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zesty-zestiria · 7 years

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An AU about. . . I don't know what if they found some fairy tail book and somehow got sucked into it and have to get back together due to the fact they somehow got separated. . . Or a Disney AU?

Admin @soymilkheaven here! Sorry about the wait, anon, since we all sat around and discussed for a bit which fairytale would be best, and in the end …

Little Mermaid AU won out, as a mixture of both the Disney movie version and the classic Hans Christian Anderson tale. (You’ll see, anon, I’ll even drabble the ending out for you for extra feels.) I mean, yes, everyone’s done Merman Mikleo but, let’s face it, Part of Your World is basically Mikleo’s image song for the early-mid game, especially with how often he talks about how he’s not sure he’s experiencing the world the same way Sorey does, since he’s a Seraph and Sorey’s human, and … really, Water Seraph, Merman, the similarity is there.

So who’s who? Here it is (behind a cut because this is *super* long):

Also warnings for the post fairy tale epilogue drabble: Major Character Death, lots of feels, and I damned near cried writing parts of it.

Mikleo is our little Merman. Personally, I like Epileo for this mostly so I can have all the mental pictures of Merman Mikleo floating in the sea with his gorgeous hair floating all around him. Also, I envision this scene where Prince Sorey goes out to walk on the beach at night, under a full moon, and hears a lovely voice humming, and sees Merman Mikleo sitting on a rock … brushing his hair with a fork. But alas, despite the Obvious Misuse of a Fork, Sorey still thinks Mikleo with his gorgeous long hair and violet eyes, and pretty blue tail is the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen … right up until Mikleo sees him and splashes into the water again because, well Mermen Aren’t Supposed To Be Seen. Of course, what Prince Sorey doesn’t realize is that Mikleo surfaces right after and hides behind said rock to observe Sorey - who Mikleo thinks has the brightest green eyes he’s ever seen, better than any jewel he’s found in any shipwreck on the ocean floor, and he just adores Sorey’s smile.

Also, in keeping with the Hans Christian Anderson version of the tale, Mikleo is more of a magical sea creature granted the ability to walk and breathe air - first, painfully via his deal with Symonne, later, pain-free as part of Zenrus blessing their union. However, this also means that Mikleo is still Not Human, and therefore has no eternal soul. It also means he ages super slowly compared to Sorey too. Keep this in mind for the ending/epilogue drabble at the end.

Sorey is our Prince Eric. Obviously. Like in the Disney animated movie canon, Mikleo saves him when he gets shipwrecked in a storm, and that’s how they finally meet face to face. Sorey’s shocked when he catches a glimpse of his savior (as Mikleo’s hauling his fishtailed ass back into the water since he’s directly disobeying Gramps by doing this) and thinks he sees a fish tail, but he chalks it up, at first, to him seeing things as he was half-drowned at the time. Until he sees the aforementioned Merman Mikleo humming and combing his hair in the moonlight scene, that is.

Gramps as King Triton. He’s aware of human, and, like his game and Disney canon counterparts, he’s not a huge fan of interaction with humans. Here, it’s not so much Because Humans Are A Source of Malevolence as much as Humans Tend to Kill Things They Don’t Understand. Still, he does give Mikleo his blessing in the end, especially when he sees how much his grandson adores this human.

Symonne as Ursula. I mean, as much as it would kind of make sense for Ursula to be Heldalf and all that, Ursula has an element of manipulative dealmaker that Heldalf really doesn’t strike me as having - but Symonne, as an illusionist, does. That said, I’m more inclined to leave out the Disney version’s Adaptational Villainy and give her more of a Be Careful What You Wish For deal.

Edna as Flounder. A really, really, really snarky Flounder, who can’t believe Meebo is totally falling head over tail fin for This Boring Human. But alas, even she can see how sad Meebo is when Gramps forbids Mikleo to go up to the surface to Prince Sorey, and there’s Nothing Worse than Mopeyleo, so yes, she’ll go with him to see the Sea Witch Symonne.

Lailah as Sebastian. A really really really huge Shipper On Deck Sebastian, and she’s the one who talks Gramps into relenting in the end and letting Mikleo leave the sea, with legs, so he can be happy with his one true love. Even if both of them know that it’ll only be for Just This One Lifetime, because Gramps, while powerful, isn’t powerful enough to grant Mikleo a soul, which he lacks as a magical creature.

Dezel and Zaveid as Those Two Seagulls, or, in which soymilkheaven splits Scuttle the Seagull into two separate characters. They both claim to be experts on humans and their culture … when they’re anything but. Yeaaaaaaaaaah, you know someone had to have told Mikleo a fork was used to comb their hair. Yes that might have been Zaveid, lol.

Alisha as Sorey’s best friend from a neighboring kingdom (and fellow believer of magical sea creatures). Not sure if there is an equivalent in either the Disney animated movie (it’s been at least a decade since I’ve last seen the Little Mermaid and a few years since I last read the classic Hans Christian Anderson tale), but she is also familiar with the folklore and tales surrounding magical sea creatures … and tries to help Sorey woo Mikleo. There are … varying degrees of success, but the fact that Sorey is trying (once he figures out that Mikleo really is a Merman-turned-human) makes Mikleo love him more.

Rose as Sorey’s genius economics advisor and bodyguard, probably another soymilkheaven original for this AU. She’s not too familiar with the folktales and myths like Alisha is, but she also wants Sorey to be happy, and if courting/pursuing this Prince of the Sea (which Mikleo totally is) is what makes Sorey happy, then so be it. Besides, there might even be a side benefit of ensuring safety for their country’s boats at sea out of that marriage, and that’s 100% icing on the (wedding) cake as far as Rose the Economic Advisor’s concerned.

