Disclaimer: Yuna can no longer yell at me for finding a new summoner. Square Enix doesn't care about you.

I love Turks. I hate VII, but I love the Turks. Larxene could possibly be Elena, if not for the R in her name. And for some reason Xaldin reminds me of Tseng. It's dumb, but he does. And of course, Axel is would-be Reno. Duh.

One last thing: My chapter update might get a little slower from now on because of school. Just expect one once every week or so. School will become the icing on my hell cake :P.

If anyone asks why my updates are slow, they're getting a sitar in the ass. Just thought I'd let you know.

And thanks to sonicchica! I lied, your idea rocks. That's why I wanted to surprise you.

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Seeing him there made him incredibly uneasy, like a calm before the storm. Hopefully there weren't calms anywhere else except Spira. Wakka sat nervously amongst the other five around the dinner table in an opposite cabin where the meats and delicacies were lain from the cargo ship the Aurochs had pillaged earlier. In his life, one remote thing always lead to something worse. Machina. Chappu. Sin. Tidus. The worst guardian ever in the fact that he'd gone to pirate instead of watching over him. If this kid, who had already found four aeons across the universe had received this gift because he had some place in destiny, there was only one important thing.

Sin was real. Sin was somewhere around them. Sin was immortal.

"So you just screwed them both over? That's classic!" Axel howled at the quartet's mishaps in Atlantica. "Man, I wish you guys picked me up earlier!"

"No you don't! These guys are always complaining!" Demyx whined as he reached for another piece of salmon. "Auron hits me on the head if I can't say an aeon right and Xaldin acts like a grumpy old man, and Larxene…she's Larxene!" He received a pig's foot to the noggin after the last comment.

"It doesn't seem like you have anything nice to say about them, do you?"

"No, I do, it's just…Auron is the only one that listens to me." Wakka smiled. For once Big Bad Auron wasn't the stoic and simple guy he was then. What a nice surprise.

"How about this: I'll listen to you a little more than half as much as him, but still lots more than Larxene and Grumpy, okay?" Axel proposed.

"Stop making us look like the bad guys!" The other Nobodies shouted simultaneously.

"And why have you been so quiet lately?" Auron asked the blitzball star. His menacing eyes shone from under his glasses, a look that said "you think it's back too, huh?" Wakka nodded, and that was the end of that. But he was acting a little too suspicious for his own sake.

"Hey Captain, I'm gonna go check on the steering, ya?" he said, excusing himself from awkwardness once more. Auron watched him turn the doorknob to the deck above and stood from the fancy oak (and stolen) dining set.

"I don't need a reason for my actions," he simply said.

He sat against the starboard of the Invincible and watched a star's aimless blinking until it drowned in the night sky. Finally, peace. New beginnings, perhaps. Then their party had to show up and even if they were finding aeons without the intention…no, there must have been something behind it! He stopped worrying once he heard Auron's heavy phantom footsteps.

"I wasn't going to say 'stop acting like a killjoy and let the kid get to know you,' but obviously this is getting to you, isn't it?" he coldly asked.

"Auron, if there is a Sin, how are we supposed to stop it? With all these worlds linked together now, who knows how much stronger it's gotten, and—"

"Will you shut up for a minute?"

Wakka smacked himself on the forehead. "Yeah, I guess it just shook me up too badly, ya? I mean, how long has it been?"

"Probably more than ten, less than twenty, who cares. Demyx says a 'Xemnas' is evil enough to power three Sins, but somehow I doubt that it will matter."

"And why do you think that?"

"Because the kid has enough determination to kill off ten," he smirked. "He's a lot like Tidus. You'd get along splendidly, unfortunately for me."

"That's why I'm going back to Destiny Islands." Auron raised his brow.

"Just because I yelled at you doesn't mean you have to always listen."

"No, no, I mean it! He's not exactly one to make the right decisions by himself, ya? And ever since we left Spira…why did we anyway? What's wrong with us?"

"Because we're too irresponsible to handle the truth, so we moved on. Even Tidus." Auron said with remorse. The wind had fluttered in the air and the both of them couldn't talk.

"Look ya, I'll go back once we find the Siren, otherwise I have to help steer. Just… don't be wasting your time, okay?"

"Tch, whatever you want."

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"So who is this Bird guy you were talking about earlier?" Larxene asked with another piece of pork lodged in her mouth.

"Well, he's freaking nuts, if that's what you mean," Axel replied. "Like, he does this weird shaking thing and he always makes sure everything's 'savvy.' And the guy always beats me to any treasures left because he needs them to make deals!"

"What kind of deals?" Demyx asked like an eager little boy listening to a story from his grandpa.

