Ariel stared at the scroll in front of her, her common sense roaring back at the moment of truth. Consider your loyalties! It pleaded. In the ocean you have friends and family that love you, a country that needs you. Up there there is no guarantees, no friends. Only mystery and doubt.
And adventure! Ariel fought back. And Eric! And acceptance! Yes, there will be mysteries, but there will be answers, and comfort for my doubt.
What about your father? Reason cut in. Your sisters? You're betraying them just by your presence in this horrible place.
I love my family. Ariel insisted, but I love Eric too. I love my dreams. I'm sure my family loves me enough that they will come to accept my decision.
Which is--?
Ariel took a deep breath of the vile water and grabbed the quill pen. I can always come back to the sea, but I won't get a second chance at true love.
It is a horrifying sensation, having your voice taken away.
She wasn't sure if it had taken hours or minutes, the vortex of green magic seemed to swallow time as well as her song.
As she began to sing Ariel felt feather-soft fingers brush her neck lovingly, enticingly. She leaned obediently into their hold. Suddenly, the fingers turned clammy as they tightened around her throat until it felt as if they were pulling at her very vocal chords.
Ariel gasped for air.
"SING!" Ursula demanded at the princess's hesitation, so she began again, despite the pain in her throat as the hands dug their thumbnails into her flesh and began to pull out her voice.
It felt as if they were pulling all of the warmth from her body...
...and then the pain, and the hands, were gone.
Ariel was still catching her breath when a gold arm of magic enveloped her. Her mind went blank as all of the healing magic was sucked from her to repair the damage done as her fin unzipped to reveal two limbs that, she realized when the magic released her, went as limp as jellyfish. She flailed about helplessly, her breath pushed from her yet again, as she tried desperately to reach the light of the sun only yards above her. The water, which had previously held her up, tried to drag her down, pressing at her from all sides.
Her friends, who had been released once she was in the bubble of gold magic, shot forward to aid their now human princess to the forbidden surface.
"Ughh," Jim woke to a strange stinging pain in his broken leg and a wet sensation on his cheek.
"Morph, cut it out." The cripple grumbled, turning his face away from the licking and bringing his arm up to shade his face from the sun.
Morph whined in protest, then gave out a small... bark.
"Wha--? Max?" Jim realized, finally opening his eyes to see the canine. "Why are you here? I know I agreed to take care of you while Eric goes on his field trip, but you are supposed to be dropped off tomorrow, and I am not doing over.. time."
Finally, the young sailor realized where he was.
"I fell asleep on the BEACH?!" He exclaimed, his voice cracking on the last syllable. Max licked his face in reply, not grasping the gravity of the situation.
Jim did a quick body check and cursed under his breath. During the night the tide had risen, and now his cast was soaked through. He would have to go into town to have it replaced.
His swearing woke Morph, who helped his master sit up, all the while happily mimicking every explicative Jim had said. The youth shut him up with a slightly soggy cookie.
"How could I have fallen asleep?" Jim mentally kicked himself as he made his slow way back to the summer home. "I don't even remember falling asleep. Must've worn myself out trying to walk on sand with crutches." He swore again. Morph mimicked him, and Jim swore a third time for causing the small alien to swear. He made a mental note to watch his language in the future. He may be masquerading as a sailor, but that didn't mean he had to talk like one. They were trekking through the more rocky section of the beach when Max caught the scent. Without a second thought, the dog was bounding off in pursuit of the smell... away from the house.
"Max!" Jim called, trying his best to keep up. "Max, come!" Max whined, wavered, then continued on his search.
"Ugh, that son of a--" He caught sight of Morph, watching him expectantly for new vocabulary words. The spacer had no choice but to bite back his curses and follow the deranged mutt.
Ariel roused a few hours after her transformation to the new and wonderful sensation of the sun burning red behind her eyelids and the waves lapping against her new legs.
Legs! She'd passed out right when they'd made it ashore so she hadn't gotten a good look at them. She crossed one dripping leg over her other bent-- what was it called?-- oh right, knee, so that she could examine her feet.
She had wiggled her toes for twenty whole minutes before Scuttle spotted her from the sky and his excited calls woke her marine companions.
