This story is meant to be fairly wholesome and for most viewers. However…
*There are numerous LGBTQ characters in this story.
*Mild profane language is used.

Becoming a Dream – Chapter 5
Being a Hero

Comic Con was where the Valains really shined. Certainly, the new community they lived in was more than open to the girls’ penchant for being “anime super girls,” but outside of the small open-magic town they had moved to, they usually had to hold back their creative spirits. Not here. No one was the wiser to their very real sci-fi armor and natural blue and pink hair. To everyone else, they just had “done an amazing job with their costumes.”

Still, being the “busty anime girls” they were, they attracted a lot of attention. And selfie requests. Being good sports, Melody and Alex never charged for it. The recognition was enough for them.

“And that will do it!” Alex proclaimed as she handed the phone to its owner with a smile.

“This is so cool!” gushed the young con goer, who was wearing a homemade barbarian outfit. “Thank you!”

“Don’t mention it!” Alex replied earnestly.

She left with almost a skip in her step as Alex turned to Melody. “Phew, that’s the tenth one since we got here. You were right, the space-hero theme was the right call this time!”

“Heh, well, next time, we’ll do the princess fantasy stuff like you prefer. I still need some time to put my outfit together…” Melody replied.

“Not going with one of the ones you got from Ariel?”

“Nah, I got an idea that will blow you away! Maybe I’ll show you what I’ve drawn when we get home?”

“Oooh, you tease!” Alex groaned playfully.

“Hey, stop! Leave me alone!” they heard a girl shout, grabbing their attention.

“Freak! What’s going on with your hands!?”

“I said leave me alone!”

Melody and Alex pushed their way through a gathering crowd to find a young girl, mostly covered up with a dark hoodie and pants, save for the one hand that was no longer gloved. They spotted the soft pink webbing between her fingers. Around her were two guys and a girl, all of them much bigger than her. The girl was holding the glove, while one of the guys was holding her.

“Wait, do you think she’s…” Alex whispered over to Melody.

“Definitely,” Melody replied.

They nodded to each other and stepped into the fray. “Hey, didn’t you hear her? She said leave her alone!” Alex growled.

“Or what?” asked the apparent leader of the group.

Melody walked up and grabbed the arm of the man holding the web-handed girl. He winced from the pain of Melody’s intense – and very warm – grasp and let go. The formerly captive girl grabbed Melody with a hug. “Next time, we won’t ask so nicely,” Melody replied menacingly.

The leader looked at his minion, who was holding his arm. The spot Melody had grabbed was still red, a clear imprint of her hand. Alex was moving in to defend the girl.

“Fine. Let’s go,” said the leader, as he waved to his friends to follow. Alex cleared her throat and gestured to the glove, and the woman handed it over. The trio forced their way through the crowd, who weren’t giving them much room to leave, their eyes dug into them.

Melody looked at the girl holding her. She looked frightened, her eyes darting at the crowd. Melody and Alex knew what she was at that moment. She wasn’t just a merfolk, she might have been a transformed one too, like Andrea. It seemed fresh, and the fear of discovery was palpable. She might have had some bad experiences.

Alex knelt down and handed the frightened girl her glove. “Here.” The girl quickly grabbed it and slipped it on. She buried herself in Melody’s chest, trying to hide herself.

“Hey, would you like to go somewhere quiet?” Melody asked.

The girl nodded frantically.

Melody and Alex guided her away from the convention floor and into one of the facility’s empty storerooms. She quickly ran for a corner and wrapped herself into a ball, beginning to cry.

“Hey, hey! It’s okay…” Melody tried to reassure her. “Hey… You seem a bit young… Are your parents here somewhere?”

She nodded quietly.

“Alex, why don’t you try to find her parents?”

Alex nodded and left the room.

“Th-they’re right… I am a freak…” the girl muttered, sobbing.

“No, no. Don’t think that! Do you mind if I sit down with you?”

The girl nodded. Melody gently sat herself down next to the frightened girl.

“I don’t think you’re a freak. I think I know what you are…”

“I-I’m not anything other than a human!”

Melody shook her head. But then she had a thought. “I have a neighbor, a friend, who has this pretty blue webbing in her hands. And the red scales on her legs shimmer with a gleam of gold…” Melody recounted, smiling. She watched the girl perk up. “You know what that means, don’t you?”

She nodded slowly.

