Author's Note: This was so rushed and bad cause I'm at work XD I'll fix it later but keep in mind there could be a ton of mistakes XD ❤️

It had been exactly two weeks since Camille underwent the procedure to speed up her evolution. She could still recall the joy she had felt upon waking up...only to find that the danger hadn't passed. The surgery itself was only the beginning. It supplied her body with everything it needed to evolve, but it was up to her own physiology to adapt to it.

Mera had taken her to a shipwreck in the middle of nowhere, and with her mastery of Atlantean magic, formed a mystical ball. Inside of which Camille was to reside. She would sit there, the Xebelian had told her, for an entire fortnight without her suit. The human was relieved to find oxygen inside the spherical barrier, but it had enough water inside to reach her waist when she sat down. Apparently, she had to remain where she was without food, drink, or company until the ball finally decided to burst. It was a test of endurance, leading to the sudden reveal of whether the procedure had actually worked or not. Camille almost wished she had died during the operation...at least then she would have been blissfully unaware of it.

Instead, here she was, practically starving and dehydrated with cramps in both legs and no signs of change. She felt exactly the same...apart from the persistent dizziness. The hunger pangs had vanished after the fifth day, primarily because her body had given up on the hope that it was going to be fed any time soon. There was a stage in which she was overwhelmed with fear, and the realisation of how ridiculous she had been for agreeing to this sunk in. It was too late now though, and that thought peeled away until nothing was there but impatience. Dead or alive, she wanted to get out of this confined space.

Well, that's what she thought she wanted until a loud pop pierced the silence around her. Streams from the ocean started to leak into the faltering magic and Camille regained all of the energy she thought she had lost. She was in the grip of a silent panic, brain synapses firing like an internal aurora borealis and hands trying to block the water from entering. It was useless. No matter what she did the magic keeping her alive was failing.

Before she even had the opportunity to scream, the bubble completely disintegrated and she was plunged into the sea. The water pressure didn't immediately crush her, but she couldn't breathe either. Camille moved her arms to and fro like she was climbing up a series of rocks but it was only water around her – water that washed around her body and prevented access to precious air. It was like having a gun to her head and being told not to let her heart beat. Of course it would beat. And just like the heart must thump, her lungs needed to inhale whether it was air or briny water.

Camille's mouth opened, and desperately tried to suck in a few breaths...but it only resulted in large gulps of water filling her lungs. Everything hurt, right down to the pores of her skin that felt like they was absorbing the salty water she was submerged in. That's when realisation struck. Some Atlanteans possessed gills, but others like Arthur and Mera didn't. They breathed in a way that was foreign to human comprehension. They filtered water into oxygen...through their pores.

Camille immediately ceased inhaling with her lungs, and instead tried to let her body do the work for her. It took a solid ten seconds for instinct to kick in. Suddenly, she was breathing in a way she'd never known before. It was completely surreal. The world around her was brighter; consisting of colours that her human eyes had never been able to see, and she could hear the faint calling of a whale somewhere far in the distance. It was like she had been born with a thin piece of fabric covering her eyes, and now it had finally been pulled off.

She concentrated on every movement, and found that shifting in the water was much easier now than it had ever been. It was like being surrounded by air; flying in a place with no density. Camille stroked forward a few times, and when she peered back over her shoulder she was shocked to discover that the shipwreck was nowhere within her sight. She swam again, faster this time, and was soon shooting through the water with the same speed as any other Atlantean. For at least half an hour she spun, and lanced, and plunged through the ocean, adrenaline peaking to whole new levels. It was a little unprofessional, and certainly not fitting of a future queen, but she had never felt so alive. So invincible.

The only problem was finding her way back to Atlantis... but the lights sparkling in the distance became a dead giveaway. It was like the city called to her, catching her eye and leading her back. She wondered if it had always been this bright or if she was only just seeing it for the first time.

The outside gates were void of all life, but she could hear loud banging inside the city. Like music, but none she had ever heard before. It sounded like it was on a frequency only Atlanteans could hear. It sounded ceremonial. The odd rhythms and delayed beats made her blood spike with excitement. Camille hadn't known why Mera was so sensitive to music until now. It effected her mood in a way humans could only partially understand.

Upon entering the glittering city, Camille was almost immediately tackled by a familiar tuft of red hair. Mera squeezed her with all of her might, and Camille returned the favour with so much strength that Mera actually felt a little sore afterward. "Thank Poseidon! I was starting to think it didn't work!"

