Whoa, long chapter.

None of this focuses on Cloud and Yuffie's journey.

So, this is a long chapter about pirates and....Turks.

Yup, spoilers, out favorite Turks made a Disney/FF crossover appearance.

Anyway, enjoy :] Please review.

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"Pirates?!" Aerith exclaimed, finally being fully awakened.

"Yes, after the ship set sail, while were asleep," Iori answered, gathering his things together and throwing them together.

"What are we to do?" Aerith asked, panicking.

"We leave this cabin area, they're searching for this to take rick travelers things. We may not be rich, but I'm sure they'd find some value in our things… or you," he warned, strapping his pouches to his belts.

Her eyes widened. "What would they want with me?" she questioned, lacing up her sandals.

Iori smirked and turned to her. "Well," he started, "what would any man what?"

Aerith's face reddened in anger and embarrassment. "Don't be dirty, Iori." He just snorted in return.

Just moments later, the heard the floor creaking outside their room. Iori turned to her and put his finger to his mouth. Aerith's face became pale and tried not to make a sound.

They heard voices outside, but they were unrecognizable and were muffled by the sound of sea waves and pattering of footsteps. Aerith looked to Iori but kept a clear expression at the door.

Suddenly, they heard knocking.

"Oi, we know you're in there! Open up!" a scrawny voice yelled as he tried opening the door. Iori turned to Aerith and shook his head. "We said, Open up!"

Aerith shuttered as the pirates began to knock down the door. She ran to Iori, who grabbed onto her and held her close.

"I need to get behind me…now!" Iori yelled to her. Aerith quickly flung herself behind him as the wooden door broke open. Iori stuck out his hand and let out a deep roar.

"Gyahh!" From Iori's palm, a blast of violet flames shot at the pirates coming inside the room. Men were blown away from his blast while singeing the doorway a bit.

"This way," Iori bellowed while grabbing Aerith and running out the door, jumping over the bodies of pirates lying on the ground, moaning.

Aerith could barely keep up with Iori's speed. It's like he was nearly flying past doors. Though traveling at such speeds, he never let go of Aerith's hand, which she was grateful for, knowing she'd probably become lost through all the corridors in the ship.

"We must make it to the top of the ship. At least there we can jump," Iori instructed, still never stopping through the hallways.

"Jump?!" Aerith exclaimed.

"Yes, and we can swim to shore. We mustn't have made it too far in one night," Iori responded, finally stopping at a door. "Here, this should take us outside."

He tried jerking the door open, but it was locked. He fiddled with the handle some more until he gave up with frustration. "Damnit! Don't have time for this!" With that, Iori stuck out his arm again and blasted the door open with his purple flames.

Once the door was destroyed, the duo ran out through the opening and found themselves in another situation. The door did lead them outside like Iori expected. However, he didn't expect to see a battle going on outside. On the exposed ship, parties of sailors and pirates went back and forth, dueling fiercely with swords and other weapons. Not only that, Iori observed, but there seemed to also be pirates fighting other pirates.

"What the…" Iori said under his breath, before a gritty swashbuckler ran past him, hurdling over cannons, being chased other more brightly colored pirates. Aerith, peeked over his shoulder, then pushed him out of the way as soon as she saw one of the grimy pirates aiming a gun in their direction.

"Look out!" she yelled, flying in the opposite direction of Iori. Iori seeing the hole being made from where he was standing he nodded at Aerith and thanked her before he found himself guiding another one of his oddly colored fire balls at a gunman.

Aerith found a spot to hide under a ladder leading to the upper deck with barrels and loot stacked on top of one another. Iori continued to battle against pirates and sailors alike, no matter what faction they belonged to at this point. Aerith watched her bodyguard used his natural summoning abilities to fight his enemies. Though he presented himself as a striking person in public, as a fighter it was like watching a monkey dance.

When Iori fought, he stood hunched over, like he had some kind of terrible back problem. His hands would clench and unclench likes cats claws, ready to rip apart its prey. Whenever he summoned his purple flames, he would thrust his entire body into one motion, yet somehow regain his footing and lunch again at his opponent. Aerith would've normally found this hilarious, seeing how this is so different then what she normally saw, but the situation called for her to keep a sharp eye and stay out of any bad circumstances that could make things any worse.

