Oh my god. This is gorgeous. I can look at this for ages. I am speechless, this is so beautiful. The details, the tail (I love the detail that this is very much not a man in a suit, just like I've always imagined it as!), him relaxing enough to be able to sleep, the painting, the colors and Chris and Heather in the door opening this is amazing. Wow.
And for me and my fic(s)? I am beyond honoured this is fantastic. Nearly crying right now, holy shit.
The CEO of Mermaid!Tom, thank you for talking Will and life with me, with me, creating the lore of Mr. Sniffles, and pulling me out of various ditches and helping to regrow my forest and loan me a match or two time after time. A lucky twist of the algorithm brought us together, and your support, patience, kindness, humor, and creativity are a gift I absolutely cherish. You inspire and challenge me, and I hope you have the most amazing birthday. I love you very much. 💖
(Colored version under the cut wherein I pretend I understand how markers work)
for @madmadmilk ‘s writing challenge! this will be a series! (-: enjoy! let me know if you would like to be added to the taglist!
Fic Series Masterlist | Masterlist
The sky was covered in pretty shades of pink, orange, and red’s. Colors in the sky matched their reflection on the waves of the ocean, moving towards land and back to their place. She watched the colors change, the sun slowly disappearing as the moon came up over the horizon.
She was alone, yet peaceful. The waves brought a calmness over her body as she watched the ocean. Looking around, she noticed the cove was empty, no one as there anymore. She took this as her chance, as she slowly walked over to the cave in the distance, disappearing through the entrance. Removing her shoes, she took a dive into the pool inside the cave, resurfacing.
The water around her bubbled up, as she shifted. Her hands moved around her, making sure she stayed above water as her legs merged together. Her clothes disappeared, her jeans now replaced with a beautiful pale pink tail.
A smile adorned her face, as she turned, before diving underneath the water, and disappearing through an opening in the cave. Her eyes adjusted to the clearness of the water, watching the sea animals swim through the water, sometimes stopping to take in her figure.
She loved the calmness the ocean brought her, an escape from her life on the island. Somewhere she could be herself, without hiding it.
This had been a curse she was granted with when she was seventeen. Every time she would come into contact with water, even a drop against her skin, her tail would appear. She couldn’t control it, it was inevitable.
So, she learned to embrace it. She avoided the water, tried to always stay dry, and if she did manage to get wet, she ran to the bathroom, locking herself while her tail dried itself.
She always kept to herself, never revealing the secret to anyone and always making sure to swim during the night.
Yet, someone saw her.
This time, she had been caught.
Tom liked walking along the shoreline at night. Harrison or the twins with him, but always at night. Tom loved feeing the sand beneath his feet, smelling the salt in the air, hearing the waves crash along the shoreline.
He always saw the same girl sitting on the sand, as the sun was coming down. Watching the waves, he always watched, from the other side, not wanting to disturb her peace.
He had encountered her weeks before, walking along the shoreline with her puppy, the same as his. For a moment, he thought it had been Tessa, who had somehow escaped, but it wasn’t. Yet, he took a couple minutes to bask in her presence, before he turned and left, taking notice of the time she had been at the ocean.
He visited after that, around the same time, always finding her at the same place, sometimes with her dog and sometimes by herself.
Yet always watching the sunset.
This time, he had waited. He watched as the sun set, and watched her walk away, to a nearby cove. He had been there many times, so he knew of the little pool in there.
He peered through the edge, between the rocks, before seeing her dive inside. He stayed, watching, before he saw it.
The pink tail had appeared from under her, as she dove into the cove, her tail appearing out of the water to propel her into the ocean.
It glimmered in the moon’s light, the scales bouncing off the light against the walls.
He didn’t know about other creatures living on the island.
Legend tells that the sea will grant each person a single wish in their lifetime, only answered when proven it is your hearts true desire. For you, it’s freedom. For him, it’s love.
TEASER
Prologue
“Please, I wish to be free.”
Chapter One
It was as though he felt like he was supposed to be here, watching and waiting, though for what he did not know.
Chapter Two
He wanted to reach out, to hold you in his arms and kiss away the tears that so often fell into his waters.
