Marie and her keyblade:
www.swirl3y.deviantart.com/art/Marie-and-her-Shooting-Star-Keyblade-38350 2787

Marie's staff:
www.swirl3y.deviantart.com/art/Star-Rod-384177139?q=gallery%3Aswirl3y&qo=1

A\N:
How is the 3rd point of view going? Do you guys like it better than 1st?

Chapter Forty-Six
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We be pirates, mateys!

Marie pressed a couple of buttons and watched the screen in front of her change. She wasn't really bad at computers, but she didn't like sitting in front of one for a long time. She sighed, and pressed a couple of more buttons until a chime was heard from the screen and she smiled. Doing Ryan's job of slight maintenance was such a bore, and she wondered what her cousin was doing. Probably chasing after Yuffie, she thought. She kept looking and pressing a couple of buttons, and Sora walked into the room and noticed her sitting alone. He figured that, despite all that was currently happening, a talk would do some good—plus he wanted to see how Marie was doing after getting her memory back.

"Hey," he called out. She turned and faced the boy, and gave a smile at him. The smile itself looked a little forced, and he could only imagine how much it must hurt to be in the same proximity as him, what with his feelings confusing him and her. He walked over and took a seat next to her, and she wondered what was up. "How are you feeling…? You know, with your memory back and all."

"It's not completely back," she said. He raised his eyebrow in confusion and she shook her head. "Well, stuff from last year I remember clearly, but I'm still missing a few spots from my past."

"You'll get them back, I know you will," he replied. She smiled, and looked up towards the window of the ship. The stars seemed to shine a bit brighter than before, and she was feeling a bit more hopeful than usual. It didn't have anything to do with her situation with Sora, but she recalled how Mickey had mentioned how Ansem was still alive somewhere and she wondered how he managed to stay alive. Sora watched as she smiled, and he wondered what was going through her head. "What's on your mind?"

"The King said that Ansem was still alive, right? I can't tell you how happy I am to know that," she told him. He gave a soft smile, and although the whole thing was still confusing about Ansem, he was glad that someone in their group understood what was going on. "I wanna look for him and I wanna tell him how much I've missed him, but… I can't leave you guys. I don't want to leave you guys. But I also feel like I'm no good, especially now that I can't use the Keyblade."

"But you'll always be useful to us," Sora explained. He blushed a bit when Marie turned to him, but he kept his cool and continued on. "I know how it was to not have the Keyblade… I was there, too. But I know you'll find that strength in your heart, because you're the strongest person I know, Marie."

"Sora…," she said. She gave him a gentle caring look, while he looked away. He knew he shouldn't be saying these things, especially with him trying to figure out his feelings, but he thought it was the truth and she deserved to know. She didn't know how she was 'the strongest person', but Sora didn't mean in physical strength. He knew there was many times where she gave a look of giving up, but time after time she stayed and fought. While she couldn't finish off a Heartless or Nobody in one fell swoop, and she definitely couldn't take the stronger ones on by herself, she fought regardless. This is what he thought at least, that her spirit seemed strong enough to prevail. Marie kept smiling, and swung her legs a bit at his compliment. "'I'm glad I can tell you how I feel about things, Sora. It's nice when you feel like this around someone."

"But…," he started. Her smile lowered a bit, and she knew where he was going to take the conversation. Nonetheless, her smile returned and she looked out towards the window again.

"It's fine, I want you to take your time," she told him. She lowered her head a bit, but her smile remained. "I'll be here no matter what, since we're all connected. Me, you, Kairi, Riku…we always find each other, even when we're not looking."

The computer screen started blinking, and they looked as the screen popped up. While they were talking, the ship was on auto-pilot and traveled to their next location. When the ship stopped Goofy and Donald nearly fell out of their hiding spot, and Donald almost gave their location away as he yelped. They wanted to know how Marie and Sora were doing, and they really didn't mean to spy, but Donald couldn't keep his ears away. They heard someone clear their throat and they looked up to see a mildly irritated Aura staring down at them, and Donald grew terrified. She walked away, and they both sighed out of relief. In truth, Aura listened in when Sora and Marie were talking, but she kept herself hidden pretty well. When the team gathered, they made their way down to Port Royal.

