Hi, everyone, I'm back with another chapter! Thank you everyone who has reviewed, favorited or followed this fanfic. I already have 20 favorites? Seriously, you people are amazing! I really hope you like this chapter, but most of it is introductions and explanations.

Chapter 2

The entire wedding party turned their heads towards the voice. There was a collective gasp at what they saw. At the ship's railing stood a large, muscular, bare-chested man. He wore a five-pointed crown on his head. In one of his hands he held a large, golden, trident. Large golden bracelets adorned both of his wrists. Even though he appeared to be hanging over the side of the boat, his other hand merely rested on the railing. The guests continued to stare at the man in confusion. The crown on his head indicated that he was royalty but none of them recognized him.

Ariel gasped again when she saw her father. She didn't think that she would ever see her father again. But now here he was, right in front of her. She had to protect Eric. Once again she threw her arms around Eric, shaking. Eric slowly wrapped his arms around her in return. He slowly rubbed his hands up and down her back. Triton looked back towards where Ariel was standing. Her arms were wrapped around a human not much older than she was. He assumed that he was the human his daughter was in love with. He saw how Ariel had wrapped her arms around him. He looked down at his trident. He then looked back up at them. She had wrapped her arms around this human because she was trying to protect him. She was afraid that he would try to hurt him.

Triton suddenly felt ashamed of himself. He no longer cared that his youngest daughter was now human. He no longer cared that she had met with the sea witch. The only thing he cared about was that his youngest daughter, the one he loved so dear, was terrified of him. He thought that his heart was about to break in two at the sight.

"Ariel, I," he began hesitantly.

She only grabbed onto the human even tighter and began whimpering. The human looked at him and eyed him with suspicion.

Triton realized he would have to tread very lightly here. He had already hurt his daughter enough. He had no intention of hurting any of these humans. If anything, he owed a great amount of gratitude towards this human. He had effectively saved Ariel's life by kissing her. Triton sighed. He would have to be civil with these humans.

"Young man," he said softly, "would you please escort my youngest daughter to me?"

Eric looked down at Ariel. Ariel looked up towards Eric and nervously bit her lip. She was afraid of letting Eric anywhere near her father, but she was just as afraid of what he would do if they didn't listen to him. Then she realized that he wouldn't be able to do anything as long as she had her arms around Eric. Eric could do what was asked of him. She nodded.

Eric carefully guided Ariel towards the railing. He stopped once he was right in front of Triton. Ariel kept her arms wrapped around him. Triton hesitated, trying to find the right words.

Triton then realized that he had to do more than just reassure her that he would not hurt him. He then carefully laid his trident down on the deck and softly asked, "Ariel, could you please come here?" Ariel slowly slipped out of Eric's embrace and stood in front of her father. For a few seconds, they both stood completely still, not saying anything to each other.

She found it hard to read his expression. She expected him to be angry at her. But Triton's expression showed no apparent emotion. At that moment Triton felt a mix of emotions. He was upset over what his daughter had done, but at the same time felt that he was ultimately responsible for it. He felt relieved that she was safe from Ursula but at the same time he was wary of the other humans. Ariel began to tremble again, fear talking hold of her. Triton took a long, deep, breath. Since he was there, he had a chance to see if these humans weren't a threat to her. He held out his hand towards her. Ariel hesitantly took it and stepped forward.

Triton slowly wrapped his arms around her. Ariel seemed to relax at this. She then wrapped her arms around him.

"Ariel, I'm sorry about what I did," he whispered. When he saw Ariel as a human, he believed that he was at least partially responsible for what had happened.

"I'm sorry, too. You must have been so worried about me," she said guiltily. Her family had probably been searching the entire kingdom for her, maybe even beyond it.

"I'm so relieved that you're alright."

Triton looked up from their embrace and looked towards Eric. He had taken a few steps backwards and was now standing next to another human. Triton looked back at Ariel and tilted his head towards Eric.

"Ariel, is that the human?"

Ariel turned around and looked towards Eric and nodded. Sebastian's words then ran through King Triton's mind. The human needed to kiss her by sunset or she would be bound to Ursula. Sunset had obviously since passed and Ariel was still human. Even with that in mind, Triton still felt uncertain.

"Ariel, did he kiss you?"

He already knew the answer, but he felt the need to ask her regardless. When Ariel looked at him in slight confusion, he explained, "Sebastian told me about the deal you made with Ursula. I came here to see if you were alright."

Ariel smiled brightly as she nodded again.

"Yes. Oh, daddy, Eric has taken such good care of me. He's taken me on a tour of his kingdom. He took me on a boat ride," she began.

"I've treated her like an honored guest since she arrived on our shores," Eric spoke up. "And I will continue to treat her as such since I can see that she is royalty, although I must confess that I do not recognize you, Your Majesty," he clumsily finished.

Triton nodded, surprising himself when a short chuckle escaped his lips. Ariel smiled when she heard it. She motioned for Eric to come closer, now that she could see that her father wouldn't hurt him. He then walked over and joined them at the railing.

