#paio

ATHENA

Athena did not expect to be forced to follow a bunch of guards into the water, turn and swim with them to the merkingdom. Though they weren’t being outwardly threatening, she knew if she tried to resist there would be a problem. So she didn’t, but she was wary and anxious the entire time. 

Now, as she waited there in what seemed like some sort of majestic underwater living room, Athena tried not to look at the guards or at much of anything except the exits. It wasn’t until she heard a door open behind her that she turned and faced whoever entered. It was the king and queen themselves. Despite her first instinct to demand why she was here, she bit her tongue and resisted the urge to say anything first.

PAIO/NADIA

Paio was no genius by any measure, but he knew this was bad. Catherine’s scolding of them was threatening, scary, and more importantly, he knew that Athena’s head would be on a platter now. After the vampire’s demands to hand the mermaid arsonist were rejected by them, he knew that the next few months for Athena would be rocky — especially considering it had been him who had forced Nadia to agree to the whole thing and spare Athena. Arguing with Nadia about to do about Athena all the way down to the kingdom, trying to convince her away from just letting Athena be devoured by Catherine’s army of evil, he finally relented just before they went to where she was waiting. 

Swimming over to Athena, he sighed, trying to be the comforting one between them. “Athena, hello again.” he smiled, “Are they keeping you comfortable?” he tried to be as nonthreatening as possible. After a moment of hesitation, he took a seat across from her, “Obviously, we have some things we need to discuss with you after what happened with Magnolia Chital.”

It was more than obvious that Nadia at first hadn't been in agreement with Paio when it came to the situation with Athena. She was more than willing to let the other mermaid get killed for the mistakes she had made. Athena had meant little to Nadia, especially because the other mermaid had seemed to bring all of her troubles upon herself. So, why should Nadia help her? Though, Paio was always there to change her mind. No matter the situation, he was always able to make Nadia change her decision. Of course, sparing Athena was no exception.

Nadia followed Paio in swimming over to Athena, offering her a nod. "Hello, Athena," she stated in a civil tone, the words almost coming off flat. While Paio was more welcoming and kind, she remained stern. Nadia swam to take a seat next to Paio, nodding in agreement to his statement.

ATHENA

Athena usually felt the urge to move (in this case, swim) back when someone tried to get close to her in a situation like this. But when Paio moved forward she didn’t really feel that. She remained put, brows furrowed as he spoke. He was being nice again. But something was wrong, this was not the right time to be nice. She glanced over at Nadia when she spoke and then back to him. “… Something’s wrong, isn’t it? With… Catherine?” Saying her name was equivalent to stabbing her hand with a fork. “Is that why I’m here?” 

Wait, wasn’t she speaking to royalty? Was there some kind of… code she should follow? Athena respected the kingdom at least, even if she wasn’t sure how to feel about having a king or queen. But she wanted to show she gonna play nice. “Your… majesties?” She added, uncertainly, clearly not knowing the kind of protocol she was suppose to follow and not bothering to hide that fact.

PAIO/NADIA

When she asked if something was wrong with Catherine, Paio’s look drooped to the floor, looking down at the blue marble of the floor with forlorn. There was too much wrong with Catherine, but that was for another day. He had to soothe her, despite the fact that this was frightening for anyone. When she finally called out their title, Paio looked back up, nodding and letting out a tense breath. “Well…yeah.” he tried to chuckle, but it came out stiff, awkward. He shook his head, “You’re in very, very bad danger now, Athena, after what happened tonight. We want to protect you as much as we can, but you have to work with us.” 

When he responded predictable with trepidation, Nadia rolled her eyes, motioning up, “Oh, I’ll just say it— she’s going to come after you to kill you, Athena. Magnolia broke our deal, and wanted us to hand you over as payment. I think you should suffer for what you did, but my husband disagrees, so here we are.”

ATHENA

Athena listened carefully to Paio, only looking away to Nadia once she spoke. Then she stared back at Paio in disbelief. He didn’t know her, how was it he wanted to protect her this much? Did the king really care that so much for his people? It rattled her. She wanted to feel warm and happy about it, but she just felt frightened and guilty. Apart from the growing respect she was starting to have for the merfolk monarchy. But this was never a situation she wanted to put herself or anyone else in. 

“… Look, I- I didn’t ask for any of this. I thought I was avenging merfolk when I did what I did - when I was manipulated by that vampire to burn Catherine’s house. But I never wanted to put anyone in this position. I especially didn’t want the rest of the merkingdom involved. For that… I’m sorry.” She decided to say, looking between both of them. Her tail flicked a bit nervously under her. “What am I suppose to do… to help?”

