CHAPTER 3
"I know not what the future holds, but I do know who holds the future."
-(I have no idea who said this)

Ariel sighed as she flopped back onto her bed. Today was going by so slowly. It wouldn't have felt so slow though if she had something to do. Carlotta was helping Vanessa with her dress. Grimsby was helping Eric with his suit. She thought about helping Louis but Ariel was completely lost in the kitchen. And Max…Where is Max?

As if the big lovable heap of fur could read minds, Max bounded in the room. Even though Ariel felt like withering away into nothingness at the moment, she couldn't help but smile when Max barked happily and jumped in her lap. She petted his head and started ruffling his fur when she felt something unusual at the sheepdog's neck.

Ariel tried to move his fur out of the way and saw that under the leather strap of his collar, there was a rolled up scrap of paper. She took the little paper, unrolled it and saw that there was a message in it. This is Atlantican writing! It's a message from Sebastian.

After reading the secret message, Ariel felt like kicking herself. She probably would have done so if Max wasn't pinning her legs down. After all, here she was wrapped up in her own emotional storm and she had forgotten all about her friends. I can't believe I dragged them into this mess.

She read the message again. Knowing what she had to do, she rubbed Max's belly and gave him a little push, signaling for him to get up. When she was free from her canine confine, she stood up, wiped the fur from her dress and headed out.

Sneaking out of the palace was easier than she thought. Every maid and manservant were busy cleaning and running errands and fussing over something called a nursery...whatever that is. It seemed as if no one cared about the intriguing mystery girl anymore...

Words could not describe how grateful Ariel was that Eric's castle was conveniently located by the sea; more importantly, by the peir. She was just a walk away from the huge ship that the wedding was being held at. Sebastian wanted to meet her there. Poor Sebastian. Ariel couldn't believe that she had dragged the little crustacean into this mess. And then this morning after Scuttle woke them up with a well meaning but misleading "congratulations", she just took off without so much of a good morning. I wonder what he's been up to.

The wedding was going to be beautiful from what Ariel could tell. Servants placed bouquets of strange looking flowers everywhere. There were delicate looking chairs being placed in neat looking rows. The food spread looked pretty too. Never had Ariel seen so many colors and different types of food. As her eyes scanned the table she thought, I'm glad there isn't any fish. It was probably just a way to keep the birds at bay though. There was a tall and wierd looking cake too. I wonder how cake tastes on land. Her mouth watered at the sugary treat until she saw the names written on it. "Eric & Vanessa" in the center of a heart. Ariel scowled at it and turned away. Focus on the boat. Focus on the boat. Focus on the boat. The boat itself was actually quite breath taking. It was unlike any other ship Ariel had seen. There weren't any sails. Instead there were these strange devices lowered into the water. There had to have been at least a dozen on each side. I wonder what they do Ariel thought as she peered over the side.

"Psst! Ari-yal..."

Ariel looked for the sound and noticed a red dot in a dinghy. She looked around to make sure that no one was paying attention to her. The servants were too busy working. An orange haired woman was now on the ship. She was dressed very nicely but oddly enough was wearing pants and she seemed to be looking around for something. Oh well. She's not going to notice me. Ariel slowly made her way to the dinghy. It was positioned near the stern and over the railing. It was probably for emergencies.

Ariel climbed over the railing and into the dingy. However in the process of doing so, her heels slipped off and into the water below. Sebastian looked down at the falling shoes and then back at her. Ariel rolled her eyes. Oh well...I never really did like wearing shoes anyway. She thought as she wiggled her toes. Just then Flounder breached the water's surface and jumped as high as he could saying, "Hi Ariel!" Ariel leaned over and waved to her friend below.

"Ari-yal," Sebastian started, "I know dat de past few days have been...exciting. But I tink dat it would be best if we went back home...to Atlantica." Ariel stopped wiggling her toes. She stared out into the ocean with a distant and lost look on her face. Sebastian continued. "I know dat your fadder is worried about you. And life here hasn't been going like we planned...I tink dat it's time we go back to de water where we belong."

"Home?" Back to Daddy? Back to her sisters? Back where Eric and people like him didn't exist? Back where people didn't try to kiss you one minute and then act like you didn't exist the next? Even though she knew she'd be yelled at, beached* and probably wouldn't be allowed out of the castle without a military escort, to Ariel, home sounded comforting right about now. "I think it's a great idea Sebastian."

"Look Ari-yal, I don't care if you want to stay wit de yoo-mans, we're going home and dats- oh!" Sebastian had been expecting to debate the headstrong girl. After all, he had to argue with her about everything else. "Well good. Because I already talked to de Sea Witch."

Another splash was heard as Flounder asked, "What did she say? What did she say?"

Ariel leaned over the dinghy and gave her fish friend a thumbs up.

Flounder somersaulted into the air. "Great! When does Ursula get here?"

As if on cue, a black tentacle snaked its way out of the water. The tip of it pointed to the dinghy and then pointed back to the water's surface; signaling Ariel to lower the boat. And although Ariel had no idea what she was doing, after a few trial and errors, she finally managed to get the dinghy closer to the water. As soon as she did, Ursula peered out of the water. Her shifty eyes went this way and that before she came out some more. "Well?..."

