I wasn't fired, I'm RETIRED [wandering_giraffe][M]

[Goldie]

Nik would know that sound anywhere. It had lulled him to sleep quite a few times in an age long past.

The ring on his finger also kept him from being swayed by it.

He jolted out of bed and grabbed Elara by the shoulders, "Did my blood touch the water?" He asked her with a semi-violent shake to try and break her from the siren's song, "Elara!!!"

[wandering_giraffe]

Elara was so close to being able to be "free", and so entranced by the sirens song, she didn't even notice Nik grabbing her by the shoulders and asking her about the blood and the water. She didn't notice anything, really, she just felt something grab her.
"Let go of me," she snarled, blindly swinging a fist in Nik's general direction.

[Goldie]

Nik snarled and grabbed the ring off his finger and shoved it onto Elara. The protection would linger for a few more seconds, but after that the song would ensare him too if he wasn't constantly battling it.

Elara, however? In her weakened state he wasn't sure she'd be able to break free on her own while he had quite a bit of practice.

His grip tightened on her shoulders again and he ignored the seering pain that shot through his side as stitches began tearing from his wound.

"FUCKING LOOK AT ME." he commanded.

[wandering_giraffe]

Something slipped on Elara's finger and the illusion and the deception her mind had sunk into was gone. The sirens alluring voice changed into Nik's.
"Fucking look at me!"
Her eyes focused on Nik, her hand dropping the rapier she had been holding.
"I heard mother's voice," she said sadly.
She steadied herself. It was just a siren. She'd dealt with them before, but this siren was fast acting and powerful. Elara took a deep breath.
"Thank you. I should go check on the rest of the crew."
She opened the door and Aikios was standing there, holding a jar of crystals. He held them out to her.
"You and Nik need to throw these on the ground. They will give you temporary immunity from the sirens song until we pass it. I've already done stuff for the rest of the crew. Well, except for one. He had already jumped off the ship before I could get up there."
Elara's eyes grew sad.
"...right. Well I will take these crystals from you, thank you."
Aikios looked around Elara.
"Is Nik alright?"

[Goldie]

The Siren's song was swirling in his mind, making it foggy but he was able to supress anything worse. He understood what could happen to them....what clearly had happened to some of the crew already.

He was focusing so intently on remaining in control, he only focused enough on Elara to make sure the ring had worked for her. After that, he turned his attention to the problem at hand. His problem.

He would recognize the voice anywhere. It was a part of him, or at least it felt like it now. The silver scars on his back seemed to burn as the song continued. It was getting louder which meant more and more would succumb to the depths.

Move. he ordered himself. Now was no time for games, no time for hesitation.

Without even hearing Aikios, Nik had already grabbed the locket off of his bed and pushed his way through the open door. His shirt had a blossom of blood steadily growing from where his wound was ripping open, but none of that mattered. It didn't matter that he was on the path towards killing himself either by bloodloss, infection, or by Siren.

What matter was getting to her.

Nik stumbled onto the deck where the song was loudest and chaos reigned. It was eerily silent except for the song that encircled and ensared them.

The rail. He had to make it to the rail. But once he left the hallway he would have nothing to lean on to help him on his way. So he took a deep, shaky breath, pressed his hand to his bleeding side, and shuffled forward.

It felt like a lifetime before his hands gripped the side of the boat. His right hand left a full bloody handprint where he landed and he held the locket tightly in his left.

"Enough!" He bellowed, "You want me? Here I am!"

[wandering_giraffe]

Elara didn't even sense Nik make his way out the door until he was already gone, Aikios pointing out that Nik had left.
"Elara, Nik is going topside!" Aikios said, snapping his fingers in front of her face. She still felt alittle dazed.
"What do you think he's doing?" Elara asked, shoving a crystal in her coat pocket and throwing the rest as hard as she could onto the wooden floor. Her face paled as she realized what he was up to.
"No...I've got to go stop him," and she grabbed her rapier from the floor and ran as fast as she could in her weakened state out of the door. Aikios yelled after her.
"I'm coming with you!"
"No!" Elara yelled back.
"Check on Kkärsvig and the galley crew, make sure they're safe. Then meet me up on deck!" Aikios obeyed.

Up on deck was absolute chaos. The sirens song was deafening, but while the crew was rather scared, they were safe, for now. Aikios's protections, while powerful, were only temporary. She needed to move fast. Which was proving difficult.
"Why can't Aikios just instantly heal," she grumbled to herself.
She was still in a lot of pain, but the pain had died down significantly compared to the level it was at before.
Her eyes desperately searched the deck for Nik. She couldn't see him anywhere. A trail of blood caught her eye on the deck, and it led over to a railing. She could see him, clutching the railing with one hand and yelling out into the ocean.
Elara pushed through the pain and quickened her pace, grabbing onto Nik and wrestling him away from the railing.
"What the fuck are you doing?" She yelled. She quickly grabbed the crystal from her coat pocket and threw it onto the ground, the crystal shattering.
She turned and looked into the ocean, her eyes straining to see anything that wasn't water.
"Whoever you are, you're messing with the wrong ship!" She roared, her eyes ablaze with anger. Nobody messed with her crew. The fact that this siren had already killed at least one, probably more, had her enraged. She drew her rapier.
"You want my crew—my friends? You'll have to go through me."

