Black Hearted

Part 77

Mark hugged Oceanus's tighter. He didn't have the words for how happy he was to see him. He had felt so lost in a sea of new memories of his past that he hoped to find answers in his comforting embrace. Oceanus stroked his back, then told him in a deep loving voice. "I wasn't sure you'd come." Forcing himself to step back, Mark defensively snapped back. "You... Did you set this up? Why?!" Sean stayed curled on the treasure floor, his head still bowed in respect as he mumbled out timidly. "With all due respect, Lord Oceanus... We have so many questions and so little time." Oceanus smirked, yanking the amulet off Mark's neck. Mark winced; he had forgotten that he'd been wearing it. Oceanus casually walked over to Sean, dangling the amulet down to his line of sight as he told him softly. "Just call me Oceanus. I never cared much for titles. Otherwise, we'd be here all day just to list off all that I am." Sean nodded, avoiding his eyes as he hesitantly took the amulet. Mark found it weird to see Sean so scared of his dad.

He had known him as a crazy fisherman. It was hard to see him so... highly regarded now. Oceanus waited until Sean put his amulet on, watching Sean's tail transform. Still Sean refused to get up. He stayed bowing on all fours. Oceanus kneeled, lifting Sean's chin with his fingers. Sean closed his eyes, but let Oceanus lift his head. Oceanus looked over Sean's face, cooing out warmly. "It has been a long time since I have seen a son of Poseidon. You look so much like him." Mark cleared his throat, bluntly starting to say. "Dad, I have so much that I want to ask... But right now, I need-" Mark was cut short by Oceanus letting out a sharp yell. Oceanus fell to his knees, his bare shoulder getting pierced by some invisible force. Oceanus reached for his shoulder, only to stop and wince again as large cuts from unseen claws appeared down his arm. Sean finally opened his eyes and gasped. Before either Sean or Mark could react, Oceanus's skin quickly healed over. Oceanus inhaled deeply, straining to rise back up on his feet.

Mark inched closer, asking extremely concerned. "Dad? What just happened?" Oceanus rubbed his healed arm, grimly replying. "My Paramours are fighting and it's taking a toll on me." Mark shrugged, asking him in a rush. "Help me stop the Leviathan and this will all end!" Oceanus turned dark eyes on Mark, retorting back sternly. "NO!" Mark stiffened, snapping back. "Why not?! You're the most powerful thing on this earth and you're afraid to fight another Titan? He's killing Poseidon! He's killing your people! Don't you care?" Oceanus turned to face Mark, pointing a stern finger at him as he informed him dryly. "It's not her fault! She can't help it! And I won't hurt her!" Mark stared at him confused, mumbling out. "The Leviathan is a girl?" Sean slowly rose to his feet, mumbling out in complete shock. "Oh fuck... The Leviathan is Tethys... Your mother..." Mark felt goosebumps shoot up his arms as he let that sink in. Then looking up into Oceanus's eyes, he breathlessly asked. "Is that true?"

Oceanus nodded with a grim expression, carefully taking a seat on a smooth rounded rock. With a sorrowful sigh, Oceanus told them both coolly. "The old stories are lies... Kronos didn't kill my Tethys... He took her Sea Crown. A gift I forged for her to show the depths of my love to her. She's a Titan, yes... but not like me. My mother, Gaia, made her for me. She was and will always be the first Oceanid and the first Mermaid. Kronos desired her beauty... When she refused him. He removed her Sea crown and imprisoned her where I could not reach her. He gave me her Sea Crown as a way of proving to me that she would never resurface from the bowels of a volcano in Pompeii." Oceanus flinched a bit, saying grimly. "After Kronos was defeated, Zeus took over her imprisonment and Hephaestus was charged with guarding her. In their attempts to control her... she unleashed her wraith and all of Pompeii was lost." Sean inched closer, nervously slipping in. "How did Zeus get the Sea Crown?"

Oceanus snorted, growling out through his teeth. "I gave the Sea Crown to my eldest daughter, Io. And like Kronos... Zeus desired only the most beautiful of women. So, he took her from me. Keeping her too beyond my reach. Afraid that I would rally the few Titans left... he went to war to destroy them. Only he kept the most beautiful locked away... that is until he learned what the Sea Crown Io carried was for. She fled and she was hunted down for it. Hera turned her into a cow... but it didn't stop her from fleeing to the ocean. My dear Io now spends her days as an Ophiotarus. Half Oceanid and half Cow. She fled to Atlantis to her sister Amphitrite... Where she gave the Sean Crown to her sister and told her it had been damaged in her escape." Oceanus paused as more cuts and bites appeared on his body. As they healed, he continued more quickly. "My second eldest, Amphitrite, Poseidon's paramour. Sent word to her young sister, Asia, that a piece was missing and to find it."