Keith's heart was pounding as he ripped his knife through the ropes at his chest. He knew he pierced his life jacket twice and came close to stabbing himself, but he didn't care. He had to get to Lance. Throwing the ropes aside, Keith ran to the starboard side of the boat and looked over. Lance was frantically swimming away from the Alfor and towards whatever the siren was showing him. Keith grabbed one of the ropes that hung down from the crow's nest and held it fast in his hands. Running past the mainmast to the port side of the ship, Keith ignored the cries of his crewmates as he quickly turned on his heel upon reaching the other side of the ship. He tied the rope around his torso. Keith then ran back towards the starboard, hurling himself over the railing and using the rope as a swing. Skillfully, Keith swung his body through the air and towards Lance, who hadn't gotten very far away from the ship. However, he had underestimated how the force of hitting the water would slow his swing, and wound up ten feet from Lance. He shouted the teen's name but to no avail.

Keith began swimming furiously. He could see that the three mermaids that had climbed aboard the Alfor had followed him into the water and were heading for Lance with speed. He had to get to the teen before them. As Keith neared Lance, he saw the siren in its true form with only its head above the waves. Its mouth was moving but only Lance could understand what it was saying to him.

Keith screamed his name again as he fought against the extra weight of the now useless life jacket. He could feel the pull of the rope around his waist begin to tighten as he traveled away from the Alfor but he had to press on.

When Keith was only a few feet away, he watched the siren grab Lance and pull him roughly under the surface. Keith took a deep breath and dove under after them.

He blinked rapidly as his eyes burned from the saltwater. He felt a mermaid grab onto his arm, but he twisted sharply and lashed out with his knife. The creature let out a muffled cry under the water and raced away. The other two mermaids weren't far behind. Keith let a few air bubbles escape as he turned back and quickly hurried after Lance. The siren had the teen in its arms and was dragging him down by the ankles. It had cut through Lance's life jacket to allow him to sink better. Keith knew that it was probably bringing Lance to its nest in order to feed its young.

Blind rage ripped through Keith as he swam faster. He was running out of oxygen and would most likely pass out before he could return to the surface. Keith reached out with his free hand and managed to grip the siren's tail. The creature hissed at him and tried to shake him loose. The siren seemed to realize that it could only get rid of Keith by letting Lance go and focusing on the mullet-wearing teen. Lance's body began to buoy as the siren let go to whip around and attack Keith. However, Keith was faster, and stabbed the siren through the stomach and dragged his knife, effectively tearing its skin apart. The creature let out a cry similar to the mermaid's and abandoned its catch. Keith swam forward a bit and grabbed Lance in his arms. He held Lance under the Cuban's arms and around his chest, with Lance's back to his chest. It was then that he felt the rope around him yank tightly and all the air held in his mouth released in a rush. Keith was pulled so hard that he felt the rope dig into his torso painfully. Instantly he broke the ocean's surface, managing to get water up his nose in the process. As Keith spluttered, he gazed around and saw two dead mermaid carcasses floating in the water not too far away from him. The Alfor's spikes had retreated back into their holds and their assailants were gone. As Keith's body was pulled towards the ship, he held onto Lance like his life depended on it.

XXXXXXXX

As soon as Coran saw Lance go overboard, he had begun the descent from the crow's nest to the deck. He wasn't as speedy as Keith though, and by the time Coran made it down, Keith had already dived overboard in pursuit of Lance. Coran had quickly run to Shiro's side, but upon seeing the captain's eyes wide and his body shaking, Coran knew that Shiro was subject to the siren's lure. Hunk wasn't in a much better state as he was aimlessly kicking out at nothing. Coran grabbed one of the harpoons strapped to the inner-side of the Alfor and stabbed at a few mermaids that had made it onboard the deck. Once they were taken care of, he climbed up the short ladder to the upper deck where Allura was wrestling Pidge for control of the wheel.

