“Another gate…” Sora released the ray of light from the Keyblade, and they heard the lock click open. “Donald, Goofy… I think it’s time to go!”
“I think you’re right,” Goofy replied. “But…uh…Donald…”
Daisy had caught him in a corner, where his feet were flailing desperately.
“Daisy, we need Donald for just a little longer,” said Sora.
She tilted her head dubiously. “Just a little? Really?”
“Um…uh—well…,” Sora stammered.
“I’ll be back soon, Daisy!” Donald promised her. She relaxed her hold and he escaped.
“Oh, all right,” Daisy relented.
“Don’t you worry, Your Majesty. We’ll come back.” Goofy grinned to Queen Minnie.
“Please tell the king we’re still looking for him!” Sora added.
“I will!” The queen nodded firmly.
“See you!” Chip and Dale waved.
“Take care and think wisely,” said Merlin.
The trio nodded to them and bid their farewells to Disney Castle.
CHAPTER 7
PORT ROYAL
IT WAS TOO QUIET IN THE MANSION.
In the white room, Naminé’s art came to life in her sketchbook.
“Whatcha drawing?” asked Axel from across the table. He looked bored, resting his elbows on the tabletop.
“It’s a secret.”
“Oh.” He watched Naminé concentrate on her art. He’d done the same thing back in Castle Oblivion.
She had changed a lot since then. But he got the feeling that he had, too. If someone asked him whether that was for better or worse, he’d probably be able to say it was for the better.
“Riku’s taking a long time,” said Naminé, pausing in her work as if she’d noticed Axel’s observation. “I don’t sense Maleficent there anymore, so he ought to be back…”
Riku had followed Sora to Disney Castle, and he was still there.
“He worries too much. Thinks he has to help Sora do everything…” Axel grimaced in irritation.
“But, Axel, aren’t you the one worrying about Riku and Sora?” Naminé giggled softly.
“Me, worry? You think I need to be worried about those two?” He stretched backward and rocked the chair back and forth, like a restless child.
Naminé returned to her sketchbook.
“Say, Naminé… Are you still going to try to meet Kairi?”
Her head snapped up at the unexpected question. Across from her, Axel met her gaze, grave and earnest.
“I have to help her,” she said with a sad smile.
He scowled. “Is that really the best thing?”
“The best thing…?” Naminé set her crayons down on the table, her gaze dropping as she thought for a moment, and then she smiled at him again. “It’s the right thing.”
In response, Axel only leaned back and rocked in the chair again. She took up her crayons.
No one could know what was right or wrong.
The picture she was drawing depicted herself and Riku and Axel, too, smiling brightly.
After Disney Castle, the next place they came to was a dimly lit town. A huge full moon shone down on the brick buildings.
“Where are we?”
“Gawrsh, looks like another world we haven’t been to before.”
Donald and Goofy took the lead. Sora walked more slowly, recognizing the scent of the air around him and the soft sound…
The smell of the sea and the lapping of waves.
He broke into a run past Donald and Goofy to where the cobbled streets ended and found a view he knew well—only a little bit different.
“Wow…” Donald arrived beside him to take in the scenery, too.
The water was dark here, a deep black under the moon, unlike in the Destiny Islands. Or Neverland.
“This place is…,” Sora murmured.
“Really somethin’…,” Goofy finished, also staring out at the sea.
They’d been to seascapes before on different worlds. But nothing quite like this.
“I’ve never seen an ocean like this,” said Donald, looking up at Sora.
Then they heard a scream.
Sora turned around. “Something’s up!”
“Organization XIII?” Goofy’s ears perked up at the sound.
“Or the Heartless!” added Donald.
“Only one way to find out!” Sora took out the Keyblade and dashed toward the commotion.
At the harbor, a woman was surrounded by a group of men, who noticed the trio’s intrusion and turned.
“Run!” Sora shouted to the lady. She darted away to hide. With the clouds shrouding the moon, he couldn’t see the men’s faces very well, but they were advancing toward him with weapons drawn.
