Chapter 7: In the Lagoon

I know the last chapter was pretty short, mainly due to my sudden change in plans for how this will go, but now we have one of my favorite love scenes in all of Disney history; the lagoon scene. Let more shipping commence!

Enjoy the chapter!


After sharing the pastries and bread in their own secret picnic spot, Eric then showed her a surprise he had planned. As the sun set below the sea and the twilight set in, Eric brought out a rowboat and began rowing towards another secret place, a simple place near the shore. An inward curve had eroded into the land, creating a quiet strip of land full of tall grasses, reeds and tropical flowers that lead out into the water. Weeping willows and other trees grew close to the sea too and waterfalls gently poured their contents which mingled with the salty fluid. The deepening pink clouds on the horizon reflected their pale light onto the ripples.

Ariel's eyes were all focused on the scenery and man rowing their boat out further into the water. He offered to teach her how to row, but seeing as she tired quickly in just a few minutes he took back them for the rest of the ride. She had seen places like this back when she had a tail and lived in the sea, but never had she experienced it at the time of day and above the water. She noted how smoothly the boat went across the water, gliding softly yet swiftly across the surface.

The atmosphere at this was tranquil as the evening time came in and slowly was easing into the night. The soft light and graying landscape sent a peaceful, content feeling over her. Aside from the sound of the water splashing around them and the faint chirping of crickets of the shore, the water was completely quiet.

Which is why the both of them flinched horribly and felt the hairs on the back of their necks stand straight up as a loud, raucous squawking came from somewhere nearby.

"Wow," Eric commented as they rowed under a tree branch, "somebody should find that poor animal and put it out of its misery."

Looking up she could see Scuttle in his...interesting form of musical pleasantries. The seagull's voice sounded watery as he tried to sing, but only succeeded in making her and every other living, sentient thing nearby cringe painfully. As she looked up and saw him wink at her with an 'a-okay' gesture, her head fell down into her hand, feeling mortified at his good-intentioned, but failed attempt.

Thankfully though, the cacophony didn't last much longer and all of a sudden, something else came forth into their ears. The whistling of the wind through the reeds sent shivers down their spines along with the sudden softer and more mellifluous cricket chirps. The light tapping from something from somewhere settled their startled forms back down.

The oars were set aside as the rower let the small current take care of the boat's direction. His head was rested on his knuckles as he rested his tiring muscles and his eyes fell upon Ariel searching her surrounding. A smile began spreading across his face as he noted how lovely her features were then tinted by the pale pink light of the sunset. Red hair that fell in full locks down to her shoulders looked so soft that he wished to brush them back and run his fingers through them. Her eyes reflected the light coming off the rippling water, causing them to gleam and sparkle. Her ruby lips were plump and full and he imagined himself coming closer to her, holding her gently, yet tightly to him and then...

"You wanna kiss de girl."

His head flew up and to the side, cheeks growing warm as he searched for the voice he swore had been whispered into his ear just now.

"Did you hear something," he asked, oblivious to the groups of creatures all around, singing just for them. Ariel simply smiled and shrugged. She knew of the music softly playing in the background, though wasn't all too aware of the plan being put into motion right now. She combed her fingers through her tresses, untangling knots while also avoiding eye contact as the words of romance became clear in her line of hearing.

As she completed the task, a little too quickly for her expectations, her eyes turned up and they met his. He gave a warm smile at her and she reciprocated and sat more straight to look at him directly. Their heads began to lean in towards one another and they could feel each other's warm breath tickle their chins. They grew closer and closer, heads titling in and lips beginning to purse up as if to touch the other's.

Ariel eyes began to shutter close as she prepared to make contact, only to flutter back open as Eric leaned back suddenly and began rowing once more. His eyes fell to the side as a feeling of awkwardness, mortification and some, okay, a lot, of regret swept over him. He looked down to avoid his humiliated face away from the disappointed girl before him.

The light slowly faded into grey and the landscape around them started blurring as night began to steal itself in. Eric kept focusing on rowing while Ariel's head fell back into her palm and she tried to look at and discern the objects in the landscape. Eventually, the pale colors of the sky transformed into a deep blue, tinted by the light of the bright, full moon. Scattered stars appeared in the velvety cloth of night and twinkled down at the world. Moonlight fell down upon the water, turning it into a path of smooth, gleaming brilliance that the couple slowly floated across.

