Woo! Here we go! Chapter 3! I had many plans for this chapter tbh, but they had to be postponed because this chapter is over 3k words long (it was fun though).

No bonus content this time, prolly won't be for a little bit. Anyways, enjoy!

Sophie woke to a feeling of intense cold. Heavy rain was pouring.

Wait, where am I?

The rain made it hard to see her surroundings, but it didn't take long for her to figure out that she was outside, in a beach-like setting. She wasn't on the mainland- she was on a mini-island with a small cave.

What happened?

She tried to think about what had happened earlier. She remembered Fitz backing away, and her needing to go outside for air. But what happened after that? How did she end up here?

Breathe. You need to breathe.

She took long, deep breaths. She was in an unfamiliar place, and if she let panic overtake her now, it'd only make things worse.

Okay, first things first. It's raining and there's a cave. You should go dry off.

She moved to go inside the cave, only to nearly step on a person. Wait, a person?
On closer inspection, the person was pale, and had messy blond hair. They were somewhat slender, yet still muscular and- 

"Holy sh*t!" Sophie shrieked, because she finally properly took in the revelation that there was someone else on the island with her.

How did they get here? Then again, she didn't even know how she got there either. How long were they there? Were they… were they dead? She vaguely remembered the feeling of falling. Maybe she managed to survive unscathed, but what if this person wasn't so lucky?

Check if they're alive. One thing at a time.

She looked at them, and found it weird that they didn't have a shirt on.

Don't get distracted!

They seemed to be breathing, but just to make sure, she put a hand to their neck to check their pulse. She sighed in relief when she could feel it easily.

"Uh… hello?" she called out. "Hello?"

They didn't stir. Were they unconscious? Her first instinct was to put water on them, only to once again remember that it was raining. If that didn't wake them up, she wasn't sure what would.

"Are you okay?" she asked once more.

She didn't know if poking them would be a good idea. She looked back towards the mainland. It didn't seem too far- however swimming wasn't particularly Sophie's strong suit. It was either swim, or wait and just hope that somehow the two of them would be found. Who knows how long that would take though? It would have to take at least a day.

What are mom and dad gonna say if I get home so late? What about Biana and Fitz? They'd be concerned, right?

She thought about Fitz again. Would he… how long would it take him to notice that I wasn't there?

Sophie turned back towards the person, who was still lying unconscious. 

"Okay," she murmured to herself. "I'm going to swim, and then I'll get some help. That doesn't seem too hard, right?"

As she made her way to the water, there was a groan. She whirled around again, and saw that the person was moving. Their eyes fluttered open, then focused on her. Or well, their gaze altered between looking at her chest and legs?

"What the f*ck?" she asked. "Stop staring at me!"

They hummed, then stood up, their legs trembling. The action reminded her of a baby making its first steps.

"Careful!" she said, rushing over to help them when they tripped over their feet.

"Okay sweetheart," they said, flashing a grin at her. Then their gaze flicked towards her chest. "Would you mind explaining what's going on?"

Sweetheart? Also why are they staring at me like that!?

"Who are you calling sweetheart?" she grumbled, pushing them away from her. "My name is Sophie Foster. So use my name. And quit staring at me."

They didn't look offended at all, they only smirked and Sophie felt like she was about to regret everything. "Okay, Foster. Why are you here?"

"I fell and washed up here?" she replied, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice because they called her 'Foster.' "Aren't you concerned as to why you're here? Are you okay?"

They shrugged. "I know why I'm here, I'm not sure as to why you're here. You shouldn't be." They gazed down again, and she had the urge to hit him because that was really uncomfortable.

But she resisted that urge, and only raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean? It's not like you know me."

They sighed. "Can't you tell that something's wrong? Your heart's still glowing."

"What do you mean my heart is glowing? " Was that why they kept looking at her like that?

"Look… come in the water, I need to see something. Something's wrong."

She had no idea what they were talking about, but she followed them to the water. Before they could get there though, they tripped. 

"Next time I see ver, I'm telling ver that walking is overrated," they grumbled, before getting up and continuing.

"That's the second time you fell over," she remarked. "You sure you're okay?"

