This story is meant to be fairly wholesome and for most viewers. However…
*This story has numerous LGBTQ characters.
*Some mild profane language is used.
*References to mortality and spirituality can be found.

Dreaming of an Alternate World

Ariel climbed the stairs to her second-floor master bedroom. She was hunched forward, her eyes droopy. On cue, her signature dress, shroud cape, and ballet shoes transformed into a nightgown and slippers, complete with a pointy cap that kept her long hair in check. She yawned as she slipped off her sliver wrist rings, placing them beside her on the end table.

It had been a day of many magical spells, namely to protect Heather and to help her transition in subtle ways. Ariel was feeling drained from it all. Nothing a good night’s sleep couldn’t fix!

She pulled the covers over herself and she dozed off quickly. As she fell into a deep sleep, her powerful magic mind began to wander. A genie’s mind can visit other worlds while they sleep, allowing them to see other versions of events, otherwise unimaginable worlds, or more as they sleep. Sometimes, they can just dream, but it’s said that sometimes it creates new worlds in itself!

But Ariel often found herself revisiting the same world. Exactly a month before she presented herself to Heather, she visited an alternate universe. Here, the version of her did not wish to a higher power to have the ability to help others, at least not out loud. On the day Ariel became an Angelic Genie, this alternate passed away. She visited the grave of her alternate self, drawn to try to help her memory endure…

Which is when she met not only this world’s Roland, but the spirit of her alternate self as well! This Ariel was dedicating herself to helping Roland from the spirit world, which helped him transition and ultimately get out of homelessness. This spirit Ariel was well on her way to becoming a sort of angel, having grown wings by the time Ariel met them.

Ultimately, Ariel granted the alternate Roland’s wish for the alternate Ariel’s friends to see and hear her, seeing as she didn’t want to come back to life (thanks to the things she could do from the other side to help her friends). In the months since, Roland, with the spirit of Ariel in tow, moved out to California to help Andrea through her mermaid transformation, and he was now a medical practitioner in training at Citadel Harbor University.

Things slowly focused for the tired genie girl. It was about the same time here as it was in her world, the first days of November. Andrea’s transformation was moving along. She wore a water-breathing device any time she was out of the water, like now. Roland was struggling to carry Andrea to a chair, with Ariel – now sporting a light blue halo – looking on. He strained himself to carefully lower the mermaid girl into a wheelchair. It was clear this was giving him a workout – he had much more muscle tone than he did even a month ago!

“Yeesh, I think you gained another fifty pounds or so since last week’s checkup. Pure muscle, as I’d expect…” Roland suggested as he sighed.

“You’re doing great, carrying her around like that!” Ariel replied, clapping and smiling. “You know I’d like to help, but even though I’ve changed, it still seems my ability to touch people comes and goes at random…”

“Nah, I think it’s good just to have you here as emotional support, girl! Don’t sweat it!” Andrea reassured her.

Roland slipped on some gloves. “Ready for the exam?”

Andrea nodded.

Roland got to work, patting Andrea’s forming mermaid tail, squeezing it in places. “Tail formation continues along nicely… No abnormalities to note so far…” he noted clinically. “There’s now considerably more muscle between and around the legs. Although I can still feel the remaining human leg bones, surface appearances due to increased muscle mass hide what remains underneath.” He stood up and took his gloves off. “I think I agree with CHU’s last assessment: mid-November. You’ll be done by then! Your body just needs to convert those stubborn leg bones.”

“Noted. Thanks, Roland!” Andrea replied, smiling.

Roland looked at Ariel, who was looking around. “What is it?”

“Wha?” She looked a little out of it, clearly focused on something else. “Oh, sorry! I feel her again!”

“No way, the ‘genie you?’ She’s here again?” Roland asked.

Ariel nodded. “I can feel that distinctive powerful – yet familiar – spirit again. Definitely her.”

“Well, I’m sure Roland needs to check some more things… Why don’t you try talking to her for a minute?” Andrea suggested.

“We can check on your weight while she’s at it,” Roland suggested.

“I’m not looking forward to that…” Andrea muttered as Roland began to cart her into another room.

