Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

How long have you been working here? About almost half a year now. So, it only took almost 6 months, probably even shorter, to get used to that thing in the tank is what you can summarize.

The thing in question is a giant Mer hybrid of a Lionfish and a Great White Shark. One might think of the mermaids from Disney's The Little Mermaid, but Eclipse is nothing like them, nothing of the sort. Sure, he's good looking, has a charming personality and what not, but he's a total psycho.

Where could you even begin?

How about, for starters, the fact that he is pretty much the Mer equivalent of a vampire, having basically 3 servings of 150 milliliters of human blood (given to the foundation from a blood bank) with a bucket of fish per day -- a total of 450 milliliters of blood and 3 buckets of fish a day. He likes to scare people with jump scares or threats of delivering different kinds of death to coworkers, "The smell of fear coming from humans is so delicious~," he he would say. It doesn't help with the fact of how intimidating his appearance is, and also the fact that he has uphold on his promises every few times a month. One would hope that he would just be playing and not serious, but with his tone and fatality rate, it's hard to tell. You have been lucky so far.

He is big and imposing, coming up to be twice your size, being 10 feet and 3 inches long. But it's not just his height, but also his color scheme and appearance. He has four arms, a long tail with glowing yellow spots, sharp dorsal fins of a lionfish, and two rows of fins that look like the rays of the sun. He has rusty red eyes with pale yellow sclera. His skin color was a brownish-red and dark sienna, and some of his fins were a butterscotch color. He had a crescent symbol on the side of his face being darkened while the other half of his face is a burnt orange. In all, he lived up to his name, looking like the personification of a solar eclipse in aquatic form.

And his voice... oh, how you both hated and loved his voice.

It was raspy and deep, fitting for something that may as well be a monster, but every time he says something to you that wasn't about consuming your very blood, your cheeks may as well be as hot as the burning sun. And the damned fish knows what he's doing and the effect his voice has on you but continues to play oblivious.

However, he does have a happen of pulling himself up to sit on the edge of the catwalk which causes to bend and break under his massive weight and form, doing it only when there is nobody around to watch what he's trying to pull. Strangely, he only started doing this about a week after you joined the crew. Why he does this? No one can figure out, but your co-worker and childhood best friend, Brad, believes he's planning something.

Speaking of who, Brad is someone who has been here a couple months longer than you, meaning he knows Eclipse far longer than you. He says that, before you came along, he was quite aggressive and had five more victims a month, tries to crack the glass of his tank, basically successfully terrifying every research member on this team- well, almost everyone. Brad works as an assistant of one of the head scientists, meanwhile you have one of the most exciting tasks as a role to a laboratory manager and handler; one of your tasks is to give him his meals. Yippee, you say with all the sarcasm. But, at least you get to be on good terms with him, and he seems to like you enough to not want you dead or as a meal... or both.

One night, the daytime research crew is preparing to go home, and a couple of the nighttime crew had already come in for work. You had already prepared for Eclipse's last meal of the whole 24 hours. You were the only one in the lab, everyone else is in the locker room and hallways. You walked up the stairs up to the catwalk that looms about 3 feet long and 4 feet wide over the edge of Eclipse's tank.

Right on schedule, Eclipse pops his face out of the water with a smug grin across his lips. "Hello again, my Remora~" He purred. You let out a dry chuckle, setting down the bucket to the side. "Hello to you, too, my 3 a.m. paralysis demon." You jokingly said, tossing him a big fresh tuna. He caught it in his mouth, munching loudly with some fish blood dripping out of the corner of his mouth. After he swallowed his food, he looked back up at you. "Anything interesting happen today?" He asked, swimming towards the catwalk. "Eh... Dr. Beryll is having a wedding out of town in a couple weeks, Ms. Wang is retiring, and Mrs. Jackson is getting a divorce. Word on the street is that her husband had caught her in bed with the new hire, Adam. There's a possibility of them both getting their licenses getting revoked." You informed. Eclipse tilts his head in confusion as he pulls himself up to lean over the edge of the catwalk. "It means that they will no longer be able to work in any science field."

