Chapter Text
As always, it took way too much effort for Jay to get out of bed.
Sure, he always overslept and played games for most of the day, but it's not much of an exciting existence.
It's better than whatever job they assigned him to do, though. He was supposed to send people that had been stuck in weird pockets in between realms because of the merge back to their original realms, something like that. Not only did he not understand half of it, it also very much creeped him out.
I mean, the people were unmoving, as if in a coma, but still standing up somehow. That's weird! The number of people that had fallen victim to it was scary too, what if the same thing had happened to him? His body shuddered at the thought.
Next to that, he was pretty sure his coworkers were sending the victims to the wrong places. It felt wrong to participate in something like that.
Oh well, that wasn't something he should be thinking of today. This special day was only for relaxation and chill thoughts. After lots and lots and lots of paper work, Jay had gotten permission to take a day off outside of the administration. He wasn't about to let this opportunity go to waste.
His depressing room had started bothering him more lately, which wasn't too surprising considering he spend most if not all of his time there. The administration was pretty strict about people leaving the realm, it took signing a lot of paperwork to even get a breath of fresh air. Jay didn't get it at all.
Of course there were people that could travel out of the administration with ease, but only because that was what their department did, Jay wasn't part of their department.
After making his decision a few days ago, he filled out the necessary paperwork to have a day off on one of the most relaxing places he could think of: the beach. Away from games, away from people, away from the administration, it seemed perfect for the occasion.
He had already packed his stuff the day before, so he instantly grabbed his bag and left that lame excuse for an office.
Navigating the similar halls of the administration wasn't the hardest task for him, so he made his way to the right location fairly quickly, trying to not draw too much attention while he inserted the portal punch card. Not only did he not want to interact with anyone, but he also looked weird walking around in swimming shorts in a building packed with people in suits.
His way to temporary freedom appeared in front of him, it span chaotically, he never would've entered something like that if he hadn't already seen it a thousand times. He awkwardly stepped through, scared it was suddenly going to close in front of him.
The sudden open area accompanied with a bright blue sky and sand reaching into the unending sea was certainly a scenery change he had to get used to, but he was probably going to struggle more when he eventually had to leave.
After taking a deep breath of fresh air, he scanned the area around him. There thankfully wasn't much, no people, no unending halls filled with computers, just sand and the ocean not very far from him. He looked to his right and saw the start of a big area covered with giant rocks, placed perfectly so he could jump off of them right into the sea.
A grin made its way onto his face, that was the perfect way to enter the water. Otherwise he'd have to suffer every step into cold. After finding a nice spot, he put his stuff down and made his way to the rocks.
the view from his makeshift diving platform was nice, though the water looked almost violent by the way it smacked against the rocks beneath him. An unpleasant feeling made it’s way into his gut, but he decided to ignore it.
He steadied his feet, took a breath and jumped.
Nothing could’ve prepared him for the feeling he got when he hit the water. His mind suddenly started panicking, the cold water seemed to remind him of something, but he couldn’t figure out what. He needed air, quick. The sudden panic made him unable to think, leading him to gasp for air while still underwater, filling his lungs with prickling seawater. This only made the off feeling he should be remembering something worse.
He tried his best to think rationally, he needed to get above water for air, but his body refused to move when he told it to. His muscles were tensed and he couldn’t tell if he was trembling from the cold or from something else. What the fuck was going on?
Starting to sink more and more into the deep ocean, only inhaling more seawater from attempting to get air before, his mind only became fuzzier. He was going to die, he realized. For the amount he was still able to think properly, he found comfort in that. He was kind of done with life anyways, doing the same boring job every day, all alone. There was still an underlying panic, but he didn’t have to suffer for long, as his consciousness got stripped away from him.
-
His chest burned.
He tried to breathe, but ended up instantly vomiting out a concerning amount of water next to him instead. As he kept coughing, his brain slowly started to take in his situation. His hands uncomfortably gripped the sand he was laying on, his lungs felt as if they were on fire along with his eyes and his entire body felt weak.
“Are you alright?”
The sudden voice was unexpected, so Jay tried to open his eyes the best he could to see where it came from. A giant dragon seemingly made of water hovered over him, half of its body was covered by the sea in front of his feet, but its head was right in front of him, staring into his eyes.
“Uhm-“ he instantly started coughing again, his voice was hoarse and even letting that tiny sound out already hurt. It was a lot for his brain to process, nonetheless the mythical creature in front of him. All he could do was stare with widened eyes.
“Oh, apologies, this form of mine must scare you.” The creature spoke, yet its mouth didn’t move. Suddenly, it shrunk to Jay’s size, adapting into a more human-like form. “Is this... better?”
