Me: So, in this chappie, we wrap up Port Royal! I rather like this one, actually, even though Barbossa has a pedo moment (don't worry, I still love him to death XD) and the boss fight was a pain in the ass to write, but at least we get a (small) SoraChar fluff moment, and a few flashbacks related to Falcon and Copperhead!
Sora: :)
Me: And today we've got my two favorite characters from the cast of Tales of Vesperia introducing the chapter.
Yuri: Remind me again why we're here?
Rita: Hell if I know...
Me: Because I'm an immense shipper of you two, that's why! :P
Yuri/Rita: WHAT?!
Me: At any rate, do your thing, guys. (ominous voice) BEFORE HURRICANE IKE COMES AND WE ALL FUCKING DIE A HORRIBLE WINDBLOWN DEATH!
Rita: You have got to be kidding me.
Yuri: Well, whatever, let's just get this over with. Chapter 37, guys. Enjoy.
Me: 37's a weird number... I must get chapter 38 done ASAP!

Disclaimer- Like hell I do.

Sora glared at Barbossa, his fist clenching more tightly around the medallion. "And why should I give this to you?" the young brunette demanded, voice carrying more bravado than he felt.

"There's no particular reason, laddie…" Barbossa gestured toward Jack and Elizabeth. "Unless, of course, it's more important to ye than their lives. Or perhaps, the love of dear drunken lady here…"

"If you hurt Char at all…" Sora glared fiercely at Barbossa.

"Who made any comment about harming her?" Barbossa chuckled, pulling Char forward to stand beside him.

"Sora," Char warbled, her voice a little steadier, "I swear, if you let this guy kidnap me, then I will make sure my spirit haunts you for the rest of your life!"

"Barbossa!" The familiar masculine voice came from nearby, causing them all to look over. Will stood there, brandishing a gun. "Elizabeth goes free," he commanded, determination strengthening his voice.

Barbossa chuckled. "Go ahead, boy – shoot! We can't die," he reminded, waggling a finger on his free hand.

"Maybe you can't…" There was no trace of hesitation in his action as Will brought up the gun so that the barrel pointed to his head. "But I can!" He swallowed, fidgeting a bit, before continuing. "My name is Will Turner! My father was Bootstrap Bill Turner! His blood runs in my veins!"

The response came almost instantaneously, with the force of a slap across the face. Will's words caught even Barbossa off guard, while the undead pirates gasped and exchanged nervous glances. Sora could understand how they felt; Will was probably the only link to any possibility of the chains of the curse loosening from around the pirates.

"On my word, do as I say!" Will leaped down onto the deck from the rail, still keeping the gun pointed toward his head. "Or I'll pull this trigger and be lost to Davy Jones' locker!"

"Name your terms… Mr. Turner," Barbossa growled grudgingly.

"Release Elizabeth," Will said at once. "And Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Char, too!"

"Anything else?" Barbossa queried, giving Sparrow a sidelong glance and a smirk. Jack, still bound with the thick rope, frantically motioned with his head toward Will.

"Leave – now!" Sparrow blinked at Will's words, taken aback by the young man's decision not to free him. He stared down at the ground and shook his head, an action that startled Sora; he wouldn't have expected Jack to just give up hope like that.

Barbossa bowed, bringing his free hand up to his heart. "Agreed. Leave we shall."

"So let Char go," Sora couldn't help but point out, his eyes narrowing.

"Yeah, that might be a good plan," Char gritted out, her voice inching toward a snarl. She realized now that drinking all that liquor truly had been one of her worse ideas, as she found herself unable to focus enough to summon her weapons.

"Leave we shall…" Clearly ignoring their words, Barbossa's smirk widened. "But the Heartless stay!"

The hoarse cackles of Pete seemed to accentuate the Heartless appearing in dark smoke. Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked anxiously at each other.

"No fair!" Sora shouted; but then a bat Heartless swooped over and knocked him off balance with a single swipe of its claws. He fell to the ground, and even though he couldn't see what was going on, he heard Donald and Goofy's grunts of pain as they collapsed alongside him.

