Full Summary/ Explanation:

What of Evie hadn't lost her tail? What if things had been ever so slightly different that night so Evie was still a mermaid at the end of it? How would that have altered the rest of the season.

I, like others, have a problem with Evie losing her tail in season 3. Personally, I loved Evie as a mermaid, which I think is evident through a couple things in my series of one/two-shots, Mako Shorts [chapters 32-34 mostly]. This is my somewhat AU reenvisioned season 3 if Evie hadn't lost her tail that night and how the rest of the season would have been different were she still a mermaid. I'll also change a few other things I wasn't all that happy with. This starts in the middle of episode 8.

There will be some things I gloss over through just explaining what happens during that scene or series of scenes where I don't think anything really would have changed instead of writing out all the lines from those parts. I know there are others from other sides of the fandom like instagram and tumblr who weren't happy with Evie losing her tail, so here I am to fix that.

And before I start, I'd like to give a shoutout to threemine2013 for coming up with the title 'Altered Courses' as it fits the story perfectly because I'm altering the course of events for the second half of season 3.

Chapter 1: The Way of the Dragon

It was the night of the full moon. It was the first full moon since Weilan had come to stay and the first since the water dragon had appeared. Evie was planning on meeting Ondina and Mimmi in Rita's grotto to go fight the water dragon with her moon ring and every other moon ring in the pod.

As Evie made her way over to Rita's, she saw Zac and Weilan talking. She trusted Zac, but after what she had seen between them on Mako, she was still a little suspicious. She watched them from where she was for a minute before Zac dove into the canal and headed out to sea; Evie made her way over to Weilan once Zac was gone. The two shared a brief confrontation in which Evie figured out that Zac was going to fight the water dragon.

"The moon pool," she breathed, realizing that was where Zac had gone. Weilan tried to call after Evie to get her to stop even as Evie went to dive into the canal as well. Weilan's voice fell on deaf ears as Evie made it to the water and headed to open sea and ultimately the moon pool.

CHCHCH

When Evie got to the moon pool, she found it empty. There was no sign of Zac nor the water dragon. Evie pulled herself out of the moon pool and dried off to wait for Zac.

She leaned against the rock, as uncomfortable as it was, and waited for any sign of Zac or the water dragon. As Evie sat waiting, she watched the sky grow darker and darker knowing it was getting closer to its peak over Mako.

CHCHCH

Meanwhile on the mainland, Cam got to Zac's bungalow expecting to find Evie. When she wasn't there, Cam pulled out his phone to call Evie and see where she was. Before Cam could even dial Evie's number, Cam's girlfriend, Carly, walked in.

After a brief discussion, the two found that their best friends had similar ideas in sending them to keep the other busy; those two really were meant for each other. Cam and Carly couldn't let the pizzas they had brought go to waste, so they decided that they needed to eat them. The date night they had both had to cancel ended up turning into a movie night at Zac's bungalow.

CHCHCH

Zac sat out on the reef waiting for the water dragon to appear. The pod was on the other side of Mako waiting in the shadows; this left him in the clear to lure the dragon into the moon pool. It would have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Hopefully that would allow Zac to use turning the tide against the water dragon to defeat it.

When the dragon appeared, Zac went under the water and used his powers to aggravate it. Once he could tell that it was annoyed, Zac took off towards the moon pool with the water dragon right on his tail.

CHCHCH

The sun had long since disappeared from the sky. The night was growing darker as the pod waited on the far side of Mako.

"Evie should be here by now," Mimmi spoke after looking around and not seeing Evie.

"Get your mind in the game, Mimmi," Ondina sighed. They had far greater things to worry about than where Evie was and whether she was there with the pod or not. Mimmi continued to look around as Ondina again spoke. "Veridia." She drew the attention of the head of the mermaid council. "The moon has risen. Why are we waiting here?"

Veridia explained that by waiting in the shadows for the water dragon, they would have the element of suprise. When Ondina questioned how Veridia knew that, she explained that the information had come from Weilan.

That didn't sound right. Ondina turned to Mimmi and they shared a confused look.

CHCHCH

Evie began to wonder if Zac was ever going to get to the moon pool as she watched the sky grow darker. She started pacing around the cavern to pass the time while she waited for him to get there.

A minute later, Evie stopped and looked down to the water. A few bubbles were rising in the water. She saw the familiar form of her boyfriend in the water, and he soon surfaced looking around the moon pool and its cavern frantically.

