The Little Mermaid AU.
This was actually a rough draft of Heart’s Content which was a straightforward re-telling of the Disney film but I decided to scrap it and try for something more original. Still I wondered what you all would think of it, so I re-read and re-edited it to fit with the new cannon and well..Here it is.
In a kingdom located in Denmark, Prince Alastor prefers to spend his days sailing and exploring rather than at court, despite his advisor Husk insisting that he should focus more on honoring the wishes of his deceased parents by settling down with a nice young lady and starting a family. One day while sailing over seas he hears a beautiful voice singing from fathoms below and commands it to be followed. No one else can hear the voice though but one sailor suggests that what the prince heard may have been a mermaid, specifically Lucifer's daughter for it is said that no one on land or in the sea has a voice as lovely as hers. The sailors then proceed to tell Alastor about King Lucifer who rules over the ocean and the mer-people, and how there was a time long ago when mer-people could be seen rising to the surface but then suddenly, they stopped coming. That the sea king had forbidden them from ever rising to the shore again after he lost his queen. Alastor is intrigued by these stories but Husk just brushes them off as nautical nonsense.
Meanwhile, deep on the ocean floor in the merfolk kingdom, King Lucifer and his brothers and sister in-laws Baron Belphegor, Lady Seras, and Lord Stolas are celebrating the anniversary of their nation's founding by having each of their daughters sing in a concert for their people. The concert is conducted by Lucifer's advisor and court composer, the sea-imp Moxxie and Belphegor's daughter Bee, Seras's daughter Emily, and Stolas's daughter Octavia perform magnificently but Lucifer's daughter is not present for her solo bringing the concert to a halt and enraging Lucifer.
As it turns out, Lucifer's daughter Charlie had forgotten about the concert because she is a mermaid who dreams of life on the land and spends most of her time swimming around the surface, collecting human items that occasionally fall from ships, and trying to learn about the humans. Unfortunately her people do not care for the surface or humans, and often look down on her and mock her for her interests. Calling her “odd”. The only ones who support her are her friends Vaggie who doesn't quite understand her fascination but wants her to be happy, and Blitzo a land-imp who gives her information about the human objects she finds. Or rather information that he's concocted in his own head. As he's telling her that a fork she found is used for combing one's hair and that a pipe she found is used for music, she suddenly remembers the concert and hurries home.
Elsewhere, Adam the sea-wizard and his loyal follower Lute are plotting revenge against Lucifer for banishing them and transforming Adam from a handsome merman to a hideous cecaelia. When Adam notices how head-strong and rebellious Charlie is, like her late mother, he suspects that she may be the key to Lucifer's undoing and tells Lute to keep an eye on her.
When Charlie returns home her father reprimands her for missing the concert and going to the surface, reminding Charlie that humans killed her mother Lilith years ago. Charlie then protests that the humans who killed her were pirates and that she believes that not all humans were like them. However Lucifer is xenophobic toward humans, viewing them as nothing more than savages. He forbids Charlie from ever going to the surface again and she leaves distraught. Lucifer then assigns Moxxie to watch over Charlie and keep her out of trouble, much to the sea-imp's dismay.
Moxxie follows Charlie and Vaggie to a secret grotto where she keeps her collection of human objects. Vaggie comforts Charlie and asks why she's so interested in the surface world anyway. The sea princess then responds that she gets it from her mother and that Queen Lilith always believed that the humans and the merfolk could live together in harmony if they tried to understand each other, so she would visit the surface as often as she could and then tell her daughter about her adventures. Charlie also reveals that her father once supported her mother's dream and even had a special music box made for her to show his support but that was lost along with her mother's life. Charlie then confesses that she secretly wishes to live in the surface world and have her own adventures, and wonders if maybe the humans would be more accepting of her "odd" nature than the merfolk are.
Moxxie is horrified by this discovery and makes his presence known. Charlie quickly pleads with Moxxie not to tell Lucifer about her collection or her secret wish. Moxxie promises not to but tries to convince Charlie to forget her strange hobbies and focus more on music and her singing. The conversation is interrupted when Charlie sees a ship floating overhead and curiously, swims up to investigate. She swims closer to the ship and spies on the sailors aboard who are celebrating Alastor's birthday. She watches the young man play the flute and dance with his cat Kee Kee and the crew, further intriguing her. During the party, the prime minister Zestial tells the prince that he must find a bride and take up his father's crown, then tells him that he is planning to arrange a marriage for him and the duchess Verosicka. Alastor and Husk both protest, insisting that both his father and mother would have wanted him to marry for love. Zestial counter-argues that despite that, the prince doesn't have anyone to love. Alastor tells them that the woman he falls in love with will be someone who's different. Someone who's "odd". Hearing this, Charlie is instantly smitten.
