Aquatic Kingdom Hearts
Chapter 5: Ocean-Crossed Lovers; Under the Sea
The Next Morning
Port Royal
Thatch Household
In Eric's room, he was still in a comfortable sleep as the sun began to rise up. The sun's light peered through the window, and ran along near Eric's bed. It reached his face, causing a little irritation to him as he turned to the other side. As he was dozing, trying to get some sense of going back to sleep. However, those attempts had ceased at all once the alarm went off; Eric groaned, trying to find some sense of going to sleep again. It was then that he had had it, and just shot up. He looked at the camera with a half sleep stare, and his right hand was raised above the clock.
After a few seconds of hesitation, he slammed his fist on the OFF button, as he groaned, "You're a real party pooper." He then threw the blankets off of him to the side, got up from his bed and stretched. He groaned a little as he told only himself, "And I had been having such a nice dream too…"
All he was wearing for pajamas was a pair of black sweatpants and a white T-shirt. He scratched the back of his head as he looked around; he remembered the ordeal he had the night after, concerning the strange half-fish pirate creature that attacked him… and the girl that had saved his life twice now, which he had finally gotten a name from…Ariel.
He still couldn't believe that he had found her again…or rather she found him. True last night wasn't exactly the best due to the pirate attack, but meeting his mystery girl again had been the greatest. He had gotten to know her name, and they had spent a little, but longer to them, time to talk to one another. And then when they parted their separate ways…she kissed him.
"Wait!", Eric thought to himself out loud as he rummaged his closet for his daily wear this weekend, "Did she kiss me, or did I kiss her?" He shook it off as he found what he was going to wear. He smiled at the memory of the kiss, "Ah, it doesn't matter; a kiss is a kiss..", he still smiled at that moment; the kiss that he shared with Ariel was his first, and probably hers too. Just remembering it made him blush and smile at this.
But then he shook it off as he got ready for the day. Downstairs, Milo was sitting at the breakfast table, reading his newspaper on the current events in the world. The headlines read that last night, a mysterious storm had come in and claimed another boat; the high school bus yacht that his nephew had been on. Fortunately, he and everyone else had gotten off before it disappeared. He had been worried sick when he saw his nephew soaking wet, but what he couldn't get was the strange smirk on his face. He reached for his coffee mug and sipped a little, as she looked at the paper in thought, 'I don't know what happened, but Eric's been a little happier lately.'
It was then that thinking about his nephew, Eric came down the stairs and walked in. He went to the fridge, and got out an apple. But during that time, he was humming a strange tune; one that Milo never heard of. He looked at his nephew a little concerned about how he was acting, and asked, "Uh, you okay, Eric?"
Eric merely looked at his uncle Milo with a raised eyebrow, still smiling, answered, "Yep. I couldn't be any better acutally."
Milo raised an eyebrow, as did Max as he stopped eating out of his bowl. The two looked at each other with a raised eyebrow for the boy, and turned back their attention to Eric. He was getting ready to leave for the beach this day, seeing it was a Saturday, and go surfing with Frey, whom seemed pretty eager as well. Milo then asked, "Is there something you want to tell me?"
Eric shrugged as he answered, "Nah, nothing yet."
Milo raised an eyebrow as he asked, "A new girl in town, mabye?"
Eric smirked as he took a bite out of his apple, "Something like that."
Milo smirked at this as he asked, "Really? She must be something if she's got you this chipper. What's she like? What's her name?"
Eric finished his apple as he simply answered, "Ariel. And that's all you get for now." He then grabbed his bookbag that had his wet suit and spare clothing. He headed for the front door as he looked back to his Uncle and dog and smiled, "Well, I'll catch you guys later." And with that, he was out the door, still humming that strange tune.
Milo looked back at Max, but then went back to eating his food. Milo just shrugged as he smirked and went back to his paper, chuckling, "Boys. It's that time in their life when all they think about is girls; what with teenage hormones at work."
Atlantica Castle
All was fine as morning broke early, as the sun's rays reached and illuminted the water floor. The castle lit up as the sun reflected off it's golden surface. All was quiet as everything went into waking itself up, as was at the Princess' tower. The tower looked like an underwater version of the Space Needle in Seattle, but made of stone and coral. Inside, the six daughters of Triton were preparing for the day, save for one other.
The sisters were sitting at a vanity mirror with seven seats and all made of coral reefs and shells. The mirrors were constructed of a reflective bubble instead of glass. The make-up of which was anything on the seabed that was useable; from living sea-plant life to the remains of creatures that had past away. The girls were still cleaning themselves up for the day, except for their youngest sister.
