Hello! I finally got inspiration for this story! It is going to be a good bit different from the show. Like, mermen are still uncommon, but they exists. And I added new powers. Like the telepathy. I figured it could be a convenient way of communication if they're in a bind, but it only works if they're near each other.
Also, I got a few questions about why I decided to make the girls naked after transforming back to their human forms. The answer to that is because I think it's stupid that clothes will automatically reappear afterwords. That is why I decided that. And it's for comical purposes...
If anyone has any question, I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.
Please R&R and Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.
Lucy?
Cana...
"CANA!" Lucy shouted as her and Levy flung themselves at said girl, knocking her to the floor. Lucy couldn't believe it. Cana was here, in front of them.
"Cana, it's been three years since we last saw you," Erza said.
Cana nodded her head, still holding the two crying girls, "Yeah. I'm so sorry everyone," she said, tears pricking the corners of her eyes.
To say Gray was confused was an understatement. These fish knew Cana? He knew they didn't meet her here, on land so that means... his eyes widened in realization. Was Cana also a mermaid!? He looked over and caught the eyes of Mira, who had the same look as he did. Did Mira know about Cana, he wondered?
Mira on the other hand knew immediately. As soon as she saw Lucy and the others look at Cana with a look that basically said they knew her, she understood. She also figured out they weren't from the states, because Cana has lived in this part of the world her whole life.
"We're so sorry, we know it's indecent to hug in public but we've missed you so much!" Levy said into her breasts, which she was crying in. Lucy nodded her head in agreement in the crook of Cana's neck.
"It's fine! Now get off me, people are staring!" Cana said, looking around the suddenly quite bar.
"Allow me" Erza said, yanking the two off her long-lost friend.
How is it indecent to hug in public? Natsu thought suspiciously? Those girls are getting weirder and weirder in his opinion.
"I so sorry. But can I talk to you, your cousin, and her friends for just a moment?" Mira asked Gray. He slowly shook his head and got up out of his seat, his "cousin" and the others following suite. On the way, Mira grabbed a hold of Cana and dragged her along.
Now in the back room of the bar, Mira turned around, a sickly-sweet smile on her face, "Now. Which one of you are going to tell me what's going on," she asked in that sweet demanding way of hers.
What does she mean? Lucy asked the others.
Mira knows I'm a mermaid. She's been helping me integrate into the human world and has been keeping my secret, Cana responded.
"Allow me," Erza said, "As you know, Cana's a mermaid," Mira shook her head in confermation, "We are a part of her pod. Like Cana, we were banished for allowing humans to find the moon pool and touch the water during the full moon, which was yesterday."
"Are you serious!? You were banished for that!?" Cana shouted.
"It should have been just me. I was at fault for letting Gray and Natsu find the moon pool. So now we have to see if they develop any powers. And if they do, we have to find some way to get rid of them," Lucy said, her head low.
"Juvia thought we told you. Lucy was not a full fault," Juvia said, to which Lucy shook her head, reluctantly, in agreement.
"So Gray knows about you?" Mira looked at him and he nodded, "Good. Then we will help you. And since there's seven us us on this mission, it should, hopefully, work out. Oh and Gray, have you developed any abilities from the water?" she asked.
"Since my hand was in for only a few seconds, the only thing I found out was I could hold my breath for longer than normal, other than that, no" he responded. Mira shook her head until she looked down and noticed Lucy's foot.
"Lucy! Your foot," she said.
Lucy looked down and froze. That was a lot of blood. "I didn't even notice," she squeaked. Mira brought a chair in and undid the bandage.
"You've reopened it. How did this happen?" she asked.
"We were trying to find the boy- Natsu- and she stepped on glass. Natsu saw she stitched her foot up" Levy explained.
"That moron. He should have gotten me," she hissed.
"I don't understand. We usually heal pretty quickly, so why hasn't Lucy healed yet?" Erza asked.
