'Lloyd?'

Lloyd opened his eyes slowly, sitting up and turning before blinking. Noishe was partially on the beach, gazing at him expectantly. He made sure the others were asleep before walking over, kneeling next to him.

"Sorry about earlier, Noishe. I just had to get them out of there as fast as possible," he murmured.

'Don't worry, I understand. If my friends were in danger, I'd do the same,' Noishe replied, clicking quietly.

There was a ripple, and Lloyd blinked as Kratos suddenly appeared from the surface. "Kratos? I didn't see you at all...Are you alright?" he asked, standing.

Kratos gazed at him a moment, then glanced away. "I'm fine. Yggdrasil has me working for him again, but I felt I should alert you that he wants me to kill your half-elf friends, the traitors, and take that Colette girl."

"What? Why? ...Hold on, how did you know they were half-elves?"

"It was quite easy to guess. As for the other questions...Yggdrasil sees you as a threat. He wants to throw you off balance. However, I don't intend to obediantly do as he says. I can keep off you for until you reach the mainland, but if you enter the ocean again, I can't guarantee safety."

Lloyd nodded. "Alright. Thank you, it's more than I could expect of you in this situation," he murmured.

"You don't plan to stay out of the water," Kratos noted.

"Of course not. There's too many problems that I know of now, and I plan to fix as many as I can. If I die in the process, then so be it."

Kratos blinked, then looked away a moment. Finally he sighed. "Tail colours are hereditary," he said suddenly. Lloyd blinked, and he looked up. "The colour you inherit also reflects your aura. Aquamarine, in mermaid culture, has long been considered both to represent calm and perseverance. You appear to possess both...like your mother did."

Lloyd stared at him. "You knew my mum?"

"...A little. She was a human, but the mermaid she fell in love with foolishly believed he could make her a mermaid and she would be safe. Her tail colour was aquamarine...Unfortunately, fate was not on their side, and she wound up dead; drowned. It was presumed that their baby had died with her, but you are quite clearly her son."

"Who was she? What was she like?" Lloyd asked quickly.

"A brave and gentle woman. She inspired many around her to follow her. You've inherited many of her traits...As for her name, it was Anna."

Lloyd blinked, certain he had heard the name before, but he couldn't think where. He gazed at Kratos a minute, then smiled. "Thank you. I'm really in your debt. You've done a lot more for me than you probably realise," he murmured.

"I rarely underestimate the value of information. I have a general idea, at least. Stay safe, Lloyd," Kratos murmured before slipping back under the water.

Noishe turned to Lloyd. 'Sorry Lloyd, but...'

"It's alright, I understand. He's all you've ever known," Lloyd said.

'He's just really lonely. He doesn't have many friends, after all. So I have to be there to cheer him up!' Noishe said with a happy click before leaping up and diving down, splashing Lloyd a little in the process and making him laugh. He wandered back to the others, brushing the water off, and glanced back out over the ocean before sighing and lying down to get some rest.

The next morning, they sat waiting on the beach for Zelos and Sheena. Genis and Colette stood in the water, splashing each other a little, though making sure not to get Colette's necklace wet in case she randomly transformed.

Raine was gazing at Lloyd, trying to figure out what could give away that he was part mermaid. There must be something, after all...shouldn't there? He acted as human as the others, and yet he was quite clearly able to grow a tail without a scale. In fact, now that she thought about it, the scales Genis and Colette had - and that they had used to change into mermaids - were probably from Lloyd himself.

He suddenly blinked, turning before standing. A moment later Sheena and Zelos broke the surface, swimming towards them.

"Sorry about the wait. This idiot was taking forever to wake up," Sheena sighed.

"Don't worry about it," Lloyd replied with a grin.

Zelos ran a hand through his hair, gazing at him. "So you really are part human? Wow~. First one I've ever met," he said, smirking.

"Do you need to do something special to get your tail?" asked Sheena.

"Not really. Colette, Genis, we're leaving!" he called.

The two of them glanced at him then nodded, Colette submerging herself before breaking the surface, her tail lifted behind her. Genis walked over to Raine, passing over a scale before putting one in his mouth and leaping into the water, splashing Colette. She giggled, diving after him. Lloyd sighed, shaking his head, and turned as Raine walked up. "Are you wanting to come with me again, Professor?" he asked.

"Actually...If it's no trouble, I'd like to go with Miss Sheena," Raine replied, looking at her.

