The Little Rose

The Little Siren

The sound of thunder cracking in the distance had me and Orion glancing up at each other over our meager breakfast of roast fish with crackers and canned green beans.  By the time we'd eaten the day was almost half gone and both of us were half-starved, descending on our meal like a pack of rabid beasts.  We hadn't spoken since we'd sat down to eat, choosing instead to eat in comfortable silence.  When we were done, and Orion had scarfed down three times as much as I had, he mentioned going out to bathe before the storm hit.  I nodded my head and watched him clean up after our meal before gathering his things and heading to the door.

Before walking out he at looked back, seeming to think about saying something than, changing his mind and turning to leave.   I wasn't sure what was going on between us, but I knew that even though I was the one with no memories, our connection seemed to make more sense to me than to him.  

I looked around the small cabin unsure of what to do with myself to keep busy when I spotted the photo album from earlier sticking out from behind a few cans on a shelf on the wall.  I glanced at the door, unsure if I should look at it again or not, it seemed to upset him so much this morning when he'd found me flipping through it, though I wasn't sure why.  The photos were sweet, him when he was younger and with what appeared to be his family.  One photo, in particular, was stuck in my mind though, Orion with his arms around a young woman with wild hair and black glasses, and a rounded stomach.

One more look wouldn't hurt anything, and he'd be out for a little bit.  Striding to the shelf I reached up and slid the book out from behind the cans, once it was in my hands I looked down at it, pausing again to ask myself if I should do this.

"Open it..."  Whispered a voice I didn't recognize.  I almost dropped the book in my fright, instead pulling it to my chest tightly and spinning around my eyes searching every corner of the cabin.

"Hello?  Who's there?"  I whispered into the empty cabin, confused as to what was going on. 

"Open the album..."  The same voice whispered again, the sound seeming to not only float around me but also drift through my mind. "Flip to the end."  It continued urgently.

Voice in my mind... was this like Odin for Orion?  Was this my own wolf spirit?  Was I a werewolf as well?

"Just do it, before he comes back..."  The voice urged again.

Flipping the album open I flipped straight to the back and looked down at the grainy black and white photo taped there, 3 black circles with little white things inside, tiny arms, and tiny legs told me they were babies still in the womb.  The words 'Baby A', 'Baby B' and 'Baby C' were listed beside each one.  At the bottom of the album, under the photo, were handwritten words.  

"Lena, Orune, Charlotte,"  I whispered the names, as my fingers trailed over the small photo.  Their names, these tiny baby's names.  Sorrow filled me, tearing at my heart as a part of my soul told me that these tiny beings had never been born.  Tears filled my eyes and began sliding down my cheeks, though why I was crying I wasn't sure, more things for me not to understand.

"What are you doing?"  Orion's voice asked softly from behind me.  I had been so engrossed in the photo and the voice in my mind that I hadn't heard the door open.  Turning to face Orion I flipped the album towards him and pointed at the photo.

"Who are they?"  I asked softly, refusing to wipe the tears from my eyes.  Orion's eyes lowered and glued to the photo, the anguish I saw role over his face told me everything I needed to know.  They were his children, his and the pretty girl he'd had his arms around in the previous photos.  He'd lost them, all of them.

"I told you to leave that alone.  It's personal and I didn't want to share it."  Orion growled at me even as his eyes began to sparkle with unshed tears, he advanced on me and snatched the album from my hands, closing it with a snap as he glared into my eyes.  "What is with you and boundaries!  This was personal!  You knew I didn't want you looking through it!"

"The voice in my mind told me to, she told me to look at the back of the album,"  I stated, glaring back at him, refusing to roll over and back down. 

"Voice in your mind?"  He asked as he took a step back from me, his face losing color like he'd seen a ghost.  "What voice in your mind?  You hadn't mentioned that before?"

"It just happened for the first time, she told me to open the album and look at the back page."  Orion slid a hand through his hair and turned away from me, shaking his head in confusion.  "Could it be a wolf spirit, like Odin?"

"No, I would have smelled the wolf scent on you before.  Even a Lycan has a scent to another Lycan.  You aren't a wolf and you aren't a Lycan."  He was muttering now, trying to figure out the puzzle that was becoming my life, our life.

"Then what do you think it was?"  I asked as I took a step slowly towards him, hoping to help calm him.

"How do I even know there is a voice?" Orion demanded as he turned to face me again, anger flashing across his features as he searched my own.  "You could be lying about a voice so that I wouldn't be angry with you."

"Well, then my plan clearly worked huh?  Because you obviously aren't angry with me!"  Sarcasm was heavy in my tone as I glared back at him, I may not know everything exactly, but I knew I wasn't a liar.  "Why don't you believe me?"

"Because I know nothing about you!"  He shouted at me, his brows furrowed over his eyes which were swirling like a silver storm over the sea.  There was the truth, he didn't know me.  He didn't trust me.  But why did I expect those things of him?  He was right, he didn't know me, I didn't even know me.  But even knowing all of this, my heart felt shattered at the words leaving his mouth.  I knew he had every right to his feelings, he had every right to not trust a woman he didn't know.   "I just met you!  I don't know who you are, I don't know what you are!"

"You're right,"  I whispered, wrapping my arms around myself and taking a step back from him.  Everything in me told me that I could trust him, that he was my entire world, but that didn't mean that he felt the same things I did.  It didn't mean his heart felt the same way mine did.

"Stop that!"  He shouted at me, making me jump with the sudden outburst of anger, I had agreed with him, why was he mad now?  My wide eyes flew up to meet his confused gaze.  "Stop being so accepting all the damn time!  Aren't you human?  Why do you just accept everything as it is?  Why don't you question anything?"

