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kademaki · 5 years

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The Bottomless Blue - Chapter Six

Merman!General Hux x Reader fic

Now that Hux has made a plan to break out, he send you to a sea witch named Kylo Ren to collect the supplies needed

“That will never work! We need a different plan!” you sighed as you sat on the floor next to the merman’s tank. “I was almost caught last week, you can’t expect to just walk out of the front door. That one security guard is still wary of me, he’ll be watching me for a while.”

“You wouldn’t have been caught last time if you had taken your scientist friend’s access card. Without this becomes more difficult.” The merman flicked his tail in annoyance.

A little over a week ago, the merman had told you his plan to break out of the aquarium and it had gone terribly. His plan had involved you taking a cart from one of the labs and hiding him underneath it while covered by a sheet out of the back door and into your car after closing. But you hadn’t anticipated on all of the labs being locked down due to the scientists testing the new samples taken from the merman. You had been caught by a security guard and in a panic had said you had an appointment with Luke to discuss the research team’s findings. The security guard hadn’t believed you but when he called Luke, Luke had gladly played along and verified your meeting with the guard. Luke came to collect you and spent the following hour showing you new things they had found in the cave before questioning your intentions. You were sure you had fooled him with harmless flirting to convince him you were honestly just coming down to visit him. But in your opinion, it was still risky and too soon to try again.

“If I had taken Luke’s access card, he just would have noticed and gotten security to revoke access to it and make him a new one before we could use it.” you sighed, “We need a way to get you out of here that won’t cause a scene and keeps them from knowing it was me that helped you. I’m out of ideas, it’s been days and I have nothing. ”

The merman nodded before sinking down in the tank. You watched as he let his body sink in the tank. Even when he wasn’t actively swimming, his body seemed so graceful in the water. You watched until he sank below your level and down to the next out of your view. He’d been here for three weeks before you’d found out he was here, if you included the past two weeks of trying to get him out, he’d been here for over a month. Stuck in this tank that while big enough to house sharks comfortably, must have seemed claustrophobic to him compared to the ocean. He had told you that he usually swam miles a day and could swim up the coast in a matter of hours and the limited room of the tank kept him feeling cramped in the space.

You wondered how much he missed the open sea but he kept his feelings to himself and barely showed you any emotions aside from his eagerness to escape. You wanted to help him but it was a difficult task. You had to sneak him out while keeping his tail hydrated. It’s not like you could load him into a wheelbarrow filled with water and wheel him out the front door. You let your mind wander as you stood and began to clean the room, you clearly weren’t coming up with any ideas tonight and it seemed the merman wasn’t either.

Just as you were packing up the mop and trash you had picked up, a splash from the tank caught your attention. You looked up to see the merman staring at you intently. You furrowed your brow as he opened his mouth to speak.

“I’ve just realized, this whole time, I’ve trusted you with getting me out of here and I do not even know your name.”

“My name? Its Y/N.” you hesitated, you wanted to ask what his name was but with how closed off he tended to be would he tell you? “What’s your name?”

“It’s Armitage. Armitage Hux but you can call me Hux.” You wondered why he would want to be called by his last name but didn’t voice your thoughts since you were glad to learn more about him. “Now, Y/N, I think I have a sure fire way to get myself out of here but I need you to help me without question.”

Without question? That was a weird way to for him to word it. What was he going to ask you to do? The merman must have sensed your hesitation because he spoke again.

“I won’t ask you to kill anyone. There just may be the risk to your job and possibly your sanity but nothing permanent.” He said with a chuckle. “That last part was a joke,” he added when he saw your uneasy expression. “So will you help me?”

“What’s the plan?”

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It was cold. That’s all you felt. You shivered inside your wetsuit as you dove deeper into the ocean’s depths. You could barely see in front of you aside from the beams of light from your mounted headlight and flashlight. You were starting to get paranoid as the mouth of a cave came into view.

“Listen carefully, I need you to trust me. No harm will come to you if you do as I say. Do you understand?” you nodded as Hux continued, “Good. Do you have a map?” You shook your head before remembering the map app on your phone. You opened it and handed your phone to him, surprised he knew how to use it and was able to with his pointy almost claw-like hands.

