"Dalton, wake up. Can you hear me? Dalton!"

It was like coming back to the surface after being so far under water you could no longer see the sun.

The voice was a target, something to focus on as he stumbled out of his unconsciousness, unpicking the threads of sleep that were sewn into him.

"Dalton, are you alright?"

He moaned, a hand going to his head. He felt like he'd drank a banquet's worth of alcohol, which he knew he hadn't.

There had been no banquet recently and he had enough people whose company he did not mind around him that there would be no need to drink himself into a stupor.

God, it would make a nice change to attend a banquet with people like Kazimir and Aeralie, to actually have a decent conversation.

Kazimir...

His eyes flew open in a panic and Cole grabbed his shoulders before he could sit bolt upright.

"Easy," Cole stressed, holding him down, "You may have hit your head. What happened? Everyone was in a dead faint."

"The king," Dalton choked out, "he's got some sort of power. He made us fall asleep."

"Power? What power? What are you talking about?" Cole asked, staring at him.

Dalton shoved him aside and sat up, his head spinning as he looked around the hall through blurred eyes.

Next to him, Perry was holding Aeralie in his arms, his hand against her cheek, saying something too low for him to catch.

Aeralie's eyes flickered and opened, looking up at Perry in surprise.

In the middle of the hall, Icadora was slowly sitting up, his hand to her head, looking sick and weak.

The queen wasn't there anymore.

Neither was the king.

Dalton's eyes slowly widened as he looked around the hall again.

Kazimir wasn't there.

All three of them had vanished.

"Where is he?" Dalton cried, pushing off the floor, stumbling and grabbing Cole's shoulder to balance himself.

"What?" Cole asked, still crouched on the floor, looking up at him.

"Kazimir! Where is he?!"

Icadora looked up at his voice, as did Aeralie, before they both looked around, horror dawning in their faces.

Kazimir wasn't in the hall.

He was gone. He wasn't there!

"Where is he?!" Dalton cried, turning on Cole as if he had the answers.

"I... didn't know he was here," Cole said, staring before looking back at Perry.

"What are you doing back here? I thought you had left?" Perry said, looking at Aeralie.

"We had," Aeralie said, sitting up, "We left last night but we realised something and had to come back."

"Something? Did you forget something?" Perry asked.

Aeralie almost laughed. "Not exactly," she said, slowly getting to her feet, Perry helping her. "We figured out that Kazimir was Dalton's twin brother," she said as she passed, moving over to Icadora, kneeling beside her to check on her condition.

Perry and Cole were silent for a moment, then looked as one at Dalton.

"I'm sorry," Cole said, getting to his feet, "I think I misheard. You have a twin?"

"Apparently," Dalton said.

Cole just stared at him. "I'm in love with your twin?" he said.

"I don't think that's the important bit right now," Dalton snapped, frowning at him.

"I think it's important," Cole said, "Since when did you have a brother?!"

"You think that's surprising. Did you know I have a mother?"

"Who doesn't?"

"I didn't have one still breathing until Icadora walked in," Dalton said, pointing at Icadora.

Cole and Perry looked around and Perry drew in a gasp so sharp he choked on it.

"Oh god, Icadora? The exiled princess?" he cried through his coughing. "That's your mother?"

"You know her?" Dalton said, stunned.

"I know of her. Of course. Do you?"

"I know a lot more than I did last night. About her and myself."

"Wait, who is she? A princess?" Cole asked.

"She's a mermaid," Perry said as if saying such a thing was the most natural thing in the world, "Icadora, The Fallen Princess. She was exiled though it was never clear why. I didn't realise she was even still alive. My god, Dalton, you're a merman?"

"Apparently only half."

"You didn't know this? How could you not know this?!"

"Something to do with a Heart. The queen has it and—"

"Queen Elaina has your Heart?" Perry cried, horrified.

"So I didn't know. I guess I couldn't transform or—"

"Hold up!" Cole snapped, getting between them, making them look at him as he looked back at them. "First things first. What? Let me see if I have this. You have a twin brother. Your mother is very much alive and an exiled princess... and you're a merman?"

"So it seems," Dalton said.