Mira sighed, "Hold on. This happened to Cana not to long after I met her and kept happening since her drunken brawls always lead to her getting banged up," Mira got up and retrieved a small jar. When she came back and opened it, the girls were surprised.
"Seaweed herbs? I thought those were all uprooted" Levy said, shocked, to which Cana nervously chuckled.
"Yea, when I was banished, I kinda stole some from the elders" she said sheepishly.
"What are seaweed herbs?" Gray asked.
"It's basically seaweed with healing properties. It all depends on the soil where it comes from" Levy explained. Gray opened his mouth in a silent Ah and watched as Mira took the rest of the seaweed and wrapped it around Lucy's injured foot. She hissed pain but from the look on her face, the pain soon dissipated.
"Looks like that was your last batch," Gray noted.
"No. The good thing about this particular type of seaweed, is that all you need to do is soak it in sea water after use. The water makes it brand new so this small bit will last for forever," Erza said.
"Right. I knew that," he muttered. The girls laughed and looked back at Lucy. Within minutes of seaweed treatment, her foot was all healed.
"Yay! Thank you, Mira" Lucy smiled. Mira smiled back.
"That's enough excitement for one night. Come on girls! We're going to my place!" Cana shouted out, new mugs of beer in either hand. Before Gray could comprehend what she said and protest, or in Mira's case, scold, Cana led all the girls out of the bar.
Gray sighed out in frustration, not really happy the fish were with someone else, but somewhat relieved he didn't have to fish-sit anymore. Mira saw the look on his face and giggled, the beers in Cana's hands and that long forgotten.
Lucy and Co. were now at Cana's home which was, surprisingly, quite large. It was a white two story, four bedroom, three bathroom, modern house near the ocean.
"Wow! This is where you live?" Lucy said, awe filling her voice.
"Yep! But it's not mine!" Cana drunkenly laughed. The girls stopped short and looked at her with curious eyes.
"If it's not yours then who's is it?" Erza asked.
"You thought I owned this!? Haha! No, this is Mira's place. She lets me stay here. But don't tell anybody, not even her Lisanna knows I live here," Cana responded.
"Juvia is confused. How does Lisanna not know you live here?" Juvia asked. Cana made the "follow me" gesture. Cana led them to a bookshelf and pulled on one of the books, causing a secret door to open.
"Wow! This is amazing!" Levy exclaimed happily. As soon as everyone stepped through, the door closed. Cana led them to a treasure trove, or that's what it looked like to them. The walls and floor seemed to be of the same tan and orange type of rock. There was everything a mermaid needed in that one room: shells, potions, coins...
"Like it? Mira made this grotto for me a few months after she found out about me. It's big enough for six people to sleep in. Oh! And check this out," she said, walking down another path. Shocks were heard throughout the room.
It was a replica of the moon pool. Except, you know, it wasn't in an extinct volcano and the rock surrounding it is the same that covers the whole entire grotto. Actually, Lucy realized, the rock doesn't even feel like rock, more like compact sand.
"It's beautiful," Lucy said. She looked Cana in the eyes with hope. Cana, seeming to get it, grinned and jumped into the water. When she reemerged with her carmine red tail and Spanish blue top, Lucy felt a wake of nostalgia hit her. Not a second later, her and the others followed suite.
Then the long due race was on.
First to the moon pool win, Lucy said. Even though it was night time, they could see the determined looks in each others eyes perfectly.
On three, Erza said.
1...
2...
3!
Bubbles filled the vacant ocean space as each mermaid started speed swimming, one of their many special talents. First in the lead was Erza, after she heated up the water, that is.
See, their version of this game goes for all mermaids. The object is to get to the destination first, obviously. But the true lesson of the game is to practice their powers- simple acts like heating up the water or freezing certain spots to make them impassible. In Aqua, their mermaid school, this game was a test grade.
