Chapter 66: escape from the locker
I do not own kingdom hearts or the properties shown in this fanfic. They belong to the respective owners and the original story is based on the works of Darius Almighty. Kingdom hearts and trials of the keyblade is owned by square Enix, Disney, and Tetsuya Nomura. Please support the official release.
Right. Now into davy jones's locker! 2007 was notorious of releasing transformers (the live-action one) at that time of year! I hope transformers earthspark would come to a close if they stop redeeming megatron! It's just gonna backfire on them if he goes back to his old ways!
With that out of the way, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!
Silence.
Silence?
More like utter silence.
Dead silence.
Dead men tell no tales.
What was that?
The wind.
There is no wind.
Hungry.
Sniff sniff.
What's that?
Peanut.
Jack Sparrow neatly tied his napkin around his neck and brought his fork and knife to the ready. His delicacy today, a single peanut sitting upon a plate. Jack licked his lips hungrily, stabbed into the peanut, brought it to his mouth-
BAM
Jack gasped as a gunshot rang through the air, the peanut a mere inch from touching his tongue, then fell over backwards, dead as a doornail. For Jack Sparrow had been shot.
By Captain Jack Sparrow.
Captain Jack blew the smoke from his fired pistol, then casually walked over and picked up the peanut. "My peanut," he stated, before popping it in his mouth. "All hands! Slackened braces!"
"Aye Captain!" yet another Jack Sparrow saluted. "You heard him, lads! Slackened braces!"
"Aye aye!" Dozens of Jack Sparrows sprung into action, swarming the ship at the orders of their one captain. They crewed the Black Pearl unlike any other, in perfect synchronisation, all diligent in their work: scrubbing the deck, scaling the rope ladders, unfurling the sails. Each one of them was the same, yet different in their own way. One went around clucking like a chicken; another attempted to initiate relations with a goat. The one who had been shot dusted himself off as he stood back up and went back to his duties.
Captain Jack Sparrow, distinguishable only by his coat and captain's hat, strode about barking orders. "Mister Sparrow! Tie those lines!"
"Aye, Captain Sparrow!"
"Mister Sparrow! Douse canvas!"
"Aye, Captain Sparrow!"
"Mister Sparrow! Man the yards!"
"Aye, Captain Sparrow!"
"Uh, Captain Sparrow?"
"Yes, Mister Sparrow?" Captain Jack asked as three Jack Sparrows approached him.
"Beggin' your pardon, Captain Sparrow," the first Jack addressed faithfully. "But a couple of us Sparrows were wondering, you see, what you intend to do with fair young maiden there." He pointed to the young girl laying against the door to the captain's cabin. Kairi was asleep, her red hair falling across her face, her expression occasionally twitching, having some kind of troubled dream. "You see, there's been talk amongst the men."
"It's frightful bad luck to have a woman on board," the second Jack commented worriedly.
"Even worse not to have one," the third Jack chuckled.
"So it might be best, sir," the first Jack said again. "If we decide on what be done about her before we make headway, savvy?"
Captain Jack scowled. "Savvy?" he repeated mockingly, and he approached that Jack. "So let me make sure I understand this. You wish to put everything on hold, our very lives on the line, for a girl?"
"A-Aye, Captain," the first Jack stammered. Captain Jack sniffed disdainfully, unsheathed his sword, and ran it right through the other Jack's stomach. The other two Jacks recoiled in horror, while the impaled one gasped in pain.
"It was that kind of thinking," Captain Jack whispered in his ear. "What got us into this mess." With that he withdrew his blade, and the other Jack crumpled lifelessly to the deck.
The captain calmly wiped his sword clean. "We have lost speed, therefore time, precious time, which cannot be regained once lost. Do you understand?" Any sane person who might have come upon such a scene would have seen Jack talking to himself and giving orders to empty air, as the only ones on the Black Pearl were he and Kairi. "Heave the braces! Scrub the deck! Tie the sheets! Then do it all again! There! Let that be a lesson to all of you! You think I like doing this? Well, actually I do. For I have no sympathy for any of you succulent maggots. Especially you! Yes, you, wipe that smirk off your face. Just for that, you're not invited to my garden party!" He leapt onto the railing and grabbed himself a rope. "Gentlemen! Lady." He nodded Kairi's way. "I wash my hands of this weirdness!" And with that he jumped overboard.
And landed firmly on solid ground. The same ground his beloved ship was now marooned on. All around him was land, perfectly flat, searing hot land. There was nothing else. No plants, no beach, no mountains. It seemed to stretch on forever. And Jack was trapped here. He and the Black Pearl.
Jack puckered his lips, taking note of his surroundings. He licked one finger and held it up. "No wind," he muttered soon enough. "Not a breeze, a gust, a whisper, or a tiny miniature lick. Oh, I love this place..." He looked all around the Pearl to confirm that it truly was grounded. At this point evan a puddle would've brightened his day. Sadly, no puddles. Barely a raindrop in this place.
