Siren of the Lake
Luke clambered over the rocks with an uneasy grace, leaping from stone to stone like any other 6 year old child. He was careful to keep a sure grip on his prize, a piece of jewelry that took his whole baseball card collection to trade for. It was a rather nice piece, a solid gold band that was worth quite a bit that could be quite fitting on any bride.
He did not recognize the trees around him, but it didn't matter. He could follow his ears there and his nose back. The song that lured him hung in the air like a beckoning call, and he was eager to obey.
Come to me by the bright noon light, my love will then be your escape.
Louder now, the young child clambered over a bit of fence until he reached his destination, a rather small lake set in the middle of a clearing.
The scene was perfect; a weeping willow overhanging dark water, the soft sound of the wind..it all seemed to be from a fairy tale out of a book. Which was exactly what he wagered on.
I shall give you a gift of life as soon as you give me my wedding kiss.
Luke had memorized the song long before, it had echoed in his mind over and over again. There he saw the creature, an odd sight it was. Like the princess coming across the ugly toad, here he was seeing an odd blue duck-like creature. A human girl turned into a pokemon..could it be? He had been told long ago that magic did not exist, that reality did not turn out like the books. But a talking pokemon? Never. This was real. This was magic.
The boy knelt down in the moss covered ground. He had been unsure of what to wear, so had opted for his Sunday school clothes. He had even gotten into a batch of his father's aftershave and threw that one for good luck. In a shaking hand he held out the ring, and the pokemon gave the slightest of winks before reaching out and taking it between two claws. You came.. It said without moving it's mouth, making the boy fluster and nod excitedly. Somewhere, in the back of his mind logic screamed out, warned him, reminded him of his parent's teachings on strangers. But he couldn't help it. It could of been the magical overtone this encounter had. Most likely it was the mixture of scents of an Attract attack and imposing thoughts emitted unseen and unnoticed by the boy.
The Pokemon slipped the band on one finger, though it was much too large to fit properly. Before the boy could apologize the pokemon waved it off with a wordless laugh. It held out one webbed hand to the human, a knowing look on it's face. And your gift, after my kiss, The sweet voice said. With a shaking hand Luke reached out and took the pokemon's hand, gripping it tightly out of fear and excitement. The Duck-type allowed a glint of something else flicker past its eyes before, without warning, Luke's world went dark, cold, and wet.
The struggle was one-sided, yet long lasting. The boy had no way of keeping himself above water with his soaked and weighed clothes. Pulled far from the bank he trashed with the thing that was pulling down on his legs, utter terror flooding his body. It took Thirty seconds until he tired out and slipped before the surface, holding his breath as he feebly tried to get back to the surface. Down..down he felt himself get pulled, all the while resisting the urge to breathe in. Was this part of the magic? Part of the story? For a fleeing moment Luke thought so. Then he realized as he felt himself reach bottom that this was no fairy tale. This was a nightmare.
The creature moved to his front and pinned Luke's arm to his side. Its sheer power made Luke helpless, and he was unable to kick out to defend himself. His life flashed, his parents, friends, and others, His dreams and hopes; all of it running back though his mind in the blink of an eye until Alien thoughts and emotions invading. Feelings of ecstasy and joy that did not belong to him impressed themselves on his brain, and as he fought the urge to take a lung-full of air the pokemon clung to him, bringing its head to rest on Luke's chest to listen to the heart's frantic beating. In the final moments Luke still not believe the betrayal, and now that he looked back he understood the whole thing. A ruse, a trap.
The fairy tales and unicorns did not exist. But all the nightmares did.
At last Luke tried to inhale, his lungs and chest burning as all he found was water. For eight agonizing seconds his body shook with new vigor as it sought the oxygen it would never find. Finally the struggling was over, the body was still.
The pokemon listened in onto the final beatings of the boy's heart, taking in the feeling of the boy's dying body against its own. The heat, the force, all of it gave the pokemon a sustaining need. It continued to hang on until it felt the boy's body start to sink. There the pokemon let it go to settle on the lake's bottom. The pokemon had five, maybe six hours to leave until the body bloated and rose back up to be discovered, though it knew that the parents wouldn't even bother to look for much longer after that.
The duck-type allowed itself a little time to hover there, to bask in the release it had undergone before taking the ring from its finger and holding it tightly in one hand. It would be added to the chain of growing jewelry that it had stashed nearby, this one making its count 14. The pokemon reached down and pulled the body up to the same level as it one last time, looking at the boy's ghostly form as it floated there before planting an awkward kiss on the dead human's cheek. As promised, the pokemon emitted to itself as it released the body and swam up, leaving Luke to return to the depths of darkness below.