“It should be obvious that I am not the only one of my kind at this point. There are even creatures that are more frightful than I. I need you to go to the ship and gather these items if your scientists haven’t taken them already. Then you will go to this location in your boat and dive to a cave here.” You looked at the spot he marked on the map, there was no land and it was well past the ocean shelf drop off.

“But there is no land there? How can there be a cave? I don’t have the equipment to make a dive that deep. The pressure alone could kill me if the nitrogen narcosis doesn’t drive me insane first!”

“The items you get from my ship will help you. You can’t bring them here for me to help you with because we will likely get caught but I can tell you to how to use them to help your human body make the dive. Moving on-” you huffed, you weren’t convinced but motioned for him to continue anyway, “I must warn you, the cave is inhabited by a sea witch.”

“A sea witch?!” you shot to your feet as your mind began to race. You weren’t even sure if you liked the idea of human witches being real. The movies always depicted witches casting curses on people and the last place you needed to be cursed was in the ocean with a limited oxygen supply.

“Yes, a sea witch. Now, if you would let me finish.” You nodded and sat back down. “ You will need to trade with him the items from my ship for a ring.”

“What kind of ring? Like one with diamonds and gems?” The merman sighed.

“No, not with diamonds. But the ring he gives you should have gems on it.”

“How will I know it’s the right ring?” you questioned, not wanting to risk your life only to bring back to the wrong jewelry.

“You’ve seen the ring’s matching bracelet before in the ship. If I remember correctly, I swam in on you taking photographs of it the first time I caught you in my quarters.”

Your mind went to that day and the pictures you took. You remembered the box of trinkets and the gemstone bracelet. So the ring would match the bracelet, simple but covered in an obnoxious amount of gems. You laughed to yourself at the thought of the merman wearing such an ostentatious bracelet. But then you remembered the sunglasses and shot glass in the box as well.

“I remember the bracelet, it was in the box on your desk. But why did you have a shot glass and sunglasses in the box too? How did you get them? What do you need them for?” The merman waved off your questions.

“If I make it out of here, I’ll show you what they are for.” You were okay with that. It’s not like you had expected a real answer anyway. “Back to the sea witch, when you are trading for the ring, you must be sure to only trade him the items on the list. He will already know that I am in trouble when you ask for the ring. He will try to use that as leverage to trick you into giving him more than what is necessary to trade for the ring. You must not let him manipulate you. Do you understand me?”

You wondered why the witch would want to trick you since you were human and all but useless underwater but you told the merman you would not be manipulated.

“Good. The witch’s name is Kylo Ren. Once you have the ring we can go from there. It’s getting late, you should get home and rest. I know it is the weekend and you have the next two days off. You should rest tonight, collect the items from the ship in the morning and make the dive tomorrow to the cave at noon when the sun is at its highest. Then rest the following day before bringing the ring to me.”

“Why do I have to make the dive at noon?” you questioned. You preferred to dive early in the morning before the other boats were out on the water and the water was quiet and calm.

“You need to go when the sun is at its highest and brightest in case you get lost and can’t find the surface. Many divers have died because they could not find their way back to the surface and the pressure of the water destroyed the jackets they use to pull them to the surface. If I don’t see you on Monday, then I’ll know you were not able to find your way back to the surface.”

You cursed at the memory and how you had found yourself to be swimming this deep into the ocean. You had gone to the shipwreck and gathered the items on Hux’s list without a problem. The research team hadn’t found much use for the crates of coins in which Hux’s items were buried so they’d left them virtually untouched. Among items Hux had wanted were specific rings covered in gems from the crates as well as a few shark and orca teeth. You weren’t sure of the significance of these items but you had packed them and brought them with you. When you were this deep in the ocean, it felt as if each small ring was weighing you down like a rock.

You pulled out the small diving map you had brought with you and attempted to check your location. You were so far down that the gases in your scuba tanks were causing you to feel light headed and weakened your dexterity. You had spent so much time trying to adjust the tanks to get the mix of gases just right to avoid nitrogen narcosis but you could feel the effects starting to show. It was only a matter of time before you either found the cave and the witch or you started hallucinating and died from the narcosis.

