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Song- Mermaids, Pirates of the Caribbean, on Stranger Tides 

(duh)

Chapter Forty-Three

~Thea's POV~

I listen to Archer's anguished cries and try to stop my own tears.

"When I tell you to stay back," orders Loki in my ear, "You will stay back."

The darkened mermaid flings her arm out, and a rope of something slick and thick wraps around Steve's arm. He fights it back as she pulls her to the water, managing to free himself a few seconds later. But the mermaid's sisters have taken to the idea, and now their ropes of seaweed are lashing out towards the rest of the men.

"...No," I whimper as Kyle gets smacked painfully on the neck with a wayward rope before being yanked forward, "No, no, no, no-"

"Pay attention!" Loki barks as chaos ensues, holding onto my shoulder, "Get up to the ridge now."

"But I'm a girl! I can help!"

Loki scoffs, "I know you're a girl, a young girl, and that's why I want you to get out. Now grab Jack and leave this instant."

The coastline is filled with the shouts of the men and the wild, banshee shrieks of the mermaids. I look up desperately at Loki, "But-"

"Now!"

His glare is fierce and his anger at me from before is getting heightened by his impatience. I turn and run towards Jack, who has retreated somewhat up the hill. I manage to slice a rope that is snaking towards him with my dagger, wrapping the leftovers around my wrist. Grabbing his arm, I haul him up and we flee up the ridge.

As soon as we are out of sight and around a tree, I look at Jack, "You need to stay here. I'm going back down- I'm one of the only girls."

"Are you nuts?" Jack asks, having been temporarily snapped from his...trance, "They'll kill you!"

At this precise second, an eerie sound comes floating from the lake. A sound like the cry of a loon, mixed in with the delicious vibrations of a sultry melody. It causes chills to creep up and down my arms as the mermaid's song permeates around us, a siren's trap.

Immediately, Jack's eyes glaze slightly, "Have you ever heard...anything...so...beautiful?"

I hear Natasha screaming obscenities at the failures of the men, and I know I need to go down there before Nat and I are the only ones left. I grab Jack, who has started walking, zombie-like towards the ridge leading down towards the lake, "No, no, Jack, you have to stay!"

He resists, just like I had known he would, "No, Thea let me go! I need to...I need to see them, I need to..."

I groan inwardly. "I'm sorry, Jack."

Then, I swing my hand forward to Jack's face and with one hard punch, he goes tumbling to the ground. Working quickly, I take the extra rope and secure it around Jack's body, lugging and then securing him to a nearby tree. Making sure he's not going anywhere, I grab my dagger, confirm that my stiletto sleeve is still attached to my arm, and run to the crest of the hill.

It's utter madness. Apparently, the men are doing a relatively good job at resisting- Steve is slowly staggering from side to side while Loki seems to hardly be affected at all, only prohibited of some of his quicker fighting tactics. But there are more mermaids than men, even if a couple of them have been killed by either Natasha or a lucky stroke of a man.

One of the mermaids has lured- of course- Kyle towards the edge of the deep pool, and he's kneeling down. The mermaid, a blonde beauty with jewels in her hair and luminous yellow eyes is creeping up towards Kyle, her fingers running through his hair. I want to roll my eyes, but I'm too busy sneaking around Kyle and then shooting off one of the stiletto daggers into one of the mermaid's shoulders.

With her recoiling shrieks, Kyle seems to break from the spell, "What the...hell?" he demands as the mermaid, bleeding profusely, dives back into the water, her tail flipping.

"You're useless!" I exclaim and run away, back around the edge of the lake.

Nat, untangling herself from some of the seaweed snares, spots me two seconds before Loki does, "Thea!" she exclaims, "Get Clint, he's over-"

"Are you mad, woman?" shouts Loki, having just dispatched a mermaid trying to grab onto his ankle (I wince), "Thea shouldn't even be here!"

Natasha ignores him, and yells to me, "Now!"

