I turned around to stare at Queen Esme with a cold glare in my eyes, a glare I had never given anyone before. She was trying to take everything that I ever cared about away from me. She took Delphine, and now she was going to try to take my father and my kingdom. I looked over at the pillar where Veronica was hiding for a second, silently telling her to stay where she was. "You and Veronica are the only ones left, Arthuas. How does it feel?" Queen Esme cackled. "How could you do this?" I asked.

Queen Esme stepped out of the moonlight and slightly twirled the trident in her hand. "You think you know the whole story about what happened to Atlantis, but you don't know my side of it," she answered. "Why should I believe a word that you say? You're probably going to lie about it anyway," I looked over at the pillar once again, and I saw that Veronica was gone. A split second after that, I heard a scream, and I saw Veronica getting pinned against the wall by Rose, her fingernails about to cut Veronica's throat.

Queen Esme turned around as well and swam towards Veronica. "You thought you were going to escape undetected, didn't you?" she sneered. "I wasn't trying to escape," Veronica growled. As Queen Esme continued talking to Veronica, I sneakily swam over to where Delphine was. She was unconscious, but she was breathing, her face was slightly bruised from the torture she had endured back in the dungeon, but it wasn't as bad as before. "Come on, Delphine. Wake up," I whispered to her, lightly slapping her cheeks in an attempt to wake her.

But she wouldn't budge, no matter how hard I tried. I quickly checked for the beautiful sound of her heart. It was still there, just very faint. "Stay here. I'll be back," I whispered, planting a kiss on her cheek. "I didn't escape because you have somebody else that I care about," Veronica admitted. Esme leaned in close to Veronica's face. "And, who might that be?" she asked. Veronica's gaze shifted over to Emily, and her eyes grew wide as saucers.

"Emily, we haven't met each other yet, but I'm your sister. Well, your stepsister to be precise," She said. Emily didn't move an inch, but her eyes said it all. "W-what?" She gasped, her jaw dropping slightly. "You're a liar!" Esme yelled at Veronica, putting the sharp end of the trident to her throat. "No, I heard you mention my stepfather's name while you were in the dungeon torturing Delphine!" Veronica shook her head slightly.

This only angered Esme, "You were spying on me? You little twerp!" she said, on the verge of screaming. I wasn't going to let them hurt Veronica or Delphine. I swam towards Rose and tackled her to the ground pinning her wrists to the floor. "No one hurts my friends," I growled. I looked up at Emily, hoping that she wasn't going to hurt me for what I was doing to her sister, but she just stood there frozen as a statue.

"How dare you!" Esme growled. Finally, Emily stepped out of her frozen state, and suddenly I heard the sound of Esme choking slightly. "Emily, what are you doing?" I asked. "Something I should've done a long time ago. You don't hurt my stepsister!" She growled at Esme. She moved her other hand towards Rose, and she started choking as well. "You ungrateful child! I helped you control your powers, and this is how you thank me?" Esme groaned out. Emily suddenly threw Queen Esme to the side and focused her energy on Rose.

"Get this disgusting merman off of me!" Rose protested. "No! All my life, you have ridiculed me and abused me! I still have nightmares from all the torture!" Emily shook her head. She used her powers to choke Rose a little harder, and after a minute, Rose stopped breathing, and her eyes slowly closed as she gave into death. Emily swam over to Veronica and hugged her tightly. I could see Veronica was very happy that she had finally met her stepsister, and I was happy for her.

I looked over at Delphine, who was still unconscious, and smiled, hoping to tell her that I loved her when she woke up. Queen Esme was lying just a few feet away with the trident still clutched in her hand. I was unsure if she was awake or not, but from the looks on Veronica and Emily's faces, they were unsure as well.

I slowly swam towards her and gently pried her fingers off of the trident, but as I was about to pry off the last finger, Esme woke up and began pulling on the trident once again. "NO! YOU'RE NOT TAKING IT AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. I kept pulling on the trident, hoping that she would lose her grip, but she never did. "Emily! Veronica! Get out!" I yelled to them. "No! Not without you!" Emily protested. "There's not enough time. You have to go! Get the others out of here!" Reluctantly, Emily and Veronica went through one of the windows of the throne room without looking back.

I let out a breath of relief, knowing that they were out of the throne room, and now it was just me and Esme. But before I could have the chance to continue with the pulling, Esme used one end of the trident to hit me in the face and send me flying through the water, and I felt my back hit one of the pillars.

Esme let out a loud cackle as she swam closer towards me, still holding the trident in her hand. "Well, this is just how I remember it," She continued to cackle. "Remember what?" I growled. She pointed the trident at me, and I was praying that I was going to get out of this. "Your mother and I were fighting in this same room, but there's only one thing that's still missing. The moment I stabbed her through the heart, just like I will do to you," She said, pulling the trident back and aiming it at my chest.

Even though the chestplate would protect me from getting hit in the chest with spells, it wasn't strong enough to protect me from being impaled. "Goodbye, Arthuas," Esme said. I closed my eyes, knowing that this was the end. "NO!" A voice screamed, I opened my eyes, and I saw Delphine had swum right in front of me, and I watched in horror as she was stabbed through her chest, and I caught her as she fell into my arms.