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I Taught Siren to Court... Then Became His Mate 2027 Full Movie

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00:00:00I taught a merman how to flirt, but he grounded me because he thought I was proposing.
00:00:04My professor did warn me, but by then, I'd already done something very stupid.
00:00:09How could I watch the strongest, most beautiful male on Emerald Atoll fail to find a mate?
00:00:14He could take down prey that weighed hundreds of pounds, but he'd never once shown up to a courtship dance.
00:00:19Poor thing grew up alone. No one ever taught him, so I played him courtship songs on a speaker,
00:00:24put on a prosthetic tail, and showed him the dance myself.
00:00:27He learned fast and performed it right back to me.
00:00:31Thrilled, I shot the whole thing and sent it to my professor to brag. He called me back screaming.
00:00:37You idiot! Didn't you notice the razor-sharp teeth?
00:00:39The long claws? The powerful tail? That's not a merge.
00:00:43It's more like a siren out of mythology.
00:00:46It could slice you open and rip your heart out without breaking a sweat.
00:00:49The only way a creature like that courts a mate is by hunting them down,
00:00:53dragging them somewhere no one will find them, and keeping them there until they're pregnant.
00:00:58Get out of there! Get out! Get out!
00:01:02But it was already too late. He was already swimming toward me.
00:01:09Two months earlier, a new male had arrived at Emerald Atoll, settling alone on the far side of the island.
00:01:15Merfolk live in family groups, but young males often leave the pod they grew up in to seek mates and
00:01:20join new colonies.
00:01:21It promotes genetic diversity, a smart evolutionary strategy.
00:01:25The merfolk were soft-featured, almost doll-like.
00:01:28This one was all edges, looked like a fallen angel.
00:01:31His teeth were pointed, his claws significantly longer than any shallow-water mer's.
00:01:36Black hair, green eyes, a black gold tail roughly 8 feet long.
00:01:40This was clearly a powerful deep-sea mer who had left his pod and come to Emerald Atoll seeking a
00:01:44mate.
00:01:45I usually observed the merfolk through underwater cameras stationed around the island.
00:01:49But once, while boating near the atoll, I spotted him.
00:01:53I sent my drone after him and watched him cut through the waves, chasing down a marlin doing nearly 70
00:01:58miles an hour.
00:01:59He caught it effortlessly, slicing the fish open with his claws.
00:02:03The blood drew sharks and orcas from the surrounding waters, but none of them dared approach him.
00:02:08Deep-sea mer were clearly the unchallenged apex predators of the ocean.
00:02:12When he drifted past my boat, I couldn't help staring.
00:02:15You're amazing!
00:02:16Of course, he couldn't understand me.
00:02:18After humans discovered this planet, there had been a brief surge of interest in merfolk research.
00:02:23But the excitement died down fast.
00:02:27Merfish intelligence was only slightly above orcas.
00:02:31They were omnivores, living mostly on kelp and seaweed, occasionally supplemented with crabs, oysters, and small fish.
00:02:38And there was zero chance of crossbreeding with humans.
00:02:41Most researchers moved on to studying beast folk.
00:02:44As for me, I'd originally studied beast folk too.
00:02:48Isla. Isla. Isla!
00:02:52I have to attend a university conference and we'll probably be away for a week.
00:02:56Again?
00:02:57Yep.
00:02:57You're running out of time, Isla.
00:02:59Your graduate thesis deadline is fast approaching.
00:03:01But...
00:03:01You better have your topic settled by the time I get back.
00:03:04I believe you can do it.
00:03:06I'd been alone on Emerald Atoll for three months.
00:03:09If not for my cleaning drone and internet access, I'd have dropped out long ago.
00:03:14But after hearing me speak, the mer stopped.
00:03:17Those cold, piercing eyes locked onto me.
00:03:19A chill crawled up my spine, even though I was perfectly safe on the boat.
00:03:23He sliced off the choiceless cut from the marlin's back with one precise sweep of his claws and tossed it
00:03:28onto my deck.
00:03:29I'd just been fed by a mer.
00:03:31He was different from the others.
00:03:33He's smart and powerful.
00:03:34I could see my thesis writing at home.
00:03:36I might graduate early.
00:03:38If this mer could find a mate during mating season, he'd stay with the Emerald Atoll colony.
00:03:43By next spring, there could be two or three intelligent, powerful mer pups born.
00:03:47And I could study hybridization traits between different mer subspecies.
00:03:52I named the deep sea mer opal.
00:03:54His black gold tail shimmered like a black opal under moonlight, flashing with iridescent fire.
00:04:00Mating season lasted three months.
00:04:01But two months in, opal still hadn't found a mate.
00:04:05He hunted massive prey every day, often tossing the best cuts onto the dock, giving me a meal of fresh
00:04:10sashimi or pan-seared fish.
00:04:12He only ate the belly meat himself, discarding the rest.
00:04:15Before long, young males from the colony would slink over and drag away the leftovers to present to the females
00:04:21they were courting.
00:04:21He'd inadvertently helped several pairs get together.
00:04:24Merfolk were drawn to strength.
00:04:26A male who could bring down enormous prey easily won female attention.
00:04:29But this idiot fish had never once attended the underwater courtship dances.
00:04:33I consulted my professor, who said merfolk were social animals.
00:04:37Males typically left in groups of two or three brothers.
00:04:40A solitary mer had likely been separated by accident, or abandoned, forced to grow up alone.
00:04:46That would explain why this one was such an exceptional hunter.
00:04:50Without a family's protection, he'd had to become powerful to survive the ocean's dangers.
00:04:57It also meant he probably didn't know the courtship song or dance.
00:05:01Without performing the courtship ritual, none of the young females would even know he was available.
00:05:06Of course he didn't have a mate.
00:05:08Once mating season ended, Opal would leave Emerald Atoll with nothing to show for it.
00:05:13I could feel my thesis slipping away.
00:05:15I had to do something.
00:05:17It was just a song and a dance.
00:05:19I'd teach him myself.
00:05:20I pulled up recordings of merfolk courtship songs and waited at the dock.
00:05:24Opal arrived, dragging another massive tumor.
00:05:27The warm light softened his cold features.
00:05:29I knew he was dangerous.
00:05:31But merfolk had no recorded history of harming humans.
00:05:33I approached him slowly.
00:05:35Opal.
00:05:39Opal.
00:05:40That's the name I gave you.
00:05:41Merfolk could only produce simple tones.
00:05:43They had a basic language, but communicated through ultrasound.
00:05:47Their vocal anatomy didn't support complex human speech.
00:05:51Neither did their intelligence, for that matter.
00:05:53He opened his mouth.
00:05:54Opal.
00:05:55Clear.
00:05:56Precise.
00:05:56Perfectly pronounced.
00:05:58He could speak.
00:05:59Research on deep-sea mer was scarce.
00:06:01Perhaps some subspecies had this ability.
00:06:03My thesis was going to shake the entire field.
00:06:07Opal.
00:06:07I pointed at him.
00:06:09Then pointed at myself.
00:06:11Isla.
00:06:12He immediately understood that Opal referred to him.
00:06:14Opal.
00:06:15And Isla, to me.
00:06:16Isla.
00:06:16Remarkably intelligent.
00:06:18I turned on the speaker I'd prepared.
00:06:21I'm going to teach you the courtship song.
00:06:23Once you learn it, you sing it for whichever mate you choose.
00:06:25He seemed confused, but I knew he wouldn't hurt me.
00:06:29Soon the lilting melody of a merfolk courtship song floated from the speaker.
00:06:32I had to admit, merfolk singing was beautiful.
00:06:35The next instant, Opal's expression changed.
00:06:38He drove his claws through the speaker in one violent strike, shredding it until the song
00:06:42went silent.
00:06:45Could he actually understand human speech?
00:06:47I'd been listening to the colony's courtship songs through underwater equipment for weeks.
00:06:52I knew them by heart.
00:06:53I sang the first line, ready to sprint the instant his claws came from my head the way
00:06:57they'd come for the speaker.
00:06:58When Opal heard me sing, his eyes lit up.
00:07:01He repeated the line back.
00:07:02I sang the full courtship song, and he echoed it perfectly.
00:07:05I'd expected to need a dozen repetitions, but he reproduced the entire song flawlessly
00:07:09on the first try.
00:07:10His eyes never left me.
00:07:11He didn't even blink.
00:07:12It made me uneasy.
00:07:13Opal, you're incredibly smart.
00:07:15When you meet a merm you fancy someday, you may sing this tune for her.
00:07:20Consider it tuition.
00:07:21That night, deep in sleep, I was jolted awake by a familiar melody.
00:07:24Furious, I threw open the window and locked eyes with Opal.
00:07:29Shut up!
00:07:29I snapped at him.
