AN: Go easy on me, this one is done through Ariel's POV that's why it's fast-paced.
Can one tell you what it was like to gaze upon the awful fate of kind people that were either surely destroyed or imprisoned by the ultimate evil? Months had gone by, but the gnawing guilt ate Ariel long after her frenzied flight to the present.
It was on a fine spring day, the small caravan consisting of both Samurai, ex-mermaid, a crab and seagull had fallen in with a group of traveling gypsies. They were hospitable enough, although Jack quickly took notice that most appeared to be preparing for an upcoming battle, but they did not say with whom or what just yet.
Ariel then spotted one child sitting by herself on one of the wagons. "Why aren't you out singing and playing with the other children?"
One of the gypsy men replied, "Shura has not uttered a word since Aku's soldiers took her mother away the night of the raid."
Ariel immediately pitied the child. "Oh that's terrible. You know… my friend's father was imprisoned unjustly too."
She looked to Jack, who approached, feeling sympathy for a child that had a lost a parent to tyranny. He sighed and said softly, "I was only able to see my mother and father once, and though our time together was brief, I could still feel the strong love they held for me. They were both wonderful people… They did not deserve what Aku did to them."
Ariel looked equally somber. "I haven't seen my family for a while either, and sometimes it makes me so sad that I don't feel like talking to anyone. So I remember the lullaby my mother used to sing to me and my sisters."
It was familiar melody she remembered Queen Athena when we were younger before her untimely death. The song had the little gypsy girl finally look up, mystified at the newcomers.
"I'd wager you have a fond memory of your mother too." Jack smiled encouragingly.
Shura nodded, "I remember my mother…used to sing and tell me stories when I was smaller. I remember her green eyes and dark hair…"
The other gypsies were delighted.
"Why, Shura hasn't spoken in months!"
"I believe she only needed a friend." Ariel said gently.
One of the elder gypsies took Jack's hands. "You are not just a friend," the old woman declared, "You're someone extraordinary. A prince, or a King maybe…"
"I was once… but I'm afraid that was long ago." Jack sighed.
The woman now moved to Ariel reading her hand, "And you, child. You're someone just as exceptional…"
Soon after the gypsies explained why many of them were preparing weapons and traps. It was because they intended to rescue their missing kinfolk from a slave camp not too far from where they were.
Naturally, Sebastian didn't want Ariel nor he to get involved but Jack and Ariel agreed to help the gypsies the following day. Soon the rescue group scattered amongst the sparse trees before crawling up a cliff overlooking where they were headed.
The slave camp was built in a ravine. And it was a dismal sight. The tents were barely large enough for one adult. The prisoners were huddled outside miserably, warily eyeing the guards.
Jack and several of the gypsy men scowled darkly. Ariel looked down, then felt as though someone has dropped stones into her stomach.
One of the guards whipped a face very familiar to Ariel and Sebastian. There Isaac, the farmer and several gypsies were pulling up a monolithic figure with Aku's visage. To the far left, Deborah and two other women were carrying clearly heavy bags of precious stones. And to the right, diligently moving rocks and bricks to the carts with other children was their little daughter.
"Deborah…Isaac…Rebecca…" Ariel gasped, her eyes wide.
"You know them?"
The mermaid didn't answer at first. She only lowered herself then turned her back while sitting on the ground, by all extents looking as though she'd seen a ghost. Taken aback, she nodded then took breaths to calm herself.
"They're… they were the family of humans I'd stayed with when I first came out of the ocean as human. When the village was attacked, I was afraid they were dead."
"Then we too shall set them free."
"Hurry those nets won't hold them for long."
Hearts racing furiously as both escapees and rescuers fled into the nearby forest. While the gypsies happily reunited with their rescued in, the farmer and his family looked around, uncertain what to do now. Jack placed a hand on Ariel's shoulder, silently urging her to speak with them. The moment she approached, their faces lit up.
"We thought you were dead!" Rebecca exclaimed in surprise, hugging her.
"But Aku… I thought he'd killed you all." Ariel had said in concern.
"He didn't." Isaac replied grimly. "The day he attacked, his soldiers and robots had taken everyone prisoner distributing us to from one prison camp to another for months."
"I'm so sorry! The Deliverer of Darkness only attacked your village because he wanted revenge for my family's defiance of him. I know if I hadn't been there, your village would still be in one piece and you wouldn't have had to suffer through all this!"
For a long moment the farmer Isaac, his wife Devorah and their child looked at her curiously, as though puzzled by what she said. Then the wife gently took the ex-mermaid's hand into her own.
"Now, now don't think that. He probably would've found us either way."
On the day they first ran into her, she certainly did not look evil, even knowing fully well that Evil had many faces. Devorah then explained how nearly three weeks after her arrival, she'd accidentally uncovered Ariel's secret. All the mermaids of their imagination… their top half were much more fish-like in appearance – scales and gills. And in the stories they heard they feared humans, which the crab and seagull confirmed. It was impossible that she could be an instrument of Evil. No disguise could be that complete. What's more she couldn't be from White cap Bay, the descriptions didn't match at all.
Isaac then reassured Ariel further, that someone else from the village had betrayed to Aku.
"It was also suspicious, because that monstrosity didn't often make personal attacks as he did to our farming community on that day. Usually he sends his subordinates to do his dirty work." Isaac speculated.
"Oh Ariel, you must've been so frightened!" Rebecca, the little girl cried.
"I was, but now I'm glad to have helped you escape."
"But where will you go?" Sebastian questioned.
"We know of a hidden sanctuary for refugees in an island chain just 207 miles south west of what was once Costa Rica. The Five deaths Archipelago. The name itself and the rumors are enough to keep the bounty hunters away." Devorah answered. "And you know what? I think we'll have a lot of help to make that trip. It certainly seems the gyspsy caravan are considering it."
After days of travelling, the farmer and his family was ready to depart with the gypsies but not before bidding both Jack and Ariel a fond farewell.
Isaac gives Ariel parting words of advice, "...I know there's a lot of terrible things in this world. But if you find somebody you can trust...then you should probably hold on to them." He shot warm glance at Jack.
Then that was when the group left setting sail for their new refuge. Ariel looked back at Jack and smiled.
Just look at the two them. A group of rebel misfits.
She's an ex-mermaid fascinated by the surface world. He's a wandering warrior with a near impossible task. Both fish out of water. And that's one of the few things they have in common up here.
Isaac was right, she did find someone up here she can trust.