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Chapter Text

 The Mysterious Tower

'It's been 2 years since Sora disappeared, and a week since Riku went after him, I've chosen to complete my training with Master Aqua when she returns from the Realm of Darkness. I hope she agrees to my request."

Kairi sighed as she closed her journal. She was getting restless already, the wait for Sora too much to bear. She stood up and walked out of the guest room Master Yen Sid had prepared, and climbed the stairs to his study. She knocked on the door. "Master Yen Sid? It's Kairi."

 "Come in please, I was about to send for you." She opened the door to the wise wizard, a calming smile on his face. "It is good to see you young Kairi, I assume you're here for information on Master Aqua?"

She bowed her head. "Yes, if that's alright with you."

Yen sid stroked his beard with a hum and a frown. "It is quite alright… but the Realm of Darkness is quite treacherous, and is disrupting my attempts to reach them with any form of communication." He folded his arms as Kairi clasped her hands together.

 "Are they okay?"

"I have no doubt that they will overcome the Realm of Darkness, their bonds, and their armor, will protect them, it is only a matter of time until we can tell them Sora has been found." He assured her, his confidence washing over herself. She smiled with a sigh of relief.

"That's good." She stood there for a little while, shuffling her feet.

"Hmmm, is there something else troubling you, young Kairi?" She held her hands in front of her skirt and grimaced.

"Is it that obvious?"

Yen Sid nodded slowly, a small smile gracing his lips. "Your manner of speaking, and the way you are carrying yourself, tells me all I need to know, I assume you grow tired of waiting around?"

 "Yes Master Yen Sid, It's been a week, and it doesn't feel right staying here while everyone is doing.. something , and I'm not, I don't want to feel like I'm dead weight…" she scuffed the carpet with her shoes, a frown growing steadily. 

"Ah, I see… yes, many a time keyblade wielders, when in a group, there is always one or two that feel they do not contribute to the cause." He explained, waving a hand and showing a few models, some with tight knit groups, but one always off to the side, or darkened, their head down as their friends raised theirs high. "But Kairi, as I have said many a time, and what the friends of those wielders have said, you should not base your worth on the achievements of others, or the lack thereof, you compare yourself to Sora and Riku, who, while having saved the world's with minimal training with the keyblade, are geniuses, they were forced to adapt to a dangerous situation before they were ready, as such, they grew quickly, in strength, and heart." He paused, taking a breath. 

"But you had slept after Destiny Islands' destruction, your heart taken from you." Kairi clenched her hands at that, tears threatening to grow on the corners of her eyes. "When Sora released your heart, and his, becoming heartless, you were the one to bring him back to the light." He waved his hand, the models replaced it with a scene of Kairi hugging Sora to protect him as a heartless and him appearing as his real self. 

 With another wave of his hand he showed her the time Kairi had gone to find Sora, up until she had been taken by Siax.

 "And when you had been kidnapped, broke out, and found Riku and Sora in the World That Never Was, the Heartless attacked Sora. And you had no way of knowing how to fight the heartless. Your duty is as a Princess of Heart, yet you took up the keyblade to fight for your friends, and to save them from darkness, even if it was at the cost of your own life. That is very admirable."

 Yen Sid closed his eyes with a smile. "You also guided Sora and Riku out of the Realm of Darkness."  He opened them again after a short pause. "Kairi, believe me when I say this."

 He clasped his hands together and leaned forward. "Your strength, though it may not be physical, is your heart, your light, and your mind. Do not dwell on your shortcomings and your inexperience of battle compared to your peers, even though they may weigh heavily on you, do not forget that." 

"But… how can I remember if all I've done is get in the way and… die ?" She whispered that last part, clenching her eyes shut as she grit her teeth. "I get kidnapped! Left to the sidelines, and all I've ever done was cause Sora to disappear." 

"Kairi-"

"No! You don't get it! Both times Sora's disappeared I've been the cause!" She held her hands to her chest. "I-!"

"Do you truly believe that young Kairi?" Yen Sid interrupted, a small frown on his face. "Have you such a small opinion of yourself that you ignore all the great things you've done?"

Kairi started. "I…" she began, before shaking her head, as if shaking the bad thoughts out of her head. "No, I shouldn't, Sora wouldn't want that, or Riku, and definitely not me, ugh, I'm sorry Master Yen Sid, that was… I shouldn't have done that."

"It is quite understandable, in your adolescence you are more prone to emotions despite your status. It will be difficult to control these emotions without proper guidance, and being cooped up here will only worsen them." The man then thought for a moment before making a suggestion. 

"How would you like a head start on more advanced training?"

Kairi tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"Do you know how to seal the keyholes of the worlds?"

Kairi showed a small grin and nodded. "Mhm, it was one of the things we learned under Merlin."

"Splendid, then I shall give you your first official assignment as a keyblade wielder." Yen Sid waved his hand and a map of the world's showed on the tabletop. "As Sora went from world to world to find and protect them, he was not able to seal the keyholes, aside from the Toy Box, which was a copy, and the original world is safe now." Yen Sid explained. "I ask of you to close these keyholes, and exterminate any heartless in your path, will you do this?"

Kairi stood straight and bowed her head. "Yes Master Yen Sid, it would be a pleasure."

"Wonderful, I will have Goofy and Donald Duck accompany you for the time being, until the Departure trio has come back."

"Huh!?" She exclaimed. "Aren't Donald and Goofy adventuring with the King?" 

"Yes." He confirmed. "But there has been no activity in Scala Ad Caelum in two years, he will be fine without his knight and magician for a short time."

"Ok, I'll get ready, thank you Master!" Kairi left the room quickly after a nod from Yen Sid, closing the door behind her and practically running down the stairs. Yen Sid smiled, enjoying the youthful cheer. He picked up his gummi phone and contacted Mickey. He stared at the ringing screen for a second before Mickeys face showed.

"Uh, who is- Oh! Hello Master Yen Sid!"

"Hello, your majesty, I have need of Goofy and Donald. I would like them to accompany Kairi on her assignment." Mickey's eyes widened in excitement.

"Oh gosh, is Kairi going on an adventure? How exciting!" The king cheered.

 Yen Sid smiled. "She is simply sealing the keyholes until Master Aqua arrives, then her adventure begins."

"Okay! I'll send them over, talk to you later Master!"

The call disconnected, and Yen Sid closed his eyes. He frowned when he felt an unwelcome presence. He hummed, rising from his chair and peering out the window just as the Gummi ship flew in. He left his room and made his way down where Kairi was waiting.

"Wait for a moment Kairi!"

Kairi looked back, then turned to face him. "What is it?"

"I would ask you to return after every keyhole you seal, and to be cautious, I've sensed an unfamiliar darkness, one that feels… ancient, almost, be on the lookout, and return here immediately if you find the source."

Kairi's lips flattened as she nodded. "Ok-"

"Don't you worry Master Yen Sid, we'll take great care of her! a-hyuk!" A voice brought their attention to the gummi ship. Goofy and Donald stepped out of the ship and stood behind Kairi as they greeted them both.

"Donald, Goofy, it is good to see you well, I'm glad you've accepted this task."

"Of course Master Yen Sid, we're honored to go adventuring with Kairi." Donald said. He tightened his fist and held it to his chest. "She'll have the time of her life!" 

"I hope so, although, from what I've heard from Sora, you didn't really contribute to his adventures…" she smiled teasingly and put her hands behind her back. 

Donald stared blankly at her, slowly slouching until the words caught up to him. "WH-, HEY! WHY I OUGHTA." After releasing an enraged prolonged quack, he started to chase Kairi around. 

"Hey Donald! I thought we were supposed to protect Kairi, not chase her!" Goofy warned, watching as the two ran in circles around the dog and Master wizard. 

Master Yen Sid watched in amusement. He cleared his throat after a minute and put a stop to the ongoing chase.

"You do have a mission, I would suggest boarding now so you may complete your tasks."

"Yes Master Yen Sid!" They said as they saluted. 

He hummed in acknowledgment, then sent them, again warning them about the danger of this mysterious threat. Kairi nodded and rushed inside the gummi ship with Donald and Goofy. The old wizard watched as the ship lifted off and warped out of the world. He turned around, scanning the vegetation for anything out of the ordinary. When he didn"t see anything, he walked back inside the tower and locked the door. In a puff of purple smoke a figure appeared and red eyes narrowed at the door. The figure kicked the grass and vanished. "Drats, I'll get her, just you wait and see."

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In the Gummi Ship, Goofy was at the helm as Donald went over the basics of the Gummi ship with Kairi. She was as attentive as she could be, some of the names and functions she couldn't wrap her head around, but it was nice to be learning about something other than fighting. "So Kairi, do ya know where you want to go first?" Kairi stared at the map for a few moments. She closed her eyes and put her hand over her heart.

She opened them and pointed to a world. "Let's go to the Kingdom of Corona." 

"A-hyuck! Alrighty then, fasten your seat belts everyone!" Goofy steered the ship and pushed the warp button. The sky was then transformed into a swirling mesh of blues and purples. Kairi clasped her hands together and watched in wonder. She looked up and then at Donald.

"Is there anything I should know about this place, any rules besides not breaking through the world border?" Kairi asked him.

"Order!" He squawked. "And no, just don't mention other worlds to the people."

"Okay, I understand." She gave Donald a thumbs up and went back to watching the outside. 

The Kingdom of Corona came into view moments later, a lush green world with a tall and crumbling tower. At least that's what the picture on the screen showed. Outside the window the world had purple and yellow tiles with a large castle, and on the bottom appeared to be spikes. Goofy scratched his head and made a noise. "Uhhh, that's weird, I don't remember it looking like that." He turned to the other two and asked. "Do ya think they're all right down there?"

Kairi stared down at the world with worry. "Only one way to find out right? Let's get down there." 

"Alright!" Goofy grabbed the joysticks and set course for a landing zone.

Chapter Text

Kingdom Of Corona

The smell of the leaves and grass hit Kairi as a gust of wind flew through the forest. She breathed in deeply as her eyes wandered around the clearing. "This is so beautiful… so calm and peaceful." She closed her eyes as the animals started to be active. This would be the perfect place to bring Sora. Her smile dropped as his memory surfaced, replaced with a determined press on her lips. She turned to her companions and asked. "Where should we start looking?"

Goofy hummed and rubbed his chin. Before he could think of anything Donald spoke.

"We should try the tower! The keyhole always shows up after we finish our adventures." He said matter-of-factly with a nod. Kairi smiled and asked them to lead the way.

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"It's just through here." Donald squawked when they came across a vine covered wall. Kairi looked up through the foliage trying to see a cliff or doorway. "Here? Do we climb up?" 

"Uh uh." Donald shook his head and walked to the vines. "We just simply step thr-WAH!?" A mysterious force pushed him onto his back. Kairi and Goofy summoned their weapons and took a stance, gauging the doorway before Kairi healed Donald and dematerialized Her weapon. "I thought you said "through here"?" She smiled and made finger quotes. 

"Aww, what's the big Idea!" Donald jumped up and pushed the vines aside, revealing hexagons connecting before they shined and a barrier disappeared. "Kairi, could you open this?"

"I could try." She stepped where Donald was, summoning her keyblade and lowering it until it was level with the barrier. She closed her eyes to concentrate as light gathered around the tip of her keyblade. 

Then it dispersed, and the barrier was still standing. Kairi lulled her head to the right, and dismissed her keyblade once more. She turned to the other two and shook her head. "Do you have any other ideas?"

"Guess we're going to the kingdom, let's go!" Goofy pointed earnestly in a direction, and started padding along the forest floor when they heard a shrill cry.

"SOMEBODY HELP US!"

The three jumped to action, racing through the forest to see a carriage and its people surrounded by what looked like thirty armored soldier heartless. The Soldiers bladed feet cutting at the grass as they danced around the carriage. The carriages' inhabitants numbered six, with five of the people looking like they were guarding it, golden armor with a sun emblem engraved, and a golden hat with a plume on top, red undershirts, white gloves, gray pants and black boots. The sixth was standing on top, waving a frying pan frantically while spinning in place. 

Kairi summoned her keyblade and cast thunder, destroying three of them and stunning five. She followed up with a teleporting strike that destroyed three more. The man on top of the carriage whipped his head around to see his saviors. "Hey, sidekicks!... and a plus one, where is- nevermind, we need these things gone!"

The Heartless were now made known that a keyblade wielder had arrived. They broke off from their standoff with the local lights and targeted the far brighter one. Two jumped while spinning their blades. Kairi backed off and let them hit the ground. When they stuck into the ground she dispatched them with a single strike. She teleported into the middle of a group of seven and spun her keyblade around, catching them all and destroying a majority while knocking the rest further back. 

The guards started fighting as soon as Kairi destroyed the group, their confidence increased now that the strange monsters were outmatched. The man on top of the carriage cheered them on. He jumped when a heartless landed next to him trying to get to the girl. He smacked it in the back of it's head and into the sword of one of the guardsmen. 

It was a short fight after that, the heartless had been destroyed and their hearts returned to where they came from. Kairi relaxed and held her keyblade at her side. "Is everyone alright?" She asked and cast a quick cure spell. 

The men all nodded, stretching their limbs and sheathing their weapons. The man on the carriage got down and greeted them.

"Donald! Goofy! How are you guys doing? I haven't seen you guys in a while, who's the new girl?"

"I'm Kairi, a friend of Sora's, nice to meet you." She held out her hand and the man shook it.

"Well *I*." He emphasized. "Am Flynn Rider, nice to be of acquaintance. These fine men here are, Terry," he pointed to one with curly blonde hair. "Barnaby," a man with a trimmed beard waved at them. "Jared," a nervous nod from a younger man. "Alder," 

"Hello." A deep and muffled voice from somewhere beneath the thick beard he wore.

"And this is Daren." A man with a scar across his cheek looked at them. "Hmph." He simply scoffed and turned away. 

Flynn smiled apologetically and shrugged. He turned to the man and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey now, don't be like that," he turned back. "Thank you all for saving us from almost certain doom. When we get back to the castle I'll make sure to reward you handsomely." He offered.

Kairi waved her hand and shook her head. "You don't have to do that, we just wanted to help, but did you say the castle?"

"Yeah, we'd offer a ride, but our horses were cut loose by those monsters." Terry gestured to the hoofprints sporadically left from the horse's frightened stampede. Flynn grabbed onto his shoulder and patted it.

"Oh relaaaax, I've got just the thing." He formed an O with his fingers and brought them to his mouth. He released a shrill whistle and stood tall with his hands on his hips. He faltered when whatever he was waiting for didn't show up, until large and rapid clops were heard. Flynn smiled again when a large white horse jumped over a bush and came to a stop in front of the group. "Maximus! We got to work on your timing buddy, but it's great to see you!" He jumped onto the horse's back and gave it a quick pat on its neck. "We'll tie Maximus to the coach and be on our way." 

 "Ok." Kairi nodded. She climbed up the roof and hung on to the railing, Donald and Goofy sitting right next to and across from her respectfully. Flynn frowned and asked.

"You guys gonna be alright sitting up there? It'll be a bumpy ride!" 

"We'll be fine, thank you!" 

Flynn snapped the reins after the guardsmen climbed inside and Maximus kicked up dirt as he galloped across the clearing and onto a road. The coach jumped as they changed terrain, and Kairi laughed as she bounced around. 

"Gawrsh." A bump had Goofy in the air for a second. "He wasn't kidding when he said it was bumpy-" another bump. "a-hyuck!" He gripped the railings tightly. 

Flynn bounced in his seat with every bump until gnomes with bows and arrows appeared around the road. "Woah! Maximus, hold here, hey guys? more heartless in front of us!" Kairi reacted quickly, leaping off the carriage and summoning her keyblade. Donald and Goofy were quick to follow suit. The guards filed out of the coach to fight but Kairi held up her hand.

"Don't worry everyone, you stay there, we'll handle these guys." She crouched and held her keyblade at her side. "Ready Donald and Goofy?"

“Mhm!” 

"Yeah!"

"Here we go!" Kairi threw her keyblade and teleported to the middle of the heartless and cast a thunder when she appeared in the middle. She cast a barrier when an arrow flew towards her. It hit and she unleashed a devastating counter attack, a small group going up in dark smoke. Slashing upwards catches a descending shadow allowing her to spin her keyblade wide and destroy the heartless surrounding her. 

Donald and Goofy had fought their own targets, dealing with them quickly and moving on to assist Kairi. 

More heartless spawned, bringing with them a couple of Large Bodies and Parasol Beauties.

Kairi took a step back to the carriage, eyeing the newcomers warily. "More…?" She pulled her lips to a thin line as her brows furrowed, annoyed at the persistence heartless always seemed to have. Kairi twirled her keyblade around herself while fire flared at the tip. She stopped and thrust it forward as the fire wrapped around itself and formed a huge ball that crackled and popped. It shot out like a bullet, swallowing the heartless that hadn't moved. 

Two large bodies had targeted her, sliding on their stomachs only to be frozen by Donald's blizzaga. Goofy hit them up so Kairi could smack them back down to destroy them. Donald destroyed the remaining heartless with a well placed thundaza, clearing the area. After a few moments of waiting, their weapons disappeared and they climbed back onto the carriage. 

Kairi broke the silence by tapping the roof. "Is everyone alright down there?" 

Flynn's head popped up with a sharp nod. "We're great, none of those heartless even made it close."

"That's good to hear, how long until we're at the castle?" 

With a grunt Flynn hopped into the driver's seat and snapped the reins. "Not too long, should only be a few hours at most." He estimated. "Are you sure you don't want to be inside the carriage? It's a lot more comfortable than up there."

"Don't worry, we're fine up here."

"If you say so." Flynn turned his attention to the road as peaceful silence covered the carriage. Kairi stared at the sky as wispy clouds hung overhead. She frowned as Sora crossed her mind, and the clouds formed into the picture she had carved into the rock on Destiny Islands. Those two years she was asleep, she so desperately wanted to be woken up early to see Sora smiling at her with that dorky grin of his and say "who's the lazy bum now?" She was feeling that uselessness again, those self deprecating thoughts crossing her mind. She shook her head and stared at the nearby trees.

 The rays of sunshine slowly gave way to moonlight as it turned dark, the lanterns on the carriage and the stars the only light available. The carriage stopped as Flynn let out a heavy sigh. “Sorry everyone, we'll have to wait for morning to go on, those heartless sure are troublesome …” He muttered under his breath. Kairi smiled to herself. He had no idea. The guards quickly made a fire that everyone gathered around, its warmth enveloping the party and its light casting an ember glow around the forest. 

As the world's inhabitants fell asleep one after the other, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy stayed up to watch, conversing amongst themselves quietly while they kept watch. 

"How much do ya think the Heartless messed up?" Goofy asked. Donald shrugged, cleaning his staff in the meantime. 

Kairi stared at the fire, then addressed Goofy.  "It doesn't look like they've damaged much, Flynn mentioned that they're troublesome, but other than that they don't seem too concerned."

"We'll have to ask them in the morning then, Goofy, Donald, you should sleep, I'll wake one of you up when it's your turn."

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  As the night continued on, clouds had covered the sky, leaving the forest darker than before. Kairi was writing in her Journal, slowly gliding her pencil across the pages to not wake up the guards and Flynn.

~When we arrived in the Kingdom of Corona, Donald and Goofy suggested we look for the keyhole in a Tower, where they say they finished their adventure. Surprisingly, the area leading to it was blocked off by a strange barrier. It wasn't long after that we heard cries for help and saw some of the world's people being attacked by Heartless. I met Flynn for the first time, along with Terry, Barnaby, Jared, Alder, and Daren. We got into a few fights, but now we're heading to the castle, we want to-~

A twig snapping alerted Kairi to something around them. She stood up immediately and summoned her keyblade, which woke up everyone around the slowly dying fire. "Who's there? We're trying to sleep…" Flynn rubbed his eyes and then peered into the trees, eyes narrowed. He jumped when something darker than the shadows on the tree flee past. "Uh, you know what, how about we just brave the dark, yeah? Everyone on the carriage, Maximus!"

"Kairi, Donald, Goofy, come with us!" Terry motioned with a wave of his arm. The trio jumped onto the top while four of the guardsmen sat in the cabin, weapons drawn and ready to defend. Barnaby sat next to Flynn. "Hyah!" Flynn snapped the reins, signaling to Maximus that he was good to go. The horse raced across the forest using his intuition to navigate the rooted and bumpy terrain. 

"Here, I'll help!" Kairi yelled over the cracking and creaking of the wood. A ball of light appeared at the end of her keyblade, illuminating the forest around them. With the new light source, Maximus doubled his speed and his efforts to escape their pursuers, bounding over rocks, holes and tree roots. 

"Terry, right there, on your right!"

"Daren, it's coming up, knock it away!"

"Woah! Too close!"

The night was filled with yells and the sounds of metal striking unknown material. The shadow of their assailant was all they could see as it slashed and sliced at them. Once it got close enough to Kairi's light, they could make out a red claw, and then it was gone again. Suddenly all they could hear was the wind gently shaking the leaves. 

Then came the laughter. The childish, distorted, mocking laughter , it echoed throughout the forest, and it got louder, and louder, and louder .

The passengers of the carriage all covered their ears. The laughter created buzzing in their ears, as though it was trying to say something.

"Aghhhhh! Make it stop! Maximus get us out of here!" Daren yelled as he knelt down, eyes shut tight as he rocked himself back and forth. 

Alder was simply frozen, hands clenched over his legs.

Terry and Barnaby tried to keep their eyes open as one hand clutched their ear while the other clutched their sword. Jared had his teeth bared as he yelled at the unseen monster. Donald was laying on the roof with his hat over his head as he yelled back. Goofy was taking it better than the rest, but Kairi could see the strain on his brow and the way his grip on his shield slacked. She herself was having trouble focusing, and the light of her keyblade was dimming. 

