By the time Ariel returned to Atlantica, it had all blown over. Sebastian had successfully constructed an alibi for all of them; Ariel had gone ship-scavenging again, and Flounder with her. Sebastian had caught Ariel outside the palace walls and taken her back to the palace. Once they had made it back, Ariel had disappeared in the gardens and had not been seen since. Flounder guarded outside the city limits, and when the mermaid returned, he escorted her discreetly to a "voice lesson" with the sneaky crab.
"I have to admit, Sebastian," she chuckled breathlessly, "I'm impressed."
"You forget who rahn de unda'ground moosic indus'ry, chile'." He smiled, polishing the instruments. Ariel nodded half-heartedly, helping him clean up as thanks for his covering for her. She knew how much he hated lying to her father.
Ariel looked down at the coral flute in her lap. She wasn't proud that it was so easy for her, either. Her mind was soon overcome, however, with the face of Prince Eric.
"Isn't he so handsome, and brave, and compassionate?" She asked Flounder dreamily the next day. "He cared so much for that boy... what was his name?"
"Joe?" Flounder suggested, thinking hard. Ariel shrugged.
"Close enough," she agreed off-handedly and went back to meditating on Eric. Flounder swam about her motionless, daydreaming form, not knowing what to do. Ariel had never been infatuated with anyone before. He was about to tap her shoulder to see if she was awake when she turned over onto her back, startling her poor fish friend.
"I am meant to marry him, I know it," she said, determinedly looking past Flounder toward the pale blue sun reflected above. Flounder gave a flustered laugh.
"You just met him, and not even properly." He tried to reason with her. "Besides, how can you guarantee he will fall in love with you, when he probably has a lot of girlfriends already?"
"I will have no one else!" She insisted, turning on her side to glare at him. After a pause, she sighed, her face softening. "I'm sorry Flounder. But even you know I don't belong here."
Flounder gulped. She was right. Did that really mean she had to jump ship (pardon the pun) for the first human she almost met?
"And he's so handsome and strong and selfless." She cooed, on her back again. "I don't know how long I can stay away from him." That statement brought her suddenly back to the boy she also saved and how her magic couldn't stay away from him.
She closed her eyes against the memory. As she did, his face flooded her mind, right down to the quirk in his lop-sided smile. In this memory, however, he opened his eyes. They were blue like hers, but burdened with a tint of grey, like the sea after a storm. She couldn't pull herself away from those eyes.
"Ariel?" Flounder quivered. She'd gone eerily still again.
"Jim." She replied peacefully, opening her eyes again. "His name is Jim."
Jim woke up with a splitting headache. Again. At first he had no idea where he was. He was on the beach. No, he had been on the beach. Now he was in a-- room of some kind. He tried to sit up and found he couldn't, the blankets swathed around him were too heavy for his weak body. He turned his head to one side, toward the wall, and saw three notches in the wall there.
He was in his room. Ok. But he had been on the beach, and something had happened there. What had happened...? He groaned as he grappled with his brain, the noise causing something to his right to shake itself out of sleep. Jim didn't have time to turn his head to see his visitor before it was on him, whining and licking every exposed part of his body.
"Max?" Jim croaked uncertainly, tugging his arms from the cocoon of bedclothes to hold the sheepdog at bay.
Then he heard a familiar churrup! and another tongue was attacking his cheek.
"Morph!" Jim said a bit more enthusiastically, tickling the pink alien. "How long was I out?"
"About two days," Eric said from the doorway. He'd been outside for a breath of fresh air and was summoned by his dog's barking. Morph dove down Jim's shirt when the older man entered the room. Jim smiled at the prince, glad to see he'd made it without any major injuries. He told Eric so.
"Can't say the same for you." The older youth grimaced. "About the 'major injuries' thing. We all thought you were dead. Then, a few hours after I got back to the palace, this maniac seagull pulled at me till I followed it to the bluffs where I saw you on the beach."
"How bad am I?" Jim winced.
"Much better than expected." Eric admitted, the awe evident in his handsome face. "You were still onboard the ship when it exploded, so you shouldn't have gotten away without extensive burns, but when we found you your skin was, for the most part, flawless.