“Just remember: you’re mostly gaining muscle in your tail. That’s going to only be around whenever you’re swimming in the future. Nothing to be ashamed of…” Roland tried to reassure her.

“Whatever you say, doc…” Andrea muttered sarcastically.

Ariel turned to the space around her. “So, genie me… Decided to come for another checkup on us, I take it?”

“Hehe… Love you guys…” said the semi-coherent genie from another plane of existence.

“Woah… Last time, we actually had a conversation. You seem… Out of it. Are you okay?”

“I’m fiiiine… Hehe… Lots of magically thingies today… Did… I… Do those things? Of course I did, silly me! Hehe…” genie Ariel replied, as if she was drunk.

“Wow, you are completely out of it.”

“I feel loopy!”

“You ARE loopy, girl. Take a curse to the face or something?”

“I made lots of magicy thingies happen today… Hehe… Heather happy! I pooped. Hehe.”

“Oh, I think I get it. The more magic you perform, the more drained you become. You need rest to recharge. Must have been an intense day for you, I take it?”

“Oh, just… One… Two… Ten… Hundred little things. And a few big things. Wait, did I do them twice? I think about them, and I see my memories in double… Hehe…”

“Okay, genie Ariel, get your rest. Just focus on watching and dreaming of us. I don’t think you’re up to a conversation right now…”

“Thumbs-up emoji, smile face! Hehe…” muttered the delirious voice of genie Ariel as the sound of her voice faded away. But spirit Ariel could still feel her presence.

She followed her friends into the other room, where Roland was helping Andrea down onto a massive scale he set up by the door to Andrea’s pool room.

They both immediately noticed her. “That was short… Not in the mood to talk or something?” Andrea asked.

“More like she’s barely coherent. Sounds like she’s tired after a day of intense magic. She’s practically delirious,” Ariel replied.

“Ouch. I guess being a genie is no walk in the park…” Andrea muttered.

“Totally sounded like me, though. Roland, you remember those times where we stayed up all night because it wasn’t safe?”

“And you sounded like you were drunk after a while? Yeah, I remember. You’re weirdly adorable like that…” Roland admitted.

“That’s exactly what she’s like right now. And now I’ve seen it for myself…” Ariel replied, chuckling. “Anyway, she’s in no state to hold a conversation. Maybe later. Or another time. I know we’ll see her again!”

“No doubt. This is, what, the fourth time she’s popped up like this?” Roland asked. He turned to the task at hand. “Alright, Andrea, it seems I was off on my estimate. You’ve gained more than 50 pounds since last week. Your current weight is 578.4 pounds. That’s a little over 63 pounds more than last week!”

“Holy crap! I didn’t think I weighed that much!” Andrea yelped.

“You’re forming dense muscles. Mostly in your tail, but merfolk also have good physical strength too in their aquatic state. How else can your arms drag all that mass along?”

“Fair point.”

“Roland, just how are YOU carrying her around?” Ariel asked, concerned.

“Barely. And with some pain meds. We should probably keep the wheelchair handy from this point forward…”

“Fine by me. Usually just up here for the tests anyway at this point. Speaking of, got any more?” Andrea asked.

“How about the reflex test?” Ariel suggested.

“After she disintegrated a chair last time!?” Roland asked, stunned. Indeed, the last time he tested Andrea’s knee-jerk reaction, her muscular mermaid tail hit a wooden chair nearby, utterly destroying it. Merfolk tails, with all that muscle, have considerable power behind them (never mind magical forces that are also behind them). In Andrea’s case, the power was being amplified by the rigidity of the bones in the still-forming tail.

“Sure, why not? Maybe instead of testing the reflex, we could find some way to test the strength behind it?” Ariel suggested.

“Hmm… I might have something we could do, in that case. We’ll have to go outside for it, if that’s alright with you, Andrea.”

“Fine by me!” Andrea replied.

“Ariel, if you could, fetch my medical rubber mallet from upstairs?” Roland asked.

