Looming Darkness: Daybreak

by Shadow Horizons

Part I. Sora, Kairi and Riku are looking forward to a somewhat normal life. However, Maleficent has returned with powerful new allies, seeking revenge and control of Kingdom Hearts. All the while, an old enemy's revival is close at hand. Will our heroes be prepared? Or will they be consumed by the everlasting darkness? Rated M for language, violence, and some adult themes.

25. Hello Beastie

TGIF, everyone. TGIF.

This week has been too long. Oh well. The good news is, it's almost time for the Tokyo Game Show! Which means we finally will get more details on Dream Drop Distance. I'm excited. Are you?

Huh. I think this is the first time in a few updates where it hasn't taken me a full month to get a chapter out to you guys. I'd call that progress.

Disclaimer: I have nothing new to say after twenty-four other disclaimers. If you think I own Kingdom Hearts or Disney, you fail at using the internet.

Enjoy!

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Chapter Twenty Five: Hello Beastie

Sunday, June 27th, 4794 P.C.

Isla Cruces

The Caribbean

"I don't believe it," Kairi whispered softly as she pulled her head away from the chest. "It's real."

Norrington glanced over at Jack. "You actually were telling the truth," he said in disbelief. Jack looked offended.

"I do that quite a lot," he said, "yet people are always surprised."

"With good reason."

The five gathered around the chest all looked around to find Will and Sora standing on one of the dunes, all looking as though they had spent the past week underwater.

"Will!" Elizabeth exclaimed, scrambling to her feet and running up to him as quickly as she could.

"Sora!" Kairi and Naminé called out happily, rushing up to embrace the spiky haired teen as tightly as they could. "We were so worried about you!"

"Don't mind me," Roxas panted as he slowly walked up the dune to stand beside the trio. "I'll just stand here and dry off in the sun, shall I?" Naminé and Kairi looked around at him in astonishment.

"Roxas?" Naminé whispered breathlessly. She released Sora and tenderly reached out to touch Roxas' shoulder. When her hand met the resistance of flesh and bone, Naminé let out a cry of joy and pulled Roxas into a bone-cracking hug. Roxas let out a grunt of surprise at how tightly Naminé was hugging him before he wrapped his arms around her. Sora and Kairi both laughed at the surprised expression on Roxas face before embracing each other again.

Sora rested his forehead against Kairi as his cerulean eyes stared into her violet-blue ones. "I missed you," he whispered. Kairi smiled warmly up at him.

"I missed you too," she said gently pressing her lips to his.

"How did you get here?" Jack asked.

"Sea turtles, mate," Will said with a smirk. "A pair of them strapped to my feet."

"Not so easy, is it?" Jack said, with a grin.

"But I do owe you thanks, Jack," Will continued on.

"You do?" Jack asked in confusion.

"After you tricked us onto that ship to square your debt with Jones…" Will began. A look of guilt crossed Jack's face for a split second. Elizabeth, Kairi and Naminé all looked over at Jack with mixed expressions of shock and disbelieving anger.

"What?" Elizabeth asked.

"What?" Jack repeated, doing his best to avoid answering the question.

"…I was reunited with my father," Will said.

"Oh," Jack said in relief. "You're welcome, then."

"Everything you said to me," Elizabeth said as she stormed up to Jack. "Every word was a lie!"

"Pretty much," Jack said without a trace of regret. "Time and tide, love." The sound of Will unsheathing the knife given to him by his father reached Jack's ears and he looked around. Will knelt next to the chest, knife drawn and ready in one hand and the key to the chest in the other. "Oi, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to kill Jones," Will replied, as though it should've been obvious. Without a second's hesitation, Jack drew his cutlass and placed the tip of the blade near Will's neck.

"Can't let you do that, William," Jack said darkly. "'Cause if Jones is dead, who's to call his terrible beastie off the hunt, eh?" Sora stared open mouthed at Jack. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Will slowly stood up and sheathed his father's knife in his belt. Jack held out a hand towards him, never once pointing his sword in a different direction. "Now, if you please. The key." Will moved quickly and stole Elizabeth's sword from its place at her side and pointed it at Jack.

"I keep the promises I make, Jack," Will said menacingly. "I intend to free my father. I hope you're here to see it."

Norrington drew his blade and pointed it at Will. "I can't let you do that either. So sorry," he said firmly.

"I knew you'd warm up to me eventually," Jack said with a smile. He took a step towards Norrington to stand next to him only to find Norrington's blade now pointing at him. Will quickly pointed his sword and Norrington and Jack pointed his at Sora as the teen stepped forward and summoned the Oblivion to his hand, pointing it at Jack.

"You tried to give us to Jones to save your own sorry skin!" Sora growled. "Even though you'd still be cursed by the Grim Reaper Heartless if Donald, Goofy and I didn't help save you."

"Lord Beckett desires the contents of that chest," Norrington said, ignoring Sora and gesturing with a jerk of his head towards the Dead Man's Chest. "I deliver it, I get my life back."

"Ah," Jack said in realization. "The dark side of ambition."

Norrington smirked at Jack. "Oh, I prefer to see it as the promise of redemption." He let out a cry as he swung his blade down on Will's, knocking it aside. Jack moved to attack Will but was intercepted by a strike from Sora. Jack swept Sora's legs out from underneath him and lunged at Will at the same time as Norrington. Will ducked under Jack and Norrington's blades as they struck together and ran off with the key in one hand. Sora pulled his face out of the sand and spat a large amount of it out of his mouth before scrambling to his feet.

Jack and Norrington both turned and followed Will, closely followed by Sora. Will spun around and quickly blocked blows from both Jack and Norrington. Will grabbed hold of Norrington's wrist and threw him into Sora. The pair fell to the ground in a jumbled mess of limbs. Jack took advantage of their distraction and snatched the key from Will's hand as Norrington got back up. Jack countered a near-death blow to his neck from Norrington and shoved him back towards Will and Sora. Norrington spun around and slashed horizontally at Will's midriff. The former blacksmith ducked and left himself wide open for Norrington's kick, which sent him sprawling across the ground.

"Will!" Elizabeth cried out, running quickly over to Will's side.

"Guard the chest!" Will said before he got back up and chased after Jack, Norrington and Sora.

A look of indignation crossed Elizabeth's face. "No!" She shouted as she went to chase after Will. "This is barbaric! This is no way for grown men to settle...oh, fine! Let's just haul out our swords and start banging away at each other! That'll solve everything! I've had it! I've had it with wobbly-legged, rum-soaked pirates!"

"She's got a point," Naminé said. "Do they really have to fight over it?"

"Probably not," Kairi said with a shrug. "But don't forget, Naminé, they are men, not girls. They don't think clearly like we do."

Naminé let out a laugh. "Good point, Kairi." She turned towards Roxas. "At least you aren't out there like those idi- Roxas?" Roxas wasn't standing at her side like she thought he had been. She turned back around in time to see the blond former Nobody leap over the chest with the Oathkeeper clutched in his left hand and a massive grin plastered on his face. "Roxas! Where are you going?"

The blond grinned back at her over his shoulder as he ran towards the four duelists fighting over the key. "Are you kidding me?" He called back. "Why would I ever miss out on an opportunity to be in a duel with pirates?" Naminé let out a groan while Kairi giggled a tiny bit.

"I guess Roxas got a little bit of Sora's fascination with pirates, right, Naminé?" Kairi grinned at the blonde, who simply let out a sigh and summoned her Rejection of Fate to her hand.

"Looks that way," she said. "Let's go knock some sense into them, shall we?" Kairi nodded in agreement and summoned Destiny's Embrace.

"They are completely useless without us anyway," Kairi said with a smirk as the two of them moved to follow the duel. Almost instantly, a group of Shadows, Neoshadows, Cannon Guns and Air Pirates appeared, surrounding them from all sides. Naminé and Kairi moved instantly to stand back to back with their Keyblades at the ready.

"Well, this is fantastic," Naminé said sarcastically as the Cannon Guns began charging up their initial attack.

"Look on the bright side," Kairi said as her eyes darted from Heartless to Heartless, "We could be fighting twenty Darksides instead of this cannon fodder."

Naminé let out a loud laugh. "Confident, are we?" She teased.

"Of course," Kairi said with a grin. "Why shouldn't we be? Our 'Master' is the Keyblade's Chosen One and we both inherited his fighting abilities."

"Then let's show these Heartless just who they're dealing with, shall we?" She suggested. In unison the pair raised their Keyblades and pointed their tips up at the sky. Electricity shot from both Keyblades and rose thirty feet into the air, where an orb of electricity took form.

"Thunder!" The two shouted. Ten bolts of lightning rained down from the orb of electricity hanging above their heads, blasting the Shadows into small clouds of black dust. The Neoshadows stumbled backwards from the attack and the Air Pirates crashed face-first into the ground. Only the Cannon Guns seemed unaffected by the attack. All at once, they fired fifteen explosive rounds towards the two teens.

