Kassia Grace Frost-McKenzie (little_mermaid) wrote,
@ 2010-03-28 18:34:00

Test scene
The bullet sent pain screaming and splintering through her body. For a moment all she could register was the pain, white and loud and drowning out the voices around her, of the others on the rescue team and of the Japanese dolphin-killers. Grace closed her eyes. So much pain, but the water was warm and she felt its embrace. She was bleeding and badly hurt but even for the salt in the water burning at her wound there was a comfort in the ocean's warmth. The current seemed to curl around her and she opened her eyes, looking towards her friends. Her vision was already fading and in a moment of peace so pure she could not even begin to put it into words she knew she would die if she stayed there.

Atlantis.

It had been thirteen years since she'd seen her father, since her mother had ripped her from him but she remembered. She remembered him and she remembered, dimly, Atlantis. He had shown her once. It was his home and by delicate extension, she considered her home, too, despite Emma's best efforts to obliterate any trace of it from Grace's life.

Daddy.

She knew she had to get to Atlantis.

"Tell my Mom I'm really sorry..."

Her voice was faint as she slipped beneath the surface, the red of blood--hers and the dolphins'--staining the azure waters and she began to swim down towards the bottom. Each movement hurt more than the one before it and more blood fled her body for the sea. She was weak, but she had hope. How long she swam and sank she did not know. Her vision began to dim, but she pushed on until finally she saw it, glittering in the deep and she knew she'd found it. Atlantis.

She collapsed just at the entrance to the fabled place and she knew that even if she died now, she was finally home.

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little_mermaid
2010-03-29 12:51 am UTC (link)

Paras gasps and stammers but is unable to speak before a distraction arises. Grace sees Namor and bursts into tears.

"Daddy I found you...I remembered..." Stubborn in spite of the pain, Grace struggles away from the physician and gets up off of the exam table she had been laid on. Her feet carry her only a few steps before she collapses, reaching for Namor.

Blood gushes from her again and the physician visibly pales, quickly ordering his nurses to get her back on the table.

"Look at her ankles..." one of the nurses whispers, shocked. "Little wings.."

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nextgen_parent
2010-03-29 01:39 am UTC (link)

Namor is momentarily distracted when the young woman rises, his head turning to regard her. Something about the way she ambles toward him takes his mind out of that room and away to a time long ago.

The image of small, dark-haired girl ambling toward him on unsteady legs fills his minds' eye.

You are close, Kassia. Come to me, my darling. Take one step, then another. I will catch you if you fall." he says.

A moment passes, then another image.

"Father, the tea party is waiting on you! The King of Atlantis can't be late! Lord Bear-Bear says he's thirsty!" the three-year old says. He smiles and hastens to obey.

Another image.

"Can we go swimming, Daddy?" the little girl asks. "I want to see a Kraken!"

"You are too little for that yet, my little Sea Maiden. But I know a grotto you will like very much."

Each of the memories comes with a lance of pain that rips at Namor's mind, like something trying to force it's way from his head, and grunts in pain at the images. Why is this happening?

A last image comes to him in such detail that he cannot block it out of his mind.

"You will not take my daughter from me, Emma. I will not stand for it." the Sea King speaks.

"You cannot stop me if you do not remember her, Namor."

"Daddy?! Mommy, I don't wanna go!" the little girl yells.

Namor lunges at Emma, and the world vanishes in a haze of white.

"ARGH!" Namor screams as the physicians try to restrain the girl.

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little_mermaid
2010-03-29 01:50 am UTC (link)

The physician has her back on the table, but Grace keeps struggling.

"No! Daddy..." He's so close. So close and yet he doesn't seem to see her, to know her. Frantically she realizes that the physician is stronger than she is, thanks to her injury, and she knows she's only going to get weaker. She can feel that. All her fighting and struggling isn't helping her and as a nurse holds her down so the physician can work, she screams out in pain.

Her mind, though...

Daddy...it's Kassia. Please...why don't you know me?

It happens quickly. Grace feels the pain as she slides through Namor's mind. It twists and snarls and catches. She can't bear it; she doesn't understand it. It's her father's mind...

Father. I never forgot.

Even Grace can see the blaze of white light, followed by a flood of images as she unwittingly undoes her mother's block.

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nextgen_parent
2010-03-29 02:06 am UTC (link)

The pain is intense, but once the images subside,so does the pain.

In its place exists a healthy dose of shame, one greater than the one that tears at him regarding Marinna. He honestly didn't know about her.

Kassia, on the other hand, he allowed to be stolen from him by her mother.

"Let her go!" he commands, to the shock of the physician.

"Heal her, and then have her transferred to the room next to mine immediately. Use the secret tunnels, and do not breathe a word of this to anyone on pain of death. Are we clear?" he asks, looking around the physicians and Paras, who is still huddled in fear.

"Paras...you have done well. Your sins are forgiven." Namor says. "I will find a place for you, but I need another favor now. Go to Canada and find Marinna.

Ask her to return home with all due haste, and tell her it is a matter of blood." he says, turning back to Kassia.

"My Kassia, I will never let anyone separate us again." he says.

Emma Frost was unwise to kill him. By the time he is done with her, she will wish she had.

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little_mermaid
2010-03-29 02:15 am UTC (link)

Kassia.

