My gosh, this story had such a horrible case of writer's block it wasn't funny. August was the last update, AUGUST! That's unacceptable. This story is one of my most well developed, most focused stories in my collection and writer's block had to hit me so hard. I'm sorry. This chapter is also horribly short, but the next chapter starts seeing some more action and more interesting stuff. Not to mention a confrontation that Sora is not ready for yet.
Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sora kept quiet and just listened as Demyx told Ariel of their adventures through the worlds. The nobody was going into great detail of how they fought off against the heartless and how they out-witted Pete back in Twilight Town. They passed through the palace gates and Sora felt a strange force as he passed through the archway that marked the entrance to the kingdom.
"What was that?" he asked.
"That's the barrier that Daddy put up. My sisters and I keep it going with our light while he's not here. That's why I stayed behind instead of going with him. He needs all of us in order for it to work," she replied.
"Whoa, that's some serious responsibility," commented Demyx.
"It is," she admitted, "but at least it's keeping us safe. Pete tried to get in a while ago, but he wasn't able to break through and I gave him a little going away present."
"What kind of present?" asked Sora.
"Well, it's not every day that the local sharks see a guppy that big," she giggled playfully.
The other two laughed at the idea of the villain trying to out-swim a hungry pack of sharks. Sora looked around the area, it felt good to see this place again. He had such good memories of this place. Singing in the musical was definitely one of the greatest parts of his second journey. There weren't any heartless and there were also no nobodies to deal with. This time however was an exception. He looked over at Demyx who looked more like a kid in a candy store. Everything fascinated him and he was filled with endless questions which Ariel was only too happy to answer.
"So, you have your own concert hall and everything?"
"Uh-huh, Sebastian holds concerts every other month," Ariel replied with a smile as she led them towards the royal chambers.
Demyx' eyes lit up with excitement, "Is anyone allowed to perform?"
Ariel nodded as she pushed the large seashell door open, "Sure, I'll let him know you'd like to join."
Sora could only shake his head, "It's not just singing and playing your instrument Dem, you gotta do flips and perform with the song. There's a lot of work that goes into playing for a concert here."
"Oh really?" asked Demyx.
"Yes, really!" came a deep voice with an odd accent.
"Who said that?"
The two looked around before Sora looked down and saw the little red crab staring up at them. Demyx picked Sebastian by his shell and poked him, "This is the guy who runs the show?"
Sora nodded, "Demyx, meet Sebastian. Sebastian, this is my friend Demyx."
The crab glared at the merman who was holding him up, "And what was wrong with your other friends? Donald may have been hard to understand and messed up his lines from time to time, but at least they had manners."
"Oh, sorry." Demyx set him back down. Ariel swam back up to them, "Aww, don't be like that Sebastian."
"And as for you, young lady," Sebastian commented by swimming up to her face, "Where have you been? You know your father told you to stay within the palace walls to keep the barrier up. It's not fair to make your sisters do all the work while you go in and out of the city. I hope you didn't go on another one of your little treasure hunts."
"No, I saw a strange light appear in the grotto and went to check it out. That's where I found Demyx and Sora," she replied, looking over at the mermen.
Ariel led the two to meet her sisters with Sebastian swimming behind to keep an eye on her. He knew the king would be furious if his daughter had gone beyond the boundaries of the barrier and put herself in danger. Something neither he nor the kingdom could afford. They pelted her with lectures and worries before one of them noticed the two boys sitting off to the side.
"Who is that?" asked Arista.
Ariel smiled as she waved her hand in their direction. "These are my friends, Demyx and Sora."
Demyx waved while Sora nodded his head.
"SORA!?" The girl's shouted in surprise and Demyx was forced out of the way as the mermaids swarmed around blue-finned teen. Flounder swam over to the nobody who had been shoved to the side while the girls fussed over Sora. "You okay?"
"As soon as the ocean stops spinning. I didn't know Sora was so famous."
"Yeah, Ariel kinda exaggerated a little when she told them what happened when they fought Ursula." The little fish and Demyx just stood and watched as the princesses crowded around the young teen. If they didn't have the ability to breathe underwater Demyx would have convinced the boy was drowning under the group.
"Alright, give him some room," came the voice of the oldest sister. The others giggled with embarrassment before backing up.
"Do you really travel to other worlds?" asked one.
"What are the boys like out there? Do they do the same things?"
"What kind of wonders are out there?"
Sora chuckled sheepishly at the questions. "I'm not really sure, guys are just guys. As for wonders, I've seen some pretty amazing things on my adventures. An enchanted cave filled with treasure, several different castles with their own stories and history,"
The girls became even more excited and Sora was bombarded with even more questions before he could finish answering the first batch. Flounder whispered something into Demyx's ear and he smirked.
Sora was trying to find a way to get a break while remaining polite, but he couldn't find an opening. That's when they heard a melody playing in the background. The princesses turned and saw Demyx sitting down with his sitar in his hands. He was playing a nice tune and called a few of his water clones to swirl around. It was hard to see them, but they could just make out the outlines as they swayed.
"That's amazing," commented Adela as they watched.
Sora took his chance to back away from the group and out of the room where he gave the biggest sigh of relief. Flounder swam up to him, "Feel better?"
"Yeah, thanks for the rescue," he replied. Flounder just smiled before motioning with his fin for Sora to follow him.
He brought Sora to Ariel's secret treasure room, where she was busy finding a good place for the latest addition to her collection. "What do you think?" she asked him.