The one with the magenta colored tail and fins, Andrina, swam over to where Ariel's room was. A little concerned for her sister's absence, she called out to her, "Ariel, dear. It's time to come out." When she didn't get a response, she put her hands to her hips and spoke like a big sister would when she got worried, "Ariel! You've been in there all morning!"
And finally, Ariel swam out, but to her sisters, she looked quite different. She was smiling; not the kind of smile you'd see when someone thought something was funny, but with someone who was happy about something. And the oddest thing was, she was humming her song in a lovey-dovey way. Aquata raised an eyebrow as she watched Ariel try to fix up her hair, and asked her, "Is something wrong, Ariel?"
Ariel stopped for a moment, and turned towards her sister. She was still smiling as she answered, "No, nothing's wrong, Aquata." She then turned her attention back to the mirror as she looked at her hair, holding it up or letting it down. She then asked, "Aquata…do you think my hair looks good up or down?"
Aquata raised an eyebrow at that question, but then just answered, "Um, down, I guess."
Ariel smiled at that as she looked back in the mirror, 'Yeah, I'm pretty sure Eric would prefer that too.' However, she felt that she needed to add something else. She looked around and saw a pair of pink water flowers, and got an idea. She took one and placed it in her hair, then looked at the mirror to see how it looked. She smiled, seeing it made her look a little prettier as she smiled, 'Great! It looks perfect.' And with that, she swam off to the doorway, humming her song in bliss.
However, she bumped into something before she could go out…or someone. She looked up and saw it was her father, and she merely smiled, "Oh, morning, Daddy." And placed the second flower in his hair.
A little surprised by his daughter's cheerfulness, Triton merely chuckled; "Well…" he then turned to see Ariel swim out the room and down the hallway. His other daughters swam over to see their youngest sister swim away. As they saw Ariel left, they saw her humming out her song to herself, and dancing in her swimming as she left out of sight. In short, her whole family saw that she was on Bubble Nine.
Aquata, being the oldest, seemed to figure it out pretty fast. She smirked at her youngest sister's happiness as she folded her arms, "Yep, its official. She's got it…very badly."
Now Triton may have been the Sea King, but he was still a father. And as such, he was completely clueless as to what his daughters were talking about. He looked to Aquata and asked confused, "What? What does she got?"
Andrina, being the second oldest, understood, and felt envious of her sister. She sighed as she thought about who it was that had stolen her youngest sister's heart and answered, "Isn't it obvious, Daddy? Our little Ariel's in love."
Triton looked surprised by that, as he took the flower that Ariel had put in his hair. He asked himself to confirm it as he looked at the flower and smiled, "Ariel? In love?"
Later On
Back at Port Royal
Port Royal Cove Beach
Eric was in his wet suit, and lying on his board with a stylized surfer logo on it in the middle of the ocean. He had been staring up at the sky, with his arms behind his head and smiling the whole time. He was supposed to go surfing as he was out and about, but his head just wasn't in the game. All he could think about for that moment on, was Ariel and the night that they had. He even smirked as he remembered that he would see her again tonight.
However, he was taken out of his dreamworld when he was splashed in the face with cold water. He shot right up, shouting, "AAAHHH! Alright, who did that?" he then heard a satisfied laugh coming from his side and he saw Frey, sitting on his board as well. Eric sighed in exhaustion as his shoulders slumped, "Did you have to do that? I was happy staring up at the sky."
Frey looked at his friend with much concern as he stated, "I'm just worried about you is all." He had figured that the pirate thing was what had gotten all weirded out, but now he knew it was something else. He hten pointed out, "Ever since our near death experience, which we have kept to ourselves which could add years of therapy to either one of us, you've been acting like you've been on Cloud Nine.", he had pointed out, and then decided to add a little humor to it, "You know that Cloud Nine's still in the experimental stages for ya. Try Cloud Eight or Seven; they're a bit more stable for you."
He then noticed that Eric went back to his dreamy gaze look as he muttered, "Yeah, sure…Clouds Eight or Seven…sounds pretty good."
Frey raised a still-concerned eyebrow as he then muttered, "You know, I heard that Santa Claus barbecued his reindeer and claimed that when he ate one of them, it tastes just like chicken." He turned and saw no reaction from Eric whatsoever, so he finally shouted, "Are you even listening?"
Eric finally snapped out of it as he asked Frey, "What? Um, you said something about Santa Claus…barbecueing Blizten."
