Just a Little Guppy
Flounder smiled as he looked up at Ariel and Prince Eric on the steps to their castle. It sure had been a long day. Well, a long few days really. But today had been further eventful; after Ursula had been defeated, Flounder had gone with Scuttle to explain to the wedding guests what had happened and assure everyone that everything was okay. No easy task had that been; Flounder had wondered if it would have been better if King Triton had just used his trident to erase all memory of the event from the guests' minds.
By the time Flounder had finished and arrived at the beach, Ariel and Sebastian had already told Eric and King Triton what had happened, but he was just in time to say goodbye to Ariel before she and Eric went off to the castle to explain to all the guests themselves. It was now evening, and most of Atlantica had come to see off Ariel properly, but by now only Flounder, Sebastian and King Triton remained.
"Well, we'd better be off home," King Triton smiled, "I suppose now's the very moment I let you live your life, dear."
Ariel smiled back, with tears in her already reddened eyes. She slowly walked down to her father and embraced him tightly, "Thank you for all this, Daddy," she whispered, "I love you so much."
"I love you too, sweetheart," replied Triton softly, on the brink of tears himself, "Now you go and enjoy your life."
Ariel let out a quiet giggle, "I will, Daddy." She pulled back to face him, "I promise."
Flounder watched the scene in front of him quietly, trying desperately to not let his own sniffles be heard. He almost felt like he shouldn't be here, like he was intruding on Ariel and her family. Because that's what they were, right? Triton was her father. Eric hadn't proposed yet or anything, but he was certainly her future husband. Even Sebastian was basically her uncle figure. Or maybe some sort of godfather or something. But Flounder was just her friend.
"You'll come and visit us, won't you?" Ariel asked her father.
"Certainly I will. If it's alright, of course?" Triton looked to Eric. Flounder found it very strange that the king was asking someone if he could visit his own daughter, let alone a human, but he was probably just trying to be polite; it's not like Eric would say no.
"Of course you can," smiled Eric, the look his face nearly matching Flounder's thoughts that the answer was very obvious, "You all can, whenever you want to," he added looking towards Flounder and Sebastian and gesturing out to the rest of the sea.
King Triton gave a brief nod of gratitude to Eric, and backed away from Ariel, as she reached down to pick up Sebastian, who was arguably having the most difficulty holding in his emotions.
"Goodbye, child," he sniffed, as she held him in the palms of her hands, "I can't believe you are really goin'. I'll miss you, Ariel. And all our adventures and... follies."
"Oh, Sebastian," Ariel whispered with a smile, "I'll miss you too. I love you."
"I love you too, child. I love you too."
Flounder watched as Ariel placed Sebastian back in the water. The little fish was half-hiding behind King Triton, still unsure of whether he should really be there or not. Even Ariel's sisters had already left; why should he still be here?
"Flounder?"
He looked up to see Ariel looking down at him, still crouching from putting Sebastian down. Flounder suddenly realised that it wasn't just that he felt like he shouldn't be here; it was more that he didn't really want to be here. Sure, it did feel a bit weird still being here when this moment should probably be for Ariel's real family, but Flounder found that he just didn't want to say goodbye to Ariel. He gave a small, strained smile to her, but she only tilted her head.
"Come here," she said, holding out her arms for him. Flounder gave a little gulp and swam over to her, allowing her to pick him up.
For a moment, she didn't say anything, or even look at him; she just held him tightly to her, with her eyes shut. Finally, she pulled him away and looked down at him. "Oh, Flounder. I can't believe we're never gonna go on one of adventures or find anything again."
Flounder managed to smile up at her, "Ah, it's okay Ariel. Our last human finding was a good way to finish," he replied, looking towards Eric for a second.
Ariel giggled. "Yeah, it sure was," she agreed. She let out a little sigh. "But I'll miss you so much."
Flounder tried his best not to look sad, "I'll miss you too Ariel. But I'll... come and see you sometimes."
Ariel nodded, "Yeah." She placed a little kiss to his forehead. "I love you."
"I love you too." She held him in silence for a moment more, before putting him back in the water, and looking from him to her father and Sebastian.
"Well, goodbye. I love you all so much. Thank you for everything."
"Goodbye, child!"
"Goodbye, dear."
"Bye, Ariel."
Ariel walked up a few steps to Eric, who gave his kind, polite smile and wave to all as Ariel turned around and took his hand. Sebastian and King Triton waved back, and Flounder flapped his little fins in an attempt to do the same. Ariel, still teary-eyed, looked on, smiling, before she and Eric finally turned and climbed the steps to his palace.
"Well," sighed King Triton, after a moment during which no one spoke, "I think it's time to go home." Sebastian jumped on the king's shoulder as he turned to leave, but Flounder kept watching his best friend and her prince ascend the steps to their home.
"Flounder?" King Triton asked, looking back at the little fish over his shoulder, "Will you be coming back to the palace with us, or are you going straight home?"
