Sora was not well adjusted to not steering a Gummi ship, though, he had to admit, it was nice to take a look at the view. He watched as they passed by bright stars (which were really distant worlds) and purple and green meteorites of all different sizes. Even though he finally had to opportunity to admire space, he was not taking advantage of it. All he could think about was Aurora, Philip's crestfallen face, and the fact that they had failed. Donald's quack finally drew him out of his thoughts. "It looks like we're landing somewhere different." Sora looked over to the duck, who was holding up his staff and steering at the same time. 'And they're afraid when I pilot,' he thought as Donald continued, "I'll use my magic so we fit in."

"Where are we landing anyway?" asked Sora.

Goofy seemed giddy, "Prince Eric's castle, hyuck, I think he and Ariel got married!"

As the ship began to land, Sora asked, "When you used your magic, do you think it worked for the others, too?"

"I hope so, Sora." The response did not ease anyone's mind.

XxX

Refreshingly cold, salty waves of water were rushing over Keira's head. She was distantly reminded of how she had felt when she awoke in the Radiant Garden's fountain, for, once again, she had no idea where she was, nor did she care. The water felt good on her body, but it also felt somewhat strange, as if she were wearing very little clothing. She forced her eyes opened and noticed that she was laying on a large rock in the ocean; at least, she assumed it was the ocean judging by the fact that it was salty.

It was difficult, though, to see how far the water stretched as it was night and the sky was dark, blotting out the horizon. Her only source of light was the full moon hanging above her and, admittedly, she felt nervous when she did not hear any of the other's voices. She made to turn around, but realized that her feet no longer felt like feet. Flipping herself over, she gasped when she noticed that she was wearing a red shell bra (that certainly explained the cold) and her feet had turned into a mermaid tail that matched the bra.

"Oh my God," she breathed, unsure of whether she should be excited or extremely worried. "I'm a mermaid, a real freaking mermaid!" She did not allow any more thoughts to worry her fun or excitement as she dove off the rock and attempted to get used to swimming.

XxX

Sora, Donald, and Goofy had indeed appeared in a different area, one that did not suit their current forms. The Keyblade Master found himself floating in a very small amount of water, a tall, thick wall like that of a fortress keeping them either in or out of some place. He guessed that they were on the right side of the wall as the shadow of a large castle was looming over them. "Sebastian!" called Sora, his eyes settling on the crab, who was seated on a nearby rock on the shore. Goofy was also on the sand as a beached turtle, and Donald was in a tide pool as an octopus.

The crab, sitting on a rock, nearly had a heart attack at the sudden intrusion. "Sora, Donald, Goofy?" He scuttled over them, shock still on his face. "You still look da same as last time!"

"Gawrsh, Sebastian, it's only been a little while since we've been here," replied Goofy in a voice that suggested he feared for the red crustacean's sanity.

Sebastian shook his head. "Dat's not possible, little Melody's already a teenager!"

"Melody?" They chimed together.

"Ariel's daughter," answered Sebastian, if not a little impatiently. He began to chuckle when Sora, Donald, and Goofy's eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of their heads. Ariel was not only married but also had a daughter? A teenage daughter, at that! "But dat's not da point. You guys shouldn't be looking like dat! If Melody sees you, she'll know her mother's been lying."

Donald brandished his staff. "Got it." A light engulfed them, reverting them back to their normal forms.

As Sora and Donald got out of the water, Sebastian asked, "What are you three doin' back here?" Sighing, Sora delivered the bad news about Maleficent. "That means da heartless are back!" Sebastian squeaked.

"We're going to try to find the keyhole again, and seal it." Donald reassured the crab. "I don't think anything can get through with this wall, though." He stated, knocking on the large wall with his staff.

"Yeah, what's with this wall, anyway? Aren't old friends allowed to visit?" asked Sora with mock-hurt.

Goofy searched their surroundings for any of the others, but they appeared to be alone. "Have you seen anybody that looks like us, a mouse and a few humans?"

Sebastian's expression became troubled once more. "Ariel can answer you that, but right now might not be a good time."

Sora's eyebrows knitted together. "Huh?" A wail from somewhere above answered the question for him.

"What do you know about the ocean? You've never even been in it!" cried the voice of a young girl.

Ariel's familiar voice came next. "Melody, wait!"

Sora looked back toward Sebastian. "That doesn't sound too good. Can we go in?"

