Under the Sea

A new piece of Chobits fan fiction! AO3 user Katakatica wrote this short story about Diver Clad encountering a Cyborg Mermaid…

He had always been obsessed by the sea, so it was no surprise to anyone that he spent all the money he had – and more – on learning how to dive. Clad in the heavy suit, he felt strange each time he allowed the waves to embrace his body as he sunk before using what little time he had there to look around, to make memories of a world he had always craved to see, but he knew well that without the equipment, it would have been dangerous.

Suicide even, especially with all the stories he had heard. There were more and more trying to discover those that lived where humans have rarely ventured so far: and lives were lost many a day.

However, something that only a few of them knew was the reason behind what was going on. Maybe the mystery of the situation was what made it even more tragic in many ways. No one really knew why there were professional divers disappearing one by one: only for their bodies to be found stripped of their equipment as if they had gone mad enough to get rid of them on their own. It was often sudden, too: they would be communicating with others and then just.. disappear.

So, needless to say, it paid quite well at the moment and try and uncover the truth. He was a little unsure if it was a good idea for him to actually try and do it – because really, he did not have a death wish, – but money was needed and he loved diving, so… Maybe dying like that would have been great.

He never expected this ‘job’ to change his mind.

At first, there was nothing odd about the section of open sea they had sent him down – it was a little bare if anything, most of the sea-creatures holding somewhat dull colors despite how only a few hundred meters away, it was said to be absolutely stunning. But there was nothing spectacular about the sight…

Not only he spotted it.

A long tail seemed to be sticking out from behind some rocks and he dared venture closer, eyes widening under his mask when he realized that the creature was larger than he had thought it would be: human-sized in the least. Twirling with fins and scales of gold and white, it looked too ethereal to belong to a fish (or really, not one that he had heard of before), the tail swished from side to side.

Somehow, he had the feeling that whatever the creature was, it was connected to all the deaths in the area. But as he tried to get closer, he realized that he was unsure about reporting it: his heart clenched at the thought.

Going against his better judgement, he finally swam in close enough so that he could go around the rock and his eyes widened:

It was a human – or at least partially, with the upper-body of a woman, a curious look in her dark, dark eyes.

And that was when he realized that he, like many other, had fallen into her trap.

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