HOME | DD

Description
Princess Erica sat by the water, looking out at the waves as they lapped the shoreline in a whispering mode. It was very peaceful. The moon was high, a few stars were scattered across the black velvet sky and she was sitting atop the palace wall, looking down at the single strand of sand that the water had not yet reached below her. She was thinking hard.
Perhaps Grimsby, her advisor, mentor and constant friend, was right. Perhaps she was fooling herself in thinking that one day she would see that young man again; the one who had rescued her from the sea during the storm, who had sang to her in a voice so soft and low that it matched the waves. She could briefly remember opening her eyes and seeing him, his handsome, smiling features, although now they seemed a blur. Now the face was different; it was being replaced with Ariel's.
She smiled. Ariel, the strange mute boy she had helped on the beach, who had clearly been the survivor of a similar storm. He might not be able to talk, but he was very sweet and clearly had a great passion for life and he was very charming in his own ways. She sighed. Grimsby was right, she decided; it was time to stop chasing her dream-boy and perhaps turn her attentions to a real-live charming handsome young man instead.
She got to her feet; her intention was to go up to Ariel's room and confess her feelings, for she was almost certain now that she had feelings for him, when suddenly a soft, low sound caught her attention. She turned. Down on the beach, in the shadows, she could see a figure walking along; a man. He was singing and the voice it was so familiar to him...so mesmerising...
Hypnotised, Erica watched her dream-boy walking towards her and hold out a hand to her....

"Ariel! Ariel, baby!" Scattle, the seagull, crowed as she felw in through Ariel's window the next morning. "Congratulations, lad, I never knew ya had it in ya!"
"Huh?" Sebastia, the red crab, lifted her head from the pillow. "What's all the commotion, Scattle?"
Ariel, who had also stirred at Scattle's arrival, blinked at her, still half asleep.
"Oh-ho, like you two don't know!" Scattle siezed Ariel's hand and shook it vigorously. "It's all over the palace; I just heard it from two pigeons who were there! It's official! Princess Erica has found her true love and is going to marry him this evening!"
Ariel sprang to his feet at once, his heart pounding. Erica? Erica had finally fallen in love with him? He wanted to shout out in happiness, but since he was unable to do that, he settled for for kissing Sebastia out of joy instead, then pulling on his robe and hurrying downstairs to the hall. On the landing, however, he stopped short, a sudden panic seizing him.
In the middle of the hall, Erica was standing with Grimsby and another young man...who had his arms around her.
"Well, Erica," Grimsby was saying, "it seems that your mystery man isn't such a mystery after all. I do apologise for not believing you."
"We're going to be married this evening," Erica said, her voice steady. The man tightened his grip on her a little. Ariel almost gasped in shock. No, he thought, no, it couldn't be true. How could it be?
"Of course, of course," Grimsby was now saying. "A wedding at sea, what could be more romantic. I'll have the preparations...prepared at once!"
"Thank you, Grimsby."
Ariel sank to the floor. His heart was breaking into pieces. After all that...all he had done to try and get her to fall in love with him...he'd been so sure...so sure...
Crying silent tears, he hurried away, observed by no one but Sebastia...

The boat set sail with everyone aboard. Everyone except Ariel, that is, because he had been forgotten and left behind. On the dockside, he sat and wept again, watching the boat sail off into the distance. Flounda, his best friend, the yello and blue fish, watched him in sadness. Sebastia sniffed in sympathy.
Suddenly-
"Ariel! Ariel!"
He looked up. It was Scattle. She almost hit the dock in her attempt to land quickly. "Ariel! Thank goodness! Listen, it's a trap! I mean a spell!"
"What? What is?" asked Sebastia.
"It's Ursus! The sea wiz! He's disguised himself as that man that Erica's going to marry! It's a trap to stop you from kissing her before sunset! He wants to take over the sea! We have to stall the wedding somehow!"
"You take care of that!" Sebastia cried, jumping into the water. "Come on, Ariel, we have to get you there!"