A storm suddenly hits and when the crew cannot steer the ship to safety, Alastor risks his life to get everyone on board including Kee Kee over to the lifeboats, choosing to be the last one to get off. Just as it's his turn, lighting strikes and the ship breaks apart. Alastor is tossed overboard and knocked unconscious. Charlie saves him from drowning and drags him to the shore. The storm ends by morning and Charlie checks to see if Alastor is still alive. When she sees that he is, she sings to him. Alastor begins to stir and the two fall in love.
Alastor dazedly begs Charlie to stay but she is forced to leave when she hears Husk coming. However Charlie vows to find a way to be with him and Alastor vows to find the woman who saved him. All of which is witnessed by Lute and as Adam spies on them through her eyes, he boasts on how he can use these star-crossed lovers to his advantage and that the reason for his transformation and banishment was that years ago, he and Lilith had been arranged to marry but she fell in love with Lucifer, choosing to marry him instead. Out of jealousy and revenge, he arranged for Lucifer to be killed by pirates but Lilith pushed her husband out of the way, taking the killing blow for him. He then remarks that Lucifer’s lovely little princess would make a charming bride.
After Charlie returns home, her behavior makes her father and her cousins Bee, Emily, and Octavia suspect that she has fallen in love. Moxxie tries to convince her that the sea is where she belongs and points out all the wonders of it, but she only dismisses his words and swims off. On land, Alastor is pressured into a dinner with the duchess Verosicka but he quickly realizes that she’s a vain woman only wants to marry him to become queen and rejects her advances. This upsets Zestial who believes in marriage for convenience but Husk proposes a compromise, that they give Alastor some time to fall in love and find a woman to marry before betrothing him to the duchess. Alastor reluctantly accepts but reveals that he’s in love with the one who saved him and wants to marry her but the only clue he has to find her is her beautiful voice and eyes.
At first Lucifer is pleased with the idea that Charlie has found love and asks Moxxie who the lucky “merman” is? Unfortunately Moxxie accidentally reveals that Charlie saved a human and that he is the one she is in love with. Lucifer is furious and forces Moxxie to take him to Charlie's grotto. There Vaggie has surprised Charlie with a small, marble statue of the prince that she found on the ocean floor and the princess gleefully starts to talk about how she'll sneak away to the surface to visit the prince. But Lucifer appears at the grotto and is enraged by her plans. Charlie tries to explain but Lucifer refuses to listen and destroys her collection of artifacts in a misguided attempt to protect her. Charlie swims away to cry and Lucifer is left feeling guilty for his actions but convinced that it was for her own good.
Once alone, Lute approaches Charlie and tells her that Adam has great power which he uses to help others achieve their greatest desires, and that she was once a land creature who dreamed of life in the sea and Adam made that dream real. Charlie knows nothing of Adam or of his past with her parents, and she's so devastated by her father's actions and feels so alone in her own world, that she agrees to go see him. Moxxie and Vaggie spot Charlie with Lute and follow them to Adam's lair. When Moxxie realizes who Charlie is about to meet, he rushes to warn her but Lute silences him and Vaggie.
Adam tells Charlie that the only way to be with Alastor is to become human and he offers to turn her into one for a month and if she can win Alastor's love and receive a true love's kiss from him before the sun sets on the final day, she will remain human forever. But if he doesn't then she'll turn back into a mermaid and be Adam's prisoner. He also demands that Charlie give him her voice as payment for the potion. At first Charlie is hesitate to accept, unsure if she can leave her father, family, and friends forever or give up her voice as it is her last connection to her mother. But Adam manipulates her by saying that she never really belonged in the sea to begin with and no one down below will ever truly accept her. And he convinces her that giving up her voice will be no great loss because she'll be the most beautiful human woman anyone has ever seen and that she will dance more gracefully than any other. In the end Charlie accepts the deal, Adam then takes her voice and locks it away in a nautilus shell, and gives her a potion that turns her tail into legs. Vaggie and Moxxie quickly get her to the surface before she can drown.
