Thursday was incredibly strange for Zane. School felt like it droned on forever and yet his anxiousness almost made him wish he had more time before the moon rose. He had agreed with the plan, but the insanity of it all was really getting to his nerves. Seriously, how was he supposed to process that he could be a king before night was over?

He headed toward the café after school to wait for Rikki until she was done with her classes. They needed to talk before everything hit the fan that night. He walked into the JuiceNet hoping he could just sit down but was instead met with an excited Nate.

"Zane, where you been man? I never see you anymore." Nate walked up giving him a pat on the back.

"It's good to see you too Nate. How are you treating my Zodiac?"

"You mean my Zodiac? You sold it to me remember? No take backs!"

Zane remembered Nate's reaction when he offered to sell the boat to him for a fraction of what it was worth. Nate was in such disbelief he had even asked if Zane had picked up drugs and was looking for some quick cash. He had told Nate no to the drugs but wasn't going to tell him that he couldn't drive it anymore without growing a tail. Because of said tail he really didn't need the boat anymore anyway, so it wasn't a total loss.

"No worries, I don't want it back." Zane chuckled.

"You gotta miss it a bit though. How about you come out for a ride with me, you know for old times sake. 'Cept this time I get to drive."

"Maybe some other time Nate."

"Oh come on man, you've been saying that for months. You won't go boating anymore, we haven't been diving in forever. I feel like I'm losing my best friend."

"I'm sorry, I've just been really busy mate."

"Not too busy for an old friend I hope." A voice from behind him startled him.

"Miriam? What are you doing here? I thought you were away at boarding school." He looked over to Nate who only gave him an unhelpful shrug.

"I needed a holiday." She smiled at him harder than necessary. "And what better way to relax than to come home and see some of my favorite people?" She reached her hand out to grab Zane's arm. "I really missed you."

He pulled away from her as he became increasingly uncomfortable. He gave her what he hoped was a cold glare. Even though they had been close at one point she needed to know that he was not interested in any of her antics.

Miriam expertly brushed off his rebuff before continuing, "Oh come on Zane. We used to have so much fun together."

"Not really." He rolled his eyes, as he began to walk away. But before he could get too far, Miriam linked her arm through his forcing his attention back toward her.

"Why don't we head to yours and you can catch me up on all that's been happening around here." She flipped her hair then raised her eyebrows suggestively.

Zane was losing his patience. He was finally understanding Rikki's disdain for her. "Miriam, get this through your thick head: We never have been and never will be together!"

"What's gone up your arse?" She scoffed, "Wait, you're not still seeing that piece of trash Rikki?" She laughed. "You could do so much better than that little tramp!"

That was it. Zane grabbed both of her shoulders holding back the intense desire to throw her to the ground. He shook her a bit forcefully as anger radiated off him. "You leave Rikki out of this and you stay away from her! She is a thousand times the person you will ever be! Talk about her like that again I swear I'll…" He froze when he realized what he was doing. It took all his restraint to let go and push himself off her.

He took a step back and Nate put a hand on his shoulder. Just then one of the servers, Will, came over toward them carrying a tray full of juices.

"Zane, I think you need to leave mate." Will spoke sternly before turning to Miriam, "Are you okay Miss?"

"I'm fine." She answered brusquely as she regained her composure. She grabbed one of the drinks off the tray before turning her eyes back in Zane's direction. "Have fun with the freak, loser." And with a devious smile, she proceeded to splash the entire contents of the glass directly in Zane's face before sauntering back to her seat.

It took him only a fraction of a moment to realize what just happened. With mango juice dripping down his shirt, he brushed Nate's arm off and ran. He went straight for the door ignoring Nate and Will's shouting as he charged down toward the dock. There were some people around, but he had to hope they wouldn't be concerned when he didn't resurface. With just a couple seconds to spare he dove into the water.

Zane took off quickly through the canal before hitting the open ocean. He torpedoed over the reef drawing closer to Mako before he paused for a moment. He thought about heading to the Moon Pool but decided against it and instead went around to the Eastern side of the island where the sea cliffs were.

He managed to pull himself out of the surf dragging his tail up on the sand and proceeded to roll over onto his back. Zane then grabbed a couple handfuls of sand before throwing them down again in frustration. "Augh! Why is this so hard!"

He lay back on the little beach eyes upward to the sky. It was afternoon and the sun was behind him now, but there was still enough light that, were he unlucky enough that a boat come by this side of the island, they would get eyeful of him in all his merman glory. Zane couldn't bring himself to care though. He always felt better in his tail, even out of the water as awkward as that was.

He sat up with the thought: 'I can't believe I did that. What was I thinking?' He shoved an arm over his eyes before laying back down in a huff.

