I don't own DW or TLM. So, I was thinking about making this a series, like with a butt load of famous Disney characters, but I don't know if they're (meaning the concepts of the stories) good enough. Send me your thoughts. Thanks for all your support and everything. Yeah.

CHAPTER 10

Ariel woke up gasping, coughing back to life. The lights were warped and made her eyes ache under their pressure. Ariel's hands brushed against her side and she gasped at the touch of cold scales.

She was back.

Her tail was dry and stiff in the stifling heat. Her fin flopped dully against the cold metal. Slowly, air found its way into her lungs once more.

"You're a..." Winston's voice stammered across the room. "You're a-"

"A fish?" She rasped. "More or less." Ariel propped herself up onto her elbows. "Now, carry me back."

Hesitantly, Winston made his way towards her, his eyes huge and shocked. With careful hands, he pulled Ariel into his arms. His hands were unsure, but steady. With a grunt of effort, Winston lifted her up and made his way back to the console.

"Alright." Ariel said, settling herself down on the cold metal grate. "Now... Let's fly."

"Uhm." Winston stood in front of the plethora of handles and buttons and could only stare. "Yeah, I have no idea."

"Doctor?" Ariel called out. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes." His voice hissed through gritted teeth.

"I want you to know that I'm coming." She said firmly. "I'm coming to save you."

"Ariel." His voice demanded to be heard. "Ariel, please, don't do this. Don't, I am begging you, don't-"

"Bye!" Ariel reached up on the console and pulled one of the levers. The connection was cut off with a blip and the whole ship began to shake, violently.

"Do you know how to fly this?" Winston shouted, eyes wide with panic.

"Nope." Ariel said simply. Winston let out a breath and took control, moving hesitantly around the console, pushing one button at a time.

"How can you..." Ariel began.

"I've been working with machines my whole life... You just have to keep your eyes open." He pulled a lever and the Tardis stabilized. "Here. We're above the oceon. What are you..." And it dawned on him, slow and awful. "Ariel, no, no, you can't do this, no-"

"Winston." She looked up at him hard. "Don't. Don't try and stop me. Give me- Give me the right to make my own decisions, okay?"

Winston's face was torn, ragged and sheer, with sadness. But he felt Ariel's words, she could see that. He understood. And so, he helped her towards the door.

"At the very bottom." Winston said, his voice tight. "The bottom of the ocean. You'll see a ridge, in the seafloor, I mean. At the end furthest from the lab, there'll be a box. Open it up and," He set her down in front of the door. "You'll see twelve wires... I think. And you have to take the red wire and connect it with... With the yellow- No, green." He thought for a moment, panic coloring his face. "Yes, green. Definitely green." There was a hand, pulling at Ariel's stomach, but she remained silent.

Winston opened up the door. Instantly, the heat was sweltering. They hovered about twenty feet above the violent water. Ariel did not ask what she should do to return to the lab and Winston did not supply the information. They both seemed to know that she would not come back.

"Okay." Ariel turned to face Winston. "Thank you, for everything." She put a clammy hand gently on his shoulder.

"Ariel..." His eyes were glassy, reflecting the light dimly. She silenced him with her lips. Their sweat mingled and he tasted of salt and earth. When she pulled back, Ariel said, "I didn't want to die never having been kissed." Winston didn't say anything, just numbly touched her hand.

Without another word, Ariel awkwardly sat on the edge of the box, her tail dangling over the impossible heat. Then, she dropped.

The instant she hit the sea, her body screamed. Everything was melting and awful and horrible. Ariel could barely see, could barely make a thought. Everything was blurred with the pure velocity of the water. She began to panic, floundering in the water.

Ariel. The Doctor's voice was clear in her mind. Not truly the Doctor, not pleading for her to live or anything, but her Doctor. The Doctor of her dreams. Ariel. Focus. Think.

She did, blinking several times, trying to clear her visions. The sea floor was angry red, like a scab. She could make out the blurry, gleaming shape of the lab in the distance. And, leading away from the lab, she saw a black, jagged line. The ridge. And she swam after it.

Her body was tearing at the edges, her seams were bubbling. Like she was bleeding out into the water around her. Her insides were rocking on a violent sea. She could feel her fingertips bleeding out, her eyes boiling. Everything was a flame. The sea, the place she were she was always from, it was killing her now. True, it was a different sea. But weren't all oceans connected, somehow? Here she was, in some far away sea in a distant planet, so far from the calm waters of her home.

Home. Ariel forced herself to think. Think of home. She was there, in the crystal, crisp waters of her home. She was chasing Flounder through a coral reef. They had run away from a music lesson, gleefully avoiding responsibilities. The light, it's glittering on the coral in colors she'd never imagined. Yes, it was all there. That was it. She was home, she was there.

Suddenly, there was an explosion, something red and glowing and boiling and awful, so close to her, she was sent spiraling in the opposite direction, burned to a crisp by the wave of heat. Then another, and another.

It's them. She thought. They're fighting back. It's them. But all she could was swim. She had to; she owed that much to the Doctor.

Finally, Ariel reached the box. Her hands burned on the heated metal, if they could burned any more that they already were. She pulled and pulled, trying to open the lid. Finally, the lid came flying off, floating away in the distance. Ariel could only just make out the slivers of colors that were the wires. The one closest to red, she grabbed it and gave it a yank. And then she grabbed the yellow one.

Or was it green? She asked, a fume of panic flooding her. The explosions raged on, rattling her bones and scrambling her mind. They were getting closer, closer and more violent.

In desperation, Ariel connected the yellow and the red one. There was a rumble, and the heat was more intense. So violent and demanding to be heard and felt and consumed her. And it was all darkness.