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Port Royal was a place where Aura didn't visit that often—maybe just once or twice, but she thought it looked pretty interesting. The pirates were pretty obnoxious though, and that Jack fellow was an interesting guy. When the team got to the world, they heard some fighting going on, and it sounded like it was coming fro the port. Once they made their way to the harbor, however, they saw Jack being surrounded by a couple of pirates.

"Zola! Some assistance!" he called out when he saw the spikey brunette. Marie giggled a bit, while Aura crossed her arms. They both looked at Sora, who blushed a bit at Jack forgetting his name. He corrected Jack, but the pirate turned around. "Will ye leave a mate to perish?"

"Aye aye…," Sora sighed. Before he could even take out his keyblade though, the three pirates surrounding Jack had all fallen with cries of pain. Jack, Sora, and everyone else looked in shock as Aura stood looming over the bodies of the boney pirates. She flipped her hair back into her hood, and looked over to the rest.

"You two talk too much," she said. Jack looked dumbfounded while Sora grew annoyed. This girl seemed to find new ways to drive him insane, and the fact that she was a pretty decent fighter didn't help very much. Donald and Goofy were just reminded that she was a very scary person, while Marie didn't really pay attention to her as she had her mind elsewhere.

"Hey, did you guys notice that those pirates were cursed?" she asked. The rest scratched their heads and came back from gawking and glaring at Aura. Marie looked at the pirates passed out on the floor, and when the moon disappeared they turned back to normal. "I thought the curse was lifted. What happened?"

She turned to Jack, who shrugged his shoulders and told her that someone must have taken the coins. Everyone minus Aura turned their heads towards Jack, who gave out an uncomfortable cough. A moment of silence filled in until he realized why they were all staring at him. "Oh, I see… you don't trust me, do you?" he asked.

The team just kept staring and Jack sighed, saying that it was a wise choice to be suspicious, since he himself held the title of pirate. Before anyone could say anything, Elizabeth came running in calling out their names, and Jack had a feeling something bad was afoot. He attempted to leave, but the woman told them that she needed their help.

"The cursed pirates have returned. Will had to find out why so he went to Isla de Muerta—to check on the treasure, but I hear something happened," she explained. She looked at them all with a pleading look. "You have to take me to him."

"Aye, there it is. If you'll be wanting him rescued, best do it alone, lass," Jack told her. She raised one of her eyebrows up and was in disbelief. She asked Jack if he really believed she could go and take on the cursed pirates herself, hinting at a bit of sarcasm, but the pirate looked at Aura. "Well, if any lass could…"

She wasn't certain if he was in trouble, but she wanted to see if he was alright. She was worried that he hadn't been home for a good while, and Jack couldn't help but be a bit jealous at having such a woman be worried for a man like Will Turner. After much negotiating Jack decided to help, with the help from Sora, Marie, Aura, Donald and Goofy. They boarded his Black Pearl and waited a while for it to start, and Aura looked out at the dark sea. She wondered what Riku was doing since that's all anyone in the group had been talking about, and she also wondered what Axel was doing. Now that they had taken out one of Organization XIII's stronger members, she wondered if they would have to get rid of Axel. If she hadn't left Organization XIII, would they be after her, too?

The ship started moving, and everyone minus Jack looked out into the sea. Marie didn't know why, but she loved the sound of waves, even in a damp, gloomy place like Port Royal. Sora walked up beside her and noticed she was leaning her elbows against the railing, and he wanted to check up on her. When he noticed her looking out into the sea, he stood in silence when he heard the waves, and it reminded him of home.

"The waves remind me of home," he said. Marie looked at him and then back at the sea. There was no doubt that it reminded them both of Destiny Islands, but she really wanted to see how it looked. She wondered how her home and street looked now, and she wondered what her aunt and uncle were doing. Would they still call her daughter? She would have to tell them about that when she goes home. Well…if they made it home.