“Whoa!” Sora blocked a blow from a hatchet and pushed the man back, then swung the Keyblade. But the strike did no more than make the man lazily rub at his head. “The Keyblade doesn’t do anything to them?!”
Behind him, Donald closed in and beat the man over the head with his wand. “Take that, and that, and that!”
Still, the man didn’t seem to feel any pain.
“Wak?” Donald took a step back and tried a spell. “Fire!”
Even magic had no effect.
“That’s not going to work, you know,” someone called from out on the water.
The trio turned to see a lone man standing on a ship in the harbor. A bandanna kept his long hair back from his face. Something dark was painted under his eyes, and he had an unsavory look to him.
A glance was enough to show he was disreputable.
“Who are you?” Sora demanded as he parried with the Keyblade.
“Captain Jack Sparrow, if you please. Pirate extraordinaire.”
“Pirate?!” Sora repeated.
“Pirate. Though the fellows you’re fighting there are also pirates.” Jack hopped down from his boat and knocked Sora’s current opponent aside with a swing of his sword. But just like when the Keyblade struck them, it didn’t appear to do any damage.
Jack shrugged. “Awful hardy.”
“What do we do?!” cried Sora.
Then the wind rose, sweeping away the clouds, and moonlight poured down on them.
“Wak!” Donald jumped at the sight—under the silver light, the men attacking them turned to grisly skeletons.
“What are they?!” Sora practically yelped.
“Oh, they’re just undead is all,” Jack replied, as if this were completely normal. “Why don’t we show ’em how alive we are, er—what’s your name again?”
“Sora!”
Jack smirked and readied his sword. “Here goes, Nora!”
“It’s Sora!”
Ignoring him, Jack charged at the skeletons and began hacking away. “A little assistance, Dora?”
“That’s Sora!” But the boy heeded the request and charged after him. In the moonlight, the skeletons weren’t all that strong.
“Well, that takes care of that.” Once the threat was defeated, Jack turned to the trio with a devious grin.
“But what’s wrong with them?” asked Donald.
“They’re pirates under a curse. Not among the living, and yet they can’t die—so they’ll go on wandering the seas forever,” Jack said with a ghost-story voice, trying to frighten them.
It only made Sora curious. “How’d this happen?”
“Cursed Aztec gold, lads. Greed got to them, and then so did the curse. Only way to break it is to return every last gold piece to the chest they came from.”
“And then they won’t turn into those ghosts?”
“You’re a quick one.”
The trio exchanged a look, and then another voice intruded. “You there! Gentlemen!”
It was the woman they had found among the pirates earlier.
“I need your help,” she said.
“I don’t care for the smell of this…” Jack shrugged and turned away.
The woman with beautiful honey-blon
d hair ran to the trio and explained. “My name is Elizabeth. With those cursed pirates prowling about…my dear friend Will went to Isla de Muerta to check on the treasure and find out why.”
“Isla de Muerta?” asked Sora.
“That’s the island where the Aztec treasure is hidden,” Elizabeth replied before Jack could. “Jack, I fear something’s happened. You have to take me to him.”
“Aye, there it is.” Jack shrugged again. “If you’ll be wanting him rescued, best do it alone, lass.”
Apparently, Elizabeth and Jack already knew each other.
“Really, Jack? Me, alone? Sail to the island and take on the cursed pirates?”
“Well, if any lass could… But I see no reason why I should rush into all that,” Jack remarked.
“I was the one who had the idea of going to Isla de Muerta to investigate. But Will insisted that I stay behind,” Elizabeth went on. “I can’t just sit and wait—I’ve got to know if he’s all right!”
“Wonder why he insisted on that,” Jack murmured to the trio.
“Please, Jack, you’ve got to take me to him!” Not waiting for an answer, she started toward the docks.
“Hold on,” Jack called after her. “I see no profit in it for me.”
She paused, turning back to flash him a smile. “I shall reward you, of course. As much as someone who isn’t a pirate can.”
