You Pitiful, Insignificant Fools!
The ocean became black as the heart of the witch who ruled its merciless fathoms below. First, all those poor souls, and now her father. This madness must stop. "Eric!", Ariel exclaimed as she swam towards her fiancee who was barely staying afloat above the crashing waves , "You've got to get away from here". "No, I won't leave you!", he cried, his words muffled by the churning water.
The ocean became more furious as a green light appeared and underneath the mermaid and the human. A large spike separated them as the sea switch penetrated the surface. As she grew, so did the spike; the crown. Her father's crown... Eric and Ariel felt themselves being lifted into the air, the earth tremoring below. The ocean looked further, and further gone as they were lifted high up into the dark clouds. Reaching as far as he could, Eric grabbed Ariel's hand and pulled themselves off the giant crown, diving in the depths below.
Ursula's monstrous laughing grew in volume as her body grew in size. They two lovers were stranded now. Out in the middle of the ocean, all they could do was hold one another in fear and watch in horror at the powerful giant above them.
"You pitiful, insignificant fools!" The voice cut through the stranded couple like jagged rocks through a ship, just like the wooden corpses below them. From the ocean came one of the monstrous giant tentacles, ready to crush the pair. "Look out!", Eric yelled.
Thinking as fast as she could, Ariel, tried to grab Eric's hand and pull him underwater, but they were flown apart as Ursula's tentacle thrashed the water between them. Ariel swam away to avoid the waves, but Eric was not so lucky. Ariel looked back to see her fiance thrown high in the air, only to be swept up by the tsunami created by the sea witch.
Flashes of lightning shot from the sky as Ursula began to conjure a tempest from her father's trident. Dark clouds rolled in, darker then before. Rain turned into hail and the ocean became angrier. Ursula swirled the trident into the ocean, creating a whirlpool and trying to sweep in anything undesirable to destroy it under the pressures of the sea. Instead, the ships from below began to resurface, almost coming alive and sailing again. The once vacant corpses now hailed once again, but empty of the sea chanteys and sailor songs. These tales of the bottomless blue were no longer tales but living, and breathing reality.
The monster began to call to the gods. Monologuing her early victory in her hellish, deep tone. "Now I am the ruler of all the ocean! The waves obey my every whim! The sea and all its spoils bow to my power!" Ariel felt a pull from under her. The rising ship was beginning to pull her under. She swam away from its current and held herself against a nearby rock. Still holding on to the rock, she called to Eric, who was desperately trying to pull himself away from the current of the whirl pool. A sailing corpse crushed him as it penetrated the surface. Ariel let out a cry, believing Eric to be dead, only to then see him pull himself onto the ship from a disconnected rope of the center mast. She wanted to help, wanted to get on the boat with him, but the current was to strong. All she could do was watch and pray from her refuge that her prince would survive.
Ariel looked up, inadvertantly making eye contact with her aunt, this beast who she once called family. The monster who still helped her. Where would she be if Ursula didn't give her legs? None of that mattered to Ariel anymore as Ursula fired a bolt from the trident, breaking the rock and hurling Ariel into the center of the tsunami. The wind whipped from the center off the twister. No water was present at the bottom of the ocean in the eye of this storm. No water for Ariel to escape to from her dry prison, still a mermaid, at the center of a water spout.
All Ariel could do was look up, only to see another shot hurling towards her. She threw herself out of the way of the bolt as it hit the ocean floor. A shot meant to kill. Followed by another, and another, a never ending barrage of fire that had Ariel scampering around like a helpless crab caught in a fisherman's trap.
Meanwhile, Eric charged up to the stern of the ship. The wheel barely intact, but still useable. He scanned the waves for Ariel at the top of the bridge, but she was nowhere in sight. All Eric could see was Ursula, firing the trident into the center of the vortex. Eric hoped the wheel was still connected to the rudder. He jerked the wheel to the left and miraculously the ship began to move. Eric kept his eyes on his fiendish target. Closer...closer...just a few more inches and they'd be free from this nightmare.
