Disclaimer: I do not own The Little Mermaid characters or songs.
Melody didn't think she would ever get used to the overwhelming, wonderful sight of herself and parents as merpeople. Earlier today, Grandfather Triton had visited the palace on land to transform his daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter into mermaids. Now, the trio was happily on their way to Atlantica for Melody's big celebration.
Melody admired the way her salmon pink tail and white top complimented her dark hair. Her mother was radiant with her green tail and purple shell bikini top, and her father handsome with his bright blue tail. They were a family of merpeople! And to think that all this time, her mother had six mermaid sisters. Melody still couldn't wrap her head around that.
As they approached the underwater palace, Melody began to get nervous. What if her family thought she was weird too? What if she embarrassed herself? Her mind raced with the possibilities.
"Melody!"
Triton was suddenly in her path, followed by two young mermaids about Melody's age. One had a light purple tail and top, and the other had a coral-colored top and tail. The girls swam as quickly as possible past Triton and skidded to a halt in front of Melody.
"You must be Melody!" the coral-tailed mermaid squealed.
"We've been dying to meet you," the other added. "Are you really half human?"
"Girls!" Triton reached their side and smiled fondly. "Let's not crowd your aunt, uncle, and cousin."
"Okay, Grandfather," the mergirls agreed immediately.
"Cousin?" Melody repeated.
"Sure. I'm Alicia. My mom is Andrina." The mermaid with the purple tail waved.
"And I'm Aquamarina," the coral-tailed mergirl added. "I'm the daughter of Aquata." She shook Melody's hand hard.
"It's so wonderful to meet you!" Melody gushed. These girls-her cousins!-didn't seem to think she was weird at all. They almost seemed to think she was...cool!
"You're going to sit with us at dinner, right?" Alicia asked urgently. "I am dying to hear about all the cute human boys that you know."
Melody had a feeling her new cousin was about to be sorely disappointed. "Uh-"
"Why don't you say hello to your aunt and uncle first?" Triton suggested. "Then we'll head inside."
Introductions were made. But Alicia and Aquamarina were clearly eager to speak with their new cousin. Melody was happy to have someone to sit next to at dinner. She figured she would otherwise be shyly clinging to her parents, the way she often did around unfamiliar people.
By the second course, Melody had completely forgotten her shyness. She didn't have time for it; her brain was working overtime trying to keep everybody straight.
Aunt Adella is married to Uncle Phillip, and their children are Angelina, Aleeta, and Arthur. Or is Aunt Attina married to Uncle Phillip? Or-
Triton stood up at the head of the table, holding a golden goblet aloft. All of his descendants fell silent, and he smiled down at them. "This is an extraordinary day indeed. For the first time in my life as a grandfather, my entire family is here with me."
Everyone cheered.
"I would like to welcome my daughter Ariel and my son-in-law Eric back to the kingdom."
Everyone cheered again except for Melody. She stared at her parents. "Dad, you have been here before?"
Eric nodded. "It was many years ago."
"Before you were born," Ariel added. "Morgana was trying to use you as a pawn from the time we had you. It wasn't safe…"
Melody nodded. She had spoken with her parents extensively the night before and they had told her everything about Morgana, and Ursula before her. Melody understood that her mom and dad wanted to protect her, but to think she was missing out on her mermaid heritage all this time!
Triton started talking again. "And I would like to, for the very first time, officially welcome my granddaughter Melody to the kingdom of Atlantica."
Melody smiled nervously and waved at her cheering relatives.
Triton turned to Melody and took her hands in his. "Melody, having you here under the sea with us merfolk has made me so happy. I always hoped that this day would come. I just wish it had come sooner." He hugged her tightly. "We are going to make up for lost time."
"Yes!" Alicia cried from her seat next to Melody.
Everyone toasted the new arrivals. While Triton had been giving his speech, the dinner was being served. Everyone dug in.
Alicia poked Melody lightly with her fork. "So, you've really never been down here before?"