Only one person at the wedding wasn't under the spell of Erica's newfound love. That was Max, her dog, who growled at this frightening newcomer. He loved Ariel; why was his mistress marrying this man who had just aimed a kick at him? He tugged on his leash, but Grimsby held him back. "Stay, Max, what's the matter with you?"

Ariel swam as fast as his legs could carry him. How useless they were compared to a tail! He had to hurry...he had to make it in time...

Scattle, however, had a great plan; she had gathered all the aquatic creatures she could find to help them. She led the seagulls in a swooping dive towards Ursus; she led the sealions and seals to knock him into the wedding cake; the starfish and lobsters to attack him; the dolphins to squirt him with water. All this chaos gave Ma the oppertunity to break free from his leash. Scattle dived towards Ursus, trying to break the seashell at his belt that held Ariel's voice. However Ursus wasn't giving up. Almost as if he knew that it would help, Max charged towards Ursus and bit him as hard as he could. He cried out; Scattled pulled the seashell and the string snapped. It felw through the air...

Ariel clambered upon the deck in time to see a seashell flying towards him. It smashed to pieces at his feet and suddenly his voice, his own voice, heard by all around, returned to him. He gasped. Ursus looked thunderous. Erica shook her head. Ariel looked at her and knew that the spell was broken. Max immedietly ran to Ariel and began to bark and bounce at the same time, joyfully. It's him, Erica, he was saying in dog-language, it's him! Erica seemed to understand him for suddenly she ran to him. "Ariel! It was you! It was you all along!"
Ariel gathered her in his arms. "Oh, Erica, I wanted to tell you..."
He reached to kiss her but suddenly, suddenly, he felt himself slipping to the floor. Ursus laughed. "You're too late! The sun has set!"
Ariel looked down in shock; he had a tail again. And now Ursus had taken his true form and was charging towards Ariel. "So long, baby!" he said to Erica and with that he snatched Ariel up and dragged him back down beneath the waves.

"No!" Erica cried, flinging herself at the side of the ship. She couldn't see them, where had they gone? She had to rescue him. She pulled off her veil, tossed her shoes to one side and hurried out of her dress, to the surprise of everyone aboard the ship. "Erica!" cried Grimsby. "What are you doing?"
In her underclothes, Erica snatched up the nearest weapon she could find; a broken harpoon. "I'm not losing hi again, Grim! Not when I've only just found him!"

Beneath the waves, Ursus was laughing. He had finally succeeded. All Ariel could do was stand back, restrained by Flotsam and Jetsam, Ursus' pet eels, as his mother Tritona was transformed into a seaplant in exchange for her trident. "Yes!" Ursus crowed, snatching it up! "It's finally mine! I am the ruler of the sea!"
A sudden burt of strength, combined with rage and hatred, came over Ariel and he charged at Ursus. "You...you...!"
"Don't test me, Prince Ariel!" Ursus snapped, pinning him to the wave with his tentacles and pointing the trident at him. "You forget who has the power now...ah!"
Something sharp had seared past his arm, cutting him. Ursus and Ariel looked up to see Erica, who had just thrown the broken harpoon at Ursus. "Erica, no!" Ariel shouted. "Get away from here!"
"Get her!" Ursus ordered and Flotsam and Jetsam immedietly swam after Erica.
"No!" Ariel shouted again. "She can't survive underwater; let her go! She'll drown!"
"She should have thought of that before she tried to help you!" Ursus sneered.
"Come on!" Sebastia cried to Flounda. "We've got to help!"

