Rikki gazes out at the water. She is distracted from the magazine in her lap by the sunlight playing on the sea, the call to its depths urgent and sudden. It is probably a bad idea to be drinking coffee on such a beautiful day, but the café cubano at Rikki's is invigorating, and sleepless nights have made her listless. The others chatter amongst themselves as she stifles a yawn.
Cleo and Emma had subsided their rage somewhat since the recent visit to the moon pool, while the others remain more composed. Bella fawns over Emma's necklace while she tells her of the former mermaids, Cleo and Lewis offering anecdotes as they recall them. Of course, there are plenty of other cafés they could visit, but Lewis is eager to rehearse with the band for the first time since his return, and Bella says it won't be long until soundcheck. This is what Rikki chooses to tell herself, anyway.
"Full moon tonight," says Emma.
Cleo grinds her jaw and turns away from the others. "It's probably not gonna do anything now that the magic in Mako is gone."
"Cleo!" Rikki says, tossing the magazine at her in protest. "The magic is not gone. It's just…taking a vacation."
Bella nods. "Exactly. We made the Tower of Light on the same day they messed up the moon pool," she reminds her. Doesn't that say something?"
Unconvinced, Cleo begins to leaf through the magazine. "You should've seen Zane yesterday." She begins to flip through the pages with more speed. "He's so self righteous."
"Come on, he wasn't that bad," Lewis says, receiving a grunt in lieu of a reply.
"I still can't believe you guys managed to stop that comet," Emma says, changing the subject and easing some of the strain amongst them.
Bella tosses her hair over one shoulder. "It was nothing. Actually it was pretty impressive," she giggles coquettishly. The others, all except Emma, turn to one another with matching expressions and wonder when she became so flirtatious. Rikki stares into her coffee and stifles a smile.
"Well," Cleo begins, placing the magazine face-down on the table, "we started noticing the sea temperatures rising and affecting the migration patterns of the fish, and then the moon pool essentially showed us what was going to happen." Even now, she shakes her head in wonder at the thought. "Crazy, right?"
Lewis grins. "Our professor of ichthyology at the university wrote a great article on the correlation between fish migration patterns and changes in the oceanic environment."
"Can we talk about literally anything else?" asks Emma.
Rikki smirks and takes a sip of her coffee. "We're gonna have to get used to the fish talk when this one's across the pond at the Marine Biology Institute," she says.
"You got your acceptance letter?" Emma's eyes light up as she turns to face Cleo.
"Not yet," she sighs.
Lewis takes her hand. "Any day now."
"I don't know…"
"What are you talking about? They are going to love you." He begins to rub small circles on the back of her hand. "You know our oceanography department is out of this world. In fact it's rated—"
"Em!" Rikki interrupts. "You got any plans for next year?"
"I think I wanna go travelling again," Emma says, if a little sheepish.
Cleo frowns. "But you just got back."
"I know but, I have some money saved up from working abroad, and I don't know what I want to do for the rest of my life." She shrugs. "Travelling it is."
With a disbelieving look, Rikki shakes her head in amusement. "I never would have guessed the great Emma Gilbert would be so disorganised," she says. "I always thought you'd be planning your retirement at this age."
"Hey, she managed to keep a job and graduate high school, all while travelling around the world," Bella argues with a fond smile. "How's that for organisation?"
Gazing into her drink once more, Rikki wills away unwanted memories of the education system before they can ruin her afternoon. "You got me there. I barely managed to graduate even without all that other stuff."
"Very funny," Emma deadpans, her tone disapproving. "What about you, Bell? Any plans for next year?"
Bella casts her eyes away. "Nope, not unless my folks drag me somewhere else," she sighs.
"Do you think you might be moving again?" Cleo asks.
With a shrug, she begins to toy with the stone at her neck. "It's always a possibility with my parents' job. If not then, I don't know." She turns to Emma. "I was looking at interrailing actually."
"I'm dying to go interrailing!" Emma beams in excitement. "Europe is so beautiful."
"I was thinking of—"
"Eastern Europe!" the pair say in unison.
Rikki rolls her eyes. "Right so, I'm the only one staying in town?"
"Come interrailing with us?" Emma offers.
She resists the urge to snicker into her coffee. "No thank you. I've had enough of being a third wheel already."
Emma's brows knit together. "What are you talking about?"
The others, however, are unable to contain their laughter. They dissolve into giggles as Bella fixes her gaze on the sea. "Nothing," Rikki says. "Anyway I am flat broke, unless you have some moon crystal lying around?"
"Rikki!" Cleo scolds. "Not funny."
She grins mischievously. "Really? I thought it was pretty good."
Emma chews anxiously on her straw. "How are we going to get the cave walls and the waterfall fixed?"
"I don't know," Cleo replies. "Zane says we can fill in the walls somehow, but the waterfall may be done for."
With a final self-congratulatory speech from Nate, the band is finished with rehearsal. The girls applaud and cheer as Lewis and Bella return to their table, faces flushes from exertion with wide smiles on their faces. "You know, Nate's really improved," Rikki remarks. "He was almost on key there for a minute."
Lewis, carrying another tray of drinks and snacks, nods in agreement. "I'm proud of him. He's come a long way since his short-lived solo career," he says.
"How did that song he wrote for you go again, Bella?" Cleo teases.
With a groan, Bella hides her head in her arms unceremoniously. "Please don't remind me," she mumbles into the table.
"He wrote a song for you?" Emma sits upright, enlivened by the sudden revelation. "I have to hear this."
"It's so embarrassing." Her response is muffled, and Rikki pats her shoulder.
"Ssh, we've all been there."