"Well, look at what the catfish dragged in! Look at ya! Look at ya! There's something different. Don't tell me -"
Scuttle's last words caused Ariel's hands to fly to her throat. Even if she wanted to tell her friend that she most obviously had LEGS, like Sebastian was now exclaiming, she couldn't.
Her hair fell into her face as she remembered her encounter with that terrible witch. She only had three days; there was no time to lose!
"--She's gotta make the prince fall in love with her, and he's gotta ki- he's gotta kiss her." Flounder flustered as the new human tried to stand up.
She's seen it done in books, and in all of the paintings she'd collected this was a favorite pose, but she had never consider the amount of poise and balance it took to accomplish!
And I never knew I was this... tall! She thought giddily, losing her footing and toppling with a splash. She sat up, rubbing her throbbing lower back and brushing her limp, heavy heavy hair from her face with a sigh.
This, she decided, is when the prince should come in and save me. She made another attempt at standing, leaning on a rock formation for support.
"Look at her!" Sebastian exclaimed, still in shock. "On legs! On human legs! Oh, my nerves are shot. This is a catastrophe! What wud her fadda say? I tell you what her fadda'd say. He'd say he's gonna keel himself a crob, dat's what he fadda'd say! I'm gonna--"
Ariel had just laid hands on her overseer, who had been in the process of marching into the sea, when a familiar voice caught her attention.
"Max come! Max! MAX!" Oh no, the ex-mermaid groaned inwardly.
The girl peered over the walls of her sheltered pool only to be knocked down for the second time by a great, furry, white... thing. She frantically pushed the animal off of her, throwing Sebastian to who knows where, and scrambling for some kind of shield against the thing's tongue that seemed to attack her at all sides.
Finally, she found a long wooden board-- probably a part of the prince's ship-- and held it in front of her. She fended off the beast's assaults for what seemed like an eternity until--
"Max, heel!" The breathless voice-that-Ariel-really-didn't-want-to-hear called again. "Seriously, mutt, you can't drag me all over the bloody beach just so you can--"
Ariel had peeked out from behind the plank to glance at her rescuer, but now retreated upon drawing his gaze.
There was silence.
Why, Fates? Ariel whimpered, her knuckles white against the damp wood. Why, out of all the humans on this planet, does HE have to be the one to find me, and so helpless! The last time I saw him I was hitting his temple with a rock! He must hate me...
But, for some reason, she felt safe around the moody teenager, and she at least knew his character. Should she write him off so rashly?
"Ummmm," Jim-- that was his name-- stammered from behind the board, interrupting her thoughts. "I can still see you."
There is something that everyone should know that's very important to the plot of this fanfic. Are you ready? OK.... Jim is a guy.
Thus, even though he said he's sworn off women, that doesn't stop him from being attracted to girls and totally losing his cool around them. Especially the cute ones.
Roll film!
Jim could only stare. He forgot all about Max and his aching leg; his eyes locked on the terrified girl in the shallow pool.
An angel, his hormonal side cooed, making his knees weak-- or rather, weaker. She's even hiding behind a plank that's perfect for the solar surfer. It's as if she was sent by God.
Jim didn't have a set type. He'd dated a couple times and knew what he didn't want in a girl, but as far as smarts or athletics or originality went, he didn't really care. It would be nice, though, he thought as the girl peeked at him from behind her shield, that whoever I fall for would look a lot like her. He smirked as she withdrew again, though her legs from the knees down protruded from the water.
"Ummmm--" Jim wasn't sure how to deal with this girl. He thought people outgrew the can't-see-you-can't-see-me phase at three. "--I can still see you." She looked around the board at him again, and he held out a hand to help her up (balancing his crutch against his good knee).
"Can you stand?" The girl stared, a bit open-mouthed, blushed, and frowned. The spacer leaned forward, taking hold of the board.
The girl snapped. Though she made no noise of protest, suddenly Jim was soaked by a wall of water.
"Hey, stop that!" Jim exclaimed as the frantic maiden kicked more and more salt water into his face as she awkwardly backed away, trying to make her escape. Max, who had, until this time, been perched on a rock to watch the whole scene, jumped into the water as well, barking happily. This sudden change of events discombobulated the tired and pained man, and the water made the stones he was balancing on treacherous. With a large splash, he lost his footing and slid into the water, his crutches clattering out of his reach.
