A/N

Merry christmas everyone!

Final

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Jungkook had absolutely nothing to base his guess on, but he assumed around another hour had passed when Taehyung began stirring slightly. Almost reflexively Jungkook sat up a little straighter before whispering.

"Tae... Tae, are you awake?"

The body under him made a soft muffled noise, slowly returning to consciousness. Jungkook had to stop himself from making a loud noise in relief. He didn't know how soundproof the walls were and if the guards clearly still stationed at the door could hear him and get suspicious. These were some of the most dangerous minutes of his plan. If the guard came in now Taehyung likely would still be too delirious to defend himself, but he was clearly waking up.

Jungkook once again started running his fingers through Taehyung's hair as the siren moved a little, probably realizing the restrictions to his movement. "Shhhh try not to be too loud. If they hear us we're both fucked. As long as you don't move too much we're safe." Jungkook tried to calm him, although he knew things probably didn't sound all that reassuring.

But Taehyung actually stopped struggling against the handcuffs, his body once again ceasing its movements. Jungkook couldn't help feeling a little bit of happiness at how instantly Taehyung had trusted his judgment of the situation, even without much explanation.

Slowly Taehyung's eyes opened, and he looked about as disoriented as Jungkook had felt when he had woken up as he blinked up at the ceiling. Jungkook squeezed Taehyung's hand softly. "There is no imminent danger right now... no one is here to harm you."

Jungkook was a little anxious that Taehyung might startle at the unfamiliar surroundings. But the siren kept his cool pretty well as he turned his head to look at Jungkook. Taehyung usually didn't have the most expressive face, but when their eyes met, relief was all he could see in Taehyung's expression. Relief with a touch of lingering fear. Like he still wasn't sure that Jungkook was actually okay.

The first thing Taehyung had done after waking up was making sure that Jungkook was safe.

"I'm fine." Jungkook felt a little choked up. They were both fine... Taehyung had woken up again. He quickly blinked before tears could form in the corners of his eyes. "We're both fine."

Unlike Taehyung, Jungkook had the freedom to reach his hands out and gently cup Taehyung's jaw. It was a little awkward, with his arms handcuffed, but he didn't let that stop him. Taehyung still seemed a little bleary as he closed his eyes again at Jungkook's touch. He carefully traced his thumb over Taehyung's cheek before moving to remove the fabric gag from Taehyung's mouth. He hadn't dared remove it before since it didn't fit with his attempt of convincing them he didn't like Taehyung.

"You're fine." Taehyung's voice was just a whisper, but Jungkook almost teared up a second time at how relieved and exhausted he sounded. Jungkook realized that when he had gone down back at their apartment, Taehyung likely hadn't known that it had been sedatives and that Jungkook hadn't actually been in grave danger.

He nodded again. "I'm fine. I'm safe." This time he couldn't stop the tears in his eyes. "You're safe... you woke up." The fear that had been weighing on him the last hours was evaporating, leaving him feeling light.

Slowly Taehyung's eyes seemed to clear up, some of the bleariness disappearing. Jungkook watched as he once again inspected the room around them, still completely still as to not make any sounds.

"Where are we?"

Jungkook was really glad that Taehyung had started acting more and more based on observations and actual thought instead of just pure instinct as he had done back when they had first met. It probably had to do with the fact that Taehyung could just march right out of this place if he wanted to, but with Jungkook by his side, a lot more things posed enough of a threat to make Taehyung pause.

And so he asked questions first, even though Jungkook could tell that Taehyung was getting more and more tense at the unfamiliar place.

"We're on a ship, going somewhere. They think you're still unconscious and I would like to keep it that way. There are two guards in front of the door and I think that another guard, one that has been giving you more sedatives, will likely be back in the next couple of hours. And the door only opens from the outside." He nodded towards the door. While he was talking pretty flatly, just explaining the situation, his voice was a little rough from his emotions that were still all over the place.

"I don't know how many people are on here, but I think it's a pretty big ship."

Taehyung nodded, so Jungkook continued.

