After binge-watching the first half of series 2 on Friday, I started writing this. Finally got it to a decent length. Could be taken as a one-shot, but will likely write more, just to tide me over until they release the second half. This is my take on the aftermath of episode 13, so, obviously, spoilers.

1.

Two days of school. Two days of school that Zac forced himself to attend because facing the hesitant looks of his friends was better than facing his parents.

Two days of going to class, keeping his head down, and pretending everything was alright. Even Rita had tried to stop him in the corridor at one point to ask him how he was doing and Zac hadn't even known how to reply to that.

How was he doing? How was he doing after learning that everything he'd ever thought true about himself was just one big massive lie?

At least Rita didn't insist on handling him with kiddie gloves. Everyone else was treating him like he was made of glass. He wasn't. (Apparently, he was made of fish magic.)

So his whole life had been tipped on its head. It didn't mean they all had to tip-toe around him, acting like...like he would burst into tears at the drop of a hat, or something. He was practically a grown man (...merman). There was no need to treat him like a little kid who was too sheltered to know the truth. They didn't need to keep sending him covert looks, smiling falsely at him and changing the subject.

Despite that, he hadn't gone back to the café since he'd found out the truth. He hadn't seen more than a few glimpses of Ondina and Mimmi.

Mimmi.

He tried not to think about Mimmi.

In fact, he tried not to think at all. He got through each day minute by minute, hour by hour, keeping himself occupied with thinking about homework and class. He didn't touch water - hadn't so much as stuck a toe in it since the full moon. He was starting to smell, but he couldn't…

He couldn't change.

It was different, now. He'd changed back the last time, but what about the next time? What if one day he didn't change back at all?

It wasn't fun and games anymore. It wasn't like he was a superhero who'd received cool powers by accident. This was his life now. This was who he was.

And he wasn't human.

Three days later and he still wasn't human. Three days later and he'd never be human again. When he couldn't stop himself from thinking about it, he realised that he never had been human. Not once. He'd been a merman all along. Some magical sea person who could breathe under water and who was part fish. He wasn't human, he was a fish.

His...the Blakelys had adopted a fish.

He wondered what they would do if they knew. Three days later and he still barely knew. The weekend was finally here and he couldn't pull himself out of bed. He lay there listlessly, staring at the ceiling, sometimes staring at his hand. His skin was dry and his palms peeling. He hadn't touched water for close to three days now.

He felt both repelled and attracted by it. There was a longing in his chest, a kind of ache, that had him dreaming every night of the open ocean. But the shock of that house of lies tumbling down around him still echoed acutely. The ache of longing was joined by an ache of resentment. For all the lies and the hurt.

When he thought about it too long, the hurt grew larger than the anger. The hurt of knowing he'd been abandoned on land by a mermaid and a spell placed on him to trap him as a human. Of knowing that he'd been forced to grow up thinking he was someone and something he was not. The hurt of knowing he'd been deprived of his true self for years, but also not knowing whether he even wanted to embrace it at all.

It had been fun before, but there had always been that fine line of separation. Zac had always felt like he still had a place to belong on land. The fins and powers were just a perk that made him special. They allowed him to experience an amazing world not his own and he'd been grateful.

He wasn't grateful anymore. Those things should have been his by birthright. They no longer made him different or special or part of a secret world, but rather an outcast in the world he'd grown up in. He didn't belong on land, now. He never had.

Saturday morning ticked by and he lay there, brooding and thinking. He began to turn the night of the full moon over and over again in his head. He wondered if maybe there had been a mistake, but Rita had been so sure. That other mermaid hadn't even hesitated. And Mimmi.

Mimmi had jumped in front of him.

When it had all happened - when the truth had been revealed - Zac hadn't exactly been in the right frame of mind to really stop and think enough to appreciate what Mimmi had done for him. Standing between him and her pod leader like that...because, what? They might have the same mother?

A mother who had abandoned him as a baby after taking away everything that he was and replacing it with lies.

The more he thought about it the more he wondered how it all could have happened. Why did Mimmi end up in Canada and Zac abandoned on the Gold Cost in Australia? How could they be siblings? They had the same hair, sure, but... They were too different. Not to mention it seemed a bit fishy that Zac hadn't exhibited any inclination for...for fish or the moon spell or Mako before the so-called 'spell' had broken. Could one spell really change so much? Even his taste in food?

