Marooned 3
Ariel knew that in the last three years she had been in stranger situations than most people were in their entire lives—and that, mind you, was only counting the last three years. At that moment, however, she knew in the depths of her soul that she had never been in any situation quite as strange as this one. Oh, some had come close. Shark chases, rescuing a human in the middle of a storm, that time she climbed the side of a ship to crash a wedding. But as sure as anemones stung, this was by far her weirdest adventure yet.
Funnily enough the realization came as she sat behind a stranger's luggage.
Or rather hid. Hid behind a stranger's luggage.
Across the way, she could make out the corner of Flounder's shirt. He'd found a group of humans all wearing yellow, speaking… was that Spanish? Portuguese? Whatever the language, it seemed Flounder's instinct to blend in carried over into his human form.
Her heart pounded in time to running footsteps that came closer by the second. She didn't dare lose sight of her friend until the last possible moment. Her pursuers broke through the crowd and, praying that Flounder had enough sense to turn away, crouched down until she was completely hidden under the massive black suitcase. She didn't dare move from her cramped position until the footsteps faded completely.
Just as her neck was beginning to ache, she peeked over the top of the suitcase. Flounder was still mixed in with the yellow-clad group, though he scanned the corridor for Ariel. With a final glance in the direction the guards had run Ariel stood up, stretched, and made her way over to Flounder. He met her halfway and together they both huddled by a thick column set by a wall of frosted glass bricks.
"Are you ok?" she asked Flounder.
He nodded, though his eyes were still shifting from side to side, "Yeah. I'm ok."
No sooner had the two finished and taken a breath were they both seized from behind.
Ariel tried to screamed but a hand clapped over her mouth before she could. She tried to wrestle off the grip, but her captor was too strong. Beside her, Flounder was doing the same as they were pulled further behind the column. Ariel spun hard in a last attempt to fight. She caught sight of mismatched eyes and two lanky forms and glared.
"You!"
The eel, Ariel wasn't sure which nor did she care, glared back, "You're welcome."
Ariel's blood simmered under her skin, "'You're welcome'? Really? "You're the reason we're being chased in the first place!"
It was his twin that answered, "That's not how we recall it, princess." He shoved Flounder so hard the poor fish lost his footing. He would have fallen if Ariel had not caught him.
"I'm not the one who stole!" she spat at them.
"We're not the ones," one began, the one that had taken Flounder.
"Who were caught." Finished the other.
Ariel scoffed, "I wasn't- "
"Um, Ariel?" Flounder tugged on her sleeve. She turned to her friend and found that his skin had grown white. Her brow furrowed in concern and she leaned in closer, her anger and the eels forgotten.
"What's wrong?" she asked. Flounder merely pointed behind her. As one, Ariel and the henchmen turned to what Flounder had indicated. The sight made something cold spike in Ariel's chest. There was a guard stationed against the column. Only his arm and sleeve were visible around the curve of the pillar. His back was to them. She breathed out. The realization calmed her a little, until she heard a voice speak over the black box clipped to the guard's sleeve.
"We have a BOLO for four suspects in an attempted robbery. A female about 5'3", red hair, purple shirt, dark pants; young man, 5 foot, blue and yellow shirt, shorts; and two identical men, 5'9", dark hair and clothing, different colored eyes. Over."
The guard in front of them turned his head towards the box. Ariel shrank back. His other hand came up and pressed the box until it made a little sound. "Copy," he said into it, then went back to his previous position, his head turning slowly as he scanned the crowd.
They were still after them, Ariel realized. Even worse, the guard got his instructions from some form of magic. How many other guards were there? How fast would this information spread? What if they had already contacted every other guard in this place? Ariel wished more than anything for Eric, her father and the others to be with them. Unfortunately, they hadn't seen the rest of the Atlanticans since the guards chased them off in the first place.
She turned back to Flounder and the eels.
"We need to get out of here," she whispered. For once, all four found themselves in agreement.
The henchmen exchanged a look, then peeked around the column. Ariel drew Flounder closer and glanced back at the guard. He was still unaware that they were behind him. If they were careful… A hiss caught her attention. The henchmen beckoned her and Flounder closer. After a second's hesitation and a wicked sense of dejavu, Ariel leaned forward. The one directly in front of Ariel pegged her with a stare that oozed vitality. Whatever was about to happen, she thought, would be invaluable to their escape. She waited for him to say something.
He didn't. Instead, he brought his arms up and shoved her and Flounder to the ground. She hit the ground hard and cried out from the shock. The guard spun around at the sound of the impact.
"Hey!"
Ariel caught up to reality in time to grab Flounder and bolt just before the guard could catch them. The eels were long gone, but she could see them slipping through the crowd. Fuelled by anger and adrenaline, she ran after them. The guard gave chase, talking into the box on his shoulder all the while.
Those evil lvipers! She couldn't believe… no. She could believe it. They were Ursula's henchmen after all.
The yellow shirted group from earlier appeared before her. She pulled Flounder closer and shoved her way through them, ignoring their protests. Once she was clear, she peeked back and breathed a little easier when she saw the guard was struggling to catch up.
Maybe they'd get out of this after all.
She kept running, determined now to catch the traitorous henchmen. They were just ahead, still weaving around people and completely unaware of the angry red head that pursued them.
