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usxuk Jan. 6th, 2012 12:49 am)
pantstacular.livejournal.com posting in usxuk Jan. 6th, 2012 12:49 am)TITLE: The Little Merman
AUTHOR:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pantstacular
RECIPIENT:bluefay
GENRE: Humor/Parody/ Romance/AU
RATING: PG
PAIRINGS America/England, minor Denmark/Norway, and Sweden/Finland
SUMMARY: Arthur is a merman prince that longs to live on land. When he meets Alfred, a prince of a nearby kingdom of the surface, they fall in love. However for them to be together Arthur has to pay a great price. Disney's The Little Mermaid!AU
NOTES:The prompt asked for a Little Mermaid fairytale with a happy ending and this was what I came up with. Sorry for this being late, but I hope you enjoy it. Also major thanks towhethervain for betaing for me.
HUMAN NAMES USED-
Denmark- Derek
Norway- Nikolas
Australia- Bruce
Monaco-Ingrid
Seychelles- Eva
Flying Mint Bunny- Flying Miny Bunny Fish
The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and the winds were perfect for sailing. Alfred couldn’t have hoped for better sailing weather. He was very thankful because this voyage was an important one for the young prince. His eighteenth birthday was just a few days away and they had planned this trip to celebrate the important day. The crew consisted of those closest to Alfred, including his uncles Berwald and Tino, and Kiku, his adviser and friend.
“This is such an awesome trip.” Alfred said, on the edge of the ship. “I hope the weather stays likes this.”
“It looks like The Sea King is in a good mood today!” said Tino with a smile. Alfred turned around to see his uncles sitting next to each other on the bench lining the ship’s rail. Tino was Alfred’s actual uncle, and Berwald was his uncle by marriage to Tino. The two had raised Alfred from when he was a young boy.
“ The Sea King, you say? “ Alfred asked.
“Tino-san is talking about the old folk tales, Alfred-san. The Sea King is a man that rules over the sea. He and his followers are all part human and part fish. However it is just a silly story.” Kiku said, as he appeared from behind Tino and Berwald.
“Sorry Kiku, but they aren’t just myths. The merfolk, and the king are very real. One wouldn’t want to make the king upset. He is a very powerful- “ Said Tino before he was cut off.
“Idiot.” Berwald interjected. Despite not being easy to read, he looked annoyed. “ ‘S true. ‘Cept the king’s a dumbass. Wouldn’t worry much, Alfred. “ Tino gave a worried laugh at his husband’s words, and things went back to normal on the ship.
Fathoms below where the ship was sailing peacefully, there was in fact a kingdom under the sea. Everything the crew said was true. Especially the insults. Those were definitely true. One thing that the crew didn’t know that there was a merperson that would change their lives forever.
Especially Alfred’s.
Arthur had heard from a reliable source that there was a sunken ship nearby. It sounded like it could be worth investigating. The reliable source was…mostly reliable. He had heard the information from his trusted friend, Flying Mint Bunny Fish. However, little did Arthur know that Flying Mint Bunny Fish heard it from his brother who heard it from a catfish, who heard it from a lobster, who heard it from someone the lobster thought was a little high from seaweed sniffing.
Needless to say, this was typical of Arthur’s treasure hunting journeys. Because of the nature of his collection, he had to look in some very interesting places and take advice from some less desirable sources. However, today he was in luck. Everything fell into place. He and Flying Mint Bunny Fish had gone to the ship and came back with a few things to add to all his other artifacts. There was nothing he loved more than finding things from the human world.
Arthur’s greatest wish was to someday live on the land above. He hated living in the ocean. He had no friends except for Flying Mint Bunny Fish, his family was rotten, and the king of the sea was the biggest moron he had ever met. Even though he was a prince, his life was miserable. The world of the humans, on the other hand, seemed wonderful. Every time he got the chance, he would go looking for things from sunken ships or things that drifted from the shore. The merman had quite the collection now that expanded into a small underwater cave.
Today he and his underwater mint companion found several things to add to collection. Since his knowledge of the human world was so small, he usually took what he found to a crazy hermit. Gilbert lives far from the mainland on a tiny island by himself. No one believed the hermit when he went to the kingdom and he claimed that the Merpeople were real. While Arthur thought he could be annoying, he really didn’t have any other options.
“Gilbert, can you tell me what these things I found are? I’ve never seen anything like them before.” Arthur handed Gilbert a small jar and a device that connected two metal poles.
“Oh, it’s you again, Arthur. Well, this one is really awesome! Wow!” Gilbert looked at the jar, which contained some sort of red substance. “What you have here, is a secret special medicine that humans use for joint pain called Waxbuckle. After spending long days of walking around town and waiting for pots the boil over, humans use this stuff to help.” Arthur tried his best to look unimpressed, but he actually thought it sounded quite useful. Or he assumed it would be, as he never watched pots boil or walked. He handed the other object over to the silver haired hermit, who looked at it carefully and in great excitement, hands it back to the merman. “Woah, man. This…this is a find.”
“What…what is it? It doesn’t look very interesting to be honest-”
“Dude… What you got here is a graplout man. People use these to remove unwanted body hair.” He went over to the merman to pluck his eyebrows. Arthur dove underwater and splashed the other man.
“That was uncalled for!” Arthur said as he crossed his arms. The now sopping wet Gilbert shook some of the water off, and started to laugh.
“You need to learn to take a joke, man. Too bad Bruce isn’t here he has a way better-“Arthur’s eyes went wide.
“Oh bollocks! I forgot about the competition! Bloody hell; come on Flying Mint Bunny Fish. Thanks, Gilbert.” He sputtered as he swam away as fast as he could, leaving Gilbert wondering why he always talked to something he couldn’t see and if Arthur actually believed him about the things he said about the jam and serving tongs.
Arthur sighed as he made his way to the underwater castle. He didn’t want to go to competition he missed, but he was supposed to be there. When he got inside, waiting for him was King Derek, his adviser Nikolas, and one of his brothers, Bruce. Despite being the king, and him being the prince, Derek was not related to Arthur and his siblings. No one was quite sure how this arrangement had happened, but they assumed it had something to do with the fact that while the king was as dumb as a bag of rocks, he had a very powerful trident. The trident was the sort of thing that you wouldn’t want to get in the way of and it made you think carefully about what you said to the owner. Many people wondered how Derek managed to use the trident but they usually came to the conclusion that Nikolas helped him with the more complex parts and Derek just flung it around at random.
“Arthur! I can’t believe you didn’t show up to the competition! It was ruined without you!” he said with a roaring voice and a bit of a pout. Arthur just rolled his eyes.
“I’m sorry. I was busy and forgot, Your Highness. However, I do not see how relevant it was for me to be at a… rap off.” Bruce gave a low chuckle. He was most likely wishing his brother had been there to hear Arthur’s “amazing rapping skills”.
“I’m starting to think maybe you don’t like us or something!” Derek said, like it was the biggest discovery in the history of the universe. Nikolas and Arthur rolled their eyes.
“I believe that Arthur would rather be with humans. He was probably off studying them again,” Nikolas said nonchalantly. Derek gasped.
“No! No way! Arthur how many times have I told you that humans are bad and stuff! They have legs and are bad! And most importantly I said that humans are bad and stuff! You should do what I say because I’m king!” Bruce looked like he was about to burst into laughter any moment and Arthur looked rather annoyed.
“If you are done, I’m going to be leaving. Come on Flying Mint Bunny Fish…” Arthur turned around and went in the other direction. Everyone looked bewildered as they usually did when he talked about his Bunny Fish friend and he left with Bruce behind following him.
“Sorry mate. I tried to cover for ya, but honestly you should have come. I’d like to have heard you up on stage,” Bruce said with a laugh. Arthur snubbed him and kept on swimming.
“Look, I’m sorry I wasn’t there to be annoyed and to be made fun of but I did have better things to do you know.” Bruce sped up and shook his head.
“Come on. It’s no big secret you don’t like it here right? Maybe instead of just treasure hunting for human junk, you should do something big. Why don’t you talk to the Sea-“ Arthur turned around.
“No. Absolutely not. I will keep on doing what I am doing and hope for the best I suppose… “He said with a certain emptiness to his sharp words. Bruce couldn’t help but mess with Arthur, but there was no denying that he really did care for his brother.
“Arthur, don’t make me start singing catchy Calypso music to get my point across.” Before the smaller merman could say anything, a shadow appeared from the surface followed by a loud strange noise. Both mermen swam up to the surface to see what was going on. What they saw was like nothing either of them had seen before. There were beautiful fireworks lighting up the night sky over the largest ship the two had ever seen.
“Well then, look at that. I think we ought to take a closer look.” Bruce said, slowly making his way towards the boat.
“I… Oh bloody hell… I suppose I’ll come.” Arthur followed his brother with Flying Mint Bunny Fish tagging along. When they got closer to the ship, they saw a large gathering of humans. They both hid under a raft so they could see the lower parts of the humans. The sight of them dancing and singing was brilliant. Arthur had only read books and heard misinformation from Gilbert about how humans celebrated. It was wonderful.
Bruce patted him on his shoulder and left him to check something else out. The humans weren’t that interesting to Bruce. He decided to leave Arthur and go back to his hobbies of giant squid wrestling and shark riding. After his brother left he just stayed there, idly watching the scene. Then he caught the vision of the most beautiful human he had ever seen. The man was tall, blonde with bright blue bespectacled eyes. His eyes were almost as amazing as his smile. Arthur had never seen something so perfect. The man dropped something and came dangerously close to the edge. They were so close. Arthur’s heart skipped a beat. He could hardly believe what he was seeing. However, he had to play it safe and swam a small distance away after that close call.
“Come on, Kiku! What’s the big deal?” Alfred said, looking a bit confused as to why the music had stopped. The shorter man pointed Alfred into the direction of a large sheet that was covering an equally very large object.
