Chapter Text
{ Prologue }
{Author’s POV }
With a voice as gentle as the ocean waves lapping at the shore,
A tune that lulled the tide side to side with simple grace,
Sirens sing their melodies. A trope full of peace and harmony.
A voice as dangerous as the crashing waves,
With vicious bites and alluring coos,
Mortals stand no ground when it comes to a siren's song.
Beware, beware,
A siren's last call.
ʚ✩ɞ
(Jeongguk’s POV)
A beautiful melody.
One Jeongguk has listened to since he was born.
A gentle twinkle that echoed prettily across the ocean waves.
His mother’s voice was his favorite thing.
Well, besides his best friends, and seaweed bites. And swimming with sharks.
Okay, he had a lot of favorites. He couldn't help it, he was only seven anyway. Nothing mattered except following his mother everywhere, her trilling tone educating him on everything in the ocean. This entire body of water was their domain, wherever his tail could take him. It was a beautiful place, but nothing came close to his home kingdom.
Their cove was under the protection of Poseidon's youngest son’s kingdom, a flourishing place with coves full of mermaids and families, sea life bloomed and the sea stayed glorious in its color and virtue.
Jeongguk giggled as he twirled in the water, chasing after a school of fish, getting tickled by their fins with his tail scales glistening when the sunlight beamed from above.
“My precious pearl,” Jeongguk’s mother cooed out, her viperous tail curling behind her as she neared her child. “You’re going to get fish scales stuck in your gorgeous hair.”
Jeongguk giggled when his mother combed her sharp nails through his shoulder length black hair, he couldn’t wait until his hair was as long as his mother’s, a glorious purple color that swirled in the water like coral wisps.
“But fishes are so fun, mama. I love playing with them.” Jeongguk giggled, swimming beside his mother as they swam around on the outskirts of their kingdom’s domain, waiting for his father to be done with his work duties.
His father was a strong merman that worked for keeping the coral castle located in the center of their domain, he was in charge of reconstructing any homes or coves that eroded over time. And coming down the legion of one of Poseidon’s original heirs, the youngest, his father had a duty towards the kingdom.
His father was a little rebellious though, as he married an adventurous mermaid as his mother, who had a family history of sea witches. Jeongguk hated when some merkins would give them dirty looks, supposedly afraid his mother would enact on old witch magic. However, his mother stayed happy, very in love with her devoted husband and her lovely child.
Jeongguk enjoyed his childhood, playing with the sea creatures, swimming throughout the kingdom, and exploring. Although his exploring would get him in trouble, as Jeongguk dared to be more adventurous than his mother sometimes. He would hide in dark coves, giggling. He would race against deadly deep-sea creatures and skim the surface water as Jeongguk liked the way the sunlight felt on his face.
“Keep close to the deep water, son.” His father would warn, especially when Jeongguk would explore at night. “Dangerous up there on the surface, the sun can trick your vision.”
Jeongguk did think the sun tricked his vision, once he caught sight of a floating green blob miles away with his keen eyes when he poked out on a sunny day.
“Mother, what is that green floating thing over there?” Jeongguk asked back underneath the surface, noticing his gills around his neck would get itchy and annoyed if he stayed up there too long. Pesky oxygen.
His mother hummed as she collected seaweed off to the side. “That is called an island, my pearl. It is the home for the beings titled “humans.””
“Humans? What are those? Why have I never heard of them?” Jeongguk wondered, his doe eyes wide as he floated next to his mother.
“They are mysterious creatures, my love. They do not have tails like us; they walk on that island with two flesh parts.” His mother explained, her expression darkening a bit as she stuffed more seaweed into her net bag.
Jeongguk made an amazed noise, excitedly patting his mother’s shoulders. “Mama, I wanna go see them! They sound so interesting!”
“Oh, my pearl, no, no.” His mother’s voice deepened, something that only happened when she was becoming serious. His tail deflated a little as she gathered him into her arms, staring into his eyes with a glint of sadness. “I haven’t told you the tale yet, of the humans.”
“Tale? What tale, mama?” Jeongguk hummed, listening intently while resting his head on her bosom, her scales familiar on his skin.
“Well, because of how different we appear from humans, there is…a divide between us built by greed and fear. Long ago, a mermaid princess traveled to that land, and her eyes found her true love. A male human. They were different from each other, but their lips shared a kiss and a sweet forbidden love bloomed.”
“Merkind and humankind can be friends, but differences scare people. That’s why the human ended up breaking their love, by loving another woman. In her grief and rage, the mermaid created the first siren song, so beautiful it could send humans into the ocean to drown in her sorrows. Her decisions created the human exploration to exploit and hurt our kind. Even now, there is hurt that humans want to inflict on us.”
