Sorry this was a week late, I didn't have many opportunities to write. Lets hope there won't be too much more of that. Anyway, onto the chapter.
Inverted Sky: KH 358/2 Days
Chapter 10: The Caribbean
Xion's Log: Day 141
It's been an odd experience talking to so many people who immediately seemed to like me. While a lot of them briefly thought I was Sora herself, they still treated me like I was a friend, even after finding out I wasn't her. I had spent so much time in the Organization, that I never really realized how normal people acted toward one another. Despite some of the Organization's members not being overly distant from one another, a lot of them were.
Maybe my previous analogy to being in prison wasn't too far off.
Irregardless, the first few days with this new group has simply to introduce me to everyone. For which, there were a ton of people to meet. But for the past week, I've been trying to help solve the mystery of what is happening to Sora, as well as how to fix it. With little, to no success unfortunately.
Going on missions again however, has really made me start missing Roxas and Axel. I hope they found my letters.
As Xion stepped forward, she tilted her head up to gaze at the large fortress that lay ahead. The soft moon light illuminating it, along with a series of lanterns that were placed along the walls. Her and Riku being sent to a world that DiZ told them had someone who could offer some answers in how to help Sora. "What were they called?" the girl asked silently, glancing around to what appeared to be a port town of sorts.
"DiZ didn't say. Apparently though, she's supposed to be a mystic or soothsayer, with voodoo and hoodoo abilities." the silver-haired boy responded in a sigh, as he too looked at their surroundings.
"'Voodoo and hoodoo', huh? Well that's definitely a first." Xion muttered silently to herself before noticing an arched banner that said 'Port Royal' across it.
"Is she actually 'here' though? This place doesn't look like somewhere a mystic would hang out." she continued, turning her gaze toward Riku.
Whom shrugged his shoulders and let out a silent breath; "I have no idea...this is simply the only place the ship's computer could lock onto." he responded, yet quickly turned toward the coast, seeming to have noticed something.
"There are usually areas in any world we can't reach through teleport. Usually due to some kind of interference." Riku uttered almost unconsciously, his gaze not moving away from whatever he was looking at.
"Fair enough...I guess we could start by asking around." Xion started while shifting her own eyes in the opposite direction as where the boy was looking.
"But it doesn't look like we'll get the chance." she added in a soft sigh, just as a series of distant bangs were heard.
A brief second later, loud impacts echoed from the fortress directly ahead. Though extremely brief, there were momentary hisses through the air, just before the strike. This letting both teens know that these were canon balls being shot from somewhere on the water. But while a thick fog hovered over the bay, they could see clear flashes of light caused by gunpowder from canons. Following these bursts of fire, more canon balls struck the fortress. Where many soldiers were rushing and yelling at one another to 'return fire'.
With a brief glance to one another, both teens came to the obvious conclusion. "Pirates." they spoke in unison, the moonlight swiftly being choked by cloud cover as the land became darker in an instant.
"We should probably get out of here." Xion suggested as she took a few steps to the side.
Raising a brow slightly in question, Riku simply moved together with her. "You don't want to get involved?" he asked curiously.
"Even in the Organization, we were discouraged from getting involved with the people or events in different worlds." the raven-haired girl answered, yet tilted her head up in thought.
"Although, 'that' was probably only true for me and Roxas...now that I think about it. Cause I remember lots of times when everyone else just did whatever they wanted." she continued in a bit of a huff, obviously not liking this recollection.
"Well, if that's the case..." Riku started, but let his words hang, allowing the girl to fill in the blank of what he was inferring.
'Will I decide to get involved? Or continue remaining as much of a spectator as I have been until now?' Xion mused to herself, turning to the side as they began hearing screams of panic from what they could only assume were civilians being attacked.
"I..." she began aloud, looking toward Riku briefly as a faint smile curled her lips.
'Well...I've never liked following rules anyway.'
Xion's Log: Day 142
After helping out the townsfolk, Riku and I asked around for some help. But because of the pirate attack, it seemed that the port was being shut down for a while. The best we could get in the meantime seemed to be a place to go for more answers; Tortuga. Apparently, the people there would have better idea as to how we could find the woman we're searching for.
Just when we were about to return to the Gummi ship, a ship was in the middle of being commandeered by a pair of pirates. So we decided to stowaway on board, and help them sail the ship. Though, both of us made sure to have hoods on, since we didn't want to be recognized as pirates. Yet as fate would have it, they were sailing for Tortuga as well. Lucky break, huh?
"So you're looking for this 'Elizabeth', huh?" Xion asked with a tilt of her head toward the one whom called himself; William Turner.
The brown-haired man simply nodded in response, looking down briefly. "Yes...she saved my life when I was but a boy, so it's my responsibility to do the same for her." he declared, despite there clearly being more to the story than simple 'obligation'.
While Xion couldn't determine what this might be, Riku standing off to the side, immediately picked up on it. This made the boy smirk for a moment, yet he soon turned toward the second of the two men at the helm; Jack Sparrow. He was far harder to read, despite presenting himself as someone who spoke openly. But since he was the one who told them exactly where they needed to go in order to find the soothsayer 'Tia Dalma', Riku decided to trust this pirate...for the time being.
