Okay, this idea came to me as I was reading another fanfic. This probably never would have happened in the movie, but I thought it would make for a good fanfic. The idea of Ariel's sisters getting to be humans, too, is something that I've wanted to see for a while now, because why should Ariel get to have all the fun, anyway?

Chapter 1

The waters of the kingdom of Atlantica darkened as night came upon them. At first glance, the kingdom appeared calm, but that couldn't have been further from the truth. The entire kingdom was searching high and low for Princess Ariel, the youngest daughter of King Triton. The only place where there was no activity was in the throne room. King Triton stood by one of the windows, staring out at the seemingly empty distance. Worry marked the king's every feature. His youngest daughter, Princess Ariel, had disappeared. And it had been all his fault, the king thought to himself. A few hours before Ariel had disappeared, he had summoned Sebastian to his throne room after he had learned that Ariel had fallen in love. Somewhere in that conversation Sebastian had accidentally revealed that Ariel had saved a human boy from drowning earlier in the week.

He then rushed to confront Ariel about it. When he found her, she was inside a small cave where she had secretly hidden a very large collection of human objects that she had been collecting. And right in the middle of said collection was a large statue of the human she had rescued. It had only gotten worse from there. He had tried to remind her of the dangers of the human world. They ate fish, after all, and he feared that he might one day lose one of his daughters to that fate. He had had this exact same argument with Ariel just hours before she had saved this human. But Ariel did not listen and instead accidentally confessed that she was in love with this human. That turned out to be the last straw for Triton, and he proceeded to angrily destroy a large number of the objects in her grotto.

And all of that had happened just that morning. Triton shuddered at the memory. He had always had a short temper, but that had been his worst display by far. He had never bothered to ask why she was so interested in the human world. It now seemed that that had been the problem all along.

But if you would just listen…

NOT ANOTHER WORD! And I am never, NEVER to hear of you going to the surface again! Is that clear?

Oh, how he wished he had listened…

Now, whenever he closed his eyes, all he could see was Ariel's terrified face as he unleashed his trident upon her collection. All he could hear were her pleading cries that he stop, and her heart-wrenching sobs as he left her. And he had nobody to blame but himself.

He opened his eyes again and saw a flash of orange to his side. He turned and saw one of his seahorse heralds floating in front of him. Once it became obvious that Ariel had disappeared, he had alerted the entire kingdom to search for her. He suspected that the seahorse had arrived to give him his latest report.

"Has there been any sign of her?"

Triton hoped that the seahorse would be bringing word that they had found her, or had at least found something that could lead to finding her, but when he saw the somber look on his face, he already knew that they had not. That didn't stop his heart from sinking even further when the seahorse shook his head.

"No, Your Majesty. We've searched everywhere. We've found no trace of your daughter or Sebastian."

It turned out that Ariel's disappearance coincided with Sebastian's. Triton could only assume that his advisor had disappeared with Ariel, but he had no way of knowing with absolute certainty. Triton's face fell even more when he thought of Sebastian. How could he have forgotten about him? The tiny crab had been such a tremendous help to him over the years, both as an advisor and a friend, but he had never bothered to let Sebastian know that he also thought of him as a friend. And now he was gone, too. If anything had happened to either of them, he knew that he would never forgive himself. He was about to sink further into his guilt when suddenly a stray thought entered the back of King Triton's mind.

We've searched everywhere.

He knew that that wasn't quite true. There was only one place they hadn't looked, but the king then almost immediately shook his head at it. Ariel couldn't possibly be there. There would be no point in following through with such nonsense. Triton tried to push the stray thought from his mind, and spoke up once more.

"Well, keep looking. Leave no shell unturned, no coral unexplored. Let no one in this kingdom sleep until she's safe at home," he said firmly.

Triton knew that it would be useless. He had already ordered their search efforts go beyond the kingdom's borders, and had even sent messengers to establish contact with the rulers of neighboring kingdoms. They had conducted the most thorough search imaginable and still there was no trace of Ariel. He supposed that he only said this in order to further attempt to push the thought from his mind, yet it still persisted. He knew that he could not undo it.

"Yes, Your Majesty," the seahorse nodded, breaking the king from his thoughts temporarily. As he turned to relay the message to the kingdom, he was stopped once again by the sound of Triton's voice. "Wait," he commanded. The seahorse stopped and turned back to face the king, waiting to see if he would be given further orders. But to his surprise, Triton remained silent. He saw that the king appeared to be thinking about something, and so he kept his silence and waited to hear what the king would say to him. Several minutes passed and it seemed that the king had forgotten that his herald was even in the room. Tension had grown within the room and it got to a point where the seahorse couldn't take the silence anymore. He lifted his face towards the king and asked, "Your Majesty, was there anything else you wished to tell me?"

Triton came back to attention and looked at the herald. The king's eyes narrowed. He saw him shrink back slightly. Triton closed his eyes and sighed when he saw this.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty, it's just that I thought you had something further to say, and I didn't wish to waste any further time waiting for it," the herald said timidly.

King Triton nodded slowly. He chose to proceed with what he was thinking.

"Tell my daughters that I would like to speak with them," he commanded softly.

