Toxic Merman (JonDami Fic)

A Chance

The Spirit Realm
Time - None existence

             The Spirit Realm is a place where all living beings go to after they leave their physical form, a place where they find peace, a place of judgment, and a place where a choice is made... not by the spirits, but by the Gods.
             Everyday, new spirits enter the realm, and everyday a spirit is released to live their new lives.
             A recent being, more specifically a dolphin, made it to the spirit realm. She lies on the floor, asleep, thinking she's still dead.
             "Wake up, child."
             A voice, soft but clear, woke her up from her slumber. She slowly woke up and when she did, she started looking around her surroundings. She knew the waters around her are different or natural. The waters clean, corals, and reef at its healthy look, and billions of bioluminescence light filled the waters.
             But, there are no other creatures around... or so she thought.
             "Iruka?"
             She heard someone calling her from behind. She turned around to see two other dolphins. She froze because those two dolphins were her mother, and her father.
             "M-mom?" She looked at her mother and then her father. "Dad?"
             "Wait, what's happening? Why are you here? How are you alive?"
             Questions piled up after another.
             "Oh my little shelly, we aren't alive." The mother said. "Not physically at least."
             "You're here because you're the one who's dead." Her father laughed.
             "I'm... dead?" Iruka tried to see herself. "How?"
             "You were caught by humans and you died out of dehydration." The mother said. "The same way we did."
             It took Iruka a while to connect the puzzles and figure out what happened and what's going on.
             Then she remembered.
             "Damian," Iruka said. "I left the dark zone and swam away in anger. After a while, a storm took place and the angry waves made me lost my balance because I was too close to the surface." She recalled. "Then a ship caught me in a huge net and pulled me out of the waters... and then I suffocate in a small space they put me in."
             "Oh shelly, we know." The mother said as they swim closer towards Iruka. "We were watching you from the day we came here."
             "And we were waiting for you."
             "You were?" Iruka asked. "Why?"
             The dolphin's parents exchanged looks with each other before turning around. "Because now, we can finally start over."
             Iruka followed their eyes to see what were they looking at. What sits before them was a huge throne. Nothing else.
              "What are you guys--
              Iruka stopped talking when a bright light started forming from above. The light travels down onto the throne and sits on it. It started getting bigger and brighter that Iruka had to look away.
              When she felt the light has calm down, she turned back to see what it was. Her tail stopped moving as she went speechless the moment her eyes saw the what is a who.
              Poseidon.
              God of the Seven Seas, sitting on that throne, and in his right hand, he holds a trident. He had the features of a mer-people. The upper body of a human, and lower body of a fish. He had long cloud-white hair, fair skin, and a sky blue tail. He wore golden armor on his chest, arms, and tail fin. On the crown of his head, sits a crown, golden as well.
              "Iruka." He called her out. "Welcome to the Spirit Realm.
              "Poseidon." Iruka swam in front of her parents and bowed, showing her respect.
              "Raise your rostrum, child." He said.
              "Your highness, it seems like the time has come." The dolphin's father said to Poseidon.
              "Indeed it has." The God of the seas replied.
              "What do you mean?" Iruka asked, looking at her parents and then Poseidon.
              "To live your new lives," Poseidon said. "When your parents first came here, they were given a choice to stay in the spirit realm or to start over."
              "Start over... as in, reborn?" Iruka asks.
              "Yes," God replied. "They were offered three doors. They had only one chance to choose... whichever they pick, that's their next life."
              "Thankfully, what we chose was an opportunity." Her mother said. "An opportunity to start over... together with you."
              "I still don't understand," Iruka said. "What do you mean together with me?"
              "Your parents will be reborn in another dimension, different beings... and someday, they'll find each other and have you," Poseidon said. "It means, you three will remain a family in the new world, no other spirit will take your place."
              "We will stay together as a family?" Iruka mumbled before looking up to meet Poseidon's eyes. "Will we remember who we are or each other in this life?"
              "Unfortunately not." He said. "Allowing creatures to be reincarnated while retaining their past memories could upset the balance of all realms and universe."
              "I'm sorry but you'll completely forget about your life as a dolphin."
              Iruka started thinking as to why her parents waited for her when they're just going to forget each other in the next life. They could've just left from the moment the doors opened and still be strangers to each other in the new life.
              What's the difference?
              "I just reunited with you guys after so long... and then I find out, we're going to forget each other." The dolphin said with grief in her tone. "If you ask me, I'd say this a cruel punishment... reunited only to forget each other later."