"Sora!" Char cried, and whipped her head to glare at Barbossa, a glare that was slightly deadened due to the fact that he still had her right at his side. "You –"

"Take them to the cabin!" Barbossa roared to his pirates, and they came forward with pleased snickers, their true statues becoming visible as they stepped onto the lighted part of the ship. The captain looked at Char and grinned in a way that made her shudder. She heard Sora, Donald and Goofy's cries as they were thrown down the stairs into the cabin alongside Jack and Elizabeth. For some reason, the redhead felt more worried for them than herself.

"All right, you bastard, what exactly are you going to do to them?" she demanded, trying to ignore the pounding in the back of her skull.

"Worried about your friends? How sweet," Barbossa sneered.

"Good work, Barbossa!" Pete laughed from where he stood by the cabin entrance. From the space between his body and the view of the cabin's interior, Char caught sight of Sora glaring fiercely at Maleficent's minion, and a defiant smile began to tug at Char's lips. That's right, Key-boy. Keep it together.

"Barbossa, you coward!" Elizabeth shouted.

"That's the last time I trust a pirate," Sora muttered, shaking his head.

"The powder kegs are ready, captain!" one of the undead pirates called from outside.

"Powder…?" Jack's eyes widened. "Oh, bugger."

"What?" Donald demanded, practically getting whiplash from the speed at which he turned his head to look at the pirate.

"He's gonna blow us to smithereens!" Goofy moaned.

"I bid ye all farewell," Barbossa cackled, and fading footsteps signaled that he had walked away.

"What are you going to do with Will and Char?" Sora yelled.

"What else?" Elizabeth murmured, her shoulders slumping in a defeated sigh. "He's going to use Will's blood to break the curse… but after that…" Her voice broke at the very thought of the latter. Sora knew why; it was all too obvious that Will's feelings for Elizabeth were mutual. He stared despondently at the ground.

"And Char?" Goofy dared to ask, dread audible in his voice.

"Who knows," Jack sighed. "Probably going to 'teach' her a few things, if you get my meaning."

Sora's eyes grew wide at the thought. As naïve as he could be sometimes, even he understood the hidden meaning of those words. He shook his head, his eyes squeezing tightly shut at that. Strangely, Barbossa's possible intentions nauseated him more than the fact that the undead pirate had kidnapped Char in the first place.

"Let go of me!" Char snarled from outside, struggling furiously in Barbossa's hold. Seeing as how she couldn't use her weapons, she hoped fervently to any gods watching that only tooth and claw would be enough – a hope that, she knew, was futile.

Her feeling of hopelessness intensified when they stepped onto the Black Pearl itself. Char could now understand why Jack felt such animosity toward Barbossa, though the sentimental value was probably also there; the Black Pearl had seemed magnificent, if in an overly pirate-like way, from the outside, but now that she was actually seeing all of it, she knew why Jack missed it so much.

Barbossa simply looked down at her, a mixture of delighted anticipation and annoyance on his unshaven face; then he suddenly glared out at his crew, who had stepped on before their captain and his unwilling prisoner. Nearby, Will stared wide-eyed at her, his arms having been locked behind his back by ropes instead of Barbossa's vice-like grip.

"This one's going to be a problem," the captain snarled, his eyes darting from one pirate to another. "Make sure she won't cause any problems until we reach the isle!"

"Excuse me?" Char twisted in his grip, and he threw her to the ground, as though he hadn't just been pushing her practically up against his chest. The view of the wooden planks blurred before her and she barely caught herself with her hands in time. She glowered over her shoulder at him. "And what exactly is that supposed to –"

But then something heavy landed across the back of her skull, and darkness oozed across her vision briefly before taking over her consciousness entirely.

"Everyone," the teacher announces, gently pressing her hand to the small of the girl's slender back to push her forward – and the girl flinches upon seeing the other children's fascinated gazes focused on her – "this is Falcon Gracebreeze, our newest student. She just moved here from…"

"I'd really rather not talk about it," the girl – Falcon – mumbles, staring down at the ground and twirling a lock of short dark hair in one fidgety finger.

This, predictably, induces a curious, none-too-subtle reaction from the class, a reaction consisting of a whispered "ooooooh".

