Triton's eyes grew wider each time he heard Melody's voice in his head say, "There's another sea witch." Eric felt ready to pass out and instantly knew why all of this had happened.

"This is all my fault…" he proclaimed, speaking so soft it was a miracle that Melody heard him.

"No dad, it isn't," she replied, shocked that her father would even think such a thing. "Now we need to get mom to tell you what the legend is before the bad stuff starts to go down."

Triton shook his head of all thoughts and then nodded in agreement with Melody. "Come along Eric. We'll go find Ariel." Before they had left the room, Triton turned around to face Melody again.

"Find Chase," he told her. "Tell him I sent for him."

Melody watched her relatives leave her in a fit of confusion. What did Chase have to do with anything?

She decided to ponder the thought later or maybe even ask Chase about it.

She smiled thoughtfully as his name rang through her mind. Finding him was going to give him and her some time alone, even with the unpleasant issues they were about to deal with…

After searching for what felt like hours, Melody finally decided to give up. Chase was nowhere to be found in the palace and any hope she had of finding him had diminished.

On the outside, she seemed perfectly calm, cool, and collected. On the inside however, she was dying to see him.

Sure she had told her father that they were nothing more than just friends and that wasn't necessarily a lie. They were friends, and nothing more. It was the "nothing more" part that bugged her.

Upset that she hadn't been able to find Chase, Melody snuck off to her mother's grotto. It had become her hiding place, a place where she went when she wanted to be alone.

She wondered if her grandfather would be upset that she was leaving the castle at a time like this, or if her mother would be displeased that she was using the grotto as her "alone" place.

Getting lost in her thoughts, Melody started to not pay attention and, when turning into the grotto, ran into somebody.

"I am so sorry!" she said and suddenly noticed it was Chase. Her cheeks turned bright red and she giggled. "Chase, hi! Uhm, how are you?"

Well that sounded dumb, she thought to herself, secretly wanting to beat her head against a wall.

"Melody, hey," Chase replied, happy that he had finally found who he had been looking for all day. "I'm great actually! I've been looking for you all day!"

"Well, that's ironic! I've been looking for you too!"

Both teenagers laughed uneasily, embarrassed and wondering what to say next.

"So, what are you doing here?" Melody finally asked, curious as to why Chase had come back to the cave.

"Oh, well, I uhm…" Chase stuttered to find the right words and finally, once he made eye contact with Melody, he said why he had truly come.

"I was hoping I would see you here." Melody felt her face flush again and her jaw fell open.

"Oh," she managed to utter. "Well, I, uhm, I'm glad I ran into you." Chase's face lit up a bit. "My grandfather is looking for you. It's an emergency."

Chase's grin faded and his face turned serious. "Melody, what's wrong?"

Melody sighed. "I think there's another sea witch. When I told grandfather and dad about it, grandfather told me to come get you."

Chase nodded and started to leave, knowing that when Triton called him, no time should be wasted.

Yet, the pained and confused look on Melody's face showed up in his mind every time he blinked. He needed to explain why it was that Triton needed him so he turned back.

When he got back to the grotto, he heard singing. A beautiful voice, not much unlike what he had heard from the daughter's of Triton.

"Oh, the waves roll low and the waves roll high and so it goes. Under the bright blue, endless sky…"

Melody trailed off, the sound of her late grandmother's song bouncing off of the walls around her and back into her ears. She felt tears well up in her eyes as she thought about the family member she never got to meet.

"Why are the tears coming now?" she thought out loud, upset that she had never cried over her grandmother before.

Chase slowly re-entered the grotto and saw Melody's back facing him. Her shoulders were shaking and she was allowing her bangs to fall into her face. He had heard her thought and had figured out a gentle but truthful reply to it.

"You're scared."

Melody jumped and turned to face Chase, surprised that he had come back. Quickly she fixed her bangs and wiped her eyes, hoping they weren't red. "W-what?"

Chase swam over to her and sat down next to her. "You're scared. We all are. I know I am. This whole legend coming true thing is scaring everyone. You just… You don't let down your guard often, if ever. Maybe singing the song put you over the edge, years of pain that you hid just coming to the surface now because we're in a time of crisis."

Melody stared at Chase, stunned at his words and how very true they were. She nodded, agreeing with him, and swallowed hard. "I-I guess you're right…"

Chase turned his gaze to her and smiled. "By the way, your singing is amazing. Even I got… What are those things your humans get? Bumps that look like a goose or something?"

Melody laughed at his explanation of goose bumps. "Goose bumps you mean?"

Chase grinned. "Yeah! Those!"

Melody chuckled again and brought her gaze to the floor. "Thanks for coming back…"

"Anytime. I was thinking on my way back about how I probably should explain to you why exactly your grandfather needs me."

Melody's grin faded and she looked at him again. "Yes, I really would like to know."

Chase frowned when he saw that Melody had and he sighed. "Well, you see, since King Triton had only daughters, he doesn't have a male heir to take over the throne. Not only that but none of the girls really want to take the throne and he didn't want one of his girls to have to deal with all of what he has dealt with over the years either.

