Within minutes, the group found their way back to Ariel's grotto...amazingly not encountering any Heartless along the way. Strange as that was, they weren't going to look a gift horse...or in this case a seahorse as Yang would put it, in the mouth, as they made their way inside.
And sure enough, there on the wall, was the three pronged indentation that Sora spoke of on the central wall in front of the entrance to the grotto. "Is this what you were referring to, Sora?" Ariel asked, pulling out the crystal trident head. Sure enough, it matched perfectly. "Yeah, this has to be." Sora said affirmatively. "What do ya think it's for?" Goofy asked curiously. "Well, only one way to find out." Ruby said, earning an eager nod from Ariel who eagerly inserted it into the indentation. And whether it did something or not, she absolutely adored the way it looked among her collection.
"Ariel, you disobeyed me again!" said the angered voice of King Triton as he emerged from Ariel's grotto entrance. Everyone flinched turned to him with worry as he continued his furious lecture. "I told you not to leave the palace!"
Near one bottom section of Ariel's grotto and hidden at the side of the items, was a regretful looking Sebastian. It seemed he'd told Triton what Ariel had done. Said ruler of the seas noticed the item everyone found on the sunken ship and blanched with shock, as if realizing something they didn't. In a flash, he angrily raised his trident which began to glow as he leveled the tip at the crystal.
Ariel felt her heart sink, realizing what her father was doing. "Daddy, no!" It was too late as a beam of electricity far more powerful and concentrated than any of Donald's thunder spells shot forward. Jaune let out an undignified yell of fear as he narrowly avoided the electric stream with Pyrrha's help. As it struck the crystalline object pressed into the indent, it shattered and whatever was left had been dissolved away by the power of the Trident. Everyone was in shock at what Triton did, though Ariel was utterly grief-stricken. After all that effort they went through to find the item from that sunken ship and it possibly leading them to the Keyhole she wanted to help her new friends find, it was all for nothing. All because of her father. "How could you..."
The distraught mermaid looked ready to burst into tears as she swam out of the grotto. "Ariel, wait!" Ruby exclaimed, trying to swim after her, only for to block the way with his trident and a disapproving glare. "Father or not, that wasn't very nice!" Ruby said disapprovingly.
"Silence!" Triton bellowed, causing Ruby to flinch. Before she could say more Weiss and Yang pulled her back, with the Schnee heiress whispering. "Do you want to anger a King who has a weapon like that?!" Before Ruby could say anything, Blake swam up beside Yang and both gave her a shake of the head, telling her that saying anything more would likely just make things worse.
Nora growled with an intense urge to break Triton's legs...or tail in this case, but Ren held her back with an equally firm frown and shake of his head. Jaune and Pyrrha were relieved at that too. The last thing they needed to do was earn the king's ire more than they already had. But they'd already earned it more than they realized.
Triton ignored the displays and turned his gaze to Sora. "Young man. You're not from another ocean," he said before his eyes narrowed and spoke again in an accusatory way. "You're from another world, aren't you?"
Sora and everyone else gasped at Triton's accusation. That response was all Triton needed to hear as he focused more angrily on Sora. "Then you must be the key bearer." he deduced, his disapproval more palpable than ever. "Wait, you...You knew?!" Jaune exclaimed with shock. "How...did you know?" Sora asked, shaken slightly by Triton's fury. "You all may fool Ariel, but you can't fool me. You don't know your dorsal fins from your tails." the sea king answered, as if offended by their attempt to mask themselves as mer-people. Of course, Sora and Jaune in particular couldn't help but let out guilty noises.
Turning back to Sora, Triton spoke again in an almost scolding tone. "As the key bearer, you must already know...One must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds." The world order. "Of course I know that! But..." Sora had no idea what to say. "You have violated this principle!" Triton continued, not giving Sora an inch as he narrowed his eyes at the boy. "The key bearer shatters peace and brings ruin."
"That's not fair!" Ruby could stay silent no more as she broke free of Yang and Weiss's grip. "Ruby!" the Schnee heiress hissed at her partner's impulsiveness. "Sora's done so much for me, and everyone else here! And he's done nothing but help the people we've come across! He hasn't done anything wrong! He's a good person!" Sora's eyes widened with surprise at the way Ruby stood up for him. Triton however was not moved as he turned to her angrily. "'Fair'?! The stability of the worlds isn't a matter of fairness. If even the slightest bit of balance is disturbed, the worlds will suffer because of HIM!" Ruby winced but didn't shift her silver eyed gaze away from Triton's. "Aww, Sora's not like that." Goofy piped up with a much more gentle tone as he gestured to Sora, further surprising the boy. His friends really had that much faith in him?
Triton however refused to hear any more from any of the otherworldly interlopers. "I thank you for saving my daughter, but there is no room in my ocean for you or your key!" he said as he turned on his fins and swam out of his daughter's grotto without a backward look.
In the wake of Triton's departure, Sora looked to his Keyblade an expression of contemplative worry. Like Ruby said, he'd had done everything he could to help people. Never once had he tried or even wanted to do anything malefic. And yet, he remembered how Leon and Yuffie talked about how the Heartless would always come after him because he wielded the Keyblade. If that were the case, then that might have meant he was partly responsible for them being in this world. If that were true, then...were the Heartless only here because of him? Did he truly shatter this world's peace and bring ruin to it?
