I Taught Siren to Court... Then Became His Mate - Full Short Drama - Vídeo Dailymotion

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Transcript

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.

00:00:35He 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,

00:00:55and keeping them there until they're pregnant.

00:00:58Get out of there!

00:00:59Get out! Get out!

00:01:02But it was already too late.

00:01:04He was already swimming toward me.

00:01:07Ah!

00:01:09Two months earlier, a new male had arrived at Enel of Atoll, settling alone on the far side of the

00:01:15island.

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 murs, black hair, green eyes, a black-gold

00:01:38tail roughly eight feet long.

00:01:39This was clearly a powerful deep-sea murs who had left his pod and come to Emerald Atoll seeking a

00:01:44mate.

00:01:44I usually observed the merfolk through underwater cameras stationed around the island, but once, while boating near the atoll, I

00:01:52spotted 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.

00:02:11When 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, but the excitement died

00:02:24down fast.

00:02:27Merfish intelligence was only slightly above orcas.

00:02:30They 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.

00:03:32He'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, but 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,

00:04:09giving me a meal of fresh sashimi 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.

00:04:49Without 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.

00:05:09Once 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.

00:05:25Opal arrived, dragging another massive tumor.

00:05:27The warm light softened his cold features.

00:05:29I knew he was dangerous, but merfolk had no recorded history of harming humans.

00:05:34I approached him slowly.

00:05:35Opal.

00:05:39Opal, that'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, precise, perfectly pronounced.

00:05:58He could speak.

00:05:59Research on deep-sea mer was scarce.

00:06:01Perhaps some subspecies had this ability.

00:06:04My thesis was going to shake the entire field.

00:06:07Opal.

00:06:08I pointed at him, then pointed at myself.

00:06:11Isla.

00:06:12He immediately understood that Opal referred to him.

00:06:14Opal.

00:06:14And Isla, to me, remarkably 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 went violent.

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 they'd come

00:06:57for 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 on 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!

00:07:30I 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 for deep sea mer.

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 and diving lessons.

00:08:15I never imagined that years later I'd end up back on Thalassa, and that those skills would actually 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 my comm device.

00:08:41You idiot!

00:08:42You told me you found a deep sea mer.

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 mer.

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 somewhere no one

00:09:01will 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.

00:09:17Which meant the Emerald Atoll Research Station, with zero 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.

00:10:01His sleek tail cutting through the water like an arrow.

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.

00:10:28All 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.

00:10:43My Isla.

00:10:44And then his lips pressed against mine.

00:10:46He was kissing me.

00:10:47Why?

00:10:48He pushed a smooth, hard pearl from his mouth into mine.

00:10:51His tongue forcing it to the back of my throat until I swallowed.

00:10:54Only then did he pull back.

00:10:56A 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 somewhere unknown.

00:11:14My comm device lay abandoned on the deck.

00:11:16My 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 side.

00:11:37A few meters away, he was slicing a massive fish into fillets with a poker face.

00:11:41Blood ran into the water.

00:11:43The 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.

00:12:19And you ran.

00:12:20You always lie to me.

00:12:22I'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 Emeril Attor colony but didn't know how to

00:12:42court.

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.

00:12:50I 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.

00:13:04It 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, smoother and slicker, like 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 break.

00:14:39Then I'll keep you chained here forever.

00:14:41You won't see another human.

00:14:42You won't even see a murph.

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.

00:15:46The 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.

00:16:04Either 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, he 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.

00:16:51I was floating in the ocean, but I knew I was dreaming.

00:16:53I turned back into a child.

00:16:55I saw another child about my age.

00:16:57Was I dreaming?

00:16:58I reached out to him.

00:16:59Please, help me.

00:17:01He swam toward me, and I saw that his lower half was a slender tail.

00:17:05A mare.

00:17:05He rescued me, set me on a reef, and caught food for me.

00:17:08A good myrrh.

00:17:09I wanted him to take me somewhere with people.

00:17:11I want to go home.

00:17:12My parents would be worried.

00:17:13But he couldn't understand me, so I taught him to speak.

00:17:16Word by word.

00:17:17He was smart.

00:17:19In just over ten days, we could communicate.

00:17:21I learned he wasn't a myrrh.

00:17:22He was a siren.

00:17:23Sirens were solitary.

00:17:25The unchallenged apex predators of the deep.

00:17:27Sirens never raised their young.

00:17:28From the moment a hatchling broke free of its egg, it 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.

00:17:41So 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, extending his little finger, careful not to nick me with his sharp oz and hooked

00:18:20it 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 before 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, racing through the ocean, trying to keep the waves from soaking my hair.

00:18:47When I'm better, I'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 and carried me away did that small shape in the distance finally disappear.

00:19:01But I never kept my promise.

00:19:03I forgot all of it.

00:19:06If I hadn't been reassigned to my professor years later, I might never have returned to Thalassa in my life.

00:19:12And Opal had come to Emerald Atoll not for the merfolk.

00:19:15For me.

00:19:16And what had I done?

00:19:18I'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 and 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 and you're trying to soft me up, I won't let you go.

00:19:50Honestly, I wasn't entirely opposed to him.

00:19:52Interspecies marriage laws between beast folk and humans had already passed.

00:19:56Plenty of humans were into it.

00:19:58But carrying an egg was beyond anything 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.

00:20:09You're lying again.

00:20:11I'll never believe you.

00:20:12But when I asked him to unlock the chains so I could swim, he 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 at the cave entrance and discovered small bioluminescent fish.

00:20:27I caught a few and snacked on them.

00:20:29When I surfaced, my body was burning.

00:20:32Especially there.

00:20:33I tried to deal with it for a long time, but the relief wouldn't come.