"Reflect!" Kairi shouted and a domed barrier of Light surrounded her and Naminé, absorbing the full brunt of the attack. The barrier shattered as Naminé charged boldly towards a trio of Neoshadows. Jet-black claws slashed out at her and missed as the blonde ducked past them. The trio of Heartless spun around and was greeted by a barrage of ice bullets. The Heartless burst into a thick cloud of Darkness that quickly faded away. Naminé glanced over to where the red-head was leaping through the air, using the Air Pirates as springboards and cutting her way through those within her reach with the fire that burned along the edge of Destiny's Embrace. The sight of it was almost hilarious, but Naminé had no time to laugh as the remaining Neoshadows turned their full attention onto her.

"How'd this go all screwy?" Pintel asked aloud as he and Ragetti watched Sora, Will, Jack, Norrington and Roxas all duel over the key, endlessly spinning in a wide circle down the beach.

"Well, each wants the chest for hisself, don't he?" Ragetti explained. "Mr. Norrington, I think, is trying to regain a bit of honor. Ol' Jack, he's looking to trade it to save his own skin. Sora's not exactly happy with Jack and is trying to keep him away from getting the chest. And Turner there, I think he's trying to resolve some unfinished business 'twixt him and his twice-cursed pirate father."

"Sad," Pintel said, glancing away from the duel to the exposed chest. "That chest must be worth more than a shiny penny."

"Oh, tsk, tsk, terrible temptation," Ragetti agreed.

"If we was any kind of decent, we'd remove temptation from their path," Pintel said, grinning slyly at the one-eyed man.

"Enough!" Elizabeth shouted in exasperation. This was getting ridiculous and she was running out of ideas. "Oh. Oh! The heat!" She placed a hand to her forehead and collapsed to one side, pretending to faint. She narrowly opened one eye and watched as the five-way duel continued, uninhibited by her apparent lack of well-being. She sat up grumpily and placed her tricorne hat back on her head to watch the duel in irritation. She caught a glimpse of Pintel and Ragetti running off with the chest out of the corner of her eye. She glanced quickly back at the fight and decided that it wasn't going to end any time soon before she scrambled to her feet and took off in pursuit of Pintel and Ragetti.

The last of the Air Pirates burst into flame as Kairi's burning Keyblade sliced through its lower abdomen. The auburn-haired teen landed gracefully on the ground behind Naminé with a wild grin on her face. The remaining Heartless formed a lopsided circle around them, jet-black claws outstretched and twitching as they sensed the presences of two strong hearts.

Half of the remaining Neoshadows turned their attention onto Kairi as she straightened up while the other half remained focused on the blonde. Kairi's grin became a confident smirk as she thrust her empty palm towards the Heartless.

Thirteen arrows made from a blinding white light streaked from her palm and impaled the Heartless that had been about to attack her as Naminé felled the remaining Neoshadows by beheading the lot of them. The two of them exchanged triumphant grins and released their Keyblades.

"Is it wrong that I find it fun to beat up a bunch of Heartless?" Kairi asked as she and Naminé high-fived. Naminé gave her a shrug.

"If it is, then I guess something's wrong with both of us," she replied. "I had way too much fun messing with the Heartless. They're not very bright are they?" She and Kairi glanced over to where Sora, Roxas, Jack, Will and Norrington continued clash their blades against one another in an attempt to take the key to the chest for themselves. They both winced as Roxas' head whipped back from receiving a blow from the flat end of Sora's Oblivion. The blond fell backwards into the sand, clutching his now bleeding nose. Sora immediately broke away from the fight to make sure Roxas was okay.

"You know what I think?" Kairi wondered aloud. Naminé gave her an inquisitive look. "I think a bit of Sora's rubbing off on us. He really seems to have fun fighting Heartless a lot of the time, doesn't he?" Naminé laughed.

"I guess so," she said. "We both did gain the ability to fight because of him after all. It would make sense that we also got some of his other traits. Should we go make sure Roxas is alright?" Over in the distance, Roxas' fist shot up and decked Sora hard enough to send the spiky-haired teen sprawling face-first into the sand.

"I think he's fine," Kairi said, wincing slightly at seeing her boyfriend hit like that. The two of them watched for a moment as Roxas healed his bloody nose with a quick Cure spell before helping Sora to his feet. She spotted movement out of the corner of her eye and turned her head to get a better look. Elizabeth was chasing down Pintel and Ragetti as the pair ran awkwardly towards the jungle with the Dead Man's Chest held between them.

"Hey!" Kairi shouted as she began to run after the chest thieves. "They've got the chest!" Naminé looked around to see what Kairi was shouting about and let out a growl when she spotted Pintel and Ragetti.

"Pirates," she spat as the Rejection of Fate appeared back in her hand in a flash of light as the blonde joined her sister and Elizabeth in pursuit of the chest.

"You okay?" Roxas asked Sora as the brunette wiped sand off of his pants and jacket. Sora nodded.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Nice left hook, by the way." Roxas smirked.

"I had time to work on it while I was living in your head," he replied. Sora gave him a quizzical look. "What? You didn't think I'd spend my free time in there just twiddling my thumbs did you?"

"No, I just thought you spent your time sleeping" Sora said holding out his hand to call the Oblivion back to him. He quickly looked around to see how far away Jack, Will and Norrington had gotten. He spotted them in time to see Jack duck under both Will's and Norrington's blades. Jack's blade lashed out and smacked hard against Will's chest, knocking the wind from the former blacksmith and allowing Jack the opportunity to steal the key and run off towards the jungle. Will slashed at Jack's back and missed. He spun to parry a blow from Norrington and turned back around to chase Jack. Norrington grabbed Will by the shoulders and threw him as hard as he could against the ground. Will tried to get back up to no avail as Norrington kicked a large amount of sand into his eyes.

"By your leave, Mr. Turner!" Norrington said, mocking Will with a bow before he ran after Jack.

"Let's go," Roxas said, leaping high into the air and soaring out over the jungle in pursuit of Jack and Norrington. Sora, rather than following Roxas' example, took off on foot after Will through an aged graveyard and into the ruins of an abandoned church, where Jack and Norrington were dueling on a staircase that ran up the inside of the aged bell tower. Norrington snatched the key from Jack and tripped the pirate captain as he attempted to steal it back, causing Jack to fall off of the stairs and clutch tightly to one of the ropes that rang the bell. Will grabbed onto the other rope and used Jack's momentum to pull him up to the top of the bell tower, grabbing the key from Norrington as he ascended. Norrington looked up at Will with a mixed expression of shock and anger.

"By your leave, Mr. Norrington!" Will called down in a mocking tone. Norrington gave a grunt of frustration and charged up the stairs after Will. Sora watched as the swinging bell raised Jack back up to the top of the bell tower, where he climbed out of a window frame to chase after Will and Norrington.

Sora stared after him for a moment before lowering his head as he prepared to leap into the air, only to be staring straight at an oncoming swing from a Berserker's claymore. Sora was sent flying through the air with a shocked expression on his face. He couldn't believe that he hadn't seen the Berserker appear. His back slammed into the ground with enough force to knock the breath from Sora's lungs as he bounced back up only to fall into an empty grave.

"You look like you're having fun," Roxas said with a smirk as he landed next to the grave and peered in at Sora.

"Define fun," Sora said as he stood up in the hole. He crouched down and leapt up and out of the grave to stand next to his blond brother. They turned to watch the Berserker that had sent Sora flying force its way out of the church ruins by widening the doorway with its claymore. Two more Berserkers appeared next to it, all three of them moving purposefully towards Sora and Roxas.

"Just three?" Roxas asked cockily as he twirled the Oathkeeper around in his hand. "I swear, sometimes things are just too easy." The words had barely escaped his lips when ten or so Snipers, half a dozen Samurai and at least seven Neoshadows appeared and surrounded them. "I just had to open my mouth."

"Where did these Nobodies come from?" Sora asked as he and Roxas stared around at their enemies. Roxas shrugged and summoned his Oblivion to his free hand.

"Who cares? Let's just get this over with." He said with a grin. The blond Wielder dashed forward and stabbed both of his Keyblades at the closest Neoshadow and missed as Heartless sank into the ground, becoming a two-dimensional, shapeless pool of Darkness. Another Neoshadow attempted to slice at him with its razor sharp claw, but was stopped as Roxas rolled out of harm's way before spinning around to slice halfway through the Heartless' midriff.

Behind the blond, Sora was quickly surrounded by the ten snipers. The spiky-haired teen only smirked as ten bright-red targeting lines appeared on his body. Sora took a deep breath in and closed his eyes as he slowly exhaled. His eyes snapped open as the Nobodies all fired on him at once. Sora vanished, reappearing in midair as he struck the ten projectiles one by one, deflecting them back into the Snipers and reducing the Nobodies to a white mist.

Roxas darted from one Neoshadow to the next, his Keyblades shining in the mid-day sun as he cut them down. One by one, they fell victim to the sting of his blade until only two remained. The two barely had time to glance at each other before they were struck down by a Thunder spell. Roxas lowered his Keyblades and looked around for more enemies. To his surprise, he found the three Berserkers fending off five of the six Samurai that had appeared.

"That's a first," Sora commented as he watched the Nobody-on-Nobody fight. A claymore fell on one of the Samurai's bodies, reducing it to a white mist while leaving the Berserker holding the claymore open to an attack from behind delivered by another Samurai. The rest of the fight lasted barely thirty seconds, after which, three Samurai remained standing. The three samurai turned to face Roxas, bowed low and then vanished.

"That was one of the strangest things I've seen in a long time," Roxas said with a laugh.

