The Quest: In the Name of Friendship

by UkyoRafa

COMPLETE! A story about friends who are separated by the dark menace of the Heartless, and about their struggle against this dark force. Will they ever meet each other again? Crossover KH, Ranma 12, Final Fantasy VII, Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, etc...

21. Chapter Twenty: Together Again

Hey, all. I'll be brief this time, so don't worry. :)

Okay, this one goes to the one who made the character request: received you mail and now know your name. I'll now be able to disclaim you know who when the time comes. Thanks!

Next: the same two narrators of the last chapter will tell the story here, starting Aeris, once again. Just a little, gentle reminder.

That's all. Enjoy the story:) Oh, and Happy New Year to everyone!

Chapter Twenty: Together Again

"They came here to help! They're not what you think! They aren't dangerous: they aren't barbarians! When will you see that, daddy? Why is it that you're so afraid of them? Besides, I don't need you to look after me! I'm sixteen years old, already. Why are you so stubborn?"

"STUBBORN! Don't you dare disrespect me again, young lady! I've had enough of this discussion! You are my daughter and I will protect you from whatever harm, whether you like it or not! Leave my sight! I am so angry at you that I can't speak no longer! And I don't want you to ever mention the word 'human' to me again! You are punished, young lady! You are not to leave the palace until I decide that you have grown up!"

"But...!"

"No 'buts', Ariel! Now go!"

It looked to me as if we had arrived at a very bad moment, and I am certain that all of my companions thought the same thing...

After our unpleasant little meeting with Ursula, we had swum off to look for the mermaid named Ariel in order to warn her about the witch. We had all decided that it would be the best thing to do, since we still couldn't find the Keyhole of the world. Luck smiled upon us and we found a merman who claimed to be one of the King's royal guards. He said that he knew the girl and that he would lead us to her father, so that we could warn him about the dangerous sea – witch.

And now, we were inside the golden underwater palace. Its pillars glittered like pearls and welcomed us with their fairness. It was a dream fortress, sleeping underwater, heedless of the waves and creatures that flowed and swam over it. We felt a complete tranquility in it... Until we reached the royal chamber, that is.

The King, a strong, big merman with white hair and beard, was scolding his daughter (I believe) like there was no tomorrow, so to speak. She was a little mermaid with long, red hair and blue eyes and a green tail. She cried bitterly and yelled at her father at the top of her lungs, but his voice overwhelmed hers, and so, she finally let out a long cry and swam past us. We turned to look at her as she vanished in the shadows of the night (along with a fat, yellow fish with blue stripes and a red, little crab), which had already covered almost everything under her veil. We turned to look at the King and kept silent. He noticed us and let out a long sigh. He covered his face with his hand and slowly shook it.

"My... Perhaps I was a bit too hard on her." He said to himself. "I am sorry that you had to witness that." he added. This time, he had talked to us. "She is the youngest of my daughters, and the most stubborn of them, I might add... But pray pay no attention to it now. I had never seen any of you in my realm. However, I welcome you to it: make yourselves at home. Every merman and mermaid and sea – creature..." he added, as he gazed at Goofy, Donald, and Link. "Will be received with kind words."

"Why, thank you, your majesty." I replied, with a bow. "My name is Aeris, and these are my good friends..." I eyed them and waited for them to introduce themselves. There was no way that I was going to name all of them...

"My name is Demean." The elf said. "I thank you for welcoming us into your kingdom, and pray that you forgive us for not bringing a token of our own realms. It is customary to do such a thing, at least from where I come from."

"My name is Georgius Octavius Chronicus Acvedus." Added the were – bear. "But Octavius will suffice, your majesty."

"I am Ikki, and this is my friend, Hyoga, and my brother, Shun." Said the saint, and bowed as well.

"I am Link." The Hylian said. "And these are my friends, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Cid, Leon, Yuffie, Ranma, Akane, and Ukyo." He named them all and they waved shyly at the king. "I would like to add more, your majesty, but I am afraid that this is not the time to do so. I fear that we bring ill news."

"What? Speak, please, Link." Said the merman.

"We had the misfortune of running into a sea – witch, called Ursula, an enemy of the kingdom, I deem." When he mentioned the fatso, King Triton's eyes grew angry. "She tried to trick us into doing her vile work. I believe that she is after your daughter, Ariel. I reckon that she is the same Ariel that she spoke about, for her eyes are also blue, and her hair is as red as the coral that adorns the sea floor. And what is worse, I fear that she also desires the very same trident that you hold in your hands."

"That traitor!" Triton growled, and swam about his throne. "I see that banishing her from the palace wasn't enough for her! I thought that she would learn her lesson and mend her ways. Yet she is now seeking my little Ariel! I am so vexed!" he kept on groaning for a few moments and then finally managed to contain his anger. "This hasn't been my day, I reckon." He sat down in his throne again and took a deep breath. "Your coming here has been a blessing to me, strangers."

"I'm sorry to say this, King Triton, but there is yet more to tell." I said.

"Oh, dear... What is it... Aeris, wasn't it?" he muttered.

"Yes, majesty." I answered. "Um... Ursula isn't the only danger around here. You see, we also ran into an army of evil beings known as the Heartless. These foul beasts are wreaking havoc in many other realms and we all believe that this one might already be under their attack. If we don't do something soon, they will take over the land. We have already defeated several of their armies in other kingdoms... But it seems that they don't grow that weak."

"I see." Triton said. "Well, these are certainly bad news. A great ending to a great day. Nevertheless, I thank you for letting me know of these matters..." he let out another sigh, and said: "You look somewhat weary. Would you like to rest a bit? Perhaps you could spend the night inside the palace. I wouldn't like you to rest outside with those evil creatures about. How about it? Will you grace us with your presence this evening?"

"I believe that we can manage that, don't we, guys?" said Ranma, as she eyed the rest of us.

"I agree." Ryu added. "Yeah, in that case, we'll take your offer, your majesty. Thanks for your kindness."

"No, stranger, I thank you all for your trouble." Replied the King.

He snapped his fingers and some mermen and mermaids quickly came. He then ordered them to take us to our bedrooms, or whatever they were. They wasted no time and quickly guided us to a spacious room where several giant seashells awaited for us. They were all frozen where they lay, and were opened. The mermen and mermaids signaled us to sit down in them and when we did, we noticed that they were very soft, almost as soft as silk. I lay down completely and sighed. I suddenly felt back at home, back at my own bed, right next to my mom's room, in Midgar... But it was better than Midgar, for here I felt the softness of the sea currents, rather than the chill of the wind. All my friends lay by my side and fell fast asleep.

I woke up when it was still dark. I looked around with a yawn, and noticed that Link was awake as well, and was peering out one of the windows of the castle, and into deepness of the sea. I turned to the rest of my companions and saw that they were all asleep. It was the perfect time to speak alone with him. I yawned one more time before I swam next to him.

"Hi, Link." I said. He spun his head to me and smiled. "How long have you been awake?"

"Ten minutes, more or less, I deem." He replied. "What is wrong, Aeris? Could you not find any sleep?"

"Oh, yeah. I just woke up. I was sleeping soundly. I don't know why, but I just suddenly opened my eyes."

"So no thought or dream roused you?" he asked.

"No, not at all." I answered. "What about you? Don't tell me that you're not thinking of anything. One who just stares out a window in the middle of the night must have something on his mind, don't you think? Otherwise, I am certain that you would have gone back to sleep."

"Well, I guess that you are right." He confessed. "I was thinking about Hyrule. Mostly, I was thinking about Lake Hylia."

"Lake Hylia?"

"Oh, yes. It is a beautiful lake. It is a shame that we could not see it. I was thinking of maybe taking all of you there, but it seems that Lon – Lon Ranch and all that lies south has vanished. I did not think that would happen, but it seems that Hyrule was a lot bigger than I expected. Well, when I became a pilgrim clad in green, it did not seem that large to me. But I was mistaken. Either way, I wish you could have seen it, Aeris. Its waters are fair and blue during the day, and mysterious and black when the moon is out. But they are always clear, and you can see every little fish swimming by without much effort. It is as beautiful as this scenery that lies in front of us, although not as big. However, when night comes, you can see upon its surface the nocturne sky mirrored. It looks as if the stars have all fallen into the water and still glitter under the water... And when I think of Lake Hylia, I cannot help but to think about the Zora's River. The waters that flow in there do so at great speeds, and drag along wood and life into the very lake. If you should ever spend the night by it, you would be carried away to the sweetest of dreams by its melodies..."

It was not until then that he realized that he could go on and on speaking about Hyrule. He laughed and shook his head.

"I am sorry." He said. "If I do not hush now, I never will. Why do not you tell me a bit about your own land, Aeris?"

"I don't really know what to say..." I replied and felt my face blushing. I knew that anything I would say would sound stupid and dull compared to his words. "It's just that Midgar isn't as interesting as Hyrule, Link. I'm almost sure that you'll go to sleep if I start talking."

"Do not say nonsense!" he chuckled. "Come on, I know that there are many fair things in your world."

"Hmm..." I muttered. I kept silent for a long time, and finally said: "All right, but then, you must tell me more about Hyrule, okay?"

"We have an accord."

"Well... Where should I start?" I asked myself. I really didn't have any idea of what to say. It had been so long since I had last been in Midgar... For a moment, I felt a chill and thought that maybe I had forgotten. But then, it came back to me. It was so simple. I decided to start by speaking of my own house and bed, since the seashell had reminded me of them. "I lived in a little house in the slums. Midgar is a very big city, which has two levels. I lived in the lower level, which means that we didn't get that much sunlight. However, some of it managed to pour through the cracks in the upper level. It came down and bathed the garden of flowers that was outside my home. Most of the flowers had lovely colors: I always went to tend them. I watered them every three days, since they couldn't have that much sunlight. When night came, I went to my room and lay in my bed. It was very comfortable, and had pink sheets. I was never been cold... But that's not really important.

"Well, when things weren't too busy in the upper level, I took the train that left me there, and sold some flowers. The upper level is a very big city, with large buildings, and parks, and many alleys. There is one giant building in its center that stands out. It used to be the Shin – Ra building. Now it is deserted, as the rest of Midgar itself, I suppose. But anyway, I'll tell you what I remember and not what I assume...

"I remember that there was a stop (at the train) that left you in... What sector was it? Sixth or Seventh? I don't really recall the number... Well, whatever it was, there used to be a bar there, the Seventh Heaven. It was Tifa's bar. I visited it only once, and I was in a hurry then... I..." I then could think of nothing more than the explosion that followed after I rescued Barret's daughter. Some men kidnapped me, and my mind blanked out. I only remembered Cloud's face, and I didn't want to talk about him right then. I fell silent and after a few instants, said in a low voice: "I'm sorry, Link."