Maximus was starting to stumble, Kairi knew they had to keep going. She stumbled to her feet and held her keyblade high. She yelled. "LIGHT!" The ball of light came back brighter, covering all the places they could see. The creature shrieked as the light appeared. They heard a loud thud and the cracking of wood, and then there was no more sound. Maximus was able to steady himself and they continued on. "What, was that!?" Flynn turned to face the off worlders. His hair was messy and the look in his eyes was haunted. 

"I don't know, I haven't fought any Heartless like that before…" Kairi trailed off and sat down, the light dimming a tiny amount. "Owww… I've never used such an intense spell before." She handed her keyblade to Barnaby to keep the light stable so she could rub her forehead. "It felt so, dark, and , familier, but I don't know why…" 

She took a deep breath and grabbed her keyblade, thanking Barnaby and brightening the light ball. The road smoothed out after an hour of riding. A few hours later they could see the tinge of pink rising over the tree line. "Just a little longer everyone! Then we can put that monster behind us." 

Kairi let the light disappear along with her keyblade, kneeling on the roof while Donald and Goofy layed down. They listened to the wind rustling the leaves, humming a calm song in time with the gravel being trod upon. "So, Flynn, what's the castle like? Is it pretty?"

"Oh it's beautiful! You'll love it, the lake around the castle is gorgeous, a little bit less after a certain event but you know, bygones are bygones and all that, haha!" It grew quiet after the awkward laugh, most of the guards scratched their necks or patted their legs.

"Uhuh…."

 Kairi decides she doesn't want to continue the conversation. 

She took in the sounds of the forest with her eyes closed instead. The crunch of the leaves under the wheels and the birds chirping helped her relax.

'Wait a minute' . Kairi opened her eyes and looked over the edge. A dirt road was definitely there, but all the leaves were in the forest… and the crunching was getting faster. Her eyes widened when she realized what was happening. She tapped Flynn on the shoulder quickly.

"Flynn, go faster, that thing is coming back!" She yelled. She scanned the tree like, and saw a glimpse of yellow eyes in the darkness.

"Maximus, hyah!" He snapped the reins and Maximus took off. Kairi had to hold on to the railing to avoid falling off. Donald and Goofy summoned their weapons and scanned the trees, hoping to catch the heartless in the act. The carriage swerved when the heartless slammed into it's side. Maximus saved it from spilling over the road by throwing his body in the opposite way it was tipping. The carriage drifted as they rounded a corner and an opening could be seen a mile away. Kairi knelt down to get a better sense of stability, one hand gripping the rail of the carriage while the other held her keyblade tightly. The heartless slammed into the carriage again, jostling the guards inside. Maximus huffed with contempt after resetting the cart, the heartless missing the carriage and slamming into a tree after Maximus started galloping faster, digging into the dirt and kicking up dust, desperately trying to escape the monster.

'I need to do something, fast!' Kairi grit her teeth and prepared her keyblade. She had a spell on the tip of her tongue while she listened to the crushing of grass. 'Come on, show yourself.' Kairi started sweating as the crashing seemed to echo around the forest. With one final crash she feels something slam into her back. She stumbles off the carriage, all the inhabitants shouting her name. 

She hit the ground with a roll to throw off the heartless clinging to her outfit. Donald and Goofy jumped down and rushed to her front in a defensive position. Donald cast a cura to help her recover. "You ok Kairi?" 

"Yeah, thanks." She turned to see Flynn stopping and immediately shouted at them. "DON'T STOP, JUST KEEP GOING, WE'LL MEET YOU AT THE CASTLE!"

Flynn looked back, debating whether he should leave or not. His decision was made for him when multiple armored knight heartless appeared. He grit his teeth and snapped the reins, spurring Maximus into action, who left dust behind in their haste. "STAY SAFE YOU THREE! I'LL BE BACK AS SOON AS I CAN!"

Kairi turned back to the strange heartless, getting a better look at her assailant. As tall as her waist, skin as dark as a shadow, wearing a hat with two antennae like extensions and two spiral eye patterns. It wore gloves covering its hands, with wicked red claws that looked like they tore through the finger holes. It wore black pants with a vertical striped pattern held by a simple belt on its waist. Black shoes with red string crossed over each other. Jagged red lines crossed its wrists and crossed in an "x" on its chest. Small black wings unfurled from its back as it smiled wide, revealing a jagged mouth.

Kairi looked on uncomfortably as it opened its mouth and gargled a poor attempt at a sentence.

"Lugs! Lu- ux! Lx!" It ended its sentence with a raspy laugh and a flex of its claws. " Princess, give me your LUX!"  

 The trio yelped as the heartless flew at them with its claws unfurled. Kairi brought up her Keyblade and clashed with the Heartless' claws. "What- what are you!?" Kairi grit her teeth and pushed it away, quickly followed by Donald burning it with a Fira, he then turned his attention to the armored knights with Goofy. Backing off with a shriek, it flapped its wings to kill the fire. "HeHe, GuVe, GiVee!" 

Kairi slid to the right to avoid its vertical spin, then threw her keyblade connecting once, then twice as it flew back to her. She followed up with multiple slashes to its body, then flung it upward with a vertical strike. 

The Heartless steadied itself with its wings, cackling its distorted laugh. A dark fireball formed in its hands, it threw it into the air where it split into multiple fires and flew wildly towards Kairi. Her barrier blocked most of the fire while the rest passed her, crashing down into the dirt and the nearby trees. She conjured a barrier to block a stab from the claws, then raised her keyblade and shattered it, sending the heartless away. 

"Kairi, behind you!" She ducked under a sword swipe, then turned around and slammed the teeth of her keyblade to destroy the Armoured knight. She heard the rasp of the strange heartless and locked her weapon with its claws. "Why fight!" The Heartless got right in her face, its jaw practically unhinged as it spat at her in broken tongue. "Hahahahahhhhh."

Kairi staggered back when It flipped off of her but quickly planted her feet. She glared at the heartless and raised her keyblade defensively. 

'This thing is so annoying! Why is it so springy!?'

She lifted her keyblade up and flashed a light spell. The heartless screeched in pain as it covered its eyes, allowing Kairi to close the distance and perform two diagonal slashes to its body, and then one final horizontal slash to its face. It was flung backwards and landed on its back with a garbled groan. Kairi looked back briefly to see Donald and Goofy destroy the last of the armoured knights. They quickly ran in front of her and brandished their weapons.

Goofy stared at the heartless with narrow eyes as it layed there. "Did ya beat it?" 

"I..I think so…" Kairi kept her keyblade ready as she crept towards the fallen heartless. She pressed her keyblade into its side. It giggled and bent away from Kairi's prodding. 

"You-! Hahahaha! Better than I thought! Amazing, hahahaha!" It got up slowly, and kept its hands to its sides, but didn't seem to want to attack anymore. "Your light is too much, too much! Can't take, explode! Hehehehehehee!" 

The Heartless shuddered, and Kairi was starting to get creeped out. It calmed down, then stared at Kairi for a moment. It hummed, seeming more intelligent than before. "Nice fight Princess, very nice fight, shame It didn't win…"

Kairi raised an eyebrow. ""It"? What do you mean? Are you talking through it?"

"Duh!" The voice yelled, although the heartless made no movements. "I have to. I don't really want to show myself to you, of all people." The voice spat. Kairi glared down at the heartless. "Sorry to disappoint you."

"Ha! As- er, nevermind, just know, I'm not done with you, watch your back pinky." The voice quieted, and the strange heartless twitch. 

"Ge, ha, bye bye!" It spun around, dark energy swirling around it. 

"Hey, wait!" Kairi threw her keyblade at the heartless, but it had vanished before the hit could connect. She dismissed her keyblade and stared at where the heartless was. She turned to Donald and Goofy while gesturing to the empty space..

"Have… you guys seen anything like that on your journeys with Sora, or King Mickey?"

They both shook their heads. Kairi slowly nodded, then put her hands on her hips as she thought to herself. 'What did they mean by "me of all people"? The only enemies I could have would be Maleficent, so who…?"

Kairi hummed and started walking. "Let's get to the castle, we just have to follow this road right?"

"Looks like it, are you OK Kairi?" Donald put a hand on hers and frowned. She nodded, smiling brightly. "Yeah, I'm OK, thank you Donald, Goofy, let's get-" Kairi frowned as she smelled something-"Do you guys smell something," Kairi paused when she turned around to see the trees in flames. "Fire! Help me put it out!"

The three guardians quickly jumped to putting the fire out, Donald and Kairi casting water spells while Goofy used his shield to shovel up dirt, creating a fire line to isolate the flames. As the flames grew, Kairi wracked her brain for an idea. "Goofy, boost me up!"

Goofy crouched down with his shield over his head. Kairi took a running start, jumped onto Goofy's shield, then the Knight leapt to push Kairi up. She jumped off the shield right as Donald cast a waterza spell. He flung it over to Kairi, who cast her own water spell. 

The water collided, and Kairi filled herself with light, she twirled around with the water bubble and then lifted it over her head. She adjusted her keyblade and spun it around, creating a sprinkler filled with large drops of water. The drops splashed as they hit the ground, covering the flames and dousing them before they could do more damage. Kairi cut the water a few times before gliding back down and landing on her knees. Goofy helped her to her feet.

Kairi chuckled and scratched her head. "Ok, now we can go to the castle." 

________________

???

The world's are connecting once again…

Indeed, we must gather together

We are scattered, we two remain active

Then we collect ourselves, we cannot be destroyed.

Hmmm, but we can be sealed, five of us have already been. We can only assume the rest have aswell

Why haven't we been released? "Light expires, and Darkness reigns"? It is our obligation

Impossible, that foolish boy has re-written time, without the old fool, that which should happen, did not, instead, the world's are strengthened, We must contemplate…

…

…we will speak at a later date, continue the search

We shall find ourselves quickly

Then we will destroy the Realm of Light

_______________________

"What should we call it?" The scratching of a pen on paper filled the silence until Kairi spoke.

"What?" Donald stopped and looked at Kairi.

"The Heartless, what should we call it? It looks new." Kairi put her notebook away and pulled out her gummi phone. "See? No info on it at all, not even a picture." Indeed, there was no picture. This strange heartless seemed to just show up out of nowhere, and it seemed Kairi was its target. She put her gummi phone away and went back to sketching. Goofy peaked over her shoulder and scratched his head.

"Hmmm. Maybe we could call it, uh, Winged Jester? It kinda looks like the court jesters Mickey used to have. Just, more sharp claws…" 

Donald shook his head and caught the attention of his companions with a sigh and a point of his wing. "Why should we call it anything? It's a heartless."

Kairi stared at him and scratched the back of her head. "I know that, but it makes it easier to identify, right? Like, I say, "there's a shadow", you know there's a shadow. I just think it would be good to know" 

"Ah." Donald understood, then hummed as he put a wing under his bill. "Then… how about, Usurper."

"A Souper?" Goofy echoed back a bit confused. Donald shook his head and said again. 

"Usurper!"

"You supper? Are you hungry Donald?" Kairi stifled her laughter as Donald yelled at Goofy, jumping up and staying in the air by what appeared to be pure anger until he dropped down and said it's individual syllables.

"U-sur-per! Usurper! Because it went after Kairi!" Goofy understood and quickly apologized.

"Oh, sorry Donald, it's just a little bit hard to understand you sometimes, ahyuck." 

The duck shook his head and muttered angrily. The trio continued on their way. It was a pleasant walk, calming, and peaceful while the trees swayed with the wind. Kairi watched the animals around her scurry about, the chirps and chitters of the birds and squirrels coming from the trees as if the woods was itself a flute. It was good to know that the Heartless hadn't done too much damage to this world. Kairi set her mind on the keyhole. The Heartless won't destroy anything else here, not if she had anything to say about it. 

_______________________

???

Sometimes, things don't exactly go to plan, but when they do, and the pieces start lining up, perfect for the taking, you feel at ease, like your mind is empty of everything, and it's all been made for you, even for just a moment. The hooded man scoffed and shook his head, his thoughts racing around as he looked down upon the concrete city, towards a specific building in the distance. That ordinary, extraordinary boy had arrived three days ago, and was sleeping the entire time. He watched as the boy's caretaker, an orange haired girl, would make food, then put it next to the sleeper and wait to see if he woke up. 

An hour passed, the hooded man saw the girl hang her head and take the food away, no doubt spoiled. The man sighed. And then there were the times when your plans were disrupted by something simple, something so trivial, that you might as well have not been disrupted at all. In those moments, those moments were irritating, so unbelievably horrible, that someone might consider stopping their plans right there, since it was disrupted so easily. But not him, he knows when the trees will bear fruit, when the snow will melt away and new life will spring forth. The hooded man smiled, turning his back to the apartment and disappearing from sight. 

Everything. Goes according to plan, a man with a lesser heart would give up not even a quarter of the way through, but not him, he has the foresight, the strength, the knowledge, to do what he's able to do, no one… is able to do the things he's done, what he's had others do for him. He will bring his vision to life, and no one will be able to stop him. This is his story, everything he's sacrificed, everything he's planned, has come to this. It will only take a little bit more time. 

The man stared at the moon that had settled in the sky, and formed a heart with his fingers as he beheld it. He only hoped it would come sooner.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2:

Kingdom of Corona

~On our Journey in Corona, we were traveling with the Guards and Flynn to the Castle. We stopped to rest when we were attacked by a strange new heartless that we called, “Usurper”. It wanted my light, but referred to it as “Lux”. The Usurper spoke to me after I beat it, but we soon found out it was being used by someone else to speak through it. The one talking through the heartless told me to watch my back, but I still don’t know who it could be or why they seem to be against me. On a lighter note, Donald, Goofy and I are on our way to the Castle, where we’ll ask Rapunzel about the Keyhole, and hopefully make some new friends.~

"Look, there's the castle!" 

Kairi looked up from her notebook as she heard Donald exclaim. She saw a lake in front of them, and in the middle of that lake sat a large city, beautiful buildings with a magnificent castle overlooking the entire city. Kairi smiled, finally, they were here! She looked at the surroundings for a moment before calling for the duo's attention. She pointed left and right. "Which way is faster?"  

Goofy and Donald looked both ways before they both pointed left, so left they went. On the way, they discussed the strange heartless.

Goofy scratched his chin before asking. "Do ya think that's what Master Yen Sid was talking about? That, uh, ancient darkness? Should we head back to the gummi ship?" 

Kairi shook her head. "I don't think so, the heartless had more darkness than, say, shadows and large bodies, but I couldn't feel anything special from it, well, except for the tiniest amount of light…" She frowned as she recalled. 

Donald's eyes widened as his mouth hung open. "What!? A heartless with light!? That shouldn't be possible!" 

"I know." Kairi held her hands out to her side. Her brows furrowed as she took on a thoughtful face. "Which caught me off guard at first, I thought it was just me feeling an animal behind it, I didn't realize until both it and the feeling disappeared that it had come from the heartless." Kairi scratched her cheek nervously. "We should tell Master Yen Sid after we're done here."

"Yeah!"

"Mhm."

With that situation sorted, Kairi focused on the path in front of her, slowly fading into brick and concrete. Kairi's smile widened as she took in the sight of the city. "Wow…" 

The castle looked exactly like the world from outside, and the town around it felt lively. As they approached the entrance, they were greeted by two guards who waved to Donald and Goofy, then let them in. Kairi took in the hustle and bustle of the town. With stalls lining the street and standing outside of what Kairi assumed to be the town square. She walked up to a mural and pointed to the picture, the blonde baby in particular, and asked. "Is that Rapunzel?"

Goofy answered her with a nod of his head. "Yeup, she doesn't have her long blonde hair anymore though." Donald made a noise in agreement, and then whispered.

"Flynn had to cut her hair so Mother Gothel wouldn't be able to use it for herself or as a bargaining chip."  

"Oh." Kairi blinked. She had heard a summarized version from Sora during their trip, but he hadn't exactly told her in much detail, being more focused on reviving Namine and reuniting Chirithy with Ven. 

She followed Goofy and Donald as they led her towards the castle, where they were stopped by two guardsmen. The man on the right spoke. "Excuse us, you three, do you have any appointments here at this time? If not we can set an appointment if you wish to see the King, queen, and, or the princess."  

Kairi and her companions looked at each other with shakes of their heads. "No, we don't, uh… how long would it take us to meet with the princess if we set an appointment?"

The guardsman scratched his head as he mumbled a schedule to himself.  "At Least a month with all the requests we have…" He finally answered. Kairi pressed her lips together as her companions hung their heads.

Goofy looked back up and held up a hand. "Is there any way we could meet'em sooner?" 

“Afraid not, the royal family is very busy, if you’d like to find an inn you could always wait until someone calls off their appointment and a new space opens up.” The guard offered. Kairi asked them to wait and pulled her companions to the side. 

"Do we have that kind of time?" Donald started. "We have other keyholes to seal. Maybe we should leave for a short time and come back?"

Kairi shook her head . "We can't do that! That Usurper is still around, what if it attacks while we're gone?" 

"If it's after you, then it will follow, we can just leave for a little while."

"But what if it goes after Rapunzel?! The thing said something about my light, Rapunzel will be in danger!"

Goofy stood by as the two argued, taking the opportunity to look at the surroundings. He stared at the docks from where they were standing. As he stared, he noticed something slipping between the various crates and barrels. It was too far away to see what was on the docks, but he could tell it was as big as a person. It disappeared moments after, and he narrowed his eyes. He turned to Kairi and Donald to see them still debating. "Uh, Donald, Kairi? I think I saw something suspicious at the docks, I think we should go check it out."

Kairi and Donald stopped their argument immediately, with the two walking over and leaning against the wall to get a view of the docks. She didn't see anything that looked out of the ordinary, but trusted Goofy's judgment. 

They said farewell to the guards at the gate and made their way down, dodging and weaving through the crowds until they arrived to see a group of guards searching around the area. Looking to where most of them were grouped, she could see a crate broken open. They managed to find a space open at the front of the crowd that was slowly growing larger and louder. 

"What do you think happened?"

"What was in that crate?"

"Is everything ok?"

"I can't believe someone would do something like this."

"How dreadful."

Kairi listened as the townspeople murmured to each other. From the look of the crate, and the wood scattered around it- wait, around? Kairi squinted her eyes at the various pieces of wood and cane to a conclusion. With a look at Donald and Goofy, their eyes told her that they were thinking the same thing. She leaned down and whispered. "Let's go somewhere quieter." They both nodded silently and went through the crowd to a secluded alley.

"Kairi." Donald started. "Do you think it could be a heartless?"

"Maybe, but it could also just be an animal." Kairi held her hands in front of her and spoke. "Though, to be able to break through the crate is a bit more like a heartless…"

Goofy scratched his head. "Hmmm… what if someone was trying to get a heartless inside so it could attack the kingdom? I saw what looked like a person sneaking around the docks."

"That'd make sense, but how would someone get one in a crate? They aren't known for staying in one place for just anyone, and organization XIII is gone."

"Maleficent?" Donald suggested. Kairi and Goofy nodded slowly. Maleficent was a good choice; she had controlled them while Kairi was sleeping along with the other Princesses of Heart. 'But still…' Kairi thought apprehensively. 'Maleficent hasn't been active the entire time I've been asleep looking for Sora. Hmmm.' Kairi peeks around the corner of the alley and sees the crowd thinning out. "Let's go see if we can help out."

The crowd had all but disappeared when they returned, with the guards picking up the scattered wood and moving the crate on to a cart. Kairi walked up to the man who looked to be in charge and tapped his shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, but- wait, a walking, talking dog and duck, both wearing clothes..." The man started murmuring. "Ah! You two must be the one's Flynn and Rapunzel have talked about," he turns to Kairi. "I don't remember them describing you though, only a spiky haired kid who seems a bit too happy."

Kairi furrowed her brows and pursed her lips but didn't comment. "My name is Kairi, I'm a friend of that boy, his name is Sora."

"Ah? I see, well, I don't want to sound desperate, but we need more hands for these monsters, can you help us out?"

"Yes sir!" Goofy saluted him. "Those monsters that have popped up everywhere are from our, uh, Islands! We're trying to get rid of'em for good."

The guardsman nodded. "Alright, that's good, I'm the Captain of the guard, with my men busy dealing with the aftermath, I'll want you three to scour the kingdom and find whatever broke out, I'm not sure if this is a plan of another kingdom, or those monsters have just learned how to smuggle, but.." he thinks for a moment, but shakes his head and gives them a wooden rectangle with the Corona's symbol on it. "I'll give you a pass for access to the castle. I have a dropbox near my office for if anyone finds anything, good luck you three." He turns away and begins investigating the docks. 

Kairi stores the pass in her pocket. "So, where should we start? This is a big place."

Donald gestured to the way they came. "We should try the main square! It's nearby, so someone had to have seen something." 

Kairi nods in agreement, and after making their way over to the square, they split up to cover more ground. 

It was a busy day as the three soon found out. Many people crowded inside the square, buying food, toys, and other supplies as they went about their day. Most of these people she recognized from the crowd. She took a breath and walked to the nearest person, a man wearing fancy clothes, a big and curly mustache, and tall brown hair, muttering about paintings.

"Excuse me sir, but I wanted to ask you a question?"

"Hm?" The man stopped his muttering and looked at Kairi with barely hidden disdain. "Fine, but make it quick, I have an appointment with the princess today." He spoke with a French accent.

Kairi stared for a second. 'Rude…' "I was wondering if you had seen anything break out of the crate by the docks, you know those monsters that have shown up around the forest, right?"

The man nods, pulling on his collar and sweating as he recalls meeting some on the road.

"Those monsters come from my Islands, my friends and I think someone might be trying to release one inside the city. If you can tell me anything that would be great."

The man's eyes widened in shock as he clutched at his chest.

