37.3Kb/15 pages, without author's notes. These seem to be getting shorter, but I just chopped the 41 page script into eight-page pieces. I'm pretty sure this is the part that was only seven pages, as it would have gone on to about ten if I cut it up the way I was doing. Oh well.
We're about halfway through now-- there are six parts planned. Although part six is kinda short, since I mucked around with the ending of the movie. (Obviously, like Kairi & Riku didn't almost give it away in Part One)
More amusing cast commentary at the end of this one, folks. I find those cast commentaries just to be to amusing not to continue. They're like their own little story!
Be assured, that this is the fastest I've ever written something. It's quite fun. So is trying to mash together Sora and Jack's personalities. Not to mention Riku and Will's. Kairi and Elizabeth's... well, I've obviously given up on that.
Now, for the reviews...
Kawaiiroxy - Why does your name remind me of Kojikocy? Er, right, back on track. I'm glad you like the story, and as I have stated before, there is a reason for why I'm made Sora Jack and Riku Will. It's explained slightly in this chapter, actually. But only slightly. Vaguely, even. You might have to look hard to catch it.
Arcander - I find the conversations amusing, as previously stated. Very glad you like my fic; it's been kicking about in my head since the second time I saw PotC, actually. I just didn't start working on it until I got the DVD.
MiDnIgHt-JaGuAr - Your name is hard to write ^_^;; I was already mad before I took on that task, but hey, what does that matter? ((I have watched PotC so many times that I can pretty much speak the entire movie word-for-word along with it ^_^;;)) I'm going to keep going until the end of the movie. After that, well... it all depends on the reviews I get for it ^__^
Alana Hikari-Chan - Jo scares me. Jo seriously scares me. Ursula and Malificent? *shudders* I pity you for having to deal with Jo. Except for when Jo imagines lemon scenes. Because, to be honest, that's half-way what I was imagining when I wrote those little conversations at the end (as is evidenced by this part's...) Squall when he was a pirate, ah, that would have been amusing. Makes me almost want to write a prequel involving the Pirates of the Black Pearl BEFORE Sora went stupid and let Ansem be the first mate.
Disclaimer is in Part One.
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Pirates of Destiny Isle
Part Three
Priest Li Xiang
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Standing in the shade that was produced both by the trees and by the bridge that not twenty-four hours before, Sora had run across being shot at, Riku found himself blinking incredulously. Before he and his frighteningly familiar pirate partner lay the Ragnarok in all its glory. The silver haired youth stared at the man with him, "We're going to steal a ship?"
"Commandeer," Sora corrected absently, "We're going to commandeer that ship. S'nautical term." With a tap to his chin, a thought struck the Captain and he whirled, beads flying every which way as he did so, "One question about your business, boy, else there's no use going. This girl... how far are you willing to go to save her?"
Riku frowned in confusion, "I'd give my life for her."
"Oh good. No worries then!" The cheerful way Sparrow spoke, caused the young Turner to worry slightly, but he pushed it out of his mind. After all, the annoying voice spoke up again, you've survived worse before. Riku gave himself a moment to wonder what, exactly, was so much worse that he'd survived, before shrugging and following Sora down to the beach. Apparently the pirate had some insane idea for how to get onto the boat. Quite frankly, it seemed a little suicidal, but no less than ten minutes later, he found himself trudging through the waters, feet sinking into the soft sand, with a boat over his head, and a small supply of oxygen.
"This is either madness or brilliance."
"Remarkable how often those two traits coincide, eh?" was Sora's amused response, having had a similar conversation come about several years back; although this Turner did not pursue the matter. Somewhat disappointing, as Sora had been looking forwards to explaining it-- yet again-- because he always did get a kick out of that conversation. Ah, the old days, when being a pirate was so much simpler.
And so much more boring, he added a moment later, deciding that being perpetually drunk did, indeed, make things more fun.
Scaling the side of the Ragnarok was a simple task, for one such as Captain Sora Sparrow, and Riku was surprisingly good at it. If Sora didn't know the boy had a dislike of pirates, he'd have thought him an old hand at the trade. Smirking, with gun in hand, the pirate strolled quite leisurely onto the ship's deck, a smooth, "Everyone stay calm, we are taking over the ship," as his greeting.
The incredulous stares of the few men aboard, as well as Aeris' flat, though slightly amused, gaze greeted them, and Riku pulled a tight smile in response, lifting his sword into a guard position. Tensed and ready, the boy practically screamed 'Look at me, this is the first time I've ever committed an act of piracy!'
All ignored him, as Aeris gave her attention to the actual pirate, "This ship cannot be crewed by two men. You'll never make it out of the bay."
"My dear," Sora tipped his head, eyes half lidded as he smiled, pointing his pistol directly between the female lieutenant's eyes, "I'm Captain Sora Sparrow, savvy?"
---
"Commodore!"
Slightly annoyed at the interruption, Leon Loire looked up from his work to see one of the new recruits pointing out into the bay, with a surprised look on his face. Curious, although not showing the emotion, Loire turned out to look over the bay, and raised a speculative eyebrow. For there, in a life boat, stood Aeris and the men she had with her on the Ragnarok. The female cupped her hands to her mouth to shout to her commanding officer, "Sir! They've taken the Ragnarok! Sparrow and Turner have taken the Ragnarok!"
Lifting the spyglass to his eye, the Commodore found himself gazing at the sight of the two men aboard the Ragnarok, trying to unfurl the sails. For some reason, the image struck a cord, and he frowned. Hadn't he seen something similar to this, years ago during his pirating days? But no, he could not recall what had happened back then, a side from the fact that Sparrow had been involved at the time. Bah, it mattered little.
"Rash Turner," he was surprised to find himself murmuring, "Without a doubt, the worst pirate I have ever seen." And, given his own pirating days, that was saying something.
It took little time to have the Highwind ready to set sail, and even then, the Ragnarok had not managed to leave the bay. This would be child's play, retrieving the stolen ship, and locking both Sparrow and Turner away for piracy. Still, for some reason, he had a sinking feeling, and he couldn't quite figure out why that was.
Of course, he realized not long after, he should have known. Sparrow was an old hand at the game of stealing ships out from under a man's nose; he'd used this particular trick before. Take a ship, have the ship you really want chase after you-- skip over to that ship once the crew of it is on the ship you've stolen. Let the wind guide you.
Loire sighed, as one of the men took it upon himself to command the others to get the Highwind in range of the long nines, "That won't work, crewman"
Surprised, he turned to the Commodore, "Sir?"
"It's most likely that Sparrow has disabled the rudder chain." Not a moment later, another crewman came up to them, repeating the words.
Yes, Loire thought with a scowl, I really should have known.
---
The whetstone scrapped across his sword, the sound sharp in the silence. Riku had no idea what to say-- was he to bring up the fictional father that had caused Sora to come with him in the first place? Did he tell the man he had been lying? What did he do to break this damnable silence?
"Do stop sighing," Sora grumbled a while later, "It's distracting."
"From what?" Riku raised an eyebrow, "There's nothing out here but sun, sea and sky. What could I possibly be distracting the oh-so-great Captain Sora Sparrow from?"
Sora froze, back stiffening. Those words... they may not have meant anything to the average person, but they sure as hell meant a lot to him, especially with that tone of voice. He turned slightly, to get a look at the boy who was now cleaning his blade meticulously out of the corner of his eye. At this angle, he could almost imagine the silver hair flowing free, instead of bound with a leather strap. He could almost imagine the black and gray-- once black and blue-- jacket lazily thrown over a yellow shirt. The boots with those pointless straps around the ankles. And the dark serrated blade he had loved and cared for as though it were his only child.
The resemblance was uncanny, when one took into account Riku's face-- both senior and junior had the exact same features. If it wasn't for the boy's age, and general lack of facial scars, he'd think that he was looking at his old friend. It was hard not to think that, even now, but he managed it. Somehow, he wasn't quite sure.
"You going to answer me?" it was the same tone as his father had used. Slightly annoyed, but mostly amused. Riku Senior had been an odd one, but a good friend, none the less.
"Hmmm, rum."
"Rum."
"Rum," Sora explained delicately, "is a delightful thing. Can take a mind to places you've never been."
"So you're drunk, yet again, Sparrow?"
"I'll have you know, Turner, that I--" he stopped mid sentence, frowning, "No. No, I'm not going there."
"Not again at any rate," Riku shrugged at Sora's surprised look, "I'm not a simpleton, Sora. You've done this all before."
"With your father," Sora sighed, "Good man, your father. Was probably one of the few who knew him as Riku Turner; everyone else just called him Bootstrap."