Still shocked, Jay replied with a simple nod. The creature was now a woman, hair shaped to imitate a ponytail, which flowed in the wind behind her. She seemed familiar in a way, but he couldn’t quite place why he felt like that.
There was an awkward silence, which Jay never was a fan of, so he spoke to break it. “Did you… save me?” It felt like a weird question, they were the only ones there, so who else could’ve? His voice was still hoarse and it hurt to talk, he probably sounded like an insane person. He tried not to think about how his body would look like after almost drowning.
A tiny smile appeared on the sea’s face. “Yes, I did. I often save humans that fall into the ocean, though they are usually accompanied by a boat or some sort, that got attacked by animals or the harsh waves. This.. is a special case.”
He could feel his face warm up slightly from embarrassment, which wasn’t too bad considering how cold his body was in comparison. “I- I don’t know what happened. My mind just started racing and suddenly I couldn’t move my body anymore. Ugh, the world has been confusing lately, if not always.”
She giggled lightly. “I can relate to that. The ocean is calming, but there’s always a weird feeling in the back of my mind. The interactions I’ve had with other humans do not help with that, they always speak to me like I am someone else.” She paused for a second, eyeing Jay up and down. “You, however, have by far given me the weirdest feeling.”
Jay could only laugh as a response. “Really? Why’s that?” he asked, trying to ignore the weirdness of him sharing that same feeling towards her.
With slow steps she walked closer to him, out of ocean, onto the beach. While remaining eye contact, she crouched down next to him. They stayed like that for a minute, letting the awkward silence fill the air again. Jay could feel himself starting to blush from the closeness between them, he didn’t know a creature from the ocean could be this pretty.
“You’re shaking.” She said blankly, which brought him back to earth. It made him realize how cold he was and that he was, in fact, shaking. He wrapped his arms around himself in an attempt to lessen his suffering, but it barely helped.
“I might be a bit cold from almost drowning.” He said jokily, but received a blank stare instead of a laugh. “My stuff should be around here somewhere…” He looked around desperately, if he lost his stuff he would have to fill in a lot of unwanted paperwork. Thankfully, he quickly spotted his bag not far from where they were sitting.
“I’ll get it!” She got up as soon as she saw his bag, eager to help. Jay didn’t protest, because he honestly did not want to move his body at that moment. When she got back she took his towel out the bag and wrapped it around him, he ignored that the edges he grabbed to wrap it tighter were wet from her hands.
He let out a relieved sigh, already starting to feel less cold. The sea-lady that had saved him moments before started looking through his bag curiously, pulling out his portal gun soon after.
“Wow, wow be careful with that!” he called out quickly and took it from her. Her response was just a confused and slightly sad look. “This is my only way home and I can only use it once, would be a shame if it fired now and I had to leave early.” He smiled and carefully put the gun on the sand next to him.
She rummaged through the bag a bit longer but didn’t find anything of interest, so she left it alone, Jay hoped his bag wasn’t filled with water after that. The silence got loud again.
“So, what’s your name?” He asked curiously, there was a lot more he wanted to know more about her now, but that was the most necessary question.
Her expression saddened and she faced towards the unending sea. “I.. don’t remember…” Well, that wasn’t the most useful answer. “Though, the humans I’ve met have called me ‘Nya’ often, I wonder if that is my real name, if I possess one.”
“Nya… sounds good to me. Nice to meet you, Nya.” He said with a tone that was a bit more cheery than usual.
She smiled. “Nice to meet you too, …uhm...”
“Ag-“ he instantly stopped himself, had he not introduced himself with his first name in so long he automatically referred to himself as Agent Walker? “Jay, I’m Jay.” He tried not to think about what just happened.
“Jay…” She repeated the name, starting to get a bit lost in thought.
“Is that a name other humans also mention often?” He tried to joke, but Nya seemed to be a tough audience.
She seemed a bit more frustrated now, trying her best to think. “No…” After sighing and shaking her head, she turned back to him. “Why did you come here? Usually humans travel in groups, but you are alone. this beach doesn’t get much visitors either.”
That felt like a hit to the stomach, so Jay awkwardly faced away from her and towards the sea. “The place where I work is pretty boring, so I thought a day out at the beach would be a cool idea. Turns out I was wrong.” He wrapped the towel tighter around him. “The people there are… pretty weird, not really my style. So I just mostly chill alone.”
