And so begins the last chapter of this group.
I've loved writing these guys and I hope you've enjoyed seeing their story!
Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!
Tarzan © to Edgar Rice Burroughs!
Sasuke and Hinata © to Yamichaos27!
Luna © to Nintendoman01!
My OCs © to me!
Chapter 23: Deep Jungle- Freedom
Auriel gasped as she came up.
"So?" Queen La stood over her. Her eyes widened as she saw the glowing tattoo on the girl's arm. "You gained some power! I knew it! The pool showed me you would!"
Pulling herself out of the water, Auriel looked up. "It did?"
"It showed you freeing me from this place, flying on wings of fire. That's how I knew you could help."
"Where are my friends?"
"Why?"
"I would like to tell them what I learned."
La seemed to pause a moment. "Well, they're probably still taking that boy to the surface. I wouldn't worry about them." Placing a hand around her shoulders, the queen walked the girl out of the room. "MERIEM! Just go with her to the guest room and I'll let you know when they've returned."
At the queen's call, the little servant girl came running.
"Take our guest to the nicest chambers we have."
She nodded, motioning for Auriel to follow. Glancing back at La, the young guard felt something off. But with no plan… Where was Eldar when she needed h-
She needed him.
He was a tactician. His showing on the last world told her as much. Hinata was smart, calm, and brave. She made smart decisions in split seconds. Eldar took time to plan.
She needed them both.
Meriem led her into a nice bedroom, holding open the door silently.
As she passed the little girl, Auriel felt her tattoo heat up slightly. She paused, only now noticing the glowing blue tattoo on the girl's neck.
"Hey, Meriem. Come here."
The little girl stepped forward, head tilted curiously.
Still, she didn't speak.
As she knelt, Auriel looked at the tattoo; Meriem saw her gaze and knew. She drew away.
"Hold on." Looking at her own glowing tattoo, she held out a hand. "I think I can help." The little girl stiffened, but let the older girl's hand touch her neck. A small orange flame burst from Auriel's fingertips, incinerating the blue tattoo.
"Ugh!" Meriem gasped, clutching her throat. "Wh-what di- M-my voice!" Her brown eyes widened. "You removed the brand!"
"Brand?"
"Queen La puts it on all the human slaves to keep us from talking unless her or one of her men gives us permission."
Slaves!?
Meriem, tears in her eyes, clutched the older girl's arm. "You have to help me escape! I want to go… Please."
"I will." She moved to the door, closing it before she knelt back down to Meriem, her eyes hard but kind. "I will need your help as well. What is La planning?"
Wrapping her arms around herself, the little girl bit her lip. "She wants to take over this world… She said her old king kicked her out for trying to take over his kingdom. So, she's been building an army down here. But she can't leave herself. Not without help."
"My help."
"Yes…"
"Do you know where the cavern exit is?"
Meriem's eyes widened. "I-is that where your other friends went?"
"Yeah."
"Th-then they're in trouble!" The girl shuddered. "That's what she tells the guards, but it's a trap. It doesn't lead outside, it leads into the pit. That's where they put the brand on us. And some of the new people have come out with this purple stuff on them that makes them really weird!"
Standing up straight, the young guard snarled. "That witch! Meriem, can you take me to the pit?"
"But…"
"Don't worry. I'll protect you. My friends probably fell into the trap. If they hadn't, they'd already be causing mayhem outside."
The little girl nodded. "I-I guess. But they'll know you… no one looks like you here."
"Not necessarily."
Moving around the guest room, Auriel threw open a wardrobe and other boxes. She grinned, finding blankets and even some clothes. "A guest room always has a few things." The clothes seemed small, but she took her valari and cut a hole in the middle of the blanket before slipping it over her head. "Meriem, grab that cord from around the bed curtain." The little girl grabbed it, handing it to her as Auriel undid her hair, redoing it in a quick braid that she wound around her head like a bun.
"Here."
Tying the cord like a belt, Auriel smiled. This would cover her clothes.
She took another blanket, slicing it into a long piece that she wrapped around her head, just like Meriem had. With another strip, she covered her arms, including the glowing tattoo.
"How do I look?"
"In the cavern, you'll fit in, but we can't talk."
"I know."
This room did have a window, but heavy shutters covered it. Pushing her weapon between the shutters and window, she pried it open. "Hopefully La's guards don't have good vision in the dark."
"Some do."
"Then we'll just stay out of sight as much as possible."
"We will have to." The little girl wrung her hands. "Women aren't allowed outside the citadel."
"Why is that?"
