I awoke to a shrieking sound, and someone shaking me. I opened my eyes and saw my mom. She had tears rolling down her face. I've never seen her this distraught. "What is it mom? What's going on?" I asked, trying to steady her.

"It's Melody, she's run off." She said.

I pushed the covers away and realized that her small figure was not there anymore. I didn't even feel her leave. I got out of bed and changed. I looked at the clock. There was an hour left till school started. "I'll go find her." I volunteered.

"Your father's out searching now. Maybe you can help him." She said, as she began to calm down.

I nodded, and ran out the door. Now where would I go if I was her? The ice cream shop. No it's not even opened yet. What about the arcade? Of course not, that's on the other side of town. Aha! The park. I began to run over to Marina park, which was literally three blocks away. I continued to scan the street for her on my way there, but there was no sign of her.

"Ariana!" I heard someone yell out.

I came to a halt and turned to look back. It was Derek. He wore sweatpants and a hoodie. He must be in the middle of a morning jog.

"I'm impressed," he teased. "You haven't fallen yet."

"Oh Derek!" I said running towards him and wrapping my arms around him. I burrowed my face into his chest. "You have to help me, Melody's disappeared."

"What?" Where could she have gone?" He asked with worry flashing through his eyes.

"I was going to check the park." I said pointing in that direction.

We were about to make our way over when I heard Sebastian yell out my name. He crawled over to us as quickly as his little legs could carry him. When he drew nearer I cupped my hands for him to climb onto. "Your father is back at the house, he said he couldn't find her anywhere." He huffed, trying to catch his breathe.

"Derek and I are going to check the park." I placed him onto my shoulder. "Hold on." I instructed as we began to sprint.

When we got to the park we didn't see a trace of her. I walked around the docks with Sebastian, while Derek searched the playground. A few seconds later Derek ran up to me and told me he had found her.

Melody was sitting on the swings by herself. Her ball right beside her. She hadn't realized we were there since she wasn't facing us. There was a bit of sadness that clung to my heart when I saw her there all alone.

I ran closer to her, Derek followed. " Oh Melody!" I sighed in relief.

She mumbled something under her breath that neither Derek or I could catch.

We approached her. "Melody." Derek said kindly. I noticed that he too felt better knowing that she was safe.

"Everyone's been looking all over for you. Are you alright?" I asked her sweetly, coming near her. I was genuinely worried. I kept wondering what had prompted her to run away.

She rubbed her eyes as if to dry the tears she had been crying. "Leave me alone." she said with a little quiver in her tone.

Derek and I were both taken aback. He went to crouched next to her and tried to make eye contact. "Melody.." he started. "Let's go home." He smiled warmly at her.

She turned her head towards him and nodded. How did he persuade her so quickly? A moment ago she didn't want to see us.

"Good, give me your hand." He instructed her softly.

Melody jumped off the swing and gave Derek her small hand. The moment her skin touched his, his eyes grew bigger. His mind looked like it went somewhere else again, like yesterday.

"Derek are you alright?" I asked him worried.

He looked at me and smiled reassuringly. "I'm ok" He gave Melody a small hug as if to calm her down and reassure her. He then stood up and offered Melody a piggy back ride. She accepted and climbed on. We began our walk to my house.

"Melody you really scared me. You know you shouldn't go out alone." I told her.

She stuck her tongue out at me, "Alright, it won't happen again ok?"

"It better not." I warned her.

We were coming up to my house. I could already see my parents and Jace outside waiting. I had called my mother to let her know we had found Melody and were on our way home. When we got to the driveway Derek lowered Melody slowly. Once she hit the pavement she went to hug my mother who had her arms wide open.

"Oh we were so worried about you. Where on earth have you been?" she asked her.

Melody put on her cute little puppy eyes I knew my parents couldn't resist. "I'm sorry."

"That's alright. As long as you're safe and sound." My dad told her, ruffling her hair. He then raised his head and realized Derek standing next to me. "Ariana who is this young man?"

I began to blush. "Um dad this is Derek. He helped me find Melody." There was no chance I was going to let him know he was my boyfriend. Boyfriend. I like the sound of that. I smirked to myself.

"Hello." Derek said to both my parents, as he shook their hands.

"It's very nice to meet you Derek." My mom said way too excitedly.

"Ugh, this guy looks too old to be Ariana's boyfriend." Jace interjected. Leave it to him to ruin the moment.

"Boyfriend?" my dad mumbled under his breath, but let it slide.

Derek's clock then began to ring. "I'm sorry but I have to go now. It was a pleasure meeting you all." and he ran off.

"Hey Ariana." My mom then whispered in my ear. "He seems like a nice young man. You should bring him over for dinner sometime?"

