Author's Note: Sorry for the major long delay guys. I was having trouble with figuring out how to fit Roxas's position in the beginning part of this chapter before anything else happens.

Well, here's some good news and bad news regarding to the Kingdom Hearts games; Bad news-the development team hasn't even touched the unannounced worlds of the game(meaning that Twilight Town, Mysterious Tower and the Kingdom of Corona are still the only worlds revealled) and that the development of both that and FFVII:Remake are still a way to go.

Good news-2.8 just released yesterday, one day earlier than it's actual release date in Japan. Anyway, we only have two more weeks until the rest of the world gets the game(and the Sora DLC for World of Final Fantasy).

I still don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.


CH 6: Troubles and Troubled.

Meanwhile, Roxas was making preperations to head out and meet up with his friends at either Olympus Coliseum or Port Royal with Vincent to figure out what the others had found out so far. Speaking of Vincent, he was off somewhere making his own preperations and Roxas had a feeling that he was thinking about what Shalua and Shelke are told them, Rufus and the Turks earlier. It still troubled him on what the two had said, though. Who was Master Aced? Who was the original wielder of Xehanort's Keyblade? How old was the said Keyblade before Sora and Riku destroyed it?

'Master Aced? Why is he against us? Could he be just like Xehanort? Or worse? Or even better?' Roxas's thoughts trained back and forth on these.

Sighing, the teenaged former Nobody grumbled, "It doesn't make any sense."

"What'd you expect? Nothing makes sense overnight, you know." A familiar voice spoke out behind suddenly, startling Roxas who whirled around. At first he thought the voice belonged to Lea, but it was Reno who stood there, leaning against the door with his arms crossed.

"How did you get so quiet like that? I didn't even hear you open the door." Roxas asked, a bit stunned.

Reno shrugged, "Part of Turk training to be silent in approaching someone, including the enemy. It's sort become a habit now, actually."

Rather than questioning further onto this, Roxas suddenly chuckled in amusement, which made Reno curious as the redhead quirked an eye-brow. "What's so funny about that?" The Turk asked.

"It's not that." Roxas laughed, trying to control himself. "It's just...when Lea and I were...well, in an Organization ourselves with Xion and Isa long time ago, Lea used to sneak around and stand in a similiar position you're doing right now."

"A match made in heaven, huh?" Reno joked as he smirked, quickly getting the idea.

This only made Roxas confused again as he asked, "Match made in heaven? What does that mean?"

"Wait...you're serious?" Reno asked, blinking at the teen's cluelessness.

"Well...I am Sora's Nobody or I used to be, and well, I never knew that until a year ago and, well, before Riku and DiZ captured me to rejoin Sora, I had no idea that much of anything at all. As Axel had said, I acted like a zombie." Roxas admitted, rubbing the back of his head, sheepishly.

"Who's Axel?"

"Lea is. Axel was his nobody and now it's Lea's nick-name." Roxas answered.

Reno shook his head with a slight exasperated sigh, saying, "Man, do I have a lot to ask about." before teasingly asked, "So would that mean you're the trigger of the upcoming zombie apoculypse?"

"Hey!" Roxas pouted, but still smirked in return none the less.

The two of them shared a laugh at the jokes between themselves. While Roxas knew that Lea/Axel will always be his best friend along with Xion and now with Namine, Isa, Sora and the others included, despite the Turks really being scary like they had been earlier, he found that he could actually get along with Reno. The guy knew how to make light in some kinds of situations.

However, as all situations would go, this laughing matter came to an end when there was a sudden crash, alarming the two of them as they looked around, wondering what was going on. To make matters worse, security alarms went off as emergancy lights flashed red, indicating only one thing that Reno knew too well.

"An intruder!" Reno exclaimed, already springing into action and pulled out his EMR, extending it with a flick of his left wrist.

"How close?" Roxas asked, sensing that something was definately wrong and made to summon his Oblivion Keyblade in his right hand.

"Dunno. You can do some serious fighting, right kid?" Reno questioned, all jokes a side, replaced by seriousness and business, just as he was trained to be.

"Do you have to ask?" Roxas responded.

"Stay focused."


Vincent fired several gunshots at the intruder before the clips ran out and he was forced to leap out of the way from the attack of surprisingly a Keyblade. As the man in the red cape reloaded with more of the gun casings, Tseng and Elena took over, but the intruder was too fast before he made to swipe at the two Turks who were unforunately knocked into a couple of WRO soldiers. Rufus intending on helping, but was told to stay back by his bodyguards. Rude punched with a powerful punch from his fist at the intruder who then swiped at hime, knocking the taller Turk back and nearly crashed into Reno and Roxas who arrived to see what was going on.

"Rude!" Reno cried out, horrified to see his partner knocked back to the floor.

