11 Memory Lane In Its Bittersweetness

The tinted green waves crashed against the rocks standing just above the water while a ship stalked across the sea turning Venus' mind back to before her family had disappeared before her eyes. The sunken city of Baia swarmed with sirens of different tails while fish traveled to and fro between the cracking structures. With the sun peering between the clouds and down to the sandy seafloor, ships approached from above casting a dark shadow over the siren's only kingdom given to them by their God Poseidon.

Rushing past each other, guards and citizens swam hurriedly in and out of the buildings as the cracks twitched with the light going in and out. The magic keeping the walls alive was crumbling underneath the arrows and metal nets being flung into the water. From inside the main palace walls, the king rose from his position and welcomed the rushed knights and warriors into the hall. They sucked in the salty water around them to collect their composure before their majesty swam down before them. His black and white tail uttered dominance throughout the hall as the sirens before him bowed and awaited his response to the attacks raining down from above.

They didn't look up even when his voice echoed in a harsh tone throughout with a rushing essence leaking through, "The humans have begun to blame us for things we took no part in and have now begun to hunt us. Our times of peace and prosperity between them have ended with the murder of one of our own. My brothers and sisters see and hear me now," the warriors lifted their heads with a man and a woman floating tall among the others with a golden crest of Poseidon around their tales. The two stepped forward while the others behind them dipped their heads down to listen, "we no longer have an obligation to stay peaceful with the dry people. If you see them, attack on sight with all of the power you have." The king looked upon the woman in front of him and ordered, "you'll take the first squad up to the surface to defend us below, Mercy. Do whatever it takes to protect your people. Do not spare them just as they didn't us, my child."

The siren girl named Mercy straightened with a powerful shine reflecting in her pearly eyes. She bowed, "we won't let them get away from us this time, I promise you, King Livida, and all of your people that right here and right now!" The warriors behind her all rose their heads with determined cheers echoing around.

At the raise of King Livida's hand, they simmered down to pay attention to his calls again, "Vulcan," the man stepped forward beside Mercy, "you'll take the third squad and protect the people of Baia with every breath you have. No siren shall be taken from us in these coming moments." The warriors hollered from every corner of the hall, the only one floating without a speck of determination was Vulcan.

His grey eyes darkened at the thought of being left behind to swim around on guard while the second-best warrior in his mind, Mercy, fought the real enemies on two feet above the waves. He looked around waiting for his moment to speak his mind but no such thing happened. Swimming toward his king he objected, "why me?" The men and women around them stopped their cheers and hollering with confused expressions, "everyone here knows that I'm the best warrior we have," he didn't look Mercy in the eyes, knowing that he was being full of himself. She just scoffed as he continued complaining, "why are you holding me back King Livida? I've stood by your side for millennia without questioning your orders but now you give me this?" He turned to his fellow guardians with an exasperated sigh, "these men have worked their tail fins off to be here and now you're going to stick them to protect these crumbling walls? It just seems a little unfair that Mercy, a mere girl is given the chance of a-" He would've continued if it hadn't been for Mercy sending him flying across the room with a whip of her golden orange tail. No gasps nor objections sounded, only silence from all that witnessed.

"Just like everyone else," Mercy swam closer to him without a hint of herself in her attitude, "I worked day in and day out to receive the position of co-commander." She picked him up by the medallion around his neck and seethed, "just because I'm a princess doesn't mean I don't deserve what the king gives me. I'd be glad to protect this land and so should you be!" She snapped the string taking the necklace with her to swim it back to her father, King Livida.

She dropped it at his feet and gave him a glare he'd never wanted to see from any of his people before. Looking back to Vulcan he waited for an answer to the scene she'd just displayed but silence only rang. "Well?"

"What?" Vulcan didn't look up to his leader, disrespecting not only him but also himself.

"You're the only one I can trust to not let bias get in the way of protecting this whole city. If Mercy stayed-"

"I'd want to stay with my family to make sure they were safe. Are you happy now? You've beaten me at the one thing I could never be able to get away with." Mercy crossed her arms and turned away from him with her orange scales pricked up in anger. "You boast so much about being the best warrior but then get upset about being given one of the most important jobs? Ha! I have no idea whether you're purposely stupid or if it just happens naturally."