"I bet she's from one of those lowdown areas," a boy with dirty blond tresses snickers. He leers at Falcon as best an eight-year-old can, and she recoils instinctively from the condescending look in his strange violet eyes. "See? She knows I'm right."

"Nigel!" the teacher reprimands instantly, eyes reproachful from behind the lenses of her glasses. "That is not a very pleasant way to greet a new student!"

The boy snorts. "I told you, call me Copperhead. That's a deadly snake, y'know," he adds to Falcon, and the grin that his countenance acquires already sets off his features quite handsomely. Then his eyebrows rise, his smile fading. "Or did you not even know that?" he asks cockily.
Falcon determinedly avoids his gaze, tears blurring her own eyes.

"That's quite enough," the teacher says firmly, and turns a kinder eye to Falcon. "Take a seat, Falcon. There's an empty one near the back of the class."

"Yes, ma'am," Falcon murmurs miserably, trudging past all the probing stares and sliding into the chair without taking her eyes off the floor.

"Mom," she says upon entering her home and seeing her mother working tenaciously at the stove like always, "can I change schools?"

Her mother is a slender, pale woman, with dark hair and emerald eyes not unlike her daughter's, green eyes that are currently focused inquiringly on Falcon. "Oh, Falcon, why would you want to do that? We just got settled in here."

Falcon hesitates; her reason sounds pretty stupid when set against that kind of logic. "It's just… there's this boy at school, and he's so mean to me!" she bursts out. "Please, Mom, can we go to some other world or something? Why did we have to pick this one to move to?"

"Because Daddy works in the Shadowed Desert now." Her mother always manages to sound both reassuring and reprimanding at the same time. It must be a mom thing, Falcon decides. Her mother smiles – a little tiredly, Falcon notices – and runs two fingers gently through her daughter's hair. "It'll be fine, honey. He's probably only picking on you because he likes you."

Falcon blinks. If that's the way boys' brains work, then she wants nothing to do with them. When she voices this thought, however, her mother only laughs in her telltale lilting chuckle. "I'm making grilled cheese tonight," she then tells Falcon. "It's your favorite, I know, but it won't be ready until Daddy gets home."

"Okay," Falcon says, a tentative smile appearing on her face.

"Psst, Falcon," Copperhead hisses, leaning over conspicuously to talk to her. She glares in his general direction and tries to scoot away, but unfortunately she's already reached the edge of the cafeteria bench.

"Did you do that homework we had in algebra last night?" he queries, still speaking in that idiotic stage whisper. Glowering at him, Falcon reflects that if he'd been annoying six years ago, then a fourteen-year-old Copperhead was certainly worse. She curses the creators of their schedules for putting them in both the same lunch and algebra period and decides that someone upstairs must truly despise her.

"Because you didn't, I'm guessing," she groans. "Leave me alone, Copperhead. You never do the homework and we both know it," she adds at the innocently startled look on his handsome face.

Then she mentally kicks herself. Did she just call Copperhead Sandgale, the most egotistical pervert, the pervert who had personally dated and dumped ninety-nine percent of the girls in the school, handsome? She must not have gotten enough sleep last night.

"But why should I, when you can just give me the homework?" he asks, lazily tapping the tip of her nose with one finger. Disgusted, she jerks her head away and gets to her feet.

"Because I won't give you the homework," she retorts, a little lamely.

He just smirks and stands as well. "I'll keep that in mind," he answers loftily with a wink, and before she can grab his hair and demand what the hell is going on, he's left.

She stands there, panting slightly with the force of her anger, glaring after him with narrowed eyes. Either Copperhead had just flirted with her, or her tired mind was playing tricks on her.

Must be the latter.

Anxclof shook her head, a snarl issuing from her lips as she pushed her hair out of her eyes. She sat up in the bed that Hercules and that goat guy had so kindly secured her and shook her head.

Had Roxas gone through this – all these memories of his Other, playing back through his mind like a film just waiting to be finished?

Agh… my head…

What the hell happened back there? I had all that alcohol… damn it all, who keeps their rum right out there on the deck, anyway? No self-respecting pirate, I'm sure… Maybe that's why my head's pounding so damn hard – I've got a hangover. Great. Terrific.

