Chapter Four – To Be With You

Sebastian stared at the bottle that had been brought to him by an octopus. It was a surprise that they were of any help at all. A lot of the time when things turned up from the surface world, there would be interest in them from the fish and merfolk. However, this was brought straight to him and it was a good thing that it was.

Although it had been a disaster the previous night and there was an unspoken understanding that something had happened, no one was exactly sure and with the death of the queen, people weren't sure how to bring it up in any type of conversation. Still as Sebastian read over the letters, having been schooled in fewer languages than he claimed to be, he could understand the sentiments and knew Ariel had to be stopped and halted from returning to the surface world.

Despite the prince's way of saving the entire ocean, he was still human and he had said that he was Ariel's but what should be done to him was up for debate. Still, if this earth-dwelling human who obviously loved her enough to risk his own life and he said that the surface wasn't safe then there was no way that Sebastian would allow her to return.

Looking around for some sign of where Ariel might have gone, Sebastian spotted the yellow and blue fish swimming by and swam to him. "I've got a question for you," he said and Flounder stopped.

"Whatever it was, I didn't do it," Flounder said quickly and Sebastian looked at him skeptically before shaking his head.

"No. I don't care about what you've been doing. This is about Ariel. Surely you know where she is," Sebastian told him and Flounder's eyes widened, he looked from side to side.

"So, so you know that Ariel's upset but I swear I didn't do it and it doesn't seem that, that the prince did it either. I mean, humans can be scary but he, uh, he didn't seem -" Flounder responded still seeming a little nervous about it and Sebastian shook his head.

"I know, I know, he's a prince and he acts like one. He wouldn't have protected Ariel if he wasn't so but I have to see her. Maybe I should speak to the king, have him speak to Ariel but that might escalate the situation and we wouldn't want to worry everyone about something that might seem so worrisome." Sebastian sighed as he clutched hold of the letter and Flounder watched him before gesturing with his body to follow him before swimming off to the area that used to collect Ariel's human items.

ArErArEr

Ariel sighed as she curled up with her tail pulled to her legs. She didn't know what had happened but one thing she did know was that whoever those humans were who had attacked them, Eric had stood against them in order to protect her. He had told her to swim away and she had been able to but now that people knew, what would happen to herself and her sisters. She should tell her father but if she did then she might never be able to return to Eric.

She sighed as she put her finger in the sand and drew a heart in it before writing Eric's name. Why did love have to have so many barriers? Why couldn't love be easy? Ariel let her hair slide over her face before the water pushed it back again. She wanted Eric. He wasn't just a human to her, he was the prince who had saved her life. He was a prince who enjoyed playing and listening to music. He was a prince who loved his dog as much as she loved her best friends. There was nobody else like him.

Ariel tried not to cry as she thought back to how those others had looked at her. She took deep breaths before sensing someone else there with her. She lifted her head and saw Flounder and Sebastian coming over to her. She tried to clean her face but knew they had both seen her.

"Ariel, thank Neptune that you're okay," Sebastian said as he came over to her with the note. "I was worried that you were, no, it's better if you were the one to read this," he said as he held the letter out to her, it had a slight claw mark in it but otherwise had survived. Good sturdy parchment had not been destroyed by the water.

Ariel took the paper and opened it before reading it. A smile warmed her cheeks as she read how Eric had written that he loved her but her breath stopped as she read that he didn't want her to return. Was he no longer interested because of how those other people had seen her? Did he care more about their opinions than he did about her? As she continued to read, she saw that he was asking her to wait for him. He was definitely worth the wait.

"Ariel," Sebastian said when he knew that she had finished reading. "You have to tell us, what happened?"

Ariel looked at him and then at Flounder. "Whatever you think, Eric isn't like them. He doesn't care that I'm a mermaid, he just loves me for whoever I am. I'm sure that if Eric was made into a merman that he would stay with me. He's not like others."

"What do you mean by others? There are others who saw you as you really are?" Sebastian asked and Ariel opened her mouth but didn't know how to respond.

