Faith of the Heart

Part 3: Chapter 29
PROMISE KEEPER

Written by DisneyFan-01
HTML Coding by Shadow20X6

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Through most of the evening the gang went through the kingdom. Only a few times they came across some small Nightmares hiding in alleys, but they didn't seem to be much of a threat. Once the remainder of the night was quiet and peaceful, Marina, Donald, and Genie stayed at the offered guest room while Goofy, Panchito, and José kept an eye out on the kingdom.

It was early in the morning when the gang had a knock on the door. As groggy as she felt, Marina sat up and yawned, "Come in."

The door opened and Carlotta the maid entered, "Good morning, friends. Hope you had a nice rest."

Genie sat up from the sofa with a teddy bear in his arms, "We might need a tad bit more, ma'am. We've been up almost all night." And he plopped back to his pillow snoring away.

"Well, whenever you decide to come down, I'll have Louie cook you up something to eat," Carlotta nodded.

Marina stretched out her arms before asking, "Is Prince Eric still going out to his kingdom today?"

"He's getting ready as we speak," Carlotta answered. "I'm going to wake up our other houseguest and serve her breakfast."

Marina saw a serving cart carrying a nice looking breakfast. Knowing that it was for Ariel, she got up out of bed and put on her jacket, "Will it be too much trouble if I met this child?"

"I see no reason why not," Carlotta shrugged while staring up and down at Marina. "My dear, did you sleep in your clothes last night?"

Marina looked at her clothes finding them completely wrinkled. She felt so embarrassed as she said, "Well, yes. I guess I really look like I just came in from the streets."

"I'll get you and your friends some fresh clothes while I get yours to the laundry."

"Would you do that?" Marina smiled. "Thank you very much. Hope it won't be much trouble."

"No trouble at all, Miss Seadrift," Carlotta nodded. "We have plenty of good clothes to go around. And our bath house is opened for you too."

Marina blushed, "I'm really sorry about my appearance. Thank you for the offer. I'd really love a bath that's actually a hot one."

Before she turned around, Carlotta did a double take on Marina's face and lost her smile, "Oh my. Are you feeling alright, my dear?"

"Beg pardon?"

"I hate to pry, Miss Seadrift, but your eyes seem a bit red and droopy," Carlotta explained. "Have you been getting enough sleep?"

Marina touched her lower eyelids nodding in agreement, "I. . . actually haven't been getting much sleep since our whole mission started. Right now, my bodily clock is way behind."

"Oh, you poor thing," Carlotta placed a caring hand on Marina's shoulder. "Why don't you go right back to bed?"

"No, no," Marina shook her head once. "I mean, I will. . . just not right now. I. . . I just wanna meet this child first."



Carlotta led Marina down the hall to the other guest room with the serving cart. She knocked on the door and quietly entered, "Rise and shine, my child. It's a beautiful day." She walked over to the window and opened it up to let the morning air in. She sighed after breathing it in, "Ah, it's going to be beautiful all day, that's for certain. A perfect day for you to spend time with Eric in the kingdom."

Ariel sat up from her large soft bed. After a stretch and yawn, Ariel smiled at the thought that she was going to spend a whole day with her prince at last. When she spotted Marina entering the room, she smiled and was about to greet her, but Marina quickly placed a finger to her lips and winked.

Carlotta turned around not seeing Marina's quick gesture, "Oh, dear child, this here is another one of our houseguests. One of the mercenaries Eric hired. She wanted to meet you."

Marina approached Ariel, "I was told you were possibly washed up from a shipwreck. I just wanted to meet you and see if you were okay." She looked her up and down, "You seem okay to me. You're very lucky to have such a kind prince like Eric to come and rescue you. That was very romantic of him."

Ariel understood what Marina was doing. She stood up out of bed and smiled at her. Marina extended her hand to her, "My name's Marina. Marina Seadrift. I'm glad to know you're okay."

