Chapter Sixteen

Inevitable

"Melody!" Ariel cried out, seeing her daughter swimming back towards the kingdom. What on earth would possess her to leave halfway through the battle? As she was distracted, she almost did not see Triton's spear being swung in her direction, and she quickly moved out of the way just as the spear skimmed right in front of her face. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up straight as she realised that she had narrowly avoided being decapitated. Her focus was pulled back into the heat of the battle as her father, who was still unaware of his actions, continued to aggressively engage her in combat.

Racing past the borders of Atlantica, Melody stopped as she came across two motionless bodies lying in the sand with red mists oozing from them. She turned one of them over. Atlantican guards. Major Kane must have attacked from above as he descended into the water and caught the sentries positioned on the upper levels of the palace off guard, killing them and tossing their lifeless bodies over the palace's walls onto the seabed below. Melody pursed her lips tightly. Sadly, now was not the time to mourn. She got up from the seabed, and sped through the entrance of the palace. Kane was way more intelligent and strategic than she had given him credit for. She should have expected no less from a military commander that called himself "the Major". She had no idea what she was getting herself into, but she knew that she had to stop the Major from getting the trident at all costs.

She swam through the corridors of the palace, past the library and through the armoury to pick up a new spear, and finally arrived at the royal court where the trident was being guarded by Tracy. Bursting through the doors of the royal court, Melody collided with a blast of black magic from Major Kane which sent her spiralling out of control. She crashed into a pillar hard and fell to the seabed in a heap.

"You know, for what it's worth, I've underestimated you. And that's not a compliment I give to many." Kane adjusted the snake totem on his finger. "You figured it out way quicker than I expected."

Rubbing the back of her neck, Melody looked up. Major Kane was in the far end of the room with a couple of his mercenaries that all carried knives and taking the form of mermen. Not only did Jafar the Genie transform Kane into a merman, but he did the same for the mercenaries too. Tracy was hovering near the throne of Queen Ariel, in between the Major and the trident.

"Tracy!" Melody grunted as she pushed herself up from the ground. "Whatever you do, don't let him get to the trident!"

Tracy looked at Melody. "Why not?"

A chill went down Melody's spine. "Tracy," she began cautiously, swimming slowly towards Kane's forces and Tracy. "We've been over this. You know what's going to happen if he gets his hands on the trident."

"Remind me again," Tracy said in a mysterious tone.

"He'll destroy all the ice caps and flood the earth! We can't let him have that kind of power! With the ice melted, the earth will be flooded and people will die!"

"And?"

"And? All of Atlantica's worst criminals that were frozen alive over the years would escape too!"

"Would that be such a bad thing?"

Melody stopped in her tracks, realising that Tracy's mother was one of the criminals that would be freed. She had just gotten her name engraved even deeper in Tracy's bad books.

"Tracy…" Melody began again warily. "We can sort this out later. But please," she approached the gap between Tracy and Major Kane. "Don't let him win."

Major Kane remained silent, watching Melody and Tracy in amusement. He subtly signalled for his mercenaries to let the two girls continue uninterrupted.

"And why would you trust me to do the right thing now?" Tracy looked at Melody, her face deliberately twisted in false confusion. "I thought I was a sea witch and couldn't be trusted."

"Please," Melody pleaded. "Don't do this."

"No, wait. Hang on, there's more!" There was a hint of danger in her voice, as if to tell Melody not to make another move forward. "I'm a sea witch that wields black magic." Tracy looked over at Major Kane. "And it was he who showed me the truth about who I really was back in Agrabah."

The corners of Kane's mouth turned upwards slightly into a small smirk. This was working out even better than he had planned.

"Please." Melody made a desperate attempt to reach out to Tracy, but was smacked back spitefully with a blue tentacle.

"No, Princess," Tracy said coldly. "You were wrong about me. I can't change who I am," Tracy looked at Major Kane again. "I might've left the Dark Zone but the darkness will always be a part of me. No use denying that."