"Do not be." He said, and put his hand in my shoulder. I believe that he sensed that I had remembered something ill. "I deem that Midgar is not the only city in your land. Why do you not tell me about some other town?"

"Oh... alright." I said. "I'd rather talk about the fields, if you don't mind."

"Go on."

"Well, outside Midgar, there are green fields that extend themselves to the very limits. When you walk on them, it is as if you were walking on the very waters of the sea. Only that those waters are green, and hide many monsters. Still, it's safe to sleep there at night. As long as you don't cross any of those animals' paths, you're alright. A little to the north, lies a ranch, a Chocobo ranch. If you take the path down the mountains, you'll find yourself in a damp wasteland that homes the Midgar Solom: that's a hideous, forty – footed snake with sharp teeth. No one goes that way unless they have a death wish, if you understand what I mean. And it's very fast. Only a Chocobo can outrun that thing."

"Before you go on, I must ask..." Link interrupted. "What the blazes is a Chocobo?"

"Oh, right! You don't know!" I giggled, as did he. "It's a giant bird – like creature. They're usually yellow, but there are some green, and blue ones. Black ones are harder to find, and there are even golden Chocobos, which are the strangest of them all. Anyway, that doesn't matter. The thing is that we use them as rides. You know, like horses. You do know what horses are, don't you? I mean, you come from another world, so you never know..."

"Oh, it is alright." He said. "I do know what horses are. As a matter of fact, I own one. Well, 'own' might not be the appropriate term. I tamed it and kept it, even though I never really paid for the beautiful creature. Her name is Epona, and she runs as swiftly as the wind. No other horse in Hyrule can match her speed. She can even jump across dangerous cliffs. She was my good companion over many perils. If it would not have been for her, I probably would have never reached the desert of the west, where the Gerudo dwell. There, the sun burns harder and the wind blows the driest. It is nothing like the Kokiri Forest. There, every tree that grows is taken care by the soft breeze and sweet rains. An inviting scent emanates from their leaves and tells you to go inside, even though it is forbidden. There are many wooden houses that home the Kokiri children. I remember that one of them once housed me. But it was such a long time ago..."

"Sorry, Link, but it's my turn to interrupt you." I intervened. "Before you go on, tell me something... Akane said to me that you aren't under Donald's spell, right? She mentioned a magical mask... Where did you get that? I'll only ask about that item, because if I ask about everything that you carry, I'm afraid that we'll spend both the night and day in here... But don't take it the wrong way!" I said, worried that he had misunderstood my words. "I like to hear everything you say. It's just that we have much to do..."

Link burst out laughing, but quickly hushed as he saw that some of our friends stirred in their sleep. He didn't want to wake any of them, I guess, and neither did I. Either way, I was feeling very embarrassed... I couldn't have been more obvious.

"I understand." He said, at last. "Well, I will tell you. When I was young, I lost my way in the Lost Woods. I was ridding Epona at that time, by the way... But it is quite a long story. I will only say that I arrived at a wonderful, beautiful land, and there I dwelt for three days. I ran into many creatures and faced many dangers. Before I left that land, I received three masks; each of them contained different magic. This specific one that I am wearing turns me into a Zora. The Zora are the water – people of both Hyrule and Termina. I became accustomed to this form as soon as I put on the mask: that is why I asked Donald not to turn me into a merman. Well, when my job was done in Termina, I returned to Hyrule, my fair country."

We both stayed silent for a while. I took a deep breath, and finally asked:

"Link, if you love Hyrule and Zelda so much, why didn't you stay there when you got rid of Ganondorf? I mean, it's obvious that you'd rather be next to your princess and land than with us..."

"Do you truly believe that?" he interrupted and looked into my eyes. "Perhaps I would like to stay there and see Hyrule renewed, for I only lived its ruin for the last years. Yet, I am a soldier of the goddesses, and I believe that I cannot go back until I have destroyed all evil. Besides, I am not unhappy. I am fighting not only for princess Zelda, who is but my queen and to whom I have sworn loyalty and love, but for my many friends and for the one that I have come to love."

"Zelda?"

"Aeris, do not be silly." He smiled gently and caressed my cheek... and all of a sudden, I forgot about Cloud and let out a happy giggle... A truly happy giggle. He kissed my forehead and added: "You know of whom I speak. Now, go to sleep. Rest for a while, for we have still much to do. We must get up before sunrise."

"Yeah..." I said. I then shut my mouth and didn't know what to add. All I could think of doing was kissing him... But no way in hell would I do that unless he took off that mask. And so, all I did was to smile sweetly at him and go off to my sea – bed. "Good night, Link."

"Sleep well, sweet Aeris." He answered and too turned in.

"I hate him!" I said to myself, as I kept swimming away from the palace, despite Sebastian and Flounder's cries that told me to go back. I only wanted to be alone at that time, but not in the damned palace. I thanked God for letting me go past all the guards without getting caught and swam as fast as I could.

There was only one place that always made me feel better when I was sad and angry. It's a little illuminated cave with no more in it than a little rock. Somehow, that place usually made me feel better. I entered the cave and crossed my arms on top of the rock, and cried bitterly, hoping that I would soon feel better. But, unfortunately, this time I didn't get over my sadness and my anger. This time, he had gone too far.

"I hate him..." I sobbed, between gasps.

I couldn't believe how stubborn and close – minded he had been. My friends had agreed to come to his throne in peace, and neither of them had behaved aggressively (save Seyia, but Shiryu stopped him), and still, he had banished them. He had always thought of humans as barbarians who think of nothing but hunting fish and killing them. But how could barbarians build so many wonderful things as the ones that were in my Grotto? How could some barbarians go peacefully before him and do nothing despite the way he insulted and yelled at them? How could he be so mean to them? I was just beginning to know them... They were about to become my friends, and all had ended because of him. I was certain that I would never see them again, and as I thought about it I cried more and more.

"Ariel..." Flounder whispered, as he and Sebastian quietly swam by me and watched me pitifully. I hated that.

"Go away." I said.

"I know that you didn't mean that about your dad..." Flounder continued, but before he could say another word, I repeated, this time in a louder and more shattered voice:

"Go away!"

"Ariel, please, you have to return to the palace..." Sebastian intervened.

At that moment, I was also furious at him. It had been his idea to take my friends before my dad. He hadn't meant any harm, but at that moment, I couldn't realize that. I felt like biting his head off, but I hadn't the strength or will to do so.

"Get out of here." I demanded. "It's all your fault, you stupid crab! If it weren't for you, they would still be here... I don't want to see you or him ever again! Go away!"

"Ariel..." he uttered, clearly hurt by my words.

"Shut up and leave me alone!"

Then there was silence. Neither of them spoke for a long time. I only heard Sebastian sigh and so he and Flounder swam away and let me be. However, instead of calming down, I wept more fiercely. I felt so lonely, and yet, didn't want anyone to be near me at the moment, save them. I only wanted to be by their side.

I didn't know how long I cried. I only know that after a long time, I began to feel cold. I wished that I could be inside the palace, where it was warm. I could go back anytime I wanted to, but at the time, I didn't want to be anywhere near my dad. If that meant freezing to death in the palace's outskirts, then die I would. I have to admit it: some times I can be a bit too proud.

But suddenly, I felt a new chill. It's not the coldness that you feel when you're alone... It's like... How can I say it? Like the chilling current of water that you feel when evil lurks around. I raised my head and turned around to see what was behind me. Everything looked blurry; I had cried too much tears. I wiped my eyes and looked harder. And so I gasped and clutched to the stone as I noticed three pairs of eyes staring at me from the shadows. They were all terribly frightening... But they didn't scare me for too long, for after a few instants, the creatures showed themselves.

"My darling, don't be so scared!" said a she – octopus. Boy, was she large. I mean, like whale – size large. Her tentacles were black, and her skin was purple. She was really, and I mean very ugly. But I didn't say anything about it... The other two beings showed themselves as well: they were eels and didn't have cute faces either. "I don't mean any harm!" she added, and swam next to me. "Oh, have you been crying?"

"I..." I murmured. I didn't know what to answer. It was obvious to me that she had been spying on me, but at that time, I was too startled to defy her.

"Of course you have!" she said, before I could answer. Duh! Of course I had! "But please, dry your tears! There is no reason to cry for! I'm here, and I guarantee that I can make you feel better!"

"Right. And how is that?" I asked harshly, not meaning to.

"It's easy." She replied, without minding the tone of my voice. "I guess that you still can't tell who I am, can you? Well, my name's Ursula, and I've come to make all your wishes true."

"The sea – witch?" I stammered. All of my anger suddenly vanished and I grew afraid once again. My dad had told me all about her. He told me that she was a very mean creature that had caused a lot of trouble in his kingdom when she lived in the palace, and that he had banished her because of that. "No, I... No! I can't! Go away!"

"You can't what, my dear?" she asked. "Come on, now, you know better than anyone that your father likes to exaggerate. Like the way he did with those poor humans."

Gosh, she was smart. In a bad way, I mean. With those last words, she immediately won me. I kept silent and decided to listen to all that she had to say. She smiled to herself and kept on speaking.

"I know that you want to go with your friends." She put her arm around me. It felt so cold. And still, I didn't get away. "And the solution to your problem is quite simple. To go with them, you'll have to become a human yourself. Now isn't that a swim in the coral bed or what?"

"What? You... you could do – do that?" I stuttered.

"That's what I do!" she exclaimed. "It's quite easy. But the thing is that I just can't give you something for nothing, if you understand. I need something from you first."

"But I don't have anything..."

"Oh, sure you do! Well, at least your father does. You see the golden trident that he always holds? There are much more secrets to it than he has revealed you. I could do so many wonderful things with it... But he won't let me have it because he thinks that I'm still a bad girl. Yet, you can see that that's no longer true. I've mended my ways, and all that I want to do now is to help little mermaids such as yourself."

"...If I give you the golden trident, you'll turn me into a human?"

"Of course I will!"

"And what about my dad? I mean, he banished you from the palace and all... Aren't you sore at him? Aren't you going to try and hurt him? 'Cause if I were you, I'd probably want to turn him into a shrimp."

"What, do you want me to do that?" she asked, an evil glitter in her eyes.

"NO!" I exclaimed and got away from her. "If you do that, I won't bring you anything...!"

