Title: Entangled Souls

Author: Brighteyes88

Rated: PG/PG-13

Summary: Ariel and Eric are happily engaged. But what happens when Ariel is forced to go back to the sea? What happens when someone from her past comes to claim her as his own? And what will happen to Eric back on land, while in the presence of a persistent princess?

Authors Note: Hey everyone. I'm really glad that you all liked chapter two. I' happy to say that I was able to finish this chapter a bit faster, and I'm happy about the way it turned out. So, getting to the point, keep me posted on what you think, especially on this chapter because I feel it's a very vital piece of the storyline.

Chapter Three: The Beginning of the Storm

"Shhh" Eric spun around and lifted his finger to his lips, begging Ariel to silence herself. "Ariel stop laughing."

"I'm try..." she giggled, her hand shooting over her mouth. Slowly lifting it up off her lips, she whispered, "I'm trying."

"Good." Eric turned to her and grinned, his hair plastered to his forehead with water, which was still dripping off the black ends.

Tip toeing wordlessly up to the castle's back door, Eric grabbed the door handle, ever so quietly twisting the nob and opening the door. As he slowly pushed it open, the hinges squeaked. Of course! Within a second of opening the door, he could feel Ariel pressed up against his back, her small hands gripping his shoulders, and her chin nuzzled against his neck.

Laughing silently, he turned around and whispered as softly as his voice would allow, "Scared?"

She just crinkled her nose and shook her head, trying to act brave. Eric thought she looked so cute when she tried to be courageous. "Ok then - follow me."

Taking small steps ahead into the pitch-black dark, Ariel had no clue where she was going. Reaching out in front of her, she could feel Eric, so she took her hand, and brushed it down his arm until she had a hold of his hand. "You lead."

With Ariel's small hand in his, Eric began to maneuver his way through the dining hall and into the entryway. Thank goodness he knew this castle so well, after so many years of sneaking out at night to go and sit by the ocean, he had become an expert at silently exiting and reentering the pitch black halls of his home.

"Eric." Ariel's voice cracked through the darkness, as she tugged on the boy's hand. "my shoes, they're making noise." She took another step forward, trying to show Eric what she meant, and sure enough, the girl's shoes lightly echoed against the marble floor.

"So take 'em off."

"Oh, ok." The girl replied, reaching down and pulling off her heels. Once she had them in her hand, she squeezed the hand of the boy, and they continued.

Winding their way through the hallways, and trying to keep from giggling or slipping, Eric and Ariel came upon the entrance to the main wing. "Ok," Eric whispered, squeezing Ariel's hand, "I'll help you get to your room, and then I'm gonna go down to mine."

She shook her head in response, causing beads of water to fling from her hair onto the boy's face. "Sorry."

He smiled, pulling her hand as he led her in the direction of her bedroom. Once they had finally reached the French doors to Ariel's quarters, Eric spoke, "Alright, here we are. I'll see you in the morning."

As he began to walk in the other direction, Ariel could feel her hand slipping out of his, and gripped it tightly, pulling him back to her for a kiss. Her back pressed up against the door, she could feel her heart begin to race. When, she and Eric broke apart, she lightly brushed his wet hair from his eyes, and gazed into them, "I love you."

"I love you too."

Smiling, Ariel opened her doors, taking one last look at Eric before walking in. She turned her head around as she entered, only to scream, "Eric!"

Eric bolted into her room, grabbing a hold of her protectively, only to immediately relax with frustration. "Grimsby?"

Grim stood in the center of Ariel's room, a candle in his hand, and his arms crossed. "Why good evening Eric." he tapped his foot on the floor in frustration. "And, just what are you doing?"

Eric raised an eyebrow. He was more than a little shocked to see Grim in his fiancee's bedroom, wearing his night shirt and cap.

Stroking Ariel's red hair, he replied, "Um...actually Grim, I should be asking you that."

"And why ever so?"

"Well..." Eric looked from Grim to Ariel, and then back, "For starters, you're in Ariel's room, and well, your wearing your nightgown."

Grim gave Eric an irritated look, "For the one hundredth time Eric, it is not a nightgown. Will you please stop calling it that."

"Sure thing Grim." Eric smiled deviously, before straightening his face and continuing. "So what are you doing in here?"

"I am in here because you and Ariel didn't come home tonight."

"Grim, we did come home - We're here." Eric retorted.

Grim pulled up his sleeve and glanced at his watch, "No Eric, it is half passed one, which makes it morning."

"Oh come on Grim." Eric said, placing his hand on his forehead, "We're here aren't we?"

Grim stood completely still, a blank look on his wrinkled face.

"Grim?" Ariel questioned, fully aware that some type of reprimanding was to follow.

"Yes Eric, you are here, but you are here late." Ariel laced her fingers with Eric's and squeezed his hand reassuringly, knowing how much he hated it when Grim reprimanded him.

"But Grim..." Ariel began, only to be cut off by the elderly man.

