Chapter 17: Nothing is as it Seems

It took an agonizingly slow day of swimming in chilly waters to finally get to the lair. Manta rays don't exactly swim fast, keeping a constant snail's pace as they glider over the sea floor. Ariel and Flounder also needed to distance themselves away to keep from being spotted, and neither of them were willing to speak and blow their cover. Thus a slow silent day of tracking bore on, Ariel praying her hunch was right.

And after all those hours, it had been. Ariel and Flounder were hiding behind ice as they watched the two mantas swim behind glaciers and into a secret entrance of ice caverns.

Ariel kept her eyes focused on the entrance, and waved Flounder off over her shoulder.

"Flounder, you need to swim back as fast as you can and tell my father. I'll try to find Melody."

Flounder whisper protested, "Oh, but if that old sea witch is in there, and then there's that mean little shark...and then those manta rays come, and she can use magic!"

With a gulp he used his firmest voice possible, "Uh-uh, no way you're goin' in there alone."

Ariel was slightly surprised by Flounder's response, he had matured so much since the guppy she remembered. She instantly imagined him scolding his children in the same tone he just used on her.

"But, Flounder, if we both go… who's going to tell Daddy where Morgana's lair is?"

A loud voice interrupted and prevented Flounder from replying. A seagull who somehow could follow Ariel's location for hundreds of miles underwater, yet fail to understand a simple conversation.

"Say, what's all the whisperin' about? Is Melody around here? Did you find her yet? If she's…"

"Scuttle! Get down and be quiet!"

Ariel instinctually clamped her hand around his bill and yanked him in close. A tactic she used to prevent him from talking and force him to keep his focus on her.

"Wait a minute…Flounder, Scuttle can help!"

Flounder seemed unimpressed, "he can?"

"Of course he can!" Ariel was smiling for the first time in what felt like forever.

The bird glanced at her in confusion, "I can? Er, I mean of course I can!"

Ariel grabbed the bird's bill again and forced him to look her right in the eye, "Scuttle, listen very carefully."

Flounder groaned again, "We're doomed…"

The journey back to Morgana's lair was much quicker than the journey out. Besides the fast potions she had sent, Undertow the piranha lacked an ounce of patience. The girls seriously debated ditching him and figuring out the way on their own, but Lily had never been to the ice fields and they were sure to get hopelessly lost.

Besides the rush, Undertow would not shut up about the trident at every second. He even attempted to grab it himself at one point, only to be mercilessly zapped. Learning nothing, he then begged Melody to use it on him.

His insistent pestering of her friend finally caused Lily to snap, "Why are you so desperate to use the trident anyway?"

With an eye roll Undertow replied, "That stupid king laid a curse on me almost twenty years ago small fry, I actually used to be a shark! Betcha didn't expect that."

Lily and Melody shared a doubting look, which Undertow didn't let go unnoticed. "Believe it or not, it's no scales off my tail."

Melody had heard many things about the king, and a curse was certainly something she hadn't heard before. Although based on everything she had seen and heard so far, it didn't seem so far-fetched.

Melody felt a surge of pity, and swam up next to the little fish. "Why didn't Morgana ever change you back herself?"

Undertow sighed, "Oh she tried, trust me did she try. But transformation magic isn't her speciality…"

Melody furrowed her thick eyebrows in confusion, "What? But she turned me into a mermaid?"

Lily joined her friend, "Yeah, how is that not transformation magic?"

"That was, but it wasn't her magic. It was her sister's, Ursula. She specialized in transformations, and potions. That was the last of it she had, I begged her to use it on me but she insisted on saving it…"

There was silence for a few moments as the girls processed what he said.

Melody spoke up quietly, meant only for herself and Lily to hear "Then why did she save it for me… a stranger?"

Lily locked eyes with her friend and then directed her gaze to the gold trident in Melody's hands.

By the time they had arrived, Melody wasn't really sure what to believe or think anymore. All she knew for sure was that Lily had her back, and that was the only person she could completely trust. The Princess would be utterly alone right now if it wasn't for her best friend, and she thanked the stars for having her.

The witch had appeared so generous at first, never even asked Melody outright to go after the trident. Yet there were details that weren't adding up, hinting that nothing was as it seemed.

So when they finally made it into Morgana's ice caverns, a thousand questions rested on the tip of both of the girl's tongues.

A sweet honeyed voice rang through the open space, "Oh, my darling I was so worried about you. I should have never doubted, you've returned and even managed to bring back my family's precious heirloom! What a clever girl."

Lily's eyes darted everywhere, trying to take in every detail of their surroundings. A sick feeling had been building inside of her, and she instinctually huddled into Melody.

"Morgana, I-"

A familiar shriek ripped through the water, "MELODY DON'T!"

An all too familiar anxiety exploded in Melody's heart, "Mom…?"