No, wait… There was Barbossa, the pedophilic son of a bitch, and then that guy hit me in the head…

Oh, crap…

Ice-blue eyes gradually became visible from behind previously-closed lids as Char slowly came to herself. The first thing that she noticed – other than the headache, of course, which she knew she couldn't blame entirely on the rum – was the dully-throbbing pain in her wrists, and the feeling that something was digging sharply into them. She summoned up her strength to turn her head in a tangible effort. Her eyes flew wide open at the shackles just visible through the hair that fell down in front of her face. Double crap…

Fully awake now, she turned her head toward her other side, but however she looked, it was clear that the pirates had chained her to the wall. Triple crap…

"Hey captain, the lass is awake!" a raucous voice shouted from nearby, and the next thing she knew Barbossa was leering into her face. She narrowed her eyes, but said nothing; what could she say in this situation? The pounding in her head intensified.

She now noticed the two pirates that had been guarding her, and a gleam caught her eye and held it. The pile of medallions in the middle of the clearing, the moonlight spilling onto it in a blend of silver and gold, told her that she was probably in the place where Barbossa had taken Elizabeth. Across the cavern, his white clothing barely visible in the shadows, stood Will, his arms only tied behind his back. Looks like somebody has a little bondage fetish, she thought, bringing her eyes back to Barbossa and narrowing them into a glare as she did so.

"Had a nice nap, have we, now?" the captain purred, his voice turning into a tone that pulled another shudder out of Char; but to her relief he didn't touch her.

She inclined her head in mock courtesy. "Why yes, captain, I have."

"Cheeky little brat, are we?" Barbossa asked dryly, leaning back and folding his arms. Char let out the breath she'd been holding, feeling free to breathe now that he wasn't so close to her face. "I'll soon fix that, believe you me."

A snarky reply sprang to her tongue, but she held it back. Perhaps she could glean some more information out of him first.

"So," Char said, looking around the cavern, "is this the place you took Elizabeth? Pretty nice little dump, if you ask me."

"Whether it's a 'dump' or not makes no difference," Barbossa answered, his expression guarded. "The blood must be repaid here."

"And so that's why you needed that medallion?"

"I wonder if your little key-brandishing wretch is going to come for you?" the captain suddenly said. Char tried to hide the way his question startled her, but a little grunt escaped her nonetheless, a fact that drew a smirk out onto his countenance. "Or Mr. Turner's wench…" he added, to a gasp from across the cavern. "If they got out of that ship alive, of course…"

"Sora's alive," Char spat, her temper bubbling up to the surface. "He might be naïve, and stupid, and way too nice for his own good…" She hesitated at remembering the way DiZ had spoken of Sora – in almost the same words she had – but then continued quickly, staring defiantly at Barbossa with her neck craned out to glower properly. "But he's resourceful and strong. He's alive, and he's coming for us, whether you like it or not! And then you're screwed," she hissed.

"Aw, shut her up," Pete groaned from nearby, sauntering up to them with his meaty paws on his hips. He glared at her through dark slits. "Her whining about that brat's getting to me."

Char panted a little with the force of her suppressed rage, but her pants turned into a gasp when Barbossa's rough fingers seized her chin and pushed her head back against the wall. A burst of agony shot through the back of her skull as he did so, and she had to fight the urge to flinch with the force of it. "That may be," he snarled, his breath blasting into her face with every word he spoke. "But we'll just see how quick that Keybearer and Sparrow are."

He turned away, and Char's head hung limply on her shoulders. Her heart was still pounding from her ire, worry joining the anger that was roaring through her entire body when she heard Will's cry from nearby. Clearly, they'd unchained him from the wall so Barbossa could use him for his plans.

"Now," Barbossa growled, "let's be trying this again." Char lifted her head and saw the group standing around the pile of gold. "The last of the Aztec treasure has been returned! And now the blood will be repaid to free us from this curse forever!" He drew the knife across his throat in an invisible line and added, "This time for sure!" His crew let out cheers of excitement as he looked back to Will. He'd just lifted the knife in preparation to cut him much the same way he had to Elizabeth, and Char turned her head away, suddenly unable to watch,

"Ahoy!" a young voice called out, causing Char to look up. The smile that had been threatening to push the hopeless look aside appeared on her face when she spotted the group of four running toward them, with a certain Keybearer at the front. "Treasure, mateys!"