"My dear, I was only joking!" Ursula laughed. "Of course I won't turn him into a shrimp... But you do want to turn into a human, don't you?"

Then, a short but ferocious battle between my mind and my heart began. I stayed quiet and listened to what each had to say. My head told me: 'Ariel, don't be stupid! Get out of here! Swim as fast as you can back to the palace and tell dad about this!' Yet, my heart told me: 'What if she can really turn you into a human? What if she has really mended her ways and she isn't lying? You'll have to leave dad behind, but you'll be with your friends... What'll you do?' And so it was that after a minute or two, I nodded my head and made the stupidest thing that I could've ever done in my entire life.

"Oh, good girl!" she laughed. "Well, then, off you go! Go fetch me your daddy's trident, and I'll see to it that you turn into a lovely human!"

"Okay..." I muttered, and so I was off to the palace.

I got there while it was still dark and no one was awake. The throne room was empty; my dad's trident was luckily left there, alone. I turned to both sides, making sure that no one was following me. There was no one, it seemed. I took a deep breath and slowly swam to my father's throne. It was so close... I had only to reach for it. But I was so scared that he would suddenly come in and catch me red – handed. Still, my desire to see my friends became greater than my fear, and after a few second thoughts, I finally took the trident and got ready to leave the palace again. But before I could go out into the open, a shadow blocked my path. I gasped, and asked in a loud, yet shaky voice:

"Who's there?"

A mermaid then came out of the shadows, and I sighed in relief. She was one of the strangers that had arrived when my father had just banished Wilheim and the others. She had a blue, glittering tail, long, beautiful brown hair and blue eyes, darker than mine. She wore a white ribbon as well, and seemed just a few years older than me.

"What do you want?" I asked. "Who are you?"

"Don't be scared, Ariel." She replied.

"How do you know my name?"

"Ursula told me about you. She..." she paused when she saw my surprised expression, and gulped. She then went on. "She told me that if I got her your dad's trident, she would grant me whatever I wished for."

"What? That's the same thing that she told me!" I replied.

"Yeah, so... that's why I came here. I was looking for the trident. But it seems that you already got it for her... Do you mind if I tag along with you? Maybe she'll be able to grant both of our wishes. What is it that you want, Ariel?"

"For starters, I'd like to know your name."

"Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Ukyo. It's nice to meet you. Sorry that I started to call you by your name when you didn't even know mine." She offered to shake my hand and I accepted. I almost let out a chuckle: this mermaid was called just like Wilheim's girlfriend, and fit her description perfectly. But, she was but a mermaid. And Wilheim loved a human, as far as I was concerned. Nevertheless, I later learnt the shocking truth... "So, what's your wish, Ariel?"

"I want to turn into a human." I confessed. "What about you?"

"I want to be by my boyfriend's side again." She said, and her voice somehow became sad and desperate. With that, Ukyo managed to gain my trust and so I said:

"Okay, then, Ukyo. Let's go, before my daddy wakes up."

"Right."

But then, another voice stopped us.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" it said. We both turned around and saw a young merman with blue eyes and brown, spiky hair come out of the shadows. "Ukyo, where are you going? Um... Are you Ariel?"

"Boy, it seems that Ursula spoke very much of me." I said, beginning to get worried at the sea – witch's plans. "Yeah, I'm Ariel."

"We're going to see Ursula, Sora." Ukyo replied. "Do you want to come with us?"

"Ukyo, are you sure about this?" the boy asked. "You saw how both Demean and Octavius reacted to what she said... And I sure don't trust her either. Why don't you just take the trident back to where it was and we go off to bed? You need to get some sleep before we go off looking for the Keyhole tomorrow morning."

"I'm sick of it, Sora." Ukyo said, firmly. "You heard what she said: she can grant whatever wish we ask for. I've waited long enough... If he doesn't find me, then I'll find him. I don't care what it takes. I've made up my mind: I'm not going anywhere until he's by my side. Don't you get it, Sora? Without his touch, I whither like the trees in autumn. I feel dead inside, and I need to be next to him. So you can either come with us, or you can go back to sleep. It's your choice."

The boy seemed to be deeply troubled and somewhat shocked at Ukyo's harsh words. He lowered his head and his eyes glittered with sadness. I was about to tell him to stay if he didn't feel like going with us, but after a few moments, he sighed and said:

"All right. I'll go with you."

"Good." Ukyo said and took the lead. But before we could leave the place, a third voice made us stop in our tracks and turn around.

"Hey, Sora! Where do you think you're going? Oh, Ukyo's with you..." out of the shadows, came a turtle with an extremely rare head. If I had been in a better mood, I would've certainly burst out in laughter. He was truly hilarious... "Oh, and I see that you've also got some company." He chuckled. "Anyway, so where are you guys going?"

"We're going to see Ursula, Goofy." The boy replied. "Will you please come with us?"

"What? To see that lady? She wasn't very nice at all when we last saw her... Why would you want to go back to her place?" he asked.

"Please, Goofy. Ask no questions and follow us, okay?" Sora pleaded.

"Oh... All right. You're the Keyblade master, I've gotta go with you either way." Goofy chuckled and followed us as we escaped the castle.

"Before we go to Ursula's, I've go to stop at my Grotto and pick up some things." I announced.

"All right, but be quick." Ukyo said.

Naturally, I didn't let them inside my Grotto. I didn't trust them enough. When we got there, I let them waiting outside and quickly got inside the cave. I had some magical potions in there that I had stolen from my daddy's armory... They were as tiny as marbles, but as terrible as the most powerful spells. Surely, if things went wrong, they would help us. I grasped all of them and quickly went out of the Grotto. Morning had already come, and, surprisingly, it seemed past noon. That could only mean one thing: the Heartless forces (the enemies of which my other friends had spoken of) had already arrived... Then, all of us began to swim to Ursula's lair.

As we swam through the clear waters, I heard yet another voice. However, I knew who spoke, and didn't stop. Instead, I let out a grump and lifted my head. I then felt Sebastian's little legs on my shoulder. The little crab had been following us, most likely since we had left my dad's throne room. I couldn't stand the sight of him. I wanted him to go away and to get lost. I really wanted to yell all sorts of terrible things at him right there. Yep, I was still that angry. But I knew that I couldn't make a scene, unless I wanted us to be discovered by some curious merman.

"Ariel, what are you doing with that trident!" he asked in a low, worried voice. "Get that back into your father's throne!" he demanded, but his voice shook as he spoke. So you can guess how seriously I took him.

"I'm going to see Ursula." I replied, with a firm, proud voice. "And I don't care what you have to say."

"Ariel, no! She's a dangerous witch! Please, stop this madness!" Sebastian pleaded.

"Why don't you go tell my father? You're good at that." I growled and shook him off. He then swam back to the palace as fast as he could. I sighed, and told my three companions: "We've got to hurry. My dad's servants are going to be looking for us really soon."

"Then let's swim faster." Ukyo said, and kicked with more strength.

I knew where Ursula lived. When I was little, I had wandered off far from the palace and had come to a ghastly place. A dead animal loomed above the many volcanic craters with an unwelcoming gaze in its empty eyes... So you can guess that I tried to go inside its mouth, being as curious as I am. But my daddy caught me before I could do so and dragged me back to the palace. He explained me that that place housed Ursula, the sea – witch who he had banished from the palace. He told me that she was a very mean creature, like I've already said before. Ever since that day, I had staid away from that place. But the time had come to go back into the monster's mouth, back to face danger. Hopefully, she would grant our wishes and wouldn't turn us into anything... unusual.

However, as we went towards the great skeleton animal, I began to have second thoughts, more than the ones that I already had. The thing seemed to be breathing hot fumes from its nostrils. It looked a lot more menacing than the last time I had seen it... possibly due to my dad's words. I held on firmly to the trident and took a deep breath before Sora, Goofy, and me followed Ukyo and went inside the creature's mouth.

I began to think that maybe Ukyo was a warrior mermaid from a far – away realm. She wasn't afraid: at least I couldn't see any fear in her eyes, and she kept on swimming without hesitation. Sora too seemed like a warrior, but he wasn't as brave (or mad) as she was. They both wielded weapons: he had some sort of a giant key, whereas she had a giant spatula – like thing... They looked very much like some of the human stuff that I kept in my Grotto, only in family – size. I sighed sadly when I thought about it... It had been Tifa who had shown me what a key was, and Ryoga told me what a spatula was. Anyway, that has nothing to do with it...

It wasn't long before we began to hear moans. Pain – filled moans that came apparently out of nowhere. I shivered and kept still, as did Sora and Goofy, while Ukyo kept on going without minding the dreadful sounds. I was also beginning to lose my confidence in her... Why was she so cold? Either way, I didn't have much time to think about it. As we all looked down, we noticed that there were several seaweeds coming out of the ground, and tried to trap us with their bodies. They were the ones that were doing the moaning...! They were alive! I let out a shriek, while both Goofy and Sora gasped and we all swam faster. Eventually, we caught up with Ukyo, who had already left the horrible garden. As soon as we came by her side, Ursula's voice greeted us.

"Hello, welcome!" she said. She slowly came out of the shadows, a triumphant grin her face when she saw the trident in my hand. "Well, my dear, you've outdone yourself, I must say!"

"Outdone...? We've only just met..." I said, but before I could go on, Ukyo took the trident away from me and handed it to Ursula. "Hey!" I started, but then, she gave me a quick, cold glance, and I hushed.

"Let's get through with this, already." She muttered, angrily and impatiently. "Here's what you wanted. What about our wishes?"

"All in due time, my dear, all in due time..." Ursula mused, as she put her hands on the trident, and all of a sudden, her expression changed from a serious, old hag into a menacing, horrible monster. She seemed like a hungry shark in search of flesh... and she had now found her stupid preys: us. "YES!" she exclaimed, and the trident began to glow. And then, Ukyo suddenly put her hands on her head and let out a moan. "YES, I'VE DONE IT!" Ursula laughed long and loud, and it was not until then that I realized what a terrible mistake we had made.

"No..." I muttered. "No! Give that back!" I tried to grasp it, but failed in the attempt. He shoved me back and laughed louder. "Give it back!"

"Never, little princess!" she said. Her voice had no longer been gentle, but it was now evil and threatening. "I've got what I want, and now I'll be the supreme ruler of the ocean, thanks to you and your little friends!"

"Hey, give it back!" said Sora, as he unsheathed his weapon and put himself on guard. But Ursula turned to him and snarled:

"I'll give you something a little better..." and out of nowhere, an army of terrible monsters appeared. They were the same ones that my dad's elite warriors had been slaying a few nights ago... They surely were the Heartless that Wilheim and the others had told me about!

