Drink Up, Me Hearties } Chapter 5 - Arcana Minor
Word Count: 5633
Genre: Humour, Romance
Ships?: Luxord/Tifa, Roxas/Naminé
→Friendships?: Xigbar&Tifa, Luxord&Xigbar, Xigbar&Vivi!, Luxord&Naminé
Characters: Roxas, Barret, Xigbar, Freya, Marlene, Luxord, Tifa
→Cameos: Eiko, Vivi
→Mentions: Zack, Sora, Cloud, Aeris, Ansem
Rating: PG-13 for Xigbar's potty mouth
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any related characters. This was written out of enjoyment of the series, and no profit is being made.
Music: "Barret's Theme" ♪ "Arcana Minor" ♫ "Seaside Discussion" ♪ "Midnight Apology (Luxord and Naminé)"
Notes: Aaaaah. This chapter is another dump of character interaction/backstory/mostly pointless fluff. But luckily next chapter will be short and full of PLOT. PLOT I TELL YOU. AT LEAST I'M NOT STEPHANIE MEYER AND SAVE IT UNTIL THE VERY END OF THE BOOK, YOU GOTTA GIVE ME THAT.
And while I can't imagine canon!Naminé being flirty (as you'll see later on this chapter ;D), keep in mind that this is pirate!Naminé we're dealing with. As she points out, Xigbar had a hand in raising her. Thus, pirate!Naminé has a flirty side.
Also, why is Xigbar friends with everyone on this crew. WHY DOES HE HAVE SO MANY IMPORTANT CHARACTER INTERACTIONS IN THIS FIC AAAAAG.
Oh! And one last thing. The layout of the Wheel of Fortune can be found on the chapter listing page, for anyone who wants to see it. It's probably horribly inaccurate but hey! Fanfic.
First mate = spots_of_ink.
In which the life of a pirate is observed.
Drink Up, Me Hearties
Chapter 5: Arcana Minor
“So, you lost to Naminé, huh?”
Roxas scrubbed at the metal deck, squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to ignore the playful jibe. He instead focused on how he was grateful that the metal of the weather deck had been treated to look like wood somehow, and thus didn’t reflect glaring sunlight into his eyes.
“Then again,” the man at the helm looked Roxas over, “I can’t say I’m surprised.”
“Go easy on him, Barret,” Vivi said. He was on the other side of the quarterdeck, scrubbing at the bulwarks. “He was chased by the Captain yesterday and forced into our crew just this morning.”
Roxas was momentarily distracted by the blue glow in between the cracks of Barret’s stone hand reflected on the deck. “Huh. And we laid siege to Traverse Island when? Saturday? Wow.”
Roxas looked up at him when he laughed in his direction. Barret was a huge, tall man, with arms a thousand times thicker and stronger than his father’s blacksmith arms. Being this close to him and reasonably less terrified allowed Roxas to notice that he not only had a geometric design on his arm, but a blue rectangle tattooed beneath his right eye. His crystal necklace rested in the center of his chest, a glowing blue coal against his dark skin. “Musta been a crappy weekend plus a crappy Monday for you, kid.”
The crew’s newest member returned to scrubbing. “You can say that again.”
Barret whistled cheerily. “But it’s Tuesday today. And what a Tuesday!” Then he shouted up to the crow’s nest, high above their heads. “Isn’t that right, Xigbar? Looking forward to a week of laundry duty?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” a voice replied from on high. When Roxas looked, Xigbar rested his chin on the railing of the platform. It appeared as though he had been staring at the clouds lying on the floor of the crow’s nest. “Laugh it up, bud!”
“When will we be getting home sweet home, Xigbar?” Barret replied, ignoring the lookout’s sarcasm entirely.
“You’ll be home and with sweet, darling Marlene again by sunset, you big softie!” Xigbar answered. Then his head was gone from the railing, presumably to flop back down under the sun.
Roxas shook his head. What a weird pirate crew this was. Barret was married, apparently?
Out of the corner of his eye, Roxas caught sight of Miss Lockhart. She was sitting on the bosun’s chair, up somewhere near the foremast. However, she only stared at the ocean that the bow cut through, sitting still amongst her riggings and sails.
He couldn’t help the feeling that he had done something wrong.
---
As the sun set, the Wheel of Fortune had approached an island. Roxas, who had been scrubbing the deck and wondering how in the world ships made of metal and running electricity managed to float all day, decided to take a breather. He flopped on the port bulwarks, and watched the emerald palm trees sway against the darkening sky.
From there, he had watched the Dread Pirate’s crew dock for the first time, in a cove on one end of the island. Barret and Naminé had lowered the gangplank and they had stepped off the ship into a dank cove. Luxord was now leading them up a sandy passageway, and Roxas stumbled in the dusk. Vivi walked behind him, to ensure he didn’t escape.
“So, uh… Vivi? Where are we going?” Roxas asked in a whisper, looking back to him.
Vivi’s eyes still glowed in the dark. He blinked at him, and Roxas somehow knew to take it as an ‘Isn’t-it-obvious?’ look. “…Home. This is our hideaway, Roxas. Pirates don’t live on the high seas every waking hour, right?”
Roxas realized that he hadn’t really thought about the crew of pirates setting up home somewhere. He had just sort of assumed they were sailed from pirate-inn to pirate-inn. But a pirate-home… That was a little different.
The crew came out of the passageway into the open air. Luxord led onwards, but the two swabbies lagged behind. The Captain probably thought that the hold-up was caused by a plotting Roxas, but Vivi knew better, as he slowed to a crawl behind the teenager.
Roxas had never seen a jungle before. He’d only heard stories about them from Uncle Zack. He stared at the way the palm trees curved up from the forest floor, the thinness of the ferns’ leaves. He tilted his head back to see the darkening orange sky through the canopy’s distant roof; the vines that hung like old curtains from tree to tree. Vivi remembered feeling much the same way the first time he had arrived, so he felt a tad guilty when he interrupted, nudging Roxas in the back gently.
“If you think it’s pretty now, just wait until you see Arcana Minor during the day,” he said.
“Arcana Minor?” Roxas asked as Vivi walked beside him.
“Yeah. Home.”
Between the trees, Roxas saw a building loom high underneath the canopy. As far as he could tell, it was made of sun-caked mud bricks and the windows of proper glass. He wasn’t sure what the roof was made of, as a short carpet of ferns and grass sprouted from it like a green crown.
He didn’t even bother to ask; just looked at Vivi for an explanation. The Black Mage shrugged. “Hey, I wasn’t around when they built this place. Maybe the Captain just got lazy when plants started growing on the roof? It keeps us dry anyway.”
The crew slipped in the front door, and into what appeared to be a living room. The room was circular, couches and chairs situated around a rug in the center of the room. There were two other hallways leading off to other parts of what Roxas assumed was some sort of pirate-mansion.
Xigbar flopped on one of the couches as soon as he could, peeling his heavy boots off his feet. “You better sit down kid,” he addressed Roxas before chuckling darkly. “You never know when something might, oh, I don’t know-”
Something cut the air and thunked into floor near Roxas’s foot. He gave a strangled yell and fell backwards into the armchair across from the first mate.
“-fall out of the sky and try to castrate you.”
Looking at what had nearly sliced his nose off, Roxas saw a long spear stuck point down in the floor in front of him. A shadow dropped from the ceiling and retrieved the weapon before holding it in a loose grip with the spearhead pointed directly at his nose.
“An intruder, Captain?” A female voice.
Roxas willed his eyes to move up the shaft of the weapon and into the face of his attacker. A small nose twitched at the end of a soft grey snout. One green eye glared at him from underneath straight white hair. Two long rat-like ears rose above her head, and he thought he saw the slow flick of a thin tail behind her.
But more distracting than all that was the little girl, probably only five or six years old, riding on her shoulder. The girl blinked brown eyes at him inquisitively, before glancing around the room, smiling, and sliding down the back of the lancer’s sleeveless pink surcoat. “Daddy, daddy!” she squealed.
