Kaiba glared at the two dark screens hanging above him in the submarine control room, wondering if this dive was worth it.

The video feed on the left screen was dark, with occasional flashes of light red from the sensor above, and the thermal chart on the right screen was also displaying no changes.

Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Kaiba swept his gaze across his crew, all of them with their backs turned to him, busy with monitoring their own readings.

He glanced up at the screens above his head again, sighing.

It felt like a curse, because they always ended up empty handed after hours of exploration. He had bought the mineral rights to this specific part of the ocean because he was seeking a rare material that had washed up along the shore above them.

The air in the control room was silent with tension.
The stress was apparent.

It was widely known to the general public that these dives, the submarine, the equipment, and the licensed crew, had cost him an arm and leg.

This was a risky venture, because his money would run out...eventually, and Kaiba swore that this expedition would come to fruition before he went bankrupt.
He wasn't a man who took risks that failed.

Furthermore, the mineral they were hunting was so rare that scientists had not yet named it, so it was a mad race to find the pocket where more of these mysterious stones were buried.

"Descending…another 15 meters," a professor announced from his station, and the surrounding staff nodded in agreement.

Kaiba folded his arms across his chest, glaring so hard at the screens above him, his eyes began to water.
Agonizing.
That was one word to describe each venture.
But they had to go slowly. What if they missed something?

Maybe this was a good time to pray.
Kaiba wasn't a man who subscribed to a religion, but it felt like there was a greater force at work, one that didn't want him to find more of these minerals.

He had been checking the daily logs, and re-scanning the video feeds from each dive like a man possessed, desperately hoping to see something they might have missed, but there was nothing remarkable in any of their records, save for a stray whale that had blocked their sensors for two minutes yesterday while it swam past.

"Nothing," announced a woman to his left. "Sir?"

"…Can we continue? What do your sensors say?" the man asked from the other side of the room, and the professor to his right suppressed a yawn.

Kaiba's eyelid twitched. Well, they had been descending for almost five hours now, with nothing to show for it.

"We're not equipped to keep going," she said nervously, and Kaiba snapped his head up to stare at her.
What? What was she saying?! Of course they were!
He had the top-of-the-line equipment, and Japan's most educated marine professionals right here in this room!
Did his millions mean nothing?

"It's too deep," another scientist spoke up from the front, switching the video feed screen to display another thermal image. "None of our cameras are picking up anything. We can crawl along here for another hour and see what we find?"

"But if not…then, up we go," the professor sighed moodily, taking off his glasses and sticking them into his pocket before he rubbed his forehead tiredly. "We're sorry, Mr. Kaiba."

Kaiba let his breath out in a slow hiss, curling his fingers into his palm, trying his best not to panic.
Fuck.
The ascent was going to be another agonizing five and half hours of nothing.
A whole day, gone. Wasted.
What's more, the area of land he had reserved was not very big. They had already combed through every single inch of it and were in the process of doubling back.

He had meticulously planned a series of dives that would twice-cover the exact area he had purchased, and this was their twenty-third dive. He had been counting.

Impossible…! Had he…failed?!

Lightheaded and dizzy, Kaiba moved to sit down in his chair, and he lowered his head silently, feeling his skin burn as all eyes turned to stare at him.

No fucking way.
He was positive that he had something here.
His instincts were never wrong.

The low humming of the submarine's engine was deafening, and Kaiba blinked rapidly, feeling his chest constrict with pain.
No. He was not going to have a panic attack here.
He had not failed. There were still options.

Suddenly, a low thump echoed around them, and submarine was rocked violently to the side.

Kaiba nearly lost his balance, but he held on firmly to the armrest of his chair and gazed up at the screens, seeing a lot of jagged activity on both of the thermal sensors.
Did something hit them? It felt like a whale had whacked them with its tail.

"Video, video!" his staff cried, and one of the screens was switched to show an infrared clump of seaweed floating messily in their view.

"Where did that come from?" The professor cried, obviously shaken. "We're too deep for that type of seaweed to thrive here!"

"It's moving!" Another staff member cried, and she turned to face Kaiba, her eyes wide. "Received a message from the sound technicians! Movement confirmed!"

"A whale?" Another woman asked curiously, "Or a shark? An endangered species perhaps?"

"Whatever the fuck it is, throw it in the tank," Kaiba growled, fuming. He was tired of rising to shore empty handed. "Will it fit?"

"Half of it is debris," the professor said, frowning at his screen, pointing at the image with the back of his pen. "You see these dots? It's probably trash. It's something caught in trash."

"Seal it all in the tank, and we'll pull it apart when we get back to the lab," Kaiba ordered, feeling a headache coming on, and he heard a chorus of "yes sir."

Suppressing an annoyed sigh, Kaiba continued to stare at the wriggling mass on the screen, seeing the metal claw reach toward the clump to slowly drag it out of sight.

"We're not authorized to fish in this area—" a man started, and Kaiba cut across him angrily. "Then we release it after detangling it from garbage. Or we eat it."

And with that, he stormed off, heading to the sound room to hear what they had managed to gather from the mysterious moving mass.

Atem was doing his best not to panic. Too many things were happening at once, and the pain in his tail was becoming unbearable.

He was bleeding, and he could see his own blood staining the water green before his eyes, and every tiny movement sent a sharp jolt of pain up his spine, so he opted to stay still.

