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English
Series:
Part 2 of Two Ships in the Open Sea
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Published:
2024-07-14
Completed:
2025-01-02
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17,900
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10/10
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Harbor of Hearts

Summary:

A little over a year has passed since Arthur became king of Atlantis. His days are mostly filled with protecting and caring for his people, preventing a war with the surface, and dealing with a Council that opposes most of his decisions. But darker things are afoot: recently there have been more and more climate changes and natural disasters, causing the Atlantean population to fall ill. Even Atlantis itself is broken into by an old enemy. On top of all that, Arthur learns that his brother Orm has been abducted and is held in the Deserter kingdom… Book 2 of the Two Ships in the Open Sea-trilogy.

Notes:

Aaand I’m back, lovely folks. It’s a bit earlier than I said, but I was finished with my tests and deadlines a bit sooner than expected and so I managed to squeeze out the prologue for the second part of the Two Ships in the Open Sea-trilogy. Thanks to everyone who have left comments and kudo’s on the first part. Every notification I get makes my day and motivates me to keep on writing.

Please be aware that I’m not sure how regularly I’m going to be able to post for the upcoming month, as my classes at the summer school in linguistics are starting tomorrow and I’ll be following extracurricular courses on runic inscriptions and ancient Celtic languages for the upcoming two weeks. On top of that, the weekend after the summer school I’ll be leaving on a 11-day laptop-less vacation to Wales and thus will be unable to write at all. But do not despair: I have already written half of the first chapter and finished the final two chapters + epilogue (don’t ask me why, my brain insists on a weird writing order for some reason).

Before I let you off the hook, some quick disclaimers (the same ones as with part one):
- I do not own any of the Aquaman movies, nor anything of the DCEU or DC Comics. They belong to the original makers and studios. This story is a piece of original fiction intended for entertainment. It is not part of the original Aquaman films.
- This fanfiction is based solely on the two Aquaman movies. I have not seen any of the other the DCEU movies or read any of the DC Comics.
- I do not condone or agree with any of Amber Heard’s actions. I have chosen to separate the character Mera from the actress that played her in the films. (I like to imagine Mera being played instead by Emilia Clarke. She could totally pull it off, lol.)

Some major changes to the movies’ canon:
- Mera is not engaged to Orm in this story.
- Since Mera is the only one who displays water bending abilities in the films, I’ve interpreted this as all Xebelians being able to bend water (the people from Atlantis do not have this ability).
- Arthur and Orm act a bit smarter and more cautious at times than in the films.

This fanfiction is being crossposted to Fanfiction.net (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14373128/1/Harbor-of-Hearts).

And now there’s nothing left for me but to wish you all a happy reading!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter Text

Two Ships in the Open Sea

BOOK II: Harbor of Hearts

“Put two ships in the open sea, without wind or tide, and, at last, they will come together.” – Jules Verne

Prologue

2020.

Kordax, King of Necrus and Lord of the Black City, seethed as he sat in his prison of ice. The Black Trident, lost beyond his reach, still called for him. His arm, where his own brother had cut of his hand, still throbbed in pain. Kordax wanted to scream at the thought of Atlan, who had thought himself so high and mighty, so kind and generous and loving. But no, the orichalcum had shown him the truth, had whispered it into his ears: Atlan did not wish for his little brother to be stronger or more powerful than himself. The King of Atlantis would rather wage war than see anybody surpass him in any way. And he would even go as far as locking his own brother beneath layers and layers of ice using a blood curse. A small part of Kordax, that had survived the transformation the Black Trident had brought, thought that Atlan perhaps could not bear to kill him. That part remembered the look of utter pain and sadness Atlan had given him before cutting the palm of his hand and sealing the curse. The larger part of Kordax knew better: Atlan had simply wanted to gloat, had wanted his little brother to live with the shame and defeat. And thus the Black King was locked away beneath the ice, out of time and out of mind.

