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Chapter 8: Forgive or Forget

(Ariel)

Ariel darted far beneath the surface, no longer wanting anything to do with Elsa or her magic. Her tail whipped in the water, up and down, beating currents to the surface, undoubtedly thrashing the very boat that contained the blonde witch. As she made her way further into the depths of the sea and into the swell of darkness rising from the seafloor, the once golden glow that had permeated the sea with its warmth had vanished. Ariel's dark-sea vision gave her sight as she barreled her way toward the seafloor.

When Ariel finally reached the seafloor, she had dove at it, her body crashing hard into the soft dirt and her tail coming down behind her, slamming into the smooth soil. A thick cloud of dirt and dust plumed up into the water, enveloping the mermaid. Ariel beat her fists into the soft dirt and let out a blood-curdling shriek that was sure to alert every known sea creature within fifty fathoms of her presence.

"How could I be so stupid as to trust another human," she screamed. Her face was flushed coral red and she could feel her body seething, trembling, with anger and betrayal. "I fell for it again. Again!" Ariel continued beating her fists into the seabed, more dirt and debris exploding into the water around her.

"I hate humans! I hate them all!" Had she been human herself she was sure that her cheeks would have been stained with tears. As it were, though, mermaids don't cry tears like humans do. Ariel's breath trembled as did her jaw and her hands as she pounded her fists continuously into the soft dirt beneath her.

"I rescued a witch. I rescued Ursula!" Ariel thrashed her tail into the soft dirt of the seabed as if she was a little mergirl again throwing a temper tantrum. She felt incredibly childish at beating on the seafloor, but it also felt good to vent her anger. Plus, there was the added bonus of having no one around, like her sisters, to make fun of her for the way she was acting or for attempting to trust a human again.

The thought of rescuing someone like her aunt stayed in her mind, playing over and over, eliciting more anger from the young mermaid. Her sharp nails dug into the palms of her hands as her fists clenched tighter and tighter, bearing the whites of her knuckles. Even as she continued beating at the dirt with her fists and her tail and shaking her head violently to the point of nearly snapping her neck, she couldn't bring herself to erase the fact that she had rescued a witch.

"I should have let her drown," Ariel snarled, maliciously, as her fist slammed into the dirt. "I should have never saved her!" Her other fist hit the dirt. "I should have listened to father and not ventured to the surface." She beat her tail into the dirt. Ariel loved her father, but she hated admitting defeat to him, especially when it came to matters dealing with the surface. She knew there was potential to be had at being on the surface, just as her mother had known that as well, and to have her father's voice tell her, "Stay away from the surface," and to be right about it was a crushing blow to Ariel's spirit.

"She was supposed to be my prince," Ariel whimpered, her strength failing her. Not willing to let the heartache of her situation trump her anger, Ariel curled her upper lip and scrunched her nose; her eyes narrowed and her brows knitted together. She forced her heartache away and let her anger refuel her. A new wave of strength coursed through her being as she closed her fists and wailed away at the seabed once more.

After several minutes of beating her anger into the seabed, the dirt began to loosen and as it gave way a small nest of clams was revealed. Ariel, her fists still clenched, stared down at the large nest of mollusks. With nostrils flared, eyes narrowed, and her chest heaving with each tempered breath, Ariel reached into the nest of clams and picked up one for each hand. She beat them against each other, cracking their small, delicate shells. When they were broken, she dropped them and picked up two more, continuing her aggressive assault on the mollusks.

With each clamshell cracked or broken, Ariel began prying open each shell with her fingers, exposing their soft, meaty centers. She dug her sharp nails into the clams' pink flesh and savagely ripped them from their destroyed homes. She shoved one pink, meaty clam flesh after another into her mouth, now eating her way through her anger.

Ariel gnashed her teeth at the rubbery clam flesh and swallowed it all in one big gulp. The slimy, smooth texture of the clam meat reminded her of the phlegm she would occasionally get from being sick from when she was a human which upset her even more. She pounded her fists into the nest of broken clamshells and then darted out of the dirt cloud and went in search of other things to eat or destroy—things that wouldn't remind her of humans, especially of Elsa.

"I'm so stupid," Ariel growled. "How could I ever think a human would be any different than Eric? They all start out nice, but then their terrible secrets come to fruition and they all end up the same."

Of course, she only had experience with one human, that being Prince Eric, but that was enough for her. She vividly remembered the times that he would yell at her and make her feel useless and unwanted; or the times he beat on her just to see another bruise or a "trophy mark" as he had put it; he had stopped touching her intimately about four months into their relationship and looking back on it, perhaps it had been for the best, Ariel had thought.