His confused look shifted, a great big smirk stretching across his lips. He barely even tried to cover his mouth as some snickers escaped through his razor-like teeth. "How scandalous~ And quite dumb. There's no gain in something like that." He states, pulling himself up to sit on the catwalk, and shrinking himself down. There is one thing that you know that the scientist don't; he is able to change his size to be around 4 or 5 feet to over two thousand feet long. It was really interesting to know, but he had you keep it secret. How he got you to keep it? Well, it's something you would rather not remember.

"If I were to do something bad, I would only commit it if I had something to gain." Eclipse said as he closed his eyes, laying back with his upper arms crossed behind his head like a makeshift pillow and his lower arms over his stomach area. "Really now?" You questioned, reaching into the bucket. "Well, if you did, what would be the things you'd want to gain?" You tossed a mackerel to him, and he caught it with his lower right arm and threw it into his mouth. He sat back up, looking into the water below. "Well, for starters, the most obvious would it to be freed back into the ocean. Back to my... home." He muttered, his grin falling into a bored frown. Eclipse took the bucket and dumped whatever leftover fish into his tank that he'll get later. Right now, all he wants to do is talk like good friends.

"Here's your blood bag." You said, taking the bag out of your coat and handed it over to him, along with a tubing. He perked up and his smile returned to his face, snatching the two out of your hands and assembled them together to drink out of it like a straw and cup. Eclipse hums in delight of the taste hitting his tongue. He prefers it when it is warm and fresh out the human body, but this is sadly what he can get his hands on. He continued to drink and drink until it was bone dry. He gave you the bag once he was done and you threw it in a nearby trash can.

"But there is one thing that I also want." He said. You turned your head and saw that he was looking directly at you with hooded eyes and a soft smile. His eyes glowed an ominous yellow, something you'd be terrified of if he planned your demise by his claws. "And what's that? A blood buffet?" You teased. Eclipse laughed as he shook his head, looking away from you and forward to the wall across. "Nah, that's third on my list." He said.

That made you confused. If freedom and blood are in his top 3, then what else is there? You shook your head with a sigh. That's a question for another time; it's about time for you to leave. You patted his head, "Well, I would like to know, but I gotta go. If only I could know what it is." You hummed as you grabbed the discarded bucket and headed for the door. "Well, I would say that it is quite obvious, my sea star." He voiced, turning his head to watch your retreating form. Only a few more steps, he thinks with an awaiting gaze pinned to your back.

"Oh, yeah? And what would that be-" your voice was cut off when your food slipped on a puddle. You fell backwards and hit your head harshly on the ground, a harsh clang echoed in the room. Your vision faded to black as you cursed at whoever decided to make the catwalk just plain, smooth metal. That last thing you see is only a pipe above, dripping water from an opening that almost seems to have small cuts in it.

You groaned. The painful ache on the back of your skull is something you really didn't like waking up to. "Hey... ake u... you go..d? ...eak to me... WAKE UP!!"

SLAP

Awakened, you shot up from where you laid. "OW!" You screeched, rubbing at the pain that blooms over your cheek. "What the hell was that for?!" You asked Brad in irritation. Now the aching got worse, and, God, what is that metallic taste on your tongue. "I need a drink." You groaned. "Oh, here you go." He said, quickly passing you over a water bottle. You chugged it like you had been stuck in the Sahara Desert for weeks, sighing in relief after both the taste and water was gone. You leaned back; only then did you realize that this wasn't the lab; you in a hospital room on a hospital bed. Looking around, you see an IV in your arm, hooked up to a blood bag system. The dripping of blood going into the tube that led to your arm. You felt -- also saw -- that there were big band-aids on your wrist, shoulder, and neck.

"Wha- What happened?" You curiously asked. "That's what I'd like to know too. You were found on the catwalk, knocked out with bite marks on your wrist shoulder and neck. They almost looked like vampire bites! You also lost quite a lot of blood. What happened? Did you get attack or something?" He asked. "No, it was only me and Eclipse up there, and I slipped on a puddle. Would've been avoided if we had normal grated catwalks instead of something so solid."

