Once upon a time, deep under the sea, there lived a merman with his wife and seven daughters. While they were happy under the sea, the youngest daughter was always curious about the surface, and even though her older sisters made fun of her, she collected objects from the surface and secretly observed a tiny island where a royal family lived. With her objects and observations, the young mermaid started to understand what life on the surface was like, and the more she understood, the more she wanted to live on the surface.
One evening, the young prince who lived on the island decided to throw a ball at sea, so he gathered his friends and the necessary crew before casting off. However, that night, there was a terrible storm, and the prince's ship sunk. As the prince floated down, unconscious and about to die, the young mermaid noticed him amongst the wreckage, so she grabbed him and managed to drag him back to his island before he died. The mermaid had never seen a human up close before, so she looked him over quickly before diving back into the sea. It was in that moment that the little mermaid fell in love with the prince. She dreamed about living with him and stole glances of him whenever she could. However, she was a little sad, as she knew that they could never be together.
One evening though, the mermaid found a small white creature with long floppy ears that had yellow rings on them floating on the surface.
"Who are you?" The mermaid asked.
"I'm Kyubey. I noticed that you've been looking at that prince for a long time."
"Yeah.." sighed the mermaid. "I love him, but..I doubt we'll ever be together. I'm not human. I can't go on land."
"If you want to be human, I can turn you into one."
"Really?!"
Kyubey nodded. "All you have to do is make a contract with me and become a Magical Girl!"
"A Magical Girl?"
"Yes. A Magical Girl is a girl with magical powers who fights Witches, who cause despair."
"I see. How might I find these Witches?"
"I'll explain that when you become a Magical Girl."
The mermaid thought for a moment before replying. "Fine. I don't care about being a Magical Girl and fighting, just as long as you turn me into a human!"
The moment those words were out of her mouth, Kyubey's ears reached deep into her chest and pulled out a small bright blue gem. Even though the mermaid was in horrific pain, she managed to grab the gem, and in that moment, she became human. As she never had legs before, she kicked with all her might so that her head could remain above the water.
"So, now that I'm a Magical Girl, how do I find Witches?"
"If you hold out your Soul Gem and see it glow, that means a Witch is nearby. If you follow the reactions, you'll find the Witch."
"I see. What's a Soul Gem?"
"It's that blue gem I just gave you. It gives you your magical powers, so don't lose it." The mermaid nodded and started swimming towards the prince's island. It took her a long time, as she wasn't used to her human body, but she eventually reached the beach, even though she was exhausted. While she was catching her breath, a guard spotted her, gave her some grey old clothes to cover herself, and brought her before the prince, who was in charge, as his family was currently traveling, trying to find him a suitable bride.
"Who are you?" asked the prince. "And where did you come from?"
"Your Majesty, I was out sailing with my father and mother when a huge storm destroyed our boat. My mother and father died, but I managed to survive, as I clung to a piece of driftwood. I lived and floated on that for awhile until another storm destroyed the driftwood. I blacked out and should have died, but I managed to drift onto your island. Please, let me live here. I'll work if I have to, but please, let me live here!"
Normally, the prince would have turned her into a servant, but the moment she mentioned that her whole family had died in a storm, the prince felt sympathetic towards her.
"Don't worry. You won't be a slave. You can live here with me and my parents. I'm sure they'll be happy to meet you. Now, you still haven't told me your name." The mermaid smiled.
"I'm Aria." The prince smiled, told Aria that his name was Augustus, and ordered a guard to escort Aria to her room. There, a large bed stuffed with feathers, a closet full of beautiful dresses, and a wonderful balcony view, awaited her. Once Aria was alone, she changed out of the grey dress the guard had given her and put on a lovely blue dress. She put her Soul Gem in her pocket and began to explore the castle. The first thing she ran into was the massive library the prince and his family owned. While she would have loved to stay and wander through the shelves, a bell rang loudly when she was about to do so, and a guard informed her that it was lunchtime.
Since she didn't know the way to the dining room, the guard escorted her there, where a delicious lunch and the prince were waiting. While they ate, the two talked.
"Thank you so much for taking care of me. You really are kind."
"Think nothing of it." Replied the prince. "After all, I couldn't just let a girl who lost her family become a servant. That would be inhumanly cruel. Besides, my friends would come back to haunt me if I did that."
"How come?"
"Well…a few days ago, there was a horrible storm. My friends and I were having a ball on a ship, so we got caught right in the middle of it. The ship sank, and by a stroke of luck, I managed to float back to the island."
"I'm sorry to hear that…is there anything I can do to help?" The prince sighed.
"Not unless you can bring the dead back to life." Aria sighed.
"Sadly, I cannot. I wish I could."