Melody shook her head no.
"Well you know what that means," Alicia said in a sing-song voice.
"What?" Melody asked.
"It means we have to give you a tour of the kingdom after dinner," Aquamarina announced from Melody's other side.
Aunt Andrina, Alicia's mother, overheard the girls from the other side of the table and raised an eyebrow at the trio. "It's getting kind of late. I don't think it's a good idea for you girls to be out."
"Mo-om!" Alicia complained.
"Come on, Aunt Andrina," Aquamarina begged. "We will be so careful."
"I don't like it either, Aquamarina," Aquata chimed in. "You can always take Melody tomorrow."
"Actually, we'd be happy to go with the girls if you're worried," a new voice chimed in.
Despite being the "new kid," Melody immediately placed the voice as belonging to one of Arista's identical triplet sons, Caspian, Boreal, and Marino. Sixteen and very handsome, they were all peppering Eric with questions about being a prince on land only a second ago.
"Oh no," groaned Alicia in sotto voce. "There goes all our fun."
"Come on. They're not that bad," Aquamarina insisted.
"Not that bad?" Alicia echoed incredulously. "I know you like to think there is good in everyone, but…"
"What?" Melody asked again. "What is so bad about the triplets?"
"They are super overprotective," Alicia replied. "To the most extreme degree. Always ready to rescue everybody."
"Well," Melody said slowly, not wanting to badmouth her cousins in the first half hour, "that doesn't sound too-"
"No, it is," Aquamarina interrupted. "She's right. It is bad. We love them, but it is pretty annoying."
"Wow, I can't believe you admitted it," Alicia snickered.
Aquamarina shrugged and the girls quickly turned back into the conversation around them.
"That's a wonderful idea, Caspian!" Aquata chirped. "Thank you!"
"Plus," Alicia added quietly, "all the grown-ups think it's sooo nice of them to always want to help out."
"What do you say, Aunt Ariel? Uncle Eric?" Boreal (or was it Marino?) asked. "We'll watch out for the girls, no problem."
"I think that sounds nice, Marino." Ariel smiled at him.
Melody was wondering how her mother could possibly tell the boys apart already when Alicia deflated in her seat and mumbled, "You're going to want to stay on land forever now that the triplets have crashed our tour."
"We won't be allowed to go without them though," Aquamarina pointed out sensibly.
Alicia scowled. But Aquamarina was right.
After dinner, the six mer-royals set out in the kingdom of Atlantica.
"Let's go to Atlantica Square first!" Alicia suggested eagerly. She turned to Melody. "That's a park across the way. Tons of cute boys."
"Boys?" Marino (or was it Caspian?) echoed suspiciously.
"Yes, BORE-real," Alicia snapped. "Don't pretend that you three don't have your eyes on every mermaid in the seven seas."
Boreal narrowed his eyes at her, but they trooped off to Atlantica Square anyway.
Boreal, Caspian, and Marino stopped to talk to some pretty mermaids almost immediately, leaving Aquamarina and Alicia to pull Melody a few feet from them. Immediately, two merboys, about the same age as the three girls, swam up.
"Hey." The boy with dark hair grinned at them. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend, Alicia?"
"Yeah." The other boy, a thin blond, winked at Melody. "It's not everyday we get pretty new mermaids around here."
Melody's face turned as pink as her tail, and her cousins giggled.
"This is Melody, our cousin," Aquamarina announced. "She is half human!"
"No way!" the dark haired boy cried. "Our parents read about you in the Seven Seas Times!"
"That's our local newspaper," Aquamarina explained to Melody.
"We are so happy to meet you!" The blond smiled. "I am Adam, and this is Kyle."
"Nice to meet you, too," Melody told them shyly. She couldn't believe the one boy-Kyle-had said she was pretty!
"We were actually about to go watch the kick-the-clam game by the school," Adam announced. "Maybe you would like to come." He was staring straight at Melody.
"Well-" she began.
