#like wow! how noble of these two! this is the amount of faith and fear (biblical definition) we should ALL strive for!!

[0809sysblings]

ok but can we talk about how being willing to kill your children is a sign of faith and love according to the story of Abraham and Isaac. and what that means for Amane and her abuse/torture.

ngl that story is so fucked up to tell to children. like. "your mommy and daddy have the right to kill you if the Lord so desires that ^w^!!!". and you just have to kinda live with that information for the rest of your life and not feel any negative feelings about it either or else youre being a bad Christian as well as a bad kid.

[lizartgurl]

The Little Atlantean (Aqualad x OC

(part one) (part two) PART THREE

@princes-jasmine @the-shadow-of-atlantis @super-spoiler @dykeclone @thespacebuns @flamebiirds @snaibzel

Emma danced arm in arm with Richard, who had finally found his sea legs once the party began. She was tossed from sibling to sibling, spinning Duke under her arm and tossing Cassandra up in the air- once to spin, and twice so Cass could swing herself up onto the mast, where, once she found her balance, did a hearty jig.

“Show off,” Stephanie grinned as she bowed to Jason and the song finished.

Richard took Cassandra as his partner for the next dance. Duke took Stephanie, Tim with Mara, and Jason took Annabella, leaving Emma with Roy, the first mate, and something like her only friend outside of her siblings.

At complete ease with the casual and less-than-noble sailors of the family’s royal yacht, the royal children felt more themselves than they had in years, than they had since their kind father had died.

King Bruce had loved sailing trips, especially toting along the whole family to visit foreign lands and old allies. They traveled by sea wherever possible, like travelling with an old friend. Obviously, all his children, adopted or by blood, had inherited his love of the saltwater.

Talia smiled as she watched her children. The twins, young as they were, were allowed to stay for cake, but had been sent to bed before the rest of the festivities. She stood on the sidelines with Captain Pennyworth, the oldest and most trusted companion of both herself and the late king. She watched it all with a relaxed grace as she clapped along to the sailor’s pipes, trumpets, and makeshift drums on barrels full of various amounts of salted fish.

After this sea shanty, Talia raised her arms,and the sailor’s instruments fell silent, followed shortly by the Princesses and Princes.

“Crown Princess Emma,” Talia said, a hint of her courtly voice rising in the back of her throat. Emma shot her a pleading look, and Talia all but sighed.

“There is one more gift that must be presented tonight. It was commissioned by your father before his death.”

“King Bruce, may he rest in peace,” the sailors chanted respectfully. A brief moment of silence swept over the ship with the breeze, and Annabella squeezed Emma’s hand.

Talia approached her children, arms spread to offer a hug, “As you all know, Your father’s statue stood in the center of the capital of Gotham since his coronation, as did his father’s, and his father’s before him.

Emma and her siblings nodded.

“Princess Emma,” Talia nodded to the sailors, who cleared aside their musical setup to reveal a large object, covered by a tarp.

“I want one,” Jason grinned mischievously.

“You don’t even know what it is!” Mara elbowed him.

“She just said it’s a statue, genius,” He hissed.

“Oh, right.” She said sheepishly.

Emma gripped a corner of the tarp, and with the help of her siblings, yanked it off to reveal her elegant and gleaming marble statue.

“Wow,” Annabella gasped enviously. Richard gave a low whistle, impressed.

"It's...shiny?" Duke said slowly. Jason and Stephanie held back gales of laughter.

“It...it’s beautiful.” Emma mumbled, suddenly intimately aware of everyone’s eyes on her, comparing her to the statue of the goddess-like woman. Her features were stern and cold, like the rock it was carved from. She held a book in one hand, and a sword in the other. She already felt completely overwhelmed.

Kaldur reached the ship, heart racing. His cheeks were already beginning to hurt from how much he was smiling.

“Your highness!” Garth hissed, not wanting to warn the humans, but unable to bring himself to scramble up the side of the ship as Kaldur was deftly doing, in order to get closer to the sources of light on the ship above.

He hardly knew what to take in first. There were dozens of humans, some dressed identically, while a few of the smaller humans were dressed more elegantly with flowing sleeves and skirts about their legs. The smaller humans danced about with incredible agility and smiles to match his own, following the music produced by the larger humans, each wearing blue stripes with a red scarf tied around his neck.

A familiar squawk sounded above the din of the jaunty music, and a few greasy feathers fell in front of Kaldur’s nose. He barely brushed them off before he sneezed.

“How ya doin kid?” Vulko screeched, landing next to Kaldur on the side of the ship.

Kaldur clamped his hand over Vulko’s yapping beak as one of the dancing humans looked up, glaring around as one of her dancing companions crashed into her.

“Bella? You okay?” Stephanie rubbed her nose, looking around with her sister.