They turned around to face her. "Aww, you worried about me, Foster?" Then they winked.

She had two very conflicting reactions to that. On one hand, they seemed a little cocky, and the flirting wasn't really helping. On the other, they were attractive, and she hated the fact that she noticed that. Their ice blue were sparkling, and the messy blond hair only made them look better. (She was very consciously trying to ignore the fact that they were shirtless).

Focus on something else! Like… like how I've been able to hold a conversation. Or literally anything else. 

"For someone who was bothered by me staring at them, you sure have been staring at me for a long time."

"Look, I-"

"Never mind, we don't have time for this." They grabbed her wrist, pulling her into the water. 

Because the action was so abrupt, she tripped over her feet, and fell. She opened her eyes and tried to surface, but there was something off about her legs. She could feel down there, but her body refused to separate, as if glued together. 

Why can't I- why can't I move?

"You can breathe, Foster," the stranger told her. "You're not going to drown."

Before her mind can tell her that actually, that is exactly how you drown , her body took a breath. Strangely, it felt okay.

No longer fearing that she was going to drown, she was able to notice her surroundings. Her vision was clear, just as good as it was on land (which was weird). She saw the stranger, and again, their eyes were looking down at her legs. 

She was about to yell at them, until she finally realized something. They had a tail . It was ice blue, matching the shade of their eyes. 

"Uh, what is happening?" she blurted. "Why do you have a tail?"

To her surprise, they laughed. Then they gestured to her. "You should look at yourself first."

Sophie looked down, and instead of seeing legs, she saw a tail similar to the stranger's. Instead of blue, it was a bright red.

"What the f*ck!?"

What was happening? Seeing the tail on the stranger was shocking, but in a way, it wasn't that surprising. Sophie had been a very large fan of mermaids, and had gone through a time of her life where she had wished that they were real. She was still a fan of them and wanted for them to be real, but after her life had gotten better, that desire had lessened.

So if she happened to meet a person who happened to be washed up on an island, it wouldn't be too surprising that they were somehow a merperson. 

The true question was- why did she have a tail?

"What did you do to me?" she yelled.

They swam a little closer. "Foster, I-"
"Stay away from me!" she screamed, thrusting her arms forward to push them back.

The water distorted, and then they were launched backwards. They recovered quickly, moving with ease.

"What did I just do?" she demanded, because she just pushed the water. "What is going on?"

"Look Foster, before I can explain, I need you to take a few breaths. Your heart is flashing too much and it's drawing attention. You're too overwhelmed."

"Well I wonder why!" she snapped. "It's not like I'm suddenly a mermaid or something!"

"First off, you're a siren." 

"Well thanks, that helps a lot," she muttered.

"Second, sirens can see the hearts of other humans. For some reason, I can still see your heart, and it's flashing all sorts of colours right now. The last thing that we need is for you to draw too much attention." Their tone was slow, and any of the humor or confusion was gone. "I don't expect you to understand, I just need you to be calm enough to listen. Can you breathe?"

They didn't approach her this time, giving her some space. She took a couple of deep breaths. "Okay, please explain."

"It's going to be a lot to take in. Are you going to be okay?"

Sophie shrugged. "I'll try my best."

"Okay, I'll get started. Right now, we're sirens. We're not quite what you hear in the stories. Being a siren is both a blessing and a curse. How this all works, it's a cycle. A human has a broken heart, a siren has the power to seek out those broken hearts. A siren makes the offer for the human to let go of their life, and the human agrees. The siren becomes a human, and the human becomes a siren. Does that make sense?" They had used their hands to make motions in the water, which helped out a lot.

"I think? Why are sirens seeking out broken hearts?"

"It's not fun being a siren. We lose our memories of our human life. For the most part, we just swim in the water alone. There aren't many of us, and even if we do find someone, we're not meant to stay with each other for long. It's a life of isolation. Becoming a human again is the only way to escape."

"Oh," she murmured. "The heartbroken person hears the offer, and accepts it, because they want to escape from their pain, right?"

They nodded. "Exactly. Are you starting to remember what happened now?"