PAIO/NADIA

Listening to the sincerity in her voice, it forced Nadia to look away, feeling a bit of pity for her. As much as she was growing to dislike the mermaid in front of them for what a headache she’d cause the kingdom, she also know that what was done was done. The time to repair was now, but Nadia was never very good at such things. Paio instead, took the lead, nodding his head sympathetically, “I— we understand. This is our bed, and we must lye in it now, if you understand.” Paio tried to crack a smile to lighten the move somewhat, looking to Nadia who glanced back at him, nodding curtly in agreement. 

Nadia looked to Athena once more, “If you want to help, go along with what we ask of you without complaint. If not, you can hand yourself over to Catherine.” she explained. Paio interjected, “What she means is that you’ll have to stay with us for the time being. We’ll have to put a royal guard on you at all times as well, and you’ll have to quit for job until we can determine it’s safe for you to be on your own and resume your life.” He knew how it sounded, and so he put a hand out to try and sooth her, “We can provide everything and anything you need. Anything you want, we have, and anything you need for us to do, we can arrange. You’ll get the best of everything and the best treatment. You’ll be practically royalty.”

ATHENA

Her heart rated increased, she could heard the blood pounding in her ears. ’We’ll have to put a royal guard on you…’ started it. Then it just got worse and worse. Never mind being treated like royalty. Sure, it would be nice to live in splendor but she would choose her small apartment and shitty job with her freedom, independence, and autonomy over a palace any day. Being followed around and living where she didn’t want the way she was as and had to when her mother was alive was terrifying. It brought her an alarming feeling of post-traumatic stress, making her feel almost like a helpless girl again. 

As her heart rate increased, so did her breathing. She beat her tail once, swimming back just a foot. “No,” Athena breathed out, shaking her head. “No, you don’t understand. I can’t do that. I can’t-“ She inhaled, trying to gather her thoughts into more sensible words. “I can’t handle being-” Imprisoned. “-not being free. I need my space, my apartment. My job, my… my privacy.”

PAIO/NADIA

As soon as she began to panic, Nadia’s eyes rolled, shaking her head, “Then you might as well just walk into Vernon Manor! Because it’s—“ before she could finish, Paio put a hand on her, his usual touch to signal she needed to turn it down a notch. Stopping, she huffed out, swimming away from her chair and instead to look out the window of the palace to calm herself down as Paio talked. Getting up from his own seat, he swam to sit next to her, putting his arm gently on her shoulder, “Athena, I need you to just take a second and breathe a little, please. What Nadia said….it’s true. It’s either this or certain death. She will come after you and kill you, and we value your life. As much as it may be frustrating for you, it is for us as well.” He shook his head, “You’ll have all those things, besides your apartment and job of course. We have plenty of space both in the palace and mansion on shore, which means plenty of privacy too. The guards will only follow you when you leave the grounds of either.” He knew it wasn’t optimal, but as much as she didn’t like it, he knew the alternative was torture at the hands of the vampire clan.

ATHENA

Maybe it was his peaceful nature that did it, but something about Paio made her calm down at least a little. She didn’t even flinch at the touch. Her breathing slowed as she watched him and tried to listen. The mermaid had no choice. If she wanted to live, if she didn’t want to disappoint this king that had done so much for her… she had to accept. No part of her wanted to. But she had to. If she fought this, she would only be making things worse for everyone. Athena thought of the people she loved… she didn’t want to let them down either. She hadn’t even found her family yet so she just couldn’t die right now. 

Even though it was akin to driving painful needles through her skin, Athena nodded very subtly. And even as she did that, she felt the urge to start panicking again. But she held it together. “… Okay,” she breathed out. “When, um…” She looked away, closing her eyes for a heartbeat before looking back at Paio. “What do I do right now? Get my things?” She looked defeated, helpless. No matter how hard she tried to run from the life she had before coming to WH, it seemed to have found a way to trap her again. It was everything she’d dreaded and feared. It took all her willpower not to storm out of that palace at that very moment and swim as far away as possible.

PAIO/NADIA

Paio felt himself relax a little, Nadia glancing over to see how the two were doing and hoping she’d calmed down just a little. When Athena asked what happened next, she motioned to the two guards at the door of the room, “Eric, Beck; They will lead you back home to retrieve your belongings, and then back to either here at the palace or the mansion to sleep tonight. I recommend staying underwater for tonight.” she said sharply, knowing that not even Catherine’s henchmen could get her underwater. The two guards nodded to Athena as a sign of respect. Paio nodded in agreement, “Those are our royal guard, but we will assign you your own tomorrow. Let us know if there are any problems, please — we want to make this as painless as possible. It shouldn’t feel like captivity.” he tried to reassure her with a soft smile. He knew, though, the reality of what she’d be living through, Even going into stores to shop or out to eat, she’d be followed closely behind by the security so that she wasn’t snatched up in the street. 

“I would like to, once more, stress how dangerous Catherine is when she’s angry.” Nadia spoke up once again, coming towards Athena. “Don’t try to pull any tricks or stunts to outsmart your security or on her. She has a large connection that spans continents, as do we, and she’s out for her payment.” Paio sighed, looking to Athena tensely, “What she means is that in the meantime, we’ll figure out another deal with Catherine so one day you can get out of all this.”