00:07:31The singing stopped.
00:07:32I finally got a good night's sleep.
00:07:34But days later, Opal still hadn't found a mate despite knowing the courtship song.
00:07:38Was I really going to have to teach him the dance too?
00:07:42I was a strong swimmer and certified diver.
00:07:45When I was a child, trips to Thalassa were all the rage.
00:07:48My parents brought me here on vacation.
00:07:50After visiting the shallow water Merfolk, the next day we boarded a cruise ship to search
00:07:54for deep-sea merm.
00:07:55But the waves were particularly rough that day, and I fell overboard.
00:08:00Over ten days later, my parents found me unconscious on the shore, burning with fever.
00:08:05The fever wiped my memory of that entire period.
00:08:07The assumption was that a shallow-water Merfolk pod had rescued me.
00:08:10After that ordeal, once we returned to our home world, my parents enrolled me in swimming
00:08:14and diving lessons.
00:08:15I never imagined that years later I'd end up back on Thalassa, and that those skills would
00:08:19actually prove useful.
00:08:20When you see a female you like, have you tried singing the courtship song for her?
00:08:24He nodded.
00:08:25I was furious.
00:08:26He'd already sung the courtship song and still got rejected.
00:08:28These females had no taste.
00:08:30Opal was the most stunning mer on Emerald Atoll.
00:08:32Do you know the courtship dance?
00:08:35I'd barely peeled off the wet tail when my professor called, and his furious voice erupted from
00:08:40my comm device.
00:08:41You idiot!
00:08:42You told me you found a deep-sea merm.
00:08:44Didn't you notice the razor-sharp teeth?
00:08:46The long claws?
00:08:47The powerful tail?
00:08:49That's not a merm.
00:08:50It's more like a siren out of mythology.
00:08:52It could slice you open and rip your heart out without breaking a sweat.
00:08:56The only way a creature like that courts a mate is by hunting them down, dragging them
00:09:00somewhere no one will find them, and keeping them there until they're pregnant.
00:09:04Get out of there!
00:09:06Get out!
00:09:07Get out!
00:09:07So my gut had been right all along.
00:09:09I'd always known Opal looked different from the merfolk.
00:09:12He wasn't a deep-sea mer at all.
00:09:14He was a new species.
00:09:15An extremely dangerous new species, which meant the Emerald Atoll Research Station, with
00:09:20zero physical barriers, was a death trap.
00:09:22Until my professor secured funding and the station was reinforced, I had to leave immediately.
00:09:27I grabbed the essentials and launched my yacht.
00:09:30As the island shrank behind me, I let myself breathe.
00:09:33I hadn't said goodbye.
00:09:35That thought sat heavy in my chest.
00:09:37Whatever he was, he'd never actually hurt me.
00:09:41My professor called to make sure I'd gotten out.
00:09:43I'm well clear of the atroy!
00:09:45Thank God.
00:09:46I thought the worst you'd cost me was my academic reputation.
00:09:49I didn't expect I'd nearly have to attend your funeral.
00:09:51But I had no appetite for his jokes.
00:09:53My voice was shaking.
00:09:56It's here.
00:09:58Opal's black hair billows in the wind, his sleek tail cutting through the water like an
00:10:03arrow.
00:10:03He caught up in seconds.
00:10:04His expression was colder than anything I'd ever seen.
00:10:07I told myself it was fine.
00:10:09The hull was metal.
00:10:10I was safe.
00:10:11Then five pointed claws punched through the cabin wall.
00:10:14The metal tore apart like paper.
00:10:16I fell backward.
00:10:17The clumsiness on the dock had been an act.
00:10:20The moment he boarded, his tail split slowly into two human legs.
00:10:24He walked toward me step by step, like something out of a nightmare.
00:10:27Don't run.
00:10:27All that friendliness had been an act.
00:10:30From the day he appeared, he could have slaughtered me and the entire colony anytime he wanted.
00:10:35But he hadn't.
00:10:36Had it all been a game to him?
00:10:37The moment his prey tried to run, the mask came off.
00:10:40Don't leave.
00:10:42My Isla.
00:10:44And then his lips pressed against mine.
00:10:45He was kissing me.
00:10:47Why?
00:10:48He pushed a smooth, hard pearl from his mouth into mine, his tongue forcing it to the back
00:10:52of my throat until I swallowed.
00:10:54Only then did he pull back, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.
00:10:58You can't escape now.
00:11:00My mate.
00:11:03The instant I swallowed the pearl, everything went black.
00:11:07Opal took me like prey.
00:11:08His tail reformed, and he held me against his chest as he shot through the ocean, heading
00:11:13somewhere unknown.
00:11:14My comm device lay abandoned on the deck, my professor's voice still coming through.
00:11:18What do you mean it's here?
00:11:19Isla, talk to me.
00:11:21A long silence.
00:11:22Then a sigh, and the sound of another call going out.
00:11:24Hello, is this planetary security?
00:11:27I woke up in iron shackles.
00:11:29I was inside a cave on some island.
00:11:30The only exit was submerged.
00:11:32Even if I could somehow dive through it, I'd face nothing but open ocean on the other
00:11:36side.
00:11:36A few meters away, he was slicing a massive fish into fillets with a poker face.
00:11:41Blood ran into the water.
00:11:42The metallic smell was everywhere.
00:11:44It looked like a scene from a slasher film.
00:11:46Was I next?
00:11:49He looked up.
00:11:50That cold expression was even more terrifying than before.
00:11:53Liar!
00:11:54You can't escape.
00:11:56Before, he'd only ever said a word or two at a time.
00:11:58Now he was speaking in full sentences.
00:12:00Fluent, precise.
00:12:02Like he'd know how to talk all along and had simply chosen not to.
00:12:05An animal would just kill you.
00:12:07But something intelligent enough to take hostages was something you could reason with.
00:12:11What exactly did I lie about?
00:12:12His expression grew angrier.
00:12:14You courted me first.
00:12:16Me?
00:12:17I accepted.
00:12:18And you ran.
00:12:20You always lie to me.
00:12:21I'd sung the courtship song to him.
00:12:24Danced the courtship dance.
00:12:26From his perspective, I'd been proposing.
00:12:28And he had accepted.
00:12:31I softened my voice.
00:12:33This was all a misunderstanding.
00:12:35I'm a merfish researcher.
00:12:37I thought you were a male mer who'd come to join the Emerald Ator colony but didn't know
00:12:41how to court.
00:12:42I was teaching you.
00:12:44His fist slammed into the cave wall, punching out a chunk of solid rock.
00:12:47I didn't want to imagine what would happen if that had been my skull.
00:12:51I should never have accepted that reassignment.
00:12:54Shut up.
00:12:56You wanted me to court those stupid weak merfish.
00:12:59It took a long time for the rage to subside before he spoke again.
00:13:02His voice was calm but with something unhinged underneath.
00:13:05It doesn't matter.
00:13:06Only stupid merfish court that way.
00:13:08My inherited instinct tells me this is how we do it.
00:13:11We take our mate and hide them away.
00:13:15Everything my professor said had been true.
00:13:18Why couldn't he have told me sooner?
00:13:20He pushed the raw fillets toward me.
00:13:22Eat.
00:13:23I was about to refuse when hunger slammed into me like a wall.
00:13:26I wanted that fish more than I'd ever wanted anything in my life.
00:13:29I devoured every last piece.
00:13:32He watched with a look of satisfaction, entirely unsurprised.
00:13:36As if he had known this would happen.
00:13:38After eating, an overwhelming drowsiness hit.
00:13:41I slept again.
00:13:42When I woke, he was slicing fish.
00:13:44I ate again.
00:13:46Days passed before the hunger and exhaustion finally faded.
00:13:49I demanded answers.
00:13:51What did you do to me?
00:13:52He took my hand and guided my fingers behind my ears.
00:13:55On each side, I felt openings, developing gills.
00:13:58My skin had changed too.
00:14:00Smoother and slicker.
00:14:01Like it was no longer meant for land.
00:14:03I could probably stay underwater for hours now.
00:14:06The pearl.
00:14:07Am I going to turn into a creature like you?
00:14:11Yes.
00:14:13You'll become a siren like me.
00:14:16You'll never go back to the human world.
00:14:18I was going to turn into one of them.
00:14:20Never see my family again.
00:14:22Trapped with this monster for the rest of my life.
00:14:24Monster.
00:14:25Even if I'm not human anymore, I'll never be with you.
00:14:28I hate you.
00:14:29I'd rather spend my life with a pot of murphin.
00:14:32His jaw clenched.
00:14:33Eyes went bright with fury.
00:14:35But underneath it, just for a second, I saw something great.
00:14:38Then I'll keep you chained here forever.
00:14:41You won't see another human.