There was some gap between her being outside, her falling, and then being washed onto the shore. "Remember what?"

"You had a broken heart. Did someone you love try to abandon you?"

No, she told herself. Don't think about that again.

"That doesn't matter. Continue."

They paused, as if trying to consider how to phrase what they were going to say next. "I'm a siren. You were a human with a broken heart."

It finally sank in. "You tried to turn me into a siren. Except… this happened."

I was heartbroken enough to the point of throwing my life away.

"Yeah, kinda, but to be fair, our siren song is designed to make your feelings worse." 

What if there was no siren to lure me? What would I have done? Could I have… could I have-

"Foster, neither of us knows what happened earlier. Whatever you're thinking, I doubt that's the case. I don't know what happened, but you managed to not be turned completely. Doesn't that matter?"

She blinked, then took in the words. "How did you-"

"A heart glows different colours based on different emotions. I don't see fear often, and it's honestly kind of stressing me out."

"Do you know how to change me back?"

"Not until you can figure out why the curse didn't affect you fully."

She crossed her arms. "Did you just say 'you' ? This is your fault, and now you're leaving me to deal with the consequences?"

"Well, my plan was to just kiss you and leave!"

"You kissed me?"

Their eyes widened and laughed nervously. "Well, that's how you initiate the exchange. It's not like I remember it much."

She backed away a little bit.

They sighed. "Look Foster, it's not like we get a choice. You can have a whole debate about the issues of the situation, or you can go try and figure this out."

"Again. You're leaving me to do this? We are going to figure this out. You've been a siren, and you said that sirens lose their memories, right? You wouldn't have a home then." She paused, swam forward a bit, then added, "You should come live with me."

"You want me to come live with you?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I mean, that way we can work together. And you're going to need a home. We should go, my parents are going to be worried. Oh crap, what do I tell them?"

"You live with your parents?"

"Yeah, I do. I don't have any plans on moving out either, I help them with work. I don't want to make them worry, so I'm going to have to make an excuse as to why you're living with us."

"Can't you just say that a distant family member reached out?"

"That won't work. Let's head back, and hope that by then I can think of something. Okay… wait, do you have a name?"

"Sirens don't know their identity, so we choose our own. My name's Keefe, I once heard from someone that it means 'handsome'."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course you'd choose a name that means that. Do you have pronouns? Mine's she/her."

"I use they/them."

"Okay, we should actually go now."

It took a little while to figure out how to move properly, and to be honest, it was a much needed distraction from everything that was now going on.

"You know Foster, how did you plan on getting back home? Swimming?" Keefe asked once they reached the mainland.

"Uh, yeah? It's not like it took long," Sophie replied, checking to make sure that there was no around before getting out of the water. "I can't believe I'm saying this but I actually miss having legs."

"Well I don't," they muttered, slowly making steps, their legs trembling. "How do people manage this? I'm freezing!"

She was about to make a somewhat mocking reply, before she realized that it was cold. The temperature was already quite low, and the rain- that had just recently subsided to a light drizzle- didn't make things better.

"You'll be fine with walking, right?"

"Don't worry Foster, I can walk. It'll just take me a bit to adjust, just like you had to adjust to swimming."

"Yeah yeah. Oh, you should probably take my sweater, it'll be weird if you walk around shirtless, and my dad will definitely be suspicious if he sees you like this."

"It won't be weird if I'm wearing your sweater?"

She shrugged. "Not like I have any other choice." She took off her sweater and gave it to them. It was a little small on them, but not as bad as she thought it was going to be.

"Okay, let's go."

Sophie was bad with directions, but she was lucky that she recognized the area. So, it didn't take too long to find the flower shop. Since the back entrance was closer, that was where she went. It only took a few seconds after she knocked for the door to open.

"Sophie!" Edaline called out, immediately hugging her. 

Sophie hugged her back, and heard more footsteps. Grady came running, a relieved expression on his face. He wrapped his arms around the both of them, putting them in a warm, protected embrace.

After it was over, Grady asked, "Sophie, who's this?"

She turned to where Grady was pointing to, momentarily forgetting that Keefe was there.

Oh, I completely forgot to make an excuse.

