A/N: So I've watched a few episodes of the new PowerPuff Girls series... Yeah... Am- am I seeing Bubbles and Blossom twerking? And Blossom and Buttercup fistbumping? I don't think they understand what made the show so great in the first place. Not telling the original VA's that you weren't bringing them back for the roles is one thing (a huge disrespect imo) but dating the episodes by using internet memes is something else entirely. At least Steven Universe and Adventure Time actually understand conveying humour without having to- okay, that's enough ranting or this'll be longer than the actual chapter. Tl;dr: Steven Universe and Adventure Time are awesome and you should totally watch them. There, I'm done selling out for the day.
Chapter 77
Overture to the Long Symphony
The tavern Luna entered was dark and dusty, with the smell of alcohol pervading the air. It was a tavern after all. Luna had been to the one in Radiant Garden quite a few times just to talk to Neuge, but this was very much unlike that place. Luna had gathered that the tavern back there was very much filled with a sense of community spirit. It was a calm and peaceful place where even a child could be taken with their parents for the occasional meal as it had a non-drinking section to allow for that. In the tavern she stood in now however, she understood one very basic thing. There were no rules. This is what she imagined a place to be if anarchy was the pre-dominant system in place, or maybe she was just thinking about it too much. Either way, Luna probably didn't need to visit every other tavern to say that the Faithful Bride was… special.
The man that had introduced himself as Balthier on their way to the tavern brought them over to a small round wooden table in the corner of the room where his companion, Fran, was sitting in wait for them.
"Best to take the corner so as not to be disturbed," Balthier explained as they sat down. Unfortunately, no more than five seconds after, another staggering drunk approached them and pointed at Balthier.
"You're sittin' in my seat," he slurred, producing specks of spit on his pronunciation of every syllable. Luna didn't even know that was possible.
"Now listen here, chap. If you value whatever your worthless life has left of its existence, you'll do us favor and leave within the next three seconds," Balthier said. He brought up a double barrelled shotgun and rested it on top of the table, keeping it pointed at the man. Luna wanted to object but the drunkard reacted too quickly for her to say anything.
"Are you threatening me? Why I oughta-"
"You've wasted three seconds of my time," Balthier cut him off and aimed the weapon not at the man but above him. The shotgun went off and hit the chandelier that was above him. The bullet struck the support, cutting off the chandelier from the chain and sending it crashing into the man.
Balthier blew the smoke away from his pistol and slipped it back under the table. "Don't worry. They tend to clean up quick here."
"I see…" Donald muttered.
"So let me get this right. You guys travel to other worlds too?" Luna asked. She figured it was okay if she ignored the unconscious man lying next to them and she had hardly been able to contain her curiosity ever since she had met them anyway.
Balthier tilted his head from side to side. "More or less, that is the general idea. If you want a more accurate description, it would be fairer to say we're pirates of sorts. Not those of the sea but of the sky."
"Wow! What do you guys do?" Goofy asked.
"Look for invaluable antiques and treasures, the same as a normal pirate but even better I'd wager. I presume then that you must be Keyblade wielders?" Balthier asked.
"Only one of us," Donald said, pointing to Luna. "How do you know about the Keyblade?"
"How do I not know is the better question. Believe me or not when I say that my ears are quite sensitive and when I hear a lot of noise, I can't help but follow the sound," Balthier explained.
"He's right. I can't even begin to count the number of times we've ran into trouble due to his… honed instincts," Fran said.
"That would be fourteen so far and you know you've loved every single minute of it. And lo' and behold, my sensitive ears also lead me to you. You Keyblade wielders do tend to make a lot of noise, an idiosyncrasy which I'm not too sure was by your design," Balthier said.
"It wasn't. So basically you've been following a trail?" Luna asked.
"A trail of breadcrumbs… not that it's led us anywhere until now. We've encountered more than one dead end so I have to give you credit for that. You may leave crumbs unintentionally, but they always eventually stop, bringing us back to square one," Balthier said. "Can't say it isn't frustrating, but we do see new things along the way. How does the old saying go? It's not the destination that matters but the journey?"
