There were being invitations being handed out to go to a certain birthday party, and where Atticus would have agreed to go to the birthday party but he had a case, but then decided to let his cousin Jimmy handle that case this time so he and his family could go to the birthday party.
"I can tell you're excited about this birthday party," Cherry said to Atticus. "Ariel and Eric are parents..."
"I know, I can't believe it," Atticus sighed. "I just hope... A certain someone doesn't ruin it."
"Oh, come on, who would-?" Cherry was about to ask until she remembered of a certain sea creature. "Oh..."
"Yeah..." Atticus replied.
"Um, I'm sure you won't need to worry about that," Cherry suggested. "Let's just try to have a good time... For the sake of the kids."
"Agreed." Atticus nodded.
"Thatta boy." Cherry replied.
"I hope Ariel can forgive me for missing Melody's birth..." Atticus said as he looked at the invitation. "I also hope Melody doesn't mind hanging out with the kids, even if she's twelve now and they're younger than her."
"I'm just surprised Melody's legs don't turn into a tail fin when she goes in the water," Cherry replied. "I mean, that happened to you and it happened to the kids when they went to find Balto's daughter Aleu before you told them why it happened."
"I know." Atticus said.
"Come on, kids, what's taking you so long?!" Cherry called out.
"Estelle and Felicity are trying to find the perfect dresses for the party!" Vincent called back as he wore the scarf that Jenny got for him which meant a lot to him.
"Ohh." Cherry said.
"I just can't decide," Estelle said as she took out a purple dress and compared it to a baby pink dress that Darla got for her from Miami. "Purple or pink... Pink or purple..."
"Pink." Felicity said.
"Okay, pink it is." Estelle agreed.
Felicity smiled as she took out her golden formal dress she wore for parties.
"Do you think Ariel will ever tell Melody about Atlantica?" Cherry asked Atticus.
"I'm not sure." Atticus said.
Soon enough, the kids came downstairs so that they could go.
"Good, you're ready," Cherry told the kids. "Your uncle/father should be here any moment with our ride to Ariel and Eric's."
"Ooh, I wonder how we'll get there?" Estelle smiled.
"Probably a carriage..." Cherry guessed. "Simon? Come along, it's about time to go!...Simon...?"
Simon had a dart in his tiny hand before he soon threw it toward his mother to hit her in the back of her head.
Cherry caught it without looking like Sebastian on Black Butler before glancing back to her young son. "Now, now, there's no need for that."
Simon soon pouted as he failed to kill his mother. They soon heard some horses outside.
"That must be our ride." Cherry told the others.
Everyone came over together to get going so they could make it to Melody's twelfth birthday party. They could all see that it was a horse-drawn carriage. Forte leaned over and opened the doors. Everyone then came into the carriage, and Atticus helped the driver with their luggage so it would get done quicker.
"Come on, Daddy!" Estelle giggled. "I wanna meet Melody!"
"Before she gets to have free cake." Akito teased.
"That, and there's going to be ballroom dancing." Estelle smiled.
"Let's just hope we make it in time then." Atticus smiled back before taking Mo's hand and helping her up into the carriage.
"Oh, what a gentleman." Mo giggled as they were now all set to go.
Once the doors closed, the driver picked up the slacks and had the horses take them to Ariel and Eric's home. Once settled in, they began to get going so that they could get there soon.
Ariel was anxiously awaiting special guests to come over as she was inside of her new home with Eric and their daughter Melody, and was calling out for her daughter as she didn't seem to be home even if today was all about her while the ballroom was being set up. She soon saw one of the maids and decided to ask her if she had seen Melody. "Oh, Carlotta, have you seen Melody?"
"Not since this morning, Your Majesty." Carlotta shook her head apologetically.
A familiar seagull seemed to fly in.
"Louis, Melody's not in here, is she?" Ariel asked the chef as he was putting candles on her daughter's birthday cake.
"No, Your Highness, but her birthday cake has twelve petite candles, c'est magnifique!" Chef Louis smiled before he nearly fell off of the ladder, but caught his balance.
Ariel soon left the kitchen, hoping to find her daughter somewhere.
"Whee, this is gonna be some kind of shindig!" Scuttle smiled in excitement. " Yes, sir, a real swanky soiree, as they say. There's just one thing missin': The guest of honor!"
Meanwhile with the Fudo and Forte family as they arrived at the castle.
"Oh, wow... It looks a lot better than when we saw the wedding..." Cherry commented.