Recollecting the horrible memories of her past as a human, Ariel thought about swimming, nonstop, until she returned home, but something subconsciously had stopped her. "I don't need Elsa. I don't need any human!"

Ariel swam on trying her best to settle her anger. She knew just how deadly an enraged mermaid could be. She had witnessed it the night that her father and his army of merfolk had rescued her from Glowerhaven. When a mermaid was upset, there was nothing short of death that would stop them.

As she spotted a school of mackerel far above her glimmering in the setting sun's warm, orange glow, she rose toward the surface. She darted into the school of mackerel and grabbed a fish with each hand. They squirmed and begged for her to let them go, but she would have none of it. She silenced one of the fish with a quick decapitation. Her sharp nails dug into their scaly bodies as her pointed teeth dug deep into one of the fish's flesh. She yanked its body from her mouth, a stream of warm crimson flowing from its severed body. She spit the head in the water, it sinking into the abyss, and as the other mackerel screamed and flailed for its life, Ariel ruthlessly proceeded to decapitate it in the same savage manner. When both fish were dead in her hands, Ariel viciously began tearing into one of their bodies with her sharp teeth—devouring not only flesh and bone, but scales as well. At this point, she didn't care what she was eating as long as she was satiating her anger by being the ruthless, carnivorous predator that she was.

When she finished with one fish, she threw what remains there were into the water and began tearing into the other mackerel's body. Scales glittered amid the reddish-orange water as Ariel chewed each bite with her mouth open, blood spewing from the mackerel's twisted remains. As Ariel finished, she again threw what she didn't want into the water. She darted off again, heading back down into the dark abyss, her stomach sloshing with raw fish and raw clam meat.

As she moved through the dark and quiet sea, Ariel began feeling more at home. The seafloor was covered in grass and amid the grass were sea slugs trying to occupy conch shells of all sizes; octopi had settled themselves in the seabed and were patiently awaiting stray fish to come along so they could grab them and eat them; starfish were hanging out on algae-encrusted rocks; an entire civilization of guppies were hiding among a large garden of sea anemones that surrounded a lush, green meadow grown almost entirely from lively seaweed.

She didn't want to admit it to herself, but the longer she swam, the slower she had moved. Ariel shook her head, trying to rid the thoughts of the blonde witch from her mind.

I don't want to think about you, Elsa, she growled in her thoughts. Her jaw was clenched tightly shut and her eyebrows were nearly knitted together. You lied to me. "You lied to me!" she shouted, her voice beginning to quaver as she made her way into the underwater meadow. She twisted in the water and dove into the seaweed, landing in the soft, lush underwater meadow.

With her anger fading, she could feel her jaw beginning to tremble. Ariel sucked in a deep breath of water and exhaled slowly, a stream of bubbles escaping her gills. Her heartache was returning, and while she didn't want to feel it, she had completely exhausted her anger. "Why couldn't you have just been a normal girl?" murmured Ariel, laying belly-down in the soft sea grass. "We were so wonderful together," she muttered, her face now buried in the crook of her elbow.

Her shoulders trembled as she began to weep softly to herself. "You were perfect in every way. You were caring, smart, kind, beautiful, funny, and you had to go and ruin it all by being a witch." Ariel lifted her head from her arm, her lip curled up in distain, as she said the word 'witch'.

Memories of her Aunt Ursula tricking her with sorcery into becoming a human returned briefly, but faded as her expression softened as she thought once again of Elsa. I don't want to hate you. As she said it to herself, she knew the truth. I can't hate you…

Ariel rolled over in the meadow, and yelped as something hard and pointy dug into her back. She arched her chest and reached under her back and pulled a small conch shell from the sea grass. She sighed and frowned as it reminded her of Elsa and the conch she had found in the Mantis Forest and had given to the blonde witch as a gift. She put the shell to her ear hoping the sea would whisper to her and let her know how to resolve her problem.

At first the conch was silent of all whispers, only the dull humming of the sea being heard. Ariel sighed, ready to throw the conch away, but then the hum softened and the shell whispered to her, "Beware of the Queen." The voice of the sea dissipated and dull humming noise returned to the shell.

Ariel sighed. The same message as before, she noted. "I don't even know who the Queen is," Ariel said, meekly. "Who am I supposed to be wary of? You're whispering secrets to the wrong mermaid." She tossed the conch shell away and inhaled another slow, deep breath of water.

