Xion slowly opens her eyes. She gets up from off the ground and looks around. She's In the world that never was. She looks around in confusion, wondering how she got there, before seeing a figure in an organization coat walking towards Memory's skyscraper.
"Roxas?" She says. The figure does not respond and keeps walking, and so she follows. Eventually, once the figure is in front of the skyscraper and turns around, revealing large red eyes staring back at her, as well as purple flame-like hues near the end of its sleeves and the base of its coat. Suddenly from below the ground, curved red spikes of darkness emerge and pierce through Xion. Xion wails in pain as she feels the life drain out from her. The figure materializes a keyblade, the kingdom key, and charges, piercing the defenseless Xion through her chest. As everything begins to fade away she's barely able to catch a glimpse at the one who lies under the hood. It's herself.
Xion opens her eyes and jumps a little, her panic quickly turns to reassurance, as she fells Roxas arms heald around her.
"It's okay, it's just a nightmare, everyone's safe," Roxas says, as calmly as possible. Xion looks around and Sees Namine looking at her, worried.
"Thank you, I needed that," Xion says. Roxas lets her go and she gets up to look outside the cockpit. "What's this place?" Xion asks.
"From what Yen Sid's book chronicles, it seems to be Atlantica," Namine says. "We wanted to investigate a world, as it seems to have a surprising lack of nobodies or heartless," Namine explained.
"Alright. I'm ready whenever you guys are." Xion said. Namine and Roxas nod and the three descend to the world below.
Roxas, Xion, and Namine appear in Atlantica and suddenly close their eyes and rubbing them.
"Are we underwater or something?" Roxas says after his eyes get used to being underwater.
"What the- Our legs!" Xion looks down at where her legs once were and sees that they're no longer there, Roxas does the same. "Namine, did you do this?" Xion asked. Namine nods.
"The inhabitance of this part of the world is mostly sea creatures and Mer-people." explained Namine "So I changed our appearance to fit in." Roxas and Xion nod to show they understand, before looking at each other to see how they look. Roxas tail resembles that of a dolphin, it being dark-gray in color, Like most mermen, Roxas doesn't wear a shirt underwater. Xion's tail is black with yellow streaks, the end of her tail being a nice yellow color, resembling that of a Moorish Idol fish, her top is replaced with black bandages that vaguely resemble those athletes wear on their hands, though they look more comfortable. Namine's tail is white like her dress, and the end of her tail is frilled, resembling that of a white betta fish, her top is replaced with ribbon-like wrappings that also resemble that of her dress, there is a lot of excess ribbons and the slack flows behind Namine elegantly.
The three swim around for some time, learning to get used to this new way of moving around.
"This is gonna take some getting used to," Roxas says, struggling to swim at a moderate pace. Namine and Xion adapt to swimming as mermaids very quickly, and the two help Roxas adjust to it.
"There we go, You're getting the hang of it," Xion says. The two let go of Roxas' hands and let him swim by himself. It seems he finally gotten a grip on how to swim in their current state.
"Good job Roxas!" Says Namine. The three swim around a bit more and get a good look of the general area. It seems they're just outside the main city of Atlantica, a large city home to Mer-people and fish alike, ruled by King Triton. After a few moments to take in the beautiful scenery of the ocean, the three are approached by some of the cities inhabitants, a flounder, a crab, and a mermaid with red hair, a green tail, and a clam-shell top.
"Are you okay?" Asks the mermaid "You look like you struggling quite a bit." Thinking quickly, Roxas comes up with an original excuse.
"Oh no, I'm fine. I'm just not used to these waters. We're not from around here." Says Roxas. The mermaid stops and looks at the three before giggling.
"You're friends of Sora aren't you?" asks the mermaid. The three are taken aback by the mermaid's ability to see through the lie. "Sora said the exact same thing when he came to Atlantica." The mermaid said with a smile. Suddenly, Namine has a realization
"Oh! You must be Ariel!" Namine says. She turns to the flounder and the crab "So that must mean you're Flounder and your Sebastion." Namine says, making an educated guess from what the book chronicled.
"Hehe~ I see Sora's told you guys a lot of stories about Atlantica," says Ariel.
"Yeah, you could say that," Roxas says, deciding not to go too into detail on what's been going on with sora.
"So there aren't any heartless here?" Xion asked.