Now... that was news. His fictional father had actually existed? No wonder Sora had decided to help him-- although, for what reason, and what imaginary debt to his still very non-existent father-figure, Riku did not know. It didn't really matter, he was still getting what he wanted; help to rescue Kairi with. Still, he had to say something, or risk not seeming interested in the man he 'hadn't seen in ten years', "Bootstrap?"
"Good man," Sora nodded to himself, taking ahold of the wheel in both hands and shifting the rudder slight to keep them on course, "Good pirate. I swear you look just like him."
Riku's eyes narrowed, flashing indignantly. Oh, so now Sparrow wanted to play with him? Well fine, two can do _that_! "My father was not a pirate!" Riku refused to believe that he was, in any way shape or form, related to a pirate, no matter how often Kairi had spoken of her wish for that to be true. Sora could pretend to know his father all he liked-- there was no way in hell Riku would make the imaginary man a pirate!
"He was a bloody pirate, a scallywag," Sora rolled his eyes, thinking back on those lighter-- well, relatively lighter-- days.
"He. Was. Not," and the sword Riku had been sharpening came out, the point a bare foot from brushing the pirate Captain's waistcoat.
Sora sighed, "Put it away, son. It's not worth you getting beat again."
"You didn't beat me," Riku spat, annoyance from the day prior still fresh in his mind, "You ignored t he rules of engagement. In a fair fight, I'd have killed you."
"And that's no incentive for me to fight fair, now is it?" suiting action to words, Sora spun the wheel rapidly, the yard of the sail swinging about and catching Riku in the ribs. The silver haired young man dropped his sword, gloved hands scrabbling for purchase on the wood, in order to keep himself from falling into the dark waters below him. The pirate smirked at him from aboard the ship, eyes dancing merrily, "Now, as long as you're just hanging there, pay attention boy. The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a man can't do."
"...uh...?" Riku managed to grunt out the questioning noise, half expecting the pirate to ignore it. But the older man didn't, offering the boy a wide grin and a grand gesture.
"For instance," he explained, conversationally as though he wasn't responsible for the young man hanging over the side of the ship, "You can accept that your father was a pirate and a good man, or you can't. But pirate is in your blood, boy, so you'll have to square with that someday. And me, for example, I can let you drown, but I can't bring this ship into Tortuga all by me onesies, savvy?"
The slight nod was all the confirmation he needed, swinging the yard back the other way and the blacksmith thankfully let himself fall off of it, and onto the deck, panting at the exertion of having had to hold on like he had. Definitely not something he wanted to repeat, in all honesty.
Opening his eyes, he found his sword aimed at him, "Can you sail under the command of a pirate, or can you not, boy?" and Sora flipped the weapon so it was hilt first. Gingerly, Riku took the blade from the captain and nodded.
"Tortuga?"
"Tortuga."
---
"More importantly," the swaggering male proclaimed, "It is a sad life indeed, that has never breathed deep the sweet, proliferous bouquet that is Tortuga, savvy? What do you think?"
His companion gave him a cross look, barely refraining from plugging his nose at the stench of unwashed bodies, liquor, sex, and other bodily fluids. It was not exactly something he wanted to ever smell again, "It'll linger."
"If every island were like this one, no man would ever feel unwanted," he grinned widely as they came across a number of prostitutes looking for a little fun. Several of the girls looked over at the pair, then dismissed them-- two, however, did not. A blonde girl, dressed in blue, hiked up her skirts and stomped over to the men. Confused and wary, Riku stepped back, only to find his lips quirking in amusement almost as soon as the girl's name-- Alice-- left the Captain's lips.
Rubbing his sore cheek, Sora frowned, "Not sure I deserved that."
"Of course not," Riku soothed with a wide, and far from consoling grin, when the second woman came storming up. Sora apparently had no lingering after effects of the first slap, as he threw his arms open wide with a cheerful, "Selphie!"
The brunette in yellow was glaring something fierce, "Who the hell was she, Sparrow?!"
"Who?" and once again, he was cracked across the face, "I may have deserved that."
"Of course you did, moron," Selphie dropped her hands to her hips, going from glaring to merely annoyed in moments, "Where the hell have you been, Sora? No one's seen hide nor hair of you in months!"
"Out and about, of course," Sora waved a hand idly, "Why, somethin' important happened?"
"Wakka and Tidus returned, you know."
"Decided to give up sports and return to their old past time, now have they?"
"Did you expect any different?" Selphie looked amused, "Those two could never stay in one place for long, although somehow Wakka wound up with a wife and son, and Tidus an obsessive stalker."
"I don't think I want to know how," Sora shook his head with a laugh, "Ah, I saw ol'Squall, you know."
"Really?"
"Really," Sora smirked at her, "But if you want to know where your old friend is, you're going to have to give me something in return, savvy?"
"Depends on what you want, Sora Sparrow," she waved a finger before his nose, "I may not be a pirate any longer, but I'm no whore."
Sora tipped his hat, smirk stretching into a wide grin, "Ah, me and Turner simply want to know where Donald is holing up these days."
"Turner?" Selphie's dark eyes widened, attention shifting from her long time friend and former Captain, to the man who had accompanied him. She hadn't really thought to look at him before, but now that she did... the resemblance was startling. He was, of course, to young to be the Riku Turner she remembered from her childhood, but he look so damn similar that there was no doubt in her mind that this had to be the son of Bootstrap Turner.
"Aye, Riku Turner, named for his father, of course," Sora introduced the two of them, before returning to what was on his mind, "Now, you tell me where Donald is, and I tell you where Squall's been these past few years."
Selphie nodded, somewhat distractedly, still marveling over the similarities between the senior and the junior Turners, "Don's about three streets to the left, sleeping with the pigs, as usual."
"Ah, wonderful, wonderful. Squall Leonhart's gone back to his roots luv, he's Commodore Leon Loire, if the name means anything to you," Sora didn't bother to wait for the girl's answer, instead, dragging his companion down the streets towards where they had been informed their target lay sleeping. A quick detour, and a mischievous smirk from Sora, and they were standing before the sty, complete with Donald and pigs.
A splash of water, and the grizzled and stout, white-haired man jerked awake with a cough and a gasp, to glare about in confusion, "Curse you for breathing, you slack jawed idiot!"
"Who's an idiot?"
"Mother's love! Sora!" Donald blinked the water out of his eyes at the familiar voice, "You should know better then to wake a man when he's sleeping. S'bad luck."
"Ah," Sora proclaimed, crouching before the still seated man, "Fortunately, I know how to counter it. The man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink. The man who was sleeping drinks the drink while listening to a proposition from the man who did the waking."
It took his sleep fogged mind a few minutes to work through Sora's words, before comprehension dawned, "Aye, that'll 'bout do it."
There was little warning, except for a smirk, before Donald was doused in another spray of water, "Blast it! I'm already awake!"
"That was for the smell," the tone and the smile, and his face in general had Donald staring at him in surprise for several moments. Riku was starting to get used to everyone staring.
How disturbing.
---
"Keep a sharp eye, mate," Sora smirked, patting Riku on the shoulder, and leaving the Blacksmith to 'stand guard' at the post before the alcove Sora and Donald had chosen for their meeting in the pub.
"So, what's the nature of this venture of yours?" Donald wondered, taking a draw from his mug.
"I'm going after the Black Pearl," ignoring Donald's hacking and coughing at the mention of the ship, Sora continued blithely, "I know where it's going to be, and I'm going to take it."
"Sora, it's a fool's errand!" Donald snapped, "You know better than anyone the tales of the Black Pearl!"
"That's why I know what Ansem is up to... all I need... is a crew."
"From what I hear tell of Captain Ansem, he's not a man to suffer fools, nor strike a bargain with one."
"Well, then I say it's a very good thing I'm not a fool then, aye?" Sora's madcap grin said otherwise to Donald.
"Prove me wrong. What makes ye think Ansem will give up his ship to you."
"Let's just say... it's a matter of leverage, aye?" and he tipped his head towards Riku.
"Leverage?" Donald wondered, confused, and Sora, instead of merely tipping it, jerked his head in the boy's direction this time. The old sailor blinked, "The kid?"
"That is the child of Bootstrap Turner. His only child... savvy?"
"Really now," a speculative gleam entered the man's eye as his own suspicions were confirmed, "Leverage says you... I think I feel a change in the wind says I. I'll find us a crew, there's bound to be some sailors on this dirty rock crazy as you."
"One can only hope," the pirate grinned, raising his mug, "Take what you can..."
Donald lifted his own to bang against his old friend's, "...Give nothing back!"
