Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Sun is shining in the clear blue sky and the sea is calm and still, it looks like glass as your company speed boat glides across it. Despite the lovely day a sinking feeling sits in your stomach. It's such a sheer contrast to yesterday's awful storm. 

But that wasn't the only part of the problem worrying you. One of the Tagged Mer-creatures in your wildlife research project their location had flagged up. A Celestial Solar hadn't moved from his spot for a few hours. There was no known Lunar in the location either. That was a dangerous situation alone but not just that but there were known to be several underwater cave systems in these locations.

You knew you had to act quickly. It was an all-hands-on-deck situation. You were usually the one to stay at the research Aquarium keeping track of the Mers you already housed, but as a Celestial expert, your expertise was needed. He could be injured or worse. The best case scenario is the location tag had fallen off in the storm and drifted off… that was a risk you weren't willing to take. It would be good to retrieve the location tag to fix up and reuse so if that's all it was it wouldn't be a complete waste of a trip. I mean the expenses to make a journey out here probably outweigh the cost of a tag by a lot. But you could not risk losing a specimen like this, not when their numbers in the wild are dwindling.

The boat comes to a halt. You're right above the locator. You and the crew gear up. Making sure your O2 tanks are full and hooked up properly, then double checking your closed circuit communicators are connected and finally slipping on your full mask. 

You then take the plunge, you flop backwards into the water, bubbles surround each of you. You're a skilled diver, training like this comes with the job and you've dived plenty of times into the tanks to clean them, you may have only had the chance to dive in the wild a handful of times and only once have you had any experience with cave diving and that was with an expert instructor, you really hope you don't have to go into a cave. 

Your team quickly scatters looking around in the sand and among the rocks for a bright red tag. 

You sift through some sand by some of the rocks. You'd never been in this location before but supposedly there were caves here somewhere, you don't see any openings in the rocks. 

“I don't see anything here.” One of your coworkers yells. Their voice echoing through your mask. That was a sensation You'd have to get used to, usually when diving you use a standard rebreather and those have no mics but for a possible rescue mission with the possibility of caves communication was key, hand signals were not going to cut it. 

Your other co-workers all chime in their searched locations before moving to the next. As you inch closer to the rocks you hear something. Whether it was a boat, general ocean obeisance or something else you can't be sure. It leads you closer to the rocks. 

A strangled gargle of a cry strikes a panic. 

“I think I found him!” You hurriedly swim closer to the sound. Your co-workers swarm in your direction. You swim around looking for gaps in the rocks or just something you then spot a pile of rubble by an otherwise seemingly normal rock. The cry sounds again accompanied by scratches and a soft dull thud. On Closer inspection a small hole in the rock can be seen, a small ray of light hitting a bright yellow something. You look through the hole as your team inspects the area. 

All you see is yellow before a bright blue eye shifts looking straight at you through the hole. You jump back in surprise as two claws poke out the gap scratching at the rock. 

“He's in here.” You exclaim. Bringing your team closer again. “These rocks must have trapped him.” As many divers as can fit around the pile of rubble start to carefully move rocks out of the way. You scan over the area.

“I'm going to look for another entry point.” 

Some of your team advises against it.  But another cry sounds through the ocean. You can't sit here and let this wonderful creature suffer. 

“Screw it!” You swim off checking the rocks for other entrances against your team's protests and your own better judgment. 

Finally, you find a you sized hole… well only just, you hope for the best and that it doesn't get narrower inside. You secure a guideline to a nearby rock, in case you have to turn back it should come in handy as long as you don't get tangled that is. You also make sure the light on your mask is working. Now the hole is just a little tight so you have to unclip your O2 tank so the rocks don't scrape and damage it. Holding said tank in front of you,  you squeeze into the gap in the rocks. Thankfully it is indeed more spacious inside. You carefully re-attach your tank to your back and set off, grabbing your extra torch from your belt since it's so dark. You almost forgot to notify your team. Oops.

“I'm in.” You exclaim.

Another round of protests chime through your speaker. Along with very valid concerns about whether or not you know what you're doing or where you're going. You continue anyway, you have to help this Solar. You weave your way through the caves hoping you're going in the right direction. You definitely don't hit a dead end or two for sure. 

You finally see a slight yellow glow in the distance. The scratches and cries get louder as you get closer. You cautiously approach, being careful not to spook the already very stressed mer. 

“I've found him.” You whisper.

You turn your mic and speaker off as confused cheers chime through. 

“Hey…there” you speak as softly as you can. “New friend.”

His head turns abruptly to watch you with a slight hiss. 

“It's ok.” You shine the light towards him in hopes it will give him some comfort. Solars thrive in the light. He leans towards the light, and that's when you notice the rocks crushing his poor tail. With the light on him, you can now identify him as a lemon shark. His smooth yellow skin and distinct shape give it away. His eyes soften, feeling calmer you hope as you inch closer. You need to have a look at that tail. You move a rock or two but It's well and truly stuck in those collapsed rocks, that ruins your plan to guide him to the second exit. You suppose if he wasn't trapped he probably would have found the exit himself, they're definitely smarter than that. 

Perhaps he'd chosen this cave to hide away from the night when the storm hit or maybe the strong waves a tides had swept him away and trapped him here. Whatever the case you needed to get him free quickly. He's definitely going to need to come back to the Aquarium for medical reasons, not only his tail but you'll need to assess his stress levels, Celestials especially Solars are very sensitive to stress. Your team kept digging as you comforted the mer creature. The single ray of light still shining through the rocks was your only signal of hope that there was an outside to this dark cave.

 You did eventually reconnect your communication device. 

“I'm not dead yet in case anyone was wondering.” You chuckle.

“We were beginning to wonder.” 

“We've almost gotten this rubble moved, how is the situation in there?”

“He's well and truly stuck.” You reply, “So be careful with those last rocks.” You hold the light steady pointing it at him still. “Other than that we're doing fine, My O2 is at half and everything else seems good.” 

“Half? Ours have only lost a quarter.” Someone chimes.

You look behind to see a small stream of bubbles seeping from your tank slowly. “Oh…”

“You didn't did you?”

“Yep…” 

There is nothing you can do about it but wait. At this rate, it would take you longer to navigate back through the cave than it would to run out of air… you hope your team can dig faster than you can swim. 

You feel something brush against your arm. You look over to see the Solar's arm slowly wrap around yours before he full-on hugs your arm. He's scared. You tap his hand with your free one in hopes of reassuring him. You'd spare him some comforting words but he probably wouldn't understand and you can't really afford the air. You hear the scraping and digging from behind the rubble. No light is yet to peek through the wall it's more than a little worrying. Your tank is already down to a quarter left and it's draining fast. You just hope your team can hurry it up. 

“We're almost there I swear.” 

And other assurances come through the speaker but you barely hear them over the sinking feeling and your pounding heart. You have to just believe in them. You watch as the gauge slowly empties like it's a timer. Your slight panic causes it to run out faster. Maybe this was a bad idea and you should have listened to your team.

 You look over to the sea monster beside you. No this was a good choice, anything to save him.

He's going to need a name you look around thinking. No Cave, Rock and Torch are definitely bad names… you think some more. The glistening of light spilling from the gap in the rock above sparks inspiration. Ray, you'll call him Ray, a Ray of sunshine. You smile, it's perfect. 

Finally, you spot some light through the wall of rubble. Your tank is getting low… you check just as the gauge hits 0. There's nothing left to breathe and all you can do is hold your breath. You're not sure you're going to make it back to the surface at this rate. 

A shovel and several hands shift the last few rocks and before you can make a move and attempt to reach some air, something wraps around you and almost at super speed you're lifted to the surface and suddenly air hits your face as your mask is flung aside. You take a big gasp of air as the grip around you is loosened. You can't help but smile. A mer creature no Ray just saved your life. You sigh as you turn to see him. 

“How did you even know that's what I needed?” You shake your head in disbelief. 

His only reply is a tilt of his head. 

“We should get you checked out. I'm sorry about this.” You sigh as a small whistle sounds through the water. 

Protocol dictates all injured Mer-creatures be tranquillized and taken back for observation. It's a shame but it's the safest way and the best for them. Your teammates help you haul his scaly butt onto the boat and into the very small tank, it's basically Bathtub sized and barely fits him but it will do. His tail pokes out and that's just perfect because you're going to need to treat it anyway. 

You start with a splash of methylene blue to disinfect and protect against bacteria. You wish you could bandage the wound but it's pretty hard to keep a bandage on a fish. All you can do is wait until you can get him to the nursing tank. 

Once back a coworker had thankfully gotten the tank ready for a saltwater shark, setting the temperatures and balancing the pH, salt levels and everything just right. They had though left the medications for you to sort. This wasn't your first rodeo so you get to work. You add in an unholy amount of stress coat + and some tonic salts to keep those stress levels as low as possible, the methylene blue on his tail should be a sufficient amount. Now to wait until he wakes up. You're extremely worried about the fact he has no Luna, all Celestials come in pairs of Solars and Lunas for a reason, it keeps them safe in the wild and reduces stress in captivity. You've already looked on the Aquarium equivalent of eBay and no one has a Luna to spare. You look over to Ray just sleeping there in his medicated tank. You let out a sigh just as your supervisor enters the room. 

“Something worrying you.” 

