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Amphitrite was leant against the doorframe of Aquarella's room, watching as her daughter slept peacefully. "My Queen, we just got an emergency alert from Wakanda." Amphitrite was pulled from her thoughts hearing that and turned to look at Lola, her general guard. "Any information come with the alert?" Amphitrite questioned.

"It was very vague, the message just stated two words. Talokan attack." Lola informed, having an idea what it meant but she didn't want to jump to conclusions that may have not been true. Amphitrite had the same idea as Lola and looked down at her bracelet. She pressed the jewel that pulled up her call log and immediately attempted to call Namor but got no answer.

"Send ten warriors down there, five who can transform, and five who cannot. Protect the citizens, I do not want any dead bodies found. You fight the Talokanils off if you need but, nobody dies. I will be there shortly. Understood?" Amphitrite ordered swiftly. Lola nodded and bowed her head before going to gather their warriors.

Amphitrite stepped into her daughter's room and crouched down next to the bed. Aquarella let out a tired groan, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands as she fought off the sleepiness. "Momma?" Aquarella squinted her tired eyes.

"Hey baby. I have to go take care of some business, I need you to stay here, okay? Your father needs you here. I'll be back, my darling." Amphitrite brushed Aquarella's hair out of her hair and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Logan and Renee will be by your door, if you need anything, just call them." Aquarella nodded, still confused.

Amphitrite walked out, giving her two guards a strict nod in which they responded with a bow of their heads. "Don't let her out of your sight." She ordered before strutting off.

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Amphitrite arrived in Wakanda, her siren warriors just behind her, waiting for her orders. "Protect the people! Go!" Amphitrite ordered and they immediately did as told. The sirens who couldn't transform, all helped the citizens in the water and the rest helped the citizens on the land. Amphitrite immediately began to scale to building up to the window of the throne room. "You called?" Amphitrite spoke, not paying attention to the young girl next to Queen Ramonda.

"Yes. Can you do anything to help?" Ramonda asked urgently, rushing over to the window to hear the other Queen better. "I have my army helping the citizens as we speak. I can try to control the water, make sure nobody drowns or gets hurt in the flood. That's all I can do for now, I'm sorry." Amphitrite said.

"That is plenty enough, I'm just grateful for your help in general." Ramonda said. Amphitrite nodded and jumped off the window, catching herself by hooking her staff onto the building. Amphitrite headed towards the bridge, needing to be higher to see. A voice caught her attention and she noticed Attuma who was calling out Okoye, "Warrior!" surprisingly in Mayan.

"Attuma!" Amphitrite called. Attuma scrunched his brows in confusion hearing her voice, he turned to look at her. "Behind you," Amphitrite spoke. Attuma turned out, faced with Lola who kicked his axe out of his hand and kicked him into into the water, diving in it and going head to head with the strongest Talokanil warrior Namor had.

Amphitrite stabbed her staff into the ground, using her voice she hummed, closing her eyes. The sirens on land watched as the water was pulled back underground where it originally came from.

"Who is she?" Riri couldn't help but ask, still making sure all the rescue crafts were getting to the citizens. " Queen Amphitrite Coralia. The Goddess of the Sea." Ramonda explained. She couldn't see Riri's mouth drop open in shock. She didn't even think that legend was true. "Isn't she a siren? So does that make her people, sirens or mermaids?" Riri asked.

"They are all sirens. Some can disguise as human and some cannot." Ramonda answered. Riri nodded, taking in the information and decided she would ask more later if they didn't all die.

Aquarella continued her song, not paying attention to any of the action happening around her. But the shooting and crashing was a little off putting. She missed as Namor took down Wakanda's ships with ease. That was until she felt him land right next to her. But she couldn't stop the song until she was done.

Shuri arrived in a Sunbird, not aware who's side Amphitrite was on she fired at Namor, accidentally hitting where Amphitrite stood, knocking her off the bridge and into the water, stopping the song that was almost complete. Shuri and Aneka shot at the water, causing Amphitrite to dodge each blow that was more directed at Namor who was barely giving her the time of day but she could tell he wasn't happy with her presence.

