Let me just clear some things up before I begin!

First and foremost, this story is an inspiration from a fellow reader!

Secondly, I do not own The Little Mermaid! The story is owned by Hans Christian Anderson and the Disney version you all know and love is owned my Walt himself! I'm simply exploring an alternative story!

If you like or don't like or want to leave me a review, let me know!

Until then, enjoy!


Darkness. He was in nothing but the pitch black darkness. It also felt like he was floating. Floating around like he was in space.

"What... what's going on? Where... am I?"

He slowly opened his eyes and he found myself at some kind of beach. The waves were crashing against the shore as the splashed the bottoms of his feet. He stood up brushing the sand off of his shorts and looked around. There was nothing, but the beach. The beach and sounds of waves crashing against the shore.

Then he heard something. At first he thought it was the sound of the waves, but he soon learned that it was something else. It was the sound of a voice. The voice of a girl that was singing. When he heard it, it was one of the most beautiful voices he ever heard. However that made him all the more curious.

"Hey! Who's out there? Answer me!"

He called out hoping to find out who was singing. The origin of the voice seemed to be coming from the ocean. He looked out towards it scanning on the surface of the water. Then his eyes happened to fall upon something on the water.

On top of a rock stood a lone girl with flowing red hair. She was the source of all the singing.

"Hey you there!"

The boy called out trying to get the girls attention. The girl heard him and saw him. Feeling frightened the girl immediately dove into the water.

"Hey wait! Come back!"

But the girl was already gone. The waves in the ocean grew more violent growing bigger and bigger. Getting closer and closer to the boy. Suddenly a giant wave came barreling right into the boy forcing him underwater. The boy tried to stay afloat, but was soon pulled under. He could feel the water filling his lungs as he sank lower and lower and he grew weaker and weaker.

He could feel his eyes grow heavy and start to black out...


"Hey! Hey! Wake up nimrod!"

The boy mumbled as he slept soundly on the couch trying to ignore the sound of the person calling to him. A teenage boy named Garret. Then suddenly he felt a sharp slap right on his head causing the boy to wake up with a start.

"What the heck?!"

The boy immediately sat up and looked at the very person who caused his sleep to be interrupted. It was none other than his little sister who had an annoyed expression on her face.

"You awake now dummy? You're supposed to be watching the movie with me Garret!" she said.

"Good grief. Was that really necessary Lucy? That really hurt you know," said Garret grumpily. "Besides I'm not really interested in watching the movie anyway. All it does is make me sleepy and gives me freaky dreams."

"Aw come on! It's the Little Mermaid!" said Lucy. "I would have thought that you'd be interested in something like this! After all it does have one of your favorite things in it when you grew up watching Disney! Romance!"

"Me loving romance has nothing to do with loving this movie," said Garret. "And in regards with Disney movies, I've all grown up from them as well as romance. I'm a bit too old to be watching all this. Especially all the princess movies. Besides I've read the book and it doesn't exactly have a happy ending like the way Disney done it."

Lucy face then paled. "No! Please don't mention that horrible ending!"

"Why? Because you know that's the true ending of that little fairy tale? It's because of that that I don't watch the Disney movies anymore. They practically spelled out one thing; there's no such thing as a happy ending."

"Now, now. That's enough," said their mom sternly from the kitchen. "Garret stop picking on your sister. You know that she hates it when you mention the book version of that movie."

"Hey. Blame the writer not me," said Garret. "He's the one who wrote that lousy ending. Besides I'd prefer that rather than this sappy stuff and who cares if I need friends? I'm better on my own."

"You're such a boy Garret," said Lucy. "No wonder you don't have a girl or friends at your age. Keep that tough guy act up and you'll never get the girls to like you."

"Whatever. I don't need to have girl or friends to be happy. Besides it's not like I need anyone in my life," said Garret turning to his side. "And for that matter all of this mushy stuff about love all these Disney movies keep spouting. Sometimes I wish that they wouldn't be so sappy all the time. There's no such thing as true love."

"Now is that what you think?" said a voice. "Because I would have to disagree Garret. You probably just don't understand is all."

The new voice caused Garret to look up from where he was lying to find that his father had just come to the room.

"Hey Dad," said Lucy. "Welcome home!"

"Did you have a good day at work honey?" asked their mom.

"Yes. I did," said their dad. "It was a bit rough, but I'm glad to be home."

Then he turned to Garret. "Now Garret, I heard what you said and personally I think that comment was a bit rude."

"Well it's true," said Garret.

Their father stared at Garret. Then he sighed. "It seems that you don't fully understand. Garret come with me please."

"Ooo. You're in trouble!" said Lucy mockingly.

"No he isn't Lucy," said their father. "Now stop teasing your brother and watch The Little Mermaid OK?"

"Yes Daddy," said Lucy innocently.

"Little kiss-up," Garret muttered.

"Come on Garret," said their father. "I wanna show you something."

"Dad. This isn't gonna be one of your little lectures with a book is it?" asked Garret in an annoyed.

"You'll see," said their dad.


The morning was quiet with a light blanket of fog rolling in concealing the ocean. A flock of seagulls flew above the ocean savoring the wind beneath their wings. They eventually broke away two going in one direction and one flying another. Below the lone seagull were three smiling dolphins leaping about in the water. Eventually the dolphins stopped their leaping and the seagull landed in between them. They chirped to one another as if they were speaking in the same language.

Suddenly out from the mist a giant ship appeared ripping across the water surprising them. The seagull flew away while the dolphins quick dove under the water. As the ship passed over them, the dolphins watched as the ship disappeared into the mist with curiousity on their faces.