"I'm sorry about this Pidge, but we don't have time for this," Allura apologized before pulling her arm back and effectively socking Pidge in the face.

As the youngster collapsed in pain, Allura grabbed hold of the wheel and quickly righted the Alfor.

"Status!"

"Captain, Lance and Keith went overboard! Keith's tied to a rope and we have to pull him in!"

"Steer the ship, I've got it!"

Allura jumped the distance from the upper deck to the main deck and rushed over to the rope. She grabbed tight and began pulling. Now, it was true that Allura was secretly the strongest member of the Alfor's crew physically, but she wasn't even sure she could accomplish this feat alone. That was why, a moment later, she was relieved to see Pidge appear beside her. A bruise was quickly coloring the navigator's face around their eye and over their cheek, but it didn't look like anything was seriously damaged. Pidge nodded at Allura, telepathically telling her that it was okay, and grabbed the rope. Together, Pidge and Allura began pulling Keith and Lance in.

Coran monitored the situation from the wheel and when he saw the mermaids rising up to the water's surface after the boys, he quickly stepped away from the wheel to fire two more harpoons at the creatures. The harpoons struck with perfect precision. Coran hurried back to the wheel just as Lance and Keith broke the water's surface.

As the Alfor left the waters of the Slanden Abyss, Coran watched the remaining creatures slink back to the depths of the abyss. They wouldn't leave their territory in pursuit of the Alfor.

"That's right, ya filthy blighters! Go back to the hell you came from!"

Allura lowered a rope ladder down the Alfor's side. Keith grabbed the bottom of the ladder and held tightly.

"Wh-what? What's going on? What happened?"

Pidge left Allura's side by the ladder to rush over to Hunk, who was still tied to the mainmast.

"We made it, buddy. You're okay. We survived."

Hunk blinked a few times to clear his vision and looked around. "I…I saw my brothers. They –"

Pidge noded and put a hand on his shoulder, gently interrupting, "I know buddy, but you need to focus. Allura and I need your help now. I'm going to cut you free, okay?"

Hunk frowned and shook his head. "How do I know you're really Pidge?"

Pidge knew they had to say something that Hunk wouldn't have remembered. Something they had never told anyone before that the siren could replicate.

"Matt was Shiro's first."

As Hunk's eyes grew wide in shock, Pidge used his distraction to cut through the ropes. Once Hunk was freed, he followed Pidge, still slightly dumbstruck, to the side. Together, the three of them pulled up the ladder holding Lance and Keith. Allura, Hunk, and Pidge laid Lance's body down flat on the deck while Keith kneeled, panting slightly. Allura cut off Lance's life jacket so that Pidge could have easy access to his chest to start the compressions. Coran appeared beside them, ready to give Lance CPR. He was the trained medic after all.

Keith couldn't watch as Pidge and Coran worked to resuscitate Lance. Instead he held himself up with his palms against the deck and tried to control the impending anxiety attack he knew he would experience. He felt two pairs of hands gently coax him into an upward position. Hunk kneeled before him and held him tightly against his chest while Allura rubbed gently at Keith's shoulders. Keith couldn't help but fist his hands into the back of Hunk's shirt as he buried his face in the weapons expert's neck. Keith was shaking.

"You're safe, Keith. You're safe."

A thousand thoughts were spiraling through his mind at once. What if he hadn't made it in time? What if Lance didn't wake up? What if he was the reason they lost a crew member? Keith was crying before he could get a hold on himself. Hunk and Allura just held onto him tightly through it.

The sound of a sharp gasp and then wheezing behind him made Keith turn his head to look back at Lance. The Cuban was on his side, puking water, but alive. Hunk let out a loud whooping sound and Allura and Pidge laughed in relief.

Coran toyed with his mustache as he grinned. "Aha! There we go. All crew members accounted for and good to go, Captain!"

Hunk reached out and pulled Pidge and Lance into his group hug with Keith and Allura. "We live! I can't believe we LIVE!"

