I own nothing.
~Overcoming Fears~
Chapter 11: End This Quickly
"Sora!" I yelled, running through the streets. Where was he? He promised to meet me in Traverse Town!
"Lexi?" I heard another voice call, and I ran straight into the person it belonged to after rolling around a corner.
"Sora, is that you?" I asked, blinking as I slammed into the ground.
"No, it's Broderick," he replied sarcastically, and I grinned up at the grinning, spiky-haired brunette.
"Apparently, that's not his name," I replied with a frown.
"What are you talking about?" Sora questioned, head cocked. I still couldn't believe that I was actually seeing him again. I took a deep breath and told him everything about The New World and Port Royal—everything that I could, anyways. Something stopped me from telling him about John and Pocahontas. What? No, I'm not blushing!
He blinked. "So you saw Anna? Wow, that's creepy. I saw Riku, too…" he shared the story of the giant whale that had swallowed him, and I gaped openly.
"Wow," I blinked. "What do you think was wrong with them?"
"I dunno," Sora replied with a grin. "But we should go get Donald and Goofy! They'll be happy to see you!"
I wanted to say that I doubted Donald would ever be happy to see anything related to me, but he was already dragging me in the direction of where he usually parked the gummy ship. Along the way, we passed the house Leon and the gang hung out in, the Gizmo shop, and Cid's shop until we finally made it to the door of the world, where everyone's favorite talking animals were standing. Donald was scowling impatiently, and Goofy was staring in anticipation. I grinned as we walked up to them.
"Hey, guys!" I chirped. Out of character? Yes. Wrong considering the circumstances? I think not!
"Lexi!" Goofy yelled, running forward and giving me a hug. I hugged him back, grinning. Donald just stared at me for a moment before sighing, disgusted.
"Can we go?" he asked angrily.
I shrugged as Goofy backed up. "Sure. Come on."
The four of us made our way to the door, and I felt at home—something I hadn't known for a full two worlds. And when I looked at Sora, I found myself blushing for some reason that I couldn't figure out. I turned away quickly, silently scolding myself.
"Oh, hey!" I exclaimed, coming to a sudden realization. "I have my own gummy ship, guys!"
"What?" Donald demanded in reply, so surprised his scowl disappeared.
"I found it back at the world I fell onto!" I replied with a smile. "Come on—I'll show you! It's really big, and it's blue, and—and—"
By this time, we'd reached the spot I'd landed at, and I was just looking around, completely confused. "Where'd it go?" I wondered, frowning.
Donald sighed, tapping his foot. "So this was pointless?" he asked with a frown.
I nodded reluctantly. "Well…I guess so, yeah. Let's go back to the ship, you guys."
We trudged back to our rocket. My spirits were slightly dampened, but they were brought back up when I saw Sora again. We were going to be OK—I knew it already.
The trip to the next world was mostly used for catching up on the playful bantering between Sora and I. When we finally got there, there was a slight problem with the world.
"That's water!" I pointed out. "We'll drown!"
"Not with my magic, we won't!" Donald argued. And then he zapped you.
When we were all down there, Donald was half-squid and floating upside down, which made me laugh. Goofy was part turtle, too, but the weirdest part was that Sora didn't have a shirt on. I almost blushed again before catching myself. Then I looked down, and I found the weirdest thing that day.
"Awesome!" I cheered. "I'm part seahorse!"
Sora, who was some weird shark-ish thing and, like I said, was shirtless, turned to me, surprised. I had my black shirt on, but there was no skull and (disappointingly) it wasn't ripped, and my medallion still hung on my neck. My bottom half was red-brown and scaly. At the tail, it swirled in a circle. My hair was just sort of…there.
We all floated around for a bit, and then a red-haired mermaid and a little yellow fish swam in. "Come on, Sebastian!" the mermaid called.
"Ariel, wait!" called a voice with a Jamaican accent, and I was surprised to see a crab. "Slow down! Don't leave me behind!" Sebastian came face-to-face with Donald and, not surprisingly, he screamed and swam behind the girl.
"Relax, Sebastian," Ariel chuckled. "They don't look like one of them. Right, Flounder?"
"I don't know," the fish replied uneasily. "There's something weird about them…"
"Eh heh heh heh…What are you talking about?" Sora replied uneasily.
"They do seem…a little different," Ariel agreed. "Where are you from?"
"We're from kind of far away," Sora replied. "And…we're not really used to these waters. Heh heh."
"Way to keep inconspicuous," I muttered, elbowing him.
"Oh, I see," Ariel commented. "Well, in that case…Sebastian can show you how we swim around here!"
Sebastian, who had been in a sort of glaring contest with Donald (taking over my job momentarily), turned around, surprised, and swam over. "Ariel, King Triton will not like this!"
Ariel was rolling her eyes and frowning, which made me grin a little. "Oh, don't worry."