“Right, then. Shall we?” Jack winked to Sora and the others and then waved Elizabeth on toward his ship.
At the sound of Riku’s footsteps, Naminé looked up from her sketchbook. The door to the white room in the haunted mansion opened, and he came in.
“Welcome back,” said Naminé. Across from her, Axel was still nervously rocking the chair and eating a sea-salt ice cream.
“Naminé, where did Sora head next?” Riku wanted to know as soon as he could. He moved briskly to peer over Naminé’s shoulder at her sketchbook, where he found a drawing of a ship. “Where is this…?”
“Shouldn’t we be trying to help Kairi?” Axel interjected without moving from his perch.
A tiny tremble went through Naminé. She hadn’t imagined he would be the one to bring it up. Not when he was so opposed to Nobodies meeting their somebodies and disappearing.
“…How? Do you have an idea?” asked Riku.
“Yup. I’m going to betray you two,” Axel replied with a smirk.
Riku shifted. “I’m not following.”
“They think you and Naminé are the wrench in their works. So, I’m going to tell them where you are.”
“You’re going to make it look like you’re betraying us. You really think that’ll work?” Riku folded his arms and mulled it over.
“If I go back into the fold, I’ll be able to come and go to their castle whenever I want. Then it’ll be a cinch to get Kairi out.”
At Axel’s explanation, Naminé looked up for a moment and then ducked her head again.
Kairi… Yes, I want to meet her.
I want to meet her and return to her heart… Well, no, I have to.
But…
Riku spoke as Naminé hesitated. “What should we do in the meantime?”
“You fight off whichever organization member comes here,” Axel told him. “You were able to defeat Roxas. You can handle any of the others, except Xemnas. There are only four left, but one of them is probably trailing Sora right now. And I seriously doubt Xemnas would come all the way out here himself. So you’d be up against Saïx or Xigbar. Or Luxord. And you can take any of them. Once there’s one less member in the castle, I’ll come back with Kairi. How’s that for a plan?”
He gave them a confident grin, but Riku’s expression remained stony.
“Are you sure you can pull that off?”
“You could pretend to have a little faith in me.” Axel rolled his shoulders back.
“I don’t. No matter what you believe, I don’t have much faith that a guy who let Kairi get kidnapped out from under his nose, lost a fight, and nearly disappeared is going to be strong enough for this.” Riku let out a small sigh.
It wasn’t terribly likely, but in the event that Axel did have to face Xemnas in combat, their odds of rescuing Kairi would dwindle to zero. Actually, he didn’t think Axel could beat the other remaining organization members, either.
“Well, can you think of a better way to save her?” asked Axel.
Riku had no answer.
Axel stretched his neck and munched on his ice cream. “You know, I don’t mind disappearing.”
Naminé’s breath caught.
Riku stared at him.
“Roxas is gone. When we bring Kairi here, Naminé will be gone, too. So, same for me,” he said, as if he were discussing the weather, and then punctuated his comment with another bite of sea-salt ice cream.
“We don’t disappear… We’re only reborn,” Naminé murmured, perhaps to herself.
“I’m not like you and Roxas,” Axel said flatly. His hand holding the ice pop stick paused in midair.
“But—but you…” She looked down, clenching her fists.
“It’s because I don’t have a heart,” Axel went on. “I don’t want to disappear, but I’m not upset or sad about it.”
Naminé tried to say something and failed.
Nobodies aren’t supposed to exist. Nobodies don’t have hearts, so they can’t feel anything.
No… We couldn’t feel anything.
Until we met Sora. And Roxas, his Nobody.
Why can’t the rest of them see that?
Sora was special. And so was Roxas, but he was gone. He’d returned to Sora’s heart.
But why did that have to mean it was okay for Axel to disappear, too?
Still hunched over to hide her face, Naminé shook her head.
“Okay,” Riku told Axel. “We’ll follow your plan.”
“Riku…,” she began.
