Sora dove down as the Heartless lunged for him, snapping its powerful jaws that almost shaved a few scales off his tail. He raked the teeth of his Keyblade across its belly, earning a growl that resonated in the water around them. Sora kicked his tail and spun around to smack it in the side, and it lunged at him again. With a grunt, he blocked it, and it bit down on his Keyblade.
"Gah!" He held on tightly as the Heartless shook violently from side to side, trying to jerk the Keyblade away from him. He tightened his grip on the handle and focused as sparks appeared around it. "Thunder!" he commanded, sending a shock through the Heartless that dislodged it and left it dazed. He backed up a length, then powered forward and struck the Heartless square in its nose. Before it had time to recover, he circled around and under it, then stabbed his Keyblade into it, and with a howl, it burst into darkness that quickly dissipated.
Panting a bit, Sora looked around to make sure it didn't have any friends that would try to avenge it. Once he was sure it was clear, he dismissed his Keyblade and took a breath, trying to recall which way Melody had departed in.
"Are you okay?!" he heard a voice call, and he spun around to find a mermaid approaching him with King Triton followed close behind. The mermaid, however, surprised him. She looked exactly like Melody's mother. Judging by the curious look on her face, she thought he looked familiar as well. "Wait," she frowned. "Sora?"
"Yeah," he smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "But… Your Highness, I'm confused. I know I… Well, I used magic to get here. But what about you?"
"You're from the surface?" King Triton asked and turned to the mermaid. "Ariel, is this a friend of yours? Or perhaps of Melody's?"
"We met right before Melody ran away, Daddy," Ariel replied, then turned back to Sora. "I'm sorry you had to face that monster alone. Daddy wanted to help, but…"
"Someone has stolen my trident," King Triton finished, his bushy brow furrowed. "I can't shake the feeling this has something to do with Melody…" He shook his head as concern overtook his face. Sora blinked and frowned.
"Wait, so King Triton is your father, Your Highness?" he asked.
"Ariel," she told him with a nod.
"Right, Ariel…" He looked down and nearly started sinking. "That would mean… Melody is your granddaughter, sire. But…" He looked up again. "So Melody… She is meant to be in the sea. At least sort of." Guilt appeared in Ariel's eyes.
"Yes. I hated having to keep her away from it, but there's a horrible sea witch out there named Morgana who threatened to hurt her if we didn't give her the trident. The best way to protect her was to keep her away from the sea." Sora's eyes widened.
"Uh oh…" He bit his lip as Ariel and King Triton both gazed at him. "Um… King Triton…" He bowed. "I know where your trident is. Melody is taking it to Morgana." King Triton's anger quickly made itself apparent on his face.
"Wait, Melody was here?!" Ariel interrupted before her father could erupt. "How is that even possible?"
"When she ran away, she took a boat. I used my magic to follow her underwater, and by the time I caught up, she had met Morgana, who had used magic of her own to turn Melody into a mermaid." Ariel placed her hand over her chest, concern for her daughter making her distraught. "But Morgana said it was only a temporary spell, and then told us that she could make it permanent if we got back the trident that had been stolen from her." He bowed his head again. "King Triton, I… Neither of us had any idea. I'm so sorry."
"Never mind that," King Triton said. "We have to find Melody before she reaches Morgana. She's in danger, and if Morgana gets her hands on the trident…" He shook his head and his gaze nearly burned through Sora. "Can you show us to where Morgana is hiding?"
"Yes, sire, of course," Sora replied with a vigorous nod. King Triton turned around and raised his voice.
"Gather all soldiers!" he bellowed. "Morgana has been found!" He turned back to Sora and nodded, and Sora started off in the direction he and Melody had come from.
"Um… Your Highness, Ariel," he said, looking over his shoulder as she followed close behind him. "I really didn't know what Morgana was up to. I had a bad feeling about it, but… I just wanted to make sure Melody was okay. We got separated when that Heartless attacked, and I told her to go on ahead without me so I could keep it off her tail. I…"
"Don't worry, Sora," she told him with a gentle smile, though he could still see her worry in her eyes. "You found Melody when the rest of us couldn't, and I'm grateful to you for keeping her safe while you could." She paused and lost focus. "We just have to hope we find her in time." Sora nodded again and picked up his pace.
By the time they reached the icebergs near Morgana's hideout, Sora's tail hurt with exhaustion, and he panted a bit as he pointed at the cave ahead.
"She's in there," he reported.
