XXIV
The sun was about the set on the ocean as the ceremony began. Stood on deck among the other wedding guests, Ariel watched as Eric and his bride made their way down the aisle together, both staring resolutely forward until they stopped at the altar.
Whoever she was, Vanessa looked beautiful in her white wedding dress. It flowed out in a long train behind her, which was carried by two girls whom Ariel did not envy at all. At this point, it was all she could do to stay still rather than dive overboard.
Beside her, the Queen also stared at the couple, though every now and then she gave a sideways glance to Ariel. She had no idea why this woman was trying to be helpful, even willing to persuade her to ruin Eric's wedding, but Ariel was grateful for her concern.
"Dearly beloved," said the rather excited minister, and the wedding began.
The I dos approached faster than expected, all the while Ariel stood as tall as she could, hoping Eric would notice her. Maybe her hair would stand out in the crowd or something, maybe Eric would look their way and see her, stood near the front, before he made his decision.
Ariel had no tears now. After Eric had told her the news, how determined he seemed to be to marry the mystery woman, Ariel had thought all hope was lost. Eric had made his choice, so it seemed.
But the Queen had made Ariel realise that hope was not lost yet. Eric's decision had not yet been made. It was to be made here, on this ship, at sunset. In front of everyone.
"Do you, Eric," said the minister, and Ariel's heart raced, "take Vanessa to be your lawfully wedded wife, for as long as you both shall live?"
Eric looked down at his bride for a moment – a long moment. Ariel was sure he could see her, in the corner of his eye at least. She stood still as a statue, her breath caught in her throat, waiting for him to glance her way, to shake his head and say no.
But the prince stared at his bride, his eyes unmoving, almost as if he were in some sort of trance. Taking a deep breath as if to force the words out, he said, "I do."
Ariel's breath left her in a silent cry, and her heart sank. She shook her head, and her lips said, "No."
The Queen fidgeted beside her, probably discomforted that her prediction had not come true, but Ariel did not care. She was wrong. She shouldn't have come aboard, just for the added misery of watching.
"And do you, Vanessa," began the minister, as he, the altar, the bride and the groom all became a blur through her tears. She shut her eyes tight and bowed her head, breathing deep to try and make the pain go away.
As a tear rolled to the end of her nose, someone brushed aside the hair that had fallen over her face.
"It's alright, dear," whispered the Queen. "Everything will be alright. All of your pain will be gone, soon. Soon, all of this will go away."
What do you mean?
Ariel opened her eyes, and the tear fell from her nose.
She had barely noticed the stone circle at her chest before her tear landed on it. Eyes widening, Ariel looked at the Queen, who stared at the plate in her hand with a look of triumph.
"At last," she said, holding the object close and staring at it greedily, almost madly, as though it were made of diamond. "And here I thought you were going to run dry before it was time," she added, trying not to drop it as she carefully removed a golden ring from her finger.
The Queen had not bothered to keep her voice low, and everyone else was now silent and watching her. Those stood closest to them backed away, looking nervously at the plate with the two eels engraved upon it.
As though the plate were made of glass, the tear was not absorbed into it; it rolled around of its own accord until it reached the white eye of one of the eels engraved upon it. Ariel almost tried to ask what was happening, then simply watched in horror as the Queen placed the ring around the other eel's eye.
A humming sound came almost instantly from the object, a humming which grew louder as it seemed to shake in the Queen's hand. Unable to keep hold of it, she dropped it and gasped. But the plate landed perfectly flat on the deck with a loud thud, the ring still sat on top of one of the eels, whose eyes looked whiter than they had before.
With a silent gasp, Ariel backed away as each eel, spiralled around the other, began to move. The lines engraved into the stone shifted, the hole in the centre of the spiral widened, and the heads slipped out from under the ring and tear and slithered to the very edge of the plate.
Several people screamed at what happened next: by some magic, each head seemed to come out of the stone. Shining and ghostly, the heads of the grey moray eels grew to life size as they squeezed out of the edge of the object. As their tails continued to snake round and round in circles towards the edge, so did the semi-transparent eels grow and wriggle out onto the deck like a pair of snakes.