00:14:42You won't even see a murr.
00:14:44From that day on, my body kept changing, more and more like a fish.
00:14:48The openings behind my ears grew from two to six within two weeks.
00:14:52I didn't say a single word to him.
00:14:54The chains were long enough that I could reach the cave entrance.
00:14:57I'd tried submerging my head, and I could last hours now before I heard him coming back.
00:15:02If I could just get the shackles off, I could escape.
00:15:04Today, he returned, dragging only a small grouper.
00:15:07But his black gold tail bore a long gash.
00:15:09Iridescent scales fell away with every movement.
00:15:12He was injured.
00:15:12He didn't even have the strength to shift into legs.
00:15:17He just lay down and closed his eyes.
00:15:20I walked over and checked his breathing.
00:15:24Too bad I didn't die.
00:15:26You must be so disappointed.
00:15:28Obviously.
00:15:29I wish you'd drop dead.
00:15:31What happened to you?
00:15:33A pot of orcas.
00:15:35About thirty of them.
00:15:37Tried to take my territory.
00:15:40I won, of course.
00:15:41Just a scratch.
00:15:45Orcas.
00:15:46Orcas.
00:15:46The ocean's roaming thugs.
00:15:47Thirty of them.
00:15:48And he won.
00:15:49I died a little inside.
00:15:51I truly provoked something terrifying.
00:15:53I kicked the grouper he brought into the water.
00:15:56I don't want grouper.
00:15:57I want salmon.
00:16:00Tomorrow?
00:16:01I want it today, you useless fish who can't even land a mate.
00:16:05Either let me go or go catch some right now.
00:16:09Tomorrow?
00:16:10I want it today, you useless fish who can't even land a mate.
00:16:13Either let me go or go catch some right now.
00:16:16He hauled himself up and swam back out through the entrance.
00:16:19After a long while, he returned with several salmon.
00:16:22The wound on his tail had turned white and waterlogged from the salt.
00:16:25Actually, I don't want salmon anymore.
00:16:27Too rich.
00:16:28I want something lighter.
00:16:30Sea bream.
00:16:31He dragged himself back out to catch sea bream.
00:16:33He brought the bream back.
00:16:35Before I could say another word, he collapsed.
00:16:37With his eyes closed,
00:16:38he looked completely harmless.
00:16:41The wound had gone raw from the seawater.
00:16:43I cleaned it.
00:16:44I sat beside him and closed my own eyes.
00:16:47I should hate him.
00:17:18I was floating in the ocean, but I knew I was dreaming.
00:17:18In just over ten days, we could communicate.
00:17:21I learned he wasn't a myrrh.
00:17:22He was a siren.
00:17:24Sirens were solitary.
00:17:25The unchallenged apex predators of the deep.
00:17:27Sirens never raised their young.
00:17:29From the moment a hatchling broke free of its egg,
00:17:31it faced the dangerous ocean alone.
00:17:33Only those who survived earned the name siren.
00:17:35I was very innocent as a child.
00:17:37Innocent in that way only children can be.
00:17:39The kind that cuts.
00:17:40So you don't have family or friends?
00:17:43You've always been alone?
00:17:44Not even a fish friend?
00:17:46Don't you get lonely?
00:17:49What's lonely?
00:17:52Lonely is when there's no one to play with you.
00:17:54No one to talk to.
00:17:55No one who misses you.
00:17:57I didn't know what lonely was before.
00:18:00So I wasn't lonely.
00:18:03Now I will be.
00:18:05I'm sorry.
00:18:06After I go home-
00:18:07I'll come back every summer to play with you.
00:18:09I'll talk to you.
00:18:11And I'll miss you.
00:18:12Let's make a pinky promise.
00:18:13I swear.
00:18:14He copied my gesture solemnly,
00:18:16extending his little finger,
00:18:17careful not to nick me with his sharp eyes,
00:18:19and hooked it around mine.
00:18:20Cross your heart.
00:18:22We're best friends.
00:18:23I'll never forget you.
00:18:25Best friends.
00:18:26I'd planned to stay a few more days
00:18:27before having him take me home.
00:18:29But the sea wind and the monotonous diet made me sick.
00:18:32A fever set in.
00:18:33Everything blurred.
00:18:34His face went white.
00:18:35It's my fault.
00:18:36You don't belong in the sea.
00:18:38I'll take you somewhere with humans.
00:18:40They'll help you.
00:18:41He carried me on his thin back,
00:18:42racing through the ocean,
00:18:44trying to keep the waves from soaking my hair.
00:18:47When I'm better,
00:18:49I'll come back for you.
00:18:51Isla.
00:18:53I'll wait.
00:18:54He slipped back into the water,
00:18:55and only after people found me
00:18:57and carried me away
00:18:58did that small shape in the distance
00:18:59finally disappear.
00:19:01But I never kept my promise.
00:19:03I forgot all of it.
00:19:06If I hadn't been reassigned
00:19:08to my professor years later,
00:19:09I might never have returned to Thalassa in my life.
00:19:12And Opal had come to Emerald Atoll
00:19:14not for the merfolk.
00:19:15For me.
00:19:16And what had I done?
00:19:17I'd made him think I was courting him.
00:19:20He accepted.
00:19:21I ran.
00:19:22He thought I'd betrayed him twice.
00:19:24In his fury, he took me.
00:19:28Liar.
00:19:30I hated you.
00:19:31You are a monster.
00:19:33I'd never be with you.
00:19:34Sirens heal with terrifying speed.
00:19:36Within hours, the vicious wound had closed.
00:19:38Opal opened his eyes
00:19:39and saw me still obediently shackled.
00:19:41Only then did he relax.
00:19:43Opal, you're awake.
00:19:44Does anything still hurt?
00:19:46Even if you've changed tactics
00:19:47and you're trying to soft me up,
00:19:48I won't let you go.
00:19:50Honestly, I wasn't entirely opposed to him.
00:19:53Interspecies marriage laws
00:19:54between beast folk and humans
00:19:55had already passed.
00:19:56Plenty of humans were into it.
00:19:58But carrying an egg was beyond
00:19:59anything I'd mentally prepared for.
00:20:00Can we just date first?
00:20:03A purely platonic relationship.
00:20:05I explained what platonic meant.
00:20:07He got angrier.
00:20:10You're lying again.
00:20:11I'll never believe you.
00:20:12But when I asked him to unlock the chains,
00:20:13so I could swim,
00:20:15he agreed.
00:20:16Just as I thought.
00:20:17All bark, no bite.
00:20:18But impossible to convince.
00:20:20While Opal was out hunting,
00:20:22I dove into the water
00:20:23at the cave entrance
00:20:24and discovered small bioluminescent fish.
00:20:27I caught a few and snacked on them.
00:20:29When I surfaced,
00:20:30my body was burning.
00:20:32Especially there.
00:20:33I tried to deal with it for a long time,
00:20:35but the relief wouldn't come.
00:20:36Opal returned
00:20:36and saw the remaining bioluminescent fish.
00:20:41Merfish eat those during mating.
00:20:43You ate them?
00:20:44How was there something like that
00:20:45just swimming around?
00:20:46Humans really had studied this planet
00:20:47nowhere near enough.
00:20:48It kept getting worse.
00:20:49My face was burning.
00:20:50And not just from the effect.
00:20:52I couldn't believe I was about to say this.
00:20:54I reached out to Opal.
00:20:55Can you...
00:20:57help me, Opal, please?
00:21:00He just stood there,
00:21:01looking like a kicked puppy
00:21:02despite being a creature
00:21:03that could kill 30 orcas.
00:21:04You always do this.
00:21:06You asked me first,
00:21:07then you took it back.
00:21:08Every single time.
00:21:10I pulled him closer by the wrist.
00:21:11I like you.
00:21:12I want you.
00:21:13Now.
00:21:14You really have to help me.
00:21:15I need you.
00:21:16He didn't move.
00:21:18His eyes were fixed on me,
00:21:19wounded and wary.
00:21:20You're begging me now,
00:21:22but tomorrow you'll hate me again.
00:21:24I don't believe you.
00:21:25Those green eyes looked so lost,
00:21:27like he was already bracing for me to disappear.
00:21:29So I kissed him first.
00:21:30He froze.
00:21:31Then his arms came around me so tight
00:21:33I thought my ribs would crack.
00:21:34He was gentle at first,
00:21:36trembling even.
00:21:37Like he was afraid I'd break.
00:21:39Then not.
00:21:40By the end I was breathless,
00:21:42clinging to him,
00:21:43telling him that was enough.
00:21:44I couldn't take any more.
00:21:46He didn't stop until my body gave out completely.
00:21:50Next morning, clear-headed,
00:21:51I processed the fact that I'd slept with a fish.