"Oh, a rope!" he realized cheerfully. It hung from the bowsprit and Jack grasped it. He stared at it for a minute, until he came up with a brilliant idea. At least, it was a brilliant idea what was left of his mind. Grasping the line firmly, he attempted to pull the ship with all his strength. Of course, the ship wouldn't budge, but that didn't stop Jack from trying with all his might.
Back on board the ship, its only other occupant continued to sleep. Kairi's face twitched and flinched like she was in pain, cold sweat pouring from her. Whatever she was seeing, she didn't like it. All of a sudden, she was perfectly still. Then her eyes opened, glowing with pure light. She stood up and slowly, as if in a trance, made her way across the deck.
Jack, meanwhile, stressed every muscle in his body to at least move the ship a little. Now he was running in place, still holding tightly to the rope. After many tries, even he realized it was useless, huffing and puffing out air, and then he fell backwards from exhaustion.
Kairi kept walking until she was standing on frontmost portion of the ship, her ethereal orbs looking out over the landscape. She spread her arms from her sides, her entire body bursting with a bright glow and, for a brief moment, the Black Pearl glowed as well, lighting up like a star.
Then it started moving.
Jack wearily reopened his eyes, only to find the hot sun blazing above, and shut them tight again. "No wind, no water, no rum," he grumbled dourly. He reopened his eyes, but this time, something was blocking the sun. Black sails to be precise. Moving black sails. Jack quickly sat up, and gaped at the impossible. The Black Pearl was moving, sailing across the dry ground as if it were on water again through the power of one angelic looking red-haired girl, who stood at the forefront, filling this bleak realm with ambience of light.
Jack Sparrow continued to stare, dumbfounded, as it sailed away, leaving him behind. "Huh," he said to sum it all up, right before he broke into a run after it.
Some ways away the battered crew of the Hai Peng emerged wearily from the ocean in various states as they crawled their way onto shore. Jack Skellington collected all the body parts he had lost, Beast dragged out a disoriented po and tossed him on shore. Their ship had not survived the fall of World's End, but at least they had.
Sora collapsed hands and knees on the beach, coughing out the salt water he had ingested. "Is this it?" he asked. He couldn't see anything around but sand dunes.
"There aren't any books or gym socks," Jack Skellington muttered, popping his head back on his shoulders. "You sure this is a locker?"
"Aye, you look upon Davy Jones' Locker," Barbossa confirmed. His monkey shook himself dry on his shoulder. "The most damnable of hells any sailor can find himself in."
"And why did we want to come here again?" sonic asked irritably, shaking himself dry much like Barbossa's monkey.
"For Kairi and Jack!" Sora reminded them.
"But...I don't see them," Elizabeth whispered dreadfully. There was nothing but sand. "I don't see anyone!" Mulan made to summon her Keyblade behind her, hoping to dry herself off faster with some heat, only the weapon wouldn't come.
"Hey, our Keyblades don't work here!" she realized with dread. The Keyblade bearers looked at her in shock. They all soon confirmed it was true. Some kind of foreign power was preventing them from summoning their weapons.
"Davy Jones is no stranger to the Keyblade, after all," Barbossa reminded, shaking his head.
"Truly this is a godforsaken place," Gibbs growled. "We have no ship, no magical key-swords, no hope!"
"Then we're trapped here," came Will's dreadful conclusion. "No different than Jack or Kairi."
"Do not be so quick to give up hope," Tia Dalma stated, a knowing smile gracing her features. "For there is always a light that cuts through the horizon." She turned to the front, and everyone followed her gaze. Nothing could have prepared them for what happened next.
From over top a sand dune, emerged none other than the famous Black Pearl. At the bow stood Kairi, her angelic and glowing form obvious to them even from such a distance. And standing at the top mast, taking the whole ordeal in stride, was Captain Jack Sparrow, who had eyes only for the sea. Everyone stared in slack jawed amazement as the ship overtook the sand dune and slid down where it continued to head straight for the water.
"That's...impossible," Tai Huang gasped in disbelief. Jack Skellington's jaw detached and fell in the sand.
"That's not impossible," Gibbs laughed happily. "That's Jack!" The Black Pearl crashed into the beaches and took to the water once again, floating off on the pull of the waves. Kairi's power no longer needed, her eyes returned to normal, her body when limp and she fell overboard into to the ocean.
"KAIRI!" Sora yelled and dove into the water, swimming as hard as he could to the drifting girl. As soon as he reached her he grabbed her around the waist, swam her back to shore and laid her flat across the sand. "Kairi! Wake up! Kairi!" Everyone else gathered round worriedly. Slowly, she began to stir, and the girl opened her blue eyes.
"So...ra...?" she mumbled tiredly, her blurry vision coming in focus to his face. Sora broke out into the widest smile. She was here. She was okay! "No!" she cried suddenly pushing him away. "You're not here! You can't be! You're dead! They're all dead!" She kept pushing him away, screaming that same word.
"K-Kairi!" Sora stammered, restraining her flailing arms. "It's me! I'm not dead! What's gotten into you?" Then Kairi seemed to snap out of her terror-induced panic, and now looked at him fully.
