Cleo pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose, a crevice forming between her brows. "We can retrieve the heaviest boulders from the moon pool once the pulley is set to the correct angle—"

"And with the right amount of force applied to the rope—" Lewis interjects, scribbling on the notepad in front of them with fervor, their minds operating at breakneck speed.

"Of course we'll have to balance the tension force with the force of gravity on the load…"

"Have I ever told you that you're a genius?"

Rikki rolls her eyes. "You guys need to cool it with the science talk or…" The pair press their foreheads together, smiling into a kiss, and she turns to Emma with a grimace. "You seeing this?"

The four of them had gathered early at the café, kept awake only by Cuban coffee and a desire to fix the moon pool, the band rehearsing a new song about forbidden love or something equally repulsive to Rikki. She resists the urge to wave her hand in front of Emma as she deigns to reply, mesmerised by the girl onstage who blushes and stammers through the chorus. Bella's grip on the mic is white-knuckled, but Emma barely notices that she is even more anxious than usual.

With a laugh that turns into a sigh, Rikki lets her eyes wander around the café. He is behind the counter when she meets his gaze, polishing a glass that is already clean, seemingly oblivious to the customer waiting to be served in front of him. He, too, watches the scene unfold, couples fawning over one another with total abandon, a smirk playing on his lips. When he turns away with a sheepish expression, she beckons him over with a nod of her head.

"You sure you want me to sit?"

Rikki snorts. "It's your place, Zane," she says as she pulls out one of the wicker chairs for him. "You can sit wherever you want."

"Technically it's still our place," he mumbles, on his feet nonetheless.

"Fine, then I demand you sit down next to me." She pats the chair and, finally, he sits. "I need a distraction from all the romance around me, anyway."

"Ouch."

Rikki grows pale. "That's not what I…" She does not know what she is saying as something ignites between them, a firestorm buried beneath the surface, and decides to change the subject. "So…. business is good?

"Yeah," says Zane with a nod. "Ever since we sorted the debt out it's been plain sailing. I can't thank you enough for that, by the way."

She folds her arms across her chest. "I didn't do it for you, Zane, I did it for the café. And for Mako," she adds as an afterthought.

"You keep telling yourself that, love," he says in a wry tone.

Rikki tosses a crumpled up napkin in his direction but cannot hide her grin. Onstage Bella reaches a high note, still crooning about her star-crossed love, Emma engrossed with her head in her hands. Zane is caught by surprise when she inserts a 'she' pronoun into the song, eyes away from the audience with a nervous smile on her lips.

"Wow," he murmurs quietly. "Wonder what she's singing about."

"I know," Rikki responds in a low voice. "Could they be more obvious? Em may as well throw her bra onstage."

He laughs, once, and his tone grows hesitant when he speaks again. "Do…" Zane sighs and schools his features. "Do you think we were ever like that?"

Rikki almost pauses to think. She stops herself, just in time. "I seriously hope not," she says. "This is embarrassing for everyone involved."

With a shrug, Zane begins to tear the napkin in his lap into pieces. "We had our moments."

"I guess," says Rikki. "At least we never wrote songs about each other."

Zane stiffens. "Ha ha."

His mechanical laughter does not go unnoticed by Rikki, who sits up in her seat, looking suspiciously at him. "Zane?"

"Hmm?"

A grin spreads wide on her face. "You didn't, did you?"

"What?" he asks, his attempts to feign innocence falling flat as he folds what is left of the napkin into a small triangle.

"Zane…"

He concedes defeat, throwing the napkin on the table. "It wasn't a song so much as a…" his voice hardly reaches a whisper as he speaks. "...poem."

The laugh climbs to her throat before she can stop it. "A poem?" she guffaws, clutching her sides and attracting the attention of half of the café, who turn to see her doubled over in laughter. "Ok, now I have to see this."

"Over my dead body," he says, Rikki's giggling infectious in spite of his embarrassment. "It's rubbish, and that's putting it mildly."

She wipes a tear from her cheek and tries to compose herself. "Please? I'll get you some moon crystals."

"Rikki!" he exclaims, surprised at the flippant way she speaks of the moon pool, even after everything. "You know I'm no good with all that creative stuff. I don't even know why I bothered."

