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twinsunstars · 4 months ago

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Wherever Your World Is - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Summary: Omega, a young curious mermaid, explores a sunken ship, while intrigued eyes are kept closely on her.

Notes: Hi everyone! Thank you for patiently waiting for another chapter since the first one! Finally finished up Chapter 2, so you'll all get to meet our little mermaid and a few other important characters! Little bit for your information, AZI has they/them pronouns. Hope you enjoy the chapter! Read either below or on AO3! divider by @stars-n-spice !

Wherever Your World Is Masterlist

Fanfic Summary: A young mermaid filled with hope discovers secrets about her past and seeks to reunite with her family at many costs, getting her chance to be with the land dwellers she had grown so fascinated of. The mermaid strikes a deal with dark magic and begins her mission of becoming a human again. (A Bad Batch + Little Mermaid AU)

The sea glimmered under the bright sun laying still in the atmosphere. Sea creatures roamed around the waters, following their own paths wherever fate led them to go.

Down in the depths of the ocean, many unique living beings traveled among small fields of coral and multicolored seaweed that grew during the annual harvest seasons. Bright sea flowers blossomed in various areas to add beauty to the oceanic scenery. Many land dwellers would admire the ocean’s creations and sometimes take them for themselves so that they could have the sea’s treasures for themselves.

A flowy tail dressed in ribbons of sea blue and honey gold swam past a couple of coral reefs that had aged brilliantly over the years. The young mermaid examined her surroundings, taking in the beautiful palettes part of the ocean’s life. She continued swimming as the sun’s rays that seeped through the waters grew dimmer to make the ocean appear slightly darker.

The mermaid, about fourteen, reached a sector of the ocean filled with sunken debris and litter scattered all over the ocean floor. She stopped swimming, her blond curls floating up and down in the water. The curls often brushed against the shoulders of her sleeved uniform that was in the colors of white, blue, and red. The centerpiece of her silver headdress dangled as she kept herself steady with her tail. She held onto a dark gray bag strapped around her back.

The mermaid gasped and smiled in awe as she spotted a large destroyed mass of metal sunken into the ocean floor. A starship. The mermaid had secretly read about many of these large technologies that land dwellers would build to fly up above the water. She had dreamed about what the surface looked like and how millions of tiny circular objects stood still in the sky, shining bright so others could see them from below and around them while flying in a starship.

“Omega, I am not sure we should be traveling around these areas.” A silver crab swam forward to the mermaid as fast as its small legs could go. The crab examined its surroundings, feeling uneasy about all of the junk and the dangerous creatures potentially roaming around in these parts of the ocean. But the young mermaid had convinced them to go with her and it was their job to make sure she was safe.

Omega turned to the little crab. “Oh come on A-zee, we’ll be fine. Can’t just give up now that we found something as amazing as this!”

She had given the nickname to the crab based on the letters and numbers her mistress had assigned the crab when she used to experiment on them. Ever since she was little, AZI had been by her side and was always a good buddy to talk to.

AZI settled down on Omega’s shoulder. “But, if you remember correctly, we are supposed to be-”

“Come on!” The little mermaid didn’t pay attention to AZI, gently holding them as she swam toward the destroyed starship. AZI held on to Omega’s hands as she excitedly swam as fast as she could, wishing she would listen.

Omega slowed down her pace and swam up, observing the ruins from above. The starship had been broken in half and many of its parts had been shattered. Omega wondered what could have done so much damage to something so beautiful. The entire roof of the starship had been torn apart from it, allowing the inside to be completely visible from above. Its wings had been ripped away and laid next to the ship on each side. Whatever its colors were when it was a working ship, they were no longer visible as algae and rust covered the ship.

“A-zee, have you ever seen something so amazing?”

AZI was shocked at the amount of destruction the ship had taken in its mysterious past. They looked up at Omega, whose eyes sparkled with curiosity. She smiled at AZI and held on to them as she swam down and entered the starship.

Many of the large control screens in the ship were cracked and broken, and there were so many items Omega didn’t know about littered around the floor. Her hands loosened as AZI broke free of her hold.