00:20:36Opal returned and 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 just swimming around?

00:20:46Humans really had studied this planet nowhere 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 help me, Opal, please?

00:21:00He just stood there, looking like a kicked puppy despite being a creature that could kill 30 orcas.

00:21:04You always do this.

00:21:06You asked me first, then 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 I thought my ribs would crack.

00:21:35He 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, I 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, he 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, but 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 seafoam?

00:22:17He was pure-hearted and soft underneath it all.

00:22:20Playing at being a captor when he didn't have the constitution for it.

00:22:23I really like you.

00:22:25If you don't believe me, let'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 him.

00:22:35He was convinced I was trying to lull him into 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 so 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, I 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 when I'd nearly died of fever.

00:23:04I'll take you back to the humans right now.

00:23:05After this, you'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 and tore through the ocean.

00:23:32Until I spotted Emerald Atoll's research station in 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?

00:23:51So 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 who'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 was expanded to several times its original size.

00:24:12Additional researchers were brought in,

00:24:13and my professor took up permanent residence as Project Lead.

00:24:16He chewed me out beyond all recognition,

00:24:18but had no choice except to clean up my mess.

00:24:20But the siren refused to cooperate with 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 as 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?

00:25:09We 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 the 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,

00:25:38round 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 to fend for himself now.

00:26:15My baby is going to be the happiest child in the world.

00:26:19He has loving parents and grandparents,

00:26:20and he'll go to preschool and 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 to fend for himself now.

00:26:29My baby is going to be the happiest child in the world.

00:26:32He has loving parents and grandparents,

00:26:34and he'll go to preschool and 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,

00:26:43let 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 for over a decade.

00:26:50You have me now.

00:26:52You have all my love.

00:26:54You're already the happiest siren in the world.

00:26:57Then tonight, let's leave Finn with your parents.

00:27:00It's been too long since we were close.

00:27:02I agreed.

00:27:03The next day, my body nearly fell apart.

00:27:05Definitely a supernatural creature.

00:27:07Draining me dry.

00:27:10The changes of my body didn't stop after Finn was born.

00:27:14I noticed it in the shower.

00:27:16Faint, iridescent lines running along my forearms,

00:27:20barely visible unless the light hit them just right.

00:27:23Scales.

00:27:24Or the ghost of scales.

00:27:25I could hold my breath underwater for 40 minutes now.

00:27:29My night vision had sharpened.

00:27:31Food tasted different.

00:27:33Blander on land, richer in the sea.

00:27:36Opal, you said the pearl would 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 endgame?

00:27:57Will I grow a tail?

00:27:58No, you'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.

00:28:15How much?

00:28:18How much?

00:28:20Enough to stay with me.

00:28:21I didn't ask how long sirens lived.

00:28:24I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

00:28:26My parents arrived on the weekly supply shuttle.

00:28:28Mom 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, Finn spad up.

00:28:40Got fussy.

00:28:40Golden scales rippled across his lower half.

00:28:44A tail emerged.

00:28:46Thrashing.

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.

00:28:56Flexible.

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.

00:29:20He 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.

00:29:36He'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.

00:29:47Maybe.

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.

00:30:09Lena Shue, born on Colony 7, PhD from Central University, published 12 papers on cetacean

00:30:15communication.

00:30:16Joined 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

00:30:35main team after a submersible malfunction.

00:30:38The official report said she survived on emergency rations until rescue arrived.

00:30:43Three 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, when she came back alive, something

00:30:53kept her alive.

00:30:55That's when it happened.

00:30:56Can't know that three weeks in deep water, alone, when she came back alive, something

00:31:00kept her alive.

00:31:02That 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.

00:31:16Haunting.

00:31:17Not 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.

00:31:47But 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.

00:32:07The 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.

00:32:21Hmm.

00:32:21How long does it take?

00:32:22Depends on the siren.

00:32:23Weeks.

00:32:24Months.

00:32:25The 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 the ocean floor and

00:32:49stayed 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.

00:33:28At 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.

00:33:47Did 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.

00:33:58I hid it.

00:33:59I hid it.

00:34:00Told 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.

00:34:27About 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 Merfos 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.

00:35:33Opal 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.

00:35:42When you ran from the cav took the yacht and I chased you, that was three weeks after you

00:35:46swallowed my pearl.

00:35:47If I hadn't caught you that day...

00:35:49Two more weeks, maybe less, and I would have been what he is now.

00:35:52The 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.

00:36:11And 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, tails thrashing.

00:36:32They were terrified opal surface beside the dock, Finn cleaning to his back.

00:36:36He's closer, I 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.

00:37:03Finn 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?

00:37:14¡All personnel to the safe room immediately!

00:37:17Unknown large marine creature approaching the eastern reef at high speed.

00:37:21I looked at Opal.

00:37:22He was already shifting, his legs fusing back into that powerful black gold tail.

00:37:25Keep Finn inside.

00:37:26Don't come to the water.

00:37:28Opal!

00:37:28He dove without looking back.

00:37:30I held our crying sun and watched the sea turn dark on the horizon,

00:37:34like something enormous was rising from below.

00:37:39I put Finn in his crib and ran to the monitoring room.

00:37:41Professor Wei was already there, pale-faced,

00:37:44watching six screens simultaneously.

00:37:47What the hell is that?

00:37:48The underwater cameras showed it clearly now.

00:37:50A siren, easily half-again Opal's size.

00:37:53Dark crimson tail, thick with old scars.

00:37:55Claws extended to their full length, almost a foot long.

00:37:58His hair was black, matted, streaming behind him like ink and water.

00:38:02His eyes were open but empty.

00:38:03A predator running on pure instinct.

00:38:05That's him.

00:38:06On another screen, Opal intercepted.