I felt myself blushing, but played along. "Uh...sure mom. "

Melody then cleared her throat gaining everyone's attention. "I'm hungry, could I have breakfast please?" she asked.

My parents and Jace blinked at her.

"Honey, who is that kid?" my dad asked my mother.

My mother shook her head. "I don't know."

Melody gasped and fear masked her face. I looked at my family in both confusion and shock . What's happening? Why don't they recognize her?

Melody then began to bounce her ball and yelled out "Explorer Magic!" the ball had transformed into an umbrella. Ok now this is getting really weird. She began to turn the umbrella. The pattern was hypnotizing. I couldn't look away.I could feel Sebastian struggling in my hands. I then felt a very sharp and very painful pinch on my arm.

"OOOWW!" I yelled, falling to the ground in pain."What did you that for huh?" I asked Sebastian furiously.

He pointed toward my family. They all surrounding Melody with recognition.

"I'm your niece Melody. Remember?" She asked with a smile.

"Of course I do silly head." My dad replied.

"I can't believe I forgot such a thing." My mom said leading her towards the kitchen.

So that's how she did it. "She hypnotized them." I told Sebastian

"Hey look Ariana. " Jace called me over. "This ball Melody plays with, has the same seashell silhouette that Sebastian has."

I was going to look closer at the ball, but the clock tower had rang. "Oh no! I'm going to be late!" I ran to school with a panic. Luckily I made it just in time. No detention for me today.

During lunch Bella, Mags, Briar Rose and I sat at our usual spots. I began to tell them the incident that happened this morning.

"She hypnotized your parents and Jace?" Mags asked with a shock expression.

"Yeah, which I guess now makes sense." I responded. "Jace brought something up to my attention. You know that ball Melody has?" The girls nodded "Well it has the same seashell silhouette that Sebastian, Flounder and I have."

Bella looked like she was in thought. "Ariana, what if Melody is related to you. She could be your sister from Atlantica, or a cousin."

"There's no way. Queen Athena and King Triton would have told her." Briar butted in.

"Anyways I still don't who she is exactly and where she comes from." I said in defeat. I've only known Melody for two days, and all I have come up with is that she's a brat. Although she does have her moments.

"Maybe she's from where that chick Leila's from. Which was where exactly?" Briar asked looking at me.

"The Negasea. I have no idea where that is though."

"The Negasea," Bella mumbled. She went through her bag and pulled out a thick book. It had a blue leather binding, and a picture of Atlantica on the cover.

"Hey where did you get that?" I asked her curiously.

"Sebastian gave it to me." She flipped through the pages and stopped in the middle. "Here it is. I knew I had heard of it." She brought the book closer to her face and began to read. "During the banishment of Queen Ursula, the Negasea was created. It was created in the hands of the sea witch herself. All of the creatures that were against King Triton and Atlantica had been sent there. It is said to be full of wickedness, and negative energy, and it is the only piece of the sea to have such characteristics.. Most of the creatures found were actually corrupted to believe the evilness of His Majesty Triton by Ursula. Legend has it they can still be healed."

"So the Negasea was created when King Triton was ruler?" I inquired.

"It looks like it. Leila must be one of the followers, along with her sisters." Mags responded. "I think we need to discuss this further, but when Jade's around. How does tomorrow sound?"

"Works for me." I said. The girls and I finished eating, and went back to our respective classrooms.

"Ariana! Dinner's ready!" My mother yelled from downstairs.

I closed my pre-calculus book and made my way to the table. I took my new seat next to Melody.

"So how was everyone's day?" my father asked reaching for a roll.

"I signed Melody up for school. She starts the day after tomorrow. Oh and she's taking swim lessons." My mom informed us.

"How exciting. How about you Jace? How was school?"

My brother shrugged his shoulder. "It was alright. We played soccer in gym."

"Are you going to try out for the team?" I asked him. Jace's passion for soccer had grown over the past two years. I guess my mom made the right decision signing him up for a league.

He shook his head. "I can't, sixth graders aren't allowed to try out. Maybe next year though."

My dad then focused his attention on me and asked the questioned I've been dodging from my mother. "So Ariana, was that young man from this morning your boyfriend?"

I stopped chewing. "Uh.." I tried stalling. Oh come one, they have to know eventually. Might as well tell them. "Yes." I answered slowly.

My dad looked down at his plate and started cutting his steak. "I don't know how comfortable I am with you dating."

"Aw dad. I'm not a child anymore, I'm 16." I played it cool.

"Honey Ariana's mature enough, you're just jealous she has another man in her life." My mom defended me.

"Mature? She still jumps into puddles when it rains, and she still has coloring books." My dad argued.

"Hey I can control myself around puddles." I retorted back. "I think mom's right. You're jealous." I winked at him.

