Chapter 4: Atlantis
Celine suddenly didn't know what to say. The Atlantis ocean held so many memories, both sweet and heart wrenching. She had tried to leave those memories behind, but it kept hunting her, and that was the same beach Luca wished to visit.
At the end, she decided to put the past behind her and accept that Luca was all she had left of her failed love life. She had to pretend like the past no longer existed and focus all her attention on him, and spoil him with her love.
She smiled at Luca who had already prepared himself to be rejected by her. "It's a date then."
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Luca happily bounced on the bed and kissed Celine on the cheek.
Celine chuckled, seeing that she had successfully gotten him to be his old self. "Now, go take a shower. I would be your roomie for tonight."
They took turns in the bathroom before changing into their pyjamas, and then cuddled up in bed. That was one of best nights Luca had had in a long time.
The next morning, Celine kept to her promise. She called her agent and called off her schedule for that day, which was a big surprise to her agent.
"Are you alright? Is it a stomach ache? Headache? Toothache? Sprained ankle? Diarrhoea?..." Those were the words of Celine's agent, and it would have been longer if Celine hadn't cut her off.
"Olivia! There is nothing wrong with me. Please just clear my schedule, and if I get asked after, tell them I took a break." Celine explained.
"Celine, are you sure you ok? Did you get hit by a bus? You can confine in me... Hello!" But she got no response as Celine had ended the call.
Well, Olivia can't be blamed for thinking of all the bad things that could have possibly happened to Celine, because Celine had never called off her schedule no matter how tight it was, ever since the time when she disappeared like the wind for almost a year, and that was eight years ago.
After ending the call, Celine woke up the sleeping Luca with her kisses. "Rise and shine, Lulu baby. We have a long day ahead of us."
Luca woke up with a bright smile on his face. "Good morning, Mommy." They both exchanged greetings and morning breath before they started to prepare for the long day ahead.
….
In the ocean, a festival was being held to celebrate the annual jubilee in remembrance of their ancestors. All mermaids and mermen wore their most beautiful ornaments they had in their possession.
There were difference things going on through out the kingdom. There was a lot of dancing, singing, stunts, magic tricks, and other things that can be done underwater by creatures that were half human and half fish/octopus.
In all of this, there was one person who was absent minded. The body was present but the soul had wandered away, until....
"Hey! What troubles you? I couldn't help but notice you were staring into space." Said Augeus as he nudged the absent minded Axle.
Axle whose mind had wandered to the surface of the ocean, was startled by his father's touch, but he quickly recovered. "I'm alright, father. Nothing troubles me."
Aegeus wasn't convinced, giving Axle a scrutinizing look. "Could it be that you are bored with having to sit beside your father all day since the ceremony began?"
Having seen a golden opportunity to escape his father's presence, a smile crept on Axle's face as he said, "I'm afraid that is right, father. If you would please be merciful, I would like to go hang out with my friends." and he didn't fail to make himself look pitiful while he was at it.
Aegeus shook his head as he stared down at the replica of himself. He sighed and said, "Do as you please. I'll just..." but he didn't get to finish speaking as Axle already dashed away as soon as he finished the first sentence.
Axle swiftly left the palace where the main event was taking place without giving his Firth and Havelock the chance to spot, talk more of follow him.
The streets of Atlantica was very busy that no one noticed him. Well, no one except Aiva. She was among those in the palace, and had seen axle leave in a hurry with a bright smile plastered on his face. He was like a prisoner who had finally been set free after being locked up for years.
She also snuck out of the palace and followed him from a distance. He had been so excited about seeing man's world that she couldn't help but to suspect that that was where he was headed.
Her suspicions were proven right as she watched Axle swim past Atlantica's borders, going further towards where the surface was.
The more Aiva followed behind him, the more her curiosity about dry land became piqued. She even considered seeing it for herself, but at the end, she couldn't do it. She chose to remain being the good little mermaid she had always been. With this decision made, she turned around with a sullen expression, blaming herself for not having the guts to do something mischievous.
….
Back to dry land, the mother and son pair had already prepared for their trip to the beach. It was a very long ride there, but to Luca, it was worth it.
On getting to the beach, Celine's heartbeats increased rapidly, and she had a temperature rise. Her eyes couldn't leave the ocean. It was as if she was expecting something or someone to suddenly show up.
Luca noticed his mom's mood was off since they arrived at the beach. Most of the time he would catch her being lost in thoughts while staring at the ocean.
"Mommy, are you okay?" He asked while tugging at her dress.
Celine immediately shook off her thoughts as she came back to reality, and as if she had counted from one to three, she became all smiley and bubbly, playing around with Luca. They played games like hopscotch, tic-tac-toe and hangman in the sand.
After playing to the point of exhaustion, Celine rented a beautiful big wooden beach house just for them to relax in. Half of it was built on the beach sand, while the other half was built with the foundation rooted in the ocean.
Having gotten into the house, Luca's next request was for them to sit on edge of the bridge like structure of the house, and watch the beautiful ocean together.
While Luca was enjoying the beautiful view, Celine's mind was in turmoil, but as the best actress in the world, she was able to hide her emotions from Luca.