Luna looked elsewhere for a moment. She had just noticed Jack and Gibbs on the other side of the room but they had yet to make their presence known to them. A sudden idea popped in her head then and there. Was it possible to accomplish? Even more ponderous, there was really no question that it was crazy, after all she would have to be crazy to think of it in the first place, but was she really that desperate?
She turned back to Balthier, her eyes full of determination. "Have you ever taken a ship before?"
Balthier raised a brow. "I've infiltrated a few places before, ships included both air and sea. Why do you ask?"
"I need to get on a ship, the Flying Dutchman. Two of my friends are on that ship but the person we're sailing with looks like he'd rather leave them behind to save himself. What I guess I'm getting at is… can you help me take the Black Pearl?" Luna asked.
"LUNA?" Donald, Goofy and even Jiminy on her shoulder yelled her name in surprise. Luna quickly put a finger to her mouth before retracting it.
"I know it's crazy but I'm scared. I can't help but think that I won't see Astra again. I should have gone with her," Luna said.
"You'd only have become another slave to the Dutchman, and what would that accomplish?" Jiminy asked. "Like it or not, Astra made the right decision in not taking you. More importantly, Luna, do you believe in Astra and Will?"
"Of course I do, but belief doesn't mean anything when…" Luna looked down at the table, her eyes showing a glint of fear. "Davy Jones. When you stare into his eyes, you feel suddenly feel cold and hopeless. It's like you can't breathe."
"I don't mean to pry but I would agree with the tiny one here. Trying to find the Dutchman alone is a difficult task. Boarding it is suicidal. Usually I'd tell you to grab the bull by the horns when you get the chance but in this case, belief is your best option," Fran told her.
"I guess…" Luna said dejectedly. She felt an arm around her and looked up to see a worried Goofy. "It's alright, Goofy. You're right, I was rushing into things. I need to think this one step at a time. Then we'll do this the safest way. We'll look for the chest."
"Chest?" Balthier enquired with sparkling eyes.
"Uhm, it's a chest Davy Jones left after he was cursed. He took out his own heart and placed it in there. If we get rid of the heart, maybe we can free Astra and Will," Luna said. For some reason it sounded stupid in her head when she said it. Then again, the idea of someone cutting out their heart wasn't exactly one she could imagine in the first place. She had watched cheesy dramas before where the protagonist would metaphorically give their heart to their lover but this took the concept to a whole new level.
"Now this… I have to see for myself," Balthier said. "You don't mind us tagging along for the ride, do you? Who's the captain of this ship?"
Astra dabbed the mop into the bucket of what she had given and went to work quickly on the floorboards. She had to be careful to watch where she was going since she didn't feel like running into any of the creatures on the ship. Needless to say, it inevitably happened anyway.
"Why's a woman on this ship?" she heard one of the sailors say from behind her. She ignored them and continued mopping.
"Who knows... maybe we should throw her overboard. She'll bring bad luck," another spat in reply.
"Better yet. She's pretty young. It would be a bit of a waste, don't you think? How about we have our way with her then throw her overboard," the first sailor said. Astra gripped the mop's handle a little too tightly. She looked down to see her knuckles whitening under the drops of rain that were staring to fall from the sky. She loosened her grip and continued mopping. She had to wait until the time was right to make her move. That would be tonight. All she needed to do was have a little patience until then.
"Ah, forget it! We already have work and I don't want to get in trouble with the captain," said the second creature. They soon withdrew back to their work leaving Astra to sigh. She rested her forehead against the mop and closed her eyes. She had been separated from Will almost as soon as they had taken them both on board. That wasn't good. She first needed to locate Will and then she had to get them alone so she could discuss her plan with him.
The first objective, she had an excuse for now that they had given her the job of cleaning the ship. If he were here now, Alfonso would tell her that it was crucial to take in even the tiniest of details. That meant time shifts, breaks, anything that would allow her a window of opportunity to see Will. She would use cleaning duty as a way of observing the crewmembers of the deck and from that she would be able to find a way to make the second objective come to fruition.