[Goldie]

Maybe if he had been expecting it, he would have been able to shake Elara off. But also, maybe not. His wound was actively bleeding again and so much of his focus was remaining aware of himself. When the captain's voice broke his concentration, it was over.

For a moment before the jar shattered on the ground, the world froze. Before his eyes the seas calmed and a figure sat on the rail where he had just been standing. Her black hair flowed in tendrils around her head like she was still underwater.

"Thaleia." He knew she was only in his head, but that didn't make her any less dangerous.

You're a fool, Nikkolai. Her words echoed in his head as a slow smile spread across her face, Or perhaps you have finally given into your fate. You are marked. You are mine.

Before he could reply, the image shattered and his eyes adjusted to the world around him. It was chaos. The winds gripped and grabbed at anyone in its path and the waves crashed dangerously high along the sides of the ship.

Elara stood at the side shouting into the mists.

"No!" Nik lunged to his feet, "Elara no."

The wind seemed to....form into an arm....into a hand....and it's long, finger-like tendrils wrapped firmly around Elara's wrist.

[wandering_giraffe]

The winds howled around the ship, the seas a strange murky black. Elara, internally, was scared to death. She'd seen a lot of strange stuff during her years on the seas, but nothing to top this.

As soon as the tendrils touched her wrist, flashes of white hit her eyes. She was transported back to a calmer time...

8 years ago:

Elara and her parents had finally made it to the travel point. It was a foggy day, the tips of the mountains peeking through the fog.
"Are you sure I can do this? I've never done this long of a teleportation before," Elara stood next to a small river, nervously gauging the amount of water she would need.
Elara's mom gave her a reassuring smile.
"Yes, you're ready. Just think, in a few minutes we'll be on top of Mount Yascha, possibly making history."
Elara's dad butted in.
"We'll be known throughout Le'raana!" He looked up at the sky.
"It's time Elara. You're going to do great! Just concentrate, and we will be on the mountain before you know it."
Elara joined them next to the river, taking deep breaths to calm herself down.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on the water, feeling the harmony that emitted from the river. She raised a hand towards the river, a faint glow emitting from her hand. Water rose up out of the river, forming a small portal. Just big enough for her and her parents to walk through. The portal looked like a blue, undulating, hollow rectangle. The water flowed up the sides and connected at the top, looking as if  the laws of physics didn't exist.
"Amazing," Elara's dad whispered. Else's mom shushed him, giving him a glare.
"Ok," Elara said quietly, her voice strained and her body tense with concentration.
Her parents start to walk through the portal, and the water implodes, crashing inward and swallowing them both, then the water exploding outward and disintegrating.
"No!" Elara yelled in anguish, collapsing to the ground and yelling in agony.

present day
The flashback ended as abruptly as it started, the flashes of white disappearing and Elara crying out, reaching for the empty air.

[Goldie]

Nik watched in horror as the tendrils gripped Elara's hand. They were more than just mist, they were corporeal and he could see it pulling the captain closer and closer to the sea.

He leapt forward with a dagger and tried desperately to slash it away, but it just went right through it and the mist reformed. It continued to pull.

"Thaleia, enough!" He cried, "You're here for me, so take me!"

He pulled himself on the rail and held onto one of the pullies to steady himself. If she could see him better, perhaps it would be enough.

A melodic, dark chuckle came from the sea and the mist gave Elara one more massive yank.

[wandering_giraffe]

Elara was about to cut through whatever was gripping her wrist when Nik got to it first, slicing through it with his dagger, but then it just reformed, it's grip stronger than before. Elara cut through it with her rapier, but her rapier did nothing to it. She heard Nik yell at it—-Nik knew it's name?!
She swore as it yanked her overboard, her hitting the water hard enough to break ribs.

[Goldie]

"NO!" Nik watched helplessly as Elara was flung over the side and into the raging sea below.

Without a moment to consider his own wounds, Nik double checked that a thin silver ring was around his thumb and then he jumped over the side just as Aikios was returning to the deck. His distressed cries reached Nik's ears just as his feet left the rail.

He plunged into the water and felt his wounds blaze with pain as the salt entered. It left his breathless and he hissed in pain.

The ring on his thumb glowed and a silvery aura encircled him. Webs of silver threads wove between his digits and along his throat.

