A/N: Hello there. My name is Roku, and this is my first attempt at a fanfiction I actually have ideas for and plan to finish! I have always been a fan of animation, and The Little Mermaid has always been one of my favorites. I have always thought about the story behind the story; what happened to Ariel's mother? Why does King Triton have this attitude towards humans? How did the characters meet each other before the story? One thing that attracts me to fanfiction is that there are so many adventures the characters could have had, so many aspects that need to be explored. This idea has always been inside me, but since college is out for summer I find myself longing to take the chain off my ideas and let them grow. I am an amateur writer and have no experience whatsoever. I apologize for bad grammar, etc. I am also doing my best to keep the characters in-character and to make them as believable as possible. I am going the best that I can with my limited abilities. Please do not flame my story, for it is my story, and if you do not like it, please keep those opinions to yourself. This is a work in progress, and I do plan to go back and revise this rough work once I have more completed. This is a "demo", if you wish, of the ideas I have been brainstorming while watching the movie and learning about its creation. I hope you, reader, enjoy these ideas I have thought of, and that they interest you as much as they interest me. Enjoy!

Pieces of the Ocean

The castle was always an exciting place to explore. Ever since Ariel was old enough to swim by herself, she ventured through the castle's ancient halls in an attempt to discover its secrets. Ariel loved to go outside of course, for the outside sea had always drawn her. Ever since she was old enough, her father King Triton took her exploring the corals and the rocks, and taught her to never be afraid of her ocean home. The outside was filled with wonder beyond every corner, and the castle servants were always complaining about how that little fiery Ariel always brought more into the castle than she left with! Yet on darker, gloomy days, Ariel found the castle itself to be just as exciting as the outside grounds. Some of the servants would often feel sorry for Ariel on these days, and tell her that the dark and gloomy days would clear away. But Ariel always smiled, playing with her crimson mop.

"Oh no," she would say "The castle is a wonderful place. I could never be bored here."

Often, Ariel was seen playing imaginary games inside the castle on these gloomy days with her best friend, Flounder. He was a little guppy of a fish, much smaller than all the others of his family. He was shy and scared of little things, since he was so much smaller than everyone else around him. Ariel was very small when she had first met him, too. When her father was showing her the reef, he had stopped to talk with Mr. Bluetail. He introduced his smallest son to Ariel, and although they were not even able to talk yet, they became fast friends. Mr. Bluetail often visited some of his relatives (for Flounder came from a very, very large family) in the castle and often brought Flounder with him to play with Ariel. It was not long until the two were inseparable.

On a day like today, when the outside was gloomy and cold, Ariel would have normally been playing games with Flounder. They were Games of magnificent adventure where Flounder usually ended up being saved by Ariel. They would discover adventure and excitement, and the duo's castle knowledge was only matched by that of King Triton himself.

Today, however, Ariel was alone. Flounder was with his father today. It was much harder to have adventure and excitement in magical worlds when you were all by yourself with no one to rescue or share the treasure with. Ariel was sprawled out on her bedroom floor. Her father was very busy today and Sebastian would never be bothered with "de childish games, when dere is so much to be done in de castle!" But even he would watch Ariel play with Flounder sometimes. Sometimes, Ariel could have sworn she heard Sebastian say "Oh yes, so much like her mudder…"

Ariel sighed. She sat up and swam out of her room down the hallway. Her sisters would not want to play today, either. All they did today was worry about mermen and their hair and silly things that made Ariel want to eat sea urchins. She wandered and wandered the castle, stopping by the kitchen and they the main hall, her father's throne room, the top pier, and eventually down below the castle again. She ventured to all the bedrooms, bounced on the sheets, and then left again. She went to the oldest part of the castle, where hardly anyone else went anymore, where it was eerily quiet and not much happened.

Ariel sat down in the hallway in front of a large and quite repulsing painting of a seahorse, crab, snail, and octopus all having lunch at a large table with what should have been a handsome looking merman. The figured were all out of proportion, making ridiculous gestures. The colors were also hideous, clashing with the weird faces of the characters on them. It was supposed to be an exquisite piece of artwork which was, according to Sebastian, painting by his "great great grandfadder". He said it represented the unity of all the merpeople and the sea creatures. Ariel always tried not to laugh at this speech and thought that maybe all the picture's occupants had sat on spiny sea urchins or perhaps an uncomfortable rock.