However, the circumstances just did.

As Aerith peeked through a tiny crack formed between two crates, she felt her arm being tugged hard. She fought the pull until it became so rough, it nearly threw her out her hiding area. When she looked up to her captor, Aerith' eyes widened and her body became numb.

"R-Reno?" she stumbled out her words. Her body was motionless and numb.

A lanky, tall bright red haired man hovered over her in a dark, disheveled dress suit. He held back much of his wild hair behind a pair of dark goggles and the rest of it tied back into a long ponytail. His face was thin and had define cheeky bones with red markings under his eyes.

"Now, what is a beautiful young lady, such as yourself doing in a fight like this?" Reno said; his voice sharky and sarcastic.

Another man, dressed in the same suit, but was much more well kept and refined, straightened out his black tie and glared at Reno through his sunglasses.

"R-Reno, do you know who that is?!" The bald man said to his partner with a much deeper and nervous tone.

"What are you talkin' about partner, this is just some---Wait a second?" Reno said, reanalyzing Aerith's face and figure. "G-Gainsborough?!"

Aerith yanked her arm from his grasp and straightened herself out. "What are pigs like you doing here?!"

"Why are you still alive?" Reno asked back, now in more shock than Aerith had been at first.

Before they could get to talking, a scraggly pirate ran in their direction with long black dreads tied behind a burgundy bandana. "I don't mean to intrude on this… Little party here, but, we have problem…Reno," the pirate said, slurring his words like a drunk.

"Pipe down, Sparrow, I think plans have changed…" Reno said back, keeping his blue eyes locked on Aerith.

The pirate looked at the bald partner of Reno's and asked, "Wait, Rude---the lass?" He quickly ducked and yelled to one of his fellow gritty pirates, "Ey! Watch it, ya worthless dog!"

Aerith also ducked out of the way, scowling up at the three men hovering over her. "What do you want with me, Turks?!"

Reno shook his head and crouched down to look at her. "Well, not sure yet. Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

Aerith got back onto her feet and pushed Reno away from her and snapped, "Aren't you supposed to be doing Shinra's dirty work?"

"Calm down," Reno said very careless tone. "We're just here, uh…"

"Researching sea beasts," Rude finished, not shortly after taking down two pirates and an Interceptor seaman.

"Sea beasts?!" Aerith questioned loudly. She could hardly believe anything they said. The pirate with the long dreads came up to her, eyed her for a moment then swaggered before answering her question.

"Aye," he smiled, "Sea beasts."

"Well, if that isn't the biggest load of---"

"Aerith!" a low masculine voice yelled to her. Iori was running her, battle worn and panting. 'What the hell are you doing?!"

"Uh…" she tried speaking, but she honestly had no real excuse for just standing there and conversing while a battle of three parties was happening right before her eyes.

"Is this a brother of yours, Reno?" the swashbuckler asked, pointing out to Iori. Iori and Reno eyed one another and glared for a moment.

"Eh, never seen him before," Reno responded, tapping his short rod against his shoulder.

"Ah, I swear," the pirate began to smile under his thick mustache and braided goatee, reveling a gold tooth, "…you both look, so much alike."

Iori simply grunted, as well as Reno. Rude let out a small smile, then tripping a brightly colored pirate onto his face.

"Doesn't matter, the girl is coming with me," Iori barked, grabbing Aerith's arm and dragging her away from the group.

"Heh, I don't think so," Reno said back, grabbing her other free arm.

"Um…" Aerith tried to speak up, but was easily overlooked.

"What the—no, get out of here," Iori spat back, pulling on her harder, causing her to wince.

"Nice try, but we're talking Miss Gainsborough with us," the other red head shot back, pulling the opposite way.

All of a sudden, she felt a tug at her braid from a third party. She cried out louder.

"I think it's best if she came with us," a new voice said, surprising everyone else around the young woman.

"Will everyone let go of me?!" Aerith screaming, pulling her head forward and yanking her arms back to her torso. "What is going on here?!"

"My lassy," a older pirates voice said to her, "Aren't you just the feistiest maiden this side of the ocean?"