"Am not." He said simply, and let the matter go. My take on this issue is that in the end, he was ok with Derek being my boyfriend. I knew my dad secretly liked him. Don't ask me how, but I just knew he did.

After dinner, I finished my homework, and spoke to Derek on the phone. I told him what I knew about the Negasea. We both wondered if that's where Melody was from. We couldn't know for certain. I also told him about her hypnotizing my family. He was a bit surprised that Melody would do that. After a few more minutes I had to hang up since it was getting late. I made my way to my bed. I was taken aback when I realized Melody wasn't in my sheets. I had started to warm up to her. I guess she decided to stay in the guest room after all.

During school the next day the girls and I decided that we were to meet up at the Moonlight cafe after school to fill Jade in on what we talked about yesterday. When the bell rang, I met Briar, Mags, and Bella at the front steps.

"Ready to go?" I asked.

"We were just waiting on you." Briar teased.

Just then my phone rang. "Hello?" I picked up.

"Ariana."

It was my mom. "Oh hey."

"I'm stuck in traffic and won't be able to pick up Melody from swim lessons. Do you mind picking her up?" She pleaded.

I rolled my eyes and sighed in frustration. I knew I had no choice. "Yeah mom I'll go pick her up now." She told me that her lessons were being held in the gym and then I hung up.

I looked at the girls were sorry eye's. "I'm sorry guys, I have to pick up Melody. I'll meet you guys at the cafe." I said running in the opposite direction. While I slowed my pace, the sun began to disappear. In it's place was dark rain the downpour began. Since I was close to home I decided to make a little stop. I opened the door and quickly changed into dry clothes, since I was soaking wet. I then grabbed my purple rain jacket and green rain boots, and made my way to the gym.

The sound of crashing thunder kept roaring all over town. Lighting struck every few minutes. Good thing I'm not afraid of storms. Hopefully Melody wasn't either. I checked my clock, her swim lessons ended 15 minutes ago. I better hurry. I didn't want her to worry.

When I came in front of the building, I spotted a few puddles. Ariana resist the urge, don't do it. I tried to walk past them. I was doing so well, but I gave in. I ran back to them and splashed. Darn it! Whatever dad wasn't here. I walked back to building, and walked inside.

"Can I help you?" the receptionist asked politely.

"I'm here to pick my cousin up from swim lessons."

"The lockers are over there." she pointed.

I pull down my hood and walked into the lockers. "Melody I'm here!" I yelled out. But she didn't answer. "Melody?" I walked through the whole locker room, even the bathroom and there was still no sign of her. Maybe she went home. I grabbed my cellphone and called the house.

"Hello?" Jace answered.

"Jace! Hi! Mom asked me to pick Melody up from her swimming class, and I just got here and she isn't here. I was hoping she made it home on her own. Is she there?" I asked him hoping she was.

"No she's not here. Poor Mel, I hope she's ok, especially with this storm."

My heart sunk when he told me she wasn't home. I had to find her, that poor thing must be cold, and wet, and probably frightened.

"I'll go watch for her." He continued. "I'll call you if she get's here." He then promptly hung up.

I ran out of the locker room and then the gym. I wanted to call out the receptionist for letting a little girl leave without anyone, but I didn't have the time to argue with her. Right now I needed to find Melody.

"Where could you possibly be?" I muttered. This kid has a knack for running off, I really need to talk to her about it. But then again I did show up 25 minutes after her swim lesson ended. I ran into town, hoping to find her there. I was scanning all the windows, and as I did so I bumped into someone walking under an umbrella.

"I'm so sorry." I said looking up, my hood shielding my eyes.

"Ariana." It was Derek. Good thing too, and convenient, he could help me look for Melody. "why are you in such a hurry? Late for another meeting." He chuckled, not noticing the worry on my face.

"It's Melody, I can't find her anywhere." I cried out, a little out of breath.

Derek's face was soon full of concern. "She's missing? Again?"

I nodded. "I have no clue where she could have gone."

He laced his fingers through mine, which helped me calm down. "Don't worry Ariana, we'll find her."

We ran hand in hand in the rain looking for Melody. We peered into gift shops, restaurants, even the arcade. But there was no sign of her. All of a sudden a loud crash of thunder, and a bright flash of lightning interrupted our search. The loud noise freaked me out and clutched to Derek.

He rubbed my back. "It's ok, I'm right here. It was just thunder and lightning." he tried soothing me.

"We need to find her Derek. She's all alone in this storm." I told him growing more exasperated.

The sky had turned a dark purple shade, and a beam of light shone the sky. I squinted my eyes. It's her. "That's Melody. That's her energy!" I yelled pulling Derek. We ran towards the beam of light.

"It seems to be coming from the Moonlight Cafe." He said. As the cafe came into our sight, the beam had gone. "Ariana you should go in there. Try to calm her down. I'll wait for you two here."

