Hey, guys! The fic is almost complete! After this chapter, there's only one more left! Hooray!
Also, I'd like to respond to a guest review from Sorik - I have always planned on introducing it in the story, so it's definitely going to be. Coincidentally, this is its moment to shine. Hoping you like it!
Enjoy the chapter, everyone!
Ursula couldn't have been more pleased with herself.
The sea witch strolled along the sands at the bottom of the ocean, Sora and Ariel wrapped up in two tentacles, Sora to her left and Ariel to her right. Despite having the limbs occupied, her remaining four did a fairly decent job, pacing at a rather regular speed, or at least it felt like that to Sora and Ariel; it might have been a bit slower for Ursula. Because they had insisted, her pet eels Flotsam and Jetsam had joined her, watching the trapped merfolk with peering eyes, similar to Axel and Terra's, but only more creepier given they were eels eyes.
Looking at the two captured merfolk with a grin on her face, Ursula took notice of their sullen faces, coated with an expression of anger.
"Look, dearies, I do feel bad for you, I really do," She sighed, but not indicating sadness or pity in her tone, "I've got my own agenda to deal with."
Seeing the opportunity to speak, Sora spoke up, "You left Terra on that ship!"
The sea witch brushed him off, "Oh, he can find his own way back. Apparently, he'd fallen in love with a merman around these parts. Anyway, there's more important things to worry about – I've got bigger fish to-"
"Ursula, STOP!"
Ursula looked up, to find King Triton standing in front of her, his trident aimed straight at her face, only inches away from it. Sebastian, Flounder and the twins were positioned nearby, but far enough to avoid the sea witch. Upon seeing the so-called "rescue party", Ursula smirked.
"King Triton…" Her tone lowered and her face almost lit up sarcastically, "How are you?"
"Let them go!" Triton's aim altered slightly, his trident right in her face.
Ursula gently pushed it downward, "And what will happen if I don't?"
"Then you'll get this!" Another voice exclaimed in anger, as Ursula felt a blast emit in her direction, sending her backwards and freeing Sora and Ariel from her grasp.
Looking up from her current position, the sea witch smirked, "Queen Aqua! My, my, still have that Keyblade, do we? And how are the Radiant Sea Gardens doing?"
"Shut up!" Aqua commanded, aiming her Keyblade at her again, only for Cloud – who had accompanied her – to stop her, "And let our children go!"
"No chance!" Ursula countered, making her contract appear before her, its golden glow brightening the grey area, "We had a deal, you see! And boy, were they eager to sign!"
"Daddy, I'm sorry!" Ariel began to apologize, "It's just that – it's just – I didn't mean –"
Her apologies were stopped as another blast sent Ursula back, breaking the rock she was currently sprawled on and sending her into another. Triton looked around for his trident, only to find a redheaded merman holding it, somehow having managed to slip it out of his grasp. Everyone sighed upon realizing that while he had tried to destroy the contract, and possibly Ursula, the golden scroll still shone proudly, not a single tear made in it.
"Axel!" Roxas called to the merman, "Why did you-"
"Axel!" The sea witch echoed the name, anger finally being heard in her voice, "You traitor! I thought I could trust you!"
"You went back on your word!" Axel countered, "This isn't what I thought was gonna happen! But that was for Terra! You took him and abused him into fooling that human into thinking that Sora wasn't his true love!"
Ursula huffed, but nonetheless a smirk reappeared, her contract being held in a tentacle and being shown to Aqua and Triton, "See how it's still here? The contract is legal and truly binding! It cannot even be broken by the likes of you!"
"Wait!" Aqua halted her, "What if we-"
"Mom!" Cloud exclaimed in shock, "No, no you couldn't-"
"I must." She responded, looking over to Sora, "For Sora. For all of you." She then looked to King Triton, who got at what the blueheaded queen was thinking.
"What if we were to arrange a different kind of trade?"
Ursula laughed to herself. Right where she wanted them!
"Well…" She pondered teasingly, approaching them with her contract in hand, "I was always a girl with her eye on the bargain…so perhaps I'd be willing to offer up a trade. Of course, a prince and princess are as strong commodities as you can get, but an exchange for someone better would be fair enough."
"Well, what do you have in mind?" Triton asked slowly, as Ursula began explaining her contract.
"Eric, wait! What are you doing!"
Grimsby looked on as Eric and Riku ran over to the edge of the ship, where a dinghy was located. They planned to go out to sea, and find Ariel and Sora themselves. The sea witch had already proven to be no good, and so they thought that the only way to get them out of this mess was to take troubles into their own hands.
The best place to start was to go underwater.
Quickly rowing the boat, Riku looked on at the sea, his eyes focused on a location where he had remembered the sea witch diving into, "We're going to save them!"
"But it's too risky!" The confident countered, "You could drown! And we'd have to send out reinforcements to find you should you-"
"I lost her one, Grim!" Eric yelled back to him, being quite a distance away from the wedding hip at this point as the waves began to get wilder, "And I won't lose her again!" He turned back to the waters, concentrating.
Oh, where could she be?
"So, do we have a deal?" Ursula concluded her explanation, her contract floating in front of her.
