Chapter Two: Crowning at the Sea's Edge

May 21, 2013

Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from the Winx Club properties by writing this story. This story is written for pleasure's sake. All rights reserved.

Hey, thanks for the reviews, everyone!

By the way, I apologise in advance for any glaring inconsistencies with show's canon and grammatical mistakes I make.


"Son, I bequeath to you the title of Crown Prince of the Seas of Andros and name you my successor," King Neptune's voice boomed sonorously across the ocean waves and over the heads of the hundreds of lords, ladies and citizens that watched.

Almost the entire population of Andros's royal capital, and perhaps the kingdom as well, stood on the steep steps that led to the sea at the foot of the royal castle and on the surrounding parapets craning their heads for a view of the crowning at the sea's edge. Merpeople sat together on the ocean-washed stones that rose out of the water's low tide. Some surrounded the ocean pedestal that had been erected to offer a better view of the ceremonies. The pedestal was a three-tiered fountain structure where each tier was a deep circular pool that spilled water into the level below. The lower two tiers of the dais held high-ranking dignitaries and other important people from both realms above and below the water's surface. Those from the land sat on the edges while the lords and ladies of the ocean sat in the shallow waters of the pools.

In the top tier of the pool stood King Neptune and Queen Ligea. Princess Tressa stood behind them, watching and trying not to be overwhelmed by the immensity of the occasion.

For the first time in a long time, Tressa had forgone her traditional armour and shark tooth necklace and allowed herself to be dressed in the fineries of the ocean like a proper mermaid of Andros. An ornate circlet of pink pearls and sapphires was laced into her arranged crimson hair, falling over her shoulders. Her dress was a creamy jade stitched with glass beads. She looked delectably cute and even demure, not aggressive and voracious as a shark as she usually was, except that she held a golden trident in her hand. The trident was several heads taller than her and it gleamed in the sunlight. She held it tightly with its butt planted into the bottom of the pool. She could not hide the fact that she had lost a brother while another was promoted to Crown Prince. Even from afar, citizens could see the darkness in her golden eyes.

Prince Nereus knelt before his father. His salmon pink hair was braided with jade beads, denoting his warrior-hunter status, and he wore a myriad of shark teeth necklaces. His scales were darker than usual, showing on his chest, his arms and his face. His spear was placed in the water beside him. Nereus proved to be an intimidating figure, even when he knelt, but his face showed the crippling trepidation that clawed at his soul. He was not the warrior that everyone thought him to be.

This isn't right, Nereus thought.

This is wrong, Tressa thought.

"It is an honour that you would name me your Crown Prince, my king," Nereus pronounced.

Neptune unsheathed his sword and held it up in the light. Gently, he brought it down and tapped Nereus's shoulders with the broadside. Nereus felt the sword's ancient magic warm his skin and he shivered. He wanted none of its power imbuing him, not any more. It had been crafted by the smiths of the first King of the Sea and touched with the most potent of magics. This sword, and the throne that came with it, had destroyed his family in one stroke. For all its power, it could not undo the damage it had done.

What a useless sword.

Nereus felt the weight of a crown be placed on his head as he felt his mother, Queen Ligea, brush his hair gently. If she felt any sadness about losing her son, she did not show it.

Nereus stood up with his spear in hand and looked at his father's scarred face. "I promise to defend the Seas of Andros and to work hand-in-hand with the world above ours. I will be merciful and compassionate. I shall know kindness and generosity, justice and pity. All lives are equal before my eyes. I rise now before you as Crown Prince Nereus of the Seas of Andros."

Nereus bowed deeply as he was cushioned by a thunder of applause from both the ocean and the land. The mermaids began to sing their songs of joy and celebration and the waters turned into a sea of colourful merpeople splashing water with their tails at him. Humans tossed seeds and flowers into the ocean as offerings to the newly crowned prince.

Nereus turned to the masses and eyed them wearily. They knew nothing of his and Tressa's pain and never would. He turned to King Teredor and Queen Niobe, rulers of the surface dwellers. They watched the procession sombrely. Their daughter Aisha sat surrounded by her five friends Bloom, Stella, Flora, Musa and Tecna. These six fairies had saved Andros, the ancient realm of the Infinite Ocean and his family. Above all, Aisha had fought the hardest. Not only did she go to war with her own blood from the ocean, she had to put aside her sadness about the lost of her fiancé Prince Nabu. It was not that long ago that Andros had lost a great prince, an excellent wizard and most importantly, a good man. In some ways, Nereus knew that the people would never recover, but Aisha had. Aisha had risen over her hardship and moved on, he could see. She was even smiling, and he was glad for it.

The people cried for a word from the prince. Nereus waited for the applause to die before speaking.

"Today is a sad day," he began. Nereus knew his father and mother were glaring daggers at his finned back as he ignored the speech he promised to tell. "Today, we acknowledge the fact that Princess Tressa and I have no brother. Prince Tritannus has been convicted of high treason and has been punished appropriately. Today, I watched my own twin brother enter a door that I know he will not come back from. Today, I lost both the brother and best friend that I have known since I took my first breath, and Tressa has lost her best hunting teacher. We were as close as two brothers could ever be. As we grew, we knew that our paths would diverge, and they did. We both knew that one of us had to become the Crown Prince. Even with magic, I cannot undo the dark thing that my brother had become and made us enemies. As they say about time, it is like a river and it flows in only one direction—forward. We can only learn from this tragedy. I cannot say, 'Harbour no hated nor envy.' It's impossible. We are only mortal. It's normal to be jealous from time to time. Instead, I say, 'Love your sibling, and love him well,' because inevitably, no matter how close we are, we all have different paths to take."

