(I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so, SO sorry. First there was that horrible delay, and then...I repeated two paragraphs. That's so terribly...unlike me. (dramatic pause) I don't think too many people caught that mistake, thankfully, since the chapter's only been up a little while. Thanks SO MUCH to those people who told me about the error! I've fixed it now, and I promise never to do such a terrible thing again. All right...I'm gonna stop talking now. As always, enjoy! --Topaz Fox)

Disgusting.

All of it simply disgusted him. First she had gotten legs--legs--from Ursula, that greasy dark blob of a sea witch, just so she could be with the…other man. Prince Something-or-Other. There had been the contract: She would lose her voice in exchange for legs. On top of that, if she didn't kiss him in three days' time, she'd return to the sea and belong to Ursula. Though the thought of being under the sea witch's rule would terrify anyone, the mermaid girl of his dreams signed her name on the oath-thick paper. She was willing to brave any consequence…

For him, the nameless prince pacing on the beach.

"This witch is back to bring her wrath upon the sea!
Triton can't be rid of me-
Not that easily.
And like all who dare defy me,
He will learn his lesson well:
Never toy with a girl like me!"

For three long days, he had stayed on the surface, watching, half-hidden in the shoals around the shore. First, she had been discovered by the prince. She was dressed in nothing but a sea-soaked rag, strapless and tattered heavily around the edge. Such an erratic hem showed off her new legs nicely; they were long, smooth and pale, just what one would expect, drawn into two delicate little feet to match her small white hands.

Of course, the prince had taken her away even though her voice had gone. She was so beautiful; what man could resist such a face, such a body? The blue-finned boy remained in the water, staying long after the waves soaked up the sunset's artistic citrus glows. When he did at last have to return below the surface, he did so reluctantly. After a fitful night of half-sleep he returned to the beach, not wanting to miss a single second of his secret love's trials.

It wasn't long before she had appeared on the arm of the prince. He had dressed her like his own private doll in a long skirt that forced out the blue of her eyes, complete with a black corset over a chaste white blouse and a matching blue bow in her hair. She smiled and laughed the entire time she spent with him. The gladness in her lovely eyes was plain as day.

Pain had sparked the boy's entire body when he saw her like this. It…wasn't right. It wasn't. And yet…

He knew, deep down, that it was. She was happy. That was all that mattered…right?

The next couple of days, his heart ripped continually down the seams, fighting inside of itself. He knew that she would suffer under Ursula's reign if she didn't get that kiss. Suffering was the last thing he wanted her to experience. Yet…the kiss would seal her fate. She would stay on land, away from him, and belong to another heart.

His mind kept itself restless with impossible solutions as his heart bubbled with emotion. Even though he found himself with the constant urge to brood in some dark corner of the sea, he always stayed near the surface. He was there for her when she glanced his way, seeking silent support. He would always fake a comforting grin. Faking emotion was something he had learned to be very good at.

Yes, he had been happy when Ursula's eels had tipped the boat. The mermaid and the prince, out on a romantic evening…and their plans had been foiled. The moment had been brutally lost, the sunset's flaming passionate colors had faded. The boy had to keep himself from laughing out loud at the spectacle of it all.

However, that ruined second of passion almost certainly spelled doom for her.

So here he was now, immersed in a hurricane of unnatural darkness, fighting for a cause he didn't believe in. He had to fight, or those crystalline blue eyes of hers would be lost to the shadows forever. Ursula, who had grown to a gigantic size because of the triton's power, bobbed like an anti-sunrise on the horizon. Unabridged insanity glinted in her colorless eyes. Since she was now a threatening enough evil to be reckoned with, he was left to deal with her.

That's always how it goes. Heroes are not permitted to have lives of their own.

"Flotsam! Jetsam!
Loyal darlings, strong as the tide;
Precious poopsies, hasten to my side
Right now! Mommy needs you…
Crush those stupid fools, make them writhe!"

Two slick green shapes rose around him and his friends. They circled mechanically, faster and faster, until at last they lowered themselves beneath the storm-darkened sea. Not a full ten seconds had passed before he felt himself being dragged underwater by two slimy, constricting forms.

