A Recap:
(as posted on RPNation on Murder: The Ties That Bind)
Ariel leapt into the portal.
She landed on the beach, the sand scratching her cheek. It wasn't the most graceful landing, but Ariel quickly stood up. She wiped the sand away from her cheek, eyes shut. She didn't dare look around. What if she wasn't home? Her heart pounded in her chest, toes curled in the sand, and curiosity finally won over the fear, her eyelids peeling open. She almost exploded with happiness. She was home!
Eric's castle, her castle, was directly in front of Ariel. She was standing on the beach right in front of their bedroom window. It was open.
"ERIC!" she shouted, a smile stretched across her face. "ERIC!" Her heart almost stopped. She could see his dark, sexy hair in the corner of the room. She could see him running over to the window, and the heart-melting smile as he saw her. She could almost hear him call her name.
Too bad it never happened.
Ariel didn't let the disappointment overwhelm her. She had hope.
Ariel ran around the castle, to the front gates. There was noise coming from the castle, and Ariel smiled. A celebration? She took a step forward, through the open gates, and got halted by a guard.
"The castle is no' to be entered right now, miss," the guard said, his eyes beady and cold, "Go home while ya still have the chance." The guard wasn't wearing the normal armor, and his accent was strange. Ariel couldn't help but become a little bit suspicious.
"I am Princess Ariel, formerly of Atlantis and now of this castle, and I need to get through."
The guard guffawed, the spear that he was holding wavering a tad bit. "Princess Ariel? You aren't gonna fool anyone with that, lassy. The princess died almost ta year ago."
Another guard walked over, seeing the exchange between them. He was older, and he held himself higher than the one Ariel spoke with. "What tis tha matta over here, aye?" His old eyes landed on Ariel. She expected them to be warm, like her father's old eyes, but they were even colder than the original guard's. "Who are ya?" He laughed. "Sha looks like Princess Ariel."
"That 'tis who sha claims ta be."
The old guard's eyes narrowed, and he forcefully grabbed Ariel's chin, making her look up at him. She winced. He brought her face close to his, examining it carefully. His thumb brushed over the little scar above Ariel's eyebrow, and he grinned. Ariel was about to step back, but he grabbed her arm. "Looks like tha lit'le princess showed up far her husband's execution."
Ariel froze, feeling as if she'd been dipped in cold water. "E-Execution?"
"Come with us, lass. Ya showed up right in time."
Ariel let them drag her to the castle. She wouldn't of been able to do it herself, anyways. She felt numb, as if all the joy was sucked out of her. This was not what she thought coming home would be like.
When they stepped through the doors, they were met by a large crowd. People were all fighting to get a look at whatever they were surrounding, and Ariel was taken aback. They all wore kilts, and looked rough. Mean.
"Comin' through," the guard holding Ariel barked, his tone making the crowd part slightly. It was loud, and as
they made their way past the people, someone yelled, "SILENCE!!" Everyone immediately stopped talking, and Ariel and the guards slunk their way towards the front of the crowd.
"We're gathad here taday ta celebrate the execution o' Prince Eric and tha takeova o' his kingdom." The crowd cheered loudly. Ariel gasped when she finally made it to the front.
Eric, her Eric, was knelt down, his wrists suspended above him by ropes. His shirt was torn and bloody, along with the rest of his clothes. Whip gashes covered his body, and blood oozed from every wound. He was looking down, defeated and tired, pain etched across his features. A whip mark covered his beautiful, bloody, bruised jaw, and a tears started to fall from Ariel's eyes at the sight of her husband.
"....crimes of refusing trade..." Ariel wasn't listening to the man who was speaking. She was fully captured on Eric. Then, she found her voice.
"ERIC!"
The speaking man froze. The guard's grip on her tightened. The man looked at her from his place on top of a crate, and his lips twitched up slightly. He had curly, orange hair, and he looked a few years younger than Ariel. Behind him were his identical siblings, and a woman with their features standing between them. She had her head bowed, and all Ariel could see was a mop of curly orange hair, a bow, and an arrow sheath.
"Ah, look who decided ta show up. Princess Ariel." The guard holding her stepped forward with the other guard, who's hand found her other arm. All the men, triplets, Ariel assumed, had an identical smirk etched on their faces. The woman gazed upward, and Ariel finally got a good look at her. She looked about 10 years older than Ariel, her face war-hardened. Her eyes bore into Ariel's, and that nerve-wracking smirk slowly spread over her face.