"Yea, they do," she said. It wasn't as pretty as the waves on Destiny Island, but she wasn't complaining. Before she could say anything else, Elizabeth gasped as she heard Goofy say the Interceptor was approaching. Everyone ran over to where Goofy was and they all saw Will leaning against the railing, presumably passed out. Elizabeth called out to him, while Jack placed his right over his heart as he lowered his head—to mourn the loss of Will.

"Stop that, Jack!" Elizabeth yelled at Jack's overly insensitive gesture, since the man wasn't dead. She looked over to the ship and watched as they brought Will down to the cabin, and then looked at everyone else. "We've got to rescue him!"

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While heading back to the Black Pearl after saving Will, they headed over to the cabin. Elizabeth bent down to pick him up, and shook him a bit to wake him. He opened his eyes a bit, and they fluttered as he looked at who was telling him to wake up.

"Elizabeth…," he called out in a low voice. She gave him a quick smile before asking what had happened, and Will looked up at the ceiling and recalled what he had seen. "The medallions…and…the stone chest—someone's taken them…Next thing I knew, we were attacked. But I couldn't see who it was—his face was shrouded…in a black hood."

Sora looked at Marie, Donald and Goofy as they nodded—it was the Organization. Will continued speaking and explained that they found a way out of the cave, but were attacked by monsters—most likely the Nobodies. He stopped taking after a while since he passed out, and Sora looked at everyone. He told them how it was their turn to move and they nodded while Elizabeth told them to go prepared.

"Pardon me, lads and lasses," Jack said as he looked at everyone. "But your captain will have no monsters today. Thank ye, we're turning for home."

He left to go upstairs, but quickly stopped when he looked at someone appear in black smoke. Sora ran up with everyone following behind, and Jack sarcastically told the man he didn't remember inviting him. Sora brought out his keyblade, and told Jack they had it under control, but the man stopped him.

"The darkness of men's hearts—drawn to these cursed medallions; and this Heartless—a veritable maelstrom of avarice: I wonder, are they worthy to serve Organization XIII?" the man said. Sora seemed a bit confused by the words the guy used, as well as everyone else, but Aura kept her guard. She knew only Luxord talked in that tone—that very annoying tone. Jack assumed he wanted an answer, and the man chuckled, "Precisely!"

He disappeared into his black portal, and everyone prepared for the fight. It was a Heartless that floated in the air with a blade hanging on a string, and if someone wasn't careful it could slice them in half. Sora quickly used his valor form and Goofy disappeared, while Marie and Donald focused on spells. Aura jumped around and swung her blade at the Heartless, and Jack threw a couple of bombs at the Heartless. Sora reverted back to his normal form, and it didn't take very long for the Heartless to fall. When it did, it fell overboard and created a big splash. Donald was overjoyed, but they weren't done yet. They looked over to the man in the hood, and he took off his hood—revealing a blonde man with a goatee and blue eyes.

"Throw him overboard," Jack commanded. Sora agreed, but the man shouted.

"Parley!" he shouted. Jack was taken aback, and Goofy asked what he meant.

"It's a bit of a pirates' code. Anyone who invokes "parley" must not be harmed 'til negotiations are complete," Jack said. They had no time to be following rules, but Jack was adamant. "True. But as we're honorable pirates we should always stick to the Code. All right, you. Out with it!"

"I surrender the chest with my humblest apologies," said the man. Jack was a bit surprised at the negotiations, but asked what he wanted in return, "Oh, just a few souvenirs… for the memories!"

He took a couple of medallions and threw them in the air while some Nobodies appeared and grabbed them, and they couldn't stop the curse unless they had all of the medallions. The Nobodies flew into the water and merged into one giant Nobody with a giant scythe, and he spun it around to create a whirlwind headed straight at them. They all covered themselves from the wind, and it blew Marie against the wall of the door and she groaned in pain. Aura tried going towards her, but the wind was so strong that it blew her, along with everyone else, off the Black Pearl and onto the Interceptor. Marie got up and watched in horror as the man called the Nobody to fire at the ship, and it completely tore apart.

