Lost City, Lost Kingdom, Lost Soul - Orm (Aquaman)

XXVIII - Complicated Feelings and Confessions

Well, that had been a day. And now nighttime was descending over the crazy island. 

"I say we rest," Arthur suggested, flopping down right where they already were standing. 

"Works for me," she agreed.

Arthur nodded to Orm.  "You can take first watch."

"I think he's been tortured enough so far," Tatiana admitted. "Sleep, I'll take first watch."

"But it's dangerous," the man in question cried in protest.

"It's dangerous for any of us," she reminded.  "And that's why I have this." She held up the trident. "I can handle myself."

"I know, but-" He cut himself off and reluctantly gave in. 

She wasn't sitting alone for long before Arthur joined her.  "What about rest?"

"I know, I just wanted to talk to you separately." He took a seat on the log beside her.  "How are you doing?"

"Fine, I guess. Though the closer we get to reaching Manta the more nervous I get."

"Understandable. And how about with Baby Bro?" Which had been really what he had been getting at. 

Now she looked away from him.  "What about him?"

"Come on, you know what I mean."

She did.  "We haven't had a lot of time for personal discussion and reflection. The whole point of this quest is to stop Manta. There's no room for anything else right now. And besides, he said it himself, he has to go back to prison after this is all over. And I don't like that, now that I've seen up close how awful it is, but-" She heaved a heavy sigh.  "It's been four years, and I was doing fine." Arthur raised his eyebrows at her.  "Okay, maybe not 'fine' but I was doing well, moving forward with my life in the amazing opportunities you've given me with Atlantis.  But now, seeing him again, being around him again, it's changed everything, and I don't know what to do or think."

"You told me four years ago that you had been falling for him."

"I know, and I had been. But it wasn't entirely real because he had been lying about who he was. But then you told me your side of the story and I realized that while he had flipped your roles in his lie, he was still himself, he wasn't lying about  that part. So maybe I really was falling for the real version, the real him. But I've shoved that away, because he did lie and I was so hurt and he had to serve his sentence and I never really thought we would reunite - well, especially not like this."

Over the last few years she had sometimes allowed herself to envision a fantasy in which Orm's sentence was up and they reunited, but she struggled with how that would happen and what it would look like, what it would mean. Nothing was clear, and it certainly hadn't cleared up now. 

"He's going to have to go back to prison, isn't he?"

"Yeah."

She nodded, though distantly. She knew it was only right after his crimes against the Surface and other kingdoms, but she didn't like it. 

They were silent for a few minutes, during which Orm rolled over and stood up. "I will take the watch now. You try and rest."

Arthur stood up.

"Tatiana  try and rest."

Arthur sat back down.

"Okay. Kalinikta. Good night." She lay down nearby, rolling over to face away from them, trident laying out beside her, within reach just in case. Because with this orichalcum-mutated jungle, clearly who knew.  

"Aren't you going to try and rest?" Orm asked Arthur.

"I thought you were more focused on Tatiana resting."

"You were the one who suggested it in the first place." Arthur shrugged.  "We should wait for Atlantis to receive your message. We can conduct reconnaissance in the meantime."

"Yeah, look Loki, I'm not asking for your advice on this. You've already lived up to your end of the deal so you can go on back to Azkaban for all I care."

"What is your plan here?" 

"I don't have one yet, but he came after my wife so that means I'm gonna pull his tongue out of his butt."

"Arthur, you are the king, you cannot let things get personal."

"This coming from the guy who turned the entire nation of Atlantis into his own private ego trip?"

"My ego? You're the one who swam through the front gate and challenged my claim for the throne."

"Only because you were trying to destroy the Surface World. If you weren't such an asshole, you'd still be King."

"Wait, wait, you took my throne and you don't even want it?"

"Are you kidding me? I hate this job. I only did it because I had to. And now the only reason I'm doing it is to keep Atlantis from destroying the Surface. And I'm even screwing that up."

"You really had no ambition for it?"

 "Absolutely not!"

"But from the day my father found out you existed he prepared me for when you would come challenge me for the throne."

"Wow, that's really sad - especially when you think about how easily I kicked your ass with basically no prep time whatsoever - oh! Roasted!"

Orm shifted in his seat. "That is not how it happened."

"That's exactly how it happened."

"Mera saved you."

"I stopped you first. I kicked your ass."

"Nope, she made the little water tornado and I fell in it."

"Whatever, my point is, I won. But enough about me-"

"That's a surprise."

"-Thought any more about what we were discussing earlier?"

"Of course - it is all I can think about. She is all I can think about. I have never been in love before."

"Hey, neither had I, until Mera."

"My betrothed." 

"Hey, why do you keep bringing up old shit? You two didn't even like each other, you would have been miserable."

"Well I didn't dislike her. I respected her."

"And she tolerated you. See, I would say it worked out in everyone's favour: we got married cause we love each other, leaving you open to fall in love and learn some valuable lessons."

"She did teach me a lot."

"See, it was all meant to be. This all happened for a reason."

"That reason being I met her. I was happier with her the short amount of time we spent together than I ever was as King."

"Damn Dude."

"I know. I was shocked when I realized too."

Tatiana was facing away from them, so neither could see that she was still awake, hearing every word. 

And before her, Orm had overheard her discussion with Arthur. Both had heard what had not been intended for the other to hear. 

(Arthur is the wingman for both of them ;) So sorry for the delay - work has been a little busy! Thank you so much for all the comments, I love seeing everyone's reactions! :)

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))