The redhead then turned to glare at the intruder who was a man in some kind of white coat and a bear mask with a bulky Keyblade and while he and Roxas were shocked on how the intruder got one, Reno wasted no time in charging and with his speed, slashed his weapon against the man with the use of his EMR's electricity, dodging the intruder's slower attacks. Roxas stepped in to help as he leaped into the air before slashing at the intruder right at the side, causing him to stumble a bit while distracted by Reno's speed.

Vincent leaped over and flashed and punched at the intruder with his own martial arts skills, making use of his gaunlet, kicking the man in the face, while Reno kicked the intruder on the side of the face, and Roxas used Firaga to burn the man. However, the intruder managed to evade the attacks and leaped back before creating some sort of mark in the air, creating a powerful light X attack, then thrusting it forward towards the trio who leaped out of the way. Unfortunately, the attack somehow split and knocked Reno and then Roxas and then Vincent, knocking all three of them down, before those attacks went to knock back the other Turks and WRO soldiers who all made a move to attack again but were easily defeated again.

That didn't stop Roxas as he quickly used a potion he saved for later, before standing him and glared at the intruder who, despite his eyes hidden behind the bear mask, was glaring back at him, as the former Nobody demanded, "Where did you get that Keyblade?"

Instead of answering, the intruder grunted, "It is you and your original self and friends who have no clearence of becoming Keyblade wielders, boy. The balance is broken, because of all of you."

"Answer the question!" Roxas shouted, ignoring the fact that this guy had mentinoed about Sora.

Again, the intruder ignored the question and said, "You have no right to exist in this or any world. The laws of existance and hearts have been broken."

"I'd answer the kid if I were you." Reno grunted as he, Rude, Tseng, Elena, and Vincent stood, while Rufus glared at the intruder, not liking where the situation was going. "And personally, we're placing ya under arrest for intruding WRO Headquarters, and that ain't something we let go with a slap on the wrist."

"You all are the ones who are under arrest." The intruder hissed darkly, readying his Keyblade with a growl, "For breaking the laws and knowing too much. Weakness should not be allowed in the Realm of Light!"

"What?" Rufus demanded, thoroughly confused along with everyone else.

"Who are you?" Vincent questioned the intruder who was now obviously no ordinary intruder.

"My name is no importance." The intruder replied. "Once I gather enough powerful Keyblade wielders, I will govern all the worlds to maintain it's balance. Only domination will prevail."

"No." Rufus grunted in return, glaring hard at the madman. "A fool is what you are. Domination will only bring about hate from others towards the leader of ignorance. If you say you will dominate the worlds, then that's no Realm of Light. It's more like Hell."

"Then I will erase all human emotion!" The intruder roared, as he pointed his Keyblade to it and a beam of light shot onto it, creating a portal underneath the group who tried to jump back to avoid it.

Unfortunately, Roxas, Reno and Elena weren't so lucky as the three of them were sucked into the portal. Vincent attempted to save Roxas while Rude grabbed hold of Reno's wrists, and both Rufus and Tseng attempted to do the same with Elena to pull the three of them out. But it only resulted in Vincent being sucked in with them, while the two remaining Turks and their President were knocked back by the intruder who hit them hard into the wall, as the portal closed, leaving Roxas, Vincent, Reno and Elena taken to another world.

With the three other men unconscious, and the WRO soldiers knocked out, the intruder slowly approached to make the killing blow when another Keyblade was whirled out of nowhere and knocked him on the side of the head, causing him to tumble away from Rufus and the two Turks. When the man gazed to his right, to his shock, was a young man in his mid teens, having silver curly hair, blue eyes, wearing a red keffyle, black short jacket with matching gloves and pants, and a white shirt underneath, having a blue belt, as the teenager glared at him.

"Master Aced, don't do this! The war's over!" The boy cried out, almost pleadingly, as his star-designed Keyblade, similiar to Sora's Keyblade but blue and silver and it's teeth shaped like a star.

The intruder, now known as Aced, glared back, grunting in anger, "Ephemer...the traitor. Why are you here, boy?"

"To stop you from doing anything stupid." The boy, Ephemer, answered, before demanding, "Like I said, the war's over and you and I aren't meant to be here. Leave this crisis to those of this world. You're only going to make things worse."

Aced was silent for a few moments, before he backed away as a portal of light opened up behind him, grunting to Ephemer, "You're wrong, child. The second war is only just beginning. Mark my words. You will not escape the conflict the second time." and with that he vanished into the portal which closed, leaving Ephemer alone with the unconscious forms of Rufus, the Turks and WRO.

Ephemer sighed, lowering his head as he gaze at the floor. Aced just doesn't get it. 100 years and still the Keyblade Master still hasn't changed his views of the balance. The boy wished that he could change that.

"Well, first things first." Ephemer muttered as he approached the unconscious people. "Gotta help these guys before I find Sora and his friends and prevent their doom from approaching."

He knew that he still had a job to do, and that the worlds were now about to face even more threats and problems.


