[fic; Kingdom Hearts] Heart in a Box - Part 3
Title: Heart in a Box
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Characters: Vexen/Marluxia, Jack Sparrow, Tia Dalma
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,537
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is, most obviously, owned by big name companies and not by a girl sitting at a laptop on her bedroom floor.
Summary: The tale of Davy Jones and the chest containing his heart is one that spreads across the boundaries of worlds.... Investigation by a scientist and the newest member of Organization XIII can lead to complications.
Originally Posted: 03/16/07
A/N: Shorter chapter this time, in which I get to screw up both Sparrow’s AND Tia Dalma’s vernacular. Oh well. I hope it’s somewhat interesting.
Vexen wasn’t quite sure exactly what had happened, but soon enough the pirate Jack Sparrow was throwing together a crew and readying a ship for this surprise visit to someone he had assured would be able to assist. The Chilly Academic didn’t know if he should bother trusting his assurances - the man clearly had a few lose screws.
“I thought you said you needed us to get your ship back,” Marluxia commented dryly, observing the clamor on deck from the dock below. “I must say, this was a pretty easy job.”
“No, this isn’t my ship!” Sparrow shouted back, after directing a couple of men towards a stack supplies still piled up off to the side. “The Black Pearl’s a damn sight better ‘n this heap. No, this is just my makeshift crew. Didn’t get everyone I would have liked, but...it’ll do.”
Vexen and Marluxia exchanged glances, as if to say, “Do you really want to be stuck out a sea with this man?”
“As long as it gets us where we’re going,” Vexen told Sparrow, starting up the gangplank. Marluxia made to follow, but was stopped by a pair of sacks that were shoved into his arms.
“Make yourself useful, sonny,” a grungy looking man with a nose ring grunted, gesturing towards the ship.
Marluxia glowered at his retreated back, resisting the urge to just stab the man where he stood. Sonny? What did he look like, a ten-year old?
X
According to Sparrow, they’d reach land in two days, at the most. However, Vexen soon came to realize that a new problem was about to surface later that evening.
Most of the men had gone below to sleep, leaving the top deck clear save for a few. Vexen strolled across the deck, coming to a stop beside Number XI, who was currently retching over the taffrail.
“Feeling under the weather?” he asked, merely out of formality. The answer was quite easy to see.
Marluxia managed to shoot Vexen a glare before sticking his head back over the railing. “First, I have to cart a whole bunch of shit into the cargo hold,” Marluxia growled through clenched teeth. “Now, I’m throwing up the lunch I don’t remember ever having. I’m swell.”
Leaning against the ship’s railing a safe distance from the other Nobody, Vexen looked out over the sea, silent as he waited for Marluxia to heave overboard one final time. “What makes a Nobody get seasick?” he inquired uninterestedly, as if he didn’t care to hear the answer at all.
“How should I know?” Marluxia grunted, looking rather grumpy. “You’re the scientist.”
“Exactly.” Vexen turned, inspecting his partner’s pale face. “I’m the scientist. You’re not. So why are you here?”
Marluxia stared at Vexen quizzically, rubbing his forehead. “I’m here to assist you. What else?”
“Xemnas said you volunteered for this mission,” Vexen continued. “You don’t seem like the kind to do something just for kicks, so that option’s out.”
Shaking his head, Marluxia winced and answered, “I’m here because I want to be, all right? Did it ever hurt to be curious?”
“Curiosity killed the cat,” murmured Vexen, but he couldn’t seem to place where he had heard that.
Marluxia didn’t get the chance to snap back as the boat chose that moment to dip forward harshly, and a marvelously unpleasant expression crossed his face. When he looked up from the sea swirling around the hull, Vexen was nowhere to be seen.
X
For the rest of the trip, Marluxia alternated with being sick and doing odd jobs around the ship, much to his annoyance. Vexen, on the other hand, found this rather amusing, and spent the time talking to various crew members and their captain. Sparrow was fairly talkative, but often was so vague that Vexen gave up trying to decipher what he was going on about. He revealed very little about who they were going to meet, as if this person was hiding yards away, waiting to curse anyone who spoke about them.
Bringing up the subject of Davy Jones was also a mistake, as not many of the crew was willing to speak about him. Sparrow merely waved his hands around and told Vexen to wait and to not spoil the fun.
Finally, after what seemed like ages to Marluxia (though it was actually quite shorter), Jack Sparrow announced rather dramatically,
“And this is our stop! If you two gents would be so kind as to pop into that rowboat over there, we’re off to meet our charming friend, Tia Dalma.”
