Chapter Text
He lay on the ocean floor, sand shifting around him and bits of seaweed brushing against his sides in the gentle sway of the current. Flashes of silver darted around him, and he frowned lightly whenever larger fish would swim over him, blocking his little patch of dappled light. Turning the strange object over in his pale hands, he found it could open.
A coin fell out - he had seen those before - but he was far more interested in the picture sitting behind the clear, plastic window. It was of a human, he was sure, but it was unlike any human he had ever laid his eyes on. There were no odd, transparent growths over its eyes, no multicoloured, seal-like skin or bubbles about its nose. He couldn’t see beyond its shoulders, but he was certain there would be no too-long feet attached to its legs. No, this human was…
A grin stretched over his face and he swam off, clutching the little brown wallet like nothing else in the world mattered more.
…
Hyuna’s days were mostly the same. Alarm, get dressed, breakfast, work, come home again, rinse and repeat. Today was no different. Except...
“They’re sending out the boat today.”
“Hm?” Hyuna glanced up from the paperwork in her hand, raising an eyebrow.
“The boat. You know,” Dewey said with a grin (or should she say Dr Dewey, ever since he somehow managed to get his PHD in marine biology), “the one they’re sending to find specimen A-49.”
Hyuna frowned, raking through memories of the various unnamed species that were being brought into the centre for studying. “The mermaid?”
“That’s the one. Or rather, that’s what everyone’s calling it.” He pursed his lips. “Not so sure myself though.”
Hyuna, deciding this was far more interesting than the sea urchin population statistics she held in her hands, leaned against the wall, looking up at Dewey. Dr Dewey, as he kept reminding her. She broke out into a wide smile, crossing her arms as she pried. “Oh? How come?”
“I mean, it’s probably not as exciting as everyone’s making it out to be. It’s pretty hard to believe that, whatever this thing is, it’s gonna look anything like how mermaids are represented in movies and stuff.” He paused. “Remember when someone sewed a monkey torso onto a fish and said it was a mermaid? I reckon it’ll look more like that than an actual human.”
Hyuna sighed, “You’re probably right. But it’s all been pretty hushed up, so who knows?” She shifted her weight from one leg to another, “Guess we won’t know until we see it.”
…
Luka, having squeezed himself comfortably between two barnacle covered rocks, traced his fingers across the photograph, enamoured by the faced that stared back at him.
Hyuna’s keys rattled in the lock, and the door to her apartment swung open with a whining creak. She threw her coat over the chair and dropped down onto the faded sofa, reaching for the remote and switching on the television with a sigh.
Luka swam out from the rocks, blind to how the sun had suddenly disappeared, blocked by a large object that he was yet to notice.
Hyuna, having seen the time on the clock, turned off her show and headed towards the bedroom: a small room close to the kitchenette, walls lined with shelves that were filled to bursting with books, and a desk with a lamp that she’d neglected to turn off this morning. She reached into her pocket, hand brushing on empty space rather than the leather she was expecting.
Luka whirled his head around in confusion as his tail caught in something, dragging him backwards and cutting into him painfully. He had gotten tangled in something, something that wasn’t kelp, or something he thought he could break out of. It was like nothing he’d ever seen before. The more he tried to wriggle free, the more it wrapped around him, constricting.
“Shit.” Hyuna frantically dug through all her pockets, then ran back to the main room to check the ones in her jacket, practically tearing the apartment apart before giving up with a groan. The last time she was sure she had her wallet was earlier today, by the seafront.
Luka’s mind was a haze of panic and confusion as he struggled desperately against the net, feeling himself be pulled upwards. He bit at the plastic, trying to free himself, but it was wound too tightly, digging into him with sharp cruelty. His efforts in vain, he felt the sting of cold air touch his skin as he broke the surface for the first time in years.
Hyuna retreated once more to her bedroom, promising to look for her wallet tomorrow.
