Superpowers

They emerged out of the portal in the underwater tunnel leading to the sunken ship full of dead people. Kai pulled his hand out of Marius's grasp the moment they were through the portal.

"Why couldn't you teleport us straight to my house?" Kai asked as he suddenly found himself floating in water, completely wet. So much for changing clothes.

He glanced at Marius; he was still in human form.

"I don't have the ability to teleport long distances, hence the use of tunnel gateways." Marius explained. And then he looked at Kai and his eyes flashed. "But you do."

Kai blinked. "I do?"

"Perhaps. We shall see once we begin your training."

"What can't I supposedly do?" Kai said in awe of himself. It was said more to himself, but Marius heard it nonetheless.

"Not much." Marius said, a corner of his mouth rising. And then he leaned close to Kai's face to say, "It's what makes you so valuable."

Standing so close to him, Kai could see the dark specs in his shark-like eyes. In the dark tunnel illuminated only by the still glowing gateway, his eyes truly were remarkable. Beautiful, even.

There was that strange fluttering in his gut again.

"C-Can I teleport to the moon?" Kai asked.

"You can try it and let me know." Marius turned around and floated upward to the ship.

The gateway closed and Kai was bathed in semi-darkness.

He looked down at his ankle to see his chain glowing. He felt the tug and didn't resist. He allowed himself to be half-dragged by Marius. No reason to exhaust himself.

For once, Kai wanted to go where Marius was taking him.

The journey to his house didn't take as long as the journey to Nostraza, maybe because he wasn't struggling and Marius wasn't attacked by any Astrians.

It wasn't long before he started recognizing the waters. The closer they got to his home, the harder his heart beat.

This was the longest Kai had been away from his mother, save for a few holidays. This was no holiday.

Per traditions in Turkey, he'd stayed with his mother long after his Western counterparts would have flown the nest. As ambassadors, they were expected to maintain a certain image in front of the Turkish public and to show a willingness to learn from them and mingle. In truth, his mother (or the public) wouldn't have protested -much- if he'd decided to live independently, but Kai preferred living with his unobtrusive mother in their wonderful home. After all, their stay here wasn't permanent, and it was a foreign country above all. It was the logical and comfortable thing to do.

He missed her terribly. She was both mother and father to him. There were no words, really, to describe the hollowness in his chest her absence had caused. Suddenly these last few minutes of waiting were more unbearable than the days they'd spent apart. He couldn't wait to see his mother again.

He didn't know when he and Marius had switched positions, him swimming ahead and Marius being dragged behind him.

"How interesting. You're positively glowing."

Kai looked at Marius, a little surprised. Was it that obvious? It probably was, but who could blame him after all he'd gone through? Not even Marius could begrudge him that -not that Kai cared what he thought. If they were on solid ground, he'd probably be skipping all the way there.

Marius was looking at him strangely again. Kai didn't know what to say or how to act whenever Marius did that. He'd grown up under semi-constant scrutiny, but Marius's scrutiny was different, piercing, judging. Kai almost started fidgeting with his hands.

"I suppose this is what it looks like when one loves their own mother and is eager to return to her."

It wasn't what he'd said so much as how he'd said it. Stunned, Kai peered into Marius's face to see that it had turned into an expressionless, forbidding mask. But it was his tone of voice that had caught his attention.

If Kai didn't know better, he'd say Marius sounded... despondent.

Kai remembered the Queen Mother. The first thing he'd noticed about the beautiful mermaid was her icy exterior, so much like her son's. Did the Queen's icy facade not melt for anyone, even her own son?

What a fucked up family.

Kai could almost understand why Marius was the way he was. But it was no excuse.

They said nothing the rest of the way.

Kai knew he was home the moment he spotted the forest of overgrown kelp at the base of the cliff on which his house sat. That pile of seaweed had started it all. If his foot hadn't gotten stuck in the kelp, he wouldn't have almost drowned, bringing forth the dormant force of nature sleeping within him since his birth.

He made a mental note to come back with his sword later.

Kai kicked his legs, rising to the surface. As soon as he broke water, he inhaled deeply, swallowing the Black Sea's refreshing air into his lungs. He'd even missed the air.

There was no moon to illuminate the darkness of the Black Sea, and the stars were hidden behind walls of clouds, but Kai could still see that the ladder he used to climb up the cliff was gone.

"How are we going to -What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Marius grabbed Kai, drawing him closer to him, and then wrapped an arm around his waist.

Kai was equally mortified and enraged at the contact. He thought his heart was going to beat out of his chest.

Marius leapt out of the water and into the air.

Kai unconsciously held on for dear life as he suddenly became weightless, wrapping arms and legs around the King's torso. The air whistled past his ears and ruffled his hair as they rose like a launching rocket.

Somehow, he didn't scream, probably because he was too shocked.

Marius, like a fucking superhero, scaled the cliff in one jump and landed at the very edge.

Kai gaped at his surroundings to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, that he really was at the top of the cliff, and then gaped at Marius.

"And I'm the one with the powers?" he said, his throat extremely dry. Maybe he was going to scream after all.

Marius had the audacity to chuckle. As his body rumbled, so did Kai's. "I am not completely powerless."

Indeed he wasn't. Even if Kai had the Spirit of the Sea inside him, the Conqueror was currently the stronger of the two. At least until Kai mastered his powers. Well, probably. Who knew what Marius had up his sleeves?

Kai would add physical superhuman strength to the list of Marius's powers he was mentally keeping.

"You can let go now."

Heavily embarrassed, Kai released Marius and stepped away from him as if he'd been singed. He cleared his throat in an effort to dispel the awkwardness.

"Come. Your mother awaits."

That was all it took for him to forget his embarrassment and follow Marius to his house. He spotted her sitting in the kitchen. He started to smile -but then saw the other three figures in the kitchen with her.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

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