You thought back to what Hux had told you about the items to help you survive in the depths. He had written on the list for you to take a paste from his quarters to rub on your neck. He claimed it would help with your breathing and reduce the nitrogen and helium building in your body. You had tried it at the ship but hadn’t felt any different after applying it. You thought about reapplying it now that you were now at least 300 feet below and could feel the pressure much stronger but you were too afraid to stop with the looming darkness below you. Instead, you thought of the other item Hux had told you to use, a ring covered in blue sapphires. He said it would allow you to see in the dark but you were afraid to use it as well. You saw what kinds of creatures the research team pulled from these depths and you were afraid that you would be able to see them lurking below you, waiting for you to go crazy so they could rip you to pieces and eat you.

Instead, you kept swimming deeper down towards a rock formation Hux had noted on the map. As you got closer, your flashlights seemed to get dimmer, as if the beams of light could no longer penetrate through the darkness around the rocks. You could feel the paranoia growing inside you as it became harder to see the way in front of you. You looked up and could barely see the sunlight filtering down through the water. While you could see the sunlight, even it did not reach far enough to illuminate the water this far down.

With a sigh, you checked the map again before securing it in your waist belt and swimming deeper into the darkness. You stopped once you were at the rock formation. It was covered in strange markings that you couldn’t decipher. You wondered who made the markings and why. You looked below you and saw an opening in the rock formation that led into a dark cave. You swam down to the entrance and paused.

On one hand, this was part of the plan Hux had made. On the other hand, you were just a human and Hux was a mermaid who said a sea witch lived in this cave. You joked internally that you had hallucinated everything, Hux and the sea witch. For all you knew, you were dreaming and still at the shipwreck for the first time while the nitrogen narcosis set in and slowly drove you toward insanity.

You felt the anxiety starting to fill your body with dread so you decided to try to apply the paste Hux had you make. You took it from your waist belt and pulled the neck of your wetsuit away before rubbing some of the paste onto your neck. Immediately, you felt the effects, your breath came easier and you could feel your body relaxing as you breathe easier. Your body was less tense and you could feel the dexterity in your limbs coming back with each breath you took. If the paste actually worked, maybe the ring would too. You fished it out of your waist belt while putting the paste away. You stared at it in your palm, turning it over before slipping it onto your finger. Almost instantly the darkness around you lit up. It was as if there were lights all around you and you could see further down into the sea than you ever could before. It was almost as if it was daylight underwater. You took a moment and looked over the rock formation edge below you.

You could see all of the strange fish swimming along below you. You were certain that the few lantern fish you could see were just as unnerved by your presence as you were. This was amazing, you never knew such things could exist to help you explore the ocean, you’d have to talk to Hux about borrowing these once he was free. You took a breath and turned back towards the cave. Unlike the rest of the ocean that was now illuminated, the cave was still dark. Maybe the cave was unaffected by the ring’s power because of the sea witch inside it? You were unsure but started to swim into the cave.

The darkness was unnerving. Thanks to the paste, you could breathe just fine now with very little to no symptoms of the nitrogen narcosis but it did not do anything to quell the anxiety the darkness was causing you to feel. The beams of your flashlight were almost useless, only lighting the way in front of you by a few feet. You began to wonder if you were swimming into the right cave or if you were swimming to your death in an empty cavern when you started to see small lights on the floor of the cave. You swam down closer to the bottom of the cave for a closer look and realized they weren’t lights at all but in fact small bioluminescent coral. You paused as you recalled the only previous bioluminescent corals to be found were only in the Red Sea. What were these corals doing here? You looked around and saw that the corals formed a path that led you deeper into the cave before they started to grow along the sides and ceiling of the cave.

You followed this coral “path” further before you noticed the water was getting warmer. You were so deep in the ocean that you knew the water should not be warm unless you ran into an underground current. As you pondered this, you saw something move from the corner of your eye. The anxiety in you flared again as you slowly turned to see what had caught your attention.

You turned to see a dark inky mass coming towards you surrounded by the coral covered cave walls. You watched as the dark mass took shape in your eyes and you realized it was an octopus. You were shocked as you watch the octopus stop a few yards from you and uncurled itself to reveal the torso of a man. He wasn’t as pale as Hux, he was more tanned and had a scar on his left eye. What shocked you the most was instead of two legs, he had eight. Well, eight tentacles for legs. Even though you had seen Hux’s tail up close and knew that other creatures had to exist but you hadn’t expected to find the sea witch like this.