"Ariel might be relieved to see you guys."

XxX

Keira stared at the shore as she drew nearer to it, unsure of whether or not she should continue to approach. Sitting at the edge of the water was a girl, whose face was obscured by long black hair, with her knees pulled to her chest. Her body shook with loud sobs. Curiosity more than anything else forced her to approach the girl, "Uh, excuse me?" She still could not get quite too close to the beach because of her tail.

The girl slowly lifted her head and looked to her with eyes red from crying. "Who are you?" She was understandably on guard. It was not exactly normal to see someone swimming in the ocean late at night.

"Uh, I'm Keira. And you?"

"Melody," sniffed the girl.

Keira still did not see anyone else, so she decided to stick around for a while. "What's wrong, Melody?" she asked, pushing wet strands of hair out of her face.

"My mom's so mean. She won't let me go into the ocean. She doesn't even like it, so what would she know?"

Keira frowned, her thoughts drifting, briefly, to her own mother. "That's stupid. I would've hated it if I wasn't allowed to swim," she mused and then, without thinking much, added, "Then again, look at me, I'm a mermaid."

This seemed to perk Melody up right away, "A mermaid?" Her sad face lit up with excitement.

Encouraged by the girl's excitement, she raised her ruby red tail. "Look."

"Oh, wow, a real mermaid! I wish I was a mermaid," mumbled Melody dreamily.

"Morgana can help you with that," said a voice from behind Keira, startling both girls as a small shark came into view.

"Who's Morgana?"

The shark smirked. "She has great powers. She can definitely turn you into a mermaid. The name's Undertow, follow me." With that, the small shark set off into the water and began to start for the horizon.

Much to Keira's surprise, Melody rose from her spot on the beach and climbed into a nearby boat. "It couldn't hurt." Knowing she would feel responsible if something happened to the girl, Keira decided to join her.

Undertow remembered his orders. 'Tempt the girl to come to me, the keyblade-wielding princess, too; they're completely without the others and fresh for the picking. Do not fail me.' Morgana had said to him. The shark wasn't exactly sure if he trusted the witch who had given Morgana the power to control those Heartless and Nobody creatures, but it was worth a shot. Melody rowed the boat after Undertow while Keira swam next to it. Sebastian watched them from the outside of the castle wall and squeaked in fear.

XxX

"We only want to see Princess Ariel," explained King Mickey for what had to be the tenth time to one of the guards inside the castle. Behind him Riku, Kairi, Axel, Roxas, Naminé, Tifa, and Cloud were growing impatient. They probably looked a little off-putting, such a big group demanding to see the princess late at night.

Donald, Sora and Goofy entered the castle behind them, "Your majesty!"

"Who are you people?" The guard growled.

Sora was not put off by the guard in the least. "We're here to see Prince Eric and Princess Ariel."

"Of course you are," mumbled the guard, darkly.

"Sora, Goofy, Donald!" called a redheaded woman from a staircase just beyond the guard.

The guard's tone promptly became polite. "You know these people, your highness?"

"Yes, please leave them alone." At her words, the guard departed abruptly, and she ran down the stairs, clenching the skirt of her pink dress as she moved. "You guys haven't aged at all." Ariel smiled, though it was not like her old smile, it looked anxious.

Sora rubbed the back of his head. "So we've been told." She looked at the group of strangers behind him, and he snapped. "Right, I guess I should introduce you. That's King Mickey, we've told you about him. That's Riku, my best friend. Kairi, my other best friend, and our other close friends Tifa, Roxas, Naminé, Cloud, and Axel." Sora pointed to each person as he spoke their name, but, when he finished, his eyebrows furrowed together.

"...You guys aren't merpeople and Keira isn't with you," he realized, sighing, "Of course."

Ariel's smile became a little friendlier. "It's nice to meet all of you. I'm looking for someone, too. You haven't seen my daughter, Melody, by any chance, have you?" Everyone shook their heads; with the exception of the guard, they had seen no one. "Eric and I can't seem to find her anywhere... But I guess I should explain to you the wall and why she's angry with me.

"When Melody was first born, we introduced her to the merpeople while on Eric's ship. But then Ursula's sister, Morgana, came and almost fed her to that shark of hers. Eric managed to save her, but Morgana disappeared and she will stop at nothing to get Daddy's trident. We had to build the wall so that Melody wouldn't go into the ocean." She sighed as she came upon a particularly painful memory. "I recently discovered that Melody has been going into the ocean, and I yelled at her. She ran from the room and now I just can't find her."