King Livida picked up the medallion as Vulcan picked himself up from the humiliation that just knocked him down. Reaching out, Vulcan bowed to his king as he accepted the medal again, "I'm honored to be given such a task and I apologize for letting my feelings get the better of myself."

"You shouldn't be apologizing to me. I know that I'm a competent king and these sirens behind you know that you're a competent commander," the 'but' hung in the salty water. From the corner of the hall, Mercy's golden-orange figure disappeared down the way without another word. The princess that wanted to fight for her kingdom, being put down by a man that didn't believe she was enough. That's all it took for her to need enough.

As the rest of the hall emptied, King Livida and Vulcan swam side by side in silence in a different direction towards the main palace's bed chambers. Sweet music drifted between the waves only sinking up when they crashed together. But below the water, a fragrant voice wafted around the two men as the swam closer and closer. Without any doors closing in the secrets of songs and women, the king made his way into the room where the tantalizing music was coming from. Just one girl twisting and diving around the room as the cracks in her walls shifted lighting with the song she sang. Her golden yellow tail clashed with each note while her fiery orange hair stood out like a shark among whales swirling in the sea.

Vulcan seemed just as interested in the girl as he was when the king told him about standing watch on the reefs decades ago. He looked down the hall to see the room he wished he was brought to only to hear the sweet voice fade and the colorful lights die down. The girl swam over to the king and wrapped him in a bear hug. She gleefully shrieked, "father! It's been ages since you've come to see me," she smiled making a side glance to Vulcan before turning back to her father.

"I came to warn you about the war that we talked about before. I know you and your sisters are scared but you'll be fine. I'm leaving the two of you and your mother with one of my best knights." He glided over to Vulcan and continued, "I know you two haven't gotten along in the past but I need you to stay together. Promise me that you'll get along with him, Demia."

She pouted in the corner making the cracks light up in a deep blue. The room deepened, almost as if she was camouflaging with the deep dark bottomless sea. She reluctantly agreed then asked, "why won't you be staying with us father?"

He leaves them be telling her to give him a minute. Vulcan swam towards the rotting window as Demia watched her father go, panic traveling through her blue blood. The two didn't speak, only the pounding of both of their hearts as spears and bullets flew through the water only to fall lifelessly to the sand.

King Livida slowly swam down the hall to enter a room with the cracks shining green and yellow while his youngest daughter tinkered with pieces of metal and fabric he assumes she found on the seafloor. He didn't have to make a sound for her to acknowledge his presence, "are you joining them this time?"

"I'm afraid so but I'll be leaving you girls with one of my best guards, Venus." He wrapped his arms around her as she wept for the pending war. She knew there would be some sirens that wouldn't return and she was afraid of one of them being those that she loved most. "We'll be back, you have nothing to worry about. In the meantime, I want you to keep learning spells and incantations from Demia. Especially since you'll be spending the next few hours together."

Venus rolled her eyes and turned to her father pouting, "I've spent my whole life learning spells! I've already made a few of my own…"

"Well, then keep making more so that you can help us protect our people."

She took a deep breath before hugging him once more then followed him out of the room. As much as she wanted him to stay here with their family, Venus knew that he had a duty to protect Poseidon's people. The desire to lock him up with the rest of her family crept up her neck but was pushed back down by his leading hand that took her down the hall into Demia's room. The cracks in the walls shined red as Vulcan bickered with Demia about who was in charge of who.

"Demia, I told you not to start trouble." King Livida hovered over her and crossed his arms, "now come here girls," he pulled the two of them into a hug. A single tear rolled down Venus' cheek and dissipated into the salty water around her. She remembered the times before all of the memories began to crumble to dust over what seemed never-ending war.

"You can't leave us again, I won't let you!" Vulcan snapped back to the three of them as Venus didn't let go even after Demia did. "Please don't leave! I have a twisting feeling this time, you can't go out!" She pleaded with him only to be gently pulled away by Vulcan.

"It'll be fine, your father is strong. You need to believe that he'll come back no matter what."

"I can't help but feel uneasy about all of this. They keep coming later in the day, the sun is falling in the sky why are they doing this?"