Mimmi was convinced they were...that Zac was her... For two days he'd avoided her and for two days she kept giving him those...those stupid hopeful looks every time their paths accidentally crossed. Zac knew he was supposed to be grateful to her, for standing up for him, but he hadn't asked for her to do that. Mimmi was trying to protect a part of him that simply wasn't there. She wanted some...some fantasy of a brother who didn't exist. She hadn't stood up for Zac. She'd stood up for her brother. Zac wasn't that person. Not really. He was Zac Blakely, not Zac the merman son of Nerissa, no matter what certain delusional mermaid pod leaders said.

He pulled an arm up to cover his eyes, pressing his forearm against the skin of his eyelids tightly.

A knock at the door interrupted his brooding. Zac didn't answer, but the door creaked open anyway.

"Zac? Honey? Can I come in? I brought you some tea."

Zac couldn't bring himself to respond to his mother's voice. His mother who wasn't his mother. He breathed in and out and tried to pretend that everything was normal. He wished she would go away, but that required communication.

Something his 'parents' clearly needed more lessons in.

Footsteps drew close to the foot of his bed and the clink of china on wood told him the tea had been set down on his bed-side table. His mother sighed. "Zac…"

Zac yanked his arm down and peeled his eyes open to narrowed slits. She stood above him, mouth pressed tightly with emotion and eyes pleading. He stared at her, searching her face. The face he'd always thought he'd inherited features from. Guess that wasn't true.

She lowered herself slowly to perch on the side of the bed, smoothing down part of the duvet with gentle fingers. "Zac," she began, "I know this has been hard on you, but-"

"Hard?" Zac cut her off, sitting up abruptly so they were eye to eye. He frowned, fingers clenching in the covers. "My whole life, Mum!"

His mum looked away, biting her lip. "I…" Her shoulders lowered a little. "Look, we...we didn't see the need to tell you yet...you…" she shrugged helplessly. "We...were...We were going to tell you when you turned eighteen...but…"

Zac lowered his eyes to the bed and stared at the covers bunched over his lap, unable to watch his mother wring her hands and look oh-so-guilty. Eighteen, huh? He wasn't eighteen for a whole other year. One more year of lies, if his parents had had their way.

A hand covered his suddenly and he jerked in surprise. He glanced up to find his mother smiling sadly at him. "You'll always be our baby, you know that right? Your father and I don't love you any less. In fact, I'd say we love you more, because we know how blessed we are that we were able to adopt you at all."

Zac bit his lip, turning to stare at their hands. He felt a slight stinging in his eyes. A kind of lump in his throat. His mum said that now, but...but if she knew the truth? That she and Dad hadn't adopted a normal baby, but a fish baby...what then? Would they still feel the same?

Zac would never know. He was living a lie. His parents had no idea who he was...and neither did he.

He let out a shaky breath. There was someone who perhaps did know, but he wasn't about to ask Mimmi for information. It would only make her think he wanted to be her…that he believed...

His mother sighed, fingers squeezing his hand before letting it go. She shuffled a little on top of the bed so that they were facing each other more directly. "I know you've been avoiding your friends and us. I know this is strange and new, but no one is going to see you any differently, you know. You're the same boy you've always been, this doesn't have to change anything…"

Zac nearly laughed. Except it changed everything. He wasn't just a land boy who'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He'd been drawn to that island because it was in his blood. He was a merman.

He was a merman. A real merman.

Everyone who knew was going to see him differently. They already did. Even Evie couldn't stop giving him looks during class when she thought he wasn't looking.

"Mum… I just… I just need some...time, please."

Sighing, Zac's mother stood and nodded. She patted his knee softly and then nodded at the bedside table. "I brought you some tea. I hope you feel better, Zac." She paused. "I love you."

Zac's shoulders hunched just a little. "Love you too," he mumbled, because he couldn't not say it back.

"Alright, well, I'll leave you to-"

A knock at the door cut her off. Both of them looked up, Zac slightly apprehensive. His mum was here already, and he doubted it was his dad. Dr. Blakely was working a morning shift right now, and not even Zac's emotional turmoil could keep him away from his patients. Which left…

"I bet that's your friends, come to see how you are," said Mum with a smile and a squeeze of his knee.

Zac sat up as straight as a rod. He opened his mouth, ready to blurt out "Don't let them in!", but then how would he explain why he didn't want to speak to them? For all his parents knew, he had found out he might be adopted, end of story. They had no idea about mermaids and mermen and, worse, Mimmi.

