Beep..
"We just have to wait... medicine has been..."
What.. what is happening?
Beep.
"Lycan has been..."
"We shouldn't have come here."
Beep.
"I know."
.....
"I hope you wake up soon... I have so much I need to talk to you about."
That voice.. It sounded... sad.. and lonely, and oddly... calming. She knew that voice!
"Lex?" Lillian heard the word and felt every excruciating second it took to get it out, but the voice.. it couldn't have been hers. So weak and scratchy, each letter was strained and pathetically quiet. It felt as if there were a cement block weighing down on her throat, and opening her eyes seemed almost to be an impossible task.
"Lily!" She heard Lex sob. "Are you awake?"
Lillian tried her hardest to open her eyes but had to settle for lifting her left one slightly.
Lex was hovering over her, tears in her eyes. "You're gonna be ok.." She hiccuped, "but Lily, they took Kaeron, and.. I need you."
What was going on? Who took Kaeron? Where were they? And why did she feel as if her entire body had been hit by a bus.
She tried to move her lips again to ask all of the questions on her mind, but a sudden overwhelming wave of drowsiness swept over her body, and she had to use all of her remaining strength to keep from passing out on the spot. She didn't want to go. Not again. She wanted to stay with Lex, but... She was so tired.
"Lily? Lily!?"
Lillian couldn't fight it any longer. Lex would be fine if she just took a quick nap. 5 minutes tops, and no matter what she did, Kaeron would be okay. So she surrendered to the feeling, closing her eye, and letting herself be dragged back into the darkness.
******
"Was the spear really necessary?" Kaeron asked, rubbing his neck where the spear had left little holes. "Sure, I heal fast, but that shit hurts."
Her royal majesty's captain of the guard, Syphon Webber, scoffed, losing that cool composer of his. "You're lucky I didn't plunge it all the way through, and save us all the trouble of having to listen to your lies, Lycan. Or is Fire breather, I can't remember."
"I never wanted to hurt her."
A spear came hurdling at Kaeron, but he didn't move a muscle.
The spear stopped at the last second, hovering just in front of Kaeron's heart.
"Save me the pathetic excuses. You're only alive right now because my queen has ordered it so. Otherwise, I would have ended you the moment you used your Atlantis Stone."
Kaeron smiled smugly, "You couldn't kill me if you actually wanted to, you big softie."
The spear inched closer but never touched his skin.
"Watch it, Lycan, you've been gone for a long time; things have changed."
"Maybe, but you still can't take a life." Kaeron said. Looking Syphon in the eyes. "You're weak. You always have been."
Syphon scoffed again, "So I'm weak because I can't take a life as easy as the mighty fire breather?" He spat. "Fine, call me weak. At least I'm not a spineless little bitch."
Kaeron was in Syphon's face in a heartbeat, and was only one more away from laying him on his ass, when a familiar sweet voice spoke.
"I'm glad to see you two are still as friendly as ever."
Syphon took a step back, turned towards the spiral stairs in front of them, and bowed.
It was time.
The underwater kingdom, Crescent Gamma, being one of the smaller kingdoms of the Crescent alliance, has been run by the Signer family for so long that nobody can remember a time when they hadn't been in power, which on it's own was already an impressive feat, but even more impressive was that the Signers, were Lamia's.
The mer folk and the Lamia's don't have a necessarily hostile relationship, but it's not as if you would ever find them mingling with each other, and you most definitely don't see the mer folk looking for rulers outside of bloodlines. The mer folk are a very proud people, and the ones that choose to stay in the body of water they were born in were suspicious of outsiders, even racist at times, and yet the Signers have been a well respected regime within the Crescent alliance forever now. Well loved by the people and other underwater creatures. Crescent Gamma is the only underwater kingdom with a non... sea... person.. creature... thing. As it's leader.
Kaeron felt something akin to shame wash over him, but he played it off, as he, instead of bowing like Syphon did, turned and faced the queen of the mer folk of the Crescent Gamma kingdom.
"Now entering!" Hurriedly called one of her harolds. "Queen Eleanora Vitania The Fourth."
Kaeron hated how much blue littered the underwater kingdoms. They were already underwater, and none of the kingdoms he had ever visited, put up blinds or something over the domes or their weird excuses for buildings, so they could always look out into the body of water they were in if they wanted, and they'd get to see blue all day long.
And yet, everywhere you went in one of these stupid places, there was blue coral, blue paintings, blue walls, and blue spiral stairs.
Kaeron hated how much blue littered the kingdom. But, she was different. Even in a literal sea of blue, walking down a spiral staircase made from a translucent stone that she somehow filled with raging torrents, that combined with some kind of projection or something of a storm on the walls, made it seem like she was controlling the storm.
"You always did know how to make an entrance." He smiled.