"It's not your job to worry about that."

"Then what is my job?" Venus shoved him away and turned back to her father, "why can't you just make someone else go?"

He sighed and explained to her about how no one else is as capable as he is to protect their people. He calmed her down as much as he could before leaving the three of them to join the fray.

When King Livida returned, the tone of the kingdom died with the fallen sirens from the last battle. When news of the crown princess not returning circulated between the seas, echos of cries and pain could be heard even above the waves. Sailors cheered and praised each other for their feats against the sirens. Holding pup severed tails while bodies burned on the dry sand. They drank till they toppled over each other singing songs of spirits and victory over a species they could never try to understand if they tried. Below the roaring tides, vengeance brewed in the melancholic song the sirens chanted in unison. Their eyes glowed red with rage, Demia and Queen Minerva, her mother, leading the school towards the surface.

From above, the drunken sailors' eyes rolled to the back of their heads and glowed white. One by one they stood upon the railing of the rocking ship only to plummet into the sea, drowning themselves with no control over their limbs. For years the wars between the two species built up and up sending a different group off to their death each time.

After finding out about Mercy's death, Demia and Queen Minerva went on the next hunt with neither returning. Dark blue mixed with crimson red blood shadowed across the sea as fewer and fewer sirens trudged their way towards the surface for their never-ending vengeance. With his whole family either missing or confirmed being slaughtered, King Livida told his people to stop fighting back, that their blood was precious to him.

Tie passed with sirens still being picked off one by one. King Livida knew that if they stood still, everyone would be wiped out without leaving a single siren alive. He gathered what was left of his officials and commanders to talk about their last move in the fight. He stood tall on the same level as the dozens of remaining men and women around him as he announced, "we will be ending this genocide once and for all. I ask for volunteers to lay your lives down for the remaining few in this kingdom. We've all lost many loved ones to the human race for reasons we're not completely sure of. We've decided to send some men to the dry land to talk to whoever is in charge of their sailors. At the same time as this meeting is taking place, we will need guardians to stay here and protect those who cannot accompany me to the dry land." He spoke with a tremble hidden between his words.

While some sirens agreed to go to the higher land, others sobbed and whispered about how he was unfit to rule. Among the concerns, he addressed them swiftly, "I understand that while I have failed to protect the people you all love by leading them into battle. That's why with my daughter Venus being the last to survive, she has become the crown princess and will succeed the crown after her marriage."

From the corner of the room, Venus swam forward clasping hands with Vulcan as they both held determination and fire within their gazes. Hold up their clasped hands, Venus vouched, "in these hard times, we sometimes search for the right answer in hope and patience. But after patiently waiting for our God, Poseidon, to help us fight off the humans above us, we can see that he doesn't care for us any more than he did to the humans when he wiped out their city to give to us. We have to fight for ourselves now more than ever if we wish to survive. Please, stand with us in our last fight."

The last remaining sirens all lifted their fists and cheered as men and women filed up to the front to lead in the next and last attack. After the years of fighting, blood, and tears, Venus had learned not to beg her father to stay. She knew then that among all of her family members and friends that had disappeared in the past, her father was always the one to return. Whether it be in his mastery of fighting and spells or the dominance he wafted around with the swing of his black and white tail when he swam into battle, he always went and came back wanting more.

As the last battalion lined up for their final hurrah, Venus and Vulcan swam up to her father to say their, what looked like, curt goodbyes. King Livida nodded toward Vulcan as he bowed but stopped Venus before she could do the same. He encircled her in a hug and whispered for only her ears, "I will return to see you rule Baia. Whether it be tomorrow, next full moon, or even a solstice from now, we will see each other again." He pulled back to see her smiling with knowing lavender eyes staring back at him. He ruffled her hair to get the childish carefree attitude he missed from her.

Her brown hair swiveled through the water as she giggled, "I know, I know. You always do." She grabbed Vulcan's hand again, "we're looking forward to that day."

