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:
Say bye to having Aura join us in the next chapter! We also get very lovey-dovey with Marie and Sora in the next chapter!

Disclaimer:
I don't own this chapter's title, nor do I own the title for Beauty and The Beast. :)

Chapter Forty-Seven
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Pirates of the Caribbean

After collecting the medallions, everyone gathered and thought of what to do next. Will explained that if they could find the hooded man they'd be able to find the chest, and Sora figured he'd be in Port Royal. Elizabeth didn't understand, but the boy explained. "Organization XIII is after people's hearts, so they're gonna go where there's lots of people," he said.

"They'll hurt the townsfolk?"

"No, they're bringin' 'em flowers, mate," Jack sarcastically replied. "I don't know who these Organizers are, but I will say they're makin' we pirates looks like proper gents."

The Captain was obviously angered by this and walked away, but Aura thought something a bit differently. If Organization XIII really wanted to be 'whole' why couldn't they just try harder to kidnap her and Marie? There had to be something more in their schemes, but what that was…she didn't know. Still, she made it apparent that she wasn't going to share this with everyone else—she didn't want to put things into people's head since she herself wasn't sure.

The ship sailed and everyone waited until they got to Port Royal. Once there, everyone ran off it and headed towards the center of the town. There they saw the giant Heartless with the scythe in its hand, to which Jack distracted while Sora threw in the medallions in the chest.

"The curse—it's gone!" Donald pointed at the Heartless, who didn't have his flames surrounding him. Jack was still in his skeleton form and wondered why that was, but Goofy understood now. He explained that the Heartless was the one who cursed him, not from taking the gold. The Heartless roared, and swung his scythe around. Everyone jumped out of the way, and watched as some of the gold flew out of the chest. Sora took out his keyblade along with everyone else, while Will attended to finding the gold.

The Heartless in question was a tough opponent, since he swung his blade around a lot. Aura looked at the monster, and tried reading its moves, but since it ran around a lot it was a bit hard. Marie focused on healing and using her magic, while Sora, Jack and Aura dealt the most damage. Sora used his valor form to attack the Heartless, while Aura got a good opening to attack it. She ran up to it and quickly threw her sword into it and took the chance to grab the scythe from it while spinning it around. She threw it up into the air and Sora grabbed it after jumping, and swung it around at the Heartless. She never understood how well they were together in battle, but she figured it was Roxas' side helping out. Still, she ignored this and caught the scythe when Sora dropped it back down. She hit the Heartless a couple of times before it eventually grabbed its weapon back, and both Donald and Marie came in with their magic.

Goofy blocked a couple of attacks for Sora after parting from his valor form, and the boy jumped up to attack the Heartless a couple more times. Jack came in with some bombs and attacked the monster as well, but he mostly focused on causing it distractions so that the rest could attack it. After a couple of more intense hits and blocks from Sora, Aura and Jack, they were able to defeat the Heartless and get all the coins in time. As soon as it fell, Jack also returned to his skinned self—with much happiness as well. He kissed his hand to take in that fact, and Sora was pleased to know that he was all better.

"Ah, not quite, mate," Jack said. He turned to find the man in the hood collecting the heart from the Heartless, and congratulated Sora on defeating it. They all tried running up to him, but he quickly disappeared. Jack placed a hand on Sora's shoulder and looked down at him. "Just who was that chap?"

"He's part of an Organization that's collecting hearts. First they release Heartless into different worlds. We defeat those heartless, and then they get the hearts," Sora said as he looked down. He was incredibly distressed about the ordeal. "We're never gonna stop 'em like this."

"What's the plan, then?" Jack asked. The gang told them that they had to get to their hideout and defeat them all once and for all. Aura felt a little uncomfortable hearing that only because of Axel, who was still very much a close person to her. Jack was intrigued by their story, but Will and Elizabeth wanted to know if there was any way they could help.

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They team all sailed out into the sea with the treasure, and once they were far in, they dumped it off into the ocean. It was certain that Port Royal didn't need trouble from the Organization or the Heartless, but Jack only wanted them gone because pirates would no longer be true threats.

"They'll ruin the market for us pirates," he explained. Elizabeth sighed, and knew there was a reason why he came to Port Royal. She really thought he wanted to save everyone, but he was only in it for profit. Sora even felt like he was turning over a new leaf. "The question is, what's beyond the leaf? Savvy?"