Erica broke the surface and took a gulp of air. Just as she was about to hoist herself back into the boat, something grabbed her bags and pulled her back under the water. Flotsam and Jetsam had a grip on her and all her struggling was doing no good. But Sebastia and and Flounda were there to help and together they were able to fight the eels away from Erica.
"Say goodbye to your princess, Ariel!" Ursus leered, aiming the trident at her.
"No!" Ariel lunged at him, grabbing him by the air. The blast meant for Erica hit Flotsam and Jetsam instead, blasting them into nothingness. Ursus, in shock, let go of Ariel who swam to Erica's side. "My poor little pets!" Ursus, with a growl, turned his attention to Erica and Ariel who were swimming to the surface.

Breaking through the waves, Ariel pulled Erica into his arms. "Erica, you have to get away from here."
"You don't think I'm leaving you, do you?" Erica brushed her hair out of her eyes.
"But he'll kill you!"
"I don't care about that!"
Suddenly, Ursus rose out of the sea before them, but he had somehow used the trident's power to make him a giant. "You two really think that you can defeat me?" he boomed. "I, who hold all the power in the sea?"
"He's creating an undertow!" Ariel cried.
Erica looked around her. Debris from the bottom of the sea was coming up all around them, including...her heart began to hammer, a shipwrecked ship with a broken stern. "Ariel, the ship!" she cried, swimming towards it. Ariel made to follow her, but found himself sucked into the undertow with a tremendous force.
"Erica!"
"Ariel!" Erica splashed where she was. "I'll save you!"

The broken stern was what she needed, she thought, as she reached the ship..

Ariel dodged as Ursus aimed a blast from the trident at him. He had nowhere to go; he was trapped and Ursus was going to win...

Erica took hold of the ship's wheel. "Come on," she muttered, as the ship began to move fowards, towards Ursus. "Come on!"

Ursus saw the ship too late as Erica rammed the broken stern into his abdomen. Lightening began to crackle all around them as with a sudden blast, Ursus vanished into nothingness. The blast knocked Erica back into her own small boat. Tossed by the waves, she looked around her as the sea became still. Land was in sight right ahead of her. She sighed in relief...and fainted...

Below the waves, all of Ursus's seaplants became merpeople again; including Tritona, who wielded her trident again and the people cheered.

The sea was calm now, almost silent. Ariel sat on his rock, watching Erica, who was lying on the beach, like she had been when he had first rescued her. He sighed. Now he was a merman again, their love could never be. Tritona and Sebastia watched from afar.
"He really does love her, doesn't he, Sebastia?" Tritona asked preasantly.
"Yes, your majesty. And, really, humans aren't all that bad. She would have risked her life for his."
"Then, there's only on thing I can do."

Ariel looked down as his fins began to glow with a sudden light.He looked up at his mother and beamed. So she was going to let him be a human?

Erica sat up in time to see Ariel coming out of the sea towards her, walking through the waves, dressed in a shirt and trousers, holding out his arms to her. She hurried to her feet and flung herself into his arms. "Ariel! How...how..."
"It's a long story," he replied.
She smiled. "Then I suppose it can wait until our wedding night."
"You really want me?"
"I really love you, Ariel; whether you're man or merman."
"I love you too."
Under the glare of the morning sun, they kissed, unaware that they were being watched by their friends from afar...

The wedding was a grand affair, and since they married aboard Erica's ship, that meant that Ariel's family and friends could attend too. Tritona gladly gave the happy couple her blessing as she came to admit that Sebastia was right; humans weren't all that bad. Although she didn't really appreciate Max showing his appreciation for her by licking her face. Ariel stood at the front of the ship, watching his family as they waved goodbye. He would see them again, of course, in the future. But for now, he was content to simply be with his wife. His wife? He smiled. He would have to get used to that term.
Erica joined him, having thrown her bouquet and left the mad scrabble for it. She looked gorgeous in her new wedding gown. "Hey," she said," are you alright?"
"Alright? Erica, everything's perfect." He put his arms around her and kissed her. "I'm finally with you, my love."
"And I'm finally with you too, my wonderful, lifesaving, kind, handsome boy from the sea."

Picture by xavierhaven

I hope she likes it!

