527186 feet under the sea
Time - Unknown\ Darkness

{Damian}

            "Zayka..." I froze.
            Millions of flashbacks started invading my mind at ones. Many years ago, our clan attacked the Depth Family because they wouldn't cooperate by handing over their head leader. Mother and the other assassins slaughter every member without mercy. I remember Zayka laying on the floor, close to death. I was about to end him permanently, but, Talia prevented me for God knows why.
            However, that Zayka had legs... not fins.
            "No no no you can't be him!" I said. "He wasn't a Siren."
            "He... was an Atlantian before your clans changed him."
            "My clans?" I started thinking.
            "Think boy wonder... THINK!" He said as he swam closer to me. "Look at what you've created!"
            "I remembered you clearly, Zayka." I start off. "But in what way did I created you?!"
            "You killed my family... took my father, and left me to die." He said as he started chuckling. "Big mistake you've made."
            "Believe me, I wanted to kill you on the spot but mother prevented me," I said.
            "And here we are." He said, gesturing the surrounding with his arms. "Now, we're both citizens of the sea."
            "How did you become a siren in the first place?" I ask.
            "How?" He sarcastically repeated me. "I placed a curse upon myself."
            "You see, leaving me alive was a huge mistake because, among all the members in my family, I'm the most powerful. My powers have surpassed all of them."
            "Surpass?" I ask. "What do you mean?"
            "Royals have to master so many spells in order to help keep their people and kingdom safe." He said. "I mastered every single spell without lifting a finger, plus a bonus." He smiles as he lifts his hands out. Magical aura started coming out of palms.

"I've mastered the Alteration Spell... in other words, a transformation spell. A spell where no one in history has mastered but me."
            "The only thing about this spell is, it is a curse because once you're transformed, there's no going back."
            "For example, if you transform yourself into the opposite gender, you can't return back to your original gender. It applies to any kind of transformation... both physically and mentally."
            "So, you've chosen to be a Siren?" I asked.
            "Of course. Sirens are one of the most powerful apex predators of the sea with abilities not even Atlantians could handle." He said. "For instance, our song. Atlantians are extremely vulnerable to it."
            "So, why wouldn't I be a siren?"
            Back in the Batjet, Aquaman told me that Zayka was responsible for turning me into a siren. I still remember how shocked I was hearing his name after many years.
            "Now I ask, why the hell did you turn me into one?!" I felt my rage firing up. I started swimming closer to him but he remained firm. I held my talons out as a sign of threat.
            "It's about time you asked me that question." He laughs as he turns his back on me and crosses his arms. "Put those talons away, you're embarrassing yourself and the entire Siren existence because that's not how we defend ourselves."
            "If I don't get my answer, you're getting my talons into your flesh." I started threatening him.
             "What a good idea." He said under his breath.
             He gave me a sideways glance for a brief second. Then, in the speed of light, I felt something sharp poking my throat. Zayka, his talons were halfway through my throat while his tail holds me tight as a snake would hold its prey. I kept gagging to the annoying feeling in my throat. His face was so close to mine that I can see the scales on his face clearly. I look up to see him smiling, flashing his rows of sharp teeth. His red blood pupils were as sharp as an eagle.
            I was so shocked that I was paralyzed. I never saw him move. One second he was floating in front of me and the next, he was holding me tightly. I can't move my arms or my body to avoid his talons.
            "This... is how we do it, Damian Wayne." He smirks. "We give them a slow painful death."
            "L--et g-go!!!" I kept gagging to the point I started coughing out blood.
            His tail released me and pull his talons away from my throat.
            I started coughing out blood even more. The pain was there but it was bearable. I kept breathing in through my gills to stop the blood-cough for which it did after a while.
            "Now... to answer your question." He said. "Consider this, my revenge."
            "For what? Killing your family?!" I ask.
            "Damn right you are." He said.
            "Newsflash, it wasn't me who killed your family!" I yelled out for which it made my throat feel sorer. "My people and my mother especially killed them! NOT me!"
            "They're YOUR people, and YOU'RE the son of that bitch!" He said. "So, they're YOUR responsibility."
            "After leaving me to die, I suffered so much pain, both physically, mentally, and emotionally. Believe me, I wished you really had killed me."
            He came closer to me again. I was too distracted with the pain in my throat to swim away from him. But then again, if I wanted to flee, there's nowhere to go.
            He landed in front of me. He used his talons to force my chin up, meeting his eyes.
            "But then again, I'm glad you didn't." He releases my chin and held his hand out. From his palm, a bubble came out.