Roxas heard Barret’s deep voice rumble with laughter, but he didn’t dare break eye contact with the rat-woman in front of him. “A stowaway, Miss Crescent. We’ve unfortunately had to make him a part of the crew,” Captain Luxord explained, not bothering to disguise the contempt in his voice.
Miss Crescent scanned the stowaway, then relaxed, leaning her lance back against her shoulder. “A new pirate. You’ll have to fill me in.”
“His name is Roxas Strife,” Eiko said casually. She walked by into one of the hallways, her six flying creatures following her.
“Strife.” Freya looked down at him again, expression unreadable. “Someone will definitely have to fill me in, then.”
Roxas looked around the room. Apparently, Luxord, Tifa, Eiko and Vivi had disappeared down the other hallways to their rooms for the night. Freya turned and seemed to follow, her tail and coat swishing. Xigbar sat across from him, grinning mischievously. The little girl had climbed up the pockets and lapels of Barret’s vest (the only clothing he wore besides his necklace on his upper body) to sit on his shoulder.
Naminé approached him quietly from the door. “So, how was your first day as a pirate?” she asked.
“Crappy,” he replied immediately.
She laughed. “I’m sorry. But y’know, if you had snuck aboard any other pirate ship, you’d still be down in the brig. Without any food.”
“Good point,” Roxas agreed, sinking into his chair. Naminé sat on the arm. “So, should I just sleep here?”
“Don’t be silly kid. I’m crashing here tonight,” Xigbar proclaimed, swinging his bare feet up onto the cushions so he stretched across it. He folded his arms behind his head and closed his eye, already set on falling asleep.
“Marlene, you have a hammock in your closet, don’t you?” Barret asked the little girl on his shoulder.
“Uh huh!” the girl nodded. Roxas observed - suddenly feeling tired after that one last adrenaline rush - that Marlene wasn’t Barret’s wife. She was his daughter… or niece… or something like that.
“What’s her deal?” Roxas asked Naminé in a whisper.
“Who, Marlene? She… helps me paint sometimes?”
“Well, I don’t know what to expect from you guys anymore. You have a giant rat on your ship…” Roxas yawned.
“Wow, a rat on a pirate ship, Roxas. What a surprise.” Naminé rolled her eyes.
“He can sleep in my room!” Marlene announced cheerily.
---
“My dad wouldn’t want to know we’re up here together.”
Roxas tore his eyes away from the parrot resting a couple of branches away from the tree house’s platform, its feathers peridot in the tropical sunlight. Naminé sat in the shade beside Marlene, who was sprawled on the warm wooden boards beside her. The little girl wore a simple black sundress with a white skull and crossbones printed on it. Roxas felt his new clothes stick against him; he was sweating just sunbathing.
“No, I guess he wouldn’t, would he?”
“You should talk to him,” Marlene advised, stroking her brown braid as she reviewed her drawing. “That’s what daddy and I do when I get in trouble.”
“When you get in trouble?” Roxas repeated, giving Naminé a raised eyebrow.
She coughed and avoided his eyes. “I might have taught Marlene a few things.”
Roxas lay down opposite the girl, so he was looking at her scribble of a chocobo upside-down. “So, Barret found you, Marlene?”
“Uh huh,” she said without looking up. “When I was still a baby.”
“Wait…” He looked up at Naminé. “How old did you say you were when Tifa found you?”
“I didn’t. But I was a baby too.”
“…What is the deal with your dad and taking in babies?”
“Eiko was six and Vivi was eight!” Marlene corrected proudly, brandishing her crayon in the air. She forgot to add the ‘when they joined the crew’, but Roxas understood.
Naminé laughed. “Grandma grew up on the streets by herself, so after Papa was born, she started taking in orphans. She didn’t want Papa growing up surrounded by stinky old pirates, and she knew how hard it was to live on your own when you’re that young. I guess Papa kept up her tradition.”
She paused thoughtfully. “He loved Grandma and Grandpa a lot.”
A parrot squawked somewhere in the trees. “Green crayon!” Marlene requested, holding out a hand.
---
Meanwhile, in the mansion’s yard, Xigbar rested his forehead against the warm metal of the washboard. His arms were soaked up to his elbows in soapy water. He saw the reflection of Freya approach from the other side of the giant wooden basin and he asked it, “What day is it today?”
“Wednesday,” the reflection said.
“And when do I finish solitary laundry duty?” he asked.
“Next Wednesday,” the reflection answered. Then the reflection broke into pieces as more clothes were poured into the water.
Xigbar sprang to attention. “What the hell are you doing?”
Freya balanced the empty basket he hadn’t seen on her hip. “Marlene and I went exploring while you were gone. And Barret’s taking her out again when we all head off to Thebes next Tuesday.”
“Next Tuesday…Wait. Luxord isn’t seriously going to keep me here doing laundry until after he leaves for Thebes, is he?”
Freya shrugged and walked away, her tail swinging with an air of what Xigbar swore was smugness. “Maybe if you pick up the pace and finish before then Luxord’ll let you go.”
Xigbar groaned, and planted his forehead neatly into the washboard again.
---
“Don’t you remember what it was like being fifteen?”
“Yes. That’s what I’m worried about.”
Thursday was one of the island’s rare cloudy days. Luxord and Tifa walked along the beach beside the choppy ocean, discussing the three youngest on the island and how their venture to the tree house the day before hadn’t been well-met.
Tifa sighed and looked up to the sky blanketed in soft grey. “You’re so upset about keeping him around, but it was you who decided his punishment. We could bring him back home before we go to Thebes if you want to get rid of him so badly.”
“No,” Luxord growled. “He is a stowaway and he is going to be punished. You said he deserved it yourself.”
“Exactly! I meant for being a stowaway! You seem to be punishing him for so much as looking at Naminé. We can’t punish the boy for being a little interested in a pirate captain’s daughter. Especially when she’s such a contradiction.”
“My daughter is a contradiction?” A gust blew their hair back as Tifa explained.
“Of course! You’ve seen her in battle; how aggressive she can get.”
Luxord attempted to show his fond grin only to the sand between their toes but Tifa caught it. She always did.
“But take away that rapier of hers and she’s polite and shy. And…” Tifa nudged him gently with her elbow. “She’s a pretty, pretty girl. She takes after her dad.”
Luxord’s grin softened to an unsure smile. Tifa continued.
“If you never trust him as a swabbie you can never trust him enough to consider his punishment complete. And then you’ll never be rid of him. And as a swabbie he has every right to talk to Naminé without you thinking they’re doing something… carnal.”
Luxord made a strangled sound. “Carnal?”
“What did you want me to say?” Tifa glared mockingly.
“No, that probably was the best choice of words,” he said. And then he looked at her, eyes on her face and smile full of genuine respect.
She let it stop her in her tracks only when she realized he had stopped walking as well. She would’ve ground her knuckles into her head for being so weak to just a smile.
He was her friend, Tifa knew, and that… was all she could really ask for.
“I just remembered something,” he told her. Then he turned on his heel and walked into the trees away from the beach.
“Wha-? Luxord!” She gave chase and followed him all the way back to the mansion. She watched - and laughed, not believing her eyes - as he unlatched his large window by sliding a dagger up between the panes of glass. He climbed into his own chambers through the open window and Tifa put her hands on her hips, standing by the sill. “What the hell did you remember?”
“Your payment!” Luxord said simply over his shoulder.
Tifa’s heart kicked in her chest and her hands relaxed by her sides. “Y-You already gave me my payment from Traverse Island, cap’n.”
Luxord rolled his eyes as he walked back to the open window. “Not everything. I wasn’t sure how to fit a box inside the treasure chest I gave you, so I decided to bestow this little gift upon you myself.”
He placed a small wooden box in her hands, dark and rich. Brass decorations spiralled inwards on each corner of the lid and around the keyhole. In the center of the lid was a carving of a woman draped in silk and gloves; flowers and a bird accompanied her.
“I- Cap-”
Luxord clucked his tongue disapprovingly. “Why do you call me ‘Captain’ when I pay you? It’s just part of your fair share, Tifa.”
The woman prayed he didn’t notice her lips tighten. “Right. Thank you, Luxord.”