“Omega, please. We shouldn’t be here,” AZI pleaded. They couldn’t help but feel continuously worried about where they were. This sector of the ocean was known for being an area where many large and predatory creatures strolled, and merfolk who often went into these types of areas never came back.

“A-zee, you can’t back out now when we’ve found so many interesting things.” Omega turned to him. “Especially when we can start so many research projects on what we find.”

AZI perked up. “Research?” Omega knew it was his favorite thing to do in the labs. It was the key to getting AZI to explore with her. “Yes, we can research anything we find! Maybe we can research this?” AZI got eager to explore and swam everywhere, asking if they could research certain things AZI found interesting.

Omega swam around curiously and picked up anything her eyes wanted to see closely. Her small hands reached for a small rectangular item that had a cracked screen in the middle and other smaller squares in red and white.

“What is this?” Omega tapped her fingers on the item, pressing the buttons to see if they would possibly do anything. It didn’t resemble any of the underwater technology she was familiar with. Omega took off her bag and placed the item in it. There was a chance her friend knew what it was.

AZI slowly wandered around the ship, looking for things to research about. They watched Omega circle the ship and look at the various trinkets she would discover. She had picked up something that had a very unusual shape, something like a bent V. Her fingers trailed down the metal and reached a circular opening. Omega tilted the artifact and noticed something thin that could be pulled back. Eager, she pulled it back, causing something bright red to shoot out and strike one of the screens, shattering the glass.

AZI yelped and quickly hid behind a control panel. Omega covered her mouth out of shock. “Whoa.” She moved her fingers away from the trigger and held the artifact carefully. Whatever this was, it was powerful. Omega delicately placed it into her bag as another item to collect.

AZI swam out and sighed in relief to calm themselves down. They hoped no one had heard the loud shot nearby. “Omega, please be careful.” AZI didn’t know what they would tell the mistress if something happened to her.

“What was that?” AZI could have sworn they heard something make a rustling noise somewhere. They turned and saw nothing behind them. Their anxiety rose as AZI swam over to Omega, who was picking up something silver and possibly sharp, and it seemed to resemble a trident. Omega tilted her head and examined the object. “I wonder what this is.”

“Omega, maybe we should head back now? Mistress Se could get worried, and I think there’s something out there,” AZI suggested, floating next to her hair. Omega let out a sigh.

“Relax, A-zee. Everything is fine. You��re not getting soft legs, are you?”

AZI crossed their claws. “No, I am not.”

Omega stashed the silver artifact into her bag and strapped it onto her back. She looked up and saw her and AZI’s reflection on the cracked screen in front of them. Her eyes widened as she saw something else coming towards them.

“A-zee!” Omega screamed, quickly grabbing AZI and flapping her tail fins, swimming away before a giant red-orange aquabeast launched itself in their direction. AZI yelped as Omega held a grasp on them in her hands. The aquabeast raced towards the young mermaid while ransacking through the destroyed starship, its large and thinly sharp teeth attempting to tear Omega’s tail into half.

Omega swam away from the monstrous creature as fast as she could, swimming out of the ruins of the starship into the seaweed maze. She zigzagged through the maze as the beast followed her tail. AZI held on, trying not to feel sick with every sharp turn Omega took through the maze. She hoped she would lose the creature in the maze, but it was right on her tail with every swift movement. She panted, finding her way out of the maze with the beast following behind.

The aquabeast growled and followed Omega. Her heart pounded in fear as she tried to find a way to get rid of the creature. She couldn’t see any other route of escape around all the ship debris lying on the floor.

Omega instantly thought back to the artifact she had picked up earlier that had shot out a red blast. Maybe she could use it against the sea creature to get it away. She tried hard to swim faster with the beast right behind her.

“AZI, I need you to reach into my bag and grab the artifact I accidentally used earlier that hit the screen. I’ll distract the creature!” she quickly instructed AZI.

AZI heard Omega and looked up at her. “Omega, I don’t think that is the wisest course of action!”