A day passed and Astra had not yet seen sight of Will, but she did see something else. She was cleaning at the stern of the ship when the sound of an excited crowd was suddenly heard near the front. She abandoned her duties and quickly climbed the shrouds on the port side of the boat. Reaching the mast, she jumped from one to the next, landing above where the commotion was happening.
"Let us cross blades! I've been looking forward to some new blood for quite a while now," the man facing his opponent said. He was wearing body armor that seemed to put a lot of pressure on his torso and a red cape attached to his collar. He was also wearing an oni mask, obscuring the entirety of his face, but Astra had no doubt that he wasn't like the creatures surrounding him. Opposite him was… Will! He was to be the masked man's opponent then.
"I don't want to fight you," Will shouted, but it seemed his protests were lost on his bloodthirsty combatant who summoned a Long Sword and supported it on his shoulders.
"You run from battle like the spineless coward you are? Have you no shame, or does bravery mean nothing to you?" the man said. "Valor… in the face of death. You do dishonor to your father."
Father? Do they know each other? Astra questioned. She had no time to think about it now however. Whatever was to come off what she did next, she would meet head on with a stalwart attitude. With that in mind, Astra jumped from the mast and landed in the middle between Will and the masked man.
"That's enough. If you want new blood, try me," Astra said.
"Ah, you must be the Keyblade wielder Jones was talking about. How convenient. You know, once I set my sights on my prey, they don't leave until my prey is within my grasp. That was my philosophy, until now. I was after another's Keyblade but I think yours'll do just fine in its place. I would like to add it to my growing collection," said the masked man.
"Oh, I bet you would. Let's dance," Astra said with a small smile. She was about to raise her arm when the arrival of the captain and one another forced her to lower her hand.
"That'll be enough of that, Gilgamesh. I will not have you causing disorder on my ship. They will serve on my ship under my command. As such, the Keyblade will also remain under my jurisdiction," Jones said. Astra saw the remnants of something lying within the curls of his tentacles. If it was what she thought it was, then her job had become easier and harder at the same time. Jones looked away from Gilgamesh to his crew. "What are you standing around for? Get back to work!"
The crew dispersed immediately, leaving only Jones, Astra, Will and one other. Jones eyed him suspiciously.
"Didn't you hear what I said? Get back to work."
"He's my son," said the man. He was not fully a creature compared to the others on the ship but bits and pieces of gravel and a starfish were attached to his ghostly pale face. He was very much in the process of becoming one of them.
Davy Jones looked from the sailor to Will and back before smiling. "Turner… what fortuitous circumstances we find ourselves in. A good old father and son reunion."
"May I speak with him for a moment?" Will's father asked.
"Do what you will," Davy Jones said before leaving for his quarters. Astra must have been mistaken because when the sailor told him Will was his son, she could have sworn for a split second that his disposition had changed to one of discomfort.
"Astra, this is my father, Bootstrap," Will introduced them.
"Nice to meet you, sir. How long have you been on this ship?" Astra asked.
"On this ship? How long?" Bootstrap seemed to question this, as if he didn't even know himself.
"Almost a year, presumably. You were under the power of the cursed medallions. Captain Barbossa left you to live forever at the bottom of the ocean," Will said.
"Barbossa? Who's that?"
Will looked puzzled. "The man who led the mutiny aboard the Black Pearl?"
"Oh." Bootstrap seemed to remember and smiled wryly. "You tend to remember the things others have done to you. This ship leaves you only with what you have. What you've done. That guilt, it feeds on us, stripping us of all we ever were until all we can see is the monster within. Yes, guilt is a powerful thing indeed."
"It's not easy to overcome either," Astra added with a nod. She wondered sometimes whether her old man felt guilty when he- no… they weren't memories Astra was particularly fond of remembering. The best memories she ever had came from her grandmother, Luna and her family and that was all she wanted to think about.
"It will do its best to make you remember, but I don't think it should be forgotten either. We should use it to make us stronger, so we don't make the same mistake the next time. Either way, it's too late for me. What are you two doing here?" Bootstrap asked.
"We looking for a key that will lead to a chest," Will said.
