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Unfathomable - Complete	By : ColdSilence Category: Kingdom Hearts > Slash/Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 12029 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: All of the Kingdom Hearts franchise is copyright to Tetsuya Nomura and Disney. No money is made whatsoever from this publication.

Chapter List
- 11
- 12
- 13
Author: Cold Silence
E-Mail: writer.coldsilence@gmail.com
Pairings: Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi
Warnings: AU, Yaoi, Het, Mpreg, mer/human sex. Does that count as bestiality?
Special Note: I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.

Unfathomable
-Chapter Twelve-

Riku didn’t immediately return to his home after meeting with Namine. Instead, he swam directly to the palace. The attendants were surprised to see the prince coasting through the gates, and they barely had time to bow before he passed by them.

He didn’t stop swimming until he was in the throne room. His father was there, and he was consulting with Sebastian concerning throwing a turning party for his grandson.

“Av’ cawse we canna pull dis off!” boasted Sebastian. “We kin throw da biggest pahdy an’ yo’ son won’ ‘ave any idea– aaaaaaaah!” The crab covered his mouth when he realized that said prince had just lowered his face into his field of vision.

“A party without me?” clicked Riku with a displeased expression. “Neither of you know Ventus if you think he’ll be happy to celebrate without me around.”

“Ventus?” clicked Triton in a sheepish way. “Who’s going to have any celebration with Ventus?” He exchanged a look with Sebastian, whose expressive face clearly screamed WE ARE LYING, and he flared his gills in a sigh when he realized that the jig was up. “Sora told you, didn’t he.”

“He told me nothing,” sang Riku in a flat note. “I have you to thank for that.”

Triton belatedly realized that his meddling caused strife in his son’s relationship with his chosen. He looked guilty as he pushed off his throne to float over to Riku. “It was not my intention to cause any trouble, I only wanted to see my grandson.”

“Then you should have asked his parents first,” hissed Riku.

“I did. I asked his carrier,” answered Triton with an arched look. “Or does his song not matter?”

“I was not told!”

“I did not tell Sora to keep our meetings a secret, he chose that of his own accord,” sang Triton. “You have no vows between the two of you, so he can raise his youngling as he sees fit. You know the law. The younglings belong to the carriers, and the carriers can raise the younglings as they wish if there are no vows. I am willing to wager my tail fin that you did not inform him of this.”

“So you took it upon yourself to tell him,” glowered Riku.

“No, I did not,” sang Triton. “I did not tell him because I did not want him to take Ventus away to the surface world. I would never see my grandson again. That was my selfish reason. What was yours?”

Riku turned away. He didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. They both knew very well that the prince’s reason was the same. The prince didn’t want to lose Ventus or Sora to the humans that they came from.

“My son, I understand how you feel. I went through the same thing with your mother,” sang Triton. Upon seeing the dubious look on Riku’s face, he explained, “I was just like you. A strong, handsome catfish.” The King fingered his mustache as he smiled indulgently. “The richest mer in the ocean with the most powerful kingdom. I had my pick of all the mermaids under the sea. Your mother was my perfect match. She was beautiful, powerful, and as intelligent as a nine armed octopus. I thought for certain that we would come together like a clown fish to its anemone. But she despised me.”

“What?” sang Riku in disbelief. This was the first time that he was hearing this.

“I know, I was shocked too,” clicked Triton. “It didn’t matter how many gifts I sent, or how I painted myself, or how I courted her. She made it clear to me that she would never take vows with someone who was selfish and immature.”

“You were selfish and immature?” sang Riku skeptically.

“I was and I didn’t realize it,” answered Triton. “I thought that things would happen to me in a certain way because of my birthright. That I would always have wealth, power, and mermaids who would never turn me down. My eyes weren’t opened until our kingdom began to suffer raids from Scavenger mer. There was a scarcity of food, and they would swim through the markets, stealing everything that they could. Our people fought back and there was civil unrest. I swam there with the Trident, expecting to end the whole situation in one blow. But those mer, I will never forget what they looked like. Emaciated, so skinny that I could see right through them like transparent tetra. I could not strike them down with the power. Instead, I detained them with my own bare hands and tail. It was such a fight that I was bruised from face to fins afterwards, but we apprehended them all.

"I told them that I would be speaking to their king, and to my surprise, he was among them and starving just the same. He told me that they lost their kingdom to the orca, who ravaged their coral and left their foraging grounds destitute. The Scavengers had scattered all over the ocean, left to fend for themselves. That’s when I realized that everything that I have, my kingdom, my birthright, all of that could be stripped away in a cycle. If that ever happened, who would I be at that point. Would I still be strong enough to swim with what was left of my people as this king did? Would I still hold my tail with pride when I had nothing left, like the mer before me.

"From that moment on, I ruled my kingdom not as a prince, but as a fellow mer struggling to make it in this ocean. I realized I was nothing without the blessing of the people beneath me. I could no longer define myself by what had been given to me, but by what I carved out with my own claws. It wasn’t until I began to live and rule in this manner that your mother finally give me a second look. She knew what I was lacking, and thank Poseidon I was able to find it before she found someone else.”

“But I have been living that way,” protested Riku. “I’ve done everything I could on my own.”