"Deals with the worst kind of guys in the sea! Like a man who looks like an octopus!"

"Xaldin used to look like an octopus!" Demyx pointed, then laughed. Xaldin grumbled and smacked him on the head.

"It was for less than a day, and it's Larxene's fault!"

"Alright, alright! We've got a big night tonight, so I'm going to stay on deck. I advise that you get a good night's sleep before we get to the island." Axel got up from his chair and began walking to the door. "We'll probably get there at six a.m. Six," he flashed six fingers "got it memorized?"

"And you complain about other people's catchphrases, you hypocrite!" Larxene scoffed.

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Wakka had left Auron to help his captain and now he went to the makeshift sleeping quarters, but something didn't seem right. He saw Demyx perched on the deck near the steering wheel, with a glum and depressing face.

So let me guess this straight, I had to explain my motives to a Nobody, cheer up an idiotic blitzball player, and now whatever is wrong with him, he thought. What a horrible night.

Demyx saw him walking up the steps and hid himself in his arms. He turned around, expression anew, and came smiling and brimming with fake joy. "Stop looking like a moron and wipe that smirk off your face. I saw you moaning from over there," his guardian said.

The musician did what he was told, but seemed worse than before. He looked like he was going to cry again, and his hands could have broken the railing if he tried. "I'm sorry, but I just feel bad for not answering your question earlier. Even if I can't answer, I don't like ducking out of—"

"Will you wring your eyes out and just say what you have to say?"

"Why can't you ever be nice about anything? And you have to promise not to make fun of me!"

"Fine, just don't cry or I'll hit you."

"Okay, here," he began as he cleared his throat. "It was back when there was only ten of us, at the Organization. I never wanted to believe that Nobodies were just shells of beings, and so I'm not really the person I was back then, you know?"

"What did you do?"

"Let me get to it! So…I used to act out more, and try to prove that we do have hearts, but every time I did Xemnas just said they were…'artificial feelings.' I didn't want to hear that so…I used to do things that would hurt a lot of others. Like…I flooded a whole city and cut the gas pipes so it would set on fire."

After hearing something like that…making fun of it wasn't the correct choice of words. This was insanity, and Auron couldn't hide it in his face. Demyx, the innocent happy-go-lucky kid who had burned down a city to show his rage. And he could hide it fairly well, with that big smile of his.

How much did it hurt him to smile every time his heart wrenched at those memories?

"I only did it to show I was angry. But after seeing it all…I just felt so helpless, and that I couldn't change any. I never wanted to be a killer…but everything just got really tough for me…if I had a heart it was pretty much wasted and shriveled up by then. So I decided that if I pretend to be happy, maybe I'll just stay that way."

"Why do you think I would make fun of you for that?" Auron said, his voice rising with annoyance. "That isn't something that you can say so lightly! You killed thousands of people and now you're trying to live the rest of your life with a happy face when you feel like shit inside! No wonder you need someone to watch over you!"

Demyx fell silent and his head hung down. "I guess you don't want to be my guardian anymore, right?"

The swordsman sighed. "No, it's not that, it's just that if you feel like crying your eyes out then just do it so I won't have to deal with any pent-up rage later." Demyx already knew that this was his way of saying 'I don't want you to be in pain anymore, so do what must be done.'

"Thanks, then," he smiled.

"Is that one fake?"

"No, it's not! I'm just…surprised you listened to that. I mean…"

"No one does?"

"Yeah…" They drifted off into silence again. Well, it just seemed right that no one talked. It was the peace they needed.

"Go to bed."

"Why, you're not my dad, you're my guardian!" the summoner whined.

"Exactly. I'm looking out for your best options and if you doze off while asking for its power then would I be doing my job? No. Go to bed." Demyx happily walked down to the cabins to catch up on forty winks. Auron remained on the Invincible's breezy balcony and sighed. Great, there might as well have been a checklist for all the things he had to do. And now there was even more on it. He wasn't a babysitter or a guidance counselor, he was just a guardian! Well, maybe those things were part of the job. Yuna never needed extreme counseling, except the marriage fiasco…he shuddered at that thought.

Auron's Checklist (or the one he wrote mentally):

( ) Find the aeons

( ) If there is a Sin, kill it

( ) Keep Demyx's companions from doing anything too stupid

( ) Keep Demyx from having an emotional breakdown

( ) Keep your sanity, Auron

He needed sleep too. Damn the pirates.