"Yeah, well, I get the feeling that it almost didn't." Camille tried not to recall the burning sensation of water filling her lungs, and how close she had actually been to drowning. "I'm just glad it's over."

It was impossible to ignore the joy on Mera's face at seeing her alive, and perhaps that was enough to remind Camille of what a good friend she had been. Despite the mistakes she'd made. The Xebelian linked her arm with the new Atlantean hybrid and murmured. "You still got one thing to do."

Camille's skin prickled and her heart sunk. What else could she possibly do? She was tired, hungry, and seconds away from devouring every sea creature that swam past. She felt like she could simply eat them raw, her stomach was that empty...all she'd have to do was take a big bite out of their soft flesh. The thought would usually disturb her, but she was so desperate that it was honestly becoming an appetising idea.

Mera lead her to a building Camille had often seen in passing, but had never been allowed to enter. It was a sacred place only used for special events. Inside, she was dragged into a small room where Vulko waited with his back to the door. "She's here." Mera declared and he swiftly turned around.

"Good." Vulko said, floating hurriedly towards the exit. "Get her ready."

"Ready?" Camille questioned as the council member left. She still had no idea what was going on.

Mera beamed at her eagerly and directed towards something snuggled into the far right-hand corner. It was a beautifully decorated piece of Atlantean armour. It was a kind of translucent white, not greyish or creamy or silver. It was so incredibly white that any average mortal would struggle to look at it. It was broken up, every so often, with patterns etched in deep yellow that moved around the one-piece like long stems of coral.

"What...is that?" Was all Camille could say. Not in disgust, and not because it was by any means an ugly outfit (in fact it was actually quite pretty), but she had never seen it's like before. Not even at R'atlu's bonding ceremony.

"It's your...what do the surface-dwellers call it? A wedding dress?" Mera pondered then shook her head. "Only, it's not a dress. Obviously."

Camille suddenly felt like she had been hit by a torpedo. Her eyes widened, and though she was no longer breathing in a way that could accommodate hyperventilating, she felt like the filter from water to oxygen momentarily paused. She thought they would have given her more time to adjust, or to at least see Arthur again before they said their vows, but apparently that wasn't on the cards.

"Does Arthur...?" Camille asked the lingering question and Mera quickly shook her head.

"No. He doesn't know." She delicately picked up the armour and moved back towards Camille's frozen form. "We weren't sure if you'd even survive. Telling him would have just made everything worse...so we set the date for the wedding and informed him that his fiancée was running late when you didn't show up to buy some time."

"So he's been waiting all day?"

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure he's grateful that his 'wife to be' hasn't arrived yet." Mera smiled. "He's not overly pleased about getting married...especially after you left."

"He noticed?"

"Of course he noticed!" Mera scoffed. Camille never seemed to understand the extent of Arthur's affection for her. "Within an hour of your disappearance he'd figured out that you weren't there. He went berserk. Thought someone had threatened you or something. It took ages for us to convince him that you'd just...you know, left. He even went looking for you on land."

If Camille didn't already feel bad enough for lying to Arthur, this certainly made it ten times more intense. She hoped that this was all worth the pain she'd put him through. At the moment it didn't feel like it.

Noticing the troubled expression that had secured itself on Camille's face, Mera changed the subject entirely and held the armour out towards her. "Do you think you can figure this out, or do you need help getting it on?"

"I-I'm sure I can get it done myself."

The concept of putting on armour was relatively easy, in theory, but putting that into practise was an entirely new challenge. These were nothing like human clothes. There was no opening, no zipper, no nothing. In the end she had no choice but to accept Mera's help, which she instantly regretted when she saw the amused grin this triggered on the Xebelian's face.

The armour was tight, hiding absolutely no aspect of Camille's figure. She was a little uncomfortable at how exposing it was, but it was also extremely heavy. It gave Camille a degree of weight in the water that was much needed.

"You look amazing." Mera said with such sincerity in her voice that Camille almost believed her. Then she clasped her hands together and pulled something out of thin air. A miniature sunflower surrounded by magic that kept it from falling apart. "Yellow's still your favourite colour, right?"

The tension in Camille's shoulders temporarily dropped. "I...how did you-"

"I overheard you telling Arthur all those years ago." She replied, leaning forward and tucking the flower into Camille's curls. "Unlike him, I have a really good memory."

It suited her more than Mera had expected. It reflected her bright eyes in its vivid shade, and her dark hair made the flower look like it was still firmly placed in the rich soil; exactly where it should be.