Cana smirked as she created air pockets underneath Erza and then expanded them and twisting them, creating a mini tornado underwater that both threw her off t he path and made her incredibly dizzy- thus making her now in the lead.
Lucy almost laughed at her friends dizziness until she remembered she was in a race and no distractions were crucial. She could see the opening of the moon pool feet in front of her. She maxed her speed swimming to it's limit and passed Cana. She was almost there until a force yanked her and Cana on one direction and Juvia in the other. Before Lucy could realize what happened, she saw a flash of orange speed past her and into the moon pool.
When Lucy got her balance back, she swam after her friend and reemerged from the water, Cana following suite, then Juvia and Erza.
"Yay! I won!" Levy shouted out, her hands waving in the air and a big, victorious smile on her face.
"Good job, shrimp. Your faster than last tie we did this," Cana praised her. She smiled in thanks.
"Mavis, it's been forever since I've enjoyed this game good thinking on the underwater tornado, Cana. And Lucy, since when could you increase your speed swimming?" Erza asked.
"I've been working on it for a few months. I though it would be convenient in case something bad happened like being surrounded by sharks," Lucy shrugged.
"Can you teach Juvia how to increase her speed?" Juvia asked. The others agreed and Lucy smiled brightly.
"Sure!"
Now back at the moon pool at Mira's house, Lucy and the girls realized one problem. They didn't have clothes to change into after they transformed back. Cana got out and put on a piece of clothing that looked odd to the girls.
"What's that your putting on?" Levy asked.
"A robe. Humans wear them around the house and after they get out of the shower," she explained.
"A shower?" Juvia wondered. Cana looked at her friends in shock until the realization hit her that they knew nothing about true human culture, just the half-lies, half-truth that they learned in Aqua.
"Humans take a shower to clean themselves. It's very important to us that we're clean," a voice said. The girls looked over and saw Mira standing there, "I see that you've showed them our moon pool. If you'd like, you can stay here but you can't let my little sister know about you staying here or this room," she started, then with a dark aura, "And, of course, you'll be following my rules. I will teach you about our human customs and you will go to school along with Cana as long as you continue to investigate Natsu. Do I make myself perfectly clear" she demanded.
Lucy and the others backed away slowly from the scary female, except Erza who only stared at Mira and seemed in thought. Finally, Erza looked Mira in the eyes.
"I'll agree with you. I only have a few concerns," Mira nodded her head, "We will have to stay at Gray's a few times since we told everyone Lucy is his cousin to avoid suspicion. And our clothes are at his place and since you know, we're naked when we transform back." Erza finished.
Mira seemed to contemplate what Erza said. She would make it work. All she had to do was tell the school principle that their parents allowed them be exchange students and transfer them in. As for their clothing, she'd have to find Gray tomorrow and Get some clothes for them.
Mira nodded at her internal decision, "Will you ladies be OK staying in the moon pool for tonight?" Mira asked. They all nodded their heads. Mira shook her head and started walking away.
"Mira?" she heard Lucy call out. She turned back and faced said girl, "What's human school like? Because mermaid school was bad enough," she said, to which everyone else agreed.
Mira giggled slightly and answered, "It's definitely going to be hard for you because none of you have ever learned about our world. It will take some getting used to, but I will help you if you need it. I'll even be one of your teachers."
"Humans can be teachers as teenagers?" Erza asked.
"Oh no! I'm twenty one, not a teenager. Me and a few other teachers at the school are younger than normal since a lot of teachers quite a few years ago. The youngest teachers at our school are twenty and even then some are substitute teachers," she explained, then, with a cautious tone, "Why? How old were your teachers?"
"Well, since the Elders taught us- and they live for a long time- the youngest was... in her hundreds?" Erza said, to which Lucy nodded her head in confirmation, "And the oldest was well into her five hundreds," she explained further.
Well that made Mira feel better- in a sad way.
"Good night," Mira and Cana said as they walked out of the room.
"Good night," the mermaids said.