They meet Blitzo by the shore and Charlie is thrilled at finally becoming a human while Moxxie is mortified and almost goes to tell Lucifer what happened. But Vaggie and a now silent Charlie persuade him to instead help them as this is the only chance Charlie has at being truly happy. Blitzo finds some discarded rags and cloth to cover Charlie’s body with, just as she’s found on the beach by Alastor. He doesn’t think she’s the one who saved him due to her no longer having a voice but something about her beautiful eyes draw him to her so he decides to take her to the palace, inviting her to stay as his guest.
Inside, Rosie the headmistress of staff and Niffty the maid, take care of Charlie and see that she is treated like royalty. Giving her a suite and baths, dressing her in gowns of silk and velvet, weaving pearls into her hair, all the while Charlie is fascinated by the new world around her. In the evening, a banquet and ball is held in hopes that Alastor will choose a bride but none of the young ladies attending interest him.
When Charlie enters the room, Alastor is astonished by her beauty and invites her to sit with him and Husk at the banquet table. Charlie attempts to impress him by brushing her hair with a fork and blowing Husk’s pipe like it’s an instrument. All the guests laugh at her but Alastor finds her “odd” behavior charming and smiles at her.
Moxxie and Blitzo sneak into the palace to keep an eye on Charlie but the royal Chef Pentious mistakes them for being crabs and tries to cook them for dinner. They retaliate, leading to a brawl that disrupts the meal but luckily Blitzo escapes out the window while Charlie hides Moxxie in her room. After dinner Alastor teaches Charlie to dance and despite her clumsiness, she still moves with grace and charms him even further with her eloquent eyes. As Husk, Rosie, and Niffty watch them dance, they are pleased to see the prince so happy and suspect that love is in the air.
The next day, Alastor takes Charlie on a tour of the kingdom, going to shops and stands, introducing her to his neighbors and good friends, and he is further impressed with how she responds to everything with such an innocent and playful fascination. They end the day with a picnic on the beach which Charlie enjoys but as she watches the tide, she starts to become homesick and dips her feet in the water. Alastor notices that she's sad and understands that she misses her family. He comforts her and opens up to her about how he lost his parents and misses them. To cheer her up, he gives her a present, one of the many artifacts that his father brought back from his days as an explorer and to Charlie's wonder and joy, the gift is her mother's music box. She embraces him and they almost kiss but Alastor backs out, still longing for the "one" who saved him.
As Adam continues to spy on Charlie, he starts to become anxious. He tells Lute that he gave Charlie a month to win Alastor's heart because he knows that the prince is expected to marry another woman by the month's end and is sure that humans never break an arranged marriage. Still, he sends Lute upward to make absolutely certain that the kiss doesn't happen.
As the weeks pass, Alastor and Charlie grow closer. They go horseback riding, they climb mountain tops, he takes her sailing, and she listens to him whenever he talks about how he doesn't want to be king and that he's not sure he will be as good at running a kingdom as his parents were. Not one day goes by where they are not together yet Alastor still does not even make an attempt to kiss her. But while she spends her days with Alastor, Charlie spends her nights dipping her feet in the ocean and visiting with Vaggie who misses her terribly but is glad that she's happy. One night as Charlie comes back from the beach, she over hears Zestial and Husk arguing about Alastor's betrothal to Verosicka and she fears that he may love another. Rosie and Niffty figure this out and comfort Charlie, assuring her that Alastor does not like Verosicka at all and that they truly believe that if he ever married anyone, it'll be her. Meanwhile, Lucifer and his family have been searching the entire ocean for Charlie and Moxxie the remorseful sea king breaks down to his brother in-law Stolas about how he knows Charlie and Moxxie's disappearances are his fault and that he failed them and Lilith. Stolas however assures him that Charlie and Moxxie will be found and that his sister knows how much he loves and tries. Still Lucifer cannot help but constantly say "What have I done? What have I done?"
On the day before the last day of the month, Alastor takes Charlie on a romantic boat ride in a lagoon. A secret spot where his father used to take his mother and he tells her how his father met his mother while exploring the middle east and how different she was from all the other woman he had met before. That she was "odd" just like how his father was "odd" and they fell so much in love that no matter what they faced, no matter what stood in their way, they would always find each other. He then confesses that he wants a love like that and that is why he cannot consent to an arranged marriage. He also confesses that he considers himself "odd" and that he thinks Charlie is wonderful because she's "odd" too. Moxxie takes advantage of the moment by working with Bltizo to create a romantic atmosphere and again they almost kiss, but Lute ruins the moment by tipping the boat over.
