I do not own H2O: Just Add Water—that is rightfully owned by Viacom. I, however, own the storyline. Because if I did own H2O: Just Add Water, I probably wouldn't be sitting here at my computer writing this, now would I? ;-)

Summary: When a rare full moon takes a dramatic turn, causing the girls' powers to go haywire, can they make it through the night with friendship prevailing? Or will things take a turn for the worse?

Author's note: Takes place post season two. Season three has not occurred yet.

Chapter 5

"Through Still and Storm (Part 2)"

EMMA

I'd only ever read about certain hallucinations that were a result of dehydration and the like, usually involving some miraculous story of survival in the Outbacks or somewhere similar, but this was the first time I'd heard of fever being a cause. Although if Lewis knew about it, it couldn't be unnaturally uncommon. As unnatural as say, a mermaid.

A deafening silence settled over the room. And we thought this night couldn't possible get any worse...

"Try talking to her, spark her memory or something, get her to snap out of it," Lewis suggested. Seemed like a good enough option to me. Or rather, the only option.

"Rikki?" I began tentatively, "It's Emma." So when in doubt, start back at square one.

Rikki frowned. "Emma..." she repeated slowly, as if speaking the name for the first time, which was definitely not the case.

"You're hallucinating," Cleo told her, "You need to snap out of it."

"Why would I do that?" Rikki asked loosely. She had on an expressionless face, a description rarely seen in her. She stared at Lewis till the poor guy wiggled. Rikki wasn't seeing him, though. She was seeing things other people couldn't see, and laughing when nothing was funny. Her sky blue eyes were cloudy and unfocused—they reminded me of a two-way mirror. Like you could feel somebody on the other side watching you, but the only reflection you saw was your own.

"Because you're scaring us," I said. Not a lie.

This seemed to surprise her. "Really? How so?" Her gaze further arose our suspicions as she suddenly tilted her head further to the right.

"Rikki? What are you looking at...?" Lewis asked after a pause.

"I...I'm not sure," replied Rikki. However, there was something in her tone that caused me to grow even more concerned. Whatever she was seeing—I did not know what it was, but it worried me. Maybe it was the way the heat seemed even more intense than before, but after a moment I felt my skin becoming less cold. It was like we were becoming our elements. Physically, at least.

I was still worried about Cleo. If this was what was happening to us two, I sure didn't want her turning into water on us... or something.

"Well this is just hunky-dory," sighed a flustered Lewis as he ran a hand through his blonde locks.

"What do we do?" asked Cleo, twirling a strand of hair around her fingers in anxiety. I could practically hear the gears grinding together in Lewis's head, formulating and calculating.

"Well, I have a theory. Or it's more like common sense, or rather—"

"Get to the point," I urged impatiently.

Lewis stopped rambling. "Emma, you're cold, and Rikki's hot. It you two could somehow balance each other's symptoms out..." He didn't need to finish. The message clicked on its own.

"Makes sense," Cleo quipped.

I took a breath. "Alright. Whatever it takes."

"Well, it's a good thing your parents aren't around to witness this fiasco. Goodness knows it'll be hard to explain this one," Lewis commented in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Tell me about it," I agreed. "My mom would flip her lid. She'd probably go get that doctor who's such an expert on rare tropical diseases." Cleo rolled her eyes in amusement.

"Must be nice..."

I raised an eyebrow at Rikki. "What? The water again?" Might as well poke a little fun at her, or store what she'd said during her trip to La-La-Land away for future reference, just in case I needed to counter one of her daily jokes with one of my own.

But she shook her head. "No... to have a mom around." She paused and looked up in thought as if she could see all of the answers written on the ceiling. "Haven't seen her in awhile...I wonder what she's up to these days..."

I immediately felt sorry for her...and a tad bit curious. This was one of the very first times I've heard Rikki mention her mom to anyone. I'd come to the conclusion that it was a sore topic and didn't question her further. Even if I did, I knew she'd find someway to dodge it.

