"You kissed Zane last night?"

The moon pool is changed. While the question of its magic is still a mystery, Cleo and Lewis had managed to remove most of the rocks scattered at the bottom of its depths the previous evening. Now they sit in a wheelbarrow by the cave's entrance rather than clogging up the bottom of the pool. The girls have plenty of space to stretch their fins as the moonless sky illuminates the cave, their home away from home slowly but surely returning to the way it once was. Rikki wonders how much things have truly changed as Emma gapes at her, awestruck.

"Yes, alright?" she responds.

"I can't believe this."

Bella smirks. "I can."

"What happened after you kissed?" Cleo, ever-practical, asks.

Rikki scratches her head. Trying to recall the events of last night is proving to be more difficult than she imagined. It must have been the moonlight. "I swam away… I think."

"You swam away?" Emma balks and tries to prevent the smile that pulls at the corner of her mouth.

"It was the full moon!" Rikki argues, before hesitating. "Probably…"

Three mouths open to speak in unison, but Cleo is first to do so. "The last time the full moon was out, it didn't do a thing to the moon pool or any of us," she says.

"You still like Zane, don't you?" Bella asks with a smug look.

"Of course not."

Emma rolls her eyes with a smirk to match Bella's. "You're a terrible liar."

"I want to say I was wrong about Zane," Cleo ponders, "but he's let us down so many times…"

"You have nothing to worry about anyway because we're not getting back together."

Bella, ignoring Rikki's advice, turns to Cleo with a quizzical expression. "I don't know, I mean he did get in Will's boat and stop everything happening at Mako." She combs her fingers through her hair absentmindedly. "That's gotta count for something."

"True," Cleo admits. "And he's working really hard to fix the moon pool."

"Guys—"

As if Rikki is no longer present, Emma interrupts her complaint. "I don't think Rikki should trust him just yet, at least not until this place is fixed."

She pinches the bridge of her nose. "It doesn't matter anyway because—"

"But I mean if he kissed her…" muses Cleo. "That's a good sign."

"Do you guys want me to leave?"

Bella sighs deeply. "Under the full moon and everything. How sweet is that?"

"I didn't know you were such a hopeless romantic," Emma says, and Bella blushes red.

Rikki spots her opening as, finally, their conversation halts. "I was actually going to ask for your advice," she explains, "but I see now that my only option is to skip town and join the circus."

"Wait!" Cleo drags her back by the arm as she begins to leave. "So you guys kissed. What now?"

"What do you want to happen?" adds Emma.

"I don't want to get back together, that much I know." Rikki is hardly convincing herself, let alone her friends.

"Was it a good kiss?" Bella asks.

"It was a very, very good kiss." Rikki bites her lip. "This is a terrible idea isn't it?"

To her surprise, Emma interjects, her good sense superseding her contempt for Zane. "I hate to say it but without Zane's help Mako would be done for. If you guys start anything up again it could just complicate things."

"But you're gonna be seeing each other every other day," Cleo reminds her. "Chatting, flirting, touching…"

"Making out in the moonlight," giggles Bella, receiving a splash in protest from Rikki.

"I should just talk to him about all this."

"Good idea," Cleo agrees. "Get open, get honest."

Emma nods. "But not too honest," she adds. "I want this place back to normal."

"Try not to swallow each other this time," says Bella.

The three girls dissolve into giggles, and Rikki resists the temptation to hit her head against the rocks. "Thanks guys," she says. "You've been a great help."

"Bye Mrs. Bennett!" Cleo calls to her as she swims away.


Zane chews on the end of his pen and wonders how easy it is to contract ink poisoning. The thought of his demise at the hands of something so arbitrary seems preferable to the day of work that lies ahead of him. Hundreds upon hundreds of emails remain unopened in his inbox, stacks of paperwork sitting on his desk, meetings to confirm, customers to serve, finances to organise, hands to shake, and smiles to return.

And all he can think about is her.

He resigns himself to the fact that little work will be done today as he rubs at his temples. It was difficult enough to get anything done when Rikki was here as his partner, but with her on his mind and not in his field of vision, as well as double the workload, even the smallest of tasks seem like an insurmountable responsibility. The café hasn't even opened its doors when he is certain she will not leave his mind; the moonlight playing in her hair, the smell of the ocean brine, the trance in her gaze, the way his name tastes in her mouth—

"Hey."

Zane snaps out of his reverie. She is beautiful as ever, stiff and sheepish and pulling on her hair in that nervous way she does as she closes the door behind her. He had hardly noticed Rikki's entrance, too busy daydreaming of her, and he takes a second to reflect on the absurdity of that before responding.

"Hi," mumbles Zane. He gulps anxiously, preparing himself for the worst, as he always seems to do when he sees her nowadays.

"Got a minute?" Rikki asks, hovering by the door.

He stands and moves toward her, but leans against the desk with his arms folded. "Sure, yeah," he says.

"Listen, about last night…"

"I'm sorry." Sweat beads on his forehead when he realises he has interrupted her. He seems to have no filter around her; she disarms him so that the words escape his mouth before he can stop them. A second apology is on the tip of his tongue before he notices her expression.

