Freeing Ariel

Act 1

Welcome to the Theatre Illuminata where the characters of every play that has ever been written can be found behind the curtain. The plays are real and magic brings them to life. Upon being freed momentarily to assist Beatrice Shakespeare Smith in saving her scruffy pirate comanion, Nate, and falling in love with her along the way, Ariel is outraged when she turns her affections on Nate and ties Ariel back to the place that he loathes with a passion. His ultimate prison; the Theatre Illuminata.

Scene 1:

Ariel's POV

Enter: Ariel

"Such a beautiful evening..." I murmered sarcastically as I entered the main stage room of the Theatre Illuminata. Today it was ebbed with a particularly exceeding amount of annoyance as the Players from The Little Mermaid rehearsed their scenes. I didn't see why. They were written to be that character, there was no need to rehearse personality. I sighed and slid into one of the auditorium's own fluffy seats unseen due to my innate ability to move about silently. It's not that I tried to. It just happened. I suppose that would be a fitting ability of one that is a wind spirit, like myself. A tempest, these old players call me.

Upon sitting down, I watched the scrambled scenes of the play, as I had nothing else to do, being bound to this wreched hell and all. It got to the scene when the prince falls off of the ship and a scruffy pirate yells "Man overboard!" and it was all I could do to keep my winds reigned in from blasting his sorry behind into the real seawater that the stage held. Biting my lip and turning my head to the side, I managed to ease the bit of rage that tried to thwart my self control. I hated that ingreat with every fiber of my being. He stole away the only woman I ever loved, and then convinced her to re-trap me here in this magical hell hole. I gritted my teeth in unadulterated rage at the memory. I supposed that I could have any girl I wanted, but I didn't want just anyone. I wanted her. When I thought of her, with her beautiful pleading jade eyes and her pouty lips my rage eased slightly.

Ah, that woman. She was so beautiful, so charasmatic, so...herself...There were no other words to describe Beatrice Shakespeare Smith. She acted according to her own will, and I loved her for it. In a world full of pretense and darkness. She was my truth and my light. My one and only. Even as a child, I had loved her. And her betrayal to me would stick in my heart for centuries. But I wouldn't let her know how badly I hurt everyday; how everytime I saw her with that damned pirate my soul crumbled a bit more each time.

As if sensing my anguish, my familiars, my two butterfly companions, perched upon me; one on my nose and the other upon my lap. The red one rubbed it's head affectionately against the bridge of my nose and I sighed sofltly, careful not to throw it clean off of my face onto the floor.

"Do not dwell in your sadness, Ariel," they seemed to tell me, "For we will always be here to comfort you."

I smiled softly at them before rubbing my finger gently across the red one's wings. "Do not fret, little ones," I told them, "Time heals all wounds. Including those of the heart." Though I didn't really believe my words, it seemed to calm them a bit as I had hoped.

I looked back to the set to see a black-haired girl with purple tips running to jump upon the pirate that I loathed so much.

"Nate!" she called out to him from the circle of his arms. delighted just to be with him, as she used to me.

"What 'tis it tha' ye might be doin' here, lass?" he asked her, his face full of perpetual stubble smiling lovingly down at her.

"I came to see, you, of course!" she grinned at him, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Is tha' so?" he smiled back preparing to press a proper kiss to her lips.

I turned away before I could witness the inhuman acts he would perform on those rosy red lips of hers. Standing up, I made my way down the aisle in the opposite direction from them, hoping to dissapear. Before I got too far, I heard my name being yelled from the direction of the stage. Normally I would have turned to look but this was not a normal time. I kept walking, pretending not to hear her. "Ariel!" She called again and I cringed, as I was sure now that she had spotted me. Like the time before, I didn't turn around. I couldn't bear to. I just subtly quickened my pace and was around the corner to the Green Room before she caught up.

Feeling ravished from the lack of food the past month, I decided to grab a cinnamon bun off of the table and I pinched it off piece by piece until I had devoured it. Then I took another. And another. I was on my fifth by the time I felt the presence of a small girl behind me. My sigh echoed through out the entire Green Room. Knowing I was cornered and could not escape this time, I turned around to face the woman who shattered my very soul into millions of pieces. Her green eyes were saddened as she looked up at me, silent for once.

"Is there something I can help you with, Madamoiselle?" I asked, my tone calm and collected unlike my emotions, and my eyebrow raised.

