"Who knew Ursula had a sister?" Aladdin groaned, sitting up straighter. Both he and Ariel were currently locked in a tiny cell made entirely of ice.
"Pretty much all of Atlantica. When Ursula and Morgana were banished, Ursula was sent to the bad-waters, and Morgana was sent here. My father didn't want them plotting together to try and take over Atlantica. It wasn't likely to happen, though; they could hardly speak for five seconds without fighting." Ariel explained, fingering her chain.
"And since Ursula's Queen of the Sea, Morgana has to do whatever her dear sister wants," Aladdin guessed.
Ariel nodded. "Yep,"
They sat in silence for a moment before either one spoke.
"So . . . you sold your voice for legs?" Aladdin asked.
Ariel looked down, "Yes,"
"How did you – you know, meet Eric?" Aladdin asked.
Ariel shrugged. "I saw a ship on the surface, and I went to go look at the humans. I saw Eric, and I . . . ."
"Love at first sight, huh?" Aladdin asked.
Ariel nodded.
"It was like that with Jasmine: I saw her in the market place, and she just seemed so, so . . ."
"So perfect. The most beautiful and wonderful thing you had ever seen." Ariel finished.
Aladdin nodded. "Exactly. I saved her from an apple merchant, we bonded, and then some guards came to pick her up and I found out she was the princess." Aladdin said.
"I saved Eric's life. There was a terrible storm, he went to go save Max, and then the ship exploded. I swam him back to shore."
"You sang to him, didn't you?" Aladdin asked.
Ariel nodded. "I felt so in love, it was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to me. But then my father found out, and he destroyed all of my human things, and then . . ."
"Ursula came into the picture, offered you a way to be with Eric." Aladdin guessed.
Ariel nodded again.
"When I realized that Jasmine was the princess, I felt so hopeless. I couldn't be with her now; the law said she had to marry a prince. And then this crazy old guy started talking about this place called the Cave of Wonders, and how it had untold riches in it. I could be as rich as a prince if I just went there. The old man said he would take me if I agreed to get something for him from the cave. This old lamp. So, we got there, I went in, he told me not to touch anything except the lamp, and I found it with the help of this magic carpet, but the Abu picked up a giant ruby, and the cave started melting. I almost managed to get out, but the old coot tricked me, and he tried to take the lamp and leave me in the cave. But then Abu stole it from him, I rubbed it, and this Genie appeared who offered to grant me three wishes for freeing him."
"You wished to be a prince?" Ariel asked.
Aladdin nodded. "Yes, that was my first wish. My second was used up when some goons tried to drown me. I didn't exactly wish it, but Genie saved me anyways." Aladdin explained.
"Who tried to drown you?" Ariel asked.
"I didn't get a look at the thugs or their boss, but I have a good idea who it was." Aladdin growled.
"Jafar," Ariel guessed.
Aladdin nodded.
Ariel sighed. "What have we gotten ourselves into?" she asked.
"I wish I knew." Aladdin said, before crying out in frustration.
"Gah! I should have listened to Genie! I should have just been myself and not pretended! Jasmine wouldn't have cared!" Aladdin screamed.
"It's not your fault," Ariel soothed.
"But she thinks it is! Did you see that look she gave me, back at the ship? She hates me now!" Aladdin cried.
"Aladdin, if it's anyone's fault, it's mine: I practically signed off my soul for the slim chance that I might be with a man I barely knew! I hardly even knew his name, and I was ready to throw my life away for him." Ariel exclaimed.
"Ariel, it's not your fault. You were in love." Aladdin said gently, his past anger forgotten.
"But I wasn't!" Ariel cried before her eyes widened and she clamped her mouth shut. Did she really just say that?
"What do you mean?" Aladdin asked.
Ariel averted her eyes to the ground. "I only thought I was in love with Eric because he was the first human I saw. The first human I thought I related to. I heard him talk about how he was so tired about the restraints of the palace, and I thought 'he's just like me.'"
"Same thing with Jasmine. We both just started talking about how trapped we felt in our lives, even though they were two completely different kinds of trapped. But it felt good to have someone know what it was like, you know?" Aladdin asked.