"Who are you?!" Three voices said in unison. Aerith turned to see a pirate dawned in red garments and a huge red hat. He had long black wavy hair and a thin and curly mustache. His right hand was replaced buy a shiny sliver hook, which gave way to his name.

The pirate smiled under his long pointy nose and began to speak to the tiny crowd. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Captain James Hook. And I, will be commandeering this ship."

As Captain Hook cleaned his teeth with his slivery hook, the mangier pirate swaggered over into his face and smiled again to reveal his gold took again. "On the contrary, Jimmy, but, I, Captain Jack Sparrow plan to commandeer this ship. So, you and you pastel pretty mateys can scurry on off this ship… And leave this operation to real pirates… Savvy?"

"Arrrrgh…" Hook growled back.

"Arrrrgh," Jack just said in response.

"Ugh!" Aerith shrieked, stomping her feet. "Who cares?!"

Iori quickly jumped at Aerith and whispered angrily in her ear. "Don't provoke them!"

"All I know is, Gainsborough, forget about sea beasts, we've found something much better," Reno said, smirking mischievously. "So, why would we pass up such a great opportunity, eh, Rude?" His partner just chuckled, pushing his sunglasses back up to the bridge of his nose.

"Not on my watch, Red," Iori said, pulling Aerith closer to him.

"Heh, look who's talkin'. And, please, it's Reno," he said back in a bored tone.

Iori leaned to Aerith, his lips nearly brushing the tips of her ears. She blushed slightly, then realized Iori was saying something to her.

"…on my word, jump," he whispered to her, her eyes widening. He took notice and spoke again. "Just trust me," he whispered gritting his teeth. She only nodded in return.

Reno, easily reading through the strategy being formulated yelled to them. "I wouldn't try that if I were you." He sounded much more authorative now then ever before, pointing his rod at the duo, flicking a switch that created sparks at the end of it. "Really, I wouldn't." Rude stood quietly cracking his neck and stretching his hands in and out of fists.

"Haha! Fools, where do any of you think you're going? If you hadn't noticed, you have no men left! Hahaha!" Captain Hook jeered, laughing uncontrollably at the situation now. The group looked around to see the brightly colored pirates over powering the grittier seamen, while the sailors of the ships all laid out on the deck unconscious. "So, I think, you all with be coming with me now. Seize them, boys!"

Just after his command, a horde of pirates under Hook's command came charging at the group. Reno and Rude tried fighting them off, but were quickly out numbered an taken done easily. Iori put up a better fight, using his special purple flames to ward off the pirates. Unfortunately, he had worn himself out from fighting earlier and was taken down shortly after. Aerith and Jack bothered not to fight back and let Hook's buccaneers take them away deep into the ship.

Hours later, in the ships deep cellars, Reno, Rude, Jack, Iori and Aerith found themselves tied up and placed in lockups, removed of all weapons and belongings. Iori sat with Aerith, while Reno and Rude also shared a cell. Jack was the only one left alone.

"This is just great," Aerith pouted tugging at the ropes holding her arms back behind her. It seemed everyone was just as tied up as she was, except Iori, who has metal chains links around his. The pirates were not so stupid to think he could just burn away the ropes and set free everyone else.

"Got any ideas, partner?" Reno said out loud, implying his query at Rude. He got no response back.

"Let me get this straight, now, Turk-man," Jack began in his seemingly drunken manner, "You say you need my help to find "sea beasts". You find this lassy and now plans have changed. And in the end, I couldn't really give two gold teeth about her, but what does mean for me?"

Reno chuckled, "Once we get out of this shit-hole of a boat, return back to Shinra headquarters, give up the girl and all that jazz, I'd say double what we talked about."

"You lousy jerk! I'll die before I go back to Shinra!" Aerith hollered back at the opposing red head.

"Here's the funny thing that makes you so valuable now, Miss. But the fact you already were," Reno said, his evil smirk never leaving his face.

"That's even if you get out of here, Red," Iori spat, never ceasing on rattling his shackles.

"Will you cut that out?!" Jack yelled at Iori who just continued against his will.

"When was the last time you looked in a mirror, Red?" Reno asked, peeved.

"Hmph," grunted Iori.

Aerith actually giggled at this. "Funny, you two are rather similar. Bright long red hair. Sinister demeanors."

