Pure love was something that Minerva merely wanted. However, it was the same love that had hurt her, broke her, and whether it was by accident or intentional, it wouldn't change the fact that her life would never be the same.
Love was like wanting hope out of hopelessness, and wanting to hold on to something that didn't exist anymore.
For Minerva, love was an impossibility; no matter how she wished to, how she dreamt of, and how she prayed for, it just wouldn't be. She was so tired of trying and wishing. So damn tired to witness how love shattered her into million pieces; breaking her apart, bit by bit, piece by piece, until the only thing left of her, was her poor soul living completely in nothingness. She was alone, and no one would understand what she felt deep within. Feeling like she was dying, but at the same time, she was still breathing. She was struggling to grasp for air. And it was hard and getting harder with each passing day.
Behind her tough façade, she was frail, in pain and mislaid. Her heart barely beating, her feelings numbed… Insanity willed over her. She was the newly crowned Atlantean queen, which she never dreamt of. A pitiful queen with no sovereignty, a queen with no love, and a queen slowly drowning from her loss and miseries – how could she ever rule a city?
It was such a great responsibility that even she couldn't know why she ended in this cruel fate – how she ended completely wrecked. And even if how she thought things over and over again, she would never be the right queen that Atlantis needed. She would never be the good sister that her bother would be proud of. And she would never be the simple yet contented being that she longed for. She was trapped in her own life's aviary.
An Atlantean queen is supposed to be strong; that no matter what would happen, whatever the decisions might be in the future, she would still endeavor to accept with what was left from her shredded heart… from her dying soul.
And those things were too much for her.
Way too much, for a queen who had lost too much as well…
***
Minerva closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before she stepped along the grassy path bordered with untamed rose bushes. To live outside her world and to ogle towards never-ending horizon made her heart skip a beat, as she devoured every beauty of nature that she could only see in the surface. Feeling the mellow September sunlight on her pale skin, taking a good glimpse of vivid flowers, and staring at those crimson trees far longer than she'd planned; she was slowly captivated by everything she'd seen for the first time. Who would have thought that an Atlantean queen could make a step away from her cursed homeland?
Yet, she was not here for all of these heavenly creations. She was cursed, abandoned, and betrayed. She was here for one mission and that mission alone.
"It's too early for you to wake up," a deep, sultry voice made her eyes blink for a couple of times, before she turned around, and met Dr. Edmund Phoenix' eyes, "Why don't you try to sleep again, your Highness?"
There was magic in that deep, voice. Such voice that could make Minerva's knees weaken all of a sudden. Her breathing becomes rugged when her curious blue eyes met his deep, striking, green ones that seemed to penetrate her. Dressed in a pair of black jeans and a tight, white T-shirt, he wore his long-wavy black hair into a ponytail. He had these sharply chiseled features that even she had hardly thought that this man was a complete nerd when she'd first met him. He still had his eyeglasses that added to his high intelligence in his aura. Edmund for her was something to remind her that there were still a few men, Atlantean or not, who had a pure soul.
He was the one who helped her by the seashore, a day ago. Brought together by fate, or just another coincidence, she didn't care anymore. It wasn't the first time but she knew that that would be the last. As much as she wanted to, but this feet of hers was like one-time chance she had.
Time was running too fast for her. She had only three days to uphold her temporary feet. After that, she would go back to Atlantis for her safety. Returning on her mermaid form wouldn't be so useful in finding what she'd been looking for – her half-brother, Ayden. Unlike her, he was a demigod, son of Hades, the Greek god who happened to be the king of the Underworld.
He was the bastard son of the kind who cursed them to eternity – Greek gods. It was Athena who made that verdict to vanish their city from the surface for good, after she found that Atlanteans were secretly helping Medusa's gorgon sisters. If they were cursed to be snake-like monsters, Athena decided to make them fish-like creatures. But even so, she still loved Ayden more than he loved her.
But what happened to them?
"Are Atlanteans not fond of sleeping, your Highness?" he asked, making her senses fell back in place.
"I can't sleep," she answered honestly, "I need to see my brother as soon as possible." Thinking of it made her heart ached over and over again. She had to do this. She had to, for her parents and Kinos' justice. She had to face Ayden, not as her little sister, but as a queen.
They were both looking at the huge garden in the back yard of his mansion. There were lots of roses planted like a scene where she once imagined in her dreams.
"Tell me, your Highness," he uttered again, still facing the garden, "If there is a chance that you will be living in the surface for good, will you take that chance?"