"Me too.." The rest of the meal continued in silence, and afterwards, when Aria was wandering through the castle, she felt guilty. The evening she saved the prince, she hadn't even tried to save his friends. She tried to console herself by thinking that she hadn't seen any other humans or even knew that any other humans were in the sea, which was true. However, one little fact stopped this from working-the fact that she hadn't even tried to look for other humans. Guilt-ridden and a little depressed, Aria decided to go back to her room and look at the view on the balcony, as the ocean waves might cheer her up. However, when she got to her room, Kyubey was lying on her bed.
"What do you want?" asked Aria.
"I'm just reminding you that you'll have to fight Witches now that you've accepted the contract."
"Don't worry. I haven't forgotten." Aria pulled her Soul Gem out and looked at it for a moment. "See? It's not glowing, so there aren't any Witches nearby."
"It's true that most Witches around here aren't on land, but I'd check the ocean. Especially at night."
"Alright." Aria nodded, and Kyubey stared at her for a moment before running out on the balcony. Aria ran after him, but by the time she got on the balcony, he was already in the ocean, diving down to attend to some unfinished business. A few minutes later, as Aria was enjoying the view and trying hard not to think about how scary the Witches might be, all of Aria's sisters poked their heads out of the ocean.
"Why didn't you tell us that you had become human?! We were worried sick!" Aria, shocked at the fact that she had forgotten to tell her family about her choice and the fact that they knew about it and where she was, paused for a moment in pure fear before quickly replying.
"I'm sorry, but I thought that if I told you my plan, you would make fun of me and try to stop me." The two older sisters glared at Aria while the younger ones cried that they would have helped Aria out.
"Enough!" cried the oldest sister. "Let's go. If she doesn't think we're important enough to talk to, then she can get her advice from the humans." And so, they all left, and a moment later, Kyubey swam out of the ocean and hopped next to Aria, who was crying quietly. Aria had never felt tears before, and while she would have played with them out of curiosity, she was too sad to do that.
"Were you the one who told them, Kyubey?" Aria asked.
"Of course! I wanted to see if any of them wanted to be Magical Girls, but they didn't. At least, not yet." Aria wiped her eyes and glared at Kyubey.
"If you do something like that again, I will smash my Soul Gem. Do you understand me?! Pull another stunt like that, and I won't be a Magical Girl!"
"I understand. I won't do something like that again." Kyubey replied.
"Come to think of it..why did you want me to become a Magical Girl anyway?"
"Because I want humanity to live a little longer. After all, these Witches are causing you trouble. I just want to help."
"I see." Aria wasn't quite sure whether to trust him or not, but since she didn't have any other explanation, she took Kyubey's. At that moment, a guard burst into Aria's room and told her that the prince's parents had returned with a lovely bride for their son. Aria got the directions to the throne room from the guard, and ran there as fast a she could. When she got there, she found that the prince was talking to a couple that looked to be in their mid-fifties. Standing behind them was a beautiful girl with long red hair and fiery eyes. Aria knew that she didn't look as beautiful as her..but she held on to the hope that the girl might have a horrid personality. If that was the case, maybe she would still have a chance. With that tiny hope pushing her on, Aria walked towards the group until she was standing next to the prince, who noticed her.
"Ah, Mom, Dad, this is Aria. She lost her family in a storm and was lucky enough to get on our island before she died. I told her that she could live here..you don't mind, do you?"
"Of course not!" cried the father. "Madam, you're free to stay here as long as you like! Don't be afraid to ask for anything, alright?"
"A-alright." Aria nodded. For a royal family, they sure seemed friendly.
"Poor dear..I'm sorry to hear about your family. If there's anything I can do to help, let me know." said the mother.
"Please, if you want to talk to me, I'll be happy to listen." Said the red-haired girl.
"Oh, I'm sorry. This is Nina. She's the daughter of a rather rich king across the sea. She's agreed to marry Augustus tomorrow evening. If you don't mind, will you be there at the wedding?" asked the mother.
"S-sure. Of course I'll come! I hope you both will be happy."
"Thanks." Said the prince. "That means a lot to me."
The five then ate dinner together, and while the dish was delicious, Aria got more and more depressed the more she realized that Nina was a really nice person. When dinner was over, Aria went back to her room, locking the door behind her. As usual, Kyubey was on her bed.
Aria sighed and started crying again. "Kyu-Kyubey..why did it turn out like this?"
"What do you mean? I turned you into a human. I granted your wish."
"But I told you the reason I wanted to be human was so that I could spend my life with the prince! But..now I can't. They're getting married, which means that the wish was useless."
"That can't be helped. You should have been more specific with your wish."
At this, Aria glared at Kyubey, and if looks could kill, he would have died twenty times over. "Kyubey! I became a Magical Girl because I thought that I'd be able to be with the prince. Since I cannot be with him, I am tearing up our contract! I will not be a Magical Girl anymore!"
With that, Aria threw her Soul Gem at the wall, thinking that she would just turn back into a mermaid. Sadly, she was wrong. The moment the gem shattered, she fell on the floor, dead.