DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts nor Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia characters, Square Enix, Nintendo, and Disney are the owners.
TheCalamityCoyote: The action will be indeed structured to more like Kingdom Hearts, and about that, I won't likely insert the typical shojo tropes such the rivality between the two men for the girl and all, the reason is that many people like me don't like this trope is because they find it unappealing, also, this is semi-AU version of the plot, which means this is a canon divergence. In other words, let's say this is the Kingdom Hearts timeline instead of the original Fire emblem one. It's not to say Alm is a bad character, but it's always refreshing to write a 'what-if' story like this.
Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: I'm glad you liked it.
CHAPTER 3 – PIRATE RAID II
/
9TH OF AVISTYM, 401 VALENTIAN CALENDAR. | PIRATE THRONE
Roxas, Celica and the others arrived safely to the stronghold of the most feared pirate king in the whole ocean, as they had anticipated, they were met with heavy resistance of Barth's henchmen willing to kill the whole party.
"Damn! There's too many of them!" Boey exclaimed in disbelief.
"By the mighty parrot of Shanty Pete! What be that racket?" Barth, the king of the pirates snarled in bravado voice. "Yar har ho! Looks like more little mice be squeakin' into me keep!"
"Are you the one they call Barth?" Celica interrogated and tried to order him. "I order you to halt your piracy and leave the waters at once!"
"Ha ha ha! I'll do no such thing, you stupid woman!" Barth laughed mocking the whole team, especially her. "No one enters the lair of the pirate king and starts fucking orders but me!"
"You see, lass?" Saber made her see that Barth wasn't willing to listen to anybody. "What'd I tell you about trying to reason with sea dogs?"
"He's right, Celica. Barth won't listen to everyone, seems that we should kick him out by force." Roxas expressed agreement with him putting out his keyblades. "There's always people we can't reason with."
"Yar, bold words from these stupid men." Barth spoke with amusement to have a brawl with the whole team. "Well, I'll put yer steel to the test! Have at 'em boys! Take the men's guts for gathers, but leave the wench alive. I'll not have a single scratch on her… Ruins the sale price, it do! Yar har ho!"
"See what we mean?" Saber said reminding her that they all had to fight him.
"Redemption is a lost cause for a man like you, Barth." Celica talked throwing a serious glare at him. "Your reign as a pirate king end here and now!"
Suddenly, three men appeared from somewhere noticing the incoming brawl between the two groups.
"Hmm..? What's with the sudden shift in position?" an armored man, Valbar said in curiosity.
"Well, I'll be. Looks like another band has joined the fray." Another man with light-purple hair, Leon replied nonchalantly while keeping an eye on them.
"Heh. Must be our lucky day." Valbar expressed his enthusiasm. "Splitting their forces in two should make Barth that much easier to defeat."
"You know why I like you, Valbar?" the third man, Kamui, said in sarcasm. "Because you're such an optimist. From where I'm standing, our odds look somewhere between grim and dire."
"What, you mean because we're horribly outnumbered?" Leon asked in dismay.
"You two better stop gabbling like hens and start fighting like you want to live." Valbar ordered them to stop arguing and focus on their mission. "Now, if we can take Barth out of the picture, his goons should scatter… So you know what to do, right, boys? Ignore the runts and take aim for Barth!"
The talk was heard through Celica and everybody else. "I heard talk in port about a man seeking revenge on Barth for killing his family…" she said. "Perhaps this is his crew? Let's advance with caution and try to aid their cause."
[INFORMATION: Help your teammates to defeat Barth and his army!]
Everybody got off the ship and entered to the stronghold to engage yet another fight against the pirates in many ways possible.
"You gonna die, motherfuckers!" one of Barth's henchman charge towards Roxas before getting his ass kicked by him alongside the others. "Too slow!" Roxas replied while slaying other pirates on his way.
Celica was also doing her own thing defeating more of them until one pirate charged towards her intending to kill her. "Got you, bitch!" one of the pirates tried to thrust her with his sword when Saber finished him off with a brutal swing on his back.
"Thanks, Saber." Celica thanked him.
"You're welcome, lass. We'll deal with those assholes, you and the boy go face this son of a bitch." Saber asked her to go alongside Roxas and defeat Barth.
"Okay, Roxas, let's get going." Celica agreed and asked the keyblade wielder to join her.
"Right." Roxas obeyed and the two went on to face Barth, who was glaring at them evilly.
"Well, well… So you little princess and this outsider come to face me, huh?" he talked trying to show them how evil and tough he was. "How 'bout you guys bow and the girl goes with me?"
"Sorry pal, but that ain't happening!" Roxas stated as soon as he surged alongside Celica against him.
