Sean gripped his trident tighter, yelling out in a broken voice over the rushing water and rainstorm. "KAI!" Kai didn't hear him. Folding his wings, Kai crawled over Granny's limp shrinking body. Lowering his head toward her throat, Kai opened his mouth to reveal sharp teeth that practically glowed in the grey storm lighting. Raising his trident, Sean shot a bolt of lightning at Kai's neck. The bolt struck Kai, staggering him away from Granny's normal sized body as he shook off the ripples of electricity. Kai's eyes turned a bright solid blue, letting out a snarl as he turned to face him. Sean felt tears brim his eyes as he yelled out at him. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Kai limped across the glacier, his wings rising as his body arched up aggressively. Kai was wounded but still had plenty of fight left in him! Sean braced himself in the water for Kai to charge at him, when Hector launched from the water going straight for Kai's throat. Kai jerked away seconds before Hector's sharp teeth reached his neck. Spinning quickly, Kai's tail swatted Hector back into the water with a hard splash. Kai then finished turning around to face him again, yelling out over the raging storm. "COME AND GET ME! IF YOU CAN, YOUR HIGHNESS!"

Kai lifted his head to let out a screech that made all the Sirens and Merfolk flinch. Sean shook off the sound, darting through the water to reach him. Kai was ready for him, until he yelped and fell to his side in pain. Sean slowed to see a massive body of water in the shape of a Leviathan rise seamlessly out of the water like a massive wave! The water Leviathan's glowing white eyes blazed like stars as Oceanus's deep voice roared out. "POSEIDON! LEAVE HER ALONE!" Sean felt the air leave his lungs as he turned to see Poseidon on Tethys's massive head. Poseidon had been impaled in the side by a spike from one of her antlers. Without listening to Oceanus, Poseidon responded to her attack by stomping on her head and snapping the antler off her head! The crack of the antler sounded like the cracking of bone, causing Tethys to let out a pained scream that became muffled by the ocean water as Poseidon shoved her under. Sean was about to engage Kai again, when Mark burst from the water to bite Poseidon's shoulder!

Mark dug his claws into Poseidon's exposed flesh, causing both Kai and Oceanus to yelp in agony. Poseidon yanked the antler free of his side, snatching Mark's smaller neck by the throat, before impaling Mark in the shoulder! Sean felt the pain flare up his shoulder and screamed. Mark's whimpering cry was painful to the ears of all those around him from the sheer pitch of it. Poseidon tossed Mark farther out into the ocean, trying to return to fighting Tethys... Only to have Oceanus burst up from the water to tackle him off her! Sean rubbed his shoulder, looking back at Kai. Kai was laying limply across the glacier, letting out soft whimpers. Glancing around at the battlefield, Sean couldn't believe this chaos. Mark's ship was barely able to stay afloat with the wild waves full of aggressive Sirens. Some Merfolk were trying to help, but... the Sirens were getting the upper hand. Unlike the Merfolk, the Sirens had been preying on people in the water for years. While the Merfolk were a little out of practice against their aggression.

Watching the carnage, Sean swam up to the glacier and snapped out at Kai's bleeding face. "KAI, STOP THIS! You can control them!" Kai's whimpering turned into a soft snarl before he snapped aggressively at Sean. Sean easily avoided the bite by backing away from the glacier but moved back in to angrily tell him. "Look around you, Kai! We're killing each other!" Kai sat up, snarling out in a bitter rage. "NO! WE'RE KILLING YOUR KIND!" Kai swatted Sean across the face with his claws, sending Sean back into the water. Sean sank beneath the surface, letting the water heal the deep stinging wounds across his shoulder and neck. When he slowly breached the surface, Kai had staggered to his feet and let out a roar that made his teal scales ripple with red glints. Kai's eyes turned a bloodred, his claws digging into the glacier aggressive. Kai was letting his bloodlust set it. Sean raised his trident toward Kai but became overwhelmed by a swarm of Sirens that descended on him! The Sirens clawed and bit into his flesh, dragging him under the surface.

Sean screamed in pain, thrashing to get away but it was hard to shake creatures that were clinging to him. Blood swirled the water around him, causing him to panic. He was sure the blood was his own. They tried to pull him deeper as they tore at his flesh trying to eat him alive. Desperately stabbing his trident into the glacier, he tried to pull himself out of the water. He had to get out or he was going to die! The more he tried to get out, the harder they hooked their claws into his flesh to stop him. Managing to rise up to hug the edge of the glacier, he watched Kai launch off the glacier to soar straight toward Mark. Sean screamed as claws shredded down his back. He was feeling weaker by the second. Where their claws laced in something? He slumped against the glacier, panting heavily. He was getting dizzy. They started to pull him back into the water when a hand grabbed his wrist. Struggling to pull him up, Sean heard a tired voice utter his name. Sean sleepily opened his eyes to see Granny laying weakly across the glacier, but she had ahold of him.