"Evie!" he exclaimed, seeing her on the land portion of the cavern. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to–" Evie was cut off by rumbling. The water dragon slowly materialized before their eyes. Evie's eyes widened as she took in the water dragon.

"Evie, get back and stay there," Zac instructed. His voice was shaky. No one else was supposed to be there. It was supposed to be just him against the water dragon. Now he had to make sure Evie didn't get hurt as well as keeping himself safe as best as he could. Taking a deep breath, Zac peaked over his shoulder to see Evie shrinking back against the wall.

The water dragon gave a low growl and moved closer to Zac.

CHCHCH

Out on the far side of Mako, Mimmi's eyes almost glazed over. "Zac's with the dragon in the moon pool."

"Weilan sent us here so Zac could fight it," Ondina spoke. The duo sunk beneath the water and swam off towards the moon pool.

CHCHCH

Zac tried not to let his fear show despite the racing of his heart. "You want a piece of me, Lizard Breath?" Zac spoke.

The water dragon seemed to consider him for a second before sending its fire breath his way. Zac defended himself using turning the tide. The water dragon recoiled but sent more fire Zac's way a minute later. Again, Zac sent the fire back.

Evie couldn't take it any longer. She couldn't let Zac do this on his own. "Leave him alone," she spoke, taking a few steps forward. She raised her right hand and pointed her moon ring at the water dragon, putting all her energy into controlling it and attacking the dragon.

"Evie, no!" Zac exclaimed. The dragon may not have done anything to Joe and David in Joe's boat, but Evie was a mermaid even though she was dry now.

The power drained from Evie's moon ring and she couldn't do anymore. She felt weak and lightheaded. She slowly stumbled back to the wall as the dragon moved closer.

Zac didn't know what to do; he was frozen in place. He couldn't use turning the tide from where he was with the dragon looming over him. The water dragon sniffed at Evie as Zac looked on in horror having no idea what it would do. And then, it backed off and slowly shrank back down into the water.

"I don't feel so good," Evie spoke, her words slurring together.

Zac turned around in time to see Evie fall back against the rocks before sliding to the ground against them.

"Evie!" Zac exclaimed. He hoisted himself out of the water and picked her head up to support it as Ondina and Mimmi swam in. "Evie, please wake up. Please be okay. I can't lose you," Zac pleaded quietly as Evie's tail appeared. "Evie," he repeated, his voice weak and desperate.

"Zac," Evie coughed, her eyes fluttering open.

"Evie," he breathed in relief. He pulled her into a hug as best as he could while they both had tails.

"Ow," Evie gasped when Zac's hands touched her back.

Zac shifted so he could see Evie's back and winced. There were several gashed from the rocks on her skin.

"We need to get you back to Rita's and bandaged up." Zac slowly slid into the water and helped Evie in. Ondina and Mimmi did what they could to help; it was evident Evie was in a lot of pain.

Evie winced as the salt water got in the open cuts on her back, making them sting more. The group made their way back to the grotto as quickly as they could.

When they got there, Zac hoisted himself out of the water to help Evie out. "I'll go get Rita," Zac spoke, rushing through drying his tail. Mimmi and Ondina gave small nods, and Zac quickly ran up the stairs having gotten his tail dried.

Evie worked to dry her tail while Ondina and Mimmi pulled themselves out of the pool. While they dried their tails, they tried to think of something comforting they could say to Evie, but neither could think of anything that sounded right. They all took longer to dry their tails than Zac had and were just making their way to the main portion of the grotto when Zac came rushing down with Rita right behind him.

"Let me see it," Rita said, reaching Evie. Evie turned around and pulled her hair to the side and out of the way. "It's worse than I thought. Zac, there's a first aid kit in the bathroom by the bookcase, can you please get it?"

Zac nodded and raced back up the stairs. He made a frantic run down the hall to the bathroom and quickly found the first aid kit; he raced back down to the grotto just as fast.

When Zac got back to the grotto with the first aid kit, he got his first good look at Evie's back. The rock in the moon pool cavern had taken a toll on the top of her back that hadn't been covered by her dress as well as what had. Some parts of her dress had been ripped and some blood had soaked onto it.

Zac handed the first aid kit over to Rita and looked back to Evie mournfully. "Zac, I'm going to have to ask you to go wait upstairs," Rita spoke.

