Author's Note: A few people have asked me about the pliodon species and since I don't think I can adequately describe them here, I'll be lazy and do this: go to any search engine and type in 'pliosaur' and look at the images you get. That will give you an idea of the archetype for my critters. Of course I am operating on the assumption that the group evolved and thrived to the point of domination. So you have the massive filter feeders like the one Sora decided to climb on that operate on the principle of several whale species and the Whale Shark, and you also have smaller (and I use the term loosely) more active predators that would be akin to Orcas or Great Whites.
Sora woke not from the crashing and grating sounds that echoed through the shit, he woke up when his spine collided with the bed railing. He blinked and climbed out of the bed, even as the deck heaved beneath his feet, it caused him to walk bow legged, placing his feet broadly as he made his way towards the door, careful not to wake Roxas who was still sleeping soundly somehow. He opened the door on an up swell and was pitched out of the cabin and into the hall where he collided rather embarrassingly against the opposite wall and nearly fell back into the cabin on the down swell; he was able to catch himself though and made his way along the railing lining the walls towards the pilothouse. In the narrow stairwell he passed a member of the crew who looked at him as if to tell him that he needed to be back in his cabin but the man opted to say nothing instead.
When he reached the pilothouse he found Captain Orion, his signature pipe clenched in his teeth, gripping the wheel as the ship tossed violently in the seas.
"Ah, good mornin' boy," he eyed the clock resting beneath him besides the compass, "well I suppose it ain't quite dawn yet, but good mornin' as sure as ever."
Despite the tempest the ship was caught in, the Captain looked quite pleased, as if he didn't have a care in the world for what the ocean chose to challenge him with. Sora looked out warily at the waves rolling over the ship; the masts had been lowered into their recesses in the hull to prevent damage against the wind and waves leaving the deckhouse and deck clear of everything and everyone. It looking strange given that the deck was normally a bustle with activity in calmer seas, though considering that every so often a wave would wash clear over from one side of the ship to the other, Sora understood why no one dared leave the sealed deckhouse.
"'ere boy, take the wheel if ye like."
Sora blinked in surprise and looked up at the Captain, was he serious? When Orion just kept staring at him expectantly Sora decided he was and stepped to the wheel, firmly gripped in the Captain's massive hands. Sora mimed the grip and the Captain let go, immediately Sora was jerked from one side to the other as the ship was yanked back and forth in the swells.
"Easy boy, it isn't as easy as ye thought eh? Just hang on tight and go with 'er motions. Ye'll get the ropes soon enough."
Sora reasserted control over the errant wheel and did as the Captain advised, following the motions of the ship as it rode the waves. Though he still had to fight for control at times, there was a noticeable ease in the action. He grinned broadly, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, Namine was standing in the stairwell, watching him intently.
"Mornin' Lass," boomed the Captain over the crash of the waves. "Beautiful thing isn't she?"
She nodded, though she didn't say anything as she turned to look out of the aft windows of the pilothouse silently, her eyes focused distantly and her face set grimly. Sora stole a glance and his eyes widened at the massive wall of water coming towards the ship. The Captain turned as well and uttered a plethora of oaths that Sora had never heard in his life, taking the wheel and guiding the ship to run along the running wave.
Namine turned to face Sora as the wave approached, smiling tightly. "Don't worry, I'm here."
Sora didn't have the slightest idea what she was talking about, and at the moment he was too focused on the wave as it crashed over the after portion of the ship and cascaded in a rippling torrent over the pilot house. The glass shattered and the water hit Sora's chest like a hammer; he felt himself lifted off the deck and thrown against the fore of the pilothouse, the glass there shattered as well. It seemed like a dream almost, as he was swept out over the deckhouse, onto the deck, where he collided with the siding and was then tossed over into the frothing water. It all seemed so surreal, even as he looked up at the fading light at the surface and fought to reach for it. The current continued to pull him downwards, half-remembered memories of something like this; years before, and the scar across Leon's face. His body froze at the memories and he began to panic, his lungs burning for lack of oxygen as he kicked desperately upwards, the effort was fruitless however, he could feel the undertow dragging him deeper.