“Sorry Kai, just worried about Ray.” You gesture to the tank in front of you. 

“You've already named him?”

“Yeah… there was a ray of light in the cave and I mean we always name our Celestials after something Sun or moon related so yeah.  He's a Ray of sunshine…” A slightly nervous giggle escapes you.

“Good to know…” he hums. “We do need to talk though.” He looks over to the Celestial in the tank, a hint of worry in his eyes. “Mind joining me in my office.” 

“Sure.” You stand from your seat at the aqua clinic's desk. 

You follow him to his office, it's as immaculate as always. Only a few pieces of paperwork litter his desk and his marine trinkets are neatly arranged on his bookcase. 

You take a seat and so does he. You're starting to get a little nervous as you look across his desk at him. 

“I'm starting to get worried about your recklessness.” He sighs.

“Don't worry I am too.” You scratch the back of your head. 

“Do you know why we don't get close to the Mer-creatures?” 

You nod. “Yes sir, because of the incident several years ago, where a girl got too close to the Mer she was handling, they were teaching said Luna to speak and evaluate his intelligence when another coworker upset her the next day he was found floating in the Mer tank. This story is drilled into us during our MERine biology training sir.” You recite. 

“Well.” He sighs yet again. “We're worried this Solar has imprinted on you and is a danger to all of us.” 

You try to swallow a lump in your throat… as the expert, you should have seen this coming.

“What are you going to do?”

“Well they're endangered so we can't get rid of him which no one here would want anyway.” 

A small sigh of relief escapes you. 

“So I had a call with the Aquatic Mer-creature research council… and they have agreed and suggested you become this Mer-creatures sole caretaker. I know it sounds crazy but they're certain it would be less of a danger to you than it would be to all the other staff.” 

You nod not entirely sure what to say. 

He continues. “This has also opened up an opportunity if you'll take the risks seriously they have agreed to let you test the subject more closely and personally and if you'd like you may even attempt to communicate with the sea monster…” he says hesitantly.

You gasp. “What? Really?”

He nods. “The council deems this a good opportunity to further these studies. They believe Fazbear Zoos and Aquariums Inc. were a sketchy business at best and think Cove Research Aquariums could better provide this research safely. They're eager to see your results if you're up for the task.”

It's a lot to take in. They'll let you research mer intelligence and communications. 

“That's… amazing.” You chime.

He shakes his head. “I knew you'd say something like that.” 

“We would just like you to sign this contract saying that we're not liable for any injuries during your research. It just means Cove Aquariums won't lose their research license if something were to go wrong.”

You nod as you read over the paper he hands you. 

All checks out it's just as he said, it makes sure the company doesn't get in legal trouble if you were to get hurt but it also states that if any other employees were to be injured or worse you and the company wouldn't be liable for any damages and the company insurance would still cover minor work-related injuries it quite the deal. Seems almost too good to be true. Oh, there is a section stating this research has to be kept top secret so other companies don't get the same idea… 

You nod as you finish reading through there's a lot on here for one page. 

Kai then offers you a pen. “You know you don't have to if you don't want to.” 

You nod. “But I kinda do want to.” You shoot him a smile as you accept the pen. “Can you imagine the research we could accomplish this way? Truly learn how the brain of a Solar works.” You sign your signature where directed. 

Not to mention how you could be friends with a Mer-creature! The closest thing to a mermaid yet to be discovered? Your childhood self would be so proud and your inner child is filled with glee. 

“No more questions?” 

“When can I start?” You smile.

Here is Ray the lemon shark.

Chapter Text

You Dwell on the assignment at hand as you lean on the desk. 

If this shark doesn't survive the night all your hopes will be dashed. And you're still worried about the fact he's all alone. He must have been separated from his Daycare during the storm. That must have been so scary. You sigh. He's still asleep so you can't even check his stress levels or anything. You'd decided a while ago that you were definitely taking this next night shift to look after Ray but you still had to do the rest of your shiftly duties so as he sleeps you decide it's time to check up and feed the rest of the Celestials. You're thankful for the fact each team only has one species each to look after. That meant you could focus on the Celestials while other Mer-creatures would be looked after by other people. But Mer-creatures aren't the only sea life at Cove Aquariums. Imagine looking after all the hundreds of fish by yourself. Thankfully the night shifts were quiet, with no guests and only one or two from each team staying and all keeping to their sections. It was refreshing, especially from the hustle and bustle of today. Before checking on the mini-mers you head to the break room to grab a quick coffee. Most others on night shift would probably be getting their cup of Joe later they've probably only just arrived. It's not usual for someone to take a day and night shift at the same time. But this was a special case. The break room was empty. As you grabbed a coffee you remembered you should probably eat… you grab a handful of snacks as you head off to the mini tanks. 

It wasn't quite time for the lights to shut off for the night cycle so the Solars are still active just in time for their last meal of the day. As you look over the tank you see no one has scraped the algae from the edge of the glass, it's usually a day shift job but with how busy you all were with the rescue mission it makes sense it was forgotten. It'll add to their meal anyway. You quickly scrape the algae away with the mini squeegee. You notice Sunny, your Solar clownfish quickly snatching up flakes of algae to munch on, while Clips your eclipse mer barely notices the free meal. 

You then head to the cupboard, unlocking it and grabbing a feeding tray. There are two betta and three clowns to feed. You open up the mini freezer in said cupboard and take out a few portions of frozen brine shrimp and a pinch of pellets. Not forgetting a net for the feeder fish and a cup and pipette for the brine shrimp. 

You place your equipment by the tanks and start prep. You defrost the brine shrimp in some tank water and pipette them into the clownfish tank, just a little. Clips is immediately swimming around catching them all.

Variety is key to a mer clown's diet so next you drop in a few pellets. These are Sunny's favourite for sure and he grabs one to start chewing on. 

Sun your betta isn't so fussed on brine shrimp so you drop a frozen portion into the betta tank, it'll defrost in time for Moon to enjoy overnight, you instead opt for feeding Sun some pellets. As a final step, you open up the cupboard underneath your tanks to reveal a little tank full of feeder fish, a common practice among merkeepers. You scoop a few minnows up, dropping a couple in each tank, the Lunas and Clips will enjoy hunting those later. 

You can't forget to rinse your cup of brine shrimp in the feeder fish tank, allowing the dregs of the premium meal to be eaten by them before sprinkling some flakes in, healthy feeder fish make healthy meals. It was a routine you were all too familiar with. You watch the merfish swim around for a moment, Clips is busy chasing his food around the tank. As both Solars tuck into some pellets. You also spot a little hand emerge from one of the caves just in time to snag a fish. It's good to know Moonmoon got his breakfast. You smile at their fishy antics. “And people call you guys sea monsters.” You whisper to well no one, the fish? They can’t really hear or understand anyway.

 Ray should be waking up soon so you finish cleaning up and say good night to the Solars. Normally you'd stay long enough to say good morning to the Lunas but you have more pressing matters to attend to. 

As you re-enter the Aqua clinic you notice a twitch from Ray's fins. You have at least an hour before lights out so hopefully he wakes in time to check his health. Thankfully the clinic tank had a little hidey space so he can hide away and sleep at night. 

You would try to keep the lights on but that's just as dangerous. You wonder if some company would help. You first head to yet another freezer, yes where there is a fish that needs feeding there will be a fridge and or freezer nearby for your convenience. You open the fridge and take out a few defrosted mackerel, placing them in a bucket, it's not ideal a crab or catfish would be better but this is what you have at hand, you weren't expecting to be feeding a lemon shark when you put this week's order in. You then suit up in your wetsuit, your black one since the blue one is still wet from this morning. And not forgetting the fish aid kit. 

You climb the steps up to the top of the large tank and set everything down not too close to the edge of course. You watch as his fins twitch some more… Now you could wait until he wakes up all by himself or you could use a little trick you've learnt over the years. This job is definitely not for the squeamish. You take a pair of scissors and stab one of the mackerel before you waft its blood into the tank. 

You can see his shark instincts stirring him awake. His face scrunches and his little nose twitches as he sniffs the water. He finally opens his eyes, follows the scent and pokes his head out of the water in search of where the fish might have gone. He tilts his head as he looks at you. 

“Here for you.” You chuck the fish in his direction. It's so odd to be speaking to him, that's usually not allowed.

He catches the fish and starts to munch it happily. 

You've never actually gotten the privilege to work with a Solar in a tank before, it's usually just tagging them and releasing them back to the wild, and even then you don't get to join those trips often. Seeing him so close is fascinating, this will be this aquarium's first bigger variety of Solar, no of a Celestial. 

You quit marvelling at him and set up the equipment. This part is usually a lot harder but you think he's gonna be pretty cooperative. 

He finishes his fish and you stretch your hand out to him hoping he'll understand. He inches closer curiously. 

“Can I have your hand?” You ask. 

He comes as close as he can and sniffs at your hand. You're glad now you didn't extend the one you'd held the fish with. He then slowly places his hand in yours. You can't help but smile. And he mimics smiling back at you, his glowy eyes sparkle. 

You then strap a health monitor around his arm. It then starts sending data to the monitor tablet. You give it a check to see how he is. Everything seems normal and at pretty good levels. You let go of his hand to scroll through his results and immediately his stress level peaks, not too dangerously but enough to be noticeable. You take his hand again and it evens out, you let go and it peaks again. Interesting. You note that down. 

