"The Return of Ariel"
The sun began to reflect under the sea, the palace of King Triton was beginning to have joy again, the grandson of the king, Edward was finishing his first week in Atlantica, but that was not the only thing that animated the spirit of the old merman, that day Ariel would visit her old home, along with his granddaughter, Melody.
The king got up early to finish the preparations of the celebration, he wanted everything to be perfect for the occasion, the last time that Ariel was in Atlantica wasn´t for a good reason, besides that was officially the first time Melody was visiting the kingdom. Meanwhile the king was preparing his court, his faithful adviser Sebastian was not enjoying so much the task that the king requested, he had to be preparing Edward for the noon.
The crab clearly was scared, because the question that was giving circles in his head was, where was Edward?
"Oh no, what will the king say? Has not gone even an hour and already I lost the boy," the crab said to himself as he walked through the hallway. "Because I looked it up in his room, in the kitchen and even in the gardens."
Sebastian then decided to go to Flounder´s place to know if by chance Edward was in his house, to which the yellow fish denied and also said that Finic was not at home. It was then that the two old friends set off in search of the kids, just to surprise them playing and swimming with a group of turtles and having fun.
"Edward!" exclaimed Sebastian. The little redhead was surprised to see Flounder and Sebastian who weren´t in a very good mood waiting for them on the shore of the open sea.
The two kids approached to the adults who were repressing them not only by putting themselves in danger, but also for not asking permission to go out to play.
"By Neptune, why did you leave your homes without telling us?" Sebastian said annoyed at the two boys, "do you know what would say your grandfather if you learn that you left the palace without letting us know?" Edward simply shook his head.
Edward and Finic promised to leave their respective homes telling the adults where they would go. Seeing the kids´ regret Sebastian and Flounder decided to not tell King Triton about what happened.
"Oh mon, just don´t do that again, remember that you promised your mother to be good and obedient."
Edward nodded and started their way to the palace.
Back in the palace, trying to lift the spirit of the prince, Sebastian tried to say the real reason of why he was looking for him.
"So Edward, have you spoke with the king about what was going to happen today?" asked the crab.
"Um...no," replied the boy while he finished to accommodate his hair, and washed his face "What was going to happen today?" he asked as he left his room and headed to the throne room.
Just at the moment in which Sebastian was about to answer Edward stopped and his gaze marked a bright smile to see that next to his grandfather, were Ariel and Melody.
"Mommy!" the child exclaimed while swimming at full speed to the arms of his mother. Ariel simply smiled to see her child, she was happy to know that their relationship improved.
After greeting Ariel, Edward turned to his sister and asked how things were going in their home on the surface.
A few minutes after a messenger arrived to warn them that the food was already ready to be served.
The family headed to the bottom of the room to be able to enjoy a nice lunch, all seemed very happy, both Edward and Melody laughing, and the King Triton talking with his daughter.
"So Ariel, Did you have the chance to bond with Melody? King Triton asked to the mermaid.
Ariel nodded smiling, "Yes, Eric and I already talked with her and we told her the truth of everything, from how we met and the reason of why we built the wall."
"And how did she took it?"
"Definitely very different as Edward," replied Ariel, "I believe that after having faced Morgana, she understood why we wanted to keep them safe."
The king gave the reason to her daughter and they continued to enjoy the lunch.
Finishing off the meal, Ariel decided to plan an activity with her children, she have never had the opportunity to take them to explore with her.
"Melody, as it is the first time you visit properly Atlantica, what do you think to go on a tour of some of the places I used to visit?" Ariel looked at Edward who seemed confused to tell to Melody and not to him, "I'm sure that your brother will also be excited to show you the places he has visited." said Ariel winking the eye to her son.
"You mean it?" asked the girl.
Ariel nodded, "So, what do you say?"
Melody smiled at her mother and grabbed his old bag "when do we leave?"
Ariel told King Triton that they were going to leave for a few hours and come back to chat and drink tea.
The merman felt a little nervous for the decision of his daughter, perhaps already she was not the girl that used to get in trouble, but he knew that deep within her, there was her adventurous spirit, and the fact that she would go with their children didn´t help very much.
Triton couldn't say no to his daughter, because she was already an adult, so he simply told her to be careful and watch her children, especially Edward, since he was the most active of the three of them.
It was then that Ariel, Melody and Edward walked out of the palace.