Meanwhile, Jack tried several times to grab the key from Norrington, as the former commodore fended off Will. When he succeeded in taking the key for his own, Norrington and Will both turned their attention onto Jack and teamed up against him, quickly disarming the pirate captain.

Norrington glanced behind him to look at Will. "Do excuse me while I kill the man who ruined my life."

"Be my guest," Will said coldly.

"Let us examine that claim for a moment, former Commodore, shall we?" Jack spoke up. "Who was it who, at the very moment you had a notorious pirate safely behind bars, saw fit to free said pirate, and take your dearly beloved all to hisself?" Norrington glanced back at Will. "So whose fault is it really that you've wound up a rum-pot deckhand what takes orders from pirates?"

"Enough!" Norrington shouted angrily. He swung his cutlass viciously at Jack and missed as the pirate captain somersaulted off of the roof with the key. Norrington and Will watched him for a moment before Norrington spoke up. "Unfortunately, Mr. Turner, he's right!" He swung his blade at the former blacksmith, who barely managed to raise his sword in time to block the attack.

"Still rooting for you, mate," Jack called as dusted himself off and pulled his sword from where it had stabbed into the ground after its fall. He walked away from the church cheerfully and fell directly into the same grave Sora had landed in earlier. Jack stood up and hoisted himself halfway out of the grave with a satisfied grin on his face. His grin faded away, becoming a look of confusion as he heard a low rumbling coming from nearby. Without warning, the water wheel rolled on top of him. The aged wood broke around him and Jack quickly found himself being dragged out of the grave and up with the wheel's rotation. Sora and Roxas watched as the wheel rolled into the forest with Will and Norrington still dueling on top and Jack's legs kicking as he tried to get free. As Jack's legs reached the ground once more he managed to break free and began jogging inside the wheel like a hamster with a smile on his face until his forehead made contact with a crossbeam and caused him to fall out of the side of the wheel.

"That was also one of the strangest things I've ever seen," Roxas commented as he and Sora watched the wheel roll into the jungle. Sora chuckled.

"We need to get you out more."

LD

"We got it!" Pintel said happily as he and Ragetti weaved in and out of the trees. "We got it! We got it!" They came to a sudden, uneasy halt as Elizabeth stepped out in front of them a confident smirk on her face as she reached for her sword. Her confident look disappeared in the blink of an eye as her hand grasped thin air. She glanced down at her waist and immediately gave herself a mental smack. She had completely forgotten that Will had stolen her sword to fight Jack with. She gave a nervous laugh as she looked back at Pintel and Ragetti. The two men exchanged a quick glance and dropped the chest between them as they drew their cutlasses.

"Hello, Poppet," Pintel said with an evil grin. He and Ragetti began to advance on Elizabeth, but were briefly distracted by the odd sight of a water wheel rolling by with Will and Norrington dueling on top as Jack ran alongside the wheel, trying to get back inside. Ragetti gave his uncle a confused look to which Pintel replied with a shrug before they turned back towards Elizabeth. Kairi and Naminé both appeared from behind a tree and went to stand next to Elizabeth, Keyblades drawn and at the ready. Elizabeth's worried expression became one of smugness.

"The chest, please," Kairi said sweetly as a tongue of flame appeared on Destiny's Embrace. Pintel and Ragetti both smiled nervously at the three women as the slowly backed away. Kairi and Naminé nodded at each other and started advancing on the two pirates. Their attention was grabbed however by a tomahawk that embedded itself in the trunk of the nearest tree. The five of them stared at the weapon for a moment before looking around to see the cursed crew of the Flying Dutchman running straight for them.

Pintel and Ragetti thrust their swords into Elizabeth's hands and took off running away from the Dutchman's crew, pausing only to grab the chest as they went. Seeing that they were tremendously outnumbered, Elizabeth, Kairi and Naminé all quickly followed suit and ran away screaming.

They had barely run twenty feet when Pintel and Ragetti both tried to run around opposite sides of a tree with the chest between them. As a result of their lack of thinking, the chest was wrenched from their hands and landed on the ground. The five of them all stopped to look at the chest, and then up at one of the Dutchman's crew members as he attacked Elizabeth. Elizabeth, suddenly thankful that Pintel and Ragetti had forced their swords onto her, quickly raised the two blades in an x-shape to block the incoming strike.

Kairi and Naminé dashed past Elizabeth, both realizing that running wasn't going to help them escape. Destiny's Embrace became covered in flame as Kairi hurled it towards a group of the closest crewmen. The cursed pirates let out shocked cries as the flaming Keyblade spun towards them and they threw themselves to the ground. Kairi grinned with satisfaction and summoned her Keyblade back to her hand in time to counter a strike from another crewman. She kicked the man directly in the fork of his legs as hard as she could, causing him to stumble backwards, hunched over in pain.

Naminé rolled to the side as a crewman wielding a large axe attempted to cleave her in two and slashed at the cursed man's legs. The crewman gave a howl of pain as the Rejection of Fate's tip dug deep into his flesh. Naminé spun around and slammed the flat of her blade against the back of the crewman's skull, knocking him to the ground. As the crewman crumpled to the ground, two more rushed forward to fill his place, but were quickly dispatched. One received a blade through the neck courtesy of Elizabeth, while the other one caught fire as Naminé unleashed a large fireball in his face.

As the rest of the crewmen drove the five normal humans away from where they had dropped the chest, a rather skinny crewman with his head encased in a large conch shell took hold of said chest and ran as quickly as he could for the thick cover of the jungle closer to the beach.

LD

Jack watched smugly as Will and Norrington rolled away inside the water wheel. After he had caught up to the wheel, he had been forced to run inside of it like a hamster while dueling Will and Norrington for possession of the key. He had managed to steal it from the other two and exit the wheel a brief instant before it began to roll down a steep hill. He lifted the two-pronged key to his eyes and grinned victoriously.

The sound of someone running through the knee-high foliage nearby caught Jack's attention, distracting him from relishing his victory. He looked around and spotted the cursed conch-headed crew member running through the clearing Jack was standing it as he carried the chest. Jack glanced around him and spotted a coconut lying at his feet. Lady Luck seemed to be on his side today. He snatched up the coconut, and threw it as hard as he could at the conch-headed man. The coconut, to Jack's amazement, beheaded the man while his body dropped the chest and began wandering around on its own. Jack eyed the body and quickly walked over to kneel by the chest.

"Ai- ya," the head groaned. "Inedo! Inedo! Follow my voice! Follow my voice!" The body turned back and forth in an attempt to locate the head. "To the left… no. Turn around. Go to the right." Thud. "No, that's a tree."

"Oh, shut it," Jack snapped, not wanting to listen to the cursed pirate try and guide his body back to him. He carefully placed the key into the heart-shaped lock on the front of the chest and gave it a quarter-turn to the right. With a hiss, the locking mechanism in the chest snapped open. Jack smirked and cautiously opened the top of the chest. Resting in the back corner, still beating with a steady pulse was the heart of Davy Jones. Jack reached into the chest and removed the heart. He closed the chest and looked up just as a small crowd of Davy Jones' crew burst into the clearing chasing after the four teens, Elizabeth, Pintel and Ragetti. Jack wasted no time in scrambling to his feet and running as quickly as his legs could carry him to the longboat.

Behind him, Pintel and Ragetti paused long enough to pick up the chest and run off with it while Roxas protected them from a pair of cursed crewmembers. A shark-headed crewman attempted to stab Roxas in the back, only to have his arm quickly frozen still by a Blizzaga spell Sora had managed to cast in time. Roxas called out his thanks to his former Somebody and spun around, the Oathkeeper and Oblivion slicing open the guts of the two crewmen he had been blocking against before plunging the Oathkeeper into the frozen-armed man's upper chest.

"Thunder!" Roxas shouted. Electricity coursed along the Oblivion's edge and blasted a large hole in the man's chest. The man collapsed to the ground, howling in agony but remaining alive as tiny fish and other sea life spilled from his wound in place of blood. Roxas fought back the urge to vomit.

"That's disgusting," Kairi said as she leapt over the spiky-haired blond, briefly placing her free hand on his back to use him as a springboard. She landed next to Elizabeth and saved the older woman's life by igniting Destiny's Embrace with a Fire spell and using it to cleave the rusted blade of a crewman off of its hilt. The crewman looked down at his blade in disbelief before looking back at Kairi in time to register that he was staring at the sole of her shoe before it made contact with his face.

Naminé rolled under Kairi's extended leg as the red-head roundhouse-kicked one of the crewmen in the face. The blonde exited her roll and swung the Rejection of Fate upwards, burying it deep into the upper thigh of an anglerfish-faced crewman. The cursed man fell to one knee, swearing loudly as Naminé shoved him aside and stabbed another crewman at the same time as Sora. The crewman fell backwards in shock as the two of them tore their Keyblades back out of his gut. The number of cursed crew around them had thinned and Sora took advantage of the reprieve to make sure there weren't any more of the Dutchman's crew following them. Behind them, the cursed crew was getting back to their feet, completely unaffected by their injuries as they gave the teens and Elizabeth death glares.

Sora swallowed hard. "Uh oh."