He hummed in thought. "Then what else could've bit you? They're too small to be Eclipse's. Was there anything else in the tank?" He asked. "N-No? Not that I recall." You said, keeping your mouth shut about one of Eclipse's abilities like you promised.

"Fortunately for you, the higher ups are having you use your sick days to stay home to heal and rest up." He said as he got up from his chair. "That just leaves the rest of us are gonna have to look into what caused this accident. I still say that it was Eclipse, but even then, he doesn't have that small of teeth to do that. So, he's in the clear, unfortunately." He grumbled as he walked out of the room. He leaned his head back into the doorway. "Rest well, kid." And with that, he was gone.

 Now, you were alone with your thoughts. Those claw marks in the pipe, that was intentional. There is only one thing with claws in the facility -- in that room -- and that's Eclipse. The catwalk always bending and breaking under Eclipse's heavy weight when in his public size, that was intentional to keep them from looking up to see the work he was actually doing. The water from his body is used to hide the aftermath of what he's been trying to do. But... if he was planning something like that, then why aren't you dead?

You peeled back the band-aid on your wrist and see to perfect, circular punctures in your arm. Like a vampire bite as Brad said.

But that begs the question that is the only thing ringing in your head. The only thing you can wonder... what did Eclipse do?

1 HOUR EARLIER

Once he saw you fall, he crawled towards your limp form. A smirk graced his lips when he saw that you were unconscious but still alive, he can still hear your heart beating. Eclipse picked up your right arm, messing around with the fingers.

How the human body confuses him. You have webbed hands, but they are so small and not fit for swimming; you have claws you call nails, but they aren't used for cutting and slicing.

His lower set of arms picked up your limp head, your face looking like you are in a peaceful slumber. His expression turned into one that was lovesick, placing his head in your palm. "The answer was quite obvious, my ocean pearl." He said, turning his head to place what you humans called kisses -- a form of what land people called affection -- on your fingers and trailed them down until he reached your wrist. "You are what I want most," he said as two teeth of his extended out as fangs.

Eclipse bit into your wrist and started drinking your blood.

Oh, how he just knew you were the one for him. You didn't show him fear even after he made multiple threats but still tried to be friends with him, but also not overly confident in your abilities like some egotistical scientist who believed that he couldn't touch them. You didn't treat him like he was just some specimen to be studied. Because of that, he has grown to love you so much. The only thing he wanted was freedom, but when you first walked through those doors, you were his main desire.

And now that he's actually fulfilling his desire, the blood that enters his mouth and falls on his tongue- Eclipse shivers, his eyes roll to the back of his head as he moans in delight of how good your blood tastes. If he wasn't doing what he plans to do, and if he didn't like you, he would've wanted you as his blood bag. He's so addicted to the delightful taste.

Ah- He pulled away and slapped himself in the face. He needs to get a grip before he gets carried away. He just wants to turn and mark her, not kill her.

He moved up your body, adjusting the collar of your coat and shirt out of the way, exposing your left shoulder and repeated the process. He drank you blood until he deemed it to be enough. And finally, he leaned down to your face. His upper set of arms turning your head to expose the nape of your neck, his lower left arm wrapped around your waist while his lower right hand massaged the part of your exposed neck. He lowered his head, opened his mouth, sinking his teeth in and started sucking. He can just feel your hypnotic pulse against his lips. The smell of your blood from your other wounds just sends the feeling of thirst, of hunger into his veins.

Eclipse slowly removes his teeth, licking away at the bloody residue that leaks down his fangs, just to savor the taste of you. He lays you across his lap, your side, leaning against his torso. Eclipse's lower set of arms hold on to you, freeing his upper hands from your warm body. He raises his upper left arm to eye level and brings claw of his right index finger up to his wrist, sliding the claw across, forming a small, thin, horizontal wound to form, spilling out blue blood that shines with golden sparkles. Eclipse uses his free hand to open your mouth, lowering his bleeding wrist to your lips, tilting your head back so the blood will flow down your throat with ease.