"Released into the city!? Un, uh, let me see, I recall having heard something break, and when I turned around to look, I saw a black blur, I had simply thought of it as a trick of the light, but now I'm not so sure…" The man trailed off, and Kairi smiled while writing in her notebook. 

"Thank you, I'll make sure to tell the guards, have a nice day sir."

"You too madame."

They parted ways, and Kairi continued her investigation. It seemed most people that were at the docks when the breakout occurred had seen a black blur after hearing the crate break. Donald and Goofy confirmed this after they reunited.

"So it's most definitely a heartless, but now we have to find out how it got into that crate."

Donald held up a finger. "I had some people say they might have seen someone in a white cloak peeking from cover when the break happened." 

Kairi wrote in her note book. "Anything to add, Goofy?" 

"Hmmmm." Goofy rubbed his chin. "You know, I had someone tell me they saw a tall man in a white robe and weird mask wandering into the forest shortly after the crate broke, but I'm not sure it could be used as evidence cause the person wasn't sure herself."

Kairi nodded and put her notebook away. "That's an idea at least.” She turned toward the castle. “Let's go.” 

They got to the castle gates quickly and were let in after Kairi showed the guards her pass. The first thing they heard when they entered the castle was arguing, between Flynn and a female voice.

“Is that Rapunzel?” Kairi asked the two.

Goofy shook his head. “Nope! I don't recognize that voice.”

They heard more of the argument as they got closer.

“And why can't we go back out! It's only me and two other guys! We'll be out and in! Easy, quick! I swear!”

“The captain made it very clear, no one goes outside with all those monsters out there, besides, from what you've told me they can handle themselves.” The woman reasoned, her calm and slightly annoyed voice clashing with Flynns panic.

“But I said I'd come back for them! What kind of person would I be if I didn’t!”

“Look, you need to stay here for Rapunzel, she's getting her painting today, so she'll need her favorite person in the world there supporting her!”

“But-”

Kairi and her companions listened in before making themselves known.

“Hey Flynn, you don't need to worry about us; we made it just fine.”

Flynn waved his hand in a shoo motion as he stuck his attention on the black haired woman wearing a bright blue dress he was arguing with. 

“Not now Kairi, I'm trying to figure out how to get the captain to let me look for Kairi, Donald, and Goofy.”

The three in question stood for a moment with their hands on their hips, face, or pockets as Flynn continued their argument, the woman looked less than unamused at Flynn, then looked apologetically at the newcomers. 

As Flynn spoke, he suddenly froze, and slowly turned to look at the gang, who smiled and waved. He bent his knees and stretched his arms out as he smiled widely.

“Kairi, Donald, Goofy! You're ok!” 

“It was difficult, but yeah, we're fine, thanks for worrying about us.” Kairi said graciously. She turned to the woman in the dress and introduced herself. “You probably know me already, but I'm Kairi, this is Donald,” The duck nodded. “And Goofy.”

“Hiya ma'am!”

The woman smiled and held out a hand that Kairi shook. “My name is Cassandra, Rapunzel's lady in waiting, it's nice to meet you.”

“You too!” Kairi responded with a smile. 

Flynn had calmed down by the end of their introduction enough to hold an actual conversation, which led to the topic of what happened at the docks.

“So, these heartless might actually be involved, and someone is controlling them?” Cassandra gathered.

Kairi shrugged with an uncertain nod. “We think it's the case, but we don't know just yet, all we have are the people's statements.”

Cassandra hummed. She turned to Flynn with crossed arms. “We can't let Rapunzel find out about this; she needs to get her painting done… we'll need to keep her in the castle until this blows over.”

“Agreed, although…” Flynn rubbed his chin nervously. “She might just drag us along whether we like it or not.”

“Unfortunately…” 

The two sigh fondly. Kairi smiled at the small exchange. 

“Then we'll try our best to take care of this quickly.” She held her hand to her heart as she promised. Suddenly, her heart felt like something was pulling at it, a familiar light.

She turned around to see a young woman with long blonde hair stepping cautiously into the hallway, head scanning the area as if looking for something. Her eyes widened when she saw the five and smiled as she quickly ran up to them. “Donald, Goofy! It's great to see you two again!” She gave them a great big hug and turned to Kairi. “Hello, my name is Rapunzel, may I have yours?”

“I'm Kairi, a friend of Sora's, we're finishing some business he accidently left behind.”

“Oh, is he caught up doing something else?”

Kairi's smile faltered for a moment but came back quickly. “Yeah, I'm picking up the slack in the meantime.”

The two shook hands. “Well, it's great to meet you Kairi! Do you need any help here, my last adventure was-”

Flynn cut her off with a quick series of no's, adding. “You have a painting in a few hours, and you still haven't picked a defining “you” thing yet, and we need to get on that, Kairi, Donald and Goofy will be fine until we're done, then adventure it is!” Flynn enthusiastically wrapped his arms around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “What are you doing here anyway? Last we saw you were on the other side of the castle.”

“I felt something… pulling me, in a way, so I came over to investigate.” She turned to Kairi. “You were what I felt, warm and familiar.”

Kairi tilted her head in confusion, then a thought came to mind. Goofy beat her to the punch however, suggesting. “Do ya think it has to do with them being Princesses of Heart?”

“Princesses of what?” The handmaiden questioned.

Goofy turned to Donald, who nodded, then faced Cassandra. “A Princess of Heart, a maiden who has no darkness in her heart whatsoever.” 

“There are more, but that's all we'll tell you; Kairi and Rapunzel are Princesses of Heart, we're dropping this.” Donald sternly said, tapping his foot impatiently. “Speaking of Princesses,” he continued. “Rapunzel, your hair is back!”

Rapunzel touched the braids and nodded. “Yup! It looks like there was still some magic in it after I cut it, it came back after I woke up one day.” 

“Wow…” Kairi said in amazement. The conversation was cut short when a servant had come and reminded the princess of her painting.

Rapunzel scratched her head in embarrassment. “Sorry guys, we'll meet up again later!" She promised.

Kairi watched as her new friends left, waving goodbye. Kairi put a hand to her forehead, slightly annoyed at herself for getting distracted. “We didn't ask about the keyhole…” 

“We shouldn't ask them about that right now, Kairi, we still need to find that heartless.” Goofy reasoned.

“Right, let's see if the guards have found anything else.”

_________________________

 The guards had found out about a possible heartless sighting in one of the surrounding villages, leading Kairi and her friends to a quiet place on the outskirts of Corona. 

“That's strange… where is everyone?” The guard that was riding with Kairi and her friends frowned as he saw the empty town. The captain ordered them to stop and dismount to search for any life. After a suggestion to split up, Kairi, Donald and Goofy looked around the farthest edge of town. As Kairi looked inside the nearest shops, she could see signs of struggling. Turned over tables, scratches in the cabinets, broken glass. Her heart clenched as each shop was in progressively worse shape than the last. 

Kairi left the store and scanned the area for her friends. “Goofy! Donald! Have you found anything!”

 Goofy peeked around a toy shop and waved her over. “We found someone!” as Kairi and the guards rounded the corner, they saw the two peering into a crate. Slowly, a mustached man peeked out, then slowly climbed out when he saw the guards and ran towards them.

“Oh thank goodness you're here! There were so many monsters! There were too many! they made everyone disappear!” The man broke into hysterics as he cried into a guards’ shoulder.

Kairi closed her eyes, feeling a slight stab in her heart. ‘If it happened here, they might be heading towards more villages…’ She thought to herself. Opening her eyes she called out. “Captain!”

“Hm?”

“How many villages are there nearby?”

The captain grabbed his chin and counted quietly. “We have about 5 that are closer than most, they're usually more guarded than this one however…” He grimaced. “Follow that path until you find arrow signs, the lowest one is the closer town, we'll bring this man to the castle, but we'll be there soon.”

Kairi opened her mouth, then closed it and frowned. Coming up with an idea, she turned to Goofy. “Hey, could you go with them? It'd be easier for them to deal with any heartless.” 

The anthropomorphic knight placed his fist on his chest. “Ahyuck! Of course! I'll get'em to the castle safely, on my honor as a knight!” 

The captain saluted the three and thanked them, then loaded the crying man and Goofy onto the carriage and set off. 

Kairi and Donald nodded to each other and ran in the other direction with their weapons drawn. As they ran, Kairi asked Donald a question.

“How come the Heartless are attacking villages? shouldn't they be coming after me?”

Donald shook his head. “Remember, heartless are drawn to any kind of light, being a keyblade wielder just ups the chances of them attacking you, although…” Donald hummed. “These attacks are too organized for heartless, maybe someone's controlling them like they did that Usurper!”

Kairi flattened her lips. If someone was controlling the heartless… her mind immediately named Maleficent again. Kairi wouldn't put it past the witch to gather her forces and attack now that the worlds were more or less at peace. Kairi looked up to see the signpost, turning left and finding a group of 8 shadows rising from the ground. Kairi grit her teeth and threw her keyblade, destroying three of them and opening a gap allowing them to run through, with Donald casting a thundaga to destroy the rest of them. 

As they continued to run, Kairi turned her head around to look at Donald. “Donald! how likely is it that Maleficent is behind this?”

Donald huffed. “I wouldn't doubt it, just as everything is slowing down, of course she'd stir up trouble now!” 

Kairi hummed, looking forward as they arrived at the first village. A few people were crowded around some crates, sitting down or leaning against a lamppost. As Kairi and Donald slowed down, the people looked over, showing red faces and tear stained cheeks. One of the villagers got up and clasped Kairi's hands on their own.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re here! These monsters showed up and took so many people, the guards that were left managed to fend them off, but the monsters are heading to the next village over! You need to stop them, please!” The villager weeped, Kairi put a hand on their shoulder and nodded.

“Don't worry, I'll get there as soon as I can.” She looked at the villagers crowding around, noticing at least a few guards. “Grab a carriage and head towards the castle, it'll be safer there, ok?” After the villager nodded and made their way to the others, Kairi gestured to Donald. They stood there and watched as the carriage left their view, then began running again. 

__________________________

The next two Villages were empty, save for Gnome archers and Armoured knights, Kairi narrowed her eyes in worry, then widened them as they came upon the fourth, with many people mingling around, going about their business. She let out a breath of relief as they stopped in front of the guards.

“Woah! Slow down there, you look like you've been running from a bear, is everything alright?” The guard held a hand up as he looked back at the forest. Kairi had her hands on her knees, catching her breath.

“Monsters! on their way here, we need you to head to the castle, they're all targeting the villages!” Kairi said in between breaths. “Do you have any carriages?”

The guards looked to each other, then back to Kairi, nodding. The guard on the left turned around and ran to the townspeople, warning them and telling them to get to the carriages.

The other guard turned to Kairi with a worried expression. “How many are there, how close?”

“We've destroyed some, but they're relentless, you need to get moving, now,” Kairi turned to Donald. He nodded as he caught on and ran to the carriages. “Donald will keep you safe on your way there.”

The guard raised an eyebrow. “But where are you going?”

“The next village, I need to make sure they're safe.”

The guard nodded, then pointed to a small path hidden in the bushes. “That way is a short cut the kids would always use, it goes straight to the other village,” He explained, then added. “Please get over there quickly, ma'am.”

“I will, ge-” Kairi was interrupted by an arrow flying past her and embedding itself into a wooden beam. She turned around and glared at the small gnome heartless. “Donald, protect the carriages!”

Donald's staff glowed as he shouted, and a shining, hexagonal dome surrounded the people, deflecting arrows and purple projectiles. Kairi turned back around to see Parasol Beauties appear. She summoned her keyblade, casting a firaga, destroying the gnomes, with the Parasol Beauties barely avoiding the blast. She stood in front of the guard, looking back and saying urgently. “Get into the dome, I'll cover for you!”

“Thank you- watch out!” 

Kairi quickly summoned a barrier that blocked a beam from a Parasol Beauty. With a flick of her keyblade she sent a blizzard spell to destroy it. She looked back to confirm that the guard was inside. Once she was sure everyone was safe, she ran around the dome as she slashed and cast magic at the surrounding heartless. 

An Armoured knight tried to slash downward, only to be caught by the barrier and destroyed by a fire spell. Kairi looked back at the entrance of the village, seeing a blockade of heartless. ‘I need to make an opening for the carriages!’

Closing her eyes, the keyblade shined brightly, she jumped up and summoned orbs of light as she herself glowed brightly, then guided the orbs into the heartless as she glided down. She rolled as she hit the ground, looking back to her companion. “Donald, get the people to the castle, I'll grab the last town!”

The mage nodded, and strengthened the barrier, telling the drivers to leave. The horses’ hooves pounded the ground, speeding along the road with purpose. Kairi destroyed any remaining heartless that went after the carriages. After the barrier had disappeared behind the trees, Kairi turned around and ran to the shortcut.

Only to be blocked when dark, spike-like crystals shot up from the ground. “What?” Her eyes widened in shock as she stumbled to a stop. “No!” She grit her teeth as she stomped her foot. ‘These look like the crystals in the world's picture!’ She furrowed her brow from the reminder. ‘I'll have to go the long way then…’ She turned around and immediately spikes blocked her off again. “What are these things!” She shouted in frustration. It wasn't long until a swarm of heartless appeared in front of her.

Kairi wasted no time, and immediately swept them up with an aeroga, then cast a thunder spell to destroy the heartless. Another wave appeared, Armoured knights, along with defenders and a new type of heartless she hadn't seen before. It was wearing a green overcoat with a high collar showing the heartless emblem over a lighter green robe with longer sleeves and a curled hem, along with a yellow undergarment with rounded points and a flattened hem. The yellow wide brimmed hat that opened with a green and yellow checked pattern, with a rounded dome inside with a red flower that had a curled stem gave it a regal air. Its staff was almost the size of the heartless itself, with a blue handle, connecting to a fully bloomed red flower that had a blue orb, along with a smaller orb on the bottom of the staff. 

‘Come on, get out of my way you-!”

Kairi gripped her keyblade harder as the staff darkened. A wave of darkness washed over the arena, covering the other heartless with a muted orange glow. The Noble heartless then protected itself with a barrier as it floated back. 

The knights in front spun towards the keyblade wielder. She summoned her barrier and deflected the first few strikes. She slammed her keyblade into the closest Knight only to bounce off of it. The heartless didn't even stagger. Kairi's eyes widened as she narrowly dodged a slash from its sword. Repositioning with a dash, Kairi started running around the heartless and peppered them with spells as she thought of a way to deal with them and the shielded one. 

The Noble heartless raised its staff again, this time however, it summoned lightning strikes. Kairi protected herself as it struck two times. ‘I need to find a way to destroy that barri- ”AGH!” 

The staff wielding heartless had twirled its staff while the lightning collected itself, then had shot the condensed lightning into Kairi's barrier, breaking it and attacking Kairi directly. She slammed into the ground with a pained cry. She groaned with the effort to roll over onto her stomach and got to her hands and knees. She looked up and summoned her keyblade to aim at the barrier, casting a quick firaga. The fireball exploded as it contacted the barrier. She jumped back to avoid a shield strike and noticed the barrier didn't seem to take any damage from the blast. Seeing the attempt fail, she quickly switched targets, peppering the glowing heartless with spells and chipping away at them with quick and precise strikes. 

Dashing away, she glared at the staff wielding heartless. She looked away for a few moments to create an ice wall, casting blizzards in front of the advancing heartless. Seeing the wall, she got an idea. She took aim and cast a Blizzaga spell, incasing the heartless in a frozen bubble. as the ice wall fell away, the heartless stumbled as the orange glow disappeared. Kairi cheered in her head and immediately went on the offensive, destroying most of the Armoured knights before the frozen heartless escaped.

It cast a fireball, throwing it at Kairi aggressively. She dodged the fireball and froze the heartless again, turning to the stunned heartless and casting an aeroga. The Armoured knights were sucked into the vortex, slamming into each other and perishing. The Guardians were able to keep their footing, though the fierce winds blinded them. Throwing her keyblade, she teleported to it once it was behind the Guardians and burned them with a Firaga. 

The wind died down, showing only the Noble heartless and Kairi. It seemed to survey the area before flying towards the shortcut, phasing through the crystals. "Hey!” Kairi, surprised, shouted at it. She dismissed her keyblade, waiting for the crystals to sink or disappear. She heard the sounds of shattering behind her and noticed the crystals at the entrance of town had vanished. Her mouth flattened. ‘Long way it is then…I hope I'm not too late’ 

She hadn't even taken a step when her keyblade appeared all of a sudden, forcefully moving itself using her arm. She yelped, feeling the keyblade tug her toward the crystals. “Hey! what, urgh! are you doing!?” She said desperately, pulling against her own weapon. After a brief back and forth, Kairi stopped fighting and let her keyblade guide her, until it was pointed at the crystals blocking her path. Holding it with both hands, Kairi furrowed her brows, letting the strange feeling of her heart guide her. A sphere of light appeared on the top of her keyblade, shining brilliantly. After it had charged fully, it shot out and slammed into the crystals.

Kairi watched in awe as the beam expanded into a swirling mass of light. Her keyblade shook, as if it wanted to go through. She nodded to her keyblade, putting her trust in it. She ran through, ending up on the other side of the shortcut. “Yes! Thank you.” She whispered to herself. 

It wasn't long until she was at the village, seeing it was already under siege. Frightened, she raced against the clock, but upon arriving her eyes widened in surprise at an unexpected sight. Invisibles, Shadows and Darkballs were fighting against the Armoured knights, Gnome archers and that Noble heartless. Kairi hid behind a corner as the battle raged on, peering around to see if she could find any townspeople. She was grateful to find what seemed to be a majority of them looking on from the window of a large saloon-like building. She looked at the heartless fighting. Two Invisibles were attacking the Noble heartless relentlessly, the only reason it was still standing being that barrier around it. 

Kairi's thoughts were racing with confusion, but she was glad they were distracting each other. She snuck around the buildings until she was behind the saloon the people were gathered in. 

“Psst, hey, over here!” A young boy, looking about 10 years old, turned around to see a Kairi at the rear entrance, motioning to leave. The child tugged on his mother's sleeve and pointed to the strange girl. The keyblade wielder came inside and introduced herself.

“Hello everyone, my name is Kairi, I'm here to help get you all out of here.” She put a hand on her chest and gave them all a comforting smile. “Do you have any carriages you can use?”

An elderly man steps up to her, his face racked with worry. “We do, but those monsters scared the horse's away, and those strange crystals took away our shortcut to the other town. We're stuck here.” 

“Hmm, ok, where are the guards? Don't tell me they-”

“Gone, were turned into those Armoured monsters before my own eyes.”

Kairi nodded; her eyes cast downward. She folded her arms, tapping her foot as she heard the battle outside. She got an idea. “Do any of you know how to wield a weapon?”

A few hands raised. “Great!” She looked around the saloon until she found a few swords behind the bar, handing them to the volunteers. “I want you all upstairs, I’ll handle the monsters,” She turned to the volunteers, “Make sure you protect them, I'll come running if I hear a fight.”

The people nodded and made their way up the stairs. Kairi snuck over to the front entrance, peering over the door. The battle had gone in favor of the emblemless heartless, with only a few Armoured knights left along with the Noble heartless. The barrier still seemed to be untouched. Summoning her keyblade, the heartless all turned to the saloon, right as she ran out. She froze the barrier again, focusing on the Invisible closest to her. 

The battle quickly turned into a three way fight as the heartless changed from attacking each other to attacking Kairi, to attacking each other again. Kairi jumped over a swipe from an Armoured knight, retaliating with a fire, setting it ablaze. The Noble heartless broke out of the freeze, then sent a blizzard at an Invisible, Kairi assisted in destroying it with a well placed slash. She stared at the barrier as she blocked a strike. ‘Ok, how do I get through that barrier?’ The keyblade wielder thought to herself. 

Sensing an attack from behind, she dashed away as an Invisible stabbed the ground. 

Two Darkballs began chomping on the Noble heartless, keeping it on the defensive. Kairi meanwhile had wiped out what remained of the Armoured knights, then blasted a Darkball with fire. Kairi froze the Shielded heartless again, followed by an Invisible slamming it with its sword into a tree. 

The remaining Darkball attacked Kairi, chomping erratically with its mouth. Kairi protected herself, unleashing the barrier to stun it and then destroy it with a slash from her keyblade. 

Now it was just Kairi, an Invisible, and the Noble Heartless. The girl dashed away from a thunder strike, then deflected the Invisibles sword with a reflect spell. The Invisible was hit by a fireball, retaliating by slamming its sword into the Noble heartless. The two heartless fought while Kairi thought up a solution to the shield. If freezing was able to hinder its movements, maybe she could use the Invisible to break it! She nodded to herself, then froze the Staff wielding heartless again. 

With a mighty swing of its sword, the Invisible bounced the frozen ball into the ground. Kairi threw her keyblade to intercept it and created an unorthodox game of tennis. Kairi noticed the ball glow inside, dodging the strike from the Invisible when it threw it at her. A fiery tornado surrounded the ice ball, freeing the Noble heartless, with no damage done to its shield.

‘Ugh! how do I beat this thing!?’

Kairi readied herself, watching as it destroyed the Invisible with a few well placed blizzards. It turned to Kairi, and the two stared at each other for a few moments. Kairi breathed heavily, her eyes wide and teeth clenched. She startled when the heartless instead disappeared, no indication that it was returning. Kairi stood up straight, resting her keyblade against her side as she waited, but it still didn't return. 

With a sigh of relief, The Princess of Heart went back to the townspeople, informing them of her victory.

“Oh, thank you so much! We would have been goners if you hadn't shown up. How could we ever repay you?” The Man who introduced himself as Mayor of the town asked. Kairi shook her head and smiled.

“It wasn't a problem, but we still need to get you to the Castle, are there any horses nearby we could use?”

The mayor shook his head. “No, new horses would take too long to train, and who knows if those monsters will come back sooner rather than later?”