Naturally, when Mrs. Blakely opened the door, that's who was standing there: Mimmi. She glanced in hopefully. "Hi," she said shyly.

Zac wanted to scream. His throat suddenly felt drier than his skin.

"Oh," said Zac's mum, momentarily taken aback. There was a pause before she asked, "I don't believe we've met before?"

Mimmi quickly stuck out a hand. "I...I'm Mimmi." She peered past Zac's mum again, expression open and wide with hope. Zac sat frozen in the bed. He wanted to tell her to go away, but if he said anything in front of his mother, she'd want to know why and then…

Then what, exactly?

"You sound American, Mimmi, did you just move here?" Zac's mum asked, curiosity overriding any solemnity left over from Zac's cold shoulder atittude. She gave Mimmi an open smile.

Mimmi ducked her head slightly. "Um, I'm originally from Canada, uh, Hudson Bay?"

"Oh, how lovely! Welcome! How do you like the Gold Cost?" When Mimmi failed to answer straight away, because she was busy peering around to catch Zac's eye, his mum blurted out, "Sorry, sorry, you came to see Zac, of course." She glanced between them with a wry smile. "Why don't I leave you two to it, and you can tell me about yourself later?" she added hopefully.

Zac could only watch mutely as Mimmi beamed at his mother. "I'd like that very much Mrs. Blakely!"

If his mum found it suspicious that she was so eager, she didn't say anything, merely kept smiling and stepped back so Mimmi could enter. As she left them alone, she sent Zac a significant look over her shoulder, mouthing, 'Talk to her!', before shutting the door.

Zac quickly climbed out of bed, fists clenched. "What are you doing here?" he demanded furiously.

Mimmi hovered by the doorway uncertainly. She bit her lip, looking around at all his things. She ran a hand over her loose, flowery dress and fiddled with some stray thread. "Zac, I..." She trailed off and breathed out heavily, looking like a kicked puppy when his glare only deepened.

Zac crossed his arms, waiting. Mimmi simply looked at him, eyes wide. There was a suspicious shine to her eyes that had nothing to do with the natural light streaming in from the partially open blinds.

It struck him then, that he was about to make her cry. She was literally on the verge of tears. He quickly dropped his arms from their aggressive pose and stuck his hands in his pockets. He averted his gaze to his collection of seashells, but even those reminded him of what he didn't want to remember, because half of those shells had been collected since he first got his tail.

The tense silence persisted. Zac hoped she'd just give up and go away.

Mimmi chewed her lip for a moment longer before sighing. She peered at him hopefully - that same look she'd been giving him ever since the bloody full moon. "I thought...maybe...we could…" she hesitated and Zac waited. "Go for a...a swim?" Her eyes flickered to his exposed arms, his neck, then his face.

Zac's fingers curled inside his pockets. He glanced away again. Why did she have to act so...so nervous. It was making him feel bad, like she actually was a puppy he'd accidentally kicked. Why did she have to keep looking at him so hopefully? This wasn't on him, none of it was. Why couldn't she just leave it alone?

Maybe they should talk. He should stop hiding in his room and deal with this like a man. Just tell her straight up that he had thought about it and he didn't want to talk or bond or...whatever she was hoping. That he just wanted to be left alone.

He crossed the room and slumped into the couch closest to the wall of shelves that divided his bed from the rest of his room. He kicked his feet out. "You wanna talk, fine, talk."

For a moment Mimmi looked like she was about to try to join him on his seat, but Zac narrowed his eyes. She diverted her path, quickly seating herself on the other couch. He was hit by a strong sense of déjà vu, as the last time he'd been sat here like this with someone, it had been his parents, telling him he was adopted.

Mimmi bit her lip and appeared hesitant to speak. She tried a smile, but when he didn't return it, it dropped off her face and she glanced downwards.

Zac also struggled to find the right words to start off. He wanted to tell Mimmi, as firmly and logically as possible, that she was living with expectations that were beyond him right now. He couldn't just suddenly turn around and act like...well, to be honest, he wasn't really sure how siblings were supposed to act, besides get on each other's nerves all the time, like Joe and David usually did...but he couldn't be that. They might not even be siblings at all - this could just be one giant mistake. Mimmi needed to just accept that they couldn't be some fairytale family and stop trying to bond with him.

