Not Yet
When Ariel was younger, she never would have imagined having such a large family. She had her family under the sea and her family on land. For a moment, years ago, she had thought she could have both.
But life wasn't fair, things didn't work out, and it was either one or the other.
The ocean breeze blew through her hair as she stood out on the bedroom balcony. Her hands rested on the railing as she simply watched the calming motion of the waves. Ariel remembered when she used to swim through them.
The breeze once again played with her hair, trying to cheer her up. Its salty scent was always comforting and feeling the dry ocean air on her skin was her favorite feeling as a human, but it failed to fill a void. She deeply missed the sensation of the ocean current flowing past her.
Ariel left out a sigh. She missed her family.
She missed her family since the day she turned human. That sadness was easy to manage, though, since she could still see them. But once they put the wall up to protect Melody from Morgana, the lack of contact made it so much harder.
There were some days when Ariel was so busy with her queenly duties that she didn't have the time to be sad. However, whenever Ariel slowed down, the sadness would hit her like a huge wave. And it was made worse if accompanied by Melody fighting with her again over her ban from the sea.
It was cruel. Because of Morgana, they couldn't just be one big happy family. Instead, she couldn't have one half, while the other half hated her as an unknowing result.
Ariel didn't really know what to do about it. She had already done what she could ten years ago. Until Morgana was found, there was nothing left for her to do other than to try her best to push through all the hurt caused as a result. All she knew was that the emotional pain from missing her family would be less than losing her daughter.
"I figured you would be out here," a voice said from behind her. She had been so caught up in staring out at her former home that she didn't hear Eric walk out onto the balcony to accompany her.
Ariel finally turned away from the sea and looked at her husband, forcing a smile on her face. "Well, it is a nice day out."
"Let's hope it's also a nice day under the sea for your father to celebrate his birthday," Eric commented as cautiously as he could, knowing exactly why Ariel was hiding. This time, he didn't want to avoid the subject.
His wife shrugged and looked away from him. Her eyes didn't fall back towards the ocean, however, but instead settled on the sandy beach below, first taking a quick glance at the sea wall. "It's probably just another typical day. He never liked making a fuss about it."
Eric approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ariel, you don't have to hide your sadness. I know it's hard to be away from your family on such important events."
"It's not like I haven't missed his past ten birthdays either, or all of my sisters', or all of their weddings and pregnancies," she responded. Then she rolled her eyes. "Like I said, it's just another typical day."
Eric sighed. Ariel had once expressed her sadness over missing her family more openly, but in the past few years she instead seemed to ignore it. He had tried to have this conversation multiple times, but she always brushed it off so he knew bringing it up would be disastrous. But he saw how miserable the sea wall was making his wife and daughter and worried that if he didn't say anything the misery would never go away.
"Have you ever thought about how it's been over ten years since we had it built?" he asked, referencing the sea wall.
"I think about it all the time."
"Don't you think it's been a little too long?" Eric questioned. "We knew it could take a few years for Morgana to be found, but it's been over ten years. I'm starting to believe she'll never be found."
Ariel shook her head and stepped to the other side of the balcony out of Eric's reach. She pointed out at the sea wall. "This is all part of Morgana's plan. She wants us to lose patience and reconnect Melody with the sea. That's when she'll come back out. And we can't afford that for Melody's sake. Eric, you know that."
"Yes, I do, but we can't keep living like this. Ariel, you can't keep living like this," he stated, referring to her sadness as of late. It drained her some nights. He knew this was one of those nights.
"Whatever consequences I am taking to keep our daughter safe is my choice and my choice alone. It's none of your concern."
"I'm your husband! It's every bit of my concern."
"Your first concern should be with keeping your daughter safe!" Ariel stated, growing irritated that Eric was pressing the issue.
That was as far as Eric usually got in the conversation before, but he had been thinking about how to reunite Melody with the sea while also keeping her safe. He proceeded to try to reason with her while validating her fears. "It is. There are measures we can take to keep her safe. If we tell her, she can be vigilant, and we'll keep her protected from when Morgana decides to strike again. We'll be one step ahead of the game."
"I am not using my daughter as bait."
Eric flinched at the anger in her voice. He hated arguing with her and making things worse. "We wouldn't be using her as bait. It's not like we would be dangling her out in front of Morgana."
"We might as well be."
