Author's Note: Here comes her itty bitty secret. And a warning: this world is more than supers and villains. But not in a bad way! I hope.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High.

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Sweaty with shoes in hand, everyone headed to the buses waiting outside the gym. Will stretched and wiped his forehead with a dirty sleeve and looked up at the sky. "Does anyone wanna go to the beach?" The entire group agreed instantly, Eddie offering her house as the pit stop beforehand.

They dumped their jackets in her kitchen, grabbed a few towels, sweaters and blankets and marched down the street to the beach. Their feet hit the sand and everyone dropped whatever they were carrying and ran at the waves. To Eddie's surprise they didn't care too much about their clothes getting wet and just wanted to have some fun. But she also assumed it was just the heat of the moment for Julie and Layla. And even Zach. And Ethan. And Lash. And definitely Will...

Eddie and Warren sat on the beach, exchanging a few words every couple minutes while the rest splashed and laughed together. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning everyone got their jackets and accessories from Eddie's house, said goodbye and went their separate ways.

Eddie went to her room and put on some baggy jean shorts with her wife beater, leaving all else behind and walked back down to the beach barefoot. She looked around half-heartedly assuming no one would be there since it was close to four. She stripped her shirt and sports bra off, followed by her pants and boxers. She felt a bit cold in the wind, but stepped into the water anyway. The waves encased her toes and a shiver went up her spine. She breathed deep, her abs flexing, and she stepped deeper into the ocean, the fish scale tattoo starting to ripple and glimmer like water in sunlight.

Warren watched Eddie as she walked into the ocean naked. He felt perverted and like he was watching Will shower, but somehow couldn't stop himself. She obviously hadn't seen him, and even if she wouldn't be ashamed of being naked in front of him, she was still a girl and still had tits so Warren sat where we was. And yes, he had noticed the whole lot of her tits in her wife beater at the dance. And now. Watching her naked. While she swam. Naked.

Yep. Tits for sure. They almost seemed out of place on her thin body, but... Tits. He felt so dirty for watching her.

Waist deep in the freezing water and she finally dove in head first. She remembered when she was little hearing all the mothers telling their children not to go too far into the ocean because of the undertow, but she never understood why someone wouldn't want to be swept away into the moving paradise. She felt her body changing with every kick of her feet. She felt the scales take hold of her and felt her legs melting and changing. She rose to the surface and looked up into the dark sky. Her two heavens. She dove back under the waves, letting her fin splash behind her.

Warren saw her pop her head back up. She must have been submerged for five minutes. He knew she had been on the swim team and was a certified lifeguard, but wasn't that a bit dangerous? She was definitely still alive, he could see that much. He could also see a fishes fin when she dove back under. A scarlet red fin, to be precise. Where her legs were supposed to be. A fin with scales. And little fins coming out of her hips... Er, what should have been her hips? He rubbed his forehead, feeling childish. He must have been really tired to be imagining things.

Eddie swam farther and farther out, the water caressing her fin and welcoming her back home with open arms. She looked down at her body and the scarlet fin that had replaced her legs. She felt the thin trail of scarlet scales that traveled up her navel and gently covered her breasts. She knew her small fins attached to her hips moved back and forth against the current, and she lost herself in the water circling her and holding her warm in its embrace. She never wanted to leave.

Eddie swam again to the surface, and looked at the position of the moon. She dove again for land, taking deep breaths of her salty water as she swam. Reaching shore she swam as shallow as she could before letting her fin disappear beneath her skin. She walked out of the waves slowly, the scarlet fin retracting from the feet up.

Warren watched her as she walked out of the waves and stood naked for just a few more minutes watching the waves crash on the shore. She pulled her bra and boxers on, holding her jeans and wife beater in hand, and Warren hopped down from his rock, grabbing his shoes and jacket as he went.

"Hey." Eddie stopped and stared at him, wiping some water from her face. He had no idea why he'd done that.

"Uh, hey." She knew she turned a little red, and wiped a salty trail of water off her forehead.

Warren noticed her posture change and held out his jacket. She shook her head, but made no move to put her clothes on. He tried not to look at her body, but could barely stop himself. He hated to admit it, but damn she was fox. Ok, so she was kinda muscular, but he was feeling the buzz cut and definitely enjoyed her tattoos and how her body moved in all the right ways.

"Did you have fin just now?" He was careful to look in her eyes and not at anything else of her, and he saw her face turn red.

Eddie couldn't believe he'd been watching her the entire time. She didn't mind if people saw her naked, she wasn't ashamed of her body. Too much. But watching her swim as a mermaid? That was like taking a shit with your dad in the bathroom with you. Just not right. "Yes."

"Hm." He nodded his head slowly, contemplating.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow, expecting questions or sarcasm.

"Just, never seen one of those. Didn't know they existed." He couldn't think of anything else to say.

Eddie continued to stare at him. She didn't nod, or shrug. Just stared. "Well I do." She turned away from him and started to walk back to her house. He watched her back and almost felt the need to touch the tattooed scales or trace his index finger down her spine.

"What's that say?" He squinted his eyes in the dark looking at her lower right back.

