The storm in the distance grew heartier by the minute. It often did around the vast reef where you lived your entire life, and it was a pleasing sight to watch while perched on the rock you often called your second home. Storms—for you, as a water dweller—was a view you particularly enjoyed gazing upon from the safety of the waters, even if you knew all the destruction it could cause to the land and to whoever residing there.

Ever since you heard the phrase: Red skies in the morning, sailors take warning, from a passerby ship, you became keen of the storms above your head—and since then you watched them at their peak of destruction.

Today's storm tore through the sky, throwing it around with angry fists. The ferocity of the wind blew your wet hair in directions they never reach while swimming in the sea. Usually, it annoyed you, but today you focused solely on the cyclones spawning in the area. For the first time since you began storm watching, several strong and windy cones plodded over the surface of the water, searching for the next boat that could be its next victim. Not toward you, thank God, but it circulated at a favorable distance.

You moved your tail under your bottom—a more comfortable position for you to sit for a longer period of time—and squinted out at the unstable waves of the sea which seemingly were being controlled by a skinny cyclone in the distance. Oh, there was more than that single cyclone out there. Actually, you saw a dark spec arriving not far from the cyclone, and it was approaching your island at an alarming speed. You realized it was one of those pirate ships, and judging by the torn sailing and broken wood you saw as if came closer—it was in no condition to be out there on the water. Especially if the people on board wanted to survive.

    The storm must have hit them a few times for their ship to look so ruggedly and more like a splinter from some soggy and rotten wood, ready to break down. You attempted to tilt your head up enough to see any life on the ship, but it was impossible from your stance.

Leaning forward, your lips turned sorrowfully, knowing the only fate for the people. Oh, these poor sods—they wouldn't last long in the storm, and you knew it. And as much as you wanted to do something, as a mermaid, you couldn't do much but sit and watch its final stand against Mother Nature.

But there were more things worse than the storm, and it was these creatures that showed up randomly and out of nowhere.

    More disaster struck as those things abruptly out of nowhere appeared in the sky above the ship.

    Always, they bore different forms, but somewhere there was a signature heart on their bodies. Because of that, you'd grown accustomed to calling them Hearts. And you didn't want to mess with the hearts, cause they were aggressive always and looking to make sushi out of you, and out of the ship too. These Hearts took the shape of a fat bug with small wings barely lifting them through the air, puffs of multi-colored smoke followed them. If they weren't so nasty, you would have called the odd displays of smoke a sight to see. In reality, however, they were just a warning sign like a Tiger Fish's bright colors.

You watched as the Hearts dove at the ship, attacking whoever the crew was. You couldn't see them now, even if the ship no longer was a spec over the horizon.

Your heart ached, and you shook your head, whispering, "Poor them. I'm so sorry."

The first victim of the Hearts cried out faintly—a male you could tell—as one dove. Over the edge of the ship, a body stumbled off, flipping down before landing on their back. You'd barely caught a glimpse of the victim, but you saw that it was someone small with maybe brown or another dark color for their hair. It didn't really matter what they looked like now—because they'd been knocked off and killed.

You had to wait, as much as you wanted to dive in immediately to help them. Some of the Hearts took a form in the water too, and if some were in the sky, then there had to be some in the sea too. Because of that actually, you had forced yourself to make a new route to travel anywhere anyday. You didn't want to get attacked by the aggressive creatures, from neither the air or the sea.

The boat seemed to stop at a certain extent from you and stayed in place, swaying with the grabby waves.

You took the opportunity and hopped into the water, diving, and swimming as fast as you could. You may not be able to help them, but you sure as hell could at least give the dead man a proper funeral. Pirates liked to be buried at sea, yeah? You'd never seen one, so it was a wild guess. You could at least place him on a board surrounded by flowers as you sent him out—the mental image clear in your head. Yeah, you'd do that, you told yourself and dove a bit deeper, trying to find the body—not knowing if it would be floating or not at this point.

A familiar color caught your eye: brown hair. That's him.

You dove deeper, kicking off with your tail through the water until you reached his body. He was any typical pirate with ragged clothes and a hat. However, this man looked young. Around your age...if you guessed properly, which only made your heart swell with sadness. Why does anyone have to die so young? Before the boy's body could float away from you, you wrapped your arm around his torso, while pulling his back to your chest. You swam up toward the surface of the water.

Unexpectedly, the boy twitched, an elbow striking you lightly in the arm. You gasped and jerked away from the boy's body, staring at him with wide eyes. Little did you know, he had been alive this entire time, just zonked out briefly from the blow; only becoming responsive when your touch brought him back to reality.

