Woah 0_0 Recently my love of Ariel & Belle has been reignited, mostly thanks to the wonderful pics of XavierHaven at DeviantArt :) So now I'm planning a sequel. Before I could begin though I decided to revisit this; I hadn't read it since it was uploaded. And, woah. That bold does hurt the eyes 0.0 It wasn't intended that way, it was just the font I used on MS Word (Hey, it looked nice there.) So I am planning to upload it all again with minor edits, mostly just an unbolded font. But I will re-read and see if anything needs tweaking.

The sequel has been planned in my head, hopefully I'll have the first chappy up in the next week or so. I am also welcome to suggestions, anything in particular you'd like to see?

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters blah blah its a lesbian fairytale blah don't like don't read yada yada. ;)

PROLOGUE

"A Mermaid's Wish"

Many years ago, deep under the timeless oceanic waters of Northern Europe, there existed a glorious kingdom of merpeople, ruled over by a dignified and well respected but somewhat feared King. The King forbade any contact with humans—the collecting of human treasures, the reading of human literature, why, even surfacing to glance upon the human shore was not allowed, as the King deemed all humans to be barbaric, dangerous creatures devoid of any emotions whatsoever.

Of all the merpeople, the only one to actively disagree with the King's misanthropic sentiments was his own flesh and blood, his daughter; a mermaid princess.

Youngest of seven, she was the prettiest of the King's daughters, possessing a lovely nature to compliment her looks. She was also a renowned singer and amateur artist, the envy of most young mermaids alike.

However, the youngest mermaid princess had a fascination, some would say obsession, with the world above the waves—an interest in which her father disapproved greatly. In fact, unbeknownst to the King or to anyone else, this princesses' fondest dream was to actually be human herself, to live on the land amongst the humans, whom she thought were nowhere near as horrifying as her father preached.

Not long after her sixteenth birthday, the mermaid princess became so overwhelmed by her desire to become human that she sought out the notorious Witch of the Northern Seas, who dwelled alone not far from the merpeople's realm, within a creepy, foreboding cave. The mermaid princess took along with her all of her money and valuable possessions, hoping to exchange them for even just a short amount of time spent as a human.

This greedy beast of malice and magic, an obese squid-like creature, of course accepted the mermaid's plea, and arranged to meet the princess above the surface upon the nearest shore, just after sunset.

That very evening, the Witch of the Northern Seas upheld her end of the bargain, transforming the princesses' fin into a pair of human legs. The mermaid princess was delighted and very grateful, especially when the spell caster handed her a human garment to wear—even if it was but a tatty and torn peasant dress.

Then, much to the mermaid's surprise, the Witch of the Northern Seas magically conjured two more gifts. Firstly, a beautiful, shimmering flower of the sea, known mostly as the violet sea-rose, which blossomed silky purple petals.

Holding the enchanted sea-rose aloft, the Witch declared: "I have made you human for the duration of one year. This flower will bloom for precisely one year and then it will wither and die—that is how you will know your time as a human has ended."

Smirking in a pseudo-friendly manner, the devious beast then leaned closer to the princess. "However," she continued, "if you can find a human to love, one that truly loves you in return before the year is over… you will remain human—permanently."

The princesses' eyes grew wide. She was astounded by the Witch's apparent generosity, especially considering the less than favourable opinion most merpeople seemed to share of her. Needless to say, the mermaid princess was unaware of just how much the Witch desired riches and jewels.

"This second gift will also be invaluable to you," the Witch of the Northern Seas began again, holding an exquisite seashell encrusted hand mirror aloft, "as it has the power to let you see anything you wish to see. Use it to look back upon your home under the sea, the world you will no longer be a part of…"

At these words, the princess grew a little pensive. She was going to miss her home, much more her father and her sisters, but the allure of the human world was simply too much. And, at this time, she had every intention of returning.

Without saying anything, the mermaid princess gently retrieved the gifts from the Witch's hands, then politely smiled and nodded in appreciation.

Glancing out toward the sea for a final moment, the princess sighed, before turning back around to face the land and excitedly, but cautiously, beginning to navigate her way along the beach toward the nearest human town.

Unbeknownst to the princess or the sea witch, the entire evening's events had been witnessed by four of the mermaid's sea-dwelling friends, who were now very concerned about their beloved princess.