Melody looked on in dismay as Tracy moved away from the throne, leaving Melody standing between the trident and the Major. She turned back to the Major, with her spear raised, ready for a fight.

"Then I guess it's just you and me." Melody narrowed her eyes, staring down the Major boldly. A purple mist engulfed her wrist, causing her to drop the spear in shock. A tentacle reached out and swept the spear across the ground, far out of Melody's reach.

"You misunderstood, Princess." Tracy said blackly, withdrawing the purple mist back into her hand. "I'm not just standing aside. I'm embracing who I truly am."

Melody looked at Tracy in shock and back at Major Kane, who smirked back.

Clenching his fist, a red aura surrounded Melody, trapping her in his black magic. She struggled to break free, while Kane lifted up his clenched fist. Melody was lifted up, unable to control her own movements. Kane had gotten stronger since the last time they had fought back in the Agrabah marketplace! Swinging his arm to the side with authority, Melody was thrown against Triton's throne, and she collided with it, hitting the ground in a daze.

"Tracy," she coughed as she struggled to get up, her body aching from the impact. "Please. You have to stop him."

"The Princess of Atlantica watching her own kingdom crumble. Hah! How ironic." Tracy gloated spitefully.

"Princess of Atlantica?" Kane remarked, puzzled. It took him a few seconds, but he put two and two together. "So, not just a Princess of the land, but of the sea too?" Kane smiled sinisterly at the newfound revelation, clenching his fist again, and the totem on his finger glowed ominously.

The red aura surrounding Melody grew smaller, tightening its grip on her. As she tried to break free, she was pulled towards the Major. Abruptly, her body stopped struggling and straightened out, much to her horror. It was as if Kane was manipulating her every movement! "Stop!" Melody shouted, as she felt herself lose control of her actions.

Kane opened his fist, moving his hand in the direction of the throne, where the trident stood beside it, and Melody found herself being forced in that direction. "From what I heard," Kane said as he forced Melody closer to the trident. "Only Poseidon, Triton or one of the descendants from their bloodline can remove the trident from its stand."

Melody tried her hardest to move but found that she couldn't. There was absolutely no way out for her.

"I figured that at some point during the war, I would have to pull Triton from the battlefield to get him to remove the trident for me." Kane continued. "It would mean drawing suspicion and attention to my real mission here," he pointed to his surroundings. "In the palace." He moved closer to Melody. "But then," he ran his hand through her hair gently, and she tried to flinch, but failed to break free of his control. "You, the descendant of Triton? It's all too good to be true. You came to the palace alone and solved my little predicament for me."

Melody glared at Major Kane. She knew what he was about to do. It had happened once before, with a different enemy and under different circumstances, but it was essentially happening all over again. It was a déjà vu nightmare for her.

Tracy smirked and folded her arms as she watched the look of dismay on Melody's face as she found herself helpless against the Major's black magic.

Melody felt her arm stiffen, and suddenly her hand shot out, reaching for the trident that stood beside the throne. With every ounce of strength in her body, she tried to resist the Major's control, but to no avail. Her hand latched onto the trident and her fingers closed around the handle of the trident. "No!" Melody cried out, as the trident was lifted out of its stand. Still desperately trying to fight back against the black magic that was controlling her, Melody was yanked towards Major Kane, the trident tightly gripped in her hand.

Kane loosened his clenched left fist, and Melody released her grip on the trident. He took the trident in his right hand, and it glowed golden. "Finally." The Major gloated, gazing in satisfaction at the glowing trident in his right hand. Kane could feel power like he had never felt before, coursing through his veins. Now, he had control over not just one, but two mystical relics. With the snake totem and the trident, he was another step closer to completing his quest.

"Give that back!" Melody lunged towards Kane, who had unconsciously released his control over Melody after acquiring the trident. She collided into the Major, causing him to drop the trident. It landed on the seabed, near Tracy.

"Bring it to me," Kane called out to Tracy, as he wrestled to stop Melody from attacking him. "And I'll give you a glimpse of what real power is in store for you."

