Dive: Stucky

Part 5: The Red Clouds

Bucky whimpered, straining against the chains that held him down firmly. He was weakening rapidly, his skin now numb with pain. Blood was starting to form on the worst patches of dryness, making him moan. 

Steve watched Bucky suffering with awful sorrow, knowing that there was little he could do except bargain. He looked to the captain with pleading eyes, willing him to agree. If he managed to convince the sailors to follow him to the graveyard, he would be ridding the ship of their most prominent problems.

"Very well," the captain said grudgingly, nodding to Steve. "Make sure he's secured."

The sailors roughly grabbed him and cuffed his hands behind his back. Steve grunted but didn't protest as he was dragged away to the steps that led to the little dock in the back of the ship. He was watching to make sure that they released Bucky, who was giving him a heartbroken look through the bars, but they didn't. 

"Hey, what about our deal!" he cried, outraged as the captain cackled. 

"Their scales go for a lot on the black market, don't they?" he cooed menacingly. 

"That's not fair! Let him go!"

"Or what? I'm staying here to make sure that you come back with my treasure," the captain said, leaning against the cage. Bucky snarled at him, making him laugh again.

Steve felt his heart sink into his chest as more than half of the greedy sailors followed them, but Sam lagged behind, dousing Bucky in sea water. He looked to Steve with doubt and worry, but Steve glanced to Bucky, then back to him, who understood.

Set him free once we're gone, Steve wanted to say with his look. Set him free, set him free. 

He gave Bucky one last look. Those deep blue siren eyes broke his heart as they gave him a puppy-dog look. 

"It's okay," he said with a sad smile on his face, hearing him whimper and stretch out his hand towards him, "it's gonna be okay."

But he knew he was lying when he said it. He knew that the graveyard was infested with bloodthirsty sirens. He knew he wouldn't be coming back.

The sailors dragged him through the galley, down the steps, and onto the little dock where a couple of dinghies awaited them, bobbing in the water. They tossed him in roughly and began to row out. Steve directed them towards the graveyard, noticing the captain watching him from the side of the ship.

After what seemed like eternity, the ship finally faded out of sight. Steve looked around in the churning waters, trying to remember how far he and Bucky had gone. Calculating exactly where hundreds of sunken ships lay at the bottom of the ocean was no easy task.

"We almost there yet?" one of the crew members whined, looking at Steve who said stoic at the end of the dinghy.

"Almost."

After another twenty minutes, Steve finally signalled for them to stop, being sure that they were almost directly over the graveyard. Everyone looked around skeptically, seeing as they were in a patch of ocean that looked exactly like the rest they had passed almost an hour before.

"You sure this is it boy?" one of the burliest of the sailors asked, furrowing his brow in doubt.

"We could head back to the ship empty handed if you don't believe me," Steve said coldly, glaring at all of them. 

"How do we get down there without... you know... drowning?" another sailor asked, peering out the edge of the boat. 

Steve considered. The only plan he had was to swim down there since Bucky's kiss allowed him to breath underwater, and get the sirens to notice the small dinghies on the surface of the water. The only problem was how long would he last before they attacked him?

He stood up and moved over to the side of the tiny boat, swallowing his fear as he looked into the depths of the water. He then looked back to the questioning sailors, and spoke.

"I alone have the ability to dive down and collect it. The siren has granted me power to do so."

This fib seemed to work well on the ignorant sailors, who all looked convinced. 

"I need my wrists free, though. You know, to swim?"

The big sailor nodded and unlocked the cuffs around Steve's wrists. Steve put one foot on the edge of the boat, hoping beyond hope that there was still siren magic left on his lips, and leapt off, plunging into the freezing water.

He inhaled sharply, and to his relief he didn't choke on seawater. He looked back up at the bottoms of the dinghies, and could see the sailors peering down curiously into the water. He then turned sharply and dove down.

Diving. Diving. Diving.

Deeper he went, the water turning darker and the light depleting rapidly. He squinted to see his hands in front of his face, scooping water past him as he finally managed to reach the sandy ocean floor. He looked around in the silent darkness, searching for anything that could resemble a mast.

Come, come, be free,

Come, come, be with me.

His eyes widened as he heard the familiar, haunting tune. He turned his head in the water, desperately trying to identify the shape of a siren's tail. He saw something flicker around a sandy rock, and he knew at once what it was: the dorsal fin of a siren.

Come, come beneath the waves,

I will save you from the grave.

Steve felt his head throb slightly as he suddenly wanted to obey the voices. He started drifting towards the song, willing it to do as it promised and set him free. He reached out towards the figures that were drawing nearer and nearer to him at speeds unknown. Set me free...

Watch the water,

Hear it speak.

Yes, he thought as the shapes were almost upon him. I can hear it... The shapes were only a few meters away from him now, and he could almost clearly make out what they were. They looked almost like Bucky, with their beautiful arching bodies and shimmering tails. Let me be with you, Bucky...

Come come, be free,

Come, come, be with me.

Suddenly Steve felt a searing pain in his stomach as the first siren plunged its claw deep into his skin. He barely had time to scream in pain before another planted one in his side, and the back of his legs. Blood poured out of his gaping wounds, swirling around him and staining the water with crimson.

It looked like red clouds.