His yell of pain quieted the dog and the assailant, both looking at him with inquisitive eyes. Tears fell unbidden down his face as he repositioned his leg.
"Well," he huffed, not meeting his observers' eyes, "At least I know how to shut you up in future: cause myself inexplicable pain."
The redheaded girl had moved to her knees in the tidal pool, the board resting on her thighs to cover her lower half.
'Can YOU stand?' She mouthed, pointing at him. Jim looked into the ocean blue eyes that were now only a foot from his.
"Um," he stammered. He looked away, anywhere to avoid sinking into them. It was then that he realized. "You're naked!" Though he couldn't see anything scandalous, she was showing enough skin to suggest nothing else. The redhead cocked her head for a moment, as if processing the information, then it clicked. She hurriedly stood her wood barrier on end, hugging it to her body. She looked about frantically for an escape, and as his stomach sank he realized that he didn't want her to leave just yet. If he was honest with himself, though he was relishing the peace and quiet of his vacation, this didn't mean he wanted to be alone. And this beautiful girl was... intriguing, to say the least.
"Steady, steady, it's OK." He reassured with a smile. "Here," he took off his jacket to allow him to strip off his shirt. He handed the damp garment to her. "Wear this. It'll be long enough that you can wear it comfortably until we get back to the villa."
The redhead looked at the shirt then at him, her face completely confused.
"You don't have a place to stay, right?"
She shook her head.
"Well, I'm not the type of sp--sailor to just leave a pretty lady like you sitting in a tidal pool. You can bunk at my place as long as you need to-- I'm borrowing it myself. No requirements, no fees." The girl was still staring. Jim slapped his hands against the water, a little frustrated at her evident bewilderment on such a simple subject. Was no one generous where she came from?
"Come on," he urged, "Will you let me help you?"
The girl looked at the shirt, contemplating for a moment. Then, she reached out to offer the shirt back. He took it automatically.
Having returned his token, she immediately hugged the plank back to her chest and fell back down in the water with a splash.
Ariel bit back tears of embarrassment as she fell back into the water once again, positioning the board to hide her nakedness. The current situation was too mortifying for words! First, she's found by the human that she saved and assaulted. Then, in her confusion over his misplaced kindness, she'd knocked him down! To make matters worse, it seems that she hadn't done a good job with her healing and he couldn't walk! Ariel shuddered at the thought that her carelessness had maimed one of her precious creatures. She could have at least set the bone. But no, she had been an airhead.
Where was she? First, second, third...
Fourth, when she'd tried to help him, he'd realized something she hadn't even considered... she was naked! This term was new to her, but when she assessed his clothes appearance and her... not so clothed one, she had figured it out. Oh, the horror! And finally, when he offered her his own clothing, even if she had a voice, she would never have been able to tell him that she had never put on a shirt before!
The sea princess knew now the utter hopelessness of her situation. She didn't know her way around, she couldn't speak, she couldn't even walk or dress herself properly! How was she supposed to fit into such a different society? Slowly, regrettably, she began to cry, the tears stinging her eyes.
She heard a knock on the wood over the roaring in her ears.
"Miss? Miss, are you crying? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Ariel tried to still her sobs, bringing the plank higher over her face. She heard a small growl.
"I'm getting tired of these childish games." There was a splash, and suddenly, the human was peering over the plank, his head blocking the sun.
Ariel mouthed a squeal, attempting to raise the plank higher.
"Oh no you don't!" Jim said, pulling the board from her grasp. "We're not going through this again. We both know that you're lost, disoriented, and being mute doesn't help." Ariel gaped at him. He was sharp.
"So," he continued, pulling a disoriented Ariel back into a sitting position, "you're going to have to accept my offer, or I swear on my word as a sailor, I won't leave you alone till you do."
The girl couldn't suppress a blush. She'd never had a guy come after her so insistently before.
Sensing her complacency, Jim held out his shirt.
"Now," he challenged, "shall we try this again?"
Jim didn't know why he was trying so hard to aid this stranded stranger. She was intriguing, yes, and beautiful, but his leg was beginning to sear and his stomach rumble. Usually he wouldn't consider someone worth the trouble. Someone else was bound to find her eventually. Yet here he was, trying to coax a terrified girl into some clothes. This was wrong on so many levels. But it was nothing compared to--
"You don't know how to put on a shirt?"
