Little Mermaid fanfic

Chapter one

It had been a week since Ariel had saved Prince Eric from the sea storm that had come out of nowhere, and she had spent every day of her free time on the edge of the shore, watching for signs of him. Each day he took a walk on the beach, searching for any sign of his "mystery girl" as Grimsbe had put it, and he never saw her, Ariel had made sure of that. Ariel knew two things for sure, one: she was in love with Eric, and two: her father would kill her if he ever found out. So, to avoid her father's anger, and to keep the surface world safe from her father's sea wrath, she kept her distance, watching him from afar but never letting him see her, it kept everyone safe that way, even if she did wish she could be with him.

It was after the first week that Ariel was laying on her normal rock, waiting for Prince Eric to arrive when she was caught by him. "It's you! The girl in my dreams, the girl who saved my life!" Ariel gasped and jumped off the rock and got ready to dive under the water when Eric ran into the water. "No, wait, please, I've been looking everywhere for you, please don't go away again!"

Ariel paused and looked at him, debating, but she waited too long as he caught up with her, though the water was too deep for him, he still floated to her. She shook her head, "No, I shouldn't be here, I…I need to go."

Eric grabbed her arm as they both floated in the water, "Please, don't go…I've been looking everywhere for you…Please…"

"I…I can't stay," Ariel replied as she started to pull away.

"Please, meet me again…Meet me here tomorrow? At noon," he asked, desperation showing in his voice.

Ariel paused for a moment and then sighed, "Alright, I'll be here tomorrow…at the noontime sun, but I have to go." She pulled her arm free and Eric let her, a smile crossing his lips.

The next day Ariel showed up at their meeting place early, totally ready to meet with Prince Eric. She sat on her rock brushing her hair with the dinglehopper when she saw a ship approaching and jumped with excitement, thinking Eric was on his ship, but one look at it and she knew it wasn't his ship. She looked at Sebastian and Flounder and they nodded, they knew it too. Ariel was about to jump off her rock when a net landed over her. Ariel cried out in surprise as she was lifted up, closer to the ship and knew that it must be a fishermen's boat, she had no way of knowing it was far worse then that.

Ariel looked at Flounder and Sebastian with fear in her eyes and Sebastian nodded. He told Flounder to tell King Triton what was happening and he would go with Ariel to keep her safe. Ariel looked scared as she was lifted to the boat and that was when she saw Eric. He put his finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet, but she shook her head, she didn't want him to get hurt trying to save her.

Quickly Ariel was lifted up onto the deck and she gasped. There were a lot of men aboard here, but none of them looked nice like the men on Eric's ship. Ariel looked around, hoping to see a nice looking human, but she found none, they were all sneering like she was a piece of meat. Before any of them could do anything, another man, dressed nicely in a suit and top hat and cane, came forward and raised his hand.

"What did we catch in our loot today? Any more exotic fish for my museum," he asked and paused when he saw Ariel and a smile crossed his lips, "finally, after all my years of searching, a mermaid! Good work men, if this works like I know it will, there will be a bonus in your paycheck this time. Lets get this one in some water, we wouldn't want her to dry up and die on us, that would be such a waist…" The man looked around and frowned. "Were there any others around her when you picked her up?"

"Only a tropical fish, a crab, and a seagull, other then that, she was alone, and the fish and crab disappeared at the sight of the net…They must not really care about her all that much," the first man holding the net laughed.

"Well, she's not Triton like I wanted, but I believe people will still pay to see her," the rich man said with a smirk and Ariel gasped, these men wanted her father. She bit down hard on her lip to keep her from biting back at him about her father. "She probably doesn't understand a word of what we are saying, do you my dear," he asked reaching through the net to lift her chin and she pulled away from him as best as she could. "Ah, I see, it's going to be that way, is it? Lock her up in her new home boys, she'll stay there till it's time for the show…Put her next to the Lined seahorse, longnosed hawkfish, Queen Fish and the Emperor Angelfish. She should be happy with that." He chuckled as the men carried the net off and dropped her in a large tank of water next to a tank with two small fish and two medium fish next to her tank. Ariel waited until the men walked off to float over to the wall of her new "home" to talk to them.

"Hello there, I'm Ariel," she said with a smile and the hawkfish and seahorse floated away quickly to the corner, but the Queen and emperor fish floated up to her.

"Don't worry about them, they are skittish about everything, those horrible humans took them away from their family and they are fearful of them. That horrible man with the big black thing on his head has some terrible pets he uses on us when we don't do what he wants, so they don't trust anyone anymore," the queen fish said with a sigh. "I'm Latifah, cause I'm a queen fish and apparently there is a famous person with the name Queen Latifah…That over there is Kuzco, he's the Emperor fish. Then there is Flicka, the seahorse and Hawkeye, the longnosed hawkfish…Apparently the owner has a thing with naming his fish after famous characters or people…Kuzco is an emperor in a cartoon that kids love, Flicka is a famous horse from some movie, and Hawkeye is some sort of famous hero," Latifah rolled her eyes.

"Actually, I'm curious to see what he names you," Kuzco replied with a curious look. "It's not often we get a half human, half fish here…What are you anyways, some sort of odd experiment they tired that went wrong?"

Ariel chuckled, "Don't be silly, I'm a fish just like you…well, sort of…I'm a mermaid." She smiled, "My dad would kill me if he knew that I was here, he already lost my mother to a fishermen ship when I was just a little kid, it would kill him to know I got caught by one."

"Oh my dear, didn't you know, this ship is not a fishermen ship, it's far worse," Latifah replied, a sad look on her face.

"What do you mean worse," Ariel asked with concern.