"Are you avoiding me, Ariel...?" she asked, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Oh heaven's, no!" I exclaimed, my voice dripping with sarcasm, "I want to see the enchanting maiden who chose another man over me and retracted my freedom cruelly after she had given it to me." Her head dipped, but not before I saw the scarlet sheet that flowed beautifully across her smooth-skinned countenance.

"...Now...Ariel...we've already discussed this..." she told me, lifting her head once more to meet my gaze.

"Yes, yes. I know." I told her, as I reached behind me to get a cup of coffee, "Nate seemed the better choice. I understand that particular part of what you did, but it does not mean that I have to enjoy your decision or spend any time around you. You've done quite enough damage as it is, and I am not a masochist by any means." As I looked down upon her, I didn't mask the hurt and anger in my eyes as I suppose I should have, so that she could see a small bit of the harm that she had done. She seemed slightly taken aback as she stared into my obsidian orbs as I glared back into her deep jade ones. Suddenly an angry look contorted her face and she glared back at me.

"Stop acting like a child, Ariel!" she commanded of me, "Just because I didn't pick you to be to be my lover does NOT mean that I don't want to be around you." She placed her hands on her dainty little hips, and if I were a lesser person I would have snorted in laughter.

"It is not only about what you want, Bertie." I told her, stiffening my shoulders in resolve, "So in that sense, it is you who are acting childish. You haven't changed a bit attitude-wise since you were younger" I could feel the steel backing in my tone and from the look on her face; so could she. She pressed her lips together in a cute way like she does when she's trying to control her anger.

"I most certainly am not acting like a child! I'm just trying to be friends again. You know? Bridge the gap. We were childhood friends, before you abandoned me? Remember?" She growled these lines at me and I felt the anger building in me, stronger and stronger by the second. My winds scattered in all around me in different directions, upset by my temper. But I made sure to contain them and to show no anger upon my countenance.

"Did it ever occur to you, little girl, that I do not want to partake of a friendship with you? That maybe I would rather you not be near, making my life miserable and rubbing that damn scruffy pirate that I helped you save in my face." I was careful to keep my look placid, wheras my winds attempted to make a tornado in the Green Room. Bertie looked pained and the edges of her eyes glistened in tears.

"Ariel..." she said, her voice soft; almost in a whisper, "I-it wasn't an easy decision. If I could be both of your lovers without hurting the other, I swear I-" Unable to keep my cool any longer, I slammed my hand against the wall beside her head, making her yelp and cutting her off. There were so many things I wanted to say to her, so many emotions that I wanted to express to her, but when I saw the tears that trailed down her soft cheeks I knew that I couldn't. I sighed and ducked my head as I felt the tears well up in my own eyes.

"...Just...go..." I whispered so that she wouldn't hear the heartbreak that I felt in every inch of my body.

"W-what?" she asked, her voice breaking as she did so. I looked up at her.

"Just...GO!" I growled as I felt the tears overflow from my eyes and onto my silk shirt. With a torn look she fled from the Green Room and left me alone to wallow in my broken heart.

Scene 2:

Bertie's POV

Enter: Bertie, Nate, Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed

After seeing the ever cynical wind spirit almost on his knees in anguish, I couldn't take it anymore. I simply couldn't believe that I caused him all of the pain I saw in his eyes. Not being able to stand by and watch Ariel in pain, I ran to Nate and the fairies.

"Wha' 'tis it tha' took ye so long, lass?" my beautiful pirate boyfriend looked down at me, his face scrunched in concern. He hated Ariel, and me being alone with the seductive wind spirit unsettled him greatly. I didn't answer at first, I just ran to jump into Nate's arms, ignoring the disgusted sounds of the fairies. He held me tightly as I sobbed into his shirt and didn't say a word while Peaseblossom and the boys tried to comfort me. When I finally managed to stop, I told Nate what had happened and he nodded then entire time; ever the good listener.

"All he be needin' is time, lass. It ain't as if ye can get ov'r heartache quickly as tha'." he told me after I had finished.

"Yeah!" Peaseblossom nodded enthusiasticly, "After all you did break his heart pretty bad, Bertie." I winced at her words and looked down. Moth and Cobweb laughed and flew in direct line of mine and Nate's gaze.

