This is gonna be the first chapter in another series: MythicalCreature!MC, so strap in! The first two installments were requested by SammyToon and the other 4 are my ideas, inspired by the request of the first two. This chapter is also a bit different from the request because while I was writing, I got a little carried away with the story and low-key forgot what the request was supposed to be about, so it's not focused exactly on the original idea. Whoops.

~*~*~*~*~*

The sea was calm, the sky was blue and the breeze was oh so gentle. 

Alone on his ship, Julian was at peace. He had recently decided that he would like to get back on a boat, but he wasn't looking to travel anywhere. His solution? Fishing.

Not only could he enjoy being out at sea again, but he would also be able to sell or eat his catches, so it was a win-win.

On this particular day, the good doctor had cast his net off the side of the boat and he was now sat there, enjoying the breeze and good weather. Even though the ship had been accosted by pirates, Julian had still missed the feeling of being at sea.

The rocking of the ship, the fresh salty air, the feeling of adventure; he missed it all.

Normally, it would take a good few hours for Julian to catch a number of fish in his net. However, this time, it had only been an hour maybe two before the boat began to rock and the net was being tugged at.

Julian was pulled from his reminiscing to pull the net in.

Despite being rather thin, Julian was not weak. Hauling a net of fish out of the water was usually easy for him. Unlike his previous experiences, this time the net shook with such force. It tossed and wriggled and writhed as he tried to pull it out, not to mention that it weighed twice if not thrice as much as usual.

When he finally managed to yank the net over, the weight and torque of the squirming sea creatures threw off his balance and the net and its prisoner landed right on top of the doctor.

Once Julian had regained his senses, he was caught off guard for the second time. In his net was not a great many fishes, but one singular tail belonging to a merperson!

What a catch!

The merperson struggled to move off of the doctor, begin ensnared by a net and all.

Julian was quick to help the poor captive roll off of his legs and he quickly detangled the net from their body.

Once he had freed them, Julian was totally at a loss for words. Never before in his life had he seen such a beautiful creature! He thought they were only a myth anyway.

Julian was only pulled from his shock when he heard the merperson cry out in pain. He looked down at them only to see their face pulled into a grimace, their hands clasped around their tail. Their hands were bloody and it was quickly soaking into the deck of the ship.

"You're injured!" Julian exclaimed, looking at the merperson.

"No thanks to you," they retorted through gritted teeth.

Without another word, Julian fled to his bag, leaving the stranded sea creature alone.

When he returned, he carried with him a first aid kit. He dropped to his knees at the stranger's side and pulled out a long roll of bandages and a bottle of saline solution.

"I can fix this," Julian said, offering his assistance.

The merperson recoiled and frowned. "And why should I let you? It was your net that cut me up in the first place."

"My net did this?" Julian asked bewildered. "But it's only made of rope and netting..."

"The fibers are sharp against my scales. Like fine wire being sliced into your flesh," They replied.

Julian's cheeks flushed red. "I'm so sorry! Please, I had no idea it hurt you that bad. Up until now, I didn't even know people like you lived in the water. I'm a doctor, please let me fix my mistake," He explained.

Not having much choice, the merperson relaxed a little and withdrew their hands, allowing Julian access to their tail.

As he sanitized the wounds and bandaged them up, Julian began to ask questions of the merperson.

"I'm Doctor Julian Devorak, from Vesuvia. What's your name?"

"I am MC of Atlantis," they responded as they inhaled sharply.

"Sorry, too tight!" Julian exclaimed as he unwound then rewound a section of the bandages.

"So, Atlantis, huh? It really exists? It's not just some myth?" Julian questioned as he wrapped more of the cuts.

"Of course it does. Most myths are just truths ignored or forgotten. Things that are seen only by one person and never seen again, never to be confirmed or corroborated by anyone else," MC said, propping themselves up against the side of the boat.

"So where is it?" Julian asked as he continued treating MC's wounds.

"Deep, deep down in the ocean. It used to be above water, of course, but it sank when the last of the magicians died off,"

"Huh? Last of the magicians? What does that mean?" Julian pressed, confused.

"The reason Atlantis sank was that there were no more magicians alive to keep it above the water,"

Upon seeing that Julian was no less confused, MC elaborated further.

"About three hundred years or so ago, Atlantis was a grand city that stood tall in the middle of the sea during the late spring to the early fall. During the late fall till early spring, the water froze and Atlantis would return to the sea. It's inhabitants, the Atlantians, were a special kind of merperson - they had the ability to walk above water so long as they had the magic energy to do so. At the time, there was an abundance of this magic energy, but there were certain Atlantians who could control it: the magicians. They began to store it in a lacrima that held the magic and the magicians maintained it to lower and raise the city. There were always students of magic who were learning so that they could one day replace a magician. The magicians were also responsible for making sure the rest of the Atlantians could walk by giving each a charm on a necklace that held a little bit of magic energy. This allowed everyone the ability to walk or swim whenever they desired,"

Julian was captivated by the story MC told. He was totally in awe of the reality of the situation. "What happened? Where did Atlantis go?"

"But it was three hundred years ago when Atlantis suffered a massacre. There was an organization of underground Atlantians who hated the upper world. They believed that merfolk should live only in the water and that the surface world was atrocious. So they attacked. One group entered the magic academy and slaughtered all of the students. A second group located the temple, where the current magicians stayed to maintain the lacrima. They destroyed everything. The academy was in ruins, the lacrima was destroyed, unleashing all of the pent up magic which caused the temple to collapse and bring down the academy with it. It was a blood bath. Immediately, the city began to sink. The culprits were caught and tried, but it was too late. No one could do anything to return to the upper world. Many merfolk who missed the surface swam off to find a coast to live their lives. But with time, people became accustomed to life solely underwater and they gave up seeing the surface. Nowadays, there are very few who would venture upwards," MC finished.