Next thing she knew, the Sunbird crashed into the water. Amphitrite immediately swum towards it and used her staff to break the glass. "Come on! Take my hand!" Amphitrite stuck it out, Shuri took it and let the Queen pull her out. Amphitrite broke the seal that kept Aneka in and pulled her out, bringing both of them to the surface. "You stopped my song!" Amphitrite scolded the girl who gave an apologetic look. "I'm sorry! You were in the way!"

Amphitrite went to swim away to speak with Lola but was suddenly pulled up into the emergency crafts with Shuri and Aneka. Amphitrite looked around in confusion, and Shuri pulled her off the levitating pad. Shuri's eyes widened seeing the burst of water explode from the throne room. "Okoye, move now!"

Amphitrite looked out the window, sighing as she figured out this was his plan the entire time. It's the reason he wanted Amphitrite to take Aquarella back to Atlantica. So she didn't have to witness her father kill someone's mother.

Amphitrite rushed off to the throne room, Okoye and Nakia not far behind her. Amphitrite stopped as she entered, the look on Namor's face was like nothing she'd seen before. This was personal. "Help the child!" Okoye told Nakia in Xhosa as she rushed to the Queen.

"She did this!" Namor spoke, his eyes on Amphitrite. He knew she had the power to save the Queen. He needed to stop her.

Okoye and Nakia both pulled the Queen and Riri out of the water. "In one week's time, I will return with my entire army. And you will join us against the surface world, or I will wash Wakanda from the face of the Earth!"

Amphitrite looked down at the Queen and back to Namor, ultimately deciding to save the Queen. But before she could even make a move, Namor grabbed onto her, pulling her out of the room and holding his spear to her throat. "You won't kill me," Amphitrite spat, attempting to fight him off.

Amphitrite watched as Shuri has rushed in, her heart absolutely broke for the young princess. "Mother."

"Keep her back!" Okoye ordered Aneka.

"Mother! Mama! Mama!"

"Bury your dead. Mourn your losses. You are Queen now." Namor pointed at Shuri who was barely even paying attention to him but she heard exactly what he said. (some supervillain shit right there 😧)

"No!" Shuri cried.

Namor dragged Amphitrite down to the water, eventually this gave her time to remove herself from his hold. Amphitrite kicked him back, grabbing her spear, she went to strike his chest but his own spear blocked it. "I should kill you!" Amphitrite exclaimed, continuing to strike but each blocked each hit with his spear.

"You won't, you can't!" Namor shook his head in amusement. That angered her, the fact that he had a smile on his face when he just took the life of someone's mother. All because the mother was doing her job in protecting her child. "Why is that?"

"Because you love me."

Namor swum away, leaving Amphitrite there, trying to find everything in her to deny what he said, but she couldn't. Because it was true. She did love him. He was her weakness. Maybe that's why she pretended she hated him so much.

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Aquarella sat down on her bed, flipping through one of her old journals. She cringed at half the stuff in there before eventually just tossing it back into the dresser. She walked towards her balcony, looking at the blue magic seal that kept the water out of the palace courtesy of the Sea Goddess herself. She smiled, looking over of the sirens swim around and gossip, likely about her. Gossip tended to spread quick so her return to Atlantica being gossiped about wasn't surprising.

Most of the sirens had very colorful patterns on their tails, they expressed each of their personalities through the colors. She remembered being made fun of for her colors being too dark. It used to make her feel miserable and insecure about her colors. But now, she embraced them and became proud of her colors. Aquarella ran a hand down her face and walked back to her bed. As she laid down her eyes just stared at her corset and clothing that Amphitrite had removed to wash the blood off.

Aquarella sighed out of boredom, already missing Attuma's company. She had thought about checking on Selya but knew she would only grow depressed and blame herself for leaving Selya by herself. A knock on the door abruptly pulled the siren from her random thoughts and she looked up. Amphitrite entered the room, shutting the door behind her, she leaned against Aquarella's dresser. "What happened?" Aquarella asked in concern.

"The Queen is dead," Amphitrite revealed. Aquarella's hand went over her mouth, not being able to contain her surprise and seeing the look on her mother's face told her exactly who did it. "No, no he didn't. He wouldn't do that without telling me," Aquarella denied.