X
They made their way down a murky river, the swampland becoming more prominent the deeper in they went. Vexen surveyed their surroundings with minimal interest; bogs and insects and bushes had never been quite his cup of tea. Marluxia, on the other hand, was looking around with something akin to contemplation.
“See something you like?” Vexen asked.
“I’m just pleased to be off that damn boat,” Marluxia replied off-handedly. Vexen said nothing else after that, and the ride was finished in silence except for the occasional quip from Sparrow.
A hut emerged from the fog, sticking out of the marshy land like someone had put it there by accident. The captain guided the boat to a small dock and stepped out, motioning towards the structure.
“Well, are you going to sit there all day?” he prompted, and soon the three of them were at the door.
Knocking on the doorframe, Jack Sparrow sauntered in, grinning. A woman with dark hair and skin turned around as he entered, returning the grin with a coy smile of her own.
“Ah, Jack Sparrow!” the woman greeted him, hands on her hips. “Imagine seeing you here again, after all this time.”
“Oh, you know I can’t keep away from you for long, my darling Tia Dalma,” the pirate shot back.
The woman, Tia Dalma, let out a short laugh, moving around the cluttered table over to the two Nobodies. “And you’ve brought guests. How lovely.” She looked over at them with an intrigued expression as she continued to speak. “Now I reckon you’ll be needing something from me, as I can’t see Jack gettin’ together for socializing’s sake.”
“The captain says you’re quite knowledgeable in matters containing Davy Jones,” Vexen informed her. At least, he had implied it. Vexen wasn’t exactly sure if he’d ever said it like that.
“Oh, I know a good deal about him,” Tia Dalma replied, reassuring the man. “But as to what you want with him...”
“They say they’re after his heart,” Sparrow cut in, plainly amused. Vexen glared at him for blurting it out so quickly, but nodded all the same.
“Find ‘is heart?” The woman finally pulled her gaze from Vexen and back to Sparrow. “Don’t tell me you’ve lost that compass of yours, Jack.”
“Actually, it is still in my company,” Sparrow told her, patting the pocket that held the peculiar compass. “But see, it doesn’t work for them. A most curious thing.”
Instead of looking puzzled by this information, Tia Dalma strode closer, looking between the two strangers with interest. “I’ve often seen to men that have lost their hearts to the fairer sex...but never have I met men who never had any in the first place.”
“What, sex, or hearts?”
Marluxia shot a glare at Sparrow that was worse than the one Vexen had given him. “This is not the time,” he hissed.
Jack Sparrow raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Are you saying these two don’t have hearts? Why, then that’d make them like...” He trailed off, but the rest of them knew what he was going to say.
“Like Davy Jones, yes.” Vexen shrugged a shoulder, appearing not at all concerned. “The thing is, our hearts aren’t just hidden away, waiting for us to scoop up and put back.”
“We need to work for ours,” Marluxia added, a faint hint of complaint in his voice. “And from what I can tell, it’s taking too long.”
“So you want to steal someone’s?” Sparrow snorted. “I don’t think that’s the way to do it.”
Tia Dalma quieted him with a wave of her hand. “If help is what our two friends seek, then I shall assist. And you, Jack Sparrow. The Black Pearl’s a long way away. You’re better to be leaving it be.”
“What? Leave my ship, and with only a short while left before Davy Jones comes to-” Sparrow faltered, falling silent.
“Hm? Do go on,” Marluxia said with a slight sneer, still a little miffed about the whole boat ride here. “Or Davy Jones will what?”
“None of your business,” the pirate retorted, drawing out the last word almost tauntingly. “I didn’t pry as to why you want Jones’s heart, hm? What’s what is between me and him, savvy?”
“You’ve gone and made a deal with Davy Jones,” Vexen stated nonchalantly, as if he’d known this for a while and had just felt like getting it out in the open. Tia Dalma let out a laugh at the look on Sparrow’s face. “From that expression I say you have.”
“But something’s gone wrong.” Marluxia circled the startled man, quickly going over ideas in his head and tossing them out just as quickly. “You want Jones’s heart for yourself....”
“To blackmail him,” Vexen added.
Jack Sparrow frowned at being laid out so openly like this. “And how do you figure that?”
Vexen smiled coolly. “We’re very good at reading people.”
Marluxia noted with a slight smirk that Vexen had said “we.” It seemed he was finally getting somewhere.