“Here, have some more for being so good.” You throw him another fish. 

You start to wonder… Could you start your research with some tricks? How about come here? That could be handy.

You wait until he's finished his fish and then stretch your hand out before opening and closing it. “Come, come here, Ray.” 

He looks at you puzzled for a second and then slowly approaches again. 

“Well done.” You throw a fish in the middle of the tank. 

You continue a few times and he gets faster at recognising your call. You run out of fish so you stop. That was so cool. You note down a couple things about the whole experience. 

“Ah, that was fun.” You sigh, sitting down at the edge of the pool dipping your feet into the water. A small chime echoes through the whole Aquarium, which means lights out. You quickly check the monitor tablet, this might freak him out. 

All tank lights slowly shut off, and all the other lights dim to keep the tanks from having too much light pollution. You see his stress levels spike to dangerous levels. He swims over to you almost leaping out of the water as he wraps his arms around you. 

“Woah there.” You pat his head. Checking the monitor it shows his stress lowering into the safe range, still high but safe. 

You sigh…  “I'm going to have to be your Luna for tonight, aren't I. You sigh again, slipping into the water. The fish meds are going to irritate your skin beyond belief but at least they weren't toxic… right? 

Thankfully you had thought to bring a pair of goggles in case you had to get in the water because you'd dropped something. You don't, though, have a rebreather or a snorkel. You hang onto the edge of the tank. He slowly lets you go and the stress alert hasn't gone off. Good.

 You need to make him feel safe. What would a Luna do… you think back to watching the little fish. They always do a perimeter check. You sigh and adjust your goggles before taking a deep breath. You dip under the water and make a show of swimming around before coming back up for air. 

“Feeling safer yet.” 

He tilts his head looking at you. 

“You need to go to sleep or you'll never get better.” 

He just stares. 

You sigh… you then take his hand and with a deep breath you take him down into the water and show him the little hidey space with the kelp and a little cave. You grab another gulp of air at the surface before swimming around in his tank hopefully communicating to him that you'll protect him. You resurface before looking down under the water. He looks up at you before back to the hiding spot. Back at you. You have to take another breath before you lower your face into the water to watch him again. A few bubbles leave his mouth reminding you of a sigh. He then swims over to the kelp and curls up in it. Still staring up at you. You get some more air checking on him again. He lays his head down and closes his eyes. You resurface. Taking a moment to breathe. You’re going to have to wait a while, to make sure he’s asleep. This is an odd scenario you’ve gotten yourself into but if it keeps his stress levels down and keeps him safe and alive you’re going to do it. 

You can’t help but yawn. It’s been a long day. If the lights have just gone off it’s probably about 12am, day shift will come about 6… you sigh. That's a lot of hours to stay awake for. You had to make sure Ray would last the night, He might not have lasted even this long without you. 

You lie on your back floating on the water. 

“This is gonna be awesome,” you reassure yourself. You close your eyes. “Just don’t fall asleep…” You feel yourself drift. 

Your head gently bumps into the glass of the tank. “I’m awake.” you gasp. You have no idea what time it is but the lights are still off so it can’t be too late. If someone found you like that, you don’t know what would have happened, they’d probably think you’d died or something. 

You need to get out and check the time. You first check on Ray… he’s still sleeping, so you should be able to sneak out. You swim over to the ledge and hoist yourself up that weightless feeling leaving you. 

You just lay there for a moment before you gain the strength to move. You dry your hands on your towel and check the tablet you abandoned earlier for the time. You sigh in relief it’s only 1:30. You then groan it’s only 1:30. Maybe the night shift wasn’t a good idea after a rescue mission. 

You drag yourself back to the changing rooms. You rinse off and get back into your uniform. Before grabbing a coffee and fetching some work from your desk, bringing it to the clinic so you can keep an eye on him. 

You have a handful of paperwork to get done and a few reports to write up. You’ll get some of that done. You get a couple hours of work done, take an impromptu nap, check on all the fish, and they’re all fine. Then get to work again. You can’t help but notice how itchy your skin is.

 As the hours tick by you decide to do some more research you were pretty well versed in Celestials of course but looking at the latest studies never hurt. Oh… an MRI of a Lunas brain has shown they have very similar brains to humans, you knew they had similar IQs but the resemblances are striking. Another article about their ‘secret language’, it’s no secret it’s just sonar. Ok, this study has more evidence to support the theory that Solars do most of the Star rearing in their daycares interesting. Aw… do they always have to go into the terminology? If you’re reading an article like this you’re no noob and probably know that daycares are the celestial version of schools, stars are the baby celestials who haven’t yet developed into a solar, a luna or an eclipse yet, and we all know a village is where a big daycare lives. We know all this, they’re the first things you learn. You sigh, scrolling through more articles.

Nice, a new Celestial village has been discovered in the Great Barrier Reef. Oh goodie… another theory on how they reproduce, until someone finds some actual hard evidence you’re not going to believe them, what do they have this time? Oh… interesting they believe there might be another type of Mer-creature, a female one, not the most outlandish theory. 

Your mind then wanders back to the first article with the MRI. If it’s that similar maybe you could look into how humans learn communication. You do a little googling… it says… ‘There is no innate system for humans creating knowledge and language.’ Oh fun, you keep reading, ‘Instead, we learn from the “inputs” that we're given;’ ok… ‘in other words, we are able to mimic the language spoken around us and slowly build our grammar and vocabulary.’ well Celestials are pretty good at mimicking, usually fish but it could work… You keep searching, maybe looking at how people teach children languages can help. ‘You can support language development by talking with your child and responding when your child communicates. Reading books and sharing stories is good for language development.’ you note that down, talking, responding and stories. 

Reading a story to a fish sounds kinda funny, sure they’re not just fish but still. You might try it. You know the only other study to teach mer-creatures to speak used training methods similar to teaching parrots. You’re not sure you’ll go in that direction. You keep looking into different articles but in time you start getting bored of the repetitive answers. You lean on your elbow sinking lower your head almost reaching the table. 

The alarm chimes as all the lights slowly brighten. 

“Morning already?” you sigh. The next shift will feed the miniatures but Ray is your sole responsibility. You know everyone is scared of him now that he’s imprinted? No befriended you! You decide that's better. You’ll coin that term. You chuckle, your all-nighter is getting to you. You grab some fish, you’ll feed him before you leave. Not bothering to change since both your wetsuits are probably still wet anyway, you make your way to the top of the tank. You wait this time sitting there yawning. It doesn’t take long, the light system in this area of the Aquarium is set to the average Celestials internal clock after all. He pokes his head up out of the water. And smiles at you. 

You smile back. “I brought breakfast.” you throw a fish his way.

He catches and enjoys it. “I bet that's good huh? Want more.” 

You feed him about two small mackerel and head back to clean up. 

Once you're done you sigh and clock out. You make sure to reassure Ray you’ll be back soon.

The next shift is arriving as you head out, you say a quick good luck and head home. Once home you grab a snack and get to bed, as soon as your head hits the pillow you’re out like a light.

Your ringtone stirs you from your sleep. 

You check your phone.

It's Kai, your boss.

The mini fibish.

Chapter Text

It’s Kai, your boss, your supervisor and team leader. 

You wipe the grogginess off your face, clear your throat and answer the phone.

“Hey, Kai… Is everything alright?” 

“I know I’ve probably just woken you up, but we have a situation. Your Solar is ok, it's kind of related but different, would you come into work?”

You scratch the back of your neck. “Yeah sure I can be there in twenty.” 

“Thanks, and sorry.” he ends the call. 

You sigh. At least you got seven hours of sleep. 

You arrive at the Aquariums and Kai is waiting for you outside. 

“Thanks for coming, especially after the day and night you’ve had.” 

“It’s ok, what was so urgent?” 

He leads you to the back rather than through the front. “We got a call from this lady who lives in a fishing village on the other side of the island.” 

You know the island he’s talking about, they’re not very friendly with the Mers. It's the one off the shore from the cove you’re currently looking over, if you squint you could see it from here on a clear day. It was unfortunately cloudy today. 

“About?” you ask. 

“She said there's a Luna that comes out at dusk right at fishing prime time, the fishermen find it annoying and they’re so fed up they said next time they see him they’re going to kill him.”

You gasp. “We can’t let that happen.”

Kai nods. “If we leave now we might get there before them, we could relocate him or…” 

“You want me there to befriend him so our Solar has a friend?”

“It would definitely make your job easier.” 

You nod… “Wait, what do you mean by that?” 

He gives you a knowing side-eye and there's a pause before he keeps walking. “Your second wetsuit was wet and you have a rash that looks very much like the one someone might get from exposure to fish medicine,” he says matter of factly.

You’re lost for words but only for a second… “How do you know so much?”

He stops walking as you finish your journey around the building.

“Go suit up, we got your suit washed and dried.” 

You head in the back door baffled. You suit up and head to the boat. 

“No one else is joining us?” 

He shakes his head as he starts to unmoor the boat. “They’re setting up the big tank for the Celestials, there’s a lot of work to be done.”

You step in as he undoes the last rope. 

“You all set,” he asks.

“Yep.” 

He starts the engine and you set off, it’ll take a few hours to get there.

A moment of silence is shared between you both as you admire the ocean. 

“You can still back out, you know.” he casually states. 

