A/N: Alright, I am officially adding another reviewer to my white list! xcrescentxmoonx was dedicated enough to go back and review all my chapters. She's more dedicated than I am. Haha. And for future reference, my teachers were very stupid. xDD Anyway, 615 friggin' hits? That makes me happy. Keep up the reading and reviewing please, keep this story alive! Oh, and for the record, the last chapter was called 'Selfish Wish' because Melody doesn't care about anything but staying a mermaid.

"You two brats will stay out of my way while I take over this world." Beneath the water, Morgana swam toward a small, cave-like, opening in the wall which looked more like a dent than it did an actual cave. Two tentacles were wrapped around each girl and Keira, worn out from her fight with the Heartless, only tried to free herself half-heartedly.

She could, at the very least, try to sound intimidating. "You are one twisted lady."

Morgana carelessly glanced at her. "So I've heard. Well, not from my mother." Not for the first time, she began to mutter a tirade about being 'unappreciated' and 'stupid sister getting all of the glory'. Keira and Melody exchanged glances, too anxious to laugh at the crazy woman. "Now then," she pulled herself together and hurled the girls into the dent where they hit the wall and slid down. With Trident in hand, Morgana pointed the magical weapon at Keira.

Melody's eyes widened, expecting the worse. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"You see, my dear," Morgana drawled, "Your little friend isn't a real mermaid." A beam of light flew out of the Trident and hit Keira, who screwed her eyes shut as she felt her body shift to its normal form. Melody stared at her in awe as Keira, reverted to her tube top, skirt and boots, gasped and held her breath. "She is from very far away, though, a princess of another land. I'll come back for her later." Morgana considered another thought. "And as for your time as a mermaid, Melody, I'd say that it'll be pretty much over in some minutes. Farewell!"

Furious, Melody kicked off the wall in order to get at Morgana but was stopped as a thick layer of ice sealed the cave. "Why, you, you, you-!" growled the girl.

Morgana simply smiled as she swam away from them. "Have a nice time, dears." Melody glared at her fellow prisoner, and Keira wanted to say something, anything, but she knew that there was nothing she could say that would make anything okay. In addition to that, she could no longer breathe underwater.

Instead, she did the only thing she could to prove how sorry she was: Keira swung at the ice with Shadow Heart in a feeble attempt to free them. Deciding not to say anything at all, Melody just shook her head and banged her shoulder into the icy wall.

XxX

Bolts of lightning hit the top of the water and killed several Heartless, releasing a cloud of pink hearts, as Donald blew on the top of his. Several types of Heartless had joined them: Shadows on small ships, Air Soldiers, Search Ghosts, Darkballs and even Wyverns. Tifa kicked away two Darkballs with a grin on her face. "Hah." There was a rustling of wings behind her, but it quickly disappeared as Cloud swung his Buster sword, destroying the Wyvern. He sighed, leaning against his large blade.

Riku voice his thoughts exactly. "We're never going to get in there at this rate."

"Maybe some of us should go in there?" suggested Kairi.

Mickey pointed at an ice castle, rising from the depths of the water near the cave where Keira and Melody were supposed to be. "I don't think that'll be necessary, fellas."

"Morgana!" yelled King Triton.

Eric squinted his eyes, but he only saw the octopus. "I don't see Melody."

"Gawrsh, I don't see Keira neither," added Goofy.

Sora swung Ultima Weapon at a Wyvern hovering above Kairi, "Hey, Donald? I think we might all be able to fight better if we were on land." He stated, glancing at Kairi who was having a hard time with attacking Heartless and moving around in the water at the same time. His mermaid lesson had been quite brief, so he was surprised that she was doing half as well as she was.

"Gotcha," quacked Donald as he raised his staff, some type of dust falling over the group of them. Kairi felt immense relief as her purple mermaid tail became two legs and feet again, pulled onto an icy bank by Sora; Donald and Goofy snickered as they climbed up as well. Unsurprisingly, more Heartless appeared. As Sora, Donald, and Goofy prepared to attack them, Kairi groaned and sliced away at the Shadows with a certain annoyed drive that did not seem possible for her. Clearly, Sora, Donald and Goofy agreed for they were staring at her with wonder; she had effectively wiped out all of the Heartless on the islet.