He raised his eyebrows carefully at her. His earrings shone in the silver sunlight. “Are you alright, Tifa?” He placed a hand on her shoulder; she had seen the muscles move beneath his wide collared shirt.
She shrugged out of it and gave him a tense smile. “I’m fine. I’ll just go in through the front door.”
---
Saturday on the island. It had been a week ago tonight that he had first met Naminé. Though it hadn’t exactly been a meeting, had it? a voice in his head whispered.
Roxas rolled carefully on the hammock. He could remember every detail of the sword fight as though it had been burned into his head. Maybe it was because he had been fighting in his own house, a place he knew by heart anyway.
His thoughts drifted to Sora and his mother and father. He had been gone for nearly a week now. His family was no doubt looking for him, but there would no doubt be delays with the repairs the island still needed. And he was at least four night’s journey away on a secret island. And Naminé had told him they were going on another siege this Tuesday.
His mom and dad… Tifa knew one or both of them somehow. But whenever he had thought it would be a good idea to ask, he either chickened out, or couldn’t find the boatswain.
Naminé might know something about Tifa’s past, a musical voice is his head whispered in his ear. You should go talk to her about it.
Now? In the middle of the night? When she’s in her bedroom?
When else, stupid?
Roxas groaned and threw a hand over his eyes. You’re not going to let me sleep until I do, are you?
Nope! the evil, evil voice replied.
Roxas fell out of the hammock, landed on a pile of stuffed toys, shuffled past Marlene and followed his feet to Naminé’s room. He knocked and found the door slightly ajar. “Who is it?” a voice asked from within.
“It’s me,” Roxas replied, running a hand through his hair groggily. Why the hell was he doing this again?
“C’mon in,” Naminé said, sounding a tad confused.
Roxas opened the door, and found that her chambers seemed to be some sort of loft room, where he needed to climb a short staircase to get up to her. “Look, I know this is sort of weird but I couldn’t sleep and…” A flash in the corner of his eye distracted him.
He saw that her ceiling was strung with line after line of ocean shells and stolen jewellery; pieces of stained glass and watercolour sketches hung on clothespins. And standing by the window roaring with moonlight was Naminé. He felt his stomach clench. Some part of his head started playing music on one of those record players he had seen in the Governor’s mansion-
Which scratched to a stop immediately when he covered his eyes. “What are you wearing?” His voice squeaked.
There was a pause. “A… nightgown.”
“Oh no, it’s not. My mom wears nightgowns. That is not a nightgown.”
Beyond the barrier of his hands, Naminé looked down at the whispy white dress that stopped mid-thigh. “Roxas, a nightgown is basically the same thing as pyjamas.”
Roxas squeezed his eyes shut and pointed accusingly. “That is not a pair of pyjamas.”
She laughed, disbelieving. “What? It’s not like I’m in my underwear.”
“Don’t say that!” Roxas’s face reddened, and neither knew if it was embarrassment, frustration or both.
Naminé smiled dangerously. “You should be glad it’s a cool night.” She made sure her slow steps creaked on her wooden floor. “On hotter night I go to bed wearing almost noth--”
“Oh my God, I’m not listening to this.”
Naminé laughed and took a hold of his wrists, prying them away from his eyes. “Roxas, I was joking! Open your eyes.”
Roxas cracked one eyelid open and saw her look up at him from under her eyelashes. “Don’t joke about things like that! I’m fifteen and I’m a guy.”
She gave him a look that told him she had seen things a thousand more dangerous than him. “So? I’m fifteen and I’m a girl. Haven’t we had this conversation before?”
“It’s different!” Roxas looked her dead in the eyes.
Naminé let go of his wrists and rolled her eyes. “Boy, are you prissy. You sure you’re a guy?”
“Of course I’m - oh, you’re impossible!”
“And you’re tremendously fun to tease.” She was still standing very close to him. “You know, with the way you’re reacting, I wonder why you bothered to put all that effort into chasing after us when we left your island…”
Roxas attempted to stare at her ceiling. “I only did it to get my sword back! I swear! Stop… looking at me like that!”
“So… you stowed away on a ship, got past a bunch of pirates, and now you’re sneaking into a young girl’s bedroom… to get your sword back.” She leaned a little closer to him and his skin prickled. “What does my bedroom have to do with the sword you got back five days ago?”
Her quiet smirk seemed to have shut down the logic center in his brain. “Hey, it was the only way I could think of to make sure we were alone - WAIT! NO!” He dug the heels of his palms into his eyes. “That’s not what I meant, I… uh…”
“Wow, you’re really uptight.” He felt her fingertips alight on his shoulder. “You need, like, a backrub or anything?”
“Yes!” he responded automatically.
Then, “NO! I… don’t know!”
Finally Naminé laughed again, raising a hand to her mouth. Roxas was relieved to see that colour was blooming in her cheeks. “You said yes!”
“Well, yeah…” Roxas’s face finally seemed to be cooling. “But only because Eiko had me helping in the kitchen all day today!”
“I’m sorry. It’s all Xigbar’s fault. He taught me… well, how to flirt when I turned fourteen and…”
“Great,” Roxas said. Oh, he was going to fall right asleep after this. He spotted a wooden chair and sat down. “You know, I had a perfectly valid question to ask when I came in here.”
“I’m sorry.” Naminé sat on her bed. “What did you want to ask?”
Before he started, Roxas made very sure not to stare at the way the moonlight curved on Naminé’s calves. “I just wanted to know if you knew how Tifa might know my parents.”
“…Pardon?”
Roxas sighed. “How might Tifa know my last name? Did it ever come up before?”
Naminé shook her head. “The only thing I know about Tifa’s story is that she was a barmaid on Tortuga - that’s another pirate island for you - when Papa and Xigbar found her. Xigbar always told me that she was literally kicking ass because some perverts were looking up her skirt and… Papa thought her ass-kicking talents would be better off on a pirate ship than a bar.”
“‘Ass-kicking talents’?” Roxas repeated with a smirk.
Naminé put a hand over her heart. “Xigbar’s words, not mine. I swear.”
“And that’s all you know?”
She sighed. “I’m afraid so. I told you she’s sorta shy, so she doesn’t really talk about it. Papa and Xigbar know the whole story obviously; between the three of them, they know all the stories.
“I would ask her myself, if I were you. But it’s probably better to wait until you’ve been around a little longer.”
Roxas looked at the floor in thought. Naminé was right. It’d probably be better to wait until he had enough courage to ask Tifa for himself.
His thoughts drifted through what she had just told him. “So if that’s how your dad met Tifa, how did your dad meet Xigbar?”
“Uh…” Naminé laughed. “Good question.”
---
“How did I meet Xigbar?” Luxord repeated, and then laughed. “Oh, dear.”
The entire crew - sans a first mate - was in the lounge, having finished loading the Wheel of Fortune for tomorrow’s sail to Thebes. Tifa was preparing the poison for a drinking competition between the Dread Pirate and Barret, while everyone else was busy making bets. Roxas sat on a couch beside Freya and Eiko, who had both chosen Luxord. Naminé had remained neutral, while Vivi and Marlene had sided with Barret.
The front doors burst open and Xigbar stood there, triumphant. “I finished your fucking laundry duty two days early. I’m coming to Thebes with you, you ass.”
Naminé glared from her stool, covering the ears of the curious Marlene in her lap.
Xigbar flinched. “I mean… my ears were burning, Captain!”
“You’re just in time for a drinking competition, Xigbar. Place your bets,” Freya told him.
The first mate crossed the room and looked between the competitors. He decided with a snap of his fingers. “Barret,” he said.
Luxord made an offended noise in the back of his throat as Barret laughed and clapped Xigbar on the back. “I feel fantastically betrayed,” the Captain said, wiping nonexistent tears from his eyes.
“Hey, don’t take it personal, sonny. We sharpshooters gotta stick together, you know?” Xigbar shrugged.
“I hear that,” Barret said. He reached out and butted his stone fist against Xigbar’s.
Everyone in the room heard the latter’s knuckles crack in response.
“Ow,” Xigbar said. Then he pulled up a stool and Tifa poured the drinks.