"Sora?" she whispered, raising one hand to touch his face gently. When she saw he was real, her tear filled eyes brightened, and threw her arms around him. "Sora! You're okay! You're okay! I thought...I thought you were..." Sora slowly wound his arms around her, and held her tightly to him. It seemed like what had happened to her had been a bad dream the longer he held her. One he never wanted to experience again.
Suddenly the gentle tune of a violin started playing. Everyone turned to Jack Skellington who, after pulling a violin out of nowhere, had started harmoniously playing to the tender moment. "Stop that," Sora growled. Jack grinned sheepishly and put the instrument away.
Aladdin glanced at sonic. "Are you crying?"
"Sh-Shut up," sonic muttered, quickly rubbing his eyes clear.
A longboat pulled up on the beach and Jack Sparrow came ashore, marching up to the group. "It's the captain!" Pintel cheered.
"Jack's back!" po exclaimed. Mulan broke into a wide smile when she saw him, but it quickly fell. Just what was she going to say to him?
"Jack! Good to see you breathing!" Gibbs laughed as everyone ran to meet him.
"Mister Gibbs!" Jack snapped to his first-mate.
"A-Aye, Captain!" Gibbs stammered in surprise, quickly standing to attention.
"Yes, I thought it was you. Well, what have you to say for yourself? I expect you can account for your actions."
"Uh, sir?" Gibbs said questionably.
"Don't act stupid, that's my job! You've been neglecting your post. There has been a perpetual and virulent lack of discipline aboard my vessel, and I shall not stand for it! Nor will I sit, kneel or lie down! Explain yourself, sir!" Everyone looked at each other awkwardly.
"Captain," Gibbs began carefully. "You're in Davy Jones' Locker."
Jack's mouth twitched. "I-I know that!" he replied after a while. "Of course I know that! I knew it all along! Don't think I didn't!"
"Jack, are you okay?" Sora asked, as Kairi leaned on him for support.
"I've never been better, Sora me lad!" Jack assured walking up to him. "But I imagine you don't have much time to talk, as you must hop on board your flying machine and travel across the cosmos to find your lost friends. Oh wait, there's one!" He pointed at Kairi. "Well done, lad! You're almost there! Oh, Tia Dalma!" he exclaimed coming before her. "Out and about, eh? You lend an agreeable sense of the macabre to any delirium."
"Jack Sparrow," Barbossa greeted with much more calm than anyone would have expected. Jack puckered his lips.
"Ah, Hector!" he laughed, not the least bit phased that his old adversary had returned. "My, you're a sight for sore eyes! How long has it been?"
"Isle de Muerta, remember?" Barbossa replied. "You shot me."
Jack blinked, then smiled nervously. "No I didn't."
Will slapped his forehead. "He thinks we're an hallucination," he realized with a sigh.
"Or course you're an hallucination, William," Jack answered indifferently, marching up to him next. "Tell me, have you come for my help in rescuing your bonny lass?" Will slowly shook his head. "Then you wouldn't be here, would you? So you can't be here! Therefore, you're not really here!" Elizabeth frowned bitterly. She didn't get captured that often.
"Jack," Mulan said to him as she approached. "It's really us. We're here to save you." Jack Sparrow frowned when his eyes landed on Mulan. The reason for this only she knew. Something seemed to click in his mind the longer he stared at her, and his eyes lit up with horrid realization. He quickly shuffled back to Gibbs.
"The Locker?" he whimpered. Gibbs nodded regretfully. "Oh bugger."
"We've come to rescue you, Jack!" po exclaimed grinning. Jack frowned bitterly.
"Really?" Jack asked disdainfully. "All of you have come to save me?" Walking up to Beast he smiled wryly. "Even you?" Beast sniffed and crossed his arms, looking away awkwardly. "That's interesting. Because you don't have a ship, and I do." He pointed to the Black Pearl anchored in the distance. "So it seems you are the ones in need of rescue."
"I see my ship," Barbossa chuckled, pointing to the Black Pearl as well. "It's right over there."
"Really?" Jack squinted his eyes out at sea. "Can't see it. Must be a tiny little thing hiding somewhere behind the Pearl."
"Jack, Maleficent and the Horned King have the heart of Davy Jones!" Sora told him.
"They've joined forces with Beckett," Barbossa growled.
"They're taking over the seas!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"All so they can get to Kairi," Aladdin stated grimly, much to Kairi's shock.
"The song has been sung. The Brethren Court has been called!" Tia Dalma declared.
"See what happens when I leave you people alone?" Jack grumbled, seemingly not caring about anything that was just said, and walking back to his longboat. "Barely been a few days and everything has gone to hell."
"Aye, Jack! The world needs you back somethin' fierce!" Gibbs called after him. Jack Sparrow sighed irritably, and rounded back to them.
"Why should I go with any of you?" he demanded. "Nearly all of you have tried to kill me in the past! And one of you succeeded." Sora frowned in confusion, wondering what he'd meant by that, and then it hit him like a ton of bricks. He and everybody else turned to face the last person who had been with Jack before his demise. Mulan staggered as everyone's surprised gazes fell upon her.
"No...way...," sonic gasped in shock.
"I really like her," Ragetti whispered giddily to Pintel.
