Several years ago…
Cagalli arrived at the airport of the Gold Coast. As she deboarded her flight, she clutched her old worn backpack, which kept the rest of her belongings, for reassurance. Passing baggage claim and security, she made her way down the elevator to meet with her new guardian. It wasn't the first time she had come to Australia, but it was the first time she would be living here. That wasn't what made her uncomfortable though. Her new guardian was a man that worked alongside her father many years ago and even then, he gave her the creeps. He acted very snooty from what she can remember and his hair was an odd color, lavender and unlike normal men of his age, it was long and usually in a ponytail.
She dreaded the moment he would appear and that moment came.
"Cagalli! Is that really you? You're so big already."
"That's what happens when you spend years apart." Cagalli griped.
"Yes. Of course. I understand that you are still upset about your father…" He straightened up like there was a camera on him. "I am a man of social standing now and therefore you will need to work on your behavior in public." He turned to leave but watched her body language. "At least try to be civilized until you arrive at the estate."
Cagalli rolled her eyes but did as she was told. Every moment in his limo was torture, listening to him talk about business, how successful he was and how lucky Cagalli was to live with him instead of foster care… blah blah blah.
They couldn't have arrived at the estate soon enough. When she saw it come into view, she felt her breath stolen from her lips. "Oh no… please tell me that isn't your house."
The gate opened with the security ushering them in.
"It is. You get to live the life of luxury, instead of on some boat in the middle of nowhere."
"For your information! I loved living on the ocean!"
"Manners, Cagalli. It is inappropriate to raise your voice."
"Yuuna! I am not your kid. I am just staying here until they find my father."
"We all understand that. Arrogance will not be tolerated."
Cagalli already decided that life was going to suck here. She didn't think things could get any worse and now she knew they could.
They stopped in front of an ivory and gold trimmed mansion, with glass windows that took up whole walls and pillars that made it look like someone lived here with royal recognition. If that wasn't bad enough, entering the building she felt like an ant gazing up at a dog house. The roof was raised and the column stairways were over the top. There were butlers and maids hustling about their work.
She was brought to her room, her enormous, luxury furnished room.
Cagalli flopped onto the bed with frustration, until a knock on her door sprung her from her thoughts.
"Miss, the master requests your presence at five o'clock for dinner. I suggest you be there. You might want to start making a good impression."
Cagalli just rolled over to look out the big glass window. "Whatever you say…" The window exposed the ocean's wonderful qualities, from surf, sand and sea life. The memories flooded her so she pushed the thoughts from her mind. She pulled out a small journal and took out her pen. She recorded her feelings and situation as her counselor suggested. They weren't very good things to report, but now she might know what it is like to have somewhere to call home, even if it is only temporary. She hopes it is temporary.
Yuuna drove her crazy the next few days and now was driving her to school in his limo.
"Yuuna…?" Cagalli asked gently, starting to know her place.
"What is it?" He seemed distracted with his palm pilot.
"Could you drop me off around the block from my school?"
"Why?" Yunna locked eyes with her. "You would be instantly popular when they see you in a limo."
"Exactly… I want to make real friends… not just people who secretly want what I have."
Yuuna's face scrunched, recognizing the insult and took it personally with class. "Fine. Make your 'real' friends." Yunna turned to his chauffeur. "Stop the car." He turned back to Cagalli. "Maybe you should just walk from here… just to be safe."
Cagalli didn't hesitate and got out of the limo.
"How about you just take the bus? Then you can be really sure of your status as common folk." Yunna spoke snidely.
Cagalli accepted it and started walking. "Okay."
That infuriated him, but the cool and collected man just drove away.
Cagalli was wandering around town, feeling silly because she didn't actually get any directions.
"You look lost. Can I help you?"
Cagalli turned around to face a girl about the same age, with rich red hair and indigo eyes. "Kinda. I am looking for Archangel High."
"I am on my way there. Why don't you walk with me?"
"My name's Cagalli."
"Meyrin. You're new here, aren't you?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"I've never seen you at our school and you walk around like you are seeing everything for the first time."
"I guess that's true."
"What class do you have first?"
"Science with Gladys."
"That's great. I have her for first period too."
"What should I expect from her?"
"She's strict… but nice. Not all of the teachers are. What other teachers do you have?"
"Mrs. Ramius for math and Mr. La Flaga for gym… Oh and Miss Badgiruel for history."