Where Riku, Mickey, Cloud, Zack, Angeal, Genesis, Isa, Myde, Terra and Aqua found themselves was a little shocking, especially when the group had landed in the middle of the ocean with no land close to them. Fortunately, a trading ship came back and hauled them onboard for recovery. Now the group were in the Captain's cabin, along with a slightly shivering Will Turner who had managed to escape the Flying Dutchmen earlier. All of them had blankets around themselves to dry off while the captain and two other men stood with them.

"Strange thing to come upon a longboat and a group so far out in open water." The Captain admitted.

"Well, it's not like most of us had planned it." Angeal shrugged, trying to lighten the mood, even though he shook his head when Zack, Mickey and Myde each gave off a sneeze.

"Just put as many leagues behind us as you can. As fast as you can." Will told the Captain, ignoring what Angeal had said. He already could tell that Riku and his group were like Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Lea, Xion, Roxas and Namine and was relieved to actually see Isa again.

"And what are we running from?" The Captain questioned.

Myde looked at Will and added, "Yeah, what're you so scared of?"

However, before Will could answer, something at the corner of the cabain caught his eye. It was a beautiful dress, one that he instantly recongised. Standing up and going over to it, in which the worldly travellers, seeing his reaction, got up and followed him, curious on what he found so interesting at the gown. It looked a bit ruined due to weather and days without seeing proper treatment, but it didn't seem to be that old.

"That dress." Will muttered, turning to the three men, "Where did you get it?"

"It was found on the ship." The Captain explained, "The crew thought it was a spirit bringing some omen of ill-fate."

"A ghost?" Riku asked, skeptically. He found that unbelievable and ridiculous. He has heard of high-seas tales before growing up on the islands with Sora and Kairi, but this is one of the stories that was entire untrue.

Mickey seemed to agree, as he said, "That's just silly."

"Oh yes. Exceedingly silly." One of the crew members nodded in agreement, while Will picked up the dress and gazed at it in thought.

"It brought good fortune." Another one of the crew members said, "The Spirit told us, 'Pull in at Tortuga', and we made a nice bit of profit there."

"Off the books, of course." The Captain smiled.

"Tortuga? Where's that?" Terra asked, skeptical.

Cloud and Zack both glanced at each other with skeptical expressions, while Isa rolled his eyes, Aqua looked doubtful, Angeal placed a hand to his chin, muttering, 'Unbelievable', Riku shook his head with an amused smirk, Mickey thought deeply about this, Myde looked a bit spooked out about the 'ghost', and Genesis lets out a soft exasperated sigh.

Zack then couldn't help but tease at the three members of the crew, "There's a spirit here, huh? Ooooh! Spooky."

"Zack, knock it off." Angeal groaned, shaking his head, while Riku laughed, Isa rolled his eyes again, Cloud smirked, Mickey sighed, Terra smirked himself, Genesis was muttering something about patience, and Aqua gave Zack a scowled look. The others just looked at Zack in annoyance.

Before anyone else could say anything further, another one of the crew members came down in quite a hurry, catching everyone else's attentions as he cried out, "Captain! A ship's been spotted!" and from the sound of things, he sounded terrified as he was fairly young.

"Colours?" The Captain questioned.

"She isn't flying any."

The Captain and the other two turned back to the group, grunting in some sort of realization, "Pirates."

"Or worse." Will muttered, fearing something more than anything else, as he followed the men back up the deck.

"Worse?" Myde muttered, scaredly.

"Let's find out." Genesis suggested. The others nodded in agreement as they followed him up the deck and found all of the crew members scuttering about all over the place while the Captain gazed at the rather sea-formed like ship that was approaching them from the distance. Will had climbed up the Mast and gazed out, while Riku and the others gazed out at the ship, wondering what kind of pirate ship it was. However, they all suddenly felt strong sense of evil from the very vessel.

"Something's very wrong with that ship." Aqua muttered, her eyes narrowing.

"Yeah, it's almost as though...it's a ghost ship." Riku said in agreement.

High on the mast, Will gazed out in horrifized realization. His escape meant that he was being pursued and not only Jack was a target, now Will was a target himself. He called down to everyone else with caution, "It's the Flying Dutchmen!"

"What? The Flying Dutchmen itself!?" Isa exclaimed, shocked beyond belief.

However, before he and the others could question this any further, they and everyone else felt a powerful jerk as the ship somehow hit something and they all nearly fell to the wooden floor of the ship. The jolting stopped as everyone all stood up, wondering what was going on. However, sensing a lifeform from underneath the ship, Genesis felt his heart almost plummet into his stomach, as his eyes widened in shock and somewhat horror. He knew what was to attack. Without a doubt, the crew was going to die. Instantly he felt powerless for the first time in years.

Even Isa somehow knew what it was, as he said to the group, "We must evacuate the ship, now."

"What is it?" Cloud asked, and when he saw the slight fear in Isa's eyes, the blond-haired man felt dread form in his heart. Whatever it was, it was deadly. Possibly not has bad as Chaos or Bhunivelze, it was still bad enough to be dangerously deadly.