Normally, if Flounder was here, looking at the hideous artwork would have been more entertaining. But today, she just leaned against it, and heaved a big sigh. She banged her head slightly, and heard the hollow echo behind her. She closed her eyes, but then opened them again suddenly.

Bang. Bang. She heard the hollow sound again. She turned around and looked at the painting with more interest and effort than she had ever done before. Ariel was very bright and intelligent for her age. She could only help but think, that if this hollow sound was coming from behind the painting, perhaps it was more than what it seemed.

"I wonder what is here. Why did I not see it before?" Ariel thought. She had explored the castle so many times, but never in her wildest dreams did she expect to find such a hideous painting to be such an enigma! She tapped all around the painting, and found the hollow parts all around.

"Something must be behind this ugly thing! Maybe it's a secret passage to a whole new castle to explore! Or maybe it goes way underground!" she thought. She swam over to the edge of the picture frame, and pushed. To her great surprise, the frame swung quite easily, if not a little but stiff due to the lack of use. She pushed the painting over until she was staring at a long and dark hallway that she had never seen before.

"I guess this castle always has a new surprise." Said Ariel to herself in the dark "I wonder what is hiding back here? Maybe it's something I am not supposed to see!" This only made Ariel want to go even more. She was not afraid, but she did wish Flounder was here too.

"There is only one way to find out now!" Ariel rushed behind the painting and into the hallway, which was much lighter as she swam farther down. Ariel looked at the walls, her bright hair trailing behind. There were many old paintings in this hallway, but unlike the one that blocked the entrance, these were beautiful drawings and paintings full of color. Fish and seascapes covered the walls and find woven tapestries made of the finest sea materials. Ariel had never seen a part of the castle quite as interesting as this. The windows were on the ceiling, too, and it made the light dance along with walls in a brilliant shade of blue. There were a few doors along this corridor, but Ariel saw one at the end that was made of brilliant seashells. It was carved so beautifully, that Ariel was almost afraid to touch it. It looked like anything beyond this door would be a beautiful treasure. Ariel's eyes sparkled as she looked at this magnificent door and the art surrounding it. She then grasped the handle, turned it, and with much effort, pushed the old door open.

Ariel swam slowly into the old room. It looked as if it had not been entered in many years. Ariel looked around curiously, and admired the beauty of this room. In its center lay a beautiful bed, framed by coral carvings and seashells into graceful posts. The ceiling was made of beautiful polished stone, bearing no imperfections whatsoever despite the many years of neglect. Various pieces of elegant furniture littered the room. The pieces appeared to be made of very beautiful materials, some of which Ariel had never seen before. The room had a very familiar feeling. She felt as if she could be safe from anything in here, even though it was deserted. Ariel swam over to an elegant dresser made of the same smooth material as the ceiling. She looked in all the drawers, but found nothing of interest except a few old books. Ariel took the books and examined them. They appeared worn and older, but still useful. Ariel poked around some more, and made sure not to miss anything. She went to the closet, and it was also empty. Ariel sighed; she had expected to find something in this room that she had never seen; perhaps a treasure or magical creature hiding in the castle. All that was here was some old furniture and a couple of moldy books. However, before she left the closet, something caught her eye. On the floor covered in debris, was something shiny. Ariel swam down to it, and carefully wiped the debris off the object. She then picked up the golden thing and examined it.