"The Dead Man's Chest…" Bootstrap nodded before lifting up a finger shakily. "What are you planning to do with the heart?"
"To get rid of it, of course. Wait, what happens to the entire crew if we do destroy it?" Astra asked.
"You stab the heart, the crewmen will be freed. So too will Davy Jones of his eternal chains. But the ship, and the person who stabs the heart? Not so. The Dutchman needs a living heart or it has no captain. If it has no captain, there is no key," Bootstrap explained.
"Err, does it need a key?" Astra asked, incredibly confused.
"The chest must always exist. The key must always exist. The Dutchman must always exist. The captain must always exist. These conditions exist so that the Dutchman can ferry souls across to the afterlife without interruption," Bootstrap replied.
"And if that cycle was interrupted?"
"Death would cease to exist."
"Oh," Astra said. The prior plan had in fact been to screw the Cutler Beckett guy over and take care of the heart as soon as she found it but if the heart of the person who stabbed the heart would have to replace it then what was she to do about it now? She couldn't just kill Davy Jones and become the captain of the Flying Dutchman. As tempting as the idea of having a powerful crew of sailors at her command seemed, she quite liked having her heart in her body.
"We still need that key, at least. As long as Jones has that leverage against us, he's pretty much invincible. We take away the key and he'll feel vulnerable," Will said.
"How will you do that?" Bootstrap asked.
"I've got it covered. I'll sneak into his cabin at night and get the keys from him. All you guys need to do is cover me and make sure the coast is clear," Astra said.
"Are you sure you can handle it?" Will asked. "It's no problem if I go inste-"
"No, I'm the best chance we've got," Astra said. "But we have to be prepared to escape immediately after I get the key."
"We have longboats. I can prepare one for you both," Bootstrap said.
"But won't you get in trouble if we do and they find out it was you that helped us?" Will asked.
Bootstrap chuckled and flung his arms out. "What more can they do to me?"
"Thank you," Astra said to him. She genuinely wished she could help him out but it wasn't any of her business. From what she gathered, he was supposed to be on this ship and there was little she could do about it at the moment. "I guess I better return to mopping. We'll meet back here in the middle of the night."
Astra quickly returned to her duties and tried her best to focus on nothing else. Time passed by quickly, partly in the due to the storm that had rendered the entire process of cleaning useless anyway, not that she had been proud enough of her work to care much anyway. She retreated to the lower deck for the rest of the evening and found herself a nice corner in which to take a small nap, or at least that was what she had promised herself until she drifted into slumber.
She had a dream then. She was standing by her school building, watching as two people walked down the pathway to the main building. The first was Luna and the other… why in the world was she dreaming about him of all people? She called out to Luna, but it seemed that she didn't hear her voice. She probably would have if Astra just plucked up the courage to walk up to her. She had to. Astra pursed her lips shut and walked forward, only to stop a few steps later. Luna was leaning on his shoulder and clinging to his arm now. The guy turned around then, his eyes meeting with Astra's and… he gave a cocky grin.
"DAMN YOU!" Astra yelled. She looked around to see that she wasn't anywhere near her school but on a gloomy ship. The boat swayed gently underneath her, a soothing but strange experience for someone who had never really been on a boat of this proportion before. Fortunately, other than the creaking of the floorboards and the sound of snores, no sound came in response to her yelling. Apparently, the shipmates were all either heavy sleepers or they just didn't care.
Astra quickly discarded all thoughts about the dream in her mind and stood up. Making sure as not to alert the other sleeping resident of the Dutchman, Astra tiptoed over to the stairs and quickly ascended them. She was relieved to know that she hadn't overslept, having spotted Will near Jones' cabin door.
"Where's Bootstrap?" Astra asked.
"He's getting the boat out. Should be with us shortly," Will answered. He gave the cabin door another look before turning to Astra. "Just remember to keep a cool head in there. If things turn out badly, get out quick. We might not have another chance if we fail now though…"
"Hey, hey, hey, no pressure or anything," Astra warned. She looked down when Will presented a piece of parchment with a drawing of a key on it. "What are you showing that for?"