"I don't know, if it feels right I accept it.  I don't have anything else to go off of except for what my heart tells me."  I blinked up at him as the sky above us gave out, rain pounding against the tin roof as thunder crashed around us shaking the tiny cabin's dirty windows.

"I don't understand any of this."  Orion seemed to grumble to himself as he turned back towards the door, tossing the album on the counter as he walked past it.  "I don't understand what is going on."

"I don't either, but we can get through his together... can't we?"  I asked him hesitantly, he just flashed me an irritated look over his shoulder as he disappeared out into the storm. "Wait!  Where are you going?"  I shouted as I ran after him.

"To bathe, remember?"  He yelled back at me as he stepped off the porch and into the downpour, he was soaked in seconds stripping his shirt from his body and picking up his soap as he moved further out into the clearing.  Lightening cracked above us and I cringed away from it while eyeing Orion with concern, he seemed unphased though.

"You should come in!  What if you get struck by lightning?"  I yelled at him, but he either ignored me or simply couldn't hear me over the fury of the storm around us.  Glaring after him I clenched my fist by my sides and jumped off of the low-lying porch, my feet splashing in a puddle, the ground was squishy between my toes.  As I moved to take a step towards him I realized I was falling, my legs and feet were tingly and the sensation was moving quickly up the legs as I began falling to the side.  "Orion!"  I screamed even as I hit the ground with a splash, my arms had barely broken my fall, stomach, and breasts pressed into the wet grass.  

"Roisin!"  I heard Orion shout, drawing my gaze to his as he raced towards me before stopping in his tracks, his eyes growing incredibly wide.  "Roisin?"  He asked as he stepped closer to me, his confused eyes going from my legs to my head and back again.

"Stop staring and help me up, please?  My legs feel weird."  I reached a hand out to him, the action moving my braid that was lying over my shoulder and drawing my eyes to the fact that my hair was no longer red, but purple with blue and pink streaks peeking through.  "What in the... My hair is a different color!"  

"Your hair is the least of our concerns."  Orion was saying as he stepped closer and bent down near my legs, except when I managed to flip myself over my legs were gone, instead, a long and absolutely beautiful tail was in their place, covered in iridescent purple, pink and blue scales that matched the odd color my hair now was.  "You're a Siren,"  Orion said in awe as he put a hand out to touch the scales on my tail, when his fingertips grazed gently over me the scales shifted colors, sending waves of color through them like ripples when a rock breaks the surface of calm water.

"I mean, I've met Sirens before, but never in their mermaid form.  This is incredible."  Orion's eyes moved up my body to my wide eyes and his lips split into a huge smile.  "Your eyes... I didn't know they could look any more beautiful but they're a mixture of purple and pink now."  The way he was staring at me made me forget all about the rain running down both of our faces and the lightning cracking overhead.  He was looking at me like I was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.  I smiled nervously back at him right before my tail flopped involuntarily up and back to the ground, splashing Orion with mud and grass, I gasped, watching him nervously, afraid he'd get angry, instead, pleasantly surprising me when instead he started laughing.  I giggled along with him, my heart soring at this little slice of time that Orion had let the problems of the world slide off of his shoulders, his true personality showing through.

Shifting my body, I adjusted my weight, things under me were poking into the sensitive skin and scales of my tail and I had hoped shifting would help, but it didn't, instead, making me more uncomfortable.

"Are you okay Roisin?"  Orion asked as he leaned in a little closer, concern in his eyes. 

"Yeah, I mean, I'm a little uncomfortable being on the hard ground, but I'm okay,"  I answered, my eyes flicking between my new tail and Orion's beautiful eyes.

"How about the lake?  What if I get you in there?  Do you think that would help?"  

"Yes actually!  I think it would help a lot."  I answered with a nod of my head.  He leaned forward, about to scoop me up into his arms, when he suddenly stopped and pulled back, looking at me with an eyebrow raised.  "What's wrong?"  I asked, my own brows scrunching together in concern.

"I mean, this all seems a little..."  He paused for a moment while he thought before looking back at me with a twinkle in his silvery gaze.  "Fishy."

I rolled my eyes at him while he chuckled at his own silly joke.  "Hahaha, now help me get to the lake please."

"Why are you in such a rush?  Do you feel like a fish out of water?"  He waggled his eyebrows at me and I groaned, flopping back onto the ground and throwing a hand over my eyes.

"Those jokes are terrible!"  I groaned again though I was secretly giggling inside aswell.  "Please take me to the lake, the ground is really uncomfortable."  I took my arm off of my face and stuck my bottom lip out to pout up at him.

"Okay, okay, I don't want you floundering about."  Orion's lips went up into a huge grin as I rolled my eyes for the third time, and held my arms out to him, he dipped down and slid his hands under me and stood to his feet as if I didn't weigh a thing.  Where our skin touched tingles flashed through my system, electricity jumping between us.  I glanced towards his face and felt my cheeks flush when I realized he was staring at me as well.  He smiled as he leaned in and kissed me on the tip of my nose before adding softly.  "Alright, let's get you where the people aren't"

I raised an eyebrow in question of what he meant and he stared at me in shock.  "You don't know The Little Mermaid?"

"No memories... remember?"  I said dryly, chuckling when he nodded his head and whispered 'right, right' under his breath.

"Well, as soon as we get on the mainland we are going to find a copy and watch it."  He declared, walking towards the lake while the rain pelted down around us, once he'd walked in to about chest deep he let me go into the water, his hands keeping a firm hold on my arms as I got my bearings.  But it was as if I were made for this, which I guess I was because once I hit the water I dove under and swam around the circumference of the lake in seconds, ending back up where Orion was, laughing as I came out of the water with a splash.  He was watching me with a mixture of pride and love that I hoped, above anything else, would never leave his eyes.