"I think the hardest part will be getting out of this room and these chains. After that we could try to sneak off... once we're in the water we should be safe, right?" Jungkook was far past the point of worrying whether getting out onto the open ocean alone with a siren was a good idea. Right now Taehyung keeping him afloat was what made that idea somewhat feasible.

After considering for a second Taehyung nodded again. "I will get us out of these chains."

Before Jungkook could say anything, the chains of the handcuffs holding Taehyung close to the wall snapped. The sound wasn't the loudest, but Jungkook could still feel anxiety rising in him. What if the guards heard them?

"Wait... quiet." He whispered, quickly placing his hands on Taehyung's that had already reached down, ready to break the chain connecting the two shackles on his legs. Taehyung paused his movement obediently.

Jungkook couldn't help but let out a sigh. "You... you're something, you know that? Just casually snapping steel chains like it's absolutely nothing." Jungkook looked down at the chain dangling from the now separated handcuffs. He couldn't stop a soft chuckle. "That's so dumb but also kind of hot."

The small smile Taehyung gave him in response helped to dissipate some of the stress he was feeling. They could do this. He had Taehyung, scary strong Taehyung by his side and awake now.

"Alright, let me wrap them with fabric so they are less loud." Jungkook offered, crawling over as quietly as his own chains allowed. Then he pulled his t-shirt over his head, even though it got stuck around his own handcuff. Not ideal for wrapping it around the chain connecting the shackles on Taehyung's feet but he managed. For a second Taehyung's eyes wandered to his bare upper body before he focused back on the chain.

Jungkook watched with an odd sense of fascination as the metal snapped under Taehyung's hands like it was made of chocolate instead of steel. When it came to the chains binding Jungkook's hands, Taehyung went a lot slower, seemingly conscious that between Jungkook and the chain, Jungkook was more likely to break.

Sometimes Jungkook wondered what the extent of Taehyung's strength was. Just where were his limits? When Taehyung was done with the chain, Jungkook touched the edges of the torn steel. Yup, still as hard as always.

"If we want to be quiet, we should probably remove the chains completely, to avoid any noise when we walk." Jungkook whispered and Taehyung nodded once again.

Jungkook watched in absolute fascination as Taehyung, as quietly as possible, ripped the shackles off his feet and the handcuffs off his wrists. Chains were one thing, but especially the shackles on his legs were thick, and yet they just gave under Taehyung's strength.

Jungkook almost giggled at the contrast when Taehyung took one of his hands into his and started inspecting Jungkook's wrists and handcuffs. For himself he had just roughly tugged on them, but on Jungkook's wrists he carefully considered, trying to come up with a plan of not breaking Jungkook's wrists. It was quite relieving to know that Taehyung was very aware of Jungkook's fragility compared to him.

In the end, Taehyung gently slipped one of his claws under each of the sides of the handcuff before tugging carefully, making sure it wouldn't bend in a way that would press on Jungkook's wrist. After a few seconds, the lock gave and one of the handcuffs sprung open. The deformed metal didn't even touch Jungkook.

"Thank you." Jungkook felt almost a little shy at how close Taehyung's face was to his as he did the exact same thing on Jungkook's second wrist.

The second handcuff was carefully placed on the floor to avoid any noises that could alert the guards. Jungkook watched as Taehyung's eyes fell on his bandaged shoulder, something a lot darker flashing across his face for a second. But when he spoke his voice was controlled. Yet that predatory thing never quite left his expression.

"I'll get us out of here safely. Do you trust me?"

Jungkook nodded.

"I do."

"Then leave it to me. And don't stop me..." His eyes once again went to Jungkook's shoulder. "They hurt you."

Jungkook heard the implications and he wanted to tell Taehyung not to worry about it. That there was no reason to kill them... but they hadn't just hurt him. They were a threat to Taehyung... them being alive meant they would likely come back. And Jungkook couldn't get himself to try to stop Taehyung. Maybe he wasn't such a great person either, but he didn't want anything like this to happen ever again.

"Please protect yourself... don't let them catch you again. Promise me."

"Both of us are getting out of here."

Taehyung got to his feet, pulling Jungkook along as if he hadn't just been completely knocked out less than five minutes ago. When Jungkook had first woken up, he had felt like there was fabric over his face for at least an hour, yet Taehyung seemed almost completely fine now.