“Why would I? How could I?” 

He sighs. “It’s dangerous, I know what they’re like.” 

“And how do you know so much?” 

“Hey, I was already a certified marine biologist and Celestial researcher before you even started college.” 

“You make it sound like you’re miles older than me, it’s only what? five years?”

“Yeah, but you can learn a lot in five years…” 

“I’m sure but that's not what this is is it? tell me the real reason you know so much about all this. And tell me, why do you keep checking I’m ok with this project?”

He sighs… “I used to work at Fazbear Zoo and aquariums.” 

You look over at him. “What? No way… I never knew.” 

“I never told any of the team. I was only a junior there but I knew the girl, and the guy who died was our team leader.” 

“I’m so sorry.” 

“Don’t be.” he lets out a faint chuckle. “The guy was an asshole. I wasn’t there on the day it happened but I know for sure he probably yelled at Charlotte over something silly again. Might have even threatened to fire her again.” 

“And you stuck to marine biology and studying celestials?”

He nods. “It’s not their fault we don’t understand them, also not their fault a jerk and an idiot made himself a target.”

“But still…” 

He shrugs. 

“So… How did you end up with Cove?”

“The owner offered me a job, he didn’t care where my last job was, well actually he kind of did but because he was interested in their work. He’s the main reason you can start your research, Henry vouched for you.” 

“He did?” 

Kai just nods. 

“Oh I have a question.” you giggle. “Did they really have a singing bear?” 

He laughs. “Kind of yeah. It was mostly a gimmick but Freddy the Bear could sing, not like how we think of singing, but yeah kind of.” 

The rest of the ride was pretty chill, you mostly had a catch-up. Kai may have been your boss but he always made sure to be friends with all his team, maybe his past experience affected that but he was overall just a good guy, he gave you mom friend vibes. 

Soon enough the sun was setting and you reached the other side of the island you passed the village. The lady had let Kai know where the fisherman usually encountered the ‘Sea-monster’. As you got closer you started getting the gear ready, you slipped your knife into the pocket on your belt, and your torch. You then started getting two oxygen tanks ready just as you heard a commotion. 

“JUST DIE YOU DASTARDLY SEA  MONSTER.” one of the fishermen yelled. 

You looked over as the boat was still getting closer, in a net hanging out of their boat, scribbling and scratching all limbs akimbo was a luna, dark scales with a slight glow to them in the low light. He roared.  As they poked at his tough scales with fishing harpoons. 

“HEY!” You yelled. 

Your boat being a retired Coast Guard boat had lights and Kai made sure to put them on. It definitely spooked the fisherman. 

“He steals our fish and terrorises our village.” one barks back. But the other had let go of the net in panic and the sea monster began to sink. 

Kai had grabbed the megaphone and was negotiating with them, something about relocation, letting you know if any more sea monsters bothered them, you couldn’t really hear them over your newest bad decision. You jumped head-first into the water. You hadn’t even grabbed goggles or anything. You could just about see him through the blur of the ocean. The saltwater now stinging your eyes as you swam as fast as you could. His glow was more vivid the deeper he sunk. You caught up, cutting away at the net as best you could and lifting him by his underarms. As buoyant as a shark might be, he was still heavy and you felt like you were getting nowhere. No matter how fast you kicked your legs you were barely keeping yourself from sinking, and you were struggling for air. 

Bubbles in the distance caught your eye and the next thing you know, both you and the Luna were hoisted up onto the boat. 

You gasped for air for a moment catching your breath. 

“You’re so reckless.” he chuckles. 

“Is he ok?” You scrambled up and quickly tended to the luna. Kai handed you a first aid kit. You patched your fishy friend up as best you could before Kai helped you hoist him into the tank. 

“What happened with the fishermen?” you quired.

Kai set the boat back up to return, the sky now turning dark. “They skedaddled while I was fishing you out.” he sighed. 

“I’m sorry, I just…”

“I know.”

You look over the mer in front of you. He was all black with a blue glow to him. 

“Would you say he’s a lantern shark? He’s a bit big but…” 

“His scales and glow say so… he’s much bigger than usual, he could be a kitefin shark.” 

“I think you’re right.” you nod looking back at him he was much scrawnier than the Lemon shark back at the aquarium, and his glow, it was fascinating, it’s not every day you get to see a bioluminescent shark, nevermind a Mer one. 

“I think I’ll call him Neo, short for neon.” 

“Sounds good.” Kai hums mostly concentrating on driving the boat in the dark.

You over at Neo, you hope his injuries heal, he had a few bad ones, you even had to sew one up. Other than his cuts on his tail and net burn he seemed alright, nothing vital was hit, but he’d lost quite a bit of blood. His eyes slowly opened revealing a red glow to his pupils typical of lunas. 

“You’re safe… just sleep,” you whispered softly. 

He brought his hand up to you but it quickly fell, his claw leaving a scratch on your face. 

“Do I need to tranq him?” 

“No,” you call back. “The pure exhaustion and the small amount of anaesthetic I gave him should do the trick.” 

Here he is Neo himself ^_^

Chapter Text

A set of blue eyes stare at you in the dim lights. 

“What do you think?”

He looks over at you then the new fish floating in the tank, then at you. His expression is unreadable. 

“He’ll wake up soon.” you chime. “I think.” 

He stares at you some more before he goes over to Neo and pokes his face. 

You have to wait until he’s awake to put his monitor on, you’d do it while he slept but the anaesthetic would mess with the monitor and it would scream at you until he was awake. 

“I could tell you how we found Neo?” 

He tilts his head at you.

“Come here.” you beckon him.

 He swims over. You’re not crazy, you tell yourself, that article said telling stories could help…

“So, we got a phone call…. I don’t think you’d understand that um…. Someone told us he was in danger, so we went to see him and a bunch of nasty fishermen.”

He seems to understand that as he frowns a little. You were trying your best to also tell the story with gestures as well as words, swinging your arms about.

“They were the ones that hurt him, but then they dropped him and we, me and a friend, we saved him.” you finish with a smile. 

You think he understood that. 

He suddenly spins around and zooms over to Neo. You notice Neo twitch as Ray swims around him checking him over. Ray then takes Neo’s face in his hands. 

“I’m not sure that's a good idea…” 

Neo slowly opens his eyes, blinking… his eyes then spring open, his pupils pinprick as he shoves Ray off himself.  

Ray shrinks partially under the water, an apology maybe? 

Neo backs away, he scans the room frantically. 

“Hey, it’s ok.” you try to sound as soft as possible. You can tell this might not be as easy. 

Ray tries to take his hand but Neo drags him down into the water. 

You can’t quite see what’s going on from here so you head down the stairs to watch from the front of the tank.

It looks like a pretty heated conversation, Neo does not look happy. Was this a bad idea? Was finding a luna for Ray a bad idea? Was he an outcast? Did they know each other? They were found not too far from each other… you just hope they weren’t in rival villages or something… Neo leans closer to a nervous-looking Ray, seemingly scolding? Shouting, arguing? You can’t tell you just know it’s too much. 

“That’s enough.”

You grab your goggles and jump in the pool. You get between them and push them away. Somehow unscathed. You’re not having them fight like this. 

Neo scowls at you and Ray hides behind you. You resurface for air and they both follow. Eye contact was never lost.

“No fighting,” you demand. 

Neo backs away. 

You then turn to Ray. “Are you ok?” you check over him, no injuries. 

“How about some food?” You swim back over to the ledge and drag yourself out of the water. 

Ray eagerly followed, seeming already familiar with the word food.

You throw a fish to Ray and he happily eats it. You throw one across the tank to Neo. It splashes in front of him, he doesn’t even flinch and it floats there in front of him as he crosses his arms. 

You’ve never had a lunas attitude directed at you like this before, you’ve only heard of it. You’re just a little scared. 

Ray seems to notice and puts his fish down going over to Neo. He picks up his fish and offers it to Neo. Neo shakes his head and pushes it away. 

Great just great, you save a shark and he doesn’t even want to eat the food you have for him. Ray drops the fish with a dramatic splash and swims to the opposite corner of the tank in a sulk. 

Double great. You are so close to pulling out your hair. “It would make my life easier, he said.” you sigh. All you had to do tonight was make sure both fish were settled and feed them before you could go home and catch up on all the sleep you’d missed. It’s already getting late. 

They both stay that way for a moment before you see Neo’s resolve crumble as he lowers his arms and glances at Ray… he swims over and taps Ray on the shoulder before lowering in the water so only his eyes are poking out. 

Ray crosses his arms looking over his shoulder at Neo before turning away in a big humph. You see Neo seeth for just a second before he grabs the fish and swims back. Ray finally turns to him as Neo thwaps his shoulder with the fish. But Ray stares him down.

Neo rolls his eyes before he bites the fish's head off. 

Ok, he’s eating. You feel a little tension leave you. 

Ray keeps staring at Neo until he’s eaten the whole fish. 

Once Neo’s finished Ray pulls him into a hug and spins him around with a big smile. 

You really hope the clinic cameras caught all of that, it was so interesting. 

Neo doesn’t look too happy with the hug but he just casually brushes it off. Ray then finally finishes off his previously discarded fish. 

Now… how were you going to get Neo to wear a monitor… maybe you should have chosen to suffer the incessant blaring siren the monitor would have screamed at you while the anaesthetic was active in his system. 

