6H:Welcome to chapter 46. Please RSVP to my chapter 50 party!
Anaretsu: What's the point! Even if they don't, they're going to ready chapter 50 anyway!
6H:Yeah, but I want to know how many people are acutally going to celebrate my 50th chapter.
Jack:YEAH! 50 chapters! dances
6H:To the fic!
Kingdom Hearts-Shattered Fragments
Fragment 46-The Cursed Family
"All I wanted to do...was protect Makota..."
If Cedeile had been drinking something, she would've spit it all on Sora. But everyone was quite shocked at his statement. Kirisu sighed again. The tide shifted, blowing about the feathers all over his body.
"I don't know what happened to our parents, but as far back as I remember, it was just the two of us. We didn't dare go to the palace, because we didn't want to get split up. So we lived here, in this cave I'm trapped in now. We lived a good life, and it wasn't too hard to find food out here. I raised her all by myself. I knew I had to protect her. However, I couldn't protect her from what was going to happen. One day, Ursula got banished from the palace. She decided then to try and take over the seas and excerted all her power on everything. She happened to find us..." he paused, and they all could be sure he was crying. "She changed me into this monster. There was nothing I could do to stop her. However...when it came to the matter of what to do to Makota...my poor sister, she begged Ursula to change me back to normal. She pleaded while crying, trying anything to get the sea witch to change her mind. At last, they struck a deal-Makota would work for Ursula for one year, and after the year was up, the witch would change me to normal."
"That's just too awful." Cedeile said.
"And she took it?" Sora asked.
"She signed the contract, and the deal was made. Meanwhile, the people in the town found me and tried to take me away. I knew Makota would come back, and if they took me, I would be killed, so I fought against them and killed five of them. Even though I didn't mean to, the believed me too dangerous, so they locked me up in here."
"I take it Ursula didn't keep her promise." Ariel said to him, coming closer.
"It's been ten years, and Ursula won't even think about letting Makota go. My sister still comes here to see me every night, or she used too. She hasn't come for a few weeks now. Ever since those heartless started showing up..."
"We think Ursula brought them here." Sora told him. "She's probably going to use them to get her revenge."
"I wouldn't be surprised." Kirisu said. "Her plan was foiled ten years ago.There's no doubt she's looking for revenge." Cedeile drifted into thought.
"But wouldn't she have come after us by now?"
"Ursula doesn't just attack you head on. She uses tricks and spells to get what she wants. I hear that recently, she obtained a great amount of power from glass shards."
"The fragments!" Ryu exclaimed, breathless. "How many does she have?"
"I wouldn't be able to tell you. I just heard it from Makota. Ever since that day, she hasn't returned here."
"Then let's pay the sea witch a visit..."Cedeile said.
"Hold on! What about the crystal?" Aru said. "Maybe we should see what it does, before we go looking for trouble."
"A stupid crystal or the fate of this world, Aru? Hmm...doesn't seem like a contest to me! Let's go find this sea witch and give her what she deserves."Cedeile pounded her fist into her palm.
"But what if the crystal shows us the way to Ursula, or more importantly, shows us the keyhole!" Aru threw at her.
"She has a point, Cedeile."Sora said. "Maybe it would be a good idea to check it out. Besides, you know the way there, don't you?" Cedeile was going to protest, but couldn't think of anything good to say, so shut her mouth and sighed.
"Fine..." she grumbled. Ariel swam up to Kirisu's eye level.
"We'll save Makota for you, Kirisu. You've been through too much pain already..."she said.
"Thank you..." the giant beast whispered, heading back into his dark prison.
She swam up the horrible hall, those ugly creatures reaching out for her. They were crying out for help, but she ignored them. It was none of her buisness. She moved the seaweed curtain away and slipped in.
"Master..."she said. Ursula the sea witch turned away from her vanity to look at her new visitor.
"Oh, it's you." she said, disapointed, and turned back to her mirror, watching Makota in the glass. "Did you take care of that little chore?"
"No."
"NO? And why not?" she asked, enraged. Makota sighed.
"These kids left one of their friends behind as a guard. I didn't want to get caught. Besides that, I thought you wanted the princess to carry out our dirty work for us." The sea witch grinned.
"Yes. That would make the revenge all the better. Do you know what they are doing right now?"
"They found the crystal in the ship, just like you said they would. They are heading back to the grotto right now."
