The Little Mermaid just happens to be my favorite Disney animated movie, so I guess I should have expected that I would write a fanfic of it at some point. This is a scene that I've thought about a lot recently. What would have happened if Eric really had kissed Ariel just before sunset? Would they have gone straight to the happy ending? Would there still have been struggles for them? How would Ursula have reacted? How would King Triton have felt? How would Ariel explain to Eric who she was?

Chapter 1

It had been the second time in the past three days that Sebastian felt completely powerless. The first time it had happened, it had been after King Triton had destroyed Ariel's collection of human things. He had accidentally revealed to King Triton that Ariel had fallen in love with a human that she had saved from drowning. He feared that Ariel would never trust him again. It felt even worse this time. He had just seen Prince Eric standing next to another woman, claiming that she had rescued him. That didn't make any sense. Ariel had saved him, not this other woman. But there was no way he could find out. Ariel still couldn't speak, and Sebastian couldn't risk showing himself. He could only look on as Ariel lost her chance with the prince. That was how he now found himself on the dock from which the wedding ship had just departed. Ariel was sitting, hugging her knee to her chest, arms crossed over her knees, covering her face. A single tear trickled down her cheek and landed in the water near Flounder. The small fish was fighting to hold back his own tears. He and Sebastian had done everything they could for her, and gladly would have done it again, but it still didn't turn out to be enough. For now, they could only wait until sunset, when the Sea Witch would come after her for failing. They could only hope that her father would somehow find a way to save her.

"Ariel!"

The three of them looked up and saw Scuttle flying towards the as fast as he could. They had last seen him when he had mistakenly believed that Eric had decided to marry her. As he landed, he gestured out towards the water.

"Ariel, I was flying, I - of course I was flying, and I saw that the watch - the witch was watching in a mirror and she was singing with a stolen set of pipes. Do you hear what I'm telling you? The prince is marrying the sea witch in disguise!"

"Are you sure about dis?"

"Have I ever been wrong? I mean, when it's important?"

Ariel stood up and watched the boat as it edged closer to the horizon. Ursula's words echoed in her mind.

Before the sun sets on the third day…

Ariel suddenly knew what she had to do. She ran to the edge of the dock and dove into the water. Sebastian quickly saw that Ariel couldn't swim. For a second he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Ariel could swim faster than any mermaid he knew, but as a human she could barely stay afloat. The crab quickly ran towards a line of barrels and cut the rope that held them in place. The barrels rolled into the water.

"Ariel, grab on ta dat!"

She obeyed and grabbed a barrel that still had a piece of rope tied to it.

"Flounder, you get ta dat boat as fast as you fins can carry you!"

"I'll try!"

"I got ta get to da Sea King. He needs ta know about dis."

"What about me?"

"You, find a way ta stall dat wedding!"

And with that, he jumped into the water and made his way to Atlantica. As he made his way closer to the palace, various fish and mer-people asked him where he had been. Sebastian ignored them and continued to swim as fast as he could. He was nearly out of breath by the time he reached the throne room. He found the king hunched forward in his seat, head leaning off to one side and resting against the palm of his hand.

"Your Majesty!" he shouted as he came within earshot of King Triton. The king broke out of his pensive state and looked straight ahead. His eyes widened as he saw the royal court composer for the first time in nearly three days.

"Sebastian! Where have you been? We've looked everywhere for you! Where is Ariel?"

Sebastian inwardly cringed at what he would have to tell the king, but he brushed that all aside for the moment and instead said, "Your Majesty, you need ta come with me right now! Ariel's in trouble!"

Triton snapped to full attention. His worst fear had been confirmed. He wouldn't wait for an explanation, so he quickly grabbed Sebastian and began to swim out of the throne room.

"What kind of trouble, Sebastian? The Sharkanians? The Mooray? Humans?"

"Trouble from da sea witch!"

"Sea witch?" he asked, fear seeping into his voice.

"Come with me and I'll explain what happened. We have no time to lose! We have ta go to da surface!"

"Why do we need to go there?"

Sebastian took a deep breath. "Ariel met wit da Sea Witch right after you left. She turned her into a human." Sebastian wasn't able to get another word out before the king roared, "She what!?"

"She turned her into a human for three days, and made Ariel give up her voice. De human she rescued just happens to be a prince and he needs to kiss her by sunset or else Ariel will be bound to da witch. But now Ursula has disguised herself as a human and is using Ariel's voice to fool da prince inta marrying her!"

This made Triton swim even faster. Mer-folk watched as the Sea King sped past them. Once they were outside the kingdom, Triton asked, "Why didn't you report this to me the moment it happened?"

Sebastian kept silent as he thought about that one. He didn't want to tell him what really happened, that he caved when he realized that Ariel would never truly be happy as a mermaid anymore. The Sea King probably wouldn't have taken that answer too well.