---
She had been poking at the windows, drawing tiny shapes in the fogged glass when they arrived-- they being Jafar and Hook, Jafar toting with him a rather elegant, wine-colored dress. Not a shade she would normally wear, were her thoughts when the dress was shoved at her.
"You will be dining with the Captain. And he requests you wear this."
"Well, you may tell the captain that I am disinclined to acquiesce to his request."
"He said you'd say that," Jafar's grin was wicked enough to send chills down the girl's spine, "He also said that if that be the case, than you will be dinging with the crew. And you will be naked."
"Fine," she snapped, taking the gown from his arms, as the two snickering pirates left her. Furiously, she stripped off her robe and nightgown, and pulled the white cotton shift on, adjusting the tonfa still about her waist until they were in a more comfortable position beneath the rougher fabric. The dress itself wasn't all that much of a problem to get into, and she was distinctly glad that this was more of the type of dress that she was used to-- one that didn't need a corset to fit into.
Still, it was slightly uncomfortable, the red-hued dress settling oddly over her weapons, but there was little she could do about that.
Unless...
Removing the tonfa from where they had rested for familiarly about her waist, she fished about in the cabin for what she needed-- and came up with a smile. The tonfa may have been longer than the average pistol, but the holster straps were what she was actually going for, as she locked them about her thighs, jamming the cold iron between the leather and her skin. The straps were tight enough to keep the weapon in, nice and securely, but loose enough that should she need the weapons, they would be easy to retrieve.
Besides, any tighter, and she would start to loose feeling in her legs, and quite frankly, that was not a pleasant alternative in her mind.
She had no sooner dropped her skirt over the newly affixed weapons, when the door banged open, and in came more pirates, toting about a massive feast upon the plates. Not exactly something she had expected, given that the times that she had been on long sea voyages in prior years, they had never had this much food set out for one meal; it would go rotten before they managed to eat all of it!
"Please," Ansem's voice came from behind her, causing the girl to jump, and was mocking in it's pleasantness, "be seated."
Carefully, she settled herself nervously into the chair, staring at the food that lay before her. Manors ingrained in her from infanthood, she began to eat only small bites, wary of Ansem's intense stare.
"There's no need to stand on ceremony, nor call to impress anyone. You must be hungry," his words caused her to look at him for several long moments, before the urge to eat called to her. In the three days at sea so far, she had had very little to eat, and it was causing her stomach to churn in knots. Therefore, she saw no reason not to lunge for the food, chewing and tearing at it like the dogs she had seen in the streets of London as a child. A goblet appeared out of the corner of her eye, and she washed down the food with a surprisingly large gulp of wine, only peripherally aware of Ansem speaking.
"Apple?" the white haired man was smiling creepily at her, and she froze, one hand extended for the fruit.
"It's poisoned," she realized with a start, wondering when she would begin to feel ill. Wondering how long she had. Wondering if she would be able to actually finish the meal before dying. She would rather die on a full stomach.
"There would be no sense to be killing you, Miss Turner," Ansem patted her hand patronizingly.
"Then release me! You have your trinket; I'm of no further value to you!"
"You don't know what this is, do you?" Ansem mused as he withdrew the gold medallion from the inner pocket of his jacket, watching it twirl about before handing it off to the monkey perched upon his shoulder.
"It's a pirate medallion," she returned calmly, although there was a waver of uncertainty in her voice.
"This is Aztec gold," the pirate corrected, "One of eight hundred and eighty two identical pieces that they delivered in a stone chest to Cortez himself. Blood money paid to stem the slaughter he wreaked upon them with his armies. But the greed of Cortez was insatiable. So the heathen gods placed upon the gold a terrible curse. Any mortal that removes but a piece from that stone chest shall be punished for eternity." There was a bitterness to his voice, and a fury as well. Kairi ignored it.
"I hardly believe in ghost stories anymore, Captain Ansem."
"Aye," the man agreed, "That's exactly what I thought when we were first told the tale. Buried on an island that cannot be found except for those who know where it is. Find it, we did. There be the chest, inside be the gold, we took them all." He frowned at some distant memory, and Kairi shifted uncomfortably, wishing that she had thought to rip a hole through the dress and the shift beneath it, for easy access to her weapons, as he continued in that bitter voice "Spent them and traded them; we frittered them away... on drink and food and pleasurable company. The more we gave them away, the more we came to realize... the drink would not satisfy. The food turned to Ash in our mouths. All the pleasurable company in the would could not slake our lust. We are cursed men, Miss Turner. Compelled by greed we were, and now we are consumed by it."
He had turned away to stare out the window at the waters as he explained, and Kairi took the moment to grab a knife from the table and hide it in the cloth of her dress. It would take to long to retrieve the tonfa, and likely would make far to much noise.
"There is only one way we can end our curse. All the scattered pieces of Aztec gold must be restored, and the blood repaid," he turned to face her, lips curved in a sinister smile, "Thanks to you, we have the final piece."
"And the blood to be repaid?"
"That's why there's no sense in killing you... yet," with a grin, he offered her the apple that had started the conversation off in the first place. Now was the time, she thought, the knife coming out of her skirt and cutting though his pale jacket, and the flesh beneath it all to easily, with the force of her blow. Ansem looked down at her efforts with a laugh, and withdrew the blade, his own blood gleaming upon it, "I'm curious-- after killing me, what was it that you were planning on doing next?"
With a shriek, the young woman bolted out of the cabin, one to be brought up short by a most horrifying sight. There were no crewmen aboard the ship. Not one-- but there were Heartless. Oh so many Heartless; the evil creatures that stole the Hearts and lives of men at their whim, thought only to be a legend for so many.
They were grinning at her, creatures made of shadow, with glowing golden eyes, and flashing dangerous teeth. Clothing decorated their forms, tattered and worn, as though they had no care for what happened to the fabrics. Still crying out in fright, she tried to race away from them, only to be caught in a circus of movement and sound. Around and around she went, desperately trying to escape from the terrors that stood before her eyes.
Finally, she ducked beneath the stairs from the deck to the helm, and sat there, wide-eyed and panting. This couldn't be real. The pirates couldn't be Heartless. It was terrifying, not something she wanted to even bother to consider. It was no wonder the tales of the Black Pearl said that no man of that crew could die-- Heartless could not be killed. There was no weapon that any man had been able to bring against them to cause their destruction; at least, not any that actually existed. The tales of the Heartless had their own answer to that problem, but really... the Keyblade did not actually exist.
Nor, her thoughts whispered, are Heartless supposed to either.
Thankfully, her thoughts were interrupted. Unfortunately, it was by the tiny form of a monkey-shaped Heartless, that caused her to shriek and try to flee back into the Captain's Cabin, only to run headlong into Ansem, who twisted her about to force her to look at the grinning Heartless that had gathered on deck to watch her fright with glee, "Look! The moonlight shows us for what we really are. We are not among the living, and so we cannot die, but neither are we dead. For too long have I been parched with thirst, and unable to quench it. Too long have I been starving to death, and haven't died. I feel nothing! Not the wind on my face, nor the spray of the sea, nor the warmth of a woman's flesh!"
She was still standing there, shaking, as Ansem stepped out into the moonlight, to reveal his own shadowed form, and glowing eyes-- a form that, had she not been so terrified at that moment, she would have realized appeared to look far to much like a three dimensional shadow of her oldest and dearest friend...
"You'd best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner; you're in one!"
Riku.
---
The day was as bright and as painfully brilliant as the day that this whole mess started, were his thoughts as he stood with Sora and Donald on the dock before the men Donald had gathered the night before. To the blacksmith's amazement, despite the amount of alcohol the Captain had imbibed the night prior, he looked as bright as usual. No sign of a hangover, which was something Riku wished he could say the same of himself. He had refrained from drinking for that particular reason-- he always got a headache the next day.
And with the sun as bright as it was, he was damn glad he hadn't given in to Sora's attempts to ply him with rum.
"Feast your eyes, Captain," Donald was saying, "All of them, faithful hands before the mast. Every man worth his salt... and crazy, to boot."
"So..." he muttered, "This is your able-bodied crew?" There was not much to look at, these men. Hardly the tall and healthy forms he was used to seeing at Destiny Island as part of the Royal Navy. No, these were haggard men, though strong, scarred and world weary. Some were missing limbs, some eyes, some merely fingers or toes.
"You, sailor!"
"Goofy, sir," Donald informed the Captain, as the brown haired one stood before the taller form of the sailor in question. He wore a strange little hat, over black hair that was short and shaggy but for the long tails of it just before his ears.
