6H:Welcome to Chapter double 4's!
Anaretsu: That doesn't make any sense!
6H:Forget you. Thank you guys for all your reviews! I really appreciate it.
Kingdom Hearts-Shattered Fragments
Fragment 44-Under the Sea
"Sora?" Cedeile asked, not sure if it was him.
"C-cedeile?" he asked. The two swam up to each other, then, knowing it was the other one, crashed into a big hug. Ryu looked in shock.
"Long time no see!" Cedeile exclaimed.
"How have you been?" he asked her. They released the hug, talking to each other a mile a minute, happy to be back together.
"I've been okay! How long have you been here?"
"Not too long. What about you?"
"We just got here." Ryu rolled his eyes.
"Come on. They are best friends. Don't you get excited when you see your friends after a long time?" Aru asked him.
"No." Aru shook her head. Sora's friends came up to them. Donald looked at Aru.
"You're just a kid! How can you do such advanced magic?"
"I trained hard, that's how. I didn't expect a duck to be able to master such a technique." Aru spat back. The two magicians had an unspoken rivarly towards each other. Donald was supicious of the girl.
'Hard training won't just teach you a spell that difficult. She must have some powerful magic. I had difficulty casting the spell, and it's taking most of my magic to keep it in place. But she doesn't seem to have a problem with it at all.' He thought to himself.
"No way! Nabuki, the demon queen?" Sora exclaimed.
"Yep!" Cedeile bragged. Ryu came between them.
"This is all nice and fuzzy, but we've got work to do." Ryu told them, annoyed.
"Geez, Ryu. You can be such a jerk sometimes." Cedeile said. "So, I see you found this place too. What a coincidence."
"Yeah. We were just flying along and it came out of nowhere. So, we just decided to land and whatever." Sora said.
"You know these guys, Sora?" A voice asked.
"Oh yeah. Cedeile, this is a new friend..."The red haired girl came into view.
"I'm Ariel." she said.
"One of the natives, eh?" Cedeile asked as Ariel swam past her.
"Yeah, this is my home. Welcome to Atlantica."
"You're supposed to be back at the palace! Your father's going to have my head!" Sebastion yelled fratically.
"Oh come on, Sebastion! I hate having to be all cooped up in the palace all day." She whined at him. "But still, I should introduce you guys to my dad! We have to be careful-those heartless could be anywhere." She swam up ahead, and Cedeile and Sora followed, behind them the others. Only Sebastion was left behind.
"Kids these days. So reckless..."he grumbled as he followed behind the group.
The great palace loomed up before them, a great street-though it was hardly needed- swooped up to the grand entrance. The whole group hovered at the end of the tunnel.
"There's usually alot of heartless here. We have to be careful..." Ariel looked around outside first, and then proceeded forward. Sora and his group followed, and behind them came Cedeile, Ryu, and Aru. Suddenly, they were ambushed by the jellyfish like heartless.
"This is no problem for me!" Cedeile said, flinging out the heartblade. Sora called forth his keyblade, and Ryu got out his sword. The three warriors swam forward, taking out the annoying little heartless. Aru used her aqua magic to exterminate them as they came to close. Ariel cast of few thunder spells of her own, and Donald used fire on a few ghost heartless. Goofy charged into them with his sheild. They proceeded to move forward, but a new horde appeared.
"This is endless!" Aru yelled.
"I'll handle it!" Sora yelled. "The rest of you get Ariel to the palace!"
"No way kid!" Ryu called. "You can't take them all out! I'll stay and help! Cedeile, protect the group!" Cedeile nodded, and swam rapidly, leading the group up to the palace.
"Are you trying to impress someone?" Sora asked slyly. Ryu didn't look at him.
"I'm trying to keep you from getting killed. Cedeile would be sad if something happened to you, even though she wouldn't say anything." Sora looked at Ryu for a moment longer, before turning back to the enemy. The two boys fought fiercly and soon the last of them were slain. They made their way up to the huge castle.
The two boys passed through the gates and caught up to the group, who were well on their way to the throne room. Cedeile glanced around nervously-this world was different from any other world they had been to. Sure, they had to become bat people in Nightville, but they still were walking on soild ground. This world was completely underwater! Plus, the way Ryu had described this king, he didn't sound very...welcoming.
"Do you think the king will like us?" Cedeile asked Ariel.
"I'm postive! You guys saved me, after all. We were really in a tight spot when we ran into Sora and them, and then you three come along...it must be my lucky day to run into so many strong warriors." the girl anwsered.