Ariel looked at Marina almost the same way she did the very first time they met. Marina then remembered that she never did teach Ariel what a handshake was. Ariel tried to understand as she glanced at her own hand smiled as she extended it pass Marina's wrist. With a giggle, Marina corrected the slight error by taking her hand and moved it up and down a few times. Once Ariel got it, her smile grew wider and she bobbed her hand up and down with Marina's.

Marina smiled until the two of them saw Carlotta walk into the closet to find some clothes for Ariel's day out.

Marina whispered, "I came here to wish you the best of luck today. I just know you're going to have great time in the kingdom with Eric."

Ariel showed her appreciation for Marina's thoughts by giving her a big hug. Marina wrapped her arms around with an open heart. She stroked her hair saying, "You'll do just fine. Eric has a liking to you. Keep up your sweetness and there's no doubt he'll kiss you with true love."

Ariel hugged Marina tighter before she parted to look at her showing her expression of how excited she was of her upcoming date.

"I will make sure everyt'ing goes fine."

"Me too."

Marina and Ariel both looked at the dressing table finding Sebastian and Jiminy.

"Ah, there you are, Sebastian," Marina smiled. "The boys and I were starting to worry about you. . . especially after we saw what last night's dinner was."

Sebastian massaged the side of his head, "Oh, please don't remind me. Last night was de worst experience of m' whole life! Dis is the very reason why I was against de whole t'ing in de first place."

Jiminy explained, "He had a little run in with the chef and almost became a part of the dinner."

Sebastian tightly clamped his claws, "I t'ink I knew one of dose crabs he stuffed."

Marina's face scrunched up as she breathed in through her teeth, "I'm sorry, Sebastian. That's. . . just the way things are on the land. Humans eat fish and shellfish. It's. . . just the hard part of being a part of the food chain. I mean. . . it's awkward when I eat chicken sometimes when one of my best friends, Panchi, is a chicken. I think from now on I'm gonna be feeling the same way every time I eat fish."

"Did you say something, Ms. Seadrift?" Carlotta came out of the closet with a new outfit for Ariel.

Marina shook her head, "I was just telling this child how lucky she was to have someone like Prince Eric to take care of her. He's a very kind young man to take her into his hospitality."

"Yes, he is," Carlotta smile. She held up the clothes she picked out, "I think you'll look simply lovely in this one, my dear." It was a long sleeved white top, a dark blue bodice, and long blue skirt. Ariel approached Carlotta and held the clothes. She loved it so much that she hugged the fabric and nuzzled her cheek against its softness.

Marina giggled, "I think she loves it."

Carlotta chuckled, "She acted the same way with the dress we put her in last night. If I didn't know any better, she acts like she never had a shread of clothes in her life. She even had a hard time walking when we gave her a pair of shoes."

Marina tried not to snicker to give anything away, "Maybe she never had clothes like this."

"Well, let's get you ready, my dear," Carlotta lead Ariel over to help her get dressed. To be courteous, Marina turned her back. While dressing her, Carlotta told Ariel, "I had Louie make you a special breakfast. I noticed that you only ate all of your vegetables last night and yet you didn't touch your stuffed crab."

The second she said that, Marina glanced at Sebastian. He cringed at the thought of what he he had to watch at the dinner table. Jiminy gave him a pat on the back to comfort him.

Carlotta went on, "I guessed it that you were a vegetarian. So, I had Louie make you a lovely fruit bowl along with some porridge and tea. It'll give you a good boost of energy for your day with Eric."

Ariel expressed her feelings with Carlotta by giving her a hug. It surprised the kind maid at first but made her smile and chuckle. "Well, aren't you the sweetest little thing." As she continued to help her dress, she said, "You must've had such a nice upbringing to be this sweet. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're a princess from somewhere."

Marina looked in their direction in the corner of her eye. Even though she couldn't see them in her perspective, she smiled with a small part of her longing to tell Carlotta the truth, but she didn't want to give anything away.

Instead, she said, "Maybe she really is a princess."

"If she is then she's one I've never heard of," said Carlotta. "Eric has already turned down a few other princesses of neighboring kingdoms in marriage." She sighed, "Oh, that boy can sure be a bit stubborn at times. He always told me his love is the sea. Grimsby and I had always hoped that he would follow his father's dying wishes and settle down with a girl one of these days."

