Chapter Text
Nightmare looked down at the shark ‘pups’ nestled into his tentacles, feeling a rare smile snake across his skull as one of them wrapped their arms around the appendage like a human ‘teddy-bear.’ The boys were far too old to still be called pups in spite of how they acted, but he could never forget finding them that day and trying to hold all of them. He remembered being so afraid that he would accidently hurt one of them.
He could hardly think of a happier time than now.
Movement caught his attention from his furthest tentacles, seeing his twin simply readjusting in his sleep. Dream’s golden scales as some glint to them from the few rays of moonlight that managed to filter this deep into the ocean. He couldn’t help but gently rub his head with the tip of one of the tentacles Dream was laying in. His brother gave a quiet trill coupled with an aura of calm and happiness. Nightmare’s tentacles instinctively curled around those within them protectively, his instincts telling him to hold them close.
He closed his eye and began sinking down closer to the floor of their cave, ready to fall asleep with the rest of his little shiver. He’d never let his boys see this tender of a smile and he’d never give his brother the chance, but the night always kept secrets well.
.
..
...!
His head shot up, eye darting to the mouth of the cave. Hadn’t he heard something? He didn’t sense another mer approaching nor did he sense a human as far as he knew. He narrowed his eye a slowly raised his head before freezing, hearing the sound that woke him up. It sounded like a weird trill. Perhaps some misguided dolphin?
He looked among the sharks and his brother within his tentacles before gently and carefully retracting them. While he doubted a dolphin would be much of a threat to his family, the idea of something being that close didn’t sit well with him.
Nightmare began slowly making his way out of the cave when a small tug at his tentacle made him stop and turn, seeing a sleepy Killer wrapping his arms around the appendage.
“Where...?” he asked, a fuzzy white eye light looking up with confusion.
“Just investigating a noise,” he rumbled, trying to stay quiet as he leaned in close to the sleepy mer. “Go back to sleep.”
Nightmare didn’t have a reason to use any siren song to get the pup to sleep. Killer was already tired enough and simply nodded with a yawn before detaching from the tentacle and reattaching to Cross. The other shark didn’t look to happy about this but after some readjustment was back to being content.
He smiled again before his features hardened and he swam out into the trench. Outside of the trench, the water was illuminated brightly by the moon, making his scales have a silver sheen rather than it’s typically cyan glimmer. He quickly began swimming through the trench, sniffing the air and scanning for whatever had made that sound.
* - - *
Chara walked along the edge of the ship, looking into the inky black water of the ocean. In the day these waters were a brilliant blue, the ground too far away to see much than a few schools of fish swimming around. Many of the biologists working under her were questioning what they could possibly be doing so late at night with a stiff wind blowing across the waves.
How many times would Chara have to say it? They were hunting for a leviathan.
She’s been sure to keep the discovery strictly between some of her most trusted colleagues, knowing that far too many other marine biologists would flock to this part of the ocean trying to catch it. Too many people would scare the thing away hence why she had brought a single boat that would have the faculties to hold a being a huge as a leviathan.
The first sighting had been a month ago. It had a golden tail and was roughly the size of a whale shark. It was also partially skeletal in its upper body with pristine white bones. It appeared healthy which could make things good or bad. How much would it fight once they got the net over it? How gentle would they have to be? So many risks but such a huge reward.
“Um, ma’am? What’s this?” one of her workers asked, a hint of fear in his voice.
She walked over a looked at the monitor. They had sent a camera down to see if they could locate where exactly the leviathan was before trying anything. While she thought the thing would be closer to the surface, nothing had proven that so they had moved deeper into the trench. Mostly they’d just found some sleepy fish along with rocky wall. The nightmarish creature being displayed on the monitor left her staring in awe and shock.
In the grainy image with a huge creature. Huge didn’t even feel like it covered it since this thing would dwarf the leviathan they were looking for. It was at least the size of a blue whale, perhaps bigger. Color wasn’t something that could be deciphered from the image but Chara guessed it was darkly colored. She couldn’t tell what tail it had but it appeared thick in the position that the camera had caught it.
“D-do we even have the room for that thing?” the scientist asked (Chara believed his name may have been Stretch but she couldn’t tell with how dark it was).
She thought for a bit. They had something big enough to contain a large shark but a whale?
... They did have the material on hand. They would just have to change some things around to ensure the net would be big enough and strong enough. Not to mention she doubted they would get the chance to catch this one. The golden one could wait but they could grab this one.
“Go ahead and start baiting it,” she said, earning a frown from Stretch.
“Are you sure about that? This thing moves faster than the golden one. I let out that bait, you won’t have much time to get the nets changed and the port ready-.”