"Time to go!" Roxas shouted. Together, the four teens turned tail and ran as fast as they could towards the beach. Behind them, Elizabeth parried blows from two of the crewmen before slashing them across their guts. She spun on her heel and twisted the two blades in her hands so their tips were pointed behind her and impaled another pair of crewmen

"What was the point of all that fighting if they're just going to get back up every time we put them down?" Kairi shouted as they burst through the trees and began running across the sand towards the longboat where Jack was fending off a puffer fish-faced crewman with one of the boat's oars.

"There wasn't one!" Roxas replied as the Dutchman crewmembers ran out from the jungle in hot pursuit. "Unless you count survival." He and Sora both turned to face the crew head on just as the water wheel rolled out of the trees and mowed down over half of the cursed crew. Everyone stopped and watched as the wheel finally came to a stop and fell on its side in the shallows. Will and Norrington, both dizzy and feeling nauseous climbed out of the wheel as the fight broke out again. Will's eyes immediately spotted Elizabeth, Kairi and Roxas dueling against Jones' crew nearby the longboat.

"Right," he said weakly. He pointed his sword at the combatants, took barely two steps and fell face first into the shallows. Behind him, Norrington's eyes were fixed on the boat and a distracted Jack Sparrow, an opportunity he refused to miss out on. He stumbled quickly towards the longboat as Will collapsed in his attempt to get back up.

Norrington ran up beside the longboat and immediately grabbed hold of Jack's coat. He quickly dug through the pockets until he found what he was looking for, the Letters of Marque that offered a full pardon of all crimes. Norrington smirked and tucked the Letters away inside his own coat. He made to turn away from the boat and flee the battle but the sight of dirt inside the boat caught his eye. He looked up to Jack as the captain continued to duel against the puffer fish-faced crewman and smirked.

Pintel and Ragetti fought their way to the boat, using the chest to knock aside the cursed crewmen that got in their way. They tossed the chest into the boat and went to make off with their prize as Norrington finished tucking something away inside of his coat. Their escape was cut short however by Will as the former blacksmith pointed his sword at the two men. Pintel and Ragetti both reached for their swords only to grasp thin air. They both gave Will sheepish smiles and chuckled nervously. He and Ragetti lunged for the nearest objects in the boat.

"Come on, Turner!" Pintel shouted, brandishing an oar like a sword as Ragetti grabbed hold of a net. Will shook his head in amusement before glancing down at the chest. His eyes widened slightly as he noticed the key was still in the lock. Jack knocked the puffer fish-faced crewman back and caught a glimpse of Will staring at the chest. He whacked the crewman once more before turning and bashed Will upside the head with the oar. The resulting crack caught Elizabeth's attention and she immediately rushed to Will's side.

"Leave him lie, unless you plan on using him to hit something with," Jack said to her as he carefully eyed the cursed crewmen.

"We're not getting out of this," Roxas said hopelessly.

"Not with the chest," Norrington said suddenly. He tossed his sword aside and grabbed the chest. "Into the boat."

"You're mad!" Elizabeth said.

"Don't wait for me," Norrington said before he ran back towards the jungle. Jones' crew glanced between the eight still standing by the boat and Norrington's retreating figure. With a roar, they gave chase to the former commodore.

"I say we respect his final wish!" Jack said hurriedly.

"Aye!" Sora and Pintel said in agreement and the eight of them turned to push the boat back into deeper water. They got back to Pearl just a few minutes later where Gibbs helped Sora and Pintel bring Will back onboard. Will was placed next to the railing out of the way and Elizabeth immediately went to his aid as he slowly came to.

"What happened to the Commodore?" Gibbs asked as the crew started to raise the longboat out of the water.

"He fell behind," Jack said uncaringly, clutching his jar of dirt tightly as he strode towards the helm.

"My prayers be with him," Gibbs said solemnly before he instantly cheered up. "Best not wallow in our grief! The bright side is that you're back and made it off free and clear." With a loud rumbling splash, the Flying Dutchman rose from the depths of the ocean alongside the Pearl's portside.

Fear crossed Gibbs' face as he looked up at the laughing faces of Jones and his crew. He slowly crossed himself. "Lord on High, deliver us!"

"I'll handle this, mate," Jack said, placing an encouraging hand across Gibbs' chest before he shouted over to the Dutchman. "Oi! Fish-face!" Jones stopped laughing and glared over at Jack. Jack raised the jar of dirt high above his head as he walked towards the bow of the ship, his eyes never leaving Jones. "Lose something? Eh? Scrungealy-" Everyone on the Pearl winced as he fell down the stairs. There was a brief pause before Jack raised the jar over the railing so Jones could see that it was still intact as he got to his feet. "Got it! Come to negotiate, eh, have you, you slimy git!" He taunted in a sing song voice. "Look what I got. I got a jar of dirt! I got a jar of dirt! And guess what's inside it?"

Jones glared at Jack for a moment before he turned to his first-mate. "Enough!"

Jack's confident expression fell as the Dutchman's cannons were rolled out to aim at the Pearl. "Hard to starboard."

"Hard to starboard!" Elizabeth shouted in panicked tone.

"Brace up the foreyard!" Will commanded. Gibbs shoved Cotton away from the helm and began turning the wheel as quickly as he could to get them away from the Dutchman.

"Hard to starboard!" Davy Jones commanded. "Send his beloved Pearl back to the depths!"

"Fire all!" Maccus shouted. The air was quickly filled with the rapid booming sounds of the Dutchman's cannons all firing in the direction of the Black Pearl. The initial shots tore through the stern of the Pearl, shattering the windows of the captain's cabin and ruining the interior. Pintel and Ragetti peered inside the ruined doors and watched as the Dutchman turned to give chase.

"She's on us!" He shouted as he ran up to the upper deck. "She's on us!"

"Try and get us now, you bastards!" Roxas shouted triumphantly. The words had no sooner left his mouth when a cannonball shattered one of the three lamps set into the Pearl's stern and knocked on of the crewmen into the ocean. Roxas and Sora both peered around the side of the ship back at the Dutchman. Two triple-barreled cannons were protruding from the front of the Dutchman rotating every time a shot was fired and allowing for an almost nonstop assault.

"I may have spoke too soon," Roxas said. Jack strode up to Gibbs and forced him away from the helm. He grabbed hold of the wheel and rotated it clockwise slightly. The sails of the Pearl filled with the wind and the ship lurched slightly as she gained speed.

"Go on, me darling!" Pintel pleaded the ship as he patted the railing affectionately. "Show us what you've got!"

"Come on girl!" Sora shouted as he cast a Reflect spell which shot a cannonball back at the Dutchman. To his satisfaction, he watched one of Jones' crewmen get blown off of the deck as a result. The shots from the Dutchman's triple guns were falling shorter and shorter of their mark as the Pearl picked up speed.

"She's falling behind!" Kairi exclaimed cheerfully.

"Aye, we've got her!" Gibbs said proudly.

"We're the faster?" Will asked.

"Against the wind, the Dutchman beats us. That's how she takes her prey," Gibbs explained. "But with the wind..."

"We rob her advantage," Will realized.

LD

"They're out of range!" A crewman shouted.

"Break off pursuit, run her light and douse canvas," Jones ordered.

"We givin' up, sir?" Maccus asked. Jones smirked at him as the bo'sun cracked his whip above the heads of several crewmembers that were turning the capstan hammer.

LD

"They're giving up!" Marty shouted. The crew all cheered. Pintel and Ragetti locked arms and did a quick dance as Sora and Kairi locked lips next to them.

"My father is on that ship," Will growled to Jack. "If we can outrun her, we can take her. We should stand and fight."

"Why fight when you can negotiate?" Jack asked. He lifted his jar of dirt and placed it on the railing of the upper deck. "All one needs is the proper leverage." The ship came to a shuddering halt, throwing everyone from their feet and, much to Jack's horror, sent the jar of dirt falling to the deck below, where it shattered. Jack let out a small whimper and quickly rushed to the spilled dirt where he began sifting through it, clearly searching for something. "Where is it? Where is the thump-thump?"

"We must have hit a reef!" Someone shouted as the crew peered over the railing at the bubbling water around the hull. Will and Sora shared a brief, knowing look.

"No, it's not a reef!" Sora shouted. He rushed over to Kairi and Naminé and pulled them both back from the rail. "Get away from the rail!"

"What is it?" Kairi asked.

"The Kraken!" Will said. Jack looked up from the spilled dirt in absolute terror. "To arms!"

"Load guns!" Gibbs ordered. "Defend the mast!"

"It'll attack the starboard, I've seen it before!" Will shouted as he passed a rifle off to one of the crewmen. "Run out the cannons and hold for my signal!" The crew ran below deck and quickly readied the cannons. The four Keyblade Wielders summoned their weapons to their hands and lined up alongside the starboard railing as the others remaining above deck armed themselves with spears and rifles. There was a moment of silence as everyone on board watched the creature's suckered limbs slowly climb the side of the ship.

"Easy, boys," Will said in a calming tone as the men gathered around the cannons started to show signs of nervousness. Five fireballs formed on the tips of the Keyblades brandished by the off-worlders.

"Will?" Elizabeth called down to Will as she watched several tentacles slowly rise up the side of the ship.

"Steady...steady..."

"Will!" Elizabeth called again, her voice slightly higher.

"Hold...hold..."