00:38:09Black gold meeting dark red in the open water beyond the reef.

00:38:12The collision was violent.

00:38:13Sound exploded through the underwater microphones.

00:38:15Frequencies so low the equipment couldn't fully capture them.

00:38:18I felt it in my chest.

00:38:19A pressure, like my heart was being squeezed.

00:38:21Opal was fast, devastatingly fast.

00:38:23He struck and retreated.

00:38:25He struck and retreated.

00:38:26Keeping the larger siren away from the reef.

00:38:28Opal was fast, devastatingly fast.

00:38:31He struck and retreated.

00:38:32He struck and retreated.

00:38:33Keeping the larger siren away from the reef.

00:38:35But red was relentless.

00:38:36Every wound Opal inflicted closed within seconds.

00:38:38He didn't feel pain anymore.

00:38:40That was the feral state.

00:38:41No pain, no fear, no thought.

00:38:43Just the drive to find his mate.

00:38:45Opal slammed him into a rock formation.

00:38:47The seafloor cracked.

00:38:49Red threw him off and kept swimming toward the island.

00:38:51Toward Lena.

00:38:53He can smell the pearl.

00:38:55He knows she's here.

00:38:56Opal caught him again.

00:38:57This time, red's claws found their mouth.

00:38:59A deep slash across Opal's side.

00:39:01Blood clouded the water.

00:39:02That's my husband.

00:39:04Lena was already moving.

00:39:05She pulled the dark pearl from her pocket.

00:39:07I'm going.

00:39:08Lena, wait.

00:39:09She swallowed the pearl.

00:39:10Her eyes went wide.

00:39:11Then she ran for the dock.

00:39:14Professor Wei shouted after her.

00:39:16I shouted after her.

00:39:17She didn't stop.

00:39:18By the time I reached the dock, she was already in the water.

00:39:21Swimming toward the open ocean with strength that shouldn't have been possible for a human

00:39:25who'd swallowed a pearl 30 seconds ago.

00:39:27But the pearl was already working.

00:39:29I could see it.

00:39:29The way her movement smoothed.

00:39:31The way her body cut through the waves like something built for it.

00:39:34On the monitoring feed piped to my earpiece, I heard the researchers panicking.

00:39:38The large siren has changed direction.

00:39:40He's heading for the surface.

00:39:41Dr. Shun is directly in his path.

00:39:44Opal surfaced 50 meters from Lena, blood streaming from his side.

00:39:47He saw her in the water and his face contorted.

00:39:49Get back!

00:39:52She didn't.

00:39:52She treaded water and raised her hands to her lips.

00:39:55That melody.

00:39:55The same one she'd played on the dock at night.

00:39:57Low aching.

00:39:58Full of an apology words couldn't carry.

00:40:00The ocean went still.

00:40:01Even the waves seemed to quiet.

00:40:03Below Lena, the massive red shape was rising.

00:40:0550 meters.

00:40:0630.

00:40:0710.

00:40:07I could see him through the clear water.

00:40:09Those empty, feral eyes locked onto the small figure above him.

00:40:12Opal tensed.

00:40:13Ready strike hit the creature so much as extended a claw.

00:40:15Red broke the surface.

00:40:16He was enormous.

00:40:17Terrifying.

00:40:18Lena didn't flinch.

00:40:19She kept singing.

00:40:20His claws were out.

00:40:21His mouth was open.

00:40:22Rows of teeth that could bite through steel.

00:40:24He drifted closer, closer.

00:40:25His claw rose.

00:40:26Opal lunged.

00:40:27But the claw didn't strike.

00:40:28It touched Lena's cheek gently.

00:40:30Barely a graze.

00:40:31And the emptiness in those eyes.

00:40:32The wood.

00:40:34Opal floated 20 meters away.

00:40:36Blood still trailing from his wound.

00:40:38He'd retracted his claws.

00:40:39He watched for a long moment.

00:40:41Then turned and swam back to me.

00:40:42I pulled him onto the dock.

00:40:45He was heavy.

00:40:46The wound was deep.

00:40:47You're hurt.

00:40:49It's fine.

00:40:50Let me fuss.

00:40:51His eyes were still on the two figures in the water.

00:40:53Wrapped around each other.

00:40:55He came back.

00:40:56Opal said quietly.

00:40:57I understood what he didn't say.

00:40:58I pressed my forehead to his.

00:41:00I'm here.

00:41:01I'm not going anywhere.

00:41:02His hand found mine.

00:41:03I know.

00:41:04But say it again.

00:41:05I'm here.

00:41:06Again!

00:41:06I'm here, Opal.

00:41:08Always.

00:41:08He finally closed his eyes.

00:41:11Within three days, Red was unrecognizable.

00:41:13Not physically, he was still massive.

00:41:15But the emptiness was gone.

00:41:16Not like Opal.

00:41:17Whether he couldn't or chose not to, I didn't know.

00:41:20When she was in the lab, he waited in the water outside the window.

00:41:23He'll be like that for a while.

00:41:25Possibly forever.

00:41:28You mean clingy?

00:41:30I mean bonded.

00:41:33A siren who nearly went feral never fully recovers the ability to tolerate separation.

00:41:38I glanced at him.

00:41:39You nearly went feral.

00:41:41Yes.

00:41:42Is that why you still wake up when I leave the bed at night?

00:41:47I wrote it in my research notes that evening.

00:41:50Siren pair bonding observations.

00:41:52The bond, once formed, appears absolute and permanent.

00:41:55Post-crisis sirens display heightened mate-guarding behavior.

00:41:58No evidence of bond dissolution under any documented circumstances.

00:42:02Personal note.

00:42:03He checks my breathing four times a night.