His arms frantically shifted through the water, summoning a twister of bubbles him before he managed to spin himself all the way around with the same wide eyes you had, but with blue since they were opened now. His jaw dropped at the sight of you. "A mermaid?!"

"You're alive?!" You cried out and covered your mouth. You had no idea who this guy was, and that only meant danger. However, your reflexes kept you planted in the area in fear.

His eyes fell down to your form and his cheeks suddenly flushed, "A-And you're naked!" He lifted his hand to cover his eyes.

But you saw it as a movement of danger. "AND YOU'RE ALIVE. WHY HAVEN'T YOU DROWNED?! Stay away from me!" Adrenaline kicked in, telling you to flee. You twisted your body around, swimming in the directions that were the exact opposite of the male. Direction had no meaning to you anymore, so you swam toward the ship unknowingly.

"Wait, no, come back! It's not safe!"

You knew that you wouldn't return to the boy, but what you didn't know was that he had lackeys near the ship, trying to find him. You approached the ship just in time to see their figures move on but stop when they saw you. To your surprise, they were not human like the boy. They were indeed animals; more precisely—one a dog and the other a duck.

"Sora!" They exclaimed.

The boy was right behind you now. "Wait—" Sora placed a hand on your bare shoulder, "Don't be afraid—"

"Hu-Humans drown underwater—" You gasped out, shrugging his hand off just to hit him with your tail as you barrel your way through. His hand slipped from your shoulder to the sensitive skin on your back, before he touched your scaly tail, which slapped him harshly across the face as you swam off.

"OW!" Sora screamed in pain, doing a few somersaults before Goofy and Donald grabbed him and secured him. His head spun before he situated himself and saw the mermaid that was you swimming away. "Wait! That place is dangerous!" He repeated, stretching his arm out through the water. You didn't listen, and he knew he needed to act quickly, pulling his hand back to rest over his chest. "Donald, Goofy. Meet me back on the ship. I'm going after her"

"But Sora!" Donald scolded, pushing Sora back with the end of his staff. "You can't disrupt the Order."

"I can if heartless get involved." He ignored Donald's staff and kicked off, leaving the duck to curse loudly as he spun through the air behind Sora's bubbles.

You barely looked behind you, not wanting to see the boy cause you could just feel him right there gaining on you. You could already taste the fear as it manhandled you around the throat. Silly you hadn't been paying attention in front of you either, at least until you slammed right into something hard, gnarled, and scaly. Gasping, you rubbed your nose, looking up until fear coated your eyes. What you expected to be a big friendly fish was nothing more than one of those ugly Hearts! You luckily had not rammed into its face as its teeth were sharp and open, ready to take a bite out of your heart.

Now you were in this mess, as you had not been careful. There was no protection, and you were at its mercy as it spun around and slapped it's powerful tail into your side, throwing you at a rock.

Edges of the rock sliced your back at your skin, causing it to tear and bleed a smidge, painting the water red. You groaned but looked up to guard your face just in time as the creature charged, ready for another attack but with its jaws.

"Don't you dare you ugly thing!" The sound of metal clashed against something, and a roar tore through the waters so loud that the rock behind you cracked in an instant.

    Just slowly could you open your eyes, seeing the boy in front of you with a special stick in both his hands? The creature seized to exist.

    Had he just saved you?

You realized you weren't dead, and took a minute to calm, hugging the rock behind you.

    Sora looked to your cowering form and smiled in relief as he saw that you were alive. "Oh thank goodness." After unsummoning his keyblade, he swam to you slowly as he knew now already that you were prone to swim away. He tried smiling, to show you that he was a good guy.

    You bought it after a minute. He was good, you now realized. There was... No reason to fear him and that weapon, right?

    "Are you hurt miss?" He reached out to take your hand.

    "Yes, I am..." You nodded your head but kept your hand to yourself, finding that you couldn't look him directly in the eyes. The moment of shyness was short-lived as not far, more of the Hearts appeared. You gasped and pointed it out to Sora, "There's more!"

    "Get out of here and find somewhere to hide," he ordered, summoning that stick again. Though after seeing it appear out of thin air you quickly realized that it was no ordinary stick.

    You obeyed and traced your fingers along the rock as you swam away, finding some broken barrels to hide behind. Somewhere out of the line of the Hearts, but near so you could observe the boy. You watched the battle commence, and the boy you'd tried to save was now saving you. Quicker than you could ever dive into the water, the boy used his weapon and maneuvered through the air gracefully, slicing the creatures and killing them nearly with one hit. Momentarily, you'd imagined how he'd fight on land. Was it as graceful?