Frey shook his head as he stated, "Dude! What is with you? Ever since yesterday night, you've been acting like you have a girlfriend." He then noticed Eric thinking about that, but then he went on, "And I keep asking you on how we got out of that mess, and you still claim that a mystery girl saved our lives."
Eric smirked at that as he stated, "That's because she did, Frey."
Then Frey asked, "Okay, if she does exist, what'd she like?"
Eric sighed at picturing Ariel in his head; for some odd reason he couldn't stop but think about her when she wasn't here. He fell back on his back on the board, and sighed as he described Ariel in detail, "Two centimeters shorter than me…long flowing red hair….fit figure, great skin….dazzling Aqua Blue eyes….and was wearing a seashell bikini…"
Frey seemed to pirk up at that last part, "I like the sound of her already."
Eric glared at him for a second, but then went back to her description, "She has the most beautiful singing voice, she likes to explore and learn about new stuff, she loves to swim…and she has this tomboyish, headstrong attitude that you can pick up off her. And to her, the whole shore seems so new to her, the stuff we take for granted, she would want to do it with so much excitement and enthusiasm in her heart.", Eric sighed as he finished his description, while trying to be careful not to blow her secret, "You know…like a mermaid."
Frey looked at his friend with a surprised look on his face. He had seen and dated most of the girls in the high school, but he never had heard any girl that matched that description. This girl was completely new to him, seeing as how she sounded like something out of a dream. But the way Eric described her, it almost sounded like it was too good to be a dream for the guy. He even smirked at the fact that Eric had completley fallen for this girl just out of the blue. He thought as he smirked at his friend, 'She sounds like a girl you only read about in stories or watch on animes…' he then had one finally question to ask Eric, "Hmmm, well this, uh….mermaid…she got a name?"
Eric smiled as he sat back up, and gazed out to the ocean, "Yeah…Ariel."
Back in the Sea
Sebastian was pasing back and forth, in deep thought and panicked worry. He had seen what Ariel did last night; talk to a human and then fraternized with him by kissing him…on the lips. This only seemed to make him panic even more, but he shook off his worry, and talked to himself to confirm his suspicions, "Okay. So far, so good. I don't think the Sea King suspects anything." In truth, when he saw the king this monring, all he saw was the king being happy for his daughter finally falling in love. And that caused Sebastian to panic again as he groaned to himself, "But it will not be easy keeping something like this a secret for long."
Not too far from Sebastian, Ariel was sitting on top of a rock covered in underwater flowers. She was too wound up in nothing but thinking about Eric. She was sure that what she felt for him now after that kiss from last night was love. So she confirmed it the old fashion way: counting flower pedals. She pulled one after the other, always chanting, "He loves me…", she pulled the next one, and frowned, "…he loves me not…", and when she finally got to the last pedal, she was completely estatic as she lit up, "He loves me!", she held the pedal close to her heart as she giggled like a schoolgirl in love would, "I knew it!"
Sebastian, sighed at this foolishness, as he swam up to her. He had to get her ot understand the seriousness of this situation; she was a mermaid and the boy was a human. It would be difficult for either one of them to be with the other. Sebastian then stated in a serious tone, "Ariel! Will you stop acting crazy."
However, she didn't listen to him as she shot up, still smiling, "I've got to see him again…tonight." She then scoffed herself as she playfully bonked the side of her head iwht her hand, "Well, of course I'm going to see him again tonight. We promised we would yesterday."
She swam up, but then thought about something out loud, "Wait! I should get him something, like he gave me my necklace…", she stopped for a moment to loook at the necklace that Eric had returned to her. It was the last heirloom that her mother had given to her when she was very young. It was the last thing that reminded her of her mother. She held it close to her and cherished it, 'I thought I lost it forever…but Eric kept it safe for me all this time.' She smiled even mor warmly at remembering that Eric held on to it for her, and returned it to her. She thought about it and remembered back at the beach, that boy with the cap on his head had called Eric 'Thatch'. It was then that she realized that Thatch might have been his other name. she lit up immediately as she remembered, "The Photo Album! That's it! I can give that back to him."
Sebastian groaned as he mubled to himslef, "I might as well be talking to living kelp while I'm at it." He then saw Ariel swim for the East/West Current, but clamped on to her fin as he tried to talk some sense into the girl, "Ariel! Will you get your head out of the clouds and back in the water, where it belongs?"
Ignoring Sebastian, Ariel planned the whole thing out, "I'll just swim over to my collection cavern. Then I'll get the album, and meet him back at where we said we would…"
"Down here is your home!", Sebastian stated, causing Ariel to stop and turn her attention ot the crab. Sebastian sighed as he explained, "Ariel, listen to reason. You've only met the boy for one night, and already think you can be the best of friends…"
"Because he is my friend, Sebastian.", Ariel defended. She crossed her arms as she stated, "Look, I know you think Eric's some kind of barbaric fish-eater like my father says about all humans…."