Heldalf … may or may not appear in this fairytale? But if he were to, he’d be some conquering warlord in a neighboring country out to take over Sorey’s country, which Sorey and Mikleo are Having None Of.

And now, the promised ending/epilogue drabble, because while pretty much everything happens as planned, there’s still that tiny detail from the classic Hans Christian Anderson tale where magical sea creatures don’t have a soul. In the original, it meant that the Little Mermaid couldn’t go to heaven and be with her beloved. And while Together In Death is a fun trope, I personally love a slightly different one:

When Prince Sorey died at the positively ripe old age of 95, people across the country mourned. He had been a great king, a wise and fair leader, and had done much to ensure the prosperity of his people. His funeral had been a grand affair - Mikleo, as Chief Consort, had seen to that. In keeping with Sorey’s final wishes, while a token gravestone was erected in the royal family graveyard, his body was interred on a cliff overlooking the sea, the beautiful ocean that was the homeland of his one and only.

A pair of dark crimson roses flanked the gravestone, while the hill itself was positively smothered in pink carnations, red chrysanthemums, daffodils, forget-me-nots, primroses, and marigolds. At the foot of the hill, a small grove of orange trees marked the entryway to the beloved prince’s true final resting place.

Mikleo knelt in front of that gravestone now, looking barely a day older since the day they’d met - Zenrus was powerful, yes, but even his magic had only been enough to grant Mikleo the legs and the ability to breathe air so he could live outside of the ocean, beside his beloved. His hands brushed against the gravestone, and tears came to his eyes, unbidden. A pair of seagulls landed beside him, eyes full of worry.

“Was this what Gramps was trying to warn me about?”

“Mikleo … man, we’re-”

“That I’d only get a short amount of time with him?”

He laid down in the grass, among the flowers, each one flourishing, despite their getting watered only by the occasional rain shower and his own tears. A gentle wind rustled across the hills, rustling his hair and cloak. Hair that Sorey had played with many a quiet evening in their shared chambers. Tears continued to fall - just how many days had it been since he’d last heard Sorey’s laughter? Seen his bright green eyes that never dulled, even as he grew into a wizened old man? That smile that never failed to brighten his day?

He fell asleep, lying amidst the flowers in the field, each one a tiny fraction of the feelings he held for the human he loved so, so, dearly in life.

Zaveid turned as Dezel returned, Lailah perched on his back. She looked sadly at Mikleo, at the snow-white and blue hair that was in stark contrast to the dark cloak he woe, knowing that his happiness had a great cost attached to it. She wished, with all her heart, that something more could be done - that, even though Mikleo was a magical sea creature, he could have happiness with Sorey beyond death.

She sighed, “I wish there was something more we could do for him. Lord Zenrus’s magic is powerful, yes, but to grant a soul, that’s …”

A bright white light came into being in front of them then, stopping to hover over the gravestone. Mikleo stirred, and sat upright, a hand in front of his face to shield his eyes from the brightness. The being seemingly had no form, although if Lailah squinted hard enough, she thought she could make out a pair of leathery wings.

“Young prince of the seas,” the voice intoned, “I have watched you from afar for many years. Your love for this human, and your desire to be with him always, and his reciprocation of those very feelings, has touched us all in the heavens. To grant you a soul … that requires magics beyond even my ability, but should you wish to earn one, that, perhaps, we could arrange.”

For the first time in the months since Sorey’s passing, Lailah thought she saw the glimmer of hope and the beginnings of a smile on Mikleo’s face. Wiping away his tears he bowed his head, as though in prayer, a single question falling from his lips.

“What would you have me do?”

Three hundred years later, Mikleo opened his eyes to find himself on a hillside, no longer a benevolent spirit of the seas, but human once more. Examining himself, he noticed a single red string tied around his finger, and he followed it along the path, where he saw a familiar and beloved face sitting on a rock in front of a strange wheel.

“Sorey!” Mikleo ran, arms spread wide and melting in to the firm embrace of the one he’d loved so dearly for so long.

“MIkleo!” There was no mistaking the voice, or the way his shoulder was quickly become moist with tears. “I missed you.”

“Me, too.” They held each other for what seemed like an eternity, and perhaps it was. When they finally parted, Mikleo looked up at the giant water wheel turning in the sky behind them. “What is this place?”

“This is the Wheel of Reincarnation,” Sorey explained. “Where you go to be reborn. But, when I saw the red string on my finger, I’d prayed, hoped, even, that you would be on the other end. So I waited. Waited, so we could go together.”

“Then let us go now. Together.”

EDIT: I can’t believe I forgot to mention the meanings of the flowers on the hill for Sorey’s grave, taken from this website:

Pink Carnation – I’ll Never ForgetYou

Red Chrysanthemum – I Love You

Daffodil - Regard, Unequalled Love,You’re the Only One, The Sun is Always Shining When I’m with You

Forget-Me-Not - True Love, Memories

Marigold - Cruelty, Grief, Jealousy(Grief is the intended meaning here)

Orange Blossom - Innocence, EternalLove, Marriage and Fruitfulness (Eternal Love is the one I’d chosen it for)

Primrose - I Can’t Live without You

Dark Crimson Rose - Mourning

#toz #sorey #mikleo #sormik #the rest of the gang's all here #fairytale au #little mermaid au #as much as i love Together In Death i'm a bigger sucker for Reincarnation Romance so enjoy that #i usually don't do the your love is so amazing let me do you a massive favor trope in my writing #but it's a fairytale so i was aiming to imitate that fairytale style #soymilkheaven drabbles zestiria #Anonymous

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