A Mako Mermaids AU starting from season 1 episode 17: Moon Ring 2. I have a tumblr post explaining my thinking behind this fic, my tumblr url is mako-and-tails-and-stuff, but basically it doesn't make much sense that the antidote to a powerful Mermaid weapon is sea water. It sort of defeats the purpose of it being a weapon to be used against merpeople, who are in the sea pretty much all of the time.

So this story explores what could've happened after Rita was hit with a Moon Ring and just getting her to the sea (technically it was a canal) wasn't enough.

Summary: It had been a weak shot to begin with, canal water to undo a Moon Ring's defensive blast? It shouldn't have been a surprise when it didn't work, but hope can blind you. Now they're stuck. Stuck with an unconscious, and injured Mermaid, and with no real ideas on what to do. They're untrained, their options are limited and tensions are high.

"You must have complete control of the ring, or there's no telling what damage it could cause."

Moon Rings are dangerous. Too bad it took this much to make that really sink in.

"Give up?" Zac asked tauntingly. The game of chase around his boatshed was entertaining certainly. He could dance around the table and the Mermaids couldn't get to him.

"Both of us," Sirena whispered and held out her arm, Lyla did the same. Zac jumped to the side. Their blast missed him, only succeeded in knocking trophies off his bookcase. No biggie. Zac looked over the damage and turned back to face the Mermaids as they forced their hands out again.

Zac lunged to the side with a grunt of effort.

Thud. Clatter. Crash.

The shelves behind Zac fell backwards with a thud and a clatter loud enough that his granny in Sydney could probably hear it.

"I hope you're satisfied," Zac surveyed the damage. The bookshelf would go back up but from here he couldn't see if anything was broken. If there was the Mermaids would pay for it.

"Not until we get the ring back," Lyla retorted.

The Mermaids could be stubborn, but so could he.

"What? This?" Zac pulled the ring from his pocket and held it out, waving it in the air. It was funny watching them scramble to get it. He could go another round.

Both of the Mermaids held out their hands, arms outstretched. The stone of the ring glowed blue and Zac's arm tingled right up to his shoulder. The tingling stopped as a blast of blue plasma-energy-stuff (he didn't know what it was) shot out of the ring.

Then the door opened.

Through the blue haze Zac saw Rita in the doorway.

The energy blast missed the Mermaids and hit into Rita. She dropped to her knees, then to the ground and Zac's blood went cold.

Lyla grabbed the ring from his hand. Her lips were moving but he couldn't hear the words. She kneeled down beside Rita, Sirena beside her. Zac shook his head and blinked until his ears were picking up sound again.

"She's still breathing," Lyla said ,placing her hand on Rita's back.

Still breathing? Why would she not be breathing? Why would teenage Mermaids be given rings that could kill people?

"We told you the Moon Ring was dangerous," Sirena looked up him, blue eyes wide.

"Only around you," Zac went straight to defensive. It covered the uneasy squirming in his stomach. He needed to do something to deflect. Zac saw his chance and stepped around the unconscious Mermaid on the floor and shut the boat shed door and turned the lock for good measure.

"What do we do now?" Sirena asked.

"We've got to think of something," Lyla said.

How does one undo hitting someone with a dangerous Mermaid ring?

"Zac? What's happening in there?" Evie's voice came from outside the door, followed by a knock on the door. Evie. Not Evie. Why couldn't it have been Cam? Cam knows about Mermaids. Cam knows the secret. Cam isn't suspicious as fuck over everything.

"Nothing," Zac lied, "uh ...some books fell over."

"Then why is the door locked?"

"Is it?" Zac asked, playing dumb. This, they didn't need this.

"Yes. Unlock the door. Now. Please."

"This morning, when Rita was talking about the moon rings, water she said something about water," Sirena said, "Water is the essence of our spirit."

"That's right," Lyla agreed.

"It has the power to heal!"

Water. He had water. He'd left a bottle somewhere. He looked around and spotted it on top of his fridge. Zac stretched up and pulled it down.

"This better work," Zac said.

