Under the Ocean Waves

The waters practically tossed them up on shore. It was storming; hell, it looked like a hurricane that the weather men had completely missed. The waves were huge and violent, the wind was blowing things around, and thunder boomed over head. Flashes of lighting dotted the horizon. Vic looked around, wondering why it wasn’t raining yet.

As soon as Kellin, Matty, and himself had legs again, they ran forward to the slumped over lump laying in the sand only a few feet away.

“Spencer!” Matty shouted, turning his friend over by his shoulder. “Dude, what happened? Are you alright?”

“Move,” Said Kellin, shouldering passed him.

Spencer coughed a bit and finally opened his tired looking eyes, giving Matty a half-smile. “Sup dude?” he asked, his voice hoarse and weak. The red headed siren rolled his eyes and slapped his shoulder before helping him to sit up. “I’ll be alright, I’ll be alright. Danny got the best of me.”

“Where did he go?” asked Vic, looking around the beach and stopped to cast his eyes at the angry sky.

“Off to warlock land, I suppose… Matty, you know… don’t you?” said Spencer, staring in the Matty’s eyes.

“Yeah,” he siren nodded. “I know.”

“Know what?!” Kellin demanded. He kept looking over his shoulder, half-expecting the dangerous warlock to appear at any second.

Matty sighed and stood up, reaching out a hand to help Spencer to his feet as well. The good warlock was hunched over and it looked like it was painful for him to stand. “Danny and his merry crew of ass clowns want to take over the world. Including the ocean - in fact, I think they were planning on starting with us to make themselves stronger. Vic’s death was going to be their little starting to point to gain attention, if that makes sense.”

“Why me?” said Vic, stepping closer. “Why not any other human?”

Spencer spoke before Matty this time. “To add insult to injury and probably to reveal not only the warlocks, but the sirens to the world. If you died, Kellin would obviously still try to get to you or something. I dunno. He was trying to start a whole massive chain reaction shit storm… See, Danny feeds off chaos.”

Beside him, Matty nodded his head. It was so hard to understand; for some reason, Vic was just important. But all of this… just for power and dominance? They must be a sick race of people. He reached over, lacing his fingers with Kellin’s.

At that exact moment, the sky opened up. Rain, thunder, lightening, everything - it was like mother nature was attacking them, but with friends. Danny and a whole lot of other warlocks were there, burning with different color fires.

“My God, that’s not lightning, that’s fire!” Kellin shouted, pulling himself and Vic towards the water - the place where he felt safest.

“You can run but you can’t hide!”

Danny’s voice was booming above the rest of the noise; he must be using some sort of magic to make himself louder. Fire was raining down from all sides - they were under attack and Vic didn’t know what to do. They kept running for the waves.

At one point, Kellin turned his head to look over his shoulder and saw a fierce looking Matty and Spencer trying to get fired up for some sort of defense. There had to have been thirty or forty warlocks coming down at them, all of them at the top of their power. And if all the legends were true, they were most likely old and experienced. They didn’t stand a chance.

At least, that’s what they thought. When Kellin turned his head back, he looked straight past Vic’s concerned and frightened gaze to the waves beyond. There may be bunches of warlocks, but under those waters, there had to be three times as many sirens.

And with their beaches under attack, they seemed to be answering a silent call for help. Slick, wet bodies, with claws extended and eyes glowing different colors were walking out of the waves. Among them Vic and Kellin recognized Austin and Alaina. Kellin knew many more, as well. A little smile crossed his lips.

They practically stormed the beach, but the one advantage that the warlocks had over them was their ability to get in the air. They weren’t really expecting the absolute power that the sea creatures had over their domain, however.

“Move back,” Kellin warned Vic. “They’re going to do something a little spectacular.”

“What?” asked Vic, stepping out of the water they had been standing in. Kellin’s own eyes started to glow; it seemed as though he was in tune with the others and their plans. Everyones’ hands, clawed and unclawed, were glowing a light blue.

“Kells?” Vic called out smally. Any questions he had were drowned out by the roaring of the ocean.

The color drained from Danny’s face. “Up!” He screamed, shooting fire down at them. It was too late for that, though. The waters shot up in a huge tidal wave, practically seeking out the floating warlocks. It swept them down but just as it began to recede another appeared in its wake, attacking more of the screaming and fleeing magicians.

