Author's Note: Hope you guys are enjoying it so far, be you veteran readers or not. ^^' And now, a word to the reviewers!
nina del carmen: Oh, that's perfectly fine! I love hearing from you anyways, errors and all! And knowing Alicia, I also understand her in a way.
Victoria and I couldn't push the vanity back fast enough. The mecha-shark burst through the secret entryway just as the vanity covers half of it. The robotic beast wriggles its way in and topples the large piece of furniture to the floor. I manage to dodge it, but Victoria isn't as lucky. It lands right on her tail.
"GAAAH!" Victoria yelps out. Kayla and Rose immediately rush in to help. I keep my back against the wall to keep my distance from the mecha-shark, but its eyes were immediately set on Morgana who cowers right behind Alicia. Everyone stills for a moment as the shark slowly creeps toward the two women. Alicia kept her eyes focused on the beast, but I can see that her eyes were moving throughout its body searching desperately for a clue. The only one we can all see was the sparking blue electrical currents that burst from its metal body. Kayla and Rose take this opportunity to pull an injured Victoria free of the vanity.
Kayla shakes her head incredulously. "I don't understand," She puts Victoria's arm over her shoulder. "How can this technology survive underwater?"
"This is the world of Disney," Lulu says as she peers from behind a chair. "Anything's possible."
Yvette grins. "Don't worry, guys! You got yourselves a world-class mechanic here!" She ignites her wrench, and it emits a yellow light. Yvette holds the wrench over her head. "I've built robots out of scrap heaps that are more intimidating than this hunk of junk. EAT WRENCH, METAL BOI!" Yvette swings her wrench down and a blast of light shoots right at the shark…only for the blast to get nommed by the shark. It swallows it and lets out a large metallic belch. Yvette's eyes widen. "Ah…well shi—" Yvette gets smacked by the shark's tail and she hits the rock wall hard before flopping down.
Lulu swiftly swims up to Yvette and picks her head up by her hair. "Yvie! Are you okay?!"
Yvette wearily looks ahead and says, "Run."
Faster than you can say AWOLNATION, we book it. Lulu carries a now passed-out Yvette in her arms, Kayla and Rose hold Victoria by having her arms over their shoulders, and Alicia and I drag Morgana to help her escape. Dawn clings onto the back of Rose's seashell top.
"We need to get back to the kingdom's shoreline!" Alicia exclaims. "If we manage to reach for land, the shark won't be able to follow us!"
We all start to follow Alicia upward, but I then I hear the sound of a shot. I look behind me.
"LOOK OUT!" I scream and all three of us duck as another launched harpoon wizzes past us. The mecha-shark is trailing behind us and roars. More blue sparks jump from the metal body. It launches another projectile. This one isn't a harpoon. Before we knew it, thick netting surrounds the three of us, and we yell out as large metal balls attached to the ends of it sink us to the ocean floor.
"NO!" Lulu screams as the rest of the girls' figures get smaller as we fall. We hit the sand fast, having the wind knocked out of us.
Morgana grunts as she tries to pick herself up as much as the netting will allow. "This is wonderful. First, I lose my best friend. Then, I get kidnapped by a bunch of complete strangers. Now, I'M GOING TO DIE."
Alicia groans as she picks her stomach off the ground with her forearms before extending one arm to pick herself up and face her body to Morgana. "In case you haven't noticed, lady…" Alicia says in between breaths. "We're not having the best time either."
I groan and wearily roll my body over to look up. It doesn't even surprise me that the shark is right above us. But death still burns into my mind just as the mecha-shark's stare burns onto Morgana. The two look up at it with me, and Morgana starts to whimper.
Morgana stammers, "L-listen, I know I'm…not the best of sorts. But please…" She looks at us with pleading eyes. "…help me."
My hands grip to the sand as I try to think. Maybe I can't attack it, but I can still defend us!
I pull out my music player from seashell top. "Let's see if the big guy likes some Rob Zombie," I say. I look at the screen to quickly find the song…
…so, Monsanto never bothered to waterproof my music player.
My first chance to use it in action…
…and it's waterlogged with saltwater.
P-TING. I look up to see Alicia had fired off her pin at the shark. It was a useless attempt. The mecha-shark wasn't fazed. Alicia's face morphs into frustration and concern. We can see that the others swim nearer to us, but they can only watch helplessly as the mecha-shark kept its death gaze on its target.
"We need to do something!" Kayla shouts.
"What can we do?!" Rose shouts back. "Sick our organic and soft animals on this thing?!" Dawn cuddles her face under Rose's free arm. Victoria, who had passed out from her injury, remains still.
Lulu only stares at us in dismay. "Guys…" Yvette remains unconscious in Lulu's arms.
Everyone freezes when the mecha-shark roars again. The blue sparks get crazy on its body once more. It's about to attack again. Our screams resonate the ocean floor as we prepare for another death. A third person in a row we can't save.