He saw a vague shape fall into the water, piercing it like an arrow, and then a green flash. Something propelled itself towards him, and he felt hard, cold, what almost felt like glass, grip him as a vague figure wrapped its arms around him and with another burst of speed shot upwards. They burst from the water like a caster shot, and alighted on the deck, the armored figure set Sora down, emerald green armor glowing faintly even in the darkness. He choked for air, coughing up water as he did so, another wave crashed onto the deck, but the armored figure held him tightly until the wave had washed over them. When it had passed, they made their way to the deckhouse, twisting the lock mechanism open before ducking inside and clamping it shut again. Once there, Sora really had a chance to get a good look at his savior. The armor was some kind of plate, but it looked almost like glass or crystal, and it covered everything. There was not one bit of skin showing, not even a lock of hair.
"Who—who are you?" He managed, still coughing from the salt water he'd ingested.
The armored figure turned, and Sora assumed they were looking at him now, "I told you not to worry."
The armor seemed to melt away in a bright green torrent, almost like half-liquid foam as it retracted from across the individual's body; it finally coalesced in a bright green light in the right hand before the light vanished and the misty-foam with it. Sora stared dumbstruck as Namine stood before him, smiling slightly.
"Namine," he said in shock, his eyes asking the questions his mind wasn't.
"Don't worry, it is me, you'll find your gift soon enough I imagine." She patted him on the shoulder gently as she walked past, "don't tell anyone please? I don't want to scare them."
"Wait, what did you mean my gift?" He asked suddenly, turning on her as she walked away, wincing from a spike of pain in his head as he did so.
She smiled enigmatically as she walked down the hall towards her cabin. "Get some sleep Bravery, you'll figure it out."
Sora was left, drenched, dripping, standing in a pool water expanding water staring at the Namine as she turned the corner and headed towards her cabin. What had just happened? When he finally went to his cabin and crawled back to bed, he dreamt of a gold suit of armor stepping out of a blinding light, pointing towards him and then grabbing his throat before fusing into his body. When he woke from the dream, he was just as confused as he'd been when he'd fallen asleep, and even more certain that the heart wasn't telling them something.
Later, at a more reasonable hour of the morning everyone gathered in the galley, the Captain had been set to tell everyone that Namine and Sora had drowned when the wave had hit; he'd come down from the pilothouse to join breakfast when he'd seen them both sitting eating with everyone else he'd frozen, his pipe falling from his mouth as he stared at them gape jawed. Everyone had felt the surge from the massive wave of course, but no one had realized that anyone had fallen overboard. Sora looked over at Namine questioningly for a moment, she didn't meet his gaze and he frowned, poking at his bacon uncomfortably. What exactly did Namine know? For that matter, he looked over at Roxas, did Roxas know anything? It was troubling to think that the others might be keeping secrets from him; especially Roxas.
The Captain by that point had regained his composure—and, perhaps more importantly, his pipe—and had joined the rest of the crew for breakfast though he kept a curious and watchful eye on Sora and Namine. There was no wariness in the gaze, just a sort of wonder, the way you might stare at an object you'd never noticed before on a path you'd walked down many times. Sora did his best to ignore it by shrinking into his father's coat which he was wearing to keep out the chills he'd been having since Namine had fished him out of the ocean.
Kairi leaned against him, putting an arm around his shoulders. "Can I come in?"
He smiled, forgetting his troubled thoughts for a moment as he wrapped the coat around them both and they shared their breakfasts, his mind wandered off to other things understandably after that. He still considered that Roxas might be hiding something from him, a little oddly, even though he'd known Namine far longer, the idea that his cousin, practically his twin brother, was keeping something from him bothered him much more than the prospect that one of his oldest friends might be doing so.
"Hey Kairi," she looked up from her food, her smile already easing his doubts, "is Namine hiding something?"
She blinked, frowning slightly, "what do you mean?"