Once at ground level the sirens attacked - the ones not controlling the waters, that is. Kellin focused on the water while Vic, although he knew he was pretty much useless, stood by his side watching his back. Under no circumstances would he allow the boy to be hurt.

He watched Austin go at it with a warlock that had grey eyes and long, dark hair. The fierce, strong siren’s claws and fangs were out. He looked downright terrifying. He seemed to bat away the warlock’s attacks, scratching at him. That was when Kellin noticed that somehow, his feet were frozen. The ice was traveling up his body; eventually he would have to succumb to Austin’s attacks.

“Jesus,” he whispered to himself when the inevitable happened. Were they really killing each other? And for what? Dominance and Power? Really? “You know, you may be mythical, but you all fight like humans,” he said aloud.

He caught the attention of a few people, Kellin included. Austin stopped and looked at him. So did a few of the warlocks?

“Excuse me?” said a familiar voice. Danny was practically a fireball himself, glowing all over and looking angry and dangerous. “We fight like humans? I’ll kill you.”

“Yeah, you’ve tried. You’re fighting cause you’re different. Cause you want more power. Just like our countries do, sometimes just cause they don’t like each other. It’s pathetic,” said Vic, lifting his arm to practically waive Danny off.

The anger flared inside of the warlock. “You humans are the pathetic ones, taking over lands and all this nonsense with cars… you’re useless, you’re obsolete,”

“Useless enough to see something that you’re apparently blind to. What is the point of any of this? Do you really need so much power, or do you only want it because you don’t like who currently has it?” said Vic, staring at the ground. Kellin shifted closer to him, and he saw Austin’s feet moving towards him as well, in a protective stance. It was obvious that those around him agreed; and why shouldn’t they?

Danny snarled at him. His eyes were glowing red and his fists were forming fire. “Shut up,” he muttered. “Never speak again, filth!”

He raised his arms and a circle of fire ensnared the three that were standing close together. Austin, Kellin and Vic all frowned at each other, but immediately turned their attention back to Danny. Vic felt Kellin’s fingers slip in to his hand and instinctively he gave them a little squeeze, even though he didn’t know if they were going to be able to get out of this one.

Around them, Vic could hear the shouts of the others, but he couldn’t make out a single word. They were starting to be drowned out by the roaring of the flames that threatened to engulf himself and the two with him.

“Not today,” said Kellin. “Not today.” His eyes, that were usually such a pale blue, were darkening and glowing. At the base of the wall that Danny had created there began to be small blue rays of light. They could see the Warlock hovering in the air with a shocked expression on his face.

“What are you doing?” he gasped.

Kellin didn’t answer. Even Austin looked on in awe, leaving Vic to wonder if maybe there was some sort of class he could take to educate him on all of this mythical creature shit that he was being presented with. Slowly the blue overtook the orange flames. Kellin was staring straight at Danny, and now his whole body was radiating blue light.

He had started to take his actual shape - the form of a siren, tale and all - although he was still on land. Vic flicked his eyes to where his feet should have been and saw that he was floating. With a flick of his wrist, the blue flames lifted, balling in to a sphere of fire that was hurled at its original maker.

Danny didn’t have time to grasp what was happening. He didn’t have a chance of moving out of the way - it hit him full force, and when the fire finally died he lay in a heap on the sand.

“Get out of here,” said Kellin, although his mouth didn’t move. Everyone could hear his words, however. It was one of the strangest experiences Vic had ever had, and he had had some strange ones. “All of you, get out of here.”

The warlocks looked taken aback. The sirens on land, however, stared up at them fiercely, most of them with their claws still out. One by one, they seemed to start retreating until the only two magicians left were Spencer and Danny.

“What just happened?” Vic whispered, looking at Austin for some sort of explanation, but the tall siren stayed silent. The tan human looked to Kellin, who was no longer floating or glowing. He was laying on the beach, still in Siren form. “You alright?” he said, going over to him and kneeling down. “Kells?”

“Tired,” he admitted. Vic nodded his head in understanding; he looked exhausted and whatever he had just done clearly took a lot of energy. “They’re gone though, right?”

“Yeah,” said Vic, gently brushing Kellin’s hair out of his face. “You made them leave. What did you do, Kellin?” If there was one thing in the world Vic could have, it would be the ability to make sense of what he had seen in the last couple of days.

