Chapter Text
“I've been having these weird thoughts lately.”
“Like is any of this for real… or not”
Slowly, she started to open her eyes as the wind rushed past her face, causing her to blink a few times before she realized she was falling.
And she wasn’t the only one.
There were others around her. All of them seemingly unconscious as they continued to plummet endlessly into the void.
A boy with the wings of a bird and feet and a heart made of gold, who could be as fierce as nature itself.
A creature of wood and metal that was a true force of Anarchy, and yet wise beyond even her years.
A man who covered his face and kept everyone at arms length, yet he always had the backs of his allies.
And a warrior from a world of darkness who nearly lost it all for a dream, and had a fire in his heart that could never be put out.
She tried to reach out, tried to call for them, their names escaped her and yet she felt in her heart that she knew them and that they were important to her.
Yet no matter how hard she tried she could not get the words to come, and her arms remained at her sides.
With no other option, she turned her face towards the direction they were falling, only to see a pool of darkness growing in size as they got closer.
Do not be afraid
Yet fear still gripped her mind as she and the others hurled towards the pool. Just as she was about to hit the surface, she finally managed to bring her arms up to cover her face.
The moment she hit the surface it was like someone had poured a bucket of ice water over, stealing her breath away as she sank under the surface.
Vina gasped as the icy cold sensation washed over her, her eyes snapped open as ice water dripped from her face.
Quickly she looked around, trying to get her bearings, while the last bit of her dream faded and was replaced by the galaxy's worst hangovers.
“Welcame back to the land of the waking, dread pirate Vaali” a masked man stated with an amused glint to his voice as he held what was once a bucket of water.
Vina bit down the urge to cringe at the sound of her mother's name, as she started to recall exactly what had happened and where she was.
Right, her crew had turned against her and dumped her on the world of Outset, one of those little inbetween worlds people tended to end up in, then she might have had a little too much to drink and picked a fight with the local authority. Honestly, she wasn’t too sure, it all got kind of hazy at that point. But she was pretty sure these guys were said local authorities, which meant they were members of the Tyrant’s guild. It would also explain why her hands were cuffed together.
Her mother was going to kill her.
“Could at least let a lady get a few more minutes of beauty sleep, fellas.” She forced a smile on her face, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible, as if getting caught had been part of her plan this whole time. She was about to continue when she spotted one of the masked individuals with something rather important and her eyes went wide.
“You'd think a Keyblade Master like The Great Dread Pirate Vaali would have a more elaborate Keyblade.” one of the Tyrant’s guild thugs comments as he held the weapon up, turning it over in his hands, and Vina felt all the blood rush to her face. “Doesn't even have a blade on it. More of a Keyclub if you ask me.”
Sure her Keyblade wasn't all that fancy, just a basic shank with a simple anchor shaped bit, but it was a Keyblade all the same. In fact these Outset bumpkins should be impressed to even see a Keyblade, after all there weren’t that many Keyblade wielders left… that she knew off.
Honestly they should just be impressed by her, after all as far as they knew they were talking to a Keyblade Master.
“Hey! Don't Touch That!” She barked, losing all composure, as she tried to Summon the blade back only for it to ignore her…and so did the guard. “And don't judge a Keyblade by how it looks. Their power comes from their wielder's heart, not from the sharpness of their blade.”
Finally, her Keyblade faded from the guild member's hand and she felt as though it would answer her call if she needed it.
“For your own sake, I hope your heart has a better edge than that thing.” The guard with the bucket laughed before turning to look at the others in the room. “Throw her in with Weathers. He could use some more Canon fodder.”
She was suddenly grabbed roughly by the arms and dragged down the hallway by two masked guards.
“Hey! easy now! watch the hat! Do you have any idea how much this coat costs?!” Vina complained the whole way, trying to drag her heels and wiggle her way out of their grip, but the guards held her easily.
“Hey Baldric, we got another one for ya!” One of the guards laughed as they approached one of the cells, and the other guard started uncuffing her. She was then suddenly shoved into the damp cell. “This one fights with her Heart!”
“Rude” Vina muttered as pushed herself up off the floor, dusting herself off as she heard the two guards laughing all the way back down the hall. Then she finally turned to face her cell mates and was suddenly taken aback. “Uh…is that a tree?”
“Hello! I am Rehua! And I am a Conrasu!” The being she originally thought was a tree answered, giving her an excited wave as a single eye stared back at her. “And this is Baldric. He's a human, I think.”
She turned her attention to the smaller man sitting in the corner, she had barely noticed him at first. He sat there, barely making a peep, and only gave her a polite nod. His face was completely hidden by what looked like a metal bucket with an eye slit cut into the side.
“A pleasure to meet both of you.” she smiled and gave a rather over the top bow. “I am the Great Dread Pirate Captain, Vaali.” She lied through her teeth, giving her mother's name, before looking at the other two, waiting to see their awe. “I'm sure you've no doubt heard of me.”