"You were right," Rikki said out of the clear blue sky.

I turned and looked at her, trying to figure out what she meant. She didn't seem to see me watching her. The past hour she had been completely zoned out, just sat and stared and stayed quiet. I wasn't used to a quiet Rikki—it was completely out of tune with her usual personality. I had to check a couple times to make sure she was still breathing, for crying out loud.

"What do you mean? About what?" This sudden statement got me interested in what was going through that delusional mind of hers.

She suddenly seemed sad, almost depressed about something. "Everything," she murmured.

I could only stare.

Don't get me wrong, I usually like being told I'm always right, but even I know I can be wrong sometimes or more often than not. It's what makes us human. At this point in the game, I was surprised the couch we were sitting on hadn't caught fire yet, if that little piece of information tells you anything. But at least Rikki was talking again. I had to keep her talking.

"Nah, I don't think I'm right about everything," I said, trying to make my voice as casually normal and carefree sounding as possible. It must not have sounded as convincing as it did in my head.

"I'm not very funny, aren't I?"

The room seemed cooler for some reason after she said that, and I had a feeling it had nothing to do with my powers freaking out on me. Those words seemed oddly familiar...

And then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I'd been the one to tell her that, way back when I barely even knew her name, after the whole Mako incident that got us to where we are today. I suddenly regretted saying it.

"No, no, you, erm—"

"Don't lie to me, Em."

Well, I suppose water and words are both easy to pour but impossible to recover.

Rikki suddenly laughed. The switch seemed so rapid—one minute she looked like her dog had just died and the next, here she was, laughing. Part of me wanted to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of the fact, and the other part of me was scared for my friend. The clash between our overall body temperatures was helping balance it out, but for some reason Rikki was still hallucinating.

"Sometimes I still wonder..." She trailed off, letting the sentence hang in the air. I decided to take hold of it.

"Wonder what?" Just keep her talking. Just keep her talking.

And then the faint light that had entered her eyes left just as quickly. "Why you guys even offered me your friendship in the first place."

Her voice didn't waver, her monotone voice didn't change, and the same could be said about everything else in Rikki Chadwick at that moment. Personally, I was taken aback at the statement and Cleo—who had tuned into the conversation from across the room where she was currently resting her head in the crook of Lewis's neck—seemed likewise. She sat up.

"Why do you think that?" she asked in disbelief.

To my surprise, Rikki's eyes shifted to look at her. They were hard and vulnerable at the same time. "Because if it weren't for the fact we're mermaids, you wouldn't have given me a second thought."

Our jaws had might as well have hit our kneecaps. Man, was this girl D-E-L-U-S-I-O-N-A-L.

"Rikki, how can you even think that?"

"Because it was my fault in the first place," she muttered so quietly I strained to hear the words. I couldn't sit right next to her and listen to her disgrace herself, no matter how unscrewed her head was tonight. I grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at me. My hands stung for a moment under the direct contact. It was almost like sticking your hand over a hot stove. But at the same time I felt relief.

"Rikki, your head must seriously be messed up up there if you honestly believe that."

I expected some sort of reaction, but what I wasn't expecting was for her eyes to widen and for her to suddenly jerk away. "Jeez, Emma, you're freezing! What'd you do, jump in the freezer?"

I wanted to say yes, I'd might as well have, but instead I found my attention renewed as I sized her up and down. "You know who I am?" Dumb question? Maybe. But tonight it seemed more vital than ever.

Rikki looked confused. "Yes," she said slowly, drawing out the S. "What game are we playing exactly? 20 Questions, the Obvious Edition?"

Any amount of sarcasm, no matter how offensive or witty, sent a wave of relief into me. I heard Cleo sigh in relief as well. "Thank Goodness," I breathed, pulling her in for a hug.