“Ok…” Kairi let out a puff of air. She tapped her foot on the floor, thinking of anything she could do. She snapped her fingers as an idea came to her, and whispered to herself as she summoned her keyblade and pointed it at a wall. “Take us to the Castle.” She stood there with her eyes closed, waiting for that tug from her keyblade again. 

She peeked with one eye, and upon seeing nothing, looked at her keyblade in confusion. She gave it a few shakes before frowning and dismissing it. “I wanted to get you guys there faster… we'll have to wait for the captain then.” Kairi sat down on one of the chairs, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She looked at the townsfolk mingling with each other and smiled. ‘I managed to save most of them.’ She clenched her fist, thinking bitterly. ‘That's the best I could do.’  

Kairi looked out the window to the sky, watching as the clouds formed and shaped themselves. She put a hand to the window as one of the clouds formed into a star. 

‘Don't worry Sora, I'll be strong enough to get to you before you know it.’

‘I have to be’

Chapter Text

Chapter Three:

???

The clinking of metal boots echoed on the tile, reverberating throughout the dark courtyard of a broken down house. Broken stairs lead to a second story. Black tendrils broke through the walls, their grotesque shape scarring the brick. Three armored figures stopped in the middle, surveying the area. They were varied in height, one shorter than the other two by quite a bit. The shortest of them examined a decoration on the tiles, standing in the middle of many teardrop like images surrounding thick circles. 

“I wonder who lived here before…” The smallest wondered. His voice was youthful, but sorrowful as he looked upstairs. “Aqua, Terra! Can we look upstairs? I want to see if I can find who used to live here.”

The two other figures, Terra, a young man and Aqua, a young woman, looked upstairs. Aqua nodded, walking up to him. “Just be careful Ven, we haven't seen any heartless here yet.” Ven gave her a thumbs up. He jumped up, grabbing the railing. as he pulled himself up, the moment he put a boot on the board, it crumbled. He yelped in surprise but landed on his feet relatively unharmed. Aqua and Terra ran up to him just in time to see the rest of the staircase disassemble itself. Chunks of metal and disintegrating wood rained down on the trio. 

Terra wiped the debris from his shoulder as he stood up straight and crossed his arms. “This place must have been here for a long time…”

“Mhm, even the broken worlds I traveled through looked more put together then this, I'm hoping we'll be able to restore it, Sora doesn't seem likely to have been through here at all.” Aqua placed a hand on a wall, sliding it down, revealing a faded yellow. “I wonder if we'll be able to restore this one.” The keyblade master turned to look out the window next to her. Her eyes softened behind her helmet as she spoke somberly. “I don't see any signs of its heart.” Down below the hill they were on, broken houses lifted by dark tendrils and broken earth were seen, some of the houses were completely overtaken by the tendrils. Aqua turned away from the window. 

Ventus was looking around for another way upstairs, but every other way was either fragile or unstable, or both. He sighed, sitting cross legged on the tiles. “I'm having trouble finding the heart too, all this darkness is covering what little light is here.” Ventus sighs, putting his hand under his cheek. The clacking of boots on tiles filled the courtyard as Aqua and Terra checked the rooms that were somewhat intact. Ventus circled the tiles with his finger, expanding his senses as he tried to focus on that little amount of light. The clacks sped up, until Ventus turned around to see the tile rising up and down by itself, making small waves. Startled, he bounced up, staring at the moving tiles in confusion. “Aqua, Terra! Come here!”

His two friends came quickly, their keyblades brandished defensively. “Ven! what!... what?” Aqua lowered her weapon as she saw the floor rolling about, shaking the tiles as if in fear. When the trio put away their keyblades, the tiles rolled themselves over in what appeared to be a sigh. “I'm glad something’s here with us, even if it's a sentient floor.” Terra joked as he knelt down and tapped it with his finger. “Hey, we're looking for the “heart” of this world. It'll be a very important place, very significant, right? Can you help us out?”

The tiles clapped, then rushed over to a room far on the left. The tiles stopped, then came back, clacking with its own version of irritation. Aqua looked down at it with pity. “Looks like the Realm of Darkness is stopping it from leaving the courtyard…”

Ventus looked up. “It might be able to help out though.” Kneeling down, he tapped the tile, then pointed at the second floor. “Hey, we're trying to get up there, but the stairs are broken, would you be able to show us any other way?”

The tiles clapped, rearranging the decorated tiles into a crude arrow, pointing away from the trio. They looked over, seeing some wooden planks and bits of metal inside a storage room. The keyblade wielders got to work, grabbing the materials and placing them down in the middle of the courtyard. The wood and metal shook, then bounced as they were animated like the tiles. The wood, metal and tiles came together, making a spiral staircase to the second floor. The tiles on the floor clapped. 

“Yeah, thanks a lot, come on guys!” Ventus led the way to the second floor, discovering ruined doors along the walls. the doors wouldn't open, even after being unlocked with their keyblades. 

“Hmm” Terra turned to Ventus, raising his hand while asking. “Ven, can you feel anything? Is that light stronger?” 

Ventus nodded and pointed up at the tallest point, where tendrils converged, repeatedly crawling over each other in a mess of darkness. “We'll need to destroy those things first.” 

Aqua cringed from behind her helmet, summoning her keyblade and aiming at the tendrils. Terra and Ventus followed, unleashing vibrant beams of light. 

The tendrils vibrated, then shrank back, revealing the top of the house, and a dim light was seen glowing inside of a hole in the top. Ventus nodded to himself, then turned to his friends, pointing up at the hole. “That's it. Aqua, Terra, help me up there please.” 

Ventus prepared himself as Terra knelt down and cupped his hands together. Aqua kept her keyblade at her side, standing off to the left. Ventus ran forward, planting his boot into Terra's hands. Terra threw his hands up, launching Ventus upward onto a barrier conjured by Aqua. He leaped from the barrier reaching behind the roof as he gripped it to keep in place. Ventus prodded the wall with his feet before he found a ledge and slowly lowered himself down until he could see the source of the world's light. 

A small cylindrical wax candle with an intricate design sat in the alcove, its small flame flickering. Ventus furrowed his brows as the flame dimmed, worry taking hold in his heart. He gingerly took the candle in his free hand and jumped down. He placed it on the ground, stepping back to allow some space. “Here it is, it's waning though… Aqua, could you?”

“Yes.” Aqua nodded, summoning her keyblade. She raised it vertically in front of her, and it shone brilliantly. She looked down, seeing a keyhole form under her. It rose up as the scenery changed, swirls of darkness clashed against light browns and whites forming cloud like visuals as the keyhole stopped midair. Aqua twirled her keyblade, then thrust it forward, unleashing a thin beam of light into the keyhole. Aqua closed her eyes as the world brightened and she returned to the Realm of Darkness. 

Looking around, the keyblade wielders smiled as the house brightened, vibrant colors returning to the walls and floors, and even the original staircase had come back. The house itself is celebrated, its cupboards, tiles, planks and all manner of material and furniture came to life. Ventus kneeled down and patted the floor, noticing the candle's flame had become bigger. The house used itself to bring the candle back to the alcove.

As the rest of the tendrils had dissipated, Aqua and Terra looked to see the valley restore itself. Aqua breathed in awe. No matter how many times she saw a world restore itself, she still felt the warmth course through her heart. 

The keyblade wielders met back up in the middle, saying their goodbyes to the house as it disappeared in a flash of light, leaving them alone in a mockery of the world, empty and quiet, tendrils and roots around them twisted in every direction as they looked down at the valley. 

“Still no sign of Sora.” Ventus crossed his arms with a huff. “It's been who knows how long in here and still nothing!” The boy exclaimed in frustration. He kicked a rock away and sighed. He stood up straighter when Terra placed a hand on his shoulder, taking a deep breath and then letting it out. 

“I know Ven, but getting frustrated won’t find him any faster, keep heart, we'll find him.” Ventus took a few deep breaths of his own, then thanked him.

After a brief moment of silence, the keyblade wielders walked down to the valley, destroying the occasional Shadow that popped up. They neared the base of the valley, coming across a polluted and almost drained pond. They looked up at the mountain in the distance cracked in half. Aqua frowned as she looked back down at the pond. “Be careful everyone, I can feel the darkness growing.”

No sooner had she said that did a swirl of darkness overtake the pond. Dark flames surrounded the area, circling the trio as a shadowy figure leaped from the darkness. It spun as it fell, right at the wielders.

“Move!”

Everyone dove out of the way of the slam attack. Dust filled the air and separated the three friends. A mix of a screech and warbling neighing blew the dust away, revealing their opponent. 

It towered over them, with a horse like body, black smoke billowed from its jagged mouth, which had a sharp spike protruding from its chin. Bright yellow eyes stared down at them. Multicolored hairs defied gravity along its back, rising up as if perpetually falling. Strong legs adorned with the same hair from its knees. Its hooves were massive, splitting into four clawlike toes instead of the normal two. Its tail was long and barbed, more of a whip than a tail. It swished back and forth, sharp cracks with each wave cutting into the ground. Chains wrapped around its neck and legs, with a broken portion hanging from the top of its mouth. 

It scraped the ground with its hoof, then unleashed a dark fire ball at Aqua. She protected herself with a barrier, dark smoke filling the air as the attack hit. Aqua retaliated with a quick blizzard that shattered against its head. 

Ventus and Terra teamed up, running at the heartless. With grunts of effort, they slashed and slammed their keyblades into its side, pushing it back until it jumped over them and landed on the other side of the arena. It whipped its tail above its head, lengthening the appendage until it could reach around the whole arena. It spun its tail once, twice, three times, and then a fourth. Terra slid under the tail while Aqua and Ventus jumped it.

“Fire!”

“Blizzard!”

“Thunder!”

“Water!”

Aqua pelted the dark horse with various spells as the other two ran to beat it down. Terra and Ventus crossed their blades as they swung in tandem opposite directions. A bright light forming an ‘X’ appeared from the clash for a brief moment as the horse was knocked down. Flashes of light emerged from their keyblades as they combo together slashes and stabs. Aqua strengthened them from afar, keeping watch on the fallen heartless. The heartless stirred, raising its head. Ventus spun around and slashed the heartless multiple times before backing off as Terra jumped up, spun forward, and slammed his keyblade into its flank, unleashing a shockwave that carried the horse away. 

It cried out, the soundwaves giving a need for the wielders to clutch their heads. The horse stood up and looked as if it was glaring at the three. Its mouth flared in a short burst as it readied itself. Lowering its head, the horse ran at them, an aura of reds, blues and blacks surrounding it. 

“Move move move!” Aqua yelled out. She slid away as it came barreling after her, exiting the arena. The trio tried to track it through the dark smoke, with only rare glimpses and the sound of its hooves giving away its location. The sound stopped. The trio looked around nervously, with their keyblades gripped tightly in their hands. They heard the hooves too late. The horse came from behind, knocking down Terra and Aqua in quick succession. Ventus managed to roll out of the way and cast a quick cura on his friends.

“Guys get up! It's coming back!” 

Aqua and Terra dove out of the way as it jumped up high and came back down, cracking the ground it landed on. It stood there silently, staring as if challenging the keyblade wielders. Ventus moved his foot, and the horse immediately fired at him. Ventus brought up his keyblade just as the fireball struck, the boy. Ventus cried out in pain as his back hit the ground, losing his grip on his keyblade and sliding away. He rolled over onto his stomach and summoned his weapon, taking potshots of firas at the heartless. They burst harmlessly against its legs. Aqua and Terra slammed into its side, causing its legs to shuffle unsteadily. The horse whipped its tail around erratically, slamming into the ground and leaving smoking gashes. 

Dodging and weaving under and over the tail allowed the keyblade wielders to get closer. They staggered the Horse with powerful strikes, then knocked it down for a second time, and unleashed their magical styles to deal damage. 

Ventus summoned six blades of wind that Aqua strengthened with some magic. Terra called upon his own darkness, cloaking himself and strengthening his keyblade. Aqua enchanted her keyblade with a giant blade. Together they attacked, flashes of light and darkness burst from the horse while it was attacked.

The horse only gave a growl of a warning before retaliating, snapping at the wielders viciously. They backed off and peppered the heartless with various spells while it recovered. It stood on shaky legs; its whole body was racked with cracks showing purple light scattered about it. It snorted, then ran again, faster than before. The keyblade wielders transformed their keyblades into vehicles to evade the horse.

“Any ideas? I can't hit it like this!” Terra shouted from across the arena. Ventus and Aqua weren't faring any better. Any time they tried to get close the horse would turn and charge them.

The three flew side by side as they discussed, dodging any attempt of attack.

“Those chains might be able to stop him if we grab hold!” Ventus offered. Aqua looked back at the flying chains humming to herself.

“I agree, but we should tire it out some more before we attempt it!”

“Right.” Terra took the lead, going faster than the other two while they hung back. He gained its attention quickly, as it bellowed angrily and charged after him. Terra flew in a straight line for the most part, allowing Ventus and Aqua to fling blizzard spells at the equine heartless. They shattered against its legs, but they did the job, as it started slowing down, huffing and puffing. Terra saw his opportunity and dismounted, transforming his keyblade into a claw. He jumped to the right, swinging his arm around to clutch the chain as the heartless ran past him. He succeeded, being dragged along before flipping over onto its back. He pulled against the chain with all his strength, pulling the horses’ head along with it. It stumbled, then fell to the ground, the impact throwing Terra off. Aqua and Ventus were quick to capitalize on the opportunity, with their keyblades glowing brightly they summoned a massive beam of light to engulf the heartless. It screeched pitifully as it was burned. Terra got back up, transforming his keyblade into a launcher. The teeth spun around the front as an energy ball formed. He unleashed it, and the Equine ceased to exist any longer in a brilliant explosion of light. 

The wielders breathed sighs of relief as a heart ascended to the sky, eventually disappearing. The ground rumbled, before the mountain sank, leaving them an open field to traverse. They sat down for a moment to recuperate. 

Terra put a hand on his knee and turned to Ventus. “Hey Ven, could you try the gummiphone again? The darkness is less here now.”

Ventus grabbed his gummiphone, turning it on and pushing various icons. He groaned when the call icon led to a phone with a circle with a line through it, blinking at him in red. “No good, still can't get a connection.”

Terra acknowledged him with a nod, then stared up at the sky. “Do you think they've found Sora already? I don't want to be selfish, but I'm getting tired of this place.”

Aqua chuckled. “You and I both. Though if it leads to Sora, I don’t mind staying longer.” She told them. Terra nodded, humming a sound of commitment.

Ventus kept quiet, closing his eyes and pushed his senses through the darkness. He wanted more than anything to find Sora, it was the least he could do after Sora kept him in his heart for all those years. “Let's get going guys, Sora's waiting.” The keyblade wielders got up and continued their search through the Realm of Darkness.

___________________

Kingdom Of Corona

While waiting for the King's soldiers to arrive, Kairi fought off any stray heartless while also helping the villagers rebuild their town. She helped a young man carry a box into a corner, placing it down and shaking his hand. She sat on the stairs of the saloon with her notebook out, marking down the strange behavior of the heartless.

~It's strange. The way the heartless without emblems attacked the emblem heartless looked like they had a grudge with them. I wonder what's going on? I'll have to ask Master Yen Sid about this.~

She closed her notebook and looked up as multiple carriages arrived, settling at the entrance of the town. She smiled to herself. She let out a small noise of pleasant surprise as Repunzel and Flynn stepped off one of the carriages. Waving, she walked over “Rapunzel! Flynn! Over here!” 

Rapunzel looked around until she spotted Kairi and ran up to her, engulfing her in a big hug. “Kairi! Thank goodness you're ok! Thank you so much for defending my people,” She looks down after disengaging from the hug. Her eyes were watery. “I should have come with you in the first place…” 

Kairi placed a hand on Rapunzel's shoulder. “I don't think you should have, there was a heartless with a shield around it that even I couldn't break, I wouldn't want it to hurt you.” Kairi comforted the princess. “It's enough that you came to bring your people home.” The red haired girl gave the princess a smile, who returned it brightly. 

Flynn caught up to them and shook Kairi's hand, she noticed he was wearing the royal guard armor. “We owe you big time, I don’t know what we'd do if you weren't here.”

Kairi shook her head. “It's my pleasure, and my duty, Sora would've done the same, and probably a better job.” Kairi looked around as the two argued against her claim. “Where are Donald and Goofy?”

“Donalds here, Goofy's stayed back at the castle in case heartless attacked it.” 

“Great.” Kairi sees the villagers climb into the carriages; Donald waved at her from the rear cart. She waved back at him and made her way over. “We should get going then.”

_________________

“No heartless on the way here? At all?” Kairi asked in disbelief. A guard had been telling her about their trip. How Donald had been practically a statue with how still he was anticipating an attack.

“I was frightened out of my mind, I've only ever heard of these monsters,” He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his helmet. “I'm glad we were all so lucky.”

The rest of the ride was silent as they cautiously rode along the path. Kairi was especially tense, reminded of when they were chased through the woods by the Usurper. She took a deep but shaky breath watching the tree line with the utmost attention. She looked over at Donald, who was at the front of the line. He seemed calm, a lot more than she looked, she thought to herself. ‘I wonder how Sora would handle this.’ She looked at her hand and remembered how Sora had protected her when she had faced Master Xehanort in her own dreams. She frowned. ‘I wish I could have done anything myself, even get a few hits in before Sora took over.’ She berated herself silently, clenching her fist while gritting her teeth. ‘Why can't I do anything!?’

“We're almost there! Just a few more minutes!”

Kairi was snapped out of her troubles for a moment, seeing the castle's bridge a few yards away. She shook her head to clear her mind. ‘Stop worrying about what happened, worry about how to stop it from happening again.’ She vowed to herself. Her confidence grew as she set her face with a serious look. She didn't notice Donald looking at her with worry.

They arrived at the gates, with no problems, thankfully, to see Goofy front and center, waving at them. Kairi bounced from carriage to carriage, landing next to Donald with a curious gaze. “Has Goofy ever stood guard at the gates of your castle?”

Donald folded his arms proudly, a smug smile on his face. “Mhm, after just becoming a knight, he was so good at it the King and Queen had him guard them. He couldn't do much when King Mickey went on adventures, but Queen Minnie was always around!” He giggled to himself. “But then he couldn't do much, again, since the worlds were at peace, so he just slept a lot! ahahahaha!” He broke out laughing. Kairi smiled despite herself. 

“Hiya Donalllld, Hiya Kairiiii! Welcome back!” Goofy yelled from his station. The two hopped off the carriage and hugged the knight. “You're alright!” Goofy said joyfully.  “It's great to see so many people too.” The guards moved all the refugees to a designated housing area near the docks. 

Kairi grabbed her companions and brought them to a corner. "Have you guys ever seen heartless fight each other?”

Their eyes practically bulged out of their sockets. “Fighting each other!? They can do that”!? The wizard exclaimed, his hands flying up in the air. Goofy scratched his head thoughtfully.

Kairi nodded excitedly, though her eyes gave away her concern. “Yeah, it was so strange, I've never seen anything like it… They would even ignore me to go after the Emblems.” 

Goofy’s ears perked up as he seemed to remember something. “In Hades’ room, heartless attacked the nobodies, I'm sure that was because they were being controlled by Maleficent, maybe this is the case here!”

Donald nodded. “Yep, that sounds about right.” He stamped the ground suddenly and yelled angrily. “Then that does it! Maleficent is involved, absolutely!” The duck tapped his foot repeatedly, taking deep breaths. “We should find out where she is and put a stop to her right now!”

Goofy put his hands up to calm the wizard down. “Now hold on Donald, if Maleficent really is responsible, we need to call the King and Master Yen Sid.” Their attention was caught by Kairi humming.

Her brows were knit with confusion. “But now that I'm thinking about it, this doesn't really spell, “Maleficent”, does it? We would have seen something from her, she's not very good with being secretive when that Pete guy is always around her.” She turned to them, adding. “It could be that guy in the white cloak you were talking about, Goofy, seems to me that would be the best place to start looking.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Kairi turned her head and waved at Rapunzel and Flynn, then saw Cassandra, who waved. Rapunzel placed her hands on her hips. “Want some help?” She offered the trio. Kairi looked to Donald and Goofy. They looked at each other, then nodded. 

“Yeah, we'd appreciate it.” Kairi said cheerfully, then her eyes widened as she remembered something. “Uh, but first, have you ever seen anyone in a white cloak, we're thinking someone might be controlling the emblem heartless and-”

“Wait a moment, “emblem” heartless? There's more than one kind?” Cassandra interjected; she groaned while placing a hand over her face. “That's fantastic.”

Kairi scratched the back of her head, a nervous smile spreading across her face... “Yeah, sorry, it's a lot, I know, but the thing is, they were fighting each other. The heartless were totally willing to ignore me to destroy the other kind. It's why I was able to save so many.” It was silent as everyone let the information set in. After a few more minutes, Kairi spoke again.

“There's another thing, while going to the last village, these dark crystals shot up from the ground and blocked my path. Would any of you know anything about that?”

A shake of a head from Flynn and Rapunzel. Cassandra muttered the words to herself. “Dark crystals... dark crystals. Ah, I recall a report of dark crystals appearing on the outskirts of the kingdom my father had read. For them to start showing up here, we'll need to investigate that as well.” Silence, then an addition. “Maybe all three are connected?”

“It's a start.” Flynn spoke up after another bout of silence. He turned to Goofy, asking.  “Let's go find that woman, do you remember what she looks like?”

“Hmm, let me see…”

________________________

It had taken a while to find the woman, but when they did, she was more than happy to explain again. 

“After the commotion at the docks, I had seen a strangely dressed figure running out of the city. They didn't look like anyone I had seen before, and they seemed to be in a big hurry.” The woman told them. Kairi wrote it all down in her notebook.