00:42:05He thinks I don't notice.

00:42:06Opal red over my shoulder.

00:42:07You notice?

00:42:08He turned me around in my chair and kissed me slow.

00:42:10I've always noticed.

00:42:19Unhurried.

00:42:20Stop writing about me.

00:42:21It's literally my job.

00:42:23Then write that I'm the most handsome.

00:42:25Absolutely not.

00:42:26I'll withhold salmon.

00:42:29I'll consider a foot knelt.

00:42:32He said it, staring at Opal's tail, slapping it with both hands, shrieking with delight.

00:42:37Fish!

00:42:38Fish!

00:42:39He recognizes quality.

00:42:42He thinks you're dinner.

00:42:43He thinks I'm magnificent.

00:42:45Finn then proceeded to bite Opal's tail with his four tiny fangs.

00:42:48Opal didn't flinch.

00:42:49Strong jaw.

00:42:50Good survival instinct.

00:42:52He's biting you.

00:42:54Affectionately.

00:42:55At eight months, Finn could shift between forms at will.

00:42:57In human form, he toddled.

00:42:59In siren form, he outswam the research drones.

00:43:01Professor Wei was losing his mind with excitement.

00:43:04His neural development is off the charts.

00:43:07Pattern recognition at eight months that human children don't achieve until age three.

00:43:13And his aquatic abilities far excite what we'd expect even from a pure siren juvenile.

00:43:20His neural development is off the charts.

00:43:24Pattern recognition at eight months that human children don't achieve until age three.

00:43:30And his aquatic abilities far excite what we'd expect even from a pure siren juvenile.

00:43:35Isla, your theological changes from the pearl may have created a sinernistic effect.

00:43:39Finn isn't just a siren.

00:43:40He's a hybrid with the best traits of both species.

00:43:43He could be the bridge between our worlds.

00:43:46Let's maybe wait until he stops putting everything in his mouth.

00:43:49That night, Finn said his second word.

00:43:52He looked at me, reached up with chubby arms.

00:43:54I cried Opal held us both.

00:43:55He said my word second.

00:43:57He hasn't said yours at all.

00:43:58Fish counts.

00:43:59Fish does not count.

00:44:02The Interstellar Alliance delegation arrived without warning.

00:44:05Three officials.

00:44:06Two guards.

00:44:07What was specialist in non-human sapient species integration?

00:44:11They wanted to assess the sirens.

00:44:12Both of them.

00:44:13Standard procedure for newly classified intelligent species.

00:44:16The lead official explained.

00:44:18Paul, gray-haired.

00:44:19Population survey, capability assessment, and determination of appropriate protections.

00:44:26Professor Wei handled the politics.

00:44:27I handled the science presentations.

00:44:30Opal and red were not presented in person.

00:44:32I'd insisted.

00:44:33But the specialist, Dr. Voss, kept pushing.

00:44:35We'll need direct interaction.

00:44:36Cognitive testing.

00:44:37Physical capability documentation.

00:44:39You have our published data.

00:44:41Published data can be incomplete.

00:44:42His eyes drifted to Finn.

00:44:44Is that the hybrid offspring?

00:44:46The way he said, hybrid offspring, like Finn, was a specimen.

00:44:50This meeting is about species classification.

00:44:52My child isn't on the agenda.

00:44:53Of course.

00:44:54But you must understand.

00:44:56A viable hybrid between a sapient non-human species and a modified human?

00:45:00The research implications alone.

00:45:02Opal walked in.

00:45:02He'd been listening.

00:45:03Of course he had.

00:45:04In human form.

00:45:05Dressed in the simple clothes I'd bought him.

00:45:06He looked almost approachable.

00:45:08Until he stood beside me and those green eyes locked onto Dr. Voss.

00:45:11He didn't extend his claws.

00:45:12Didn't bare his teeth.

00:45:13He just looked at the man.

00:45:15Steady.

00:45:16Unblinking.

00:45:16Dr. Voss took a step back.

00:45:18Opal smiled pleasantly.

00:45:20My wife said my son isn't on the agenda.

00:45:23The room temperature dropped 10 degrees.

00:45:25The delegation left the next morning.

00:45:26Recommendations filed.

00:45:27Protections approved.

00:45:28Nobody mentioned Finn again.

00:45:31The night after the delegation left, Opal took me swimming.

00:45:34No equipment.

00:45:35No cameras.

00:45:36Just us.

00:45:37My body had changed enough that the ocean felt like a second home now.

00:45:40The pressure.

00:45:40The cold.

00:45:41The dark.

00:45:41None of it bothered me anymore.

00:45:43He held my hand and pulled me deep.

00:45:44Past the reef.

00:45:45Past the drop off.

00:45:46Into open water where the moonlight barely reached.

00:45:48His tail glowed faintly in the dark, bioluminescent patterns tracing along the black gold scales.

00:45:53I'd never seen them before.

00:45:55You're glowing.

00:45:56Only for you.

00:45:56Sirens only display bioluminescence for their mate.

00:45:59Of course.

00:46:00Even his biology was dramatic.

00:46:01He spun me slowly in the water.

00:46:03My yellow hair fanning out around us both.

00:46:05If it ever becomes unsafe.

00:46:06If the Alliance sends people who look at Finn the way that man did.

00:46:09I'll take you and him to the deep.

00:46:12The deep as in.

00:46:13Trenches no human vessel can reach.

00:46:15Caves even other shearies don't know.

00:46:17Places where no one will ever find us.

00:46:18Sounds familiar.

00:46:20This time you'd come willingly.

00:46:22You're very confident about that.

00:46:24You married me.

00:46:25Fair point.

00:46:26I let myself float against him.

00:46:27Wrapped in the dark and the silence and the faint glow of his tail.