It started glowing and after a while, it started showing a flashback. A flashback of the time where Zayka's family was being murdered by the League of Assassins.
            I see members of the LOA, Talia, and myself... my younger self.
            The bubble began zooming in on a girl who wasn't noticeable till the bubble caught sight of her. She had a pixie walnut brown hair, fair skin, sky blue eyes, and the body of an Atlantian teenager.
            "You see her?" He asks. "Do you know who is that girl?"
            "Your servant?" I randomly guessed the wrong answer.
            "She's my girlfriend... Aqua." He said. "You people didn't just kill my family... but, you killed my only lover."
            He clenched his hands to which made the bubble disappear.
            "When you people left, everyone was completely dead... except for her. She had a katana sticking through her stomach area but she was still breathing... bleeding severely but breathing." He said. "I thought maybe she could be safe so I carried her with my injured body to Atlantis. I could only swim so fast because of the pain in my body."
            "I didn't stand a chance... Atlantis was still miles away and given to my condition, there's no chance. In the end, she died."
            "But... before she did, she told me to not take revenge on you assholes. She told me to be good, and to not let her loss be the cause of why I can't love again."
            "What did yo---
            Before I could finish my sentence, he held my neck, squeezing it. My throat just got worse and I started tasting blood in my mouth again.
            "After killing her and my family... you really think I wouldn't take revenge?! DO YOU REALLY THINK I'M JUST GOING TO LET YOU OFF THE HOOK?!" His anger got stronger because his grip got tighter as he spoke. I tried budging his grip but he held me too tight. "My family and I weren't that close but we got each other. However, Aqua was the only person to ever love me for who I am! She was there for me when my family was too busy running the kingdom! SHE WAS ALWAYS THERE FOR ME AND YOU ASSHOLES TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME!"
            Right now, I can't seem to think of anything because the pain was getting so severe.
            "She wouldn't--- wan-t t-t--this!" I tried very hard to talk through his hard grip.
            He releases the grip from my throat to which made me lay on my back. I kept massaging my throat to ease the pain which was useless. It feels like a knife constantly poking my trachea.
            "You don't know what she would've wanted." He said. "After so many years, I finally found you. I vowed to stay on land and not go back to the sea until I kill you."
            "While on land, I found out that the Damian Al Ghul I knew has become Damian Wayne. The new Damian has a proper family, he became a Robin, he joined the Titans... and, he has someone special...... Jonathan Samuel Kent, son of Superman the Kryptonian and Lois Lane, Daily Planet reporter."
            "How the hell do you know him?!" I spoke through the pain in my throat.
            "I've been watching both of you for so many years... finding the right time to strike." He said as he conjures up another bubble. The bubble showed scenes of Jon and I in school, then our sleepover, then the time Jon was in a coma, and more.
            Just how long was he spying on us?! He knows a lot about me and Jon's life. Our friends, parents, school, responsibilities..... How?! How long??!
            He closed the bubble and started chuckling while shaking his head. "But then I realized something. Why kill you... when I can make you suffer." He said. "Come on, we both can agree that death is too good for you."
            "If you think turning me into a Siren is your idea of suffering, I'm more than happy to disappoint you because I'm not gonna stay like this forever," I said as I push my tail forward to support my body to stand firm. "I'm on my way to Atlantis right now. I don't know if there is a cure or not but Mera and Aquaman will find one!"
            "Don't count on it." He said. "Remember what I have told you before, this is a curse... there's no reversing."
            "Say what you want, freak," I said. "Curses may be permanent. But every curse, even the strongest ones, can be broken in the end."
            "I will... see Jon again! And you will stay the hell away from him!"
            "Some kind of tragic hero aren't you." He laughs. "But too late... while you've been wandering in the sea, I've paid your lover a visit."
            "What do you mean?" I ask calmly even though I felt my rage rising.
            "Find out for yourselves." He shrugged. "All I can say is that he bled... a lot in Hawaii."
            I clenched my fist to the thought of Jon lying in a hospital again. The dorsal fins on my back flexed as do my talons.
            "Don't even try." He said. "I can break those talons with a single slash from my tail."
            "What did you do to him!" I yelled. "ANSWER ME!"
            "As I said, find out for yourself." He said. "And I'm not about to let you leave the waters just yet."
            "Compared to what I've been through, you haven't suffered enough yet."
            Zayka got off and swam towards the whale's blowhole. He raises both of his hands up to which fire-like shade of magic started flowing out of them and into the blowhole.

