Skipping ahead of the group, Amanda stopped in front of one of the doors leading to her apartment and paused to hunt for her key.

"Let me open it," Sora suggested, after having patiently waited for a fair period of time.

"I'm not going to be lazy just because it's an option," Amanda growled under her breath. The girl discovered her set of house keys with a certain amount of smugness about her. Unlocking the door, she pushed the door open, revealing her abode. "Voila!"

Jack Sparrow entered first, taking in the sparse furnishings, the musty, old scent which permeated the room. The ochre carpet had numerous spills on it, fleetingly reminding the pirate of his ship, the Black Pearl. He dispelled those thoughts in a hurry.

"Let's have some light in here!" Donald complained suddenly, in his typically unabashed fashion.

Amanda headed for the switch. "I'll get it."

Light flooded the room in a flash, bedazzling Jack. "Where in hell did that come from?"

"What? You've never seen a light bulb before?" Amanda stifled a smirk as her swaggered towards the panel on the wall.

Captain Jack remained unruffled in his investigations. "Have you ever laid your eyes upon a Jellico cat before?"

"Uh… no." Amanda faltered for a moment.

Grinning to himself, the pirate kicked a yellowed newspaper section away, which was advertising a bygone performance of Cats the musical on the front page.

Goofy picked up the fallen newspaper and began to read it. Absent-mindedly, he hummed softly as he did so.

Sora flopped down on a sheet-covered couch, sending up a flurry of dust particles in the air. "Does anyone else live here with you? Your parents?"

"My parents split up about three years ago," Amanda replied, waving them off like blowflies in the summer. "I lived with my mother for a while, but then she peeled my off into this rundown piece of landfill." The girl spat in disgust. "But at least she pays for the rent. It's the least she owes me."

Donald was about to slip his two cents worth into the vending machine of conversation, but the flashing on and off of the apartment lights interrupted him. "Hey! What's the great idea, you stupid palookas?"

The pirate ignored his comrade's rant and flicked the switch again. "See, this is an interesting piece of work that I never witnessed. We'll have to see about gettin' some of these on the Pearl."

Sora glanced towards Jack. "What, you have electricians in Port Royal?"

Jack involuntarily snorted. "Zola."

"It's 'Sora'."

Shrugging, Jack replied, "Fair enough, 'Sora'. On your part, I believe you have many misconceptions of the capacity of the Caribbean. Where there is a Will, as the cliché goes, there is a way, and even you are aware that we haven't suffered from a lack of 'Will's lately."

The younger Keyblade bearer let out a titter. "Do you even know what a will is?"

"Let's not be misconceptual over points, shall we?" Jack retorted, flicking the switch again. "For the benefit of those with simpler minds, we'll say that much can be accomplished where I come from."

"Are you calling me an idiot?" Sora demanded, standing upright from the couch.

Pausing his play with the lights, Jack turned towards the boy and put a finger in his own ear, as if he had heard incorrectly. "I beg your pardon! Did you hear me say the word? I did not, for one. But if this is how you perceive yourself…"

"Oh, wrap it up and place it under the Christmas tree," Amanda finally spoke out, placing a hand over the light switch, hence preventing the pirate from further playing.

Captain Jack appeared disgruntled at the removal of his new hobbyhorse. "Oi! I was-

"Sitting your arse down and not fiddling with anything!" Amanda suddenly interrupted, her eyes flashing at the pirate.

Raising his hands high in submission, Jack backed over to the couch and sat his arse down, strangely cowed by the girl's authority. Sora, Donald and Goofy all stared at Amanda first and then Jack. There was a moment of stunned silence.

Amanda flicked on the lights for the final time and then made her way over to an old lazyboy opposite the couch. "Right, now that we have some sort of order, we can talk about more important topics. I don't suppose any of you has heard of a rogue Keyblade wielder roaming the streets of Auckland?"

The whole group's expression was unanimous in blankness.