Marina was glad that Carlotta couldn't see her sly smile.

Carlotta finished putting the bodice on Ariel when she said, "I can truly hope that girl could be you, my dear. You've made him smile in a way I haven't seen for weeks now and I find that special. You are the sweetest girl I've ever known and I just know that our Eric could fall in love with you."

Ariel happily gave Carlotta another surprising hug. The maid chuckled again and hugged her back.

Marina peeked over her shoulder as the two parted to find Ariel fully dressed in her new outfit. She turned around in awe and folded her hands, "Oh, how darling! That outfit is just you!"

Ariel held out her skirt and spun around a few times to show off how she looked.

"How lovely," Carlotta praised her work.

Marina approached her with a blue ribbon she picked up from the dresser, "Blue is definitely your color. It goes with your eyes. Can I make a slight suggestion?"

Ariel nodded.

Marina held up the ribbon, "A hair bow. It'll be the perfect touch."

"Why yes! Of course!" Carlotta agreed.

Marina took Ariel's hand and brought her back to the dresser saying, "You see, back home, our queen, Minnie, and her best friend and lady in waiting, Daisy, always wore a big bow every day. Growing up with them, they always told me, 'A big hair bow brings out the best of girls. The bigger the bow, the sweeter the girl!'. Allow me to do this. I've had plenty of practice through the years."

Ariel sat down at the dresser and handed Marina a fork. Marina giggled as she knew Ariel still thought forks were used for combing hair. She set the fork down and picked up a brush, "I think we'll have more use with this one, deary."

As Marina was brushing Ariel's soft red hair, Carlotta went to the serving cart to prepare Ariel's breakfast. Once her back was turned, Marina whispered to Ariel, "The boys and I will be waiting for you when you get back. Until then, we'll be at our ship for the day. Okay?"

Ariel nodded.

Marina told Jiminy and Sebastian, "And I'll be expecting some good news when you get back."

Jiminy winked, "We'll do our best."

Marina stopped brushing and started tying Ariel's hair up in a nice bow. She fluffed it up a bit and praised, "Ta-da! El toque perfecto! You look wonderful."

Ariel stood up and loved what she was seeing in the mirror. She smiled and turned to give Marina another hug.

"You're welcome. . ." Marina whispered, ". . . Ariel."



After Ariel and Eric had left for the kingdom, one by one Marina and the boys washed up in the bathhouse and had their laundry done. By noon, they all reunited at the Argentum. Marina stayed out on the main deck staring out into the kingdom with her hands folded as she kept praying over and over for something good to happen between Ariel and Eric.

"Hey there, Marina!" a voice called from above.

She looked up and smiled, "Hello, Scuttle."

The seagull landed at the bow, "So, any kissing yet?"

"None last night," Marina shook her head. "I don't know what's going on right now. Sebastian and Jiminy are with her."

"Well, things better get crackin'," Scuttle huffed. "I'll do a bit of a bird's eye view of the day."

"Do what you can, but first. . ." she jerked her thumb behind her. "Think you can get your cousins out of here again? They've been bugging poor Genie for a while now and they're really giving me a headache."

Scuttle looked over to the foredeck and saw the same seagulls from the day before surrounding Genie as he was fishing over the bow again. For a long time, Marina and perhaps everyone else on board heard the same tone of seagulls calling out, "Mine?! Mine?! Mine?!"

"Oh, sorry about that," Scuttle chuckled. "I'll take care of them." He flew up and over to the flock. He gave out a call that got all the attention from the flock that had them follow him away from Genie and leave the ship.

Marina looked at Genie as he was covered once again with white sludge and gull feathers. He tried not to touch anything as he waddled his way to the main deck. As he was passing Marina, she tried not to laugh.

"Not funny," he groaned. "I hate seagulls. Can't even catch lunch without them bugging me."

"Maybe they've got a thing for yeh," joked Silver as he came down from the bridge.

