4Here's the final chapter of this episode! Yay! I'm at a convention right now - Katsucon. If any of you are there and see a casual Fujioka Haruhi or a Singing in the Rain Kaito, come up and say hi! I'll be with Cheshire cat Hitachiin twins and I respond to my character names, Captain MeraSparrow, and Hawkear! Plus we all just got a call from Greg Ayres. It was adorable.
Disclaimer:I do not own Saïx puppy. He belongs to a Deviantart member. I also do not own the hippogriff scene. That's out of the Prizoner of Azkeban film.
Chapter Five: Hearts Entwined, Destinies Joined
James cried out with effort as his sword sliced through another Heartless, and it dissipated around the blade. He stood there, panting for breath, sweat running down his face as more Heartless leapt at him. He swung around to meet them, but was too slow. They converged on him. Just as their claws touched his armor, a sort of crystalline bubble appeared around him. The shadowy Heartless crashed into it, their attacks reflected on themselves, and they disappeared. He stood, immobilized, within the Reflect spell, looking for the caster.
His aunt came into view. Her hand was outstretched, her new Horizon keyblade pointed at him. "I think you've had enough for now, don't you?" she murmured calmly.
The Reflect spell wore off, and James motioned at the hundreds upon hundreds of Heartless surrounding them. There were monsters of every variety."We'll have to get rid of all of these, first."
"Easy," she replied. "Thunder!" Unlike James, she had not relinquished the unrealistic power of a video game character. Predictably, bolts of lightning rained down on their enemies for several long minutes, taking out dozens. "Out of magic," she conceded at last, "Ooo, and no ethers...," she frowned as she reached into a pocket. "But here's a potion—you look like you need it!" She tossed the jar, and, with a grin at him, she leapt into battle, taking out dozens more. There were maybe twenty or so heartless of each species—and about a hundred or more species, which meant about an hundred score heartless... It wouldn't take long. "I want chicken, I want liver," she sang crazedly as she smashed a dragon-ish creature, "Meowmix, Meowmix, please deliver!"
James shot her a bemused look of concern, before engaging exhaustedly in the fight once more. He had been training here in this valley for hours and hours of real time—which was like days, over a week, in the game. And, body no longer working like it would in the game, this meant he had gone without food or sleep. That infuriating duck—Donald had been his name—had been of help there, constantly curing him and alleviating his symptoms. However, the duck had left him when the lass had turned up. But, even without the advanced healing abilities, he preferred the lass to the duck. She was much better company!
"Skip, skip, skip to my Lou! Skip, skip, skip to my Lou!" she sang perkily, frolicking through waves of foes and playfully swinging her weapon about, throttling enemies left and right. "Skip, skip, skip to my Lou! Skip to my Lou, my dar-lin'!"
They took out wave upon wave of enemies, bosses, monsters, until at last there was only one scrawny little Shadow left, which James put his sword through with satisfaction. A wave of fatigue swept over him and he swayed; without meaning to, he toppled off balance to a sitting position, swords clattering away, favoring his injured arm.
The lass knelt at his side. "Easy, now. You've gone and burned yourself out. Get to Merlin's and get some rest. I don't want you to fight anymore until you've gotten the chance to recover. Oh, and don't forget to eat! MacDuck sells ice cream, and I suppose that there must be a restaurant or something in town." With that, she tossed him several thousand munny.
"What's ice cream?—But wait, where are you going?" he asked as she turned to run off.
"To the World That Never Was. I'ma make a Saïx-puppy!" she cried hyperly. "See you in a few minutes!" and she ran off to god-knows-where.
—
"How can we find out where to go next?" Amy asked once back at the shack. "There haven't been any signs or dreams or anything."
"You are concerned," Tia Dalma said with amusement. Why did doubt, suspicion and worry entertain the woman so?
"You said it yourself—we're running out of time. And if we have no way of finding where the other manifestations are, then the realms will collide, and Jack will be lost forever!"
"Na who said dere was no way?" Teacher asked sternly, hands on hips. "Didn't come from my mout'."
"Then how?"
"I will show you de way." The lass's expression brightened, only to darken again as the mystic added, "But later. Right now, you need fuse together what forms ya have."
"And how will I do that?"
"I will show you de way," Tia repeated with a grin.
"But later?" the girl added with a resigned smile.
"O' course not. A' soon as all de man'festashuns ya found been brought here, I will set ta teaching you."
"Ohhh... so that's why you asked me to bring Laughter along."
"Yes. And Fear and Self-Confidence are here, also," James added, once more in pirate attire, arm still a-sling—thankfully, with the help of several potions and Cure spells in the KH world, his shoulder was nearly healed.
