Work Text:
Six worked at the Pale City Aquarium, she didn't really need to since she was from the Maw family, but she preferred working over sitting in a house but herself doing absolutely nothing cause where's the fun in that? She did a lot of studying on marine life so it was easier to take care of the fish, some think she might have some kind of sixth sense over caring for them cause she could feels when something is up and alert any of the caretakers if there is some kind of health risk to the fish or if there are any leaks to one of the tanks, she became well liked by the other staff except for the manager only known as the hunter, he seems like he wants to get her fired but he can never come up with an excuse so he has to suck it up and deal with her presence, she didn't really care since the best part of working in the aquarium was at night when there wasn't anyone around, seeing the marine life swim around the enclosures has always been pretty relaxing for her.
As six was coming into work for the new day and sees that part of the building was being worked on. "Huh?" She went to the other staff members to ask them if they knew what was going on, and just like her they were just as confused. "The heck is going on" She was going to ask the people who were working on the new room when there was an announcement for a staff meeting. " guess I'll finally get that answer" She heads for the meeting room with the rest of the staff.
Once everyone was there hunter walked into the room. "Listen up everyone! We came across something unseen by man before and we're going to show it in out aquarium once this display is ready and let me tell all of you, it will make us rich!" He exclaims, after that announcement the staff started to talk among themselves in confusion over this. "Alright, morning meeting's over get back to work you slackers!" The rest of the staff scramble and start running off.
Six grumbled alittle and she gets back to her duties as usual. Whatever this new exhibit is going to be it seemed to be something big "Probably some new sharks and he's hamming it up" She mutters, some of the other staff members seem to agree with her deduction. She yawned and got back to work, as soon as evening came she'd enjoy watching the fish swim before going home.
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Weeks passed and the display tank was ready for the new resident, Six decided on checking out the tank to see if she can determine what marine life is living in it..... Or she WOULD if the interior of the tank wasn't so... Bare "What the heck? there's just a giant rock with coral on it that's not enough for whatever they bring in here!" Whatever was going to live in here was going to go insane and probably hurt itself without something to do. She goes to find the manager when she hears a splash, something was dropped in the take, she turns and see something.... Not quite human, the sea creature looked around in a panic before seeing her, she doesn't get a very good look since the poor thing hid away behind the single rock in the tank. "What ARE you..." Six put a hand on the tank before hearing someone yell her name.
"Six get away from that thing!" It was hunter, he has such wonderful timing
"With all due respect sir just WHAT did you bring into the aquarium!?" She snarls, she wanted answers and wanted them now!
"This!" He announced "Is a sea monster, and it is staying in this tank to be on display for everyone in the world to see, it was near the sore where I was fishing and I decided on tossing a net at it in the hopes to catch it, stupid animal was flailing around and kept getting itself more stuck until the idiot couldn't get away!" The hunter laughed. "It's gonna make us millions!"
Six was about to argue but hunter just ruffled her hair before leaving, she snarled in agitation and smooths her hair "God he's annoying..." she mutters, this man was going to get knocked into a shark tank one day with how careless he can be. She looked back to the tank and sees a greyish green tail poking out from behind the rock. "Poor guy...." She put a and on the glass and sees the sea creature poke their head out form behind the rock, she caught a glimpse of black eyes with a silver ring around pale blue dots staring at her for the briefest of moments before hiding behind the rock again. She shook her head to clear any thoughts she was getting, she can't get attached to a sea monster. it wouldn't end well for either of them most likely. with a heavy sigh she leaves the tank, unaware the curious creature was watching her go.
By evening preparations were made for the grand reveal of the sea monster, there were a bunch of stupid drawing that even a kid would do a better job at "Hunter probably drew them himself" She chuckled to herself, out of curiosity she moved past the newly installed curtain to make the room appear darker and looked at the tank, still only the tail showing "Poor guy, you must be terrified, you get a net thrown on you and get yourself stuck, and now you're in a place you know nothing about...." She has her back to the tank and sits on the ground. She doesn't see him and probably thinks he'd be more comfortable NOT being seen. She stays there for awhile, she guesses its so the sea creature can get used to her presence? She doesn't know but she's alone in the aquarium tonight so it's better to get used to one another. Another two hours pass before she gets up, she swears she heard movement from the water and looked to the tank, she sees that the tail was now on the other side of the rock. "Huh... See you tomorrow" She waves as she leaves for the night.
