Sea Star - Orm Marius

Antarctica - 2022

"Arthur!"

Arthur caught the weapon, shouted something at Kordax in Hawaiian, and launched his trident at him.

It was a direct hit! Arthur's trident speared right through the Black Trident, breaking it and piercing Kordax through the chest.

"YES!" cheered Claudia. 

Now with its demonic ruler gone, the whole of Necrus started to fall - literally. They were thrown off balance as the whole kingdom began to cave in - it felt like an earthquake. 

Manta was also stumbling to his feet, not so strong and powerful now without Kordax's help.

"You-" Claudia approached him, fist raised, but Arthur stopped her.

"Just leave him. It's not worth it."

CRACK!

Another great shift - the ground started splitting, the ceiling falling from above. Manta fell into one of the cracks, Arthur kneeling down to try to help him. 

"Arthur, we have to go, the magic is broken!" called Orm.

"You think!" Claudia screeched. "The freaking sky is falling!"

Arthur stood - Manta was gone. 

With that they fled. 

"You should have left!" Arthur told her as they ran.

"And leave you two idiots to yourselves? Nope!"

The city crumbling rapidly behind them, the three dove off the side of the bridge. Claudia re-activated her helmet just as they hit  the water. 

But they weren't safe yet - bits of ice and stone plunged into the water all around them, as though to trap them, and would strike them if they weren't careful. And not only that, but she was falling behind again.

"Squirt!" called Arthur. 

"I'm okay!" she lied. 

"Claudia-" Orm grabbed her hand and took off, taking her with him. 

"Whoa!" It kinda felt like her arm would come right out of the socket, but she was moving a lot faster now. She gripped his hand tightly, afraid she would lose hold of it as they pushed faster. 

Something sped past them in the water. "Whaaa!"

"Blup blup!"

It was Topo, riding Storm.

"No way-" Her face lit up.  "Sea horse! Cephalopod!"

Topo reached out three tentacles towards them and they each took hold of one - Claudia didn't let go of Orm's hand and he didn't let go of hers. 

"Whaaa!" said Storm.

"Huh?"

"Get on his back!" Arthur translated.

No sooner had they hopped onto the horse's back did he leap out of the water.

"Jump!"

At Arthur's word, they jumped too, and leapt off Storm's back - and onto the ice berg where Mera, Junior, Dr. Shin and Mera's father appeared to be waiting for them. 

"My love," Arthur said, rushing to Mera and Junior as soon as they landed. "Hi Baby Boy!"

Mera looked to Claudia. "You nearly got yourself killed."

"You're such a mom now." But she nodded. "But I did the right thing."

Mera smirked.  "Clearly."

That as when Claudia realized she was still holding Orm's hand. Both appeared to realize this at the same time, shared a look, and dropped hands. 

Their reunion - and any further awkwardness, thankfully - was cut short and broken by the arrival of the Brine King.  "All here looking in tact, that's good, that's good. Well I'm not! My claw got cut off - again!" He held up said claw. 

"I still can't get over this guy," she muttered. 

"You're one tough crustacean Your Highness," Mera's father told him.  

Arthur turned to Orm.  "As far as I'm concerned, your debt is paid. I'm afraid not everybody's going to see it that way though." He paused, then said, "It's too bad you went and got yourself killed back there."

"Yes," agreed Mera, playing along. "All this ice, it would be impossible to find a body."

"Yeah, he really proved himself in the end," Claudia added.

"He sure did." Arthur turned to the surprised Orm. "Just lay low for a while - or at least try to. But don't go too far - I may need to call you up for some advice, you know, with the whole running the kingdom thing." 

Omr appeared shocked speechless. Finally, it wore off.  "Thank you - Brother."

Arthur held out his hand, and Orm clasped his wrist. 

 "As for advice: you're not as bad at this as you think you are. The people of Atlantis are lucky to have you. You are everything I was not: you do the right thing when doing the wrong thing is much easier, and you're willing to ask for help, even from your worst enemy. I know it may not feel like you know what you're doing sometimes, but kept trusting your instincts. And you're surrounded by good people, family-" He looked at her. "-Friends. If you lead, Atlantis will follow."

Arthur nodded, impressed. "That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"After all, a true king builds bridges, right?"

"I thought that was just a metaphor."

"Well, your metaphor might have just saved the world's ass."

"Yeah it did!" she cheered. 

Now he turned to her.  "I am very sorry, Claudia, about hurting you."

"Well you weren't exactly yourself."

"And I was wrong: you were very helpful."

"Thanks. You're not so bad yourself. I meant it, you really did prove yourself."

He extended his hand, ready to clasp wrists with her like he had with Arthur. 

"Aw, come here-" She grabbed his wrist and instead pulled him into a hug. "Stay safe." 

"You as well." And with one last smile - yes, a smile, and a very nice smile at that - he dove off the berg and disappeared into the icy water below. 

A comfortable silence followed. Claudia broke it. 

"Fuck it's cold." 

(Claudia is a mood, haha! ;) 

One last chapter - we'll see you there! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))