This chapter is dedicated to Shootz and coffeecup0815

And to anyoneelse who is reading, commenting, subscribing and upvoting, Love you guys :) xx

 

 

 

 

 

"I must be a mermaid, Rango. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living."
— Anaïs Nin

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I knew you were coming...” Dongwook stood between the doorpost, unwavering, his gaze almost scrutinizing.

 

“Is that how you greet an old friend? Not even so much as a hello?” Seunghyun frowned, seeing the rough state his best friend was in.

 

“A simple hello... I can serve you with that. But don't force me to say goodbye.”

 

“I won't...”

 

“Come on in.” Dongwook sighed, making place for his friend to enter the empty bar.

“I am sorry I couldn't manage to convince them...” He continued dejectedly, setting two beer onto the counter. He felt depressed and he had a feeling Seunghyun needed one too. Seeing the forlorn look on his friends face spoke more than thousand words. “You know what? Scratch that!” Bending down he took his best and strongest bottle of self brewed herbal liquor out of its hiding place.

 

“Dongwook...”

 

“What? A beer will not suffice anymore at this point.” The gruff bartender replied.

 

“This is your best bottle of liquor.” Seunghyun mused.

 

“I am sorry.”

 

They both knew that it was not the liquor he was apologizing for.

 

 

Some things were better left unsaid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seunghyun was still lost deep in thoughts when he made his way towards Mr. Zhen's little shack, 5 hours later. He was not surprised to find the old man already waiting up for him, the door slightly ajar, two steaming mugs of tea sitting on the table.

 

“Seunghyun! I see... you came to bid farewell...”

 

“How...”

 

“You don't fool anyone my dear boy...”

 

“I am sorry...”

 

“You don't have to be sorry. If it makes you happy... and him, than that's all what matters. Besides, this town is too small for two weird people.” Mr. Zhen's frail shoulders shook heartily as he laughed lightly.

 

“Though I've got to say I'll miss you dearly.” The old man threw him a fond look. “These gossiping morons don't know when to keep their mouths shut.” He huffed. “Come on, sit with an old man and enjoy one last cup of tea.”

 

Seunghyun sat down gingerly, relieved the old man didn't seem too sad.

 

“You have always been a man of few words, Seunghyun, but not that bad.”

 

“I just... I don't know what to say. In all honesty Mr. Zhen... I feel... like I already left...” He took a sip of tea, the scalding hot liquid burning his throat. It felt pleasant. Soothing.

 

“I know.” The old man sighed, slouching in on himself. “You can't leave with him though. You can't save him.” His eyes moved up, meeting the younger mans gaze. “Not yet, at last.” He finished quickly, not taking the chance of Seunghyun interrupting him.

 

“What do you mean by that, with all respect, but what are you keeping from me?”

 

“I think you have to wed him... a truthful bound under the lords scrutinizing, watchful eyes.”

 

“I don't think that I quite get where you are coming from exactly...” Seunghyun hesitantly asked.

“Jiyong told me he had to find his true love, his heart, in order for him to be forgiven.”

 

“Yes... That much is true... But who is the one who decides on salvation or damnation, Seunghyun? In whoms hands is it to offer forgiveness for our sins?”

 

“God...”

 

“Yes. If you don't ask him to forgive Jiyong, if you can't prove your bond in front of the holy trinity, then... then all will go to waste...”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“You will die.”

 

“I know.”

 

“No. You will die, alone.”

 

“What? No! Jiyong told me-”

 

“Did he ever hear of a Siren who managed to break the curse? Did he, or is it all only speculation you are talking about?” The old man asked inquiringly. It was important for Seunghyun to know. The time had come.

“I take it your silence means you agree with me.”

 

“I...”

 

“Go find your grandmother and ask her to be your priest and witness, to lawfully wed you two under Gods Eyes, tomorrow night, meet me at the shore, take Jiyong with you. It is important that you bring your grandmother, do you understand?”

 

Seunghyun could only nod dumbly.

 

“Then, go now and find her.”

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

“Grandma?”

 

Seunghyun poked his head inside, spotting the lone figure sitting at the window. Her hair looked mussed and her face ashen.

 

“Seunghyun... my dearest, dearest boy...” She turned, her sad, empty eyes closing in on the only family member she had left. “Come and sit with grandma.”

 

He made his way over, slowly. He felt like he was moving on thin ice. Sitting down, he took her bony hands in his and rubbed soothing circles onto her paper thin skin.

 

She beat him to it, just as he was about to beseech for her support, making his unholy request.

 

“Did I ever tell you... the reason...” She took a deep, shaky breath. “As to why I resent Siren's so much?”

 

She had told him many times. That she feared their gruesome nature, their bloody cravings, that she despised their evil willed intentions and selfish riots.

 

But Seunghyun had a feeling that this wasn't about any local legend, nor about the horror tales mankind told for centuries now.

 

No. It was more than that.

 

"Did you know I had a brother? He tried to safe one of them. And died." She swallowed harshly, her eyes tearing up. "But she... she lived."