After a few minutes of just lying there he felt the familiar sensation of regaining his legs. But instead of standing up he just stayed there sprawled out on the small beach. He looked up to see a couple of gulls playing high in the sky.

A few minutes later, the beach no longer felt comfortable to Zane. He stood up with a groan and began the trek up the cliff trail. With only slight trepidation he entered the temple intent on just exploring for a while, taking the left turn under the staircase. He walked down the hallway and poked his head into the library to be surprised by Ash.

"Hey Zane, you okay mate?" Ash asked as he set down a book and walked over to the other merman.

"Ash, what are you doing here?" Zane asked genuinely surprised.

"One of my classes was cancelled. Professor had food poisoning or something. Thought I might come here and wait, do some more reading."

"Rikki's spell still holding?" Zane asked.

"Yeah, I guess so. So what's up?" Ash asked.

"Huh, what's that?"

"Why are you here so early? I thought you'd have waited and come over with the others."

"Nothing, I was just out for a swim."

Ash nodded and dropped the subject even though it was clear Ash knew there was more to it than that.

"So what were you reading?" Zane asked.

"Some more stuff about the royals."

"Yeah? Anything interesting?"

"I read about Galten and Levenia, you know the part Arethusa said we should read."

"And?"

"It's a love story." Ash deadpanned.

"Of course it is." Zane chuckled with an eye roll.

"Hey, it wasn't that bad.' Ash stifling his own laugh. "It may have given me a few ideas with Emma."

Zane couldn't help but smile at that.

"It also gave me a better understanding of what we're planning to do." Ash paused his tone turning somber, "Look, this royalty thing, I mean I know we already covered this last night… we agreed and all, but this is a really big deal. Aside from the whole… marriage thing."

Zane turned away and nodded curtly.

Ash continued, "Look I think we're doing the right thing here; I stand with Emma even knowing how scared we both are. But Zane, you were the first person to say yes. How'd you get okay with it so quickly?"

"Because I know it's not going to happen!" Zane unintentionally snapped.

Ash just looked at him confusion spreading over his face.

Zane sighed. "Look this royalty thing. It's not gonna happen for me. I mean I'll be right there with you guys tonight, but there's no chance I'm being chosen."

"Why do you say that?"

"Look I'm not like the rest of you guys: good, caring. I'm not King material. I'm so screwed up! Any deity would have to be totally insane to choose me for their champion!"

"Where's this coming from? Did something happen?"

"I ran into this old friend of mine and she-"

"She?" Ash asked a little surprised.

"Before Rikki." Zane began to explain. "It didn't mean anything, at least to me. I mean it wasn't really a healthy relationship. We were just using each other."

Ash nodded, "What happened today?"

"She came onto me. Said some stuff about Rikki." Zane gave a full body sigh, "I grabbed her, shook her around a bit."

"Did you hurt her?" Ash pried.

"No, I let her go."

"Well see there you are!"

"No but you don't… augh!" Zane grunted unsure of how to make his friend understand. "You don't get it, I wanted to hurt her. I wanted to hurt her so badly, for all she did: for not taking no for answer… and everything she said about Rikki. All the things I imagined doing to her: it scared me, and that's why I stopped."

"Wanting to hurt someone and actually hurting someone are two very different things." Ash paused. "What did she say, your... 'friend'?"

"She called Rikki a tramp."

Ash nodded. "Yeah, if someone said something like that about Emma, I think I'd lose it too." He sighed, "Look, Zane, we're mermen. That means we're stronger than regular people. If you had really wanted to do some damage you would have. You had every right to be angry and you still controlled yourself."

"Yeah, this time." Zane responded sardonically.

Ash reached to place a hand on Zane's shoulder. "I don't believe you're the monster you think you are."

"You don't know what I'm like." Zane shook himself away from Ash.

"Listen, I know we haven't known each other for very long, but even I can see how much you care about people, especially Rikki." Ash paused, "You're a pretty level guy, but when the ones you care about get threatened… you're a protector Zane. That's not a bad thing."

There was a pause as the two mermen just stood there thinking about how to continue. Ash spoke.

"I don't know what's gonna happen tonight, but either way, you can't beat yourself up over this."

The sound of a heavy door slamming alerted them both that someone else was in the temple. "Hey, come on, it's probably the others." Ash looked over to him one more time. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah," Zane answered honestly, feeling thankful that he had Ash as a friend. "Let's go."

And with that the two mermen headed out of the library bracing themselves for anything.

A/N: Happy New Year Everyone!

I thought I'd bring back some old faces. And, before anyone asks, yes Will is THAT Will. Same look. Same general personality. But his story is going to be a little different. How? Oh, well, you'll see... :)

If you like what you are reading, please feel free to leave a review. I cannot tell you how much of an encouragement a simple review is!

Wishing all of you the best in this New Year!

Much Love,

Odd Lady :)