"It can't make things any worse," Sirena said.

Zac unscrewed the lid and poured the water out over Rita's shoulder. She transformed almost instantly, tail stretching out behind her.

Transformations weren't usually that instantaneous on land, and with such little water. Diving fully into water caused an instant change but not a few drops of bottled water.

A fleeting revelation passed over Zac's mind just then, that he'd never seen Rita with a tail before. It disappeared as quick as it came when he realised she still wasn't waking up.

Zac looked to Sirena, "so much for not making things worse."

"Okay, now things can't get any worse," Sirena said.

"Stop saying that," Lyla snapped.

"No we need sea water. She was born in the Sea, so we need to get her to the ocean. How are we going to do that?"

"Zac!" Evie rattled on the door again.

"We can't do anything with Evie right outside the door," Lyla didn't look up at Zac, but he felt the barbed comment.

"We need to lift her," Sirena said.

"So we carry her across the garden, where my parents and Evie are sitting waiting for us to finish downloading something and re-join them for lunch?" Zac asked. "Not happening."

"Well we can't leave her here," Sirena looked up at Zac. There was an edge in her voice Zac had never heard before. Sirena had always been … sweet. It was Lyla and Nixie who enforced more edge and harshness, Lyla especially.

"We need help," Zac relented and pulled his phone out. There was one person who could help right now. And his name was Cam. He hurriedly typed out and sent a text, not caring to go back and fix that spelling error. Cam wasn't an English hot-shot either, he'd know what Zac was meaning.

"We don't have time to wait around for Cam," Lyla said.

"We'll have to do it between us," Sirena said quietly.

Zac mentally collapsed. This whole thing was going to be awkward. At least it would be over soon. Just get Rita into the water, she'd be fine and then he could clean up the mess with his parents and Evie and find someway to explain Rita's sudden disappearance. He'd become 10% more skilled at lying since becoming a Merman and now was a good a time as any to prove his skills.

Also three people trying to carry one person just sounded complicated. Too many cooks spoil the soup, or something like that. Two's company, three's a crowd or whatever. He was probably strong enough to do it himself, a fact that he voiced aloud. Lyla scoffed and rolled her eyes, Sirena quietly disagreed with him.

He tried to lift Rita himself, his arm around her back, but she was heavier than he thought as proven by his straining to lift her high enough off the ground. He admitted defeat and set her back on the ground.

"Don't you guys have like super strength or something?" Zac asked trying to catch his breath back.

It was the tail. Their tails were heavy and it was hard enough dragging his own behind him on land, let alone taking the full weight of someone else's. Not to mention the length of their tail. Their fins extended more than a foot over their normal human height. Rita might be small on land, but in her current state she was taller than Zac (if of course they could stand on their tail tips without just falling over.)

Also it was kinda uncomfortable touching her like that. He was almost grateful he couldn't lift her.

"No we have regular strength," Lyla said, narrowing her eyes.

"Can you turn her back to human? It'll be easier to move her if she doesn't have a tail," Zac said.

Why hadn't they thought of that before? She was already dried off enough that Zac didn't transform from his attempts to lift her.

"Why can't you do it?" Lyla asked, "you were the one holding the Moon Ring out like that. This is on you."

"I wasn't the one using my powers to activate it! But I've never done it on anyone but me," Zac admitted, "I don't want to burn her."

Sirena slowly curled in her fingers and held her hand over Rita's tail, tendrils of steam rising up from her scales. Sirena kept her hand clenched even as her face crumpled in worry.

"She should've turned by now," Lyla whispered.

"We need to get her into the water now," Sirena's voice quivered.

Zac swore. "Can it wait until Cam gets here?"

"If she dies now because we couldn't get her into the water - it is on you," Lyla glared at him. Her shift to anger, mirroring the tightening of the atmosphere and Zac's stomach. Rita wouldn't really die. She couldn't. This wasn't the type of danger they were supposed to get into. This wasn't 'Riverdale', they weren't tracking serial killers or finding out who really killed that dead kid. They were just normal teenagers. Who had tails. And three who weren't even human. Still a better plot than 'Riverdale.'

