Well, here's another idea that came to mind. This doesn't have a strict timeline, just know that Season 3 episodes 1-7 have already occurred, but episode 8 has not. It's AU from there. Chapters will be kind of short. I'm writing this here and there, so shorter chapters may mean quicker updates, but I've not finished this... not even completely sure where I'm going with it, but I figured I'd share it anyway - maybe inspire some more fics! Enjoy!

1.

Zac woke up in the water with a pounding headache and the taste of ozone on the back of his tongue. Slowly, he flexed his tail, starting at his fins and then stretching out until he was arching in the water. He slumped back, bobbing down a few feet before rising. He felt sore, but mostly in one piece.

Finally, he opened his eyes.

For a few seconds he could only focus on the fuzzy spots assaulting his vision. He blinked rapidly, hand moving to his forehead and massaging the area above his eye sockets and the sides of his temple. Eventually, the spots cleared and he stared straight up. He was in Rita's pool - he'd recognise the grotto ceiling anywhere.

He took a deep breath and let it out again.

What had happened?

He fished for the last thing he could remember. He'd gone to school, like normal, then the café, also like normal. What then? Oh, it had been a full moon, so the girls had decided to take him to the moon pool, rather than risk him being entranced by the chamber. Mimmi had thought that being in the moon pool would keep him occupied during the moon spell. Zac had reluctantly agreed. So he, Mimmi, Evie, Sirena and Ondina had met up in the moon pool just before the moon had peeked over the edge of the horizon.

He blinked again. Then what had happened?

They'd been in the moon pool, and then…

Then…

Zac's mind was blank.

Quietly, he rolled over, and despite the nagging ache behind his eyes, swam over to the edge of Rita's pool. He reached out, stabilising himself, but when he tried to heave himself out of the pool, his arms felt like jelly and he splashed back again, water covering his head until he he could push himself to the surface. He gasped and groaned. "Hello?" he rasped. "Rita? Mimmi? Someone?"

He waited a beat, and then suddenly there was a mad scramble of footsteps and the next thing he knew, his sister and her friends rushed down the stairs into the grotto and three familiar faces peered down at him. Mimmi beamed. "Zac! You're awake! Thank the moon!"

"Yeah," Zac grumbled. He reached out a hand. "Now, a little help?"

"You're wet," Mimmi pointed out.

Sirena took a step back. "I'll get some towels!" She dashed back around the corner.

Ondina took a few steps closer, until she hovered at the edge of the pool. She peered down at him, eyes assessing. "How do you feel?"

"Tired," Zac admitted. "Weak. Headache." He paused, darting them both looks when they exchanged glances. "What happened?"

Mimmi knelt down at the edge of the pool and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. She pursed her lips, eyebrows drawn. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Zac shrugged. His fingers tightened on the edge of the pool ledge. "We were in the moon pool. The moon came out...that's it. What happened?"

"Veridia," Ondina declared grimly, crossing her arms in front of her. She looked like she'd just sucked on something sour.

Zac sucked in a breath. "Veridia? What did she…? Did she attack?"

"Something like that," Mimmi murmured. Her hand reached out for Zac, like she wanted to put it on his forehead, or touch his hair, but she drew back at the last second, because he was wet and she was still on land.

Footsteps pounded back down the stairs and Sirena rounded the corner with a stack of towels. "Here!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "Let's dry his arms and then pull him out!"

It was as good a plan as any, so Zac raised his arms out of the water, above the ledge, and subjected himself to their rough towelling. Even holding his arms above his head while his tail beat the water slowly to keep him upright was a bit of a challenge. He kind of just wanted to go straight back to sleep. Once he was out and dry, he decided he'd do just that. Whatever Veridia's attack, it must have failed. He had a headache, some fatigue, but nothing else. A bit of rest and he'd be right as rain.

Finally, his arms were dry enough for Mimmi and Ondina to each grab one.

"On the count of three?"

Zac nodded, ready.

"One, two...three!" They both heaved, while Zac did his best to propel himself upward. And just like that, they were dragging him over the edge of the grotto pool and onto the dry ledge.

They collapsed back, panting at his weight, and Zac pushed himself upright, sighing. Sirena stepped forward, another towel in hand. She crouched and offered it with a smile. Zac took it with a shaky one in return and slowly dabbed at his face, torso, and scales.

"You sure you're okay?" Mimmi asked after a few seconds of drying. Zac glanced up and nodded wordlessly. "It's just," she continued, "we were sure Veridia had done something."

