Choices
Ice sliced into her bare feet, the wind and cold piercing through her thin yellow dress. Yet nothing was going to keep Melody from storming the tower in a one woman stampede. Alex had been right, only human Melody could pull this off. All the others were completely under Morgana's total and cruel control.
Morgana may have sat on top of an ice castle of her own making, but that didn't mean it was laid out or easy to traverse. As Melody stumbled out onto a balcony towards the peak of a spire she saw the new Queen about twenty feet up from her and her back turned. With no obvious way up, Melody balanced herself onto the edge of the balcony, and leaped towards the jagged icicle ceiling.
With barely a grip on the balcony's glacial roof, Melody peaked over her shoulder. She was hundreds of feet up, and nothing by a sharp field of jagged icebergs surrounding the fortress was waiting to catch her down below.
With strength Melody never knew she had, she yanked herself upwards and found footing on to the crystal overhang. With a deep breath she looked up, Morgana was still a small ways up, another few leaps of faith would be necessary. Taking a second to steady herself, she couldn't help but think of all the hundreds of times she had scaled and broken out of her own castle home. All her years of being an expert escape artist had come into play in a suddenly deadly way. Having scaled dozens of walls in her short life, and managing to escape out the windows of nearly every room in the castle, whether they were on the first floor or the roof. Perhaps in more ways than one she truly was the best equipped for this task.
Lucky for the Princess, Morgana was completely enraptured by the sight of the King and all his legions bowing to her. Allowing Melody to take a minute to map out her next moves to the spire peak, knowing she'd need to be as silent and as safe as possible if this would work.
"I'm going to pay you back for everything you did to my family, Triton, prepare to be sentenced to oblivion!"
Melody's sore thin arms wobbled to pull her up the final ledge, just in time to see the Witch Queen point the trident down towards her grandfather.
As soon as her feet got grip she pounced at the trident, catching Morgana off guard completely. The witch let go of it shockingly quickly, a look of utter disbelief overtaking her.
Melody had thrown her whole weight into snatching the trident, too much so as the Witch let go of it without much resistance. The Princess skidded across the spire floor, coming to a stop halfway off the edge. Her shoulders and head were supported by nothing but air, the floor ending somewhere around her middle back. Another inch or so and she surely would have been sent tumbling down to a grizzly death.
Melody peaked over her shoulder before looking back towards Morgana, any disbelief the witch had was gone now. Replaced with a mix of laughter and pity.
"Oh please, what exactly do you intend to do with that?"
Melody tried to throw the trident over the edge, but a tentacle snapped around it before she could. The Princess managed to maintain a grip around handle where it met with the three prongs, while Morgana wrapped her tentacle around the bottom of the trident. The way Melody saw the situation she had one choice if she was going to over power Morgana.
"This belongs to my grandfather!"
Without thinking of it further Melody leaped from the edge of the cliff, the unexpected full weight of her body ripped the trident from the overconfident witch. Never in a million years did the Witch Queen think a princess would so willingly commit suicide in a split second desperation. Morgana instantly rushed to the edge to see the Princess and the golden trident plummet down hundreds of feet.
Melody was overjoyed her trick had worked, she had been worried she would jump off and not be able to take the trident with her. But now, at least her death would actually matter, and she had fixed her mistakes in life. She could go in peace.
The Princess wanted to ensure that the trident would end up with her grandfather, that her sacrifice wouldn't be in vain. If the trident had landed among the jagged ice, there was a likely chance Morgana would be able to snatch it back before her grandfather.
With all her might, mere seconds after jumping off the palace peak, she threw the trident like a spear. Praying for it to land in the ocean where someone could actually reach it in time.
Like a miracle her aim had been better than perfect, and the king had been watching the entire scene of his granddaughter sacrifice herself. With sheer fear in his heart he rushed to catch the trident as it sailed through the air, had it landed anywhere else Melody would surely be dead.
The second his fingers were around the golden handle, a massive raid ant light exploded from the trident. Everyone would have turned and covered their eyes had they been given the chance, but the enchantment cast slowed down time to a near halt. The human Princess's body hovering mere feet from a quick and bloody end.
With another swing the king commanded the ocean water to rise up and meet his granddaughter's body, cradling her gently and carrying her down safely to her parent's side on a nearby ice shelf.
With another wave of glittering magic time returned to normal, everyone unpaused and resumed shrinking away from the powerful enchantments being cast.
Morgana didn't need a voice enhancer spell for everyone to hear her scream, "No!"
Trident boomed his deep powerful voice so everyone for miles could hear, "Never again shall you and your kind threaten my family! There will be no mercy, and no escape for you!"
A beam of silver magic shot towards the witch, a prison of crystal ice surrounding her as her palace melted away beneath her. The screams were cut off as the ice sealed off at the top, but the witch could still be seen thrashing and shrieking against the walls. Within minutes the fortress was reduced to a puddle of snow, the witch in her ice block dungeon sinking beneath the dark murky depths into an endless painful oblivion.
When Melody opened her eyes, she thought surely she was dead. That she was in the after life, but she was met with the sight of her mother's beautiful face above her. Confusing her more than anything,
"Mommy?"
Her mother's face washed over with relief, "Oh Melody, I thought we'd lost you!"
As her mother hugged her daughter against her chest, Melody looked over to her father. Awake, but beat up, shivering and soaked with subzero sea water, a stream of blood dripping from his head down his face. He was wrapped in blankets, just like herself but no heap of fabric could fully keep out the chill.
Tears filled Melody's eyes at the sight of her regal father in such a state, "Daddy?"
Her father took her hand and squeezed it, "I'm right here darling."
Now sobs racked the Princess's frail, frozen body. "I'm so, so, sorry. This is all my fault."
Ariel stroked her daughter's thick raven hair, "Oh no sweetie, we're sorry."
Eric wiped the tears from his daughter's cheeks, "We should have told you the truth from the beginning."
The sobs and salty sea tears only intensified, and she pulled away from her mother's embrace. "I never meant for anyone to get hurt, I…I just dreamed I'd be a better mermaid than I was a Princess."
Ariel took her daughter's hands, "Oh Melody, it doesn't matter if you have fins or feet. We love you for who you are, our brave little girl."
Eric wrapped his arms around Melody as she cried, "A very brave young woman." Melody didn't see Ariel's face, a complex mix of pain and realization.
He continued, "Just like your mother."
Melody wiped her tears just in time for her to see her grandfather approach, the regal king followed by generals coming to a stop at the edge of the ice shelf in front of them. She noticed Alex also in the crowd of merfolk following the king, her granddad.
"Grandfather…"
The king's voice was soft and kind, "Melody, I could never blame you for desiring to join us merfolk. You're my granddaughter, and you have not been able to see the world you come from. So I want to offer you a most precious gift, a choice."
The tears stopped as Melody processed his words, and he spoke again before she could manage any questions.
"A choice to stay on land with your parents, or to come with me to Atlantica."
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 05/15/22! IT WILL ALSO BE THE LAST CHAPTER but don't worry as sequel will come right after launching on 6/15/2022
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! 💬