Cherry Meets the Little Mermaid

chapter 4

"I just don't know what we're going to do with you two." Triton said to his daughter and adoptive son.

"Dad, I'm sorry, we just forgot..." Ariel apologized.

"As as result of your reckless behavior--" Triton started.

"Careless and reckless behavior!" Sebastian quickly added.

"The entire concert was--" Triton tried to continue.

"Well, it was ruined!" Sebastian finished for him. "That's all! Completely destroyed! This concert was the pinnacle of my distinguished career. Now thanks to you, I am the laughing stock of the entire kingdom!"

Even though he told Darla that they had to wait until Triton was done with their cousins, Atticus wasn't liking how Sebastian was talking to Ariel and Urchin.

"But it wasn't their fault!" Atticus and Flounder told the crab while swimming inside.

"Yeah, first the shark attacked us!" Darla stepped in. "Yeah, yeah, and we tried to, but then we couldn't! And then we--Whoa, we were safe! But then this seagull came, and this, and that, and--"

That caught Triton's attention. "Seagull?"

"Oops..." Darla feared she shouldn't have said that.

"Oh... You went up to the surface again, didn't you?" Triton asked his daughter.

"Nothing happened." Urchin told him nervously.

"Didn't you?" Triton then asked sharply.

"Oh, Ariel, Urchin, how many times do we have to go through with this?" Triton sighed, shaking his head. "You could have been seen by one of those barbarians... B-By... One of those humans..."

"Daddy, they're not barbarians!" Ariel scolded.

"They're dangerous," Triton insisted. "I know your aunt and uncle never would, but do you think I want to see my youngest children snared by some fish-eater's hook?"

"Dad, we're sixteen and nine-years-old, we're not children anymore!" Urchin retorted.

"Technically being a nine-year-old would still mean that you're a child." Darla said.

"Not helping, Goldilocks." Urchin glanced at her.

"Don't you take that tone of voice with me, you two!" Triton scolded Ariel and Urchin. "As long as you both live under my ocean, you'll obey my rules!"

"But if you would just listen--!" Ariel and Urchin told him before getting interrupted.

"Not another word!" Triton silenced them. "And I am never, NEVER to hear of you going up to the surface again. IS THAT CLEAR!?"

'Okay, that was a bit too much.' Atticus thought to himself.

Ariel was emotionally upset, she swam off and started to cry.

"Ariel!" Urchin cried, going after his foster sister.

"I hope you're happy." Atticus glared at his uncle before going after his favorite cousin.

"She has rules to follow..." Triton insisted.

"That was rather crude, Uncle Triton..." Darla said to him, folding her arms. "You probably crushed their spirits!" Before anything else was said, she joined up with them.

Ariel swam off to be alone, she thought maybe her collection on human things would cheer her up.

"Hey, where are you going?" Urchin asked.