“Pardon me for asking, but ‘sonny’, Xigbar? You are the farthest thing from my father on the Seven Seas,” Luxord continued.
“I am not. You totally got your good looks from me,” Xigbar said, jerking a thumb towards the center of his chest.
“I received my good looks from my father, I’ll have you know.” Luxord and Barret clinked glasses and tossed their drinks back before slamming their glasses back down on the bar. “And besides that, we look nothing alike.”
“If you want to be someone’s father, you can be Vivi’s,” Eiko spoke up. “You have the same eyes.”
Vivi blinked at her from where he sat on a table chair he was sitting on backwards. Then he looked into Xigbar’s orange-gold scrutiny. The one-eyed man nodded, satisfied.
“Vivi’s a much cooler son than you, anyway,” he told Luxord. “Consider yourself disowned.”
The Black Mage closed his eyes and laughed, embarrassed. “Uh… Thanks?”
“You’re welcome, Viv!” Xigbar chirped.
Tifa placed a coaster over the top of her next mixture and shook it up. “Anyway,” she said, “Naminé wanted to hear the story about how you met Luxord again, Xigbar.”
“How did I meet Luxord?” Xigbar repeated, and then guffawed. “Oh, man. Uh… what island were we on?”
“I can never recall,” Luxord said, grinning at him.
“Neither do I. We were in a bar…”
“And we were both sitting at the counter, yes?”
“Yeah. Uh… Something involving brandy?”
“Or was it scotch?”
“One of the two. Um.” Xigbar looked at the ceiling in thought as Tifa poured Luxord and Barret new glasses. “Blur, blurry… We ended up fighting back to back.”
“Ah, yes. I fondly remember what I can of that to be my favourite bar fight.”
“That better not be sarcasm. Fire came into this equation eventually.”
Luxord and Barret knocked back their second round. Eiko let out a little cheer.
“…Was gunpowder involved? I can never remember if that was dream I had once or if it actually occurred.”
“Hm. Can’t say. Something definitely exploded.”
“And we watched the flames of our destruction arch into the heavens from the street,” Luxord said, his eyes getting a faraway look in them.
“And then you asked me to be your first mate,” Xigbar answered with a nostalgic smile.
“And then you punched me in the face.” Luxord leaned his cheek on ringed fingers.
“Good times,” Xigbar sighed.
Roxas glanced at Naminé sitting on her stool. She smiled and shrugged, seeming to say ‘I have no clue either’.
He sank back into the couch. What have I gotten myself into?
---
Breathe in - the smell of salt, the crisp coolness of night, the sound of the ocean waves. Breathe out - and something still bothered him.
The Wheel of Fortune was sailing again and he was at sea. They were on their way to Thebes. He wasn’t apprehensive about the siege; why would he be?
“I bet I know what’s bothering you,” a voice he knew anywhere told him.
“Tifa.” Luxord turned toward the woman climbing the stairs to the quarterdeck, where he stood at the helm. “I certainly hope you do. I fear I’m at risk at losing sleep.”
“Oh, please.” Tifa rolled her eyes. “You know as well as I do what’s bothering you.”
Luxord shook his head, frowning. “I’m afraid I don’t.”
She sighed and stood next to him. She pointed upwards. Luxord followed her index finger, thinking she was indicating a star, but instead saw a familiar silhouette sitting in the shrouds. Naminé was huddled against the nets, star-gazing.
“You want to apologize to her as much as she does. The two of you hardly talked that whole week back home.” She butted him in the shoulder with her own. “Go on. You two have made up before.”
“It never involved the opposite sex before,” Luxord mumbled.
“You can handle it. You’re the Dread Pirate, aren’t you?”
He gave her a narrow sidelong glance, but Tifa only smiled.
“I’ll make sure we don’t crash into a reef while you’re gone,” she said.
Luxord finally sighed. “I know you’re right.” He started towards the staircase leading to the rest of the weather deck, and paused with one foot down on the first step. “Should I ask you to wish me luck?” he asked over his shoulder.
“You don’t need it,” Tifa told him, taking the helm.
He smiled at her half-heartedly, and continued on to the shrouds. He climbed up and sat next to his daughter. She had her knees tucked to her chest and her arms folded across them. Luxord picked at a thread on the cuff of his sleeve.
Naminé took a deep breath and said, “You know, I heard a good story about Grandpa and the stars.”
“Oh?” Luxord looked at her, but she focused on the sky. “Do tell.”
“Grandpa wanted to know all the secrets of the world, so he gave up his identity and sat on a rock in the middle of the ocean for three hundred days and nights to learn from the stars. And he never ate or slept. And once he left, he knew all the world’s secrets, but was cursed to know himself only as the Dread Pirate forever.”
The current holder of the title smiled. “I like that story.”
Naminé smiled too, bringing her eyes down to the horizon. “I knew you would.”
A pause and then, “Roxas told it to me.”
There was a longer silence. The ship sailed through the water beneath it.
Naminé looked to her father. “I’m sorry I yelled Papa, but I can’t believe you think I’d… do that-”
“With him,” Luxord said icily, avoiding his daughter’s eyes.
“With anyone! Behind your back!” Naminé unfolded her arms and gripped the rope beside her. “You trust me and I trust you. I wouldn’t betray you like that!”
Luxord looked at her, face blank. She flinched. “You do trust me, don’t you?”
Without warning, her father lunged and wrapped her in a hug. And then she squealed as she felt the familiar tingles of tickling fingers. “Pap-ahh!” She kicked out and her boots hooked under a lower rung of rope as she tried to tickle back. For a moment, the night was alive with the sound of their laughter, until Naminé succeeded in grabbing her father’s wrists and holding them away from her.
“I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions, pigeon,” Luxord said, butting his head against hers affectionately. “But this doesn’t mean I have to like the bilge rat.”
Naminé sighed, but she settled into the crook of her father’s arm. The surcoat smelled just the same as she remembered it; like parchment and sea foam. “Of course not.”
Back down at the helm, Tifa watched as the two silhouettes merged back into one. She nibbled at her bottom lip as she realized how much she really did love the two people up there.
“You’re doing it again,” a voice admonished.
Tifa jumped, letting go of the wheel spokes for a second. “Xigbar! When did- How did-?”
The man only grinned that shark-tooth grin at her. “I could be a ninja with the way I sneak up on you, huh? Hey,” he let his fingers fan out in the air, “I could be a ninja pirate! It would be totally awe-”
“No,” Tifa said. She would’ve rubbed her temple if she hadn’t gone back to the helm.
“Spoil-sport.” Xigbar put his hands in his pockets and looked up at their Captain in the shrouds. “You’re gonna have to tell him eventually, Tifa.”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, Xigbar,” she said. She closed her eyes in an attempt to ignore him.
“Oh, c’mon lovebird.” He rocked back on his heels boyishly. “What could possibly go wrong?”
Foot Notes/Glossery
• For the confuzzled here's an outline of the 'days' so far in this fic. After this chapter, it won't matter much.
Saturday: Ordinary Traverse Town day. Wheel of Fortune lays seige during night. (Chapter 1)
Sunday: Roxas spends all day planning. Runs away and gains passage on the Carrion that night. (Chapter 2)
Monday: Arrives on Destiny Island. Stows away aboard Wheel of Fortune. Talks to Naminé about the crew around dinner time. (Chapter 3-4)
Tuesday: Roxas meets Eiko, learns of his punishment, scrubs deck all day. (Chapter 4-5)
• Bosun's Chair: a seat consisting of a board and a rope; used while working aloft or over the side of a ship.
• Foremast: the mast nearest the bow in all vessels having two or more masts.
• The Thebes that is going to be sieged next chapter is the Thebes of Disney's Hercules. It's sort of the equivalent of New York in both that universe and this one. :)
• Tifa's treasure box!
• Tortuga is an island from the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. It's the location of the Faithful Bride, a tavern where Jack Sparrow recruited a new crew in order to take back his beloved Black Pearl.
• Shroud: any of a number of taut ropes or wires converging from both sides on the head of a lower or upper mast of the outer end of a bowsprit to steady it against lateral sway: a part of the standing rigging.