"La… well she wants the perfect mate, and she doesn't want any women outside the citadel to distract whoever this man will be. But I remember when I was brought in. There's an entrance into the pit just behind the citadel."
"You point then."
Putting out the lights in the room, Auriel pried the window completely open.
Dim torchlight allowed for some visibility, so she could see a slight ledge beneath the window. "Follow me."
Slipping out the window, Auriel clung to the wall, moving along the ledge as Meriem followed her out. The little girl grabbed at her makeshift cloak as they walked around.
Walking around the other side, Meriem pulled on her, pointing down to a small building with steps that led down into a blackness below the earth's surface.
"Ok."
"How do we get down?"
Looking around, Auriel saw a fallen pillar. A way down but…
It led right to the guards.
How were they to get around without being seen?
They could slip by in the darkness, but still, how to get past?
If only… Eldar was here. He would come up with a plan.
Or Hinata. She was much better at coming up with a good plan quickly.
Auriel could see the rules, the straight answer.
She needed her team. Together, they were stronger than alone… she saw that now.
"You ok?"
"I'm… thinking.
Meriem looked down at the entrance to the pit. "Oh… ok…"
She sighed, hoping she wouldn't be too late.
"Stand still, and this won't be a problem."
Kicking the hand of another beast-man, Hinata leapt away.
Azul watched quietly, patiently waiting for her to be caught.
"I will say, this is starting to get old." He turned to Eldar. "Why not help subdue your friend here?"
Summoning his guitar, Eldar stepped toward his friend.
"You won't use him against me again!" She rolled under the legs of another beast-man as he tried to grab her. "I won't let you!"
Planting her foot in the ground, she clenched her bound hands, focusing with every ounce of energy she held.
"TITAN! I NEED YOU!"
At her waist, her sword began to glow as the ground shook. From the earth, a giant fist reached up, rending the ground in two around them.
Beast-men began yelling, tumbling into the open ground. The chasm stretched into the air, rocks and buildings from above the ground fell in around her.
Using the mayhem, Hinata ran to a weapon rack, slashing her bonds on it. As she turned around, she saw Eldar wobble on the edge of the newly-made chasm that tore open the whole cavern.
"Poor choice, girl."
Azul, dragging a still bound Jack, walked to the edge. With a swift movement, he shoved Eldar into the hole and tossed Jack in as well.
"NO!"
Drawing her blade, the summoner leapt after them. With one slash, she cut the bonds of Jack.
"Grab Eldar!"
Jack grabbed the boy's body, which hung limply with no orders from Azul; Hinata grabbed the younger boy's shirt as she drove her sword into the chasm wall.
"Don't let go!"
"I'm trying!"
Meriem gripped the wall as the earth around them began to shake. "Wh-what's happening!?"
The ground around them cracked, splitting open before their eyes. Beast-men yelled, running away. Some didn't make it and fell into the chasm.
"Don't let go!"
"I'm trying!"
Auriel saw her friends down in the chasm. Hinata dangled from her sword, holding onto Jack and Eldar.
"There!"
"What do we do?"
"Freedom."
Auriel jumped at the voice of Zhuque in her mind. "Wha-?"
"Listen Auriel. Jump and focus. You'll find the freedom I have."
The girl blinked.
Jump?
Glancing down at the bird tattoo which still glowed brightly, she took a deep breath. "Wait here, Meriem."
Glancing down at her friends, she leapt off, plummeting into the chasm.
A warmth spread down her back, blossoming out into two wings of fire that held her aloft.
Her heart leapt as she flew downward. The freedom in her heart soared just like a bird as the wings flapped around her.
"HINATA!" She flew down, catching the eyes of her friends as she held out her arms.
Hinata gasped for a moment before nodding. "Jack, get ready to let go! She can come back for me!"
As the older girl flew by, Hinata released Jack's hand.
The two boys began to fall until Auriel's hands grabbed Jack's, the younger boy still clinging to Eldar.
Watching Auriel grab the others, Hinata planted her feet against the wall, pushing off and pulling out her sword.
"Misty!"
A mist began to gather as the Mist Dragon burst into view, catching the girl on her back.
They turned and went up just as Auriel landed with the boys.
"Auriel, Eldar's been brainwashed!"
The girl turned, seeing the brand and purple web on her brother's neck. His eyes stared blankly at her, devoid of the fiery joy that she always saw. "I can fix this… El, I'm glad you're ok." She wrapped her arms around him, the tattoo glowing as some of the power moved into him.