“Sorry, Alfred-san, but I wanted to give you this birthday gift before the rest of the evening proceeded," Kiku said apologetically. Alfred was touched. He gave Kiku a big hug and thanked him for his kindness. Because Alfred couldn’t stand waiting any longer, he grabbed the sheet to reveal a large statue. Not just any statue, but a giant mecha version of himself posing heroically. Alfred was about to exclaim how grateful he was, when out of nowhere came a bolt of lightning.
Suddenly there were huge gusts of wind and buckets of rain pouring down on the ship. The crew was rushing around trying to keep order and making sure everyone was safe. Alfred was trying his best to help secure the cargo when a bolt of lightning hit the ship causing it to catch fire. He and the rest of the crew tried their best to put out the flames but it was spreading fast. They realized there was no saving it now.
There was panic to escape the ship and to get to the lifeboats. While Kiku, Tino, and Berwald all repeatedly urged Alfred to jump on, Alfred refused until every single last person was safe. Everything was going as well as it could. Alfred had just helped the last person off when finally the fire caught the fireworks. The blast caused a huge wave to separate the life boats from the burning ship and Alfred was left unable to get to safety.
Due to the force of the explosion, the young prince was knocked out, slowly sinking to his doom. Arthur was glad Bruce and Flying Mint Bunny Fish had left already. He was having trouble keeping up with the waves himself. As he fought to see above the rising waves, he heard the large crash upon the water. His heart was racing, hoping that that the people were safe. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he saw the young dancing man still unable to swim. Without a second thought, he raced over to the man and pulled him up out of the water. It was difficult to keep the other man’s face from completely touching the water, but he tried to give him as much air as possible. As quick as his fins could take him, he brought the man over to the nearest shore.
He laid him down on the shore gently. He cursed inwardly, wishing he had been able to get him out sooner. The merman had no idea if he was even still alive. He picked up his left foot, (Gilbert mentioned that this was usually how humans checked to see if they were alive). But he heard no pulse. It wasn't until a few seconds later that he noticed that the other man was still breathing lightly but Arthur was still worried that the man wasn't out of harm’s way. Without thinking, Arthur raked one hand through his hair and used his other hand to grab hold of the human’s hand.
"I'm sorry; I don't know your name but please... Please be alive. Look, it's not that I found you handsome and certainly not very charming, but it would really be upsetting if you weren't alright. Give me a sign, anything!" Nearly in tears, Arthur kept talking, hoping for something. Then abruptly, two eyes fluttered open.
Alfred opened his eyes to see a strange sight, a cute guy with striking green eyes and huge but oddly adorable eyebrows. He'd never really seen anyone like this before. Before he could really register what had happened or even ask the man who he was, he heard someone calling his name. That's Tino!
Arthur panicked at the noise and took off swimming, secure in the knowledge that the human was safe.
Alfred… His name is Alfred. I hope this isn't the last time we meet...
------
The breeze was gentle as the young prince watched the sun set slowly over the horizon. It had been a week since the trouble at sea. The crew had all told him that he was lucky he had survived. While he had some nasty scrapes and bruises, he was alive and even those injuries were healing. He was happy that he was alive but there was something bothering him about that night. The last thing he remembered after the explosion was waking up on the shore. Every time Alfred closed his eyes, he could see a face with very large eyebrows staring at him. Kiku, Tino, and Berwald had shown up right after he woke up and said they saw nothing. A soft knock on his door interrupted his thoughts.
"Alfred? May I come in?" It was Kiku. Alfred left the balcony to let his friend in. "How are you feeling today?" Kiku asked, looking concerned.
"Well I'm doing fine, but I can't help but wonder what happened to that boy that saved me."
"I'm sorry, but we never saw anyone or anything. Perhaps it was just a dream or-"
"But Kiku, it felt so real! I just want to thank him. Hero to hero!" He said with a faint blush. "I'm gonna find him. Wherever he is."
------
All of the merpeople were talking about Arthur. He usually seemed so grumpy, but for the past week he had swum around with a small smile on his face. He still kept quiet, but everyone was curious as to what kind of food he was eating and how to keep him on his new diet. People could only guess what was going on. The only creature he told willingly was Flying Mint Bunny Fish. Bruce kept prodding him to tell him what happened and he wondered if it had anything to do with the humans that they had seen together.
"N-No! Of course not. It is certainly not that and I'm not telling you anything. Maybe everyone is just going crazy. We do live under the rule of King Derek after all."
Bruce laughed. "Mate, we've been living under him for years. It's only been recently since you got yourself a human boyfriend." Arthur turned a dark shade of red.
"B-Boyfriend? No, we just met- I mean... I didn't meet anybody. Go away; I have to see Flying Mint Bunny Fish!" Arthur sped away as fast as he could. Bruce smiled and shook his head.
He should've just told me. I'm not Derek, Bruce thought.
Arthur felt like that had been a close call. His secret was a hard one to keep. It made him so happy to think of the human he had saved. It was all he could think about, really. Not that he cared about that human or anything! Of course not. He had partly told the truth when he had told Bruce he needed to see Flying Mint Bunny Fish. He was going to the cave that held his collection because Flying Mint Bunny Fish had mentioned something that he needed to see.
"Arthur, close your eyes!" The small creature said at the entrance. "It's a big surprise!"
"Come on, just tell me already!” Arthur laughed. Flying Mint Bunny Fish led Arthur into the cave and placed him right in front of something very large.
“Okay, open them now!” said Flying Mint Bunny Fish. Arthur’s eyes fluttered open. In front of him stood the strange mecha statue that Alfred had received for his birthday.
“O-oh… I see. Thank you Flying Mint Bunny Fish.” Arthur was staring at it in awe. Despite the fact that it looked sort of like an over-grown Gundam model, it still had some semblance of Alfred, enough for his heart to flutter and to blush upon seeing it. Flying Mint Bunny Fish suppressed a laugh as Arthur moved closer to the figure.
“A-Alfred. Look, Alfred it’s n-not that I care or anything, but I was hoping that maybe we could see each other again. I mean…from one person to another of course! Very… business like.” He couldn’t keep his eyes away from the statue’s. As he was not-so-subtly making his way over to arms of the statue, the stone door slid open with a heavy thud that startled Arthur out of his daydream. He spun around and saw Derek and Bruce at the doorway, staring at him.
“Hey, Arthur! I followed Bruce all secret-like to your secret human place! Whoa, you sure do have a lot of stuff I told you not to have. Cause humans are bad and stuff… They have legs, you know. Legs look all weird and stuff.” Bruce tried to shoot a look of apology to Arthur, although he was also trying not to laugh at the idea of him cuddling with this strange statue. Meanwhile, Derek moved closer to Arthur.
“So because this is bad and you have a weird statue of this dude who is really cool looking besides his legs, I’m going to angrily point my pointy stick at you!” Derek did just this. Arthur narrowed his eyes and sighed.
“I feel very threatened. Please stop,” he said sarcastically. Looking proud of his victory, Derek turned to leave, accidentally scraping his trident along the wall of the cave, sending dangerous looking sparks out in all directions.
“Oh, sorry about that!” Derek said. Moments later he bumped into a shelf that had a chest full of bottle caps that went all across the room. He fumbled with his trident sending more and more shots of power from the weapon until the entire cave was nearly destroyed. “Wow… Did I do that? Oh man, that sucks. Well Arthur, stay away from legs and stuff!” And with that, the king left. Arthur stared at the broken statue and the piles of rubble around him. Years of collecting, gone in an instant.
“Arthur…” Bruce tried to comfort him, but Arthur gave a furious glare.
“Go! I don’t want to talk to anyone. Leave me alone. All of you!” Dejectedly, Flying Mint Bunny Fish and Bruce left him to sulk like he had never sulked before.
It was quiet for several minutes. It felt like hours or days had gone by. The poor young merman could hardly hold back the tears forming in his eyes. His collection had been everything to him. He was so overwhelmed with grief over his loss that he could hardly even think. Suddenly, he noticed that he wasn’t alone. He turned around to see two mermaids behind him.
“W-who are you? I really don’t care just get out of here! I’m prince A-“
“Oh we know who you are,” said the one with the light brown hair. Her dark skinned companion laughed.
“Yeah, Ingrid and I also know why you are so depressed.” Arthur stared at the two mermaids warily.
“I don’t know what you are talking about. I’ve never seen you two before. Please leave here now!” he said, getting annoyed.
“Well alright, if you insist. Eva, I suppose we should leave him here in his own misery.” Ingrid turned around to leave.
“Yeah, I guess he doesn’t want to know how he could see the hot prince again.” Just as Eva was about to follow her companion, Arthur spoke up.
“Wait a second… Not that I know what you are talking about or anything, but theoretically if there was someone… What do know that could help me?”
“Not what. Who. Francis, of course,” they said in unison.
“Oh bloody hell, not him. I’d sooner have a hole in my head, thank you,” Arthur snapped.
“'Look, Alfred it’s n-not that I care or anything but I was hoping that maybe we could see each other again.' You might as well have started writing poetry comparing his eyes to jewelry at that point," Eva said mockingly. Arthur gritted his teeth.
They were pretty much right.
“Francis is your only option if you want to see the prince again,” Ingrid added.
“Really? Are you serious?” Arthur asked.
“No, but if you don’t, this story will be very short. Just follow us.” They swam away, clearly expecting Arthur to follow.
Arthur took a deep breath and followed directly behind the two mermaids. On the way out the cave, he caught the attention of both Bruce and Flying Mint Bunny Fish. They were both confused as they didn’t know who he was following and why he was with them. Both started to follow the group. Bruce decided to swim next to Arthur to try to figure what was happening.
“Mate… Either something is up or you suddenly turned heterosexual. Are you feeling all right?”
