"We'll lead the charge to distract the guards and keep 'em busy," Keira declared, as shot a longing look at Captain Jennings.

"Indeed." Captain Jennings's eyes were just as longing as she drew her own sword and revolver, returned to her on Ventus's orders. "It's up to you four again. Save Carina and destroy the crystal. Then get back to the ship as fast as you can. We don't know how long it will last without the crystal heart."

"We'll do what we can." Ventus was solemn.

"Good luck, kid." Elizabeth looked over all of them and nodded a silent approval. "However all this goes, it was good to sail with all of you."

"The same could be said for yourselves." Ventus adjusted his jacket.

Jade threw all caution to the wind and embraced her mother. "Be safe!"

Captain Jennings laughed as she hugged her daughter back—such an unfamiliar sound, Elodie decided. It was far more girlish and carefree than she would have expected of the fearsome and respectable captain of the Albatross, privateer of the Albionese Royal Navy. She liked it, and the changes her mother was already exerting on Captain Jennings.

"Alright then." Keira turned to face the pirates of the Albatross and the Black-Sail Fleet alike. "We've got a crew, we've got a cause. We might not have any colors to hoist, but we'll hoist 'em all the same, at least in spirit. No empires!"

"No empires!"

With the roar of the creed of Libertalia and its fallen king, the pirates charged out the main entrance of the throne room, while Kas, Jade, Ventus, and Elodie crept through that side door through which Alcor and Carina had been taken.

"It's just the four of us again!" Jade cried as she swung her arms around Elodie and Kas's neck. "As it's supposed to be!"

"And soon it will be five again," Ventus added, staring straight ahead.

----------------------------------------

It didn't take them long to figure out where the Eldora siblings had been taken, just from watching where the guards fled from in the shadows. They came from around the entire block around an unassuming door not too far from the throne room. A panic-room, Elodie supposed.

Ventus took the lead, and with a powerful note threw open door with ease.

The panic-room was a small feature, with the occasional bit of grown-over furniture, and Alcor attempting to drag Carina to a second door revealed by a thrown-aside tapestry. Carina was straining and twisting as Alcor dug in his heels, the siblings wrestling for who was in control.

Carina's eyes lit up as they fell upon the party and she gasped, freezing Alcor in his tracks.

"Ventus! You came!" Carina broke free of his grasp, and ran to Ventus, embracing him.

Ventus, to his credit, embraced her back.

Alcor's eyes darted to the door, but Ventus beat him to the punch as he let go of Carina.

"The guards aren't there."

Alcor looked back to Ventus, his lips parting in confusion.

"Can't you hear the sound outside, Your Majesty?" Ventus tilted his head. "The gunfire, the screams? As we speak, the Black-Sail Fleet is united against the murderer of their leader."

Alcor's eyes widened.

Ventus continued. "From one newly-crowned king to another, you'd do well to listen to me."

"Why should I listen to another Pirate King?" Alcor's mint eyes glittered with a cruel glee at the taunt.

But Ventus did not rise to the bait.

"We've laid siege to your city, and I will avenge my father." Ventus paused. "Unless you decide to concede to my conditions."

Alcor narrowed his eyes. "State your terms."

"Carina goes with us." Ventus tilted his head, and Kas aimed his revolver for the Manoan king. "And you're going to take us to the crystal so we can destroy it."

Alcor crossed his arms over his chest. "Why exactly would I let you take my sister and lead you to the heart of Limuria just to destroy it?"

"Because you know just as I do that destroying the crystal is what's right."

"I can't just let you destroy the crystal, it will destroy the city and with it, our people's hopes." Alcor bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "An empire is a bloody business, Carina. Some sacrifices have to be made."

Carina curled her hands into fists at her side. "This won't bring what they want, and you know that!"

"Sister, I—" He started to walk away, although where to in this safe-room, Elodie was not sure.

"I can see it in your eyes, you want war as little as I do, you do not have to do what your elders say if you are king!" Carina's eyes flashed as she darted in front of her brother, preventing him from walking away.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"This is more than just my own ambitions, it is what our people have worked for, it is what our father wanted." Still, Alcor looked conflicted—torn.

"We are not the people we once were, Alcor." Carina spoke softly. "We have had to change to survive, we have made our own traditions, we have found our own way. And even bringing back this place with all of its ghosts will do nothing to bring back what once was, only something newly terrible. Please, this has to end with us."

Alcor said nothing.

"Please." Carina looked up at him, eyes pleading.

Alcor stared back with an admirably-matched intensity. Two forces of royal will, who was to win?

Alcor blinked. Then sighed.

"I'll show you the way."

----------------------------------------

"Here it is, we'll have to be quick." Alcor glanced over his shoulder, then opened the door.

They entered the chamber, dark as before, only iliuminated by the light of the crystal heart of Limuria.

"Well then, I suppose that's your cue." Kas looked to Elodie.

"And ours, I'd suppose."

From behind one of the pillars on the opposite end of the room emerged General Archenar and a small force of Manoan Royal Guards.

"Drop your weapons and desist this activity," General Archenar ordered.

Alcor stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Stand down, General. I've brought them here on official business."

The guards lowered their spears—but General Archenar did not cease his stern expression. "I think not, Your Highness. I see you have with you the pirates. Including the ones that were imprisoned by that other foolish pirate who declared himself a false king."