Chapter Three
Had he heard the ones two people pretending to be sneaks and spies in the middle of the night? Had he heard you giggle lightly walking past as Tom stumbled over his feet?
Chapter Four
His blue eyes met yours and he whispered “Kiss your freedom goodbye, darling,” before roughly placing his lips upon yours.
Chapter Five
His thumb ran over the ring glimmering brightly in the dim fire burning in your fireplace. You felt the urge to recoil, but found that he held you so tightly it was impossible.
Chapter Six
His words were soft, as though he were reliving a nightmare, something he wished he could have changed.
Chapter Seven
“You want to talk about deserve, boy? I am a king! You are a lowly peasant, a fish out of water, pining after someone who they can never have.”
Chapter Eight
Every bone in your body aches to tell him, to run to his arms and cry that the one who was supposed to love you as your husband had done this.
Chapter Nine
“I killed one fish, I won’t hesitate to kill another.”
Chapter Ten
You turned around in the water, slowly, like you were afraid that maybe if his brothers looked so much like him, they could sound like him too.
Epilogue
“I worry about them,” you say, trying to be careful with your words. “I wonder about him.”
Summary: after escaping from all the siren pressure, you get to know the boy with the pretty green tail
Word Count: 4K
(sorry if that gd cut doesn’t work!!)
“We got a good one for you.”
Here you are again, swimming to the strait to lure with Circe and two other sirens. Except this time, you were going to sing.
“Your birthday is tomorrow, Y/N. It won’t be long until it really counts,” Circe reminded you.
You reached your normal spot, already spotting the ship coming down the channel, which was almost like a cue for the other sirens as they immediately began swimming to the surface.
You, however, stayed behind, reluctant to go.
“Y/N!” Circe called from behind you. “What’re you doing? Go!”
You looked up at the ship, swallowing hard before joining the other sirens. Your head breached the surface, looking up at the large vessel. You began singing, trying to stay on pitch with the others. The boat soon veered into the rock, the bow crashing on impact. Some men fell off the masts while others began to jump overboard upon hearing your hypnotic song.
At this point you were supposed to stop singing and start attacking the bodies, like your fellow sirens were demonstrating now. But you just stopped singing and watched them with a vacant look on your face.
“What the hell are you doing? Look at all these bodies in the water, kill one!” Circe yelled out to you.
The effects of the song were wearing off, the remaining men trying to swim to the surface, to safety. You grabbed one closest to you but he struggled against you, eventually kicking your tail to escape your grasp. You groaned in pain, hearing Circe yell at you again.
“C’mon, Y/N, you can do better than that!”
You looked around, trying to find the slowest, weakest one. You spotted one not too far away, who was sinking faster than he could swim. You swam over to him, grabbing him by his shirt, looking into his half-lidded eyes, which were brown. He also had dark hair.
He looks like Tom.
“That’s it, Y/N, you got him! Now just claw his eyes out!” Circe continued providing commentary on your performance.
You looked back at her before looking back at the man, whose eyes were fully closed now. You couldn’t let him die.
You dragged him up to the surface as fast as you could, grasping onto the front of his shirt. You breached through the surface again, bringing him above as well, trying to look for the other men that made it back above water.
One finally swam over to you, taking the body from you hands. He looked up at you, nodding in gratitude. You quickly ducked back underneath the water, swimming back down. You looked around, not seeing the other sirens or even Circe, thinking they may have already gone back and left you there. You swam over to the rock where you normally sat and watched, thinking about how furious Circe was gonna be after what you did.
However, you were saved the anticipation as you heard a whoosh behind you. Next thing you knew, Circe had you by the shoulders, slamming you against the rock.
“Why did you do that? You would’ve been dead by now if this was your test!” She yells in your face.
“He...he was dying,” you replied in pain, your head and shoulders throbbing.
“Well, yeah, that’s kinda the point, barnacle head,” she insults. “We’re not mermaids, we don’t save people! Can’t you see we’re trying to help you!?”
You grew angry at her words. “Maybe I don’t wanna be a siren! I didn’t ask for this!” you said in a firm tone.