“Just give me some time! I can use the artifact from earlier to make it go away! Take my bag!” Omega flapped her tail faster and let AZI go from her grasp. AZI swallowed and grabbed Omega’s bag, two small artifacts falling out from it.

“Hey, over here!” Omega exclaimed and waved her arms and tail to get the aquabeast’s attention all on her. The aquabeast roared at her and fiercely swam in her direction. She kept on swimming away in zig-zags around the ocean debris to give AZI some time to take the artifact out. AZI tried to remember what it looked like and quickly scurried through the things Omega had picked up. They found the artifact and pulled it out with both their claws.

“Omega!” AZI shouted. They tried to swim towards Omega to throw her the artifact. Trying to catch her breath, Omega swam in AZI’s direction as the aquabeast kept on following Omega inches away from her. She was growing tired, but she was growing near the artifact. Omega reached her hand out towards AZI as AZI was swimming towards her. They let go of the artifact and threw it towards Omega.

Omega dove down and caught the artifact. Swiftly turning as her instinct took over without warning, she held the artifact with two hands and laid her finger on the trigger just like earlier. She focused her aim on the beast charging towards her and instantly pulled the trigger.

A bright line of red shot in the direction of the aquabeast, striking the beast’s head and grazing its scales. Omega kept on firing as much as she could at the beast. The beast was hit with two more shots, one nearly hitting its eye. The aquabeast let out a growl and began turning around to flee. It let out a small growl and swam away while Omega continued firing blaster shots at it.

Omega released her finger from the trigger on the artifact, exhaling. Her right hand shook a bit. She didn’t know how she did that. She had never held or used an artifact like this in her life before. It just felt like something natural to her at that moment, as if it was a skill in her blood. Omega shook it off and kept on swimming.

AZI followed behind Omega with her bag as the duo swam out of the sector away from all the debris. The ocean water turned a brighter shade of blue, disregarding the cloudy weather that made the sector full of debris seem all dark and mysterious.

Omega slowed down and turned to check on her little crab friend. “You okay, AZI?” She swam over to them to take her bag from them so their small claws weren’t lugging heavy weight.

“I am doing fine, though I think I will need some time to recover.”

Omega couldn’t help but let out a small giggle. “You were pretty brave out there.” She took AZI back into her small hands. They looked like their small legs were getting tired from all the fast swimming they had just endured. “Come on, let’s head to the refinery.”

Now why did AZI feel like they were forgetting something important? All that fast swimming made them quite tired. AZI felt like catching a quick power nap in Omega’s hold until the two reached their destination.

***

Omega and AZI reached an area of the ocean brimming with orange waves of sea smoke forming inside the water from the refinery’s structures. The refinery had worked to mine and gather many sea crystals that were utilized to power a lot of homes and structures that were built by merfolk. There were many refineries like this out there, but this was one of the lesser-known refineries living in the farther sectors of this ocean, which made it vulnerable to taking advantage of young child labor.

The former owner of the refinery had been discovered by the young workers themselves to be exploiting his workers and hiding the profits all for himself. The owner was overthrown by the workers. Today, it would still gather crystals, but it was also more like a factory that collected much clutter and debris land dwellers had dumped and left in the ocean and worked to turn them into items that could be useful for merfolks’ homes. Land dwellers were considered monsters and poisoners to the ocean, but all the scrap they left behind was taken into advantage.

Many of the mer-workers were young teenagers and some adults who had been winded up in the business because they needed access to a job and a place to stay. After removing their former boss from control, the workers stayed at the refinery and continued to mine sea crystals for other merfolk. It was the only home the teenagers ever knew, and the adults who were around helped to take care of the young mermaids.

Omega knew one of the young workers after meeting him at a small crystal cave she had been secretly exploring in hopes of finding anything for her collection. The young merboy had noticed all the things she had collected and began to ask her where she had gotten them. Omega was suspicious of him at first in fear that he might steal anything she found, but once the merboy began to name some of the artifacts she had found and tell her what land dwellers used them for, Omega was intrigued by everything that he knew about land dwellers. Omega wanted to know more and had long entrusted him to be her informant on all things related to land dwellers.