Briefly, and in hushed tones he described what had happened earlier, and his dream to her; as he did so her expression grew increasingly shocked.
"Sora you didn't tell anyone?" She asked in horror, "you could have been killed!"
He shook his head, "I don't think so, Namine seemed to know exactly what would happen, and then the armor thing she had."
Namine looked frightened now, "why would you say something like that Sora? She wouldn't hide anything from us, from me, we're twins!"
"I know," he said trying to be soothing, "bu—"
"You know there are rooms on this ship," Riku said as he pulled the coat off of both their heads, the couple realized that almost everyone was staring at them expectantly, like they'd thought there would be something more going on beneath the overlarge coat. Both Sora and Kairi turned bright red at the insinuations, causing a good deal of laughter, this brought a look of annoyance to Kairi's face after it continued beyond the reasonable limit and she turned to a still red Sora, grabbed him by the collar and kissed him deeply. This of course silenced some in the galley, but inspired others to new heights of teasing and cat calling. For the moment though, despite the surprise he'd suffered from Kairi's show of affection, Sora let the kiss go on, ignoring everything and everyone that troubled him for the time being.
"Leon, are yo—" Sora stopped mid-sentence as he poked his head in through the door of his brother's cabin. Leon had his top off and was standing, half naked with Rinoa leaning against him, her arms stroking his back gently. Sora went bright red and stammered an apology as he tried to backpedal out of the room.
Leon and Rinoa both started laughing, "it isn't what it looks like," she looked at Leon teasingly, as if it could have turned into what it looked like very shortly. Leon turned around to reveal a massive bruise running along his lower back where Rinoa had been rubbing it; there was a strange sheen to it. She held up a jar of ointment with a smile, "someone fell out of bed."
Leon rolled his eyes, "the bed is four and a half feet from the floor."
"Oh poor you," Rinoa said, kissing him softly.
The pair seemed to forget that a very flustered Sora was still standing there like a terrified animal contemplating fight or flight. Leon managed a gentle smile, though as usual the scar did make it look a little more intimidating than was intended.
"Okay, what's eating you now?"
"It's just; remember when I said the heart might be using us, hiding things from us?"
Leon nodded; both he and Rinoa were now completely attentive, Sora looked at her worriedly.
"Sora, she's my fiancée, I think you'd better get used to both of us being in the room." Leon said with a smirk.
"Well…."
He went on to describe the morning's disaster, Leon looked like he might have had a stroke when Sora mentioned getting swept overboard like he had, the expression turned to something more cautious though when he described Namine's appearance, the armor, and what she'd said before going on to describe his dream.
"You think she knows something that the rest of us don't, what did she call you again, Bravery?"
Sora nodded, his brother and Rinoa exchanged looks before the latter spoke up, "I think she knows something, but hasn't the heart done things like this before? You and Roxas don't remember killing Xehanort after all. Couldn't it just be that the heart is letting her know and keeping the rest of the bearers unaware so they don't get hurt? She could just be the control to ensure you all live long enough to discover it yourselves."
It did sound like something the heart might do, considering its track record, but Namine actually wasn't his main worry. What he was afraid of, was that they weren't just going to find an heir; it was that the heart had a completely different purpose that could be considerably more dangerous to everyone involved, and that Namine knew this but wasn't telling anyone.
"Sora, remember what everyone is always saying about the bearers' strength being their hearts?" Rinoa asked.
He nodded, "well, maybe you should listen to your heart, do you think Namine would intentionally put you and the others in danger and not tell you about it?"
Sora considered, taking a deep sigh before shaking his head, Leon smiled, though he still looked concerned. "Then trust your heart, and trust Namine. She's always been a little different, but she's been a good friend. I don't think she's trying to harm anyone." His smile spread, "I have to admit, that armor does sound nice, and if your dream about the gold armor is any indication you might have the same thing. You probably just have to figure out how to use it like she has."
Sora nodded, remembering Namine's hand, how it had glowed green when the armor had melted away, even if he trusted her, wanted to trust her; he still wasn't sure if he trusted the heart's motives.
