The Voice, The Witch, and the Dark Lord

Chapter Eleven: The True Tales of a Sea Witch ("Poor Unfortunate Souls")

Another strange sight, and another slight feeling of déjà vu. Ariel felt that she had seen this place before, in a dream perhaps? Or was Hermione's memory potion not as strong as she thought? After all, if Ariel could still feel the slight urge that she might remember something, the potion must not have been strong enough.
She had swam through the entrance, where a great quantity of wrinkly, wormlike creatures writhed around as though being tortured. One reached up and wrapped around her arm, and dragged her down with such force, and Ariel struggled to free herself. Suddenly, a voice came to her ears.
"Come in, Ariel darling," said a raspy, familiar voice. Ariel knew she had heard this voice from somewhere once before. "We mustn't lurk in doorways, and we mustn't get cold fins." Ariel turned to leave, but Flotsam and Jetsam were blocking her way.
"I...shouldn't be here," said Ariel. "Daddy told me that you're the reason my mother died!"
"Oh, now, dear Ariel," said Ursula kindly, her tentacles extended to Ariel. "What happened to your mother was a terrible, unfortunate accident. Oh, the poor soul. In fact, it wasn't even I who killed her! It was a ship full of humans! And what's more, I did my very best to save her!"
"An...accident?" asked Ariel hesitantly.
"But, of course!" said Ursula. "Now, the truth is that the ocean wasn't big enough for both your father and me. So, he sent me here. And now I see he's driven you away, too."
"He doesn't understand me," said Ariel. "No one does..."
"Oh, now, well I do, my child," said Ursula. "We're so very alike, you and I. Outcasts from our home, girls with ambition! Now, tell me absolutely everything..."
"Well, I'm in love with someone," said Ariel. "A...human..."
"A prince I hear. Quite a catch!" said Ursula. "Well, the answer to your problem is simple. The only way to get what you want... is to become a human yourself..."
"C-Can you do that?" asked Ariel.
With a smirk, Ursula turned to face her. "My dear, sweet child, that's what I do." Her tentacles gently touched Ariel's face, lifting her chin so that Ariel would look at Ursula, and Ariel did her best to turn away from the hideous sight. "It's what I live for. To help unfortunate merfolk, like yourself! Poor souls with no one else to turn to..."
She began to sing.
"I admit that in the past, I've been a nasty. They weren't kidding when they called me, well, a witch... But you'll find that, nowadays, I've mended all my ways. Repented, seen the light, and made a switch. True? Yes..." She swam over to her cauldron, and, with a wave of her hand, she opened it. "And I fortunately know a little magic, it's a talent that I always have possessed." With a wave of her hand, she made her cauldron open. "And here lately, please don't laugh, I use it on behalf of the miserable," she raised her hand and a sad hologram of a merman popped up in her cauldron, "the lonely," she raised her hand again and a sad mermaid hologram popped up in her cauldron, "and depressed..."
She turned to Flotsam and Jetsam, and whispered, "Pathetic..."
She looked back into the cauldron, and began to sing their story. "Poor, unfortunate souls! In pain, in need." She indicated the sad mermaid, who was overweight. "This one longing to be thinner," she then indicated the merman who was weak and scrawny-looking, "that one wants to get the girl. And do I help them?" She snapped her fingers, and the mermaid become a beautiful, skinny mermaid, and the merman become muscular and handsome, and they swam into each other's arms. "Yes, indeed." The wormlike creatures writhed around, as if struggling to free themselves from the ground. Flounder and Sebastian entered quietly, Sebastian swimming cautiously, doing his best not to let Ursula know he was there, and Flounder shaking in fear as he looked at the Sea Witch's demented figure and the strange wormlike creatures that Ursula kept. "Those poor, unfortunate souls," sang Ursula. "So sad, so true! They come flocking to my cauldron, crying, 'Spells, Ursula, please!' And I help them? Yes, I do!" Ursula turned with a face of despair to her cauldron. "Now, it's happened once or twice, someone couldn't pay the price... And, I'm afraid, I had to rake 'em 'cross the coals..." With a wave of her hand, the two hologram merpeople became two of the wormlike creatures stuck in the ground. She closed her cauldron with another wave of her hand. "Yes, I've had the odd complaint, but on the whole, I've been a saint to those poor, unfortunate souls!" She floated back towards Ariel, her body causing a shadow to fall on the wormlike creatures, who were Ursula's collected poor, unfortunate souls, and the souls all trembled with fear at the sight of the Witch.
"Now, here's the deal..." said Ursula to Ariel, her tentacles reaching out to bring Ariel closer to her. "I will make you a potion that will turn you into a human for three days. You got that? Three days. Now, listen here, this is important," said Ursula, opening her cauldron with another wave of her hand. With another hand motion, three hologram circles appeared in the cauldron, which represented the sun. They moved in a clockwise fashion, representing the rising and setting of each. "Before the sun sets on the third day, you've got to get dear old princey to fall in love with you!" As the three suns all set, a hologram crown appears in their place, representing Prince Eric. A heart appeared in the center of the crown, symbolizing love. "That is," continued Ursula, "he's got to kiss you. And not just any kiss..." Suddenly, the heart in the crown's center began to glow, and a beautiful golden light emerged from it, representing magic. "The kiss of true love. If he does kiss you, before the sun sets on the third day..." A hologram silhouette image of Ariel running replaced the crown and heart, and the silhouette symbolized Ariel's human form. "...you'll remain human permanently. But, if he doesn't..." The silhouette Ariel stopped running, and her legs were replaced with a tail, symbolizing Ariel turning back into her original form. "...you'll turn back into a mermaid, and..." Ariel's mermaid silhouette was sucked into a tornado-like whirlpool, and Ursula closed the cauldron with another hand motion. "...you belong to me."