"Sora!" she cried, just as the pirates turned and saw Sora and the others.

Upon hearing his name, the brunette's gaze shifted to her, his own face brightening when he saw her. "Char! You okay?"
She angled her head a little impatiently. "Do I look like I'm okay?"

"Not possible," Barbossa gaped in shock at them. Char fought the urge to laugh as Donald and Goofy rushed over and began working on the chains that bound her.

"Not probable!" Donald corrected, and lifted his staff to zap the chains with a small blast of lightning, which broke the shackles on one wrist. Char easily undid the chains on her other wrist. The mage continued, "We're alive, and we're pirates!"

"Captain Jack Sparrow!" Sparrow said.

"Sora!"

"Donald Duck!"

"Goofy, too!" The latter two stepped up beside the pirate and Sora.

"What'm I, nothing?" Char snorted, following the others' actions.

"Think you can fight?" Sparrow queried, shooting her a sidelong glance.

"Hm…" Char concentrated, and to her relief and extreme surprise, her blades appeared in her hands. She smirked. "Guess so."

"So you want to play pirate?" Barbossa snarled. "Best save your play-acting for the nursery." He whirled toward his crew. "After them!"

Just as the pirates stepped into the moonlight, their skeletal bodies becoming visible, Sora swept his Keyblade across the line of enemies, and they fell to the ground. "No more playacting now," he commented, grinning.

Char glanced over and found her curiosity piqued at the sight of the anchor-shaped shaft on his Keyblade. "A new one?" she asked.

He gave a single nod in her direction, his relief as to her status becoming clear as he did so.

"Thank you, Sora," Will said gratefully, running over to them.

"Uh, where's Jack?" asked Goofy.

The sound of steel clinking against steel caused them all to look over. Char saw Barbossa clashing swords with Sparrow and shook her head. "Does he really expect to beat him when he's not in the moonlight like that?"

"Jack! Get him!" Sora shouted.

Clearly preoccupied, Jack glanced over. "Huh? Didn't quite catch – ergh!"

Sora and the others gasped, their eyes growing wide as they took in Barbossa's now-bloodstained sword. "Jack!" Sora yelled.

"You're a fool, Jack Sparrow," Barbossa taunted, pulling his blade away. He grinned at the sight of his adversary stumbling back, blood still leaking in a steady dark stream from his stomach wound. Sparrow stepped backward into the moonlight, where, strangely enough, his features turned skeletal. He lifted one hand, gazing in mild fascination at the way the joints bunched together to move his fingers, then lifted the other, where the medallion moved consistently across his fingers.

"Jack…" Will gasped.

Barbossa looked briefly startled, then he barked, "Show yourself, Pete! The tide has changed!"

"See?" Pete laughed smugly, his paws on his hips. "I told you you'd be needin' old Pete!" He whistled, and, as twin orbs of light appeared out of Sora's peripheral vision, Sora looked up. A lizard-like Heartless, its eyes glowing gold, slithered across the wall toward Barbossa's side. It flicked its tongue tauntingly, a gesture somehow set off by the way Barbossa smirked and drew his sword.

"En garde," he sneered, and leaped back into the darkness. "Once again, Jack!"

And just like that, the room went black.

"Dammit, where'd he go?" Char spat, swinging her head about. It didn't help that Barbossa was chortling in a way that echoed around the darkened cave.

"Quick, over here!" Goofy called, pointing to the yellow pinpricks of light. "Get that Heartless, and I betcha the room'll light up again!"

"Hey, yeah!" Sora raced toward the twin lights and attacked them furiously with his Keyblade; Jack followed the Keybearer and with their combined efforts, the Heartless fell, writhing, to the floor.

The room became bathed in moonlight again, and Char blinked at the sudden change in lighting. "All right, where is that – dammit!" she suddenly snarled as Barbossa's blade whipped toward her shoulder. Her anger turned to pain when the sword sliced shallowly across her upper arm.

"Come on, now!" Barbossa cackled. "Is this truly the best you can do?"

