A Real MerMAY (Patreon)

Story by Lilly (@seasaltalchemist)

Rebecca was walking home from work on a dark street after having a horrible day. Between rude customers, her boss being unreasonable, and the icing on the cake of her girlfriend breaking up with her she just wanted to get away from everything. The light rain earlier had been a fitting backdrop to her dreary mood and she found herself wishing it had continued. Overhead the full moon peaked out of the clouds, and here and there it was reflected in puddles. Sometimes she stepped in them just ruin the perfect image. Across the street waves crashed against the shore, giving her a nice relaxing sound to walk home to.

When she got to the crosswalk she paused. Normally she would turn left to finish her walk home, but something on the opposite side of the street caught her eye. It was bright green and glowing faintly. As much as she just wanted to go home, she found she couldn't take her eyes away from it. So when the light changed to red and the sign told her she could safely cross she did so. There was no one else out walking on the street, so she couldn't call out to someone to tell them they dropped something. And she found she really didn't want to. Instead she had every desire to pick it up. Something about it was calling to her, much the same way the moon calls the waves. Rebecca stooped over and picked it up. It was a small vial full of what looked like some sort of slime. Was this mutagen? Is this what people whispered about? For some reason she felt like a kid on Christmas eve that had discovered where her parents had hid her presents. Her hands began to tingle, but giddiness swept through her and she found herself smiling. She decided to take her treasure over to the beach to examine it further. Perhaps the waves could help her relax a little more, too.

The moment she got to the sand she removed her shoes and let it squish between her toes. A few people were walking along the shore in the late evening hours, though no one was especially close by. Rebecca went down by the water and sat down in the sand before uncurling her hand and looking at the glowing specimen inside it.

She lifted up the vial trying to get a closer look at it and noticed a small crack running along the bottom. Some of the contents dripped into her hands, splooshing in them like some sort of thin slime. Her hands grew warm as soon as the substance touched them, and some sort of weird ache crept into them as well. It was almost as if she'd spent the entire day knitting and her hands were just exhausted from being overworked. That's when she heard it. A weird slurping sound joined the rhythm of the waves coming in. At first she didn't know what it was, but she looked closer at her hands. The skin between her fingers was creeping upwards creating a thin film between each one. It looked like something a sea creature might have, like the webbing between frog toes or something. This was definitely mutagen she'd found. Rebecca gasped and jumped. The vial fell from her hand and even the light impact with her legs was a enough to cause the already fragile glass to shatter, the contents spilling all over her legs.

As she watched the mutagen seeped into her skin, being completely absorbed by her flesh. Oh god what was going to happen now?! The moment it was completely absorbed a painful ache slid all through her legs. Her muscles began to twitch and cramp, and she found herself unable to move her legs at will. Rebecca screamed in panic as her body, of it's own volition, lay back on the beach, her legs stretching out straight. Her heart was racing and she couldn't figure out what was going on as she felt sharp cracks and cramps fly through her body. She squeezed her eyes shut, a few tears leaking from the corners of them. She knew she was changing, but into what she didn't know. She'd heard that mutagen could have all sorts of effects on people. What was it going to do to her?

When she opened her eyes again a moment later, they landed on the waves rolling in. Something about them was soothing, calming even as pain filled her legs. She felt some strange pull to go to it. Like she just needed to be closer to it, completely submerged in it even. Rebecca tried to move, but the only thing that would budge was her arms. Her legs were throbbing and slurping loudly and sticking together. Her thighs were pushing into themselves, flesh fusing. It merged together all down her legs, completely joining them together into one long thick appendage. She screamed in horror and shock as her ankles snapped and turned outward. The bones in her feet cracked and broke, all but dissolving as her feet flattened and stretched out into long sheer fins.

The desire to get to the water had only grown as her legs changed and it was nearly overpowering at this point. It even felt hard to breathe now, almost like she was drowning despite not being in water. Rebecca rolled herself over onto her stomach and used her arms to start crawling her way down to the water, inch by inch. The closer she got to it the better she felt, and when a wave lapped at her skin it felt like a breath of fresh air. Yes, this is what she needed. This is what she wanted!

It didn't take her long to crawl into the ocean and the moment she did the skin all along her legs began ripping apart, shredding and flaking away in the water revealing shimmery blue scales beneath. Rebecca gasped for air as she dove below the surface, finally reaching her destination. The ocean was cool, but welcoming and freeing. She found that she didn't need to hold her breath, and could breathe down here in the water even better than she was able to breathe on the beach. This felt so good, this felt...right.

For a moment she was so stunned she couldn't move. But her legs - no! Her fins didn't hurt anymore. It felt lithe and strong, powerful. She flicked it a little and found herself propelled through the water. She was beginning to see why people wanted to try mutagen, and why some even got addicted to it. This all felt so good, and it seemed her random chance encounter with mutagen had led her to freedom.