The herald silently nodded his head and exited the room. Triton slowly swam back to the throne and sat on it. He needed this moment of solitude to figure out why he was even thinking of this. His youngest daughter was already missing, and what he was planning could only run the risk of him losing another daughter. He had no way of knowing if his hunch was even right. The very idea of it sounded ludicrous. A small sound caused him to look back up and towards the main entrance of the throne room. He saw six figures gathered there, his daughters. Each of his six other daughters silently entered the throne room. Aquata, the crown princess, led the group. She was followed closely by Alana, his second-youngest daughter, and Adella, his third-youngest. Andrina and Attina followed farther back, confusion marking their faces. Lastly, very far back, Arista swam into the room, her head looking down at the floor. The six of them lined up in the order in which they had entered the room. They stood solemnly before the Sea King.

Triton attempted to hold his resolve for all of a few seconds before deciding that there was no point to it. He was speaking to them just as much as their father as he was as their king. For as long as he could remember, he had nearly always been formal with his daughters, but for once he no longer cared. He sighed solemnly as he slumped his shoulders. "Good evening, girls," he said after a long silence. The six of them looked at each other briefly before saying, "Good evening, father."

The king hesitated once more. His daughters were just as distraught as he was over Ariel's disappearance. He wanted to say this the right way. He didn't wish to cause any further distress. A groan escaped his mouth when none came to mind. He then realized that it was best not to beat around the bush and just be blunt with them, to get straight to the point.

"I would like to discuss Ariel's disappearance with you."

They nodded shakily. Arista covered her face with one of her hands. Almost instinctively, Attina, who was still next to Arista, wrapped her arms around her into a comforting hug. Arista hugged her in return and rested her head on Attina's right shoulder. Arista cried into her shoulder while Attina turned her head to face her father.

"I wish there was something else I could tell you, Daddy, but I've already told you everything I know."

"That's what I wanted to discuss with you, Attina. There's something very important that I need to tell all of you. Earlier this morning, you mentioned that she 'had it bad,' is that correct?"

Attina nodded.

"And then when I asked what you meant, it was Andrina who said that Ariel was in love."

His second-oldest daughter also nodded in confirmation.

"I found this all very amusing until I found out just who she was in love with."

"And she didn't think to tell any of us," Andrina groaned. "They always find it amusing until they learn who it is."

Triton wanted to laugh at her remark. It appeared that Andrina was still holding up somewhat well with regards to Ariel's disappearance, unlike Arista, who was coming dangerously close to going to pieces. It certainly had not affected Andrina's wit. But instead he sighed once more. Perhaps if he had found out from one of Ariel's sisters, things might have turned out differently. He might not have gotten as angry if he had learned the truth from one of his own daughters. But, then again, this was no time for thinking about that. They needed to find Ariel and Sebastian, and fast.

"She didn't tell me, so I summoned Sebastian to find out who it was, and he informed me that she had fallen in love with a…human."

There was a collective gasp from all six of his daughters that were present in the room. They all knew that Ariel had been curious to learn about the human world, and was never quick to condemn it, but even this seemed like a stretch to them.

"Daddy, are you sure about this?" Alana asked. "Maybe Sebastian was mistaken. Yes, she may go to the surface a lot, but she would never…"

"Ariel confirmed it when I confronted her about it," Triton flatly answered. "She apparently saved him from drowning earlier this week."

"But Daddy, what does this have to do with Ariel's disappearance?" Arista couldn't help but ask.

"I tell you about this now because I'm beginning to wonder if the reason no one can find Ariel is because she's no longer in the sea. I fear she may have somehow become human."

There was another collective gasp at this.

"But Daddy, how is that even possible?" Aquata asked. "There's only one way she could have become human, and I know you would never…"

"Ursula," Triton said.

The mere mention of her name sent a shudder through each of his daughters.

"What about her?" Arista asked shakily, her eyes widened in fear.

"Ursula could have used her magic on her. I'm not sure how or even if they somehow got into contact, but it wouldn't be the first time she made a 'deal' with one of my subjects, and you know just as well as I do that those never end well."

The six princesses nodded solemnly. Aquata began to shake uncontrollably at the mere thought of Ariel in Ursula's clutches. She soon felt Alana's reassuring hand on her shoulder. Arista also found herself trembling again. It wasn't too long before Attina began hugging her again. Arista wasted no time in wrapping her arms around her.

"But Daddy, if Ursula really did turn Ariel into a human, what could we possibly do about it?" Adella asked. "It's not like we can confront her about this. She won't release Ariel from her contract."

"I know, and I was thinking of something else. It may sound preposterous, but it's the only way I can think to find this out without Ursula knowing of it."

"What?" the remaining daughters all asked in unison.

This was it, the moment that he had dreaded since his daughters had entered the room. He took a deep breather in order to prepare himself both for what he was about to say and for his daughters' reaction.

"I will take one of you to the surface and then I will turn you into a human. You will then look for Ariel and Sebastian and find out if Ursula did, in fact, turn her into a human. If she is now human, you are to help her complete her deal in any way that you can. Are any of you willing to volunteer?"