“Oh! I remember there being blueish hair too, it was so fast, but I could see blueish hair, I'm sorry I can't tell you any more…” The woman looked down, but Flynn put a hand on her shoulder and thanked her. She said her goodbyes, and the group was left to discuss.

Kairi tapped her notebook, the details they had gotten trying to form themselves into a picture in her mind. “Strange clothes and blue hair… It can't be anyone from the organization, or Maleficent…” She pursed her lips. “Rapunzel, Flynn, Cassandra, do you know anyone who could fit that description?”

“I don't think I know anyone with blue hair, but my travels have led me to see all kinds of clothes.” He clicked his tongue, crossing his arms with a huff. “I'll go talk with the captain and have him keep a lookout for anyone like that.” He waved goodbye and quickly ran to the castle.

Kairi watched him go, and suddenly had an idea. “Hey, Rapunzel, Cassandra, I need to talk with Donald and Goofy, can you wait here?”

“Yeah! Don't be too long, Flynn should be back soon!”

Kairi leads her companions away, pulling out her gummiphone and contacting Master Yen Sid. Goofy and Donald caught on to her and stood in front of the alley, hiding the gummiphone from sight. 

“Hello? Master Yen Sid? This is Kairi, I need to talk to you about something.”

The screen flickered to life, and Master Yen Sid's face appeared, a smile on his face. 

“Hello young Kairi, how goes your progress in Corona?”

“I haven't found the Keyhole yet,” She admits, but adds. “However, I found something that I wanted you to know about. A few things, actually.” She trailed off, making sure she had her information correct.

“There's a new type of Heartless, we call it a Usurper, but it's so strange.” She described the heartless in detail, including its ability to talk, as well as its tiny amount of light. As she described it, Yen Sid's face lost its smile, and he frowned, his eyes betraying his worry.

“Master?”

He hummed, stroking his beard. “That heartless is ancient, what you call Usurper, is in reality, a Darkling, a heartless formed from a keyblade wielder that loses themselves to darkness. They were rare even during the Age of Fairytales according to ancient texts, but slowly dwindled until they were destroyed completely before my era, or so we thought.” He took a deep breath. “The knowledge that one has appeared after all this time, is a grave tiding indeed.” 

Silence followed. Kairi furrowed her brows.

“What's the Age of Fairytales?”

“An age where keyblade wielders were a force to be reckoned with, however, that is a story best told in person.” Yen Sid explained. “Do you have any other news?”

“Yeah, there are these strange crystals that are popping up. I almost couldn't save the last village because they got in my way. The princess and her friends said they don't know much about it, but I think they're hiding something. And…” Kairi hesitated, not exactly sure how to put this. “And the Heartless are fighting each other… would you know anything about that?”

Yen Sid raises an eyebrow with an audible hum, a rare sight of confusion clearly written on his face. “Fighting each other…? what a strange occurrence, what did you see, exactly?”

Kairi describes the two heartless factions fighting when she arrived at the village, with Yen Sid interjecting to congratulate her on conjuring a pathway. As she tells her story, the old master closes his eyes, and when she is finally done, simply responds. “I see, the Heartless have been animalistic in nature since the beginning, the way you describe their battle sounds like a dispute between two different species…”

Kairi thought about it. It did make sense, but still… “Why would they? They're all after hearts, aren't they?”

“Indeed, I can only assume something has happened to shift their behavior. I will visit Ansem the Wise and see if he has any answers.”

“Ok Master, I got to go, I'll talk to you later.”

“Stay safe young Kairi, let your heart be your guiding key.”

The screen turned off and Kairi put the device in her pocket. She'll have to congratulate Chip and Dale when she had the chance.

“What did Master Yen Sid say?” Goofy asked. 

Kairi abridges her conversation with the master, telling them about the Darkling last, giving more details.

“A dark keyblade wielder…" Donald mourned. 

“Does that mean more people are becoming keyblade wielders?” Goofy wondered. Kairi pursed her lips while Donald tapped his foot in thought.

“No, I don't think so.” Donald started. “Master Yen Sid told us they were ancient. I think this one was hiding, until it found a master of its own…”

Kairi nodded her head slowly. “That makes sense. It would explain why It acted the way it did, but that also means it's smarter than the rest. We need to be more cautious.” 

Her friends agreed with a brief noise.

The trio returned to Rapunzel and Cassandra shortly after.

“Is everything ok?” Rapunzel questioned, showing her worry.

Kairi shook her head, waving away her concern. “Everything's fine, we were just checking up on something.”

The princess smiled with relief. “That's great, we were thinking of walking to the castle to meet up with Flynn instead of waiting here.”

“Alright, let's go!”

_______________________

Kingdom of Corona: Dungeons

The sound of water dripping into a bucket bounced around the walls of the dark, torch lit corridor. A guard stood at his post with droopy eyelids. With a sniff he straightened himself, gripping his spear. He started his patrol, his eyes scanning the various cells. Suddenly, he heard a strange sound from behind him, like many different directions of wind clashing against each other. He turned around only for everything to go black.

Two prisoners, brothers in the same cell, watched the man fall backwards, unconscious. They both tried their best to see what happened through the bars.

“You brute! Your brash actions could have cost us dearly!” An arrogant and haunting voice whispered, her displeasure dripping from her tone. Two figures stepped in front of their cell, one a round…animal? Is that what they were seeing? The round one had fur all over the top of its head, with two long, pointy ears going sideways. The animal(?) wore a strange outfit, nothing they had ever seen before. Its face frowned, large, narrow eyes animatedly looking down. They also noticed its mouth was massive, with four square teeth at the corners of its mouth.

“Hey, what was that? Let's go check it out!” The guards outside the cells called out, their keys jingling. They were inserted into the door and unlocked. A cold wind played a haunting melody as ice crept through the corridors. “What the-! Someone's blocked the door, hurry, break it down!” The door was then banged upon, wood creaking dangerously.

“Dohhh, but you told me to knock the guy out!” The brutish animal talked back, his voice exaggerated and dumb sounding, immediately being shushed by his companion.

“Fool! be quiet, we don't need the guardsmen to get here any sooner!” A tall woman dressed in an all black robe with horns atop her head. Her skin was a pale green. She smiled at the prisoner twins, an eerie sight indeed.

The two backed away from the cell door just as the woman disintegrated the door with a touch of her staff.

“Now then.” The woman raised her staff, and the world vanished into a green fog, The brothers along with it.

“Freeze in the name of the- where'd they go!? Get the captain, The Stabbington brothers have escaped!”

Chapter Text

Chapter four:

Kingdom of Corona

Rapunzel led the group into the castle, hurrying straight to the King's throne. They entered to find Flynn, the captain, and the King talking amongst each other. The King saw Rapunzel enter and smiled, bringing her into a loving hug. “Good afternoon Rapunzel, I assume you're here for the same reason Eugene is.” The King guessed, bringing her under his arm and to the table. Cassandra and the off worlders followed. “We will answer the best we can, however, first, let me thank the ones who helped bring my daughter home.” The King addressed Kairi, Donald and Goofy, bowing his head. “I am aware that Sora was the one who was here for that, but you have been just as great, Kairi, and we thank you for protecting the kingdom.” 

Kairi bowed in turn, her face red from embarrassment. “Thank you, Your Majesty, but I'm just doing my duty.” 

“Even so, you have been invaluable, I would offer you three to become honorary knights of Corona, with all the privileges of the position, and to extend that calling to Sora as well.”

Kairi blinked in surprise at the King's praise. Did Sora ever have to deal with this? She cleared her throat. “Thank you again, Your Majesty.” Donald and Goofy saluted, proudness etched on their faces. 

The King returned to the map and the captain started the meeting. “From what Flynn has told us, Kairi encountered these rocks during her mission to gather our people.” He placed a black flag on the map. 

Kairi confirmed his statement, pointing at where she fought. “When I fought a strange heartless, the rocks that surrounded me disappeared; however, the ones blocking the tunnel didn't vanish. I'm thinking the heartless are connected to the rocks, but not the cause.” 

Kairi didn’t miss how Cassandra, Flynn(or Eugene? The King called him that, right?) and Rapunzel shifted their eyes to the other. She furrowed her brows in confusion, but wasn't left much time to focus on it. The King had placed three more black flags on the table.

“We've had consistent reports of the rocks on the outskirts, thankfully they've steered clear of old Corona. and keep themselves in open fields. Mostly” He adds with a cough. Kairi nods along as the King continues his talk.

Goofy takes a look at the map. His eyes scan the surface until he comes across a purple flag. “Your Majesty, what's the purple flag for?”

The King looked over and sighed, his face seeming to look older. Everyone at the table looked at him. 

“That marks where there is a gateway for those dark creatures to flood into our kingdom.” He informs, pointing to five other spots on the map. “The ones with the emblems have no need to use these portals, instead just appearing out from thin air to terrorize us.”

“I have some news that'll make this easier for you.” Kairi offered. “The emblem heartless are fighting the ones without emblems, we call those pureblood heartless.”

“We've noticed the differences in appearance between these two groups, but what makes them different? It doesn't make sense that groups of creatures suddenly start attacking their fellows;” The captain stated. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “This has to be a recent development; we've had no reports about the groups fighting each other until you got here.”

Donald called for everyone's attention grabbing a green flag and a red flag. “To answer your first question, the emblem heartless were artificially made, a mad man thought he could find out the power of hearts by sacrificing the people. However, since they act like the purebloods in everything but origin, they can replenish and add to their ranks.”

Rapunzel pursed her lips. “I know we can leave the heartless to Kairi, Donald and Goofy, perhaps we could have them check out the gateways?”

“A great suggestion dear.” The King smiles at her. Said trio nod, excited to help out. 

Flynn folded his arms, his mouth set in a line. “But that only solves one of our many problems.” He placed a few of his own flags, nearer to the kingdom. “We're already aware of a strange heartless that ambushes you instead of attacking or spawning straight up, though it seems to want Kairi instead of any of us.”

“It might try to come after Princess Rapunzel too. It wants “lux”, I can only assume it means light” Kairi explained, she told them about being a Princess of Heart, and what it entailed.

“So you are also a “Princess of Heart”?” The King asked, rubbing his beard. “Is that how you are able to wield that weapon of yours, the keyblade?”

Kairi giggled, then summoned her keyblade, much to the King and captain's amazement. “Not quite, the ability was passed on to me, and I was accepted. I'm honestly quite new to this whole thing.”

“I see, it would have certainly been helpful, having wielders of that blade in my guard… is it able to destroy those black rocks?”

Kairi opened her mouth, then thought about it. She ended up rubbing the back of her head. “I haven't actually tried to, now that I think about it...” 

Cassandra and the captain immediately face palmed, while the King sighed. Rapunzel and Flynn just chuckled.

“No wonder you and Sora get along so well.” Donald teased. He crossed his arms and laughed.

“Hey! I was saving people, I can't exactly go, “I wonder what would happen if I hit the rocks with my keyblade!” It just doesn't cross my mind!” She defended herself.

The other inhabitants of the room, bar Cassandra and the captain, laughed at the exchange, grateful for the distraction. It didn't last long however, as the doors burst open as a few panicked guards came in.

“Your Majesty! Captain, the Stabbington brothers have escaped!”

Kairi looked at Donald and Goofy, they shook their heads.

“What!? Again!?” Flynn groaned, sliding his hands over his face. “How, we put them in extra security!”

“We don't know, we heard a thud and saw two dark figures standing behind a downed guard, and then all of a sudden the door freezes and then they disappeared in a cloud of green smoke!” The guard rambled on, practically hysterical.

Kairi's eyes flickered around the room, until the guard had said green smoke. She glared at nothing in particular as she came to a conclusion. But just to be sure…

“What did they look like, did you see anything at all?”

The guard nodded. “I couldn't see much, but I saw horns! I know for sure I saw horns!”

“Maleficent.” Kairi gritted her teeth and growled lowly. Her mind raced with every possible option. Her first theory was wrong, Maleficent was most likely controlling the emblem heartless, but for what reason? Why would she attack the random villages surrounding Corona? There's no reason for her to be here at all…

As Kairi mumbled to herself, Rapunzel and The King looked to Donald and Goofy. “Who is Maleficent?”

“A witch bent on world domination! Every time we've seen her it's been her trying to take over anything she can get her pointy hands on!” Donald quacked angrily. “She always causes trouble!”

Goofy nodded, but then added. “She wasn't really part of our last adventure, she was looking for a black box, I remember Pete saying, must not have found what she was looking for.” 

“I see, this isn't good.” The King surmised. He called for his captain. “Captain, lock down the gates, if they've escaped, I don't want them to be able to get back in, no matter how magical or powerful this Maleficent is.” He took a breath. “Madame Kairi.” 

She snapped out of her dazed mumbling and stood at attention. “Yes, Your Majesty? What can I do?”

“I ask that you and your friends accompany the captain during his preparation to better protect the city and provide as much information about this Maleficent that you can. Will you do this?”

Kairi bowed while Donald and Goofy saluted. “We will.” The captain started on his way. Kairi waved at her friends and said goodbye, then they went with the captain.

____________________

“First things first, I want you to check out those “portals” that we were discussing earlier. Here's the locations, if you want horses or manpower, I'll gladly give you some.”

Kairi takes the map gratefully and opens it up. The portals are fairly spread out, but using some horses would cut the time traveling down a bunch, unless she managed to form another portal. “Alright, should we go for the farthest one first? or the closest?”

“I think we should do the closest one first. You still don't know how exactly you made that portal.” Donald said. Kairi pouted, summoning her keyblade.

“I figured it out!” She argued. “Watch this.”

Kairi cleared her throat, and she held out the keyblade pointing straight in front of her. She closed her eyes and tried mentally telling her heart where to go. She didn't feel her keyblade shake like the first time, but she wouldn't give up. She felt something in her heart, and she smiled.

“Hey guys! Wait up!”

Kairi flinched and fumbled with her keyblade as Goofy and Donald jumped up. They turned around to see Rapunzel, Flynn and Cassandra. Cassandra had changed out of her blue dress and veil and had taken to a more adventurous garb.

“What's the big idea sneaking up on us like that!” The three newcomers laughed nervously as Donald quacked angrily. 

“We want to help out! I, specifically, want to see if I can do anything to stop those portals, just in case they show up again and you're not here.” The Princess explained, holding her braided hair. The group was expanded, and they got some horses as they decided to go to the closest portal.

The sound of hooves pounding against stone quickly turned into crushing grass as they raced to the portal. The way there was eerily devoid of heartless, but she could feel the darkness grow as they neared the portal. They stopped a few yards away and crept up silently on foot. Kairi's eyes narrowed as she set eyes on the swirling darkness. A few small Shadows exited from the other side, their antenna twitching as they stood in a half circle. It wasn't long until Neoshadows and an Invisible showed up as well.

“Flynn, Cassandra, Rapunzel, do you guys think you can handle those shadows? Donald, Goofy and I can take the Invisible and Neoshadows.” The keyblade wielder whispered. 

“They all look like shadows over there, which are you talking about?” Flynn asked, his hand gripping the handle of his sword tightly.

Kairi pointed to the smaller monsters, then summoned her keyblade. Everyone prepared themselves, and then they charged.

The Pureblood heartless were drawn to the pure lights immediately after they escaped the tree line and made a counter charge. Kairi destroyed two Shadows on her way, blocking a spinning attack from a Neoshadow and burning it with fira. The Invisible thrust its sword at Kairi, who deflected and countered with a slash. 

Flynn and Cassandra were making quick work of the Shadows, while Rapunzel used her hair to protect her friends, at least they were, and then shadows flattened “Hey! they're going underground!” Flynn exclaimed. He stabbed at the ground as it crawled around them, but it did nothing. Cassandra was also having trouble hitting the flattened heartless. She grit her teeth as she stabbed and slashed. It returned to the world behind Flynn and jumped up to scratch him, but Rapunzel smacked it with a flick of her hair, it glowed as it came into contact with the heartless. “Stay down!” Cassandra quickly destroyed it with a stab, and the Corona trio assisted Donald and Goofy.

“Burn!” Donald yelled as the heartless around him disintegrated within a defensive fire ring. Goofy imbued his shield with Donald's fire and spun around as the Neoshadows engaged him. They were destroyed easily. 

Kairi jumped over a wide sweep and threw her keyblade. It spun vertically and hit the Invisible rapidly. Kairi teleported to her weapon and delivered a powerful strike to its head that sent it reeling backwards. It dissipated but returned as it turned itself into small and dark fireballs that circled Kairi. She cast a watera spell that encased her inside it, negating the Invisible's fire.

The Invisible reappeared and charged at Kairi, swinging wildly with powerful slashes. Kairi skipped backwards until she could deflect its last strike and push it back with a fira. It raised its sword but staggered when glowing golden hair struck its side. 

“How's that?” The Princess mocked, coiling her hair in her arms. The Invisible changed course and rushed the Princess. She yelped and ducked, but Goofy was there. He stopped the attack and met him in a stalemate. Kairi jumped up and ended the Invisible with a vertical slash. 

“You ok Rapunzel?” 

“Yeah… I'm fine, hehe.” She chuckled while wrapping her arms around herself. Flynn hugged her tightly.

“Please don't ever do that again, alright blondie?” He muttered to her. Rapunzel nodded, returning the hug. Cassandra let out a sigh of relief, then turned to Kairi. She pointed at the swirling mass of darkness.

“So how do we deal with this?”

“I'm thinking….” Kairi raised her keyblade at the portal. As she suspected, the tip began to glow. It shot a beam of light and contacted the middle. Unlike a keyhole, the light wrapped around the portal and squeezed, shrinking the dark mass into nothing. The light shimmered and exploded into many sparkles after the portal was gone. “There, one down, five to go.”

The Coronans looked on in awe. Rapunzel eyed the keyblade, then looked at her hair. “Hey Kairi, do you think I'd be able to wrap my hair around the portals and close them that way?” She joked, though Kairi didn't get it and thought about it. 

“Maybe, we should try at the next portal.” She suggested, walking back to the horses. “Let's go.”

The group returned to their horses as well and raced through the forest. On their way to the second portal, they met a few groups of Emblem heartless. They appeared to be going to the same destination the heros were heading. Kairi focused, summoning her keyblade and unleashing orbs of light at the enemy. The heartless were caught off guard and too many were destroyed before they realized what was going on. Cassandra and Flynn destroyed the rest with a sweeping pass on their horses. Maximus even managed to trample one.

Flynn laughed excitedly as they dispatched the heartless. “Oh man! It's so much more fun when you're not being outclassed in every way! Take that you heartless…uh, heartless!”

Kairi smiled. “It's a rush, that's for sure, we'll probably have more heartless show up out of those portals, keep your guard up.”

“What!? Kairi, why do you have to tell me that!” Flynn lamented, rubbing his hands with his face. The girl shrugged instead of answering, and he groaned. The forest filled with hearty laughs as they neared the next portal.

“I can see it!” Donald shouts, pointing his staff. His eyes narrow as Darkballs swarm towards them. “And they see us, get ready!”

Kairi jumped from her horse and unleashed a barrage of light, destroying half of the swarm. She followed up with smashing her keyblade against the closest to her, sending it spinning into another. The two rolled in place in a daze until Kairi destroyed them with a quick slash. She cut a line through the ranks as she shouted for Rapunzel to follow. The two made their way through Flutterwings and Shadows while their friends took on the surrounding heartless. 

Rapunzel managed to tie her hair to a frying pan and smacked away any heartless getting too close. She slid under a shadow's attempt at scratching her and smashed it with her frying pan. As they neared the portal, an Invisible with redder skin and red markings floated through the portal, its sharp tail more pronounced than its kin. Much to Kairi's confusion, it closed the portal itself after a few dozen heartless emerged. Kairi grit her teeth as she tightened her grip on her keyblade. 

“Watch yourse- wha!?” 

The red Invisible flew past the Keyblade wielder right to the Princess and raised its sword. Rapunzel's hair glowed and came to life, wrapping itself around her before the sword could make contact. The sword bounced off and staggered the Red Heartless, giving Kairi time to attack it. She jumped up after casting a blizzara, freezing the back of the heartless for a foothold. She hung onto the ice, swinging her keyblade at its arms. It jerked in the air attempting to fling the keyblade wielder off of itself. Rapunzel emerged from her hair cocoon, and upon seeing Kairi with much surprise, grabbed her hair and flung it like a lasso, wrapping its legs. With the help of Flynn and Cassandra, they managed to bring it crashing down to the ground. Kairi had let go, spiraling down with her keyblade into the Red Invisible's head. 

The ground puffed up with dust from the impact, and Kairi put away her keyblade as it settled. “Two down.” She pumped her arms. “We're on a roll!” 

“Well, there is the fact that a heartless closed the portal all by itself, making me think they have something planned.” Flynn said, pointing his thumb back at where the portal used to be. “But!” He adds quickly, noticing the unimpressed looks on their faces. “Maybe it's just because the heartless don't want us to have the satisfaction, and we destroyed that red one, so win-win!” He gave them a thumbs up.

Kairi shook her head lightly, a small smile gracing her lips. She waved her hand at the horses, and then they were off again. 

____________________

Flynns statement was weighing on her mind as they rode. Kairi read a lot about the heartless while she was in Master Yen Sid's tower, but right now, with the Invisible closing its own gate, seeming to stop them from doing so permanently, she was wondering if they were getting smarter, or if something actually was controlling the Pureblood Heartless. That means this must be a two pronged war, with both sides wanting something, or maybe just wanting to get the most hearts and plunge the worlds into darkness… Again. Kairi huffed, shaking her head to get back on track. Her horse stomped on an Armoured Knight the moment it popped up and continued onward, Kairi didn't react, her mind was too occupied.

They stopped when a panicked voice tinged with relief was heard from the brush. Kairi watched as an adventurous but somewhat fancy clothed dark skinned man made a beeline for Flynn. “What, Lance!? What are you doing here! I thought we told you to stay out of Corona until the heartless were handled!”