She didn't turn to look at him when she responded. "I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will fall frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself." She kept walking.

Warren caught up with her quickly. "D.H. Lawrence." She continued walking, trying not to blow a fuse. Again, she failed. "You were spying on me." She stopped and looked at him with such anger in her eyes.

"I wasn't--"

"Yes. You were. And it's not ok. I'm cool with most shit, Warren. I don't fucking complain, I don't mind Julie and Layla pestering me about my art or anyone else about anything else. But I do not tolerate it when people invade my privacy like you just did. I do not tolerate people going behind my goddamn back."

Warren watched her chest rise and fall with every venomous word she spat at him. "No one knows, do they?"

Eddie was completely taken aback. He didn't even-- Of all people to fight back, she woulda thought Warren would be first. "No. Just my dad." She didn't want to fight, and he probably knew he was wrong. 'Thanks' and 'Sorry' in less than two days was probably asking a lot, though.

"Hm."

"'Hm' what? Stop 'hm-ing' me." She dropped her clothes and stared at him arms crossed.

"I just-- I don't know what to say. I mean, a mermaid?" He shoved his hands in his pockets sheepishly.

"Yeah, a mermaid. You know, Ariel style?" She looked at him dumbly.

Warren didn't know what to say back. He had no idea mermaids were real. Were there more, or was she the only one? Why didn't she tell anyone? Was she born a mermaid or was it a power? Was it something else? Magic? Did magic exist? What didn't exist? If mermaids were real... What should he ask first? Should he ask anything?

"Go ahead. I'm your own personal encyclopedia. Ask away." Eddie picked her clothes up and started to walk away. Maybe she was psychic, too...

"Are there more?" He caught up with her again, not that she was walking terribly fast.

"Yes. There are mystical mermaids, and then supers with the ability to turn into mermaids." She waited patiently, her normal cool slowly returning.

He contemplated a moment before continuing his questions. "Was Ariel real?"

Eddie snorted. "No. But Hans Christen Andersen's original tale was based of a real mermaid." Warren looked at her and frowned. She tried not to roll her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Andersen wrote a story about a mermaid who traded her voice for legs. Her prince married another woman, and the sea witch offered her a trade. She could take the witches knife, kill him, and return to the sea as a mermaid, or she could remain human as she was. So instead she threw herself into the ocean and drowned. Disney made her a fairytale and named her Ariel."

Warren held his jaw shut when it wanted to drop to the sand. "Wow." He looked at Eddie who just kept walking. "Why haven't you told anyone?" He followed her up the steps to the street.

She dusted her clothes off, but didn't put them on. "Because it's mine. The minute other people know, I become an experiment. A lab rab. Scientists will try to study me. It's happened before, it'll happen again. It's why we hide. Supers who can shape shift like Maj are one thing, but merpeople are a whole other." They walked down the street silently until they got to her house. "Couch is yours if you want it. Julie, Will and Zach are coming over in a couple hours, though." She walked up the pathway, Warren hanging back hesitantly. She stopped in front of her door. "Dad's on business." He started walking almost right after she told him.

He settled himself on the couch while Eddie grabbed him one of her extra big t-shirts. She came back downstairs still in her bra and boxers and threw the shirt at him while he flipped on the TV. She sat on the couch with him and went straight for late night reruns of King of the Hill.

"How'd things with your dad go? I mean, if you don't mind me asking. Now that you've invaded my life." She looked at him with a mocking sweet smile. Or as sweet as she could make it.

"Fine." He raised the volume and held the shirt in his lap.

Eddie snatched the remote and muted it, shoving the plastic device on the other side of her when she was done. He reached over and across her, coyly taking in her smell of sea-salt and old spice. She smacked the back of his head hard and he pulled back instantly, ready to hit her. She saw his fist clench and didn't tense or move at all. He somehow wasn't very surprised.

"I told him I didn't have any powers." He settled back into the couch, folding his arms and putting his feet on the coffee table. Eddie leaned back on her side and watched his face twist and contort at his memories. "Metalline was a great hero ten years ago, rivaling The Commander himself. He was also a closet villain who had an ongoing competition with Baron about who had bigger balls. They were always trying to out do each other. Metalline kidnapped me and my mom, and when Baron went to meet him at the ron de vous point he didn't know Metalline had set the whole thing up. He called The Commander and SBI and any other official to capture Baron who was already wanted by everyone. He showed up and killed Metalline right then and there. The Commander saw everything. Me and my mom saw everything."

Eddie felt sick. She couldn't imagine watching her dad kill anyone, even if they deserved it. "Why'd you tell him you didn't have powers?"

Warren shifted a bit. "His greatest accomplishment in his entire miserable life was me. And his biggest letdown would have been me being normal. Metalline didn't just kidnap us. Baron let him. I saw him watch from the other room as Metalline brutalized and raped my mother and beat me. And Baron just stood there." Warren shook his head at the memory, trying to get it out.

Eddie didn't say anything, what could she have? She took the remote out from her side of the couch and raised the volume.

Warren watched the TV absently.

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Evanescence - Lies

I hope I answered some Q's, and raised a few more. At least, a little. Let me know what you think?