Circe let go of your shoulders, shaking her head.
“This isn’t a punishment, Y/N, this is your life. This is your life now. And it’s your decision on whether you want to keep it, but you should know….” she trails off, pausing for a beat.
“It’s not a painless death.”
*
*
*
When you got back to the cave, Circe told you to go to your room and rest, to which you gladly complied. You sat on the edge of your bed, your mind racked with competing thoughts.
Why can’t you just do it?
But I don’t want to kill anyone.
But do you want to live?
Not if it means continuing my life like this.
You started to get upset, not knowing what to think. You felt weak and powerless. You couldn’t understand why you didn’t have the same capacity to kill like the rest of the group but at the same time, you didn’t want to be like them.
Well, maybe this life wasn’t meant for you.
Wanting to forget about what happened, your thoughts shifted to yesterday, when you met your first mermaid.
Tom.
You wondered what his everyday life was like, as a mermaid. But you could guess it was probably a million times better, since you saw him happily playing with his friends. You wanted to see him, to talk to him again.
You moved over to one side of your room, where a large rock was placed in front of the wall. Normally this rock was used for sitting, in the small chance that someone else was present, but it was mainly to hide an escape route.
You pushed the rock slowly, careful not to make too much noise. Once you saw the wide hole, you held the rock back with one arm while you maneuvered yourself through the opening, letting the rock gradually lean back on the wall. Once your tail and body were out into the open sea, you shifted the cover a bit so that the hole was out of sight but still allowed you to easily move it so you could get back in.
Once the rock was back in its strategic place, you started your usual route to the Reef. You had gotten better at being discrete and quicker at getting there, especially since you started going so frequently. But now you had a reason to go.
To see Tom.
You reached your normal stakeout spot, your eyes scanning the coral for a green tail. Some merman finally came into view, whom you recognized as some of Tom’s friends from yesterday, the purple tail and the blue tail. They seemed to be looking for something, swimming in and out of the coral beds near the drop off. You were so focused on watching them, you didn’t sense someone coming up behind you.
“.....So I see you’ve come back.”
You jumped, gasping at the sudden voice. You turned to see brown eyes, floating close to you.
He chuckled at your reaction. “Sorry, love, couldn’t help myself.”
You had an unamused look on your face, turning back to look at the Reef. His friends were out of sight and you hoped they weren’t going to come popping out of nowhere.
“Do you always watch us from over here?” He asked honestly.
A beat passed before you spoke up. “Not always. Sometimes I just swim by, but no one’s usually out. I just like to look at the Reef,” you shrugged, still looking out at the structure.
His eyes followed yours as he looked out at his home before speaking again. “But do you like mermaids?”
Like is an understatement.
You paused again. “I’m intrigued, yes,” you answered, giving him a soft smile.
His heart fluttered at your words. You seemed genuinely interested in his people. He didn’t really know too much about sirens, except that they didn’t do much to contribute to the commonwealth of the sea and wanted nothing to do with mermaids. But you seemed different to him, just like when you first saw him.
His friends came back into your view in front of the Reef, calling Tom’s name.
Tom scoffed out a laugh. “Those divs. They’ve been trying to find me for over a half hour now.”
You smiled at his comment on his friends’ obliviousness. He turned back to you, speaking up again.
“C’mon,” he reached his hand out towards you. “Let’s let them keep looking.”
You looked at his hand, curious as to where this would go.
It’s not everyday a mermaid lets you hold his hand.
You took his hand, feeling the warmth as he closed it around yours. He started leading you out into the open water with a moderate pace. You watched the movement of his mesmerizing tail in front of you, admiring the graceful waves it created in its path.
“So you’ve seen the Reef,” he spoke up, looking back to you. “Where do sirens live?”
“Uhh…” you paused, quickening your pace to catch up to him. “We live in this cave, not far from the Reef, actually.”
“It’s not nearly as big or colorful…” you added, trailing off.
“Sometimes it’s too big and a bit too much,” he chuckled.
You turned your head to look at his pretty profile. “I think it’s beautiful,” you replied, making him look at you, smiling.