Ariel decided to take them to a sunken ship, a recent one, since it was not yet so worn out, Edward and Melody were discussing how things had improved for both, and how really this was the first summer that they were enjoying.
Suddenly the three noticed a strange glow in one part of the ship. Edward didn't think twice and tried to lead it to that light.
"Edward no!" Ariel exclaimed, "We don't know what that is." The boy frowned and returned to where Ariel and Melody were.
"Hey mom, is this place safe?" said Melody.
"What do you mean sweetie?" asked Ariel.
"Don't you think that there could be sharks here? Because we are a little far away, and there aren't many creatures around here," replied the girl.
Ariel simply giggled at the comment of her daughter, to which Melody looked at her confused. "Did I say something wrong?"
"Nothing like that Melody," Ariel walked up to the girl, "it's just that you remembered me to Flounder, let´s say that he was afraid even of his shadow when we went out to collect things."
Edward listened to the conversation of his mother and sister, but he continued to think in that light he had seen.
The mention of Flounder made him remember that if Finic were with him, they would already be investigating this mysterious light. Ariel didn´t want to admit it because of her children, but she was a little boring, time ago she would be saving several treasures, without even noticing, but now knowing that they were and even knowing that she already had many of them on land, the weren´t so interesting now.
"Wow Mel, look at this sword," Edward said to his sister while collecting the mentioned object. Ariel noticed immediately that Edward and Melody were playing with a real gun, so she decided to take it off her child.
"Hey what are you doing?" she asked Edward to Ariel.
"What I had to do, you don't have the age to use, much less to have a sword, you're just a baby." Ariel explained.
"Mom, I've told you hundreds of times that I'm not a baby, in a few weeks I will be turning 7 years old," Edward replied to his mother, "...and dad lets me play with swords in the house."
"But those swords aren´t real, they're toys, and you don´t know how to use this, I don't want you to hurt yourself or hurt others by accident."
Edward frowned and continued watching the ship, Ariel told her kids that they could see if it were something outside of the ship, because there were instances that they could collect more interesting things outside the boat than inside of it.
Melody and Edward came out of there talking quietly."Eddie, it´s just me, or mom really failed at trying to be funny?"
"What I know from the stories I´ve heard from grandfather, she was much worse than the two of us together," Edward answered, "Nah, on second thought, I believe that I can overcome mom in a few years."
"By the way, I also want to know that was a thing that was shining inside of the boat," told Melody to her brother.
"I know, we can see what is it, we can try to convince her, you know, to tell her that we just want to go see."
The two siblings returned to the ship and went over to their mother.
"Um mother, Eddie and I really have curiosity about the light that shone do you think that we can go to see what it is? Just watch," said the girl to Ariel.
The mermaid was thinking for a few moments about what Melody told her, if they really were not going to touch anything there was no problem, besides she was the one who invited her children to explore the boat, so she accepted.
They headed over to the part of the boat that was shining, but to the surprise of Ariel, what they found was not an object of the surface, but one of the sea.
"Well, I think that the ship could belong to pirates," said Ariel, "I remember this shiny thing," she explained as she held up the youth stone. Edward by his own, noticed a small flute that was lying at the bottom of the room, so the little boy swam up to it. Melody began to ask her mother what it was that stone.
But just as Ariel was about to explain to Melody holding the stone, Edward accidentally played the flute.
A glow of magic filled the room and when they were finally able to see, Ariel had changed, someone who had a very good view would be aware of the small details, but Edward and Melody didn´t noticed the change in their mother.
"Mom?" said in unison the siblings.
The mermaid looked confused, "who are you calling mom? My name is Ariel."
Melody thought it was only a joke made by Ariel, so she just ignored the response of the mermaid and instructed her to continue seeing things.
But to the surprise of both children, Ariel was excited to see a table of the ship, a fork."Perhaps you have not seen something more wonderful in your entire life? A dinglehopper."
Edward and Melody were even more confused to the comment of their mom.
"Uh...mom, that´s only a fork, we have many of those at home, remember?" said Edward. Ariel looked at him with a nervous smile "why do you tell me mom? Every time you say that I feel that I´m a 30 year old, I'm only 16, and I don´t remember, I´ve just seen a few of this objects."
Edward and Melody were frozen upon hearing this, this really wasn´t a joke, their mother didn´t even remembered them, What will have occurred for these to happen?, Is it something irreversible? Were the questions that roamed through their heads.