You watched frozen in place as the sea witch straightened to an impossibly large size in front of you. He cocked his head to the side and examined you from head to toe. As he looked you over, you cursed internally at your lack of preparation. His tentacles swished back and forth in the water as he considered you from across the cave. You knew you had to speak to the sea witch but you hadn’t thought about what you’d actually say to him. Luckily, or unluckily for you, the sea witch spoke first.

“Who are you? Humans are rare this far down. Most of your kind go mad before they can make it this far.” You wanted to answer him but if you took off your mask to try and speak, you would lose oxygen. Besides, your words would most likely come out as bubbles and a dull roar anyway. Instead, you made wild gestures at which he ignored. His eyes fixated on the neck of your wetsuit where you had messily applied the paste. “A friend of the merpeople? Only they know how to create that paste to helps humans breathe.”

You nodded unsure of how to communicate with him until he spoke again. “That paste will grant you the ability to breathe without your human air mask. Take it off and you will be fine.” your brow furrowed as you considered what he said. With some hesitation, you reached for the clasp of your oxygen mask and slowly pulled it off. Surprisingly, you didn’t feel the water rush into your lungs at all. Instead, it felt as if you were breathing the same as you did on dry land. You took a moment to adjust to the feeling with a few deep breaths, Hux’s paste had worked better than you thought. You couldn’t believe that you could actually breathe underwater. These thoughts were interrupted by the witch speaking again.

“Now that that hideous mask is out of the way, answer my question. Who are you?”

“My name is Y/N. Are you Kylo Ren?” You replied as you straightened yourself.

“I am but Y/N, tell me, how did you a mere human, find yourself here in my cave with a paste from the merpeople?” He said glancing at your neck again.

“I am a friend of Armitage Hux. He sent me here to trade with you.” you pulled the bag containing the items Hux had listed from your waist belt to present to the sea witch. The witch glanced at the bag in your hand with disinterest.

“What would Hux possibly want to trade with me for? The last time we traded he was sure he wouldn’t need anything from me again.” He said raising an eyebrow.

“Hux wants to trade you these for a ring-”

“I have traded many rings to Hux each has its own purpose. He has everything he needs from me. I have nothing left to offer him and he has nothing of value to me. ...Unless he sent you to me as something to trade.” The witch swam closer to you and you felt your body tense as he neared.

“No, this ring is special, he said it matches the bracelet he already has. Do you know it?” At that, the witch turned his head in thought before looking back at you.

“What has Hux gotten himself into that he would need that ring? Surely, he has no use for it since he has the bracelet. It makes it even more foolish to send a human here after it. Unless... “ he trailed off before turning back to you and laughing. “Has Hux got himself captured by humans? Is that why he sent you? A human to retrieve it?” As he laughed, you noticed his teeth, they were sharper than Hux’s seemed. The perfect size and length that could tear into your flesh and eat you without a problem. You wanted out of this cave as soon as possible.

“Will you trade with me or not?” You asked feeling a little impatient. The witch’s expression changed as he considered you again.

“What will you give me for it? Hux would not send you empty-handed for the ring.” You handed him the bag with items and watched as he dumped them into his hands. He picked through the items before scoffing. “These are good but not enough for the ring.”

“That’s all I have to trade with.” You said with an uneasy feeling. Hux had said the witch would try to leverage you into giving up something else to help him. You had a feeling he was about to try to convince you to give up something valuable.

“How about we make a deal?” His tentacles seemed to sway with new energy as he mentioned making a deal with you.

“What kind of deal?” You said trying to keep the trepidation from your voice.

“Since what Hux has provided here is almost enough, why don’t you agree to do me a favor. I don’t know when, but someday I will require help from a human. If you agree to help me when I call on you without hesitation and with no questions asked, I will give you the ring to help Hux.”

You mulled the offer over in your head. Owe a sea witch a favor? What would he make you do? Would he make you hurt someone? Was it worth agreeing to if you didn’t know what he could ask you to do? Kylo Ren must have sensed your internal struggle because when he spoke again, it was to reassure you.

“You would not have to harm anyone if that is what you are worried about. I do not deal in that kind of magic.”