Ursula looked down upon her prey with sadistic triumph. The poor little princess would join her father soon. There was nowhere for her to try and hide now. "So much for true love!", Ursula cackled as she raised her trident above her head. The final strike was imminent. With one final turn of the wheel, Eric's ship aimed towards Ursula. The sea witch turned around to late. The splintered bow of the ship plunged into the monster's gut and it let out a roar, sparks flying everywhere from her massive body. She doubled over the bow, sending debris and wood flying in all directions. The ship was lowered back into its grave. Back to the mysterious fathoms below. Nothing remained except a trail of black and purple smoke stretching up into the night sky and finally evaporating into nothingness. Ariel looked around. The prison was gone and the ocean was as calm as before...eerily calm. She saw a dark blot on the shore. Eric!
Eric helplessly pulled himself onto shore. He fell onto his back, holding his wound. He raised his hands to his eyes; they were completely red. Blood soaked through his shirt. Through the pain, Eric could hear distant splashing and for a brief moment, there was relief as he saw his princess pull herself up beside him. She put her hand to his face. He could smell the sea salt in her hair and he could hear that mysterious song that seemed to follow her wherever she went. Ariel placed her hand on his stomach, only to be caught by surprise from a painful grunt in Eric's voice. "Ariel, no…" She looked down to see a splintered piece of wood lodged in Eric's stomach. She didn't know what to do. "You'll be okay," Ariel choked out behind tears. Even her usually cheery voice didn't seem to believe it. With both of her hands, she grabbed the wood chunk and pulled it out of her fiance's stomach, cutting her own hand in the process. Eric yelled and his breathing became shallow. Ariel balled her hands into fists to keep pressure on the wound.
"You'll be okay," she repeated, more to herself than to him, "I can keep the wound at bay for now and if Sebastian and Flounder find my father they can bring him here to heal you with his trident and-"
"Ariel…"
She stopped. A hand caked with blood reached up to her but she did not turn away. The hand brushed a few strands of hair from her eyes. Eric shook his head slowly. Ariel burst into tears.
"Don't weep for me, Ariel...I'm not worth it...and I want to see that beautiful smile…"
Ariel choked as she tried to stop the tears, but a few stray ones rolled down her cheek "Whatever you want, I'm here."
"That's all I ever wanted."
Ariel smiled, but with her crying it was more like a grimace. "Eric…"
"Ariel, tell me something."
"Anything."
"Was there anything you wanted to tell me when you weren't able to speak?"
"Only I love you."
Tears welled in Eric's eyes. "I will die a happy man hearing you say those words."
Eric's eyes began to close. Ariel, was frightened, terrified. Not now, not after everything she had given up. She squeezed his hand. "Eric, please, stay with me."
"I always will be. In here." Eric placed his hand over Ariel's bosom, right on top of her heart. Ariel could feel his hand become limp.
Ariel began to sing her song, which could be heard across the seven seas. Her music was filled with love, but also despair. Hopefully her voice would lift his soul to heaven. If only he could know how much he meant to her. They had only spent three days together, but it felt like a lifetime was taken from her and shattered like glass. In her hand, she could feel Eric's pulse. A faint beat, but one that was fighting for dear life….and then...the music of Eric's heart played its last note. Silence.
She didn't move. She couldn't. Couldn't sing, couldn't cry, couldn't scream. Couldn't. Somewhere, she heard Sebastian, Flounder, and Scuttle approach her. She felt a wing, a claw, and a fin stroking her gently.
"Awww, kid…"
"Oh, child…"
"Ariel…"
They were trying to comfort her, but it would do no good. Not when she knew it was her fault. All her fault. Ariel laid herself next to Eric's body, hugging her deceased lover, crying harder than when her mother died. The other's couldn't feel her pain, but they couldn't stand see her the way she was. Sebastian was the first to attempt bringing her back. He scampered up beside Ariel, trying to keep himself back from shedding a tear.