"Mo...Ariel, it will be best for all of us that you return to the palace, I'm a little tired." Ariel ignored completely Melody and came up with Edward to ask him to take care of the sword that, without remembering she had removed the boy.
"Oh, this is bad," whispered Melody to her brother.
"Why? Mom is cool and she gave me back the sword, isn´t that what we wanted?" Edward answered her.
Ariel started to swim off the boat without even warn the boys, so they decided to follow her.
"Ariel, where are you going?" asked the boy.
"Oh I'm just going to go to the surface to ask my friend Scuttle what are these things," replied Ariel showing him melody´s bag.
Ok, this is serious, the fact that mom wants to ask Scuttle about things of the human world only means that we have to solve this now, Melody thought.
"Ariel wait," Edward got in their way before continuing. "Why go with Scuttle when we can we help you?" Edward gave a look to his sister to help him.
"Oh yes, what happens is that we are experts about the world of the humans," continued Melody.
Ariel decided to trust the guys and without realizing it returned to the Atlantica.
During the trip Ariel asked them about every single human object that was in Melody´s bag, the black haired girl noticed a little late, that her mother used her bag to collect her own treasures.
"Ariel…um, where are the things that were in the bag?" asked Melody.
Ariel, who was racing Edward to the palace turned to Melody and calmly answered "Oh yeah, I dropped them on that ship, girl they´re just sea stuff, the human ones are the most valuable."
Melody was really angry with this younger version of her mother, she didn´t say anything because she was afraid that when they turn her in a grown up again she could be punished for the rest of the summer.
When they were close to the palace Ariel stopped by a moment. "Hey Melody and Edward," both kids were surprised that at least she remembered their names "before we get in the palace, try not to mention in front of my father that you know a lot from the human world."
"Why not?" asked Edward.
"Because he…hates humans, and he will be pissed off if he finds out that you too disobey the order of not having any contact with humans." Ariel explained.
Both of the kids tried to contain their smiles about what her mother said, and they were confused at the same time, Did grandpa hated humans that much? Still hard to believe that mom was able to marry dad.
"Oh yeah, no problem," said Melody a little more calmed.
Melody and Edward agreed to ask for the help of King Triton, as he perhaps would know what to do.
Melody stayed with Ariel to try to figure out who knew so much of the human world or about some of the events that had led to her birth.
Edward on the other hand drove at full speed to the palace.
"Grandfather?" the old merman was as it was almost customary in his throne.
"What happened Edward? Are you all right?" the king asked his grandson.
Edward didn't really know how to answer that, he just told him to please follow to him.
Just at that moment Ariel and Melody came into the room, the redhead mermaid approached the king to greet him as if she hadn't seen him during the day.
The king noticed that Ariel looked and acted like a teenager. Meanwhile Edward went up to Melody to ask who'd made it.
Melody said that Ariel told her that she had saved Eric from drowning the night before."Are you sleeping well daddy?" asked Ariel. "You look...different?" Ariel didn't want to tell the king that I looked older.
"I'm fine Ariel," said Triton to his daughter. Edward and Melody turned to him to tell them to follow the current, which was arguing with her.
After he did that Ariel went out to the gardens, the king reached out to the children to ask them what had happened. They told him that they had gone to a sunken ship, and that Ariel was no letting them do many things, but then she allowed them to go see something that was shining in the boat.
Edward explained that it was a rock that had been found and that the then had found a flute and touched it, and simply Ariel already was again a teenager.
The merman rubbed his beard, trying to find a cause of the problem, he didn´t remembered the time when he was transformed into a child due to the youth stone too. He decided to take the flute that Edward had and gave it a look.
At that time Flounder and Finic arrived to the palace, Triton, Melody and Edward explained them what happened, Ariel got into the room to put the stone in the jewelry box of the king, but when Ariel was getting the stone from Melody´s bag, Edward, played the flute as he finished telling the story.
So it was that the room lit up and Ariel returned to be transformed, the problem, Ariel was no longer 16 years old, she was 10.
"Hey why all you guys see me like that?" said the girl "I have not done anything wrong." Ariel saw Finic, and believing that he was Flounder swam to hug him.
"Flounder!" Ariel exclaimed, "Where have you been?"Finic turned to see all others without knowing what to say, because he didn´t knew Ariel, much less would know what to tell her.
Flounder said to him between sign language that he simply had to play with her pretending he was Flounder, so Finic decided to behave as he did with Edward.
