Chapter 13
Rehearsal
Marty awoke slowly next morning to glittering rays of light bouncing around on the sea floor.
"What a weird feeling living underwater" Marty said to himself as he stretched his arms and legs. He checked to make sure his mask was working correctly and didn't break in his sleep. Once he was done with that he slowly made his way out of the room. He peeked his head out into the hallway to be sure that no one was watching him before swimming out into the hall. He swam down the hallway searching each room for a sight of the red headed princess.
Marty made his way out of the palace and into the open ocean. He still saw no sign of her yet he continued to look. Suddenly though as he neared the grotto he heard a soft beautiful voice ring through the sea.
"What would I give, to live where you are. What would I pay, to stay here beside you. What would I do to see you, smiling at me? Where would we walk, where would we run, if we could stay all day in the sun! just you and me, and I could be, Part of your world"
Marty reached the entrance to the grotto just as the person inside finished singing. Marty looked inside of the grotto to find it empty.
"Hello?" Marty called. It was eerily quiet and Marty's voice bounced off the walls of the grotto. Marty failed to notice the red head floating quietly above him waiting to strike.
"HELLO MARTY" Ariel called leaping on top of Marty and scaring the crap out of him at the same time.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Marty yelled. He looked up only to be pranced upon by Ariel who was having a laughing fit.
Marty hit the seafloor with Ariel on top of him giggling.
"Ariel" Marty whined "Don't scare me like that!" He said feeling embarrassed that he had yelled so loud and the fact that she had scared him.
"I'm sorry Marty" Ariel said giggling.
"What are you doing here anyways? Don't you have something else to do?" Marty said with a raised eyebrow.
"Like what?" Ariel said clueless. Marty sighed and shook his head with disbelief.
"Oh I don't know? Perhaps Rehearsal?" Marty said calmly.
"Oh shoot! I forgot!" Ariel said smacking her head with her hand.
"You know if I were you I would make sure not to upset that red crustacean" Marty said remembering last nights encounter with Sebastian.
"Oh come on Marty, Sebastian is such a softy. He may seem tough, but he still loves me" Ariel said smiling.
"Yeah, whatever" Marty said examining the books that lines one of the "shelves" of the grotto.
"Hey" Marty said to himself picking up a book from the selection. "I've read this book" Marty said to himself and Ariel.
"Which one?" Ariel asked swimming over to him.
"Of Mice And Men" Marty said slowly turning the book around to examine its features. "But, how did you get it?" Marty asked "Its relatively new" Marty said.
"What do you mean, Relatively new?" Ariel asked confused.
"Well considering how long you've supposedly lived for, it was published in 1937 almost 90 years ago" Marty said opening the book.
"I just found it one day" Ariel said shrugging her shoulders.
"Did you read it? Er I mean Can you read it?" Marty asked. He had no idea if she could read, and if she could read he had no idea if she could understand new literature.
"Yes I can read thank you" Ariel said giving him a weird look. "And yes I have read it" Ariel said.
"Well? What did you think of it?" Marty asked eager to know what she thought of the story.
"It was very... sad" Ariel said remembering the ending. "He didn't deserve that" She said unhappily.
"I know but when you think about though it was the best, I mean everyone else was going to hang him! At least the other way was quicker. But still he must have felt bad about what he did to Lenny" Marty said. The book made him sad there was no doubt about it.
"I guess your right" Ariel said sadly. Marty put the book back where it was about turned to Ariel.
"Come on Ariel lets get to rehearsal" He said swimming off to the exit. Ariel giggled and followed him.
"Your very slow you know that?" Ariel asked as they swam back to the palace.
"Yeah I know" Marty said unhappily. He wished he had a tail like Ariel, he wished he could breathe underwater, he wished that he could live under the sea without gear.
They arrived at the rehearsal not a moment too soon. Sebastian was getting ready to start but had not yet noticed Ariel was gone. Swimming quickly over to her seat she sat down right as the crab walked in. He was very surprised to find Ariel actually there ON TIME for once. He took note of the fact and continued on.
"Lets get started now then shall we? We must be ready for your fathers party tomorrow so were not going to stop until we get this right" Sebastian said with a certain authority that is earned not learned.
Marty watched the lessons from hall out of Sebastian's sight but with a perfect view of Ariel. No sooner had they gotten started that Flounder showed up and joined Marty in the hall.
"Hey!" the little yellow fish said. Marty chuckled.
"Hey there" He said rubbing the fish on the head. Marty Liked Flounder, He was very fun to be around and even though he didn't admit it, he liked humans.