"I think we've held fire long enough!" Pintel said anxiously.

"WILL!"

"Fire!"

The Black Pearl's cannons all fired directly into the Kraken's tentacles, blasting off large chunks of flesh and bone. Five fireballs sent from five Keyblades incinerated large sections of flesh straight to the bone. The tentacles writhed in pain and one slammed down onto the deck, smashing the longboats before sliding off of the deck. Sora felt a shiver travel up his spine as he heard the Kraken let out a groan of pain. The tentacles slowly sank back into the water. As the last of the tentacles slipped back beneath the surface of the ocean, the crew all let out cheers.

"It'll be back," Will said to Elizabeth. We have to get off the ship."

"There's no boats," she said hopelessly. Will turned and saw the wreckage of the longboats on the deck.

"Well, isn't this fantastic?" Roxas muttered sarcastically. Will watched as a barrel of gunpowder rolled across the hull and an idea came to him.

"Pull the grates!" He ordered. "Get all the gunpowder onto the net in the cargo hold!" The crew all began scrambling about as they went to follow orders. Sora ran below deck to help out in any way he could while Kairi, Naminé and Roxas remained on deck, preparing for the Kraken's next assault. Will was handed a rifle, which he immediately passed along to Elizabeth. "Whatever you do, don't miss."

"As soon as you're clear," she promised. In no time at all, the crew had pulled the grates and had loaded the only six barrels of gunpowder onboard. "We're short stock on gunpowder!" Someone shouted. "Six barrels!"

"There's only half a dozen kegs of powder!" Sora called out to Will.

"Then load the rum!" Will shouted back. The crew all fell silent, awkwardly staring at Gibbs, clearly waiting for a second opinion.

"Aye, the rum too!"Gibbs said painfully before he climbed back above deck. Roxas tossed a handful of rifles to Marty and glanced out at the sea to see if he could spot the Kraken. Instead, all he saw was Jack, rowing away in the only surviving longboat.

"That son of a bitch," he muttered. "He abandoned us." He was nearly thrown off of his feet as the ship lurched beneath him.

"Not good," Marty said in a worried tone. With a roar, several of the Kraken's tentacles emerged from the water and stabbed themselves into the cannon ports. Chaos ensued on the Black Pearl as the crewmen fought desperately against the Kraken. The tentacles writhed below deck, smashing the cannons and wrecking everything it could. Crewmen were grabbed and dragged out through the holes in the ship to become food for the beast.

"Haul away!" Sora shouted as he ran above deck in time to see Roxas thrown into the wreckage of the captain's cabin by a tentacle the blond had damaged.

"Heave!" Gibbs shouted to the crewmen gathered around the capstan. "Heave like you're being paid for it!"

"Put your backs into it!" Marty shouted as he stood on the capstan.

"I got you! I got you!" Gibbs shouted as he held onto the arms of a crewman being held by one of the smaller tentacles. "I won't let you go!" Another tentacle tripped Gibbs and he lost his grip on the crewman, who was raised high into the air. Sora attempted to rescue the crewman by blasting the tentacle with a Firaga spell, but he missed and instead set fire to one of the sails.

"Shoot me!" A crewman managed to shout before he was dragged beneath the waves. Gibbs scrambled to his feet as the net loaded with all of the ship's rum and gunpowder was raised above deck. Elizabeth raised the rifle and took aim at the net.

"Clear?" Elizabeth shouted to Will.

"Higher! Higher" Will shouted, gesturing upwards with his sword. A tentacle pulled itself from the lower decks and wrapped above the capstan before smashing it, bringing Will's ascent to a lurching halt. Roxas rejoined the fray and froze one of the Kraken tentacles solid with a Blizzaga spell. He ducked under another tentacle that would've sent him flying overboard and shattered the frozen limb. The Kraken let out an earsplitting roar and before Roxas could react, he was thrown by a tentacle into the portside stairs, smashing them and hitting his head hard against the cannon that was secured beneath them.

Sora pulled Kairi out of harm's way as a tentacle smashed into the deck where she had been standing a brief second before. She barely had time to thank him before another tentacle threatened to crush them both. The tentacle swept Kairi off of her feet and began to curl around her ankles only to be quickly severed by Sora's Oblivion. She and Sora both looked around as Naminé let out a high-pitched scream. The Kraken had snared both of her arms and held her high above the deck of the Pearl as it prepared to drag her to a watery grave.

"Naminé!" Sora and Kairi cried out. Both of them leapt into the air and flew up to the Kraken's tentacle that held tightly to the blonde. Kairi sliced off the tip of the tentacle with her Keyblade before sending and electric jolt through the injured limb. Naminé let out another scream as she fell, only to be caught by Sora. He floated back down to the upper deck and gently placed Naminé back on the wood.

"Thanks, Sora," Naminé said as she took in several deep breaths. Sora grinned as Kairi landed next to him.

"Don't mention it," Sora said. He turned towards the stairs to rejoin the fight when a Kraken tentacle slammed into him from above, knocking Kairi and Naminé off to the side.

"Sora!" Kairi and Naminé shouted in unison. The tentacle that had slammed into Sora rose again and swung towards them only to be blown to pieces by a pair of Fira spells fired off by Naminé as Kairi rushed to Sora's side.

"Are you okay?" Kairi asked him quietly as she examined him carefully.

Sora forced a grin through the pain in his head and looked back at her. "I've had worse," he said. Kairi breathed a sigh of relief and quickly examined the shallow gash that had appeared just below Sora's hairline and across his forehead.

"Let me get that for you," she said softly as she placed her hand over his forehead. "Heal." Green light shone from underneath her palm for a brief moment as the healing magic took effect so that when Kairi removed her hand, only a faint pink line was left behind.

Sora ran his hand quickly over the place where the wound had been before grabbing Kairi by the shoulders and pulling her into a hug. "Thanks, Kairi." The red-head smiled at him and kissed him gently on his cheek.

"You're welcome, Sora," she whispered softly.

"C'mon! Come and get me!" Will shouted. "I'm over here! C'mon!" One of the tentacles slammed into the deck, throwing one of the few intact cannons overboard and ended up getting the net wrapped tightly around it as it tried to grab Will. Unfortunately for Will, that caused him to lose his sword and trapped his ankle in the net. He quickly recovered and yanked the knife his father had given him from his belt.

"Shoot!" Will shouted as he furiously hacked away at the ropes binding his ankle. Elizabeth hesitated, carefully aiming the gun and waiting for Will to get free, unaware that three tentacles were slowly slithering through the captain's cabin behind her. "Elizabeth, shoot!" She took a deep breath and aimed carefully. Without warning, one of the tentacles from the captain's cabin grabbed hold of her ankle and dragged her to the floor as it began to pull her off of the ship. Elizabeth let out a scream as the Kraken dragged her through the ruined door of the cabin.

With a shout, Ragetti stepped next to the tentacle and severed it with a large axe, freeing Elizabeth. The woman immediately turned around and spotted the rifle she had dropped as a crewman grabbed hold of it and aimed at the net. Before he could pull the trigger, the Kraken wrapped one of its tentacles around it and shook him about like a rag doll. The man's body went limp as his neck snapped and the rifle fell from his hands onto the upper deck. Elizabeth ran after it and fell to the ground as the Kraken caused the Pearl to lurch violently. She crawled quickly up the stairs and grabbed the rifle as someone placed their boot on it to prevent her from taking it.

Elizabeth struggled in a desperate attempt to remove the person's boot from the rifle until she looked up and saw Jack standing proudly above her. Jack picked up the rifle and took aim at the net as Will cut himself free and fell to the deck. Kairi and Naminé sliced through another tentacle and turned in time to see Jack aim. Roxas appeared out of nowhere and pulled them both to the deck to shield themselves from what was coming. Jack pulled the trigger and the gunpowder and rum exploded violently. Chunks of burning wood and Kraken flesh fell to the deck as the Kraken let out a groan of pain and pulled its tentacles back underwater.

"Did we kill it?" Marty asked as he and Gibbs leaned cautiously over the railing.

"No, we just made it angry," Gibbs said nervously. "We're not out of this yet. Captain! Orders!"

"Abandon ship," Jack said as he tossed the rifle he had used to detonate the barrels aside. "Into the longboat."

"Jack! The Pearl," Gibbs said, gesturing at the debris and Kraken-flesh covered deck.

"She's only a ship, mate," Jack said indifferently. His eyes gave him away though.

"He's right," Elizabeth said. "We have to head for land."

"That's a lot of open water," Pintel said nervously.

"It's a lot of water," Ragetti repeated.

"We have to try," Sora said as Kairi and Naminé helped him to his feet. "We can get away as it takes down the Pearl."

"Abandon ship," Gibbs said darkly. "Abandon ship or abandon hope." He began hurriedly gathering supplies while Jack turned back towards the captain's cabin, running one hand along the mast as he took one final look at the ship he treasured so much.

"Thank you, Jack," Elizabeth said quietly from behind him. Jack turned to her.

"We're not free yet, love," he said solemnly.

"You came back," she said with a smile. "I always knew you were a good man." Without hesitation, she pressed her lips to his and began to slowly back him towards the main mast. Will looked up from the side of the ship as he passed a rifle down to Marty and froze as he caught sight of Jack and Elizabeth locked together by the lips. A look of disbelief slowly formed on his face.

