Arthur suddenly sat up, spitting out water from his lungs as it was forced out of his body, he was heaving as he was engulfed in a huge hug from all sides. When he was released from the hug, he smiled as he saw Sora's beaming smile greeting him.
"I really thought that might have been the end of me, but you jumped in, with no hesitation… Thank you". Arthur shook his head
"It was instinctual, what else could I do? Let you drown, someone's gotta save the world, who else could it be?" Sora blushed
"I'm just glad to know you'd risk your own life for me… That's why Ventus likes you so much, I could feel his relief wash over me as he saw you coming for me, you know". Arthur smiled, he could feel the relief right now, it made him happy.
"Listen, this is sweet and all, but could I get a word in?" Demyx joined in to the conversation suddenly, and Sora moved aside to let Demyx talk.
"I don't understand you, or your weird brain, you shouldn't give us all a scare like that, thought you might not wake up". Arthur shook his head and punched Demyx in the chest
"You won't be that lucky, dork, now lighten up-". Someone interjected before he could continue
"Pardon me, lads? I believe we have a job to do?" Arthur looked at Sora expectantly, and he quickly answered
"Oh, right, we couldn't find the Black Pearl, we need to find another ship, the only way is through that water…" Arthur blushed and rubbed the back of his head. Demyx spoke up
"Uh… I'm sure Arthur would prefer not to go swimming again, who knows if he might have a cramp or something, we'll find you guys once you've found the ship, sound good?". Sora, Donald and Goofy nodded, and headed off in the underwater caves.
"So, who are you two misfits?" Demyx and Arthur turned to Jack, shocked at the bluntness of the question, Demyx was debating on being sarcastic or genuine, but Arthur answered before he could make up his mind.
"Friends of Sora, you?" Jack looked quizzically at them before retorting
"I would have preferred names, but I suppose it'll do, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow" Arthur and Demyx blushed in embarrassment, before they answered
"I'm Demyx"
"And I'm Arthur". That same stare came back to Jack's face, as he asked
"Do all of you have such odd names?" Arthur looked shocked, given the one name he knew from Jack's skeleton crew, it was bizarre that they were the odd named ones. Arthur, somewhat offended at the statement said
"Really, we're the ones with odd names? What about Barbosa? Is that the norm here?". Jack backed up in surprise before sputtering out
"W-well, not e-exactly-look, I don't need to answer for my subordinates-"
"But you do need to answer for why you chose a subordinate with an odd name". Jack looked stumped, and Arthur looked smug, as Jack walked towards the small rowing boat on shore, he called back
"No I don't". Now Arthur was the one sputtering, stumped, he tried to retort but Jack said has farewells for the time being. After Jack rowed around the corner, Arthur crossed his arms and pouted. Demyx couldn't suppress his giggles as Arthur pouted even more. Demyx eventually led Arthur to a nearby rock, where, upon sitting down in the sand, leaning on the Rock and next to Demyx. Demyx summoned his sitar and strummed up a melody, the same one Arthur heard the first time. Arthur began to feel sleepy again as the song comforted him. Arthur decided to lean on Demyx, and felt his eyelids get droopy, before keeping them open was a chore, far too difficult on its own. As Arthur began to fade into unconsciousness, he heard Demyx whisper softly
"Sleep tight, little angel".
Demyx summoned a portal and warped to Sora's location, holding Arthur Bridal style. When they arrived, Sora almost pounced on him, but Demyx held his hand up to his lips, and used his head to gesture to the sleeping boy in his arms. They all quietly celebrated the discovery of the Leviathan. All the while, Arthur was sleeping in the Captain's Quarters.
Demyx primarily stayed by Arthur's side, brushing a hand through his hair, singing a melody, he could only thank Kingdom Hearts for producing such a pure light, for him, and only him.
