Hey, look, I'm back with another chapter! Yay! Now, we'll finally see Eric and Riku for the first time!

Ariel was ignoring everything in her way as she swam up towards the peculiar noise that seemed to be coming from the surface. She was not going to stop until she found its source and what it was. Sora, in a similar mindset, was also curious to find out what it was, with Flounder flipping his little fins as quickly as he could to catch up to the adventurous merpeople. Sebastian, however, was groaning as he was catching up to them, before eventually grabbing of the twins' tails – he couldn't necessarily tell from behind – for support.

"Ariel, wait!" Sora shouted in her direction, since the noises were getting louder, "What if humans-?"

But Ariel was not paying attention. She was now at the surface, admiring the magnificent ship in awe as bright colored lights were directed into the sky. She giggled in fascination as Sora, Flounder and the twins joined her gazing.

"Ariel-" Sebastian began as he emerged from the water, before jumping back upon seeing the lights, "Jumpin' jellyfish!"

"Wonder what's going on!" Roxas pondered aloud.

"Not sure," Ariel responded before making her way to the ship.

"Ariel!" the crab cried, "Ariel, wait! It's not safe to be here!"

Again, Ariel was too focused on this fascinating sight to pay attention. Sora followed Ariel, with concern for his friend, but stayed next to the ship, contemplating whether or not to join her in case of an emergency. Ariel made her way along the ship by climbing the netting, and found a nice place to sit on the ship, with a small opening from which she could see several humans on board, playing instruments and dancing joyfully.

It's beautiful… she thought admiringly, before being interrupted from her thoughts by a weird, fluffy creature licking her face. She chuckled lightly at the action.

"Max! Here boy!" A male voice called, and it must have been aimed at the creature, as it ran straight to him in response.

Ariel focused her attention to the male in question. He was quite an extraordinary gentleman, wearing a white shirt, blue trousers and black shoes. His hair was black as the night sky and had charming blue eyes. He was now ruffling the creature – Max's – fur, smiling, and holding a snarfblatt in his free hand.

He's so handso-

"Hey, Ariel, watcha-" Sora began to ask as he perched himself next to the mermaid, and was immediately shushed by her.

"Look at him," Ariel removed her grip from Sora's lips and allowed him to gaze in the direction she had been, "Isn't he cute?"

"I dunno," Sora shrugged, "Looks like a little bit of a mess if you ask me."

Ariel looked at him confused, only to realize he must've been referring to Max, whose tongue was now hanging out of his mouth.

"Not that one!" she objected as she guided his head in the right direction, "That one. Playing the snarfblatt."

"Oh!" Sora chuckled, "Well, that makes more sense."

"I don't think I've never seen a human this close before…" Ariel sighed, lost in her own little world, which only consisted of her and this dashing raven-haired man.

"Neither have I…" Sora awed happily. His own attention seemed to be drifting off to another human on the ship: a silver-haired young gentleman wearing some exquisite clothing.

Prince Eric wasn't exactly enjoying his birthday party. If it weren't for Max being able to come on the ship, he'd have probably made an objection to doing anything special.

But of course, his confident, Grimsby, had insisted they do something special, and had even invited Prince Riku, Eric's life-long friend from a neighboring kingdom, to stay for a week to celebrate. The young prince had remembered being overjoyed at hearing this news, for the two princes has not spoken for quite a long while, or at least, leisurely – Riku did often come by for trade information and other matters typically associated with princes.

"Silence, everybody," the confident ordered as Eric saw him approaching, "Eric, it is with great honor that I present to you-"

"OK, Grim, let's not get carried away," Riku chuckled as he made his way to Eric, running a hand through his silver hair as he did so. He, like Eric, was far more colloquial when it came to these things, which only made him more fun to be with.

Grimsby gathered himself and continued, "Anyway, Eric. Today I give you a marvelous gift. Perhaps the biggest and most expensive of all your gifts,"

"Aw, Grims, you shouldn't have," Eric allowed for himself to have a laugh in response and gave the man an appreciative little nudge on the back.

Grimsby was not impressed, and nonetheless continued, "It was crafted by only the finest craftsmen in the kingdom, with a few from Riku's kingdom even being commissioned to help out with it as well."

