"Sheesh. What a grumpy-pants...tail...thing." Nora grumbled as Sora and the rest of the group all swam out the throne room with a frustrated Ariel. Their meeting with King Triton had left them with feelings ranging from frustrated annoyance to anxious uncertainty toward how their unwelcomed presence might potentially anger the ocean monarch. "Yeah. Dad wasn't nearly so strict with me or Ruby to this degree." Yang mused with a tone of equally unsubtle annoyance as Ren wordlessly lay his hand on Nora's shoulder to ease her frustration.
Weiss, however, had her own, troubling thoughts on the matter of their royal host. "He almost reminds me of my father..." she muttered with a bitter tone.
Sora looked behind himself, faintly picking up what she was saying. "What's that?" he asked, causing Weiss to look up at him, realizing she must not have been as quiet as she thought. "Oh, nothing," Weiss said, shrugging it off like it wasn't important. Ruby turned to look at Sora and Weiss, the latter of which looked at her with a confused shrug.
Blake's gaze suddenly flew to Ariel when she noticed her and Flounder suddenly start swimming in a different direction. "Where are you going, Ariel?" she asked as she turned to follow, along with everyone else. With Jaune nearly impacting against a rock before Pyrrha managed to grab him and correct his course.
"There's something I want to show you all. Come on." the mermaid princess urged, eager to forget about her recent dispute with her father. Despite everyone else's mutual curiosity, Jaune was a little worried, thinking it was a spot not within the palace or anywhere near where they could be helped if the Heartless appeared again. "Ariel, your father said not to leave-"
"He's not going to find out. He has so many duties as King. Besides, I have all of you to protect me. I won't be in any danger as long as you're around, right?" Ariel said, not sounding or looking worried.
Though most of the group felt uncertain, curiosity and faith in Ariel won out, so they agreed and followed along. Beyond the borders of Atlantica they went, to a boulder leaned against a wall near the rocky crevice in the ocean floor. Ariel gave a grunt as she reached down and started to pull the boulder aside. As they were gentlemen, Sora and Jaune helped out, pulling the boulder along with Ariel to speed up the process. With an appreciative smile to the boys, Ariel gestured her new friends to follow her and Flounder inside.
"Whoa. So this is your grotto?" Yang said when she and everyone else entered. The rock formation inside the grotto looked almost like a storage room with circular shelves filled with all kinds of random objects normally found above water. There was something similar to a sunroof with a small hole at the roof of it, letting the sun shine light into the mermaid princess's personal sanctuary.
"Yup." Ariel answered cheerfully as she swam in a small, lighthearted rotation, gesturing around the grotto. "Look at all the wonderful things flounder and I've collected. I think it's all from the outside world." The group looked at the various unremarkable objects with varying reactions. "These are like...treasures to you?" Weiss asked skeptically as she picked up a knight's helmet. Being someone who grew up in a world of luxury, such mundane things didn't seem very noteworthy to her.
"I think it's lovely, Ariel." Pyrrha said encouragingly to her fellow redhead. "But why do you collect all this, Ariel?" Blake asked, managing to take her eyes off the unnerved Flounder. "Because some day, I'm going to see what's out there. I want to see other worlds." she answered with a faraway, hopeful tone. Though now that she was sharing it with someone other than Flounder, she felt a little awkward. "Does that sound strange?" she asked.
Sora simply shook his head and said, "No, not at all. I used to feel the same way." His choice of words made everyone jerk with worry, and Ariel tilt her head in confusion. "Used to?" Sora didn't seem to realize the blunder he'd made and simply replied with his own rather faraway tone. "I mean...I still do." The thought of everything else that had happened however had left him feeling more uncertain than ever. Kairi was gone, Riku was doing...goodness only knows, the Heartless were attacking worlds, it was all so...so...
Realizing Sora was getting a bit too expository about the fact that they WEREN'T FROM THIS WORLD, Ruby quickly dashed in front of him, saying, "U-Uhh, what Sora means is that our journey to these waters has been a...bit of a rough one. We're still just, uhh...getting used to it all, you know? E-Eheheh." Weiss couldn't help facepalming again. Ruby had no problem stealing her notebook and claiming not to be a crook, yet she was just as bad a liar as Sora and Jaune. Thankfully, Ariel seemed to at least buy it.