By now they were at Port Royal, looking for crabs, for whatever reason, Demyx opted to stay with Arthur under the pretense of bringing him up to speed. Arthur began stirring around in his sleep, and Demyx was combing his hair with his hand. Arthur slowly grasped onto his hand and shoved it away, smiling at the older teen sitting next to him.
"Good morning, sleepy head" Arthur smiled and let out a yawn. He felt himself being lifted into a sitting position, and he slumped into Demyx's shoulder. He then realized where he was
"Where… Are we?" Demyx smiled and said
"Sora found us a ship, that Jack guy is having them find crabs… For some reason". Demyx couldn't help but laugh at the perplexed expression on his face, it made him look adorable, Demyx nodded and said "yeah, I don't get it either, they left a while ago, so they should be back soon". Arthur chuckled and asked
"Should we go and look for them?" Demyx shook his head
"Nah, who cares about them, I want to be around you more". Arthur giggled and said
"I didn't know you used your Sitar as a weapon… I also didn't know you could utilize water in such a way". Demyx smirked, and cockily retorted
"You learn something new every day!" Arthur just shook his head, while smiling. Then he asked
"Maybe you could teach me sometime?" Demyx smiled and nodded, he didn't mind being a mentor for his goofball of a boyfriend.
"Maybe while we're at sea, later on today" Demyx and Arthur laid together, picking up small conversations, about anything, they could have talked to each other for forever. They heard high pitched laughter, and then a voice yell out
"Hey! And That's Captain Sora to you!" They both let out a chuckle, before getting up to greet the four other members. Arthur was greeted by the sun and he gasped at how bright everything was. Demyx covered Arthur's eyes to protect him from the harsh rays of the sun. They made their way topside, only to see the trio, Jack was nowhere to be found. Arthur asked, on behalf of Demyx
"Where's Jack?" Sora, without missing a beat, said
"It's a long explanation, but that Jack wasn't the real Jack, that was some kind of helper, but we're going to find and save the real one". Arthur and Demyx exchanged looks of confusion, and nodded cautiously, as if that nod would sign them into a shady contract for life. Sora smile "I'm captain now! We're going to save Jack and the others, so settle down for a long ride!". Demyx and Arthur were towards the bow of the ship, Demyx decided to entertain Arthur by teaching him some powerful water based magic.
"... Really think, focus on it". Arthur sighed and closed his eyes and thought of the Ocean floor, of a beautiful river, flowing with life, of all kinds of fish. He then, with his eyes closed, lifted the keyblade above his head and shouted out
"Water!". Arthur heard a shriek and opened his eyes to the most amusing sight he'd ever seen. Demyx stood there, drenched in water, as still as could be. Arthur would be lying if he said Demyx didn't look cute like this. Arthur wouldn't care for anyone else like this, but it looked perfect on him. He looked at Demyx and saw the sunlight was perfectly cast on him, a few strands of hair fell off of his unique hair style, forming some bangs over his left, golden eye. Arthur returned to his senses to see everyone suppressing their laughter, and Sora trying to pilot the ship. Arthur burst out laughing, only getting louder when he was faced with his disapproving look. Demyx stormed over to a bucket of water, probably for cleaning the deck of the ship, and Arthur stopped laughing. "I swear to everything if you do that-" Demyx smirked and got his hand ready
"I think you need to cool off!" And as he yelled off, he threw the water all over Arthur, drenching him. Now it was impossible to not laugh at the sight of the two teens acting like children. Arthur, without a pause, aimed his keyblade at Demyx and casted fire. Demyx cockily casted water, overpowering the weak tier fire spell. Arthur dropped his keyblade and decided to run after Demyx. Demyx, understanding the adorable looking danger he was in, ran around the ship, eventually running up to Sora and using him as a shield.
