Venom Of The Sea

Part Twenty-Eight: Lotus

  Poor Serenity... I watched as one of the men that came down with Lowell quickly left, as one stood there and slightly stared at Rayne as she kept her eyes darting back and forth between the man staring and Serenity. Rayne finally looked at the man with slightly large eyes as her lips parted, showing her slight concern.

"Y-You..?" She whispered as the man looked back at the stairway then back at her, only to shake his head and mouth a, "I'm sorry..." And quickly ran after the other man who was injured... Rayne looked hurt as she looked down at Serenity who was sobbing her eyes out still.

"Rayne... Rayne! We need to-" I started when Rayne shot up, taking her satchel with her as I went to move but felt Serenity's head suddenly fall into my lap and roll off of my thigh onto the floor, hitting it slightly as somewhat choked breaths escaped her mouth.

"S-Serenity! Serenity! Lowell!" I screamed as I held the sides of Serenity's face, her body shaking violently as her eyes were wide open and revealed her black orbs becoming dark, burnt blood colors as I searched her eyes for peace, tranquility... Something!

Lowell shot into the cell and moved to her side, grabbing her shoulders and trying to keep them steady. He looked petrified... I looked up at him with concerned eyes as he looked back into my own as I felt my eyes become watery with tears.

A-Am I about to lose one of my best friends?!

Tears began to drip past my tightly clenched eyes as I allowed a choked sob to leave my throat when Serenity stopped shaking... I opened my eyes to see Lowell holding her now still body in his arms as he hid his head in the crook of her neck. Quiet sobs left as his shoulders shook I just sat there with my hands on the concrete, my head down as I allowed tears to past my wide open eyes.

"I-Is she..?" One of the guards asked as I felt my blood begin to boil, my heart started to pound harder and harder against my chest as I tried to steady its beating. My mind was racing as I tried to calm the anxious feeling in my stomach as a large knot started to build up.

"N-No... S-She-She can't be." I choked as Lowell looked up at me, as I looked up at the guards with large eyes along with large droplets of tears streaking down my face. The drops dripped off of my chin and splattered onto the concrete as I felt... Enraged, by what?

Mother of Irene, help me to understand what is going on...

- Rayne -

I ran up the stairs to see the two merman laying on the steps as I came up them I saw the one that left after hearing Serenity say that about the whole marriage, and the one I had saved a while back when we saw... Irene. Once I came out of my thoughts, I saw that they were both staring at me.

"What do you want?" The one with the bleeding hand and tear streaked face spat as if he was angry at me. I was taken aback by this, I harden my eyes as I moved closer feeling my blood boil somewhat.

"Listen, buddy, my day hasn't been the best right now... One of my best friends has been trapped down here for almost three days while she is going through some serious... Possession issues, the man asking for her hand in marriage is a complete tyrant along side his mother- And adding on top of all of that... Our kingdom will fall if she doesn't go along with this..." My eyes were watering but I fought back the urge to let any tears fall in front of this man...

"Hey, I'm sorry for my friend... He's an idiot. I'm Adam by the way-"

"You're the one I saved a few days ago... Aren't you?" I mumbled as he nodded slowly, my eyes trailed down from his slightly sculpted chest to his black and red tail... His colors were captivating, honestly. I swallowed a mouth full of saliva as I felt shyness come back.

"I'm Rayne, by the way... And how did this happen?" I mumbled as he looked down at his tail, a small chuckle left his throat as he rubbed the back of his neck. My mind was foggy with confused feelings, concerns, and confusion as I stared at him.

"A day after you... Um, kissed me, I turned into this when I took a shower-"

"Okay, not to break up this heartfelt moment but I did just lose a girl that I truly cared for to some apparent tyrant." The other man snapped trying to get up from the stairs, Adam moved to help him up from them grabbing him up under his arms as he held him up.

"Wait, wait... You loved Serenity? Then, why didn't you say anything to her?! You could stop this, you bonehead!" I yelled as I moved closer to him to where we were almost chest and chest. Adam moved in between us as the other man scoffed and went to shove me back, but was stopped by his injured side.

"I can't stop an arranged marriage between royalty or I'll be killed, you ninny!" I laughed at him but there was no humor behind it as I rolled my eyes. I moved closer and grabbed his injured hand making him give a small shout in anger as my hand glowed an orange-ey tint, I pulled away examining his now fixed hand and scoffed at his pathetic excuse.

"Actually, you can! If you profess your love for her and ask her to marry you-"

"Marry me?! Are you insane, I barely know her!" The man shouted as I went to smack him upside the head Adam grabbed my wrist in mid air, I looked at him with wide eyes.

"Stop it, both of you! First of all, Rayne please calm down Christopher doesn't know what he wants to do... He's heart broken-" Adam started but Christopher or something like that, jumped in.

"Am not!"

"Shut up, Chris!" Adam snapped making me give a small laugh as he looked at me with sharp eyes.

"Anyway- He's heartbroken as you can tell and Christopher you need to figure out something about this whole thing because Rayne when is the wedding?" I looked up at Adam and as I went to say something but that's when the door at the bottom of the stairway slammed open, and there stood Lowell...

"It doesn't matter if he even can figure something out- The wedding is tomorrow, or so we all thought- Serenity passed out, Lotus and I can't figure out if she's dead or what. Rayne, I need you to go do- Something, anything to help us figure out what's wrong with Serenity."

"Wait, she's dead?!" Chris spat out as he went to dive at Lowell but he dove out of the way and grabbed hold of his shoulder and held him back while Adam pulled his other shoulder but that made Chris scream in pain that's when a loud scream came from the cell area.

We all snapped our attention towards the door as it flew open revealing a tired Lotus, as a few more screams left the cell behind her. We all just stared at her as she walked forward, that's when one of her legs gave out from beneath her. She stumbled forward and was caught by Lowell, who had run to her side.

"L-Lotus, what happened?!" I pushed past all of the lug heads I was surrounded by and fell to my knees as Lowell held her body up from falling into the concrete floor. My hands went up to her face as I gently caressed it, now seeing a small smile on her face as she looked up at me; revealing tear streaking down her cheeks.

"L-Lotus..?"

"S-Serenity... She's g-gonna be fine..." Lotus whispered only to fall out of Lowell's hand and her side slam with a hard 'thud' against the ground. Lowell and I gasped as we went forward and moved her now sleeping figure to where she laid her head on my lap and one of her hands rested in Lowells'.

"What does this mean, Lowell?" My voice was somewhat of a whimper as Lowell stroked his thumb against Lotus's hand, trying to calm himself most likely as he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply before reopening them and looking at me with somewhat large eyes.

"I guess the show must go on..."