"You have a great selection of teachers… aside from Miss Badgiruel. I have never had classes with her, but I've heard she has made students cry."
"Great…"
"At least you will enjoy your other classes." Meyrin comforted.
"So what do you all do for fun around here?"
"Many things. We often hang out at the juicenet cafe on the beach, swimming, shopping, surfing and snorkeling."
"Other than shopping… there isn't much to do that doesn't involve the ocean."
"You don't like the ocean?"
"It's complicated."
"Hmmm… If you ever change your mind, my father owns a diving company. I'm sure he would take us out if that is something you want to do."
They came around the corner and there was the school.
"Here we are. Our prison for the next school year."
"Is it really that bad?"
"Nah. Come on. I'll take you to your first class."
Cagalli followed the kind classmate to her desk in the science classroom.
Miss Gladys claimed everyone's attention and gave an announcement. "We have a new student from all the way across the world joining us today. Miss Cagalli Atha, would you please stand."
Cagalli felt really silly standing up when everyone else was remaining seated. This was her first class and she was already feeling out of place.
"Would you like to share something about yourself? Perhaps where you are from." Miss Gladys insisted.
Cagalli took a couple deep breaths before addressing the class. "I am Cagalli Yula Atha… My father is a marine biologist. I travelled with him around the world, spending most of our time at sea."
"Thank you for sharing that with us." Gladys continued on with the class.
Since the desks were designed for two people, lab partners, she had a classmate next to her. He turned to her and smiled warmly. "Welcome to Australia."
"Thank you. I'm Cagalli." Cagalli was used to the behavioral management that Yunna was giving her, she forgot that she already gave him her name.
"I know." He chuckled.
"Right…" Cagalli bit her lip nervously.
"I'm Kira." He reached out his hand to shake hers. He had warm purple eyes that helped her relax.
"Everyone, look to the person beside you. That will be your lab partner for the next six months." Gladys interrupted.
"I guess you are my lab partner." Cagalli stated the obvious.
"It seems that way." Kira and Cagalli worked on their new homework together.
It didn't take long for Cagalli to feel comfortable around Kira. He was so gentle and kind.
The class quickly concluded and they started packing up their books. Kira met her gaze. "Cagalli, how would you like to hang out with us for lunch?"
Cagalli was intimidated by the invitation. She didn't like large crowds and this sounded uncomfortable. "I don't know…"
"It would be a good way to meet other people and I think you would like my friends." Kira persisted.
"I guess." Cagalli withdrew towards her next class.
Kira chose to take her response as acceptance and he dispersed as well.
Lunch period could not come soon enough. She put away some things and took out some of the contents of her locker, mostly her lunch. After being guided by a stream of endless students towards the cafeteria, she scanned the tables for Kira. She realized that he wasn't even there. The room was full of tables and energy. The students had claimed all the tables and goofed off together. Everyone already knew each other here. How would she make my friends, when they came from different worlds? She chose to wait for Kira awkwardly at the foodline, assuming he might come this way. Time started to slip away.
"Are you looking for Kira?" Meyrin's voice caught her off guard.
"Ya… how did you know?"
"Kira is waiting for you."
"He isn't at any of the tables."
"Not at any of the tables inside. Come." Meyrin guided her out the big doors and there were more tables set out here. She instantly found her new brunette friend.
"Kira?"
Kira stopped in the middle of what he was doing that seemed to involve an apple and drew his attention to Cagalli. "It's about time you showed up." He chucked.
"Sorry about that."
"Auh, don't worry about it." Kira approached her. "Everyone, this is Cagalli, the girl I was telling you about."
"Hi." Cagalli wanted to hide in her shell like a turtle but this was happening.
"This is Lacus, my girlfriend." He gestured to a girl with pink hair that came down to her butt. "Miriallia and Tolle. They are together. Sai and Kuzzy, they are usually busy with their special clubs." He gestured to the rest. "And you already met Meyrin. She just transferred from Zaft Academy, along with her sister Lunamaria."
"Why did you transfer to this school?" Cagalli asked Meyrin.
"Our school burned down over the summer break. Many of them transferred to this school." Meyrin explained and then she turned to Kira. "Did Athrun transfer here?"
"He didn't tell you?" Kira pressed.
"No… He's been gone a while. He's been sorta busy." Meyrin added.