You looked forward, continuing to swim with him.
“....where are we going?” You spoke up after a few minutes.
“Remember that drop off we went to after….after we slayed the beast…” he joked, referring to your battle with Scylla. You laughed out loud at his exasperated tone. He made it seem like you both fought her, when he was the one who saved you from her wrath.
He smiled back at you, enjoying the sound of your laugh ringing through his ears.
“Race ya there!” He said, letting go of your hand and shooting off, knocking you back with the power of his tail.
You flinched back, trying to block the force with your arms, squeezing your eyes shut. You opened them after a few moments, gasping at how far ahead he already was. You quickly started flapping your tail and gliding your hands out in front of you in attempt to catch up with him. You weren’t sure if you were going to beat him but you knew you were fast. You pushed harder with your movements, seeing the glimmer of his tail, coming up behind him.
You examined his movements, following his sharp turns and spirals, until two large twin rocks came up ahead. There was a small space between them, but it was big enough for Tom to fit through. You decided to swim up and over, knowing it would be quicker for you, as you take the same route on your way to the reef.
Once you got to the top, you saw the drop off straight ahead, trying to pull out your fastest sprint to get there. You didn’t see Tom but you also didn’t slow down to look behind you. You slowed down a few feet from the edge of the drop off, fully confident that you had beat him. You reached the sandy plateau, breathing heavily and smiling wide to yourself.
You had never beat anyone at anything before, but then again you never really got the opportunity. This might’ve been the first time you felt proud of yourself for accomplishing something since becoming a siren, even if it was just a silly race.
You suddenly heard a whooshing sound followed by a voice behind you.
“Look ouuuuuuutttt!”
Tom flew towards you, seeming to have underestimated his stopping distance, and crashed right into you. You landed on your back into the sand, feeling dead weight on top of you. You heard a laugh from beside your head.
“I’m so sorry, Y/N. Guess I was going too fast.”
He picked his head up, looking down at you with his endearing eyes. “Wow, you are fas–are you alright, love?”
You didn’t know whether you were still dazed from the impact or from hearing his voice say your name, but you didn’t say anything for a few moments. When you finally came back to your senses, you noticed an uncomfortable feeling that went down your backside.
“Um, you’re...crushing my fin,” you finally spoke in a pained tone.
“Oh! Sorry, I’m so sorry,” Tom said, while getting off of you.
You sighed in relief as the pressure came off your back. Tom quickly reached out to you, putting his hands on your shoulders to pull you up out of the sand.
“Ah, I’m sorry, love,” he said as he ran his hands down to your upper arms while you rubbed your hands over the small fin that ran down the back of your tail.
“Are you okay?” he asked again, wanting to make sure you weren’t hurt even more from his body colliding with yours. His hands felt warm against your skin, feeling soothed by his thumbs rubbing small strokes.
You nodded, giving him a small smile, looking into his concerned eyes. He smiled back, giving your arms a small squeeze before letting go. You suddenly felt cold at the loss of contact.
He looks up at the surface of the water, beginning to swim up towards it.
“C’mon!”
You followed his lead up to the surface, your head breaching above the water. You turned to see him wading towards the shallow end, that was formed by sand and rock. You swam closer to him, while he looked around small area that was partially closed off by tunnel-like cave.
“Have you ever been above the surface before?” he asked.
“Uh, yeah, before I was a siren,” you answered, making him turn to you with a puzzled look on his face. “I, uh, drowned when I was 16 but the colony took me in…” you explained, trailing off at hearing the morbidness of your story.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he expressed. “But….at least you have a second chance!” he exclaimed, trying to lighten the mood.
Yeah...an unfortunate one.
You just smiled, indulging in his attempt to make you feel better.
“But, no, we can’t survive on land,” you replied, to his original question while gesturing to the gills on your sides, right near your rib cage.
“That’s a shame, really. The world’s….truly amazing. So much to explore,” he commented. That’s probably what you missed most, being able to explore different parts of the world. You were alive and well, but confined to underwater jail.
Siren hell.
“So what do sirens do, exactly?”
Wow, he’s just...full of questions.
“Um...we’re really not that interesting,” you answered.