When the wound healed, Eclipse pulled his wrist back, swiping a small bit of left over blood from your bottom lip. No evidence of what he has done to night will be seen. They'll be to focused on the wound on your body to check your mouth.

The ritual was complete, now all he had to do was wait; he is good at waiting. Eclipse carefully laid your limp frame down and crawled back to the edge of the catwalk, diving down into the water below as he returned to his normal size. He grabbed the dumped fish and took them to his dark, little underwater cove and devoured the fish until they were all gone. He curled up, having his head rest on his crossed arms as he laid on the sandy of his enclosure, pretending that he had fallen asleep as the nighttime scientists entered the lab.

Chapter Text

You sighed, taking another sip of your cup of whiskey. It was another day of no work, having to take the week off while -- fortunately -- still being paid. As long has you kept tabs on your condition. They believe that there is a possibility of a specimen running around, but they are all in their tanks and cages you've heard. You send them info that nothing strange, or out of the ordinary has happened.

You were currently hanging out with a few friends, it was Samantha's 25th birthday. Everyone's having a good time, hand majority of the party guests are drunk. You were not one of them, something you can't indulge in because of your work, especially when you go back tomorrow. Looking at your watch, you saw that it was 11:27 p.m. You think it is time for you to leave. You down the rest of your whiskey before getting up. You walked over to where Sam was sitting chatting and laughing away with her husband like they were teenagers pinning after each other. "Hey, Sammy. It was nice catching up, but I gotta catch the bus. Here's my present." You said, taking out and envelope and put it in her purse. It was just a simple card and 20 dollars.

She giggled, her cheeks flushed. "'Kay, babe! Have a g-ood night. A-And sta-ay safe!" She said, her words slurring together. She was then pulled into a loving kiss by her husband, turning instantly into a heated make-out. You immediately booked it, not wanting to impose or witness that. Pulling out your phone, you looked for the nearest bus stop, but unfortunately, it wouldn't be arriving for it was out of order; the next bus would be here in another 2 hours. No, thank you!

So, you're gonna have to head to another one that was a long distance away. You could probably take the short cut through a couple alleys, leading into the bustling city before it closes.

You walk through the dark alleys, at least... they're supposed to be. Going down the path, it looks like it's brightened by pale, nonexistent, lights. How strange.

You didn't pay any mind to it. You continued walking down the alley and then entered another when you felt a throbbing pain in your skull. "Ah!" You yelped, clutching the side of your head.

It hurts so much. It can't be a hangover, but damn does it hurt. It's like... a pulsing feeling. Ugh, just ignore it for now; you'll take some Ibuprofen or something when you get home. You then approached the center of the city, and the loud noises only make the headache worse.

The noises. They slowly become louder and louder. It's so unbearable! It's only making your headache worse!

You speed-walked as fast as you could, covering your ears to muffle the noise, but it's like they aren't even covered. It... hurts. It hurts... It hurts! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! ITHURTSITHURTSITHURTSITHURTSITHURTSITHURTS-

You bump into someone's back. "Oh, sorry! I- Brad?" You questioned. He turned around and had a surprised expression. "Oh, hey! I didn't know you took the bus." He said. Huh? What does he know about the bus? You looked over his shoulder to see that while you were in your head, you had already arrived at the bus stop. "N-No, I don't usually. Not this one, that is. The one that I usually take isn't in order and the next one would take over an hour to get there." You explained, tucking some hair behind your ear. He chuckled. "How unfortunate. It just seems you have the worst luck when it comes to chance," he softly elbowed your side, "at least it's not with people."

You laughed, covering your lips. "Yeah, that I am fortunate for." You hummed. A silence filled between you both with the exception of the honking of cars, the voices of pedestrians, and every other common noise in the city. "I go back to work tomorrow. Happy to finally be back." You informed. "Did anything happen while I was away?" You asked, your fingers gripping the side of your head as the throbbing headache doesn't let up. "Well, Dr. Beryll is on his honeymoon, Mrs. Jackson is officially no longer working there, and we had a retirement party for Ms. Wang. Other than that, nothing too exciting." He responded. You gave him a curt nod, messaging your right temple. Looking at your arm, you can see that pair of holes in your wrist, causing the memories to flash in your brain, causing your lips to fall.