"Tracy!" Melody shouted, as Kane tossed her violently to the seabed. "Don't do it!"

"Do what?" Tracy picked up the trident with a tentacle, and looked at Melody curiously. "This?" she tossed the trident to Major Kane, who caught it with his right hand.

"No!" Melody cried, getting up from the seabed.

Major Kane looked at Tracy in approval, and aimed his left hand at her. Tracy braced herself for the surge of black magic that was about to hit her.

"Stop!" Melody propelled herself off the seabed towards Major Kane. She barrelled into Kane again with all her might, in a desperate attempt to interfere with his aim, but it was too late.

A blast of dark red energy erupted from the snake totem on the Major's ring finger, and it engulfed Tracy. She basked in its power, much like she did back in the Agrabah marketplace, but this time, she controlled the energy, absorbing it into her being. "Ah…" she exhaled, looking at her hands which glowed with dark red energy. She did not even need the snake totem like Kane did, as she was already a sea witch with the potential of harnessing black magic naturally. The purple mist that she had once known was gone, being taken over by the dark red aura that gave her so much more control and strength than she had ever known before. This…this was true power. "You see this?" Tracy gloated ominously, floating towards Melody, who had been subdued by the Major. "This…is who I really am. A sea witch."

"No!" Melody shouted in desperation. "No, you're not!"

"Here, lemme show you." Tracy pointed both her palms at Melody, and dark red energy erupted from her hands, hitting Melody like a killer whale, and she dropped to the ground, knocked out cold from the impact. "How was that?" Tracy beamed wickedly.

"You have true potential," Major Kane smirked. "Come, we must go before the Atlanticans figure out the truth." He signalled to his mercenaries who were watching the entire debacle unfold that it was time to head back to the surface. Turning back to look at Tracy, he smiled. "Coming?"

"Yeah, of course." Tracy replied. She felt like she had finally found her place.

Swimming alongside the rest of the mercenaries, Tracy burst out of the back of the palace and headed back to the surface, with Major Kane leading the way. She glanced back down at the battlefield where the Atlanticans were fighting the brainwashed mermen.

"What's gonna happen to them?" she called out to Kane, who turned around.

"I have no more need of them." He replied, loosening and relaxing his left hand, and the snake totem glowed red.

Meanwhile, back on the battlefield below the escaping villains, the mermen who had been brainwashed suddenly froze, much to the surprise of the Atlanticans. They dropped their weapons, starting to regain their minds, their eyes no longer glazed over.

Triton, who had been about to clobber his own daughter, abruptly snapped out of his trance and blinked his eyes. "Ariel?" he was confused as to how he had wounded back in Atlantica and in the middle of a war, with his daughter in the middle of it all.

"Daddy! You're back!" Ariel got up from the seabed where her father had knocked her down and hugged him tightly. "Are you alright?" she asked him anxiously.

"Am I alright?" Triton exclaimed. "Are you?" he looked around at the battlefield, where hundreds of mermen looked as bewildered as he did. "What happened here?"

"Long story." Ariel released her grip on her father, relieved to have him back to his usual self.

Far above the messy battlefield of disoriented merfolk, Kane smirked. His work in Atlantica was done. "We have what we came for. Let's go." The Major, clutching the trident in his hand, continued to swim towards the surface, his mercenaries and Tracy in tow. Breaking through the surface, Kane sprung above the water, only to be met by a strong blast of ice. The ice quickly encased the Major, trapping him within, and he dropped back into the ocean with a loud splash, being pulled down by the weight of the icicle that he was imprisoned in.

Elsa withdrew her hands and exhaled sharply. She couldn't believe that had worked. After Santos had contacted her and warned her about the Major's next move, she, Moana and Maui had ambushed the Major's ship, using the cold fog as cover. Conveniently, the rest of the mercenaries who did not go with the Major were down in the ship's lower decks, and Elsa had used her powers to form a huge layer of ice, blocking off the stairwell and trapping the mercenaries below the deck. They had waited for the Major since then, ready to ambush him when he resurfaced.