Chapter 4 ← Chapter 5 → Chapter 6
Chapter Listing
Genre: Humour, Romance
Ships?: Luxord/Tifa, Roxas/Naminé
→Friendships?: Xigbar&Tifa, Luxord&Xigbar, Xigbar&Vivi!, Luxord&Naminé
Characters: Roxas, Barret, Xigbar, Freya, Marlene, Luxord, Tifa
→Cameos: Eiko, Vivi
→Mentions: Zack, Sora, Cloud, Aeris, Ansem
Rating: PG-13 for Xigbar's potty mouth
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any related characters. This was written out of enjoyment of the series, and no profit is being made.
Music: "Barret's Theme" ♪ "Arcana Minor" ♫ "Seaside Discussion" ♪ "Midnight Apology (Luxord and Naminé)"
Notes: Aaaaah. This chapter is another dump of character interaction/backstory/mostly pointless fluff. But luckily next chapter will be short and full of PLOT. PLOT I TELL YOU. AT LEAST I'M NOT STEPHANIE MEYER AND SAVE IT UNTIL THE VERY END OF THE BOOK, YOU GOTTA GIVE ME THAT.
And while I can't imagine canon!Naminé being flirty (as you'll see later on this chapter ;D), keep in mind that this is pirate!Naminé we're dealing with. As she points out, Xigbar had a hand in raising her. Thus, pirate!Naminé has a flirty side.
Also, why is Xigbar friends with everyone on this crew. WHY DOES HE HAVE SO MANY IMPORTANT CHARACTER INTERACTIONS IN THIS FIC AAAAAG.
Oh! And one last thing. The layout of the Wheel of Fortune can be found on the chapter listing page, for anyone who wants to see it. It's probably horribly inaccurate but hey! Fanfic.
First mate = spots_of_ink.
In which the life of a pirate is observed.
Drink Up, Me Hearties
Chapter 5: Arcana Minor
“So, you lost to Naminé, huh?”
Roxas scrubbed at the metal deck, squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to ignore the playful jibe. He instead focused on how he was grateful that the metal of the weather deck had been treated to look like wood somehow, and thus didn’t reflect glaring sunlight into his eyes.
“Then again,” the man at the helm looked Roxas over, “I can’t say I’m surprised.”
“Go easy on him, Barret,” Vivi said. He was on the other side of the quarterdeck, scrubbing at the bulwarks. “He was chased by the Captain yesterday and forced into our crew just this morning.”
Roxas was momentarily distracted by the blue glow in between the cracks of Barret’s stone hand reflected on the deck. “Huh. And we laid siege to Traverse Island when? Saturday? Wow.”
Roxas looked up at him when he laughed in his direction. Barret was a huge, tall man, with arms a thousand times thicker and stronger than his father’s blacksmith arms. Being this close to him and reasonably less terrified allowed Roxas to notice that he not only had a geometric design on his arm, but a blue rectangle tattooed beneath his right eye. His crystal necklace rested in the center of his chest, a glowing blue coal against his dark skin. “Musta been a crappy weekend plus a crappy Monday for you, kid.”
The crew’s newest member returned to scrubbing. “You can say that again.”
Barret whistled cheerily. “But it’s Tuesday today. And what a Tuesday!” Then he shouted up to the crow’s nest, high above their heads. “Isn’t that right, Xigbar? Looking forward to a week of laundry duty?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” a voice replied from on high. When Roxas looked, Xigbar rested his chin on the railing of the platform. It appeared as though he had been staring at the clouds lying on the floor of the crow’s nest. “Laugh it up, bud!”
“When will we be getting home sweet home, Xigbar?” Barret replied, ignoring the lookout’s sarcasm entirely.
“You’ll be home and with sweet, darling Marlene again by sunset, you big softie!” Xigbar answered. Then his head was gone from the railing, presumably to flop back down under the sun.
Roxas shook his head. What a weird pirate crew this was. Barret was married, apparently?
Out of the corner of his eye, Roxas caught sight of Miss Lockhart. She was sitting on the bosun’s chair, up somewhere near the foremast. However, she only stared at the ocean that the bow cut through, sitting still amongst her riggings and sails.
He couldn’t help the feeling that he had done something wrong.
---
As the sun set, the Wheel of Fortune had approached an island. Roxas, who had been scrubbing the deck and wondering how in the world ships made of metal and running electricity managed to float all day, decided to take a breather. He flopped on the port bulwarks, and watched the emerald palm trees sway against the darkening sky.
From there, he had watched the Dread Pirate’s crew dock for the first time, in a cove on one end of the island. Barret and Naminé had lowered the gangplank and they had stepped off the ship into a dank cove. Luxord was now leading them up a sandy passageway, and Roxas stumbled in the dusk. Vivi walked behind him, to ensure he didn’t escape.
“So, uh… Vivi? Where are we going?” Roxas asked in a whisper, looking back to him.
Vivi’s eyes still glowed in the dark. He blinked at him, and Roxas somehow knew to take it as an ‘Isn’t-it-obvious?’ look. “…Home. This is our hideaway, Roxas. Pirates don’t live on the high seas every waking hour, right?”
Roxas realized that he hadn’t really thought about the crew of pirates setting up home somewhere. He had just sort of assumed they were sailed from pirate-inn to pirate-inn. But a pirate-home… That was a little different.
The crew came out of the passageway into the open air. Luxord led onwards, but the two swabbies lagged behind. The Captain probably thought that the hold-up was caused by a plotting Roxas, but Vivi knew better, as he slowed to a crawl behind the teenager.
Roxas had never seen a jungle before. He’d only heard stories about them from Uncle Zack. He stared at the way the palm trees curved up from the forest floor, the thinness of the ferns’ leaves. He tilted his head back to see the darkening orange sky through the canopy’s distant roof; the vines that hung like old curtains from tree to tree. Vivi remembered feeling much the same way the first time he had arrived, so he felt a tad guilty when he interrupted, nudging Roxas in the back gently.
“If you think it’s pretty now, just wait until you see Arcana Minor during the day,” he said.
“Arcana Minor?” Roxas asked as Vivi walked beside him.
“Yeah. Home.”
Between the trees, Roxas saw a building loom high underneath the canopy. As far as he could tell, it was made of sun-caked mud bricks and the windows of proper glass. He wasn’t sure what the roof was made of, as a short carpet of ferns and grass sprouted from it like a green crown.
He didn’t even bother to ask; just looked at Vivi for an explanation. The Black Mage shrugged. “Hey, I wasn’t around when they built this place. Maybe the Captain just got lazy when plants started growing on the roof? It keeps us dry anyway.”
The crew slipped in the front door, and into what appeared to be a living room. The room was circular, couches and chairs situated around a rug in the center of the room. There were two other hallways leading off to other parts of what Roxas assumed was some sort of pirate-mansion.
Xigbar flopped on one of the couches as soon as he could, peeling his heavy boots off his feet. “You better sit down kid,” he addressed Roxas before chuckling darkly. “You never know when something might, oh, I don’t know-”
Something cut the air and thunked into floor near Roxas’s foot. He gave a strangled yell and fell backwards into the armchair across from the first mate.
“-fall out of the sky and try to castrate you.”
Looking at what had nearly sliced his nose off, Roxas saw a long spear stuck point down in the floor in front of him. A shadow dropped from the ceiling and retrieved the weapon before holding it in a loose grip with the spearhead pointed directly at his nose.
“An intruder, Captain?” A female voice.
Roxas willed his eyes to move up the shaft of the weapon and into the face of his attacker. A small nose twitched at the end of a soft grey snout. One green eye glared at him from underneath straight white hair. Two long rat-like ears rose above her head, and he thought he saw the slow flick of a thin tail behind her.
But more distracting than all that was the little girl, probably only five or six years old, riding on her shoulder. The girl blinked brown eyes at him inquisitively, before glancing around the room, smiling, and sliding down the back of the lancer’s sleeveless pink surcoat. “Daddy, daddy!” she squealed.
Roxas heard Barret’s deep voice rumble with laughter, but he didn’t dare break eye contact with the rat-woman in front of him. “A stowaway, Miss Crescent. We’ve unfortunately had to make him a part of the crew,” Captain Luxord explained, not bothering to disguise the contempt in his voice.
