Prince of Atlantis | [Vkook]

King of Atlantis

The deep midnight blue sky was a stark contrast from the scattered bright lights the stars emitted that night. The waves were harsh against the shore, but for once in a long time, the night was finally calm.

There was a group of teenagers that had a bit too much to drink. They stumbled through the sand, and onto the pier—completely ignoring the signs with bold letters scattered in front of the beach that read: Be kind to the ocean, and it will be kind back. A few of them laughed as they stumbled down the pier as incoherent words spilled from their lips.

The water appeared dark as it reflected the night sky. The rowboat created waves of its own as it headed deeper into the ocean with two tipsy girls hovering over the edges, trying not to puke. One of them looked over at the rest of the group that remained on the pier, "Cowards!" She laughed weakly before resting her head on her arms.

There was silence between the two girls, once their weak laughter had died down and the realization of where they were going began to sunk in. Seulgi looked at Irene, her eyes glossy and red as she glanced at their liquor bottles. "D-Do you hear that?" She whispered.

Irene leaned in closer, her eyes widening when she began to hear humming. "We have to go back!" They gripped onto the paddles but froze when they felt a tip in their rowboat. Seulgi's eyes widened and they slowly turned to the side and froze when they saw a mermaid leaning against the edge with a sweet smile on her lips. She began to hum gently, it was hypnotizing.

"P-Please..." Irene managed to whisper through the haze of her tipsiness and hypnosis.

Jennie grinned wickedly, her head tilted gently but her sweet expression shifted quickly as she hissed gently. Her hands gripped onto the edge of their boat and she flipped them over. Seulgi and Irene screamed, they struggled to stay above shore. They saw glimpses of Jennie's tail as she swam around them, taunting them.

They gripped onto the rowboat, their limbs feeling weak, but they slowly pulled themselves onto it. The waves became harsher, so they gripped onto the sides. Irene and Seulgi grabbed onto their paddles and desperately tried to get closer to home while a few mermaids watched. They could hear a few of them laughing, but it faded away as they got closer to the pier.

It had been months. Months since the last time Taehyung saw Jungkook on the night he was cursed, and everything had changed. The faith Jungkook once had in Taehyung had crumbled, and he relied on only himself to keep his family safe—safe from humans. For a while, all the king could do was cry at the loss of his lover, and at the damnation of his own kingdom. Everyone had become fearful, but he tried to reassure them that nothing else would happen so long as they were kind to the ocean.

Taehyung spent too many nights crying, but it slowly turned into fuel for finding a way to fix everything. Though he highly doubted there was a way to fix all the hurt his father had put the mermen through, he couldn't give up.

In the castle, Taehyung sat in the middle of his room with papers scattered all around the floors. There were dark circles underneath his eyes from the lack of sleep in the past few months. He had spent some of that time researching, and drawing up a timeline from everything he had known for sure up until the death of Jungkook's father.

He sighed carefully while looking up pictures of the fire that broke out in the lab. There weren't many photographs of that time, but seeing one was enough for him to understand a bit of what happened.

Namjoon knocked gently on the door, and he walked inside when Taehyung said, "Come in." He looked at the king with a hesitant expression.