Atlantis

Chapter 6

"...But Cyrus...I was only gone for an hour!" Hera argued, exasperated.
"An hour and six minutes." Cyrus fired back. "And you never even told me."
Hera rolled her eyes. She loved Cyrus but his overprotectiveness was a literal pain. She gets a headache every time he goes on a spiel about "Stranger Danger" or looking both ways before crossing the current.
"Dad." She said simply. "I'm okay. I'm here now. And I have something...or...someone...to show you."
Cyrus's stomach dropped.
"...someone...?"

"Yes, someone." Hera responded.

Please don't be a boy. Please don't be a boy. Please, oh, please don't be a boy.
Thought Cyrus.

And then Vik turned the corner.

"Shit." Cyrus mumbled, probably a bit too loudly.

"Um...hi." Vik greeted, warily extending an arm out to shake hands with Hera's adoptive single parent. "I'm Vikram. But I go by Vik."

"Hello." Was all Cyrus could say.

This guy didn't look like too much of a scumbag. But still. He was a boy. And that's enough.

"So...in case you hadn't noticed, Cyrus," Hera jumped in before things could get too awkward. "My friend, Vik here is a Human."

Cyrus looked down and gasped. He hadn't noticed that part.

"...you...y-you...how...Hera." Cyrus stammered.

"Dad, he's not like the others. I know that." Hera defended.

"Do you?"

"Yes, I do."

"But you don't really. What if he turns his back on you and you end up like--"

"--He knew Gina."

Cyrus fell silent. He turned to Vik.

"What...what do you know about her?"

Vik blushed in embarrassment and shame.

"Well, I...I don't know anything...I was only three when she was killed. But...I was there. I saw it happen. I remember it vividly. So the only finite details I know are about that night."

"That's good enough." Cyrus said, panicked as usual. "H-here...sit down. Do you need anything to eat or drink?"

"I...I'm alright." Vik responded.

"Well. Gather your thoughts and be prepared to tell me everything you know because I have waited fourteen years to find answers that nobody down here seems to know...but I know they're hiding something..."

Vik and Hera exchanged awkward glances.

"...anyways, I'll go get some snacks while you think." Cyrus finished, and rushed off to the kitchen.

Vik sighed and sank into the couch. Hera moved next to him and wrapped her arm around his tense shoulders. They loosened as she touched him.

"I know this is difficult for you, Vik, but it's hard for me too. This is my mother, like you said. I never knew her but...she is still my mom. And Cyrus found me the night she died. My father, as you know, had fucked off somewhere and I was alone. Then Cy came. He cares a lot about me. That is where the overprotective stuff comes from." Hera explained.

Vik nodded in understanding.

"Anyways...I'll leave you in peace. Ill go help Cy with the snacks."

Said Hera, and she left Vik alone in the living room to miss Gina, a woman who he barely knew, yet still loved, and had watched her die at the hands of people just like him.
*****
Vik, still reveling in painful memories, was suddenly shocked back into reality after twenty-two long minutes.
"...the crab cakes are ready..." Cyrus mumbled, and placed the platter on the table.
Vik nodded a small thank you. He sat up as straight as he could and grabbed a bit of food.
He wasn't expecting much, but when he slid the modest crab cake into his mouth, he couldn't help but smile.
"This..." Vik began, "...is divine. The most delicious thing...I've ever actually eaten."
Cyrus blushed and said something, but it was incomprehensible.
"So...I've prepared and gathered my thoughts, Mr..." Vik started.
"...Grace. But, please just...call me Cyrus."
"...Cyrus. I'm ready to tell you everything I know."
Cyrus only nodded and sat down on the couch, eyeing his crab cakes, probably wondering if it wouldn't be against any morals to eat his own food with guests present.
"Well, here goes..." Vik started.

"All I remember is that I would end up at the dock every day. I would be there with my paren...well...the people who created me. I refuse to actually call them my parents. They would bring me to the dock and leave me in the sand and make out in their beach house. They usually came back for me. Until one day they didn't. I don't know if they just gave up on trying to care or something happened to them, but to be quite honest I don't want to know. So I was left at the dock. And then, at about a day by myself, I met...Her."

Vik stopped to take a breath. He looked more pained talking about Gina than his own parents, who literally left him for dead.

"...You know that whole story, Cyrus...correct? I...I'm not a big fan of telling it."

Cyrus looked depressed by Vik's story, and immediately felt sympathy. He thought it was very sad yet creepily coincidental that both Hera and Vik were abandoned.

"That's quite alright with me," Cyrus responded quickly, and reluctantly placed a gentle hand on Vik's shoulder. "But is there anything that I don't know that is worth telling me?"

Vik stopped and thought for a moment. He didn't think so...there was nothing else that he knew that Cyrus and Hera didn't. In fact, they likely knew more. He told them this.

"Vik...we know just as much as you...on this matter anyways." Hera soothed, yet couldn't make eye contact with him.
"What's the matter?" Vik inquired, catching onto her drastically shifted tone.
"N-nothing." She very clearly lied.

Now this began to raise Cyrus's concerns. "Sweetheart, what is on your mind?" He asked.

Hera shook her head rapidly. "This isn't about me. Don't worry about me. This is about Vik. About Gina. This problem is beyond me, bigger than me."

Neither Vik or Cyrus could concoct a suitable response.

"So I think, I'll just be taking my leave even. I should turn in early. Let you two bond and--"

"--Hera, sit back down." Cyrus said forcefully, shutting his eyes and inhaling deeply.

Hera froze in her tracks, her tail swishing nervously. She backed away from the living room and crept up the stairs.

Cyrus didn't have the energy to retrieve her and Vik didn't think it was his place to. So she escaped.

As Vik opened his mouth to say something, the front door burst open.

"Hera!" An unidentified female voice called. "Hera, when will you finally help me ask out Jean! You promised you would, and--"

A horrifying awkward silence cascades over the room.

Cyrus and Vik are finally able to make out the unexpected guest. She was short, platinum blonde hair and a hot pink and gold tail. She looked about Here's age, hence why her name was being called.

"D-Desiree..." Cyrus started, and removed himself from the couch.

This Desiree character was having none of it. She backed away. What was she so afraid of?

And then it hit both Vik and Cyrus like a ton of bricks.

As soon as Desiree caught sight of Vik's legs, her already fair face became a ghost white.

There was only a few more moments of painful nothingness until the visitor was gone in a trail of bubbles and the only thing that could be heard was a shrill shriek and an ignorant adolescent mermaid screaming at the top of her lungs,
"HUMAAAAN!!!!!!"

Within a few seconds, Hera bumbled down the steps and snatched Vik's arm.

"We need to leave." Hera said, her expression stone cold.

"Now."