Furious at Charlie's close success, Adam decides to take matters into his own tentacles but going up to the surface and appears to a jealous Verosicka, who is sulking over the fact that the prince would prefer a “little mute" over herself. Adam offers Versoicka a solution and gives her specific instructions to follow. That night, Husk suggests to Alastor that "Far better than any dream girl is one of flesh and blood, one warm and caring, and right before your eyes." Alastor takes this advice to heart and realizes that he's fallen in love with Charlie. He decides to forget his dream girl and marry Charlie instead but before he can tell her how he feels, he is approached by Versoicka who is now wearing the nautilus shell containing Charlie's voice around her neck. She uses the voice to bewitch Alastor to forget all about Charlie and marry the "one with the voice."
The next morning Charlie learns that Alastor has decided to marry Verosicka today, much to the joy of Zestial and the confusion of Husk, Rosie, and Niffty. Charlie tries to get Alastor's attention but Versoicka does everything in her power to keep him from seeing her, and when the staff questions him about Charlie, he claims not know such a woman. Heartbroken, Charlie runs off in tears, sobbing by the shore as the wedding ship departs. But Blitzo suspects that something is up and decides to do a little snooping. He spies on Verosicka and sees her conversing with Adam through a mirror, in which they reveal that they've been using Charlie's voice to keep Alastor in a trance and that Verosicka must not let Alastor see his true love or the spell may weaken. Blitzo quickly warns his friends and they devise a plan, Vaggie will take Charlie to the wedding ship, Moxxie will get Lucifer, and Blitzo will stall the wedding.
Blitzo enlists sea animals and Kee Kee to help him and together they disrupt the wedding and attack Verosicka. Vaggie and Charlie get closer to the ship but Lute turns herself into a shark and attacks them. Vaggie fights her, giving Charlie a chance to climb aboard. Alastor finally sees her, bedraggled and on the verge of collapsing, he starts to remember her and rushes to embrace her. Veroscika attempts to strengthen the spell over him but Blitzo rips the nautilus shell from her neck and breaks it at Charlie's feet. Charlie's voice is restored to her and Alastor realizes that she's the one. Tragically, just before their lips can touch, the sunsets and Charlie turns back into a mermaid. It's too late and Adam takes Charlie away, but Alastor is determined not to lose her again.
Lucifer confronts Adam and agrees to take his daughter's place and give him his trident, in exchange for her freedom. Adam agrees, he claims the trident for himself and turns Lucifer into a sea worm to Moxxie's and Charlie's horror. Charlie attempts to take the trident back to save her father but Adam restrains her. Alastor, having found them, shoots a harpoon at Adam to defend her and Lute responds by trying to drown him. Vaggie and Moxxie defend him and Adam attempts to kill all three of them with the trident but Charlie intervenes, causing the blast to hit and kill Lute instead.
Alastor and Charlie reunite at the surface and she urges him to get away for his safety but he refuses to leave her. The couple is suddenly pursued by an enraged Adam who controls the waters to bring them to him. He takes Charlie hostage and starts trying to drown Alastor, all the while taunting him about how once he's dead, he'll takeover not only Charlie's kingdom but Alastor's as well, enslaving both of their people, and pushing the final button by declaring that he'll make Charlie his replacement bride for Lilith. Furious, Alastor reaches for the harpoon he threw earlier and stabs Adam in the chest. In pain, he drops both them and the trident, and the couple use the trident to destroy Adam.
Afterward, Alastor and Charlie swim to the shore where he proclaims his love for her and they share true love's kiss. But then Charlie tells him that although she loves him too, they belong in different worlds and that they can never be together. Alastor pleads with her not to leave him, that they can surely find a way but she tearfully insists that there is no such way. She returns to the sea and is overjoyed to see her father restored to his true form, they embrace, and both apologize for the mistakes they've made. Charlie agrees to go home but asks to have one last look at Alastor first and Lucifer consents. Seeing the way Charlie looks at Alastor and the way he looked at her, reminds Lucifer of how he used to look at Lilith and recalls that Alastor had risked his life to save his daughter just as Lilith had given her life for her husband. Realizing that he was wrong and that he wants Charlie to be happy, Lucifer decides to change Charlie into human for good, she runs into Alastor's arms, they kiss, and at some point marry, finally uniting humans and merfolk just as Lilith always wanted.