"Can you slow down?" Flounder asked, "I-I can't keep up!"
"We have to keep moving," She answered. If Flounder could outswim a shark, she figured, he could outrun a guard.
Another glimpse of the eels stoked the anger in Ariel. She moved even faster. Poor Flounder was stumbling over his new feet; she could feel him dip closer to the ground every so often. Still, she charged on until the henchmen were an arm's length away. Ariel shoved past a startled girl and grabbed a handful of the nearest henchman's shirt. He tugged against her grip but she refused to let him go until, at last, her turned and wrenched the fabric out of Ariel's fist. He stopped dead when he realized it was Ariel. His twin, as if sensing something, whirled around too.
There was a millisecond of victory for Ariel when she saw a flash of surprise cross their faces. Her victory didn't last long, because something else caught her eye over their shoulders.
Just ahead she saw two more guards heading for them. She did an about face and saw the guard from earlier gaining. She searched around for an escape but was only met with walls and people until… was that an opening? She did a double take to her right and almost cried.
Without a thought, she grabbed Flounder again and sprinted. She was vaguely aware of the eels following suit. Whatever, she thought. They weren't important. All she cared about was herself and Flounder. They cut through the opening into another passageway. Black signs and pictures on the wall flew by as all four ducked here and there. Ariel spared a look back at the guards and nearly tumbled down a flight of stairs. She froze only long enough to regain balance, then took the staircase two steps at a time. It was all she could do to keep Flounder from taking a dive. Soon they reached the bottom and were met with a devastating sight.
A fence stood in their way, which blocked them from a passage that reminded Ariel of the cave where they saw the monster.
They were trapped.
Or maybe not.
Ariel watched as the people around them pushed through bars in the openings of the silver metal fence. She sped forward and tried one. It was jammed. The others tried their luck but the silver bars held firm. When the fence didn't let them through, Flounder, Flotsam and Jetsam elected to look to her.
"What now?" Flounder said.
There were people giving her dirty looks in the crowd. What were they doing wrong? The sound of footsteps running down the stairs sent Ariel through the threshold of fear and straight into a panic. She examined the opening. The bar wouldn't let her walk through, but it wasn't high enough to keep her from jumping. A new sense of determination blossomed in her chest. Ariel took a few steps back and leapt forward. She cleared the bar. The others wasted no time in following her example. She turned back long enough to help Flounder, which was all it took for the guards to reach the bottom of the stairs.
Ariel didn't dare breathe a sigh of relief. Something told her the guards would know how to make the bars move.
"Come on!" She called as the familiar rumble of the metal monster filled the passage.
Her own blood turned to ice at the sound, but she couldn't afford to turn back. None of them could.
Ariel pushed Flounder forward, "Run!"
He did as he was told. Ariel went after him and the henchmen brought up the rear.
The metal monster was slowing down, she noticed, and as it did people moved towards it. Ariel couldn't help but glance over at the monster and realized it wasn't a monster at all. Doors along its side that she hadn't seen before slid open, allowing people to file in. Ariel's eyes lit up in recognition. It was like a carriage! She peeked into the compartment. It was absolutely packed with people all huddled together to make room. An idea struck.
"Through here," She ran into the carriage.
Ariel burrowed into the cramped car. She couldn't see much of the others. A quick glance of Flounder's shirt and a flash of one of the henchmen's eyes were the only things Ariel had to go by. The carriage lurched and she rammed into a well-dressed man.
"Ariel?" That was Flounder!
"Here!"
Somehow, Ariel managed to squeeze over to where he stood sandwiched between the eels.
"Where are we going?" Flounder asked.
Ariel opened her mouth to answer, "I…"
When her voice failed her, she simply shook her head. The carriage rumbled and shook. Out the windows, they saw nothing but darkness. A high shriek echoed in the cave outside. The lights flickered. One of the henchmen hissed and the other gripped his arm in response. Ariel ignored them. How could the people around them stand this? It was so cramped, too many bodies, too many sounds. The world constantly shifted. She couldn't breathe.
Another shriek came from the outside of the carriage and the darkness outside was replaced by a bright blur. They lost their footing as the carriage slowed to a stop, then yanked back from the momentum. One of the henchmen and Flounder fell backwards. Ariel bent over to help her friend, but the bodies around her began to move.
"Wait!" she cried.
What happened next, Ariel would remember in the following manner:
A tight squeeze.
Irritated strangers.
A push and a fall into empty space. She looked around at the streams of people exiting the carriage. Women and men and children and bags and shoes and more glowing boxes filled Ariel's vision, but she couldn't find the yellow shirt. Where was Flounder? Where was-
"Ariel!"
Ariel turned in time to see the doors of the carriage slide shut in the panicked face of her best friend. Beside him stood one of the henchmen, equally frightened, and staring out at his brother. Ariel took a step forward, but to her horror, the carriage jolted and sped its way down the passage and into a tunnel. She wanted to go after it- she would have gone after it- but a tug on her arm and the sight of guards further down the platform stopped her. They hadn't seen her yet, but they were listening intently to those boxes on their shoulders.
Ariel held back her tears as she faced the remaining henchman. She hated to admit it, but she caught a reflection of her own regret on his face.
Remembering the guards, they ran.