Arthur heard the word Atlantis and immediately stopped walking. His entire posture changed as he slowly turned back toward Daniel, suspicion replacing the irritation that had been there moments ago.
Only a handful of people even knew Atlantis existed. Most of humanity dismissed it as a myth, a story sailors told after drinking too much. Arthur knew better.
He knew Atlantis was real.
In Arthur's eyes, Atlantis was the kingdom that took his mother away and left his father spending years staring out at the ocean waiting for someone who never returned.
"So are you one of those fish bastards?" Arthur asked coldly as his grip tightened around the beer bottle in his hand.
Daniel looked down at himself before glancing back up.
"Do I look like a fish?" he asked. "You're either more drunk than I thought or your eyesight is getting worse."
Arthur wasn't amused.
"Whatever you are, if you're connected to those bastards, leave me out of it," he said while turning back toward the lighthouse. "I don't have anything to do with Atlantis."
Daniel watched him walk away for several seconds while the ocean wind pulled at his trench coat and waves crashed against the rocks below.
"Nothing?" he asked calmly.
Arthur kept walking.
"Even if this world ends up burning because of a war between the sea and the surface?"
Arthur's footsteps slowed slightly.
Daniel continued anyway.
"Whether you like it or not, Arthur Curry, you have Atlantean royal blood. You can ignore it, hate it, drink because of it, or pretend it doesn't exist. None of that changes what you are."
Arthur's jaw tightened.
Daniel's voice remained calm, but there was no humor in it anymore.
"And blood comes with responsibilities."
For a moment Arthur considered ignoring him completely.
Then Daniel delivered the final sentence.
"Unless, of course, you're willing to watch your father become one of the first casualties."
The ground exploded beneath Arthur's feet.
One moment he was several meters away.
The next he was standing directly in front of Daniel with a fistful of trench coat clenched in his hand.
Years of anger flashed across his face.
"What the fuck did you just say?" Arthur asked.
Daniel didn't react to being grabbed. He didn't look threatened. If anything, he looked mildly disappointed.
"What?" Daniel replied. "You can't handle hearing the obvious?"
Arthur's grip tightened further.
The ocean around them seemed louder now.
The wind felt colder.
"Do you seriously think your father would be safe if a war starts?" Daniel asked.
The amusement disappeared completely from his face.
"People always imagine wars as armies fighting armies. They never think about what happens afterwards."
Arthur remained silent.
Daniel continued.
"If Atlantis decides the surface is its enemy, coastlines become battlefields. Ports become military targets. Fishing towns become strategic locations. People stop being individuals and start becoming statistics."
His eyes met Arthur's directly.
"And where exactly does your father live?"
Arthur's expression darkened.
Daniel didn't give him time to answer.
"A small coastal town. A lighthouse. A house sitting beside the ocean."
The words landed harder than Arthur wanted to admit.
"You think that's safe?"
Arthur wanted to argue.
He wanted to tell Daniel he was wrong.
The problem was he couldn't.
Because he had already seen the tsunami.
He had already seen what the ocean was capable of.
Daniel slowly removed Arthur's hand from his coat and straightened the wrinkled fabric.
"The worst part is that Atlantis doesn't even need to target him specifically," he said quietly. "When nations go to war, innocent people die simply because they happen to be standing in the wrong place."
Arthur's fists clenched.
For the first time since this conversation started, he wasn't angry.
He was worried.
Daniel noticed immediately.
"Now you're finally thinking about the right problem."
Arthur stared at the dark ocean beyond the lighthouse. The waves looked exactly the same as they always had.
Yet somehow they felt different now.
Because beneath all the anger, resentment, and bitterness he carried toward Atlantis, there was one truth he couldn't ignore.
If a war really started between the sea and the surface, his father would be caught directly in the middle of it.
Arthur stared at the ocean for several moments before finally looking back toward Daniel.
"Did Vulko send you?" he asked.
Honestly, it was the only explanation that made sense to him.
Nuidis Vulko had spent years trying to convince Arthur to accept his responsibilities. Every conversation eventually turned into a lecture about Atlantis, destiny, kingship, or why Arthur needed to stop running away from problems.
If anyone was desperate enough to hire a random stranger to drag him into Atlantean politics, it would be Vulko.
Daniel looked at him strangely.
"No," he replied. "Do you not watch the news?"
Arthur frowned.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"I'm asking because I'm standing here with my actual face," Daniel said while pointing at himself. "Usually people recognize me before accusing me of being an Atlantean messenger."
Arthur studied him again.
Black hair.
Normal build.
No fish-related features whatsoever.
Just some guy wearing a trench coat and talking about the end of civilization.
"So you're some kind of celebrity?" Arthur asked skeptically.
Daniel immediately looked offended.
"Yeah. A huge celebrity. Governments are searching all over the world for me."
Arthur blinked.
"So what did you do to become that famous?" Arthur asked. Given the guy's slim build and lack of any visible muscles, he certainly didn't look like some kind of fighter. "Did you do something stupid, like break a rich man's daughter's heart?"
"Fuck no," Daniel said, immediately raising his middle finger.
*****
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