Chapter 4: Dreams Shattered, Pasts Disclosed

It had taken a while for Ryou, Bakura and Joey to locate the dreamy mer-prince, but they finally found Atemu daydreaming on the rock on the beach he'd placed Yugi on, picking the petals off of a sea flower and muttering "He loves me…he loves me not," under his breath. It also took a while for them to convince Atemu to come back to his grotto to see the surprise the three had prepared for him; the prince at last agreed to go with them, as soon as he was finished plucking the petals off the flower and confirming Yugi did in fact love him.

"C'mon, you guys…really!" Atemu moaned impatiently as Ryou pulled him along. "Why don't you just tell me what's going on? It can't be important enough for you to have interrupted me!"

"Oh yeah, it couldn't possibly," Bakura said sarcastically. "Nothing's more important than sitting on a rock and plucking petals off of a flower."

Atemu flushed. Ryou reached over to smack Bakura on the head in response.

"Shut up," the long-haired albino reproached. "You used to daydream all the time too, Bakura; don't go beating up on Atemu."

Bakura pouted. "That's different! I was daydreaming about you, Aibou…" his mouth went up in a mischievous smirk, "…and all the wonderful things we could do in bed."

Ryou shot Bakura a warning look, his cheeks quite pink.

"C'mon Bakura, talk like that later," Joey laughed, "like when you two are back home and away from us. We don't need you two making out on top of Atemu's present."

"Ah, that sounds delightful," Bakura chuckled darkly, making Ryou go even redder and whack him on the head yet again.

Joey covered Atemu's eyes as Ryou and Bakura led him into the grotto, and finally when Joey uncovered the mer-prince's eyes, he was shocked and delighted to see a very familiar marble statue of a young man with spiky hair, a determined smirk and a board device on his arm used to play Duel Monsters.

It was the statue Yugi had received on the ship as a birthday present from his kingdom.

Atemu immediately squealed in delight and glomped each of his friends tightly. "Ryou…Joey, Bakura…you three are the best! Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!"

"I'd say he likes it," Bakura joked toward Joey and Ryou as their tricolor-haired friend swam around the Yugi figure excitedly.

"It looks just like him!" Atemu exclaimed to no one but himself, looking into the statue's confident face. "It even has his eyes…" he chuckled and play-acted dreamily, "Why, Yugi…run away with you?" he laughed again and put on a seductive tone as he caressed the marble face, "I never knew you could be so…persuasive, little one…"

The other three smiled vaguely at seeing Atemu so happy; it was only when Joey noticed someone by the door of the grotto that the prince's daydream was interrupted.

"Hey Seto," greeted the blond merman, acting a little friendlier with the High Priest than usual. Seto sure noticed it, too.

Unfortunately, when the person that had been hiding in the shadows behind Seto came into the light, everyone in the grotto stopped dead.

"F-Father," Atemu stammered in absolute terror, frozen by the statue of Yugi like a startled cat.

King Aknamkanon was not happy. The green magic staff he held in his hand was glowing to highlight his anger and his face had no sign of the normal pity or compassion Atemu was used to seeing on his face. Of course, all such expressions were absent when the king was angry. Now that the four were focusing on something other than Atemu's daydreaming, they realized the tense movement of the ocean around them and heard the thunder echoing in the sky above.

"Atemu," Aknamkanon stated very coldly as his eyes surveyed the grotto, "what is all this?"

"I-it's just…my…collection," said Atemu, trying to steady his voice but not quite succeeding.

"I see," Aknamkanon replied coldly as he swam closer to his son, making Bakura swim in front of Ryou protectively. "And is the human you saved from drowning down here as well?"

Joey's eyes shot to Seto; his expression was so unreadable, he looked almost dead.

"You…you didn't! You…"

The blond's voice was filled in pure disbelief. When Seto didn't answer, his eyes narrowed.

"How…how could you! You…YOU LYING BASTARD!" Joey shouted, his fists clenched as if it were only Akanamkanon's presense that was keeping him from jumping on Seto and hitting every bit of him he could grab.