Pidge and Allura laughed again as Lance blinked and looked around at them.

"What…what happened?"

"You went overboard," Pidge replied, putting a hand on Lance's shoulder. "Keith jumped in after you and then we pulled the two of you up. We're out of the Slanden Abyss now. No more sirens."

"Sirens? Keith?" Lance's brow furrowed in confusion. He looked from Pidge to Keith and asked, "You…you saved me?"

Keith hadn't let go of Hunk's shirt and was still shaking. Lance saw the tears and something in his heart lurched violently. When they made eye contact, it was as if the rest of their crewmates, the Alfor, and even time seemed to ebb away. Without saying anything more, Lance reached out slowly and replaced one of Allura's hands on Keith's left shoulder.

"I..." Lance broke eye contact to look at the deck with a soft smile. After a moment he looked back up and met Keith's eyes. "Thank you."

Keith couldn't speak. He just nodded.

"Hey, hey, none of that, okay?" Hunk whispered tightly, wrapping his big arms as much around his group of friends as he could and pulling them all collectively against him. "We're safe now. Everyone's good."

"What about Shiro?" Pidge asked after a few moments.

"I'll…go untie him," Allura replied, standing up and walking to the side of the mainmast not visible to the rest of the crew from their position.

The rest of them stayed there in Hunk's arms for a bit longer, simply reveling in the knowledge that they were all safe and together before Lance pulled away slightly with a strained laugh.

"Wait, did I need CPR? Which one of you did it?"

His crew mates exchanged looks as Coran twirled his mustache and chuckled.

"Oh FUCK NO!"

XXXXXXX

Shiro's view came in blurry and slowly, as if he was waking up from a drug-induced sleep. He could feel warmth against his face and he tilted further into it.

"…iro, wake up."

His brow furrowed and he tried turning away from the voice. Gently a hand on his shoulder shook him as the warmth traced over his face.

"Shiro, wake up. It's over."

Slowly he opened his eyes and looked around in confusion. Allura's face came into view and he realized the warmth on his face was her hand.

"Al…Allura?"

She smiled in relief and began cutting through his ropes.

"One of the sirens got to you. We're out of the Slanden Abyss now, and everyone is safe."

"Sirens? I…oh fuck –"

Allura paused in freeing him to hold his face in both her hands and lock gazes with him.

"Shiro, it's alright. You're safe and so is everyone else. We had a few close calls, but everything is okay now."

Shiro leaned forward so that he could rest his forehead against hers. "I shouldn't have succumbed. I – I failed as a leader. I –"

"Shh, we can talk about it later," Allura whispered as she ran a hand through his hair. "Right now your crewmates need to see that you're okay." She finished cutting him free and stood back to give him space. Shiro rubbed absentmindedly at his human wrist as he frowned. Allura nodded to the crew and gave him a reassuring smile. They would talk about it later.

Shiro moved around the mainmast and his heart clenched as he saw them all still sitting on the deck with Hunk's arms lazily around all of them. Lance looked accosted as Pidge and Hunk laughed wildly at something. Coran had returned to the wheel. The corners of Keith's mouth were turned up but his gaze was intense as he stared at Lance.

Coran was the first one to see Shiro approaching and quickly saluted smartly from his place at the wheel. "Captain Shiro! Everyone's accounted for and safe. We are headings towards Galra waters as we speak."

Upon seeing their second captain, the rest of the crew began stumbling to their feet in order to salute but Shiro held up a hand.

"Rest, guys. You've all done well today."

"Keith and Coran are the real heroes," Hunk piped up. "Keith saved Lance when he went overboard and Coran steered us out of here."

Keith's face turned a slight pink at the praise and he looked down bashfully. Shiro noticed the way Lance's eyes traveled over Keith's face, searching. He gave a nod and clapped a hand on Keith's shoulder.

"Good job, Keith. I'm proud of you."

Keith swelled at Shiro's praise.

"Rest up, crew. You've earned it."