“We’ll get it done quickly,” she said. “We won’t get a chance like this again. Maybe wait a couple minutes but we have to keep that thing entertained before it goes away.”
Stretch didn’t seem convinced but eventually nodded, “If you say so.”
Chara smirked before she turned her eyes to the rest of crew, “Come one! We have a much bigger prize to catch!”
* - - *
Nightmare looked around one more time. He heard the sound again but still couldn’t find whatever was making the noise. He could at least say it wasn’t anything the posed a threat, at least nothing he could see. Ready to go back to the cave, he turned around before stopping. He eye narrowed as he took another sniff of the water, his gills flaring with shock and agitation. Nightmare had searched the trench carefully and never once did he smell whatever it was he was smelling.
He couldn’t quite describe it. It made his nose itch and he could feel it tickling his mind. It was like a siren song that could only effect the nose. He slowly turned around, his gills flaring more upon seeing a twinkling light in the darkness. Whatever it was was further away than it appeared considering his night vision couldn’t seem to identify what it was attached to.
He knew better than to follow some random light in the middle of the night, but the smell was beginning to muddle his mind. He was one of the smartest of the leviathans yet somehow something as simple as smell had his mind fuzzing and whirling like a school of fish. He needed to get back to the pups and Dream before this all started to escalate.
Why couldn’t he get his limbs to swim away and why was he only getting closer? His mouth was full of drool and his stomach growled as though he hadn’t eaten in days. His mind was a mess as it fought between fighting the pull or giving in. His instincts screamed for him to lunge and catch whatever prey was stupid enough to get this close to a kraken.
He gave a gentle push with his tentacles to get just a little closer and froze when the light darted further away, his instincts finally taking hold for the first time in centuries. He couldn’t stop himself from lunging forward, snapping his jaws at where the light had been. It pulled itself further away, making Nightmare growl lowly before pursuing. He lost himself chasing the light and the smell, some quiet part of his mind screaming for him to stop and go back. To stop playing like a guppy and return to his ‘shiver,’ But whatever made the smell had a vice grip on his mind, his sudden hunger dictating his actions.
It happened far too quickly.
His jaws finally chomped down on the light, the smell quickly disappearing as suddenly as it had appeared. When the smell went away, his senses finally came to him. Whatever he had caught tasted horrible and... wait, was that a string coming from-
He shrieked when something heavy wrapped around him before he began to struggle.
* - - *
Chara watched with barely hidden glee as the boat was violently rocked as the water began becoming frothy. It was certainly huge but it would be much easier once they got the anesthetics in the creature. She watched as the first parts of the leviathan breached the surface, shocking her with the sight of tentacles.
“What is it?!” Stretch asked, gripping the side of the boat tightly as it tilted almost sideways.
“Either a squid or octopus,” she answered quickly before thinking. “Although cuttlefish also have tentacles so I suppose that’s within the realm of possibilities.”
“When are we going to shoot it?” he demanded, now looking like he was about to lose his dinner.
“Gotta wait to see the head. Shooting a dart into the tentacles will only make it more angry,” she said, crossing her arms. “Definitely a fighter.”
That’s when the first of its bones began to appear, Chara feeling herself concerned over the unhealthy black coloring. There was something else about the bone that seemed off but, with all churning water and flailing limbs, she couldn’t quite tell if it was something to be concerned about.
When more of the skeletal portion began surfacing, Chara turned to her crew, “Everyone, get your earplugs in and your tranquilizers ready!”
There was a short shuffle before she began hearing guns cock. She looked back to the water as the head finally surface. Her breath caught in her throat as a glowing cyan eye locked onto her, eye light a mere slit as it opened its mouth. She could feel pressure on her ears, but the earplugs warded off any effect the leviathan’s song would’ve had.
Multiple shots were fired, most hitting the neck while others hit the arm the was lifted in an attempt to shield itself. Chara watched carefully for signs of lethargy, knowing that taking the earplugs out too early could result in devastating consequences. It took perhaps three minutes but it felt like hours before the creature’s eye began to fuzz, it’s lid drooping.
She confidently took out her earplugs, smiling with victory as the creature leaned back into the net, its tentacles and arms bent in uncomfortable positions. She nodded before turning to her crew, everyone having followed in taking off their earplugs and a few leaning over the railing to get a better look at the leviathan.
“Guys, let’s get it into the port and get back to base!” she announced, most scrambling while those still gawking at the creature were slower to get to work.
She smiled at the creature, an odd sense of possession filling her soul. This creature was hers and she was going to make sure the world knew it.