I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters.
Troubled Voyage
Tyler watched as the only other human on the ship, Jim Hawkins, was lifted into the air by the spider alien. It wasn't the one that had nearly gotten Tyler killed, this one was mostly black with red claws and and a red face, but Tyler already hated him. He had a nasty temper, the general bearing of a crook, and the one time he had spoken to Tyler, had told him he wasn't welcome and that he should keep his head down and mind his own business.
"Should we help?" Lightning asked.
"Nah," Tyler said, just as an overweight, cyborg, dog alien caught one of the spider's clawed hands with his mechanical arm, currently using a vice to squeeze the arm painfully.
"Mr. Scroop," the cyborg said. "You ever see what happens to a fresh purp...when you squeeze real hard?" He accentuated the last word by squeezing the spider's arm and twisting it into an uncomfortable position.
The spider dropped Jim and the cyborg released him, massaging his arm.
"What's all this, then?" Mr. Arrow asked, walking down the steps from the higher part of the deck, stopping beside them. "You know the rules. There'll be no brawling on this ship. Any further offenders will be confined to the brig for the remainder of the voyage." He leaned down close to the spider's face. "Am I clear, Mr. Scroop?"
Scroop's face began to grow redder as he growled in annoyance and anger. However, as he did, Tyler glanced at the cyborg, seeing him glaring at him, his mechanical eye turning and opening, an orange light shining out of it.
"Transparently," Scroop growled.
Mr. Arrow turned, walking away, and Tyler turned back to the others. "I don't like that spider, and I'm not sure I trust the cyborg."
"Well, the cyborg's the cook, so you better hope he's trustworthy," Lightning said. "As for the spider, I'm just waiting for a reason to squash him."
"Yeah, I definitely foresee him turning on us," Noel said.
Tyler nodded. "Well, since there are currently no heartless or other enemies to fight, I think I'm going to go find someplace with a nice view."
The others agreed, following him to the front of the ship where Lightning sat on a barrel and Tyler leaned against it in front of her, Noel standing off to the side. As they stood there, watching the stars ahead of them, Lightning reached up and began to trail her fingers through Tyler's hair, Tyler drawing in a long breath before sighing contentedly, leaning his head back against her as she smiled and continued.
"I hope we find her," Noel said.
"So do I," Lightning said. "If we do, are you finally going to have the balls to kiss her?"
"Oh, like either of you can talk about not having the balls to kiss someone," Noel said.
"Sounds like a no," Tyler said, eyes closed and a small smile on his face.
"Oh shut up Tyler," Noel said. "At least I'm not stupid enough to believe that true love's kiss cures comas."
"Okay, one, fuck yourself," Tyler said. "Two, it worked. And three, fuck yourself."
Noel smirked, shaking his head and chuckling. After a moment, he sighed.
"And to answer your question, no, I'm not going to kiss her," Noel said. "She still loves Snow."
"Don't count yourself out just yet," Lightning said. "You might find yourself pleasantly surprised."
"I doubt it," Noel said.
"You're almost as pessimistic as I am," Tyler said.
Noel remained silent and after a while, they all headed down to the birthing, where a bunch of sheets were tied into hammocks for the crew to sleep. Of course, there were none left. Tyler sighed, sitting against the wall, Lightning sitting beside him and leaning on his shoulder. Then, they both drifted off to sleep.
The next few days passed quickly. Their trip was spent training with their weapons, though keeping their magic hidden, watching a variety of creatures that lived in space, such as the space equivalent of a whale, pass by the ship, and watching as Mr. Silver, the cyborg, took Jim under his wing, trying to teach him everything he knew, only for Jim to already know some of it. The two did seem to be bonding, however, even with Mr. Silver giving him more work than Jim could handle. Then, several days into the trip, as Silver and Jim were returning from flying a skiff around the ship, the ship suddenly lurched to the side, throwing Tyler to the ground as they were heading up to the deck. He landed at the foot of the stairs, groaning and rolling onto his side before pushing himself up, sprinting up the stairs to where Lightning and Noel were staring at an explosion rapidly spreading toward them.