"Mister Goofy. Do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?" When there was no answer, Sora repeated the question, somewhat annoyed.
Donald sighed, "He's a mute, sir. Poor devil had his tongue cut out, so he trained the parrot to talk for him... no one's yet figured out how."
"Ah," the pirate Captain nodded, avoiding looking in the man's mouth when he opened it to prove that he did, indeed, not have a tongue. Riku wondered how he could eat without one, then put the thought aside as his obviously insane help turned to the bird on Goofy's shoulder, "Mister Goofy's... parrot. Same question."
"Wind in the sails! Wind in the sails!"
"Mostly," Donald explained, "We figure that means 'yes'."
"O'course it does," Sora responded with a nod of acceptance, before turning to face his young companion, "Satisfied?"
"Well, you've certainly proved them mad."
"And what's the benefit for us?" the sharp voice came from the end of the line, and a look of confusion, then realization, followed by apprehension crossed the dear captain's face before he came to the end of the line and pulled the hat off the sailor's head. Short hair and a bandana greeted him, not to mention a female face. Sora sighed.
"Yuffie."
"I suppose you didn't deserve that one, either?" Riku chuckled from behind him, as Sora twisted his head back forwards from the powerful and rather painful slap the woman had unleashed upon him.
"No," Sparrow grinned slightly, "That one I deserved."
"You stole my boat!" Yuffie accused, sticking her finger in Sora's face, right between his eyes.
"Actually..." his explanation was halted by yet another slap from the woman, "...borrowed. Borrowed without permission. But with every intention of bringing it back to you."
"But you didn't!"
"You'll get another one," he tried to calm the woman, and it seemed to work as she dropped her hand and frowned at him.
"I will."
"A better one," Riku offered, grinning and trying to avoid laughing at Sora's misfortunes. It all seemed so familiar that it was both funny and depressing in the same instance.
"A better one!" the pirate agreed quickly.
"That one," Riku hummed, pointing out over the waters to where the Highwind was moored.
"What one?" Sora blinked, following the boy's hand out to the sea. He pouted, whining, "That one?" before his eyes returned to Yuffie's darkening face, "Aye! That one! What say you?"
"Aye!" came the shouts of the men and Yuffie, before the began to head for the boats to take them to the Highwind.
"No, no, no, no, no, it's frightful bad luck to bring a woman aboard, sir!" Donald attempted to reason with the man, although one must doubt how reason and superstition go together.
"It'd be far worse not to have her," the Captain muttered, looking up at the sky. Confused, Riku and Donald attempted to follow what he was looking for, but found themselves unable to do so. Sharing a shrug and a sigh, Riku wondered aloud, "What was that about?"
"I've no idea, son. I've no idea."
Within four hours, however, they knew exactly what it was that Sora had found so interesting-- a storm had broken upon them while at sea. It was obvious that Sora, unlike Donald and Riku, was a skilled hand at reading the clouds, the sun, and the wind, to tell him that a storm was coming, because the man was fully prepared for the worst of it when the rain came down upon their merry little band.
Even in the wind and rain, Sora was grinning, guiding himself using the compass in his hand. Riku frowned, pulling the ropes tighter, before yelling over to Donald, "How can we sail to an island that nobody can find, with a compass that doesn't work?"
"Aye," the old man replied over the wind, "The compass doesn't point north, but we're not trying to find north, are we?" And the man continued on his way to what he'd been doing before-- heading towards the captain. Once within a distance he was sure that the young man would be able to hear him at, he called up to the helm, "We should drop canvas, sir!"
"She can hold a bit longer," Sora half laughed.
"What's in your head that's put you in such a fine mood, Captain?" having known Sora for so long, the stout man did not put it past the man to be thinking only of a bottle of rum, or even of a former lover, that would keep him like this for hours on end-- even in the midst of a storm, or an execution.
"We're catching up," Sora's half laugh became a wicked grin the howling laughter of a man who has waited to long to get what he has been looking for. Sora Sparrow was a happy man.
---
The storm had broke long before Sora would have deemed it necessary to drop the sails and wait the waters out. Which, Riku had to admit, was probably a good thing. If that storm had been upon the Black Pearl, neither captain or blacksmith had any doubts that the ship would have stopped to wait it out. As Sora had said those hours before-- they were catching up. Hell, they were practically on top of the Black Pearl, the Highwind merely ghosting through the waters about the Isla de Bastion.
"Dead men tell no tales," Goofy's parrot squawked from the top of the sails, breaking the eerie silence.
"Puts a chill in the bones how many honest sailors have been claimed by this passage," Donald murmured, hat over his heart as the Highwind glided all but effortlessly between shipwrecks. There were murmurs of agreement from the others on deck, before they shuffled off to do what they were supposed to do.
Well, excluding Riku who turned to Donald with a curious look on his face, "How is it that Sora came by that compass?"
"Not a lot known about Sora Sparrow before he showed up in Tortuga with a mind to go after the treasure of the Isla de Bastion," Donald shrugged, "That was before I met him-- back when he was Captain of the Black Pearl."
"He failed to mention that..." but for some reason, Riku had the strange feeling that he'd already know-- only forgotten. Donald looked a bit surprised, then wary that he had allowed something Sora hadn't been ready to share with a near-to-complete strange. Weeks aboard a ship together not withstanding, of course.
"Well, he plays things close to the vest now. And a hard learned lesson it was," hey, if he'd already spilled one thing, what did it matter if he went into the tales of what had happened to Sparrow to turn him into the man he was today? Setting down in a crouch, the young Turner beside him, Donald began to speak, "See, three days out on the venture, the first mate comes to him and says everything's an equal share, that should mean the location of the treasure, too. So, Sora gives up the bearings. That night there was a mutiny-- they marooned Sora on an island and left him to die, but not before he'd gone mad with the hate."
"Ah. So that's the reason for the..." he did a slightly exaggerated version of some of Sora's movements.
"Reason's got nothing to do with it," Donald smiled slightly, clapping a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Now Riku, when a man is marooned, he is give a pistol with a single shot," Riku had a sneaking suspicion where this was going, "Well, it won't do much good hunting, or to be rescued; but after three weeks of starvin belly and thirst, that pistol starts to look real friendly," and he aimed a finger at his temple for example, "But Sora made it off the island, and he still has that one shot. Oh, but he won't use it though, save for one man. His mutinous first mate."
Why, the voice inside muttered sarcastically, with a roll of mental eyes, does that not surprise me? "Ansem."
"Aye."
A question came to mind after a moment of silence, "How did Sora get off the island?"
"Well," Donald leaned forwards with a grin. It was such a strange story, but strange went hand-in-hand with Sora Sparrow, "I'll tell you. He waded out into the shallows, and there he waited, three days and three nights, till all manner of sea creature came and acclimated to his presence. And on the fourth morning, he roped himself a couple of sea turtles, harnessed them together and made a raft"
"He roped a couple of sea turtles?" Riku repeated, voice flat. Oh that, he could not believe.
"Aye, sea turtles."
"One question," Riku tipped his head, quirking a silver brow, "What did he use for rope?"
Donald's mouth opened, then a curious look crossed his face, and it closed. Frowning, he tried to puzzle that out himself, but was saved the trouble of answering.
"Human hair... from my back," Sora, it appeared, had come up in the midst of Donald's storytelling. Riku gave the man a flat look-- one that plainly stated 'I don't believe that. I don't believe the story. There must have been something else'. Sora ignored it with practiced ease. He rather liked the rumors and stories that traveled the seas about him, even if half were rather impossible. Turning, he shouted to his men, "Let go of the anchor!"
"Let go of the anchor, sir!" the voice came from a random crew member, but Sora didn't bother to find out which, his attention turning to the two men before him, of which had stood while he wasn't paying attention to them.
"Young Mister Turner and I are to go ashore."
"Captain! What if the worst should happen?"
A long stare was leveled at the man, before Sora spoke, "Keep to the code."
"Aye, the code."
---
End Part Three
Kairi: I have weapons. Why aren't I using them?
Riku: Because you don't want them taken away yet, when you'll need them at a later point in the story, now do you?
Kairi: Oh... I suppose that makes sense.
Riku: Of course it does.
Kairi: Uh... where's Sora?
Riku: I think he's trying to put beads in his hair.
Kairi: ... why?
Riku: He's taken a liking to Jack Sparrow.
Kairi: Figures. This is the guy who liked dressing up like a vampire with a pumpkin on his head.
Riku: Do I want to know?
Kairi: Halloween Town, dear.
Riku: Please don't call me that.