"What's exactly going on?" Rikki asked, pulling away quickly. Her eyes still held a somewhat glossy look. Apparently she still hadn't fully recovered. But she was becoming more lucid, which was good, although she kept periodically squinting as if she were trying to force her eyes to focus. My skin seemed slightly warmer than it had been earlier. Maybe our polar opposites worked out for the better, just like we'd hoped it would.

Lewis jumped in for explanation. "Your powers are running high, causing your body temperature to increase so much that you started hallucinating. Emma is having the same effect, but opposite, and Cleo... well, fortunately nothing yet." He wrapped his arm around Cleo as he finished.

Rikki's brows furrowed further in confusion. "Hallucinations? What kinds of hallucinations?"

"You just said some things, that's all," Cleo answered. "You had us really worried." Cleo flashed a relieved smile, but Rikki didn't return the gesture.

"Okay, well, sorry for making you worry, I guess. I can't really remember anything since... you know." Rikki paused briefly. "What sort of things did I end up rambling about?" she asked, groaning, seemingly afraid of the answer.

"Nothing in particular," I said. "Just about the water and those kinds of things." I might have been speaking a little too fast for it to be believable, but Rikki—who was still a little out of it—seemed to buy it.

"Oh." She rolled her eyes. "Guess I won't be hearing the end of this one, huh."

"On occasion, yes," I joked, resuming rubbing my hands together. Rikki shot me an amused look, but seemed too tired to try and counter the remark with one of her own. Instead she rubbed her temples.

"How're you feeling?"

Rikki groaned. "Like I've been hit by a speedboat."

"Can't say I've ever been hit by one myself, but it sounds rather unpleasant," Lewis commented.

"Lewis, go find an open door and shut it."

Lewis feigned hurt, clutching at his chest as if he'd been stabbed. "Oh, the sarcasm hurts. How will I ever recover?"

"I'm sure you'll figure something out."

THIRD PERSON

Cleo chuckled, partly out of the badinage between Lewis and Rikki and partly out of relief that Rikki was finally awake and lucid again. A small ribbon of anxiety still remained, however. Even though both Rikki and Emma seemed to be improving since their conditions balanced each other out-personalities included-, there was no telling how long it would last or if there would be a sudden relapse and things would go from bad to worse.

And Cleo didn't know if her powers were going to be next to go haywire on her.

"So... now what?" Rikki questioned with a sigh, wiping sweat off her flushed forehead and leaning back.

"Same thing we've been doing," Cleo said with a shrug. "We wait." Cleo's stomach tightened as she said the words.

Because sometimes waiting is the hardest thing to do.

Lewis noticed the slight hesitation in her voice and how her body language suggested she was about to bolt up and resume pacing like if she didn't go back and forth so many number of times she would lose it. He put an arm around her shoulders.

"Don't worry, Cleo. If anything happens, I'm right here."

Cleo nodded wordlessly and melted into his form somewhat tentatively.

That was what she was afraid of.

To be continued...

So sorry this has taken so long. I kind of fell off the grid thanks to school activities and tests and what-not. But since summer has officially started up again, I'll try my best to push past this writer's block and keep the chapters coming. No idea how often I'll be able to update, but I promise I will not give up on this story until it's officially complete and I'm happy with it. :)

I'm not exactly sure anymore where I'm going with this story anymore, but I have a few ideas in mind.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's not the best by far, but it'll suffice until I decide to edit or make some changes. Not sure yet. Ha!

I'd like to say Thank You to all of you who have chosen to watch or favorite this story. It means A LOT to me and, quite honestly, makes my day knowing that somebody out there is looking forward to the next chapter. To be honest, I'm kind of addicted to reviews. But then again, who isn't? ;)

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a review!

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Ideas? Randomness? Feel free to put it in a review or PM me at any time. I'll make sure to reply to any and all reviews and messages ASAP. I appreciate ALL reviews, but I prefer if they aren't anonymous so that I'll be able to reply.

I also apologize for this super long author's note.

Okay, that should do. Thanks again!