That wasn’t the full truth, in fact, ‘chill’ was a horrible word to describe it. Days at the administration more felt like a hell specifically to torture him. He felt incredibly misplaced with the people there and the work itself made him uncomfortable in general. It was incredibly boring too, and playing games all day for years isn’t as exciting as it sounds.
Besides that, he was incredibly lonely. Deep down he knew he loved chatting to others about his interests or a weird thing that had happened to him that day, but when he had initially arrived at the administration, everyone was too busy to have a simple conversation with him. Or worse, he received a weird look from them. He learned pretty fast to just stop trying.
“That is… relatable to me, in a way.” She spoke gently, analyzing her make-shift body. “The humans I’ve met are either scared of me or they talk to me as if they have known me for a long time. I never know how to respond, so I just leave instead. Though, I cannot really participate in a conversation with the sea animals, meaning I mostly travel through the ocean alone.”
“Well.. you don’t have to be alone anymore, for how much my work allows me to leave at least.” Jay offered. He hoped he didn’t sound too desperate, but in reality he was. This was the longest conversation he’s had in a while.
She turned to him and gave a genuine smile. “that’d be nice, Jay.”
They had an honest moment for a few seconds, but it quickly got interrupted by Nya’s body deforming, earning a surprised yelp from Jay.
“Oh, sorry. It starts to get difficult to keep my form when I’m out of the ocean for too long.” She said calmly, even though her face seemed to be melting.
“Well let’s move closer to the water then!” he tried to sound calm, but it was obvious he was freaking out.
She awkwardly stood up and made her way to the sea, stumbling along the way. Jay hovered next to her, not knowing if assisting her by holding her hand would do anything. He opted for making no physical contact incase he’d make it worse.
When they reached the ocean, Nya’s form went back to normal, her upper body visible above the shallow water.
“This… is weird.” Jay spoke bluntly, not having fully processed the situation he was in yet. His confusion had calmed down before, but the deforming had been another sort of wakeup call.
“I’ve experienced weirder things.” Nya replied casually. “You experience a lot yet nothing at the same time as the sea.”
That made sense, he figured. He didn’t know much about the sea, but it must get lonely even though it is seemingly endless. Curious to know more about his new friend, (were they friends? He sure hoped so, he hadn’t had a friend before.) he asked; “like wh-“
An annoying alarm coming from his watch interrupted his question. “Shit- that’s my sign I have to leave.” With one press the blaring sound stopped and he sighed disappointingly in response.
“You can’t stay for a little longer?” She asked confused, not getting the urgency for him to go back to his job.
“Nope, if I do I’ll probably have to file two piles of paperwork, or get demoted, that’s how far the sticks up their asses are.”
Nya stared blankly, head tilting slightly like a confused dog. Jay just smiled awkwardly as a reply and made his way back towards his stuff. He swapped his towel for his jacket and put his pants over his almost dried swimming shorts.
A sudden lump began to form in his chest when he picked up his bag. He remembered that he’d have to go back to his depressing job, locked in that same room for who knows how long. Not only that, but he didn’t want to leave Nya. He wanted to talk more, to get to know her more. This was the most intriguing conversation he’d had in years.
But he couldn’t leave the administration, not when there’s no other place to live with food and water for him. Even if he tried to run under those conditions, the other agents would probably come for him and do who knows what.
He sighed those thoughts away, for now at least, and turned back to Nya, who had followed him back out of the water. “I, uhm, I can try to visit again, if you want that.” he offered, hoping she thought he was just as important to her as she was to him, even though they had just met.
“I’d love that.” She smiled softly and watched intently as Jay grabbed the portal gun.
There was an awkward silence, neither of them wanting to leave each other’s presence, but when Jay remembered the consequences of being late, he accepted he really had to go. He shot the gun and a portal appeared in front of them. After he prepared himself to go back, he turned back to Nya. “Cya.”
“Cya.”
He stepped into the portal, it closing right after him, and just like that, he was back in his personal hell hole.
Instantly he missed the fresh air from the area on the beach, it now being replaced with familiar office stench. He could hear keyboard clicking sounds echo throughout the building, instead of the calming tone of the waves.
Ignoring his suffering, he quickly made his way to the guy that he was supposed to report back to, handing him the crumbled up form he had signed before and not communicating anything other than a quick wave.
He made his way back to his department as quick as he could, slamming the door behind him when he finally made it to his room. All the sounds disappeared, he sighed and sat down in front of his desk. He was back, he felt weird and not in a good way.
It was evening now, around 6pm, which made him realize how hungry he was. He figured he’d get dinner later, then he’d try and find a way for work to let him go to the beach again tomorrow.
He turned on his pc, opened a tab and typed into the search bar: “marine life”.