This is a bit of a shorter chapter, at least in word count, as it's mostly dialogue. But I hope all of you still enjoy it regardless.
Inverted Sky: Kingdom Hearts II
Chapter 89: The Caribbean part VIII
Darkness swirls around me. I can't see. I can't hear. Everything is so dark. So...dark.
As Sora drifted further and further down through the darkness, her eyes slowly opened. The familiar stain glass image of herself down below, bringing a comforting feeling as she gently landed on the surface. With a brief glance to either side, the teen couldn't help the growing feeling that she was being watched. "Roxas? Is that you?" she uttered out softly, her voice echoing through the air.
However, after a few moments of silence, Sora's eyes widened when hearing a dark chuckle ringing out around her. It sounding strangely similar to someone she knew, yet couldn't quite think of who or how. "'Roxas'? If you're mistaking me, for him...I'd say you have too many people living within you heart, Sora." a voice claimed as the glass under the girl's feet rapidly became a swirl of darkness.
But rather than being sucked in as she expected, the teen just watched as the darkness slowly diminished. This revealing a completely different image depicted upon the glass. While it was still of Sora, it showed her with silver hair, a single black wing, and a shadowy figure looming over. When seeing this, the teen's eyes narrowed slowly, to which she then began looking around for the individual whom spoke. "Then who are you?" she questioned suspiciously, clenching her fists.
A soft chuckle echoed around Sora, whom could almost feel the devious smile this person likely had. "All in due time." the voice started in a calm tone, as well as coming from all directions at once.
"For now, just know that you will be called upon soon. And when you are...I hope that you'll heed it." they continued, seeming to have a strange amount of confidence that she would agree.
"So until then..." they began again, yet Sora quickly began feeling herself being pulled away from her subconscious.
"...keep an eye out for the signs of our Reunion." the voice finished just as the girl snapped awake.
Her eyes opening instantly as if waking up from a nightmare. But while she attempted to sit up, she found herself unable to move. Not from any sort of restraints or such, but from the fact that her muscles were so sore that they felt too heavy to even budge. With a heavy groan in pain, Sora managed to slowly adjust herself while still laying down. "Oh wow..." she muttered silently, wincing from the aching all through her body.
"...I didn't know that my toes could be so sore." the girl continued in a groan.
"You'd be surprised." a voice hummed out from the side.
Sora blinked many times to this as she slowly managed to turn her head in the direction of the voice. At which point her eyes widened a bit, her seeing Teng sitting next to her as she seemed to be laying in a bed. The silver-haired boy looking exactly the same as he had when they first met, save for the fact that he was happy to see her. "Good afternoon, sleeping beauty. Glad you could join us." the boy continued with a small smile on his features.
"How long was I asleep?" Sora asked silently, her gently adjusting herself in order to try and get used to moving again.
"About a day and a half, but then...you never did sleep the other night since you were helping out Elizabeth and her father." the boy answered, shrugging his shoulders briefly.
"And don't worry, Vincent made sure to return to the Gummi ship to feed Zola while you were away." he added, him knowing that 'this' would have been Sora's next question.
Said silver-haired girl blinked many times before she let out a heavy sigh in relief. "That's good." she hummed out.
"I hope I haven't been worrying anyone too much though." Sora continued softly, sounding almost ashamed of herself.
"Nah, I've smoothed things over pretty well." Teng claimed in a proud manner; "Though...Mulan was insistent in keeping an eye on you most of the time."
Sora slowly smiled to these words as she could picture such a scene in her mind, it being quite flattering. However, the boy appeared to pick up on her train of thought and took on Riku's signature look of mischievousness. "It looks like someone is getting all flushed about the girl from China." he hummed out in a teasing manner.
This caused the girl to look at him with flushed cheeks, but before she could say anything, Teng continued on. "And here I thought Kairi would be enough for you. Or are you planning to get Alice and Ariel into your clutches as well?" he says with a heavy sigh and a shake of his head.
"So disappointing." Teng finished, all as Sora's blush fully covered her face.
"I-It's not like that~!" she almost whined out in embarrassment.
The boy then just started laughing heartily, while Sora groaned and pouted for a few moments. Yet she eventually took on a small smile of her own and began laughing as well. Though, she quickly groaned a bit during this; "Ow~, don't make me laugh." she giggled out, despite her sore body hurting a bit from it.
"Sorry, but I have to catch up on all the stuff I haven't been able to comment on." Teng said with a small smile.
Sora turned her head slowly toward him as she gained a smile of her own; "I'm so glad you're back." she whispered in a tone that held a mixture of emotions.
Sadness from not being able to save him. Happiness from his return. Worry for what he'll do now. And hope that she'll never lose him again.
