Tao and Kyungsoo were lazing in the alcove where Tao first learned the mer’s name, passing time with a game of chess, board of which the latter collected from the wreck of his ship along with one or two other things. Normally the mer community disapproved of trinkets from the other side- it was a burden on the mourning mind, they said- but such idle games were of no harm, and the occasional game board and many sets of counters and dice ended up finding their way into the caves of the mers.

Tao had learned from Kyungsoo that there was much more to this place, and the ocean in general, than he knew. The caves where they stayed had a name- Creag Mereweald, the sea forest of jutting rock. There were other places which took weeks to reach, and well known marks on the map of the oceanic underworld all hair their own labels assigned to them. Some places were said to be of unparalleled beauty; others were marked out as places one should never stray.

“I haven’t seen Lay for a few days,” Kyungsoo said thoughtfully, rolling a white pawn between his fingers as he stared at the faded board between them.

Tao was flat on his front, chin on his crossed arms, staring equally as hard at the board before him. He was losing, and he couldn’t figure out why. “Me neither, actually. He didn’t mention anything.”

It wasn’t unusual for a mer to leave for a while, maybe a week or so. After all, if they all just huddled together in the comfort of the deep sea caves, no seafarers would get rescued. Both mers brushed it off quite easily.

“Come to think of it, where’s Kris? He’s usually wherever you’re to be found, Tao,” Kyungsoo observed as he reached into the board and took one of Tao’s bishops with his queen.

Tao sighed disgruntledly both at the loss and the question. It was strange- earlier, he had forsaken Kris for some privacy, but found that without his presence instead Kris would linger in his mind.

It had taken him a long time to truly realise the extent of Kris’ infatuation. He thought as time passed it would pass also; however, it only became stronger. Come to think of it, his protectiveness and need to watch over Kris- while strong from the start- was also set in stone with the same time.

Kris was more than a sunny smile and soothsaying voice. It always amazed Tao how someone with such a beautiful imagination- with a silver tongue of epics and poetry, with a wisdom beyond years and an innocence of young- would always say the most in the silence of his eyes.

It took Tao even longer to realise it wasn’t just Kris with an infatuation.

There was a spark Tao felt every time their skin touched. His skin burned at the graze of a shoulder or touch of a hand. He was left wanting… more, although he wasn’t sure exactly what, or why.

I’ll figure it out, he thought, as he tried to counter Kyungsoo’s advance in the battle he was slowly losing.

-----

“I want to play stern halma!”

It was a perfect game for the four of them- Kyungsoo, Tao, Baekhyun and Kris. The board had holes bored into it in the shape of a six-point star, coloured marbles the playing pieces. Baekhyun was excited, strangely cheery even though he’d also announced pre-game that he was a terrible strategist, and that there was a reason he was a hand on deck rather than anything else in the sailing world. They were all in it to pass the time- there was no reason not to be cheery, really, even if unreasonably so in some jaded mers’ opinions.

They’d just got the board set up, Tao happily exchanging glances with Kris across from him, when a strange noise came into earshot from a distance.

Kyungsoo immediately perked up, swimming to the alcove mouth to peer outside. What he saw left him speechless.

“What is it?” Baekhyun swam up behind him, placing hands on his shoulders as he too poked his head around the stone edge.

A voice called to the two stunned mers. “Is Tao with you? I need him urgently.”

“Tao, you’ve got to see this,” Baekhyun snapped out of his stupor, more than can he said for Kyungsoo whose eyes were glued.

Tao swam out into the open, and upon recognising who was coming towards them, he wished more than anything that the sand would rise up and swallow him, something to avoid the situation which was quickly approaching.

“Lay, what the hell are you doing? Do you want to taint the waters where we live?” Kyungsoo asked, aghast. “How could you bring that here?”

Lay was dragging the shadow of a beast towards them, one green arm hooked around his neck and his own around the waist of the latter. The creature’s coal gills were flaking and his neck was blotchy and partially mummified. He looked putrid and rotting, patches of skin still dying and some of his hair missing, including his once long eyelashes and eyebrows. The fangs revealed in his open and panting mouth were longer and yellow, the same with his brittle greening nails. His tongue was the colour of algae and jutted from indigo, split lips. One lesion went right down his chin and revealed teeth and flesh entirely the wrong colour. One of his ears was missing and several of his fingers. When he opened his eyes, they were utterly black.

“Gods! That’s horrific! Sehun, is that you?” Tao asked, having to gather strength to even look in his direction.

“Tis I,” he replied, melodious voice replaced with a toneless crackle.

“Don’t force him to speak more than he has to. When I found him, his voice was holding out, but not anymore.” Lay said, a look of pity on his face as he cast a glance at the siren.