“I can’t tell you how proud I am that you have,” sang Triton. He placed his hands on his son’s shoulders. “It wasn’t until I let you go that I realized how much I have been stifling you. Look at all that you’ve accomplished on your own. Your people adore you. They would follow you even if you did not have a crown on your head. I have heard the songs myself.”

“That’s not what I want,” sang Riku. “All I want is my family. I want them to love me.”

“Then there is still something that you are missing, my son,” clicked Triton. “I have faith that you will find it. I know that there exists a good mer within you.”

They were interrupted by a wibbling sound. The mermen looked over to see Sebastian holding his face in his hands. “Dat was boodiful!” clicked the crab. “Fauda an’ son togeda again!”

The two males looked at each other, and then laughed in embarrassment. Each realizing that finally, they could once again be family.

“You know, I came here to tell you to stay away from Sora and Ven,” admitted Riku. “But I’ve changed my mind. Just no more secrets, okay?”

“You have my word,” answered the King.

Just then, the palace pitched into darkness. Alarmed, the mermen swam to the nearest opening to see what was happening to the rest of Atlantica. Sure enough, the light was being pulled away, like a shadow being passed over the kingdom.

“The Trident,” clicked Triton in somber tones.

Every fin went up in alarm in Riku’s body. Immediately, he darted in the direction the exit. He had to check on Sora and Ventus. “I’m going back,” he sang to his father.

“Not alone,” answered Triton. “Sebastian, call the royal guard. We must protect the kingdom and my son’s family.”

{{———————————————–}}

The way to Noctis was longer than Sora expected. They had to travel through fast moving currents that swept them far away from the kingdom of Atlantica. Ventus clicked happily as Lea showed him how to streamline his fins and zip away faster than any hard swim. Sora relied on Braig’s guidance to do the same, and soon they were hurtling through the ocean like streaking comets.

When they left the rushing waters, they found themselves in drastically different terrain. The sea floor was bubbling with vents that gushed hot pockets of air that floated upwards. Anything that went near those holes was instantly scalded. There was also a lot of human debris on the seafloor. Old shipwrecks covered in barnacles and small fish were decaying on top of the dirty silt below.

Sora knew a bad neighborhood when he saw one. It made him think that leaving with Braig was a big mistake. “Ven, stay close to me,” he sang sharply. When his youngling returned to his side, he swam as protectively as he could despite the danger of being so close to the Trident. “I changed my mind,” he clicked to the orca. “We should go back. I need to talk to Riku instead of just going away.”

“Awww but we’re already here,” sang Braig. He gestured ahead of them, where a large, craggy mountainside rose up from the ocean floor. It was lit up with a strange red glow, and as they circled closer they would see that it came from an active lava flow that surrounded the mountains like a moat. Behind the first range of hills, they would see several smaller ones that served as housing for the orca. When the denizens saw them swimming close, they stopped what they were doing to openly stare at them.

“Don’t mind them, they’re not used to atlantians dropping by,” sang Braig. “I know you’re just itching to have it out with your philandering prince, but you should at least say hi to our king before you go swimming back. It would be rude to just go.”

Despite his misgivings, Sora knew that this was true. Since he was attached to Riku, the way he presented himself affected the prince’s reputation. He didn’t want to cause any trouble, so he relented. “Alright, but we can’t stay long. Ven has a clam time.”

The mountains wrapped around a deep valley in a circle, and central to it all was a cave entrance whose exterior was carved into the shape of a serpent. Ventus stopped swimming as soon as he saw it and hid behind Sora.

“This is so jelly,” sang Lea with excitement. “I’ve never been in a palace. Come on, don’t be a guppy.” He swam ahead to the cavern, his striped body disappearing into the gaping darkness. Sora looked at Braig uncertainly, and the orca gave him a careless grin. Despite feeling unnerved, he swam into the black hole with Ventus in tow.

They found themselves descending downwards into a long, deep abyss with many bends and forks. It was lit up with red bioluminescent algae that dotted the walls. Several stern and muscular orca guarded the tunnels, and they gave unfriendly looks to the newcomers that were swimming through. They seemed to go on forever until they finally arrived at the throne room.

Sora’s gills flared in deep shock. They were in a massive chamber with a single spire that rose high above them and acted as the throne for the king. Below them was a thick collection of bones. Skulls, chests, arms - and impossibly - hips, femurs and feet were crowded on top of each other in disorganized piles. There was no doubt in his mind that the remains were definitely human.

“I apologize if you find my decor disturbing,” sang a voice from above. The old king of Noctis gave Sora and his son a large smile that showed rows of fanged teeth. “Those are collections from the kings that came before me. The spoils of war, if you will.”

“What are those?” asked Ventus. He pointed innocently to the unfamiliar bones below.

“Humans,” answered Xehanort with a grand gesture of his hands. “Hundreds of them. Did you know that once upon a time, the mer considered them a delicacy? The flesh and blood of a human has an exquisite taste that is unmatched in all of the ocean.”

Sora felt as if a piece of ice had just wedged itself into his tail. He couldn’t help but think back to all the times he had been together with Riku as a human. How eager he had been to swallow him up…

“Those were the days,” added Braig as he swam around Sora and Ventus. “We used to lure them to the waters and then snatch them up. They always had a thing for shell-less mermaids and music. As soon as they lean in for a kiss, wham!!” He slapped his clawed hands together. “Dinner was served.”

