Chapter Text
Jimmy hummed softly to himself as he walked along the beach, the sand soft beneath his bare feet, his fingers lightly holding on to his shoes. The tide was low, low enough that small tide pools had appeared along the edge of the surf, and Jimmy took his time looking into each of them, grinning as he took in the many barnacles and anemones sleeping within them. The breeze was fresh and salty as it blew over him, ruffling his hair. It was a perfect morning for a walk.
He was about fifteen minutes in and was about to head back to his apartment when he heard a quiet sound, a chittering that he couldn’t quite place. What was it? It almost sounded like a dolphin, but dolphins didn’t really come out to this bit of the beach. It had to be something else. Cautiously, Jimmy gripped his shoes tighter and crept forward, around the dunes to see…a mer.
They were beautiful, brilliant orange scales that faded into black lining their tail, delicate orange fins catching the rising sunlight just right. Their hair was half dry, orange and golden locks curling around their head fins, and their eyes looked almost red in the dim lighting. They were laid out on the sand, several feet from the water, and there was a net wrapped tightly around their arms and back, tangling with their dorsal fin. They snarled weakly, thrashing as they tried to break themself loose, and Jimmy realized that if their hair was half dried, that meant that they had been up on shore for a while.
Grian had told him once that mer weren’t accustomed to being out of the water for long periods of time. When he had taken Scar to the lake several miles inland, they had surrounded him in dripping wet towels to keep him from drying out. This mer…they must have been up on land for several minutes, maybe even an hour. That couldn’t be by choice. They were beached.
He had to do something.
“Hey, uh…” He approached slowly, then flinched back as the mer snapped their teeth at him, a guttural sound leaving their throat. “Woah, okay, okay, I won’t come any closer to you. You’re…you’re definitely not like Scar, that’s for sure. Okay. Uh…”
The mer glared up at him, nothing but feral rage in their expression as they bared their teeth. Their tail lashed from side to side, restrained by the net but still carving divots into the sand. Now that he was closer, Jimmy could see red welts against their skin where the net had laid against it, rubbing it raw. Their fins were cracking, blood welling up in the driest areas, and he winced in sympathy.
“Okay, first thing’s first, we need to get you water.” He told the mer, though he knew that they probably wouldn’t understand him. “How do I get you water?”
The mer hissed at him and he took a step back so that he wouldn’t be crowding them too much. As he did so, one of his shoes slipped out of his hand and fell to the sand, landing with a soft thump. Somehow, that gave Jimmy an idea. Quickly, he tugged off his jacket, grateful that he had grabbed the cotton one instead of the leather one. He raced to the edge of the surf and stuffed it into the sea, shivering as the freezing cold water ran over his feet and hands. Then he ran back up to the mer.
“Okay, listen, this is going to help you, alright?” He held out the sopping wet jacket and the mer growled low in their throat. “Oh gosh, I’ve…I’m gonna have to do this, aren’t I?”
He took a deep breath, then lunged forward, throwing the jacket over the top bit of their tail and fins. The mer lunged back at him, snarling, claws flashing out, and he yelped, jumping back. The net caught them before they could reach him and they fell back against the sand, their face twisting in pain before fading into something like surprise. They lifted their head, struggling to twist around so that they could see Jimmy’s jacket draped over them, water seeping into their dried and cracked fins. Then they looked back at him, eyes wide.
“See? I’m nice, I promise.” Jimmy smiled, not showing his teeth in case they would see it as a threat. His eyes drifted down to their tail again, not even half covered by the jacket. “Oh. That’s…that isn’t going to work very well, is it?”
The mer growled again, though it was more hesitant now. Unless Jimmy was imagining it. Which he probably was. He did that a lot.
“Alright, uh…” He thought for a moment, then nodded. “One second.”
He ran back to the water, shucking off his shirt as he did so. He dunked that in the water as well, then hurried up to the mer again, this time throwing the wet shirt onto the lower part of their tail. It still didn’t cover all that much, but it was better than nothing, and maybe the mer would let him close enough to move it around every so often until help arrived.