"The Kracken." Genesis simply answered for Isa.

"The what?" Zack asked, dumbfounded.

Suddenly he and his friends heard screaming and turned, their eyes widened in sheer horror as a giant tentacle that grabbed the Captain pulled the doomed man back into the water, and one of the now terrified crew members screamed out hysterically, "KRACKEN!"

Everyone started to pull out their weapons, even though Mickey felt his knees saking, and Myde was a quivering mess as the former Nobody froze on the spot, Genesis held out a hand to stop the group, saying, "Fighting this monster will be useless. We cannot do a thing."

"But what about-!" Aqua began to protest, already having summoned her original Keyblade to fight the Tentacles off at least.

"He's right." Isa grunted, as he shut his eyes briefly in guilt. "As legend goes, the Kracken drag an entire ship into the crushing darkness of the ocean, feasting on those on board the vessel. It is the Leviathan of Davy Jones."

"For real?" Riku exclaimed as the ship jerked slightly again, and slowly but surely, rising tentacles of the giant sea monster rose to the railings of the ship.

"Can't we at least warn the crew?" Mickey asked as he and the others began to back away slowly. He'd seen scary things before, but now he was thinking that the Kracken was another scary encounter.

Too late, one foolish member threw a spear at one of the tentacles and the monster roared before going into a raging attack, damaging and destroy the ship, taking away the crew one by one, no matter how hard they or Will or the worldly travellers fought even though Riku and his group did a better job in slicing away parts of the tentacle, they knew, no matter how hard they tried, it was losing battle. So, with their hearts sinking faster than the Kracken crushing the ship and swallowing the doomed crew alive, Riku, Terra, Aqua, Isa, Cloud, Zack, Myde, Mickey, Angeal, Genesis and Will all had no choice but to leap and jump into the ocean to avoid in meeting the same fate.

Mickey ended up last to resurface as when he opened his eyes while under the freezing salt water, he instantly regretted it as his heart froze in horror and dropped into his stomach, catching the sight of the giant octopus that was eating the remaining crew, dragging the ship with ease. Mickey froze, briefly forgetting to resurface as he found himself unable to steer away, as though the Kracken was eating away at his soul. Fortunately, he was saved from drowning when Riku grabbed hold of him and the two resurfaced, coughing up sea water as the two rejoined the rest of their friends and Will, holding onto the blanks of broken wood from the sunken ship.

"What...the hell...was that?" Zack wheezed.

"Giant Octopus." Cloud muttered, breathing hard.

"That's it. I'm believing all sailors stories from now on." Riku panted as he helped Mickey, rubbing his friend's back.

"Thanks, Riku." Mickey muttered, shivering in the coldness of the sea.

"Uh, guys? We're in further trouble." Myde spoke up scaredly as he gazed up at something even more terrifying.

When the rest of the soaking wet group looked up, they saw why as the Flying Dutchmen, terrifying beyond belief approached them. Will turned to the others and nodded, gesturing them to follow him as he dove back into the water. Riku and his group took Will's lead as they did the same, hiding just near the mouth of the ship while avoiding being seen or making any sounds that would get them into trouble. On board the deck, Davy Jones gazed at the ocean where left over dead bodies floating, having died while not having got eaten.

A crew member approached him as he gave out his report, "The boy's not here." mentioning about Will and believing that he has died, "He must have been claimed by the sea."

"I am the sea." Davy Jones reminded coldly. He then turned his gaze to another crew member who was held by other two mutated members. It was Boostrap Bill Turner who helped his son, Will to escape earlier and now was sorrowed in horrified and heartbroken realization that his only son was dead, and knew that it was his own fault. His fault that he failed to prevent Barbossa from plotting a mutiny on Jack Sparrow, failed to be there for Will who was left orphaned and forced to help Jack to retrieve the Black Pearl.

Now Boostrap would never see his son ever again.

"You need time alone with your thoughts." Davy Jones told the sorrowed traitor, before ordering the other crew members to take Boostrap into the Brig.

Unknown to all of them, Will was listening in on the conversation with Riku, Mickey, Terra, Isa, Cloud, Aqua, Zack, Angeal, Genesis, and the shivering Myde who comically shaking in the cold, which was slightly heard. Realising this, the group ducked and hid, while Mickey whispered to Myde, "Myde! Stop shaking!"

"They'll hear us." Riku added.

Getting the picture, Myde held himself tighter and managed to soften his quivering, much to the others' relief. On the other hand, Davy Jones made no notice anyway, as he angrily ordered another crew member, "The chest is no longer safe. Chart a course to Isla Cruces. Get me there first, or there'll be the devil to pay."

"First?" The crew member asked, confused.

"Who sent that thieving charlatan onto my ship? Who told him of the key?" Davy Jones barked, mention about Will, before growing the hateful name, "Jack Sparr'a! He must mean his end before he claims the power of the Keyblade!"

