Disclaimer: The Little Mermaid belongs to Disney
A trio of seagulls flew over the ocean, which glistened green in the morning light. Far from shore floated a large boat, a slatted window opened to let light into a room. A lovely voice floated out; the owner was a lovely red-haired maiden clad in a white gown. She reached into a bassinet, pulling out a cooing black-haired infant. He was only a year old, and he had a head of thick, curly black hair. She spun him around lightly before holding him to her chest. She looked down, smiling. She began to sing lightly to the baby.
"You are my world, my darling,
You're the most precious thing to me;
You are the song I'm singing,
You're my beautiful Arien!"
As she finished the line, a handsome black-haired man in Prince's regalia, Eric, including a studded sword at his side, opened the door.
"Darling, we'd better be going!" he said. She turned to her husband, smiling.
"Look at him, isn't he glowing!" she exclaimed.
"Well he looks divine, and you look exquisite, but look at the time!"
"Couldn't be, is it?" she asked, as he opened the door. as she walked out with the baby, an elderly servant greeted them.
"The crew is awaiting your orders!" he said.
"We're sailing away from our borders!" shouted the captain.
"Steady boys, steady!" yelled a sailor, pulling the rigging of the sails.
"Ahoy! They're coming!" shouted the sailor in the crow's nest.
"Trumpeters ready! Drummers, start drumming!" As the boat dropped anchor and the music began, the woman, Ariel, walked down the steps, singing to the baby.
"Down to the sea we go,
Down to a world I know!
There's never been,
Not ever before,
A child born of sea and shore!" The servants and guests attending also started to sing.
"Down to the sea we go
Back to the world below
A journey to bless a prince-to-be
Under the sun, and under the sea!"
As they finished, a small orange fish that was peeking above the surface dove back down. He swam until he reached a sea turtle's shell.
"Ariel's coming!" he said. The old sea turtle popped out of his shell.
"Ariel's coming?" he asked, and began to swim toward the surface. Several fish heard him, and they passed the word down to their friends.
"Ariel's coming!"
"Ariel's coming!"
"Ariel's coming!"
"Ariel's coming!" eventually, as a shoal, the fish chorused
"Ariel's coming!" as a small red crab slid down a sand slope.
"What's all this big commotion
That's spreading through the ocean?
From sea to shining sea
There is no hesitating
Today we're celebrating
Ariel's Arien!
Today when Triton's daughter
Comes back into the water
We're gonna have a spree
The boat's nearer now
I think I hear him now
Ariel's Arien!" A group of snails on the back of a turtle vocalized as they all rose to the surface. The crab, Sebastian, led a group of starfish on their way before jumping on the back of a fish, named Flounder. From the city of Atlantica, merpeople rose to se the new Prince-to-be.
"Up from the sea we rise
Up to the world of skies
There's never been, not ever before
A child born of sea and shore
Up from the sea we rise
Up to the world of skies
Forever to be together as one
Under the sea and under the sun."
Ariel held Arien close, spreading her other arm wide, showing her son his future kingdom.
"This is your world, my darling
One world, the land and sea
My hope for you for always
Is that your heart will hold part of me!"
As she finished singing, a large group of conch shell sounded. A group of armed mermen rose up, making an arch with their swords. As the three prongs of a trident rose from the water, Ariel and Eric smiled. Coming up near the boat was a muscular old merman, king Triton, wearing a crown, a pair of gold bracers, and holding his trident in his left hand. The humans and merpeople chorused again.
"Down to the sea we go..."
"Up from the sea…"
All present, excluding the king and the baby, sang as the King of the sea caressed his grandson's cheek.
"Together we come forever to be
Under one sun, the land and the sea!"
Triton raised his trident, and a beautiful rainbow arched over the ship. Everyone cheered, and the sailor in the crow's nest dropped a basketful of pink rose petals onto everyone in the ship. The baby gurgled his delight, clapping his tiny hands. King Triton held his hands out, and they were cupped. He opened them to reveal a golden, starfish-shaped locket with Arien's name emblazoned on it, a letter on each arm.
"My dear Arien, I'm going to give you this locket, so that you will always remember that part of your heart belongs to the sea." he said. He opened the locket, revealing a floating magic bubble, containing a picture of Atlantica's castle, and several merpeople swam in and out of the palace. Triton shut the locket, and handed it to Ariel. As he did, though, a black tentacle with green suckers flew out of the water and wrapped around Arien, pulling him away from Ariel.
