Vanessa's Revenge

By Abby and Kayla

I'm sure you've heard how evil I am for what I did to that little girl, Ariel. Looking back, it wasn't my best decision, but she looks so much like her! Oh, this Ursula, by the way, and it's high time everyone knew the REAL story.

I was 16 years old and I fell in love. His name was Triton. Yes, THE Triton, the king, well, at the time, prince. Classic sob story, I was deeply in love with him, but he adored Rose. Ariel is practically an exact replica, the bright, happy attitude, the red hair, blue eyes, and the tail, the key factor. I used to be human, the daughter of a fisherman. There wasn't a day I wasn't at the ocean, so it's not all surprising I met Triton….

I was swimming out too far, as usual, when my leg starting cramping. I felt myself sinking, the life slowly leaving my body as I stopped fighting. The last thing I felt was a strong pair of arms clutching me towards them. I woke up on the beach, my shell necklace missing and all I could remember was a face. A kind pair of green eyes covered by messy brown hair, a handsome face contorted with concern. The next few weeks, all of could think of was that face. I hung around the beach more and more, hoping to see him again. When I finally got my wish, I was sitting out on the rocks, singing. The first thing I ever heard him to say me was "You have a beautiful voice." From the moment I heard the voice, saw his face; I realized I was hopelessly in love with him.

Oddly enough, I wasn't shocked when I saw the tail. I've always been so fascinated by the sea that it simply made him more beautiful and mysterious to me. Quickly enough, we became friends. I would go out to the sea every day, to speak to him, to simply be near him. He would tell about the palace life under the sea, I would wish more and more to be with him there.

After two years, it was the most normal thing in the world for us to be together. One day though, my whole world crashed down. It was my eighteenth birthday and I was ready to tell him everything, how long I've been in love with him and for my birthday ask him to use magic to make me a mermaid. He had just turned nineteen, the age when the prince in his world inherits the throne, the trident, and, to my heartbreak, must have a wife. A royal one, which means even as a mermaid, I would never be good enough for him. I didn't know any of this, though, until after I told him. His face crumpled with hurt and he whispered "I love you, too, Vanessa, and I always will..." At this I was so overjoyed I almost didn't hear the last part "But I have to marry a princess, one from my world. We can't be together, I'm sorry."

I was crushed. I ran home, sobbing, the world a depressing blur. I passed couples and couldn't but help think "They can be with the person they love, why can't I? They can be happy, why must I be forced to be miserable? Why can't I be good enough for him?" The next few days, I was inconsolable, but, I've always hated being indoors a lot, so I went, automatically, to our old meeting place. He was there, of course, Fate isn't that kind. I started to leave, until he saw me and smiled. That smile. Why did it always draw me closer, even when I knew it would lead to hurt?

We sat in silence, neither knowing the words to fix the damage three little ones had done. Eventually, I couldn't bear the silence and asked "Have you even met her?" His answer was an even more melancholy "No." I sat there, unable to think of a solution, except one…. "Run away with me. Turn me into a mermaid and we'll leave forever!" I begged him. With a sad smile, he responded "Nothing would make me happier, but I have to stay to take care of my kingdom. It's my born duty, but here, I've kept this as piece of you long enough, it's time you have it back, just forget about me." He deposited my shell necklace I lost that fateful night into my hands. I began to weep as he swam away and as a last request I called after him "Please! Meet me here after the wedding, one last time before I disappear from your life!" In truth, I wanted to see him after he met her, to see that he still loved me.

That was my second biggest regret, seeing him again. When I saw him after the wedding, Triton was a different person. He was happy and smiling, like how I remembered him before everything was ruined. When he was in love with me. He brought Rose with him, apparently after he met her, he couldn't take being away from her again. I honestly don't remember much after that, as I literally lost my mind, seeing him like this with someone else. I plotted this for a while, almost ten years, before I went out on my fathers' boat, caught her in a net and held her above the water until she died. She dried out and I stuck a harpoon through her to make it look like a fishing boat hit her with it. I threw her back above the kingdom and left. I remember not feeling anything while I saw her twitch and eventually die. I felt some satisfaction in sticking the harpoon through her, the woman who stole Triton from me.

Triton found me, of course. He was hurt and angry. He said merpeople law said any murderer must be punished. He looked at me and said the first words that truly made me feel regret for killing Rose "What happened to the Vanessa I fell in love with?" With that he carried out the law. I felt a flash of pain shoot through me and suddenly I couldn't breathe. Was this the law? Kill me in basically the same way I killed Rose? Oddly enough, I had the desire to jump in the water, as if that would relieve me! I followed my instincts and jumped in, feeling relief spread through my body. I looked down at my body and started to shriek. But an odd voice came out. I've always prided myself in my voice, so when a manly, hideous voice came out, I wept. Triton miserably explained, "We give the murderer their hearts greatest desire, which for you was to live in the ocean, but I had to reflect your true self, an ugly murderer. Your greatest possession, your voice has been taken from you and you will never get it back."

The next fifteen years were miserable. I changed my name to Ursula, she-bear, as I now resembled one, and I was so hideous. I was desperate and spoke to an old merman, not very trustworthy, but I needed to try, about going back to the human world. He gave me magic, but I could only use it to harm others. I was going home when I saw a ghost. No, on a closer look, it was Ariel, Tritons daughter with her. She was an exact copy of Rose. I felt hatred rise up in me, I was suffering and Rose didn't have the decency to stay dead?

The next days were filled with brooding on how to solve this little problem. I was swimming out in a storm when I saw Ro-Ariel save someone from a shipwreck. It was obviously love at first sight. This caused the first smile in years to flitter across my face. Now I know how to get revenge. He was human. He was a human, a prince from the looks of him. This felt familiar, I knew exactly how to hurt her, and in turn Triton.

I found the child and brought her to my home, the hovel I had been forced to live in for years. I spun a tale of how she could be with her prince. I hadn't decided on my price until I heard her sing. The voice. My voice, before it was taken. Using my new magic, I drew the voice out of her and decided it was time for a little revenge. As I brought back my former beauty to ruin her just like Triton ruined me, I was singing, loving the sound of the voice I had so dearly missed.

The prince was easy to trick, to see the look on Ariel's' face at her prince staring at me brought back old memories. This time, however, instead of pain, I felt nothing. Odd, normally, these brought back pain and suffering. As I readied myself for bed that night, a note fell out, it read: Forgot to warn you, magic for harm makes a heart of ice" That explained that. Good, now I wouldn't have to regret it.

The foolish prince prepared to marry me and I smiled, happy to be Vanessa again, instead of the beast I had been for fifteen years. Unfortunately, Triton appeared to save his brat. As I once again became Ursula, I fought to kill them all, to stop their hearts as mine felt it had been. For the second time in my life, the last thing I felt was Triton before I collapsed into the sea. When his trident pierced me, I couldn't but help be glad it was him, that the last thing I felt before slipping into oblivion was Triton, still the love of my life.

So, that's what really happened. I'm telling you this story from where the other "villain's" go. Most of us are just poor unfortunate souls, who everyone hates. Well, that's all I have to say, so I guess this is

The End