The teen then slowly turned his gaze toward Xion once more, him feeling a sense of nostalgia wash over him. Her seeming so much like Sora, yet somehow so different at the same time. "So odd." he whispered to himself silently, looking down in thought.
Though the raven-haired girl seemed to hear his words, she only briefly glanced at Riku before turning back to William and continuing their conversation. 'I wonder...' she mused briefly.
Xion's Log: Day 145
Though we arrived at Tortuga together, we ended up going our separate ways from Jack and Will very quickly. We barely even got to say 'goodbye' before Riku and I had to board a ship that was heading to the island we wanted to go to. But I'm sure that this won't be the last time we'll meet. It was really fun traveling with Jack and Will after all.
Much more so than with the merchants we sailed with toward our destination. Even Riku agreed that it was more entertaining with those two around, making mention that Sora would have had a blast if she was here.
Speaking of, when we reached the island to find this 'Tia Dalma', we were quite surprised to find the woman herself standing on the shore...waiting for us.
"Wow...she's good." Xion commented silently as she and Riku walked across the beach to meet with the loitering mystic.
Whom had dark skin, dreaded hair, and an odd assortment of cloths that made up her dress. Her glance toward the pair was reading, yet knowing at the same time. Then, with a small smile on her rather youthful features she spoke in a mysterious tone. "You are hopin' to reverse, what you have deemed as a curse." she said while nodding her head in greeting.
"But I'm afraid there is nothin' that I can do, for the true battle she faces is far from view." Tia Dalma claimed, briefly looking out toward the ocean ahead.
"There is someone who can help however...she is someone very close to your friend." the dark-skinned woman finished, still looking away.
"Hey...that last one didn't rhyme." Xion whispered in a brief huff, blinking a few times to the mystic.
Whom just chuckled with a shrug, shifting her eyes back to the pair. "Of course not. I don't actually speak in rhymes, it just seemed like fun at the time." she responded in a playful manner, making Xion smile lightly as a result.
"Wait..." Riku spoke up while looking at the woman in a bit of confusion; "...so who is this person, and where can we find them? Sora is really close to a lot of people, so that doesn't narrow it down much." he questioned quickly.
Despite his relief in hearing that she did indeed know how to help, there was a bit of disappointment that she couldn't help directly. Something of which Tia Dalma seemed to pick up on, yet she merely offered another soft smile. "She lives in the world you call home...but this woman can be found in the one place Sora was the most familiar with." the mystic answered, a strange knowingness being visible in her eyes.
Hearing these words, the silver-haired teen's own eyes slowly began to widen in realization. Him seeming to have figured out whom the woman was talking about, which made him go silent for a few moments. But as he opened his mouth to speak once more, Tia Dalma did so first while lifting a hand. "But you should be cautious...there are those who seek Sora for their own purposes. So be sure to not be followed, or else you might lead them to their greatest hostage." she claimed in a more firm tone than before.
Riku's gaze hardened from hearing this, nevertheless, he simply gave a nod in response and understanding. All the while, Xion was merely glancing between the two, unsure of what they were talking about. Despite knowing that whomever they were referring to was important, she didn't know just how much. "We will." Riku claimed, to which he then turned toward the raven-haired girl.
"We'll need to stop by the King's castle, I think we might need some help before we go further." he continued silently, almost seeming to be worried about possibly being overheard.
Xion blinked a few times to him, yet looked down in thought for a moment. "I wouldn't say 'no' to that. However...if this person is indeed as important as I'm assuming, we'll probably draw unwanted attention by gathering more people around us." she stated in a very logical manner.
"Even so...I don't want to take the chance of us being followed. If we can get even King Mickey with us, he'll be able to help in letting us know whether or not we're being tracked. He knew right away when one of the Organization members was coming, and he's an excellent Keyblade Master. So having him would be a boon regardless." Riku said, shrugging his shoulders as he spoke.
While the girl seemed ready to make another argument, she merely gave a slow nod in return. "That's a good point. Now we simply need to gather information about who these people are, and how best to avoid them." she uttered out silently with a thought gaze, leading for both teens to turn toward Tia Dalma.
Except, the woman herself was already gone. No footprints were left behind, only a single white-shelled crab that scuttled across the sand. 'Spooky...' Xion mused to herself briefly before shifting her eyes back to Riku.
"I guess this means we're on our own on 'that' front." she concluded while crossing her arms.
"Looks that way." Riku muttered as he glanced around for a moment, seeming suspicious that they might have already been followed.
"We should go...just in case." he continued, his eyes narrowing slowly while calling for the Gummi ship to teleport them.
And with a flash of light, the pair vanished from the beach. Neither ever noticing the hooded figure in the distance, their black coat being all too familiar as it flowed in the ocean breeze. "So 'this' is where you ran off to."
Things are slowly coming together. We're still only at the halfway mark, so there is still more to go for this part of the story. Which I'm glad I went back to rewrite, since I'm enjoying these series of events way more. Though not many people are reading these remade chapters, I'm grateful to those that have been. And I hope you've each enjoyed this altered story just as much, if not more so than the original. Anyway, I hope anyone who does read this enjoyed, and will let me know your thoughts. Until next time.