"Like what?" he asked, rubbing more firmly now, to get himself completely dry.

"She came in and immediately used her powers to pin us back. She shouted that if we weren't going to stop you, she would make sure you couldn't activate the chamber. She…" Mimmi paused, swallowing, "She held out her moon ring and...and you held out your hand...and the moon pool was bubbling and the moonlight was everywhere and, just…"

"Long story short, she tried to do something, we just don't know what," Sirena finished. Then she reached over and draped a smaller towel over his still damp hair.

Zac reached up and rubbed it across his head, before letting it fall around his neck. "And that was last night?"

"You've been unconscious ever since," Ondina muttered, biting her lip. "We brought you back here, to be safe."

Zac paused in his drying, realising then that both Evie and Rita were missing. He glanced between them slowly. "Guys...where are Evie and Rita?"

They exchanged glances. Mimmi looked a bit sheepish. "They're, uh, at the land school?"

Zac's eyes widened and he scrambled to resume drying with slightly more vigour. "What?" he exclaimed. "So you're telling me I not only didn't go home last night, but I'm missing school? My parents are going to kill me!"

Mimmi reached out and captured his hand, stopping the frantic scratch of cloth over scale. "Zac, it's okay. Rita said she would excuse you."

Zac's tensed shoulders relaxed. "Okay. Okay, but I should probably still make sure my parents don't realise where I've been." He pulled the towel from around his neck and ran it over his skin one last time, hoping to catch whatever drops he'd missed.

Nothing. He rubbed the towels over his scales again. Maybe he was sitting in too damp of a wet patch? He shuffled himself a few feet, forcing Mimmi to scoot back from where she was sitting.

"Aren't you dry yet?" Ondina complained.

"Getting there!" Zac grunted. He ran a dry hand over his scales. Which were dry - too dry. He frowned, feeling all the way down to his fin. Still dry. He reached behind, to his lower back and over his butt, but that also seemed dry.

He felt dry. He swallowed thickly. So why wasn't he changing back?

"Zac?" Mimmi asked, eyes fixed on his frown.

"He should have changed back by now," Ondina realised, eyes widening. She stared at Zac's tail - still there - and reached out a hand. She hesitated before touching him, but he did nothing to stop her, still staring at his tail, which should have long since turned into legs. Her skin scraped over his scales roughly.

Mimmi also reached out and patted his fin. "It is dry," she whispered, eyes rising to meet his in shock. "Why aren't you…?"

Zac swallowed again, shakily. He flung the towels off and patted himself all over, frantically. Dry tail. Dry arms. Dry hands. Dry stomach. Dry back. Dry hair.

"Oh no," Sirena whispered, hands clutched in front of her. "Is he…?"

"Stuck," Ondina finished faintly.

Zac felt his stomach drop. Shakily, he put a hand on his scales. His really dry scales. They felt leathery, not as smooth as normal, like they might be cracking. It wasn't pleasant. "N-no," he muttered. "That… No! This can't… I can't be stuck! Change me back!" He stared up at them frantically.

The girls all exchanged frantic looks. Mimmi bit her lip and Ondina groaned, covering her face.

Suddenly, Sirena gasped. "Our moon rings! Maybe all Veridia did was undo the spell for legs...we just have to recast it!" She held out her hand, moon ring glimmering. Quickly, Mimmi and Ondina scrambled up and went to join her. They all stood in a row in front of Zac, hands out, moon rings facing him.

He closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing. It was okay. Whatever Veridia did, the girls could reverse it. He opened his eyes just in time to watch all three moon rings brighten. He turned his head, shielding his eyes. Seconds passed and he waited to feel that tell-tale tingle that heralded the return of his legs.

Nothing.

He squinted through the light of the moon rings, but his his eyes only confirmed what he already knew. His tail was still there.

The light died down and the girls lowered their arms, staring grimly down at him. Zac felt hysteria bubble up. "Why didn't it work? Why can't you change me back?"

Sirena held her hand with the ring and stared at it with a devastated expression. "It's not enough. We don't have enough power."

Mimmi rushed forward and fell to her knees beside him, eyes wide. Her mouth was pressed into a thin line. "Zac...Veridia must have...must have reversed the spell allowing you to have legs."

Zac blinked rapidly. "But how?"

"It's possible," Ondina admitted with a frown. "All she had to do was reverse the magic that gave you legs."

"You can't...why can't you change me back?" he pleaded.