00:21:54It had actually felt pretty good.
00:21:55I might genuinely be in love with Opal.
00:21:57When Opal saw me awake,
00:21:59he handed me a knife made from shell.
00:22:01You hate me even more now, don't you?
00:22:03I forced you last night.
00:22:04I'd been on the bottom,
00:22:05but I knew full well who'd been forcing whom.
00:22:07You must despise me.
00:22:09I've unlocked your chains.
00:22:10You can use this knife to fierce my heart,
00:22:12then leave this place forever.
00:22:14Go back to the human world.
00:22:15And then what?
00:22:16He'd dissolve into sea foam?
00:22:17He was pure-hearted and soft underneath it all,
00:22:20playing at being a captor
00:22:21when he didn't have the constitution for it.
00:22:23I really like you.
00:22:25If you don't believe me,
00:22:26let's do it again.
00:22:27So we did.
00:22:28Many, many times.
00:22:29In the cave at the bottom of the sea.
00:22:31But he still didn't believe me.
00:22:35He was convinced I was trying to lull him
00:22:37into dropping his guard so I could escape.
00:22:39I could only keep repeating that I loved him.
00:22:41That I'd take him to meet my parents.
00:22:42That I'd marry him.
00:22:43He just looked at me with sadness.
00:22:45You'd even lure me to the human world
00:22:46so they can capture me for research?
00:22:48Your thesis means that much to you?
00:22:50Enough to endure all this and seduce me?
00:22:52I had no way to defend myself.
00:22:54So I seduced him again,
00:22:55easier than arguing.
00:22:56Until one day,
00:22:57I couldn't stop vomiting.
00:22:58The color drained from my face.
00:22:59Opal panicked completely,
00:23:00remembering the night over a decade ago
00:23:02when I'd nearly died of fever.
00:23:04I'll take you back to the humans right now.
00:23:05After this,
00:23:06you'll never see me again.
00:23:08Didn't you say I'd become a siren like you?
00:23:10He kissed me with desperation.
00:23:11I lied.
00:23:12The pearl only changes a mate's body a little.
00:23:15Enough to adapt to prolong life at sea.
00:23:17Enough for your body to handle me
00:23:19and to carry my egg.
00:23:20But you're still fundamentally human.
00:23:22I know you've wanted to leave this whole time.
00:23:25I imprisoned you.
00:23:26You hate me.
00:23:28Just like ten years ago,
00:23:30Opal carried me on his back
00:23:31and tore through the ocean
00:23:32until I spotted Emerald Atoll's research station
00:23:35in the distance.
00:23:35The station had been renovated.
00:23:37It looked completely different from before.
00:23:39He set me down on the dock,
00:23:40took one last long look at me,
00:23:41and turned to leave.
00:23:42I called out to him.
00:23:43The next instant,
00:23:44a metal trap crashed down from above,
00:23:46paging a powerful siren inside.
00:23:48Who said you could leave my test subject?
00:23:50So this was your plan all along,
00:23:53for your research and your thesis.
00:23:55You go as far as seducing me,
00:23:56all to capture me alive.
00:23:58You win.
00:24:00That's right.
00:24:01I was exactly the kind of person
00:24:03who'd do anything to graduate.
00:24:04After I discovered a new species,
00:24:06my professor secured a massive research grant.
00:24:08The Emerald Atoll Station
00:24:09was expanded to several times its original size,
00:24:12additional researchers were brought in,
00:24:13and my professor took up permanent residence
00:24:15as Project Lead.
00:24:16He chewed me out beyond all recognition,
00:24:17but had no choice except to clean up my mess.
00:24:20But the siren refused to cooperate
00:24:22with any experiments.
00:24:23He wouldn't eat,
00:24:24wouldn't drink,
00:24:25wouldn't speak.
00:24:25His aggression was extreme.
00:24:27The researchers couldn't collect so much
00:24:28as a blood sample,
00:24:29or a strand of hair.
00:24:31Finally,
00:24:32I went alone to the cage holding the siren.
00:24:35You'll die if you don't eat or drink.
00:24:37What a shame.
00:24:39You'll only have a siren corpse to study.
00:24:41In a few months,
00:24:42we'll have a living siren.
00:24:44Right here.
00:24:47You're carrying my egg.
00:24:48It's your child, too.
00:24:50Do you really hate sirens that much?
00:24:52Aren't sirens supposed to just
00:24:54dump their young in the ocean any don't way?
00:24:56Pretend you don't know.
00:24:59When you said you liked me before,
00:25:01it was real.
00:25:04If I didn't love you,
00:25:05why would I sleep with you?
00:25:07Why would I carry your egg
00:25:08and actually want to keep it?
00:25:10We took your blood exactly once.
00:25:12The only purpose was to test
00:25:14which medications would work on you.
00:25:17Nobody's doing illegal research with it.
00:25:20If you hadn't gone and written yourself
00:25:21into some tragic drama,
00:25:22you convinced I hated you,
00:25:24ready to swim off and never come back,
00:25:25I would have taken you to meet my parents
00:25:27the next day.
00:25:27You'd apply for personhood yourself,
00:25:29and we'd be married within a month.
00:25:30You idiot.
00:25:31You forced me to lock you up
00:25:32so you wouldn't leave.
00:25:35The egg hatched into a human child.
00:25:37Dark hair, round ears.
00:25:39He had Opal's green eyes,
00:25:41but aside from that,
00:25:42he looked nothing like a siren.
00:25:48Is this really our child?
00:25:50Did someone swap him out?
00:25:52The next instant,
00:25:53Opal casually tossed him into the bathtub.
00:25:56I wanted to murder him.
00:25:57What are you doing?
00:25:59What kind of father are you?
00:26:01But Finn rolled happily in the water,
00:26:03his legs fused into a golden tail,
00:26:05and his ears shifted into pointed siren ears.
00:26:08Definitely our little fish after all.
00:26:11Good.
00:26:13We can throw him in the ocean
00:26:14to fend for himself now.
00:26:15My baby is going to be
00:26:17the happiest child in the world.
00:26:19He has loving parents and grandparents,
00:26:20and he'll go to preschool
00:26:21and make tons of friends.
00:26:23You want me to throw him in the ocean?
00:26:25Do you have a death wish?
00:26:26We can throw him in the ocean
00:26:28to fend for himself now.
00:26:29My baby is going to be
00:26:31the happiest child in the world.
00:26:32He has loving parents and grandparents,
00:26:34and he'll go to preschool
00:26:35and make tons of friends.
00:26:37You want me to throw him in the ocean?
00:26:38Do you have a death wish?
00:26:39But that's how I grew up.
00:26:41Never met my parents,
00:26:42let alone grandparents.
00:26:44My only friend was you,
00:26:46and then you never came back.
00:26:47I waited where we said goodbye
00:26:49for over a decade.
00:26:50You have me now.
00:26:52You have all my love.
00:26:54You're already the happiest siren.
00:26:56in the world.
00:26:57Then tonight,
00:26:58let's leave Finn with your parents.
00:27:00It's been too long
00:27:01since we were close.
00:27:02I agreed.
00:27:03The next day,
00:27:04my body nearly fell apart.
00:27:05Definitely a supernatural creature.
00:27:07Draining me dry.
00:27:10The changes of my body
00:27:12didn't stop after Finn was born.
00:27:14I noticed it in the shower.
00:27:16Faint, iridescent lines
00:27:18running along my forearms,
00:27:20barely visible unless the light
00:27:21hit them just right.
00:27:23Scales.
00:27:24Or the ghost of scales.
00:27:25I could hold my breath underwater
00:27:27for 40 minutes now.
00:27:29My night vision had sharpened.
00:27:31Food tasted different.
00:27:33Blander on land,
00:27:34richer in the sea.
00:27:36Opal,
00:27:37you said the pearl
00:27:38would only change me a little.
00:27:43I said it would change you enough.
00:27:45Enough for what?
00:27:47I'm growing scales.
00:27:49They suit you.
00:27:51That's not the point.
00:27:52The pearl bonds us.
00:27:53Your body adapts to live where I live.
00:27:55It won't stop.
00:27:56So what's the end game?
00:27:57Will I grow a tail?
00:27:58No.
00:27:59You'll never be a siren.
00:28:01But you won't be entirely human either.
00:28:03Something in between.
00:28:05Something new.
00:28:09Something new.
00:28:10Like Finn.
00:28:11Will it shorten my lifespan?
00:28:13No.
00:28:14It will lengthen it.
00:28:16How much?
00:28:20Enough to stay with me.
00:28:21I didn't ask how long sirens lived.
00:28:23I wasn't sure I wanted to know.
00:28:26My parents arrived on the weekly supply shuttle.
00:28:29Mom burst into tears the moment she saw Finn.