            "What are you doing?!" I ask.
            Suddenly the whale stopped moving. She started communicating but her song sounded more like crying than a call.
            I swam next to her eye and saw her pupils have been turned fully white. She can't see me. I kept calming her but she kept crying out.
            "What did you do to her?!" I ask. "Stop it!"
            "She's paying the price for helping you out!" He said. "You forced my hand!"
            Her song was getting too loud each second that I had to cover my ears. She kept twisting around, turning upside down, hitting herself on the ground. I close my eyes because my heart was starting to ache, watching her suffer.
            Then, all at ones, everything stopped.
            Complete silence returned.
            I open my eyes as my hands uncover my ears. I look to see the whale lying on the ground. I instantly got up and swam towards her. She had no response. Her body wasn't moving. I moved to her eye but both her eyes were closed. I force her heavy eyelids up with my palms, and her pupils are gone. I felt her body hardening and losing heat.
            "You... YOU KILLED HER?!" I looked at Zayka who was watching us from above with his hands crossed.
            "Death is too good for you... but not for her." He clapped a single clap.
            "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" I got so mad but I felt my eyes crying. "Her calf is waiting for her!"
            "Do I look like I give a crap?" He said. "That kid will live by itself just the way I did."
            I have a big urge to charge towards him and attack him for he's done to the whale. But compared to him, I don't stand a chance. He's more skilled in the Siren abilities to which I'm still new at. Also, I can't stop sobbing.
            "I don't think I've done enough yet but I'll stop for now," Zayka spoke out. "I will see you again, Damian Wayne."
            "Assuming if you don't die while trying to leave this polluted area."
            "Oh and by the way, go ahead and introduce me to your fellow Atlantian's... they've never been able to find me for years... neither they will this time."
            He turned around and flashed his scales to provide some light source. He started swimming away but I stopped him.
            "Mark my words, Zayka," I said before he took off. "The next time we meet, you'll be f*cking sorry."
            "Try me." He said not facing me. "I dare you."
            With that being said, he took off. I watched as he disappears into the darkness.
            I flashed my scales to shine some light around me. My light on my scales remained seaweed-green due to the polluted water surroundings. I decided to stay with the whale for a while...... or maybe I'm starting to give up.
            God knows how further away Atlantis is because Im surrounded by darkness.
            I rest next to the whale's fin and lean on her as I held my arms. The surrounding got even colder when the whale died. Not to mention that her body is also cold and hard.
            My chin started quivering... and then I knew I was crying. Just as always, I can't see or feel my tears.
            Iruka is gone... and now the whale too.
            Though I'm not close to the whale as I am with Iruka, I cried for her too because she was with us throughout the whole journey... until now. She was very helpful. Without her, we wouldn't have made it this far.
            I'm all alone now... contemplating to survive or to give up.
            "Jon... forgive me if I don't make it."