Dive: Stucky

Part 12: The Battle

Bucky lead the others in their full on siege against the armada. WIth the moon high in the sky now, their bioluminescence was at full glow making it more confusing for the sailors who were trying to aim harpoons into the water. This was definitely an advantage, but it wasn't good enough for some to escape the deadly weapons. Sailors had resorted to using their own handguns and fired bullets into the water, renting the air with screeches from the sirens.

Bucky roared the order to fall back and the sirens obeyed and followed him back down through the sunken bodies and blood. They retreated as fast as they could, but harpoons still sailed past them and they scattered. Bucky hissed and communicated to them to go ahead and they again obeyed and swam as fast as they could, away from the ships.

Bucky rose back up above the water and pumped his tail as hard as he could, aiming for Steve's old ship. He shot up out of the water, a good twenty feet, and landed on the deck to the surprise of the sailors. He hissed and smacked some off with his tail and clawed the others with his hand. He flipped himself around and sunk his razor sharp teeth into the flesh of a particularly burly seaman and hurled him overboard. 

"Hey! I was wondering when you'd be back!" a familiar voice cried from behind. Bucky whirled around and saw Sam grinning from the doorway. He swung his gun high in triumph. "It's about time!"

Bucky grinned toothily back at him as he jogged up and hoisted him onto the banister. "Ready to get back in there?" He nodded vigorously, then stopped when Sam's expression changed to one of shock, looking out behind Bucky. He turned his head and saw why he looked so astonished. The ghost armada had returned, and on the bow of the leading ship stood Steve. 

Steve! He was alive! Bucky felt his heart soar, and all he wanted to do was swim back to him and curl up in his warm, strong arms. He cried out to him and his head turned towards the sound. Their eyes met and Steve smiled broadly and waved as they came closer. Heads on the decks of other ships turned and watched in awe as the golden ships approached. One of the ghosts aboard the ships pointed at Bucky, who looked down at the medallion. It was glowing bright, and hope flooded through him as he saw the sirens reappear on the surface of the water, swimming along with the ghost ships. It was a sight to behold.

The ghosts fired golden cannon balls towards the live fleet and to their surprise they made contact, crashing into the bow and knocking it clean off. The sirens cheered their approval and advanced on the men who were deserting, rowing away in small dinghies. They quickly overcame them and dragged them into the water.

Sam looked to Bucky. "Did you know about this?" 

Bucky shook his head and turned back to gaze at Steve. The ghost boat sailed up and docked next to the ship and Steve hopped aboard, sprinting to Bucky and pulling him into his embrace. 

"Thank goodness you're alive!" he cried, pulling back and kissing him all over his face. "I thought I had lost you~"

Bucky purred softly in his arms. He had craved this feeling for so long, and he had finally been given it. He returned his own kisses to Steve's soft cheeks and brushed them across his lips. 

"Ahem."

They both turned their heads to see Sam standing there with a smirk on his face. "You two done with you make-out session yet?"

Steve stood sheepishly and held Bucky in his arms. "Let's get you back into the water, shall we?" he said, smiling down at him. Bucky nodded, but before he let Steve slip him off the side of the boat, he handed him the medallion which was glowing bright. Steve took it and nodded at him before lifting him off the side of the boat and letting him fall back towards the surface of the water.

He splashed into the blood-red waves and turned to face the group of sirens that awaited his command. He looked around at the armada whose men were furiously working to right themselves and prepare for the next wave of the fight. He also caught the golden eye of the leader of the ghost armada who also waited for direction. Steve stood by his side and nodded at Bucky, who turned back to the group. 

One of the feeblest ones handed him a sharp stone from the depths of the ocean. He took it in his and and spun around, screeching his battle cry and the others followed. Their chorus only amplified as Bucky hurled the stone at one of the captains and hit him square in the face. He screamed and toppled off the boat as the soldiers resumed fire. The ghost armada advanced and fired more cannonballs into the ships, causing some to sink. 

Men flew overboard and into the water where they were quickly devoured by hungry sirens. Dead bodies floated around in the water, but no one paid any mind to them. Ships caught on fire and some flying debris hit unaware sirens in the water, critically injuring them. 

Steve led the ghost ships while Bucky led the sirens, and together they were slowly winning. Both could feel that victory was coming their way when a sudden blow to one of the ghost ships caused them to turn and look at it in shock. Seeing as these were spirit ships, they were relatively untouchable to anything, living or not. Bucky raced back to the ship to see it slowly disappearing into thin air, then gone completely. Another ship went down beside him and he whirled around to see the sailors loading up a cannonball from the fallen spirit ships. They had somehow managed to figure out how to be able to handle the cannonballs, but how?

Bucky squinted and to his horror he saw the sailors using discarded siren scales to load the cannonballs into the cannons and blast the spirit ships. Since sirens do have a bit of magic inside them, it allowed them to hand certain magical items. It came as an advantage, but also a disadvantage. 

This could be the turning point of the battle.