Three of the sailors on board then removed the large cover from the nearby birthday gift, revealing it to be a large marble statue of Eric, standing heroically with a shield and sword in hand.

"It's uh…" Eric was at a struggle for words. It wasn't that it was awful, per-say, but perhaps, it was just a little…

"Isn't it too much, Grimsby?" Riku asked, stifling a chuckle.

"I'd hardly say so," the confident had a firm, smug grin planted on his face, "It is surely the best birthday present one could ever give the prince!" Ignoring the murmurs of disapproval across the ship, he then turned to Eric, his grin worn down and now looking sourly at him, "Of course, I did hope for this to be what I'd give as a wedding present but apparently that's too much to ask for…"

Eric rolled his eyes. Was Grimsby seriously not over this? "So what if I didn't like Princess Morningstar?" he asked, almost bitterly, but as princely as can be, "And if anything, she looked as if she'd rather be reading a book than actually talk to me."

"Yes, I did notice that, but Tulip is a fine young lady from a bordering kingdom! She was the best you could ever had!"

"So Riku…" the raven-haired prince turned to his silver-headed friend, looking for a way out, "How'd your parents react to you wanting to find a prince to marry?"

Riku looked at his friend with honest eyes, and a warm smile, "Ah, they were OK with it. I do think they were quite shocked and a little disappointed, but I think that they ultimately don't mind, especially when I've got an older brother who's more likely gonna have the throne."

"Don't you ever want the throne?"

Riku sighed, and came to the edge of the boat, resting his elbows, "I don't think I'd mind missing it. After all, it's just a lot of work, right? No…I think I want to fall in love for the sake of just being in love. I'm sure I'll find somebody out there…"

"Well, we can keep looking together," Eric approached his friend, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Both of the young princes were unaware of the merboy and mermaid lingering below them on the other side of the boat, listening contently as they talked on and on.

"Who knows?" Riku shrugged, "Maybe they'll hit us up themselves – like lightning!"

As if the gods heard them, a lightning bolt suddenly struck nearby. All the men on deck looked up to see the dark eclipsed by a deep fog, black clouds also forming as lightning struck periodically.

"Hurricane's a comin'!" one of the crew members exclaimed as they manned the decks.

"Guys, we need to get out of here!" Roxas exclaimed worryingly as he, Ventus and Sebastian made their way back to Atlantica.

Ariel and Sora held onto each other for resistance for the sudden wind picking up. This was to no avail, however, as they both ended up succumbing to the force, tumbling back to the ocean. They swam back up to witness what was happening up on the surface.

"Ariel!" Sora cried, tugging lightly at her arm before diving back into the ocean. He soon realized she was not following, and swam back up, "Come on, everybody's gone, so we should-"

Ariel's gaze did not falter, as she continued to stare at Eric as he was the only one left on the ship, rescuing his dog who had gotten caught in some of the cluttering wreckage that was alit. With Max in his arms, Eric had carried him to the last small boat that was almost ready to leave, giving him to Riku. Unfortunately, Ariel watched as Eric himself was not successful in getting on the boat, getting caught on a loose floorboard on the deck.

"Ariel, seriously-" Sora sighed as Ariel swam over to the human, the boat gradually sinking. It was clear that she wanted to save him, and Sora proceeded to witness her heroic deed from underwater.

The mermaid had an unconscious Eric in her arms, pulling him with all of her strength, but alas, she moved mere inches at a time, finding herself in straining positions as she tried.

"Sora!" she called out to him, "Help me, please!"

As if automatically, Sora immediately grabbed Eric by the legs, "Come on!"

They both swam carefully to the closest piece of land was, making sure to avoid all forms of wreckage from the storm, as it was violently sent in all directions.

It was now morning, and Ariel lay on the sands by a great castle, with Eric, still unconscious, lying beside her. She looked at him with sad, blue eyes. Surely he wasn't dead, was he? Sora sat close by, but far enough from both of them, partially startled by the idea of being extremely close to a human like this.

"Hey, you two!" Scuttle greeted as he flew towards them, landing next to Ariel, "Who's your friend?"

Ariel took ahold of Eric's head, stroking his hair lightly with her fingers.

"So, um, is he dead?" Sora asked freely.

"Let's check," Scuttle flew over to Eric's foot, and planted it to where one would normally see ears. Predictably, he heard nothing, "Can't make out a heartbeat. Sorry."