…
The next day, the whole Centre was buzzing, excited whispers passing in and out of the labs as word of specimen A-49’s arrival got out. The official discovery of such a mythologically worshipped creature, one whose kind had been spoken of for centuries but whose existence had never been confirmed, was all anyone could think about.
Hyuna couldn’t deny that she was curious, but her professional duties stopped her from being able to sneak a glance at what was probably the most significant scientific discovery of the century, much to her disappointment. She stood among stacks of glass aquaria, microscopes and computers, but just as she was moving over to the desk to sit down, she heard frantic footsteps hurrying up the corridor. A bleach-blond head poked around the doorway, and seconds later another person - the source of the noise - crashed into the lab, almost knocking over several live cultures of bacteria that were stacked precariously around the room.
“Hey!!” Hyuna yelped as Dewey shrank back, looking sheepish. Isaac stepped into the room behind him, the apology written on his face mainly ruined by the mischievous glint in his eye.
Isaac began: “Guess wh-”
“It’s here!!” Dewey blurted out, unable to contain his excitement for another moment. He was practically bouncing up and down where he stood, waiting for Hyuna to respond.
Hyuna, unsuccessful at staying mad at them, returned his look. “Where are they keeping it?” She glanced over his shoulder, as if expecting to see the creature behind him. Isaac caught her eye and smiled.
“The van just pulled in. I heard they’re gonna take the mermaid to one of the other labs - one with a bigger tank than the others since it’ll probably be here a while. Want to go see before they move it? We might not get a chance after.”
Eagerness bubbled up in her stomach. Reports could wait. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go.”
The van had a small, glass tank of water in it, now empty. It was parked in a secluded area of the centre, away from prying eyes and flashing cameras. Hyuna, Dewey and Isaac leaned around a red brick wall, almost on top of each other, heads stacked one just above the other, with Hyuna in the middle of them. Dewey crouched on the ground, peeking at the truck from behind their hiding spot. Isaac glanced around warily, as if worried someone would come up behind them without warning.
There were about half a dozen scientists by the van, standing in a circle surrounding a stretcher. One of them seemed to be tightening straps, stopping the hidden creature from moving. Their backs blocked the mermaid from view, preventing Hyuna from catching a glimpse. After a moment or two, the scientist who had been binding it to the stretcher stood up, giving a quick nod to the others as they moved away. Two of the others, clad with face masks and blue latex gloves, moved around and picked an end up each, lifting it into the air. The rest of the group moved back as the two began to walk slowly towards the entrance of the facility.
Hyuna heard a quiet gasp from below her, but it barely registered. Her eyes widened, and she felt her heart race. That was no monkey sewn to a carp tail.
Its- his hair was a golden yellow colour, and his pale skin was still slightly damp from being in the van’s container. His head and torso looked almost entirely human, save for the webbing between his fingers and the gills where his ears would be. The biologist in Hyuna noted the rise and fall of his chest (he must have lungs… were mermaids amphibious?) and the sandy colour of his scales (probably for camouflage against the ocean floor), but those thoughts were in the very back of her mind as she stood there staring, mouth parted slightly in amazement. Her gaze moved down to his tail, far longer than the legs of a human and so half dangling off the stretcher as he was carried. It tapered down into a large fin that faded into a deep lilac, stark against the gentle cream colour that covered the rest of the tail.
Hyuna noticed how his head was slumped against his shoulder, and how one of his arms hung weakly off the side of the stretcher, swaying slightly with the jostling movement of the two scientists.
One of the people still by the van barked a laugh as she looked to the person next to her. “Put up quite the fight this one, eh? I think Angela nearly lost an arm.”
The other scientist chuckled back. “That’s for sure. I bet she would’ve too, if those three hadn’t managed to hold it down.”
They walked after the stretcher, which had just disappeared behind the glass paned doors.
Hyuna, Dewey and Isaac all looked at each other, faces bright and smiles stretching from ear to ear with sheer nerdy ecstasy. This was going to be fun.