She saved a human prince, and it led to tragedy.
She fell hopelessly in love with the prince, and it led to tragedy
Having fallen in love, she spoke to a witch and exchanged her voice for legs.
It led to tragedy.
Instead of the girl, the prince mistook another for his savior, which led to tragedy.
The prince fell in love not with the girl, but with the other woman. This led to tragedy.
The girl's sisters brought her a dagger that, if used it to spill the prince's blood, she would become a mermaid once more. This led to tragedy.
The poor girl could not bring herself to kill the prince, which led to tragedy.
Unable to win the prince's love, the girl into sea foam, ceasing to exist.
Such was the tragedy.
The girl only knew of her story. She knew had died, she had lived such a pitiful fifteen years of life, stuck in the ocean floor, only to go to the surface and die a sorrow-filled death. She had died, and yet, there she was. Walking, singing, and crying. She had her legs, her voice, her life. She had everything she could have ever asked for, and yet, the tears wouldn't stop coming.
The lone girl wore a sea-blue Chinese-style sleeveless dress allowing for full mobility of her human legs and dragged two swords behind her. The swords were being held by her, and yet, she was not touching them with her hands, rather
"Look. her hair!"
"That's not hair!"
A pair of puppets began to talk, whispering to one another of the girl's appearance.
The girl had blue eyes, pale skin, an incredibly curvaceous body, and a cute round face hidden away behind the endless stream of tears. Though she seemed normal enough from just these features, there was one thing in particular that made her stand out, made it obvious of her non-human lineage
"Slimy fish"
"Are those fish?"
"They look alive"
"They look revolting"
The girl had human hair, at least, that's what she wanted to think it was. Her hair was fashioned into pigtails which extended down past her hips but as it passed her head it no longer had the appearance of hair. Instead, it had a more solid appearance, that of two fishtails. It flowed smoothly as though it were pretending to be hair, but it took on a slimy, material look.
"Noooo!" the girl cried out, covering her face. The two massive fishtails dropping the swords and moved up, one towards either puppet and made contact, splashing them. The ends of the hair became liquid, trapping each in a floating whirlpool of water, tangling their strings
The puppets said nothing, simply rising up higher away from the danger and twisted about until they fixed their lifelines connecting them to the sky
"Parrah"
"Noya?"
"Is she shy?"
"She seems sad"
The girl peeked through her fingers to see the two once again speaking as though nothing was wrong, making her urge to cry even greater still.
"It's beautiful," she said, her voice ringing out like a song of chimes and bells
"What is?" the puppets asked in unison, staring blankly at the pitiful sight
"You can't die. You're bound by strings," she responded, wiping her eyes carefully, "It's such a beautiful tragedy"
The puppets exchange momentary glances and began to laugh with their hollow, empty voices, stopping suddenly and speaking once more
"We can both die"
"We can be replaced"
"Even sadder" the girl wept, taking in a large breath of air
"She's hopeless"
"How pitiful"
The puppets continued to criticize the girl for her tears, saying she was wasting her time, saying she had a mission to fulfill, going on about a wish she could have granted. Of course, she opened her eyes knowing full well Hans Christian Andersen was long since dead. Buried, gone from the earth. On the other hand, she too had once died but was currently alive in the world of the Library. Who was to say her author was unable to do the same
"So, what's your wish?" Parrah asked, irritated
"Don't drown us out," Noya added rolling his eyes
"I..." she began, "I don't know"
Truly in her mind, the now-human Little Mermaid was unable to come up with a wish. She had gotten her voice, she had a pair of legs. The prince was happy living with an imposter. What could she wish for? With a life filled with tragedy, with such a beautiful tale, what was there to ask for?
"Ah..."
A voice. She heard a voice. It was a beautiful voice. A voice that echoed through the trees and into the Little Mermaids ears. It was a lovely song, a magical ballad, and yet, it was missing something. The Little Mermaid hurried off to find the owner of the voice, much to the puppet's displeasure who followed along reluctantly
It didn't take long before the owner to be found.
It was a plant. A small plant, no bigger than a pumpkin, glowing red and moving its roots as though they were hands, grasping an imaginary heart in its imaginary chest
"A spirit," Noya said
"A nightmare," Parrah added
"How cute," The Little Mermaid squealed, unable to keep her eyes off it, "oh such a lovely song!"
The round spirit gave it's thanks and was about to take it's leave when it was stopped, encased in water and lifted high in the air, face to face with a beautifully innocent face
"Here it is," Parrah sickered
"They're all crazy," Noya laughed
The Little Mermaid lifted up her second fishtail which held tightly to one of her swords and brought it by the bubble keeping the small nightmare afloat
"Your song is missing something, and I figured out what," she exclaimed, puffy-eyed and beaming with a lovely smile drenched in tears, "Sorrow"
Without a second thought or even a warning, the sword cut down and cleanly removed one of the nightmare's roots. Its high-pitched screams of pain could be heard even though the bubble as the Little Mermaid continued to chop up its roots one by one until none were left. No blood left the spirits body, but the parts of it that were sliced away were floating around it, a reminder of what caused the pain.
"Now," The Little Mermaid said, releasing the nightmare onto the ground, "sing! Sing a wonderful song filled with pain, with agony, with sorrow"
The nightmare opened it's mouth to sing, it's voice cracking every few words, starved of breath no matter how much time went on. It went on, its voice becoming weaker by the second until finally, it stopped. At the last words of its pain-filled song, the nightmare collapsed, dissipating into nothing
"It was beautiful," The Little Mermaid said, covering her face, unable to hide the tears and sniffling, "It was such a sorrowful song"
"Do you know your wish?"
"You have a desire"
The puppets urged once more to know for the girl's wish, for what it was she wanted from her author. She knew what it was she wanted; she knew very well in her heart what it was she would ask for from Mr. Anderson
"I want," she began, with a smile forming on her face, "an even more sorrowful story"
It came from her heart, she wanted a more miserable life than the one she had experienced. She understood there is no grandeur in a world without sadness and there is no beauty in a world without misery. Everyone needed to understand this, so she would be willing to make the sacrifice to make all other living things understand what true sorrow was like. She'd make them feel despair, then finally, allow herself to live knowing nothing but sadness
"Sorrow makes the world beautiful. Tears are beautiful, I want to have that beauty, and for that, I need to know nothing sorrow"
"The pervert was better"
"Both were terribly honest"
"The pervert denies it"
"The fish-girl relishes it"
"Those two could be friends"
"They might work well together"
"Two human beauties"
"Two horrible perverts"
"Will they eventually meet?"
"We can pull some strings"
"Who will break first"
"The one who wants to know despair"
"Or the one who wants to inflict sadness"
Questioning each other all the while, the puppets left behind the confused girl, alone with her tears as she continued on her journey to bring her author back to life, to create a world made of nothing but sorrow for her to live in, to suffer in, to be beautiful in
Such was her sin, the sin of indulging in endless sorrow
