AN: Holy shit, I wrote more here than I thought. o-o I hope it's worth the wait guys. xD; Sorry about that.
Also, I totally googled a latin word or two. I didn't take the class on it. So forgive the rough translation.
Macula- blemish, mark, spot, ect.
Even though the king's first instinct was to go and take his child back, the first thing he notices is the mark on Kaldur's neck. His eyes widen in surprise then narrow on the man dressed in black. Before anyone could do anything, the king of the seven seas is on Bruce, grabbing the man by his throat and holding him up off the floor.
"Father!" Kaldur has never seen him like this before. He appears truly enraged and began spouting off words with heat that would normally be reserve for the most vile criminals.
"How dare you! Initiating Macula on a royal prince? You cur! I shall rip out your spine for this!" Orin bellows.
"Your majesty, please!" Lorena and Garth both exchange worried looks because they have no clue how to stop him. Even the guards at their back were pretty nervous at this.
Kaldur moves to pull the king's arm back- not that he had much success with that seeing as his father is much stronger than he is. "He did not do any wrong. It was not shameful, father." He seriously needs to get the king to lower Bruce on the floor because the man's turning purple. "Please, release him."
The king's eyes flicker between the two before he lets Bruce go with something of an annoyance, "We will be taking him back."
"I cannot go." Kaldur told him, "My place is with my mate."
Bruce is a bit busy trying to assimilate and breathe at the same time, to get what's happening around him. He then realizes what the atlantean prince had said. Mate? He looks towards him loosening his tie to breathe easier. He's certain that it didn't mean friend. "I demand an explaintation here!"
It's not the first time that Kaldur has wanted to hide. It wouldn't be the last time, he's sure. "I.."
"Why don't we all calm down?" Lorena decides to tray and defuse the situation, casting a look at Garth for some help here. "It would be best to discuss this with cooler tempers."
"She is correct." Kaldur edges in front of Bruce, giving Orin his best smile. "It would be best to at least hear out the situtation in a place that is more private."
It takes a while, but Orin eventually nods his consent. "Very well." Still, he gives the other man a glare. "We shall speak of this at another time."
"Perhaps, you and the others would prefer to come to our home?" Kaldur really prays that Bruce would help this along, "If that is not a problem?" He glances over his shoulder for a moment. Hesitating a little.
Bruce doesn't like the idea, but at the same time he knows it's better that way. For other reasons of course. "Yes, over dinner."
Nervous but relieve to have adverted something terrible, Kaldur wonders exactly how in the seven seas did anyone guess to look here. He wonders about his Mother and the brother he's never met. Surely, they should be safe in Atlantis- right? Still, it made no sense to him that his father would actually physically be here.
Send others? Yes. Of course. That would made more sense to seen carriers, so why?
Though now that his father and entrouge has left and he's alone with Bruce once more, Kaldur's nervousness did not disappear.
"What is this all about?" Bruce starts tossing the tie off and unbuttoning the top three buttons of his shirt because now anything encircling his neck makes him a bit anxious. Then again, he's just been strangled by an inhumanly strong man. "Mate? Macula? I know my Latin is a bit rusty, but doesn't that mean-"
"Marked." Kaldur supplies and sighs softly seeing the rapidly fading hand print. That's good, he'll heal much better now. "It is a primitive but very much how we..."He pauses for a moment searching for the best words in this, "Are wedded. "
"We're married." Bruce's flat tone made Kaldur flinch just a touch. "Is that why the scar on my chest hasn't faded? Because we're mates?"
Kaldur nods finding this to be difficult for some reason but holds onto his emotions for a while longer. He had to get Bruce to understand this. " Yes. It is irreversible. There is more to it than just the scar upon your chest, Bruce."
"Explain."
"The magic within me has left itself on you. You will heal faster, gradually become stronger, and perhaps if there is an aptidue for it within you, you might be able to perform small feats with it." Kaldur shifts his weight a bit, "The truth of the matter, because of it- of me- you will not age much as well. It will be slowed down to match my own. It is the nature of this. My father was furious not just because we are together, but because it means you have been gifted with many attributes that are associated with my people- which includes long lifespans."
Bruce rocks back on his heels, because it's quite a bit to assemble. Really? Magic? He knows he shouldn't dismiss the idea, but it's quite hard of a notion to accept when it's happening to you, personally.
"How long do you live on average?"
"The very least?" Kaldur tilts his head slightly trying to recall the number. After all, it isn't everyday he has had to explain it in depth to an outsider. "Barring illness, accidents and the like- we can live up to five hundred years. Most live up to four hundred and fifty. The oldest is five hundred and ten years old."
"How old are you?"
Kaldur's brows rose a bit at that. "I am-as of now- effectively sixteen years of age. I will be seventeen come this fall." He breathes out and dares to move closer to him, "Are you furious with me?"
The older man runs a hand through his hair watching the expression on the teen's face. They had a lot on their plate and now this too? He wonders, though about it. Maybe..maybe this is a good thing?
"No." He says finally offering a hand to him, accepting what the next line of thought that came along in his mind as he pulls Kaldur to him. "No, I'm not mad at you. It sounds like a heavy burden to me."
He could feel him relax finally and seem to hug him even tighter. Bruce wonders if he could actually give this up.
At home, Kaldur asked Wally if he and Dick- or any of the others- found any more information they could use to plan their next course of action. But getting a negative from the red head, he settles on preparing for the evening. He worries a bit about how his father would take this-or Garth.
He still wonders why they were even here but such things are rendered mote when the doorbell rang and Alfred greets them with the normal surface custom.
Kaldur cannot help but fidget a little as his father is shown into the parlor for the time being.
"Dinner will be served shortly." Alfred told them before leaving them to their conversation.