She nodded and headed up the stairs. Sure, she had wings (and was a spirit), but she was so used to being bound by gravity that she still obeys it. Besides, not everyone in the home could see her all the time…

This was the home of Andrea’s parents (although right now, this was the only place Andrea could live on land right now, given the specially built underwater floor of the recently renovated place). Although Roland’s wish helped others see her, most everyone else could not, at least not at first. Andrea’s parents normally can’t see her. She had once or twice mindlessly grabbed something for Roland or Andrea, only to scare the daylights out of the Madisons with a floating object. Fortunately, after spending time around them, they could at least hear her voice.

Ariel entered the living room, with Mr. Madison fiddling with his phone and Mrs. Madison looking at a newspaper. The small rubber mallet was on the table between them.

She knocked on the wall rhythmically, a few quick knocks followed by two more, getting both of them to look up towards her (but not at her, given). She needed some way to get their attention without freaking them out, and this was something they came up with together. “Hey, Roland needs his little mallet there. Just wanted you to know before I grabbed it and, you know, the whole ‘floating object’ business…”

“That’s fine, sweetie. Thanks for letting us know!” Mrs. Madison said, smiling. She hoped she was looking in Ariel’s direction.

On cue, from her perspective, she watched the object take flight and head for the stairs. Roland was up front about it, and Andrea confirmed it, but it was hard to believe for them at first that some friendly ghost had followed him across the country to help him and Andrea. A friend they once knew, it sounded like. It wasn’t long before objects started moving and levitating on their own. But more than that, the disembodied voice of the girl (which they could now hear as well as though she were standing next to them) could be heard as eerie (if friendly) whispers.

This time, she could swear she even saw the faintest outline of Ariel. There were a couple of times the pair had actually seen her. Mr. Madison almost tripped, nearly sliding down the stairs on his behind. But he was caught by a mysterious woman he’d never seen before – or since.

Mrs. Madison fell into Andrea’s pool one day, and before Andrea could swim to bring her safely to the surface, a young woman pulled her out and gave her a towel to dry off with. As soon as she was done drying off her face, she looked around to see the woman was gone. But moments later, Andrea started talking to Ariel, thanking her for the save. That’s when she realized the new resident spirit had pulled her out – and for a moment, she had seen her! She figured that, right now, they could only see her if they needed her help.

She even matched Roland’s and Andrea’s descriptions: long black hair, pale blue eyes, and a sky-blue silky dress paired with similarly colored boots, some pink socks and armbands, and a white ribbon tied at the waist in a bow. (They also describe ethereal wings and more recently a halo, making her sound like an angel now – but neither she nor her husband had seen these in their encounters.) It took some time, but they were glad to have Ariel around, as strange as her presence had been. Maybe one day, they’d see her as well as their daughter and her friends…

Ariel looked around, not seeing Roland or Andrea inside. She looked out through the sliding doors in the basement kitchen to see them setting up on the beach. She followed them out.

“I got it!” Ariel declared as she ran up to them.

Roland was putting a kickball on the ground. It seemed modified in some way. “Great! Just getting the rest of this set up.”

“What’s the ball for?” Ariel asked.

“I get to try for a field goal kick today!” Andrea joked, getting them to laugh.

“I was wondering what I’d do with some of those spare sensors CHU sometimes gives out. I programmed a few of them and put them inside. With any luck, we can get the force of Andrea’s tail through some calculations!”

“Neat!” Ariel said, smiling.

“Alright… Ariel, if you could do the honors?” Roland asked.

“Afraid you’ll wind up like the chair?” Andrea joked.

Roland nervously grinned, rubbing the back of his head. “Heh heh… Yeah… A little…” he admitted.

“Alright, angel girl, give it your best shot!” Andrea jokingly ordered.

Roland backed up as Ariel approached with the hammer. She felt around, trying to find Andrea’s knees in the mass of her tail. When she did, Ariel readied a small swing. With a decent bump to the knee, a massive explosion of sand kicked up as Andrea’s knee-jerk response caused her to kick, her tailfin flinging sand everywhere and sending the ball skyward, flinging her backwards into the sand. Roland braced himself from the sandy rain as he watched the numbers flow into his phone. Ariel stood there unfazed, immaterial as she was – but she realized she wasn’t holding the hammer anymore. A quick glance suggested Andrea might have hit it in the moment of chaos. Only a divine presence might know where it had gone…

Andrea pulled herself up and adjusted her breathing device, making sure it was still intact after that. Ariel looked around for Roland’s medical hammer, but there was no telling where it went… Roland continued to watch the numbers roll in.