Sebastian couldn't stand it any longer. "No, Ariel!" shouted Sebastian, only to have Flotsam and Jetsam come and wrap themselves around both Sebastian and Flounder, rendering them both silent and keeping them from interfering.
"Have we got a deal?" asked Ursula.
Ariel debated this. "If I become human," said Ariel, "I'll never be with my father or sisters again..."
"That's right!" said Ursula thoughtfully, then reminded Ariel of Eric. "But, you'll have your man!" She laughed ever so slightly. "Life's full of...tough...choices, isn't it?" Ursula laughed even louder. "Oh! And there is one more thing. We haven't discussed the subject of payment! You can't get something for nothing, you know!"
"But, I haven't got any-" began Ariel.
"I'm not asking much," interrupted Ursula, placing one tentacle over Ariel's lips to get her to stop talking. "Just a token, really, a trifle! You'll never even miss it!" She used her tentacles to bring Ariel closer, and forced her to look at Ursula. "What I want from you is...your voice." One tentacle touched Ariel's chin, lifting it up slightly.
"M-My voice?" asked Ariel, confusedly.
"That's right," said Ursula, as she began to make a list. "No more talking, singing, zip!"
"But, without my voice," said Ariel, "how will I ever-?"
"You'll have your looks," said Ursula, "your pretty face! And don't underestimate the importance of...body language! Ha!" She swam up to a cabinet full of potion ingredients. "The men up there don't like a lot of blabber! They think a girl who gossips is a bore!" With a wave of her hand, the cabinet magically opened. "Yes, on land, it's much preferred for ladies not to say a word! And after all, dear, what is idle babble for?" She began grabbing ingredients from her cabinet, and she threw them into the water, sending them adrift. "Come on! Men aren't all that impressed with conversation! True gentlemen avoid it when they can!" The ingredients, which had at first been peacefully floating, dropped into the cauldron so quickly, it was as if gravity itself had been altered. "But they dote, and swoon, and fawn on a lady who's withdrawn!" Ursula grabbed a tongue from her cabinet and threw it into the cauldron. "And it's she who holds her tongue that gets her man!" Lights burst from the cauldron, magic surrounding both Ariel and Ursula. "Come on, you poor, unfortunate soul! Go ahead! Make your choice!" As Ursula waved her hand again, Prince Eric's face was projected by magic in the cauldron. Ariel looked into the hologram Eric's eyes, lost in her fantasies again. "I'm a very busy woman, and I haven't got all day! It won't cost much..." Suddenly, Eric's lips moved, but Ursula's voice came out, "Just your voice!" Ariel jumped back in fear, as Eric's face disappeared and Ursula's face replaced his. "You poor, unfortunate soul! It's sad, but true!" With another hand motion, a yellow scroll appeared, and a fishbone quill next to it. Ariel knew she had seen something like this before, but she did not know from where she had seen it. "If you want to cross a bridge, my sweet, you've got to pay the toll. Take a gulp and take a breath, and go ahead and sign the scroll." Ursula leaned in to Flotsam and Jetsam, who had let go of Sebastian and Flounder, and whispered to them, "Flotsam, Jetsam, now I've got her, boys!" She began to sing again, and she twirled around, floating towards the roof. "The boss is on a roll!" She pointed to Ariel. "This poor!" Ariel grabbed the quill. "Un!" Sebastian and Flounder gasped in horror. "Fortunate soul!!" Ariel looked away and signed the scroll with her signature. The scroll magically rolled up by itself, and made its way to Ursula's hand. She returned to her cauldron, and she sang the spell necessary to take Ariel's voice. "Beluga, sevruga, come winds of the Caspian Sea! Larynxis, glaucydis, et max, laryngitis, la voce to me!" Green light burst from the cauldron, and, as Ursula lifted her hands, two green hands made of magic appeared. "Now, sing," said Ursula.
Ariel sang the tune which she had sung to Harry on their journey to the West Reef the previous year. Though she never remembered the occasion, the melody somehow was never plucked from her memory. "Ah ah ahhh, ah ah ahhh, ah ah ahhh, ah ah, ah ah ahhh," sang Ariel. Ribbons of green flew around her, and her throat began to glow with a greenish color.
"Keep singing!" shouted Ursula.
"Ah ah ahhh," sang Ariel, and one of the green hands slashed Ariel's throat, causing it to glow even brighter, and causing her voice to echo ever so slightly. "Ah ah ahhh, ah ah ahhh," continued Ariel, as the second green hand forced its way down Ariel's throat, and pulled out a green sphere, causing her throat's green glow to diminish, and the echo was resolved. The green sphere continued the melody itself, and Ariel grabbed her throat as she realized she couldn't sing anymore. The hand that held her voice turned into a simple green ribbon again, and Ariel's voice was dragged into Ursula's shell that she wore around her neck, and the shell glowed with a soft, yellow light.
Suddenly, the cauldron burst with even more magic and light. Green light exploded everywhere, causing Ariel to close her eyes, because of the blinding rays of light. Magic engulfed her, and her tail was not able to be seen, for it was covered in ribbons of green light. Suddenly, her tail was split into two pieces, and the fins were replaced by feet, and her two tails were replaced with legs, and her gills were replaced with lungs, and she could not breathe.
Flounder and Sebastian noticed this, and began to swim in haste to help Ariel up to the surface.
In the midst of all this, all that was audible was the horrid and sinister wicked laughter of Ursula the Sea Witch.