Never in his whole life did he ever think he would be in this situation. Of course, he was reflecting on the past couple of days way to late. Ever since he and Natsu went to Fairy Island, Gray's life as been one crappy incident after another. First! he meets Lucy and the girls, that was livable. At least then, he could have never had to see them again.
But there they were the next day, with legs and stolen clothes. Second! They meet Natsu and then Lucy goes and says "cuz" and puts him in an impossible situation. Thank Mavis Natsu was a dumb ass and didn't realize that Gray had no family that's ever lived in Sydney.
Third! They attract attention and gave practically every guy in the bar a naughty dream last night and their first day wasn't even fully over yet. Fourth! He finds out there's another fucking fish involved in their crap situation and Mira knows about mermaids!
And now? Now here he was, with Natsu, trying to convince him to not tell his girlfriend about his new-found abilities. Wanna know how he got in this situation?
Flashback~
Gray was having a nice, fish free dream until he was suddenly rudely shaken awake by his best friend. Oh, the look he gave Natsu was scary enough to rival Erza's. Natsu's reaction? Priceless! At least it was enough to put him out of his I'm-going-to-kill-you mood.
"Get your ass up! I'm freaking out, dude! This morning I wake up and stretch as usual but then something happened!" Natsu shouted into Gray's ear.
Gray, still not fully awake yet and suffers from morning stupidity, replied, "What?"
But Natsu, being the idiot he is, mistook his I don't care "What?" and took it as a "What/" that meant he cared.
"Look!" Natsu grabbed the glass of water from Gray's nightstand and lifted his hand in an upward motion, droplets of water lifting up into the air and following his hand wherever he moved it. That was enough to wake him up.
Gray inwardly cursed. This means that Natsu developed abilities and the fish have to stay longer! Nooooo! Gray then got the sudden urge to strangle the moron in front of him- who was still playing with the water.
"Oh my God," Gray said, shocked. But, again, Natsu mistook it as something that meant Gray truly cared. Which, he did technically. Just not in the way Natsu wanted him to.
Where were those girls when you really needed them, Gray wondered. They needed to know, stat. Because if Natsu could do this, he could more-than-likely do other things.
"I have to tell Lisanna," Natsu said.
"NO!" he replied.
End flashback~
"No? Why not! She needs to know about this. We don't keep anything from each other!" Natsu argued.
"At least wait a little while. Until we at least know what's happening to you in full depth. Because, let's be honest, if you suddenly spring the fact that you suddenly have powers on her, you have no idea how she'll react. She could tell other people for all we know. So let's wait until we can tell her just how important it is that she doesn't tell a soul," Gray reasoned.
Natsu didn't like the fact that he was going to have to keep a secret from her. But he knew Gray was right. He then, reluctantly, agreed. Gray let out a breath he didn't even know he was holing.
"Now that that's settled," He said, a dangerous gleam in his eyes, "Get the hell out of my apartment flame-brain and let me sleep!" she shouted as he kicked Natsu in the gut.
"The hell was that for, stripper!?" Natsu shouted back. "As far as I know, I did you a favor! Look at the time idiot!" he added.
Time? Gray thought. He looked over and nearly choked on thin air. It was almost eleven! He had to be at the beach for work at eleven!
"Shit!" he yelled out as he fell out of bed and quickly changed into his lifesaving uniform, which was truly hideous in his opinion. The white wife-beater was fine, it was the fugly puke orange swim trunks they were supposed to wear that he hated- and he wasn't even one for fashion. But this took the case. After he brushed his teeth and took a brush to his hair, he grabbed Natsu by his collar and dragged him out the door, only to be met with Mira.
"Oh hey Mira," Natsu said.
"Hello Natsu, Gray. I just wanted to talk to Gray for a few minutes. Your cousin and her friends stayed at Cana's last night and now their out like a light. I just came for a few of their things," Mira said.
