This will be taking place in between the events of "A Dish Best Served Cold" and "Like Father & Mother, Like Son & Daughter", showing what all happened during the 2 year time skip after Maleficent's defeat and before S x A's wedding.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any Disney/Pixar or Square Enix characters.

Thank you

Sora woke up ready to start his day, getting up and examining himself in the bathroom mirror. The swelling in his eye had gone down tremendously from the previous night. He still couldn't believe Enrique, the local island "bad boy", would have his friends jump him like that…on second thought, yes he could. It was because earlier that day, Sora had made a fool out of him by breaking his nose, so he figured he'd get a little payback by jumping him later. However, his plans backfired when Sora knocked him and his two friends out cold, but not before first receiving a black eye from Enrique.

After getting washed up and ready, he went to the guest room and slowly peaked in to see his girlfriend Ariel still sleeping soundly. He snuck over toward her bed and kissed her on the cheek, saying "Good morning, princess." She opened her eyes and looked up at him, then smiled. "Good morning my prince" she said in return. Sora gave a puzzled look. "I'm no prince, Ariel" he replied. Ariel sat up straight and gave him a stern look. "Sora, we've been through this already. I don't care if you're royalty or not, you have always been a prince in my eyes, and that will never change. Being a prince is more than just being rich or having servants. You've got a great spirit, a strong sense of bravery and wisdom, and battle skills that could rival any prince or king or soldier out there. There is a lot more to you than you think, and I'll always be here to remind you of that. But, if you keep saying otherwise, then I'll be forced to get my daddy's trident and use it on you until you stop selling yourself short. Got it?" she told him sternly, but lovingly at the same time. Sora threw his hands up in a surrendering manner. "Ok, ok, I hear you babe" he replied. She then beamed a smile at him and said, "Good. Now that that's out of the way, I believe someone owes me a good morning kiss."

After they shared a long, passionate kiss, Ariel got up from out the bed and went to take a shower. She walked past him, swaying her hips back and forth, knowing that Sora was watching her walk to the bathroom door. She then turned around and winked at him before closing the door. After they both were freshened up and ready, they headed downstairs to eat breakfast that Sora's mother cooked. "Wow, this is really good. You'll have to teach me how to make this" Ariel said, while eating. "Yeah, mom this is amazing!" added Sora with his mouthful. "Thanks you two" said Sora's mother. She then whispered in Ariel's ear, "And don't worry, Ariel, I'll show you how to make all of Sora's favorites." After they finished eating, Sora's mother then asked, "So where are you two headed off to now?" "Probably just go to the beach for a swim, then maybe go visit Donald and Goofy at their world" answered Sora. The couple soon left the house and headed towards the beach.

On their way to the beach, they were being watched by Enrique, who also happened to be heading toward the beach area with his two friends: Rafael and Roland. "Bro, I don't know what she sees in that goofball" said Enrique. "Just let it go already, man" cried Roland. "Yeah bro, you can have pretty much any other girl on this island you want. Why waste your time pining over this one?" asked Rafael. "Because I can have any girl I want on this island, including her" Enrique said confidently. "Umm bro, if she wanted you, she wouldn't have slapped you that one day when you tried to grab her, nor would she have sicced Sora on you yesterday when you tried to get fresh with her" said Rafael. "I don't care. I'll show her once and for all that sticking with me will be well worth it, and she'll see that sooner or later and ditch that loser for a real man" said Enrique.

Sora and Ariel went to the water and jumped right in. Ariel chose not to use her power to turn into a mermaid this time, because she felt that she still needed more practice swimming with two legs. "Wanna play undersea tag?" asked Ariel. "Sure, I'm game" said Sora. "Good. MUAH! You're it" she said, and kissed him on the cheek. Then, she swam away from him. "Hey, no fair! You're supposed to use your hands to tag me, not your lips" he said. She laughed and said, "Sorry, what was that? I can't hear you. I don't speak 'loser'." "Oh, it's on now" replied Sora as he chased after her. It wasn't long before he caught her though. "Ha! Now who's it?" he said triumphantly. They went back and forth like this for the next hour or so, before coming out of the water. When they got out, they were confronted by Enrique and his pals. "So, here we are again. Care to go for a swim?" he asked, offering Ariel his hand. They both walked right past him and kept ignoring him. "Aw come on, are you just gonna let porcupine head over there dictate your every move?" he shot at her. At this point, he was trying to both win her over and provoke Sora as a bonus—and they knew it too. "Just keep walking, Sora" Sora said to himself. He and Ariel continued walking away hand in hand, but Enrique's comments just kept flowing like the ocean before them. "Awww what's the matter, Red? Cat got your tongue? If your man was a real one, he'd let you salvage your rep and hang around some high rolling islanders instead of the loser squad he always has you around" he snarked. Sora's blood was beginning to boil, so Ariel squeezed his hand tighter to try to snap him out of it. "It's cool, he's just egging you on, but don't let him get to you, Sora. You're better than that" Sora said to himself, trying to calm down. "That's right, baby. You are better than that. Just keep ignoring him, you're doing good" encouraged Ariel.