"Of course not!" Sora yelled, leaping up from the pile of gold and slashing at Barbossa. However, due to them all standing in an area of darkness, the Keyblade only went through him.

Seeing this, Jack danced backward into the moonlit area, where his now-deathly appearance showed. Sora stared at the pirate in shock. "Jack… But if you do that, you'll…"

"I think we've got more important things to worry about," Jack answered loftily. He lifted his blade to block Barbossa's strike. "Now, Zola!"

Sora sighed and yelled, "It's Sora!", but followed Jack's advice nonetheless. Donald managed to freeze the undead captain in his tracks so that he couldn't dart back into the shadows, and Sora, Char, and Jack cut into Barbossa on all sides.

A few moments later, however, Barbossa was freed from the ice, whereupon he promptly lashed out with his sword. With cries of pain, Sora and Char leaped back, bleeding from multiple cuts; but Jack stayed there, his blade continuing to carve arcs into his enemy. "I'll be getting my ship back now!" he finally grunted, in as close to a snarl as any of them had heard him get; and slashed into Barbossa once more.

Char and Sora rushed back into the fray, with Donald and Goofy serving as support on either side. Donald lifted his staff as he looked at Sora, clearly intending to heal the Keybearer, but Sora shook his head frantically. "Char needs it more than I do," he panted, delivering an aerial combination of attacks to their enemy.

"Don't be stupid," Char grunted, dodging another series of attacks from Barbossa. "If you die, we're all dead!"

Sora shook his head again. "If any of my friends died because of me, I'd…" He abruptly cut himself off with a cry, bringing up his Keyblade to block just in time.

Barbossa snarled. "Try a piece of this, then!" he roared, and lunged to the side, toward Char. The others tried attacking him from the rear, but despite how he winced, the captain would not be dissuaded from his attacks; he laid viciously into Char's body with his sword and finished with a slash to the belly. She fell back onto the ground, with Sora looking on in horror.

"Heal!" Donald shouted, and cast Cura; the fairer of her wounds closed up instantly, but the injuries from Barbossa's previous attack mostly remained.

Sora didn't know why, but anger suddenly overtook him, and he charged at Barbossa, crying out as he leaped high into the air. Barbossa turned just in time, but Sora's uncharacteristic rage caught him off guard and so he couldn't block the series of blows that followed. The Keyblade rained attacks down on the pirate's head and as Sora landed, swaying a bit from the force of his strikes, Barbossa stumbled backward. Everyone looked on, hearts pounding, dreading the thought of what he would do next, but the heat of the battle proved to be too much for Barbossa and he collapsed.

"This ain't over!" Pete yelled. "Not by a long shot!" And with that, he raced off into the tunnel that led into the cavern.

"Think we should go after him?" Donald muttered.

Goofy just shook his head in response.

"Right, then," Jack said, as Barbossa unsteadily rose to his feet. "Care to surrender, Barbossa?"

Barbossa simply drew his sword in response, panting heavily and glowering with bared teeth at Sparrow.

Jack sighed. "Well, enough of this, then…" He dropped his sword and drew his gun. "What say you we call it a draw?"
Barbossa stared at him for a moment, then shook his head and laughed. "Jack, how many times do I have to tell ya –"

But Jack simply threw the medallion in Will's general direction before firing the gun. Sora stared helplessly at Sparrow. "Jack… why…?"
Cackles rent the air as the gun smoked, cackles that ceased abruptly when Will spoke. "Laugh while you can, Barbossa!" he said, and dropped the medallion. Sora's hope grew when he saw the knife held in one hand, along with the blood staining the medallion. One could have heard a pin drop in the cavern as the gold landed among the other pieces.

Barbossa looked down at himself and saw the blood spreading underneath his clothes. And as the others watched, they could have sworn they saw a glimmer of happiness in his rapidly-dulling eyes.

"I feel… cold," he rasped, and fell.

Immediately, Sora ran over to Char's side and knelt next to her body. "Heal…" he murmured desperately, reaching out a hand and placing it on her side. It glowed green, and the emerald tendrils spread over her remaining wounds, healing most of them instantly. However, the deepest one along her belly and chest still bled shallowly.