“Ah c’mon, surely you guys take pride in something, especially with such a small group,” he pressed.
“Well….” you started.
Don’t tell him.
“.....we hunt...for food.”
“Oh, wow. That’s mad, must be a big job,” he observed. “What do you eat?”
“Well, I eat mostly fish and small aquatic plants, but the others….” you trailed off. “...the others have more of ah….an acquired taste.”
He looked at you for a moment with a blank look on his face. But then a smile grew, making him chuckle a little. “Sounds interesting to me, love.”
Your heart skipped at the pet name, liking the way his voice said it with a smile on his face. But you were disheartened that you had to be so vague with him.
He couldn’t find out.
He’s the first mermaid you’ve met and he didn’t run away in terror when he saw you, when you revealed to him what you are.
But that’s because he doesn’t know.
And you didn’t want to be the one to let him know now.
*
*
*
He leaned back against the bed of the sand, slightly pulling himself out of the water so his torso was completely exposed. You followed next to him, but just propping your elbow up onto the top of the hill. You took a moment to admire him as he closed his eyes and breathed in the fresh air. You noticed his hair had a bit a texture to it when out of the water and you wondered what it looked like completely dry.
Your eyes moved down his body, scanning over his fit physique. His arms and abs seemed to have been sculpted by greek gods. You felt your face grow warm, flushing at the thought of feeling his strong arms around you, embracing you close to him.
“What about you? How did you die?” you asked, wanting to turn the focus on him.
“How did I—what, sorry?” He stammered, puzzled by your question.
“Oh I’m sorry! It’s just….I thought mermaids were created from peaceful deaths….” you explained, your voice getting quieter.
His face softened at your statement. He thought you were cute when you got all shy around him.
“Well, yes, but pure mermaids are born from other mermaids, like me and my brothers,” he clarified.
“My father is the King of the Reef, and overlooks all of the creatures of the sea, mostly our people, to make sure there is a consistent balance and peace,” he added.
Your eyes widened at his words. “That sounds like a big job...lot of responsibility,” you emphasized his statement from earlier. The mermaids were actually doing something, something altruistic and helped others, unlike your own group, who only worried about their own survival.
He scoffed a laugh. “Yeah, it is….” He trailed off, pausing. “I’m next in line for the throne and it’s just...a lot of pressure already.”
You frowned at his long expression. You knew what he was talking about. That feeling of people expecting you to succeed. You felt a large amount of pressure from your own situation, maybe even more considering your life was on the line.
You decided to change the subject, not wanting to press him further.
“How did you do that yesterday? With Scylla…” You remembered his hands, open palms with the ability to force her back into her cave.
“Oh, you mean this?” he replied as he brought his hand up, making the water in front of your mirror his hand movement, rising out of the body.
“All pure mermaids can do it, they’re gifts that help us to keep things...together.” He waved his hand to make the water move into an arch, bringing up his other hand and opening his palm. The water froze in its place, hanging there, out of place in the middle of the flowing water.
“I can also do this…” he continued as he brought his hands up again and slowly brought them down, making the water steam and melt back into the body.
You watched in amazement at his talents, thinking that he deserved these gifts for being so kind and gracious. He enjoyed watching your face light up from watching him show you what he could do, as merpeople weren’t as impressed by powers that some had while others didn’t.
“But, y’know, I could’ve beat her without using my powers,” he says, flashing a charming smile.
You laugh at his comment. “Yeah, well, what you actually did was much cooler.”
He chuckles at your reply, admiring your smile for a moment before speaking again. “Do sirens have any abilities?”
Your face fell at his question. “We uh….we can sing,” you said, not wanting to lie but trying to spare the details.
“Wow...can I hear something?” He looked at you expectantly, his eyes pleading for you to show him more of yourself.
“I’m uh, not really that good,” you laughed nervously, rubbing your arm.
“Ah, c’mon! A pretty siren like you, can’t be that bad,” he flirted, waving his hand towards himself, creating a small wave to push you closer next to him.
You gasped at the sudden force, your hands pressing into his side and abdomen as his hand gently touch the side of your head, making you look up at him.