"Oh, no!" I exclaimed.

"Heartless! Gwarsh, this isn't good!" Goofy yelled.

"I knew that you had something to do with them!" Sora said. "Damn it, Ursula! I'm going to kick your fat butt as soon as I'm done with these guys!"

"Sure you will..." she cackled. "But excuse me. I've got to go pay king Triton a visit."

"NO! Leave my daddy a lone!" I cried. "Damn you! You didn't mean to do anything for us! You only wanted to get the trident to hurt him! I hate you!"

"True!" the witch answered. "And I've got you and your... HUMAN friend to thank for that!" she then swam as quickly as she could away from us, along with her two horrible eels.

"Humans...?" I whispered to myself, feeling all sorts of emotions racing through my heart. I slowly turned to see Sora and Goofy fighting against the Heartless as fiercely as they could, and then at Ukyo, who merely stayed still, floating in the waters, and while holding her head. I gritted my teeth and threw myself at her, and pulled her hair as hard as I could. "You tricked me!" I yelled as tears of anger rolled down my cheeks. "You lying jackass! I'll get you!"

"OUCH!" she screamed. "Get off me!" and with a terrible strength, which could even be compared to that of Shiryu's, she shoved me away. Before I could react, I felt her weapon's tip right below my chin, and I froze. She was very mad... I got very scared and closed my eyes, thinking that she would chop my head off. But after a few moments, she murmured: "What the hell...? What have I done?"

And I felt the chill of her weapon no longer. I opened my eyes again, and saw that she was fighting off the monsters with full strength. She was amazing. Even Sora and Goofy, who had known her for a while, seemed to be impressed. Every time she let loose a blow, she let out a battle yell and a hot current of water stroke me. After a few moments, I snapped out of my trance and began to fight as well, only that this time I attacked the Heartless. I'll deal with her later, I thought. I was so disappointed... My dad seemed to be right about some humans, after all.

I took out some of my potions and began to use them on the enemies. I had plenty of them: fire potions, lightning potions, ice potions, and healing potions. Only that I didn't pretend to use these ones: not on any of them. At that moment, I was so angry at every one of them that I was even thinking about saving some attack potions for them... Every time one of them crashed into one of my opponents, they exploded in flames, shards of ice, or thunderous lightning, and the Heartless let out chilling cries as they were burnt, frozen, or electrocuted... When I didn't have time to use a potion, I kicked them with my tail as hard as I could. I didn't realize that I gave such powerful blows with it, because every time I used it, I managed to get rid of at least one of them... Or maybe they just were pretty weak.

Sora repeatedly drove his weapon through the monsters, while the turtle attacked them with his sturdy shell. But Ukyo swung her weapon with great speed and power and at least three Heartless died every time she attacked. Undoubtedly, I would have a very hard time in dealing with her...

The very last one of the enemies died, and I was exhausted. I let out a whimper and tried to get a hold of Ukyo, but she effortlessly evaded my charge and pinned me against the ground.

"Let me go!" I yelled, kicking my fin as hard as I could, yet her hands were too strong, and wouldn't let me go. "Get off me! Get off me, damn it!"

"Ukyo, what are you doing!" exclaimed Sora, as he raced to her side, and stayed still, apparently thinking if whether he should help me or not. "This isn't like you! Let her go!"

"What's wrong with you, Ukyo? It's as if you've been hypnotized, or something..." Goofy guessed, keeping his distance from us.

"I was!" she exclaimed, and got our attention. "I was, damn it! Listen to me! Ariel, stay still and listen to me!" she looked at me in the eyes, and I noticed them different. She no longer seemed emotionless; a great sadness was in them, and she also looked sincerely repented of what she had done. I kept still and decided to listen to her. "I'm so sorry! Please, believe me! I never meant to hurt you or your dad! Please, forgive me!" she then swam back and added, as she held her head: "I can't believe that she hypnotized me! That bitch! Damn her! I..." she seemed to vanish, and fell on the sand. "I was weak... She did it because I was weak. I had nothing else in mind, but him... That's why she took over me..."

"Oh, that's why you were acting so funny!" Goofy exclaimed. I guess that he was as smart as Flounder... and speaking of him, he suddenly appeared from the shadows, crying:

"Ariel, Ariel! Your..." he stopped talking when he saw the strangers, but after a few moments, went on. "Sebastian said you'd be here! I heard screaming, and that's when I decided to go in... Luckily Ursula doesn't seem to be here. But your dad's weak, Ariel!"

"Oh, no..." I muttered. "Flounder, where is he?"

"He's looking for you! I don't know where he is... He thought that maybe you wouldn't be here, and is searching for you elsewhere. He's worried about you!"

"Oh, daddy!" I exclaimed. "I'm so sorry!"

"Without his trident, he can't even beat Ursula!" my friend added.

"What did I do!" I said to myself. "I've got to go help him!"

"We'll go too!" Sora said. "This was our fault, and I..."

"Wrong." Ukyo suddenly interrupted. "It was my fault. If that fatso wouldn't had hypnotized me, none of this would've ever happened. I'm not going to let her hurt your dad, Ariel. I'm going to get her for what she did to me: for the vain hopes that she sewed in my heart, and for tricking me into hurting your father. Please, forgive me!" she pleaded again, with tears in her eyes.

Again, she had gained my trust. I didn't know what Ursula had done to her, but I was going to make her pay for everything. I was furious... And all of a sudden, a bravery inside me that I didn't know was let loose. I nodded my head, and said:

"Okay. I forgive you. But please, help me help my dad!"

"Can do!" Goofy exclaimed. "But let's get to it, already. I'm kind of slow with this shell, you know..."

"Let us be rid of her, once and for all!" Ukyo growled, and we all swam out of Ursula's lair, and into the fading day.

"Everybody, to the king!" said a loud voice, which roused us up.

It was already morning. I couldn't believe that we had slept for so long. I yawned and rubbed my eyes, as did all my friends. I then noticed that many mermen armed with spears were quickly swimming to the royal chamber. I turned to my companions with a puzzled glance, and they did the same thing. What could be happening? Why were all the warriors being summoned? I felt a chill, as trumpets of alarm suddenly sounded.

"What is going on?" murmured Demean, as he swam near me. "There is evil about, no doubt. The Heartless, I deem. Let us waste no more time and go to the king, like warriors of the deep."

"I agree." I said. Link swam by my side, and I turned to him and added: "There's trouble about."

"So it seems." He replied. "Then let us get ready for battle, fair Aeris. Grab your staff, and be on your guard. I am almost certain that you will have to use every last one of your mighty spells this time." And with that said, we all swam to the king.

When we arrived at Triton's throne room, we let out a gasp of fear. His face was covered by wrinkles and was as pale as the one of a ghost. His muscular body now seemed to be nothing more than a deformed mass of flesh, and his eyes had no color. It was as if he was dead: but he breathed, and he could still move. He got up from his seat and slowly began to swim about. I noticed that he wasn't holding his trident, and that his hand searched for it as it were somewhere near, but his golden weapon was missing. Yet things were actually worse, for then he spoke in a low, weak voice:

"My Ariel is missing. Sebastian here..." he turned to look at a little, red crab that looked at him with a worried face. "Tells me that she and some of your friends grabbed my trident and were on their way to see Ursula. I expect that you may have something to say about this." He turned to us, and asked, angrily, yet as weakly as before: "Where are your friends? What are they doing to my Ariel?"

It was not until then that I realized that Sora, Ukyo, and Goofy were missing. We all gasped and looked for them with our eyes, but they had vanished, as well as Triton's daughter.

"What?" Ranma stuttered. She looked at the king and said: "Are you thinking that Ukyo forced your daughter do steal your trident, or that she herself stole it from you? Don't you give me that! I know Ucchan, and she wouldn't ever do anything of the sort!"

"Yes, she would." Octavius suddenly interfered. We turned to him with stupefied eyes and he added: "If she was hypnotized. And I believe that our meeting with the sea – witch went worse than I first thought."

"Of course!" I exclaimed. "That's why she had such a strange look in her eyes! And I was beginning to think that she was acting weird!"

"What are we to do?" asked Triton, no longer angry, but even more worried than before. "Without my trident, I don't have any power. If Ursula gets her hands on it, she'll surely do horrible things to the sea. I fear for the safety of my people..."

"We will help, then." Ken said. "For whatever's worth. I say that we go get that fatso and smack her a couple of times!"

"And I say that we hurry up!" Ryu added. "When did you see them?" he asked the little crab.

"About half an hour ago, maybe a bit longer." He said.

"That's twice the time they need to get there, if they swim at full speed." Leon guessed. "Let's move! I really don't have a good feeling about all this! And that's saying a lot, considering all the things we have gone through!"

"Let's go save Ukyo!" yelled Akane and with that, all of us quickly left the palace, even Triton, who was in no shape of swimming, followed us. He was escorted by two of his warriors, who held him by his arms, and was given a lance, but he could barely hold it...

All of us swam as quickly as we could to the tunnel that lead to the witch's lair, hoping that it would not be too late. As I looked up into the sky, I saw that the sun was already coming down. That got me very scared, for it could only mean that the power of the Heartless was incredibly strong. Not even fifteen minutes had passed since we had woken up, and when we had opened our eyes, it seemed to be very early in the morning. I took a deep breath, and hoped that the night would not come, for when it did, it would last twice as long than usual. The shadows were growing darker, like savage creatures that reek out of holes in the ground, and began to cover all. But there was no time to think about that. We had to swim faster, unless we wanted Ursula to become the tyrant of the sea. It didn't sound pretty at all... I thought about Ukyo, Sora, and Goofy, and trembled at the thought that they might already be dead by then. Donald, Goofy's best friend, seemed very scared as well, and swam almost as fast as Link himself, who was on the lead along with the rest of Triton's warriors.

It got us only ten minutes to get to the cave that lead to the witch's lair. But, to our dismay, the way was shut. It looked as if it had been closed by a wall of sea – weed. At first, we all thought that the plants would easily yield to a spear or to one sword. But when Octavius (not just anyone: the strongest of us all) swung his sword at the weeds and didn't make even one scratch on them, we knew that magic was protecting the tunnel, and shut its entrance. Donald and I tried to burn them with magical spells, but there was nothing that could be done. None of us could get there, unless we shrunk to the size of a Gummy ship, and neither Donald nor me knew a spell that could shrink our bodies.