“Nasty!” exclaimed Lea. He wore a face of disgust at the very thought of eating humans.

“You sing out of ignorance, young mer. You can’t criticize what you have not yet tasted,” admonished Xehanort. “But alas, the days of eating humans ended when the Trident was gifted to the atlantians. It was henceforth decreed that all mer were to never surface, and in time, the memory of the delectable taste of man was forgotten.”

Ventus swam over to Lea, who was listening to the story with a sickened expression. “You see,” sang the youngling emphatically. “Humans aren’t monsters at all.”

“Heh. It kind of sounds like mers are the monsters,” clicked Lea uneasily.

Sora felt intensely uncomfortable. He didn’t think that Riku saw him as food, but what about the other mer? Did King Triton know? The only thing that he was certain of was that he had to leave immediately. “Actually, I wanted to apologize for barging in like this,” he sang in his most formal tone. “I had a fight with my chosen, and Braig thought it would be a good idea for us to come here for a while. But I realize now that I’m imposing, and really, I should be stronger than this when it comes to facing Riku.”

Xehanort gave Sora a grin. “Who can blame you. A human forced to be at the side of an atlantian prince. Never to see the light of your sun ever again. Turned into something,” and here, he gestured toward Sora’s tail, “depraved.”

“You know?” sang Sora in tremulous notes. His tail fin began to curl as the shame of what he had done haunted him again.

“It’s true?” clicked Lea in disbelief. “Both of you are really human?”

“There’s nothing wrong with being human!” interrupted Ventus. He swam in front of Sora, clutching the heavy Trident to his chest. The youngling gave everyone gathered a defiant look. “There’s nothing bad about mers liking humans, even if they’re tasty. They made me. I’m here because of them!”

“Ven,” sang Sora softly. All this time, he didn’t realize how much his problems with himself and with Riku were affecting his son. He fooled himself into thinking that Ven was too young to fully understand and process things, but now he could see that that youngling had been thinking of it all along. In the end, he had to smile, because a irrefutable truth had been sung. If it weren’t for his foolishness and his attraction to the mer prince, Ventus would not be here. “Thank you,” he ended sincerely, and his tail unfolded from its curl.

“I find it concerning,” clicked Xehanort. His eyes narrowed at Sora and Ventus. “A weapon as powerful as the Trident should not fall into a human bloodline. It belongs to mer who are worthy.” The old king rose up from his throne, and a purple light illuminated from his right hand. “And none are more worthy then the orca!”

Xehanort pointed his hand at the Trident, and light shot forth from it to surround the weapon. Ventus flared his gills as he felt the weapon jerk, and despite his best efforts, it was ripped out of his small claws. “That’s mine!” he protested.

“What are you doing?” clicked Sora in alarm. “That’s property of Atlantica!”

Ventus tried to swim after the floating Trident, only to be stopped by Braig. The orca grabbed him by the wrist so suddenly that he freewheeled from the hard stop. “Hey hey,” he clicked as he restrained the youngling. “You’re in the presence of a king. Show some respect.”

“Respect this!” clicked Sora, moments before he whipped his tail fin at Braig. His partially armored scales made contact with the orca’s face with the force of a snapping whip, causing him to release Ventus with a pained sound. “Get out of here Ven!” he clicked to his son. “Swim as fast as you can!”

Braig stopped nursing his stinging face when he realized that Ventus was going to make a break for it. “No one’s leaving this party early!” he sang loudly. The orca attempted to give chase, but was stopped when Sora grappled his tail with his claws. “Get off me you sucker fish!” The two wrestled for control, causing the both of them to tumble heads over fins.

“Don’t hurt him!” clicked Ventus. He attempted to come to his father’s aid, but was forced stop when a beam of purple energy nearly seared him. Xehanort was grinning cruelly as he targeted the youngling for attack.

Ventus darted through the water, taking sharp turns and narrowly dodging the old king’s power. With every near miss, the forks of light caused bones to explode upwards and craters to appear on the cavern walls. The youngling headed for the throne room’s exit; barely managing to swim past the guards who were unable to keep up with his speed.

“After him Lea!” clicked Braig as he continued to struggle with Sora.

Throughout the fiasco, Lea was watching the events unfold with a horrified expression. Upon receiving instructions, he broke from his trance and swam after Ventus.

Braig eventually managed to grapple Sora into a submission hold. The human’s arms were forced behind his back and his tail was constricted by the orca’s. Despite this, Sora continued to bow his body in a struggle to escape. “When Triton founds out what you did, you’ll be sorry!” he clicked angrily. “The Trident doesn’t belong to you. You can’t even use it!”

Xehanort used his power to bring the weapon beside his throne. It floated next to him with a lazy spin. “You speak the truth, human. The Trident will only bend to the will of those with royal blood of the atlantians, or so we believed. Thanks to your promiscuous behavior, we have confirmed that even a bastard son of Atlantica is capable of wielding the power. Since it is unlikely that King Triton or his headstrong prince will act on behalf of Noctis, the simple solution is to create another bastard of our blood.”

Sora balked at the very notion of what Xehanort was suggesting. “There’s no way Riku would ever want to do that. You’re crazy!”