"Dat leaves jus' Pride an' Wisdom at Azil an Sekirite." Predictably, she turned and looked pointedly at Norrington, who rolled his eyes.
"Must I?"
"You'd only have to row one way. You can ride one of them back."
"Yeah. The problem with rowing: you need two arms."
This met silent stares before the girl finally said something along the lines of, "He has got a point there, hasn't he—well then, Mr. Norrington," she went on in a wonderful Jack impression, "it seems that I shall be accompanying you. It is an opportune moment for me to shirk all sorts of physical work in your place, and rather use magic instead. 'Sides," she sniffed, "it's a sugarcane plantation, right? Bound to be plenty of rum."
"No. No rum," he resolved.
She seemed to shudder, and asked with barely-contained horror, "But why's the rum gone?"
This of course had the man smiling wryly and obviously trying not to (although this effort must indeed have been half-hearted, for a reader can well imagine that a commodore must be able to train his face.) "How do you do that so well?"
"It comes from practice, research, and sev'ral years' obsessin', mate. Savvy?"
And so they set out, the lass bending the water under their rowboat so that it carried them in whatever direction they needed to go. In a little over two hours—during which Ames amused herself by making fish float in bubbles of water—the boat floated ashore onto the bank of a stream flowing through the property of the Azil an Sekirite plantation. The two hiked through acres of sugarcane (a few stalks of which the girl was tempted to pilfer...) until they reached an open farmyard. James led the way confidently toward the stable. They strode in, and he met with a free black worker, conversing formally in French. The worker did not seem pleased to see them, but they were led down the aisle nonetheless. The last stalls, right beside one another, held the horse and the hippogriff. The doors were opened, and the typical bowing ritual ensued before both were brought out.
"Merci," was all Amy could say, with her minimal French, but she felt it was better than saying nothing. They began to walk back toward the boat so that it could be returned to the plantation, and as they were bidding their goodbyes, the worker placed a sack of sugarcane in her arms. She looked down at it in confusion. "What's this for?"
The worker gave a long, complicated answer in French, which James translated very shortly (in all meanings of the word) as meaning, "He likes your courtesy." He himself gave the sack of sugarcane a suspicious glare and they nodded their thanks to the worker, who then left, carrying the rowboat above his head.
"Well," commented the lass after a few moments, "that was awkward."
James' glower hadn't changed. He looked down at her and asked, rather resignedly, "So who's riding whom?"
"Well..." she looked longingly at the hippogriff she was leading. This would be her one and only chance to ride it before it would be fused with the other emotions. "I think...you should take Pride, and I'll take Sensibility." No moment is too good for a Jane Austen reference... She took the horse's lead from him and mounted, still holding onto the hippogriff. "Well, go on, bow."
"Are you certain? I mean, don't you wish to?" even as he asked this, he bowed low.
"Psh. I can ride one any ol' time if I feel like going to that realm. You, sir, on the other hand, will never have this chance again," she replied confidently as Pride returned the gesture. "See if he'll let you touch him. That's it, nice and slow... Great! He ought to let you ride 'im now!"
"Amy, I am not so sure about thiii—," he started as her magic lifted him and plopped him on the creature's back. "I hardly know how to ride a horse—"
"Go on, git!" she cried, slapping the hippogriff on the rump. It broke into a gallop, wings unfolding, and it was all James could do to hold on as it began to flap said wings—And suddenly they were in the air! Flying! James' breath hitched in his throat as he looked around in awe and amazement. He looked down and could see everything—the plantation, the river, the town off in the hills, the distant mountains, the sparkling ocean... He could see the girl, galloping far beneath him and waving and cheering, a huge grin just discernible on her face. In a moment, however, she fell behind, as his eagle-horse surged forward, wings beating magnificently.
The land soon ended and they were over the ocean. The hippogriff descended until they were skimming over its surface, a talon dipped gracefully in the water. It was such a speed and such a feeling as the commodore had never before experienced, and amid his exhilaration he did what any person experiencing such power and joy would do: He released his grip on the feathers, arms stretching out, and shouted if not for joy then simply for the thrill of it... before nearly falling off as his mount unexpectedly veered upward again, and clinging to its neck once more.
Perhaps an hour and a half later, Ames and the horse were swimming into the bayou. Tia Dalma came out to greet them, but stopped herself as she noticed the absence of the lass's (human) companion.
She was about to ask his whereabouts when, in this moment, the hippogriff broke through the trees, gliding gracefully toward them and lighting on the bank. Its rider wore a huge, triumphant grin, and his eyes sparkled with an elated joy. "That was amazing!" he panted to the girl, sliding off and giving Pride a grateful and well-deserved pat. "Wonderful—wonderful creature! I've never felt such a rush."
