The Little Mermaid and the Cursed Sea Witch PT. 1

 This is part of my LGBT reimaginings! Basically where I loved Ursula's song in the Little Mermaid and wondered what it would have been like if Ariel loved it too. Keep in mind that this operates off the assumption that all parties are of age!

The end is coming, but I found some things I wanted to fix, so look for that tomorrow with Chap 3 of Madame Science!

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“I love you,” Ariel says without looking up from the seaweed she’s weaving into a basket. “I’d die for you.”

Ursula’s heart stops. She stares into her crystal ball blankly, long nails scraping against the surface unpleasantly. This isn’t what she expected from her day. 

You can’t, she wants to say.

You’re not for someone like me, she wants to confess.

Your father will kill you for this, she wants to warn.

Oh thank god, she wants to sob.

Ursula is alive because she thinks twice before she speaks at all. She stares into the murky depths of her future and thinks.

Ursula is the sea witch. She’s been cursed before, so many times before, and she knows she’s not fortunate enough to turn away the blessings that fall into her lap (might not be strong enough to even try). Ariel is a blessing, the greatest blessing that has ever found its way into her cave, into her home, into her arms. Ariel is the best part of the tides, the ones that roll in during summer, warm and welcoming even into the dark part of the ocean Ursula has been forced to call her home. If Ursula is smart, she’ll do anything to keep Ariel right here, so close that Ursula can reach out and touch her if she wants.

But.

Ariel is beautiful and curious and smart. She’s enthusiastic and empathetic and has the most beautiful singing voice that Ursula’s ever heard. Ursula’s a sea witch, cursed to her fate by Trident when she was too young to fight back. She thinks that Ariel doesn’t deserve the same fate.

“Are you sure?” Ursula asks at last. 

Ariel twists her tail and, suddenly, she’s over Ursula, scowling down at the other woman. “I said it, didn’t I?”

She did. Ursula sighs and reaches up, drawing Ariel down with a gentle hand against her cheek, the other going to twine through Ariel’s hair. She presses their foreheads together, careful to keep the touch soft and gentle. She uses too much strength sometimes, still unused to the power that thrums through her body and how incredibly frail mermaids are. “I love you too.”

“Ha,” Ariel says, smug as can be. She drops her weight against Ursula, draping herself like every muscle in her body has gone lax. “I didn’t even have to serenade you.”

Ursula huffs a laugh despite herself. “Was that next on the list? What were you going to do if singing didn’t convince me?”

“Singing always convinces you,” Ariel says. She drops her arms around Ursula’s neck, content to let the other woman play with her hair. “But, just in case, kidnapping.”

“You can barely lift your own head with all this hair,” Ursula says incredulously. “How were you going to carry me off?”

“Magic,” Ariel says and wiggles her fingers against the nape of Ursula’s neck.

“Magic doesn’t solve everything,” Ursula chides for the hundredth time. Magic is what brought Ariel to her in the first place, a curious mermaid unwilling to believe everything her father told her. “Your father’s trident makes him immune to it.”

Usually the mention of her father has Ariel tensing up again, angry and unhappy with the man who keeps her chained to the bottom of the sea. But she doesn’t pull away now. She doesn’t tense up now.

“About that,” Ariel says, the corner of her mouth twitching. “I think I have a plan.”

Ursula has a bad feeling about this.

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Ariel is smart. She’s a lot smarter than her sisters and that makes her infinitely smarter than her father. Ursula isn’t embarrassed to admit that Ariel is even smarter than her. Ursula knows what she is--powerful, unwavering, and dumb as fuck.

“It’ll work,” Ariel assures her for the hundredth time. “I’ve got it all planned out.”

Ursula doesn’t lift her head from her hands. There’re human inventions on the table between them, forks and bells and buckles. “How have you been explaining these things?”

“Depends what you mean,” Ariel says. She picks up the fork and twirls it between her fingers. “If you mean how am I explaining what these things are to my father’s spy, I make stuff up. I told him this was a dinglehopper.” She laughs. “I told him it’s for brushing hair. Sebastien nearly died on the spot.”

Ursula knows Sebastien. The little brat thinks he’s hot stuff since he’s been assigned to Trident’s youngest daughter. He doesn’t know that Trident’s been eating crustaceans for breakfast for years. “So he knows? He knows and he doesn’t wonder how you’re even getting these? How are you getting these?”

“Shipwrecks,” Ariel says. She puts the fork on top of her head where it promptly tangles in her hair. Hairbrush, right. “They fell overboard. The stork brought them.”

Ursula stares. Ariel is absolutely bullshitting right now. There’s only one way she’s getting stuff like forks and buckles and unbroken mirrors. “You’re talking to a human.”

“Or I could be talking to a human,” Ariel admits easily. She looks up at the shells Ursula’s stuck in her ceiling. “I wonder why Sebastien keeps believing me. I haven’t even seen a shipwreck and I’ve been looking for my whole life.”

“I’m not your father,” Ursula says as calmly as she can. “But I feel the need to remind you how dangerous humans are, Ariel.”

Ariel hums. “More dangerous than a sea witch?”

Ursula opens her mouth to say of course, because the human isn’t in love with you, but gives up. She wasn’t in love with Ariel when the little mermaid first swam into her lair. Who’s she to say if the human is in love with her or not? It was only a matter of time. “So. I assume the human is part of this plan if you’re bringing this stuff here.”

“Yes!” Ariel blinks prettily at Ursula. “You’re so smart! You’re the only one who can keep up with me.”

Ursula scoffs. “Trust me, I’m not keeping up.” Still, something warms in her chest at the open admiration on Ariel’s face. She clears her throat. “Why is the human important?”

“Well, I imagine Dad’s going to flip his lid when we get married,” Ariel explains, leaning over the table. The fork falls off her head and clatters against a pile of buckles. “We’re going to have to escape onto land for a while. Eric’s down to house us if we help him with a couple things.”

“What?” Ursula asks, heart thundering.

“He’s king of the sea.” Ariel peers up at Ursula. She waves her hands at the poleaxed look on Ursula’s face.  “It won’t be forever, I promise! We can come back underwater after Phase 2!”

Phase 2? Ursula shakes her head. “No, you said--you said getting married?”

“Oh,” Ariel says and all the tension goes out of her shoulders. “Yeah, that’s in the plan too.” She studies Ursula and stills. “Unless...unless you didn’t think that’d be part of the plan?”

Ursula has two options. The first option involves her screaming at Ariel to not tie herself to a sea witch so quickly. To live her life young and free and beautiful without Ursula’s baggage dragging her back down to the depths.

The second option involves keeping Ariel.

“I’m just surprised that’s not Phase 3,” Ursula says smoothly and ignores the way Ariel breathes a sigh of relief. “We should just focus on getting on land first. How are you planning to do it? You know I can’t work any major magics without your father’s permission.” It’s part of Trident’s curse, to have to seek permission. He could have bound her magic entirely, but didn’t. He uses her services far more often than even his most trusted daughter knows.

Ariel’s grin turns sly. “That’s the trick. The first step is getting me on land. We’re going to make my father ask you to curse me.”

Ursula’s brain stall. “What?”

Ariel laughs and her voice is so beautiful that Ursula is compelled to listen.

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To be continued!