“I’ve suffered Tao,” Sehun bitterly spat without prompt, the movement in his speech prompting him to cling ever tighter to Lay’s neck for support. “I’ve suffered at the very hands which tied the chords of your anchor. I could never find the rat who put me here, he cowers on land, fearing my haunting ghost.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Tao asked quietly, horrified.

Sehun his lips, a dry cackle bubbling in his throat. “I’m going to tell you everything- if I can let even a strand of this go before I pass on, my ghost will have much less of a formidable grievance.”

Luhan was a rose among thorns.

Behind all the showbiz and glamour, below sometimes thick makeup and body art, his face was a picture of innocence, with large, doe eyes and soft features, apple cheeks and small chin, petite nose and plush lips.

While such astonishingly pure features drew in many, none fell so effortlessly and deeply into the galaxy of his eyes like Sehun did, suspended in breath-catching love.

He saw Luhan’s life unfold from a young age. The other was older than him by four years, and at first, he thought the other would dote on him simply as an older brother would, but his perspective changed as Luhan did in their teenage years.

He didn’t understand the full extent of what his friend was getting into, but Sehun began to find out Luhan was taking underground jobs while he couldn’t find any manual work for a small frame as his.

They didn’t have an easy upbringing- but Luhan suddenly going from barefooted to having an array of oddly cobbled shoes set off alarm bells in Sehun’s head.

“I’m doing this for us, Sehun. It’s not much pay, but we can eat- and the clothes come with the job.”

Luhan had irritatedly said this as he patted strange colours onto his face with untrained hands in front of a slightly warped mirror in their dark one-room house.

Luhan accumulated contacts. He acquired information. He frequented the whorehouse, secret society meetings, training in deception and sleight of hand.

Sehun didn’t find this out until much later- not until his fights with the changing Luhan became more frequent. “Why don’t we play together anymore? You do nothing but snap at me now.”

Luhan had been a sweet boy. But perhaps, at fourteen, he had become jaded.

The two realised they were in love when they had grown a little more and it was the first time Luhan lay a hand on Sehun.

“I don’t know what came over me- Sehun, I’m sorry,” He cuddled the sobbing boy who knelt on the floor, cupping his stinging cheek in hand. Sehun held the other tight; for this remorse was a side of the other’s heart he hadn’t felt for a long time, the sweet side, who he loved, and came to realise he loved every time the other remembered to show it.

Sehun grew to be taller than Luhan, with a wider, lithe frame, one ideal for the heavy hand of the local crime syndicate. Yes, Sehun fell into the same life as Luhan, having a foot in the door already through the other. Luhan had developed several layers of charisma, perfecting multiple masks and auras which would cover his true self, sometimes even from Sehun- however, the latter knew Luhan too well, and understood on the deepest level what Luhan was really like; a master of weaving a web of lies, as trained by those before him. He was the one they would send to make deals, allies, and threats. He was becoming a centre of knowledge- ears everywhere that would report to him, he knew every filthy secret of the upper classes, and every movement of the underground.

However, Sehun was sure, without a doubt, that Luhan loved him. There was no keeping that from him- and after all they went through together, a life of crime not having a moment’s calm, finally at age sixteen to taste the sweetness of Luhan’s lips sparked a fire which set his heart alight.

In his own line of work, despite being a sympathetic child, he had many a quality driven out of him in training and mistakes, leaving him with tough skin and a quiet, cold disposition. Sometimes Luhan would tell him he had a stick up his arse or was chewing on something sour, but Sehun took no notice. When the two were alone, Luhan would get close enough to feel the warmth of his love, anyway.

“I know I deceive people for a living, but try not to think too badly of me for it. I mean really, people who come to an oracle are too stupid to manage their money anyway- they may as well give it to me.”

Sehun had at first rolled his eyes at Luhan’s frequent sayings, but he knew Luhan had become very fond of those little coins. For someone so content with what little they had as children, his unhealthy love for shiny money and the things it could buy would be what set everything off kilter.

With Luhan’s performance skills, he gained a notoriety as being able to tell someone’s accurate future. Soon, he made an image for himself, finally exposing an alter ego further than the criminal realm- with ears everywhere and a mystique which drew many moths to his flame, he was hailed as a true psychic and mysticist.

His hidden venue was only known by an elite of people, who would lead his victims to him with simple curiosity. It was simple to lay out signs and omens to those who already believed in them- and to those of such beliefs, Luhan was extremely convincing. He already knew everything about all those who he met, his network carefully selecting potential customers as his name leaked into the spiritual community.

