what's a fire and how does it - what's the word? - burn
so i have this disney playlist i listen to usually when iām driving and i was blasting poor unfortunate souls this morning and i was thinking
what if ariel didnāt sign the scroll?
because sheās about to, okay, and she looks at the paper. the parchment made of seaweed, the ones thatās specially treated to survive underwater. and she thinks of her cave of treasures, her books that remain perfectly preserved underwater. āno thank you,ā she says slowly, becoming keenly aware of air of this place, of the not-people sheād seen who hadnāt been able to pay the price for sea witchās bargain. āi ā no. thank you. but no.ā
ursula tries to convince her otherwise, but ariel runs. she goes back to her cave, destroyed as it was by her fatherās anger, and thinks.
sheās the daughter of triton. her books never got wet, though she lives in the ocean. she feels a pull inside her, to the land, to somewhere else, but what if ā what if ā
what if she doesnāt need the sea witch or her father to perform magic for her? what if she has her own?
ursula had wanted her voice because thatās how she performed her magic. singing in this cave had given it powers and protection, and when she saved her prince from the sea ā she sang then too, to keep him safe, to guide him back to life and away from death.
so she has magic. she only needs to figure out how to use it.
so thatās what ariel does now. sheās quiet and keeps to herself, and her father and sisters think that itās because sheās upset with her father, that sheās busy licking her wounds. sheās moved on from that. she has no trident, and is uninterested with fueling her magic with the souls of the damned like ursula has. so she needs to figure something else out.
she does what sheās not supposed to do, and goes where sheās not supposed to go, slipping past the guards and patrols to the one place in the sea that is forbidden to all of them.
the crevice in the earth where what remains of her grandmother lives.
ariel goes to amphitrite, and the sea goddess is so much bigger than ariel, the size of great whale as she curls at the bottom of the sea floor, too old and too tired to do anything more than sleep. āgranddaughter,ā the great being croaks, opening an eye as blue and as unfathomable as the sea, āyou look like me.ā
āthey say i look like my mother,ā she says, and to herself adds: thatās why father can barely stand to look at me.
āyou have more of me in you than your mother,ā she says, and she shifts and pulls her mass of red hair over her shoulder. āmore of me in you than your father does, even.ā
āi have magic,ā she says, pulling her bravery to the fore as she swims closer to her grandmother, āi want you to teach me how to use it.ā amphitrite pushes herself up, and itās the first time sheās moved in a millennia, and ariel notices for the first time that her grandmother isnāt a mermaid ā she has legs.
āyou have power,ā amphitrite corrects fiercely, āand i will teach you to wield it.ā
and so she does. ariel spends her nights by her grandmother, learning to harness the power of the sea that runs in her veins, and sleeps her days away while her sisters and flounder and sebastian grow more and more concerned, but she refuses to tell them why. she refuses to be stopped.
but her heart still aches. she fell in love with her prince, and she wants him still. so she swims to the edge, goes to the beach where his castle resides in the dead of night when her lessons with her grandmother are complete, and sings
. sheās careful not to let any magic leak through, only her voice. she does not want to enchant him. she wants him to love her as she is. so she sings, her voice clear and powerful and cutting through the air. she hopes he can hear it.
then one day a figure walks to the beach, and itās him, her prince. āhello?ā he calls out, āare you out there? are you ā please, it was you that saved me, wasnāt it? wonāt you come out and let me see you?ā
so she does, waves her tail at him until he catches sight of her and takes hesitant, disbelieving steps closer.
āyouāre a mermaid,ā he says, eyes wide, āi thought i saw ā but it couldnāt be.ā
āi am, and it can,ā she says, heart beating wildly in her chest. heās just as handsome as she remembered, and she wants him just as much. āmy name is ariel.ā
āariel,ā he repeats, and pulls off his boots and goes wading into the water, watching her to see if she flinches away from him. she doesnāt, and his strides grow bolder. āmy name is eric.ā
āeric,ā she whispers, and when heās close enough he touches her, trailing fingers across the bare skin of her shoulder and tangling them in her hair.
when he kisses her, she feels powerful enough to undo the world.
so thereās that now, spending her nights with her grandmother and her prince, and she knows how to make her own legs now, could walk onto land and be made a queen among the two legged men.
but sheās a princess here first, and before she can do that she needs to take care of something.
the rotten sea witch with her rotten sea magic wonāt be allowed to torment her people any longer.
she tells her grandmother, and amphitrite smiles and says, āan excellent decision, child. iāve enjoyed our time together, but i think itās time for me to sleep once more. iāve taught you everything i can.ā
and tears prick arielās eyes, but she holds them back. she knew that it couldnāt be forever, that her grandmother canāt die but no longer desires to live and this is the in-between.
āyouāll be an amazing queen,ā amphitrite murmurs, and closes her eyes for a millennia more.
this isnāt something to be done in the dead of night, although it would be easier to do it then.
she will make a spectacle of it, she will remind the sea that her people are not to be trifled with.
once upon a time they feared a blue eyed, red haired sea queen with the power to destroy them all. itās time for them to do so again.
so she drives ursula to the center of the city. her sisters cower and people hide, and her father comes rushing forward to save her.
āyouāve committed great crimes against my people,ā she says, not flinching as lightning gathers in the sea witchās hands, āso now shall a great crime be committed against you.ā
āfoolish girl,ā the sea witch snarls.
triton is yelling. he wonāt get there in time.
she doesnāt need to sing anymore. instead she lifts her hands and pulls ursula apart without ever touching her, not only renders flesh from bone but also sets free the souls sheās been hoarding, reverses the magic done to those whoād fallen into the sea witchās trap.
they all stare at her, her people, her father, and her sisters. she looks to triton and says, āiām not a little girl anymore.ā
he opens his mouth, closes it again, then says, āi can see that.ā
all at once everyoneās perceptions are turned sideways about their youngest princess. she commands a power that even her father doesnāt have access to, sheās not depressed and dreamy ā sheās powerful young woman who knows exactly what sheās doing.
so she does what she wanted to do, she gives herself legs and steps onto the sand and launches herself into ericās arms. she becomes his bride, and the rumors run rampant of what she is, of where she came from, but they canāt prove anything and so they rule.
they live long, happy lives. ariel is his consort, his advisor, his wife, his tactician, and his best friend. all those years reading drowned books have certainly paid off. she ages herself along with her husband, bears his children and then teaches them they ways of her ā their ā people.
her husband dies, and she disappears, like the stories of selkie women that everyone whispers around her. their children give their father a sea burial, and vow to see him again one day. what they know and none of their subjects do is this ā their fatherās body isnāt in that casket.
she returns to her ocean, her legs form into her glittering green tail, and she goes home. she uses her terribly powerful magic, and brings her husband with her. she went from princess ariel of the sea to queen ariel of the land, and now sheās back again.
sheās not quite a teenager, but neither is she the old woman she pretended to be on land. sheās returned her and her husband to the prime of their life, and as she gained legs to be with him, he now gives his up to be with her.
eric becomes a merman, and a prince by virtue of being arielās husband.
she returns to her family and her world without missing a beat, and they all welcome her as if she never left, treat her husband with kindness and respect.
it doesnāt matter that sheās the youngest. when, far in the future, tritonās reign ends ā
arielās reign will begin.
theartofmadeline
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andulkaphoto
discoholicmusic
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janainaart
areudirty
romaincrisis