The girl, who was still wiping the tears form her cheeks, shook her head.
Jim exhaled, embarrassed and exasperated at Earth's bizarre customs. Still, he couldn't leave her n-- that way. "Fine," he growled, gesturing the other teen to come toward him. "Come here."
The girl paused for a moment, then moved cautiously toward him. She stopped a foot away from him, her hands planted through her crossed legs.
"I'm gonna show you how to put on a shirt, OK?" He said more softly. "Now, can you lift your arms up for me?"
The girl glanced down, then back up at him uncertainly. Now Jim blushed.
"Here, you can put the plank back in your lap!" He complied hurriedly, "Now please, just raise your arms."
She raised her arms, and he brought the shirt over her head. It took a few moments to get her arms through the holes, but soon the shirt was untangled and everything was in the right place. Jim was about to retreat without incident when, while releasing the hem, his hand brushed her side. The girl jumped like a frightened cat, legs flinging and kicking until she was hung up on a rock on the other side of the shallow pool.
Jim gasped from fright for a second, then, seeing the absurd look on the stranger's face, burst out into uncharacteristic laughter.
"It's a good thing you can't talk," he managed between fits, "or I'd never hear the end of this."
The girl watched him in a amazement for a few minutes, then broke into silent giggles of her own.
Ariel lost her grip on her crabby chauffeur in the fray, and soon forgot about him in the tumult that followed.
Sebastian bit back a terrified yelp as he was thrown through the air, knowing that this may be his only chance to get back to the sea king. Entering into the water with a soft plop! that was easily covered by the frantic slashing in the shallows, the crab swam as fast as he could toward the royal palace.
He arrived right after the first search party was dispatched. He looked into the throne room at the troubled ruler from behind a coral pillar, fighting off trepidation. The king would not be happy with what he had to report, and neither would Ariel when she learned of his betrayal. It was entirely possible that both of them would never trust him again. He bit his protruding lower lip. But just because this wouldn't be easy-- did that make his decision any less right?
"Sebastian?" Came a shrill voice from behind him. It was the seahorse herald. The composer jumped, then turned, his exaggerated features the picture of determination. He had to tell the king the truth.
"I have urgent news." He said.
The trip back to the villa was consensual after the shirt affair and relatively uneventful.
Jim had Max fetch his crutches and, finding that his new houseguest was also a bit wobbly, lent her one. After managing to steady each other by putting one arm around the other's neck, they began the small adventure of staying aloft and walking simultaneously. In the end, it took them about thirty minutes to walk the one hundred meters to the summer home.
Immediately upon crossing the threshold, Ariel was entranced with the dwelling. It was quaint and bright, with glass French doors and lots of windows. There was a decorative fireplace surrounded by creamy leather furniture in the living room near the spacious kitchen (it was Chef Louie's villa, after all). Having finally gained her land legs, the new human excitedly examined every inch of her new abode. Max, who thought she was looking for tasty leftovers, followed eagerly behind her.
Jim shook his head at her antics, the fatigue and pain finally setting in after all that had happened. Ariel looked up from behind the couch when she heard his sharp intake of breath. She may not have known a lot about humans, but she knew by his face that he was hurting. She ran over to him and, as this was a new undertaking for her, tripped several times before reaching him.
'Are you okay?' She mouthed upon reaching him, breathless.
"Wheelchair." Jim said simply, the beaded sweat on his brow running down his face. Ariel cocked her head. Wheelchair?
"In the kitchen closet." He wheezed, "Hurry; if I fall, I may not be able to get up again." Ariel's heart panged, and she instinctively looked down at his legs. One was wrapped in damp, decaying plaster; both were shaking from exertion. She ran, in her awkward, newborn-fawn way, to the closet. The wheelchair wasn't hard to find, even with her limited knowledge. She wheeled it back to her host just in time to catch him in it. He winced on impact, closing his eyes tightly until the pain of being on his feet so long ebbed away.
When he opened his eyes again his guest was kneeling by the chair, her eyes worried and hands making all sorts of gestures that he thought were inquiries about his health, but he couldn't be sure.