"Right. That makes sense." Kira smiled warmly. "Probably. At least if they gave him a choice, he did."
"That makes me happy." Meyrin glowed warmly.
"Who's Athrun?" Cagalli asked.
Meyrin looked like she had seen a ghost. "You've never heard of Athrun?"
"Should I have?" Cagalli tread cautiously.
"He is the youngest pro surfer to make it to the championships." She nearly squealed like a hardcore fan. "He is sponsored by Rip Curl. If you go to any surf shop, I'm sure you would see his picture on their wall."
"I'm pretty sure that is where he is right now." Lacus elaborated.
"Birdy." A green and yellow robotic bird flew around and landed on Kira's shoulder.
Cagalli took a seat and everyone settled into conversation. Cagalli felt too awkward to talk to the others, so she mostly listened to them.
The bell rang interrupting their bonding. They collected their trash and other things.
Lacus and Meyrin approached Cagalli after everyone else had cleared. "Cagalli, the two of us were thinking about going sailing tomorrow night. Would you like to come? The more the merrier."
"You've been at sea your whole life, it might be nice." Meyrin added.
Cagalli's stomach churned. It was true that she had spent much of her life on a boat… but the ocean didn't hold the same inviting nature it used to. Memories of past events filled her mind. Memories of her mother… Cagalli shook the thoughts away. This was her chance to make some real friends. If she said no, she would either need to tell them why or look like she was just not interested in being friends. Could she really afford to turn this down? There was no way she could tell them about what happened so… maybe it was time to get over it. "S-ure…"
"Great. Let's meet at the pier after school." Lacus practically sang.
What did Cagalli get herself into?
Cagalli stepped into the water just off the pier. "I can do this… It isn't so bad…" psyching herself up for this challenge. She met with the others on the dock.
"Great. You are already here!" Lacus's voice pulled her away from the ocean.
"I was hoping you could find your way here." Meyrin accompanied her.
"Once you find the beach it's easy." Cagalli defended.
The three of them walked down the pier. Cagalli's feet got heavier and her nerves were alerted. She spoke to herself. "Come on, Cagalli… You are being ridiculous… You'll have to face it sooner or later… You're tougher than this…"
"Is everything okay?" Lacus asked scensing a bit of nervousness.
Cagalli sucked it up the best she could. "Everything will be fine. I've totally done this before." It sounded like she may have been talking to herself.
"Are you sure?" Lacus pushed gently.
"Yep." Cagalli was already regretting agreeing to this and they weren't even on the sailboat yet.
Lacus led them to the fine sailboat at the end of the dock.
"That is smaller than I expected." Cagalli tried to hold back her fears, but she found herself staring into the water.
"It's not the best there is, but it will be good enough for the three of us." Lacus climbed on proving how sturdy it was.
Meyrin stepped over to the boat and reached for the ropes.
The two of them turned to Cagalli. "Are you coming?"
Cagalli broke her gaze away from the water and took a few breaths. 'Don't look down.' She stepped over and her one hand instantly clung to the mast with a death grip.
Meyrin pulled the ties apart and the sailboat drifted off.
Regrets filled Cagalli's mind. What was she thinking? She watched as the pier got farther and farther away. She stopped breathing as she scanned the water for fins and shadows.
The pier was so distant. Cagalli's brain started spinning wildly, contemplating backing out of it.
Then the wind took hard to the sails and they picked up more speed.
Shadows started to surround their vessel and Cagalli's heart raced even harder. She started to hyperventilate.
Dolphins shortly emerged after and she relaxed a bit more, but only enough to calm her breathing a bit.
Lacus and Meyrin both watched Cagalli in confusion. Meyrin approached her. "I thought you said that you have been on the ocean your whole life."
"I have." Cagalli pretended she was fine.
"You don't seem like it."
"What do you mean? Are you accusing me of lying?" Cagalli got defensive.
"No… If you want to go back…"
"I'm fine. It's fine. Can you please just let it go." Cagalli was getting worked up, but she still would never admit what was really going on.
"Alright…" Meyrin withdrew from her, but the two girls weren't convinced by Cagalli's pokerface.
A big gust of wind hit the little sailboat hard and everyone lost a little bit of their balance for a second. Not very far behind it, large angry waves appeared on the surface.
Cagalli really started to panic.
The current grabbed a hold of them, dragging their sailboat out towards the island. Grey clouds rolled in with haste and before too long, the girls felt the hull smash against the coral of reef surrounding the island.