Cole stared at him for a long, long moment, then looked at Perry. "Did I smoke something I shouldn't have, last night?" he asked, "You shouldn't let me do that; you know I hate all that filth."

"You didn't smoke anything," Perry said, "You just got drunk over Kazimir and went to sleep."

"Am I that hung over? I think my best friend just told me he's a merman."

"You're not hung over or drunk or high or anything else," Perry said, frowning at him, "You're in the presence of one of the most powerful mermaids to ever have existed and her son. Not only them, but you stand before Princess Aeralie, daughter of The King of The Sea – and the reason behind the sinking of hundreds of ships." He looked around. "You should also be in the presence of Dalton's brother, Kazimir, a merman of undermined power and the man you're in love with... and yet he's not here."

He looked at Dalton again.

"What happened?"

"I don't know," Dalton said, "Dago and Icadora were fighting. Kazimir had been knocked out and Aeralie and I were with him but when we turned around, Icadora was on the floor. Then Aeralie fell over. My father spoke about merfolk having powers and that I should have some... and then I collapsed."

"Kazimir."

Everyone looked at Icadora as she looked around the hall.

"Dago swallowed his power," she said, her eyes wide and pained as she looked back at them. "He swapped his power for Aeralie's legs, it was contained within a locket and Dago got hold of it. He swallowed it. He has Kazimir's power and—"

A sudden horror filled her face as her hands flew to her mouth.

"He has Dalton's too," she gasped, staring at her second son.

"What?" Dalton said.

"I thought you died at birth," Icadora said, staring at him, "As soon as I returned to my home, I cast a spell that transferred your more powerful gifts into Kazimir. I feared Dago would somehow learn how to extract your power and I couldn't let that happen. The powers don't belong to Kazimir, he was just keeping them safe, he had no access to them. But that protection can't last around someone else, the spell isn't designed like that; I never thought anyone would ever take Kazimir's powers. If Dago learns how to control the skills of two powerful merfolk..."

Her face went so pale she looked like she would faint.

"Where is Kazimir?"

Cole was the one who voiced the question.

If he was still stunned by the prospect of learning mythical creatures existed and his best friend was one of them, he didn't show it anymore.

His eyes were dark, his expression set and cold as he looked between the others.

"Where is Kazimir?" he asked again, "If he was here when you collapsed, where is he now? Where is the king? Where is the queen?"

Dalton stared at him for a moment, then raced across the hall and hurled the doors open, scaring the servants beyond.

"Where is my father?!"

"You're awake," a manservant gasped with relief, "Oh thank goodness."

"What happened? Where is the king?!"

"He left," a maid said, hurrying forwards, "Forgive us for leaving you there."

"Left? What happened?!"

"He came out and told us to put the queen to her bed but leave the rest of you on the floor. He then collected the boy, Master Kazimir and took him away."

"Away? Away where?!"

The servants glanced at each other.

"To the sea, Sire," the manservant muttered, "He ordered for his ship to not be put to dock within the city and for his crew to be called. They set sail over an hour ago. I cannot say where they were going."

Dalton stared before slowly looking up towards the high, arching windows above, watching the rolling storm clouds that had formed coil across the black sky.

"The sea?" he whispered, his voice weak, "But a storm is coming. Another War Tide will hit tonight. He'll sink if he..."

He looked back at Icadora.

"If he learns how to control Kazimir's power, he won't sink," she said, her voice weak.

Dalton stood still and silent for a moment before slowly moving back, staring at her, sinking to the floor as he stared at the ground.

His father had gone to sea.

For whatever reason, he had taken Kazimir with him.

He didn't know why. Frankly, it didn't matter.

There were far worse things than that to contend with.

If Kazimir was truly as powerful as Icadora said... if his father possessed that... if he could command the sea as he had said...

He could change the world.

He could make kingdoms fall before him if he wanted. Navies could be sunk, land could be flooded. People could be charmed into doing the indescribable.

He had no idea what power Kazimir possessed.

He had no idea what power he was supposed to possess.

But he could sense it, in his stomach, in his heart, in his head.

He could sense the direction the fate his world had just turned to.

