Ariel's tail was beginning to feel like there was an anchor weighed to it and she didn't really have any idea where she was headed. She fought the urge to stop and rest by picturing Melody and Eric in her head, knowing that they were in an extremely dangerous and dire situation. Her finding Chase was all she could do at the moment as she was unsure of anything else that could possibly help the situation.

With another kick, Ariel groaned inwardly. I knew I should have come down here to swim more often… I'm so out of shape! The thought brought an image of a giggling Melody to her head, laughing at her mother for not being able to keep up with her. Ariel smiled half heartedly, hoping that she may be able to hear the laugh again, if even once more.

In the distance, a bright, pulsating light was headed her way. She squint her eyes to try to make out what it was in the now dim lighted waters. There was absolutely no mistaking what the light was from, but didn't she just leave where that light was?

"Princess Ariel!" The voice was familiar, and then the face, but the fact that the person before her was holding a trident that was an exact replica of her father's made no sense to Ariel. She eyed the trident and Chase for a while before pointing to her throat and doing a chopping motion, indicating she had lost all ability to speak. Chase nodded and swallowed hard. Yes, he wanted to fight. Neptune only knew how he wanted to fight, but the fear was also undeniable.

I'm going to die… Melody… If she could hear his voice, he could hear hers, though he had no clue why. Nevertheless, the voice was panicked, and Chase felt a sense of panic grow inside of him as well.

"Lead the way…" Chase said, and soon was swimming alongside Ariel.

Cerberus was strong, stronger than Triton remembered either of his sisters being. His potions, though old, still had powers in them that even the trident couldn't match. Triton had tried to break the bottles, but smashing open one had proved to do no good. The explosion had caused a hole to be blown in the ceiling and more rocks had caved in.

However, the explosion had gotten Eric thinking. If he could grab one of those potions and throw it at the wall separating him and his daughter, perhaps it could open the barrier and he could get inside in enough time to save Melody. With Triton and Cerberus throwing heavy blasts back and forth at one another, Eric used the bottom of the cavern to his advantage, avoiding their higher aimed attack methods in order to finally reach a bottle. It was dusty, something that shocked Eric considering it was always around water. He grabbed the potion and swam quickly to where Melody was. He raised his arm and threw the bottle, the time between the letting go of the glass and contact with the wall seeming to go in slow motion.

Triton and Cerberus both saw the bottle Eric had chosen, and simultaneously cried out, "No!" The potion was the most powerful of the sea, even more powerful than Triton and Chase's tridents put together, or Ursula, Morgana, and Cerberus's powers put together. It had been created by Zeus and left in the hands of his not-so-trustworthy sons. Cerberus had never understood how his family had come across it, but he knew that it needed to be kept safe, for if it wasn't, the chances of anyone living were slim to none.

Triton knew it was too late. He grabbed Eric underneath his arms and began to drag him away from the scene, while Cerberus rushed forward, trying with all his might to stop the bottle from colliding with the wall of rock. But he was too late; far too late. As Eric fought Triton, trying to get back to Melody, the potion collided with the wall, causing an explosion worthy of some type of award. Triton and Eric were blasted from the scene, shrapnel hitting them both and the sight being so blinding that it nearly knocked both of them out.

"Melody!" was all Eric managed to scream before hearing the horrified and brutal shrieks of Cerberus as the explosion followed through to him. It was as if everything happening wasn't real; the cavern was gone, and now Cerberus was too, the pieces of him that still remained floating down slowly to the depths of the ocean, making Eric slightly nauseous. As the smoke cleared, Eric saw that the area where the bottle had hit had left a hole big enough for anyone to swim through, but his thoughts told him to turn away. There was absolutely no way his daughter had survived that, and it was his fault…

As Eric turned to Triton, he saw nothing but a red trail following the heavily bearded man. Eric swam down hurriedly and grabbed Triton, laying him down softly on a rock. The shrapnel had hurt him badly, causing multiple wounds to appear on his skin, the heaviest being a piece of glass stuck in the king's stomach. Eric prayed that this wasn't it; that this wasn't how the legend that he was fighting so hard to stop was going to end.

"Don't worry, sir, you'll be fine…" Eric slowly extracted the large piece of glass, immediately putting his hand over the wound to create a pressure. The only thing he knew to use as a bandage was seaweed, but he couldn't leave his father-in-law. Not like this, not in the state he was in. Eric even feared leaving anywhere in the state he himself was in…

Melody knew it wouldn't be long until her breathing abilities were gone. In preparation, she took a deep breath and held it, fighting the urge to cry out in pain as her tail was forced apart and made back into legs. It was never this painful when her grandfather changed her, and it hadn't even been this bad when Morgana had changed her. Melody still fought against her seaweed handcuffs, though it was to no avail. Once her legs were fully back, Melody's eyes went wide as she realized the lower half of her was completely bare, something that certainly had never happened before.