“Still going… Damn…” he muttered.

“Wouldn’t that lose connection to the sensors if they got too far away?” Ariel asked.

“Not these ones. They’re designed to connect to satellites, or so the folks at CHU claim. So as long as it’s in range of a satellite – basically anywhere on Earth – we’ll get data from them,” Roland explained. But then his jaw dropped.

“What is it, Roland?” Andrea asked as she lifted herself back into the chair.

He walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but…” He flipped his phone around: “Connection Lost…” filled the screen. “You have achieved space travel,” he joked.

All of them started laughing hard. “Oh my gosh, I can’t even fathom how much force that must have taken! Are we even sure the ball is intact!?” Andrea asked.

“I can guess most of it made it up there!” Ariel suggested. “Maybe Roland’s hammer is up there with it!”

“Well, the sensors made it up there, that’s for sure!” Roland said, still laughing.

Once they regained their composure, Roland carted Andrea back inside. He took her into the pool room where – at Andrea’s insistence – he tipped the wheelchair forward, sliding her into the water. She waved to them before swimming further into her underwater suite.

“Less than two weeks left for her… To think I’m the one monitoring her progress,” recounted Roland. “Me. Just over a year ago, I was stuck on the streets thanks to some illegal loan practices. And now? I’m a physician in training watching over a mermaid. What a strange turn of events…”

“Well, you know, you had help…” Ariel placed her hand on his shoulder.

He felt the warmth of it. “Of course! As always, thank you, Ariel!”

“Can we… Can we go outside for a minute?”

“Uh, sure…” He noticed Ariel seemed anxious. He followed her out onto the beach again. “So… What is it?”

“Just… I was reflecting on our time together before, well, you know. You were like a big brother to me. And… Maybe…”

“You think something more would have happened between us in time?”

“Arg, I shouldn’t be thinking that way! I mean, death has already done us apart before we could even think about it!” She sighed. “But… I want the best for you always, Roland. You need someone in your life, someone that sees you for who you are.”

“You’re already working in the background to make that happen, I take it?”

“I don’t have to.”

“Huh?”

“You’re already living at her place.”

“Wait, you think Andrea and I…?”

“I can feel you two bonding through the jokes and the time you both spend together. It may have gone differently under different circumstances. But for our circumstances, I think you and Andrea should see if there’s something more between you…”

“I-um-wow-is it hot out here or is it just me?” Roland asked, flustered, as a bright blush overtook his face.

Ariel chuckled. “Yeah, you definitely have feelings for her.”

He sighed. “You’re right. I hate to admit it, but you’re right. She’s beautiful. I love her personality. And…”

“You love her.”

He nodded. “B-but I’m her physician right now. It doesn’t feel right…”

“Just give it some time. I mean, this is over in a couple of weeks, right? Just try not to overthink it.”

“R-right.” He took a deep breath. “So… How do you think it’ll go for the genie version of you?”

“Honestly, I can’t say. We know from last time she was around that she met with her friends for the first time since she became a genie. She even had lunch with her version of you. But knowing myself, she likely doesn’t even know her orientation yet. And it’s probably even more complicated now that she’s immortal. And capable of basically anything. And being a guardian to a teenager who has a rough school life.”

“I’m guessing then she probably won’t know for some time?”

Ariel shrugged. “Probably.”

“Well, for what it’s worth: thank you. Even if we couldn’t find out what could have happened between us, I’m glad you’ve been watching over me.”

“You’re welcome as always, Roland!” Ariel replied, smiling.

“And I’ll… I’ll see about talking to Andrea later,” he suggested, blushing.

“Oh, I can already feel it: you two will be cute together!” Roland blushed even more.

“Hehe, Roland and Andrea sitting in a tree… K-I-S-S-I-N-G, hehe…” Ariel heard from the genie still watching over them.

“Oh Lord…” Ariel muttered, chuckling a little.

