Disclaimer: I own nadda. The Little Mermaid and Aladdin are the property of Disney. Need I say more?


"What was that all about?" Urchin asked as Ariel swam awkwardly towards him.

"Nothing," Ariel said, looking down, her cheeks burning.

"Well . . . alright. I still don't get why you were with a human though." Urchin said, folding his arms.

"Urchin, we were imprisoned together." Ariel said.

Urchin's eyes opened wide. "Imprisoned? By whom?" He asked.

"Morgana," Ariel said, playing with her fingers nervously.

"Morgana? But she can barely capture a blind snail!" Urchin exclaimed.

"Well . . . we were kind of handed over to her by Ursula." Ariel said.

"Ursula! So Sebastian was right! You did go to her for legs!" Urchin shouted.

"Urchin, please –"

"You're the reason Atlantica's right in her tentacles!"

"I know! And I'm going to fix it." Ariel said.

Urchin pursed his lips and looked at her. "How?" he asked.

Ariel sighed. "I don't know. All I know is that it's my mess, and I have to clean it up." Ariel said, pushing past her friend and swimming forward.

"Ariel! What happened to your tail?" Urchin exclaimed.

Ariel closed her eyes before turning around and looking at her mangled fin. "Undertow bit me." Ariel explained.

"I don't know how you expect to save Atlantica with half a fin," Urchin said, crossing his arms.

"Have you been hanging around Atina? Because you're starting to act like her. Look, I know that our chances are slim, and I know that I really messed up, but I need to know that you're going to help me with this." Ariel said, looking Urchin in the eyes.

The merboy stared at Ariel for a while, before sighing and nodding. "Yeah, I'm with you, Ariel."

A smile broke out on Ariel's face, and she hugged Urchin tightly. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Hey, don't mention it," Urchin said awkwardly.

Ariel let go of her friend and sighed. "Come on, I need you to lead me to Atlantica." She said.

Urchin nodded, and swam ahead of her, gesturing for her to follow.

**line break**

It felt like they had been swimming for days. Ariel was exhausted, and she knew that it was thanks to her half fin. She remembered a time when a swim of this length would have been challenging in a refreshing way. But now it was just painful. She was imbalanced, and she kept on trying to curl her tail to balance out the flipping power, and yet she still kept on veering to the right and flipping onto her side unexpectedly. Ariel reminded herself countless times to thank Urchin for being so patient with her if they ever came out of this alive.

"Barnacles!" Ariel cursed after she avoided crashing into a boulder.

"We can take a break if you want," Urchin offered.

"No, we need to get to Atlantica as fast as possible." Ariel insisted.

"I could try and carry you if you want." Urchin suggested.

Ariel looked at Urchin and had to prevent herself from laughing. He still had the gangly appearance of a merboy barely past puberty. His arms were srawny with barely any skin or muscle on them, and Ariel was sure that had they both been humans, she would have been taller than him. There was no way that he would be able to manage carrying her all the way to Atlantica.

"Thank you for the offer, but I think I'll manage." Ariel said, smiling at him.

Urchin nodded, and Ariel could have sworn she saw relief in his eyes.

Ariel sighed and looked down at her ravaged tail. "But we'll never get to Atlantica in time at this pace."

"So what do we do?" Urchin asked.

Ariel frowned and thought. Aladdin was really good at finding solutions. What would he do? Looking around at her surroundings, Ariel's eyes lit up when they came across some wide seaweed.

"Here! We can use this and tie it to my tail! It might balance it out!" Ariel said, gently plucking out one of the plants and holding it to her fin critically. It was the perfect size.

"And it's pretty stiff, too, so it won't be useless." Ariel commented, pulling out some thin and wispy seaweed, using it to tie the larger plant to her fin.

"There! That should work!" she said, flipping her tail experimentally. She was still a little off-balance, but not as much as she was before. Swimming would be considerably easier, at least.

"Come on! Let's go!" Ariel exclaimed, flicking her fin and swimming off, Urchin following her.