“I…. Hey! I’m perfectly fine! I’m going to see Francis, if you must know.”
Bruce gasped. “Whoa. This guy must be pretty amazing otherwise I’d think you’d been body snatched or something.”
“I’m still me… Sadly. So please don’t try to stop me.” Arthur swam faster to avoid whatever Bruce was going to say next. Even though Bruce didn't completely trust Francis, he was happy to see Arthur finally doing something about this. He was wondering if there was something else he could possibly do, but Bruce figured it was just part of the plot and went along with it.
Ingrid, Eva and Arthur arrived at the entrance of the cave, which was elaborately decorated for an evil villain’s lair. It looked more like the Tunnel of Love gone horribly wrong. Arthur was pretty much expecting this. He’d never met Francis before but he had heard horrible things. Things kept getting proven right by the second. When they arrived the two mermaids directed him to a pink lacy curtain.
“Ahhh, Arthur. We finally meet. It’s a… pleasure to meet you.” He came out from curtain. The man before him was not like the other merfolk who were half fish. He was half octopus. He stayed a considerable distance away and reached a tentacle out to greet the prince. Arthur backed away.
“I’m sorry, but I bathed today.” Arthur really doubted himself at this point.
“Tsk! Arthur, I thought you’d have better manners than that, but if you don’t want to see your Alfred again, I would gladly take him off your hands….”
“Shut up! He’s-“
“So you do care. I’m willing to bet you care more about him then you are letting on, non? Enough to make a deal with me?”
“What sort of a deal?” Arthur asked curiously. The fact that Francis had been banished from the Kingdom didn’t bother him that much. He assumed it had something to do with the way he smelled or something. It was Derek, after all. Arthur didn’t trust Francis, but the potential gains were worth the risk.
“I’d like to make deal with you. I’ll give you three days to spend with your prince. If by the third day, you manage to get him to fall deeply in love with you; you’ll stay human with him forever. If not, then you belong to me.” Arthur looked extremely horrified. “You’ll be a prisoner here in my lair, forced to spend the rest of your days rotting in a watery prison.”
Arthur blinked and gave a sigh of relief.
“Oh, if that’s all...”
“Not so fast. There will be a… fee,” Francis said, curling his tentacles around Arthur, who flung them off again.
“First off, do you have to make everything sound perverse, and secondly, whose bright idea was it to give you tentacles!?” Arthur demanded, sparing a quick glare for the narrator. “Do I want to even know what you want from me?”
“All I need is your voice. Nothing too far-fetched,” Francis said with a smirk.
“What are you talking about? My voice is important! Without it, I can’t talk or-“
“Complain? I was beginning to think I was doing you a service. Anyways... What will it be?”
Arthur thought about what he was doing. While he was positive that Francis shouldn’t be trusted, the fact of the matter is that he couldn’t get more miserable than he was now. It might be a gamble, but there wasn’t much to lose was there? He sighed, feeling like he didn’t really have a choice at this point and nodded. Francis motioned for Ingrid to step forward. She held a large scroll, which she unfurled to reveal a contract.
I, ARTHUR, henceforth forfeit my soul to one sea witch for a period of three days. After the fee of ONE VOICE is paid, ARTHUR will BE HUMAN for three days, and if HE does not fulfill the requirement of ONE TRUE LOVE’S KISS, HIS soul will belong to Francis the Sea Witch for all eternity. This contract must be followed and cannot be broken, altered, or destroyed. Void where prohibited. Not valid in Minnesota, California, and Delaware.
Arthur looked at the contract. “Let me guess, he used a template?” he whispered to the mermaids. Ingrid and Eva nodded and smirked. Arthur shrugged and signed the bottom of the contract.
There was a large complicated spell of some sort that the two mermaids preformed. He assumed that Francis was there for show and they did all the important things. In unison, they asked him to speak.
“Um… Hello… You’re a git. S-shut up!” He said and suddenly it was gone and now he could hear it in outside his body and in a small shell. Suddenly he was being lifted up from where he was and his fins parted ways to make two human legs.
Arthur was now a human- with legs, lungs, and everything else. He was struggling to get to the surface, until Bruce and Flying Mint Bunny Fish came to the rescue. They had been watching the whole thing and luckily were able to aid him get to safety.
The two took Arthur to the nearest beach, where it so happened that Gilbert was collecting things that had washed in with the tide.
“Hey, it’s Bruce! Oh, and Arthur. So what’s up with you two?” The two brothers stared at him in confusion. “Arthur, you look a bit different. Did you get a new haircut?”
“He’s human, mate. He sold his voice to the sea witch and has three days to hook up with the prince or else,” Bruce said. Arthur rolled his eyes, unsurprised by Gilbert’s idiocy.
“Oh… That would explain why you are so naked. You might want to put some clothes on.” Arthur looked down at himself. He was indeed naked. It was something he never really thought about until now. He blushed and stumbled behind a rock. Bruce was a bit confused, but at least Gilbert was useful for something, as he was able to find some rags for Arthur to wear. Arthur was still struggling to walk and he was starting to wonder how this was all going to work.
Gilbert decided that now was a great time to leave the merman and head back to his island. Arthur tried to curse the hermit for leaving him like this but nothing came out. His arm movements looked more like excited waving to Gilbert. Arthur gave a silent sigh as he kept on practicing walking. He was still very wobbly. All Bruce and Flying Mint Bunny Fish could do was watch.
Arthur was very frustrated at his legs as he made his way down the beach. After a few minutes, he finally thought he was getting the hang of it until suddenly his left foot went in an unexpected direction and he came crashing down on top of a very large sand sculpture of what appeared to be some sort of dinosaur. Arthur tried to pick himself up from the remains of the t-rex when he heard a familiar voice.
“Awww man, there goes my awesome sand statue! What’s the big i-“ The voice cut itself off when it saw the former merman. Sitting in the sand. Arthur looked up in delight. It’s him!
In his delight, Arthur tried to get up and fell sharply back down. Alfred noticed how much he was struggling and gave him a hand to help him up. Arthur blushed as he took the other man’s hand. He wanted to thank him and was disappointed he couldn’t.
“You don’t look so great. Are you okay-“ He paused a bit as he looked into the shorter man’s eyes. Those green eyes and those huge eyebrows. It was him. “Dude, this is awesome! It’s you! You are the one that save my life! I knew you were real! Oh, what’s your name!?” Arthur’s eyes went wide and he could hardly believe that he was so excited over him and he tried to answer him but all he could do was mouth ‘Arthur’. He gripped his throat when he remembered the curse.
“Y-You can’t talk? O-oh… Well, I suppose you can’t be him then…” Alfred said, dejected. Arthur’s heart sank. It seemed like that was too easy. Still, Alfred couldn’t keep his eyes off the other man. It was all there except the voice, and how did he just suddenly appear?
“So where did you come from?” Arthur pointed out to the ocean.
“Oh… You come from a ship wreck? Well, I’m a hero and if you need some help getting back on your feet I’ll be glad to. Come on!” He grabbed wobbly Arthur and helped him off to the palace. Bruce and Fly Mint Bunny Fish could hardly believe their eyes at what had happened, but they were honestly glad that a happy ending looked like a possibility.
Alfred told all the people at the palace that Arthur had washed up from the shore from a shipwreck and told everyone to treat him with respect and that he would be a guest until they figured out where he belonged. Alfred wasn’t sure if Arthur had never been able to talk or if he had lost his ability to speak during the trauma of the shipwreck. Either way, Alfred knew that it must be stressful for him.
Alfred made sure Arthur was fed, cleaned, and well taken care of. Alfred showed the other man to his room, and told him that if he was up to it if he would meet him for dinner in a few hours. Arthur’s heart raced with excitement.
Arthur nodded and went to lie down on his bed.
I can’t believe this is happening to me. Then again, he is probably only being nice because he thinks I need help. I’m sure it’s just protocol for him. He is a prince after all.
Arthur decided that he needed a plan. Certainly someone like Alfred would be difficult to win over, especially when Arthur was limited to only gestures, but he really didn’t have a choice at the moment. He looked out the window to see Bruce and Flying Mint Bunny Fish swimming around the outside of the palace. He waved down to them and was thankful that he was able to get their attention. They were both keeping an eye out for Arthur in the hopes that he didn't have to spend the rest of his days in a watery hell.
The young merprince decided that he should try and go down to dinner. He was glad he was by himself as he was still not very sure on some of the appropriate ways of human dressing and such. Arthur decided that it couldn’t possibly be that complicated, and after quite a bit of trial and error, he declared himself presentable. It took a while but he thought he looked decent enough and was able to find the dining hall after being directed by a servant. It was a very beautiful castle and the room he had just entered was no exception. It was huge and very well decorated. There was already a nice meal laid out and at the table was Alfred, Kiku, and Alfred's uncles Tino and Berwald. They all welcomed him in but it was Alfred who offered his hand to led him to the chair directly next to Alfred’s own.
Arthur thought his food was quite delicious. He had never eaten human food before and it was all so different than anything he had ever tasted before. He wasn't quite sure on how exactly they went about eating either, but he carefully watched how the others picked up their drinks and silverware and copied the motions accordingly. It was strange but by the end of the meal, he thought that he was getting the hang of it.
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After the meal, before Arthur went back to his room, Alfred wanted to ask him something.
“I was wondering would you like to go on a tour of the kingdom tomorrow. We might be able to find some information about where you came from. And it will give you a chance to relax and stuff." Arthur flushed.
I believe he's asking me out on a date. N-Not like I have anything else better to do I suppose. Arthur nodded.
Alfred beamed and gave him a hug.
"Great! I'll see you tomorrow then!" Arthur was taken back to his room where he had a very hard time getting his cheeks to stop blushing and keeping his mouth from smiling. Even the cynic in him was having a hard time not getting excited after such a warm greeting from someone like Alfred.