Sehun believed Luhan never realised it, but Luhan was being into his own game, and he began to deceive himself as his love for the good coin being almost thrown at him for a good rendition of fate took over. He began to forget how Sehun knew him, and started playing cruel games, eventually juggling many hearts.

At first Sehun didn’t want to think it, but as the other became more tricky and eccentric even in his true life, he knew there was something wrong. Sometimes he put it down to Luhan becoming easily bored, what with such a strange and theatrical occupation, and he not once complained about his developing deviations in bed, but definitely, there was a sinister aftertaste to Luhan’s kiss.

Luhan had come to a place of power where he could order missions in different sectors. His preference was growing industry, and shipping services- there was good coin and fantastic scandal to blackmail with there. The local tavern was a hotspot for much of the coastal criminal world, including those involved with smuggling and piracy.

Luhan assigned Sehun on a mission for the first time.

This was also the time they argued the most. “How can you send me to sea? I know nothing about sailing- and you expect me to leave you for such long periods of time?” It hurt to have to leave. And for what? A little gossip?

Luhan had his eyes on a grand prize. There was a young man gaining a reputation on land for his exploits at sea. Luhan’s own circle was becoming damaged by that, and he either needed the man on his side, or disposed of.

Sehun realised he had little choice in the matter. In their world, he had no power. He was the braun, a pawn in the wider game, not a puppeteer like Luhan. He and select others were sent to sea on many ships. He found himself on the wrong one.

That is, he had the displeasure of meeting Tao, and his sidekick who continuously overstepped himself for his status.

Sehun never talked to his fellow sailors. He kept to himself, fading into the shadows of the wooden walls. Perhaps he and Tao’s eyes had met once; he wasn’t sure. All he knew was he hated it, and the fact he had news Luhan would be dying to hear.

“It’s a full moon tonight,” He overheard Chen’s distant voice.

“Don’t tell me- is some kind of ‘were’ sea creature going to attack us?”

“Don’t be silly, that’s just lycanthropes.”

Sehun discovered Chen was in fact not entirely joking. He was interested in omens, and told Tao all about what he truly believed the full moon meant.

Bingo.

As he expected, Luhan was delighted. Tao’s right hand, if lead to Luhan, could be molded like putty.

And he was… in both Luhan’s hands…

At first, he continued his usual act, as the mysterious ‘exotic’ oracle who possessed artifacts and otherworldly treasures, playing off eccentricity as authenticity. However, it only took a few meetings to see the signs that Chen was more than interested in what he had to say; Chen wasn’t of much money himself, and Luhan was expensive. Luhan had Chen wrapped around his little finger.

Sehun had become suspicious when he found himself a frequenter at sea when he’d already given Luhan what he wanted. He and a few others were being integrated into Tao’s life, as eyes and ears, despite Chen having met Luhan for the first time already.

One of Luhan’s cronies had already heard in land that Tao’s name was being mentioned for hire by many reputable nobles, but he knew he’d struck gold when word of the Royals wishing him to work under their fleet reached Luhan’s ears. He told Chen that Tao had a bright future, about his upcoming promotion. It happened sooner than expected- on their next landing, and consequently then their next meeting- and Chen’s solidified belief in Luhan prompted the sly man to concoct a way of using him as a tap on Tao’s upcoming fortunes.

He had his workers plant signs for Chen to find. He told Chen little things which Tao would do, which while under scrutiny could happen on any ship (especially under prompt) and Chen found everything came to be; it was Sehun’s job to make them happen.

Luhan had realised at an early stage that Chen was very taken with Luhan’s facade. So taken, in fact, Luhan boldly accused him of harbouring love; He made sure it was the seventh day after the next full moon. While he risked losing his closest tie to Tao, it paid off- his dramatic confrontation ended in Chen crushing him to the faded wood-panelled wall of his stakeout, lips locked and demanding, two strong personalities crashing against each other in what would descend into wild passion.

Sehun wasn’t bold or demanding like Chen. Were he of more innocence, he would think himself to be of gentle disposition. He didn’t find out for a long time. If he had- who knows how differently things would have unfolded.

Sehun was taken from his seafaring duties by a higher-up, although his new task on land was far more daunting. He was far from a kind man, but cruel things were in his future, boss needing new hands in ‘convincing’ others to cooperate after some of his thugs were killed in a hit gone wrong. He was going to give the news to Luhan, however he found the other not in their home, but his little oracle den… with Chen.

“Chen, you’ve got to save me!”

Luhan was in furries of tears, black eye makeup a mess, usual headpiece missing and white feathers littered on the ground.

“Tao’s going to find out about me, and he’ll kill me! He hates me and my kind, he shuns destiny. I’m not safe while he’s around. What am I going to do?” He’s on his knees now, clawing at Chen’s shirt.

