Day one of MerMay prompt month. We will be hearing from the rest of the Flynn-Fletcher family before we get to Ferb, and then Isabella.

Have you ever read a story that had multiple prologues? Well, you have just started one!

My goal for each chapter is 1000 words. With some chapters I just barely hit that, but more often than not these characters run away with me. XD

Disclaimer: Do you really not know by now that I do not own Phineas and Ferb?

Transformation - Candace

(The first day of the next summer, a year after the show.)

It was supposed to be a good day.

Supposed.

But when had any day ever gone her way?

Candace huffed as she stomped down the stairs. She was supposed to be going out with Jeremy to the park.

Again with the supposed.

But noooo. She couldn't go because Phineas and Ferb decided to build yet another crazy contraption and now she had to bust them for it!

(There's a lot of emphasis in a teenager's narration.)

"Phineas and Ferb, what are you doing?!" she screeched. This was honestly so tiring. If only they would take a break, just for a little while!

"We're building a giant fish bowl! Isn't it cool?" Phineas called back, smiling brightly as he lowered an extremely large piece of seaweed into the fishbowl (Candace hoped it was artificial; removing something that big from nature was sure to cause some damage to the ecosystem) while Ferb stood on the nearby ladder preparing to dive in and place it.

"Ooh, you guys are SO busted!"

Phineas grinned. "Come on Candace, wouldn't you enjoy having this pool during the hot summer?"

Candace rolled her eyes because, well, sure it would be nice but, "That would only be if it stuck around. We both know it's going to vanish before mom ever sees it." At this point the seaweed was mostly under the surface, just the top and the rope it was tied to remained in the air, so Ferb jumped in to make sure it was placed in it's assigned spot.

Phineas shrugged lightly. "We will keep it as long as we can. Or maybe we'll move it to the park so everyone can use it. Or the sealife center as a prop. Or the pet store so the fish have a really big place to play! Or—"

"We get it, Phineas. Your ideas are amazing, as usual," she said sarcastically. Then something caught her eye and she blinked. "Uh… What happened to Ferb…?"

Phineas heard the question and, as soon as the seaweed tree was completely submerged, he looked at his brother. "Huh," Phineas shut off the crane and climbed down to stand next to Candace. "I don't know what happened to him, but its so cool! I wonder if I can do that!"

Candace latched onto Phineas's arm before he could climb into the fish bowl too. "You mean, that's not part of this whole 'lets become fish that live in a bowl' thing?"

"No, but now I want to!"

By this point, Ferb had already put the tree in place and he surfaced. Phineas waved enthusiastically at him. "Ferb! How'd you change like that?!"

Ferb blinked at him before looking at Candace in confusion. "You have fins!" she shrieked at him.

The green haired boy glanced down at himself and jolted in shock at the appearance of his feet. He brought a hand up in front of his face, his eyes wide, and looked at the webbing between his fingers.

Phineas was distracted with ideas and how Ferb had totally surprised him with this new trick he'd made, but Candace saw and understood the alarm in her step-brother's eyes. As quick as she could she bolted inside, panicking and yelling, "MOM!"

She found them in the den, studying some antique thingy or other. "Mom! Dad! Something happened to Ferb!"

Maybe it was her tone of voice or maybe it was the frazzled look, but both parents sat up with worry etched on their faces. "What? What happened?" her mom demanded.

"I don't know!" Candace replied, her eyes tearing up. "He dove into the fishbowl to place the seaweed tree, and then suddenly he had flippers on his feet and his hands were different and I don't know what happened!"

Linda stared at her a moment before slumping in her seat. "Seriously Candace? You scared me half to death. I thought it was an actual emergency, not—"

Candace was shaking her head at her mom, ready to defend herself and drag her outside by the hair if she didn't come help, when her dad suddenly leapt to his feet.

Lawrence's eyes were wild as he stared at Candace. "You said he has fins?" he asked, his voice sharp yet hoarse.

Candace blinked, but nodded. Before she could say anything, he bolted out of the room. The antique, and likely valuable, item he was holding fell to the floor and shattered as he yelled back, "Candace! Grab as many towels as you can and hurry!"

She shared a look with her mom, but realized that Linda was just as skeptical as before, though a bit more curious now. Because her dad was acting like he was really taking this seriously, Candace did as he demanded.

Hopefully he could fix things.

She once thought that busting the boys would be the hardest thing she'd ever have to do…

Watching Ferb cringe as Phineas gushed over how cool it was that Ferb changed… That was hard.

Watching their mom cycle through so many emotions, one of them being the amazement at the bowl—because for once everything was still there, which was absolutely ridiculous—but disregarding it to focus on Ferb… That was hard.

Watching her dad do his best to frantically dry off Ferb after having to use the crane to haul him out of the bowl, because the boy couldn't walk on his flippers, was so much harder.

She had always been afraid the boys would hurt themselves doing some amazing thing—not thinking about safety as much as they should have, focusing instead on how much fun they could get out of it. And Phineas… Phineas was so carefree. He didn't realize how much was going to change because of this. And Candace did not know how to explain it to him…

And then the changes came.

Watching as Ferb had to say goodbye so he could go back to his birth mom (who, as it turns out, was a mermaid?!) to learn about this new development…

Watching as her mom fell apart because her baby boy left…

Watching as Phineas mentally changed into this… obsessive and honestly quite frightening version of himself…

That was so hard...

When Candace had asked the universe for some time without the boys doing something crazy…

...this was not what she had been hoping for.

Mermaid

The term mermaid comes from a compound of "mere", which is Old English for sea, and "maid", meaning girl or young woman.

Stories of mermaids have existed for thousands of years and stretch across the world; from Ireland and the UK, to China to Africa to South America to New Zealand… and that's just the start!

There are tales of mermaids that date back to the first written accounts of humanity. One of the earliest known depictions dates back over five thousand years ago, being a Mesopotamian mythology of Oannes, a male fish-god. Another early one is from 1000 BC in Syria when the goddess Atargatis dove into a lake to take the form of a fish, though the gods there would not allow her to give up her great beauty, only the bottom half of her became a fish and she kept her human upper body.

With a rich and varied history, the symbol of the mermaid changes much like the sea. In some cultures, mermaids represented life and fertility with the ocean. In others, they embodied destruction, serving as an omen for storms, unruly seas, and disasters.

We will dig deeper into some of these different types of mermaids, as well as other beings, as the story continues.

Tomorrow we will see Lawrence!