Things went faster from then on, and in a few hours Ariel began to see familiar coral reefs and boulders. They were nearing Atlantica. But Ariel could sense a change in the waters. It was colder, and murkier. The water felt almost dirty. Shaking off the slimy feeling, Ariel swam on, but stopped when Urchin grabbed her arm, motioning for her to follow him. Nodding, Ariel swam behind Urchin, and they went through the Kelp Forest. Ariel kept one eye above them as she followed Urchin, remembering the last time she had traveled through vast amounts of kelp. She didn't want to accidentally swim into a pack of eels.

Ariel felt extremely relieved when they had finally gotten out of the kelp, and frowned when Urchin led her down into a tunnel.

"Urchin, isn't this where . . ."

"The Catfish Club used to be? Yeah, this is the place. It's almost been forgotten, so Flounder, Gabriella and I decided to hide-out here." Urchin explained, swimming into the vast empty room.

"Psst, Gabriella! Are you here?" Urchin whispered.

"Urchin! Good, it's you!" a familiar voice said.

"Ollie! Gabriella!" Ariel exclaimed as the blue octopus came out of the shadows, closely followed by a mermaid with a pink tail.

The mermaid's eyes opened wide when they saw Ariel, and instantly she swam towards her friend, and the two mermaids embraced. After they parted, Gabriella made a few signs with her hands.

"Where have you been? We were so worried about you." Olli translated.

"It's a long story, Gabriella, and I don't have time to tell it. All you need to know is that I was stupid and selfish, and it's my fault that Ursula's ruling Atlantica." Ariel said, hanging her head.

Gabriella's eyes opened even wider, and she made some frantic, disbelieving gestures.

"So it's true then? You made a deal with Ursula to become a human?" Ollie asked.

"Did she tell all of Atlantica that?" Ariel asked.

"She told us that you betrayed us, and sold out to the humans." Ollie said after watching Gabriella's hands closely.

"I never meant any harm, I just acted rashly. But she's right in that it's my fault that Atlantica's like this. And I need to fix it." Ariel said.

"How are you going to do that?" Ollie asked, conveying Gabriella's question.

Ariel took a deep breath. "There's only one way that I can fix all of this. I need to get a hold of my father's trident."

Ollie, Gabriella, and Urchin stared at Ariel.

"I don't think Ursula will just hand it over if you ask nicely, Ariel." Urchin said.

"I know, we're going to sneak into the palace and steal it." Ariel explained.

"Oh, well, why didn't you just say so? I suppose you'll want to go and invite the Evil Manta to dinner of sea-kelp afterwards, too." Urchin said sarcastically.

"Look, I know it's going to be tough, but if you have any better ideas, please, I'd love to hear them." Ariel said, crossing her arms.

Urchin looked at her skeptically, and sighed.

"Look, I'm not asking any of you to come with me; I don't want to endanger you." Ariel said soothingly.

Gabriella immediately attacked Ariel, grasping her shoulders and shaking her.

"Woah! Gab! Slow down and let me translate!" Ollie exclaimed.

Gabriella let go of Ariel and made some quick motions with her hands.

"She says 'Are you crazy? You're our friend and we're in this together.'" Ollie said.

Ariel smiled at Gabriella gratefully. "Thanks, Gabriella. It means a lot to me."

"Ariel, I'm in, too." Urchin said.

Ariel smiled at the sandy-haired merboy.

"Thank you," she said.

"Woah! What'd I miss?" a voice asked.

Turning around, Ariel let out a cry of delight when she saw the yellow fish in the threshold.

"Flounder!" Ariel exclaimed.

"Ariel? Ariel!" Flounder shouted, swimming at the mermaid and tackling her. Laughing, Ariel wrapped her arms around the small fish and hugged him affectionately.

"Flounder, I've been so worried about you. I didn't know what had happened to you after you led me and Aladdin to the wedding barge." Ariel said.

"I swam back to Atlantica as fast as I could after King Triton disappeared, and I warned Urchin and Gabriella before Ursula came back and took over." Flounder explained.