"Wait!" Ariel beamed quietly, as she watched the prince's chest, "He's breathing!"

"Oh, well, look at that!" Scuttle mused with a smile.

"He's so handsome…" the mermaid stared admiringly at him; taking in all of this human's perfections.

"He doesn't seem as cruel as our parents tell us they are," Sora sighed, as Ariel gave him a nod of approval before focusing on Eric again.

"What would I give to live where you are…" Ariel sang a beautiful melody to the prince's resting body, about hope, and her dream to be with him on land – a part of his world…

A wave suddenly crashed upon a nearby rock, washing up Sebastian, Flounder and the twins. They looked exhausted, and had failed getting back to the castle in time. Sebastian was quick to react to the scene he had opened his eyes to, but was quickly restrained by Ventus, who stared on admirably.

Eric then started to grunt lightly, and opened his eyes slightly to find a beautiful woman, who he couldn't make out due to the sunlight beaming down cheerfully upon them.

"Eric!" Grimsby's voice cried out as he was approaching the prince with Riku. Ariel and Sora heard this and took it as a cue to get out of the way. The dived back into the ocean, but then resurfaced on a nearby rock, peering on at the scene.

Eric got up. He had no idea what on earth just happened. When'd he get to the surface? How did he get there, and how long had he been out here for? His clothes were tattered and he still felt pained. He wasn't even standing up straight, but rather jaggedly moving around in one spot.

"Oh, Eric, we've been so worried about you, buddy!" Riku was quick to wrap an arm around his friend, getting him to stand still for a moment.

"The most beautiful girl…" Eric spluttered, images of the maiden still firm in his mind, "Rescued me…her voice…"

"Oh, dear, Eric, I think you've perhaps swallowed a bit too much seawater." Grimsby responded.

"Come on, dude, let's get you back in the castle," Riku said as he guided Eric back to the castle, Grimsby leading the way as he often did.

Ariel and Sora rose up on the rock, staring in the direction of the humans. These particular humans seemed especially interesting.

"So, are you guys okay?" Roxas asked.

"What were you doing with that human?" Ventus also asked.

Both questions were ignored by the duo, their attention now focusing on something shining in the sunlight. It was caught between a few of the dents on the rock.

"What's that?" Sora asked.

Ariel reached down and got it out, "Hmm…" she said, studying iy carefully. There was a large 'E' on one side of it, and it looked like a pendant, "I think it might be his."

"Perhaps we could keep it," Sora suggested, "He might have more back at his castle,"

"I suppose so…" Ariel nodded, hugging the pendant by holding it close to her face.

"Oh, boy…" Sebastian sighed, "What a calamity…"

Unknown to everybody, two eels were watching the scene, each with a glowing yellow eye. They were Ursula's pet eels, Flotsam and Jetsam. Similar to Axel and Terra, their magic eyes formed an image for the sea witch, who had witnessed the whole ordeal with Axel and Terra.

"I told you that waiting was key!" the sea witch cackled at her henchman, "Now the child's fallen for the human! A prince, at that!"

"I think that other kid's fallen for that other prince as well," Axel smirked, "Both their parents are gonna love this…"

"Oh, this is too easy!"

"You're just forgetting one thing…" Terra interjected, before his boss and friend could start one of her many monologues.

"We need to get her here," Axel added, "Now, how the hell you gonna do that?"

Ursula smirked, "That's your job, dears, not mine. Now, go out and find her. Lure her here."

"Don't need to tell me twice," the redheaded merman smirked as he left with Terra.

Ursula turned to her nearby 'garden', where several polyps looked back at her with worried eyes, "I think Triton's little lovesick girl would make a wonderful addition to this little garden…"

Ooh...Ursula's finally putting her plan into action...
Now, I'm debating on whether or not to include an Under-The-Sea-Inspired scene/chapter, or I'll just cut to the chase. Besides...I could probably write a scene with Sora's mother in if I went straight to it.
Anyone who reads the Serena Valentino Disney books may know that Tulip Morningstar is one of the characters created for the book series. I've made reference to her, but the canon of the books (well...Poor Unfortunate Soul anyway...) does NOT follow the canon of this fic, so she remains a rejected love interest.