Chapter 21: Failed Rescues
After constructing a palace of crystal ice to rival the golden seafloor castle, Morgana lounged herself on a silver and jewel-laden throne. A perfect silver perch for her trident right beside her, and her enchanted globe providing endless entertainment. Currently, she was observing sweet Ariel sobbing in the newly constructed dark dungeons lying below the very foundations of her icicle fortress.
Her magic had never been so powerful, no longer could she merely passively observe the happenings in the ocean, she could now control them with a flick of the trident. Her magical globe was less of a small table sphere and now filled the massive throne room before like an amphitheater.
Triton had never been able to get even close to unlocking the trident's full potential, even after decades. It belonged in the hands of a witch, and finally, finally, it was in the grasp of a capable sorceress. Still, in a way it was good the idiot king had held it all these years. Mother would have assuredly passed it on to Ursula upon her death, and Ursula would have to die for Morgana to have ever controlled it for herself. Perhaps she should thank Triton for giving her the chance she deserved, and for once she had succeeded where the rest of her kind failed.
With a wave of her hand, she switched the scene from Ariel to her pathetic dad, eager to see how soon her guests would be arriving. The sooner she could deal with the royal family and solidify control, the sooner she could set the sea right.
He wasn't far, he and his army must have taken off to the icefields in anticipation of her plan. A convoy made mostly of mermen, their dolphin mounts, and some giant clam chariots. The King of course being pulled by the largest beasts on the most luxurious seafoam shell, painted with delicate gold leaf accents. Did she really expect him to show up without a gaudy overdone display of superiority?
With another wave she scanned to see if any other envoys were approaching, she would not allow herself to be snuck upon. She erupted into a fit of laughter when she saw Ariel's silly human mate, on a sad small wooden ship with a tiny crew of old sea-worn sailors, being led by a senile old seagull. He had obviously also skipped bringing the full royal military, his ship small as it was still could barely navigate the iceberg-infested waters. Although he may have not brought many other humans due to a lack of trust, as was so common with the species. She would not even strain herself expelling magic on the fools.
"Undertow, Cloak, Dagger, trace those human ships. Let them get close, then sink them right in front of the castle. You can eat any of them except the human king. I want Ariel to sit and watch her mate sink to the seafloor before her. Make a grand show of it before Triton's army while you're at it, I think I'll watch the event from the top of my new castle."
"Hold on, I'm going to get you out of there if it's the last thing I'll ever do!" Melody could barely see anything beyond the ice, but from his voice, she could tell Alex was swimming all over the cavern.
Flounder spoke up, still cradling his daughter as she regained consciousness. "Who is that?"
Lily answered before Melody could even consider the question, "Some guy who likes Melody. I think he is suspicious…"
Flounder raised an eyebrow, "How did he find you here?"
Again, Lily answered, "Exactly."
Melody sighed and turned her attention back to Alex, she could hear him going through Morgana's things frantically. "How are you going to get us out of here?"
"Umm not sure yet, but the most important thing right now is hiding you. I'm sure she had a spell here somewhere…"
Flounder spoke up again, "Hide us?"k,
Alex's voice continued bouncing everywhere, indicating he was still rushing around the liar in search of something "Morgana can see anything that happens in the ocean, and now that she has the trident she can control any sea creature too. If she realizes you left she can just force you back… wait! That's it!"
Alex's blurry form approached the ice sheet again, "She can't take control of Melody if we change her back to a human. Plus it will be harder for her to track Mel as a human with her magic than a mermaid, and it will be easier to hide her with a spell too."
Lily, Flounder, and Melody all exchanged looks of confusion, and shock.
After a moment of heavy silence, Melody spoke up. "Change me back? H-how did you know..?"
"I… I can't explain everything right now, but I promise I'm here to help. I just need you to trust me."
As much as Melody wanted to, she wasn't about to trust anyone so easily ever again.
King Triton boomed his voice, a clear sad attempt at intimidation, "Release my daughter, surrender my granddaughter! Do this now and I'll spare you!"
"Oh please, what are you going to do? Throw your crab advisor at me? Face it Triton, you're washed up!"
"Where is my daughter?!" And here came the dashing Prince Charming, charging in to save his Queen and Princess.
"Oh, you would like to join her? Well, that can be arranged."
With a snap, Undertow's massive jaws rose out of the sea and wrecked the human ship. It nearly brought a tear to the Witch Queen's eye, it was truly like the old days, she almost wished Ursula was there. They may not have always had the best of relationships, but as children, they loved taking out human ships and watching the ensuing turmoil. It had been the best practice for new spells their mother had taught them only a few days before, and one of their few happy memories together.
The humans leaped to what safety they could on the ice, although Undertow mostly focused on turning every piece of wood into splinters rather than the fleeing men. Poor Eric alone rushed forth, valiantly pulling a glittering sword from his hips like the dashing prince he always was. He didn't even see Cloak and Dagger's thin ray tails snap from the water around his ankles, he was below the freezing waves before he even knew what hit him.
Ariel watched Eric helplessly, the scene too familiar to their first meeting. "Eric, No!"
She hadn't noticed the clever red crab who had followed her lover down the depths, "Hold on Ariel, I'm going to get you out!"
The red crab wildly picked the lock with his sharp claws, getting it open in mere moments. But it had felt like hours watching him fumble with it, Eric's skin paling and lips turning blue with each passing second.
The moment the door to her cell swung open, Ariel darted like a torpedo. She hooked her arms under her husband but failed to overpower the manta rays still wrapped around his ankles. All she had managed to do was slightly slow their descent.
The force of Ariel's door being thrown open had sent the small elderly crab into a tailspin. When he finally managed to right himself, he saw Ariel losing her battle with the rays. As fast as his skinny little legs could take him he frantically swam to the rescue. Snapping one claw on each ray's tail and snapping down so violently he severed their tails without a second thought.
Sebastian cackled, shaking his claws at the rays as they retreated into the depths. "Aha! These red whoppers still got it!"
Ariel had been pulling with everything she had, and the second the rays released their grip they shot towards the surface. She couldn't help but remember rescuing him like this decades ago, but she wasn't a fit young adult anymore. Her tail muscles and arms ached, the currents fighting against her, and trying to ignore Eric's eerily still chest.
"Ok, I think I found everything we need to reverse the spell. Now I just have to find a way to break the ice!"
Alex's chaotic search had continued for a while before he had finally been satisfied with the results. Although hearing he still had no plan for actually getting them out was more discouraging than anything.
Suddenly a scary familiar deep voice echoed off the walls, hissing words through rows of knife teeth. "Going somewhere lover boy?"
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 04/15/22!
If you would like to check out my Disney fan edits here is my deviantart link:
mermaidmelodyedits
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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! 💬