Disclaimer: I certainly don't own Naruto, Disney or any of its affiliated properties. If I did, I wouldn't be writing this now would I?
"The connection of our hearts…" : Speech (Bold for yelling ,Bijuu, or massive creatures)
'The connection of our hearts…' : Thought
The beach, a few minutes after Prince Eric was taken away…
Ariel was bursting with excitement – she had actually seen so many humans in their natural environment (Naruto didn't count since he was not completely human…she was sure of that since no man should have that much vitality in him. As a mermaid, she could feel the life force of men and her friend's power eclipsed even her father's!)! To make things even better, the man that Naruto was taking care of (Eric, if she overheard correctly), was such a handsome fellow that she could feel her heart already thumping wildly in her breast just thinking about him. When he was coming to his senses, Ariel bolted to safety since she wasn't sure he'd respond well to seeing an actual mermaid but she kept a close eye on the proceedings from a rock nearby the beach. After watching Naruto mislead the Prince (she rolled her eyes at the way Naruto seemed to insinuate that she was a hallucination – she was a fine lady and definitely no illusion!), she spent some time on the rock thinking about what to do next.
While she waved goodbye to Naruto (who already spotted her) however, Sebastian was shaking like a leaf thinking about all the laws they broke that night. While Flounder was relatively nonchalant, the crab could already see the 'manic' light of obsession already growing in the princess' eyes so he jumped in front of her to try and put an end to this madness.
"Princess, while I can't fault you for trying to save that human, all this must be kept secret from King Triton! We can't be seen on the surface anymore – let us return to Atlantica and forget about all this nonsense now…" He said, only to be waved off by Ariel, who seemed not to even care what the crab was saying(she was now a maiden in love and as such, only had a single minded focus on the object of her affections).
"Oh Flounder, I simply must meet Eric again! I don't think I can hold my feelings back – he must be my True Love! I must talk to Naruto tomorrow – maybe he knows a way I can become human so I can be a part of Eric's world!" Ariel said, energetically leaping back into the ocean, where she made a beeline for the royal palace so that she could get a good night's sleep and prepare to find Naruto the next day – she had a quest to complete!
Unfortunately, the gleeful girl's antics didn't go unnoticed – while she made her way back to her home, Flotsam and Jetsam (a pair of moray eels under Ursula's employ) were also busy relaying the information they got from the whole situation to their mistress. While Ariel's infatuation with Eric was very interesting(and very exploitable), the eels also told her something more interesting – apparently, the one responsible for killing so many sharks recently was also Ariel's friend and he was a human called Naruto. Upon hearing that name, Ursula's eyes sharpened as she remembered a strange vision she received a few months ago – in her trance, she was visited by a dragon fairy queen in human form who called herself the Mistress of all Evil. The pretentious title notwithstanding, Ursula was warned by Maleficent that her destiny was to meet a sticky end – her plans would be foiled one way or another but she had a chance to change her fate. All she had to do was ensure that a human man called Naruto was not allowed to interfere with the people of this world, with a greater focus on actually trying to eliminate him. Ursula was warned of the man's great powers (even though the sea witch scoffed at the idea of some mere mortal challenging her magic) and was even gifted a boost in magic by the fairy, saying that it was insurance from her masters before she disappeared.
It had been a long time since then and Ursula had forgotten most of the vision (she would have dismissed it outright if not for the undeniable truth of her boosted powers) so when she received the news from her minions, she was torn between glee and somber deviousness.
"So, the youngest daughter of Triton covets a human, a prince to boot I see…well, just make sure that little whelp comes to me for her wish to be granted. After all, a dreamer like her would make a fine addition to my collection and complete my revenge against Triton!" She said, looking over to her cave, which was filled with polyps, the remnants of hapless supplicants who were ensnared by the sea witch's saccharine scams and reduced to such pathetic forms instead. Ursula was originally a member of King Triton's court before her experiments in dark magic had her exiled from the kingdom – as a result, the witch nursed a vendetta for Triton that burned brightly for several years. Now, she finally saw a way she could extend her reach to rule both the land and ocean while also sticking to the 'arrogant' king as well!
"However, her human friend could be trouble. While I don't think he's any different from the other fleshbags on land, I should ensure he doesn't meddle with my plans…" She mumbled, ordering her eels to follow after Ariel while she cast a scrying spell on the fishing town. Nothing remarkable appeared to her magical gaze but after a few minutes of searching, she was suddenly pushed out of her spell by a powerful burst of dark magic that also dispelled hers. Now more than a little confused, Ursula tried to re cast the spell but to no effect.
"Strange…I can't scry the human settlement anymore. If this Naruto is a goody two shoes then this dark magic surely can't be his. Perhaps there is a fellow human witch on the surface – such a prodigious amount of power means that that such a woman would be a great ally when I take over the human kingdom…" Ursula said, cackling in delight as her plans broadened in scope, unaware that Grimhilde (whose magic she sensed earlier) would sooner turn her into calamari than join forces with her. After all, even if she was completely evil, why would she ally with such a weak witch?
A few weeks later, the Atlantica royal palace…
It had been a long couple of weeks for Ariel – now nursing a great crush on Prince Eric, she found it hard to focus on anything for any significant amount of time before relapsing into sighing amorously while looking to the surface absently. Her father and sisters were confused – they were used to Ariel's constant attempts to try and visit the surface and when they saw her acting lovestruck, they could only guess that she had fallen in love with a merman. While that sounded alright, what they didn't know was that Ariel was longing for a different breed of man, a fact that Sebastian knew all too well and the secret was slowly fraying his peace of mind.