"Prepare to cast off! There's no time to lose!" Gibbs said hurriedly. Will seemed unable to move and was blocking the ladder down into the longboat. "C'mon Will, step to!" Will tore his eyes aware from the kiss and slowly climbed down into the longboat.

The kiss broke apart as a loud click filled Jack's ears. He glanced down at his wrist and saw a manacle securing him to the mast. He should've seen that coming. "It's after you, not the ship," Elizabeth said. "It's not us. This is the only way, don't you see?" she said in a hushed tone as if she were trying to justify her actions to herself. "I'm not sorry."

Jack smirked. "Pirate." Elizabeth backed away from him and went to get into the longboat, leaving Jack to watch her go.

"Where's Jack?" Will asked in a cold tone as Elizabeth stepped into the longboat. She purposely kept her eyes away from him, hiding her guilt at what she had just done.

"He elected to stay behind to give us a chance," Elizabeth explained. The others looked back up at the Pearl in confusion. That didn't sound like something Jack would do. "Go!" Naminé hesitantly released the rope tethering them to the doomed ship and the longboat slowly drifted away.

Back on the deck of the Black Pearl, Jack grinned triumphantly as he managed to squeeze his hand out of the cuff Elizabeth had put him in by using some oil from a lantern he broke. His grin fell as he heard the sound of something rising from the water behind him and slowly turned to find himself facing the jaws of the Kraken. The best opened its gaping maw, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth and let out a blood-curdling roar. Slime flew as it roared, coating Jack and part of the Pearl's deck.

Jack's body shuddered from the feel of the Kraken's slime. "Not so bad," he said as he wiped the slime off of his face. He glanced down and spotted his tricorne hat he had lost lying at his feet. Eagerly, he bent down and placed it back on his head before he looked back up at the Kraken's gaping mouth. "Hello, Beastie." He drew his blade and strode up to the railing as the Kraken bore down on him, plunging his blade deep into the beast's gullet.

The survivors of the Pearl watched sadly as the Kraken's tentacles wrapped around the ship, pulling slowly beneath the waves.

From the deck of Flying Dutchman, Davy Jones watched through his spyglass as the Kraken's tentacles dragged the Pearl to the crushing darkness. He closed the spyglass and stared satisfied at the place where the Black Pearl had been just a moment before. "Jack Sparrow, our debt is settled."

"The captain goes down with his ship," one of the crewmen said.

"Turns out not even Jack Sparrow can best the Devil," Maccus added. Those words struck a chord inside Jones. A single thought ran through his mind. He didn't.

"Open the chest," Jones commanded his crew. The crewmen exchanged confused looks as Jones turned to face Maccus. "Open the chest, I need to see it!" The chest was brought before Jones and unlocked. Jones knelt in front of the chest and opened it, a look of anger crossing his face.

"Damn you, Jack SPARROW!"

LD

Tia Dalma's Shack

The room was filled with a saddened silence, broken only by the steady sound of Will stabbing his father's knife into the table and pulling it out again. Gibbs stared out at the bayou while Kairi held a shell-shocked Sora. Sora wasn't used to losing. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had lost so horribly in anything. Naminé and Roxas huddled together in a corner, silently watching as Tia Dalma walked from person to person, offering them mugs of hot tea. Only Elizabeth seemed unwilling to take one.

Tia Dalma gave her a sympathetic look. "Against the cold, and the sorrow," she said. Offering the tray to Elizabeth once more. Elizabeth conceded and took a mug. Tia Dalma smiled and moved to place a mug next to Will. "It's a shame. I know you're thinking that with the Pearl, you could have captured the Devil himself and set free your father's soul."

"It doesn't matter now," Will said as he stabbed his knife into the table again. "The Pearl's gone, along with its captain."

"Aye, and already the world seems a bit less bright," Gibbs said from the doorway as he stared out at the bayou. "He fooled us all right till the end, but I guess that honest streak finally won out." He turned and raised his glass to the room "To Jack Sparrow!"

"Never another like Captain Jack!" Ragetti said sadly.

"He was a gentleman of fortune, he was," Pintel agreed.

"The best pirate I've ever seen," Sora said, raising his glass as well.

"He was a good man," Elizabeth said, a mixture of sadness and guilt in her voice. Everyone took a drink and silence ensued once more.

"If there was anything could be done to bring him back..." Will began, reaching out to Elizabeth only for her to shy away. "Elizabeth..."

"Would you do it? Hmm?" Tia Dalma asked Will suddenly. She turned to Elizabeth. "What would you? Hmm? What would any of you be willing to do? Hmm? Would you sail to the ends of the eart' and beyond to fetch back witty Jack and him precious Pearl?"

"Aye," Gibbs said.

"Aye," Sora and Roxas said in unison.

"Aye," Kairi and Naminé agreed.

"Aye," Pintel said as he got to his feet.

"Aye," Ragetti and Cotton's parrot chorused.

"Yes," Elizabeth said. Tia Dalma turned to Will expectantly.

"Aye," he said softly.

"All right," Tia Dalma grinned. "But if you go and brave the weird and haunted shores at World's End, then you will need a captain who knows those waters." She turned towards a spiral staircase set into the back corner of the room as heavy footsteps began to descend along them. The others all watched with anticipation as a man dressed in black came to a stop a few steps from the bottom.

"So tell me, what's become of my ship?" Barbossa said as he lifted a bright green apple to his mouth and took a large bite out of it, leaving juice to run down his chin and beard. The Oblivion appeared in Sora's hand as he glared at Barbossa, startling Kairi, Naminé and Roxas. "Master Sora, it's been too long."

"Not long enough," Sora growled.

"You know this guy?" Roxas asked.

"We all do," Will spoke up. "I thought Jack killed you, Barbossa."

Barbossa took another bite of his apple, not bothering to swallow the bite before he spoke. "I died, true enough. But how can you get to the land of the dead without a guide who's sailed that way before, hmm?"

"And you can take us there?" Gibbs asked skeptically. Barbossa laughed.

"But of course, Master Gibbs," he said. "But first we need to possess the Mao Kun charts to find the World's End. So we best be settin' sail for Singapore." Barbossa turned back towards Sora. "It's a long ways to Singapore, lad. I'm sure you've business elsewhere and won't be able to come with us. But when the time comes, I'm sure I can expect you there." Sora nodded.

"You got it," he said, keeping a close-eye on Barbossa as he moved to stand closer to Kairi, Roxas and Naminé. "We'll be back as soon as we can."

"How will we know when you guys reach Singapore though?" Kairi asked. Barbossa reached into his pocket and tossed her a silver, Spanish coin.

"That there's a special piece of eight," he explained. "When the song is sung, that coin will reverberate with the song. When it does, you'll know to come."

Sora nodded in understanding. "We'll be here," he said simply as he pulled out the Gummi remote and waved to the others in the room, purposely making sure he didn't wave to Barbossa. "See you guys later."

"Bye, everyone," Kairi, Naminé and Roxas chorused as Sora pressed the button on the remote and transported them back to the Kingdom.

LD

Lord Cutler Beckett's Office

"Lord Beckett, the last of our ships has returned," Ian Mercer announced as he strode into Beckett's office. Beckett looked up from the stack of shipping manifests laid out on his desk.

"Is there any news on the chest?" He asked, somehow already knowing the answer.

"None," Mercer said plainly. Beckett sighed and turned his eyes back towards the manifests. "But, one of our ships did pick up a man adrift at sea. He had these." Beckett looked up again in curiosity as Mercer dropped the leather-bound Letters of Marque Elizabeth and Kairi had stolen from him.

"I took the liberty of filling in my name," Norrington said as he entered the room. Smirking at Beckett.

"If you intend to claim these, then you must have something to trade," Beckett said, watching the disheveled man carefully. "Do you have the compass?"

Norrington shook his head and walked over to stand in front of the desk. "Better." He raised his hand and dropped a small bundle onto the wood. Beckett leaned forward in fascination as the bundle shifted slightly of its own accord.

Thump-Thump

"The heart of Davy Jones."

LD

Onboard the Kingdom

Sora let out a long yawn as he, Kairi, Roxas and Naminé appeared inside their respective warp chambers. His body ached all over from all of the fighting he had been involved with over the past few hours. The last time he could remember being this sore was after he had taken on a thousand Heartless all by himself in the Great Maw on Radiant Garden.

"I'm beat," Kairi groaned as the three of them stepped out the chambers. "Today was just too intense."

"I'm starving!" Roxas groaned as he stretched his arms above his head. "Who knew not having a body could make you so hungry?" Naminé raised her hand. "That was rhetorical. I'm going to go make myself a sandwich. Do you three want any-?" Roxas' words were cut off as a bolt red lightning struck him square in the shoulder blades with enough force to slam his head into the wall. Roxas let out a small gasp of pain and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"Roxas!" Naminé cried out in shock. She, Sora and Kairi spun around to find themselves face to face with Roxas' assailant. The man towering above the three teens was dressed in white, segmented armor accented with brown sections that covered his chest, shoulders, arms and legs. His face was concealed by the gold, polarized dome-visor helmet. Red sparks danced in-between his fingertips as he turned his hidden face from one teen to the next

"Who are you?" Sora asked, wondering how this man got onto their ship. The man remained silent. In response to Sora's question, he raised a hand and before the three teens could react, had sent a large bolt of red lightning straight into his chest.