It was a beautiful golden box, with exquisite carvings all over it of sea animals and plants, as well as mermaids. It was so beautiful; Ariel wondered why it was lying in the closet in this old room. She tried to open it, but it would not. Ariel then realized that there was a small keyhole. Ariel tried to find the key in the room, but finally admitted defeat after examining every nook and cranny of the algae-filled room. She took the box and swam over to the bed and sat. As she did so, the old books fell down onto the floor. One of the books opened. The pages had been cut to make a storage space, and in this space was a small silver key with a pink coral handle. Ariel knew immediately that this key had to be the one to open the box. She grasped the tiny key, and thrust it into the keyhole and gasped when the lock clicked! Slowly, Ariel opened the box, when all of a sudden; a beautiful song filled the room. It was the most beautiful music Ariel had ever heard, and it made her heart swell and her voice long to sing. The most interesting thing about this song was that it sounded so familiar, yet Ariel could not remember ever seeing this box or even hearing this song before, and Ariel always remembered things. The box emitted a pleasant golden light. Inside the box was a small notebook. Ariel lifted it out and opened it.

The first page had a drawing on it, but of what Ariel was amazed. The drawing was of a mermaid – or at least, that was what Ariel thought of at first. The upper half looked like a perfectly normal mermaid, with long hair and two eyes, a nose and mouth. But the bottom half….was utterly disturbing! Where were the fins on this mermaid? Maybe this was a drawing of some kind of diseased mermaid, who was so sick that her fins broke. It looked as if someone had taken a knife and sliced the mermaid's fin into two equal halves with separate appendages. Perhaps this is what happened to mermaids and mermen who misbehaved. Ariel gulped nervously and grasped her own fin. Surely Daddy would never do a thing like that to anyone! And not only was this mermaid deformed, but she had things on her body, as if her skin had been stretched too. It covered her top and flowed halfway down her bottom half. Perhaps it was some affect of this "fin eating disease". There was writing scribbled next to the drawing, but Ariel could not read yet. Turning the page, she saw another drawing of the sick mermaid, but it looked as if she was trying to swim with her broken fins. Ariel flinched, thinking about how painful it would be to even move with your fin cut in half. There was more writing next to this drawing. If only she knew what it said! She suddenly remembered that Flounder could read a little bit. Maybe he'd be able to make some sense of it. What if the writing told more about this disease? Ariel stuffed the notebook back into the box. The music suddenly stopped, and it seemed like the song was so beautiful that she had forgotten it was even playing. Ariel grabbed the key and rushed to find Flounder.

Ariel finally found her friend floating outside the coral reef near the castle. His father was next to him, and was trying to help him learn to swim better.

"Papa, it's no use…" said Flounder sadly "My brothers and sisters are so much bigger than me. I'll always be the bad swimmer, and they a shark will come eat me up!"

"Nonsense, son!" said the father "I was a little guppy too. My brothers used to always tease me and said I would never be able to out swim a sea snail!"

"You?" said Flounder astonished "Papa, you used to be a bad swimmer? But you circled and jump so much better than Mama or even Skippy!"

"Yeah, and I was so bad that I couldn't even turn straight without getting stuck into something or someone! But I told myself that I had to prove them all wrong, cause I was a fish and I had to learn to swim."

"Gee Papa; do you think I can be like you?"

The father winked "Sure do. I'll teach you everything you need to know. And I'll teach you first, before any of the others."

"Really Papa?" Flounder exclaimed, his bright blue eyes glimmering

"You bet! Then you'll be the teacher, and they won't ever call you guppy again!"

Flounder hugged his father "Thanks, Papa."

The father smiled "Well, I think the first thing you need to learn is how to control all your fins separately. Once you can do that, it'll be easier to control your direction."

Flounder wiggled his tail "Like this, Papa?"

"Good job. Now try using your other fins separate. Even the one on your head will help you!"

Flounder tried but ended up spiraling over. His father laughed "See what I mean? Once you have fin control, you can manage direction no matter how small you are!"

Flounder pouted "Sorry, Papa."

"Don't worry. We'll make those swimmin' muscles big and strong."

As he said this, Ariel swam up. She was so excited that even she spiraled into Flounder.

"Why hello young Ariel!" smiled the father "Fancy seeing you learning the same lesson as Flounder about fin control!"

Ariel shook her head, with the box clamped to her chest. "Sorry about that Mr. Bluetail! But I really need to talk to Flounder!"

Mr. Bluetail laughed "Alright, Flounder. I think that's enough practice till later. Be back before dark, and don't wander! And practice those fins!" he winked "Maybe you can teach young Ariel some tips too, or we'll all end up upside down!