"Because he is like all humans….", Sebastian protested.
"No, he isn't…", Ariel continuingly defended, "I don't know about all the humans, but I saw on that boat last night, they're not barbaric fish-eating monsters." She then went on about Eric as she said, "Eric's proof about it. He's different from what my fatehr said aobut them; he's kind, gentle, and he would never do anything to hurt me.", and then she started to swim for the direction of the current, "And I'm going to see him again tonight."
Sebastian sighed as he swam after her, and got in front of her, stopping her in her swimming tracks. He then stated, "Ariel, listen to me. The human world…it's a mess.", he then swam forward, causing Ariel to back up and sit down on one fo the rocks as he explained, "Life under the sea…is better than anything they got up there."
He then looked all around him as he looked back to Ariel and sang out, "The sea weed is always greener, in somebody else's lake…", he then looked to Ariel, as she looked upward. He swam over to her, got her attention as he pointed up, "You dream about going up there, But that is a big mistake…" he then looked all around and saw fish, bottom dwellers, and other sea creatures pop up, with musical instruemnts in toll, "Just look at the world around you…Right here on the ocean floor…Such wonderful things around you…What more is you lookin' for?"
Under the sea,
Under the sea,
Darling it's better, down here it's wetter,
Take it from me…
Up on the shore they work all day, Out in the sun they slave away…
While we devoting, full time to floating…Under the sea…
Then Sebastian swam over to a blue lobster, who was playing on a couple of clams that sounded like a bunch of steel drums. The two then got into a duet as they smiled,
Down here all the fish is happy,
As off through they waves they roll, yeah
But then they frowned as they pointed to a fish in a bubble,
The fish, on the land, aint happy,
They sad 'cause they in the bowl
Ariel raised a confused eyebrow as she looked at the fish as Sebastian continued, "But fish in the bowl is lucky…They in for a worser fate…" Sebastian then swam up to the bubble and popped it, "One day when the boss is hungry…"
The fish then landed on a coral plant that looked like a plate tray as he sung in a deep bass monotoned voice, "Guess who's gonna be on the plate." And then Sebastian went on,
Oh no! Under the sea
Under the sea
"Nobody beat us, fry us and eat us in fricassee…"he then took a few hooks, put them in a clam, and they shot out like a cannon ball, "We what the lands folks love to cook…Under the sea we off the hook…" he then joined up with a group of sea slug as he sang out, "We got no troubles, Life is the bubbles…Under the Sea"
The slugs sang out in chorus with Sebastian, "Under the sea…"
Under the Sea/Under the Sea
Since life is sweet here, we got it beat here
Narually/Narurally
Then a yellow Sturgeon and a grey Manta Ray swam up next to each other. Feeling the beat, they grabbed an instrument and played along with the song, as Sebastian claimed,
Even the sturgeon and the ray,
They get the urge and start to play,
We got the spirit, you've got to hear it, Under the sea
Then Sebastian pointed around as he characterized every creature with an instrument,
The newt plays the flute,
The carp plays the harp,
The plaice play the bass, and they soundin' sharp
The bass play the brass,
The chub plays the tub,
The fluke is the duke of soul, and a Fluke that held a coral encrusted saxephone smirked, "Yeah."
The ray, he can play,
The ling's on the strings,
The trout's rocking out,
The blackfish, she sings,
The smelt and the sprat, they know where it's at…
And, oh, that blowfish blow!
During the musical and party dance number, Flounder came swimming in. he looked around, pretty confused and wodered, "What's with the party?" he swam around, trying to find someone in particular, when all of a sudden, he had spotted who he was looking for. He saw Ariel sitting on a rock, not liking the party much. So he swam up to her, whispering, "Ariel, over here."
Ariel turned her attention towards him, and smiled, "Flounder, what are you doing here?" the little yellow/blue fish swam over to her, and whispered something in her ear. As soon as he uttered the words, Ariel's face lit up with an even greater smile as she turned towards Flounder, "A surprise? Where?"
Flounder smirked, "Follow me. You're gonna love it.", and with that, the two took off when no one was looking. No one noticed as they continued with their little musical party number, as Sebastian led the grande finale,
YEAH! Under the sea/Under the sea
Under the sea/Under the sea
When the sardine, begin the beguine,
It's music to me/Music it is to me
What do they got? A lot of sand,
We got a hot crustacean band!