You weren’t used to gestures of affection, but you also weren’t complaining. You looked right into his brown eyes, which looked a lot lighter under the sunlight. You were unsure of what to do as he brought his other hand up to your face, his fingers brushing under your chin. He began to lean in, a smiling growing on his face as he got closer. You panicked a bit, bringing your hands up to his chest to push him away.
“Y-Y’know, it’s uh, it’s getting late so um, I better go,” you stammered while you began to wade away from him. You quickly ducked your head back underwater to start swimming away when you heard a splash behind you, and Tom’s voice calling out.
“Wait, Y/N!”
You almost kept swimming, acting like you didn’t hear him but you turned around slowly anyway. He was just a few feet away from you, a straight look on his face.
“Will….will I see you again?” he asked with pleading eyes.
You looked at him for a moment, taking too long to respond. “Uh...if you...if you want to…”
He swam closer to you, a small smile on his face. “It’s just...I really... like talking to you,” he spoke honestly.
You softened at the adorable look on his face, with his brown eyes and soft features. You waded closer to him, now only a about a foot away from him.
“Then...I guess I’ll see you later,” you said, a smile growing on your face. He smiled at your affirmation, internally sighing in relief that he didn’t scare you off.
“Bye, Tom,” you added, before turning to leave. Your tail brushed his slightly as you did, making him smile to himself at the small gesture.
*
*
*
You swam back to the cave, your heart skipping with joy for the second night in a row.
You entered through the hole in your wall, solidifying your alibi so know one would know you were gone. You exited your room, going into the kitchen to help make dinner with Phoebe.
Phoebe was one of the oldest sirens in the colony, next to Persephone and Circe. She was your only friend in the colony despite the fact she was a lot older than you. But she was sweet and was really the only one you could turn to when you needed to talk to someone. She was the closest to a ‘mother figure’ you would have while living in the colony.
But most importantly, she hated the siren lifestyle as much as you did. You were glad at least one person had common sense around here.
“Oh, hello, Y/N,” she greeted with a warm smile.
You smiled back. “Hi Phoebe!”
She was busy cutting up what looked like some sort of meat, presumably a major organ from one of the bodies that were caught. It used to bother you, watching her harvest human bodies, but it was just one of the sights you had grown used to from living here for almost five years.
You got to work making you own dinner. It was something you did sometimes to help Phoebe out, since you didn’t eat like the rest of the group.
“So, your birthday is tomorrow right? 21, that’s pretty big!” Phoebe exclaimed, trying to lighten the mood about what was to come after your birthday.
“Yeah, really big. So big, I might just die!” You said sarcastically.
“Oh c’mon, Y/N, you’ll be fine,” she responded.
“Well, how did you get through your test?” You asked, needing some advice besides Circe yelling at you.
“I just went out there, thinking that nothing else in this moment matters more than my own life, and did it,” she replied honestly.
“But….you don’t like what they’re doing?“
“Of course not. I hate that they do this, especially putting all the pressure on you,” she consoled, turning towards you.
“Listen, Y/N. You’re so young. I know you don’t wanna do this or live like this but you just need to get through this and it will get easier, I promise,” she said as she soothingly rubbed your arm, much like Tom had done earlier that day.
You pondered her words, but let another question surface in your mind. “Phoebe, why do sirens hate mermaids so much?”
She thought about it for a moment before turning to look at you again.
“Because mermaids have hearts.”
*
*
*
A/N: op i decided to post early anyway....here’s the second part!! still just expositional stuffs but i actually sat down yesterday and (roughly) outlined the next three parts....it’ll get interesting i promise!! but tell me what ya think so far! how do you like the reader? how to you like tom? what/who do you want to see more/less of in future parts? what do ya think is gonna go down in future parts??? i wanna hear your thoughts!! hope you enjoyed and stay peachy!!
much love, tommybaholland 🌺
part 3? issa yes from me..
read more of my tom writing here!
TAG LIST (strikethrough—won’t let me tag you, pls consult google doc)
A/N: I have no idea how to put this into a category if I’m being honest. But I gained inspiration from the book The Siren by Kiera Cass! I hope y’all like it and if you want a part 2, let me know!