"It really is," Atticus added as he put his arm around Mo. "I'm so excited... I really missed Ariel. She's my favorite cousin."
"What about Jimmy?" Mo smirked playfully.
"Well, he's pretty good too, especially when he covers for me when family comes first," Atticus smiled bashfully. "Though we had some amazing adventures with him after that time in Tokyo with the Teen Titans. Remember, Cherry?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Cherry replied. "The Time-Bombed Skyscraper, The Fourteenth Target, The Last Wizard of the Century, ecetra..."
"What's with the giant wall?" Akito asked.
Atticus sighed. "Oh, right, I nearly forgot about that."
"Maman, why does Queen Ariel have a wall blocking her home from the ocean?" Felicity asked as she carried a sleeping Simon.
"Morgana..." Cherry and Atticus muttered to themselves.
"Who?" The kids asked.
"Kids... I'm sorry, but this is a long story..." Atticus sighed. "You see... It was a beautiful day when your cousin Melody was born... Everyone came to the celebration..."
"Even King Triton and Ariel's sisters came to meet the new member of the family, and all could be as well as it ever could had been." Cherry added.
"Why do I have a feeling this is where Morgana comes in?" Akito asked.
"It is." Cherry replied.
"Ooh..." Felicity cringed with her cousins.
"Morgana..." Atticus said. "Ursula's crazy sister... Crazy with jealousy and craving for attention, especially from their mother."
"Wow." The Fudo siblings said.
"Morgana was bent on trying to kill Melody for revenge to avenge Ursula..." Atticus told the kids. "Uncle Triton was about to get rid of her, but soon shrunk her shark sidekick, Undertow."
"Nice." Vincent smiled.
"We all knew it couldn't stop from there," Atticus sighed. "Fearing for Melody, Ariel decided that she couldn't find out about Atlantica, or mer-people, or anything under the sea."
Felicity and Estelle both looked like they wanted to do something to help Melody despite the ocean being forbidden for the birthday girl.
"I just know that seeing us will make her day." Cherry said.
"Thanks for agreeing to coming, Cherry." Atticus said.
"Too bad Aunt Pinkie Pie can't be here." Akito pouted.
"Yes, what a shame." Cherry smirked.
They soon walked out of their carriage. The men helped their girls out.
"Ooh, I'd love to go for a swim..." Estelle said. She soon noticed that some water did get in.
The adults went inside the castle to meet Ariel and Eric. The kids were about to go with them until they saw Estelle and Felicity going toward the water.
"Should one of us go with them?" Vincent asked.
Near the water, a certain crab came onto a rock. "'Sebastian, you watch over her', he said," he muttered to himself. "I'm too old for this! A crab my age should be retired, getting a tan, playing sea golf, sipping a Tuna Colada! Not babysitting another teenager."
"Sebastian." Felicity and Estelle smiled to each other once they saw the crab.
"Do I know you two?" Sebastian asked.
"My mother and her father told us about you." Felicity smiled.
"Yeah," Estelle added. "My dad's Detective Atticus Fudo, and her mother is Cherry."
"Cherry and Atticus?" Sebastian replied like he hadn't said those names in years, which is true for him. "How are dey?" he then asked.
"They've come over for Melody's birthday," Felicity replied. "Oh, speaking of which, where is Melody?"
"I think I know." Sebastian sighed before jumping into the water as Scuttle came in for a landing.
"Shall we?" Estelle asked Felicity.
"Okay." Felicity replied.
Sebastian soon went under the sea to find Melody as the clams shut themselves once he came down to the bottom. A kind dolphin was swimming around before smiling as he was with Melody who did not have her own tail fin even if she was a mermaid from her mother's side of the family. The dolphin then gave a seashell that it had found.
"Melody!" Sebastian called out to the girl, but she didn't seem to see or hear him as she joined the dolphin before going up to the rock where Felicity and Estelle were.
"Hey, Scuttle, hey, Sebastian," Melody smiled to her sea creature friends who were friends with her mother. "What's kicking?"
"Uh, what's kickin'?" Scuttle replied before knocking himself on the head. "Hmm... L-Let me see... Don't rush me..."
"BAH! You know perfectly well what's kicking!" Sebastian told Melody. "Now come along, you're going to be late for the-"
Melody soon jumped back into the water, accidentally splashing the crab with a giggle. "Sorry, Sebastian!" She soon heard two other giggles.