"Oh…oh yes—a reward. And what'll it be?" Elizabeth looked at him when he made gestures of wanting something in return. Jack looked over to Sora and Marie, but more so at Sora. There was something he wanted alright…

"That lovely blade of Sora's," he pointed out. Donald and Goofy were shocked, but Sora, Marie and even Aura knew that it wasn't possible. Still, Sora decided to give it to him anyways. He took it out and handed it over to Jack, but the Captain pirate was a bit skeptic. "Hold on! That was far too easy. What's the rub?"

He took the blade from Sora's hand, and looked at the beauty up close. Not even a minute passed by and the blade returned back into Sora's hand. "There, you see?" Jack said, knowing that there was a catch.

"Well, you always got the pearl, Jack," Sora told him. Jack was glad to have his ship, but he did warn Sora that he was going to gather a blood-thirsty crew and take the keyblade, and would be able to wield when the time came.

"And if I succeed, I'll ask you two to join me. That'd be reward enough," he finished. Elizabeth gave her word, but Will wasn't really looking forward to it.

"Maybe someday, Jack will be able to use the keyblade after all," Goofy mentioned. Marie and Donald looked at him and wondered why. Goofy just laughed. "A-hyuk! He and Sora are kind of alike, dontcha think?"

Marie looked at the two, who listened in on Goofy's conversation. They both brought up their hands and waved them as they shook their heads, even saying they weren't anything near like each other at the same time. They looked at each other for a moment until laughter broke out from everyone—well everyone but Aura. She just stood there and watched as these people laughed, which brought her back to memories of her, Roxas and Axel sitting atop the clock tower at Twilight Town just laughing.

It was times like that that she really wished things didn't have to go and change the way they did, but nothing in this world every stayed the same, and she had to accept that. Everyone continued laughing, and she gave a soft sigh as she just watched. Marie leaned against Goofy's shoulder as they laughed while watching Sora act like a pirate. Donald joined in with him, and Jack was getting a bit embarrassed at their mediocre acting. Elizabeth and Will stood by each other as they watched, and gave soft bits of laughs or chuckles along the way.

Maybe Aura would be laughing if she really was somebody instead of a Nobody, but as she felt the end come near, would she still be herself? There were times where Naminé told her they wouldn't disappear, just that they would be whole, but she thought of Roxas. Even if he became whole, she still couldn't see him or talk to him. Not that she was really wanting to, since she was still a bit angry with him, but no one would see her.

No one would see 'Aura'.

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Everyone was back on the Gummi ship and flying to the next world, but Aura still couldn't get the idea of disappearing out of her mind. She never thought being around Marie or Sora would produce this type of thinking, and she really thought they would be doing a bunch of stupid things. Well, along the way of fighting they had their bits of silliness, but she never really knew just how serious it was for them. She also wondered how Riku and Axel were doing, since she hadn't seen the two in a while. She sighed when she thought of Riku—she left being very angry with him, but never got the chance to talk to him again. Why would it matter? She was a Nobody, so no one cared.

She stood near the center of the ship, and overheard Sora talking with Goofy and Donald. Marie was in her room, probably catching up on some sleep from her dizziness, so she was with the three stooges. She looked over to them and noticed Sora having distressed look on his face, since Donald and Goofy brought up Marie and Kairi.

"So do you have an answer?" Donald asked. Sora looked down at the floor, and couldn't really choose. He didn't even know how it got so far, but his heart was torn between them two. Kairi was a great girl and she was with him and Riku as they grew up, but it also brought about the fact that she seemed more of a childhood friend than anything else. He could still tell her everything, and she was fun to be with. She was nice, thoughtful, and got along great with almost anyone, and she cared a lot for both him and Riku. She also knew him very well, which was something Marie didn't know, and he knew her very well, too. There was no doubt that he could really depend on her, and that she'd welcome them home with a smile on her face.

It was a little different with Marie though, since she was relatively new to him. They had something in common from the start, which was Riku, but as time passed it was really just her that got him. She was sweet and optimistic, and from the start she had always been so cheerful, even with her memory bugged out. She was definitely playful and full of smiles last year, but he noticed that she became a lot more serious, but then again, he changed a bit too. But as with Kairi, she cared a lot for him and Riku and she was definitely very dependable and he knew she had his back. The only thing he really wasn't sure was her connection to Kingdom Hearts and her past, and he feared that something from it will eventually pull her away. Would he want to set himself up for tragedy?

Aura stopped looking and walked up closer, which brought Sora out of his mind. His mood was a bit lowered when she came, but she wasn't going to start anything. She crossed her arms and decided to offer some words of 'wisdom' to the brunette boy.