Arthur yawned and decided that it would best to get some rest for the next day.
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The next day, the two princes set out for their day out that might as well have been a date, but the two of them would never admit to such a thing. It started out just as they had intended a fun but educational day of Alfred telling Arthur about the kingdom and talking to the various people in the town nearby. It was a very happy, small and peaceful kingdom. Everyone seemed to know Alfred and he was well loved by everybody. He explained to a few people why his not-date was so quiet and they all seemed to be sympathetic to his situation. Unsurprisingly no one seemed to know who he was or where he could have possibly come from.
There was an unusual comfortableness between the two of them. As the day moved along, both of them seemed to let go and just enjoy each other’s company. The fact that Arthur couldn’t speak didn’t even matter anymore. Actions and glances said everything that Arthur’s voice couldn’t. Even after the most embarrassing thing in his life happened to him, Arthur couldn’t give up hope. They stopped at a small cafe for something to eat and drink early in the afternoon. While it started out really well (Arthur had his first cup of tea and was the best thing he’d ever tasted), the problem occurred when Alfred handed him some sugar cubes and mentioned a sore shoulder. Needless to say Gilbert's advice for the uses of jelly and tongs turned out to be completely disastrous for poor Arthur. However, Alfred just laughed and wiped the jam from his shoulder.
"Don't worry it happens,” he said. Arthur was thoroughly embarrassed and tried to make sure he remembered to give Gilbert a good smack when he saw him later.
After that mishap, the rest of the day went smoothly. After a small and very not (except for the part where it was) romantic dinner, the two set out for a boat ride on a blue lagoon. The view was beautiful, but the pair had a hard time concentrating on the setting.
Bloody hell, I nearly forgot that he needs to kiss me before tomorrow. But... what if he doesn't want to...
Arthur looked down in the water and saw Bruce and Flying Mint Bunny Fish swimming in the lagoon but being careful to not be seen by Alfred. Arthur didn’t mind them being there. He knew they wouldn’t allow themselves to be seen. He was busy thinking about the situation with Alfred.
“Did you have a good time today?” Alfred asked with a smile. Arthur nodded in return.
“Great! I did too. You are something.” Arthur tried his best to not blush. “But I just have to wonder… What’s your name?”
Arthur gave a look that was clearly said “Remember I can’t talk.”
“Hey! I know you can’t talk, but maybe I can guess! You can tell me if I’m right or not.” Arthur nodded. It was certainly better than nothing.
“How about George?” Arthur shook his head. “Or maybe Stuart?” That was also a not it. “Jake? John? Chris? Francis?” The last caused Arthur to nearly to throw up. Alfred looked worried. Finally, Bruce whispered near the boat where he couldn’t be seen.
“His name is Arthur.”
“Arthur… Is your name Arthur?” Arthur nodded. “Arthur! You’re Arthur.” Alfred gave a great big smile as he continued to paddle the boat. It was a beautiful night. Alfred looked over to Arthur and picked up his hand.
“Arthur, as long as you are here in this kingdom, I want you to stay with me at the palace. Y-you are a great guy and I swear I will do everything possible to find where you belong. Hero’s promise!” Arthur blushed.
Right now… It’s here with you.
Arthur clutched his hand over Alfred’s. Both of their hearts started to race fast and their cheeks were warm. Before they knew it they were leaning in hopes of a kiss. That kiss never happened. Right before their lips touched, the boat was on its side and the two were completely submerged in the water. Once they had air, they went looking for the other.
No one was sure why the boat had tipped over like that. Little did they know, it was because they were being watched by someone else. Francis had sent Eva and Ingrid make sure Arthur was unable to fulfill his part of the contract. Francis was at a loss at why Arthur had been so close. This called for him to do something about it.
------------------
After getting back to the palace the two went to their rooms to get something dry to wear and settle down for the night. However Alfred’s mind was racing. He stepped out of the palace to go for a walk on the beach.
Arthur is amazing. I wish I knew what he was thinking. Granted sometimes it’s easy. He’s so expressive and cute and smart…but I can’t shake the feeling we’ve met before…
At that moment, from behind him appeared a strange man he had never seen before, and couldn’t help but feel a bit odd in his presence.
“Oh….I didn’t think I’d see anyone here this late,” Alfred greeted the stranger.
“It’s never too late for amour.” The man slowly made his way closer to the prince who kept backing up as to create more and more space.
“Um…sure, whatever look I gotta run-“ Alfred was about to leave when suddenly out of nowhere the other man was there in front of him again and closer than before.
“Why do that when clearly what you want is in front of you?” He said in a sultry low voice. Alfred was entirely terrified when suddenly a rock came from nowhere and hit Francis square in the back of his head. Francis turned around to see Arthur standing in his night clothes glaring. Francis looked shocked that he had managed to find them, but turned to Arthur and smirked.
“You are too late! Your precious prince has come to know my charms and is obviously madly in love with me. You might as well jump back into ocean for he will never-“ Francis had no chance to finish his speech because before he was able to Alfred and Arthur were already embracing each other.
“Arthur, that was so awesomely heroic of you. I can’t thank you enough,” Alfred said staring into his eyes longingly.
Francis was confused that his natural sexiness had not attracted someone, but he had to think quick on his feet to avoid the kiss that was about to happen. Suddenly before their eyes he transformed into his regular form. Alfred looked really worried about those tentacles.
“You may not approve of me but certainly you approve of say …the man who saved your life?” Francis opened up the shell and it shouted “Please! Someone help me! I-I can hardly breathe…” The voice echoed. Arthur’s eyes widened.
No…he can’t be!
“Know that voice well I see? Well if you wish to see him again, then you must come to my lair and save him yourself.” With that Francis leapt into the ocean. Both Alfred and Arthur were in a panic for different reasons.
“Arthur I…I care about you so much, but a hero has got to do what a hero has got to do! If I go now I bet I could follow him and-“ Just as he was about to leave Arthur grabbed him. His eyes were begging him not to leave.
Bloody hell you heroic idiot! It’s me! I’m safe! It’s a trap!
“I have to. You understand right? I…I like you I really do. You are amazing, but there is someone in danger, I have to go. I want you to stay here! I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt.”
The merman looked into his eyes pleading. I feel the same way. If only I could tell you. Damn you Francis!
Francis was almost out of sight. He kept lingering a bit so that once Alfred was in the water he could capture him. Then there would be no way Arthur could kiss him before tomorrow and everything would go according to plan again.
Arthur refused to let go. There was no way he was going to let Alfred harm himself for him like that. Alfred paused and grasped Arthur tightly in his arms.
“I promise I’ll be safe. I want to leave you with something. Something that proves I will return.” With that Alfred leaned down and kissed Arthur on the lips. It was magical and wonderful. The only thing the two could think of at that moment was each other.
“Alfred …I” Arthur blinked. He could talk …but that shouldn’t have happened right? Suddenly he felt himself fall. He was a merman again. Arthur looked up to Alfred who looked shocked.
“Arthur? What is going on?”
“I can explain! I’m sorry I wanted to tell you but I-“
Francis came back to the shore, this time with Eva and Ingrid. Francis laughed, but the two mermaids glared at him. Probably for being so stupid as to not think they would kiss before one went off to risk their life. Francis knew he was in for some trouble later, however there was one thing Arthur had missed. Ingrid handed the Sea Witch the contract.
“While the contract did in fact you could say you could stay human for three days, you forgot to read the fine print under the fine print I’m afraid. It clearly states that if you kiss before the three days, payment will be returned and all is void. Sorry to say but you have no choice but to remain a merman. Au avoir!" Francis left with the two mermaids. He was done. He'd had his fun, and he also knew he would never use a template for these sort of things again.
Meanwhile Alfred bent down to Arthur on the beach.
“It was you wasn’t? You saved me and then you…”
“Yes… it was me. Alfred I’m so sorry for what I put you through. You almost got yourself hurt or-“
“It’s okay, now we have each other…sort of.”
“Hell of an idiot I turned out to be,” Arthur said, but Alfred just pulled him closer.
“Arthur, I don’t care what you are. We will be together no matter what. Even if I have to take up scuba diving lessons or build a giant portable tank for you, we will figure it out. I want to be with you.” Both of them were near in tears.
“A-Alfred…” Was all he could manage as he sat in his arms. The sun was coming out from over the horizon. They enjoyed the site while being with each other.
Then from the ocean appeared a mass of merpeople. This included Bruce, Flying Mint Bunny Fish, Derek, and Nikolas. The pair on land looked at each other, both confused as to what was going on.
“Hey Arthur! How’s it going? I have decided that it’s okay for you to want legs now! Nikolas took me to a Legs are Okay program! Letting my prince have legs because he is in love with a human is on the twelve step program! Magic pointy stick: Activate!” With that a pool of light circled around Arthur. From out of it, magic exploded, and he was surrounded by a glowing light. When it vanished, he had legs again, and he was wearing a strange pair of tacky red pants.
Arthur was now human and was free to marry who he wanted. Flying Mint Bunny Fish became a Flying Mint Bunny, but no one could see him still. Bruce still visited Arthur and Alfred, who waited to be married after they had a loving and wonderful courtship. All the other merfolk lived happier now that Derek didn’t care about who they talked to because legs were okay. Gilbert got quite the smack down, but after healing people actually talked to him since they knew his stories about merpeople weren't all crack pot stories. Kiku, Berwald and Tino stayed happily by Alfred and Arthur's sides and everyone else lived happily ever after. Even Francis, Eva and Ingrid who most likely started some sort of awesome undersea reality show.