Ariel's back hit the wall on the edge of the ship, unable to take her eyes off the creatures even as they became fully formed. Between them, the stone plate was now blank, except for the ring and tear sat on it. In their real form, everyone could now see that each of the eels had a blank, staring white eye, and one yellow eye.
"No need to worry, Ariel," called the Queen across the ship. "It'll be quick … I think."
Then the creatures rounded on Ariel, the pupils of their yellow eyes fixed on her, and their jaws opened, almost as if to grin.
"So that's your name. Ariel. That's kind of pretty."
Eric had appeared beside her, ready to defend her from the menacing spirits. They slithered slowly and silently towards them, as quiet, ghostly and staring as death, and as certain in their approach. They wanted her.
Ariel's eyes found his. The man who had said I do only moments ago. And now, when everyone else had run as far from Ariel as they could, here he was. Why?
"Eric, what are you doing?" the King yelled, stepping forward.
"Eric! Get away from her!" shouted Vanessa. At the sound of the oddly familiar voice, Ariel looked over to see the bride hurrying past the king.
"Better her than you, dearie," came a voice Ariel definitely recognised. Before her eyes, Vanessa stopped still as if frozen on the spot. "Because the wedding's off."
A scaled hand outstretched towards Vanessa, Rumplestiltskin stood at the other end of the aisle, half-disguised beneath a hood.
"I suppose I should have warned you," he laughed maniacally. "No one breaks deals with me."
With a flick of his wrist, Vanessa was thrown backwards into the King, the both of them falling to the deck. At the same time, by some magic, the bride's necklace was cut from her neck and thrown into the air.
In one long moment, Ariel recognised the golden nautilus shell, turned red by the sunset that had now painted the ocean and the sky with fire.
My voice!
The shell fell to the deck and was shattered into pieces. From within appeared the same pulsating golden light that Ariel had seen before, accompanied by the same song she had been forced to sing as her voice was plucked from her throat.
People gasped as the voice floated through the air, singing the same melody as before, heading towards Ariel. Eric held her close, as if scared that it would take her, but the light flew to her and slipped into her mouth. And, all of a sudden, she was singing. Her voice rang from her throat like the chime of a bell, and once more her ocean-blue eyes met with Eric's sky-blue eyes.
"It – it was you," he gasped. "It was you all the time."
"Eric, I wanted to tell you…"
Before she could say another word, Ariel's knees gave away beneath her. She grabbed hold of Eric to break her fall, just as she had done on the beach. Something slapped hard onto the deck, and she looked down to see green fins protruding from her dress.
Her legs gone, she fell down onto the deck.
"Wh-what?"
Someone was laughing in the background. A woman with a deep voice.
"You're too late!" she cackled. "You're too late!"
It was Vanessa, speaking in what must have been her own voice.
Pushing herself up onto her elbow, Ariel looked up. To her horror, the ghostly moray eels had reached her, each of their white eyes reflecting her face, their yellow eyes staring hungrily at her.
"Ariel!" shouted Eric. He grabbed at them, but his hands went straight through, as if they were made of smoke. Ariel tried, but was also unable to touch them.
And yet, when they began to slither around her, they were as strong as steel chains. Powerless to run away, Ariel tried desperately to pull at the creatures which wrapped themselves around her like tentacles.
Eric looked over at the Queen.
"What have you done?" he shouted.
The Queen raised an eyebrow.
"This is your doing, every bit as much as mine. You made your choice, and your choice has killed her."
"What? What do you mean? Answer me!"
"You broke her heart!" she said. "And now that broken heart is mine."
Their bodies tightly gripped around Ariel's body, one white eye was now staring at Eric, the other at the Queen. Ariel, all the while, was growing fainter and fainter. It was like being pulled into a deep sleep – a sleep that was getting harder and harder to fight off.
"Not quite, dearie," giggled Rumplestiltskin, whose hood was down to fully reveal his tangled hair and scaled face. "Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but it looks like this little mermaid is back with her twoo love."
"That doesn't matter now," said Vanessa with an awful grin. "It's already started. You've lost, Rumple."