Of course, I listen to Natasha. I run at Clint and knock him over, away from the shore, but then I feel long fingers wrap around my ankle. I shriek as the mermaid pulls me partially into the water, but then I hear another shriek, and it's not mine.

As her hand falls from trying to drown me, the mermaid sinks back into the water. I glance up: Steve has his hand out, "Need a hand?" he grins.

Of course Steve isn't much affected by the mermaids, "Sure."

But even as Steve helps me up, I realize that the mermaids are becoming more and more plentiful, and more and more demonic in their singing. Steve is beginning to stagger again, but the real problem is Loki. He has walked trance-like towards the shore, and towards the dark haired mermaid that had killed Isi.

"Stop it, Loki!" I exclaim.

He's not listening to me. I manage to yank Max away from the shore, temporarily snapping him from his trance. Sprinting, I leap over a gap in the inlet, wanting to push the idiotic Loki, who is inching towards the water.

Too late. The mermaid, with hunger in her eyes, flashes the long dagger and jerks it into Loki's side.

"LOKI!" I scream as he falls to the ground, clutching his abdomen.

The mermaid would have killed him then and there had I not flung one of the stiletto daggers into her neck. Her eyes roll back into her head and, long fingers trembling, fangs baring, and long hair streaming, she sinks into the clouded-red water.

"LOKI!" I stumble to the ground next to him, but then want to gag- the blood is pouring from his wound and soaking the ground around him.

"Thea, Thea, listen to me," His voice is tight and pained.

"Get up, get up!" I wail, "You need to get-"

"Thea, shh, Thea listen, it's-"

I pull on his other arm, "Get up, or they'll get you!" I have broken into sobs, "Get up, Loki!"

"Thea, please... listen," says Loki, his eyes tightly shut, and his mouth open, and finally, I shut up, "Thank...you...Now you need to go...the star, use the star, kitten."

"What star, what star?!" I ask frantically, but then Loki's eyes roll and he falls unconscious. "Loki!" I shake him, "Loki, please wake up, please wake up, please don't die!"

"Thea!"                                                                                                                                               

I look up to see Steve through my blurred eyes. He has what look to be cotton balls in his ears- he's thought of a way to temporarily sway the mermaid's song, "Thea, I've got him. Go, go now."

"But-" I look down desperately at the prone figure of Loki lying still upon the ground. He looks...I can't think about that.

"He'll be fine, Thea, now go help some of these guys out."

Reluctantly, I stand, my hands covered in blood, and run over towards where most of the hubbub has taken place.

Archer, not affected by the mermaid's song for some reason, is busy fighting off three mermaids at once- they are dragging him towards the lake. But with a flicker of his own dagger and the flash of his fangs, he kills one, sending the other two into a fast retreat.

The star, the star, the star. Its echoing through my head. Loki could have meant my dagger, but he would have just said it plainly; Loki wouldn't riddle me right before he loses consciousness.

It hits me just as Max uses his hunting knife (which he doesn't actually use often) to slice two of the ropes inching towards my ankles as I fling another stiletto knife at another mermaid.

"Where's Tony's bag?" I yelp as my way of thanks.

"Don't know," he pants, "Why?"

I don't answer, but glance around the ridge frantically. I spot the bag lying on the ground from where Tony must have dropped it whilst admiring several mermaids. Trying to ignore the shrieks and yells and trying not to think about anyone dying, or anyone else getting hurt, I rummage through the bag at lightning speed.

Finally, tucked underneath the pocket in the back, my fingers run across something smooth, yet serrated at the same time. I yank out the stone and see the glittering star encrusted within.

Okay, so now I have the star, but what do I do?

I do the only thing I can think of, the only thing that sounds logical. Putting the stone as close to the lake as I dare, I raise my emerald dagger and thrust it into it with all of my strength.

A blinding light explodes from the stone, and I fall backwards onto the wet ground. The shrieks of the mermaids intensify, and I hear Archer yelling something. I can't see anything except for white that pulsates through the air around me: light with sound.