THE END
AUTHOR:
pantstacularRECIPIENT:
bluefayGENRE: Humor/Parody/ Romance/AU
RATING: PG
PAIRINGS America/England, minor Denmark/Norway, and Sweden/Finland
SUMMARY: Arthur is a merman prince that longs to live on land. When he meets Alfred, a prince of a nearby kingdom of the surface, they fall in love. However for them to be together Arthur has to pay a great price. Disney's The Little Mermaid!AU
NOTES:The prompt asked for a Little Mermaid fairytale with a happy ending and this was what I came up with. Sorry for this being late, but I hope you enjoy it. Also major thanks to
whethervain for betaing for me.HUMAN NAMES USED-
Denmark- Derek
Norway- Nikolas
Australia- Bruce
Monaco-Ingrid
Seychelles- Eva
Flying Mint Bunny- Flying Miny Bunny Fish
The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and the winds were perfect for sailing. Alfred couldn’t have hoped for better sailing weather. He was very thankful because this voyage was an important one for the young prince. His eighteenth birthday was just a few days away and they had planned this trip to celebrate the important day. The crew consisted of those closest to Alfred, including his uncles Berwald and Tino, and Kiku, his adviser and friend.
“This is such an awesome trip.” Alfred said, on the edge of the ship. “I hope the weather stays likes this.”
“It looks like The Sea King is in a good mood today!” said Tino with a smile. Alfred turned around to see his uncles sitting next to each other on the bench lining the ship’s rail. Tino was Alfred’s actual uncle, and Berwald was his uncle by marriage to Tino. The two had raised Alfred from when he was a young boy.
“ The Sea King, you say? “ Alfred asked.
“Tino-san is talking about the old folk tales, Alfred-san. The Sea King is a man that rules over the sea. He and his followers are all part human and part fish. However it is just a silly story.” Kiku said, as he appeared from behind Tino and Berwald.
“Sorry Kiku, but they aren’t just myths. The merfolk, and the king are very real. One wouldn’t want to make the king upset. He is a very powerful- “ Said Tino before he was cut off.
“Idiot.” Berwald interjected. Despite not being easy to read, he looked annoyed. “ ‘S true. ‘Cept the king’s a dumbass. Wouldn’t worry much, Alfred. “ Tino gave a worried laugh at his husband’s words, and things went back to normal on the ship.
Fathoms below where the ship was sailing peacefully, there was in fact a kingdom under the sea. Everything the crew said was true. Especially the insults. Those were definitely true. One thing that the crew didn’t know that there was a merperson that would change their lives forever.
Especially Alfred’s.
Arthur had heard from a reliable source that there was a sunken ship nearby. It sounded like it could be worth investigating. The reliable source was…mostly reliable. He had heard the information from his trusted friend, Flying Mint Bunny Fish. However, little did Arthur know that Flying Mint Bunny Fish heard it from his brother who heard it from a catfish, who heard it from a lobster, who heard it from someone the lobster thought was a little high from seaweed sniffing.
Needless to say, this was typical of Arthur’s treasure hunting journeys. Because of the nature of his collection, he had to look in some very interesting places and take advice from some less desirable sources. However, today he was in luck. Everything fell into place. He and Flying Mint Bunny Fish had gone to the ship and came back with a few things to add to all his other artifacts. There was nothing he loved more than finding things from the human world.
Arthur’s greatest wish was to someday live on the land above. He hated living in the ocean. He had no friends except for Flying Mint Bunny Fish, his family was rotten, and the king of the sea was the biggest moron he had ever met. Even though he was a prince, his life was miserable. The world of the humans, on the other hand, seemed wonderful. Every time he got the chance, he would go looking for things from sunken ships or things that drifted from the shore. The merman had quite the collection now that expanded into a small underwater cave.
Today he and his underwater mint companion found several things to add to collection. Since his knowledge of the human world was so small, he usually took what he found to a crazy hermit. Gilbert lives far from the mainland on a tiny island by himself. No one believed the hermit when he went to the kingdom and he claimed that the Merpeople were real. While Arthur thought he could be annoying, he really didn’t have any other options.
“Gilbert, can you tell me what these things I found are? I’ve never seen anything like them before.” Arthur handed Gilbert a small jar and a device that connected two metal poles.
“Oh, it’s you again, Arthur. Well, this one is really awesome! Wow!” Gilbert looked at the jar, which contained some sort of red substance. “What you have here, is a secret special medicine that humans use for joint pain called Waxbuckle. After spending long days of walking around town and waiting for pots the boil over, humans use this stuff to help.” Arthur tried his best to look unimpressed, but he actually thought it sounded quite useful. Or he assumed it would be, as he never watched pots boil or walked. He handed the other object over to the silver haired hermit, who looked at it carefully and in great excitement, hands it back to the merman. “Woah, man. This…this is a find.”
“What…what is it? It doesn’t look very interesting to be honest-”
“Dude… What you got here is a graplout man. People use these to remove unwanted body hair.” He went over to the merman to pluck his eyebrows. Arthur dove underwater and splashed the other man.
“That was uncalled for!” Arthur said as he crossed his arms. The now sopping wet Gilbert shook some of the water off, and started to laugh.
“You need to learn to take a joke, man. Too bad Bruce isn’t here he has a way better-“Arthur’s eyes went wide.
“Oh bollocks! I forgot about the competition! Bloody hell; come on Flying Mint Bunny Fish. Thanks, Gilbert.” He sputtered as he swam away as fast as he could, leaving Gilbert wondering why he always talked to something he couldn’t see and if Arthur actually believed him about the things he said about the jam and serving tongs.
Arthur sighed as he made his way to the underwater castle. He didn’t want to go to competition he missed, but he was supposed to be there. When he got inside, waiting for him was King Derek, his adviser Nikolas, and one of his brothers, Bruce. Despite being the king, and him being the prince, Derek was not related to Arthur and his siblings. No one was quite sure how this arrangement had happened, but they assumed it had something to do with the fact that while the king was as dumb as a bag of rocks, he had a very powerful trident. The trident was the sort of thing that you wouldn’t want to get in the way of and it made you think carefully about what you said to the owner. Many people wondered how Derek managed to use the trident but they usually came to the conclusion that Nikolas helped him with the more complex parts and Derek just flung it around at random.
“Arthur! I can’t believe you didn’t show up to the competition! It was ruined without you!” he said with a roaring voice and a bit of a pout. Arthur just rolled his eyes.
“I’m sorry. I was busy and forgot, Your Highness. However, I do not see how relevant it was for me to be at a… rap off.” Bruce gave a low chuckle. He was most likely wishing his brother had been there to hear Arthur’s “amazing rapping skills”.
“I’m starting to think maybe you don’t like us or something!” Derek said, like it was the biggest discovery in the history of the universe. Nikolas and Arthur rolled their eyes.
“I believe that Arthur would rather be with humans. He was probably off studying them again,” Nikolas said nonchalantly. Derek gasped.
“No! No way! Arthur how many times have I told you that humans are bad and stuff! They have legs and are bad! And most importantly I said that humans are bad and stuff! You should do what I say because I’m king!” Bruce looked like he was about to burst into laughter any moment and Arthur looked rather annoyed.
“If you are done, I’m going to be leaving. Come on Flying Mint Bunny Fish…” Arthur turned around and went in the other direction. Everyone looked bewildered as they usually did when he talked about his Bunny Fish friend and he left with Bruce behind following him.
“Sorry mate. I tried to cover for ya, but honestly you should have come. I’d like to have heard you up on stage,” Bruce said with a laugh. Arthur snubbed him and kept on swimming.
“Look, I’m sorry I wasn’t there to be annoyed and to be made fun of but I did have better things to do you know.” Bruce sped up and shook his head.
“Come on. It’s no big secret you don’t like it here right? Maybe instead of just treasure hunting for human junk, you should do something big. Why don’t you talk to the Sea-“ Arthur turned around.
“No. Absolutely not. I will keep on doing what I am doing and hope for the best I suppose… “He said with a certain emptiness to his sharp words. Bruce couldn’t help but mess with Arthur, but there was no denying that he really did care for his brother.
“Arthur, don’t make me start singing catchy Calypso music to get my point across.” Before the smaller merman could say anything, a shadow appeared from the surface followed by a loud strange noise. Both mermen swam up to the surface to see what was going on. What they saw was like nothing either of them had seen before. There were beautiful fireworks lighting up the night sky over the largest ship the two had ever seen.
“Well then, look at that. I think we ought to take a closer look.” Bruce said, slowly making his way towards the boat.
“I… Oh bloody hell… I suppose I’ll come.” Arthur followed his brother with Flying Mint Bunny Fish tagging along. When they got closer to the ship, they saw a large gathering of humans. They both hid under a raft so they could see the lower parts of the humans. The sight of them dancing and singing was brilliant. Arthur had only read books and heard misinformation from Gilbert about how humans celebrated. It was wonderful.
Bruce patted him on his shoulder and left him to check something else out. The humans weren’t that interesting to Bruce. He decided to leave Arthur and go back to his hobbies of giant squid wrestling and shark riding. After his brother left he just stayed there, idly watching the scene. Then he caught the vision of the most beautiful human he had ever seen. The man was tall, blonde with bright blue bespectacled eyes. His eyes were almost as amazing as his smile. Arthur had never seen something so perfect. The man dropped something and came dangerously close to the edge. They were so close. Arthur’s heart skipped a beat. He could hardly believe what he was seeing. However, he had to play it safe and swam a small distance away after that close call.
“Come on, Kiku! What’s the big deal?” Alfred said, looking a bit confused as to why the music had stopped. The shorter man pointed Alfred into the direction of a large sheet that was covering an equally very large object.
“Sorry, Alfred-san, but I wanted to give you this birthday gift before the rest of the evening proceeded," Kiku said apologetically. Alfred was touched. He gave Kiku a big hug and thanked him for his kindness. Because Alfred couldn’t stand waiting any longer, he grabbed the sheet to reveal a large statue. Not just any statue, but a giant mecha version of himself posing heroically. Alfred was about to exclaim how grateful he was, when out of nowhere came a bolt of lightning.
