Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Disney

The small blue world named Atlantica was starting to come into view from the gummi ship. Sora held Kairi's hand as the ship began to spin, the way it always did when they were about to land in a world. They all closed their eyes. Their landing in Atlantica was not one that they'd expected. Sora looked down, expecting a fin, but instead, seeing his shoes. "What? I don't understand…" Donald and Goofy had the same expressions on their faces, but Riku had no clue what they were talking about. Kairi knew, because Namine knew, and Namine knew because Roxas knew, and Roxas was a part of Sora.

"Yeah, where are our fins?" Donald asked, frustrated. "Hyuck, but Donald, you didn't have fins," Goofy chimed in. Sora looked at Riku and Kairi. "Yeah, Donald was a turtle." They laughed and Donald crossed his arms to pout. "Well anyway," Sora continued. "This doesn't look like Atlantica."

"That's because it's not." A young voice answered. They turned around to see a huge white castle with red tops. They were in the backyard, they guessed. Right in front of them stood a black-haired girl, who couldn't be more than twelve years old. "I'm Melody. Who are you?"

"I'm Sora, this is Riku, Donald, Goofy, Roxas, Namine, and Kairi." He said pointing to each of them when he spoke their names. "Hi." They all added. "This isn't Atlantica. My mom says that's just a fairytale. But the beach is behind that wall right there." She said, pointing behind them. Riku asked, "Um, how do we get there?"

"Come on, I'll show you!" She pulled the tie out of her hair and let it fall down. Then she dove into the mote surrounding the castle. Riku followed her, then Donald and Goofy. Sora and Kairi summoned Roxas and Namine, just in case they ran into trouble on the other side of the wall. There's something oddly familiar about that girl, but I don't think I've ever met her. Sora thought.

On the other side of the wall Sora swam to a rock that he saw a small red crab sitting on. "Sebastian!" He swam faster till he got to the rock. "Oh hi Sora, Donald, Goofy, and who's this?"

"I'm Riku, Sora's friend."

"And I'm Kairi, Sora's girlfriend."

"Oh how cute," Sebastian said sarcastically. Sora shot him a glare, but a playful one. "What are you doing here? Where's Ariel? And Atlantica?" Sebastian looked panicked when Sora asked this question. He said, "I don't know what you're talking about, there is no Atlantica." He then winked at Sora. Melody was too busy swimming to notice. "Will someone please explain to me what's going on?" Riku asked, frustrated. "Okay, right this way. Skuttle, watch the girl." Sebastian swam to the shore and the others followed. All except for Melody and Donald, who was distracting her, acting like he didn't know how to swim. "Ariel doesn't want Melody knowin about dee sea." Sebastian told them. "Ariel? How does Melody know Ariel?"

"Melody is Ariel and Prince Eric's daughter." He answered.

"Oh." They all said. "But how…" Sora began. "I mean, how can she have a teen daughter, we saw her last year, and we only aged a year." Goofy looked at Sora. "Different worlds have different times."

"Oh." He said. "So one year in our world is like ten in Atlantica?" Sebastian answered him, "Somedin like dat."

"How come Ariel doesn't want Melody to know where she came from?" Kairi asked him.

"Ursula's evil sister, Morgana, wants to use Melody to get to da king's trident. She wants to put her in danger."

"That's terrible!"

"Yeah, so you see, she don't got much of a choice." Sebastian looked out towards Melody. "Melody! Don't forget about dee party!" They saw her head pop out of the water. "Oh yeah, coming!" She again led them under the water and through the iron fence at the bottom of the wall, removing a broken piece to get them by. They laughed as they saw her sneak in through the window. "Are you guys coming?" She asked. "No, I think we'll just go ring the doorbell," Sora answered. He motioned the others to follow him.

"Sora! Donald! Goofy! What a nice surprise! Come in," Ariel greeted them. "What brings you to Atlantica?"
"Trouble, I guess. What's been goin on?"

"Well, I have a daughter now, her names Melody," They let her talk about Melody and then introduce her to them, not wanting Ariel to know that Melody was in the ocean. That would be meddling. "Nice to meet you." Riku winked at her, she shook his hand and said the same, pretending she was just meeting them, too. "Won't you join the party? There's plenty to eat, and drink, and some good music and guests."

"We'd love to if that's ok with you, your Majesty." Donald told her. She laughed. "Of course it is! Will you need a place to stay overnight as well? We have plenty of space."

"If it's not too much trouble," Sora told her.

