In the deep waters of vast oceans you could just imagine a dark abyss. No light reaching the seafloor. Well, indeed. That's the ocean. But there are hidden jewels connected with the light rays, never reached or found by human hands.

Can you imagine the heavens, overflowing with water? A thriving kingdom of grace, royalty and wealth, under the sea? A whole town built upon sculptured rocks, stones and jades. A castle on the center dominating and reflecting the weak lighting rays, enhancing them.
Inside it, countless corridors and columnes of marble. Arches made of gold. Sea flowers adorning every corner. You would think of it having sweet serenity but it was so nothing of that.

"Where is he again? I can't believe that boy!" A red shelled arthropod yelled, swimming around the corridors of the palace like crazy. "If your brother is not back until it gets dark, your father is going to grill me!"

While spinning hastily in circles, a hand with slender fingers grabbed one of its legs and picked it up to his face. A very human like face. "Take it easy Hoon. He's probably with Dongho, exploring shipwrecks and weird things." 

"I forbid him to do so but he's always defying me! I'm responsible for him to your father! Oh, but when he comes back... he's going to be scolded and I swear I'm putting him into custody and..." 
"Stop talking already." The boy shook the red creature from its leg, then let it fall on the marble floor. "If he doesn't come back the next thirty minutes, we'll search for him. I know where he is so don't panick and don't fret about it.He'll be back." 

The boy swam over a corner where colorful sponges and corals formed a comfortable couch. He was a boy that's true, but was he a human? His face was like a human's, framed by golden locks of hair. His eyes were just shinier with blue lines and circles around them, like tattoos on the pale skin. His hands and torso were lean and humane except two sharp fins, crossing from his wrists to the elbows, and a few blue scales scatterred here and there. The scales thickened as you observed his lower parts, finally ending up on a shiny, turquoise, fish tail. That being was half human and half sea creature. A merman.

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A yellow puffy fish with blue stripes revealed its head behind one of the palace's marble columns and checked the corridors. "Okay Kiseop. All clear!" It tried to shout not too loud from whispering to his hidden friend.

A red haired merman with fiery red tail debouched from behind and let out a big sigh. Relaxed in the thought that he wouldn't be caught, he swam backwards, while facing his fish friend. "Phew.. I came through it again. If Hoon caught me again I'd be forced to hear his scolding for an hour. He's always so clingy and overprotective, he never lets me do anything! Kiseop don't do this! Kiseop don't go there! Stop talking like that! Stop acting like that and blah blah blah.." He swayed his hands on the water around him to relieve his nerves and immitated the voice of the big crab, raising his point finger.

"Uhm.. Kiseop-" The fish named Dongho tried to stop the energetic boy but it was in vain. The boy didn't even notice him talking.
"Oh, Dongho! Just imagine his face if he learned somehow that I was on the shipwreck! He'll start yelling at me how dangerous it is and a million ways too die from an abandoned ship and..." 
"Kiseop!" The fish shouted louder, successfully interrupting the red tailed merman.
"What?!" He looked over the fish with the terrified expression. By the time he realized that what his friend was staring at, was behind him, showing him with his little blue fin, a little pinch on Kiseop's tail made him froze. 
Kiseop heard someone clacking his shell covered legs in the marble floor. While his tail was caught by a claw, he veered his head back to the source of the sound. 
"Hu oh..." Dongho stuttered, frozen to his place. Things got serious.
"If Hoon learned, somehow, that you were on the shipwreck, he would take you to your father, giving thorough report then lock you up in your room for a week!" Hoon said in a calm voice, on the contrary with his bossy glance, as he was behind Kiseop, without him noticing, and heard his sayings. "But of course I'm the bad guy for trying to protect you."

"I- I didn't say that..." The boy tried to protest against the scolding with his head hunched down. He could cope with just being caught but this situation was far worse. He couldn't say more and Hoon had already heard enough.
"Not a single word more.You're going to your father." Hoon released the boy's tail and raised its claw showing a corridor on the right.