"If it weren't for him, we'd all probably be in chains." Urchin said.

"That was extremely brave of you, Flounder." Ariel said, smiling.

Flounder looked down and laughed nervously. "It was nothing,"

"What's wrong with your tail?" Ollie asked.

Looking down at her splinted fin, Ariel sighed. "It doesn't matter. We have to get the trident away from Ursula as fast as possible."

"Wait, we're going to steal the trident from Ursula?" Flounder exclaimed.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to," Ariel said.

Flounder shook his head. "No, I'm coming with you." He said, though Ariel could see the fear in his eyes.

Looking at all of her friends, Ariel felt her heart swell, and she felt that she had never been more grateful to have such loyal companions. Smiling at them, Ariel gestured for them to follow her.

"Come on, let's go save Atlantica." she said.


"How do we get past those guards?" Urchin asked, peaking over the boulder to look at the front gate to the palace.

"Maybe one of us should cause a diversion." Flounder suggested.

Ariel shook her head. "No, I don't want you guys risking yourselves."

"Then how are we going to get in?" Urchin asked.

Ariel thought for a moment. Oh, if only Aladdin were here! He could have thought of a way to get past them! Creasing her brow in concentration, Ariel surveyed her surroundings, looking for something that could help them get in.

"I wish we had more resources," Ariel murmured.

"Maybe we can fight them off! They don't look so tough!" Urchin said, glaring at the guards.

"No, Urchin, I don't want to risk it." Ariel said, shaking her head.

"If only we were scarier-looking, then we wouldn't have to worry about fighting them," Flounder pouted.

Ariel's eyes opened wide. "Guys, I have a plan."

Meanwhile, the guards were at attention by the gate. They were unwillingly following orders given to them by Ursula.

"Do you think she'll notice if we leave our posts?" one of the guards asked.

"It doesn't matter if she notices; it matters if she finds out! Do you want your wife and kids burned to a crisp?" another guard hissed.

"Sheesh, I was just asking," the first guard murmured.

"What's that?" one of the other guards asked, pointing out towards the open sea.

Squinting, the second guard stared at where the other was pointing, and saw a large shape looming above the seafloor.

"Ready your positions men," he commanded, holding out his spear in a fighting stance.

Slowly, the thing came closer, becoming larger by the second, until a great creature was in front of them, two bright eyes staring down at the guards.

"Now can we leave?" the first guard squeaked.

The commander gulped. He could say that the creature overpowered them. Ursula couldn't hurt their families then. Besides, there was that slim chance that the creature might overcome the self-proclaimed Sea-Queen.

"Men! Play dead!" the captain commanded before swimming off.

The other soldiers quickly followed in suit, and soon, only the creature was left at the gate.

"It worked!" said its stomach.

"I don't believe it!" said its ear.

And then, the creature sagged, and collapsed onto the ground, leaving only a pile of kelp, three merfolk, one octopus, and one fish where it had been standing.

"Come on! Let's go inside before someone sees us." Ariel insisted, swimming past the gate and into the palace.

Inside, Ariel looked down the halls, and seeing no one there, motioned for her friends to follow. Swimming as quietly as she could, she stopped suddenly when she saw a shadow coming down the hall. Gasping, Ariel and her friends swam upwards and clung to the ceiling, waiting until the hammerhead sentry had passed beneath them. Letting out a sigh of relief, Ariel started swimming forwards again, looking down the halls for any more hammerheads or guards. Eventually, the came to the door to the throne room, and Ariel peaked her head in to look.

It was empty, and there was no sign of Ursula anywhere.

Except for the trident sitting in its sheath by the throne.

"There it is," Ariel gasped.

"Well, go on, get it! Only you can remove it." Urchin urged.

Ariel nodded, and cautiously swimming out in to the room, she looked around for any sign of guards or Ursula before zooming towards the trident. Looking around once more to be safe, Ariel wrapped her fingers around the trident's base, and pulled upwards.

It didn't budge.