LD

Alliance Fallback HQ Medical Ward

The Frozen Fields

The Way to Dawn slammed into Naleten's staff with a loud clang as Riku countered the Nobody's attack. He let out a growl of frustration and applied as much force into his blade as he could muster, forcing Naleten to stumble backwards. The Nobody recovered almost instantly. He spun around, swinging his staff like a bat towards Riku's midriff. The silver-haired Keyblade Wielder leapt backwards, avoiding the attack by mere inches.

"You're quite the popular person, aren't you?" Naleten asked casually as he charged at Riku again. Riku let out a grunt as the tip of the staff's crystal tip left a shallow wound in his left shoulder. "Maleficent and Xehanort both want you dead for some odd reason. I can't see why though. There's nothing overly special about you, is there?" The blunt end of the staff dug into the wall as Riku sidestepped the attack that had been aimed for his head. "At least not yet, anyways."

"Depends," Riku said as he stabbed at Naleten's chest. "How about I cut you down? Then we'll talk about who isn't anything 'special'." The Nobody smirked and drove his staff further into the wall to anchor it in place before he swung himself up on it, causing the Way to Dawn to pass through empty air where he had been a split second before as he held himself upside down in a straight line on the top of the makeshift bar.

"I think we both know that person would be you," Naleten taunted. He swung himself around on his staff and kicked Riku squarely in the center of his chest with both feet. Riku was sent flying across the room into a cart laden with medical equipment. The silver-haired Wielder let out a gasp of pain as he felt the metal of the cart buckle and bend under the force of the blow. Naleten placed his feet back on the ground and tore his staff from the wall, littering the floor with small chunks of drywall, insulation and stone. "See? You can't even land a single hit on me."

Riku groaned and forced himself up from the wrecked cart. Naleten moved swiftly and was practically on top of Riku in the blink of an eye. Despite the throbbing pain in his back, Riku leapt away from Naleten at the last possible nanosecond, narrowly avoiding the sharp tip of the crystal set into the staff. The crystal slashed straight through the cart, splitting one of its sides wide open like it was made of paper. Naleten tore the staff away from the cart and pointed it at Riku. Several streaks of red energy flew from the crystal and shot towards the teen. Riku smirked and easily deflected the energy attacks. Compared to the hundreds of ethereal beams Xemnas had attacked Sora and him with when they had clashed with the Nobody the previous month, stopping Naleten's attack was absurdly easy.

Naleten charged at Riku, swinging his staff with deadly force. The Way to Dawn flashed up and stopped the Nobody's attack cold. Naleten stumbled from the unexpected resistance and Riku took his chance to unleash a series of heavy blows against the Nobody's chest. The Way to Dawn became a dark blur in Riku's hands as it struck Naleten again and again until the combo finished with Riku blasting Naleten at a point blank range with an explosion of light tinged with a dark shadow. Naleten was hurled across the room, where he slammed headfirst into a wall covered with computer monitors that had been monitoring Riku's vitals.

"Why are you trying to kill me?" Riku asked. "I've never done anything to you." Naleten grinned, flashing his pointed teeth at Riku as he got back to his feet, seemingly unaffected by the damage Riku had just dealt him.

"Whatever made you think I was trying to kill you?" He asked. His body seemed to flicker for a moment and then he vanished only to reappear inches in front of Riku before the teen had time to react. Naleten's fist slammed heavily into Riku's ribs, accompanied by a sharp cracking sound. Riku eyes widened from the shock of the pain. His hand went limp and the Way to Dawn clattered to the ground, vanishing in a flurry of sparkling lights. He tried to cry out but only managed a small cough. Tiny flecks of blood flew from his mouth and splattered against Naleten's cloak. The Nobody's emotionless grin became more pronounced. He stepped back from Riku and watched him fall to his knees.

"Are you ready to surrender yet?" Naleten said as he set his staff down on a nearby bed. He grabbed Riku by his throat and hoisted him up into the air. Riku glared down at him for a moment before spitting in Naleten's face. The Nobody's grin vanished as he wiped the spittle away with his free hand. "I guess not." He pulled back his free hand and punched Riku as hard as he could in the face. Riku was torn away from Naleten's grip as the punch sent him sailing through the wall to land face first against a cold stone floor.

Naleten picked his staff back up and aimed it at the hole in the wall he had created using Riku's body. The red crystal on the staff's end emitted a single pulse of energy and the rest of the wall was blown apart, leaving a large enough space for him to walk through.

Naleten squinted through the cloud of dust left behind by the ruined wall in an attempt to find Riku's body. It didn't take long for the dust to settle and when it did, Riku wasn't lying amongst the chunks of the wall. Naleten's brow furrowed in confusion. He had seen the boy hit the ground where he was now standing, but there was no sign of the silver-haired Keyblade Wielder anywhere. Naleten checked to his left and right. He was standing in a long corridor that stretched for hundreds of yards in both directions with the only door leading back into the medical ward. He checked behind him and peered back in the hole in the wall to see if Riku had slipped back in there.

Where did he go? Naleten asked himself. He raised his hand to examine the pale skin on his throbbing knuckles. How long had it been since he had punched someone in the face? He found it hard to believe that it would hurt as much as it did. The ground beneath him lit up with a bright golden light without warning. Naleten glanced down at it for a moment before he realized where Riku had vanished to. Above! His head snapped up in time to watch as countless, gold orbs of light tinged with black shadows rained down on him at rapid speeds. Orb after orb struck into him, hammering one after the other until the last orb forced his knees to give out beneath him. Naleten hit the floor, still staring up at the ceiling as Riku dropped in front of him, the Way to Dawn drawn and covered in the same gold and black light that had made up the orbs.

Naleten smirked up at Riku before rising to his feet, seemingly unharmed. "That was impressive. But I've been around for a very long time and after what I've been through, that was nothing more than a love tap."

"Is that so?" Riku asked as he did his best to hide that he was slightly unnerved at the fact that the Nobody didn't show any signs of being injured. "Then what would you call this?" He moved swiftly, refusing to give Naleten the chance to block or avoid his next attack. The Way to Dawn struck Naleten's left side and threw him sideways with enough force to break through the wall opposite to the hole that now lead into the medical ward. Riku leapt through the wall after the Nobody and immediately felt a wave of disbelief pass through his body as he quickly took in his surroundings. They weren't inside the Alliance Fallback HQ anymore. They weren't even on the Frozen Fields anymore. They were standing in what was unmistakably the Keyblade Graveyard, although, they seemed to be in an area of the graveyard that was completely bare of any rusted, ancient Keyblades.

"What the-?" He asked aloud as he glanced around. "How did we get here?" Riku turned around to look behind him. The hole he had made by throwing Naleten through the wall was there, but it seemed to just hang in the air a few feet above the ground. As he watched, the hole slowly faded away, revealing more of the Keyblade Graveyard's landscape.

Naleten stood several yards away with his back to Riku, staring out at the dry, dead plains from beneath his hood. He let out a small chuckle and turned to face the silver-haired Wielder. "And I was told you were intelligent."

Riku let out a growl. He wasn't fond of being made fun of. He only really let Sora and Kairi get away with it, if only because they never meant anything harmful by it. "Care to run that by me again?"

"It should have been obvious by now," Naleten said. "We're not in the real world, are we?" Riku raised an eyebrow at him.

"Are you trying to tell me that this is all a hallucinogenic dream brought on as a result of the painkillers that Jenna person gave me?" He asked. Naleten chuckled humorlessly.

"Don't be ridiculous," he said. "Just because we're not in the real world doesn't mean what's happening to us now isn't real, does it?"

"Is it really that hard to answer a simple question? If this isn't a dream and we're not in the real world anymore, then where are we?" Riku demanded as he raised his Keyblade. "You'd better answer quickly, 'because I'm not in the mood to deal with your games anymore. In case you didn't know, I'm supposed to be recovering from falling off of a cliff."

"I know all about that," Naleten replied. "Keila almost did a good job at finishing you off. Oh well, it works in my favor if you live, but your memories of Keila are a bit of an inconvenience."

"Will you please get to the point?" Riku growled. "Quit beating around the bush."

"Fine," Naleten said indifferently. "That blackout was the last time you and I were in the real-world. I cut the power lines to the entire complex to keep the others living there busy while I dove into your heart."

A puzzled look crossed Riku's face. "What do you want with my heart?"

"Many things," Naleten said. "But I don't really need you anytime soon. In fact, if you and Keila had never met, I wouldn't have to be here right now."

"This place is my heart?" Riku asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I don't believe you. I've been inside my own heart during my Awakening. This isn't what my heart looks like."

"So, you've already experienced the Destati?" Naleten asked as his staff appeared in hands with a flash of red light. "Impressive. That explains how you were able to cast us out of your heart and into my memories, very impressive."

"Your memories?" Riku asked. Naleten nodded.