Genie shuttered, "I'm gonna have those voices playing in my head all day. Those rats with wings. They just won't shut up. Mine! Mine! Mine!"

"Let it be, Genie," Silver patted him on the back. "We've got plenty o' fish to go aroun'. Just go wash up. . . again."

As Genie went below to clean up, Marina bit her finger to prevent herself from laughing, but it wasn't working. Silver chuckled and came up to her saying, "If 'e finds the gulls 'ere irksome, t'en perhaps he should steer clear o' the shores o' t'e Ventura Asteroid Belt."

Marina slowly shook her head as she turned to look back to the kingdom. Silver leaned against the bow as he asked, "So, why are yeh still awake, Lass? Yeh been up for a few days wit'out sleep." He leaned over to see both her eyes, "Not to offend yeh, but ye're starting to look older."

Marina looked away to keep him from seeing the dark circles under her eyes, "It's hard for me to fall asleep in this situation we are under. I'm too worried for Ariel. I have so much confidence in her to win Eric's love, but if anything goes wrong. . ."

"She'll still 'ave one more day if today doesn't go well," he reminded her.

"And if that doesn't go well. . ." she tightened her fists and leaned her elbows against the bow with a deep sigh. "I just don't want anything to happen to her."

Silver, too, leaned his elbows on the bow as he smirked, "You really care 'bout that little mermaid."

Marina slightly nodded once, "I'd do anything for her if I have to. She's too good of a girl to end up in the clutches of that witch."

"It seems that you an' I have a few more t'ings in common after all," Silver spoke softly.

"Hmm?" she looked up as she wasn't paying attention.

He shook his head, "Never mind."

She glanced at him for just a second before he started looking back at the kingdom. Things were quiet between them for a short while longer when a certain question was burning inside of Marina. She tightened her lips and tapped her fingers on the bow a few times. She took in a short breath, "Captain. . ."

"Aye?" he looked back at her.

The second he looked at her, she looked down into the water right away, but remained still as she couldn't get the right words out of her mouth.

"Marina!" a certain high pitch voice came up from the water.

"Chip?" Marina looked down.

Silver looked down with her and saw the two chipmunk heads above the water.

"Chipper, Dale, what's the report?" Silver called.

"Better yet, what are you two doing down there?" Marina asked.

Dale answered, "We had Genie turn us back to sea creatures. We were just checking on a few things back in Atlantica."

"You weren't spotted, were you?"

"No. No one knows we were there," Chip shook his head. "But. . . we found something I think you should see."

"Say what?" Marina cocked a brow. "Guys you know as well as I do that Atlantica is the last place any of us should be after what has happened for the past few days. If Triton sees me there--"

"Trust me, Marina," said Chip. "I think you should see this."

Marina paused for a moment to think until Silver said, "Go ahead, Lass. Take the invisible discus. That'll help yeh."

She nodded for a bit, "I'll get Genie to come with us in case we need to get out fast."




With the invisibility barrier, Marina with Genie on her side and Chip and Dale holding on to her shoulders swam far under the waves. Once they were nearing the city of Atlantica, Marina noticed one thing different about the whole place.

"It's too quiet," she stated. "Even for under the sea."

Chip explained, "That's because Triton has everyone out on a search party. Every merman, mermaid, fish, and other sea creature is out searching for Ariel, Sebastian, and Flounder."

Marina asked, "Are they. . . on the look out for us too?"

Chip nodded, "Triton does suspect us only because of his hatred to the land, but. . . he's more worried than he is angry about this whole thing."

Genie rubbed his hands together, "So what is it you want to show us? I'm getting anxious. Is it something cool? Something--" He stopped in his swimming and ended up outside the barrier.

"Gene!" Marina gasped and swam back. Once he was back inside the barrier, she chided him, "You've gotta be careful. We can't be spotted around this place."

"Sorry," he grinned. "It's just that I've never imagined a palace like that one."

Marina looked over her shoulder seeing the beautiful castle of Atlantica overlooking the mermaid city. She smirked as she still felt the same way she did the first time she laid eyes on the palace.

