Chapter Eight – You Have to Be Lana
Eric looked up at 'Lana' as they sat together in the room. He knew that he wanted to make her his wife. Whether she appeared in her natural mermaid state or like this, as human as he was, he knew that he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life. He just couldn't risk her getting hurt. "I'm a monster," he told her and Lana tilted her head to the side.
"Why do you say that?" she asked and paused, "Eric, there's something that I want to sha-"
"You don't have to say anything!" Eric said as his eyes widened in fear. He couldn't have anyone hurt her and he couldn't let her be cursed. He kept seeing her in the bathtub and that terrified him. Worse than himself getting hurt was her being hurt. "Lana, you don't have to share anything with me. I trust you." He told her and Lana pulled back a little. What did that mean? "I made you eat fish," he said and then bowed his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize how that might make you feel."
"Eric, you provided food," she replied as she saw how he seemed to sink deeper into himself. "You made sure that we weren't hungry, why are you questioning that?" she asked and Eric looked at her and Ariel felt that he was staring through Lana and at her. No, she was imagining these things.
"Are you sure?" he asked her. "I know that some larger fish eat smaller fish but you might have even known the fish we ate. I feel terrible. I fear that for you eating fish would be as if I ate Max," he heard the sheepdog raise his head and look around as he said that. Eric reached down a hand and ruffled the dog's fur.
"I'm not a fish," Lana replied before tilting her head to the side, "What makes you say that?"
Eric's back straightened and he coughed. He couldn't risk her discovering that he already knew her secret but he was attempting to protect her. "Ariel was…she was part fish," he said and then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Lana," he apologized, "I love Ariel more than anyone I've ever met and I hate to say that to you. I would never want to do anything that would cause her any pain. I need to think more about my actions."
"I forgive you," Lana said and Eric took a slow breath in. He watched her hoping that they both knew what he was saying. He ignored the smile that she had. A regular girl wouldn't smile if a man talked about a former girlfriend that way. He hoped that she considered him her boyfriend.
"Good," Eric stood and then moved over so he was sitting down next to her. He slowly and carefully moved a strand of her hair behind her ear and kissed her cheek. "Thank you."
Ariel's heart beat excitedly as she felt his lips upon her skin. She blushed deeply and closed her eyes. She was happy with what he had confirmed. He loved her as Ariel and that was all that she needed to know. It was okay to tell him. "Eric, you really deserve to know the truth, the tru-" Ariel was caught off guard when Eric silenced Lana with a deep and passionate kiss to her lips. She froze feeling jealous. Was Eric like this with every girl? He had just said that he loved Ariel more than Lana. Was he cheating on Ariel with Lana? Was this considered cheating?
"I trust you," he said as he sat back. "You don't have to force anything. I trust you, Lana."
"But -" Lana started to protest and Eric took her hand.
"Lana," he said as he emphasized her human name. He winked at her, "I already know," he told her and Lana pulled backwards. He already knew what? Eric's eyes widened. "I didn't mean to say that. Are you okay? Are you hurt?" he panicked and Ariel stared at him. What did he know? Did he know who she really was? He stood up and as he did so, he pulled her by the wrist to the small bathroom and drew a bath. "Sit down," he said as he pointed to the toilet.
"Eric, what are you doing?" she asked him as she saw Eric's terrified face.
"I'm so sorry," he told her and Lana stared at him. What had prompted this? Why was he doing this? "You're okay, right? Is anything hurting you? I'll have the bath ready as soon as I can," he said as he accidentally scalded himself on the hot water and then managed to get some cold in there as well. Water. Maybe this new technology wouldn't help her. Maybe he needed to run down to the ocean. What was best for mermaids?
"Eric, I'm okay," she told him as he looked back at her, the panic and anxiety dominating his expression.
"Ariel, I can't risk you being hurt!" he yelled at her before paling. He shook his head as he finally stopped the water in the bathtub. He opened his mouth to protest. He hadn't meant to say that. She wasn't safe. "Lana, I said that by mistake," he told her hoping that it wasn't too late. "You're Lana. You're Lana." He repeated as his body shook.
