this is cross posted on AO3, and i put a doodle in the chapter there. it's also posted to my tumblr, the link in on my profile. also, stop paying my hooker. she won't leave me alone now and i'm having trouble explaining things to my cats. they get jealous easily


Everything hurts, particularly the burning ache of my stomach and back. My limbs feel foreign, my skin stretched thin, and my throat. Oh god, my throat. It feels like I swallowed a few hundred needles, and then threw them back up.

What happened? And where am I? I don't smell anything and it's rather dark, if the lack of light filtering through my eyelids is any indication. It's also eerily silent, aside from a faint swooshing sound. I'm not sure where it's coming from but, when it's combined with the weightless feeling, it's soothing.

I'm not sure what is up or down, or how far away that noise is, but I feel at peace. My brain isn't going around in circles, or scattering after a hundred different things at once. I don't want to let go of this feeling, so I just drift for awhile. Trying to ignore my various aches and pains, and just breathing. I don't think about how long this will last, and I certainly don't think about how I got to this place. Because everything is just... perfect.

It's not until a dim light starts filtering through my eyelids, that I decide to do anything other than float. I groan and finally pry my eyes open, blearily looking around. It-it looks like rippling glass. I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion, then rub my eyes. Maybe I'm seeing things.

I remove my hands and look again. Nope, still there. What am I seeing? I frantically look around, only seeing varying shades of blue. Am- am I in the ocean!?

My cry of surprise comes out strange, it sounds closer to a whistle or a screech then a yelp of surprise. Maybe a mix of both. No air slips out of my mouth, and I'm suddenly very aware of the fact that I'm breathing. Underwater. I lift my hands up to my throat, as if to feel what was wrong. I do find something though. There are two sets of sensitive ridges on either side of my neck, where I can feel water gush through with each panicked gasp. I hiss and yank my hands away. Whatever they are, it hurts to touch them.

Since I can't see what's on my neck, I look down at my body. Then promptly look back up at what I believe is the water's surface. I'm dreaming. I've died and this is all just an elaborate dream my brain has conjured up as my soul slips from my body. Yeah, that's it. There's no way my legs have merged together to form the scaled tail of a Mer.

I take in a deep, shuttering breath, and dig the palms of my hands into my eyes. I don't know what to do. I'm somewhere in between Ireland and England, and trapped in a body that is vastly different from my own. Well ok, I still seem to have the upper body of a person, but what am I supposed to do with a tail!?

I've heard stories of Mers from Shinsou and the other sailors while I worked with them. They varied greatly, depending on who you were talking to, but all came to the same conclusion. Mers were gorgeous creatures who eventually sent men to their doom. They ruthlessly attacked ships and pulled the survivors down to a watery grave. The bodies that do get found or wash ashore, usually have been eaten to some extent.

Even if I did find land or people again, I would be killed before I could say anything in my defense. Though, I can't say for sure that I can breathe normal air anymore. I heave a deep sigh, and scrub my hands down my face. I need to figure out what to do. As much fun floating here is, I need to get my bearings and find somewhere to go. Mers can't be the only predators in the ocean, and I feel rather exposed out here in the open. I'll have a look up top first to see if I can spot any land.

The only problem with that plan is, I still don't know how to swim. It's even worse now that I don't have my legs anymore. I have no clue how to work my new tail. I look down and, after a bit of hesitation, rip my shredded trousers off. This reveals a jade green tail, with turquoise fins. I let go of the ruined fabric and they slowly sink down into the depths.

After appreciating the colour of the scales for a moment, and ignoring my other missing appendage, I start trying to figure things out. The fins at the base of my tail indicate that it should be moved in a back and forth motion. So, like kicking both legs at the same time? What are my side fins for then? Perhaps stability? Well, I'm sure I'll figure it out later. For now I need to learn how to swim.

My first attempt results in the lower half of my tail jerking back and then forwards, making me move through the water just a bit. I don't go straight though, more like diagonally. This makes me swing my arms, instinctively trying to balance myself. This seems to stabilize me and I hold perfectly still, trying figure out what I did wrong.


It takes an embarrassingly long time to figure out that swimming requires me to move most of my body all at once, not just my tail. Add in the fact that I had to take a break several times, just to rest my aching muscles, and I'm just glad there's no one around to laugh at how pathetic I am. I also ended up removing my shirt too. It kept dragging in the water and made me feel even more off balance, so it went the way of my trousers and is on its way to the bottom of the sea.