AZI had woken up by the time the two arrived at the refinery, swimming alongside their friend. Omega swam inside, looping around machines and swimming past other merfolk who resided and worked here. She waved and gave a few greetings to the workers as she passed them by.

“Hey, Omega!” A merboy with a hairstyle similar to a mohawk and red markings surrounding his neck waved. “Find more good things today?”

“Yep!” Omega beamed. She hadn’t noticed that her headdress was crooked from all the rapid swimming and her hands were a little stained from the artifacts she had picked up (and used).

“Where did you go this time? Your hairpiece is out of place, by the way,” Drake pointed out. Omega moved a hand to the centerpiece of her headdress and found the centerpiece to be on the right side of her forehead. She quickly took it off and put it back on, hoping it wasn’t messy anymore. It would have been trouble if Mistress Se saw her that way.

“A sunken starship,” Omega answered him. Drake’s curiosity perked up, which Omega gave a smile to as another reply. “It’s in the outer sectors. I can show you guys another time.”

“You sure you should be wandering around in places like that? Wouldn’t your caretaker get upset?” asked Drake.

“Hey, as long as I don’t get caught doing it,” Omega shrugged. “Curiosity does make the crab stronger.” Omega had learned that underwater phrase from the boys who lived here.

Drake chuckled. “Looking forward to it. Benni’s in the back handing out some food,” he told her.

“Thanks.” Omega swam forward past Drake, heading to the eating area of the refinery. This time of the day was the break hour. All workers were getting themselves something to eat before their next shifts, hence Omega often came to the refinery during this time.

AZI followed Omega and entered the refinery’s break area, where many merfolk were enjoying some food and snacks during their breaks. Their former owner was no longer around to restrict their access to food and necessary supplies for their wellbeing, keeping it all to himself. The merfolk were able to work without going hungry or thirsty for long periods of time.

“Remember, you developed an allergy to these. You shouldn’t be eating them anymore.” A merboy with a maroon tail advised an older mermaid while giving her some food on a tray. The mermaid thanked the boy and went off to eat with others.

“Omega!” Benni Baro swam over to Omega and AZI. “How ya doing?” Before Omega could respond, he spotted her bag and continued, “You’ve got quite the finds this time.” He tilted his head, signaling her to follow him to the main control room in the refinery.

The control room had been the place where their former owner had hidden all of their food away from them. Now it was just a place to keep a record of things and to hang out sometimes. Benni pressed a switch to open the door, leading Omega and AZI inside.

“I lost some things because of a mishap, but I got what I found.” Omega took out the artifacts she collected one by one onto the desk.

“Let me guess, a giant beast tried to eat you and A-zee,” Benni guessed. Omega looked at him, surprised his guess was right this time.

Benni smiled, getting the notion that he was right. “It’s getting quite common in some areas. Think it’s migration season. Oh, I also have something to show you.” He swam over to a shelf and picked up a golden flower.

“I found it this morning floating on the ocean surface. There was a really large sea ship passing by when I found them. There were a few floating around, but I don’t know why.”

“A sea ship?” Omega got curious. “What did it look like?”

“I couldn’t get a good look at it, but it was red and black. And huge. Might have belonged to the royal family on land.”

Omega had heard about the royal land dwellers that lived on the surface from Benni. He had never seen what they look like, but he would always hear land dwellers talking about them.

Benni placed the flower in Omega’s hands. “What is this?”

“Not sure,” Benni answered. “Some kind of land flower. I think they’re native to the island near us.”

It was so small and beautiful. Omega had always explored flowers that grow underwater, but this one was special since it grew on land. Its petals were so soft and delicate. Deep inside, she felt connected to this flower. As if it was meant for her. “I wish I could have seen the ship.”

“Still won’t let ya go anywhere near the surface, huh?”

“No,” she sighed, crossing her arms. “Mistress Se says it's forbidden and dangerous to go anywhere near the surface.”