Eventually, Mimmi worked up the courage to start, because she cleared her throat into the awkward silence and said, "Look, I get that you're finding it hard to...to understand all of this. And...I get that this is new and you had no idea about the truth and suddenly everything's changed, but…" she stared at him earnestly, and her tone turned almost accusing. "I'm just as surprised as you. I had no idea I had a brother and...I don't get why you wouldn't want to have a sister." She let out a shaky breath. "Is it...is it because we tried to take away your tail, in the beginning? It was a mistake, we know that now. I know that now - I know you're not like other mermen and...you'd never hurt me or anyone and…" she trailed off, hands fiddling nervously in her lap.

Zac merely stared. He felt… he didn't know what he felt. "That's not it," he said. "And it's not the same." Mimmi might have discovered a wonderful secret, but what harm did it do her to gain a brother? He lost everything. He lost his family, his life, his species. Their situations were totally different and Zac wasn't going to pretend he was thrilled about any of it.

Mimmi leaned forward, undeterred. Her hands fell to either side of the cushions and she braced herself and declared, "I promise I'd be a good sister! I'll teach you whatever you want to know and I'll protect you from the pod and Veridia."

Zac winced, already shaking his head. He felt equally awful and equally bowled over. Mimmi wanted something from him that he just didn't feel ready to give. "Mimmi...I...I can't be your brother. I'm not your brother." He gestured sharply with one hand. How could he get her to understand that...that he just couldn't.

Mimmi snapped upright, hands pulling into her lap where they clenched until they were white-knuckled. "Why not? What's wrong with me?" she demanded. She flung a hand out and laughed, bitterly, "Zac, by the moon, we're family!" She levelled her gaze at him, eyes narrowed, then began to tick things off with her fingers. "We have the same parents, we share blood, that makes you my brother, no matter whether you want to be or not!"

For a second after Mimmi finished, chest heaving with the effort of convincing him, Zac felt his own temper rear its head. He took a deep breath, preparing to shout if he had to, to get her to see reason, but he never got that far for suddenly there was a noise at the door; a scuffling sound. Zac whipped his head around just in time to watch the mug of tea slip from his mother's fingers and shatter against the wood outside his partially open door.

Mimmi leapt from the sofa in surprise, hand going to her mouth. Her eyes widened and met Mrs. Blakely's with surprise and horror. Neither of them moved or said anything. The tea continued to drip from the broken pieces of the mug. For a second, Zac couldn't breathe.

"M-mum," He stuttered out, in a single exhale, before scrambling to his feet and taking an aborted step forward. His hand came up, automatically, but then he was afraid to say or do anything. For a panicked moment, he wondered just how long she'd been standing there. How much had she heard?

He frantically calculated the time it would have taken to go back up to the house, pour a second cup of tea, and bring it down. Would she have made it in time to hear about tails and pods? He didn't think so. He hoped not.

He stared at her, heart thudding. Her eyes darted between Zac and Mimmi, and Zac saw the way she catalogued their appearance, eyes roaming from Mimmi's hair to her face and all the way down to her toes, and then over to Zac to do the exact same thing. She looked at the two of them like she'd never seen them before. Like she'd never seen Zac before. She drew in a shaky breath and let her hands fall from the door handle.

"Mum?" Zac tried again, biting his lip and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"I...I'm sorry," she stuttered. "I just...I was just bringing some tea for…" She stared at Mimmi some more, with the kind of intensity reserved for scientists observing a fascinating experiment.

Mimmi swallowed heavily and tried to relax, despite the shock that was practically palpable in the room. She smoothed out her dress and offered Zac's mum a tremulous smile. "Um...thank you. Mrs. Blakely." She glanced around a bit desperately, managing to catch Zac's eye.

In that moment, Zac forgot all his protests against Mimmi. They shared a moment of 'what do we do now?' camaraderie.

Mrs. Blakely licked her lips and glanced down at the broken tea mug lying shattered at her feet. She laughed softly, hesitantly, "Oh dear. I should...I should clean that up. I should…"

It was plainly obvious that she was not okay. Her hands were not quite steady and she was staring too intently at the floor where the tea was slowly soaking into the wood planks. He still didn't know what she'd overheard, but they could figure that out later, first he needed to calm down his mum before she had some kind of nervous breakdown. He hurried forward and grabbed her hand, tugging her firmly into his room. "Maybe you should sit down, Mum. Worry about that later."