"All right," Sebastian agreed begrudgingly. He then showed us how to flap our fin-tail-things upwards, downwards, and side-to-side.
"Good job," he commented. "Now let's move on to self-defense."
"Sebastian!" Ariel interrupted.
Sebastian and us turned, and there were some weird jellyfish-shaped Heartless coming our way. The others swam away. "Class is over! Good luck!" the crab called behind him before shutting himself and Flounder into a shell.
I rolled my eyes. "Thanks for the help," I called, rolling my eyes before summoning Lock and Key. But…Lock and Key didn't come. Instead, it was that weird Keyblade—Dark Light, right?—that had appeared in the New World.
"What is that?" Sora asked, fascinated. I blinked before realizing I'd forgotten to mention it.
"Tell you later," I assured him before going at the nearest Heartless.
After five minutes or so, we finally got the last one, and everyone got out of their hiding places. "Wow! You can fight those things!" Ariel exclaimed, fascinated.
Dark Light disappeared, and Lock and Key returned in its place. "Yeah, it's not hard," I replied, grinning. "We are super-cool and all."
Sora's eyebrows rose and he opened his mouth, but Sebastian interrupted him. "Ariel, we have to get back to the castle!"
"Of course," she beamed before turning to us. "Could you protect us from those things on the way?"
"Sure," Sora said before I could say anything.
After that it was easy, just following the pointing tridents. Pretty quickly, we made our way to this giant palace, but a huge group of Heartless was behind us. We turned to fight them, but they were zapped away. We turned to see an old guy in a weird crown on a throne, which makes me think I described him really badly.
"That was too close," he complained. Ariel grinned and swam up to him. "As long as I have my trident, I will not tolerate those creatures inside this palace."
"Daddy?" the ginger chirped.
"Oh, Ariel!" he replied, angrily, and her face became downcast. "When will you listen? It's dangerous out there!"
Ariel sighed and made a shrugging motion, looking sort of annoyed. "Strange creatures lurk outside."
I couldn't help myself; I laughed. Sebastian glared at me before clearing his throat. "Behold. You swim before the ruler of the seas: His Majesty, King Triton!"
"Trident?," I snorted. "Your name is definitely not ironic at all, sir."
The King glared, and all of a sudden I noticed that trident sparking with energy might not mean millions of dollars to me. "Do not cross me, child of darkness," he scowled.
"What?" I frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"Think nothing of it," he replied, waving it off. "Now, Ariel. Who are they?"
"They helped us fight off those creatures!" Ariel replied, smiling.
"They don't seem familiar," he frowned, especially in my direction. Yeesh. Do I tick off every person of power?
"We're from an ocean very far away," Sora lied smoothly, not stuttering like before. I was extremely impressed.
"Yup," Goofy hyuck-ed. "We came to find the Keyhole!"
"What's that?" Ariel replied good-naturedly.
"Well, it's a—" he started to explain.
"There's no such thing," Triton yelled, scowling angrily, "certainly not here.
"But, Daddy…" Ariel complained.
"Ariel, not another word!" he replied with a frown. "You are not to leave the palace. Is that clear?"
She pouted for a moment before turning and swimming away. Uncertainly, we followed.
"Oh, don't mind him," she waved it away. "He never lets me do anything. Come on, I want to show you something."
We went out and, after pushing away a huge rock, found a really peaceful sort of cave—a grotto, Ariel called it. It was nice, and I stuck around a bit before swimming out. After I did, I noticed something glittering out of the corner of my eye.
"Hey, Ariel," I called, swimming over to the glass trident. "Won't this fit that thing in your grotto?"
"It does," she agreed, picking it up and beaming. "Let's go put it in!"
So we had to swim all the way back to the grotto to put it back in. Once we did, I could swear I heard bubbles, but I was too busy staring at the glittering glass to notice. All of a sudden, I was pushed out of the way. I began to protest, but it died in my mouth when I saw who it was. I did not want to annoy him twice in the same day.
"Ariel, you've disobeyed me again!" Trident Triton bellowed. Everyone else turned to him as he continued. "I told you not to leave the palace!"
He gasped after a few moments. Then he pointed his trident at the glowing blue crystal. "Daddy, no!" Ariel called, but it was too late. The makeshift trident had shattered. I didn't know if mermaids could cry being underwater, but it looked like Ariel was trying. "How could you…" she whispered before swimming out.
Trident looked out at her sorrowfully, but then turned back to us. "Young man and…you," he frowned, glaring at me. "You're not from another ocean. You're from another world. Aren't you?"
Sora gaped, and I couldn't help but go along with him. "Then you must be the key bearers," the man decided.
"How did you know?" Sora frowned.
Oldie snorted. "You may fool Ariel, but you can't fool me. You don't know your dorsal fin from your tail."
"Aren't they the same?" I frowned.
