Chapter 13: Growing Up
Kendall now understood what James meant when he had to be the man of the house, now that his dad was out of the picture he had to take responsibility his dad-Francis would normally do. He watched over Katie along with Logan when they had to stay with his parents while his worked on filing papers for a divorce. Since Katie was still a baby Mrs. Knight was able to have full custody of her, but Kendall was still debated since his dad had a good lawyer.
Much to the blonde's disappointment he has to visit his dad every other week. Francis tried to make his son see it his way, but he didn't know that Kendall saw his true colors when he hid in the closet the day he found out he was cheating on his mom. He met Francis's lover (fiancé) and quickly tried to stay away from her as much as possible along with his father, he excused himself from having lunch and dinner with them by doing homework (and Logan's just so he could avoid them).
Unfortunately when his dad made them spend time together like a family, it would always be awkward or be held in silence, whenever they tried to start conversations he would only give them a yes, no, or a shrug. When he and his dad were alone Francis would scold him and try to discipline him, he would stop whenever Kendall said child abuse, the older male will scoff and ignore him until he mentioned how he almost beat his mother and could use it against him in court.
That surprised the older male and used the 'you're a child no one will believe you excuse' that is until he named his rights even though he's a minor. There are advantages to having a genius as a best friend who can help you deal with your problem especially in law, Logan did research and talked to his uncle who's a lawyer who specializes in cases that Kendall is in to help him with what he was going through.
After that failed, the couple decided to make him happy by spoiling him and taking him to fun places his mother can't never afford to take him and win his affection. They knew they failed when he would save the money they gave him to buy his mother and his baby sister presents or necessities and started calling them by their first names instead of mom and dad, what Francis's fiancé most desperately wanted.
Half a year went by and Francis's new wife was pregnant, they lost the custody battle to Jennifer; however Kendall still had to visit his father at least three times a month and stay with him during some of his summer vacation. Knowing how much his son loved to go to the beach he purposely made it his goal to take Kendall to his new home during the summer much to the blonde's dismay.
During the first few weeks of summer Kendall would sit on the same boulder near the pool, waiting to see James' familiar white tail to greet him, his hope slowly dimmed as the years went by with no sign from him. The majority of his summer was spent with his father; he would place a fake smile and spent time with Francis and his new family wherever they chose to go for their vacation.
Fortunately, he was saved from being with his father when he began to go to summer camps with Logan, however he couldn't go to the beach anymore except when summer was nearly over. His hopes were always dashed when he didn't see James, he would either sit on the boulder for hours until his skin was sunburned or in the pool until his skin was prune-y.
As he got older he spent less time waiting at the beach and more time in his new job at the supermarket picking up carts left over from customers to save up money for himself and his family, even though he lived close to the beach they weren't wealthy, but have enough money to live comfortably.
Instead of remembering spending his time with James as a child they were replaced by being with his father, his mistress (wife and step mom), and his step sister, and being Logan's buddy at camp in the great outdoors. Those memories started to fade and were tucked into the far corners of his mind as he grew into the role of being the man of the house, the picture he made of James and the calendar he used to keep track of time was buried deep in his closet as well as the shells James got him from Hawaii.
The only thing he had left was the bracelet the brunette gave him, Kendall forgot completely that a merman gave it to him instead he thought he bought it at a gift shop somewhere in the coast and never bothered to take it off. Whenever he messed with one of the pearls or placed a hand on it he felt a warm feeling in his chest giving him a sense of comfort and security. Especially when the jewels got wet or close to water, he felt as small pricks on his skin mostly on his fingertips and temple, but he paid them no mind.
Unknown to the blonde, James was with him every step of the way during his difficult childhood. The merman knew how Kendall felt despite being miles away from each other, he knew when he was mad, depressed, and when he was crying when his tear drops fell on the bracelet. James will take time from his day to meditate and send reassuring and loving messages through their bond such as kissing his temple or holding his hand. Much to his disappointment he also knew that the blonde was starting to forget him, he was almost afraid he was losing him until he felt their bond in the bracelet. The bond right now was the only thing keeping him from swimming back to Kendall possibly risking his and the blonde's life.