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Morning came and she sees a very, VERY long long is people waiting outside of the aquarium entrance, good thing there's a back door. She sneaks in through the back, past the pump room for the tanks. "Jeez there are so many people" Six huffs.
"I know isn't is great!?" Hunter boasts in excitement, he sounded like a child in a candy store and really the excitement disgusted Six. "All these people are here to see MY monster, MY discovery and I'll be rich! Maybe I'll retire early" He puffed his chest.
Six scowled, can this guy BE anymore narcissistic?
"Anyways, good for you to be here Six, you can help open the doors!"
"But-" Six couldn't say anything else because he was already gone "That stupid son of a-" She threw her fist in the air like she was going to punch a man, she wanted to, she REALLY wanted to but if she did she'd get fired. So she sucked in a breath, exhales, and then goes to greet the 'guests'. It almost got her run over because people had to be SO curious over the new exhibit and she kinda understands why but also learn some common sense for fucks sake they could've put her in the hospital! The room where the sea monster was in was full of people, and instead of the normal ooooos and aaaaahhhh she hears it's just sounds of confusion or disappointment, because the sea monster people are looking for isn't coming out of his hiding spot. "Gee I wonder why" Six growls in irritation, if SHE were some mythical creature being put in a display case she'd do the same thing and hide away..... And then she heard the banging, the banging was something that would make any aquarium worker panic. She ran in and grabbed the hand of the kid who was banging on the glad "Knock it off!" She snarls.
"but I wanna see the monster!" The kid wails, and Six could care less right now
"Listen everyone, the uh... Sea monster seems to be not feeling well so I suggest you leave, maybe you'll get lucky tomorrow" She announces out loud and starts ushering people out of the room, and like clock work....
"SIX!" Hunters voice booms "WHY, are people going for refunds!? What happened!?" He glares and Six was MORE than happy to glare back at the man.
"A kid was banging on the glass! you know as well as I do that doing that is a dumbass idea" Her teeth were bared, if she was an animal her hackles would surely be raised against him. She sees him falter for a second, Good, be scared you piece of garbage
"Well, someone will need to be in here to stop kids from doing that now won't they?" He says glaring back at her, he isn't much taller than she is so if he's trying to intimidate her he's doing a bad job at it. "Six... You get to be on tank watch, have fun"
"What-" She didn't get a chance to continue the conversation as the hunter was already gone "....How does this dimwit manage to keep his job" She watches the man walk away in disbelief. She looked at the tank and sees the sea creature poking his head out from hiding when it was just the two of them, but he didn't seem interested in coming out of hiding but at least he was looking, and it was enough for Six to see he had pale green scales around his face, he had stains from what looked to be mud on his body, little fin like ears twitching this way in that reminded her of a dog, he FURTHER reminds her of a puppy when he tilts his head to one side. Six squints her eyes for a moment and frowns, she saw small scars over one side of his face, she could guess they were from a fight with another maybe? She sees him cover part of his face when she was looking at his face and avoided eye contact, then went back into hiding all together. She can't help giggling at his antics. "That stupid hunter thinks you'll just do tricks or something, but I don't think that, you are alot smarter than people think aren't you?" She sees him watch her from behind the rock. She guessed he at least trusts her since she wasn't loud or doing anything to hurt him. "Uh... I guess you and me are gonna be hanging out more often huh?" She swears she sees him nod, a confirmation, he DOES understand her, its a start
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A month passes and Six came by the tank and quickly noticed something missing, it was the rock he hid behind "Where's the rock?"