"Not at all. Follow me so I can show you your rooms, then we can get back to the party. It's Melody's twelfth birthday, you know." She walked up the stairs, leading the five of them as well. She turned to the left when she got to the top of the stairs. She pointed to the right, "Down that hall are mine and Eric's room, Melody's room, and the servants' rooms." Then she began walking to the left. The first door on the right would be Donald's room. The first on the left would be Goofy's. Then the second door on the right would be Kairi's, and the second on the left, Riku's. She opened each door to show them. Then she walked down the rest of the hall, skipping a few doors, and walked up another small set of stairs at the end of the hall. "And since you're the key weilder, you will need this room. It overlooks the ocean, just in case there's trouble." She opened the door to Sora's room and they all went inside. The room was large, with a bed facing west on the eastern side of the room. Directly in front of them, to the north, was the ocean, waves lapping up against the shore beautifully. There were a few paintings on the wall, a desk, and a private bathroom and private balcony overlooking the ocean. "Wow." He said. Donald pouted again, jealous. Ariel kissed Donald's forehead and he calmed down. Such a wuss, Roxas said in Sora's head, referring to Donald. Shh.

They went back down to the party, just in time to see a small blonde boy ask Melody to dance. They watched and noticed Sebastian tied into Melody's dress. "Uh oh," Riku said. "Yeah," Sora agreed. Suddenly, Sebastian bit the boy's finger in an attempt to get loose. This caused the boy to flip out, crashing into the table of refreshments, and Sebastian flew up into the air and landed on to the beautiful birthday cake being brought out. Sora stifled a laugh. Kairi felt horrible for the poor girl. She ran up the stairs crying and Ariel ran after her. Kairi was about to go as well to try to comfort her, but Namine warned her. Give Ariel a chance to talk to her alone, then you can go in.

Yeah, you're right.

Of course I am. Kairi rolled her eyes.

After the party guests all returned home, Ariel came out of her daughter's room. "How is she?" Kairi asked.

"She's been better." She seemed worried about something, but she didn't press any further. She saw her take Eric's hand and they walked into their room. "I'm going to go and talk to her." She said to Sora. He nodded and kissed her goodnight. Kairi waited until all four of them went into their rooms before she walked up the stairs on the right to Melody's.

She knocked on the door before opening it and coming in. "Melody?" She said, closing the door behind her. She saw Melody try to wipe the tears away from her cheeks. She immediately felt sad too, feeling bad for Melody. "Mind if I sit?" She asked, motioning to the bed next to Melody. "No, go ahead." Kairi sat down and twisted her body towards Melody. "I can't imagine how you felt back there. I would have thrown up," she said, trying to make Melody laugh. It didn't. "Are you alright now?"

"Not really. No one understands."

"I do. The teenage years are hard. I'm still in them myself."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Lucky. You're almost done." She laughed. "Hardly, I've still got three years to go before I'm done with this."

"Yeah, I know. Was it as bad as I thought it was back there?"

"It was pretty bad, but don't feel embarrassed. They weren't laughing at you, they were laughing at that little red thing." Kairi had trouble remembering his name. This time, Melody laughed. "Sebastian," she corrected her. "Sebastian," Kairi repeated. "It's not just that. Sometimes I begin to think that even my mom doesn't get it."

"Why do you say that?"

"I feel like the sea is a part of me, I don't know why I feel that way, but I do. And she won't allow me anywhere near water." Kairi didn't know what to say. She knew why, but she couldn't say anything to the girl because she was not permitted to meddle. "Sometimes our parents have reasons that they don't feel comfortable telling us yet."

"Why not?"
"That's…" She thought about it. "That's a good question. I'm not entirely sure." It was quiet for a moment. "So you are the brown-haired boy's girlfriend?" Kairi felt her cheeks fill with blood. "Yes."

"He's cute. You guys make a good couple."

"Thanks." She said, still blushing and smiling.

"I wish there was someone like that for me."

"There will be," Kairi reassured her. "You're only twelve. Sometimes it takes awhile to find him, but you will."

"How do you know that?"

"You're pretty, and you're nice, and you're kindhearted. Don't worry, you'll find him."

"Thanks." Melody looked a bit better. "Okay, well I'm a little tired now, so if you're feeling better I'll be going to bed."

"Okay." Kairi got up and was about to open the door to leave. "Kairi?" She turned around. "Yeah?"

"Thank you. For talking to me, I mean. It helps, having someone closer to your own age to talk to."

"I know it does. And you're welcome. Anytime. Goodnight." She shut the door behind her and looked up to walk back towards her room. A shadow stood over her, moving closer and closer.