Chapter 37-Part 1-The Broken and the Bruised
"All those words came undone and now I'm not the only one facing the ghosts that decide if the fire inside still burns." ~Excerpt from Breathe Again, Sara Bareilles
A/N: Hey, it's Darky! Here is the first part of the Dell'oceano family three-chapter part thing. You'll just see what my dark and dangerous mind dreams up. Anyway, let's get back to some other interesting news. I'm planning on doing 'A Dance With Danger.' I mean, like, getting bits of episodes together and meshing them together. I don't know. I'm not that good at editing yet, but I want to do this.
Scenes from Mako Mermaids, Vampire Academy, Lightning Point, and a few other shows that need serious editing to make it work will be in the series. I'll start making the episodes, and when I'm done with this book and the series, I'll create a trailer for it. Each episode won't be very long; they'll probably vary from 5-15 minutes or so. Some episodes will be two chapters, others will be one. I'll see.
Of course, I'm concerned about a few things in particular: Raiden, Persephone, and Caesar. You'll see why I said the last two in this chapter. But if you could review or PM me a few actors or actresses who might be possible for the roles, I would be eternally grateful. The whole series might be released in the summer (which is so long away), but I think I'll finish it sooner. Nevertheless, this won't be easy as I take time to write, too (along with some other stuff), but I'm fairly confident.
So if you like the story and don't want it to end, don't worry: a series will be fabricated. I'll probably make 2 episodes a week (I mean, yeah, I'll start off slow, but gradually speed up), so we'll see how this goes. And... I'm probably going to mess some lines together to make a sentence that wasn't actually used. And, um, I'm probably crazy for doing this, but hey! I can do whatever (no matter how pointless) I want with my life! ;)
Okay. I'll stop talking. Enjoy. ;)
"When you promise something, you give up a part of yourself. You let others let see that part—that makes you vulnerable. It makes you remarkable. But Persephone's story is not one that ends with a happy ending. No, she's fairly certain that it will come—just... not yet." Rita took a deep breath. "You two, blood of the same Dell'oceano blood, please take it upon yourselves to forgive me for all the misgivings..."
Raiden looked up and exchanged a glance with his brother, who was sitting stiffly by him. Raiden blinked, troubled. He didn't know what to say. He wanted to forgive Rita for keeping this from him, but... he wanted to hear his mother's tale first. Perhaps Rita would tell him and Erik how Persephone met Caesar. Did Rita know how they fell in love? "Please continue," was all Raiden said.
Erik's back straightened. "How do you know this?"
"Good question," Rita said with a small, slight grimace. "But let's get on with the story, as Raiden says."
"So you're going to tell us all about Mom?" Raiden asked softly.
A smile formed on Rita's face. "Why tell you... when I can show you?"
And before Raiden could say 'oh tides,' the world disappeared before his very violet eyes—
—dragging Raiden down with it.
A young girl—perhaps a teenager—came into view. Her eyes were clear and wide and blue. Her lips were slightly parted in awe as she watched some dolphins spin and speed through the water. The girl's legs dangled gracefully from a rock, and her clothes were foreign. Raiden frowned before realizing what Rita Santos had done. Perhaps these were his mother's memories. His heart leapt as the visibly younger Persephone dove gracefully into the water from her perch on a rock.
And Raiden wondered, for one suffocatingly excruciating moment, why Persephone had to leave, allowing him to believe that she was dead.
"Raiden!" Raiden turned to see his brother by him, the same pale, translucent sort of transparency as a ghost might be. Raiden frowned, suddenly self-conscious of himself. He glanced down to see his body, but he was yes indeed the same sort of weird ghost-like material Erik was. Creepy... but useful. All of Erik's normally vivid features were washed out, making Raiden's brother look more like a ghost than a merman. Erik shot Raiden a look that said something like, what's going on? Raiden shrugged and looked for his mother again—but she had disappeared.
Raiden mentally hit himself on the head for getting distracted. "Now look what you've done!"
A frown furrowed Erik's brow. "What?"
"It was Mom!"
"Mom?" Erik said, uncomprehending. "I don't understand..."
Raiden groaned. "I'm not kidding. She was right there." Raiden stabbed a finger at the large, over-sized rock. "Then, she jumped into the water."
"What?!"
"Come on!" Raiden didn't bother waiting for his brother this time. He just ran—inasmuch as he could. It felt unnatural here. It was after a while when Raiden realized that he was not, indeed, running. He was rather gliding. Weird but helpful though. Raiden realized that his mother must be underwater. Hello, she just dove into the water.
Tentatively, Raiden dove under the waters, wondering what might happen. It appeared as though he hadn't indeed actually touched the water. It felt cool but unnatural against him. It was harder to swim now without his fins—but the years of surf training that Raiden had received earlier in his life was clearly shown. He braved through the waters easily.
He entered the moon pool after following a trail of nearly fading bubbles to find Persephone. Persephone touched the rim of the moon pool, her graceful fingers trailing against it. Raiden realized with a start that it was the same way he trailed his fingers against the wall in a moment of anxiety. I guess I know where I got those traits from. "Raiden!" Raiden turned to see Erik, who had finally joined him.