You put your hand out like you did for Ray, in hopes Neo would catch on. 

You instead got a yellow hand placed into yours. 

“Well done Ray.” you pass him a small chunk of fish you prepared earlier. He seems happy with that. 

“Neo?” you look over to him. He doesn’t recognise his name yet, of course, you’re not sure Ray does yet either, but they won’t learn if you don’t use it. You look expectantly at him. He glances over while picking fish bones out of his teeth and then looks away. Oh, come on. 

Ray once again places his hand in yours. You feel a glare your way. 

An idea… it could fail or be a great success. 

“Ray, could you.” you point to him, “Give this.” you hold the monitor, showcasing it to Ray, “To Neo.” you point to Neo. 

Ray takes the monitor and looks it over, it looks like a little black box on an elasticated band. He looks to the one on his arm, back at the monitor back at you. 

“Put it on Neo’s arm?” you point to your arm, then to Neo again. “Please?” 

He looks around, at you, Neo, the monitor… 

“It’ll help him get better.” you point to his, “and you’ll match.” 

He seems to get the idea and swims over to Neo and holds his treasure up in the air. 

Neo shifts to the side. Ray holds his hand out to Neo. Neo shakes his head. 

You did not expect what happened next. 

Ray tried to put it on Neo but he dipped under and past him. And blew bubbles at him. Ray took the challenge and lunged for him. You think the mood has been lifted but you’re not sure. 

They playfully jump and swim around the pool, Ray chasing Neo like kids playing tag. Finally, Ray corners Neo. They both jolt left, then right like awkward people trying to scoot past each other. Neo makes a move, trying to slip past but Ray instead blocks his escape and slides the monitor over Neo’s arm. A champion, a victor! You actually cheer. 

They pop up to the surface to see the commotion you made. You happily toss some fish bites to both of them, Neo actually accepting your offering. 

Checking their vitals they both seem stable, even after sprinting around the tank a few times. 

You decide to push your luck. 

“Neo, come here.” you point his way and beacon him. 

He looks around.

“Come here.” 

Ray swims over eagerly. 

“Alright, you can have one.” you toss him a fish chuck. Hopefully, it will distract him. 

“Neo,” you call showing him the treat. He slowly swims over. Getting closer and closer. 

You really want him to take the fish from your hand. You hold it out to him.

He’s pushed out the way as Ray takes the fish eating it in one gulp and then holds your hand with a smile. 

“That was rude Ray.” You let go of his hand and give him a disapproving look. “Take turns.” 

You move over to the side Neo was shoved to and offer him some fish. He takes it and swims off. 

That was good progress. You sigh. “You two, look after each other ok?” 

It was definitely time to head home before the lights turned off. You’ll be back in the morning just as Ray wakes up but before Neo heads to bed, you might extend dawn for a little. Maybe then you can see about starting language lessons. 

Chapter Text

How does one train Mer-creatures to talk? You wonder as you open the clinic door, You’d spoken to Kai as you headed in, and he let you know the tank would be ready for the boys in a few days. The team had done a lot of cleaning, it was once a shark tank but that was a year or so ago, and it’s been empty since.

The tank was currently cycling, usually cycling a tank could take weeks but with the right tools, one of the old filters from another tank, live plants and the right additives your team could have it done in a single week, it’s amazing what a bunch of experts can do. Anyway, you’d asked Kai for some tips on teaching fish to talk and he’d been oh-so helpful by telling you to figure it out on your own. 

You finally walk through the door and are greeted by Ray almost jumping out of the tank, it almost gives you a heart attack. 

“Hi to you too.” you send him a wave. 

He copies waving back. 

“Now if only it was that easy to get you to talk.”

You suit up, leaving your things at the desk, you’ve spent more time at this desk than you have at your own recently. You then cut up some fish filling a bucket. Might as well use their meal as motivation right? 

Ray follows your moves like a soccer goalie anticipating the ball to be kicked their way at any moment. 

He meets you at the edge of the tank as you walk up the steps. You place the bucket of chum down and sit at the edge of the water.

You haven’t seen Neo yet, he shouldn't have headed to bed yet, you’d even lengthened the dawn cycle so you could spend some time with both of them. 

“Where’s Neo?” you ask Ray.

Neo’s little head bobs out of the water. 

“Hey, Neo!” You were getting worried he was hiding from you.

A wet hand touches your knee. “Hi to you two Ray,” you pat his head. 

“Now who wants some food?" They both perk up at that. You toss them a cube of fish and even Neo eats it up, swimming just a little closer. 

Now how to get them to speak? 

Did you even have a plan? Sure you did it was to get fish chunks and then get… them to… talk… a great plan, there are so many details. You sigh. Well if you were being honest you were hoping to get more of an answer from Kai, was he testing you or did he actually not know? You’ll probably never know. You’re kind of wishing you’d worked in a daycare or school at some point in your life, maybe then you’d know about teaching or something. 

What is even the first thing you teach them? Food? 

You hold a piece of fish just out of their reach. “Food, can you say Food?” 

Ray tries to reach the fish but you pull it away. He reaches closer, jumping trying to get it.

Now you feel like a bully… you cave and give him the fish. 

Neo tries to take the fish at the same time. Ray got it first but Neo snatched it from his hand. Ray grabs it back and shoves it in his mouth. Neo then pushes him, Ray pushes back. 

You grab your goggles about to jump in when you stop in your tracks.

“F-f-freaking S-sea m-m-mons’er!” Neo pushes Ray away. 

“WOAH WOAH WOAH!” you interrupt “No fighting! That's Bad.” You hand both a handful of fish. “We’re all friends.”

Ray looks at you… “f…f-rens?”

“Yeah, friends.” You smile. “Us.” you point to yourself Ray and then Neo. “Friends.” 

He points to you, himself and Neo, “f-re-ns. frens!” 

“Yeah well done.” you toss him a treat.

Neo swallows a mouth full of fish as he looks at Ray, still offended.

 “Maybe trying this before food was a bad idea.”

“B-ba…” he puffs his cheeks. “Ba-d” 

You laugh a little. “Well done Neo.” you chuck him some fish. 

Ray tilts his head. “N-n…neee-oh?”

“Good job Ray.” He gets some fish too. 

“Ay?” Neo points to Ray. 

“That’s close.” another reward. 

How did this even happen? They’re speaking!

“Ay, bab.” Neo scowls. 

You facepalm. Should you reward that? “No no.”

“No! Ay, frens!” Ray retorts. 

“Yes, Ray is a friend. Neo is a friend.” you throw them the rest of the food. 

You can’t believe they actually spoke, not just one word but a few, they even strung together a sentence each, it’s incredible. You can only assume Neo might have learnt a little from the fishermen or other sailors that he had encountered while in the wild. 

 What to teach them next? OH, you need to compile a report for your boss Henry! You’ll have to CC it to Kai as well, of course, the clinic footage should have picked up when they met and their speech today, you’ll send those and a few of your findings. 

You head down to the office and start at the computer, you can hear Ray and Neo babbling like toddlers in the background, not many coherent words are being said but you’re happy they’re learning how to use their voices. It soon dies down as Neo heads to bed in the little cave as the lights brighten. After that, you can hear Ray swimming around the pool.

You can’t wait until the boys get their own tank, they’ll have way more room. It’s only a few more days.

After the report which took you way too long to compile you headed to grab some lunch, you were late for the usual lunch break so you didn’t see many people and not many people have been frequenting the clinic but one or two popped in for a few supplies. As you get back an email chimes through your computer, it’s the weekly order, you’ll finally get to order the boys some better food, something they might hunt in the wild. Neo would probably enjoy some squid, Ray would prefer some catfish and they both might like some crab… A small crate of blue manna, a bag of European Squid and some gaff top catfish should do the trick. actually, maybe live blue swimming crabs might be a good idea, Neo like most lunas seems more of a hunter. You should check if the clinic needs anything restocked. Isabelle has already submitted the order for the other mers, awesome, that means you don’t have to. Maybe some toys like ones meant for dolphins or seals might help entertain them… you scroll through the aquarium store and request a few. 

Then it was just a case of cleaning up. It was about time to do a deeper clean around here. You start by re-organising some of the supply cupboards and cleaning all the surfaces. You wipe down the tank glass. 

“Clean up,” you sigh. 

“C-clee… clean up!” Ray exclaims. “Clean up, clean up.”  he chimes almost in a tune. 

You can’t help but laugh. 

He chirps a bubbly laugh back at you. “Clean up! Clean up.” 

“I am I am.” you giggle. 

You would boop his nose if you could reach. 

You finish cleaning and feed the boys as dawn mode activates. You just remembered the aquarium they’ll be moving into will have a glass ceiling. They’re going to love that. 

It was then time to clock out. You’ll have to have a plan for tomorrow, maybe a quick trip to the library would be a good idea. There’s only one in the area you know will be open this time of day. It was a student library close to the university you studied at.

It was a decent detour but you couldn’t help heading there before heading home, surely there would be something to help right? It’s not like they’ll have a book on how to teach fish to talk but maybe there’s something about helping children? 

Even after your school days, you’d been to this library to read studies and study up on fish and mers but you’d never ventured much further than that, or maybe once or twice for some sci-fi or fantasy but definitely never into this section. 

