Izroulians loved an excuse to throw a festival. And getting rid of Agnemetra was the perfect excuse for it. It wasn't even time to unveil the flag yet but the streets were already lined with people, music had already broken out, those who ran cafes and bars opened up their doors to everyone out of the kindness of their hearts even on such short notice.

Those who weren't there to wittiness them fight as they lived in the other side of the river, had crossed the bridges to join the celebrations in the kingdom.

Before going too crazy, they headed back to the castle to reverse the power from the illusion gem. It was Zagreus turn to use his chaos power, he had stood atop the castle walls and cast out the energy to reveal the truth, which stopped all the hallucinations immediately.

Understandably the guards were a little confused, and when they saw someone who wasn't Agnemetra with the crown on, they started to connect the dots.

Haru made it very clear what his intentions were as king, if they didn't agree with it they could leave the royal force. Having been powerless during the fight, they all knew it was already over and there was nothing they could do. Some left, still brainwashed by Agnemetras propaganda. Some stayed, curious to see where this went.

Zagreus had run back into the human realm to fetch his parents as soon as the sun started to set, he may or may not have kept this whole thing a secret. He knew they'd freak out about him fighting a ruthless dictator if they knew. So this whole time he'd been keeping the rebellion secret and as far as they knew he was just hanging out with his Merfolk friends.

So when he ran through the front doors yelling for his mum to get out the traditional Merfolk outfits for a festival, they were thoroughly shocked to say the least.

Aries had a hunch there's he kingdom wide celebrations as soon as this all happened, so they'd already dug out their traditional wear for it.

Inside the castle the Merfolk had taken over one of the empty rooms to get ready. Accessories and clothing all over the floor.

"Stay still man" Aries said.

"Oh sorry, I'm literally exploding with excitement" Pandora laughed.

Aries fastened the fishnet wrap around her waist, decorated with shells, gems and pearls.

"How did you make these so quickly?" She asked.

"I know my way around fishnet. I knew there'd be celebrations so I figured you two needed the outfits for it" they replied.

Traditional Merfolk clothing consisted of fishnet wraps, skirts made from boat sails, shell and starfish tops, crowns of sea shells and sea creature fossils. It was very beach appropriate, water friendly and suited for hot weather. All the materials used to make it came from the sea, lost fishing hooks for earrings, chains from anchors and crab nets to make jewellery and anything shiny found in the sand for decoration.

Aries' consisted of a sailor collar embellished at the front with a shell broach, torn and decorated sail skirt and fishnet wrap over top. They'd had to for years, but never had the chance to wear it until now.

Pandoras was a classic mermaid shell top, a longer sail skirt and fishnet wrap. With an added shell headband made from shells collected from point break.

"Ta-da!" Icarus smiled, pushing the doors to the wall on closet open.

When she heard Aries was going to make them all traditional Merfolk clothing she knew she had to put a spin on it. Not only was she a mermaid but Hawaiian too, and she did have hula gear hanging in her closet waiting to be used again.

So she'd mixed the two together to rep both her roots.

She combined the Merfolk starfish top with her proper hula skirt her mother had gotten her when she turned 16 and performed at a local festival for the first time. Her hair was pinned back with shells, and she'd mixed shark teeth into her Lei.

"Oooh I love the colours!" Pandora said.

"It would be a crime if I didn't wear something bright" Icarus snickered.

Zagreus had always had his own merman outfit, his mother made it for him. But he'd never had the chance to wear it until now. He walked in with fin arm cuffs, several layers of shell necklaces and of course, a sail skirt.

"Hey, how'd your parents react?" Aries asked.

"They had a heart attack, but then when I bought them into the realm they just started crying and doing the whole proud parent speech" he replied.

"I figured they'd freak at first" Icarus snickered.

"What about you two, will you tell your parents?"

The girls still hadn't told their parents about being mermaids, and truthfully they didn't know if they should. Pandoras grandma was gone now, she was the only one who knew of the Izroulian roots in the family. And while Icarus knew her father was still alive and just off hiding with the pod, her mother didn't.

"I think I'll tell mum everything once I've found dad, it'd be too hard to explain without him" Icarus said.

"I still have no idea what to tell my parents. They just think I'm sleeping over at Aries tonight" Pandora replied.

It was a topic the girls would have to think on once all the celebrations had calmed down. Because right now things were a bustling.

"Alright, let's go meet the others. Almost time" Aries said.

They wandered through the halls of the castle that was now their friends home, and pointed out things that would have to be changed now Agnemetra was gone. There was a lot of work to be done.

The reached the castle walls, hearing all the chatter and music on the other side. Micha and Styxx were atop the wall preparing the flag, fastening the ties to the anchors. Haru stood at the staircase waiting for the Merfolk, out of his messy battle clothes and cleaned up.

"Oh look at you, fancy royal I see" Icarus teased.

"I gotta look the part now, I'll probably need more personalised clothes made but for now this will do" he replied.