Zac sighed deeply but nodded. The only way to properly treat and bandage all the wounds on Evie's back would be for her to take her dress off; it'd be inappropriate if he stayed. Catching Evie's eye before he left, he tried to give her an apologetic look as he headed out of the grotto.

In Rita's living room, Zac played with his phone anxiously. He spun it around almost like one would with a pen while in thought. He stood and paced around the room before repeating the process. He did this several times over before Mimmi came up to let him know he could come back down to the grotto.

When the siblings got to the grotto, Zac went to sit next to Evie while Mimmi sat next to Ondina. Zac could see the bandages that wrapped around Evie's torso. He placed his hand on her thigh to try and show Evie how sorry he was. They sat in silence for several minutes until they heard the bookcase opening.

Weilan came down the stairs and briefly caught sight of Zac. "Hey Zac, what happ–end?" Weilan's voice suddenly dropped when she took in the somber expressions on everyone's faces. "What's going on?" she asked, making her way down the stairs.

Ondina gave her a fake smile. "Well let's see, because of your hairbrained idea, Evie ended up getting hurt and both she and Zac almost lost their tails."

Weilan looked over to Zac and Evie and noticed for the first time the bandages around Evie that showed above her dress. A rock seemed to settle in Weilan's stomach. "Evie, I'm so sorry," Weilan said, her stomach turning in knots.

"This could have been much worse," Rita started. "What happened was bad enough, but you are all lucky nothing more happened." Rita's stern gaze lingered on Zac and Weilan; she gave Evie a stern look as well, but softened a bit.

"I need to get home," Evie spoke. She stood and winced. Rita had bandaged her well and had used a healing cream akin to triple antibiotic ointment to help the wounds heal more quickly, but she'd still be in pain for several days because of them.

"I'll walk you," Zac offered, getting up and following behind Evie.

There was a part of Evie that just wanted Zac to leave her alone. It was him lying to her that had resulted in the events of the night, but she'd lied to him as well, and she'd much rather have the company for the walk home.
Rita followed behind them up the stairs. When they reached the main level, Zac continued towards the door leaving Evie and Rita alone for a minute. The two shared a hug as Rita did her best to hug Evie with nothing more than a feather light touch. "If anything happens or you want me to explain some version of events to your dad, let me know," Rita spoke softly as she and Evie ended their hug.

Evie gave a small nod and went to follow Zac.

CHCHCH

Ondina watched as Zac, Evie, and Rita left. When they were gone, she stood and squared up to Weilan. "Really, nice going," she spoke, her voice ingrained with harsh sarcasm. "Zac and Evie may have been spared from losing their tails, but Evie got hurt because of you."

"Ondina," Mimmi tried to warn.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," Weilan said.

"Maybe not, but it did. Maybe it doesn't seem as bad to you because you weren't here when we put the bandages on Evie. Her back in kind of torn up thanks to you."

"If it worked and Zac had defeated the dragon, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Weilan rebuttled.

"No, but in case you didn't notice, it didn't work and Evie got hurt because of it," Ondina replied, her voice cold enough to freeze over the South Pacific on the hottest day of the summer.

Weilan bit her lip, feeling the tears building up in her eyes. She didn't mean for anything bad to happen; she was trying to protect the pod. "Zac was the only one who stood a chance against the dragon."

"Maybe, maybe not, but we'll never know now, will we?"

That did it. Weilan turned and ran into the pool in the grotto. There was a splash as she dove in and swam away to escape.

CHCHCH

Zac and Evie walked in silence back to her house. Zac wished there was something he could do to undo Evie getting hurt. When they got to her house, he gave her a loving kiss on her forehead, promising that he'd see her the following day. She gave a nod and they parted ways.

A/N: Now that I've come to the end of the first chapter, there's something else I should explain. I kept the layout for scene changes basically the same as it was originally in the show, so that's where a lot of he back and forth stuff comes from. Some of the lines included in this and following chapters, while different because of the altered course of events, will be similar to those of the show.

So what did you think of these altered courses? I'd really like to know what you thought and how you think I could have improved upon the rewriting of this chapter, or how I could make sure to do the following in a better way if this felt lacking.

I'm not sure how often I'll be getting to update this as it's going to involve rewatching the episodes several times over, first to take notes on how things could be different and then probably at least once or twice more while I'm writing it to get lines among other things that don't need to change much right.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I really hope you enjoyed it. Until next time,

-CrazyHayniac