The other remained silent. “Chen, please…” Luhan pleads, worried on the inside that his panicked rhuse isn’t working.

“He… he already knows,” Chen whispered. Luhan stopped.

“What?” He asked, astonished. He was supposed to be a secret.

“I told him about you last night. I figured if I had… Feelings… I should tell him. All the weird stuff you’ve been mentioning has been happening, but he was still my best friend at the end of the day.”

“When?” Luhan demanded angrily, scrambling to his feet, getting in Chen’s face fiercely. The other sheepishly shrank away.

“Two nights ago.”

“That was when I dreamt my death! So it was you who condemned me?” Luhan lied through his teeth, spinning a new story to suit the circumstances.

Chen backed away, feeling caught, as if it were now his fault his precious love was in danger. He felt anger rising; he’d always trusted Tao, and now he’d told him of the man who held his precious heart, he was at threat of losing it.

He couldn’t lose Luhan.

That night, Sehun left with a stinging lump in his throat and hot tears in his eyes, having witnessed Chen lean down for a reassuring kiss.

Sehun knew what Luhan was like. He knew the lies, the deceit. He never knew of the betrayal.

On Chen’s next voyage, he didn’t act on Luhan’s plan. He wasn’t sure what to do with himself. He first needed to build some ideas with the crew, without anyone loyal ratting him out to Tao for his rumour spinning.

Luhan had a glorious image of Chen taking Tao’s place in destiny; being the one, in his place, to be a captain few could parallel- however, he soon began to realise just what he was involved in. For Luhan had an image of wealth coming forth from piracy.

It only became messier from there.

Sehun’s relationship with Luhan was shattered. No matter how much Luhan told him he was playing into Chen’s weakness, Sehun knew he was playing into Chen’s heart, and there was absolutely nothing good that could come of this. If Sehun could catch the two so easily, there was no guarantee Luhan would be able to keep Sehun a filthy secret forever.

He tried picking up the pieces, he really did. But the more he dug into Luhan’s alter ego and life beyond the two of them, the more and more he discovered, things he never even dreamed Luhan was capable of.

But in the end, he found, no matter what- he still loved him, when he gazed deep into those endlessly mesmerising eyes.

And so, he stayed silent.

Tao met his fate; and eventually, so did he, for Chen lurked in the background when Sehun unknowingly approached Luhan for an intimate kiss.

There was no room for two.

Chen pretended not to see. He waited for Sehun to leave, to disappear down the back alleys where nobody would be around to witness Chen lash out in blind jealousy, knocking Sehun out and taking him aboard his recently acquired ship as prisoner.

“I thought we were allies- we were on the same side, you and I,” He’d said.

He starved Sehun. Fading quickly, Sehun asked for water.

“I’ll give you water.”

He walked the plank with a sword poking at his back.

“His original plan was to roll your severed head into the crowd once they’d sailed home, to show he really had done away with you, and he was the superior now- but he couldn’t go through with it. It was all mainly said in anger, but after what Luhan had told him, your death, one way or another, was inevitable.” During their previous encounter, Tao would have expected a malicious, animated chuckle- however now, Sehun’s wounds were split wide open, and there was no deviation from the severe coldness emanating from him.

“I thought Luhan’s love would save me- but it’s eaten me alive. For Tao, my poison was that snake sinking his fangs deep in my flesh with every whisper of his lies.”

It was but a murmur, but even in those small words, they all caught a glimpse of the last shard of love left in Sehun’s glass heart.

“I’d give anything to pull his arrow from my side, but all I saw was cupid when in truth blood stained my hands as I touched the wound.” His shoulders turned a slight hunch, a look of defeat crossing him a moment.

Sehun hardened and put back up his guard. He turned a final message on Tao. “This won’t be the last you see of me, Tao- the next time will be in the reflection of a galleon’s broken window as you stare at your victim inside.”

No one dared interrupt Sehun. He was left with a deathly silence at the end of his tale, several pairs of eyes trained on him, half expecting something although his tirade was clearly over.

After what felt like a millennium, he turned his head to his supporter and spoke again, nothing left of his voice but a crackle. “I did as you asked. Now do as I.”

Lay shifted in deep discomfort. There was something he’d been on edge about, and it was very clear on his face that he was dreading coming to this. “Sehun, I-”

“Just do it! Kill me, finish this like you promised!” The lost creature howled, his words knocking the mers around him with a powerful aftershock.

