Chapter Text
The night was serene and the ocean lay almost still. There were no clouds in the sky and a bright full moon shone down onto the glistening water. This would have been an absolutely perfect night, if Dipper Pines wasn't so hungry.
The young siren hadn't gotten anything substantial to eat for days because no ship had gotten close to his colonies' hunting grounds. He was pretty sure that most humans knew of the danger and now avoided the place. This was especially frustrating, since the sirens had to fight other predatory animals for precious fish too. And those weren't as easily fought off as humans.
Sometimes they would get in a massive fight with a pod of dolphins and a confrontation like that could end deadly. Luckily, Dipper didn't have to face a dolphin yet.
The boy made a frustrated clicking noise as he could feel his stomach beg for food and decided to pay the surface a visit. He always liked looking at the stars and their numerous constellations when the sky was clear.
Both Stanford and Stanley, his and his hatch-mate Mabel's tutors, would be furious if they knew that he was going to the surface alone again.
It was a rule among the sirens that they would only go hunting together, because it was much less dangerous. But Dipper didn't really care. He wasn't worried about anything on the surface, especially not humans. They were way too easy to trick anyway.
He broke the surface but only stuck his head out of the waves, water dripping from his brown locks and running down his face. He blinked twice to make his eyes adjust to air before he looked up at the sky. He smiled when he saw the constellation that gave him his name, due to a curious mark on his forehead, which not even Stanford could explain. And he was an expert with magic and omens.
Dipper didn't even know how long he had floated on the waves, observing the sky, but he was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard water splash against wood. He immediately sunk below the surface again and concentrated on all the sounds around him. He got increasingly more excited when he saw the silhouette of a small row boat not too far away from him.
After hesitating for a moment he lifted his head just far enough out of the water to see if someone was actually in the boat. He was not disappointed to see a lone human figure, rowing their little boat towards the island that wasn't too far away. Dipper also quickly noticed a much bigger ship in the distance. That was probably where the man had come from. But that wasn't interesting to the siren right now.
He was debating with himself, whether he should swim back to get the others or if he should just catch the human himself. He was conflicted, because it'd be way easier with more backup, but eventually his stomach decided that he would just try it on his own. What could go wrong?
His flicked his tail as he dove beneath the waves again, making a quiet splashing sound, that should get the person's attention and then dove a little to the right of the boat before surfacing a few meter away from it. He could tell that the man inside was carefully glancing around the waves, indicating that his little trick had worked.
Dipper eyed him for a moment. The man had blonde hair with a few black streaks in the front and the back. He also seemed to be missing an eye, indicated by the piece of cloth he had strapped over his right eye. There was also something about him that set the Siren off, but he could not tell what exactly it was and his hunger was too great to really pay attention to his inner warning signals.
So he began to sing.
Granted, he wasn't as good as Mabel but still good enough to lure in any unsuspecting human.
The man immediately whipped his head around and his one eye widened as he saw Dipper. The Siren put on a soft smile and carefully swam closer to the boat, never stopping with his song. The melody was melancholic, yet promising and was enough to put every person under his spell, regardless of the words. They were nothing but false promises of love and tenderness anyway.
As Dipper draw closer he could see that the man's eye color was a really light brown, almost gold and he was quite fascinated for a short moment, because he had never seen something like this. Though soon he'd be nothing but food.
By now the young Siren had reached the boat and looked up to the man, a soft and welcoming smile on his face, music still spilling from his lips.
The human stared down at him, seemingly in a trance and Dipper reached out to pull himself up a little, his arms resting on the side of the boat. The man leaned in and Dipper smirked inwardly.
He was so close to finally getting some real food.
Just a few more inches.
And then a grin spread across the human's face and in a fast movement, that Dipper had not predicted, he grabbed the siren by the arms and just straight up pulled him into the boat.
Dipper let out a startled screeching sound as his back collided painfully with the hard wood of the small boat and his tail still hung a little awkwardly over the railing, at a slightly painful angle.
"What the hell?" He squeaked after a moment of feeling dizzy and adjusting to breathing with his actual lungs. He tilted his head backwards to glare up at the man with a slightly confused, but even more offended expression.
