AN: I was a little worried that flashbacks might be confused with the present day parts of each chapter, so now flashbacks are in italics!

The sun was setting on the lighthouse as Arthur and Adella sat on the edge of the dock, looking out at the ocean. A few years had passed since she and her father had begun to visit the surface to teach Arthur about Atlantis. Adella and Arthur were practically attached at the hip, much to Queen Atlanna's delight. Even when Vulko had no plans for a lesson for Arthur, Adella still made the trip up to the sleepy little town where Arthur lived to visit him. She hadn't been able to keep the secret longer than a week from Mera, but had somehow managed to keep any details about Arthur from Orm no matter how suspicious he was over where she was always disappearing to.

And it wasn't solely Arthur that had Adella returning to the surface. She loved the human world. She loved how different it was from her own home. The humans, the animals, the food. She was hopeful that one day once Orvax was no longer king the humans and Atlanteans could live together in peace.

But if she was completely honest with herself, she was mostly visiting for Arthur.

"So, what exactly do you say to the fish?" she asked.

"I don't know...hello? How are you? It's….it sounds stupid when I have to explain it." Arthur huffed.

"It's not stupid at all!" Adella shook her head. "Arthur, do you have any idea how amazing that sort of a gift is? No one in Atlantis can speak to the sea creatures. Not since Atlan." She explained.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "That guy again…." he looked down at his lap and sighed. "People think I'm weird. The kids at school make fun of me. We had a field trip and these boys saw me talking to the fish….there was a shark situation." he explained, clearly embarrassed.

Adella covered her mouth, trying to hide her giggling. Arthur frowned at her. "Sorry. But you can't listen to them! Humans are boring in that way. They don't have powers like Atlanteans do, of course they'll think it's weird."

Arthur turned to Adella, eyebrows raised in surprise. "You have powers too? What is it? Is it cool?"

"Of course it's cool!" she. Adella looked out at the sun and watched it makes it's slow descent towards the ocean line. The sky was growing darker, the orange and pinks becoming purples and dark blues. "I can show you. Follow me." She sprung up to her feet, raising her arms above her head and diving down into the water below. Arthur was close behind her as the pair dove down deep below the water, the light growing darker and darker.

Adella finally came to a stop, turning to face Arthur. She smiled widely at him. "Ready?" she asked. He nodded enthusiastically. Adella closed her eyes and focused. At first nothing happened and Arthur found himself extremely confused. But soon he noticed a faint, purple light surrounding him. The water surrounding the two was slowly growing brighter and brighter and Arthur realized that light was coming from Adella. It seemed like it was coming from somewhere inside of her. A soft, but brilliant purple glow was emitting from her skin.

"How are you doing that?" Arthur gasped. Adella opened her eyes finally, sheepishly grinning at her friend and shrugged.

"I just can. It's bioluminescence. My father says I've been able to do is since I was born." she explained.

"So you're like an Anglerfish!"

"...I'd like to think I'm a little prettier than and Anglerfish, Arthur."

"You know what I mean."

Adella sharing her gift with Arthur made him feel worlds better about his own. If she was so impressed with the fact that he could speak to sea creatures, maybe it wasn't something to be so ashamed of.

"Where are you always disappearing to?" Orm asked Adella one evening. Their fathers and Orm's mother were in a court meeting. Mera wasn't currently in Atlantis, so she was unable to help Adella throw Orm off the trail like she usually did when he grew curious. Adella always had a hard time lying to Orm. No matter how small the lie was.

"I'm not disappearing…" she said, focusing on almost everything else in the room but Orm.

Orm rolled his eyes. "You are. I hardly see you anymore. And I highly doubt your father's letting you go off on whatever it is my father has him doing all of the time." Adella felt some relief. Orm clearly had no idea Vulko was always gone because he was helping Queen Atlanna, and not the King. "So...where are you going? Are you getting into trouble? I'm not supposed to let you get into trouble, you know."

"You're not responsible for me, Orm."

"Of course I am!" he threw his arms in the air. "I'm a prince! How am I supposed to be King one day if I don't make sure you're safe?" Adella knew the both also remembered the Queen's words, that one day she and Orm might be married. Neither of them brought it up.