I sigh and run my webbed fingers through my curls, taking care not to nick my ear fins with my claws. I decide to rest some more, before heading for the surface. I lean back and stare at the now smooth surface, enjoying the silence again. That swooshing noise from before may have been the sound of water moving around up there, because I can't hear it anymore. Not that it really matters right now.

After I look around and figure out where I want to go, I really need to find something to eat. I started getting hungry awhile ago, but I there really isn't anything around that I could eat. Or anything really. I've been alone since I woke up, without even fish coming into view. I'm not sure what Mers eat other than people, but I figure fish is a safe bet either way. I refuse to eat humans, just thinking about it makes me shudder.

I run my tongue over my teeth in thought. All of my teeth are sharp, likely indicating that Mers are purely carnivorous. But would fish be their natural prey, or do they hunt a variety of things? On that note, what lives in the ocean other than fish? Where can I even find fish? How much do I have to eat to sustain myself on any given day? Oh god, will I starve to death before I even find food?

I groan in annoyance and tug on my hair. This isn't helping, and I have things I need to do first. I'll worry about all that later, right now I need to focus. I manage to angle myself up towards the surface, and awkwardly swim towards it. It will take a lot longer than a few hours of practice to get completely comfortable with swimming, and even longer to build up the required muscle strength and endurance. Hopefully I'll have that time. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to get my original form back. The thought of getting my legs back makes me smile, helping to push the other thoughts to the back of my mind.

I approach the now rippling surface, noting that the sun is almost directly overhead. I suppose that, at the least, it's been over 24 hours since I went overboard and drowned. Did the crew even bother to look for me after the storm? Does my boss even care that I'm gone? Does- no, stop this. Things to do remember? I shake my head and finally poke my head out of the water.

At first, I only poke the top half of my head out of the water. This leaves my nose and mouth submerged. This is just incase regular air has an adverse effect on my body, giving me enough time slip below the surface quickly if I need to. I'm also worried about being seen. I didn't see any ships close by when I was below, but I'd rather play it safe for now.

Though not as terrible as I feared, the air does make me feel a bit uncomfortable once I dry up a bit. It's particularly bad for my eyes, so I have to blink a lot more to keep them moist. Feeling emboldened, I decide to poke the rest of my head out, leaving my gills underwater. That's what I felt on my neck earlier, which means I'll have to be even more careful and aware of my throat from now on. I can't afford to get them injured or blocked up.

I take a hesitant breath in, squeaking in surprise when bubbles of air shoot out of my gills. My hands automatically shoot up to my throat, only to find my gills already closed. I then notice that I can breathe, but it feels different from when I'm underwater. Different from when I was human even, though I never really paid a whole lot of attention to it before now. It feels, I don't know, like I can't quite pull enough air in. Maybe I can't process straight air as well anymore, which is already more than I was hoping for honestly. I don't feel quite out of breath, but I probably will be if I stay above the surface for too long.

I quickly look around, trying to see if there's any land visible on the horizon. I turn this way and that, straining my irritated eyes as far as they can go, trying to catch even the tiniest glimpse of land. With my skin getting dry and irritated, as well as not seeing anything, I decide to call it quits and go back under. I take a deep breath of water to open my gills back up, slightly frustrated that I couldn't see anything. I sigh and run my hands through my hair again, tugging on the strands a bit. I didn't want to just go off in a random direction, for fear of getting lost, but I may not have a choice now. If I had to choose between staying and starving to death, or going in a random direction and starving to death, I would choose the one where I actually made an effort to survive.

With that thought in mind, I swim down several meters and head off to my left. Hopefully I'll find something soon.


i'll occasionally ask some questions here because i like to get input sometimes.

the question this time is, what characters would you like to see in this story? namely, should i put mineta in this. i consider him a highly optional character and don't care one way or the other. just be advised that i think he's a piece of shit and needs a good smack down, so he won't be portrayed favourably if he does get put in. there is a poll up on my profile that you can take regarding this question.

I'm already planning on putting Uraraka and Iida in as mains

momo, jirou, denki, bakugou, kirishima, and sero will show up but i'm not sure yet to what extent

feel free to ask me questions too, i get lonely ._.

lol. seriously tho, it's ok to comment