              "I'm sorry that you see it that way but it's not my place to decide because this is what your parents wanted," Poseidon said. "But keep in mind, child. They chose the door that offered them their hearts deepest desire."
              "And that is, to be a family again in the next life... even though you'll never remember them in this life."
              Iruka was still upset by the fact that she reunited with her parents only to forget them. But placing that aside, in her heart, she knew staying together as a family in the next life wasn't such a bad thing because that's something, not all the spirits have the privilege to receive.
              Many families are torn apart in their next life, only to create new ones of their own to which peace and happiness are not guarantee. Happiness could exist for a while before broken relationships, violent behaviors, cheating partners, and many more start to develop. And when that happens, more disaster tags along, creating more negative emotions among each other.
              The more she thinks about it, the more she realizes what Poseidon is offering was actually a gift, not a punishment... and her parents chose what they chose because they love her very much.
              "In our next life, we will stay a family... but we won't remember each other correct?" She asks Poseidon.
              "Correct." He replied.
              "But we will be happy?" She asks.
              "Precisely. That is my promise to you." He said. "I can see you're starting to understand your parent's decision."
              "Yes, I am." She responds. "I'm sorry for overreacting, your majesty, mom, and dad."
              "Shelly please, don't apologize." Her mom said. "We're just so happy that you're finally here."
              "Me too, mom." She said. "Me too."
              "Life was lonely when you two left... swimming from sea to sea, finding a purpose to carry on but not finding any, I abandoned my only friend Tayh Claire because I think she's better off without me." She sighs in agony. "Maybe the fisherman did me a favor."
              "Was it all bad, my shell?" Her father swam towards her to place his rostrum above hers, comforting his daughter.
              Iruka closes her eyes and takes in her father's gentle stroke on her rostrum. She started recalling times where she and Damian spend together. The times where they played together, the times where they shared stories, learn about each other, their physical comforts.
              "No, it wasn't all bad." She said without realizing she let out a cry.
              "You've shared some joyful moments with a human siren named Damian Wayne," Poseidon said, causing Iruka to open her eyes. "From what I observed, he has brought back your smile when you lost it the day your parents left."
              "You care for him don't you?"
              "A lot, your highness." She said. "I'm just regretting how I ended our final moment together."
              "I knew he wasn't responsible for other humans action in polluting the sea... not all humans are bad like he said... but somehow I ignored the truth and left him in the dark."
              The dolphin didn't realize her cry was becoming more obvious. "I just wish I could speak to him one last time."
              "Maybe there's a chance you can," Poseidon said.
              "How?" She asks.
              The God of the sea rise up from his throne and approached the grieving dolphin. He stopped inches away from her. Her father swam back to his wife's side as they both watch what He is about to do.
              Poseidon uses his trident to create a looking glass in between him and Iruka. In the glass, showed scenes of Iruka and Damian together.
              "Even when you're suffering from your parents lost, you worked the courage to help out a siren in need." He said to her. "Damian was lost when he first set fin into the sea... and then you came along and shine some light, chasing away his darkness."
              "And it's because of that, you both developed a friendship that has never been done before in the sea."
              "Friendship between a human and a dolphin."
              Iruka had no words to say because she kept looking at the glass where scenes of her and Damian played. She smiles a sad smile as she kept her eyes on her human siren friend.
              "You've done a good deed, Iruka." He said as he makes the glass fade away. "And because of that, I'm offering a gift just like I did for your parents."
              Poseidon swam back and with a swift of his trident, three doors appeared behind Iruka. She turns behind to see three blue doors with the number 1 2 and 3 on it. She doesn't know what number is but she remembered seeing them in Atlantis.

              "Here's your chance." He said after a while. "Just like your parents, choose wisely for you only get one go. Whatever you choose, shall be my gift to you in your new life together with your parents."
              "Let your heart guide your decision."
              Iruka's eyes traveled from one door to another... watching them as carefully as possible. All three doors looked the same but lies behind them is a whole new thing. What she chooses will be for her in the new life. She closed her eyes and began focusing on her heart.
              After a while, she's ready to choose. But before she did, she closes her eyes and in her mind, she dedicates one last message to her siren friend.
              "Damian, I don't know if you'll receive this message but... I made it. I'm with my parents and we're on our way to a new life... we just don't know what being we'll become yet. Anyways, I just want to say, thank you for everything, Damian. I hope you'll find a place in your heart to forgive my words in the dark zone. I love you and I'll miss you so very much."
               "Goodbye."