To be honest I never much cared for water. I mean, I was like any other kid, I could piss myself at the idea of going to a pool in the summer. But the ocean wasn't a pool.

Well...I guess it could be. But it'd be a total poser.

The idea of a deep, dark puddle that reaches all over the world...yeah, not doing it for me. I could drone on about how the ocean gives me chills. But at night, especially at the dark hour of ten, on a rickety-ass pier that no one even uses (and I mean honestly this guy couldn't have picked the one with that nice ice cream stand next to it)? Yeah, I've seen enough movies to know I'll probably die here.

I check my watch for the God-knows-how-many-th time. It's almost ten past the hour; and he was worried I'd be late. What an ass.

Just then the wooden pier creaks and before my heart can jump on a boat and sail out of my chest, I turn around and there's a tall man covered in a long red cape with thickly sewn designs. He's huge, for one, and not as old as I pictured him.

He stares at me for a while and my eyes shift. I'm not one for a polite introduction, if I'm gonna be honest, one of my few flaws. He doesn't look pleased with my lack of voice and his eyebrows furrow. "I assume you're the cleaner I spoke to on the phone."

I clear my throat and shift to the other foot. God, his voice is even deeper in person. "Yeah. You're looking for a good cleaner, right? Fishin' for a mermaid or something?"

He looks a little irked; something told me he wasn't one for humor. "I want a cleaner that is willing to thoroughly search underwater for a mermaid. And bring it to me alive. If it's dead, no pay."

I scratch my neck a little, not totally sold yet. "What does this include, exactly? I'm no swimmer, buddy. Dunno if I can actually swim down there to look. And besides, even if I could, where would I look?"

"A cleaner that can't swim? Maybe you're not as skilled as I thought."

"Hey, excuse you, I do my job well enough."

"All you would have to do is swim around until you see a mermaid. Catch it, bring it back."

I sigh, my foot starts tapping. "Okay, so-let's say I do catch sight of something. I wouldn't be able to swim fast enough to catch it to bring it to you. In case you haven't heard the legends about mermaids, they swim way too fast for any human to catch up to them. Trying to go that fast would kill a human before you'd reach 'em."

He finally shows some kind of facial change. Thank God, I was starting to think maybe his face was stuck. "What would you try, then? Surely you didn't come here with no idea of what you might end up doing."

I look at the boats lined up in the water and wave to them lazily. "Exactly what I said, fishing. Lay out some nets, maybe through a line, I dunno. Something that doesn't involve me going in the water."

He quirks an eyebrow at me and folds his arms. "You think it'll just take a bite out of your hook? These creatures are incredibly advanced, they're not some little goldfish."

In a way I kinda want to ask if this guy was like...crazy. I mean the town had a lot of mermaid stories, like the ones my grandma told me. Kids all over this town grew up hearing them. But no one had really seen one, or at least no one that was believed. I'm starting to think maybe this guy is seeing a Heartless that has taken the form of a fish, maybe he thinks it's a mermaid.

"No offense, mister, but why do you even want a mermaid? You sure you're not looking for some Heartless shaped like a fish?"

He clicks his tongue and turns away from me to face the water. "No, those things are real. I know they are. Trust me. What I'm looking for is half man, half fish. A thing of stories that lives right under our feet. Listen, I'm a scientist. Research is...everything. No one has been able to study a mermaid before, this would be a huge breakthrough to the scientific community." He pauses then looks at me with sharp eyes. Jesus, if his eyes were daggers...

"If you don't want this job, then stop wasting my time, I'll find someone who does."

I weigh the idea. I mean, worst case scenario, I don't find anything and I gotta break it to this guy that the mermaid stories are just that-they're stories.

Best case scenario, I do find something, get a lot of money, and I can say I caught a mermaid before any fisherman. Nothing quite like bragging rights.

I think on it and the man looks like he's growing impatient. I sigh and hold out my hand palm up to shake his, a cleaner's sign that they are yours to command for the job. He places one hand below mine and the other over my wrist.

We grab each other's wrist in a firm grasp and shake; in the cleaner community, this is the binding contract.

He nods and for once, he smiles. "I am Ansem."

I nod back to him. "Axel."