"Zac?" Cam's voice came through the wood followed by a tentative knock.

Zac sighed in relief and unlocked the door, letting Cam into the boatshed. Cam looked over them, the Mermaid on the floor, Lyla and Sirena kneeling down and Zac, well internally panicking. He blinked once before speaking.

"What the fuck happened?"

"It doesn't matter, we just need to get her to the water now," Lyla snapped.

"How exactly?" Cam asked.

"We carry her," Lyla said, "how else?"

"Okay this is awkward," Zac remarked at the same time Cam chimed in with ' this feels weird.'

The whole situation felt… wrong. He hated that they were even it, but Lyla was right - it was his fault. If he had just given the Mermaids the Moon Ring they wouldn't be in a ticking clock situation with an unconscious Mermaid, who just so happened to be his school principal. Who he was struggling to lift up off the ground. Again. And where his hands were did absolutely nothing to help anything.

"Stop complaining and hurry up," Lyla rolled her eyes and helped Zac lift Rita up.

"She's heavier than she looks," Cam defended.

"Our tails our heavy," Sirena said, "it helps us stay neutral with the water."

"Ah, gotcha."

"On three," Lyla said, "one, two, three."

"Who's getting the door?" Cam asked.

Zac looked up at his shut and locked door and swore.

Splash

Zac stepped back to avoid the water sent flying up as they practically, well literally, dropped Rita into the water. He noted Lyla and Sirena doing the same. He scanned over the water and waited.

And waited.

The water was beginning to settle and there was no sign that their idea had worked. No movement, no flash of gold, nothing.

"Something's wrong," Lyla said.

Cam looked behind them, Nixie was staring at them from over by the plant pots where Evie's ring had 'fallen', looking nervously at Rob, Lauren and Evie. They were looking up at each other. That splash was pretty loud.

"You have like two seconds before they start coming over here to see what that splash was," Cam said.

Lyla swung her arms forward and dove off the edge of the dock into the water without hesitation.

Zac watched as the water was thrown into chaos again as Lyla broke the surface. The gold glint of her tail was faintly visible under the water, her fin disappearing under the dock they were stood on.

"What was that?" Lauren looked up.

"Probably nothing," Nixie said. They really couldn't have been more discreet? Nixie looked over to the dock and caught Cam's eye before turning back to keeping Zac's parents and Evie distracted.

"A splash like that isn't nothing," Evie shot back.

"It could be," Rob said.

Another splash.

Seriously? Two big splashes and a bunch of clueless land people who do not know about the existence of Mermaids. Was she the only one that actually thought about this stuff?

Evie rolled her eyes and stalked off down the dock to the group, standing looking out over the water.

The water was far from deep here, but murkier than expected, like something had been stirred up on the bottom. Even in the cloudy water, she found Rita easily, her bright hair like the reddest coral standing out as the flowed out behind the still unconscious Mermaid.

Lyla hooked her arms around Rita and turned the Mermaid around and pulling her in so her back was against Lyla's chest. A couple of smooth tail flicks and Lyla glided backwards as far as she could to get underneath the wooden jetty.

She couldn't move Rita all the way back to the grotto by herself and had no way to get anyone else's attention. The only option was to keep herself and Rita hidden in the shallows under the jetty until someone else came to check on them.

Lyla heaved herself backwards onto the sand at the shoreline. The water level was just high enough to cover her tail and no more. Lyla kept her arm around Rita and maneuvered the other Mermaid so that her head was on Lyla's tail to ensure she kept breathing only air. They may be Mermaids, but they can still drown.

Lyla looked up as the wood creaked above her. Figures blocked the light that came down through the gaps in the woods and passed over, leaving sunlight streaming in through once again.

Lyla cast her eyes down over Rita. She was paler than normal and her skin had red marks over her chest, shoulder and stomach. They didn't look good. Lyla could see the edges of them were a darker red, like blood. Thankfully there didn't seem to be any blood weeping from the wounds. A light swipe of her hand over the worst of the marks confirmed the marks were only marks; no blood. So that was one less thing.