"Listen, you might not care about your happiness, but at least think about Melody's," Eric begged. "We try our best, but she's lonely. She would love to find out she has a huge family and tons of cousins she might get along with better than the kids up here. And not to mention it's obvious that she wants to be a part of the sea. She's always asking me to tell her tales from my time sailing. How do you not see how she looks at it?"
"I do see it, Eric. I'm her mother," Ariel declared. She stepped forward, stopping in front of him and pointed a finger at herself. "I was the one who first took her outside on the beach a few days after she was born. I saw how her face lit up when the sea breeze hit her and she first heard the sound of the waves up close. I knew right in that moment that the sea was going to be a huge part of her. I'm well aware that she would be happier with the sea in her life, so don't ever say that I don't ever think of her happiness. But reuniting her with the sea to make her happy would be for nothing if it results in her getting hurt, or kidnapped, or worse."
Ariel paused. She looked away from Eric and down at her hands, trying to avoid the tears that formed in her eyes. She couldn't bear to even think about anything happening to her daughter.
"And that's why we would take precautions," Eric replied, gently taking her hands in his. "We can tell her the truth so she understands, but still keep her away from the sea. Ultimately, we'll have to tell her. Whether it's from us or not she's going to find out one day, and the risk grows greater as she gets older. Yes, we ordered for the existence of merpeople and our relations with Atlantica to become a secret, but—
"Keep your voice down. She might hear," Ariel pulled her hands away and hushed, as she always did whenever he mentioned Atlantica and merpeople.
"Oh, don't be so paranoid. She isn't going to hear us from the opposite side of the castle," Eric scoffed.
"I don't think you're paranoid enough. This is your daughter's life we're talking about!"
"I care about her just as much as you do!"
Ariel let out a sarcastic laugh. "Well, you do a great job at showing it. Seriously Eric, that's one thing your father didn't do. He didn't try to sacrifice your life to get what he wanted."
Eric shook his head out of exasperation. Turning around, he ran his hand through his hair as he tried to calm the anger stemming from her comment. He had to be the rational one, but saying he was worse than his own father was not something he could just let pass. "Do not compare me to my father."
She shrugged. "I'm simply making observations."
He took a deep breath. Deep down Ariel didn't mean it. She was always his biggest supporter in life and was always the one convincing him he would never become his father, knowing it was his biggest fear. She was angry and scared, and therefore was saying anything in defense. "Do you even hear yourself, Ariel? This is why you can't keep yourself away from the sea. It drives you crazy like this."
"I'm not crazy!" she exclaimed. There was a brief pause as she then spoke in a much more defeated tone. "I just want to protect my daughter."
"And I do, too," Eric agreed. "I just think there's another way to go about this. Cutting her off was one thing when she was young, but she's old enough to understand now."
"She's still young."
"She's going to find out one day. Yes, Atlantica is now a secret again, but I'm certain there's still old newspapers and documents around about our marriage, the alliance, and Melody's birth. One day she might stumble upon them—honestly, it's a miracle she hasn't already. Don't you think she's going to be angry with us? Don't you think she's going to be angry that she missed so many of her grandfather's birthdays?"
Ariel sighed; a pang of guilt hit her as it so often did. "I know this isn't flawless and I know it's terrible. I'm aware she's going to be angry, but she'll have to understand why we did it."
"The longer this goes on, the less of a chance you have of her forgiving you, especially if it happens after her whole childhood passes," Eric explained. "Are you really willing to risk your relationship with her like that? She'll forgive you more easily if she learns the truth from you."
"But I'll never forgive myself if something happens to her."
"You're being just like your father," Eric simply stated.
Ariel stared at him, but it wasn't as if he told her something shocking. No, Ariel had already come to that conclusion herself years ago. She was keeping her daughter away from what she loved, just as how her father kept her from the human world. When she was younger, Ariel had vowed she would never become like her father in that aspect, so hearing Eric say that hurt her deep inside.
"How?" she asked, curious of his reasoning. For a second, Ariel wondered if she only asked that because she wanted to hurt more as punishment.
"Your father wanted to keep you from the human world. For what? To protect you from humans because he thought they were dangerous. Now, you have one thing going for you because you're keeping Melody from the merworld because of a real threat. Still, what your father didn't realize was that the real threat laid within his own world in Ursula. It works the same with us. Though we want to protect Melody from Morgana, there are still plenty of threats within our own world," Eric explained. "I think your father would agree that parents can try their hardest to protect their children, but in the end all we can do is do the best possible. We can never fully have them protected."