Triton and Aqua eyed the scroll hesitantly, as their friends and children watched them in horror.
They have no other choice.
Triton raised his trident and aimed a small, golden beam for Ariel's signature, replacing it with his own name. Similarly, Aqua raised her keyblade and shot out a concentrated beam to her son's signature, her own masking it completely.
"Ha! It's done then!" Ursula cackled.
And with the contract signed, Aqua and Triton were quickly entrapped within two golden circles, creating a whirlpool. Inside the whirlpools, the two began to wither, their features removed as they were reduced to nothing more than polyps. Between them, their crowns, trident and keyblade maintained their original appearances, seemingly not affected by the change of signatures – perhaps this was intentional.
"Daddy…" Ariel said to the polyp that had once been her father, Sebastian bowing his head towards the small creature in respect.
"Mother!" Cloud cried, approaching where his mother had once been. He snarled at Ursula, "You're a monster!" In retaliation, he made a grab for his mother's keyblade, only for it to firmly stand its ground on the ocean floor.
"Ha! I don't fear you or that weapon now!" Ursula smirked, "Keyblades are awfully picky with their owners. Did your mother never teach you that?" She looked down at Triton's polyp, taking the crown from its current position. Similarly, she picked up the trident – far less fussy with its owner, which is what made it more appealing, "It's mine!"
"You…" Sora hissed in anger, before hurling himself at the sea witch, "You monster!"
Ursula was quick to react, however, and with a flick of her arm pinned him against the rock where she had previously been forced into, "Oh, quiet, you little brat!" She ordered, "Contract or no, I'll-"
A harpoon interrupted her, gashing her arm. Ursula recoiled as she grabbed her arm in pain, blood slowly emitting from the cut.
Everyone looked up to see Eric and Riku, holding their breaths as the latter held in his left hand what they presumed was a spare harpoon.
"Eric!" Ariel cried out.
"Riku!" Sora also cried out.
"You insolent humans!" Ursula muttered angrily, before looking over to her eels, "After them!"
Seeing they were in trouble, the two humans swam as far away as they could from the commotion as they were chased by Flotsam and Jetsam, who were quick to capture them despite their efforts.
"Come on!" Ventus said to Roxas as the two swam after the eels, Sebastian accompanying them with Flounder.
Upon reaching the trapped humans, the twins made an effort to pry the eels off of them. This was to no avail, as the eels remained firmly in place, snickering at the wasted effort. Immediately getting an idea, Roxas turned around and slapped Jetsam with his fin. Sebastian made his way to Jetsam's tail and pinched it, causing the eel to recoil and lose his grip on Eric. Immediately catching on, Flounder slapped Flotsam rapidly as the twins kept Jetsam distracted, Sebastian grabbing Flotsam's tail and sending him the twins' way.
"Damn, they're pretty good!" Axel commented.
Ursula, however, was far less than impressed. She watched on in anger, but smirked upon seeing the unguarded humans, "Say goodbye to these handsome buffoons, sweeties!" She said mockingly as she aimed the trident at them.
"Ursula, NO!" Axel yelled, making a grab for Ursula's hair.
Fortunately, Ursula winced in pain, her aim immediately shifting towards the direction of her eels, whom had been victim to the trident's blast, effectively killing them.
"Oh, right!" Axel cheered, as Sora, Ariel and Cloud proceeded to congratulate him.
"Sora!" Ariel beckoned her friend over as the two swam over to their princes, assisting them in getting back to the surface, as the two looked as if they were to drown in a matter of seconds.
They didn't take note of the ink clouds forming below them.
Ursula's grip on the trident tightened, as she released more and more ink. Everyone who was underwater watched in fear as the sea witch started to grow slowly but surely.
Oh, she was just getting started.
"Guys, you have to get away from here!" Sora exclaimed once the four reached the surface, latching on to Riku with Ariel similarly holding Eric.
"No way!" Riku shook his head, "There's no chance we're going to lose you guys!"
"Again!" Eric added, reminding himself of the situation with Ariel.
Sora huffed, and quickly got an idea, "Now I don't know if it'll work, but I could go back and get my mom's-"
They were hastily separated into pairs as Ursula continued to grow out of the sea. Ariel and Eric had gone in one direction and Riku with Sora in another. Both pairs latched themselves onto the crown, seeing it as the only opportunity for survival. However, once they noticed how far they had gotten from the ocean floor, the four dived from the crown and made their way to water.
"Look out!" Eric cried, holding Ariel, as a humongous tentacle lowered in their way.
"You insignificant fools!" Ursula boomed, her voice far deeper than it had been due to her colossal size, "I now rule all the ocean!" Trident in hand, she created a whirlpool near where Riku and Sora were located, the two cowering away to avoid harm, "The sea is now at my disposal, as everything in it bows to my power!"
"What do we do?" Eric asked his friend from the other side of the tentacle, Ariel in his arms.
Ursula noticed him, and turned to face them. Her eyes – and aim – on the mermaid, she sent a blast in her direction. Luckily, Eric has managed to swim away with the mermaid – just far enough to avoid the blast. Instead, a whirlpool formed where the blast had alternatively landed, and both of them were on the edge of it. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in avoiding the edge, instead falling inside the whirlpool, wincing in pain as they hit the bottom of the grounds, which were now devoid of seawater.