The soft, slimy seaweed surrounding Ariel tickled her back and her tail. Her red hair floated above her head and she couldn't resist a smile as she remembered Elsa touching her hair for the first time earlier in the day. She said I have pretty hair. Ariel scooped up a large handful of her hair and covered her face with it. She likes my hair. Ariel thought back to combing her fingers through Elsa's ratted, tangled hair. The grainy, sand-like texture of the sea salt embedded in her nearly cloud-white, blonde hair had felt unique to Ariel. I like her hair, she thought. I like her smile and her voice. I like her icy blue eyes. I like her company. I miss her company.

I miss her...

Then, it made sense to Ariel. The fluttering heart, the flushed cheeks, the warm tingles she got from Elsa touching her. She didn't just miss Elsa, she liked Elsa.

Ariel rolled over on her belly again, her arms crossed in front of her. She lowered her forehead to her forearm and sighed. "I can't like her," she muttered. "I can't like another human. Father will never allow me to be with another human, and especially a human witch at that." Her fingernails grazed the soft dirt beneath the meadow. "I can't like her. I can't."

Ariel sighed, heavily, her bottom lip trembling. She lifted her head and stared toward the surface, toward the stars. With her voice shaky and quiet, she asked, "What should I do, mother? What would you do?" Waiting for an answer she knew she wasn't going to get, Ariel hung her head low with her tail slowly whipping through the sea grass. "I should just go home," Ariel muttered, her head falling back to her forearms, her jaw trembling. "What was I thinking swimming away from Atlantica in the first place?"

"The surface is no place for a mermaid."

There it was again, her father's voice reminding the young mermaid that she was in fact wrong for believing that she could make a life for herself out on the surface. Ariel closed her eyes and wept quietly, admitting her defeat. Her adventure and exploration for a new life was over. Atlantica was her home and it was time she returned.

"I wasted my time," she muttered pathetically, her voice quavering.

As she wept to herself in the quiet, open meadow, Ariel began seeing images of Elsa flash through her mind. Even though she had only met the blonde witch two days ago, she couldn't get over just how much she had grown attached to her.

Elsa had been grateful to the mermaid for having her life saved. She had eaten raw fish for her even though she preferred it cooked. She had listened to Ariel talk about her mother and the Floating Stars and what happens to merfolk when they pass on. Elsa had given more of her time to the mermaid than anyone else had in years, except for Sebastian. She had even used the seaweed blanket that Ariel has put together so she would stay warm at night; and, Ariel had trusted her enough to let her hang on to her satchel...

Ariel's eyes suddenly shot open. "Wait, my satchel… Where is it?" Ariel lifted herself from the underwater meadow and twirled around searching for her satchel. "It's not here. It's not here!" She stopped, her body floating in the water, and covered her mouth with her hand as she gasped once more. "Elsa…

"She still has my satchel. I left it and all of my belongings on the boat." Ariel began swimming hastily back and forth in the water. "What do I do? I could always ask her politely to give me my things, but what if she doesn't want to see me? I mean after the way I acted toward her, why would she want to see me again?"

Ariel pondered her thoughts quietly as she drifted back into the lush meadow.

I could always wait until nightfall when she's asleep and then go and get my stuff? That'll prevent her from having to see me and that'll prevent me from having to deal with her magic. Ariel shuddered at the thought of magic. She used to always love magic when she was younger. Incantations were always fun to learn and to use, provided they were the safe ones taught exclusively to merchildren, but ever since her Aunt Ursula had cursed her with an incantation of her own, Ariel had had a hard time getting over it. She even avoided using the safe incantations—such as Song of Glee which could make any mermaid feeling upset or dejected feel temporarily happy and cheerful—ever since that fateful night seven years ago.

Nightfall it is, Ariel had decided.

She rolled over on her stomach and crossed her arms out in front of her, resting her chin on her hands. The bottom of the sea was dark, but it was calm. Being a mermaid, she knew she had little to fear laying out in the open seaweed meadow. She closed her eyes in an attempt to let sleep whisk her away to a world that was only accessible behind her eyelids. She turned her head slightly and inhaled a deep breath of water through her nostrils. She slowly exhaled it and before long she was asleep, only the sound of her soft snoring disturbing the otherwise silent, underwater meadow.

# # #

"Elsa, look! It's snowing again!"

Ariel's smile stretched from one ear to the other as she looked to the heavens. White snowflakes trickled down from the cloudless sky above. They glimmered in the sun's radiant light. Each flake that hit her skin, her tongue, brought back a peaceful memory of her time in Glowerhaven before Eric had changed, before he had become physically and emotionally abusive to Ariel.