She cocks her head to the side and makes her best persuasive expression. "What am I going to have to do for you to show me this nauseating poem?"

There is fire in the pit of her stomach as Rikki stares into his brown eyes, darker than onyx and soft as a black sky, the tension between them suddenly palpable. She sobers when she realises that nothing is stopping her from drowning in the depths of his eyes, falling, falling, falling into deep space as the fire reaches the centre of her chest. It brings colour to her cheeks as her pulse quickens and—

"Zane!"

Rikki would recognise that voice anywhere.

"It's so good to see you," she gushes, enveloping Zane in a hug as he awkwardly pats her shoulder with one hand. She makes a point to look at Rikki with animosity in her smile. Rikki turns away towards the entrance, beads parting to reveal a boy with a kinder smile, his eyes on one person only.

"Sophie," Bella blurts out. "You're back."

Sophie looks to her as she approaches, barely concealing her glare by baring her teeth in a smile. "Becca, right?" she says.

"Actually, it's—"

"Bella!"

Will's voice cuts through the strain amongst them. He leans down to kiss Bella, but she turns her head away, alarm and dread plain on her face. Cleo reaches under the table to squeeze Emma's hand; the reason why Bella was so anxious earlier is suddenly clear. She takes him by the arm, though, whispering something in his ear and leading him away.

Sophie snorts in derision and drags a chair to Zane's side. Its legs scrape loudly on the floor. "So, what've I missed?"

Zane shrinks away from her piercing blue gaze. He seems to shift closer to Rikki, the movement almost unconscious, but she notices, notices too the satisfaction that settles in her chest as he moves away from Sophie. "Uh, not much."

"Cool!" she sings, clapping her hands together in glee. "So I can start back this afternoon—"

"I don't think that's a good idea—" Zane interjects, but she ignores him, unruffled.

"And I really am serious about redecorating this time." Sophie scans the room and wrinkles her nose. "Nothing too drastic, just a new paint job, replace all the old furniture, and maybe we could get some of those cool centrepieces with the—-"

Zane, making no effort to hide his irritation, clenches his jaw. "I said I don't think that's a good idea."

She purses her lips. "Oh, well, I just thought since floral ornaments are all the rage this season... And Zane?" From the corner of her eye Rikki sees her reach out to touch his arm, but Sophie's eyes are on her, as cold as ice and just as deadly. "We definitely should change the name this time."

Zane's reply is instantaneous.

"Get your hands off me."

Rikki starts at the acid in his tone. She has seen him angry before —- of course, anyone within a ten mile radius of him has —- but not like this. Zane is seething, furious, and she swears she can see the smoke coming out of his ears, his face reddening with rage.

Sophie begins to rub circles on his arm. "What's wrong, babe?"

"I said get your hands off me!" Zane cries, springing to his feet. "And I'm not your babe. You are not anything to me, and you will not be going near this café as long as I have a say in it. You've ruined enough around here without…" He cannot help the way his gaze falls to Rikki, but she turns away as he tries to steady himself, raking a hand through his hair. "I think you should leave."

Sophie's face flushes in chagrin, half a dozen customers regarding her with uncertainty. "Zane…"

He makes a measured effort to lower his voice this time. "Now, Sophie," he murmurs, holding a hand in front of him to point her toward the exit. Relief seems to fill the café as she storms out, whispers and rumours making their way like wildfire through the small crowd, the quiet growing to something more insidious with her exit.

All is silent when she meets his eyes. There is an apology there, a certain temperance she can't quite place, yet his eyes are hard as two agate stones as he gently puts the chairs back in their places. She wonders how she looks to him, if her vulnerability betrays her plain on her face, if her mouth turns up or down, if he sees a small part of her heart rip itself away from the whole.

With that, Zane makes a decision.

"That chick has some issues," Lewis pipes up, once he has returned to his office.

Rikki is not here, though, her mind on the door of the office. "Tell me about it."

"Are you ok, Rikki?" asks Cleo.

"I'm fine, it's just…" Rikki shakes her head. Her response is given with too much haste, and she does not even fool herself.