Still attempting to be stealthy, Jungkook followed Taehyung over to the door. He wondered how they could get out of the room quietly though, given that breaking that whole door would likely be quite loud, if Taehyung was even capable of that at least.

But before Jungkook could ask about Taehyung's plans the siren motioned for him to come closer. Doing what was asked of him Jungkook moved right next to Taehyung, and the siren carefully placed his hands over Jungkook's ears, muffling all outside noise.

Jungkook could guess what Taehyung was about to do pretty well when his lips started moving, so he managed to stop himself from asking "what?" like the total dumbass he was. Instead, he tried to do anything but stare at his very ethereal-looking boyfriend. This up close his bright gray eyes and almost white lashes were just too much to handle. Jungkook could hear some of the muffled singing, but the hands over his ears seemed to be enough to cancel the effect the melody was meant to have.

Jungkook had to get Taehyung to sing more for him... of course in a less life-threatening way. Just to hear his voice... Jungkook already knew it was beautiful in a surreal sense from the few times he had heard it.

There was movement next to him and Jungkook slowly turned his head, careful not to jostle Taehyung's hands away from his ears. He watched in astonishment as a glassy-eyed guard opened the heavy metal door, seemingly completely oblivious to the danger in front of him. Jungkook could feel a shiver travel down his spine as he looked back at Taehyung and found him staring down the guard through his soft lashes. The expression on Taehyung's face was frosty in a way Jungkook had never seen before. Nothing like the way he had just been looking at Jungkook.

Taehyung's lips stopped moving and one of the hands that had just been covering Jungkook's ears moved lightly. Jungkook watched as the guard's eyes widened for a second before his expression contorted in pain as he grasped his chest, slowly dropping to the floor. From where the second guard was hidden by the door another thud was heard as he also dropped to the ground.

Jungkook stared at the fallen guard, whose eyes were staring at the ceiling, gaze empty. A human life gone just like that...

"How?" He had no idea where the next person would be, so he was trying his best to be as quiet as possible.

"Water." Taehyung pointed at his own body. It took Jungkook not much longer than a second to realize what Taehyung had done. Just like when he had stopped Jungkook's bleeding by making the water in his blood stop moving when they had first met, he could be a lot more destructive with that skill.

This blood-bending had been scary when Jungkook had watched Avatar, but the reality of it was horrifying.

"Can you always do this?" Jungkook whispered. He knew he was wasting time, but he couldn't stop himself. Seemingly also aware of this Taehyung pulled Jungkook along the hallway, as if he knew exactly where to go.

"To use water like this I need to be on the ocean... but I can still control it on land. Just not as well." They were about to turn a corner when Jungkook saw Taehyung perk up, lifting his head to listen for something.

"Someone is coming this way."

Jungkook knew that Taehyung could easily kill this person, but reflexively he quickly opened a random door on the side of the hallway and pulled Taehyung inside along with him. When it came down to it, Jungkook's instincts were still those of a human. Hide to stay safe, not like Taehyung, who had a similar feeling as a cat jumping prey.

Yet Taehyung simply let himself be dragged along. Jungkook tried to calm his breathing, standing right by the door, just a few centimeters separating him from Taehyung, who was looking around the room while Jungkook carefully listened at the closed door.

Just like Taehyung had said, footsteps were approaching after a few seconds. Luckily they appeared to be relaxed. So far no one knew they had escaped. The footsteps were once again getting quieter when Taehyung left his spot by the door and instead moved into the dark room.

"Jungkook, look over here." Jungkook did, only to realize that unlike Taehyung he didn't have night vision. So all he saw when following Taehyung's gaze was a dark room. A little hesitant, he pressed the light switch. The room seemed to be a bedroom, with a bed and a desk placed in the center. That desk was where Taehyung was standing right now, flipping through a stack of paper.

Given that Taehyung still sucked at reading, Jungkook wondered what could have caught his attention, until his eyes fell on the pictures that now lay on the table, but that had likely originally been part of the folder.