"Good, good." The evil witch turned and went to her magic cauldron. She summoned up blue smoke from it's depths. The smoke formed a picture of the palace. "Here's what you do. Swim to the palace and tell the king that you saw his daughter with those outsiders, and that they were heading for the grotto." she intructed, the smoke animating it as she went on. "King Triton knows that the crystal is the keyhole of this world, and when he sees those kids around it, he'll be angry, with his daughter, no less. She'll get so upset, that she'll only be able to think bad thoughts for him. That's when I come in, and make a few promises. Then, she'll bring me the trident, and I'll be the most powerful ruler of the seas. Mallificent will be pleased."
Makota smirked.
"And then, my Master, you will let me go and change my brother back to his true form, correct?" she asked. Ursula looked at her through the fumes.
"We will discuss it when the time comes."
"But I-"
"Look!" Ursula said, leaning through the smoke to get right in the girl's face. "We had a deal..."she summoned from her cauldron a gold roll of paper. Unfurling it, she reveal a document with writting on it. It's gold light filled the dark room. "You signed this contract ten years ago, giving your will up to me. Your name down here proves that you work for me as my slave unconditionally. So go and do what you've been told!" Makota went to protest, but closed her mouth, turning away in shame. The contract disappeared magiclly, and red smoke rose from the cauldron, forming into the shapes on the heartblade and keyblade masters, and their friends, swiming away towards the grotto. "Pathetic fools..." she said. She extended her hand into the fumes and clenched it, making the smoke disapate.
Making their way back sucessfully and ignoring all of Donald's advice on directions, the group made it back to the grotto. Ariel took the crystal out of her bag and held it up to the blue stone on the wall.
"The same shape..."she murmered. Sora gingerly took it from her.
"Let's see if it fits..." he told her. He went up and slid it in the stone. It fit in perfectly and shone brightly. All of them admired it's beauty.
"So, you ignored me and befriended them anyway..." a booming voice uttered angrily. They all turned. The sea king was there, looking rather furious.
"Daddy! How did you-?"
"Never mind that." he said. He looked over to the stone and the crystal, eyes going wide. "What is that!" he demanded.
"We found it!" Ariel yelled. He pointed his trident at it and blew it to smitherines. The gang looked at it wide eyed. The glow dimmed down and the cavern took on it's usual level of light. Ariel swam out of the cavern, distressed.
"Hey, King!" Cedeile called as the king turned to go. He stopped, and Cedeile was going to curse him out, but Aru put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head no. The king left.
"I wonder why he destroyed the crystal?" Sora thought out loud.
"Maybe we should go find her." Ryu said. "It's not safe for her to be alone." The rest of them agreed, and Sora, Donald, and Aru left the grotto. Cedeile was about to leave, when Ryu grabbed her wrist. She turned to face him. "I just wanted to say...that I'm sorry..." He looked at her, and she smiled. He started to smile back, but felt a sharp stinging pain on his left cheek. "You slapped me!" he yelled at her.
"Yeah! Now we're even!"she exclaimed. He looked at her, confused for a moment, and then smiled at her.
"You're strange, you know that?"
"Not as strange as you." The two swam out of the cave together.
"How am I strange?" Ryu asked her. She thought about it for a moment.
"You're all angry one mintue, then you yell at me for being stupid, and then you get quiet. You never seem happy, but you're never sad..."
"That's not true. You're just making it up."
"Why do you say it's not true? And how come you don't trust anyone?"
"I do trust people. Let's focus on looking, here." He swam over to a small cave and looked inside.
"Yeah right. Tell me, then Ryu-who do you trust?" He turned to face her.
"You and Aru. Are you going to leave me alone now?" She shrugged her shoulders and went to help him look.
"If you retrieve the trident for me, then you will get your wish to see those other worlds..."
The promise ringed through her head. She was sure that she couldn't trust the sea witch, but right now, she would kill to see those other worlds. Ariel swam up to the palace. Goofy, left there as a guard before, was now asleep. She slipped past him silently. Peaking out from underneath the 'floor', Makota spied on the little victim, watching her swim up to the palace and into the throne room.
Making sure her father wasn't around, she spotted the golden trident resting across the throne. Makota swam up behind her, staying behind a column. Ariel swam forward, reaching out for her father's mark of power. As soon as she had it in her clutches, Ursula appeared right behind her.