"Are you enjoying Mommy's company?" Asked Celine but she got no response from the little boy whose head was resting on her bosom. She tilted her head to the side and saw the sleeping Luca.
"Awwnn! So cute." She said, and then she took picures of him.
After fawning over him like a shameless fan girl to her satisfaction, she took him to rest in bed. It was at that time that a call came in. Seeing the name of the caller, she groaned in annoyance.
She answered the call and without giving the person a chance to say a word, said, "No matter what you are planning to say, I'm not leaving where I am."
"Can you take a chill pill? I'm not calling you because of work, but... it's still related to work." Olivia replied from the other side.
Celine rolled her eyes and said, "You can say whatever you have to say, but like I said earlier I'm not leaving where I am."
"Director Chris asked if you could be available to act a scene in the bonus episode of 'Marine'. He says your presence in the episode will create more awareness, thereby increasing the popularity of the movie. He doesn't mind coming with the crew to where you are at."
"Well, I'm at the Atlantis beach, and.."
Olivia didn't let Celine finish, cutting her off. "The Atlantis beach is a great site. The crew will be there shortly." She then quickly ended the call.
….
Axle was already close to the surface of the ocean when Fiona suddenly showed up, almost giving him a heart attack.
"Your highness!" Fiona excitedly circled him multiple times. If she were to be a dog, she'd be licking his face like it was some sweet candy.
Seeing how excited Fiona was to see him, Axle couldn't stay mad at her for scaring him. He patted her head and asked, "How have you been?"
"I've been well, your highness." She replied and then eyed him suspiciously. "Where are you going? To eat some saggasums?" She playfully asked, already aware of where the naughty prince was headed.
Axle formed a sly smile on his face. "If you are curious, you can follow me to find out." He said as he moved ahead of Fiona heading straight for the surface.
With his head above the waters, he giggled excitedly. It was almost evening, so the sun wasn't as harsh as the last time. He easily adjusted to the light and began playing around with Fiona.
They both swam on the surface, trying out different styles. They swam on their backs and even danced around, going in no specific direction.
This continued for a long time until Axle saw something he had never seen before. It was a beautiful beach house, so beautiful that it had him ogling at it.
"What is that?" He asked Fiona while pointing at the house.
"That's a house. I sometimes see humans there watching the ocean. They enjoy watching dolphins playing around.
"Do you think humans are in there now?" Asked Axle seemingly excited.
"Maybe. Let's wait a little." Suggested Fiona.
Axle nodded. "I'll go around it. I want to check it out."
Meanwhile, inside the house, Luca already woke up feeling a little upset at himself for falling asleep when he should be enjoying the moment with his mom, but he was more upset when he found out his mom had left the beach house.
Thinking his mom had just gone to get something, he calmed himself down and decided to watch the ocean while patiently waiting for her.
When he got to the bridge, he saw a dolphin in the ocean. When the dolphin made eye contact with him, it paused it's movement for a moment before making noises and jumping in the water.
Luca smiled in amusement thinking the dolphin was excited to see him. He ran to the edge of the bridge to take a closer look at the dolphin and that was how he slipped on the wet wood, landing himself in the ocean.
Axle who was checking out the house, had heard Fiona calling out for him so he quickly turned around, swimming back to where he had left her.
To his surprise, Fiona wasn't alone. She was with a small human who was struggling to stay above the water, and soon the human began to drown.
Fiona who was shocked to her bones to see a human who looked a lot like Axle didn't quickly recover until the human began to drown.
Axle was the one who came to the rescue. He quickly dived into the ocean and held the human who had stopped struggling. That was when he saw the human's face, and just like Fiona had been earlier, he was shocked. Shocked to the extent that he let go of the human.
How could there be a human who looked a lot like him? They were very identical. The only difference was their hair and eye colour, and he had a tail while the other had legs.
Luca on the other hand didn't have much of a reaction. His mind was already hazy and his consciousness was slowly drifting away, so he thought he was just seeing things.
Axle didn't recover until he saw Luca's eyes slowly close. He quickly focused his mental strength on creating a huge bubble, big enough the contain the human. His pearl shone brightly before a bubble was formed with Luca being inside it.
As he swam back to the surface, the bubble followed behind, it continued this way until they got to the shore. The bubble popped, leaving Luca to lay on the wet beach sand.
Axle and Fiona took their time to study Luca, still baffled by their findings. Well, Fiona was staring, while Axle was poking Luca's face.
"Maybe every mermaid and merman have a look alike on dry land?" Said Fiona after a very long silence.
"You think so?" Asked Axle.
"That's the only explanation I can think of." Fiona replied.
They soon heard sounds of humans coming closer, so they decided to hide. Who knows if the humans might accuse them of harming the boy.
They watched two men rush over to Luca lying unconsciously on the ground. They did chest compressions and it took long before Luca coughed out a lot of water.
After that, he was rushed to the nearby clinic before the manger of the beach house tried contacting Celine.
Axle didn't know why, but he felt a sense of loss when he saw the human being carried away by those men. He was suddenly pissed, swimming away while looking dejected.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Diamond_sunshine
Diamond_sunshine Mini theater:
Fiona: (having a brain malfunction) How come there is a human that looks like my prince?
Luca: Aww the dolphin likes me
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone