Coral stared, mouth open. She hesitantly pointed to her self, swallowing the lump in her throat.
"You're mermaids?" She whispered shouted.
Mr. Ocean nodded. Mrs. Ocean grinned happily.
"I..." Coral stammered, her mind trying to process that past five minutes. "If you're...we're all...why the masquerade? Why didn't you tell me first? Why the shop? Why this life?"
"Because the sea is no longer safe for our kind," Melusine said, her voice became serious and deeper. "Because your life was in danger."
Coral looked at Mr. Ocean. "What?"
"It's true," Delmar spoke. "We're...aren't your birth parents. They are long gone."
Melusine said. "We served them along ago, in Atlantis."
"Atlantis?" Coral blinked. "I'm Atlantean?"
They nodded.
"Cool," Coral chuckled. "I share kinship with Aquaman."
"He's a naiad technically," Delmar folded his arms. "And the way he hold that trident..."
He shivered. "His technique is abysmal."
"So those dreams..." Coral asked. "About Atlantis sinking?"
"Centuries ago," Melusine said. "We were a bustling metropolis—trees, fountains, food, everything needed for a populated city."
"But we grew selfish," Delmar cut in. "And we sank as punishments of the Gods."
"Knowing we were doomed," Melusine said. "Your parents, us and twenty-five others chosen were given a potion that was in the works. It turned us into aquatic organisms."
"We took it in the temple," Delmar spoke up. "While others drowned for our hubris."
Coral's hand flew to her mouth. "That's terrible."
"It was difficult at first..." Melusine admitted, then smiled. "But we lived."
"Our numbers grew. After a hundred years, we veered more and more from being human, and the humans, our former race, gave us a new name," Delmar said. "Mermaids."
"And we hated it," Melusine laughed.
Coral grinned, her hand failing to stiffle her giggles.
"Of course, we refused to adopt it," Delmar folded his arms. "Mermaids...half of us were men!"
"So they caled the men, mermen," Melusine smiled. "It didn't help."
"But as the years went by," Delmar said. "We reluctantly, we accepted our new name with open arms—mermaid, mermen, merfolk."
Coral sat on the ground, looking up. "But...how did I get here? Why was I brought here? You said it was to protect me?"
"Delta," Melusine said with disgust. "Sixteen years ago, she staged a coup against your parents."
"So what happened to them?" Coral asked.
Delmar and Melusine offered their hands. She grasped them tightly, gazing into their eyes.
"We..." Delmar looked at Melusine.
"We don't know," she replied, smiling softly. "They just...gave you to us and we left as they fought her."
Coral nodded and stepped back. She turned and headed for her room, glancing back with a small smile.
Delmar and Melusine watched her leave. They turned to the other.
"We should tell her," Delmar said. "Everything."
"Do you think we should?" Melusine argued. "Have you forgotten what happened sixteen years ago?"
Delmar and Melusine swam toward the throne room, a trident in his hand.
Delmar wore an aquamarine colored breastplate and pauldrons. A belt with hanging golden chains worn snugly around his waist.
His barbute helmet was golden and had red plumes that flowed in the water.
Melusine also wore a breastplate and pauldrons similar to Delmar. Her helmet was a golden sallet worn snugly on her head.
They burst through, Delmar brandishing his trident.
Their eyes widened.
Fallen merfolk scattered across the throne room. Some, mortally wounded, clutched to their injuries, begging silently for death.
"My Codfish," Delmar gasped. Melusine reached for his hand.
He spotted his Captain, leaning against the wall and bleeding.
Delmar surged forward to his Captain, Melusine closely behind.
he grasped his hand tightly. Melusine sank to the floor, mouth open and tears stinging her eyes.
But she couldn't shed them.
Delmar closed his eyes. "Captain..."
"Delmar...Delta..." he croaked. "She's escaped...targeting the royal house..."
He exhaled strained. Blood stained his breastplate and leaked through the gaps in his fingers.
A blood-curling scream echoed throughout the castle. Melusine turned to the sound, then glanced at Delmar.
Before he could answer, the Captain pulled Delmar close.
"Save them," he begged, tears stinging his eyes. "Please...Delmar."
Delmar nodded, squeezing his hand. "I will."
His eyes fluttered closed. The tears escaped, floating upward. They began to crystallized into glass.
Sea glass.
Melusine choked, her trembling hand covering her mouth. Delmar released his grip and swam towards her. He lifted her up, hugging her close.
"Come..." he soothed. "They're in danger. The royal house we've sworn to protect."
Melusine sobbed, fighting to cry. But she couldn't. He rocked her to comfort her.
Melusine sniffled, pulling back. She nodded, and he lowered his hands, a comforting smile forming.
The two swam out of the throne room, toward the scream.
Delmar pushed down the door, Melusine behind him.
Delta stood in the middle of the room, the royals laid on the purple sea anemone carpet in front of the bed
Merqueen Merida turned as she held her baby, letting out a relieved sigh.
"Delmar," she whispered, "at last you're here."
Mer-king Aegir couldn't help the smile that spread to his face.
Delta drew back from the queen, and turned around. Her entire body hidden in a swarm ofAnchovies, their scales shimmering in the light.
Melusine drew closer to Delmar. Her body shook, a rising anger filled her.