Ariel, still gazing upon the falling snowflakes, leaned forward and shook Elsa's shoulder. "Look!" Ariel noticed the boat shift a bit as Elsa turned to face her. "It's snowing," said Ariel, excitedly.

"I know." The voice was distant, but Ariel recognized it as belonging to her new friend, Elsa. "I did it. I made the snow."

Ariel furrowed her brows. She lowered her gaze from the falling snow to meet Elsa's beautiful, icy blue eyes and noticed that they were red and puffy, her cheeks wet and glistening in the sunlight. Ariel reached forward, placing her hand on Elsa's cheek. "What's wrong?" she asked, her voice tender and caring.

"I did it," Elsa muttered, her voice quavering. "I caused the snow." Elsa lowered her head tucking her chin into her chest, her lips curling down into a frown. Ariel gazed down into the blonde's lap and saw what Elsa had meant.

In Elsa's lap rested her hand and in the palm of her hand was a small ball of snow and ice being formed by five streams of ice coming from her four fingers and one thumb. Circling the ball of ice were tiny flakes of snow. Realizing that magic had to be the only answer as to how Elsa was doing this, Ariel jolted away from the blonde, her peasant, her friend.

Fear enveloped Ariel and she lashed out in the only way she knew how. She shrieked, "You—You're—"

"I'm a—"

"Witch!" roared Ariel. "You're a monster!"

"No," Elsa cried, "I'm not! Please, Ariel…"

Ariel searched the boat quickly and picked up the closest thing she could find. Her fingers curled around the smooth, fuzzy thickness of the conch shell and before Elsa could say another word, Ariel launched herself at the blonde witch. Elsa shrieked and the boat capsized, emptying both Ariel and Elsa into the warm, salty sea.

Elsa thrashed about, trying to keep herself afloat. Ariel, feeling superior in her element, grabbed Elsa by the ankle and pulled her under. Elsa flailed her arms trying to free herself from the mermaid's powerful grip and shot out ice all around her. Parts of the sea froze, but Ariel managed to miss the ice. She raised her arm and brought the conch shell down hard across the blonde witch's face. Blood spewed from Elsa's ripped skin and she let out a gargled scream. More ice shot from her hands, but Ariel dodged the magic. She twisted herself behind Elsa and grabbed a handful of blonde hair. She yanked it hard, nearly snapping Elsa's neck. Elsa stared up at the mermaid, her eyes wide with fear and betrayal. As she began to murmur a plea for the mermaid to stop, Ariel curled her upper lip and brought her hand high above her head. "Witch," Ariel growled, fiendishly. Her grip tightened around the conch as she brought it down hard toward Elsa's bloody face.

[. . .]

Ariel's hand twitched. Her eyes were clenched shut as was her jaw. Her tail whipped frantically and then suddenly she jolted awake, screaming, "Elsa!" Her body thrashed, disrupting the calm seawater around her. Some of the seaweed where her tail had been had been uprooted. She gasped for water, her gills working double time at providing her with oxygen. Her heart was pounding, threatening to rip through her chest. She clenched her eyes shut and pulled at her hair as she screamed, trying to rid her mind of the awful dream of brutally assaulting her friend.

"No! No! No!" Ariel cried, as she shook her head in protest, trying to erase the memories of her dream. "I won't hurt, Elsa! I won't! I won't!"

Her voice trembled as she screamed again. The seaweed and surrounding anemones rustled in the rippling, dark water as a large school of silvery-scaled minnows darted out of the tranquil, underwater meadow. Ariel lifted herself from the soft seaweed bedding she had fallen asleep in and darted off into the darkness, heading back the way she had come in search of her friend, in search of Elsa.

"I won't hurt her," she screamed.

# # #

As Ariel made her way to the surface, the water gleamed with the silvery glow of the moon. Amid the water's surface twinkled the reflection of the surrounding stars as if the very souls of the merfolk before her were encouraging the young mermaid to make her way back to her lost human friend. Don't worry, Elsa, I'm coming.

As Ariel approached the area in the sea where she had left Elsa, she noticed the boat was still in the same place or thereabout. Elsa hadn't rowed away. She had stayed put and for Ariel to have abandoned her over a little display of magic, she felt her heart shatter.

What have I done? she thought as she finally reached the boat. I promised her I wouldn't leave her and what did I do? I left her! I abandoned her.