Rikki takes a step towards him with a bemused look on her face. "What are you sorry for?" she asks.

"For kissing you last night." His tone implies that this is an obvious statement of fact, but her brow furrows further, and so do his as he begins to wonder what really happened between them.

"I kissed you last night."

Zane is not about to pick a fight with her after their long-awaited truce. He shrugs and perches at the edge of his desk. "Alright," he admits with a smile, "if you say so."

"You were sitting down by the docks, I came over and kissed you." Rikki replays the scene in her mind. Although the memory seems distant, she is certain that this is how it happened. "Why is that so hard to believe?"

"Because that's not what happened," he says. "I kissed you."

She shakes her head and reflects on why she even bothers to reason with him. "Why do you have to be so difficult?" she asks.

"Who's being difficult?"

"You know what? Fine." Rikki levels her unwavering gaze on him. "You did kiss me. Why I would ever want to kiss someone like you in the first place is beyond me."

Dismay flickers across his face, and she thinks she may have imagined it, but still feels awkward as she paces around the office. "Blame it on the full moon anyway," she mumbles.

"The full moon." Zane's eyes drop to the floor. "So you didn't actually want…"

"Hmm?"

He purses his lips. "Is this about Will?"

It is a beat before she responds. She prays he is joking, waits for his laugh, but it never comes. "You've got to be kidding."

"What?" he says.

"I can't keep having the same argument with you, Zane!" she cries.

Her words hover between them, salt poured in old wounds that are not quite as healed as they think. She thinks of her friends' earlier words. It all sounded so simple then. His dark eyes are filled with confusion when she looks at him, and she knows she must appear just as puzzled, a thousand questions plain on her face.

How did they get here?

Rikki swallows, once, and takes a breath to compose herself. "I thought this could work, us being friends, but you have the nerve to ask me about some boy ages after we've broken up."

"Hey, you're the one who wants us to be honest with each other," Zane reminds her.

"I am being honest with you," she says through gritted teeth, "but you're being impossible."

He laughs, but it sounds more like a warning. A warning not to go where she is about to go. "How am I being impossible?" he asks.

"Because you're the one who kissed someone else!"

Yes, the old wounds are pried open.

"That's not the same."

They are bleeding out on the office floor.

"Exactly," she sighs. "It's worse."

"Rikki, wait…"

She thought it was over. How wrong she was.

"Go tell it to Sophie."


She would never want to worry her friends, but isolating herself is practically second nature, so Rikki dives into the sea without a backward glance and swims until she feels that her lungs will give out. Draytons Reef is filled with vivid coral and bright seaweed that sways with the waves, and she admires the wildlife as if it is her first time swimming with dolphins or watching the stingrays chase the clownfish. She is sure to avoid the moon pool. After all, they could be there, and she can hear their incessant questioning already. She would have no answers for them. As she lets the waves carry her toward the shore, Rikki tries to think of nothing at all.

She almost visits their place, but stops herself just in time.

When she returns home, she sees that countless missed calls and text messages have accumulated in the hours since her absence. Rikki does not have the heart nor the energy to answer to a single one. The messages grow less lighthearted and more anxious the longer she ignores them. As the waxing moon begins to rise in the sky, her eyes flutter close in exhaustion. Sleep evades her, however, a memory creeping into her mind like the first chill of autumn.

It was just before he graduated. They were wandering around Mako, chatting about what they might do after school. She tossed a few ideas around, half-baked plans of opening a shop or a record store, university at the very bottom of her list. Besides, what could be more fulfilling than living as a full-time mermaid? Little did she know, this seemingly innocuous conversation would result in him buying the café for them… for her.

He had teased her, of course, about her time at the Juicenet. Still, he looked at her like he truly believed in her. She smiles at the memory before her face falls. Squeezing her eyes shut, she wills the thought away, but still sleep refuses to come. She remembers how the sky grew heavy with clouds, the smell of him on his jacket as he draped it around her shoulders, the touch of his hand as they tried to find shelter together.

That's when they found it.

Rikki wipes the moisture from her eyes and wonders why she and Zane never told another soul about the sun pool.


a/n: hello everyone! thank you so so much for reading. so i know canon contradicts this but i headcanon that zane is a year ahead of rikki in school, graduating at the end of season 2 and thus opening the cafe at season 3. sorry canon, practicalities overrule you

thank you especially to geohen for reviewing! I guess that the moon crystals only generate the power of moonlight when two of them touch. i reckon that cleo and rikki were smart enough to sell them separately, and not sell them to any known geologists/other scientists, but hey, could be a future plot bunny there! (im lowkey imagining that nate bought them and goes around unknowingly causing electricity blackouts everywhere. hes honestly one of my fave side characters just for his stupidity) i know writing that they sold the moonstone in the first place is entirely self indulgent of me, the author, but i hate how they gave up the lockets in favour of those ugly plasticky blue yokes so hey, here we are. will something come up for bella in the future? Winky emoji

enough of my rambling and i will see you guys next chapter for more melodrama and angst, probably!

So much love,

A xxxxx