"The way is shut!" cried one of the mermen.

"Flounder..." muttered the king to a little, fat fish that had just appeared by his side. "Please, go in there, and find Ariel!"

"I... I..." stuttered the fish. "All right!" he finally agreed. I wondered if he would be able to make it through the weed with that fat belly of his. But in the end, he went through and disappeared from our sight.

"We must find another way!" Demean exclaimed. "Is there another path that we can take?"

"Not that I know of..." Triton said. "But we must look for one at all costs... Let's look for a way. If we all split up, it will be faster. Perhaps Ariel could even be somewhere else..."

"Then let us do that!" Link said.

Most of the king's mermen went one way, and a few ones went another one. The little crab followed Triton and his two guards through another little cave. The rest of us stayed still for a few moments, while we thought about what to do. In the end, we all decided that we should take separate ways as well. Octavius, Ranma, and Akane went one way; Ikki, Shun, and Donald went another; Cid, Leon, Yuffie, and Demean took another route, and Link and I swam as quickly as we could alongside Ryu and Ken down a fourth path.

"Damn that witch!" Ken exclaimed, angrily. "I never thought that she would represent any real threat! But the fatso not only hypnotized Ukyo; she's surely also gotten both Ariel and the trident now! Damn it, damn it, damn it! We're too late!"

"Don't think that, Ken!" Ryu answered. "Instead of saying that and cursing our luck, we should be doing our best to find another way into the lair! Now think: where can we find another cave that'll lead us to that monster?"

"I don't know, Ryu, it's my fist time in the ocean!" Ken grumbled.

"Save your strength for the witch!" Link intervened. "Let us believe that there is still time, but let us also remember that the clock is ticking. Focus and try not to waste your anger with each other!"

We took many other tunnels, but none of them lead us to Ursula's ghastly home. The way was shut, and I was almost certain that there was no other path to take. Ursula had thought of everything, apparently; she had taken her preys to where we could not help them. But we couldn't just give up: we had to try harder and to hope that we would find a way to ruin her plans before she received the trident's power...

The day had nearly ended. The waters had acquired an orange tone and it became darker and darker with each passing second. There was little time left before it was safe for the Heartless to come out of their hiding places. Surely the place was infested with them by now. What I could not understand was how they had grown so strong over so little time... And as this thought hunted my mind, I felt a cold thing about my body, which immobilized me and kept me from screaming. It was as if I had been suddenly tied with an icy weed... I tried to call for help, but not one of my friends heard my call, and they all kept on swimming away from me and as quickly as they could.

I was dragged into a dark cave and a few minutes later, into the open sea. I looked about me and noticed a sunken ship resting on the bottom of the ocean. It had slept there for a long while, I thought, for the wood was rotten and there was a skeleton resting in the deck. I let out a muffled yell and tried to get away from the force that had trapped me, but failed in the attempt. And then, two voices said:

"Stop struggling, mermaid. It's time that you already paid for getting in Ursula's way!"

It was not until then that I realized that the ones who had caught me were none other but Ursula's eels. They were very strong: I couldn't escape their bodies. I thought about hurting them with a spell, but I knew that if I did, I would surely be damaged by my own magic as well. They brought me to the ship's mast, and a foul spell made the rotten ropes of the ship come to life and tie me to it. A big one covered my mouth, and then I was helpless. With both of my arms tied and my voice trapped inside my throat, I couldn't cast any spells. I then saw Ursula, who was holding the golden trident, and was grinning maliciously.

"Well, what a pretty little mermaid." She cackled. "It's a real shame: such a beautiful creature as yourself will be nothing more than an awful mess after I'm done with you... But don't think that I'll do the killing, my dear. I've got other creatures now that can do the job." She turned around and I noticed a great – white shark swimming in the murky waters. It measured fifteen feet from the tip of its jaws to its tail, I guessed. Night had come, and predators had gone out of their hiding places for a taste of flesh by Ursula's command... My flesh. "I will see you later... Well, whatever is left of you. HA!" she concluded and got away from me at an incredible speed, along with her two cursed eels.

The shark slowly began to circle me. I struggled to get free, but the ropes were even more resistant than iron. I began to cry at the thought of being killed by a shark. I had always known that their reputation of senseless killers made them no justice. But this one's eyes told me otherwise. Rather than being black and dead like the ones of a normal shark, they were red, filled by an apparent hatred at me. Its jaws were tightly closed, but I knew that they would open up at any time and would cut me to pieces.

I wept even more as I thought about the way in which I would die. At least, last time I had been buried in the waters. But now, my body would vanish in the beast's stomach; it would be disintegrated by its gastric fluids. No one would know what happened, unless they guessed that the blood that would be left cooling upon the waters was mine... I then thought of Link and prayed that he didn't come. He would surely be too late to save me, and I didn't want him to see me die. Cloud had seen how Sephiroth had driven his sword through my stomach. When I stopped breathing and felt the sharpness of the blade as it pierced me, I lifted my gaze and saw Cloud's face filled by an infinite sadness. I died with tears in my face, thinking of that horrible expression: I didn't want to see Link in the same way. I only wished to die quickly; so that he could not see my body at the time it would be dismembered by the bloodthirsty shark. I couldn't be killed in front of him like that...

The shark moved closer, and closer. It passed so close to me that it even hurt me with its sharp skin. I let out a muffled whimper of pain and prayed for it to finish me soon. It swam by my back, and I closed my eyes, knowing that the white sharks always attack from behind. But a moment passed, and I looked again. The beast wanted it to see me coming at me: it wanted me to see its jaws to the very end. It then showed my its teeth and got ready to tear off my fin... It was worse than I thought. Ursula had surely commanded it not to kill me so quickly. She wanted me to be in agony... I closed my eyes again, and let out a terrified scream, which was muffled by the rope, and everything went black.

I heard a loud, thunderous noise, and thought that I had already died. I even felt pain in both my fin and arms, as if rows of knives were stabbing them repeatedly. But such agony could not last as long as it did. I dared to open my eyes, and to my surprise, saw that the shark had swum a few yards away, and was circling me again. Then, I noticed a hole on the ship's deck in front of me, and saw that a man – not a merman, but a human – stood between the shark and me, just as if he was standing on a waterless environment. He only wore boxers; he was very tall and muscular, and had long, light – brown hair, almost like mine, which fell down on his shoulders. He wielded a sword on his back, and his skin was unnaturally white. I couldn't see his face, but I could notice the strange, ghostly glitter of his violet eyes staring at the beast with anger...

The shark charged again, but the man protected me by pushing him aside with great strength. The giant fish actually growled and tried to bite his head off. The man, however, was as quick as a leopard and moved out of the beast's jaw's way. Before the shark swam away, the man hit him in the eye as hard as he could. The shark hurried up and got away from my defender, blood oozing from its empty socket. His punch had been so hard that he had smitten his eye...

The shark retreated and looked at my savior with its one good eye with rage. He merely put himself on guard again and stayed close to me. I tried to tell him to let me loose so I could help him, but my voice came out as muffled screaming. The beast charged again, but the man skillfully dodged its jaws. It tried to tear him apart again and again, not to avail, and the man just kept on jumping from one side of the ship to another. He then leapt up the sails and battled against the shark from there. Yet the beast had, amazingly, an evil plan in its mind. Once it had driven the man away from me, he swam to me, aiming for my head with its teeth. I screamed as its jaws closed again and again just a few inches away from my face. The man – I don't know how he did it – had run to the shark and was grabbing him by his tail. After many tries of killing me, the shark finally gave up and turned to bite him. My defender jumped out of its way just in time, but was bruised, nonetheless. The great fish swam away again, and seemed to smile wickedly at the sight of the man, whose arm was terribly hurt. I then saw his face. He was very handsome; he had manly, tough features, and his gaze was even more magical than I had first thought, despite the fact that he was really mad. His violet eyes shone fiercely as he looked at the shark and whispered to himself:

"It looks like evil has conquered you, beast. So be it. I did not want it to come to this, but you leave me no choice." And so, his wound vanished and he unsheathed his sword, and two small fangs came out from his mouth.

The shark charged at him one last time. He moved away, swung his sword and I shut my eyes. After a moment, I opened them again, only to see the lifeless, sliced body of the beast falling by the side of the ship and to the sea floor. I let out a relieved sigh as I closed my eyes again and felt two final tears flow out of them. The man then slashed the ropes that tied me with his sword, and asked:

"Are you alright?"

I couldn't help but to weep again and embrace him. He hugged me back, and said:

"Do not worry. It is fine. That beast will haunt you no longer..."

"Thank you..." I murmured, between sobs.

"Hey, what's going on up there!" called a voice from below the ship... a voice which I knew.

Out of the hole, came out another man, along with a woman. He wielded an enormous sword, and she was armed with nothing more than a pair of hard fists. I knew both of their faces. I knew his golden hair and once loved his blue eyes. And I knew her red – ruby glance and missed her pretty smile. They noticed me and dropped their jaws. I let out a happy giggle and clasped my hands. Still not understanding what was going on, he dropped his sword and his legs began to shake, whereas she started to cry merry tears.

"It can't be..." he finally said, in a bewildered whisper. "No way... Aeris?"

"Cloud..." I sobbed. "Tifa..."

"Aeris..." she muttered. She walked near me and touched my face, trying to convince herself that my skin was real, as were the tears flowing from my eyes. She caressed my hair and my ears. Finally, she let out a loud, shattered laugh, and exclaimed: "It is you! Aeris, it is you!" and hugged me so tightly that I could hardly breathe.

"Tifa!" I exclaimed, unable to contain my own laughter. Cloud stayed in place for a few more seconds before bursting into tears and hugging me as well. "Cloud!"

"Aeris, my baby friend!" he said, between sobs. It was the second time that I saw him cry. But this time, he was happy... And yet, he had called me 'friend'. And when I saw him and Tifa holding me in their arms, I understood. I thought about Link, and quickly forgot about the sudden pain that shot through my heart. It was time to be happy... "You're alive! Bless you, you're alive!" he turned around, and yelled: "Guys! Vincent, get over here! You're not going to believe this!"

And out of the hole, came out Vincent. When he saw me, his eyes were filled by surprise and he dropped the gun that he was carrying. I managed to escape Tifa and Cloud's hug and embraced him with a laugh.

"Vincent!" I cried. "I missed you so much!"