For just a moment, his mind clouded over and he struggled uselessly in the eels' deathgrip. Honestly, he didn't care if he lived or died. Maybe it would be easier if he didn't live to see another sunrise…

Without warning, a rough feeling rose in the back of his chest and rippled through his whole being. He hadn't felt this since he had first gone to Hollow Bastion long ago, right at the moment when he thrust Riku's own dark Keyblade into his chest, releasing Kairi's heart. This simple feeling that pulsed rhythmically in him was the basis of his whole adventure.

It was the need to protect. No matter what the outcome, he had to protect Ariel.

He struggled harder now, jerking wildly. Miraculously, just at the moment when he needed them the most, Donald and Goofy descended from nowhere and managed to bash off the hell-bent sea creatures. The boy used a final thrust of his tail to shake himself free, and with a savior's resolve, he chased the eels through the maze of Ursula's tentacles.

They latticed through the sea like a thick net, wriggling and grasping. He threw himself through them with awe-inspiring speed. It seemed like he was following a predetermined path or invisible checkpoints, he was so accurate in his mad dash. He swerved, slalomed, doing his part-dolphin form justice. A few times, he just barely felt an appendage's tight, oily skin as it closed in behind him.

Donald and Goofy tried to follow the chase, but the former smacked headlong into a fat black tentacle, and the latter fell behind. The eels looped in French-braid formations in front of the hero, and just as he caught up to them, they turned sharply and tried to flee once more. He angled himself toward them, performed a tight backflip and braced himself, letting loose a bolt of magic from the Keyblade's tip.

The shot was even more accurate than he had planned. Just as the two eels crossed each other, the white flash collided with them and reduced them both to a spot of bubbles.

"All right!"

His two friends had found their way back to his side. Al three gazes were swept upwards as one of Ursula's huge tentacles began to shift…

"What a feeble human.
No, I can't believe my eyes,
Such a stubborn royal
Who is fighting for his prize…"

Actually, he seemed to be fleeing, not fighting. His form paddled fearfully away from the fearsome sea witch, only to be caught by the prehensile tip of a tentacle. The trio of fighters watched from below the surface as the prince was plucked out of the water and thrown somewhere unknown.

"Without your precious mermaid,
Now you're crazy with revenge;
I suppose I sympathize."

Crazy with revenge. Yes, that was it. A new surge of adrenaline coursed through the finned boy as he found his own feelings reflected at him in words. All of the memories, the feelings and worries and pressures of keeping love a secret, they all bubbled up within him at that moment. His eyes flared with an iron fury. Crazy with revenge. He doubted strongly that the dark-haired coward prince, who was probably lying unconscious somewhere, was crazy with revenge.

But he was. He needed the mermaid more than the prince did. He had fought for her, longed for her, and he deserved her. The thought just drove hate into the already seething cauldron of emotion.

The trio of fighters bulleted upward. As soon as they broke through the choppy surface of the sea, the prince cried from the cowardice of a wooden dinghy, "I won't lose her!"

Simply his voice could make one cringe. It was deep and saccharine, almost whiny, and even in anguish there was a slight trace of laziness about it. The warrior boy felt his whole body flush with anger. Just to bolster the others to the idea that he was truly a hero, he shouted, "Right! We're with you all the way!"

Not.

Using momentum to his advantage, he flung himself into the air, straight at Ursula's face. He twisted slightly and, holding his Keyblade outward, loosed a great bolt of magic. Ursula deflected it easily with her stolen triton.

"Flotsam! Jetsam!
Loyal darlings, strong as the tide;
Precious poopsies, hasten to my side
Right now! Mommy needs you…
Smash those stupid fools, make them writhe!"

Donald and Goofy were close behind their friend. They continued to catapult toward Ursula after the boy had fallen back into the water. Almost simultaneously, they crashed into her forehead with a loud smack. She drew her overblown violet face into a grimace and brushed them off.

In response to the latest verse of her song, the boy tossed sharp words over his shoulder as he flipped triumphantly away. "Sorry, 'Mommy', but your poopsies are toast!" She groaned, and suddenly it was extremely evident how worn out she had become. The trident crackled with some sort of mystical energy short-circuit. The great sea witch was not long for this world.

"This is not the end, my dears,
I swear I've just begun;
It's not over until Ursula has won!"