Miss Crescent scanned the stowaway, then relaxed, leaning her lance back against her shoulder. “A new pirate. You’ll have to fill me in.”
“His name is Roxas Strife,” Eiko said casually. She walked by into one of the hallways, her six flying creatures following her.
“Strife.” Freya looked down at him again, expression unreadable. “Someone will definitely have to fill me in, then.”
Roxas looked around the room. Apparently, Luxord, Tifa, Eiko and Vivi had disappeared down the other hallways to their rooms for the night. Freya turned and seemed to follow, her tail and coat swishing. Xigbar sat across from him, grinning mischievously. The little girl had climbed up the pockets and lapels of Barret’s vest (the only clothing he wore besides his necklace on his upper body) to sit on his shoulder.
Naminé approached him quietly from the door. “So, how was your first day as a pirate?” she asked.
“Crappy,” he replied immediately.
She laughed. “I’m sorry. But y’know, if you had snuck aboard any other pirate ship, you’d still be down in the brig. Without any food.”
“Good point,” Roxas agreed, sinking into his chair. Naminé sat on the arm. “So, should I just sleep here?”
“Don’t be silly kid. I’m crashing here tonight,” Xigbar proclaimed, swinging his bare feet up onto the cushions so he stretched across it. He folded his arms behind his head and closed his eye, already set on falling asleep.
“Marlene, you have a hammock in your closet, don’t you?” Barret asked the little girl on his shoulder.
“Uh huh!” the girl nodded. Roxas observed - suddenly feeling tired after that one last adrenaline rush - that Marlene wasn’t Barret’s wife. She was his daughter… or niece… or something like that.
“What’s her deal?” Roxas asked Naminé in a whisper.
“Who, Marlene? She… helps me paint sometimes?”
“Well, I don’t know what to expect from you guys anymore. You have a giant rat on your ship…” Roxas yawned.
“Wow, a rat on a pirate ship, Roxas. What a surprise.” Naminé rolled her eyes.
“He can sleep in my room!” Marlene announced cheerily.
---
“My dad wouldn’t want to know we’re up here together.”
Roxas tore his eyes away from the parrot resting a couple of branches away from the tree house’s platform, its feathers peridot in the tropical sunlight. Naminé sat in the shade beside Marlene, who was sprawled on the warm wooden boards beside her. The little girl wore a simple black sundress with a white skull and crossbones printed on it. Roxas felt his new clothes stick against him; he was sweating just sunbathing.
“No, I guess he wouldn’t, would he?”
“You should talk to him,” Marlene advised, stroking her brown braid as she reviewed her drawing. “That’s what daddy and I do when I get in trouble.”
“When you get in trouble?” Roxas repeated, giving Naminé a raised eyebrow.
She coughed and avoided his eyes. “I might have taught Marlene a few things.”
Roxas lay down opposite the girl, so he was looking at her scribble of a chocobo upside-down. “So, Barret found you, Marlene?”
“Uh huh,” she said without looking up. “When I was still a baby.”
“Wait…” He looked up at Naminé. “How old did you say you were when Tifa found you?”
“I didn’t. But I was a baby too.”
“…What is the deal with your dad and taking in babies?”
“Eiko was six and Vivi was eight!” Marlene corrected proudly, brandishing her crayon in the air. She forgot to add the ‘when they joined the crew’, but Roxas understood.
Naminé laughed. “Grandma grew up on the streets by herself, so after Papa was born, she started taking in orphans. She didn’t want Papa growing up surrounded by stinky old pirates, and she knew how hard it was to live on your own when you’re that young. I guess Papa kept up her tradition.”
She paused thoughtfully. “He loved Grandma and Grandpa a lot.”
A parrot squawked somewhere in the trees. “Green crayon!” Marlene requested, holding out a hand.
---
Meanwhile, in the mansion’s yard, Xigbar rested his forehead against the warm metal of the washboard. His arms were soaked up to his elbows in soapy water. He saw the reflection of Freya approach from the other side of the giant wooden basin and he asked it, “What day is it today?”
“Wednesday,” the reflection said.
“And when do I finish solitary laundry duty?” he asked.
“Next Wednesday,” the reflection answered. Then the reflection broke into pieces as more clothes were poured into the water.
Xigbar sprang to attention. “What the hell are you doing?”
Freya balanced the empty basket he hadn’t seen on her hip. “Marlene and I went exploring while you were gone. And Barret’s taking her out again when we all head off to Thebes next Tuesday.”
“Next Tuesday…Wait. Luxord isn’t seriously going to keep me here doing laundry until after he leaves for Thebes, is he?”
Freya shrugged and walked away, her tail swinging with an air of what Xigbar swore was smugness. “Maybe if you pick up the pace and finish before then Luxord’ll let you go.”
Xigbar groaned, and planted his forehead neatly into the washboard again.
---
“Don’t you remember what it was like being fifteen?”
“Yes. That’s what I’m worried about.”
Thursday was one of the island’s rare cloudy days. Luxord and Tifa walked along the beach beside the choppy ocean, discussing the three youngest on the island and how their venture to the tree house the day before hadn’t been well-met.
Tifa sighed and looked up to the sky blanketed in soft grey. “You’re so upset about keeping him around, but it was you who decided his punishment. We could bring him back home before we go to Thebes if you want to get rid of him so badly.”
“No,” Luxord growled. “He is a stowaway and he is going to be punished. You said he deserved it yourself.”
“Exactly! I meant for being a stowaway! You seem to be punishing him for so much as looking at Naminé. We can’t punish the boy for being a little interested in a pirate captain’s daughter. Especially when she’s such a contradiction.”
“My daughter is a contradiction?” A gust blew their hair back as Tifa explained.
“Of course! You’ve seen her in battle; how aggressive she can get.”
Luxord attempted to show his fond grin only to the sand between their toes but Tifa caught it. She always did.
“But take away that rapier of hers and she’s polite and shy. And…” Tifa nudged him gently with her elbow. “She’s a pretty, pretty girl. She takes after her dad.”
Luxord’s grin softened to an unsure smile. Tifa continued.
“If you never trust him as a swabbie you can never trust him enough to consider his punishment complete. And then you’ll never be rid of him. And as a swabbie he has every right to talk to Naminé without you thinking they’re doing something… carnal.”
Luxord made a strangled sound. “Carnal?”
“What did you want me to say?” Tifa glared mockingly.
“No, that probably was the best choice of words,” he said. And then he looked at her, eyes on her face and smile full of genuine respect.
She let it stop her in her tracks only when she realized he had stopped walking as well. She would’ve ground her knuckles into her head for being so weak to just a smile.
He was her friend, Tifa knew, and that… was all she could really ask for.
“I just remembered something,” he told her. Then he turned on his heel and walked into the trees away from the beach.
“Wha-? Luxord!” She gave chase and followed him all the way back to the mansion. She watched - and laughed, not believing her eyes - as he unlatched his large window by sliding a dagger up between the panes of glass. He climbed into his own chambers through the open window and Tifa put her hands on her hips, standing by the sill. “What the hell did you remember?”
“Your payment!” Luxord said simply over his shoulder.
Tifa’s heart kicked in her chest and her hands relaxed by her sides. “Y-You already gave me my payment from Traverse Island, cap’n.”
Luxord rolled his eyes as he walked back to the open window. “Not everything. I wasn’t sure how to fit a box inside the treasure chest I gave you, so I decided to bestow this little gift upon you myself.”
He placed a small wooden box in her hands, dark and rich. Brass decorations spiralled inwards on each corner of the lid and around the keyhole. In the center of the lid was a carving of a woman draped in silk and gloves; flowers and a bird accompanied her.
“I- Cap-”
Luxord clucked his tongue disapprovingly. “Why do you call me ‘Captain’ when I pay you? It’s just part of your fair share, Tifa.”
The woman prayed he didn’t notice her lips tighten. “Right. Thank you, Luxord.”
He raised his eyebrows carefully at her. His earrings shone in the silver sunlight. “Are you alright, Tifa?” He placed a hand on her shoulder; she had seen the muscles move beneath his wide collared shirt.