00:46:30I don't think it'll come to that.

00:46:31Neither do I.

00:46:32His arms tightened.

00:46:33But I want you to know.

00:46:34There is nowhere in any ocean.

00:46:36On any planet where you and Finn won't be safe with me.

00:46:38I know.

00:46:40Far below in the deep trench beyond Emerald Atoll.

00:46:43The underwater sensors picked up movement.

00:46:46Not one shape.

00:46:47Not two.

00:46:47Seven dark shapes.

00:46:48Circling in the abyss rising.

00:46:51Seven shapes in the abyss.

00:46:53Opal and red left at dawn to investigate.

00:46:55I watched them disappear beneath the surface from the dock.

00:46:58Then I put on my diving gear and went after them.

00:47:00My body could handle it now.

00:47:01The pressure that would have crushed me a year ago felt like nothing.

00:47:04The cold didn't register.

00:47:05I could see in the dark.

00:47:06Not perfectly.

00:47:07But enough.

00:47:08I followed the trail of bioluminescent disturbance they left in the water.

00:47:12Opal sensed me before I caught up.

00:47:14He turned.

00:47:15And even underwater I could read the fury on his face.

00:47:17He grabbed my arm and shoved me behind him.

00:47:19His body a wall between me and the dark below.

00:47:22Red flanked my other side.

00:47:23Claws out.

00:47:24Eyes fixed downward.

00:47:26I pushed past Opal's shoulder and looked down.

00:47:28Seven sirens.

00:47:30Suspended in the dark water at the edge of the abyss.

00:47:33Motionless.

00:47:34Their tails ranged from deep blue to pale silver to mottled green.

00:47:37Different sizes.

00:47:38Different ages.

00:47:39They watched us.

00:47:40Unblinking.

00:47:41Assessing.

00:47:41Nobody moved.

00:47:42The silence stretched.

00:47:44Minutes.

00:47:44My lungs burned.

00:47:45But my gills took over.

00:47:47Drawing oxygen from the water without effort.

00:47:48Then the largest one, a female with a silver white tail easily nine feet long, retracted

00:47:53her claws.

00:47:54Slowly.

00:47:55Deliberately.

00:47:55She lowered her head slightly.

00:47:57A gesture even I could read.

00:47:58No threat.

00:47:59Opal didn't return it.

00:48:00He signed at me.

00:48:01We leave now.

00:48:01I signed back.

00:48:02They're not hostile.

00:48:03You don't know that.

00:48:04We leave.

00:48:04He grabbed my arm and pulled me upward.

00:48:06Red followed.

00:48:07The seven didn't pursue.

00:48:08They stayed where they were.

00:48:09Watching, we broke the surface.

00:48:11Why did she stare at me?

00:48:13She can sense the pearl in you.

00:48:14His hand tightened on my wrist.

00:48:15She knows you're mine.

00:48:20I didn't sleep that night.

00:48:22I pulled up every archive data set on Thalassa's deep ocean.

00:48:2550 years of exploration records, sonar logs, temperature readings, biological surveys.

00:48:29Most of it was routine, unremarkable.

00:48:32But buried in a file from the earliest survey mission, I found it a single entry.

00:48:35Flagged as equipment malfunction.

00:48:37Rhythmic sound pulse detected at 4,200 meters depth.

00:48:40Frequency 14.2 hertz.

00:48:42Pattern appears structured but does not match any known biological or geological source.

00:48:45Equipment recalibrated, pulse not detected again, 14.2 hertz.

00:48:50I pulled up Opal's vocalization recordings from Lina's research.

00:48:53His baseline infrasound frequency, 14.2 hertz.

00:48:58Equipment recalibrated, pulse not detected again, 14.2 hertz.

00:49:02I pulled up Opal's vocalization recordings from Lina's research.

00:49:05His baseline infrasound frequency, 14.2 hertz.

00:49:0850 years ago.

00:49:09The first humans hadn't even established a permanent outpost on Thalassa yet.

00:49:13They were already here.

00:49:14The composition is exactly what we need.

00:49:15I brought the data to my professor the next morning.

00:49:17He stared at the screen for a long time.

00:49:19We didn't discover sirens.

00:49:21They've been watching us since we arrived on this planet.

00:49:23That's either very reassuring or very terrifying.

00:49:26Both.

00:49:26Probably both.

00:49:29The silver siren surfaced the next day.

00:49:32She didn't approach the research station.

00:49:34She swam directly to the dock.

00:49:36Directly to me.

00:49:37Opal was between us in an instant.

00:49:39Tail A out, claws half-extended every line of his body screaming threat.

00:49:43The silver siren stopped.

00:49:44If she wanted to kill me, she would have done it in the deep.

00:49:47You don't know that.

00:49:48She had six others with her and I was completely exposed.

00:49:51If they wanted us dead, we'd be dead.

00:49:53He didn't move.

00:49:53Opal, let me through.

00:49:55A long moment.

00:49:57Then he shifted aside.

00:49:58Barely.

00:50:00The silver siren regarded me with ancient steady eyes.

00:50:03Then she opened her mouth.

00:50:04What came out wasn't human language.

00:50:06It was siren.

00:50:07Low.

00:50:07Layered tones that seemed to resonate in my chest rather than my ears.

00:50:10I shouldn't have understood any of it.

00:50:12But I did.

00:50:13Fragments.

00:50:14Pieces.

00:50:15Like catching words in a language you studied years ago and mostly forgot.

00:50:18The pearl.

00:50:19It wasn't just changing my body.

00:50:20It was changing how I perceived.

00:50:22Child.

00:50:24Bridge.

00:50:25Dying.

00:50:26I turned to Opal.

00:50:28Teach me your language.