"We are standing in my most recent memory of this place," he replied. "A suiting location for us to finish this little battle of mental prowess, wouldn't you agree?" Riku glanced around and noticed for the first time that the Keyblade Graveyard around them didn't look quite the same as when he and Sora had dueled against Xanthos during their Mark of Mastery Exam. The Keyblades he could see weren't embedded in the ground or covered in the aged rust of misuse, but instead lay scattered across the field he and Naleten stood in, still clutched in the hands of their deceased Masters. The freshly moved earth was stained with blood, covered in burn marks and frozen in countless places. Off in the distance, Riku could just barely make out the shapes of hundreds of people fighting with Keyblades. Realization dawned on Riku as he surveyed their surroundings.

"This is the Keyblade War, isn't it?" Riku asked aloud as he stared down at the body of a young woman with crimson hair that was lying in a pool of her own blood.

"Yes, it is," Naleten said. "Congratulations. You are the first person in almost five thousand years to witness a small fraction of the carnage the Keyblade War unleashed upon the worlds."

"Doesn't that mean you should be dead?" Riku pointed out. "I'm starting to get the feeling you're lying to me. I've only met two people who lived since the Keyblade War; Xanthos and his sister. They're Keyblade Wielders who were preserved in time. You're a Nobody and I doubt anyone would've tried to preserve you."

"I'm assuming that was an insult," Naleten said. "But I didn't need to be kept in a Cryptum like dear old Xanthos to survive. You see, Nobodies, as I've discovered, never truly age. Did you know that? Sure, our physical appearances can change drastically over time, but as long as nothing destroys us and we never reunite with our heart, we will continue to live on forever." He gestured at himself before glancing around at their surroundings with slightly bored expression. "If I had a heart, I would laugh at the absurdity of it all. Who would've thought the key to immortality would come with such a heavy cost, and yet still be so easily obtained? Almost five-thousand years ago, this place wasn't known as the Keyblade Graveyard. It was known simply as the Badlands, a harsh world at the exact center of the universe, the closest place there is to Kingdom Hearts without opening any of the Doors. The Keyblade War reached its climax here as a person I once called friend fought with me. I was defeated and he left me to the mercy of the Heartless someone had summoned to the battlefield." He glanced back at Riku before adding "And it is here that I will seal away your memories of the Catalyst."

In a flash of red light, Naleten's staff reappeared in his hands as the Nobody dashed towards Riku. Riku reacted on instinct and somersaulted backwards, effectively avoiding the powerful blow from Naleten's staff. He landed on his feet and swung the Way to Dawn in a wide arc in front of him. Half a dozen streaks of gold light tinged with jet-black cores streaked towards the Nobody.

The gem in Naleten's staff released a visible pulse of energy that created a barrier around Naleten. The six streaks of light collided with the barrier and faded instantly from existence. "A feeble attempt to defeat me," Naleten said. "I'm disappointed. I expected… more from someone such you." Riku smirked.

"I guess I'll just have to step up my game then, huh?" He said. A bright golden light flowed from Riku's hand and enveloped the Way to Dawn, extending well past the tip and adding about two feet in length to the blade. Small, curved spikes of orange light edged with black formed along the curved edge of the Sunblade, each nearly six inches in length. Riku placed his hand over the cross-guard and wrenched his hand back towards his body along with a chain made entirely out of golden light with it. With a roar, the Sunblade came to life as the curved spikes began their endless, high-velocity rotation. Riku raised the Way to Dawn high above his head.

Golden beams of light shot out from the tip of the Keyblade and began wrapping themselves tightly around Naleten's upper body, binding his arms to his side. The Nobody struggled against the bond and attempted to angle his staff to slice through the light ropes with its sharp point. Riku smirked as the Nobody struggled against his bonds. The beams separated themselves from the Way to Dawn and anchored themselves into the ground as Riku leapt high into the air.

"Are you ready for this?" Riku shouted down at the Nobody. Naleten looked up at him with a defiant look plastered on his face.

"Do your worst," he snarled. The light on the Way to Dawn intensified.

"You asked for it," Riku said as he plummeted towards the Nobody. Light enveloped his entire body until he became a bright streak against the gray, over-cast sky. "Go into the light!" The Way to Dawn slammed into Naleten's head and the light around Riku's body forced itself painfully into the Nobody's body. Naleten let out a howl of pain and collapsed face first on the ground, blood slowly beginning to pool next to the Nobody's head

Riku leapt away from Naleten and grinned triumphantly. "That's what you get," he said with a lack of compassion. He watched Naleten's chest rise and fall shakily for a few moments with mild relief. He didn't want him to fade back to Darkness just yet. He still had one very important question to ask. "You mentioned Keila earlier. What does she have to do with your 'plan'? And what do I have to do with it, for that matter?"

"She is the Catalyst of Daybreak," Naleten explained slowly as he rose to his feet. He winced slightly as he pressed his free hand against the bleeding wound Riku had left on his head. "Without her, you're useless to me. But I'm not ready for either of you yet."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Riku demanded, leveling the Way to Dawn's tip at the Nobody's chest.

"By meeting Keila," Naleten continued as his wound slowly began to close, "you activated the early stages of the Catalysis before I had expected it to occur, jeopardizing my plans and forcing me to take action. I told Keila's mother about how close the two of you were becoming on the road to Atlantis and I showed her images to support my claims. Cynthia, in her rage, took Keila from you and I thought that would be enough. I should have known better.

"You told your AI about how you intended to find your new 'friend' and rescue her. That was when I knew the Catalyst had activated and the first stage of Catalysis must've been nearing completion. Despite the two of you being enemies, you grew closer and developed a friendship in mere days, something any intelligent person would've been wary of, but no. The two of you were just fine with it.

"The risk was too great. I decided the time had come for direct intervention from myself. Over the course of my five millennia alive as a Nobody, I developed a unique ability. I can seal or unseal sections of a person's heart, soul, or mind. I can manipulate free will, alter decisions, limit powers, and grant them, block memories, control emotions or change entire personalities. This ability of mine allowed me to seal away any of Keila's memories or feelings that had anything to do with you. But I've come to the conclusion that it's just not enough. Because she is the Catalyst, you will subconsciously pursue her until Catalysis is complete and that in turn will cause the seals I've placed on her to weaken. So I need to put a stop to that subconscious thought here and now.

"To answer your earlier question, no, I am not trying to kill you. I'm simply going to seal away any memory you have of Keila and any feelings you have towards her so my plans can flow smoothly without further slip-ups from two of my most valuable pawns." Naleten stared expectantly at Riku with a sharp-toothed grin slowly spreading across his face. Anger surged through Riku. He felt his hand quivering around the Way to Dawn's hilt as he struggled to fight his anger.

A pawn? That's all anyone ever seemed to think of him. Maleficent used him as a pawn. Zexion saw him as a pawn. Even DiZ.

He let out a low hiss as he glared at Naleten. This Nobody was the reason Keila couldn't remember that she and Riku had become friends. This Nobody was the reason Keila had almost killed him. "You bastard," he growled. "It's your fault she didn't remember me. It's your fault I ended up needing medical attention for the second time in less than a month. You almost got me killed!"

Naleten let out a low chuckle. "Now, now, Master Riku. Raw anger really doesn't suit you." He held out his arms wide to Riku, as though he were offering the teen a hug. "Now then, why don't you put your Keyblade away and give in to me? Your mental strength may be astounding, but anyone can see that you're at your limit. If you keep this up much longer, you just might die." Riku let out a snort of annoyance.

"I am no one's pawn," he growled. "I am Master Riku. Wielder of the Keyblade and I refuse to let my heart and mind be sealed by anyone, least of all you. So go screw yourself!" Naleten let out a sigh.

"Fine," he said coldly. "The hard way it is, then." Naleten snapped his fingers once and something heavy collided with the back of Riku's head. The Keyblade Graveyard shattered into an infinite number of lights that slowly faded out of existence. Riku fell to his knees on the stained glass platform that represented his heart, unable to move. The Way to Dawn clattered against the platform's surface next to him. Riku rolled onto his side and stared up at Naleten's emotionless face as the darkness of unconsciousness consumed him.

LD

Onboard the Kingdom

Recovery Seven smirked behind his polarized visor as he watched the Keyblade's Chosen One drop with a simple jolt of his lightning. Pathetic. That's what the brat got for not raising his guard when Seven had revealed himself. His smirk became a full-fledged grin as the two girls looked up at him, first in shock then in anger. There were twin flashes of light and before he could even blink, found the tips of two Keyblades aimed straight for him.

"What'd you do that for?" The blonde one demanded. "Who are you?"

Seven ignored her and instead held out both of his hands towards the blonde and the red-head. Two rings of red lightning shot from his fingertips and struck the two females, rendering both of them unconscious in the blink of an eye.

The Keyblade's Chosen One let out a groan as he recovered from Seven's attack. Seven turned his attention back on him and drew his pistol from its holster on his thigh and aimed it carefully. The boy's eyes widened in horror as his brain processed that there was a gun pointed at him at a range that would make dodging impossible. Seven smirked coldly beneath his visor as he aimed at the fallen teen's heart and pulled the trigger.

LD

---

I love cliffhangers. And I'm sure you all hate me for them.

It's about time I finished up Pirates 2, albeit slightly behind schedule.

I hope you all enjoyed it and are looking forward to the next update. As always reviews are greatly appreciated. Your opinions make me feel warm inside this freezing office.

Until next time! (Which hopefully won't be in a month)

Aspicio, diluculo Infinitas Noctis.

Shadow Horizons