Chapter Seven Churning Waters

"You guys okay?" shouted Sora as he looked below at the deck. Donald cried out while jumping, telling Sora at least the loudmouth was okay. Roxas ran towards the crow's nest and waved at him. Sora waved back and assumed everyone was fine. He walked towards the cut-off section of the railing and climbed down the ladder. Goofy and Jack joined the other two as Sora reached the bottom and jumped onto the ground.

"Great idea, Sora!" complimented Jack as he patted him on the shoulder. Donald and Goofy jumped up and down cheering for Sora. Roxas just smiled and nodded.

"Ah! Before I forget, we should probably go save Will," said Jack, laughing nervously. He looked towards the Flying Dutchman which had only barely begun to drift away. The thrashing of the Kraken didn't seem to even move it slightly.

"Are you sure we can even stand on it?" asked Roxas curiously. He had never seen anything like it before and wouldn't know how to handle the situation. Sora laughed and patted him on the back. Roxas felt stupid.

"Let's go get Will" said Donald. Just when things were about to go smoothly again, they heard a small thud; almost like footsteps. Someone came onto the Black pearl.

"Captain Davy Jones, are you finished with them yet?" asked a voice. The way it was said sounded shaken and almost frightened. Roxas was thoughtful for a moment before suddenly taking on an angered look and drawing with Keyblade. Donald turned behind him to see a young man in a very familiar black cloak; an Organization member. He had short blonde hair and looked almost about Roxas' age. The young man turned to face them after realizing their presence.

"!"

He gasped before taking a few steps back, holding a hand in front of his face as if to halt the group from moving. Sora almost immediately recognized him.

"Demyx," he said with a hostile tone. He remembered the young member back in the Underworld. Donald and Goofy readied themselves while jack was pondering on something. He lowered himself to talk to Donald.

"This guy is…?" asked Jack. Donald nodded. It was then Jack also drew his sword out. He could remember the black cloak on Luxord and now knew there were more members. Demyx stopped in his tracks as he noticed Roxas standing behind Sora. His eyes lit up and he didn't seem afraid.

"Roxas, is that you?" he asked timidly. Roxas did not answer but shot him a look that could show his anger and annoyance. Demyx frowned.

"What's with the face?" he asked. He stopped and shook his head.

"Roxas, why don't you come back and help me? Come and rejoin the Organization?" he asked. He hoped Roxas would comply.

"I refuse," replied Roxas, glaring at his former friend. He held his weapon tightly.

"What? But you have to! I-"

Demyx was cut off before he saw Roxas running towards him, his Keyblade raised. He sped towards him quickly and without hesitation. Demyx turns around and runs, but did not realize he was already at the ship's edge. He was caught by surprise as his feet, expecting to meet the ground, but felt his whole body just drop.

"Ah!" he cried as he fell into the sea. Sora and the others followed as Roxas looked down into the ocean, ripples created from Demyx's fall. Nothing seemed to happen.

"Don't be reckless," said Roxas.

"I know. He has power over water," replied Sora. He couldn't possibly have forgotten the powers of the Organization. Each individual member was strong enough to match Sora, but he would prevail over them. There was a light sound in the air.

"What's that?" asked Goofy. It sounded like a waterfall…

"Hah!"

Goofy was startled as Demyx burst out of the water and into the air. Underneath him was a roaring geyser of water. He raised his hand into the air and the mist produced from the feat began to gather. It seemed to dance around in the air as the water began to collect itself before forming an odd shape. Demyx grasped it and the water erupted from it, revealing a rather large and blue object; his sitar.

"Let's see if I can convince you this time," shouted Demyx as he played a note on his weapon. Suddenly, two water spouts emerged from the sea and curved towards them and slammed into the ship's deck. The group separated themselves to avoid the attack, but Demyx just kept them coming. One after another, water gushed onto the ship forcing them in all directions.

"Watch out!" cried Jack. Demyx jumped onto the deck and threw his hands through the strings, playing a rather rushed melody. The water that landed onto the ship collected itself before forming a massive wall of water. With all the mist in the air he easily forced it into Jack Sparrow's position. Donald quickly raised his staff.

"Reflega!" he cried. A strange, translucent barrier appeared around Jack, but it wasn't quick enough. The barrier just barely blocked the attack before sending Jack backwards into a wall. Sora ran towards Demyx and was about to strike when he turned around and pulled on one of the strings all the way back to his shoulder. Sora stopped for a moment to look at what he was doing before Demyx smiled and released it. As his fingers separated themselves, a small drop of water followed the string and went for Sora's direction.

