"I love you" Eric muffled into her blond hair as he enveloped her in his embrace.

They had been through a lot of obstacles. She had to trade her melodious voice so that she could walk on earth with him. He was not sure of her romantic interest due to her shyness and dumbness. She had to do a lot to save him from Ursula. They overcame every hurdle, not together but to be together.

"I love you so much that I think I was born for you." He retracted from the hug and took her hands in his.

"I love you so much that I want to live for you." He stared at her ocean blue eyes.

"I love you so much that I want to die for you." He whispered as he rested his forehead on hers.

Ariel could not believe that it took about one year after their fight with Ursula for him to confess his feelings.

"I love you too. " She cried out of joy as she confessed and his heart skipped another beat due to her angelic voice.

She moved back from him and sprinkled some glittery powder on him. Ariel noticed the confusion on his face and smiled at him. She took his palm in her and walked towards the sea. She blushed at his touch and he skipped another beat.

He would not have skipped so many beats for her if he had known about the event that was yet to unfold.

They watched the sunset together. Before the sun completed it's farewell process, she tugged his arm. She pointed at the sea when he looked at her. He was not a sailor who knew about the waves and tides of the sea but it was almost night and he did not like the idea of swimming in that part of the sea during night because he knew that sea monsters were not a myth. The whole country blamed the unreasoned missing of men from their country on the sea monsters.

"Don't you trust me? " Her voice had an enchanting effect on him.

He nodded and they ran over the black rock that lead to the sea. They jumped together.

The sun set at the exact moment when the water splashed due to their entry to the ocean.

He could not believe the fact that he was breathing under the sea. He looked at his love and skipped yet another beat when she mouthed 'welcome'. He would not have seen her smile if she was not holding two glowing seashells. She gave one of them to him.

They swam deeper and deeper till they entered a cave which reeked of blood. He was a little afraid but she was not. After all, she was a mermaid who knew of the sea world better than him.

The cave was filled with human skeletons and a few dead bodies. He noticed that a dead body that was lying inside the cave was that of his childhood friend, Jackson. He swam closer to the body and witnessed the combination of Jackson's fresh blood with the water. The wound was deep and it was on the chest area.

That was when he realized that all the dead bodies in the cave had their wounds on the same place, their chests. He panicked and knew that it was time to return.

He turned back to call Arielle. Suddenly, he gasped due to an excruciating pain on his chest. Ariel's nail dug deeper as he pleaded for mercy.

"Your heart beats and skip beats for me." She smiled sinisterly at him as she went closer to him. "So it belongs to me."

"You bitch!" He tried to raise his arm to beat her but felt weak to resist and he knew that she had sprinkled a multipurpose dust.

"You are wrong, I am an immortal mermaid." She dug her nails deeper as she rested her forehead on his.

"Why are you doing this, Arielle? "

"You said that you wanted to die for me, didn't you? " She laughed boisterously. "A soup made with a heart that loves me would make a perfect lifespan increment potion."

He looked around at the dead bodies of men from his country and glared at her.

"No Eric, the new ones aren't mine, I have recently spread the technique among my sister's daughters"

He closed his eyes as her fingers moved through the space in-between his ribs and caught his heart.

His eyes never opened, again.

She snatched his heart in one quick movement and his body fell on the floor. She whispered something and her legs stuck together and became an enormous tail.

Arielle was 2000 years old. It was her father who taught her about the potion when she was fifteen. She always lured men into her trap in the mermaid form itself but it seemed difficult in his case so she had to approach the fairy mermaid 'Ursula'. Ursula was a goody two shoes who tried everyway to give Arielle human legs without the lose of her voice because she thought that Arielle was in love with him. Arielle was not worried much because she knew that his heart had the capability to regenerate her wholly along with giving her 2000 years lifespan increment. There was not even a victim who could gift her more than 25 years but that lover boy was a jackpot. His aura gave the information away.

It was unfortunate that Ursula found Arielle's true motive several weeks ago. She wanted to save him and she knew that the only way to do it was to make him fall in love with someone else than Arielle.

But Ariel always made it sure that she got what she wanted.

She always had to choose between her love and life. She always choose life. She was proud that she thought like a brilliant human even if she was a mermaid.

She swam away.