Dongho, the little puffy fish, tried to escape going to the king and on a swift turn he swam fast enough, to end colliding with someone's stomach.
"Don't let Kiseop go alone. You were with him, weren't you?" The blond boy with the blue scales pinched the top fin of the fish and brought it close to his face. He was smiling though and had no trace of scolding in his glance but the fish regretted immediately his thoughts of running away.

"Yes, Kevin..." It said, lowering its voice condescendigly then the boy turned him around so as he could swim towards Kiseop's side.

The two perpetrators swam to the end of the long corridor and passed over a big arc that had mostly seaweed as a curtain and embelished with beautiful white windflowers. A big throne made of gold and granite was waiting for them in the center of the room, a huge merman with grey hair and beard sitting on it. The boy and the fish stood before the man on the throne with bowed heads and waited for a big scolding along with a punishment.

The man was quite old, yet seemed strong and conveyed a brim of prestige. The golden crown embellishing his head reflected the troublemakers in front of him. He leaned his elbow on the heavy throne's arm and rubbed his temples. His other hand was holding a huge, golden trident, its bottom touching the floor. Moving it slowly some centimeters up then lowering it back on the ground abruptly, the trident produced a deafening metallic sound that had the boy and the fish trembling in front of him.

"Kiseop, Kiseop..." The man muttered with his low but heavy voice. "Again on the shipwrecks?" He asked almost rhetorically and the boy in front of him nodded, without even raising his head. 
"You know how much I love you my boy and I'm really concerned with your explorations. If you were seen by a human you would be in great danger! And I don't want to take the plunge." He stopped talking as he was gradually raising his voice and seemed nervous. He let out a sigh in order to calm down and went on again. "No more exploring, okay Kiseop? Find something else to satisfy your endless curiosity. That applies for you too, Dongho. Please, try to hold back my son."

"Yes sir." Mumbled the little fish.
"Yes, father. I'm sorry I worried you." Kiseop raised his head to see his father, nodding him to go closer for a hug. He swam closer, almost vanishing inside his father's vast hug.
"It's okay. Now it's late. You should go to sleep." He bid goodnight to his son and his little fish friend as the swam out of the chamber.  

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It was late night and Kiseop was sitting wide awake on his bed looking out of the opening on the stone wall with the hanging seaweed, serving as a window. His brother Kevin was sleeping deeply on his bed across the room. Kiseop's loud sighs woke up Dongho, who was about to sleep next to the red head's bed. 

"What's wrong Kiseop?" The fish looked worried at his friend and rubbed his head on the boy's shoulder.
The latter smiled and scratched its head, playing with the blue fins. "I just can't sleep Dongho. I know my father definetely forbid me to explore the shipwrecks but just for once... Just for once Dongho, I have to see..." He stared again nonchalantly outside the window, his golden eyes trying to reach the surface. 

"See what, Kiseop?" Dongho clearly knew that he wouldn't like the answer but he couldn't hold the urge to ask. 
"A human." The word came out of his mouth as a bitter melody, an outcry of music, a last wish. Dongho was terrified, not only by hearing this forbidden word but seeing his friend vocalize it with a sadness of an unfulfilled dream.
"C'mon Dongho! Let's go!" Kiseop jolted up from his bed and grabbed Dongho's fin, dragging him outside the window.
"What?! Where are we going?" 
"Shh! You're gonna wake up Kevin!" Kiseop remarked putting his index finger before his lips, then pointing at his asleep brother. "We're going to see a human Dongho!"
"Whaaat?!" The fish shouted, but trying to keep his voice down to a whisper. Before he could even protest, Kiseop was already swimming away from the palace, still dragging the fish from its fin.
"Don't worry. We'll be back before anyone could realize we left." He reassured his friend and swam away from the city, towards the rock mountains under the sea.

"Kiseop please, let's go back. We're close to the shore. It's dangerous!" Dongho trembled by the time they reached the rockish area.
But Kiseop was too thrilled to even hear him. He swam against the cliffs, finally reaching the surface. A he got his head out of the water, he took a deep breath as if it was his first.