Lewis lets out a disbelieving sigh. "I hate to say it, but…"

"Don't."

Their half-conversation is interrupted by Bella's return. She moves quickly through the room, red eyes fixed to the floor as she scrubs at them with the back of her hand, and Will is nowhere in sight. Emma reaches for her but it is too late; she is already back onstage, staring at her shoes and singing softly into the microphone.

Memories run through Rikki's head, snippets of recollections from her first time struck by the moon. No one understands, she had said, and he knew exactly how that felt. A ring of fire as their lips met, a stolen kiss that would leave him burned and bed-bound; a charred forest filled with smoke; her friends, sick with worry, begging her to wake up in the moon pool. Something weird had happened, she said, something out of control.

As Bella's sunstone glints in the fluorescent lights, an idea comes to the mermaid with the fire in her heart.

She keeps her mouth firmly shut.


The numbers in front of him seem to move around the page of their own volition, leaving his mind as quickly as they enter, arbitrary figures that fail to distract him from what took place this morning. Zane certainly had not been expecting that, but a sense of pride swells in him as he recalls just how well he had handled Sophie. Sure, he had let his anger and pride ignite the argument at first, but when the time came he was… different. He had acted with maturity, been measured in his responses, and even took care to return the café's chairs with limited whinging.

It helped, of course, that she was there.

Zane resists the urge to plant his head on the desk and growl into the books in frustration. He has made his mind up, after all. This is what is best for the both of them. He knows this, now.

Still he stops mid-yawn to read the incoming text on his phone from Rikki, a smile breaking out over his features. He cannot help but be relieved that things could possibly be normal between them, that a simple text reading 'see you at the moon pool? R' could be sent without him making a fool of himself (well, that point is debatable, Zane muses, as he forces the grin from his face).

'Bet you I can beat you there.'

Rikki's response is swift. 'Good one, Bennett.' He smirks and prepares to respond, but she is still typing, and he bites his lip instead, anxious for what is to come. She says, 'I'm sure you're still busy peeling Sophie off you after earlier.'

'Jealous, Chadwick?'

This time, Zane does lay his head in the books, mumbling under his breath about his own rash stupidity. When he surfaces to send a hasty apology, he sees that Rikki is typing. She writes at a glacial pace, and each second feels like an hour to him, until he finally receives her response.

'She's not really my type.'

His laugh is as instantaneous as it is inevitable. He closes the books at his desk and shoots back, 'Nice one. I'll see you soon, then?'

'See you soon :)'


"What's going on?"

"Zane." When Rikki breathes his name, it is a sigh, a prayer, a caress; he is too distracted by her to notice the obvious.

"We seem to have reached an impasse."

Lewis nods at the cave wall with a frown, and Zane almost staggers back into the water in astonishment.

The moon pool has, for all intents and purposes, returned to normal. Its ground is steady, stable and flat; where cracks and fissures once fractured the rock has been replaced by only smooth sand. There are no more rocks in the pool, no debris to trip over, and the air is easy to breathe again, no longer clogged with heavy, choking dust. Zane scarcely notices that the crevices in the rock wall should be trickling with water. He is mesmerised by what Lewis is pointing to.

On the wall of the cave, at the centre towards the highest point, is the sun.

"Oh."

The shape of a circle is indented in the wall, surrounded by six points, sunrays pointing in varying directions. It has created a gap in the stone. Zane reaches out to touch it, mapping the grooves with his fingers, and notices the strange warmth it emanates as he shakes his head in bewilderment.

"Bella and Emma were working on the cave walls all afternoon," explains Rikki. "When Bella moved away the last of the rubble…"

Zane gulps. "It's the sun."

"Keenly observed," Lewis says caustically.

"Hey," warns Rikki. "Play nice."

Zane walks to her side, crouching down to the water before sitting and folding his arms. "Maybe you need to wait for the sun to come up..?" he offers.

"The sun was still up when Bella uncovered it." Emma purses her lips and reaches for Bella's hand beneath the pool.

"The full moon?"

"I used my moon crystal with my powers to simulate the moonlight…" Bella reaches for her neck and lets out a sigh. "Nothing."