Erik then froze, realizing who was in front of them. Persephone turned their way, but it was like she looked through them. Raiden let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Persephone couldn't see them. Of course, he wouldn't expect her to, but he missed her so, so much. Usually, he would only miss her each day. Recently, it seemed every breath he took was filled with grief for his mother.
"Mom," he breathed, sad.
Persephone didn't seem to hear him. Her beautiful eyes shriveled to the spot right by Erik, and the water quivered there. A mermaid surfaced, dark-haired with equally dark eyes. "Seph," the mermaid said as she emerged from the rippling pool, "you went to see him again, didn't you?" There was a half-angry, half-exasperated note to the dark-haired mermaid's voice, and her gaze was calculating.
"Nice to see you, too," Persephone said with a roll of her eyes.
"Seph..."
"It's not that big a deal," Persephone scoffed with a roll of her eyes.
"Not that big a deal?! You don't seem to understand the severity of this situation," the other mermaid exclaimed. Her tone was stern, sharp—but her gaze was sympathetic. "Caesar is bad news—didn't you hear about that prank he played yesterday?! Dolphin blood and gore was plastered all over the entrance of the moon pool!" Incredulity radiated off her tone, as if she was somewhat surprised as to how and why someone would challenge the pod with such a prank. This piqued Raiden's interest.
"Don't worry, Kiki," Persephone murmured. "It wasn't real." Then, Persephone began to hum a sort of melody under her breath.
Kiki looked up sharply. "What's that?"
Persephone hummed a few more notes before looking up smiling. "Just a little music." Persephone hummed again, blue eyes wide with child-like mischief or mystery. Then, Raiden realized that he recognized the tune. It was a song Persephone had sung to him, to lull him on those sleepless nights. Raiden closed his eyes, and just for a heartbeat, he was there, in Persephone's arms when he was a mere three years old, as she lulled him to sleep. He opened his eyes again regretfully.
"You know, one of these days, you'll be executed once everyone knows about Caesar," Kiki joked.
Persephone smiled a little, but her gaze darkened.
The vision melted away into a new scene, showing Persephone with a wiry young man. Both were on land and were looking very happy. Nervous but happy. Perhaps, despite Persephone's confident words, she felt doubt. Persephone threw a fistful of sand in Caesar's face, making him blink in astonishment. Then, a smirk twisted on his face. He scooped up a pile of sand and launched it at his companion, who squealed in delight.
Raiden felt his heart leap as he gazed at his parents, who were young and carefree.
"Persephone," Caesar said, looking at her softly.
A delicate flush colored Raiden's mother's cheeks. Then, a mischievous smile lit up her features. "Come on." She dove under the waters.
"Hey!" Caesar exclaimed, ducking under the waters, too.
Raiden followed his parents, brother following him. And as Persephone led Caesar to the moon pool that she had met Kiki earlier, Raiden felt two things. One, a flare of panic. Were mermaids supposed to show mermen the moon pool? Raiden didn't think so. Two, a wave of affection. He had remembered seeing his parents together when he was the very young age of four. He thought of them as 'the dolphin and the tide pool.'
Persephone, of course, was the dolphin. Caesar was the tide pool.
Raiden watched his parents. Caesar's gaze was locked on Persephone. Raiden felt uncomfortable now. Somehow, without even knowing it, Raiden knew that something was very, very wrong. He shifted uncomfortably for a few moments. He turned to Erik, who nodded discreetly. He had felt the ominous tension, too. Raiden drew in a sharp breath.
And a shadow crossed over Persephone and Caesar.
A heartbeat later, Persephone screamed—
—and when she did, Raiden did, too.
QotD: What just happened?
2nd QotD: What movie or show has the words 'how are you?' spoken by a girl? #MaybeIJustReallyHaveBadLuckAtFindingSomethingForADWD
A/N: Review your answer to the QotD! First of all, I'm going to refer to 'A Dance With Danger' as ADWD from now on. So, this book only has 9 or 10 chapters left in it (which I don't think is enough as I haven't finish a lot of plot lines and everything), so 'A Dance With Magic' (ADWM) will soon be birthed into the world.
Yeah, like, right after I get a good cover for it.
And finish 'Sweet Embrace.'
And finish the ADWD series that will be posted on YT in the summer (if I'm lucky), judging by how much time I need to use to work on it.
Seriously. One. Freaking. Episode. Is not even done yet. *sigh*
Also, please send Izi Wilson warm wishes as her book series 'The Golden Quartet' was banned from this site. I don't see how. It doesn't make sense. She added song lyrics to 2 of the 4 (yes, four, let that sink in) books, but she credited them, so... yeah. I don't really understand it. So please give my friend Izi some love! I don't own Raiden, Persephone, and Caesar Dell'oceano. They belong to Izi, so check her out! She's been so supportive throughout this series (actually, she's been supportive on everything I've done since I've joined and got to talking to her), so thank you so much.
Also, while I'm giving out thanks and internet hugs, let's also say a warm thank you to Catm222 for her lovely reviews! Please check out her infamous stories! #Auslly
And yeah. I know that I made this chapter extremely short with extremely long A/N's. But I just had so much to talk about. Whoops.
Well, thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated (criticism and praise) though not necessary. But what writer doesn't like reviews? ;)
~Darkwind