"Every time I get my head out of the water, it feels so great. The air, can you smell it? The scents are wonderful." He took another breath, cherishing the fresh ocean air, the smell from the flowers on the across island reaching his nostrils and making his head dizzy. "Look at the sky. It's dark blue but there's so much light coming from the moon and the million or billion stars. How many stars do you think there are up there?" He was supposed to be talking to his friend but Dongho didn't dare interrupt the boy's dreamy speech. 

Kiseop climbed on a rock's top that protruded from the sea and laid prone to it. He was all out from water then, swinging his fiery red scaly tail.
"Kiseop watch out! A ship!" Dongho realized that there was a ship close to the island that they didn't notice before as it was all black under the dark night sky and there was no hint of light on it. The merman hid behind the rock and observed the sea's surface thoroughly.

At first, he thought it was a reflection from a shiny star but Kiseop noticed an only light on the surface, getting brighter and closer to them. Not long after he started hearing splashes of the water, something was creating ripples on the surface and a voice mumbling.

"A boat!" The boy whispered with wide eyes, ready to explode from the suspence and excitement. "There's someone on it!"
"Kiseop please! Let's go back, it's dangerous!" The fish begged once again, its voice merely escaping its fishy mouth from the fear.

The boat got so close to the rock that Kiseop was able to distinguish every detail. There was only one man on the boat, rowing with steady moves in order to reach the island's beach. He had an oil lamp illuminating the area around him, something that the merman had difficulties in understanding what the source of lighting was.

Thanks to it though, he could observe the man he was so much craving for to see with cut breath. His face looked so much like his but in the same time so different. His hair were blond like Kevin's but not so much like Kevin's. The strands of hair were not golden but a blond color, burned and tarnished from the sun. He had skin with no scales and fins but covered with a faded and dusty white cloth, a shirt.

The man seemed to talk to himself, annoyed by something and Kiseop opened his ears to listen.

"But of course, who else would Jack sent to the Black Pearl and get the rum? Eli do this, Eli do that! Well, Eli is tired of your Jack!"

"Who's he talking to? I can't see anyone else here, I can't see where that Jack is. And who's Eli? Is that his name?" The boy thought to himself while prying the man's words.
Some seconds later, a wave hitting the rocks around him woke Kiseop up from his spellbounded state.
"The water is too shallow here and he can't see it! His boat will hit upon the rocks!" Before he could finish his thoughts, a rock scratched the boat's keel underwater and made it rattle.

"Oh !" The man yelled and jolted up, understanding what happened. He stood up as to examine the damage made on the boat but another wave sent the wooden craft against the rocks again. The man lost his balance and fell from the boat, his body diving on the sea beyond the sharp rocks.

Kiseop witnessed the accident holding his breath and dived into the water on an instant.
"Kiseop no! Don't!" Dongho was frozen all the time and to his misfortune, he knew that his merman friend would rush over the boat and help the stranger. Wasn't he afraid?

The blond man tried to swim on the surface again but he got stuck between the sinking boat and the edgy rocks. Kiseop got closer to him and looked him in the eyes before grabbing and getting him out of the water. 
The man filled his lungs with air, relieved that he didn't drown, he closed his eyes. He felt someone was holding him and gave in the dizzyness and the pressure he felt on his head. Kiseop didn't forestall letting him and he had an unconscious man on his hands. 

Thinking quickly, he veered his head around searching for a solution, noting that the boat was gone, sinking down on the dark sea depths. He put the man's arms around his neck and shoulders and kept him firmly on his back while swimming towards the shore, almost half of his body out of the water in case not to drown the young man.
Reaching the sandy beach, Kiseop laid him on his back and dragged his own body next to him, carefully so as he didn't get completely out of the water.

"Kiseop what are you doing? Are you crazy?! Let's go back before he wakes up!" Dongho was following terrified and looked at his friend begging him. The fish's little heart bumped hardly from the agony and its voice stuttered and trembled. 

But the merman was calm and uncompromising. He stared at the man as he was the most beautiful treasure he has ever seen. "Dongho, go hide somewhere. I want to wait him wake up. He's injured and I'm not letting him go. If anything happens to me, hurry back to the city."
Dongho knew he wouldn't change his mind, so stubborn the merman was and followed his orders, swimming away to the rocks.