“Mistress Se is right,” AZI jumped in. “Land dwellers are said to act very vicious towards sea creatures like us. Someone could spot you, and they could do the unthinkable.” AZI didn’t want to think about what land dwellers did with crabs.

“Yeah, they can be true, but I don’t think all of them are like that. Alrighty, let’s see here.” Benni changed the conversation and scattered the artifacts Omega had brought, picking them up and feeling their textures. AZI crawled onto the desk around the artifacts. Benni gave them a gentle pat on the head.

“Interesting.” Benni picked up the small silver artifact that resembled a trident, holding it between two fingers.

Omega swam an inch closer, her curiosity focusing on the object. “What is it?” she asked with an intrigued tone.

Benni twirled the trident-like artifact. “Pretty sure it’s called a dinglehopper.”

“A dinglehopper.” Omega took the artifact from his hand, examining it more closely now that she knew its name. “What is it used for?”

“Sometimes in the marketplace, I’d see them using this to eat their food.” Benni was a mer-shifter, meaning that he had the ability to transform from a sea creature into a land dweller. Not many mer-people were born with that ability and some wished they had that capability. It was said that mer-shifters were a high-ranking species in the world of merfolk underwater in ancient times, though as the number of mer-shifters were declining, that all became a thing of the past. Benni was the only mer-shifter Omega had met. She dreamed of having his ability so she could turn into a land dweller and visit the surface like he could to collect items. But like many others, she was born a normal mermaid.

“What about this?” Omega carefully picked up the artifact she had used to fight off the aquabeast. She made sure to distance her fingers away from the trigger.

Benni eyed the artifact, tilting his head. Omega continued, “I had found this, and I used it when the aquabeast was chasing me and AZI.”

“What do you mean you ‘used’ it?” Benni asked her.

“A loud shot would come out from the artifact whenever Omega tried to get the beast to leave, and it did work,” AZI elaborated.

Benni raised an eyebrow. Omega pointed to the trigger. “You pull that back with a finger and it makes something bright red come out of it-”

He pulled the trigger, a red shot striking the door. Omega and AZI jumped in surprise from the blaster shot. Benni didn’t quite expect that to happen.

“Hmm, I’m not sure. Never seen it before,” he said. “But it could be called a blaster. You know, because it blasted the door.”

“Very funny,” Omega rolled her eyes. “What about this though? It has buttons like the ones in the labs, but it doesn't really look like anything the Kaminoans use.” She picked up the rectangular item from earlier with the buttons on it.

Benni took it from her hands and looked at it closer, pressing the buttons. “Well, it’s not going to do anything underwater, so nothing like we have. But I think it’s something used for collecting and presenting data.”

Presenting data. Those words made Omega think. “The data….” She slapped a hand to the top of her head. “The presentation! A-zee, Mistress Se’s going to kill me!”

AZI just remembered what they were trying to tell the girl themselves. “I tried to remind you, Omega, but you wouldn’t listen.”

“I wonder if there’s anything stored in here,” said Benni, toying with the artifact. He hadn’t paid attention to what Omega had said as she began to pack up the artifacts back into her bag.

“Sorry, I have to go. I’ll come by another time!” Omega strapped her bag on and scooped up AZI into one hand, the other holding her golden flower. “Thank you!”

“Anytime!” Omega waved to Benni as she quickly swam her way out of the refinery. She hoped she wouldn’t get into too much trouble once she reached home.

***

“Swim home fast, little one.”

Omega swam as fast as she could to get back home. AZI kept themselves in her hand and talked to her as they swam home. She was visible on a circular floating screen that had dark green magic swirling around its borders. A merman watched Omega with curious thoughts running through his mind.

In an unknown sector of the ocean, multi-colored sea life glowed brightly around a large mass of black coral. Three mer-people lived inside surrounded by all of the unique creatures and plants far away from other merfolk and sea creatures who lived in the ocean.

A mermaid with an orange top and tail with golden specks sprinkled around her tail like glitter watched Omega. Her dark brown ponytail floated in the water as she leaned forward to look closer at Omega. She yearned to meet her one day.