“Lance” put his hands on his knees and took a breath. “I couldn't! I can't get out, there's this weird shimmering thing at the border!”

Kairi furrowed her brows as the man recounted his experience. 

“You wouldn't believe the amount of monsters I had to run from! They're terrifying!” The man waved his arms around as he spoke, his voice becoming higher pitched as he recounted his experience. Kairi saw Donald and Goofy look at her and nod. They had the same idea.

“Excuse me, Lance, right?” Kairi asked. The man stopped his story and looked at her. He bowed and came back up with a smile. 

“Yes I am, it's great to meet you.” 

“I'm Kairi, that's Donald, and he's Goofy.” Once again, they introduced themselves to a citizen of the kingdom. Ugh, was she going to have to do this in every world? “Are you ok now?”

“No I am not.” The man surprised her with the reply. His voice was soft and happy, and he smiled. Kairi tilted her head and let out a small noise of confusion. 

“Oh, uh-” 

Flynn rolled his eyes and had Maximus trod in front of the man. “He's fine, come and get on Maximus, we'll bring you with us.” Lance was quick to climb on, sitting behind Flynn.

“Thank you! Why were you guys out here anyway?”

Kairi told him about the portals and what they were doing. He flattened his lips, but didn't ask to be taken back to the castle or to let him leave. 

Lance filled the rest of the trip with conversation, and boy, this guy could talk. Kairi was somewhat listening to him recount his tales, right now he was talking about when he and Flynn were babysitting two little children who had become thieves out of necessity to escape someone named The Baron. “And let me tell you Those two were a handful! Always managing to break out of handcuffs the second we looked away. They mellowed out after we introduced them to Rapunzel, and after a bit of trial and error we managed to get them to open up to us.” He wiped a tear that had formed in his eye. “I hope they're doing okay…”

Kairi felt the ever growing darkness as they got closer, lifting her hand to silence everyone. “The portal is up ahead, Lance, will you want to stay here with the horses? We won't hold it against you.”

Lance gave them a thumbs up and hid behind Maximus’ side. The horse rolled his eyes. 

“Stay safe, we'll be right back.” They ran through the forest as quietly as they could until they came across a massive group of heartless. Kairi and her friends hid behind the trees, peering over to Pete taking charge. 

“Who's that?” Rapunzel whispered, pointing to the large figure speaking to the pureblood heartless. 

“His name is Pete, he works with Maleficent, but how is he controlling those purebloods?” They watched for a few moments, seeing Pete grab a small board and show it to an Invisible. “I'm going in closer, stay back here.” With that, the keyblade wielder crouched low. She quietly crept around until she could hear the big oaf.

“Now you listen here! Your master has a battle plan all mapped out for the siege on Corona, and I don't want to hear any complaints!” The Invisible simply stared at him, floating lazily. “Uh… oh! see if you can find that darn Emblem heartless too, the one with the annoying shield, we're the only ones who can be allowed to control those dumb rocks.”

Kairi squinted at the big cat. He was more confident than what her friends' explanations led her to believe. The attack on Corona was worrying, she'd have to tell the King. But first, thwart Pete's plan. She stepped out of her hiding place, and the Heartless immediately locked on to her. Pete jumped at the sudden movement, looking around until he found Kairi.

“Well, well, if it isn't the little Princess of heart, where's that Sora kid, don't tell me he,” The cat gasped, planting his hands on the side of his face, then made a nasty grin. “Disappeared on ya! Heheha! Too bad Princess, looks like he won't be able to save you this time!” The man guffawed, bending over as he laughed. 

Kairi summoned her keyblade, keeping her face impassive. Her friends exited from their hiding place, surrounding the intruders from escape. Pete didn't notice as he pointed a finger at Kairi. “Too bad for you! We're gonna raze this whole place, the Darkness will restore the world to what it was!” Kairi stepped back in surprise as Pete's eyes flashed a purplish yellow. Pete didn't seem to notice, but he did notice the other five people around him. “Hey! How'd you get here!” He looked around nervously, then leapt forward when a keyblade slapped him in the back.

He grunted in pain, then turned around to see Kairi innocently smiling, though it didn't reach her eyes. “Did you trip, Pete?” She held her keyblade behind her as she feigned concern.

“Why I oughta… Heartless! destroy these brats!” The portal grew and surrounded the area, catching the heros by surprise. It was dark, only the bodies and eyes of the heartless, Pete, and the heros were visible. Kairi readied herself. She glared at the large cat, then threw her keyblade. Pete batted it out of the way, then rolled a bomb at her. She teleported to her keyblade, catching Pete by surprise. She coated her keyblade in light, performing a multi strike combo where she would throw and teleport, hitting him three times before he grabbed her on her fourth try and threw her at the horde of heartless.

“Woah!” Kairi twisted in the air, planting her boots on a Neoshadow and kicking off, Rapunzel slammed her hair down on top of it, destroying it. Kairi slammed her keyblade into a Shadow, then stabbed a Darkball. She cast an aeroga to sweep up the heartless surrounding her. She then summoned orbs of light and flew up, colliding the orbs with the swept up heartless.

She landed behind Flynn, blocking a strike with a barrier. “Hey Kairi!” He kicked a Shadow away. “Enjoying yourself? Cause I am terrified!” The two managed to break away from the horde, joining up with Donald and Goofy. 

“WIND!” Kairi once again cast Aeroga, allowing Donald to infuse the wind with fire and destroy the heartless. 

Cassandra and Rapunzel were putting up quite a fight against their group of heartless. Rapunzel had Cassandra's hand wrapped while she swung her lady in waiting around. 

Pete watched as the heartless were destroyed. His ears drooped, then straightened as he stomped on the ground. “Don't think you're out of dis yet! I'll show you!” He balled his fists, then punched out, a torrent of those strange black rocks lunged from the ground. 

The heros quickly moved out of the way to avoid being trapped by the rocks. ‘Pete can control the rocks!?’ Kairi stared at the heinous things, then slammed her keyblade against one. It bounced off, sending painful shockwaves through her arms. The rocks glowed blue, then more rose out of the ground. Kairi flipped away. “My keyblade can't cut through!”

“What!?” The shocked voices ring throughout the dark space.

Pete cackled. “Awww, can't the little keyblade wielder cut a little rock?”

“Is everyone okay!” Kairi called out, ignoring the insult, annoying Pete. He smacked his hands together in vain to catch the wielders attention. “Oi! Don't ignore me!”

“We're fine over here!” She heard Rapunzel and Donald yell out.

“I'm still in one piece!” Flynn was next, sounding winded.

“We're fine.” Cassandra said close by.

“I'm doing great!” Goofy, ever the cheerful one, yelled from further away.

Kairi breathed a sigh of relief. 

Pete stomped on the ground. “How'd ya like that! good luck getting out of there! By the time you losers get out, Corona will be wiped out-!” The heros heard Pete cry out in pain.

“You fool! You were told not to get involved with the princesses!” Kairi froze, that voice belonged to Maleficent. “Come. We're to discuss our next moves.”

“Stop!” Kairi yelled out from behind the rocks. “What are you doing here!” 

Maleficent made a non committed noise. “I do not need to answer to one so below me.” She banged her staff against the ground. “Come along, you oaf, keep them occupied with something, won't you?”

Pete chuckled. Kairi couldn't see what was happening, but she heard a dark corridor open and close. The rocks sank back into the ground, but one remained, right in front of a Possessor. “Wait-!” 

The small heartless fused into the rock, and then the ground began to shake. A clawed hand burst from the darkness, then another. They rose together, a conglomerate of those strange rocks fused together into claws. Suddenly, the arena changed, dark roots circling the gray sand. The rock the Possessor flew into rose, until the body of a snake like creature emerged. Two yellow lights were seen from the head under the horn. 

Everyone backed up as they witnessed the heartless coil up. It jerked, then rose into the air, and roared. 

“Spread out!”

The heroes closest to the monster leapt away as the first fist crashed into the sand, sending multiple grains into the air. Kairi and Donald swarmed it with spells, all of which glanced off its armor. Rapunzel, Flynn and Cassandra were at the outskirts with Goofy protecting them. A second fist slammed down near the duck, with rising rocks impaling his cape. Donald balled up to avoid the rest of the rocks.

“Wah!”

“Donald!” 

Kairi yelled out. The monster targeted her, slamming its hands into the ground repeatedly. Kairi had to slide away from the rocks jutting from the ground with each slam. She cried out in pain when it flicked its tail and she slammed into a rock. She brought up her keyblade with a desperate reflega. It battered the barrier with wild abandon. 

“Cassandra, come on!” Flynn ran with Cassandra at the monster, swinging their swords at the body. The swords shattered, but it got the monster's attention. The monster reacted quicker than they would have guessed, as it swept the two away with its tail. They hit the ground and slid away, holding their stomachs in pain. It slammed its hands down, but Goofy defended them last second. The knight deflected the attacks with his shield, the force of the fists knocking him back.

“Curaga!” Donald finally unstuck himself, casting a quick healing spell to allow their downed teammates to get away from the danger. Kairi caught its attention with a strike raid to its horn. The monster hung back and rose into the air. It then smashed its head into the ground and sank into the sand. The hands circled around them with the claws outstretched. 

Kairi focused on her hearing, noticing the small rumbles as the monster slithered through the ground. “Keep some distance from each other! I don't want that thing to get us too easily.”

“I don't think it matters how far we are from each other, that thing is huge and fast!” Flynn said. He tentatively walked around the sandy arena, flinching whenever the sand would rise. The others joined him, keeping their distance. He yelped and ducked down when a hand grabbed at him. It barely flew over, missing him by a few inches.

“Ignite!” Donald lit up the arena with an orange glow. The roots around them went up in flames. The darkness around them wavered until the sky above them turned blue. The roots burned as the trap gave way to the forest. 

They couldn't rest however, as the hands slammed down, and the monster's body emerged from the ground with the monster kicking up dust and large bits of earth. 

“Are you kidding me!?” Cassandra yelled at the creature. She then yelled to the Princess. “I think it's time you handle this!”

“What! But-”

“Don't!” Flynn interrupted. “They'll figure it out sooner or later, but we need to stop this thing now!”

“I…” Rapunzel watched wordlessly as Kairi flipped away from the hands smashing into the other. Donald was shouting something to Goofy, but the world seemed to be muted. The monster turned, looking at Rapunzel. Time seemed to slow down as the monster reached for her. Kairi was knocked away, along with Donald and Goofy when trying to stop it. Her hair glowed, then came to life, wrapping around her like it did against the Red Invisible.

“Rapunzel!” Kairi screeched as the monster reached out with its claws glowing blue, and the world faded to white.

“Oh, I always hate this part!” 

Kairi could hear her companions shout in shock as gusts of wind blew past them, gathering strength until they were lifted up off their feet by the increasing torrent of wind. Kairi stood her ground, holding her keyblade out to absorb most of the chaotic energy. She planted her feet when she felt herself sliding along the grass. Then she couldn't hold it and flew onto her back. She slid across the grass and bounced as a second wave of wind hit her. She landed hard on her stomach, taking her breath away. Kairi groaned as she propped herself up on her elbows, her eyes squinted as the light faded to reveal fallen trees and dead grass.

“Is everyone okay?” Kairi yelled out. She managed to get to her feet with some trouble, summoning her keyblade to destroy the dazed possessor that had been removed from the rock. She was answered by various conformations from behind her, and she let herself take a breath. She looked for any signs of golden hair, spotting it lying flat against the ground. Rapunzel was sitting on an exposed root with her knees up and head down. Kairi sat next to the girl and placed a hand over her back when she heard sobbing.

“Rapunzel?”

“I'm sorry for not telling you guys…” The princess sniffed and wiped her eyes. “I…” She stopped herself to take a breath. “I snuck out of the castle a while ago, and had Cassandra take me around the kingdom. We found those black rocks on a cliff, and I touched one of them. Ever since then, my hair had lost its healing abilities, but I found that it was strong, and could be used to protect my friends, family, and myself.” Flynn kneeled down next to Rapunzel and rubbed her back as she spoke. “I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but then the Heartless showed up far more often, and sometimes we would see random spots where black rocks were. I don't know why or how they're connected to me, but when we saw them utilizing those rocks, I thought it was my fault… I'm so sorry for not telling you.” She huffed. “What a “Princess of Heart” thing to do, huh.” She buried her face into her knees again and sighed.

“You told us now, didn't you?” Kairi offered her sympathy, surprising the Princess. “I get how you feel, but you shouldn't let this keep you down. Without you, we wouldn't have ever beaten that heartless. Rapunzel, you have a very great gift, don't let this get you down.”

Rapunzel sniffed, but looked up and smiled. “Ok, I won't, thank you Kairi.” Kairi reached out and Rapunzel grabbed her hand to get pulled up. “Let's get going, Lance should be able to make it to the Castle on his own safely.”

“Actually, I think we should go with him.” Kairi said. “I overheard Pete say something about attacking Corona, and with the last three portals so far from the others, I think we can leave them for now.”

“Then we're heading back to Corona.” Rapunzel agreed. They rejoined Lance at the horses and galloped toward Corona.

________________________

Kingdom of Corona:

???

“Ahh!” Two twin brothers fell to their knees. The world was spinning around them as the smoke cleared, revealing a high mountaintop. They stood up with wet coughs as fresh air hit their lungs. 

“Quickly now, the time is almost upon us.”

They froze in place, then slowly turned to face the woman with horns that freed them. She smiled at them, her eyes calculating and piercing. She seemed to glide across the rocky terrain, her bulky partner following with heavy footsteps. The brother with sideburns swallowed hard. “What do you want with us?” He asked, stuttering over his words. The one with the eyepatch squared up, bringing his fists up.

“Now now, there's no need for such frivolous affairs.” She waved her hand a group of small creatures appeared from dark spots around them. “I simply wish to have a talk.” She tapped the stone as she resumed her walk. “I'm sure it must have been so restrictive stuck in that prison, how would you like the power to keep your freedom?” She held out her hand.

“And why would we want to join you?” Sideburns asked with a glare at the witch. She answered with a laugh as thick, dark smoke surrounded them, unlike the magic that brought them here, this felt ancient, and cold. Words flashed through their minds as the wind swirled around them.

You blindly follow that which has promise, but no guarantee.

You blunder through the dark with the smallest of lights.

Can you not see… that living in darkness is your best chance at life?

We offer you a way to live, unchained by others and the rules they set.

You've lived through it before, haven't you? 

Memories flashed through their heads. When they were first starting their criminal lives, when they worked with Flynn Rider…

The brothers growled when they saw his face.

We feel your rage, your anguish.

You want revenge on Flynn Rider.

We have a way to give you that…

Only if you join us... and give yourself to darkness.

The brothers looked at each other and had a silent conversation. The dark fog dispersed, then converged into a smaller mass of flame like fog, the silhouette of a figure hidden inside it, its gaze burning into their own. Words flashed through their minds again.

Your betrayer has found himself a light.

One that he follows without question.

One that he loves.

“Princess Rapunzel…” Sideburns realized, remembering their last encounter.

We offer you an escape from the monotony.

Assist us in capturing the light of this world, and we will grant you the power you deserve…

Eyepatch nodded to his brother. Sideburns felt the same. “We'll help you, just tell us what you need.”

Maleficent laughed heartily. “That, my dears, will be where I come in…”

The brothers watched as a small snowflake floated down in front of them.

Chapter Text

Chapter five

Kingdom of Corona

“I see…” The King brought a hand to his beard and stroked it thoughtfully. 

The sun was setting when Kairi and her group had returned to the Castle, and Kairi had immediately ran to the King to inform him about Maleficent's plan and the fact that no one could leave Corona. She waited for the King to speak again.

He sighed, shaking his head. “This is worrying, we may need to lock down the Kingdom. But with the barrier surrounding us, we'd soon run out of food and supplies if it persisted for too long.” His eyes closed and he held his hand to his head. The Queen placed a comforting hand on his leg, which he smiled at. 

The Queen acknowledged Kairi with a nod. “We appreciate all that you've done for us, and for continuing to do so. If you would accept, we will grant you the highest authority, second only to the royal family, so that you can take these matters into your own hands to solve as you will. We trust that you will bring this calamity to an end and keep our people safe.”

The King then acknowledged Donald and Goofy. “If you will allow us to, Donald and Goofy, we would ask that you become a temporary ,” He enunciated, “guard here, we have noticed that you both have a rigid sense of duty, and that you are trained well. We would appoint you two to work with the Captain and prepare our men to defeat this Heartless threat.”

The King finished his speech, and the room quieted. The trio looked at each other in shock.

“Your Majesty, could we think about this?”

“Of course, we know you have duties elsewhere, and we wouldn't want you to feel shackled here.”

Kairi bowed, followed by Donald and Goofy and they left the chambers.

“Rapunzel, if you would-”

The doors closed, and Kairi put her hands over her face with a small groan. “This whole adventure has been nothing but trouble.” She threw her arms up. “First we have a heartless that can't get hurt, then those dumb rocks, then Pete and Maleficent! Not to mention other things we can't talk about in present company!”

The girl let her hands down. “What do you guys usually do? I'm sure Sora’s been in this position, right?”

Goofy scratched his head. “Well, we were in an army, but we’re not really sure what to do here.”

“We should take it! Goofy and I are familiar with training knights, and you could join us if you don't want all that authority!” Donald offered with his finger raised. Kairi hummed in thought and crossed her arms.

“But we won't be able to find the keyhole if we're too occupied, one of us needs to be free…” Kairi sighed. “Alright, I do think training the guards will be a good choice, but I'll just take the investigation, I don't feel comfortable being so high in power.”

They stopped and Goofy put a hand on her shoulder. “A-hyuck! I'm sure you'd do great! You've been leading us really well during our time here.” Goofy said joyfully. Kairi smiled, thanking him for the support.

“Alright, we'll tell the King later, right now though, I'm really tired.”

No sooner had she said that, had a finger tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped and turned around to see a young woman in a handmaid's dress with large, noticeable eyes. Donald and Goofy peered from behind Kairi with confused looks.

“Um, hi there, I'm Kairi, do you work here?” Kairi mentally slapped herself but reached out with her hand with an awkward smile. The handmaid didn't speak but gripped her hand and shook it. She had a strong grip that surprised the keyblade wielder, but they soon stopped, and the handmaid gestured for them to follow her. Kairi looked back at Donald and Goofy with a shrug that they returned and followed the handmaid.

It was quiet while they walked. With an occasional attempt to strike up any conversation falling flat. After a few minutes, the handmaid stopped at an open door and stepped aside. She bowed and lifted her hand at the room with three beds and lavish decorations. The trio thanked the maid, who only stared silently, then walked away. 

Kairi closed the door and fell onto a bed with a relieved sigh. “Goodnight, guys…”

“Goodnight!”

“Sleep well!”

Kairi pulled the blankets over herself and closed her eyes, falling asleep soon after. 

_________________________

Falling… 

Falling……

Falling?

Kairi opened her eyes to see nothing but darkness. Her body felt weightless as she descended to wherever she was going. ‘What… Is this?’ She could feel herself falling faster now, and a bright patch in the darkness gradually grew. The area grew warm and she slowed down to turn over gently so she could land on her feet. The girl turned her head every which way, and each sight granted nothing but darkness. She grimaced and looked down to see many colors of stained glass in the image of… Her?

Kairi widened her eyes in shock. She walked around to peer over the edge. She walked back to the middle and examined the glass closely. What could this place be? She saw Sora in a portrait closest to her, nearing her head. Riku was just below Sora. Lea was next to Riku, and Namine was in between Lea and Sora. 

The more she explored, the more colors and intricate design stood out. The colors were a mix of white, pink, and blue for the surrounding glass, with 4 sections disregarding the section her friend's were in. Kairi and her friend's portraits were colored in their likeness exactly. Kairi's stained glass self took up a large portion of the… platform? Was that what she was on? 

Her glass selves' eyes were closed. The body was like it was leaning against a wall with her hands clasped together.

Surrounding the edge of the platform were more portraits, though these held only paopu fruits and heart shapes, one following the other.

Kairi let out a breath. ‘Don't get overwhelmed, this is just a dream.’ The girl thought to herself. She brought her hands to her mouth and yelled out. “HELLO! IS ANYONE HERE!?”

Of course no one answered. Kairi sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She reached out with her hands and summoned her keyblade. ‘Still have it, great, but how do I wake up from this?’ She dismissed her keyblade and walked around for some time, or maybe it was just a few seconds? She didn't really know if this place had the concept. 

“Kairi?”

“Huh?” Kairi turned around at the sudden voice, seeing a girl with blonde hair and a white dress. She smiled, running up to her old friend. “Namine! What are you doing here?”

Namine shrugged. “Well, I was sleeping at the Mansion in Twilight Town, and then I felt a tug after I closed my eyes. I woke up here, but I'm not exactly sure why I'm here either.”

Kairi stretched her arms out. “It's great to see you again anyway, how are you? And the others?”

They hugged for a moment, then released each other and held hands. “It's good to see you too, Kairi.” She looked around the strange place with a thoughtful look. “Roxas and Xion are resting, they've been having me go through their memories to help Sora for so long, they deserve it. Lea and Isa take care of them very well.” She spoke fondly. Then she looked worried as she looked around again. “Is this… your Dive?

“Say again?” The red head tilted her head confused. “Dive?”

“Your “Dive to the Heart,” Namine said. “I remember meeting Sora somewhere like this when he was trying to save everyone. And I saw Roxas go through it too…” She removed her hands from Kairi's to rub her chin in thought. 

“So, this is my heart?” Kairi asked with wonder.