The last thing they needed was a wandering Bull shark following the scent of blood.

"Incoming," Cam whispered and Zac whipped around to see Evie stalking towards them, his parents and Nixie behind her. He did not like the "are you serious?" looks Nixie was shooting him, but the suspicion etched onto Evie's face was far worse.

"What was that splash?" Evie asked, looking accusingly at each of them.

"Dolphins," Sirena said and smiled. It looked like a genuine enough smile, but Zac looked right through it, given what just happened. Not to mention the slight strain in Sirena's voice.

"Dolphins?" Evie shot Zac a pointed look. As Zac dodged her gaze he noted the similar look Nixie was giving Sirena. As far as excuses went it was fairly poor, but no one else had thought of anything better, himself included.

"We think," Cam chimed in backing Sirena up, "might have been a porpoise."

"A dolphin in the canal?" Lauren asked. His mother's skepticism was not something he wanted right now. Right now he wanted to ...cry? The lump that grew in his throat was a telltale sign. Why did he want to cry? There really wasn't time for this, they were in a crisis. A crisis that he was at least partly responsible for. He was responsible for this. That fact caught in his chest and made breathing the hardest thing he'd ever done.

"Or a porpoise," Cam reiterated.

"It's happened before," Zac said, joining in the fray and swallowing down the lump, and forcing the continued process of breathing. "Remember when Joe chased one up the canal?"

Although no one ever saw the dolphin. Except Sirena. And then Sirena disappeared and another dolphin appeared… Zac exhaled sharply. What were the chances that the 'dolphins' were actually Mermaids? That would explain to boat continuing to go crazy, even after he had stopped messing with it.

"I do," his dad nodded and shrugged, "odd things happen. Shall we get back to lunch?"

"Where's Ms Santos?" Lauren asked, looking over the group.

"And Lyla?" Evie followed on.

"They had to go," Sirena said, "Rita said she's really sorry about leaving so suddenly but it's her sister, um, Lyla's mum, she called, said it was an emergency and there wasn't enough room in the car for everyone to go so she just took Lyla. Seeing as it's her mum," Sirena trailed off.

"Oh, well, do you have to go too?" Lauren asked, motherly concern blossoming in an instant, "I can drop you home if need be?"

"Or you can stay and finish lunch?" Rob suggested.

"I think dad just wants to get back to his food," Zac said.

"Can't blame a man for wanting his food," Rob patted his belly.

"Thank you Mrs Blakely, but we'll be fine. We can walk home," Sirena said, "right Nixie?"

Nixie blinked, "sure. It's not far."

"Stay and finish your lunch, it'd be a shame to put it all to waste," Lauren said.

"Thank you so much Mrs Blakely," Sirena smiled.

"Well it doesn't look like the dolphins are coming back, so why don't we go and sit and eat?" Rob suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Cam agreed.

As Rob lead them all back to the table Zac grabbed Cam's arm.

"One of us needs to find out what happened," Zac whispered. Evie would not be impressed if he slipped off again, and honestly, he really wanted to disconnect for what just happened, even if just for a second. Plus Cam was human, he could get water on him and keep his legs, which could be handy.

Cam looked up to Evie as she walked back to the table beside Sirena, and then back to Zac.

"I'll go, you stay with your girlfriend. She's suspicious enough already."

"Be quick," Zac let go of Cam's arm, "I have scuba stuff in my room you can use."

"Don't worry, I'm the Camster - I have a plan."

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter, any feedback is happily received, and chapter two will be up soon.

So I haven't posted much Mako fanfiction in a while, I have been writing some but never enough for anything to post. My main writing focus for the past year has been a Skulduggery Pleasant fanfiction - The Vines of Valkyrie and Tanith, in which characters recreate vines. I originally had the idea for doing writing it as a Mako Mermaids fanfiction with Zac and Cam recreating vines but it hasn't happened yet. One day I'll make it happen. One day.

I'll have chapter two completed and posted hopefully by the end of this week.

Until next time.