The mystic, as yet unnoticed, watched him with an almost shy smile that seemed so out of place on her face. However, when he looked up and spotted her, both smiles disappeared. And both pairs of eyes continued to sparkle. "Na' all de man'festachuns been gaddered. Come, bot' o' you. It is time."
They followed her in—James shaking slightly and breathlessly from the adrenaline rush—and soon, all the five manifestations they had caught were somehow in the spare bedroom. Tia Dalma blessed each of the creatures, gave poor Fear a few consoling words, and proceeded to instruct the lass. "Draw ya sword an' use it ta focus ya magic. Good. Na point it outward and call upon the elements for de magic you need."
Well, one can imagine that the lass would not make a spell without a flourish. She took a deep breath and sang in lilting tones, "Water, Fire, Earth and Air/ Binding powers with me please share./ The elements that make this man/ Please help make them him again./ And as we more forms of him find/ Let them with his essence bind." Her voice seemed to echo, lingering tones creating chords with newer notes. It was a tune of creating and blending. A great ball of light glowed at the tip of her blade. "Now those who our friend composite,/ those the same and opposite,/ each step forth and now become/ no more many, only one." She looked from form to form and hesitated a moment, taking a deep breath. The notes from her song continued around them, but she had stopped singing, and instead began to speak normally. "Love." The magnificent horse stepped toward the light, and as soon as its nose touched the globe, it became a stream of sparkling golden light which the globe absorbed. The light grew and began to take shape. "Self-esteem." The sapphire butterfly bobbed toward the magic, and a similar thing happened. "Laughter." Okay, so the dolphin couldn't exactly approach it as the others had, but he gave a great kick of his tail and began to float, swimming through the air—or perhaps swimming on the notes of the music—toward the shape. "Pride." James watched, face golden in the light, awed into little more than a statue, mute and staring. "Trust." And she looked at Fear with consoling, chocolate eyes. He nodded, eyes wide with apprehension. "Remember," she murmured softly, "you'll still be there. You just won't be alone."
"I know," he mumbled with an uncertain smile. Hesitating only a moment more, he then lifted his chin with unforseen confidence and strode into the light. "Goodbye."
"It's not goodbye," she whispered as he disappeared. "It's hello." There was a blinding flash and the light took the shape of a human body. Teacher joined hands with James and Amy—the former of which looked at her in an alarmed confusion—and instructed that they join hands with one another also.
"We will need all de magic can get."
"I think you are mistaken. I don't have any magic," Norrington murmured.
Tia gave him a meaningful look, dark eyes digging deep into his own, looking into the depths of his soul. "All living t'ings has magic," she replied slowly, "But only some can use it." James blinked and, despite his bewilderment, followed her instruction. Satisfied, she closed her eyes and murmured in an ethereal voice, "Hearts entwined, destinies joined."
The chant was taken up by the others, "Hearts entwined, destinies joined," and repeated over and over again. James' heart began to beat faster with the memories of a secret death. The killer had been chanting also, and the last words of the victim had been eerily similar to what they were chanting now. Painful memories burned in his mind, and his brow furrowed over his intense, blank gaze, but he continued to chant, regardless, even when his voice began to shake. "Hearts entwined, destinies joined." They could all feel the energy growing. The lingering chords began to move on their own without the girl's voice, ascending, growing, broadening. The form began to glow more and more brightly as they chanted. "Hearts entwined, destinies joined."
With a blinding explosion of light, the binding was complete. The light flew from the form, falling in glittering shimmers around them and revealing a face so familiar, so loved, and so missed. There was Jack, floating unconscious and unclothed in the middle of the room. The lass pointed her sword at him once more, guiding him into the bed and covering him gently with the sheets. There was a general golden glow around him, and his hair and sheets billowed and bobbed as though he were still afloat.
"It's good to see you again, Jack," the lass whispered with relieved tears in her eyes, laying a soft kiss to his forehead.
"Him will egsist now, even if ya sha' fail," Tia Dalma announced. "Him will live on. But him not complete."
"Right. We should find the next emotion as soon as possible." She looked wearily back to James—wearily because she had used a huge amount of magic and worn herself out—who was silently staring and looking very shaken. "Are you all right? You seem disturbed."
"J-just unearthing suppressed memories," he confessed, quickly pulling a mask over his vulnerability, before turning and rushing out of the room, leaving Tia and Amy staring after him.
They looked back to one another. "What was that all about?" the lass whispered, but Teacher would not answer; only smiled with that ever-present partially-hidden amusement and shook her head.
I hope you enjoyed this installment! Next episode should begin at the latest in a month. (I'll try to get it up before then!) Please leave a review and let me know what you thought of it!