Water started pouring in.
Cagalli felt her breath leave her again and she clung to the mast for dear life.
Meyrin and Lacus tried to paddle the boat to shore, while getting rid of extra water they were taking in, with aluminum buckets.
Another big crash of water pushed the little boat onto the rocks and sand of the beach.
Lacus and Meyrin jumped off and tried to find shelter, when they noticed Cagalli wasn't with them. "Cagalli?!" They saw her still holding tightly to the mast and closing her eyes, begging for this all to end.
Lucky for them, the storm had missed the island. It was already starting to clear.
Lacus took Cagalli's hand. "It's over. We made it to land."
Meyrin helped her pry Cagalli off the boat and the three of them took shelter in the dense jungles of the island.
"How are we getting back?" Cagalli started snapping back.
Lacus took a couple calming breaths. "It shouldn't be too long before someone notices we are missing. We may have to stay the night."
Cagalli was not very familiar with land, but she knew about snakes and spiders. "No way. We are not staying here on this island all night." Cagalli protested.
Lacus pulled out her ziplock bag, inside was her cellphone. "Maybe, I can call for help." She took it out and checked for service bars on its little screen..
"We should get to higher ground." Meyrin chose the direction and the others followed her. Up ahead was a quiet stream. It was water, would Cagalli be scared of it too? They wondered to themselves.
Cagalli didn't even flinch. This water source was different from the ocean. So much different.
Even after climbing the big rocks, they couldn't get a signal.
Cagalli got to a different point that was a bit higher. "Here, let me try it from here?" Mostly she just wanted to be contributing to their efforts.
Meyrin tossed the phone over to Cagalli after making sure she was ready to catch it.
Cagalli was standing on slate rock, without realizing it. To catch it, she stepped backwards and reached out for it.
The edge of the rock broke off and she slid down a rocky tunnel till she got to the bottom.
"Cagalli!" The girls panicked after seeing their friend disappear into the rocks.
When Cagalli recovered, she could see light coming from the hole she fell through, but it was very dark otherwise. Now her ankle was twisted and that would make it very hard to escape on her own. "I'm alright."
Lacus followed Cagalli's voice and the slate gave out on her. She reached out to take Meyrin's hand, but it was not performed well and instead of getting help from Meyrin, Lacus took her down with her.
They endured a few scrapes but that was it. The same could not be said for the girl who broke their fall.
"Ouch!" Cagalli winced in pain.
"Sorry." Lacus collected herself and tended to Cagalli.
The three girls searched for a way back up but the tunnel looked too steep, especially for someone with a twisted ankle. "How are we getting back up there?"
"Maybe this cave leads somewhere." Lacus remained positive.
The two girls helped Cagalli to her feet and continued deeper into the cave. Several tunnels and caverns later there was a bright glowing blue light emitting from further down. They hastened to their exit to find it was a pool of water.
Lacus examined it carefully. "It's connected to the ocean. See how the water rises and falls."
Cagalli knew she wasn't going to like this.
"We all know how to swim. This is great." Meyrin took relieving breaths.
Cagalli stared at the water with tunnel vision. What could be lurking down there?
Lacus figured someone should see where it leads, so she volunteered to dive in. She discovered that it wasn't a challenging swim to the other side and returned to give them the news. "It isn't that bad. We only need to hold our breath for forty seconds."
Meyrin was encouraged to follow her, but Cagalli was still apprehensive, to their surprise.
Cagalli was absolutely petrified. "No… I can't… no…"
"We will be with you the whole time. It's going to be alright." Lacus assured her.
Above the girls, there was a shaft leading up to a big opening at the top, revealing that day was coming to an end. It was like a hollow volcano. There were no possible ways to climb out either. She started hyperventilating.
"What's wrong? You know the water. You've lived on it. You can do this." Meyrin pressed, feeling more uncomfortable the longer they waited.
"I did… but it was different then." Cagalli cried.
"The longer we wait in here, the less chance that they will find us. If we don't go, we could be trapped here forever." Meyrin pushed.
Cagalli knew that wasn't an option either. Whether she wanted to or not, she needed to face her fears. "Okay…" Flashbacks of her mother in the ocean came flooding back. The water turned red around her and that fin circling. Before she knew it, she was crying silent tears.