Ariel nodded. "Back in Atlantica, I was always the odd sister. I never was into wearing pretty things or messing with my hair like my sisters: I just wanted to explore sunken ships, find human things and explore the surface. No one understood me." Ariel said.
"It gets pretty lonely, doesn't it?" Aladdin asked.
Ariel nodded. "I had friends who went on adventures with me, but even they didn't understand me."
Aladdin chuckled. "That's better than what I had: Abu was my only friend."
"Is Abu your ginormajigger?" Ariel asked.
Aladdin looked at Ariel in confusion. "My what?" he asked in alarm.
"That thing we rode to the oasis," Ariel clarified.
"Oh! Yeah, that was Abu. He was originally a monkey, but Genie turned him into an elephant when he turned me into a prince." Aladdin explained.
"Oh! So it's called an elephant! And those things you eat with, the ones with the pointy-ends, they're–"
"Forks, yes," Aladdin said, amused.
"Scuttle said they were called dinglehoppers! And that you used them to brush your hair! I guess he confused them with something else," Ariel mused.
"Yeah, I guess he did," Aladdin said, smiling.
Ariel smiled back and she leaned against the cell wall, continuing to look at Aladdin.
"What happened to you, after we met eleven years ago?" she asked.
Aladdin shrugged, "I sort of just moved from doorstep to doorstep, living off of whatever scrapings people could spare. Eventually I became too old for pity to get me food, so I had to resort to stealing. Abu followed me from a traveling circus I had taken some food from, and he's been with me ever since. What about you?" Aladdin asked.
Ariel fingered the ends of her hair as she tried to remember what had happened in her life after she met Aladdin. "Well, the nine years that followed were pretty dull. The death of my mother put Atlantica into a prolonged period of mourning: my father banned everything from going to the surface to music. But I managed to stay sane by visiting this secret club that had music and dancing and everything. My father eventually found out about it and destroyed it, but after I ran away with the rest of the music players and I almost died, my father eventually realized how wrong he had been in banning music from Atlantica, and he returned it. After that I became infatuated with human things. I became friends with this merboy named Urchin who lived by stealing – kind of like you – and this mute mermaid named Gabriella. We had adventures, and we had to deal with an evil Manta and we had a few encounters with Ursula, and there was this one time Urchin thought I was engaged to the Prince of Olympia and accidentally pit us in a war against them . . ."
"Sounds exciting," Aladdin commented.
Ariel nodded. "It was. But I still felt . . . out of my element, like I didn't belong. And when I was finally on the surface with my legs, I still felt out of place, and I longed for the sea like I had longed for the human world." Ariel explained.
"I felt the same way in the palace: I felt just as much an outsider as I did on the streets." Aladdin said.
"I guess we still need to find home," Ariel said.
Aladdin nodded. "Yeah, I guess we do."
Ariel looked at the street rat, and their eyes met. And in that instant, Ariel saw herself in his eyes. They were both outsiders, and they both had given up everything they knew to be with the ones they loved, and they were both pretenders. They were kindred spirits. And Ariel found sudden comfort in that revelation. Finally, here was someone who knew what it was like to be her: to feel so alone and lost, and to feel like you don't belong. Aladdin knew exactly what it was like.
Suddenly, that comfort blossomed and exploded into joy and warmth. Ariel wanted to cry out and laugh: here was someone who was just like her. Finally someone she could talk to, who could understand what she was going through! It felt so good to have a friend like that, Ariel thought she would burst.
"What?" Aladdin asked, and Ariel realized she had been smiling like an idiot.
"It's just . . . I've never had someone understand me before. I guess I'm just happy that I'm not alone anymore." Ariel said.
Aladdin smiled back at Ariel, and the mermaid saw reflected in his eyes the same joy that she was currently feeling. "Yeah, it does feel good."
The sat like that for a while, just smiling at each other and feeling completely and utterly happy, until they were broken out of their blissful trance by a grating shout.
"How are my two favorite prisoners?" A female voice cackled.
Both Ariel and Aladdin winced as the shrill voice ran like a knife through their ears. Soon, a woman with greenish skin and the bottom half of an octopus came before their cell. Morgana was as thin as Ursula was fat, but her long, angular face reflected the same malice that Ursula had. She saw them huddled in the back, and cackled.