“Why can’t the humans just see that we’re friendly though? Why are they so hurt and angry?” Jeongguk wondered, too innocent to understand fully.
His mother sighed, her hair a moving form behind her, purple strands swirling in the ocean. “Even I don’t know that answer, my pearl. It pains me that a lot of anger coats the land above, it makes us mermaids fear to travel further because of their lurking above the surface.”
“That is why you must stay close to home, pearl. Close to my heart.” His mother hummed, tucking his head in closer, Jeongguk whispered he would, basking in her love that never left.
But curiosity was a fiend.
Strong and unrelenting.
Nights would be Jeongguk’s favorite to explore, his eyes glittering as he snuck out of his cove to swim with the night life, poking his head out to stare up at the beautiful moon, loving how the moonlight felt on his gills.
His tail would paddle him closer to the green island every day, testing his curiosity to just know what humans looked like. He didn’t know what was good or wrong, his mind running with every possibility for maybe new friends.
That’s how Jeongguk found himself one night, too curious for his good when he explored the outskirts of the kingdom, his interest piqued when a noise he'd never heard before skimmed the ocean surface.
His keen eyes saw a large shadow, the weird thrumming sound reminding him of a distorted whale’s call. Wow, it was rare for a whale to visit this late at night and so close to the surface. Jeongguk swam up, excited to befriend another whale, the shadow slowly becoming a different shade than what Jeongguk was used to.
Jeongguk cooed a whale noise, trying to say hello, but his eyes squinted when he realized this wasn’t the bottom of a whale friend. It had no eyes, and it made a weird humming noise. Jeongguk tentatively reached up to tap his tiny claws at the gray bottom, frowning at its rough, hard touch.
“This is no animal…” Jeongguk whispered, flinching when a random splash came from above, something floating down in a murky color. Focusing his eyes, Jeongguk swam closer, nose wrinkling at the pungent odor.
“Oh no…why are all these fish cut?? Their blood is everywhere…” Jeongguk gasped when he realized the piles from above were globs of fish guts, their blood rich and swirling around.
Just then, a bright light blasted the area around him, making Jeongguk shriek and cover his eyes momentarily, his spikes coming out of his spine and elbows on instinct.
“What…!” Jeongguk squeaked, his entire form apparent from above the water, his tail scales glistening with a vibrant color. From the ripples above the surface, Jeongguk felt a sense of dread seeing the moving blob shadows.
Something didn’t feel right, he needed to swim away. Now.
Jeongguk turned his head when something suddenly shot from above, so fast it startled the mer-child, screaming when rope covered his entire form, preventing his tail from swishing side to side. He was immobile, no matter how hard he flailed, his arms wouldn’t move.
“Mama!! MAMA!!!” Jeongguk screamed, air bubbles scattering around as his voice pierced through the ocean waves.
“Jeongguk?!? Pearl, where are you!??” His mother’s voice was distant, but she heard him. Jeongguk could cry from relief as he continued to struggle, the thick net that captured him was beginning to burn his delicate skin.
“Mama!! I’m here, please! Hurry, it hurts!!” Jeongguk wailed, his pretty voice a high sound that warbled the water particles in the area. His mother’s slim form came rushing near, her eyes wide and fearful as she saw her child, gasping. “Jeongguk!”
A harsh tug then pulled Jeongguk up, it tightened around his skin and brought his trembling body closer to the surface no matter how hard Jeongguk struggled against it. “Mama!!”
“Don’t move, child!” His mother pleaded, reaching her child who continued to move up, her claws slashed through the net, but Jeongguk was so tangled, it was proving fruitless success. Growling, his mother decided to dig her claws into the net and let herself cover her son as the net pulled up and up until they broke out of the ocean, fresh air hitting their wet bodies.
“Holy shit!!! It’s a big catch!” A surly voice shouted, too much brightness and screeching noises distracting Jeongguk who wailed and cried in his mother’s embrace, hating that the net was caught underneath his arms, preventing him from fully holding his mother.
The boat’s crane creaked a metallic sound as it dropped the prize on the boat’s deck, the large mermaid curled around the net, hissing as the group of crew men crowded closer.
“So, they do exist. Fuck, we’re gonna be rich selling her.” A voice rang out, laughing like a choked pufferfish.
“My, my…such a beauty. Look at them eyes,” another voice grinned, their bodies blobs from Jeongguk’s point of view, until he brushed aside his mother’s long hair, gasping at their weird forms.