So much for being heroes.
A blinding light suddenly blasts at the shark from the left and propels it to a giant boulder. We all turn to where the blast came from. It was Ariel in her mermaid form. She was carrying a triton…her father's triton.
The plastered mecha-shark's body starts falling apart, but its head turns and looks up at Ariel to let out one more roar. Ariel merely shoots a blast at the mecha-shark again. When the light dims, we see nothing but broken scraps of metal falling to the sand. Dimmer blue sparks dance around each exposed gear before they completely die out. Ariel stares down at her destruction with glaring eyes.
While in shock, Lulu drops Yvette on the ocean floor. "Holy crap…" Lulu says incredulously. Yvette groans and picks her weary head up. Her leaden eyes lay on the scrap heap.
"Spare parts?" Yvette asks tiredly to no one in particular.
"Uh…sure." I answer.
Yvette smiles dopily. "Hehe. Dibs." Then she passes out again with a thud.
We all gather at Ursula's body back at her lair. Victoria and Yvette rest on Ursula's bed. Yvette cuddles a large piece of scrap that Alicia gave her. Ariel stays with us but keeps her eyes peeled for any more intruders. It's a little unnerving to see her so serious. Then again, it's been quite a few years. She's a mother now, so of course she did some growing up. And with the triton in her hands…
"So, what happens now?" Rose asks as she pets Dawn to calm her down from the excitement. "Ursula's dead. Shouldn't we bury her?"
Lulu responds, "Not to add insult to injury, but she's far too heavy for us to move her anywhere."
"Hey! That's my sister you're talking about!" Morgana cries. She turns to Ariel. "And you're the queen bee of Atlantica now, aren't you?! I expect a full investigation of the deaths that went on here! Both your kingdoms need to be searched thoroughly!"
Ariel remains silent. Her eyes remain on Ursula's body.
Morgana frowns. "Are you even listening?! I know we both haven't gotten along with your stupid kingdom, but it wouldn't hurt for you to actually do something about this!" Morgana starts to cry. "You better be listening to me, you vapid lovesick-!"
"I forgive her," Ariel finally says. She turns to Morgana with a soft smile. "I've forgiven you, too. And I hope you'll forgive me for remaining cold to you two all these years. I should have pardoned you and Ursula when Daddy died. Just as Jenna begged me to do."
My heart aches at the mention of her name.
Ariel turns to the rest of us. "I was young, you know."
We all remain silent. It's the least we can do for her saving us.
Ariel continues with her eyes to the ground, "I always held an attachment for the new and dangerous. I still do. That's why I went to the surface all those years ago. That's why I fell for Eric." She looks at Lulu again. "You're right. I married a man I just met. But I'm not sorry. He's a kind husband and a better father. Things could have been worse for me. I could have ended up with a husband who'd use me and hurt me. I made mistakes that almost cost me an entire kingdom. But I would do it all again for my family." Ariel's eyes turn back to the floor. Her eyes gloss over with the threat of tears. "Surely you all have made mistakes, right?"
The room is silent. I can see that our faces look to the floor as our expressions settle into shame as they remember things that I'm sure they won't repeat aloud. I can remember so many of my dumb mistakes as a stupid, stupid kid. The things I shouldn't have said. The things I could have done better.
And yet we've been bashing Ariel for doing what we all probably would have done for the one we'd love. In the end, we were all simply kids.
We were all Ariel.
"Guys, look!" Rose points at Ursula. Light surrounds her body in a graceful fashion. Little stars fall gently on her and go into her skin.
"What's going on?" Kayla asks in wonder.
Slowly, the body breaks apart in tiny, white shards and they swirl in a line out the door. Lulu gestures to the entryway. "Let's follow it!" We do so and head outside. Our gazes follow the trail upward as the shards ascend out of the ocean. We come out of the water and see the shards fly to the now-dusk sky. The shards soon become small specks of light which then turn to stars.
"I don't understand." Lulu says. "I thought villains go to the underworld."
Rose answers, still gazing at the new stars. "They do, but not if they aren't villains anymore."
"You mean…?" Lulu asks with light in her eyes.
Rose nods with a smile. "Ursula's atoned for what's done by not trying to hurt Ariel, Melody, or anyone else. Jenna befriended her and shown her the light that was inside. She's saved."
With that, my heart lightens up. I think back to what Ursula said:
I don't think I can sleep at night with losing a friend like her.
Alicia keeps her eyes on the sky. Her lips curl to a smile.
Ariel tears up and she whispers something to herself. I can barely make out her words: "Tell Daddy I love him."
I smile and look at the brightest star in the sky as she does what little she can with the little power she's got left to carry Ursula's soul safely to the heavens. Thank you, Evangeline.
Author's Note: I do not own anything Disney-related. All rights go to Disney. We only own our OCs.