00:50:30All of it.

00:50:31Now.

00:50:34Siren language had never been written down.

00:50:36Never been formally taught.

00:50:38It was inherited.

00:50:38Encoded in instinct.

00:50:40Passed through blood.

00:50:40Opal knew it the way he knew how to swim.

00:50:42He'd never had to learn it.

00:50:43Teaching it was something else entirely.

00:50:45How do you say why?

00:50:46He made a sound.

00:50:47I tried to reproduce it.

00:50:49He rinsed.

00:50:49That means danger.

00:50:51You just told me the ocean is about to kill us.

00:50:54They sound identical.

00:50:56They don't.

00:50:56The second tone drops.

00:50:58Listen.

00:50:58He repeated both.

00:50:59I genuinely could not hear the difference.

00:51:01I recorded everything.

00:51:02Ran frequency analysis.

00:51:04Mapped tonal patterns against meaning.

00:51:06Built a database from scratch, entry by entry.

00:51:08Three days.

00:51:09No sleep.

00:51:10On the second night, Opal carried me to bed.

00:51:12I fought him.

00:51:16I'm not done.

00:51:17You'll die before you finish.

00:51:19Then I'll die bilingual.

00:51:21He pinned me to the mattress and held me there until I stopped struggling.

00:51:24I was asleep in minutes.

00:51:27On the fourth day, I walked to the dock.

00:51:29Opal followed.

00:51:30The silver siren was there.

00:51:31Waiting.

00:51:32As if she'd known.

00:51:33I opened my mouth and spoke a full sentence and siren.

00:51:36It was clumsy.

00:51:37I'm listening.

00:51:39Tell me everything.

00:51:40Probably accented.

00:51:41Maybe slightly wrong.

00:51:42She understood me.

00:51:43The silver siren glanced at me.

00:51:45Then back at me and began to speak.

00:51:46When you deride you.

00:51:49She told me.

00:51:50Opal translated the parts I couldn't catch.

00:51:52In fragments at first.

00:51:53My comprehension was imperfect and she spoke in a dialect older than anything Opal knew.

00:51:57I had to stop her constantly.

00:51:59Ask her to repeat.

00:52:00To rephrase.

00:52:00Opal filled in the gap.

00:52:02Frowning at words even he barely recognized.

00:52:04But piece by piece, the story took shape.

00:52:06Sirens were not always solitary.

00:52:08Thousands of years ago they lived in loose communities throughout Thalassa's oceans.

00:52:12Not colonies like Merfolk.

00:52:14More like a network.

00:52:15Connected by infrasound across vast distances.

00:52:18They were the ocean's apex species.

00:52:20Not 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.

00:52:35The energy released was catastrophic.

00:52:37Entire ecosystems were wiped out in months.

00:52:40The sirens found a way to contain it.

00:52:41Using their infrasound, they constructed barriers.

00:52:44Acoustic seals over the most volatile vents.

00:52:46Frequency walls that held the energy in check.

00:52:49But maintaining the seals required proximity.

00:52:51Each siren had to remain near their assigned vent.

00:52:53Alone.

00:52:54Cut off from the network.

00:52:55Generations passed.

00:52:56The knowledge of community faded.

00:52:58Independence became instinct.

00:52:59Solitude became identity.

00:53:02They forgot they'd ever been anything else.

00:53:06We were not made to be alone.

00:53:08We chose it.

00:53:09To save the ocean.

00:53:10But the seals are failing now.

00:53:12We need the Bridgeborn to restore what we sealed.

00:53:15But he is too young.

00:53:16We need time.

00:53:17Her pale eyes met mine.

00:53:19And time is running out.

00:53:21Opal's hand found my shoulder.

00:53:22His claws were retracted.

00:53:24But I could feel the tension in his grip.

00:53:26He'd just learned something about his own kind that he'd never known.

00:53:29That the loneliness he'd grown up with wasn't natural.

00:53:32It was inherited sacrifice.

00:53:34I covered his hand with mine.

00:53:35Said nothing.

00:53:36Some things didn't need words.

00:53:39That night I lay in bed staring at the ceiling.

00:53:41Opal was beside me.

00:53:42Finn curled between us.

00:53:43His tiny tail draped over Opal's arm.

00:53:45My son.

00:53:46Eight months old.

00:53:47Already the center of something enormous.

00:53:48You knew about the seals?

00:53:50The ocean dying?

00:53:51I felt it in the deep.

00:53:53Something wrong.

00:53:54Getting worse.

00:53:55Is that why you left?

00:53:56Partly.

00:53:57And the other part?

00:53:58He opened his eyes as I bend.

00:54:00You.

00:54:00I let that sit for a moment.

00:54:02I need to see the seals myself.

00:54:03The thermal vents.

00:54:04All of it.

00:54:05No.

00:54:06Opal.

00:54:07Too dangerous.

00:54:08The vents are unstable.

00:54:09If one ruptures while you're near it.

00:54:11If you want me to trust them with Finn's future,

00:54:12I need to understand what we're dealing with.

00:54:14I can't make decisions based on someone else's word alone.

00:54:17I need to see the seals myself.

00:54:19The thermal vents.

00:54:20All of it.

00:54:20No.

00:54:22Opal.

00:54:23Too dangerous.

00:54:23The vents are unstable if one ruptures while you're near it.

00:54:26If you want me to trust them with Finn's future,

00:54:28I need to understand what we're dealing with.

00:54:30I can't make decisions based on someone else's word alone.

00:54:32You trust my word.

00:54:33You're my husband.

00:54:34She's a stranger who showed up with six friends

00:54:35and told me my infant is some kind of chosen one.

00:54:38He was quiet.

00:54:39I need to see it.