Xehanort grinned, and then he waved his claw tipped hands as if he was conducting a symphony. Power coalesced around his fingertips, and he directed it at the scattered remains in his throne room. Pieces of a long dead human rose up and danced in a macabre way to the magic that animated it. The bones connected together like a jigsaw puzzle, forming the shape of a human - but its hips were inverted and the toes pressed together to mimic the skeleton of a mer.

Sora watched in horror as volcanic glass peeled away from the walls of the throne room and merged with the bones to form an artificial skin, the material becoming smoother and smoother until he was looking at a glass statue so refined that he could see his reflection on its face.

“Behold, how easily you are replaced, human!” crowed Xehanort. The strange amalgamation of human bone and sea glass grinned, and then moved fluidly, its body turning to flesh and scales with each sinuous turn. It transformed into a mer that looked exactly like Sora from head to fins.

Now realizing Xehanort’s intention, Sora wilted at the very thought. “No,” he sang tremulously. “You can’t.”

“A marvelous creation, is he not,” sang Xehanort proudly. “I call him Vanitas. A fledging made solely to carry the seed of my lineage to the foolish prince. I have spent many cycles creating him from the time that I learned of your existence.”

“Riku would never fall for it!” clicked Sora, his notes coming more shrill than he intended.

“Stop flapping your gills,” sang Vanitas. His notes were exactly the same as Sora’s, pitch for pitch. He gave the human a derisive look. “What the prince thinks doesn’t matter, it’s what he wants. And we all know the one thing he’s ever wanted from you. I’m just going to give it to him, over and over again.”

“Don’t you dare go near him!” sang Sora. He attempted to jerk his way out of Braig’s grasp, but found himself completely immobilized by the orca. He could only watch in horror as the doppelganger swam away, laughing darkly as he embarked on his mission.

“As for you human,” clicked Xehanort smoothly, “I’ve always wanted one of your kind as a pet. I think you will do nicely.”

Braig pressed his hand over Sora’s mouth. Something hard and bitter was forced past his lips, and he struggled to push it out to no avail. Whatever it was became lodged in his throat and oozed a disgusting taste. His vision swam, and his fast beating heart began to pound in triple time. An overwhelming feeling of dread rose up from his tail and overtook his body. The last thing he saw was his vision turning black before he completely lost himself.

{{———————————————–}}

Ventus had been darting through the tunnels of the underground palace in a frenzy. Everywhere he turned, armed orcas confronted him with viscous intent. If it weren’t for his small size and speed, he would have been caught several times over.

Sadly, he was running out of energy. It was all he could do to find pockets of shadows to hide in while the guards swam by, his fins flattened and his gills flapping wide to take in huge gulps of water. He was so terrified that his skin and scales took on a bluish tint from the fast rush of blood.

When a hand covered his mouth, he immediately started trashing to escape.

“Be quiet,” clicked a familiar voice. “It’s me!”

Ventus stilled his frenzied movements and turned wide eyes to the one holding him. It was Lea, who was doing his best to keep his own body hidden in the shadows. A soft, questioning note was sung at the striped mer.

Lea slowly took his hands away from Ventus. His expression was clouded with disturbed feelings. “I’m sorry. If I had any idea that this would happen, I would have never gone along with Braig. I thought I was getting paid to play a prank. I had no idea that he was aiming for the Trident.”

“What happened to my dad?” asked Ventus plaintively.

It took Lea a few moments to realize that Ventus meant Sora. He was unfamiliar with the word that was used to describe him. That fact alone made it all the more apparent that he was not dealing with ordinary mers. “Your carrier? I don’t know. We can’t do anything about that now. What we have to do is hide you.”

“But what about my dad?”

Lea placed his hands on Ventus’s shoulders. “When King Triton finds out about what happened, he will take care of everything. We just need to make sure that they can’t use you as leverage when the time comes. All you have to do is follow me. I’ll keep you safe until the tides change.”

“Won’t that make your uncle mad?” asked Ventus uncertainly.

“He can kiss my fins. He’s not my uncle,” sang Lea unhappily. “He offered me sea glass to make friends with you, but there’s not enough of it in the ocean to make up for what just happened. I know I’ve been a sea slug of friend, but let me make up for it. I’ll take you where no one can find you.”

Lea held out his hand to Ventus. Slowly, the youngling reached out to accept it. Then they swam away together.

{{———————————————–}}

Riku frantically searched his home for his family, but there was no one there. Only darkness and an echo to the singing of their names. Several guards from the castle had accompanied him, and upon confirming that no one was there, they swam in all directions to search the nearby waters for the missing family.

The fact that the Trident was also missing alarmed the prince. It crossed his mind that Sora and Ventus may have gone to the surface world.

  Would he do it? wondered Riku. Would he just abandon me?

The prince went off on his own to check the nearby grottos. Upon arriving, his gills flared when he spotted a familiar drab tail. “Sora!”

Sora was sitting on a rock outcropping, alone. He turned in Riku’s direction upon hearing his name, and then he floated up to meet with him. “You found me!” he sang happily. His arms circled the prince’s body and he leaned flush against him. “When the light disappeared, I didn’t know what to think.”

Riku gave his chosen a tight hug and felt a huge relief. Sora had not abandoned him. “What happened?” he asked. “Where’s Ventus?”