Her fighting only stopped when she heard a cry from outside. What sounded like a pebble hitting glass to her set of the sound of an explosion outside followed by cries and then… silence. The wall surrounding her slowly dissolved as if acid had been poured on it. Melody could only see smithereens of… things as she stared out into the vast ocean. It was only when she realized that she was choking that Melody remembered she had screamed at the sound of the explosion outside. The water began to sting her eyes, and burning sensations in her wrists revealed that her tugging and pulling had done nothing but slice open her wrists a bit. Suddenly things began to grow dark, and not just because of the setting sun outside. Melody felt her eyes begin to droop and her heart began to slow. She was growing tired… Very… Tired…

Ariel pointed ahead about fifty yards in the distance and Chase could see the cavern. He told her to stay back, and began his descent to the lair. Before he had gone even five yards, the entire area exploded, the force of it pushing Chase backwards. He could do nothing but watch as he saw a blue tailed man tug a white tailed man out of the cavern, and then bits of some type of flesh floated in front of his face.

"NO!" Ariel's voice was back, and that could only mean one thing: Cerberus was dead. The curse on her voice had been broken. Both were soon filled with dread when they realized that Eric and Triton were not accompanied by a bright eyed, red tailed, onyx haired teenager with them.

"Ariel, go to King Triton and Prince Eric. I'll get Melody." Without another word he took off, heading straight for the only place of the lair still left intact. A quick look inside from the distance proved that someone was in there, but that they had legs instead of a tail. Chase's heart dropped but his tail picked up speed until he reached his destination. When he got inside, Chase saw Melody's eyes close and her head drop to her side. She was trapped against the wall, her arms limp and the only thing keeping her up were her handcuffs. Chase blasted the seaweed chains away and grabbed Melody around the waist. He blasted a hole in the other side of the room and swam to the surface. He made sure Melody resurfaced first, hoping the air would bring her to her senses.

Finding he was wrong, Chase looked around frantically for somewhere to put Melody; somewhere safe. He would have changed her back into a mermaid but he had no clue how. That was for further training he had yet to receive. Much to Chase's relief, he saw an island in the distance. Making sure that Melody always remained above water, Chase swam to the island and laid her down gently.

"Now how do I do that thing again…" Chase couldn't quite remember how to give CPR until an earlier event reminded him: when he and Melody kissed. "Of course!" Leaning down, Chase put his lips against Melody's and gave her a bit of breath before doing three hard pushes on her stomach. All merpeople had been forced to learn this technique as soon as Ariel and Eric had been married. Triton had feared that some of his new family and friends might unfortunately end up at sea with only a merperson to save them. Out of respect for his new son-in-law, Triton made it law that all merfolk learn the procedure, and it had actually come in handy quite a few times.

After repeating the same process for a third time, Melody began to cough, slowly waking up. Chase watched her carefully, ready to swoop in to help again if she needed it. As Melody's eyes opened and met his, Chase could only smile at her. "Hey there…"

Melody's mind was on a different page though. She left his gaze and sat up abruptly to look at her feet. Her legs. She feared that these might be what she was stuck with for the rest of her life, unable to ever visit her home below again. The pain had been too much, far too much. If she were ever able to obtain her tail again, she might fear losing it, afraid that the pain would be just the same as last time.

Chase followed her gaze. He had seen plenty of human legs before, especially after he met Melody and met her human friends. But something was different this time… It seemed like she was lacking something. Chase's gaze went from her feet, to her calves, to her thighs, to her-.

Oh.

Chase felt his face turn red and he promptly shut his eyes. "I should, uhm, go tell your parents you're alright. And check on them. And your grandfather."

Melody remained confused for a second, wondering why on Earth Chase would be acting so weird. And then it made sense. Melody scrambled to her feet, tripping over herself a bit as she tried to get used to her legs once more and over the dizzy feeling from nearly drowning. She hid her lower half behind a tree and nodded at Chase. "So-sounds awesome. Cool. Yeah. I, erm, I'll just be here."

Without another word, Chase dove back under the water, his face still burning, and went down to meet with the others.

"Oh Daddy…" Ariel watched helplessly as Eric tightly wrapped the seaweed Ariel had just gotten around her father's torso. He looked like he was in so much pain, but he was still fighting.

