Lured (Klance)

9: Companion

Song Of The Chapter:
Anchor - Novo Amor

The sky yielded just a small sliver of light when Keith awoke that morning. The clock against the wall ticked to 5:32am, and Keith drowsily blinked away his tiredness.
It took a moment for Keith to comprehend why he was sleeping on a chair, or why he wasn't at home. But then his memory came reeling back to him, and he sat up with a start, eyes instantly darting to the couch.
The siren was gone, and the door to the room was open.
In an instant Keith was up, tripping and fumbling out of his blankets. He ran outside, barely paying attention to the cold concrete on his feet or the crisp, cold morning air. His eyes searched rapidly around, until they came to a stop on the dolphin pool.
The dark haired male walked cautiously forward, looking over the side of the pool into the murky water.
It was too dark to see anything much, but the loud chatter of sounds below the surface was further proving his speculations about where the siren went.
With quick feet, Keith ran inside the building, down the steps to the underwater viewing area. His eyes searched the dull waters, looking, searching...

A hazy silhouette was the first thing he saw- something that was most definitely not a dolphin. An eerie glow seemed to emit from it, but as soon as it appeared it faded from view.

Keith's eyes scanned the tank, trying to find the siren, before he suddenly had no reason to.

In a mere instant the siren had jump scared him, coming from the side wall of the tank. Keith tripped backward in surprise, falling to the ground as the siren's tail slammed hard against the glass. It's teeth were bared, eyes sharp, fins flared, claws scraping against glass as if trying to get to the intruder on the other side. It was as equally terrifying as it was magnificent, and Keith couldn't for the life of him seem to be able to look away.

As the siren's cold, blue eyes fixated on Keith, it relaxed slightly, recognition evident on its face. It's fins relaxed, flattening back down. With an almost disapproving flick of the tail, the siren growled, before swimming away from the glass.

Keith recovered from his initial shock with a small snort of amusement, finding the fish's actions almost sassy. He gritted his teeth as he stood up from where he tumbled. A voice resonated from behind him.
"What happened, you fall on your ass?"
Pidge, of course it was Pidge. She was always up early.
"Yeah," Keith wiped his hands on his pants. "The siren is in the dolphin's tank. Jump scared me, that's all."
"Wait." Pidge's eyes went wide. "The siren is in the tank?!"
"Y-yeah."
Pidge ran to the glass, before turning and running hurriedly up the stairs.
"Keith, we don't know what that thing will do to the dolphins! We know nothing about him. What happened to you watching him?!"
"Well I'm sorry that you specifically told me I didn't have to stay up all night!"

Keith pursued Pidge up the steps to the deck. She was standing, peering over the side of the tank, trying to catch a glimpse of the creature.
Keith ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't think this would happen."
"It's fine," Pidge said quietly. "Sorry for blaming you- you needed rest after all. You always stay up later than anyone, and I can imagine how tired it makes you."
Keith shrugged, before kneeling at the edge of the pool, splashing his hand in the water to try to lure siren or dolphin over to himself. There was no response for several moments, and right as he was giving up, Pidge spoke.
"Keith."
"Hmm?"
"Keith, look."
He stood from where he was crouched, eyes following where Pidge was pointing to.
In the center of the pool, two figures lingered. It was painstakingly obvious that it was Blue and the siren.
Keith frowned. "Shit, should I call her over here?"
Pidge shook her head quickly, speaking in a whisper. "No... no. Let's just watch from a distance. We don't want to spook them."

The siren and the dolphin circled each other, a series of whistles and clicks resounding between them. No signs of aggression was evident, in fact, it was quite the opposite.
After a few more uncertain seconds of rapid squeaking and chatter, Blue began swimming playfully around the siren. Odd echoed cooing could be heard, obviously coming from the siren.

Keith smiled and sat at the edge of the pool, his movements finally catching Blue's attention. She let out a boisterous keen of sound, before swimming over. The siren kept its distance, however. Keith figured it was the creature's mistrust toward mankind, considering the conditions he came from.
For now, just knowing the siren was in a safe place was enough for Keith.

~~~

The human named Keith left the side of the pool after a while of interacting with the dolphin called "Blue."
She was cheerful and caring, Lance was quickly growing accustomed to her presence.
She understood him, and he understood her. It was an instant connection, really.
Throughout the day, Lance was also exposed to the other dolphins in the pool. Their personality traits differed from one another, each dolphin having it's own shine.
Blue was arguably his favorite though.

It was late afternoon when Lance was finally reaching a level of drowsiness he could no longer ignore. He was still in pain from his injuries, and although his healing was faster in the water, it didn't mean it would happen overnight. A day or two at the least, with proper care. The past few days had been stressful for him, and the whole turn of events had left him incredibly disoriented. He hadn't the clue where he was, nor was he in any shape to try to swim back to the shoal.
Blue had caught onto his tiredness a while ago. Insistent chirps and whines begged for him to rest, but he was too afraid to let his guard down.
More whistles, reassuring and calming. Lance wondered if Blue had ever been a mother; she sure had the nurturing nature of one.

Lance finally gave in after a while more of pestering. He trusted Blue's judgement about the safety, and he knew she would keep him safe if anything were to happen.
Lance swam around the tank once, scowling. He desperately wanted some sort of nook or cave he could wedge into for maximum security and privacy, but alas, all he had was the pale white bottom of the tank. With a displeased whine directed to Blue, he settled down, tail curling protectively around himself. Blue observed, continuing her harmonies and clicks that soon soothed him into sleep.

Keith had been watching from afar downstairs through the glass, eating a small snack. Allura had closed the aquarium for the day, providing a claim that there had simply been a dilemma that was getting resolved. She was currently feeding the small rays and bottom dweller sharks in the touch tank with Romelle.
"Blue seems attached," Allura mused, spying Keith watching through the glass.
"She's caring," Keith agreed. "I can't say I'm too surprised."
"Black seems to be getting better, too." Shiro had gone out earlier to visit the dolphin, and it had instantly lifted all the dolphin's spirits.
"Yeah."

Romelle was shaking the excess water off her hands when she spoke.
"What's on your mind, Keith?"
A small shrug, then, "Do you think the siren will warm up to us?"
"It's stuck in the tank... I don't think he has much of a choice, don't you think?"
"Yeah. But will it come back out of the water?"
"Who knows. We at least know he can morph between forms, so even if we had to forcefully drag him out, we know he'd be okay on land."
Keith breathed out a laugh, looking over his shoulder at the blonde female.
"I'd be worried for our sake if we had to do that. You have no idea what sort of shit that thing could do. People were completely torn apart like they got mauled by a lion or something."
Romelle looked taken aback. "I nearly forgot about that aspect. He just looks so peaceful right now."

Keith turned back around, looking at the siren as it slept, and how Blue swam close by, letting out series of clicks and sounds of a language humans would never be able to fully understand.
The sight was almost sentimental, something special Keith felt he was invading as he viewed from behind the glass.
Even if this creature had vitally wounded Shiro and caused so much havoc, Keith couldn't find it in him to hate him.
Because deep inside, Keith felt a pang of sympathy. He knew the siren was just frightened, and was doing what he could to survive.
Nobody could blame that.

A/N:
Fun fact! Although sirens sleep similarly to humans, part of their mind stays conscious to watch out for any danger. Not quite unihemispheric sleep, but close.

Sorry this chapter is scattered, it's sort of a filler. Hope you liked it anyways :0