“What is it?” Roland asked.

“Oh, the genie Ariel. Still here, just said something silly.” She leaned over and whispered it into his ear.

He started laughing. “Oh my gosh, you weren’t kidding earlier about her being a mess, hahaha!”

“Hehe, my gosh, I can’t believe I’ve sounded like that before… But I know I have! Anyway, I should let you go for now. Let you relax for a bit.”

Roland smiled and nodded, and they both went back to the house. Roland went into his room in the basement suite, while Ariel went to the pool. She dove in, causing little more than a small ripple on the surface. Once again obeying the laws of the medium she was in (despite not needing to), she swam up to Andrea.

Despite her immaterial state, Andrea sensed her coming. With magic of the Ocean flowing through her, she could sense things non-magic beings could not, particularly in the water. This included wandering spirits like Ariel.

“Hey there! Came for more videos, I take it? Not like we can play games down here…”

“Sure, Andrea, I’d love that!” Ariel sat down in the chair beside Andrea.

“What are you up for? Game streams? Romance? Cats doing silly things?”

“You know what? Game streams.”

“Yearning to play some but can’t?”

“Actually, I could. I mean, I did just hit you in the knee with a hammer…”

“Haha! Fair point!”

“But I’m sensing you’re projecting a bit…”

Andrea sighed. “Dang it, you’re right. CHU wasn’t able to get the underwater gaming rig done before I got stuck down here. It sounds like it’ll be done… By Christmas.”

“Ouch. Sorry, girl. By that point-“

“I could just play on land. But, you know, I’ll still take it. How many get to say they played video games underwater?”

“Hehe, that’s one way to look at it!”

They fired up some streams. They mixed in a few modern games and a few classic gameplay videos to appeal to both of them. This went on for several hours, before…

“By the way, has… Roland said anything about me?” Andrea suddenly asked, blushing as she did so.

Ariel stared blankly at Andrea for a moment before smiling. “Heh… That’s what we were talking about just before I came down!”

“A-and?”

Looks like I’m playing matchmaker today! Ariel thought. “He’s definitely got feelings for you. I’ve been noticing the chemistry between you two lately, so I suggested it to him earlier today.”

“N-no way, really!?”

“You should have seen him blushing! And take it from your personal guardian angel, I think you two will be cute together!”

Andrea blushed.

“He’s just nervous about the fact he’s basically your personal physician now. He’s a bit conflicted about it.”

Andrea thought about it for a moment. “Hey, Ariel, think you could get him for me?”

“Uh, sure. Give me a minute.” Ariel quickly got up and headed out for Roland’s room. She had a pretty good idea where this was going…

Roland heard a knocking on his door. He opened it to the semi-transparent Ariel. “Something you need?”

“Andrea wanted to talk to you, actually.”

“Hang on, I’ll be right there!” Roland put his book down and walked over to the pool room. There, he found Andrea waiting for him.

“Is everything okay, Andrea?” he asked.

“Can you come a little closer?” she asked.

Roland knelt down. As soon as he did, she grabbed him by the shirt, pulling herself up to give him a kiss! She pulled back, and while he was startled and blushing, he was smiling. She smiled back.

“Aww!” swooned Ariel, who was witness to it all. At the same time, she heard the genie version of her say the same.

“S-so you love me?” Roland asked.

“I like my guys gentle and caring. Who else could be better than the close friend who personally takes care of me while I turn into a mermaid?”

“I-I-I-I…” Roland stammered. He shook it off. “Andrea, you’re beautiful. Not just as a mermaid, but as a person. Y-you have this graceful way about you, but you’re also warm and inviting. And I love your jokes, and your scales are pretty and your hair is cute and now I’m babbling like an idiot…”

“I think you just got to ‘I love you’ the long way,” Andrea joked, getting Roland to blush and smile and Ariel to chuckle.

“Y-yeah…” Roland admitted.

“Well, I’m sold! When I get out of this pool, the first thing I’m doing is giving you a great big kiss! Sound like a plan?”

“Haha! I’m good with that!”

Ariel clapped her hands together, her wings flexing up. “Ohmygosh you two are just as cute together as I imagined!”