"NO." He scowled again, and I decided this guy was a lot like Donald. "As the key bearers, you must already know…one must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds!"
"Of course we know that," Sora insisted, "but…"
"You have violated this principle," he interrupted. "The key bearer shatters peace and brings ruin."
"Aw, Sora's not like that," Goofy defended.
"What about me?" I frowned. He looked at me for a moment, and then just looked away, which made me wonder. Was I really that mean? Did I…shatter peace?
"Maybe you are the only problem," Mr. Star-crown replied a little too willingly.
"No!" Sora growled, and I turned, surprised. Her expression was fiercely out of character. It was a little weird to have someone else fighting my battles, but still…it was nice, in a way.
"Humph," he frowned, turning. "I thank you for saving my daughter, but there is no room in my ocean for you or your keys!"
There was silence for about three seconds after he left. "Well," I decided, "that was extremely overdramatic."
"We've got to change his mind!" Sora insisted, swimming towards the palace. I had no choice but to follow.
Meanwhile…
Ariel sobbed on a rock outside of her grotto. It wasn't fair! Her father was always so overprotective!
"My, my," the first eel commented almost sarcastically. "The poor child suffers such deep sorrow."
"What a pity," the second continued. "If only there were something we could do…"
"Wait," the first interrupted. "Maybe she can be of some help."
"Yes," the second agreed. "Maybe she can be of some help to you."
"Who're you talking about?" Ariel demanded inquisitively, tears forgotten.
"Oh, she would surely help you," the first decided, purposely dragging it out. "She'd make all your dreams come true." Then together, the two eels disappeared in a puff of black smoke, finishing with "Ursula can help…"
Out of the inky water stepped an octopus-like woman. "You called, my dear?" Ursula asked. An evil-looking grin lit up the room.
Triton, the sea witch thought, your day is coming.
"Sora," I complained, "do you have to stop for every clam?"
He tapped another one only to find that he'd already opened it too, and there were no rewards. "They close right after you open them!" he complained. "I can't tell which I've opened and which I haven't!"
I groaned and face palmed as he swam determinedly to the next one. I was seriously considering dragging him by his hair at that point, but thank God he finally found one with something inside, and he let himself be pushed onwards. We finally found the palace, but what we saw made me wish that Sora didn't have a treasure obsession.
Some type of octopus-woman-thing was laughing and holding the trident—you know, the one with eternal power? Yeah, that one. Anyways, she was laughing evilly and holding it high in the air. "The trident is mine at last!" she cheered. I looked around for a moment. I was pretty sure that if we didn't stop her now, a huge battle would ensue, and we might actually lose if she had that thing. So I did the one thing nobody ever expects a heroine to do—I took the simple route.
As she continued laughing evilly and Ariel called, "Ursula, no! I didn't want this," I just swam up to the octopus. Sora was motioning for me to get back, but I ignored him. I got up next to her—she was so busy being dramatic, she didn't even notice me—and I poked her in the eyes. She was so surprised she dropped the trident. I promptly picked it up and pointed it at her.
"All right," I scowled. "Enough with all the overdramatic-ness. Just go away, you stupid octopus!" I concentrated, and the trident sent out a blast of fire (which, trust me, was REALLY cool-looking under water)that sent her flying back to wherever she came from. She left a couple legs behind, too, so I was pretty sure she wouldn't be back soon.
After about two seconds, Ariel swam up and hugged me, and then Sora did the same. "Come on," he whispered, and for some reason I shivered. "Let's go."
After about thirty minutes of Kingie apologizing, Ariel acting sweet and me trying not to drown, we finally made it out to the gummy ship. I guess using items of power makes you tired, because I collapsed into a seat and then it all went black.
Because we all know Lexi would do it. I mean, wouldn't you?
All right, my main reason of inspiration: I'M IN DISNEY WORLD! That's also my excuse for not updating, because they don't have wireless at our hotel, and my sister's been hogging the computer with internet. Therefore, since I'm STILL using YouTube, I haven't been able to update. Sorry!
My other reason? I was waiting for someone to alert or fave. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. AND I was planning the future. I know have KH3 planned. Yes, I'm that over-prepared. You know you all love it.
Review responses:
Lele-the-Greek-Geek: I BOUGHT IT AND IT'S SO AWESOOOOOOME! I love Leo *heart, heart*.
Yep, and it keeps getting better. :D
Thanks!
Pomegranata: Woot, thanks! 21 out of 10. Not bad.
kingdomdisney: I love Pocahontas too, but the sequel was fail.
mysteriousguy898: That's exactly the impression I wanted to give, and I'm glad someone caught that! Thank you! As for sequels…well, I'm thinking of doing Re: COM, KH2, all that jazz. What do you think?
BehindBeautifulEyes: Thank you! I strive to make my characters realistic. I think I did a good job this chapter, too. :)