You let the limb fall to your side, pulling your sleeve over the bite marks. "And... Eclipse?" You hesitantly asked, glancing to the side. No sound was made between you two. "...He's doing alright for the most part. Acting on his best behavior, apparently. Too good than normal. He's never been that compliant without causing a ruckus or complaining." He answered. "Also, the higher-ups are upping the security, and someone will have to manage and monitor its systems. Spoiler alert, they are gonna be giving that responsibility to you." He sarcastically added.

"Lucky. Me." You groaned in annoyance. You already have a bunch of other things to take care of when you return, now you'll have more on your plate. You have to give Eclipse his 3 food portions a day, drive back and forth to pick up his food supply straight from the ocean port half an hour away and all that jazz, but now you were also given the job of someone working security.

You are just tempted to turn in your two weeks' notice if it wasn't for the great pay they offer.

That is when the bus pulled up, the creaking of the wheels making you wince.

"Are you okay?" He asked, concern filling his eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just left Samantha's birthday party at the bar with a headache. The loud noises and bright lights aren't helping." You muttered, boarding the bus as he followed behind. Walking down the aisle, sitting down as he spoke. "You know, I have some Ibuprofen on me. I have a tendency to get headaches quite often." Brat said, sitting next to you and pulling two tablets of the medication out of his pocket. "Thanks. I need it bad." You groaned, taking them from him, downing the with urgency.

You breathed heavily, relaxed that you'll have something to help your headache. "You're a lifesaver, Brad. You're the good kind of friend anyone can ask for." You said as you let your head fall back against the seat. You were out like a light, leaving Brad with his thoughts. Friend... he thought disappointedly. For years, you have been considering him a friend, but he has always wanted something more. He's just glad you haven't considered him a brother; he may just rot in his bed for the rest of his life if that were to happen. He had fallen in love with you ever since high school, junior prom. He thought it would be just a fleeting feeling when everyone graduated, possible going to different labs or research facilities. But no, you ended up in the same place as him and part of the same group, causing his feelings to grow.

Then came along that damn mer. Taking up your attention and time, and he isn't oblivious; he knows that Eclipse has gained an attraction to you and it just fills him with so much jealousy. It's the reason why he makes up this whole scenario that Eclipse is up to something so then the higher ups, or somebody, to get rid of him by making him another group's problem or put him on the dissection table. Just anything where that fish can leave you be.

When the bus takes a couple more stops, he wakes you up. Luckily, you live just a couple blocks away from his apartment. He walked you home to your own apartment, and once he knew you would be okay, he left to head to his home. You took the elevator up to the fourth floor, passed a few several doors until you reached your own door. You were glad to finally be home, ready to take one more relaxing slumber before going to work tomorrow. Throwing your shoes off, changing into your PJ's, you fell on your bed and passed out.

The sound of the crashing waves echoed through the night sky. There was no light on the deck of this creaking tub, just the illumination of stars and the moon, and the fireworks. The sound of those exploding fireworks were accompanied by the sound of music, cheers, laughter, and stomping feet as the crew danced and singed and having a great time. You especially, dancing in your robe volante dress as your heels clicked and clanked against the wooden boards as you played the flute.

You danced happily like nobody was watching and nobody to judge you, unaware of the glowing eyes watching you from behind the ship's railings. The figure's head was supported by his free hand, the claws of his other hands were embedded on the side to keep him up. How lovely you look in that celeste-colored dress with white frills and jewels from the sea, his waters.

"Quiet, everyone. Quiet. May I have your attention, please?" A voice spoke up. The music stopped, everyone stayed still and didn't dare utter a word, all eyes on him. He was the royal advisor of one of your suitors. The figure in the dark sneers, a quiet, angry growl leaving his gills as his array of sun ray-like fins shivered. How dare he stop your fun!

