#you can Watch the...reluctance? frustration? trepidation? and then it all gets wiped away before he turns to look back at bison

[deliriousblue]

THE HEART KILLERS (2024) episode three

[jarienn972]

La Sirena - Chapter Six

Captain Swan Supernatural Summer

It has been far too long since I've been able to update my @cssns​ story and for that, I apologize.I have been so bogged down with stress and frustrations and just couldn't force myself to write. There was no solace in writing as I’ve usually found so I had to step away for a few weeks.

I'm finally in a better mindset and while things may not be perfect, some creative juices are flowing once again and now I’m working to get some new chapters out!  Thank you @kmomof4​ for your patience with me and for your wonderful beta services and once again, thanks to @courtorderedcake​ for the beautiful artwork displayed above!

Since it’s been a while, here’s a brief recap of the last chapter. When we left off, Killian had just been stunned to discover that his beautiful companion, Emma, was in fact a siren. She chose to reveal herself after a visit from her sister, Regina and decided that it would be better for Killian to know what she really was before Regina returned with other members of the siren council. Emma also raised the question of how Killian survived the siren attack on the pirate ship where he'd been held captive so he asked her to do the one thing she absolutely didn't want to do - sing.

Recap from the beginning:  One  Two  Three  Four  Five   FF.net  AO3

Myth and Legends Combined

"I will need to transform back into an aquatic form," Emma stated with little emotion as she dipped her bare foot into the steamy spring that sparkled beneath the midday sun streaming from above. She sensed no warmth from the water finding it strangely icy against her human skin. There were no more words exchanged as she lowered herself into the pool and allowed her metamorphosis to begin.

Killian watched her transformation with a lingering trepidation. He remained in awe of the fact that he was stranded here on this remote isle with a legendary creature yet he was still somewhat fearful of her reality - and of the act he'd just implored her to perform. He had knowingly just asked a siren to sing to him without any inkling of what the result may be. He had no idea if he was about to be bewitched into potentially drowning himself in this subterranean spring and he dared admit only to himself that he was frightened.

The silence that fell between them as she dove beneath the sparkling blue ripples spoke volumes of her reluctance and as she surfaced, she anxiously flicked her tail fin a few times before pushing herself out of the water. Perching atop a flat slab of volcanic rock, she drew her shimmering tail up close against her torso in the way she might hug her knees were she still in human form. She lowered her eyelids, hoping to shut out whatever horrors might await her as she struggled to draw in a breath.

As much as she didn't want to do this, she knew in her heart that Killian was correct. He'd been spared death to end up marooned in her cove but how and why had it happened? They would have no answers at all until they could learn why he had not heard the sirens when they swarmed the pirate ship that fateful day. But would she even remember how to form those perilous notes? It had been so many years… So many lifetimes ago…

When she first dared to part her lips to sing, only a strangled squeak escaped. She opened her eyes for assurance that Killian was still there, finding strength in the sight of his tousled dark hair and hopeful sapphire eyes. She drew in a deep breath, placing her hands atop her abdomen as the dulcet tones materialized in the back of her throat then filled the cavern with their eerily placid symphony.

She dared sing only a single, curt stanza, unable to process more of the cursed music that she had sworn would never pass from her lungs again. She was finished with this forever, especially if she might have allowed any harm to come to Killian. She was relieved to see him still kneeling in the sand, eagerly staring across the spring at her, his expression seemingly unchanged from before she'd closed her eyes. Maybe the few bars she'd sung had not been enough to invoke the hypnotic effect?

"Are you alright?" she called out to him. "Have you felt any ill effects from my singing?"

Killian's brow scrunched in bewilderment as he found himself staring at the swirl of her delicate fins against the pool's surface.

"I've been waiting for you to begin, love," he replied. "I have beheld you drawing several breaths but I sensed your apprehension."

"Killian, I have already sung several notes. My voice filled this entire chamber. You heard nothing of the like?"

"I hear your voice speaking clearly now and I heard the bubbles and trickles of the spring," he explained as her eyes widened in amazement. With another deep breath, she forced herself to repeat the stanza with increased volume, projecting her voice further. As before, Killian watched her mouth open but he heard no sound exiting her throat. "Do you taunt me, Emma?" he scowled. "I see you part your lips yet the only sound I hear is when you speak."

Emma giddily splashed her tail about the spring as her face lit up with a huge grin, sending a spray up into the air that rained down around her.

"You did not hear me singing! Not a single note!" she exclaimed excitedly. "That's how you survived when the sirens attacked the ship. You do appear to have an innate immunity to the song."

He quirked an eyebrow as he contemplated the meaning of her statements. "So, it would seem that I possess an immunity to something that before today, I didn't even know was real…" He shook his head in disbelief as Emma morphed back into human form and donned her linen dress so she wouldn't further assault his senses before she rejoined him beside her magically conjured chests.

She lowered herself to her knees, meeting him at his current level while leaving a respectable distance between them. She couldn't be certain of the status of their tenuous relationship at this juncture so she gave him some space. Killian stared down at his own thighs for a few tense moments until he finally broke the awkward silence.

"So then… Where do we go from here? What exactly does all of this mean for us?" he asked her, his voice barely more than a whisper as he raised his eyes to meet hers. There was such an unease to his gaze that she was tempted to look away, but she resisted.

"Killian, if I have lost your trust with my deception, I am truly sorry. You are the first and only human I have ever conversed with and in truth, I have as much to learn about you as you do about me."