“Been trying to make this work in the background?” Andrea asked.

“Actually, she was just saying to me that she didn’t need to,” Roland admitted.

“It took a little while, but you guys started bonding really closely without my input. I just figured I should say something to Roland about it – but I didn’t expect you were going to bring it up too, Andrea!”

“When did it start?” Roland asked.

“I think it really started about a week before Andrea stopped being able to walk, but the real sparks were when you helped Andrea with her ‘last walk’ to the pool. I don’t think either of you noticed the way you were looking at each other that day.”

Roland and Andrea blushed.

“You know what? I’ll let you two talk it out alone…” Ariel suggested with a wink before leaving the room. As she closed the door, she saw them look at each other lovingly.

She put her back to a wall and slid down. She already admitted she had feelings for Roland, but she knew it could never work out now. Besides, she could feel it; in this timeline, Roland and Andrea were destined for each other. Everything she had done for Roland got him here. Whether by her intentions or more powerful ones, the two were now together. She took some solace in the fact they’d be happy…

Even if it still hurts.

“I’m so sorry.” It was the voice of genie Ariel, who now with a few hours of sleep behind her was a lot more coherent.

“I-I’ll get through. It’s just… Fresh, is all.”

“I can see as well as you that they’re meant to be together in this timeline. And you get to watch over them both, make sure they’re okay!”

“You’re right. I guess, in a way, I get to be a part of the family anyway…”

“That’s a way to look at it!”

“What about you? With all that power, surely you know-“

“I don’t know everything. I can infer a bunch of different events, but I can’t tell you which one will wind up being real or not… And like you said earlier, I don’t know who or what I prefer yet. I was a sheltered rich kid for 18 years, then surviving for one, then figuring out how to be a genie for another. Not a lot of time or space to figure out a lot about myself…”

“Wait. ‘Sheltered rich kid?’ You were rich?”

“Right, something else that makes me different… From almost all my alternate selves that I’ve seen. Mom and dad were rich. From criminal enterprises, as I’ve come to find out. Mom in particular… She’s ruthless, manipulative, and I’m pretty sure she has murdered a few people personally. It’s weird, though, that I can’t seem to get any hard evidence on her, even with my magic… Dad, to his credit, does seem to be a nice person underneath, but he has done some horrible things for her – out of fear, mostly. He has blood on his hands too, and he knows it. He just can’t get away from the woman he thought he fell in love with.”

“Sounds a little bit like the dynamic between my mom and dad. Except I was trailer trash. And my mom was caught collecting on my life insurance before I was actually dead, so she’s in jail now. Good thing too, because they actually stopped her from doing something to my dad.”

“Yeah… Our mom is the worst, isn’t she?”

“Heh, yours more than mine.”

“Pfft, that’s true.”

“You said you know a lot of our alternates… Are there any out there that aren’t messed up like us?”

“Plenty! Lots of Ariel Hopes – and in some cases, Arden-Smiths – that are living happy lives as their authentic selves. There are a LOT of little things that can make huge differences down the line. It’s just that we had some of the worst circumstances… But hey, as a result, you get to help your friends as an angel, and I get to help, well, a lot of people as an Angelic Genie!”

“Thank you, I needed to hear that!”

“You’re welcome!”

“How about you? How are things going?”

“Well, my Andrea is roughly in the same place as yours, so I’m planning on taking Roland over to meet her when she can resurface for good. I’ve been trying to set up with some nice girls to join our friend group, but I’ve been busy with Andrea and my charge.”

“Taking care of a bullied trans teen I have to imagine is a full-time job.”

“It is, hence why I was a bit… Err…”

“I’m you, remember. I know what we’re like when we’re that tired.”

“Right.”

“Well, maybe you should focus on sleeping, genie. Get your rest, so you can keep helping that poor girl!”

“Thank you. I will!”

“See you next time, Ariel the Angelic Genie!” The angel started waving, knowing the genie could still see her. Slowly, the world faded from view as the genie returned to her world, her body, sleeping soundly in her bed. Her mind now focused on rest… And what could be for her, one day…

TO BE CONTINUED ANOTHER DAY…

By CrystalSeaDragon44