"Aeris..." he muttered, as if still trying to believe his eyes. "Aeris!" he hugged me as well, not as tightly as the other ones, but firmly enough not to let me escape. Then, I felt even something more amazing: I felt his tears on my shoulder. Vincent was the coldest person I knew before I met Octavius; I had never seen him cry. Never. And now, there he was, weeping on me! "I didn't think that I'd ever see you again..."

"I thought the same thing." I sobbed.

And then, many others came out. There were two green – haired succubus, a little fairy, a hobbit, a boy and a girl around my savior's age, two strong, young men, and a catwoman. I smiled at them and giggled. But before I could introduce myself to them, a manly voice called my name.

"AERIS!"

Then, Link appeared on deck, both of his sharp fins ready to attack whatever danger. But he quickly sheathed them as he saw my happy face and the rest of the other men. He walked to me and whispered:

"Are you alright?"

"Link!" I exclaimed, and threw myself at his arms (I have to admit that at that time, I most likely did it so that I wouldn't end up like a fool in front of Cloud and Tifa). "You've come!"

"A bit late, I suppose." He chuckled. "Who are all of you?" he asked.

"Apparently, friends of the lady, my good creature." Replied the fairy, while grinning. "At least, Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent know who she is."

"Cloud? Tifa? Vincent?" he asked. He turned to them, and added: "Aeris has talked much of you. Then I am relieved, for I know that you are friends with her. It is good to meet some normal people, at last. My name is Link, as she has already said, and we are very good companions." I giggled when he said 'companions'... he hadn't said friends!

"Well, nice to meet you, Link." Said Cloud, and shook hands with him. "But, I... Aeris, how the hell did you end up like a mermaid?" he asked, with a laugh.

"It's a long story; I'll tell you all later!" I said. I then turned to the man who had saved me from the beast and went next to him, while holding Link's hand. And so, I said: "He saved my live. A shark was after me, and he prevented anything bad from happening to me. Thank you very much." I added and bowed my head.

"Then I thank you too, for saving her life." Link said. "For there is a special bond between us, and if it would be broken, then I would fade away and die."

"I understand what you say..." replied the man, with a confused smile. Well, after all, Link was still in a Zora's body... "And pray, do not worry about it any longer. Pleased to meet you both, especially you, Aeris. It is a miracle that you came back to life, for I learnt that you died unfairly. But the fiend that dared to hurt you paid for his sins once again. I will tell you the story later: for now, I will only speak my name, lady. I am Wilheim."

It then hit me. Wilheim. His name echoed in my mind hundreds of times, and my smile vanished from my face, as did Link's. And then, I remembered everything: Ariel, Ukyo, Sora, and Goofy were still out there, and needed our help. We had lingered too much there...

"Wilheim?" whispered Link.

"What is it?" he asked, looking at us with bewildered eyes.

"Wilheim..." I said, and came out of my trance. Then, I exclaimed: "Wilheim! She's in trouble, and she might be killed if we don't do something! You've got to hurry, Wilheim! We've got to find a way to enter Ursula's lair, unless we want her to be killed!"

"Who? Whom are you talking about?" he asked, even more confused than before.

"Ukyo! I know her, and she's in trouble! She's with a mermaid named Ariel, and a boy, named Sora, and a turtle – dog, Goofy! She needs your help!"

Everyone gasped in terror, and Wilheim's eyes shone with fear and anger. He grabbed my by the shoulders, and stared at me with a flaming glance.

"Where is she?" he asked. "Where!"

"The path to the lair is shut..." I answered. "It is that way!" and I pointed to the murky waters.

"No rock, ship, or fiend will stop me now!" He growled, and his eyes became even fiercer. An aura of purple flames engulfed him and he yelled: "UKYO, I COME NOW!" and he took off running as quickly as he could. The sand of the sea floor was parted in two and thousands of bubbles floated up to the surface...

"Let's go help him!" Cloud yelled, and they all took off running after him, while Link and I swam by their sides.

"Aeris, there you are!" Ryu exclaimed, as he and Ken came out of the cave and swam next to Link and me. I grabbed them by their arms and yelled:

"Come on! No time to lose!"

"What?" Ken stuttered. "Wait a minute... Who are all these guys?"

"RYU! KEN!" the young girl yelled, and stopped running for a moment.

"Isn't that...? Sakura!" Ryu yelled and swam by her side. She threw herself at his arms and laughed. "Hey! What are you doing here? How can you be like that, huh? I mean, I..."

"It's the Underwater Materia." She explained, as she hugged Ken. "It's this little purple rock that lets you breathe under water, and..."

"You will talk later!" Link intervened. "We must go to Wilheim's aid!"

"Wilheim!" Ken exclaimed. "Wilheim as in Ukyo's boyfriend?"

"Yeah!" I replied. "We found him! And Ukyo's still in trouble, as well as Sora and Goofy! Let's go help them!" and with that being said, we all raced to the other's side, hoping that it would not be too late for Ukyo and the others...

Ursula seemed to have vanished into thin water. There was no finding her. And what was worse was that the stupid fatso didn't leave any trail for us to follow. I was half expecting her to leave a trail of black ink. But she had escaped our sight. We had looked around her lair and had found nothing. We then hurried to the palace, but there was no one there. Not even my dad... I began to get very worried. I could feel my arms trembling from anguish.

We searched all over the sea, what bit of it was left, because it seemed to me that the Heartless were starting to consume it. I was also worried that, at any moment, a black hole could appear in the waters and swallow us all! I was almost sure that they had already been devoured by one in the past, and dreaded to think what could happen to them if one ate them again... We had to finish with both Ursula and the Heartless quickly. And at these thoughts, I swam faster and faster.

Then, we finally got to a wide opening. There seemed to be nothing there but a few rocks and some seaweed. Even the little fish swimming about the place were very scarce. The water was icy cold. I even had trouble in kicking my tail, and I can bet that my companions also found the environment very cold. I could see Goofy's teeth chattering, and Sora rubbing his hands. However, Ukyo and I didn't do anything to warm ourselves up. I had only one thought in my mind... My dad.

And that was when I saw her. She had a golden crown in her head and was laughing wickedly. She held the golden trident triumphantly above her and her eels swam around her. And at her tentacles, there were three cursed seaweeds of the very same kind that we had seen in her ghastly garden. It then realized that the golden crown was that of my daddy's, and let out a gasp of terror... Sebastian was next to the three seaweeds and looked at the one in the middle with both horror and sadness.

"Oh, no." Flounder muttered, and trembled when he realized what had happened.

"DADDY!" I yelled, and we all raced to the three seaweeds. Just as I thought... The one in the very middle had my father's eyes and even had his beard! I began to weep as I looked down at him and gently touched his head. "Oh, daddy..." I sobbed. "I'm so sorry, daddy..." I then lifted my head and saw Ursula dancing and chanting to herself:

"I'm the sole ruler of the seas!"

I felt a terrible anger growing inside me, one that I had never felt before. My tears were no longer sad, and I sobbed with rage. I tightened my fists and cut my hands with my nails. But I didn't care. I didn't even feel pain. I only wanted to get that witch and to make her pay for what she had done to my father...

"You... YOU MONSTER!" I yelled and threw myself at her. But before I could get to her, both of her eels caught me and began to squeeze me. "NO! LET ME GO!"

"Ah, but if it isn't the lovely princess!" she cackled. "I warrant that you'll make a nice addition to my collection! But don't feel sad! At least, you'll be next to your daddy!" and so she fired a spell at me.

But before it could reach me, Ukyo rejected it with her weapon. She growled, and then shouted:

"You tricked me, witch! Now I'm going to finish you, unless you return that crown and trident! Those golden items are not fit for a monster such as yourself, abomination!"

"No." Ursula laughed. "You don't ask politely, and I shouldn't listen to what you, a puppet, has to say!"

"Have it your way!" Ukyo cried and charged at Ursula. Her eels let me go and tried to capture Ukyo, but she was too quick for them. She discharged a heavy blow on Ursula, but the witch managed to parry it with my daddy's trident. They stayed there for a while, without moving. I then remembered the cursed eels and threw them a fiery potion. They screeched in pain and went after me, while Ukyo fought against Ursula.

Before they could get to me, Goofy and Sora came to my aid and we began battle against them. Their teeth were twice as dangerous as the rest of their bodies; they were capable of even chewing through a rock. I didn't know that eels had such strength... Well, it was most likely one of Ursula's spells. Either way, we had to be very careful not to get bitten by them. Goofy often hid his head inside his shell so that they would not bite it off... After all, he wasn't as 'brilliant' as Flounder. And when I thought about this and remembered the little fish, I said:

"Flounder! Go get Sebastian and get out of here! It's dangerous...! No, wait! Please, watch over my dad!"

"Okay, Ariel!" he exclaimed as he swam next to Sebastian's side and stayed beside my dad.

I decided that it was time to quit messing around with the eels and took out my lightning potions. They were the most powerful that I had. I knew that all of us would probably feel a little shock, but nothing very significant. I couldn't hold back this time: my dad's life was at stake, as were our owns. I yelled as I threw two at the eels. When the potions crashed against their bodies, they exploded in a tiny storm of rays, and the fiends yelled in pain as we saw their bones flash through their scales. When the shock was over, both Sora and Goofy hit them with great strength and smashed them against the floor. But the eels were far from being defeated. They shook their heads and went after us again.

Meanwhile, Ukyo fought with a rage beyond imagination. Every time she swung her giant spatula, she shattered every rock that was in her steel's path whenever Ursula evaded her blows. When she parried them, she seemed to shrink before Ukyo's fury and had to use a spell to get her off. But our companion was really resistant, and no spell seemed to harm her. She charged at Ursula and kept on pressing the attack. The witch suddenly smiled as three of her tentacles wrapped themselves around Ukyo's body and began to squeeze. She let out a little yell and banged the tentacles with her weapon, but Ursula was much more sturdier than she was. But then, she kicked her tail and slapped her face a couple of times. The witch let her go, startled by the sudden hits, and then received a terrible blow on the head. She crashed against a rock and shattered it. Then she glanced at Ukyo with anger; her spatula was still shaking from that last attack. Ursula yelled and attacked: Ukyo was succeeding in making her lose her patience.

Sora, Goofy, and I were kicking the two eels' fins. I was so mad that I had even grabbed one from its tail and swung it against the ground. I quickly let go of it before it bit me and managed to throw an ice potion into its mouth. Its jaws became frozen and I slapped its face with my tail. Then, it growled and tried to capture me, but Goofy got in the way, and acting like a wall, stayed still while the eel crashed onto his shell. Sora kept on banging the other eel with his weapon, and the creature just got weaker and weaker. However, it suddenly moved out of one of his blows and bit his arm. He yelled as he tried to shake it off, but the eel wouldn't let go. So I prepared two fire potions and threw them at it. The scorched eel screeched in pain and got away from Sora. I then tossed a healing potion at him, and his wound vanished...