The human contraption had pierced the end of his tail and had dragged him for several feet before sealing him off from the ocean.

It was as if a veil had been dropped over his senses and everything had been dulled.

He let out a yell and felt the water reverberate around him, but nothing happened.

There was an eerie stillness he had never felt before, and it shook him to the core.

Captured.
He had been captured by a human!
Did this mean all of his communication had been cut off from the outside world?!

Inside the submarine, Kaiba stared at a spiked chart of sound activity in the sealed pod, listening to the scientist explain to him that it was probably a baby whale they had caught and should probably let it go.

Atem took deep shuddering breaths, tasting his own blood in the water. It made his eyes and his nose sting.

Was the spike still in his tail? He couldn't see because he had been surrounded with this dreadful net of seaweed. What kind of terrible human would—

Before he could finish his thought, Atem felt the spike recede, and the pain dulled instantly.

Closing his eyes quickly, Atem grabbed at the seaweed net and wrapped it around his body, forcing his tail to heal quickly so he could swim away at the first chance without being seen.

The net that he had been tasked with disposing of was now his saving grace.

If only I had gone up later, Atem thought angrily to himself, curling his fingers around the seaweed.

After a moment, he shivered, realizing it would've been Mana in this situation if he had not bravely volunteered to take her place.

Everyone took turns gathering and disposing of human debris floating near their kingdom's hemisphere, and he knew Mana had a deathly fear of shallow waters after she had almost been spotted by a diver.

But this contraption was new.
Atem prided himself on his own extensive knowledge of humans, but this sealed tube was something he had never encountered before.

Willing himself not to be afraid, he gripped the net and decided that playing dead was the best possible solution.

If he was spotted by the human that caught him, he would be faced with the misfortune of killing it…to protect his family.

He would go down in history as the second king to have ever killed a human…if he survived, and Atem wasn't sure how to feel about that.

Kaiba stepped out of the elevator and walked purposely through the lab, speaking quickly into the headset.

"Release the organism."

A hatch in the ceiling peeled back slowly and there was a pause before a loud rush of cascading water descended into the prepped tank, filling it to the brim with green, slimy water.

Wrinkling his nose, Kaiba approached the tank and heard footsteps running up behind him. The lab technician gasped at the sight.

A black mass of something disgusting was trapped in the center and the color of the water wasn't helping.

"What is that?" she cried, pressed a hand to her chest and also wrinkling her nose. "It smells….! Is this tank sealed properly? Check the seals!"

"Right away!" A man called in response from the hallway behind them, and Kaiba stared intently at the tangled mass of seaweed in the center of the tank.
The tank was sealed. He had triple-checked.

If the smell was this potent from where they were standing, it meant that the water was probably contaminated from whatever poison the distressed creature had released.

This was definitely not something whales did. Maybe this was an undiscovered species of squid?

"Purify the water," Kaiba said tersely, and he heard the order being passed around behind him. "Wait! And take samples of it before purification."

"Understood!" came the eager response, and Kaiba sighed, staring at the solid black mass one last time before turning on his heel and walking to the exit.

Since they couldn't touch the creature while the water was being purified, he could re-image and filter the feed they had obtained.

Daring to feel excited, Kaiba stepped into the elevator and watched the doors slide shut in his vision.

Atem kept his ears peeled, doing his best to catch any sounds through the barrier. He knew the name of this material. It was Glass. Probably.

If he screamed loud enough, it would shatter…or something like that, right? But then how would he escape from where he was now? He would also be seen immediately. This curtain of seaweed wasn't impenetrable.

Sighing in frustration, Atem daringly nudged the seaweed apart very slightly, attempting to get a peek at what was outside, but all he could see was his own blood in the water. Everything was too dirty.

It had also been a while now, so why had no human approached him yet?

Restless and on guard, Atem remained still and vigilant.
This was fine. He could survive this.
Many merpeople before him have been captured and managed to bargain for their freedom.
But….
Atem grit his teeth and willed himself to keep it together as terrible thoughts flooded his mind.

The human that had captured his mother several hundred years ago wouldn't let her go, which was why there was a blanket order on their entire kingdom, stating that if anyone of their own had been captured, the human was to die first.

They were following an example set by the neighboring kingdom. The royal court realized a human had captured the princess's lady-in-waiting, and by killing the human, they had managed to save her –unlike his mother, whom they had never seen again, and was presumed dead.

Now deeply frightened, Atem closed his eyes and forced himself to breathe evenly.

Maybe he should pray…to someone, anyone.
Watasumi, Charybdis, Suijin…it didn't matter who.
Just any God who would be on his side when it came time to kill a human.

Author's note:

Hi my lovely cuties! I am back with another new story! (comment below and tell me what you think!)

The tone for this one is a bit serious, maybe a little awkward? Hehehe idk, we'll see where it takes us, okay? Thank you for giving this story a chance!

*super mega ultra disclaimer: I know literally zip-nada about marine biology. (wishes I had a biology professor -who isn't google-chan- at my side who I could ask to help confirm my facts.)

Edited by: Setokaibaes

Love,
Ugli

Psst: please consider supporting me with some spare change, even though I publish all chapters fully edited for your enjoyment, I would be so grateful if you wanted to donate something to help motivate me!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!