind. Besides, your mom might not agree with you taking a soldier-in-training as a date instead of some princess." He started a reply, but she cut him off, "Just drop it, okay?" and continued on swimming out in front of him.

AC was confused by her odd reaction, but the thoughts went out of his mind when he saw the Royal Palace. Although most of the buildings surrounding it were tall and shimmering in the watery light, the palace easily outshone them all, reaching higher than all except one tower which sat a few blocks down from it. Statues of warriors and past kings and queens decorated the path towards the main doors. When they arrived, Mera told him, "This is where I leave you, my prince." She bowed low, but before leaving she whispered, "And…good luck." Turning on her heel, she marched towards the tallest building in Atlantis, leaving Arthur all by himself for the first time.

Thoughts of his father began to return to him, and he remembered why he was there in the first place, because his dad was missing. Marching towards the doors, which swung open on their own accord, he found the main room completely deserted except for a few wandering dolphins and fish. A man appeared out of nowhere and asked him politely, "Who are you?"

He replied in a strong voice, "My name is Arthur Curry, sir." The man's face drained of color and he knelt, which Arthur felt was extremely unnecessary. "I was told that my mother wanted to see me…"

"Yes! Yes, of course! My apologies, my prince, please right this way," and he bowed again much to Arthur's annoyance.

Arthur walked out slightly in front of the man, who he assumed was a servant in the Palace. He asked the man, "What's your name?"

"Merlin, sire. Merlin Francesca, son of Loki and Valeria Francesca, third in my family to serve the Royal Atlantean Crown." It was more of an answer that AC was expecting, but it was better than silence.

"Crown? I thought Atlantis was ruled by a council?"

"Yes, sire, it is, but the members of the council hold the positions of Kings and Queens in Atlantis. Therefore, we refer to them as royalty."

They floated up a few flights of stairs, which AC found odd considering no one walked in Atlantis, and came upon another grand room. At the end of it were eleven thrones sat in a circle. In each was either a man or woman, and they were clearly arguing. Arthur could hear them perfectly.

A middle aged man yelled, "That's an outrage, a blatant lie! How dare you accuse me of neglecting my duties as the Guardian of the East Pacific Block?"

An older woman stood and yelled back, "Don't you dare raise your voice with me, Ari Leontius! I've been on this council since before you were born and never in my life have I ever seen a councilman or woman so ignoring of their responsibility as guardian of the waters!"

An elderly man that sat in the furthest chair to the right spoke with a clear, authoritative voice that rang above the others, "I'd just like to inform you all that this…debate…is no longer private." They all turned their heads towards where Arthur was standing, and poor Merlin looked like he was going to melt from their glares.

The man that the elderly woman had called Ari asked, "Who dares interrupt the Atlantean Council!?"

AC wasn't even slightly afraid of this man. He'd seen a lot worse than him in Gotham, so if he was delusional enough to think he could intimidate a kid from the Narrows, then he had another thing coming. He announced to the room, "My name is Arthur Tom Curry, son of Tom Curry and Queen Atlanna." He didn't know where these words were coming from but apparently he said the correct things because no one laughed at him or scoffed. In fact, the elderly man that had noticed their presence even stood and bowed, though only slightly, before returning to his chair.

That's when a woman, probably only in her late thirties stood from her throne and asked, "Arthur, my son, is it truly you?" He nodded and she ran to him, throwing his arms around her son, which he wasn't thrilled about.

Leaning away from the woman, he asked, "You're Atlanna then?"

"Queen Atlanna, actually," Merlin corrected quietly before cowering back into his bow.

Arthur sized the woman up, noticing her long white hair that she had braided delicately down her back, and the blue shimmering dress that shone in the water. She had a sword strap across her chest and waist, which contrasted her queen-like outfit. She seemed like a normal mother, looking over her child and trying to touch every surface of him that she could. When she reached for his face, he lightly pushed her hands away. Something inside of him exploded, and he yelled at her, "Where the bloody freaking hell were you for the last thirteen years!? Yeah, that's right! You left us for thirteen years, and then all of a sudden you just summon me!? And it isn't even because you wanted to see me, to check in, or be even a little bit like a mother. You only wanted to see me because dad's missing!" His last few words rang for a moment after he stopped.

She told him, "I did want to see you, I swear, but I was just too busy…"

"You were TOO BUSY?! Oh, so that's why you didn't come to help us when dad and I came to America with no money, no family, no nothing! I guess you were just too busy when he went away for days, weeks even at a time and left me there, alone, a six year old! Were you too busy when we almost got evicted and dad had to work his ass off for weeks while you sat here in a monument of gold?! Were you too busy to pop by the apartment and explain to me that I wasn't a demon, or a freak, but that I had Atlantean blood in me and that scalding dad with boiling water wasn't my fault?! We needed you, and you left us! So don't you dare call yourself my mother, you selfish bitch!" He screamed the last few lines in her face, letting out all his anger at once, leaving him breathless and empty. Tears were rolling down his face and he was nearly shaking with utter rage. He had never really thought about how much he hated his mother, but deep down, all the pain and suffering they had gone through had been her fault. So he stood there, hate boiling in his eyes as the Atlantean Council looked on in shock and his birth-giver stared mournfully at her son who hated her.

That's when everything went into chaos, starting with the empty chair in the center of the circle rising from the ground and the eldest man from the council claiming, "Behold, the Prince of Atlantis, the Next Great Lord of the Seas, and the rightful next in line for the Throne. All hail, Prince Arthur." He breathed in heavily and prayed, "I have served my purpose and now request, All Father, that you release me from my duty." A second later he went limp. His body shimmered and disappeared, leaving Arthur, Atlanna, and The Atlantean Council in a shocked silence.

A/N: Well…..that escalated quickly. I'm not going to write much in this note because I want to keep writing the next chapter, so I'm gonna keep this one short and sweet. If you have any comments/questions/concerns, make sure to ask in the reviews or feel free to PM me.

But anyways, thanks for reading! If you really loved it then please follow/favorite, because it really encourages me to see people care about what I'm writing, and make sure to stick around for the next one! -JP