A/N: Screw it. The chapters are written and I have zip, zero, and nada self control. Enjoy…

RAGNAROK IS COMING

— Princess Hild —

"Swim!" Tannis roared, his heart pounding so fast there was nothing else he could think of other than the teeth- each one longer than their own bodies- snapping for Liogoo's tail.

Tannis pushed through the water and with every last ounce of strength he had, he burst through the glass window of that sunken ship. The shards caught his skin and he yelped but had not a second before the serpent was coming for him now, the smell of blood like a dinner bell.

The ship was a relic of the deep, 'Drepa' they called her: The slayed. A relic of the day the Queen of the Deep won a war against the Elves above and sank their mothership and their queen with it. The day after the battle, Sirens had torn everything in the ship apart, stealing their every glittery item and snatching the bodies that drowned so they could bring it back to the queen and earn their way into her favour. It was nothing but a sideways skeleton now, seaweed pulling it further into the sand with every cycle of the tides.

Every Siren had been to see Drepa, parents taking their children to tell them the story of those that gave their lives to win victory in that battle. Tannis and Liogoo had never had a chance to see, they'd been warned to stay away when the snake had come up from the depths to claim the path from the depth to the surface as his territory. The queen was going to skin them alive for this- if they survived.

"Oh shit." Tannis breathed, as that snake's head came swimming straight for him. "Shit, shit, shit!" He turned and ducked to the bottom of the ship's deck, sliding through the rotted floorboards and cringing when they snapped apart. Seaweed seemed to wrap around him, sheltering their child from the monster coming to eat him alive.

As if some God had taken pity on him, Tannis spotted an Elven curved sword a second before the snake burst through the wooden ship like an explosion. Without thinking, Tannis grasped the hilt of that sword and tried his best to hold it in front of him but he had never even touched such a weapon, never mind wielding it.

Treading in the seaweed, Tannis held his breath, waiting for a serpent head to burst from them. When nothing happened, Tannis dared peek above the seaweed and found nothing there either.

"Tannis!" He heard Liogoo call.

Heart skipping, Tannis sped through the water and ship until he found Liogoo in the clear, empty ocean. Unmarked and alive, he finally chuckled because floating to the deep was the head of the snake; dead.

Tannis looked up to Liogoo. "How did you-"

"I expected better of you child." dread curled deep in his stomach as Liogoo's face dropped into fear.

The Queen of the Deep raised her groomed brows at Tannis, her tail flicking in anger. "Liogoo, go to your sisters and let them know you still live. Then return to my chambers."

Tannis knew what that meant and held his hand out. "Please your majesty, this was my fault. I wanted to see what the ship was like."

Queen Lael tilted her head in amusement.

"How valiant of you Tannis, but I have spies across my kingdom that tell me of your warning to my daughter and yet she carried on." Queen Lael gave Liogoo a look. "Putting your friend and yourself in danger without a care, how unsurprising of you."

The queen turned to her guards. "Take Princess Hild to the palace and ensure she does as I asked."

Head ducked, Liogoo passed Tannis without a word and swam between the guard, accepting her fate.

"I do like relics." The queen hummed, glancing down to the deep. "Fetch me a tooth of that serpent and I shall call your treason pardoned."

"Mother! He is barely old enough to go that deep- you don't even let Jyno go near the Dark Tides." Liogoo exclaimed but was hushed as the guards shoved her away, screaming and cursing.

The queen only raised a brow and Tannis took a breath.

…oOo…

Tannis felt something heavy on his forehead and reached to take it off.

"No, you have to keep it on. The healers said." Liogoo spoke from beside him but he could barely open an eye with the pain in every inch of him. It felt like he was in a fist and someone was clenching it and unclenching, throwing him in a loop of pain.

"Mother should never have made you do that." She was angry so Tannis lifted a hand and found her cheek.

"It's fine."

"It's not fine." Liogoo hissed, pressing against Tannis' touch. "You could have died."

Tannis chuckled. "But I got it, didn't I."

He felt rather than saw Liogoo's smile. Proud. She was proud of him and he could hear it in her voice.

"Damn right you did."