The Siren of the Titanic

Chapter 2: Pain

"You know, I need to call you something. I can't keep saying "you". Got any preferences?" The three of them sang back, each singing a different song. Father whale sang a deep song in three bursts that sounded like a small growl. "Power, strength, leader" Mom sang with a long moaning sound. "Kind, caring, loving" Lastly, little buddy called with a song that started low but raised in pitch. "Innocence, purity, bubbly" My thoughts raced with ideas for a minute or two before finally coming to a decision. "I'm afraid I can't say those." I chuckled. "How about these?" I pointed to Father, "Mars, the god of war" than to Mother, "Venus, the goddess of love and lastly Jupiter, after the god of thunder!" I finished nudging my little friend with a smile. The three sounded back in a higher sound. "I'll take that as a yes." I laughed. "What should I call myself? The name Nash doesn't exactly fit a merman." I gave up after swimming for a few miles, thinking that a new name will come to me eventually.

We swam for hours, the whales would eat krill while they swam. Sadly, I could not join them, my stomach grumbling angrily. We had passes schools of fish, crabs and other types of sea-creatures but soon we came across a small seaweed forest. Some of the large kelp instinctively made my stomach growl loudly, while some of them did not. I decided that it was a good idea to follow my instincts and eat one of the "stomach-growling" kind and ignored the other type. Jupiter came up beside me, watching me put a leaf from the long green plant into my mouth. It was salty like the water but not half bad, sort of crunchy like lettuce, but it had a sort of savory taste to it. Smiling to myself, I quickly gathered some of the remaining leaves off of the plant, munching on a leaf or two as I harvested. I was able to fill up on a few of the leaves while the whales swam to the surface for a quick breather. I swam to the bottom of one of the large green plants and wrenched the whole plant out of the ground. I swam a small distance from the other plants and tied my plant around my waist like a belt. Jupiter came down from the surface to see what I was doing. He circled me a few times sounding out a song filled with curiosity. "Just in case I get hungry again." I explained shrugging my shoulders.

I joined my friends on the surface, my new belt creating a bit more drag than normal but it wasn't bad enough to slow me down too much. I scanned the horizon around us seeing nothing but the waves, however, something caught my attention as I turned around. My eyes widened realizing what it was. A whaling ship! The ship was unlike a ship I had ever seen. It was a metal vessel much like the Titanic that I had died, on but it had a massive harpoon gun mounted to the front. Several men stood on the deck with spear guns and other whaling weapons, yelling and laughing as if killing innocents was nothing but a sport. Even worse it was coming straight for us. "LET'S GO! GO! GO! SWIM! THEY'LL KILL YOU! GO!" I screamed at my companions in utter fear. Our group began racing through the water as fast as we could swim, but the boat was catching up to us. The whalers shot spears towards us, missing by mere inches. Mars sounded to Venus, Jupiter and I signaling us to dive deeper and deeper under the waves, but he backtracked. "NO!" I panicked. Venus and Jupiter continued to dive but turned to see Mars making his way back towards the ship. If whales could cry, they were. Somehow they knew Mars wasn't going to survive, but they still followed his wishes. They continued to dive deeper where the spears could not reach effectively.

Then I heard it. A scream that ripped through my very core. A scream of pain, agony, hatred and pure rage from the surface. Venus turned as if to go to her mate, but I stopped her with a look. "No, keep going! I'll go! I'll protect him! Jupiter take my seaweed!" I said ripping the stalk of plant off of my waist and let it sink to the small whale. Without a second look, I took off, no plan, no weapon, just sheer panic, and rage. I managed to grab one of the spent spears that slowly floated towards the deep, and rushed to my newest friend.

Mars rammed into some of the smaller boats that had come out of the larger ship, smashing them to pieces, the men inside, swimming for their lives. His massive body looked more like a giant pin-cushion, he was covered in spears, harpoons, wounds, and blood, but he fought like the war god I named him after. I used to be on the track team back home. Known throughout my hometown for my speed, but I never had the chance to try throwing the javelin, but I learned how to by watching those that did. I gripped the spear the way that I once saw, drew my arm back, wished myself luck and threw. I watched it soar through the air and land in the dead center of a whaler's chest, and I smiled. I had never killed someone before, and I didn't like the idea of it, but this was survival.

I managed to scavenge the waters and seafloor for more spears, and I slowly picked off some of the whalers, hitting them dead in the chest. Thankfully, none of them noticed me as they were focused more on Mars. Eventually, Mars and I picked off the smaller boats, but the battle was not over. Mars gave me a song that sounded like a deep moan, it was sad and painful. Slowly, Mars moved, flanking the main ship, the ship's huge main harpoon could skewer him. "MARS NO!" I screamed realizing what he was going to do. He began to pick up speed, my heart quickening just as much. When the remaining whalers saw him, they once again threw spears and smaller harpoons, but nothing slowed him down.

One of the whalers grabbed a huge harpoon gun and aimed it right at Mars' head. I threw my hand at him in panic, tears beginning to fall, but when I did so a spear of ice came out of my hand and hit him dead in the chest and turned his whole body into ice. His fellow comrades turned to see what had happened losing their focus on Mars, who rammed the side of their ship, creating a huge hole in the metal hull which was most likely quickly filling with water. Using my new-found ice power, I repeated the motion sending icy spears into the hearts of the men turning them to ice, and into the hull of their ship, creating new breaches for the water to enter. Soon the ship began to sink. "We did it, Mars!" I said throwing my hands into the air, only then did I realize that my brave friend was no longer on the surface.

I once again began to panic, turning to and fro trying to find him. I soon realized that he must have gone back under. I went underwater and quickly found blood. I followed it to the source, to Mars. He sat on the sandy bottom, still alive but very weak. He sent out his song as loud as his weak body could sing. Soon Venus and Jupiter joined us, both with fear and sadness in their eyes. The two of them sang a song of mourning, a song begging him to live. I swam up close to him, laying on his head hugging him. "You did it, Mars. You saved them." I said smiling sadly. Mars almost seemed to smile before sighing, the life slowly flowing from his eyes. Venus nudged her mate begging him to stay but her pleas fell on deaf ears. The three of us cried. My tears turning into drops of crystal-like ice. I watched them fall to the ocean floor surprised, remembering my new-found power. Touch him and focus. I did as my instincts seemed to command, laying my hands on his body and closed my eyes. Slowly the water around us began to get colder. I gradually opened my eyes to see a spectacular sight. Mars was covered in crystal ice, like a glass coffin, the whaler ship finally sank about a quarter of a mile away. It was truly spectacular.

"Now no whaler or shark can get to him. Like this, he can live forever." I declared, turning to Venus and Jupiter. I could still sense their sadness, but now they seemed happier like they can move on at last. With a final song of farewell, the three of us continued our travels to wherever the oceans could go.