"All right. I'll fill you clueless people in," Amanda said with a sigh. "Over the past month or so, someone with what I guess is a Keyblade has been going around making trouble in town."

"What kind of trouble?" Goofy asked, having put down the old newspaper at last.

Amanda replied, "You know, troublesome trouble of the most troubling kind."

Jack Sparrow rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. His clean-shaven cheek rested on the back of his hand. To him, it felt bare and strange, like his neck, having lost the forest of dreadlocks to a heartless barber.

Sora crossed his arms and tilted his head in thought. "Do you know what this has to do with us?"

"If I were you, I'd keep your Keyblades a secret," Amanda answered, leaning back into the seat. "The cops are looking for suspicious people, and my guess is that you wouldn't receive a very warm reception if you went around town with one of those."

Duskwake materialised in Jack's hand. The pirate began to examine the weapon carefully.

"Jack, would you please put that Keyblade away? I don't really want to be caught near one of those."

Noticing the subtle change in Amanda's expression, Jack Sparrow began to ponder. Why was she so afraid of the Keyblade? Was Amanda not all she talked herself up to be?

Then it hit him: Amanda had no authority over the Keyblade. When he wielded it, the same went for him. Jack kept the revelation close to vest.

"Eh, Sore, did you say the Keyblade unlocks most any bloody lock?"

Sora decided to let it slip. "Sure. Why? Did you have a lock in mind?"

"Please stow it away," Amanda pleaded.

Jack smothered the urge to smirk. "Patience, lass. I wish to test this Keysword thingummy out a moment."

Sora glanced Amanda's way. "Can we…"

"Whatever." Amanda sighed and pointed in the direction of a small kitchen. "Look, I even have a padlock with a lost key in one of the drawers."

The pirate cocked his head to the side.

Goofy hopped out of Sora's way as he made his way to the kitchen through the doorway. "I guess he's havin' trouble findin' what he's lookin' for," Goofy observed as the sounds of clanking and clashing reached the main room.

Donald cackled.

"It's not funny!" Sora called out. After about another half minute of fruitless searching, he poked his head around the doorframe. "Which drawer was that again?"

"The one with the keyless lock," Jack pointed out unhelpfully. "It's somewhat without a key, and has a tendency to lock things."

Sora rolled his eyes at the pirate, whom merely clapped his palms together and bowed his head mockingly. "Thanks for your input, Captain."

"Naturally. Always happy to oblige my mates when the need arises," Jack replied with a grin.

Amanda glared at the captain, and then turned around to kneel on the seat. "I'll see about directing you, regardless of the task that may be."

Sora disappeared back into the kitchen. Amanda kept up a running commentary on his progress.

Crash, bang, sizzle-pop.

"Wrong set of drawers."

Thud, rattle-rattle-rattle, smash.

"Wrong set of drawers."

Clunk, tinkle-tinkle.

"That is a cupboard."

Thump, thump, thump. "Ow! Ow! Ouch!"

Jack winced. "I heard that from over here, and apparently I'm old."

"Why can't you get the right set of drawers?" Amanda complained, slapping her palm against her forehead.

"Why do you have so many drawers?" was the retort.

Amanda reluctantly removed herself from the lazyboy and went to assist Sora in the kitchen.

Donald and Goofy guffawed together when they overheard the girl defend her many drawers. "Because I prefer them over boxers, that's why."

The pirate didn't even crack a smile. After all, boxers weren't the norm back in his era.

Soon enough, Amanda and Sora came back came back into the room, keyless padlock in the latter's hand.

"We have a winner," the girl remarked dryly, batting her strawberry-blonde ringlets off of her face.

The young Keyblade bearer placed the lock on the glass coffee table between the lazyboy and the couch. "Okay. I'm gonna just check myself to see if the lock works." For added emphasis, Sora slipped in the word "'savvy'?"

Jack shook his head at the imitation. "Please, mate. Don't say that word ever again."

Sora flourished the Kingdom Key into existence and pointed toward the padlock. "Sure, Captain."