"Are you implying something Gainsborough?" Reno snapped, trying to wriggle out of his own rope knots.

"No," she said cheerfully. "But it's kind of interesting, don't you think?"

Iori groaned, "Whatever."

In silence, the group sat, once in a while someone trying to break free from their binds. Aerith sighed and began thinking about how if she never got out of the ship, if she'd be left to die in that cell. Or, if they all managed to escape, how she would end up trapped at Shinra, the company who kidnapped her and tried doing twisted experiments before… before… She began to whimper.

"Cloud…" she whispered, pulling her knees closer to her face.

Though she thought she was talking to herself, everyone could hear her.

"You still stuck on that pain-in-the-ass?" Reno commented annoyingly.

"What's it to you, Turk?" Aerith spat back, holding back tears.

"Nothing, just wanted to know if you were still stuck on that pain-in-the-ass," he just said back, matter-a-factly.

"Well, for your information, yes, I still am stuck on him. And I was looking for him until you three made your appearances," she retorted.

"Well, for your information, you were the last thing on our mind. On top of that, it's not us you got you stuck in this situation. It's those blasted pirates," Reno said to her.

"I resent that, Turk-y," Jack added, incase everyone else forgot his was also listening in.

"Aw, just shut it," Reno finally ending the conversation.

Again the room was quiet.

Aerith buried her head into her knees. "Cloud…where are you?" she cried quietly. Iori sighed and said nothing.

However, Jack did have something, not so reassuring, to say. "Look, little missy," he said frustrated, "Unless this "Cloud" thing of yours is really that crafty and able to find and get us out of this predicament, I recommend you stop begging and start thinking of real ways to get us out of here!"

A few quite moments later, Reno opened his mouth again. "He's not there, Aerith."

She perked up her head and stared at Reno's dusty blue eyes. "W-what?"

Reno exhaled. "He left. Not just him, that space man and the ninja went with him."

"Yuffie and Cid?"

"Yeah… Gone," he responded.

Rude spoke up for the first time since they were on deck. "Tifa, Barret, Experiment thirteen and Cait Sith were left behind."

"But why?" Aerith asked, shocked at the news of her comrades.

Reno jumped back in the conversation. "Blame your boyfriend or whatever. Cloud up and left the city, wait, planet. I guess Cid and Yuffie were working on the latest and greatest and asked if Cloud wanted to ride. Before everyone knew, poof, they hadn't come back for months. Fancy that…"

Aerith couldn't believe her ears. "So you're telling me not only they're nowhere to be found? But they left the planet?!"

"That's right," Reno said in his lazy voice. "Cloud left Tifa all alone and Reno had to come to pick up the pieces."

Aerith was confused now. "What are you talking about?"

"Heh, oh Gainsborough, boy you've missed out. Shinra's turned a new leaf. We're no longer a power company. We're trying to rebuild what we've done wrong."

"I can't believe any of that," Aerith spat angrily.

Rude chimed in again. "It's true. Turks now run missions to find new resources and use them to benefit the world in non-harmful ways."

"What does Tifa and sea monsters have to do with everything?" Aerith asked, her brain jumbled up with new information that didn't seem to connect and make sense.

"Well, about the sea beasts, who needs them, right? So, find them, kill them, and hey, feed a city," Reno answered happily. Aerith still shook her head.

"Can't manage to live without killing, Turk," Aerith retaliated.

"Calm down," Reno assured, "Turks aren't supposed to kill people anymore. It's… not good for company morale." Aerith was just disgusted with both Turks at this point. Reno could read it all over her face. "Look, Gainsborough, whether you like it or not, things have changed. As for Tifa and I—"

Aerith interrupted him. "You and Tifa?!"

"Yes!" Reno snapped, "Get over it Aerith! Tifa and a Turk! She realized, as you should to, that your little terrorist organization also killed people! Yes, you and your little sweetheart, Cloud, killed people, too! So, don't play innocent with me, we all know you're not all sugar."

That struck Aerith hard. The thing was, Reno was right. The group she belonged to, AVALANCHE, had killed people to reach their ultimate goal. They had to hurt others in order to make a point. Aerith felt a terrible sinking feeling and buried her head back into her knees. A killer. Something she never saw herself. She watched her friends save the planet. For the greater good, or so she thought. She now, just felt a terrible sense of shame.