"Actually, we are quite busy on our tour, but thanks anyway."
Marino, Caspian, and Boreal were standing behind their cousins, frowning hard at the two boys.
"Oh," Kyle faltered. "Well, uh, some other time then."
The boys swam off dejectedly, and Alicia turned fiery eyes on the triplets.
"Why did you do that?" she snapped. "They were totally in to Melody!"
"Exactly," Caspian said simply.
The cousins continued their tour. The next stop was a bunch of little stores next to a market. Lots of products were available for purchase, including shell bikini tops, feather quills for writing, mirrors, and more. Aquamarina and Alicia were most interested in the sweets shop at the end of the block. Boreal, Marino, and Caspian were most interested in the pretty mermaids outside the silk shop. The three girl cousins were able to lose their chaperones again, at least for a few minutes.
"Wait until you try the sand cones here," Aquamarina said. "They'll pour any kind of syrup over it-"
The conversation was cut short when three merboys swam in the cousins' path. All three were staring at Melody.
"I'm Charles," the one boy announced with no preamble. "This is Jack and James. You must be Melody."
"Yes, I am," Melody replied. "How did you know?"
"Everyone has heard about King Triton's beautiful, half human granddaughter," James answered with a sweet smile.
Aquamarina and Alicia were in awe. Every boy in the kingdom wanted to meet their new cousin!
The boys were still talking, but Melody was no longer listening. Across the square, she could see none other than Alex! He was swimming past the triplets, who were still outside the silk shop. He was eating one of those sand cones Aquamarina had been talking about. A merman and a mermaid swam on either side of him. Alex and the merman were making lots of hand gestures at the mermaid, but Melody didn't know what that was about. All that mattered was that he was here! He shopped at the same places as her cousins! He-
"So what do you say?" It was a boy's voice.
"Excuse me?" Melody squeaked, tuning back into the conversation.
"What do you say?" Alicia repeated the earlier question.
"About...what?" Melody asked blankly.
Aquamarina groaned and hissed in her cousin's ear, "James was asking if you wanted to get a sand cone with him!"
"They have strawberry syrup," James offered hopefully, as if that alone could sway her.
"Maybe some other time," Marino (Caspian?) announced suddenly. "Our cousin is kind of busy."
Melody hadn't even seen the triplets swim up. But there they were, floating slightly in front of her, forming a barrier between herself and James, Charles, and Jack. Melody scoped out the silk shop quickly and realized Alex was gone too. If only she could have gone over to him…
"We'll just be going then." Caspian (maybe Boreal, actually) smirked at the boys and tugged Melody's arm.
It was pretty dark now, and Melody was getting tired. Her parents would probably make her return to the land palace with them, instead of staying underwater. But maybe she could come back tomorrow and see Alex again…
"Where are you going, Marino?" Aquamarina asked a retreating triplet a minute later. "We are not done with our tour."
Marino stopped swimming back towards their grandpa's palace and turned around. "It's kind of late. You three should be heading home."
"We only went to two places!" Alicia protested. "Besides, James likes Melody!" She hooked her arm onto one of the boys. "Come on, Caspian…"
"Maybe tomorrow," Caspian told her in a placating voice. "Besides, Melody doesn't need to be dating anybody. You're all too young for that."
Alicia scowled and stomped her fin on the ocean floor. A minute later, the six royals were back at King Triton's.
"Did you have fun, sweetie?" Ariel asked.
"I had a wonderful time," Melody answered honestly. It was great hanging out with her cousins, but her heart was still racing over seeing Alex.
"That's great to hear." Eric kissed her forehead.
Melody was correct in thinking that she and her parents would return to land for the night. But before they headed back to the open air, Alicia grabbed her arm.
"Don't worry!" she whispered. "We will go off on our own tomorrow, and you'll meet lots more boys! It'll be awesome."
Melody smiled back at her and Aquamarina. She didn't need lots of boys-she just wanted to see Alex again!