The padlock glowed for a second, and then the clasp swung to one side.

"Well, I s'pose it works," Goofy commented, and then he looked to Jack Sparrow.

The pirate nonchalantly got on his feet and spun his Keyblade several times. "Mate, your wee tricks aren't too shabby for the likes of yourself, but I can see that you are in sore need of an education in style, savvy?"

Sora coughed. "If you say so, Captain."

Jack faced the padlock, and then visibly hesitated.

"Have you misplaced your so-called style, 'Captain'?" Amanda taunted.

"Not at all," Jack replied. He flailed his free arm at the padlock on the table. "Has not one of you charming, turtle-minded nuisances noticed a certain detail yet?"

Goofy and Donald looked in puzzlement at each other. Sora and Amanda did the same.

"You're a bunch o' bright sparks the lot of you, eh?" Jack muttered under his breath. He picked up the padlock and set the clasp back in.

"Oh," Sora, Donald and Goofy said collectively.

Amanda held her head high in dignity. "What, was it too difficult for you to figure out for yourself?"

"Evidently not," Jack answered. He tossed the padlock back on the table. Twirling Duskwake in the air several times, the pirate threw his arms up in the air and declared, "Unlock, ye lock!"

Nothing happened.

Donald and Goofy glanced at each other, eyebrows raised.

"Ahem. We'll be tryin' that again." Jack cleared his throat and then said, "Open Sesame."

Imagine someone farting in the middle of a speech. The moment that followed was somewhat similar.

"Yeah, no." Amanda shook her head.

Jack fought to keep his face relaxed. "Hold your horses steady, mates. I'm just foolin' with you."

"Then stop fooling around!" Donald shouted, hitting the nail on the head.

Biting his lip, the pirate concentrated. "I command you to unlock. Yield. Open you bloody padlock! Please unlock. Watermelon, watermelon, watermelon?"

Goofy frowned in confusion. "Watermelon?"

Captain Jack stared bleakly at the padlock. "Long story, mate."

Sora smiled, trying to cheer the pirate up. "Don't give up, Jack. You just need to practise is all."

"True?" Jack Sparrow fixed his now angry dark eyes on the boy. "And how do you propose I do that, provided that the Keyblade doesn't work?"

"What are you talking about?" Sora scoffed. "Who's ever heard of a Keyblade that doesn't work?"

Jack flipped Duskwake around so the young Keyblade wielder could see for himself. "Oh, I wouldn't have a clue. Ask Dusky himself."

As Sora took hold of the pirate's Keyblade, he shuddered. "Wow. Yours reminds me of the first Key Riku had." Ignoring the inhibitions he had of the strange weapon, Sora pointed the blade at the padlock and focused.

Nothing happened once more.

"Weird." The boy lightly tapped the Keyblade on the edge of the coffee table.

Jack reclaimed Duskwake and allowed it to dematerialise.

Amanda let out a laugh. "Of course, of all the Keyblades, yours has to be the faulty one, Jack. Just like the compass. I can't see you getting a refund on that."

"Just because it cares not to point north, does not mean that it is broken!" Jack retorted in defence of his compass. He glanced in the direction of the bag in the corner of the room, containing all of his possessions. "It just has a different… purpose, is all."

As soon as he said the words, the pirate remembered back to the day he had claimed Duskwake as his own. In sarcasm, the pirate had asked what the world was falling to. Xabbos, Duskwake's former master, had said it was falling to the darkness, but that it didn't concern his 'purpose'. Purpose. What was his purpose? Where would a Keyblade lead him if it couldn't find it in itself to work, as it should? Jack didn't consider his incompetence. After all, Captain Jack Sparrow wasn't incompetent in the least, according to his own criticism. The pirate dismissed this line of thought. He would find out the answers, in time.

"So, Sora, my good mate," Jack began, regaining entrance back into the real world. "What would you say made that chap Riku's Keyblade unusual?"