Chance was something that only existed in dreams.
Minerva smiled bitterly, "I only have two more days left."
And this man beside her made her heart ached as well whenever she thought about leaving him, too. He was there when she needed someone. Although their relationship was merely less than friends, she would never forget him.
It was a weird feeling knowing that they were still strangers from each other and yet, she saw something in him that she'd never seen before, not even to the man she'd been foolishly in love for more than one hundred years—Nyx.
She almost compared him to the man she had loved. It was not about Nyx' handsomeness or his enormous strength that had captivated her, it'd been his sacrifices and faithfulness to the one he loved. Unfortunately, he was never in love with her. It took her a year to finally decide to let him go. And it took her decades for her to move on.
"If you want to stay longer, you can, with me."
She should not trust anyone. She warned herself.
For him, she was nothing but a mermaid that could satisfy his dreams. She bit her upper lip and once again, stared directly at the horizon, "Thanks for your offer, Dr. Phoenix. But my life isn't here. Atlantis needs me. And this world is not my world to live either."
She knew too well. Dr. Edmund Phoenix was only here because she was an Atlantean creature and he was a historian. He was only wholly amused with her presence given that she was the living proof of his yawning researches—nothing more.
He was here because she gave him a word that after her mission, Minerva would gave him something to treasure of, more like a proof of their existence. And in return, he would help her find the two Atlantean fugitives – Ayden and his beloved wife.
"How about a visit?" He said before he heaved a sigh, "I can still see you on that seashore, right?"
Minerva shook her head politely.
There was nothing between them but only formality.
Minerva faced him with a warm smile, pretending that everything was fine, but what he just said had touched her heart in purely, yet deeper way. No one made her stay for a while, only him.
"Thank you, really. I appreciate your offer. You are kind. Knowing that I can trust you with my identity is more than enough."
"If you won't visit me here, perhaps, a visit in Atlantis won't make you get mad. I am your friend, right?" he kept on insisting his idea. Their eyes fixed. He was too close, and yet they're worlds apart.
"If you really treat me as your friend, Dr. Edmund, please, never find my city. There are secrets that should better keep hidden. There are creatures that should only be remembered in myths. Atlantis isn't perfect for a human like you. Our laws are different. You and I are different. Maybe, not seeing you after this is what's best for us."
It was a simple warning, but she doubted if he understood her well enough.
A long pause, the garden was gradually filled with peace. Birds lazily chirped on a branch of an oak tree, across the wide stretch of soil, planted with more peach roses. She clenched her fist, and looked above. The sky was so blue that it instantly reminded her of the sea. Closing her weary eyes, if only her heart was not this wrecked, maybe, just maybe, she might say 'yes' to Edmund's proposal.
They both stood without uttering a single word.
Several seconds passed, and then minutes, until she couldn't bear the silence anymore. Minerva looked at Edmund, but just before she spoke, he saw Edmund smiling at her.
"I have something to tell you," he said, trying to walk even closer to her.
Minerva wanted to take a step backward but she was frozen by his stare, "W-What?"
"I already found Ayden's location."
Minerva's heart pounded so fast that she could almost hear it. After twenty-four hours of searching for Ayden, she couldn't believe that she had him, at last. Almost had him. "Are you sure?"
Edmund nodded, "Definitely."
"How did you find him?"
"It's not so difficult when you are one of the top billionaires in the world," he replied, "But the hard question is how will we be able to reach him?"
"Billionaire?" Minerva frowned to a word that she heard for the first time, "What's a billionaire?"
"Oh, right," Edmund grinned before he face-palmed his own forehead, "Ayden is a very wealthy man. Since we are not in the monarchy unlike your city, here, we have this democracy. We don't have Kings and Queens."
"I see," she looked down, absorbing what he just confessed. They were all new. She didn't know anything, "How will we ever go near him?"
He almost winked before he answered, "I have a plan."
Minerva almost jumped in delight, almost ran towards him and hugged him tight, almost kissed his cheek out of happiness, until a young lady appeared in the near distance. Dressed in simplicity, she was smiling towards Edmund. "I missed you, Ed."
Without a word, Edmund hurriedly walked towards the young woman, leaving her behind, and seized that woman in a fierce hug before he happily danced around the room with her.
Baffled, Minerva put her hands on her waist as a wave of rage whipped through her body. She arched her eyebrow for she couldn't believe what just happened.
How dare he ask something about staying in the surface and then he's embracing someone else?