"Mulan?" Sora whispered stunned. The woman didn't answer, but feebly tried to avoid their gazes.
"Ah," Jack Sparrow chuckled. "She has not yet told you. Then you'll have plenty to talk about while you're here. I on the other hand, shall take my leave."
"And do you intend to crew the Black Pearl all by yourself?" Will asked.
Jack frowned at the question. "Good point. All right, line up." Everyone blinked at the order. "Line up! I'm making a crew. Gibbs, you're in. Marty, Cotton. Cotton's parrot I'm a little iffy about, but at least I'll have someone to talk too."
"AWK! Wind in your sails!" the parrot squawked.
"Yes, very good. hedgehog-boy, you're out, we already have a monkey." sonic snarled angrily. "Panda-mate, I like you, but it just wouldn't work out. A pirate and a kung fu master? What would the community think?" po bowed his head sadly. "Not you two, you scare me." Pintel and Ragetti blinked. "Beasty, you're in."
Beast blinked in surprise. "Really?"
"Of course. I could use a freak show to make me feel good about myself." Beast growled angrily. "Skellington-mate, there's only room for one Jack on the Pearl." Jack Skellington shrugged in agreement. "And you, Al," Jack grinned, swinging an arm around Aladdin. "You and I have not known each other long enough to have any quarrels. So, the choice is yours."
"You had my father thrown in jail," Aladdin growled at the captain.
"Well...that answers that." Jack walked up to Mulan next. All she could think to do was smile helplessly. "Oh, it's a shame, love," Jack said, smiling himself. "We could have had something special. But then you had to go and ruin it by killing me." With that he moved on from her. Mulan was not the least bit surprised but, still, it hurt.
Jack came upon Tia Dalma next, and she smiled eerily at him. "Now," she whispered, still smiling. "Don't tell me you didn't enjoy it at the time." A naughty grin came upon Jack's face. Whatever the meaning behind that was between him and Tia.
"Alright, you're in," he relented after little thought. Jack didn't even consider Will and Elizabeth, and he simply laughed at Barbossa. So he came to Sora and Kairi. "Sora, we've had our fun, but now we must part ways. However, I will take your girlfriend. I wouldn't mind a flying Pearl." Jack was surprised when he came upon Tai Haung and his patiently waiting crew. "Who are you?"
"I am Haung," Tai Haung answered. He jerked his thumb to the others. "These are my men."
"And where do your allegiances lie?"
"With the highest bidder."
Jack grinned and pointed to the Pearl. "I have a ship!"
Haung grinned as well. "That makes you the highest bidder."
"Good man! Weigh anchor!" he shouted to his new crew. "All hands to the ship! Prepare to set sail! Our course..." Jack took a moment to summon his Keyblade, and consult his compass for direction. Unfortunately, to his despair, his Keyblade would not appear in the realm that was Davy Jones' Locker.
"Ahem." Barbossa drummed his fingers on the navigational charts he held, and smiled mockingly. "Where you going, Jack?"
Jack Sparrow grumbled bitterly under his breath.
KHKHKHKH
Everyone was reunited once again on the Black Pearl. The entire ship looked good as new. It was as if the Kraken had never attacked. And now it sailed away from Davy Jones' Locker hoping never again to return. "Isn't this great!" po cheered, hanging upside down by the many ropes on the sails. "No one's dead! We're all alright!"
"What about all the people who died in Singapore?" Jack Skellington asked.
"Okay, then no one important died," po rephrased. "The point is, we're all back together again!"
"Yeah, one big happy family," Aladdin muttered dryly, glancing over to the spat taking place between old rivals.
"Trim that sail!" Barbossa ordered Tai Huang's men.
"Uh, trim that sail!" Jack Sparrow shouted right after.
"Brace the sheets!"
"Brace the sheets!"
"Haul the pallet line!"
"Haul pallet line!"
"What are you doing?" Barbossa finally demanded.
"Well, what are you doing?" Jack asked right back.
"No, what are you doing?"
"What are YOU doing?!" Jack took a deep breath and composed himself. "The captain gives the orders on this ship!"
"The captain is giving the orders," Barbossa sneered to Jack's anger.
"It's my ship! That makes me captain!"
"It be my ship." Barbossa held up the navigational charts. "And they be my charts."
"That makes you...chart man!" Jack snapped.
"Alright, both of you shut up!" Sora yelled, much to the surprise of both captains. "It doesn't matter who's in charge! We've just got to figure out how to get out of here! So shut up! And...that's an order!" Jack and Barbossa blinked, then glared straight death at the boy. Sora went pale and gulped. "Uh, s-sorry," he stammered, grinning nervously. "I just thought...I'd get things going, you know?" He gulped again. "Sirs?" The two men tore their glares away from him and back to each other, then raced each other up the stairs to the wheel.
Sora sighed in relief. So much for taking charge. "I'd vote for you," Kairi said when she came beside, smiling warmly.
He grinned appreciatively. "Thanks." He then frowned uncertainly. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Just a bit of a headache," she replied, bonking herself on the noggin'. "Otherwise, I'm perfectly fine. Pretty good considering I died!" Sora smiled gently at the humour, but it only reminded him of the fact that he had almost lost her.