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The summoner and his guardians woke up to another gigantic feast from the stolen goods, and apparently Second Mate Locke was an incredibly good chef. Demyx was shoving pancakes down his throat and drowning in syrup and Larxene was fighting with Axel over the last croissant. Xaldin chuckled as he stabbed at his bacon. Wakka was in a better mood and was laughing at the croissant duel and Auron had nothing to say except he was thinking "I'm failing everything on that checklist right now."

Another one of Axel's scoundrel crew mates had ran into the cabin with a flash. "Captain! We've made it to Isla de la Diosa! Hurry your breakfast and prepare for docking on the north side!"

"Good job Edgar! do you have your earplugs in?"

"WHAT?" the pirate screamed back, which was basically 'yes.'

"Why is he wearing earplugs?" Xaldin asked.

"The Siren is notorious for songs that hypnotize sailors—not women, just men—and make them crash their ships into the rocks. So I gotta keep my crew safe with earplugs, right?" the captain replied while letting go of the croissant the he was fighting over with the savage nymph, causing it to spring forward and fall on the floor.

"And why don't we have any?" Auron mused, annoyed.

"Because sometimes she doesn't sing right away, like a trap, got it memorized? I'll go check if there's anything playing. If I don't come back…well, just have Larxene come up and slap me around or something." he got up from the table and opened the door. He poked his head out, then his whole body, then he closed the door behind him. The other five sat in silence waiting for the pyro to return. They heard the bumps and rattles as the ship docked safely in the rocks and were left confused.

"Can I just go slap him anyway?" Larxene suggested, when Axel came back in whistling and smiling.

"She must not be up yet, because the coast is clear!" he cheered. "That Sparrow guy can't do anything now! Haha!"

"Something tells me that we're going to be screwed later on," Xaldin scoffed.

After climbing from a rope to the safe land below (a rope that Demyx had burned his hands sliding down) they headed to the western side of the island where the cave's entrance was. Inside the cave was the goddess they all coveted, and hopefully would sway to the summoner's side. They tiptoed on the slippery black rocks and trudged in the sand, but the walk seemed never-ending.

"Auron…" Demyx whined.

"What?" he said in exasperation.

"I'm thirsty!"

"Shut up and jump in the ocean if that's what you want."

"Auron! Come on, why don't you let me have what's in that jug of yours?" Auron had completely forgotten about the jug of sake at his waist and wished he didn't. He could have used it earlier on in the journey.

"I told you already, I'm not letting you have alcohol while I'm around. If you're a water master, why don't you make yourself something?"

"Nah, I want whatever you have!"

"And whatever he wants, I'll take some too," Xaldin toyed with the swordsman.

"Nah, the great Sir Auron was never one to share, ya?" Wakka laughed.

All three laughed together while Auron kept walking, forcing himself not to reach for his Masamune and cursing under his breath.

Finally they reached the western end, and boy were they happy. The cave's entry was clear in sight and Axel ran up to the rocky cliffs to embrace them. "Oh my lovely Siren, before I leave this wretched world to travel with my completely moronic ex-coworkers, you shall prove to all of my sea rivals that I'm unbeatable in the waters! Thank you thank you thank you!" He then began gripping the rocks and smothering them in kisses, which disturbed the rest of them.

"Why is Axel kissing a rock?" Demyx asked.

"Well you see Demyx, when a man loves a woman—or in this case, a rock, and sometimes this happens with two guys so pay attention, they both want to proclaim their love in the best way possible. That's why the man will smother the rock in kisses, take his clothes off, and—" Larxene began, but was interrupted by Xaldin.

"You know, I don't think anyone wants to hear your version of the berserkers and the bees, if you know what I mean."

"Well you think of something better to do! Frankly I'm bored with this place! Let's just get the aeon and go!"

"No one is taking the Siren on my watch, savvy?" shouted an unfamiliar voice. The summoning crew turned from the cave to see a very disheveled looking man wobbling in the sand. His clothes were tattered and his hat was almost torn in half. His hair was a gigantic dreadlocked mop, Xaldin's was much neater, and jubilees of beads were thrown in it somewhere. His beard was tied into two braids and he was currently holding a gun in his left hand, a sword in his right, and a large strand of seaweed was tangled around a boot.

It was possibly the first time Axel's jaw had dropped since he found out why Roxas had been stealing the bananas from the pantry lately.

"You….you bastard! You're not supposed to be here! Didn't you get shipwrecked or something?" Axel yelled. "For once, the great Captain Jack Sparrow's not gonna get the prize of the sea, got it memorized? And what do you need it for anyway?"

"Oh great, it's clash of the catchphrases." Larxene drolly said.

"Look, it's much too long to explain," Jack said "but I'm only going to ask, would you rather die by gun or sword?"