"Calm her down? She likes you more than she likes me." I answered,

"If she sees that your trying, she might begin to warm up to you." He advised.

He's probably right. "Ok. I'll be back."

I walked into the building, that hosted the cafe upstairs. The moment I stepped in, I began to float."What the-" I was distracted by a flash of light that was coming from upstairs. I made swimming motions that led me up the stairs to the dinner. I saw a woman with a drum strapped to her, threatening Mags, Briar, Jade and Bella. She took out a blow dryer and pointed it at them. The blow dryer must have had some strong air, because it sent the girl and Melody straight to the wall.

Thats it. I took my locket out. "SEA DIAMOND POWER!" I yelled.

Luckily no one saw me transform. I grabbed the door frame, to keep my balance, since there seem to be no gravity in the building. I got a closer look at the woman who had hurt my friends. She kept hitting the drum. Outside the cafe, lightning and thunder raged on, in sync to her drumming. She must be the one who created the storm. Maybe she's working for Leila.

The woman kept hitting her drum over and over again. "Stop that ruckus!" I screamed to her.

Melody's eyes searched for the voice. She looked at me with hope. "Who are you?"

I smiled at her. "I fight for love. I stand for justice. I am Sailor Sea!" I turned to face the monster. "So you're the one who created the storm. How dare you terrorize citizens of this town. In the name of the Sea I will punish you."

The woman looked bored, "Beat it!" She grabbed her blow dryer and the air pushed me against one of the windows.

"Sailor Sea!" the girls cried out.

"Hold on Sailor Sea." Melody tried to approach me. However she wasn't able to get very far with the no gravity thing happening.

"How about I fry you up little fishie." The woman yelled at me. She began to beat the drum slowly, and then picked up the pace. The electricity she had created was then thrust onto me. I felt the hair on my arms shoot up.

"We have to help her.' I heard Briar Rose exclaim.

After a few more seconds I felt the electricity stop. I caught my breath, and saw a huge gaping hole in the monsters drum. I also saw a red rose stuck to the floor. "Tuxedo Mask!" I wheezed.

Melody looked at him puzzled. "Tuxedo Mask?"

He stood on a floating table. "I can't tolerate the fact that you terrorize people with the storm you created." He distracted her. He then looked at me.

I knew what he was thinking. I summoned my trident. "Oceanic Trident Elimination!" I pointed at her. The trident must have been strong because the light that shone from it threw her out the window. I swam over to the window and saw she had turned to Sea Foam. I realized that there were two women standing on a building, watching the whole thing. One of the, had blond hair that was a bit above her shoulders. She wore shiny blue leggings and a blue and pink tunic, that seemed to be made with the same material. Her silver boots reached below her knees. The other girl had long dark brown hair that was curled, her side bangs framing her face. She wore a maroon dress with brown boots. They only stared, and disappeared. They must be Leila's sisters.

I returned my attention back to the room. "What's going on in here anyways?" Even though I had defeated the monster, why were we still floating?

"It seems that the gravity has been turned off, but only in here." Mags responded looking outside.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault." Melody spoke up.

Mags looked at her skeptically, then curiously. "You were able to defy the law of gravity?"

"I don't know how." Melody then took out her necklace she was hiding underneath her pink dress. The necklace had a gold chain with a key. The moment she held the key in her hands, she closed her eyes in focus.

The gravity was coming back. Unfortunately with my lack of balance, I landed on my butt rather than on my feet. I got up quickly, so Melody wouldn't think Sailor Sea is a klutz.

Bella crouched down to eye level with Melody. "How did you that?" She asked her.

"I don't know. I just wanted to go back home." she sounded annoyed.

"Back home?" Jade muttered. "Which is where Melody?"

"Where my parents are."

"Where exactly are they?" Jade crouched on her knees.

It look like we struck a cord there. Melody didn't answer her question. She just looked away. I notice a bit of sadness in her eyes, and some internal conflict. I felt bad, it must be really hard for her being away from her parents. She never really told me how old she is, but I would guess around 8 or 9.

"Melody." i walked towards her. I placed my hand on her shoulder. "If you tell us the truth, we will be able to help you. You can trust us. I promise."

"How about we order some milkshakes and you can tell us all about yourself." Briar Rose said, shaking my hand off and trying to get Melody to sit in a both.

"Guys.." Tuxedo Mask spoke up. "I think Melody has good reason not to tell us about herself. She'll tell us when she's ready." He looked at her. "Right?"

Melody's eyes shone. "Yeah." She got of the booth and ran to him. He crouched down with his arms opened. He wrapped his cape around her to finish the hug.

Oh great, she's clingy to both Derek and Tuxedo Mask. Perfect.