Post by Drake on Jan 25, 2014 15:57:54 GMT -5
Ultimate Aquaman #12: Interlude
By Drake
Arthur floated down quickly into his bed. The furniture squished under him, as if it was made of seaweed. Hell, maybe it was. Arthur heaved a loud bubbling sigh as he stared up at the ceiling, arms hiding his eyes from the light.
This was it. His only sight. That weird pink-scaled ceiling was the only ceiling to the only bedroom he’d ever see again. Arthur was lost down here, alone in a country at war…and he was now a part of that war.
Tears floated out of Arthur’s eyes and drifted with the slight ocean current in the room. All this time, he’d never really had an opportunity to slow down and think over his circumstances. Now, time was all he had. Freedom was practically nonexistent, and hope dimmed ever quickly in Arthur’s heart. Orm was dangerous and should not be double-crossed. What was it that guard had said? If you knew what the King was capable of, you’d fear him too.
Orm couldn’t defeat Ocean Master alone, so why was he so scary? Unless…unless he wasn’t giving it his all, but why would he do that?
Arthur shrugged the thoughts away. He was just trying to distract himself now from the fact that he was alone, and that more than likely he would never see his father, Jenna or Brian again. Brian…Arthur wondered if he was a soldier now, and if he’d been in battle like Arthur, if he’d killed or been shot and…
No! Arthur could not bear to think about that now. He needed to focus on the situation at hand. Arthur wiped the salty tears around his eyes away. He was a fighter. In his senior year, the game against Barnaby High, who had carried back the team to victory? Arthur had. Who had refused to give up on physics even when the teacher hated him, and managed to pull off a B+? Arthur had. That was what he needed now. Not tears, not weakness, but his fighting spirit.
Arthur was nowhere near done. He would go back to the surface. He would find out the truth about his past and make amends with Orm. And…and he would see Jenna again, and he would not waste a moment to tell her how much he cared about her.
Carpe diem. Seize the day. Arthur planned to do just that, again and again, until he had won, and nobody, not Orm, not the Ocean Master, not that beautiful, scary Mera would stop him.
---A---
“Jenna?”
Jenna DeMarco shrugged herself out of her dazed state, and responded softly, “Yeah, I’m still here.”
“Honey, listen to me, everything is going to be alright. You don’t need to worry about Arthur…just…focus on your schoolwork. He will be back eventually. Arthur wouldn’t just leave us,” Thomas Curry spoke over the phone, all the way from Amnesty Bay.
“Ri…right. Thank you, Mr. Curry,” Jenna stuttered.
“Tom. Please call me Tom. And feel free to call anytime. I…I know this is hard and…”
Jenna hung up the phone before Thomas could finish his sentence. Going to him had been a mistake. Now she’d just added another horrible thing onto his plate alongside dealing with the grueling hours and horrifying problems that came with…
“Channel 52 News reporting live from Amnesty Bay, Maine, where people are being evacuated ahead of the now-designated super storm, Hurricane Robert. Reports are coming in about this unusual storm…”
Jenna tried to ignore the TV as it blared out over her dorm’s commons. The TV was driving her crazy, but she wouldn’t…couldn’t move. When she was alone, away from other people, Jenna had been unable to do anything but cry or sit still, huddled under her covers. Arthur had been missing for almost a week now, just about as long as Hurricane Robert had come into existence. It had surprised everyone. Newscasters claimed they had never seen a more sudden or powerful storm in their life. Jenna just couldn’t shake the thought that the storm and Arthur’s disappearance were connected, and that Arthur was in horrible danger, but there was nothing she could so.
Jenna was helpless. She didn’t have powers like Arthur. She wasn’t the bravest, or strongest individual alive. She was just an ordinary person. A weak, helpless ordinary person. And she hated herself for it.
Arthur could be dead, or worse, captured by God-knows-what, and nothing on this Earth could save him. If Jenna only knew where he was…and with who he’d been taken. Was it that damn Indian girl and some of her hippy friends or…or something much worse?
---A---
Clang, clang.
Armor and weapons clattered to the rough seastone ground as the orange-clad rebel warriors heaped onto the ground in groups. The injured cried out psychically in pain as their brothers and sisters tried to mend their wounds. This was what Orm’s rule had created: weak, broken men and women unable to do more than die for nothing.
Ocean Master looked solemnly out over his comrades. He loved them all, each and every one, but there was nothing he could do to save them. Orm was coming, Ocean Master was sure of that. He’d incited war within Atlantis. Civil War. Their rebellion was failing, simmering out like a fire without oxygen. They needed oxygen. They needed hope. Ocean Master had found that hope.
<Sir…> Mera requested Ocean Master’s attention. The older man turned to the young warrior.
<Mera, please, call me by my name,> Ocean Master requested.
<Yes, sir,> Mera replied. Ocean Master let the subject die. <The report has come in. We lost one fourth of our army in the battle.>
Ocean Master sighed, bubbles trickling out of the gills behind his ears, <May Poseidon let their souls rest in the afterlife…>
<But there is good news,> Mera admitted, <Lord Alpa has responded. The Mermen will join forces with us.>
<Good, good,> Ocean Master stared back out over his weakened army, eyes somber.
<You do not look pleased, sir,> Mera inquired.
<I told you to call me by my name,> Ocean Master responded, <And I am not…well. The spark is dimming, Mera. The rebellion needs a new hope…I believe I have found it.> Ocean Master slowly took his helmet off of his head, exposing his ashen, pale face and his bald head and bristly brown beard. He took a deep breath.
<Sir…I mean…> Mera asked.
<Mera, do you remember that young Poseidonesian soldier who fought alongside Orm?> Ocean Master asked.
<You don’t mean…?> Mera stammered.
<I have a mission for you, Mera,> Ocean Master looked the redhead in the eyes.
Mera nodded her head, her seagreen eyes staring knowingly back at Ocean Master.
<Whatever you wish…Vulko.>
---A---
Arthur was rather rudely awakened from his slumber by a loud knocking on his door.
<Come in,> Arthur projected. The door opened up to expose Garth, who was dressed in his usual red and green clothing. <Garth! It’s good to see you!>
<Yes…> Garth would not meet Arthur’s gaze, <But…Arthur, I am not here for pleasantries. King Orm requested me specifically to escort you to the Conservatory of War.>
<What?> Arthur asked, confused.
<It is…> Garth struggled to find the right word, <A place to teach you to fight, and the ways and customs of Atlantis.>
<You mean it’s…> Arthur couldn’t believe it. The one comforting thought he’d had down here was that not once, not ever again, would he have to go to…
<SCHOOL?!>
A/N: Next time, things heat up as Aquaman marches towards WAR GAMES!
Also, I’ll have a new separating image to replace the crude ‘A’ I'm using right now.