But Gray knew what she really meant: Lucy and the other fish turned into mermaids and now their stark naked. He sighed and went back inside to gather their clothes and put them into one of his suitcases. He came back and handed it to Mira, who just smiled and said her thanks then walked away.
"Seems messed up that they ditch you on the first night just to stay with a long-lost friend. Aren't you that girls cousin?" Natsu asked.
"Yeah, but I don't really mind. After all, they are girls and you know girls. They always need to catch up," Gray responded as he locked the door and started walking to the beach.
"Yeah. Guess your right. What's their story anyway? They sure caused a scene last night," Natsu said. Gray froze slightly. He didn't want to explain their weird fish behavior...
"Well Erza told you that Lucy's mom was a biologist in Sydney and their mom's worked with her, right?" Natsu nodded his head, "Well after they moved to Hawaii, they kinda developed their way of dressing. You know, beaches 24/7? so I guess they thought it was normal to dress that way in the bar," Gray responded.
Natsu nodded his head in acknowledgment. For some reason, he kept thinking about that blonde, Lucy. It seemed odd, to him anyways, that as soon as those girls came, something happens to him. Not something bad, but something strange. Could they be the reason?
No, can't be. It's probably just coincidence, Natsu thought. Him and Gray finally got to the beach. Sad part was... they were late.
"Damn it, idiots. Can't you useless scraps be on time for once!?" Gajeel, one of their friends, yelled. Their other friend, Jellal, just looked at them with a blank expression. But they knew what was going on in that mysterious brain of his. He agreed with Gajeel.
"Sorry," both Gray and Natsu muttered.
"Who are they?" Jellal asked. His friends looked over and Gray nearly toppled over. There they were, the fish. On the beach. In swimsuits!
"Seriously Lucy!?" Gray shouted. Lucy just smiled in response and Erza glared at him, making him cringe, "Guy's meet my cousin Lucy and her friends. Their visiting from Hawaii." he added, giving into the glare.
"Hello, nice to meet some more friends of Gray's!" Lucy said to Gajeel and Jellal. Then she noticed Natsu and smiled softly at him. He, in turn, blushed softly.
Lucy was wearing a hot pink two piece with her hair in pigtails. He looked over to her friends and noticed they were practically wearing the same thing Lucy was. Except Erza's was bright red with her hair up in a ponytail, Juvia's was dark blue with her hair also in pigtails, and Levy's was orange- the top ruffly- and her hair also down.
They looked good, he decided. Natsu looked over and realized his friends thought the same thing he did. Then Gray got a dark glint in his eyes.
"Did you morons walk here with no shoes on!? I wasted my precious money on you guys and your not even wearing them!?" Gray yelled. Natsu looked down and, sure enough, they had no shoes on.
"We swam here," Lucy said, confused. Tick marks showed on Gray. He walked over to them.
"You idiots!" he hissed, "You can't say you swam here! Your not even wet!" he said, seething.
"Calm your jets!" Cana said, her cheeks slightly blushed.
Is she drunk already? Gray thought.
"Anyways!" Natsu interupted, "What are you guys doing here?" he asked the girls.
"Just wanted to let Gray know we were still alive," Lucy said.
The boys laughed slightly. Then Gray remembered this morning. He would have to tell the girls about Natsu's new found power. Just please, Mavis don't let him sprout a tail when he gets into the water. Gray excused himself and Lucy and dragged her a good bit away.
"What's up?" Lucy asked.
"It's Natsu."
Da dadada! is that how to spell that superhero reference? honestly, probably not. but, hey, I tried right?
I made sure to make this one long! 9 pages bitches! I got this! Usually, my stories last about 6 or 7 pages, so this a huge accomplishment for me! I promise I will try to update Heated Argument next. I've been thinking about how I'm going to do it and I feel like I have a plan for that story. And since it's supposed to be a two-shot, I am long overdue for the update. Please be patient and...
Please R&R!
Until Next Time!