There were a total of three of them, all displaying Taehyung. One was taken from quite a distance, clearly in the middle of the night and showed Taehyung by a small pier, sitting on the rotten wooden boards, his tail beautifully reflecting the moonlight, his hand invitingly outstretched towards a little girl that was curiously eying him.

Jungkook glanced over at Taehyung, who seemed to read his thoughts. "I didn't kill her... in the end."

Ignoring that there probably had been little girls that he had at some point killed and then eaten, Jungkook looked at the next picture. This one had been taken at a party, and this time Taehyung wasn't alone. Jungkook was in it too, looking straight at Taehyung. Jungkook remembered this... the photographer. He had run after him. That night had not ended well. Jungkook had watched Taehyung kill someone for the first time.

He ignored all the mixed emotions welling up in him and looked at the last picture. He also knew this place. Taehyung was standing in front of the fountain where he had almost killed those bullies. The picture displayed just that, Taehyung staring into the fountain with a blank expression, while the guy Taehyung had pushed into the fountain was splashing water everywhere. Once again Jungkook was in the background, looking slightly confused and a little concerned as he stared at the person flailing in the fountain.

Jungkook took the folder from Taehyung's hands and without needing to be told, Taehyung went back to guard the door while Jungkook quickly flipped through the information. He could feel himself tense more and more as he read on. This stuff went back quite a bit.

There was a lot of information here that was decades old. Taehyung's fight with the submarines while trying to defend his territory. Jungkook had seen Taehyung's memories. He knew what had transpired there. There was a reference to them having some videotapes of Taehyung, even if quite low quality.

Apparently, the man who had taken the more recent pictures of them was a hobby photographer who had just coincidentally stumbled across Taehyung trying to hunt the girl in the first picture on one of his late-night walks and had become quite obsessed with finding him again. That he had succeeded seemed to have just been luck on his end. Jungkook clenched his jaw. If it hadn't been for that man actively seeking information on them and then obsessively looking for a place that would believe him instead of thinking it was Photoshop, these people likely never would have found Taehyung again.

Based on how things were written it appeared that perhaps Taehyung wasn't the first mythological creature this group had come across, but that was just a rough guess. The most important information that Jungkook figured out though was that most of the people that knew about Taehyung's existence were currently on this ship... a weird emotion of bitter relief started to build up in Jungkook's stomach.

Maybe, thanks to the high level of secrecy surrounding Taehyung, they might be able to hide away again. Jungkook wondered if maybe, just like the way Taehyung was affected by him, Jungkook also got affected by Taehyung. If it ensured Taehyung's safety, a part of him wanted everyone on his ship to die.

Maybe this came with the moral questionability of being in love with a siren. He closed the folder but didn't put it back on the table. Instead, he picked up the pictures. Part of this information only existed in this one folder. If he got rid of this, maybe they would have trouble finding Taehyung again. Jungkook was quite lucky to walk in here... if sirens and other mythical creatures were real, maybe some sort of god existed too and was looking out for them.

"Let's get out of here." Jungkook held the folder under his arm as he walked over. Taehyung nodded and opened the door. As quietly as they could they continued moving down the corridor.

When a couple of seconds, which felt more like minutes, later someone came their way Taehyung didn't warn Jungkook, instead, the man dropped to the floor the second he and Jungkook met eyes as he walked around the corner.

Taehyung seemed to have given up on stealth as he pulled Jungkook along the hallway, their footsteps echoing. At one of the corners, Jungkook picked up a pipe that seemed to be intended to be used as spare parts. Running around with empty hands felt dangerous, even with Taehyung by his side.

The hallways weren't nearly as long as Jungkook expected so it seemed the ship wasn't the biggest at least. Based on the number of rooms they had seen, there probably was a crew of around ten to fifteen people... Taehyung knew exactly where to go and thirty seconds later they opened a door to the outside.

The second they left the lower deck of the ship, any attempt at stealth was officially over. Jungkook heard yelling somewhere above them, out of view, at the same moment Jungkook came face to face with the soldier that had given Taehyung his sedatives. Jungkook remembered very well what that man had said about shooting him first if Jungkook was lying. The words replayed in his head as the man reached for the gun strapped to his side.

