Chapter 22: Shark Bait

"What? Did you really think Morgana thought you weren't going to save your little Princess? Well, it's been nice knowing ya kid."

Alex had been fortunate enough to never see a real shark in his life, it invoked a primal instinctual fear. His fight and flight kicking into overdrive off pure terror. Undertow was no more a tiny little piranha that Alex always knew him as now he was a massive striped beast. Designed to kill sea creatures like him for breakfast, something all merfolk feared before Triton cast protection spells over the city.

In less than a second, he felt the rush of water and heard the snapping of massive jaws inches from his tail fin. He had only just managed to dodge the first swipe, but he wasn't about to keep testing his luck. Grabbing a dull rusty knife he had brought at his hip, he dashed around Undertow's massive guillotine bite. Stabbing the shark directly through his cartilage dorsal fins, drawing red blood and instantly enraging Undertow.

All Melody could hear through the ice was screaming, roaring, and the shuddering of the entire structure of ice cracking under the violent brawl.

"What's happening out there?!"

Alex was holding on to the dagger with dear life, praying it stayed firmly stuck in place. Undertow began going berserk in an attempt to shake the merman off him, taking Alex on the bull shark ride of his life.

"Look out! Get out of the way!"

Melody wasn't really sure if Alex was even talking to them, but suddenly a dark blob began rapidly approaching the thick ice wall. She scooped up the two fish with her and swam to the side not a moment too soon. Suddenly an explosion went off, sharp shards of ice flying everywhere like raining glass. Melody had curled up around her friends, but despite her best efforts all three of them sustained cuts of some kind.

In his crazed state Undertow had plowed through the thick ice, shattering it and continuing right through to the back of the cavern. With a loud crack, the shark went silent and still, sinking to the bottom completely knocked out.

"Ugh…."

Alex finally let go of the dagger, sitting up on top of the shark and holding his head.

Flounder was the first to speak, "Is everyone ok?"

Melody brushed the fresh blood off her arms, but besides some cuts, she felt okay.

"I'm okay, how is Lily?" Flounder tenderly held his daughter, but she managed to roll over and flick spout a fin.

Between little coughs, she managed a, "Never better!"

Melody exchanged a knowing look and a nod with Flounder, before swimming over to Alex.

She hesitantly reached out a hand to him, "Alex? Are you okay?"

He let go of his head to reach out and grab her arms softly, yet firm.

"I'm fine but look at you, you're covered in blood…"

Melody pulled away from his grip, "I'm fine, what's important right now is getting out of here."

Alex made a face Melody couldn't decipher, but only briefly before nodding in agreement.

He stumbled and staggered swam out of the cavern and back over to the ruins of Morgana's lair. Searching through a pile of rubble of ripped outfits before plucking a thin yellow summer dress amongst a pile of ruined clothes.

Melody checked on Flounder and Lily again before slowly following Alex out of the cavern watching him with a distrusting curiosity.

The merman swam back shyly handing her waterlogged garment, "You should put this on before you use this…"

Alex handed Melody a small golden pouch tied off with a string, letting his fingers linger and brush her wrist gently before pulling away again.

"I found this before that stupid shark showed up. It should be able to reverse the potion magic used on your legs. The potion she used was very old, it wasn't as potent as when it was brewed and used a pretty classic recipe."

Melody clasped the items Alex had given her, sighing before looking into his emerald eyes.

"How do you know these things, Alex? How can I trust you?"

"I never wanted to lie to you, Mel. I promise I can explain everything later but for now, you have to trust me. As long as you're a mermaid Morgana can use the trident to control you."

As much as Melody didn't want to stupidly trust someone blindly again, she really didn't have many options.

Without a word she swam back into the cavern, covertly slipping the dress over her body. Waiting till the garment was secure before taking off the shell bra beneath it, and draping it over an icicle.

With a deep breath Melody hesitantly pulled the string of the pouch, but before she could peek inside an explosion of swirling silver burst forth. It instantly encircled Melody with sparkles of the magic coating itself over her tail, and she watched in agony as her beautiful scales and fins transformed into pale legs and kicking feet.

Instantly the cold iced over her body, and the air escaped her mouth with a choke.

"Mel!"

Alex rushed into the cave, ignoring the bruising, whiplash, and migraine concussion from his shark wrestling. Melody was frantically kicking, the yellow dress dragging her down and bubbles escaping her throat rapidly. He scooped her up bridal style before jetting off towards the surface as fast as his fins could take him.

He practically jumped out of the water with all the speed and force he broke the surface with. Scanning around frantically for somewhere to put the sputtering and hacking frozen Princess. He found the closest iceberg and gently laid her over the ice.

Melody couldn't stop coughing nor could she stop gasping for air. Attempting to expel the icy saltwater as she also attempted to regain oxygen in her body. Her thick hair and dress were dripping with ice water, and she shuddered under a below freaking arctic chill. She could hear Morgana's voice booming, but couldn't tell from where.

"Pathetic fools! I have the trident now, and all the creatures of the sea are under my power!"

Melody wiped the dripping water from her face and eyes watching as the dark night sky lit up with golden fireworks. It wasn't hard to spot Morgana at the center of the display, casting one spell after another.

Her eyes followed the magic rays as they hit their targets, anyone and everyone in the water. The victims screamed as they fought the effects, their bodies contorted and forced into bows to their new ruler.

"I'm the Queen of the Sea now! And you will bow before me!"

Melody heard her mother's voice, tracing the sound not far on the same iceberg as her. A magic spell cast over her as well, forcing her to drop Eric from her lap and bow down before the new Queen.

"Mom!" Melody coughed, trying her best to stand. She ignored the sharp sleet beneath her bare feet, and the water droplets freezing into ice on her dress and skin.

"Watch and see how utterly unstoppable I am! Anything with fins must listen to me, including you Triton! Bow down now, and I'll spare you… mostly."

"Your majesty you mustn't!" A chorus of cries erupted from those who could manage to speak. Melody turned to see the King, his face crumpled in defeat, and it took a moment for her to remember he was her grandfather. She had looked him in the face without ever knowing, seeing him now was like seeing him for the first time again.

In an instant, his cries filled the air, as his joints cracked, and fought against himself. His back snapped forward, and as he hailed the new regime Melody could hear him speak.

"I'm sorry… I-I have no choice…"

Morgana sang, "Oh dreams do come true! Do you see this, ma? Never thought I'd be the one to get your trident back and make Triton pay! Wonder who's the favorite now, eh Ursula? I'm going to pay you back for everything you did to my family, Triton, prepare to be sentenced to oblivion!"

Unfortunately for Morgana, Melody hadn't sat idly by and watched the coup take place. She was going to end this, she was the only one who could. For her father, her mother, grandfather, Lily… and for everyone, she had hurt with her mistakes.

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 05/0122!

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:

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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! 💬

So I've been getting questions ❓ on Alex, which is good because I've tried to hint at a bigger back story 📕 with him. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to fully dive into his backstory and the arc I have for him in this fanfic✍️, but it will be a big plot point in the sequel📗! I think that's the main problem I have with my current version of the story, Alex's story 📖 isn't tied up or explained in a good way, but hopefully sequel will fix that! We also only have a couple more chapters before the end too, I can't wait! 🎉

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