“Nope, sorry. Doesn't ring a bell.” Rehua answered simply, then looked over to Baldric. “What about you?”
“Never heard of you” was the first thing Baldric had said since she had gotten here, and it completely took the wind out of her sails.
Well, whatever, these two were probably too small-time to have heard of any of the big name criminals in the Galaxy.
So rather than let it get to her, she plopped down next to Rehua.
Besides, there were more important things to consider, like what these two had done to get thrown in this cell. After all, if she was going to find to take back her mother's ship from her traitorous first mate, then she was going to need a crew of cut throats. And a couple of thugs down on their luck sounded like a good start.
“while I'm sure you know what I'm in here for-” She started, leaning back with an easy smile, only to be cut off before she could continue.
“having horrible taste in fashion?” Rehua jumped in, leaning close as his wooden hands shook with an innocent excitement.
“no…” her smile fell away slightly, not sure if she should be totally offended, Rehua had said it so innocently that it was hard to get mad. “Piracy” She corrected.
“Damn, I thought I had that one.” Rehua’s shoulders sank in disappointment.
“Overheard the guards say it was Drunken Disorderly” Baldric muttered from his corner “but sure, we can call it piracy.”
Vina chose to ignore him. “Anyway, what are you gentlemen in for?”
“Oh, I demolished a store that was in my way of petting a small animal, and Baldric blew up an Orphanage.” Rehua answered for both of them with the same enthusiasm he seemed to approach everything with.
“Not true” she could have sworn she heard Baldric mutter.
“Interesting” Vina hummed, it was more than she had expected of the two, but she could work with it.
“Vaali, I was wondering if you could answer a question for me.” Rehua spoke up, catching her just slightly off guard.
“Of course, What’s your question, Rehua?”
“the guard mentioned that you fight with your Heart.” The Conrasu looked at her and tilted his large head like a puppy. “What does that mean?”
“Yeah, I kind of want to know what that means too.” Baldric added “preferably before they drag us out into the arena.”
Vina blinked, before a smile spread quickly across her face as she felt her confidence start to soar. “Oh, Well you see I’m what’s know as a Key-”
“Hey! I need some help over here!” One of the Guards suddenly yelled as the sounds of a struggle erupted from the room down the hall. It sounded like they were trying to wrangle a wild beast, and Vina was almost positive she heard a chair get thrown.
Then two guards ran past their cell towards the commotion.
“Not this guy again!”
“Get the cuffs! No! the good ones! He broke out of those ones last time!”
“Just-Just try to pin him down!”
“Looks like we got another one coming our way” Baldric droned, leaning back against the wall. “Least we know this guy can fight with more than just his heart.”
“And if he does fight with his heart, then I’m guessing his heart has one hell of a right hook.” Rehua commented as he watched one of the guards go flying back down the hall.
Vina could only watch, wide eyed as no less than four guards dragged their newest prisoner down the hall, as whoever it was was putting up one hell of a fight. They stopped in front of their cell, and one of them hastily let go to unlock the door as quickly as he could, and the moment it swung open they threw their prisoner inside and slammed the door shut.
“He’s Your Problem Now!” one of the guards shouted before quickly retreating back to the main entrance.
A deep growl rose from the red haired man on the ground as he started to pick himself up, and then Vina started to see that there was more metal than skin, and started to wonder if he was even human. No wonder he gave the guards such a hard time. “Cowards.” He stood back up, looking towards them and Vina got a good look at what was left of this guy's face. Scars covered pretty much every inch of skin the guy had left, there were no eyes she could see only two green glass lenses, and the lower part of his face was completely covered by some kind of gas mask. “So who are to be my comrades in arms this time- Is that a tree?”
Vina almost burst out into a giggle as the seriousness of the man’s voice was suddenly replaced by complete confusion, such a one eighty but she managed to hold it together. Almost instantly she liked this guy.
“Hello! I am Rehua! And I am a Conrasu!” Rehua greeted the man with the same energy he had used to greet Vina. “and this is Baldric the human and Vaali, she’s some kind of Pirate Elf I think.”
“A pleasure” Vina hummed and gave the man a smile, as she leaned back on her arms.
“Vaali?” he repeated her mother’s name, his eyes locked on her as he gave his head a tilt to the side. “I believe I have heard that name before? You wouldn't happen to be Keyblade Master Vaali would you?”
Vina quirked an eyebrow at this, so this guy had heard of her mother, but the others hadn’t, that was interesting. He hadn't even seen her with a Keyblade, either he was taking one hell of a leap or he might know a thing or two. Which could be good or to her detriment “That would be me, yes, so glad you noticed.” She smiled as she felt all eyes on her.
“Vaali, you never mentioned you were a Keyblade Master.” Rehua said in complete awe as he stared at her with his one big eye. “I don't even know what that is, but I'm impressed.”