Description
Princess Erica sat by the water, looking out at the waves as they lapped the shoreline in a whispering mode. It was very peaceful. The moon was high, a few stars were scattered across the black velvet sky and she was sitting atop the palace wall, looking down at the single strand of sand that the water had not yet reached below her. She was thinking hard.
Perhaps Grimsby, her advisor, mentor and constant friend, was right. Perhaps she was fooling herself in thinking that one day she would see that young man again; the one who had rescued her from the sea during the storm, who had sang to her in a voice so soft and low that it matched the waves. She could briefly remember opening her eyes and seeing him, his handsome, smiling features, although now they seemed a blur. Now the face was different; it was being replaced with Ariel's.
She smiled. Ariel, the strange mute boy she had helped on the beach, who had clearly been the survivor of a similar storm. He might not be able to talk, but he was very sweet and clearly had a great passion for life and he was very charming in his own ways. She sighed. Grimsby was right, she decided; it was time to stop chasing her dream-boy and perhaps turn her attentions to a real-live charming handsome young man instead.
She got to her feet; her intention was to go up to Ariel's room and confess her feelings, for she was almost certain now that she had feelings for him, when suddenly a soft, low sound caught her attention. She turned. Down on the beach, in the shadows, she could see a figure walking along; a man. He was singing and the voice it was so familiar to him...so mesmerising...
Hypnotised, Erica watched her dream-boy walking towards her and hold out a hand to her....

"Ariel! Ariel, baby!" Scattle, the seagull, crowed as she felw in through Ariel's window the next morning. "Congratulations, lad, I never knew ya had it in ya!"
"Huh?" Sebastia, the red crab, lifted her head from the pillow. "What's all the commotion, Scattle?"
Ariel, who had also stirred at Scattle's arrival, blinked at her, still half asleep.
"Oh-ho, like you two don't know!" Scattle siezed Ariel's hand and shook it vigorously. "It's all over the palace; I just heard it from two pigeons who were there! It's official! Princess Erica has found her true love and is going to marry him this evening!"
Ariel sprang to his feet at once, his heart pounding. Erica? Erica had finally fallen in love with him? He wanted to shout out in happiness, but since he was unable to do that, he settled for for kissing Sebastia out of joy instead, then pulling on his robe and hurrying downstairs to the hall. On the landing, however, he stopped short, a sudden panic seizing him.
In the middle of the hall, Erica was standing with Grimsby and another young man...who had his arms around her.
"Well, Erica," Grimsby was saying, "it seems that your mystery man isn't such a mystery after all. I do apologise for not believing you."
"We're going to be married this evening," Erica said, her voice steady. The man tightened his grip on her a little. Ariel almost gasped in shock. No, he thought, no, it couldn't be true. How could it be?
"Of course, of course," Grimsby was now saying. "A wedding at sea, what could be more romantic. I'll have the preparations...prepared at once!"
"Thank you, Grimsby."
Ariel sank to the floor. His heart was breaking into pieces. After all that...all he had done to try and get her to fall in love with him...he'd been so sure...so sure...
Crying silent tears, he hurried away, observed by no one but Sebastia...

The boat set sail with everyone aboard. Everyone except Ariel, that is, because he had been forgotten and left behind. On the dockside, he sat and wept again, watching the boat sail off into the distance. Flounda, his best friend, the yello and blue fish, watched him in sadness. Sebastia sniffed in sympathy.
Suddenly-
"Ariel! Ariel!"
He looked up. It was Scattle. She almost hit the dock in her attempt to land quickly. "Ariel! Thank goodness! Listen, it's a trap! I mean a spell!"
"What? What is?" asked Sebastia.
"It's Ursus! The sea wiz! He's disguised himself as that man that Erica's going to marry! It's a trap to stop you from kissing her before sunset! He wants to take over the sea! We have to stall the wedding somehow!"
"You take care of that!" Sebastia cried, jumping into the water. "Come on, Ariel, we have to get you there!"