Kordax did not know how long he’d already been trapped in this prison; it might have been hours or a thousand years. But suddenly, he felt a tingling. A being was near his Black Trident, a human if his senses did not deceive him. Humans were weak and fragile, but the King of Necrus did not mind. A human body would serve his purposes just fine. Kordax gathered his will and mind and focused upon the trident. At last, he whispered. You are here.

The human took the bait, grabbed the trident, and reunited its pieces. If he hadn’t been incased in ice, Kordax would have smiled. Immediately he knew the man’s name: David Kane. He could also see that this was a man bent on revenge, his father having been left to die by a descendant of Atlan no less. Perfect for my purposes indeed, Kordax thought as he quickly slipped into David’s mind. Free me from my prison and I will grant you the strength to kill the man who murdered your father. It was almost too easy to replay the murder of David’s father in the man’s head and feed his hateful thoughts. You will take from him what he stole from you. His home will burn and his kingdom will fall before my legions. And then Kordax’s hold over the human snapped fully into place. He was satisfied.

Now, all he had to do was wait.

1 month later.

Orm took another look at the picture Arthur had send him on his “mobile” device. It showed his brother sitting on a couch next to their mother, both wearing human clothes. Atlanna was smiling softly at her eldest while Arthur looked towards the camera with a grin on his face and a twinkle in his golden eyes. Judging by the background, the photo was taken in Thomas’ lighthouse. He felt for the right button along the side of the mobile in order to put the device on stand-by and placed it in his pocket. He then turned his attention to the landscape visible from the jeep’s window.

A little over a year had passed since Arthur’s coronation and Orm’s departure. His main reason to leave had been in order to strengthen his brother’s claim to the throne. Many Atlanteans still wanted to wage upon the surface and disagreed with Orm’s decision to abdicate. Orm’s presence in Atlantis was only sewing division, distrust and confusion. Another reason had been the fact that Orm had started to like Arthur. Like like him. He hadn’t realized it at the time, not understanding why his heart started beating faster when his brother was close or why he couldn’t help but smile and feel lighter when his brother grinned at him. But in the months they had spend apart since then Orm had realized what his feelings meant and accepted them: he liked Arthur more than simply as a brother and had possibly even been falling in love with him.

Orm and Arthur had only met physically a handful times after his departure from Atlantis. Each time they had to plan their next meeting around Arthur’s busy schedule and obligations as king and Orm’s travels. During their last meeting Arthur had given him a “mobile” and explained how it worked. His brother had promised that it would make communication easier and it had: they could write each other messages and hear each other’s voice whenever they wanted.

That was three months ago. Now, Orm was sitting in a jeep in the middle of nowhere in Egypt. It was the latest of the surface places he was visiting and had been recommended to him by his brother. He had already visited Elephantine, the temples at Karnak and Philae, the great pyramids at Giza, and the burial grounds at Saqqara. Now, he had joined a group doing a tour of the western desert.

After a two-hour drive the jeep finally arrived at the site of a former oasis that was used in the New Kingdom period. Orm grabbed his bag before exiting the vehicle and glanced around. High dunes of sand surrounded him on all sides and the sun shone brightly in the cloudless sky. He couldn’t admire the landscape for long as the tour guide gathered the group’s attention and started a tale on the history of the location.

“Now, this oasis was used by the ancient Egyptians in the New Kingdom as a pit stop on the way to and from one of the mining regions that is even further east. Archaeology and papyri scrolls tell us that the oasis was abandoned after a short period, however, as the people believed the place was cursed. Apparently, many people disappeared from this area without explanation. Perhaps this was due to-“

The guide stopped in the midst of his talk as a faint hissing noise was heard. Orm’s head snapped up, scanning the dunes around them. A few other people looked around as well, but quickly shrugged it off. The guide continued his story.

A few minutes later, the same sound was heard again, a bit closer by and becoming louder and louder. A faint rattling noise could be heard as well, like bones were clanking together. The ground started to shake, and, before anybody could do anything more than scream, swallowed everyone and the truck whole. Orm managed to take one deep breath before darkness and sand fully surrounded him.