While Finic managed to help by distracting Ariel while the others were trying to figure out how to again rejuvenate.
A few stated that it happened why Ariel held the youth stone and others because Edward played the flute. It was then that the King Triton observed very well the stone; he ordered no one to hold it and asked Edward, to play the flute.
To the surprise of all, at the time that Edward played the instrument, the stone began to radiate light."It was both!" exclaimed Flounder, "as Ariel was holding the stone while Edward touched accidentally the flute, Ariel rejuvenated."
They all looked worried, "then what shall we do?" said Melody.
Edward and Melody were more concerned than the others, what would be of them without Ariel? What if she stayed like that forever? What would they say to their dad?
It was then that Edward came up with an idea, if they make Ariel to care about something, perhaps she could grow up, the problem was, of what was afraid a 10 year old girl without control?
"Grandfather, what feared my mom at that age?" asked the boy, "If we make her feel fear, we can get her back to normal."
The merman began to remember about his daughter, he knew that there had to be something that Ariel will have fear or worry.
"As I remember, after Athena was captured by pirates, Ariel was afraid of the human world for a long time." To this fact Melody and Edward looked with curiosity to their grandfather.
Then suddenly Sebastian entered the room with haste, "Your majesty, you are not going to believe what I saw, Ariel is...a little girl again!"
"We know that Sebastian, we're trying to how to fix it," replied the king.
Edward and Melody followed Ariel and Finic to start their plan.
"Finn!" Edward called his friend. When the guppy were alongside the kids he told them that Ariel was very good playing hide and seek and that she still believed that he was Flounder, but she was starting to make him fell unconfortable.
"What do you mean unconfortable?" asked Edward.
"Every time she has the opportunity she tells me that I´m her best friend...and I don´t know what to say," answered the yellow guppy.
"Just tell hher what your father would say, remember, she thinks that you´re Flounder."
"Hey it´s hard to me to pretend to be my dad, he gets scared by everything, and during my six years of life I can tell you that I just been scared less than 5 times."
Edward and Melody decided to take care of this aged problem by their own. So they get closer where Ariel was and they tried to convince her about going up to the surface.
"Come on Ariel, it´ll be fun," said Melody.
"I..I don´t want, it scares me," said Ariel with tears in her eyes. Melody turned to see her brother, who was astonished like her in a bad way, they made her mother cry, pr at least a younger version of her.
Edawrd regretting his actions kept trying to make her go to the surface, he grabbed her slender arm, but Ariel was strong enough to free herself and swam back to home.
When they were about to follow her and take her by their own they saw a shining that illuminated the area, they could see that Ariel was 16 again.
Melody and Edward were happy to see that everything was turning out well, but they knew that trying to get Ariel out to the surface wasn´t going to work, because that was something that she did with no problem.
Edward then knew what he had to do, maybe Ariel not remembered him, or Melody, but the maternal instinct in her was growing stronger with the passing of the years.
So it was that I made the attempt final."What are you doing?" asked Melody, "You're going to hurt yourself."
Edward looked at her with sadness and despair to see that Ariel seemed not paying attention, "I want my mom back."
It was then that he directed the tip of his finger against the sword, leading to a slight but painful cut. Ariel, who saw what had happened, began to feel bad for the little boy, because she would not tolerate to see children suffer, and much less cry.
At the time we went over to the small there was a last glow of light that illuminated the area. "You now see why I said that this sword was dangerous," said Ariel, taking the hand of Edward, and by sitting him on her fin. "Let me see," the mermaid noted the injured finger of her son and with a little scarf that she wore she covered the wound.
"Mom!" Melody and Edward shouted in unison while hugging their mother.
After a while, Ariel and Melody returned to Atlantica to have tea time as Ariel promised, say goodbye and return to the surface, but not before giving back the sword to Edward, as long as he only use it for emergencies."One more thing," said Ariel to her children, "I don't remember much of what happened today, but thank you for helping me." The three embraced warmly, "And yes, sometimes I want to overreact and even ruining your fun, but I do it because I love you guys."
"Never change that mom," said Melody while she hugged her.
Edward said goodbye to his mother and his sister in the palace, as the day had ended and I had to prepare to start a new one.
So, this is the first of five one shots that will be leading to the sequel of What Really Happened, these stories will set about Edward´s summer in Atlantica and will introduce new characters and see how they interact with the old gang. This first chapter is quite a remake of the LM series episode "Red" Don´t forget to R&R.