Sora flinched, and then he lowered his head. “I couldn’t control him. He was mad because he was picked on at his teachings. So he grabbed the Trident and swam off with it. I don’t know where he went.”

“He was picked on?” sang Riku with a frown. When he saw Ventus earlier, his son talked about making friends with a striped mer. Nothing was mentioned about being bullied. “Which way did he go? We’ll find him.”

Riku began to pull away to give chase to their missing son, but he was stalled by Sora’s hand on his wrist. At the prince’s questioning look, the human sheepishly lowered his head. “Is it bad that I want him gone for a little while?” he sang quietly.

“What do you mean?” clicked Riku in disbelief.

“I mean. We haven’t been alone for so long. I missed you,” sang Sora. “I was hoping that now that Ventus was going to his teachings, that you and me…”

Riku remained silent as he looked at his chosen.

“Are you really going to make me sing it?” continued Sora in embarrassment. He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

“Yes,” sang Riku seriously. “I want to hear you sing it.”

Sora fiddled his fingers with a shy expression, and then he sang tremulously, “I want to do it with you.”

The prince continued to be quiet. Then he reached out to gently brush Sora’s hair with an intent gaze. “I would have given anything to hear you say that,” he sang quietly. His caressing hands trailed down the other’s cheeks, and then encircled his neck in a vice-like grip. “But I know you never will. My Sora never gives it up that easy, and he wouldn’t pick sex over Ventus. Who are you? Where is Sora!”

The look of confusion on the doppelganger’s face changed to a smirk. His eye color morphed from blue to gold, and his hair and scales darkened to black. Before Riku could process what he was seeing, Vanitas viscously clawed his chest. The shock and pain from the attack loosened the prince’s grasp enough to let the fake Sora escape.

Vanitas laughed darkly as he swam some distance away, only to loop around and charge Riku with a burst of speed. Despite the waters becoming murky with his blood, the prince readied his claws to meet the attack, only to miss. The doppelganger’s tail slapped his back with enough percussive force to leave him stunned. “Too slow!” he clicked gleefully.

Riku struggled to regain his bearings and was unable to fend off Vanitas’s next maneuver. The doppelganger immobilized him by approaching from behind and entrapping his tail with his own. He grabbed a fistful of his captive’s long, silver hair and forced his head back, causing his neck gills to pull open. They flapped weakly to keep water moving into his body, but their capacity was halved due to being overstretched. Riku instinctively grasped the hand tugging his hair with both of his to abate this.

“I thought that an atlantian prince would be a bigger challenge. What a disappointment,” clicked Vanitas. “You’re nothing without your Trident and fancy palace. Just a seahorse whose only worth is for breeding.”

The doppelganger moved his free hand to the scales that started below Riku’s navel. The gesture made it clear what he intended to do. A surge of horror and disgust filled the prince at the mere thought of the violation that was intended against him.

In the past it would not have been a big deal. Vanitas looked like Sora, and he knew that the moment they connected, he would enjoy it immensely. However there were real consequences that he ignored in the past that he could not afford to look away from now. This would hurt his family. He would never be able to look at them without feeling his own shame. He would never be able to look at himself without seeing his own weakness. His people, all of Atlantica, would be let down.

For the first time, he realized that this was what Sora had been feeling all this time and why the Trident had given him such a drab tail. They had already apologized to each other for how their relationship started, but only now he felt deep in his heart how powerful his mate’s forgiveness had been.

The prince released the vice-like grip that he had on Vanitas’s wrists. Then he curled his fingers together to bring his claws into tight rows and raked them through the hair that was held hostage by the other’s grasp. The silver strands ripped cleanly from the cut. Water rushed back into his gills as his head returned to its natural position, and he used that first burst of strength to drive both his elbows into the assailant behind him.

Vanitas doubled over and loosened his tail as a result of the blow. Riku escaped upwards, his wake water causing the loose hair and blood to scatter and obscure their vision. “You can’t escape!” clicked the doppelganger as he gave chase through the mess. “Your tail’s mine!”

Suddenly, Vanitas’s rapid ascent was cut short when a golden mer with tiger stripes barreled into him from a 130 degree angle. He was shoved into an outcropping of rocks, where he found himself struggling against the very powerful push of Terra’s body. His gill slits were covered by the siren’s hands, causing him to slowly fall into stasis from lack of water flow. “You’ll pay for this,” he clicked darkly as his consciousness faded.

“Sorry, not sorry,” answered Terra, who remained steadfast in his control of the orca’s body.

Riku swam next to Terra upon seeing that the situation was handled. It was evident that he was still shaken from the attack by the light purple flush to his skin and scales. “I can’t thank you enough,” he sang plaintively. “How did you find me?”

“The nose knows what it knows,” sang a voice from Terra’s seaweed satchel. Nemo tucked his head out with a proud smile. “I can smell you a fathom away.”

“Thankfully it’s not too bad of a smell,” chimed in Aqua. She floated over from where she had been hiding behind some coral in hopes of adding to the surprise attack. “We looked for you as soon as we heard that the light had left Atlantica.” Upon seeing Riku and the state that he was in, she looked taken aback. “Your highness.. your hair.”