"So he still has his 'key'," Will said with a suggestive smile. Astra's look of confusion soon transformed into something that matched Will's own.
"You know, you may not look like a pirate, but you sure do act like one," Astra said, taking the parchment and rolling it up. She gave him a nod before grabbing hold of the doorknob and slowly giving it a twist, inviting herself into the chamber of the beast.
Davy Jones was not sleeping on his bunk like Astra had expected him to, but instead it seemed he had fallen asleep while playing on what was a giant organ. She also heard music playing somewhere by him, something coming not from any live instrument but a music box. It was probably because he looked inhuman but it was hard to picture Davy Jones of all people falling asleep to a music box, and with such a sad song at that.
Astra walked around to the side of the chair and leaned in. She could just about make out the key hidden in between the slimy animated octopus beard. She cringed in disgust. She was really going to have to go through… this? She stilled her breathing and reach out, taking hold of the tentacle with the key in it with her thumb and index finger and gently lifting it up. With her other hand she tugged at and pulled with key away from the grip of the tentacle before quickly substituting it with the rolled up parchment. Seeming satisfied with this, the tentacle soon left her hand and retreated back to be with its own kind.
Astra let out a relieved sigh only to immediately regret it because Jones stirred about as if he were going to wake. She froze. Will had told her to get out if she met any trouble but in practice, she found it an incredibly difficult thing to do. Fortunately, Jones' body soon relaxed once more, returning to its content state.
Astra glanced at the music box and nodded at it, recognizing it as playing some part in the easiness of her mission, before leaving and slipping out of the door to join up with Will. She closed the door slowly and looked around to see Will and Bootstrap by a prepared longboat.
"Boom! Got your key," Astra announced, showing it to them before slipping it into her pocket.
"Then it's time to go," Bootstrap said, gesturing to the boat.
"I'll find a way to save you. To free you from the Jones's control. I promise, I won't rest until this finds a way into his heart," Will said, holding up a dagger that Astra had never seen before. Astra wondered just how exactly Will planned to go about freeing his father without becoming the captain. The two seemed inextricably tied. Was it really possible? For Astra, the question was something else. As a member of KRONOS, how could she get rid of him?
It must have been an hour or perhaps many, Roxas felt, when the restraints on his arms and legs separated, freeing him from their grasp. Time seemed to matter very little either way. All he knew was that it was unlikely it had been a full day. What Roxas was more concerned about was how long they had been in this mansion, including the time he was unconscious. If they wanted him to wake at a certain time then it was possible he could have been drugged.
Xion…
He felt rather weak, his muscles just barely responding to his command. How was Xion? Were they feeding her? Kefka wanted Roxas to play some sort of game so he was sure that they would keep her alive as long as he complied but her voice had also seemed rather weak and croaky when he had talked with her on the speaker system. They were keeping her alive, but they weren't treating her right.
Roxas stumbled over to the door and opened it slightly, cocking his head to the side to peer through. He was staring at a long hallway, a part of the mansion he had never been to before. He wondered just how big this mansion was, but right now he didn't really care to find out. He just wanted to find Xion and leave.
Roxas started down the hallway, a door at the end. This led into another hallway, very much identical to the one he had been in. He soon reached another door, opening it to find himself in a blindingly white square room. In the middle of the room was a single monitor attached to a pedestal. He walked up to it slowly and looked around the room before focusing on the glowing blue screen.
Lifting his hand, he pressed a finger against the screen. Suddenly it came to life, showing strange pixel versions of him and Xion like something out of a video game. A female yet mechanical voice soon came out of the monitor afterward, startling Roxas.
"In order to rescue your friend, you must first play a game. Would you like to play?"
"Where's Xion?" Roxas asked the voice.
"Sorry, your answer is not accepted within the current parameters. Please answer with a yes or no only," the voice replied.
"Yes," Roxas grunted in frustration. He really did have no choice but to play right into Kefka's hands. Well, he did but the end result of that was not something he wanted to think about.