Kiseop was just inches away from the man's face, examining every detail from the closest he could. His hand touched imperceptibly his torso with the wet cloth and pressed lightly, feeling the tranquil heartbeats. The chest uprised and lowered in the same rhythm and a brim breath escaped his mouth, reaching Kiseop's face. He was breathing fine.

The boy raised his wet hand again and came up to the face. The frech cut made from his falling on a sharp rock, had the blood running all over the side. His slender fingers touched the man's skin and wiped away the most of the blood, helping it clear with the sea's water. Kiseop cleaned his hands on the water and then closed up to the wound to clear it from the sand.

By the time he cleared the skin, some treckles of water fall from Kiseop's hand to the open cut. The salty water burned the skin with its iodine properties and inflicted a sharp pain.
"Tch" The man flinched from the pain on his forehead and jolted slightly, sontorting his face's muscles. Kiseop jumped back on the water, frightened from the abrupt reaction.

On impulse, he started singing a sweet melody to calm down the man, as if he could heal him. The magical voice coming from Kiseop's throat aded through the man's ears and dominated his senses. Slowly, he opened his eyes while the merman approached him little by little stopping his song to observe once more the man.

The man moved slowly and sat up without losing eye contact with the sea creature. They looked each other on a long pause of silence before the man could regain all of his senses and start talking.
"You. You saved me there. Who are you?" He asked the boy while scanning the scaly body.
The boy, fascinated by the fact he was so close to a human and talking to him, lowered his voice and gathered all of his remaining courage to answer. "I'm Kiseop. What's your name?" 
"I'm Eli." The blond one answered back, he couldn't believe his ears that the boy could actually talk and understand him. 

The merman heard the loud bumps of Eli's heart. He couldn't understand why the man felt like that. "Why is your heart so loud? It was so calm before."

Eli gulped, he couldn't get accustomed to this weird situation. "It's the first time I see a Siren up so close." He had heard about them, he was told about them and that's why he could distinguish the creature's identity. But seeing one before his eyes, so close, was a whole other story.
"A Siren? I don't know what a Siren is." He responded troubled that he was called something he had never heard of. "I'm a merman." He clarified.

In fact, both of them meant the same thing. Humans have only heard about those enchanting voices that could make a human mad or lose his mind, so they called the mermaids and mermen, Sirens.

"You are really beautiful." Eli whispered under the moonlight, viewing the boy in front of him. The piercing, shrill eyes were surrounded by golden whirls and splashes drawn on the skin. The stunning red color on his wavy, wet hair giving a natural but gorgeous look. 

Eli moved his hand to touch Kiseop's skin but the boy was silent, being under his scanning glance and tightened before the hand came in contact with him. Eli smiled as a signal for him to relax, that he wouldn't hurt him and didn't move until the merman loosed up again.

Finally his fingers traced along the warm skin, starting from the golden side of his eye then moving across the cheek and jawline. His thumb passed over the boy's well drawn, full, lips, sensing the hot breathing. He moved his hand downwards placing his whole palm against the bare chest. He felt the hot skin, same as his so as the cold slick scales as well, intruding on places here and there on the torso. Eli's hand stopped there, placed upon the bare chest, upon Kiseop's heart and stood still, listening the heartbeats.

The red haired merman felt comfortable, being touched by the stranger called Eli. He repeated the movements Eli did, tracing his fingers on Eli's face then placing his palm against the heart. But Kiseop's hand was rather annoyed by the cloth, preventing him from having direct contact with the skin.  "Why are you wearing that? Why are you hiding your chest?" 

"Humans wear these when they feel cold. But it's alright now." Eli unedrstood the uneasyness on Kiseop's face and took off his shirt, revealing his chest. 
Kiseop put back his palm where it was before and admired the half man. No cold scales. Just burning, hot skin and an ecstatic heart. He almost felt he could grab his heart and take it away. As if the skin was just an obstacle, like the cloth, preventing him to take something that was eager to get in his hands.

"I could take your heart now." Kiseop whispered, being entirely focused on the loud heartbeats.