"Please tell me that's not a supernova," Tyler said.
"The star, Pelusa..." Doppler said. "It's gone supernova!"
"God dammit!" Tyler said. "Everybody grab onto something!"
They all grabbed onto the nearest solid thing they could as the pirate steering the ship turned it away from the explosion sharply.
"All hands, fasten your life lines!" Mr. Arrow shouted.
They all rushed to the central mast, tying themselves off quickly, the rest of the crew doing the same. As they did, the explosion began to grow closer and closer, chunks of molten rock beginning to punch holes in the sails.
"Mr. Arrow!" the captain shouted. "Secure those sails!"
Mr. Arrow quickly passed the order and Tyler turned to the explosion as more chunks of debris began to speed toward the ship. He swung his keyblade, a sphere of gravity magic appearing and pulling them in, crushing them into dust. Lightning and Noel began to help, all of them blasting any of the debris that was heading for the ship as quickly as they could. The ship began to turn, the explosion moving from behind them to their right side, debris continuing to fly past as a cannon on that side opened fire, helping them and allowing them to ease off with their spells, all of them already feeling tired from launching too many. Then, suddenly, a single massive meteor, more than ten times the size of their ship burst out of the flames, the cannon blasting it harmlessly.
"Oh shit!" Tyler swore. "It's too big!"
"Blast it!" Noel shouted, hurling a massive fireball.
Tyler and Lightning both sent a lightning bolt out and the spells connected with it, slowing it, however it readied another spell, but before he could launch it, the meteor suddenly slowed to a stop. Then, it began to back away.
"Oh no," Tyler breathed. "Black hole!"
The call was passed along the ship instantly and the captain swore loudly. The alien steering was thrown away and the captain lunged, catching the wheel and struggling to hold it in place. Suddenly, a wave of heat and light shot out of the black hole, slamming into the ship and hurling almost everyone.
"What the hell was that?" Tyler shouted. "The black hole is exploding?"
"Looks like it," Lightning said.
"All sails secured captain!" Mr. Arrow reported.
"Good man!" the captain shouted. "Now, release them immediately!"
Mr. Arrow stared at her for a moment before saluting. "Aye, captain. You heard her men! Unfurl those sails!"
"What!?" a female, Tyler thought, alien demanded.
"But just finished-" an alien's head, which apparently was a separate entity from the body, said.
"-tying them down!" the body shouted.
"Make up your blooming minds!" the female said.
"Mister Hawkins!" the captain shouted. "Make sure those life lines are secure!"
Jim sprinted toward the mast and Tyler followed, Lightning and Noel heading up to the wheel, helping the captain keep it straight. Tyler skidded to a stop beside Jim, yanking on the lines quickly, both doing all of them, double-checking each other's work.
"I verify for you, you verify for me," Tyler said, Jim nodding.
"All life lines secure captain!" Jim shouted.
"Very good!" the captain shouted, Adam running up the stairs and arriving just as the next wave hit, hurling him over the side of the ship.
"Tyler!" Lightning screamed, grabbing his life line and beginning to quickly pull him back, Noel steering as the captain, who had also been thrown, scrambled over to help Lightning.
"Captain!" Doppler shouted. "The last wave! Here it comes!"
"Shit!" the captain said. "Get him in here now! Hold onto your life lines gents, it's going to be a bumpy ride!"
She and Lightning rapidly reeled Tyler in, the next wave speeding toward them rapidly. Then, just as Lightning grabbed Tyler and yanked him over the railing, the next wave reached them, the sails all but shining as flames exploded out of the ship's thrusters and the ship blasting away from the black hole, speeding away from the wall of flames just behind them and finally getting to safety.
"That was too close," Tyler groaned. "I've decided I hate sailing."
Lightning laughed, wiping the tears from her face and hugging him, Tyler hugging her back.
"I thank you for defending the ship from the debris," the captain said. "Your abilities are...rather unique."