“Do you mind if I see what your webbing and scales look like?”

The girl hesitantly pulled off the gloves, showing off the soft pink webbing once more. She cautiously lifted a pant leg a few inches and pushed the sock aside, revealing pure white scales that shined with a pink shimmer.

“How pretty! You make a beautiful mermaid, if I may say so.”

The girl smiled and chuckled through her tears. “W-wow, I haven’t had anyone other than my parents say that to me before…”

“Feels good, right?”

She nodded, smiling wide.

Melody held out her hand. “I’m Melody. My wife with the blue hair was Alex. You see, we had a chance encounter with a magical being who granted our wishes to become anime girls. That got us into the magic community that helped us learn about all sorts of people, including merfolk!”

“Wait, so you really look like that!?”

“Yup! My pink hair is ‘natural,’ the armor you see actually works – a gift from that magic friend – and yes, these big boobs are very real,” Melody responded with a chuckle at the end.

“Oh my gosh, those must hurt!”

“’Anime girl strength.’ We don’t feel a thing!” Melody replied, getting them both to laugh.

“That’s so cool… I haven’t met many magical people. I only know a bit about merfolk because I became one… Otherwise, it’s just me and my family against the world, it feels like…”

“I’m so sorry. I heard that can be hard. What’s your name?”

“Tasha. I’m just a couple of weeks away from being eighteen…”

“I wondered. Tasha is a nice name for you!”

“Th-thanks. I… Umm… Picked it for myself. I’m, uh…”

“Trans? You’re in good company!” Melody said with a wink and a smile.

Tasha blushed. “O-oh! Yeah, I’m a demigirl. Crazy story, but a couple of years ago, my parents were desperate to get me help with my dysphoria. They ended up finding a carnival magician who helped people magically change into their ideal gender. He was some sort of real wizard. So, by the end of the day, I was going to bed as, well, me. A girl… With…”

“Nope, you don’t need to go into the details. We have a demigirl friend too, so we know what it means. You’re just you, Tasha. But how did the merfolk thing happen?”

“Last summer, I was swimming in the Gulf of Mexico with my family. But a strange current carried me out to sea, and when I thought I was going to drown, I started breathing the water. I was so far out, though, it took days to reach someone. I wound up finding a Coast Guard ship looking for me, but by that point, I was already too far along to breathe air. Turns out I’m not the first one to transform like that, and they helped me along with everything I needed, including getting my family to be there for me.”

“So, it only took you a few days to transform?”

Tasha nodded.

“Must have been because you were already the girl you wanted to be. Our friend I mentioned earlier went through a months-long transformation because she was trans too. But she hadn’t transitioned at all, so the magic of the Ocean did the work for her.”

“Wow, so even if I hadn’t met the magician… But between that and becoming a merfolk, things… Haven’t been easy…” Tasha curled up tighter again. “My little town… They’re not the most accepting folks. We haven’t been on good terms since I became a girl. We stopped being welcome at church. School was rough. But then I was a mermaid, and now we just feel daggers everywhere we go. I’ve been homeschooled this year just to keep me away from the rest of town…”

“Tasha, I’m so sorry…” Melody said as she put her hand on Tasha’s shoulder. “You shouldn’t have to go through that…”

Alex returned to the room, this time with a pair that shared resemblance to Tasha. They immediately raced for their daughter.

“Sweetie, I’m so sorry!” her mom cried out as she gave Tasha a hug.

“We lost track of you for just a minute, and…” admitted the father. He turned to Melody. “Madam, thank you! Both of you,” he said with a polite bow.

“Don’t mention it!” Melody replied back, smiling. “Still, it sounds like things have been rough since Tasha became a mermaid, am I right?”

Their eyes widened.

Alex noted their reaction. “We’re from the magical community. Melody and I are both magical humans, so we’ve learned about the community ourselves. We quickly suspected she was a mermaid when we saw the webbing,” she explained.

“Melody told me about their friend who’s also a trans mermaid like me!” Tasha added.

“Oh yeah, Andrea! I think you’d like her, Tasha. She doesn’t hide the fact she’s a mermaid. She lives as she is, and if people don’t accept that, she doesn’t give them the time of day,” Alex explained.

“That sounds badass!” Tasha squealed delightfully. “I wish I could be that open about myself…”

Melody and Alex looked at each other. Silently hatching an idea, they smiled. “Well, why not be that open?” Melody asked.