"Kairi," he began carefully. "What happened back there? Back on the beach?" Kairi's smile quickly disappeared, sadness carved across her face.
"I...saw things," she muttered, holding her head as she recalled. "Horrible things. I saw you and Riku and Destiny Islands...and..." Sora frowned when she trailed off. "You were dying. All of you...were in such pain. And the Islands were burning. There was so much death and pain, and I couldn't do anything!" She was trembling as the visions came back.
"Such is the power of Davy Jones' Locker," Tia Dalma spoke as she approached. "It is a place of punishment, where our worst fears are made manifest, stretching on forever. The worst fate a person can bring upon himself, enough to drive a man mad." Kairi dreaded the chance she could experience those thoughts again. "It's fortunate we rescued you when we did. Any longer, and you'd be lost to us forever." They glanced off at Jack, who had unfurled his telescope to look out at the horizon. He looked at the instrument carefully and then, for some reason, sniffed it. Kairi shivered in horror.
Sora smiled. He'd hate to think whatever could have happened was his fault. Then again, it wasn't just his fault. Turning his head, he sent a glare towards Mulan.
Mulan flinched at the hateful stare Sora sent her way. Its not like she didn't deserve it though. She had helped send Jack here, and in doing so, had put Kairi in danger. And Sora wasn't forgiving when it came to Kairi. Mulan then felt two arms on her shoulders, and she looked up questionably at Beast.
"You're my hero," he told her. Mulan groaned and hung her head.
KHKHKHKH
Night had fallen as the Black Pearl sailed through the mysterious realm. Night and day still had a presence here, apparently. They had left the land of punished souls, but they had not escaped the Locker yet. "Why are we still in this place?" Pintel grumbled, leaning against the rail with po, Jack Skellington and Ragetti, who was sitting upon the rail trying to catch a fish with his fishing rod. "We got Captain Jack and Miss Kairi. Why don't we go back to the land of the living?"
"Uh, how?" po asked.
"I don't know! I don't have all the answers! You! Can't you figure something out?"
"Oh, I get it," Jack Skellington sniffed indignantly. "Because I'm dead I automatically know everything there is to know here. That's deadism I'll have you know!"
"Aw, cheer up, Pintel," Ragetti chuckled, adjusting his fishing rod. "Soon I'll cook us up a nice and tasty fish to eat!"
Pintel raised an eyebrow. "Are there even fish here?"
"Of course there's fish here. Look, I can see one right now." Ragetti frowned and peered closer into the water, and his eyes widened in horror when he realized what he was looking at wasn't fish. "AAHH!" he yelped and dropped his rod, falling backwards off the rail. Under the waves, staring up at the sky with listless eyes, were people. Haunting forms of men, women and children drifted underwater, staring up the sky with unblinking eyes. There were so many of them, floating their way past them as the ship moved on.
po gulped. "A-Are they-"
"Dead," Jack Skellington confirmed. He would know, after all. "We're in limbo. The realm between the living and the dead. It's where souls make the final journey after death into the afterlife. Ah, that takes me back!"
"Eerie," Pintel whispered. po was suddenly lugging a cannonball to the rail. "What are you doing?"
"I'm gonna drop a cannonball on one of them!" the panda snickered. Pintel broke into a wide grin and urged him on. Jack Skellington suddenly nudged po in the stomach, because standing not far off was Tai Dalma, glaring daggers at them. po dropped the cannonball right away.
Pintel gulped fearfully. "Shame on you!" he scolded the ninja boy. "Disrespectful, that is!" Tia glowered at them once more before she turned back to the souls in the sea.
"They should be in the care of Davy Jones," she whispered, regarding the spirits as if they were her own children. "That was the duty charged to him by the goddess Calypso. To ferry those who die at sea to the other side."
po gulped. This lady really creeped him out. "S-So how'd he get the Keyblade?"
"Calypso requested it of the ancient forgers of the Keyblade, the Cetras. With the Keyblade's power, Davy Jones could protect the seas and all those who wished to pass on. And that he did. He did his duty as charged, and once every ten years him could come ashore, to be with the woman he loves."
"Why'd he stop?" Jack Skellington asked. Tia smiled sadly at the question.
"Him was betrayed," she whispered. "By the very woman he loved. After that, he abandoned his duties, and carved out him heart. And the man became a monster."
"So, he wasn't always...," Ragetti said, wiggling his fingers for emphasis. "Tentacly?"
"No," Tia answered, her smile returning, a far off look in her tattooed eyes. She was stroking something in her hand. A small locket shaped like a heart. "Him was a man...once." The four of them looked at each other with questions in their eyes, but decided they didn't need answering right now.
"Look," po said, pointing further ahead. "Now there's boats." Up ahead, single person rowboats were drifting their way towards them. Each one of them contained a soul lost at sea.
Soon enough everyone on board had gathered to bear witness. "Great," sonic growled. "Now we've got to deal with dead people."
"They're no threat to us," Will stated putting a hand on sonic's shoulder. "Uh, right?"