"Oh no, Miss Ariel, not this time...Don't you see, Eric is the only heir to this kingdom, and whether he likes it or not, he is going to be more responsible."

"Grim..."

"No Eric - You must see how you worry us all. I mean, you were gone all night. It's our job to worry about you - and even if it wasn't, we would still worry." He wrinkled his nose, "And just look at yourself...you're soaking wet!"

"We had an accident." Ariel sighed, steeping in front of Eric.

"Yes," Grim said, eyeing her up and down, "I can see that."

"Grim, I'm sorry." Eric sighed, pulling Ariel a step back, "But you know, you didn't have to wait for us to get back."

Grim smiled, "Well, I do tend to worry, and poor Carlotta was also quite nervous when you two didn't come home, so I told her I would wait up."

"Well, why in my room?" Ariel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because my dear, I knew that Eric would escort you here."

"Oh."

"Now please," Grim sighed, an exasperated look on his face, "Clean yourselves up, and get some sleep."

"Ok." Ariel and Eric replied in unison. Ariel snuggled up against Eric as she watched Grim exit the room.

"Oh, and by the way," They heard Grim's voice coming from the hallway, "you have some seaweed wrapped around your ankle, Ariel my dear."

Ariel giggled and looked up at Eric, who bent down and pulled the seaweed off her leg, dropping it to the ground, where it fell with a sloppy splat.

"Arista, give me the shell band!"

"Why don't you get one for yourself Adella?"

"Because," The mermaid smiled, "I like that one, and it matches with my shells."

Her sister gave her a glare, "Well, then why don't I just give it to you."

"That would be nice." Adella smiled sarcastically.

"Oh please you two," Attina interjected, "just give her the shell band, Arista. It does match with her shells," she noted, "And plus, you already did your hair."

"Fine." Arista sighed, handing the shell head band to her sister.

Andrina, who was sitting at the vanity glanced back at her sisters and spoke, "Alana, why don't you use the pearls today, they'd look pretty."

"Ok, thanks." The young mermaid smiled, wrapping a string of pearls around her silky hair.

Suddenly, the seaweed on the other side of the coral bed began to rustle, and Aquata popped through, "Girls," She exclaimed, excitedly, "Please hurry up, Father wants us outside so that we can greet Prince Kallon."

Sitting just outside, the King waited, with Sebastian at his side, for the arrival of an old friend. "Sebastian, is everything ready for his arrival."

"Of course Your Majesty." His most trusted crustacean replied.

"Wonderful." Triton smiled, as he spotted the approaching carriage of the Arctician Prince.

Once the conch had made a complete stop in front of the Sea King, an octopus swam over to the door, and unlatched it, allowing the Prince and his son to swim out.

"Triton." The merman greeted happily, upon spotting his dearest friend, "How are you?"

"I'm great Kallon. Just great." The Sea King replied as he hugged his friend. "You remember Sebastian?" Triton said, motioning to the crab.

"Of course. Sebastian."

"Good to see you again Your Highness." The crab bowed.

"And you remember my son, Angelo." Kallon said, urging his son forward out of the conch.

Triton smiled, "Why yes I do."

"How nice to see you again, Your Majesty." The young merman greeted, bowing to the King.

"Dad?"

"Oh," The Prince replied, "and my daughter Nixie, of course."

"How could I forget." Triton said as the teenager exited the conch.

"How do you do?" She asked politely as she swam out.

"Wonderful. Oh, well come inside and I'll get you something to eat." Triton said, ushering them through the palace doors. "You must be exhausted from the journey."

"Indeed." Kallon replied as he swam through the doors.

Once inside the palace, The Prince and his children went to their rooms to freshen up, and then met the Sea King and his lovely daughters in the dining hall for dinner.

"It's so nice to see you again Your Highness." Adella smiled at Prince Kallon.

"Why thank you my dear." The elderly man smiled at the young mermaid, "I'm so happy to be back."

"Well, it is great to have you here." Triton said, taking a bite of kelp.

"Yes... it's so nice here in Atlantica, I tried to convince father to come here for holiday." Nixie said as she looked up from her plate.

"Yeah, I love it here." Aquata said to the other mermaid, "You should see all that we've done with the place. Father has been letting us decorate the palace a bit, and it really looks stunning."

"Ah, yes," Triton laughed, "You know how girls are."

"Do I ever." Kallon laughed, looking over at his daughter.

"Oh come on," Nixie sighed, "I am not that bad."

Angelo choked on his kelp, "Not that bad?"

"Angelo please." His sister said dramatically.

"Your Majesty," the young merman began, a smile on his face, "I'm sure you can appreciate what it's like to live with nothing but girls."

Triton laughed, "I'd say I can. These girls are more than I can handle. Always getting into trouble."

"Well," Angelo said, looking around the table, "You can probably understand better than anybody...I couldn't imagine living with seven girls." He looked around the table. There was his father, the Sea King, his sister Nixie, Adella, Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Attina, and Alana. No Ariel? Where was Ariel?

