Chapter Text
The first day back after a big accident was always hard, especially after two years. It had taken a lot of physical therapy before you could get to using your new prosthetic leg. It was even harder now being back doing the thing you loved, without really doing the thing you loved. You worked at a marine theme park called Marine Mania. You worked here for three years after graduating from the Marine Life Institution. Being in the water with these animals was your life. But it was all taken away after your accident.
You lost your right leg then. It was hard, being betrayed by the huge majestic animal that you loved. But that was all in the past. What was done was done. You were back at work after two long years. It was wonderful, you got to be near the water.. though you couldn't get in, you still go to help train. You had no idea how they wanted you to do that without being able to get in. But you would figure it out.
With your old training suit on you made your way out to the stage. You look around what use to be your favorite place. It all looked so small now. Over the past two years it had been upgraded to be bigger, holding the worlds first caught mermaid. You still had a hard time believing that. A mermaid. You had studded marine biology for nearly 20 years of your 25 year old life and mermaids were always just in fairy tales. Until you came back here.
The mermaid had yet to show itself. The pool it was in was huge. Roughly four times the size it was before you left. They said they had to make more room for it, it was fairly large. Around the size of a fully grown killer whale. That was a bit bigger than you would have expected from a mermaid. You tried not to think about it much as you moved to the edge of the pool with a bucket of cold dead fish to feed the mermaid with. You looked around a bit, it was quiet. You stayed after longer, having been given the keys to lock up. They trusted you even after two years, it made you feel a little happier about the situation. The last people left the part a while ago. The only other people on the grounds were the ones tending to the penguins on the other side of the park.
Leaving you alone with the fishes.
You sat down with your legs in the water, you liked giving the animals the fish face to face. But this mermaid didn't want to show himself. Sighing softly you threw a few fish into the water. It was quiet and you felt your chest aching. Your legs in the water wasn't enough to cope with what you lost. Your prosthetic was cold and lifeless, it would drag you under faster than you could swim up with your other limps. It was heavy, made of water proof metal. You were glad you had it, but you still missed swimming.
When you emptied your bucket of fish into the pool you sighed again. Lonely. Moving to get up, you pull your leg off, only to scream when you yanked it stuck against the side of the pool. Blood dripped into the water from where your prosthetic connected to your leg, in a panic to get your bleeding leg out of the water you slip on the side of the stage, splashing into the pool with nothing to stop you.
As you feared you would, you sank, like a rock. Your heavy metal leg drug you down past the trail of blood your leg left. Being trained for over three years in how to handle a bad situation you kept hold of your breath, you could hold your breath for 10 minutes if you really needed to. You hoped it wouldn't come to that. You found yourself at the bottom of the pool, your leg keeping you immobile, weighed down and in pain. You looked around the tank in some hope to find a ladder out or anything. It didn't look to be the case.
You were getting desperate. It had been a few minutes, or so you thought at least. Time was confusing in panic as you were. Your chest didn't quite burn yet but it did start to ache a bit. Your lungs wanting new air, but you hadn't the means to provide. The current began to change, moving strong enough to knock you back a bit. In the blurry dim light of the water you could see it then. The mermaid.
Or you should say Merman.
And he was huge.
Huge was an understatement. You were expecting orca sized but this guy looked like he could take a pod out with just the wave of a webbed clawed hand. Just the size of his head dwarfed you, the current of him swimming knocked you back. He was heading right for you, circling around you some. You took the time to notice his tail. The long thick shape, muscles ripped with each wave. The dorsal fins, the anal fins, the side to side motion of the tail... it was too familiar in a nerve wrecking way. The color...a dark grey with a white under belly.
Of all things why shark, from what you assume a great white. A great white shark of all things this merman had to be half of. He seemed to be done inspecting you just like you had been doing to him. You watched as he turned again, swimming ever so carefully towards you. Giant gills flexed, a huge nose inhaling your blood as it floated up. You did your best to stay still when he approached. His giant face looming over you, only inches away now. It felt like your heart had stopped in your chest. If this giant marine miracle decided to, you could be a midnight snack now, and no one would know.
But he did nothing, moments passed with his dark black eyes fixed on you. Slowly and carefully you began to reach out a hand towards him. He snorted, sending a flurry of bubbles at you. You stopped moving, waiting for him to calm down, keeping your hand still. Your chest started to burn at this point. He was your only hope. You needed to get his trust and hope he would help you.
It felt like an eternity before he finally moved forward a bit, his nose pushing against your palm. Time was a blur at this point, you coughed. What little air you had left you then. Your lungs were on fire, your head felt light, fighting every instinct you had to breath in. The titans merman before you seemed to sense your struggle for life, two giant hands began to carve through the water towards you.
Fingers almost as long as your entire body wrap around you, his thumb roughly pressed into your middle to hold onto you. More bubbles spurt from your mouth, on instinct you took a sharp breath in and instantly regret. You try to cough the water out but only breath more in. Another huge hand cup around you, blinding you from the world around you. The current gets stronger as you feel yourself being moved through the water.
It was only moments before you felt the relief of ice cold air around you. Tumbling off his hand and back onto the stage you sputter and cough out the even colder water. If your lungs were on fire before they were completely formed of lava now. Every muscle of your body was numb, shaking violently to try and expel the salty liquid from your body. A few strong taps on your back from one of the giant merman helped you cough up the water. You sat there a moment, taking in everything that happened and working on catching your breath.
After a few minutes you turn a bit, he had been so quiet that you wondered if he was even still there. When you turned you saw his face resting on the edge of the stage, clawed fingers gripping the sides of the platform. His eyes were entirely black, just like the sharks he was part of. He watched you, waiting.
In an attempt to stand you wince, falling down again on your prosthetic. You start to take off the metal prosthetic limp. Taking some time, your hands shaking from the numbness and the pain. Once it clicked off you moved it to the side and gasped in pain as cold air rushed against the scraped up stub. You heard the giant being seemingly give a deep groan. You heard the water move, looking up he was gone.
What just happened?