Sora looked up at the golden harp. "It's nice, where'd you find that?"
"Under a crevice just beyond the reef, just don't tell Sebastian. I didn't tell him the whole truth about why I was out there."
"Why were you out there?" he asked, knowing she trusted him to keep her secrets.
"I was bored. I'm glad Daddy realizes that humans aren't bad and is willing to help them, but I wish it was me that was traveling around, fighting evil. Like you."
Sora tried to picture that for a minute. It would be great to have her fighting alongside them, but he couldn't forget the true evil behind all of the heartless. Maleficent was a being of pure darkness, and he had seen what darkness could do to the brightest light. He didn't want that to happen to Ariel.
"Believe me, you're better off here, as far away from danger as possible."
"You're starting to sound like my father," Ariel replied.
"An adventure sounds exciting and fun and it is, but right now there's a threat out there that's so powerful that not even the strongest hero can beat it alone."
Ariel could hear the pain in his voice as he spoke and understood. "Something bad happened, didn't it? To your friends?"
Sora nodded. "Goofy, Donald and others are with the resistance and they wanted me to help, but after what happened. I'm just not strong enough to be of any help and they're all looking to me to beat it like before, but I just can't."
Ariel swam up to him and pulled him into a hug. "It's okay to be scared Sora, but you should know that no one expects you to fight alone. It's your friendship that gives you strength and even when you feel alone, you're really not."
"What do you mean?" asked Sora.
She pulled away and smiled. "You have Demyx with you now, and that other friend who doesn't like water? And no matter where you are, every one of your friends is wishing you well. Even me. Even when friends are apart the bonds they share stay with them always."
Sora thought about it and realized she was right. "Thanks Ariel."
She only smiled before turning back towards the doorway. "Why don't we go see if your friend needs rescuing. My sisters can get a bit carried away."
"Really? I hadn't noticed." He replied sarcastically as he followed her out.
When they got there they heard Demyx still strumming along to his sitar, but instead of humming a tune he was telling a story. "Oh, there were many heartless. The great battle of Hollow Bastion held the most heartless that I've ever seen. There were thousands of them and for each one you struck down, three more would take its place. Sora alone defeated more than a thousand of them single-handed!"
"That's impossible," challenged Aquata.
"No one could fight off that many heartless on their own," agreed Andrina.
"It's true," Demyx replied, "but Sora wasn't the only one fighting. There were others there. Powerful warriors, littler helpers, and even me."
"How many heartless did you defeat?" asked Attina.
"He was too busy fighting me to worry about the heartless," Sora announced as he entered the room. The mermaids turned towards him. "What do you mean?" They looked back at the nobody which scratched the back of his head.
"Well, back then me 'n Sora were kinda on opposite sides."
"You were enemies?" asked Ariel.
"Yeah, but Sora beat me in the end and the next time he saw me we made up and became friends. Ain't that right, buddy?"
Sora merely shrugged, "I guess so. I mean, we're friends now but back then he was kind of annoying."
"Well that hurts," Demyx replied flatly.
Sora looked back to Ariel who nodded a silent response. "Demyx, it's time for us to head out."
"Aww, already?" asked the mermaids.
"Yeah, the worlds are in trouble and its up to us to help protect them," Sora replied. "Since everything seems safe and under control here, we should check on the other places that still need help."
"Well, you're always welcome here, Sora. You too Demyx," replied Attina.
"Thanks, I'll defenitly look forward to coming back to this place," Demyx said with a smile.
Sora waved to them and followed Ariel who led them out of the palace and just past the barrier. "Daddy had to step outside the barrier before he left, so I think you two have to do the same."
"It's fine, you just make sure you get back inside the barrier once we've gone and don't linger," Demyx told her, trying to sound like a protective older brother.
"I promise," she replied.
Sora signaled for Axel to fire up the transporter and within a few moments Sora and Demyx were surrounded by a white light before vanishing. Ariel smiled and waved as they vanished and went to turn back and head for home when something grabbed her from behind. "Hehe, What's d'a matter princess? No sharks 'round when you need 'em? Hah! Looks like Good 'ol Pete's finally found some good luck."
When Sora and Demyx arrived back onto the transport platform they were alone in the room. Suddenly the ship lurched to the side, sending the two tumbling into a corner.
"Ow! What the heck?" cried Demyx, trying to recover after slamming his back against the wall. Sora seemed just as dazed, and got up from crashing into Demyx and laying across his lap. "What happened?"
"I dunno, but it can't be good," the blonde nobody got up and staggered towards the doorway with Sora following behind. It was hard enough trying to get used to using their legs again without the ship rocking back and forth.
When Sora and Demyx made it into the control room they were surprised by what they saw. Axel was doing his best to stay within the world's orbit in order to stay within range of the transporter beam, but he was having a rough time dodging enemy fire from the dozens of heartless ships that surrounded them.
"Axel, what's going on?!" Demyx cried out as he took the copilot's seat and Sora instinctively headed for the weapons platform. "About time you got back! Let's get outta here," the red-headed nobody replied.
"Wait, what about the world? What about Ariel?" asked Sora. There were too many heartless around her world for his liking.
"They have the barrier to protect them, they'll be fine!" Demyx replied as Axel hit the engines and pulled a sharp U-turn.
Sora fired the weapons, taking out as many heartless ships as he could before the Flaring Comet made its getaway.