"That's my friend Keefe!" she told them. She knew that wasn't going to be enough, so she mustered the courage to make eye contact with Edaline (she would be less skeptical about her excuse, so Sophie would be less stressed about worrying whether they could see through her lies or not). 

"They're a friend I made online. I went out for some air today, and came across them. They don't really have a home to stay in, so I offered to let them live with us."

There, that (mostly) wasn't a lie.

"They don't have anything on them, but they'd be willing to work in the shop. Right Keefe?"

She turned towards them, half hoping that she could telepathically tell them to agree. 

They nodded. "Yeah, I'll help out."

"I'm sorry that you're in a situation like this," Edaline said.

"We're willing to let them live with us," Grady continued. "We'll have to deal with the issue of having a piece of identification, if we wanted to pay them-"

"Put whatever you pay me in Foster's name. It'll be easier that way."

Sophie turned back towards her parents, and saw that they were sharing a look (it reminded her of the way that they would look at each other whenever Jolie was indirectly brought up, back when Sophie had only just learned of her.

"Okay, we can do that for now. Now, the both of you should come inside, you're drenched. Eda, get some towels."

They went inside, and Sophie noticed that Keefe was staring around in awe. She walked up to him. 

"It's a flower shop," she whispered to them. "That's what you'll be helping out with. They'll probably not ask too many questions now, but there'll be more in the morning. Got it?"

"Got it. Also, are there supposed to be more peo-"

"Okay, we should be good," Biana's voice echoed through the shop. "We'll go looking for- Sophie! You're back!"

Sophie turned towards her, just in time to see Biana run up towards her.

"Are you in the mood for a hug- oh… you're drenched. Is everything alright?"

"Biana?" she murmured. You're… here… what about-

The sound of even more footsteps jolted her from her thoughts, and she looked and saw Fitz. Before she could say anything else, he ran up to her. She could see his face much more clearly, his eyes looked red, and his hair was a mess. Had he been crying?

"Sophie, I'm so glad that you're back," he whispered.

"Everything was fine though!" She hoped that her voice would be believable, but the sudden proximity and the words he spoke were making it harder to think.

"You can tell us what happened, but you and your friend should get changed," he said.

Sophie took Keefe upstairs, and found some of Fitz's clothes and gave those to them so they could get changed.

"Oh, they're a bit big on you," Sophie remarked after they both finished. Fitz was taller, and had more weight.

They stretched casually. "They're comfy. Your crush has good taste."

She sputtered. "What?"

Keefe smirked. "Really Foster, do you seriously think that I couldn't tell based on the way you two were staring into each other's eyes? Besides, your heart was glowing pink. That usually means love."

"Look-"

"Yeah yeah, I'll behave. You gotta go tell them that story again. Seriously though, what a lame story."

"I'm really bad at being put on the spot, alright? I had to make it believable!"

"Well, can't do anything about it now. I just have to roll with it."

They went back down, and she once again explained her excuse as to what had happened, and why Keefe was with her. It was easier to explain this time, because she now had the story in her head. All she had to do was make sure that she didn't contradict herself.

"So, Keefe's staying here?" Biana asked. "Okay, I'll go show them around. Come on Keefe!"

Sophie watched in amusement as Biana grabbed Keefe's arm and pulled them up the stairs, the blond protesting about "being able to walk by myself."

"Are you hungry?" Edaline asked. "Do you want us to take out dinner for you?"

"That would be nice, thank you." Now that it was mentioned, Sophie did feel hungry.

Both her parents went to the kitchen to reheat the meal, and now it was just her and Fitz in the room. 

"I know that it's more complicated than what you said," Fitz whispered, taking her hands in his. "You don't normally go out for a walk by yourself unless you're upset. I'm sorry that I didn't notice it when I was the last person to see you."

I felt bad because you left. I thought you didn't want to be my friend anymore. But... you're still here.

She didn't want to worry him though, so she kept quiet.

"If Keefe gives you trouble, or if something's wrong, you can tell me, okay?"

"It'll be fine. But okay, I'll tell you if it's not."

And things would be fine. They'd have to be.