The three engaged a 2 on 1 swordfight clashing their respective weapons, Barth jumped trying to slash Celica but she guarded herself using her sword and gave few slashes against him.
Roxas didn't waste any time on using his keyblades to deal with the pirate king in a rapid and successful motion clashing their weapons, however, Barth was staggered due to Roxas's certain rapid succession on five slashes.
"Celica, now!" Roxas called her to finish him off.
"Right!" she said as she walked towards a stunned Barth preparing herself to strike him down.
"You motherfu—" he was about to curse when she gave him a deathblow by a strong and fatal vertical slash. "Yaaar… I was supposed to be a king o' the seas…" Barth said before dying.
"Seems we have managed to defend those men." Roxas pointed at Valbar and his men.
"Whew… it looks like they are all okay." Celica was happy to see them still alive and well.
Roxas and Celica ran to meet with the team inside the throne and speak with them.
"You guys ok?" Boey asked.
"Yes." Roxas answered.
"You guys have excellent chemistry, don't ya?" Mae teased at the two, making them express curiosity.
"Do you think so? I mean, we do help each other, right Celica?" Roxas defended himself trying to dissimulate his blush.
"Ye-Yeah, that's right." Celica assured him doing the same. "Anyway, let's go greet those men." She pointed at Valbar and the others and approached them.
"Oh ho! Look who the cat dragged in! I'm Valbar, by the way." Valbar introduced himself to the others. "You really saved me my bacon back there. And since that bastard Barth is dead, my family can finally rest…" he sniffed for a moment before realizing of his emotions. "Er, right. Sorry. Got a little emotional there for a second. So hey, is there anything I can do to thank you? I'll be honest—I'm not good at much besides crackin' skulls. But if you NEED skulls cracked, I'm your man! What do you guys say?"
"We'd love to have you at your team." Roxas said wanting to recruit him. "What do you say, Celica?"
"Of course, we're building our army to face hardships we encounter on our way." She replied agreeing to now have Valbar at their team.
[Valbar joined your party]
"You're going off to a dangerous trip, right? If Valbar goes, so we are." Leon expressed his initiative to join the team as well alongside Kamui. "No complaint about that, right? Everyone is on the same page? …Great"
[Leon joined your party]
"It's welcome to join our comrades, but let me ask you one question boy: Do you have the seraphim Magic? If not, then you'd best stay clear of the Seabound Shrine. Necrodragons are one thing I refuse to tangle with, but anyway, I heard rumors of mysterious dark creatures with yellow eyes wandering around Valentia alongside few silver monsters." Said Kamui with curiosity.
"Definitively Heartless and Nobodies… in that case, we need to watch each other's backs and keep an eye wherever we are." Celica understood his words aside of suggesting to take said action.
[Kamui joined your party]
"Wait, you two are coming with us?" Valbar said with surprise at their attitude.
"Well, obviously." Leon cooed affirming his posture. "I go where you go—that's the deal. And I don't care who doesn't like it."
"And I just go wherever the money flows like wine!" Kamui said with a grin.
"You jokers are a couple of real class acts." Valbar scoffed at the two. "You ever stop to think that maybe you're being ride to the priestess and this boy?! She's on a holy mission to… Er, a mission of…"
"We are to head to the Temple of Mila." Roxas said mentioning the place they were going to.
"It's important, alright?!" Valbar gabbled trying to sound stern to his companions.
"It's alright, Valbar—they're welcome to come along if they like." Celica spoke softly. "It's an honor and pleasure to have such capable company. They've proven their skill, and can be rather amusing to boot. So I thank you one and all for brightening our journey."
"Aw shucks, milady." Valbar felt flattered by her words. "We should be the ones thanking YOU! And you, boy!" He pointed at Celica and Roxas.
"My, my, that was some praise…" Leon grinned with teeth. "I thought I'd give at least 50 percent… but now you get all of it!"
"You know me. I'll give you as much as you pay me for." Kamui showed a lot of enthusiasm to set out his adventure with them.
"Did you jerks hear ANYTHING I just said?" Valbar tried to sound stern at the two to not avail, which made Roxas and Celica chuckle lightly.
/
10TH of Avistym, 401 Valentian Calendar – 1:15 AM
While most of the party was asleep, Roxas went out to feel the breath of fresh air run through his hair and face to think about everything he left behind to head to Fodlan.
"Axel, Xion, Hayner, Olette, Pence… I wonder how you guys are doing right now." He said inside his mind. "I know that I may have been so selfish when I asked his majesty to head to Fodlan by myself but… I just couldn't bring myself to stay sit down without doing nothing… I will make up for it someday."
Roxas was enjoying the beautiful moonlight in a very calm and tender night without anyone poking around at least until...
"Can't you sleep?" Celica spoke as she headed outside seeing him stand still watching at the stars.
