Leaving Atlantica

The room smelled of sex and betrayal. Prince Eric was still bound to the headboard, his chest heaving with silent sobs, his eyes squeezed shut to block out the image of the woman he loved worshipping another man on his own bed.

Ariel knelt on the floor, naked and shivering, her skin marked with the flush of our union and the bruising grip of my fingers. She looked wild, ruined, and utterly content.

"Stand up," I commanded.

She rose unsteadily, her legs trembling. She didn't look at Eric. She looked at me, waiting for the next order.

I walked over to the bed. I looked down at the Prince. He opened his wet, red-rimmed eyes.

"Why?" he whispered, his voice cracked. "Why did you do this?"

"Because you wanted a fairy tale, Eric," I said, leaning down close to his face. "And fairy tales aren't real. Instinct is real. Hunger is real."

I reached out and patted his cheek. It was a demeaning, pitying gesture. "You'll survive. You have a kingdom to run. Forget the girl. She was never meant for the land."

I turned to Ariel. "Come. The tide is going out."

She walked to the balcony doors, the silk curtains fluttering in the night breeze. She stepped out onto the cold stone. I followed her.

Below us, the ocean crashed against the jagged rocks of the cliff base. It was a long drop. A fatal drop for a human.

"Do you trust me?" I asked, standing beside her at the railing.

Ariel looked down at the churning black water, then up at me. She smiled—a sharp, dangerous smile that she hadn't possessed when we arrived on this beach. "I trust the Shark," she whispered.

"Then jump."

We didn't hesitate. We vaulted over the stone railing, leaving the safety of the castle behind. For a few seconds, we were falling through the air, wind rushing past our ears, gravity trying to kill us.

We hit the water.

Impact.

The cold enveloped us instantly. The magic of the world order slammed back into place. My human skin hardened, turning grey and rough. My legs fused and lengthened, exploding into the massive, powerful tail of the Great White. The gills on my neck flared open, drinking in the oxygen-rich water.

Beside me, Ariel’s legs vanished. Her green tail returned, shimmering in the moonlight filtering down from the surface. The blue velvet dress shredded away, replaced by the natural buoyancy of her mermaid form.

We hovered in the dark water, suspended in the silence.

Ariel swam to me. She moved with the grace of a creature born to the liquid void. She wrapped her arms around my thick, shark neck, pressing her body against my rough scales.

"We're back," she breathed, her voice vibrating through the water.

"You are back," I corrected. "My path leads out."

I swam toward the seabed, toward the shimmering light of the Keyhole. In this world, the Keyhole wasn't in a wall; it was in the deepest trench, beneath the King's palace, pulsing with the heart of the ocean.

We descended. The pressure built, comforting and heavy. We reached the glowing aperture in the ocean floor.

I summoned The Solar Zenith. The jagged, coral-bone Keyblade glowed brightly in the deep.

"This world is safe," I told her. "The Heartless have been purged. The King has surrendered. The Princesses are claimed."

"And the Prince is broken," Ariel added, a dark satisfaction in her tone.

"The balance is restored."

I pointed the Keyblade at the trench. A beam of pure light shot out, striking the Keyhole. CLICK. The sound resonated through the entire ocean, a heavy, final lock turning. The water seemed to settle, the currents calming.

Atlantica was sealed.

I turned to Ariel. She looked sad, but resigned. She knew the rules. She was a Princess of Heart (or close enough to it), bound to her world to keep the light burning.

"You have to go," she whispered, touching the fin on my arm.

"I have other locks to open," I said. "But you carry my mark, Ariel. You and your sisters. You are the guardians of my territory."

"We won't let you down, Master," she promised. "No one else will ever touch us. We belong to the Apex."

I leaned in. I didn't kiss her lips. I nudged her neck with my snout, scraping her skin gently with my teeth, reminding her of the bite. She shivered, closing her eyes.

"Good girl."

I activated the Gummi Ship recall. A beam of light enveloped me, pulling me away from the pressure, away from the deep, and back to the stars.

The last thing I saw was Ariel, hovering in the dark blue, watching me ascend, her hand resting on her belly, smiling the smile of a woman who had been thoroughly, irrevocably conquered.