Initially we thought both of your shin bones had been shattered, but one just turned out to be severe bruised, so it should be fine in a few days. Your broken leg should heal up in a few weeks, and external injuries are, as I said, surprisingly minimal." Jim marveled as well, though he felt sure that it wasn't just good luck that kept him alive.
"You were a horrible patient," Eric was saying. "Even though you have two damaged legs, you still tried to get up out of the stretcher when you regained consciousness on the way back to the palace. Kept yelling about a 'hateful creature' and 'I'll show you a rock'." Eric chuckled, then petered into silence at Jim's intense gaze. Finally, the boy shrugged, leaning back on his pillow. "I don't remember." He murmured. "Am I really so unharmed?" The prince nodded.
"Yes, except for a few cuts and bruises on your back." Eric coughed. "And there's also an odd-- scab on your collarbone. It's in the shape of a fish. When the captain saw you, he said that it was 'right unnatural'. That you belonged to the sea now." Eric laughed nervously again.
Jim smiled wanly, fingering the scab on his shoulder subconsciously.
"Yeah," he sighed, "Maybe I am."
"I can't wait any longer!" Ariel cried in frustration, knocking a jewelry box from its pedestal, its contents scattering across the floor of her grotto. She hurriedly dove to pick up the treasures, wondering if this agitated, elated, desperate feeling was what love was supposed to feel like. "I haven't seen him in three days because you refuse to help me." she pointed accusingly at Flounder, "and now I'm so anxious and restless I don't know what to do with myself." She replaced the jewelry box, snapping its lid shut.
"I don't understand," Ariel whimpered, her eyes squeezed shut, inclining her head until red lights danced behind her eyelids. "Love feels wonderful but at the same time, so insecure. And in my insecurity, I'm hurting other people I love." Her chin dropped to her chest. "Like my father did." Flounder swam forward slowly to put a fin on his friend's shoulder.
"I don't know what you're going through, Ariel," the yellow fish admitted, "But I can tell that this moodiness of yours won't go away until you meet this prince guy. So..." Flounder winced. He was going to regret this... "I'll help you."
Ariel twirled to face him, a wide grin on her face.
"But you CAN'T let him see you as a mermaid." The fish stressed. "I'll break some rules for you, Ariel, but not that one. We'll just have to get ahold of something to hide your tail--"
"How about a set of legs?" Ariel mused, a mischievous smile replacing her innocent grin.
"That would wo-- whoa whoa whoa! Where're you gonna get l-l--"
"Legs." Ariel finished, liking the idea better all the time. "I know just person who could... PROCURE them for me."
Jim was bedridden for the next three days to "recover from a minor concussion", according to Captain Harris. He was never want for company, however.
"Unfortunately." Jim grumbled when the captain pointed this out. The middle aged man barked a laugh, punching Jim lightly on the arm.
"You would say that, Hawkins." He chuckled. Jim grinned. Captain Harris was the only one of his many visitors that didn't treat him like an injured orcas. He did notice, though, that the captain avoided the left side of his body like the plague. Even when he helped Jim sit up or go to the restroom, he wouldn't disturb the younger sailor's "marked" side unless Jim would fall otherwise. Jim, though this bothered him, didn't say a word about it. Sailors of every galaxy had their superstitions, and trying to convince them it was all foolishness was like trying to talk to a certain cyborg about curtains for your sitting room.
Speaking of cyborgs and outer space;
"Captain?" Jim asked over soup one day, "How will this injury effect my time here? There's no way that I can learn all I need to in the time left after I heal." Captain Harris nodded.
"I thought of that." He said, digging about in his deep jacket pocket. "I already sent a full report with the last convoy telling them all about your injuries and heroic deeds and asked for another month to complete your training... ah!" He finally managed to produce a thick book from his coat. Jim raised an eyebrow at the feat, then allowed a small grin.
"Homework?" He guessed.
"A good captain is as well read as he is muscled." The captain said sternly, dropping the book onto the bedside table. "I expect a full synopsis when you are better."
"Yes, sir."
The prince also came to visit with annoying regularity. He considered himself fully to blame for the young sailor's condition, and so doted on him like a son.
This perturbed Jim profusely, but what could he do? Even if he ordered Eric to stay still for a couple of minutes and spare him a headache, the heir would fret about headaches and insist he fetch him a poultice for his head.
"I just feel so horrible." Eric groaned the second afternoon.
"It couldn't be helped." Jim sighed. They'd had this conversation five times already.
