Her heart is racing, it feels like it's going to pound right out of her chest, she thinks, at Dick's preface and Ariel's breath hitches with worry. Brow creased with concern, she looks back at him, waiting for whatever this bad news is and hoping he's overreacting.

It takes her brain a moment to truly process the statement when Dick gives it. That could mean a lot of things, after all, but when coupled with his tone and that look on his face...Ariel's naive, but she knows. She knows.

Even as he barrels on in an attempt to smooth over the awful news, Ariel's not really listening. Her heartbeat is thumping loudly in her ears and her stomach turns over with nausea. Tears are driving her eyes. Sebastian was right, just like he always is, and now she's been duped into belonging to the sea witch...without, ironically, a leg to stand on. She hadn't actually read the contract before she signed it. All of this could be in there and she'd never know it because she'd taken Ursula's word for it like a stupid child.

His voice is a dull buzz and she's already crying silent tears, wracked with silent, heaving sobs because she's doomed. There's nothing she can do and she's got no one to blame but herself.