You looked him in the eyes and tried to find any trace of dishonesty but you were only met with his impassive stare. With a sigh, you realized this was your best option for saving Hux.

“I will make the trade with you.” You watched as Kylo Ren’s face turned up in a smug grin.

“I’m glad to hear it.” With a wave of his hand, the ring appeared in his hand and you reached out to take it when he pulled his hand away. “Ah, ah, ah, you forget Y/N, we have to seal the deal first.”

Your brows furrowed, seal the deal? Was agreeing to the deal, not enough?

“We witches seal all of our deals with a kiss.” That was all the witch said before you felt one of his tentacles slide up your back and push your mouth closer to his. A second later, his mouth was on yours and you felt an electric shock go through your body. Within the next second, you were back on the ground confused as to what just occurred. It was only when you felt Kylo Ren pushing the ring into your hand did you realize he had kissed you.

“Don’t worry about the electric jolt you felt. A witch’s kiss can have the intensity of a moray eel. It’s how I know you’ll honor your end of the deal when the time comes. Remember, you owe me whether you are able to save Hux or not. I’ll see you again soon Y/N.” and with that, he began to drift off back into the darkness of the cave the way he came.

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kademaki · 5 years

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The Bottomless Blue - Chapter Five

Merman!Hux x Reader fic

based off of this au minus the hand gestures

Character A works as a janitor at an aquarium for the more “exotic” types of sea life. While cleaning up after closing, they meet the newest attraction. Character B, a merperson who communicates through hand gestures.

“And over here, we have what is commonly called the red-bellied eel. It was given that name because of its neon red belly. It was only discovered a few years ago so we don’t know everything about so maybe you kids will discover something new! But this is actually the last exhibit of the tour so after you take a look at this amazing discovery, feel free to wander around for a little bit before we close for the day.” You forced the enthusiasm into your voice as you led another tour through the aquarium. Usually, your job involved sitting at your desk and filing reports on the newly discovered creatures at the aquarium. Occasionally, you were tasked with helping with the observation of the new creatures but more often than not you found yourself looking at them while filing paperwork from your desk.

The aquarium only housed rare sea creatures. Almost all of the creatures were found using new technology that allowed scientists to get to new depths in the ocean that we previously uncharted. The deepest part of the ocean was home to many creatures that some deemed magical and mysterious because of how different these creatures were compared to ones found in shallower depths.

Sometimes management asked you to help clean up on days when the aquarium was packed and crowds had left it a mess after a new creature unveiling. Other times like today, they asked you to help give tours to help lessen the burden on the other tour guides. Even though you preferred sitting at your desk and filing reports and information about the creatures, you didn’t mind helping with the tours because you got to see people’s reactions to the newly discovered and rare creatures. Some people reacted with awe and wonder and others were completely shocked by the creature's appearance.

But secretly, what you loved most was helping clean up at night. It gave you a chance to be alone with the sea creatures and you loved being able to watch them in solitude. It was nice to be able to watch them without people tapping or banging on the glass and without the constant chatter of people. You thought it was peaceful and calming to watch these sea creatures swim past. You often wondered how they were in their natural environment. But in the past few months, that had changed. You loved the ocean but you hadn’t swum in open water for a few weeks after you saw something you couldn't explain in a shipwreck. You were sure you saw a man with a tail in a 1800s shipwreck, he had had sharp pointed teeth almost like a piranha. He had even saved you from getting ripped to pieces by a shark.

After seeing that, being around these creatures in the aquarium made you a little uncomfortable. Knowing that you were surrounded by strange creatures made you think about how maybe you didn’t know what was in the depths of the ocean. The man you saw actually had a tail but was he really a merman. Sure, merpeople were only legends that no one but children really believed in but how else could you explain him? You had seen him with your own eyes. You’d felt the strength of his tail as he’d carried you back to the shipwreck after the shark attacked you.

You worked in an aquarium that had exotic creatures just like him. Just a few months ago, an expedition crew had found a new species of octopus that was learning to make gestures to indicate what it wanted from its handlers. Common octopi on their own were very intelligent but this new species was on another level. It’s handler’s were amazed at its intelligence level and they discovered new things every day. If an octopus learning to communicate with humans was considered an average day here, why couldn’t the existence of a merman be possible?

