Disclaimer: I do not own The Little Mermaid II characters or songs.

"Now we can all be together!" Melody declared. She used her grandfather's, King Triton, trident to take down the wall between the sea and her home.

"Whoooo! Sebastian the crab yelled. He slid into the water and started to sing:

"I hear the music playing

It's swinging and it's swaying

A little rhapsody

Today we're so delighted

Today we're all united

Here on the land and sea

I think the sails are sailing

Even the whales are wailing

We're swimming fancy-free

We're feeling better now

We sing together now

Here on the land and sea!"

Suddenly, a bunch of others joined Sebastian. Even Melody's parents, Ariel and Eric, were in the water now.

"La dee da, we got the beat

Move your fins and move your feet

Life is sweet, life is grand

Blowing bubbles with the bass brass brand."

"Everybody now!" Sebastian cheered.

Melody looked up and noticed three kids her age peering at her and the crab over a stone bridge. She gestured to them enthusiastically. "Come on in!" she beckoned. "There's plenty of water for everyone!"

To her surprise, the girl and two boys leapt over the bridge into the water, laughing. Melody had forgiven them for talking about her behind her back the other day at her 12th birthday party-right before she had experienced being a mermaid-and even thought that they may be friends someday.

Melody floated away from the other preteens on her back and started drifting past her mother in the water.

"There's no more stormy weather," Ariel sang.

"Now we can sing together," Melody added.

Both: "In perfect harmonyyyyyy!

We're feeling better now.

We sing together now.

Here on the land and sea!

Sebastian: "Those on land sing la dee da da

Those below sing lo dee do do

Life is sweet as sweet can be

On the land and on the sea!"

"Come on, Grimsby, join us!" Eric urged his longtime butler. "The water's great!"

"I think not, sir," Grimsby answered primly. "The very idea seems rather absurd-"

Before he could finish, Eric's dog Max appeared and knocked him into the water. Everyone laughed.

Melody relaxed in the water, watching the festivities. As exciting as it all was, she was still pretty shy in big crowds like this. Suddenly, someone bumped into her from behind.

"Whoa!" a boy's voice exclaimed.

"Sorry!" Melody cried, turning around.

"Oh, hi!" the boy cried.

"Hi!" Melody returned nervously. Her heart was pounding.

This wasn't just any merboy floating behind Melody. It was Alex, the merboy she had met in Atlantica. He had been with two friends that time, a boy and a girl, but neither were around now. Not that it mattered-she only had eyes for Alex. With his blond hair, tan skin, and green tail, he was the cutest boy she had ever seen. Plus, he was smiling at her. Maybe she should say something witty or funny or-

Before Melody could come up with anything, Eric pulled her onto a large rock between him and Ariel. They both put their arms around her as everyone sang,

"We're feeling better now

We sing together now

Here on the land and seaaaaaaa!"

It was amazing to hear the crowd hold the last note of the song. As they did, Grandfather Triton made a huge rainbow over everyone.

Melody giggled and tried to subtly search the surrounding people and merpeople. Unfortunately, she could no longer see Alex. He was just a face in the crowd somewhere now.

Even though the song was over, a lot of people were still milling about in the water. Some of the merfolk had swam up to the palace steps to speak to the humans. It was wonderful to see everybody getting along. Melody, Ariel, Eric, and Triton all stayed on the rock, just enjoying being together.

"Oh, Grandfather," Melody whispered, tightly hugging Triton.

Triton kissed his granddaughter's forehead. "I notice you are wearing my necklace," he observed.

"Of course!" Melody fingered the golden pendant. "Mother just gave it back to me. I'm never going to take it off."

"I'm glad to hear that." Triton smiled. "I'm sure your aunts will want to see it."

"My...aunts?" Melody echoed in astonishment. She looked from her mother to her father and back again, all thoughts of Alex gone from her mind. She had aunts on her mother's side? Plural?

Triton chuckled. "Your mother comes from quite a large family, Melody. You have six aunts-"

"Six?" Melody interrupted in shock. "Mom, you have six sisters?!"

"Arista, Aquata, Attina, Adella, Alana, and Andrina," Eric rattled off immediately. He laughed when everyone stared back at him in shock. "What? I'm very proud of myself. It took me years to get that straight."

"It's true, sweetheart," Ariel confirmed. "And all six of my sisters are married and have children. Gosh, how many children do we have altogether, Daddy?"

"Let's see…" Triton appeared to try and count on his fingers but gave up after a few seconds. "Hmm. I don't know. Well, no matter. You'll meet them all tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow?" Ariel, Eric, and Melody all repeated.

"Yes," Triton said proudly. "We are going to have a big celebration tomorrow evening at our palace in Atlantica to celebrate Melody!"

Melody was over the moon about meeting her mother's family, but less so about another celebration in her honor. The last one hadn't gone so well.

"The family is going to love you," Triton told her kindly. "Besides, you'll have to be in mermaid form to attend the party…"

"Hey, that's right!" Eric agreed cheerfully. "We all will!"

"Dad, are you a mermaid too?" Melody asked incredulously.

"No, Dad's not a mermaid," Ariel replied with a smile. "But Grandfather can give him a merman tail for a few hours with his magical trident." She smiled at Triton. "Right, Daddy?"

"That's right," Triton agreed. "I may even give your father a pink one so that you two will match, Melody."

Ariel and Melody laughed at the thought of handsome, masculine Prince Eric sporting a pink tail. Eric sporting a tail at all was hard to imagine. After all, Melody hadn't even known she was half mermaid until very recently.

Melody was exhausted when everyone finally left and went home that night. But she couldn't stop thinking about the party under the sea the next night. Would she get along with her family? Did she have any cousins that were her own age?

Just as Melody was about to drift off to sleep, she suddenly sat up in bed with a start.

The last time I visited Atlantica, she mused, I met Alex for the first time! Maybe he lives nearby! Maybe I'll see him tomorrow night!

Melody was almost too excited and nervous to sleep, but eventually she drifted off. Tomorrow was going to be the most exciting day of her life! New aunts. New uncles. New cousins.

And maybe, just maybe, she would bump into Alex along the way!