Ariel, knowing she had not much time left, heaved him into her arms and swam to the surface. The colours of the sea swarmed around her, and she took the sight of it in, this was probably the last time she would see the ocean and all its beauty. She shuddered as an unseen tear left her eye. She could feel herself dying as she reached the air, Eric had not said to her that he loved her until after the sun had set, and even though Ursula was gone her magic was irreversible and she knew she'd also be gone in a few minutes…

As she dragged him ashore, she cried. she would never have children, or grow old, or even have the eternal soul she gave everything for, she'd never have him either, all she could do was make sure he was safe and then go.

She heard him cough and started breathing, so Ariel kissed him gently on his smooth lips and she hastily tried to pull herself back to the water and disappear into the waves, so he wouldn't see her body, so he'd think it as merely a memory and move on.

But her strength was gone and as she tried to get herself out of his sight, she died. She couldn't breathe and tried desperately to breathe in, she had never felt like it before, she coughed and spluttered and as a line of blood trickled down from her mouth she gave up and collapsed.

As the breath left her lips, she clutched onto his hand with hers and she knew that he loved her, he didn't have to say it, it never needed to be said, she just knew, that's all she ever needed, and she died happy.

Only seconds later Eric sat up. He was unsure what had happened and he didn't care. All he cared about was Ariels safety. Where was she? He screwed up his face, as if trying to remember anything. He looked around, he was on the beach, the same place they met. The storm had gone and the sun had just set.

Then he saw her, lying right next to him. He suddenly realised her hand was around his and it was cold, colder than the sea.

He shivered and lent over and whispered her name, over and over again, he started panicking and shook her.

"Ariel? Ariel! Wake up! Please…oh, Ariel? Ariel? Please!" he grew in volume and realised the life had left her only seconds ago…he was too late.

As he held her and sobbed and wailed, Ferdinand hid behind a rock and watched. He cried silently as he swam back to Atlantis to tell Ariels father that she died in her lover's arms, that she died saving him.

Eric's manservant, John, came onto the beach, looking for him. And as he quietly approached him he saw the pain on Eric's face, the life was gone from the beautiful girl and he cried with Eric.

Then slowly Eric looked at him. His eyes followed from Johns face down his torso and rested on the dagger in its sheath on johns belt.

John realised what Eric was thinking and as Eric rested ariels head he jumped up and him and john fought, Eric grasping for the dagger. Eric's hands met the handle and he pulled it out of the sheath and plunged it into his heart.

His eyes opened wide as he stumbled across the beach, dropping the bloody dagger, and bleeding he fell at Ariels body.

He kissed her as the life left his eyes and with his hands entwined with hers he joined her in death.

John looked in disbelief as he watched the prince die next to his lover, a mermaid. He turned to go get help and he heard something. It sounded like tinkling laughter, laughter that you don't hear in real life, something from his dreams. He turned back around where the bodies lay, and in a flicker of a moment, he thought he saw a red haired girl, with pale skin and eyes as blue as the sea dancing on the waves with a tanned man with dark hair in plain clothes, smiling and laughing as they danced across the breaking and plunging waves, not a care in the world but for each other.

John blinked and shook his head.

They were gone.

Epilogue

John ran to get help, the prince was dead on the beach and he needed help. As he got some officers to come they carried the bodies back to the palace, making sure not to disturb their hands, still holding each other's.

They had the funeral at sea and the merpeople all turned up as they gave their last farewell to the youngest princess and her lover.

Flowers were thrown to the water and shells and sea plants were sprinkled across the caskets as they were lowered into the water and carried by Ferdinand and Ariels sisters.

It was their death that brought on a new friendship between the seas and the land and merpeople were no longer to fear the surface and sailors no longer feared the world that lay underneath the surface of the water.

As for Ariel, even though she did not get Eric to say that he loved her before the sun had set, a different force of good took pity on little mermaid.

The daughters of the air, spirits of the mermaids who had died to protect a human's life, were given an eternal life if they spent three hundred years doing good deeds.

These celestial spirits had seen what happened to Ariel and used enough of their very little magic to give her the soul she longed for.

Ariel and Eric were united in death, where difference in race, appearance or limbs doesn't matter, they loved each other and that was all that counted. This is a story about the sea and those who long for more, this is a story about friendship and what you would do for a friend, even if they'll never feel the same way for yourself.

And most importantly this is a story about love and what people are willing to do for it. Love that lifts your spirits no matter how low your life seems. It is about a love that will live for an eternity.

The end