Eli took a deep breath, a spark of fear passing through his mind. From what he had heard, Sirens or Mermaids, weren't so friendly with humans. Most of the men that approached a mermaid, got drown or their body was ripped apart by those creatures' teeth, nails or sharp fins. What if Kiseop ripped his heart apart? Was it really possible to die from a creature so beautiful as him?

"You can have my heart without taking it off." Eli smartly said, erasing the macabre images and stories from his mind.
Kiseop looked at him questioningly and veered his head to the side. Eli held the gorgeous face again, caressing the smooth skin and curves, then brought closer his face to him while holding the boy on place. If it was his moment to die, he wanted to die, having kissed a Siren.

Before their lips could touch, wild and loud yells aded the whole coast, while Kiseop was taken away from him. A net made of thick ship ropes and tight knots, fell upon the red haired merman and a bunch of people gathered around him.

"So many decades on the sea, it's the first time I see a man attracting a Siren and not the opposite." A man appeared behind Eli and patted his shoulder. "We just wanted a tear of a Siren but the Siren itself is fine. Well done my boy." 
The man was tall with wide back, wearing weighty black clothes, making his steps heavy on the sand. His face was rippled and dirty, revealing countless years traveling on the sea. His frizzy and faded black beard was his trademark even after all the hardhip he's been through.

Eli was dumbfounded by the incident and took him a while to realize what he had just done, screams of the merman struggling to get out of the net, hit his nerves.
After some minutes he got back on his feet, dusting his clothes from the sand while another man approached him. That one was much younger, yet he's been on sea for quite long time as well. The red headband covering his head and his dreadlocks mingling with the braided beard were characteristics infamous to the pirate world.

"So, I sent you to bring the rum and you returned with a Siren. That's so nice of you, I'm impressed." He said with a joyful voice, that no one could ever clearly distinguish when he was ironic or just impressed. His hands' movements were intense, swaying them around while talking. "But... where's my rum?" He raised his index finger, pointing somewhere up to emphasize his question.

"The ty rotten boat you gave me smashed on the rocks and it sunk. That siren brought me back to the coast." Eli replied calmly, observing the cruel way the pirates treated the merman he just met.

"Yeah, cool, whatever. But why's the rum gone?" The crazy pirate opened his hands and swayed them again, his eyes closed to slits, raising an eyebrow, clearly not satisfied by the answer. To him, the rum that was lost was worth that Siren's and the boy's life. Or even more than them.

" off Jack!" Eli couldn't hear the nonsense complaints of his captain while he was frustrated, not being able to help the caught merman. 

He run closer to the net and looked Kiseop in his eyes. The teary eyes, filled with the sentiment of sadness and betrayal, behind the square knots, had Eli broken down. 
"Don't hurt him!" He shouted to his -let's say- comrades in a desperate way to help the merman in any way possible.

Dongho was watching the incident from far away, hidden behind the rocks. By the time he regained his senses, being frozen from terror, he swam as fast as he could, straight to the town. He had to tell Kiseop's father, no matter how badly he would react.

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The pirates spent the night in the jungle next to the coast. 
Kiseop was being held in a transparent trunk half filled with water. Eli was lying down on the ground next to him. He couldn't sleep though. Neither of them could. They were just staring at each other beyond the transparent surface that divided them. They would often place their hands against it as if they were holding each other.
"I'm sorry." Eli was whispering over and over again. He would close his eyes and whisper it again. Sometimes he wouldn't make any sound but just moving his lips, forming the words. And Kiseop looked at him, every single time he said that. His eyes were sad but he wasn't mad with him. He may knew nothing about humans, but his insticts told him to have hope in that man. He believed he would help him. 

By the first light, the company of the pirates started their journey in the heart of the jungle. They had to reach the fountain of youth, the one that the two Captains were searching for. 
The sailors that were moving the transparent trunk, along with the other pirates, were intrigued by the beauty of the merman and wouldn't let it uncommented.