Sebastian cleared his throat. "Ari-yal has decided to go back to Atlantica. So work up your magic."

"Yeah..." Ursula folded her arms saying, "Im afraid I can't do that. You see, mixing potions isn't exactly the smartest thing to do. So unless you want to end up as a scaly abomination," she looked at Ariel, "I'm afraid you're stuck with your legs."

"Now see here Sea Witch!" yelled Sebastian. "You said dat you would-"

"I know what I said!" Ursula ducked back into the water and kept an eye out in case any humans heard. When she deemed it safe enough, she came back out and said to Ariel, "I can't do anything about your situation, not until a year passes."

"But we can't wait a year." said Flounder.

"Well, if you really want to go..." Ursula held out her hand. She caught a ray of the now setting sun and it glimmered and gleamed and it turned into a strange looking dagger.

"What is that?" Ariel asked.

"Speak up darling. I can't hear you." Ursula snickered and tossed the dagger to Ariel. "It's a dagger. What's it look like?"

"WHAT?" yelled Sebastian.

Flounder started to shake and stutter, "Y-y-you m-mean she's g-gotta-"

Ursula sneered. "Kill the prince."

Ariel gasped. Thankfully she didn't need her voice to do that. "Kill the prince?..."

"Unless you feel like waiting a year, it's the only way to reverse the potion." explained Ursula. "Kill the prince and when his blood from the dagger touches your feet, you'll turn back into a mermaid."

"Kill the prince?..."

Ursula rolled her eyes. "The only reason you came here was to get dear old princey to fall in love with you." She said as she slowly started to descend back into the sea. "Now that that's out of the question, it's only reasonable that you use his blood to get your fins back. Just be sure to do it before dawn or else the dagger will turn back into sunlight."

"Now wait one minute!" cried Sebastian. When he had Ursula's attention, he continued with, "If we go through wit dis, when do we get Ari-yal's voice back? We can't go back to Atlantica without her voice."

Ursula tapped her chin. "Hmm...how about the day after NEVER. It's my policy, no substitutions, exchanges, or refunds."

Sebastian folded his claws. "I looked at de contract. Dat policy wasn't stated in der at all. So unless you want to drag dis through de courts, I suggest you give us back Ari-yal's voice as soon as she gets her fins."

Ursula growled. Of course the little bug would read the contract fully. "Fine." she mumbled and then disappeared, leaving an inky trail.

"Kill the prince?..."

Sebastian looked at the sun. It was still in the sky, but it wouldn't be for long. "Flounder, I suggest you go home. Your mudder might start to worry about you."

"Yeah, okay." said Flounder. Before taking off, he turned to Ariel. "Hey Ariel...I'm sorry you have to kill Eric but at least now everything will go back to n-normal right? We'll- um- we'll play games and-and-and we'll- um- we'll explore sunken ships again and um get into trouble and-and-and all that stuff that we used to do...okay?"

"Kill the prince?..."

"Okay...see you tomorrow Ariel. See you later Sebastian."

Sebastian sighed and massaged his temples. Today was not going as planned. He didn't even want to get started on the engagement; no one saw that coming. But as for returning home, he figured that if one potion got them into this mess then another would get them out. Would it be wrong to kill him though? After all, it would mean one less human to worry about. On one hand, Sebastian didn't condone of murder but on the other hand, he didn't really like humans either. Since day one he's been chased, harrased, and swatted at but then again, did that justify killing the prince? He looked at Ariel who still had that far away look in her eyes. It's up to her to decide. "Ari-yal..."Luickily, he was able to get her attention. "You don't have to go through wit dis if you don't want to. We could just-"

Ariel held up her hand to silence him. She held the dagger in the light. As she stared at it, she saw her life. How things were and how they were supposed to be. She saw sneaking into her grotto. She saw exploring with Flounder. She saw getting into trouble with Urchin...welcoming Spot when his pod migrated...hanging out with Gabriella and Pearl*...getting lectures from her sisters...fighting with her sisters...having fun with her sisters...playing pranks on Adella...most importantly though, she saw her father. Would he be mad? Yes. Furious? Absolutely. Understanding? Probably not. Forgiving?...I hope so. Her mind made up, she looked to Sebastian. "I'll do it."

"Ari-yal...are you sure?"

She gave a firm nod of her head. Sebastian was right. They didn't belong here. And the sooner she went back to Atlantica, the sooner she could get on with her life...the way it's supposed to be.

Ariel was jarred from her thoughts as the ship started to sway. They were taking off which meant only one thing; the wedding was about to start. "Ari-yal, don't you want to..." Ariel shook her head. She couldn't handle going back up there. She didn't rally know anyone and the one person she did know was getting married. She couldn't handle sitting through that. Ariel brought her knees to her chest and stared at the sunset. A tear ran down her cheek as music began to play.

The wedding was begining.

A/N In case you didn't know...
Beached: grounded
Urchin-Pearl: characters from the tv series

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