Namine shook her head. “No, I-I mean, maybe?" she took another look around. "If it was, there wouldn't be all this darkness around us surely, and I'm not even sure you're supposed to have a Dive.” She said, scratching the back of her hand. “I'm not even sure why I'm- can you feel that?” The blonde switched topics quickly, her head jerking up and scanning her surroundings.

Kairi summoned her keyblade and readied herself. “What are you feeling? I can't feel anything.” Kairi warned as she positioned herself in front of Namine. 

“It feels like something... horrible is coming together… But not here, where-” Namine gasped, and she ran towards the edge, where steps rose from the darkness. “Come on!”

Kairi went after Namine as dark, wispy tendrils reached from under the platform and spread across the glass. Kairi saw them consume Sora's portrait first, and a sharp pain erupted in her chest. Kairi faintly heard her name, and then she was pulled over to a new platform. The stairs disappeared before the darkness could infect them, and so the darkness simply rested, invisible against the backdrop.

Kairi coughed, unaware of the breath she had been holding. With Namine's help, she recovered fairly quickly. The red haired girl looked at the glass they were on, noting the purples and yellows, with hints of black and white, she recognized the person depicted. 

Namine takes a deep breath and speaks. “The darkness feels like it's trying to forcefully claw its way in, not in the way Riku or Terra have spoken about it.” She worriedly looked at the stained glass. “Kairi, do you know this person? They're so radiant, and I'm wondering how the darkness is here at all.”

Kairi nods. “This is Princess Rapunzel of Corona, she's one of the new Princesses of Heart.” She explained. “But,” She adds, noticing the worried look growing on Namine's face. “She's really strong, I don't think the darkness will be able to get through.”

“That's not what I'm worried about, This darkness isn't natural, it's trying to force its way in. In a much less animalistic way then heartless or regular darkness” She clicked her tongue. “I can't quite place it, but it feels so much more sinister and intelligent. We need to purge the darkness here right now, or Rapunzel could be destroyed, and this whole world along with her.”

Kairi stared at her friend in horror as the idea flickered in her mind. Kairi stood up with Namine and gripped her keyblade. It shone brilliantly. “Stay close.”

They walked to the middle of the platform to ready themselves. Rapunzel was holding a bright flower in her hands with her eyes closed. In the portraits next to her lay her parents, Flynn, Cassandra, and a black haired woman.

Namine narrowed her eyes at the woman as memories flashed through her mind. “That must be Mother Gothel.”

“Yeah, how'd you know?

Namine giggled. “Sora's memories, they're pretty connected to Rapunzel's, shows how memorable he is, huh?”

“Yeah, he is…” Kairi smiled softly.

The moment was interrupted when they heard glass cracking. Sharp black rocks climbed the pillar and crept up to the edge until it was stopped by a shield of light. Kairi grit her teeth and focused on herself, lighting up her keyblade with massive amounts of light. “Namine! Tell me how far the rocks are coming along! we can't let them break through!”

“Kairi!”

Kairi looked over and saw a piece of the pillar collapse. The sound of shattering glass assaulted their ears, but Kairi was able to stay focused as she poured more light into her keyblade. 

Namine stepped away from the broken portion when she noticed the flower in Rapunzel's hands growing. ‘It's reacting to Kairi… but, this doesn't feel like the light in Kairi.’ She gasped as the flower rose, becoming real and emitting waves of light to combat the darkness. “Kairi! Keep going, Rapunzel is helping!”

Kairi looked over to see the flower, and smiled with confidence. She closed her eyes to focus, feeling the light course through her heart.

Namine took a breath, and looked into the darkness. ‘The darkness here is ancient, but why is it only acting now?’

Witch, do you seek to oppose us?

The blonde froze in place as the words flashed through her mind. Her eyes widened in fear.

Leave this place, we are only after the lights, you need not share their fate.

‘Where are you, who are you?’ Namine answered back. ‘Leave us alone!’

We are the truth of these worlds, we are the balance, the lights have overstepped their boundaries, we simply seek to rectify their mistakes.

Namine shook from the power she felt, wishing she had her cards with her. She walked to Kairi and put a hand on her shoulder. “Kairi! This is a trap! We need to get out of here!”

“We can't, not yet! Rapunzel still needs us!”

Namine closed her mouth and nodded. ‘We're not leaving, go away!’ She thought at the voice. She felt the inside of her head wobble, and then the voice spoke again.

We are disappointed in you, witch.

So be it.

More rocks peeked over the edge as they came crashing forward. Kairi and the flower shined bright. Namine clutched her hand to her chest as the rocks broke through the shield and went straight for them. Namine crossed her arms in front of her and she closed her eyes with a yelp. 

The sound of the broken glass and rocks shooting from the ground stopped suddenly, and Namine opened her eyes slowly. The platform was fixed, and the rocks had disappeared. The only difference was that the flower had stayed, and simply floated there, wafting vapors of light. The surrounding blackness had also been replaced with a golden shine, with many clouds floating around. 

“Namine… you ok?” Kairi breathed out. She was sitting on the glass breathing heavily. 

“Kairi! I'm fine, but what about you?”

“I'm ok, just tired. I told you Rapunzel was strong enough… heh.” Namine helped her friend up, and then she felt her head shake violently.

YOU HAVE RUINED THE BALANCE

THE LIGHT IS TOO MUCH FOR ONE HEART TO CONTAIN

Namine clutched her head and fell to her knees with a cry of pain. Kairi looked at her with concern and ran over to place a hand on her shoulder. “Namine! what's happening!?”

THE LIGHT IS CONFINED, TRAPPED IN THIS WORTHLESS BODY

THIS WORLD WILL FALL TO DARKNESS

YOU HAVE MADE YOUR CHOICE

Namine struggled to open her eyes, the onslaught of pain from the words being implanted into her head was too much.

You have outstayed your welcome, Witch.

Begone.

The words suddenly relaxed, then were gone entirely, and Namine could focus. Kairi was looking at her with worry. Then her vision was flickering. She widened her eyes and grabbed Kairi's hand urgently, “Listen to me! Rapunzel's light isn't the only light she has!” She gasped as another flicker appeared. Kairi could see the same, seeing as she put a hand on her head while looking uncomfortable. “The darkness is trying to swallow both of them, and yours! You need to protect her!”

“How do you know- aghh! I can barely think!” Kairi squeezed her eyes shut at the flickering and influx of pain. Namine's voice was growing more distant.

“Something was speaking to me during the attack! The world is in danger, the voice threatened that it was falling to darkness! Find the keyhole! lock it before-”

____________________

Kairi awoke with a gasp. She sat up, sweaty and gasping for air. She grabbed at her chest and coughed, the effects of that strange place evidently affecting her. 

Her actions woke Donald and Goofy, who had summoned their weapons and went to her sides. 

“Kairi, ya alright? What happened?”

Kairi leapt off her bed and summoned her keyblade and reached for the door, breathing heavily. 

“Kairi?” Donald questioned with worry.

Kairi held the door handle tightly, Namine's words keeping her still and quiet. ‘What did she mean by Rapunzel having more than one light? And that voice she had speaking to her…’

“Rapunzel is in danger, come on.” She opened the door and ran out with Donald and Goofy hot on her heels. The moon gave them enough light through the windows to see clearly as they ran through the castle halls. They turned the corner to see a tall man with orange hair and a scar across his cheek carrying a sleeping Rapunzel under his arm. 

“Hey! Stop right there!” Kairi shouted. The man looked over in surprise, and then snarled, turning the other way and running. Kairi cast a blizzara at his feet, but he evaded and turned a corner. The trio gave chase immediately and quickly caught up.

The kidnapper started knocking down statues and curtains to keep his chasers off of him, causing a ruckus and waking up the residents of the castle. 

“What is going o-WOAH!” Flynn barely avoided a swipe of a sword from the strange man by leaping back into his room. He peaked out to see Kairi and her companions pass by. He grabbed a sword and joined the chase. “How'd he get in!” He said through clenched teeth

“He's empowered by darkness, he must be working with Maleficent!”

"Well isn't that just wonderful!"

The man grabbed a bust from one of the pedestals and threw it at a window to shatter it. When he got to the window, he snapped his fingers and some Shadows and Neoshadows rose from the ground. He climbed on top of the window sill and grabbed at a piece of rope with a hook to slide down. 

Dark flames rose behind them and covered the window. Kairi grunted in annoyance and unleashed a powerful blast of light that destroyed the Shadows and stunned the Neoshadows.

“Haaa-ah!” She spun her keyblade horizontally while casting an aeroga, creating a spiral that sucked up the heartless and flung them into the walls and floor. 

“More are coming, they're surrounding us!” Flynn shouted out. He sidestepped a stomp from a Neoshadow and stabbed its head. 

Donald's staff lit up and he floated in the air. “Flare!” Fireworks popped into existence to fly through the air and blow up on the heartless surrounding them.

Goofy had been knocking the heartless into the air with his shield as Donald cast his flare spell, then spun around quickly, gathering the heartless on his shield.

The colorful explosions filled the hallway, then the smoke dissipated, revealing an unobstructed window. Kairi immediately made for the window, jumping out and using her keyblade as a makeshift zip line. Flynn watched as she slid along the rope with an exasperated expression. “How do you guys do that?” He said while catching his breath.

As Kairi slid along the rope, the Stabbington brother had already landed on a roof. He looked back to see Kairi gaining on him. He growled as he saw Kairi and cut the rope, causing the keyblade wielder to let go of the rope. Kairi threw her keyblade mid air and teleported to it. She stuttered along, feeling the cold wind on her face. 

Donald and Goofy watched as she blinked around, and went to head out.

“Come on! Rapunzel needs help!”

“Wait a moment! Hold on!” Flynn got in front of them and waved his hands frantically

“Hey! What's the big idea!” Donald shouted angrily.

“I know that man,” Flynn explained quickly. “a-and his twin, I've, uh, dealt with them before.” Flynn pointed at the nearest corner. “And if I know them, it's that they never do anything on their own, his brother might be going after the king and queen, come on, we'll bring Cassandra if we run into her!” 

“But what about Kairi!”

“I'm sure she can handle herself, The Stabbingtons have been rotting away in prison for a while, so what if they have terrifying dark powers! right? She looks better at combat than most of the guards!” He reasoned with them, already making his way towards the royal bedroom. Donald and Goofy looked at eachother with worry, but a crash in the castle could be heard. They followed after Flynn, knowing that if the King and Queen were also in danger, they'd make sure the family was safe.

_____________________

Kairi Threw her keyblade into the ground in front of the Stabbington, stopping him in his tracks. He grunted with surprise when Kairi appeared out of nowhere.

“Stop right there! Put the princess down gently! Right now!”

“Or what? You don't look all that tough.” The man wrapped darkness around Rapunzel, floating her to a wall where she stuck. With a draw of his sword, the man infused the blade with darkness, and smiled crookedly at Kairi. “Get out of my way, we're here for the Princess, not some brat.”

Kairi narrowed her eyes, then pointed the keyblade behind her. A wall of light appeared, and then another behind the Stabbington brother. He looked up as yet another flash of light trapped him in. Kairi frowned at the man and readied herself. “This “brat” won't let you take the Princess, surrender peacefully or I'll make you surrender.” She emphasized her speech with a jab of her keyblade and kept it pointed at him. "Now." The man simply huffed out a chuckle and started to seep darkness from his free hand.

“Alright then.” With no more words to exchange, He thrust his hand forward, and a sweeping wave of darkness engulfed the area in front of him. Kairi wrapped a barrier around herself, then leapt over the attack and slashed at the Stabbington with her keyblade. He brought his sword up quickly, but was disarmed from the force of the attack. Kairi continued with an onslaught of slashes and jabs aimed for the man's upper body. 

The man avoided some of the attacks, but a slam from Kairi's keyblade had him fall onto the ground. He grit his teeth as he rolled onto his side, feeling the sting in both his stomach and back. He threw his hand back then clenched his fist. Kairi ducked under an ice block, then blocked a dark claw. After a tense standoff, she pushed her enemy away from her, then pummeled him with small orbs of light.

With a twirl of her keyblade, the tip glowed orange. “Burn!” Kairi threw her keyblade at the man. He rolled to the side with a shout of surprise, then countered with multiple shards of ice. Kairi deflected them quickly, but caught a knee to her stomach from his sudden rush. She rolled along the ground, losing her grip on her keyblade. She rolled onto her feet and summoned her weapon again and yelled out. “Stop!” She raised her keyblade high, and a clock like image appeared around the Stabbington and he froze mid cast. His face was twisted in a snarl and his eyes crazed with dark power.

Kairi then struck the man with quick and powerful attacks as he was stuck there. She ended her combo with a large light blast. She took heavy breaths, then she quickly went over to Rapunzel. She pointed her keyblade at the darkness and freed her with a flash of light.

Rapunzel's eyes fluttered open. She took in the scenery, then looked at Kairi. Her eyes opened wide and she sat up urgently, swinging her head to look at the space they were in. “What, where? What's going on? Kairi?” 

“A kidnapping attempt… I got him.” Kairi pointed her thumb at the frozen man, who suddenly collapsed. 

“How…?”

“Just some stopping power.” Kairi smiled as if she had told a joke, Rapunzel didn't get it. “Although I'm still getting the hang of it.” She Awkwardly rolled her shoulders, then offered a hand for Rapunzel to take. 

“Princess Rapunzel! Madame Kairi!” A large number of guards arrived, with most of them surrounding the downed kidnapper. A young guard had walked up to them. “Are you alright? We came as soon as we heard a commotion, but some kind of wall kept us out.”

“That was me, sorry.” Kairi scratched the back of her head with a tense laugh. “I didn't want that guy to escape.”

“We understand madame.” The guard looked around. “Did your other friends come with you?”

“We got separated when that guy escaped through the window.” Kairi hummed and crossed her arms, taking a look at the fallen man again. "you guys said there were two brothers, right?"

__________________

“AHHHHHHHHH!” Eugene was thoroughly regretting taking Goofy's “shortcut”. Eugene had wondered what he meant, especially since Goofy wouldn't know where the royal bedroom was. It didn't take long for the man to realize they would be sliding on a SHIELD. But why worry? His sidekicks could handle this. Eugene held onto Goofy as he gave directions.

“Turn left!” Eugene pointed at the next junction. Goofy somehow managed to turn sharply, leading them into a scene of destruction. Windows were cracked or broken, paintings were scattered and destroyed. Eugene felt a pang of worry in his heart, hoping they could go faster. A few maids and butlers were cleaning up as they passed by, and Goofy had to maneuver around them.

“The next two turns will get us to the King and Queen! get ready!”

“Right!”

“Ok!”

Eugene clenched his hands nervously as they came upon the final turn and saw the doors to the bedroom blown open. He could hear shouting and items being thrown. He gripped the sword’s handle tightly. He could see the other twin with a sword as black as a starless sky, with dark vapors radiating off his shoulders.

“You stay away from us!” Eugene heard the king say. 

Eugene, Donald and Goofy quickly hopped off the shield.

Goofy grabbed his shield, and with a loud yell, threw it at the man's head. “Here comes!”

“Huh? Hm-!” The man turned around, revealing an eyepatch over one eye. His remaining eye widened when the shield attempted to bash him. He raised his arms to absorb the blow and flew back into the wall.

“Your Majesties! Are you both okay?” 

“Yes, you got here just in time.” The Queen looked at the man struggling to get up with pity. “To think he would attempt such a heinous thing, Is Kairi ok? I don't see her with you.”

“She went after Rapunzel! The other twin took her!” Donald answered, stamping his foot on the ground. The King and Queen opened their mouths in shock. 

“What!? Those blasted-!” The King was interrupted by the Stabbington lobbing a ball of darkness at him. 

“I don't think so!” Goofy blocked the attack with his shield and glared at the attacker. 

The sounds of boots on carpet signaled the guards arriving, led by the Captain. He got in front of the Royal family while his men surrounded them. “Your Majesties, come with us, we'll get you out of here”

Eugene stepped in front along with Donald, and readied his weapon. “Keep the Royal family safe, we'll deal with this guy.”

“Right, come with us!” The guards quickly ushered the King and Queen out of the room. 

Eugene stared down at the Stabbington. “So, Patchy! Great to see you again! how's life?”

The one eyed man scoffed and rose, using the wall for support. Darkness once again took hold, and a purple flame flickered to life along his blade. With a sudden flare of darkness, he seemed to recover and swept his sword, then kept it at his side. 

“Donald, Goofy. Let's take him down.”

They both nodded, and the fight began. Patchy slid across the room with a stab at Eugene, which Goofy intercepted. Eugene stepped to the side and brought his blade down. Patchy blocked it, then swept Eugene away with a strong wind. Eugene cried out in pain from slamming into a wardrobe, but recovered quickly.

“Fira!” Donald cast a fire ball that burst against the Stabbington’s back, followed by Goofy throwing his shield at his shoulder. He yelled out as it slammed into him, with Eugene rushing over with an overhead swing. Patchy met the blade with his own, but the sudden speed had caused his blade to break. Eugene side stepped the broken blade, then thrust forward. “Take this!”

With a snarl, Patchy cast aside his sword and used the darkness to block the strike, then he balled up his fist, ready to strike, only to be stopped by Donald casting a gravity spell. He fell to the floor hard, smacking his head against the carpet. His darkness flared again, and he sent a wall of ice at the trio. 

“Look out!” Goofy shouted. He stood in front of his friends with his shield glowing and met the onslaught of ice in a stalemate. The trio groaned as the ice pushed against the shield, then the wall shattered from the pressure, and the bits crashed into the wall, destroying it with a loud crash. 

_______________

Kairi turned her head up when she heard a loud crash and gasped as parts of the castle came away. “Mom, Dad!” Rapunzel cried out and took shaky steps that gained momentum with each step out of desperation.

There was a clamor of noise from the guards and from the citizens exiting their homes hearing the commotion. Kairi followed after the Princess when she started making her way to the castle until a dark ball of fire passed between them and hit the stone, stopping them in their tracks.

“Hey! He's getting up!” 

“Stop him!” The young man from before had yelled out.

The guards shouted as the man with sideburns punched the ground and pushed himself up. They raised their weapons and surrounded him again, but he went on the offensive, rapidly taking them down. Kairi summoned her keyblade and stood between Rapunzel and the man. 

“Rapunzel, go! I'll take him down.” She said urgently. Rapunzel ran, leaving Kairi. 

The man with sideburns grabbed a fallen sword and glared at the girl. Kairi met him with a glare of her own, gripping her keyblade as the man let out a yell and charged. She grit her teeth and raised her keyblade, but was left in confusion when a dark corridor opened up to swallow him whole. 

Kairi looked around slowly, her eyes rapidly flickering around. When he didn't show signs of returning, she healed the guards with a quick cura and hurried to the castle.

The doors were ajar, and two guards were laying on the ground. Kairi knelt down to roll them onto their backs and was relieved when she heard their breathing. She cast another cure spell and ran inside, where Cassandra was leaning against the wall with help from the Princess.

“Cassandra! Are you alright?”

She rolled her shoulder and frowned. “No, I heard a commotion outside and went to investigate, then that Stabbington brother with the eyepatch walked in, covered in some dark stuff.” She shook her head and growled. “He got the best of me and went that way. Kairi, he might be going after the King and Queen, find their bedroom, he's probably already there.”

“Don't worry, I'll be right there.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small bottle filled with greenish blue liquid and offered it to Cassandra. “Here, drink this, and then find somewhere to hide Rapunzel, I'll be back.” 

“Take care!”

Kairi waved behind her as she rushed off, keyblade held to her side. She followed the sounds of fighting until she rounded a corner and almost slammed into the Captain of the guard. 

“Your Majesties! Thank goodness you're ok!” She said relieved. Looking at the group, she noticed the lack of three others. “Your Majesties, are Donald, Goofy and Flynn still fighting?”

“Yes, in our bedroom.” The King said with a nod. A crash sounded from deep within the castle. “They may want your assistance soon, however.”

Kairi nods and begins to run, calling over her shoulder. “Cassandra has Rapunzel, see if you can find her!” She turns a corner and disappears from the group's gaze.

______________

Cold wind swept into the room, loud and wailing as streams of snowflakes floated through as the fight continued. Patchy yelled out and covered his fists in darkness, throwing punches recklessly at Goofy. He dodged and blocked them, but the last two punches knocked his shield away and caught his chest. He stumbled and fell backwards with a cry of pain.

 “Goofy!” Donald shouted.  “You ok!?” A thumbs up eased his fears, but anger flashed through his eyes. Wind and lightning converged around his staff as he let out a forceful yell. “STORM!”

The two elements combined and struck the orange haired man directly, and the room lit up in a bright flash. Patchy screamed as the electricity arced through him and the wind carried him to the ceiling, then had him slam into the floor. 

Patchy rolled onto his side and propped himself up on his elbow with a grunt. He glared at the heroes and bared his teeth, clenching his fist tightly. He stood up again, but his hands were twitching erratically. 

“Everyone, I’m here!” Kairi entered the room and was taken aback by the destruction, but she readied herself when she spied the one eyed man.

Flynn laughed in disbelief, and pointed his sword at Patchy. “It is so good to see you Kairi, this man is awful at interior design.”

“I can see that…” She said blandly, keeping her eyes on their enemy. She sharpened her gaze. “Give up, we have you surrounded.”

Patchy stepped back, then took another, and a third one. Kairi grit her teeth as she realized what he was doing and ran at him along with her friends. “Stop!”

A dark corridor formed behind him and he ran in. Kairi tried to follow him, but the portal closed before she could. She slid to a stop and dismissed her keyblade with a sigh. “Is everyone ok?”

“A few bumps, maybe a few bruises, we're fine, you, and Rapunzel?”

Kairi put her thumb up. “Rapunzel and her family are ok too, Rapunzel is with Cassandra, and the King and Queen-.” 

“Are with the guards, phew.” Flynn interjected with a sigh of relief. He wiped his forehead and stared out the hole in the wall. “Did you get the sideburns guy?”