Summary: You meet Tom while doing your siren duties, but they cause him to be in distress so you try to talk to him to calm him.
Mermaid!Tom Holland x Siren!Reader
Word Count: 1714
Also, Italicized is the ocean speaking and bold is Tom speaking underwater.
Update: The read more link doesn’t seem to be showing up with reblogs and I’m not sure how to fix it so just click on my blog name and it should bring you to the original post!
//
Come, it’s time.
You hear the ocean whisper to you. You can’t decide whether you love or hate taking so many lives. On one hand you know it’s worth it taking a few lives to allow others to live, but your heart always mourns the ones it takes. You understand that she has to take them, they’re her only source of food and she doesn’t like anymore than you do.
Getting ready to sing you look to your sisters, the four of you all ready to let her song pour out of you so beautifully that the passengers cannot help, but fall in love.
Begin, my loves
The four of you sing, voices intertwining and creating a devastatingly beautiful song. It happens slowly then all at once. Some throwing themselves overboard, some getting pushed or slipping. They all end up here anyway, your voices strong and unwavering making this as easy and painless as possible for them. You try not to look at their faces, knowing that they’ll haunt your dreams if you do. It’s not hard to focus on other things, you’ve grown accustomed to the screams and pleas, but there’s one that causes you to look, to search for the source of it.
Still singing, maybe not as focused as you were before, you look for him. The owner of the calm, soothing voice that pulled you to reality during your song. It’s not something that’s happened before, someone having such a reaction to your song. It’s shocking while still being a nice change
Focus, Y/N. The voice will be gone soon and you’ll feel bad if you make life harder on your sisters or those I’m taking.
Attempting to shake the voice from your thoughts, you push yourself to sing louder, stronger hoping it’ll speed things up. Diverting your eyes, you move to a different area hoping maybe the voice won’t make it this far, but not realizing that you’ve moved closer to it.
This is wrong. You cannot hurt all these people. Please, save them. I don’t understand, why are you doing this? The voice calls out, pleading.
You continue on knowing that the questions, while valid, cannot be answered. This is taking longer than normal, you realize. Something must be wrong, Swimming back to your sisters, you try to bring them close. It’s important to keep together, to protect each other. That’s when you see him, the owner of the voice.
He’s beautiful, a mop of chestnut brown hair lays upon a pretty, youthful face with big brown eyes that you could imagine yourself getting lost in. His body is nice, smooth with defined abs, but it’s below his waist that catches your eye, it’s a tail. His entire lower body is a breathtakingly beautiful mix of blue, pink, and purple scales adorning his tail. His scales effortlessly transitioning between the soft colors making the water around him come alive with color. He’s swimming, helping people break the surface.
I cannot feed if he helps them. There can be no survivors. Distract him, Y/N, your sisters will take over.
“What are you doing?” you ask as you swim closer to him.
They need to be helped. There’s so many of them, please don’t let that many lives be lost. How can you allow so much death? You have to help them. Please.
“I cannot. She has to eat to sustain life. We cannot allow anyone to survive, they will reveal us to the world. Please, you have to stop. If you don’t, she’ll punish you.” you can hear the desperation in your voice, but you’re not quite sure where it came from. Surely, his life cannot mean that much to you.
I fear that if I don’t at least attempt to help, that I will have the weight of that decision on my shoulders for the rest of my life. He sounds sad and defeated, but yet still determined.
“It will be okay. Think of all the lives you would be saving. All the people you are allowing to live and thrive in the world by letting so few go. Please, she will not be kind much longer. I see your tail, I know that you need her more than them to live. She will not allow you life if you get in her way.” You hate admitting it, but it needed to be said. You look around, there are so few left now. It will be over soon. Reaching out to her you ask for permission to bring him to land, to allow him life and bring him away from the devastation.
Go. Your sisters are doing fine. They are thankful for you help with him. I will send you to an empty beach.
“Come with me. We will talk” You grab his hand, gripping tightly as she bring you to the shore. It’s dark, only the moonlight giving a soft glow to the beach as you both come ashore.