“Yeah, I'm not buying it.” came a grumble from the corner. Why did Baldric have to be such a skeptic?
“I don’t really like to announce my mastery to people,” Vina explained with a chuckle. “but that question you were going to ask before our new friend here joined us. Yeah, that's what that guard meant when he said ‘I fight with my heart’.” Well sort of, she was pretty sure he was mocking her, but no one really needed to know that.
“Oh I see.” Rehua nodded, though it was pretty clear that he didn't actually get it. Then he turned to their new comrade. “Does that mean you fight with your Heart, um…I didn't get your name?”
Right, they didn't even get this guy's name.
“Tannhauser” the red haired man announced, dropping onto the floor next to her. “And all true Revolutionaries fight with their hearts.”
Oh, this guy was going to be fun.
It probably wasn't the answer Rehua was looking for but the tree-man seemed happy enough with it all the same. “Oh a revolutionary! How exciting!”
“Gods, I was hoping it wasn't you.” Baldric groaned, turning away from them all.
“Oh? You've heard of me?” Tannhauser finally looked over at Baldric, and so did Vina.
Baldric had heard of this guy, but not her mother?
“I've heard you tend to make a mess of things and draw way too much attention to yourself.” Baldric shot back, and Vina could almost swear he was glaring at the other man. “The amount of times I've had to abandon a perfectly good plan all because some lunatic, you I'm guessing, stirred up the whole Tyrant’s guild.”
Vina could almost see Tannhauser’s heckles raise, which was impressive since she had been pretty sure they'd been raised since getting here. But sensing an oncoming argument and possible fight, Vina reached over and put a hand on Tannhauser’s shoulder.
“ignore him, Tanny.” She stated, the nickname coming easily. “I've been here a little longer than you, and I've yet to hear Baldric say anything of any real substance.” Even if he's hit the nail on the head more than a few times, she was trying to ignore all that.
Tannhauser gave her a long hard look. For the briefest of moments Vina worried that he was going to go off on her, but slowly his shoulders seemed to relax, and the man bowed his head slightly. “Of course Master Vaali, as you say.” Vina tried not to let a shiver go down her spine, how was it possible that this guy managed to make everything sound like a threat.
“You what, that's fair.” Baldric spoke up and Vina spared him a glance. “As long as you can hold your own, which you clearly can, that's all that really matters for now. After that we can go our separate ways.”
Finally, Baldric was starting to come around, though it sounded like he planned on taking off the sooner they got out.
“Agreed” Tannhauser hissed back.
and Vina couldn’t help but smile. “See Ladies, you're both pretty.”
“Am I Pretty too?” Rehua asked, looking at her.
Before she could even say anything Tannhauser gave the most aggressive “Yes” she'd ever heard.
“Rehua, you're the prettiest” she answered, giving the tree-man a pat on the arm, much to Rehua’s pleasure.
Once more the guards walked past their cell, another prisoner behind them, their bird feet clicking against the stone floor. They moved to the cell next door, and unlocked it.
“Alright, you guys are next.” The lead guard spoke to the prisoners inside, “follow me to the arena.” He then turned to face the guard behind him, who was escorting the new prisoner. “Throw Bird boy in with Baldric’s group. They'll be up next.”
“Got it.” The guard in question nodded, turning to their cell and started unlocking the door as the other one led the other group of Prisoners further down the hall. “Get in there!” The guard pushed the new prisoner in the cell, before slamming the door behind him.
“Dude! Lame!” The pile of feathers yelled, as they pushed themselves up, revealing a young blonde teen with bird wings and feet. The kid glanced around at the cell before giving everyone a slight gape tooth smile. “Oh, Hey. I'm Oran.”
And just like before, Rehua was on top of the greetings. “Hello, I am Rehua, and this is Baldric, Vaali and Tannhauser!”
“Pleasure to meet you Oran” Vina gave the kid a slight wave, chuckling a bit at how cute he was.
“Greetings” Tannhauser snarled, she would have to work with him on being more personable.
“Aren't you a little young to be thrown into fighting pits?” Baldric questioned.
“N-no” Oran shook his head, “I can like fight and stuff.”
“Do you fight with your Heart, like Vaali and Tannhauser?” Rehua asked innocently.
“Ah…no?” Oran seemed confused by the question “I fight with, like, magic and stuff!”
“Oh me too”
“Aw Sweet, dude”
“I to cast magic”
“I thought you said you fought with your Heart, Tannhauser?”
“I fight with my heart, my sword and a little magic”
“Woah, Radical.”
“Indeed”
Vina looked over her fellow cell mates with a grin. Her crew was really shaping up into something interesting, there was still a long way to go but she could probably whip them into something fearsome given enough time.
But as she looked over them she couldn't help but feel like she had seen them all before.