As if realizing it for the first time, Riku touched the nape of his neck. Sure enough, the long, silver fall of his hair, a sign of the prince’s pride, had been chopped to just below his head. “It’s nothing,” he sang after a pause. “What matters is that I find Sora and Ven. This mer came to me as I was looking for them. He looked just like Sora before.”

“He still does,” sang Aqua as she beheld the doppelganger. “What kind of magic is this?”

“Definitely from an orca,” chimed in Nemo. “He smells just like one.”

“Can you tell me where Sora and Ventus went?” Riku asked the small clown fish.

Nemo swept some water into his nares to sniff before answering. “Yeah. He went in the direction of the currents. The ones that lead to Noctis.”

“Then that’s where I’ll be going,” sang Riku with determination.

“Not alone,” clicked Aqua with a frown. “There is no way that you can take on all of Noctis’s defenses by yourself.”

“My father will send reinforcements. But right now, I can’t wait. Sora and Ventus are out there and I need to bring them home.”

“I’ll go with you,” offered Nemo. He swam out of Terra’s pouch and went to float by Riku’s shoulder. “Those guys are lucky. A sire that will swim the ocean to look for you - it’s the jelliest thing.”

Riku gave the clown fish a grim smile of thanks. “Terra, please take that orca to my father,” he clicked as he gestured to the unconscious Vanitas. “Explain to him what’s going on.”

“Are you sure that you want our help?” commented Terra. While the others were talking, he was using threaded ropes of kelp to bind Vanitas’s gills so that he stayed tame. “The mers will think that you’re allying with Lumina.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with that,” sang Riku, much to the surprise of the sirens. “If the orcas are finally making their move, then there’s nothing to stop atlantians from doing the same.”

“Finally,” sang Aqua in relief. She took some of Terra’s kelp and mashed it into a pulp, which she used to treat the wound on Riku’s chest. “I’m also going to Noctis,” she announced. At the reproachful look that she got from Terra, she added, “Someone has to make sure that the prince survives this. Besides, since they don’t have vows, Sora won’t have any allies, just foolish friends to swim by him.”

Terra continued to look unhappy, but he knew that he couldn’t fight her stubbornness. “Fine, but I’ll be joining you as soon as I can.”

The two sirens look at Riku, expecting him to say his usual line of not needing help. Instead, the prince smiled, and then his expression turned determined. “Let’s go.”

They took off in the dark waters, heading in the direction of Noctis. They swam at a speedy pace that was full of purpose. As they passed through the kingdom of Atlantica, its denizens recognized the silver tail of their prince. Instead of cowering and hiding like the first time the Trident was stolen, the mer picked up heavy rocks and sharp stones, and followed their liege to the open waters.

By the time they cleared the outskirts of the kingdom, the water churned with the push of hundreds of tails moving in the direction of Noctis. It was an unprecedented gathering of mer that had never been seen before.

“Riku,” sang Aqua in quiet notes. “I think you should say something to them.”

Riku pivoted in the middle of his swim, and was taken aback by the sheer size of the gathering. It rendered him speechless.

“We’re ready to fight alongside you my prince,” sang Namine from the crowd. The voices of a hundred mer chimed in, making the ocean thunder with their song.

“Stop.. stop it please,” sang Riku in dismay. “I don’t deserve any of this. I lived spoiled and selfish. I did what I wanted and I didn’t care about the consequences. My own father threw me out of the palace, and rightfully so. My mistakes caused the mess that we’re in now. I don’t want any of you risking your lives for someone like me.”

“Your majesty,” sang a mer from the crowd. “I watched you claw your own cave with your own hands. You live and hunt in the same waters that we do. You work like an ordinary mer. If that’s a spoiled life, then the rest of us have been spoiled too.”

Agreement swept through the crowd. Riku couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You don’t know what it is that you may be getting yourselves into,” he sang plaintively. “I’m going to Noctis. It’s dangerous there.”

A trio of familiar mer swam ahead of the crowd to chime in.

“The atlantians took us in when we lost our kingdom to the orca,” sang Tidus. “And now the prince has a chosen that looks like us. He won’t even share him!”

“Ya,” added Wakka. “Even though we’re different, we’ve been accepted here. That’s worth fighting for.”

Another wave of agreement went through the mers. Riku flinched as if he’d been burned by the last comment. “You’re wrong. Sora is…”

“He is family,” sang a booming voice. The crowd automatically pulled back and bowed when King Triton arrived on a giant clamshell pulled by two sharks. He was accompanied by his soldiers, and floating next to him was a sight that had not been seen for several cycles.

“Mother?” sang Riku in disbelief.

Indeed, it was Queen Athena. She floated down from her place on the clamshell beside her husband. “My son!” she sang joyfully as she pulled Riku into a tight embrace. “It has been so long!”

“Why are you here?” sang Riku in disbelief. He returned the hug, seemingly dazed by what was going on.

“I came for the turning ceremony of Ventus, but it seems that I got more than I bargained for,” she answered. The queen leaned back so she could examine Riku. Her fingers threaded through his short hair, and a concerned look was given to his wound. “Your father told me about the trouble that you’ve been having. Why didn’t you reach out to me?”

“You were far away,” sang Riku. Even as he said the words, he knew them for the excuse that they were. The real reason was his stubborn pride.