When Ariel was finally alone with Flounder, she showed him the beautiful music box and the drawings of the "fin disease". Even Flounder flinched at the sight of these hideous creatures, and shook his little fins around his face.

"Gee Ariel that looks pretty bad!" The two flipped through more of the drawings. Some mermen had the disease in the art, some children, and some things in the picture did not look like anything they had ever seen in the ocean.

"Look at those pieces of seaweed! They are so sick that the outside turned brown and splintered! That poor fish doesn't even look like a fish anymore!"

"Yeah, but that's not the only reason I needed to talk to you. Look, there's writing here. I though maybe you could help me, since you know how to read"

"But I can only read a little bit, just some pieces of writing that Papa got from the castle. I still can't go to school yet." Said Flounder apologetically

"Well, you have to try!" replied Ariel hopefully "Just try to make out anything you can. That way we can at least know something about this fin sickness!"

"Well, okay." Flounder's voice held even less confidence than usual, but his father's moral support that morning gave him more determination. Ariel showed him the first drawing, and he squinted at the picture with a look of utmost concentration upon his little yellow face.

"I can't really see what's on the first part. It looks like one of these words has some lines under it. Maybe that's the name of the disease or something."

Ariel gasped "Can you make it out Flounder?"

"Hmm…" Flounder stammered "Hum. Hum…hum…hum…... Well, Hum something. In. In..in in. Hum In. Hummin. Hummin! That's what this word says, Hummin!"

"That must be the name of the sickness! The Hummin disease!" squeaked Ariel, her fiery hair dancing around her excited face.

"The Hummin disease?" said Flounder "I never heard that before. I heard of salmon pox cause cousin Barnacle got it once and seafoam fever too."

Ariel pondered "I guess this sickness is really rare, maybe that's why it looks so dangerous. What else does it say?"

Flounder once again squinted, biting his tongue. He was trying with great concentration to understand the squiggles. "It's hard to make this out. I remember this word though, it's 'water'. It says something like….about water. Something…a…b….abound. No, ablank. No, wait..Above! It says above water!"

"Above water?" asked Ariel "That must mean you get it above water if you go."

"But my other cousin Pinky said that her brother's friend's cousin's uncle Bubbles went above the water lots of times and he didn't get sick. He still smells like algae though."

"Or maybe…" said Ariel, whose eyes always lit up when her mind was on fire "A Hummin is not a sickness. Maybe it's…something else! Like, I don't know…"

"A monster?" replied Flounder, hiding behind Ariel's hair.

"No, like maybe a big fish that doesn't live in the water. Maybe they just need to come back down to look normal again."

"I remember that cousin Spanky told me that his friend's brother Jumpy got stuck out of the water and he wasn't the same for awhile. Like, he had these weird cough thing."

"These pictures are so amazing." Said Ariel, ignoring Flounder's comment "I wonder who made them?"

"Maybe Papa would know." Said Flounder

Ariel looked thoughtful for a moment "You know, I bet if we went above water like it said, we could maybe see a Hummin for ourselves."

"Above the water? But that's so…far away and scary! I've never even been up farther than the castle!" squeaked Flounder "Cousin Pinky's brother's friend's cousin's uncle Bubbles may have gone to the surface, but…yeah, he was crazy!"

"Well, the only thing we know is that the Hummins are not down here. We gotta go find this out! C'mon Flounder! Don't be such a guppy!"

Flounder pouted his little round face "I'm no guppy! I'll swim better than you someday after Papa's done with me!"

Ariel giggled "Okay, okay! Look, we can just go try to find a Hummin, or at least someone who might know anything. If they are supposed to be above the water, I don't think anyone down here's gonna be able to help us."

Flounder sighed "Well, okay. We just needa be careful. I mean I don't know what the surface looks like. I want to watch out cause cousin Stinky said if you go to the surface to fast your head can blow up!"

Ariel gulped a little "Don't worry. We'll be careful! Come on, we'd better go before Daddy sees us!"

Ariel grabbed the shiny golden box. The two friends swam up into the light of the mystery above, one more reluctantly than the other to discover the mystery of the Hummins.