"More incoming!" Moana shouted, positioning herself and armed with her spear as Kane's mercenaries quickly emerged from below the waters and transformed back into their human forms. They climbed onto the deck, and advanced towards the warriors.

Santos, who stood behind the rest of the mercenaries looked at Elsa and gave her a slight nod, as if to tell her that they would have to fight in order to maintain his cover.

Just as the warriors were about to collide with the mercenaries, a long blue tentacle slapped onto the deck in between both sides. "Hold it!" Tracy called out, pulling herself up to the deck from the ocean. "Don't wanna miss out on the fun."

"Tracy!" Elsa heaved a sigh of relief. "You're just in time." She realized that Melody had not reemerged together with the octopid. "Wait, where's Melody?"

"Mmmn…you don't get it," Tracy said in a dangerous tone as she morphed back into her human form. "While me and the princess were down in the ocean, I kinda had a change of heart."

"Wait, what does that mean?" Maui asked.

"That means she betrayed us." Moana pursed her lips and gritted her teeth. "I knew it was going to happen sooner or later."

"Well, better now than later," Tracy smirked. "This is who I really am, after all, aren't I?" She swiped a tentacle at Moana, who blocked it with the side of her spear. "A sea witch, just like you said I was." She lunged towards Moana, and tackled her to the ground. "Just took a little longer for me to embrace it."

Maui, dismayed at Tracy's betrayal, turned his focus to a couple of mercenaries who were advancing towards him. He shape-shifted into a brown bull with long horns and bulldozed a few of the mercenaries. Shapeshifting back into his normal form, the demigod swung his fish hook at the remaining mercenaries who were still standing in his path.

Santos, who had deliberately avoided conflict, looked at Elsa, who returned his glance. She gave a small nod in acknowledgement, and he rushed towards her.

For a moment, Elsa froze, and she couldn't decide whether Santos' attack was real or false. She panicked, but at the last moment, she noticed that Santos had intentionally slowed down, leaving himself open to attack. She swung at him, realizing in that moment that she did not know the first thing about hand to hand combat.

Santos caught her arm, and leaned in closer to her. "We're faking this, right?"

"Yeah?" Elsa replied, half uncertain about it. "I think so."

Leaving himself open to attack, Santos subtly motioned for Elsa to hit him. She hesitated, before landing a right cross on his cheek, but made sure she didn't hit him too hard. He dropped to the ground, instantly taking himself out of the fight.

Suddenly, a glowing golden light appeared from below the depths of the ocean, and a few seconds later, Major Kane burst through the surface of the water, transforming back into a human while catapulting through the air. Clutching the trident in his right hand, he landed on the deck on his two feet, and looked at Elsa. "That was unexpected." He narrowed his eyes at her dangerously. "I haven't seen you before," he sized his new enemy up and down. "You must be new."

Trying her best to conceal her fear, Elsa stared back at the Major with her icy blue eyes. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to avoid fighting Kane, but she just hoped that she had enough control over her powers to help her survive the inevitable conflict with Major Kane. This was what she was most afraid of, and her worst fear had just come true.

Writer's Commentary:

Tracy's betrayal…oh that was a juicy bit. I mean, we all saw it coming a mile away. I planted little seeds of mistrust here and there, and in this chapter, Tracy finally succumbed to her baser instincts, joining Major Kane. I wanted to expand on the process of Tracy's betrayal, by having that long conversation between her and Melody, with the latter realising that her friend is slipping away.

Tracy embraces her inner blackness and craving to be a true sea witch with black magic. Although we might find that hard to relate to as normal human beings, maybe we can at least agree that we all want to find our own place and belong somewhere where we are trusted and accepted for who we are, and that's exactly what Tracy wants. She didn't get that with the warriors, so she's hoping that she can get that with Kane.

And then, up at the surface, the warriors ambush Kane and his men, and everything will culminate in a massive showdown in the next chapter. Can't wait to write that!