“W-what!? I’m a mermaid! People don’t treat me all that well because of it…”

“Such prudes…” Alex half-joked. “Merfolk are freaking awesome! You get to swim through the oceans with ease. You have these colorful, pretty scales that people should envy. And on top of that, there’s no need to shave your legs,” she joked at the end, getting Tasha to chuckle.

“And I’ve seen Andrea walk in the snow with short shorts and a tank top. You can wear anything you want pretty much all year long! You get to pick the style, with no need to worry if it’s ‘too cold.’ You even can command water! That magic is in you, and no one else. You have gifts, Tasha,” Melody added.

Tasha’s eyes welled up with tears as she smiled.

“I think we all needed to hear that,” replied Tasha’s father as he and his wife wiped away some tears of joy. “It’s been like a curse for us. For all the amazing things that’s happened to our lovely daughter, we’ve been treated like villains for it…”

“We’ve been thinking about moving to somewhere more accepting for a while, but we have no idea where to begin…” added Tasha’s mother.

Melody and Alex grinned wide. “We could help with that!” Alex exclaimed.

They put their hands to their mouths and gasped. “R-really!?” they asked in unison.

Melody nodded. “You see, we had to flee our home when crazies came after us for our powers. After being taken in by the magic community, they helped us get a new place out in California. Andrea was living alone there already, but after she got help from the community, they decided to build a town around her, a place where magic folk can be open about themselves. I’m pretty sure we could make a few calls and perhaps help you move in! There’s plenty of space right now.”

“So, I could be a mermaid girl in the open!? WHEN CAN WE MOVE!?” Tasha demanded eagerly.

“Woah, hang on there! We need to make some calls to the right people, and you need to get things set up…” Melody replied.

“Hmm… Melody, why don’t you help Tasha, while I take care of the business with her parents?” Alex suggested.

“You, doing the boring bureaucracy stuff? Who are you and what have you done with Alex?” Melody playfully asked.

“Not my strong suit, but if anyone is going to be able to help Tasha step onto the stage as her true self, it’s you,” Alex replied.

“Aww, thank you!” Melody swooned as she kissed Alex on the cheek. She turned to the parents. “While Alex helps you with the finer details of moving, do you mind if I take Tasha on a quick shopping trip? I’ll pay for it personally.”

They looked at each other for a moment. They turned to Tasha. “Do you have your phone?”

She pulled it out and held it up. “Of course. Regular updates, as usual?” They nodded.

“Alright, if you two can follow me, perhaps we can find a better place for this than a stuffy storage room,” Alex suggested as she led the parents out.

Tasha turned to Melody. “What do you have in mind?”

“We’re bringing out the character of ‘Tasha the mermaid!’ We’re going shopping for everything we need to bring that to life!” Melody exclaimed.

=== One hour later, a nearby mall… ===

Tasha spun around in front of the changing room mirror. The mid-length skirt flared out elegantly. She blushed. It felt so cute and feminine. The light blue she felt meshed well with her scales. Something about this was freeing…

Melody and her had been shopping for outfits Tasha wanted to wear, rather than what would cover her up and make her stand out less. This skirt was going in the “buy” pile for sure. Along with about ten others and some shorts. Not short shorts, mind you. She was conscious of something a little too revealing. But otherwise, she was building a pile of clothes that she could stand out in and love. Dresses, girly shirts, and so many more.

Melody was keeping tabs, of course, and while the stack (and the price tag for it all) grew, she was confident she and Alex were able to pay for it all. They were well off, thanks to their lucrative jobs and help from the magic community. Melody was even able to work her old Michigan job remotely, saving her from having to look for a new source of income.

Tasha opened the door, back in her dark clothes. But she was still grinning with the outfit in her hands. “I loved this too! Let’s add it to the pile!” she swooned.

“Heh, girl, are you going to leave with the whole store at this point?” Melody asked jokingly.

Tasha responded with a chuckle and a playful shrug.

“I don’t blame you, honestly. I might have picked a thing or two myself… But don’t you have clothes at home?”