His father would do it. He would delight in the fall of kingdoms. The possession of humans. The command of the sea.

He would do it... just because he could...

He looked helplessly at his mother.

"What do we do?" he asked.

"We do nothing," Aeralie said, getting to her feet. She looked at her aunt. "You and I need to go. These people are humans or close enough. Cole is just a man. Dalton is no better. Perry... whatever you are, can you help us?"

Perry winced at the question. "I..."

"No," Cole said, glancing at him then back at Aeralie, "We have rules that he is to obey. He can't interfere with the course of the world."

"I understand," Aeralie said before looking back at her aunt. "But we have to go. We need to return to my parents, my father can help us. He has to."

"I can't," Icadora said, "I can't turn you back into your mermaid form. Kazimir's power is the other half of the deal and I cannot access the power. You can only transform back when his power is returned to him."

Aeralie just barely hid her utter horror and fright at the idea that she might never get her tail back before taking a breath.

"Alright, then you return. You go back, find my father, bring him back."

"Can't you call him here through his thoughts?" Perry asked.

"Not the king," Aeralie said, shaking her head, "It's designed that one cannot touch the thoughts of the king and queen – it's supposed to stop their decisions being influenced by others, it's stupid, but even if we could we're much too far away. So you have to go back. You're a liability while Dago has command of your heart. You go back and... I have to somehow catch up to the king's ship."

"How?" Dalton said, "The king's ship is the fastest in the kingdom, none of our others can even hope to catch up."

"We'll take you."

Aeralie and Dalton looked at Cole as he looked up at the storm filled windows.

"No. We can't drag you into this," Aeralie said.

Cole looked at her, then grinned. "I don't think you have a choice. There are only two other ships in the world that can match the Santiago in speed. You want to catch up to Kazimir; you take that ship. Of course, only my crew are allowed to touch my girl, we'll just have to come with you."

"The Santiago could be destroyed," Dalton snapped, getting to his feet, "This isn't a joke, the War Tides are close, a storm is approaching. The king could sink us! You can't get involved."

"You're not the only ones who want to get Kazimir back," Cole said simply before looking at Perry. "Gather the crew, we're setting out early. You can spirit away."

"We'll be ready in fifteen," Perry said and simply blinked out of sight.

The others stared at where he had stood.

"Fifteen? Minutes?" Dalton said, still gaping at the spot Perry should have been.

"We were on our way out, as it was," Cole said, "The ship is almost ready, my men were just collecting the last supplies. I had planned to miss the War Tide, I just came back to say goodbye to you and, hopefully, Kazimir before I set out."

"Why the sudden decision to leave?" Aeralie asked, looking at him.

Cole smiled slightly. "Kazimir was leaving," he said simply. "Can I ask by the way, how come you suddenly have a voice."

"Long story, for later," Aeralie said.

"What happened to Perry?" Dalton asked.

"He has his own set of tricks," Cole said, "He can't use the powerful ones. He can't interfere with mortals. But he can do little things."

As he spoke, he pulled a golden pocket watch from his breast pocket and clicked it open, looking at it.

"It will take us long enough to get down to the ship. We should go," he said, snapping the watch shut, "Let us hope the wind is favourable to us in this storm."

~~~~

Next up: Thursday

Art By: Assassin's Creed Art 

I'm so glad I wrote this chapter in advance because I'm too shattered to handle all this atm!

One Piece has left me distraught!!!!!!

I'm around the 500 episode mark - the end of the Whitebeard War for people who watch it and if you've passed that bit, you KNOW what I'm talking about!!!!

LIKE WHY?!!!! I'M EMOTIONALLY DEVASTATED RIGHT NOW!!!!

I LIKE THAT CHARACTER

NO, I LOVE THAT CHARACTER

WHY?!!!!

WHY WOULD ODA DOOO THAT? 

WHY ARE WRITERS SO DAMN CRUEL!!!!

Freaking hell, I hate being on the receiving end of this emotional BS -.- It's not as fun as being the cause. 

Oh and don't you start on about how I'm just as bad, my best friend has already informed me of that.

Seriously, I get choked up every time I think about it. 

*CRIES HYSTERICALLY*