"You guys...Coming to this world was a mistake." Sora said, hanging his head glumly. His immediate shift in demeanor made everyone look to him with great concern. "Sora, no..." Ruby said, turning around and laying her right hand on his left shoulder. "Don't let what King Triton said get to you. You're a good person." Blake said, trying help him feel better.
Sadly, it had little to no effect as he shook his head in response. "It's not just that," Sora said, his voice full of self-disappointment. "Think about it. We're in a world that's completely underwater. How could Kairi or Riku be here? We're only hear because of Donald's magic and we stick out, easily. Even if Ariel didn't catch on, she still noticed there was something different about us." Everyone realized what he meant at that point, and despite not wanting him to be sad...they couldn't argue with his logic. With a defeated sigh, Sora dismissed the Keyblade and looked up through the hole in the ceiling. "I think we should just leave."
Nobody was sure what to say. They didn't like seeing Sora so depressed but he had some valid points. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps they should leave before they burned any more bridges or put this world even more at risk.
Flounder, who had hidden himself when the furious king revealed himself, swam out from behind a chest toward the saddened young man. "Sora...I'm not sure I understand what you and King Triton meant, but...you don't seem like the sort of person who would do bad things." he said, smiling weakly at him. "If you want to leave though, that's fine. I think you should at least say goodbye to Ariel before you go, though."
As Sora thought about Flounder's words, he felt Yang lay a hand on his other his shoulder. "Maybe we should do that at least. I'm sure even Triton won't mind if we at least say farewell to his daughter, since we saved her and all. Plus, she shouldn't be sad and not get a chance to see us off, on better terms." she said, hoping to at least end their visit to this world on a brighter note than the one her father left.
Sora let out a sigh as the thought of saying goodbye to Ariel at this time in particular felt all the more difficult. She just had something they risked their lives to obtain destroyed by her own father. Still...they couldn't keep lying to her like this. Guilty as Sora felt, he knew they had to come clean. "Maybe you're right...I just hope she won't be too upset with us." he said, wistfully looking toward the entrance of the grotto.
Of course, Ariel was plenty upset as it was. After tearfully swimming out of her grotto, she found a secluded little cove to cry by herself. She couldn't believe her father did that to her. To her friends. She didn't even care if he said it was to protect her or the kingdom. It wasn't fair to her or to them. It just wasn't fair.
And that was just the thing that those of more sinister mindsets, particularly the moray eels Flotsam and Jetsam needed to take advantage of. "My my. The poor child suffers such deep sorrow." Flotsam said with false sympathy as they swam down to the whimpering mermaid, circling her slowly. "What a pity. If only there was something we could do." Jetsam mused, his voice containing the same faux sympathy that his twin had. "Wait. Maybe she can be of some help." "Yes. Maybe she can be of some help to you."
Their words drew Ariel out of her crying as a look of confused intrigue mixed in with her fading tears. "What are you talking about?" she asked, making the eels grin wider as they swam upward together. "Oh, she would surely help you." "She'd make all your dreams come true." both of them said in a tempting manner as they swam higher and higher. They linked their bodies together and began to spin around in an elegant spiral that grew progressively faster. They had her right where their mistress needed her. "Ursula can help you." they said in sync, suddenly being veiled in a great cloud of black ink and bubbles. It was time for their mistress to make herself known to Triton's daughter at last.
Emerging from the display, was Ursula. An almost motherly expression and tone came from the rotund, eight tentacled sea witch as she looked down at the downcast Ariel. "You called, my dear?"
"You're Ursula," Ariel responded in weak surprise. She remembered stories of a sea witch with that name banished from Atlantica for her use of dark magic, and attempting to usurp her father. Yet after what her father just did...this woman didn't seem nearly so villainous to Ariel by comparison. "Well, I was just wondering if-"
"It's alright." Ursula interjected, smiling more widely at her Ariel's sorrow laden uncertainty. The sea witch spoke in further honeyed words and swam closer to Ariel with that almost maternal countenance. Floating at the same level as Ariel, Ursula spoke with a knowing tone. "Let me guess. You wish to see other worlds. Hm, that shouldn't be too hard," Her eyes narrowed. "After all, your new friends came from another world."
Ariel's eyes widened with shock at Ursula's words. "What?" Sora, Ruby, Donald, Goofy, and all of her new friends? They really came from beyond not just Atlantica but possibly the ocean itself? Then there truly was hope for her to do the same
Ursula, shifted a little closer, explained how she knew so, though it was a half-truth. Not that Ariel needed to know of course. "But they had special help. That mysterious key." The glimmer of hope Ariel had grew dim as she hung her head at the sea witch's words. Ursula smirked at Flotsam and Jetsam as they grinned devilishly. "Now, now. Cheer up, sweetie. You have something special, too." Ursula said with another doting, caring voice as she leaned in close to Ariel, who leaned in as well. Her plan was coming together, and the poor girl had no idea how instrumental she would be to the sea witch's long awaited revenge.
"Now listen carefully...I think the Keyhole they seek is somewhere in the palace. Now, my dear, if you can take me there without your dear daddy knowing, I can help you get to these other worlds you long for."
