Disclaimer- so here's another chapter for my loyal fans!! As always I don't own the little mermaid, jsut Arianna and Phillip :) Enjoy!!

Ch 11- The Merman and I

The magic of being a mermaid was losing interest to Arianna. Yes, it was fun, but it was tiring to continually flip you tail every few seconds. No wonder mermaids have abs, Arianna thought. She had only a couple of days left before Ursula came to check on her and Ariel, she had only one day left as a human. "Oh damn!" she said aloud.

Cephan turned to look at her, "What is it?"

"Cephan, Ariel had one more day to have my brother truly kiss her! If not, she becomes Ursula's and then a couple of days later, I join her. This "quest" is far too complicated. I'm never going to succeed at it! She made it so I'll never be able to get the shell, or," she paused, "see Phillip again." She collapsed right were she was floating.

"Arianna."

He got no reply. "Arianna." She looked up. He helped her up. "Listen to me. You'll get through this stupid quest and go back to your Phil--life." Arianna thought she saw a flash of sadness in his eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

She changed the subject quickly. "So where are we going?" she asked as Cephan swam ahead.

"We're going to try and cheat the system."

"How are we going to do that?"

"I have a friend who is a great craftsman. I'm, we're, going to see if he can make a shell exactly looking like the one that King T has on."

"Cephan, you're a genius! But how do we know she won't know it's a fake?"

"She doesn't look very closely to details. I mean she used to rule the sea and because she missed reading the details, she lost her rule. In addition, she'll be too happy that we stole it from King T to notice that he still has his. Which I can only hope she doesn't come for him next."

"You can only hope? I need a guarantee. If not, this is hopeless." she sighed.

"Here's your guarantee." he said, holding out his hand as to shake on it. She took it and he pulled her close to him and kissed her.

If she thought Phillip kissed well, Phillip had nothing on Cephan. She kissed him back with as much fervor as he was giving her. Wrapping her fingers in her hair, he puller her closer still.

She pulled away as she was beginning to lose air. "How's that for a guarantee?" he asked.

She smiled, then quickly looked away realizing how much she missed Phillip. "It was fine…we need to keep moving. What was she thinking!? She had a fiancé for crying out loud! She shouldn't be kissing a cute merman!! No matter what!! She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "Let's get moving then!"

"Ursula is a witch who I had the unfortunate luck of meeting. She's an evil woman who sets tasks that no one can ever achieve. They're nearly impossible.

"Nearly impossible? So they can be finished or reached?" Eric brightened.

"Yes, they are." Ariel replied.

"You said you met her, did she give you a quest to complete?"

Ariel looked away and back at Eric. "No, thank God. I was meeting a friend and had to leave very quickly.."

"Oh, that's good. That would suck if both of you were both on quests. Any idea what this quest would be?"

"No, only that each quest is different from the previous, unique and formed to the person who is trying to accomplish."

"It would help if we knew. Then we could help Arianna and bring her back.

Ariel nodded. "Eric," she sighed, "I need to tell you something."

They arrived at a gigantic gate, was that a….

"Yes, his house is a gigantic shell." Cephan said, answering her thoughts.

"Why?" Arianna asked.

"Devin likes to build a lot of things. He used to build when we were little."

"When you were…"

"Yes, we've been friends for quite a long time now." a voice replied.

Devin came out of the threshold of the house. He was the total opposite of Cephan. If Cephan were any type of bad boy, then Devin was almost like the rugged under-estimated city boy, who happened to live in God-knows-where.

Even though he lived under water, his skin was colored as if he had spent the entire day in the sun. His chestnut hair was also a much deeper shade then Cephan's but not as curly. Arianna was very intimidated by Devin even though he was Cephan's friend, but she stayed close to Cephan as they entered his house.

Everything about this boy is intimidating! Him, his house. His house looked small from the outside but in fact was huge on the inside and filled with…

"Is that a fork?" Arianna asked, seeing that like Ariel he liked the human things.

Devin nodded, "Yes, I have a whole set of silverware and plates and cups that I've found in shipwrecks.

"Ariel likes that stuff too." Arianna added.

Devin led them to what could be called a couch/loveseat.

"So before we continue," Arianna said, "do you know what the shell looks like?"

Devin nodded. "I better. I gave him that thing. Made it almost 100 years ago."

Arianna's jaw dropped. "You made the King's shell? How? Why?"

"He helped me a very long time ago and I made him that shell which he gave to his wife, Athena as a wedding present and since she died, he now wears it as a memory of her." Devin replied.

"So how long would it take to make a replicate?"

"I'd say about a day?"

Arianna looked at Cephan, who nodded. "Thanks Devin. We need it as quick as possible."

"No problem. You guys are welcome to stay the night while I work on it."

Arianna nodded. "Thank you, for all of this, thank God Cephan has a friend like you."

Devin didn't reply, but looked away, as if hiding something. However, Arianna was too tired to notice and fell asleep on the couch, her head on Cephan's shoulder.

By the time Ariel had told Eric everything, the sun had risen on her third day.

He sat there in front of her motionless. "Eric? Say something please?" she said.

He got up immediately as if coming out a trance. "So, you are really a mermaid?" He said very slowly as if still trying to figure it all out.

Ariel nodded, "Like I said, but she is stuck as a mermaid until she completes Ursula's task which is probably something from my father to gain possession of the Seven Seas."

Eric took a deep breath. "Ok, so how do you suppose we save Arianna?"

"I have no idea, but the last time I talked to Cephan, he said that he was going to his friend Devin so I haven't a clue what her quest is."

"You think we should tell Phillip?" Eric asked.

"No, he has enough on his plate already."

"Ok, so what do we do?"

Cephan woke Arianna up the next morning. She opened her eyes and stretched. "Did he finish it yet?"

Cephan nodded and pointed to the object that was on the coffee table. As far as Arianna could tell, it had looked exactly like the original, though she had only seen the original for like four seconds.

"It's perfect. Where's Devin? I have to thank him." Arianna said, slipping the chain over her neck.

"He left early this morning saying he had to go hunting."

"Oh, I'll just leave him a note then." Cephan helped her fins some paper and she left the note where the necklace had been.

They closed his door and began to make the two days journey to Ursula's Lair.

Phillip was starting to get frustrated because of Arianna being gone for four days and because he had to continuously lie for her and say that she was sick.

Finally, the stress got to him and he confronted Ariel and Eric. He pulled them into a deserted corridor. "Where is Arianna?" he demanded.

"Phillip…"

"I know you know where she is!!" he yelled, trying hard not to lose his temper, but it was a little to late. "All I want to know is where my fiancée is. I mean how would you feel is you proposed to someone and the next day she's gone??"

"Phillip, " Ariel continued, "I know where she is and Eric and I are going to go rescue her." He started to say something but she cut him off, "But you need to stay here and stay with your family."

Running a hand through his hair, he sighed, defeated. "Fine, but please bring her home safely."

Ariel hugged Phillip and she and Eric disappeared down the corridor.

"Please find her." he said.