"It is a beautiful place to see," she nodded. "I can see why it's kept as a secret from the land."

"No kiddin'," said Genie. "The whole castle is made of gold. No way the Cave of Wonders can match up to that."

Dale tugged on Marina's hair, "C'mon, Marina. The thing we've gotta show you-- It's best that we show you quick if you don't want us to be found here."



Instead of going through the palace, Chip and Dale had Marina and Genie go over and around near the back of the castle. After sneaking through a corridor, they entered the castle gardens. The whole place was full of beautiful coral, seafans, and seaweeds of many different colors. There were even some rare plants that bloomed such radiant petals that would almost surpass the beauty of a flower of the land.

"Hey, nice," Genie smiled as a gardener wearing scuba gear. "Now this is an underwater paradise. No way this could lose in the 'Home and Garden' magazine contests. Could use a ga-no-me or two."

"That's Gnome," Marina corrected him.

"Whatevah," he shrugged.

"Marina," Chip tapped on her cheek. "This is what we wanted to show you. Look."

She looked at where he was pointing. In the center of the garden stood a large statue of King Triton holding and looking into the eyes of a beautiful mermaid. Seeing how the face of Triton looked nearly a decade younger, Marina had a gut feeling of who the mermaid was. She handed the discus to Genie and slowly swam out of the barrier.

"Be careful, Marina," Chip still held on to her shoulder with Dale.

As she got closer and closer to the statue, she told them, "When we were staying here, Attina gave me a tour of the palace. She didn't show me this place." She was nearly a foot away from the statues looking straight into the eyes of the mermaid. She added, "Now I know why." She wanted to touch the statue but hesitated as though she thought the stone Triton would stop her. She whispered, "I see the family resemblance with her and all of Triton's daughters, but. . . . Ariel looks. . . exactly like her."

The mermaid's hair was a lot longer and held back in a low ponytail under a small tiara that resembled Triton's crown. She wore large pearl earrings and a seashell necklace. It was true. The mermaid did resemble all of the daughters, but amazingly more like Ariel. Her eyes were smaller and her smile bore more than kindness and love, but seemed to have wisdom.

Marina nodded as the wisdom and love gave off the answer.

"It's her. . . Their mother. . . Queen Athena."

She then gazed into the eyes of the statue of Triton. Her heart skipped a beat at first when she suddenly remembered the glare in his eye the last time she saw and confronted him. Slowly her heart calmed down when she saw the look in his eyes and smile.

"He looks so happy," she said to herself.

"He was always happy back then."

Marina gasped and zipped around to find Princess Attina with all five of her sisters behind her.

Attina looked up at the statue and added, "Father was a whole different person eleven years ago when our mother was still alive."

At the first few seconds Attina was speaking, Marina and the chipmunks tried not to make a scene when they thought the princesses were going to turn them in. However, from the eased tone in Attina's voice and how the other five sisters didn't seem so upset about them being there, the three of them slowly calmed themselves down.

Alana said, "Back then, everyone was allowed to go up to the surface. We all had big gatherings up at tidal pools where we would play and listen to music."

Andrina nodded, "I can even remember how happy Daddy was every time we went to the surface. He would even take the time and play with all of us."

Aquata added, "It was like that almost every day until. . . until Mother died."

Things were quiet between all the sisters as they were looking up at the statue of their mother. Seeing that they all had memories going through their minds, Marina was growing the courage to ask them about their mother. Then she remember the last time she brought up the subject and how all of them didn't look like they wanted to talk about it.

But Dale asked anyway, "What happened to her?"

Chip almost wanted to bop him to keep quiet, but Arista answered, "We were all up at the tidal pool having great time together. That was until a large human ship was heading for the pool."

"I remember that ship," said Adella. "What I noticed the most was that large flag at the top. It was black and there was a-a. . . skeleton face."

"Pirates," said Chip.

Attina said, "Everyone panicked and started swimming away as the ship was going to crash into the rocks. I got my tail caught. Mother came back and got me out. I swam away and by the time I caught up with everyone else. . . mother wasn't with us."

