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Jerry Bruckheimer: -shoots- ...My franchise.

Chapter Three: Where is it? Where is the thump-thump?

"Are you certain?" he demanded.

"I've checked around that rock in every way possible," she replied, frustration agitating her voice. "And I can't feel him here. And there's this nagging voice in the back of my mind—whom I have named Nagcules—that says we're barking up the wrong tree."

"Woof," her companion replied. She glanced up at him, a watery grin on her face. "Do you think that we are in the wrong Realm altogether?"

"I don't know. We should get back to the Gummi Ship and then we'll see."

"Right. We need to get away from this place." She looked up at him, eyebrows raised quizzically. "I don't like it. It feels undeniably wrong here. The sea is dead. The winds are different. And the night does not give way to dawn."

"I know. I understand. Let's get outta here. The 'dock' is right there." Moments later, they were back aboard the Highwind, drifting lazily in space. Hours passed before the girl had calmed enough to open her heart and mind, reaching out for Jack's presence. She cast her awareness as far as she thought she could. Through the crushing disappointment she still felt and the growing loss of hope as more time passed, a sudden bubbly sensation tickled her insides. Her breast and stomach filled with a tingling, excited, wonderful feeling which spread throughout the entirety of her being. Gone was her present sadness. Restored were her hope and spirit. A giggle escaped her lips, which had formed the curve of a delighted smile. Norrington, once again in armour, rose and approached her. She turned to him, a hand over her heart. "He's here!"

A hearty laugh filled the ship, and he lifted her up and swung her in an excited arc, crying, "That's wonderful!" more in joy of seeing her happy again. "And how shall we find my brother?"

She twitched, never having heard her dearest refer to his adoptive sibling in that manner, then answered, equally excited, "There's bound to be another rock in this Realm looks the same!"

"Any idea where it is?" he asked more calmly, regaining his composure and setting her down.

She put a hand to her chin in thought. "Well, we should prob'ly check places that have a lot of rocks and such first. And places by or in the sea might help."

"Are there any worlds that have both qualities?"

"There is one," she murmured, taking her seat and adjusting their course. "To Atlantica we go!"

"What's in Atlantica?"

"SQUIRRELS!" He crossed his arms, leaning against the control panel, eyebrow raised. "Okay, maybe not squirrels, but it's a nice little world, and no Heartless or Nobodys to speak of!"

"Well that's good."

The skip kicked it into full gear. "I should probably tell you now, so that we don't panic later, that this world is almost entirely underwater. We will be able to breathe, so don't worry."

—

A much shorter ride later, the world came into view. "We're here." She maneuvered the ship nearer to land, but a powerful force pushed them violently away, an invisible barrier glowing momentarily green upon their impact.

"What happened? Why can we not land?" James demanded, picking himself up where he'd been thrown to the floor.

"The gateway has been closed. Something doesn't want us to get in there. We're definitely in the right place."

"Well how do we open this gate?"

"We have to fight our way through the route, shooting down opposing ships that will be attacking us." His eyes gleamed at that. "Want me to teach you how to use the guns?" He nodded, and a couple of explanations later, she cried, "Strap in and hold on!" as she pressed the controls forward and they took off.

"Whoa! You could at least wait for me to obey your orders!" Poor James.

They dove into the random doorway floating in the middle of nowhere. Islands floated by, all seeming to hang in midair. Water was everywhere, in bright blue ponds and waterfalls, and everything was lit now as if by the sun. Almost instantly alerts started flashing, beeping, and buzzing. Ames expertly maneuvered the controls to meet and fire down opposing Gummi Ships that were trying to attack. Her thumbs almost never left the triggers, and even James was managing to enjoy the battle as they took down opponent after opponent. Volley upon volley of other ships came after them. The girl was unperturbed, firing effortlessly, and although the sheer number of enemies had him on high alert, Norrington followed her lead and kept up his fire. Finally, what looked like a giant keyhole of light appeared and they soared through.

"All right," the girl sighed, adrenaline sending tremors through her body. "That was fun."

"If only naval battles could be that easy," James panted.

"You okay?"

"A bit excited. There were more ships then than an Admiral would see in his entire career. Just let me catch my breath."

"Ready to land?"

"We're here already?"

"That's a yes!" she cried giddily, simultaneously pressing a button. The two disappeared in a flash of light.

—

James had to blink his eyes several times before he realized he was deep underwater. He tried to kick out with his legs toward the surface, where sunlight easily and brightly permeated the sea, only to do a barrel roll and realize that something was indeed not right. He looked down at himself to find a bare chest—but for the armor on his left shoulder and a shell necklace he did not recognize—and beyond that, what looked like a porpoise's tail, black on the back, white on the underside, and with yellow stripes down either side, a dorsal fin on his back. "A little warning never hurt, Amy," he complained.