"Oh, hey." Roxas greeted her nicely. "I, kind of wanted to breathe the fresh air."
"I see, you enjoy the night, don't you?" Celica walked towards aside him to stare at the sky. "I have recognized that I made a correct choice in recruiting you, because…" she paused mid-sentenced feeling her cheeks turn slightly red. "If you hadn't shown up in the graveyard and defeated those nobodies, who knows if Boey, Mae and I would have survived."
"I guess I had perfect timing, didn't I?" Roxas said understanding her words, recognizing his actions.
"Yes, I was amazed how quickly you were on dealing not only with these monsters, but the pirates too… I don't know why but, I feel like I can trust you and you can do the same." Celica took Roxas hand.
"Celica…" Roxas said feeling tickles on his stomach, okay, he had never felt these kind of emotions, nor fallen in love with somebody, not even when he did lots of missions with Xion during his time as part of the Organization XIII.
"Can I entrust you, Roxas?" Celica asked him looking at his eyes while trying to build a bond between the two, more than a friendship that said.
"You got it." Roxas agreed to trust her as well in the whole journey through Valentia he was more than willing to help her if she needed to.
"Thank you." Celica thanked him showing a very kind smile and kissing him in the cheek, that couldn't be bad, could be?
Suddenly, another sail ship appeared from nowhere but the strangest thing is that apparently there was nobody on unless…
"What the…" Roxas said with suspect upon noticing someone come out.
"There's only… one of them?" Celica spoke in the same voice tone. "What's going on here?"
The said person turned out to be a creepy purple-skinned old man with lots of beard showing evil intentions towards Celica.
"So you're the girl, eh?" said the old man grinning evilly. "Serving you up on a platter will earn me a swift promotion within the faith. Now that I've washed this place clean of pirate of vermin, you will come with me."
"Forget it. I'm not going with you." Celica replied with stern voice tone.
"We have businesses to attend so I kindly ask you to get out of our way." Roxas summoned his keyblades challenging the man.
"Impudent child… Such a glib tongue will earn you nothing but pain." The purple-skinned man tried to intimidate Roxas but he didn't look scared.
"Do you think you can take us all by yourself?" Roxas taunted him.
"Hold on a second—is he? Oh no…" Celica warned upon realizing of that old man's specialty. "Watch out Roxas, he's a cantor!"
"A cantor?!" he said out of surprise.
"Yeah, he means to summon Terrors to fight for him!" Celica explained him.
"He means to summon those guys…" Roxas spoke as he saw the old man indeed summon a few Terrors around him. "You gotta be kidding me…"
"No worries, we will take them down together, go get that old man, I'll keep the terrors suppressed." Celica indicated him.
"Okay." Roxas agreed and he ran quickly towards the cantor in a swift speed.
[KINGDOM HEARTS II FINAL MIX BGM: The 13th Reflection]
[INFORMATION: Help Celica get rid of the cantor and the terrors!]
Roxas went towards his opponent and began the battle dodging the black magic attack that the old man threw on him.
Celica casted fire spell against the terrors approaching her while keeping them suppressed so Roxas could fight the cantor without anyone getting on their way.
"Gwaah! What the hell are you?!" the old man screamed in pain after being struck by Roxas, who performed the Ars Arcamiun combo.
"Let's say I'm just a simple keyblade wielder who has faced many strong enemies like you." He replied showing confidence on his face.
As answer, the purple-skinned old man threw another black magic in rage against Roxas but he dodged the attack and the black ball accidently struck one of the Terrors down, much to his disdain.
"YOU LITTLE…!" the old man hissed infuriately.
"It's over!" said Roxas as he landed a number of strong slashes by using his two keyblades and finished him off with the Zantetsuken technique.
Celica also did her own thing by slaying the last Terrors until they cleared the ship.
[MUSIC STOPS]
"That's the last of them…" Celica sighed after defeating everyone.
"I hope so… anyway, what was this about? That old man was talking about… serving you up or something?" said Roxas remembering the old man's threating attitude towards her.
"I don't, Roxas, I really have no idea." Celica replied admitting not knowing anything. "But he was different from the others who have come after me. And I fear he won't be the last… so we'd best be extra careful moving forward. So… I shouldn't say this but… I think you are better suited to become my… bodyguard."
What?! Did he hear well?! Was he being required to become her bodyguard?! He never thought this would come to this, but something was telling Roxas that he had to aid her, and protect her from every danger should they encounter, just like Sora did long time ago.
He thought about it for a second before replying her this: "Thanks, Celica. It will be my honor to become your bodyguard."
"The honor is mine as well, Roxas. How about we get some sleep, shall we?" She finalized as the two headed back to the ship and fell asleep until the next morning.
END OF CHAPTER 3