"What?" he said. The moment the little drop of water touched him it expanded at great speed, trapping Sora in a "ball of water". He struggled as he felt his feet leave the ground. He tried to hold his breathe, but the word he uttered before lessened his supply of air. Demyx chuckled as he held a hand up to Sora. The "ball of water" reacted and moved with his hand gestures. Sora covered his mouth, trying to let his oxygen leave his body.

"Sora!" cried Goofy. Demyx saw Goofy begin to move and threw his hand in his direction. The "ball of water" was suddenly thrown in Goofy's direction. Sora let out all of his air when he saw Goofy before the impact.

"Whoa!"

The "ball of water" exploded, releasing a torrent of water rushing in all directions. Sora was knocked away and landed onto the ground hard. Goofy was caught off guard and his shield flew in the other direction. Goofy himself was also sent to the ground.

"Is that all you've got?" asked Demyx. Donald jumped at him and threw his staff up into the air, a light orange flame emitted from the tip. A moment later, a ring of fire surrounded Donald forcing Demyx to take a step back. He sent Donald away with a torrent of water that gushed out of his outstretched hand.

"Wah!" cried Donald as he was swept away in the large current of water.

"Not even close!" shouted Sora as he pushed himself off the ground and on his feet. Demyx turned to see Roxas, hearing his loud footsteps before and unleashed a geyser of water, hurling him off his feet.

"Ah!"

Jack jumped at Demyx and began to swipe at him with his sword. Demyx used his sitar to shield himself from the attacks. He did not normally do this and was off and had many close-calls. He quickly sent Jack away with a powerful blow with his weapon, slamming the base of the sitar against Jacks sword.

"Take this!" shouted Donald. He was angry now and was outlined in a neon blue color. His face was twisted into an infuriated frown as he was lifted off of his feet; his staff hovering with him.

"Fantasia!" he cried. As he spoke those words, his staff began to spin in circles and also become enveloped in a blue light. Demyx looked in his direction before seeing a stream of color fill his vision. A cloud of fireworks erupted where he stood and knocked him into the air with explosive force. Donald sent wave after wave of brightly colored explosions as Demyx was juggled around high in the air.

"Whoa…" said Roxas in awe. Being apart of Sora doesn't necessarily mean Roxas could see through his eyes. He had known of Donald of course, but he had never seen Donald when he was really mad.

"Even with cold water on him, he's still a hot-head," said Sora jokingly. Roxas groaned.

"Hey, it's the truth!" said Sora, shrugging. Donald was about to finish his illustrious magic attack. He jumped high into the air, his staff slowly turning in a counter-clockwise direction as if winding up like a wind-up toy. His staff began to glow a mess of all sorts of shades and hues of color.

"Take that!" he shouted. With that, a magnificent explosion of fireworks filled the sky, painting it many colors. Demyx was unsure what was going on. Being knocked around silly by magical fireworks again and again would disorient anyone. The magical force bruised him in different areas of his body, sending a burning sensation through them to his brain. The spell ended and the sky used as a canvas became dull and darkened like silver exposed to air. Donald landed on his two webbed feet and made a sort of "Ta-da!" gesture. Demyx soon realized he began to fall out of the air and immediately reacted, trying to ignore the pain.

"Is that all?" asked Demyx in a mocking tone. He turned around to face the ground and thrust his hand in front of him at the wooden floor. Once again, water gushed out from beneath the boards, yet leaving them unbroken; the water slithered through the thin crevices between each beam. Demyx changed his position to one that was sitting and he was as the geyser of water came up. He sat leisurely on top of it and looked down upon the scattered group. They were still all over the Black Pearl.

"Yahoo!" cried Goofy. He held his shield in one arm and held both arms out at his sides before beginning to spin around wildly in a clockwise direction. He was lifted off his feet and then maneuvered straight towards Demyx. But he didn't make it. The geyser suddenly released a rushing torrent of water from right under Demyx. Goofy was halted in mid-air and thrown down into the ground.

"I'm done playing with you guys," said Demyx. The geyser lowered him down onto the ground as Sora and the others began to regroup and try to help Goofy. Roxas, instead, moved on and tried to attack Demyx. But before he could reach him, he could hear the melody that was being played furiously by Demyx on his sitar. The haunting notes and the ominous waves of sound echoed in his head as he began to halt his advance. He could see something in the horizon of the dark sea; the ocean's "line" that stretched across the horizon was much higher than it normally was. Jack took one look and looked distraught.