"So if that's true, then why are you here?" Julian asked.

"During the massacre, the academy, and the temple were lost. Or so we thought. As I said, all of the controlled magic energy was released. Most people thought it dissipated, returned to the rest of the world. But that's not entirely true. Some of it lingered,"

Julian finished wrapping up the bandages and sat back from MC.

"Is that why you were up here? You found whatever was lingering behind and now you want to see the surface?"

"Yes, partly," MC admitted. "I have always been intrigued by the history of my people. There are so many texts and accounts of the massacre, but no one ever went in search of this magic power again. They just ignored it and accepted that they were stuck underwater. No one bothered to fix what had been broken. I wanted to know if it was possible to harness that magic again. So I scoured the ruins of the academy and the temple. I searched everywhere for any clues as to how to use magic,"

"And you found something, right?"

"Sort of," MC continued. "After my search of the ruins left me empty-handed, I moved on to the library. But nothing. So I began to isolate myself. I found a grotto where there was a pocket of air and I began to practice. I would surface in the little pool of water in there and I would pull myself up onto the rocks. I would spend hours sometimes even whole days doing nothing but reaching out. I knew magic wasn't something physical you could find or hold. I knew that much, it was all anyone ever knew. So much like you cast out your net, I cast out my intentions. And what a catch I made."

MC paused a moment to flex and relax their tail, testing the pain. They winced.

"You're in pain still. I might have some medicine for you, hold on." Julian said as he rummaged through the first aid kit.

"Aha!" He said as he pulled a little bottle of medicine from the kit. "This should ease your pain a little."

MC gratefully took the bottle and sniffed it.

"I don't recognize this, what is it?" They asked.

"It's a concoction with lavender and ginger as the main ingredients. It's for pain relief. It should take effect in about 20 minutes," The doctor explained.

MC shrugged and downed the contents before continuing their story.

"When I was in isolation, I felt something tug at my chest. At my soul. It was calling out to me. So I outstretched my hands and I felt it. A warm light, a fuzzy tingling sensation. And when I opened my eyes, my hands were surrounded with this warm, golden glow. My intentions were to be able to walk on land. And when I cast that light to my tail, it separated and I was given legs! It was incredible, more than anything I could have hoped for, Julian," MC's face was alight with hope and happiness. 

Julian, who had been completely caught up in the story couldn't help but feel happy for MC. Their smile and joy were utterly contagious.

As MC explained how they searched for stronger magic that was leading them to the surface, Julian couldn't help but notice how passionate MC was about finding a way to restore their city to its former glory. He admired the way they were driven to abandon the only world they knew on a whim if it meant fixing what had been broken so long ago.

"Anyway," MC said as they wrapped up their story, "That's why I was up here. I was looking for the nearest coast of land so I can follow the magic. I was so caught up in casting my own little magic intuition out that I completely missed your net and caught all tangled in it,"

"Sorry about that again," Julian said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

MC waved the comment away. "Don't worry about it. It was my fault too since I wasn't totally paying attention,"

"Still," Julian said, "I feel bad. I wish there was a way to make it up to you..."

A moment passed before Julian's face lit up.

"I know!" He exclaimed. "You want to get to land right?" He asked.

MC nodded.

"Well," he started. "What if I were to take you to Vesuvia? It's the closest coast around. I can treat your wounds properly from there and it just so happens that one of my good friends is the best magician in town!"

MC gasped and smiled. "You'd take me there? You'd introduce me to this magician friend of yours?"

It was Julian's turn to nod. 

"Oh thank you, Julian! That would be wonderful!" MC was overfilled with joy and excitement.

"It's decided then," Julian stated. "We go to Vesuvia, we fix you up, we get you to Asra. And then..."

"And then..." MC repeated curiously.

Julian blushed again and tugged at his white shirt as if it were too warm all of the sudden.

"And then maybe I can buy you a drink?" He said apprehensively.

MC who now realized that this interesting red-headed fishing doctor who happened to know a magician, was trying to flirt, laughed and nodded.

"Sure, you can buy me a drink," they said with a wink. "My magic lead me up here, so I guess you could say that you're quite the catch,"

Julian went red in the face again.

"H-hey! If anything, you're my catch. It was my net after all..." He stammered.

MC only laughed. 

"Sure, I'll be your catch."

~*~*~*~*~*

From there, Julian took MC back to Vesuvia where he carried them back to his office, their tail wrapped up in his overcoat to protect from prying eyes. Once their wounds were better treated, Julian took MC to the shop and introduced them to Asra who used his magic to heal MC's wounds completely. He then offered to let MC stay in his spare room to study more magic with him so he could help them find out how to raise Atlantis again.

And last, but certainly not least, Julian took MC to the Rowdy Raven for a drink. And then two. And then a whole lot more than that.

The two had no problem hitting things off.

After all, that is what happens with a good catch.

~*~*~*~*~*

And there we have it. It started out about being about MC getting caught by Julian's net and being injured, but we side-tracked into a backstory Atlantis kind of plot and then doubled back. IDK what this mess was but I just kind of let my crazy imagination go off and here we are. It's late and this is the messy result of my brain being pumped up on caffeine way into the night.

I hope that my random thoughts were enjoyable and that even though I didn't know where this was going, it was still a good read.

Thanks for reading!

- Fandoms <3