"Nice voice, kid. Not as nice as those scales of yours though." The man hummed and Dipper cringed a little. The guy's voice was slightly higher than he had anticipated and he just grinned down at Dipper, flashing a row of white teeth. He quickly grabbed the paddles and started rowing back towards his ship.
The Siren was still way too startled to actually panic and process what was happening.
"That's not how it's supposed to go! Why didn’t you fall for it?" He hissed instead and flicked his tail, wincing again at the painful sensation that ran through his lower body.
"Hah, I'm not interested in any of that seduction stuff, kid. Should've tried my crew instead. Those are all a bunch of thirsty suckers. Name's Bill Cipher by the way, Captain of the HMS Mindscape! Very nice to meet 'cha." Bill chimed and then laughed in a very obnoxious manner. It sent a chill down Dipper's spine.
"Ugh, what do you want from me? So it didn't work! Big deal. Just let me go." Dipper groaned and tried to prop himself up on his elbows. Water was running down his skin and he felt way too cold in the chilly night air. He had never been completely out of the water and it wasn't a very nice feeling.
"Sorry, lad. You're coming with me. Bet I can sell you for a fortune! Who needs a stupid chest of gold if you can bring back a real live siren!" Bill exclaimed and sounded way too giddy. That's when Dipper realized the danger of the situation.
"No!" He protested loudly and forced himself up, about to slip back over the railing and into the safe watery depth, but Bill grabbed him by the upper arm and pulled him into the boat completely. His grip was painful and he was much stronger than he actually looked.
Dipper's heart beat faster and only now did he notice that they had arrived at the giant ship.
"You're not going anywhere. So don't even try to fight it," Bill hissed in his ear, his voice now more threatening and dark.
A second later he yelled up to the ship, making Dipper flinch.
"Aye, pull me up, ya useless lot!"
Dipper peered up to the ship where a few faces had appeared and he swallowed before composing himself. He started to sing and the movement on the ship stopped. It was always hard to concentrate on a song when one was nervous, but this was his only chance of escape.
He heard the captain huff next to him.
"Are we seriously doing that now? Shut yer maw, lad. This isn't getting you nowhere anyway," Bill grumbled but Dipper vehemently shook his head and continued.
It worked.
Well, until a hand pressed itself on his mouth and effectively shut him up. He blinked in surprise and glanced up at the pirate who now flashed him a dangerous grin. Dipper just glared back at him, seething.
He couldn't believe he was getting kidnapped by a human who just straight up refused to fall under his spell! Preposterous!
"I will have you all keelhauled if you don't pull me up there immediately!" Bill addressed his crew, who were gaining back their free will and, after a bit of panicked scuffling, they finally lowered the ropes to pull the small boat back up.
It was a few agonizing slow moments and Dipper felt his stomach drop as the distance between him and the ocean, his home, just grew bigger and bigger. He held back a sob, refusing to show how pained and scared he really was. It would be a fatal mistake to show anything but resistance. Never once did the Captain let go of his mouth, making singing himself to freedom impossible.
Dipper blinked a few tears away and instead opted to glare at the crew as soon as they came into sight. He didn't have much time to inspect them before Bill just wrapped his second arm around his waist and lifted him up, then proceeded to jump onto the deck of his pirate ship.
The siren could hear the crew gasp in shock and he contemplated just biting Bill's hand, but the man's grip on his face tightened, as if he had read his thoughts.
"Don't just stand there, starin' like a bunch of meat sacks and get the biggest basin we have! Bring it into my Cabin and fill it with water, as quick as you can! Gleeful! Get someone to hoist up the anchor, we're leaving." Bill barked out orders and the crew scattered as soon as the last word had left his mouth.
Dipper struggled in Cipher's grasp but the pirate just chuckled and strode towards his cabin, as if it was nothing. And it probably was, because Dipper felt exhausted and weak. Being out of the water took a huge toll on him and breathing through his nose was hard.
He didn't even last long enough to see the inside of the cabin before he felt himself passing out.
Everything went black.