I think it might be clear to anyone who's been paying attention, recently, that Sienna27 has been shouting from the rooftop, on multiple buildings, that I 'promised' her that I'd write something for Kavi's fairytale CM prompt, in the AU prompting section of the TV Prompt Challenge: The Request per Kavi was any acceptable het pairing, a Fairytale theme. I had to take any Disney movie and write our favorite CM characters are the protagonists;

I never 'promised' that was a total lie.

I said it sounded interesting, not that I'd actually write anything. But since she's declared it in like two or three places, I kind of have to now. I'm easily swayed by peer pressure like that!

Therefore, I welcome you to the weird world of Arc-verse: the Disney version.

Rule Number One: Everything must have a beginning

Having a tail was normal.

Even contemplating exchanging that normality for a chance at above world dwelling was inconceivable; for anybody except Emily, Reid and Garcia.

Except Garcia and Reid didn't actually want to go above the seas and live with the strange ones. The humans; Garcia had informed them.

Garcia already had two 'feet', I think she called them. What further experiences could she obtain from living in the above world? She technically already did.

Reid and I had first met Garcia months ago. We'd been searching for more above-world artifacts. Well, I had. Reid was just tagging along, helping me out, being the best best friend a mermaid could have. Reid was interested in everything and anything though, so it wasn't like he wasn't getting something out of our little expedition.

On the best 'finding' trip, we found this trident-looking thing. Only it was tiny, and shiny, and not really trident-y because the spears of the trident were too close together, but it was cute and pretty.

I loved it.

But I didn't know what it was.

So we set out to find someone who could.

And that was how we stumbled across the seagull outcast known as Garcia. She was an odd bird, but she was intelligent and knowledgeable, and really, who else was I going to find that would tell me (honestly) all they knew about the above-world?

But perhaps I should go back to the beginning.

Well, not the entire beginning beginning because who really needs to know the ins and outs, and down-right ookiness, of how fish-people are born… there's like these jelly-filled egg-sac thingies that pop out of the mother, or the father in the case of some fish folk (seahorses and the like), then there's the business with tentacles and/or fins and/or arms, and tails you can't forget the tails!

And at this point I think I should stop. You get the picture.

It's like learning that god is real, but that the world he created you in is his first draft, and now that he's got everything nicely sketched out, he's off to create the 'real' world, but obviously is too nice of a bloke to just kill your world off (and subsequently you). So, you get the dud prize! You get to keep your second rate world, but all the 'real' people get to have their happy un-ooky world over in the next universe. Kind of like a cosmic semi-joke.

I met a man.

Not a merman, or a fish, or a flounder, or an unpredictably large seahorse, or a rather dashing and intelligent octopus. No, I met a man.

A human man.

My father would not be pleased.

Understatement.

I'd been swimming perilously close to the surface, not anywhere near land, so it really shouldn't have been a problem. Except for the fact that I was alone; I hadn't even hooked Reid in to accompany me.

That's when I saw him. It was the age-old story, boy meets girl, boy and girl fall for each other, then his ship catches on fire and he nearly drowns to death while simultaneously getting mauled by a shark and the girl rescues him by dragging him toward the shore, hundreds of miles away…

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Aaron lent over the rail, looking into the sea; she was there again. The woman.

"What is it?" She asked, like there was nothing weird about a woman bobbing around in the ocean hundreds of miles from land.

"It's just, it's not every day you meet a beautiful (well, from the moonlight she looked quite beautiful, but it was night, you could never be too sure, she seemed like she was the type of woman that would be pretty) woman, such as yourself, swimming freely in the ocean." He responded.

"Why?" She asked innocently. And he was struck again by this naivety she kept exuding. Did she truly not understand that she should be freezing her ass off by now?

It was late, dark and cold. He was rugged up in thick socks, boots, he had long johns under his pants, and he had three layers on, including a beanie. He rubbed his hands together, and wished he hadn't left his gloves back in his bunk. But he wasn't about to go back now, not since she'd finally arrived. He'd been waiting out on the deck for her for about three hours.

"Well, you just don't." He answered.

"Do the women you know not like the ocean?" She asked, again. She seemed to be interested in his life and in his world, at least from this conversation.