She was still wearing the gold necklace her mother had given her on the day of her coronation, and the matching bracelet her father had given her on her... their wedding day. The ring was gone however, and to his surprise he felt a tinge of sadness prick him in his heart.
Another surprise came in way of her dark ocean blue dress. It no longer had sequence all over it, and she looked more mature, wiser even. He hadn't been the only one to change. She was showing off her massive tail instead of her long sexy legs, probably on purpose, because she knew he loved her legs, and even though she was nice to a fault, she never passed up an opportunity to be petty when she was in one of her moods.
She smiled back at him, but it was all icey. To any bystander though, the way she was looking at him would seem as if she were disinterested, bored even, exhausted from his mere presence, but he knew hurt when he saw it, especially when he was the one who put it there.
"It's good to see you again, Eleanora, I'm.."
"Queen." She said bluntly.
"What?"
"It is Queen Eleanora to you. We are not betrothed anymore, or do you not remember?"
Queen or no queen, she wasn't about to talk to him like no... He bit his tongue and quelled his anger. If he started something now, not only would his life be in danger, but Lex's and Lambs' lives would be forfeit.
He took a deep breath in and counted to three before responding, "Queen Eleanora, I'm..."
"You would temper your tongue? You who spoke vulgarities to my father when you were still nothing more but his little guard dog. Whomever it is that you have brought to us must be very important to you."
Kaeron didn't react, nor did he talk back. She clearly didn't care what he had to say, so he would just wait for her to tell him what she wanted from him.
"Nothing to say? Good." She made it down the last step and strode over to him. Each step was confident and angry. She stopped in front of him, and he hated that she was looking her nose down at him. He wanted to show just how insignificant she really was, but he just stood there.
"I don't want to hear your lies, or your masters lies, or whatever poison was about to spew from your mouth." She hissed.
He clenched his jaw so hard that it hurt. If she didn't want to hear him out, why did she not just have him executed on the spot.
"Then why am I here?" He asked, trying his best to keep from losing his temper.
She smiled. "Because I want to hurt you, as bad as you hurt me."
The door to their right swung open and Lex walked in. Four different spears from four different people were pointed at her neck in four different directions.
Kaeron saw red.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. We all know you're fast, but even you know my elite guard would end her life before you got a chance to make a move."
What did she say? I've gotta save Lexie! I can't, what if I'm too slow? I can't think like that! I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!
"Hey! Kaeron, look at me!" Lex demanded.
Kaeron forced his attention away from the blades that were threatening to impale her, and looked into her eyes. There was no fear in them, no concern only love and determination.
"I'm okay, we will be okay, just hang in there, and let me save you for once." She smiled.
He stared at her, all of his adrenaline gone and he felt like he was gonna collapse from the loss of it, but he smiled back and nodded.
He hadn't noticed that Eleanora was watching the two of them closely.
"Captain, can you please escort the fire breather back to his cell, his presence is no longer required at this time. I will send word for you when everything is ready."
Kaeron let out a feral snarl, like some kind of beast, and got into a defensive stance, daring anybody to touch him. It would be a cold day in hell before he left his sister alone with this bitch.
"It's okay Kaeron, please, if you have any faith in me at all. You will leave and let me handle this." She never broke eye contact. "Please Kaeron." She begged.
Slowly. Very slowly. He gave a quick shake of the head and relaxed his posture.
"Wow, I never thought I'd see the day." Syphon laughed.
"Me either." Eleanora said, turning her full attention onto Lex.
"Let's go inmate." Syphon said grabbing Kaerons wrists and cuffing him in Kirion shackles, in a way Kaeron was sure that Syphon thought was supposed to be rough and hurt him, but to bad for him because right now Kaeron felt nothing but the beating of his own heart.
Ba dum. Ba dum.
******
Lex stared daggers at the bitch in front of her. She knew the bitches and her brothers history together, and Lex didn't give a fuck. The moment that bitch decided to fuck with her brother, was the same moment that she signed away her right to continue breathing, and the way the bitch was looking at her, was the same way that all of her opponents looked at her just because she wasn't as big as her brother. That was a big mistake. She was a Deitas after all, and fixing problems, and starting them, were what Deitas's did best.
The woman met her stare with a smile. "You four can go now. I would like to talk to her alone."
The four mermaid's who had been pointing their stupid pitchforks at her tensed up, and even Lex was surprised by the balls on this bitch.
"Are you sure you want to do that? I'm told that I can play rough if unsupervised." Lex said a calm fury building up inside her.
The woman snickered. "Yes, I'm sure, and I will not repeat myself, get out, Now!"
The four guards dropped their weapons from her neck, turned, bowed to their queen, and made a brisk exit.
And then there was silence. Just two women sizing each other up.
"Let's play a game."