Into the Deep

Chapter 2

Sun happily swam through the water, doing little tricks in the water as he went as he was unable to contain his excitement. Finally, Clide was gone! After months and months and months he was finally sacked! Well, he wasn't sacked sadly, but he was replaced and is no longer their caretaker! Oh how fun, fun, fun! And the new one looks so nice! They were so sweet to them! They were a little too trusting him to think that he would just go back in on his own, but it was cute! Super cute! Who knew humans could be cute?!

    All the ones he met before were more boring and dull than anything, always too busy to play or spend time with him. None of his former caretakers had been so sweet or so trusting as this one had! Oh, they could become his new best friend! He let out a happy trill as he did a large loopdy loop in his pen, his excitement only growing at the thought of his cute, sweet, gentle new caretaker becoming his best friend. He'd always wanted a best friend outside of Moonie! Maybe they would play with them! Or make things for them! Or maybe they would bring them treats! Or new toys! Or-

"Sunny!" An annoyed, raspy voice yelled and Sun yelped before sheepishly swimming up to his brother's resting spot, knowing what that tone meant.

    Unlike most Moonlight Mers, Moon preferred to sleep on land in the sun like a Sunlight Mer rather than in the water like most of his kind. He claimed it helped him preserve warmth for the cold night, but Sun was pretty sure he just really liked the feeling of the sun on his scales. Sun slowly emerged from the water, but at the sight of his brother's angered gaze he quickly tried to dive back in with another yelp, but before he could Moon had wrapped his tail around his neck and pulled him out of the water, hissing and growling in annoyance at Sun.

"Don't you dare try and run away from me Sun! Why must you be so loud at this time of day without a proper reason?! You know that I need to sleep too right, especially with night coming soon?!" He yelled and Sun shrank in on himself, feeling guilty for disrupting his brother's rest.

"Sorry Moonie!" Sun apologized as Moon unwound his tail from around his neck before realizing he hadn't told Moon the good news yet! He abruptly sat up, startling Moon before nearly screaming: "I'm just so, so, so happy! Clide is gone!"

"Clide is gone?" Moon repeated slowly, red eyes widening in surprise before he grinned triumphantly. "Finally! Took them long enough. What finally made them realize he was inadequate to stay here?"

"Well they didn't exactly, fire him, but he's no longer our caretaker!" Sun said before rushing on at Moon's disappointed look. "You know how people were talking about a new recruit coming in today, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, that new recruit saw Clide trying to separate us and-"

"HE TRIED TO WHAT?!" Moon yelled angrily as he tensed, fins bristling and claws drawn, but Sun only glared at him before shushing loudly.

"Let me finish! He TRIED to separate us, but then that new one came in and, though they had the completely wrong idea, stopped him! Clide got so mad! But then one of those weird labcoat people came, asked them a few questions, and then decided to let them be our caretaker! You should've seen them, Moon! They were so sweet and gentle whilst freeing me and so trusting! They untied me outside of this weird pen and completely trusted me to just go inside! I mean, of course, I was going to, I could never leave you behind, but it's weird to see a human trust me so much even though they don't know me! How cool is that?! Wait...what's that look for?" Sun asked, his fins drooping at his brother's loud sigh and frustrated expression.

"Sun, how do you that they trusted you? Maybe they were just really stupid. Or what if their just trying to try to win your trust so that they could try and separate us again? You remember what happened last time with our handler before Clide." Sun winced at the sight of his brother's jagged scar that ran down his chest. His brother wasn't wrong...he tended to give each human the benefit of the doubt and it had nearly cost Moonie's life and his own...But he this human felt...different somehow. Yes! This one was different for sure! They had to be!