'way too hyper...almost like Yuffie...'Cedeile thought. They approached their destination-the throne room. It opened up before them, the light from above dancing on the floor and columns that served as walls. The room was more tall than wide, but served it's purpose enough. The throne looked like a huge, open conch shell, and was mounted high above the floor-almost as if it was perched on the edge of an abyss. King Trition was perched upon his throne, holding his golden trident, and seeming as if he was waiting for something. The great sea king was almost like a giant...except not. But he WAS pretty imposing, and made a good impression of power upon you. They slowly swam into the throne, up the long, sweeping green stone that looked like it could be an undersea red carpet. The king looked up,happy at first, then seemingly appalled at what he saw.
"Who are these intuders?" He boomed. Cedeile, Sora, Ryu, Aru, Donalld, and Goofy all winced at the volume, and backed up a few feet.
"They're friends." Ariel told him. He looked skeptical. Cedeile looked at the trident. The light from above made it seem to have its own glow.
"What is that?" she whispered to Aru. The magician looked back at her.
"It's his all powerful weapon, and it controls all the powers of the seas." Aru replied. "We shoudn't mess with him." Cedeile turned back to look at it.
'All the power, huh...I'd bet my heartblade that the heartless will be after it. They're probably dying to get their hands on this world.' She thought.
"But they saved me, daddy!" Ariel cried.
"They are outsiders-a threat even, just like these heartless!" The king yelled at her.
"Sir, the girl with the black hair and her comrads claim to be a priestess, a swordman, and a mage from a far away ocean who help people in need. They are willing to get rid of these evil beasts for us-"
"They could be connected to them for all we know! This is all a trap!" The king said again. "You know what those beasts are capable of! They could destroy our world, if we're not careful! But you don't seem to get it, no matter how many times I-"
"I'm not one of them!" Cedeile yelled. The rest of the group looked at her in shock. King Triton raised an eyebrow. Cedeile swam up to the throne. "I'm not one of those damn heartless. I don't care if you're the king of all w...oceans! I'm not gonna stand, er, float here and listen to you accuse me of working for them! I've watched too many people get hurt because of them, and I have fought to avenge every one of them! How dare you start telling me I'm in the same league as those demons!" The room was silent. Ryu dared to swim up behind her.
"Cedeile, I think he wants to kill you..." he whispered into her ear.
"And I'm not going to find out if he will..." The two of them backed up slowly, Cedeile putting on a cheesy smile and waving sheepishly.
"I'd like you to take them out of my sight, and I won't hear another word of them." The king told his daughter.
"But-"
"Not another word!" Ariel glared at him, but turned to leave, guiding them along with her. They hung out around the front hall.
"I can't believe him." She said angrily. Aru placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder.
"It's okay. I can understand where he's coming from. He just wants to protect you." Aru said, smiling. Cedeile swam back and forth, pacing-like.
"The heartless are after that trident, I bet ya." she told Ryu and Sora, both getting dizzy from watching her. The fragment hunter leaned against one of the columns in thought.
"So what do we do?" he asked.
"We find out who's leading the heartless in this area and stop them!" Sora said, pounding his fist down into his palm.
"Let's hope it's not another demon." Cedeile said. "I've just about had enough of them."
"No, it's just heartless so far." Donald said. "But what's their plan...?"
"To get that trident, no doubt. Maybe one of us should stay here and watch the king, just to make sure he doesn't get attacked." Cedeile suggested.
"Gawrsh, Miss Cedeile! That sounds like a plan a smart person would think up!" Goofy told her.
"ARE YOU SAYING I'M STUPID!" Cedeile yelled at him.
"No, it's a good plan. But, I'd like to know who's brought the heartless here. No doubt it's the local villian." Ryu said, also breaking up the fight. "If we knew more about this person, we could find their hideout, and then ambush them without having all the heartless battles."
"We'll have to ask the locals." Sora said.
"We've got one with us! Let's ask Ariel, I bet she'd know. The villan always wants to come after the princess." They looked to Aru and Ariel on the other side of the hall.
"Let's not guys." Ryu said.
"What! Why?" Cedeile asked, confused.
"...I just don't think it would be a good idea right now. Let's have a better look around this place first."
"Well, someone should stay here. Just to hide out, even by the gates would be fine. "Cedeile said. The group looked towards their weakest link-Goofy.