"Sora! Donald! Goofy!" she called out. She griped the railing and just watched, while Will and Elizabeth walked up from the cabin and watched as well. She brought a hand up to her chest and balled it up into a fist, and without thinking attacked the man. He was mildly caught off guard, but a small punch from a small girl didn't even hurt him at all, and she tried pushing him off. He merely slapped her down to the floor, and she groaned in pain. Elizabeth ran over to her while carrying Will and the man hovered over them, Marie felt a sudden pang of familiarity from the situation, and she couldn't help but remember something similar to this scene.

The old man hovered over Marie, who was just four years old, and she grew suspicious. He promised her a ginormous gift, but so far the walk wasn't turning out so well. He had a very sly smile—it unnerved her to no end, and she brought her hands close to her chest. He brought up his arm and roughly grabbed her wrist, and the pain that came from it was unbearable. She screamed and shouted, and tried to kick the man, but it wasn't working. She didn't know how strong this guy was, and she wasn't much of a fighter to begin with. He still hovered over her, and told her to be quiet. She wasn't going to listen, and so she screamed even louder. For him, it was a good thing that he brought her to a secluded place, but she didn't like it. He tugged her wrist even harder, and she cried out in pain as it nearly popped her arm. He brought his other hand over her mouth, but her cries kept getting louder. He told her that if she wanted to live, she would stay quiet, and she lowered her voice. He gave a dark smirk as he dragged her along, and she whimpered when he grabbed her wrist, since the pain was becoming unbearable. Going through places and portals, the two eventually made their way towards Radiant Garden.

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Sora groaned as he got up from the wrecked Interceptor and looked around—the ship was definitely torn into shreds. Donald and Goofy were getting up as well, and they looked around to see Aura already standing and looking around. She had her arms crossed and didn't look very happy, but they were too afraid to ask what happened. Sora got up and made sure everyone was alright, but when he didn't see a certain coral pink figure, he got worried.

"Have you guys seen Marie? Did she get blown off the ship with us?" he asked. Aura walked from looking around and looked over to Sora and the rest.

"She got blown away, but not with us," she said. Sora was a bit confused, and Aura sighed at his inability to come up with theories. "In other words, she stayed on the ship. I saw her hit against the wall before we flew away."

"Oh no, if that Organization fella catches her, they'll use her for their plans!" Goofy stated. Sora and Donald grew incredibly worried, but Aura shook her head.

"Not likely," she said. Sora asked what she meant, and she looked the other way. "There's another piece to it, she's really only just one half."

"And the other?" Donald asked.

"I'm still looking for it," she lied.

"How do you know all of this?" Sora became suspicious and wondered what this girl was even after, since she knew a lot about Organization XIII and she even knew a bit about Marie. How on earth did she know that she fought with a Keyblade? How did she know that Marie was involved and how did she know that she was only one half of their plan? "Just who are you?"

"A Nobody," she answered. Sora, Donald and Goofy all gasped, wondering if she really was one, but she looked away and shook her head. "That is to say, I'm no one important. I told you that I was after the Organization, and the rest is none of your business. You should be worried about him."

She pointed at Jack, who wasn't listening and was turned around in skeleton form. Sora shouted and asked if he stole a medallion, but Jack turned around and told him that he would've been fortunate if he had. He explained that he must have touched the Nobody before being blown away, but questioned why the rest were still in their skins.

"'Cause we're not greedy!" Donald told him. Sora and Goofy stared at him, and a moment of silence filled in until Donald noticed their stares. "What're you looking at?"

They stopped looking at him, but were still confused about the whole thing. Goofy wondered if it was because they were not from Port Royal, and Donald pointed out that they probably had different laws. Jack walked away but listened to their conversations, and Sora wondered when they would see their own homes. Donald and Goofy gave a sad look towards the boy, while Aura merely wondered what he was even thinking. Or better yet, wondered what Roxas was thinking.

"Just kiddin' you," Sora laughed as he looked at the two. He didn't want them to get worried about him, but he was still wondering when he would see his home. "Lucky we didn't get cursed, huh?"