Each little clam here know how to jam here, under the sea!
Each little slug here cutting a rug here, under the sea!
Each little snail here knows how to wail here,
That's why it's hotter under the water,
Yeah, we in luck here,
Down in the muck here,
UNDER THE SEA……………………………….!
And with the big finish, they all turned to Ariel, awaiting her reaction. But all they found, was an empty spot with no one there. Sebastian asked, knowing no one was there, "Ariel?", and with that, everyone began to swim away, grumbling that number was all for nothing. Sebastian sighed in exhaustion as he saw that Ariel had flown the coop. All alone, he muttered with his head hanging low, "Somebody's gotta nail that girl's fins ta da floor."
"Sebastian!", a familiar chipmunk voice called out, catching Sebastian's attention. It was the seahorse council member, swimming around, nearly running out of breath, and saw Sebastian. He swam over to him as he stated, "Sebastian, I've been looking all over for you. I have an urgent message from the Sea King."
Sebastian raised an eyebrow as he asked, "The Sea King?"
The seahorse nodded as he gave him the message, "He wants to see you right away. It had something to do about Ariel." And with that he swam back to the palace.
As the Seahorse council member swam away, Sebastian gasped in terror, and whispered in dread, "He knows."
Back at the Castle
King Triton was sitting down at his throne, with his Trident at his right side. However, he was too focused ont eh flower in his left hand as he twirled it around. He was just too happy seeing his youngest daughter finally finding true love. He chuckled to himself, "Hey, let's see now. On, who could the lucky merman be?" however, his eyes caught something else as he saw Sebastian, hiding behind one of the main door's pillars, looking pretty nerouvs at the moment. Triton stopped what he was doing, hid the flower, and cleared his throat, "Come in, Sebastian."
But before he did, Sebastian told himself, "I mustn't overreact. I must remain…calm." He then scuttled over to Triton, with a calm and cool demeanor, but when he got to Triton, that disappeared. "YES!", he spoke in a high squeaky voice, but then cleared it up as he asked in his normal voice, "Yes, your majesty?"
Raising an eyebrow at that scene, Triton shook it off as he went straight to business, "Sebastian. Lately I've been a little concerned about Ariel's behavior today.", he then asked, "Have you noticed anything about her that's a little peculiar lately?"
Sebastian raised an eyebrow and pretended like he didn't know, but getting a little hot under the shell collar, "Peculiar? Like what, your majesty?"
Triton explained, "Well, you know: mooning about, daydreaming, singing and dancing to herself as if she was in love…", he looked to Sebastian with a supicious raised eyebrow as he asked, "You mean you haven't noticed it lately?"
Sebastian shrugged as he looked the other way, "Well…I didn't notice anything aobut…"
"Sebastian?", Triton asked, catchign the nervous crab's attention as he signaled him to have a seat next to him. As Sebastian swam up, Triton let the cat out of the bag, "I know you've been keeping something from me…."
Sebastian nervously chuckled as he sat on the throne's arm-rest and gulped, "Keeping something?"
Triton pushed it further, "About Ariel?"
Sebastian smiled nervously until he heard a rattling. He looked down and saw his legs, shaking with fear. He stopped them as his nervous smile came back as he looked to Triton, and asked, "A-A-Ariel?"
Triton leaned in as he smirked, getting somewhere, "In Love?"
Finally, it caved in as Sebastian couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed on to the King's beard as he sang his 'bird song' out, " I TRIED TO STOP HER. SIR! SHE WOULDN'T LISTEN! FIRST IT WAS THE COLLECTION, THEN THE YACHT, AND THEN DAVY JONES AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN! AND THEN THERE WAS THE ANCHOR, AND THE MOONLIT TALK, AND THEN FINALLY THE KISS! THE KISS! I TOLD HER TO STAY AWAY FROM HUMANS! THEY ARE BAD, THEY ARE TROUBLE, THEY ARE…"
But Sebastian's rant was cut off, as a shocked Triton shot up from his throne and asked, "Humans?" and then he grabbed his trident as it lit up, and then he shouted with anger at Sebastian, "WHAT ABOUT HUMANS?"
Sebastian regained his bearings as he calmed down, but looked at the miffed off Triton as he realized he spilled the beans. He nervously chuckled as he started to swim away, nervously chuckling, "Humans? Hehehe! Who said anything about humans?" and then he yelped as Triton grabbed him and was forced to tell the Sea King everything that had transpired last night with his youngest daughter.
Next Chapter: Poor Unfortunate Souls; An Unfair Deal