Ariel placed her hand gently on the bottom of the boat. She paused, unsure if she could return to Elsa. What if the gorgeous blonde wanted nothing to do with Ariel? Ariel had already made the mistake of abandoning Elsa; if Elsa's decision was to never see the mermaid again, then how could Ariel blame her?

Ariel didn't let doubt cloud her mind, though. She made the decision to go ahead and see Elsa. She gently whipped her tail up and down as her head silently broke through the surface. The cool night air hit her skin and she took in a deep breath of air, her lungs expanding in her chest. Her red hair plastered her face and she brought her hands forward, removing her hair from her eyes. As she lifted higher and higher out of the water, her breasts floated on the surface. The cool air caused her nipples to harden beneath her clamshell bra. Ariel peered carefully into the boat. The sight before her elicited a gasp from the young mermaid.

Elsa was laying in the bottom of the boat wrapped up in the dry seaweed blanket and clutching Ariel's satchel in her arms as if it were a sponged animal—soft, animal-designed sponges that merchildren were often given by their parents as a sort of security when sleeping alone. "Oh, my gods," Ariel murmured, transfixed on the site before her. "Elsa..." Ariel's voice trembled. "Elsa, I'm so sorry."

Ariel didn't want to disturb the sleeping blonde. Though her cheeks glistened with recent tears, Ariel could hear the soft, beautiful sound of snoring escaping Elsa's slightly parted lips. Ariel did her best not to shift the boat too much as she propped her arm up on the side of it. She reached in with her other arm and slowly and carefully stroked Elsa's wet cheek with the backsides of her fingers. She wiped away the recent tears, lowering her head in shame and regret.

"What have I done?" she whispered, her voice quavering. "Elsa, I'm so sorry. You're not a monster. You're not a witch. You're just... you." She gently stroked Elsa's cheek again. Her skin was cool and soft to the touch. Ariel backed away and just stared down at her beautiful friend, or at least she had hoped they could still be friends. Her chest swelled with warm tingles as her heart fluttered. "I'm here for you," Ariel whispered reassuringly. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll get you home and I promise I will protect you from here on out. I won't leave you again."

Suddenly, it was as if her father telling her that mermaids don't belong on the surface just wasn't true any longer. Maybe not all mermaids belonged on the surface, but for as long as Elsa was stranded out at sea, the surface would be Ariel's home. Ariel gently rested her hand against Elsa's wet cheek again. Though she said nothing, her heart beat with every caring word in the world for the sleeping blonde.

With that, Ariel submerged beneath the water, holding the palm of her hand against the underbelly of the small, wooden life boat. She didn't want to let go as she felt she was close to Elsa as long as she kept her hand on the boat. But, knowing she had to sleep, she parted ways from it and drifted down to the seabed.

Unlike the soft meadow she had fallen asleep in earlier, this part of the sea was sandy and grainy. There were vacant shells all over the seafloor and in order to get comfy, Ariel had to dig up the dirt a bit so she could get passed the hard shells littering the seafloor. When she had made her place at the bottom of the sea, she curled up, wrapping her arms around her green, scaly tail, her tailfin covering her face. She took comfort in pretending that it was Elsa beside her instead of her own tail. She nuzzled her face into her tailfin pretending it was Elsa's soft, platinum blonde locks and pressed her lips against her tail.

"Sleep peacefully," Ariel whispered to her imaginary Elsa. "I've got you." She sighed peacefully as sleep had befallen her once again.

# # #

The next morning, Ariel had awoken to the warm, golden glow of the sun beating down on her through the still water. She was still holding her tail and smiled and hugged it extra tight upon remembering that it was supposed to be Elsa. "But, you're not Elsa," she whispered, letting go of her tail. Ariel rolled over in her small patch of soil and faced the surface. "Elsa is up there."

Staring up at the surface, Ariel furrowed her brows. Something was missing. She sat up and then pushed herself into the water, her body floating idly. She swam to the surface and realized what it was that was missing.

Elsa!

The boat was gone. Elsa had paddled off all alone. Ariel's eyes widened and her jaw hung agape. Not again... "Elsa," she screamed. Her voice echoed but there was no reply. "Elsa!"

As Ariel turned in all directions trying to spot anything that looked remotely like a boat, she noticed something glimmer on the surface, like a dinglehopper when aimed just right in the sunlight. Ariel darted off, hoping it would be a clue as to where Elsa had gone. As she grew closer to the glimmer upon the surface she was awestruck at the sight. It wasn't a dinglehopper, but rather ice—a long stream of ice that continued on north for as far as Ariel could see.