"Welcome, user. You have been elected to participate in 'The Great Escape', a game that will ultimately test your strength and commitment. The current difficulty is set at—Insane. The first trial will test your strength." The voice cut off from a moment and the screen cut to something that made Roxas' blood boil. An uneasy Xion was bending forward, her head placed in the guillotine's frame. Above her was a giant blade, ready to fly down at a moment's notice to sever the head of the victim from their body. Roxas was so angry that he had almost failed to see some kind of column rise out of a tile in the ground. There was a thick piece of rope in a slot in the column.
"You've gone too far, Kefka!" Roxas yelled. The second he saw Kefka, he would spare him no mercy.
"Your objective will be a game of tug-of-war. You must prevent the blade from falling on the second participant by controlling the rope provided. You will bring back the rope with you to the opposite end of the room, after which the column will attempt to recall the rope following a five second interval. This test is designed in such a way that the effort exerted by the column will increase over time. If the rope does not reach the column before the three minutes are up, the player will win. Please take the rope with you to the red line when you are ready to begin."
"Why? Why are you doing this to us?" Roxas whispered. It was crazy. It was asinine. It was just plain outright nonsensical. And yet this wasn't a dream. He would have to do this here and now. It was no use averting his eyes and pretending that he wasn't here. All that mattered right now was saving. It wasn't a question of whether he could or couldn't. He had to rely on his own strength.
Roxas approached the rope when he was ready and dragged with him to the red line that had been glowing on the floor just in front of the door he had come from. He finally reached the red line after what seemed to him like his body purposely stalling and waited. He was in no real condition to do this at the moment, but complaining meant defeat and he was not about to give Kefka what he wanted.
A buzzer sound in the room alerted him that the test had begun. Roxas grounded his feet and kept steady as he pulled at the rope, stopping it from retreating. So far so good, but he was sure that, like the voice had stated, it would get increasingly difficult. What he had underestimated then was the increments by which the difficulty increased. At around the thirty second mark, the speed at which the column pulled the rope in increased dramatically. Roxas flew forward from the sudden jolt but quickly regained his footing. He looked up to see that the blade above Xion's head had descended even lower.
Roxas gripped the rope tightly with both hands and started moving backwards slowly. It was still bearable but the sudden speed had really thrown him off balance. By the time he reached back to where he originally was, he was being thrown forward again by another increase in speed. Roxas suddenly found the rope incredibly difficult to grip in his hands and his palms were sweating. He twisted around and lifted the rope over his shoulder, trying to go against the incredible force that was pulling him back.
It felt as if he were trying to pull a tram along. His face became strained, sweat drops starting to form on his forehead. The taut rope dug into his hands. It burnt. It hurt like hell. But Roxas was going to save Xion. He would put all he had into stopping this rope if needed be. Even then, his all didn't seem to be enough. The energy was draining out of Roxas' body. He found himself being pulled backwards, slowly sealing Xion's fate. His hands wanted to give in so badly. Seeing that he was so far away from where he had started and getting even farther was incredibly discouraging. It came to him then that he was about to fail Xion. He would never see his friend again.
"You have successfully completed the level. Nice work! Please verify by touching the screen," the computer voice suddenly said. It was strangely cheerful and yet in that laid its creepiness as it still possessed a robotic tone behind it. Roxas looked behind him to see that the blade seemed completely independent of the rope, having returned to its original position. Roxas sunk onto the floor and let go of the rope. For a victory, it didn't seem like one to him. It had been way too close. Roxas looked down at his palms to see a bunch of blisters and bruises.
Roxas walked over to the monitor. His legs didn't quite feel his own, but he ignored the strangeness behind him. He reached out shakily and touched the screen again. Xion's relieved face disappeared and he was treated to a screen of the pixel him and Xion jumping up and down in celebration.
"You may now proceed to the second level. You may opt at any time to stop playing the game at the second participant's peril. Please proceed through the door to the second trial when you're ready," the voice said. Roxas swooned from side to side as he made his way to the door on the other side. Just what would remain of him once this was done?
A/N: So the next chapter will be the end of Pirates and perhaps even the conclusion of Twilight Town. I'd say next chapter is the last you'll see of a Disney world in this story so we're certainly heading into climax territory. Look forward to it!