There, he had said it. He had just said the words that he had thought he would never say. His daughters' reaction also wasn't what he had expected. He had thought there would be more gasping, shock, that each daughter would speak up simultaneously, asking him what in the world he was thinking to even suggest such a thing. But instead he was greeted with silence, save for perhaps a single soft gasp, and twelve eyes widening at him. A minute passed before he finally heard Attina say, "Daddy, do you really think Ariel would meet with her?"

Triton hadn't quite figured that one out. He sincerely hoped that Ariel would never think of going to her. It was common knowledge in Atlantica that no one should ever visit Ursula. He still hadn't figured out why he was even thinking of this. He suspected that it was desperation. He never would have even considered this possibility under normal circumstances. But then again, these weren't normal circumstances. Nothing was normal on this day. He had hurt her so bad, and she apparently wished to become human herself based on what he heard her say to the statue in the middle of her grotto.

"I don't know if she would," he said hesitantly. "But I want to know if she did. I would do the same for any of you."

The six of them hesitated as they looked around the room. They all wanted to help Ariel, but this assignment seemed dangerous. Furthermore they were very surprised that their father was even planning this. Their entire lives they had been warned to stay away from humans. Their entire lives they were forbidden to go above the surface. But now the very merman who had laid down these very laws was planning to turn them into these same humans and walk among them. They didn't quite know if they didn't answer right away because they were afraid or shocked. A long silence followed before a lone voice said, "I'll go."

Triton did not react when he heard who had said it, but Aquata did. She gasped and then cried out, "Alana, you can't go there alone!"

Alana leveled her gaze at her and took hold of her older sister's hand. "Please, I have to do this," she whispered. She then turned to her father and said, "If you don't want me to go alone, please, at least send someone to go with me."

The room once again became silent. Alana looked back and forth, looking to see if anyone would go with her. Her gaze made the remaining five sisters feel uncomfortable, causing them to shrink back slightly because they knew Alana was challenging them. Arista averted her eyes from her, while Attina slowly shook her head. Alana's eyes then fell on Adella. Adella fidgeted slightly as she looked to her right, and then to her left, before she hesitantly swam forward.

"If Ariel has fallen in love, then maybe I should go, too," she said hesitantly, blushing slightly at her words.

"Oh, sure, leave it to the love expert," Andrina snickered. Adella sharply turned around and snapped, "Andrina, this is serious!" Andrina was taken aback momentarily but then recovered to say, "In case you haven't noticed, our youngest sister is missing, and I'm trying to keep things at least a bit normal around here."

"Exactly," Attina cut, "Ariel is missing, and things won't be normal unless we know if she's safe."

Triton groaned loudly so that his daughters would hear. It had the effect he was looking for because everybody in the room turned to look at him. "This sort of behavior isn't helping matters any. Now, I don't oppose either of you going there, but I feel that one more should go with you," he said, pointedly looking at his oldest daughter. Aquata understood the gesture and swam to join Adella and Alana. Triton then sat straight up on his throne, pointed to them, and said, "You three will come with me. The rest of you are dismissed."

Aquata, Adella, and Alana stayed while the other girls went to their rooms. Silence came upon the throne room once more. They began to feel fear rise in their chests. This was really about to happen. Each one tried to push the fear away as they looked up at their father, who was now swimming down from his throne to join them.

"Daddy, is there anything else we should know about this human?" Aquata asked.

"His name is Eric, but aside from that I don't know much else. He's apparently someone of great importance in his kingdom. One of the objects in Ariel's collection was a large statue of him, which is where we're going before I take you to the surface. Before we leave, I need to get a few things that you will need."

Triton then swam out of the room and came back a few minutes later carrying a large pouch. He then motioned for them to follow him, and they silently swam out of the throne room and into the night waters.

…

Ursula frowned at what she saw in her crystal ball. Her plot had not even been set in motion for even a few hours, and things had already begun to go awry. How had King Triton somehow suspected that Ariel was now human? How had he suspected that she had done this?

"Even the best-laid plans, I suppose," she muttered to herself, letting the rest of her thought remain in silence, having moved on to a new plan instead.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to change plots. If he thinks he's got me beat now, just wait until he sees what I have planned next. Ursula still has a few tricks up her sleeve. Oh how I do love a good game of chess."

She then rushed over to her potion cabinet and hastily grabbed a few bottles from it, stopping briefly to look at Flotsam and Jetsam. "Oh boys?" she called out in a sing-song voice. The two eels looked up in anticipation. "Care to take a little trip to the surface?" she asked them, smirking when they nodded.

"Oh what fun we'll have up there. The game isn't over yet, Triton, and I'm still winning this time," she cackled as she threw the first bottle into her cauldron, a small plume of smoke billowing from it. "Game," she said before throwing the second bottle. "Set," she said a bit louder as she threw in a third bottle, a beam of pale green light emerging from it. "Match," she shouted with the fourth bottle, the smoke pouring, light growing brighter, and the water swirling violently above the cauldron. Flotsam and Jetsam coiled around each other as light and sound burst from it.

"It's your turn now, Triton," she whispered, a devilish grin on her lips.