"That's fine," Sheena replied, waiting until Raine was in the water before taking her hand.

Lloyd nodded, noting that the other two hadn't surfaced yet, and grinned before diving under the water after them. He floated there a moment, smiling happily as the tingle ran up his legs and his tail appeared. He quickly flicked it, spinning briefly before spotting the other two and diving down to them.

They looked up as he approached, and he motioned up. They nodded, the three of them swimming up together and breaking the surface at the same time.

Genis glanced towards Sheena, then pulled a face as he saw Raine was with her. Looking over at Zelos, he sighed before swimming over to him. Lloyd took Colette's hand, and the group quickly dived down again, starting towards Iselia once more.

Dirk was hammering away in his forge once again, trying to push away the niggling worry for Lloyd. He hoped they were all alright, but the boy was like his own son, and he didn't want anything to happen to him...

He heard feet coming up towards his house and frowned, pausing in his hammering. Had the Desians come back? He wandered to the front, glancing out cautiously before relaxing as he saw Raine, Genis and Colette...then worry hit him again as he realised Lloyd wasn't with them.

"Are ya alright? Where's Lloyd?" Dirk asked, looking between them.

"He's still on the beach with Zelos and Sheena. He asked you to go down and see him," Genis explained.

Dirk sighed in relief before nodding. "Aye, will do. Why don' ya get in and dry yerselves off?" he suggested, waiting until they were inside and warming up before heading off, soon reaching the beach. Lloyd sat on the sand with two other mermaids, and Dirk stopped in surprise before continuing on.

Lloyd heard him coming and turned, grinning when he saw him. "Dad!" he called happily, waiting until Dirk had walked over before hugging him. Dirk returned the hug, just happy knowing that he was safe and well.

"I missed ya, lad. Been safe?" he asked.

"Well, mostly, but I'll tell you about that later. Dad, these are Sheena and Zelos, a couple of friends of mine." The two of them gave a quick wave, and Dirk nodded his head at them. "I was wondering if you knew any way to give them legs? They're at danger in the water," Lloyd explained.

Dirk considered, rubbing his beard. "Hmm...Well, yer scales are special, a'ter all. Maybe using them pendants'll give 'em legs instead of tails," he suggested.

Lloyd blinked before grinning. "Hey, that's a great idea! I should have thought of that."

"I'll head back up an' grab 'em. Wait here a min," Dirk grunted, turning and starting back up. He checked in on the others before grabbing the little box with the pendants in and heading back down to the beach. He set the box onto the sand, lifting a couple of the pendants out and handing them to the two mermaids.

"Try 'em," Dirk said.

The two of them hesitated, then Sheena lifted the necklace and slipped it on. There was a vague tingle, then her tail vanished, being replaced by legs. She blinked before standing, stumbling unsteadily for a moment. "This is so odd...How do you land-livers deal without having tails?" she mumbled, shuffling forward a little.

Zelos quickly slipped the bracelet on, also standing. He quickly lost his balance and fell face-first into the sand, lifting himself up and spitting a bit out.

"Being a human is horrible," he muttered as he pushed himself up again.

Lloyd laughed. "You'll get used to it," he said, watching their clumsy attempts at walking.

Sheena adapted easier to it, and was able to walk normally for a little while. "It's very tiring," she noted finally.

Lloyd glanced back as his tail disappeared, replaced by two legs, and he quickly picked up the scales that had dropped off before standing up. "You'll get used to it. Come on, come inside and dry off," he said, heading to the house with Dirk, Sheena, and a wobbly Zelos in tow.

A/N: Explanation time!

1) Raine's little 'surely there must be something different' bit wasn't any type of foreshadowing - she was simply realising that actually, Lloyd was as human as he was mermaid. He didn't have anything that made him different from her or Genis or Colette, but also nothing different from Sheena and Zelos.

2) Why Raine went with Sheena; well, mostly she just wanted to check out real mermaid tails. Tbh I just put Genis with Zelos so Colette could finally go with Lloyd.

3) Why Sheena and Zelos immediately grew legs and why the same pendants could do that; his scales could do it for the reason Dirk said - he's half mermaid, so it just works backwards. Why they immediately grew legs (when they won't in later chapters) was because the pendants have to be dry for them to grow legs (which is actually the same for if Colette wore her pendant while it was wet, but she can just take it off and immediately grow legs).

Review?