Acting completely on instinct Jungkook threw the pipe with all the strength he could gather. He still had a bone to pick with this guy, to begin with. What Jungkook didn't expect was the speed at which the pipe flew. Jungkook knew his own strength... this was not something within his capabilities. He watched as the tool hit the guy square in the chest with way more power than should have been possible for a human. The gun that he had just pulled out dropped to the floor as he fell to his knees, holding his chest, and started coughing. Jungkook watched completely frozen as the guy's hand became sprinkled with red as he coughed up blood.

Jungkook looked over at Taehyung to see if this was his doing in some sort of way, but the siren also seemed surprised. He thought back to the party where the dude Minji had been dating had shown up... Jungkook had also felt a lot stronger then. But this wasn't the time to consider whether his theory of Taehyung actually rubbing off on him in some weird way was true.

Not waiting another second Jungkook grabbed Taehyung's arm and started sprinting to the edge of the ship. Jungkook had never heard a gunshot before in real life, but the loud sound that was still perfectly audible even over the noise of the waves crashing around them was quite easy to recognize.

Jungkook looked back just in time to watch as a bullet hit Taehyung's arm... and just dropped to the floor completely crumpled. In the spot it had hit, there was a bit of red mark. The kind that usually meant a bruise was going to form.

But unlike Taehyung Jungkook wasn't bulletproof, so he sped up even more. When he reached the edge of the boat there was absolutely no hesitation, nor did he slow down as he jumped overboard, the folder with most of the information about Taehyung still in his arm. The drop was a few meters high, but Jungkook felt like the water gave way way easier than it usually did when he jumped from higher up. Especially given that he was still dressed in jeans and the t-shirt that he had quickly put back on in their cell.

The sea was quite rough today, but Jungkook didn't even have to worry about coming up for air because just seconds after he had hit the water he felt Taehyung's arms around him, softly guiding him back to the surface. Jungkook had swum with Taehyung often enough in the past to instantly recognize that he had shifted to his siren form just based on his speed and the way he moved.

Jungkook let go of the folder in his hand. The pictures and paper should be ruined now. Seconds later he broke through the water and took a deep breath. "What do we do now?"

Above them the ship had come to a standstill as men leaned over the railing, searching for them in the water. Taehyung also looked up at them, his eyes once again as frosty as they had been before.

"They die."

Jungkook was about to ask what Taehyung meant, after all, they had just jumped overboard and he wasn't too keen on the idea of getting back on board in any way shape, or form when someone on deck yelled something Jungkook couldn't understand because the waves were too loud. But what he could understand was the hand pointing right at them. Only a second or two passed before a bullet hit the water uncomfortably close to them, then another and another.

A little helplessly Jungkook contemplated diving back down and just trying to hold his breath as long as he could, but before he could Taehyung moved in front of him, blocking the way to Jungkook's body with his own. Now the bullets could only hit him.

Once again it felt a little like he was reading Jungkook's thoughts. "Don't dive down... we're not repeating a situation where you aren't allowed to come up to breathe." Taehyung gently pulled Jungkook closer to his body, completely engulfing him in his arms.

Then he slowly stirred them away from the ship as bullets kept hitting the water around them. Jungkook knew this wasn't a feasible solution in the long run. Once Taehyung and Jungkook moved out of reach the ship would likely turn to follow them. And with Jungkook they couldn't dive down to hide under water like Taehyung could.

"How can we get away from them?" Jungkook could feel himself grow more and more anxious, every crack of another bullet leaving the barrel making him flinch, scared that this one might be the one to hit him. One of them even graced Taehyung's shoulder. Although this time it didn't even leave a mark, but Taehyung still couldn't play Jungkook's meat shield forever. Jungkook wouldn't be able to handle it.

On the other hand, Taehyung seemed completely relaxed, like he had everything under control. "Calm down..." He kissed Jungkook softly. "You told me you trust me... everything will work out. I promised you."