It traveled up, burning away La's brand and Azul's web.
Gasp.
Eldar slumped into her arms. "S-sis?"
"You ok?"
"Yeah… but are you? You haven't hugged me in like eight years."
"Oh just shut up and say thank you, you butt."
Eldar pulled back, grinning before he pulled her into his own hug. "Thanks, you stiff."
"You're welcome, lazy butt."
Hinata rode up, leaping off the Mist Dragon as she vanished into light. "Everyone ok?"
"Yeah."
Eldar paled. "Hinata, are you…"
"I'm fine. You?"
"Better now." He turned to his sister. "Azul is here, and he can MIND CONTROL PEOPLE! That's what he did to me!"
"WHAT DID YOU DO!?"
Coming from the direction of the citadel, flanked by guards, La stormed toward them.
"Sorry my eidolon broke your city, but you were trying to enslave us!" Hinata's sword flashed as wind surrounded it.
Eldar summoned his guitar. "And we really don't appreciate that."
"Why?" La turned to Auriel. "You were supposed to free me!"
Closing her eyes as she pulled out her valari, the wings of fire erupted from Auriel's back. "Change of plans. We're getting out, and taking all your human slaves with us."
For a moment, something flashed in her eyes and she saw her tattoo and energy crackling across the ground.
Her arm.
She looked down and saw still most of the tattoo glowing.
"Starting now!"
Dropping to her knees, she thrust her arm against the ground.
Her tattoo lit up, the energy draining from it, spiraling like a web across the ground, traveling along what seemed to be paths made in the street for energy such as this(1).
The orange glow ran through the streets, travelling up the brainwashed humans.
"Jack! Go to the citadel and find Meriem! You two get everyone out of here!"
"On it!" The boy ran toward the citadel and toward the little girl that he could see climbing down a broken pillar.
The three teens turned their attention back to La. "And now you have our undivided attention, Queen La."
"It seems your plans are on the rocks." Came another voice.
From off to the side, Azul strode in, cane resting on his shoulders as a smile wormed across his face.
"You!" La snapped.
"I did my part." He tapped a piece of paper as he pulled it out. "And now I think it is time to fulfill your end."
"My end!? But-"
"You thought you were getting it for free?" He clicked his tongue. "My dear queen. I don't work like that." Unrolling the paper, he read. "Should the person in question refuse to free me, I will give my self to Azul Ashengrotto to be used as he sees fit." He turned it around. "Signed by your own hand. Not my fault you were far too full of yourself to read the fine print."
Tightening his grip on the paper, it glowed a deep purple.
La gasped as she too began to glow.
"Contracts are powerful things, you know." He smirked. "Now…" he glanced at the teens, "shall we have some fun?"
The purple glow spread to the beast-men around La.
Their bodies shifted as they screamed, darkness engulfing them. They relaxed, now a large flock of white-feathered bird-like Heartless that seemed to crackle with electricity.
La screamed as darkness engulfed her. The snake-head crown on her head elongated as the eyes glowed a sickly red. Her body shifted until it took the form of a massive snake Heartless.
Azul grinned. "Have fun." He vanished into the darkness.
The Grootslang(2) Heartless, formerly La, let out a screeching roar as it towered over the three teens.
"Auri," Hinata tightened her grip on her sword, "can you take her? We'll handle the small fry."
"On it!"
Rising up on her wings of fire, Auriel came to eye level with the monster. Below her, Hinata and Eldar charged into battle against the flock of Impundulu(3) Heartless.
Flying around the head of the snake, the girl threw her flaming valari at it. The snake head turned as her weapon struck, venom dripping from the fangs. It lunged, barely missing the girl.
Around it she flew, the head snapping at her heels as she weaved through the broken city.
There were no rules for this.
She'd just have to trust her gut.
Down.
Dropping the wings, she plummeted down into the chasm, barely catching a glance of her brother and Hinata eviscerating the heartless before them with Eldar's fire and Hinata's summoning of Ifrit. Behind that, Jack and Meriem ran with a group of humans into a hole.
Her eyes went up to see the Grootslang Heartless noticing this as well. Even as it chased her down into the chasm, it's body writhed, splitting like the head of a hydra, into another Grootslang.
Oh no!
They were still connected.
If she didn't finish it now-
Her wings erupting from her back she focused, calling upon more of her power. "Hey! Eyes on me!"
Flames covered her as she rocketed back up, throwing her valari at the splitting head.
The main head towered over her, the mouth opening as she charged upward.