"Gettin' comfy, are we? I don't blame you: it gets so cold and boring up here, sometimes I wish I had someone to cuddle with. Maybe you could share your little boyfriend with me, hmm red?" Morgana asked, eyeing Aladdin.
Ariel felt Aladdin stiffen beside her, and she wrapped her arms around Aladdin's arm protectively and glared at Morgana in response. "I think Aladdin's fine where he is," Ariel replied coolly.
"Don't want to share him, huh? Neither would I. Quite a looker, isn't he?" Morgana asked, cackling.
"Oh, if only your little sweethearts could see you now. Not that they'd care: I hear they're getting quite cozy together in their own little cell. Of course, I hear Jafar makes Eric share Jasmine with him." Morgana commented, giving another one of her annoying cackles.
"It's amazing how easily love can be overcome, isn't it?" Morgana asked before slithering away on her tentacles.
Ariel waited until she could no longer hear Morgana's cackling before releasing Aladdin's arm.
"Sorry," she apologized.
"It's alright; I was afraid she wanted to have me with a side of cabbage," Aladdin said, shivering.
Ariel gave a weak smile, but her heart wasn't in it. She couldn't help but dwell on what Morgana had said. Was it true? Were Jasmine and Eric getting as close as she and Aladdin were, locked in their own cells? She wasn't jealous, of course, since she realized that she was never really in love with Eric, but she worried for Aladdin. She was sure that he was still in love with Jasmine, and she was unsure of how much Morgana's commenting on the princess's budding relationship with Eric, and her servitude to Jafar had affected Aladdin. Was he jealous, angry, in pain? She wished she could ask, but a part of her told her not to breach the sensitive subject.
"Are you okay?" Ariel asked instead.
Aladdin looked down. "I'm fine," he replied.
Ariel stared at Aladdin, narrowing her eyes. It was obvious that what Morgana had said had affected him. He was still very much in love with Jasmine, and the thought of her with Eric, and the thought of Jafar using her was killing him. Ariel could tell by the tortured look in his eyes. And seeing Aladdin in so much pain, it almost broke her heart. And so, then, Ariel made her decision, and she sat up straight with a determined set to her jaw.
"Come on, we need to get out of here," Ariel said.
Aladdin looked up at Ariel in surprise. "What?" he asked in surprise.
"Jafar's got Jasmine and Eric captured, and Ursula's terrorizing Atlantica right now. We've got to stop them," Ariel said.
Aladdin looked at Ariel for a long time, and slowly, a smile spread across his face.
"What?" Ariel asked.
"I think I've got a plan." Aladdin said.
"Dinner!" Morgana screeched, shoving a single slab of ice into the cell, a few shriveled pieces of kelp and a rotten fish on top of it. Aladdin didn't look up, however. His eyes were trained on an unconscious Ariel, who he had cradled in his arms.
"Aww, is the little mermaid having nightmares?" Morgana asked mockingly.
"It's too cold here, she can't stand it. Don't you have something hot we can eat?" Aladdin asked, his eyes still on Ariel.
"You're lucky to get any food at all, human." Morgana snarled.
"But if Ariel doesn't get something warm to eat, she might die," Aladdin insisted, looking up at Morgana, pleading her with his eyes.
"Not my problem," Morgana said dismissively as she began to slither away.
"I don't think Ursula would like it much if Ariel died, though." Aladdin said.
Morgana stopped, and spun to face Aladdin, her face a mask of anger.
"Okay, one, don't ever mention my sister when I'm around. Two, Ursula couldn't care less if your precious Ariel had an unfortunate accident. She got what she wanted." Morgana sneered.
"How do you know the contract won't break?" Aladdin asked.
"Her father replaced Ariel's signature. Ariel's not part of the deal anymore," Morgana reminded him.
"Triton signed away his life so that his daughter could be safe. How do you know that he won't regain his powers if Ariel should die prematurely?" Aladdin asked.
Morgana stopped, and Aladdin knew that his words had gotten through to her. He knew they would. She may have hated her sister with a fiery passion, but Morgana also feared Ursula as much as fish feared sharks. Aladdin had to force himself not to smile. This was just as he planned it.