The siren held his hand and looked in to his eyes. In a flash, his tail was gone, replaced by skinny jean-clad legs. “I uh… redirected his attack back at him. Is that Danny over there?” he asked, looking at the now surrounded lump in the sand.

Vic nodded and they stood up together. Matty was kneeling by the warlock, who was laying on his back and smirking up at them. The couple linked fingers and walked over to the center of action.

“If you think they’re not going to be back you’re wrong,” he threatened. “They’ll be back; you’re not going to win. This is fucking war-” he was cut off by his own coughs.

“Shut up,” Matty spat. “They can come back all they want.”

“You won’t be with them when they do.” Spencer was standing next to Matty with his arms crossed. He looked like he’d been through hell himself, but he was stronger than when they’d first gotten on to the beach. “I doubt anyone is going to step up and lead your little cult, either. If the sirens don’t want to kill you, I’ll do it myself.”

Danny frowned and narrowed his eyes. For the first time, Vic thought he saw a glimmer of fear in those eyes. He knew that feeling; that terrifying though of death being right around the corner and all of the circumstances are completely out of your control.

“We’re not going to kill him,” Matty admitted. “But I hope you don’t like air very much. Alaina?”

The pretty siren, who looked a little out of place with legs, stepped forward. Vic didn’t see her in the fighting; he doubted she even had it in her to fight anyone. She handed a necklace to Matty, who knelt down and placed it around Matty’s neck.

He didn’t grow gills or a tail or anything. In fact, nothing happened, until Matty nodded at Austin. Danny frowned and tried to fight back, but he could hardly move his arms, let alone conjure any power. He was helpless as Austin started to drag him towards the waves. The others looked on quietly as Danny’s screams for mercy went unanswered. He was soon silenced by the water as Austin dragged him down under, ignoring his weak attempts at freedom.

“Is he going to…?” Vic asked, looking to Matty and Kellin in turn.

“Die? No,” Alaina spoke up. “The charm allows him to breathe under water. That’s it. No siren powers or anything. I dunno if he’ll even be able to move very well. Austin is going to take him down in to one of our prisons, where he’ll be the only inhabitant.”

Nodding his head, Vic couldn’t help but think it a fitting end for him. His attention was drawn back to his boyfriend when he tugged on his hand. Kellin was giving him a concerned look. “We need to talk,” he said softly, jerking his head towards Vic’s car.

“Okay,” said the human. He looked around at the scantily-clad sirens. The sky was darkening; the sun would be going down soon. They only had a few more hours on land before they were all beached; but Vic figured they’d be returning now anyways. Kellin was the only one that could stay.

Matty gave the boys a stiff nod, and Alaina flashed them a warm smile. They turned to follow Austin down and soon after, others would be going back in to the waves.

—

“What did you want to talk about?”

Vic locked his bed room door behind him. Kellin was sitting on his bed, casting his eyes towards the floor. “Kells?” said Vic, standing in front of him. He gently lifted Kellin’s chin up so that he would look at him.

“I’m just… worried.”

Vic cocked his head to the side. Kellin looked so serious; he wondered what the problem could be. There was no way Danny was going to get to him now, right?”

“Why?” he asked. Kellin didn’t say anything; he tilted his head forward and pressed their lips together. Vic sank into the kiss; it felt like their last one had been eons ago. His hands found their way to the back of Kellin’s head; he tangled his fingers in his hair as the siren kissed back with just as much force.

It could have gone on for hours, but Kellin broke the contact only seconds later. “No, we need to talk first,” he said.

“Go on, then,” said Vic, sitting down next to him.

The paler boy took a deep breath. “I uh… I want you to come down to the ocean with me,” he said. Vic nodded - he was about to say ‘sure’, but Kellin cut him off. “..Forever.”

“What?” Vic’s eyes went wide. “Forever?”

“Forever… well, you know, maybe we’ll come back up once or twice but… I just don’t think its safe up here for us. The warlocks are going to be back. If we’re left up here by ourselves we’re defenseless and you know for a fact that you’ll be targeted all over again.”

The siren looked back at Vic with nervous eyes. The human was shocked, but he knew in the back of his head that what Kellin was saying was reasonable. “You really think they’ll be back?” he whispered.