Maybe it was Taehyung's absolute lack of concern or the fact that Taehyung had never lied to him, but Jungkook felt himself calm down and let himself be gently moved through the water, ignoring the now slightly more sparse bullets. Still, they moved at a pretty slow pace, especially given Taehyung's usual agility in water. But it couldn't be helped given that Taehyung was splitting his attention between covering Jungkook perfectly at all times, pushing Jungkook further and further away from the ship, and trying not to touch Jungkook with his tail. There still was the problem of that shit being dangerous as fuck on its own. Not that Jungkook would have cared about a few cuts if they could have moved a little faster in exchange. But that was not a trade Taehyung was willing to make.

But Taehyung's lack of urgency was oddly reassuring. His prioritizing such small things over getting away quicker helped Jungkook feel even more at ease.

A loud scream tore Jungkook out of his thoughts and he realized he hadn't heard any shots in a couple of seconds. Curious, he stretched his neck to look past Taehyung, whose body was hiding the ship from Jungkook's view, just like it had been hiding him from the ship.

Jungkook sucked in a breath. It had maybe been three days at most since he had last seen the sight before him. He had really expected it to be longer... quite a lot longer, actually. A year at least, so Jungkook's poor heart could recover. He certainly hadn't expected to meet Taehyung's pet again so soon.

The scene in front of him looked like it came straight out of a movie. The men on board the ship had long given up attempting to shoot them, and instead stared at the tentacles wrapping around the ship, making it look like a toy. Metal bent as easily as plastic under the pressure of the giant tentacles. There were a few stray shots as the men on board ran for their lives only to realize there was nowhere to go. The whole ship groaned at the weight of the giant Kraken wrapping around it.

Jungkook had obviously realized how big it was last time, but putting it next to a ship once again sent a shiver down his spine. Its main body alone was the size of half the ship and that didn't at all consider the length of the tentacles.

He couldn't take his eyes off the creature as it easily bent the ship until it broke in two... just like that. The noise of metal screeching was uncomfortable even from where Taehyung and Jungkook were watching. Jungkook thought back to Taehyung's confident words before. 'They die.'

He had followed through on that promise. Jungkook doubted that any of them would survive this. They likely hadn't even had the time to send an SOS signal out. No one would come to rescue them out here even if they survived the ship being... torn apart like this.

Jungkook thought back to the tentacle reaching out to him just a few days ago, begging for food. His fears then had been quite reasonable. He glanced over at Taehyung. He wondered which one was deadlier... pet or owner.

Taehyung smiled at him as if people weren't dying a few hundred meters away and Jungkook concluded that ignoring lethalness, this one right here was somehow a lot scarier than the literal Kraken picking a ship apart in front of him.

Jungkook watched, a little speechless, as the big ship filled up with seawater in what couldn't have been longer than a minute, the fact that it was now in two parts speeding up the process by a lot. The Kraken went underwater with the pieces.

It was a little hard to tell with all the waves being as wild as they were, but Jungkook didn't see a single person swimming back up to the surface. He blinked... it couldn't have been more than ten minutes since they jumped off that ship and now it was just gone.

Like so many times before, Jungkook was very glad that he had somehow gotten on Taehyung's good side. He watched the air bubbles surfacing where there had just been a ship. It didn't take long for him to spot the familiar shadow of something moving beneath them and then he felt himself be lifted by the creature that had just wrecked a ship. He was sitting on the back of one of its bigger tentacles. Taehyung next to him had changed his appearance back to that of a human once again. Jungkook pointedly ignored the fact that he was nude like he usually was after transforming.

Taehyung didn't even seem to notice, just grinning at him. "I got us a ride."

Jungkook sighed. He was pretty sure Taehyung had picked up that line from some kind of movie.

"You're a dumbass."

But even with everything that had just happened Jungkook's heart felt a little lighter. They were safe now... Taehyung would get the chance to peacefully live with Jungkook... like a human.

Their future together had been saved... and Jungkook wanted to keep it that way.

After all, he had begun to quite treasure the thought of spending eternity together.

A/N

This is it... it's honestly hard to believe but this story is over now:(

And I don't know how to let go because of how attached I've grown to these two😭

I love these two and just them... existing in the same space🥹💜

But yeah the main story is over now. But I am absolutely planning to write a couple of extra chapters!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope this chapter is a nice christmas present from me to you all...

Love you all!💜

Hope you all have a nice night!