"But Max was in danger--"
"I completely understand."
"I owe you so much."
"You owe me nothing." He owed him a little peace and quiet.
"How can you lie there, crippled, and say that?" Eric demanded.
"You are a prince!" Jim scolded. "Get used to people doing stuff for you, or soon you'll be indebted to half your kingdom!"
Eric, sufficiently reprimanded, then turned to his second favorite subject: the mystery girl.
"She was so beautiful-- at least, from what I could tell. The sun was to her back and it's all a little fuzzy-- and she had a voice like a siren. She was brave, too, if she would swim those stormy waters just to save me. And after she dragged me ashore, she was so gentle--"
This didn't sound right to Jim, but he didn't know why. "I can't stop thinking about her."
"What's her name?" Jim asked to appease him.
"I don't know." The prince admitted with an airy laugh. "But I'm sure it's lovely. I'm going to continue the search for her after I'm done here."
"Don't delay on my account."
"Oh, it's no trouble. After all, you too have saved--"
"How do you expect to find her?" Jim asked quickly. He really couldn't care less, but he did not want to return to the 'I must repay you' topic.
"I originally sent out a summons throughout the capital, but it's been a three days, so I've sent other proclamations to the surrounding towns."
"How do you know she's even from this country?" Jim inquired, thinking of how he, a spacer, had snuck in under their noses.
"She spoke our language, and who else would know when my birthday was besides my own subjects?" The injured youth decided not to argue with the prince's logic. He was too tired.
"I just hope she turns up before I have to go to Florin in two days," Eric continued to think aloud, not realizing that his ward was falling asleep. "I'm afraid that if I don't find her by then, she will be lost to me forever."
Ariel set off on her quest alone, leaving Flounder to keep tabs on Sebastian and her father. She knew Flounder wouldn't want to go where she was going anyway. To be safe, Ariel tied a scrap of cloth around her shells and hid her hair in a bandana the way she'd seen the fortunetellers wear them. Then she and her favorite dolphin escort, Conch, headed for the notorious gang and criminal hide-out, Dread Cove.
The mermaid princess had been down this treacherous road multiple times, but each trip it frightened her anew. She clung to Conch's dorsal fin as they passed taverns, witches' grottos, and shark fight arenas. A homeless merman tried to lift Ariel's purse. Conch sensed the hesitant movement and turned on the mer-cretin, baring his sharp teeth in a deadly warning. Before the merman could shrink away. Ariel took a small bag of pearls from her purse and dangled it in front of the offender's face.
"Split this with the others,"she said loudly and clearly, "and tell them this is all I have."
Depositing the fortune in the poor merman's hands, the two continued.
As they swam fewer eyes watched them, until they were on the edge of Dread Cove's "shopping district". There she tied Conch up in front of a familiar, well-lit hovel. Ariel smiled. Safe or not, he was always worth the danger to see
"Urchin? Knock knock! Anyone home?" She heard a young laugh from inside the sheer curtains and a few moments later an overweight mermaid holding a small bag was nudged out of the door.
"Are you sure this will work?" She asked a person behind her nervously. The youthful laugh rang out again.
"Of course the weight loss serum will work." He reassured his client. "I PROCURED it from a wealthy seashell model myself. Only the best for my favorite costumer."
The mermaid giggled, blushed, and scurried away. Ariel raised her eyebrows, impressed.
"You've gotten better at this, 'brother'."
The blonde mer-teen smiled brightly. "Thank you, 'sister'." He hugged her tightly.
"What brings you all the way out to the armpit of Atlantica?"
"A favor. A secret. An adventure," She whispered in his ear.
Urchin grinned. "Tell me more."
"So the only way I can be with him is to be a human myself." Ariel concluded an hour later. They were sitting at a small table in the dining room of Urchin's three-room abode sharing a bowl of boiled plankton (a rare delicacy because one had to go all the way down to the treacherous ocean volcanoes to cook them. Ariel didn't ask how he'd acquired such a special dish). Urchin chewed on a morsel thoughtfully.
"I may be able to assist you, but are you sure about this? Your sisters, your friends... your father. You'd be leaving them all behind." Ariel looked down at her lap.
"Yes. If it doesn't work out as planned, I can always seek out Daddy and he can change me back. And I'll visit when I think Dad is ready."