"A kiss from a Siren sounds nice but wanna try somethin' else with ya mouth sweetheart?" Said one of the pirates, looking nastily at the boy.
"Don't talk to him like that bastard!" Eli snapped and grabbed the man from his neck, ready to throttle him.
"If you don't mind, I'd like my crew alive prince Eli, savvy?" Captain Jack appeared before him, separating his hand from the man's neck with his fingers in a comical move.
"I do whatever I want, jackass! I don't take orders from you!" He glanced at him, almost landing a punch on his face, although he restrained himself.
"Yes, of course, I'm not your captain. You're just my guest for this mission." The pirate started talking again with his hand movements, emphasizing every word of his. "But, again... you're not my prince either. You're far away from your palace and that means you have no power here." He turned his back and continued walking with the rest of the pirates on the front.

Eli flinched, hating the fact that Jack was right. He looked over Kiseop inside the trunk and got his patience back. The golden eyes staring at him, gave him a reason to continue the mission until he finds a way to release the boy.
Some hours of walking later, the crew found the cave were the fount was supposed to be hidden. Outside, under the thick leafage of the tropic seas, there were wells and cavities filled with water. The pirates put Kiseop in one of them, carefully tying one of his hands in a tree trunk nearby so he wouldn't escape.

"We're gonna search for the fountain inside the cave. Eli, you watch the Siren. And I mean it." Captain Jack nodded to Eli, implying that he wasn't able to escape or let the Siren go, then proceeded inside the cave with his crew.

Kiseop let his tail swim on the sweet water while he laid his upper body on the ground. Eli laid beside him and started caressing the red wavy hair.
"I promise I'll get you out of here." He brought the merman's hand to his face and kissed it, holding it tightly. 
"Can you promise that you won't leave me?" Kiseop moved his hand from Eli's lips to his cheek and forehead. He fumbled over his face and the blond mess of hair, caressing him tenderly.
Eli smiled to the sweet request. "Yes. I promise. Whatever happens, I'll be with you." He brought his face closer and locked his lips with the merman's. 

It was the sweetest and most unique kiss they ever had. Eli kissed a Siren, a Merman. Kiseop kissed a human. A feeling mutual yet so different to both of them that had them stuck for quite a while, as if they stopped time. Kiseop wasn't supposed to be near humans, he wasn't supposed to trust them. Nevertheless, he felt he couldn't live without this one man. The kiss was warm and loving, a sentiment he had never experienced before. His eyes started getting wet and realized he couldn't hold back anymore, so he broke the kiss.

"Eli, you'll need these, right?" Kiseop's eyes closed once, releasing two teardrops, one on each eye.
Eli moved quickly and retrieved two small bottles from his pocket, the one with a cord attached on it. "Yes, I'll need that. Thank you." He smiled wholeheartedly and put each teardrop on a bottle then wiped off Kiseop's eyes. He tied the one around his neck, letting it fall on his chest, then moved it behind the shirt he was wearing in case to hide it.

"We're almost ready to go." He said and showed Kiseop the other bottle. 
Despite his plan though, all of a sudden, the bottle was taken from his hands by the other captain of the crew, Captain Blackbeard.
"You already got the Siren's tear? I must say I underestimated you, my boy. I'll make sure to send some treasure to your father." The pirate laughed and fended off again, going back to the cave.

Eli heard a rumbling noise from the inside of the cave and an ominus cloud of dust coming outside. "! That wasn't supposed to happen! We don't have much time!" He searched for his knife and cut the bonds on Kiseop's hand, freeing him. He spread his arms towards him, suggesting he would carry him. And so they did. Eli held the merman on his arms and run over a large well on the ground. 

"There is an underground cave in here. It has salty water so it must lead to the ocean. Go away now and I'll come find you later!" He lowered Kiseop's body and put it back into the water. The turmoil inside the cave started getting louder, alerting him there was no time left.
"No! I'm not leaving you! They will hurt you if they see you let me go!" Kiseop looked worried and concerned for Eli and he wasn't willing to let him alone. "We can go away together. Take a big breath and jump!" He had a plan going on for their escape that included Eli swimming underwater for quite a while.