'What do I do, what do I do?! If the king catches wind of the fact that Ariel loves a human, he'll have my head on a platter! I can't even look him in the eye anymore, such is the extent of my guilt. Oh why must a humble crab like myself have to deal with the willful antics of a teenager?' Sebastian complained mentally as he scurried after Ariel in the halls of the palace. The crab was then broken out of his thoughts when Ariel suddenly perked up before turning to him.
"Sebastian, I can't take it anymore – I am going to visit Eric! Maybe Naruto could help me find him…" Ariel mumbled as Sebastian's eyes bulged in shock.
"Nonsense Ariel! Why would you even want to go to the icky surface when you have the grand ocean to explore instead? Besides, I have a concert planned and I want you to attend!" He said, hurriedly grabbing her hand before pulling her into the concert hall, where a great deal of fish were called over for an impromptu concert(the crab was desperate after all) . Unfortunately, while the crab composed a great song, Ariel didn't stick around – when the song was over, she was nowhere to be seen(unknown to Sebastian, Flounder had come over and asked Ariel to follow him to the grotto, saying that he had a surprise for her).
"Damn that girl – she couldn't even be bothered to stay and listen to my musical number? How rude…" Sebastian grumbled before his tirade was interrupted when a royal herald swam over to him to deliver a summons by the king.
"Oh no, this is it, this is the end…I knew we couldn't keep it secret for long…might as well come clean with it all…" He said, shakily approaching the royal chamber doors before timorously pushing them open to see the King looking at him with an imperious gaze.
"Sebastian, do you have anything to report? Like about the impromptu concert in my castle perhaps?"
"It was an accident sire! I didn't mean to disrupt the peace, it's just that Ariel wanted to go the surface to visit Eric…" Sebastian said before clapping his claws over his mouth in shock while Triton's expression grew thunderous.
"Sebastian. Tell me everything you know and don't leave anything out." He said, rising to his feet as he hefted his trident onto his shoulders while Sebastian cowered in fear.
"Yes sire…"
Meanwhile, back with Ariel…
Ariel was taken to the grotto by Flounder, where she found a surprising sight – the golden statue of Eric lost in the storm was sitting innocently amongst her treasures! She excitedly rushed over to admire it while sighing in rapture all the while.
"Oh Flounder, this is amazing! How did you manage to get it all the way here? It looks pretty heavy after all?" Ariel said, tracing the facial features of the statue before turning to Flounder, who looked a little sheepish.
"Well…the humans already had Naruto searching for the statue and I met him fishing it out of the wreckage of the prince's ship. I might have convinced him to bring it here for you though – did you know that he can use some magic to breath underwater?! At least he said that his wife could cast such spells…" Flounder said as Ariel's eyes widened in shock that Naruto was no stranger to magic.
"That's amazing! Maybe I should visit him then – he might know how to turn me human!" She said, her tail swishing excitedly.
The peaceful atmosphere in the grotto was quickly disturbed though, when a guilty Sebastian and an irate Triton entered the cave, the king's eyes roaming over all of his daughter's treasures in disgust.
"Ariel! What is all of this! I told you not to find the humans and you spend your time collecting all of this trash! And what is this I heard from Sebastian about you having a human friend?! Have you lost your mind?!" Triton shouted as Ariel looked shocked for a second before swimming in front her father with a cross look.
"It's not garbage daddy! Why can't you see that the humans aren't as bad as you say they are? I even asked my friend Naruto to show me how the humans celebrate and we saved their prince! The prince was so handsome too – I think I even love him!" Ariel shouted in return as Triton's grip on his trident tightened with every word before her confession finally had him losing all his composure.
"Love?! You LOVE a human! This is madness – all the humans do is destroy and you are telling me you LOVE ONE OF THEM! AND THEIR PRINCE NO LESS?!Enough of this – I clearly have been too lenient with you – this obsession with the humans ends here, starting with all this garbage you piled up here!" Triton roared in anger before lifting his trident and using its lightning magic to blast everything in the cave into smithereens. In a few minutes, Ariel's precious hoard had been reduced to nothing but scraps and once Triton's rage had subsided, he watched his daughter collapse to the floor in tears, her sobbing making him swim away in guilt. Now that all the fracas was over, Flounder and Sebastian tried to comfort her but the two were quickly rebuffed and sent away by Ariel, who wished to mourn her loss in solitude.
It was then when Flotsam and Jetsam swam into the grotto, sensing an opportunity to sway the princess over to their mistress. They approached the girl before hissing at her, telling her to follow them to their mistress.
"Y-you want me to follow you? Are you saying that Ursula knows how to turn me into a human?" Ariel said, wiping her eyes as the eels nodded at her, their sibilant hissing echoing in the grotto.
"Okay – take me to her. I am ready." Ariel said, steeling her resolve.
'Just you wait Eric-I am coming for you. Once Ursula turns me human, Naruto can take me to you. Wait for me, my Prince!'
And that was chapter 66! I wanted to include Ariel's transformation here but the chapter already got too long. Next chapter we'll see Ariel learn the ropes of being human in time to kiss Eric (or will she – Naruto is pretty charismatic and Disney characters are pretty one dimensional). Ursula also knows of Naruto, and her plans have changed slightly. Stay tuned to see what changes!
If you'd like to support me you can find me on Patreon on the 'search for creators' bar under DudeWithaMac (I only get free time on Sundays since money's extremely tight-details on Panacea chapter 14). Alternatively, you guys can follow this link:p#at#re#on.#com/DudeWithaMac (remove the hash tags). Reviews and comments are always welcome!