You look around at the children's books and parent-help books. You pick up a few kid's storybooks, a book titled, ‘How to get your kids chatting’, and a pack of ‘things and words’ flash cards.

You walk up to the desk with a shy smile. 

“Did you find every book you were looking for?” the librarian asked. 

“Yeah, I think so.” 

She starts scanning your books. “I didn’t know you had a little one?” 

You freeze. If you told her you were teaching fish to talk she’d surely know you were crazy. 

“Me no.” 

She looks at you puzzled.

“I’m um… actually helping look after some kids… for a friend” You rub the back of your neck. 

“That’s nice of you.” she glances at you over her glasses as she finishes scanning your books. 

“Oh you know, since you’re so mad about fish, I have something for you. Someone just turned this one in.” She grabs a book from the pile of books to her left. The title, ‘My First Ocean Encyclopedia.’

”It’s a little damaged, someone's little brother discovered markers. Only two pages have scribbles over them but we’ll have to throw it away and buy another, you can have it, maybe those kids will like it when they’re older." She pushes the book over the counter. 

“Are you sure?” 

She nods.

“Thank you,” you take it and the other things with a polite smile. The boys might like learning the human words for different fish, It might be more familiar than cars and shoes and all the other human things that the stories and flashcards might have on them. You’ll have to sort through them. 

You do just that before heading to bed, you’ll be in at dawn to feed the boys and see if your endeavours at the library were worth it.

Chapter Text

Another day at the grind. Last night you came up with a little bit of a plan, ok so you will feed the fish, practise the words they know, you then read them a story, Neo goes to sleep for the day, you teach Ray some words with the flashcards, get some other work done, Neo wakes up, you feed them read them a story, Ray goes to sleep, teach Neo some words, go home.

You revise the plan in your head as you put your stuff at the desk.

“FREN!!!!”

You turn to see Ray giving you the biggest wave.

“Good morning Ray.” you wave back.

You get into the routine you’ve set the past few days, you’d be lying if you didn’t say it was getting a little monotonous. you get ready, get the fish and sit up by the fish tank, making sure you have your goggles at hand you’ve needed them almost every time.

“Food time!” you chime.

Neo appears from nowhere and well Ray is already right up to the ledge ready and waiting.

“For Ray,” you hand him a fish. “And for Neo.” you hand him one too.

They both happily chew on their respective fish. As handy as chopping it up small for training is, these two being the sharks they are, do actually need to chew on a meal every now and then, it’s good for their teeth, you did however bring a few extra snacks for training.

Ok, so last time they learnt, friends, their names, bad and no… might not encourage bad…

“Sooo, Ray.” you point to him. “R-a-y.”

“Ay!” he points to himself.

“Well done.” You toss him some food.

You look to Neo. “can you say Ray?”

“Ay?”

“Good job”

“Rrrr” Ray almost growls as he tries this new sound “Hr… rrrr…” he fumbles a bit “Ruh, ra, r-r-r-. R-ay.” he beams up at you. “r-Ray.”

You can believe he did that all by himself. “Well done!” you give him a treat.

“Now, Neo, can you say your name?” you point to him. “Neee-oh” you sound it out.

“NEO!” Ray exclaims.

“Well done Ray.”

How do you teach fish to take turns? You wonder.

“Now Neo’s turn.” you look back to where he was and he’s gone! “Neo?”

A giggle sounds through the clinic. You spot him as he pokes up at the other side of the tank, a pair of goggles in hand.

“What?” you look back to where you put said goggles double checking they were truly gone, they in fact were.

He waves them in the air in a taunt.

You can’t help but giggle too. “You little.”

You jump into the tank against your better judgment and swim over to him. He slips right past you with another bubbly giggle.

“Give those back.” you laugh.

“No.” he chirps as he throws them over your head.

You watch as they land just in front of Ray.

“Alright Ray, give me the goggles,” you ask as you swim over to him.

A cheeky grin stretches over his face as he swims away with them.

“Oh come on, 2v1, no fair.”

You swim the other way hoping to catch him that way but as you reach him he throws it to Neo. You swim to Neo. He throws them to Ray. Ray throws them to Neo.

You are being bullied by fish. You can’t help but laugh. You swim over to Neo and as he throws them you splash a little wave of water at him.

He splashes you back with a laugh. You splash him again and Ray comes out of nowhere and uses his tail to send a massive splash at you both. You proceed to play this dance of splashes and chasing as you try to get your goggles and attack with splashes of water at both the mer boys.

You finally all wear yourselves out and laugh as you cling to the edge of the tank. Ray finally hands you your pair of goggles. You don’t think you’ve had that much fun in ages. Wait, what time was it? The lights had kicked on a while ago yet Neo was still playing with you guys. You pull yourself onto the platform and check the time. Three hours had passed.

“Neo! It’s past your bedtime.”

“Bedtime?” he chirps.

“Yes it’s past your bedtime.” you hold your hands together by your face tilting your head in the classic sleep pose. “Time for bed.”

“Bedtime,” he nods.

“Nighty night.” you wave.

He gives you a little wave before diving down into the water and settling in his cave.

“That was fun right Ray?”

“Fun.” he chimes.

“Yeah, I wish I was one of you, we could have fun like that all the time.”

He tilts his head curiously.

“Who am I kidding.” you shake your head, what are you thinking. “How about I teach you some new words?”

“Ye.”

You proceeded to show Ray a selection of flashcards. You taught him fish, food, boat, wake, sleep, thank you, please, happy, sad, mad and flower. He really got the hang of it, you feel really proud.

You even took the time to teach him how to use them in sentences.

“Fren happy with Ray?” his tail swishes in the water like a puppy.

“I’m very happy with Ray, I’m proud of you.”

He does a little dolphin jump out of the water.

“I Happy, I happy too.”

You were now definitely running behind schedule for the day. You opted to do a little work as you ate your rather late lunch and soon enough it was time to feed the boys again.

You fed them, played some word games and said good night to Ray. Then it was time to teach Neo the words you’d taught Ray earlier. He was just as good at picking up these words, he definitely prefers shorter sentences though.

“Past your bedtime fren.”

You checked the time and you had stayed quite a bit longer than usual. You got a little carried away.

“Huh… I suppose it is… kinda.”

“Nighty night.”

“Good night Neo.”

You almost forgot, tomorrow they’re being put into their new tank. The plan is that your team will do that for you before you get to work tomorrow. Kai said it would be best if you weren’t there in case they see it as a bad experience. You should probably put a slight sedative into the water before you go to help your team out.

For once you didn’t have to head to the clinic, the transfer went smoothly, your team tranquilised the boys and since they were already sleepy they didn’t fight it. You just had to move all your things from your old desk into your new office. It used to be the office for the shark overseer but now the only sharks here were the mer kind and you were their overseer so yeah new office yippy. The weekly order has also arrived so you could show the boys their toys and stock their fridge freezer with their new food. 

You could hardly wait.

The boys were still asleep when you arrived so you sorted your stuff in your office and stocked the fridge, a tank had also been set up for the swimming crabs so you acclimatised them to their new tank, you’re definitely going to have to feed them some of the crabs today.

The aquarium was closed today so you didn’t have to worry about guests but the shark tank was very much less private compared to the clinic tank. Your side of the tank was more so with a staff-only hallway which not many use it only goes from the fish section to the mer area, since the teams were separate not many needed to cross through but the other side of the tank shared a hallway with the other mer creature tank, the non-celestial mers that is and the other team would be there… you’re a little nervous if the boys want to play more shenanigans.

You push your worries away and take a bucket of crabs and a single catfish up the much taller staircase to the feeding platform.  You use your trick of waving the fish in the water to wake the sleeping sharks. Ray is the first to come to. “Fren!” he chimes before he stops in his tracks and looks around. “Where?”

“It’s your new home, do you like? Are you happy?”

He looks around some more. “Wow!” he swims under the water doing a perimeter check. He swims over the coral and takes a peek into the cave, then he swims over the sea grass and into the little kelp forest, plenty of places to hide. He swims all the way back just as Neo wakes.

“I happy! Ver nice.” he beams.

“Wha? Where? who?” Neo grumbles.

“New sea, New home!” Ray takes Neo’s hand and drags him around the tank showing him all the cool things.

“What do you think Neo?”

“Good.” he gives you a smile.

“It’s much bigger than the other tank so I hope you guys enjoy the space.”

“Thank you, fren.” Ray chirps.

“You’re welcome.” you smile.

Both boys then look to each other and before you know it you hit the water, something grips both of your hands as you’re dragged deeper. You’re swirled around as they swim around you like sharks circling their prey as you sink. The air leaves your lungs and you only see shadows and blurs through the water. Bubbles suround you as you spin.

Was this your end? Did they finally turn on you? You feel something soft touch your lips as you swirl in the watery vortex. Your vision darkens.

Suddenly air? It stings, as you’re dragged out of the water. It splashes and drips off you. You open your eyes to the bright lights and shouting.

You strangely don’t feel the need to cough as you open your eyes. You see Kai and some others from your team and even the other teams all just staring at you.

“What?... What happened?” you try to drag yourself up but don’t have the strength. Everything felt heavy, especially your legs.

Wait… “Why can’t I feel my legs?” you look over to see if they’re broken. All you see is a blue fish. Since when did we have a blue fish that big… oh… OH..