Flounder looked between them angrily, "She did meet others. They wanted to catch her in a net. Thought of her as some oddity, I thin-"

"Flounder!" Ariel said sharply before bowing her head. "How could you?" she asked and Flounder put his fin over his mouth. Ariel turned to Sebastian. She knew that he would tell her father, that the king would make some way of blocking their connection again. She didn't want to think of a world that would restrict her from being with Eric, at least not yet. She had to swim off somewhere. She had to find her own place. She felt her tears mix with the water in the ocean and then found somewhere safe to be alone.

She heard a sound behind her and froze as she saw Flounder there but no Sebastian, was he coming later.

"Ariel," he said sadly before swimming over to her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you again."

"Oh, Flounder," Ariel sighed before smiling, "Thank you. I know you didn't mean to." Ariel lay down on the ocean bed and closed her eyes, Flounder swam next to her and curled into her body. "I just wish that I really could be human. That I could be with Eric. I'm sorry, you know that I love you, right?"

"I love you too," Flounder tried to reassure her. Ariel closed her eyes and Flounder curled in closer to her. That was before they saw a purple flame before them. Purple had been Ursula's color. Purple meant that Ursula or at least her crazy sister might be here.

"Princess, you have earned the right to have a wish of yours granted, no strings attached," a voice could be heard. It was calm and peaceful but Flounder wasn't sure if that was a trick or not. "I promise you that this is not a trick but you will not be able to do this as yourself. There must be some rules."

"Can you show yourself?" Ariel asked as she looked into the light. She turned around before seeing a gorgeous merman appear, she was almost like a goddess in appearance. Ariel paused. This was real. She recognized this mermaid as having been a friend of her mother's, Aqua Marina. "What do you mean I can't do this as myself?" she asked and Flounder tilted his head watching her.

"Do you wish to accompany Ariel on her journey?" Marina asked and Flounder nodded slowly. "All you need to do then is…trust." The mermaid placed her two fingers to Ariel's forehead and as the younger mermaid started to drop into a sleep, she saw the long brown hair of Marina being tossed in the ocean waters.

ArErArErAr

Max barked loudly as he ran to the dock of the town that a disguised Eric had walked into. He had disguised himself as a sailor with an unknown origin. He would just have to find somewhere near here where he could get a few jobs or even somewhere where he could just find one job. He heard Max's excited barking and laughed. At least the sheepdog was enjoying himself.

Eric ran to where the part near the ocean was empty and saw a brunette crashed onto the shore. It reminded him of when he had seen Ariel but she hadn't had her voice. He wanted to be closer to Ariel but Ariel had saved his life, he could help another.

He saw that she had a small puppy next to her and he gestured to Max to come and see if he could wake her up. Eric reached to where the girl was and knelt down opposite her. He saw her stirring and smiled as she looked up to him with deep green eyes.

"Hi," he said as he tilted his head to the side, that charming smile on his face. "Are you okay?"

"Eric?" the girl asked with an angelic voice but one that he couldn't place. As he watched her, he knew that there was something extremely familiar about her but he didn't know what. He had to stop thinking. Ariel was the girl he loved, the one he wanted to be with when all of this craziness ended.

"I'm sorry," he said with a whisper, "I guess I can't really keep too low of a profile, should have gone with a different disguise. Could you please pretend that you didn't see me?" he asked awkwardly as he looked around. He saw the girl blink as she studied him, he didn't know who she was. "Do we know each other?"

"Yes," she nodded, "I'm -"

Eric paused as the girl just seemed to stop speaking. Her voice disappeared and he looked around. "Can you tell me your name?" he asked and she nodded.

"I'm -" she began again but she couldn't speak. "My name is -" again she didn't seem to finish that sentence and Eric looked to her, confused.

"Listen, if you promise to help me with my disguise, I'll help you too." He told her and felt the girl reach to hold onto his arm. He pulled his arm away with an apologetic smile. "As friends, okay?" he asked her and the girl looked at him in shock. "I'm already in love with someone amazing."

End of Chapter Four

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Thank you to marati2011 for reviewing Chapter Three