"Thaleia! Release her!"

[wandering_giraffe]

After she recovered from the shock of hitting the water, she looked around, trying to gauge where the siren was. She took deep breaths, an intense piercing pain in her chest startling her.
Elara tried to fight off the tendril, trying to stay above water. The tendril wrapped around her other wrist, binding her wrists together, rendering her practically helpless in the water. She desperately kicked her legs in the water. She heard Nik yelling, and she desperately twisted around in the water, trying to see where he was. Oh gods he was in the water too.
"Nik if we survive this I'm going to kill you!" Elara yelled.

[Goldie]

A quiet chuckle echoed across the mist-riddled waves, So this is she? a voice echoed, well, then.

Elara disappeared into the depths.

"No!" He cried out again before diving into the ocean to chase after the quickly disappearing Captain. What had he done? What had he done?

[wandering_giraffe]

Elara barely had time to take another breath before she got pulled under, yelling for Nik with a terrified cry.

The bit of  deep seated fear that had been sitting at the back of Elara's mind exploded into full fledged terror. Underwater was dark, and Elara couldn't see hardly anything. With her wrists bound, she felt helpless under the water. She concentrated on trying to conserve the oxygen she had left. Her lungs were screaming for air, and there were black spots in her vision.
If you take me will my crew be safe she desperately thought, unsure how to try to communicate with this siren.

[Goldie]

Nik swam as fast as he could, but his wounds made him slower than he needed to be and he was just getting slower. The knife to his side had done serious damage and he was ignoring it to chase after demons. He didn't even have time to notice the trail of blood that followed him.

"Thaleia, stop! Please!" He pleaded, "She has done nothing. You're here for me."

Nothing? her words echoed through the water, I see how she looks at you. How she wants to [iikeep you[/i].

"She's the captain, Thaleia. She wants to protect the whole crew." He insisted.

ahhh so that explains her inane pleas about the people on that ship. Nik could hear pleasure enter into her voice, what will you offer me for their safety?

Nik didn't even hesitate. Thaleia had slowed Elara's descent into the depths and he was able to catch up. He grabbed Elara's hand and stared deeply into her eyes, "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." He told her.

Then he placed the ring that was on his finger onto hers.

"You can have me." He replied before the magic wore off and the water began treating him like the human he truly was.

Accepted.

The tendrils released Elara, and Nik plunged into the darkness.

[wandering_giraffe]

Elara could breathe again, but how? She noticed a silver ring on her finger, and webbing on her hands.
"Wait!" She yelled desperately into the depths.
"He's part of my crew, he's my first mate, and you said you wouldn't harm my crew! Can't you see his bleeding? He needs healing. He's no good to you dead is he?" Elara hadn't been this riled up in a long time. And now that her thoughts had slowed down, she didn't feel as panicked.
"Listen to me you sorry excuse for a mermaid, surely there's something you'd accept instead. An artifact? A whale? I don't even know what you sirens eat. But I'm gonna need Nik back." Her voice was firm and resolute, even though inside she was terrified.

[Goldie]

The ocean swirled around Elara until it formed into a large face made of bubbles and nearby fish. It was the face of a woman with large strands of seaweed for hair. A morbid smile spread across "her" features.

"Oh you poor, poor human. Whatever he told you was a lie. His soul belongs to me. He belongs to me. If you want him, come and take him."

And then the face dispersed and the waves died down. But Nik was nowhere to be seen.

[wandering_giraffe]

"You've said that already," Elara shot back.
"I never said his soul didn't belong to you, did I? Technically don't you still own him? I'm just borrowing him."
"Ya know, I'm sensing a lot of jealousy here. She swam closer to the ocean floor, eyes straining for any sign of Nik.
"I'm sure you love a bargain as much as the next...siren? What would it take?" Elara was worried Nik was dead, or severely injured. How would he still be alive? That story he told back at the tavern was true then. So this siren was the one he was talking about.

[Goldie]

Nothing you could afford. the disembodied voice echoed in her head for the last time. Then, there was silence.

If Elara looked closely, she would see a tiny trail of bubbles that sped through the water but was quickly disappearing....

[wandering_giraffe]

Elara looked around, seeing nothing but the occasional sea sponge and a forest of kelp in the distance—-there was a trail of bubbles leading throughout the water. Elara desperately followed it. The trail led through the kelp forest, and Elara hesitated for just a second, not wanting to swim through it. But there was no other way around it. Her hesitation nearly lost the trail, so she quickly swam through the kelp forest. It was dark, bunches of kelp swaying in the current, giving the effect of wind. Elara's progress was slowed down by the kelp, but through the kelp, she could see something. It almost looked like a mountain underwater. Elara finally broke through the kelp.
She cautiously swam up to it.
"Open sesame, I guess," she muttered, and swam through a small opening in the rock.