Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts; all character credit (except for the OCs) goes to Disney and Square-Enix.

Note to the readers: Words can't express how unbelievably sorry I am! I will try to write more frequently, so that there isn't a huge wait like that again. Sorry again ~Syke

Chapter 20: Buried Treasure

POV: Riku

The deep blue waters surged around me. I saw a girl panicking in the distance, her violet eyes filled with fear as waves crashing over her head. "Kumori!" I tried to shout, but a wave overtook me and seawater filled my lungs. I tore myself from the freezing embrace of the waves and broke the surface. I breathed in a lungful of cold sea air, and looked around. I spotted Kumori struggling against the waves, our eyes met for a moment, before a wave forced her under the water.

I dove beneath the raging waves, exposing my eyes to the stinging waters. I twisted around, trying to spot her in the murky water. Where was she? I finally caught a glimpse of her, sinking down towards the black abyss where the seabed should have been. All that was there was an endless darkness and Kumori was falling into it.

She caught my eyes again, her purple eyes silently pleading as she drifted closer to the black void. I plunged further beneath the water, as her feet were swallowed by the dark void. She stretched her hand out to me, and I reached out with my hand to take hold of hers. I tried to pull her from the darkness, but she was simply pulled deeper into it. Now the fathomless darkness was up to her waist.

I began to feel light-headed from the lack of oxygen. A current knocked me backwards, and her cool fingers slipped out of my grasp. Wide-eyed she tried to grasp my hand again. I reached for her desperately, but clutched nothing but seawater. The last thing I saw of her before she sank into the darkness was her deep lilac eyes, filled with fear.

I gazed numbly at the darkness below me, wishing that it would swallow me up, destroy me, so long as this painful sensation in my chest would disappear. I wanted to disappear. I didn't save her. That thought tore a hole through my heart. I should have tried harder, but now it was too late. Kumori was dead. And it was my fault.

My oxygen-starved body remained floating above the black void as my lungs ached for air. The periphery of my vision began to darken and blur, and finally with an explosion of pain in my chest, the darkness stole over me.

I sat up abruptly, tumbling out of my hammock. Ouch. I got to my feet groggily and glanced over at Kumori reflexively. She lay curled up in her hammock, sleeping peacefully. An intense feeling of relief washed over me, and the anxiety that was clenched in my chest dissipated. What was wrong with me? It had only been a dream.

But I wondered why Kumori had appeared in my dream. After a moment, I shrugged it off. After all, spending days on end with the same people was bound to affect my dreaming patterns, right? A nagging voice in my head pointed out that I had known Sora and Kairi much longer than Kumori, yet neither of them had been in my dream. Ignoring it, I tried unsuccessfully to fall asleep again.

POV: Sora

"Land ho! Wake up ya lubbers!" Gibbs shouted, clanging an old bell, which effectively woke me from my peaceful slumber. Around me, my friends and fellow crewmembers stirred. The crew members that had been sleeping rolled out of their hammocks and shuffled back on deck.

Kairi, Riku and Kumori disentangled themselves from their hammocks, and doing the same I got to my feet. The four of us looked at each other and exchanged smiles. With our wrinkled and now slightly-worn clothing, and not to mention our sleep-ruffled hair, we almost looked the part of a pirate crew.

Filing one by one up the creaky wooden stairs, we went above deck. Jack was lost in conversation with Gibbs and the pirate from last night...wait was that Elizabeth? Before I could pursue that thought, Jack noticed us and made his way towards us. "Where are we?" I asked, looking out over the waters.

We were anchored in deep turquoise waters just offshore of a pristine white beach. Tropical trees and sparse patches of green grass dotted the sandy island, leading to a dense jungle in the centre of the island. I felt a twinge of homesickness. "This is Isla Cruces," Jack told us.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but why are we here?" Kairi asked.

"Eh...you're Zola's friend, Carrie was it?" Jack began. Kairi opened her mouth to protest, but gave up as Jack continued. "To put it bluntly, love, there's a certain chest, of unknown size and origin, which is of great value to me. I have reason to believe that it is here, on Isla Cruces, and I've come here to acquire it, savvy?" Jack explained.

"Ready to go ashore, Captain?" Gibbs called over, as he finished preparing rowboats by the side of the ship.

