Disclaimer: I do not own "The Little Mermaid," or its characters. They are property of Hans Christian Andersen and the Walt Disney Company.

"Mermaids of Trafalgar"

By TwilightSparkle3562

Chapter 1

"Memories of My Mother"

Ariel, Queen of Demark and daughter of King Triton of Atlantica, stood on a balcony outside of the quarters she shared with her husband, King Eric, as the high wall she had ordered to protect her daughter, Princess Melody from Morgana, sister of Ursula came down. It had only been a few days since Morgana was defeated and a sense of relief had come over the kingdom. Ariel could only think of the future of her kingdom, her family and what was to come. She was only 28 years old after all and had her whole life ahead of her.

In a period of 12 years, Ariel had fulfilled her dream of living as a human after 16 years of living under the sea as a mermaid and had given birth to a daughter to call her own. But, little did her daughter realize of the pain and torment Ariel had kept inside of her.

"Mom, is everything all right?" asked Melody as she came up to her mother's quarters, knocking on the door. "You've been up hear for a long time."

"Um, I'm sorry, Melody," said Ariel, sheepishly. "You can come in if you want to."

So, Melody walked towards her mother and stood next to her as the deconstruction of the wall continued before their eyes. For Melody, seeing the wall come down was a relief to see now that Morgana was defeated.

"It's great to see the wall come down?" remarked Melody. "Now, we can be free to do whatever we want, won't we, mom?"

"Yes, it was wrong of me to keep you from the sea," sighed Ariel, as a gust of wind blew at the queen and princess of Denmark. "I'm your mother, Melody and I will sometimes overreact because of it."

Melody could take notice of the pain in her mother's voice and decided at that moment to ask Ariel what was on her mind.

"Mom, is everything all right?" asked Melody. "You sound kind of down. I mean, Morgana is beaten and everything is back to normal."

Knowing that Melody wanted to know the truth behind her sorrow, Ariel sighed once again and turned to her daughter.

"Melody," replied Ariel, as they stepped back into Ariel and Eric's quarters. "There is something that I should have told you a long time ago. It is about your grandmother."

"My grandmother?" gasped Melody, shocked that she had a grandmother. "What about her? Why didn't you tell me, mom?"

"Sweetie, it was a matter that I didn't want to talk about in front of you," replied Ariel, as they sat down on the bed. "The anniversary of her death is in a few days and you may see me feel slightly sad at times. She was a lovely person like us and had always cared for the merpeople of Atlantica. Most of all, she cared about me and all your aunts as well as your grandfather."

Melody was surprised to hear that her mother was telling her about this now. But for Ariel, she could still remember how her mother died, being run over by a pirate ship. This incident further fueled her father's hatred for humans and thus, made her transition and desire to become human much more difficult.

"Is that why grandfather so hateful towards people like me?" asked Melody, sadly, surprising Ariel greatly.

"Absolutely not, Melody," replied Ariel, surprisingly. "He loves you for who you are and as long as he is your grandfather, he will love you as you are. What happened to your grandmother was a matter that has haunted us for many years."

Just then, a knock at the door was heard and the mother and daughter looked to see Eric standing in the doorway.

"Dinner's getting cold, you two," he said. "Better get downstairs."

"We'll be down in two minutes," replied Ariel, walking over to him. "Melody and I just needed some time alone, that's all. You know, with my mother's death and all."

"We will get through this together, Ariel," said Eric, trying to console his wife and queen. "We all will, won't we, Melody?"

"Yes, we will dad," replied Melody and they all made their way down to the dining hall where Grimsby, Eric's manservant, was waiting for them.

Meanwhile, down in the kingdom of Atlantica, King Triton sat on his throne looking down a locket that he had kept for so many years following his wife's death. As Ariel had said, there was a sadness that had haunted them all for so many years. Triton could remember the agony of seeing his wife's corpse fall from the surface after she had been struck by the ship.

"Oh, Athena," he sighed at the locket. "Why couldn't you just leave the music box where it was? You could still be alive and with us. If only I could bring you back to life, but I can't."

A sudden rage of anger came up Triton's mind at that moment when he began to think of the ship that had struck his wife. He could remember seeing the bow with his wife's blood on it and for many years, he wanted to hunt that ship down and destroy it with his trident.

"But, I promise you," he said to himself, grabbing the gold trident. "I will continue to not rest until the ship that has taken you from me is found and destroyed. All aboard that ship will die and when their blood flows in the waters of the surface, only then will my avenge for you will be completed."

To prove that he wasn't going to take this sitting back, Triton thrusted his trident into the air and fired several blasts from the points of his main weapon. The blasts could be seen from Ariel and Eric's kingdom and seen from two guards.

"What do you think that Triton is doing, Hans?" asked the first guard.

"He must be trying out his power," replied the second guard, who was clearly not interested in the display that Triton was displaying out of the water.

Little did everyone know of the episode that was about to play before their eyes…