She shrugged out of it and gave him a tense smile. “I’m fine. I’ll just go in through the front door.”
---
Saturday on the island. It had been a week ago tonight that he had first met Naminé. Though it hadn’t exactly been a meeting, had it? a voice in his head whispered.
Roxas rolled carefully on the hammock. He could remember every detail of the sword fight as though it had been burned into his head. Maybe it was because he had been fighting in his own house, a place he knew by heart anyway.
His thoughts drifted to Sora and his mother and father. He had been gone for nearly a week now. His family was no doubt looking for him, but there would no doubt be delays with the repairs the island still needed. And he was at least four night’s journey away on a secret island. And Naminé had told him they were going on another siege this Tuesday.
His mom and dad… Tifa knew one or both of them somehow. But whenever he had thought it would be a good idea to ask, he either chickened out, or couldn’t find the boatswain.
Naminé might know something about Tifa’s past, a musical voice is his head whispered in his ear. You should go talk to her about it.
Now? In the middle of the night? When she’s in her bedroom?
When else, stupid?
Roxas groaned and threw a hand over his eyes. You’re not going to let me sleep until I do, are you?
Nope! the evil, evil voice replied.
Roxas fell out of the hammock, landed on a pile of stuffed toys, shuffled past Marlene and followed his feet to Naminé’s room. He knocked and found the door slightly ajar. “Who is it?” a voice asked from within.
“It’s me,” Roxas replied, running a hand through his hair groggily. Why the hell was he doing this again?
“C’mon in,” Naminé said, sounding a tad confused.
Roxas opened the door, and found that her chambers seemed to be some sort of loft room, where he needed to climb a short staircase to get up to her. “Look, I know this is sort of weird but I couldn’t sleep and…” A flash in the corner of his eye distracted him.
He saw that her ceiling was strung with line after line of ocean shells and stolen jewellery; pieces of stained glass and watercolour sketches hung on clothespins. And standing by the window roaring with moonlight was Naminé. He felt his stomach clench. Some part of his head started playing music on one of those record players he had seen in the Governor’s mansion-
Which scratched to a stop immediately when he covered his eyes. “What are you wearing?” His voice squeaked.
There was a pause. “A… nightgown.”
“Oh no, it’s not. My mom wears nightgowns. That is not a nightgown.”
Beyond the barrier of his hands, Naminé looked down at the whispy white dress that stopped mid-thigh. “Roxas, a nightgown is basically the same thing as pyjamas.”
Roxas squeezed his eyes shut and pointed accusingly. “That is not a pair of pyjamas.”
She laughed, disbelieving. “What? It’s not like I’m in my underwear.”
“Don’t say that!” Roxas’s face reddened, and neither knew if it was embarrassment, frustration or both.
Naminé smiled dangerously. “You should be glad it’s a cool night.” She made sure her slow steps creaked on her wooden floor. “On hotter night I go to bed wearing almost noth--”
“Oh my God, I’m not listening to this.”
Naminé laughed and took a hold of his wrists, prying them away from his eyes. “Roxas, I was joking! Open your eyes.”
Roxas cracked one eyelid open and saw her look up at him from under her eyelashes. “Don’t joke about things like that! I’m fifteen and I’m a guy.”
She gave him a look that told him she had seen things a thousand more dangerous than him. “So? I’m fifteen and I’m a girl. Haven’t we had this conversation before?”
“It’s different!” Roxas looked her dead in the eyes.
Naminé let go of his wrists and rolled her eyes. “Boy, are you prissy. You sure you’re a guy?”
“Of course I’m - oh, you’re impossible!”
“And you’re tremendously fun to tease.” She was still standing very close to him. “You know, with the way you’re reacting, I wonder why you bothered to put all that effort into chasing after us when we left your island…”
Roxas attempted to stare at her ceiling. “I only did it to get my sword back! I swear! Stop… looking at me like that!”
“So… you stowed away on a ship, got past a bunch of pirates, and now you’re sneaking into a young girl’s bedroom… to get your sword back.” She leaned a little closer to him and his skin prickled. “What does my bedroom have to do with the sword you got back five days ago?”
Her quiet smirk seemed to have shut down the logic center in his brain. “Hey, it was the only way I could think of to make sure we were alone - WAIT! NO!” He dug the heels of his palms into his eyes. “That’s not what I meant, I… uh…”
“Wow, you’re really uptight.” He felt her fingertips alight on his shoulder. “You need, like, a backrub or anything?”
“Yes!” he responded automatically.
Then, “NO! I… don’t know!”
Finally Naminé laughed again, raising a hand to her mouth. Roxas was relieved to see that colour was blooming in her cheeks. “You said yes!”
“Well, yeah…” Roxas’s face finally seemed to be cooling. “But only because Eiko had me helping in the kitchen all day today!”
“I’m sorry. It’s all Xigbar’s fault. He taught me… well, how to flirt when I turned fourteen and…”
“Great,” Roxas said. Oh, he was going to fall right asleep after this. He spotted a wooden chair and sat down. “You know, I had a perfectly valid question to ask when I came in here.”
“I’m sorry.” Naminé sat on her bed. “What did you want to ask?”
Before he started, Roxas made very sure not to stare at the way the moonlight curved on Naminé’s calves. “I just wanted to know if you knew how Tifa might know my parents.”
“…Pardon?”
Roxas sighed. “How might Tifa know my last name? Did it ever come up before?”
Naminé shook her head. “The only thing I know about Tifa’s story is that she was a barmaid on Tortuga - that’s another pirate island for you - when Papa and Xigbar found her. Xigbar always told me that she was literally kicking ass because some perverts were looking up her skirt and… Papa thought her ass-kicking talents would be better off on a pirate ship than a bar.”
“‘Ass-kicking talents’?” Roxas repeated with a smirk.
Naminé put a hand over her heart. “Xigbar’s words, not mine. I swear.”
“And that’s all you know?”
She sighed. “I’m afraid so. I told you she’s sorta shy, so she doesn’t really talk about it. Papa and Xigbar know the whole story obviously; between the three of them, they know all the stories.
“I would ask her myself, if I were you. But it’s probably better to wait until you’ve been around a little longer.”
Roxas looked at the floor in thought. Naminé was right. It’d probably be better to wait until he had enough courage to ask Tifa for himself.
His thoughts drifted through what she had just told him. “So if that’s how your dad met Tifa, how did your dad meet Xigbar?”
“Uh…” Naminé laughed. “Good question.”
---
“How did I meet Xigbar?” Luxord repeated, and then laughed. “Oh, dear.”
The entire crew - sans a first mate - was in the lounge, having finished loading the Wheel of Fortune for tomorrow’s sail to Thebes. Tifa was preparing the poison for a drinking competition between the Dread Pirate and Barret, while everyone else was busy making bets. Roxas sat on a couch beside Freya and Eiko, who had both chosen Luxord. Naminé had remained neutral, while Vivi and Marlene had sided with Barret.
The front doors burst open and Xigbar stood there, triumphant. “I finished your fucking laundry duty two days early. I’m coming to Thebes with you, you ass.”
Naminé glared from her stool, covering the ears of the curious Marlene in her lap.
Xigbar flinched. “I mean… my ears were burning, Captain!”
“You’re just in time for a drinking competition, Xigbar. Place your bets,” Freya told him.
The first mate crossed the room and looked between the competitors. He decided with a snap of his fingers. “Barret,” he said.
Luxord made an offended noise in the back of his throat as Barret laughed and clapped Xigbar on the back. “I feel fantastically betrayed,” the Captain said, wiping nonexistent tears from his eyes.
“Hey, don’t take it personal, sonny. We sharpshooters gotta stick together, you know?” Xigbar shrugged.
“I hear that,” Barret said. He reached out and butted his stone fist against Xigbar’s.
Everyone in the room heard the latter’s knuckles crack in response.
“Ow,” Xigbar said. Then he pulled up a stool and Tifa poured the drinks.
“Pardon me for asking, but ‘sonny’, Xigbar? You are the farthest thing from my father on the Seven Seas,” Luxord continued.