Jack coughed and changed the subject. "Aye, now that all of us thieves and murders are out of the closet, can we please find a way to get out of this!"

Rude interjected, "I don't think we should assume…" He nodded at Iori, who just shook his head in return.

"No, I've done my fair share of—"

"Just shut up! Arrrgh!" Jack yelled bouncing and shaking, his dreads whipping around like tentacles.

Everyone sat quietly and really began to ponder how to get out of the jail cells in the bowels of the ship. Bodies shifted uncomfortably, Reno whining every chance he got. Suddenly, Aerith had an idea.

"Iori…" Aerith mentioned. He gave her all ears. Aerith twisted her body around and scooted her backside towards him. "…Can you try to—"

"Already got you covered," Iori said, his voice sounding much more upbeat. He did the same, turned his back to Aerith and brushed his hands over hers. He felt the ropes binding her and made sure his hands kept away from her skin.

"I'm sorry, but it's going to a get a little hot," Iori apologized ahead of time. Slowly, a tiny flame emerged from his fingertips and seared the ropes around her wrists. Steadily, the ropes burnt away and then unraveled around Aerith's hands.

She slipped her arms from the burning ropes and stretched out her limbs. "It worked!" she exclaimed happily. From there she began fiddling with Iori's iron shackles, but she needed a key to free him.

"Iori, I'm…"

"On the hook," Jack interrupted. "Over there!"

Watching Jack's dark eyes, Aerith saw the set of old oxidized keys hanging on a hook on the side of the damp wooden walls. "It's too far away, I can't reach that."

Reno looked at the wall and below it was his electro-rod on the floor. "Gainsborough! The rod! Get my rod!" He shouted over to her.

Next to her and Iori's cell, the wall that contained to the keys also contained everyone's belonging and weapons. Unsure of the distance, Aerith doubted she could reach Reno's rod.

"I think it may be too far from my reach," Aerith complained.

"Just try it!" Jack encouraged.

Aerith, giving in, reached threw her cells poles and outstretched her hand to the probe. Her fingertips barely brushed the steel cylinder. "I…I…"

"Just a littler further, Aerith," Iori pressured.

Just as she nearly could turn the electro-rod towards her advantage, the ship tilted and flew Aerith and everyone else over on their backs.

"Ugh…" they all groaned, trying to get back onto their backsides. Aerith let out a small cry and kicked the cell with her foot. Just then, Rude called out to her.

"Aerith! The rod!"

Turning to attention to the wall, she saw the rod had rolled over to her, letting her easily snatch it through her cell. "I got it!"

Before using the rod to get the keys, Reno warned her, "Watch out! Press that button and call it quits!"

Aerith nodded and turned to the keys hanging on the wall. It was easier that she thought getting the keys down and into her grasp. She turned to Iori and found the right key and freed him from the shackles. And, just as easily as she freed Iori, she opened her cell and walked out with him by her side.

"Good job, you two, now, just let us—" Reno began but was soon cut off.

Aerith just turned her eyes and glared at the lanky, red haired man. "As if, Reno."

His face looked startled. "Hey! You can't just leave us here!"

Iori looked at Aerith. "He's right, he helped us. He could be of further use to us." Aerith glared and thought for a second. He was right. Reno had helped her with his electro-rod. However, her deep feelings of hatred for the man lingered.

Without saying a word, she handed Iori the set of old keys and folded her arms to her chest. Iori took them and freed the Turks along with Jack Sparrow in his own cell. Once they were all free, Reno, touched her shoulder, causing her to jerk away quickly.

"Hey, look," he tried saying, but she refused to look at him. He just sighed and in a genuine voice said, "Thanks… Aerith."

Unfamiliar with his tone, she turned and looked at the wild haired red head. He honestly looked grateful, his dusty blue eyes glimmering. She couldn't help but just nod and smile in return.

"You two ready?" Iori remarked, flipping his bang away.

"Yeah…" she responded.

"Aye, mateys, let's rid these scaverous dogs!" Jack cheered.

"Aye Captain!"

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