'Claims the power of the Keyblade? Jack Sparrow? That stupid Captain of the Black Pearl?' Isa thought, finding his earlier suspicions becoming a bit more and more clear. Question was, how would a Pirate like Jack claim the Keyblade?

"Who was the one that bestowed Jack Sparr'a with the power of the Keyblade? Who was it that he met!?" Davy Jones continued, before he spat another name he has learned a while ago, "That boy; Sora!"

Riku's group's eyes all widened in shock, confusion, disbelief and horror. Riku, Mickey, Aqua, Terra, Genesis and Isa all glanced at each in horrified realization. Sora had done something that only caused more trouble than their friend had done. They and the others waited until Davy Jones and his crew were out of earshot, before Mickey muttered, "Oh no! Sora preformed the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony."

"The Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony?" Cloud asked, puzzled as he, Zack, Angeal, and Myde all held confused expressions, wondering what was going on.

"It's a Ceremony that's fairly easy to do." Aqua began to explain, while still shocked on what Sora, the one who was chosen to save her and the others, had mistakenly done. "A Keyblade wielder hold out their Keyblades to allow their chosen successor to hold. The Keyblade's power flows into the body and when the time is right, the successor will be able to gain the power of their own Keyblade."

"That's how Riku managed to get his." Terra nodded, gazing at the said teen, "Twelve years ago when he was just a young boy, I chose him as my successor."

"And even though Sora wasn't chosen, I guess when him having Ven's heart was another way to allow the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony to take place." Mickey added, remembering that Sora could still use the Keyblade despite Ven's heart no longer being in his heart. "That's why Sora was able to be the next chosen of the Keyblade."

"But what does that have to do with this Jack Sparrow guy?" Zack asked, shrugging.

Riku groaned as he facepalmed himself, answering, "Sora mentioned a while back that he let Jack hold his Keyblade before it returned to him, while unknowingly preformed the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony as the two had both touched his Keyblade, even just by one second."

Isa shook his head, concluding, "Which means that Captain Jack Sparrow is Sora's successor when the time is right."

"So that kid ended up choosing a guy older than him as his successor?" Myde blinked, dumbfounded.

"Do I feel sorry for Sora." Cloud groaned, half-sarcastically.

'Sora, you dummy. You never should've done that.' Riku groaned to himself in his mind.

Will, also confused on what the group was talking about, told them, "I don't know what any of you are talking about, but I do know one thing. The heart of Davy Jones is on the island where we're going, and I have to retrieve it."

"For what?" Angeal questioned sharply.

Will's expression hardened as he replied, "I'm gonna kill him to free my father."


Meanwhile, back onboard the Black Pearl, while things were going a little smoothly on the deck despite the sheer boredom some of the group were suffering, especially Donald who was resorted to having to play card games with Goofy to keep his mind off of the fact that they were stuck on a Pirate Ship, and both Xion and Ven were having a nice conversation, talking about the good times with each of their friends, laughing at some funny moments and such, there was some depression on board the vessel.

On one side of the stars leading up the wheel to the right, Elizabeth Swan was depressed. Much that was obvious to everyone else, as she sat on the steps, staring off despondently into nothing. To the left side of the stairs leading up to the wheel, Kairi was in the similiar vote, her elbows resting on her knees, and her chin cupped onto the palms of her hands, as she stared out despondently into nothing. Most of the men steered clear from the two and even from Xion. They had experienced the changeable reactions of women in this mood, and they didn't want to run the risk of getting their heads bitten off.

To make things more awkward, Sora himself was near the front of the ship, staring out to the ocean as the salty sea winds blew against him, but despite the beautiful sight on a nice sunny day, it was anything but sunny in Sora's head. It had been at least 24 hours since the conversation regarding to Maleficent's latest scheme. But that wasn't the main thing on Sora's mind. He hasn't gotten much in a way of sleep and to make matters worse, the ghostly form of Vanitas continued to haunt him no matter what the newest Keyblade Master did, and it made him worry that the former darkness of Ventus was attempting to lure Sora into darkness and he tried hard not to let anyone else know to the point of having them either worried or just thinking that he was going crazy.

It made him feel guilty, however, as Sora knew that his friends suspected that something was wrong, but he just couldn't tell them for fears that they would either worry or think that hwas losing his mind, thus the cycle of worries went back and forth, around and around, time and time again, leaving him with no rest.

Lea and Jack had both tried and failed to get him to talk to them, so the two men turned their attentions to the two depressed women. Lea decided to go over to Elizabeth since he was worried that he would only make things worse for Kairi and he still felt bad for having kidnapped her as Axel. So the redhead went over to the depressed Miss Swann and sat beside her.

"Hey. You look like Santa Claus put a lump of coal in your stocking." Lea greeted and tried to make lighten the mood with a joke. When he didn't get an answer, he sighed while grumbling at the fact that things aren't working out today. "What's wrong?"