"Oh, but-"

"Come on," Zac added, guiding her inside, past the puddle of tea and shattered bits of ceramic. He manoeuvred her over to the sofa and pressed her down slowly, exchanging another worried look with Mimmi without even thinking about it. He remembered the cup of tea that was still sitting on his bedside table. "Hold on." He skirted the shelves and picked up the mug carefully, mindful of how full it was, and carried it slowly back to the sofa. "Here, Mum, drink this." He pressed it into her hands, and it was telling of just how much shock she was in that she didn't seem to notice it was the same mug she'd brought earlier as a peace offering. She took an obedient sip and then lowered it, frowning. She glanced up between him and Mimmi as they stood there, awkwardly.

She swallowed, looking between them again. "They...no one said anything about twins," she whispered. Her eyes began to redden. "I swear...we didn't know. We wouldn't have...I mean...Zac, sweetheart, we didn't know."

There was a lump in his throat. A lump that seemed to be preventing him from blurting out 'It's not true! You've got it wrong!' Because...because as much as he wanted to convince himself it was just fanciful thinking, there was still that possibility that it was true. There was that nagging voice that kept listing all the things that pointed towards the truth: Veridia's words, Rita's conviction, his and Mimmi's shared visions, their physical similarities...

Zac's shoulders slumped and he ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, Mum, I know. No one knew." He didn't dare look at Mimmi as he spoke.

"Rita knew," Mimmi pointed out, voice slightly bitter.

Zac whipped his head around, narrowing his eyes at her. They still didn't know how much his mother had heard, they shouldn't say anything until they knew. He tried to convey just from expression alone not to say anything. Mimmi frowned at him, before her eyes darted back to Mrs. Blakely as his mum asked, "Rita? Not Principal Santos? Why would she know?" She lifted the cup of tea up to her mouth, then dropped it again, seemingly at a loss.

"Suspected," Zac said hurriedly, not sure what was worse - his mum thinking that Rita knew and hadn't said anything or…

"Rita's my aunt!" Mimmi added just as quickly, so that they nearly spoke over one another.

Mrs. Blakely stared at them both in surprise. "Then...Zac? You're also related to Ms. Santos?" She took a sudden gulp of tea, looking very much like she'd been hit over the head with a brick. "That's… Is that how you found out?"

Zac and Mimmi exchanged another glance while his mum stared into her tea like it held all the answers to the universe. "Um, that is-"

"Well, Aunt Rita didn't know know-" Mimmi began.

"Right! When Mimmi came she said she suspected something and had to check to be sure," Zac added desperately. "That's all. Just a suspicion," he added pointedly.

"And then she did, and she told us. And that's the truth," Mimmi finished with a stubborn set to her jaw.

Mrs. Blakely's head darted between them as they argued ambiguously, eyebrows slowly creeping up her hairline. She took another slow gulp of tea.

Zac scowled, hunching a little. He was getting an awfully big headache from all of this. He wished he could just dive into the ocean and forget all about it like he used to. Pretend none of this had ever happened.

"I don't understand," Zac's mum murmured after a few thoughtful moments. "If you're...if you're brother and sister, how did you get separated? Why wouldn't they tell us at the adoption agency?"

Zac swallowed. "I don't know, Mum. And it's not actually-"

"A mystery!" Mimmi cut him off sharply with a dangerous glint in her eye. She paused a second while Zac shut his mouth in annoyance, then transitioned into a wistful countenance. She smoothed her dress down, fiddling with the hem. She sighed and her eyes found Zac's meaningfully. "It's...my...our mother disappeared when I was very young. She never told me I had a brother, and no one knows where she went. So why she...did what she did...no one knows."

Zac would wager that if - if - Nerissa was his mother, there was a good chance that part of the reason she had done what she had would be to hide her merman son. That much, at least, was obvious. The question still remained why anyone (Nerissa or otherwise) would leave him so close to the Mako Island pod, or why he had such a strong connection to Mako in the first place?

Erik had said mermen always grew up on land, in the foster care system. Another question would be who had taken pains to hide his tail?

The even bigger question was...why?

There were a lot of unanswered questions.

It seemed that a lot of mystery surrounded his existence. Zac was afraid to find out the answers.

"Oh, Mimmi, I'm sorry," Zac's mum said softly, pulling Zac out of his reverie. "Did you grow up with family?" Her eyes darted to Zac quickly, as if judging his reaction.