But what he really wanted to know was who she was and where she came from. There were no ships on his radar, no one ever answered his hails, there were no islands and no submarines. And yes, he knew how weird his life must be when he started contemplating the idea that this mysterious woman escaped from a submerged U-boat to greet him with the kiss of night and the stars and the moon.

She never wore a wetsuit, or any other human clothing. He was starting to think she was either a figment of his imagination, a manifestation of his broken mind (just say it Aaron – a hallucination) or a mermaid… he didn't know which theory he was supposed to feel better about either. Because this woman, he was pretty sure he could love her for the rest of his life. If only he could spend more time with her, and by more time he meant not leaning over a railing trying to have a real conversation with her while she bobbed and splashed mysteriously and annoyingly (most of the time) beneath him in the freezing waves.

In fact what she did wear was… pleasantly revealing. But he wasn't entirely sure she knew that. Her hair was long, and surprisingly quick dry; he'd noticed that too, yesterday. The second day he'd met her. Well, noticed her. Because he'd first noticed a strange shape in the ocean, three days/nights ago, and figured out it was a woman two days/nights ago, and today/tonight was the first time they'd spoken. He knew she was curious, why else did she keep coming back?

They'd spent an awkward first hour working up the courage to talk to one another. Then they'd tried to find topics to talk about that they both got enjoyment out of… they'd just come out of a quiet reflection when he'd decided to let her know just how utterly weird it was for her to be bobbing about in the ocean like that.

Finally, he remembered the question he was supposed to be giving an answer to, "No, women like the ocean, some women anyway. And they like to swim, mostly though they sun-bake on the beach."

Her pretty face scrunched up into a look of consternation then. A watery hand reached up to pluck at her lip in thought.

"Sun-bake?" He thought he heard her echo. It was strange, because the way she said that word… it was like she had never heard the concept before.

And he guessed she mustn't have. Her skin was purely pale, it was beautiful and he was struck with the urge to find out her name.

Before he got the chance to ask her, an alarm clamored from somewhere within the ship. Men and women and a monkey (monkey?) came running from every direction. 'Fire!' they screamed, 'fire!' Aaron thought the flames might have already cued 'normal' people into that. All of them stampeding for the lifeboats. Once more it crossed Aaron's mind that the human race was really quite silly once the mob mentality got started. One little word, one little idea and entire group of normally self-respecting, intelligent and common sensed individuals went ape-shit. Quite literally, they would start flinging their own feces around the room if they saw someone else doing it first. Or was that sheep?

Point is… the commotion made her duck away. Or dunk away? What is the correct verb for a woman who's more comfortable in the sea, than on a handsome man's ship?

Did he mention the dark and the cold and the wet and the freezing?

She was gone, sinking into the deep, blackness that was the sea.

The ship sunk quickly. He'd make analogies to The Titanic, but that would be a little tasteless given that no one died, although the randomly appearing monkey took a good whack at it. Some tag-along stow-away thought bringing home a monkey from the islands would be a good idea… he was obviously not aware of the customs procedures regarding live animals.

Aaron did not make it to a life-boat.

As the calls of his fellow ship-mates grew fainter and fainter, he began to worry that he was going to die out here. He'd heard that drowning was peaceful. But he didn't know how much stock he put into that and he found, he actually didn't want to find out either. The whole idea of your lungs filling up with liquid, most of which was salty and briny wasn't a pleasant idea. But he was tired, and he didn't know how much longer he could keep drifting and treading water. He supposed he could float, but the waves had steadily been getting rockier and the swells larger. Floating would not do in these waters.

And what was that thing coming toward him at a really fast speed?

Oh wait, is that a shark?

Oh… that can't be good.

Why isn't he swimming? She thought. She'd watched him sort of flubbering along. His two… what were they called again? His two tails that weren't, they were flipping catastrophically. And without much useful momentum. No wonder the women he knew didn't swim, if he was anything to go by, their whole species were useless in the water. But she supposed, when you didn't live in the water, you didn't need to be good (or even competent) in the water.

She saw George, or George's cousin, or his nephew. Eh, it was hard to tell them apart. She called out a quick hello; George got the picture, responded with a greeting. She realized it was George's cousin, he was nicer, and then he did the only respectable thing he could. He left them to it.