Elizabeth, still gazing out at the deck, said wistfully, "I just thought I would be married by now." Her eyes had grown slightly distant, though still aware of Lea's presence. "I'm so ready to be married."

Lea felt sympathy for Elizabeth. He had heard from Sora, Roxas and Xion about the hardships Elizabeth and Will had went through a year ago. It was a harsh blow to be seperated and had their wedding crushed and ruined by some lowlife who had Captain Jack Sparrow on their most hated list. No wonder the woman was depressed.

Uncorking a bottle of water since Lea loathed rum and didn't think that Elizabeth wanted achohol either, he handed the bottle over to the woman. After staring at the bottle only a moment, she took it and had a drink from it.

"You know, Elizabeth, you're the second bride-to-be I've met this month that had a wedding ruined and had to rescheduled, though you had to wait for a while."

"What do you mean by that?"

Lea shrugged with smirk, "A while ago, another friend of Sora's and his girlfriend were about to get married when their wedding was ruined by a gang of Forty Thieves, their leader, immediately, being the father of the groom. Though he didn't know it until, well, it's a long story. But basically, when he went out for answers, the bride had to wait for a little while to get married, like you."

"I guess that explains what you said the other day." Elizabeth muttered, before asking, with slight of hope in her tone, "Did they ever get married?"

"As far as I know, yeah. They're most likely planning their honeymoon by now." Lea answered, before continuing, "But the point is, she was depressed just like you before that happened, as I heard from Xion. In the end, it all worked out. And it'll work out for you and Will too, 'Liz. Trust me, I speak from experience when it comes to separations and not just separations from couples." 'More ways than one.' He silently added to himself.

Elizabeth blinked, before asking, "You were seperated from others two?"

"Definately, more times than I can count, unfortunately." Lea sighed, settling against the railing without falling backwards as he crossed his arms against his chest. "Got forever separated from my parents when I was a kid and never saw them again, but eventually I got over that. Anyway, I also got separated from Rox', Xi' and Isa, and in other cases, from both Namine and Kairi. There was a time I was so sure on giving up my life, especially when I'm the one who cased the separations between me and my friends. At one stage a year ago when I helped out Sora, Donald and Goofy, I nearly died."

Though he was only speaking half the truth on what he was actually saying, as Lea started to feel uncomfortable on revealing parts of his deeds as Axel, but he was trying his best to cheer up Elizabeth. He just hoped that the woman wouldn't question him on his sins.

"How did you survive?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Miracle, sheer luck, or the fact that Roxas gave me strength for a second chance." Lea shrugged. "Either way, I managed to survive and decided to help out in my chance to redeem myself. In the end, it worked out and I was reunited with my friends as Sora and the others were reunited with their friends."

He then edged a little closer to Elizabeth, and concluded, "The point is, just have faith and one day or another, you guys will be together again. I don't know when or how, but it will work out for you."

"Do you really think we will get Will away from Davy Jones so the two of us can get married?" Elizabeth asked, with more hope this time.

"Like I said, just have faith and from what I've seen in your boyfriend, he'll be alright." Lea nodded with warm smile. "I promise. Besides, he kind of reminds me of both Riku and myself, and a little bit of Sora, Roxas and Ven. Too stubborn and tough to go down that easily."

Feeling surprisingly a little better, Elizabeth smiled, muttering, "Thank you, Lea. You're a good man."

This compliment made Lea's face turn a pinkish red that almost matched his hair as he looked away awkwardly, feeling totally embarrassed. Why did such comments from girls always make him feel like he's about to pass out from embarrasment? Sure he redeemed himself and was a good man, but hearing it from Elizabeth was sort of embarrassing, just like when Xion told him that he was kind and sweet.


Meanwhile, while Lea was cheering up Elizabeth, Jack went over to the depressed Kairi and sat beside her, taking note of the teenaged woman's miserable look.

"My tremendous intuitive sense of the female creature informs me that you are troubled." Jack said.

Kairi's eyes gazed up to Sora near the mast, before admitting, her eyes distant but well aware of Jack's pressence. "Sora won't talk to me. I know something's wrong with him, but he won't tell me what is it that's worrying him so much. He says that he's fine, but he's not. I can see it in his eyes."

Jack quirked an disbelieved eyebrow as Kairi talked. Seeing how Sora had been in a less talkative mood since yesterday, especially since he once mentioned about a bad night's sleep and that he refused to even talk to Kairi or anyone else, despite that Sora was more of a happy-go-lucky young man, noble, heroic, just like Will Turner. No wonder the Princess of Heart was depressed.

"You know..." Jack began, clearing his throat before continuing, "Kairi, I have experience of seeing and knowing a young man and a young woman both admittedly too shy to reveal feelings to one another, and having been experiencing that, I would, in fact, go by, a suggestion. There's plently of hiding places in a ship, and what better place than to avoid in having anyone seeing a couple reveal feelings to one another than right here. You can go up to Sora, convince him to go to anywhere here, for the right opputine moment, to reveal your feelings."