"Just a-." Wince. "Small wound, Ariel…." Triton was trying his best to remain still but something that sharp and deep being plunged into his stomach was a hard pain to get away from.

"Done, sir…" Eric said quietly, sounding defeated. His stare went back to the area where moments ago he had witnessed young Chase rescue his daughter. He had no idea if Melody was okay, or if Chase was. Ariel had watched the surface while Eric had bandaged King Triton up, hoping that by some miracle, Melody was safe.

As he helped lift Triton up into a sitting position, Eric felt a tickling sensation in his tail. After everything that had happened because of that thing, he hated it, but Ariel's surprised gasp made him look. As he watched, each scale turned from a creamy color to a vibrant orange. He blinked and wondered what on Earth this could mean.

"Please tell me this isn't another legend…" he mumbled. Eric picked up on Ariel's slight giggle and looked at her.

"No, Eric… It means it's over. The legend is over and broken. We-We did it…" Ariel kissed her husband happily, only fearing that perhaps one piece of the legend had come true…

"King Triton, sir! You're alright!" Chase swam up to the trio with a big smile on his face. Triton nodded politely at the boy, but his glare demanded to know where his granddaughter was.

"Chase… Where is Melody?" The last time anyone had ever heard that question come from Ariel's mouth in that tone was when Melody had been taken by Morgana. Chase smiled at the princess in a reassuring manner.

"Up on an island. I'll lead you there but nothing more. She's kinda… Well, to be honest? She's sort of lacking clothes…" Chase felt his face turn bright red again and he kept his eyes locked on Ariel, already feeling the glowers coming from Triton and Eric. With a nervous laugh, he led everyone to the island that Melody was at. Triton swam slower than the rest, his wound being the most recent. Ariel's ribs still ached, but her father had fixed those for her the moment he had seen her.

"There," Chase announced while he pointed a finger to the island where Melody was.

At the sound of Chase's voice, Melody poked her head around from the tree. She smiled slightly at her family and gave a half wave, causing Ariel to nearly sob in relief. With a point of his wand, Triton sent a familiar looking form of magic Melody's way, causing her to lift behind the trees. When she was finally above them, she dove back underneath the water, her red tail back in place. The warmth from the change that her grandfather had given her drove all fears of being a mermaid from Melody's head; that and the procession of hugging and kissing from everyone.

While he watched Melody be adorned on by her family, Chase felt the trident in his hand start to shrink until it was back to the size of the charm it had been earlier. The necklace reappeared and Chase immediately replaced the necklace around his neck, glad to be rid of the excess weight. He debated whether or not to swim back to Atlantica to alert everyone that the legend was over, and they were all safe once more, but a stinging sensation on his cheek brought him back to his senses.

"Ah, so you did hear me…" Chase said, grinning at Melody as he held his cheek. Melody laughed and nodded, quickly pulling Chase into a hug. Without him, she knew she probably would have died. She hoped he would forgive her for her thoughts about his beautiful future princess, even if he hadn't met her yet.

At the feel of her embrace, Chase quickly wrapped his arms around Melody. Her hair, taken by the current of the sea, surrounded his face in an embrace of its own. Chase could only laugh at the tickling feelings he gained from Melody's hug.

"Chase, I'm so sorry…" Melody whispered. She was close to tears, but she wasn't going to give into those now. She didn't want to give into them ever. It was bad enough that Chase had seen her cry earlier, but now? After everything he had been through?

Chase grabbed Melody by the chin and lifted her face up to look at his. He smiled at her and shook his head. "You seriously do not get it, Mel. You really don't…" With another grin, he pulled Melody to him once more and kissed her. After all, that had been his plan: get slapped and then kiss the girl.

Ariel smiled at her daughter and her new found love. She leaned against Eric slightly. "Familiar much?" The silence from her husband was not a good sign and when she looked up at him, there was a vein bulging from his temple that wasn't normally there. With a small chuckle, Ariel took her husband's hand and led him from the scene. "Come on, Daddy. We have to let the people know."

The three adults left, leaving Melody and Chase to their own devices. After what seemed like hours, Chase pulled away and tucked a piece of hair behind Melody's ears.

"So… Do all humans look that good naked?"

A/N: Phew. First off, I apologize for that STUPID author's note. You guys all need to thank animeluverqueen for bringing me to my senses. It was definitely tough love but let me tell you, it got me to typing. You can certainly expect an epilogue after this (What? Me leave you hanging about Melody and Chase?) as well as a preview to my next story, most likely a sequel to this. Thanks so much for staying on my arse about this guys. I love all of you.