With a swift hand movement, the magic screen disappeared into the water. The mermaid watched the merman swim away towards a shelf formed by coral that was filled with different vials of any shape and color. His sharp dark green tail moved back and forth, scales patterned across his collarbone and shoulders that were embroidered on his skin visible under the light. He tilted his head while inspecting a few vials, his black hair swaying to the side in the water.

“Does Mistress Se really take good care of Omega?” the mermaid asked him. She lightly swung her tail back and forth, almost like a young land dweller who dangles and kicks their feet over water while sitting on a dock near the sea.

“She is Nala Se’s prized creation,” the merman replied, keeping his eyes on the vials. “The Kaminoan would do anything to make sure that she is kept safe and far away from the truth.”

The mermaid couldn’t help but feel dispirited. She had known Nala Se for half of her childhood, and she only remembered continuous tests and days locked up in a room with some things to keep her mind busy. Never any close care or bother regarding what happened to her. All she was to the Kaminoan was another experiment to be used and thrown away.

The merman slightly itched his left arm, which was covered in multiple scars and a few very pale bruises. He averted his eyes to the mermaid, noticing the way she was getting lost in her thoughts.

“No one can ever be trusted. They threw you away, just like everyone did to me,” he said.

He was the one who had picked her up after being ousted by the Kaminoan. The mermaid wasn’t needed anymore for any experiments, slated for termination. The merman had saved her life, and she had remained by his side since, treated more like a living being than an experiment.

“Do you trust me?” the mermaid asked him. The merman raised an eyebrow, not responding to the question.

“I want to keep a watch on Omega. If you think she could be helpful to what you seek, it’s good to know where she often goes and what else could be useful to take advantage of.”

The real truth was that she just wanted to see more of her little sister.

“Emerie-”

“Please let me do this,” Emerie pleaded.

“What exactly is a little girl going to do to help you?”

The voice of another mermaid sitting above them while working with some large vials entered the conversation, grabbing their attention. She turned to face the two who were below her, her silky purple tail swaying in the water. Her dark brown hair was kept in a tight bun to try and avoid messy hair, her front bangs and strands of hair often lifting up in the water. She continued, “Allow me to go with her if she’s going to go outside of this place. She can’t go alone. And I don’t quite like being kept on the sidelines when it comes to your plans.”

“Don’t be too ambitious, Dr. Scalder,” the merman told her. The mermaid simply kept a frown and tried not to roll her eyes, turning back to her work.

The merman thought for a moment before turning back to Emerie. He was hesitant about it, but it could prove to be beneficial. “You may keep an eye on Omega, and Dr. Scalder will go with you.”

Emerie wasn't thrilled about someone tagging along with her, but she lit up a smile. “Thank you, Dr. Hemlock.”

Scalder swam down to join Emerie, swimming out of their hideout (though it was considered more of a base). Cries for help echoed nearby in the mix of screams and whines. Many mermen, identical in physical appearance, were kept behind prisons built of dark coral. While the mermaids swam past those prisons, the mermen watched them, freely swimming while they were kept confined to their cells. Many of the mermen scowled at the mermaids.

Emerie looked at the helpless mermen and quickly moved her gaze away in seconds. She was one like them, despite being very different. She couldn’t do anything about them.

The mermaids made it outside, the mermen’s voices growing lower as they swam away. The mermen began to grow silent in their cells. A small smirk tugged at Hemlock’s lips, having enjoyed the desperation of the mermen in his captivity. He snapped his fingers, the floating screen formed by his magic reappearing.

Omega was almost home to her mistress. Now that’s a show he wanted to see.

End Notes: Here's a guessing question, what is the rectangular item with buttons Omega collected? all right answers get a flower 🌼

taglist: @kurlyfrii @orion-tyche @magicandmundane @biancadiangelosghost @sntofbirbs @half-truths-and-hyperbole-louk @fritoley @omegafett99 @bossboudicca @amalthiaph @ahsokashawarma1138 @dragonrider9905 @luzfeather @ladywren7 (let me know if you want to be tagged for future chapters!)

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