So this is my version of H2O Season 4 where I created my own characters and have them combine with the current characters of the show. Read and review! Your suggestions are always helpful. I wrote this first chapter as how the episodes would be and it is told from my characters point of view. There will be a second part to this first chapter, so check back often!

H20 Season 4: Life of Purpose

Preface

I always thought mermaids were just fairy tales, myths and legends I have heard millions of times as a child. Ever since the age of 14, these myths and legends have turned into my reality.

My world was changed the day of the full moon, where I lay in the pool at the cove off the Boston Harbor and suddenly realized I had a tail.

As much as I hated to admit it, I had turned into a merman and with a single drop of water, my true self is revealed. At first, the whole idea seemed to scare me, but as time progressed and I started to understand more about merpeople, I came to realize that the ocean will forever be my home; the best thing to do is keep it secret and avoid contact with water as much as possible.

The only person I ever told was my best friend Gabriella, the love of my life, to whom I wear this bracelet, to symbolize our trust in one another. After 4 years of Gabriella and I keeping the secret, it was unfortunately revealed when I was captured by Altrien, a group of scientists and investigators in marine life, particularly trying to prove the existence of mermaids. They were obviously astounded when they found a merman instead and took me away to their headquarters.

Ever since I escaped, they have been on the hunt, looking everywhere for me, but they never knew how fast merpeople can swim. For 3 weeks I pushed through the water, swimming in the Atlantic Ocean until I reached Australia; this is where I found the girls, the three mermaids that shared the same secret as I do. And this is where I begin, my name is Jared Trenken and I will forever be a merman.

Chapter 1 Part I: Rediscovered

I sat on the beach white sand, letting it run through my fingers and watched the sun turn its usual red, pink, and orange colors before vanishing into the sea. This place seemed so peaceful; the harbor silent, the only sound was the fishing boats rocking against their ports. The air smelled of rain, but there was not a cloud in the sky.

I turned my head towards a place called Rikki's Café, there were people sitting outside, enjoying the cool breeze heading in from the sea; music played from inside the café. I suddenly heard a splash from the water and shot my head around and there they were, well two of them actually. They swam silently behind a docked boat and then disappeared from view. The girl with the brown hair was the most recognizable and another with blonde hair followed her. I had seen these mermaids while entering the harbor; they were swimming in another direction and didn't even notice my presence. It made me feel accepted and somewhat relieved that there was someone else like me, others who shared the same secret as I did.

My fingers traced the outline of the ocean symbol on my bracelet and I thought of Gabriella, the one who I had left behind; the one who said she would keep my secret forever and would someday join me, even though I told her to never do such a thing. That was the problem with Gabriella, she was too ambitious; for all I know now, she could be looking for me day and night. You can't think about this now, my mind told me. The important thing is to find out who these three girls are. Getting aggravated with myself, I rose and walked into the café.

My eyes automatically focused on the girl singing on stage, she was the third mermaid, the smaller one with those blue eyes that met mine when I saw them. She must have said something, I mean, why wouldn't you tell your other mermaid friends that there is someone else like you? Perhaps she didn't, perhaps she was trying to keep my secret safe, as she would trust me with theirs. I sat at a table and listened to the song, she seemed to be singing not about love for a person, but love for a thing, but I could not figure out what.

My thoughts were interrupted when a waitress with annoying red hair came up to me, "Hello there. Welcome to Rikki's Café, what can I get you?" I took a closer look at her, saw irritation in her eyes and focused back on the girl on the stage. "Nothing for right now, come back in a few minutes." The waitress didn't respond for a moment, but finally shot me a "Yes" and stormed off. The band finished playing and people began clapping. I rose from my seat and the girl and I automatically made eye contact. Her eyes widened when she recognized my face, I guess she had kept my secret after all; otherwise she would have made no facial expression. She said something to the band and quickly hooped off the stage, walking towards me. I sat back down and waited for her and suddenly noticed a serious look on her face, but she put a smile on when she reached me. "Hi, my name is Bella." She held out her hand and I shook it. "Hi, I'm Jared, nice to meet you. Please have a seat." "Actually, I would like to speak to you privately outside." I followed her out of the café, casting a glance at the red-headed waitress who was glaring at us.

We walked until we reached the beach, where the water just touched the sand. Bella turned and faced me, the smile had been stripped from her and there was no sign of relief. "You are very lucky I didn't tell the others about you." Her voice was very stern and straight forward. "And I thank you for that." The moon was just rising over the sea, lighting up our faces. Bella turned to look at it and then focused back on me. "How long have you been like this?" "Since I was 14, so almost 5 years. What about you?" Bella hesitated before answering me; I could sense she was debating whether to trust me, which makes sense since we just met. "Since I was 9 and you know perfectly well, by now, that your secret must be kept." "Yes." "Good." Silence had fallen upon us; just the sound of the small waves crashing was breaking it.