"Hmm? No. They all disappeared sometime after Sora locked the keyhole" Ariel responded. "Are they still around in other places?" Asked Ariel. Xion nods.
"Heartless have been able to make their way to other worlds again because of corridors of darkness," Xion explains. "They're opened by a group known as Organization Thirteen, who release them into other worlds to wreak havoc. However, it seems they're unable to release them into this world, though I can't say for certain why." Xion begins to think deeply.
"Well, that's fine. It's a shame other worlds are going through such trouble again, but I know people like you and Sora are going to make things right." Ariel says, smiling. The three smile back, and thank Ariel for her kinds words.
"Ariel!" Sebastian says getting her attention, before pointing back to Atlantica
"Oh right! I have a rehearsal in a few minutes. If you three would like you can come and watch." Ariel offers
"That would be nice," says Namine, and the three follow Ariel, Sebastian, and Flounder to the auditorium under the sea. There were few people in the audience which is understandable, as usually, people that aren't a part of the show don't attend rehearsals.
Sebastian conducts while many sea creatures play a multitude of instruments. There are many creatures and mermaids dancing and performing on stage, with Ariel at the center. According to the book Yen Sid showed them, These mermaids are Triton's seven daughters, with Ariel being his youngest, and the most talented at dancing and singing, something she supposedly inherited from her late mother. This isn't to say everyone else is bad though.
The three watch as all the performers dance perfectly in conjunction with each other, each showcasing the skills they've built up over years of practice. Once the show is over, a large merman with a crown and gold trident begins to swim towards performers. The merman is King Triton. He talks with his daughters for a bit before they're dismissed to spend the day as they please.
"Your highness, we have guests," Sebastion tells the king. He directs him to Namine, Xion, and Roxas. "They're friends of Sora," he says.
` "Friends of Sora you say? Tell me, are any of you three also chosen by the keyblade?" Asks the king. Roxas and Xion nod and show him their keyblades. "I see. I certainly hope there hasn't been a need to use them here."
"Don't worry your highness. Everything fine. Not a single heartless insight." Xion says. She notices something. Ariel seems to be floating by herself staring off into space.
"Oh yes, I see you've noticed Ariel's behavior. She's still so infatuated with the human world." King Triton says with dismay, not exactly a fan of the world above. The king swims away and leaves them to their devices, not really knowing how to help his daughter, at least in a way that aligns with his beliefs on humans. Flounder suddenly whispers something the Roxas, Xion, Namine, and Sebastion.
"I got an idea! I saw something in the ocean that might cheer Ariel up! Follow me!" Flounder swims away, and the four follow. After some time, they reach a shipwreck on the bottom of the sea. Flounder directs their attention to something under a rock. A statue of a human, seemingly of royalty, as he wears particularly nice clothing.
"Flounder, if de Sea King finds out about dis. . ." Says Sebastian with worry
"It's better than letting Ariel go to the surface against the kings will though. . ." Xion says, deep in thought. Roxas, Xion, and Namine approach the statue. It doesn't seem like it can be lodged out of the rock without picking the rock up and move it. The three try to move it with all their strength, but it just won't budge. "Hmm, here, let me try this." Says Xion. She materializes her keyblade and casts a magnet spell. The rock shakes but does not move. Roxas joins in and casts his own magnet spell. But the power of two magnets combined still cannot move the rock enough to get the statue out from below.
"It's no use." Says Roxas. Huffing and puffing to catch his breath.
"Do you think drive forms could do the trick?" Xion asks.
"You two shouldn't use those for a while, considering what happened at Agrabah," Namine says. "We don't know what exactly causes an anti-form transformation."
"What are they talking about?" Flounder whispers to Sebastion.
"I don't know. . ." he whispers back.
The three turn to face the fish and the crab. "I'm sorry. We're going to have to come back later, once we're stronger, to lift the statue." Sebastian and Flounder nod, before turning to meet back with Ariel. Once the coast is clear, the three make their way to the gummi ship and return to human form.
"That was a nice break from the usual heartless slaying." Said Xion. "we come back soon."
"Yeah, It was nice, but other worlds need our help," Namine interjects.
"You're right. Let's set course to the next world." Everybody gets in their seats and the gummi ship, With such a calming experience Atlantica provided, whatever the next world has to offer would likely seem terrifying in comparison.