drown for you | jjk

06

Namjoon reacts just as you suspected. He thinks you and Hoseok are 'fucking crazy' for suggesting something so insanely dumb. Surprisingly, he doesn't voice his thoughts on the fact that Hoseok practically told you what you were not to know. It must be because it's Hoseok. Everyone has a soft spot for the sweet scientist.

"Joon, just let me try once. I'll keep my distance, I promise. Maybe I can get him to eat something." Your voice is gentle as you try to sound convincing.

"I don't mean to be rude, but do you really think he refuses to eat because you stopped chatting to him?"

Your eyes widen, and you gasp the tiniest of gasps. His words slice a tear in your heart, making you look down at your feet and start doubting yourself. Why did you think that you were important to him?

"It doesn't matter, just let us try. Let her try. He's not going to last much longer, you know that," Hoseok steps up, using his calm voice of reason.

And that's how you end up in that room after what feels like an eternity but is more like a week and a half. Namjoon is there, and so are Jimin and Taehyung, as well as Hoseok.

When they caught wind of the recent development and subsequent plans, nothing could prevent Jimin and Taehyung from tagging along. You can't even blame them; they'd never gotten the chance to see the beautiful creature, and according to themselves, not even been allowed to see the tapes. It seems as if Namjoon's original plan to keep the whole ordeal super-secret had, simply put gone to shit, so now he's just admitted defeat.

But to you, it doesn't exactly add up. Both Jimin and Taehyung have been feeding the siren for some time now, so they absolutely could have seen him. You assume that Namjoon considered the feeding a relatively safe procedure since it only involves dumping a bucket of fish over the wall from the top of the stairs. He probably knew that the siren wasn't going to show itself.

It's been a long day and tiring day, from finding out that the siren is behaving oddly through eavesdropping, to your talk with Hoseok, then persuading Namjoon, and now entering the large room with the hopes of feeding the siren.

Still, you're feeling hopeful, and pushing aside the accompanying concern, you're excited at the prospect of seeing him again.

As soon as the door is open and the five of you well inside, Hoseok turns on the light. A light practically brighter than the sun fills the room, and you quickly instruct him to use the other setting. Your preference for the lower light stems from the feeling that, while none of them are natural to the being, who was most likely designed to live in the dark depths, the lighter one even makes you uncomfortable. It's like you're at the dentist, strapped in to have your teeth pulled. Only this dentist keeps mythical creatures instead of goldfish in their aquarium.

With your usual bag of fruit—cut up strawberries and sliced bananas this time—you head toward the tank. You almost expect the siren to greet you somehow, maybe push his palm against the glass or something. Stupid, you think, you're not in a poorly written harlequin novel.

Still, you can't help but gawk at the wall of darkness. You understand why the siren feels better in a tank with water this murky; if it were clearer, he'd be on display twenty-four hours a day.

Feet pushing you up the stairs, and with a hand on the railing, you won't deny that you're nervous. At the last step, you halt. You've done this numerous times before but never with an audience. Speaking of the audience, when you look over to where you left the other men at the base of the staircase, they've vanished.

A call of your name has your head whipping around, trying to locate the source of it. Apparently, there's a staircase wrapping around the opposite side of the tank as well, and if you climb it, you end up on a sort of... bleacher behind the see-through wall. Oh wow, you can't believe you never noticed that before. You blame your use of the lower light and that whenever you're inside that room, other things draw your attention.

With Namjoon and the others watching, you don't want to sit on the platform. Glancing up at them as you reach around the edge of the wall, you let your fingers slowly stir the water from the safety of the last step. But even that appears to be too dangerous to them, and you can tell that they already want to protest. If the nerves you sense from the men are anything to go by, they'll all most likely be dead from heart attacks before the day is over.

You wait and wait, but nothing happens. You keep calling for him by tapping the water, hoping maybe he's only asleep or something and that he'll wake up.

"He usually comes up when I do this," you clarify as you feel their confused gazes on you. Is he angry at you for not coming to see him for a week? That you promised you'd help him get out before you simply disappeared? You don't want to assume the worst, reminding yourself that Hoseok told you he'd been briefly caught on tape last night.

You ignore the men when they shout for you to stay, imagining their hearts beating like crazy when you step out onto the platform. You want to help him, and you want to prove yourself. Once again, you crouch and place your fingers in the water, trying to call for him.

"Hey, I'm back..." you whisper. Talking to him feels like a private matter, like regardless of how innocent it is, you don't want anyone else to hear. "I missed you," you add so quietly that you doubt it breaches the surface.

Growing impatient, Jimin shouts, "You sure that's going to work?"

And perhaps you should've kept your eyes on the dark water and not prioritize to smile reassuringly at the men because before you know it, something grabs you by your arm.

Having been crouched, you're now pulled down onto your knees, and as you instinctively turn your head, you're face to face with the siren. A scream is ripped from your throat, both because of the pain but also because of him.

He's grabbed you right below the elbow and yanked you down to his level, your hand and forearm pulled into the cold water. The grip he has on you is excruciating, and clearly, he possesses some kind of superhuman strength because your arm feels as if it's being crushed.

You're utterly convinced this is it; he's going to kill you. His face is so close to yours, and you can see the sharp teeth through his furious snarl. They look like fangs. And his eyes, they're pure darkness. He wants you dead.

Panic courses through your entire body, and you try to pull your arm back but to no avail. It's stuck within his cold grip, and he uses his other hand to push against the platform. A simple tug would be enough to pull you under. Tears start to roll down your cheeks at the thought that he might actually drown you, and you desperately plead for him to release you.

"Please, let me go, please, please! I won't bother you again, I promise, just please don't kill me. Let me go, let me go," you shut your eyes tightly and lean all of your body weight back, praying to a god you don't believe in. How could you have misjudged him so badly?

Realistically, only a few seconds have passed since you were first grabbed; it just feels longer when your entire life flashes before your eyes. Namjoon and the others have to throw themselves down the stairs, run around the tank, and up the other steps to reach you.

By the time they arrive at the top, the siren has already let go, and you're scrambling to get as far away as possible, pressing your back to the wall while clutching your injured and wet arm to your chest.

After releasing you, the siren moved silently toward the farthest wall where he's now observing, only his dark eyes and wet hair visible above the water.

You're hyperventilating, unable to tear your gaze from him. Not only does it feel like the bones inside your arm have been absolutely crushed, but the siren's nails—more like claws—have pierced your skin and drawn blood. Blood that is now staining your shirt.

You've never been so thankful for Namjoon as when he steps onto the platform to grab your good arm and hoist you away. He hands you over to Taehyung, who carries you down the stairs. You cry against his neck, and vaguely, you hear Namjoon's voice as he lingers behind.

"You fucking monster, I should've let you die."