Nereus turned when he heard a clang. He saw that his sister had dropped the trident she had been holding. She was huddled in the shallow pool crying. Her mermaid handmaids rushed to bid her to stand up. Ligea averted her eyes in sadness.

The prince bade the people for a minute of silence for the fallen prince Tritannus. Nereus watched the people. He could see unmatched hatred in their eyes for what his brother had done. Others had some sombre faces and some of them had the mercy and compassion to pray for Tritannus's soul. Nereus whispered a prayer of his own and waited for his sister to recompose herself before continuing.

"Now, I have someone that everyone must meet. She's not the person I want to marry, I assure you," Nereus said lightly. He plastered on a fake smile to change the dark atmosphere he had created. The people roared in laughter as mermaids began to whistle their love songs futilely. "But she is nonetheless an important person to whom we the people of Andros must show our gratitude. She is invariably the woman who saved me, my family, both the worlds above and below the surface and all the waters of the universes. If you'll permit me, my king." He turned to his father.

King Neptune nodded and both he and Queen Ligea retreated. Nereus knew that they would speak to him later about that sad speech, but it had been cathartic for him. He felt that his shoulders had lightened.

"People of the land, people of the sea, and all visitors to the world of Andros, I bid you to welcome, Her Grace, Lady Dafne of Ruling House Draco, Princess of Domino, Guardian of Lake Roccaluce and Ethemera, Supreme Nymph of Magix and Keeper of the Dragon Flame."

His announcement was met with tense clapping and whispers. He saw people begin to converse in confusion and Nereus went on to clarify everything. He supposed that they had expected him to announce Bloom or Aisha, not someone who was supposedly dead. He could see Oritel planning to pick up his sword and ask him strenuously about the insult he was bringing to their family.

"In the years during the war against the Ancestral Witches, Princess Dafne had secreted away her younger sister Princess Bloom to Earth. After that, Princess Dafne was presumed dead defending the bloodline of her house. In truth, the Ancestral Witches had laid a horrible curse on her and the powers of Sirenix. They had destroyed her mortal body and turned her into a spirit where she wondered the bottom of Roccaluce Lake in Magix for twenty years. When Tritannus began to lust for power, Princess Dafne set her younger sister on the quest for Sirenix to stop him from gaining the power of the Infinite Ocean. Princess Bloom had persevered through all the trials put before her by Dafne and helped me to bring Tritannus to justice. In doing so, she broke her sister's curse. Thus, I bid you to welcome Lady Dafne back to the world of the living."

Nereus gestured to the empty spot of water between the ocean pedestal and the steps to the royal castle of Andros. The flowers that the people had thrown into the water began to dance on the surface. The water began to illuminate with an orange and yellow flow as it took on a life of its own. It rushed and swirled and moved unnaturally. The air thickened with magic as the water began to rise out of the sea and form flesh and blood. The seawater molded into a tall glowing and dancing figure.

She wore a long bellowing gown of gold with her arms wrapped with silky scarves and bronze bangles. She floated on the surface of the water like a water lily. Her feathered headdress resembled a phoenix rising. The nymph's body danced on the surface, like an ethereal ghost, before coming to a stop.

Nereus felt the power that the nymph held. It was ancient and powerful and vast as the ocean he lived in.

The nymph faced the crowds of people, curtseying to everyone. Finally, she faced the bubbling pedestal. All the lords and ladies rose to get a better view of the dead princess.

Bloom held Stella and Flora's hands tightly as she tried to hold back her tears. Having someone else knowledge Dafne's existence made it feel like that her older sister was less of a ghost that only she could talk to and more like a human being.

She heard her birth mother Marion gasp audibly while her birth father Oritel rose to rush in and see for himself.

The nymph nervously brought her hands to her mask. She relished the feel of the water beneath her feet, the ocean spray on her skin and coolness of the wind between her fingers. The breeze made her dress flutter and could feel the fabric be pulled by the wind. Dafne removed the mask from her face and let the sunshine warm her face.

She looked to the faces on the pedestal and began to weep.

Marion and Oritel leapt off the edges of the pools and unto the shallow bridges beneath the water's surface. Marion looked to the golden nymph with wide unbelieving eyes and reached to touch her. She touched her gently, afraid that the girl was an apparition. When Dafne did not disappear, Marion screamed and brought the girl into her arms crying. Marion touched her face, her hair, her skin to see that she was real—and indeed, she was real as flesh and blood.

Nereus watched Bloom and her adopted parents Mike and Vanessa join Oritel, Marion and Dafne. They shared one large group hug surrounding Dafne. It was a beautiful sight to behold. No words could describe the joy of a family made whole after the end of a war.

However, one family had been broken so that another one could be fixed. It was indescribably and utterly unfair, and Nereus could not help but let righteous rage and envy blaze in his breast. Perhaps this was what Tritannus had felt, Nereus thought darkly.


Note: Oh...well...I just created another monster. Hopefully, he will not turn out to be like his brother Prince Tritannus.

In the next chapter, The Sisters, Dafne shows her 'true colours' as a daughter, sister, princess and nymph and reveals how she struggled to make the right choice to Bloom, but Bloom only wants her to bury the past. Is forgetting the past really the answer? Maybe Dafne is not the good sister that Bloom thinks she is.