All the attention swerved onto Lay. Kris, who had quietly been observing in the background, considerably paled and finally high-tailed it, pursued by a concerned Baekhyun after the mer shot Lay an astonished look. Kyungsoo was also sporting a disturbed expression; so this is why such a tortured soul would lay out such a bitter heart before them.

Lay’s entire face had blustered red, but after a moment of looking on the brink of tears he bit at his lips and dived into the alcove of junk they hoarded, retrieving from it a blade which he’d planted before he left. He knew it would come to this, one way or another.

With his back to them, he raised the blade and pondered over it, sliding the sharp point across the tip of his finger. A bead of blood blossomed like smoke into the water.

Sehun waited with his chest puffed boldly in anticipation, brows knitted together as his heart pumped wildly in his chest. Finally, Lay tilted his head and exposed his face to them, revealing a sombre, determined expression, one which considerably frightened those around him as he shared an earnest nod with the dying siren.

Sehun clenched and unclenched his hands with wearing courage, mentally preparing himself. Tao and Kyungsoo watched in dumb comatosis as Lay riled himself with a cry as if entering battle, rushing at the stoic Sehun, powerfully plunging the blade deep into his chest, knocking them both to the sand below.

Sehun’s mouth stretched in a scream which never came, only globs of purple ink. Both with heaving chests stared each other in the eyes, the siren brought up his hands to cup those clamped around the hilt of the knife stabbed straight through his bleeding heart. Slowly his wild expression calmed and his eyes thanked the mer above him before losing focus, twinkle that once glimmered there going out like a snuffed candle.

Lay sobbed cradling his limp body.

-----

The dumbfounded mers hovered endlessly as their friend wept uncontrollably, surrounded in plumes of tainted blood. It was as if they were prepared to let eternity pass them by, unable to comprehend what just happened, with no way of knowing what to do or say; that is, until lay grasped at the knife handle, slowly drawing it from the cold wound. He raised it up high-

Adrenaline spiked through Tao as realisation hit him. Tao was behind him in an instant, just able to catch the hand which flew down at his torso. After a small struggle with Lay’s tense wrist, the other’s grip on the blade slowly loosened and it dropped beside him, before Kyungsoo and Tao wrapped him tight in comforting embrace. “My God, what are you doing, Lay?” Tao huffed out, eying the winking blade beside them.

Sehun lay peacefully on the ocean bed.

-----

It was an ordinary afternoon; lying on the sand with Kris entangled around him, quite happy to simply trace the scars on Tao’s skin with a tender finger and study every curve of his face as the captain stared up into the waves above.

Part of the healing they all went through was after the death of the siren. Even though it caused a few arguments between the five mers over the intentions of Lay that day, they all came to accept what’s done is done. Sehun didn’t have to suffer any more, and now, neither did Tao, once he digested the full story.

Despite all their time together and Kris’ unashamed yet mute confession of fascination through glassy eyes, Tao sometimes wasn’t sure how or why he let the scholar encroach on him so. It was always Kris to wind himself like a net around Tao. He was so warm and soft, Tao hadn’t much room to complain. After all, Kris’ touch had a strange effect on him; the warmth sparked within at his bones and bubbled up to tingle at his skin, rather than Kris passing on his body’s warmth skin-to-bone, akin to how Lay’s comfort would wash over him before Kris came and changed everything.

It took a while for Tao to warm up to it- to realise his thoughts were worries, and he never wanted the other’s feelings to simply fade away; and finally, there came a time when both sides met in the middle, Tao’s eyes twinkling a reflection of Kris’, and they were happy.

“Destiny lead me to you, Tao.”

At the time when Kris had told him that, Tao had a little click of a puzzle piece sound off in his head. He’d witnessed this somewhere before- in someone before.

Rather than the delight Kris was expecting, Tao gave him the same treatment he gave Chen, something he quickly regretted- however this time around, he learned a lot more from it, as unlike with Chen, he was not met with stone silence.

“You’ve also been landed at the bottom of the ocean, Kris- You had to be murdered to get here.”

“What’s the difference between being locked in a study, on the deck of a ship at sea, at the depths of the ocean? Something terrible happened to me, Tao; but this isn’t death, it’s the next stage of my life, and I get to spend it with you. We aren’t mythical mers, we’re human, and we never stopped being human since our fall from the surface. All of us.”

Kris showed him the truth that day:

“I was never your angel, Kris- it was always the other way around.”

**FIN**

Tao never recovered from his fall from humanity; however, with time and healing, he did come to move on.

A/N: Wow, this story was way longer than I first planned or expected. This chapter seriously wrote itself, even though it took a little longer than my usual weekly-ish updating.

Thank you so much for reading and going on a little journey with me. I really hope you enjoyed it. Let me know in the comments! ^^ Love to all <3