MAJOR SPOILERS for the end of POTC4: On Stranger Tides ahead. Don't read any further unless you've seen the movie, or don't care about being spoiled.

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Ok, that's enough spoiler space. This is for all of you who waited at the end for the credits to roll, hoping for a brief shot of Philip/Syrena and got…Angelica and her Voodoo Doll. :- (

Chapter One

The kiss was full of innocence, so completely unlike the others he had received in the past. No matter how deeply they explored each other, it felt pure.

As she pulled him into the water, he could feel the terrible pain in his stomach receding. So there is some truth to the tales about a Mermaid's Kiss.

Even when their hands began to stray, it continued to be pure instead of vulgar.

Suddenly, the kiss – that most beautiful kiss – was gone, replaced with a sensation of being pulled ever deeper. As the pressure increased, so did the pain from his wound. Groaning, he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to find something to concentrate on to lessen his pain.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The noise puzzled him for a moment, and then he realized that each thump was synchronized with the powerful ripples he could feel passing through her body.

Her tail. I'll listen to her tail.

With each beat, the pain became more endurable. I never realized until now how strong you were, my Syrena. Above, I was your protector. Below, you're mine.

Opening his eyes, Philip found that the two of them were passing through a darkened underwater cavern. A shimmering flash caught his eye and despite the perpetual gloom and his blurred vision, he could see that the floor of the cavern was littered with untold amounts of treasure.

This must be where the mermaids keep all of their spoils from every ship that has had the unfortunate fate to anchor in Whitecap Bay, he thought.

As the water warmed up ever so slightly and acquired the taste of seawater, Philip realized that she could have swum to freedom after being freed. Instead, she'd come back to save him.

That joyful realization was suddenly tempered as he felt a pressure in his chest, followed by a rising shortness of breath.

The kiss must be wearing off, he realized as his vision began to darken around the edges as he began to suffocate. Without a second thought, he began to squeeze her chest frantically in an attempt to get her attention.

After a few squeezes, she stopped in the water and twirled around to face him, a look of puzzlement on her face which quickly changed to concern as she realized what was happening.

Before she could reach out and once again give the gift of breath, he felt an odd noise in the water to their left. With a look of fear on her face, she rolled to face whatever was coming. Moments later, he felt a heavy weight slam into his side, followed by a shooting pain.

Gasping his last breath into the water in a cloud of bubbles, he blacked out.

Opening his eyes, Philip groaned in pain. Above him were rocks which he could see a little clearly, despite the fuzziness of his vision. That and the lack of wet coolness on his skin meant they were out of the water and in a cave somewhere.

Coughing, he tried to breathe. Pain shot through his body and he became aware of a wet stickiness on his back and chest. Another attempt to breathe guttered out in a gurgling choke.

Syrena's face filled his vision, a tear running down her right cheek.

He tried to comfort her, to tell her not to cry, but the best he could manage was a weak moan. He felt her hands tenderly caress his face followed by the lightness of her touch as she traced a path down to his chest with her fingers.

After several ethereal strokes there, she laid open the two halves of his vest, exposing his chest.

He noticed that she was now looking at him with something he couldn't quite place. Pain? Sadness? Loss? Anticipation? Or a mixture of them all?

Her lips pulled back, exposing her fangs which grew out to their full length in moments.

Had her weakness in front of all of us been an act? An act intended to lure better prey than those pirates?

He paused as he considered his thoughts.

Or is it because I am about to die that she will feed on me, to use my body to continue her life?

Either way, I forgive her.

Moments later she struck, her fangs piercing the flesh above his heart.

He thought he had felt pain before. It was nothing like this. Waves of magma swept through his veins, the pain retaining a strange clarity that kept him from falling into oblivion like before. He could feel his heart thrashing away in his chest as his vision faded away to a white blur, then darkness.

Syrena felt like her heart would tear in half as she felt Philip, her Philip scream and convulse under her.

Forgive me for this, Philip. Forgive me for what I am doing.

Pushing against the rocks with her tail, she levered her lower form on top of him, using the weight of the powerful muscles contained within to hold him down so her task could be done in spite of his violent thrashing.

With each passing moment, his convulsions weakened until he lay still. Through her fangs, she could feel his pulse fading until it was almost imperceptible. Despite his falling pulse, she held on until she could no longer feel the flow of her Venom.

With a whimper, she unfastened herself from his breast, trying not to look at the four glistening puncture wounds which pulsed forth a combination of bright red blood and milky white venom with each beat of his heart.

A splash of water echoed through the cavern, causing her fangs to halt their abatement and grow once again.

Another of my 'Sisters', come for him.

Tamara broke the surface of the water, anger boiling through her veins. First, the Little One had to go and get netted by the men; and now Maytal was saying that the Little One had saved a man.

Saved a man, of all things.

"What is this I hear from Maytal about a man, Little One?"

Syrena felt the scales on her lower half flush with heat as her rage rose. "Maytal tried to take him from me!" she shouted.

"As is her right! No man is to survive the waters of Whitecap Bay!"

A shudder ran through Syrena's tail as she recalled the myriad 'hunts' that had transpired over the years whenever a ship had anchored nearby.

"Why did you join our hunt that night, Little One? Certainly not for pleasure, as you've never felt the sting of a man's hand."

"I could feel him," replied Syrena. "He was terrified like the others, yet he also wanted to protect us. Surely you felt him as well?"

"Of course," replied Tamara, a smirk on her lips. "Those are the best. Their fear is exquisite as you pull them below, your tail coiling around them to squeeze their last breath out."

"He saved me not once, but thrice ashore!"

"Little One, you are naïve in the ways of men. They do what must be done to gain your trust, and then they seize what they desire."