"I'm perfectly safe," Adella huffed. "I'm not a doll, Orm," she teased. "I've been….exploring." it wasn't technically a lie. She was in fact exploring the surface world with Arthur and her father. And even though it was Orm's mother that sent her there, Adella knew that Orm didn't quite have the sense to keep any information of the land and his half brother away from his father.

"Exploring…" Orm said, an eyebrow raised.

Adella nodded. "Uh huh. I mean, I'd ask you to go with me, but you hate exploring…"

Orm crossed his arms, giving Adella a doubtful look. It was easy for him to tell when she was lying to him, simply because she hardly ever did it. Adella could never hide much from him, even something as simple as stealing a dessert from his plate when he wasn't looking during a royal banquet (which she did quite often). And this was much bigger than stealing treats. Orm could feel it.

"And what is it that you're exploring? And without Mera?"

Adella was quiet for a moment, and Orm felt like he'd finally caught her. "...I was looking for mermaids." she finally said. Orm's shoulders slumped forward. Maybe that's all that this was. Adella wasn't lying, she was trying to hide her 'adventures' because she knew that Orm would tease her about it just like he always teased her over fairy tales. He couldn't help but feel a little bad.

"Mermaids…" Orm let out a breathy laugh. "Is that all? You could've told me that!"

"That's not true! You would be all 'Adella they're not real. They're just a bedtime story!" she put her hands on her hips, making her voice deeper to mock Orm. He rolled his eyes.

"Well they are," he defended. "Just...don't go alone next time. Okay?" there was genuine concern in his eyes. Adella felt a rush of guilt. "At least wait until Mera's back...or even I'll go with you," he offered. "Who knows, maybe you'll surprise me. Just promise me you won't get yourself in to trouble. Or get yourself hurt. Please?"

Adella nodded, smiling a little. "I promise."

Arthur and Adella spent the rest of their day catching up on what they had missed in each other's lives since they'd last seen each other. Arthur told her about the Justice League, and that the other members were all currently in Gotham. The five of them were getting things in order, making sure their base was completed and looking out for any other metahumans that might like to join them. Adella wanted to ask why he wasn't with them, but she knew that Arthur would never truly be able to leave his home and his father. It was enough of a miracle that Arthur had agreed to join them in the first place. He'd always been too stubborn to admit he wanted friendship and to belong to something like the Justice League. Adella was just happy he was growing out of his shell finally.

She told him about Orm's slow descent. She suspected it started when his father had died. The overwhelming sense of responsibility that was put onto Orm's shoulders once Orvax was gone was almost immediately too much for him to handle. He of course had Adella and Mera's support, and Vulko to try to guide him as best as he could, but his parents weren't there to show him the way.

Once Atlanna had been thrown to the Trench, the King saw that any lessons, any words of wisdom that she may have once shared with her son were pushed away and replaced with what Orvax sought fit to teach him. Of course Orm held onto his mother's words after her death, but once he became king he shoved them deep into the back of his mind. It was painful for Adella to watch.

She wished she could have the old Orm back. Then she would have no problem convincing him to leave the surface world alone. Maybe she could even finally introduce him and Arthur without the fear of the two of them killing each other. But she knew that would never happen.

"I should probably bring Salty back to my dad's," Arthur stood up from the couch and stretched. "You wanna come? He's gonna be happy to see you, even under these circumstances." he grinned, pulling on his boots and grabbing his coat. Seeing Thomas would probably make this impromptu visit feel a bit more normal. Less 'the world might be ending soon' and more 'visit with the in-laws'.

"I'll go, but maybe we don't mention Orm. Or why I'm here...maybe I should stay here." she sat back down on the couch, pulling her legs to her chest. Arthur chuckled, walking over to his wife and scooping her up into his arms. He set her down and tossed her her own jacket.

"You're going. We won't talk about Orm. I don't wanna even hear his name again while you're here. Pop's not gonna care why you're here, just that you are here." Adella knew that Arthur was right. And in any case, Thomas didn't care to talk much about Atlantis for the obvious reasons. She knew that Thomas would invite them both into the lighthouse, make the two of the a big cup of tea and embarrass Arthur and ask when they were going to give him grandkids.