Tasha shook her head. “Not like these. When the magician did his work, it only affected my body, so we had to get new clothes for me. We’re not very well off, so I don’t have much girly stuff. And when I became a mermaid, I might have freaked out and tossed some of it in an effort to mute my existence…”

“Oh, you poor thing… First of all…” Melody’s face became stern. “Shame on those who made you feel uncomfortable. You deserve the best for being true to yourself!” She began smiling again. “Second, that’s what we’re here to fix, so have at it! Alex and I should be able to pay for it all. This is about making you feel comfortable in your own skin…”

“So, um, just how much are we spending…?” Tasha asked hesitantly.

Melody ran the numbers. “With this, we’ve hit four digits: 1036 dollars and 45 cents.”

Tasha’s jaw dropped. “I’m so sorry, I did-“

Melody held her hand up and smiled. “Alex and I are well-off. We’re careful with our income, so we have plenty on hand for an emergency or a big shopping trip like this. That, and some recent help means we no longer need to pay for a home or a vehicle, so that’s helped our situation too. Honestly, when we splurge, it can be way more than this, so if you got some more you want to try out, then by all means!”

“Th-thank you!” Tasha stammered, smiling. She grabbed another outfit from the trio of shopping carts they grabbed (to sort the massive haul) and jumped into the changing stall.

When the door closed, Melody leaned up against the wall beside it. “Honestly, I think you’re stronger than you realize. Before my chance encounter with a genie, I was closeted. I knew I was trans, but I was planning to take that secret to the grave. I was too afraid to tell anyone. I only found my strength when I had actually become Melody. The ability to tell my truth, the strength to fight back against shady extremists… I only found it when I was finally the woman I wanted to be.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You, though, it sounded like, when you had the answers, you made it known. ‘This is who I am, I can’t be anything else.’ Sound about right?”

“Yeah.”

“And so, from there, you were able to get past any trepidations your parents had on the matter, and they fought for you. Even when the doctors told you that you were wrong, you kept fighting, you and your family. And eventually, you found your answer in this magician. Did they have a name, by chance?”

“’Max the Magnificent,’ I think.”

“Wow, that name is so stuffy,” Melody chuckled. “I wonder if he was a dragon with a title like that…”

“Wait, there are dragons too!? And didn’t you say something about a genie?”

“Oh yeah. I met Darronavarr the Bronze Rainbow – although he’d prefer just Darronavarr – when we were running from those extremists. The genie is actually some special kind called an ‘Angelic Genie,’ a more powerful genie or something. We’re good friends with her now. Her name is Ariel.”

“That’s so cool! And you’ve already met merfolk like me!”

“Yup! And there are dryads, a plant-based people with plant-manipulating magic, and kitsunes, a fox-like race from a parallel dimension that have their own kind of magic. You’ll probably be meeting a lot of them soon…”

“Wait, fox people!? They sound so cute and fluffy!” Tasha squealed with delight.

“Oh, you have no idea. And they’re a colorful bunch too. Like, actually colorful! If you see a bunch of them together in a crowd, it looks like modern art…”

“Squee! That’s so cool!”

“Hehe, as is the robot girl we also call a good friend.”

“Ohmygosh your life is so amazing and I want it.”

“Ha! I sometimes can’t believe this is my life at times! It’s crazy to think I’ve become an anime girl that gets to meet all these crazy magical races. It hasn’t even been a whole year yet! I transformed in September!”

“No kidding! I’ve been a girl longer than you!”

“Indeed you have, but now is the time to live it! Speaking of, I have an idea… I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Okay. I’ll be in here.”

Tasha flew through three more outfits. She ultimately added all of them to the purchase pile. As she put the last set down on the cart, Melody returned with something behind her back and a smile.

“What did you get?” Tasha asked.

“Well…” Melody pulled out a pair of oversized seashell props and a tube top in one hand, and a floral print skirt and a little girl’s sparkly makeup kit in the other. “Ta-dah!”

Some color left Tasha’s face. “You have got to be kidding me…”

“I did say we were ‘bringing out the character of Tasha the Mermaid,’ didn’t I?”

“But it’s so corny…” Tasha moaned.

“Well, that’s kind of the point! You’re playing a character. Kind of like me and this ‘anime super girl’ getup I have going right now. It’s a fanciful extension of who I am, a character seeped in common tropes. It’s not you being just you, but a caricature of yourself – a tropical mermaid with all that sparkly makeup and seashell bras. A costume to play a character. It just so happens that character is you… Think you get it, anyway?”