"That could be years." Urchin pointed out. "The sea king isn't known for his mild tempers. You get even close to the beach, let alone the sea, and he could drag you back in. If you go after this prince guy--"
"Eric." Ariel interjected. Urchin raised his hands defensively.
"Sorry. Eric, then you might as well say good-bye to the ocean until you think your Dad is 'ready'. Can you handle that?"
Ariel inhaled deeply, picturing Eric's sleeping face in her mind. "Yes."
"Well then," Her friend leaned over the table, his voice lowering to that of secrecy. "I know someone on the surface who deals in this kind of magic--"
"You know a human?!" Ariel whispered excitedly.
"Stop interrupting. And yeah, technically he is a human, though he was born a merman. Like you he fell in love with a human, though she was only a milkmaid, and he scoured the oceans to find a way to be with her. Finally he found a secret spell south of Madagascar that transmorphed him, and now he lives as a sort of miracle man in the capital. I've purchased contraband items from him and done a few favors, so he owes me one."
The mermaid could barely contain her excitement. She hovered over her chair, her elation coming out of her in torrents of bubbles. "Perfect! Brilliant! When will you have it?"
"If all goes well, about a week."
Ariel sunk back into her seat. "Why so long?" She pouted.
"Because this is serious business." Urchin explained, a bit perturbed. "I'm dealing with humans here, Ariel. On the surface. It's not exactly a swim in the reef."
Ariel realized she'd overstepped her bounds said meekly,
"Thank you, Urchin. This was more than I could ever hope for."
"Oh, don't thank me, Red. I'm coming with you."
"For the last time, Sable, NO!" Jim sighed, leaning heavily on his right crutch to sweep the hair from his face. "There is no way on earth or above it that I am letting you come to the cook's vacation home with me!"
"And if I hear you've been anywhere near there, or even think so," Captain Harris growled, "I'll go and fetch you back myself." He slung Jim's packed bag over his shoulder. Sable blanched, then turned back to her target.
"But Jim, to be there all by yourself! What if you fall, or lose something, or have trouble bathing--"
"What?!" Both men asked in disbelief.
Sable waved her hands in front of her face to hide the blush forming there. "N-nothing. The fact remains that it's not safe there all by yourself. I could be like a nurse or something."
"No offense, Duchess," Jim smirked, "but I've seen your 'nursing' skills, and I'm not too impressed. Besides, I have Morph." He patted a small, fat bird on his shoulder which chirruped fondly in reply. Sable grimaced at the dirty animal.
"Fine. But at least let me send a servant with you to--"
Jim smiled again, and it made her heart thump uncomfortably. "Thank you, but no. I'll be fine without any spi--ehem-- servants. The doctor said that I should relax, and to be honest, I've been coveting this alone time." Jim paused, expecting Sable to storm away. When she kept standing there, a hopeful look on her face, he added, "By myself."
Finally Jim got the reaction he'd been expecting. Sable stomped her foot and, shoulders tensed in anger, marched out of the room.
"You're really looking forward to this next week, aren't you?" The captain chuckled, shifting the luggage's weight to fit through the dorm's thin door.
Jim grunted as he limped over to follow the older man. Morph cooed worriedly at his friend's pain. "You have no idea."
Ariel took Urchin's request like a blast of cold air to the face. Refreshing, relieving, yet--
"Why?" Ariel asked, shaking the shock from her mind. Urchin laughed his beautiful laugh.
"Take a look around," he said. "I live in a hovel, confined to the ocean that everyone knows. Nowhere to go, nowhere to call my own. Everyone here knows my past and they treat me different for it. I want a clean slate, Ariel, and new things. Like you."
Ariel sat back, thinking this over.
"There's no way I can say no without sounding like a hypocrite," she mused aloud.
"Of course," Urchin smiled. "I planned it that way."
"Have you thought this out?" She asked, trying to be mature.
"Have you?" He countered. "The excuses you gave me earlier were just that: excuses. If we go to the surface, there's no coming back, not even for a visit. You're too important. You know that."
Ariel shrugged, trying to shake off the gravity of his words. "I don't have time to think about it. To doubt it. I have to see him again." She looked her friend straight in the eyes. "I love him." The merman scratched his chin.
"Well, I can't say no to that." He ate the last of the plankton. "I guess we're both going to the surface." The mermaid felt anticipation build in her stomach.
