In late 1992, Disney released a four-volume series of Little Mermaid comic books. In the final release of the series, The Hunt for the Redhead Down Under, Prince Eric commissions a brand new fleet of ships for his navy. During the interviews he is approached by a man with a prototype submarine. Eric is intrigued by the idea and promises to build one if the man can provide proof that the vessel works. It turns out that he had seen Ariel from afar and decides that he can capture her as his proof. His submarine gets caught on a shipwreck that Ariel happened to be exploring. She sets him free and he lets her go in gratitude. What if instead he went and captured her anyway?

The comic book's title is presumably a play on the title of the film The Hunt for Red October. I feel that it is somewhat fitting that I upload this one the eve of my favorite Major League Baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals, battling for the National League Pennant (The Hunt for Redbird October). I've uploaded this fanfic on what happens to be Jodi Benson's (voice actress of Ariel) birthday.

Chapter 1

Sebastian paced up and down the ship's deck in frustration. Just a few moments earlier, he had, by chance, caught Ariel just as she and Flounder were about to sneak out of Atlantica to go exploring. Ariel had initially been evasive about where they were going when Sebastian questioned her, but she ultimately told him that she was planning on exploring a shipwreck to look for human treasures. He had threatened to report this to her father, but Ariel hinted that there may have been musical instruments aboard. He then relented at this and reluctantly went with her. That was how the royal court composer once again found himself on one of Ariel's adventures. They had already searched through most of the boat's upper decks, and were now looking through one of the lower rooms. Like many of the rooms that had explored, it was in disarray. Various objects had been strewn across the floor. Ariel was rummaging through a chest and placing several objects in an orange bag that she was carrying, while Flounder was reading a human book. Sebastian did not so much mind that Flounder was reading. Despite his misgivings about the human world, he suspected that a human book was probably harmless. But he took a greater exception to Ariel's exploring. Sebastian was supposed to give Ariel and her sisters a music lesson in less than an hour, and she had yet to find any instruments. He was now starting to think that Ariel had simply led him on, and that there were no instruments in the shipwreck.

"You've been rooting around here for more than half an hour, young lady!" he shouted in annoyance. "Enough is more than…"

Ariel then suddenly held up an object and shouted, "Ah! Here's something, Sebastian!" She slowly traced her fingers over the object's smooth finish. It was rectangular in shape, and had a polished surface. She turned it over in her hands and saw a set of square holes on one side.

"It has blowholes and things like that. It has to be something musical," Ariel explained, handing it to the crab. Sebastian hesitantly took the object and looked over it. He narrowed his eyes as he examined it. It did not resemble any kind of instrument he'd ever seen before.

"This is supposed to be a human musical instrument?" he asked with suspicion. He doubted it would even sound good. Ariel sighed and said, "Come on, Sebastian, just give it a try."

Sebastian sighed as he raised the object to his lips. He took a deep breath and blew into the object. A very unpleasant sound emerged from it, and Ariel and Flounder instantly moved to cover their ears. "Ew!" Flounder shouted. "Uh, needs work, Sebastian," Ariel remarked. She then turned to Flounder and added in a whisper, "needs a lot of work." Sebastian heard this and shook his head.

"If you ask me, humans know nothing about making decent music," the crab muttered, tossing the instrument aside. It made a small clatter as it hit the floor. Ariel picked the up object off the floor and placed it in her bag. Sebastian shook his head again and turned to swim for the portal that led out of the shipwreck. "Now let's get out of here," he ordered.

But we have so much left to explore, Sebastian!" Ariel protested. Sebastian did not listen and instead swam out into the ocean. Ariel and Flounder reluctantly followed not too far behind.

"Don't try to sweet-talk me, girl," Sebastian scolded. "I've got places to go, and I'm going, and you're coming with me," he continued before he was suddenly met with a blinding flash of light.

"What in the seas is that?" Ariel asked, trying to shield her eyes from the light with her arms. "I…I can't see anything."

Flounder squinted through the light and thought he could make out a very large fish, a large fish with very sharp teeth. "It's a monster!" he screamed, hiding behind Ariel.

Sebastian's eyes began to adjust to the brightness. His jaw dropped when he got a better look at it. He could now see that the fish was made of the same material as the shipwreck that had just been in, and that meant only one thing. "No, worse than that! IT'S HUMANS!" he shouted as loud as he could.

Sebastian tried to motion to them to swim, but before they could react, a net sprang out and trapped Ariel. He gasped as he watched Ariel helplessly pull at the net.

