SHe felt uneasy as Killian's large pretty eyes trailing on her back watching her wind through the foliage. He sped up so that he was by her side.
"I missed you." he said charmingly swinging so that he was in front of her. She glared up at him shook her head.
"Oh I bet you did." she said ducking under his arms and continuing on.
"I like her already." Emma laughed pushing Killian forward "She doesn't seem to be effected too much by your charms. She has a mind of her own, smart too."
"Oh Thank you for your approval my lady." Killian teased though he looked severly put out.
"Ineed she is a very smart girl Ms. Swan." Rumplestitskin said from behind her "Very smart indeed."
"Do you know eachother too?" she asked raising one of her eye brows.
"Oh yes," he said this time looking at Killian "I'd say we know each other pretty well."
Ariel was a mermaid, a princess at that. One of King Triton's many daughter and the only daughter with a mind of her very own. So as she stood beside the man that her father wanted her to marry, some prince from a sea kingdom miles from here, she knew that she needed to escape. Her father continued on with the ceremony not recoginizing the nervous twitch in his daughters lip as they neared closer and closer to the part where she would five her consent to marry him. There was a pause and they all looked at her waiting for her to answer. She looked at the prince, then back at her father, then to her own hand that was clutched in the frozen hand. She shook her head. This wasn't what she wanted! She didn't want a calm quiet life settled down to a merman prince. She didn't want to become Queen and live her life locked away in a palace. She needed Adventure and Excitment. All the things she read about in those books that settled to the bottom of the sea whenever ships sank. She wanted to travel the world see things before she did any of that.
"Ariel," her father said in a stern voice "We are all waiting."
"No!" she said ripping her hands away "No, I cannot marry you." She looked to her father "I'm sorry daddy but I can't. I don't want this kind of life."
He was turning red in the face by this time. Her father had always thought that she was the worst of his children. Always so stubborn and selfish. She had no sense of duty or mermaid/man pride! Alway off in some sunken ship, researching things that had to do with humans. "If you do not marry this prince right now young lady you will be an outcast! I mean it! There will be a price on your head and you will be placed in the dungeon!"
"YOu can't mean that?" she said horrified "Daddy, I'm your daughter!"
"Not if you do not do what you are told!" he shouted
She gulped and looked back at the hand of the prince who looked unfased by this display. Like he was used to men controling the women. She didn't like that look. "No, sorry daddy. But if this is what it takes to be free, then so be it."
She had barely escaped. If she had not known every secret passage in the kingdom she would have been caught within two minutes. But as it was, she was able to hide in a cavern in the side of the cliff. SHe was trying to catch her breath. Her father had sent an army after her, she wouldn't be safe for long.
"Looks like you are in a bit of a jam deary!" A voice from the mouth of the cavern said
She twirled in the water and prepared to dive back under the water when lights errupted throughout the cavern. Ariel saw a man standing on one of the small ledges that ran alongside the cavern. He wasn't like any of the men that she had seen in her books. His skin glistened liked gold shimmering even in this pale light. His eyes were black and souless.
"Who are you?" she asked pressing herself against the opposite wall edging along the cave to the opening. "What do you want with me?"
"It's not what I want from you," he said throwing his hands up in the air "it is what I want you to do for me."
"And what is that? Who are you?" she asked "Tell me or I'm gone."
"My name is Rumplestiltskin!" he said bowing slightly "And you are going to help me."
"What makes you so sure of that?"
"Because I can give you something that you need. Protection from your father's army."
"How can you do that?"
"I can make you into a human, help you get away from all of this." he said satisfied by the awstruck look on her face. "If you do this for me I will give you human legs. You will be able to live up on land for the rest of your life."
Ariel thought this over. She had always wanted to walk on land. She had always wanted to travel. If she took this deal, then maybe she could do just that. "What would I have to do?" she asked
"Break the heart of certain pirate."