"Wha-hey!" Demyx was crouched behind Sora, as he was way taller than the boy. This resulted in a standoff, where Demyx would try and stay on the opposite side of Sora, that Arthur was on. Donald and Goofy were definitely amused. Sora smirked, and held up his Kingdom Key, before shouting
"Water!" Arthur, Demyx and Sora were all drenched in a huge sphere of water, Donald and Goofy were only just spared from the water splash. They all burst out laughing, and Arthur walked up to Demyx and flicked his forehead, before falling into his chest and muttering
"Dork". Demyx smiled and hoisted the drenched boy into his arms, and Arthur instinctively burrowed himself into Demyx's chest, to avoid the sunlight. Sora smiled and said
"Go ahead and rest, both of you, we should be there soon". Demyx nodded and said
"You got it, Captain". Demyx carried the boy down to the captains quarters to let him sleep. Arthur and Demyx settled down and relaxed, falling asleep with general ease.
When Arthur awoke, it was from the rocking of the ship. Arthur noticed that Demyx wasn't with him, and hoped that he was with Sora, topside. As Arthur opened up the door to the outside world, he was greeted by a stormy sea, and… Tentacles? Arthur looked around, to see Donald and Goofy manning the cannons of the ship, and Sora was steering around the funnel at the center of it all. Arthur ran up to Sora and shouted out
"Sora! What's going on?" He was barely heard above the roar of cannon fire, and the chaos of the ocean. Sora shouted back
"No time Arthur! Help Donald and Goofy shoot those tentacles". Arthur nodded and hopped down to the deck, aiming the cannons, before firing. This process repeated, before they were pelted with cannonballs, it had come from ahead of them, and Arthur sprinted forward to utilize the front facing cannons. There were 4 of them, and he had to juggle between firing them, and loading them. The ship ahead was targeting the one being held by the tentacles, and apparently, they were friendly, so he tried to hit the enemies ahead. Once he succeeded, the ship submerged under the sea, reappearing behind them, and Arthur would stand alongside Goofy and Donald again. After 12 minutes of this repeated process, they finally got through the tentacles, releasing the ship.
Everything was a blur, a weird looking creature, Jack Sparrow with a box, a man and a woman coming to their rescue. Everything went by too fast for him to understand it, he only understood one thing, and that was, that he needed to protect Sora no matter what, and if this guy was trying to hurt him, then he needed to go. Then, things changed, the man, named Will was struck down by the hideous man before them, all the while, the woman, who was named Elizabeth, was trying to defend herself, and call out to her companion, who was bleeding out on the floor. Sora, Donald and Goofy sieged their opponent, fueled with a rage Arthur had never seen any of them have. They all jumped on on top of him and proceeded to bash him as much as they could, Sora, especially, delivering very heavy blows to the back of his head. Though in the blink of an eye, Donald and Goofy were on the ground, and Sora was slammed into the wall ahead of him. He was disorientated, and during this time, Davy Jones prepared to finish him off. Arthur was sent into a rage, he summoned his keyblade in front of him, and stood in front of Sora, determined to do anything to save him.
"You're finished!" Arthur charged at Davy Jones, but just as he lifted the keyblade to strike, Davy Jones used his claw arm to reach out and grab the weapon.
"Don't mock me!" As soon as he grabbed the weapon, he flung it, and Arthur overboard, into the whirling waters below, but before he was plunged into them, he heard Sora shout out his name. When Arthur hit the water, his body went into shock, he couldn't move, couldn't flail around in an attempt to swim, he was sure he would die there, but if his death gave Sora the power boost needed to survive this fight, it was his best accomplishment by far. Just as he relinquished himself to his fate, he felt two strong arms wrap themselves around his waist, and he was being dragged back up to the world above, and away from the icy tomb below. When Arthur breached the surface, he could only make out vague groans, he felt helpless, he was so exhausted that he couldn't make out the words, just noises. As his vision faded, he heard a voice mutter out
"If you die, it'll be by my hands, not some maggot infested freak, so don't think we're buddies, not even close". It sounded so familiar, but in the haze of it all, he couldn't identify the owner of the familiar voice, his eyes closed, and he did not reopen them for a while.