Atlantis

Chapter 7

Hera had never swam so fast in her entire fourteen years of life.

An anxiety attack was inching up from the pits of her soul, but she swallowed it down. She couldn't break now...not yet.

She needed to get Vik safe.

He asked a string of questions, and for all of which there was no time to answer.

Finally, after he'd had enough of being confused, he raised his voice to an angry growl.

"Where are you taking me?!"

His ice cold voice that Hera had never heard before, made her freeze.

"I'm trying to save you." She answered simply.

Vik snatched his arm away from Hera.
"I don't need saving. And if I did, I could save myself."

Hera's heart sunk. Her anxiety immediately transformed into anger and hurt. Tears knocked at the back of her eyes, but they had already been there.

"Did you save yourself when you fell off of that damn ship and drowned?" Hera asked.

Vik had no response. He just turned away.

"I didn't have to save you. I could have listened to my friends and minded my own business and then three days later, coast guard would have found your body, but not give any shits, and then three days after that, the orcas would come and take care of you. But I didn't let that happen. And I didn't even know you!"

Vik, again, didn't have an answer. He wanted to apologize. He clearly hurt her and something else was already going on.

"Maybe Cyrus was right about you."

Vik finally found words.

"Right about what...?"

The fact that he didn't know hurt Hera even more.

"You are just like the rest! Because you're a Human!"

Vik wasn't angry at her response. He deserved that. But before he could make things right, Hera started off in the direction they came.

"Choose which way you're going to go. You can go back, and you probably should, because Angelo needs you. Or, you could just fuck off forever and forget about me. It's what everyone else seems to do."

And with that, she left.

And Vik was alone in the cold ocean that he didn't know.
*****
Which way is up, which way is down? He didn't know.

But just as Vik had lost all hope of making it back to the surface, he saw moonlight.

Angelo was going to be pissed.
*****
"DOCK!!!" Angelo shrieked. "DOOOOOOCK!!!"

Vik realized that his son was never really going to shut up unless he took him to the dock. Angelo loved that place, and so did Vik, but right now, all he could think about was how he wronged, and potentially lost his only friend.

But Angelo is always right.
*****
Angelo swung his feet over the edge of the wooden dock, as Vik hid his tears from his son.

He couldn't be seen crying. Not by him, not by anyone.

Hera hadn't done anything. She was helping. It had taken Vik a whole twenty-four hours to see that he had actually been in real danger. The mer-people were not all very taken to humans. They wouldn't have liked that he was there, and Hera knew that.
Why was he so ignorant?! Hera lived there! Hera knew! Hera knew more than he ever would and she was three years his junior!

Vik wanted to slap himself. He wanted to dive over the edge, and drown himself, but that wasn't possible anymore. The universe missed its chance the first time.

Vik didn't want to fight back tears anymore. He took Angelo away from the edge and placed him in the sand, and Vik finally let it out.

He watched the droplets drip from his chin to the water. He watched the ripple.

All he could think about was Hera.
same way as him. That she would come back up and forgive him.

Vik waited hours for this, but to his dismay, it never happened.

After calming down, Vik was able to stop his tears and take a sleeping Angelo back to his crib.

Whether or not he would return to the dock that night, he didn't know.

All that he could think about was Hera and the what-ifs and the regrets. And Hera.

Really only Hera.
*****
Hera couldn't go back. People had seen her with the Human, as best as she tried to hide him. She still cared about him as best as she tried to mask her feelings with the hurt he put on her.
She contemplated going up to see him. But she knew he wouldn't be there. He obviously didn't care.

She wondered how long she would have to stay and hide from her home, from Cyrus.

When she returned, he would be absolutely livid.

But she was safe right now. Perhaps all he cared about was her safety.

Hera was inside of the tavern. The one where she and Cyrus and found the locket with her mother's picture inside, and her signature cursive letter G that was carved into all of Gina's belongings.

It was cold in the tavern. Lonely. Dark. But it isn't really much different than how she felt at the moment. She had already cried out every tear she had, she could no longer cry, even if she wanted to.

It was not different than when she was alseep. It is hard to tell the different between sleep and awake. It was both the same. Cold, lonely, and dark.

But she didn't want to feel sorry for herself anymore.

As much as she knew it would hurt her, she needed Vik. She needed him. He was her happiness at this point. Alone and afraid, she had nowhere else to turn to.

So to the Surface she would go.