"Morgana could have a trap waiting for us," Ariel thought aloud, turning to her father. "Daddy… Let me go in and find Melody. If Morgana does have something planned, maybe I can at least force her out of hiding." King Triton frowned and touched his fingers under his daughter's chin, and she gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. I'll be okay."
"Let me go with you," Sora urged, summoning his Keyblade. "I can handle anything she throws at me, and this is at least kind of my fault. Let me help." Ariel nodded, and she hugged her father before following Sora into the cave. As they swam toward it, Sora looked up through the water's surface to the light of Kingdom Hearts shining above, and silently asked his master to lend him strength.
"Oh, you sweet child!" he heard Morgana all but squealing as they entered the cave. "Thank you so much. But what happened to your friend?"
"There was this monster that attacked us," Melody replied. "He stayed behind to fight it so I could get away." There was a bit of a waver to his voice. "Can we go back and find him?"
"Oh, I'm sure he's fine," Morgana scoffed, and Sora frowned. "Now, let me have my trident."
"Melody, no!" Ariel cried as she swam up, and Melody whirled around with the trident in her hands.
"Mom?!" She looked stunned. "You're… You're a mermaid?"
"Just another secret she kept from you," Morgana said, and Melody's grip on the trident tightened.
"Melody, listen to me," Ariel pleaded. "I'm sorry for keeping so much from you, but I was only trying to keep you safe."
"More like keep you imprisoned," Morgana continued with a smile. "Poor dear with a mother that doesn't trust her… Just hand me the trident and I can make all of this go away."
"Melody, please," Ariel swam a bit closer to her daughter. "If there was one thing I could do differently, I would never have-" She stopped as Melody jerked back toward Morgana.
"Too late, Mom," she said in a low voice, and Ariel cried her name as she handed the trident to Morgana. The sea witch snatched it away from her and began laughing maniacally, and Melody looked up at her with growing fear.
"Melody!" Sora swam up between her and Morgana and readied his Keyblade.
"Poor, foolish girl," Morgana chortled. "Do you know why you were kept away from the sea? To protect you from me!" Power crackled around the trident and she swung it forward, knocking Sora to the side. Melody called his same as he hit the rock wall, leaving him dazed for a moment. Before Ariel could reach her daughter, one of Morgana's tentacles whipped out and caught her, pulling her in and immobilizing her.
"Mom!" Melody cried as she swam up and grabbed hold of Morgana's arm, but the witch swatted her back into an underwater cave nearby.
"Oh, dear." Morgana's voice dripped with mock sincerity. "Little Melody's been a very naughty girl, stealing from her own grandfather." Melody blinked and stared at the witch.
"My… grandfather?" Morgana's lips curled into a sinister smile as the trident rippled with power, and she used it to craft a thick sheet of ice that sealed off the cave.
"You'll simply have to wait here," she said. "I have bigger fish to fry." Her smile grew. "Oh, I almost forgot. Your time as a mermaid has just about expired." With that, she finished the seal and swam off with Ariel in tow, and Melody pounded on the ice in an attempt to break through. Sora shook his head quickly as he collected himself and swam up to it, placing his hands on it and shoving against it.
"Don't worry, Melody," he said as he summoned his Keyblade again and tried to chip away at the ice. "I'll find a way to get you out of there. Just hang on!"
"Sora, I'm so sorry," Melody said with a strain in her voice. "This is all my fault… I'm sorry for dragging you into this."
"Eh, what are friends for?" He kept his voice light in an attempt to help console her, and whacked the ice with his Keyblade, barely making a scratch. "Okay, this isn't getting anywhere…" He frowned. "Hold on, Melody. I'm going to get help. I'll be right back!"
"Thank you, Sora." Though she sounded sincere, he could hear the fear in her voice. "Please, be careful!"
"I will," he replied. "Be back in a moment." With that, he turned and kicked his tail, propelling himself forward to the mouth of the cave.
He looked up with wide eyes as he found Morgana had crafted herself a fortress of ice and positioned herself at the top as more and more spires rose from the water, glinting in the last light of the sun. She still had Ariel wrapped up in one tentacle.
"Morgana!" He heard King Triton bellow. "Release my daughter! Surrender my granddaughter! And you will be spared."
"Oh, what are you gonna do?" Morgana challenged. "Throw the crab at me?" She cackled and lifted the trident. "Face it, Triton! You've lost!" Sora clenched his fists and started forward, but he came to a halt as he sensed something behind him. He turned around slowly to find a giant shark grinning at him.