“There is no distance when it comes to family,” she chided Riku. “Hasn’t your father taught you that?”

“Believe me, I tried,” clicked Triton as he joined them.

“Sorry,” sang Riku sheepishly. “I was being a hammerhead about a lot of things.”

“We’re not going to have a decent turning ceremony if we just float around,” sang Triton. “Let’s go get our grandson and his carrier.”

A song of triumph swept through the gathered masses and the soldiers. Then they resumed their steady swim to the kingdom of Noctis.

{{———————————————–}}

  The orca were expecting some sort of retaliation from the atlantians since they now possessed the Trident. Their sentries were on high alert as they patrolled the waters and waited for the inevitable invasion.

They expected soldiers. What they didn’t expect was an entire kingdom to come bearing down on them in a school of moving tails, fresh from the fast currents. Triton and Athena each headed a battalion that split the horde of atlantians and their allies into two groups that flooded the valley of the orca from opposite sides, forcing their enemy to fight on two fronts. The water roiled with the sound of weapons clashing and tail fins slapping, all while a song of battle echoed endlessly.

Riku’s only concern was finding Sora and Ventus. Nemo swam quickly to lead the prince and Aqua to the serpent-shaped palace entrance, which had been sealed shut with a giant boulder. While the soldiers fought, he planted his claws into the hard rock and tried to pull it upwards. Upon seeing this, several atlantians gathered around to help with this task.

“We’ll help too, prince!”

Riku baulked as Splash and her pod descended from the blackness above. The mers wasted no time creating makeshift harnesses out of sea girdle for them. They speared the stubborn rock with their weapons and used them as anchors for triple threaded lines of kelp that they attached to the dolphins.

“Why are you here?” sang the prince to the unexpected reinforcements, completely dumbfounded.

“Do you think we never listened for you for you after you stopped visiting?” countered Splash. “Distance doesn’t destroy friendships. Are you going to disagree with that, you naughty mer?”

“No,” sang Riku with a shake of his head and a warm smile. “I won’t say that.”

Once the dolphins were latched to the boulder, they generated an upwards force with their swim bladders and tails while the mers also pulled. Slowly, the rock budged upwards, billowing a red cloud of sand in its wake. They didn’t stop until it was completely extracted and flipped onto its side, granting them the complete freedom to storm the underground palace.

Waiting inside were orcan soldiers. The waters filled with blood as the armies clashed like rival anemones fighting for territory. Riku and Aqua fought fin to fin as they pushed their way through and rushed through the labyrinth with Nemo leading the way.

“We’re almost there, I can smell them!” clicked Nemo. He didn’t stop swimming until they arrived at an enormous throne room. When the mer emerged behind him, they were aghast at the sheer amount of bones that littered the floor.

“Is that…” sang Aqua, hardly daring to describe out loud what she was seeing.

“Humans!” sang a voice from above. Braig was floating towards the ceiling, grinning as if he was thoroughly enjoying all of this. His uncovered eye glowed in gold as he beheld the intruders. “They were really tasty. But you already know this, right Riku?”

“Where’s Sora!” demanded the prince.

Nemo cowered behind Aqua upon the arrival of the orca. The mermaid held her sword in a protective way and scanned the chamber for any enemies. She saw movement underneath the bones. “Riku!”

The prince rolled his body to the side just as the remains exploded upwards. A black figure filled with spines and sharp scales rose up, moving as sinuous as an eel. A note mixed with alarm and dismay pealed out of Aqua.

“I gotta tell ya, I’ve never seen such a horrible case of Instinct in my life until I met this weird mer,” sang Braig with a grin. “Talk about ugly.”

It was Sora, but he no longer appeared as he did before. His body was so black that he was like a shadow. There was no sign that he recognized his friends. Instead, he rolled through the water with his fins spread out and sharp claws exposed in warning.

“Sora!” sang Riku with shock. This wasn’t the first time that he saw his mate in this shape, but what he didn’t understand was how this could happen. Sora was not carrying anymore, so there was no reason for him to transform.

“I think you better give up on your human,” suggested Braig. “The only thing he wants to do is eat and scratch things now. You’re better off having a pet sponge.”

“Shut up!” clicked Aqua. “How could you do this to our friend!”

“This is my fault,” sang Riku. “I brought him into this world. I turned him into this. But no more.” He gave Sora a determined look. “I won’t let you stay in this nightmare.” The prince released his sword, allowing it to float away. Then he spread his arms out in a peaceful gesture. “When you’re done being an urchin, come back to me.”

Riku was answered with a hiss from Sora. He shot towards the prince like a black arrow, fangs and claws bared. Instead of banking away to avoid it, the prince maintained his float and caught his chosen in his arms. His was immediately flayed by all those sharp edges, which mercilessly trashed against his tail fin and tore gashes into his flesh.

“No!” protested Aqua. Braig’s laughter caught her attention, and she swam towards him with her weapon in hopes of permanently shutting him up. Unfortunately the orca wasn’t easy prey, and he kept his distance from the mermaid while antagonizing her.

Meanwhile, Riku sank into the bone pile with Sora, which gave way and swallowed them up. He could feel his mate’s heart thundering and skipping beats. His chosen hissed like a wild animal and flailed against him. The prince kept his bleeding tail wrapped around the other’s to prevent him from escaping.