"Hey, why don't we try looking for that Keyhole you were talking about?" Ariel suggested eagerly.
The mention of the particularly important thing Goofy let slip to King Triton caused everyone's eyes to widen with surprise. Sora spoke up in a tone full of worry at her suggestion. "But your father said-"
"Oh, he always treats me like a little girl. He never wants to let me do anything," Ariel retorted, irritation lacing her melodic voice. Irritation which softened as she sighed, now sounding more disappointed than anything else. "He just... He just doesn't understand."
Unknown to anyone else, Sebastian was near the small tunnel leading in and out of Ariel's grotto at one corner, keeping to the wall while they conversed. He knew how much Ariel wished for more freedom with how spirited she was. That made him look guilty as he thought about his duty working with King Triton. It gave him mixed feelings about what he was soon to do. Weiss blinked before contemplating. She had a somewhat sullen expression, thinking about her own familial relations before speaking in her own encouraging way to Ariel. "You know what? You're right."
The sudden, encouraging proclamation from the Schnee heiress surprised Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "Weiss?" Goofy asked, surprised as everyone else at her encouraging statement.
"Ariel, he may be your father but that doesn't mean he has the right to boss you around over everything. You shouldn't have to always fall in line with his rules if he's going to treat you like you like this. Besides, you've got all of us to keep you safe. Nothing bad can happen with this many friends by your side."
And just like that, Weiss's words managed to bring a smile back to Ariel's face. "Wow...Thank you Weiss. It means so much to have someone finally try to understand how I feel."
"Yay! Nice Weiss strikes again!" Ruby cheered, swimming up to her partner with an arm around her shoulder. "Personal space, Ruby..." Weiss grumbled, trying to push Ruby away with the icy countenance that everyone knew so well.
"So how do we find this Keyhole?" Ariel said, curious and excited again. That right there was the million munny question which gave everyone pause. Where did they even start looking for the Keyhole?
"Well..." Pyrrha spoke up, tapping her chin. "From what I've noticed, the other Keyholes have always been in hidden areas. Is there any place normally devoid of people and mysterious or special? We could start there."
Ariel tapped her chin as well, trying to think of someplace that fit Pyrrha's description. Several seconds later, her face brightened up as she remembered that she knew such a place. Or at least one that SHE viewed as special. "Oh! I think I know! Follow me." she said excitedly, swimming toward the entrance of her grotto. "Alright! Time for a great big undah da sea adventuh!" Nora cheered, putting on an exaggerated accent. One which Sebastian probably would have taken offense at.
As the rest of the group followed Ariel, Sora and Ruby seemed to lag behind. Not that they didn't wish to go, but because their attention was drawn to a particular indentation in Ariel's grotto. A three pronged trident-head shaped one. They didn't know why, but there was something...odd about it. They couldn't put his finger on what it was though. "Sora?" Goofy called out. "Ruby?" Followed by Yang. "Sora, Ruby, come on!" Donald yelled to them, snapping the two adolescents out of his reverie. "Oh! Coming!" they called back, swimming after the group.
What Sora didn't notice however was that their conversation was being eavesdropped upon. Slinking down from the open sunlit hole above were a pair of twin, heterochromatic moray eels. Both with one yellow and grey eyes, with one Eel having them on the left eye and the other on the right, and vice versa for the other. They leered at the departing group, sinister grins upon their faces. What they had seen, had gone right to the vision of their mistress. None other than Ursula herself, the tentacled, obese sea witch who was a member of Maleficent's villainous council. The vision of her pet eels, Flotsam and Jetsam, was revealed through her cauldron "Those impudent fools will never find the keyhole." She said, shifting the image focusing on Sora, Ruby, and Ariel to focus fully on the daughter of Triton. "But the girl could prove useful. And I've got the Heartless on my side." A wicked grin spread across her face as Ursula felt a spark of malign inspiration spread through her. Finally she would have her revenge on the rigid old monarch who banished her from the palace.
"Triton my old friend. Your day is coming. Hahahaahaahaahaa!"