Amanda groaned. "Not this again. Just when I thought you had decided to shut up." The girl abruptly stood up and proceeded to leave the apartment in a huff.

"She'll be back, right, Sora?" Goofy asked his friend.

Cupping the back of his head with his hands, Sora grinned. "She took her key. I think she has every intention of coming back."

Goofy sighed. "Gawrsh. Hope she's not too annoyed."

"She'd have kicked us all out of here if she was," Donald informed Goofy.

Jack flailed his arms in his effort to stop the conversation in its tracks and guide it in the direction that he wanted it to go. "That's all very fine and good, but I still wish to know about Riku's Keyblade."

"Why?" Sora asked, instantly on his guard. "Whose side do you think you are on anyway?"

Jack hesitated. "My own. But I would like to know which one they're trying to push me onto."

"They?"

"Look, mate. We're in a war that I don't know who or what I'm fighting for. Savvy?"

Sora took one look at the pirate's face and decided that he was confident Jack would do the right thing. "Okay, I'll tell you."

"Sora…" Goofy said with caution.

"Goofy, it'll be fine," Sora replied.

The pirate had a knowing expression. "I see how it is. You don't trust me."

"But Captain…"

Jack held his hands up. "With good reason, after all. I am a pirate." Willing to submit to the truth for once, the pirate added, "But this pirate would appreciate any help he can get in knowing what ground he stands on."

Sora grinned. "I have faith in you, Captain."

"Don't," Jack replied. "The last wench who had faith in me tried to feed me to a hungry beastie."

"It unlocked peoples' hearts."

"Beg pardon?"

Shrugging, the younger Keyblade bearer explained. "Riku's Keyblade unlocked peoples' hearts. It made people vulnerable to the darkness."

For a moment, Jack pondered this. "What became of that Key, I wonder?"

Donald spoke up. "It came undone from unlocking Sora's heart!"

"Your heart?" Jack looked back at Sora. "Why?"

Sora turned away, so the pirate couldn't see his face. "For Kairi."

Jack frowned, sitting back down. "You put your heart on the line for a lass you fancied, aye?"

The boy opened his mouth to defend himself, but Jack continued. "Sacrifice for a worthy cause is nothing to be ashamed of, Sora. But this does give me an idea of sorts."

As Jack summoned his Keyblade, Sora took one look at his face and began to back away, his hands over his chest, as if protecting his heart. "No way, Captain. I'm not gonna let you practise on me with that thing!"

As if that was a cue, Donald and Goofy put themselves between Sora and Jack, brandishing their various weapons.

"You're gonna have to go through us to get to Sora!" the pair challenged in unison.

Laughingly, Jack lowered his Keyblade. "I had no intention of messing with your heart, mate. Still, it is somewhat comforting that friends might risk their lives for friends." He relaxed on the couch, Keyblade in hand.

Sora was wary of going near the pirate. He summoned the Kingdom Key, just in case.

"You'd better not try anything stupid," Donald said, waving his magician's staff in Jack's face.

Jack gave no response. Sora frowned, and gasped as his Keyblade disappeared from his hand without bidding it to leave.

"What's wrong, Sora?" Goofy asked. He had taken the departure of the Kingdom Key as a sign of Sora settling down after his fright.

What was wrong was that the Kingdom Key had appeared in Jack Sparrow's other hand.

The pirate opened one eye and gave a mock yawn.

Hey! Give that back," Sora demanded, stepping towards the thief.

Jack willingly handed it over to its former owner. Once again, the Kingdom Key mutinied and returned to the pirate. He merely shrugged.

"The Keyblade hath spoken," Jack remarked with an impish grin.

Sora's face went pasty. "What have you done?"

In an odd fit of sympathy towards his spiky-haired junior, Jack detached the possession of the stolen Keyblade and gave it back to Sora.

"Well," Jack commented, dismissing Duskwake. "I suppose that solves the mystery of the faulty Keyblade."