Alana concluded, "She stayed behind trying to save the music box Daddy gave her. . . but she didn't get out of the way in time."

Marina's heart quivered and sank, "My god. . . how tragic."

"Father was most upset out of all of us," Attina held her arms to keep in her sadness. "It was like. . . like his broken heart became cold."

Aquata said, "That was when he banned music. It just reminded him of her."

"And that's. . ." Marina looked up at the statue of Triton. ". . . why he hates humans so much. Because your mother was kill by pirates. . . he sends his hatred out to all the other humans by sinking their ships. I'm just guessing it, but the ship graveyard used to be the tidal pool you played around, right?"

The sisters nodded together.

Marina stayed calm, "Your father takes revenge seriously. I just wish that so many innocent lives didn't have to die from it. So many men who had families died when they didn't do anything to deserve your father's revenge."

Nobody said anything for a short while. Then Adella got the gumption to ask, "Is it true what Daddy told us about you?"

Marina looked at her and all the other sisters with guilt in her eyes for a response.

"So it is true," said Attina. "You're not a mermaid of the Caribbean. You're a human disguised as one."

Marina took in a deep breath and slowly answered, "Yes. . . . I am."

All six girls were completely motionless from what they heard. It was so quiet that Marina, Chip, Dale, and even Genie could almost hear the heart beats of each princess.

Aquata inched her way to Attina's side and asked Chip and Dale, "And you two are. . . also from the land?"

Dale answered, "Yes. We're really chipmunks."

"Chipmunks?" Alana asked.

Marina explained, "Chipmunk. Tamias striatus. A small rodent that resides in forests and woodland areas."

Adella asked, "Even Señor Panchito?"

Marina nodded, "He's a rooster from a land called Mexico, just west of the Caribbean."

"José? And Goofy?" asked Alana.

Marina and the chipmunks nodded together.

Arista whimpered, "And even. . . Donald? My. . . wittle hero?"

"We are all from the land," said Chip. "We had to lie to you so we could stay here and protect your kingdom."

"We really didn't mean to lie," Dale explained. "We just had to continue our lie when we found out how much your father hates the land. It was the only way."

"How was this done?" asked Attina.

Marina and the chipmunks glanced at each other briefly. Then Marina looked over at the direction she remembered and called, "Genie. You can come out."

The princesses all looked in the direction she was calling to but saw nothing.

Genie's voice came up, "You're sure?"

"What?" Andrina blinked.

"Come on over, Genie," Marina called again. "I want you to meet the Daughters of King Triton. I've already told them a lot about you. They've been looking forward to meeting you and I know you've wanted to meet them."

"They're not going to be turning us in, right?" Genie asked still inside the barrier. "I mean, the way you've been describing the power of their dad, the last thing I want is to--"

"Gene. . ." Marina smiled. "It's okay. I trust them."

A few seconds later, everyone heard a slight whoosh as Genie turned off the discus and revealed himself. He waved shyly at the princesses, "Hi."

"You're Genie?" Aquata smiled. "You're the magical friend. Wow. You really are blue."

Genie came to Marina's side acting all modest, "You're the judge and jury all rolled into one. But, yeah. I'm the one who gave my buddies here the disguises of sea critters so they can be under water."

Marina introduced everyone, "Daughters of Triton. . . this is our friend, Genie. Genie, meet Princesses Attina, Alana, Aquata, Arista, Adella, and Andrina."

Genie bowed, "Howdy do, Your Highnesses."

"And you're from the land, too?" asked Adella.

"From the land of Agrabah."

"I still don't want to believe it," Arista fussed. "There's no way my wittle hero Donald is from the land. He's too sweet to be one of those land monsters Daddy always talked about."

"And you. . ." Attina said to Marina. "You were never the monster Father told us about. You're too good to be a human."

Alana agreed, "Yes, you were so nice to all of us when you stayed here. And you're way too pretty to be a human. I mean, Daddy always told us humans were hideous monsters."