The ship was manned by a crew hoisting the sails, catching fish, going about their merry way as they sang a song known by all sailors throughout the world.

I'll tell you a tale of the bottomless blue

And it's hey to the starboard heave ho!

Look out lad a mermaid be waiting for you

in mysterious fathoms below.

Fathoms below, below

From whence wayward westerilies blow

Where Triton is king and his merpeople sing

In mysterious fathoms below.

As the men worked and sang happily, a young man was working with them. He was young and had black wavy short hair and blue colored eyes. From a glimpse he looked to be like the sailors, but to everyone else he was known as Prince Eric.

"Isn't this great? Eric said as he breathed in deeply savoring the air in his lung. "The salty sea air? The wind blowing in your face? Perfect day to be at sea!"

As Eric turned around, he saw a man leaning of to the side looking greener than the greenest seaweed. He was Grimsby. Eric's loyal confidant and caretaker.

"Oh yes. Ulp. Delightful," said Grimsby sarcastically. Then he felt the bile build up in his throat causing him to lean over to the side throwing up once again.

Prince Eric paid no mind to his confidants comment and went to help another sailor by tying a rope.

"A fine strong wing and a following sea," said the sailor. "King Triton must be in a friendly type mood."

"King Triton?" asked Eric his curiousity peaked. "Who's that?"

Not far away another sailor answered his question as he was throwing their catch of fish into the barrels.

"Why he's ruler of the merpeople lad. Thought every good sailor knew about him."

As the sailor began telling Eric the story, the sailors sang another verse of their song.

I'll sing you a song of the king of the sea

and it's hey to the starboard, heave-ho!

The ruler of all of the oceans is he, in mysterious fathoms below

"Listen well boy," said the sailor. "There's a world of merpeople under the sea. All of which are under the rule of King Triton. He's got seven daughters and an old witch of an arch nemesis named Ursula."

"Ursula?"

"Yes. She's evil, ugly, conniving, and hungry for power. Because of this, King Triton had to banish her off into exile and she's still living there bidding her time."

"Merpeople?" scoffed Grimsby who had finally had recovered from his seasickness. "Eric. Pay no attention to this nautical nonsense."

"But it ain't nonsense," protested the sailor. "I'm telling you down in the depths ocean they live down there! Including Ursula and King Triton!"

He then sang another verse of the song the sailor's were singing with the other sailors joining in.

Fathoms below in the ocean

lives Ursula, witch of the sea!

She plots and she schemes and she wickedly dreams,

of the day that she'll return once more

Return to rule the ocean floor!

She wants to be the queen of the bottomless blue,

and it's hey to the starboard, heave-ho!

So Triton beware there's a biggun' a-brewin'

in the Mysterious Fathoms Below!

Grimsby surprised by the sailors, hastily backed away into a barrel of fish which caused him to knock over the barrel. Grimsby was covered in fish. One in particular flopped a bit on his head before bouncing on the railing and diving into the sea below. The fish grateful for being back in the water looked back at the ship making sure that it was safe. When it felt that it was safe, it breathed a sigh of relief and then swam away.


Back in the real world, Garret was being led by his father upstairs in the house. Eventually they came down the hall. Above them was a small ball and chain. Garret's father reached out and pulled on the chain revealing a ladder leading up to an attic.

"Come on son," he said as he climbed up the steps. "It's just up here."

"Whatever you say Dad," said Garret as he followed suit.

The attic spread out pretty wide on both sides. The room was pretty long and was filled with old furniture, magazines, boxes and many other old things.

"Geez. It's so musty in here," said Garret coughing a little.

"It's not so bad," said his dad. "Personally I like the musty smell."

Garret's dad then looked around looking for something. He rummaged around the junk trying to find the item he was looking for.

"Now where is it," he muttered to himself. "I'm sure I kept it here somewhere."

"What are you looking for Dad?" asked Garret.

"Hold on," he said walking to the other end of the room. "I think it's... right... about... Aha! Here it is!"

He then pushed a couple of things out of the way and there stood a large object covered in a giant drape. He grabbed a fist full of it and then took the drape off revealing a mirror. It was tall, circular, in size about a foot taller than Garret's father, had a metal gold frame, and rested on a brown metal base. On top of it was a small teal like gem. When Garret saw the mirror, he couldn't help but gaze at the size of it.

"Where the heck did this come from?" he asked.

"This mirror belonged to my great grandmother," explained his dad. "It was passed on from generation to generation. When I was about your age, I was pretty much in the same position you're in right now."

"And here comes the lecture," muttered Garret.

"Like you I too didn't believe in love or need friends. When my mother heard me talk the way you did, she showed me this exact same mirror and thanks to that I was able to understand and learn some things and even I met your mother," continued your dad. "Like how to understand and find a happy ending and finding love and friends."

Garret was now puzzled. "I don't get it Dad. How can a mirror help you find friends and a happy ending and love?"

Garret's father smiled. "I'm afraid that's something that you need to figure out on your own son. Someday, you'll understand that true love exists as well as a happy ending and you'll. Anyway, I just wanted to show this real quick. Now come on. Dinner's gonna be ready in a minute."

Before Garret could ask anything else, his dad was already down the stairs and heading down the hall leaving Garret by himself. Out of all things his dad said to him in his life, this was by far the most confusing, but he quickly shook his head.

"He probably was just going on about nothing as usual," said Garret as turned around and left the attic closing the door behind him. "Happy ending? Yeah right."

As soon as he left, the attic was silent. There wasn't a sound to be heard. Then without anyone noticing, the mirror's gem began to glow and a woman's singing voice started seeping out of the mirror.