"We are nothing but ghosts to them," Tia replied sullenly.
"It's best to just let them be," Barbossa whispered. The boats were drifting past them now, each one lit by a single lantern, close enough that they could see each individual face. Whether it was a soldier who died in service to his country, twin girls who had played too close to the water, or just some unfortunate soul who had fallen overboard. Sora knew, however, that most of these people were the unfortunate victims of the East India Trading Company, now run by Maleficent and the Horned King in their desperate search for Kairi. The girl in question placed her hand over his, knowing what he was thinking. If they didn't stop them soon, even more souls would be lost to sail to the afterlife.
"Father?"
Everyone turned to Elizabeth. "Father!" Elizabeth cried out happily. Sitting in one of the many boats was Governor Weatherby Swann, still in his fancy clothes and long powdered wig. He made no motion that he'd heard her. "It's my father! We've made it back! Father, look! We're over here!" The Governor still made no movement, simply staring ahead as if in a trance.
"Elizabeth." Elizabeth turned to face Jack Sparrow and, for possibly the first time, his face showed concern. He sadly shook his head. "We're not back." Elizabeth frowned in confusion and, then, the horrible realization hit.
"Oh no," Kairi whispered.
Elizabeth shook her head, eyes wide. "No," she whispered. "Father! Father, can you hear me?" The Governor seemed to hear her this time, snapping out of his trance as if waking from a deep sleep.
"Elizabeth," he muttered, and looked up to the Black Pearl, to the face of his daughter. "Are you dead?" Elizabeth quickly shook her head. The Governor smiled sadly. "I think I am."
"No. Please no," Elizabeth whispered dreadfully.
The Governor held his head. "I can barely recall what happened," her father spoke quietly. "There was...this chest." Will's eyes narrowed. There was only one chest he could be speaking of. "And the heart. His heart. The heart of Davy Jones." He shook his head. "It seemed so important at the time."
"Stop the ship!" Elizabeth cried to Mr. Cotton. "Father, come aboard!"
"I learned something," he went on. "If you stab the heart, Davy Jones will die, but yours must take its place." Will's eyes then widened. "If you stab the heart, and yours takes its place, you must sail the seas for all eternity. The Flying Dutchman must have a captain." Jack Sparrow frowned as he heard each bit of information. "I had the knife," the Governor said, his face scrunching as his memories returned. "And the heart was before me but...I couldn't do it. I was too cowardly to accept the fate that would be bestowed upon me. And then...there was Beckett." He shook his head and chuckled. "A silly thing to die for."
"Throw him a line! Bring me a line!" Elizabeth shouted to everyone. Aladdin quickly returned with a long rope and Elizabeth threw it into to her father's boat. "Grab the line! We'll pull you onboard!"
Weatherby Swann smiled gently at his daughter, and did not take the rope. "I love you, Elizabeth," he told her. "I'm so very proud of you." The rope slid from his boat as he sailed further away.
"No, father, NO!" Elizabeth climbed onto the rail, about to throw herself into the water.
"She mustn't leave the ship!" Tia Dalma yelled in alarm. Everyone quickly rushed to follow her, all but Jack Sparrow, staying rooted to the spot.
Beast and sonic quickly grabbed Elizabeth before she did anything rash. "No! Let me go! Let me GO! Father! Come back with us! Please! I won't leave you!"
"I'll give your love to your mother, shall I?" her father assured, and turned his eyes forward again for the long journey ahead, sailing further away from the Black Pearl.
"NO! FATHER!" Elizabeth screamed. Beast and sonic threw her back into Will's arms, and he held her tenderly as she cried openly into his chest. The others could only watch, their hearts bleeding at the sight. Sora had his arm around Kairi as tears fell down her cheeks.
"Can't we do anything?" Sora pleadingly asked Tia.
But the woman shook her head sadly. "Him at peace."
Jack Sparrow was still standing a bit away, silently contemplating everything that had been said. Elizabeth's quiet sobbing rchoed through the night, as the lights vanished into the darkness behind them.
KHKHKHKH
Things were not much better the next day. For Elizabeth or any of them. For hours they sailed, for any kind of land, only to find that the seas were endless, and that land did not exist, until the wind had completely stopped blowing. What was worst, they were running out of supplied.
Beast panted heavily under the merciless sun that beat down upon them, nearly suffocating thanks to all his fur. "Give me more water," he gasped.
"Water's all gone," Mulan panted, sweat pouring down her face. Beast groaned in exhaustion.
"Fine," he growled, and he couldn't believe he was saying this. "Give me the rum."
"Rum's gone too," Pintel rasped, holding an empty bottle.
"It's so hot," sonic groaned tiredly. "I hate this place. No Keyblades, no wind, not even a cloud."
"I don't know what you're all complaining about," Jack Skellington said, completely fine under the scorching weather. "The same sun is shining above me and I feel just fine!"
"You don't have skin," Beast growled angrily.
Sora wiped the sweat from his brow as he leaned against the rail. "Barbossa was right," he sighed. "Getting here was easy. It's getting back that's a pain in the butt."