Kairi: Why, does it disturb you, darling? Would you prefer it if Sora were the one to call you such things, beloved?
Riku: ... I'm not talking to you.
We're about halfway through now-- there are six parts planned. Although part six is kinda short, since I mucked around with the ending of the movie. (Obviously, like Kairi & Riku didn't almost give it away in Part One)
More amusing cast commentary at the end of this one, folks. I find those cast commentaries just to be to amusing not to continue. They're like their own little story!
Be assured, that this is the fastest I've ever written something. It's quite fun. So is trying to mash together Sora and Jack's personalities. Not to mention Riku and Will's. Kairi and Elizabeth's... well, I've obviously given up on that.
Now, for the reviews...
Kawaiiroxy - Why does your name remind me of Kojikocy? Er, right, back on track. I'm glad you like the story, and as I have stated before, there is a reason for why I'm made Sora Jack and Riku Will. It's explained slightly in this chapter, actually. But only slightly. Vaguely, even. You might have to look hard to catch it.
Arcander - I find the conversations amusing, as previously stated. Very glad you like my fic; it's been kicking about in my head since the second time I saw PotC, actually. I just didn't start working on it until I got the DVD.
MiDnIgHt-JaGuAr - Your name is hard to write ^_^;; I was already mad before I took on that task, but hey, what does that matter? ((I have watched PotC so many times that I can pretty much speak the entire movie word-for-word along with it ^_^;;)) I'm going to keep going until the end of the movie. After that, well... it all depends on the reviews I get for it ^__^
Alana Hikari-Chan - Jo scares me. Jo seriously scares me. Ursula and Malificent? *shudders* I pity you for having to deal with Jo. Except for when Jo imagines lemon scenes. Because, to be honest, that's half-way what I was imagining when I wrote those little conversations at the end (as is evidenced by this part's...) Squall when he was a pirate, ah, that would have been amusing. Makes me almost want to write a prequel involving the Pirates of the Black Pearl BEFORE Sora went stupid and let Ansem be the first mate.
Disclaimer is in Part One.
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Pirates of Destiny Isle
Part Three
Priest Li Xiang
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Standing in the shade that was produced both by the trees and by the bridge that not twenty-four hours before, Sora had run across being shot at, Riku found himself blinking incredulously. Before he and his frighteningly familiar pirate partner lay the Ragnarok in all its glory. The silver haired youth stared at the man with him, "We're going to steal a ship?"
"Commandeer," Sora corrected absently, "We're going to commandeer that ship. S'nautical term." With a tap to his chin, a thought struck the Captain and he whirled, beads flying every which way as he did so, "One question about your business, boy, else there's no use going. This girl... how far are you willing to go to save her?"
Riku frowned in confusion, "I'd give my life for her."
"Oh good. No worries then!" The cheerful way Sparrow spoke, caused the young Turner to worry slightly, but he pushed it out of his mind. After all, the annoying voice spoke up again, you've survived worse before. Riku gave himself a moment to wonder what, exactly, was so much worse that he'd survived, before shrugging and following Sora down to the beach. Apparently the pirate had some insane idea for how to get onto the boat. Quite frankly, it seemed a little suicidal, but no less than ten minutes later, he found himself trudging through the waters, feet sinking into the soft sand, with a boat over his head, and a small supply of oxygen.
"This is either madness or brilliance."
"Remarkable how often those two traits coincide, eh?" was Sora's amused response, having had a similar conversation come about several years back; although this Turner did not pursue the matter. Somewhat disappointing, as Sora had been looking forwards to explaining it-- yet again-- because he always did get a kick out of that conversation. Ah, the old days, when being a pirate was so much simpler.
And so much more boring, he added a moment later, deciding that being perpetually drunk did, indeed, make things more fun.
Scaling the side of the Ragnarok was a simple task, for one such as Captain Sora Sparrow, and Riku was surprisingly good at it. If Sora didn't know the boy had a dislike of pirates, he'd have thought him an old hand at the trade. Smirking, with gun in hand, the pirate strolled quite leisurely onto the ship's deck, a smooth, "Everyone stay calm, we are taking over the ship," as his greeting.
The incredulous stares of the few men aboard, as well as Aeris' flat, though slightly amused, gaze greeted them, and Riku pulled a tight smile in response, lifting his sword into a guard position. Tensed and ready, the boy practically screamed 'Look at me, this is the first time I've ever committed an act of piracy!'
All ignored him, as Aeris gave her attention to the actual pirate, "This ship cannot be crewed by two men. You'll never make it out of the bay."
"My dear," Sora tipped his head, eyes half lidded as he smiled, pointing his pistol directly between the female lieutenant's eyes, "I'm Captain Sora Sparrow, savvy?"
---
"Commodore!"
Slightly annoyed at the interruption, Leon Loire looked up from his work to see one of the new recruits pointing out into the bay, with a surprised look on his face. Curious, although not showing the emotion, Loire turned out to look over the bay, and raised a speculative eyebrow. For there, in a life boat, stood Aeris and the men she had with her on the Ragnarok. The female cupped her hands to her mouth to shout to her commanding officer, "Sir! They've taken the Ragnarok! Sparrow and Turner have taken the Ragnarok!"
Lifting the spyglass to his eye, the Commodore found himself gazing at the sight of the two men aboard the Ragnarok, trying to unfurl the sails. For some reason, the image struck a cord, and he frowned. Hadn't he seen something similar to this, years ago during his pirating days? But no, he could not recall what had happened back then, a side from the fact that Sparrow had been involved at the time. Bah, it mattered little.
"Rash Turner," he was surprised to find himself murmuring, "Without a doubt, the worst pirate I have ever seen." And, given his own pirating days, that was saying something.
It took little time to have the Highwind ready to set sail, and even then, the Ragnarok had not managed to leave the bay. This would be child's play, retrieving the stolen ship, and locking both Sparrow and Turner away for piracy. Still, for some reason, he had a sinking feeling, and he couldn't quite figure out why that was.
Of course, he realized not long after, he should have known. Sparrow was an old hand at the game of stealing ships out from under a man's nose; he'd used this particular trick before. Take a ship, have the ship you really want chase after you-- skip over to that ship once the crew of it is on the ship you've stolen. Let the wind guide you.
Loire sighed, as one of the men took it upon himself to command the others to get the Highwind in range of the long nines, "That won't work, crewman"
Surprised, he turned to the Commodore, "Sir?"
"It's most likely that Sparrow has disabled the rudder chain." Not a moment later, another crewman came up to them, repeating the words.
Yes, Loire thought with a scowl, I really should have known.
---
The whetstone scrapped across his sword, the sound sharp in the silence. Riku had no idea what to say-- was he to bring up the fictional father that had caused Sora to come with him in the first place? Did he tell the man he had been lying? What did he do to break this damnable silence?
"Do stop sighing," Sora grumbled a while later, "It's distracting."
"From what?" Riku raised an eyebrow, "There's nothing out here but sun, sea and sky. What could I possibly be distracting the oh-so-great Captain Sora Sparrow from?"
Sora froze, back stiffening. Those words... they may not have meant anything to the average person, but they sure as hell meant a lot to him, especially with that tone of voice. He turned slightly, to get a look at the boy who was now cleaning his blade meticulously out of the corner of his eye. At this angle, he could almost imagine the silver hair flowing free, instead of bound with a leather strap. He could almost imagine the black and gray-- once black and blue-- jacket lazily thrown over a yellow shirt. The boots with those pointless straps around the ankles. And the dark serrated blade he had loved and cared for as though it were his only child.
The resemblance was uncanny, when one took into account Riku's face-- both senior and junior had the exact same features. If it wasn't for the boy's age, and general lack of facial scars, he'd think that he was looking at his old friend. It was hard not to think that, even now, but he managed it. Somehow, he wasn't quite sure.
"You going to answer me?" it was the same tone as his father had used. Slightly annoyed, but mostly amused. Riku Senior had been an odd one, but a good friend, none the less.
"Hmmm, rum."
"Rum."
"Rum," Sora explained delicately, "is a delightful thing. Can take a mind to places you've never been."
"So you're drunk, yet again, Sparrow?"
"I'll have you know, Turner, that I--" he stopped mid sentence, frowning, "No. No, I'm not going there."
"Not again at any rate," Riku shrugged at Sora's surprised look, "I'm not a simpleton, Sora. You've done this all before."
"With your father," Sora sighed, "Good man, your father. Was probably one of the few who knew him as Riku Turner; everyone else just called him Bootstrap."