"It is now my honor, and privilege, to present our esteemed princess with a very special, very expensive, very large birthday present from the prince himself." The man announces, gesturing to the said present leaning against a wall, covered by a sheet, wrapped in a red ribbon and bow. "Aww, thank you Carter. You shouldn't have." You said, approaching his side and nudged him with your elbow. "I know." Carter grinned proudly. Carter beckoned one of the crew members to reveal the gift.

Cutting the bow to free the sheet as your smile grew with excitement as you could wonder what it is. The crew member pulls it off revealing something that makes your smile fall with disappointment. It was a painting that showed what people expected your future to be. It showed you and your husband-to-be, somewhere in probably five years you assumed. It showed your suitor proudly giving a speech to the invisible crowd from a balcony, all the glory and the attention solely, like he was some holy being. Meanwhile you were in the background, more-so in the shadows, not as fabulous looking in your royal gown, smiling as you held a swaddled baby, yours and his to be presumed, along with a couple of royally dressed children holding onto your gown.

This didn't reflect remotely anything about you and everyone knows this. You knew that he loved hogging all the spotlight, but not as far to undermine your value to be a baby-making machine. His figure stood dead-center and big in the painting, being what the people would see if they were to see this painting.

The figure outside the railings was only more upset. How dare some undeserving, two-legged scum humiliate you, and on your birthday. It is your day, so the attention should be on you, not some nobody, especially an attention-seeking vermin. He snarls, his claws digging into the wood and leaving a mark.

"It's uh... It's really something." You hesitantly said, putting it nicely. You had other words to say, but you don't want to be seen as a brat. "Yes, Prince Chad painted it himself with some help. He hoped it would be presented as a wedding present." Carter said. "With all due respect, Carter. I didn't even choose him to be my fiancé. Or any of the other suitors." You said, approaching the railing. The same railing the shadowy figure watched from. The figure moved out of sight, diving into the ocean as you leaned over the edge, watching the cloudy sky. "I understand, m'lady. But everyone is getting impatient. Chad was the last suitor. If none of them interested you, then who else would be the one to catch your eyes?" Carter asks.

"That's because some of the chosen suitors are arrogant, misogynistic, cowardly, just as not interested as I am, or believes that I should just choose them just because we know each other. The one that I want is out there, somewhere. Someone that wants to take care of me when I need it, or will treat me like I'm something more, have an instant connection. I want someone that knows that I can handle myself. Someone that's exciting, mysterious and unknown. Someone who doesn't expect me to act like a royal just because I was born in a royal family." You said.

Sighing, you turned your head back to Carter. "I just haven't found him yet."

"And how would you know he's the one?" Carter asks. "As I said, like an instant connection." You said, snapping your fingers for emphasis. "It will just hit me, like a lightning strike."

BOOM

Looking up at the sky, you see parts of the clouds be illuminated by lightning, a drizzle of rain following after.

Everything happened so fast. Everyone on board was rushing back and forth to help the ship traverse through this angry storm and waves as safe as possible. The next thing you knew, a wave crashed into the boat, taking you off deck and into the water below. The last thing before submerging was lightning striking the sails and setting it on fire. You tried to swim up for air, but your dress restricted your movements. You screamed and cried, your tears merging with the salt water that burned your eyes.

Why?

Why must it be like this?

You never got to live long enough to what you like, complete some works of your hobbies...

Were you really going to die like this?

Reaching up, you felt your hand breach the water's surface, thrusting your body up to finally breathe. You could barely hear your own coughing fit from the storm before another wave pulled you under. You couldn't hear anything anymore. Not the storm. Not the waves. The screams and cries of the crew.

However, you could hear the faint sound of something moving through the water, swimming through the water. Swimming towards you slowly.

"Come, my Betta Fish... I'll take thee away... Into my world of enchantment" A voice sang. It was so clear. So lovely. Angelic but raspy. But that just added to it's alluring tune.