"What are you doing here Marty?" Flounder asked. Wagging his little tail excitedly.
"I'm Listening to Ariel rehearse" Marty said tickling the fishes belly causing him to erupt into a fit of laughter.
"Why are YOU here?" Marty asked the little fish.
"I always listen to Ariel sing" Flounder said happily.
As they continued to talk they could hear Ariel and her sisters start to sing in perfect harmony. They were so good that Marty began to fall asleep. HE could hear Flounder hum along with the tune they were singing as he drifted off into sleep.
Chapter 14
Wake up
Marty woke up to Flounder tapping him on the arm.
"Hey, Marty!" Flounder whispered.
"Hmmouhhhoh" Marty Groaned in response. Ariel giggled behind Flounder at Marty's response. Marty was slumped up against the wall outside the music room of the palace. Ariel's music lesson had ended a few minutes ago but Marty was still asleep.
"Come on silly get up" Ariel said playfully punching him on the shoulder.
"Wh-what?" Marty said blearily getting up blinking his eyes in confusion.
"You fell asleep during the rehearsal" Flounder said. Marty yawned (which s very difficult to do in a mask).
"How long was I out for?" Marty asked checking his wrist for his watch.
"Hey what is that?" Ariel asked looking at his watch with great interest. She thought that it was some sort of miniature clock but she had never seen one work underwater. Also it looked strange to her.
"It's a watch" Marty said twisting his wrist so Ariel could see. Ariel now had a better view and was able to see that it was indeed a miniature clock. She recognized the hands and the roman numerals.
"Whats a watch?" Ariel asked curiously.
"It's like a miniature clock" Marty said confirming Ariel's assumptions. Ariel finished examining the watch before letting go of Marty's wrist. She thought to herself for a minute. Marty tried guessing what she was thinking about.
"What are thinking about?" Marty asked. Ariel looked at him startled by the fact that she had drifted off.
"What?" She asked not comprehending what he had just said.
"What are you thinking about?" Marty said slower this time so Ariel would be able to understand.
"I was thinking about life on the surface" Ariel said sadly. She lowered her head to look down at her fin wishing she didn't have it again.
"Daddy wouldn't let me live on the surface after Eric died, he said it was too dangerous to live alone" Ariel said, tears falling from her eyes only to merge with the surrounding water.
"He's right you know" Marty said in a soft tone realizing the touchy subject. "Life on the surface nowadays is cruel and unforgiving" he said giving her a smile.
"I don't believe you" Ariel said with a wide smile. Marty smiled back.
"Hey uh you guys okay?" Flounder asked not liking what he was seeing.
"Chill out Flounder I'm just trying to cheer her up" Marty said waving his hand causing Flounder to tumble backwards.
Getting up they decided to go and see some sights of the kingdom. Ariel lead the way with Flounder as her personal Assistant. Marty followed along and listened to Ariel tell stories about the water slide or the time she was almost eaten by a shark. In the end Marty learned a lot about the ocean and had a better awareness of life under the sea.
"Well I'm kinda hungry, why don't you guys go back to the palace and get something to eat and we can all eat on the surface?" Marty said.
"But why not eat with daddy?" Ariel said chuckling a little.
"Um, human. Remember?" Marty said motioning at his body.
"Oh... right" Ariel said embarrassed that she had forgotten. It seemed like Marty belonged in the sea sometimes.
"Yeah, and its kinda hard to sit and watch you guys eat in front of me" Marty said.
"But why don't you have your own food?" Ariel asked curiously.
"I lost it" Marty said quickly and suspiciously. Ariel eyed him curiously, unsure of what to think by his small action. Truth be told Marty did lose it, by tossing it into a deep underwater trench. His meal was fish.
"Well that's unfortunate" Ariel said.
"Well we better get going now if we want to get something to eat" Flounder said. He was floating at Ariel's side as always. He had his silly little smile plastered on his face.
"Yeah your right Flounder, but well need a good excuse if daddy's going to let us eat out of the palace" Ariel said worriedly.
"Why would it be a problem? People in the human world rarely eat in the dinning room" Marty said surprised. He thought that they all ate together because they had him as a guest.
"We always eat together or we don't eat at all" Ariel said sadly. She wanted more than anything to be a part of the human world again. But she understood where her father was coming from. Ever since entire species started going extinct because of humans he banned contact with them.
Ariel swam off leaving Marty to contemplate his thoughts.
Due to a complaint about how short my chapters were, i decided to join 13 and 14 together. Hope you enjoy it and PLEASE REVIEW! I Really want to know how i'm doing with this story so please review to give me your feedback.