00:28:33He's beautiful.
00:28:34He looks just like you, Isla.
00:28:36Wait till you see his other form.
00:28:38As if on cue,
00:28:39Finn's fat-up got fussy.
00:28:40Golden scales rippled across his lower half.
00:28:44A tail emerged, thrashing.
00:28:47Mom screamed.
00:28:48Dad caught Finn before he hit the floor.
00:28:51Held him awkwardly.
00:28:52Examined the tail with the calm of a retired engineer.
00:28:55Huh.
00:28:56Flexible.
00:28:56Good muscle tone.
00:28:59You were like this as a baby?
00:29:02I don't know.
00:29:04No one was there.
00:29:05The room went quiet.
00:29:06Set Finn in the water basin I kept nearby for exactly these situations.
00:29:11Well, he won't be alone.
00:29:13Finn splashed happily, tail glinting gold.
00:29:17That night...
00:29:19Isla.
00:29:20Hmm?
00:29:20He must love you so much.
00:29:22I've never seen anyone so terrified of losing someone.
00:29:24He's dramatic.
00:29:25No.
00:29:26He's terrified you'll disappear.
00:29:28I won't.
00:29:28I know, sweetheart.
00:29:29Make sure he knows too.
00:29:32Can I get a few more recording sessions with him?
00:29:35Opal agreed easily.
00:29:37He'd been cooperative with the team since the day I proposed.
00:29:40But I noticed something.
00:29:41Every time Lena entered the room, Opal shifted his body between her and me.
00:29:45Subtle.
00:29:46Unconscious.
00:29:46Maybe.
00:29:47His nostrils flared slightly when she passed.
00:29:50One day, after Finn was asleep, Opal spoke.
00:29:53That woman.
00:29:54Lena?
00:29:55She smells wrong.
00:29:56Wrong how?
00:29:57She has siren scent on her.
00:29:58Old, faded, but there.
00:30:00You're sure?
00:30:01I know what my own kind smells like, Isla.
00:30:03She touched a siren, and it wasn't me.
00:30:06I ran a background check the next morning.
00:30:08Lena Shue.
00:30:09Born on Colony 7.
00:30:11PhD from Central University.
00:30:13Published 12 papers on cetacean communication.
00:30:15Joined a deep sea expedition to Thalassa's southern hemisphere two years ago.
00:30:20Everything checked out.
00:30:22Spotless record.
00:30:23I pulled the expedition report, a routine survey mission.
00:30:26No incidents logged.
00:30:28No contact with unknown species.
00:30:30But the mission had lasted six months, and Lena had spent three weeks separated from the main team after a
00:30:36submersible malfunction.
00:30:37The official report said she survived on emergency rations until rescue arrived.
00:30:42Three weeks alone in the deep ocean.
00:30:45I brought this to Opal.
00:30:47That's when it happened.
00:30:48Can't know that three weeks in deep water, alone, and she came back alive?
00:30:52Something kept her alive.
00:30:55That's when it happened.
00:30:56Can't know that three weeks in deep water, alone, and she came back alive?
00:31:00Something kept her alive.
00:31:01That night, I couldn't sleep.
00:31:03I activated the dock cameras on a hunch.
00:31:062.47 AM.
00:31:07Lena walked to the end of the dock, alone.
00:31:10She stood at the edge, looking out at the black water.
00:31:12Then she raised her hands to her lips and blew a sequence of notes.
00:31:16Low, haunting, not merfolk song.
00:31:18Something answered from the deep.
00:31:20A sound that made my bones ache, even through the camera's audio feed.
00:31:24And far below the surface, captured by the underwater sensors, a shape moved.
00:31:29Massive.
00:31:30Larger than Opal.
00:31:31Dark red.
00:31:33I showed Opal the footage at dawn.
00:31:36That's a siren.
00:31:37Male.
00:31:37Mature.
00:31:38Bigger than me.
00:31:38Bigger than you?
00:31:39I thought you were-
00:31:40I'm young.
00:31:40Sirens don't stop growing.
00:31:42That one is old.
00:31:43Maybe centuries.
00:31:44Centuries?
00:31:44Is he dangerous?
00:31:45Every siren is dangerous.
00:31:48But this one-
00:31:48He replayed the footage.
00:31:50He's not hunting.
00:31:51He's searching.
00:31:52For Lena?
00:31:53For his mate.
00:31:54She didn't stay with him.
00:31:56She left.
00:31:57Do you know what happens to a siren whose mate leaves?
00:32:00I remembered his words from long ago.
00:32:02The pearl was part of his life force.
00:32:04Given freely.
00:32:05Irreversible.
00:32:06You said it's worse than death.
00:32:08The bond screams.
00:32:09Every moment apart is agony.
00:32:11The instinct to find your mate overweighs everything else.
00:32:13Rational thought.
00:32:14Self-preservation.
00:32:15Eventually, even recognition of the mate themselves.
00:32:19They go feral.
00:32:21How long does it take?
00:32:22Depends on the siren.
00:32:23Weeks.
00:32:24Months.
00:32:25For one that old and powerful.
00:32:26He's held on longer than any siren should be able to.
00:32:29But he's close to the edge.
00:32:30The next night, the underwater cameras caught him again.
00:32:33Closer this time.
00:32:34Close enough to see details.
00:32:35A massive siren.
00:32:37Easily ten feet of dark crimson tail.
00:32:39One eye clouded over.
00:32:40His claws were extended gouging trenches in the seafloor.
00:32:43But when Lena's melody drifted down from above, he went still, pressed his palm flat against
00:32:48the ocean floor and stayed there, listening.
00:32:50Until the song ended, then the dark shape sank back into the abyss.
00:32:56I confronted Lena in her lab the next morning.
00:32:58She was analyzing frequency charts when I walked in.
00:33:01You know why I'm here.
00:33:03Her hand stopped a long silence.
00:33:06How much do you know?
00:33:08Enough.
00:33:09The siren in the deep.
00:33:12You've met him before.
00:33:14During your expedition.
00:33:16His name.
00:33:17The sound he makes when he refers to himself.
00:33:20I can't reproduce it.
00:33:21I call him Red.
00:33:24Original.
00:33:25She almost smiled.
00:33:26I was trapped in a damaged submersible at 4,000 meters.
00:33:30Oxygen running out.
00:33:32He tore the hull open like ting foil.
00:33:35And carried me to an air pocket in a seamount cave.
00:33:39He fed me.
00:33:41Kept me warm.
00:33:43Three weeks.
00:33:46He gave me a pearl.
00:33:48Did you swallow it?
00:33:50No.
00:33:53I didn't know what it was.
00:33:54I kept it.
00:33:56When the rescue team found me, I hid it.
00:33:59Told no one.
00:34:00She opened a drawer and pulled out a small case.
00:34:03Inside, resting on velvet, was a pearl the color of dark blood.
00:34:06Almost black in certain light.
00:34:09I still have it.
00:34:10I couldn't throw it away.
00:34:11It felt wrong to throw it away.
00:34:13But you left him.
00:34:15I was scared.
00:34:15I didn't know what he was.
00:34:17I woke up one morning and the rescue submersible was there and I just...
00:34:22I ran.
00:34:24Tears spilled.
00:34:25And then I read your paper about Opal.
00:34:28About what sirens are.
00:34:30What the pearl means.
00:34:31I came here to find him.
00:34:34To tell him I'm sorry.
00:34:35He's losing his mind.
00:34:37I finished.
00:34:38He pressed her hands over her mouth.
00:34:40It's my fault.
00:34:41He's like that because of me.
00:34:43I took the pearl from the case.
00:34:45It was warm.
00:34:45Almost alive.
00:34:48Opal says he can still be saved.
00:34:50But Lena...
00:34:51I set the pearl back down.
00:34:53If you go to him, you can't leave again.
00:34:55Ever.
00:34:56You understand that?
00:34:57She wiped her face.
00:34:58Straightened her spine.
00:34:59I know.
00:35:00I'm not leaving.
00:35:03I brought Lena to Opal.
00:35:05He didn't look at her with warmth.
00:35:06He looked at her the way he looked at threats.
00:35:09You abandoned your siren.
00:35:10I did.
00:35:11And now he's feral.
00:35:13Barely holding on.
00:35:14If he breaks completely, he'll kill everything in this ocean.
00:35:17Starting with the Merphos colony.
00:35:18Opal.
00:35:19She wants to go back to him.
00:35:20Wanting isn't enough.
00:35:22She needs to understand.
00:35:24If she swallows that pearl and goes to him, there is no coming back.
00:35:29No changing her mind.
00:35:31No second escape.
00:35:32I understand.
00:35:34Opal studied her for a long time, then turned to me.
00:35:38You want to know what I was like after you left me?