ATHENA

Athena turned a bit to see who Nadia was addressing and immediately tensed up at the imposing view of the two royal guards. It wasn’t like the single witches and warlocks her mother had hired against her over the years, these guys looked worse. But they wouldn’t do worse and she had to remember that. Despite how much fear she felt about the situation, Athena trusted Paio. Nadia, on the other hand, she didn’t exactly distrust but she was much more intimidated by her. 

When Paio spoke again she turned back to him, looking just as distressed as before. But she listened patiently and nodded since she couldn’t return the smile. It was only thanks to him that she hadn’t tried to fight back more. He just wasn’t someone she wanted to fight. Her gaze switched to Nadia when she came closer. “… Right,” she said, looking back to Paio. “One day.” One day. Going by how much she had to try to be okay with this now, she couldn’t imagine living very long in this situation. It would kill her. And it would be a slow and painful death, far extending her physical form. It would crush her soul to be imprisoned again. 

“I’m telling you know… I can’t do this very long. If there is anything at all I can say to Catherine or even…” She closed her eyes and inhaled before continuing as normal. Fuck. “Or even do for her to get out of this and give the merkingdom some peace of mind again, I’ll do it. I’ll do anything.”

PAIO/NADIA

The two guardsmen simply nodded to Athena, not speaking and keeping their spears upright, looking straight ahead once they paid their respects to her. Nadia had fell into royal life easily, never having been intimidated by the guards, finding their presence soothing or invisible on most days. Paio on the other hand, ever the adventurer, had always found himself trying to play hooky from them, and so he understood the way in which Athena looked to them. There was only so much he could do to help the young mermaid, and unfortunately, she had made this mess herself. 

Looking between themselves Nadia and Paio shared of a look of pity and worry before turning back to her. “Soon.” Paio reassured her. Nadia shook her head at the other offer, “It’s not safe for you to even go near her. Catherine is a master of deceit, trickery, and manipulation. Probably why we have been so close over these years.” Nadia mumbled the last part with a small smirk, waving her hand to dismiss it entirely as she went on, “We will have to talk with our advisors, guards, other leaders, and species experts to determine what the best course of action would be. I’m sorry but it’s much too—“ before she could continue, she had finally gotten a good look at Athena, and noticed something glittering off her tail. Gold. Taking a quick glance, her eyes growing wider, she finished her sentence a little slowly, “—too risky to put you in that position until we can control the outcome. Paio, sweetheart, may I speak with you a moment?”

Pulling her husband aside to the other side of the room, she lowered her voice, “Have you seen her tail? There is gold in it. You know that no one but those in a royal bloodline can have gold.” she stressed to him. Paio looked back over to her, brows furrowing and noticing it before looking back to Nadia. “Perhaps it’s just a lighter yellow?” Nadia huffed out, shaking her head, “I know what I am seeing, but….if she is royalty, it means she is related to either the Anthemoessa’s bloodline or ours, and since there is no black forming, I would be more inclined to believe it’s us. Unless there is another kingdom in Europe she is related to.” Paio sighed, putting a hand on Nadia’s arm, “I wouldn’t worry now about it. She already has so much to deal with….we have to worry more about her being alive than we do her being an heir to the kingdom.” Nadia, after a second or so of hesitation, finally nodded. 

Swimming back to her, Paio put on a large smile, clapping his hands together, “So, when would you like to get this show on the road?”

ATHENA

Athena listened, heart sinking though she’d expected as much. She kept her eyes on Nadia respectfully as the woman spoke. The pause took her off guard. She seemed to have noticed something on her tail. Athena was used to looks, especially since there were little to no nicks or stains on them. It wasn’t that she took extra care with the aquatic appendage, she just hardly ever had the chance in her past to change into this form. It wasn’t brand new but it was definitely lightly used. 

Although she was used to the curious glances, there was more than curiousity in Nadia’s face. It look like shock. Did she have something stuck to her tail? Athena self consciously glanced down at herself but just then Nadia pulled Paio to the side. She decided it must not have had to do with her looks at all and it was just a coincidence Nadia had glanced down at her in a moment of realization. In fact, it was probably another realization concerning her probable death. Wonderful. 

So Athena sunk down into one of the chairs, curling her tail to the side of it and looking absently around at the room as she waited. It was a magnificent palace. It was exactly the place she would have daydreamed about living in as a little girl. Now it would be her prison. A lump formed in her throat as she thought about her how much pain and suffering had gone into her finding out about West Hollow, scrounging up money to get here and start a live for herself. And through a single moment of weakness and a vampire, it was ruined. She’d come here to learn about her family but the only thing she’d managed to learn was how to try and deal with heartbreak and endless near death experiences.