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Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Characters: Vexen/Marluxia, Jack Sparrow, Tia Dalma
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,537
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is, most obviously, owned by big name companies and not by a girl sitting at a laptop on her bedroom floor.
Summary: The tale of Davy Jones and the chest containing his heart is one that spreads across the boundaries of worlds.... Investigation by a scientist and the newest member of Organization XIII can lead to complications.
Originally Posted: 03/16/07
A/N: Shorter chapter this time, in which I get to screw up both Sparrow’s AND Tia Dalma’s vernacular. Oh well. I hope it’s somewhat interesting.
Vexen wasn’t quite sure exactly what had happened, but soon enough the pirate Jack Sparrow was throwing together a crew and readying a ship for this surprise visit to someone he had assured would be able to assist. The Chilly Academic didn’t know if he should bother trusting his assurances - the man clearly had a few lose screws.
“I thought you said you needed us to get your ship back,” Marluxia commented dryly, observing the clamor on deck from the dock below. “I must say, this was a pretty easy job.”
“No, this isn’t my ship!” Sparrow shouted back, after directing a couple of men towards a stack supplies still piled up off to the side. “The Black Pearl’s a damn sight better ‘n this heap. No, this is just my makeshift crew. Didn’t get everyone I would have liked, but...it’ll do.”
Vexen and Marluxia exchanged glances, as if to say, “Do you really want to be stuck out a sea with this man?”
“As long as it gets us where we’re going,” Vexen told Sparrow, starting up the gangplank. Marluxia made to follow, but was stopped by a pair of sacks that were shoved into his arms.
“Make yourself useful, sonny,” a grungy looking man with a nose ring grunted, gesturing towards the ship.
Marluxia glowered at his retreated back, resisting the urge to just stab the man where he stood. Sonny? What did he look like, a ten-year old?
X
According to Sparrow, they’d reach land in two days, at the most. However, Vexen soon came to realize that a new problem was about to surface later that evening.
Most of the men had gone below to sleep, leaving the top deck clear save for a few. Vexen strolled across the deck, coming to a stop beside Number XI, who was currently retching over the taffrail.
“Feeling under the weather?” he asked, merely out of formality. The answer was quite easy to see.
Marluxia managed to shoot Vexen a glare before sticking his head back over the railing. “First, I have to cart a whole bunch of shit into the cargo hold,” Marluxia growled through clenched teeth. “Now, I’m throwing up the lunch I don’t remember ever having. I’m swell.”
Leaning against the ship’s railing a safe distance from the other Nobody, Vexen looked out over the sea, silent as he waited for Marluxia to heave overboard one final time. “What makes a Nobody get seasick?” he inquired uninterestedly, as if he didn’t care to hear the answer at all.
“How should I know?” Marluxia grunted, looking rather grumpy. “You’re the scientist.”
“Exactly.” Vexen turned, inspecting his partner’s pale face. “I’m the scientist. You’re not. So why are you here?”
Marluxia stared at Vexen quizzically, rubbing his forehead. “I’m here to assist you. What else?”
“Xemnas said you volunteered for this mission,” Vexen continued. “You don’t seem like the kind to do something just for kicks, so that option’s out.”
Shaking his head, Marluxia winced and answered, “I’m here because I want to be, all right? Did it ever hurt to be curious?”
“Curiosity killed the cat,” murmured Vexen, but he couldn’t seem to place where he had heard that.
Marluxia didn’t get the chance to snap back as the boat chose that moment to dip forward harshly, and a marvelously unpleasant expression crossed his face. When he looked up from the sea swirling around the hull, Vexen was nowhere to be seen.
X
For the rest of the trip, Marluxia alternated with being sick and doing odd jobs around the ship, much to his annoyance. Vexen, on the other hand, found this rather amusing, and spent the time talking to various crew members and their captain. Sparrow was fairly talkative, but often was so vague that Vexen gave up trying to decipher what he was going on about. He revealed very little about who they were going to meet, as if this person was hiding yards away, waiting to curse anyone who spoke about them.
Bringing up the subject of Davy Jones was also a mistake, as not many of the crew was willing to speak about him. Sparrow merely waved his hands around and told Vexen to wait and to not spoil the fun.
Finally, after what seemed like ages to Marluxia (though it was actually quite shorter), Jack Sparrow announced rather dramatically,
“And this is our stop! If you two gents would be so kind as to pop into that rowboat over there, we’re off to meet our charming friend, Tia Dalma.”