"I mean, if you had any brains at all in that pretty little head of yours, you'd realize it for yourself. Unless you're just the type of broad to get by off your looks alone, with little to no smarts to accompany it" Enrique said to her. That was the final straw—for both of them. As Sora turned around to go kick Enrique's ass, Ariel stopped him. "Baby, let me take care of this" she said. With that, she stormed over to Enrique and got right in his face. "Let me tell you something, jerk. First of all, you have no right coming over here and disrespecting me and my boyfriend like that. You're not a hot shot like you think you are, I know dumb guys like you from back home that aren't even half as obnoxious as you. All you are is a wanna-be ladies man that thinks he can just hit on any girl with a 'pretty face' and feel entitled to sex or whatever else you intend on getting from her. It may get you some ways with some girls, but I'm not one of them! So, quit treating me like such. Secondly, do not talk about my new friends like that either. They are not losers. They're cool and fun to hang around, and make for much better company than you or your irritating friends. Thirdly, you must already know by now, that I would sooner cut off both of my arms than to go out with you. And lastly, if you ever disrespect me or Sora again, just so you know, I'm the daughter of King Triton and I will not hesitate to use his trident on you to teach you a lesson the hard way, so if you know what's good for you you'll leave us both alone!" she said while glaring daggers at him throughout her whole speech.

This surprised not only Sora, but all the other people passing by that overheard Ariel chewing Enrique out. Enrique looked dumbfounded and his friends were just like, "Daaaaamn! Girl got a lot of spunk." Ariel then walked away, taking Sora's hand in hers. "Come on, baby. Let's go over there by the palm tree and make out until we run out of oxygen" she said to him seductively. They went over to the palm tree and sat down under it. "Wow babe! I didn't know you had that in you. I'm impressed" Sora said with a grin. Ariel giggled and blushed a little. "Well, Sora, if you didn't know I had it in me, then maybe you need to get to know me a little bit more" she replied with a smile. "Definitely! But for right now, the only thing I want to get to know more is those beautiful, blood red lips that are dying to be kissed right now" he said. She then cupped his face and gave him a deep kiss, while Enrique, his friends, and a few other islanders watched.

Later that day, the couple went inside the secret place when no one was around. "So, you said the only ones that know about this place are you, Riku, Kairi, Namine, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and me right?" Ariel asked. Sora nodded and said, "Yep, no one else knows about it except us." Examining all of the strange writings on the wall, Ariel saw the spot where Sora and Kairi's drawing of each other once was. It was now scribbled over. She remembered when Sora first decided to scribble over it, and that's when she had talked to him and convinced him to rekindle his friendship with Kairi, despite their past history as a couple. "Do you—miss Kairi?" she then turned and asked him. "What do you mean by that, Ariel?" Sora asked in response. "I mean, do you miss having her as your girlfriend?" she asked.

"Absolutely not" replied Sora "I honestly wish we never became a couple to begin with. Maybe things between us would've been better if she had've chosen Riku instead of me." "Riku—used to like her too?" asked Ariel. "Yeah, in fact, oftentimes we would get into these silly competitions with each other in order to get her attention and impress her" Sora said, while laughing at the memories. "I—I just don't want you to ever grow tired of me and decide you want someone else one day…whether it be her or anyone else" said Ariel worriedly. Now, it was his turn to give her the same scolding she had given him earlier that morning. "Ariel, you don't ever have to worry about me losing interest in you or leaving you for someone else. Especially not Kairi. Don't let what me and her used to have distract you from what you and I now have. You're my soulmate, my boo, my true love. Never forget that" he said to her. She looked at him and smiled. "Thank you, baby. I'm glad to hear that" she said appreciatively. They hugged, and then left the secret cave. "Hey, let's go visit Donald and Goofy and check up on them" Sora suggested. "Ok, sounds like fun" replied Ariel. As they were heading toward the gummi ship, they heard a voice from behind. They turned to see Riku, Sora's closest childhood friend, walking towards them. "So, what're you two up to on this day?" he asked. "Hey, Riku. What's up?" greeted Sora. "Nothing much, just seeing what everyone was up to for today" replied Riku. "Oh, we're about to head to Disney Town to check up on the others. Want to come?" offered Sora.

