She was so still. My archenemy lay on the ground in a pool of saltwater and seaweed, unmoving, long dark hair plastered to her face in the aftermath that was our latest duel. I stared for what felt like an eternity. I always thought she was beautiful. But as Calypso lay there, I drank in the sight of her– skin like moonlight and lips dark as the sea she controls. I couldn’t bare to take the final blow and finally end our longstanding rivalry.

We are so alike, she and I. Our powers complement each other. With her control of the sea and mine over the earth and its resources, we should have always worked together. But our perspectives couldn’t be more opposite.

“They are the reason our planet is dying, you fool,” were the first words she ever spoke to me. I had just saved a fisherman and his crew from her torrent of waves and an incoming hurricane when she saw me and laughed. “When they’re gone, the world can finally heal!”

“I have to believe humans are worth saving, always,” I replied. “They make mistakes, often, but that doesn’t mean they all deserve to die.”

Back in the present moment, I notice something flicker in my peripheral vision. There, on the ground thrown a good 20 feet away from her, is her mask. I’d recognize the shimmering gemstones anywhere. That must mean… I sweep my eyes over her hair-strewn face and realize with just a touch of my hand, I could know who this tyrant is. I slowly, so slowly lean down, and I brush the salty tresses from her face… When I see it, I feel as though time stands still. My lungs aren’t working. I can’t breathe. My eyes begin to line with tears. This can’t be happening. This has to be some cosmic joke. It can’t be, “Marie?”

She begins to stir, I’m all at once relieved and terrified. For once in my life not a single plan comes together before me, just my Marie, my fiancé.

Her eyes flutter open and when her consciousness catches up with her vision, she flings herself backward, pushing me hard in the chest. As I bring myself to stand and our eyes meet across the room, I wait for her to speak. Breathing frantic, she asks “… How. How do you know my name, Terra Man?”

In that moment, only one thing I can do presents itself in my cold, blank mind. I carefully, slowly, tentatively begin to reach up. Her hands immediately take a defensive stance. My other hand tips up, to tell her to wait, I won’t attack. She waits. My hand finally reaches my face, and as I strain to take in a full breath, I take off my mask.