"Family friends," Mimmi confirmed with a sly glance of her own at Zac. He took this to mean the pod had taken over raising her. Or it could be another jab at his refusal to talk and bond.

Mrs. Blakely finally set the tea cup down on the small coffee table between the sofas. "Well…" She pasted on a smile. "I'm glad you've found each other...this is... You should stay for dinner and tell us about yourself." She stood up slowly, and Zac recognised the expression on her face as the one she got when she'd made up her mind about something and was going to be stubborn. He braced himself. "Yes, stay for dinner, please. If you're Zac's sister, that makes you family." She reached across the table, hands outstretched and Mimmi placed her own in Zac's mum's hand gingerly. He watched his mum smile, now far more genuinely. "We'd be delighted to get to know you, Mimmi. Zac should know his family."

Mimmi fairly grinned in response.

Zac's mouth tightened, but when his mother turned her happy face to his, he tried to muster something that wasn't a scowl in response. It probably came out looking like a grimace. He doubted he was fooling anyone, but his mother either chose to ignore it, or she had decided to be proactive about it, because she dropped Mimmi's hands and approached him to pull him into a hug. "Isn't this a happy surprise?" She asked over his shoulder, voice slightly pointed. "Your dad's never going to believe me when I tell him who's coming for dinner." She pulled back, hand smoothing down one shoulder in a comforting manner. Zac stood still, unsure how to react. His mum turned again to Mimmi. "Mimmi, dear, what do you like to eat?"

"Oh, any kind of seafood! I love seafood!"

Mrs. Blakely laughed and shook her head. Her eyebrows went up in a bemused fashion. "Oh you two are definitely related." Laughing again, she patted Zac's shoulder once and then made her way to the door. "I'll let you two talk, now."

Then she left and they were alone again.

Zac turned to Mimmi, furious. "What," he hissed, "do you think you're doing?"

Mimmi's smile dimmed and her hands went limp at her sides. Her eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Zac threw his arms up. "I thought I said I wasn't your brother, and now you come in and take over my family!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he realised how ridiculous they sounded, but he couldn't take them back. He also refused to admit he might be over-reacting, so he crossed his arms roughly and stood his ground.

He refused to feel guilty when Mimmi's eyes filled with tears. "I'm not trying to take over anything! I just want us to treat each other like family! Why is that so hard?" She shouted, hands flinging out wide. Her lip trembled and shoulders heaved as she restrained any further tears.

Zac couldn't quite keep up his angry eye contact and he glanced away, the guilt settling in despite how much he tried to ignore it. "It's…"

Mimmi's mouth softened. She put a hand on her hip and just looked unbelievably sad and disappointed. Zac suddenly felt even worse. "Would it really be that terrible to have a sister?"

Yes, Zac wanted to say, but he couldn't bring himself to truly make her cry. Crying girls were bad. He did not want to be that boy who made girls cry, even if those girls happened to be his very tenacious maybe-sister. He ran a hand through his hair, tugging perhaps a bit too harshly at the strands.

Sister, he tried, in his head. It still didn't seem quite real. It made his throat feel tight and his skin itch. Or that could just be the lack of water. He rubbed at his hands self-consciously.

"Mimmi...look…"

"I thought you were stronger than this," Mimmi snapped suddenly, crossing her arms and lowering her chin. Her shoulders jerked back aggressively. "Always helping, there to save the day...always trying your best…Now you're just running away!" Her shoulders hunched a little, doing a complete turn-around, her mouth thinning. "I was happy that it was you, you know. Why can't you be happy it's me?"

Zac found himself at a loss for words. He wasn't running away...was he? And he was strong, but this wasn't about strength this was about...truths and lies. This was about finding out from some mermaid pod leader intent on killing him that he was never human. That his own mother had given him up to be adopted.

That was it, he realised. He stared at Mimmi, and blinked quickly to ignore the slight stinging in the corner of his eye. Just some dust. His hand jerked at his side, fingers curling. "That's easy for you to say," he said, in as carefully controlled a voice as he could manage. "Nerissa didn't dump you on land and put a spell on your tail."

Mimmi had to look away for a minute. Her arms uncoiled and she looked suddenly smaller and more vulnerable. When she looked back, those were definitely tears. She took a step forward, and Zac stepped back on reflex. Mimmi wasn't deterred. She skirted the table until they were practically chest to chest. Zac was taller than her so he was forced to tilt his head down, and he was frozen for a moment at the sudden proximity. He didn't move away quick enough, so when her arms snaked around him and her cheek pressed against his collarbone, Zac continued to stand there, frozen. Mimmi squeezed him tightly. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice slightly muffled as she spoke into his hair.

