Sally thought she was just a normal mermaid. She grew up with all the other mer-children, and was treated no differently then anyone else, nor did she ever show any abilities beyond what the others could do.
Her mother had told her of the changes she'd go through when she came of age many times, always wording things in an age appropriate manner. But everything that she was told is just what's normal for most merfolk. Sally was completely unprepared for what she'd discover on her 16th birthday.
Coming of age for merfolk is 20 years old as they can live for up to 250 years but they are usually fully matured at 20. Therefore Sally thought her 16th birthday wouldn't be anything special, or at least no more special than her plans for it. She was wrong!
Sally woke up the morning of her 16th birthday in anticipation of the party her and her friends had planned. She had just finished using a dead coral to scrape anything that was stuck to her skin/scales that don't belong and then getting dressed when her mother had called out "Breakfast is ready Sally, I made your favorite, sugar-kelp rapped lobster."
When she looked at her favorite breakfast is when everything went wrong for Sally. Because when she looked at it is when she transformed into it. Thankfully her mom saw, so although they both freaked out a bit, thankfully there was no chance of anyone accidently eating her.
"SALLY! What the hell! How?!... Wait..." Her mother trails off, realization dawning on her face. "Sally, you need to calm down and focus your mind on your original form."
At first Sally was surprised, scared, and confused about what happened, but when the look of realization appeared on her mother's face, while the confusion deepened, she had her own realization... Her mother hid something from her. However, realizing the last statement was said to help her, although still angry due to the magnitude of the secret, Sally does as instructed by her mother. When she does she is able to go back to her normal appearance.
Sally then crosses her arms, glaring at her mother. "Explain?"
Her mother counters, "First of all, don't take that tone with me missy, even if it is your birthday." She then continues in a calmer tone, "However, I will forgive you and explain if you sit down."
Sally begrudgingly sat at the dining room table, her mother sitting opposite of her.
"So, you are proof your grandmother spoke truth, even though I always thought her words were lies, which is why I never told you what she said."
Calming down a little due to confusion becoming her most pressing concern, Sally says, "What do you mean?" After a brief pause, before her mother continues, "Wait, I think I remember this, her telling me on my 6th birthday, shortly before she passed, that our family was special, that I'd understand best on my 16th birthday, but you telling her to stop filling my head with lies."
"Yes, and that's exactly what I'm talking about now. I would never allow you to know the full story because I didn't want you acting reckless thinking you could do something I thought impossible, but low and behold, I was wrong."
A little agitation, but mostly intrigue, enters her voice as Sally asks, "What is the full story?"
Her mother fully understands the agitation, so she brushes it off and replies, "Well, your grandmother told me that a gift is passed down in our family, this gift allows us to mimic the shape of anyone or anything we can see the entirety of. I asked her many times to prove it, as I never could, to which she told me something I now know must have been the truth, but until now I believed was just a clever excuse that was likely also a lie. She told me that this gift gave each of us the additional ability to die once and come back as if we never died with only one difference, we would no longer have access to our ability, and would only be able to pass this ability to our firstborn child. I would ask why I never had this ability, to which she would tell me on the morning of my 16th birthday, the day we always awaken our ability, I died without realizing it, thinking I only fainted. So that's the truth... Sorry I never told you, but even if I did, would you have believed be, especially since I never believed it?"
They both ended up laughing at this, and after the laughter died down Sally said "Oh hell no, there is absolutely no way I'd have believed that before becoming my breakfast."
It was at that moment that her male friend she's had since 3 years old, that she's secretly been in love with since she turned 6, walked in, only hearing 'becoming my breakfast' so decides to say with a smirk, "Becoming your breakfast? That's an interesting, albeit, dangerous idea."
"What all did you hear!?" She asks him with a slight blush.
"Only the words 'becoming my breakfast,' nothing else."
"Well, I'll tell you later, for now act like you heard nothing, okay?!" Sally demands.
He solutes and says, "Got it!"
"Wait? What do you mean you'll tell him later?" Her mom asks her.
"I mean everything!" Sally says, her blush deepening at the intentional implications. As she intends to first tell him that she likes him, then after getting a proper response, tell him the new secret. In all honestly she has never kept more than one secret from him at a time.