    Sora fought off the heartless, desperate to protect you from any more harm. Lucky for him, these heartless were weak and dropped like flies. He had them all down within minutes, allowing both you and him to take a second for a breather. With your breather, you reminded yourself that you had to be careful next time—that you couldn't have swum off so carelessly—or your slashed back would rather be a slashed neck, tail, or other parts that were vital. You trembled at the thought.

    The keyblade in Sora's hand disappeared as he unsummoned it. He turned his head in several angles, trying to find you. When he spotted you behind the barrels, he smiled softly and carefully swam to you. The boy stopped however with a small gasp when he saw the blood from your back rise in the air. "Are you hurt?" he asked, alarmed as he reached you.

    "A little. My back scraped against that rock," you answered, holding the wooden barrier between you and the boy. Then you slowly emerged—just to see his face light up red again. Without the action, he finally noticed you were naked again."What?"

    "He-Here—" He reached around his hat and untied the blue handkerchief around the area. 'Turn around—"

    You obliged, listening. You turned around, tucking your tail away. Just hesitantly, you placed your hands on the boards of the barrels and waited—trusting him. His hands reached out and you cringed underneath as he touched the area. Trying to focus on something else, you looked to a shell on the seashore. Reflecting on the shell you looked at as, you saw green light up, and the pain in your back gradually dissipated.

    "There, does that feel better?" He removed his hand.

    Your back stung no longer, and you nodded, looking over your shoulder at him sheepishly. "Yes, it does. Thank you." Now your own cheeks turned red as you looked to the sea floor again. If you hadn't swum away, the two of you wouldn't be in this situation in the first place, feeling this awkwardness. You'd merely made a fool out of yourself now. "Sorry."

    "For what?" He smiled. "You're okay, that's all that matters now." Gently, he took his handkerchief and wrapped it around your chest, trying to respectfully cover the area—even if you didn't understand the concept the gentleness of his hands told you he was being nice—so you accepted before he tied the cloth in the back in a knot. Humans were weird.

    "I guess it was embarrassing of me to swim away like that. It just... freaked me out that you didn't drown—wait that sounded wrong."

    "No, No!" He laughed. "I think I would be too, but I'm not." Sora couldn't tell you everything, so he told a white lie, "It's just a little magic. So I'm fine!" He moved his hands behind his head and grinned this dorky smile that made you smile back in return.

    "Oh, I see... Magic isn't that common around here. I thought... You were drowning, though, and I was trying to recover your body."

    "Oh?" His eyes widened. "Really? You were really trying to do that?" What a kind heart you had.

    "Yeah, I felt bad. Those things in the sky are scary."

    "The heartless?" He questioned, a frown filling his face.

    "Huh?" You tilted your head. "Oh, is that what you call them? The flies? I call them the opposite, cause of the symbol." You pointed to your head as if one of those hearts were there, "What are they?"

    He grumbled, crossing his arms. "Bad news. They like to feed off people's hearts and harass them."

    That was way scarier than you ever imagined them to be. They eat people's hearts? Woah... That could have been yours... "Oh, I'm extra glad you saved me then. I like my heart—" You ran your hand over your chest. "I run into them every day on my way home and I didn't even realize what they could do to me." Now you didn't feel safe, and rightfully so.

    He paused, watching your hand before he looked into your eyes. "Do you need a ride home?"

    You looked back into his eyes with surprise. "Could... You? If that isn't a problem..."

    He grinned, running a finger smugly on top of his lip before nodding. "'Course I can. I'm sure Donald and Goofy finished off all the heartless on my ship, so it should be safe now. Come with me!"

    Motioning for you to follow him, he swam toward the surface of the water with you right on his tail. You followed, keeping your eyes aware of your surroundings. After his explanation, any movement made you paranoid and you reached out, carefully holding his jacket until the two of you poked your head out of the water.

    You were right up next to the ship in person and looked up at it in amazement as your eyes glittered. Seeing a ship up close was a better sight than anything else you could have imagined. It was even better considering that Sora was right and no heartless were in the area, and the storm had calmed down. Your jaw dropped eventually as you realized that was the thing you had been invited on—this ship. Even if the minor destruction didn't make it look as impressive as the other ships you witnessed—this one was the one you were invited one. You almost lost sight of what was happening, and at the fact that two figures—that duck and dog again—waved their arms frantically to catch yours and Sora's attention.

    "Ahoy, Sora!" Goofy cheered. "You're back!"

    "That's Donald and Goofy!" Sora pointed out, his arm dripping wet from lifting out of the water.

    "Oh? And who are you?" You smiled. He hadn't given his name, yet you figured you had just heard it being called out by Goofy.

    "I didn't introduce myself??" His face lit up before pointed to himself. "I'm Sora!"