Atemu didn't answer his father's rhetorical question, instead saying, "What else could I have done, Father? He would've died!"

"One less human to worry about!" snapped Aknamkanon. "They're all the same…spineless, cruel, disgusting fish-eaters, incapable of any feeling-"

Those words were enough to make Atemu forget everything about his father: his power, his authority, his age…everything that gave Akanamkanon more influence than him.

"DON'T YOU EVER TALK ABOUT YUGI LIKE THAT!" Atemu roared, all sense and dignity forgotten. "HE'S KIND AND BRAVE AND INNOCENT AND PURE! HE'S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PERSON I'VE EVER MET…HE'S MY AIBOU!"

Everyone but Atemu stiffened in alarm at those words; Seto's eyes widened. Naming someone as an Aibou was no trivial action…once someone decided an Aibou, they would have to be faithful to their decided "partner," or die.

"Have you lost your senses completely?" Aknamkanon whispered at last in a very dangerous tone. "He's a human; you're a merman!"

"I don't care," Atemu snarled fiercely. "I love him!"

"You don't even know what love is, Atemu!" disputed Aknamkanon, his temper rising. "You only desire what you can't have, as all teenagers do!"

"Oh?" Atemu growled, his red eyes narrowing. "And I suppose you were just desiring Mother, because you couldn't have possibly been in love in her!"

Aknamkanon snapped at the mention of his deceased wife. "So help me, Atemu…I'm going to get through to you…and if this is the only way…" he pointed his staff at one of the shelves of the grotto as it glowed with magic, "…so be it."

Light shot out of his staff, blasting at the games on shelves like green and purple lightning. Atemu cried out for his father to stop as each of his treasures were obliterated before his eyes. Ryou buried his face into Bakura's chest to look away from the fury of the sea king, and Bakura buried his face into his lover's hair, trying to block out the destructive light and the prince's screams. Joey looked like a dog in pain as he watched Atemu plead with Aknamkanon; the light reflected in Seto's wide blue eyes as the High Priest watched on in horror. Atemu at last swam in front of his father, trying to pull his magic staff out of his hands in an attempt to end the devastation, before realizing he'd left the marble sculpture of Yugi unprotected.

"FATHER, NO!"

His cry was in vain, for Aknamkanon pointed his staff at the statue and a final blast of light hit it, blowing it into a thousand pieces with a thunder-like crash.

Atemu stared brokenly at the destroyed statue of his beloved, before falling to the ocean floor where the remains lay and beginning to sob.

"Aibou…" he moaned. "Aibou…"

Aknamkanon stared at his son for a moment, as if realizing what he'd done, before regretfully shoving the guilt aside and leaving the grotto. Seto, moving for the first time in minutes, hesitantly swam toward his crying cousin.

"Atemu…"

"Get out," Atemu hissed dangerously at the sound of his voice.

"Atemu-"

"GET OUT!" Atemu shouted, looking fiercely up at his cousin to reveal the steady lines of tears running down his face.

Seto, like Aknamkanon, studied Atemu for a moment, before quietly turning away and swimming out of the grotto without another word. Joey immediately swam after him, despite Ryou and Bakura's attempt to pull him back.

"Rich boy!"

Seto turned to look at Joey just in time for…

SMACK!

Joey had punched him right in the face with all of his strength, making him fall back, gripping his cheek.

"Joey!" Ryou cried, as Bakura and he grabbed Joey's arms and held him back so he couldn't hit Seto again. The long-haired albino looked worried; the short-haired albino looked just as murderous as Joey, but nevertheless restrained the blond so he couldn't hurt Seto further.

"You filthy son of a bitch!" Joey shouted, struggling to pull out of his friends' grasp. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone! You promised!"

"I promised I wouldn't tell if Atemu wasn't having contact with humans," Seto murmured in a very dead tone, still holding his cheek and looking down so his eyes were in shadow.