Ariel fell onto her back, unable even to lift her head. She could feel her strength leaving her by the second, pulling her to sleep.
"You did this?" spat the King, rounding on Vanessa. "You and the Queen? To think that I-"
"Oh, shut up, Daddy-In-Law," said Vanessa.
Ariel could no longer fight it. The last thing she saw before she closed her eyes, was a long, dark octopus tentacle reaching out from under the bride's dress, wrapping itself around the King's neck, and squeezing it with a quick snap.
XXV
"No! Father!" Eric screamed, as the King crumpled and fell to the deck. Eric was halfway to Vanessa when he stopped, watching in fear as more dark tentacles tore their way out of his bride's dress until it lay in tatters around her.
He had almost forgotten about his other wedding guests until they gasped at the creature.
"What are you?" he yelled.
"She's fish bait now," said the scaled man, the one she had called Rumple. He held out a hand and, at the same time, Vanessa started to make strangled cries, as if she were being choked to death. Her tentacles writhed around, quickly restrained by whatever magical force came from the man's other hand.
Eric ran over to his father and dropped down beside him, ignoring the struggling tentacles that threatened to break his neck too.
"Father," he said weakly. He shook the man's lifeless body, checked for breathing, listened for a heartbeat. There was nothing. His father was dead.
"You might want to attend to your little friend, dearie," said the man in a cruelly gleeful voice. As he slowly choked the life from Vanessa, the Queen ignored all of them, looking only at Ariel.
She was lying on the deck, her eyes closed. And one of those eels was still staring at Eric. His father was gone, but for Ariel there might still be hope.
Please don't be dead.
He hurried over and dropped to his knees beside her.
"Ariel!" he shouted, ignoring the intangible eels and grabbing her shoulders. "Ariel!"
Lifting her up by the shoulders, he slipped a hand through her thick red hair and gently held up her head.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "Please come back. I made a mistake. I didn't know you would…"
She did nothing. She only lay there in his arms, dying of a broken heart.
"There's nothing you can do now, fish boy," said the Queen. "She's gone."
Eric shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Ariel," he said, his voice breaking as his eyes welled up with tears. "I should have chosen you." He closed his eyes and breathed in. "I love you."
Eric leaned his head down. He didn't need to see for his lips to find hers. Eric kissed the girl the way he should have done from the beginning, from the moment she first fell into his arms. The way he should have done every single time she had made him smile. The way he should have done when he told her about Vanessa.
"What? No!"
The Queen's voice opened his eyes. To his surprise, the ghostly eels had disappeared. He looked around to see Rumple still strangling the almost lifeless Vanessa, and the Queen looking enraged at the stone plate, which was once more engraved with two eels spiralled around one another.
"Eric," said a familiar voice. The voice that had stuck in his memory ever since he woke up on that beach. But this time, it truly was the same voice.
He looked down at Ariel, who blinked her enormous, ocean-blue eyes.
"I'm sorry, Ariel," he gasped. Her hands reached around his neck, about to pull him into another kiss.
"You will be," snarled the Queen behind him.
The two of them looked over at Regina, and the ball of fire in her hand.
"I don't think he will, dearie," said Rumple.
The man let go of his magical grip on the octopus woman, and extended it instead towards the Queen, who froze on the spot as Vanessa had done earlier, completely unable to move or even speak.
Gathering her breath, Vanessa took her chance. She held out her hand, and the stone plate appeared in it. Regina's ring clattered to the deck where the plate had been before, and Ariel's tear sank into the wood. The witch pulled herself by her tentacles over the edge of the ship.
"So long, lover boy," she laughed, and dived into the water.
The Queen continued to glare at Ariel and Eric, the ball of fire gone from her frozen hand.
"I don't understand," said Eric. "Why did you help us, uh…"
"Rumplestiltskin," said the scaled man. Eric widened his eyes at the name. "It's not so much helping you, Your Highness," he said, stepping close to Regina. "I just don't like those who double-cross me," he snarled in her ear.
"What happened to my legs?" said Ariel. "Why did you take them back?"
Take them back?