Tightening his grip on her wrist, he weakly called out to her. He couldn't hold on for long. His body was in agony and whatever they had infected him with was sapping his strength. Granny tried to grip him better, telling him in a strained voice. "Sean... Hang on..." Sean's eyelids grew heavy and his grip loosened on her wrist. He felt his hand sliding through hers as he was pulled down. Granny yelled his name to try snapping him awake, but he barely heard it as his head went under the water. Granny fought to keep ahold of him. Which allowed him to see more Sirens deeper below the surface. Unlike the Sirens at the surface, these appeared to be hiding below out of fear from even the little sunlight coming through the storm clouds. They were vastly outnumbered. Sean felt Granny try to use both hands to hold him, screaming out for help. He thought he'd die here as hanging meat for these Sirens... until the ones biting him stopped. The Sirens hissed at something that was approaching fast.

Sean inhaled deeply to try and stay awake enough to see. A figure with bright purple bioluminescent scales was heading straight for them with haunting screeches. The second the figure got close; Sean's eyes widened. Nate hissed aggressively and threw his arms and twin black tails out, sending a veiny show of sparks of bright blue that were beautiful to look at. The Sirens below screamed from the bright light, while the ones by Sean took off in the fear of being electrocuted. Granny's grip on Sean's hand slipped off, causing Sean to sink fast. Sean couldn't move. His body wasn't responding. He felt paralyzed. Nate's head jerked to look at him, then rushed over to grab him. Wrapping his arms around him, Nate headed back to the surface with him briefly. Nate snorted water, taking a jagged breath of air before starting to dive again. Even paralyzed, Sean could see what Nate was doing. He was still hurt pretty badly. Was he not recovering? He was having trouble breathing. Which was only made worse as Sean watched his own trident plunge into the water after them!

Granny must have thrown his trident... and it hit its target. Nate sank into the water with a strained yelp, causing Sean to snap from his paralyzes as the pain burst throw his abs. From farther off, both Kai and Mark wailed in pain. Their wailing was soon overtaken by the roars of the other Leviathans though and the sound of exploding cannons. Sean stiffly gripped the trident and pulled it from Nate. Nate thrashed, hissing inches from his face, but Sean couldn't even flinch. He was in too much pain himself. Nate took him to a swallower cliffside, swimming into the little cave a good distance from the fight. Inside, Sean rose into an air pocket with a small ledge. Quickly escaping Nate's grip, he tossed his trident up on the edge and hopped up. Rolling from the edge, Sean laid still and panted heavily. Was Nate going to eat him? He didn't seem to be himself. Nate stayed low in the water, breaching the surface to lean against a rock farther away from him. Nate was panting just as hard as him. The longer he looked at him, the more he realized that even as a Siren... Nate had felt his pain.

Sean reached out to touch Nate's arm, causing Nate to tense and hiss back at him with blazing purple eyes as his barbed ear fins shot up defensively. Sean slowly moved his hand back over the water, whispering to him soothingly. "Nate...? Can you understand me?" Nate sank slowly in the water up to his eyes. Sean started to reach for him, pleading out softly. "Wait. Don't go. Nate, I need you." Nate stayed almost completely submerged, his bright eyes staring at him without expression. Sean kept his hand in the water, tears running down his face as he pleaded with him. "Nate? I know you can understand me. Please don't go... You're not a monster to me, Nate. Let me help you." Nate's hand rose from under the water to touch his arm timidly. Sean didn't move. Nate's hand moved over his bleeding arm, venturing up to his elbow. Sean kept his breathing steady. Nate drifted closer through the calm water without making a ripple, his fingers curling around the flesh above his elbow.

When Nate pulled him over the water more, Sean obeyed. Nate couldn't drown him. So, he wasn't afraid of being pulled into the water. Slowly Nate rose up from the water, bringing his lips close to Sean's. Sean watched Nate's fin ears fold back down, staring deep into his eyes like he was searching his features for something. Could he remember him? Had transforming clouded his memory? Sean very slowly touched Nate's neck. Nate flinched from his touch, then relaxed when he realized he wasn't hurting him. Steadying him, Sean leaned in to press his lips to his. Nate stiffened briefly but let him kiss him. Even as Nate started to sink back down into the water, Sean kept kissing him. Nate's hands caressed Sean's cheeks, making Sean smile as he closed his eyes. It was such a little thing. Yet, something so familiar to him. Keeping just above the water surface, Nate pried his lips off Sean's reluctantly. Sean pressed his forehead to Nate's, whispering to him lovingly. "Come back to me, Nate." When Sean opened his eyes again, he saw his runes were glowing.