"We'll help you," offered Kairi said, making Sora smile; she was always eager to help other people.

"Oh, Kairi," said Ariel, as if just noticing her. "Sora always used to talk about you nonstop. You're a princess, too, aren't you?" Kairi nodded. "Hm. Wait, why are you all here anyway?"

Sora rubbed the back of his head. "That's just the thing, Ariel. Maleficent's starting up trouble again. She's after the Princesses of Heart and princess of two hearts." At Ariel's confused stare, Sora continued, "There's another princess. Her name is Keira and she was with us before, but now she's gone."

"I hope the Heartless aren't back here. If Melody's gone back into the ocean, then..." Ariel trailed off, and the rest could guess her thoughts.

Sebastian's voice, shockingly loud for such a small creature, drew them from their conversation, "Ariel!" He was scuttling as fast as he could, and, in his anxiety, slid across the freshly waxed floors. He managed to stop himself at the princess' feet. "Oh, Ariel, Melody's gone! She followed dat little shark of Morgana's! And dere was another mermaid with her!"

"Another mermaid?" asked Ariel, both worried and hopeful, "Was she familiar?"

"She don't look like anyone from Atlantica."

Tifa bent down so she was closer to the crab. "What did she look like exactly, Sebastian?"

"It's hard to tell since her hair was wet, but her hair looked kind of blonde and black. Her eyes were hazel." The others sighed, unable to believe their luck.

"That's Keira, alright," mumbled Riku.

Ariel hitched up her dress a little. "We better go talk to Daddy."

XxX

"You may use the Heartless and Nobodies as you see fit, Morgana," drawled Maleficent, standing on an icy platform while a skinny octopus with greenish skin sat in a seashell chair. "But I suggest you be sure that you don't let the darkness overrun you."

Morgana laughed. "Don't worry about me; I have things perfectly under control, my dear Maleficent. I will be sure to bring the princess to you if I am able to get my tentacles on her." Something that was definitely still alive squeaked as her tentacle grabbed it off of a nearby tray and dropped it into her mouth.

Maleficent hid the disgust from her fact. "Ah, yes, of course. Well, I shall be on my way in that case." As she disappeared, she knew exactly what would become of Morgana. The darkness was, after all, quite tempting...

XxX

Following their conversation in the castle, Ariel had found Eric, explained the situation, and asked if they could go see her father. Now, the chilly group stood on the prince's ship, staring down at a muscular man with long white hair and a beard to match. "I promise you that we're looking everywhere we can, Ariel."

Eric glanced at his wife, Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "They could use more help."

"Daddy, can you turn us back so that we can help the search under the sea?" asked Ariel as she hugged Eric.

Kairi's eyes lit up at the thought, "Oh, me, too! Please," she added so that she sounded less pathetic.

"Well..." King Triton started a little hesitantly, "I don't see why not." He held up his Trident and pointed it at the small group.

"I'll bring her home." Ariel promised as she kissed her husband on the lips. A light engulfed Ariel, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi, and they fell into the water with a splash.

Sora did not look completely different as he resurfaced and shook his bangs out of his eyes. "Keep your eyes peeled, guys," he called to his friends on the ship.

Riku nodded. "Be careful."

Sora and Kairi nodded determinedly. "We will."

XxX

Keira was extremely exhausted, having been swimming for a few hours now. 'At least,' she thought sourly, 'I know exactly how much I can push myself. I'll make sure never to mention that to a gym teacher, though...' Melody, however, was fast asleep inside the boat, the fog not bothering her as it did the 'mermaid.' "Here we are." Undertow announced, awakening Melody instantly, "Morgana's." Since Melody drifted off, two sting rays, clearly associated with Morgana as well, had been pulling the boat, and they pulled it into a cave.

The cave was not terribly large, and the only thing it seemed to house was an icy isle, where an olive-skinned octopus turned toward them with a smile, her wild hair blowing behind her. "Oh, my, to what honor do I owe this visit? Come in, come in, get out of that cold." She held out her hand, helping Melody out of the boat and into the seashell chair. "How may I help you, my dears?"

Keira rested on a small rock, relieved that she could finally stop swimming, and shrugged. "I'm just a bystander."