"Your father was. . ." Marina felt a lot of anger starting to grow in he when she remembered all the things he said back in Ariel's grotto and what he did to her collection and heart. But then, she thought of the reason why he had a grudge against humans. All of the things started coming together in her head making her calm herself and say, ". . . was just saying things like that to protect all of you from the things he just didn't understand. Everyone's afraid of what they don't understand. . . what they don't accept. Things are like that on the land too. You'd really be surprised how many things people of the land and sea have in common. Ariel was perhaps the only one to see that. And yet. . . he just didn't want to listen because his hatred for humans made him blind and deaf to understand."

She looked up at the princesses, "The last time I saw your father. . . he wouldn't tell me why he hated humans so much. I had so many bad thoughts about him at that moment. Now that I see it all. . . I'm starting to hate myself for hating him."

Then she looked up at the statue of Triton, "He's just a true loving father who would do anything to protect his daughter. Still. . . things would've worked out better for everyone if he would just listen to Ariel." She looked back at the statue of Queen Athena, "Now that I finally see what your mother looks like. . . I can see why he's overly protective of Ariel. She looks just like your mother."

"More than any of us," said Andrina.

Attina told Marina, "Ever since Ariel started going to the surface and getting caught, Father must've gotten worried that something would happen to her just like what happened to Mother."

"But what your father doesn't understand is that. . .," Marina slowly shook her head, ". . . just because your mother was killed by humans that were selfish and greedy pirates, doesn't mean that all humans are like that. I'm sure you girls know that now because. . . you know me. . . and the other boys."

Adella came up to her, "You're perhaps the nicest person we've ever met in all our lives. There's no way you are like the humans father told us about."

"And definitely not my Donald," Arista huffed. "Daddy told us the truth about you guys and that you were possibly spies for the human worlds, but I don't want to believe it! I didn't say anything, but I refused to believe it! My wittle hero is not a bad guy!"

Genie asked, "Did you girls tell your father your feelings about this?"

"We wanted to, but. . ." Alana tried to answer but couldn't finish.

Aquata did for her, "I guess we were in too much shock about the truth."

"We didn't mean to let things go too far," said Chip. "We're really sorry."

Andrina asked, "What we really want to know is. . . Is it also true what father must be thinking about you now?"

The gang looked at her.

"About what?" asked Dale.

Andrina asked, "Did you kidnap Ariel after Daddy banished you?"

"Is that what they are saying about us?" Dale replied.

"That was the first thought," Attina answered. "But then we saw that Father must've done something to make Ariel swim away from home." She paused to look away, "Last night, when he had everyone out on a search party for Ariel, he sat in his throne room all night long worrying about Ariel. For the first time in years. . . we actually saw him cry."

"He was crying?" Marina's eyes blinked wide open.

"Did something happen that made Ariel swim away?" Adella asked. "Did Daddy do something to her?"

Marina answered, "I think you should ask your father that question." She slowly swam backwards until she was next to Genie. She was about to gesture him that it was time for them leave, but Attina stopped them.

"You know where Ariel is, don't you?"

"Well--" Genie tried to answer, but got a tiny elbow nudged at him from Chip.

Neither of them said a word.

Aquata pointed, "You do know where she is."

"Please tell us where she is," Arista begged. "Daddy is very worried about her."

Marina bit her lip as the four of them wanted to tell them, but she told the chipmunks and Genie with her eyes not to say a word because the last thing she wanted was for Ariel's heart to be broken again if Triton found out and made her lose her chance to be with the love of her life.

"They know," Andrina crossed her arms.

Attina came closer to Marina with a pleading tone, "Marina, please. You have to tell us something. If you don't want to tell us where Ariel is because our father did something and you don't want him to know, that's fine. You don't have to tell us. But please. . . Please! We just want to know that she's safe."

Marina's mouth opened like she was going to answer, but she forced herself not to say anything because something inside her wasn't even giving her the right answer. It was true that Ariel was safe where she was and Marina had all the confidence in her heart that she would win the love of Prince Eric. However, if she told the sisters that Ariel was safe, and something goes wrong before the third sunset, there was no way Marina would forgive herself. . .