Now... that was news. His fictional father had actually existed? No wonder Sora had decided to help him-- although, for what reason, and what imaginary debt to his still very non-existent father-figure, Riku did not know. It didn't really matter, he was still getting what he wanted; help to rescue Kairi with. Still, he had to say something, or risk not seeming interested in the man he 'hadn't seen in ten years', "Bootstrap?"
"Good man," Sora nodded to himself, taking ahold of the wheel in both hands and shifting the rudder slight to keep them on course, "Good pirate. I swear you look just like him."
Riku's eyes narrowed, flashing indignantly. Oh, so now Sparrow wanted to play with him? Well fine, two can do _that_! "My father was not a pirate!" Riku refused to believe that he was, in any way shape or form, related to a pirate, no matter how often Kairi had spoken of her wish for that to be true. Sora could pretend to know his father all he liked-- there was no way in hell Riku would make the imaginary man a pirate!
"He was a bloody pirate, a scallywag," Sora rolled his eyes, thinking back on those lighter-- well, relatively lighter-- days.
"He. Was. Not," and the sword Riku had been sharpening came out, the point a bare foot from brushing the pirate Captain's waistcoat.
Sora sighed, "Put it away, son. It's not worth you getting beat again."
"You didn't beat me," Riku spat, annoyance from the day prior still fresh in his mind, "You ignored t he rules of engagement. In a fair fight, I'd have killed you."
"And that's no incentive for me to fight fair, now is it?" suiting action to words, Sora spun the wheel rapidly, the yard of the sail swinging about and catching Riku in the ribs. The silver haired young man dropped his sword, gloved hands scrabbling for purchase on the wood, in order to keep himself from falling into the dark waters below him. The pirate smirked at him from aboard the ship, eyes dancing merrily, "Now, as long as you're just hanging there, pay attention boy. The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a man can't do."
"...uh...?" Riku managed to grunt out the questioning noise, half expecting the pirate to ignore it. But the older man didn't, offering the boy a wide grin and a grand gesture.
"For instance," he explained, conversationally as though he wasn't responsible for the young man hanging over the side of the ship, "You can accept that your father was a pirate and a good man, or you can't. But pirate is in your blood, boy, so you'll have to square with that someday. And me, for example, I can let you drown, but I can't bring this ship into Tortuga all by me onesies, savvy?"
The slight nod was all the confirmation he needed, swinging the yard back the other way and the blacksmith thankfully let himself fall off of it, and onto the deck, panting at the exertion of having had to hold on like he had. Definitely not something he wanted to repeat, in all honesty.
Opening his eyes, he found his sword aimed at him, "Can you sail under the command of a pirate, or can you not, boy?" and Sora flipped the weapon so it was hilt first. Gingerly, Riku took the blade from the captain and nodded.
"Tortuga?"
"Tortuga."
---
"More importantly," the swaggering male proclaimed, "It is a sad life indeed, that has never breathed deep the sweet, proliferous bouquet that is Tortuga, savvy? What do you think?"
His companion gave him a cross look, barely refraining from plugging his nose at the stench of unwashed bodies, liquor, sex, and other bodily fluids. It was not exactly something he wanted to ever smell again, "It'll linger."
"If every island were like this one, no man would ever feel unwanted," he grinned widely as they came across a number of prostitutes looking for a little fun. Several of the girls looked over at the pair, then dismissed them-- two, however, did not. A blonde girl, dressed in blue, hiked up her skirts and stomped over to the men. Confused and wary, Riku stepped back, only to find his lips quirking in amusement almost as soon as the girl's name-- Alice-- left the Captain's lips.
Rubbing his sore cheek, Sora frowned, "Not sure I deserved that."
"Of course not," Riku soothed with a wide, and far from consoling grin, when the second woman came storming up. Sora apparently had no lingering after effects of the first slap, as he threw his arms open wide with a cheerful, "Selphie!"
The brunette in yellow was glaring something fierce, "Who the hell was she, Sparrow?!"
"Who?" and once again, he was cracked across the face, "I may have deserved that."
"Of course you did, moron," Selphie dropped her hands to her hips, going from glaring to merely annoyed in moments, "Where the hell have you been, Sora? No one's seen hide nor hair of you in months!"
"Out and about, of course," Sora waved a hand idly, "Why, somethin' important happened?"
"Wakka and Tidus returned, you know."
"Decided to give up sports and return to their old past time, now have they?"
"Did you expect any different?" Selphie looked amused, "Those two could never stay in one place for long, although somehow Wakka wound up with a wife and son, and Tidus an obsessive stalker."
"I don't think I want to know how," Sora shook his head with a laugh, "Ah, I saw ol'Squall, you know."
"Really?"
"Really," Sora smirked at her, "But if you want to know where your old friend is, you're going to have to give me something in return, savvy?"
"Depends on what you want, Sora Sparrow," she waved a finger before his nose, "I may not be a pirate any longer, but I'm no whore."
Sora tipped his hat, smirk stretching into a wide grin, "Ah, me and Turner simply want to know where Donald is holing up these days."
"Turner?" Selphie's dark eyes widened, attention shifting from her long time friend and former Captain, to the man who had accompanied him. She hadn't really thought to look at him before, but now that she did... the resemblance was startling. He was, of course, to young to be the Riku Turner she remembered from her childhood, but he look so damn similar that there was no doubt in her mind that this had to be the son of Bootstrap Turner.
"Aye, Riku Turner, named for his father, of course," Sora introduced the two of them, before returning to what was on his mind, "Now, you tell me where Donald is, and I tell you where Squall's been these past few years."
Selphie nodded, somewhat distractedly, still marveling over the similarities between the senior and the junior Turners, "Don's about three streets to the left, sleeping with the pigs, as usual."
"Ah, wonderful, wonderful. Squall Leonhart's gone back to his roots luv, he's Commodore Leon Loire, if the name means anything to you," Sora didn't bother to wait for the girl's answer, instead, dragging his companion down the streets towards where they had been informed their target lay sleeping. A quick detour, and a mischievous smirk from Sora, and they were standing before the sty, complete with Donald and pigs.
A splash of water, and the grizzled and stout, white-haired man jerked awake with a cough and a gasp, to glare about in confusion, "Curse you for breathing, you slack jawed idiot!"
"Who's an idiot?"
"Mother's love! Sora!" Donald blinked the water out of his eyes at the familiar voice, "You should know better then to wake a man when he's sleeping. S'bad luck."
"Ah," Sora proclaimed, crouching before the still seated man, "Fortunately, I know how to counter it. The man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink. The man who was sleeping drinks the drink while listening to a proposition from the man who did the waking."
It took his sleep fogged mind a few minutes to work through Sora's words, before comprehension dawned, "Aye, that'll 'bout do it."
There was little warning, except for a smirk, before Donald was doused in another spray of water, "Blast it! I'm already awake!"
"That was for the smell," the tone and the smile, and his face in general had Donald staring at him in surprise for several moments. Riku was starting to get used to everyone staring.
How disturbing.
---
"Keep a sharp eye, mate," Sora smirked, patting Riku on the shoulder, and leaving the Blacksmith to 'stand guard' at the post before the alcove Sora and Donald had chosen for their meeting in the pub.
"So, what's the nature of this venture of yours?" Donald wondered, taking a draw from his mug.
"I'm going after the Black Pearl," ignoring Donald's hacking and coughing at the mention of the ship, Sora continued blithely, "I know where it's going to be, and I'm going to take it."
"Sora, it's a fool's errand!" Donald snapped, "You know better than anyone the tales of the Black Pearl!"
"That's why I know what Ansem is up to... all I need... is a crew."
"From what I hear tell of Captain Ansem, he's not a man to suffer fools, nor strike a bargain with one."
"Well, then I say it's a very good thing I'm not a fool then, aye?" Sora's madcap grin said otherwise to Donald.
"Prove me wrong. What makes ye think Ansem will give up his ship to you."
"Let's just say... it's a matter of leverage, aye?" and he tipped his head towards Riku.
"Leverage?" Donald wondered, confused, and Sora, instead of merely tipping it, jerked his head in the boy's direction this time. The old sailor blinked, "The kid?"
"That is the child of Bootstrap Turner. His only child... savvy?"
"Really now," a speculative gleam entered the man's eye as his own suspicions were confirmed, "Leverage says you... I think I feel a change in the wind says I. I'll find us a crew, there's bound to be some sailors on this dirty rock crazy as you."
"One can only hope," the pirate grinned, raising his mug, "Take what you can..."
Donald lifted his own to bang against his old friend's, "...Give nothing back!"