"Flounder! Sebastian! It's got me!" she cried.

"We'll save you, Ariel!" he shouted.

Flounder and Sebastian swam up to her, but she flailed her arms, telling them to swim away.

"No, stay back! It might catch you, too!" she protested.

Sebastian ignored her protests and heedlessly swam up to the net, grabbing onto the mesh.

"Sebastian, I told you to stay clear!"

Sebastian vigorously shook his head.

"I know what you told me! But what I'm telling you is that I've never met a net that could stand up to a determined crab."

"But you could be caught or injured."

Sebastian hesitated briefly before wincing slightly. Ariel was able to guess what Sebastian had just thought and wasn't too surprised at what he said next.

"Between your father and the humans, I think I'll take my chances with the humans."

With that Sebastian snapped his claws at the net, his pinchers easily cutting through the rope. In just a few seconds, Ariel had been cut loose.

"Go! That's it girl, go!" he shouted.

Ariel promptly swam out of the torn net. "You did it, Sebastian!" she shouted happily.

"Of course I did, now let's get out of here before the humans notice we gave them the slip," he encouraged. He let go of the net and the trio began to swim away when they heard a growing noise. Sebastian turned around and saw that the net had become ensnared on the mermaid figurehead on the front of the shipwreck. The wreckage began to tip over as the net grew tout.

"Get clear! That whole thing's going over!" Sebastian shouted.

The entire ship toppled over as the vessel crashed into the sea floor with a thud. Sebastian could see that the vessel was still trapped on the net. He doubted it would be going anywhere anytime soon. It would provide them with the perfect opportunity to escape.

"Come on! Let's go while the going's good!" Sebastian shouted. He quickly turned around to swim back to Atlantica, Flounder trailing behind him. The two of them quickly stopped, however, when they noticed that Ariel had not turned around. Sebastian slowly turned around and swam to the mermaid as she continued to look at the vessel.

"But…but it'd be wrong to just leave him to die. It would be as barbaric as Daddy is always saying the humans are," Ariel pointed out.

"Well, he certainly didn't have your best interests at heart, Ariel," Flounder observed.

"Leave him be," Sebastian spat, shaking his head. "He deserves to die for what he…"

"No," she said firmly. "I'm not going to let him die, and you're going to help me save him."

Sebastian swam up to Ariel's eyes and crossed his pinchers. "That, young lady, is where I draw the line. I will not…"

"I said, Sebastian, he is not going to die, and you're going to help me," she repeated before she swam off to the trapped vessel.

"Oh, so you did," Sebastian said timidly.

"She's got a lot of her father in her, that one does," he muttered.

…

It had been by mere chance that a group of dolphins has passed by to investigate the noise they had just heard. Sebastian and Ariel quickly saw a way to work this to their advantage. They quickly fashioned some rope from seaweed and used it to pull the vessel free of the wreckage, with the dolphins pulling as well.

"Okay, you dolphins! You've got it free from the mast! Now let's get it up to the surface! Come on! Put your fins into it!" Sebastian encouraged.

"Even with all this help, this thing is heavy," Ariel grunted. With a final pull, they brought the vessel up to the surface. Ariel let go of the rope and paused to catch her breath.

"Alright, the thing is clear," Sebastian shouted to Ariel. He turned around and began, "Now let's get out of," but then stopped when an ear-splitting shriek rang out through the ocean. He quickly turned around and his eyes went wide at what he saw. A large spear had been shot through Ariel's tail. Blood poured from her wound. The vessel continued to swim away.

"ARIEL!" the crab shouted in horror. He quickly swam up to her, Flounder not too far behind. Sebastian visibly cringed at what he saw. Blood streaked down Ariel's tail. She kept taking deep breaths to keep from screaming in pain. Her blue eyes were full of pain and could barely stay open. Ariel would soon pass out from the pain and be virtually helpless against the human. Sebastian realized that someone would need to be with her. He wrapped his pinchers around the harpoon and looked at Flounder.

"Go and find the sea king!" he shouted frantically. "I'll stay here with Ariel!"

Flounder nodded grimly and turned to swim back. Sebastian slowly crawled up the harpoon to look at Ariel.

"Ariel, you listen to me now," he encouraged. Ariel slowly lifted her head up, using all of her energy to look at the crab. "S-Sebastian" she whimpered.

"We'll find a way out of this one, I promise you that," he continued.

Ariel did not acknowledge that she had heard him. "It-it hurts," she continued to whimper. "P-Please make it stop."