"Princess? Here ta die wit'cha husband?" The woman leapt down from her place, landing with grace and ease. "He's been causing quite a bit 'a trouble, lately." The woman walked over to where Eric was bound, and her calloused hand traced Eric's jaw. Ariel growled, pulling against the guards holding her but not succeeding. The woman laughed coldly. Despite what Ariel wanted, tears ran down her face, dripping from her hard set jaw. The woman pulled an arrow from her sheath and put the tip against Eric's neck. "Pity he's passed out. He can't eve' see ya again before..."
Quickly, before Ariel could react, the woman drove the arrow straight through Eric's windpipe.
"ERIC, NO, ERIC!" Ariel screeched, the tears flowing freely down her face. She pulled against the guards with all her might before the weakness set over. "ERIC, ERIC!" All Ariel could scream was his name, limp in the guards' arms, her legs unable to support her. "ERIC!" The pain of his death sliced through her as if she had been the one to get stabbed, and she sobbed, the cheering of the crowd mute to her ears. Her face was completely wet with tears, eyes red and throat hurting. The sobs wracked through her body, and all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and die.
Ariel didn't notice the curly, orange haired woman in front of her until she got kicked in the side. Her scream mixed with her crying, the bullet wound opening up. It could hardly compare to the pain of loosing Eric, the only one idea that kept her sane throughout the Crossed ordeal.
"Stand up, ya miserable lil' thing! Ya hurt ma eyes juss' lookin' at cha!" Ariel looked up at the woman through her tear filled eyes, rage mixing with the sadness.
"Just kill me, please! I-I can't live without him!" Ariel's voice was choked, and Ariel was ready to die. She really was. Forget her daddy, her sisters, she wanted to die.
The woman looked down at Ariel, disgust in her eyes at Ariel's pitiful self, and drew her bow, stepping back a tad bit. "Whateve' works for ya."
~FIN~
or... we thought
......
Prologue
Ariel lay on her back in her cell.
Four years. Four years, she had been trapped in this hell. This castle that was once her's, treating her as if she was a barnacle to be scraped off of the bottom of a ship. The pain hurt her everyday. The pain of losing Eric, the pain of what she'd been through with the Crossed, a completely different hell on its own. After the woman had decided not to end her torture, to make her live with the pain of Eric's death on her mind, she had been forced to tell of where she had been.
And she had refused.
Ariel got off of her cold, hard bed, wincing as her achy muscles were forced to move. Her daily rations were sitting on a plate near her cell door. She slowly sat up and shuffled forward. Her outfit was barely enough to cover herself, not even close to keeping her warm. It was the triplet's choice. She was the same thing to them as she was to Bertha. A toy.
Ariel limped over to her food, her hip screaming in pain. She could hardly move it, anyways. She wasn't sure if the permanent injury was worth not speaking of her year out of the castle, the year that haunted her dreams along with Eric's face every night. She dropped down in front of her bowl of food and shoveled the mush into her mouth with her hands. She wasn't given any silverware.
Today was different, though. She left part of her mush in the bowl, despite still being hungry. Her hands shook with nervous as she awaited the signal.
The signal.
A maid shuffled forward from the darkness of the dungeons, looking around nervously. A key jingled in her hand. "Miss Ariel?"
In her four years, Ariel had learned that there was a rebellion against the intruding kingdom. She could have escaped for a year, now, but she had no reason to in her depression.
Now, she had a reason.
The crumpled invitation, dirty with food, was clutched in her hand. She had received it in the bottom of her food bowl days ago. There was always a plan for her to escape, one she had never bothered to initiate, but now, it was to begin.
The key turned in the lock. Ariel crept forward, secretly pinching herself. This wasn't a dream, was it? No, all her sleep consisted of were nightmares. Excitement flushed through her.
"Miss Ariel?"
"Yes?" Her delicate voice was rough and cracked with lack of use.
"We need ta go."
Quickly, they went forward, the maid supporting Ariel as she struggled to walk. Ariel panted with effort. They passed through many doorways in the dark depths of the castle, until suddenly, they were at a wide open one. Guards littered the ground, all either knocked out or dead. The rebellion worked quick. Ariel saw the portal peeking from behind the open doors, and her heart leaped. Immediately, she limped/ran towards it, with only one thought in her mind.
Silent Hill.
.....
Ariel landed on the grass with a thud and threw up the small breakfast in her stomach. She stood up weakly, from being tired from her escape, and from being in the cell for so long. Her physical activity levels had sucked. She looked around, taking in the people and the creepy forest. Immediately, hope flared through her.
"Eric? ERIC?" She limped through the crowd hurriedly in her horrible clothes, searching.
"Eric? Eric!" She called out his name repeatedly, shoving past the people who weren't him, who weren't her's. "Eric!"
She was making quite the scene.
//lol long prologue and too annoyed to edit