"Melody, child, how many times do I have to tell you?!" Sebastian reminded the girl.
"Hold on, Sebastian, who are these girls?" Melody asked as she saw Felicity and Estelle.
"Hi, Melody; I'm Estelle and this is Felicity, we're your cousins." Estelle smiled.
"Cousins?" Melody replied.
"Oui," Felicity nodded. "It's so good to finally meet you. Oh, and, Bon Anniversaire."
"What...?" Melody asked Felicity.
"That's Happy Birthday in French." Estelle told Melody.
"Wow." Melody smiled.
"Anyway, as I was saying-" Sebastian began until he and Melody spoke at the same time. "'It is especially forbidden for you to be swimming beyond the safety of the undersea wall, any such swimming is a direct disregard of rules... Don't you know?'."
"Stop dat." Sebastian pouted.
"I'm sorry, Sebastian; I just love the sea." Melody smiled before diving back into the water.
"Hey!" Sebastian yelped until he was splashed again. "Come back here!"
Felicity took a deep breath and soon went under the water after Melody. Estelle soon followed after them.
"You're just like!" Sebastian complained to Melody before sighing to himself. "Your mother..."
Melody smiled as she swam all around under the sea as she passed by the fish and more even if she wasn't a mermaid. She soon saw something shining at the bottom of the ocean.
"Hi, Melody!" A fish giggled as he swam by.
Melody picked up the golden shell covered with sand as she looked puzzled and curious about it. She soon swam back up to the surface with Estelle and Felicity.
"That's a nice shell, Melody." Estelle smiled.
"It sure is... Different..." Melody replied as she wiped away the sand to see more of it. "It looks a little old."
"Yeah, almost twelve years old." Estelle added.
"It appears to be a locket..." Felicity said as she saw the string holding the shell like a necklace.
Sebastian looked as though he was hiding something as the girls examined the locket.
"Hmm... Maybe washing it off with some water will get it clean." Estelle said.
"Yeah, this sand's really stuck on there..." Melody agreed.
"Melody, please, if your mother ever found out you've been swimming out here-" Sebastian began to panic.
"I know, I know," Melody replied before taking another dive. "She'd flip!"
"And we know why." Felicity whispered to Sebastian.
"Y-You do...?" Sebastian asked after Melody splashed in the water.
"My mother and her father told us everything on the way over." Felicity replied.
"Don't tell her!" Sebastian begged. "Ariel would have her father turn me into a crab cake!"
"Don't worry, we promise not to tell." Estelle assured him.
"You better not..." Sebastian replied. "I'm stressed enough about havin' to look after Melody since she was born, it was bad enough when Ariel wanted to be human!"
"I had a thought here," Scuttle looked puzzled. "Now, where'd it go? Hmm..."
"Was he always like this?" Felicity asked.
"Yes..." Sebastian sighed. "And Ariel believed he was an expert when she coulda just asked Atticus..."
"Hey, Sebastian, what's my mom got against the ocean anyway?" Melody asked as she did a back stroke before looking out to the sea creatures as the sun was almost setting. "I mean... What could be wrong with something so... Wonderful?"
Sebastian shrugged like he didn't know.
"Not sure." Estelle said.
"You know what?" Melody giggled to her cousins and the crab. "Sometimes, I even pretend I have fins!"
Sebastian soon fainted on the rock as he heard that.
"Melody, why don't you tell your mother how you feel?" Felicity suggested.
"I wish I could," Melody sighed before looking back at her home. "But, she'd never understand... I can talk to crabs, but... Not to her."
Scuttle soon got an idea. "Wait a minute!"
Felicity, Estelle, and Melody looked toward the seagull.
"It just hit me," Scuttle smiled toward Melody. "How about you tell Ariel how you really feel?"
"Did I not just say that...?" Felicity asked.
"You did." Estelle said.
"Oh, yes, by all means; let's just waltz right up to your mother and tell her that you've been out here," Sebastian start calmly before panicking. "Swimming in da ocean! We'll all have a big party."
The word 'party' caused Melody gasp as she remembered what the day was. "The party!" Melody gasped.
"Hey, that reminds me of somethin'..." Scuttle replied.
"Quick, we have to get back to the castle!" Estelle told them.
Melody soon dove back into the water to swim back home in time for her birthday party. Sebastian then went after Melody to make sure she would make it there in time. Felicity and Estelle joined her back to the castle. They soon arrived back at where they came out from.