Sebastian shook his head and encouraged, "Don't try to think about that, Ariel. You need to stay awake." He briefly turned to glance back at her wound. It appeared that it had stopped bleeding. He grabbed onto the harpoon tighter when they suddenly broke the surface. Ariel became focused once again and gasped in pain. The vessel came to a stop and a door swung open from the top of the vessel. Sebastian quickly swam up to Ariel and hid in her hair. He curled up into a ball as he saw a human climb down from the vessel. He was a tall, thin, human, with light blondish hair, very dark brown eyes, and his lips were cured into a sneer. He wore a green jacket and pants over a brown shirt. Ariel shuddered when she saw him. This man looked nothing like the humans she had imagined. This human looked very dangerous. He stepped onto the wooden dock and unhooked a chain before pulling on it, hauling Ariel up onto the dock. She landed on the dock with a thud. The human stepped forward and grabbed the spear, giving it a hard pull. Ariel screamed in pure agony as he pulled the harpoon out of her tail. He then tossed it aside and bet down to glare at Ariel.

"Did you think you could get away from me?" he spat. Ariel was too afraid to even look at him, let alone answer. He then roughly grabbed her by the arm and began to drag her along the dock. Ariel cried out in pain as her tail dragged along the wood. She tried to yank her hand out of his grip but he only held on tighter. "You're not escaping from me," the man snapped. From within Ariel's hair, Sebastian seethed with rage at the human. The crab thought back to when he had suggested that they leave him to die. For the first time since he could remember, Sebastian hated being right. They had set him free and he repaid them by capturing her anyway. He wanted nothing more than to pinch at him, but he knew that that was about the last thing he could afford to do. They would have to try to escape later.

Once the human reached a set of steps, he bent down and picked her up, carrying her the rest of the way. Ariel squirmed uncomfortably in his arms as he walked along. He dropped her to the floor when they reached a set of double doors. He opened up one of the doors and went into the room behind it. Ariel could hear voices from the other side of the door. She strained to hear what they were saying.

"You're back already? Did you find this supposed proof that you promised me?" she heard someone ask. It was the voice of another man. Ariel felt less afraid upon hearing his voice. It didn't sound harsh or angry, but more curious.

"Yes, and I think you'll be most impressed at what I've brought you," the other man's voice said. Ariel frowned when she heard this. Were these humans working together? Had this human told him to capture her? She began to feel afraid again.

The door suddenly opened and Ariel saw that the second man had now joined him. He looked to be a few years older than she was, and Ariel was surprised that one of the first things she noticed was that he looked quite handsome. He was tall and slim, but still strongly built. His blue eyes matched her own. Unlike the first human, he was dressed in a simple white shirt and blue pants. He immediately gasped when he saw her and staggered back.

…

Prince Eric's eyes widened at what he saw. A real live mermaid sat on the floor. She looked to be about a year or two younger than he was. One of the first things that Eric noticed about her was that she was dazzlingly beautiful, with a very slender form and bright blue eyes the color of the ocean itself. Long red hair brighter than any shade he had seen before framed her gorgeous face and ran down passed her shoulders, stopping just above her bluish-green tail. Eric then looked at her tail and saw that she had been wounded. He looked into her eyes and saw they were wide with fear. She was probably scared half to death from what had been done to her, and he could see that she was trembling all over.

He suddenly became very angry. The mermaid had been taken away from her home against her will. She probably didn't even know where she was then. It was obvious that she was in a lot of pain. She was probably completely terrified. Her family would probably be worried about her as well. Eric's eyes darkened. He could feel his muscles tense and his jaw clench. He slowly turned to Thelonius, trying to keep his anger in check so as not to scare the mermaid even more.

"Do you mind explaining to me what happened?" he asked, his voice laced with subtle anger. Thelonius turned to him in confusion and asked, "What do you mean, Your Highness?" Eric rolled his eyes in annoyance and asked, "Are you going to explain to me why she is wounded?" speaking as though he were addressing a small child.

"She tried to escape from the net. I wasn't about to let her get away from me," Thelonius defended himself. Eric scoffed in contempt. "Yes, I'd imagine she would," he said condescendingly. Thelonius was clearly miffed at Eric's tone of voice but continued speaking.

"Since I've brought you your proof now," he began before Eric cut him off.

"I'm not satisfied with your proof," Eric snapped, his composure slowly failing. "For all I know, you could have captured her at the surface."

Thelonius' eyes narrowed at Eric. "Are you trying to back out of our deal?" he challenged.