Since James left Carlos had been pushing him and giving him encouragement whenever he grew to his depressive state when he missed the blonde child. Carlos would sometimes not let him know how many days or weeks passed so James wouldn't think too much on how much he has been away from him, not being a part of Kendall's life was breaking his heart.
What's worse is the news he has been hearing after Griffin's death, Jett has already begun harnessing powers from Potentia's, for his kingdom to have the equal powers as others in the ocean. This is the first time in eons where one of the seven kingdoms did not have a Royal, it was tradition to have a Royal in every kingdom so there won't be any competition for power.
The only thing keeping him and the other kingdoms from going to war is the triton being held in the throne room. Only the Royals are the only merpeople who can declare war with other kingdoms and have the power to control one of the seven golden tritons, the only thing that could equal the power of a Royal is a vast amount of Potentia's. Unfortunately Griffin was the one and only Royal in the kingdom and in the entire Western seaboard (Pacific Ocean) and did not have an heir ending the Royal bloodline for good.
As long as Jett doesn't have the power of the triton he won't be able to put the kingdom in turmoil, but now that Griffin is gone and he is the new ruler there was no telling what he would do with that power. James didn't want to think about it especially since Jett will mostly come after him to harness some of his powers. However as long as Jett believes he isn't part of that world then he would give up his search and hopefully soon so he could get back to the blonde.
Jett was diligent, it took him nearly a decade for him to stop his search for the brunette and during that time James had been in hiding moving from one continent to the other. He had now been to almost every part of the world, Australia, South America, Europe, and Asia, the minute Carlos told him Jett stopped his search he didn't hesitate to go back to the blonde.
James knew Kendall forgot about him due to being mature at an early age, but he was determined to go back to him. He made a promise and he intended to fulfill it, he also knew that Kendall was now at an age to court or as humans call it "date", the merman knew he loved Kendall more than a friend after sensing Kendall grow into a young man his feeling grew. James wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his life with the blonde, it was uncommon for a merman or mermaid to fall for a human, but possible since many had become mates, but it has been so limited due to not wanting the human race to find out about their existence.
The merman was currently in a cave near the coast of Italia (Italy) packing the few belongings he has for the long trip ahead of him to reach Kendall. He knew he was getting ahead of himself at the thought of spending the rest of his life with Kendall, the last time he had seen him was when he was a child and even though he was potentially bonded with him he never was with him physically. That is all about to change once he goes back to the pool, Kendall now rarely goes to the beach except with another human, he believed was his best friend, to hang out in the shore or spent a day under the sun. He needed to call the blonde to him once he is close to his destination and hope he will answer, he estimated it will take him weeks to reach the Pacific Ocean and had to wait for the water to warm so he can travel and hopefully be there in the first or second week of the summer solstice.
Now that Jett stopped his search for James Carlos will travel with his best friend to return home and to make sure he stayed out of trouble which is ironic since James usually gets Carlos out of trouble. He also wanted to see some of his old friends he kept in contact and try to get some of their old lives back together, the latino immediately knew he was going back to the blonde and didn't even bother to talk him out of it since he was hell bent to see him again.
When dawn came James quickly began his journey back home while a certain blonde prepared to go to sleep unaware of the events to come in a few weeks.
I AM SO SO SO SO SO SO VERY SORRY! I know this chapter is way over due and that some of you are mad at me because of it. I would also like to say I am not abandoning this story no matter what (Nuria and other reviewers) I have just been going through a bit of writer's block, I'm also having personal troubles, and I am also preparing myself to go to a university. Right now I am going to learn how to manage my time so something like this won't happen again (I really really hate writer's block).
Do not worry I started this story and I intend to finish it no matter what and I don't care how long it takes me I WILL FINISH IT!
Also I would like to thank those who are still reading this fic and hope you guys will to still be with this fic in the future. Your comments and critcism are always welcome. Thank you to those who favorited, followed, and reviewd. I hoped you liked this chapter and again sorry for the delay.