"Oh I got rid of it" Hunter sounded proud of himself "People were getting angry that it was still hiding behind the rock instead of coming over to greet the people, the nerve of that thing you'd think it'd be grateful" hunter huffed in frustration.
"Yes I'm sure they would be after having a net thrown at them, being put in quarantine then tossed in a tank with no clue what's happening or where they might be. with ONLY the rock as their safety and then that gets taken away. Yea hunter he should TOTALLY be grateful" Six crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
"It's a fish Six! That thing doesn't know any better!" Hunter growled.
Six growled at him back, hands shaking in an unbridled rage.
The man scoffed "Got nothing else to say Six? Well get over it, you're still on watch for kids messing with the glass" He leaves.
Six is shaking now, she really wishes she could throw that man into a shark tank and let the sharks have at him. But...... She looked over to the one in the tank now that they were alone, he was huddled in a corner hugging his knees. Sure it gave Six a better look at him but not like this. Did his scales look duller? She could guess so, he has nothing here for him and that could make anyone lose their color "I'm sorry..." She says, not even sure if he could hear or not but its better than standing silently and doing nothing.
When it was night time things were quiet, she went to make sure there was nothing going wrong. its usually pretty safe for her, and then she came upon his tank, it was supposed to be locked. but thankfully she has a key, she unlocks the door and she's standing over the tank. Not wanting to leave the guy alone she pulls her pant legs up to her knows, removed her shoes and socks before sitting down by the edge, she guessed he could sense a disturbance in the water and looked up, she gave a small wave to him and the unexpected (at least to her) happened. He started swimming up to where she was, first seeing half of his head poke out of the water, he was still keeping his distance from her (she doesn't blame him for that) "Well hi there" Her posture is relaxed, something she learned if id you're calm then others around you could do the same, it seems to work cause he swims abit closer to her "I'm not here to hurt you... And to be honest, you being put in here sucks" The nameless sea creature looks at her curiously so she continues talking. "you got taken form your home, and got thrown into a place you know nothing about.... You're being seen as something scary.... You don't deserve that" She laments "You don't even get a place to hide behind..... I dunno if you can talk so you're just hearing me ramble"
"I-...."
It was quiet, almost like a squeak but she heard a voice clear as day, she looked to him and he was on the brink of tears. "It's ok... You don't have to talk if you don't want to"
"T-Terrified..."
With you bring trapped here with no way out I'd imagine you would be scared, who WOULDN'T be scared after all he's endured? I'm Six... Do you have a name?" She sees him nod "Do you want to tell me?" He shook his head "That's alright but you know my name now at least...."
"S-Six.... S-Safe?"
She looked at him confused, was he asking if she was ok... or was he asking if SHE was safe to talk to. She knows she can be loud, violent but only if that was necessary cause it involved defending people close to her, she can come off as cold and.... She takes a breath before giving him a smile, a genuine one. Not like ones she puts on when greeting people but one that'd melt even the coldest persons heart. "Yea... Six safe"
"...." He looked away, abit of color tinting his cheeks before swallowing a lump in his throat "M-Mono"
"Nice to fully meet you Mono" She holds a hand out to him, she sees him hesitate before taking hers and she shook it. "You want me to come back tomorrow?"
"mmhmm.." He seems done with talking for today, that's fine.
"tomorrow then" She got her shoes back on "seeya tomorrow mono" She heads out, hearing a splash behind her and guessed he was going to try and rest. Least now he had someone he could talk to, albeit hesitant but that's ok, Six wanted him to have something while he's here, even if its just a friendly face.... then gears started turning in her head about seeing if she can do something about his predicament, no sea life no matter how big or small deserved more than four empty walls.
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Another month had passed since Six started communicating with Mono, he would still hide away during the day but seemed bolder when Six was present, so hunter made her permanently stay by his tank if it gets him to do more than huddle in a corner. Six REFUSED to make him do anything he didn't want to do, Mono has human thought he's not some dog that does tricks at the wave of a hand, even if Hunter hated that she didn't seem ot care whatsoever. when NIGHT came though Mono started being abit more talkative around Six and Six alone, he started telling her about the places he's seen and things he's collected, he could even talk to other fish!
