"If only I could be part of your world." Ariel cradled the dark-haired man in her lap hardly able to believe the events of the day. She never imagined that she would be able to touch him one day let alone hold him. He shivered as the cold water splashed against the rock and clung tightly to Ariel trying to burrow into her warmth. "I'd be yours forever." She whispered.
Ariel didn't know much about human affairs, but she knew something nefarious happened. The water was peaceful as she spent the day watching her love man his ship. But once night fell men snuck off the ship one by one, taking the life-rafts and leaving their Prince behind. Once the last man left, they set fire to a cloth and threw it onto the boat's deck.
Ariel jumped out of the sea and into the boat cursing her useless fins. She waddled through the ship calling for Eric as smoke began to fill her lungs. Then at the last minute, she found the prince and pulled him to safety. The ship exploded before her very eyes. If not for Ariel, men who were supposed to be loyal to Eric would have successfully murdered him!
Ariel shook her head. She wished that she had legs. If she had legs, if she could be part of his world, she would protect the prince from such traitorous men.
Before long, she heard calls in the distance. "Prince Eric." The call echoed, and she breathed a sigh of relief. As the voices became closer, Ariel knew that her prince would be saved. She prepared herself to jump back into the sea so that the men wouldn't see her.
"Please don't go," Eric whispered from parched lips.
"I'm sorry, I must. Don't worry, you're safe now." She cooed before jumping into the water.
"At least tell me your name." He whispered.
She jumped out of the water and did a backflip before breathing her name into the sky, "Ariel," she said as she landed back into the water. Her heart raced. Prince Eric wanted her to stay. He wanted to know her name. She hugged herself and watched as the humans found the prince and carried him to safety. If only she could be part of his world.
A few days later, she heard it. "Ariel." Prince Eric's voice echoed into the sea. He was looking for her.
Ariel happily swam to the shore to meet the man that she saved – the man that she loved.
Their eyes met as she burst out of the ocean and landed on a large boulder in the shallow part of the water.
"I didn't dream it. You're real." Prince Eric's voice was made of silk.
"I'm glad to see that you're okay," Ariel said.
"Thanks to you." Ariel smiled at the Prince's words, but she quickly grew self-conscious as the Prince studied her tail.
"How did you save me with no legs?" He asked.
"It was hard," Ariel admitted. "This was a mistake."
"No," Eric called to her before she could swim back into the water.
Ariel bit her lip and stayed on the rock despite her better judgment. "My father insists that I get married."
Hot tears formed at the back of her eyes threatening to spill. Why was he torturing her so?
"I can't marry a girl that I can't trust." He continued.
"Whatever do you mean?" Ariel asked.
"The princess my father picked out tried to have me assassinated. I'm sure it was her." He said.
Ariel gasped. How could any woman who was lucky enough to marry someone as beautiful as Prince Eric try to kill him? "My father tried to question the men involved, but they were all murdered."
Ariel gasped. "It was a massacre." Eric continued. "Yet my father still wants me to marry her."
Ariel shook her head. "That can't be right."
Eric stepped into the water and walked straight to the rock Ariel perched on. "If I marry, I want her to be trustworthy and loyal. I want her to be you." He was so close. His lips grew nearer and nearer, and Ariel leaned in greedily losing herself in the kiss as his solid arms wrapped around her body. Everything began to spin. Ariel didn't know if it was from happiness about the kiss or something else. The world became pitch black as her eyes became heavy and she lost consciousness in the Prince's arms.
Ariel didn't know how long she had been unconscious. Her brain first registered the pain. There was so much pain. Her tailfin hurt so badly. She tried to look at it, but a blanket was laid over her. She groaned.
"Good morning love." She blinked her eyes open at Eric's voice. He wore a big rubber apron smeared with blood.
Ariel tried to back away, "What happened. Where am I," she demanded.
"I found a way for you to be a part of my world." Eric smiled.
"How?" Ariel felt the hot tears fall down her cheeks as Eric stepped aside revealing the bloody stump of her fin on the floor still moving of its own volition. Bile began to boil up from her stomach. She reached for the blanket that covered her and pulled it off revealing her tail fin.
Two human legs were attached where her tail fin should have been. "Don't you love them?" Eric smiled.
"You're sick." Ariel breathed.
Eric's face contorted at her words. "Vanessa said the same thing. Then she tried to have me assassinated. You know what I did." His hand whipped out and he grabbed one of Ariel's new legs. "I cut off all their heads and I planted them in a garden. I planned a romantic walk through that garden; however, Vanessa didn't appreciate my hard work. But you Ariel, I knew you would appreciate it, so I cut off that traitor's legs and gave them to you and now you're mine forever.