"I guess so."
Urchin saw Ariel off with a small bag filled with scale cream so that none of the low lives would suspect anything. After reaffirming their plans for the following week, Ariel grabbed onto Conch's dorsal fin and they were off.
Ariel was halfway to the grotto when Sebastian intercepted her.
"An' jus' where have you bin, young lady?" He demanded, claws supported on the sides of his shell. Ariel allowed a small grimace. Flounder, you were supposed to keep him busy! Well, I guess keeping Daddy off my scent is more important... the young princess remembered the small parcel in her hand and heaved a sigh.
"I was at Urchin's," she explained reluctantly, hoping she wasn't giving too much away. "Just a friendly visit. See, he gave me some scale cream as a gift." She held the bag aloft and Sebastian snatched it from her to inspect the contents.
"Hmmmm," he mused. "You're safe dis time, missy. But don't go runnin off agin wif out tellin me or your fadda." Ariel rolled her eyes.
"I'm perfectly able to take care of myself."
Sebastian chuckled, remembering that he was dealing with a daydreaming teenage girl, not just the daughter of the king. "Of cos, Aryal. But until you proov dat to de king, you'd betta come wif me." Ariel rolled her eyes but complied, motioning for Conch to go ahead without her. They'd been swimming for about ten minutes when Sebastian asked in a very forthright manner,
"Awright. Now, why were you really at Urchin's?"
Ariel almost jumped, and to keeping from jumping, she had to tense. "N-no reason. Why do you ask?" Sebastian shook his head.
"Becos I know you, princess. Now, tell me."
Ariel bit her lip. She didn't want to tell him. No, she REALLY didn't want to tell him, because he was the only one who might be able to sway her resolve. Well, she couldn't tell him the human bit, anyway. The half truth then. Her stomach lurched at the thought of lying yet again, but she heard herself whisper;
"He is going to arrange a-- trip to the surface for me. To see the p-prince." She couldn't look at him. She didn't have to. She could feel his anger and disbelief.
"Ariel," he said forcefully, stopping in the middle of the reef. "You dun't know wot you're asking. You cud be caught or ki--"
"I may not know what I'm doing." Ariel admitted, "But I am in love. In love, Sebastian. Please," she took his claws in her hands, drawing him up to her face. "Please don't take this from me. If you do, I'll be miserable for the rest of my life."
Sebastian saw the sincerity in her eyes and sighed.
"You're really intent on dis, on't you?" Ariel smiled a small smile and nodded. Sebastian sighed again. "I'm too old for dis." He complained. "But I guess dat you were neva like one of us, hmm? Fine, I won't tell your fadda now. But if anyting goes wrong, you're going ta be locked up fo de rest of your life, got dat?" Ariel nodded excitedly.
"Of course, I get it!" She hugged him, then finally noticed her surroundings. "Just where are we going, anyway?"
"You were goin' to de grotto, weren't you?" Sebastian asked without looking back at her. "I figured I'd jus' make sure you got dere." Ariel grinned. Maybe their was hope for this cranky crustacean yet.
Ursula let a diabolical chuckle slip past her lips as she watched the scene unfold before her. By using her scrying orb she could watch Ariel and Triton's movements as well as the hapless prince. The royal mer-family, however, was currently a far better show.
Ariel had arrived in her grotto where she discovered the prince's sculpture that Flounder had laboriously delivered. She was busily swimming around a gothic figure, cooing and running her fingers over its (literally) chiseled features. She kept turning back to her little yellow fish friend to hug him and spin him about excitedly. The sea-witch rolled her eyes at the princess's naive elation. She flicked her attention to Triton, who had become suspicious at Flounder's sudden attachment to him. When the small fish had fled when a dolphin escort returned from an unknown destination the king, on a hunch, followed. He got as far as the reef before loosing Flounder in all the sea foliage.
It was a horribly unlikely twist of fate that the sea king swam by the hidden grotto in time to hear his youngest daughter squeal in joy. It was nothing for him to locate the source of the sound and heft the rock blocking the entrance aside.
"Daddy!" Ariel exclaimed as her father's silhouette materialized at her doorway. The color drained from the mermaid's face as she tried in vain to hide the statue with her body.