X
They made their way down a murky river, the swampland becoming more prominent the deeper in they went. Vexen surveyed their surroundings with minimal interest; bogs and insects and bushes had never been quite his cup of tea. Marluxia, on the other hand, was looking around with something akin to contemplation.
“See something you like?” Vexen asked.
“I’m just pleased to be off that damn boat,” Marluxia replied off-handedly. Vexen said nothing else after that, and the ride was finished in silence except for the occasional quip from Sparrow.
A hut emerged from the fog, sticking out of the marshy land like someone had put it there by accident. The captain guided the boat to a small dock and stepped out, motioning towards the structure.
“Well, are you going to sit there all day?” he prompted, and soon the three of them were at the door.
Knocking on the doorframe, Jack Sparrow sauntered in, grinning. A woman with dark hair and skin turned around as he entered, returning the grin with a coy smile of her own.
“Ah, Jack Sparrow!” the woman greeted him, hands on her hips. “Imagine seeing you here again, after all this time.”
“Oh, you know I can’t keep away from you for long, my darling Tia Dalma,” the pirate shot back.
The woman, Tia Dalma, let out a short laugh, moving around the cluttered table over to the two Nobodies. “And you’ve brought guests. How lovely.” She looked over at them with an intrigued expression as she continued to speak. “Now I reckon you’ll be needing something from me, as I can’t see Jack gettin’ together for socializing’s sake.”
“The captain says you’re quite knowledgeable in matters containing Davy Jones,” Vexen informed her. At least, he had implied it. Vexen wasn’t exactly sure if he’d ever said it like that.
“Oh, I know a good deal about him,” Tia Dalma replied, reassuring the man. “But as to what you want with him...”
“They say they’re after his heart,” Sparrow cut in, plainly amused. Vexen glared at him for blurting it out so quickly, but nodded all the same.
“Find ‘is heart?” The woman finally pulled her gaze from Vexen and back to Sparrow. “Don’t tell me you’ve lost that compass of yours, Jack.”
“Actually, it is still in my company,” Sparrow told her, patting the pocket that held the peculiar compass. “But see, it doesn’t work for them. A most curious thing.”
Instead of looking puzzled by this information, Tia Dalma strode closer, looking between the two strangers with interest. “I’ve often seen to men that have lost their hearts to the fairer sex...but never have I met men who never had any in the first place.”
“What, sex, or hearts?”
Marluxia shot a glare at Sparrow that was worse than the one Vexen had given him. “This is not the time,” he hissed.
Jack Sparrow raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Are you saying these two don’t have hearts? Why, then that’d make them like...” He trailed off, but the rest of them knew what he was going to say.
“Like Davy Jones, yes.” Vexen shrugged a shoulder, appearing not at all concerned. “The thing is, our hearts aren’t just hidden away, waiting for us to scoop up and put back.”
“We need to work for ours,” Marluxia added, a faint hint of complaint in his voice. “And from what I can tell, it’s taking too long.”
“So you want to steal someone’s?” Sparrow snorted. “I don’t think that’s the way to do it.”
Tia Dalma quieted him with a wave of her hand. “If help is what our two friends seek, then I shall assist. And you, Jack Sparrow. The Black Pearl’s a long way away. You’re better to be leaving it be.”
“What? Leave my ship, and with only a short while left before Davy Jones comes to-” Sparrow faltered, falling silent.
“Hm? Do go on,” Marluxia said with a slight sneer, still a little miffed about the whole boat ride here. “Or Davy Jones will what?”
“None of your business,” the pirate retorted, drawing out the last word almost tauntingly. “I didn’t pry as to why you want Jones’s heart, hm? What’s what is between me and him, savvy?”
“You’ve gone and made a deal with Davy Jones,” Vexen stated nonchalantly, as if he’d known this for a while and had just felt like getting it out in the open. Tia Dalma let out a laugh at the look on Sparrow’s face. “From that expression I say you have.”
“But something’s gone wrong.” Marluxia circled the startled man, quickly going over ideas in his head and tossing them out just as quickly. “You want Jones’s heart for yourself....”
“To blackmail him,” Vexen added.
Jack Sparrow frowned at being laid out so openly like this. “And how do you figure that?”
Vexen smiled coolly. “We’re very good at reading people.”
Marluxia noted with a slight smirk that Vexen had said “we.” It seemed he was finally getting somewhere.
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