"It was our agreement, dearie," said Rumplestiltskin gleefully, and Eric looked at Ariel in shock. "A voice for legs. It works the other way, as well. That shell was your contract. It breaks, the deal is undone, you get your voice back, and the transformation is reversed." He giggled madly. "I've no more use for it, anyway."
"You gave it to her." Eric stood up in outrage. "You gave it to that witch! You let me think she was the one who rescued me."
"And you thought that was more important than twoo love."
Eric walked up to him, staring into his deep brown eyes. They stared back, unblinking, as if they were looking straight into his soul.
"Get off my ship," he said shakily. "And take her with you," he added, with a sideways glare at Regina.
Rumplestiltskin let out a small giggle.
"Gladly," he said with a bow. And then, both he and the Queen were gone. Even the ring disappeared from the floor.
Eric turned back to Ariel, who had pushed herself up against the wall.
"Ariel, what did he mean?" he said, taking her carefully around the waist and lifting her onto the wall. She drew in her green tail, as if to try and hide it. "What did he do to you?"
"He – he turned me into a human," she said. "But he said that all magic comes with a price. I had to give him my voice in return."
Eric sat down beside her, ignoring everyone else on the ship, and ran his hand through her hair.
"You did that … for me?"
Ariel hesitated.
"I wanted it anyway. I've wanted to be a human for a long time. I just didn't know it was possible. And then I saw you, and I-"
Eric pulled her in and kissed her again. With a soft moan, Ariel began to kiss back. As he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine they were sat on the beach, starting over as if none of this had ever happened.
"Ariel, I love you," he said again. "Whatever you are."
"I love you too, Eric," she said. "But I can't be with you like this." She slapped her fins once on the deck. "As long as I'm like this, I'll never be a part of your world. I need to find another way."
"No," said Eric. "You don't need to. We'll work something out, you can live with me as a mermaid, we can…"
He stopped at the look on Ariel's face. She was right, and he knew it really.
"I almost lost you once," he said, taking her hand in his. "I don't want to lose you again."
"You won't," she said. "I know I can be human again. And I won't stop until I am. And then I'll come back."
She smiled reassuringly, and Eric nodded.
"I'm sorry about your father," she said.
"He was a good man. He would have wanted me to pick you, if we both knew…" Eric looked over at the King, still laid on the deck surrounded by his mournful subjects. It was like the wedding had turned into a funeral. "But don't be sorry, Ariel. It's my fault he's gone."
"It's not," said Ariel. "It's hers. She killed him."
"She wouldn't have gotten near him if I hadn't tried to marry her."
"She tricked you, Eric. She had my voice. That's not your fault."
Eric sighed, neither agreeing with her nor disagreeing.
"We need to get back to the castle," he said. "The kingdom has to know what's happened."
Ariel nodded.
"Then I have to go," she said.
Eric leaned in for one final kiss. The both of them lingered at the warm touch of their lips, wishing it could last for an eternity. But it ended, far too soon, and they parted again.
"I'm sorry, Ariel," he said once more.
She put on her brave, sweet smile.
"I'll be back. I promise."
Pulling off her dress, she shifted to the edge of the wall and dived. A blur of red and green, the little mermaid dropped headfirst into the sea below. Eric stared in awe at the last shimmer of her scales, the last flash of her fins, right before both disappeared beneath the waves in a splash of foamy seawater.
Eric closed his eyes, and breathed deeply as he gathered his strength. Standing up slowly, he looked back at his father and his guests, who were now gazing at him, waiting for him to speak.
"I need help, to take my father's body to my cabin," he said, and several volunteers stepped forward. "And ready about," he called to the crew. "We're going back to the castle."
XXVI
Rumplestiltskin released Regina as soon as they appeared on the beach, the beach where he had taken the mermaid's voice to begin with.
"Why did you do that?" she yelled, storming over to him, the ball of fire reappearing in her hand.
"It's for your own good, dearie," said Rumple. "And, I believe this is yours."
He tossed the ring to her, and it span in the air like a coin. Reaching out with her other hand, Regina caught it and clenched her fist around it.
"You'll pay for this, Rumple," she snarled, getting ready to throw her fireball.