Tasha sighed. “Okay, I think so. Grr, alright, do your worst…”

“Hehe, this won’t be too bad, I promise…”

=== Back at the convention… ===

“… Alright, that should do it! We’ll keep in touch about a moving crew to help with your stuff. Until then, stay safe!”

“Thank you so much, Zenna!” Alex replied.

“Indeed, we’re in your debt,” added Tasha’s father.

“Not at all! We help our own. I’m sorry we missed you for so long, but now perhaps your family can live in peace, and Tasha can go to school again. May you enjoy your new home!” Zenna responded.

With that, Zenna hung up. “Pretty painless, right?” Alex asked.

“For getting a new home and a top of the line moving crew to help us move – and all of it for free? That’s way more painless than we’re used to,” Tasha’s mother replied.

“Oh, whoops, missed a text from Melody. They’re on their way back – ten minutes ago. They’ll be here any minute!” Alex realized.

“Oh yeah, we got one from Tasha too around then. We were just focused on the task at hand,” the mom admitted.

That’s when they heard a knock on the door. It opened, and Melody popped her head in. “We’re back! Mister and misses…”

“Greenwood,” they replied.

“Probably should have asked that sooner,” Melody muttered. “Anyway, mister and misses Greenwood, meet ‘Tasha the Mermaid!’”

Melody opened the door wide, revealing their daughter. She looked like a tropical mermaid girl straight out of a movie: sparkly makeup from head to midriff, all over her skin, with pink eyeshadow matching her webbing and red blush and lipstick to bring out her cheeks and lips. She was wearing a bright blue tube bra with a pair of seashells covering her chest. The floral-print skirt meshed well with the bra while also showing off her natural scaled legs. She was wearing sandals that showed off her webbed feet with little in the way to hide it.

Her embarrassed blushing showed through the makeup. “H-hi mom… Dad…” she stuttered.

“Oh my gosh, sweetie…” Her mom walked up to her and knelt down. “You are gorgeous!” she said as she reached for her daughter’s shoulders, smiling.

“Oh, I wouldn’t!” Melody shouted as she hauled several bags of clothes into the room. “That makeup was a pain in the ass to apply. Let’s save the hugs for when she’s done. Otherwise, that makeup will smear, and you’ll be glittery for the rest of the day.”

“You did some fine work, Melody!” Alex replied, clapping.

“Thanks! Now, um, where should we put all this? This was quite a lot…” Melody asked as she put the huge collection of bags down.

“I think we’d be able to carry it out to the car, the three of us, no problem,” Mr. Greenwood replied.

“Actually, we should probably do that first. We don’t want someone walking out with all of Tasha’s new clothes, do we?” Alex asked.

“Good point,” Melody agreed.

Tasha was a little relieved, if she was honest. This costume of hers felt so… Revealing. Bare. She squeezed herself in between her parents and Melody and Alex as they delivered the haul of clothes to their car. She wasn’t ready for anyone to see her yet. The dreary parking garage was dim enough that she felt a little more at ease, knowing she’d be hard to see.

“Phew, that’s everything!” Melody said as Mr. Greenwood shut the packed trunk closed.

“I got to say, I wasn’t expecting we’d come home with much of anything. It took some effort to scrape the money together just for this trip,” Mr. Greenwood admitted.

“It doesn’t sound like you’re doing so well. Why go on this trip, then?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know why, but… I just wanted to come and see it. Just once,” Tasha admitted.

Melody smiled. “Like I said earlier, Tasha, you are a lot braver than you realize! Going knowing there was a risk of you being outed as a mermaid? That takes guts.”

Tasha smiled in response.

“After shutting herself in for so long after her mermaid transformation, we knew we had to figure out how to go on this trip, for her sake,” Mrs. Greenwood admitted.

“She’s cute!” Alex whispered to Melody, knowing full well the Greenwoods could hear. “Can we keep her?”

“Heh, I don’t blame you, especially after shopping with her. But she’ll be our neighbor, so we’ll be able to spend time with her, right?”

“Dibs on being the cool auntie!” Alex declared, getting all of them to chuckle.

“I thought you’d say that, and to which I respond: you just walked right into that pun,” Melody replied with a smug smile, getting the Greenwoods to chuckle.

Alex thought about it for a moment before slapping her forehead. “Dangit! You’re right!”

Everyone burst out laughing at that moment.

“Oh gosh… That was great!” Tasha muttered as she wiped away a tear, smudging her makeup.