"Well, well, the other fish fry," he taunted. "Look who's puny now!"
"Um…" Sora forced a smile. "Not you, Undertow. Have you been working out?" Undertow opened his mouth up wide, revealing his large and incredibly sharp teeth, and Sora yelped as the shark snapped at him.
"Not again…" he sighed as he summoned his Keyblade and swam off with Undertow hairs away from his tail. He dove down and lurched his tail forward as Undertow snapped at him again. He jerked himself to the side and frowned as Undertow followed him, and, somehow, an idea started to form in his head. He smacked Undertow in the nose with his Keyblade, earning a bone-chilling growl. Sora swam as quickly as he could back into the cave with Undertow close behind, and he aimed straight for the ice wall keeping Melody captive.
"Melody!" he called out as he heard frantic pounding on the ice. "If you can hear me, get out of the way!" About two heartbeats later, he positioned himself between the wall and the shark, and in the last possible moment, he shot down and out of the way. Undertow smashed through the ice wall and into the stone behind it, stunning him. He started to sink, leaving cracks in the rock. Sora panted a bit, dismissing his Keyblade once he had assured the shark wouldn't be going anywhere.
"Melody?" he looked around, and his heart about stopped as he found her on the rock bed. She had lost her tail, reverting to her old human self, and with that, she wasn't moving. "Melody!" He dove down and hoisted her up in his arms, then pulled her up to the surface and outside. She sputtered as he maneuvered to help her onto one of the bigger icebergs, ignoring the crackle of lightning overhead that Morgana had called. "Melody?" he called again, and she coughed violently and spat out some seawater as she sat up, shaking a bit.
"Sora," she rasped, and he smiled with relief.
"Thank goodness," he said. "Are you okay?"
"Fools!" They both looked up in alarm as Morgana raised the trident up. "All the seas will bow to my power!" She shot forth beams of energy at the sea creatures that had come to the surface to challenge her, including King Triton's soldiers. "Bow down!" she ordered as she forced them down. "Bow down before me!" She aimed a blast at Triton, and though he fought back against it, it overpowered him. With grief on his face, he bowed to her.
"See that, Ma?!" Morgana demanded of the sky. "Who's your favorite now?!" She turned back to the sea dwellers that she had forced into submission, taking aim at the stragglers.
"No!" Melody got to her feet and raced off toward the rising spires around Morgana's fortress. Sora called after her, but she didn't falter, and she jumped up to grab on to one of the spires as it continued to grow toward the sky.
"You all are mine now," Morgana snapped. "The end has come for all of you with fins!" Sora blinked.
"Fins?" He looked down at his tail, then at his necklace, and he sighed. "Duh." He dove down again, then powered up and launched himself out of the water, focusing on his magic that enveloped his body and returned him to his natural human form, and he tucked in and rolled as he landed on the ice. "Whoa…" He wobbled as he stood up again, then summoned his Keyblade and took off after Melody. He jumped up and caught his Keyblade on a rising spire, letting it lift him into the air, and he looked up to find Melody jumping from one arch or spire to another. She ducked under one of Morgana's swinging tentacles and looked around for some way to reach the top without alerting the witch. Sora took aim with his Keyblade and focused, and flames crackled around it.
"Fire!" he cast, sending the ball of flame toward Morgana. It scored a direct hit and singed her tentacles, and she growled as she turned her furious gaze on him.
"You," she snapped. "I figured you were shark chow! And how did you turn yourself human?!"
"That's for me to know," Sora replied. "And for you to never find out!" She raised the trident and pointed it at him, and he ducked and jumped to another arch to dodge the blast of magic from it. Melody climbed up behind the witch and nodded to Sora, and he lifted his Keyblade was the air stirred around it.
"Wind!" He threw the Keyblade forward and knocked Morgana off balance, and Melody lunged and snatched the trident from her grasp, ducking and rolling with it. Morgana, in her anger, threw Ariel, who called out for her daughter as she adjusted herself into a dive to the water below.
"Hand me the trident," Morgana ordered, holding her hand out, and Melody's brow furrowed.
"Stay back!" she snapped as she pointed the handle of the trident at the witch, who only laughed and shoved it away.
"Wrong end, sweetheart," she said and reached for Melody. But Melody took the trident and stabbed it into one of the witch's tentacles, earning a howl of pain. Morgana grit her teeth and pulled the injured tentacle up to inspect it.