"I happened to start working in the palace doing part time things such as being a waiter at dinners or doing things for the girls, your aunts. Basically, to sum up, your grandfather noticed how efficient I was and talked out some legal things with Sebastian."

Melody waited for Chase to finish but he said no more, not wanting to just blurt out what the king had planned for him. Just thinking about it made him nervous.

"Chase, I'm still confused. What legal things?"

"Melody… I'm next in line to take the throne."

Eric and Triton swam around the palace looking for Ariel and finally found her in her room. She was sitting in front of her mirror staring straight ahead, barely noticing that the two men had entered the room.

"Ariel," Triton said, getting her attention. "I have business to take care of. I know that you aren't really that up to it but you have to tell Eric. Now." With a stern look, the sea king left the room.

Eric went over and sat and on the bed, looking at Ariel's reflection in the glass. "Ariel, I have to know. Melody told us about your dream and hers. She thinks that you having this dream means there's another sea witch."

Ariel didn't respond or move. She didn't even seem to be breathing. Eric swam over and sat next to her. When she still didn't react, he grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around to face him.

"Damnit Ariel! You can't just keep acting like nothing is happening! The hell with the dream for now! I'm here and I'm safe! Melody is safe too! But if you want all of us to continue being safe, you're going to have to tell me what the hell this damn legend is!" With his final words, Eric shook her a bit, trying to get some sense into her.

Ariel's jaw dropped slightly in shock and she felt all of the muscles in her body tense. The pain on her shoulders seemed to be growing stronger from Eric's force and the look on his face was one that she hadn't seen before.

He had never yelled at her like this or treated her this way before. She couldn't tell what he was going to do next, hit her or let her go. She shook her head in disbelief and recoiled from his grasp, moving away. As she moved, she continued to shake her head.

Eric realized what he had done and began to panic. The anger left his face and remorse took its place. He sat up from the chair and moved over to Ariel. Upon seeing his movement, she backed away some more.

Eric sighed, knowing that trying to get anything out of her now or even apologizing was hopeless. Instead, he turned and swam over to the bed that he and Ariel had shared the night before.

"W-what!" Melody couldn't believe her ears. "B-but I thought Aunt Attina was supposed to take the throne." Images of her aunts played out in her head and she began to recall that none of them had ever gotten married or, if they had, they had chosen to turn down the throne. They all wanted to spend more time with their family rather than rule a country. Just like Chase had said.

Chase shook his head. "Nope, they all turned it down. Either way, Triton didn't want one of his daughters to deal with this. Had he had a son, he would have taken the job. But he didn't. Didn't I mention all of this before?" Chase swam up a ways, trying to clear his mind of taking the throne.

"Yes you did mention it I just… I'm shocked is all," Melody replied. Chase remained quiet and seemed to ignore Melody.

"But doesn't the person who's next in line need a princess? Or a queen?" Melody asked, looking up at him from the bottom.

Chase closed the book he had been looking at and put it back on the shelf. "Yeah, I thought the same…" He sunk back down to the bottom near Melody and laid his head in her lap.

"What does grandfather say?" she questioned, a blush creeping into her cheeks.

Chase shrugged. "Says I've gotta start meeting princesses soon. He's hoping that I'll like one of them."

Chase sighed inwardly. Meeting a princess wasn't really something he wanted to do. In all reality, he had found the only princess he thought he would ever need; the raven haired beauty that was looking down at him now.

"Oh," Melody whispered, hurt at his words. "I-I hope you if you do find someone that you're uhm, happy…"

Chase sat up and looked at Melody, one eyebrow cocked and a smile playing on his lips. "Melody, you don't get it, do you?"

She stared back at him, perplexed. "I don't understand what you're saying… I just said I hope that you're happy. I mean, ruling an entire country is going to be hard enough. Having to rule it with someone you don't really love or are miserable with, well, that just seems unbearable."

Melody's bangs then fell into her face and she tried to blow them out of her eyes, failing horribly. They seemed to like to fall the same way they did on land but fixing them underwater was a bit harder than on land.

Chase half-grinned and tucked her bangs behind her ear. "There," he said. "Better?"

Melody, too nervous to say another word, merely nodded and smiled a bit. "Thanks," she managed.

Silence fell over them as they both tried to think of something to say. Melody finally broke the quiet.

"What did you mean when you said that I don't get it?" she questioned, still curious towards what his statement had meant.

Chase laughed and put his arms around his tail, pulling it to him. "I meant that… You don't get it. I don't want to marry some princess from a place I've never heard of. I mean, I don't want to get married at all. Not anytime soon that is…"

Fear took over Chase's features and Melody was quick to notice.

"You don't want to rule anytime soon either, do you?"

Chase shook his head no, his stare not leaving the ground. Melody went over to him and patted his shoulder. He looked up at her touch and saw her grinning at him. He couldn't help but smile back.