"Hey buddy! What do you think you're doing?" Bella and I turned to see a guy with straight, jet-black hair running towards us. "Zane it's okay, we are just talking. Shouldn't you be back inside?" "No I shouldn't! Not when you're this close to the water." His voice turned into a whisper. "I can take care of myself! You shouldn't be getting involved!" "With a complete stranger? I am getting involved to protect you!" "I don't need protection!" Zane suddenly realized I was still standing there. He turned to me, his eyes filled with rage. "You leave this girl alone!" He began closing in on me, forcing me to move closer to the water, Bella's eyes widened with fear. "Zane stop, please!" "No, this boy needs to be taught a lesson!" He pushed me into the water and I landed flat on my back. 10 seconds, I thought, that's all I get, but my legs would not move. He's going to see it and then I'm done for. Before I could think anything else, I was being pulled underwater by Bella and the world was turned into a sea of blue.

My tail began to grow in, its teal color replacing my tan legs and my lungs adjusted to the little oxygen in the water. Bella's grip was still on me, but we were not moving, she had laid me down on the ocean floor so I could gaze at my surroundings. Fish of different shapes, sizes and colors were swimming around different rocks and coral reefs filled with many forms of aquatic plants; it was peaceful here. I realized that this was what Bella was singing about, the ocean and the magnificence of it.

I focused on Bella and a smile rose on her face. There is one part of those fairytales that is true, mermaids are beautiful. The water seemed to wrap around her and comfort her, like she was part of it, like she belonged here. I kicked off the floor and came in alignment with her. Bella pointed south and gave a hand motion to follow her. We sped off, creating bubbles as we moved through the water. It did not even seem like a minute when we were approaching an underwater cave, which Bella did not hesitate to enter.

When I surfaced, I found myself in a pool with the moon passing through a hole in the ceiling. This seemed to look like a volcano, but more tranquil than any place I had been too. Bella was leaning on a rock looking at the wall facing us, which was dripping water into a small pool. I joined her quickly, my head filling with questions.

"Nice tail." She smiled brightly. "Yours too. Are all merman tails that color?" "Yes and what about the gold on mermaids?" "Yup, ours are the same too." I nodded and looked around the cave. "What is this place?" "We call it the moon pool. Cleo, Rikki, and I come here a lot." So that was the names of the other two mermaids, but I pretended not to realize that. "Cleo and Rikki are…" "Yes, they are mermaids too. Listen, I'm sorry about Zane. He use to date Rikki and he knows about us; he was just protecting me." "Don't be sorry! I should be thanking you for literally saving my tail." We both laughed at the joke. "If you don't mind me asking, who else knows about you three?" Bella was hesitating again. "My boyfriend…Will, that's it." I nodded in approval. "What about you?" Gabriella jumped into my mind and focused on her face when I was taken away. "My best friend Gabriella. She's back in Boston, that's where I am from." "Wow, you traveled far! What made you leave?" Even though we were sitting in water, my mouth had gone dry. I could not form any words on how to describe it. "Oh come on, Jared. You can trust me! I'm not going to tell anyone." I sighed and the words began to float up as I found the confidence within me. "I escaped." "Escaped from where?" "A research facility." Bella went silent. This was an objective of merpeople, to never get captured for research or to be exposed in any way.

After a few minutes of silence, Bella spoke again. "How did you get captured?" I suddenly realized that this was the first person I had ever told this too and she understood everything; she didn't judge me in any way because we share the same feelings of keeping this as secret as possible. "Well, they had already seen me as a merman before while scuba diving. I thought I was well hidden, but obviously not hidden enough for them to get a glimpse of my face and my tail. So the next day, I was walking on the shore when a bucket of water was thrown on me. I tried to jump into the water, but they had me in a net before I could even blink, so I changed right in front of them. I was then put into a truck and taken to their headquarters, where I was laid onto a table and examined by scientists. They took blood samples, scales, x-rays, everything humanly possible. After about 2 days in there, a mysterious group in black jackets broke in and destroyed all the records of the tests and let me go. Once I hit the water, I swam for as long as I possibly could until I came here, where I saw you three."

Bella was silent for a long time, gathering all her thoughts together and trying to process everything. "What was the name of this group?" "Altrien. I can tell you this Bella, after 3 weeks, they are still out there looking for me and it won't be long before they find me."