She blushed, rubbing the back of her head, and stared at her feet. "What?"

Riku very nearly flung himself over the side of the ship as he shouted, "Kairi, look out!" A Wyvern swooped down on her, but it quickly met its end as Riku jumped off of the ship, brandishing Way to Dawn.

"Thanks though, you know, that was kind of risky!"

Riku simply grinned. "No problem." The remainder of the Heartless made a sort of hissing noise, disappearing all together, as the sky began to turn green. Sitting on top of the icy fortress was Morgana, who looked quite pleased with herself.

"Bow down to me!" she cackled, waving her arms wildly. "Bow down!" She pointed the Trident at a nearby merman soldier and, by a blast of light; he was bent into an awkward bowing position, unable to move at all. Sora looked around at Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy. The four nodded as one before he even asked.

Sora turned toward the ship. "We need a plan, guys!" Hearing his call, Tifa, Cloud, Roxas, and Naminé jumped from the ship without a second thought; Axel elected to remain safely atop the ship and away from the rough waters.

"We'll rush the castle," decided Roxas.

"We can't all rush the castle, Roxy," Naminé muttered, bitter that she had no weapon and no means of fighting.

XxX

Keira slammed Shadow Heart against the ice once more, more out of aggravation than an actual belief that she would do any damage. The familiar sensation of bursting lungs burned through her entire body and, despite her exhaustion, she forced herself not to try to breathe the water. She felt pleasantly surprised when a crack appeared in the ice and looked to Melody, who was still a mermaid with no trouble breathing. A look of determination passed over Melody's features as she rushed the wall with her body. Though she was unsure of what, if anything, Melody could do, she admired the intent, but... Everything was darkening around Keira quickly, and unable to take it any longer, she released her breath as she floated to the bottom of their prison.

Melody sensed her falling comrade and turned. "Keira!" She knew there was nothing that she could do for her friend aside from not giving up. Biting her lip, she slammed herself even harder into the ice. 'We need help! Oh, this is all my fault...' "I'm so sorry." Her eyes closed but then quickly fluttered open in shock. A light had engulfed her body, but this time... "I'm turning human again!" She gasped, quickly attempting to hold in some breath as her tail disappeared and legs returned. She slammed herself into the crack from Shadow Heart and made it a little bigger, but she didn't have as much air as the other girl.

'We... need... help...' Melody thought again as she too fell toward the bottom.

xxx

"But, mommy, I want to go swimming. I'll be careful, I promise!" A significantly younger Melody begged a younger Ariel.

Ariel simply smiled and picked up her young daughter. "It's just not safe, darling."

"What couldn't be safe about shallow water?" whined Melody, tears in her eyes as her lip trembled.

Despite her own sigh, Ariel continued to smile. "I just want to keep you safe, honey, I love you. I know that you don't believe me, but there are dangerous things and people in the sea. Even in shallow water. If you don't go into the water, then you will be safe." Melody looked up at her mother quizzically with the mention of 'people' under water, but vowed to teach herself how to swim and sneak into the open sea.

xxx

A small brown-haired boy was sitting on an orange kitchen counter top. He was sniffling as his eyes stared down at the large bandage on his knee. "Stop your whimpering already," An older and taller boy with dark hair said as he stopped in front of Quince, who quickly sucked in his lower lip. The older boy sighed and laughed. "Can't you see that you can still get hurt in the safest realms, too?" He muttered to no one in particular.

"What're you talkin' about?" asked Quince, head tilted at an angle.

The older boy laughed again and ruffled his hair. "Even in a lighter realm, you can still get hurt. In the dark realms, you get hurt, too. However, they still say that darkness is bad." The boy shook his head, his long, dark hair shaking with the movement. "They say that you can't trust the darkness because the people there are only interested in their own well-being," He paused. "Maybe you should only care for yourself, too, Quince, since you're such a whiner."

