TheAtlantisGirl - Ok, hopefully this one will better, I will put some space in.
"This has to stop."
Orm clenches his hands in a vice like grip. There a hundred thoughts, a hundred problems going through his head. That Atlantis has stood for this long and now it needs . . . not him. It needs someone stronger. Someone who could defeat any enemy. Not the massacre that goes on day by day.
"Mera, please . . ."
"It's been a week Orm." All of a sudden, Mera is at his feet, her long fingers stroking his trembling hands.
"I know how long it's been." It feels wrong. Treacherous now he thinks of it. Because all the time he's looking into her eyes, he can't help but wish she was . . . someone else. "I know." He Snatches his hands from hers.
"Orm if we're going to be married . . ."
"We're not."
The silence is heavier than the weight of the waves. She doesn't look even slightly bothered.
"I'll just pretend you didn't say that. I was going to say that we at the very least, would work a lot better as friends. Instead of this cold edge you always try to pull off. I can help you."
So many things to say . . . "We'll never be friends Mera. We're like fire and water. We'd just put each other out." He rises to his full, glorious height. "But I agree. This has gone on long enough. Tell me what you are thinking."
The princess shrugs. "There is a place, far beyond the ocean floor. A temple. Some call it a myth."
"How do you know about this? I've never heard of that . . ."
She touches her fingers to his mouth. "I have my sources. Anyway, the myth says that before Atlantis, a darker power ruled these oceans. They say all that exists in the sea belongs to It. To Him."
"Him?"
"Ramses."
"Meaning?"
"Shadow," she whispers. "All I have ever read of this is in a book that my father had destroyed when I was ten. It was my . . . my obsession. He said it was far too dangerous for a child to be reading but I read that when Ramses died, he left his powers in a stone and bound it with all the knowledge of his people in his most sacred temple. If we went there . . ."
"A week ago I would have said you were insane."
"And now?"
"Now I fear I would be insane if I left Atlantis to die this way, without even trying to save my mother's legacy."
The glass before them reveals the scene. It will soon be time to rejoin the battle. But this new enemy . . . he fights to draw back any tears as he watches how their dark shroud of filth approaches the city walls. When they reach it . . .
"Have the guards found any news about Aeryn?" Orm asks.
"Not so far as I know," Mera answers.
There's another thing he failed at. But since it hurts too much to think of what might have been, he decides not to think about it. She must have left. And her wounds were almost fixed. So she would be better off without him anyway. Especially since there is no guarantee he'll survive this suicide mission.
"Then we leave immediately."
It's been a week exactly. Since she braved the sea. And actually called a Trench . . . who would have thought it. It was easier than she dared dream to call one of the gangly remnants of the fallen Trench Kingdom. Almost like . . . almost like it was waiting.
Stumbling along the shore lines. Through grass lands. For two days. Until finally she came to a house of sorts. In farm land. Stayed there a day. Until the sickness began to get unbearable again. And they called a doctor out to see her after she specifically insisted on no hospitals (a lot of questions she doesn't want answered).
And now the man is sitting there on the bed, with a very solemn and contemplative look. One that she instantly doesn't like.
"Congratulations," he smiles.
Rolls her eyes. "On what?"
He smiles at Rebecca and Evelyn, the mother and daughter who took her in.
"It would seem your friend here is pregnant."
Cue the spat out tea, then the shock. The memory of the Captain's face floating above hers. Tears. Laughter. Rage. All form into one angry cry and then starts the projectile vomiting.