The awkward atmosphere obviously weighed heavily on everyone- it's more apparent in Wally than anyone else. The boy couldn't keep still even for a second and kept stealing glances at the cookies.
Eventually, Garth speaks up.
"You have a lovely home."
"Thanks." Dick says but it's pretty obvious what the elephant in the room is here. "Look, we didn't know-"
"Matters not." Orin says, "We will be taking Kaldur'ahm home with us this evening, afterwards."
Kaldur shakes his head slowly, "You know I cannot. I cannot abandon my life here."
"We can reverse this-"
"That is uncertain and experimental. I know of what you speak, Father. I've read it as well. It never turns out right."
Garth frowns, "Will you really allow yourself to be tethered to this..land dweller?After everything they have done to you, my prince?" His purple eyes shift from them suspciously to him. "I have learn much of these people, Prince Kaldur'ahm, they are not honorable at all!" He breathes out, "How can you consent to stay here? It must have affected your ability to see things clearly."
"Garth." Kaldur frowns deeply, eyes glinting ever so slightly, "You are my friend, one that I most liken to a brother, but I will not tolerate that kind of accusation towards this family."
"Family!" Garth stares at him in disbelief, "Do you hear this? His kidnappers are his family now!"
Kaldur takes a moment, "They were not the ones that kidnapped me from the sea. They're merely the ones that rescued me from the hell I was in."
"If I may?" Lorena interupts, trying to play something of a peacekeeper here, "Prince, can you tell us about how you came to be here? Maybe that may shed some light on this?" Her brown eyes flicker over towards the king and the young lord to the others. "And, if you would, tell us why you do not wish to return?"
Kaldur hesitates here because he didn't want to tell everything to his father and friend. There were somethings, he knew, that would be taken wrongly. So, he told everything from the time he left Atlantis to how he ended up in the ownership of Bruce Wayne. He told of how he was eventually granted his own freedom as well. Of course, these events were greatly censored.
"I wish to stay with my mate because originally I detected something was amiss from his financial records of past dealings. I alerted others and inquired if they were having the same difficulties." He pauses for a moment, eyes moving over to Wally and Dick for a moment, "We have found that it was not just Wayne Enterprises but other companies of similar caliber. We dug further and found it traces back to a place north As of right now we have no idea what is being shipped there or why."
Orin shakes his head slowly, "Kaldur'ahm, this has nothing to do with us. These are land dweller's problems."
"No, Father, it may become our problem. What I have failed to mention is that Black Manta appeared on land at a party we were all attending." He hopes he didn't have to elaborate more. "I believe it may be connected."
"Do you have proof?" Orin asks, "Why have you not told us that before?"
He shook his head but answers,"I did not think you would be so adamant about it."
Garth frowns himself thinking about it, "This maybe be all well and good, but what does that have to do with us? Indeed, Black Manta is the enemy and we should bring him to justice. However, this is about bringing you back to Atlantis."
"Why are you so eager for Kaldur to return?" Bruce turns a glass in his hand but glances over at them. "He's expressed his desire to stay. So what's the problem?"
Orin's lips thinned for a moment before he says, "Because he is my son. It is natural-"
"Your son is effectively married at this point." Bruce sets the glass down, "Now, lets try this one more time. What is it? Why do you want him back after losing him for two years? What took you so long to find him?"
"This world is quite vast." Garth said with a trace of annoyance, "We have spent much-"
"Neptune have it." Orin interrupts the boy, "We have tried- the gods knows we have until Lorena here stepped forward." He breathes out not really wanting to share this but finds he must. Still, his eyes seem to hold hint of sadness to them no matter how much Orin tries to hide it.
It is this that tells Kaldur something is dreadfully wrong, "Father...?"
"As you know, Kaldur'ahm, your mother was indeed pregnant when you disappeared." He said looking solely at the blonde boy before moving towards him. "We still sent out our people searching for you after the incident with Lady Tula, but it seemed almost in vain. Then.." He faulters there for a moment as if saying this would make it become a reality-again. "Some months ago, your brother, Prince Arthur, was murdered. "
Kaldur rocks back on his heels at this news as if to absorbe what felt like a hit in the gut. All this time, he had thought his family would simply forget him because of this new child- a true heir- and they had not. What's more, the little brother he has never had the chance to meet or even see...
For the first time, he curses his existence at that moment. Arthur. His brother's name that he's never heard until now. He felt his lips moving to say the name but stops short as he listens to what his king had to say.
"Your mother is beside herself with grief. As much as it pains me to say it, we did not capture the culpirt." Orin continues bitterly, "Such a thing has consumed much of our time, but we also now had to find you. If the same people that have murdered such an innocent child, could also come after you as well."
His mouth felt utterly dry and he didn't even notice Bruce's presence just behind him as he mutters, "Why me? I am not important enough to warrant such-"
"Because of the laws that were passed before during the time of his majesty's great-grandfather, you stand to inheirt the throne." Garth told him, "As it stands, you are the Crown Prince of Atlantis. Seeing to your protection is of great importance."
Orin nods, "As much as I wish for your happiness, Kaldur'ahm, I am afriad you must part with this world. Atlantis, your homeland, needs you now more than ever."
Kaldur could not think, he could not even process this. Everything was a swirl of noises that he simply couldn't make sense of. Why? Why had his brother died? Why was this all happening?
How could he even think to part with Bruce? Even for Atlantis?
The choices that stood in front of him now, makes his very heart shudder. Should he return to Atlantis? Or should he stay here?
For the life of him, Kaldur couldn't say which he wanted most.
AN: This is what happens when I watch I, Claudius. Sure it's about Rome, and sure I tweaked and fudged stuff but... D: DRAMA.
(Guess this is also my way of making up for how badly I handled Savage ;3;?)