The Outskirts (ITZY Shin Ryujin)

18

"Every siren?" He roared with laughter, talking a few massive steps towards her and forcing her to look at him. "Oh darling, I'm only trying to get rid of you."

Ryujin gave his eyes one last chance and swore she saw it flash it's normal brown before returning to the neverending pits. In that split second, she knew that she saw what she saw. His eyes were full of worry. His siren side was going to do something to her that even Tinsel's real self knew he'd regret.

When she detached her gaze from his, she was surprised to see Tinsel already in his siren form. His face was scratched and scarred and bruised and blistered. A variation of dark blue and sky blue scales clung onto his smooth skin. His teeth were razor sharp and crooked, like that of a great white shark and a slender, black tongue peaked between the top and bottom layers.

"Where shall I start? I'll give you the honours, darling. How shall I kill you?"

She pushed herself out of his grasp violently, causing him to fall to the ground. Knowing that must've infuriated him, she immediately dashed towards who knows where.

Tinsel was quick to regain his balance, searching around the area before catching her scent and chasing after her. Being a siren meant he was quick at swimming but quite the opposite at running. Ryujin was a bit faster due to only being half siren but she knew if she was forced to swim at any point, she stood no chance.

"You can run but you'll never get me off your tail, Ryujin. Whether it's now or in a century's time, I will get you. And I will kill you."

The house was hours away. There was no way she could ever find safety there not to mention the fact that the girls would be sceptical if she came running to the house at this time with a siren following close behind.

"Leave me alone, Tinsel," she yelled back. "Just let me be!"

"Why should I? You've rebelled against not just me, all of the sirens. All the sirens. You took his side."

"I went for what was right."

"Right? Betraying your family is right? Humans are selfish, evil creatures. They want to rise up and use us for their own needs. You think they ever cared for us? We were made to be their slaves! They never cared."

"Lies! All of it. Yes, there were se selfish desires behind it but we were never to be slaves. Never."

Distracted by the conversation, Ryujin hadn't even realised a rock on the pavement until she had crashed into the ground, head first. For a moment, everything was black but when she opened her eyes she watched as the word around her spun. She was panting heavily as she tried to pull herself up but to no avail. Something warm and thick ran down the side of her face from the ripped skin of her forehead. Blood flooded out of her nose, pooling on the pavement below her. A part of her cheek up until her upper lip stung as though someone had applied salt and vinegar to a wound, all of it enough to make her wince for a whole minute.

All feeling of her left arm was lost and her right arm didn't have nearly enough strength to pull her whole body up. Turning herself over so her back hit the ground, she watched Tinsel swiftly approach her before her jump down to hover over her stiff body.

She groaned loudly as he applied pressure to her scraped stomach. He narrowed his eyes at her as a victorious smirk grew on his face.

"Looks like I didn't have to do much. Who knew you were going to do half the job for me?"

"Leave," she uttered weakly, panting and wincing as Tinsel pushed once again at her stomach. "Me... Alone..."

He ran a hand over her jawline softly and hummed slightly.

"And why would I do that?"

"Please," she gently swatted his hand away. "Please."

He grabbed her hand.

"Answer my question and I'll consider."

"Please-"

"Step away from her, Tinsel," a voice came from beside them before a rock was thrown at his head.

He growled lowly before meeting the gaze of the person who hit him.

"Of course," a smile grew on his face as he stood up, discarding Ryujin. "Lover boy has come to the rescue."

Chaeryeong pushed Luke behind her further so Tinsel had no choice than to focus on her.

"Leave her alone," the snake mutant snarled.

"And if I don't?"

She instantly turned into her snake form and darted towards him, teeth clasping around his leg as her venom filled him.

Tinsel shrugged her off, kicking her towards a brick wall.

She crashed against it as soon as she turned back to her human form and fell limply to the ground, eyes slammed shut as she winced at the pain coursing through her back.

Now it was just him and Luke. In terms of strength, this was like the equivalent of David against Goliath, except Luke had no stone or slingshot and was pretty much useless.

"Save her if you want," Tinsel uttered, glaring at him. "Save both of them... But first, kill me."

Luke glowered at him.

"We both know I can't do that."

"Then why did you come out here trying to be a superhero? What were you trying to prove?"

"I... Just wanted to help."

"You're too weak to help anyone. Not even your own girlfriend."

"She's... Not my girlfriend," he uttered slowly, gulping when Tinsel took a step closer.

In one swift move, the siren had Luke slammed into a wall, hovering over him as he practically ripped his collar from his t-shirt.

The boy clawed and kicked, struggling under Tinsel's inhumane grip that progressively moved to cup Luke's exposed neck. He snarled at him, pitch black eyes filled with all the hate on Earth. Luke exhaled a ghastly whine that drifted with the wind as Tinsel applied more pressure to the boy's windpipe, any more pressure and both of them knew that it would just snap.

Luke's eyes landed on Chaeryeong who was clearly unconscious at this point, then on Ryujin who had successfully managed to get to her feet but it wasn't long until she fell back down, landing directly on her broken arm. Her shriek and cries were swallowed by the loud ringing that invaded his ears just as he felt as though he was on the verge of dying.

With everything quickly dimming, Luke gave Ryujin a weak smile. She probably didn't see it. After all, her mind must have been foggy from all the events of that night, not to mention her vision was still messing with her.

As soon as everything went black, the pressure around his neck immediately faded and he felt himself fall to the ground. Her heard a few screams before the white noise covered up the chaos of the horrid night. Luke never thought he'd ever feel comfortable in this situation but the sound of nothingness was just so soothing, relaxing and for once, he felt safe where he was.