~SkepHalo Oneshots~

The Song of Death

Requested by JasperTredway

⚠Trigger warning: death/drowning mention⚠

There is a beach on the coast of Florida which is very beautiful; it has low levels of pollution, and the sand is soft. It's the perfect place for a vacation except for one thing: a ways out from the shore, there is a deep crevice, at the bottom of which lives a clan of sirens. Every day, there is a siren waiting on a rock positioned on the other side of the ravine, his haunting song attracting anyone unfortunate enough to wander too far out. Entranced by the song, they will drown in the crevice.

On this particular day, Halo, the siren positioned on the rock, had just spotted his next prey. He flicked his tail, splashing a little bit of water. He opened his mouth and began to sing. Immediately, the human turned toward the siren and began to move through the water, directly toward the drop-off.

Soon, the human could be clearly seen by the siren. It was a boy, with black hair and tan skin, a sharp contrast from Halo's brown hair and light skin. The siren found himself staring at the boy as he came closer and closer to the gap. Right at the last second, Halo stopped singing and the boy snapped out of his trance. He let out a shriek at the sight of the siren and swam back to the shore as fast as possible. Halo frowned, looking down into the dark water. Why did he stop? His job was to lead humans to their deaths, so why had he allowed that boy to survive?

The next day, the same boy was at the beach. Halo recognized him from afar, and this time, he didn't sing so the boy would die, he sang so he could see him again. Once again, Halo stopped before the boy could fall, and again, the boy fled at the sight of the siren. Halo found himself smiling, his mind flooded with thoughts of the boy.

The third day was different. This time, rather than fleeing, the boy looked out at Halo and called to him, "You keep bringing me out here and then stopping here. Why?"

Halo didn't respond. He knew exactly why, but it was forbidden for a siren to speak to a human.

"I thought sirens-" the boy started, lifting his foot from the sand to step forward. His expression shifted into one of panic upon finding no ground beneath him and slipping off the edge into the deep water.

Halo gasped and immediately dove off the rock, rapidly swimming to where the boy was flailing, desperately trying to kick himself up the surface. The siren's arms wrapped around the boy's waist, easily pulling him up out of the water. Halo hoisted the boy onto the rock, where he began coughing, his body expelling the water from his lungs.

"You- saved me?" the boy said once he had stopped coughing.

Halo turned to dive down into the water.

"Wait!" the boy exclaimed, causing Halo to stop and look at him. "I'm Zak. What's your name?"

Halo looked at Zak for a moment before answering, "Halo. My name is Halo." He dove downward, vanishing from the boy's sight.

The next day, Halo didn't even have to sing. Zak came on his own. Halo's smile lit up upon seeing the boy approach. Zak swam across the crevice and sat down on the rock next to Halo. The two talked for hours, understanding each other and the different cultures they came from. As the sun began to set, the two said their goodbyes and Zak swam back to the shore.

The two did this for several days. Their friendship was their secret. One day, Zak gave Halo a kiss on the cheek before leaving, and their friendship became something more. They sat close together, Zak's leg brushing against Halo's tail; Zak flirted with Halo regularly; they came close to kissing a few times, but Halo got too flustered and chickened out every time. However, underneath all of it was the knowledge that as long as Halo was a siren, they wouldn't be able to be together properly. Halo was stuck in the ocean; if he went too close to the shore, he wouldn't have enough water to swim in, and if he somehow managed to leave the water entirely, he would soon pass out from dehydration.