Oh yeah. Help. Jimmy moved a few steps out of the mer’s reach and pulled out his phone, pulling up Gem’s number. She knew her way around these kinds of things, she was government something or other, she was always with Pearl. She would know what to do. He pressed call, sitting down on the sand as he did so. He had a feeling he would be there for a while.
“ Hello? ” Gem answered after the third ring, her voice groggy. “ Jimmy, why are you calling me so early? The sun isn’t even up yet. ”
“Actually, it rose about fifteen minutes ago.” Jimmy glanced over at the sunrise, then back at the mer. “But I’m calling because uh…well…I kinda found a mer? On the beach? While I was walking?”
“Uh oh. ” Gem sounded much more awake now. “Are they okay?”
“Uh…not really.” Jimmy glanced back over at the net trapping them and their cracked fins, covered by his jacket and shirt. They both seemed so small compared to their tail. “I think they’ve been beached for a while, they’re…they’re pretty dried out. They’re also wrapped in a net, it looks really tight and it looks like it’s been eating into their skin.”
“ Okay, are they feral?” Gem asked.
“Well, they definitely don’t speak English.” Jimmy winced as they tried to struggle free again, keeping their tail still so that the wet clothing wouldn’t slip off. “And they tried to attack me when I got close. I put my shirt and jacket into the sea and onto them so that they wouldn’t dry out more.”
“ They let you come close enough to do that?” There was a rustling sound from her end, and Jimmy could imagine her putting on her jacket.
“Well…no, not really.” He tapped his fingers against his knee nervously. “I kinda…threw it on them. And they did try and get me for getting close to them. But it’s okay! It’s over them now!”
“ Jimmy, that’s…you’re gonna get hurt, just stay back for now. Where are you?” There was a click, then the sound of a door shutting.
“Here, I’ll send you my location.” Jimmy pulled his phone away from his ear, turning on speaker and opening their texts. He quickly sent her his location on his GPS, then switched back to the call. “There.”
“ Oh, okay, that’s not too far. I’ll be there in ten minutes, the team will be there in fifteen.” Gem declared over the top of a car starting. “ Hang tight, I’ll see you soon .”
“Bye Gem.” He said, and she replied with the same farewell. He hung up, sticking his phone back into his pocket, then sat up, looking at the mer. “You doing okay?”
The mer glared at him, then turned back to trying to get out of the net.
“I think…” Jimmy leaned forward, squinting at the ropes. “I reckon I could get those off. I can see a spot…yeah. Okay.”
He scooted forward on the sand, moving slowly, his hands outstretched. The mer growled at him, but they didn’t strike, more focused on the ropes binding them. When he was within about a foot however, their growl turned into a snarl, and he looked over to see their fins flared out, teeth bared.
“Easy, easy, I’m just trying to get the net off.” Jimmy scooted away from their face, towards the base of their tail where the rope was looped. Cautiously, he reached forward, lightly touching it. It was barely damp. The mer hissed, twitching away from his hand.
“Listen, I know nothing really makes sense right now, but I’m gonna get you out of this.” He reached forward again, this time looping his fingers underneath the rope. It was a tight fit, his fingers pressed up against the mer’s scales. They definitely did not like that, thrashing and trying to reach him with their claws, but he was far enough away that they couldn’t get him. The wet clothing sitting on their tail fell off, landing on the side to either side of them, but Jimmy didn’t let go. He slid his hand down to one of the knots, and with careful maneuvering, he was able to untie it without getting too close to any of the mer’s more dangerous bits.
The scales beneath the rope looked horrible, scratched and rubbed raw. Jimmy couldn’t imagine what it must feel like on their bare skin. He gently pulled the loose bits of rope around, lifting it off of their scales, and they stopped thrashing. He made his way to the next knot, this one tighter than the other, and began working on it again, humming the same song he had been earlier when walking.