Suddenly there were huge gusts of wind and buckets of rain pouring down on the ship. The crew was rushing around trying to keep order and making sure everyone was safe. Alfred was trying his best to help secure the cargo when a bolt of lightning hit the ship causing it to catch fire. He and the rest of the crew tried their best to put out the flames but it was spreading fast. They realized there was no saving it now.
There was panic to escape the ship and to get to the lifeboats. While Kiku, Tino, and Berwald all repeatedly urged Alfred to jump on, Alfred refused until every single last person was safe. Everything was going as well as it could. Alfred had just helped the last person off when finally the fire caught the fireworks. The blast caused a huge wave to separate the life boats from the burning ship and Alfred was left unable to get to safety.
Due to the force of the explosion, the young prince was knocked out, slowly sinking to his doom. Arthur was glad Bruce and Flying Mint Bunny Fish had left already. He was having trouble keeping up with the waves himself. As he fought to see above the rising waves, he heard the large crash upon the water. His heart was racing, hoping that that the people were safe. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he saw the young dancing man still unable to swim. Without a second thought, he raced over to the man and pulled him up out of the water. It was difficult to keep the other man’s face from completely touching the water, but he tried to give him as much air as possible. As quick as his fins could take him, he brought the man over to the nearest shore.
He laid him down on the shore gently. He cursed inwardly, wishing he had been able to get him out sooner. The merman had no idea if he was even still alive. He picked up his left foot, (Gilbert mentioned that this was usually how humans checked to see if they were alive). But he heard no pulse. It wasn't until a few seconds later that he noticed that the other man was still breathing lightly but Arthur was still worried that the man wasn't out of harm’s way. Without thinking, Arthur raked one hand through his hair and used his other hand to grab hold of the human’s hand.
"I'm sorry; I don't know your name but please... Please be alive. Look, it's not that I found you handsome and certainly not very charming, but it would really be upsetting if you weren't alright. Give me a sign, anything!" Nearly in tears, Arthur kept talking, hoping for something. Then abruptly, two eyes fluttered open.
Alfred opened his eyes to see a strange sight, a cute guy with striking green eyes and huge but oddly adorable eyebrows. He'd never really seen anyone like this before. Before he could really register what had happened or even ask the man who he was, he heard someone calling his name. That's Tino!
Arthur panicked at the noise and took off swimming, secure in the knowledge that the human was safe.
Alfred… His name is Alfred. I hope this isn't the last time we meet...
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The breeze was gentle as the young prince watched the sun set slowly over the horizon. It had been a week since the trouble at sea. The crew had all told him that he was lucky he had survived. While he had some nasty scrapes and bruises, he was alive and even those injuries were healing. He was happy that he was alive but there was something bothering him about that night. The last thing he remembered after the explosion was waking up on the shore. Every time Alfred closed his eyes, he could see a face with very large eyebrows staring at him. Kiku, Tino, and Berwald had shown up right after he woke up and said they saw nothing. A soft knock on his door interrupted his thoughts.
"Alfred? May I come in?" It was Kiku. Alfred left the balcony to let his friend in. "How are you feeling today?" Kiku asked, looking concerned.
"Well I'm doing fine, but I can't help but wonder what happened to that boy that saved me."
"I'm sorry, but we never saw anyone or anything. Perhaps it was just a dream or-"
"But Kiku, it felt so real! I just want to thank him. Hero to hero!" He said with a faint blush. "I'm gonna find him. Wherever he is."
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All of the merpeople were talking about Arthur. He usually seemed so grumpy, but for the past week he had swum around with a small smile on his face. He still kept quiet, but everyone was curious as to what kind of food he was eating and how to keep him on his new diet. People could only guess what was going on. The only creature he told willingly was Flying Mint Bunny Fish. Bruce kept prodding him to tell him what happened and he wondered if it had anything to do with the humans that they had seen together.
"N-No! Of course not. It is certainly not that and I'm not telling you anything. Maybe everyone is just going crazy. We do live under the rule of King Derek after all."
Bruce laughed. "Mate, we've been living under him for years. It's only been recently since you got yourself a human boyfriend." Arthur turned a dark shade of red.
"B-Boyfriend? No, we just met- I mean... I didn't meet anybody. Go away; I have to see Flying Mint Bunny Fish!" Arthur sped away as fast as he could. Bruce smiled and shook his head.
He should've just told me. I'm not Derek, Bruce thought.
Arthur felt like that had been a close call. His secret was a hard one to keep. It made him so happy to think of the human he had saved. It was all he could think about, really. Not that he cared about that human or anything! Of course not. He had partly told the truth when he had told Bruce he needed to see Flying Mint Bunny Fish. He was going to the cave that held his collection because Flying Mint Bunny Fish had mentioned something that he needed to see.
"Arthur, close your eyes!" The small creature said at the entrance. "It's a big surprise!"
"Come on, just tell me already!” Arthur laughed. Flying Mint Bunny Fish led Arthur into the cave and placed him right in front of something very large.
“Okay, open them now!” said Flying Mint Bunny Fish. Arthur’s eyes fluttered open. In front of him stood the strange mecha statue that Alfred had received for his birthday.
“O-oh… I see. Thank you Flying Mint Bunny Fish.” Arthur was staring at it in awe. Despite the fact that it looked sort of like an over-grown Gundam model, it still had some semblance of Alfred, enough for his heart to flutter and to blush upon seeing it. Flying Mint Bunny Fish suppressed a laugh as Arthur moved closer to the figure.
“A-Alfred. Look, Alfred it’s n-not that I care or anything, but I was hoping that maybe we could see each other again. I mean…from one person to another of course! Very… business like.” He couldn’t keep his eyes away from the statue’s. As he was not-so-subtly making his way over to arms of the statue, the stone door slid open with a heavy thud that startled Arthur out of his daydream. He spun around and saw Derek and Bruce at the doorway, staring at him.
“Hey, Arthur! I followed Bruce all secret-like to your secret human place! Whoa, you sure do have a lot of stuff I told you not to have. Cause humans are bad and stuff… They have legs, you know. Legs look all weird and stuff.” Bruce tried to shoot a look of apology to Arthur, although he was also trying not to laugh at the idea of him cuddling with this strange statue. Meanwhile, Derek moved closer to Arthur.
“So because this is bad and you have a weird statue of this dude who is really cool looking besides his legs, I’m going to angrily point my pointy stick at you!” Derek did just this. Arthur narrowed his eyes and sighed.
“I feel very threatened. Please stop,” he said sarcastically. Looking proud of his victory, Derek turned to leave, accidentally scraping his trident along the wall of the cave, sending dangerous looking sparks out in all directions.
“Oh, sorry about that!” Derek said. Moments later he bumped into a shelf that had a chest full of bottle caps that went all across the room. He fumbled with his trident sending more and more shots of power from the weapon until the entire cave was nearly destroyed. “Wow… Did I do that? Oh man, that sucks. Well Arthur, stay away from legs and stuff!” And with that, the king left. Arthur stared at the broken statue and the piles of rubble around him. Years of collecting, gone in an instant.
“Arthur…” Bruce tried to comfort him, but Arthur gave a furious glare.
“Go! I don’t want to talk to anyone. Leave me alone. All of you!” Dejectedly, Flying Mint Bunny Fish and Bruce left him to sulk like he had never sulked before.
It was quiet for several minutes. It felt like hours or days had gone by. The poor young merman could hardly hold back the tears forming in his eyes. His collection had been everything to him. He was so overwhelmed with grief over his loss that he could hardly even think. Suddenly, he noticed that he wasn’t alone. He turned around to see two mermaids behind him.
“W-who are you? I really don’t care just get out of here! I’m prince A-“
“Oh we know who you are,” said the one with the light brown hair. Her dark skinned companion laughed.
“Yeah, Ingrid and I also know why you are so depressed.” Arthur stared at the two mermaids warily.
“I don’t know what you are talking about. I’ve never seen you two before. Please leave here now!” he said, getting annoyed.
“Well alright, if you insist. Eva, I suppose we should leave him here in his own misery.” Ingrid turned around to leave.
“Yeah, I guess he doesn’t want to know how he could see the hot prince again.” Just as Eva was about to follow her companion, Arthur spoke up.
“Wait a second… Not that I know what you are talking about or anything, but theoretically if there was someone… What do know that could help me?”
“Not what. Who. Francis, of course,” they said in unison.
“Oh bloody hell, not him. I’d sooner have a hole in my head, thank you,” Arthur snapped.
“'Look, Alfred it’s n-not that I care or anything but I was hoping that maybe we could see each other again.' You might as well have started writing poetry comparing his eyes to jewelry at that point," Eva said mockingly. Arthur gritted his teeth.
They were pretty much right.
“Francis is your only option if you want to see the prince again,” Ingrid added.
“Really? Are you serious?” Arthur asked.
“No, but if you don’t, this story will be very short. Just follow us.” They swam away, clearly expecting Arthur to follow.
Arthur took a deep breath and followed directly behind the two mermaids. On the way out the cave, he caught the attention of both Bruce and Flying Mint Bunny Fish. They were both confused as they didn’t know who he was following and why he was with them. Both started to follow the group. Bruce decided to swim next to Arthur to try to figure what was happening.
“Mate… Either something is up or you suddenly turned heterosexual. Are you feeling all right?”
“I…. Hey! I’m perfectly fine! I’m going to see Francis, if you must know.”
Bruce gasped. “Whoa. This guy must be pretty amazing otherwise I’d think you’d been body snatched or something.”