"You know, I feel really bad not knowing what happened to you, Ariel," he said suddenly, drawing her attention back towards him. He set the oars back down again, sat up straighter and leaned in to grasp her hands. "I know I wasn't there and I don't understand how your world does in comparison to mine," his thumbs gently stroked the tops of her hands, drawing delightful shivers from her, "but maybe I could guess what happened."

At the small smile of granted permission, he released his hold and leaned back comfortably as thoughts raced through his mind. "Did you drink a potion that turned you human?" He chuckled at the look of disgust on her face. "Okay, no? Alright then, how about... you paid a price for it?" He brightened up as she gave an enthusiastic nod.

"Okay, so you paid a price to become human. So, who did you pay to become human? And why?" He either was too absorbed in his thoughts or his eyes weren't looking hard enough, otherwise he would've taken notice of her flinching and startled expression.

"Was it your family?"

He then looked up towards her again and bit his lip as he took in the sorrowed expression on her face. He realized then what he had said and how it might had offended and saddened her. "She must really miss them," he thought, beginning to catch the feeling of loneliness himself. She had rarely talked about her family. All he really knew was that she had six older sisters and a father and that her mother had died when she was young. Perhaps it was one of the reasons he related to her. He had lost his both parents at a young age, aboard a sailing vessel to a royal summit that ended up breaking apart in a storm, leaving him in the care of Grimsby and the rest of the castle's staff. He knew that since they were still under the sea while she was up here on land must make her miss then a ton.

His hand reached out to grasp her hand again and his thumb stroked it. "I'm sorry, Ariel," he apologized, "I don't need to know who did this too you or why this happened, I just want you to know I'm glad youre here with me." Her eyes looked back up at him and she gave a reassuring smile at him. A warm grin fell upon his lips and he let out a small sigh in relief that she wasn't too hurt by it. His other free hand lifted up and gently cup the side of her face, repeating same action as the other hand. Her eyes fluttered close and she let out a shuddering breath as she leaned into his warm touch. His smile grew wider as he saw her enjoying the gentle gesture.

"She did it for you."

He flinched back, though his hand never left her face as he searched around the boat for the owner of the voice. "Did it for me," he repeated. He felt rubbing in his hand and his line of vision turned to see her nodding against his palm.

"You did all this for me," he asked, feeling a rush of blood come up to his cheeks. Again she nodded. A bit of blush came into her cheeks as she smiled sweetly at him. His felt his words catch in his throat and he could only stutter out his thoughts until he regained his composure as he stared at her and grasped her hands gently. "Well, um, well, I uh, I-I'm really flattered that you did this for me, Ariel. A-and I'm glad you're here now," he paused then added, "with me." She nodded and continue smiling prettily at him.

As the two became lost staring in each other's eyes, they did not notice as their little rowboat began drifting into a little cave hidden behind some hanging curtains of moss that were pulled away by some storks before letting it drop back behind them. The boat started drifting slower before finally coming to a stop and beginning to turn around as small splashes came up all around them. The darkness of the cavern then became illuminated with the soft, twinkling glow of fireflies as they surrounded the space around them. Fish rose up near the sides of the boat, squirting out water which reflected the light of the tiny insects.

In the atmosphere of the world around them, they could only see, hear and sense each other. It was as if now they were in their own world, isolated from the rest with just them in it. Ariel could only see Eric, with his strong, yet tender form, his handsome, gentle face and his kind heart. Eric could only see on Ariel her gorgeous features, her sweet personality and her loving, beautiful heart. In his own, he could feel a stirring from deep inside it and he could not deny the feelings any longer.

His head began leaning closer to hers. In the heat of the moment, it felt right. His hands gripped her tighter and began pulling them closer towards him. Her own head started to lift up and come nearer to his, feeling the right time to try again as well. Their necks craned so that they could reach each other. Right then, nothing else mattered. Just each other. Their eyes began to shout close and their lips puckered up to touch one another's.

In a single moment, a shock of electricity shot up his spine and a feeling of warmth rushed over him as they made contact. A split second later, their eyes widened in shock as the boat suddenly tipped far enough that it sent both of them into the cold water.