"This doesn't satisfy our agreement," Eric retorted evenly. "I asked you for some kind of proof that your vessel would work, and this," he said while pointing at the mermaid, "is not proof." He then angrily grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him across the hallway. "All you have done is wound and capture a mermaid, forcibly take her from her home, and probably scare her half to death!" As they reached the main entrance to the palace, he roughly shoved him away and turned to Grimsby. "Kindly show this man his way out. I will be taking no more meetings today," he ordered.

Eric groaned as Grimsby led the man away. He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. He had not planned things to turn out like this. He had just seen a real live mermaid. He then remembered that she had been wounded.

"Eric, is something wrong?" Grimsby asked. Eric looked up and saw that his advisor was with him again. He quickly shook his head. He couldn't let him know about Ariel, at least not yet. With a sigh, he went to go check on her. When he reached his study, he saw that she still lay there on the floor in the same spot that she had been before.

The mermaid tried to back away, covering her face with her hands as though she were afraid of him. She winced in pain as her tail scrapped across the floor. "Please don't hurt me!" she whimpered. Eric started back when he heard her voice. It was the first time she had spoken since she had been brought ashore. Eric quickly noticed that, despite her fear, she had a very beautiful voice as well. He frowned at what she had said. She was still afraid that he would hurt her. Eric then began to feel guilty about what had just happened. It had been because he wanted to commission a new fleet of ships that this had happened. He felt responsible that she had been wounded. Eric knelt down next to her and looked softly into her eyes. The mermaid continued to look at the floor, shivering.

"I'm sorry that that man hurt you," he began hesitantly. The mermaid gasped upon hearing his voice and looked up at him. Their eyes then met, and she gasped again. Once again she began to feel less afraid.

"I won't let anyone else hurt you," he continued. It was then that the mermaid dared to reach up and touch him. She gently cupped his face with her hand. Eric watched in curiosity as her fingers traced over his cheek. He guessed that humans probably weren't that familiar to her.

"What is your name, miss?" he asked suddenly.

The mermaid hesitated. Eric mentally slapped himself. The mermaid wouldn't trust him enough to tell him her name. He sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you that. I have no right to ask that of you…"

"Ariel," she said softly.

"I'm sorry, what?" Eric asked in confusion.

"My name is Ariel," she repeated.

"Ariel," Eric repeated to himself. She had once again surprised him. She was not only beautiful, and had a beautiful voice, but she had a beautiful name as well. "That's kind of pretty," he said, more to himself than to Ariel, but he guessed that she had heard him because, in spite of the pain in her tail, she suddenly smiled brightly.

"Thanks you, Your Highness," she whispered.

"Please, you may call me Eric," he insisted.

"Eric," she repeated.

"Eric?" they heard someone ask.

Eric jumped up at the sound of his advisor's voice. Ariel staggered back as well, startled by his reaction. She yelped when Eric quickly gathered her into his arms and ran. He wasn't sure right away where he would go, but he knew that he had to get her far away from his advisor. Ariel wrapped her arms around his neck to keep from falling. Eric continued running for what seemed like several minutes, fearing that he would encounter a servant each time he turned a corner. He suddenly stopped when he saw that he was in front of the door to his bedroom. He quickly pulled the door open and stepped inside, immediately closing the door behind him with his foot. He then gently set Ariel down on the floor. Ariel looked up at him confusion, but Eric leaned against his bedroom door, trying to catch his breath. He looked down at her tail and his eyes widened. Her wound had begun to bleed again. Eric quickly ran into his bath chamber and returned with a towel. He laid Ariel on top of the towel and tied it around her tail.

Ariel looked up at him and managed a small smile. "Thank you, Eric," she whispered.

Eric nodded and looked down at her again and saw that her skin was starting to dry. She would probably feel more comfortable in water. She was, after all, a mermaid. Eric walked back into his bath chamber and pushed down on the pump until his bathtub was filled with warm water. He then went back into his room and found Ariel tracing along the carpet with her fingers. She looked up at him when she saw him enter the room. He said nothing, and instead slowly walked over to her and slowly picked her up. Ariel wrapped her arms around his shoulders and watched with curiosity as he led her to the door. Her face brightened again when she saw the tub.

He then gently placed her in the water. She seemed to relax at this. She began splashing around playfully in the water. A giggle even managed to escape her lips. Eric suddenly realized that he was grinning for the first time in this entire incident. Little did he realize that this ordeal was far from over.

…

And there we have the first chapter.