Many of the wedding guests were now watching the spectacle in front of them with great interest. Anyone wo wasn't paying attention soon would when they heard Ariel say, "Daddy, this is Eric. Eric, this is my father, King Triton of Atlantica."

Out of the corner of his eyes, Eric saw Triton's tail. His eyes widened more than he thought possible. Many guests had a similar reaction. Others gasped. Others began to murmur amongst themselves, trying to grasp the fact that King Triton, the legendary ruler of the seas, was, in fact, real. "King…Triton?" Eric asked, clearly shocked. He then shuddered and grabbed on to the railing. Grimsby ran up behind him and began to help steady him.

"Eric!" Ariel gasped and grabbed onto him.

"I'm sorry, Ariel. This is just a lot to take in."

Eric then turned took a deep breath and turned back to look at Grimsby.

"Nautical nonsense, Grim?" he teased.

Grimsby stuttered at this remark. He had been so adamant that merpeople did not exist and now he realized that he would never hear the end of it from the sailors. He sighed and rubbed his temples. "Well, no respectable person has ever claimed to have seen one," he maintained.

"Have you forgotten that I once thought I saw one? Am I not a respectable person?" Eric asked, feigning offense.

Grimsby smirked and patted the boy on his shoulder. "Now Eric, you know that isn't what I meant."

"I know, Grim. But still, King Triton is real and merpeople do, in fact, exist. I can't wait to tell the sailors about this." Eric's eyes shone with excitement at this, excitement that Grimsby did not return. "And I hope to be as far away from that conversation as possible, he groaned, making Ariel giggle. "And they'll actually get to meet one," Eric trailed off. He suddenly was slightly confused. If Ariel was King Triton's youngest daughter, how was she a human? Shouldn't she have been a mermaid? He turned back to them and asked, "But how is that you're now human, Ariel?"

Ariel hesitated when Eric asked this. She knew that he would have to find out at some point since he had seen her father, but she was fearful of how he would react. Had she accidentally placed him and his kingdom in danger by meeting with the sea witch? If she had, would Eric be angry with her? Would he still want her? Her heart began to beat faster. Would Eric suddenly reject her? She tried to open her mouth to speak, her father began to speak.

"It is a rather long story that goes back to what Ariel had said earlier. The sea witch Ursula is very involved in this story and it would be best if we explained things once we return to the shore," he explained, picking up his trident from the floor.

And with that, Triton let go of the railing and dove back into the water. Triton then laid down his trident on the water and pointed it towards the ship. A ripple of energy shot out from the trident. The ripple engulfed the boat in a golden light and it began to move quickly towards the shore. Several of the wedding guests grabbed onto the railing for support. Eric moved to walk towards the railing but Ariel stopped him and smiled in reassurance. Eric nodded and stayed by her side. The boat soon returned to shore. Several men secured the ship to the dock. One by one each of the wedding guests disembarked from the ship. Eric could hear many of them conversing about what they had just seen. It had been quite an eventful day to say the least. They had expected to see Prince Eric finally marry, and ultimately they had ended up meeting the legendary king of the sea. Many were still confused about who this "sea witch" was. Some began to speculate that Eric would soon marry Ariel. It was clear that he was quite smitten with her, and she was, after all, royalty.

As they stepped onto the dock, Eric pulled Grimsby aside and suggested that they prepare the guest rooms. Grimsby nodded and informed him that he had done that as part of the wedding preparations. Eric wanted to laugh at that. He had nearly forgotten that wedding had very nearly taken place. As he thought about it further, he suddenly felt unnerved. The "woman" he had nearly married was a powerful sea witch that had placed him under a spell. The thought was not only unnerving, but surreal as well. But that had all been avoided thanks to Ariel. The mere thought of her made him smile. He now knew that she was the one he wanted to marry. He then felt Ariel's hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Eric," she tried to reassure him.

"I know, Ariel. I'm just worried that she might come back."

Ariel shuddered, knowing that Ursula would have more reason to come after her and not Eric. "Me, too," she whispered. "I don't think I could stand to lose you, not after we're together now."

He looked out at the water and steeled his gaze.

If she does come back, I'll be waiting. I'll fight her every day if it means keeping Ariel safe from her.

"I won't let her take you," he said with determination. "If she tries, I will fight her with everything I have."

"We should probably head back inside before people start wondering where we are."

They turned to return to the palace when they heard someone clearing their throat. The couple turned around and saw Triton floating near the dock. He looked up at them and motioned for Ariel and Eric to speak with him. They turned back and sat down at the edge of the dock, their legs dangling over the side.

"I think now is a good time to explain things," Triton began. "I'm assuming you know by now that Ariel is the one who saved you from drowning earlier."

It suddenly made sense to Eric. The storm had happened in the middle of the ocean. They were nowhere close to shore. By all accounts he should have drowned. It now made sense that Ariel was a mermaid. Otherwise she wouldn't have been that far out in the water. Eric frowned, realizing that he had still yet to properly thank her. He reached out and took one of her hands in his. "Thank you, Ariel," he told her, a bright smile coming to his face.

"Oh, Eric, I couldn't have let you drown. I just knew I had to make sure you were alright."