"But keeping her from the sea is fully protecting Melody from Morgana."
"Technically, we don't even know that. Ursula still found her way onto land," he said. "But my point is, even if we keep protecting her from Morgana like this—which we can still do even after reuniting her with the sea," Eric emphasized, "there are still going to be threats here on land. She's a princess and is always going to be needing protection from common threats that go along with the title, not even to mention that there are dangers out of our control that we can't even provide protection for." He stepped closer to her. "All we can do is try our best. And I think we've done a pretty good job as parents so far."
"Except for the whole part where I'm a terrible mother for keeping her from what she loves."
"You're not a terrible mother. You have good intentions," Eric insisted. "You're doing this out of love."
Ariel looked at him. "And is that also why you want to tell her about the sea? Out of love?"
"It's because I'm worried," he confessed. "I'm worried for you. I hate seeing you like this. You can take the mermaid out of the sea, but you can't take the sea out of the mermaid. The same applies with Melody. I think she would absolutely thrive if she knew about her heritage. I truly believe that this would be the best for everyone."
Ariel gave a small nod. "I understand what you mean. I want that, too. I want us all to be happy."
"I think everything will work out as long as she finds out the truth from us and we stay diligent. I know we're facing a tough decision, but this is our best-case scenario," Eric stated.
"You're right. It is," Ariel admitted. She was well aware that never telling Melody about Atlantica would result in a disaster of its own. Eric's idea sounded much better.
Finally, Eric thought. Had he finally gotten through to her?
"Yes," he said. "We can stop living like this—you missing your family, us having to dodge Melody's questions about your past, and her missing out on a part of her. We'll sit down and have a talk with her."
"We can..." Ariel agreed, glancing back out at the ocean. "I think she'll be thrilled to learn the truth," she paused again. Eric's idea sounded wonderful...but only in a perfect world where Melody would be perfectly protected or Morgana would easily be defeated once lured back out. "But not yet."
Eric felt his heart drop. "What?"
"Not yet. I can't do it yet. We-we need more time. Maybe there's still hope for Morgana to be found. I want her to be found first," Ariel stated. "And if she still isn't found, then maybe I'll think about telling her. But not yet. Not while she's still an innocent child."
He sighed. He knew Ariel's motherly instincts would always make her want to protect Melody unconditionally, no matter the cost. She would push the truth back again if they had this conversation a few years in the future.
"Ariel, it's only inevitable," Eric found himself pressing, not wanting to lose whatever progress he may have made with her this time. "We can't push it off too long. Remember what I said? The longer you wait, the less of a chance you have of her forgiving you."
But there was no more reasoning with her. She shook her head, tired of the conversation—of everything. "Not yet, Eric. We can wait a few more years. She'll understand more when she's older."
Ariel headed back into their room, and Eric was left on the balcony. He leaned against the railing as he watched through the opened balcony door as Ariel exited their bedroom, most likely in search of a new quiet place to hide away from him.
He was so close to making her understand, but she was so worried and scared. They were right back where they started. Eric could only hope that perhaps he left Ariel with something to think about and that over time she would understand his reasoning and change her mind.
Eric turned around and looked out at the ocean one last time. It was massive. Morgana could be anywhere. He hoped that Triton and his men would somehow manage to find her and bring this all to an end, though Eric knew it was unlikely despite Ariel's hopes. After ten long years, Eric knew what game Morgana was playing, and the stalemate would only end if they were the ones to do something.
Was this Eric wanting to use his own daughter as bait? Did this make him a bad father as Ariel had said? He pushed those thoughts aside. No, it was simply him trying to take control of the situation. Melody would discover the truth one day. As much as Ariel wanted it to be years from now, their daughter was smart; It wasn't going to take as long as she hoped it would. And when she uncovered the truth, Eric knew there would be nothing left for Ariel and him to do.
Not yet, Ariel had begged him. That was fine. Ariel didn't have to tell Melody the truth yet. It was only a matter of time before it came out on its own, and then he knew Ariel would regret not telling her sooner. If only he was able to save her from that pain.
There was only so much damage control Eric would do, and what was left to do? Eric took one last glance out at the waves, begging the ocean to give him answers.
He headed back inside the room where he would wait for Ariel to return to him. He found no new answers waiting on the balcony other than what he already knew: all he could do was comfort and support his wife the best he could and give his daughter the best and happiest life possible.