Ocean Blue Eyes//A Garmau AU

1

Aphmau hurriedly rushed into her favorite deli shop, her bag on her shoulder. The owners, Zianna and Jay, snapped their heads back seeing the out of breath girl, panting by the entrance of their store. The two chuckled and Peter asked; "The usual?"

"Yes please,", Aphmau sighed politely. "Is Vylad here?"

"As always!", The young man with curly brown announced, a wrapped sandwich in hand. "Noticed you were running late so, I got a head start for you."

He handed her the veggie sandwich and Aphmau smiled gratefully back at him. She really loved the three of them. Zianna and Jay opened the shop when they got married and it's been running ever since. Aphmau had many memories of this place growing up. Her and her mother would come and get sandwiches, then her and Vylad would go down to the beach to play in the sand all afternoon. The family was like second one to her.

"How's your morning dear?", Zianna asked, getting ready to open the shop.

"Pretty good. How about you guys?", Aphmau lied, trying to forget the incident at home with Ein.

"Nothing much,", Jay sighed, his brown hair covering his grey eyes slightly. "Vylad burned breakfast...again."

"You taught me how to make a non-toasted sandwich. That's it,", Vylad said with a snarky tone.

"Yet you graduated Valid Victorian in your class,", Zianna smirked, rolling her eyes.

Aphmau giggled as Vylad continued to protest but, was interrupted by Zianna asking; "How's your mom? I haven't heard from her in a while!"

Aphmau frowned slightly. Her mom recently got remarried to this guy named Eric and they've been traveling the world together as their retirement trip. It's been a couple months and Aphmau is starting to really miss that extra support system.

"Her and Eric are doing great. They're in Greece now I believe,", Aphmau said, as cheerful as she could. She put the sandwich in her bag and thanked them before saying; "I should really get going now. Have a great day guys!"

"You too!", They all cheered as she left. As she started her way back to her car, she really starting thinking about her mom.

Before they left, it was Sylvanna's idea to help support Ein as he got back on his feet. She claimed that he wasn't who she was "mad" with, referencing her father who had left when Aphmau was only three. "Family helps family" she told Aphmau. Isn't is strange that she left then? To be honest, Aphmau didn't know who to be mad at. Her mother who left her alone to take care of Ein or her father who left her alone her whole life then decided to disown Ein.
Maybe that's the reason why she puts so much focus into her work. Aphmau works as a researcher at the Phoenix Drop Harbor's Marine Life Research Center. Also known as PDHMLRC. The people who work there never address it as that though or use it's full name. The just say "I work at the Research Center" and it gets the job done. Ever since she was little, she dreamed of becoming one of them and now that she has her dream, she doesn't want anything to ruin it.

As she hopped into her car, she pulled out her phone and texted her mom that she hopes that she's having a wonderful time with Eric. Just because she was frustrated, doesn't mean she doesn't wish the best for her mom. She started the car and drove off to the harbor where the research center was. It was large concrete building with various docks with boats attached to them. She parked in her usual spot and made her way into the building. What was shocking though was that everyone was running around, scrambling to find things it seemed. She calmly made her way to the lab, saying hi to anyone who greeted her along the way. She sighed in relief once she caught sight of Aaron. He smiled at her and asked; "Have you heard?"

The two of them started walking side by side to get to the lab, picking up the pace.

"No...what's going on?"

"You won't believe it,", He smirked. "Apparently, they found something. Something huge."

"Do you know what it is?", Aphmau asked, genuinely interested. Aaron always made this place more enjoyable for her so, she trusted him to give her the updates since he was a little bit higher up than her.

"That's the unbelievable part. No one is allowed in but, rumors are going around."

At this point, they reached the lab and Aaron shut the door behind him. He turned to her and said; "They found a mermaid Aph!"

"W-What?", Aphmau laughed. "Aaron, those don't exist."

"Apparently not. The coast guard found it stranded on some beach close by and immediately brought it here,", He explained. "Do you what this could mean?"

Aaron usually was a calm person. So seeing him so excited made Aphmau think that maybe he wasn't lying.

"When are teams allowed to see it?", She asked.

"When the officials decide what to do with it,", Aaron said. "They don't want to hurt it but, they want to do tests on it to see if it's a danger."

"I see..."

Just then, their boss walked in, announcing to both of them; "Let's get to work. Aphmau, did you bring the papers?"

"Y-Yes,", She said, pulling the coffee stained papers.

The three of them continued work as always for the day but, the two young minds couldn't get the thought of a mermaid out of their heads.

Word Count: 938

I know this first chapter was short but, since ya'll had the prologue I thought that was around 1500 words, lol!

Anyway, I hope you all are excited for this new story. I know I am!