"Right," he said, wheeling the chair around toward a writing desk to the left of the hearth. The sudden and fluid action of the chair startled Ariel for a moment but her curiosity soon prevailed. She walked carefully over to where Jim was rummaging through drawers, wary of any more abrupt movements. She was instantly ecstatic at the treasure trove of new objects and became so enthralled in them that she was frightened once again as he turned back to her, confiscating the envelope opener she'd found from her hands. He replaced it with a pen and pad of paper.
"Now you can write down whatever you want to say," he explained, wheeling past her toward the kitchen. When he turned about on the tile to face her again, she was already scribbling away. He allowed a half chuckle before beginning his search for breakfast. Morph reappeared to help, taking on the form of a squirrel. He almost immediately found, and spilled, a glass jar of nuts which Max pounced on upon impact with the floor. Jim ignored them both, concentrating on reading the map Louie had drawn of the kitchen. Usually, this wouldn't have been a problem; Jim was fluent in Earth's "English". It was just Jim's luck that Chef Louie... wasn't. Half of the map's captions were in French, which Jim had just barely passed. He looked over at the redhead. She was on her second page of writing. The spacer raised an eyebrow. He had assumed a mute person wouldn't have much to say.
Jim had given up on the map and joined Morph in scavenging when the girl approached him, prompting him to take the tablet with outstretched hands. Jim took it tentatively and turned it around to read.
His jaw dropped.
She hadn't had much to say... one paragraph, actually. But she didn't know what language Jim read, so the next three pages were all of her requests, repeated in eleven different languages.
Jim looked up at his houseguest in awed confusion, not even reading what she had to say.
Then, in the stunned, awkward silence, their stomachs rumbled simultaneously.
The girl giggled nervously, and Jim smiled.
"Here," he said, handing her the map. "I'll answer your questions, but first... let's make some breakfast."
"She's WHERE?!" King Triton roared, his outrage frightening even his swordfish guards from the room. Sebastian retreated halfway into his shell. "The hooman world, sire. She made a deal wit Ursoola. She's got tree days tah git dat prince to love her, or--" He couldn't finish.
Triton nodded, holding his forehead up with a large hand. "Yes...I am familiar with that witch's tricks." His knuckled whitened over his trident in remembrance.
"Where in the human world is she?"
Sebastian tapped his claws together worriedly. "I'm-- not sure sire. A hooman tha-twas not de prince found 'er, and dat's when I was able to escape 'er detec-tion. But she'll be headin' for de castle, on de coast, Your Highness." Triton nodded again. He had been floating, but now he collapsed back in his throne.
"Can--can you git 'er back, Highness?" Sebastian asked desperately. Triton raised an eyebrow.
"You're so worried, Sebastian?"
The crab shrunk back again. "Well, de sea witch took 'er voice, so I tink de odds of 'er winnin' de prince..." He slumped, his claws hitting the sand. "It's impossible, sire."
Triton thought hard. So the witch's price had been Ariel's voice. His stomach sank at the thought of his angel without a voice.
"Nothing is impossible, especially for Ariel." He said finally, half to his friend and half to himself. "Nevertheless, I must get her back before she attempts anything rash." He raised his trident, waving it in a short arch. The water where the trident passed became opaque, images racing past as the sea king searched the human world for his daughter. He finally found her, scribbling away on a strange rectangular instrument. She was also wearing some kind of foreign garment.
"You found 'er?" Sebastian asked, crawling up to the king's throne so he could see better.
Ariel finished whatever it was she was doing and hurried off-screen. Triton repositioned the view so that she was once again visible, laughing mutely at something.
"She's... laughing," Triton murmured a tad sadly. "I haven't see her laugh in... the Ocean knows how long." The sea king continued to watch his daughter despondently until Sebastian nudged him. "Sire?"
The mighty merman snapped to, then groaned in realization as he took in the rest of the scene. "Is that-- no, it can't be."
"What is it, sire?" The composer asked, fearing his princess might be in danger.
"Was that the human that found her?" Triton asked hopelessly.
"Umm, yes, Your Majesty." Sebastian answered, a bit confused.
Triton slammed his fists against the arms of his throne in frustration. "Of all the people on the PLANET to find my daughter," He exclaimed, pointing at the teenage boy on the scrying screen, "It had to be the one that I CANNOT TOUCH!"
Yes, they finally meet! If you like this fanfic, please don't hesitate to review and fave!
Thank you all for your faithful reading and support!