"I consider myself a reasonable merman," the king growled. Ursula could tell from the tensed muscles in his face and neck that he was holding back most of his anger. She giggled.
"Let's see how long this lasts."
"--and I expect those rules to be obeyed." Triton was saying. Ariel looked flustered, desperate to defend her beloved humans.
"I had to-- Daddy--"
"Had to what?" Triton seemed notice the stone prince for the first time and recognized its subject. "You didn't." He whispered. Ariel and Ursula watched with bated breath as the sea king's face drained of color.
"There was a storm on the surface. A centuries old defense mechanism, tripped. I had heard that two of the crew had been onboard during an explosion. They were miraculously saved. Ariel, don't tell me you--"
Ariel hid behind the statue to shelter herself from her father's sad stare.
"I had no choice." She whispered. She frowned, then looked up at her father and said in a louder voice. "He would have died!"
"Oh, wrong choice of words, honey." Ursula critiqued, throwing a shrimp into her mouth.
"One less human to worry about!" Triton yelled, his composure slipping. Ursula's smiled widened. She raised her first finger, pointing at the ceiling. "Hook..."
"You don't even know him!" Ariel tried to reason.
"Know him?! I don't have to know him!"
Ursula leaned back, adding raising her middle finger as well. "Line,"
"Daddy, I LOVE HIM!"
Ursula lifted a third finger. "Sinker."
"No." Triton's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Yes." Ursula cackled, her hand making a fist. She drank in the pain on her enemy's face, allowing her cackle to escalate into a triumphant howl.
Jim sighed, lounging on the balcony of his borrowed villa and enjoying the ocean view. He took a sip of lemonade from a margarita glass that Morph had brought him, his crutches on the floor next to the beach chair. The scene should have been perfect.
The injured spacer closed his eyes to the world and focused on the sound of the waves, his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to relax.
Then, moments later, his eyes snapped open and he sighed a sigh of exasperation.
"I can't do it, Morph." He told his friend. "I can't relax by doing nothing. I am a spacer-- a man of action. I can't sit around like a bum." Morph cooed helpfully, lifting the tarp off of the half-assembled solar surfer.
"I've already done all that I can with the equipment I brought." Jim informed the pink alien. He swung his right leg onto the floor and carefully moved his casted one to join it.
"We could go to the beach to look for--ugh--" He hefted himself up onto his crutches, "-- a board to inlay the tech into. The wreck happened not too far from here, maybe we can find a sufficient piece there." Morph chirruped and zipped around the youth, as happy to go exploring as Jim was to get some exercise.
About an hour later Jim and Morph were about a mile down the beach, the former thoroughly exhausted. His hurt leg throbbed, and balancing on sand with crutches was not as easy as he'd hoped. Finally, he gave up. He slid down his crutches and promptly collapsed back in the sand, opening the cap to his canteen with his teeth.
"Just a quick breather." He insisted in response to Morph's worried purrs. "I'll be OK--" he gasped as a wave of pain ran down his left leg-- "in a few minutes."
Jim took a few more draws at the water, watching the sky turn to dusk behind the clouds. He hoped they would clear out soon. One of the things he was really looking forward to during his brief leave was watching the stars at night uninterrupted.
As he observed the clouds' movements, he noticed that they were moving, faster and faster, darker and darker, in a circular pattern over a certain place not twenty meters out to sea. The clouds directly over the location were as black as ink and rumbled slightly, like a striped cateagle on the hunt.
There was another sound,too, that resonated above the crashing waves; a melody.
Jim sat up, looking up and down the beach for the source of the music. No one.
Of course no one's there, Jim hypothesized. It was coming from the ocean. It was of the ocean, the notes perfectly harmonized by the hissing of the waves. He leaned forward, basking in the siren's song; if he had been able to move, he might have walked right into the ocean in pursuit of it. Such a lovely voice; a voice that, for some reason, he knew he has heard before. The source of it was hidden deep within his memory, but...
...and then it stopped. The clouds seemed to travel in reverse, uncoiling themselves from the dark , stormy center and dissipating into the evening sky. Soon, everything was as it had been before and Jim was left with an odd sense of loss.
Morph, who recovered from strange events quicker than his friend, chirped and pointed excitedly when he spotted the first star.
Jim smiled, pushing the mystery of lost memories aside and reaching out a hand for Morph to perch on.