"Quit yammerin', mates!" Jack shouted. He turned to the rest and explained how they needed to find a ship that would float. Aura walked out before them, and they followed in after. She wandered into her own mind and hoped that Luxord didn't actually take Marie back to The World That Never Was, since it would be a hassle getting her back. She couldn't send Sora, Donald and Goofy to the world either—even if she didn't really like them—because it would be too much for them to handle all of the members on their own. They made their way towards the dock of the island they were on, and noticed a Nobody holding one of the medallions. Jack was quick to fight the thing, with Sora, Donald and Goofy backing him up. Aura joined in only to make things quicker, and with the five of them the Nobody quickly fell. Jack grabbed the medallion, and had three more to go. They stopped when they saw the Black Pearl approaching, and both Elizabeth and Marie were waving at them.

"Ahoy, mateys!" Elizabeth shouted. Jack waved his hand and told her that she created a ridiculous imitation, but was still flattered. Marie was just incredibly happy to see them all alive and well, and when they boarded the ship she went to hug all three of them—Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"I thought you guys were goners!" she told them. She sighed in relief and let go of the hug, while Donald and Goofy started laughing. Sora smiled at her, while she smiled in return. Aura boarded the ship last, and was surprised to see her unharmed.

"Jack, what happened!? This is horrible!" Elizabeth shouted when she saw Jack in his skeleton form. Jack was ready to blame her, but Will shook his head and told him that she had nothing to do with it.

"It's Organization XIII," Sora told them. They were the ones who did it all, and Goofy wondered where they headed off too.

"Well…" Marie started as she placed a finger on her chin.

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"Now, to take what is ours," the man in the hood said. Marie brought her hands up to her chest and closed her eyes for a moment—what could she do? She looked around to see if she could use anything to distract him, but a bunch of barrels that were too heavy for her didn't seem fair. He brought out his hand, and everything felt slow. His hand started reaching out to her slowly, and she just took out her staff and quickly attacked his hand away. He winced a bit in pain, but quickly composed himself as he glared at the girl. She was standing and ready to fight but he knew better to fight her—she was rather important. "Don't waste your time. Just admit defeat," he said.

"Why do you guys need me so much?" she asked. He chuckled, and explained how she pretty much was a missing piece to Kingdom Hearts. Without her the power wouldn't be complete, and it's what they wanted to make themselves complete. Marie just grabbed her head. "First I'm the body and soul of it, then I'm a key, now I'm legit part of it!? Which is it?"

"How about a 3-in-one?" he replied. He snickered and she glared at his joke. It was no time to be dealing with such things, and she was really getting confused. He grew serious, and stuck out his hand again. "Now, to take you to our leader—"

"Back off!" she shouted. She had her staff in her hand, and he noticed a heart glowing on her forehead. She was really angry, and glared even harder at the man. "This is no one's power to control—no one has the right to own it!"

While she was right, she couldn't deny the fact that she was born with a bit of its power, so technically she owned a bit of it. Even so, she was not an evil person looking to gain its power for personal use, and whether she was the body and soul, a key, or even a part of the damn thing she was going to protect it. The heart on her forehead glowed brighter, and a bright shield appeared around her, Will and Elizabeth. It grew too close to the man and managed to slightly burn the tip of his finger when he tried defending himself, so he quickly grabbed his Nobodies and Heartless and ran through his portal. Everything was brought back to normal once he left, and Marie gave a huge sigh in relief.

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"Wow, you managed to keep him away!" Donald shouted, surprised that the blonde used her powers without having to faint. Marie smiled and nodded, but they were all still surprised—Donald, Sora and Goofy, that is.

"I think I'm getting better," she said, but the moment she looked up she felt a bit dizzy. The others looked worried, and she laughed nervously while she placed her hand on her forehead. "Well… at least I didn't faint."

"It was certainly in impressive light," Elizabeth commented. She looked at the rest, and explained how they needed to collect the medallions, and everyone agreed. Since they saw one on the island they were on, they started there.

Glad to know that Marie is getting the hang of her Kingdom Hearts power, and Luxord revealed a bit about her role. She still doesn't know what she is to the thing, but it'll be an ongoing plot throughout the story. All I know is, she never gets to willingly use the power on her own—only when it resonates to her situations, or when Stella wants to lend a hand.

Lvl-ZeR0:
Thank you! Sadly today I only came out with one chapter. 'Twas quite busy.