“I’m still me… Sadly. So please don’t try to stop me.” Arthur swam faster to avoid whatever Bruce was going to say next. Even though Bruce didn't completely trust Francis, he was happy to see Arthur finally doing something about this. He was wondering if there was something else he could possibly do, but Bruce figured it was just part of the plot and went along with it.
Ingrid, Eva and Arthur arrived at the entrance of the cave, which was elaborately decorated for an evil villain’s lair. It looked more like the Tunnel of Love gone horribly wrong. Arthur was pretty much expecting this. He’d never met Francis before but he had heard horrible things. Things kept getting proven right by the second. When they arrived the two mermaids directed him to a pink lacy curtain.
“Ahhh, Arthur. We finally meet. It’s a… pleasure to meet you.” He came out from curtain. The man before him was not like the other merfolk who were half fish. He was half octopus. He stayed a considerable distance away and reached a tentacle out to greet the prince. Arthur backed away.
“I’m sorry, but I bathed today.” Arthur really doubted himself at this point.
“Tsk! Arthur, I thought you’d have better manners than that, but if you don’t want to see your Alfred again, I would gladly take him off your hands….”
“Shut up! He’s-“
“So you do care. I’m willing to bet you care more about him then you are letting on, non? Enough to make a deal with me?”
“What sort of a deal?” Arthur asked curiously. The fact that Francis had been banished from the Kingdom didn’t bother him that much. He assumed it had something to do with the way he smelled or something. It was Derek, after all. Arthur didn’t trust Francis, but the potential gains were worth the risk.
“I’d like to make deal with you. I’ll give you three days to spend with your prince. If by the third day, you manage to get him to fall deeply in love with you; you’ll stay human with him forever. If not, then you belong to me.” Arthur looked extremely horrified. “You’ll be a prisoner here in my lair, forced to spend the rest of your days rotting in a watery prison.”
Arthur blinked and gave a sigh of relief.
“Oh, if that’s all...”
“Not so fast. There will be a… fee,” Francis said, curling his tentacles around Arthur, who flung them off again.
“First off, do you have to make everything sound perverse, and secondly, whose bright idea was it to give you tentacles!?” Arthur demanded, sparing a quick glare for the narrator. “Do I want to even know what you want from me?”
“All I need is your voice. Nothing too far-fetched,” Francis said with a smirk.
“What are you talking about? My voice is important! Without it, I can’t talk or-“
“Complain? I was beginning to think I was doing you a service. Anyways... What will it be?”
Arthur thought about what he was doing. While he was positive that Francis shouldn’t be trusted, the fact of the matter is that he couldn’t get more miserable than he was now. It might be a gamble, but there wasn’t much to lose was there? He sighed, feeling like he didn’t really have a choice at this point and nodded. Francis motioned for Ingrid to step forward. She held a large scroll, which she unfurled to reveal a contract.
I, ARTHUR, henceforth forfeit my soul to one sea witch for a period of three days. After the fee of ONE VOICE is paid, ARTHUR will BE HUMAN for three days, and if HE does not fulfill the requirement of ONE TRUE LOVE’S KISS, HIS soul will belong to Francis the Sea Witch for all eternity. This contract must be followed and cannot be broken, altered, or destroyed. Void where prohibited. Not valid in Minnesota, California, and Delaware.
Arthur looked at the contract. “Let me guess, he used a template?” he whispered to the mermaids. Ingrid and Eva nodded and smirked. Arthur shrugged and signed the bottom of the contract.
There was a large complicated spell of some sort that the two mermaids preformed. He assumed that Francis was there for show and they did all the important things. In unison, they asked him to speak.
“Um… Hello… You’re a git. S-shut up!” He said and suddenly it was gone and now he could hear it in outside his body and in a small shell. Suddenly he was being lifted up from where he was and his fins parted ways to make two human legs.
Arthur was now a human- with legs, lungs, and everything else. He was struggling to get to the surface, until Bruce and Flying Mint Bunny Fish came to the rescue. They had been watching the whole thing and luckily were able to aid him get to safety.
The two took Arthur to the nearest beach, where it so happened that Gilbert was collecting things that had washed in with the tide.
“Hey, it’s Bruce! Oh, and Arthur. So what’s up with you two?” The two brothers stared at him in confusion. “Arthur, you look a bit different. Did you get a new haircut?”
“He’s human, mate. He sold his voice to the sea witch and has three days to hook up with the prince or else,” Bruce said. Arthur rolled his eyes, unsurprised by Gilbert’s idiocy.
“Oh… That would explain why you are so naked. You might want to put some clothes on.” Arthur looked down at himself. He was indeed naked. It was something he never really thought about until now. He blushed and stumbled behind a rock. Bruce was a bit confused, but at least Gilbert was useful for something, as he was able to find some rags for Arthur to wear. Arthur was still struggling to walk and he was starting to wonder how this was all going to work.
Gilbert decided that now was a great time to leave the merman and head back to his island. Arthur tried to curse the hermit for leaving him like this but nothing came out. His arm movements looked more like excited waving to Gilbert. Arthur gave a silent sigh as he kept on practicing walking. He was still very wobbly. All Bruce and Flying Mint Bunny Fish could do was watch.
Arthur was very frustrated at his legs as he made his way down the beach. After a few minutes, he finally thought he was getting the hang of it until suddenly his left foot went in an unexpected direction and he came crashing down on top of a very large sand sculpture of what appeared to be some sort of dinosaur. Arthur tried to pick himself up from the remains of the t-rex when he heard a familiar voice.
“Awww man, there goes my awesome sand statue! What’s the big i-“ The voice cut itself off when it saw the former merman. Sitting in the sand. Arthur looked up in delight. It’s him!
In his delight, Arthur tried to get up and fell sharply back down. Alfred noticed how much he was struggling and gave him a hand to help him up. Arthur blushed as he took the other man’s hand. He wanted to thank him and was disappointed he couldn’t.
“You don’t look so great. Are you okay-“ He paused a bit as he looked into the shorter man’s eyes. Those green eyes and those huge eyebrows. It was him. “Dude, this is awesome! It’s you! You are the one that save my life! I knew you were real! Oh, what’s your name!?” Arthur’s eyes went wide and he could hardly believe that he was so excited over him and he tried to answer him but all he could do was mouth ‘Arthur’. He gripped his throat when he remembered the curse.
“Y-You can’t talk? O-oh… Well, I suppose you can’t be him then…” Alfred said, dejected. Arthur’s heart sank. It seemed like that was too easy. Still, Alfred couldn’t keep his eyes off the other man. It was all there except the voice, and how did he just suddenly appear?
“So where did you come from?” Arthur pointed out to the ocean.
“Oh… You come from a ship wreck? Well, I’m a hero and if you need some help getting back on your feet I’ll be glad to. Come on!” He grabbed wobbly Arthur and helped him off to the palace. Bruce and Fly Mint Bunny Fish could hardly believe their eyes at what had happened, but they were honestly glad that a happy ending looked like a possibility.
Alfred told all the people at the palace that Arthur had washed up from the shore from a shipwreck and told everyone to treat him with respect and that he would be a guest until they figured out where he belonged. Alfred wasn’t sure if Arthur had never been able to talk or if he had lost his ability to speak during the trauma of the shipwreck. Either way, Alfred knew that it must be stressful for him.
Alfred made sure Arthur was fed, cleaned, and well taken care of. Alfred showed the other man to his room, and told him that if he was up to it if he would meet him for dinner in a few hours. Arthur’s heart raced with excitement.
Arthur nodded and went to lie down on his bed.
I can’t believe this is happening to me. Then again, he is probably only being nice because he thinks I need help. I’m sure it’s just protocol for him. He is a prince after all.
Arthur decided that he needed a plan. Certainly someone like Alfred would be difficult to win over, especially when Arthur was limited to only gestures, but he really didn’t have a choice at the moment. He looked out the window to see Bruce and Flying Mint Bunny Fish swimming around the outside of the palace. He waved down to them and was thankful that he was able to get their attention. They were both keeping an eye out for Arthur in the hopes that he didn't have to spend the rest of his days in a watery hell.
The young merprince decided that he should try and go down to dinner. He was glad he was by himself as he was still not very sure on some of the appropriate ways of human dressing and such. Arthur decided that it couldn’t possibly be that complicated, and after quite a bit of trial and error, he declared himself presentable. It took a while but he thought he looked decent enough and was able to find the dining hall after being directed by a servant. It was a very beautiful castle and the room he had just entered was no exception. It was huge and very well decorated. There was already a nice meal laid out and at the table was Alfred, Kiku, and Alfred's uncles Tino and Berwald. They all welcomed him in but it was Alfred who offered his hand to led him to the chair directly next to Alfred’s own.
Arthur thought his food was quite delicious. He had never eaten human food before and it was all so different than anything he had ever tasted before. He wasn't quite sure on how exactly they went about eating either, but he carefully watched how the others picked up their drinks and silverware and copied the motions accordingly. It was strange but by the end of the meal, he thought that he was getting the hang of it.
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After the meal, before Arthur went back to his room, Alfred wanted to ask him something.
“I was wondering would you like to go on a tour of the kingdom tomorrow. We might be able to find some information about where you came from. And it will give you a chance to relax and stuff." Arthur flushed.
I believe he's asking me out on a date. N-Not like I have anything else better to do I suppose. Arthur nodded.
Alfred beamed and gave him a hug.
"Great! I'll see you tomorrow then!" Arthur was taken back to his room where he had a very hard time getting his cheeks to stop blushing and keeping his mouth from smiling. Even the cynic in him was having a hard time not getting excited after such a warm greeting from someone like Alfred.
Arthur yawned and decided that it would best to get some rest for the next day.