00:54:40If it's as bad as she says, we need to act.

00:54:42If it's not, we need to know that too.

00:54:43More dangerous than teaching a siren to flirt?

00:54:45Fine.

00:54:46But I'm coming with you.

00:54:49The descent took hours.

00:54:51The silver siren led.

00:54:52Opal stayed pressed against my side, one hand on my waist.

00:54:55We passed through layers of darkness.

00:54:57The twilight zone.

00:54:59The midnight zone.

00:55:00Deeper, the pressure was immense.

00:55:01A year ago, it would have killed me.

00:55:03Now it felt like a heavy blanket.

00:55:06Uncomfortable, but bearable.

00:55:07Then I saw it.

00:55:09The thermal vent loomed out of the darkness like a wound in the earth.

00:55:12Superheated water billowed from the fissure,

00:55:14distorting everything around it.

00:55:16And over the vent, shimmering faintly.

00:55:18The seal.

00:55:18It was beautiful.

00:55:19A lattice of sound made visible.

00:55:21Somehow.

00:55:21Frequencies woven together so tightly, they created a physical barrier.

00:55:26I could see where it was intact, the patterns tight and regular.

00:55:29I could also see where it was failing.

00:55:31Cracks ran through the structure like fractures in glass.

00:55:33In places, raw thermal energy leaked through, scorching the water.

00:55:38The seafloor around the vent was barren.

00:55:41Dead.

00:55:41I checked the temperature readings on my wrist device.

00:55:44Far beyond normal parameters, this wasn't a slow decline.

00:55:47This was structural failure.

00:55:48I ran calculations in my head.

00:55:51Rate of degradation.

00:55:52Energy output.

00:55:53Thermal expansion.

00:55:54The numbers were very bad.

00:55:56We surfaced.

00:55:57Opal caught me as I broke through into air.

00:56:02How bad is it?

00:56:04Maybe two years before the whole thing collapses.

00:56:08His arms tightened around me.

00:56:09What happens then?

00:56:11Cascading thermal eruptions along the ocean floor.

00:56:13Mass extinction event.

00:56:15Everything in this ocean dies.

00:56:17We have two years.

00:56:18We need to use them.

00:56:21I wrote for 72 hours.

00:56:22A formal proposal to the Interstellar Alliance.

00:56:25Title.

00:56:25The Lhasa Deep Ocean Crisis Assessment and Proposed Siren Cooperative Intervention.

00:56:29I laid out everything.

00:56:30The thermal data.

00:56:31The failing seals.

00:56:32The siren's history as ocean guardians.

00:56:34The timeline core argument.

00:56:36Sirens are not a vulnerable species requiring human protection.

00:56:39They are the only force capable of preventing a planetary ecological collapse.

00:56:43Humanity's role is cooperation, not control.

00:56:45I attached my credentials, my published research, and every scrap of data I'd gathered in the

00:56:49deep.

00:56:50Then I sent it to my professor.

00:56:52I watched his face on the video call.

00:56:54He read it in silence.

00:56:55A long time passed.

00:56:56You know this will make you the most controversial researcher in the Alliance.

00:57:00I know.

00:57:02My published research and every scrap of data I'd gathered in the deep.

00:57:06Then I sent it to my professor.

00:57:08I watched his face on the video call.

00:57:10He read it in silence.

00:57:11A long time passed.

00:57:12You know this will make you the most controversial researcher in the Alliance.

00:57:16I know.

00:57:17Dr. Voss will come after you personally.

00:57:20I know.

00:57:22Your career could be over.

00:57:24If that ocean dies, careers won't matter much.

00:57:27He sighed, pushed his glasses up.

00:57:30Send it.

00:57:31I'll co-sign.

00:57:32The report went out that afternoon.

00:57:34By evening, my name was on every major news feed in the system.

00:57:38The Alliance response split down the middle.

00:57:40Half the member states called for immediate cooperation with the sirens.

00:57:44The other half, led by a block of military industrial representatives, demanded caution.

00:57:50You're asking us to hand planetary defense to a species that kidnaps mates and goes feral.

00:57:55Dr. Voss said in his official rebuttal,

00:57:56I was invited to testify at an emergency hearing.

00:57:59Remote.

00:58:00From the research station's comm room, I sat in front of the camera.

00:58:04Behind me, through the window, you could see the ocean.

00:58:06Calm, blue.

00:58:07Hiding everything.

00:58:08I didn't use academic language.

00:58:11I want to tell you about my husband.

00:58:14I want to tell you about my husband.

00:58:16He hatched alone in the deep ocean.

00:58:18No parents, no family.

00:58:20No one to teach him how to speak, how to socialize, how to love.

00:58:24He survived by being stronger and faster than everything that tried to kill him.

00:58:28He grew up without knowing what loneliness was, because he'd never known anything else.

00:58:34When he was still a child, he saved a drowning girl.

00:58:37A human girl.

00:58:38She was the first living thing that ever spoke to him.

00:58:41She promised she'd come back.

00:58:43She didn't.

00:58:45For over a decade, he waited on that reef.

00:58:48When he found her again, he didn't know how to say,

00:58:50I love you.

00:58:51He'd never heard those words.

00:58:53So he did the only thing his instincts told him.

00:58:56He kept her close.

00:58:57He fed her.

00:58:58He protected her.

00:58:59Was it frightening?

00:59:00Yes.

00:59:01Was it dangerous?

00:59:02Yes.

00:59:03But so are humans.

00:59:05We've destroyed planets.

00:59:06We've driven species to extinction across 12-star systems.

00:59:10These creatures have been protecting this ocean for thousands of years.

00:59:13Alone.

00:59:14In silence.

00:59:15Without asking for anything.

00:59:17All I'm asking is that we let them...