Joey's eyes filled with fire and his fight to escape from Bakura and Ryou's restraint increased. "Atemu loves that human! You couldn't have been stupid enough not to see it!"

"Stop it," Seto whispered.

But Joey didn't listen. "No amount of duty gives you the right to rip someone away from the one he loves!"

"Stop it," Seto repeated, his voice becoming firmer and angrier.

"No, I won't stop!" Joey retorted. "Just because you're heartless doesn't give you the right to stop others from feeling compassion and love! Just because you're unable to love doesn't mean you can stop others from loving!"

"STOP MAKING ME FEEL!" Seto roared, grabbing Joey's shoulders and pulling him out of Ryou and Bakura's arms. His eyes were filled with tears and flaring blue passion, and although his voice was filled with anger, there was another emotion there as well that Joey at first did not recognize as grief.

Seto bowed his head so that his eyes were in darkness once more as he gained control of himself.

"I didn't tell Aknamkanon because of duty…I just…didn't want it to happen again…"

Joey stared, his anger at Seto slowly dissipating. He'd never seen the blue-tailed merman crying before. "Again…?"

Seto let go of the blond's shoulders and turned away.

"When we were little…before I started my training as a High Priest…my younger brother Mokuba was fascinated by humans…"

"Mokuba…" Ryou recurred, sounding pensive. "That little black-haired merboy that used to cheer you on whenever you had races with Atemu?"

"Yeah," assented the brown-haired High Priest quietly. "He…used to disappear to the surface a lot…eventually I caught him at it, and saw him talking to a human girl on the shore. I confronted him and he pleaded for me not to tell our father…he told me that he'd been meeting her for quite some time…that they'd become very good friends. I couldn't say no to my little brother…so I promised I wouldn't tell. Mokuba made a few more visits…my father got suspicious as to what was going on…but I had promised not to tell, so I kept my mouth shut. But…but then…" his voice cracked, "…one day when Mokuba went to visit the girl…he found himself faced instead with the girl's scientist uncle…who had brought a fishing net with him…"

Joey's eyes widened; Ryou gasped in horror.

"He captured him…didn't he?" inquired Bakura, his eyes very grim.

Seto nodded. "There's no way he could've survived that long out of the water…his scales would've dried out within the first ten minutes."

He turned back to them, not paying any mind to his still-moist cheeks. "It was after losing him…I decided to become a High Priest…a High Priest never let love cloud their reason…they could stop things like that from happening…"

"And that's why you weren't around for that long while, isn't it?" asked Joey. "Why you disappeared when we were kids?"

Seto nodded again. "High Priests must be taught in solitude…I was kept inside for seven years…I didn't even see my cousin or my father until my training was almost complete…I was dead inside and out…" he looked right at Joey, "…and then I met you again, dogfish…and you screwed up everything. Ever since I saw you again, you made me keep feeling. You're making me weak, dogfish…I hope you're happy."

He didn't sound angry, more like sadly amused. Joey couldn't make himself smile, though, instead putting a hand on Seto's shoulder.

"Look…I know you've had bad experiences with humans…but not all humans are bad. Hell, Atemu is naming one as his aibou, for crying out loud! They're like merpeople…it's hard to know which ones you can trust and which ones you should fear…and your brother is not the only one to make the wrong judgement…but believe me, Seto…" Seto definitely noticed Joey's second use of his name, "…you're allowed to feel both distrust and gratitude to humans."

Joey sighed as he withdrew his hand from Seto's shoulder. "My sister Serenity and I were really close like you and Mokuba were when we were really little…my dad is…well, nothing like yours or Atemu's fathers, let me just say that. So Serenity and I never really hung around at home…even Mom didn't stay around home, she went out and about with her friends a lot of the time. One day Serenity and I decided to play hide-and-seek in a bunch of seaweed on a sea plateau…suddenly Serenity pointed out a bunch of black water above our heads that we'd never seen before. I noticed some fish around it coughing and wheezing and decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to go near it…but Serenity was curious, so she swam toward it. I yelled for her to come back, but she wouldn't listen. She started coughing as she went around it…I did too when I tried to follow her. When she started to the surface, she got a big faceful of the black water…all I heard was her scream before she swam back down blindly, trying to find me…" he swallowed, "…the black water damaged her eyes permenantly…she's now blind."