"Aquarella, he had me take you here so they could attack Wakanda without you attempting to stop him." Amphitrite explained, walking over to her bed and sitting on the edge of it. Aquarella held her head down, her voice just above a whisper, "Why would I stop him?"

"You're not cut out for harming citizens and putting their children in danger. He knows you would've fought him on that." Amphitrite placed her hand onto Aquarella's, searching her eyes for any kind of emotion. All she got was regret, and a flicker of anger. "Are they all safe?" Aquarella asked slowly.

"Yes, I had our army protect the citizens, thankfully no one was severely hurt, just scratches or small wounds, here and there," Amphitrite explained. Rella sucked her teeth, pulling her legs up to her chest. "I wanna talk to him," Aquarella decided, looking at her mother who knew she wasn't gonna give it up.

And she didn't wanna argue. "Okay. I'll give him a call, baby. In the meanwhile, I'm gonna go to the funeral and I had the chefs make you some food so that should be here in a minute. Your bracelet is on the nightstand so just call me if you need something." Amphitrite smiled softy, pressing a kiss to her daughter's head and standing up. "If you're bored, you can sketch or call Jessie, I'm sure he'd love to come see you."

Aquarella nodded and watched as Amphitrite left, shutting the door as she knew Rella hated when she left it open. Aquarella stared at the portrait hanging on the wall, it was of what a family was "supposed" to look like. Her mother held a smile on her face, her late husband holding her close as Aquarella and Soulina sat by their legs, hugging each other with joyful smiles. Surprisingly, she missed when it was like that. Her mother wasn't as strict then, having her husband convince her to let the girls have some fun.

Aquarella found herself shooting a message to Jessie with her bracelet. Their bracelets are what they used to communicate and do other things with them. Aquarella and Jessie had invented them together so only very few sirens got them. Obviously the Royal family, and the important people Amphitrite had to have communication with. Including K'uk'ulkan. They were like the Wakandans Kimoyo Beads.

It only took seconds before she got a response.

Jessie

I AM ON MY WAY

AquaBABE

the guards know you so they'll let you in

Jessie

already here

AquaBABE

that was fast

Not even getting a response there was pounding at the door. "Let me in!" Aquarella laughed and ran up to the door, opening it. Jessie gaped, "Holy shit. You had the best glow up meanwhile I look like fish shit." Jessie scoffed, pushing past her and into the room. "No you don't. You look great. I see you ditched the red hair? No mullet. It looks good." Aquarella said, taking the cart that had their food ready and pulling it into the room, then shutting the door.

"Yeah, well I took my exes insults personally," Jessie said, sitting down and already making himself comfortable. "But anyways, how have you been? It's been like two years, which by the way, is extremely fucked up to just leave your best friend like that." Jessie crossed his legs, taking the plate of food she passed him.

Aquarella sighed and laid down next to him. "I know, I'm sorry. I wasn't really in the right mind when I left and there's no excuse for leaving you behind." Rella leaned her head on his shoulder, looking up at him with a sheepish smile. "You forgive me?" Jessie sighed and nodded, "Yes, I forgive you. But you swear you won't leave like that again? I really missed you."

"I won't leave again, I promise. Momma is finally making an effort so I guess we'll see how that goes and I'm pretty pissed with my dad right now so it's complicated." Aquarella explained, taking a bit of her chips. "Holy fishstick, spill everything. We've got a lot to catch up on." Jessie said, sitting up against the frame and Rella did the same.

"So, my dad found another one of those American ships and they had a vibranium detector so they killed everyone, like so. They took the machine and brought it to Wakanda. K'uk'ulkan asked me to come with him so obviously I did, and we, well he, talked to the Queen and the Princess." Aquarella paused and took a sip of her drink. "Wait, as in the Princess of Wakanda? The princess that you hate, and called you a freak? That princess?" Jessie questioned.

"Yes, that princess. Basically he wanted to see if they would deliver the scientist who made the machine and when they didn't and tried to take her to Wakanda, I captured them and took them to Talokan." Aquarella continued and obviously Jessie had to but in again. "Hold up, you showed them Talokan?"

"No, well not both of them. We didn't show the scientist, obviously."