Kairi's eyes widened in shock, before she stood up, storming off to the railing while saying, "It's not like that."

A little shocked at this response, Jack got up and followed her, saying, "Why not? It's perfectly obvious how you and he look at each other, he and you being close. It's in the romantic nature for a young man and a young woman who grew up together from being friends to lovers as they grow into adulthood."

"Not everyone is like that." Kairi replied, though she was fighting hard to hide the blush that was beginning to form, before continuing in a hint of annoyance, "And how do you know about romance anyway?"

"Where do you think Pirates come from? A palm tree?" Jack responded teasingly. "Me parents were both Pirates, and they both fell in love and lo and behold, I happened to come along. Besides the point, you will go over to Sora's side. I know it." he approached her more closerly.

Kairi rolled her eyes, saying, "What makes you say that?"

Jack smiled, as he said in a low, seductive voice, "As I said yesterday, 'luv. Curiosity. You long for freedom; you longed to do what you wanted to do because you want it, to act on selfish impulse. You want to see what it's like. One day, you won't able to resist."

The Pirate Captain leaned back, looking rather pleased with himself. However, Kairi was still skeptical and wasn't willing to give up easily.

"Elizabeth told me that your compass doesn't work. Why's that?" Kairi asked.

Jack's smug look faltered. "My compass works fine." He sputtered, though it wasn't very convincing.

Feeling that she caught him, Kairi continued, "I guess that means you and Sora are a little alike, and that would be further proof if you show us when the chance comes to you; Do the right thing."

"I love those moments." Jack said, trying to regain some control over the game. He walked off a little ways and gestured off to sea. "I like to wave at them as they pass by."

Kairi wasn't about to let him go that easily, even though she was actually starting to feel better despite that she needed to figure out a way to talk to Sora or at least get Sora to talk to her. "You'll have the chance to do something, something courageous and when you do you'll discover something: that you're a good person."

"All evidence to the contrary." Jack retorted.

"Really? Well, from what I've heard about you, you did help out more than once when you first met Sora." Kairi smiled. "And since did help out last year, that tells me that you're a good person. It made it up more for you than any other times, right? You wanna know why?"

"Do tell, dearie."

"Sora's herorics are contagious, in a good way." Kairi continued, shrugging and finding herself feeling her heart beat all of the sudden at the very mention of her childhood friend. "Even as a little boy, he's always been sweet and kind, fun but also a lazy bum. When the two of us and Riku were building a raft to go out on an adventure two years ago, Sora would end up sleeping."

Jack snorted in amusement, "Never thought of him in being lazy, and I've met lazy men in my lifetime."

"Even so, Sora would always see the good in others first before the bad. He's always brave and daring, and well...not once he abandoned anyone. He came to my rescue more times than I count, and not just to rescue me, but rescue anyone else who were in trouble or in danger." Kairi continued.

Jack was a little stunned to hear such truth and stories about the boy with the Keyblade, and if Sora was that heroic without landing himself into more trouble than Will and his bloody honest streak, it's no wonder the Keyblade wielder had so many friends. But then he began to wonder; where there times when Sora actually couldn't save anything and felt guilty? There had to be.


While the two were talking, Sora sighed as he continued to gaze out at the ocean. He knew he'd have to apologuise and make up to Kairi for not being able to talk to her. Question was, how was he going to be able to do so without sounding like a lunatic?

"So, ready to go and apologuise to your girlfriend?" Vanitas's voice spoke which only Sora could hear.

Sora gazed to his right and found the ghostly form of Ven's darkness stand next to him. The teen looked around and whispered, "She's not my girlfriend. We're just close friends."

"Are you sure? I see a hint of blush on your cheeks."

Trying to hide the said blush though failing miserbly as his cheeks grew a darker pink, Sora muttered again without anyone else hearing him to avoid in sounding like he was totally nuts, and grumbled, "Oh, go away."

That made Vanitas chuckle as though he was enjoying it, mockingly saying, "Denial is the clincher. You're in love, spiky." before singing mockingly in a sing-song tone, "~Sora and Kairi, Sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G~"

"I'm gonna go over the railing and watch four people drown in the ocean, thank you." Sora grumbled as he hopped off the mast and walked over to the said side of the ship, before freezing at he realised what he just said. "Wait, what?"

Rushing over now, Sora's eyes widened in shock as there were indeed four people in the ocean, looking as though they just resurfaced from the water, and were gazing around. Three he recongised, but the fourth person...looked like he had blonde hair. Realising that the people were indeed drowning, Sora knew what he had to do. So he turned and hollared to everyone else, "Men overboard!"

This got their attention as everyone, including Jack and Kairi, looked at where Sora was pointing, and Jack was the first to react, "Men overboard! Bring e'm about, c'mon!"