"They bound me at the Pools of Sorrow to force my Tear from me," Syrena countered. "Once they had it, they abandoned me to die before the Sun. He had to be dragged away by the others as a captive for he would not abide by that cruelty."

"I would have perished like so many of our 'Sisters' if he had not freed me," she continued. "He freed me despite a grievous wound. He could have saved himself, but chose to save me instead. For that, I love him."

A dark chuckle rose from Tamara. "So you think you love him. Or that he loves you, Little One. I once thought that my Roberto loved me." Anger flashed through her eyes as she recalled what had happened long ago.

"Alas, my Roberto was from a noble family that had fallen into disrepute and hard times. His parents arranged a marriage with a noblewoman which would bring repair to the family finances."

"Unfortunately," she hissed. "I was with child and had become…inconvenient. None of the convents would take me as I was obviously no virgin, so that left only one choice in Roberto's mind. One night I received a secret letter inviting me to a day by the sea."

"Like you, Little One, I believed in love. I thought I could convince my Roberto that a marriage without love was one not worth having. I thought that our child was proof of my love for him. Do you know how he repaid my love?"

"He waited until I was searching through the lunch he had brought, and then he struck. He dragged me by my hair. My hair!"

Tamara ran her right hand through her long tresses. "You want love? The last thing I remember was his face through the water as he drowned me." Anger burning, she smacked the water with her tail to rise above the surface as an exclamation point.

"He drowned me!"

As she rose above the water in fury, she caught a glimpse of the bleeding puncture wounds atop the man's breast. "What have you done, Little One?" she shouted, almost insensate with rage.

"My name is Syrena, not Little One!" Syrena cried as she hugged Philip closer. "He named me, something you refused to do!"

"He loved you enough to name you," Tamara jeered. "Did you love him enough to tell him about the Venom, or did you just tell him about the Kiss?"

Anger flashed through Syrena's eyes. "There was no time! He could have been saved by the Kiss if Maytal hadn't interfered and wounded him so direly that none other than the Venom was left!"

"So you didn't tell him about the Venom." Tamara said disgustedly. Such foolishness. Only she could be so naïve. "How the Venom can turn love against itself? How if he lives, he might hate you like none other?"

"I would rather see him hate me forevermore than die."

At that last declaration, the water around Tamara roiled into foam. "You task me and I will have it no more!" she bellowed, rising from the froth. "Your departed dame protects you nevermore! Begone from this cove upon the following night's tide, whether he lives or dies!"

With that final verdict, Tamara dove, an angry fin-slap marking her exit.

Back on the ledge, Syrena collapsed next to Philip. She'd now lost two mothers and her shoal. All that was left was Philip. Please God, she thought, using the unfamiliar deity's name. Let him live.

Philip woke up with a gasp and blinked into the bright sunlight flooding into the grotto. The last thing he definitely remembered was Syrena eviscerating his breast, and then bizarre dreams upon dreams.

The one he recollected in the most detail was the one in which his Syrena dragged him down to the briny deeps, ripping chunks of flesh from his extremities while he screamed a ceaseless line of bubbles...

Syrena! Where was she? He tried to move his head to see more of the grotto he was in, but for some odd reason his body rebuffed his commands. It was most strange. He could feel the presence of his body, but it was muted weirdly.

Despite his disobedient body, he could still sense the company of another next to him. Syrena? There was only one way to be sure. Again, he tried to move his body and yet again it denied his commands. After several maddening minutes of trying, he finally managed to roll over.

As he turned over, it wasn't his body he felt, but a stranger's. There was none of the familiar sense of being that let an individual take a flight of stairs at a sprint with nary a glance downwards.

He found himself staring at Syrena's sleeping face, enclosed by her hair. While he waited for his mind and frame to work together again, he studied her.

Ever wary of his prize escaping, Blackbeard had detailed several men to guard them at any one time during the trek through the rainforest. Not a moment had passed without him feeling the vulgar leers of the buccaneers towards her.

Now that they were truly alone, he found himself taking in all the particulars he had only been able to glimpse before.

The rectors were wrong; this is no foul beast seducing men to their doom. How could anything this innocent be capable of such evil?

Concentrating, he reached out with a hand to brush her hair, moving stray elements away from her face so he could study her better.

After several strands had been moved, her eyes fluttered open at his touch.

"Philip," she said nervously. Is his mind sound or has it been warped with hatred?

"Thank you."

Joy exploded in her heart at that simple declaration. Pushing against the ledge with her tail, she rolled him onto his back, covering him with her form as she did so. A passionate kiss followed as she reconnoitered his mouth with her tongue. Meanwhile, she could feel his hands exploring the curve of her back, fingers meandering over the area where her smooth skin amalgamated into scales.

"Syrena," he said, breaking off the kiss and his explorations. As much as I love you, we are meandering into territory meant only for Man and Wife.

"Will you come with me to Barbados? I was traveling there to become a priest when Blackbeard seized my ship."

He paused to prepare for what he said next. "There, we can be joined in matrimony."

At those words, she felt her body flush from head to fin with pleasant warmth. He truly loves me, but how will I tell him?

"Philip…I saved you," she said hesitantly, a sad look on her face. "But there was a price."

"What kind of price?" he asked with trepidation. Please, don't let me lose her.

"Your soul is forevermore bound to the sea."

"In what way?" he inquired hopefully.

Wordlessly, she rolled off him and worked her torso beneath his. Then, using the muscles in her tail, she raised them both to a sitting position.

He blinked for several moments before he realized what lay on the ledge beneath them. Her reddish-gold tail, curled around his own reddish-gold tail.

"Oh," was all he could say. No wonder I feel so strange.

To Be Continued…

Writer's Note: I found that the name Tamara is derived from a Biblical name; so I decided to name all the other mermaids at Whitecap Cove after semi-modern Hebrew names to maintain name continuity.