"Aye! Come on then, Zola, Carrie...er...you two," Jack replied, gesturing at Riku and Kumori.

Jack turned away just as someone behind us cleared their throat. "Aren't you forgetting someone?" the person said, and slowly Jack turned to face the person. It was the drunken man from the bar, last night.

"Ah, well Zola, associates, this would be the former Commodore Norrington. Over there," Jack said, pointing to a woman boarding a rowboat, "is the governor of Port Royal's daughter, Elizabeth Swann." Without another word, he hurried over to the rowboats. He seemed agitated, and carried with him a jar that seemed to contain nothing but sand.

The five us, including Norrington, followed him, and boarded the rowboats. Jack, Norrington, Elizabeth and two men who were introduced as Ragetti and Pintel, manned one rowboat; while Kairi, Kumori, Riku and I occupied another. In a few moments we had gotten into the rhythm of paddling, and were navigating our way on the choppy waters towards shore.

Ahead of us, Ragetti and Pintel were arguing about something cracking. A snatch of conversation drifted back to us on the wind. "It's a mythological creature, I'll calls it what I wants!" Ragetti exclaimed. What were they talking about? I arched an eyebrow and glanced at my friends. Riku and Kairi looked as confused as I felt.

Kumori was lost in thought, gazing at the water. "What's wrong?" Kairi asked, turning her concerned eyes to Kumori.

She looked up and shook her head, "Nothing...but I've been having these weird dreams..." I expected her to go on, but the only sound was the waves slapping against the side of the boat. Kairi didn't pursue the topic.

Finally we made it ashore, and Jack addressed us after removing three shovels from the bottom of his boat. "Ragetti, Pintel and...erm...you two: guard the boats, mind the tide and don't touch my dirt. Zola, Carrie, follow me," he muttered, tossing a shovel to me.

Kairi gave me a look, as if to ask 'should we really be following this guy on a treasure hunt?'

I shrugged in reply to her unvoiced question, "Captain's orders." Without argument, we wandered after Jack, Elizabeth and Norrington.

POV: Kairi

The five of us trudged through ankle deep water for a few minutes before even reaching shore. Elizabeth led our motley group, holding Jack's broken compass in front of her. I couldn't help but wonder how she hoped to find anything with a compass that didn't even point north. We kept walking on until she finally, lost her patience and sat down on the sandy beach, dropping the compass beside her.

"This doesn't work!" Elizabeth cried out in frustration, crossing her arms in front of herself, not unlike a pouting child. "And it certainly doesn't show you what you want most."

Jack walked over and examined the disregarded compass curiously. "Yes it does. You're sitting on it!" he exclaimed.

Elizabeth looked at him with bewilderment. "Beg your pardon?"

"Move," he ordered, shooing her away from the spot. Norrington broke the sandy soil with his shovel. "Come on then!" Jack said, gesturing wildly to Sora. He began to dig alongside Norrington, tossing shovelful after shovelful of sand over his back and letting it fall into a heap on the beach. I sat on the sand, looking on with Elizabeth and Jack.

When the hole was a few feet deep, Norrington's shovel struck something hard. The dull thud signified the end of the dig. Sora sat down on the ground beside me, panting. Jack, Elizabeth and Norrington gathered around the hole. Captain Sparrow fell to his knees and dusted away the last layer of sand with eager hands. From beneath the sand he withdrew a creaky wooden chest.

Jack brought the head of his shovel crashing down on the chain that held the lock to the chest. With a clang, the weak chain broke and fell to the sand. He knelt in front of the chest, gazing at the chest with a sort of reverence as he creaked open the lid of the chest. Norrington and Elizabeth knelt beside him, looking awestruck. Sora and I got to our feet and walked over to peer into the chest. It contained countless duty letters written on crackly aged parchment.

I raised an eyebrow. Had we come all this way for a bunch of musty love letters? I watched as Jack brushed aside the yellowed pages to reveal a second, more intricately carved chest. It was small, and made of smooth, dark wood that looked recently polished, despite its time beneath the island's soil. It was sealed with a heart shaped lock. "What's in the chest?" Sora asked, watching the trio press their ears to the smaller chest.

Instead of replying, Elizabeth simply murmured, "It's real."

"You actually were telling the truth!" Norrington exclaimed quietly, a grin slowly spreading across his face.

