Urchin could hardly stay awake. How long had he been here, in Ariel's grotto? This statue was harder to put together than he had thought. Rubbing his eyes, Urchin surveyed his work. The head was done, and so was the shield. They looked pretty good – covered in mud and cracked, but as good as it could get. King Triton's trident could probably smooth everything over, but the king would never fix a human object. Urchin's arms ached. He looked down at them and saw little cuts from the sharper pieces of the statue. Urchin was glad the cuts were small; merpeople healed quickly, but any blood could attract a ravenous shark.
Looking around at the grotto, Urchin decided that Ariel wouldn't mind if he spent the night here. She had sleep-overs with him and Gabriella and Ollie all the time anyway. Slowly, the merboy swam over to his usual corner beneath a shelf of dinglehoppers. He cleared the debris out of the corner, curled up, and fell quickly asleep.
Urchin knew almost immediately that he was having a nightmare. It always started out in Atlantica. He swam past many creatures, all miserable. Knowing what was coming next, he desperately tried to stop himself from going into the king's throne room, but he knew already that nothing would stop him. On the throne were the king and Sebastian, both frowning. Urchin tried to stop his mouth from forming the question, but it came out: "What's wrong with everybody?"
King Triton jerked from his stupor and tapped Sebastian. Sebastian woke up, flexing his claws and looking around. When he saw Urchin, he asked, "Urchin, why have you bothered to return to Atlantica?"
Urchin felt a horrible feeling in his stomach. Sebastian continued. "Since Ariel left, dis place has been no fun at all, man. The king hasn't signed a proclamation in years." As Sebastian kept talking, Urchin felt a headache coming on. "There's no dancing! No singing" exclaimed Sebastian. He held up a poster. "And Flounder has become a juvenile delinquent fish!"
Urchin looked at Sebastian. He felt the old heart-wrenching hurt. "This is terrible!" he cried, stifling a sob. Raising a fist, the merboy shouted, "I'm gonna find her and bring her back!" Urchin braced himself for the next part – the worst part.
Sebastian shook his head and whimpered, "Oh-ho-ho, hang it up, man. Ariel is never coming back!"
Turning, Urchin sped out of the palace, screaming, "NO! What am I gonna do? Ariel! Ariel! Ariel!" He swam out of Atlantica, still frantically calling Ariel's name. Suddenly, he was in the middle of nowhere . . . all alone.
"ARIEL! ARIEL!"
Urchin awoke with a start. He looked around at the wrecked grotto miserably. The nightmare was over, but he knew it would never completely go away. It would always be there, in the back of his mind, haunting him.
Knowing he couldn't sleep, Urchin returned to the statue. Perhaps if he fell asleep working on it, his nightmare would not return.
Alright, author's note time: I didn't want to put an author's note here, but I have to put a disclaimer.
DISCLAIMER: The brilliant and wonderful Disney owns Urchin in its entirety. They pretty much own this storyline, too. Urchin's nightmare is quoted word for word from "Marriage of Inconvenience" (Season 1, Episode 9, of The Little Mermaid TV series). Capeesh? Capeesh. Much love,
Ami