Axel smirked. "How about neither?" His flaming chakrams spun in his palms as he was ready to fight. His emerald eyes were filled with determination, and he motioned for the rest of them to leave. "The rest of you, get to her and I'll be back in a minute!" The five nodded and headed inward. Jack dropped his gun and let the rapier sway in the air.

"So shall it begin here?" Jack grinned.

"You bet it will!" Axel threw one of the pinwheels and used the other to block the sword's swing. The second one flew back and nicked Jack's shoulder. He fall though, as the blade made a small incision on his chest.

They kept swinging and blocking, swinging and blocking like repetitive cannon fodder. They were exhausted, and covered in blood cuts. Jack began to run to Axel with a charge. He tried to block the swing but the pirate used the hilt to knock him into the sand. He would have gotten back up, but the shimmering silver was pointed at his forehead. He looked to the left. The gun was barely out of his reach! Oh how easier it would have been if Sparrow was trigger happy!

"Last words, Axel?" Jack cockily asked.

"Well I'd spell it out, but I think you've got 'kiss my ass' in your head already," he scoffed. He wasn't going to die. He escaped death after his flashy stunt in Betwixt and Between…why couldn't he here?

But something miraculous happened. Jack had dropped his sword in the beachy grains and ran to the entrance of the cave, slipping into the darkness. Axel shouted at him, things like "What's wrong with you? You had a clean shot!" and "Damn it, get over here so I can finish you off!" but still no answer. He stood up and wiped the sand off his robe and began to follow him. He knocked on the inside of the cavern and yoohooed to the pirate. That made him remember something that hadn't occurred to him until now. He was an exceptionally observant person, where sometimes sound wasn't a necessity to him.

That's why he ran in to tell the rest of them that he was wearing his earplugs since last night. That would be the only reason Jack would run inside. She got him in her hurricane.

Larxene is gonna have my head for this one, he thought while smacking his head repeatedly.

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God, how long had they been running now? For, who knows, ten minutes? Larxene could barely keep up with the guys since they got there. It was like there was this urgency in the air, and she was the only one too lazy to care. Once in a while she heard a voice ringing in the rocks, and she thought it was her imagination, but…it wasn't the aeon, was it? Well, she'd just have to find out.

She tried a few experiments first, like running slowly for a while and pausing for nanoseconds just to see if any of them would notice, but of course they didn't. She was irritated, and if the five of them were getting their brains wrung out by a ghost then she'd have Axel's head for this one.

"Hey, they're probably not going to catch up, so we can stop running!" she said as she panted.

No response.

"Hey, I'm talking to you guys! We can stop!"

Still no response. Well, talking wasn't going to do anything. She decided slapping sense into them might work, so she lassoed the closest male to her, which happened to be Xaldin, and wrapped her arm around his neck. He stopped to stare back at her with vacant eyes and she backed away and let her guard down. His elbow jabbed her in the stomach and she collapsed, letting him keep running with the others. She coughed up blood, and now the singing was getting louder. The siren must have had a good grip on them if Xaldin would hit her that hard! She heard another set of eager footsteps behind her and saw the Captain Crazy Sparrow running with the flock, ad he "kindly" jumped over her body that was blocking the path and jingled and jangled to the aeon.

Out of all the places to be, she wished a flour sack was eating her alive.

"Larxene!" Axel was running to help the crouched lightning master. She leaned on his shoulder and pulled herself up. "Look, we don't have much time, but is that thing singing?"

"Wouldn't you know? Why are you here instead of going to see princess charming?" she asked. Axel scratched his head and made a guilty smile.

"Well, you see, there's something I kind of forgot about while I was checking the island today…you know how sometimes there's just a tiny detail you forget when you look at the big picture?"

"What the hell did you do?"

"I, uh…forgot to take my…earplugs out when I checked this morning…and they're kinda on now…please don't be mad!"

She wasn't mad. She was on the border of furious and insane with rage. But since they were both stuck in a horrible situation, it would be better to save the rage for the aeon. She dug her nails into his neck and sighed. "No, I'm mad, but we'll fix that once we catch up to those guys."

"What, do you have a plan?"

"You don't?"

"Well…no."

"Axel, you are the worst pirate that I have ever seen. Just let me limp over to Auron so I can re-kill him for giving Demyx that stupid summoning idea."

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Well, it's finally finished, and now here's the preview!

Chapter 8: Kupo Power

Can Axel and Larxene think of a way to save their four friends…and Jack, I guess…while getting the aeon's power for Demyx? And after that, they'll travel to a world where they're going to have to summon and run before they get caught…by the real kind of royal pain in the ass!

And just when they thought summoning was just going to be for fun…is there a real Sin? And how close is it to finding them? Find out next time!