“It’s alright,” he sang quietly to his human. “It doesn’t matter what you look like. I still love you.”

The prince’s body vibrated with a sincere song of simple love. As if mesmerized by it, Sora stopped squirming. His gills flapped fast and hard as it struggled to meet the demand of the breakneck pace of his heart.

Riku nuzzled his mate’s face and took his lips in a kiss. Sora’s reaction was to solidly bite, and for several tense moments, they were locked in a painful embrace. Then by degrees, his jaw slackened, and the prince’s tongue went inside.

High above the bone field, Aqua was doing her best to defeat Braig. The orca had a crossbow fashioned from human bones and the tendrils of a jellyfish, and he kept the distance between them by using this weapon to send urchin spikes hurtling in the mermaid’s direction. Every time they made contact, she could feel the sharp sting of poison entering her body.

“Give it up,” clicked Braig. “No one cares about your sappy little kingdom. You’ve been whoring yourself out to the prince for nothing. At the end of the day, he only cares about his human.”

“Heh. At one time I would have agreed with you,” sang Aqua. She favored her left shoulder, which was burning from a spike that managed to embed into her skin. “But not anymore. He wouldn’t have so many friends now otherwise. Definitely more friends than you!”

“Friends? Give me a break. What good are they for?”

“Everything,” sang the prince’s voice. Aqua and Braig looked down, and saw a badly damaged Riku clawing his way up through the bones. He was pulling a semi-conscious Sora out of the pile, whose body was slowly turning purple as it faded back to its normal colors.

“How did you get the arum seed out of him?” asked Braig with an arched brow. “Not that it matters. If you touched it, then you’re as poisoned as he is.”

Riku managed to pull Sora completely free before losing the ability to move his tail. His pallor was turning pale as the effects of the arum seed that he pulled from his mate’s throat made themselves known.

“Now that we have incapacitated the prince, it’s time that we put an end to this battle,” sang a new voice. A figure detached itself from the shadows of the high throne, revealing itself to be Xehanort. The Trident was floating behind him, its glow completely muted behind a wall of darkness.

“Your aim was to claim the Trident for your own,” hissed Aqua. “But it will never happen. Only the royal blood of an atlantian can wield it.”

“This is true, but that is no matter. There is more than one way to conquer a kingdom. I can wait until the prince and an orca are seeded, or he can obey my commands now. Either way, I am a patient mer.”

“I would never.. do any of those things…!” seethed Riku angrily, his notes halted by the poison.

“You will,” sang Xehanort ominously. He raised his hand upwards, and a red glow gathered into his palm. Immediately, all of Noctis began to rumble. The mers that were battling outside were completely taken by surprise. The ground glowed red, and then plumes of lava shot upwards, destroying homes and melting rocks. Everyone scattered away in hopes of not being burned, some not so lucky as they were scalded by the unexpected attack.

Even the throne room became superheated as lava flow came drifting over the bones. It was all Riku could do to raise himself and Sora off the ground before they became victims of it. The cavern shook from the pressure, and pieces of rocks came raining down, some coming dangerously close to smashing Braig.

“Are you insane?!” hissed Aqua. “You’ll crush your own people!”

“The people are replaceable. It’s the lineage that matters,” sang Xehanort. “Even the Trident knows this truth. Otherwise, anyone could wield it. Now prince Riku. Are you ready to obey?”

Riku looked down at the listless Sora. He thought of all the mer that fought by his side today, and even those who tried to help him when he was at his worst, like Sebastian, Flounder, Splash and Namine. He thought of his son and the future he would have.

Finding his own happiness never crossed his mind. In that moment, what mattered was the world in front of him, and how he would fashion it for everyone.

“The Trident has its own truth,” sang Riku. Then he turned his gaze up and raised his hand. Instantly, the weapon jolted as if something invisible had just yanked it.

“You’re not allowed to have that yet,” clicked Xehanort. He stretched his own hand to the Trident and used his power to keep it at bay. Black lightening crackled from his hands to surround the weapon and keep it firmly locked away.

Riku continued to try calling to the Trident, his hands shaking with weakness. Then he felt a touch to his shoulder, and he looked down to see Sora gazing back at him.

“For Ventus,” sang his chosen. Sora placed his hand on Riku’s wrist to help steady it. Instantly, a fork of blue lightning lanced from the the Trident to connect to the prince’s fingers. The weapon surged past the barrier of darkness, which clung to it like an ugly piece of tar that stretched back to Xehanort. It was caught in the tug of war between its rightful owner and the one that coveted it’s power.

The backwash of power sent Aqua and Braig flying backwards. They became helplessly plastered to the walls as the wake waters pushed against them.

“For everyone,” sang Riku.

The Trident resonated strongly with the prince’s desire, and it finally broke free of Xehanort’s hold and flew soundly into the waiting hand of the atlantian. It’s velocity was so great that it dragged Sora and Riku back a few feet once it was caught.

When Riku grasped the weapon, the world vanished around him. He suddenly found himself in clear waters that were dyed with golden reflections, as if he had swam to a heavenly ocean. A voice spoke to him.

  What is your desire.

The answer came easily for Riku.

The Trident hummed, its music all encompassing and beautiful.

It granted Riku’s wish.

To be continued.
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