"We're from away," Tyler said. "Way away."
The captain nodded, standing and dusting herself off and walking down the steps, Tyler and the others following. "Well I must congratulate you, Mr. Silver. Your cabin boy did a bang-up job with those life lines."
Silver chuckled, nudging Jim, who rubbed the back of his head.
"All hands accounted for, Mr. Arrow?" the captain asked, looking around when she didn't get a reply but not seeing her first mate. "Mr. Arrow?"
Tyler looked around as well, also not seeing him. Suddenly, Scroop walked over, Mr. Arrow's hat in his hands.
"I'm afraid, Mr. Arrow has been lost," Scroop said, holding out the hat.
Tyler's eyes flashed to the life lines, finding one empty post.
"His life line was not secured," Scroop said, all eyes turning to Jim.
"No, I checked them all!" Jim said, shoving his way through the crew to the mast and stopping. "I-I did, I checked them all. They were secure. I swear."
"He's telling the truth," Tyler said. "I was there. I double checked everything. They were all secure."
The captain stared down at the hat. "Mr. Arrow was a..." she cleared her throat. "...fine spacer. Finer than most of us could ever hope to be. But he knew the risks. As do we all. Resume your posts. We carry on."
Tyler walked away from the steps to the mast, resting a hand on Jim's shoulder for a moment before tilting his head to the side, eyes flicking to Scroop. If Mr. Arrow had gone overboard, where would Scroop have gotten the hat from? He held out his hands, imagining himself untying the rope in a hurry. He knew the rope hadn't been untied during the chaos. There wasn't enough time, plus he'd have been seen. But after, when everyone was gathering to speak with the captain, it could have been. He imagined what he'd do with the rope after, and looked around. There was a hole off to the side with a wooden grate-like covering. over one of the beams was a rope. He pulled it ups, finding both ends and staring at one that had obviously been crudely cut. Jim stared at it as well.
"Is that what I think it is?" Jim asked.
"It's just a broken rope," Tyler said, quickly wrapping it up and turning away. "Jim, you did your job. There was no way you could have saved him."
Jim stared at him as he walked away, heading to the captain's cabin and knocking on the door.
"What is it?" the captain asked.
"I have something you might want to see," Tyler said.
After a moment, the door opened and Tyler stepped inside, the captain closing the door before Tyler handed the normal end of the rope to the captain, dropping the rest.
"Tell me what's wrong with that rope," Tyler said.
"That depends on what the rope was being used for," the captain said, sliding her hand along the rope in increments, measuring its length.
As she reached the other end, she stopped, blinking.
"It's too short," she said. "It's too short to have been used for anything." She stared at the cut end before her eyes widened slowly. "Is this..."
"Mr. Arrow's life line," Tyler finished. "I believe it is, yes. I can't prove it, and I have no evidence or a way to find out who did it, but someone on this ship killed Mr. Arrow."
"It could have been you," the captain said, pointing her pistol at him again.
"That's a fair deduction," Tyler nodded. "After all, when we first met, I was on your ship without permission. However, I think you'll recall that during the end bit there, I was a bit too preoccupied to cut the rope. Lightning was trying to pull me back onto the ship, with your help, and Noel was flying."
She stared at him before lowering the pistol. "What do you suggest?"
"Don't trust anyone on this ship, except for myself, my friends, Jim, and Doppler," Tyler said. "The entire rest of the crew was hired by Doppler, right?"
"They were," she nodded.
"Then they can't be trusted," Tyler said. "One of them means to do you harm."
She nodded and sighed. "Great. If it's not exploding stars it's mutiny and murder. Who do you think it was?"
"Scroop," Tyler said. "But like I said, I can't prove anything."
She nodded. "Keep an eye on him for me. Let me know if you find out anything incriminating."
Tyler nodded then left, finding Lightning and Noel waiting. From there, they all headed to the front of the ship where they could keep an eye on everyone without being overheard easily, as they had been doing the entire rest of the voyage.
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