"COME ON!" Pushing the flames to burn, she burst forward in an explosion of flame, catching her valari right before she flew into the mouth of the Heartless.
Darkness filled her vision as she held out her weapons, letting flames coat them.
"I hope you choke on this!"
Sharply turning, she shot up as she saw the inside of the body branching apart.
Crack!
The snake's body broke into three pieces as an explosion of flame burst from right where it tried to split off into a second snake.
Auriel shot out, her wings glowing brightly, filling the cavern with light as orange, red, white, and blue flames dripped from her back.
"THAT'S MY SISTER!" Eldar cheered from where he stood atop a pile of rubble.
With not a Heartless in sight.
From where she flew, the girl could see Jack and Meriem waiting by a cave entrance. No other people seemed to be there, but the two kids stared at her with wide eyes.
Flying over, she alighted by them. "Did everyone get out?"
"Yeah." Jack nodded.
"They're waiting outside."
Jack glanced into the cave. "I guess we take them to the trading post. Mom and Dad will know what to do."
"Probably."
"Trading post?" Meriem cocked her head to the side.
"Where I live. It's nice." Jack grinned at the girl.
Eldar and Hinata walked over, smiling. "Looks like we did it."
"Yeah, now let's get out of here."
"Agreed."
As they walked away, Azul watched them from above, smiling as a new burnt orange glow lit up around him. "See you at the fated place, Auriel." He pulled out a piece of paper. "Your contract awaits."
"JACK!" Jane threw her arms around her son as he led the group of freed humans to the trading post. "Where have you been!?"
Sundown passed hours before. His parents were probably searching for hours.
"Well, we kinda got sidetracked. We went looking for the city of Opar, found it, and then had to escape and fight this crazy queen that was enslaving people."
Tarzan looked across the group of thin and nervous people. "All these people were in Opar?"
"Yeah."
Jane looked up, running a hand through her hair. "Well, we do have some ships scheduled to show up in a week or so. Depending on where you people are from, we can get you on the way home."
Murmurs of agreement went over the crowd.
"And," Tarzan smiled, "if no one has a home, I'm sure we can help you find one."
Meriem stepped forward. "Everyone I know is dead… I have nowhere to go."
"You should stay with us!" Jack grinned. "I can show you all around the jungle!"
"Really?"
Jane and Tarzan glanced at each other.
Tarzan shrugged. "I don't mind."
"Well, Meriem, if you want to stay with us, you may."
"Really!? Thank you(4)!"
Jane began to go around, writing down the names of all the people she could and where they were from. Tarzan began to run around, setting up shelters for people.
"Maybe," Auriel crossed her arms, "we should get out of their hair."
"Yeah."
"You're… leaving?" Jack, followed by Meriem, approached.
Hinata knelt down. "Yeah, we should. We have places to be and bad guys to stop."
Walking over to Auriel, Meriem smiled. "Thank you for saving me."
"You're welcome." The older girl knelt down. "I'm sure you'll be very happy here."
"I'm sure I will be too."
Jack grinned. "Well, come back soon! I'd love to show you some other cool things!"
"No more lost cities though."
"Don't worry, I've had enough of those for a lifetime."
"No kidding."
"Where to next?"
Sitting in the chair, Auriel held the star shard. "No idea… but I did hear Zhuque talking to me earlier. So…" She closed her eyes. "Are you there?"
"I am."
"Whoa!"
"You're finally ready, Auriel. Azul awaits you at the place where this all began. My home…" The star shard lit up as another set of coordinates appeared on the screen.
"This is it… This is where it ends."
"Already?"
"Yeah…"
Hinata took a deep breath. "Well, we've come this far."
"Don't worry," Eldar laughed, "we kick butt together! Azul and whatever he has cooked up doesn't stand a chance against us!"
"Don't get cocky."
"There's a difference between cocky and confident, you know!"
Rolling her eyes, the red head set down the star shard. "Let's hope that 'confidence' holds up."
"It will."
"I'm sure…"
And so ends this group!
I hope you enjoyed and are excited for the next group of kiddos!
Footnotes:
(1) This is a reference to the fact that this used to be part of Atlantis. This is the magical pathway that would carry the magic of the crystal through the city.
(2) Grootslang is the name of a monster in African mythology. It is an elephant-sized snake that is said to live in a deep cave near Richtersveld, South Africa.
(3) The Impundulu is a human-sized bird from south African mythology that can shapeshift into a human. It is vampiric and is known to shoot lightning from its talons. It is known to be a familiar of a witch.
(4) In the books, Meriem and Jack do get married.