Sora stared at her for a long, heart-stopping moment, and was just about ready to give up and walk away and let the tears spill down his cheeks when he heard a ragged gasp come from her. "Char?" he asked hopefully.

She coughed again in response, a bit of blood dribbling down her chin. "Ow… dammit, Key-boy, you think you could get Curaga next time?" she groaned, clutching her stomach.

Sora's eyes were comically wide as he gazed at her. Then an impulse seized him and he reached out, hooking his arms behind her back to pull her close to him.

"Ow!" she yelped almost instantly. "Wound… wound!"

Strangely, though, the instinct to let her go never came to him. He missed the amused glances that Donald and Goofy exchanged, but he did hear Jack comment something about being a glove upon a hand, and that was enough to snap the brunette out of his impulse. Quickly, he released her, certain that he'd felt the heat from her face soaking into his shoulder.

"Shall we head back, then?" Jack asked. The events of the day didn't seem to have affected his demeanor much at all.

Will nodded. "Right."

"Oh," Jack said casually, "did I mention Elizabeth is waiting for us?"

"W-well, then, let's go!" Will had left almost as soon as the words finished issuing from his mouth.

Sora laughed as he followed him out, Char leaning heavily on the Keybearer's shoulder. "He loves her, doesn't he?"

"More than you could ever imagine," Jack sighed.

When they all got outside, Will glanced over at Jack. "So what now, Jack?"

The captain shrugged. "Whatever I want, now that the Pearl is mine again."

In all this, Sora had almost forgotten about Jack's reason for helping them in the first place.

"That she is," Will agreed. "Thank you, Jack." He reached out his hand to the pirate, which oddly caused Sparrow to flinch back.

"I didn't want ye hitting me again, mate…" he explained, a little nervously – but then again, with Sparrow, one could never tell.

"Hey, Jack – good luck," Sora said, smiling encouragingly at him.

"And remember to be good!" Donald reminded.

"I'm off," Jack announced, and turned. However, Will had spotted Elizabeth running toward them far sooner than the pirate had, and promptly swept the young woman up into an embrace. Sparrow rolled his eyes and shook his head before starting toward his ship.

Sora let out a tiny, satisfied sigh as he watched Will and Elizabeth. "Good for them," he said.

"Uh-huh." Goofy nodded.

Char snorted. "Che. They could stand to wait a while."

Sora rolled his eyes at Char's ever-present cynicism, but that feeling softened at the sight of the young couple. He could recall vividly the way he'd always dreamed of holding Kairi like that, and a blush came to his face at the memory.

"Hey, Sora – how come your face is all red?" Goofy suddenly asked, peering closely at the Keybearer.

Sora started. "What? It is not red!"

"Aw, I know who you're thinking about!" Donald teased, and he and Goofy laughed.

Char's amusement came a little more sedately. For some reason, disappointment was currently roiling through her.

Jack suddenly let out a murmur of surprise. The others looked over and saw a beam of light shining from the currently-opened compass. Sora sighed. "Of course…" Gently, he let Char down before summoning his Keyblade and raising it high in the air. The compass followed the path of his Keyblade, and like before, he managed to open the gate to more worlds.

"You know," Char suddenly said, even as Sora propped her back up onto his shoulder, "for a minute there, I thought we would lose Donald to the curse of the treasure."

"Yup, me too," Goofy chuckled.

"What?!" Donald squawked indignantly, and then looked away, grumbling to himself.

Sora glanced over to Jack. "Do you mind if we borrow your ship, Jack?" he asked. "We need to get back to our vessel."

"Anything for a fellow pirate," Sparrow acquiesced.

Char snickered. "He thinks you're a pirate."

Sora sighed. "Oh, come on…"

Me: Oooh... Char likes Sora, yes she does!
Char: I DO NOT!
Me: Not yet, anyway... We're gonna wait until the Pride Lands or so for you to actually admit it to yourself.
Char: Grar...
Yuri: You know, it just occurred to me how like Rita you are.
Char: Hm? How so?
Rita: Yes, do tell.
Me: You both have the "tsundere" stereotype down pat...
Rita: The... what stereotype?
Me: Well, I'ma wrap this up, since THE WIND IS BLOWING AND WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! (sarcasm)