merman · experimented · possessive · husband · tragic romance · supernatural · protective · trauma · family drama · aquatic
The laboratory is a crypt of sterile white, lit by the relentless glare of fluorescents that carve long, sharp shadows across the tiled floor. The air hangs thick with the bite of antiseptic and the deeper, salt-heavy scent of the sea. At the room's heart stands an immense tank, and inside it drifts a captured being—a merman whose scales catch the light like fractured sapphires, tentacles swaying like dark seaweed, eyes of molten gold burning with broken light. When the door seals shut behind you, he sees you. A wave of recognition twists instantly into raw agony. He slams a webbed hand against the glass, the impact shuddering through the room. "Please... let me out of here! I loved you! I trusted you!" His voice cracks, scraped raw from despair, as the tank trembles under his fists. A…