"Ah ah ah," he said, waggling a finger. "Careful, dearie. You should consider yourself lucky I haven't turned you into a crab and thrown you into a pot."
"So, why haven't you?" she shouted. "Since you don't want me to have Daniel back, why don't you just kill me?"
Rumple didn't tell her his reasoning. Neither killing her, nor letting her be with her twoo love, would have her cast his curse.
"Be careful what you wish for, dearie," he said. "The prince may have his little mermaid now, but all is not lost. A mended heart can always be broken again. If I were you, I'd save them for a rainy day."
Regina's look of fury turned into a smirk.
"Oh, that is just what I like to do," she said coolly.
Rumple giggled, for it was he who would be saving Ariel for another time. Mermaids had the ability to cross realms without a magic bean. One day, she would need to follow her prince to the land without magic. And when she did, Rumple would make his deal with her again – only this time, he would have her find the Moranastice for him.
And with her heartbreak, or the prince's, or anyone's, I will bring Belle back.
But there was something that needed to be done first, before Regina would even think about casting the Dark Curse.
"I wonder," he said, "if the Moranastice caused her any pain. She looked so sweet when she was dying. Almost like she was fast asleep. Dreaming of all her pains, all her regrets…"
The Queen's eyes widened, and her fireball disappeared.
"Yes," she said slowly, "she did look like she was asleep."
"Just in case you needed inspiration," he said. And with one final giggle, the Dark One vanished from the beach.
XXVII
The minute hand on the clock tower had almost reached the twelve when Belle opened the library. Sighing with relief that she was on time, she pulled open the doors and looked up and down the street outside. To her surprise, there were several excited people running down the road. Towards the beach.
Looking up the street, she noticed Archie coming her way with Pongo.
"Archie, what's going on?" she said. "Where is everyone going?"
"To the beach," he said, holding up his phone. "Word's going round that something – someone – I mean … I think you'd better come and see."
Wondering what he was babbling about, Belle closed the library doors behind her, locked them, and followed Archie down the street.
More and more people were hurrying in the same direction, and Pongo was barking as the three of them ran towards the beach.
It was easy to find what they were looking for. A small crowd had gathered near the tide. Whatever they were looking at, they blocked it from Belle's view.
"Excuse me," she said, stepping carefully on the sand and slipping her way through the semi-circle of spectators.
"His name is Eric," came a voice. "He has dark hair, and he loves the sea and…"
It was a girl, sat on the sand. But not quite a girl. Belle's eyes were drawn instantly to the long, scaly, green tail resting on the wet sand, and the thick groove it had left leading down to the water. Then the mass of fiery red hair, tangled and wet from the sea. And then her large, ocean-blue eyes, staring desperately at the crowd, who simply stared back without trying to help her. Apparently, none of these people knew who this Eric was – and neither did Belle.
"Step back, please," she said. "Give her some space."
She stepped forward and crouched beside the mermaid.
"Hello," she said with a smile. "Uh, who are you?"
"My name is Ariel. I'm looking for someone. He should be here."
"Well, I'm sure we can find him for you, Ariel. Are you from our land?"
"No, but I lived there for a while," said Ariel. "Who are you?"
"My name is Belle. Welcome to Storybrooke, Ariel."
...
AN: Thank you to my readers, especially those who have Fav'ed, Followed and Reviewed this fic. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, and I'm sorry that I haven't added any more since Oct 12 2017. Sadly, I became too busy with other projects and life in general. I really want to write more, and I will when I have more time, when I can try to do justice to my favourite mermaid.
I have more plans for my version of Ariel's story, both leading up to the Dark Curse and after, and I look forward to putting these plans in order, once I'm properly able to put the time in. To me, it feels a lot like these 8 chapters are a Part 1 of sorts, like a complete episode surrounding the original fairy tale, and the very next chapter will be the start of my Part 2, when Ariel truly mingles with the ONCE universe.
I thought about marking this Story as Complete and writing Part 2 in a separate Story, as a sequel, but I'm not sure if that's allowed on this site, since there are unanswered questions that prevent it from feeling complete. So I'll leave in In-Progress and add future chapters here.
Thank you again, and happy reading!