"My grandfather picked you for a reason," she said, trying to calm the boy down. "I can promise you that. You're going to be a fantastic ruler and I want you to know that, if you would like, I could stay down here or come here more often. To help out."

Chase couldn't help himself anymore. Her words, even so few of them, had meant so much to him and he had to show her in some way the impact they had had on him.

He let go of his tail and kneeled like she was. Slowly, he moved his face a bit closer to hers, waiting to see what she would do.

She, in turn, looked down at the ground and bit her lip. Chase grinned a bit and grabbed her chin, pulling her gaze back to meet his.

"What I meant by 'You don't get it' is that I don't need to look anymore. I've already found the princess I need."

With those words, he closed the gap between them and pulled their lips together. Melody's eyes went wide in shock but soon she closed them and put her arms around his neck. She smiled a bit to herself and felt Chase smile back.

The kiss they shared was something that both had been waiting for a long, long time for.

Ariel had finally calmed down after an hour of flinching whenever Eric merely sighed. She had come to the realization that Eric had had the right to blow up on her. He was in a strange environment and had to worry about hurting her people, his family, or even himself. It wasn't fair for her to not help him because of the dream. In fact, it was selfish.

Silently she swam over to her husband's side. His lips were slightly parted as he slept and the lines of worry on his face weren't there. Indeed there seemed to be a slight smile lingering on his lips, like he was dreaming of something nice.

She grinned to herself and gently stroked his face. He did nothing but flinch a bit but she wanted to wake him up.

"What would I give to live where you are? What would I pay to stay here beside you? What would I do to see you smiling at me?"

Eric stirred and opened his eyes to see Ariel smiling at him and hear her singing. It was the song she had sung to him the day she had saved him. He grinned back at her tiredly and touched her hand that was still on his face.

"What would you do to see me smiling at you?" he asked playfully and she pinched his cheek a bit.

However, she frowned then and drew back her hand. "I would tell you the legend. I will tell you the legend."

Eric looked at her, shocked. He had figured he would just turn to Triton to hear the story or give up on hearing it at all. "Ariel, are you sure? I mean, I can always go to your father or get the gist of the story from Mel."

She nodded her head to say she was sure and lay down next to him. Instinctively he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him, enjoying feeling her warmth against his.

"It all started when my grandfather, Poseidon, was in power."

"Wait, hold the phone, your grandfather was Poseidon?" Eric shrieked, unable to accept the fact that the myths were true.

Ariel looked at him and smiled slyly. "Uhm, yes. Melody is learning about Greek mythology in school and even she knew that daddy's father was Poseidon. Now can I finish the story?"

"Alright, alright! Go on!"

"Of all people to interrupt… Anyways, when he was ruling, there was a newcomer who came along. No one knew where he was from but all were surprised by him. He had a white tail like no one had ever seen before. Atlantica was a colorful place but the man explained that where he came from, everyone had the bland white tail.

"Now, the man never explained where he had come from. He just sort of… appeared. And with him, he brought a series of events. First off, Poseidon became very unhappy around the time the new man fell in love with one of his daughter's. Eventually, he got used to the idea and the two were married. A couple of years down the line they had a child of their own."

Eric chuckled to himself. "Doesn't that sound oh too familiar?"

Ariel smiled into Eric's chest. "Yes, yes it does. After that, the dreaded ex ruler of the seas came to Atlantica. He claimed that it was he who should own the trident and rule the seas. To get what he wanted, he took the two things that mattered most to the newcomer: His wife and his daughter."

Eric's eyes widened at her words and he stopped breathing for a second. If this legend were to come true, was it possible that he might lose Ariel and Melody?

Ariel noticed Eric's reaction but continued with the story anyways. "Poseidon was not pleased with what was happening and soon called my father, Triton, and his other sons together. He wanted to take back the girls and get the kingdom back in order.

"However, the new member of the community was already about to take matters into his own hands. There was no way he was going to let this… this evil man or creature take his wife and child. He set out on his own to get them back. Poseidon and his sons caught up with him and together fought the feared monster, taking back the trident and rule of Atlantica.

"Yet, in the battle, my grandfather was lost. Daddy was the only son of the sea and took the throne. The white tailed man also lost his wife and child for the creature had…" Ariel gulped. "He had fed them to his minions. Afterwards, he begged for death from daddy and was granted his wish.

"After the battle, a voice was heard from the skies. Some believe it was Zeus or even Cronus himself. All they know is that he said one thing:

"'This atrocity is not the first time this will happen nor is it the last. The white tailed merman from an unknown land will come back again and these same events will take place. All beware!'"

A/N: Okay, so, I edited the story. Went through and checked stuff and changed Melody and Chase's ages. They were originally thirteen and fourteen. Now Melody is eighteen and Chase is nineteen. As for the outburst thing with Eric... I wanted to show his frustration because of being denied knowing what the legend was for so long. I wanted to show it through a way no one ever really expected. Plus, things aren't gonna be Disney like in the story. R&R!