“Whoops! Here, Tasha, let me fix that for you…” Melody pulled out the makeup kit and patched up Tasha’s makeup. Confident in her work, she nodded and put the kit away.

“Look, can I admit I’m nervous about this?” Tasha asked.

“Of course! And it’s okay. My first time cosplaying was pretty nerve-wracking too,” Melody admitted.

“As was mine,” Alex added. “You get nervous about how people will judge you, especially in those first couple of times, but after a while, you just have to tell yourself, ‘It doesn’t matter what other people think. I’m just having fun!’”

“But if you’re not comfortable with this, Tasha, just let us know. We can stop all of this, and you can go back to wearing something normal. This is ultimately your decision,” Melody reminded her.

Tasha thought hard about it. Melody telling her she had been stronger than her. The loneliness of being stuck at home, fearing people reacting to her mermaid features. Letting others determine how she felt about herself…

She was tired of it. She wanted to dictate how she felt about herself. She wanted to be free.

“I-I’ll do it!” she declared, shaky but determined. “I don’t want to feel stuck and afraid anymore!”

“That’s the spirit!” Alex cheered, clapping.

Melody only smiled, knowing Tasha had this. Tasha’s parents were both silently crying, proud of their daughter.

The five of them made their way back to the convention floor. Tasha was still nervous, but she was trying to be out front now, no longer hiding. She knew that, if things went south, her parents and the Valains had her back.

One attendant was at a shop when she turned and recognized Tasha. “Oh, wait, are you that girl from earlier!? The one that was wearing the gloves to hide the webbed hands?” she asked.

“I-um-yes,” Tasha spat out.

“Oh my gosh, look at you! I could barely tell you were the same person! How did you go from that muted ensemble to this in two hours!?”

Melody waved and smiled.

The woman recognized Tasha was still very nervous. She took a closer look. That webbing Tasha was hiding earlier couldn’t have been the only thing. The scales on her legs, the woman realized, were just as real as the hand webbing. Whatever this young girl was, she had been nervous about being public with it…

“Well, girl, you look fantastic!”

“R-really!?”

“I can’t claim to know what’s going on with your legs or your hands, but my gosh it’s pretty! You have this wonderful mermaid vibe going. Rock it!”

Tasha stood up a little taller. “Th-thank you!”

Then it dawned on the woman. “Oh my gosh, that’s what you are, isn’t it!? You’re a real-life mermaid!”

“I-I am. Now, anyway. I got turned into one last summer, and I haven’t had the best experience since…”

“I had no clue mermaids were real! … And that’s why you were trying to hide it… I’m so sorry to hear! But it seems you had some help bringing that out. And honestly? You’re cute as a button! I don’t know what comes next for you, but you should be open to it. Anyone who hates you for this has no sense.”

Tasha bushed. “I-I can’t tell you how much that means to hear!”

“Well, I hope more people say it! Before I go, can I get a selfie with you? I don’t think anyone would believe me if I told them I met a real mermaid at the con without it!“

“Oh, sure!”

Tasha and the woman squeezed together, trying to get as much of themselves in the frame as possible. Tasha was glowing from the woman’s kind comments, her smile big and wide. A quick click, and they observed their work.

“We look great! Thanks! Good luck, mermaid girl!” The woman waved and smiled.

“You’re welcome, and thank you!” Tasha gushed back, waving.

“How does your first selfie feel?” Alex asked as the woman walked away.

“Hehe, after that, I feel like I’m walking on a cloud!” Tasha gushed.

For the next hour, Tasha attracted attention from the other con-goers. All of them were commenting on her much like the woman before them. Each one added to her confidence, even if not all of them grasped that she was a real mermaid like the woman did. In time, the Valains and the Greenwoods watched as Tasha began moving with a confident grace. She was letting her whole self flow. The demigirl, the mermaid, all of it. She was Tasha Greenwood, and she was finally proud of it!

Melody couldn’t have been any prouder of her work with Tasha. She’d always been envious of the anime heroines she always looked up to, hoping one day to have their power to help others. And now, here she was, a hero. Not because she could throw fire or lift a car. But because of who she was and what she knew. She could help a scared teen through a tough time, helping her be herself for a change. Melody realized this was far more fulfilling than the idea of being a magical heroine ever was. She started to shed some tears of joy.