Looking around, King Livida raised his fist into the air while the battalion followed in suit. As they swam from the city leaving behind a handful of sirens, they chanted spells and yelped for victory. With one last hopeful prayer to Poseidon, Venus swam back into the city and started making plans for her father's return. Venus tried to tell her that they should wait a while just in case because he went all the way to the human's kingdom but she wanted to make sure that the wedding could be held the second the battalion arrived.

With preparations in full swing, Venus barely realized that a week had passed since they left. Many of the other sirens that were left behind didn't notice as well until one of the younger ones disappeared out of nowhere. The last remaining sirens flooded the hall where Venus floated on a coral throne. "They haven't returned in so long! How do you expect us to keep our civilization alive?"

"You need to lead us! We can't keep preparing for them to return when they've been gone for almost two full moons!"

Others joined in as Venus sat in silence listening to their concerns, "we need to cultivate more sirens! We can't wait around any more. We should be building our people faster!"

"What?" One siren turned and shot back, "so that they humans can keep picking us off one by one? No! I want no part of that!"

As they bickered among themselves, Vulcan came up behind Venus as she lost herself within her mind, "I think we should take into consideration that they may take longer to come back, Vee." His deep violet tail swung behind the chair as his red scaley hands grabbed her shoulders as he whispered into her ear, "he'll come back. But we both know that you can't keep waiting for that day to come, you need to lead these people now." She grasped his hand with her own and straightened out.

Lifting her green-scaled hand into the air and waited for the small school to quiet down before announcing, "the city is on a new lockdown. No siren will leave these walls and try their best to stay under a roof. Keep your lights low when the moon rises and only hunt at night as well. When the sun rises we'll use the resources we have here to cultivate reborn sirens, one at a time of course. We will slowly rebuild this city to its former glory." She looked back to Vulcan and finished, "if and when the battalion returns, we'll hold an even grander celebration with our new and familiar faces during the coronation!" She held up their joined hands without wavering as the remaining sirens joined in. There were no hollers of protest nor screams of cheer, only a heavy silence hanging through the air.

Night after night, a new siren was taken from the tides to the surface to choke on the air they refused to breathe. And morning after morning, they attempted to cultivate new sirens but failed. The grief of knowing that they'd be picked off one by one, some sirens fled the city while others tried their best to continue cultivation only to be caught under the shining moonlight.

For a while, the city seemed to stand still. As if there was no life living there at all. The cracks stayed dark no matter if it were day or night and the marine life had learned to stay away. But back in the deepest darkest hall, Venus sat upon her coral thrown as Vulcan searched the palace grounds for any other survivors only to come back with none.

"He's not coming back, is he?"

Vulcan didn't answer. He only bowed to his fiancee and reported, "there are no other sirens in the whole city. We're the only two to have waited."

She scoffed as she shifted into a look-alike of her sister Mercy and mimicked, "we won't let them get away from us this time!" Shifted into her other sister, Demia, she lit the castle up with one of her incantations. The light shined so brightly, the colors bounced off of the clouds and back into the water, lighting up the night. Her mouth curled with every note as she choked back tears. The golden tail she brandished faded away to her sea-blue one. Her scales flipped back to green from orange while her expression stayed the same. Vulcan pulled her close as he tried to console her but was only caught in the crossfire of her own thoughts. "Why didn't you let me see it sooner? I could've stopped him from going!" She pushed him away and swam down the fading corridors without him.

He bowed to her once more before looking towards the surface to see a boat sailing through. The first one they'd seen in weeks and as he pushed his way through the currents he hoped it'd be the last one she'd see. Without a single word of salutations, Vulcan took his last gulp before crashing to the surface. Coming face to face with the captain aboard the ship, he allowed them to fish him out with a net, leaving Venus alone for the rest of her semi-immortal life.

That being the last she saw of him. An argument built out of grief and hatred for the world above them. After he swore to stay by her side, he ultimately gave himself up with no explanation to the woman he loved and that loved him back.

She's thought day in and out of why he would do it without even saying goodbye but as time went on, all she could think of was where they've all gone. The fishermen, the sirens, and the boats that whisked nets through the waves, all disappeared within that day. Whatever he said or did once on that boat changed the course of their war for the rest of her days.

Venus Stared at the tails hanging in Captain Caspien's closet as she thought of anything Vulcan did that her father couldn't.