All of this making Teng's smile widen slightly, to which he stood up and moved over toward the girl's side. "I'm glad to be back." he started while bringing a hand out.
"And don't worry about me...just remember my name." the boy continued, making the other teen blink a few times as Teng then took one of her hands into his.
"Teng is short for Tengai, the place where the earth meets the sky." he claimed softly as his name was clearly a declaration of their bond.
"The horizon." Sora whispered softly, slowly sitting up with her friend's help.
"Exactly, so no matter where you go, I'll be there too." he claimed confidently, smiling once more as the girl gained a similar expression.
After a brief moment, a knock was suddenly heard at the door just to the side. It being now that Sora finally took in her surroundings, as she could actually see things better. The room itself was somewhat small as the bed seemed to have been set up on the right side of the entrance. There being a long table near of the back where a series of windows showed the ocean view beyond. While a few chairs and chests were visible, they were all pushed to the left side in order to make room for the bed.
Coming through the door, Vincent walked toward the edge of the bed along with Mulan and Elizabeth. "How are you feeling?" the raven-haired man spoke as he seemed glad to see the teen awake.
"Sore...but alright." Sora responded with a small smile, to which she turned to Mulan as the girl let out a breath in relief.
"We were pretty worried when you were suddenly pulled off the ship." Mulan said, moving a bit closer.
"Though, we were even more surprised when he showed up with you in his arms." the teen continued while making a brief gesture toward Teng.
"Yeah, I can imagine that was a bit of a scare." Sora answered as her smile turned into a sheepish one.
"So he is indeed trust worthy?" Vincent questioned, giving the silver-haired boy a brief glance.
Sora simply nodded her head, though it was still a bit tough from how stiff her body felt. "Most definitely, he's been with me for a long time after all." she claimed happily, Teng nodding as well while giving his own smile.
"Well, we're certainly glad to have you back." Elizabeth spoke up as she offered a gaze of acknowledgment toward Sora.
Whom looked back to her and tilted her head slightly to the side out of curiosity; "Thanks, though...where are we now? What did I miss?" she asked with a quick glance around to everyone in the room.
"Well...after we couldn't find you, we headed to Tortuga in the hopes that you might meet us there." Mulan explained, shrugging her shoulders briefly.
"There, we set my father up on a merchant ship and sent him off." Elizabeth added soon after, not seeming to want to go into the details.
"Alright..." Sora hummed out with another slow nod of her head.
"...so where are we now?" she continued, shifting her gaze toward the window as she stared out across the ocean.
"I can answer that~!" a sudden voice spoke up as the gentleman the others were talking to previously, came through the door.
"The name is Captain Jack Sparrow, and you're currently aboard my ship." he continued while approaching the bed, which was likely his.
Sora turned toward him with blinking eyes as she quickly realized that he was a pirate, making her take on a wide grin of excitement. "Well...it's nice to meet you, Captain." she said, nodding her head in greeting as her soreness was almost forgotten about.
Jack smiled from the girl's words, particularly the fact that she addressed him as 'Captain'. "And you must be Sora, these friends of yours have made sure to make me remember it." he claimed, an almost sheepish expression coming across his features for a moment.
Though the others remained silent, Sora could tell they made him remember it because he kept getting her name wrong. "I see...so, where are we heading?" she questioned.
"We're heading to find the chest." was all Jack stated, just leading for Sora to stare at him with blinking eyes.
"Um...right...the chest." the silver-haired girl started silently before tilting her head slightly to the side in confusion.
"And what chest might that be?" she continued, to which Jack's expression seemed to become one of worry for himself.
However, this quickly shifted into a more confident one as he answered the teen's question. "That would be the chest of Davy Jones."
Sora's eyes widened briefly as even in her world, there were legends of Davy Jones, but none of them were actually true. Hearing this though, the girl's excitement fully overcame her soreness as she almost immediately lept out of bed and looked to Jack with sparkles in her eyes. "Seriously~?!" she exclaimed, her practically bouncing in exhilaration.
The pirate captain blinked briefly, the teen's elation at the situation utterly confusing him to no end. "Aye?" is all he responded with.
"Awesome~!" Sora called out, a wide grin curling her lips.
Mulan giggled lightly to her friend, as she figured Sora would react like this. Especially since Mulan herself felt very similar when finding out the details of whom this 'Davy Jones' person was. Her enjoying the story quite a bit, as it was interesting and exciting. Something Sora shared the sentiment of immensely. But soon after the silver-haired girl's declaration, she almost immediately fell backward and onto the bed once more.
"Guess it's still a bit too soon for me to move." she muttered sheepishly.
And there you have it. Some foreboding stuff. Some bonding stuff. And now...a heading. Lets see where Sora's adventures on the highs seas go, you know...once she can move. Let me know what you thought of this chapter. Until next time.