Ukyo had scored plenty of hits by that time, and Ursula was full of bruises. She found out that Ukyo was no easy target and that was stronger than she had first thought. The mermaid kept on slapping her with her tail, hitting her with her fists, and banging her with her spatula. The battle seemed to be nearly over... But then, Ursula growled and the golden trident in her hands began to glow.

"I've had it with you!" she yelled and aimed the tip at Ukyo.

"UKYO, MOVE!" I screamed as Ursula fired a ray from the weapon.

Our companion skillfully dodged the ray, but didn't realize that Goofy was behind her. The turtle gasped and quickly hid inside his shell. It bounced off his shield and amazingly, hit both eels. They screeched one last time before they blew into pieces. Goofy then popped his head out of his shell, and said, with a chuckle:

"Wow! Two down, one to go!"

"My babies!" Ursula cried. "Flotsam... Jetsam! My poor, little babies!"

"You're next, witch!" Ukyo exclaimed, and got ready to fight again.

Ursula didn't answer. She only stared back at her with eyes reddened by hatred, and growled. From her bottom, a cloud of ink arose and began to cover all. It was just great. The trail that we had so long wished for had finally showed up... In a rather nasty way. Everything turned black in a matter of seconds and Ursula's growls only kept growing louder and more fearsome. I let out a gasp and went to look for Ukyo, while holding both Sora and Goofy. If we all got lost in there, then there would be no telling what would happen to us.

"Ukyo!" yelled Sora, as he bumped into her. "You're here!"

"Don't worry, Sora." She replied, calmly. I was scared out of my wits, but she seemed to be cool about everything... "We lived through Ganondorf, didn't we? I bet that this fatso isn't half as dangerous. We can beat her, you'll see."

But then, a strong current of water came from below and shot us up. We yelled as we went up, and up, and up... and were shot out into the surface, above the waves. We seemed to fly for a moment, and then began to fall back into the sea again. My back touched the water first, and I let out a yell of pain as the waves slapped me. It had been a really nasty fall. My other friends shook their heads and then we all looked, with terror, at what now lay in front of us...

Ursula, the sea – witch, was no longer. She had turned into the most menacing, most horrible creature of the ocean. She was still herself... But had grown about eighty feet. Her eyes were staring at us maliciously, with red flames as the trident and crown glowed brightly, scattering many shadows about, and making the night almost as clear as the dusk. It was a golden dusk, but it was not as beautiful as it sounds. I could only see fear upon the surface and even Ukyo, who had stayed calm during all that time, swam back a few yards, with a terrified look in her eyes.

"YOU PITIFUL, INSIGNIFICANT FOOLS!" Ursula roared, with a laugh, and her tentacles began to whip the water about with great ferocity, as gigantic waves began to throw us around and as the cloudy sky began to roar with thunder. We fell many times as we were carried around by the aggressive waves, and were nearly struck by those powerful rays many times. I could only think about running away, but the sea waves wouldn't let me go. "IDIOTS! THE OCEAN BOWS TO MY POWER!" she added, as many strong whirlpools appeared by her and began to suck us into them.

In my desperation, I reached for a lightning potion and threw it at her. The monster actually seemed to be hurt by the lightning and the sea was calm for a moment. I had found her weak point! I let out a hope – filled giggle as I reached for more potions... But then, I let out a horrified whimper as I realized that I had none left! I had spent them all against the two stupid eels and against the Heartless! My heart stopped as Ursula looked at me with her horrible eyes and then, a wave threw me against a whirlpool. As its waters sucked me into it, I saw how Ukyo had managed to get near the monster and was hitting her with her spatula. But Ursula's hide was even capable of stopping cannon fire at the moment. She laughed and decided to end with us. Two of her tentacles came after us: one grasped both Ukyo and me and the other one captured Goofy and Sora. Thunder roared as she cackled and squeezed our bodies. I felt all hope escape me and let out a shattered yell.

"Let us go, witch!" I demanded, but my shout came out as a pathetic whimper.

"THAT'S IT! PLEA!" she roared. "WIGGLE LIKE WORMS ON HOOKS! YOU WILL GET NO MERCY! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!"

At that moment, she squeezed harder and we all let out pain – filled groans. And then, Ukyo burst out in tears. She began to cry like a little six – year old mermaid who cries at the sight of herself caught in a fishermen's net... Her loud moans pierced the air and Ursula laughed even more.

"CRY, YOU WEAKLING! CRY!"

"Oh, Ariel!" she yelled, between sobs. "I'm so sorry! This is all my fault! I'm sorry, Sora! Goofy! Please forgive me!" she paused and then raised her head to the sky and yelled in a cry that made the rest of us weep for her: "I'M SORRY, WILHEIM! I LOVE YOU!"

"I'M SURE THAT YOUR LITTLE BOYFRIEND WILL BE DELIGHTED TO SEE YOUR HEAD IN THE TIP OF MY TRIDENT! I WILL SHOW IT TO HIM WHEN HE GETS HERE!" the witch roared, with an evil cackle. "SO MUCH FOR TRUE LOVE!"

I sobbed and held Ukyo's hand, who could do nothing but to stare at the incoming trident with the saddest face I'd ever seen. I pitied her. But I couldn't help her... and this made me truly sad. I wept with her as her moans grew louder and as the golden trident came closer, and closer...

Lightning roared and the waves crashed. A thunderous clash nearly made our eardrums burst. Ursula jerked her hand back and a rain of sparks fell on us. The monster groaned in confusion, while lightning still fell on the furious sea. She looked around for the one who had shot that fireball; that mighty projectile that had saved us from my dad's trident. I could even feel a warm draft of wind stroking my friends and I. The monster's head suddenly became still and she smiled wickedly as her eyes glowed with a red color again. Even though her dark, evil tentacle was wrapped around my body very tightly, I managed to turn my head around, and then saw the one who had saved us, floating in the air...

I couldn't believe our luck! There he was, surrounded by lightning and purple flames! Two wings had come out of his back and he slowly flapped them up and down. Not too quickly, though, for he didn't move from where he was, but not too slowly either, for he didn't descent. His sword was in hand: it had turned into a living flame that even groaned and longed for Ursula's blood, I guessed. His fangs had cut his lips, but the wounds had disappeared already. And his eyes shone in the most horrible way you could ever imagine. But I wasn't afraid of them. He had a heroic air to him, actually... Two violet candles lit in the dark night, whose glitter was even fiercer than the one of my daddy's trident. The sea's surface became illuminated by it, and when this happened, I finally managed to shout at the top of my lungs:

"WILHEIM! SAVE US!"

And then, Ukyo slowly turned her head around, and stopped sobbing. Her eyes were lit by the violet glow and more tears flowed out of them. She seemed to freeze in time for a few instants; but she then wept again, and cried in an even louder voice than me:

"WILHEIM!"

Wilheim came out of his trance and let out an enraged yell that even deafened the thunders. Afterwards, he began to fly at us at an incredible speed: his body parted the waves and the sea seemed to tremble before him. Ursula barely managed to block his blow, and when she did, she tumbled and nearly fell on her back. Wilheim turned back and attacked again, and again, the monster parried the blow, and tumbled from side to side once more. The vampire didn't stop the attack, but didn't charge in the same way. Rather than that, he flew very quickly and tried to stab Ursula with hundreds of attacks. The monster parried several blows. However, Wilheim wounded her many times. He suddenly stopped and lightning engulfed him. Ursula growled and shot a ray of light at him from the tip of my dad's trident. But Wilheim grunted as he saw the attack and repelled it with his sword. Ursula dropped her jaw at the sight of this. Even I couldn't believe that there was a weapon capable of withstanding one of my dad's shots! She was now lost, no doubt about that!

But suddenly, she had a horrible idea, and smiled again. I heard her evil cackle, and she began to squeeze our bodies. I felt as if all the bones in me were about to be shattered. We all tried to yell for aid, but our screams got stuck on our throats. Nevertheless, Ukyo managed to overcome the tentacle's force, and yelled:

"OW... WILHEIM!"

As soon as he heard her yell, he flew down and came our way. Ursula had foreseen this and began to swing her tentacles, trying to whip him with them. But Wilheim merely turned into mist. Ursula froze when he did this. He didn't reappear until he was right by our side. And then, he swung his blade and cut both tentacles with one blow. We fell into the sea and I quickly swum away from the monster, along with Sora and Goofy. However, Ukyo raced to the beast and tried to attack her. Luckily, Sora and I were quick enough to swim to her and hold her by the arms.

"LET ME GO!" she yelled. "HE NEEDS HELP!"

"You can't help him!" I cried. "She's too powerful for us!"

"Listen to her, Ukyo!" Sora added. "She's right!"

We finally managed to pull her back to safety, even though she gave quite a struggle and almost got away a couple of times. From there, we saw how Wilheim kept on fighting against Ursula with all of his strength. Suddenly, she swung the trident at him, and he managed to parry it with his blade. However, he couldn't move, and struggled hard just to stay close to the monster, who was enraged at the vampire. Her six remaining tentacles tried to reach up to him, but he was flying too high for them, and she couldn't use just one of her hands to struggle against him, because if she did, he would surely beat her. Gosh, I wished that she would make this mistake...

Suddenly, we heard a growl. It had come from underwater. We turned down and saw a huge shadow of Heartless coming at us. I let out a gasp and tried to reach for my potions again, only to find out once more that I was out of them. Ukyo clinched to her spatula, with tears of desperation in her face, while Sora put himself on guard and Goofy swam in front of me with hopes of protecting me from the foes with his shell...

But there was no need of fighting this time. Many rays of light suddenly came from the bottom and caught the Heartless's attention. They turned back and most of them vanished as soon as they did. The other ones tried to surface in fear, but failed in the attempt. A few seconds later, a mermaid, two mermen and a strange creature surfaced. They were the same ones that had come along with Ukyo, Sora, and Goofy to my dad's throne!

"AERIS!" Ukyo yelled. "We've got to help him!" he pointed at Wilheim and kept on speaking. "Please, Aeris! He needs our help! Ryu, Ken, Link! Please, help him!"

"That's one REALLY large whale – octopus!" the blonde merman said. "God... Is that Wilheim over there?"

"What power!" the other merman, who wore a red piece of cloth around his head, added. "I can't believe that he is standing up to that monster! But... it seems that his strength is failing him! He must be using much more power than his body can withstand!"