The absence of choices made him chose quick and jump into the water, diving as deep as he could. Kiseop held his hand and placed it around his waist, suggesting he should take a good grip of him before they swam away. Eli wrapped one arm around the scaly waist and the other holding tightly Kiseop's arm as he swam on incredible speed between the underground, water tunnel.

When they reached the end of the tunnel, swimming on the open ocean, Eli was almost out of breath. He wouldn't manage to reach the surface. Kiseop held his head firmly and kissed him underwater, closing tightly their lips. It wasn't a normal kiss though. He actually gave Eli one more breath before going out of the water.

However, before they could do a single movement to swim upwards, they came across someone they were least expecting to see. Eli widened his eyes before the large merman that swam before them. The imposing stature and the ominus trident pointed towards him, made his blood froze.

"Kiseop, go away from that man!" He yelled with his tremendous voice and swayed the golden weapon on the stranger.
"No! Don't hurt him!" The boy opened his arms and protected the man behind him, closing tightly his eyes while shouting desperately.
"What?! What are you talking about?! He's a human!"
"I know! But he's different! I saved him and he saved me!"
"How can you know?" Kiseop's father got angrier by the fact that his son was protecting a man that got him caught and abducted. To Kiseop's misfortune, Dongho did what he was told to do and gave complete report to the King of what happened. So, the King couldn't know what really happened after that.
"I know father! He loves me and I know it!" He screamed once again then kissed again the man behind him, giving him another breath.
Eli could hear them shouting, arguing, and yet he couldn't say a word to defend Kiseop.
"That's impossible!" Kiseop's father couldn't believe his own eyes. "How can a merman and a human be ever in love?! You can't live on land and he's drowning on the water. So stop this madness Kiseop!"

The King's son tried to protest again but this time Eli put his arm in front of him. The King's last words ignited something inside him and lost his mind. He tried shouting, he was about to say something to the King but he couldn't say a word. The water evaded his mouth and almost filled his lungs.

Kiseop panicked and dragged him quickly on the surface before it was too late. Thankfully, when Eli got his head out of the water, he coughed the water he swallowed and started breathing again. He climbed up the top of the rocks that formed the tunnel they were in before, linked with the island.

"Kiseop I must do something. Promise that you'll wait for me here until I come back." Eli held the sides of Kiseop's red haired head, almost shaking him. He felt his heart exploding from the tension. What he felt about the merman and what he was going to do in order to be with him.
"I'll always wait for you." Said the merman and kissed Eli's wrists. In a second, Eli was running away, jumping on the rocks, heading to the coast again. And Kiseop waited for him.

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"Jaaaack?" Eli was running through the jungle, heading to the cave they were before in the hope of finding the peculiar captain.
"Jaaaa-" A hand shut Eli's mouth and pulled him back abruptly. As a result, he fell down behind a tree and a few thick bushes. 
"Can you stop yelling my name? There are bad people around. Searching for me. Again." The captain scolded the younger man and hid with him on the grass.
"Thank god I found you Jack. Listen, you have to keep the promise!"
"Promise? What promise?" Eli stared at him with an ominus glance between the wet bangs of hair, falling on his eyes. "Ow yes! Our promise of course. I got the tear thanks to you but due to unfortunate events, the fountain was destroyed. So I didn't use it."

Even though he didn't care much about the mission with the fountain, Eli seemed quite impressed they managed to ruin a whole shrine.
"I don't care Jack! If I give you the tear for the fountain you would give me the medallion, that was the promise! Keep your end!"
Jack put his index finger on his lips, prying the situation, thinking about what Eli said. "Sounds fair. And since I don't need it..." The pirate searched in his vests' pocket and retrieved a silver medallion, showing it to the young man. Eli tried to take it but Jack pulled it back.

"Do you know how much this thing costs?" He asked rhetorically making clear his point to Eli.
"My treasure is on your ship, I'm not gonna take it back. The coast is clear so you can run back to the Black Pearl without being seen by... whoever is chasing you again."
Jack smiled cunningly and threw the medallion to Eli's hands. "Such a good fellow." He commented while they both got out of the hideout, running off to different directions. 

