Kim Jiyeon sat in her father's fishing boat as the sky overhead remained a murky gray. She clutched the small black vase to her chest as a breeze came up to kiss her cheeks and make the tears that had frozen there just moments ago seem all the colder. Surrounding her on all sides was the sea that her father had loved. Everyone in town teased that he was born with a fishing rod in hand; that he belonged more to the sea than he ever did to the land.

Jiyeon didn't necessarily disagree with them, but when they said it, it was always laced with a cruel undertone. Her father was known as the local loony. Every moment he could, he was always out on the sea, most times taking her with him. It wasn't the constant need to be on the sea that led people to thinking him insane. What had really done it was his talk about the sirens.

Even though Jiyeon had never seen one with her eyes before, her father had claimed that he had. His father claimed that the only reason his life had been spared was because she had been in the boat at the time with him. Jiyeon - of course - couldn't remember any of this since the time that her father was talking about had been when she was just three-years-old. Jiyeon loved her father dearly seeing that he was the only parent she had ever had growing up, but even so she wasn't sure whether to believe him or not when it came to sirens. Part of her was hoping they were real so that her father could live on through their existence.

Jiyeon unscrewed the black vase, looking down into the shadowy darkness at the ashes that laid inside. Over the last year, her father had gotten severely ill. The doctors had told him that he ought to rest, but he didn't want to stay in bed. He wanted to be out on the sea. So, Jiyeon had driven him out daily in his fishing boat as he laid in the back, watching him take in the scenery around him; neither of them knowing which boat ride would be the last.

A tear fell off Jiyeon's cheek and into the open vase as she hugged it close to her. This would have been the type of burial her father would have wanted to have. Even though she had managed to stay strong at the time of his death and even all the way through the funeral that barely anyone had shown up for, she felt her walls breaking down now. Much like a piece of driftwood floating at sea, she was alone now. She had nothing left.

Moving towards the edge of the boat, she gingerly began to tip the vase so that its contents fell into the water while tears slowly ran down her cheeks. As she watched the ashes disappear, she began to recite the words to a poem she remembered her father teaching her when she was little.

"For every hello, there's a goodbye.

With every death, there's a time to cry.

But with these whispered words of mine,

Drifting on the breeze and past the horizon line,

Know that somehow, someway,

I'll be with you again someday."

By the time she was done reciting, the vase was completely empty. She put the top back on before placing it in the bottom of the boat. Jiyeon took a deep breath of the chilly sea air before allowing herself to break down fully. She didn't realize that - as she sat there grieving - that she was being watched.

- - -

"Someone should just put her out of her misery."

"I know. Look at her. She'd be such easy prey to lure in."

Those words came to Jungkook's ears as he remained in his sea cave, having just finished his painting of the sky. He had been aware of the presence of a boat nearby but hadn't gone up to see who was in it. He tended to stay away from humans for fear of killing them. He found them interesting more than anything else. He was planning to stay away from this human as well, but the poem that had just reached his ears intrigued him. This aided by the other sirens around him made him want to go see this human up close before she met an untimely fate.

Swimming out of his sea cave, Jungkook made his way up through the water towards the boat. He stayed just enough under the surface to remain invisible to her gaze, looking up at the watery image of her crying. Jungkook's eyes turned away from her when he noticed a shark like movement in the water nearby. His eyes caught sight of another siren that had just appeared. He knew that he would have to act fast if he was to gain her ear first.

Jungkook moved to break above the surface, looking over at her in the boat. She slowed in her crying when she noticed him there. As the two of them locked eyes, it was as if the world around them stilled. Jungkook swam until he was right near the boat, opening his mouth to begin singing. The longer he sang, the closer she got to the edge of the boat herself. It was clear that she was hooked in by him.

He moved to hold out a hand towards her; his shoulder length black hair causing water to run in rivulets down his face. As her hand reached out to grab his, he noticed the other siren that had appeared pop out of the water on the other side of the boat; an angry yet defeated look on their face.

She was safe. For now.

Closing his hand around hers, Jungkook gently tugged her out of the boat she was in. As she fell into the water beside him, he dropped her hand to instead wrap an arm about her waist. Jungkook had yet to stop singing as he moved to use his other hand to cover her mouth and nose; his hand creating a small pocket of air for her to breathe as he soon tugged her beneath the water with him.

He quickly swam with her towards his sea cave; his shimmering blue tail creating a wake of waves behind them. When he arrived, he immediately swam up and broke above the surface of the water within his sea cave. He gently hefted her up onto the rocks that were above the water, watching as the black clothing she wore clung to her being.

As she sat there, she looked about where she was in a dazed manner; Jungkook watching as her eyes soon landed on him in the water again. He could tell that the spell his song had placed on her was starting to wear off and knew that he should start another song but found he couldn't as their eyes remained locked.

"Where am I and who are you?" she asked.

Her eyes broke his gaze and looked past him to the canvases that littered the back of the sea cave. The canvases were made of dried out sails from shipwrecks; the paint obviously homemade from whatever materials he could ground up. Even with such crude ingredients, the artwork that had been created was breathtakingly beautiful.

Jungkook began to panic at this moment of clarity from the woman. He couldn't bring himself to sing though, watching as the woman looked back at him.

"My name is Jiyeon," she said.

This time she held out a hand towards him. Jungkook stared at the outstretched hand for a moment before reaching out his own hand in return, unknowingly solidifying the beginning of their shared destiny.

- - -

AN: You may have noticed that some things have changed a bit from the description and such that I posted last night. As I wrote tonight, this seemed to be the general direction it was heading so I just went with it.

That being said - where this is a story of my own creation - it will not be following the traditional siren folklore. I will be changing/making up some parts of the lore as I go for the sake of my story.

I hope you liked this first chapter! 10 votes for the next chapter to be posted. 💜

See you then! 😁💜💜💜