"Grandfather!" Melody called. "I think this belongs to you!" She threw the trident away, and Morgana shoved her away in an attempt to grab it, but it slipped away from her and fell toward King Triton. Melody cried out as she found herself plummeting between the spires toward the ice and water below.
"Melody!" Sora called and tossed up his Keyblade as Ventus had taught him to do. It flashed and changed shape, forming a glider shaped similar to a skateboard with a separate handle behind it. He leapt up and landed on it, taking hold of the handle and pushing it back to propel it forward. He dove down and leveled out near the water, and let out a grunt as Melody landed in his arms and almost knocked him off the glider.
"Don't worry," he huffed as he regained his balance. "I've got you." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and buried her face in his chest, shaking with adrenaline.
"Morgana!" King Triton bellowed. "Never again will you threaten my family or harm my ocean. May you stay trapped in the darkest abyss for eternity!" A blast from the trident launched forward and struck Morgana, and she cried out as ice encased her, trapping her. The icy fortress began to collapse, and with it, the frozen sea witch crashed into the ocean and sunk into the darkness below. Sora panted a bit as he watched her disappear, and silence overtook the sea and ice as the waves from the falling ice calmed.
"It's over," he breathed, and Melody looked down and nodded. He flew his glider down to a larger glacier where Ariel and King Triton met them, and as soon as he set Melody on her feet, she ran over to her mother and embraced her.
"Oh, Mom…" she sobbed. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen." She leaned back a bit and looked to King Triton. "I'm sorry for stealing your trident, Grandfather. I just…" She looked down. "I just wanted to be part of the sea."
"Melody," King Triton said gently, opening his arm, and she approached him. "I understand your desire to live among the merfolk. And thanks to you and your friend, Morgana will never again trouble us. You'll be safe now." He smiled. "And so, I'm going to give you a very special choice. You can come to Atlantica with me, or you can return to your life on land." She looked back to her mother, who gave her a sad smile. Melody turned back to her grandfather and grinned.
"I have a better idea," she replied, then looked over to Ariel again. "Is it okay to finally get rid of that wall?" Ariel's smile grew warmly.
"Of course," she said as her daughter returned to her. "Let's bring our worlds back together- land and sea."
Sora smiled as he observed the family, then looked up at the sky and Kingdom Hearts. Peace had returned to this world. He nodded in approval and turned away to take his leave, and he started across the ice as he summoned his Keyblade to find another path between the worlds.
"What a mess you made."
He spun around to find a figure in a long black coat standing nearby, arms crossed. The figure appeared male, just as his voice sounded, but he had a hood up that hid his features.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Sora asked carefully.
"You first," the figure replied. The young Keyblade apprentice narrowed his eyes and summoned Oathkeeper.
"My name is Sora," he said. "I'm the son of Master Riku and Kairi, and apprentice to the χ-Blade Master, Ventus."
"Oh, really?" the figure asked, and his voice dripped with sarcasm. "I wonder what your master would have to say if he knew all the trouble you caused in the first world you visited by yourself."
"What do you mean?" Sora demanded, tensing a bit.
"You nearly let the object of power in this world fall into the hands of a crazy sea witch," the figure said, crossing his arms. "Because you didn't stop and think. Thanks to you 'helping' that girl, this entire world almost fell into chaos."
"But I fixed my mistakes," Sora replied defensively. "And now things are better. They won't be separated anymore. And Morgana won't be any more trouble."
"Hmph," the figure shook his head. "Lucky break. But if you keep being that reckless, it'll only end in disaster."
"Who are you?" Sora demanded. "What makes you think you can criticize me like this?"
"Because I know the truth about you," the figure said, and Sora blinked. "How you're a fake."
"Excuse me?!" Sora readied his Keyblade. "What's your problem? Who are you?!" The figure stayed silent for a moment.
"If you want a fight that badly, I guess I can oblige." He lifted his hand, and from the shadows around him, several Heartless appeared. "Try not to get destroyed." With that, a Dark Corridor erupted behind him, and he turned and vanished within it. Sora started to follow, but the Heartless lunged for him and cut him off.
"Out of my way!" he snapped, slashing his Keyblade through the nearest one and destroying it. He jumped up and light enveloped his Keyblade, and he stabbed it into the ground. Light shot up all around him, and the remaining Heartless either fell or retreated. He straightened up and frowned. "That was too easy…" He looked over to the spot the figure had disappeared in. "Who was that guy?" He looked down in thought, then shook his head and started off for the nearest path leading to another world.