Hurky: Sorry for the long wait, but I've had too much to do, with work and the holidays and everything.

Sora: So here's a short chapter! Enjoy and have a Happy New Year!!

For Skye the days he was permitted to be a merman finally were up. He had to go back to the surface to resume his normal life there. And his parents might have been getting worried.

Skye swam up to the top of the sea, where he was to come back out and turn back into a human. He reached his destination and found himself with legs once again. Skye smiled. He couldn't wait to go back home. He knew so much more now about his father. He also learned that Nicky and Rebecca's father Riku was a former merman. His grandmother had told him everything. He swam all the way to shore and walked out to the sand. He ran all the way home, drying himself off.

He was reunited with his parents as soon as he got home. All was well for a few days, until Skye was hanging out at that big rock even though his father told him not to. He sat there, staring at the ocean, hoping that he could one day be able to go back under. That was when Axel had surfaced from the water below him.

"Skye!" he said.

Skye turned to find Axel in the water. His face lit up. "Hey!" he said in a happy tone of voice.

Axel turned himself into a human and joined Skye on the rock.

"Remember when I turned you into a merboy, right?" began Axel. "I said that you had to perform one favor for me."

Skye stared at Axel. "Sssssooooo?" he asked, waiting for the point of the question.

"So, I would like for you to do that favor." finished Axel. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small vial filled with a red liquid. He handed it to Skye. "I want you to kill your father."

Skye stopped dead in his tracks. Kill his own father? He can never do that! He can't destroy one of the people responsible for his existence. If people found out Skye killed Sora, everyone would hate him for the rest of his life, especially, Kairi, his own mother.

"There's no way I'm doing this!" Skye cried angrily.

"Well, if you don't, then I'll go kill both your parents." Axel said with a sneer. "Then you'll be next. You don't want that now, do you?"

Skye felt scared. He stood up and jumped off the rock. He turned to Axel. "Fine, I'll do it." he lied. "It will take a while."

"Take your time." said Axel hungrily. "I want to see Sora die a slow and painful death."

Skye shuddered and walked off. No wonder why his father had said Axel was bad news. He was an evil sea warlock. He had been plotting to avenge Ansem's death against Sora since Sora was a teenager. Then, after he got married and they had Skye, Axel had been thinking of ways to use him against his father. And now, it was working. Skye ran all the way home and found his father sitting outside.

"Skye!!" he said. "You're home. Your mother went out shopping. She needs to stop with those 12 hour department store sales."

He laughed and so did Skye, but he laughed a nervous laugh. Sora noticed something wrong.

"Skye, is something wrong?" asked Sora. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine." lied Skye. "Just nervous about school. Those finals practically kill people."

"Well, all you need to do is study." assured Sora.

Skye smiled a small smile. "You're right. I'm sure I'll do okay." he said. "Hey, you want something to drink?"

"Sure, Skye, that would be nice." replied Sora. "This heat's been getting to me."

Skye walked inside his house and to the kitchen. He poured two glasses of lemonade. Skye took out the vial, opened it, and dumped it into one of the glasses. The redness of the liquid disappeared and Skye took the drinks outside. He handed one to Sora.

"Thanks, Skye." Sora said. He and his son both gulped their lemonades. They sat silent for a minute or two.

"I heard that the Summer Festival is coming up." said Sora. He turned to Skye. "Maybe you could take Rebecca. I heard-Skye, are you alright?"

Skye began to feel a sharp pain all over his body. "Y-yeah, I-I'm fine!" he lied. The pain began to get worse. He fell out of his chair and began to scream in pain.

"SKYE!!!" cried Sora.

Everything went black for Skye until he opened his eyes later in a white environment. Am I dead? thought Skye.

"He's awake." said a familiar female voice who was standing over him. She had long red hair. It was his mother! His father was on the other side of his bed. Skye figured he wasn't dead.

"What happened?" Skye asked weakly.

"You suffered the effects of some kind of poison." explained Kairi. "No one knows where it came from."