Disclaimer:I do not own The Little Mermaid,all rights go to owners,

Chapter 4:Desolation

Arron watched the young princess be escorted back to safety.

Deep in his cave,Urs watched in amusement and triumph at his crystal ball,depicting an infatuated Arron,perched atop one of the rocks in the ocean,close to the beach.

''Oh,no,no,no,no,no,no.I can't stand it,it's too easy!''. Urs curled his fists in the air.''The child,is in love with a human. And not just any human,a princess for crying out loud!''

Urs cackled madly,his head down and shoulders shaking,he raised his head,his white hair gone flopping on his forehead.''Her daddy I'll love that'',He said sarcastically.''Queen Tritiana's headstrong,lovesick son would make a charming addition to my little garden'',

Urs wickedly looked at his 'garden'. Which consisted of shrivelled,derelict grub-like creatures,as they cowered in fear at the sight of their capture as he cackled,his cackle echoed through the cave's walls.

Back within the palace,in the brother's dressing room,they called after their lingering brother.''Arron,time to come out,you've been there all morning!'',Andrew called.

Arron swam from behind the seaweed curtain,humming to himself.

He sat down and began to fix his hair.''What is with him lately?',Anton arched an eyebrow,as the rest of the boys gathered round their younger brother.

Arron plucked a white flower,tipped with pink and lightly bumped into his mother.''Oh,Morning Mother'',Arron hummed again and placed the flower in his mother's bleached blonde hair. The queen smiled,pleased,but was still confused. Arron swam off,half humming,half singing. The queen touched one of the petals with care and smiled again.

''Oh,he's got it bad'',Anton said,leaning against their door-frame and crossed his arms.

''What?What has he got?'',the queen looked from one son to the other.

''Isn't it obvious Mother?Arron's in love'',Andrew stated.

The queen carefully took the flower in her hands.''Arron,in love?''

Sebastian began to pace up and down on a rock,uneasy.

''So far,so good. I don't think the queen knows. But it will not be easy keeping something like this a secret for so long''.Sebastian,all the while,ignored the buttercup yellow petals that fell from above him,Arron sat on a rock,his head resting on his hand,plucking the petals off of a flower.''

''She loves me...''Arron frowned,''Hmmm,she loves me not...she loves me!I knew it!'',Arron clutched the last petal to his chest,grinning. Sebastian scuttled over to the infatuated merman.

''Arron,stop talking crazy!''

Arron sat up.''I gotta see her,tonight,Scuttle knows where she lives!''

Arron curled his fists in determination. Arron swam forward and Sebastian pulled on his tail.''Arron-please will you get your head out of the clouds and back in the water where it belongs?''

Arron ignored the crab hanging on to his tail fin and continued to make plans to see the princess.

''I'll swim up to her castle. Then Flounder will swim around to get her attention, and then with-''

Arron swam hither and thither,making plans here and there,whilst Sebastian's pincers slipped off of Arron's tail fin and he did a somersault as he did. He puffed up his chest.

''Down here is your home!Arron,listen to me.'',He scrambled after the fleeting merman. ''The human world-it's a mess'',he grinned as Arron sat perched on the rock. '' Life under the sea is better than anything they got up there'',he continued.

He outstretched his arms and began to sing a lesson to the merman:

The seaweed is always greener

In somebody else's lake
You dream about going up there
But that is a big mistake
Just look at the world around you
Right here on the ocean floor
Such wonderful things surround you
What more could you be lookin' for?

Under the sea
Under the sea
Darling it's better
Down where it's wetter
Take it from me
Up on the shore they work all day
Out in the sun they slave away
While we're devotin'
Full time to floatin' He leaped in the air,hands behind his head as he did.
Under the sea

Down here all the fish is happy He sang with a rayfish as they observed a dolphin somersault before swimming off.
As off through the waves they roll
The fish on the land ain't happy

Arron observed a sullen,gloomy blue fish stuck in a clear bubble. He looked at it pitifully and thought for a while.