"Alright, you win." Adella smiled up at her husband, pulling her jacket on. The two headed out once again to Arthur's truck with Salty trailing behind them. She held the door open for the Golden Retriever, her smile slowly fading. Something was wrong.

Arthur was just about to get into the truck himself when he felt it too. He looked over at his wife, eyebrows screwed together in confusion. "...Do you feel that?" he asked. It was the ground. IT shook beneath them. The air around them felt thick. Adella recognized the feeling. She'd been through a hurricane on the surface before. It had been years ago. She and Arthur and Thomas were held up in the lighthouse as the storm raged around them. The air had been warm and thick just like it was now before the storm arrived. But since when did a storm like that appear out of nowhere?

"...'Della." Arthur breathed, stepping around the front of the truck and brushing past her, looking out at the ocean. She turned, her breath catching at the sight before her. It was almost hidden in the night. The ground began to shake harder as it grew closer. A wave so high it hid the moon's light was rushing towards them and the shore line. Two huge ships where being dragged along with it, heading directly for the small town that sat below them. The Lighthouse was directly in the wave's path.

Adella's stomach dropped as she watched. She'd never seen anything like it, nothing so destructive. Arthur spun around, running back to the car and jumping in. Adella followed, her heart racing as they drove as fast as the truck would carry them down to Thomas' home. 'Please, please let him be alright' she begged silently. It was hard enough to imagine the damage that would be done to the town Arthur called home. To imagine what would happen to the humans that lived there. But she couldn't bare the thought of anything happening to Thomas.

Salty barked ferociously as they arrived at the lighthouse. Thankfully it hadn't taken much damage, it had been built to weather storm after storm. The dock that Thomas walked out onto each morning had been destroyed. Pieces of it floating around in the rocking waves and crashing up onto the rocks that sat down by the beach. Arthur and Adella rushed towards the lighthouse, the pair yelling for Thomas. Arthur disappeared inside, calling for his father almost hysterically. "He's not inside!" he called, rushing back out towards Adella.

She was breathing heavily, the panic she felt almost clouding her ability to think clearly. She looked out into the water, looking back and meeting Arthur's eyes. Adella took off into a run, stripping herself of her jacket and boots before diving in. She didn't need to look back to know Arthur was close behind her.

Even as her sight adjusted to the dark around her, she still couldn't find Thomas. A pit began to grow in her stomach as she feared for the worst. But she couldn't panic. She had to act fast. Thomas only had a small window of surviving.

Adella closed her eyes. Arthur watched as she began to glow, that brilliant purple light coming from within her. The water around them lit up, helping them both to see more. Arthur finally spotted Thomas, slowly sinking towards the ocean's floor. He was a blur as he passed Adella and took hold of his father and shot up towards the surface. She followed behind him, helping her husband drag Thomas towards the sand.

She was helpless now. She sat back and watched Arthur give Thomas CPR, silently praying once again that he would be alright. A wave of sadness hit her as she realized that this had to have been Orm's doing. Adella never wanted to believe that there would be a time when Orm would act so foolishly, so boldly. But there was no other explanation. Orm was sending the surface world a message, and the people she loved were suffering for it.

Thomas finally began to cough. Arthur and Adella both let out sighs of relief as Arthur rolled his father to his side, letting him cough up the water that had been filling his lungs. "Dad, thank God…" Arthur hugged Thomas tightly. His father blinked quickly, trying to regain his bearings.

"Arthur...what the hell happened? Wha-...what was that?" he asked. Thomas tried to sit up, but the pair wouldn't let him. They both told him to lay back and try to breath. "Adella...good to see you. Wish the circumstances were better." he joked weakly.

Adella smiled at her father in law. "You and me both. I'm just glad you're okay...I think we should get you to a hospital though." Arthur nodded in agreement, slowly helping his father stand and leading him back to the truck where Salty was still waiting. Once Thomas was inside, Arthur looked at Adella from across the hood of the car.

"He's dead," he said, jaw clenched. "He's not getting away with this." and as much as Adella hated to admit it. She couldn't fight Arthur on this. Orm had to be stopped.