Ready To Stand
SUMMARY: "Ariel was cursed. All curses are broken by True Love's kiss. But, Ariel wasn't in love... Not really," Henry explained. Hook/Ariel (OC)ish
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anyone, quite literally. Ariel's name belongs to Disney, and the Little Mermaid story belongs to Hans Christian Anderson. All other characters belong to Once Upon A Time. I own this concept, though. Well, my version of this concept?
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I know what you're thinking, ANOTHER STORY? YOU STILL NEED TO UPDATE- I know, I know, give me a break, I'm a fangirl that likes to imagine more than she can write. I've been itching to do this story since I began watching Once Upon A Time, and this would be my first Canonish story on this account.
Also, I know the Hook/Ariel, or Little Mermaid story on here has been DONE TO DEATH, but, just give this one a change yeah? I haven't found one myself that I was particularly excited for, so hopefully writing one myself will kill that itch for a hook/ariel story.
Chapter One:
Fish Out of Water
Every day, except for Sundays, at exactly 12:45 in the afternoon, Granny's gets a visit from seven girls, the Fisher sisters. Sofia, Lynn, Adrian, Nixie, Brooke, Diana, and Betta Fisher, all daughters of Murdock Fisher, one of the most richest men of Storybrooke. Next to Mr. Gold, and Regina, of course. Everyone - and by everyone, I mean every man - knows to keep away from Murdock's precious daughters.
There were a few daughters, like Sofia, Lynn, and Diana that Murdock did not have to worry about. Sofia was the eldest, most mature, and held the most responsibility of the group. In fact, she looked nothing like their late mother, and more like their father in personality and in appearances. Lynn was the second oldest, and was more invested in reading and education than anything else. Diana wasn't one of the oldest, but the second youngest, but like Lynn, she was more invested in herself than anything else that Murdock had to worry about her.
The others, however, were much different. Adrian was the third oldest, and had more than once made a house party in their manor during their fathers absence. Nixie, just two years younger, had the attention span of a child on a sugar high. Brooke was just the same as her older sister, Nixie, but with her, Murdock had to worry more about the boys that she seemed to be around constantly. But everyone knows in Storybrooke that no one gave Murdock more of a hard time than his youngest daughter, Betta.
A few years after the death of their mother, Betta became mute, with no medical reason. Dr. Whale had examined her throat, had her get several ultrasounds on her thyroid and larynx, and could not for the life of him found why she would suddenly become mute. Dr. Hopper had concluded that it was a subconscious decision made by Betta as a reaction to her mother dying. Deep down, though, Murdock never believed it.
Sheriff Graham was often met at the doorstep of the Fisher house with Betta at his side, either dirty from head to toe, or drenched in water.
That much Emma Swan knew about the Fisher family, who mostly kept to themselves. So this Saturday, without fail, the band of sisters came to Granny's and took their usual seat at the biggest table in the restaurant. She watched as Ruby took their typical order, nothing new, and couldn't help but wonder why the Fisher family stood out amongst everyone else in Storybrooke.
Henry noticed her looking and furrowed his eyebrows, "What're you looking at?"
Emma sighed and looked back down at her cocoa and sandwich, "Tell me about the Fisher family, Henry. I only know what I've been told by Graham and Mary Margaret."
Henry shrugged and stuck his finger in the whip cream of his own cocoa, "Why so interested?"
"Well, I'm sheriff now... Best know everyone in the town," she took a sip and licked off the cream on her lip as Henry licked off the cream off his finger.
"Uh, well, they're rich. Not as rich as Mr. Gold, but they're the only people in town that has their own business that Mr. Gold doesn't own."
At this, Emma raised an eyebrow, "Really? I thought Gold pretty much owned the town?"
Henry sighed, "Well he does," he bit into his tuna fish melt, "but he doesn't own Fisher Fishing Cooperation. That's entirely owned by the Fisher family." He swallowed the bite and wiped his mouth, looking at his birth mother expectedly.