"I am not a whiner!" whined Quince as his brother gave him a look that said 'Really?'

"Still, people are like that in this world, too. Haha, maybe we're closer to the darkness than we think." For good measure, he held out his hand and a purplish black shadow appeared around it for a split second. "At least the darkness makes you more powerful." He nodded and looked at the younger boy once more. "Quince, I want to give you some advice as your big brother."

Quince nodded his head furiously. "Yeah? Yeah?"

"Entrust yourself to the darkness so you can become stronger. It'll pay off. There is tons of darkness in the world; people just don't notice the Shadows in the corners of things. We're all just at such a loss of hope that most people here are Heartless, for god's sake." Quince's older brother shook his head. "And that little girl you like so much, Stefa? Don't trust her. You two are at opposite ends, believe me." With that, the older boy ruffled Quince's hair a final time before exiting through the back door and leaving hs very confused little brother sitting on the counter.

xxx

Quince stared up into the night sky as he leaned a little more against the white building, a smirk on his face. 'So, he knew all along. But were Stefa and I always so far away from each other? Maybe my brother manipulated me into thinking it to make all of this happen. But that drawing... there was no mistaking it.' This time, he laughed, 'Unless Maleficent somehow knew my brother and made him do it so it would happen? I wouldn't doubt that at all. It took years, and I took his advice, but I was always dragged back to her... like the time she fell and slid across the room even though, at the time, it was me she was trying to get away from. Ironic. That scared me.' He sighed. 'Why did she scare me then?'

Without changing his expression, he swung his keyblade at a large figure as it came around the corner. Pete drew back his hands and rubbed them, "Pretty sharp, kid."

"What do you want?" asked Quince, voice full of loathing and mockery.

Pete shrugged. "I just wanted to see how good ya were at reactin'. Guess you're good."

Quince relaxed just a little, though not enough to call off his weapon. "Maleficent wanted you to check up on me?" He guessed as he doubled over to pick up a rock. Indifferently, he turned around and hurled it at the large castle. Pete nodded, watching as the rock made a nice scratch in the paint.

"She just wants to make sure ya aren't havin' second thoughts."

"Me? Second thoughts?" Quince laughed with a coldness that was unlike him. "Does she take me as a fool? Why would I possibly have second thoughts?"

"Because of your little girlfriend."

Quince scowled at the ignorant creature, "Yeah, right."

XxX

For some very strange reason, Keira felt refreshed. During her time unconscious, her thoughts drifted to her 'old life' and she felt like someone had personally dumped a whole bunch of potions on her. When she opened her eyes, she was still at the bottom of the small opening in the cavern wall. What was more, Melody was unconscious beside her. Keira bit her lip; she wasn't sure how long this high would last, but she had to get the two of them out of there and fast.

Keira wrapped her left arm around Melody's waist, pulling up the dead weight and returning to the large crack. 'At least Melody managed to damage it a little more.' She closed her eyes, holding out her keyblade. 'Give me strength.' Although what she had hoped would happen happened, Keira was still shocked to feel the Shadow Heart shake a little as a light shot out from the tip. A chunk large enough for her and Melody to fit through appeared, 'Bingo!'

She wasted no time in exiting the icy prison and returning to the open water, calling off Shadow Heart and swimming as fast as she could with one arm and two legs. It was significantly more difficult than she had expected, and she flailed around in the water until she made it out of the cave. She kicked upward until, for the first time in what felt like forever, her head broke to the surface. Water flew out of her mouth as she coughed and took in gulps of air at the same time. 'I probably couldn't have done that without Melody.' In a hurry to get the dead weight out of her arm, Keira searched for some type of shore.

