The Little Mermaid

Aaron had gone missing when he was just a baby. Melody had cried for a week and Eric had thrown himself into work and diplomacy, but Ariel was by far the worst. She shut down completely, not eating unless food was placed in front of her, her eyes were unfocused, and she drifted through the weeks, never getting dressed, just sitting and staring blankly.

Then something changed.

She started trying. She helped out at Auradon prep, attended every single one of Melody's Parent Support Group meetings, joined a marine life support non-profit organisation, started organising charity balls, attended teas with various queens {Snow White, Cinderella, Briar Rose, and Belle}, started advising Eric on his decisions, and made decisions on Auradon's panel. No one understood the change.

Read the fine text.

Should one Ariel of Atlantica, daughter of King Triton and Queen Athena, manage to retrieve her voice within the allotted time, her firstborn son will be forfeit to Ursula Praestrigia on pain of her soul.

Ariel put Aaron out of her mind. She had two more children, Eric Jr. and Alexandra. She rarely (if ever) remembered her fourth child, residing on the Isle.

Oh, what a mistake.

At their tea parties, the Queens would spill their darkest secrets. Stories they feared to tell others for fear of being judged. Belle would speak of Gaston, of her regrets, of the life in France she missed, of how, sometimes, she feared her husband {that's what you signed up for when you married a beast}. Cinderella would whisper that her step-sisters weren't really ugly, that they were innocent in this mess, that she was scared her son was turning into a brat and that her daughter was homosexual {you married someone you met at a ball to find him a wife. Did you really think that he loved you? }.

Snow White told them the story of marrying her prince just a day after she'd met him, of trying (and failing) to keep her world-renowned beauty, of distancing herself from the seven dwarves {you knew you'd have to. A princess doesn't associate with half breeds}. Ariel told them where Aaron had gone, how she and Sebastian and Flounder were no longer on speaking terms, how Melody never came out of her room, blasting the saddest songs she could find and weeping over the only picture of Aaron they had, how she hadn't even seen her sisters in years {you wanted to be human. You signed that contract. This is what you deserve}.

And Briar Rose told them the worst stories of all. Told them how delusional her father had been when she died, terrified of every shadow, waiting for Maleficent, how Fauna, Flora and Merryweather had forgotten what it was to be a faerie, how Maleficent hadn't even killed her and had a daughter now. How that daughter was Audrey's sister. How her mother had no clue and thought that she and Phillip were happy together {you're the one who married a man who kissed a woman who'd been asleep for a thousand years. Did you expect him to be satisfied with you? Phillip always longed for danger}.

When Queen Mal took over, Ariel was terrified. He'd find out, she knew he would. He probably already knew. He was coming for her.

He wasn't.

Aaron was long dead. Uriah had been dead for a shorter while, but nonetheless. Eric died at the hands of Felicia, a long-over-due favour to Ursula. Ariel died by order of High King Jay. Melody had known of her mother's betrayal for a long time, and there was nothing His Royal Highness hated more than someone who would betray their family.

Melody died at the same time as her mother.

Alexandra and Eric remained in hiding for the rest of their lives. That wasn't a very long time. They were found by Helena Hook, who mistook them for lost children.

That family was the epitome of an Auradonian family.

{It was no wonder they all died}.