"I suggest telling the long term secret before the new knowledge, that's if you plan on saying both and not just the new stuff."
"I do, and that's already what I planned."
"Wait! So I finally get to know the secret you've been keeping from me since we were 6?" He interjected.
Blushing even more, Sally says, "Yes Dracos, you do... I told you that I'd tell you eventually, and I had already decided today was the day, I just never expected to learn this new information about myself and my family." Finishing that statement more directed at her mother than Dracos.
"I never thought it was true." Her mother reafermed.
"Finish eating your breakfast so we can get going to the party, that way I can skip listening to you two talk vaguely about a topic I don't know." Dracos once again interjected.
Sally sat straight, as if electrocuted in shock. "How could I have forgotten to eat my favorite breakfast?!" As Sally is thinking so much about Dracos, and what her plans and hopes are with him she gradually starts shifting form into him. Thankfully he was glancing around nervously and didn't see, but her mother did.
Whispering in Sally's ear "Watch it, don't focus so much on Dracos, you are literally becoming him."
Sally sees her hands mirror Dracos's masculine hands and reverts herself, blushing deeply.
She finishes her breakfast quickly, and they leave, her mother reminding her to be back home before midnight, allowing her to stay out later due to it being her birthday.
"So what was that all about?" Dracos asks while they are on there way to her party.
"Later, I have a plan, so I'll tell you later. I do however promise, it'll be before midnight." Sally replies.
He looks at her with intrigue, but says nothing.
Shortly after they arrive at Sally's party. Immediately upon arrival Sally is swarmed by the party goers, them all congratulating her, and many of them making pointed comments about when she'll tell Dracos the truth, never saying enough to make it clear to anyone that does not already know the truth what they mean.
She gets fed up with all the comments, so she gets everyone's attention. "Ok, ok, ok... I thank you all for joining me on this special day, to celebrate my 16th birthday. However, to those pushing me to say a specific something, I'll do it before next sunrise, so hold your dolphins, and wait to ask more until then. That is unless your name is Kelly." She said that last part because her female best friend is Kelly, and Sally knows that no matter what she says, Kelly will likely insist on more information before then.
Unsurprisingly, Kelly chooses to swim over directly after people go back to doing their own things. "The legend?" Is all she asks.
And Sally's response is simply "Yes."
The legend they were talking about is about the full moon. It says that if you confess for the first time during the rise of a full moon, and the other person reciprocates, that your relationship will be blessed. It then adds, if that full moon is the first one after you turn 16 the relationship will be twice blessed. It then further adds, if the first full moon after you turn 16 is on the night of your 16th birthday you are by default twice blessed, and a relationship formed under the rise of that moon rise is 10x blessed.
"I expect full details at our slumber party." Kelly says.
"You'll get them." Sally replies.
The two of them planing on having a 2 person slumber party tonight starting sometime after the moon has fully cleared the horizon.
Nothing too eventful happens after that, just various party games and mostly meeningless conversation until after dinner. The party ending pretty much as soon as dinner does.
Directly after the party ends Sally drags Dracos along to go on a swim with her through the coral reef, being considered a romantic spot by most merfolk.
After swimming around for a while, the moon starts to rise, so they stop to watch.
When the moon is only about half revield, Sally speaks up. "Dracos..." She pauses until he locks eyes with her. "The secret I've kept from you since we were 6... It's... I'm in love with you."
She immediately starts blushing after saying that, her blush slowly deepening as she has to wait for his response. Thankfully she only has to wait 30 seconds for his response, as that is how long it takes him to process what she said. As soon as he is done processing he kisses her. In response she initially widens her eyes in shock, then she closes them and returns the kiss.
After breaking the kiss, they continue swimming around for a little longer, arm in arm.
After a while they reach her home, and Dracos grabs her hand, "And here is where we part," he kisses the back of her hand then continues, "my beautiful girlfriend."
Sally blushes, then to try to hide her blush she kisses him. He returns the kiss, and they keep kissing until her mother swims out.
"Well, It's about time. But really, you two seem like you can't get enough of each other, even though you've been friends since 3 years of age."