Releasing it, Ariel stared down at the stand in dismay.

"She's altered the protection spell." she said in despair.

"Ariel! Heads up!" Flounder called.

Her head shooting up, Ariel gasped as she heard someone coming down the hall, and quickly dove underneath the table to hide. Putting her hand over her mouth to stop herself from gasping, Ariel stared in wide-eyed fear as she saw black and purple tentacles sliding past the table on the floor.

"Everything is running smoothly, just as you asked, Your Highness," the grating voice of Marina said.

"Good, good. And the princesses?" Ursula asked.

"Still confined in the dungeons. Along with that little pest, Sebastian." Marina assured.

"Any news from my sister?" Ursula inquired.

"Sorry, Your Majesty, no word from the Lady Morgana of yet." Marina said apologetically.

Ursula sniffed. "She's probably still bitter about having to answer to me. Oh well, some things can't be helped. I'll have to check up on her in a while to see how that little mermaid and her street rat are doing, though."

"Of course, Your Highness. Is there anything else I can do for you?" Marina asked.

"No, you are dismissed." Ursula said offhandedly.

Ariel heard the swish of water as Marina swam by, and waited underneath the table in fright, silently praying that Ursula would leave soon, or carelessly remove the trident and leave it someplace that Ariel could retrieve it from.

Ariel was so intently concentrating on her prayers and fright, that she didn't notice the two moray eels sneaking up behind her, and she let out a cry of surprise as they wound themselves around her and pulled her out from under the table.

"We found a ssssneak, Urssssula." Flotsam and Jetsam said in unison.

Ursula turned around and smiled maliciously when she saw Ariel.

"Ah, child, what a pleasant surprise! I should have known that Morgana wouldn't be able to keep you prisoner. Where's your street rat, hmm? Has he gone to try and free his precious Princess Jasmine?" Ursula asked.

"Bring my father back," Ariel snarled.

Ursula chuckled. "Oh, but he signed a contract: his soul for yours, remember? I can do with him as I please. And right now, I rather like him as a decoration in my garden. He adds a certain class to it, don't you think so boys?"

"Oh, yesss, Ursssula." Flotsam and Jetsam agreed.

"Now, what to do with the nosy little mermaid, hmm? I can't harm you, that would go against the contract, but I believe that I can put you in a time-out for being naughty." Ursula said, smiling.

"Let me go," Ariel hissed.

Ursula clucked her tongue in disapproval. "Now, now, that's no way to treat your Auntie, is it?"

"Don't even try to get me to call you by that." Ariel snapped.

Ursula shook her head. "My, my, whenever did you get so headstrong? And after all I've done for you? Maybe I should warn Jafar about that street-rat . . ."

"You leave Aladdin out of this!" Ariel shouted.

Ursula raised an eyebrow. "Oh my, have you developed feelings for that boy?" she asked, shaking her head. "Oh dear, you teenagers are so impulsive, aren't you? You let your hormones do the talking. It was so easy to play off of your attraction to that prince. And I don't think I even needed to go through that elaborate disguise to prevent a kiss. You would have been your own undoing, falling for that piece of garbage."

"He is not garbage!" Ariel protested.

Ursula wagged her finger at Ariel. "Uh-uh, play nice and don't talk back, dearie. Now, tell me, who else did you bring with you?"

"I came by myself," Ariel lied, lifting her chin.

Ursula raised her eyebrow. "Is that so?" she asked, snapping her fingers.

Ariel heard a crackle of energy, and saw Marina's eels enter the throne room, having encircled and trapped Urchin, Gabriella, Ollie, and Flounder. The purple mermaid they answered too was swimming behind them.

"My schnookums found these rabble-rousers lurking outside your throne room, Your Highness." Marina said, bowing to Ursula.

"Excellent work, Marina. Now, what to do with these trouble makers?" Ursula wondered.

"Leave them alone!" Ariel cried, struggling against the hold of Flotsam and Jetsam.

"Perhaps a little shock ought to do them good." Ursula mused, removing the trident from its stand.