"Can you talk to the fish here?" She was curious
"I could... if I wasn't so far away from them" He rests chin on his hand, he was hanging over the edge of the tank while Six had her feet in the water, he didn't mind it really.
"Hm...." She makes a mental note of that for later. "Hey Mono,,,, do you want me to come and swim with you?"
His ears twitched alittle and he looked at her confused "What do you mean?"
Six gave a small huff before putting on a pair of goggles and slid into the tank with him.
Mono in a midst of almost panicking dove under water and she was swimming around him, it made him feel.... happy, he had someone to swim with! He giggles at her antics till she surfaces for air, he's quick to join her before she dove back under, they swam for some time until Six had gotten pretty tied and it was getting late. "Did you have a good time Mono?"
He was nodding enthusiastically "That was great!" his ears were doing a small wiggle, Six could guess that means he's happy. "can you do that again tomorrow?"
"We'll see how well I'm feeling tomorrow alright?" She pats his head, hearing him laugh. "same time tomorrow?"
"Yea! See you tomorrow Six!" He smiles and waved as she's about to leave.
"Oh I almost forgot! I'll be right back!" She ran out the door.
Mono stares at the door confused, what did she forget? as far as he knows she never forgets things. His ears perk up when she comes back with a little yellow object.
"I figured you don't have anything here so I brought you something" She holds the object in her hand out to him.
Mono looks at the object confused before taking it, it's a small yellow object with an orange mouth "What is...."
"It's called a rubber ducky, some kids play with it in water, I uh... can't bring anything big to you or someone might take it away"
"Ducky......" He looks at the duck and then to six who almost always has a yellow shirt on" can... I call you ducky too?"
Six went still for a moment, was he.... Did he give her a nickname? She barks a laugh, wiping her eye before smiling "sure Mono"
His eyes lit up in joy, "Thank you ducky!" He beams before he bumped his forehead to hers, a classic form of affection from him and he dives back under water for the night.
When she gets home she looks at her desk, she's trying to figure out things that could help Mono, she's going to need a transport tank full of water, but where is she gonna put him when they get out? she could take him back to the ocean but that could take who knows how long depending on how many people see her truck full of water with a humanoid sea creature. Maybe if she can drive out of town? It's possible she can but for now.... Hm.... She thinks about the indoor pool she has, there aren't any open windows so there would be plenty of privacy, its very spacious.... "Oh the perks of having a big house thanks to mommy dearests money..." But she'll need time to get the truck full of water... Plus a carrier to move him there, hopefully it isn't something to jostle the poor guy. " this is gonna be a risk, I'll probably get fired for this... but I'm gonna get Mono out"
The next day came and thankfully it was quiet today, save for a little kid with bright red hair, looked like the had little nicks and scars from being rambunctious like most children are, even having a scar over their eye, they didn't tap on the glass they just watched Mono in the tank, Mono seemed intrigued by the child and swam up to them, he gave them a timid wave.
"Hey Miss?" The kid asks, Six looked at the kid.
"What's up?"
"Do you think the sea monster is friendly?"
Six looked at them, then looked at Mono "Yea... I think he is"
"Why did he get put in there? doesn't he have a home?"
"I dunno kid... But maybe he'll get lucky soon and go back to it"
Mono had looked to her in disbelief
"Will you be sad if he goes home?"
The kid thought for a second and shook their head. "no, I think its better he go home"
"Tod, come on we're gonna head home!" A voice from outside says
"Bye Miss" The kid waves their hand and runs off.
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Another month goes by before she can put her plan in motion, she managed to get one of the transports that houses sharks when they're being moved to a new location, she got the carrier tank big enough for mono... All she needs now is getting the keys to the security cameras and shutting them down so no one sees that it's her taking Mono out of the aquarium. She looked at Mono and his hair had grown longer since coming to the aquarium, his scales looked even duller than before, she had to get him out, and she had to do it tonight.