"Arien!" she shouted. As they all watched, a curvaceous blonde cecaelia with black octopus tentacles in place of a fish tail or legs and a pair of dead crabs covering her chest rose form the ocean, riding two manta rays. Her blonde hair was swept up in a style resembling a flame.
"Whoo, a party!" she said gleefully. Sebastian gasped and scuttled up the anchor chain.
"It's Ursula's crazy-but-beautiful sister Morgana!" he shouted, throwing his claws to his head. Morgana skated over to the ship, Arien in one of her tentacles. "I didn't miss the cake and ice cream, did I?"
"Morgana!" yelled Triton, his trident glowing golden. "Surrender the baby or else!"
"Ah-ah-ah!" said Morgana, waving her finger as if scolding a small child. She pulled Arien close and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Ursula simply would have LOVED to have come, but something came up." she said, using her tentacles to scale the ship and sit on the railing. "Now what was it…? Oh! Now I remember! You all SHISH-KEBABED HER!" she yelled. She reclined back, smirking. "One minute you're on top- the next, you're tako sushi. Is that fair, I ask you?" she asked, turning to Grimsby. "But who ever said that we needed to play fair?" she turned to the ocean and called her sidekick. "Oh Undertow!"
A rather large shark plowed his way through the merpeople.
"Watch out, shrimps, I'm coming through!" he yelled. He swam over to where baby Arian hung in Morgana's tentacle.
"Now, give me the trident, or your grandson is shark-chow!" she shouted. Triton lowered his trident.
"You can have whatever you want; just don't harm little Arien!" said Triton, head bowed in defeated. Morgana chuckled.
"Well, well, I get the trident- avenge Ursula, the poor unfortunate soul- and gain all the power of the ocean! And it's not even ten AM- hmm, not a bad morning." she said. Ariel glowered, pulling Eric's sword form its sheath. She cut a rope, causing one of the tied sails to swing down and hit Morgana, causing her to land on top of her manta rays. Arien went flying as Eric grabbed a rope and swung out to save his son. Undertow jumped as well, but Triton zapped Undertow with magic energy, changing him from a shark to a piranha. Eric caught Arien, swinging back onto the deck and handing the baby to a frantic Ariel.
"Arien!" she said, hugging her baby. Undertow jumped in and out of the water, panicked.
"What have you done to me!? Look at me! I'M AN ANCHOVY!" he shouted. Morgana crossed out farther than the ship, and she began to spin, ink staining the waters around her.
"This isn't the end Triton, it's just the beginning!" she said.
"After her!" yelled Triton, and the guards went to capture her. She disappeared in a vortex of ink, but her voice echoed. "You'll never find me, but I'll find you, and your precious grandson!" she cackled as her voice faded out. Triton turned to the others, trident glowing.
"We will not rest until that madwoman is found! Find her! FIND HER!" he yelled, and his trident shot a bolt of lightening into the sky.
The beach outside of Ariel and Eric's Castle
The tides lapped at the shore as Triton addressed his daughter.
"I'm sorry, there's no sign of her, she's vanished!" he said. Arien crawled over to the water, his hands in the foam.
"Sweetie, no!" said Ariel, picking him up. "Oh, we have to keep Arien away from her! Until Morgana is found, Arien can't go in the sea." She took in a breath, and let out words that stung her heart. "And neither will I."
"But Ariel!" began Flounder.
"I'm sorry, Flounder." she said. "But if Morgana is anything like Ursula, she'll never give up." This is the only way." She took the locket, which Arien had been chewing on. "He can't know anything about merpeople, or Atlantica; or even you, Daddy." She handed the locket back to King triton, who nodded.
"Very well, Ariel. You are right." As he began to swim off, he turned to Sebastian.
"Sebastian, you will watch over him" said the king.
"Me?" asked Sebastian weakly. He stood on his back two legs as he fainted, falling back into the water. As Triton continued to Atlantica, Ariel and Eric went back up the steps to the palace. Flounder sighed before swimming away as well. Arien watched over his mother's shoulder as King Triton dropped the locket, which bobbed a second before sliding downwards. Sixteen years passed; a wall was built, with grates to allow the seawater through at the bottom. The palace was getting ready for Prince Arien's birthday party; however, the guest of honor was not inside the palace; he was not even on dry land…