"Well, who's gonna stay?" he asked. The rest of them sighed.
"You're gonna stay, you buffon!" Donald yelled.
"Oh, gawrsh! Well, I'll do m'best then. Good luck guys!" he waved them off. They swam out of the palace and into the open waters.
Going back through the 'town' and into the tunnels, they followed Ariel and remained strangly...silent. As if the king, or someone else, had eyes everywhere. And they were right.
From her dark lair, our villaness watched the unsupected children, smirking to themselves.
"They think that they've bested me, have they? Bah! They can think again. Espically when I use one of their own against them..." she zoomed in on Cedeile, Ryu, and Aru. "So, this is the one who took down Lady Chain, Kana, and Nabuki...the heartblade master. Peh, she doesn't look so 'pure.' I will be the one to stop not only her, but the keyblade master as well...It's the perfect plan, that no one will expect! Yes...I can see it now. They will all fall into my hands, espically the princess..." A dark figure loomed in the corner, and then the evil being burst into maniacle, evil laughter rang out from the dark depths of the ocean, shaking the ocean floor, and scattering little fish. The fish swam up into a tunnel, getting closer to the light, until they made it into safe territory. There they swam around happily...
until they were eaten by a heartless.
They swam down into some valley that spread out, a drastic change from the cramped tunnels. They dove down along the walls, swimming franticly, until their guide suddenly came to a stop. Behind her, the gang crashed to a stop.
"Warn us please when you're going to stop like that!" Cedeile hissed, rubbing her sore back.
"Get your stupid wings out of my eye, Cedeile." Ryu complained.
"An angelfish, Aru. You just had to make me an angelfish. OF ALL THINGS!"
"SHH!" they all told her. She crossed her arms and pouted sourly.
"I'm going to bring you guys to my secret grotto. It's over there." She pointed down and across the valley, to a promentory in the rock and a boulder pushed to rest against it. "That boulder is the door. Let's go." She went first, then the others followed. Their going was not smooth, as they encountered a large group of heartless. They were surrounded by both the big and small jellyfish, and some divers. Cedeile launched the first attack.
"HOLY PURIFICATION!" she swung the heartblade and purified the small heartless. Sora slashed a few with his keybalde. Ryu threw his sword like a boomerage, and miraculously, it came back to him.
"AQURA!" Aru called, shooting water magic out of her hands. Soon, the horde was gone, and they swam down to the huge boulder. After taking a look around, Ariel pushed the boulder aside and held it open for them. They darted in, and then she followed, but not before taking a last look around. She swore she saw someone hiding in a dark corner, but when she looked again, the figure was gone. She shurgged and slipped inside.
The cave was cicular as you entered, with the rock curving in and out like waves. They also made the perfect shevles, on which rested an assortment of many things that Cedeile recognized. Books, paintings, silverware, jelwery...even a music box that played a sad song.
"What is all this?" Sora asked in awe.
"A collection of mine. These are all the foriegn things that have come to our waters. I think they're...from other worlds." Ryu raised an eyeborw and put down the book he was looking at.
"Other worlds?"
"Yeah. I have...this silly dream...to go and see other worlds. Other worlds with something besides water." she said, looking up at the sky. Cedeile layed back in the current, putting her hands behind her head.
"And besides, the other reason for the machine is to go to other worlds. Mr. Wickette and I want to travel to other worlds that have neverending night like our world, and maybe visit some worlds that have daylight." She remembered Kai had said that in Nightville. She sighed passivly.
"What's so great about going to other worlds?" she asked. Sora looked up at her. "I mean...you were put in the place you belong for some reason. And you become attached to that place...you even call it 'home.' But if you leave it...then what's the point?" Ryu watched her sadly as she floated above them.
"We shouldn't stay here any longer. The heartless might come after us." Ariel said quietly. They all silently went towards the entrance. Cedeile and Ryu lingered for a moment longer- Cedeile floating around and Ryu watching her. She let herself fall down near the floor and swam out, with him close behind her. He was left in a state of thought. He just couldn't figure the raven-haired girl out. Most of the time, she was a happy, somewhat obnoxious girl, and the other half she was a fierce fighter who never gave up. But then, there were times when she was sorrowful, and seemed to be far away somewhere...
Before he left, he couldn't help notice that there was a blue stone, carved out in a famillar shape...
6H:That's the end of this chapter! How do you guys like it so far?
Anaretsu: I hate it.
6H: The plot gets moving more in the next chapter. So keep reading!
