She'd been human for six days (well, five and a half), speaking for three. She didn't know her new world yet, and she didn't process the danger. Eric knew this. He knew her nature; a curious disposition matched only by a fire for new ideas, paths, concepts. He knew this.
So he watched her. Eric would guide her up mountains, accompany her on trips to town and around the kingdom. Ariel would grab his arm and pull him into new places, smiling, laughing – she could laugh now! – and bombarding him with endless questions.
"What's this?"
"Where are we?"
"Why do they wear that?"
"Why is this so sharp?"
"Why does this taste like that?"
"Where are we now?"
He never felt fully at ease until sundown, because that's when they'd pack up and get in the carriage to return back to his castle. They'd eat and lounge, and she'd be safe. He wouldn't dream of telling her that they couldn't go out, or forcing her to stay back, but she threw herself into anything and everything so relentlessly that he feared she'd one day crash. Hurt herself, or worse.
One morning, he awoke with this sickening feeling that something bad was going to happen. It was early, not even sunrise, and he rolled out of bed and plodded down to her room. She was twisted in her sheets, arm flung over her eyes, pillow spotted with drool. Nothing bad there.
He must've made more noise than he thought, because she stirred and awoke groggily. "Whosthere?" she slurred, rubbing her eyes.
"Oh, uh, sorry." Eric smiled sheepishly.
She perked up almost instantly. "Eric! You're up early."
"I guess." He admitted. "Wanna just hang around the castle today? I know you've got a lot you want to see, but I'm sure you're getting tired."
"If you want. I haven't been swimming in, you know, days." Ariel giggled. "I think I'll always miss it, even though this situation," she winked at him, "is preferable."
"Sounds good." Eric smiled. "I guess we'll go in a bit." He turned on his heels and started to walk away, like he was going to go back to bed.
"Oh, I don't think so!" Ariel laughed, lightly pushing herself out of bed. "Up! Up! We gotta do stuff!"
"You're going to kill me, you know that, right?" Eric smiled at her.
"Well, you never seem to mind."
Eric assured her he'd be back in fifteen minutes, when she was decent, and they'd head down to the beach before the rest of the kingdom had even awakened.
Ariel waded into the water, gathering her lilac skirts up around her knees, and sighed. The water was still just a perfect temperature to her. Where Eric shivered and stayed shallow, she continued wading out and sinking deeper into the lapping waves.
"I don't know how you can do that." Eric chuckled.
"It's natural to me." She snickered. She tried to lay on her back and float, but found that she sank a little bit more quickly than she had anticipated. "Oh! That's different."
"You gotta be more careful now!" Eric had sat down on the beach and removed his boots to stick his feet in the water. "I'll re-teach you how to swim."
"Okay!" Ariel exclaimed, standing up, and finding herself to be up to her shoulders in the water.
"In a bit!" Eric yawned, laying down on the dark beach. "Give me an hour to get a bit more rest." He laughed. "I should know better than to get you up early, you have more energy than anyone in the world."
Ariel looked out at the castle in front of her, and smiled to herself. A little to her left was the very rock she had perched on after she had saved Eric. As if she could've forgotten it! He wouldn't know what she was talking about. The two times she had sat on it, he had either been unconscious or semi-conscious.
She looked back at him. Even now he wasn't doing much better! Sleeping on the beach, his chest rising and falling slowly. "Eric!" she called out. He didn't stir.
Chuckling, she wadded her way over to the rock. The water got a little higher, lapping at her nose, and Ariel found herself hopping over in order to get a precious breath before bobbing below the water again.
She felt less sure of herself in the water now, constantly short of breath. But she reached the rock and latched onto it. She pulled herself up and tried to get a footing, but she wasn't sure where her foot was supposed to go – and what of her other foot? Where does she –
"ERIC!" she screamed out, slipping suddenly and smacking her head on the side of the rock.
She fell into the water unconscious and bleeding, bobbing facedown.
Eric sat up suddenly and spotted Ariel slowly sinking. He raced into the water and swam out to her. How did she get so far out? It only took him a couple minutes to get to her, but he didn't think it was soon enough. He pulled her back to shore and laid her on the beach. Why wasn't anyone else out yet? Was she breathing? He felt for a pulse. She wasn't.
"Hold on, Ariel…hold on.." He tried to force the water out of her system, but she wasn't coughing up. "Here, no, please…"
"No..no…" he picked Ariel up and ran her back to the castle. There was a nurse on staff, and he woke her up.
"What's the matter, sire?"
"She fell in the water, she isn't, she's not, I tried-"
The nurse had Eric lie her down on the bed and thumped Ariel's chest and back. She kept listening for breathing and re-adjusting Ariel.
"Is she going to be okay?"
"How long ago did she stop breathing?" the nurse asked quickly, still trying to force the girl's heart back to beating.
"Five minutes? Ten? I don't know?" Eric said hurriedly.
The nurse stopped once she heard. "I'm sorry, Eric."
Eric's heart dropped through the ground.
"I can't get her to breathe again. Even if I could, at this point she'd be brain dead. A person can't go that long without oxygen." The nurse said softly. "My sincerest condolences."
Eric felt his breath come out shakily. "No, it can't be…it just happened so fast. I-"
The nurse laid a hand on Eric's arm. "I'm so, so sorry."
Eric looked down at Ariel's body, as it already had begun to pale. He couldn't save her this time. If only he knew what happened when her kind die.
Hi, guys. I don't really intend for this to be a one-shot, and if you don't want it to be either, please review! Know that there's people who are actually reading what I write really means a lot. Even if it's only a few lines long, it really keeps me going! Review please!