"I do that quite a lot. You people are always surprised," Jack replied turning to face Norrington. Sora and I stifled our laughter; it was, after all, difficult to trust a pirate.

"With good reason," a new voice said. The source was a young man was striding towards us, a key hanging from a cord twined around his right hand. "Will!" Elizabeth breathed. Everyone stood up, as Elizabeth ran to her love and the two kissed.

"You're alright, thank God! I came to find you!" she explained, burying her face in his shoulder.

"How did you get here?" Jack asked.

"Sea turtles mate," Will said with a grin, "a pair of them strapped to my feet!"

"Not so easy, is it?" Jack asked with a small smile.

Will ignored the comment and continued, "But I do owe you thanks, Jack."

"You do?" the captain replied, looking puzzled.

The younger man went on, still holding on to his beloved, "After you tricked me onto that ship to square your debt with Jones..."

"What?" Elizabeth cried.

"What?" Jack asked, feigning innocence.

"I was reunited with my father" Will finished.

"Oh. Well, you're welcome then," Jack said smiling, and clapped his hands together in finality.

But Elizabeth refused to let go of the revelation of Jack's betrayal. She stormed over to the pirate, her eyes alight with fury. "Everything you said to me, every word was a lie?" she shouted.

"Pretty much," the captain shrugged, nonplussed, "time and tide, love." He then fixed his eyes on Will, who had unwound the key from his wrist key, and was kneeling beside the small chest with a crude dagger in his opposite hand. "Oi, what're you doing?" Jack asked worriedly, addressing Will.

"I'm going to kill Jones," Will answered simply. The air hissed as Jack drew his cutlass and pointed it to Will's neck.

"Can't let you do that, William. See if Jones's dead, who's to call his terrible beastie off the hunt, eh?" Sora stared at Jack in disbelief. It seemed like Jack's betrayal had struck him hard. But what bothered me the most was this 'beastie' Jack had mentioned. Was it the same 'mythological creature that Ragetti and Pintel had spoke of on our way to the island?

"Now if you please, the key," Jack requested, reaching out his hand for it.

Instead of handing over the key, Will drew the sword from the sheath at Elizabeth's waist. "I keep the promises I make, Jack. I intend to free my father. I hope you're here to see it."

Norrington removed his weapon from its sheath and pointed it at Will. "I can't let you do that either. So sorry" he muttered with false sympathy. I looked at Sora, confused as to what we should do in a situation such as this. As a precaution, we summoned our keyblades.

"I knew you'd warm up to me!" Jack exclaimed, taking a step towards Norrington, his sword lowered. Norrington's sword was immediately turned on the pirate, who in turn had Will's sword pointed at him. After a moment of hesitation, Jack pointed his sword at Will.

"Lord Beckett desires the contents of that chest. I deliver it, I get my life back," Norrington explained, keeping his sword trained on Jack.

"Ah, the dark side of ambition," Jack commented.

"Oh I prefer to see it as the promise of redemption," Norrington countered, and with a dark smile he swung his sword not at Jack, but at Will. Taking advantage of the moment, Jack lashed out at Will as well. Their target parried their blows with an expert's skill, forcing the two to clash with each other.

"Stop it!" Elizabeth cried desperately, but no one heeded her words.

Will dashed off, and blocked a strike from Norrington, which left him vulnerable to Jack, who swiped the key from Will's hands. Jack ran towards the forested area in the centre of the island, as Norrington swung at Will once more. Will ducked, only to have Norrington's foot kick him to the ground. Elizabeth hurried to his side, concern written across her face. "Guard the chest," Will ordered, leaving Elizabeth kneeling in the sand. Defiantly she got to her feet and stalked after them, leaving the chest unprotected.

"No! This is barbaric! This is no way for grown men to settle...oh, fine! Let's just haul out our swords and start banging away at each other! That will solve everything! I've had it! I've had it with wobbly-legged, rum-soaked pirates!" the young woman yelled furiously. The three men clashed swords, and continued to run across the beach, ignoring Elizabeth completely. She looked around on the ground until she found a rock, which she proceeded to throw at the dueling trio while shouting her protests.

~-x-~

Sorry that this world is taking so long, but it's probably going to be another chapter. Thanks to all of the readers and their continued support, and a special shout-out to TehAverageWrites who inspired me to stop procrastinating and write another chapter =D