Alex realized this and wrapped her arm around Melody’s shoulder. “You did great, girl!” she whispered.

This is when they bumped into a less friendly bunch. The trio that was heckling Tasha earlier had appeared once again. They recognized her immediately.

“Oh gosh, isn’t that the weirdo from before?” the woman in the gang asked.

The other two turned around. “The hell? Yeah, that’s her. How did you go from emo to whore in such a short time?” asked the leader.

Melody’s rage nearly boiled over, summoning a fireball in her hand. Alex caught it and quenched it quickly. She noticed Tasha’s determined look. “Hang on, let’s see what Tasha does first…” she whispered.

Melody nodded quietly, embarrassed by that rare loss of control.

“Y-you know what? Eff off. Yeah, I got webbed hands and scaly legs. I can’t help it, that’s just what I am! And you know what, I’m freaking tired of people being an ass to me because of it,” Tasha growled. She pumped her fists into the air. “I’M A REAL FREAKING MERMAID, AND I DON’T CARE WHO KNOWS ANYMORE!” she roared proudly, stunning the group backing her.

The trio was startled by her declaration and took a step back.

“And you know what else makes me awesome? I can control water!” She tapped into the magic she had, interacting with a drinking fountain on the other side of the convention floor. People watched in awe as a burst of water shot out of it, arcing over the entire convention to hit the three trolls with a downpour, soaking them thoroughly.

“ACK!” screeched the woman.

“What the hell!?” yelled the minion.

“Th-that didn’t just… Oh damn, so cold…” muttered the leader.

Dripping wet and shivering, the three quickly fled. People all around them started clapping and cheering.

“Holy shit… I didn’t know I could do that!” Tasha muttered. She was visibly shaking.

“Hey, Tasha, are you alright?” Melody asked, concerned.

“Yeah… Yeah! That was a rush! I’m a bit jittery from it, phew…” Tasha replied.

“That’s adrenaline, kid! Happens when you stand up to jerks like that!” Alex replied, smiling. “Soaking them with water through your Ocean Magic was a nice touch,” she added with a wink.

“Tasha, we’re so proud of you…” her dad commented, smiling.

A security guard walked up to them, a stern look on his face, putting them on edge. “Would you be the source of all that commotion?” he asked.

Tasha gulped. “Uh, um, sorry, yes, uh, sir…”

He closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them back up. He was now smiling. “Seems you did my job for me. That bunch was getting on everyone’s nerves. And I heard they heckled a web-handed girl a while back. Seems that was you?”

Tasha nodded.

“Well, I’ll be! It seems that was a bit of a wake-up call for you, wasn’t it? That was an impressive display, young lady! And if I may, my daughter loves the idea of mermaids and merfolk. She would be thrilled to see a real one! Do you mind if I get a picture?”

“Oh, and me!” asked another.

“And me!” chimed in yet another.

Tasha felt hands on her shoulders. She looked up into her parents’ proud eyes. Melody and Alex hugged each other at the sight. Tasha looked at them. Her eyes and smile conveyed the message to them:

“Thank you! You’re my heroes!”

They were living the dream. They were the anime heroines they always wanted to be.

=======

“Well, damn.”

George had just seen a recap on the news the next day, the rumors flying about the mermaid girl that attended the Comic Con the other day. National headlines, with this Tasha Greenwood being flanked by Melody and Alex Valain. How the heck the FBI missed her – especially with the report suggesting that the Coast Guard had assisted with the transformation months ago – was anyone’s guess. Clearly, someone had missed filing that one.

“She’s all over the news,” said Jupiter on the other end of the phone. “Irrefutable proof a mermaid exists, for all the world to see…”

“Well, we knew it was going to happen eventually. Still, I don’t think the dam has burst yet; there’s a fierce debate going on online whether this was a staged act or not."

"Damnit! … Sorry, I would have loved my kind to have been first ones out of the gate. But it seems that there’s still room for doubt. I wonder what it will take to finally get the message out there?”

“I don’t know, but the more Tasha Greenwoods we get out there, the more likely it’ll happen. We just have to wait and hope.”

“Fair enough. I’ll keep you updated on anything else that might come up.” Jupiter hung up.

George looked at the paused screen, knowing full well it was Melody and Alex that helped this Tasha come out to the world. “Melody, Alex, thank you…” he muttered under his breath.

THE END.

By CrystalSeaDragon44