00:35:40It wasn't a question.
00:35:41When you ran from the cav took the yacht and I chased you, that was three weeks after
00:35:46you swallowed my pearl.
00:35:47If I hadn't caught you that day, two more weeks, maybe less, and I would have been what
00:35:52he is now.
00:35:53The thought turned my stomach.
00:35:54You never told me it was that close.
00:35:56You didn't need to know.
00:35:58I caught my mate in time.
00:36:00Yours has waited two years.
00:36:01Two years of the Bond screaming with no answer.
00:36:04He'll be violent.
00:36:05He won't recognize you immediately.
00:36:06The feral state overroads everything.
00:36:08What do I do?
00:36:09Swallow the pearl.
00:36:10Get in the water and don't run.
00:36:12No matter what he does, if you run, he'll never come back.
00:36:17The merfolk felt it before we did.
00:36:19I checked the underwater cameras that morning and found the colony huddled in the shallows.
00:36:23Every female, every pup, every elderly mer pressed together in the reef closest to shore.
00:36:28The young males formed a defensive perimeter.
00:36:30Teeth bared.
00:36:31Tails thrashing.
00:36:32They were terrified opal surface beside the dock.
00:36:34Finn cleaning to his back.
00:36:36He's closer.
00:36:36I can feel him.
00:36:37How close?
00:36:38The outer reef.
00:36:39Maybe less.
00:36:40He handed Finn to me.
00:36:41Our son squirmed, whimpering.
00:36:43Finn can sense him too?
00:36:44All sirens can feel each other.
00:36:46It's how we avoid territory conflicts.
00:36:47A feral siren broadcasts nothing but killing in Tult.
00:36:50Finn is scared.
00:36:51I held our son tight.
00:36:52If he enters the shallows, the mermich can't fight him.
00:36:55I can't protect them all and protect you at the same time.
00:37:00A feral siren broadcasts nothing but killing in Tult.
00:37:04Finn is scared.
00:37:04I held our son tight.
00:37:05If he enters the shallows, the mermich can't fight him.
00:37:09I can't protect them all and protect you at the same time.
00:37:12Then what?
00:37:14all personnel to the safe room immediately unknown large marine creature approaching
00:37:19the eastern reef at high speed i looked at opal he was already shifting his legs fusing back into
00:37:24that powerful black gold's head keep finn inside don't come to the water opal he dove without
00:37:29looking back i held our crying sun and watched the sea turn dark on the horizon like something
00:37:35enormous was rising from below i put finn in his crib and ran to the monitoring room professor way
00:37:42was already there pale-faced watching six screens simultaneously what the hell is that the
00:37:48underwater cameras showed it clearly now a siren easily half again opal's size dark crimson tail
00:37:54thick with old scars claws extended to their full length almost a foot long his hair was black
00:37:59matted streaming behind him like ink and water his eyes were open but empty a predator running on
00:38:04pure instinct that's him on another screen opal intercepted black gold meeting dark red in the
00:38:10open water beyond the reef the collision was violent sound exploded through the underwater
00:38:14microphones frequencies so low the equipment couldn't fully capture them i felt it in my
00:38:19chest a pressure like my heart was being squeezed opal was fast devastatingly fast he struck and
00:38:24retreated struck and retreated keeping the larger siren away from the reef opal was fast devastatingly
00:38:30fast he struck and retreated struck and retreated keeping the larger siren away from the reef but red
00:38:35was relentless every wound opal inflicted closed within seconds he didn't feel pain anymore that was the
00:38:40feral state no pain no fear no thought just the drive to find his mate opal slammed him into a
00:38:46rock
00:38:46formation the seafloor cracked red threw him off and kept swimming toward the island toward lena
00:38:53he can smell the pearl he knows she's here opal caught him again this time red's claws found
00:38:59a deep slash across opal's side blood clouded the water that's my husband lena was already moving
00:39:05she pulled the dark pearl from her pocket i'm going lena wait she swallowed the pearl her eyes went wide
00:39:11then she ran for the dock professor way shouted after her i shouted after her she didn't stop by
00:39:18the time i reached the dock she was already in the water swimming toward the open ocean with strength
00:39:23that shouldn't have been possible for a human who swallowed a pearl 30 seconds ago but the pearl was
00:39:28already working i could see it the way her movement smoothed the way her body cut through the waves like
00:39:33something built for it on the monitoring feed piped to my earpiece i heard the researchers
00:39:37panicking the large siren has changed direction he's heading for the surface dr shun is directly
00:39:43in his path opal surfaced 50 meters from the moon blood streaming from his side he saw her in the
00:39:47water
00:39:48and his face contorted get back she didn't she treaded water and raised her hands to her lips that melody
00:39:55the same one she'd played on the dock at night low aching full of an apology words couldn't carry
00:40:00the ocean went still even the waves seemed to quiet below lena the massive red shape was rising
00:40:0550 meters 30 10 i could see him through the clear water those empty feral eyes locked onto the small
00:40:11figure above him opal tensed ready strike hit the creature so much as extended a claw red broke the
00:40:16surface he was enormous terrifying lena didn't flinch she kept singing his claws were out his mouth was
00:40:21open rows of teeth that could bite through steel he drifted closer closer his claw rose opal lunged but
00:40:27the claw didn't strike it touched lena's cheek gently barely a graze and the emptiness in those eyes
00:40:32opened opal floated 20 meters away blood still trailing from his wound he'd retracted his claws
00:40:39he watched for a long moment then turned and swam back to me i pulled him onto the dock
00:40:45he was heavy the wound was deep you're hurt it's fine let me fuss his eyes were still on the
00:40:52two figures
00:40:53in the water wrapped around each other he came back opal said quietly i understood what he didn't
00:40:58say i pressed my forehead to his i'm here i'm not going anywhere his hand found mine i know but
00:41:04say
00:41:04it again i'm here again i'm here opal always he finally closed his eyes within three days red was
00:41:12unrecognizable not physically he was still massive but the emptiness was gone not like opal whether he
00:41:18couldn't or chose not to i didn't know when she was in the lab he waited in the water outside
00:41:22the
00:41:22window it'll be like that for a while possibly forever you mean clingy i mean bonded a siren who
00:41:34nearly went feral never fully recovers the ability to tolerate separation i glanced at him you nearly
00:41:39went feral yes is that why you still wake up when i leave the bed at night
00:41:47i wrote it in my research notes that evening siren pair bonding observations the bond once formed
00:41:53appears absolute and permanent post-crisis sirens display heightened mate guarding behavior no evidence
00:41:58of bond dissolution under any documented circumstances personal note he checks my breathing four times a
00:42:04night he thinks i don't notice opal red over my shoulder you notice he turned me around in my
00:42:09chair and kiss me slow i've always noticed
00:42:19unhurried stop writing about me it's literally my job then write that i'm the most handsome
00:42:25absolutely not i'll withhold salmon i'll consider a foot knelt
00:42:32he said it staring at opal's tail slapping it with both hands shrieking with delight
00:42:36fish fish he recognizes quality he thinks you're dinner he thinks i'm magnificent finn then proceeded
00:42:46to bite opal's tail with his four tiny fangs opal didn't flinch strong jaw good survival instinct
00:42:51he's biting you affectionately at eight months finn could shift between forms at will in human form
00:42:58he toddled in siren form he out swam the research drones professor way was losing his mind with excitement
00:43:04his neural development is off the charts pattern recognition at eight months that human children
00:43:11don't achieve until age three and his aquatic abilities far excite what we'd expect even from a
00:43:17pure siren juvenile his neural development is off the charts pattern recognition at eight months
00:43:25that human children don't achieve until age three and his aquatic abilities far excite what
00:43:32we'd expect even from a pure siren juvenile isla your theological changes from the pearl may have
00:43:38created a sinernistic effect finn isn't just a siren he's a hybrid with the best traits of both
00:43:42species he could be the bridge between our worlds let's maybe wait until he stops putting everything in
00:43:48his mouth that night finn said his second word he looked at me reached up with chubby arms i cried
00:43:54opal held us both he said my word second he hasn't said yours at all fish counts fish does not
00:44:01count
00:44:02the interstellar alliance delegation arrived without warning three officials two guards what was
00:44:08specialist in non-human sapient species integration they wanted to assess the sirens both of them standard
00:44:14procedure for newly classified intelligent species the lead official explained hall gray-haired
00:44:19population survey capability assessment and determination of appropriate protections
00:44:25professor way handled the politics i handled the science presentations opal and red were not
00:44:31presented in person i'd insisted but the specialist dr voss kept pushing we'll need direct interaction
00:44:36cognitive testing physical capability documentation you have our published data published data can be
00:44:42incomplete his eyes drifted to finn is that the hybrid offspring the way he said hybrid offspring like
00:44:49finn was a specimen this meeting is about species classification my child isn't on the agenda of
00:44:54course but you must understand a viable hybrid between a sapient non-human species and a modified human
00:45:00the research implications alone opal walked in he'd been listening of course he had in human form
00:45:05dressed in the simple clothes i'd bought him he looked almost approachable until he stood beside me and
00:45:09those green eyes locked onto dr voss he didn't extend his claws didn't bare his teeth he just looked at