Flounder thought for only a few seconds as he swam after the king and court composer, "Um, I think I'll just go home, if that's alright Your Majesty. I mean, it's been a long day, hasn't it?"
"It certainly has, Flounder," Triton gave a little chuckle as he resumed his journey, "The likes of which we'll probably never see again now that Ariel's... moving on."
Flounder felt a small pang at Triton's words; he could tell that while the king was happy for his daughter, he was understandably very sad to let her go. Flounder had a lot of respect for the king for so willingly letting her be human; Flounder would have found it much harder if it had been up to him.
Finally, they reached the point where Flounder would part and make his way home. King Triton turned to him, "Goodbye now, Flounder."
"Goodbye, Your Highness. Goodbye, Sebastian. I'll see you around, I guess."
"Indeed, Flounder. Remember you're always welcome to join us for dinner, even with Ariel... not with us."
Flounder managed not to cringe at the king pointing out Ariel's absence. Not just feeling bad for him, but also for himself; if he had it rubbed in anymore that he wouldn't be seeing Ariel every day, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from racing up to the surface and letting his tears flow.
"Yes, Your Highness, thank you," he replied as civily as he could manage. "Goodbye," he said to both the king and Sebastian.
"Goodbye, Flounder."
"Goodbye, man."
Flounder watched them return to the palace, thankful that he would have to neither give nor receive anymore "goodbyes" today. As soon as they were out of sight, he started swimming off himself. Not to go home. Not to go anywhere in particular. Just to swim and think.
He smiled a little. He was glad Ariel was happy, glad that she had found the man of her dreams, and he was proud that he had played his part in helping her achieve her goal. And Ariel deserved it. This was some sort of payoff; after doing good deeds and helping so many others for all of her life so far, she had finally got what she deserved for it. She had fallen in love with the man who was perfect for her. So, yeah. As a whole, everything had ended up just fine, Flounder thought to himself.
But... what about him?
Flounder actually let out a deep sigh; finally letting that thought take over his mind felt like he was being allowed to breath after a full day with his mouth shut. And he felt bad, selfish for thinking like this, but really, he couldn't help it.
What was he supposed to do now? He and Ariel used to hang around together nearly every day, and they had done for about ten years, if not more. They had been best friends, practically inseperable; if one of them had found something to do or somewhere to go, they would always go and find the other before doing it or going there.
But now Flounder was alone.
He had always struggled to make friends. In fact, almost every friend he had made was because of Ariel. Scuttle was Ariel's friend. Ariel's sisters would never want to hang around with him, they never really even hung around with Ariel all that much. Even Sebastian usually joined them on their adventures to keep on eye on Ariel. Flounder didn't really have any other friends of his own, he just knew Ariel's. Who would be friends with him now? There was no lively, bold, adventurous, caring, radiant mermaid, there was just a cynical, cowardly little fish. There was no one to burst into song and cheer everyone up when they were feeling down. He certainly wouldn't be able to do it. Not without Ariel at least. How was he ever going to make another friend?
But strangely enough, Flounder realised that wasn't his problem; he didn't want a new friend, he just wanted his old friend back. As many times as Flounder had been scared out of his wits, gotten into trouble, even nearly lost his life, Ariel made it all enjoyable in a way no one else could. She was so eager to explore every inch of the ocean and look to see what she could find, to make an adventure out of anything, no matter what anyone told her was dangerous or forbidden. And for whatever reason she'd always taken him along with her.
The first time Flounder had seen Ariel, he was terrified; he had actually sped off in fear of her. Yet she had found him again, without a second thought, and became his first friend. Shown him the very definition of the word. And over the years, they did everything together, becoming closer and closer every day. Whenever something went wrong for Flounder because of their misadventures, it was always worth it because Ariel made it so. And he was special to her too. She enjoyed being with him as much as he did her, and Flounder knew that she was proud to call him her best friend. She'd been there for him when no one else was. She'd made him feel like someone.
Someone he wasn't.
Because Flounder had finally put it together: without Ariel, he wasn't anyone. He had done nothing significant in his entire life without Ariel. Everything he'd done that might have helped someone or changed something for the better, he'd done it with her. And even then, Ariel had always played the bigger part, half the time Flounder just happened to be there.
Flounder sighed again. It probably really was time he went home now; he wasn't sure how long he'd been swimming around thinking now, but he assumed it was getting late. But as he swam off, he finally let something else enter his mind. Something that Ariel had always said, but he knew she hadn't meant, and always managed not to take so seriously.
"You really are a little guppy."
But little had Ariel realised just how true her words were. In fact, it might be the most accurate thing she had ever said of Flounder. "Flounder, you were so cute." "Flounder, you're so funny!" "Flounder, you should have seen yourself, you were so brave."
"You were right, Ariel," murmured Flounder, as he arrived home, almost wishing she could somehow hear him.
"I really am just a little guppy."