Ylana Maya - Under 'Da' Sea!

A Hopeless Romantics Attempt at Fanfic - Adventure to Atlantis

Many of you reading this will be very familiar with the story of the little mermaid... But there's a lot the story tellers did not make known...

Ariel was not just a pretty little defenseless mermaid, she was actually a siren. Now, we all know the stories of sirens and sailors, the sirens would use their vocal power to captivate men lost at sea, only to seduce them and drag them into the deepest darkest trenches, void of light and warmth. Later, releasing their clutches on those poor unfortunate lost souls, just to see them struggle their way back to shore, that is if they'd be able to withstand the journey.

Now, now. Don't be so quick to judge Ariel, she did not understand the darkness of her underwater sisters, she didn't wish to hurt the poor sailors....
Ariel was a very naive little mermaid, who was infallibly in love with the idea of falling in love...
This sweet little siren wanted so much to share her world with a sailor, in her mind it was to help them explore the depths just as she could, because she knew even in its darkness it was a truly wondrous place full of inconceivable beauty.
Ariel desperately wanted to manifest her own little love tale... But men and mermaids are the romeo and Juliet of this world... Thus, seldom did it happen.

There were tales of legends told to the sirens as they grew up, that being Perseidon would turn the rare worthy sailor into a merman and that if a Siren were to bring the right individual to the sea fortress they would evolve and adapt to the surroundings and the siren would be granted that love, but over the years these myth became nothing more than bedtime stories for the younglings and frequently those of the sirens who enjoyed this sport of land fishing would justify their actions through quoting the myth. It had been over 250 years since last this tale was was claimed to be true. Nobody believed anymore.

You see the little mermaid followed suit, she did what was customary in her culture, she did not wish to harm anyone, she, like many of us, was a product of her upbringing and environment.
Over time, Ariel began to understand the sailors were not adapted for her lifestyle... They could not survive underwater, they did not have gills, nor did they possess any fins or tails.
The pain and struggle that would surface on their unadapted little faces had taught Ariel that her attempts to share her world could only result in more heartbreak and unlike her dark ancestors and sisters she did not enjoy watching these men endure that torture. Ariel, unlike most sirens did not get that certain sadistic kick from watching her lovers perish in an environment so clearly not designed for them...
She had seen the suffering that was caused from dragging them deeper, all she wanted was to show them her world and to be able to share the beauty of the sea with them...
She had hoped for quite some time that maybe it was just Perseidons way of assisting fate, maybe the right sailor for her might one day adapt in the process and be able to swim with her, but after seeing so much suffering in the dying eyes of each consequetive sailor, the sweet little mermaid we all know and love, could not do it anymore... She felt that Perseidons promises of her one true love adapting to survive with her were as empty as the eyes of those sailors in their last moments.

The years rolled by and Ariel would no longer embark on the sirens gulfstream for she realised sailors were land dwellers and as such in order for her to finally be with the man of her dreams, she too had to become a land dweller.

One atlantian evening, our sweet little mermaid felt sudden pressure changes in her surroundings, the effects of a storm, she was well adapted to detecting changes in her natural environment, tidal pressure differences; vibrations caused by lightning hitting the water, the equivalent of being hugged by a monster jellyfish with every fork that struck the tides... Not the most pleasant experience for some, but she found it quite liberating, it triggered a sense of Adventure within her.

When the waters began to calm, the naturally inquisitive siren swam to take a peak at the results of the storm.
Another shipwreck... The scene was horrific, the god of the sky had tore this ship to shreds. Pieces of mahogany floated along the surface, the ship already half sunken.

Ariel gazed upon the treachery that lay in front of her and felt the natural urge to help and so looked around the shipwreck for the survivors of this catastrophe.... This was the moment, she met Eric... She knew she could not possibly bring this man down to Atlantis, he would surely perish. She decided instead to take him back to land.

Of course when he awoke on that beach shore, he did not get to lay eyes on the face of the siren who saved him.... But he did have the echos of her songs playing in his mind.... Naturally, she had been singing the entire time she was pulling him along back to safety.

Ariel, being the naive little hopeless romantic that she was, instantly fell for this man. She would day dream about him all the way home....

Over time Ariel would pop up to sea level, just to see how he was doing... Longing so much to become just like him so that they could eventually be together...

Poor little naive Ariel should have been careful what she wished for.... For nothing in this world comes without a cost.