"So then why did you leave before I could talk to you?"

"For many years I have forbidden contact with the human world. But Ariel has never been one to obey that rule. She's always had a certain interest with your world."

"Forbidden?" Eric asked. It explained why he had never seen a mermaid before. But why had her father done that?

"I have a very strained relationship with humans. Many humans eat fish, and I find this practice to be especially barbaric, since merpeople are, after all, half-fish themselves. I have six other daughters besides Ariel, and I forbade contact with humans because I feared that they might one day get caught on a hook."

Eric could feel his stomach drop at that, even though it once again made complete sense to him. His mind then wandered back to two days earlier. They had eaten stuffed crab on Ariel's first day in the palace. He remembered that Ariel looked very uncomfortable as they ate that evening. She had left her plate largely untouched. Eric had tried to ask her what was wrong, but she could only make hand gestures that he couldn't decipher. He couldn't have figured it out at the time since Ariel was still mute, but that didn't stop him from feeling a little guilty about what had turned out to be a misunderstanding.

"Well, I can assure you, Your Majesty, that no civilized human would ever wish to eat a mermaid, because mermaids are, after all, half-human as well," he explained, echoing Triton's words. "And I can promise that I will no longer eat fish, now that I know of Ariel's past," he hastily added when he saw that Triton didn't seem appeased.

"I don't know if I can promise you that my kingdom will stop fishing," he added solemnly. "My kingdom heavily relies on it for commerce. Our economy could be crippled if I did that. But believe me when I say that if there was a way, I would do it without any hesitation."

Triton frowned. As a fellow monarch, he knew well that he had been forced to make many difficult decisions throughout his reign. He imagined that it probably wasn't much different on land. But this would have to be done if ever wished to trust the human world. And he now found that he did since Ariel was now a part of it. Even if he didn't, he still wanted to keep his subjects safe.

"Well, I didn't come here to discuss diplomacy with you. If you would, I would like to discuss this with you tomorrow morning. I'm sure we can think of something that will help us achieve both of our wishes."

"Of course."

"Now, as I was saying, despite this ban on contact with humans, my youngest daughter has made many trips to the surface, but from what I understand, she had never met a human before she met you. She and I have never seen eye to eye on this, and we've argued over it many times in the past. Things finally came to a head after I learned about you. We had the worst argument we'd ever had and I…did something that really hurt her."

"But how does this involves that…Ursula?" Eric began hesitantly.

Triton sighed. He hadn't shared this story with many people, and he was surprised that was he now sharing it with a human.

"Many years ago Ursula was one of my main advisor's at court. She had always been an ambitious individual, and she felt that she needed to be involved with every decision I made. Initially I went along with this, since she was, after all, very highly thought of. She became a little too ambitious for my liking, and I soon discovered that she had begun experimenting with things a disapproved of. Black magic comes to mind. Eventually I learned that she was planning to stage a coup, and so I had her removed from her position and banished from Atlantica. She has continued to be a nuisance, attempting multiple coups since that day. After our argument, Ariel somehow got in contact with Ursula. She used her magic on her to turn her into a human. She planned on trying to use Ariel as leverage to somehow take over Atlantica, but since that has failed, she might come back at some point."

Tears began to form in Ariel's eyes. If Ursula came after them…well, she didn't want to think of what would happen. She took a deep breath and looked to her side. She barely lifted her head, too afraid to look Eric in the eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Eric. I never should have pulled you into this."

Ariel jumped up slightly when she felt someone's arms wrap around her. She looked up and saw Eric hugging her.

"You don't need to apologize, Ariel. If it weren't for all this, you wouldn't be here now," he reassured her. Ariel smiled through her tears and wrapped her arms around him as well, placing a small kiss on his cheek.

"Eric?" a voice called out.

Eric and Ariel turned around to see Grimsby approaching them.

"Eric, the guests are waiting for you."

"Waiting for me?"

"Yes, the banquet is about to begin, and it just wouldn't be proper to begin if the two of aren't there. And Ariel needs to change into something a little more suitable."

Eric blinked. "Banquet?" he asked in slight confusion.

"You may remember, Eric, that there was supposed to be a wedding today. And that included a banquet afterwards. Even though there was no wedding we still have guests to feed," he explained with a slight chuckle.

Eric nodded in understanding, now feeling a little hungry himself.

"Wait, it's not fish, is it?" he suddenly asked, worrying how King Triton would react if it was. He was quite relieved when his advisor shook his head and said, "No, I didn't feel that would be appropriate knowing of Ariel's heritage."

Ariel smiled at how kind Eric and his staff were.

"We should get going, daddy, if all these guests are waiting for us."

"And I should probably head back to Atlantica and tell everyone that you're alright. I do hope you keep her safe, Prince Eric."

The king then dove beneath the waves as they waved him goodbye. As he disappeared beneath the waves, Eric held out his hand and asked, "Well, Ariel, shall we?"

Ariel couldn't contain her giggles as she took his hand.

…

Well, I hope you liked it! I may revise certain parts of it at some point, so you should probably check back every so often.