Vanessa was draped over Eric's shoulders, looking down at the map spread out over the table in front of him. He was talking about trade with his father, the map studded with pins and tiny model ships. Vanessa was picturing them sinking, wrapped in tentacles and pulled down beneath the waves. It would be amusing to see how the little vessels could stand up to the force of the sea.
Vanessa's long raven hair and her seashell necklace had spilled out over Eric's chest. He absentmindedly reached up and stroked it, all the while discussing the apple trade that was being established with the Fourth Kingdom. Vanessa leaned in closer, breathing in the scent of his hair. She was happy, happy for the first time in years.
This had started as a revenge plot. A way to get back at that heartless man who had cast Vanessa out. A way to use his idiotic daughter to destroy him. The plot was certainly succeeding, but Vanessa felt more joy in the process than she knew she would in the results. Vanessa was doubtful as to whether she would want to go home after the plan had finished. She wasn't sure she wanted the Kingdom anymore. Not when she could have Eric.
Eric was beautiful. Gorgeous cheekbones and a jawline that could slice through sheet metal. His eyes were a beautiful pale colour, blue and grey like a stormy sea. He wasn't some pale, sheltered child, but a strong young man. Tanned from days at sea and from working along the shoreline. Vanessa gave his bicep a little squeeze and he laughed, a perfectly toned, gorgeous bubbly laugh that lifted Vanessa up and carried her soul with it with as much strength as if Eric had physically lifted her with his strong arms.
Why would she ever want to leave this man with his caring attitude and wonderful sense of humour? Especially when he was in love with her just as much as she was in love with him. Nevermind that stupid girl who was somewhere else, wandering the palace on her borrowed feet looking for Eric. Ariel didn't have the bond that Vanessa had with Eric. Ariel had seen him once, on a beach. She had pulled him drowning from the water and had left him there before he woke up. Convinced that she was in love with him.
That was ridiculous. You didn't fall in love with someone from looking down at their unconscious body for under a minute. You fell in love with them from building a relationship and making a bond. From talking to them and sharing interests and interacting with them when they weren't passed out in the sand.
Vanessa loved Eric. Ariel was in love with the idea of loving Eric. By the end of the week, Ariel would be back in the ocean, and Vanessa would be human. She'd be happy with Eric, married and loved. She could stay there with Ariel's voice, and a pair of legs, and be normal. No one would ever know.
Except what Vanessa forgot was that she was the villain, and this was a fairytale. The hero always wins. Or usually wins. And if they don't win, then nobody wins. Disney just can't let the villain win. That's bad PR.
Maybe Vanessa could find love and be happy. She could settle into a life as a mother and wife, and live with Eric. She could spend the rest of her life being in love with a wonderful man who loved her too. But Ursula the sea witch couldn't find love. Couldn't have a happily-ever-after. She was destined to live out her life in a cave with two eels. To be alone, and to die alone, and to bring nothing but misery into the world. She would meet a sticky end, whether it was at the hands of a merman she screwed over, or at the hands of Walt Disney himself. Written out with a flash and a bang.
Ursula snapped out of her reverie as Eric said her name softly. "Vanessa?" He shook her arm gently. "Darling, I need you to let go of me. I've got to go. There are things to prepare for the wedding tomorrow."
Reluctantly, Ursula pried her hands off of Eric and stood up. "I'll see you at dinner." She pressed a kiss onto the top of his head, burying it in his thick black hair and left the room in a cloud of purple skirts as Eric began to rise. It was time for her last fitting anyway. The wedding dress was nearly complete, and they just needed to finish the hem.
...
The wedding was the most wonderful thing she could have hoped for. The boat with the smiling people and the lines of flowers. The priest who was old and wrinkled and squinted down at the big book that sat in front of him. There was Ursula in her veil and Eric in his white suit. He looked down at her, and they exchanged a secret little smile that made Ursula's heart swell with joy.
And then everything broke. Ursula could hear Eric yelling for her as a flurry of animals pummeled her. They knocked her around, ripped the veil from her hair and tore at her skirts. The shell necklace snapped and went flying, and as the shell broke Ursula's heart did too.
She had been holding Eric's eyes with her own. He had a look of panic that she was sure mirrored the one on her own face. He was fighting to get past a seal in his efforts to reach her. As the shell hit the deck of the ship it shattered into a million pieces, releasing Ariel's voice, Ursula watched the love and concern in his beautiful storm blue eyes drain away and disappear. He turned to see Ariel, the red-head standing at the edge of the ship, and he ran to her as Ursula screamed in pain.
The sun came up and Ariel fell to the floor as Ursula grew tentacles and writhed on the deck of the ship. Eric knelt down beside the mermaid as Ursula coughed up her old voice, Ariel's voice departing her body.
Eric was in love with Ariel's voice, but he loved Ursula's words. Everything she had said was her own, and that was what he had fallen in love with. With her wit and with the conversations that they had shared. It hurt that Ursula was suffering now while Eric was tending to Ariel. Ariel, whom he'd never spoken with. It was at that moment that Ursula's heart grew cold.
This had started as a revenge plot. A way to get back at that heartless man who had cast Ursula out. A way to use his idiotic daughter to destroy him. She had lost Eric to Ariel, had lost the kingdom to King Triton. But Ursula the sea witch was not defeated. Before she would go crawling back to her cave and her eels, she was going to have the last laugh. She was still powerful, and these fools would cower before her.
With hatred in her heart and an icy resolve in her eyes, Ursula called upon all her magic to raise up a storm. With all the foolish confidence of a Disney villain, she felt sure that she could win.
She at least was going to try.
THE END.