Lacus reached out her hand, waiting for her cue to take her hand.
The moon crept over the hole. It's cold light filling the crevices and making the water shine. There wasn't going to be a better time.
Cagalli pushed past her fears and dove in.
The moon took full position above them now. A magical mist filled the air and the water sparkled. The girls were all mezmorized for a moment. Even Cagalli was enchanted by it. Something felt different but there was no time to worry about that.
Lacus and Meyrin took Cagalli's hand and the three of them swam out. Cagalli swam like something was hunting her. Once they reached the surface, a spotlight shone over them. Cagalli happily accepted anything that would get her out of the ocean.
"This is the water police. Are you all alright?"
"Just get me outta here!" Cagalli pounded desperately on the side.
They were raised up on the ship. The crew took care of their needs, below deck, with warm blankets and hot chocolate.
The next day came, Lacus and Kira headed to the beach to go surfing before school. They both clutched their boards anticipating the best waves.
Kira listened carefully to Lacus' interpretation of their adventure. "Sounds like you had a rough night. I'm just glad that everyone is okay."
Lacus took a deep cleansing breath. "Everything worked out. I'm fine now, Kira."
"Alright."
"What is our lesson for today?"
"I think you are ready to ride your first real wave." Kira smiled warmly.
"I don't know. The ones with the barrels are a bit more intimidating."
"You're ready. Trust me." Kira took her hand and guided her into the waves.
Kira got on his board, but Lacus' board blew into the air at the first small wave. Kira checked to see if she was okay when he saw something that took his breath away.
Lacus had a shimmery white tail that sparkled like pearls. Those same scales had covered her breasts and connected with each other, but nowhere else, her back was bare.
Kira was frozen. She was a mermaid… "Lacus…? You have a-a tail…? How? What?"
Lacus was just as shocked, her eyes widened as if she had seen a ghost. "I don't know… It wasn't there before…"
Kira looked up to see other people coming down to the beach. "No time for that now. Get to the rock cliffs. I'll meet you there." Kira had to distract the other surfers, giving Lacus a window of opportunity to escape from prying eyes.
Meyrin was lying in the bath, staring at her sparkling green tail. Her mind was frozen in shock, allowing the water to spill over the sides of the bath. There was no room to worry about leaving her house on time for school. 'I am a Mer-mer-maid!'
"Meyrin! How long does it take to have a shower?!" Her sister growled from outside the bathroom door. "I have to get ready too, you know! Meyrin!"
"I'll be right out, Luna!" Meyrin had no idea how she was going to get rid of the tail, or if that is even possible. It was that moment that the wet floor came to her attention. 'What do I do? What do I do?!'
Kira found Lacus at the bottom of the rock cliffs, just where he suggested to her. "Does the tail go away?"
"I don't know, Kira."
They won't find their answers, leaving her in the water. After pulling up onto the rocks, they waited for her to dry, talking about how it happened and wondering if the others have tails too. "Should I warn them? What if someone spots you?"
"I'll be fine. You should warn them. They could be at a bigger risk than I am."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I might have to skip school… could you cover for me?"
"Just stay out of sight. We will figure this out later." Kira made a mad dash to his school, hoping he wouldn't be too late.
Cagalli went to school like any other day and headed to her first class. Today it was gym class with Mr. La Flagga.
"Today is a particularly hot day, so I think it would be best to have class outside. We are going to have a swimming relay. Everyone can swim by now, I hope." The professor joked. "It seems we are missing our best swimmer today. Has anyone seen Lacus?"
Cagalli was shocked that she missed classes today. Lacus must have been more shaken than she realized. Who knew she was the best swimmer?
Everyone shook their heads.
"Alright… Everyone get into your swimsuits and meet by the pool." The teacher dismissed them.
Cagalli put on her swimsuit and made her way with the rest of the class. Her ankle was certainly feeling better today. Everyone was put into teams and Cagalli was the first up.
Kira got a glimpse of her as he ran past and quickly turned to the pool. "Wait, stop!" He rushed in to intercept Cagalli from taking the starting position.
"What are you doing, Kira?" Cagalli was a bit infuriated by his intervention. Did Lacus tell him that she was afraid of water? Because it is none of their business. Besides, this is a pool, it's different.
"What's the meaning of this interruption, Kira?" Mr. La Flagga was growing impatient.