"Delta!" Delmar shouted with rage, charging forward. "Get away from the King and Queen, you skank!"
Her maniacal laugh echoed as she swung her orange trident made of coral. A blast of water struck him right in the chest.
He gasped, feeling his sternum break. He crashed to the floor, coughing and failing to catch his breath.
Merida gasped, as Aegir swam toward her. Delta again laughed as she began to stir her trident, summoning a towering vortex inches from her.
She sent it toward him.
Aegir saw it but too late. He tried to swim away but he was sucked into the vortex.
"No!" Merida snapped as she watched her husband get sucked in, mere inches from her and the baby. She swam forward, jaw set in anger.
She snatched her discarded pink trident fashioned from pearl. The current pulled her towards the swirling vortex.
Delta smirked, her swarmed hand clenching the trident.
Melusine surged forward, but spotted Delmar groaning. She hesitated, unsure who to save first.
Merida let out a sob. She was going to die. She might as well join her husband.
Merida glanced down at her infant. The merbaby clung to her, eyes squeezed shut.
Her gaze softened.
She must protect her, and avenge her husband.
Merida pulled free.
Delta gasped, swimming back.
Melusine knelt by Delmar, worried. "Are you alright?"
Delmar sat up, rising off the floor. "Yes. Enough to defeat her."
Merida swung right for her abdomen. Delta screamed as the prongs slashed her in half.
The fishes scattered before reforming. Merida's eyes widened.
Delta chuckled before she swung, knocking the trident out of her hand.
Merida watched in shock as the trident sank to the floor. Delta swung at her shoulder.
Merida hugged her baby close.
Delmar intercepted the blow, blocking with his trident.
Melusine came from behind, wrapping her arms around Delta's neck.
"Your coup ends here," Melusine hissed.
Delta simply laughed. She then began to spin, causing the water to envelope the three of them, the force prying Melusine off.
Merida and Delmar were swept up by the towering swirling force. They swirled in the twisting water. The swarm of anchovies scattered, revealing her.
The vortex created a space of dry seafloor inside the vortex.
Delta hit the sea floor with a thud but looked up with a maniacal smile. Her yellow tail streaked with orange curled in excitement.
The merfolk struggled in the swirling vortex's walls.
Merida clutched at her neck, fighting the urge to breathe. Her baby cried.
Delmar and Melusine reached out, grasping each other by the fingertips.
Delta panted as she tried to take a breath, her vision blurry. The move might kill her but she didn't care.
She failed to notice a peeved Aegir swimming toward the vortex wall.
He broke through, launching himself toward his wife. He pushed Merida back into the water.
She gasped and he handed her the trident in his hand.
With a flick of her wrist, she undid the vortex. It stalled in spinning and dissipated. The slam of the water hit Delta like a Kraken's tentacle, disorienting the evil mermaid.
She tumbled across the floor, groaning. Delmar and Melusine sank to the floor, exhausted and panting. Their eyes fell closed, slipping into unconsciousness.
Delta rose up, fuming in anger. She clenched her trident tightly.
"Enough!" Merida declared, sending a rush of water at her. Delta braced, it struck at full force, launching her through the door.
Aegir and Merida glanced at each other, panting. The baby cooed happily in their hands. Sorrow filled their hearts.
They couldn't raise her in here.
What do they do?
Delmar and Melusine felt a pulsing energy wash over them. Delmar's eyes popped open. He saw Merida healing him with her trident.
He turned to Melusine. She woke up.
Merida and Aegir approached, their gazes solemn and peaceful. Delmar rose up, his tail swishing anxiously.
"My King," he began. "I'm sorry. I should've been here sooner, fought harder—"
"It's not your fault," Aegir spoke. "You were unjustly accused."
"But who freed her?" Melusine spoke. "Who'd be stupid enough, or in love enough to do this?"
"That would be me," a voice made them turn.
A merman dressed in similar garb as Delmar aimed his trident. His flowing black hair accented his pale brown eyes.
"Calder," Aegir snarled. "I ought to have known."
"How could you do this?" Merida asked, sorrowfully. "I've known since childhood. We grew up together, Calder."
Calder chuckled, swimming toward them. "Delta saw me as the man she needed, Merida. Unlike you."
Merida turned, ashamed.
Delmar clenched his fists, jaw tight. "You'll pay for this."
Calder laughed. "Really?"
Merida turned to Melusine, and handed over her child. Melusine looked up at her, speechless.
"Love her like we did," Merida smiled. "And tell her about us, about her people, her past and her future."
"Love her like we would've," Aegir spoke with a somber smile. "Keep her safe, and far away."
Merida raised her trident, and the room began to tremble. Delta groaned, slowly climbing out the crater.
Delmar grabbed Melusine and nodded the royals. He dragged her as Melusine reached for Merida, her cry hitched. The baby clung to Melusine.
Calder raised his trident, jaw tight with a malicious grin. Delta stretched out her hand to him, eyes wide with terror, her warning falling on deaf ears.
They burst through the window, and swam as fast as they could. Melusine glanced back.
The castle exploded in a flurry of debris and water. The explosion echoed in the sea, loud and thunderous.
Melusine stared down at the merbaby who cooed in her arms.
"You poor thing," she whispered. "You don't even have a name."