Lost Souls [Once Upon A Time]

Sirens

Annie POV

Shink. It hit right in the centre. I threw another knife and it hit right in the centre again, knocking the other blade aside. 

I was pretty sure I was killing the tree, but I knew I could just grow another one. I could do anything I wanted to here. Anything in the world. I could teleport. I could put anything anywhere. I couldn't believe I was so helpless yesterday and so strong today.

I knew I had gotten on Peter's bad side, and felt sort of guilty about it. I knew I couldn't stay at his place. I needed to make a new one. I wondered if I could make something underwater. That would be cool. Plus I love water. 

This would be a lot harder than the other simple picturing games. It was sort of like building a mind palace. You knew what it sort of looked like, but it was kind of blurry. The images switched. With this, they couldn't. I couldn't have the walls of my house caving in on me.

I closed my eyes and pictured the water's edge. I reopened them and I was on a cliff. A really tall cliff. With rocks at the bottom. Well at least it had water. I sat down on the edge of the cliff and closed my eyes. I pictured I giant bubble under the water next to the rocks. About 10 feet under the surface. Inside the bubble, I began to build.

Coral walls slowly formed into a castle. Not really big, but way bigger than Peter's hideout under the tree. Ten times bigger. I formed each room, the entry room, the bedrooms, the kitchen, then the bathroom. Everything had air, because it was inside the bubble. Plus the castle was touching the ground, so You could actually walk on the sand. 

Then I added something that actually impressed myself. Fish. The bubble wouldn't affect them. They could just swim through the bubble like there was just water there. But they couldn't swim through the castle though. Even though they could go inside of it. 

I opened my eyes and looked down at the water. I couldn't see it, and I was hoping that was because it was ten feet under the water. If it wasn't there, I would die. There were probably more rocks on the bottom that I hadn't seen and maybe not cleared. I wasn't sure if I was willing to rely so strongly on my mental images. It was either it was there, or death. I was obviously nervous. Shaking. I got into the position for diving. I was really praying that safety bubble was there. I knew I was stalling. I might as well say goodbye.

"If I die, I'm sorry Peter." Even though he probably couldn't hear me.

I dove off the cliff.

Peter POV

I stopped the fuming after a while. I stopped polishing my sword and began to sharpen it. I guess I should've done the sharpening first and then the polishing, but it didn't really matter. I needed something to do, besides watching the camp shift. 

All the boys either went out to hunt or fish and talk about the fight, or stay at camp and talk about the fight. It hurt me. All of a sudden their attention shifted to Annie. Even though I've led them for hundreds of years. I knew this was because something different happened for a change, but I couldn't help feeling annoyed.

I couldn't take it. I retreated to my thinking tree, hoping that Annie wasn't there. Where was she anyway? I relaxed and leaned against my tree, throwing my sword to the ground by the trunk. Oh. She was at the cliffs. What was she doing there anyway? Eh, anyway, I didn't care. She could do whatever she wanted. 

I flew up to a branch of my tree and took my pipes out of my jacket. I played a joyful but slow song. I didn't want to think about her. I messed up on a note. NO. I would NOT think about her. I kept playing. 

All of a sudden, I heard her voice in my head. I stopped and put my pipes in my jacket again. Annie could talk to me in my head. Peter, She said. If I die, I'm sorry Peter. My heart stopped and I froze. She jumped off the cliffs. And then I didn't know where she was. She was gone. 

I jumped off the branch and landed on the edge of the cliff. "Annie!" I yelled. Nothing. Just the waves against the rocks. I didn't hesitate. I dove. 

I landed in  a patch of dirty water. I couldn't see anything. I squinted through the water to try to see her. I couldn't. Then I saw something. A tail. Reflecting sunlight off of it's body. Then it disappeared into the water. I was running out of breath. 

I went up to the surface and gasped for air, then dove straight down again. Then I saw her. She was swimming towards me. I was so releived to see her I completely forgot that we almost killed each other this morning. 

She swam towards me, and I swam towards her. When we got to arm length distance, I stopped swimming. But Annie didn't she kept coming towards me. She wrapped her arms around me. I was really surprised. I froze as she leaned in and kissed me. I kissed her back, and we sank down towards the bottom of the ocean. I was enjoying it at first, but then I knew something was wrong. I was running out of air. 

I pulled back from her and tried to swim up to the surface. She grabbed my arm and I turned my head down to look at her. She wasn't Annie. She was a siren. So Annie was still out there. Probably dead. I had to get to her. I don't know why I didn't try to teleport straight back to that branch. Probably because I knew she was still in the ocean. I was getting pulled down slowly down. Drowning.

A flash of light caught my eye. I looked down at the hilt of a golden sword and the siren trying to escape with me. The water flooded with red and I was released. Pressure bursted in my chest, and I looked down and Annie was swimming towards me. I tried to push her away again, knowing that she was the siren. She grabbed my wrists and pushed them away, then came up to me and hugged me tightly. 

Warm air hit my face, and I coughed up water, brackish flowing out of my mouth. I relaxed on my back and Annie supported herself on her hands, her body on mine. Her eyes were brimmed with concern, her hair hanging in wet strands.

"Are you okay?" She cupped my face in her hands. I nodded and sat up. She got off of me and stood up, offering me her hand. I grabbed her arm and she did the same with mine, helping me stand.

Her eyes met with mine, but I looked away quickly. She was still trying to catch my gaze. 

"Why did you dive in after me?" she asked. Oh no. She couldn't know that I actually cared if she lived or died. Maybe a little more than that.

"I thought you had committed suicide." I answered. She started to laugh, and I was confused.

"Yeah, me too." She explained to me that she tried to make her own place underwater, but wasn't sure if it worked.

"Did it?"

"Yeah. Come on." She took my hand. 

I looked over at her and then the world around us changed. We were in an enormous bubble touching the bottom of the ocean, surrounded by fish flying in midair. I turned around. A giant coral castle was standing tall before me. It was green, blue, and a lot of other colors. 

We walked inside and she sat on a driftwood couch. I sat next to her in half of a giant clam. I guessed it was an armchair of a sort.

We explored the rest of the castle in mostly silence. When we finished, I awkwardly told her it was nice, and left to my tree. 

I picked up my sword and jumped to the camp. I walked over to Felix, who was skinning a rabbit. He looked up at me with a blank expression. He was always hard to read.

"Why are you wet?"

"Because the female species is a confusing one." I told him. I took off my jacket and shirt and hung them over a branch.

"Agreed."

I sat down next to him and began to wonder why I let that siren kiss me. I knew that I was starting to like her, and I couldn't stop it no matter what.

Hey all! Annie here. Hope you liked it! Leave a comment below to tell me what you did and didn't . Plus the typos which I know i have.