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The next week at work, everything was chaos. An expedition crew had made a discovery a few weeks ago and the aquarium was trying to keep it under wraps before the unveiling and the press wanted to get a picture of this new discovery to release to the public to increase their magazine sales. Even as a staff member, you were not privy to the details of their discovery aside from the knowledge that the director of the aquarium had immediately demanded a few of the larger tanks be emptied and the creatures they housed to be rehomed to make room for the new discovery. You had tried to catch glimpse of it but aside from helping to clean up the mess left by the scientists after their tests, you hadn’t seen much due to the large sheets placed over the aquarium.

New security perimeters were created to keep the general public back from the exhibit space as well as new security sensors installed to let security know if a rare fish or cephalopod had fallen out of the tank. Some of the tanks didn’t reach the ceiling so it was possible for some of the creatures to get too excited near the top of the tanks and accidentally splash their way out onto the floor.

Today, however, you were asked to help clean up alone since the other staff were feeling overworked from keeping the press at bay. This time when you had entered the back hall, the sheet was pooled on the floor in front of the glass. From what you could tell, the tank was empty, granted it was an enormous tank meant to hold large sea animals so there were depths that even you couldn’t see that extended well below into the basement levels of the aquarium. You stared into the tank trying to see around the man-made rock formations provided for the sea animals to hide in to see if the new discovery was simply resting inside but you could see nothing.

You sighed and turned to start your work cleaning the huge puddles water from the floor and collecting the broken test tubes and beakers. You had just finished sweeping up the broken glass and was adding soap to your bucket to mop the salt water off the floors when you heard a splash from the tank behind you. You whipped around to see the last thing you had expected. Bright red hair, a pale torso, and dark green tail, it was the merman from the shipwreck.

As your brain tried to process what you were seeing, the merman swam up to the top of the tank before letting out an awful noise. You grimaced and covered your ears as his terrible noises made your ears ring. After a moment, the noise stopped and you uncovered your ears and forced yourself to look up at him. He was propped up on his arms at the top of the tank, looking at you. He looked tired but it’s not like you had seen him except for the one time in the captain’s quarters. He considered you for a moment before opening his mouth again to reveal sharp pointed teeth.

“Wait! Please don’t make that noise again! It hurts my ears!” You yelled, covering your ears and hoping this merman could understand you. After a few seconds of silence, you looked up and saw the man staring at you. “...Can you understand me?” you asked incredulously.

“Obviously.” Your eyes widened in shock at his reply. “You humans think you are the only ones who can speak.”

“I didn’t know you could talk. I mean, I didn’t think mermaids were real. Doesn’t it hurt you to be out of the water like that?” Your brain was racing a mile a minute trying to process everything, was this really the same mermaid you saw a few months ago?

“Of course, we are real, where do you think the legends came from? As long as my tail is submerged every now and then, I will be alright.” He said rolling his eyes.

“Are you the same mermaid from the-” you started.

“From when you trespassed in my living quarters and tried to throw my belongings at me? Yes, you were quite rude that day.” He said, splashing his tail in the water behind him. “How would you like it if I came into your dwelling and threw your property around before running away? I also saw you getting dragged along by a shark and saved your life without so much as a thank you..”

“ About that first time, I’m sorry, you frightened me! How was I supposed to know you lived in the remains of that ship?!” you tried to defend yourself but all it got you was a laugh from the merman.

“You knowingly came into my den. Did the lack of fish in the area not alert you to my presence? It was clearly marked as mine.” He said adjusting his perch against the edge of the glass, now leaning further out of the tank. “You ignored all the signs and were surprised to see me in my own den. Typical of a human. I should have expected nothing less.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” you took offense to his dismissive tone. It’s not like you knew you were wandering into his house.

“It means humans really believe they are the only intelligent beings in existence. Clearly, they are not. It explains how you failed to notice the warning signs. Everyone knows if there is an absence of fish in an area, it points to there being a much larger predator picking them off.” He flicked his tail again and you found yourself staring at it in awe. The deep green color looked iridescent in the light, you had never seen anything like it. “Has anyone ever told you that it is rude to stare?” He scoffed.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that, I’ve only heard legends of mermaids. Aren’t you supposed to live in a cave? Why do you live in a shipwreck? You aren’t actually supposed to be real. Your tail is just...I can’t believe it's real…” You trailed off still entranced by his tail. You’d seen it up close when he saved you from the shark and when you’d cut him loose from some fishing nets but seeing it like this when you hadn’t just narrowly escaped death was different.