Everyone sprung into action as despite being Pirates, they weren't the kind of men to leave people drowning in the ocean. It was much of a help from Sora's group as they tossed ropes once the Black Pearl sailed closer to the four people. Eventually as they helped pull the four onto the deck, shivering from the cold sea water and soaking wet, Sora and his friends were surprised not only to see that three of them were actually Roxas, Vincent and Reno, but the fourth person was actually a woman in a uniform that matched Reno's, but much neater. Only Xion and Lea recongised the woman as Elena.

"Roxas?" Sora and Lea muttered, surprised.

"Vincent?" Kairi and Ven muttered, surprised.

"Reno?" Xion, Donald and Goofy added.

"Elena?" Lea concluded, blinking.

Roxas was the first to realise, after the rough ride he, Vincent, Reno and Elena had endured due to the intruder back in Edge of Midgar, where they were now and gave out a weak grin as he shuddered, "H-Hey, guys."

Jack blinked in confusion as while he recongised Roxas though thoroughly astonded how Roxas and Ventus actually did look exactly identical, he was also confused that Sora and the others recongised the other three people, one of them being a woman wearing a man's clothing. Then again, he supposed he shouldn't be surprised due to Elizabeth wearing men's clothing at the moment too. However, he was wary about the man who looked like a vampire and...the redhead that was identical to Lea and looked a little supicious.

"Who're you?" Jack asked to Reno who layed on the deck, groaning and shivering a little.

"That's my line." Reno muttered as he gazed up at the Pirate, before asking, "Where the hell are we?"

"Um, on board the Black Pearl." Goofy answered, simply while shrugging.

"On board where?" Elena asked, shivering while Kairi, Ven and Xion had grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her to dry her off.

After introducing the four of them to the Pirates and explaining a little bit on where they were going, Roxas and his group had explained to Sora's group on what just happened, about the mysterious intruder with a Keyblade who said something about all of them being disqualified from being Keyblade wielders and how he had sent the four of them to the Caribbean in the first place while careful not to reveal much to the Pirates of the Black Pearl or Elizabeth.

Once that was done, Lea crossed his arms in thought, saying as though he wanted to test his hearing, "So lemme get this straight. Some guy with a new Keyblade was going on about us being the bad guys and that he's the one who is in charge of the worlds. Is that it?"

"I still don't get what he meant by that, but yeah. It was really weird." Roxas nodded.

"Worst part is, he's really insane enough to even think he's in charge to even wanting to arrest us." Reno added as he finished off squeezing water out of his pony tail of his hair.

"None of us were able to defeat him, despite the numbers." Vincent nodded in agreement, gazing at Sora and the others, saying with caution, "If we have to confront him in the future, then be careful. He's powerful."

"Yeah. Though I'm worried on where he came from." Sora thought, before thinking, "Unless he's with Chaos or Bhunivelze."

"Nah, I don't so." Lea shook his head. "The way how he wants to save the worlds, it kind of strikes me that he's more of a crazy rival."

"I think he's right." Elena nodded in agreement with Lea. "Or else why would he say things like he said to us?"

Ven sighed, rubbing the back of his head, muttering, "Well, the only way to find out is to be really careful. I mean, Chaos is bad enough, and going to find the heart of Davy Jones is another crazy thing. But a Keyblade wielder who's against us...I really don't want another Xehanort."

His friends all nodded in agreement on this. While Jack was about to point something out about this discussion, as he held out his left hand to point out the said something, he froze almost instantly. The ugly Black Spot which he had nearly forgotten about in the last few days had come back before his very eyes. His all too brief reprieve was over. Davy Jones was on the hunt again, and this time, he wouldn't be showing any mercy. Another horrifized realization dawned to him. Sora was onboard now, and now the boy and his companions were in the danger of being targeted as well. Jack Sparrow himself just made things worse for the worldly travellers.

The shock of this sudden revelation caused Jack close his hand and keep his mouth shut, though he was failing miserably to hide his dumb horror to even respond what the others were talking about. Thankfully, before the young group(well, not that young in Vincent's case), suddenly there was a call from the lookout in the crow's next high above them. "Land ho!"

Sora and his friends, Jack and Elizabeth all turned south and a great majority of the crew also ran to the side to a look at their destination, a blotch of sandy ground that was rapidly growing larger. The Black Pearl had made it at last. However, while the group went over to see it, Jack was left on his own due to the sight of the island that was sending nervous energy inside his body.

No sooner he'd seen it, Jack knew what he needed.

"My jar of dirt." With that, Captain Jack Sparrow bolted to his cabin to find the said jar Tia Dalma gave him.

Though things weren't really going to go according to plan once they made shore on the island itself. In fact, Sora and everyone else on board wouldn't be alone for long.


A/N: Again, deeply sorry for the long delay for this chapter. To make up for it, for those who played or are playing Unchained X, I'd added Master Aced as an antagonist and Ephemer as a supporting character. See you in the next chapter which I'll try to post as soon as possible.