00:59:19The hearing was broadcast.

00:59:20Live by Zheer's ship broke every record in the Alliance's history.

00:59:23Dr. Voss didn't speak again for the rest of the session.

00:59:27The public support didn't stop Dr. Voss.

00:59:29It just changed his approach.

00:59:31My professor forwarded me an intercepted communication three days later.

00:59:35Encrypted.

00:59:35Routed through back channels.

00:59:37A scientific research vessel was being deployed to Thalassa.

00:59:40Official purpose.

00:59:40Deep ocean geological survey.

00:59:42Crew manifest included 12 marine geologists and 8 acoustic engineers.

00:59:46Unofficial purpose.

00:59:47Buried in a classified addendum my professor's contact had leaked.

00:59:50Acquisition siren acoustic frequency data for defense applications.

00:59:54The SEAL technology.

00:59:55If it could be replicated artificially...

00:59:57It wasn't just an environmental tool.

01:00:00A frequency wall that could contain volcanic eruptions could also contain explosions.

01:00:05Deflect weapons.

01:00:06Shield military installations.

01:00:08They weren't coming for the sirens.

01:00:09They were coming for the sound.

01:00:11How long until they arrive?

01:00:12Six days.

01:00:13Six days.

01:00:13I stood on the dock that evening.

01:00:16The sun was going down.

01:00:17Finn was asleep inside.

01:00:19Opal was somewhere in the shallows hunting dinner.

01:00:21Behind me.

01:00:22The research station.

01:00:23My professor.

01:00:24Lena.

01:00:24The team.

01:00:25In front of me.

01:00:26The ocean.

01:00:27Opal.

01:00:27Red.

01:00:28Seven sirens who had trusted me with their history.

01:00:30Six days wasn't much time.

01:00:31But I'd built an interspecies bridge in less.

01:00:34I didn't wait for them to arrive.

01:00:36I spent two days compiling everything.

01:00:38The siren seal data.

01:00:40The thermal vent readings.

01:00:41The full ecological timeline.

01:00:43And the leaked classified addendum detailing Voss' military objectives.

01:00:47Then I sent it everywhere.

01:00:48Simultaneously.

01:00:49Twelve member state governments.

01:00:51Forty major media outlets.

01:00:53Six independent scientific review boards.

01:00:55Everything.

01:00:56All at once.

01:00:56Nothing held back.

01:00:58If everyone knows, no one can bury it.

01:01:00He watched me hit send and 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.

01:01:12You're scarier than me.

01:01:14Shut up and watch.

01:01:17Shut up and watch.

01:01:18Within hours, the feeds exploded.

01:01:20The leaked military plans drew immediate outreach.

01:01:22Three member states issued formal protests.

01:01:25Two demanded Voss' removal.

01:01:26The Ethics Commission launched an emergency investigation.

01:01:29By the time the research vessel was halfway to Palasa,

01:01:32Dr. Voss was suspended pending inquiry.

01:01:36I allowed myself one glass of wine that night.

01:01:38Opal watched me drink it.

01:01:40Is it over?

01:01:42The immediate threat.

01:01:43Not the war.

01:01:44There will always be people who want to use them.

01:01:46I know.

01:01:47That's why we build something permanent.

01:01:49Something bigger than one man's ambition.

01:01:51He took the glass from my hand and set it down.

01:01:55Pulled me into his lap.

01:01:56Later.

01:01:57Rest first.

01:01:58For once I didn't argue.

01:02:01The Alliance convened an emergency summit.

01:02:04I received the invitation on a Tuesday.

01:02:06Not as a researcher.

01:02:07As the official liaison between the Siren species and the Interstellar Alliance.

01:02:11A title I'd never asked for.

01:02:12But apparently, when you're the only human alive who speaks Siren, married to one,

01:02:16and mother to the only known hybrid, the job finds you.

01:02:19I want Opal listed as co-representative.

01:02:21A Siren.

01:02:23At the Alliance headquarters.

01:02:24He's a legally recognized Sopian individual with full personhood status.

01:02:28He has every right to be there.

01:02:30We'll arrange accommodations.

01:02:31Opal had never left the Lhasa.

01:02:33Never left the ocean.

01:02:36The flight alone would be 12 hours in a sealed vessel.

01:02:39Surrounded by vacuum.

01:02:40That night I held him in the dark.

01:02:42Finn was asleep between us.

01:02:43One tiny hand curled around Opal's finger.

01:02:46I was scared.

01:02:47Not of the summit.

01:02:48Of taking him somewhere I couldn't protect him.

01:02:50But we made a promise.

01:02:51In the cave.

01:02:52On the dock.

01:02:53In the deep, never apart, that was the only vow that mattered.

01:02:57Opal's arms tightened around me.

01:02:58On the shuttle.

01:02:59He sat by the viewport and watched the Lhasa shrink below us.

01:03:02The blue planet, all ocean.

01:03:04Disappearing into black, then the stars.

01:03:06He didn't speak for a long time.

01:03:09I always knew the ocean was bottomless.

01:03:12I didn't know the sky was the same.

01:03:14I took his hand at the summit.

01:03:17Opal stood before 200 delegates in a simple dark suit.

01:03:20Human form.

01:03:21No tail, no claws, no visible threat.

01:03:23Just those green eyes and that voice.

01:03:25We are not asking for charity.

01:03:27We are offering a partnership.

01:03:30Help us repair the seals and we will share what we know about the deep ocean.

01:03:34Refuse and we will do it alone.

01:03:36Either way, the ocean will be saved.

01:03:40The only question is whether you want to be part of it.

01:03:43The vote passed unanimously.

I Taught Siren to Court... Then Became His Mate - Full Short Drama

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