James wakes up to darker, colder water and blinks up at the round spot of open water above him, encircled by long tendrils of thick, deep green seaweed. James tries to swim upright but something catches on the end of his tail and he hisses as the injuries on him sting with the movement.
Was there a seaweed forest near the reef? Did James manage to lead the Siren away before he passed out?
James half rolls onto his side and pushes up on his hands, his tail still tugging and what is that?! A giant brown and orange-rusted chain is clipped around his tail.
Oh his tail. Oh fuck. Oh his tail.
The translucent fin, deeper brown on the spines, is splayed open and curved like a crescent. On the left it's ripped down almost to the scales and James covers his mouth in horror.
That's it, that's all, he's gone. He can't do anything, his speed is maybe halved if he's lucky and sharp turns are near impossible. He…can't guard the pod anymore.
James curls up and starts tugging at the chain. There's a clear gap on the two sides where it's supposed to open but it's stuck and James doesn't have the leverage (or the strength right now) to open it and dragging the massive chain attached is something James doesn't even bother to consider.
"If you can actually get that open, I'll just let you go," a voice admits casually.
James half sits up, still curled around on his tail, and snarls at the Siren that peeks out through the seaweed. It's the black tailed one, the Siren that attacked, clearly injured but not nearly as bad as James since shorter Mer claws just skittered off his tail but there's a particularly bloody bite mark on his shoulder.
"I'm Sirius, Remus is somewhere," the Siren introduces. "You're James, right?"
"How do you know my name?" James hisses. "I didn't know Sirens bothered with niceties when getting lunch."
"I…" Sirius trails off. "Should not tell you because I feel like you're going to start getting upset if I do."
"I'm already plenty upset," James snaps.
"Well in that case, I met Harry-"
Remus' head snaps up when he hears a jagged shriek and he knows instinctively it isn't Sirius but he still darts through the forest and flicks his tail to slow to a stop just inside the clearing.
The Mer is the one singing like a Siren and maybe it would be threatening if he could hit the right pitch but right now it's just like a little omnivore baring his flat front teeth.
"What did you do?" Remus demands of Sirius and his voice is heard over the screaming, unlike a true Siren song.
Sirius has his hands up defensively. "Okay! Okay, look, Harry is fine, I left him back at the reef, okay? We had a short talk, I shoo'd him off and it was fine!"
"Why were you talking to my son in the first place?!"
Honesty, it takes a good long while for the Mer to calm down, but Sirius is very willing to explain and gush over how cute the baby is and James clearly agrees his son is the best. Remus is a little bit…nicer than he thinks he should be too.
Remus has eaten Mer before, but only ones killed in the initial fight. Seeing one distressed over his son is a bit much for Remus to still be apathetic.
James eventually calms down but he stays curled up in a tight spiral, resting on his own tail because Mer are more flexible than the Sirens with thicker skin and scales. Remus gets him some seaweed to eat because injuries like that will take a lot to heal.
Sirius' injuries will also need a heavier diet but they've taken down a shark and some large crabs that were lured in by the Mer already. This is easier food than they've gotten in a while and Remus is feeling pretty nice towards James for that alone.
"So you're the best guard the reef has?" Sirius asks.
"I'm not telling you shit," James scoffs.
"I'm just asking because, you know, if it's defenceless-"
"There are many guards," James corrects. "You won't get into the reef!"
"I got literally all the way in, slapped three Mers around, and even you had to lure me away," Sirius points out and darts a smug smirk towards Remus.
"I would have gotten you if you hadn't cheated!"
"You took a flying leap, who the hell was cheating here?!"
James shrieks and Sirius screams back but with proper Siren song and James ducks down, clutching at his ears and curling in tighter.
James is lying belly down in the sand, having gathered up some (very nice) soft sand that's blanketing everything and is building a little sleeping space around him.
The Remus guy keeps giving James seaweed but not enough to heal faster and James can't reach the food where he's chained down. Sirius is an asshole but in a not very threatening kind of way.
They keep James like a pet and James would be more upset, if the other option wasn't being eaten.
Sirius drifts in, carrying half a long eel that might have once been about James' length and moves to the upper part of the sand bed. They seem to have to shimmy things around a bit because usually they don't have excess food.
Remus has weaved some seaweed together and pinned down the edges to make a net and is storing half eaten things there, not that the Siren ever usually leave much for long. James once saw the two Sirens devour an entire sunfish. That kind of thing could feed a Merfolk family for two weeks.
"You're welcome," James says pointedly, chin resting on his folded forearms.