Only one person at the wedding wasn't under the spell of Erica's newfound love. That was Max, her dog, who growled at this frightening newcomer. He loved Ariel; why was his mistress marrying this man who had just aimed a kick at him? He tugged on his leash, but Grimsby held him back. "Stay, Max, what's the matter with you?"

Ariel swam as fast as his legs could carry him. How useless they were compared to a tail! He had to hurry...he had to make it in time...

Scattle, however, had a great plan; she had gathered all the aquatic creatures she could find to help them. She led the seagulls in a swooping dive towards Ursus; she led the sealions and seals to knock him into the wedding cake; the starfish and lobsters to attack him; the dolphins to squirt him with water. All this chaos gave Ma the oppertunity to break free from his leash. Scattle dived towards Ursus, trying to break the seashell at his belt that held Ariel's voice. However Ursus wasn't giving up. Almost as if he knew that it would help, Max charged towards Ursus and bit him as hard as he could. He cried out; Scattled pulled the seashell and the string snapped. It felw through the air...

Ariel clambered upon the deck in time to see a seashell flying towards him. It smashed to pieces at his feet and suddenly his voice, his own voice, heard by all around, returned to him. He gasped. Ursus looked thunderous. Erica shook her head. Ariel looked at her and knew that the spell was broken. Max immedietly ran to Ariel and began to bark and bounce at the same time, joyfully. It's him, Erica, he was saying in dog-language, it's him! Erica seemed to understand him for suddenly she ran to him. "Ariel! It was you! It was you all along!"
Ariel gathered her in his arms. "Oh, Erica, I wanted to tell you..."
He reached to kiss her but suddenly, suddenly, he felt himself slipping to the floor. Ursus laughed. "You're too late! The sun has set!"
Ariel looked down in shock; he had a tail again. And now Ursus had taken his true form and was charging towards Ariel. "So long, baby!" he said to Erica and with that he snatched Ariel up and dragged him back down beneath the waves.

"No!" Erica cried, flinging herself at the side of the ship. She couldn't see them, where had they gone? She had to rescue him. She pulled off her veil, tossed her shoes to one side and hurried out of her dress, to the surprise of everyone aboard the ship. "Erica!" cried Grimsby. "What are you doing?"
In her underclothes, Erica snatched up the nearest weapon she could find; a broken harpoon. "I'm not losing hi again, Grim! Not when I've only just found him!"

Beneath the waves, Ursus was laughing. He had finally succeeded. All Ariel could do was stand back, restrained by Flotsam and Jetsam, Ursus' pet eels, as his mother Tritona was transformed into a seaplant in exchange for her trident. "Yes!" Ursus crowed, snatching it up! "It's finally mine! I am the ruler of the sea!"
A sudden burt of strength, combined with rage and hatred, came over Ariel and he charged at Ursus. "You...you...!"
"Don't test me, Prince Ariel!" Ursus snapped, pinning him to the wave with his tentacles and pointing the trident at him. "You forget who has the power now...ah!"
Something sharp had seared past his arm, cutting him. Ursus and Ariel looked up to see Erica, who had just thrown the broken harpoon at Ursus. "Erica, no!" Ariel shouted. "Get away from here!"
"Get her!" Ursus ordered and Flotsam and Jetsam immedietly swam after Erica.
"No!" Ariel shouted again. "She can't survive underwater; let her go! She'll drown!"
"She should have thought of that before she tried to help you!" Ursus sneered.
"Come on!" Sebastia cried to Flounda. "We've got to help!"