Birds and other creatures fled the scene as they felt the fear of being too close to the humans to be comfortable. As the two struggled to adjust themselves, Ariel could only remain still and numb that the feeling of the brief kiss spread out from her. Her legs felt rather prickly, like thousands of tiny needles were being jabbed into them. She wasn't sure if her legs had fallen asleep and the blood rushing through her veins again, the icy coldness of the sea or maybe the tiniest moment of the kiss was causing it.

She broke out of her stunned stupor as seawater suddenly flooded her mouth and her nose came under the water.

"Whoa, hang on," Eric said, noticing her and darting forward to help the struggling, former mermaid from going under. "I've gotcha. I've gotcha. Just keep keeping your head above water and I'll get us back to shore." All of a sudden. She felt a mixture of embarrassment, sadness fear and upsetness come over her. Irritation and mortification came above the rest due to that she was no longer swimming as fluidly or gracefully as she had been before just two days ago, as well as the romantic moment with Eric had just died. She had swam in the ocean all her life and almost drowning now brought back feelings of sadness that she was no longer part of the sea.

Fear came last as flashes of her first emerging out of the sea as a human being, only to find she could not breath unless she was at the surface and that she was unable to swim without the help of her friends guiding her. It sudden increased tenfold as something suddenly wrapped around each of her legs and pulled her downwards, forcing her out of Eric's hold and deep underwater.

Her eyes immediately shut as saltwater stung them. She tried to kick away from whatever was dragging her down, but whatever it was had a firm grip and was not letting go so easily. As her feet suddenly touched the rocky seafloor and the seaweed growing around it, she was released and thrust down onto a rock. She slipped down and her mouth inadvertently opened, letting out all the air she had. Her arms reached out and waved wildly to try and come up for air, but she then realized fearfully her foot had caught on in a crack between two of the stones.

She felt a steady numbness rise up inside her. She blindly tried kicking and batting her arms around, trying to get herself free, but she could not escape. Her lungs began to ache for oxygen and her head throbbed in pain as she still struggled to come up. She felt her mind beginning to drift and lose consciousness. Before everything blacked out completely, she felt something tightly wrap onto her wrist and start pulling. Then she passed out.


In another part of the sea, a cecaelia watched with irritation and some relief at the human prince standing up while carrying an unconscious girl out of the water as a pair of eels wrapped tails with one another and shook in a congratulatory manner while softly cackling.

"Nice work, boys. That was a close one. Too close. She almost had him that time," the sea witch said as, banging her fist against the edges of her loft. "Oh, that little tramp! Ooh, she's much better than I thought. At this rate, he'll be kissing her by sunset for sure. And that cannot happen!"

She swam over to her collection of potions and other magical objects and seized several of them while knocking many of them down onto the floor where they crashed and broke. "Well, it's time Ursula took matters into her own tentacles," she announced as she threw them into her cauldron with bursts of smoke and light when they hit. "Triton's daughter will be mine. And then I'll make him writhe. I'll see him wriggle like a worm on a hook."

She swam up above her cauldron and in an instant she was surrounded by a great golden sphere. Grasping her shell necklace close, it glowed and wisps began coming out of it, slowly advancing to her mouth where it flowed in while she cackled. Her form began thinning out and shrinking. Tentacles retreated and combined together until a pair of legs formed. White haired turned to white and purple skin to tan. Her black skin around her body became a black dress as Ursula transformed.

Unfortunately for her, in another part of her lair, on a covered, glass podium, the glowing, gold scroll with Ariel's signature suddenly flickered. The signature started fading for a moment before returning. And had Ursula been watching she would've seen a small crack began to come down from the top and stop a few inches in as the contract started to become void and the spell permanent.


Oh ho ho. A plot twist. Sorry about the delay, I had some trouble trying to figure out how to approach this chapter as well. I didn't want to copy the scenes word for word and exactly how it was, that be plagiarizing and I don't want that. Still I want there to be familiarity between the film and my story, so I bet you guys can understand the struggle here. Also this helps me continue with my plans, as I now know what to do now for the next chapter.

Anyways, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed my chapter, please leave a review and I'll see you again next time. Sincerely, v.t.7