"I…I thought about it, Your Majesty, really I did. But you know how Ursula is. I doubt she'd let Ariel go back. I thought the only way I could help her was by finding dat prince. I tried to get them to kiss while he took her on a boat ride. It looked like he was about to kiss her when the boat suddenly tipped over. I don't know how that happened. The water was completely calm."

Triton seemed to accept this with a nod, and the two of them continued swimming. He was very surprised when he heard what Sebastian had said about this human, but he would have to question him about it later. They soon found Ursula, and she appeared to be fuming. Triton quickly placed himself in front of her and thundered, "Ursula, stop!" For added emphasis, he threateningly pointed his trident at her. The Sea Witch started back for a moment before straightening herself and assuming a calm demeanor.

"King Triton," she chuckled. "How are you?"

"Where is she? Let her go."

"Where is who?"

"Don't play games with me, Ursula! You know very well who I'm talking about! Where is Ariel?"

"She isn't mine to give back to you. She and I made a deal." With that she waved her hand and the contract that Ariel had signed earlier magically appeared.

"Yes, I know all about your deal you made with her," Triton spat. "Tell me, did you ever intend to let her win? I know all about how that boat tipped over just as she and the human were about to kiss."

"I have to admit that she's far more resilient than I had thought. She actually managed to do it. She was the first soul to actually come close to completing her deal, let alone meeting it. She's human now, permanently," she added nonchalantly. "Not even your precious trident can turn her back. Of course, I always was a girl with an eye for a bargain. The daughter of the great Sea King is a very precious commodity, and she makes for a rather pretty piece of leverage."

"What are you getting at, Ursula?" Triton asked suspiciously.

"It's simple, really. You want your daughter back. I can give you your daughter back, but you have something I want," she began. Triton watched her warily and saw her eyes briefly dart to his trident. The Sea King stiffened as he pulled it closer towards him and strengthened his grip on it.

"Have you gone insane?" he shouted. "If you think I'm going to let you of all people rule over the entire ocean," he started.

"Ah, but think of your daughter. Do you really think she's safe up there? With those…barbarians?" she asked tauntingly.

Triton's thoughts swam chaotically through his mind. He knew full well that Ursula had no real concern for Ariel's well-being. This was nothing more than a ploy to get what she wanted. He then remembered what Sebastian had told him. The prince needed to kiss her. If Ariel had kept up her end of the deal, then that meant the prince must have kissed her. The thought brought even more confusion. A human had kissed his daughter? A human, the very species that he had believed was the greatest threat to the mer-people? A human was in love with her? He turned towards Sebastian and silently asked him what he thought. Sebastian silently nodded once and the king turned back towards the sea witch, and furiously shook his head.

"I will not agree to this, Ursula," he growled.

Ursula stood unmoving. For some reason this unsettled Triton. He would have expected her to show some form of frustration. She had to be plotting something else.

"Suit yourself, Triton," she said bitingly. "I would check to see if your daughter really is safe."

And with that, she left. Triton breathed a sigh of relief. Ariel had managed to escape from Ursula's grasp. But it probably wouldn't be long before he would have to confront Ursula again. This wasn't the first time she had attempted to seize his trident, and he suspected that she would probably try again soon. They continued swimming and soon met with Flounder.

"Did…did she make it in time?" he asked. Sebastian could see that he was clearly nervous, so he wasted no time in nodding his head. Flounder's face immediately lit up as he spun happily around. "We did it!" he shouted. Triton watched silently as Sebastian and Flounder seemed to celebrate. He wouldn't deny that he was quite relieved that Ariel was safe from Ursula, but he was not particularly enthusiastic about the fact that Ariel was now human. He pointedly cleared his throat and asked Flounder to escort them to Ariel. The fish nodded and led them in the direction of the wedding barge.

They didn't swim that far when he saw a dark shadow overhead. That must have been the wedding ship. He had to meet with Ariel to see if she really was safe. Triton, Flounder, and Sebastian swam up towards the surface. Triton swam alongside the boat. As he grabbed on to the side, he heard an unmistakable voice say, "Eric, please, we need to get back to shore."

Eric.

The name sounded familiar to the Sea King. But he didn't remember where. None of his subjects were named Eric, so it couldn't have been anyone from Atlantica.

Why, Eric, run away with you? This is all so…so sudden.

He had heard Ariel whisper this to the statue just before she saw that he was in her grotto. Eric must have been the human prince!

Sebastian quickly climbed up the side of the ship. Triton followed just behind him. Neither one was quite ready for what they saw when they reached the deck.

…

Flounder swam as fast as he could, but Ariel feared that it still wasn't enough. The boat seemed to be getting farther away from them. Almost sensing her fears, he briefly glanced behind and said, "Don't worry, Ariel. We're going to make it. We're almost there."

