(Okay, really quick, I have to say something. If anyone's noticed any slight differences in format from chapter to chapter, that's because I'm using two different computers to work on this. Just in case you were wondering. Okay, I'll shut up now. Enjoy! --Topaz Fox)
He knew now. Not only was she in love with the human world, but she was in love with a human man. He had suspected it before, but the fact that it was certain ate away at his insides, leaving his heart a gaping, unsatisfied hole. It made him a little bit sick, all of the jealously and desperate want, but the same eternal hope that had chiseled him a path to heroism glittered in the back of his mind.
This was his one chance to make her fall out of love. Even more so than the musical, this was what he had been rehearsing for.
"The seaweed is always greener
In somebody else' s lake."
Even if his voice wasn't the best, it wasn't terrible, either. Those private voice lessons with Sebastian had definitely helped...
"You dream about going up there,
But that is a big mistake."
It was a big mistake. There was so much color, so much happiness, even so much love coating these lively reefs. Would this plan really work? Would she forget about the world above?
"Just look at the world around you
Right here on the ocean floor!
Such wonderful things surround you;
What more is you lookin' for?"
Donald and Goofy, in theirclumsy aquatic forms, swam around and performed wide, languid loop-de-loops in the water. The choruses of sea creatures and flurry of cheerful fins lifted the chocolate-haired boy's spirits a little. This wasn't so bad. In fact, it was sort of...fun.
It must have lifted the redhead mermaid's spirits, too, because when a school of tiny cherry blossom-colored sprat jetted in a pink maelstrom around her, she rose up in the center of them. She even danced a little to the rhythm of the steel-drum clams, her perfect young body twisting gracefully, and smiled like her old self.
His pulse quickened. It was working!
"Under the sea,
Under the sea..."
It was his moment to shine. He swam closer to her.
"Darling it's better
Down where it's wetter,
Take it from me!"
Up he swam, then down in a flip, coming near her and spreading his arms outward. Involuntarily, a wide, boyish, and conveniently convincing grin spread across his face. She giggled a little, and the bouncy music around them wiggled its way into his veins, pulsing through the stacks of sapphire halos shining around his pupils. He felt himself warm over and then light up, truly happy from the inside out.
Nothing like music to lighten one's outlook on life.
"Up on the shore they work all day,
Out in the sun they slave away,
While we devotin'
Full time to floatin'
Under the sea!"
Sebastian's voice brought a dolphin, an acrobat of the sea, from the shadow of an outcropping of rock. The dolphin careened and wheeled through the water, its speed punctuated with amazingly tight turns and precise loops.
"Under the sea,
Under the sea,
Since life is sweet here,
We got the beat here
Naturally!"
Down floated Sebastian, down into a naturally-formed bowl of ivory coral, settling in a tiny indent in its center. Stretching luxuriously in his niche, he triggered a smile from everyone. He was such a ham.
"Even the sturgeon and the ray,
They get the urge and start to play!
We got the spirit--
You got to hear it!--
Under the sea!"
She was obviously joyful now. Everyone else was delighted, too, playing their hardest, dancing their best, chasing each other head-over-fins. Sebastian was back at his calypso clamshells, and music plunked out melodically from them. It had practically become a party.
"Under the sea,
Under the sea,
When the sardine
Begin their beguine,
It's music to me!"
Her voice, welcome as a rain pounding into desert dust, rang clear and true. She must have gone back to being her happy self; after all, she was singing! It didn't matter to him that he didn't know what a "beguine" was, even though he wondered about it each and every time they rehearsed the song. If she liked "beguines", they had to be good. Carefree like a sunset, she caught hold of a dolphin's tail and rode it around a pillar of rock.
"What do they got?
A lot of sand,
We got a hot crustacean band!
Each little clam here
Know how to jam here
Under the sea!"
Surging with realized optimism, he spun along, whipped out his Keyblade, and struck a plump geyser. A white stream of hot water and wild bubbles spat from its opening, adding even more to the already quite festive atmosphere.
"Each little slug here
Cuttin' a rug here
Under the sea!"
Happiness turned to boldness. Without warning, he grabbed her by the waist and took one of her hands in his. She caught on instantly and, laughing and singing, she placed her free hand on his combat-toned shoulder. A sunny melange of sheer pleasure and wonder capillaried through him like spun gold, and it burned delightfully wherever her skin touched his. As they waltzed through the ocean blue, singing together, their tails brushing every now and then, the music and color encasing them blended into an ecstasy of...
Love.
"Each little snail here
Know how to wail here,
That's why it's hotter
Under the water,
Ya we in luck here
Down in the muck here,
Under the sea!"
The song ended and, breathless, the two so different, bound together by song and dance, struck an ending pose. The storm in her heart, it seemed, had been quelled…
For now, anyway.