Chapter Text
I yelped, and someone grabbed Killer's face from behind before he could do anything. A medium-sized siren who I hadn't met before. It only took me a moment looking at him that I remembered the sign. "The Dreamiest Siren Around."
"Killer," The voice was a warning. I peered over Killer's shoulder to look at the siren.
He was the fantail goldfish, with smooth, large golden scales. His fins were the length of his tail; one stretching along the top of his tail, one at the end, one on the bottom, with two smaller, slightly yellower fins near his hips. While his tail was a more reddish-gold, the larger fins that went along the end of his tail looked akin to the precious metal. He wore some sort of golden band around the top of his skull. I wondered what it was for...
"I'm sorry, but who are you?" I asked politely. The fantail smiled.
"My name is Dream." Ah, now that sign made sense. "I take it you're the notorious Y/N?" I blinked.
"Notorious? Isn't that typically a bad thing?"
He laughed. His voice was high, a beautiful tenor, almost boyish. He spoke with gentleness, but gave the impression of someone who could handle themself when necessary.
"I suppose so. Anyways, please excuse poor Killer. He was so excited when he learned you were going to get us out of here, and his disappointment must have made him... unkind."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" Killer demanded. I chuckled, then sat up straight. Banging my head on Killer's chin, which neither of us enjoyed. I could easily see how annoyed he was when he tried to bite me, crazy siren.
"Oh no! Claire! What--What happened?" Dream winced.
"Don--the other keeper--hit you with a tranquilizer dart meant for Blue. The extra sedative in your system has kept you asleep for six days straight."
"SIX DAYS?!?" Dream winced again, and moved as if to grab his ears. Um. Where his ears would be, I guess? Earhole?
I dunno. Anyways-
"O-o-oh good, you're-ou're-'re awake-wake-ake."
"Error? Why are you here? Hang on, I'm underwater. And there are multiple sirens with me..." Oh no. Oh no. Nonononononononononono...
"So yer finally awake, huh, princess? That was a long sleep, even by my lazy standards." Red.
"Y/N!!" Blue.
"Heh. Ya finally woke up." Classic.
"You okay? Y'look kinda stressed." Horror.
"..." Dust...? Oh, yes. There's the scarf. And his trademark silent stare.
"About time." Nightmare.
"Give the kid some room--I said give her some room--WHY IS NOBODY LISTENING TO ME?!" Cross. Very panicked, it seemed. Unless I'm reading in on some other emotion? Hmm.
"Y/N!! You're awake! Finally! I mean, I say 'finally' as if I remember you being asleep, but of course I don't so-" And a very talkative Ink.
So this is my punishment for breaking the glass. I now live with all the sirens.
"Why can you hear each other's telepathic words now? I don't remember that being a thing." I was asking Dream, but before he could respond a black tentacle threw him aside.
"I'm the one who can properly answer that question. I believe it's something you did." I blinked up at Nightmare.
"But--how?!--what!? I-I can't even--what?!" He smirked.
"You are an heir to the Vi, are you not? Your father, Neptune, has tremendous power over all sea creatures. Your power simply must have enabled us to speak telepathically, since it's fairly new. You don't have to know how you did it, all you really need to know is that you did do it."
"I-I-I don't appreciate-ciate being-ing called-d-d a 'creature-ure-re', Night-ight-mare." Error glowered.
"It wasn't intended for just you, Error." Dream, now returning after being flung aside like a rag doll, tried to defuse the situation.
"Oh, so according to you we're all 'creatures', even the Water Girl?" It didn't work.
And also: Water Girl? What am I, a video game character?
"Killer that's not what I m--"
"Hi!! Y/N!! I'm so happy that you're... not asleep? What's the word? BLUE! HELP ME!" I was barreled into by an overenthusiastic squid.
"I'M ASSUMING YOU MEAN 'AWAKE', INK." The cheerful dolphin siren drifted up behind Ink and hid a laugh behind a hand.
"Right! That's exactly what I was gonna--um... what was I talking about?"
"Heh. Classic Ink:" I felt Classic's hand on my shoulder. Aw! I'm being treated so sweetly! Wonder what changed...
Maybe they want to eat you. A tiny voice whispered in my head. Shut up, I told it.
"Classic Ink? Like, a mix between Classic and me? Oooh, what would THAT look like? I gotta draw it!" Ink sped away. Classic shook his head with a tiny laugh.