He says her name, her real name and not what her mother and Sebastian Shaw insisted on calling her. She relaxes a bit, still crying but this time she doesn't try to get up. She just reaches for him, much as she had the day Emma dragged her away. This time, however, it's the physician who pulls her away, following the Sea King's orders to heal her. Grace is wheeled away, treated. She awakens some hours later in a room far too opulent to be a hospital room.

And she can sense Namor.

"I know you said I could never come here. I just didn't know where else to go. I didn't want to die on the surface." Her voice is a whisper. "I'm sorry. I know you have to send me away, I just didn't want to not see you again. I wanted to die at home."

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nextgen_parent
2010-03-29 02:22 am UTC (link)

"Hush, my dear. You need to rest and listen to me." he says, remembering with sadness the reasons he could not claim Kassia as his child. Her birth so soon after Marinna's death would have caused an uprising in Atlantis. There was no way he could acknowledge her that would not destabilize the throne.

And now, after naming Marinna his heir...so much could undo all he was working to rebuild.

"You are going to stay with me for a time, but when you leave, you will go with your sister, Marinna. She was lost to me as well, but she came home. I want you two to know and love each other, Kassia. You will go with her until it is safe to return, then I will let you choose whether you wish to remain in Atlantis, or on the surface." he says.

"I'm glad you returned to me, my little mermaid. You found your way home. I will never deny Atlantis to you again." he says.

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little_mermaid
2010-03-29 02:27 am UTC (link)

"You aren't mad at me?"

Because Emma would be.

Wincing, she pulled herself out of the bed and moved to him, throwing her arms around him and hugging him as though he might disappear if she let go.

"I hate the surface, Daddy. I hate it. I begged Mom to take me back to the beach but she wouldn't. She wouldn't let me and Sebastian wouldn't take me either! And then Christina went away..." She pauses. "I have another sister?"

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nextgen_parent
2010-03-29 02:35 am UTC (link)

"No, Kassia. I am not mad you. You did nothing wrong. Your mother and I had an argument and she did what I never thought she would do. That is not your concern, though." he says.

When she came to him, he hugged firmly, yet gently, as though he might break her if he held on too tight. She was nearly a woman grown, like Marinna. He'd missed the most important years of his daughters' lives. Perhaps it was the return on his arrogance throughout the years.

"You will not have to return to the surface again, after this this, if you do not wish to, Kassia. And yes, you do have a sister. Her name is Marinna, and like you, she is very beautiful." he says.

"When she arrives, you will meet her, and then you will go with her for a time. You will need to listen to her, though. She is your Princess and sovereign. There is one more thing I need of you, my dear.

You are not to tell your mother or Christina where you are at any time." he says.

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little_mermaid
2010-03-29 02:45 am UTC (link)

"Of course I will listen to her if she's my sovereign. I know how it works. I remember, Daddy. Your the King, and your heir also has authority." She looks up at him. "I tried so hard to remember everything you said. Even about the Kraken. You owe me a Kraken, you know."

She smiles widely at him.

"I got my wings, Dad. Mom was so mad. Why can't I tell Christina? She always liked you."

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nextgen_parent
2010-03-29 03:06 am UTC (link)

"When you are older, we will discuss the Kraken." Namor smiles, repeating the line from her youth.

"I see your wings. I wanted to take you flying for the first time, Kassia, when you received them. Your sister may even have hers. We'll all fly together someday soon." he promises, gently pushing a hair away from her face.

"You cannot tell Christina because your mother will expect you to, and use that to find her. I will try to find a way for you to talk to you sister, but you must trust me for now. Can you do that?" he asks.

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little_mermaid
2010-03-29 03:11 am UTC (link)

"Dad! I'm older now! I even have a name picked out. I'm going to name my Kraken "Charlie." I've been thinking about this for awhile, you know."

Her expression softens when he speaks of wanting to have taken her for her first flight and she hugs him more tightly.

"Father I have only just gotten them. I haven't even tried to fly yet. You can still take me for my first flight. We haven't missed everything. Do you still tolerate cookies?"

She sighs.

"Christina hates Mom. Maybe that will help you find a way. But I trust you. I have always trusted you." Her eyes well up with tears. "For so long I thought you maybe didn't want me anymore."

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nextgen_parent
2010-03-29 03:24 am UTC (link)

"We had someone name a Kraken once. It didn't go well, Kassia." Namor says, thinking. "But perhaps you will have much better luck."

He smiles. "Then we will fly together, all three of us. But that will only happen once you are well, Kassia. You need to lie down and rest. When food is brought to you, eat everything.

And I have not had a cookie in years. We don't make them here, and I stopped caring for them a long time ago. I think I know why, now." he tells her.

"Kassia, there are many things I cannot do for you, but I will never turn my back on you or any of my children. Never. I was made to forget about you, but I promise, that will never happen again." he vows.

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	little_mermaid 2010-03-29 03:29 am UTC (link)
	"I just want you to be my Dad again. I don't need anything else. I'm not a princess. I'm not...really an Atlantean." She frowns as she says that, but shakes her head. "I just want to be Kassia McKenzie. Is that okay?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	nextgen_parent 2010-03-29 03:47 am UTC (link)
	"I can grant that easily, my little Sea Maiden." he smiles. "We have an accord." He hugs her close, enjoying the feeling of having his little girl back in his arms again. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	little_mermaid 2010-03-29 03:51 am UTC (link)
	"I love you, Daddy." And she was so glad to be home. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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