But this point, the nice and rather handsome man she'd been visiting for the past few days was going down fast. It was like the waves were hurting him. He was struggling to get back up the top. Then she remembered something Reid had said, that humans were like dolphins, they needed air. They couldn't breathe underwater.

Humans weren't like Merpeople; they could only breathe air, not water too.

She swam over quickly, grabbing his arms and hauling him toward the surface. He was asleep, or something like it, once they made it there. She began to drag him toward land. It was long and hard, and he wasn't waking up. She made it to the shore around daybreak.

Emily waited with him in the shoals.

She caressed his forehead. She wondered what was so intriguing and different about this man as opposed to all the other mermen her father introduced her to, why was this one special?

He woke up with the starched feeling of dried salt in his hair, in his clothes and on his skin. There was the soft but soothing whoosh of the ocean tide and the heat of the morning sun was burning out the coldness in his limbs. Unfortunately his feet were quite soggy, and the bottoms of his pants were soaking up water quicker than his brain could notice.

And that was definitely a hand touching his face.

He cracked open an eye and squinted directly into the line of sight with the sun.

Ouch! He groaned internally and sarcastically. At least he knew his brain was still somewhat functioning.

Blinking rapidly, he sought for the figure that was delicately accosting him… soothing him? Molesting him, his brain added with a silent snort. He was definitely not complaining. It felt wonderful, and it almost made him forget about the squelchy, slimy frond of seaweed creeping up his leg.

"Nngh." An inarticulate sound emanated from the man. Aaron. That's how he had introduced himself.

"Shh…" She hushed, and for some unknown reasons, her words failed her. She didn't know how to soothe him properly, what was a human custom in a circumstance such as this?

He was still blinking his eyes rapidly, they weren't focusing properly. He thought perhaps he had a concussion. That would make sense. He vaguely remembered his ship and flames… and wait, was that a shark's fin swimming menacingly in his memory?

The phantom hand ghosted over his forehead again, he grabbed at the hand with his own. Caressing the fingers he found there, he let the small smile that had been threatening to emerge since he woke up widen. He was strangely content.

The beach was completely perfect. It was silent and blissful, and Aaron never wanted to open his eyes. He'd decided that the woman in the sea was simply a figment of his sun-baked imagination. She was a guardian of some sort, and he didn't want her cooling presence to leave him here all alone on this beach. He sighed pleasurably.

Emily didn't want to ever leave his side. She wanted him to open his eyes, to really look at her, but he wouldn't. He'd tried but perhaps human eyes weren't as good as fish eyes or her own eyes?

She wasn't sure, and it wasn't something she, Reid and Garcia had even thought to discuss. How do you have that conversation with a gull, a flounder and a mermaid?

She wanted to talk to him some more. They'd only truly began to have a conversation last night, but then all those loud sounds had started and his companions had come running, and she'd had to leave. It was bad enough she'd let one human see her, she couldn't let a multitude see her too.

But she yearned to be near this man, this Aaron. She wondered if he even wanted her around. He hadn't seemed averse to chatting with her. But then perhaps he was merely being polite… He had hold of her hand and he was rubbing it softly. It felt wonderful. No one had EVER taken this kind of liberty with her before. She kind of liked it.

He brought her hand to his lips, and kissed her knuckles. It was a thank you; even if she wasn't real, he could still thank her for saving him…

JJ was a mess. She'd grown up with Aaron Hotchner. They were best friends. Their fathers ran a multinational business/company. If Kings and Queens still existed with any amount of political or financial pull in this world, their fathers were the Kings of not only their own country but probably a couple of third worlds too.

Sometimes she liked to think of herself as a princess, she knew it was silly and a little girlish, but Aaron truly was a prince, in every sense of the word except blood and birthright. And now his stupid ship has sunk.

Stupid sinking ship.

She'd begged him not to go, not to go and leave her behind with all the boring, rich friends of their fathers. She was a good number of years younger than Aaron, but he had never treated her unkindly for it, if anything he had always treated her as a treasured sister.

There was a very serious and costly search going on at the moment, ever since the mayday had gone out over the radio. JJ hadn't been allowed to join in. She was annoyed, but understood her father's sentiment. She got seasick.