"If you call falling off a waterfall easy, you're more man than I," Gibbs chuckled.
"It's funny," Sora chuckled to Kairi beside him. "We came here to rescue you and Jack. Now we all need rescue."
"Don't say that," Kairi chided, smiling. "If there's one thing we're good at, it's getting out of tight situations. We'll think of something."
"It is not that simple," Tia Dalma stated, also leaning against the rail. "With each day the sun sets, we lose our grip upon the living realm." The blazing sun in the sky was beginning to set, and as good as that was, it also meant another day trapped here. "If we cannot escape these doldrums by nightfall, I fear we will sail these trackless seas, doomed to roam the reach between the worlds forever."
"Well, that's not so bad," Gibbs shrugged calmly. "With no food or water we'll be dead long before forever rolls around."
Will came around then to join them. "How's Elizabeth?" Kairi asked. The girl in question was sitting on the stairs, her knees drawn up to her chest, eyes filled with sorrow.
"She'll be okay with time," Will replied as he tore his gaze from her. "How are we doing?"
"Great," Sora sighed, wiping his brow again. "We're just discussing how we're all going to die." Kairi smacked him upside the head.
"'Sunrise sets," Will recited from the charts he read earlier. "It doesn't make sense!"
"And the Green Flash happens at sunset, not sunrise," Gibbs groaned frustratingly. "This is driving me over the edge."
Jack Sparrow, one the few who seemed unaffected by the heat, had taken it upon himself to look over Sao Feng's charts. Nothing else to do with no rum. "Why are the hard things never easy?" he grumbled as he spun the circles. In doing so he managed to spell himself another sentence. "'UP IS DOWN'," he read aloud. "That's just maddingly unhelpful, that is."
"Not to worry, Jackie!" A small poof on his shoulder, and Devil Jack #1 appeared.
"We're always here to help you in your hour of need!" Devil Jack #2 declared as he appeared. "As long as its selfish, dastardly and involves rum."
"That's me in a nutshell," Jack shrugged. "Down to my poetic heart."
"Speaking of hearts," Devil Jack #1 chuckled. "You are going to stab the heart, right?"
"No, don't stab the heart," Devil Jack #2 interjected. "You really want to take Jones' place?"
"I don't know," Jack shrugged.
"The Dutchman must have a captain." Devil Jack #1 quoted Governor Swann's words. "You'll sail the seas forever."
"I like the sea," Jack said with a grin.
"What about land?" Devil Jack #2 asked.
"I prefer rum."
"You'll see land again," Devil Jack #1 assured, then coughed under his breath, "Once every ten years."
"What did he say?" Devil Jack #2 asked.
"Once every ten years," Jack answered. #2 whistled shrilly.
"Ten years is a long time, mate."
"But eternity is longer still," Devil #1 retorted.
"And how are you gonna spend it, Jack?" Devil Jack #2 chortled. "Alive? Dead?"
"Or," Devil Jack #1 said. "As the immortal Captain Sparrow."
"Oh, I like that," Jack whispered, grinning at the prospect.
Devil Jack #2 shrugged. "Come sunset it won't matter." The sun was beginning to disappear along the horizon. If it set, they'd be trapped here for another day. If it set...
Jack's eyes lit up with realization. "Not sunset..." He went to the centre ring of the chart, the one with the picture of a ship, and turned it until the ship was upside down. "Sundown...and rise." He grinned his golden-tooth grin. "I'm so smart I scare myself." And then he sprang to his feet. "Oh good Lord in heaven! What is that?!" Everyone on board snapped out of whatever they were doing when Jack screamed and pointed wildly out at sea, then ran to the starboard side of the ship. "Look! Look at that! What is that?"
Sora and Kairi ran to the side of the ship as well to see what he was talking about. "What? I don't see anything," Kairi said. There was nothing out there but open sea.
"You don't see it? It's right there!" Jack shouted pointing at nothing. "Wait! It moved!" He quickly ran to the other side of the ship. Sora and Kairi were right behind him, as well as Gibbs and Tia as they tried to see. "There it is again!"
"Where?" Gibbs asked.
"Oh no!" Jack ran back to the other side of the ship, the others on his tail, plus Beast and po as their curiosity got the better of them. "Look at that!" Jack ran back to the side they just were, Mulan and Tai Huang added to the mix. "Oh dear God!" This went on for awhile, with Jack insisting there was something out there, until everyone on deck was following Jack as he ran from port to starboard. Even Elizabeth and all of Tai Haung's men had come out to see what all the fuss was about.
Barbossa frowned with distaste, by now being the only one not following Jack like an idiot. Even his monkey was doing it. Just as he was about to yell at them all, he noticed something. With the growing number of people constantly running from port to starboard, the Black Pearl began to sway in the water. The shifting of weight.
"He's rocking the ship," Barbossa muttered.
"We're rocking the ship!" Sora suddenly realized as he and everyone else continued to run. At the rate they were going, the entire ship would tip over.
Barbossa went to the charts, and laid eyes on the upside down ship in the centre. "'UP IS DOWN'," he whispered, then broke out into a wide smile. "He's got it!"