When night time came Six had told security she'll take care of everything for the night, luckily the guard for the cameras was pretty willing to leave for the night and handed her the key. Her truck was ready and the transport was set. Now she just needs to get Mono out, tonight was the night and she made sure Mono knew that.
While Six was working her way to Mono's room she was stopped by someone. "Shit..."
"What do you think you're doing with that carrier Six?" hunter asked. He was supposed to be home, what the hell was he doing here!?
"Just going to do some work, I saw a couple of fish looking ill and wanted to get them into quarantine" She pushes the tank, hoping to walk past him only to feel an arm on her shoulder and throw her to a wall.
"don't play me for a fool Six, I know what you're planning to do!" He snarled. "you're going to steal my discovery for yourself!" He grabs her by her neck and throws her into the wall again.
Six coughed, he was cutting off her airway and fast, she needed to do something, she swung one of her legs and kicked him in the side, she rubbed her neck while taking gulps of air before making a run for it.
"You aren't getting away!" The man roars and gave chase.
She heard his footsteps thundering behind her, she had one advantage though, she worked here so long and knew the top floor like the back of her hand. He didn't. She moved through the area, avoiding his grasp again and again, until a hand grabbed the back of her sweater, she yelped when she got yanked backwards kicking and struggling when she was dragged.
"A shame really, you were one of the best workers, it's unfortunate you fell into the shark tank" He mumbles as he looks for where the shark tank was.
Six growled and wiggled her way out of her sweater, She gets up and tackled the man from behind and started punching him. He didn't seem to want to take the beating laying down and started throwing punches of his own. By the time she got thrown off of him she had a bloody nose, one of her eyes hurt and she could taste blood.
"Stubborn aren't you girl" He wasn't in the best shape either, in her opinion it's probably an improvement. "Well no matter, I wanted an excuse to get rid of you anyways!" He runs at her.
Six avoids his tackle and makes a run for it, she needed something, anything that could help with her situation, they were unfortunately getting close to the shark tanks, she was out of breath "come on give me something...." She sees a bucket of fish parts and blood was left nearby "Normally I'd say someone's cleaning that up but this isn't the time" She hears the guttural roar of the hunter behind her, she grabs the bucket and threw the contents at him, covering him in fish blood and parts.
"you son of a bitch I'm going to kill you!!" He takes one step and started slipping, the contents of the bucket were slippery on the floor, he was losing his balance.
Six out of instinct tried to grab the mans hand but his grip slipped and he fell into the shark tank, the smell of blood in the water of fish driving the sharks into a frenzy, Six looked away when she heard the garbled screams of the madman, when she looked back there was only blood and chunks. Her breathing was labored as the adrenaline wore off, gibing way to exhaustion but all she could do was shake her head, she had work to be done. She staggers back to the carrier tank and wheels it to Mono's room.
Six could hear the distress from how vigorous he was splashing.
"What happened- why are you bleeding- why was there screaming!?" his words were frantic but he would not get an answer as Six grabbed his hands and quickly pulled him out of the water and into the carrying tank. "ducky..." He felt her forehead on his.
"hunter... Was trying to stop me from helping you" She panted, she's sure there's also a cut on her face from the hunters ring but that's not important right now "He... won't be a problem anymore"
"Why...?"
Six looked away for a minute, the memory hitting her like a truck but she didn't feel much remorse. "He fell in the shark tank when he was trying to kill me... but he's gone... let's get you home"
"...Home?" Mono can't help asking, he isn't sure if its going to be the ocean or somewhere else..."What is home?"
"My home... for now at least until we can get you back to the ocean"
"We're going to your home?" They were outside now and six was helping him into the transport.
"Yea... I did some work so you'll feel comfortable-" Six went quiet when Mono wrapped his arms around her, she hears him sniffling and he was shaking.
"T-Thank you..." He sobs.
Six wraps her arms around him "You're welcome mono"
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The drive was abit long but she didn't care, she wanted to get him someplace safe and then she could crash. She got everything ready for him. "Well... welcome home Mono" She got him into her pool.