Please be right, Flounder. Please be right…

Flounder turned back ahead and saw that the boat had suddenly stopped. He began to pull harder on the rope, trying to pull Ariel even faster. There wasn't much time left, as the sun, large in the sky, was just beginning to disappear below the horizon.

Flounder, please hurry!

With one final burst of speed, Flounder pulled up alongside the barge. As he came to a stop, Ariel reached forward and grabbed a pole hanging down from the top deck. She wrapped her legs around the pole and used her arms to pull herself upwards. When she reached the top deck, she grabbed hold of the barge's deck railing. Her crystal-blue eyes widened as she saw that the deck was in chaos. She had looked up just in time to see three dolphins spit water in someone's face. As they went back into the water, Scuttle flew right up to her face and screeched at the top of his lungs. She could see Ursula's shell! An idea came to her. Her voice was inside that shell. If she could grab it and break it, maybe she could get her voice back, and Eric would know that she had saved him. She began to climb over the railing. She heard a scream as she settled down on the other side. As she looked up, she saw the shell flying towards her. The shell landed at her feet, where it broke into several large pieces. Her voice echoed through the air and a light rose from the broken pieces. Eric groaned suddenly as he rubbed his temple with one of his hands. Several of the wedding guests turned in confusion towards her. Ursula looked up and glared daggers at her. Ariel couldn't help but smile as the light reached her mouth and the last notes came from her lips. Her voice had returned to her.

"Ariel?" Eric asked in slight confusion.

"Eric!" she cried happily as Max came up to her.

"You…you can talk?" Eric asked, leaving Ursula's side to join Ariel.

"Eric, get away from her!" Ursula shouted, and stopped in shock when she remembered that she no longer had control of Ariel's voice.

"It was you all the time!" He felt like a fool for not realizing it sooner. He should have realized it when he first saw her. She looked just like the girl who had rescued him. He took both of her hands in his.

"Oh, Eric, I wanted to tell you." She reached up to kiss him.

"Eric, no!" Ursula shouted one last time, but it was too late. Ariel's lips met Eric's just moments before the sun disappeared beneath the horizon. Ariel saw the sun set out the corner of her eyes and suddenly wrapped her arms around Eric, clinging to him tightly. She shut her eyes tightly and began shaking all over. Eric looked down at her, his face a mix of both confusion and fear. "Ariel?" he asked gently. Ariel said nothing and rested her head against his chest, whimpering slightly. She feared that she had still somehow failed. Suddenly she felt a cooling sensation begin at her waist and slowly travel down her legs. She pulled back from Eric to look down at her legs. She smiled when she realized that they weren't changing back. She had managed to beat the Sea Witch. But she didn't have much time to think on this when another voice rang out.

"Would someone please explain to me what on earth just happened?"

They both turned to see Grimsby openly staring at them. Many of the other guests were looking around in confusion as well. They were still under the impression that Eric was about to be married and now he was kissing another woman. Words couldn't begin to describe how improper most of them saw this. Eric stepped back and took in his surroundings. He saw that he was standing on a boat deck surrounded by various nobles and monarch from neighboring kingdoms.

"Why am I on a boat?" he asked.

"I can explain all this," Ariel said quickly.

Grimsby blinked a few times before saying, "Yes, I'm particularly curious to hear how you made it all the way out here, and can somehow now speak."

Ariel knew right away where she would start explaining things. She pointed a finger at Ursula and began, "That woman," before stopping when she saw that Ursula was no longer there. She had seemingly disappeared from sight. All the guests followed where she had pointed and they began to murmur among themselves when they saw that Ursula had vanished. Ariel suddenly began to feel a sense of dread. If Ursula had tried to sabotage her chances of getting Eric to kiss her, then she must not have intended to let her win. She probably intended to use Ariel as a pawn for something. Ursula was probably furious that she had gotten Eric to kiss her. She might be furious enough to attack the boat. As a mermaid, she probably would have had better chances of surviving such an attack. But as a human, she was at a greater risk, because she could now end up drowning. She hadn't forgotten that it nearly happened to her when she had first been turned into a human. And that meant that all these other people could get hurt, too.

"Where's Vanessa?" Grimsby asked incredulously. "How did she suddenly just disappear?"

"Who's Vanessa?" Eric asked in confusion.

"Her name is Ursula, not Vanessa," Ariel quickly said.

"You know her?" Grimsby asked.

Ariel nodded and said, "Well enough to know that we need to leave here and get back to land."

"What?" Eric asked.

"Eric, please, we need to get back to shore."

"Wait, Ariel," Eric began before Ariel cut him off.

"Eric, please, we're not safe here! That woman is a powerful witch and we're all in danger if we stay out here!" she cried, sounding completely panicked.

"Wait, Ariel, what do you mean that woman is a witch?" Eric asked. Ariel opened her mouth to answer, before another voice spoke up.

"That woman was the powerful Sea Witch, Ursula."

Ariel gasped when she heard the voice. It was the voice of her father.

…