Nate touched the runes along his arm, before whispering out in a wispy distant voice. "Sean...?" Sean nuzzled Nate's temple, answering with slight relief. "Yes. It's me." Nate blinked, leaning back a bit with a confused expression. Sean started to let go of his trident, when he noticed the little diamond heart was glowing. Taking his hand off the trident, his runes dimmed, and Nate's expression began to change. Laying his hand on the trident again, he watched the diamond glow again. The power surging through the trident to light up his runes and through his contact with Nate... It was taking him out of whatever spell he was under. Sliding his hand along Nate's skin, he took his wrist and guided it to the diamond. The second Nate's hand touched the diamond, a power pulsed out from Nate's chest! Nate was shot back into the water, sinking below the surface. Sean released the trident, leaning over the edge as he called out for Nate. Below the water, a bright light was glimmering, but Sean was afraid to go under and check it out.

Within less than a minute, Nate's body floated back up to the surface. Only Nate didn't look like a Siren anymore. He looked like his old self. His jellyfish tendrils drifting beautifully across the surface. Sean reached out to wake him but jerked his hand back as he got zapped by Nate's body. Nate suddenly gasped, sinking in the water as he asked very confused. "What just happened? Where am I?" Sean hugged his stinging hand to his chest, wincing out. "What do you... remember?" Nate swam quickly to his side, pulling Sean's hurt hand out to look at it as he said shakily. "Bits and pieces. I remember up to Kai smashing my ring... Then everything just... Where's Mark?!" Sean huffed, chuckling out to himself. "Oh, you're in for a shock..." Nate licked Sean's fingers, causing the stinging pain to fade. After another lick or two, he asked him curiously. "Why? What's going on?" Sean rolled his eyes, removing Nate's sword from around his waist. Handling it back to him, Sean honestly told him. "Too much to say. But I need you to do something."

Nate slipped his sword back on, mumbling out. "Ok... But how much help can I be if-" Sean removed the pieces of the Sea Crown, cutting him off to say in a rush. "Nate, forge this back together and quickly! Before my dad kills Mark and his parents... Or before Kai kills Mark... Just do it!" Nate raised an eyebrow, mumbling out to himself. "I'm going to pretend that I followed that... Is this what I think it is?" Sean scooted back to give him a place to set the pieces down, saying excitedly. "Yes. It works too. It removed the blood moon's curse on you! Can you fix it?" Nate paused a second to take in the fact that he wasn't wearing a ring anymore, before answering back on topic. "Um... Ya. I just need to know how it looked before." Sean licked his lips, asking curiously. "Well... How good are you at guessing?" Nate's eyes rose to meet his, before he started to chatter out from the cold. "Ok... The hard way it is. F-f-find the broken ends and s-s-see if you can fit them together."

Sean picked up the pieces, trying to match them as he said aloud. "We have to hurry. We are losing out there..." Nate lined up the pieces, muttering out under his breath. "I don't work well under pressure, Sean..." Sean bit his lip, blushing as he said. "Sorry." Nate focused intensely on trying to fit the jewel into place, while asking a bit distracted. "So. What's the plan?" Sean let Nate mess with the crown, informing him casually. "Fix the jewel and give it to Mark's mom." Nate paused in his work to ask curtly upon locking nervous eyes on him. "Right... Because it's just that easy... What's the catch?" Sean cleared his throat, mumbling out. "Well... Mark's mom... Maybe the Leviathan." Nate's eyes widened in horror. So, Sean blurted out innocently to just get it all out in the open. "Oh, it gets better. Mark's dad is Oceanus... You know, The Titan? Ya. You didn't kill him. And Mark has evolved into a very large baby leviathan that is probably attacking Kai, right now." Nate blinked, then cleared his throat.

Going back to work, Nate uttered out in awe to himself. "I leave you two alone and the weirdest shit happens..." Sean rolled his eyes in response. Nate touched a finger to the pieces to carefully heat the metal, adding curiously. "So... You have a plan for getting this to his Titan of a mother without dying in their fight, right?" Sean swallowed and gave him a weak shrug. Nate rested his hands down on the rocky edge, uttering out in disbelief. "What the fuck? What were you going to do? Throw it at her!" Sean pointed a stern finger at Nate, lightly snapping back. "HEY! One thing at a time! I'm making this up as I go. If you're so smart, you think of something! I've been eaten by a giant Mark and clawed up by a bunch of Sirens! I'm fucking tired!" Nate snorted to himself, causing Sean to ask reluctantly. "What's so funny?" Nate finished molding a piece of the crown, chuckling out smugly. "Mark ate you as a Leviathan?" Sean blinked, not getting it. Up until, Nate chuckled out to himself. "How did that work out? Wouldn't his tongue be as big as-"

Sean cut him off by flicking water into Nate's face. Nate chuckled to himself, coolly interjecting. "Relax. Together, we should be able to figure something out." Sean let relief wash over him. It felt good to not be in this alone. Leaning forward, he kissed Nate's temple and then laid down. He needed a minute to recover. While Nate sprayed water on the crown to rapidly cool parts of it, he let his other hand stroke Sean's bleeding tail. The water on Nate's hand was slowly helping him heal, but everything still ached from whatever toxin those Sirens had gotten into him. To Be Continued...