00:45:14the man steady unblinking dr voss took a step back opal smiled pleasantly my wife said my son isn't on
00:45:22the
00:45:22agenda the room temperature dropped 10 degrees the delegation left the next morning recommendations
00:45:27filed protections approved nobody mentioned finn again the night after the delegation left opal took me
00:45:33swimming no equipment no cameras just us my body had changed enough that the ocean felt like a second
00:45:39home now the pressure the cold the dark none of it bothered me anymore he held my hand and pulled
00:45:44me deep past the reef past the drop off into open water where the moonlight barely reached his tail
00:45:49glowed faintly in the dark bioluminescent patterns tracing along the black gold scales i'd never seen
00:45:54them before you're glowing only for you sirens only display bioluminescence for their mate of course
00:45:59even his biology was dramatic he spun me slowly in the water my yellow hair fanning out around us both
00:46:05if it
00:46:05ever becomes unsafe if the alliance sends people who look at finn the way that man did i'll take you
00:46:09and him to the deep the deep as in trenches no human vessel can reach caves even other shiris don't
00:46:16know places where no one will ever find us sounds familiar this time you'd come willingly you're very
00:46:22confident about that you married me fair point i let myself float against him wrapped in the dark and
00:46:28the silence and the faint glow of his tail i don't think it'll come to that neither do i his
00:46:32arms tightened
00:46:33but i want you to know there is nowhere in any ocean on any planet where you and finn won't
00:46:37be safe
00:46:38with me i know far below in the deep trench beyond emerald atoll the underwater sensors picked up
00:46:45movement not one shape not two seven dark shapes circling in the abyss rising seven shapes in the
00:46:52abyss opal and red left at dawn to investigate i watched them disappear beneath the surface from the
00:46:57dock then i put on my diving gear and went after them my body could handle it now the pressure
00:47:02that
00:47:02would have crushed me a year ago felt like nothing the cold didn't register i could see in the dark
00:47:06not perfectly but enough i followed the trail of bioluminescent disturbance they left in the water
00:47:12opal sensed me before i caught up he turned and even underwater i could read the fury on his face
00:47:17he grabbed my arm and shoved me behind him his body a wall between me and the dark below red
00:47:22flanked my
00:47:22other side claws out eyes fixed downward i pushed past opal's shoulder and looked down seven sirens
00:47:30suspended in the dark water at the edge of the abyss motionless their tails ranged from deep blue
00:47:35to pale silver to mottled green different sizes different ages they watched us unblinking assessing
00:47:41nobody moved the silence stretched minutes my lungs burned but my gills took over drawing oxygen from
00:47:47the water without effort then the largest one a female with a silver white tail easily nine feet long
00:47:53retracted her claws slowly deliberately she lowered her head slightly a gesture even i could read no
00:47:58threat opal didn't return it he signed at me we leave now i signed back they're not hostile you don't
00:48:04know that we leave he grabbed my arm and pulled me upward red followed the seven didn't pursue they
00:48:08stayed where they were watching we broke the surface why did she stare at me she can sense the pearl
00:48:14in you
00:48:14his hand tightened on my wrist she knows you're mine
00:48:20i didn't sleep that night i pulled up every archive data set on thalassa's deep ocean 50 years of
00:48:25exploration records sonar logs temperature readings biological surveys most of it was routine
00:48:30unremarkable but buried in a file from the earliest survey mission i found it a single entry flag
00:48:35does equipment malfunction rhythmic sound pulse detected at 4200 meters depth frequency 14.2 hertz pattern appears
00:48:42structured but does not match any known biological or geological source equipment recalibrated pulse
00:48:47not detected again 14.2 hertz i pulled up opal's vocalization recordings from lena's research
00:48:52his baseline infrasound frequency 14.2 hertz equipment recalibrated pulse not detected again 14.2 hertz
00:49:02i pulled up opal's vocalization recordings from lena's research his baseline infrasound frequency 14.2
00:49:0750 years ago the first humans hadn't even established a permanent outpost on thalassa yet
00:49:13they were already here already watching i brought the data to my professor the next morning he stared
00:49:18at the screen for a long time we didn't discover sirens they've been watching us since we arrived on
00:49:22this planet that's either very reassuring or very terrifying both probably both
00:49:29the silver siren surfaced the next day she didn't approach the research station she swam directly to the
00:49:35dock directly to me opal was between us in an instant tail a out claws half extended every line of
00:49:41his body screaming threat the silver siren stopped if she wanted to kill me she would have done it in
00:49:46the deep you don't know that she had six others with her and i was completely exposed if they wanted
00:49:51us dead we'd be dead he didn't move opal let me through a long moment then he shifted aside barely
00:50:00the silver siren regarded me with ancient steady eyes then she opened her mouth what came out wasn't
00:50:05human language it was siren low layered tones that seemed to resonate in my chest rather than my ears
00:50:10i shouldn't have understood any of it but i did fragments pieces like catching words in a language
00:50:16you studied years ago and mostly forgot the pearl it wasn't just changing my body it was changing how i
00:50:21perceived child bridge dying i turned to opal teach me your language all of it now
00:50:34siren language had never been written down never been formally taught it was inherited encoded in
00:50:39instinct passed through blood opal knew it the way he knew how to swim he'd never had to learn it
00:50:43teaching
00:50:44it was something else entirely how do you say why he made a sound i tried to reproduce it he
00:50:49rinsed
00:50:49that means danger you just told me the ocean is about to kill us they sound identical they don't
00:50:56the second tone drops listen he repeated both i genuinely could not hear the difference
00:51:01i recorded everything ran frequency analysis mapped tonal patterns against meaning built a database
00:51:06from scratch entry by entry three days no sleep on the second night opal carried me to bed i fought
00:51:12him
00:51:16i'm not done you'll die before you finish then i'll die bilingual he pinned me to the mattress and
00:51:22held me there until i stopped struggling i was asleep in minutes on the fourth day i walked to the
00:51:29dock
00:51:29opal followed the silver siren was there waiting as if she'd known i opened my mouth and spoke a full
00:51:35sentence and siren it was clumsy i'm listening tell me everything probably accented maybe slightly
00:51:41wrong she understood me the silver siren glanced at me then back at me and began to speak when you
00:51:47deride you she told me opal translated the parts i couldn't catch in fragments at first my comprehension
00:51:54was imperfect and she spoke in a dialect older than anything opal knew i had to stop her constantly
00:51:59ask her to repeat to rephrase opal filled in the gap frowning at words even he barely recognized
00:52:03but piece by piece the story took shape sirens were not always solitary thousands of years ago they
00:52:09lived in loose communities throughout thalassa's oceans not colonies like merfolk more like a network
00:52:15connected by infrasound across vast distances they were the ocean's apex species not just predators
00:52:22guardians then something happened deep beneath the ocean floor
00:52:28the planet's thermal systems destabilized
00:52:31volcanic vents that had been dormant for millennia began to wash off the energy released was
00:52:36catastrophic entire ecosystems were wiped out in months the sirens found a way to contain it
00:52:41using their infrasound they constructed barriers acoustic seals over the most volatile vents
00:52:46frequency walls that held the energy in check but maintaining the seals required proximity
00:52:51each siren had to remain near their assigned vent alone cut off from the network generations
00:52:56past the knowledge of community faded independence became instinct solitude became identity they forgot
00:53:02they'd ever been anything else
00:53:05we were not made to be alone
00:53:08we chose it to save the ocean
00:53:10but the seals are failing now we need the bridge born to restore what we sealed but he is too
00:53:16young
00:53:16we need time her pale eyes met mine and time is running out opal's hand found my shoulder his
00:53:23claws were retracted but i could feel the tension in his grip he'd just learned something about his own
00:53:28kind that he'd never known that the loneliness he'd grown up with wasn't natural it was inherited
00:53:33sacrifice i covered his hand with mine said nothing some things didn't need words that night i lay in
00:53:40bed staring at the ceiling opal was beside me fin curled between us his tiny tail draped over opal's
00:53:45arm my son eight months old already the center of something you knew about the seals the ocean dying
00:53:51i felt it in the deep something wrong getting worse is that why you left partly and the other part
00:53:58he opened his eyes eyes bend you i let that sit for a moment i need to see the seals
00:54:03myself the
00:54:03thermal vents all of it no opal too dangerous the vents are unstable if one ruptures while you're
00:54:10near it if you want me to trust them with finn's future i need to understand what we're dealing with
00:54:14i can't make decisions based on someone else's word alone i need to see the seals myself the thermal
00:54:19vents all of it no opal too dangerous the vents are unstable if one ruptures while you're near it if
00:54:26you want me to trust them with finn's future i need to understand what we're dealing with i can't
00:54:30make decisions based on someone else's word alone you trust my word you're my husband she's a stranger
00:54:34who showed up with six friends and told me my infant is some kind of chosen one he was quiet