"What is it?" asked Donald. Jack began to bite his nails.

"This isn't a good time to explain. We might want to head for cover," said Jack as he tip-toed to the nearest entrance into the ship which was to his right. Donald jumped up in fear as he realized it was a tidal wave! He and Goofy trailed after Jack, yelling and shouting. Sora looked back towards Demyx and the hypnotized Roxas.

"Roxas!" he cried. He didn't seem to hear Sora's voice at all. His eyes were fixed on Demyx, but in his mind, something else was happening.

"Roxas?" asked a voice. He was standing on the Black Pearl, but everything was quiet and no one else was on the ship but himself. He responded.

"What?"

"Are you sure?"

"What am I sure about?"

"About rejoining the Organization; are you sure you don't want to come back? This is your last chance," said the voice. It sounded almost like Demyx, but…

"No matter what you do or what you say, I will always refuse," replied Roxas. He smiled and closed his eyes. In the real world, the giant wave of water was just about to crash onto the ship. Demyx jumped up into the air with a quick blast of water. Roxas opened his eyes just to see the monstrosity in front of him.

"Uh…"

With that, the Black Pearl was rocked by the immense power of the tidal wave. Being only a few meters from shore, the ship itself gently made it to the sandy beach before stopping in shallow water. The loud sound of water crashing into the wood echoed loudly as Demyx hovered in the air using the droplets of water that were in the mist. He frowned.

"Roxas, what's keeping you from coming back?" he wondered aloud. Though terrifying it was, the tidal wave was not as powerful as a natural one would be. Demyx, as strong as he could be, could not conjure such a feat. The Black Pearl, within seconds, was equally balanced on the water again. Though it could not take down a large object like the ship, it would be terribly powerful on a normal person. The crushing power of the attack would've taken down any normal person. But there was something amiss. He looked closer down towards the ground and gasped.

"How-?" he asked. As the last remnants of water slithered down, there was a light. The dark, murky waters fell to the ground as the light was revealed to be a dome-shape. Trails of bright light sped across the wooden floor and vanished from sight. Demyx could see it; a clear, transparent barrier stood where Roxas was last seen. The light began to fade. Demyx was back onto the ship again as he looked on with awe. It was impossible. Even with the power of Reflega, one use couldn't stop the power of a tidal wave. He looked closer.

"Sora?!" he said, shocked. He was right; Sora stood with each end of the Keyblade in hand and Roxas was in the same stance. Both of them used Reflega at the same time. They were both unharmed and stood frozen. Sora was the first to move; he lowered his Keyblade to his side and then Roxas did the same.

"Thanks," whispered Roxas. Sora turned to look at him and nodded. Demyx was just about to try and unleash another assault on them, but he suddenly felt his body let go and become unresponsive to the messages he sent them.

"What?" he asked. He fell onto his knees and desperately hung onto his sitar to stay up. His legs felt numb and his body felt tired. That attack drained him of a massive amount of energy and left him breathless.

"Let's finish this," said Roxas. He held his Keyblade up at Demyx. The Organization member was struggling to collect himself when someone appeared next to him, trails of darkness flying into the air.

"!"

It was Luxord. He looked stern, yet kept a cool air around him. He looked down at the exhausted Demyx and kneeled down. Demyx looked over at him, his vision becoming slightly blurry.

"Try that again and we'll be in need of another member who plays with a sitar," said Luxord, taking Demyx's arm. He pulled Demyx onto his feet; he was still dizzy and feeling faint. Luxord looked back over in Sora's direction and shot him a look; it almost looked like he expected Sora to be victorious. They both vanished in a flash of darkness. Roxas looked onward as another member disappeared. Jack, Donald and Goofy came out of hiding and saw that Sora and Roxas were alright. Donald and Goofy rushed up to him and began to apologize for leaving him behind, but Jack insisted they stay inside. He was quick on his feet.

"I'm going to go look for Will and get him out of there. Ta-ta!" said Jack, heading for the nearest boat. Sora laughed and Roxas smiled. Donald turned to Sora.

"What now?" he asked. Sora smiled.

"Let's go. We can let Jack handle the rescuing."

"Right; let's head to the next world," said Roxas. They both headed for one of the spare boats to use to get back to shore and on they went with their journey.

End of Chapter Seven