You roll over to see it better. It was you. The tail shimmered a silvery blue, as clear as day, that was your tail. You wiggle the darker-hued frilly fins and they move.

“Someone tell me I’m hallucinating.” 

Kai crouched next to you and poked your tail. “I’m afraid it’s very real.”

You look over your tail to the tank to see two very upset boys, they glare at everyone just out of reach.

“What do I do now?”

Everyone looks at each other. Many shrugging.

“I don’t know. This has never happened before” Kai says. “I guess you’re a fish now…”

You’re a fish…. You are a fish. YOU… ARE… A… FISH…

You look over yourself as that sinks in, your blue tail extends up, the scales covering most of your body. Your hands are webbed, your face feels normal but your ears feel like fins. The scales trail all the way up the back of your neck. You take a deep breath. This can't be happening, you must be dreaming. “Ouch.” no not dreaming, how can that be?

“I must have wished a little too hard when I was seven.” you let out a weak laugh. No one else laughed. They all just stared.

What were you going to do now? Continue your research and live in a tank for the rest of your days? That’s what you expected the boys to do… I suppose you wouldn’t have to do taxes anymore? Right? Or would the government make you do that still? Your whole world is falling apart and you’re thinking about taxes?

You sigh. “What did you two do to me?”

“You like us now,” Ray said…

“A gift… a thank you.” Neo looks away.

“Not happy?” Ray says  with big eyes filled with worry and sadness.

You can feel your skin or scales drying in the air.

You look to Kai and the others.

“You should um... probabally get back in the water before you dry out,” one of the team adds.

You nod before slipping into the water.

“You two should ask someone before you do this. I thought I was going to die,” you tell the fellow fish.

“Are you mad?” Ray asks.

“No…” you sigh. “You're going to have to teach me to be a mer, though.”

“A mer?” Neo asks.

“Yeah this.” you chuckle. "one of you."

You’re really not sure If you should be upset or just laugh at the whole scenario.

You pop your head back out of the water and look at the crowd. You give them a wave.

“I’ll talk to corporate about this,” Kai yells. “We’ll figure this out.”

You give him a trusting nod before you dip back under the water. I suppose it’s time the boys taught you a few things.

Chapter Text

You dry your hands and lean over the ledge. It wasn’t comfortable in fact your hands felt painfully dry, but it was the only way to use your laptop without frying yourself and the sharks. 

“Soooo legally you're dead.” Kai blurts out as he sits just out of the splash zone.

“Ok sooooo no taxes?” 

“Well… technically you’re not earning, technically you’re not alive soo yeah, no taxes, fish don’t pay taxes. Is that what you’re really worried about?” 

You shrug, “It’s just good to know…” 

“We let your family know the situation, I’m pretty sure they didn’t believe me.” 

“That's ok.” you sigh as you fill in the report.

Kai pauses for a moment… “Your… uh…  fish friend is glaring at me…” 

“Ray… Kai is our friend.” 

“Frend.” he said in a harsh tone, extremely convincing.

“Ignore him.” you sigh. 

“Ooookay…” he shuffles his position further from the tank. “So since you're like well legally not with us, we’ve set up an account ‘for the mers’” he says with air quotes. “Since you're still like well working with us, your wages will go there, so like… you can spend it or whatever…” he rubs the back of his neck. “It has your will donation in as well…” He’s trying you can see that but there's just not much he or anyone can do about your situation. 

“So any leads on if you can change back?” 

“Nope.” you sigh. “The boys say they don’t know, not that I think they’d tell me, but hey do you know a better way to research mers then to become one?”     

“I suppose not.” 

“To be honest, it’s not too bad.” 

You type away at your laptop your latest findings, it’s not all that interesting but it should be noted. 

As you type a warning flashes over your screen blaring a siren through your speakers. 

“What is it?” he asks. 

“Big trouble.” you turn the screen to show him. 

“A whole daycare of Celestials?” he gasps. 

He starts passing. “There’s a storm going on right now…”

“But we can’t wait!” 

“I know, I know!” 

“Take me with you, put me on the team.” 

He stares at you unsure.

“I can’t drown, I'm your safest bet. I need to help. You’ll need the numbers.” 

“Fine. We can put you in the fishwell, it looks like we’ll need the big boat anyway.” 

“We go.” Ray chimes. 

“What?” you ask, turning to the shark.

“Fren like me, danger,” he points to the screen. “Ray, Neo Help too!” 

Neo swims over. “Fren go, we go.” 

Kai sighs. “Y'all are more trouble then your worth. I’ll talk with the team.” 

You turn to the two sharks. “You’re worried? About the other mers?”

Neo points to one of the islands on the map Lassthyio. “Bad mens home.” he hisses. 

“You think they have something to do with this?”

All the alerts do seem to be clustered in one area between the islands Lassthyio and Alsyreni. 

Kai comes back shortly with four other coworkers and a shark stretcher. 

“I guess we will take all of you… on one condition.” he holds out a tracking device. 

You nod. “Just in case.” you sigh, clipping the device to your tail with a wince. Those sting… Neo and Ray already have tracing and monitoring devices of course. 

They lower the stretcher into the water, you hold the otherside.

You pat the fabric of the stretcher. “Come on then.” 

Ray looks to you, the people, then back to you. 

“You want to help?” 

He nods. 

“Then hop in.” 

He cautiously swims into the stretcher. 

You carefully flip him. 

“Sleepy?” he hums in a confused tone as the tonic effect kicks in. 

They lift him up and out of the water. And they start walking away. 

That leaves you and Neo. 

A thought flicks through your head. Why is he still awake it’s past 9am… you quickly remember during storms both celestials stay awake to stay safe. 

You take this time to look over the situation again. It seem to mostly be reef sharks. It is their hunting ground, is it possible this is an orchestrated attack from the fishing village? They have been much more aggressive to the ‘sea monsters’ lately.  

Kai soon returns for the next shark. 

“Alright Neo.” 

He glares at your coworkers and chuffs a scoff but hops in the stretcher with his arms folded, and even turns over. How nice of him.

And then there was one. You swim from one side to the other, a fish equivalent of pacing. 

If this is the fishing village's fault what can you even do? You’ll have to see if it seems on purpose first. Could they be stupid enough to use a net?

Kai arrives back. 

“Can we bring a camera? Neo seems to think it’s that darn fishing village's fault. I want evidence.” 

“Sure thing, now hop in.”

You hop in the stretcher and it’s surprisingly comfy. Just enough water in there to stop you drying up and it feels like you’re sitting in a hammock.

You're lowered into the fish well in the Aquaculture Boat.

Cold rain hits your face as the cool running seawater of the well greets you.

 It’s not often the Wellboat gets used, seeing as this is the biggest rescue mission you’ve ever seen since you started working here it only made sense. 

The fishwell was almost as big as a short course swimming pool 25 meters by 25, possibly at a guess, and just deep enough for your tail not to touch the bottom. To say the least it was big and took up most of the boat apart from the console where all your teammates were huddled in. 

Ray and Neo swim over and spin around you. 

“Fren ok?” Ray chimes.

“Yeah I’m ok.”  

The boat starts moving and the water shifts with the initial movement. It steadies until the boat exits the still waters of the dock and enters the rough open ocean. 

Each time a wave hits the boat the water in the well shifts, it’s the worst but probably most accurate wave pool you’ve ever experienced worse then the actual waves you imagine. 

You opt for hanging on to the edge of the pool. The boat rocks in the opposite direction and your stomach hits the side of the pool. That was a mistake. 

A hand pulls your arm. Neo pulls you into the center of the pool and the three of you huddle in the middle. 

Finally the boat comes to a halt, the waves continue to rock it but it’s less intense. You’ve stopped just between the islands right where all the alerts are coming from. 

You hear the anchor drop and soon after Kai and two others come down from the console. 

“We’re sending you out to scope the damage while we get our equipment ready.” 

“Perfect.” 

Using the same stretcher they make a quick transfer of you and the boys from the fishwell to the ocean. 

Kai then yells your name as he throws the diving camera overboard.

It lands not too far from you and you fetch it.

Diving down… absolute carnage. As you suspected a net had a whole daycare trapped. A darn Gillnet is suspended between two massive rocks, the waves rocking it back and forth.

These nets are illegal in protected waters for a reason. You swear some of the net openings have been cut bigger purposefully to catch more mers because not only are fins and tails tangled but several Celestials have their heads stuck in the nets, that usually wouldn’t happen. 

You snap a few pictures just hoping this is enough for a prosecution. 

Ray and Neo are looking over the situation. 

You pop back up to the surface, the waves rocking you about. 

“It’s a darn GillNet! Bring knives.” You yell up. You get a thumbs up from the team of now fully suited divers. 

They jump in or rather fall in from the swim platform one by one.

Kai swims over and hands you a small knife.

You all dive back under, finding a mer each to start freeing. Ray and Neo are already cutting the net with sharp rocks they’ve found. You wonder if they’ve had to deal with this before…

 You start with the least injured to prevent them from harming themselves further.  Then move on to the severely injured. 

Each of the reef sharks that will need medical attention get flipped to put them into tonic immobilisation. They then get gently moved by your team to be lifted into the fishwell. 

Some have cuts from the net all over many with damage to their delicate gills, this is not going to be an easy recovery for some.