"I know your probably a little scared about this whole thing. You didn't exactly want to get married, and I know you're only doing it for our sake." Mera's enthusiasm dimmed for a split second, and in that moment Camille could see the sympathy in her expression. "I...just thought having something from home would make it a little easier. It might remind you of your family...you can pretend they're here or something."

Her words hit Camille directly in the chest like millions of tiny needles. The usually calming image of her grandmother now stabbed and tore at her until she was in tatters. She had always dreamed that, if she ever got married, it would be much further into the future. That her grandmother would have met her fiancé, spoken to him, and loved him. That she would be the one walking Camille down the aisle, and sit front row as they confessed their love.

Camille truly cared for Arthur, but this wasn't how she had imagined it. Only now had she allowed herself to feel the unbridled sorrow that brought her. Her grandmother, the most important person in her world, wasn't there. She was back on the surface with no clue of Camille's situation. Her eyes started glistening, but the tears simply mixed with the ocean. Her walls, the walls that kept her together, that made her strong just... collapsed. One by one, they fell, and Camille could no longer hold herself up.

She missed her grandmother. How had she not realised until now?

The sensation of Mera's arms closing around her could do nothing for her crippling devastation, but it at least reminded her that she wasn't alone. Camille cried. She cried against Mera's shoulder. She cried until she could no longer form the sounds needed for a sob.

It took a lot longer than expected for Camille to stop bawling. Vulko had gone back in at least five times, reminding them of the large crowd of Atlanteans still waiting for the ceremony to begin. Admittedly, Camille felt a little better after her outburst but that quickly changed when Mera brought out a veil made of a thick, jellyfish hood.

"Do I have to wear that?" Camille turned her nose up at the headwear, rubbing her right eye which had started to sting from her previous sobbing.

"It is tradition." Mera conformed as she pulled it over Camille's face.

The hybrid muttered at the lack of vision it left her with. "I can't see anything!"

"That's the point."

The Metahuman gulped. "You know...you never told me what I was supposed to do at an Atlantean wedding..."

"I didn't?" Mera said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "Well...there's the bonding ritual. Where you have your palm cut with our sacred blade. There's the 'joining', which you and Arthur can deal with when you're alone."

Camille tried desperately not to become distracted by the thought of being alone with the king. "So what's this veil for then?"

"Oh...yeah, well, you might have to fight him before you get to any of that."

Camille, in one aggressive tug, yanked the veil from her eyes and yelled "What?!"

"Oh, don't be so melodramatic. It's just a small grapple, nothing too serious." Mera tried to reassure her, but the betrothed was already beginning to pace around the room.

"Are you insane?! He's been trained how to fight since he was a kid! And he's a member of the Justice League! I'll be killed!"

Mera rolled her cerulean eyes. "He won't kill you. It'll hurt, but we find that endearing down here. It shows that he respects you enough not to hold back."

"I only just learned how to breathe! I'm about as dangerous in the water as a tadpole!" Camille huffed. "And that still doesn't explain why I gotta wear this stupid veil!"

"We believe it is bad luck for the couple to see each other before or during the fight. To battle with only a quarter of your vision shows that your skilled enough for the honour of marriage."

With every word that came out of Mera's mouth, Camille's fright only intensified. "This is so uncool. I haven't had any time to prepare for something like that... Can I at least eat something beforehand?"

"Ah, you probably shouldn't." The Xebelian replied apologetically. "You don't want to vomit everywhere during the battle. That has happened before...and it wasn't pretty."

Then, as if she hadn't said anything even remotely disturbing, the woman refitted the veil onto Camille's head and grabbed her hand. "We'd better get out there before Vulko cancels the whole thing."

As she was being pulled alone Camille muttered "Cancelling's still an option?"

There was no reply. Probably because Mera assumed that she was joking, but she most definitely wasn't. The journey out of that room and towards the ritual site was the longest she'd ever experienced. She could see nothing but faint blurs with no sustenance. It was enough for her to know if something was in front of her, but not exactly what it was.

The music grew louder, thumping through her veins like blood. The shapes within her view became more numerous, and she found that she could sense a change in the water. It was like a language of its own; who needed sight with the ocean to guide them?

Soon, Mera's hand slipped away. Camille thought she heard her whisper something, but couldn't decipher it over the beating of her own heart. Someone, not too far away, started speaking in Atlantean. Camille may have gained many of their strengths, but their native tongue was still a flurry of random sounds to her. Something was put in her hand. A trident, Camille deducted.