Along with the crown, he'd pulled out his fanciest puffy sleeved shirt, nicest dress pants and favourite waist chain. He'd taken one of the cloaks that was passed down from ruler to ruler out of the castles storage room and draped it over his shoulders. He truly looked like a king now.

Atop the wall, Styxx had pulled out his nicest toga and wrapped himself up in it and Micha had dressed in his good academia style suit and decorated his horns with jewellery chains.

"You ready?" Haru asked.

The four looked at each other, nodded in response and climbed the steps behind Haru. When the reached the top, it only took a few minutes for the festivities to calm down and allow the king to speak.

Zagreus spotted his parents at the front of the crowd, looking exited and finally at home.

"Hey" Styxx spoke up.

Zagreus turned to look at the Naiad draped in his toga. His hair tied back and his ears decorated with all his best earrings.

"When everything is wrapping up, like when we're not up to our necks in work to get the kingdom running, can we talk?" Styxx asked.

"Yeah, that's fine. Why?" Zagreus replied.

"I just wanna ask you something. But I know this is a big deal for you and your parents so it can wait a bit longer"

Styxx never failed to make Zags heart beat, he was always so considerate.

"Thank you, I appreciate it" he smiled.

Styxx smiled back, before their attention was drawn to Haru again as he stepped to the edge of the castle wall.

"From now on, Merfolk are officially part of Izroulia again. And as they return, we will continue to celebrate their traditions and welcome them with open arms. Now, if the four will do the honours..." Haru announced.

The flag was big, heavy and rolled up. The ties were already fastened and all the Merfolk had to do was push it off the edge and let it unravel. They each took a spot along the flag, pushing the heavy fabric and watching it start to unroll. With one hard shove it fell off the side of the wall, unrolling and revealing the symbol of the Merfolk, the fluke of a tail and a wave surrounding it.

The kingdom cheered, and with the flag now up, Merfolk were officially home. All that was left was to find the rest of the survivors.

Able to join in on on the party now, they made their way off the wall and out into the kingdom, constantly being stopped by people to congratulate them or tell them how glad they are Merfolk were back. A few people requested to keep an eye out for their long lost Merfolk friends in their hunt, which they all agreed to do. It honestly astounding to think so many nice and accepting people were living under the rule of a maniac. It just goes to show that it doesn't matter who is in charge, people will always have their own ideas and views.

Along the beach where a lot of the festivity had gathered and the sun was almost set behind the waves, those who lived nearby had lit the area with tiki torches, gotten out their barbecues to make food, pulled out toys for the kids to play with. And of course, those white musical skill were eager to jump into the fun and play something for everyone to get up and dance too. Izroulians really liked to party, and the fact everyone had just accepted a spontaneous festival with no planning and it was still running smoothly was proof enough of that.

"Hey Icarus... you've never actually shown us your hula skills before" Zagreus pointed out, eyeing down the group of people with instruments sitting in the sand.

"Oh yeah... I haven't. Last time I got to perform was before I met you all..." she muttered.

"Can you come up with something on the spot?" Pandora asked.

"I'll need some drums but yes"

Zagreus and Pandora glanced at each other knowingly and grabbed her arms, dragging her over to the group of musicians to ask if they knew anything with lots of drums to play. As expected, they did. And after some giggles and begging Icarus to tech them to dance, she agreed.

Aries watched them having fun, rather impressed by Icarus' skills. She has some major flexibility in her hips, she could move fast as hell. And of course, Zagreus and Pandora being untrained in art of hula just laughed as they struggled to keep up.

This is what Aries had always wanted. Their friends in their home land, hall y and laughing together with no risk of death.

Their moment of peace was interrupted though, by a very familiar voice.

"ARIES!"

They knew that voice... they've been waiting to hear it for years. Whipping their head around and laying eyes upon the shimmering wings they'd missed so much, Aries spotted Momo.

"MUM!" They exclaimed.

Momo wove though the crowd, rushing over and Aries kicked up the sand as they ran over at full speed. They met in the middle of the beach, leaping into each others arms and holding each other tight. Finally, after all these years, they were together again.

"Oh my god you're alive! I was always so worried about you, thank the gods! You're truly blessed Aries, thank gods!" Momo rambled, tears in her eyes.

"I promised I'd come back when it was safe didn't I?" Aries replied.

Momo broke the hug, looking up at the now taller than her child she'd raised on behalf of her best friends.

"You're so tall! Look at you! And you finally got surgery, and you get to wear your traditional clothing, you have friends and... I'm so proud of you. Your birth parents would be so proud of you" she smiled.

Momo placed her hand to the sirens cheek, even if she wasn't their mother by blood, she raised that child. And now they were all grown up, safe, happy and home.

"You know I'll always come home, no matter where I end up I'll always be back eventually" Aries assured.

Momo couldn't fight back the tears anymore and just pulled them into another hug, letting them fall onto the sailor collar on Aries shoulders. It had been a long time since Aries had cried, they've become so numb to everything after all that's happened. But finally being back in their mothers arms, in their home land free form the risk of death.

That finally broke them.

They were home, at long last. They were home.