Seto felt a wave of pity wash over him. "I'm…I'm sorry."

The words felt foreign on his tongue; Joey too seemed a bit surprised at hearing such words coming from him, but still gave him a small smile, grateful for his sympathy.

"After that, my mom took Serenity away with her…she reasoned that it was impossible for a weak woman like her and a blind girl like my sister to live safely in the same house as my father…but she couldn't see a way to take both of us with her without having my father go after her, so she left me behind. She thought that I could take care of myself…and I have. I went back a few days later to see if the black water was still there…only to find humans cleaning it up. They called it 'oil' and were concerned about it killing off all the fish in the area…obviously the 'oil' was the fault of humans…but they took responsibility for what they did and saved many more fish and merpeople by doing so…so in a way I'm glad some humans are there…to help protect the fish and merpeople closer to the surface."

Seto considered Joey for a moment, before saying, "It was him. That scar on your tail…all those bruises you claimed were from fights or accidents…your father did those things, didn't he?"

Joey looked back at Seto for a moment, and then slowly nodded. Seto's eyes narrowed, and he seemed to be resisting the temptation of pulling Joey into his arms and holding him protectively.

"Why did you never say anything?"

Joey chuckled darkly. "C'mon Seto, those were still the days you used to tease me about living in a tramp's house, remember?"

Seto flinched. "I…I never meant…"

"I know," Joey interrupted. "It still hurt, though…but hey, neither of us were very friendly toward each other."

Ryou put a hand on Seto's shoulder and gave him a sad smile. "It's no time to feel regretful about things that are over, Seto."

Bakura nodded in agreement. "We all have regrets, High Priest; if we focus on them forever, we'll miss the important things in life and only have more regrets."

Suddenly the four found a darkness come over them as three figures swam quickly over them, blocking the sunlight shining down through the water around them; they looked up to see two eel-tailed mermen, one with his long brown hair spiking out of a red skull cap onto his shoulders, the other with short light blue hair and round yellow glasses, accompanying a serious-looking Atemu away from his grotto.

"Atemu!"

Joey and Bakura swam in front of him so he couldn't swim any farther.

"What are you doing?" Joey demanded. "Why are you hanging around these loonies?"

The two eel-tailed merman stopped in their tracks and looked at Joey angrilly.

"Excuse me?" the blue-haired merman snapped in an insect-like voice.

"What did you call us?" demanded the merman with the skull-cap in a rough voice.

"You heard him," Bakura growled savagely, getting up in their faces as the eel-tailed mermen's tails lit up with angry electricity.

"Bakura, no," Ryou reproached firmly, grabbing him by his arm and pulling him back.

Atemu pushed both Joey and Bakura out of his way and continued swimming in the direction the eel-tailed merman had been taking him.

"Rex and Weevil are taking me to see Dartz," the mer-prince explained simply.

"The Warlock of Orikalkos?" Ryou repeated in horror. "Atemu, no!"

"You can't!" Seto argued, swimming in front of Atemu like Bakura and Joey had to stop him from going farther. "He's dangerous!"

Atemu shoved Seto out of the way so hard he slammed into the side of the ocean liner hiding his grotto from sight.

"Seto!"

Joey swam over and helped the High Priest up; Atemu, however, didn't look the least bit regretful for his actions.

"Why don't you go tell my father?" he snapped coldly at Seto. "You're good at that!"

With that, he swam after the smirking Rex and Weevil. Seto weakly got up, his back aching.

"Are you okay?" Joey asked him.

Seto didn't answer his question, instead swimming after Atemu as fast as his fins could take him. Ryou, Bakura and Joey followed him, praying that they could stop Atemu before the infamous Warlock of Orikalkos put him into any harm.