---
She had been poking at the windows, drawing tiny shapes in the fogged glass when they arrived-- they being Jafar and Hook, Jafar toting with him a rather elegant, wine-colored dress. Not a shade she would normally wear, were her thoughts when the dress was shoved at her.
"You will be dining with the Captain. And he requests you wear this."
"Well, you may tell the captain that I am disinclined to acquiesce to his request."
"He said you'd say that," Jafar's grin was wicked enough to send chills down the girl's spine, "He also said that if that be the case, than you will be dinging with the crew. And you will be naked."
"Fine," she snapped, taking the gown from his arms, as the two snickering pirates left her. Furiously, she stripped off her robe and nightgown, and pulled the white cotton shift on, adjusting the tonfa still about her waist until they were in a more comfortable position beneath the rougher fabric. The dress itself wasn't all that much of a problem to get into, and she was distinctly glad that this was more of the type of dress that she was used to-- one that didn't need a corset to fit into.
Still, it was slightly uncomfortable, the red-hued dress settling oddly over her weapons, but there was little she could do about that.
Unless...
Removing the tonfa from where they had rested for familiarly about her waist, she fished about in the cabin for what she needed-- and came up with a smile. The tonfa may have been longer than the average pistol, but the holster straps were what she was actually going for, as she locked them about her thighs, jamming the cold iron between the leather and her skin. The straps were tight enough to keep the weapon in, nice and securely, but loose enough that should she need the weapons, they would be easy to retrieve.
Besides, any tighter, and she would start to loose feeling in her legs, and quite frankly, that was not a pleasant alternative in her mind.
She had no sooner dropped her skirt over the newly affixed weapons, when the door banged open, and in came more pirates, toting about a massive feast upon the plates. Not exactly something she had expected, given that the times that she had been on long sea voyages in prior years, they had never had this much food set out for one meal; it would go rotten before they managed to eat all of it!
"Please," Ansem's voice came from behind her, causing the girl to jump, and was mocking in it's pleasantness, "be seated."
Carefully, she settled herself nervously into the chair, staring at the food that lay before her. Manors ingrained in her from infanthood, she began to eat only small bites, wary of Ansem's intense stare.
"There's no need to stand on ceremony, nor call to impress anyone. You must be hungry," his words caused her to look at him for several long moments, before the urge to eat called to her. In the three days at sea so far, she had had very little to eat, and it was causing her stomach to churn in knots. Therefore, she saw no reason not to lunge for the food, chewing and tearing at it like the dogs she had seen in the streets of London as a child. A goblet appeared out of the corner of her eye, and she washed down the food with a surprisingly large gulp of wine, only peripherally aware of Ansem speaking.
"Apple?" the white haired man was smiling creepily at her, and she froze, one hand extended for the fruit.
"It's poisoned," she realized with a start, wondering when she would begin to feel ill. Wondering how long she had. Wondering if she would be able to actually finish the meal before dying. She would rather die on a full stomach.
"There would be no sense to be killing you, Miss Turner," Ansem patted her hand patronizingly.
"Then release me! You have your trinket; I'm of no further value to you!"
"You don't know what this is, do you?" Ansem mused as he withdrew the gold medallion from the inner pocket of his jacket, watching it twirl about before handing it off to the monkey perched upon his shoulder.
"It's a pirate medallion," she returned calmly, although there was a waver of uncertainty in her voice.
"This is Aztec gold," the pirate corrected, "One of eight hundred and eighty two identical pieces that they delivered in a stone chest to Cortez himself. Blood money paid to stem the slaughter he wreaked upon them with his armies. But the greed of Cortez was insatiable. So the heathen gods placed upon the gold a terrible curse. Any mortal that removes but a piece from that stone chest shall be punished for eternity." There was a bitterness to his voice, and a fury as well. Kairi ignored it.
"I hardly believe in ghost stories anymore, Captain Ansem."
"Aye," the man agreed, "That's exactly what I thought when we were first told the tale. Buried on an island that cannot be found except for those who know where it is. Find it, we did. There be the chest, inside be the gold, we took them all." He frowned at some distant memory, and Kairi shifted uncomfortably, wishing that she had thought to rip a hole through the dress and the shift beneath it, for easy access to her weapons, as he continued in that bitter voice "Spent them and traded them; we frittered them away... on drink and food and pleasurable company. The more we gave them away, the more we came to realize... the drink would not satisfy. The food turned to Ash in our mouths. All the pleasurable company in the would could not slake our lust. We are cursed men, Miss Turner. Compelled by greed we were, and now we are consumed by it."
He had turned away to stare out the window at the waters as he explained, and Kairi took the moment to grab a knife from the table and hide it in the cloth of her dress. It would take to long to retrieve the tonfa, and likely would make far to much noise.
"There is only one way we can end our curse. All the scattered pieces of Aztec gold must be restored, and the blood repaid," he turned to face her, lips curved in a sinister smile, "Thanks to you, we have the final piece."
"And the blood to be repaid?"
"That's why there's no sense in killing you... yet," with a grin, he offered her the apple that had started the conversation off in the first place. Now was the time, she thought, the knife coming out of her skirt and cutting though his pale jacket, and the flesh beneath it all to easily, with the force of her blow. Ansem looked down at her efforts with a laugh, and withdrew the blade, his own blood gleaming upon it, "I'm curious-- after killing me, what was it that you were planning on doing next?"
With a shriek, the young woman bolted out of the cabin, one to be brought up short by a most horrifying sight. There were no crewmen aboard the ship. Not one-- but there were Heartless. Oh so many Heartless; the evil creatures that stole the Hearts and lives of men at their whim, thought only to be a legend for so many.
They were grinning at her, creatures made of shadow, with glowing golden eyes, and flashing dangerous teeth. Clothing decorated their forms, tattered and worn, as though they had no care for what happened to the fabrics. Still crying out in fright, she tried to race away from them, only to be caught in a circus of movement and sound. Around and around she went, desperately trying to escape from the terrors that stood before her eyes.
Finally, she ducked beneath the stairs from the deck to the helm, and sat there, wide-eyed and panting. This couldn't be real. The pirates couldn't be Heartless. It was terrifying, not something she wanted to even bother to consider. It was no wonder the tales of the Black Pearl said that no man of that crew could die-- Heartless could not be killed. There was no weapon that any man had been able to bring against them to cause their destruction; at least, not any that actually existed. The tales of the Heartless had their own answer to that problem, but really... the Keyblade did not actually exist.
Nor, her thoughts whispered, are Heartless supposed to either.
Thankfully, her thoughts were interrupted. Unfortunately, it was by the tiny form of a monkey-shaped Heartless, that caused her to shriek and try to flee back into the Captain's Cabin, only to run headlong into Ansem, who twisted her about to force her to look at the grinning Heartless that had gathered on deck to watch her fright with glee, "Look! The moonlight shows us for what we really are. We are not among the living, and so we cannot die, but neither are we dead. For too long have I been parched with thirst, and unable to quench it. Too long have I been starving to death, and haven't died. I feel nothing! Not the wind on my face, nor the spray of the sea, nor the warmth of a woman's flesh!"
She was still standing there, shaking, as Ansem stepped out into the moonlight, to reveal his own shadowed form, and glowing eyes-- a form that, had she not been so terrified at that moment, she would have realized appeared to look far to much like a three dimensional shadow of her oldest and dearest friend...
"You'd best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner; you're in one!"
Riku.
---
The day was as bright and as painfully brilliant as the day that this whole mess started, were his thoughts as he stood with Sora and Donald on the dock before the men Donald had gathered the night before. To the blacksmith's amazement, despite the amount of alcohol the Captain had imbibed the night prior, he looked as bright as usual. No sign of a hangover, which was something Riku wished he could say the same of himself. He had refrained from drinking for that particular reason-- he always got a headache the next day.
And with the sun as bright as it was, he was damn glad he hadn't given in to Sora's attempts to ply him with rum.
"Feast your eyes, Captain," Donald was saying, "All of them, faithful hands before the mast. Every man worth his salt... and crazy, to boot."
"So..." he muttered, "This is your able-bodied crew?" There was not much to look at, these men. Hardly the tall and healthy forms he was used to seeing at Destiny Island as part of the Royal Navy. No, these were haggard men, though strong, scarred and world weary. Some were missing limbs, some eyes, some merely fingers or toes.
"You, sailor!"
"Goofy, sir," Donald informed the Captain, as the brown haired one stood before the taller form of the sailor in question. He wore a strange little hat, over black hair that was short and shaggy but for the long tails of it just before his ears.
"Mister Goofy. Do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?" When there was no answer, Sora repeated the question, somewhat annoyed.