Finally, Morgana seemed to make up her mind, and she growled.
"Fine," and without another word, she pointed her finger at the ice slab with food on it, and shot what appeared to be a beam of light at it. There was a flash of light, and then where the ice slab had been was now a very confused-looking yellow bear.
"Oh, dearie me. I just had this wonderful pot of honey in my hands, and now I've lost it." The bear looked up and took in his suroundings.
"Oh, dear, it looks like I've lost the Hundred Acre Woods, too." The bear mused.
"Dang it!" Morgana screeched before pointing her finger at the bear and shooting another beam of light at him, replacing him once more with the ice slab.
"Why, why can't I even be half as good as Ursula?" Morgana growled, looking at her hands in distaste.
Ariel suddenly shuddered, and a small gasp escaped her lips before she collapsed back into Aladdin's arms, still once more.
"Morgana, please! I don't think she can hold on much longer!" Aladdin pleaded more urgently.
"Hold your sea-horses lover-boy. I'll go get her something the old fashioned way. I obviously lack the culinary finesse of a Sand Witch." Morgana grumbled before slithering off.
After the sounds of Morgana's tentacles on the ice faded away, Ariel cracked an eye open.
"How was that?" She whispered.
"Best near-death performance I have ever witnessed," Aladdin complimented.
"Thanks,"
"Oh, and good job on the shudder. That really shut Morgana up." Aladdin added.
"I thought she needed a little more persuasion." Ariel agreed.
The sound of tentacles on ice soon reappeared, and Aladdin looked at Ariel urgently.
"Play dead again, got it." Ariel whispered before laying her head back and closing her eyes again.
Morgana soon came into view again, and she was carrying with her an ice slab with some red powder on it. She slid the slab into the cell, some of the powder spraying into the room.
"Here, blow that dust on her and then recite the incantation on the slab. It's a simple heating spell that even an idiot can perform." Morgana said before starting to move away.
Panicing, Aladdin gave a quick look at the slab and then called out to Morgana.
"Wait! I can't read this!" Aladdin cried.
"What are you, an illiterate?" Morgana asked.
"I grew up on the streets of Agrabah and my mom died when I was five! I didn't exactly have time to learn to read! Besides, I think this is in Atlantian, I wouldn't know how to read it anyways." Aladdin said.
Morgana sighed in frustration. "Do I have to do everything myself? Alright, bring the girl over here, and try not to spill the powder." Morgana said.
Hesitantly, Aladdin carried Ariel to the front of the cell, gently nudging the slab forward with his foot. Once he reached the barred door, he held Ariel to Morgana, his eyes pleading. Morgana picked up the slab with one of her tentacles, and unceremoniously threw the powder on Ariel. It shimmered, and then it slowly sank into her skin. Morgana said something in an obscure language, and Aladdin felt Ariel heat up instantly. Ariel shuddered, and slowly opened her eyes.
"Aladdin?" she croaked out.
"You're okay!" Aladdin exclaimed.
"Hooray, the perky red-head survives. Now, do you need anything else, a book or a sofa, perhaps?" Morgana asked sarcastically.
"I can't believe you're alright," Aladdin said, ignoring Morgana's question as he hugged Ariel.
"Alright, alright, try not to kill her with all that mushy stuff." Morgana said before slithering away. Once Aladdin could no longer hear her, he looked down at Ariel.
"Did you get it?" he asked.
"I was afraid she would notice, but, yeah, I got it," Ariel said, holding up her fin and uncurling it to reveal the key to the cell.
Aladdin smiled.
Okay, sorry that this chapter is a little shorter than the previous ones, but I felt kinda bad for taking so long to update, so I decided cut the chapter a little short and post it anyways. That, and I my writers block was threatening to show up again, so I decided to just end the chapter there. Oh, and there was ALMOST a kiss scene in this chapter! I wrote one, but then I was like, "Man, now where do I take the story from here?" so I decided to cut it out. Part of the reason this is so late is because I kept on going back and re-writing scenes, and I got stuck a few times, and I'm just lazy. :P Again, sorry for the late update! Only a few more chapters to go! Any questions, or if you're confused, just email me! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
~FantasticMisticalWonder (FMW/Wonder)