 

Miryu's Story

 

“Miryu! Miryu!” A tall, lanky boy with handsome features run up the hill, making his way towards a small, freckle faced girl who was busy picking flowers for her flower crown, probably not older than 14 or 15 years old.

 

She looked up with a bright smile on her face, the flower crown in her hands dropping to the ground in silence, long forgotten now that her biggest source of happiness was back from his adventures.

“Kwangsoo! Brother! You are back!” She tumbled down the hill in excitement, squealing with happiness as her older brother picked her off the ground and swung her around.

 

“I missed you so much!” She tightened the hold around her brothers back, desperate for that little piece of happiness, that tiny ray of sunshine.

 

Kwangsoo loved his sister dearly, she was probably the only reason he didn't forget about home. The world was luring, it was drawing him in. It was big and promising. His sister was the only one who managed to pull at him, to make him come back. She was small in frame, but big in heart and mind.

 

“Ahh... I missed you little YuYu!” He laughed softly into her neck, softly her hair.

 

She let go, her eyes shining brightly.

 

Her childlike happiness never ceased to amaze him.

 

“Come on. We can't let all those flowers die for nothing, can we?” He took her hand, leading her back to the place she came from and sat down with her.

 

“Aww.. Miryu! I told you that's not how you weave flower crowns.” He chuckled lightly, patching up rough ends and fixing the mess his younger sister made.

 

“I tried... I really tried.” She crossed her arms with a huff. “You are just a bad teacher, is all.” Pouting, she urged her brother on to show her again.

 

“Alright. Lets see if we can get this in that thick skull of yours.” He smiled fondly at her, his dimples evidence of the happiness he currently felt, after two months of living on a cramped ship.

 

---

 

Her brother, after that day, changed drastically. He started leaving the house in the early morning hours, long before any of the other house occupants were awake. Miryu observed the change within her brother with great worry.

 

He seemed... lost.

 

For a lack of better words.

 

Yeah... lost...

 

---

 

“Miryu. I want to introduce you to someone.” It was three weeks after her sixteens birthday, the day that changed her life.

And she'd remember it forever.

 

Never in her life had she seen someone as beautiful as her. Eyes shining brightly, like Onyx, you in and holding you hostage. Miryu wondered for a brief moment if she ever was to get it back, her soul. The Sirens hair was just as beautiful, like golden threads of silk, softly running through your hands like honey if you weaved through them. Her skin was as soft as the petal of a rose, smelling just as good. Her fin glittered like thousands of tiny, shiny Rubies. It looked beautiful, swaying back and forth in the water, looking fluid, a royal red. Like blood. She was without question the prettiest creature to roam the seas. Alluring. Enchanting.

 

Her brother was smitten

 

And so was she.

 

Had little Miryu known that she'd never forget these eyes, that they'd hunt her in her dreams, decades later, would she still have looked as closely into them, as she had, that day?

 

---

 

“The skies are roaring,

empty one,

Your heart is lost,

and mine is gone.

 

The ground is shaking,

urging on,

for you to leave,

for you to come.

 

The depths are calling,

lover, dear,

The End is nearing,

do not fear."

 

---

 

It was only a few moths later, three, almost four, that her brother came home, soaked to the bones. Taking his sisters hands, he begged for her forgiveness. Begged for her to understand.

 

“Please.” He looked at her, the rain pouring down on the two unmoving figures on the empty streets. “Please, Miryu...”

 

She nodded.

 

The rain covered for her, masking her tear stained face with the cries from above. Heaven knew what was lost. She smiled, thankful that the skies grieved with her.

 

That was the last night of her life, she'd ever hear her name, leaving her brothers lips, the last time she'd ever hold his hands in hers, strong and firm.

 

At that time, she didn't know, she didn't foresee.

 

She let it fade out. Let their time run out like hands clutching onto sand grains.

 

Her name on his lips long gone, the softest of whispers, dying out like a flame on a stormy night.

 

Shaking hands dropped helplessly, clutching at nothing, as she watched his retreating back leave with confident steps.

 

 

She hoped for him to turn around,  one last time.

 

 

 

He didn't.

 

And Miryu couldn't help but wonder, if this was as hard on him as it was on her.

 

 

 

 

To this day, she still regrets letting go of his hands.

 

She still regrets forgetting his voice.

 

Forgetting his smile.

 

Forgetting him.

 

Kwangsoo.

 

---

 

Breathing the cool morning air she walked along the sidewalk, her fingers tracing the rough surface of the walls as she made her way down the street their, her, house was in. She stopped at the corner of the street, resting her weak legs as she leaned against the old, patched up masonry.

 

“Have you heard of that Kwangsoo boy? It seems he fell victim to a Siren, passerby's heard him begging her for mercy. They found his body this morning.”

 

“His body? More like what was left of his body! I heard they tore him to shreds, limb by limb!”

 

“Yes. The heart was missing. The siren clawed it directly out of his chest.”

