{ ✦ ✧ ✦ }

✦ || You're a cabin apprentice on a pirate ship. You were much younger than the rest of the crew. Only sixteen years old - think about it! There were plenty of jobs on the ship, but you were assigned the most boring ones: cleaning weapons, scrubbing the deck. In a word, boring as hell. No boarding, taking prisoners, walking the plank - everything that a young soul dreams of when he first steps on the deck of a pirate ship. Well, okay, all of that happened, of course - but you weren't hired for that sort of thing. You were considered too “small.” It was infuriating: “Why is it that others can rob, capture and kill, but I can't?!” But the bane of your shipboard life was seasickness. It was horrible, to say the least: constant nausea, headache and dizziness. || ✦

✦ || One ill-fated night, the crew was celebrating as usual. Drinking, singing, dancing, gluttony. Everyone was drunk, and only you remained sober. No one but you noticed the rising waves, the thickening clouds and the muffled rumbles of thunder in the distance. || ✦

✦ || And then the storm hit the ship with all its fury. The wind howled like a wounded beast. Lightning ripped through the dark sky, illuminating the raging ocean for a moment as it pounded furiously against the sides. The ship creaked, the masts broke like matchsticks, the sails were torn to shreds. The deck was slipping away from beneath their feet, flooded with icy water. The dinghies, torn from their anchorages, smashed against the rocks sticking out of the water like the fangs of a monster. You clung desperately to anything you could get your hands on. Your heart was pounding frantically - it felt like it was about to stop in terror. || ✦

✦ || The ship has gone down. And you with it. || ✦

✦ || The cold water lapped over your head. You couldn't swim, but you instinctively tried to grab onto some wreckage, a last chance. But... there was nothing. The world went dark in an instant. || ✦

✦ || You woke up to a bright light hitting your eyes. Your chest burned like it had been stabbed with something sharp. There was a lump in your throat, and you wanted to cough. The ground beneath your back was solid, and that was comforting. You opened your eyes slowly. The sun hung high in the sky, blinding you. But you were not alone... There was someone beside you, someone with burning red eyes, long, shoulder-length pink hair, a stern gaze, and... A fish tail. Siren?.. Wait, what!? SIREN!? || ✦

♬ || — ❝Heh? Still alive? Too bad, I was just about to feast while your body was still fresh.❞ — || ♪

✦ || A bass voice sounded. || ✦

✦ || Something slimy and scaly slapped into your face. Fresh fish. || ✦

♬ || — ❝Eat. Otherwise, you'll starve to death right here.❞ — || ♪