Inverted Sky: Kingdom Hearts II
Chapter 90: The Caribbean part IX
Sora gazed out across the ocean with eyes full of wonder, her sense of adventure reaching all new heights. The girl having always dreamed of being a pirate on a high-seas adventure. And now, she was finally living that dream...at least slightly. Though, she slowly glanced down from her place in the crow's nest to everyone down below. Each of the crew members going about their duties on deck, yet she focused on one in particular. Sora having heard him called 'James Norrington', or 'Former Commodore' from the rest of the crew.
While his clothes, hair and face were covered in dirt, he still held an air of authority around him. This seeming to intrigue Sora all the more, as she finally decided to try talking to him. She then grabbed the rope leading to the deck, and slid down it. Upon reaching the bottom, she moved over to the man and squatted down in front of him. Whom was in the middle of swabbing the deck of the ship with a brush and bucket. "Yo." she hummed out with a small smile on her features.
The man lifted his gaze to her and raised a brow slightly; "Hello." he greeted back, yet looked back to the brush in his hand to continue working.
"So..." Sora started with a tilt of her head to the side; "...what's your story?" she questioned in a curious manner.
After this however, Norrington paused for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh. "My story, huh?" he muttered in a silent tone.
"I chased a man across the Seven Seas. The pursuit cost me my crew, my commission, and my life." he said somberly, tilting his head down once more before lifting it slightly to gaze at Jack Sparrow near the helm.
"I nearly had them all, off Tripoli." he continued, giving the brush in his hand a tight squeeze of anger.
"And I would have, if-" Norrington began, yet slowly shook his head in a clear sign of regret as he didn't bother finishing.
"Anyway...too late now." the man said with another heavy sigh, to which he started brushing the deck once more.
Sora simply stared at him during this, her able to tell that he was truly at rock-bottom in his life. She then looked up in thought for a brief few seconds before turning her gaze back to Norrington. "Maybe for 'that' chapter of your life. But there will always be opportunities in the future. You just have to keep your eyes and ears open for when they present themselves." the teen claimed with a small grin.
"Besides, you have plenty more life to live, so you shouldn't give up now." she continued, leading for Norrington to stop his cleaning once more and to look at Sora.
But before he could even try to refute her words, the teen simply smiled a bit wider. "Or ever." she added quickly.
Though then man's expression started off as being ready to dismiss what she was saying, it slowly turned to one of surprise. Her advice sounding as though it was coming from someone older than himself, rather than someone younger. "You have an odd amount of wisdom for your age." he muttered silently, yet he was actually starting to at least consider her words.
The silver-haired girl simply gave a sheepish smile in response, as if she was a little proud of herself for receiving this praise. "Thanks." she hummed, scratching the back of her head.
Norrington raised his brow once more, though he couldn't help the small smirk curling his features. Sora's strange optimism and demeanor managed to make Norrington appreciate her simple outlook on things, as well as her pure heart. "So...what about you?" he started, earning a blinking gaze from the teen.
"What's your story?" Norrington questioned, sitting back and resting his left arm on the same knee.
Sora took on a sheepish smile yet again, as she chuckled softly. "Well...that's a tough one actually. It's a bit of a long story." she said while shrugging and sitting in a similar pose as the man.
"But, to make it short...I left my home for adventure, saw I had a much bigger destiny than I ever could have imagined...and have been traveling around helping people ever since." the girl claimed, once again sounding a bit proud of herself.
Though, Norrington merely blinked a few times at how strangely complex, yet simplistic this sounded. He then just gave a slow nod of his head by the end, as he shrugged his shoulders. "So I guess I'm just another person in a long list of people then?" he muttered with a small and somewhat amused smile.
Sora almost immediately waved a hand and shook her head; "Not at all. Every person I've ever helped has become a great friend of mine." she stated, giving a quick glance toward Mulan.
Said girl currently showing some of the crew members her father's sword, as not many of them have seen one so ornate. "And I love all my friends." Sora continued, her signature grin curling her lips ever so slightly as she turned back to the man.
This made Norrington blink yet again, but he soon gained a smile of his own. The teen's genuine words and determination, actually making him feel like he might indeed have a friend in her. He then let out a light chuckle and slowly nodded his head; "I guess if you believe in me, maybe there is hope for me yet." he said silently, to which he shifted himself back onto his hands and knees so he could continue with his work.
Knowing that she has at least somewhat gotten through to the man, another smile makes its way onto her features. She then stood herself up and offered a quick wave to Norrington, all while speaking her next words. "Just remember to keep an ear out...I'm sure that you'll find your next opportunity soon enough." she hummed before heading off on her way.
Norrington returned this wave very briefly, though he couldn't help but laugh a bit under his breath. "Unfortunately...I don't think there will be any opportunities here on this ship." he whispered to himself.
Just then, he heard Jack and Elizabeth speaking to one another on the opposite side of the ship. "Full pardon, commission as a privateer on behalf of England and the East India Trading Company." the former read off from what looked to be a parchment in his hands.
"As if I could be bought, not for this low of a price." he continued, yet still proceeded to fold the parchment up and place it within his coat.
Norrington slowly took on a small smile and even let out a light chuckle; "Well...what do you know, seems that Sora had the right idea." he muttered silently, slowly putting the brush in the bucket and walking over to Elizabeth when she seemed to storm away from Jack.
Meanwhile, said Captain headed up towards the helm, yet moved onto the port side of the deck with his telescope. Him appearing to gaze out across the sea for any signs of land, or other ships. This allowing Sora to come up next to him without even being noticed; "Anything?" she questioned, causing Jack to let out a brief, yet girly-sounding yelp.