“I am not. You totally got your good looks from me,” Xigbar said, jerking a thumb towards the center of his chest.
“I received my good looks from my father, I’ll have you know.” Luxord and Barret clinked glasses and tossed their drinks back before slamming their glasses back down on the bar. “And besides that, we look nothing alike.”
“If you want to be someone’s father, you can be Vivi’s,” Eiko spoke up. “You have the same eyes.”
Vivi blinked at her from where he sat on a table chair he was sitting on backwards. Then he looked into Xigbar’s orange-gold scrutiny. The one-eyed man nodded, satisfied.
“Vivi’s a much cooler son than you, anyway,” he told Luxord. “Consider yourself disowned.”
The Black Mage closed his eyes and laughed, embarrassed. “Uh… Thanks?”
“You’re welcome, Viv!” Xigbar chirped.
Tifa placed a coaster over the top of her next mixture and shook it up. “Anyway,” she said, “Naminé wanted to hear the story about how you met Luxord again, Xigbar.”
“How did I meet Luxord?” Xigbar repeated, and then guffawed. “Oh, man. Uh… what island were we on?”
“I can never recall,” Luxord said, grinning at him.
“Neither do I. We were in a bar…”
“And we were both sitting at the counter, yes?”
“Yeah. Uh… Something involving brandy?”
“Or was it scotch?”
“One of the two. Um.” Xigbar looked at the ceiling in thought as Tifa poured Luxord and Barret new glasses. “Blur, blurry… We ended up fighting back to back.”
“Ah, yes. I fondly remember what I can of that to be my favourite bar fight.”
“That better not be sarcasm. Fire came into this equation eventually.”
Luxord and Barret knocked back their second round. Eiko let out a little cheer.
“…Was gunpowder involved? I can never remember if that was dream I had once or if it actually occurred.”
“Hm. Can’t say. Something definitely exploded.”
“And we watched the flames of our destruction arch into the heavens from the street,” Luxord said, his eyes getting a faraway look in them.
“And then you asked me to be your first mate,” Xigbar answered with a nostalgic smile.
“And then you punched me in the face.” Luxord leaned his cheek on ringed fingers.
“Good times,” Xigbar sighed.
Roxas glanced at Naminé sitting on her stool. She smiled and shrugged, seeming to say ‘I have no clue either’.
He sank back into the couch. What have I gotten myself into?
---
Breathe in - the smell of salt, the crisp coolness of night, the sound of the ocean waves. Breathe out - and something still bothered him.
The Wheel of Fortune was sailing again and he was at sea. They were on their way to Thebes. He wasn’t apprehensive about the siege; why would he be?
“I bet I know what’s bothering you,” a voice he knew anywhere told him.
“Tifa.” Luxord turned toward the woman climbing the stairs to the quarterdeck, where he stood at the helm. “I certainly hope you do. I fear I’m at risk at losing sleep.”
“Oh, please.” Tifa rolled her eyes. “You know as well as I do what’s bothering you.”
Luxord shook his head, frowning. “I’m afraid I don’t.”
She sighed and stood next to him. She pointed upwards. Luxord followed her index finger, thinking she was indicating a star, but instead saw a familiar silhouette sitting in the shrouds. Naminé was huddled against the nets, star-gazing.
“You want to apologize to her as much as she does. The two of you hardly talked that whole week back home.” She butted him in the shoulder with her own. “Go on. You two have made up before.”
“It never involved the opposite sex before,” Luxord mumbled.
“You can handle it. You’re the Dread Pirate, aren’t you?”
He gave her a narrow sidelong glance, but Tifa only smiled.
“I’ll make sure we don’t crash into a reef while you’re gone,” she said.
Luxord finally sighed. “I know you’re right.” He started towards the staircase leading to the rest of the weather deck, and paused with one foot down on the first step. “Should I ask you to wish me luck?” he asked over his shoulder.
“You don’t need it,” Tifa told him, taking the helm.
He smiled at her half-heartedly, and continued on to the shrouds. He climbed up and sat next to his daughter. She had her knees tucked to her chest and her arms folded across them. Luxord picked at a thread on the cuff of his sleeve.
Naminé took a deep breath and said, “You know, I heard a good story about Grandpa and the stars.”
“Oh?” Luxord looked at her, but she focused on the sky. “Do tell.”
“Grandpa wanted to know all the secrets of the world, so he gave up his identity and sat on a rock in the middle of the ocean for three hundred days and nights to learn from the stars. And he never ate or slept. And once he left, he knew all the world’s secrets, but was cursed to know himself only as the Dread Pirate forever.”
The current holder of the title smiled. “I like that story.”
Naminé smiled too, bringing her eyes down to the horizon. “I knew you would.”
A pause and then, “Roxas told it to me.”
There was a longer silence. The ship sailed through the water beneath it.
Naminé looked to her father. “I’m sorry I yelled Papa, but I can’t believe you think I’d… do that-”
“With him,” Luxord said icily, avoiding his daughter’s eyes.
“With anyone! Behind your back!” Naminé unfolded her arms and gripped the rope beside her. “You trust me and I trust you. I wouldn’t betray you like that!”
Luxord looked at her, face blank. She flinched. “You do trust me, don’t you?”
Without warning, her father lunged and wrapped her in a hug. And then she squealed as she felt the familiar tingles of tickling fingers. “Pap-ahh!” She kicked out and her boots hooked under a lower rung of rope as she tried to tickle back. For a moment, the night was alive with the sound of their laughter, until Naminé succeeded in grabbing her father’s wrists and holding them away from her.
“I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions, pigeon,” Luxord said, butting his head against hers affectionately. “But this doesn’t mean I have to like the bilge rat.”
Naminé sighed, but she settled into the crook of her father’s arm. The surcoat smelled just the same as she remembered it; like parchment and sea foam. “Of course not.”
Back down at the helm, Tifa watched as the two silhouettes merged back into one. She nibbled at her bottom lip as she realized how much she really did love the two people up there.
“You’re doing it again,” a voice admonished.
Tifa jumped, letting go of the wheel spokes for a second. “Xigbar! When did- How did-?”
The man only grinned that shark-tooth grin at her. “I could be a ninja with the way I sneak up on you, huh? Hey,” he let his fingers fan out in the air, “I could be a ninja pirate! It would be totally awe-”
“No,” Tifa said. She would’ve rubbed her temple if she hadn’t gone back to the helm.
“Spoil-sport.” Xigbar put his hands in his pockets and looked up at their Captain in the shrouds. “You’re gonna have to tell him eventually, Tifa.”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, Xigbar,” she said. She closed her eyes in an attempt to ignore him.
“Oh, c’mon lovebird.” He rocked back on his heels boyishly. “What could possibly go wrong?”
Foot Notes/Glossery
• For the confuzzled here's an outline of the 'days' so far in this fic. After this chapter, it won't matter much.
Saturday: Ordinary Traverse Town day. Wheel of Fortune lays seige during night. (Chapter 1)
Sunday: Roxas spends all day planning. Runs away and gains passage on the Carrion that night. (Chapter 2)
Monday: Arrives on Destiny Island. Stows away aboard Wheel of Fortune. Talks to Naminé about the crew around dinner time. (Chapter 3-4)
Tuesday: Roxas meets Eiko, learns of his punishment, scrubs deck all day. (Chapter 4-5)
• Bosun's Chair: a seat consisting of a board and a rope; used while working aloft or over the side of a ship.
• Foremast: the mast nearest the bow in all vessels having two or more masts.
• The Thebes that is going to be sieged next chapter is the Thebes of Disney's Hercules. It's sort of the equivalent of New York in both that universe and this one. :)
• Tifa's treasure box!
• Tortuga is an island from the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. It's the location of the Faithful Bride, a tavern where Jack Sparrow recruited a new crew in order to take back his beloved Black Pearl.
• Shroud: any of a number of taut ropes or wires converging from both sides on the head of a lower or upper mast of the outer end of a bowsprit to steady it against lateral sway: a part of the standing rigging.
Chapter 4 ← Chapter 5 → Chapter 6
Chapter Listing