"Beautiful, isn't she?" Jim asked his companion. But in the back of his mind, he wondered if he was referring to the star, or the enchanting voice that enticed from the sea.
Ariel stared blankly at the destroyed grotto, her body numb to the after heat of her father's trident and her ears deaf to the inquiries of her friends.
All she could feel was the freezing cold of her father's hatred towards the human species, and all her ears could hear was the brutal truth: merfolk and humans could never coexist.
So where did that leave her? She was a mermaid, she could not deny that. But a part of her was also not mer... not natural. So where did she belong?
Anger pooled in her stomach and boiled up until the heat built in her cheeks and tears bled from her eyes into the ocean. She brought her forearm to her mouth to muffle the sobs.
This wasn't right. The merfolk weren't right. True, the humans may eat fish, and they might not be aware of the damage they do to the marine world, but they didn't even know merfolk existed!
"Ariyal," Sebastian quavered, regret heavy in his dialect, "I didn't mean to tell--"
And had her father even tried to reason with them?
"--ee twas an ax-edent."
Had he even tried to understand their side?
No.
Her father knew nothing of the humans or what they were like. Well, she would show him. She would become one of them and prove to him that merpeople and land people could live in harmony. She realized Flounder and Sebastian were still there, watching the scene she was making. She blushed.
"Just go away." She said gruffly, her back to them in defiance.
She would prove her father wrong-- she picked up the fragment of the shattered statue, the piece with Prince Eric's face on it, and hugged it to her chest-- no matter what it took.
Flounder shuffled (as well as a fish can) to the threshold, sparing one last look at his best friend. No matter how strong she pretended to be, he knew she was distraught and confused. She loved her father-- she loved the sea-- but as she had said before, she didn't belong. So, as he watched the back of his friend shake in angry tears, he vowed to support her.. whatever her decision might be.
Though they left the grotto according to Princess Ariel's commands, Sebastian and Flounder waded diligently outside the entrance, waiting for their friend to reappear. It was Flounder that noticed the mermaid exiting through the top of the grotto, accompanied by two eels.
"Dee sea wichas henchman!" Sebastian exclaimed upon seeing them. "She's goin te see Ursula!"
They followed Ariel and the eels past the gates of Atlantica, through Dread Cove, and into the forbidden depths. Forbidden, because they were only twenty meters from the shallows of land.
Flounder choked back an alarmed yip when their destination became clear through the thick seaweed.
"A s-sea serpent sk-sk-skeleton?!" He stuttered hoarsely to his crabby companion, who only shushed him. Sebastian noticed the fish's trepidation, however, and so kept a comforting claw below Flounder's dorsal fin to steady him as they swam shakily into the witch's lair.
The atmosphere inside the cavern was even more daunting than outside. The water was lukewarm and there was no current, but there was a faint buzzing of magic in the air that made swimming there feel like wading through a vat of worms. Breathing the water was equally unnerving. Adjusting to this gut wrenching environment slowed down Ariel's rescuers considerably, so by the time they reached the inner chamber Ariel was already half-entranced by the voluminous witch's offer.
Flounder could see the hope in Ariel's eyes... heart breaking hope that he could see was false with just one look at Ursula's triumphant face.
"Have we got a deal?" She sneered, her too-red lips stretched over fangs.
Sebastian saw the same treachery in the squid's motives as Flounder had and leapt desperately forward.
"No Ariyal--!"
Flotsam and Jetsam, the eels who had brought the princess there, tied themselves around the intruders to stop the crab's voice of reason.
Ariel didn't even notice the outburst. Another voice of reason was screaming at her; her father's.
"If.. I become human," she realized, her eyes unfocused in pain. "I'll never be with my father or sisters again."
Flounder nodded through his living bonds. Even though she was hard headed and a bit dense at times, nothing was more important to Ariel than family. The only problem was, did she understand how devastated her family would be at her disappearance?
Flounder tuned out the witch's coaxing until the tentacled merwoman mentioned her terms of payment.
Her voice? He wondered.
Sebastian saw through her scheme immediately. There was no way the human prince would recognize her without hearing her beautiful voice. Secretly, the crab had thought Ariel would have a chance if she did get to the surface by this perverted route, but now he knew she was hopeless. And he was hopeless to help her.
So he watched in horror as the story began to unfold.