Mimmi covered his hand with her own, her eyes suspiciously shiny. She blinked a few times. "Zac, we're not powerful enough."

"It should have worked," Sirena muttered, still staring at her ring. She raised her head. "But last night...it was a full moon, and we were in the moon pool."

Mimmi rocked back on her heels. "Of course," she gasped, eyes darting to his. "Veridia must have harnessed the power of the moon pool for her spell."

Ondina snorted, then let out a strangled chuckle. She inspected Zac's tail, now bone dry and beginning to really itch, and her mouth twisted into a grimace. "Think about it," she said. "Veridia wanted to 'stop' Zac from accessing the merman chamber...now he can't. How can he get to the chamber if he can't even leave the water?"

Zac felt like being sick. He doubled over, putting his elbows on his tail and clutching at his head. This...this wasn't happening. It wasn't happening.

He tried to calm his breathing, but it was shaky and getting steadily worse. Mimmi's hand found his shoulder. "Zac? It'll...It'll be okay."

He wrenched away, but because of the weight of his tail on land, all he managed was to pull his shoulder out of reach. He slammed his fists into the ground, ignoring the bruising pain of his fingers against the hard rock. "Don't you get it!" he shouted, voice clogged with emotion. He cleared his throat roughly. Those were not tears! "I can't just… I can't! What about school? And my parents? I can't just disappear! They'll send out search parties, inform the police! I can't live like this...I can't live without legs," he finished rawly, chest heaving and jaw trembling.

Ondina took a hesitant step forward. "We...Rita'll think of something, I'm sure. She'll have a solution."

"Right," Sirena agreed shakily. "I'll...I'll go call her. Right now!" With a last, scared look in his direction, she darted away, back up to the main house.

Zac snorted. "Do you really think Veridia would have made it possible to change me back?" he snapped angrily. He couldn't see a way around this. He was...god, he was stuck. As a merman. Forever.

What would he do? How would he live? Just...swim around Mako island for the rest of his life? What kind of existence was that?

What would he eat? Where would he sleep? How could he ever see his parents again? Finish high school? Talk to friends like David? See Evie at the café?

Evie!

What would she think of this? There was no way she'd want a permanent merman boyfriend! And no way she'd agree to give it all up to live some mediocre life swimming around with fish for the rest of her days!

He covered his face again, breathing heavily through his nose to stave back tears.

Why was this happening? Why him? What was Veridia so afraid of! He hadn't hurt anybody… Why would she do this? Didn't she know he had parents who would look for him?

"Zac," Mimmi tried again, her voice barely more than a whisper. She reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her head pressed against his and she sighed, deeply. "Don't worry, we will fix this. I promise."

Zac shook his head. How? How could they fix this?

Mimmi drew back and patted his hand.

"You should get back in the water," Ondina said after a stretch. "You'll dry out completely, it's bad for your scales."

Zac snorted. He did feel itchy and dry. Like his scales were too tight on his tail and every time he flexed his muscles, it felt like he was trying to break open a shell encasing his fins.

"Please don't do that to yourself," Mimmi added quickly. She was biting her lip again. "Come on, I'll go with you. We can go swim, get our minds off of this, and then when we come back, I'm sure Rita will have a solution."

Zac opened his mouth to tell her she was delusional. The moon rings hadn't worked. What other solution could there be? But Mimmi's eyes were so hopeful and the smile on her lips so encouraging, that the anger drained out of him and his shoulders slumped. He found himself nodding instead.

Mimmi stood up and turned to Ondina. "Tell Rita we'll be back after her land school gets out."

Ondina nodded. The look she shot Zac was far less hopeful. Zac ignored it. Instead, he pushed himself towards the ledge of the pool and slipped back in with a heavy splash.

The second the water hit his scales, he felt immediately better. His skin stopped feeling so tight and stretched. Part of his headache also cleared up. Moments later, there was a splash as Mimmi dove in as well and re-emerged, hair slicked back and tail pumping slowly to keep her afloat. She caught his eye and jerked her chin towards the ocean before ducking back under water.

Zac closed his eyes for a moment, as he tried to forget about everything he had just learned in the last ten minutes. Then he ducked under and followed his sister.

Maybe...maybe Mimmi was right. Maybe Rita would fix this? Maybe there was a secret potion, or an obscure spell they could try.

He hoped so, because if he were stuck like this forever...he didn't know what he would do.

[17.6.15] Well, there we have the premise of the story. Let me know what you think (characterisation, errors, etc.). Cheers all.