 You realise the sad truth for the regular fish caught that they most likely won’t survive, you have high hopes for the celestials though even though about 26 of the 30 odd sharks are injured and 21 of them are in such a bad state that they need to be taken to the clinic immediately, with the right care they should survive. 

Your team cuts down and collects the net. You resurface and get ready to be hoisted back onto the boat with Ray and Neo when a massive wave crashes over head. 

You spin feeling like you're in a washing machine.

 You can’t see, you feel disorientated.

 A sharp pain fills your head.

 It all fades into darkness.

Chapter Text

Pain fills your head; it feels like cotton wool, really painful throbbing wool. You turn over onto your back. What happened? Headache… dry mouth? Aches all over… did you get drunk last night? No, you were diving, A rescue mission? It slowly starts to come back.

A seagull squawks, Did you leave your window open again? Why is your brain so fuzzy? Man it’s cold you must have left the window open.

Taking a deep breath of fresh air. You brush the sand off your face. 

Sand? Air? 

You open your eyes, it’s so bright. 

You sit up and something soggy slaps you in the face. Seaweed?

Oh yeah… So this is definitely not your bedroom... 

Sand as far as the eye can see. To your left grass and trees, to your right ocean, still ocean. Islands visible on the horizon as the sun rises.

You look at yourself, you're in your wetsuit, definitely a rescue gone wrong. 

You look around some more. A dark rock on the waters edge and it’s glowing with blue bioluminescence? 

That’s not normal around here…

That’s not a rock! 

You gasp.

You scramble to your feet. 

“Neo!?” 

You stumble, your legs wobbly, your foot painful, like it’s been stabbed, you pick yourself back up and you hurry over. 

He’s not too dry, he didn’t wash up too long ago then.

You shake him. “Neo, come on buddy.” Nothing, no reaction.  

What next? 

CPR? 

No he’s a fish you idiot. 

What do fish need?

Why can’t you remember!?

You’re a marine biologist! Remember! 

Water!

He needs water. 

Where's wat-… the Sea Duh. 

You wrap your arms under his arms and around him. He’s only about five foot but he’s heavy. Why are sharks so heavy?

You drag him over to the water. 

The cold water dances at your feet as you enter the ocean.  You wade in deeper it’s almost to your knees… 

Spash!

You trip dropping your fish friend. What was there to trip on? You try to get up. Why won’t your legs work… 

Your legs are a fish. 

‘You’re a fish now.’ echoes in your head. 

Wait but you were just not a fish? 

NEO! 

Focus!

You have to help your friend. 

So much is happening all at once and your head still feels like wool. It's dizzying.

You drag him and yourself deeper into the sea. 

He’s a shark. Sharks need??? Moving water! Oh stars, your brain feels like mush. 

You pull him along hoping the small waves and movement will get his gills working. 

He gasps. He shakes his head and drags his hands down his face. “Fren?” 

“Neo!” you wrap your arms around him. “I was so worried.” 

“An Ray?” 

“Oh shoot.” You look over the beach just in case you missed him. He’s nowhere to be seen, both thankfully and worryingly. 

You exchange a worried look with Neo. 

You both dive under the water. 

The sea floor suddenly drops to a reef between a labyrinth of rocks stretches on for miles. You pop your head back up to the surface to gather your bearings. As you suspected you’re at the island called Syrenitum otherwise known as Sirens Refuge. You dive back down to look. 

Neo is looking behind rocks and under shells. You hear an ear piercing squeal?  I sounded like it came from Neo? 

He does it again. 

No way… no freaking way!? is that a Mers ultrasound? It’s only been theorised that Celestials can use echolocation since it’s way too high pitched for a human to hear.

You feel the marine nerd in you freak out. 

You try to focus again. Ray is missing this is no time for fangirling over fish, even if it was really cool. 

Neo then whistles calling out to Ray. 

You don’t see him anywhere. 

The reef is full of so many different fish, even a few young celestials but not a single lemon shark, not one, which makes sense; they tend to live around the shallower water by the mainland and in the cove, But where is Ray?

Among the beautiful reef you see clownfish, angelfish, crabs lots of crabs, some eel, a blue reef shark, and an octopus. Oh that's cool! 

No time for sightseeing, you're looking for a lemon shark; your lemon shark. 

You swim around looking here, there and everywhere. 

Neo’s attention suddenly diverts, he darts left. 

You follow, he must have noticed something. 

He swims further out to sea, a gap between the rocks and reef is a patch of sand and a green tarp? Is that the shark stretcher?! 

You both swim down. You hear a quiet whistle, is this what Neo heard?

You move the stretcher and low and behold a lemon shark. 

He gulps the water, oh you are so grateful lemon sharks can use buccal pumping to breathe. What you’re not grateful for is the amount of shark blood exiting your shark friend. 

You both scoop Ray up into the stretcher and swim up. 

If you can get him to the island and un-fish yourself, if you can… then you can for sure make a bandage.

You take the lead and swim to the island. You spot a good tide pool perfect. There’s even an underwater cave in the rocks.

You lay Ray in the tide pool, the gentle waves sway over him. 

“You watch him, I’m going to make some bandages.” 

Neo gives you a nod. “A-ye… aye.” he chimes.

You pull yourself out of the water, it is harder than the mermaid propaganda makes it look. 

You roll over just hoping to defishaify, your skin and scales sting as they dry. You want nothing more than to roll over back into the water. 

Then you can feel them, your toes! You clamber to your feet. Shaky still. Other than earlier it’s been days since you’ve walked. 

Ouch, you put your foot to the floor. The tag? The location tag that was in your fin is now in your foot? There is so much wrong with this. You unclick the tracer and remove it, there's no way you can walk with that in. 

Your foot feels way better, even if it’s still sore and now bleeding. 

Now what is around to make a makeshift bandage with. 

You head over to the forest. 

There’s a plethora of plants, you find plenty of sticks, and grasses but you only need two of the plants. Leaves from a wild banana tree and a coconut. 

You head back to the tide pool. Finding a pointy rock you wack the side of the coconut pod to the rock at an angle and rip the husk off. You don’t need the coconut right now, though that does sound good, did your stomach just grumble? Never mind, coconut husk. You pull at the husk stretching and twisting it out into a loose rope like bandage. You pull Ray out of the water while trying to stay as dry as possible. 

You dampen the Banana leaves with sea water and layer the leaves over the gash across his chest. They'll make a breathable non-stick layer to this bandage but it won’t be very secure so you wrap it with the coconut fiber tying it tight enough that it won’t slip but not too tight. 

“That should help.” you hum, lowering him back into the water.  

You sit for a moment. You wonder what happened… you vaguely remember a big wave sweeping you away… how come your team didn’t save you…? well they did have a big boat full of really injured sharks, they needed their attention more than you… wait the stretcher? You hope it fell overboard and that the ship didn’t capsize, surely that thing couldn’t have tipped right? With the tide some of them would have washed up here with you if that was the case no… they must have safely made it back.

“Neo did you-” you turn to him and he’s gone? 

You look around and yeah he’s not in the tidal pool. 

“Neo!? Where did you go?” you stand up to see if you can see him. 

You spot a shark fin approaching, you really hope it’s him and not an actual shark. 

He pops his head above the water. A crab in his mouth and one in each hand. 

“Oooooh food.” you’re sooo hungry. The last thing you ate was some cheap sushi the team bought you as a joke this morning, jokes on them it was actually really good. You are not about to eat raw wild crab though who knows how dangerous that could be. 

All you’ll need is some of those sticks, some rocks and more coconut husk, that stuff is nature's multipurpose everything. 

Making a small amount of husk rope and a few sticks you make a fire bow. Soon enough you’ve lit the rest of the husk and pile on more sticks. 

Neo places your crab on the sand and wacks it with a rock. He does the same for the other two. 

Neo stares in awe at the flames as they dance.

As your fire marinades you crack open the coconut from before and drink the water. 

When the sticks have become charcoal and are glowing you place the dead crab on the fire.

Ray stirs awake. 

“Fren, Fren!” Neo chimes. “Ray okay.” he smiles. 

You smile back. “You okay Ray?” 

He nods. “Oww but wkay.”

Neo shoves one of the crabs in his face.

“Food.” 

“Thank you.” Ray chimes as he splits it open and starts eating.

You use a stick to turn your crab over in the fire. It’s starting to smell so good. Your stomach agrees. 

The sun is rising higher in the sky and you can tell Neo is getting agitated. 

“It’s definitely your bedtime…” 

He yawns and nods. “Nighty night.” he slips into the sea and into the small cave in the rocks that make up the tide pool. 

You use a sharp rock to open up your crab and scoop out the tasty bits. You set the shells aside, that’s a plate and the makings of a stock right there. 

You sigh… This is actually really nice. You chuckle to yourself. Fresh air, sand between your toes, the sound of the waves.

You know you can’t go anywhere until Ray is well enough to swim a long distance and no boats can get close to Sirens Refuge, so your team isn’t going to be able to rescue you anytime soon, you wish you could be helping them with the injured mers but also you probably wouldn’t have found out you can change between mer and human so you probably wouldn’t have been able to help much anyway. This is also the best break you’ve had in a while.

You probably shouldn't be thinking of this as a vacation. You really need to get into survival mode. What to do first? Food, shelter or water?

~~~~~~~~~~

Bonus picture! Take a map!