"So you showed the princess?!" Jessie exclaimed in Aquan, clearly in disbelief.

"Technically, it was my father who wanted to and in the moment, she seemed pretty trustworthy. K'uk'ulkan just wanted an alliance, but she wasn't exactly...a fan of the plan." Aquarella awkwardly mumbled. "Of course she wasn't, she's a bitch who only cares about herself." Jessie scoffed. His only reason for hating her was simple, she hurt his best friend.

"Reminder, you've never actually met her..."

"So what? She hurt my best friend, and when someone hurts my best friend, they're hurting me." Jessie pointed out. Aquarella chuckled and nodded in agreement, "Okay, I can agree with that. Very understandable."

"Okay so did you, like fuck this bitch up at least?" Jessie asked.

"I got to knock her unconscious and throw her off her bike by our water bombs," Aquarella concluded with a shrug and small smile. "Awesome, but if I were you, I would've gotten at least one slap in." Jessie countered and Rella chuckled in amusement.

"Can I tell you something in confidence?" Aquarella suddenly found herself asking, turning to look at him and setting her food on the table to sit up. Jessie sat up, seeing the seriousness on her face. "Of course, you can always." Jessie said with a 'duh' tone.

"I hate admitting this out loud, cause she really sorta ruined my life mentally. But, she sorta, kinda got really hot over the years." Aquarella hid her face in her hands with an embarrassed groan.

"THE PRINCESS?!" Jessie practically screamed.

"...yes," Rella admitted.

"Oh my fucking sea urchin! No way. There's no way. She can't be that hot," Jessie denied. Aquarella rolled her eyes and pulled up a picture on her bracelet. Jessie gaped, "Okay, I get it. I see the attraction. But you can't fall for it! She's evil and a horrible person! Remember, she is the reason your mental health was fucked up for months," Jessie pointed out, feeling the need to remind Rella how much Shuri's comments fucked her up.

"I know, I know, I won't. I swear." Aquarella defended.

"You said that with Serra, Kaitlyn, Janice, Destiny-" Rella put a hand over his mouth and glared. "Sorry, I'm done," Jessie mumbled against her hand and she pulled it away. "I get it, but I'm not like that anymore." Rella denied.

"Oh yeah? What do all these women have in common?" Jessie raised his brows in question.

"I hate them..." Rella mumbled, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly.

"Exactly. And you hate the princess, so I have to make sure you don't end up in her bed," Jessie countered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"First off, that will never happen. Secondly, because my dad literally killed her mother." Rella mumbled, a bit ashamed of her father's actions. "Wait what? He killed the Queen of Wakanda?" Jessie breathed out in shock.

"Yeah, it's kinda why I'm upset with him right now." Aquarella sighed. They sat in silence, Jessie still trying to process all of that. That was until a knock on the door was heard. Jessie scrunched his brows in question, "Are you expecting someone?"

"Uhh....no?"

Aquarella got up and answered the door, only to be faced with her father. "Your mother called, she said you wanted to talk." Namor said, glancing inside the room and noticing Jessie sitting on the bed. "Uh yeah, come in." Aquarella opened the door wider, letting him in and Jessie gave a wave with a slighty awkward smile.

"Alone?" Namor requested in Mayan so Jessie couldn't understand.

"No, he stays. He's family." Aquarella stated, not budging on it. Namor nodded in understanding and watched as Aquarella stood next to the dresser.

"Momma said you killed the Queen. That you attacked Wakanda, endangering children and innocent people in the process. That wasn't apart of the plan." Aquarella said, getting straight to the point. "I did that for you, Aquarella. They almost killed you!" Namor expressed, not understanding why Aquarella was being so defensive over the Wakandans when not long ago she was saying how much she hated them.

"I didn't ask you to do that! I don't need you hurting people in defense of me! I can handle myself," She argued.

Noticing the expression on his face she couldn't help but scoff. "No, no you didn't do this for me. You did that for you! Because you're so obsessed with getting what you want and expecting zero consequences! Just like what you did with momma, you wanted her all to yourself that you tried to break up her marriage with James. I'm not stupid like you both think I am. I see things, I hear things."