"No!" Ariel screamed.

"Say thank you to Ariel, children. She's the reason you're in this mess," Ursula said, pointing the trident at Ariel's friends.

"I said leave them ALONE!" Ariel shouted, her voice taking on a volume and intensity that she didn't know it could take. Instantly, the trident glowed hot red, and Ursula let out a cry, dropping the weapon.

Staring at the fallen trident, Ariel slapped Flotsam and Jetsam in the face with her fin and swam towards the trident. But Ursula saw Ariel's advance, and sprang towards the weapon.

Had Ariel had her full tail, she might have reached it in time.

Ursula grabbed the trident an instant before Ariel's hand would have grabbed it, and she snatched it away and pointed it at Ariel.

"Contract or no, you're going to be taught a lesson, you little brat." Ursula snarled, the trident beginning to glow.

Ariel stared in horror at the magical device, but her eyes opened in confusion as the glow suddenly faded. Ursula looked at the trident in irritation, and shook it a few times. And it might have been her imagination, but Ariel could have sworn that the trident turned slightly away from Ursula, and pointed towards Ariel.

Eyes wide, Ariel held out her hand in a way she had seen her father do, and concentrating, she willed the trident to come forward. It shook for a moment, and then it sprang out of Ursula's grasp and came flying towards Ariel.

"No!" Ursula cried, shooting forward to try and grab the weapon. But it had already entered Ariel's grasp, and she quickly pointed it at the sea-witch, and concentrated on just doing something to stop her . . . .

. . . . when Ursula, going at a speed to fast to stop suddenly, ran into the trident, its three prongs sticking out of her back. There was this shocked look on the sea-witch's face, and before Ariel could come out of her own shock, the trident glowed, and Ursula disappeared in a flash of light, a few dark purple scales and some wisps of white hair the only remnant of her. And gently, the empty crown floated down to rest on the ground.

There was a stunned silence in which nobody moved, and they all just stared at the place where Ursula had been. Ariel was the first to break out of her shock, and she pointed the trident at Flotsam and Jetsam.

"Over there, now." Ariel commanded, gesturing with the trident.

The two eels stared at the mermaid for a moment before swimming over to stay by Marina. Pointing her trident at the electric eels, Ariel tightened her grip, and the electricity they were emitting was sucked into the trident, rendering them just normal, ugly eels.

"My babies!" Marina cried.

"Call them off." Ariel said, her eyes hard.

Marina stared at Ariel, and then turned to her eels and snapped her fingers. The disoriented things came back over to Marina, and with a determined thought, Ariel shot a beam of light from the trident and at the mermaid and eels, and after being incased in the golden light, they disappeared.

Ariel's friends stared at her for a moment before letting out cries of joy.

"Dude! You just shish-ka-bobbed Ursula!" Flounder exclaimed.

"Where'd they go?" Ollie asked, translating Gabriella's question.

"I think I sent them to a cell in the dungeons, but I'm kind of new to this." Ariel said uncertainly.

"Your Highness, we heard a commotion and we were wondering –" a guard said, coming up to the doorway and stopping when he saw Ariel, his troops behind him.

"Hello, Captain." Ariel said.

"Princess Ariel," the Captain said in wonder.

"Ursula's no longer with us, you don't have to worry about answering to her now," Ariel said.

"What are your orders, then, Your Highness?" the Captain asked.

"I heard that my sisters and Sebastian are being held in a dungeon, release them please." Ariel said.

The Captain put his fist to his chest and bowed. "As my Lady desires." He said before turning and swimming away, his troops following.

"Now, where's my father?" Ariel wondered.

"Do you think he was turned to normal when Ursula died?" Flounder asked.

Ariel opened her mouth to respond, but she was interrupted by a voice on the other side of the throne room.

"Ariel?"

Turning around, Ariel let out a cry, and she flew into her father's arms.

"Daddy," Ariel cried.

"Ariel, my brave, brave, Ariel." Triton sighed, stroking his daughter's hair.