"Drailur Sar'n bahyt, Poseidon!" The voice growled, and then there was a roar of applause. Most of the city must have been there because Camille was completely disoriented by the volume of the cheering.

Whatever he said must have been important because not even two seconds later she was whacked in the gut by something. Camille was flung backward with a loud grunt, and suddenly she was grateful that Mera had stopped her from eating anything. Apparently the battle had begun.

Camille tightened her grip on the trident, and focusing on the massive figure of that she could only assume was Arthur, she started swinging it back and forth. Camille could only imagine how ridiculous she looked. By this stage it was painfully apparent that she was an amateur, and maybe that was why Arthur didn't finish it straight away.

He circled the woman rather than defeat her in less than one minute. Somewhere deep down, Camille just wished that he would end it. Then he swam forward, but didn't attack. As if he were allowing her to hit him. Actually, that's precisely what he was doing. When she took the opportunity though, she hesitated, and the trident barely grazed him. King Orin frowned, not that his betrothed could see it, then whacked her with the weapon again. One of the prongs dragged across her face and left a cut on her cheek.

She tried not to dwell on the blood trickling down her face, nor on the hole it had left in the veil. It wasn't big enough that she could see the king anyway, but it did give her the opportunity to dodge his next strike. This didn't phase Arthur. He kept pushing forward, spearing the air threateningly before clashing his trident with hers.

Camille used every ounce of her newly formed strength, and somehow managed to push him back. She sliced the trident near his arm and left a gush on his bicep. King Orin was evidently surprised because he stopped moving for a solid few seconds. Then, all at once, he charged and pushed her up against something. She could hear the growl of his breath, and feel the cold metal against her neck...now she understood why everyone was so scared of him.

"Trainaul! King Orin!" A voice shouted victoriously. The people around them started chanting, and as they praised him, Arthur tore off the blindfold that had obscured his view. He let the trident fall from his betrothed's neck, then with a grimace, he pulled on the veil that hid her appearance. Their eyes met and Arthur's face paled.

"Umm...hey, Arthur..." Camille stammered awkwardly.

Every part of him went on pause while his brain tried to catch up to what had just happened. His mouth was frozen wide in an expression of stunned surprise, and though Camille was right in front of him, he seemed to temporarily not recognise her.

"Wh-What..." He said once his mind was functioning enough again to form sentences. Arthur's gaze moved to Vulko, who was sitting in the crowd. They were in an arena, Camille notes, with the audience high above them. "What the hell's going on?!"

Vulko broke from the mass of people and swam down towards them. "Considering your current dealings with the humans, and the criteria you presented me for a potential queen, she was the most suitable choice."

Arthur gaped, and his fingers uncurled from around the trident; causing it to sink to the floor. "But why isn't she in... How is she breathing?!"

"We used the procedure that our ancestors invented." Vulko answered simply. "You know the one."

Arthur's stare locked onto Camille's again, wide and wild. He looked furious. "Why would you do that to yourself?! You're not human anymore, doesn't that bother you?"

"Being human's about more than whether I can breathe underwater or not." Camille reached a hand to his arm. It was flexing with the effort it took not to lose his restraint. "I haven't really changed that much...I can just benchpress a submarine underwater now. You guys can do that, right?"

Arthur's expression didn't crack, despite her attempts at easing the stress.

Camille sighed. "Arthur, What kind of person would I be if I let R'atlu's death happen to someone else?"

At the distress in Camille's eyes, Arthur felt his facade split apart. He was angry. Furious. So unbelievably upset that he couldn't verbally express it...but God, did he love her. This was the first time he'd allowed himself to admit it; her humanity, her independence, her kindness. Everything down to the reason she had sacrificed such an essential part of herself. He fell apart at her goodness, and her smile stitched him back up again.

"Besides," she smirked now, readying herself for another joke to break the ice. "having to marry you was definitely the worst part of the deal."

"Is that so?" He raised an eyebrow and leaned forward.

Camille grinned. "Who wants to marry a king anyway?"

With that, Arthur captured her in his arms and crashed his lips against hers. This time he didn't hold back. It was unlike how he kissed her when she was a fragile mortal, with care and patience. Instead it was hard and fast and strong. Arthur let her have this small victory. At least for now, he would throw all questions to the waves and enjoy the fact that he, finally, could keep her.

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