"Give it to me, child!" she demanded. The girl hesitated, but then handed it over slowly. Ursula grabbed it out of her hands.
"At last! The power is MINE!" she declared. Makota came out of hiding, and Sora, Cedeile, and the rest of them came up into the throne room.
"Oh no!" Cedeile yelled. Sora called out his keyblade and charged forward in an attempt to stop the villian, but she used her new powers to knock him against a collum. Cedeile swam over to him as he sunk down to the ground, groaning in pain. She turned back to Ursula. "Be purified, damn it!" she yelled, putting her magic to work. Ursula slashed through it, making it fade harmlesly away and rain down in sparkles.
"Come, girl. We have work to do!" she called to Makota.
"Makota, don't listen to her! Do you really believe that she'll uphold her promise?" Cedeile asked the girl. She turned away from the heartblade master. In a brilliant explosion of magic, the two disappeared.
"I don't believe it. We were foolish!" Ryu cursed at himself.
"This is all my fault! If I hadn't given the trident to her..." King Triton sunk sadly into his throne. It seemed already his power was fading. Ariel swam to him. "Daddy! Please, I didn't know what I was doing!" He looked at the others, the forigeners to his world. Cedeile gently lifted Sora up, making sure he was okay. Goofy came in, wondering what was going on.
"You children..." Sora swam up before them. Cedeile followed. "I knew it. The two of you are the keyblade and heartblade masters, correct?"
"We are." Sora replied.
"Just as I thought. That crystal you found eariler reveals the keyhole to this world. I was to ignorant to see it then, but now I can tell."
"We'll get the trident back for you, your highness." Aru bravely replied, coming forward.
"Cedeile, lead us to the lair of that witch!" Donald yelled in a fury. "We'll teach her a lesson!"
"Alright! Come on, guys!" They went to leave.
"Wait! I'll come with you!" Ariel called. "I want to be forgiven for my sin." The group nodded, and all of them headed out together. The king watched them leave, remaining on his throne.
'I wasn't sure at first, but now I am...that one girl with the heartblade master..her aura has a power like that of my trident. How odd...'
There was a clattering noise as the end of the cane hit the floor and the old lady slowly pushed herself out of her rocking chair.
"Grandma!" a young girl cried, running over to the old woman. "You shouldn't try to move!" The lady sighed and sat back down again, hanging the wooden cane on the arm of her rocking chair.
"You're right. I tried to over do it again, didn't I?" she asked.
"At this rate, I'll be at risk for a heart attack!" the girl said, picking up the blanket from the floor and placing on the lady's lap.
"For a moment, I felt the power of the heartblade master..." the girl looked up at her grandmother.
"Really?" she asked, a big smile forming on her face. "This is great! Just what we've been waiting for! Grandma, do you think she'll make it here?"
"Not for a long while, yet. Don't get so excited, dear. The power is from far away, and I'm not so sure I sensed it as much as I imagined it..." The girl's face fell.
"Grandma, do you think Cloud will ever come back here? He was really nice. He's alot like papa..."The girl trailed off.
"He may, he may not. But, perhaps it is he who will lead the heartblade master to us." she replied mysteriously. "Now, why don't you set the kettle on the fire and we can have a nice cup of tea."
"Okay grandmother." the girl responded, running from the room, only illuminated by the fireplace. She carried the huge kettle, which was way too much for two people, and filled it from the water pump from the small, wooden door that led outside. After setting the huge pot over the roaring fire, she pulled a book off the nearby shelf and handed it to her grandmother. "Will you read the story about the fragments being scattered again?" The grandmother smiled, and open the book, whoose cover read "Book of Fragments."
6H:SUSPENSE! BE SUSPENSEFUL AND IN A FOG!
Anaretsu: Shut up!
6H: Sorry for the delay. I've been getting stuck lately.
Jack: Almost chapter 50! YEAH!
6H:I know what the special surprises are going to be! They are and aXXXXXX, aXXXXXX, a few sheep, a sack of potatos and XXXXXXXX!
Jack: I didn't catch any of that.
Anaretsu: good. Now can you all just go away! I'm sharpening my sycthes!
6H:Hey! Put those back in your soul room, baka yami!
Anaretsu: Make me!
6H: . (chases Anaretsu around room.)
Jack: Please stay tuned for the next chapter.