Zac, while normally a pretty tactile person, felt like he was having an out of body experience. He was being hugged. By Mimmi. He remained frozen, heart thudding quickly.

Mimmi turned her head so that her whole face was buried against his neck and something damp touched his collar. Mimmi's breathing grew ragged. "Zac," she choked out, "I'm sorry. Please."

Please, what? Zac wondered.

"I know it must have been hard, and I know all of this is not going to be easy." Mimmi drew in a ragged breath. Her cheek shifted against his shoulder as she tilted her head. "I know she didn't want to abandon you. I'm sure of it." She shifted again, sniffling. "Zac?"

Zac sighed heavily. He couldn't stand the thought of a crying girl, no matter who it was. He forced himself relax into the hug, until it felt less awkward and more natural. He let his arms come up around her side and back, hand resting over the back of her neck. She seemed suddenly quite fragile with the way he could wrap her up like this. She was an entire head shorter than him, smaller all around, and while he'd never thought of her as vulnerable before, now he wasn't so sure. Mimmi always acted like she knew everything, but he knew she could feel scared. He'd felt her fear before, when they shared visions.

Right now she seemed small and breakable.

He patted her back awkwardly. "It's okay," he whispered.

She sniffed again and pulled back. He let his arms drop. Mimmi reached up and grabbed his face. "Then you'll let me be your sister?" she demanded quickly.

Zac didn't know how to respond to that. Or to the fact that she had grabbed his cheeks and was yanking him down to eye level. He flailed a little, pulling back.

Mimmi let her hands drop and she stepped further away. "I'll protect you, I promise."

Zac rolled his eyes as he straightened. "I don't need protecting."

"Still," said Mimmi, hand coming up to scrub at the redness in her eyes. She smiled through it, like she was putting up a brave front. "That's my job, isn't it?" She frowned and suddenly reached her hand above her head, measuring the differences in their heights. "Even if you are so tall, I'm still your big sister."

"Big sister?" Zac couldn't help but blurt out, shocked. "Aren't...we're not the same age?"

What happened to 'maybe it's all a mistake'? he thought.

Mimmi frowned, tilting her head to look at him. She put her hands on her hips. "Nope! I'm a year older than you, I think. You've just turned seventeen, right? I'm eighteen!" She jerked a thumb between them. "So that makes me the big sister and you the little brother."

Zac's mouth opened and shut. A big sister? Already he could see this ending badly.

And when had he agreed to this, anyway? He hadn't. He didn't want this. He didn't.

He frowned.

Mimmi reached for his hand, but Zac pulled away. She was left there, awkwardly holding it out, and her eyelashes fluttered rapidly and her breath hitched, and Zac knew - knew - that if he kept pulling away, he'd drive her to tears again.

He wondered if she'd figured that out and that's why she was being so tearful.

He nearly groaned. Girls.

Reluctantly, he allowed her to step forward and grab his hand. The blinking stopped and she smiled brightly through the redness of her eyes. "Come on," she tugged softly, towards the door. "Let's go swimming. You've not been in the water for days now, you're going to dry out." Her fingers ghosted over his and she squeezed his hand in hers pointedly. His skin felt papery next to her smooth palm.

He nearly pulled away again, but… she had a point. He'd known for a while now that he was only hurting himself by staying out of the water. He'd tried to rationalise it by remembering a time when he'd not had a problem staying away from water, before he realised just how often land people used it in every day life. Even if he hadn't swam every day in the ocean, he'd washed his hands or had baths and showers. This was the longest he'd ever been without contact with water probably in his whole life.

"Please," Mimmi asked, tugging a bit more firmly. "We can talk about things some more, away from any prying ears." She shot a pointed look at the door, which Zac's mum had closed upon leaving, but that meant nothing when she could barge in at any time.

Why did she have to be so logical? They still needed to talk and he really didn't want to risk his mum overhearing anything else important. He doubted he could bear having his parents discover the truth. He had no doubt that they would wish they'd never adopted him. He'd end up in the foster system, just like Erik.

So he followed her outside.

[2.18.15] May edit later. That's all for now.
[2.22.15] Small typo edit, not worth re-reading.
[3.22.15] Another typo.