Silence fills the moon pool for a beat, mystery and vexation filling the air with their magic.

"You know, solar deities are worshipped in a plethora of cultures," Cleo says. "Maybe…"

"What, we sacrifice to the god Apollo and hope he'll fix the moon pool?"

Cleo pouts. "Lewis…"

"Sorry," he says, reaching to the water to grasp her hand. "I'm just frustrated! We've been trying to find answers all day and we still have nothing, not so much as a vague hypothesis."

"I know it's frustrating," Cleo agrees, "but we'll figure it out."

Bella nods. "We have to."

"Let's put our heads together," says Emma. "What else do we know about astrological alignments, the solar system, other celestial bodies...?"

"We've been through this, Em," Lewis replies. "With Mercury no longer in retrograde and Venus' angular orbital speed exceeding its rotational velocity—"

"English, please?" asks Bella.

"There are no similarities between anything happening in the sky and in the moon pool." Cleo cocks her head to one side. "Basically."

Rikki and Zane share a look, fear and confusion contorting their faces into matching expressions, and she has to stop herself from reaching for him.

"Anything I can do?" he offers. "There's a ton of leftover cake and pastries and other junk at the café."

The ghost of a smile reaches Cleo's lips. "You had me at cake. Lewis, can I meet you there?"

"Sure. See you, guys!"

As the pair leave, Rikki watches Zane with curiosity. He makes his way to the cave wall once more. "What were you doing when you found it?" he asks, scratching his head.

"Uh, standing," Bella replies, "using my powers…"

"No, I mean…" Zane turns to the three mermaids. "Did anything out of the ordinary happen?"

Emma snorts, exasperated. "You mean other than uncovering a giant sun mural on the wall of the same place that gives ordinary girls fishtails and helps them stop comets from entering the Earth's atmosphere?" she asks. "No, nothing out of the ordinary."

"I get it," Zane says.

Bella leans her head against her arms, looking crestfallen. "Got any ideas?"

"We'll pretty much take anything at this stage," Rikki adds.

Emma nods her head. "Please."

Zane wracks his brain for something that might help, a far-fetched theory, an implausible notion, a crazy idea, anything. He is at a disadvantage compared to the others, though, out of the loop when it comes to mermaid matters since he and Rikki… "I got nothing."

With a stretch and a yawn, Bella rests her head on Emma's shoulder. "Maybe we should call it a night, Em," she sighs.

Emma wraps an arm around her shoulder. "You coming, Rikki?"

She pretends not to notice the hopefulness playing on Zane's features, the curve of his smile and the way his eyes linger on her a little too long, as she turns to her friends. "I think I'm gonna stick around a bit," says Rikki. "Don't want to be a third wheel, after all."

Emma and Bella dissolve into giggles, making their way towards the exit of the moon pool hand in hand, shining together all silver and gold. "See you guys!" they call through their laughter.

"Bye!"


"Maybe we have to do something for the magic to return."

The sun has long set as they sit cross-legged on the ground, eyes heavy with sleep, a different kind of sun embedded into their minds just as surely as it is carved in the wall they stare at. Rikki raises her head and turns to Zane as he yawns into the back of his hand.

"Yeah, I kinda gathered that much," he says.

She smiles. "No, I mean, maybe the moon pool is trying to tell us something." Rikki rises to her feet, approaching the sun embedded in the wall, scrutinising the indentations with avidity. "It wouldn't be the first time."

"Yeah?" Zane asks.

"Remember the comet a few months ago?" He nods, urging her to continue. "The moon pool taught us how we could deflect it using the Tower of Light."

"Huh…" Zane stands, too, and the cave's sun exudes a soft warmth beneath his fingertips. "So the moon pool has some kind of...consciousness? Hopes, desires, wishes?"

Rikki is silent as she wonders what that could possibly mean for them.

There is a stack of old magazines and newspapers sitting on the counter at Rikki's, outdated issues that Zane does not care to replace, and most customers peruse their pages as they wait on their orders. For once, a newspaper with today's date sat at the top of the pile, and Rikki had skimmed through it before a brother and sister brought a firestorm into the café. His name jumped out at her from the obituaries. Now she is tired enough to wonder if Karl ever thought of Julia after he broke her heart, if he ever felt remorse or reached out to apologise, if her tear-stained face loomed behind his eyes as he shut them for the last time.