"Cagalli actually can't swim today. She has a-an ear infection." It was the first excuse to surface in Kira's mind.
Cagalli protested in quiet frustration. "I'm fine, Kira..."
"Does she have a doctor's note?" The teacher pressed.
"Yes. Cagalli should have it somewhere. Can you give her a minute to find it?"
"We are missing one team member on the red team. Now they are uneven." One of the students complained.
Kira quickly volunteered to fill in. He got ready in his everyday clothes for the starting line.
Mr. La Flagga was beside himself, but the relay started before he could protest.
His quick thinking got her put on the bench. Kira had some explaining to do. 'What was the big idea?!'
When Kira had finished his portion of the relay, he quickly withdrew to the change rooms area.
Cagalli followed him, ready to give him an earful. "Why did you do that, Kira?!" Cagalli roared.
"I doubt you would believe me if I tried to explain it. Just come with me." Kira rushed through the lockers, dripping wet and covered with a towel. He spotted Meyrin and Lunamaria grabbing their books.
"If you make me this late again, so help me." Lunamaria threatened her sister as she passed her down the hall.
"Meyrin?!" Kira rushed to her side. "We need to meet with Lacus. It's urgent."
Meyrin instantly knew what he meant. "Right. Let's go."
"Will someone tell me what is going on?" Cagalli muttered.
"We'll show you." The two students led Cagalli all the way to the rocky cliffs, where Lacus waited for them, now with dry legs.
Cagalli rushed over to them in even more irritation.
Lacus knew this was the only way to convince her, so she splashed water at Cagalli. A few moments later, they both sprung tails.
Cagalli flopped backwards and Kira caught her, the best he could. Cagalli braced herself upward to see what happened and then she froze upon seeing it for the first time. "No… oh no… this can't be happening." She stared at her sparkly red tail. "I'm a… I'm a FISH!"
Cagalli locked eyes with Lacus seeing her glorious white tail. What about Meyrin? "You too?"
"Yeaahhh…"
"How do we turn back?!" Cagalli panicked.
"They seem to disappear when they're dry. But another splash of water and they appear again." Lacus explained.
"I mean permanently!" Cagalli specified.
"I don't know if we can…"
"I can't have a tail…" Cagalli tried to catch her breath.
"We're-" Meyrin was cut off by Cagalli's protest.
"Don't say it."
"We are. This is our life now." Meyrin continued.
"It must have happened in that moon pool." Lacus concluded.
"No one can know about this." Kira insisted. "If word got out that you are mermaids, they could put you in labs and dissect you or put you in a circus or make you a permanent exhibit in the aquarium."
"We need to stick together. This fate connects us. We need each other. And… Kira." Lacus proposed.
"Agreed." Meyrin held out her hand.
The three of them joined hands.
Cagalli tried to calm down. "Believe me. I don't want anyone else to know about this either." She added her hand to the collection.
The four friends met at the juicenet cafe to discuss things further, without their tails getting involved.
A woman in her thirties, came over to their table to take their orders. "What would you like?" She got a glimpse of Cagalli. "I have yet to meet your new friend."
"Aisha, this is Cagalli. She just moved to Australia." Lacus introduced.
"It's very nice to meet you, Cagalli." Aisha smiled warmly. "It's nice to see someone new around here, aside from the common riff raff." She teased.
The others giggled. "We aren't so bad."
"Thank you very much." Cagalli answered.
"You won't be able to hide that fact with an accent like that." She deducted.
"It's not that much different." Cagalli defended.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of." Aisha turned to the menus. "Do you still need a minute?"
"No, we want the usual." Kira answered.
"One strawberry banana smoothie for Lacus… One mango tropical splash for Kira… One Chocolaccha for Meyrin… and what would you like, Cagalli?"
Cagalli gave the menu a quick nose over and answered. "Can I just order the favorite?"
Aisha gave her a curious look. This girl was hiding something. Aisha decided not to press it and wrote down the final drink. "Of course." Then she left them at peace.
"Aisha and Andrew are pretty cool. They own the Juicenet Cafe." Meyrin explained.
"They host several events throughout the year. Contests and all sorts of fun activities. You can find them on the activity board at the front of the cafe." Lacus added.
"I'll check it out, but later. We have bigger problems. How are we supposed to avoid water? It's everywhere." Cagalli complained.
Meyrin accepted the revelation. "My dad and I go diving all the time… What am I going to say?"