This quartet of creatures agreed to follow the princess and watch over her on behalf of the King, as well as for their own peace of mind. So they quietly crept along the beach also, some distance behind the mermaid princess, eager to look out for her and keep her safe from harm. Little did they know their task was going to be anything but easy…

Not noticing the creatures, the Witch of the Northern Seas remained to watch the princess disappear into the distance. Knowing much more of humans than the naïve young princess, she chortled under her breath and said to herself, "Be careful what you wish for…"

As if the Witch of the Northern Seas herself had already planned the unfortunate turn of fate, over the course of the next few weeks the mermaid princess experienced first hand the worst examples of humanity.

The family that offered her a place to stay treated her as nothing more than a lowly slave. The master of the house, a bitter alcoholic, beat her on oft occasions as well as subjecting her to lustful advances.

When in town she was treated as inferior by the locals due to her lack of knowledge of the "whys" and "wherefores" of the human world, and the princess also experienced several terrifying encounters with lecherous louts whilst being forced to accompany her master to the local haunts.

It was not long before the princess realised she must flee this place, for the sake of her sanity if nothing else, so when next the chance came she hitched a ride on the back of a cross-country goods delivery wagon, clutching desperately onto the splintered back doors the whole while, not caring that her fingers became bloodied and sore. This wagon travelled many miles along many different roads before the exhausted princess was eventually discovered, the wagon driver quickly becoming angry at the free-rider, yelling at her in a violent tone. Terrified, she fled into a nearby wood. After her previous experiences with humans, the young mermaid princess now scared very easily.

She decided at this time to stay well away from humans for the remainder of the year, to find a safe haven of her own, protecting her from the brutes, where she would wait for time to pass, for the last petal to fall from her enchanted violet sea-rose.

Continuing her journey on foot, she wandered almost aimlessly without any idea of direction, for many more miles, carefully managing to avoid humans the entire time.

It was impossible now for the princess to know in which direction the sea lied; she was lost, bruised and bewildered, no longer fascinated by humans but instead fearing them.

After yet more miles were travelled, a malnourished and weak princess was relieved and then overjoyed to discover an abandoned castle deep within a misty forest. She soon made the decrepit castle her home, finding clothes, furniture, even food to claim as her own.

The mermaid princess knew not why the bastion had been abandoned and left to become unkempt, nor did she care. Not a soul lived there, or nearby for that matter. It was therefore perfect, in the princesses' eyes.

She found a room to take comfort in as her own, where she placed her sea rose under a glass bell jar atop a dusty wooden table, placing the seashell hand mirror there also.

She often looked through the mirror to see how her father was coping; she felt incredible guilt for leaving the merpeople's kingdom without saying goodbye. She had originally hoped to only be transformed for a much shorter duration; three days, perhaps a week. But now, for nearly an entire year, she had nothing to do but contemplate the horrendous mistake she had made. She was trapped, with no way to return home.

Even when the sea rose was to lose its last petal, the mermaid princess was now miles away from any ocean, and she knew too well that merpeople could only survive for a brief while when placed out of sea water.

Too scared to leave the castle she now knew as home, the mermaid princess knew this meant certain death. She would never see the ocean, or her father, again. Most nights the mermaid princess would become lost in such hopeless thoughts, as she gazed out to the distant horizon whilst standing upon her bedroom balcony. Eventually, she always broke down into tears.

"Am I to die here?" she thought to herself. "Alone and frightened… My father was right. How could I be so foolish?"

Months passed.

The mermaid princess became more disillusioned and detached each day, even after becoming aware of the presence of her sea dwelling friends, whom had somehow managed to loyally follow her the entire distance of her journey.

One night, lost in her thoughts as she leaned upon the bedroom balcony's railing and sobbed, the mermaid princess suddenly and bitterly recalled the Witch of the Northern Seas words: "If you can find a human to love, one that truly loves you in return before the year is over… you will remain human—permanently."

The princess shook her head, and rubbed her eyes in an attempt to dry them.

"Love…? I doubt those creatures are even capable of such a thing. Just like he always said…"

Doomed, distraught, the mermaid princess looked up at the stars.

"Father, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me…"