"Um..." The merman sighed, a look of confusion on his face, "You Majesty, where's Ariel?"

"Ah, that's right, I knew something was missing," Kallon laughed, "Where is the rambunctious mermaid?"

Triton's expression went blank. What was he going to say? "Oh, Ariel is out for the night." He said, deciding that it was not the time to address the subject matter of his daughter and her human love.

"Oh." Angelo replied, apparently satisfied with the King's answer.

"So," Attina said, trying to sway the conversation away from a topic that involved humans. "How are things down in Arctica."

"Awful." Nixie said with a mouth full of food.

"Nixie's right," Angelo replied, actually agreeing with his sister, "The other day one of our own was snared by a human net - she was nearly killed."

"No!" Alana sighed, raising her hand to her mouth. "What happened?"

Attina glared at Alana, her look saying 'I was trying to get away from the human subject.'

Catching her sister's stare, Alana mouthed "I'm sorry."

"Well," Kallon begun, "A young mermaid - I'd say she was about twenty or so - in our beautiful kingdom - was swimming up by the surface a few days ago, and that's when she was snared."

Triton gave his friend a knowing glance, still not thrilled with humans himself. "How awful."

Kallon nodded, "It was awful. She was trapped for hours, and badly injured. The humans hoisted her on deck and treated her like an animal. She was able to leap off the side of the boat though."

Angelo shook his head, "Those barbarians."

His father sighed, "Yes, son, they are barbarians. In fact, Triton, she wasn't the only one to be taken. There are some that have been missing and haven't yet returned."

Triton could feel his hatred for humans come rushing back to the surface. How could they treat the merpeople that way? This was a race of highly intelligent, thinking, breathing, living beings, who deserved to be treated as such! "It's an outrage!"

"I agree completely." Kallon said. "Now the last thing I want is for something like that to happen to my children. When I heard about that young mermaid, I just pictured my Nixie...This has to stop."

Triton shook his head in agreement, thinking about Ariel...and then about Eric. Why couldn't all humans be like him. That boy cared about Ariel's people, and wanted to keep them safe just as bad as she did, because he truly loved her.

Once dinner had ended, Triton said goodnight to his guests, for it was growing very late, and left them for the evening. Sitting in his room, he heard a knock on his door.

"Who is it?"

"Daddy it's me." Aquata called from the opposite end of the door.

"Come in dear."

"Hi Daddy." She said as she swam up to her father.

Triton wrapped his arms around the girl, "Oh, I just don't know what to think anymore."

"I know." Aquata sighed, "but lying is definitely not going to get us anywhere."

"What do you mean?" Triton asked, knowing full well, but hoping that his daughter would drop the subject.

"I mean about Ariel." She said, her voice full of wisdom beyond her years. "You know that you can't hide it...why didn't you just tell them?"

Triton laughed, although it was not a laugh of happiness, rather one of pressure and uncertainty, "What was I supposed to say...Oh yes, my daughter rescued a human from drowning and fell madly in love with him. Then she went to Ursula. You remember Ursula, don't you? Yes, well, she went to Ursula and traded her stunning voice for a pair of human legs. Now, needless to say I knew nothing about this, until I couldn't find my daughter.

So anyway, she was living up on land, with no voice, chasing after this human, Price Eric. Well, the deal she made with Ursula entailed that Eric kiss my Ariel before the sun set on her third day as a human... So she and Eric went through all kinds of strange happening, thanks to Ursula and her eels, and what wound up happening is very interesting, you see, Ariel was just about to kiss the Prince - who by the way was about to marry Ursula in disguise - who had hypnotized him, using my baby's voice.

So Ariel and Eric were about to kiss when, wouldn't you know it, the sun set. So Ursula took her and dragged her off the ship and into the ocean. So now Ursula had Ariel, who was once again a mermaid, and had signed a contract with her, to loose her soul, should she and Eric not kiss a kiss of true love. So in order to save my daughter, I agree to switch places with her. Well, then Ursula had my Trident, and I shrunk and withered. It was then that she grew to massive size and tried to kill my Ariel.

Eric also came back to save Ariel, and they wound up being separated in the raging storm that Ursula had created. So then, Ariel was at the bottom of a whirlpool, being shot at by Ursula, when Eric steered a boat into her, piercing her with its sharp pointed edge. So I was able to see just how much Ariel loved this boy, and how much he loved her, so I made her human so she could be with him. And that leaves us where we are today. Ariel is now engaged to said human, and they are going to get married... on land."

Once her father had finished his narrative, Aquata glanced up, "Daddy, I don't know how they'll react, but I do know that eventually the truth will come out...whether you tell them or not."

So - what did you all think??? I would love to know, so please drop me a review. I'm very curious as to your reactions, comments, and ideas regarding this chapter.

Thanks!