Interning on the Aronnax

The Other Ant

: Thank you all for your patience! My absence wasn't in vain. Even though I had no desire to write, I was still plotting like mad, so I was able to finalize details and fill in a huge plot hole that I was originally going to ignore and hope no one asked. 'XD

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The search into the Blue Hole started well enough. Fontaine and Kaiko quickly discovered a Lazarus species and focused on it, while Ant and Will dove deeper to check a series of tunnels Ant had noticed.

However, it very quickly turned into a crash dive.

Ant had stumbled across a... second Ant. Fontaine would have thought her brother had nitrogen on the brain if Will hadn't glimpsed it -him?- too! The other Ant had swam quickly into another tunnel, so Ant and Will had pursued him. Very quickly, the other Ant had vanished, but had also led Will and Ant to an amazing discovery.

"A Lemurian symbol?" Kaiko repeated.

Fontaine looked at Nereus, who sat in his rowboat beside the Rover. "So that's why the Guardians cared so much."

Nereus just shrugged with a half smile. Fontaine rolled her eyes and turned back to the water.

While preparing for the dive, Nereus had "remembered" something from the Chronicle. A mysterious section had circled a drawing of an eye with a seeming warning that "the abyss stares back." Will had thought the warning referred to a statue or carving of an eye, but...

"The warning from the Chronicle, was it about Ant?" Fontaine asked.

"Could it be?" Ant asked.

"I was joking, Ant. I doubt it's really a second Ant. One's enough. But if you think he looked like you..."

"He's me, o-or someone like me? Mum, was I adopted?"

"No, you weren't," Kaiko said, smiling pensively.

"They say everyone in the world has a twin," Fontaine said.

"And my twin's a mermaid!" Ant breathed.

"Nereus, do you recognize this rune?" Will asked, ignoring Ant.

Nereus stood so he could see the rune on the Rover's screen when Will angled his comm toward it. "It's the same warning as in the Chronicle."

"Will, Ant, back to the Rover," Kaiko said.

"There!" Ant exclaimed. "I saw the other Ant!"

"Where?" Will asked.

"There's a little side tunnel..."

Ant's comm moved to a hidden tunnel to the side of the cave. Ant shined his flashlight inside, revealing a long, narrow tunnel.

"It's too small," Will said.

"I should fit," Ant said. "The other me did!"

"No," Will said. "We're getting out of here now."

"But-"

"You have an ancient warning over your head, Ant!" Fontaine said, leaning over the edge of the Rover. "If you don't get out here, I'm swimming down and dragging you out!" Fontaine noticed Kaiko staring at her. "What?"

"Your eyes."

Fontaine glared at her reflection in the water. "Nereus, is there a way to stop the glowing?"

"Not that I have read," Nereus said.

"Great," Fontaine said. "But I will come down there, Ant!"

"Okay, okay, we're coming," Ant said, sounding disappointed.

"Maybe you should wait on the Aronnax," Kaiko suggested.

Fontaine shook her head. "I feel fine, Mum. It's Ant you should worry about."

"Or Jeffrey!" Ant piped up. "We still haven't found him!"

"Maybe he went back to the Aronnax," Fontaine said. "He has the right idea, actually."

"I still want to investigate the tunnels," Kaiko said. "There's something going on here."

Fontaine leaned her chin on her hand, watching the glow of her eyes fade in her reflection. "We're going to get eaten, aren't we?"

"I just hope we see more mermaids first!" Ant said cheerfully.

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A/N: I have two more chapters for Monday and Wednesday!