"Daddy, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. How can you ever forgive me?" Ariel wept.

"Forgive you?" Triton asked, pulling away and looking at his daughter incredulously. "Ariel, you just saved all of Atlantica. I believe that I should be thanking you."

"But, if I hadn't been so stupid Atlantica wouldn't have needed saving." Ariel said in confusion.

"Ariel, if I had just been just a little more open-minded, you wouldn't have had reason to act as you did. Twice now my stubbornness has nearly cost me you. It is I who needs to be forgiven." Triton said.

"Oh, Daddy," Ariel cried, hugging her father.

After a moment, Ariel pulled away, and held out the trident to her father.

"Here, this is yours," Ariel said.

Triton nodded, and gently took the trident from his daughter's hands.

"And here's your crown," Ariel said, bending down to pick up the fallen head-piece.

Triton took the crown from his daughter and placed it on his head. Almost instantly, the murkiness that had seemed to contaminate the waters of Atlantica disappeared, and the water once more felt clean and fresh.

"All is as it should be now. Ursula's spells have been lifted." Triton said.

"So, all of those people she transformed, they're . . ."

"Free to live the lives that she stole from them." Triton said.

Ariel nodded and smiled, relieved that all of the destruction the sea-witch had caused was being healed. However, Ariel was jolted out of her thoughts by the sudden shrieking of multiple girls.

"Ariel! Daddy!" Ariel's sisters cried, enveloping the two Royals in a group hug.

"Where were you?"

"We were so worried!"

"What happened to Ursula?"

"What's wrong with you tail?"

"Girls, girls, please, there will be time enough for questions later." Triton said.

"Yes father," the six sisters said automatically.

Triton turned to look at his daughter, and his gaze dropped to her tail.

"Ariel, what is that thing strapped to your fin." He asked.

"Oh, it's a splint." Ariel explained.

"What for?" Triton asked.

"My tail was bit by Undertow while Aladdin and I were . . ." Ariel gasped.

"What?" Triton asked in alarm.

"Aladdin! He's up in Agrabah trying to save it from Jafar! I have to help him!" Ariel exclaimed.

"Is Aladdin that human you saved?" Triton asked.

Ariel shook her head. "No, that was Prince Eric. No, Aladdin's my . . . my friend. He fell in love with Princess Jasmine of Agrabah, but he was a street rat so he couldn't marry her. But he found this magic lamp that had this genie inside that could grant him three wishes. He used the first to turn himself into a prince, and the second when he almost drowned. But the lamp was stolen by the Sultan's advisor Jafar, and he used it to make himself ruler of Atlantica. Aladdin and I were imprisoned together since Ursula and Jafar were working together, and when we were trying to escape Morgana's fortress I was bitten by Undertow. But once we got out I ran into Scuttle and Urchin, and we had to separate. He's gone to Agrabah to try and reclaim the lamp so he can undo Jafar's wishes." Ariel explained.

"Why did you not simply help this Aladdin retrieve the lamp so you could use the wishes to defeat Ursula?" Triton asked.

Ariel looked down. "I knew it was my fault that Ursula was in control of Atlantica, and I felt I had to fix it without any shortcuts." Ariel said.

Triton sighed. "Oh, Ariel . . ."

"But the point is Aladdin could be in trouble! I have to help him!" Ariel insisted.

Triton looked at his daughter long and hard, and eventually sighed. "Very well. But allow me one thing before I take you to him."

"What's that?" Ariel asked,

"Let me heal your tail, you'll be of much better use to the lad when you can swim properly."


Woohoo! Ariel saves the day! This is how I think the Little Mermaid should have ended. Because really, I felt Ariel was kind of useless at the end of the movie, and I don't like thinking of my favorite Disney Heroine as useless. :P So, yeah, hope you guys liked it! Just to warn you, the next chapter is probably going to be a lot more similar to the big final fight-scene with Jafar in Aladdin, as I'm not making AS MANY drastic changes to it. So, yeah, review!

~FantasticMisticalWonder (FMW/Wonder)