"Marina," Alana folded her hands. "Please. Tell us that our little sister is okay. All of us may be different in a few ways, but we all do anything for each other. If I ever knew something was wrong with one of my sisters and it was up to me. . . I'd. . . I'd. . ." She reached back and held her black curls, "I'd sell my hair."

"We'd give anything if it was to save another in trouble," Adella said frantically. "Please. Just tell us."

Marina was getting short of breath at what she was hearing. Her heart was pumping in her ears from the fear of anything happening to any of the other princesses. She backed away until she bumped into Genie.

"I can't tell you," she cried. "I'm so sorry.  But I just can't tell you where she is. I can't risk anything happening to you girls too."

"What? What do you mean?" Aquata blinked.

"Is something wrong?" Attina reached out to Marina. "Did something happen to Ariel?"

Marina tried not to panic, "No! No!  She is safe right now.  I can assure you that.  She is safe right now.  But please believe me.  I won't let anything happen to her.  I promise on my life that I won't let anything happen!"

Andrina asked, "What do you mean 'she's safe right now'?"

Marina quickly grabbed the discus from Genie.

"Marina!"

She opened the discus and the four of them were in the barrier having it look like they disappeared before the princesses.

"What the--" Andrina blinked.

"They're gone!" Arista gasped.

Attina swam through the place the four of them were but found nothing. She called out, "Marina! Marina!! Wait!!"

Aquata swam to her side, "Chip! Dale!"

Alana whimpered and held her arms as she shivered, "Please be okay, Ariel."

Adella put her hands on Alana's shoulders to comfort her.



Inside what was once Ariel's grotto, Marina turned off the discus and sighed as she sat down on the rock in the center of the cave.

Genie and the chipmunks just stared down at her as she remained completely still. Even though they were underwater, there was no doubt that Marina had tears in her eyes. She didn't whimper or quiver, but when they heard a sniffle, Chip swam down to her and touched her cheek.

"I'm sorry, Marina. I guess we shouldn't have come back here."

"It was our fault," Dale came to her other cheek. "We didn't mean to upset you. We just. . ."

She nodded, "You just thought I'd see the reason why Triton has such a hatred for humans. I know. At least I know now."

Genie looked around the place, "Geez, what happened in here? Don't people know it's wrong to litter?"

Dale told him, "This was Ariel's collection of human stuff. The one we told you Triton destroyed."

"Oh! Right," Genie grinned briefly. "Wow. If Triton's trident can do this much damage, then remind me not to tick him off."

While he was talking, Marina's eye caught on something shining in the debris. She reached down and uncovered it to find that it was the fork Ariel found the day the gang met her. It was bent in a few places and the bottom part of it was melted. A small smile grew on her face at the thought of how Ariel thought forks were used by humans for combing their hair. When Genie finished, Marina held on to the fork and nodded once to herself.

"I've made a decision, guys," she spoke off the topic. "If anything goes wrong today between Ariel and Eric. . . . . . . . I'm going to tell him everything. I don't care if it will sound crazy to him or not. He needs to know the truth. After all, he's looking for the girl who saved his life. He might as well know the absolute truth."

"Are you sure about this?" Genie asked. "I mean, I know some things can sound crazy like that, but you think a guy like him would understand. I mean, I would understand, but that's because I've heard crazier things."

Marina held the fork close to her heart as she took in a deep breath, looked up the hole in the ceiling of the tall grotto, and slowly let it all out as she laid back on the rock. With the late afternoon light shining down on her, she remained still and said, "Eric needs to know if he doesn't see the truth. If we never tell him. . . ." She couldn't bear the thought of what would happen. She tightened her grip on the fork as she thought of Ariel, "What I would give for her."

Nobody said anything more as they just listened to the silence of the water around them. To Marina though, the silence was broken in her mind as the sound of Ariel's beautiful voice echoed through the stone walls of the grotto. Only a few times Marina hummed the tune to herself, but doing so only made her eyes feel warm from the tears that couldn't be seen underwater.