𝙊𝙁𝙁 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘾𝙊𝘼𝙎𝙏𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙀 𝙠. 𝙖𝙠𝙖𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙚

𝘪. 𝘵𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘭

Waves caressed the sea shore as clouds blanketed the clear sky, a stunning sight [name] would never trade for anything else. Sighing through her nose, the college student continued to scribble notes down about her observations she made in the small tide pool she stumbled across just moments ago.

Currently, she was taking a college course in marine biology which required a minimum of at least four years. She was only in her second. It was going to be even longer if she chose to try for a master's degree. It was stressful, yes, but it was interesting and enjoyable to her nonetheless.

A grin made its way to [name]'s lips as she watched a small crab scurry back under its hiding rock. She placed her notebook and pen on a nearby rock before lifting the camera into her hands that hung around her neck. Snapping a quick picture of the small pocket of water filled with sand, shells, and creatures— [name] decided that she would wrap her studies up.

The sun had a little over an hour until it would set completely, but she wanted some time to relax on the rotting, old dock nearby that was rarely used anymore. The tides' levels had risen over the years and eventually took over the dock in height when tides were at their highest, making it useless unless tides were low. There was a new dock built just a few miles away from the original just a few months back where it became a popular area for the public. However, the older dock was a popular area for [name]. No one really went over there anymore due to the rocky terrain anyway.

[name] climbed the wet rocks leading up to the dock carefully after she placed her notebook and camera into her small [color] backpack she carried around. When she lifted herself onto the damp dock, she sighed in relief. Even if she did it multiple times, heights still scared her a little. She wished they had kept the stairs attached to the dock at least, but they thought it was too dangerous to be walking on water-rotted wood.

After a few feet of cautious walking, [name] made it to the edge of the dock and sat down with her legs hanging off. At the moment, tides were lower than ever, which meant there was a good ten to twelve feet gap from the sea to the top of the dock. It made [name] a little nervous, but she did it when the tides were average so she convinced herself it shouldn't be a big deal for any other tide levels.

"I wonder if I can rent a boat or something for my project..." [name] thought aloud to herself as she opened her bag and took a small snack out. Popping one of the small treats into her mouth, she hummed as she admired the sun falling over the sea.

If you had told her younger self this is where she would be in the future, she never would've believed it. All her hard work led to this. And she had nothing to complain about. She goes to college, gets passing grades, has friends, speaks with her family from time to time, and even has a decent part-time job... Except... It felt too average— too... Boring.

Over and over again, she went to school, learned, talked to friends, learned more, left the campus, went to the beach to write down observations, studied as she ate dinner, and then went to bed before she repeated the process. On the weekends she just worked most of the day and took a small walk along the beach before she went home.

It felt like her life was on repeat and it was getting old. As much as she loved having to deal with little to-no problems, except for a few rushed essays because she forgot, things were bland. She wanted something new.

[name] stuffed the empty snack bag into her backpack, switching it with her camera instead so she could take a quick picture. With a click of a button, the camera turned on and [name] lifted it up to her eye-level. As the camera focused on the sunset in front of her, a feminine voice chirped out behind her.

"[name], there you are!"

A yelp escaped [name]'s lips as the camera slipped from her hands and into the shallow sea. [name] scrambled to her feet as she whipped around. "Kaede! My camera!"

Kaede's face fell into immediate regret as she realized what happened, "Oh no! I'm so sorry!" The green haired girl panicked.

Quickly and warily, [name] climbed down the rocks and ran under the dock to look for her fallen camera. Kaede followed closely behind to help, continuing to apologize in a flurry of words.

"I—I'll even pay for a new one, I swear- I'm really sorry—!"

"It's ok, I just need to find it fast, it's water resistant, but not waterproof. Hopefully it'll still work," [name] bit her lip as she went deeper into the water to potentially save over hundreds of photos stored in her camera. Sure, she had them uploaded onto a USB, but it was expensive as hell and was a Christmas gift from a close friend.

Huffing through her nose and slightly shivering from the chilled water, it was already up to her collarbone. But she really needed that camera. Taking in a deep breath, [name] ducked into the water with her eyes squinted.

Kaede gave a small yell in surprise, not expecting her friend to go under. She felt nervous as she stood on shore, she couldn't necessarily help her friend if she was to drown, as she didn't really know how to swim either.

Water clogged [name]'s ears, muffling the noises from above. It felt tranquil, but it would be more pleasant if the water wasn't as cold. [eye color] eyes teared up from the high salt content in the sea as she tried looking around for a blurred bulky item. With the strobes of sunlight reflecting through the water, [name] could make out a few fish swimming by along with some plants. Getting frustrated, she rose to the surface for a gulp of air.

"[name]! Are you okay?!" Kaede shouted with worry.

Coughing slightly, [name] responded, "Yes! I just can't see it anywhere! I'm going deeper, I'll be fine!" And with that, the [hair color] haired female dove back under.

Kaede screeched, "Deeper?! No! [name], I'll just buy a new one!"

[name] swam along the downwards slope of the sea-floor, not really listening to what Kaede had to say. She knew she only had limited time until she had to swim back for air, so she widened her eyes slightly and tried adjusting her stinging orbs to the surrounding area.

Thoroughly glancing around, she finally caught sight of her precious camera sitting idly in the sand in front of a forest of kelp. Her eyes lit up as she swam without hesitation to her camera. She felt lucky that she was able to find something after dropping it into the sea, usually, no one really bothered to look after dropping something because their stuff is gone by the time. [name] placed a hand on her camera, relief and hope filling her.

But her heart dropped when a hand other than her own reached out of the cluster of kelp and grabbed her hand.

Her eyes trailed the webbed hand-like limb and into the kelp, time slowing as she made eye contact with two glowing eyes the color of caution signs. Without realizing it, [name] had breathed in due to shock, causing water to fill her lungs. She choked as her hand jerked back and onto her throat as she stopped herself. Her lungs burned, but she couldn't break eye contact with the mysterious creature lurking in the kelp.

Forget about the camera, she should've just let Kaede buy her a new one.

Hello, hello, yes, I'm back with the content. It's been awhile, but honestly this AU has been on my mind for quite awhile and I'm back in my Karma phase so I said why not lol. I've got lots planned for this story with the help and input of some of my friends :) Hope you enjoy.