They sad 'cause they in their bowl
But fish in the bowl is lucky
They in for a worser fate
One day when the boss gets hungry
Sebastian popped the bubble with the tip of his pincer,as the sullen fish sang:
Guess who's gon' be on the plate

Under the sea
Under the sea
Nobody beat us

Arron ran his fingers through soft, flowers,only for them to be seahorses,as they swam playfully around the merman.

Fry us and eat us
In fricassee
We what the land folks loves to cook
Under the sea we off the hook
We got no troubles
Life is the bubbles
Under the sea
Under the sea
Since life is sweet here
We got the beat here
Naturally
Even the sturgeon an' the ray
They get the urge 'n' start to play
We got the spirit
You got to hear it
Under the sea

The newt play the flute
The carp play the harp
The plaice play the bass
And they soundin' sharp
The bass play the brass
The chub play the tub
The fluke is the duke of soul
(Yeah)
The ray he can play
The lings on the strings
The trout rockin' out
The blackfish she sings
The smelt and the sprat
They know where it's at
An' oh that blowfish blow

Under the sea
Under the sea
When the sardine
Begin the beguine
It's music to me
What do they got? A lot of sand
We got a hot crustacean band
Each little clam here
knows how to jam here
Under the sea
Each little slug here
Cuttin' a rug here
Under the sea
Each little snail here
Knows how to wail here
That's why it's hotter
Under the water
Ya we in luck here
Down in the muck here
Under the sea

Sebastian finished his finale and grinned.''Arron?'',Sebastian opened one eye and found that the rock had no red-haired merman perched on top,rather,nothing at all. Sebastian sighed heavily as al the fish swam off.

''Arron?Arron?Oh...somebody's got to nail that guy's fins to the floor''

''Sebastian?'',a panting seahorse with a purple frilly neck accessory came swimming up to Sebastian in a hurry.

''Sebastian,I've been looking all over for you. I've got an urgent message from the sea queen''.

Sebastian's dull face turned to one of fear.''The sea queen?''
The anxious seahorse tugged at one of Sebastian's claws.

''He wants to see you right away..uh..uh something about...Arron!'',the seahorse swam off in a flurry.
Sebastian bit his lip and gulped.''He knows!'',he whispered.

In the palace room,Tritianna looked at the flower,smiling,she chuckled.

''Now...lets see...oh,who could the lucky mermaid be?Oh I hope she's pretty,well as long as she loves my Arron as much as he loves her...'',she sighed and noticed a trembling Sebastian,though she hadn't noticed his trembling.

''Oh,Sebastian,come on in'',Tritianna coughed roughly and thrust the flower behind her back. Sebastian breathed heavily and looked left and right,anxiously.''I musn't overreact,I must remain calm'',he thought to himself.

''Yes'',he squeaked,his voice,higher than normal,''...yes your Majesty?'',

''Now,Sebastian,I'm concerned about Arron. Have you noticed he's been acting...peculiar lately?'',she nonchalantly twisted her triton with her index and thumb.

Sebastian tried to chance for dumb insolence. He scratched his head and looked around.

''Peculiar?'',he asked.

''You know,moaning about,daydreaming,singing to himself...you haven't noticed,hmm?'',the queen peered over at the crab questioningly.

Sebastian choked up and raised a pincer.

''Oh,well,I-''

''Sebastian...''

''Hmm?'',Sebastian forced a smile and folded his claws.

The queen beckoned a finger. Sebastian scrambled upward toward the queen.

''I know you've been keeping something from me...''

Sebastina gulped.''Keeping...something?'',he forced a wide smile.

''About Arron?'',the queen had a slight smirk playing about her lips.

Sebastinas knees started shaking,he felt as if they would buckle over,or snap off and start scrambling for themselves. He covered them.
Sebastian chanced again for dumb insolence.

''About Arron?'' Sebastian knew in his head that the guy owed him once he was out of it.

The queen brought her triton closer,the points gleaming.''In love?'',the queen suggested. Sebastian whimpered ands bit his lip,perspiration breaking out uncontrollably o his shelly skin. Sebastian went on his knees and cried.

''I tried to stop her,ma'am. I told her to stay away from humans-they are bad,they are trouble,they-''

''Humans?'',the queen got up from her throne,her triton glowing embers as she glared at Sebastian.

Third time lucky?

