Chapter Text
Wilbur doesn’t remember when he started to feel the changes in his body, the need of drinking more water, his skin being extremely dry and his attraction to the sea, he just know that it started when he was still young, at first Wilbur was very scared of it, seeing more and more changes in his body while he was inside the water, he noticed the scales, the fins, and at last… the gills, but to scared of what would happen, he never told no one about it, making this his most guarded secret.
He was 12 when he first have fully transformed inside the water, having for the first time ever, a fish tail, it was a gorgeous blue tail that had a very different shine in every single scale, the strange felling of having razor sharp teeth in his mouth and razor sharp nails to, don’t even need to say how scared he was at first, but the welcoming feeling of staying on water made everything so… Natural, that it was like he belonged there.
One thing that everyone that knew Wilbur know, is that he loves music, but after he made 13, Wil suddenly stopped singing, and no one knew why, and Wilbur never said the reason too, always avoiding the questions about, but the real reason was that his siren side was starting to become more and more powerful, something he was very afraid of, his voice was making people do what he says when he is singing, and to not hurt anybody, he just stopped singing, something that hurted him badly, Wilbur loved to sing.
When he made 15 he started hearing a voice, a single voice, that was trying to lure him into the ocean, he was hearing the ocean itself, and everytime was so tempting to just enter the sea and never come back. But even though he liked being on water, he never let his instincts take place, Wilbur knows people will be hurt if he just let his instincts act, so he always suppress them.
He knew that suppress his instincts wouldn’t last forever and one day when he was 17, he gave in completely to it, and even though was only one time, he never stopped his instincts anymore, people in the little town he lives started believing that there was a creature attacking nearby boats, sinking them and drowning every single one on board.
Time passed by, Wilbur finally finished school, and decided to become a musician, even though he didn’t sing anymore, Wilbur still know how to play a variety of instruments, so he applied for a music school and was pretty happy about it, even though he was happy being in the sea, Wilbur never gave up of living on land, he had dreams and wanted to complete them, and he love many people that live with him, this things made him want to stay in land, he had friends and family that he can’t even think about abandoning them.
His time during the music school was very special for him, he made friends that understood him, and learned a lot about music during his time in there, and he became more confident in singing during the years he spend with them, Wilbur finally learned how to control his ability, and that made him so happy, he was finally able to sing to others without the danger of controlling them.
After finishing the music school, Wilbur decided to live alone, with his parents help he found a very good apartment near the beach, and was able to get a job as a music teacher in one school, everything was perfect for Wilbur during that time, he became a very beloved teacher among students, and was happy in teaching students new instruments, he thought that music was a way to relive every emotion you have trapped inside you.
He was being a teacher for 3 years already, saw many students graduate, and grow up, he was very proud of what he was doing, even the ocean was happy with what he became on land, during his time living alone, the ocean became a parent for Wilbur, always making sure he was ok, eat well, was healthy, and more important, was letting himself be a siren during his free time.
For being a beloved teacher, usually students were curious about his personal life, and wanted to know what he liked to do when he wasn’t at school.
Wilbur never thought that someone would follow him the whole day, a student of his was following him the whole day, and Wilbur, distracted, didn’t noticed, so he did his normal things of weekend, buy groceries, hang out with friends, and on afternoon, he lets himself be a siren, going to a desert part of the beach, talking with the ocean and let himself transform into a siren, with his beautiful tail and scales, he wasn’t expecting that a student of his saw everything, hear his talk with the ocean and the whole transformation process,that was very strange and even gross seeing from the outside, Wilbur was already used to it, so for him it was nothing.
The next day Wilbur notice that the student was acting strange around him, usually he was a very active student, but today he was very quiet, and very wary of Wilbur, something happened and he didn’t have a single clue of what is.
The same day, the class needed to choose the teacher that would go with them in the school trip that was going to be on a cruise, and for his surprise, the class choose him to be their teacher during the trip, alongside the biology teacher.
He was happy to be chosen for this, 2 weeks near the ocean was heaven for him, even though he wouldn’t be able to swim, be so near the ocean at the whole time was already something he liked a lot.
After a week, the day of the trip came and everyone was pretty exited, talking was at the whole lounge, with the school students, and other passengers too, it had everything to be a great trip by the ocean.
The first week was amazing, everyone had so much fun, and had the opportunity to see things that they wouldn’t be able to see inside the classroom, Wilbur only helping the science teacher, ms. Noris, to organize the class and make sure they don’t do stupid things inside the ship.
During that time Wilbur find himself talking more to the ocean then ever, especially at night, saying about his day, talking about how wonderful his students are, and saying his concerns about the student that started acting weird a few weeks before the trip.
As always, the ocean listen to him patiently, and comforts him whenever is necessary, Wilbur was very grateful of having the ocean as a parent for him, the ocean treated him more like a mom than his real mom was to him sometimes, the ocean didn’t judge, and accept Wilbur for who he is, and respect his decisions, even though they are not what the ocean had in mind for him.
During the second week was when everything started to go wrong, the vessel started to be more and more unstable, and even though the ocean was being kind because Wilbur asked to not be harsh on the ship, the weather was harsh, and there was nothing the ocean could do to stop it.
He didn’t expected waking up with the emergency sound of the cruise, saying to everyone to abandon ship, he was fast at leaving his cabin and before going out himself he passed through every single student cabin to wake them and helping them, they were his responsibility, and he promised keeping them safe.
Everyone gathered in the lifeboats deck, ready to go inside the boats when their time comes, but while he counts he notice that 2 students are missing and without a second thought he went inside the already flooding ship to find them, he was lucky that the ocean helped him find them.
The two students were trapped in a air pocket that was having less and less air every second, and even though he knew that they would see that he is a siren, he helped them escape, with his magic he was able to make the students breath underwater for sometime, and after they came to a safe place, he asked them to not tell anybody, and when they came to a safe place, he would explain everything, but begged them to not tell anybody, he really didn’t wanted to use his voice on them, luckily they agreed, maybe because they were scared, but agreed and that's what mattered.
When they finally came on land, everyone was very tired, and traumatized, but everything came out fine in the end, they stayed at a hotel, and were going to be send back to their city on the next few days, but while they were organizing, the same student that was acting strange started saying that he was the culprit to the boat sinking and that he used his abilities to sink the ship, of course Wilbur said it was nonsense, not wanting to really argue with the student at the moment.
The next day he called out the student that argue with him to discover how much he knew about him, it was a danger for him to let anyone know, and he was going to make the 3 students forget about he being a siren, for his and their own safety, he was very kind at all times and admitted being the one tormenting their city sea, sinking ships that came nearby, but with a couple of words, he forgot everything that he saw that day, and did the same thing for the other 2 students that he saved at the sinking vessel.
Even though it wasn’t the way he was expecting, everyone came out alive, and were send back to their towns and countries, and after the accident many of the students hadn’t had the courage to go into another ship, but until now lives their lives happily.
Wilbur on other hand, decided that it was time for him to embrace the ocean once and for all, wondering the vast sea, and freeing himself, letting him be the siren he ever wanted to be, a free creature that haunted the ocean, sinking ships and luring sailors to their own demise, if the ocean had a voice, Wilbur was the heart of the sea, maintaining alive the fear that humans had for the mysterious world that was underwater.