The sound of a chair scraping the ground alerts them to another presence.
"Hi guys."
Silence.
His expression is apologetic as he meets each of their gazes individually, making certain to convey a strange mix of fear and conviction. His audience seems reluctant to welcome him, but this does not surprise him. He fidgets with the hem of his shirt and, when his eyes finally settle on her, Rikki is reminded of some cheesy quote Emma once espoused about speaking the truth even if your voice shakes. Or something. She offers a smile and swallows a warning, to him or to the others or to herself, she is unsure.
"What's happening Zane?" asks Lewis with a tight smile.
Zane gulps. "I think we should talk."
"I think that's a good idea," Rikki offers after a beat.
He rakes a hand through his dark hair, forcing himself to look at them when he speaks. "I am so sorry for any harm I have caused you or Mako. I could not be more ashamed of myself, and I would do anything to make things right with us."
Emma scowls and clenches her fists at her sides. "It was a bad move, Zane," she says. "I think we've established that much."
He rubs at his arms when goosebumps rise, and Rikki too notices the sudden chill, knows who is responsible for the cold. "Let me finish," says Zane. "I messed up big time, but I wouldn't have touched the moon pool if I thought any of this was going to happen."
Cleo looks down to stare at her hands. She looks almost...guilty, and the action is not lost on Rikki nor Zane as she nods at him to continue. "I don't expect anything from you guys after how much I've hurt all of you, but I am going to do everything within my power to fix the moon pool, not just for you but because it's the right thing to do." He takes a shaky breath to steady himself as he rambles. "I know you probably don't want me there but whether you like it or not I have a duty to ensure the future of Mako. I just hope one day you may be able to forgive me."
Rikki turns to face the others. Her friends are astounded, speechless, Emma with her mouth hanging open and Cleo with her eyes fixed on her lap while Bella offers a sheepish smile. When even Lewis pretends to be deeply preoccupied by his phone, Rikki knows her plan has been a success.
"In the meantime you can grovel for a few decades," she says, quietly enough so that only Zane can hear.
Rikki is staring at the plastic stars tacked onto her ceiling when the phone rings. The cat purring on her chest growls in protest as she stirs. "Time to move, Gramps," mumbles Rikki. Gramps leaps to the window, making chirping noises at the birds, her whiskers illuminated in the moonlight. Rikki laughs at the spectacle and answers the phone. "Hey, Cleo."
A beat, and then she receives a response. "Hey. Have you heard from Emma or Bella tonight?"
Rikki snorts. "Nah," she says. "I'd say they're hanging out."
"Without us? And on a full moon?" she asks. "Not cool."
She reaches out to grab the cat from the window, shoving Gramps onto her lap before an inelegant struggle ensues. "Are you alone tonight?"
"No," says Cleo. "I'm with Lewis."
Though her naivety has waned in recent months, she can't help but admit that Cleo's almost childlike innocence is an endearing quality; all the flirtation, the giggling like schoolgirls, the little touches and seemingly casual compliments between Bella and Emma went right over her head. "Exactly," Rikki says.
"What do you mean exa— oooooh!" She can practically hear the cogs turning in Cleo's head as she understands. "You think there's something going on with them?"
"No, I know there's something going on with them."
"How can you tell?" Cleo asks.
"I'm the fiery one," Rikki reminds her. "You know, passion and heat and all that."
Rikki swears she can hear Lewis' laughter in the background. "Please don't ever say that again," Cleo says, sounding audibly horrified. "What are you up to tonight?"
Gramps begins to knead on Rikki's top, and she grimaces when her claws break the skin. "Gramps…" she scolds. "Might go for a swim, probably head to bed early. I'm on the morning shift tomorrow at Mako."
"Rikki?"
"Hmm?"
Cleo huffs out a breath. "Be careful."
"I'm always careful," says Rikki, and now she knows it is Lewis laughing.
"Good one!" she deadpans. "Call us if you need anything."
"Will do."
The moon is at its highest point in the sky when her legs carry her to the pier. She can feel its energy as it courses through her veins, and she knows in this moment that she is something more than human. The sky is orange with heavy clouds and punctuated by stars. The ocean is alive even as the clock strikes midnight. She swears she can hear a siren's song somewhere in the distance, entrancing her with its spell, the aroma of smoke and sage assaulting her senses.
And still she walks. The air is warm as bathwater and filled with static as if preparing for a rainstorm. Her heart pounds against her ribs yet she feels a sense of calm, like she is meant to be here, here where a camera has lied at the bottom of the surf for decades, here where its owner first learned the truth — but it feels like a lifetime ago! — here where he is.
Yes, here where he is.
A figure is silhouetted against the water and the trees beyond. The moonlight flickers like a candle on the water, gold on black, and she wonders if it could be the rays of the sun; but no, that couldn't be possible.
She reaches him at the end of the pier. Sinking down next to him, her voice is as soft as windchimes as she speaks. He, too, breathes her name, a caress, a sigh falling from his mouth.
Zane leans into her kiss, and this is the last thing that Rikki remembers.
A/N: hello everyone! is there a department of ichthyology at some esteemed marine biology institute in the us? is there any correlation between fish migration patterns and changes in sea temperatures? is there going to be any scientifically accurate information in this fic? the answer may surprise you!
one thing that always pissed me off about the show was that zane never really apologised to everyone for, you know, everything. so i did a catch-all apology here. dude could stand to say sorry more if ya ask me, esp in season 3
the inclusion of rikki having a chirping, kneading cat named Gramps is an entirely self indulgent headcanon of mine. you gotta deal with her antics now, sorry i dont make the rules
Love love love love,
A xxxxxx