 

Images of cold, black eyes, razor sharp teeth and a blood red fin flooded her mind. She was sure now. Her fin was blood red, probably painted by the liquor of life, her victims shed as she was feasting on them with vigor. Not even the ocean could wash them off, her sins, the centuries forcing her to wear them on the outside, for the world to see.

 

To her, there was nothing beautiful about Siren's anymore.

 

---

 

She saw her, the siren, one last time, a few months later. She caught her, pulling a mariner into the water. She would never forgot those sharp teeth flashing as she threw her a malicious smirk. It could have been any siren. But Miryu knew she, no... it was the one.

 

The knowing glint in her evil, soulless eyes ratting her out, her beauty not fooling Miryu anymore.

 

She would never understand how she could forget about her brother so easily, his smile, his laughter, his smell, his embraces, his hands, his eyes, his snoring waking her in the middle of the night...

 

She forgot all about poor, poor Kwangsoo...

 

...And yet...

 

...she couldn't seem to forget about the Siren.

 

 

---

 

 

Seunghyun watched his grandmother staring, out of the window, into nothingness.

 

“Do you understand now?”

 

“Grandma... he really does love me...”

 

“That was what my brother, said, the last time I saw him...”

 

“I was... in the water with him multiple times, even diving.” He tried to put as much reassurance into his gaze as possible. “He won't hurt me. He won't leave me to die alone, We will go together.”

 

“"She was not freed. I don't know if it was her intention to tear at his flesh, from the very start, or if it was the pain of not dying along with him which drove her insane, even more cruel in nature. I am not sure wether she lost the last traces of humanity inside of her because of that day, or if there really wasn't anything to safe at all and it doesn't matter, they can't be saved, either way." The old woman kept her firm grip, clutching onto her grandsons hands for dear life.

 

“Grandma...”

 

“No! Seunghyun. No.”

 

"Mr: Zhen says he might be redemed if I lawfully wed him."

 

"Seunghyun, they can't be saved, their fins look like hell and damnation for a reason! Always red as blood or black as the bottomless pits they like to gather in... It was a warning my brother missed, I missed!”

 

“Hello? Mrs. Choi?” Dongwook stepped inside the little cottage, a woolen wrapping around the freshly made bread, Seunghyun asked him to bring.

 

Seunghyun however didn't pay attention to anything around him anymore.

 

Red.

 

“Dongwook...” He calmly stated. “Do you remember the colors of the fins?”

 

“The.. What? Are you okay?” The bartender stepped closer, feeling his temperature.

 

“The fins.” Seunghyun emphasized. “The fins the Sirens had... that night.” He watched, attentively, as Dongwook searched for the tidbid of info stored in the back of his brain.

 

“Most of them had red fins...” He mused after a few seconds of silence.

 

“And the other sirens?” Seunghyun urged on.

 

“Black.. I think...” Dongwook rubbed the stubble on his chin, deep in thoughts.

 

“See Seunghyun? I told you.” His grandma smiled sadly at her grandson.

 

“Are you sure? Are you sure there weren't any other colors?” Seunghyun asked, his hopeful eyes shining in earnest.

 

“Yes... Mhh... Oh yes I am! I remember thinking about how well they matched their eyes... for a moment... that was a pretty stupid thought in such a situation, now that I think about it.” He laughed awkwardly. “That's why I was so surprised meeting Jiyong. He looked nothing like them. White fin, warm, inviting eyes and very soft, almost childlike features.”

 

“White...? That can't be...” The old lady seemed to forget to breathe for a moment, the shock making her hands shake and thus almost causing the tea cup she was holding, to overflow.

 

“Grandma. His fin is white. Can't it be...” Seunghyun started mumbling. “Can't it be... that it is white because there is still hope for his soul? Still hope for redemption?”

 

“Are you sure, onehundred percent positive, that that Mermans fin was white?” She asked, turning to Dongwook and ignoring her grandson for the time being.

She needed to know if that really was true.

 

“One hundred percent Mrs. Choi. It looked like the first snowfall of the year. Pure, unblemished snow.”

 

“Please Grandma. Please come to the shore with me tomorrow night, at least meet Jiyong and do as you please from then on. Lawfully wed us, or don't. I'll go with Jiyong either way. With God's approval or not.”

 

“Seunghyun!”

 

“I am sorry grandma. But I'll go with him. And I really hope for you to approve. I hope for god to approve too, but...” He sighed, helplessly fumbling with his hands. “Your approval means a lot more to me than his. I love you grandma.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Looking into her grandsons eyes it seemed they were much more clearer than her brothers eyes at that time. Not quite as clouded.

 

He would go either way. He would die either way.

 

But Miryu had a feeling she would'nt lose another dear one, to the hellfire.

 

 

 

“The Fates and Furies, as well as the Graces and Sirens, glide with linked hands over life.”
― Jean Paul Friedrich Richter

 

 

A/N:

- Thanks to Shootz again for the lovely image above ^^ I really love it

- I am sorry that it took me so long to write this, I had alot on my plate these past 2 months and it was a really hard time for me. I hope you'll enjoy this long overdue update, have fun people :)