Archive of Our Own ^beta

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Depending on the species, eels can have a voltage of 600 watts up to 860 watts. Given Ariel, Eric, and Triton were all electrocuted by Jetsam and Flotsam, it's going to have lasting effects. In the 2023 movie, the shock (along with Ursula using the trident) even briefly killed Triton.

But also I need a live action sequel, because I want to see Jonah Hauer King as Dad 2023!Eric.

The Seal Lullaby has music by Eric Whitacre, based on a poem by Rudyard Kipling. It was written for a Dreamworks film that was never released, about a lost young seal. Instead of a movie with this hauntingly beautiful song, Dreamworks made Kung Fu-cking Panda! WHY?

TRIGGER WARNING: torture, electrocution.

This is based on the 2023 film, with Melody as the only addition from the animated series. The song included is The Seal Lullaby.

When the eels latch onto Eric, the voltage is agony beyond anything he's endured.

Losing Ariel broke his heart, but torture doesn't begin to describe the electric current. He has never felt pain like this, consuming his existence. Every muscle in his body is rigid, crippled by the strength of the watts. He can hear the hum of being burnt alive as Jetsam and Flotsam torment him. He tries to swim to the surface, but the moray eels' shock forces him to scream. Seawater fills his lungs as he is dragged down by the deep sea creatures.

Then there is a blast of golden light, and the trident sends the eels fleeing. Eric briefly sees Triton impale the spear into Jetsam's tail. And then Ariel, again, brings the drowning Eric to the surface so he can breathe–

Eric wakes to a flash of lightning.

His heart pounds as thunder booms across the tropical island of Tirulia. He is home on land, not drowning in his nightmare. It is monsoon season, and surely not even Triton can stop hurricanes. The pregnant Ariel is asleep beside Eric, and he doesn't disturb her. His wife is almost at term, and she needs rest.

Sweat beads Eric's forehead, but seeing her calms him. His muscles ache from old phantom pain, and his legs shake, remembering the electric shock as if it was yesterday. He still has scars on his legs from Flotsam and Jetsam's teeth. Jagged marks run up his limbs, matching scars on Ariel's arms.

He thinks of who he would be, if his birth parents had survived the shipwreck. If he had been raised in his cold native Denmark, not the warm Caribbean waters. He wouldn't have met Selina, or grown up in Tirulia. Worst of all, he never might have known Ariel, and their unborn child would never have existed.

Then he hears Ariel's sharp intake of breath. She props herself on her elbows. "Eric, I… I think it is time."

He pales. "Now?"

"I can feel–" Lightning and thunder crash together, and Ariel flinches. "No!"

"Ariel?" Eric takes her face in his hands. She has the same distant, terrified look in her eye that he once had, separate from the pain of early labor. "Look at me, look at me. I know you're thinking of the eels. But you are safe on land. No one will electrocute you."

"Thank you," she breathes. "You're my lighthouse in a sea of chaos." Then she grips his arm. "Oh, sweet Poseidon!"

Eric has never felt so useless. All he can do is watch Ariel suffer, let her clutch his hand. She screams until he thinks she'll lose her voice again.

And then their daughter cries.

She has her mother's complexion and curiosity, but her father's eyes and his dimples in her smile. She has two strong legs, kicking as Selina wraps a cloth around her. The girl's hair is raven like his, but she has more curls than Eric ever will.

"What will you call her?" the queen asks.

"Melody," Eric replies. "After her mother's song which brought us together."

"Do you want to hold her?" Ariel asks her husband.

She carefully places the newborn in Eric's arms. Their daughter is still damp with water, blood, and fluids, ruining his shirt. But Eric has eyes only for the new life that he holds. Melody smiles, dimples showing as he holds her securely in one arm. His vision blurs as he wipes at his own tears. Ariel reaches to cup his cheek, and he kisses his wife's knuckles.

Eric is done for, the moment his little girl entered the world.

They bring Melody to the shoreline.

He holds the baby, as Lashana helps Ariel walk stiffly to the beach. It had taken a full two days until Ariel's legs could support her again; after all, she has only been human for one year. But the princess is determined to join her family on the sand.

Then merfolk rise from the waves, and Triton leads his six daughters to the shallows. The Sea King has his own scars on his arms from the eels, but the proud ruler of the ocean holds his head high. Indira, Perla, Karina, Caspia, Tamika, and Mala swim in his wake.

Ariel wades into the surf to her father. The bearded merman holds out a long necklace, a string of mother-of-pearls.

"This belonged to Athena. Your mother wore it the night James Hook and his pirates came and…" Triton clears his throat. "I want you to have this. And for it to be passed down to Melody, when the time comes." He pauses. "I am proud of you," Triton says at last. "As your mother would be."