This has to be her doing, Ariel thought. I have to find her! Ariel submerged and followed the long stretch of ice in hopes that it would lead her to her friend. After about an hour of nonstop swimming, Ariel's hopes had come to fruition.

Ahead, Ariel could make out the rounded underbelly of a small, wooden boat. She narrowed her eyes and beat her tail as hard as she could, her body ripping through the water at insurmountable speeds.

As she caught up with the boat, she resurfaced and yelled Elsa's name. Elsa paid the mermaid no attention and kept her arm outstretched at the back of the boat with a continuous stream of ice flowing from her hand. She faced forward and as Ariel yelled her name again, Elsa still ignored the mermaid.

With Elsa getting away from Ariel, Ariel had to swim again to catch up to her. Ariel beat her palm against the side of the boat trying to get Elsa's attention. "Elsa," she screamed. "Stop, please!" Elsa just kept facing forward with her arm outstretched, ice flowing from her hand.

Ariel submerged and did the only thing she could think of doing to get Elsa to stop. She beat her tail in the water and swam ahead quickly, reemerging in Elsa's path. Ariel watched as the boat grew closer and closer to her, seemingly not about to stop. You can hit me, because I'm not moving. The boat raced toward Ariel and in an abrupt stop, a small wave of water cascaded over Ariel's head knocking the young mermaid back.

"Get out of the way," Elsa said bluntly.

"Elsa, I need to talk to you," Ariel said, parting her hair from her face.

"Get out. Of the way." Elsa's voice was coarse and demanding, a voice Ariel hadn't heard from Elsa before.

"Please, I'm sorry. Just hear me out, okay? I'm sorry I freaked out yesterday."

Elsa was silent. Ariel stared up at the boat, her heart pounding in her chest, wondering whether the silence was good or bad. The boat shifted and Elsa came into view. Her eyes were narrowed. Her lips were straight and pursed. Her nostrils flared. This obviously wasn't good, Ariel noted.

"You're sorry," Elsa muttered. "You're sorry," she reiterated, her voice louder and growing more stern and agitated. "You don't get to say you're sorry," she shouted. "If I scare you so much, then leave! Forget about me!" Elsa's eyes began watering, whether from anger or heartache, Ariel couldn't tell. Though, she assumed anger. "I don't need you to get me home." Elsa's voice began quavering. "I don't need your company." She sniffled. "I don't need your friendship." Her jaw trembled as her voice caught in her throat. "And, I don't need your..." She couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence as she broke down and began crying. "I'm sorry you had one bad experience with magic, but my life has been one bad experience with magic after another."

Elsa sat back in the boat, disappearing from Ariel's view. Ariel moved forward, lifting herself up onto the boat. Her lips quivered and her voice shook. "Elsa, wait..."

"No," Elsa said, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I waited for you last night to return, hoping I could show you that I'm not a witch; that I'm not a monster. You never came back, though. You left me." Elsa's eyes showed what she was thinking and what Ariel knew was coming next. Ariel braced herself to the best of her ability in the moment. "You abandoned me. You broke your promise," Elsa whispered meekly.

There it was. Ariel had broken her promise. It ate at her last night and it ate at her now. Her shoulders slumped as she felt her heart break. "I didn't mean to," Ariel cried. "I was scared."

"Everyone's scared of me," Elsa screamed. She buried her face in her hands and wept. Ariel climbed in the boat and positioned herself next to Elsa. She wrapped her arms around the petite blonde, holding her for the first time since pulling her out of the sail the night she had almost drowned. Elsa put her arms around Ariel and held her tightly, her shoulders heaving as she wept. "I'm tired of people fearing me," she cried.

"I don't fear you anymore," Ariel whispered, her voice still slightly shaking. "You're not a witch. You're not a monster. I was wrong. You're just you."

Elsa continued to weep gently. "I just want to go home," she muttered.

"I'll get you home. I promise," said Ariel. "This time, I truly promise."

Elsa's arms tightened around Ariel's back. She buried her face in the crook of Ariel's neck and whimpered. Ariel began running her hand up and down Elsa's back, reassuringly. Being this close to Elsa and feeling her cool body against her own body and comforting Elsa felt all too right to the mermaid. Whatever it was that Ariel felt for Elsa, even if that feeling included liking her beyond friendship, she was willing to accept the fact that Elsa was magical so she could be close to her.

"Shh, I've got you," Ariel whispered as she ran her hands up and down Elsa's back tenderly. "I've got you."