Her chest heaved, lungs expanding desperately, but she only sucked in thin, dry air that hung in her lungs and made her cough. Sweat dripped down her brow and tears pooled in the corners of her eyes.

“Again,” the voice of one of the scientists came – cold and clinical – like a knife straight to her heart. There was a sharp buzzing noise and then her back arched, her convulsions subdued by the thick restraints biting into her flesh as the tiny wires they had stuck to her boy sparked to life and sent painful currents shooting through her muscles.

She gritted her teeth and slumped back on the frigid metal gurney as it finally stopped. Her fingers twitched with lingering energy and she gasped for air again. She longed for the water, to submerge where it would flow over her gills and soothe the dry ache in her chest.

“Again.”

She was beginning to hate that word as more volts were pumped through her flesh. Her lips parted in a silent cry and her tears finally began to flow. Though there was no scream to mark her agony, her convulsions grew more violent until pain roared in her limbs. She had been silent now for a while – though she could not recall why or how she had lost her voice – and since it fled her, the scientists and their experiments had grown more brutal. It seemed as though that was because they no longer had too bother with the noise of her cries, but deep down she knew the real reason. The man – the one who took so much pleasure in her pain – had always seemed to delight at the sound of her scream. Some days it felt he was forever trying to rip it back out of her. She wished he would realize that it had well and truly abandoned her.

The shocks kept coming, until she was panting heavily and her vision was blurred, and she was convinced she could take no more. Then Dr. Patron stepped forward. He was always present, and her heart rate accelerated as he approached. She had never felt such fear or hatred towards another living being before, but the surplus of negative emotions that swelled in her heart towards him was enough to choke her.

He grinned widely as he stared down at her, trapped and pinned as she was, and reached out a hand. She cringed as his fingers approached, but his tough was tender as he stroked her cheek and tugged a long lock of hair behind her ear. His malicious grin only grew as his lips moved. “Again.”

The Mer winced as her scales clacked sharply against the tiled floor and the force of impact jarred her bones. The door squealed noisily on its hinges behind her before slamming shut. She was left alone with only the sound of retreating footsteps. Her arm shook as she lifted her hand to wipe a little drool from the side of her mouth. This was the third time now that they had taken her and done that procedure. She never understood why, though they talked about things like heart rate and muscle contraction and electronic pulse readings, though she knew none of what it meant. Just that it hurt.

When her body stopped shaking, she pushed herself upright to gaze at her new settings. She was in a room with small, smooth blue tiles on the floor and concrete walls. It was a small room, and halfway through the floor dropped away into a shallow pool. She had been left here before, though she did not know why they liked to put her in here when her tiny tank was more portable. They often kept her in the small tank with wheels to move her around. There was no room in the tank and she had to remain bowed and curled, and her tail often cramped terribly. She would often spend the time tilting her head and twitching her wrists to keep the few things she could move from cramping as well. This pool was not much of a size improvement, but at least it allowed her to remain stretched out rather than curled in a tight ball.

She would have to drag herself over to the water, though, and she did not have the energy yet. Time no longer had any meaning to her. She did not know how long it had been since she had seen the outside world, and she could barely even picture what it looked like. She remembered so little now. She had grown, so a few cycles had to have passed at least. It felt like an eternity since her voice had abandoned her, and now she had only tiny fragments of memory to cling to.

Her azure gaze widened as a thought occurred to her. For as long as she could remember now, she had whispered, and later mouthed her name to herself every time they left her alone. No one knew it here, no one called her by anything, and as she started to forget, she began repeating it so she would always know who she was. But she had been so exhausted and sore the last couple times, she had forgotten to do it. Now, when she parted her lips, nothing came. Her heart pounded in her chest and she wracked her brain, but the familiar sound and shape of the name was gone. She floundered for a moment, and then her vision blurred as tears brimmed behind her lids. There was nothing. The last shred of identity that she had nurtured and protected so dearly was gone.

Other names flashed in her mind. Creature. Thing. Monster. Demon. Devilfish. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the horrible, echoing terms that echoed in her head. These were the names they had given her, the terms they used to describe her. The scientist that hurt her most liked that last one a lot. She had always countered with her real name in her mind, but now she had nothing to combat the terrible oppression of her new life.

Her head bowed and her chest heaved. It was terrifying and crushing, to be without a name. She felt herself floundering in a sense of loss and confusion. She no longer knew who she was. Any hopes or dreams she had once harbored were gone. She did not know what brought her joy or what she liked to do. The only things that lingered were a desperation for escape and a relief whenever she was left alone. Solitude meant less pain.

The Mer raised her head and stared at the dark, unblinking eye of the wall-box that watched her. They always watched her in this room, though it had taken her a while to figure it out. Chewing on her lip, she twisted and dragged herself across the floor and slipped into the cold water in the tank. It was chilly and tasted stale, but she dunked below so that they could not see her begin to cry.

There we go. Last chapter was ALL fluff. I can't have you lot thinking I'm going soft now can I? Actually, it was just more to introduce the time between Kera and Luna. One identity died in that facility and another was born, but there was a long stretch in between. I'll say it again though, I do take requests for these things, so if there's specific moments in Cry of the Mer that are just mentioned and you want to actually see, or scenes from other points of view, or just concepts from the backgrounds of characters you want explored, leave me a comment and I'll do my best to accomodate everyone's desires.