They pull apart, both blushing at being caught.
"Although I didn't realize how I felt until I was 13, it was love at first sight for me... As such I'll always want to spend whatever time she wants to spend with me, with her."
"Bold words from the man who waited for the girl to confess to him."
"She just beet me to the punch. I would have told her at her coming of age celebration, if she didn't beet me to it nor did she already have someone else."
Sally's face lights up in pleasant surprise due to her realizing how much that would have meant to her if he had done that on that day.
"Alright, well you have my concent. And I imagine his parents would approve too. So feel free to choose when you want to move into your own abode for the two of you, after your coming of age of course. Just don't make me wait too long, I want to meet my grandchildren."
They both blush at the mention of grandchildren. Embarrassed by the whole conversation, Sally quickly gives Dracos a peck on the lips and swims away, to her room.
"Well, if your blushing and grinning like an idiot is anything to go by, it went well, didn't it?" Kelly says, having awaited Sally in her room.
Sally happily pulls Kelly into a hug, to keep her face from showing while she calms down a little.
After the hug Sally says, "I bet you can guess exactly what happened, even though it caught me off guard. You've always had a knack for that."
"Let me guess, first you hesitated a little bit to tell him, then once you did he paused for less than a minute before kissing you, to which you were surprised, then kissed him back. After that you told him a new secret I don't know yet... If I'm right about this I expect a complete explanation... After that you swam around a bit more, he did a romantic gesture that embarrassed you to the point to where you kissed him. Then your mom swam out while you two were kissing, her and Dracos talking of things that further embarrassed you, so you responded by kissing Dracos goodbye before swimming into your room with me in here... Am I right?"
"Yes, you are... I'm always surprised on how right you are when it comes to guessing past events, even to the point of guessing things you should have no way of knowing."
"So... What's this new secret... You better not have been planning on not telling me!"
In response Sally told Kelly the events of that morning, from when she woke up to when Dracos walked in.
"Prove it, turn into something... Either that or me."
Sally then turns into Dracos, having intended on turning into Kelly, but still being too hung up on the fact that her and Dracos are now a couple.
"I said me, not Dracos, but point proven."
Sally blushes, then speaks, still in the form of Dracos, so sounding just like him. "I mean, I meant to turn into you, but I guess I was thinking too much about Dracos."
It is at this moment that Sally's mother walks in. "Wait, Dracos, how'd you get in here... And where is Sally. Kelly, you two better not be messing around, Sally is truly devoted to Dracos."
In response to this Sally says (still in the form of Dracos), "Oh, god no, mom... I have 0 interest in mermades, I'm only into mermen... I will admit however if I was interested in mermades, Kelly would definitely be my type, but I most definitely am not!"
In response to this Sally's mom replies in confusion, "But aren't you dating my daughter Dracos, I thought you were straight?" Also being confused at being called mom if he's gay.
"I'm not dating her mom, I am her." After saying that Sally shifts back into her self.
In response to this whole scene Kelly bursts out laughing.
"Now I understand why Kelly was holding back laughter, she obviously knew the truth all along."
"I did, and thanks for the complement Sally, but I'm also not interested, no offence."
"None taken."
All three of them end up laughing at that.
The rest of her birthday was majorly uneventful. And the next few days she spent more time that she use to with Dracos, practically spending all the spare time they both had with him. Some of her spare time was also spent with Kelly though.
During the next few months she practiced her abilities regularly... She learned how to do partial shifts, including shifting into new forms and only shifting her cloths. By shifting into new forms I mean she learned how to shift into anything she could imagine, even things that don't exist.
After learning her abilities well, while talking with her boyfriend and best friend she decided to become a superhero. Her disguise would be what looked to be a mix of the prince and princess of the kingdom, as to not give away her identity, not even her gender, and she'd call herself 'Shift', the superhero that can shape shift into any form.
Even merfolk have theifs, murderers, and the like... As she learned her skills really well, as long as she sees an attack coming, she is in no danger. And if by chance she dies once while doing this, she will just quit at that time. This is the story of the discovery and choices that leads to the mermaid superhero Shift.