"Oh, Ariel! I can't be with you anymore! Because I love Nate!" Cobweb yelled dramaticly in his best girl voice throwing his hand over his eyes as he did.

"But Bertie, I love you! My darling!" Moth tried to look anguished and ended up looking constipated.

"Oh Bertie, I be glad yer choosin' me!" Mustardseed did his best Nate impression and held his arms out.

"Oh, Nate!" Cobweb yelled before he tackled Mustardseed, sending them both spiraling in the air. Nate and I growled, but before we could swat them out of the sky a large burst of air knocked the three fairies into a hard concrete wall quite roughly. I laughed, but it sounded more like a hiccup than anything else.

"Ungh..." Moth groaned, peeling himself off of the wall.

"That meanie, Ariel. We were just joking around." Mustardseed rubbed his head as he flew in a wobbly fashion back to where Nate and I was.

"Yeah..." Cobweb muttered.

"Serves you three, right." Peaseblossom huffed, "You're all insensitive..." I sighed at all of them, before turning my head towards where the blast had come from. The Green Room.

"Aw, don't fret, missy. 'Tis just 'cause yer so cute," Nate told me, turning my head to face him and running his calloused finger around my jawline with a small smile, as if he was trying to cheer me up.

"Let's go watch Ariel cry!" Mustardseed yelled as he punched a fist into the air.

"Yeah!" the fairies echoed together as they all prepared to fly off. I caught them by thier wings. They yelled in protest when I jerked them all into my lap.

"Unless you want to be smacked against the concrete again, you might to better to leave him alone. You four fly, and his element is air. If you make him too mad, he may make sure you never fly again." I told them pointedly and laughed at the horrified expressions on their little faces as they pondered this before I sighed as my dilemma came back before my eyes.

"I have to do something to make Ariel feel better..." I told them as I rubbed my hands against my jeans, "Now just to figure out what..."

"Aye..." Nate seemed to ponder this as well and the fairies pulled out caps from thier pocket's that had their names and the words 'THINKING CAP' on them.

For a couple of hours we sat there and rambled off idea after idea, each more stupid than the last until finally we couldn't do it anymore.

"C'mon guys!" I tried to pep talk them, "There has to be something!" Nate shook his head, as he got angrier by the second.

"There be nothin, lass..." he said, "An' I'm tired of frettin' ov'r tha' damn tempest."

"There has to be something, Nate..." I pleaded with him, and he sighed.

"Th' only thin' I can think o' is fer him to be gettin' a new wench." he told me with a shake of his head, "An' to be givin' back the freedom that ye took from him when we return'd here."

"But we can't do that, can we?" I thought over this and Nate shrugged.

"Can't say tha' I know. But ye are the master o' words." he told me and suddenly I had an idea. It was brilliant! And it was so crazy it just might work...

"Nate...I need The Book and a pen..." I told him and he looked confused.

"What fer, lass?" he asked me, scrunching his face up cutely as he tried to figure out what I was thinking.

"You said he needed a girlfriend." I nodded as I stood to get the things that I said I needed while he tensed.

"Ye won't do nuthin' stupid, will ye lass?" he tilted his head and I pressed a soft kiss to his lips which seemed to help his mood a bit.

"Not unless you think writing up a character for a play that I'm supposedly writing and getting him to fall in love with that character is stupid." I smiled devilishly at him and he relaxed.

"Not in th' least bit." he nodded his agreement as he stood and along with the fairies who had decided to be luchadores, or spanish wrestlers, at that specific time headed off to the Theater Manager's office.

Author's Note:

Hello all^^ I hope you enjoyed Act 1 of Freeing Ariel as much as I enjoyed writing it. Just so you know, I didn't read the second book to this series, Perchance to Dream, before I began to write this because I can't find it to save my life. So if all of this stuff totally ends up being wrong, I'm sorry! *bow* Please forgive me! Lolz^^ But as you can all tell Ariel is my favorite character so Bertie can have Nate. Not that Nate's not a nice guy, he's just not the type of guy that I'd pick over a prettyfull wind spirit like Ariel. That and I hate typing him talk, so you probably won't see a whole boatload of Nate in here. Sorry Nate fans v.v Anyways, I'm going to introduce the OC in the next chapter. I hope you'll enjoy it. Please R n R! That's Read and Review NOT Rest and Relax. XD! Until Next time

-Crimson