"I've been thinking a lot about us."

His statement cuts through the silence with tenacity, and Rikki tries to stop the hope that dashes across her face, schooling her features before she answers him. "Zane—"

"No, please." He rakes a hand through his hair and swallows. "You were right about me having an ulterior motive, at least to some extent. Hell, part of the Mako plan was to grovel to you for twenty years."

Rikki's lips twitch into a smile. It seems like so long ago, now, that she agreed to help him, the resentment between them dissipating into something like friendship. A time when she and Zane could no longer be civil toward one another is nothing more than a faraway memory. Now, she is sure of what she wants.

Zane takes a breath and faces her, his night-dark eyes filled with sincerity, like the undergrowth in the darkest depths of the sea. "But I promise from now on that I'm done trying to get you back. No begging for your forgiveness, no staring at you from across the room, no flirting or jealousy or any of it. I know now that we can't possibly be together, Rikki."

The memory of those words don't seem quite as distant, however; Rikki's heart sinks as he pulls the planet out from under her.

"You were right," he continues without missing a beat. "We are far too different to make this work. Once the whole Mako thing is over, I'll leave you alone for good." He is hesitant to continue as he scans her face, but she is guarded, the anguish and pain and confusion brimming just below the surface. "I'll buy your share of the café from you, and you never have to see me again if you don't want to. But I have to see this through. Can you understand that?"

Rikki wrings her hands together. "Is this what you want?"

"It's what's best for us," he says, the lie heavy as concrete in his mouth. "You know that."

She clenches her fists together, hot anger coming to the surface, and focuses on her breathing before the fire can reach her fingertips. "Answer the question, Zane. Do you want us to never speak to each other again?" she snaps. Ms. Chatham had always said they were the most dangerous, that their fire could obliterate everything in its path and turn the world to ash and dust, but as Julia's power flows through her Rikki knows that there is something more unbearable than being burned. "Forget everything we had? Everything we worked for, the café and Mako and us? Do you want us to be strangers again, is that it?"

"No!" Zane cries. He closes the distance between them, laying his hands on her shoulders and peers into her sea blue eyes, ignoring the lump in his throat as the truth begins to unravel. "Honestly the thought of not seeing you every day, not seeing this girl who…"

"Who what?"

He tilts her chin up to face him. There is an inferno in her voice but he cannot bring himself to be afraid. Not anymore.

"I don't know, who gets on my last nerve, who has more kindness in her little finger than I do in my entire body, who I…" he stops himself just in time with his tongue poised at the roof of his mouth. "The thought of not being with you makes me sick to my stomach. Is that what you want to hear?"

Hot tears stream down her face.

And then, "I have an idea."


a/n: phew! we made it kiddies. sorry that one was so long, but if i split it up then we wouldnt have an even number of chapters and my virgo ass cant handle that. if you havent guessed already we're on the home stretch at this stage, and i plan for 2 more chapters. i have been so so up to my eyes with work/college etc of late, so updates may be sporadic, but i will do my best and i promise that the next couple will be of a more moderate length!

again, i would like to extend sincere apologies for the botched excuse for science in this chapter. i am shit at physics/astronomy/whatever sort of science i was attempting there and i hope i havent offended anyone. most of this is fleeced directly from wikipedia ngl

did anyone else not really buy sophies weird sort of redemption arc/face heel turn that happened in the last 5 minutes of s3? girl was def right about some things, but altogether she was a nasty piece of work and i wanted her ousted from the get go. so i made her retain her evil ways here !

on an unrelated note, you would not /believe/ how hard it is to find decent images of the moon pool from all angles, particularly of the waterfall and the cave walls in general

i am so so overwhelmed with all the lovely reviews you guys have been leaving me, you have no idea how much it means that you! im so glad yall enjoyed the last chapter in particular and the bella/emma dynamic since that was merely a self indulgent lil risk of mine. feel free to chat to me whenever via my inbox too!

So so much love and talk soon,

A

xxxxxxx