"Then let us speak of it no longer and help him!" the creature exclaimed.

"She's weak against lightning!" both Ukyo and I cried. And then, she added: "Fry her ass with lightning spells!"

"I'll help what I can with a 'Hadoken'!" said the blonde merman.

"I'll use my 'Shinku – Hadoken'!" added the other one.

"Do that, and distract her while you can." Said the creature. He turned to the mermaid and told her: "Aeris, wait until my signal to let loose your fiercest lightning spell. Both of our electrical fields will make her yield. Look for my signal, alright?"

"Where are you going, Link?" she asked, as he got ready to dive underwater.

"Trust me, please!"

"I... I'll trust you, Link!"

And so, both mermen cupped their hands and began to summon some sort of magical wind to them, while the mermaid lifter her hands and thunder began to roar above her. The other one swam as quickly as he could to the monster's body. He avoided all whipping tentacles and managed to get a hold of the monster's stomach. And so, he delved one of his arms into it. Ursula hardly felt it, I think, for she only grunted and glanced at him as Link cried:

"NOW, AERIS!"

"SHINKU – HADOKEN!"

"HADOKEN!"

"THUNDAGA!"

Aeris, Ryu, and Ken's cries traveled through the waves, as did their attacks: two blue rays of energy, one fiercer than the other, crashed against Ursula's body. She tumbled and yelled in pain. Then, a thunder roared right above her head, and Ukyo yelled:

"WILHEIM! LET GO!"

Wilheim heard her cry and quickly turned into mist and flew away as the storm of lightning fell on the monster. And then, Link let out a battle cry as a blue field of electrical energy began to flow from his body and into Ursula's. The monster thrashed and yelled as smoke rose from her very skin. Still, she wouldn't let go of my daddy's trident. A long time passed, and both Aeris and Link grew weak. The last ray fell on Ursula and Link took his arm out of the beast's body. Although weak, Ursula wasn't beaten yet. She whipped Link with one of her tentacles and he flew all the way to where we were. Aeris swam at him and held him before he sank. He shook his head and let out a tired sigh: he wasn't hurt. He was only weakened, but that was all.

Finally, Wilheim decided to end the battle. He swung his sword at the trident as hard as he could: this time, it flew right out of Ursula's hands and shrunk in the air. Then, the vampire let out a furious roar and thrust his sword deep into her chest. Ursula tried to cry, but it seemed that the pain was so intense that she couldn't even speak.

"THIS IS THE END FOR YOU, MONSTER!" Wilheim yelled. "CONSUME HER, RENAMARK! EASE YOUR THIRST WITH THIS FILTH'S FLESH!"

The sword obeyed and suddenly, an explosion of yellow flames engulfed the monster. Black smoke rose from the sea and her tentacles shrunk. And then, she disappeared in the cloud.

The sea became at ease and the sky cleared. It was still night, but it was a clear, beautiful night, and it was filled with stars. Wilheim nearly turned into another one, because he was still floating in the air and seemed so small... He sheathed his sword and his wings suddenly vanished. He was too tired to fly anymore. Ukyo raced to him as he fell into the sea. He plunged into the water headfirst and began to sink...

As we all dived and followed Ukyo, I noticed that the trident was falling right to where my dad was. And when it touched the ground, Ursula's spell broke, and my dad was his old self again, as well as the other two mermen.

"DADDY!" I yelled, happily, and quickly hugged him.

"My Ariel!" he said, and hugged me back. I cried on his chest, and said:

"I'm so sorry, daddy! I didn't mean to do any harm! Please, forgive me! I'm such an idiot! I'm so sorry! I love you, daddy! I don't want anything bad to happen to you ever again!"

"Oh, Ariel!" he replied. "I'm sorry too. It was stupid of my also to banish those humans like I did. It seems that they're not so mean as we thought..." we looked up and saw that Wilheim was still sinking into the depths of the sea. But before long, Ukyo caught him and took him to the surface. All of her friends followed her, as did we. I noticed that the Underwater Materia had slipped off his neck and quickly grasped it.

When we surfaced, we saw that Ukyo had already taken him to a nearby rock, and had laid him there. She climbed onto it, and said in a low voice, not minding the rest of us as we swam closer:

"Please, Wilheim, baby... Don't you die... You're going to be just fine. Just be strong, and you'll see that you'll pull through!"

Wilheim, who seemed to have been unconscious until then, let out a weak chuckle, and replied:

"Of course I will. You know that I can heal my wounds. I only need a little rest... Or have you forgotten about the time when I revealed to you that I was a vampire? I only need a bit of blood, and I should be fine."

"Oh, Wilheim – honey!" she exclaimed and held him between sobs and laughter. "You can have all you want... Drink from me if you're feeling weak."

"Perhaps later, my love." He replied, with another weak laugh. He sighed, and said: "I was so furious that I let loose too much power. Too much for my own body to withstand it. Luckily, your friends came... I never thought I would experience a change like that. Gargoyle wings came out of my back, yet I remained in a human's shape... I wonder why that was?"

"Stop talking about it right now, Wilheim – honey..." she murmured. "I was thinking that I would never see you again! Here you are! At long last... Oh, baby, I missed you so much." She kissed him all over his face, and her tears fell on his cheeks. "Without you, I felt lost. There were only shadows... I see light, now. I don't ever want to lose you again, not ever: I don't care if you're a vampire still. I still love you. I love you, I love you, honey, and I'll never get tired of saying that. The nights will be beautiful again, no matter the perils, for you are by my side again..."

"My darling..." he said with a broken voice and a happy smile. He began to cry bloody tears, but she didn't seem to be scared by them. Instead, she wiped them with her hands hand kissed his cheeks. He embraced her softly and whispered in her ear: "I can live again. Do not think that just because I am a vampire I need no sun. You are the star that lights my path. I feel your loving touch and it is softer than silk, softer than the winds at dusk, and warmer than the embrace of the day, which I long have wished to feel. I see your loving, blue eyes again, and they are more precious than diamonds, fairer than the sea... Those are the only true jewels that haunt me. And I smell your hair and know that such pure air cannot be found elsewhere. For the wind turns venomous when you are not around. I deem that it has been no more than three months since our last meeting, but for me, it has been another fifty years..." he paused, and then added, in a lovely whisper: "Let me kiss your lips, for I long their taste. Let me savor your sweet fragrance, for naught but blood has stained them. Let me love you, my darling..."

"Wilheim..." she said, in a muffled breath as she kissed him passionately and shut him up.

I couldn't help but to chuckle and wipe off a happy tear that ran down my face and let out a giggle as my dad put his arm around me and kissed my forehead. I was so glad to see them together. The rest of the ones around me felt the same way, I guess, for they were all smiling and sighing silently. It seemed like finally, their long wait had ended. They were together again, and this time, nothing would bring them apart. A stage of their quest had ended.

I wish I could have that, too... I thought to myself as they finally stopped kissing and laughed merrily.

I couldn't believe the amazing luck that we had had by coming to Atlantis. Not only had Ukyo found Wilheim and I had met with Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent, and the little girl Sakura had met with our Ryu and our Ken... There was much more to it.

"I cannot believe this..." said Wilheim, breathlessly, as he looked at Demean with bewildered eyes. "For the longest time, I hoped that we would meet again, but this was the most unlikely place of them all for our reencounter, I reckon."

"Stop talking, little parrot!" laughed the elf, as he hugged him. "If you start speaking, there is hardly any force in the world capable of hushing you!" he then turned to see the little fairy and the hobbit, and his smile became bigger. "Oh, my little Tish! And Merryck Goldengrass!" he embraced them too, without letting go of Wilheim. "Merry times are here again!"

"Demean! I missed you so much!" cried the fairy as she held on to his cheek and wept happily along with him. "I was certain that I would meet you again! But I did not believe that the time would come so soon!"

"It's such a joy to see you, friend!" added the hobbit. "And this time, it is I who will most likely do the talking about many adventures! And there are still more to follow, I deem! This is certainly a joyful moment!"

After a few moments, Wilheim managed to escape the massive hug and joined another one...

"Wilheim! Ryoga!" cried both Ranma and Akane, joyfully, as both of them, along with Ukyo, hugged both Wilheim and another boy who wore a yellow bandanna on his head. "It's so good to see you guys again!"

"Likewise, Akane!" laughed the boy with the yellow bandanna. "I was so worried about you, girls!"

"Hey, cut that out, Ryoga!" said Ranma. "You know better than to mess with me! Oh, I can explain about it, Wilheim..."

"Ryoga has already been kind enough to tell me the story, Ranma." Laughed the vampire. "Do not worry about it."

Next, it was my turn to join a group hug. Cid, Yuffie, and I quickly went to Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent, and held them tightly. Then, they all promised me that they would never let anything bad happen to me again...

The little girl Sakura now held Ryu and Ken for a long time and told them all that she wanted to tell them (well, not all, I suppose, for I was certain that there was much more to say than just a five – minute talk, which is all that she got at that time).

Last but not least, our three most recent team members also found their friends. Shun, Hyoga, and Ikki were delighted to see the other two saints which they had told us so much about: Shiryu and Seyia, and they also seemed to be very happy to find them as well.

Our two parties had met at last. Hopes were renewed and our strength grew. We all went proudly to king Triton's palace as the night began to wane. The king, who had always disliked humans, had finally accepted that not all of us were as mean as he believed. It was truly something amazing... Not only had we found our lost friends, but we had also forged a special bond between land and sea. The Heartless's forces, which had been growing at such a fast rate in that land, had now become very weak, and what was better was that king Triton knew where the keyhole was hidden. He revealed that it was inside Ariel's Grotto, and when he mentioned this, his daughter looked at him with a surprised glance. Then the king revealed to her that he already knew about her collection. He had always disliked it, but had chosen not to say anything. Now, however, the time had come to enter the cave and put an end to the evil menace in the sea.

The only ones that entered the cave were the king, Ariel, Ukyo, Wilheim, Sora, and I, while the rest of our friends waited outside. The king raised his golden trident, and upon the rocks of the cave, appeared a strange marking. He stuck his weapon in it as if were some sort of a key, and Atlantis's keyhole was revealed to us. Sora smiled and quickly shot it with his Keyblade, and the evil shadows were finished.

We decided to spend the day in Triton's palace, who had offered us sea – beds again. Then, we would be off. But our strength had been renewed, and our hearts were now beating happily. We had become an unstoppable army: the Heartless would never be able to beat us now!