"It is my choice as a king and someday an emperor to decide who I ally myself with." Alcor glanced at Carina. "My sister found these companions of hers to make useful allies. I see no reason not to mistrust her judgement."

"Sire, your judgement is not to be trusted where she is concerned."

Alcor's expression darkened. "It is not your place to question your king, General. I wear the crown, I make the decisions."

General Archenar laughed, a curt and bitter thing. "If only it were so simply, Your Majesty. I'm afraid the rules have changed."

"You speak of treason." Alcor stiffened.

"No, no, I speak of preventing whatever foolishness is about to occur here." General Archenar took a few steps forward, his hands still behind his back. "This is not a decision for you, a boy-king, to make."

Alcor frowned, tilting his head to the side. "Whyever not?"

"I can't let you do this, Your Majesty," General Archenar sneered. "Not when so many wiser, greater heads than you and generations of our people have been waiting for this moment. Guards, subdue the King and his misplaced allies at once!"

"Elodie, go, we'll hold them off!" Ventus ordered as he drew his sword. "It has to be you!"

Kas then moved forward, snapping a flame into existence in the palm of his hand, and then growing it into an arc in front of the approaching soldiers. Jade and Ventus were back-to-back as he began to hum and a wind was born inside of the palace's central chamber. Carina and Alcor made a rush for General Archenar, the power of the crystals alight around their necks.

The path was clear.

Elodie charged through—only to slow her steps and find herself stopped before the heart.

Even now, knowing what she had to do, and having seen it before, she was still taken aback by the crystal's aura. It radiated power, it sang to her blood even though she held no birthright toward the crystal. She steeled herself—surely there was more to destroying such a power as the Crystal Heart.

She raised her blade to strike.

"Elodie, look out!"

Kas's shout came too late.

Elodie turned in time to be struck in the chest by the blue-green light of a spell cast by General Archenar and his crystal.

All went blue, then white as she hit the ground.

She could feel it corroding at her heart and her courage, the afterglow of a lightning's strike. It wouldn't be the end of her, no, for there was the abyss of the ocean in her heart as well, that had existed since before she was born. It would save her, it would consume the power of the crystal. She could lie there and wait it out, let the ocean's call purge that which the General had cursed her with.

But she couldn't lie there, could she?

No, she had one more job to complete.

Elodie scrambled to her feet, following the pull of the selkie blade. It had to be done. She could hear the shouts, the chaos, the gunpowder all around—but it was all so distant in the face of destiny.

"No!" General Archenar cried.

With each step, she launched herself forward, and she plunged the selkie-gifted blade into the crystal's core.

Everything went blue, then white, blinding all else as Elodie felt the sensation of free-fall. Something was inside of her, a sinister power, the destiny of destruction. It made her feel as weightless as the flight.

Then she slammed back into the stone of the palace floor as everything went black and the ground began to rumble.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" She wasn't sure who General Archenar was shouting at—her or Alcor or Carina. "You've ruined everything! Countless generations, wasted!"

"Oh, do shut up," Alcor snarled.

With a strangled cry and the swing of his blade, General Archenar spoke no more.

"Elodie!"

As she struggled to prop herself up, she saw Kas, Jade, and Ventus rushing in. Kas immediately dropped to his knees by her side.

"Can you walk?" He asked, his eyes darting frantically over her form.

"I don't know," Elodie admitted. The last of the struggle left her. She wanted to sink into the cold stone floor, at least for a while, to close her eyes.

She was so. . . tired.

Kas lightly patted her cheek—as close to a slap awake as he was willing to do. "Can't sleep here, I'm afraid."

"No, the palace is likely to collapse soon." Alcor's voice cut through the chaos. "Without the Crystal Heart to sustain it—it will return to the sea floor. With no chance of return this time."

"How long do we have?" Carina asked.

"Not long, I'm not sure." Alcor smiled, but there was something grim and resigned behind it.

Elodie recognized it as Carina did, as she reached for her brother's hand.

"Come with us, brother, you don't have to stay here," she pleaded. "You don't have to be a king or an emperor or anything at all—but you'll always be my brother."

"I haven't exactly been much of a brother to you," he pointed out.

"You never had the chance." Carina drew closer. "Please. I don't want you to die."

"But isn't the Captain supposed to go down with the ship?" There was a teasing lilt to his voice.

"The ship's already been drowned for a long time."

Alcor was quiet.

Kas took this opportunity to scoop Elodie up, cradling her in the same way a gentleman might carry a bride.

"My sword," she managed.

"I've got it." Ventus's voice was steady as always, like the rocking of the tide, like the gentle sea breeze. He turned to Carina. "Are you two coming or what?"

"I suppose so." Alcor looked to Carina. "I'll make sure you don't regret this."

"Good, because we will if we can't get out because you two spent so long bickering," Jade snarked. "Now come on!"

As they all began to run, Elodie drifted in and out of darkness. She didn't remember much at all of that last desperate escape from the lost city. Nor did she remember boarding the Golden Drake, although she heard Ventus and Jade barking out orders as well as both their father and her mother did.

The last thing she did remember before becoming unanchored to the dark riptide of sleep entirely was the final explosion, the burst of light and the sea-spray as Limuria plunged into the sea for the last time, forevermore.