Sirius gets the unwieldly eel tail under the net and then darts off for a moment, bringing back seaweed. He pauses, looking over James' injuries and instead rips off half to pass along. Sirius already looks brand new, the only sign of injuries being the faded bite mark.
"Are you kidding me?" James asks, pushing up and floating as upright as he can with his tail weighed down. "You're already half starving me, have some sympathy. If I get too skinny you won't eat well."
"Well if you don't want it," Sirius offers and just swims away.
"Sirius?" James says. "Sirius! Get back here, I want a rematch you cheater, going after the tail fin because you know you were going to lose!"
There's no reply and James sighs, floating back down to the sand and curling up on his tail. He's been here for three days now and has little hope of pulling the chain off him. He's half considering breaking the spines in his tail fin so he can slip through but then he won't get far either way.
James spends the rest of the day like the ones before, mainly sleeping and trying to recover. Remus and Sirius swap in and out so James trying to drag himself over to the seaweed always ends with a Siren dragging him back to the middle of the clearing by the chain.
The water is strange, feels different this far out from the reef. He can't see the ocean's surface either. He hopes Harry is okay, that Lily is keeping the reef safe.
James closes his eyes and drifts.
"…ad."
"…dad."
"Dad!"
James startles awake, half rising with a gasp before his tail catches. Peeking out from the seaweed is Harry, eyes wide and tail nearly blending in perfectly with the green forest.
James looks around quickly even as he holds out his arms. Harry darts out and crashes into his chest and James quickly rolls, going flat on his stomach, Harry tucked under him.
"Sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't meant to-" Harry babbles.
James shushes him frantically. "Don't – don't, no, stay quiet. It's not safe here." James hurriedly digs out a hole around Harry, fits the baby Mer inside and lays overtop like he's guarding Harry's unhatched egg again.
They stay silent and tense, James' gills working hard with how he's almost gasping for breath. Harry isn't safe here, James can't protect him.
The waters are still, no Siren rushes out from the dense forest and tries to eat them.
James hunches up, tucking his head down and whispering, "How did you get here? Where is your mum?"
"No one would help," Harry admits quietly into James' chest. "I came to rescue you."
"It's too dangerous here," James snaps. "How did you even swim this far out? No, it doesn't matter. You are going straight home, okay? You stay close to the seafloor, you go straight back."
Even in a few short days Harry has gotten so much bigger but there's no way he can fight off fully grown predators this far out, the safest bet is for Harry to try and camouflage, maybe take some seaweed to hide under.
"I need to rescue you," Harry insists. "I – I told the Siren about you…you got hurt because of me."
"No, I got hurt because Sirens eat Mers, Harry!" James hisses. "I don't know how you made it out of that conversation alive but I was very happy with you being in the reef and staying safe."
"I'll get you out," Harry promises.
James starts to reply but his head snaps up and he reaches down, putting a hand over Harry's mouth. He waits.
There's a noise close by.
Remus swims out of the forest dragging seaweed with him. He drops it and it floats gently downwards next to James. The Mer is on his belly again, tense and curled in tight. He peeks up at Remus with big brown eyes.
"No complaining today, I guess," Remus muses.
James snatches the seaweed when it falls close enough and tucks his arm back into his side, still stares up at Remus warily.
"Are you feeling okay?" Remus asks because James is not the quiet sort. "Did Sirius do something?"
"No," James says shortly and then hesitates. "Just didn't sleep well."
Remus pauses for a moment. "You want more sand?"
"No, it's okay, just need to shuffle things around, you know how it is," James trails off.
Remus raises an eyebrow because is the Mer trying to nest? Literally inside Remus and Sirius' nest? "Alright then."
James waits for a lot longer after the Siren is gone to raise himself up slightly and push the seaweed down to Harry. "Eat quickly."
Harry starts ripping it into two.
"I already ate," James lies, digging the hole bigger around Harry. "You have it. Did you eat on the way here? How far out is this?"
"I had a bit of food," Harry says through a mouthful. "Um, two nights away, mainly open sea and some outcropping of rocks. I – I caught a fish."
James stills in shock. "Your first solo hunt?"
Harry nods.
"Oh," James says with a warble, gathering Harry in his arms. "You're getting so big, Harry."
"I was gonna give it to you but then I had to run so I lost it," Harry admits sadly.
"That's okay, you'll catch me so many more fish," James says before he bites his lip because he won't be around for much longer. "You'll get so many for Lily, won't you? Which is why you're going back to your mum."
"I can help you!" Harry insists. "I can get the thing off you, I promise."
"It's not safe here, this is a Siren nest."
"Either I rescue you or I fight them," Harry says firmly.
"Harry, listen, you need to leave," James stresses but Harry has already made up his mind.