''Humans?Ho ho ho ho...who said anything about humans?'',he said as he tried to edge away subtly. The queen's delicate hand gripped Sebastian,he made a squeal of surprise as he was squeezed tightly.

Arron and Flounder enter they're trove again.''Flounder,why can't you just tell me what this is about?'',Arron grinned.

''You'll see,it's a surprise'',Flounder said,mischievously.

They swam a bit further and Arron froze,his hand on his chest,his face of total surprise.''Oh,Flounder'',there,right there in front of here,was a statue of Princess Erica,the one that sunk right down to the bottom of the ocean when the drowning occurred.

Arron squeezed Flounder.''Oh,Flounder,you're the best!'',he said as she encircled the silver coated statue.''It looks just like her,it even has her eyes!'',he said happily,leaning against the statue.''Why,Erica,run away with you,live a happy ever after?Why this is all so sudden!'',he said in mock shock. He turned away laughing,so hard he clutched his stomach,oblivious to the fuming queen in front of the rove. He gasped as he saw him mother's fuming face.

''Mother!'',he gasped. Sebastian hid behind a rock,all too knowing of what was going to happen.

''I consider myself a reasonable mermaid'',she emerged from the shadows,the light bringing out her angry face,I set certain rules,and I expect those rules to be obeyed'',she said quietly as she advanced toward her son. Arron bit his lip and backed up against the statue.

''But,Mom,I-'' ''Is it true you rescued a human from drowning?'' ''Mother,I had to-'' ''Contact between the human world and the mer-world is strictly forbidden. Arron,you know that!Everyone knows that!'',she raised her voice. ''She would have died!'',Arron countered.

''One less human to worry about!'',she threw her arms in the ar,exasperated as she turned her back.

''You don't even know her!'',Arron cried.

''Know her?I don't have to know her,they're all the same!'',she cried back,as Arron backed away,this time nearing behind the statue.

''Spineless,savage,harpoonless fish eaters,incapable of any feeling-''

''Mother I love her!'',he cried,emerging from behind the statue,but wincing at the inevitable.

Sebastian gasped as if he was watching a soap opera take place.''No..'',the queen whispered,disbelieving.''Have you lost your senses completely,she's a human,you're a merman!'',she exclaimed.

''I don't care'',Arron said defiantly.

''So help me Arron,I am going to get through to you'',she said quietly,

''If this is the only way'',her emerald eyes glowed with something Arron couldn't recognise,the triton shone like embers.''So be it'',she whispered.

Any human item the queen saw in that trove,she targeted it.''Mother,no-''

She ignored him,the glow glowed brighter as it destroyed everything,desolated any loathed item,belonging to the despised humans.''Mother,no stop!''

The queen's eyes flashed to the statue,Arron flung himself in front of the triton,a little too fast,the sharp point slightly pierced into his skin,he clutched it,but it didn't hurt as much as his heart. The Queen hadn't noticed,thinking she swung it out of the way in time,and with that,a surge of orange and red flickered like a bonfire before it blasted toward the statue,destroying the statue,into nothing more than fragments. Arron looked over in disbelief,and sadness. His cyan blue eyes flashed and he felt like he could cry,but he didn't,instead he turned to his mother,his eyes gleamed and in a choked up whisper,''How could you do this?''

The Queen's eyes softened into shame and regret,her mouth opened like she would say something,but it came out stammered.''I-''

She looked left and right and then at her son,who shook his head and placed himself in a corner,his head in his hands,looking down,you couldn't see his expression,the queen wasn't sure she wanted to. She looked down with sadness and regret. She looked once more at her son and left him,leaving the trove she had left in desolation. Arron ignored his mild wound,his head still in his hands,he may not have been crying so much,but you could just see his shoulders move up and down...just the slightest.

Author's note:Hey guys,it seems like ages since I've updated,hope you liked this chapter and thanks to vampire13eb for following my story,I really appreciate it!Thanks to 'guest fan',for reviewing and in general all my readers!I really appreciate your support! :)

The next update won't be up till probably next weekend or so,school is coming up and all so you know,but I'll see if I can get it up a bit sooner,thanks again,bye x :)