"Aye," he responded sullenly with a subtle dip of his chin, recalling his own desire to learn her secrets. And learn them, he did!

"Right now, we have only each other here," she reminded him as well. It wasn't as though he had a way of escaping this cove, although Emma seemed to read his mind as she continued. "I suppose I could provide you with the materials to build yourself a small boat. I could even magically conjure the entire vessel for you but any additional use of my powers would only expedite my sister's return. Even though you are unable to succumb to the siren song, my kind would still make any attempted passage back to your world treacherous."

"And then what, pray tell, is my alternative?" he countered, his voice raising with pent up frustration. He'd been unwittingly pulled into this supernatural battle of wills but it didn't mean he wanted any part of it.

"We will need to work together and appeal to Poseidon. I believe only he may be able to provide the answer as to why you possess immunity to the sirens. He can also provide a way for you to cross back between realms."

Appeal to a god? The mere thought of that wasn't making Killian feel any more confident. "Just how does one appeal to Poseidon?" he asked her with a skeptical crinkle of his brow.

"We must first prove your worth," she answered him, but as she did, she timidly cast her gaze off to her left, unable to look directly at him. "You'll likely be tasked to survive the chorus of sirens once again…"

"Which I most certainly should be able to do as I've heard no cursed music so far." He struggled to read her expression when she broke eye contact as her body language wasn't inspiring confidence. "Is there something you're not telling me, love?"

Emma exhaled an exasperated sigh as she raised her eyes to meet his. "To garner the attention of the god of the seas, you will first have to prove yourself to his brother, Triton. He has been highly protective of this realm since the Atlantean disaster…"

"Atlantean?" he repeated, incredulously. "As in the mythical civilization of Atlantis?"

"The kingdom of Atlantis was no myth. It has only been gone from memory for many centuries after Triton wiped their kingdom from the Earth for their insolence."

Killian shifted his weight back onto his haunches before collapsing onto his backside in the soft sand. His hands cupped his jaw as he leaned into the closest trunk for support while attempting to digest all that Emma had thrown at him over the course of this day. First, that she was a mythical beast of maritime legend and now - this? Atlantis? He had heard countless tales of the legendary, supposedly highly advanced civilization that had vanished into the annals of lore long before his birth. Yet somehow, these stories were now connected to him?

"Emma, love… Perhaps I fail to see the connection here but why would the legendary Atlantis have anything to do with a simple sailor such as myself?"

"Do you remember what I had told you earlier about there having been one human who was deemed worthy of entering our realm?" she asked him as Killian nodded his head in befuddled agreement, the specifics of her earlier words currently eluding him. "That one man was a wise sailor who was allowed passage through our realm to an uninhabited island paradise where our Poseidon permitted him to establish a colony. Boatloads of peaceful settlers arrived and were granted permission to cross through the veil unimpeded by the sirens and in return for the materials needed to build their new civilization, the settlers gave praise and offerings to Poseidon and Triton.

"Gods and humans mingled for years in this new kingdom and during those prosperous years, the worthy sailor met and fell in love with Poseidon's eldest daughter, Ursula. Poseidon gave his blessing for the two to be wed, despite his brother's protest. For as long as the sailor lived, his family and the entire civilization of Atlantis thrived, but after a few generations, legend has it that his descendants became too conceited for their own good. They grew boastful of their demi-god status and flaunted the technology that the gods had helped them develop. Eventually, they grew spiteful and evil, using the magical powers they had inherited from Ursula to expand their influence over other civilizations - and against the gods themselves. Triton's patience with the Atlanteans waned and he retaliated, plunging the entire island kingdom far beneath the waves and leaving no trace of their existence.

"Now," she began again after a brief pause for breath, "all of this occurred long before my creation but I do know that as a result of the fall of Atlantis, myself and dozens of other sirens were birthed to patrol our seas. We were tasked with destroying the evil scourge of men who dared enter the sovereign seas of the gods. Men who were so easily tempted by our melodious song. For decades, I served the gods without question, until I could do it no longer…"

"I grew up hearing tales of Atlantis," Killian spoke up as Emma blanched from guilt. "The stories weren't all that different from what you've just recounted but because no trace of Atlantis exists, most historians have relegated the civilization to mere legend. Those of us who have sailed the vast oceans of the world do understand how the sea might reclaim an entire civilization and leave nothing behind for eyes to behold. So many mysteries may lie beneath those azure depths… The thing is, I still do not understand how this relates to my predicament."

"There have long been rumors amongst the sirens and other creatures of the sea that before Triton destroyed Atlantis, Poseidon and Ursula located and secreted away a select few of their descendants who had not abused their lineage and gifts. It's said that those of their line would forever be immune from Triton's wrath and his barriers protecting the realm. I have never had reason to believe that it might be true, at least not until you floated into my bay. Today, I now firmly believe that the legends are true…"

He stared blankly at her for a few minutes, focusing on the darting shadows cast by the flickering torch on the cavern wall behind him. After a fleeting moment, he blinked as the shockwave of her latest bombshell enveloped him.

"Are you trying to imply that I may be a direct, distant relative to Poseidon himself?" he questioned incredulously, suddenly lightheaded from the barrage of thoughts bombarding his brain. He didn't even need to hear her speak the response as he didn't dare allow his ears to take in such nonsense…

But what if…?