"Riku!" Sora began, making sure they did not get Ursula's attention, "She distracted! We best do something quick!"
Riku looked over at the giant sea witch, who was now seemingly aiming beams at Ariel and Eric. Given how many she was firing, they must have been successful in avoiding them.
Still, that didn't mean they were safe forever.
"Didn't you say you had an idea?" Riku asked.
Sora brightened in realization. He did! He planned on getting his mother's keyblade and blasting Ursula with it. And it was also easy to locate, given they were more-or-less above where it was last located.
But…what if it didn't respond to him?
What Ursula had said to Cloud before was right – keyblades were fussy about their owners. Well, more specifically, it had to be passed down via a special ritual. Unfortunately, their mother was no longer with them, so for now, the keyblade was likely not going to be used by anyone that way.
That way. There actually was another way, however. Sora had learned it in his early years. Apparently, the Radiant Sea Gardens was a kingdom most well-known for its Light, which never went out, nor did it cower to the darkness. Only one with pure light in their heart would be able to use the keyblade.
"Well, my mom's keyblade is pretty good for this kind of thing…" Sora explained to Riku, "But there's just a teeny little problem…"
"That it's way below us?"
Sora huffed, "Make that TWO teeny little problems. Anyway, the keyblade has to be used by someone whose heart is full of light!"
"Light?" Riku echoed, "I don't under- you know what? You best get the keyblade now!" He pointed in Ariel and Eric's direction, "We've got friends to save and a sea witch to defeat! Leave the explanation later."
Sora sighed as he went underwater and swam to the keyblade as fast as he could. Upon reaching it, Sora noticed that his brothers and everyone else were no longer nearby. They must have swam away for safety – hopefully. He hesitated slightly as he looked at it in its current position – lying on the ocean floor. Could he pick it up?
He gripped the handle of the keyblade while it was still on the ground, whispering to himself – praying to the sea gods that he could.
He could.
As he slowly lifted his hands, he realized that the keyblade followed his movement, now off of the ocean floor and in his grasp. He was almost about to cheer himself, but recoiled and made his way back to Riku once he realized that this was an important matter at hand.
"I got it!" Sora waved the weapon at his love interest upon reaching the surface, "Now I just need to be within a close range to be exactly sure I aim for her heart."
"How on earth are we going to get close to her?!" Riku asked worriedly.
Dully, Sora pointed over to a ship nearby, which had resurfaced itself when Ursula had created the first whirlpool.
"Oh."
Riku took to the ship wheel upon reaching the deck with Sora. Taking into account that Sora was not able to move independently on the surface in his current state, Riku positioned him next to the bowsprit, meaning that Sora sat over the edge, but held on to the bowsprit with his left hand to support himself and steady his body in its position.
"Do you know how to work a ship?" Sora asked.
"Well, we're seriously lucky I do!" Riku replied, remembering his lessons with Eric from when they were younger, "Otherwise we'd be in serious trouble!"
And indeed, Riku did know how to work a ship. It moved quicker than he had hoped, but there was the odd occasion in which the ship would halt as it rode a rapid wave, threatening to send Sora and Riku flying backwards. Even so, the two were firmly planted to their grounds, and the keyblade was firmly in Sora's grasp.
"OK, this is close enough!" Sora yelled over to Riku over the loudness of the thunderstorms forming in the sky.
"SO MUCH…FOR TRUE LOVE!" They could hear Ursula bellow with insanity, the trident now glowing a horrendous shade a red.
"Hey, Ursula!" Sora shouted, as loud as he could.
"WHAT!" The sea witch turned around, seeing Sora and Riku on a ship, staring back at her with anger.
"Have at this!" Sora said proudly, raising his keyblade as he aimed a concentrated beam of light at Ursula's chest, more specifically where her heart was located.
"AHHHH!" The sea witch flinched, dropping the trident into the whirlpool, which now shrunk back to its original size and landed inbetween Eric and Ariel, only just inches away from them.
Seeing an opportunity, Ariel gestured for the trident and took it. Aiming it carefully, and moving herself accordingly, she shot a beam at Ursula's face, effectively blinding her. Luckily, this did not affect Sora's aim of the keyblade.
"Riku!" Sora yelled, "Could you move me any closer? Just need to concentrate a little more on her heart!"
Riku complied, steering the ship accordingly. However, he had somewhat managed to impale Ursula's bosom with the bowsprit upon getting perhaps closer than was necessary. Regardless, Sora was successful in concentrating the beam.
"I can't…" Ursula began, her voice weakened, "I can't…endure…"
Eric took the trident from Ariel swiftly and threw it in her direction, "Then allow me!"
As the trident was successfully plunged into Ursula, it went through her in the form of a golden beam, effectively putting an end to her.
Riku steered the ship back and Eric took Ariel as far away as he could as the four watched the sea witch writhe in pain, falling back into the ocean as she gradually began to fade away.
Ursula was no more.
Never really been a big fan of writing action scenes, but hopefully you get the gist of what I'm doing here.