"Well at least I let you know you can breathe under water—else that would have been ugly," her voice replied.

"Where are you?"

"I'm over here, but since I didn't warn you about being a merman, I'd better warn you that you're about to blush."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"You know how your clothes disappeared?"

"Why can you see me when I can't see you?"

"Well so did mine."

His eyes widened. "You mean you're n—?"

"No!" Several bubbled escaped from behind a rock. He clumsily began to make his way over. "But what I've been adorned with rather falls short of modesty. I'm fine with it, but I'm not so sure you will be. Don't say I didn't warn you..." He gulped. Amy slowly, carefully swam out from behind the rock. Two large, dark green scallop shells were all she had to cover herself. Her face was set in a deep blush, and her legs had merged together to form a rich, dark blue-green fish tail. "Stupid Disney..." she grumbled, crossing her arms protectively when James returned the blush.

"A mermaid, then? What does that make me?" He wiggled his porpoise-tail, trying to avert both of their thoughts.

"I...don't...know." She gave him a long, scrutinizing stare. "Uhh...Dolph-man?"

"Porpoise, actually, I think," he smiled. "And I don't suppose this 'Disney' likes my appearance very much either. I mean...my chest hair is missing."

Amy giggled. "Your beard is gone, too."

His hand shot to his chin. "Again?" She laughed harder, uncrossing her arms, accepting that this was the way it would have to be. He took her in more detachedly now. "You must be quite popular with the lads back in your world."

She laughed again. "Good one! Oh wait, you were serious? See, the thing is, Disney and Square-Enix have me all dolled up right now. Back home, I really don't give a darn about the way I look. And aside from that, I'm pretty much of an arse to every guy I know or have to interact with. I dunno if you noticed it, but guys from my time pretty much aren't worth my spit."

He chuckled. "And that's exactly the spirit Elizabeth had around the time that I proposed. There was but one she preferred, and all others were meaningless in those terms."

It interested her that he could talk so easily about something that had once caused him great pain. "Well...you know...I think it's kind of true...I mean...there's someone I'm kind of waiting for... And as far as I can see...he is the only one worth my affections," she said haltingly, hesitantly, revealing her most cherished of all secrets.

"So then you know a worthy lad after all."

"Well, I wouldn't say know, exactly... I just have occasional dreams about him, and I just kind of know he's the one, you know? I mean, I haven't met him, haven't heard of him, haven't had any indication whatsoever that he even exists, but I know he's out there. And we'll find each other somehow and that will be that."

He put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure you two will find each other one day."

"I'm not so sure. Lately, I haven't been able to imagine him as clearly."

He gave her a long, contemplating look, before soothing, "Perhaps it's because you've had no one but Jack on your mind."

"You're right. And I think it should stay that way until Jack is safe. I have to focus." Somewhere deep in her heart, something hurt. Nights would be long and lonely without her Dream-boy to imagine as she very slowly fell asleep.

"Speaking of whom, it might be wise to begin our search."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Right," he repeated as he floated to a stop beside her. "Where to?"

A finger went to her chin. "To the surface, I think."

They both turned their faces upward to eye said surface, light shimmering upon them in bright rays, eloquently disturbed by ripples of water. "Okay. And once we're up there?"

"To shore." They darted to the top, breaking through the barrier between sea and air. They dove over, under, and through the waves, toward the dark line on the horizon that was land.

The steel drums of the background music began to play as the two swam off. Amy, pumping her tail to the rhythm, could not resist singing along.

"De seaweed is always greener—in somebody else's lake.
You dream about going up there—but dat is a big mistake.
Just look at de world around you—right here on de ocean floor.
Such wonderful things surround you—what more is you lookin' for?

"Under the sea—under the sea!
Darlin' it's better—down where it's wetter—take it from me!
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!

"Under the sea—under the sea!
Since life is sweet here—we got the beat here—naturally!
Even the sturgeon and the ray—they get the urge 'n' start to play.
We got the spirit—you got to hear it!—Under the sea!

"Under the sea—Under the sea!
Where the sardine—begin to beguine—it's music to me!
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!
Each little slug here—cuttin' a rug here—under the sea!
Each little snail here—know how to wail here
That's why it's hotter—under the water
Yah, we in luck here—down in the muck here
Under the seeeeeeeeaaaa!"

And that's that. Next chapter is the last in this episode. Please leave a reivew!