“What are you? What’s your name? Why do you help bring so much death to a world that already has so much? How did she bring us here so quickly? I can’t even swim that fast. Did you bring me here to kill me?” he rants off so many questions you fight remember all of them.
His voice. While it was beautiful underwater, it was breathtaking hearing now on this beach. It was difficult not to get lost in the sound of it. It was how our voices were to humans. Shaking yourself from your thoughts you notice he’s staring at you, waiting for answers that don’t seem to be coming anytime soon. Your mind blanking on anything other than his brown eyes that are focus solely on yours. Finally, though takes a minute, you come up with some answers that might satisfy him for now.
“I’m sure you know what I am. You’re a mermaid, aren’t you? I’m sure you can identify other sea creatures as well. No matter, I’m Y/N, a siren. I sing for her so she can feed and sustain life. It’s like how you protect sea creatures, I help her and she protects me. To answer your next question, she is the ocean, she can move things faster than anything else on this planet as long as it’s in salt water. And no, I’m not going to kill you. I begged her to help me let you live. It would have been a waste just to bring you here to kill you. What is your name, hun?” You smile. That was a lot of information, you think maybe you shouldn’t have given so much away.
There was something about the way he so willingly offered anything to save others or maybe it was the way he was able to actually hear your voice so freely or maybe the way he was looking at you so hopeful and enthusiastic that made you want to give him the full honest truth, to trust him so willingly and fully. It was a dangerous road you were starting down. If you
gave away too much information she would punish you, but you fear that if you weren’t honest with him he’d be on your mind for a long time wondering if by chance he would have understood.
“Y/N,I don’t understand,” he exclaimed desperately trying to make sense of everything you were saying, “Why does she have to do this? What do you mean she takes all of them to sustain life? How does that even …” He stops when he notices you giving him a pointed look.
“Your name, honey buns?” You want to give as much comfort as you can and you’ve noticed people like it when you use their name in the conversation.
“Tom.” It comes out barely a whisper.
“Well Tom, I cannot answer all of your question. There are simply some things I cannot talk about. With that being said, I can tell you that we will not hurt you or those you care about. It is not in our nature to bring more death than necessary.” You try to use a soothing voice to bring comfort to him.
His eyes are wide, regarding you with both caution and curiosity, but he seems a little more at ease knowing that no harm is coming to him.
“Okay, so no more death than absolutely necessary. I guess I can understand that. I mean will kill those who continuously harm other creatures. Those terrible sailors that just won’t stop. It’s basically the same, right?” he seems like he’s trying to convince himself more than you.
A comfortable silence sets over you both, you figure he’s trying to come to terms with everything and it wouldn’t be fair to rush him through the process. On the other hand, you wanted to hear his voice again. The smooth gentleness of it makes you want to sit with him and just listen to him tell stories for the rest of your days. He has an accent, which is rather normal for mermaids they can go on land whenever and live normal lives, you’d guess he lives somewhere near London. You always loved accents, they’re just so pretty to listen to. Being a siren, your voice and changes to fit wherever you are.
“Y/N? I thought all who heard your voice would die. If that’s true, why haven’t I died?” he quietly asked.
“We can allow a select few to hear our voices. It takes a lot of energy and focus, but we do it when we find someone worth the effort. Because of the effort, we can only choose one person to share it with at a time. When they die, we slowly gain the energy back and may do it again after a few years.” The words came out soft, making you feel like you’re one foot tall.
There’s silence, you want to see his face, hear his voice, find out what he’s thinking but you’re too embarrassed to look at him. It must be weird for him. To know someone he just met used their one chance to talk to someone for a lifetime on him, a total stranger.
“You chose me? Well love, let’s make that choice worthwhile yeah?”
//
I hope y’all like it! Any feedback is welcome. This is the longest thing I’ve written so far so any thing that can make it better is welcome!
Again if you want another part let me know and I’ll write it! Thank you!!
I have talked about it with a few people, but my pretty ambitious and weird and angsty fic has been started and the first chapter is up! Go read it if you want. Or, you know, don't if you don't want. *Scratches neck awkwardly*.
