"The letters are out for delivery, your Majesty," a young guard walked up to the red headed queen, before bowing and leaving Ariel alone in the room with her husband, King Eric, who sat at a grand piano. Music was laid out on the piano, ready for the king to play. He wasn't very good, but Ariel was teaching him, very slowly.
"Those letters to France… are you sure you'd like to invite peasants to dinner? I understand that Swedish soprano, but the other two… it's a waste of time magic, my dear," Eric looked at his watch. "They should be here in an hour."
"Cosette isn't poor, Eric! And inviting Fantine, poor Fantine, to a grand buffet dinner is exactly what she needs! She starved to death, Eric. Maybe… maybe this'll help!" Ariel stuttered, before sitting at the piano bench with Eric. "Aren't I doing them some good?"
"If you were doing them good, you'd leave them alone," Eric muttered.
"Eric! What's with the pessimism today?" Ariel scolded, before flipping the piano book to a song that Sebastian (yes, the crab) had written for Eric to play. It was simple, but contained a melody special to Ariel and Eric- the melody Eric had heard Ariel singing when she'd saved him at the beach. "Now practice, I need to prepare for supper."
Ariel wore a blue dress reminiscent of the sea, with green and blue weaving through the entire thing. She waited for her guests to arrive, sitting patiently in a room with plump couches and a fireplace. But her patience soon turned to impatience, as she realized she had nothing to do. Christine arrived within five minutes of when they were supposed to arrive, in a beautiful (UGH WHAT WOULD CHRISTINE WEAR HERE), her hair partially back but mainly down. She looked either extremely self-conscious, or terrified for no reason, looking around warily at the palace. Ariel greeted her with a smile, inviting her to sit by her on the couch. "We'll move into the dining hall on arrival of the other guests," Ariel explained, twirling her hair around her finger.
"Thank you, your majesty, for inviting me," Christine said, sweetly.
"Just call me Ariel," she looked disturbed to be called Your Majesty by someone so close in age who she respected as well. "It's been forever since I've seen you, Christine! Last I saw of you, you were still at the opera house!"
"I am, still at the opera house," Christine said quietly, "but I occasionally understudy for La Carlotta, now."
"That's… nice," Ariel said. She'd seen Christine's performances in both Hannibal and Don Juan, using time travel magic. Clearly the timelines didn't match up right.
"I remember you from after Hannibal," Christine recalled, "but very vaguely."
The next arrival was Fantine, who was barely in presentable clothes. A dirty green dress and necklace were all that she wore, her hair quite similar to Christine's, but blonde and wavy. Her face was covered in dirt. Fantine was as thin as Ariel could ever remember her. Ariel barely remember how she'd known Fantine, but soon remembered that they'd met when Ariel took a brief trip to a cafe in Paris. Fantine had been presentable, pregnant with a daughter but clean and in nicer clothes, sitting at a table with a man who soon left. Ariel had helped comfort Fantine, once she learned that this man was her child's father and had decided to leave Fantine.
"Fantine!" Ariel threw her arms around Fantine, despite her being dirty and smelly, concern on her face. "Go see Carlotta, please! She can help you, I promise. She'll clean your clothes and give you new ones. And… and take a bath!" Ariel sent off Fantine to get cleaned up, before sitting down with Christine once more. Christine looked distant, her mind somewhere else. "Christine?" Upon getting no reply, Ariel spoke again, louder. "Christine!"
"Sorry," Christine shook her head, "I've… I've got a lot on my mind, right now."
"Oh," Ariel sighed, with a smile, "well, I'm here, if you need any help."
"Well," Christine sighed, which surprised Ariel, "There's… there's a man… and he… I think I love him." Ariel gasped.
"Well, what's wrong with that?" Ariel smiled.
"This man… he kills things when he doesn't get his way. And… and I'm engaged to another man, but he's sweet, and caring, and brave…" Christine trailed off. "This murderous man, he wants me to perform in an opera he wrote, but I'm… I'm scared."
"Oh my," Ariel whispered, "that's worse than I imagined."
"Yeah…" Christine mumbled, before smiling, "well-"
Cosette walked in. Her dark hair was styled almost identically to Christine's. She wore a pretty black dress that wasn't too fancy but showed off the fact that she was wealthy. She had a smile, running over to Ariel and giving her a hug. "Ariel!"
"Cosette, how's your father doing? And Marius?"
"Marius is well, of course! And Papa passed away the night of the wedding…"
"That's horrible!" Ariel let go of the hug, "I can't imagine a world without my Dad… I see him every few days."
"Well, aren't you lucky," Cosette smiled sweetly. "So when's this party to begin, Ariel?"
"Everyone's here, Fantine is just cleaning up now," Ariel looked at her friend, before giving her a hug again. Cosette was dear to her, they'd met when Ariel was using time travel. Ariel and her had then become good friends, and Ariel had even gone to her wedding. They let go, Cosette shocked.
"Fantine…? Where have I heard that name before?" Cosette wondered, before gasping, "That was my mother's name!" It would make sense if Cosette was Fantine's daughter, based on the timing. Fantine had died when Cosette was young, and Cosette had been given to the Thenardiers when she was young so she probably wouldn't remember her.
"Really?" Ariel smiled, "you should tell Fantine that, when she comes out!"
And soon enough, Fantine arrived with Carlotta. Fantine's hair was wrapped in a towel, but she wore a nice, clean pink dress. She looked so much better than before. Ariel gasped when she saw Cosette and Fantine near each other. They were simply identical!
"Well… well…" stumbled Ariel, shocked by this, "let's head to dinner, shall we?"
The women moved into the dining room, which had a buffet on the table. Fantine's eyes were wide. Cosette looked a bit confused. And Christine just looked like a spider was going to jump out of the food. They each took their seats, Cosette and Christine sitting next to each other.
"We could be twins," Cosette joked.
"Our hair is… similar," Christine looked around nervously, but smiled.
"Calm down, Christine!" Ariel smiled. Fantine stared at her plate, covered in food, while shoving it in her face. "Cosette, why aren't you eating?" Ariel brushed her hair through with her fork, between spoonfuls of soup. Christine gave Ariel a strange look. "And… cheer up, Fantine!" Ariel was stressed out by the all of the insecurities of her guests. They finally ate dessert, between conversations on hair and the realization of Cosette and Fantine's connection. But that was when Christine noticed something strange.
"Why do we all have the same face?"
I hope you enjoyed this little oneshot. I know its exceedingly silly, but I absolutely love Sierra's description of what would happen so I wanted to write it out for my imagination. I literally spent way too much time on this, but I'm happy with how it turned out.