Chapter 7

As David and Neal finally arrive on the beach, Neal again got the feeling of being followed and this time he couldn't help but tell David.

"I don't want to alarm you too much, but I think we're being followed!"

David then stops and looks at Neal with curious eyes. He then looked around trying to find someone but he didn't see anyone at first.

"Who's there? Come out wherever you are!" Yelled David.

Neal just looked at David as if he was delusional, for a few seconds, wondering why in the hell he just yelled out to whoever may be following them knowing it could be anyone. Whoever was out there could be dangerous. Yet; he didn't say a word. He just stood still and watched for any sign of someone in the woods.

After a few seconds, David yelled out again.

"I know you're there, so you might as well just come out and show yourself!"

After a few seconds, a woman came out of the bushes near by. She had red hair and was wearing a weird looking mermaid type of clothing skirt with a bra, the kind that mermaids would normally only wear.

"Ariel!" said David as he then smiled and started to walk up to greet Ariel, although she put up her hand to stop David from coming any closer. David wasn't sure why, but he immediately stopped and looked at Ariel dead in the face trying to read her. Ariel had always been friendly to him, so he couldn't understand why she was acting like this.

Ariel then put her finger up to her mouth, forming a sign to tell David and Neal not to talk. She then gestured with her hands to suggest both men follow her. Neal was obviously very hesitant and didn't want to go. Yet, David just followed right along Ariel and Neal shortly followed behind David. Neal wasn't going to be on the island alone. Again.

As they walked, they realized they were walking more towards the ocean than anywhere else and that made Neal even more panicky, but David knew that Ariel wouldn't hurt them. She was acting strange for sure, but he knew deep down that Ariel was trustworthy and wouldn't do any harm to them.

Once they got to the tip of the beach where the water was almost touching their feet, they could hear waves clash upon the water very loudly and the smell of the sea was strong.

"Why are we here?" asked David.

Ariel didn't reply back. She then got out the notebook she had stashed in her purse, which she had around her all the time, as well as a pen and started writing. After a few moments, she turned the notebook around for Neal and David to read.

"Pan cannot hear you over the waves clashing too loudly. That is why you are here. I remember who you are. You are Snow's husband. I am writing my replies to you because the Evil Queen took away my voice when I helped Snow escape from her one time. I am now mute."

David then shook his head in understanding but wasn't sure exactly how to ask Ariel to do this task to help Regina, knowing she's the one who made her mute. If he were in Ariel's place, he probably would be hesitant to help them too. Especially if helping them would benefit the person who stripped her from her voice. Yet, he knew he had no choice but to try. Although Neal still didn't believe this mermaid was going to actually help. He had his doubts for sure.

"If you're a mermaid, how do you have legs and how do you know how to read and write? Mermaids I've met in the past don't have compassion, nor know how to read and write!" asked Neal.

Ariel looked at Neal for a few seconds trying to read his thoughts before she began scribbling on the paper of the notebook again. Once she was done, she turned the notebook around for them to read.

"I got legs from the bracelet around my wrist. The Evil Queen enchanted it so I can walk on land if the bracelet is around my wrist. If I take it off, my tail would reappear. I'm surprised she never took it back once she made me mute after I helped Snow. But either way, I leave it on most of the time now and travel this island. I met up with a few lost boys once and they taught me how to read and write. I was on Pan's side then, thinking he was good for letting his lost boys teach me to read and write. Once I realized he was evil, I escaped from his camp and have been hiding out here near the beach. I fear Pan knows and is letting me be here alone. I have no one here. I lost my love when I helped Snow. I lost everything."

After David and Neal read that, Neal finally started to believe that Ariel wasn't like the other mermaids he had encountered before. This one was different. Way different. She had compassion, an emotion that he's never seen before with this type of creature. It made him have a little hope that maybe, just maybe she would help them out.

David then shook his head and tried to gather his thoughts. He didn't know where to start off, but he knew he had to start somewhere.

"Snow is back in this land called Storybrooke, with our daughter Emma. She's the Savior! I was wondering if you would help us get a message to her? I know you can travel between realms. Please? Help us? It's very important that we communicate with her as soon as possible."

Ariel thought about it for a few seconds before replying with another message. This time it didn't take her as long to write the message down in the notebook.

"I've heard of the Savior. Everyone here has. I know all about what the curse did and how the Savior broke it. I just never knew it was the daughter of you and Snow. What a small world!"

David then smiled a little bit. Knowing that his daughter's reputation made it across realms really made him even more proud to be her father. But after a few seconds, the smile faded and realization started kicking in. He began to think Ariel might not help them if she knew about Regina. But he still couldn't lie. He had to tell her the truth, regardless of the risk this implied. She needed to know. Especially since Regina being held hostage was part of the message Emma needed to hear.

After about a minute of trying to gather his thoughts, David finally replied back to Ariel and looked her dead in the eyes trying to be as nice as he could be.

"Will you please help us get a message to my daughter Emma in Storybrooke? I need you to tell her that it's not just her son Henry who's been captured. Regina has been captured too and we need her help to save both. She was shot and was left unconscious in the hospital when me; Neal and Regina traveled here with a magic bean to try to save Regina and Emma's son Henry who had been captured."

Ariel's eyes now widened. The thought of Regina being captured didn't seem to alarm her. But the thought of David wanting to save Regina did. She couldn't understand why someone who fought the Evil Queen herself now wanted to save her.

It took a moment before Ariel started scribbling on the notebook again and this time her hand movements seemed more mad. Once she was done, she turned the notebook around for them to read.

"I understand you want to know if your daughter is okay, but why in the hell would you want me to help get a message to your daughter about the Evil Queen being captured? What does she have to do with any of this? You said Emma and Regina's son? How is that even possible? I'm so confused."

David then looked down to the ground for a few seconds before looking back up at Ariel. He glanced to Neal with a look telling him that he could jump in and help him tell Ariel everything before looking back at her again.

David then started to tell Ariel everything that had happened. How Emma had a son before she knew she was the Savior; how Regina ended up adopting that particular son and how that particular son was who found Emma and brought her to Storybrooke in the first place. He told her how Emma broke the curse. What Henry did to get Emma to believe the curse was real and how after the curse broke over a year ago, Emma and Regina spent a year learning how to be civil and cordial; a family for Henry. David explained how Regina loved Henry with her whole heart and he's what is helping her be good and redeem herself. It took a good 15 minutes of David talking before Neal finally jumped in and started to tell Ariel about how he was Henry's true father and how they got in the situation they are in now in the first place.

Ariel at first didn't seem convinced about Regina trying to be good. She thought that the Evil Queen might be trying to trick them in some way. All of them. But for the sake of the boy, Henry, Ariel agreed to go to Storybrooke and get the message to the Savior.

As Ariel said her goodbyes to David and Neal, she doubled checked one last time for the name of the town.

"Storybrooke? Right?"

"Yes that's right and thank you! You don't know how much I appreciate this! I'll always be in debt with you for this favor." said David.

Ariel then shook her head and smiled before going into the water and taking the bracelet off her wrist for her tail to appear. As soon as the transformation was complete she swam off to the unknown shore she's never been before: Storybrooke.