Kira turned to Lacus. "... and you will have to quit the swim team."
"I don't mind." Lacus smiled reassuringly.
"But you worked so hard to get here." Kira griped.
"It's fine, Kira. I swim on the team because I really like to swim. With a tail, it can only get better." Leave it to Lacus to find the positives in everything.
Kira couldn't resist a smile.
"I think we will find out more by going for a swim." Meyrin suggested.
"Agreed." Lacus and Kira chimed.
Cagalli cringed. "You guys go ahead. I have a lot of homework to do."
"Alright…" They reluctantly agreed, and gave her the space she desired.
So many things circulated in Cagalli's mind; her fears consumed her like quicksand. Her eye drifted to her drink as she teared up, fighting the urge to cry. Her fist clenched and she released the tension to take another sip of her smoothie. The heat overwhelmed her sense, taking her attention back from her thoughts. "Oww… what? How?"
She ordered a glass of water and took a drink to make sure. It was chilled with ice glazing the top. She clenched her fist again and the water sizzled, steam rising quickly from its source. A hand over the top confirmed the heat rising, just to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. After realizing she wasn't crazy, she jumped up to catch up with the others.
Aisha came over to collect the glass and it nearly burned her. She stared at it in confusion and then sought out the girl that vanished. She quickly placed the boiling water on the tray and returned to the back. "Andy… take a look at this."
A man around her age with brown spiky hair turned to her. "Interesting…"
Cagalli found her friends at the rocky cliffs. Lacus and Meyrin were just about to jump with Kira. "You guys will never believe this!"
They stopped what they were doing and rushed to Cagalli.
Cagalli found a puddle of water, clenched her fist over it and the whole puddle evaporated.
"We have powers?" Meyrin chimed, trying the same thing over a different puddle. Nothing happened.
"I do… Do you really think only one of us would get powers?" Cagalli reasoned.
Lacus tried the same thing but no reaction. "Maybe our powers are still coming."
A wave hit the rocks hard and the splash reached the girls. Lacus shielded herself with her hand and got pegged with ice crystals.
The three girls studied them moments before all turning into beached mermaids.
Lacus picked one of them up. "They are so cold…"
Kira just scanned the area for interlopers. He relaxed when he didn't see another soul.
"Cagalli's power is heating things and Lacus can freeze things… What is my power?" Meyrin grumbled.
"You will find it soon, I have no doubt." Lacus assured her.
Kira knelt down to his girlfriend. "We came all this way. We should see what your tails can really do."
Kira dragged Lacus to the edge. She flopped off and Meyrin followed. Kira turned to Cagalli, who was already trying to steam dry her own tail. "You are already here. A few more minutes wouldn't hurt."
"No. I'm fine. You guys go without me." Cagalli protested.
"Kira?" Lacus suspected Cagalli would shy away from the ocean as she did the day before.
Kira followed them in after putting on his snorkel gear.
Cagalli's tail disappeared and she ran over to the edge, just in time to see them disappear in the ocean tides. Cagalli cringed thinking about what could happen. Flashbacks of razor sharp teeth made her freeze in her step. "A mermaid who can't swim… I'm so pathetic…"
A mechanical bird flew around the water where she suspected they were. "Birdy!"
Meyrin and Lacus zoomed around the bay, holding their breath as long as they could. They stopped at the many reefs, swimming with the both fish and dolphins.
Meyrin accidently spoke, her voice coming out crystal clear as if she was speaking through the air. "It's like we are one of them. I could get used to this."
"You're talking." Lacus breathed in the water like it was air. "Mermaids can breathe water."
Meyrin was surprised by the revelation. "You're right." She took several breaths.
Kira nudged Lacus' shoulder.
"Not Kira." Lacus pulled him back to the surface before he would breath it in.
"This is so amazing." Lacus chimed.
Meyrin's expression changed to a solemn one. "It's too bad Cagalli won't come out here."
They surfaced.
Kira choked for a second while accepting the air back into his lungs. "What's going on with her? I thought she was raised on the ocean."
"I believe there is more to her story than she lets on." Lacus surmised.
"It's like she is afraid of the water." Meyrin added.
"She needs us as much as we need her. If we give her some time, she may tell us what is really going on."
"Until then…" Lacus agreed with him. "We should watch out for her. She is adjusting to two new worlds."
"I can only imagine what that must feel like."