But he didn’t waver. “If it starts going bad, just run for it. You’re pretty fast, right?”
Axel grinned at that. “Well, faster than you, anyway.”
He bit into his ice cream and stood, then opened a rift into the darkness.
“Axel!” she cried, jumping up to run after him.
“Don’t worry, Naminé. I’m the fastest the organization had. If I run, they’ll never catch me. Got it memorized?”
She stopped short and nodded.
“See you.” Holding the ice cream pop in his mouth, he stepped into the rift.
A tear rolled down Naminé’s cheek as she watched the darkness close around him.
Once they were aboard, no one said much. But Elizabeth did speak enough to tell the trio that the harbor town they’d just come from was called Port Royal.
Jack’s ship glided through the dark waters as they gazed out at the scenery for a while.
From up at the bow, Goofy broke the silence. “Hey, there’s another ship out there!”
“Where?” Donald hurried to join Goofy at his vantage point. Jack, with his hands on the helm, steered toward the other ship they saw.
“Will!” Elizabeth cried, pointing off the bow. There was a man on the other ship slumped over the rail, unconscious.
Jack brought his ship alongside it and prepared to board.
“We’ve got to rescue him!”
At Elizabeth’s cue, they jumped from one deck to the other.
“Gently there,” Jack called.
They nodded. Sora and Goofy hoisted Will up between them. “He’s breathin’! Thank goodness!” said Goofy, relieved.
“Will! Wake up!” Elizabeth begged, but he didn’t respond.
“Why don’t we get him into the captain’s quarters for now,” Jack suggested, and they carefully carried him inside.
In the stateroom, Elizabeth cradled Will’s head, repeating his name. She tried patting his cheek. Sora and the others watched close by.
“Come on now!” She peered urgently into his face.
“…Elizabeth…?” Will opened his eyes, just barely.
/> “What happened?”
“I… That’s right…,” Will began. “I persuaded the Royal Navy to come to Isla de Muerta, and… The medallions, the entire chest—someone took the lot. The next thing I knew, we were attacked… But I couldn’t see who it was. His face was shrouded in a dark hood.”
“The organization!” Sora exclaimed. Goofy and Donald exchanged a glance.
“We found a way out of the cave… But the villain sent a terrible creature after us. Never seen its like before. I think I’m…the only one who made it back to the Interceptor.”
Will winced as if recalling the fate of the crew. His face, already pale with exhaustion, lost even more color.
“Will…” Elizabeth couldn’t help clutching him tight.
“Elizabeth… I feel rather…” His eyes closed and his breathing slowed. He was asleep again.
“Sounds like we’re up,” said Sora. Donald and Goofy nodded at his resolve.
Elizabeth gently set down Will and got to her feet. “The entire crew of a Royal Navy brig… What kind of monster is this?”
“Let’s go to this Isla de Muerta and find out!”
She had to agree.
“Pardon me, lady and gentlemen, but your captain will have no part of monsters today, and his ship will be heading back to port.”
“Running away? Just like that?” Elizabeth demanded.
He neatly dodged her attempt to shame him and went back to the deck. “Just like that.”
She turned to Sora. “Please…can you convince him?”
“We’ll try.” Sora ran out after Jack.
Above deck, the trio found that Jack’s ship was already moving.
Donald hopped up beside the helm to ask, “Where are you going?”
“Back to port. Like I said.” Jack spun the wheel hard.
Sora dashed over and grabbed it. “It’s Organization XIII! We’re after them!” he explained, looking up at Jack, who shrugged and wordlessly nudged him away from the helm. “Jack, c’mon—”
“Listen, lad, this is the only honesty you’ll get from a pirate: I don’t care. Wait…” He broke off and frowned, shading his eyes. “Don’t remember invitin’ you aboard.”
“Huh?”
“Wak?”
There was a man standing at the prow. He gazed straight at them as his black cloak fluttered in the sea breeze, although they couldn’t see his face well beneath his hood.
Kingdom Hearts II Vol 2 Page 9