"Ah...Sora." he hummed out confidently, trying to play off his frightened reaction.
"I feel like we should have bell on you or something." he commented, putting his telescope away.
Sora giggled a bit from this, as she was glad to see she wasn't the only one whom had such a response to being scared. But she slowly shrugged and leaned over the railing of the ship; "So...we're heading to find the chest of Davy Jones, but you still haven't mentioned why." she stated, glancing to the man from over her shoulder at the end.
Though, Jack just avoided her gaze entirely while humming to himself. Showing that he was not only trying to steer clear of her stare, but also from the conversation. The girl immediately picked up on this as she turned around to face the man and crossed both arms under her chest. "Well?"
The pirate captain let out a heavy sigh before nodding his head slowly, admitting defeat in keeping the answers to himself. "Well...it might have something to do with me~..life." he hummed out carefully, drawing out his 'me' enough to lead into the last word.
Jack let out another breath, to which he then wobbled a bit and waved both hands in a somewhat dismissive manner. "I may or may not have entered into a deal with the owner of said chest...and now he's out to procure me~...soul." he continued, attempting to sound as blasé about the situation as possible.
This made Sora stare at him for a few long seconds before sighing; "So you made a deal...went back on the deal...and now he's out to kill you for it." the teen said in a matter-of-fact way.
"I mean..." Jack started in a faked hurt tone; "...you've skipped over so much."
As he looked at Sora's unimpressed gaze, he quickly smiled a bit sheepishly while shrugging. "But I suppose it's not inaccurate though." he finished, leading for the girl to nod in response.
"I would normally say, what you did was a bad thing. And while that might be true...it's kind of expected of a pirate." Sora said, a small smirk curling her lips as she couldn't help but find it admirable that he actually made a deal with this world's equivalent of the Grim Reaper, and is still going back on his word.
"Thank you." Jack said with a smile of his own and a brief, yet flourished bow.
Sora then uncrossed her arms and leaned back against the railing behind her, to which she let out a silent breath. "Though...you never did say what was in the chest." she commented, raising a brow slightly while looking to the man.
Jack himself just gave a smile as he came up next to her and took a similar stance against the railing. "Ah now...where's the adventure, if the treasure is already something known?" he questioned as a small grin curled his lips, not making mention of the fact that he did in fact know what was inside.
However, Sora still nodded her head to his words, as they were something she herself agreed with. "I suppose so." she started, gazing up to the sky.
"You know...this is sort of how I imagined what it would have felt like to leave home on the raft." the teen continued, making Jack look to her with a confused gaze.
"I actually never thought of leaving home for a long time. It was only after meeting a particular person, that I finally started thinking...there could be so many other places I could go." Sora said softly as if reminiscing about the events.
"And after the idea came to mind, all I kept thinking about was the thrill of finding new things...the adventure of what might lay beyond...and the treasures that might be just around the bend, waiting to be discovered." the girl said with slowly increasing excitement, closing her eyes slowly.
"But also of just how much my island was like a prison. So, what I think I wanted most...was freedom." she finished with a gentle and genuinely beautiful smile on her features, as the wind blew her silver hair to one side.
Jack simply stared at the teen for a few moments, yet he ended up smiling as well and nodding his head. "You've got the heart of a pirate alright." he stated as his smile widened a bit.
"Or at the least, the heart of a sailor. As all those things are exactly what we think about as well." the captain continued, glancing over to the girl as she looked back to him with her eyes blinking a few times.
"Whether if it's because of an oppressive government...a desire to do whatever they want...or even a simple love for the sea..." he said, making a brief hand motion each point he gave.
"All pirates have ever strived for...is freedom." Jack ended as both he and Sora shared a gaze of understanding toward one another.
Though, the captain soon pushed himself from the railing and cleared his throat. "Well...I best be checking on our course." he claimed before heading over to Elizabeth, as she was still on the main deck of the ship.
"Seems that you have something in common with that one." Vincent suddenly said from beside Sora.
But unlike most times, the teen didn't actually jump or even yelp from his abrupt appearance. "It looks that way." she uttered out with a soft smile still on her features.
"I assume you're not actually going to attempt becoming a pirate in this world." the man claimed, despite being phrased a bit more like a question.
"Of course not...but I still wanna help him." Sora responded while looking over to Vincent.
Whom gave a brief nod of his head, fully understanding her reasoning behind this without even needing to ask. "Very well...but are you feeling alright?" he asked, making a quick glance to the girl's silver hair.
Sora turned her gaze to these long locks as well, all while letting out a breath of exhaustion. "I actually don't know." she started in a slight whisper, not seeming to want others to hear.
"I feel like I'm not able to just 'turn off' the Jenova cells like I was hoping. I've been trying periodically, but it seems almost as if they were activated to be even stronger than before." the teen continued, her tone sounding a little concerned.
"But that's not the worst of it." she suddenly stated soon after finishing her previous words, leading for Vincent to narrow his eyes.
"I feel like something is just...wrong." Sora uttered silently as she placed a hand to her chest.
Vincent looked from her, before to the side where Teng was speaking to Mulan. "Perhaps it's because he's no long within you?" he suggested, actually attempting to help the teen explain what she's feeling.
Of which actually seemed to do the trick, as she gave a slow nod of her head. "Maybe...I guess I probably just got used to it at this point." she said while shrugging and smiling a bit sheepishly.
Neither of them noticing the very small, diamond-shaped black shard that emerged through the skin on her chest.
I know I used Jack's and Elizabeth's first names, and then used James Norrington's last name...but I just like his last name more. Plus it's easier to remember. But anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter. It was a lot of talking and character building moments, so I hope it wasn't boring. Let me know what all of you thought of it, and until next time.