Her mother floated there before her at the cave's entrance. Melody couldn't remember the last time she had seen her mother's fiery red hair not immaculately done up, jewels or a crown adorning her perfect head. She hadn't realized how long it was, hovering like a cloud in the water around the Queen's face. This was also likely the first time Melody had ever seen her mother in something besides a gown or dress. This woman wore a purple seashell top, and a glittering emerald tail with minty translucent fins.

All of this made the Queen almost unrecognizable, but no one could ever forget Ariel's unique beauty. Everything told Melody that this was in fact her mom, her voice, her face, her bright hair, but how could it be?

The two women locked eyes, and Lily couldn't help but hear the similarities in their stunned breathy voices.

"You're… You're a mermaid?"

Behind Ariel a larger fish appeared, yellow with blue fins and eyes. Lily began to have the exact stunned experience she had just seen Melody go through.

"Dad?!"

Melody's eyes drifted to the fish, his face immediately contorted from fear, to shock, to rage.

"Lilian?! What in the sharks are you doing here?!"

Melody's brain could barely process everything happening at once, and before Lily could reply Morgana interrupted them all.

"Ariel… How nice of you to come. You even brought your little friend, Flopper."

Melody hadn't heard this tone of voice from the witch before, like the sweet honeyed words had been converted to poison. Yet she still held the same wide, happy, and welcoming expression she always wore.

The fish quickly snapped back, "The name is Flounder."

Undertow wasted no time ramming into Flounder full force, nearly identical to how he sent Lily flying only a few days ago with his appearance. Although Flounder was twice the piranha's size, and barely budged.

"Grr yourself pipsquek." Flounder hissed back.

Undertow stabbed a fin into Flounder's chest, "I used to eat fish like you for breakfast everyday."

Morgana glided to Melody's side, resting a reassuring hand on the Princess's shoulder. The two girls huddle into each other even further, and Melody locked eyes again with her mother.

The pain in her voice was palpable to everyone in the room, cracking as she spoke.

"All this time… and you never told me?"

Hi everyone, thank you for reading my AU of The Little Mermaid 2, with Melody at 19 and not 12. I originally posted this FanFiction on Deviantart, and it is updated there every 1st and 15th of the month. We are official caught up to that one, so the next chapter will be on 02/01/21!

If you would like to check out my Disney fan edits here is my deviantart link:

mermaidmelodyedits

You can also check out my Disney fan edits on Instagram:

mermaid_melody_edits/

I'd super appreciate if you guys could leave me your thoughts in the comments! Critique, comments, discussion, etc. I want to hear it all! Feel free to also message me if you have any questions or want to chat!

This fanfic is a retelling AU of The Little Mermaid 2 Return to the Sea, where Melody is 19 instead of 12!

The climax begins! Melody and us readers are going to have a lot blown open soon, and I'm excited! There are going to be some twists next chapter, and I bet the whole story only has a few chapters in total left!

I really appreciate the reviews my story has been getting and that I got on my last chapter, it means so much! I got a questions about Melody's curse, and how do the subjects of the land and sea know of it. I can't say everything about it now, but I can clarify some of the hints and information given so far. Most things I don't mention here will be revealed in the next chapter!

First, the curse takes place in the prologue of the story, while Melody is being brought to sea 🌊 for the first time. I stayed pretty vague about what happened, but the royal ship was destroyed, a horrible storm appeared, and the royal family washed ashore. That is pretty much all the general public knew as well, and both royal families tried to force anyone who attended to stay silent or face punishment. Many people still didn't keep their mouths shut, and the royal family's complete silence on the whole thing made rumors spread wildly. Pretty much the same thing happened in Atlantica, but the merfolk have a better understanding overall what happened. Humans aren't familiar with sea witches, and how the magic of the sea works, so they created a lot crazier rumors and stories. Although the merfolk don't know the full truth either, King Triton tried to distort everything as much as possible and keep it hidden as well. Merfolk just know of the lost half princess, and the youngest daughter of triton hasnt been seen in almost 20 years.

Now for the curse itself, here is what I can say without spoilers. The royal👑 family owes Morgana/the sea witches for a couple reasons I can't say yet. As the royal family refuses to pay up or relieve their debt, a deal is struck. One that is pretty painful to the royal families, and also means if Melody is in the ocean🌊 she is in danger. Thus why Ariel kept all these things from her. The ocean raging during the story as well as in the prologue is actually not apart of the deal/curse, but a side effect of it which Morgana knew would happen.

Eventually I will write ✍️ a chapter or a oneshot 📖detailing exactly what happened on the ship ️, and the details of the curse.

If you guys have any questions ❓ leave me a comment and I'll answer it in the next chapter! Also feel free to message💬 me any questions or anything else, I love❤️ hearing from my readers📙!

Thanks for reading!

If you like my work PLEASE consider visiting my profile and donating points so I can try and get a core membership. Which will allow me to do a lot more with you all!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy and please leave me your thoughts! Thank you everyone for all your support!