Shore was not that difficult to find, as many people were standing on an icy landmass, while, in the water, all of the mermaids and creatures were in awkward bending positions. The adrenaline that had just saved her and Melody's lives wore off as quickly as it came, and she was already having a difficult time keeping them both afloat. "Help us!" Her voice was raspy and shaky, reminding her of the door scene in Titanic, and she distantly wondered how long she had been unconscious without somehow dying.

From the shore, Naminé could make out two distant female figures, "Keira and Melody!" Feeling that there was nothing else she could do to help, she jumped into the water. Her sun dress billowed out in front of her a little, but she didn't care. She swam rapidly toward the two girls, ignoring the distant shouts of 'danger!' and 'Heartless!'

Keira coughed out more water, relieved to see the Nobody quickly approaching them, "N-Naminé."

"You're alright," sighed Naminé with true relief and, with a glance at the unconscious Melody, added, "You'll have to explain later, but I'll take her for you."

Keira handed over Melody but shook her head. "Too tired, can't move."

"Too tired?" echoed Naminé. "You can't be! We're in the middle of a fight!"

Keira coughed again, as if to prove her point. "Take Melody to the shore."

"And what about you?"

Keira merely saluted, something that would serve as a very amusing story later, she was sure. "Don't worry," she responded, pushing the Nobody a little as she noticed the fin of a shark. "Go." Naminé didn't bother to ask why she was being so pushy and headed back to the icy shore with Melody in hand. Keira swallowed and coughed a few more times before calling, "Shadow Heart." There was something comforting about grasping the cold metal in itself, and then an idea formed in her mind as Undertow stopped before her.

He was significantly larger than she remembered him. In fact, he was probably his normal shark size now. His eyes flashed with hunger as he licked his lips. "Well, how about that? A snack."

"Yeah, that's right," she breathed as she distantly questioned if she was about to do was totally insane. She launched herself out of the water and on top of him, and he bucked like a horse as he sped off toward Morgana's castle. Keira managed a weak grin. "Thanks for the lift!"

"It won't last long," promised Undertow as he purposely swam toward a part of the fortress where a thick branch of ice was hanging. He ducked underwater at the last moment as the ice caught Keira's chest.

At least and this was the only positive she could come up with, the ice held her up. "Damn," she groaned, flailing with Shadow Heart in an attempt to free herself. Instead, she destroyed other parts of Morgana's precious fortress.

Morgana glared down from her 'throne,' "You?" she hissed. "You should be dead by now!" The cctopus raised the Trident. "No matter, I have unlimited power. Therefore I can choose to kill you whichever way I find most entertaining." Just as the Trident began to glow, she screwed her eyes shut, though, immediately after, she felt herself flying through the air. Cloud had one hand on his Buster sword and the other on Keira, whose jaw dropped at the sight of him.

She had never been more pleased to see him in her life, "Cloud!" As soon as they dropped onto land, she hugged him and, at the same time, relished in the feel of something solid below her feet. Cloud nodded at her before looking up at Morgana, daring her to make another move.

"I am all powerful! You fools cannot beat me!" Morgana screeched, holding the Trident up and making it glow even brighter before flicking it at the water and land. In an instant, more ice rose from the ground, and Cloud picked Keira back up.

XxX

"Melody!" called Eric, relieved, as Naminé climbed onto the slippery shore with the young princess. He knelt down beside his daughter and threw a dark towel around her. "Thank you," he added, looking to his daughter's savior. She nodded, but was unable to speak due to the chattering of her teeth and violent shaking of her body.

A light thud sounded close to her ears as her shoulders felt a little warmer. She looked down to see Roxas' familiar jacket resting around her. "W-won't y-you b-b-be c-c-cold?" she stuttered, still shaking, though she felt a little warmer, thanks in part to her burning cheeks.

Roxas shook his head, trying to appear indifferent as his face flushed a little, too, "Nah. I'll be fine."

A/N: Muahah. So I think I'll have at least two more chapters for this world. Anyway, if there are any stupid mistakes in here, I apologize times one million. Hmm. I think that's all I have to say, see you next chapter!