It took him a few minutes to get the knot undone, but once it was loose, it made the other knots significantly easier. His fingers fell into a repetitive motion as he moved along the net, not really realizing that he was getting closer to the mer’s claws until he reached their arms.
“Oh, uh…” He looked up from the knots to see them staring at him, an utterly baffled look on their face. “Please don’t stab me?”
The mer tilted their head to one side, then looked down at their tail and torso, now free from the coarse ropes.
“Oh!” Jimmy dropped the net, scooting back down to their tail and scooping up his jacket and shirt. “One moment, let me get you more water.”
He dipped the clothing back into the water again, then laid them out gently over the mer’s fins. Now that they weren’t thrashing, it was easy to set them down in a way that would cover most of their tail. They were still far too dry, and they definitely needed to get in water soon, but this would work in the meantime.
Once he was sure that the clothing was in place, he knelt down and carefully reached over to take the net again, keeping his eyes on the mer as he did so. They were still watching him with wide eyes, their head fins drooping from their aggressive position to something more docile. Jimmy gave them another closed lipped smile, then continued to work his way through the net.
He was on the last two knots when Gem stumbled down the dunes, her hair pulled up into a sloppy ponytail and a jacket thrown over her pajamas. She was wearing two different kinds of sandals and her phone was gripped tightly in her hand, a call on the screen.
“Oh, there you are, okay.” She skidded to a stop a few feet away, looking between him and the mer. “Jimmy. You’re not supposed to get close to feral mer, why are you touching one?”
“I’m getting the net off.” Jimmy held up the rope. “It’s okay, they aren’t going to hurt me.”
“Jimmy.” Gem repeated, running a hand down her face. “They tried to attack you earlier. You literally told me that.”
“I did, I did tell you that.” He finished the second to last knot, then moved on to the final one. “But they’ve calmed down now. I put the water on them and got most of the net off, I’m almost done now. I didn’t want them to have to wait another fifteen minutes before your team got here, you know? They were really hurting.”
“I…” Gem pinched the bridge of her nose, then shook her head. “Okay. Alright. That’s…that’s fine. My people will be here in a few minutes, they’ve got all the supplies they need. We might have to knock them out in order to properly look at them, since they’re feral. We have to make sure they’re okay.”
“Do you have to knock them out?” Jimmy looked down at the mer, who was watching their conversation with their fins pinned back to their skull. They clearly couldn’t understand any of it, and judging by the tremors that were running down their spine, they were scared. “They’re okay with me being close, I’ve been working on this net pretty much since I hung up on you and they haven’t tried to hurt me since I got the first knot done.”
“They can tell that you’re helping them.” Gem sighed, sitting down on the sand. “They won’t know that we’re helping, they’ll be overwhelmed and scared and confused. I know it’s not ideal, but sedating them is the best option to keep both us and them safe. We might have to transfer them to the facility if their wounds are bad enough, which, looking at them right now, it looks like they’re gonna need some pretty serious treatment.”
“I don’t want to scare them any more than they already are.” Jimmy finished the last knot, tugging the rope out from underneath the mer and pilling it up. He crawled a few feet away before standing, then handed the remains of the net to Gem. “They’re so scared, Gem.”
“I know, which is why we’re going to help them.” Gem bundled up the net, wrapping it tightly so that it wouldn’t come loose and tangle anything. “I have Skizz on the phone right now, he’s on his way with a bunch of the guys to help out. They’ll be here soon.”
Jimmy carefully walked back to the mer, approaching their tail. “I’m gonna get these wet again.”
“Jimmy…” Gem said warningly. “You shouldn’t be going near them.”
“I know, I know.” Jimmy peeled his shirt off of their fins, grimacing at the blood staining it. “But they aren’t going to hurt me.”
He picked up the jacket as well, dunking them both in the ocean and bringing them back dripping wet. It was as he was laying them out on the mer’s tail again that Skizz arrived with his team, ready for action. They climbed down the dunes, all carrying various different pieces of equipment. Jimmy felt the mer tense underneath his hands, and he gently pulled the wet jacket further up, on top of their pectoral fins.
