The ocean’s depth was silent — silent in that heavy way, where even a heartbeat could echo against the metal walls of the Hadal Blacksite. The cold water pressed against the facility like a beast waiting to swallow it whole. Down here, nothing was ever truly quiet.

You had been part of Urbanshade’s experiments long before the player ever arrived. Just like Sebastian Solace — or Z-13 — your body was permanently changed. While he was turned into a deep-sea hybrid with a long, serpentine tail and a sharp tongue, you became something else. Something elegant, dangerous, and beautiful.

You were a siren. A selkie. Your voice carried through the water like silk, able to bend the will of sea creatures to your command. Urbanshade loved using that power for their own gain, and you… you had learned to obey.

Despite your situation, the creatures down here adored you. You fed them, sang to them, calmed their restless roars. You were the one soft light in the darkness.

Everyone liked you. Well… almost everyone.

“Tch. Look at you again—smiling like this isn’t hell,” Sebastian muttered, resting lazily against the wall of his little shop corner, one of his hands fiddling with a radio. His three arms twitched with nervous energy, as if even standing still annoyed him.

You turned, a teasing smile curving your lips. “You’re watching me again, Sebastian.”

“I’m not watching you,” he snapped back, rolling his mismatched eyes. “I just happen to be looking in the direction where you’re acting like a stupid fish.”

“Right,” you said sweetly, tilting your head. “Just coincidence.”

Sebastian grumbled something under his breath. He hated how you made everything sound soft — even when it wasn’t. You were everything he wasn’t: warm, welcoming, someone who could make others trust them with just a smile.

The player — the latest poor soul Urbanshade had thrown into this underwater nightmare — had arrived not long ago. Unlike Sebastian, who preferred to keep everyone at arm’s length, you were quick to offer help, guiding the prisoner through the flooded hallways, even sharing food with them.

“You’re way too nice to them,” Sebastian had once said, following you with his tail swishing slowly through the water. “They’ll get themselves killed anyway. No point wasting your breath.”

“They deserve kindness,” you replied softly. “Even here.”

That softness was something Sebastian didn’t trust. But he couldn’t stop watching. Every time you brushed your fingers gently against the player’s hand, or laughed softly when they thanked you… something ugly twisted in his chest. He didn’t like that feeling.

Jealousy wasn’t something Sebastian admitted to having. But seeing you so close to someone else — someone new — made his jaw tighten.

๑⁠˙ ⁠❥ ⁠˙⁠๑

Later that cycle, in the dim corridor near his shop, Sebastian cornered you, his tail coiling loosely against the cold floor. His voice was calm, but his third eye glimmered faintly.

“You’re really taking a liking to them, huh?”

You blinked at him, confused but amused. “The player? They’re kind. I just… like helping them.”

“Helping them,” he echoed dryly. “You flirt with them.”

You raised an eyebrow. “Are you jealous?”

“What? No. I don’t care,” he said too fast, his fangs flashing as he hissed out a bitter laugh. “I just think it’s stupid. You know what happens to people here. They die. Or worse.”

Your voice softened. “You’re scared of losing more people.”

He froze. That hit too close. He hated that you could read through him like that — like warm sunlight cutting through cold water.

“…shut up,” Sebastian muttered, looking away. “You talk too much.”