"You don't say," Emma was still interested in this family she knew so little about, but evidently was a big influence in the small town. She glanced back at the girls as they chatted... Well, six of them chatted. "So I'm guessing they're the ones that own most of the boats at the harbour?"
"That's right," he nodded, taking a cautious sip of his drink. "Well, technically, Murdock owns them... If he dies, or retires, it will all go to the oldest, Sofia."
"Sofia? Why not the wife?"
Henry made a face and put down his sandwich, as if he was in deep in thought, but something that wasn't related to this conversation. "No... Not exactly. It goes to Sofia, it has to. Mrs. Fisher is the second wife, it wouldn't make sense if it went to her."
Emma crossed her arms and furrowed her eyebrows, "Why do you say that?"
Her son's eyebrows shot up to his hairline as if it was obvious why he would say that, "Don't you see who they are? Widower father, seven daughters? A fishing company?"
Emma just stared at him, obviously not catching on.
Henry sighed exhaustingly, "They're Ariel and her sisters! Don't you see? Six older sisters, and the youngest sister has red hair. Their father is King Triton, king of Atlantica. They're mermaids. That's why they own a fishing company."
"Mermaids," Emma repeated skeptically, with a raised brow. "Don't mermaids have fins and live in water?"
Henry sighed as if he heard the dumbest thing in the world, "Of course. But mermaids don't exist in this world, because there is no magic. The same reason why Dr. Hopper isn't a cricket that can talk."
Her brows were still furrowed as he explained himself, but she nodding slowly anyway, "Right... But I don't remember Ariel having a step-mother."
He sat back, and looked a bit defeated, "that's what I'm trying to figure out. She doesn't fit in with the story."
"Or," Emma countered, leaning on her elbows, "they aren't mermaids, and are just a normal family."
Henry gave her a look, "There is no such thing as a normal family in Storybrooke."
"Right," Emma leaned back in her seat, and looked back at the group of girls. Her eyes were instantly on the smallest girl with the short, auburn layered pixie cut. Just a little longer and shaggier than Mary Margaret's. "So the youngest one is Ariel... I thought she didn't become mute until the witch stole her voice, but kissed the prince and got it back."
Henry made a face, "That's the disney version... The original story, the mermaid actually kills herself..."
Emma's brows shot up to her hairline as she took a sip of her drink, "That's a little morbid. Then shouldn't she be dead?"
He shook his head and reached into his bag and pulled out his book, and started to flip to the right story, "Not in this version," he pointed to a picture of a mermaid with long auburn hair, and a grey-green tail sitting on a rock looking at a pirate ship. "Ariel doesn't fall in love with a prince at first sight. She falls in love with humans in general."
Emma looked at the picture. Besides the length of the hair and obviously the tail, it did look a bit like Betta over there, but ever the skeptic, she didn't put two-and-two together.
"Ariel makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin for a pair of legs, and he could have her voice. Then she gets captured by a band of pirates."
"So there is no 'you have to get a kiss in three days, or else'?"
Henry flipped to the next page, where the mermaid was talking to a shadowed man with a long nose and yellow-gold skin. "Ariel was cursed. All curses are broken by True Love's kiss. But, Ariel wasn't in love... Not really," Henry explained.
"What do you mean, 'not really'?"
"The pirate that captured her was Captain Hook... He's not the most truthful, or faithful of pirates..."
I know, it's short, but think of this as the prologue, yeah? The next chapter is much longer and more action. I will post Chapter Two when I'm done Chapter four, and so forth. For those of you who read my other stories, this story's chapters are much shorter than my original stories, so updates for this one would be easier to handle.
Also, once I figure out the castings for the characters, I will post them.
- STORY FACT OF THE DAY
All the sister's names have a relation to the sea, water, ocean, lake, etc. Ariel's Storybrooke name is Betta, because I have a female Red Betta fish named Ariel. So, I thought it would be cute to name the character Ariel, Betta. :)
