Into the Deep

Chapter 1

    You hummed a happy tune as you watched the sea from your cabin window, feeling as the ship gently rocked to the motion of the waves. The smell of salt in the air mingled with the cries of seagulls and the crashing of the waves made for a scene as close to heaven as it could be for you in this world. You smiled softly at the thought before turning to the booklet in your hands, gently rubbing your fingers over the illustrations of the Merfolk printed on the front of it.

    Finally, finally, after all of these years, you found yourself going to the workplace of your dreams! It was still hard to believe you were allowed in considering how elite and private the place is, but you were too happy to care if you were being honest. This had been a lifelong dream after all and now you could finally, after years of studying and internships, you've been granted an opportunity to work in the elite Fazbear Co. Mer Sanctuary! Where Mers all around the world are kept so that they can recover enough to re-enter the sea!

    You had been wanting this job since you were but a tot after seeing a news clip about the discovery of Merfolk. Seeing all of the beautiful Mers had taken little you's breath away and you were filled with such a want and passion unlike any you had ever felt before. You had to see them! You rushed to your parents, ecstatic, and begged them to take you there, but they told you only very important people and workers could go there as of right now. Maybe in a few years, it would be open to the general public as that was the goal in the end, but for right now that was impossible. You had cried for days after finding this out, but then you realized something: You may not be important enough to go and see the Mers, but you could become a worker there!

    And thus you started your journey to allow you to work with Merfolk. Almost every minute of every day since then had been dedicated to studying Marine Biology, specifically that of Merfolk and you excelled in all of your classes and got to the top everywhere you worked for internships and after school. After all, only the best of the best could cater to the Mers they kept in the Sanctuary. And now, years later you've finally been asked to work there! Sure, you're on the lower levels of the workforce and will mostly have to do boring grunt work, but who knows? Maybe one day you'll become a personal caretaker for a mer or two! That would be the dream~

    You sighed happily as you hugged the booklet, unable to think of any other way to let out your excited feelings. You knew it was silly, but you just needed to let out your excitement somehow! Once you had finished hugging your booklet, you opened it and glanced over your duties one last time. Because you were new, you weren't allowed to do much one-on-one work with the Mers right now as they didn't trust you, so your main responsibilities were feeding them alongside one of the main caretakers and cleaning the pens after they were taken out. It's not much, but as you said, you can always work up! You just need to do your best and you'll get there, no problem!

"Land ho!" You jolted in surprise before smiling widely. Before anyone had even started on their landing duties, you had rushed to the ship's front and looked out, finding the place of your dreams waiting for you on the island on the horizon, drawing nearer by the second. You felt your heart skip a beat in excitement as you saw it. There it was! Your dream and your new home, waiting for you! You happily jumped up and down, unable to truly contain yourself before gently slapping your cheeks. You can do this. Just stay calm, don't want to look like a weirdo in front of your new coworkers! You took one last deep breath before turning back toward the island, now looking cool and composed, though your smile gave away how excited you truly were. What a beautiful smile...

If only you knew what a mistake you were making.

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"Mx. (L/n)! How wonderful to finally meet you in person!" A muscular, redheaded man said with a large smile as he shook your hand. You had disembarked the ship a short while ago and were now standing in front of the facility where you were introduced to the head of the Mer facility. Or, one of the heads. Charles Takko was world famous for his research on Merfolk, you've been following him for years because of it, so meeting him and knowing you would be working beside him almost made you faint from excitement.