“Of course, the legends are real. Just because humans decided to stop believing doesn’t mean we stopped existing. You’d be surprised with what you humans have forgotten exists. Only a few of you remember us and you build places like this to imprison us for your entertainment until we die.” He dropped back deeper into the tank before resurfacing without taking his eyes off of you.

You weren’t sure what to say to that. You didn’t think of the rare sea fish and creatures here as imprisoned. Sure the enormous tanks weren’t the same size as the ocean but most of them were spanned the height and length of the building. “You aren’t imprisoned here, this is a discovery center. The expedition teams only want to learn about new life forms in the depths of the ocean…” You trailed off as the merman gestured to the dark band encircling his neck.

“If I am not a prisoner then why is this around my neck?” he said leaning even further over the glass so that now he was practically pulling himself out of the tank. That’s when you noticed that he had a collar around his neck, it looked like one that dog trainers used to shock dogs when they were too lazy to train them properly. But this one looked like the scientists had crudely put this one together.

As you stared at the collar around his neck, you recalled how the staff had been holding off the press all day to keep them from the new exhibit. Was he really the new exhibit they planned to display in a few weeks? You looked at the broken test tubes that you had swept into the dustpan then at the merman’s arms. You could scratches and bandages where they had presumably taken blood samples from him. You knew they could be a little rough when trying to take samples from a specimen but from the scratches on his arms, you knew that they had to have brutalized him to cause such damage. You realized you were staring when the merman cleared his throat. You met his eyes and he gestured to your own arm.

“Oh yeah, I guess I should thank you for saving me from the sharks that time. I don’t know what I would have done without you so thank you for saving me.”

“If you hadn’t avoided all the warning signs, you wouldn’t have need saving.” He stated with another flick of his tail.

“Hey! I did help free you the from those fishermen’s nets that time! You should be thanking me too!” You shot back in a huff. “How did you end up tangled in those anyway?” The merman looked away from you.

“One of my friends was caught in your trap. I had to get him out before you came to collect your traps. That and it’s easier to get fish from the nets than it is for me to catch them myself.”

“You risked getting caught by fisherman to get some free fish?” you said incredulously. “I thought by being a mermaid, fish would just listen to you, why risk being so close to humans?”

“Just because I am one of the merpeople doesn’t mean we can control the fish around us. Besides, would you want to force fish to swim to you so you can eat them?” You had to give him that, using your mind to tell fish to come to you so you could kill and eat them didn’t seem like the most fun. “Anyway, the fish were an afterthought. But once I was tangled, I found it challenging to escape until you came along.”

“Yeah, you weren’t exactly calm when I was trying to help you.” You said as you adjusted your grip on the mop in your hand.

“I was more worried about being found in the net by the fishermen than I was hurting your feelings.” He huffed and eyed you from the tank. “It seems I shouldn’t have put in much effort to escape since I was caught by your friends anyway. Tell me, did you purposefully send them to capture me or was it a lack of critical thinking that sent them my way?”

Your mouth dropped open in shock, how dare he accuse you of aiding the research team find him. “I didn’t send the research team to you! They were headed to a cave near the shipwreck anyway and I couldn’t just tell them not to go without giving them a reason. It would have been more suspicious if I had!” You felt your annoyance growing as the merman’s eyebrow quirked.

“They were the ones who ransacked the cave? Interesting.” you watched his face as he seemed to ponder this information before speaking again. “Since it seems my capture was not entirely your fault-” you opened your mouth to protest as he gave you a look “I apologize for accusing you. But I can’t stay here in this prison and have these scientists run tests on me. They’ve already taken enough blood from me and I don’t care to be poked and prodded more than I already have.” You nodded in agreement.

“What do they want with you? I don’t think they’ve ever found anything like you before so they probably want to keep you for more tests and experiments. Security has increased but I had no idea that it was because you were being kept here.”

“Well, then I need to find a way out as quietly as possible. I’ve already started making a plan but I need your help...will you help me?”

You nodded. “You saved my life before. Tell me what I need to do.”

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