Annabella glared at the opening in the side of the ship's railing, used for cannons inb times of war. “I thought I heard someone...talking.”

“Over this din? Really?” Duke asked.

He was right, and Annabella shook it off, but not before noticing that Emma was now standing on the side, too relaxed to be catching her breath.

When he was certain that the coast was clear, Kaldur peered back through the opening.

“I’ve never seen humans this close before.” He whispered to Vulko, hoping the crazy bird would get the message.

At that point, a medium-sized female human began to approach the side of the ship where they were hiding. Kaldur slunk back into the shadows to avoid being seen, but it was quickly apparent that this human was too lost in her own woes to notice the merman clinging to the side of the ship.

She leaned over the railing, staring off into the distance. The bright blue dress she wore matched her intelligent eyes, Kaldur could tell that even in the shadows created by the ship’s lanterns, and a thin silver diadem not unlike the ones he and Tula were required to wear at most official court functions wrapped around her forehead.

She sighed long and loud, and Kaldur immediately felt sorry for her.

“Emma,” A tall human woman, in an elegant green dress that resembled more of a robe, approached her. She wore a simple but elegant golden crown, and her shoulders seemed to bear the same weight as her younger human counterpart.

The first human- “Emma” -threw herself in the older woman’s arms the way Kaldur used to do with his mother, back before all the tragedies that took his father, his uncle, and placed Sha’lain’a on the throne until her niece could assume that duty.

“I take it you are not enjoying the festivities that much?”

“It’s wonderful, Talia, but how can I do it all? I know Bruce had faith in me, I know you and practically everyone I talk to about this has faith in me, but, but...it’s all so much.”

Talia grimaced at herself for even thinking this when Emma was in such distress.

“You know, Bruce always said that being King became ten times easier after we were married.”

Emma grinned wryly up at her mother, and her expression softened as she looked over at her siblings.

“Trust me, Talia, when I find the right partner, it’ll hit me like lightning!”

Her declaration echoed dangerously over the ship, as lightning flashed in the distance.

Roy scuttled up the mast in a second.

“Hurricane!” Came the warning from the crow’s nest a moment later. In that moment, the wind began to pick up. Jason wrapped his arms around Cass and Bella, as if the wind would lift them up by their skirts and carry them away.

“Woah!” Vulko’s grip slipped as Kaldur hung to the ship’s rigging for dear life. He couldn’t see La’gaan and Garth anymore, and a sudden fear ripped through him that he’d lead them all to their deaths. Surface-related, yes, but humans would take the brunt of the blame, should his mother find out.

“Vulko!” The winds carried away his voice, along with the seagull, who seemed worried about Kaldur, but otherwise content to let the winds carry him wherever.

“Batten the hatches, men!” Captain Pennyworth struggled to hold onto his hat. “Get the Royal Family below decks!”

Roy stumbled in an effort to get to the unattended steering wheel. Emma almost flew past him, turning as sharply as she dared to start them away from the storm.

But it was too late, the storm was already upon the unsuspecting revelers, and a fresh lightning bolt split the mast into two jagged halves.

“Abandon ship!” Roy declared. Half the sailors began to loosen the longboats while others attempted to stifle the fire for even a moment.

“Damian! Athanasia!” Talia screamed in a panic, realizing that her two babies were trapped beneath the deck, and the fire was growing closer to the stairway.

Without thinking, a plan came to Emma as she skid across the deck, soaked from the downpour. She gripped Bella and Jason’s shoulders to get their attention.

“Get Talia and everyone else off the ship, I’m getting the twins.”

“Emma, wait!” the hem of Emma’s skirt slipped through Annabella’s fingers as her big sister leaped over the flames, rolling down the stairs, steadily filling with smoke. The royal quarters were easy enough to find, and had she not known the ship like the back of her hand, the cries of her baby brother and sister were enough to lead her through the violent pitching.

“Hang on, Dami,” Emma whispered, placing the older brother on her back and holding Athanasia to her chest. She tore three strips of fabric from her skirt, wrapping it over their mouths to help the three of them breathe as she navigated back up to the deck through the smoke, now a billowing cloud of darkness that stung her eyes and seared her tiara.

She could barely see as she stumbled back onto the deck. The screams had mostly stopped by then, but the tears were still flowing.

“Emma!” Talia screamed, guiding Emma to the railing.

“I’m going to jump!” She warned the three boats below. Damian whimpered as the flames licked at her back, and that was enough for Emma to ignore Talia’s protest and pitch herself over the side of the ship and into the roiling waters, clinging to her baby brother and sister.

“Emma!” Richard was half-scolding as his boat reached her. He gripped the fabric of her sleeve as Cassandra and Stephanie took the babies.

Richard’s grip relaxed as he thought maybe perhaps they’d all make it through this alive. Emma only had time to flash a weekly heroic smile before another wave washed her underwater.