    "It's nice to meet you Sora." You laughed then introduced yourself. "You saved me today... I'm so grateful."

    "Hey, it's what we do." Sora tested your named before smiling, nodding. He then cupped his mouth and called out to Goofy and Donald on top. "Guys, send one of the small boats down! We have a guest coming with us!"

    "Drop the boat, Goofy," Donald ordered, tapping his webbed foot on the ground as he stared at his companion. "Sora always inviting people..." he grumbled, frustrated under his breath.

    "Ah-hyuck, I'm trying—"

    It was a few minutes before the boat dropped, landing right in front of you, splashing both you and Sora. Sora grabbed the edge of the boat before he skillfully flipped into it. Then he reached his hand down, offering it to you with the softest smile you'd ever seen. You took it and he lifted you into the boat, your tail entering last. He fell back but caught you anyways, letting you sit down next to him.

    "This is exciting," You admitted as the two lifted the boat up slowly, giving you enough time to see the horizon as you lifted to a height you'd never been before; the sky had cleared up and a red hue had replaced it that night. This night would be a delight.

    Sora helped you onto the ship when you reached the top, sitting you on a barrel. Hell, he was even nice enough to offer you another barrel filled with water to dip your tail into. "Thank you—" You blushed at his kindness. "You're way too sweet, Sora."

    "Hey! It's no problem. It's a nice way to keep your tail moist. Also, here, if you mark it on our map, we'll get ya home." He held out a map to you and you smiled and nodded, doing so. Having it marked on his map, he examined it. "That ain't too far. We'll get you there nice and easy!" He raced away, moving to the wheel. You could barely see him above you on the upper deck. The wind pushed the boat, sending you and everything forward on the ship.

    The air tasted sweeter from above, for some reason. Maybe it was because you were further away from the salty sea, or there was something candid on this ship. You couldn't tell... you had never been on a ship before. When you had first seen the ship, you believed it would be a goner, but now look at you: you sat on it. With the heartless gone along with the storm, it seemed like a good sign for you.

    "Are ya having a good time?" When things settled down, Goofy took a seat next to you. At first, you'd been so scared of him back in the ocean, but talking and interacting with him up close—he was just a sweetie you admired.

    "Oh yes, I am." You nodded your head.

    Donald pulled up a table that was twice his size in front of you, sitting across from you. "Want to play some cards?" He offered, his voice harsh and gibberish.

    You tilted your head. "I've never played."

    "Hey, we'll teach ya! Ah-hyuck!"

    "Okay... It sounds like fun." You watched curiously as Donald shuffled the cards, flipping them in ways impossible under the water. He passed out the cards and the game began.

    For a while, you played the card game with Goofy and Donald, learning slowly as they taught you. Catching on quickly, you managed to best the two in their own game, beating them a few times. Donald cursed each time, and Goofy laughed when you managed to outsmart the either one of them, but he was a good sport and congratulated you each time.

    You had immersed yourself into the game so well that you didn't realize you'd reached home until Sora called out for your attention. You looked to the side, seeing the large island that underneath, your underwater reef home resided. You almost looked sad. This meant you had to drop everything and go.

    "This was too much fun," You commented, placing your cards down, and allowing Sora to help you to the edge of the boat.

    "You take care, alright?" He tilted his head, which was too adorable. "And we'll visit soon!"

    "You promise?" You asked hopefully.

    "Yes. For more boat rides!" Sora chuckled.

    "And play more cards!" Goofy added with a laugh.

    "I'd rather not get beat." Donald groaned.

    "I will. And I'd like that..." You placed your hand on Sora's, squeezing it. "Oh, hold on—I want to give you all something. For saving me down there and for bringing me home."

    Sora's cheeks turned red. "You... You don't have to."

    You reached down and decided to clip a few scales on your tail. Three of them to be exact. "These are good luck and will grant you three wishes."

    "What?" Sora's face turned a shade darker. "You don't have to give us those—"

    "I do... I want to. You three deserve it."

    Sora kneeled down to be on your level to take the shining scales into his hands. He watched them with equally shiny eyes before he felt your hand run across his cheek. He looked up, only to have your lips smash into his for a brief kiss. Pulling away, you caressed his cheek. "You have my blessing to wish for whatever you want. Your kind heart deserves it," you said with a smile.

    Before he could respond, you slipped his handkerchief off your body and jumped, diving into the water towards your home. And you were gone within moments.

    Sora's cheeks were so red and then he realized something—his subconscious wish was to kiss you. But his were you to guess that?

    And that's when Donald and Goofy began to tease him for the rest of the night from his kiss with a beautiful mermaid whose heart was as kind as his.