"Sure, I'm down" Riku replied. Soon, the 3 of them were in the gummi ship and were off to Disney Town.

—

Pete snuck into the hidden room of the castle to find where Mickey was hiding the black box, since he had a feeling the mouse king would know where it went after Maleficent's defeat. "Aww come on, where is it? It's gotta be around here someplace" he said desperately. He started tearing up the whole room searching for it, but to no avail. Soon, Minnie entered the room and was infuriated to see Pete there "redecorating" the place. "PETE! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" she asked him angrily. Pete turned around, startled. "Uhh…umm, your majesty….I uh…was just looking for my pin for my suit. I dropped it somewhere in here and I was just trying to find it" he lied. Minnie knew Pete was a terrible liar, so she wasn't buying his story one bit. "You're not fooling anyone, Pete. I know why you're here. You think that black box is somewhere around here don't you? Well, it's not here. Mickey sent it away, and I'm not telling you where he sent it, but it's gone. So don't even get any ideas. Get out of here now before I have you escorted out, unpleasantly" she demanded. Pete then snapped his fingers and opened a dark portal. "This ain't over, Minnie! I will find that black box and bring Maleficent back to life to resume our plan to darken up all the worlds. I swear it!" he declared before disappearing.

About a half hour later, Sora, Riku, and Ariel arrived in the town. They soon ran into Donald and Goofy, who were competing with each other in some sort of ring toss mini game. "I'm gonna win this time, Donald" said Goofy. "In your dreams, you big palooka" replied Donald. "Hey guys" said Sora as he walked up on them. "SORA!" they both said in unison, then ran up to hug him. "What about us?" asked Riku. They then looked and saw him and Ariel standing there also. "Riku! Ariel! What a nice surprise!" said Goofy, as he and Donald hugged them as well. "Hey Donald and Goofy. How are you guys?" greeted a cheerful Ariel. "We're doing good" replied Donald. "I was just about to finish schooling Goofy over here in this ring toss game."

"I don't know, Donald. It looks to me like you're losing" said Sora as he looked at the score and saw Goofy was up by 5 points. "That's only because I haven't got warmed up yet" Donald said defensively. Sora, Ariel, and Riku began to laugh. Soon, the game was over and Goofy won. "I told ya, Donald, hi-yuck!" said Goofy proudly. "Fine. Here" said Donald as he handed over a bag of munny to Goofy. "You guys put a bet on it?" asked Sora. They both nodded, causing Sora and Riku to shake their heads and chuckle. "Well, let's go back to the castle and check on the king and queen" suggested Sora. When they got back, they were informed by Mickey and Minnie that Pete was there earlier and was searching for the black box. "If he gets his hands on that box, he can bring Maleficent back" said Sora worriedly. "That's his plan exactly" replied Mickey. "Gawrsh, then we need to go after Pete to make sure he doesn't find it" replied Goofy. "Agreed, Goofy" Mickey said before standing up. "Riku. You and I can search for him in the dimension where I sent the black box to, while Sora and the others keep a lookout for him in the realm of light." "Ok Mickey, that sounds like a great idea" replied Sora.

As Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ariel were boarding the gummi ship, Ariel's gummiphone began to go off. She answered and saw Arista on the screen. "Hey Arista, what's going on? Is everything ok back in Atlantica?" she asked. "Ariel! You've gotta come here quick. Father says it's urgent" Arista replied back quickly. Sora looked at her and nodded. "Ok, Arista. Here we come" said Ariel before hanging up.

That's the end of this chapter. I'll post the next one as soon as possible, but I've also got other fanfics I'm about to be working on as well. Stay on the lookout for more updates soon.