Then, it's over: the light ebbs back into the stone, and heals itself all over, like nothing has ever pierced it.

I look around. The mermaids are gone, and only ripples and blood and floating seaweed in the water signal that they have been haunting these shorelines.

I feel someone grab onto my shoulders, "Thea, are you all right?" asks Max. He looks sick with worry.

"Yeah," I say, somewhat shakily. "But I don't think I'm exactly going to be watching The Little Mermaid anytime soon."

"What's he doing?" asks Tony, who is trying and failing to pretend that he hasn't fallen under the trance of a dozen chanting mermaids.

He's gesturing to Archer, who has moved towards the surface of the lake. Archer sets his hand on the water and then suddenly yanks it up. Droplets of water fly around a deep crimson sphere. Around the size of a basketball, it is almost gelatin-like when Tony pokes his finger in it, but when he just touches it, it remains as hard as a shell.

"Is that...blood?" I ask with disgust.

"Somewhat," says Archer, "The blood of my ancestors encased in a dying star."

My nose wrinkles, "What is it with you people and stars?"

"It's what attracted the pearl to shore," guesses Tony, collecting his bags, "It and that stupid stone have stars."

"That stupid stone got us the pearl," I point out.

"Yeah, well I was busy."

"Doing what? Lusting over mermaids?" Natasha, hands on her hips, has joined us. There's a cut on her cheek and a bruise on her arm, but otherwise, she looks fine.

"OY!"

I glance up the ridge to see Jack galloping down it. As he comes to a stop next to me, he says, "Was that really necessary?" He turns to the others, "She knocked me out and tied me up."

Nat raises her eyebrows.

"Sorry," I say lightly, "But you were too busy being attracted to fish people. Like Tony here."

But I hug him anyway.

Tony ignores my jab at him, "So my advice would be to get out of here before we become mermaid snacks again. We have the pearl. That's step two."

*

If I had expected Loki to be civil towards me even while he's injured, I'm dead wrong.

"I saved your life," I say as Bruce cleans the welts on my ankles from the seaweed rope. We, along with Kyle and Clint, are in the appointed "hospital" tent. Loki's wound is still bloodied, but healing miraculously quick..

He snorts, leaning his head back on the ground. Looking up at the ceiling, he says, "Congratulations. Now you simply have to save my life a dozen more times to make up for all of those times that I have saved your miserable life."

Five minutes later, he orders me out of the tent once Bruce is done. Neither of us are exactly happy with each other right now, and he's not only angry at me because of our latest argument by the shore. He's also angry that I disobeyed him and fought, but even angrier that my disobedience saved his life.

*

In a glade near the base of the mountain, a large cat-like creatures with red eyes, long teeth protruding from its lips, and a swishing tail gluttons over its meal, a bloodied parabai. Around these parts, the giant cat is the prince of the hunters.

Branches crack and another shadow enters the glade, this one tall and lanky, feline in his appearance, with golden hair and amber eyes.

Videl looks casually over at the cat, who has not yet seen him, but he's not interested at the moment. At ghost of white floats down into the trees and alights upon his arm. The owl blinks its yellows eyes slowly.

They have it.

"Mm," says Videl, "How delightful. And what of my brother?"

Nothing I can perceive, but Archer has never been one for outright emotion.

"Yes, so he conceals his darkest ambition." Videl pauses, "He will not use it. He will betray our cause in order to be a loner on earth, to save his precious conscience."

What will you do, my lord?

"Convince him to get it back of course," says Videl smoothly, stroking the bird's feathers.

Convince him? Friendly persuasion?

"Decidedly not," says Videl. Then, his amber eyes shift to the cat, "Now I'm hungry."

He stalks towards the carcass of the parabai. The cat's ears go back as it perceives Videl stalking towards it. Then, it flees, scampering over the underbrush and vanishing into the forest.

Videl smiles as he bends down towards the cat's prey- well, his now.

The cat may be the prince of the hunters, but Videl is the king. 

:) 

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~Sierra