They had two flesh parts…meaning these weird creatures were humans.
“Please…” His mother’s voice sounded ragged and worn, her arms tightening around Jeongguk’s shivering body, her tail wrapped to protect them. “We mean no harm…I have a child; you must let me go.”
A taller human stepped forward, face so dirty and cut like a rock. His hair was wet and his eyes were something Jeongguk’s all remembered seeing in dangerous predators.
“I’m sorry, princess, but we can’t do that. Our king has ordered all mermaids to be killed, or to be sold for a hefty amount. Your kind causes too much trouble for us on land.”
“Please, I know that our high council has tried to create peace treaties. Use the good in your hearts and let us go.” His mother continued to plead, shoulders tensing as the other males crowded in closer.
“Peace treaty? As if that’ll do anything.” The men laughed, the sound so grating to Jeongguk’s ears.
Their leader came forward, sneering down at his mother. “All mermaids worth is for us to determine, not you. Besides, our profit will rise with a mer-child.”
His mother finally snapped, her scales hardening and her spikes popping out as her eyes darkened and a screech so loud and high left her mouth, sending the men falling to their knees, covering their ears.
Quickly, while they were distracted, his mother cut the net off his body, groaning as she squirmed towards the boat’s edge, glancing down at Jeongguk’s teary eyes.
“My pearl, I don’t have enough time,” she gasped, her own tears falling and gently dropping on Jeongguk’s face. “Swim far away from here and never look back. Please, do this for your mother.”
Jeongguk whined, so confused and afraid, gripping his mother tightly. “M-Mama, I don’t understand, don’t leave me—”
He cried out when a human came behind them, trying to grab his mother’s tail.
Snarling, his mother used her leftover strength to smack the human to the side with her tail, the force deadly and hard.
“Please, my child, remember that I will always love you.” His mother whispered, her beautiful voice a mere wobble as she left a sweet kiss to his forehead, leaving her mark. “I love you deeper than any ocean.”
“Mama, no, mama!” Jeongguk wailed, his gills already itching from the dry air, his claws trying to grip his mother’s hair, but she huffed, pushing Jeongguk off the side just as another net fell on her, the men roaring a horrible melody that Jeongguk never wanted to hear again.
His entire form sang with relief once he was in the water, gasping as he rushed to swim down, away from this terrifying scene. But the mer-child soon halted his movements, his tears not stopping as he glanced up, noticing the boat was beginning to move away from him.
“No, no, no! Mama!! Mama, wait for me!” Jeongguk sobbed, swimming as fast he could, ignoring the rope burns that swirled around his tail. The boat was much faster than him, but Jeongguk still followed its ripples until Jeongguk couldn’t move anymore, all the strength leaving his body.
Heaving, Jeongguk swam to the surface, spotting the boat docked near some sort of rock wall that appeared to be a work in progress. It was a wall that was going to separate the island from the ocean around it. Jeongguk didn’t care that he was in dangerous territory, so close to the green island that had always intrigued him.
However, when Jeongguk tried to swim closer, he saw the crew from his short distance away leave the boat, meeting with more groups of humans near the wall, balls of light they were carrying illuminating the pole that was standing in the middle of the boat.
Even from his distance, Jeongguk could recognize the shining form erected on that pole.
His mother.
A metal hook was stuck through her head, poking out through her mouth as blood continued to pool down her shoulders to her beautiful tail that hung lifelessly with the rest of her. A dead weight. She was gone.
Killed and put on show for those vile humans.
Jeongguk couldn’t even think.
He was silent as he watched the crew proudly showcase their work, their faint laughs heard from Jeongguk’s position.
He would kill them.
He would kill these humans.
Humans, although such a curiosity to him before were now the reason for his existence.
Because he would never forget this, they would beg on their knees for mercy as he made them hurt for killing his mother.
Panting, Jeongguk called into himself, deep inside his chest to begin a melody that the previous sirens would teach in the depths of the coves. He didn’t care that it was considered forbidden and dangerous.
The entire humankind would drown at the sound of his voice. He swore it.
Screaming, Jeongguk dove into the water as a storm brewed behind him, the ocean mourning his mother’s untimely death. His voice wasn’t strong enough to do anything, or be enough to allure the entire crew, but Jeongguk swore his mother’s death would not be forgotten.
It felt raw and unforgiving to just leave, but even at this age, Jeongguk knew he couldn’t do much.
Swimming to the depths of the sea, Jeongguk felt his inner child shrivel and dissipate.
A siren was created.