"Let's meet again, someday!" Jack bid farewell to the young man.
" off Jack! I hope you rot in the depths of Davy Jones!" He shouted back to the Captain, giving him chills for farewell with the sounding of the devil's name.

 Eli ran back to the rocks on the sea where he left Kiseop waiting, but when searching for him, he was nowhere to be found. He shouted his name until something came up from the water.
It was Kiseop, he did waited for him but he was accompanied from his father, still holding the huge trident. 

"Eli! You came back! Father, I told you! I knew he would come back!" Kiseop's face was all lighted up in the image of his true love. 
"Listen to me King of Sirens!" Eli yelled from the rocks, addressing to Kiseop's father with an aggressive tone. "I was about to tell you something before but the water prevented me from doing so! So listen to me now! You said that Kiseop will never live on land with me. But that doesn't mean I can't live in the sea with him!" 

Eli's words left both mermen dumfounded, neither of them could understand what he was saying. The man wore the medallion and opened the small bottle hanging from his neck. As soon as he drank the Siren's tear, he ran over the rocks and dive into the sea.

His body was underwater and he had his eyes closed. He felt the water caressing his skin from tip to toes then falling deeper into the water. Am I drowning? Did it work? He was thinking that nothing changed until taking his first breath underwater. 

Eli wasn't coming back on the surface for some time. Kiseop panicked and tried to swim the way he fell in the water but his father kept him in place. His heartbeats run like crazy and just by the thought of something bad hapening to Eli, Kiseop's chest hurt like hell.

Some seconds later, that seemed like an eternity to Kiseop, a blond head emerged from the water in front of him.
"Eli!" Kiseop swam over him and his arms quickly wrapped around him in a warm hug.
Eli kissed the boy's forehead and turned his head over the King. "If he can't become a human, then I'll be a merman." He said and the King dive into the water to verify the man's statement.

"Let's get in the water Kiseop." They looked each other in the eyes and got back in the sea. They couldn't believe their eyes and Eli could barely believe it too. But Eli's legs were gone or better, replaced, with a beautiful dark blue fish tail. Shiny scales covering parts of his body so as blue fins on his arms.

"I wasn't supposed to use the medallion for that purpose but I think it's more iimportant to be able to live with you." He cupped Kiseop's cheek and played with some red strands of his hair. Being able to talk and breath inside the water had him filled with excitement, although, receiving all this love from Kiseop's eyes and smile was out of his world.

"He's going to live with me father! We're gonna live on the palace." Kiseop seemed to address to his father but he was actually declaring to his lover that they were going to live together.

The King could do nothing more than consent with his son's choice and gradually he came to like the new merman and recognise the love they had for each other. And how did Kevin react? He was more than excited that his brother was happy with Eli, the new member of the royal family.

Kiseop and Eli lived happily ever after and filled with love the underwater city.

And Jack is... who knows where? Maybe he lost the Black Pearl again...

Little Mermaid x Pirates of Carribean: On Stranger Tides

Starring

Ariel: Lee Kiseop

Prince Eric: Eli Kim

Sebastian: Yeo Hoonmin

Flounder: Shin Dongho

King Triton: Shin Soohyun (wasn't referrenced)

Ariel's Sister (Aquata): Kevin Woo

Guest Stars: Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Blackbeard, ref.to Davy Jones

♦ AAAnd that's it! Phew... First time I'm writting something that big. My brain is out of function. Sorry for any grammatical errors, not a native speaker. Sorry for any edit errors it's 02.48 a.m. and I don't think I can do better now.
#Poster was sloppy made a day with rain and fever. 

♦ Anyyyways! I really hope you like the new story! It's not so original I already know but I wanted to try a story crossover. Did that work? 
Leave us your comments to let us know what you think about it.

♦ It's been a year since the last update but I hope you still follow the fairytales. Thank you for your support and your endless love so far!

≈ Another Fairy Tale, Elseop shipping, brought to you by SoohyunLove ≈

≈ Special love sending to my co-author ElseopLove. You dearest thing ♥ ≈ 

#ship_all_the_ships_and_raise_the_flags