"Eric…" Ariel said in protest and Eric pulled her towards the tub.
"You have to trust me and get in, if you get hurt I could never forgive myself," he told her and Lana quickly took off her clothes, she didn't even care about Eric seeing her body and she got down into the water. She saw Eric's relief as she lay in the water. "Are you hurt?" he asked as he pushed her hair back and kissed her forehead. He blinked as he imagined seeing blood coming from her body. He had done this to her. He had hurt her.
As she remained in the water, she didn't turn into the mermaid that he knew she was inside, the one who had been hurt the previous time. He slowly took a deep breath in. "Lana," he sighed in relief, "You're okay."
"I'm not Lana," she said and he looked at her. He couldn't risk it again. He had to pretend that she had always been Lana. Still, he didn't want to hurt her.
"I know who you are," he said slowly and she smiled weakly, blinking at him. "You're the girl I'm supposed to be in love with, Lana. You are going to be the girl I make fall in love with me and eventually marry me. You will be the love of my life."
"Eric, it's okay if I tell you who I truly am, I promise you," she said and he took her hand.
"Please don't say it," he begged her. "I couldn't forgive myself were something to hurt you."
"Ariel!" she yelled at him and saw the broken expression on his face. He quickly looked around and as he saw her transform whilst in the water, he took her in his arms as if trying to protect her. He couldn't feel any difference in her body apart from when his hand went into the water, he could feel her tail. Her body was a little slimmer too and so he tightened his hold on her.
"You're Lana," he whispered as he trembled worried that she might die at any moment. "You're Lana. You're Lana."
"Eric, can't you see who I am," she said as she flipped her tail in the water and found Eric to have his eyes closed but he wouldn't let go of her. "Eric, please open your eyes?"
"Lana," he said as he found himself to look at her, the most gorgeous mermaid, he saw that red hair, those gorgeous blue eyes and he shivered again. He looked completely heartbroken and destroyed. Had he loved her as Lana that much. "You're Lana." He repeated once again. "Right now, you're Lana."
"Lana doesn't exist, Eric," she said before hearing him cry painfully, his arms never leaving her body.
"Stop it, please, Ariel," he whispered. "Please. If you love me, you'll stop. You're Lana. You became Lana. You're Lana," he said and Ariel felt her body return back to the human body. She felt Eric's arms still around her securely. So he did know the truth but for some reason he wasn't accepting of it.
"Why do I have to be Lana?" she asked him and he looked at her again. He shivered, still holding her as he looked into her eyes seeing Ariel instead of Lana.
"I promised, the sacrifice for not knowing you as Lana, that is what I would not risk," he felt her body with one hand. Smooth skin, no scales, no cuts, no injuries. He wasn't sure if that would come later of if they were safe. "You're Lana."
"What did you sacrifice?" Lana asked him as she cupped his cheek. "What makes you believe that I'm Lana."
"I can't acknowledge you as anyone other than Lana," Eric told her, he looked around, still terrified that something would happen to her and she would fall back into the bathtub and not be able to breathe any longer. It took him a while to pull back from her. "Or you might die."
Ariel shook her head. Things must have changed with her father and the rules that he had given her. Her father might tell her to come back to the ocean and forbid her to live on land but he wouldn't play around with her life so recklessly. "Eric, that's not true," she told him. "When I spoke with my father."
"Here," Eric said as he opened a bath towel for her, "You should dry yourself, Lana," he told her and Ariel put her hand to his chest. His heart was pounding. She let him wrap the towel around her. As he did so, he wrapped his arms around her protectively. "You are Lana," he repeated to her trying to calm himself. "You are Lana, you are the woman I want to have fall in love with me, you are the woman whom I want to marry, you are the love of my life."
"I want to marry you too, Eric, but I -" she found him to kiss her again to silence her. She could see in his eyes that he truly believed that if she was Ariel rather than Lana that she would die. She saw the pain in his expression. "I'm Lana," she told him. "And as Lana, I would love to marry you."
"Thank you," Eric said as he kissed her neck. "Thank you, Lana."
End of Chapter Eight
Thank you for reading
Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Seven
KathyMesser, marati2011, MermaidRaven,