Then came the feeling of something grab onto you. Hands, they were. Four of them. One on your waist, one on your arm, one on your shoulder, and one holding your head softly under your jaw, all having a grip on you as if your were something delicate and fragile. But they were firm enough that you wouldn't slip through their grasp as they swam through the water. But it wasn't up to the surface, no. It was to go further down. It filled you with fear, but as the person continued singing, it felt like your worries were guided out of your heart.

"Come, my Betta Fish... The chance cannot delay" The voice continued. Soon enough, that voice started to strike you as something familiar. Where have you heard it before?

The position shifted to where they were right in front of you, the hand on your jaw guided your head up, the hand moving up to rest on your cheek as you opened your eyes. You gasped, a name of Deja vu you can't recall that lingers on the tip of your tongue. They look familiar, too, only seeing their chest up to the top of their head.

A color scheme of darkest oranges, and bio lights of richest yellows. But it was their face that attracted your attention. Eyes of a bloody copper, and sclera of a pale yellow that is being consumed, enveloped by a pitch black. Their head was surrounded by two rows of a sun's rays, the first row being reddish-orange color that fades to a sand color with two small strips of light apricot on each ray, and the second row being a very dark brown that could be mistake for black if you don't look hard enough that also fades into a wine color at the tips. And, most of all the structure of their face, it had looked like a crescent moon took up most of the head. That with it's color scheme made you think of an... Eclipse.

"Down to my home, in the deep sea." A chestier grin of razor-sharp shark teeth spread across his face as his sclera's fully turned black.

And so did your vison.

RING-RING

You woke up with a gasp, instantly sitting up as you panted for breath.

RING-RING

RING-RI-

Turning to your alarm clock, you pressed the turn off button, leaving you in a comforting silence. Then, you remembered, you have to return to work now. Groaning, you got out of bed to prepare for the day. Throughout that whole time, you felt random itches across your body and every time you scratched at it, a new one will appear somewhere else. It's mainly happening around your legs and feet.

Entering the bathroom, you started your daily routine of brushing your hair, skin care, and brushing your teeth. When you reached for the medicine cabinet for a mirror you paused. Something was... off. You glanced around your reflection's face before coming across your eyes. How strange. Your pupils seem bigger. The normal size of a human pupil is between two to four millimeters. They currently seem to be five millimeters.

You shook it off, thinking that you were just tired.

Going back to your room and rummaging through your closet, you got dressed. Putting on your work pants, you see the bottom parts rise up about half an inch than they should've and that they seem to be a bit tighter now. Then you felt that your shirt felt a little shorter than normal.

You probably put them in the washer on the wrong temperature; they are cotton after all.

Putting on your socks and shoes, you left the apartment and took the bus to work. Unfortunately, all the seats are taken up this time so you are forced to stand and grab one of the handles. It was only half an hour and a few several more stops later when your legs started to ache from the constant standing, you thought. Once you got off the bus, your legs only continued to throb in pain. Every step was like walking on needles, each step you took was only another needle added.

You greeted some colleagues as you walked through the halls of the facility, hiding your pain behind a smile. Any time someone asked how your break was, you replied with "It was great", "It could've lasted longer", or "I'm just glad to be back".

As Brad told you yesterday, you were given the responsibility of the new security measures for Eclipse's tank. You wanted to complain, to say that this is meant to be security's job, not yours; but, alas, you held your tongue. You were given the list of security measures: a keycard, a code- all that. But since you had to get all the papers for the security measures, it made you a few minutes late from Eclipse's first meal of the day. Honestly, you weren't looking forward to it.

Everyone still thinks there's something on the loose, but it's calmed down and haven't once assumed it was Eclipse, not once thinking that he has an ability he's never shown them. You should tell them. You really should. But... who knows what will happen to you. You'll just become another specimen of theirs considering how much he is like a vampire. Having a human-turned vampire mer will seem to be an interesting discovery. But, you don't want that to happen. Being pricked and prodded at like you weren't ever a human in the first place. Like a monster.

Maybe it doesn't affect humans? After all you two are completely different species.

Oh, what to do? What to do?

Do you inform the higher ups that Eclipse can shrink and grow on will; the risk being that you will be another living thing trapped in these walls?