00:54:39i need to
00:54:40see it if it's as bad as she says we need to act if it's not we need to know
00:54:43that too more dangerous
00:54:44than teaching a sivan to flirt fine but i'm coming with you the descent took hours the silver siren led
00:54:52opal
00:54:53stayed pressed against my side one hand on my waist we passed through layers of darkness the twilight
00:54:58zone the midnight zone deeper the pressure was immense a year ago it would have killed me now it
00:55:04felt like a heavy blanket uncomfortable but bearable then i saw it the thermal vent loomed out of the
00:55:10darkness like a wound in the earth superheated water billowed from the fissure distorting everything
00:55:15around it and over the vent shimmering faintly the seal it was beautiful a lattice of sound made visible
00:55:20somehow frequencies woven together so tightly they created a physical barrier
00:55:25i could see where it was intact the patterns tight and regular i could also see where it was failing
00:55:30cracks ran through the structure like fractures in glass in places raw thermal energy leaked through
00:55:36scorching the water the sea floor around the vent was barren dead i checked the temperature readings on
00:55:43my wrist device far beyond normal parameters this wasn't a slow decline this was structural failure
00:55:48i ran calculations in my head rate of degradation energy output thermal expansion
00:55:54the numbers were very bad we surfaced opal caught me as i broke through into air
00:56:02how bad is it maybe two years before the whole thing collapses his arms tightened around me
00:56:09what happens then cascading thermal eruptions along the ocean floor mass extinction event
00:56:15everything in this ocean dies we have two years we need to use them i wrote for 72 hours a
00:56:22formal
00:56:23proposal to the interstellar alliance title the lassa deep ocean crisis assessment and proposed siren
00:56:28cooperative intervention i laid out everything the thermal data the failing seals the sirens history as
00:56:33ocean guardians the timeline core argument sirens are not a vulnerable species requiring human
00:56:38protection they are the only force capable of preventing a planetary ecological collapse humanity's
00:56:43role is cooperation not control i attached my credentials my published research and every scrap of data i'd
00:56:49gathered in the deep then i sent it to my professor i watched his face on the video call he
00:56:54read it in
00:56:54silence a long time past you know this will make you the most controversial researcher in the alliance i know
00:57:02my published research and every scrap of data i'd gathered in the deep then i sent it to my professor
00:57:08i watched his face on the video call he read it in silence a long time past you know this
00:57:13will make
00:57:13you the most controversial researcher in the alliance i know dr voss will come after you personally
00:57:19i know your career could be over if that ocean dies careers won't matter much he sighed pushed his
00:57:28glasses up send it i'll co-sign the report went out that afternoon by evening my name was on every
00:57:36major news feed in the system the alliance response split down the middle half the member states called for
00:57:42immediate cooperation with the sirens the other half led by a block of military industrial representatives
00:57:48demanded caution you're asking us to hand planetary defense to a species that kidnaps mates and goes
00:57:54feral dr voss said in his official rebuttal i was invited to testify at an emergency hearing remote
00:58:00from the research station's comm room i sat in front of the camera behind through the window you could
00:58:05see the ocean calm blue hiding everything i didn't use academic language i want to tell you about my
00:58:12husband i want to tell you about my husband he hatched alone in the deep ocean no parents no family
00:58:19no one to teach him how to speak how to socialize how to love he survived by being stronger and
00:58:26faster than everything that tried to kill him he grew up without knowing what loneliness was because
00:58:31he'd never known anything else when he was still a child he saved a drowning girl a human girl she
00:58:38was the
00:58:39first living thing that ever spoke to him she promised she'd come back she didn't for over a
00:58:46decade he waited on that reef when he found her again he didn't know how to say i love you
00:58:51he'd
00:58:52never heard those words so he did the only thing his instincts told him he kept her close he fed
00:58:57her
00:58:58he protected her was it frightening yes was it dangerous yes but so are humans we've destroyed
00:59:05planets we've driven species to extinction across 12 star systems these creatures have been protecting
00:59:11this ocean for thousands of years alone in silence without asking for anything all i'm asking is that
00:59:18we let the hearing was broadcast live visor ship broke every record in the alliance's history dr voss didn't
00:59:24speak again for the rest of the session the public support didn't stop dr voss it just changed his
00:59:30approach my professor forwarded me and intercepted communication three days later encrypted routed
00:59:36through back channels a scientific research vessel was being deployed to thalassa official
00:59:40purpose deep ocean geological survey crew manifest included 12 marine geologists and eight acoustic
00:59:45engineers unofficial purpose buried in a classified addendum my professor's contact had leaked
00:59:50acquisition siren acoustic frequency data for defense applications the seal technology if it could be
00:59:56replicated artificially it wasn't just an environmental tool a frequency wall that could
01:00:02contain volcanic eruptions could also contain explosions deflect weapons shield military installations
01:00:07they weren't coming for the sirens they were coming for the sound how long until they arrive six
01:00:12days six days i stood on the dock that evening the sun was going down finn was asleep inside opal
01:00:19was
01:00:19somewhere in the shallows hunting dinner behind me the research station my professor lena the team
01:00:25in front of me the ocean opal red seven sirens who had trusted me with their history six days wasn't
01:00:30much time but i'd built an interspecies bridge in less i didn't wait for them to arrive i spent two
01:00:37days compiling everything the siren seal data the thermal vent readings the full ecological timeline
01:00:43and the leaked classified addendum detailing voss's military objectives then i sent it everywhere
01:00:48simultaneously 12 member state governments 40 major media outlets six independent scientific review boards
01:00:55everything all at once nothing held back if everyone knows no one can bury it he watched me hit send
01:01:01and let out a long breath
01:01:04you just made yourself either the most famous or the most hated scientist alive
01:01:10probably both you're scarier than me shut up and watch
01:01:17shut up and watch within hours the feeds exploded the leaked military plans drew immediate
01:01:22efforts three member states issued formal protests two demanded bosses removal the ethics commission
01:01:27launched an emergency investigation by the time the research vessel was halfway to the loss of
01:01:32dr voss was suspended pending inquiry i allowed myself one glass of wine that night opal watched me drink it
01:01:40is it over the immediate threat not the war there will always be people who want to use them i
01:01:47know
01:01:47that's why we build something permanent something bigger than one man's ambition he took the glass
01:01:52from my hand and set it down pulled me into his lap later rest first for once i didn't argue
01:02:01the alliance convened an emergency summit i received the invitation on a tuesday not as a researcher as
01:02:07the official liaison between the siren species and the interstellar alliance a title i'd never asked for
01:02:12but apparently when you're the only human alive who speaks siren married to one and mother to the only
01:02:17known hybrid the job finds you i want opal listed as co-representative a siren at the alliance headquarters
01:02:24he's a legally recognized sopian individual with full personhood status he has every right to be
01:02:29there we'll arrange accommodations opal had never left the lassa never left the ocean
01:02:36the flight alone would be 12 hours in a sealed vessel surrounded by vacuum that night i held him
01:02:41in the dark finn was asleep between us one tiny hand curled around opal's finger i was scared not of
01:02:47the summit of taking him somewhere i couldn't protect him but we made a promise in the cave on the
01:02:53dock
01:02:53in the deep never apart that was the only vow that mattered opal's arms tightened around me on the
01:02:59shuttle he sat by the viewport and watched the lassa shrink below us the blue planet all ocean
01:03:04disappearing into black then the stars he didn't speak for a long time i always knew the ocean was
01:03:10bottomless i didn't know the sky was the same i took his hand at the summit opal stood before 200
01:03:18delegates in a simple dark suit human form no tail no claws no visible threat just those green eyes
01:03:24in that voice we are not asking for charity we are offering a partnership help us repair the seals
01:03:31and we will share what we know about the deep ocean refuse and we will do it alone either way
01:03:37the ocean will
01:03:38be saved the only question is whether you want to be part of it the vote passed unanimously
01:03:44the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean
01:03:44is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the
01:03:44only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way
01:03:44the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean
01:03:44is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the
01:03:44only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way
01:03:44the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean
01:03:44is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the
01:03:44only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way
01:03:44the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean
01:03:44is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the only way the ocean is the
01:03:46only

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