Ariel throws her arms around him, uncaring that her dress is drenched in saltwater. Tears spring to her eyes. "It all means the world to me."

Triton coughs, trying not to show his emotions. "I wish to see my granddaughter."

Eric walks into the water, careful not to put a foot wrong. He brings Melody to the Sea King. The child grasps Triton's beard, and then she reaches a tiny hand to the sea. Eric keeps her at a safe distance, but she is enthralled by the waves.

"Drawn to the ocean, I see," his father-in-law muses.

Ariel smiles. "Land was my dream. She inherited a love for water from Eric."

Melody's six aunts swim to join them. "We brought gifts," Indira says. "Sea sponge for teething, a conch shell horn for a trumpet. Starfish to adorn her hair."

"Thank you, truly," Ariel says.

"I cannot come onto land," Triton says, and puts a heavy hand on Eric's shoulder. "Be worthy of them."

Eric nods. "I will."

Grimsby bring the newspaper to the prince and princess on the castle balcony. Ariel holds the fussing Melody; she and Eric refuse to hire a governess. A royal tutor would be wise in the future, but the parents won't leave Melody with servants all day.

"There's rumors of a new electric light," the aging private secretary comments. "In the New World, lightning was caught in a bottle with a kite and a key. The tests aren't complete, but nearly there. It could light the entire palace. Make the servants' work more efficient-"

The eels setting Eric's bones on fire. Their winding bodies are too slick to pull free, and their jaws too tight to escape. Dragging him down to the sea floor with no heat, no light, only darkness.

"No!" Eric says with atypical firmness. He tries again in a more reasonable tone. "No. I am a champion of progress, but not about electricity. I will not put my family, or our staff in harm's way for efficiency."

"Of course, sire," Grimsby says, confused, but he bows and leaves. Melody cries, sensing the tension in the room.

"I would have said the same," Ariel assures Eric.

That night, Eric dreams of Melody being electrocuted by the eels.

Six years later, Eric wakes to another gale and his wife's scream.

"No, stop!"

Now Ariel is the one caught in a nightmare. It is the time of year for hurricanes again, but it doesn't make typhoons easier. Lightning cracks across the sky as she fights against an invisible force. "Please!"

He shakes her gently. "Ariel! Ariel, wake up!"

When she does, her eyes are frantic with terror. "The eels! They were right there!"

"It was a nightmare, that's all." She presses her face to his shirt. He holds his wife as she tries to steady her breathing. His fingers trace the scars on her arms.

"It wasn't only Jetsam and Flotsam. My aunt sent them to harm me, you, and her brother. She had no regrets of murdering my father, with the trident, yes, but also the eels. Aunt Ursula laughed as we were tortured. Her own family. That hurt nearly as much as the voltage."

Then Melody runs into the bedroom at another crash of thunder. She is six years old, and as headstrong as her parents. The one and only thing she fears are monsoons. "Why is the storm so angry?" Melody sniffs.

Eric observes Ariel's change. His wife is still shaken by her own past with electrocution, the same as him. But he sees Ariel compose herself, try to push aside her own trauma. Melody comes first.

"Come here, my flipperling," Ariel says warmly.

Melody joins them on the bed. When the thunder rolls again, she curls into her father's side. "Make the hurricane go away!"

He kisses the top of Melody's curls. "I wish I could. But you are safe with Mama and Papa. There is nothing to fear from a storm." He says it to himself as much as Melody. Eric glances at Ariel, and they both try to believe it. "I promise."

Eric sees Scuttle fly past the window, feathers soaked in the rain. Then the gannet bird heads for the raging open sea. "Tell me, flippering. Would you like me to sing a lullaby?" Ariel asks.

The girl tilts her head. "Why do you call me that? I don't have flippers or fins."

Ariel only smiles, and softly sings. "Oh, hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us." Her voice is calm and soothing. "And black are the waters that sparkled so green. The moon, o'er the combers, looks downward to find us. At rest in the hollows that rustle between."

Melody's eyelids start to close, and she leans against Eric. Ariel runs her fingers through their daughter's hair. "Where billow meets billow, then soft be thy pillow. Oh weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease. The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee. Asleep in the arms of the slow swinging seas…"

Melody drifts off as her mother sings the last verse. Eric watches them fondly. "Asleep in the arms of the slow swinging seas."

Only then does Eric realize the gale has ended. Morning sunlight pours through the windows still dappled with raindrops. Quiet settles over the island. "Triton calmed the hurricane, then," Eric murmurs.

"He can't end every storm. One day, she must learn not to be afraid," Ariel replies quietly. "As do we."

He takes his wife's hand. "Then we will help each other through our fears."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Everyone - *Ariel is the only canon Disney princess to have a baby!*

Perdita - *Am I a joke to you?*