"I'm not one to go into someone's business, but this thing with Marie and Kairi…," she started. Sora raised his eyebrow and was surprised she even knew about it, but decided not to speak up. He figured it was bound to get to her ears anyways. "…I know that, if you wait too long, it could be too late."

"What do you mean?" he asked. She looked away, and found it odd how she was talking to Roxas about waiting too long. Well, he was Sora, but he was still Roxas.

"Marie or Kairi might not be around by the time you figure things out," she told him. She closed her eyes behind her hoodie, and remembered the time Marie disappeared last year. "One of them could disappear… and they'd never find out how you felt about them."

Sora, Donald and Goofy were getting a bit suspicious about Aura now, since they also remembered Marie disappearing. She spoke with rather specific string of words, and they wondered about the girl. They didn't know who she was, and she came out if nowhere with an attitude. For the most part, though, they knew she had no hostilities towards them or Marie, who seemed to be the main target of Organization XIII. Sora just couldn't get it out of his head though. "What do you mean… disappear?" he asked.

"Exactly what it means. Whether if they disappear into the darkness, or just disappear from existence, they could be gone before your eyes…and all you're left with is a lingering feeling that you could've said something to make them not go," she spoke with a notable hint of sadness. It was obvious to her that she was relating to her relationships with Axel and Roxas, and she wanted to let it go…but she couldn't. Those times with them were the only good thing about her pathetic existence, but they were killing her. "Nothing stays the same, so why should you expect time to wait for you?"

Sora, Donald and Goofy stood in silence for a moment, and really thought about what she said. This was the most emotion they got from her, and they didn't really expect something as sad as that from her. As much as Sora didn't like her from the start, she definitely had their back when they fought, and he had to give her that much. Maybe they could be friends or…friendly rivals, as he and Riku once were. He instead walked up to the girl and smiled at her while sticking out his hand.

"We got off to a bad start, I think. What do you say we start over?" he said as she looked down at his hand. She wasn't really sure if she should shake his hand, but maybe Sora was the key to laying her past to rest. She stuck out her hand a bit hesitantly, and when she held Sora's he tilted his head a bit and quickly let go and looked at it. Donald and Goofy wondered what was going on, but then Sora looked up at her. "Aura…"

"Who's that?" Goofy asked. Sora kept looking at the girl in front of him, who had her face covered with her hood. The handshake felt so familiar, and he didn't know how he knew her name.

"It's her name, isn't it?" he asked as he pointed at Aura. Donald and Goofy were surprised to know that he knew her name as well. Marie popped out from her room yawning, and she noticed everyone crowded by the center of the ship. She wondered what was going on and walked over to them, but they all stayed the same.

"Yes, Aura is my name," she told them. Marie raised her eyebrow, and wondered why she was telling them her name, but then Sora looked down at the floor.

"How come I know your name?" he asked. Marie walked over to Donald and Goofy and asked what had happened, and they filled her in. She seemed a bit shocked that Sora knew her name without having anyone to tell him, but figured it had something to do with the boy named Roxas, or how he cried when they first left Twilight Town. She mentioned it to Donald and Goofy, and they wondered the same thing.

"I really don't know why you know my name," she lied. It wasn't the time to tell them what she knew, and although it contradicted what she told Sora earlier, this really wasn't the time. She moved her head a bit, and looked down towards the floor—maybe staying with these guys was revealing too much. She closed her eyes, and although she was starting to get used to them, she knew what she had to do. "In any case, we should get going. Time doesn't wait, after all."

Sora stared at her for a while, but ultimately agreed. He knew better than to keep asking, since he already knew what her answer would be. He, Donald and Goofy walked over to their seats, while Marie stared at Aura for a moment. There was something deeper with this girl and everything connected to Organization XIII. She knew a bit too much in her opinion, and the fact that she couldn't relay information to them, or told them it was none of their business really made the blonde think.

'Just who is Aura? Where is she from? Why is she helping us? What's her connection to Organization XIII and why does she wield a keyblade?'

Aura really questions her identity in this chapter. She doesn't want to 'disappear' like Roxas and become someone who sees her only as Marie. She wants to be 'Aura' and she wants people to see her as such. Will she just disappear from existence when this is all over?

Grapejuice101:
Your wish will be granted soon enough. :3 but more on Sora's end than Marie's.

Lvl-ZeR0:
Thank you :3 I shall try my best to make them awesome!