Erica broke the surface and took a gulp of air. Just as she was about to hoist herself back into the boat, something grabbed her bags and pulled her back under the water. Flotsam and Jetsam had a grip on her and all her struggling was doing no good. But Sebastia and and Flounda were there to help and together they were able to fight the eels away from Erica.
"Say goodbye to your princess, Ariel!" Ursus leered, aiming the trident at her.
"No!" Ariel lunged at him, grabbing him by the air. The blast meant for Erica hit Flotsam and Jetsam instead, blasting them into nothingness. Ursus, in shock, let go of Ariel who swam to Erica's side. "My poor little pets!" Ursus, with a growl, turned his attention to Erica and Ariel who were swimming to the surface.

Breaking through the waves, Ariel pulled Erica into his arms. "Erica, you have to get away from here."
"You don't think I'm leaving you, do you?" Erica brushed her hair out of her eyes.
"But he'll kill you!"
"I don't care about that!"
Suddenly, Ursus rose out of the sea before them, but he had somehow used the trident's power to make him a giant. "You two really think that you can defeat me?" he boomed. "I, who hold all the power in the sea?"
"He's creating an undertow!" Ariel cried.
Erica looked around her. Debris from the bottom of the sea was coming up all around them, including...her heart began to hammer, a shipwrecked ship with a broken stern. "Ariel, the ship!" she cried, swimming towards it. Ariel made to follow her, but found himself sucked into the undertow with a tremendous force.
"Erica!"
"Ariel!" Erica splashed where she was. "I'll save you!"

The broken stern was what she needed, she thought, as she reached the ship..

Ariel dodged as Ursus aimed a blast from the trident at him. He had nowhere to go; he was trapped and Ursus was going to win...

Erica took hold of the ship's wheel. "Come on," she muttered, as the ship began to move fowards, towards Ursus. "Come on!"

Ursus saw the ship too late as Erica rammed the broken stern into his abdomen. Lightening began to crackle all around them as with a sudden blast, Ursus vanished into nothingness. The blast knocked Erica back into her own small boat. Tossed by the waves, she looked around her as the sea became still. Land was in sight right ahead of her. She sighed in relief...and fainted...

Below the waves, all of Ursus's seaplants became merpeople again; including Tritona, who wielded her trident again and the people cheered.

The sea was calm now, almost silent. Ariel sat on his rock, watching Erica, who was lying on the beach, like she had been when he had first rescued her. He sighed. Now he was a merman again, their love could never be. Tritona and Sebastia watched from afar.
"He really does love her, doesn't he, Sebastia?" Tritona asked preasantly.
"Yes, your majesty. And, really, humans aren't all that bad. She would have risked her life for his."
"Then, there's only on thing I can do."

Ariel looked down as his fins began to glow with a sudden light.He looked up at his mother and beamed. So she was going to let him be a human?

Erica sat up in time to see Ariel coming out of the sea towards her, walking through the waves, dressed in a shirt and trousers, holding out his arms to her. She hurried to her feet and flung herself into his arms. "Ariel! How...how..."
"It's a long story," he replied.
She smiled. "Then I suppose it can wait until our wedding night."
"You really want me?"
"I really love you, Ariel; whether you're man or merman."
"I love you too."
Under the glare of the morning sun, they kissed, unaware that they were being watched by their friends from afar...

The wedding was a grand affair, and since they married aboard Erica's ship, that meant that Ariel's family and friends could attend too. Tritona gladly gave the happy couple her blessing as she came to admit that Sebastia was right; humans weren't all that bad. Although she didn't really appreciate Max showing his appreciation for her by licking her face. Ariel stood at the front of the ship, watching his family as they waved goodbye. He would see them again, of course, in the future. But for now, he was content to simply be with his wife. His wife? He smiled. He would have to get used to that term.
Erica joined him, having thrown her bouquet and left the mad scrabble for it. She looked gorgeous in her new wedding gown. "Hey," she said," are you alright?"
"Alright? Erica, everything's perfect." He put his arms around her and kissed her. "I'm finally with you, my love."
"And I'm finally with you too, my wonderful, lifesaving, kind, handsome boy from the sea."

Picture by xavierhaven

I hope she likes it!