Mono looked around in awe, no walls everything was smooth, no window for people to look at him, there were plenty of hiding spots and plants and- mono covers his mouth when a fish swims by, more fish came out and swam around him for a moment, he chokes back a sob from happiness and surfaced. "It's beautiful Six!"
"I had alot of time to work on it, it's private, you have company... I wanted you comfortable.... It is enough?" She asks, abit worried something could be wrong with it.
"It's more than enough six!" There were tears of joy in his eyes, everything she did, what she went through. All of it was for him" Six I-.... you did so much for me... but I can't do anything in return for you" He frowns, a little sad that he can't do something for her for all she did
"You can say thank you Mono, seeing you happy is all that matters" She gives him a tired smile.
"come here a second" He requests.
Six raised an eyebrow for a moment and leaned closer. Face soon going red when she kissed his cheek. "I- uh-"
Mono can't help giggling at her sputters. "sorry but... you've been so kind and all of this just.... I couldn't help it"
Six stared at him in disbelief before snickering "you goober" She ruffles his hair before getting up "I'm going to get some sleep.... Enjoy your new home Mono"
"Good night Ducky!" He calls as she walks out of the room and for the first time in a long time, Mono had a good nights sleep.
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There was an investigation over what had happened at the aquarium and of course she was questioned, but with no video evidence of last night it was easy to weave a story that she was jumped in the night and Hunter was killed before the sea monster was taken away.
"Unfortunate..." A tall man said. "but we must move on, perhaps it was a bad idea keeping a mythical creature in such a bare place"
"Would seem so sir" six mumbles.
"Oh well, you can take some vacation time Six, you've earned it"
"R-really?"
"Of course, you fought off some thieves and risked your life to save hunter, take some time off for yourself"
"Thank you Mr. Thin man" She nods and leaves, the tall man kindly waving her off. On her way home she grabbed a pizza to celebrate. She makes a dash for the pool room. "Hey Mono!"
"six!" Mono was happy and greeted her, she had cut his hair before leaving for work and he looked just precious "I was watching movies, there was one about sea monsters like me! It was so cute!" He giggles before noticing the box. "What's that?"
"This" She starts to explain while opening the box. "Is called a pizza" She takes a slice and offers it to him, she doesn't know what he would like so she's starting small with plain cheese.
Mono eyes the pizza with suspicion "Hm...." It smelled good, he took the slice from her then took a small bite. His eyes lit up and he took a bigger bite "this is really good!"
Six can't help laughing as she takes a bite of her own. "Can I join you in watching the movie?"
"Yes please!"
The two sat down, enjoying pizza and a movie together.
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Two months pass and Six was beginning to wonder if Mono would want to return to the ocean, he has to be missing it right? She woke up for the day and heads for the pool. "Hey... mono?"
"Yea Six?" Mono asks with a yawn, he must've just woken up, they found out a month before that he can stand outside of water for awhile without needing to be in water too soon so now he occasionally comes out of the pool to greet her. .
"do you... Want to go back home?"
"home...? you mean go back to the ocean?"
"Yea.... if I drive you out far enough you could leave and no one would find you again...." The thought of him leaving left a pit in her stomach and a hole in her heart.
"Six I..... I don't want to leave you"
She looked at him" What?"
"six you've.... You're really important to me, you've been nothing but kind and generous and-" He looks away blushing "I think I...."
"Y-Yea?" Her voice cracked a little, was he thinking what she was thinking?"
"I love you Six" He admits "I love you so, so much and I don't want to lose that" He was misty eyed, it's fine so was she.
"I love you too Mono" She sniffled, she wiped her face and pulled him into a hug. "Is it... ok if I can kiss you?"
"Y-yea, I'd like that"
Both closed their eyes and it felt like sparks when they kissed. They felt whole, like it was meant to be for them to be together.
Mono was red in the face "W-wow..."
"Yea... Wow"
Six held Mono in her arms and he did the same. Their foreheads touching and neither wanting to move.