Melody unclasped the shell-shaped locket around her neck and held it out to Morgana. "Can you tell me about this?" Morgana opened it with ease, causing a small golden castle and mermaids to appear within a bubble. "Atlantica?" gasped Melody. "But my mother said it was just an old fish tale!"

"Ah, and your mother would know," remarked Morgana in a dark voice. "Child, if your mother lies to you so cruelly, she obviously doesn't care about you, but I know your deepest desire and I also know how to make it come true."

"Can you really?"

"I know how badly you wish to be a mermaid, my dear. I have just the thing, too." Morgana rose from her seat and began to dig through a cabinet filled with viles, flinging this and that out of the way as she reached into the back. When she returned, a purplish-pink potion bottle with the face of a fat octopus was in her hand.

Undertow appeared to recognize the vial immediately as he started to jump in and out of the water. "Ursula's magic? Where'd you get that?"

Keira felt her blood run cold at the name, having to pinch herself so that she would not gasp. 'Sora said Maleficent recruited Ursula once before! This woman is an octopus, has Ursula's magic, and has a dart board with Ursula's face on it. Either she was friends with her or she was somehow related.' She looked up just in time to see light engulf Melody's body. By the time the light had faded, Melody's legs had been replaced by a pink mermaid tail.

The teenager dropped into the water. "Yes, I'm a mermaid!" At that point, Morgana turned away from them and began to weep, collapsing on a chair. "What's wrong?" Melody's joy faded away at the sight of her new friend crying, and neither girl could see the grin Morgana was wearing.

XxX

Morgana's grin had appeared with good reason. Following Melody asking her what was wrong, she delivered to them a very sad story about how she had come to lose her most prized possession. "I can't believe that a crazy old man stole her Trident!" huffed Melody as they swam out of the cave, lifting her hand over her head as the early morning sunlight shone down on them.

"I can't, either." Though Keira mentally added, 'I can't believe it, as in, what a liar.' She looked up just in time to see a hulking iceberg in the way of the other girl. "Hey, Melody, look out!" She warned a beat too late as Melody crashed onto the ice, and shattered the ice map. "Wow, I wish I'd seen that one coming."

Melody attempted to piece together the map Morgana had given her to no avail. "No! Now we'll never get to Atlantica!" Keira tore her attention away from her as a large wave splashed her in the face. Then, it happened again. She spit out the water and wiped her face as a brown walrus with a friendly face approached them.

"Excuse me, misses," he began in a polite voice as a penguin joined them.

"But we couldn't help overhearing your predicament."

The walrus smiled at them. "I'm Dash and he's Tip. We can help you get to Atlantica."

Melody could not believe their luck. "Oh, could you? That would be great! Thank you so much."

Seeing that Melody would have new allies that appeared trustworthy (Keira had never seen anything cuter in her life than a talking penguin and walrus), Keira spoke up. "Say, guys, go on to Atlantica. I have to go do something quickly. I'll be right here when you guys return."

Melody looked as though she was going to say something, but she nodded instead. "Okay. We'll be back soon. Wait right here for us." She snuck one final stare at Keira before urging Tip and Dash that they could leave as Keira waved goodbye. Once the three were out of sight, she turned around and swam back toward the cave.

She hid around a corner as Morgana spoke in a lazy drawl. "They don't suspect a thing, Maleficent. Stop worrying. Don't you have other princesses to catch? I have bigger fish to fry." At that moment, the octopus snapped her fingers and Keira was surrounded by a group of Screwdriver heartless. (A/N: Those were the green heartless in Atlantica in KH1)

Keira's heart skipped a beat as Shadow Heart flashed into her hand. "Shit." She had thought that she was being stealthy. How did Morgana know...? One of the Screwdrivers grabbed her arm while the other held a spear to her throat. "Oh, please tell me you're kidding."

"Why, of course we aren't kidding. Eavesdropping is a very bad vice, my dear." Morgana grinned as she and Undertow closed in on the wielder.

XxX

"The sea's so calm that you wouldn't think that there are any Heartless in this world at all," mused Cloud as he stared into the tranquil waters below the boat.

Tifa nodded. "I'm with you on that, I don't see anything moving in the visible distance."

Eric steered the wheel of his ship, his eyes blazing with determination. "They're out there somewhere. They've got to be."

A/N: I led you on in the last chapter, right? This chapter was done even before the last one! I love the Little Mermaid Two and I thought it would work well, so hey, why not?