Donald sighed, "He's a mute, sir. Poor devil had his tongue cut out, so he trained the parrot to talk for him... no one's yet figured out how."
"Ah," the pirate Captain nodded, avoiding looking in the man's mouth when he opened it to prove that he did, indeed, not have a tongue. Riku wondered how he could eat without one, then put the thought aside as his obviously insane help turned to the bird on Goofy's shoulder, "Mister Goofy's... parrot. Same question."
"Wind in the sails! Wind in the sails!"
"Mostly," Donald explained, "We figure that means 'yes'."
"O'course it does," Sora responded with a nod of acceptance, before turning to face his young companion, "Satisfied?"
"Well, you've certainly proved them mad."
"And what's the benefit for us?" the sharp voice came from the end of the line, and a look of confusion, then realization, followed by apprehension crossed the dear captain's face before he came to the end of the line and pulled the hat off the sailor's head. Short hair and a bandana greeted him, not to mention a female face. Sora sighed.
"Yuffie."
"I suppose you didn't deserve that one, either?" Riku chuckled from behind him, as Sora twisted his head back forwards from the powerful and rather painful slap the woman had unleashed upon him.
"No," Sparrow grinned slightly, "That one I deserved."
"You stole my boat!" Yuffie accused, sticking her finger in Sora's face, right between his eyes.
"Actually..." his explanation was halted by yet another slap from the woman, "...borrowed. Borrowed without permission. But with every intention of bringing it back to you."
"But you didn't!"
"You'll get another one," he tried to calm the woman, and it seemed to work as she dropped her hand and frowned at him.
"I will."
"A better one," Riku offered, grinning and trying to avoid laughing at Sora's misfortunes. It all seemed so familiar that it was both funny and depressing in the same instance.
"A better one!" the pirate agreed quickly.
"That one," Riku hummed, pointing out over the waters to where the Highwind was moored.
"What one?" Sora blinked, following the boy's hand out to the sea. He pouted, whining, "That one?" before his eyes returned to Yuffie's darkening face, "Aye! That one! What say you?"
"Aye!" came the shouts of the men and Yuffie, before the began to head for the boats to take them to the Highwind.
"No, no, no, no, no, it's frightful bad luck to bring a woman aboard, sir!" Donald attempted to reason with the man, although one must doubt how reason and superstition go together.
"It'd be far worse not to have her," the Captain muttered, looking up at the sky. Confused, Riku and Donald attempted to follow what he was looking for, but found themselves unable to do so. Sharing a shrug and a sigh, Riku wondered aloud, "What was that about?"
"I've no idea, son. I've no idea."
Within four hours, however, they knew exactly what it was that Sora had found so interesting-- a storm had broken upon them while at sea. It was obvious that Sora, unlike Donald and Riku, was a skilled hand at reading the clouds, the sun, and the wind, to tell him that a storm was coming, because the man was fully prepared for the worst of it when the rain came down upon their merry little band.
Even in the wind and rain, Sora was grinning, guiding himself using the compass in his hand. Riku frowned, pulling the ropes tighter, before yelling over to Donald, "How can we sail to an island that nobody can find, with a compass that doesn't work?"
"Aye," the old man replied over the wind, "The compass doesn't point north, but we're not trying to find north, are we?" And the man continued on his way to what he'd been doing before-- heading towards the captain. Once within a distance he was sure that the young man would be able to hear him at, he called up to the helm, "We should drop canvas, sir!"
"She can hold a bit longer," Sora half laughed.
"What's in your head that's put you in such a fine mood, Captain?" having known Sora for so long, the stout man did not put it past the man to be thinking only of a bottle of rum, or even of a former lover, that would keep him like this for hours on end-- even in the midst of a storm, or an execution.
"We're catching up," Sora's half laugh became a wicked grin the howling laughter of a man who has waited to long to get what he has been looking for. Sora Sparrow was a happy man.
---
The storm had broke long before Sora would have deemed it necessary to drop the sails and wait the waters out. Which, Riku had to admit, was probably a good thing. If that storm had been upon the Black Pearl, neither captain or blacksmith had any doubts that the ship would have stopped to wait it out. As Sora had said those hours before-- they were catching up. Hell, they were practically on top of the Black Pearl, the Highwind merely ghosting through the waters about the Isla de Bastion.
"Dead men tell no tales," Goofy's parrot squawked from the top of the sails, breaking the eerie silence.
"Puts a chill in the bones how many honest sailors have been claimed by this passage," Donald murmured, hat over his heart as the Highwind glided all but effortlessly between shipwrecks. There were murmurs of agreement from the others on deck, before they shuffled off to do what they were supposed to do.
Well, excluding Riku who turned to Donald with a curious look on his face, "How is it that Sora came by that compass?"
"Not a lot known about Sora Sparrow before he showed up in Tortuga with a mind to go after the treasure of the Isla de Bastion," Donald shrugged, "That was before I met him-- back when he was Captain of the Black Pearl."
"He failed to mention that..." but for some reason, Riku had the strange feeling that he'd already know-- only forgotten. Donald looked a bit surprised, then wary that he had allowed something Sora hadn't been ready to share with a near-to-complete strange. Weeks aboard a ship together not withstanding, of course.
"Well, he plays things close to the vest now. And a hard learned lesson it was," hey, if he'd already spilled one thing, what did it matter if he went into the tales of what had happened to Sparrow to turn him into the man he was today? Setting down in a crouch, the young Turner beside him, Donald began to speak, "See, three days out on the venture, the first mate comes to him and says everything's an equal share, that should mean the location of the treasure, too. So, Sora gives up the bearings. That night there was a mutiny-- they marooned Sora on an island and left him to die, but not before he'd gone mad with the hate."
"Ah. So that's the reason for the..." he did a slightly exaggerated version of some of Sora's movements.
"Reason's got nothing to do with it," Donald smiled slightly, clapping a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Now Riku, when a man is marooned, he is give a pistol with a single shot," Riku had a sneaking suspicion where this was going, "Well, it won't do much good hunting, or to be rescued; but after three weeks of starvin belly and thirst, that pistol starts to look real friendly," and he aimed a finger at his temple for example, "But Sora made it off the island, and he still has that one shot. Oh, but he won't use it though, save for one man. His mutinous first mate."
Why, the voice inside muttered sarcastically, with a roll of mental eyes, does that not surprise me? "Ansem."
"Aye."
A question came to mind after a moment of silence, "How did Sora get off the island?"
"Well," Donald leaned forwards with a grin. It was such a strange story, but strange went hand-in-hand with Sora Sparrow, "I'll tell you. He waded out into the shallows, and there he waited, three days and three nights, till all manner of sea creature came and acclimated to his presence. And on the fourth morning, he roped himself a couple of sea turtles, harnessed them together and made a raft"
"He roped a couple of sea turtles?" Riku repeated, voice flat. Oh that, he could not believe.
"Aye, sea turtles."
"One question," Riku tipped his head, quirking a silver brow, "What did he use for rope?"
Donald's mouth opened, then a curious look crossed his face, and it closed. Frowning, he tried to puzzle that out himself, but was saved the trouble of answering.
"Human hair... from my back," Sora, it appeared, had come up in the midst of Donald's storytelling. Riku gave the man a flat look-- one that plainly stated 'I don't believe that. I don't believe the story. There must have been something else'. Sora ignored it with practiced ease. He rather liked the rumors and stories that traveled the seas about him, even if half were rather impossible. Turning, he shouted to his men, "Let go of the anchor!"
"Let go of the anchor, sir!" the voice came from a random crew member, but Sora didn't bother to find out which, his attention turning to the two men before him, of which had stood while he wasn't paying attention to them.
"Young Mister Turner and I are to go ashore."
"Captain! What if the worst should happen?"
A long stare was leveled at the man, before Sora spoke, "Keep to the code."
"Aye, the code."
---
End Part Three
Kairi: I have weapons. Why aren't I using them?
Riku: Because you don't want them taken away yet, when you'll need them at a later point in the story, now do you?
Kairi: Oh... I suppose that makes sense.
Riku: Of course it does.
Kairi: Uh... where's Sora?
Riku: I think he's trying to put beads in his hair.
Kairi: ... why?
Riku: He's taken a liking to Jack Sparrow.
Kairi: Figures. This is the guy who liked dressing up like a vampire with a pumpkin on his head.
Riku: Do I want to know?
Kairi: Halloween Town, dear.
Riku: Please don't call me that.
Kairi: Why, does it disturb you, darling? Would you prefer it if Sora were the one to call you such things, beloved?
Riku: ... I'm not talking to you.