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The next day, the two princes set out for their day out that might as well have been a date, but the two of them would never admit to such a thing. It started out just as they had intended a fun but educational day of Alfred telling Arthur about the kingdom and talking to the various people in the town nearby. It was a very happy, small and peaceful kingdom. Everyone seemed to know Alfred and he was well loved by everybody. He explained to a few people why his not-date was so quiet and they all seemed to be sympathetic to his situation. Unsurprisingly no one seemed to know who he was or where he could have possibly come from.
There was an unusual comfortableness between the two of them. As the day moved along, both of them seemed to let go and just enjoy each other’s company. The fact that Arthur couldn’t speak didn’t even matter anymore. Actions and glances said everything that Arthur’s voice couldn’t. Even after the most embarrassing thing in his life happened to him, Arthur couldn’t give up hope. They stopped at a small cafe for something to eat and drink early in the afternoon. While it started out really well (Arthur had his first cup of tea and was the best thing he’d ever tasted), the problem occurred when Alfred handed him some sugar cubes and mentioned a sore shoulder. Needless to say Gilbert's advice for the uses of jelly and tongs turned out to be completely disastrous for poor Arthur. However, Alfred just laughed and wiped the jam from his shoulder.
"Don't worry it happens,” he said. Arthur was thoroughly embarrassed and tried to make sure he remembered to give Gilbert a good smack when he saw him later.
After that mishap, the rest of the day went smoothly. After a small and very not (except for the part where it was) romantic dinner, the two set out for a boat ride on a blue lagoon. The view was beautiful, but the pair had a hard time concentrating on the setting.
Bloody hell, I nearly forgot that he needs to kiss me before tomorrow. But... what if he doesn't want to...
Arthur looked down in the water and saw Bruce and Flying Mint Bunny Fish swimming in the lagoon but being careful to not be seen by Alfred. Arthur didn’t mind them being there. He knew they wouldn’t allow themselves to be seen. He was busy thinking about the situation with Alfred.
“Did you have a good time today?” Alfred asked with a smile. Arthur nodded in return.
“Great! I did too. You are something.” Arthur tried his best to not blush. “But I just have to wonder… What’s your name?”
Arthur gave a look that was clearly said “Remember I can’t talk.”
“Hey! I know you can’t talk, but maybe I can guess! You can tell me if I’m right or not.” Arthur nodded. It was certainly better than nothing.
“How about George?” Arthur shook his head. “Or maybe Stuart?” That was also a not it. “Jake? John? Chris? Francis?” The last caused Arthur to nearly to throw up. Alfred looked worried. Finally, Bruce whispered near the boat where he couldn’t be seen.
“His name is Arthur.”
“Arthur… Is your name Arthur?” Arthur nodded. “Arthur! You’re Arthur.” Alfred gave a great big smile as he continued to paddle the boat. It was a beautiful night. Alfred looked over to Arthur and picked up his hand.
“Arthur, as long as you are here in this kingdom, I want you to stay with me at the palace. Y-you are a great guy and I swear I will do everything possible to find where you belong. Hero’s promise!” Arthur blushed.
Right now… It’s here with you.
Arthur clutched his hand over Alfred’s. Both of their hearts started to race fast and their cheeks were warm. Before they knew it they were leaning in hopes of a kiss. That kiss never happened. Right before their lips touched, the boat was on its side and the two were completely submerged in the water. Once they had air, they went looking for the other.
No one was sure why the boat had tipped over like that. Little did they know, it was because they were being watched by someone else. Francis had sent Eva and Ingrid make sure Arthur was unable to fulfill his part of the contract. Francis was at a loss at why Arthur had been so close. This called for him to do something about it.
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After getting back to the palace the two went to their rooms to get something dry to wear and settle down for the night. However Alfred’s mind was racing. He stepped out of the palace to go for a walk on the beach.
Arthur is amazing. I wish I knew what he was thinking. Granted sometimes it’s easy. He’s so expressive and cute and smart…but I can’t shake the feeling we’ve met before…
At that moment, from behind him appeared a strange man he had never seen before, and couldn’t help but feel a bit odd in his presence.
“Oh….I didn’t think I’d see anyone here this late,” Alfred greeted the stranger.
“It’s never too late for amour.” The man slowly made his way closer to the prince who kept backing up as to create more and more space.
“Um…sure, whatever look I gotta run-“ Alfred was about to leave when suddenly out of nowhere the other man was there in front of him again and closer than before.
“Why do that when clearly what you want is in front of you?” He said in a sultry low voice. Alfred was entirely terrified when suddenly a rock came from nowhere and hit Francis square in the back of his head. Francis turned around to see Arthur standing in his night clothes glaring. Francis looked shocked that he had managed to find them, but turned to Arthur and smirked.
“You are too late! Your precious prince has come to know my charms and is obviously madly in love with me. You might as well jump back into ocean for he will never-“ Francis had no chance to finish his speech because before he was able to Alfred and Arthur were already embracing each other.
“Arthur, that was so awesomely heroic of you. I can’t thank you enough,” Alfred said staring into his eyes longingly.
Francis was confused that his natural sexiness had not attracted someone, but he had to think quick on his feet to avoid the kiss that was about to happen. Suddenly before their eyes he transformed into his regular form. Alfred looked really worried about those tentacles.
“You may not approve of me but certainly you approve of say …the man who saved your life?” Francis opened up the shell and it shouted “Please! Someone help me! I-I can hardly breathe…” The voice echoed. Arthur’s eyes widened.
No…he can’t be!
“Know that voice well I see? Well if you wish to see him again, then you must come to my lair and save him yourself.” With that Francis leapt into the ocean. Both Alfred and Arthur were in a panic for different reasons.
“Arthur I…I care about you so much, but a hero has got to do what a hero has got to do! If I go now I bet I could follow him and-“ Just as he was about to leave Arthur grabbed him. His eyes were begging him not to leave.
Bloody hell you heroic idiot! It’s me! I’m safe! It’s a trap!
“I have to. You understand right? I…I like you I really do. You are amazing, but there is someone in danger, I have to go. I want you to stay here! I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt.”
The merman looked into his eyes pleading. I feel the same way. If only I could tell you. Damn you Francis!
Francis was almost out of sight. He kept lingering a bit so that once Alfred was in the water he could capture him. Then there would be no way Arthur could kiss him before tomorrow and everything would go according to plan again.
Arthur refused to let go. There was no way he was going to let Alfred harm himself for him like that. Alfred paused and grasped Arthur tightly in his arms.
“I promise I’ll be safe. I want to leave you with something. Something that proves I will return.” With that Alfred leaned down and kissed Arthur on the lips. It was magical and wonderful. The only thing the two could think of at that moment was each other.
“Alfred …I” Arthur blinked. He could talk …but that shouldn’t have happened right? Suddenly he felt himself fall. He was a merman again. Arthur looked up to Alfred who looked shocked.
“Arthur? What is going on?”
“I can explain! I’m sorry I wanted to tell you but I-“
Francis came back to the shore, this time with Eva and Ingrid. Francis laughed, but the two mermaids glared at him. Probably for being so stupid as to not think they would kiss before one went off to risk their life. Francis knew he was in for some trouble later, however there was one thing Arthur had missed. Ingrid handed the Sea Witch the contract.
“While the contract did in fact you could say you could stay human for three days, you forgot to read the fine print under the fine print I’m afraid. It clearly states that if you kiss before the three days, payment will be returned and all is void. Sorry to say but you have no choice but to remain a merman. Au avoir!" Francis left with the two mermaids. He was done. He'd had his fun, and he also knew he would never use a template for these sort of things again.
Meanwhile Alfred bent down to Arthur on the beach.
“It was you wasn’t? You saved me and then you…”
“Yes… it was me. Alfred I’m so sorry for what I put you through. You almost got yourself hurt or-“
“It’s okay, now we have each other…sort of.”
“Hell of an idiot I turned out to be,” Arthur said, but Alfred just pulled him closer.
“Arthur, I don’t care what you are. We will be together no matter what. Even if I have to take up scuba diving lessons or build a giant portable tank for you, we will figure it out. I want to be with you.” Both of them were near in tears.
“A-Alfred…” Was all he could manage as he sat in his arms. The sun was coming out from over the horizon. They enjoyed the site while being with each other.
Then from the ocean appeared a mass of merpeople. This included Bruce, Flying Mint Bunny Fish, Derek, and Nikolas. The pair on land looked at each other, both confused as to what was going on.
“Hey Arthur! How’s it going? I have decided that it’s okay for you to want legs now! Nikolas took me to a Legs are Okay program! Letting my prince have legs because he is in love with a human is on the twelve step program! Magic pointy stick: Activate!” With that a pool of light circled around Arthur. From out of it, magic exploded, and he was surrounded by a glowing light. When it vanished, he had legs again, and he was wearing a strange pair of tacky red pants.
Arthur was now human and was free to marry who he wanted. Flying Mint Bunny Fish became a Flying Mint Bunny, but no one could see him still. Bruce still visited Arthur and Alfred, who waited to be married after they had a loving and wonderful courtship. All the other merfolk lived happier now that Derek didn’t care about who they talked to because legs were okay. Gilbert got quite the smack down, but after healing people actually talked to him since they knew his stories about merpeople weren't all crack pot stories. Kiku, Berwald and Tino stayed happily by Alfred and Arthur's sides and everyone else lived happily ever after. Even Francis, Eva and Ingrid who most likely started some sort of awesome undersea reality show.
THE END
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I craked myself in the early morning and finished it all while my angry mother told me to sleep!
Man, my stomach hurts from all the laugh~! XD
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Gilbert as the crazy hermit.
Derek and his magic pointy thing.
The contract.
Mint bunny!!
I would go on but I would be typing out another copy of your story.
;)
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Because its too awesome too deny the feeling to draw something from this AU~ XD
http://usxuk.livejournal.com/2052491.html
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I love Derek! He made me laugh a lot.
And Francis too. That poor guy.
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Good job.