"Glad t'see y'survived. Would've missed bein' with someone who I can have an actual conversation with about the world with, who's not continuously threatened to be put in the Boiler."
"Boiler?"
"Y'know, a machine where water is heated. With all the tropical species in the aquarium, the keepers have t' have a large supply of hot water on hand. An' whenever a siren's bad, they're threatened to be put in the Boiler and used as fish food for the rest of the aquarium. Only happened to one. He thought they were joking about the threat, but eventually I guess the keepers, or, namely our friend Claire, got sick of finding vintage Furbies in her bag an' givin' her a jumpscare." He sighed. "We miss you, Fresh, even if you were unnecessarily annoying."
"...Fresh?"
"The ol' Pufferfish Siren. He was a punk. Fun personality, not-so-fun morals. Questionably more dangerous then some of us, due to the fact that no one could tell what he'd do next."
I sat quietly, thinking over what he had said. Then had a thought.
"Do you know where the Boiler is?" Classic gave me some epic side eye.
"Why?"
"Just wondering."
"Well, if you have to know, it's next to Ink's tank--or where Ink's tank was--in a closet with the plating 'BOILER HOT DO NOT ENTER' Ya couldn't miss it if ya tried."
"Thanks Classi-AYEEEE!" Ow. Being hit by sirens is not fun. Especially when that siren is large and muscular and gripping you as hard as he can. I would've though Ink would be the one to do something like this, but we already had our encounter--unless he forgot. Which was entirely possible.
I couldn't even see the siren, he was gripping me so hard to his chest. Which by the way, when the person hugging you extraordinarily tightly against their chest and they're part skeleton, is not comfortable at all.
"I'msosorryIshouldn'thavescratchedyoubutyouweregoingsoslowI'msogladyou'realivepleasedon'tdothatagainorI'llquitepossiblydie-"
"Wh-wh-OUCH YOU'RE HOLDING TOO TIGHT--what?" The siren slightly let go, but still kept a powerful hold on my body. I turned my head to see who was holding me so tightly. And was very surprised.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it I'm just glad you're not dead!" The red and white eyelights stared at me. Who knew Cross could be so affectionate?
(And awkward...)
"CROSS! WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING?" A welcome and very loud Blue to the rescue. Thank the Vi. The dolphin siren yanked the orca off me, and I watched, confused, as the orca howled, flipped around, and banged headfirst into a wall.
"DON'T MIND CROSS, HE JUST WOKE UP FROM THE TRANQUALIZER AND IS STILL A LITTLE..." Blue paused, looking for the right word, "EMOTIONAL." I snorted.
"Uhm... okay." I looked closer around at the tank.
Number one: It was HUGE. Like, MASSIVE. ENOURMOUS. GIGANTI-
I think you get the point.
Anyways, the thing was shaped as an octagon, with a third of the slanted walls glass and the rest made of walls. There were multiple caves in the walls, for privacy, I guessed. In the center was a large coral decoration in the shape of a medium-sized lumpy, warty, twisted pink tree. Honestly, who picks the decor? They could certainly use some help.
I looked around and sighed. Well. Looks like I'm stuck.
Cing. I looked down and saw... a phone? Underwater? Fully working?
Curious...
I picked it up and turned it around in my hands. It was a sleek iPhone 15 Pro Max, with a hardy teal case and one of those... thumb thingies on the back. You know, like a little circle that can be pulled so that you can hold the phone?
...Nevermind.
Anyways, the phone was unexpected. And what was even more unexpected was that when I hit the power button, it turned on.
Well, actually what was most unexpected was that I wasn't electrocuted after touching it...
The screen was dark, then it came to life, showing off the time of 10:51 AM. The lock screen said:
Glad you got the phone open. Consider it 14 Years worth of presents. Don't break it. I won't get you another one.
Then:
Oh, it can't break. You also can't lose it.
Then, in tiny text:
JHLKOJUILLG I almost forgot. The code is 14 5 16 20 21 14 5 19 7 9 18 12. Totally not a number-to-letters code.
Then, at the very bottom, so small I could hardly read:
Love ya! BTW this is Neptune.
I input the lock code and sure enough, I got in. There were multiple apps, and an new app that was navy blue with a white trident called ContactNeptune. It turned out to be some sort of texting thing, and he had already sent some to me.
Hey Y/N. Glad to see you got my phone. Well, not my phone. Yours. Now. You get it. Anyway, love, Dad.