“Alright, let’s get this taken care of, shall we?” Skizz reached for his belt as he walked up. “Are we thinking syringe or gun?”
“I really don’t think–” Jimmy started, but his sentence was cut off by a pair of arms wrapping around him and dragging him down to the beach. It happened so quickly, one moment he was standing and facing Skizz, the next he was being held tightly to something solid, his face lying against the coarse sand.
“Okay, everyone stay calm.” Gem instructed, and slowly, Jimmy put together the pieces of what had happened. The mer had grabbed him and pulled him down to the ground. Their arms were wrapped around him, claws inches away from his face, and they were growling. Despite this, Jimmy was very much alive and they hadn’t ripped into his flesh yet. He was being held as a hostage.
“Skizz, do you think you could make the shot?” Gem continued, and while Jimmy couldn’t see her with his face turned away, he could imagine her expression. Tense, nervous, but completely in control. He wasn’t going to let them knock out the mer though. That wouldn’t be fair.
“It’s okay, I’m fine!” He called out softly, his voice muffled by the sand. “Don’t shoot them, it’s okay, just let me handle this.”
“Respectfully, Jimmy, you’re currently being held hostage by a feral mer. You’ve also never done something like this before, and you’re breaking about five different wildlife laws.” Gem stated. “Hold still so Skizz can shoot.”
“They’re a person, you can’t just shoot them!” Jimmy protested, his breath catching in his throat as the mer tightened their grip, their growl getting louder. He didn’t dare move, not with their claws so close to him, but he didn’t think they would hurt him. He had helped them. “Gem, just give them some space, let them breathe, you’re scaring them.”
“Skizz?” Gem replied instead, ignoring him entirely. There was a click as something fired, and the mer let out a sharp gasp.
“I’ve got them.” Skizz confirmed, and after a moment, the mer’s grip on Jimmy loosened, then went entirely limp.
“Right, let’s get to work.” Gem stated, as though this were just another operation, as though it weren’t a person that they had just sedated. Jimmy carefully maneuvered out of their arms, making sure they weren’t twisted in an odd direction before he got to his feet.
“That wasn’t okay.” He told Gem as she knelt down next to the mer. “You can’t just do that.”
“I’m following procedure, Jimmy.” Gem replied, not looking at him and instead examining the mer’s fins. “If we don’t follow procedure, people get hurt. Including the mer. Now grab your clothes and go home.”
“I’m not going home.” Jimmy shook his head. “I’m staying here until the mer is okay.”
Gem sighed again, an annoyed expression on her face. “Fine. Just stay out of the way, stand over by the dunes or something.”
“I will. I will do that.” Jimmy huffed, then marched over to the sandy hills. He hated arguing with people, hated arguing with Gem especially. It felt like a hole had been torn in his heart, and as he sat down in the sand, he found himself fighting back tears. This whole situation had gotten very frustrating, very quickly.
He couldn’t do anything but sit there and watch as Gem finished her examination of the mer, then declared that they would have to be at the facility for at least a little bit in order to recover from their wounds. It should have been comforting, knowing that they were going to be staying in the place Pearl built, but…something about it made Jimmy feel…sick almost. He didn’t like the idea of all these strangers being able to access the mer whenever they wanted, to do whatever they wanted. Obviously there were laws in place to protect them, but at the same time, those laws hadn’t saved them from being sedated.
“Hey buddy.” Skizz tossed him a blanket, and he caught it numbly in his hands. “You look cold without your shirt and jacket.”
“Oh. Thanks man.” He wrapped it around himself. “I…nevermind.”
“Listen, Jimmy, I don’t like it either.” Skizz admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s…it doesn’t really feel good. But sometimes you have to do bad things for the greater good, right?”
“I guess.” Jimmy pulled the blanket over his shoulders. “You should probably get back to helping Gem, it looks like they’re about to move them.”
“Alright.” Skizz gave him a smile, then turned away. “Okay, what’s the plan here?”