The Black Pearl continued to rock under the shifting weight. It was getting harder and harder to keep up, as the more they tipped the steeper the climb was to get to the other side and grab onto the rail. One of the Chinese pirates didn't run fast enough and he tumbled down the deck until he fell overboard screaming. "Almost got it!" Aladdin grunted. Once again they all ran for the final sprint to the other side of the ship as it started tipping again, and they all managed to grab onto the rail again before they lost their footing.
Mulan's grip on the rail suddenly slipped, but before she could fall, someone grabbed her hand. To her surprise, that someone was Jack Sparrow. With great strain, he managed to hold on to both her and the rail. "And now up..." he grunted. "...is down!" The ship completely tipped and crashed into the water, and everyone held on tight as they all went under, as the Black Pearl completely flipped over.
They were underwater now, ship and all, holding their breath and whatever they could grab onto, lest the currents drag them away for a horrible watery demise. The seconds ticked by, and they continued to hold their breath, praying that Jack was right. Above the surface, the sun had finished setting, disappearing along the horizon.
And then a flash of green light shot up into the sky.
Something strange happened then, and they could all feel it under the water. What should have been the ocean bottom was suddenly moving towards them. Faster and faster the water moved, until the sea bed came right at them. They burst through the surface like they were on the Flying Dutchman itself and everyone flopped on deck.
Sora wearily stood back, his hair still maintaining its spikiness despite being soaked, and held out his arm. When his Keyblade appeared, he broke out into a wide grin. "We're back!"
"It's the sunrise," Elizabeth gasped. Whereas in the Locker the sun had just set, here it was only beginning to rise.
Jack was still holding Mulan's hand as they got back up. When he noticed, he smiled wryly at her, but it quickly vanished when he remembered what she had done to him. "Uh, r-right then!" he stammered taking his hand back. Mulan blinked in surprise, and she smiled softly. "You can all thank me for saving you later! Well, I assume you all have to get on your way. Bon voyage! Don't forget to write!" The click of a loaded pistol behind him made Jack frown. He turned around to Barbossa's scowling face, and his loaded pistol. Sora quickly pointed his Keyblade at Barbossa, and he responded by pointing another gun at the boy, giving Jack the chance to draw his own pistol. Will pointed another pistol at Barbossa, and Jack pointed his second pistol at him. Elizabeth drew her pistols at both Jack and Barbossa.
Barbossa' monkey pointed a tiny pistol at Cotton's parrot. "AWK! Parlay!"
"There be but one course of action to take now," Barbossa stated in no-nonsense type of manner. "The pirates are gathering at Shipwreck Cove, and we're going to join them, Jack."
"I don't think so, mate," Jack sneered with his guns level. "If pirates are a-gathering, I'm turning my ship in the other direction."
"The Pirates Lords are meeting," Elizabeth growled, now pointing both her guns at Jack. "You're a Pirate Lord!"
"Beckett works for the Horned King and Maleficent now," Sora stated, his Keyblade levelled at Barbossa. "That means he'll be after Kairi. They won't stop chasing us until they get her, and then it won't just be this world that'll be in danger. We have to stop them here."
"Sora, I thought I made it perfectly clear," Jack Sparrow growled with one gun on the boy. "I want nothing to do with your little hero brigade. The only reason I joined was to get away from Davy Jones which, in itself, proved to be useless." Sora growled angrily. "But now my debt has been settled, and I'm free to sail however I please."
"You think Jones will see it the same way once he finds out you're alive?" Will asked bitingly.
"I'm still working on that."
"If we don't stand together, those villains will destroy us all," Barbossa said. "Beckett will use that girl as an excuse to hunt down every pirate on this world, and possibly others, until there are none left but you."
This caused Jack to smile. "I rather like the sound of that," he whispered. "Captain Jack Sparrow. The last pirate. And the last Keyblade bearer." That made Sora scowl. "But one thing's for sure." He cocked the pistol pointed at Barbossa. "I'm not risking my life anytime soon."
"Hey!" po shouted, pointing out at sea. "We've got company!" All squabbles were put aside for now; off in the distance was a ship. It was a Chinese junk, like the one they had sailed off World's End in, only bigger and more extravagant.
Jack Sparrow went pale. "The Empress..."
"That's Sao Feng's flagship!" Gibbs gasped. Suddenly, all at once, Tai Huang and his men drew their pistols and swords and pointed them at the Keyblade bearers. They were quickly surrounded before anyone could draw their weapons.
"Hey! What's going on!?" Sora shouted as he was restrained by men who were once on their side. Jack also found a pistol at his head but, shockingly, it belonged to Will. "Will?"
"Captain Sparrow," Will whispered, his voice cold and treacherous. "This is a mutiny."
Jack gulped nervously. "But, uh, he's the captain," he stammered pointing at Barbossa. Everyone groaned and rolled their eyes.
And that concludes another chapter. Be sure to write nice reviews, adapt the original story (Darius Almighty's work) on DeviantArt, turn it into a webcomic or post the story on TV tropes or follow and favorite it. And remember may your heart be your guiding key!