Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original The Little Mermaid or The Little Mermaid II characters. I do, however own characters of my own creation such as Christella.
Chapter 1: Two Deaths and a Suitor
The Duchess of Golda Row smiled broadly showing her many yellowed teeth, breathing on the poor girl beside her with stinking breath. "Tell me my dear, Crystal is it?" she asked, "No," said Christella, the Duchess ignored her and continued "Now what type of jewelry does your sister Melody like? Diamonds? No, pearls… And gold or silver?"
I pretended not to hear the foul Duchess and looked over at my stunning sister, who had her fathers eyes and hair, but her mother's stunning figure. She had boys seated to her left and right. The Duchess' son, a weedy boy, was trying in vain to get Melody to even look at him.
She however was absorbed in her newest suitor who was the son of the other lady beside Christella, Lady Greenhill. He was a muscular lad, yet intelligent and very well to do, not that Melody needed the money.
The poor boy was falling more in love with Melody every day, but she was just toying with him. She would pay him this attention for about a week then ignored him as she did the other suitors. She had done this to five boys now, and this boy was to be the sixth. Melody was to be married on her eighteenth birthday, which was less than three months away.
The rumors were starting to spread and the tidal wave of suitors was slowing. Her parents were very disappointed, but Melody didn't seem to mind. Christella turned to look at her parents. They were happily chatting with their neighbors, so they spotted the messenger bearing the crest of her grandfather, King Triton, a good while after their youngest daughter did.
Ariel watched the messenger approach the head of the table, noting his crest as he came. "I come bearing news from the city of Atlantica," he began somberly, "Your father and your eldest sister, King Triton and Aquatta, were found murdered about twenty minutes ago. Now you are Queen of Atlantica as he deemed you to be his heir. I am truly sorry." he finished. Ariel's heart felt as if it had split in two and then the world went black. Ariel had fainted.
"And then his horse bucked him off!" ended Gareth. Melody giggled girlishly and in the process managed to drop her fork on the floor. "Oops!" she giggled "Do you reckon you could get that for me Gareth." She simpered and turned her upper body to face him. "Sure," he said, blushing, and got a very full view of Melody's cleavage as he bent to get it. "Thank you," she said sweetly as he handed her the fork.
There was a great stir in the crowd and Melody looked up to see what the commotion was. When she saw the centre of the confusion she shot up and sprinted to the head of the table yelling, "Mama! Mama! Mama!"
As soon as she saw her mother fall, Christella was running to the head of the table. She arrived at the same time as Melody. Eric picked his wife up easily and indicated for his two daughters to follow him as he took Ariel to their room, leaving the dining room in a state of utter confusion.
"Something very terrible has happened my little ones," said Eric said sadly and the girls remained silent as they walked, "Your Grandfather and your aunty Aquatta have been… killed." "You mean they were murdered!" exclaimed Melody. Christella was soundless as silent tears rolled down he cheeks. Melody began to sob too and Eric looked as if he was enduring some terrible aching pain.
They laid Ariel on her bed, her hair a glistening halo. Although she was only just fourteen, Christella looked so much like her mother it was almost unearthly. There were few differences between them, the most obvious being her eyes. Christella had brown eyes that were apparently her grandmothers. She also had freckles and hair that went to the back of her knees, much longer than her mothers.
They were talking softly when Ariel woke. She sat bolt up right and said "Thank God it's just a dream." Then she saw the sadness in their eyes. "But it's not is it…" Then the tears started, not tears, heart wrenching cries of anguish. Christella had never had seen her mother, nor anyone for that matter, in such a state of sadness. Slowly they tears subsided and a red faced Ariel emerged from her inner turmoil.
"I don't know if your father told you," said their mother heavily, "But I am Queen of Atlantica." Melody screamed and said "Oh my God we're double princesses?" Christella murmured "Are we going to live in Atlantica? Be mermaids for the rest of our lives? What will Papa do…" "We will go to Atlantica and I as Queen have the power to turn you my darling," she said slowly, turning to Eric, "Into a merman… If you wish, of course." "I'd follow you to the ends of the earth my love." Eric replied.
The next day they stood on the steps of the castle, the sea lapping at their feet and wetting the girls' dresses. Thousands of merpeople and sea animals had turned out to see the event. The Trident was brought forward by a league of mersoldiers and as Ariel touched it, it morphed into a more elegant and feminine shape.
Ariel walked waist deep into the water and turned herself into a mermaid. She disappeared underwater and burst out of the water in her mermaid form with a coral crown in her hair.
Eric was second to be transformed and had a deep red tail. Next was Melody with a pink tail and finally Christella. Christella had never been turned into a mermaid because she had never really wanted to she had often swam as a human with her grandfather and Melody when she was a mermaid so she was very exited.
As she waded into the water she felt the attention focus on her. When it began she felt a curious sensation in her legs and slipped underwater as she could no longer stand. She powered through the water a burst out with many gasps and ah-ing.
Christella landed with her family beaming. "Chrissie!" said Ariel using Christella's seldom used nickname. "You have a crystal tail!" Christella looked down at her tail in surprise. It was as if she had pale silver under her scales of clear crystal that reflecting the sunshine and making rainbows in the water.
"Stella, Stella, Stella…" murmured Melody. "Melody!" she growled under her breath. Melody knew full well she hated that nick name. Ariel saw the potential conflict and said pointedly "Well we best get going then shouldn't we." They began their decent into the ocean, towards Atlantica.