"That human with the black thing on his head, he's a collector, he collects rare and common fish that are attractive and then puts them on display on his big ship for humans to see, then humans of all shapes and sizes pay that man to come on his ship and they stick their horrible faces in on our home and make faces and bang on the glass and make jokes about us. Sometimes that horrible man takes some of the fish to the center cage and makes them do tricks for the strange humans, the fish like the dolphins and what not, but then they always come back completely wiped out. It's horrible and there is nothing we can do to stop it," Kuzco added.

"That's where you're wrong, we're getting Ariel out of here right now and back home where she belongs. If your fatdda knew about dis, do you know what he would say! He'd say he's gonna kill himself a crab, that's what fatdda'd say," Sebastian thundered as he climbed into Ariel's tank. "Now come on little girl, lets see you jump out of here and get us home before your fatdda comes here."

"But Sebastian, I can't just leave them all here, what will that human do to them," Ariel argued.

"It's sad Ariel, but we gotta get you out of here, there is nothing we can do to help them," Sebastian replied.

"No, I'm not going to just leave them here! I am going to stay until I can find a way to help them out too! No one deserves to be locked up like this," Ariel said crossing her arms.

"Dear, maybe you should listen to the crab, no one wants to be locked up here, and now is your chance to get out of here, you should take it," Latifah said with a sad smile.

"No, I won't leave you all here," Ariel replied stubbornly.

Before they could say anything else, the rich man who had the "big black thing" on his head walked up to her tank with a smile. "Ah, I see you've met your neighbors on this great voyage. Tell me mermaid, how do you like the name Star…You see, one of the most famous versions of a mermaid is found of a Starbucks coffee cup, and since Starbucks is not a suitable name, we could call you Star…How about that?" The man smirked, "What am I asking you for, you can't answer me, you're a fish, Star it is, I'll have the men make the name plate up for you." At this Ariel crossed her arms and huffed, turning her back to him. "Hum, so we have a diva do we, that should make you great for the show…Oh, and one more thing I should tell you, we found a stow away on our boat, I believe he was looking for you." The man smirked as he waved his hand and two men brought forth a struggling Eric.

Ariel's eyes grew wide as she swam to the edge of her tank and looked up at him, "ERIC," she yelled out before she could stop herself, worry clear in her eyes.

The man smiled with obvious delight, "Ah, so you can speak English, good, that should make my job easier." At this Ariel crossed her arms again and frowned, turning her back to the man, but keeping the corner of her eye on Eric. "I see you have a soft spot for this young man, as he seems to have one for you as well since he came here looking for you…Now my dear Star, you will perform in my show, and you will do as you're told."

Ariel crossed her arms and huffed, " I will never do as you say, I would never listen to a horrible man like you, a man who takes innocent fish with lives and families of their own and locks them up here for display, it's barbaric!"

The man sighed, "Well, if I can't convince you to perform, then I guess that is it. Boys, take our captured trespasser here and toss him in the empty tank. He's tied up, but with his arms and legs tied, I doubt he'll be able to do much in the way of escape, but just to make sure he doesn't get free, release my pets in the tank after you drop him in."

"No, you can't, he'll die," Ariel said franticly, but the man didn't seem to care.

As ordered the men lifted Eric up, despite his struggling, and tossed him over the edge of the neighboring tank. Eric struggled, trying to free himself from his bonds, but to no avail. Ariel looked frantic, and, ignoring Sebastian's shouts of protest, Ariel readied herself to jump. She gasped when a door to the tank was opened and two sharks entered and headed straight for a struggling Eric. Ariel didn't stop to think, she just did what she knew she had to to save Eric. Backing up to the far edge of her tank, Ariel swam as fast as she could and then jumped up and jumped over the wall and into the neighboring tank and swam as quickly as she could to Eric's side. Grabbing his arm, she swam to the top of the tank where Eric gasped for breath. The man laughed and tossed two raw stakes into the tank and the sharks went after it without a second though.

"Good work boys, daddy's very proud of you," he said smiling down at the sharks as one of his men grabbed Eric and pulled him out, despite Ariel's struggles and protests. "Now my dear, you can do as you are told and perform for my crowd, or I can feed this man to the sharks and not give it a second thought. What do you say Star?"

"My name's Ariel," she said with a huff, crossing her arms.

"Oh is it now," the man paused, as if thinking, and then shook his head, "No, I like Star better, so you'll be Star…And what is that crab doing here! A crab is a common fish, and I don't want him in my show. Men, fish him out and I'll have stuffed crab tonight."

"NO," Ariel thundered, "leave Sebastian alone! He's not done anything to you!"

"Ah, I see," the man said with a smile, "so he's the friend that was with you when my men caught you on the rock. Very well, he will live, I'll even let him stay with you for now, but you better start behaving and doing as you are told, or the crab and the man, Eric, get it, understand!"

Ariel frowned and crossed her arms, but sighed, "Yeah, I get it."

The man smiled, "Good, I'll see you first thing in the morning for your training," and with that he turned to leave.

"Hey Cap, what do you want us to do with the boy," one of the men holding Eric asked.

"Hum, lock him up in my cabin and we'll make him a cabin boy. If he does what he's ordered, then we might even give him the honor of visiting with his dear mermaid Star," the man said with a smirk.

"Her name's Ariel," Eric thundered.

"Ah yes, the brave young man stands up for the fish that just saved his life, how quant," he said with a chuckle.

"Don't test me, I know who you are!" Eric thundered, "You're Mr. Thomas Benadict Bucks, the most wanted fish hunter in this area, my people and I have been after you for some time now!"

"So that must make you Prince Eric, how quant. Well, prince, I hope you know how to work, because that is what you will be doing on my ship from here on out," Mr. Bucks replied with a wave of his hand. "I'll see you in the morning Miss Star," and with that, he walked away.