“Yeah,” said Kellin, nodding. He reached over and squeezed Vic’s hand. “I do.”

With a deep breath, Vic hung his head. “It seems like I don’t have a choice.”

Kellin moved next to him and tilted his face towards his, pressing their lips together again. In reality, Vic really didn’t have a choice. Obviously he wanted to live and be with Kellin… but it didn’t seem possible to continue his life on Earth anymore.

“Okay,” said Vic, in between kisses. “I’ll go with you.”

Kellin smiled in to their kiss - but it was kind of a small, sad smile of encouragement. He didn’t want to take Vic away from everything he knew. He just had to. And Vic knew that; but he pushed all thoughts of the subject away as he slipped his tongue in to Kellin’s mouth and pushed him on to his back, crawling on top of him for some much needed fooling around.

—

It was strange, saying goodbye to the friends he’d had his whole life and his brother. Vic’s instincts told him to pack everything important to him to take with him, but he knew it didn’t work like that in this case. That morning, early morning, Kellin watched, still shirtless from last night as Vic scampered around his room. He was cleaning and organizing and trying to make things as easy as possible for his housemates.

“You know you can’t take anything with you,” Kellin said softly. “It’ll get ruined in the water eventually.”

“I know,” said Vic, sorting the few things on his dresser. He figured that when he left his home on land they’d just say he went missing; probably drowned or something. Even if he would never see them again, there were still a few things he didn’t want his friends and brother to find in here. Knowing them, they wouldn’t go in to his room after he left.

He took his phone out of his pocket and frowned at it. It felt weird, knowing he had to leave it behind. That was the thing that really connected him to everyone he had ever known. As he switched it off, just for a moment, he asked himself if it was really worth it.

One look at Kellin, sitting so innocently on his bed, told him it was. He could either stay and get killed without him or go with him and live with the friends he’d made under the sea. At least he wasn’t leaving a job behind.

“You know, you’re lucky I’m fucking falling for you…” he whispered under his breath as he crossed his room again.

“Are you almost ready to go?” Kellin asked. He wanted to be patient for Vic’s sake, but every second they spent here worried him. He half expected the walls to crash down at any moment.

Vic sighed and looked around. “Yeah, I think so.” He looked over at Kellin and held out his hand. The siren jumped off the bed and took his head, standing in his arms for a moment before wrapping his arms around his neck and kissing him. Ah, kisses. He would never get over those. “Come on,” said Vic.

Kellin retrieved his shirt from where it had been tossed, and Vic slipped on the one he’d thrown to his bed while running around his room. “I wonder if I’ll ever see this place again,” he murmured as he switched off the lights. He thought about leaving a note explaining where he was going, but it would make no sense. They deserved the truth, but it was something he could not give them.

When they got to the kitchen however, Vic did produce a piece of paper he had scribbled on earlier that morning that he placed on the counter. Written on it were the words: ‘Stay awesome, my friends. I love you, especially you, Mikey.’

It was almost haunting. He knew they’d call him when they woke up, but his phone would ring in his darkened bedroom. He shuddered and shook the thoughts from his mind as he and Kellin left Vic’s apartment for the last time, hand in hand.

The drive to the beach was short. Vic knew if he left his car there it would seem like he had drowned; giving some sort of closure. They got there in seemingly no time at all and held hands as they walked on the sand, deciding to stroll over to the rocks where they had met, for old memory’s sake. Vic smiled, remembering dragging Kellin’s half-fish body to the water when he had found the truth about him.

“You know,” he whispered as he squeezed Kellin’s hand. “I always knew there was something weird about you. But I didn’t think you’d be so wonderful. I’m so lucky to have you, Kellin.”

Even after all they had been through, Vic knew his words were genuine. And the way Kellin looked back at him and kissed him, he knew that he felt the exact same way.

“Ready?” Kellin whispered.

“Yeah.”

Together they walked further in to the water, kicking off their shoes to make it easier. Each step was hard, it felt everything behind him was pulling Vic back like a magnet. And yet, that same feeling pulled him forward, as if the water was calling to him. He sighed, ignoring the cold as he and Kellin went up to their chests in the water. The currents were tugging against them, and Vic took a deep breath and released all the air in his lungs and went over.

And suddenly he and Kellin were gone from the world overhead. The water dragged their fish-like bodies down, deeper and deeper under the ocean waves.