"You don't know anything, Aquarella. If you did, you would know exactly why I did what I did." Namor responded, clenching his jaw in anger.

"Oh I don't? Oh so I don't know that Soulina was your kid?" Rella countered, seeing Namor's face drop in surprise. "Come on, you both really expected me to believe that James was her father? They didn't even look anything alike. He knew too, but he still stuck around and took care of her like she was his. Cause we both know you wouldn't. You barely wanted to take care of me. That's exactly why you let me do whatever I want, because you don't care!" Aquarella spat, tears threatening to spill.

Jessie licked his lips, nothing about this was shocking to him. Aquarella told him everything so obviously he knew that Soulina's father wasn't James. "All these years, I gave mom the hardest time. Now that I look at it, I regret everything that I said about her. Cause at least she was there! Yeah, you may have physically been present, but you weren't. I guarantee that you don't even know my favorite food." Rella scoffed, hating how quiet he was. He didn't even try to argue or defend himself.

"Oh, now you wanna be silent? Because you know I'm right. Tell me why, dad. Tell me why you killed the Queen. The real reason cause we both know you didn't do that for me, or Selya." Aquarella crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for an answer she wouldn't get. "Answer me!"

Jessie stood up, seeing the flicker of purple in Rella's eyes. "Tell me! Tell me why you killed her! Tell me why you took someone's mother from them!" Rella hit her hands against his chest, tears streaming down her face. "Tell me." She cried. Jessie hooked his arms around her, pulling her back but she fought against his hold. "Tell me the truth! It's the least you could do! You know she didn't deserve that!"

Jessie held Rella as she cried against his chest. "She didn't deserve it."

"You need to go," Jessie stated to Namor. He took one last glance at his crying daughter and made his exit. Jessie sighed and picked Rella up, laying down on the bed with her cuddled up close to him. "He's gone. You're okay." Jessie whispered, brushing her hair from her face.

"He seen how hurt she was about her brother....and yet he still did it. He took everything from her." Jessie nodded, listening to her mumbles but he didn't understand why she cared so much. "Can I ask you something, Rells?" Jessie mumbled into her hair.

"Yeah."

"Why do you care so much?" Jessie asked softly. And she couldn't get mad at him, it was a pretty valid question.

"Because of the way she talked about her brother. It was the exact way I felt about Soulina, and nobody could ever understand what I felt in that moment. But I could tell, she did. And her mother...her mother was the last family she had left...now she has nobody who truly knows her. I couldn't imagine the pain she's feeling." Jessie hummed softly, finally understanding what she meant.

"He knows exactly what it feels like to lose a child and a parent, and he still did it. He had so many choices, peaceful resolutions to solve this but instead he resorted to murder." Aquarella sighed, leaning her head back on his chest. "Besides, I'm not even that mad about what she said to me. She even apologized and that's more than any of the kids who used to make fun of us ever did. I'm long over it to be honest." Aquarella mumbled.

"If you feel that way, maybe you should talk to her. I mean, you both have a lot in common from what I'm hearing. And I know, I usually would be against forgiving assholes but...I think it's what Soulina would want you to do. She was always giving people a second chance. How about you take a page out of her book?" Jessie suggested, rubbing her back in a comforting aspect.

"I don't know. I feel like she'd probably kill me if she seen me." Aquarella said unsurely.

"No harm in trying. Besides, what's that thing Soul used to say?" Jessie said, urging Aquarella to say it. "If you don't try, it'll eat you up alive," Rella grumbled, still hating that catchphrase.

"Exactly. Miss Soul had wisdom."

"You make her sound like a witch," Aquarella chuckled.

"She used to burn sage and practice spells...I'm pretty sure she was at least half witch," Jessie argued, still not letting go of that topic. "She was not a witch," Rella argued.

"Yes she was! I bet she's spying on us right now!"

"That would make her a ghost then."

"Then she's both!"

"You're so stupid."

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a.n: introducing JESSIE!! the gay best friend 🤝

whew lord the drama in this family is crazy and jessie just be stickin around for the tea 🏃‍♀️ we stan

shuri returns next chapter 😍

and that's all i got to say, see u tomorrow 🌚

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