A fat lot of use she'd be…

So she was trying to distract herself by trolling along the seashore, looking out for shells or something of interest to show Aaron when he returned. Because he was returning. No doubt about that. She squinted in the bright morning sun, the light of the day causing her to see a mirage.

It certainly looked like there was a man lying out there on the beach gussied up for an arctic adventure. And a very skimpily dressed woman leaning wantonly over him.

Was that a fish's tail?

No, couldn't be. JJ shook her head, it was kind of a greenish-bluish blur; maybe it's a fast moving towel?

The woman with the fish tail/fast moving towel (I'm going insane) looked up and saw her. She darted (Do fish/towel women dart?) back into the crashing waves. JJ broke into a run. As she neared, coming closer and closer to the prone figure, she realized it was Aaron.

"Aaron!" She screamed, "Aaron!"

He heard JJ calling him. Why was she on his deserted island? Oh no, she'd scare his lovely, cool, caressing hands woman away. He pried open his eyes and saw that he was alone on the beach. A blonde woman running across the sand toward him.

He recognized this beach. It was near his father's beach house (read: mansion). And that would mean that the familiar looking woman calling his name and screaming into her mobile would actually be… JJ. His best friend.

She reached him in record time, pulling him clear out of the water, and crying with relief.

"We… thought…. Your ship… Aaron!" She cried, hugging him joyfully.

"Hey." He managed. Now that he was sitting upright, he peered out in the ocean, trying to catch a glimpse of the owner of the hand.

She was nowhere in sight.

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He didn't have a concussion, but the doctors were worried about exposure to the elements; especially considering he'd swam so far.

Had he?

Wasn't someone pulling him?

Only, he kept those thoughts to himself. Perhaps it really was just an act of his over-active imagination. But his imagination in the past had never been so… vivid.

He'd tried to tell JJ, but she seemed pre-occupied more with the fact that he had survived rather than this mysterious sea-woman he kept harping on about. And she seemed nervous too, as if she had seen something, but was trying to deny it.

It didn't matter.

He was alive, and it was unlikely his father would ever allow them to own a boat again.

He was the sole heir-apparent to the spoils of business. His father could be valiantly over-protective when he thought his plans were being interfered with. It didn't matter to him that Aaron was more interested in anything other than the business world. It was a family business, and he better just get used to that fact.

His father was allowing him a little bit of lee-way in the years of his twenties, but he was going to be running out of those soon. He'd have to take on more and more responsibility, so that he could prove not only to his father but to his father's associates that he was more than competent to take over running the family business. Even if it was a hulking multinational corporation.

But he kept dreaming of the sea-woman. Scantily clad… oh how his imagination loved to fill in those details, changing with every dream; long hair, although his brain had yet to make up its mind on the color; cool, caressing hands, and her voice. He loved the sound of her voice.

It wasn't a clear twinkle like JJ's. It was smoother, a tiny bit rougher. But he liked that sound about all others. Another reason he was beginning to think she'd merely been a figment of his imagination, or worse… a hallucination; she was too good to be true. She was like his dream-girl, granted a little naïve about the world, and people in general. Their conversation had been enough to prove that to him, but the more he reflected on that singular conversation the more he liked it. The more he thought about how much fun it would be to showcase his world to her. Show her all the things he loved to do, all the little pieces of life that so many people often over-looked. And he wanted to know her perception of everything. He wanted to see her finger her lip in deep thought, toss her hair back over her shoulders, he wanted to be able to look into her eyes and see the color, not just look in the direction of her body and hope no cloud moved in front of the moon to obscure his view.

He sighed once more, trying to shake the image of the sea-woman savior from his mind.

JJ looked at him curiously. He'd been odd, ever since coming back from the sea. As if he'd left something or someone important behind in it.

But he wasn't talking.

Summer holidays were coming to end soon, and she was going to have to go back to college. But she didn't want to leave Aaron in this state. But he'd insisted. He was going to be fine. And when Aaron insisted, he really didn't leave you any choice.

Bonus point to those of you who can remember the real names of the characters I've pilfered ;)

This was so not the Disney movie I was going to do, but it just had too many great opportunities for character development. AND, it doesn't exactly follow the film's plot, but hey, I'm not setting back in the castles and horses era either.

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