"Ariel, please. Come home…. There is nothing you can do anymore"
"It's what I didn't do. I should have never made that deal. I should have listened to my father. This is all my fault. All my fault".
"Please , child. Don't do dis to yourself. Dat witch tricked you-"
"And I believed her!"
Ariel's sobs were raw and raspy. She clutched Eric's body even harder. She never wanted to leave him. She would wither away before she left him on that beach.
Sebastian looked at the other two imploringly. Scuttle waddled up next to him and Flounder swam closer to shore.
"Kid, please. Listen to the crab. He's right. There's nothing left for you here anymore."
"Ariel, come home with us please," Flounder begged.
"Child, don't let dis destroy you. You have your whole life left ahead of ya, you can't let dis cloud ya judgement."
Ariel still wouldn't budge. Her grip on Eric's body tightened firmly. The three looked at each other and could only sob and shake their heads. She was passionate; she wasn't going to leave him and that was final.
"I'm sorry kid. I'm so sorry" Scuttle squawked. He gave his final goodbye's to his friends, then flew away. Seeing Ariel any longer in her current state would make him sick with worry. She needed time.
Flounder swam up to Ariel's fin and rested his head against it, his tears mingling with the salt water. Sebastian looked on. He must be strong, for her sake.
"Sebastian."
A voice cut through Ariel like the wind of the ocean. Eric? No it couldn't be. Her name, she heard her name. The voice was harsh, raspy, but still gentle.
"Leave us," the voice commanded. It was his majesty, looking more forlorn, sombor and heartbroken than Sebastian and Ariel had ever seen him. Sebastian opened his mouth, looked back at Ariel, and closed it again.
"Yes, your majesty." He slunk away to the shore and disappeared beneath the waves.
Ariel didn't acknowledge her father, but she knew he was there. Triton had regained his trident, and with one swoop, Triton turn his daughter into what he knew she always wanted to be, a human. Ariel felt her transformation with its warm glow, and looked down to no longer a tail, but a pair of legs, similar to the ones she bore the past couple of days. "You've always belonged to this place. Hopefully, you will learn to find joy again in this new life."
But that no longer mattered to her. Ariel finally realized what she wanted. Using her new legs, she stood up and turned towards her father who was floating mid tide. She took one last look at Eric's body and laid one final kiss on his forehead before proceeding back towards the ocean. She was knee deep in the shallow water, gazing at her father. She was to young to remember him crying when her mother died, but this was the first time she ever saw him shed anything more than a tear. His face was wet and it wasn't from the water. Ariel took her father's hands in hers
"Daddy, I want to come home, there is nothing for me here anymore."
"Ariel, don't let me come in the way of your dreams again."
"I don't have that dream anymore. He was the dream."
"And he shall be honored as a hero."
"I'd rather have him alive than dead and a hero."
Triton's eyes widened. Ariel's face flushed and without any warning, she broke down in front of him. She wrapped her arms tightly around her father and hugged him, unable to comprehend what she had just said.
"I'm sorry daddy, I'm so sorry!"
Triton kissed her cheek. "Let it all out." And there they were, floating in the water, embracing and weeping for all to see. When Ariel's eyes finally had nothing left, Triton lifted her face to his. "Are you certain this is what you want?"
Ariel paused. "Maybe not what I want, but what I need for now." She had thought the human world was what she wanted.
Her decision was made. It was tough for the both of them, but he needed to change his ways. He needed to respect his daughter's wish. He once again changed Ariel back into a mermaid. After her transformation, he gave her one last kiss on her head.
"Go home, my little mermaid. You've had enough."
Ariel hugged her father one more time before swimming back to Atlantica. Triton took one last look at the man his daughter fell in love with. This was the first time he laid eyes on a human this close. He never knew this man, but something inside him told him that they were not all bad. That he was an honored prince, and would have made a great king.