Or do you keep it to yourself; the risk being that, if it also affects humans, turn into a monster like Eclipse?

You sighed as you entered the warehouse that held all the fish and refrigerated blood bags. Humming, you noticed that, in Eclipse's section, it's almost out of food. There's enough to last another few weeks. Making a mental note to send an email to the shop you're gonna be paying a visit. The thing with being a handler of dangerous or endangered specimens is that they have their own section of the food warehouse for their diets. Luckily, it comes out of the company's own paycheck, not the handlers.

You collected the fish and a packet of blood before running into Brad again. "Hey! How is your time back? Did your headache go away?" He asks, running up to you before walking beside you. "Yeah. And it's okay, just given more responsibilities as you said I would get." You answered, scratching at your legs. "Although, I did have a strange dream last night."

That caught Brad's attention. "What was it?" He asked. "That's the thing," you started, entering the lab. "I can't remember what it was about." Inside the lab is a giant tank for Eclipse, filled with sand, rocks and real plants. However, the strange things is that it was completely empty. "Wha- Where's Eclipse?" You asked, panicking. Did he somehow escape?

"Oh, right! Sorry! I forgot to tell you that." Brad spoke up. You turned to him confused. "You see, the higher ups have deemed it to be time for Eclipse to be a part of the local Aquarium they own, so they transported him to a smaller tank near the loading docks. When it's time for his first appearance, they'll have him transported by truck." He informed as he turned back, with you following him. Your eyes widened in shock.

"But- But, he's not tame enough to be near families, much less little kids. He could harm someone!" You stated, speeding after him as he led you to his new area. "I know! Many of the other's tried to tell them this, but they went ignored." He said, nodding along. You groaned loudly in annoyance. "I hate the higher ups. It's blatently obvious that they only care about making more money than the well-being of others. Take the Bite of 93' and 97' for instance." You added. "What happened then?" He asked. "You seriously don't know?" You questioned. He shook his head.

"Well, during 1993, the old boss of Fazbear's Aquarium had decided to use animatronic mermaids and other kinds of fish that weren't fully considered safe. One of his children got to close to one of the animatronics, and it bit his frontal lobe; he didn't make it. Then, in 1997, they decided to add hippos to the attraction, even though they aren't an aquatic animal but semi-aquatic. One of the handlers weren't careful during feeding, and their arm got bitten off."

"Man, that is terrible." Brad said, holding his clipboard up to his chest. "And how did you know about all that?" He asks as you both reached the place. "It's simple. I did research before sending my resume, just to see what I was getting into." You informed. Looking around you saw a pad next to the doorway. It showed the word "unlock" above a pixelized image of a lock. "What's with that?" You asked. "Oh, they installed it just in case Eclipse gets out. If he does we can just lock him in. It also has one on the inside. Why? I don't know." He answered.

You took out a piece of paper with a five-digit code; 71149, it read.

Putting in the last digit the light turned green. Now you had to put in a color code with an image of a fruit. On the paper it showed a pattern of three colors and fruits. Yellow with an arrow pointing to a lemon; red with an arrow pointing to a cherry; blue with an arrow pointing to a blue raspberry. Looking at the keypad, it had the other colors of the rainbow with corresponding fruits: green for apple, purple for grape, and orange for... orange. At the top were the colors, and the bottom were the images of fruits; in the middle were arrows pointing down. It reminds you of a puzzle where you had to move the blocks to the correct order. For this one it had to match with the right fruit. After about a minute of organizing, it finally unlocked, and you both walked inside.

Inside, you can see a loading truck, the truck bed is just a large, rectangular, glass container with water on the inside. The door of the truck bed is a gate that can go up or down instead of like a normal door. It was connected to a big tank -- smaller than the one that housed the mer. And the mer in question was just swimming around until it saw the doors open. Eclipse grin grew when he spotted you. "Welcome back, betta fish~" He greeted.

Your eyes met with his and widen in shock, remember the last bits of the forgotten dream. His once pale yellow sclera were now pitch black.

"We've got a long way before the big day~"