Kairi rubbed the back of her head. “No… Maleficent most likely brought him back before we could fight again.”

Flynn clicked his tongue. “That's alright, all that matters is the royal family is safe.” He rubbed his eyes as fatigue set in and he yawned. “We should go check up on them.”

The trio nodded, and they left the room. Kairi stayed in the back as they walked, taking out her gummiphone discreetly. She turned it on, and pressed the book icon. She pressed a few more icons until a picture of Maleficent showed up. She clicked her portrait and read about all the information that was gathered on her. It was an interesting read, but not much that would say why she would kidnap a family. 

She hid her gummiphone as soon as she saw butlers, handmaidens, and guards cleaning up. The group immediately began helping, placing columns upright, and placing the broken statues into a cart. Kairi scanned the hall as they resumed their walk, noticing cracked walls, ripped carpet, and broken statues. She frowned. “What was his purpose here? If he wanted to kidnap the royals, why not be discreet? Cassandra told me he walked right through the front door.”

“That is weird…” Flynn admitted. He rubbed his chin. ”From what I know they're usually the type that takes the sneaky approach, maybe all that darkness got to him.”

“I was thinking about that too…” Kairi said, walking faster to keep pace. “With what I've known about Maleficent, she's usually the type to intervene when we're doing something, spout some nonsense about how great she is, and then leave the heartless to cause trouble. Now though, it seems like she's taking a back seat.”

Goofy interjected, putting his pointer finger up. “Hmm, maybe she's tryin to put together a team! She had one with a few other people during our first adventure with Sora I think.” 

“Or maybe she's part of one already, but she's not the leader.” The keyblade wielder said.

Donald gawked at her.  “Not the leader! Maleficent? That's worrying.”

“Someone else might be giving her instructions?”

Kairi shrugged, unsure. Flynn slumped his shoulders with a small groan. “This just keeps getting worse!” Kairi got in front of him and held up her hands.

“Hold on, we just stopped her from kidnapping Rapunzel and her parents.” She said, calming him down. She continued. “if anything, she'll have to take a backseat to figure out another plan, we just need to be patient and watchful, and I've been meaning to ask you something, all of you.”

“What is it?”

“Well, uh, How do I put this…” She touched her chin for a moment, then nodded to herself. “In each, uh, nation, there's this thing called a keyhole, it leads to the heart of the w-nation, right?” She looked over at Donald and Goofy, who nodded. “Right, and so the heartless are drawn to it, they get in, they destroy your wo-nation, and everyone along with it.”

“That's… huh.” Flynn blinked. “This keyhole, is Maleficent after it?”

“It didn't seem like it, but we can't count it out… Would you have any ideas where the Keyhole could be?”

Flynn thought for a moment, then went to speak, only to rethink. He was hesitating each time he would try to answer, until finally he said. “The tower could maybe have held it, I bet Rapunzel would know, I wasn't there much. Bad memories.” He held his stomach, a brief flash of pain highlighted on his face.

Kairi stared in wonder, but Flynn didn't elaborate, instead listing off a few other places. Kairi took out her notebook and wrote them down. A mine, Old Corona, the kingdom. Three points of interest besides the tower, although with that one... “We won't be able to check the tower, it's blocked off for us.”

“What? Seriously?” They resumed their walk and Kairi told him what had happened after they arrived.

He thought deeply when she mentioned the barrier, but shook his head. “Nope, I got nothing, but that's strange, it should still be in the boundaries of Corona. We might be trapped in our kingdom right now, but the tower might be guarded by someone who doesn't want anyone there.”

Kairi nodded in agreement. “That makes sense, but makes finding the keyhole harder.” She put her notebook away and muttered to herself, thinking back to the darkness Namine and herself had seen in Rapunzel's heart. With a quick shake of her head, she looked out of the windows as they passed by, and a deep dread filled her heart.

_____________________

Kingdom of Corona: 

???

Maleficent glowered at the distant castle, surrounded by a red dome radiating heat. Snowflakes were falling rapidly, almost covering the castle from her view. Heavy footsteps stopped beside her.

The cat man stared at her for a moment while he waited for her to acknowledge him. Maleficent closed her eyes. “What is it?”

“Those doofuses messed up!” He folded his arms and scowled. “We gave them power, taught them how to control it, and they can't even do a simple task!” He shook his head wildly in frustration. "They didn't have ta fight those morons, but they did anyway!"

“I am aware.” She said coldly, snapping her eyes open to glare at her subordinate.

Pete flinched at her steely tone, shrinking in on himself. He tried to speak, stumbling over himself, but could only twiddle his thumbs.

The witch tapped her staff against the stone uncovered by snow. “They may not have kidnapped the princess, but have you noticed?”

“Whuzzat?” Pete looked around, then shrugged when he couldn't find anything. Maleficent scowled and turned on her henchman. He stepped back quickly, throwing up his hands. She scoffed. 

“Don't be such a coward you oaf, look to the sky.”

He did so, and looked on in shock as a plate of darkness was revealed to him. It was darker than the night sky, even covered with dark clouds billowing snow, it looked like he was staring into an abyss. It started to spread silently, encompassing the sky above the clouds in its inky blackness, with a harsh purple undertone. Pete trembled at the power, while Maleficent's face had split with maniacal grin, and had begun cackling.

“What…” His voice shook more than his body, and he stumbled over his words. “What…what is that?” 

A dark flame appeared over the open air, and it stared at the sky. Its body flared, and a wave of darkness spread to the sky.  The witch ceased her laughter and gripped her staff as the darkness formed into a whirlpool, revealing deep blue and purple veins spread like lightning across the muted blue of the whirlpool.

The Darkness formed behind the two and subdued its flames. 

It is an incursion, wrought by the lingering darkness from the Realm of Darkness’ claws.

Pete felt the ground around him part, and many black rocks broke free. They glowed blue, then dimmed. 

Wicked Witch.

Maleficent straightened herself at the Darkness’ call. Her eyes were unblinking.

The twins have sown the seeds of darkness despite their failure, prepare for the next stage.

The Darkness disappeared, and Pete let go of a breath he'd been holding. “That thing gives me the creeps.” 

Maleficent hummed, turning back to look at the Kingdom. 

“So, uh, what's the next stage?”

“We will grant the princess a… healthy amount of responsibility;" She covered her mouth with her hand while she chuckled. "And begin the process to recruit another to our cause. Stay here and keep the brothers out of trouble, I will be in old Corona for a time after I meddle in their affairs.” She lifted her robed arms and laughed, before vanishing from sight with a flash of bright green flames.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: Darkened Skies

Realm of Darkness

In the Realm of Darkness, Ventus had come to learn one thing.

The Realm of Darkness was awful, totally and completely awful. He smacked away an annoyingly low hanging branch as he climbed the slope, using his keyblade to stab into the ground for purchase. He finally made it to the top and dismissed his keyblade, standing in between the jagged opening of the mountain. He looked back and offered a hand to his friends, helping Aqua up first, then using her help to grab Terra. While the two regained their bearings, Ventus scanned the terrain of the next area, hundreds of warped trees surrounding a large clearing. He looked closer at the clearing and recoiled in horror at the sight of some kind of portal. “Terra, Aqua! Come look at this!”

His friends looked up from their spot on the ground and when their eyes beheld the portal, they quickly got to their feet to get a better look.

Dozens of heartless were entering the portal, a writhing mass of yellow, black, and purple converging. Ventus grit his teeth behind his helmet and clenched his fists. “Come on! We have to stop them!” He summoned his keyblade with a sharp flash and ran down the mountain. Terra and Aqua followed after, the clanking of their armor mixing with the soft squish of the ground. Ventus threw his keyblade forward, then came back around like a boomerang and passed him. It came back behind him and in a bright flash, transformed into a large hoverboard. He jumped up and landed on it, zooming down the mountain.

He heard the telltale sounds of his friends transform their own keyblades into their gliders and catch up. The hum of their gliders accompanied them as they neared the horde of heartless. 

Ventus jumped up and transformed his keyblade back to its original form. With his arms outstretched, he freely fell down with transparent, shimmering swords appearing at his back that spread out and spun like a shimmering disk. 

Terra rammed through the heartless with his glider, turning sharply to catch more heartless with the drift.

Aqua drifted around the outside, using her glider to launch arrows of light that exploded against their flanks.

Ventus coated himself in light and crashed into the middle of the horde in a brilliant explosion of bright colors. Hearts floated up from the heartless and filled the void in the sky. The boy clashed with an Invisible, their blades meeting each other again and again. Ventus ducked under a swipe, then jumped back when the Invisible stabbed into the ground. He slashed through some smaller heartless trying to surround him, then called out to Terra. “Terra! Trade!” 

Terra flew at the Invisible with haste, giving the heartless only a second to lift up its sword. Terra crashed into it, lifting it high into the sky. Aqua noticed the heartless and destroyed it with an arrow of light. Terra turned and waved at Aqua, then transformed his keyblade from his glider to a cannon. “Ven, get out of the way!” 

Ventus blasted a few Flutterings and turned to see Terra spooling his cannon. Ventus Jumped backwards with a flip, casting an Aeroza and sweeping the heartless into the vortex. The boy landed next to Aqua as she came to a stop, who proceeded to cast a Stopga.

After Ven had cleared out, his cannon spun, forming a large ball of energy. The vortex ceased, giving Terra a clear sight line, and adjusted his aim. The cannon spun faster and faster until it unleashed a wide beam, covering the frozen heartless in light. Terra planted his feet until the beam disappeared, then transformed his keyblade to its original form. Suddenly, the heartless collectively vanished, and their captive hearts rose up.

Ventus runs up to Terra with Aqua, and high fives him with a cheer. 

He patted Ven’s head, then turned to Aqua. “Aqua, have you seen this before?” Aqua looked at the swirling darkness while Terra folded his arms. 

She shook her head after analyzing it for a moment. “No, it's so strange. What use would portals be for the heartless?”

The three wielders fell silent, the worst case scenarios flying through their heads. Ventus walked around the portal, checking it out from every angle to try and see why it was there. When he couldn’t see any outside source he returned to his friends. “Do you think we should go through, what if the heartless are terrorizing the world?”

Aqua shook her head. “No, if it closes while we're out we'll lose our progress here. I'm sure the rest of the Guardians of Light will be able to handle it.” She ended with her hand clutching at her chest and her head lowered. Ventus hangs his head too, but nods. Terra plants a hand on his shoulder encouragingly.

“But. We should figure out how to close it so they can't use it in the future.”

“Terra's right.” Aqua nods. “It will help everyone in the long run.”

Ventus perks up and nods, moving to the front of the portal with his friends. They summon their keyblades and get ready, but Aqua suddenly holds up her hand. “Wait!” The boys lower their weapons, and wait for her to continue. She clears her throat. “We should try our gummiphones again, we might get a connection now.”

“Ah, right. Ven?”

“Already on it.” He pressed the call button on his device, and pumped his arm when a ringing phone image showed up. He pressed it, and was greeted by the sight of a young man with half his face covered by silverish blue hair. 

“Hello?” The man's voice was filled with static, and his image moved slowly, but they finally managed to call someone! “Who is this?” His voice was calm, even if a bit suspicious.

“I'm Ventus,” He said quickly, then panned his screen out to show his friends. “And that's Terra and Aqua.” He rubbed the back of his helmet. “I meant to call Master Yen Sid, could I know who you are?”

The slowed image of the man opened his eyes wide and rubbed his head with his palm. “Of course, where are my manners?” He cleared his throat. “My name is Ienzo, I'll go get Master Yen Sid for you.” The man stood up and they heard him call out. There was a shuffle as the screen was suddenly picked up and turned to face the wise wizard. His smile was grand as he beheld the trio, and his voice betrayed his relief.

“Aqua, Terra, Ventus, It is grand to see you three again, even if through a screen.”

“Master! We've finally been able to get a call out, but, Uh, well, the reason why might not be all that great.”

The wizard frowned. “I see, what could be the problem?”

Ventus flipped the gummiphone around to show Yen Sid the portal, and a gravelly hum was heard. “How very strange…” The sound cut out, and Ventus quickly turned it around to see full static. He tapped the screen a bit, until the static organized into Yen Sid once again.

“-IANS? Ah,” He sighed with relief. “I can see you again. Do you know what disrupted our connection?”

Terra looked up at the portal and saw it waver. “The portal is destabilized, Master. Before it goes away, we wanted to ask if you had any leads on Sora?”

The old wizard grinned. “We've found him. Riku was sent to go after him, we'll discuss this more when you get out.”

The three looked at each other and cheered. Ventus looked back and put his thumbs up. “We'll be out soon enough, Master.” The screen glitched again as the portal's sides wobbled.

Yen Sid frowned. “Another thing, young wielders, Kairi has let me know of an ancient heartless that seeks light, Ventus, it may come after you.”

“Wouldn't be the first time…” He said bitterly. Yen side nodded.

“Please look- You- fs-” The screen flickered before returning to static, and then the error sign showed up. Ventus shook his device in annoyance, but put it away. 

“Portal time?”

Terra held up a hand. “No, hold on, can you hear that?”

Ventus, confused, closed his eyes and focused, straining his ears. He heard the distant sounds of combat, the sounds coming from the portal. He summoned his keyblade when a Shadow entered at a high speed. It landed on its back beside them, and then dissipated. He looked down at where the heartless was in confusion, then back to the portal.

A bright light surrounded the portal, closing in on it slowly. The middle began to clear, revealing the other side's landscape. Trees much like the ones that surrounded the trio were a vibrant green transitioning to yellow and orange, with the wind slowly shuffling the leaves around. Bright flashes appeared before their eyes and they saw a wonderful sight. 

A tall man dressed in a white robe and wielding an intricately designed keyblade cut through the heartless like butter, performing quick and powerful stabs and slashes. The trio watched in awe as the man effortlessly dodged a kick from a Neoshadow, grabbed its legs, and unleashed a powerful flame that caused it to dissipate. He continued to dispatch the heartless methodically, not faltering for even a second. Soon enough there were only a handful of Invisibles and dark balls.

“We should get out there.”

“Hold on Ven!” Terra grabbed his arm. “I don't know how stable that portal is, us trying to go through may make it collapse, us along with it.” 

"But!-" Ventus lowered his shoulders, Terra was right, he could wait. "Okay."

The robed wielder suddenly jumped back and flicked his keyblade, summoning bright stakes. They spun around his keyblade rapidly, and then the man hoisted his keyblade in the air, flinging the stakes rapidly. They blurred as they traveled and stuck into the heartless, pinning them to the ground. With a final flash from his keyblade, the stakes detonated. The armored trio covered their visors to avoid the bright light, and when the light subsided, the robed man was the only one standing.

“That's unbelievable, he took them down so easily, how…?” Terra trailed off in disbelief. 

Aqua nodded along with him, speechless.

The more Ventus looked at the man however, the more nervous he became. Something about him felt so similar, and frightening. The man lowered his head and had his arms lay flat at his side. Ventus saw his head roll left, then right. ‘What is he doing?’ The boy wondered. His sight was then drawn to a shadow flat on the ground moving towards the robed man quickly. Ventus jumped when he realized, and shouted, hoping the man would hear him. “Look out behind you!”

The man jerked his head up and summoned his keyblade right as the Shadow launched itself from the ground. The man spun around and destroyed it with a vicious smash. The force flung the heartless into the closing portal, and stuck between both realms. 

Ventus backed away from the portal as the outline started to spin. Purple lightning arced from its core as it sped up.

The robed man looked up at the strange noise, and met Ventus. They stared at each other for a moment, the man tilting his head in confusion. 

Ventus’ breath caught in his throat as he looked upon the mask the man wore. Something about it was recognizable, but why? He's never seen anyone with that style, and the mask…

A young woman in pink robes hands him a book and says something distorted, but why does it feel so cold? 

His eyes widened behind his visor. ‘Was that… a memory? But, who…?’ He felt his arm being grabbed suddenly.

“Ven! Come on!” Terra was shouting and pulling his arm to drag him while Aqua held her keyblade out at the portal with the tip shining bright. The portal itself had shrunk to the size of Ventus’ glider, with the lightning slamming into the ground around them. The mage was tense and her keyblade shook while she tried to keep it from destabilizing further. He looked back and saw no sign of the robed man, and then he felt his arm get tugged again.

“Ven, what's going on, you ok?” Terra shouts. Ventus snaps out of his daze with a quick shake of his head. His feet move on their own and he feels Terra let go. He stumbled, but quickly steadied himself. “Aqua, let’s go!”

“Yes!” Aqua strained. She dismissed her keyblade and the portal immediately lashed out, almost catching her with a stray bolt. The trees around them bent and shook wildly from the force. The border of the portal rotated counterclockwise, its size increasing and decreasing in quick succession. The trio had sent into the surrounding forest and hid behind the trees. The portal then completely collapsed with a loud bang! Throwing enough force to uproot multiple trees and throw them back. The keyblade wielders braced themselves for the shockwave as it passed by, and then all was quiet. 

Ventus peered around his trunk with labored breathing, only to recoil with a yelp when a dark spike attempted to impale his face. He held his hand to his chest and took deep breaths, able to feel his heart beat through his armor. He picked himself up using the spike as leverage, then placed his palm against the tree, only to find the tree to be another rock. He took in the new scene, no trees, no roots, only the deep, dark rocks that emerged from the ground.

“Terra? Aqua!”

“We're over here!” He heard Aqua shout. 

He made his way around the maze of rocks until he found his friends, and they went through the rocks until they came back to the clearing. He cringed at the gigantic crater. “When did the heartless start invading through portals?” His voice was quiet, shaken.

No one had an answer.

Ventus clenched his fist along with his teeth. He felt a strong hand gripping his shoulder, and looked at Terra. The young man nodded to him. “All the more reason to get out of here. We can meet up with Master Yen Sid and figure it out from there.”

“That's right, we'll need to find a weaker area to break through.” Aqua added. She patted Terra's back encouragingly, and then rubbed Ventus’ helmet. 

Awww, how touching .

Ventus sucked in a breath and summoned his keyblade, startling his friends. They summoned their keyblades as well, scanning the surrounding area. The young boy grit his teeth as he grounded out a quick “Who's there?”  

You can't be serious? You don't remember me? After all we've been through?

The voice clicks in mock disappointment. Ventus feels his heart constrict and he falls to his knees, he can vaguely register his friends concern through his strangled gasps as he grabs at his chest. A formless mass of darkness appeared in front of them, a crazed laugh escaping it.

It hasn't been too long, has it?

 Brother?

“Vanitas!” Ventus felt his heart be released, and he quickly stood up. His friends were surrounding him now, faces set in with determination.

“Vanitas is here!? But you guys destroyed him!” Terra yelled, getting closer to Ven.

You're quicker on the uptake now, oh how my little brother has grown.

“What do you want, Vanitas!” He looked around. “You want to fight?!” 

Vanitas whistled, then laughed once again.

A little high strung, aren't you?

Can’t I just want to see how my brother's doing?

“From what I know of you? Not a chance, now show yourself!.” 

If you say so.

The world blurred for a moment as a shadow left Ven's body. It had the basic shape of a human, but was covered in darkness so potent, it felt as if the realm would swallow them whole. Vanitas turned to look at them.

Nice to “see” you again, brother. 

Ventus stared at him in horror as Vanitas walked around. When Vanitas ended up in front of him, Ventus flinched. He couldn't see Vanitas’ face, only the dark vapor like flames surrounding him. 

Vanitas chuckled.

You should see your face! Haha.

All that time and nothing compares to this.

Vanitas puts his hands behind his head and adopts a leisurely pose.

So Sora's out of the picture now, good riddance I say, kid was too nosy for his own good.

“Don't talk about Sora like that! We'll find him!” Ventus yelled out, swinging his keyblade in a wide arc. It passed harmlessly through Vanitas, who laughed. Vanitas then swept his arm at Ven, who raised his keyblade. It also passed through harmlessly, shocking him. Vanitas didn't seem surprised, scoffing under his breath.

Would you look at that. Seems like I'm not able to do anything, lucky you.

Vanitas didn't seem to care all that much about fighting, instead turning around and walking away, then stopped and called back.

You want to get out of here? I've lost my interest in this place, besides.

The shadowy figure mimicked popping his neck.

A little birdie told me a certain Princess is going to be in a lot of trouble.

Better hurry.

“Are you talking about Kairi!?” Vanitas’ laugh echoed as he disappeared, his shadowy form creating a trail of dark vapors. Ventus looked back to his friends. “Should we follow him?”

Aqua nodded slowly, her posture rigid. “Against my better judgement, yes. I'd rather we didn't lose our chance to get out quickly.”

“Agreed, and if Kairi's in danger…” Terra trailed off, not needing any more words.

“Then let's go.”

The trio ran after the fading vapor trail, their keyblades readied. Many thoughts ran through Ventus’ head, most of them questions and worries, but they needed to get out of here, and so Ventus sped up, his heart aching and tense.

They caught up to Vanitas quickly, exiting the black rocks into an empty wasteland. They kept their keyblades out and kept an eye on their surroundings. 

Now, what made you three think Sora was in the Realm of Darkness anyway?

Surely you'd have guessed he wasn't in this reality anymore, don't you guys have a library?

Vanitas decided to be “helpful” and provide them with his “exquisite” commentary. Ventus shook his head slowly, already fed up with his voice. Until Vanitas made a small noise of annoyance.

We might want to hurry.

Ventus looked up, and saw a massive whirlpool form in the sky, and he could see a world from within its core. His heart brightened as he felt powerful lights through the whirlpool. He immediately formed his keyblade into a glider and flew across the wasteland. Vanitas disappeared, his thoughts entering Ventus’. 

Get ready for a fight, this won't be like the first time.

‘What do you mean “first time”?’ When Vanitas didn't answer, Ventus growled in frustration. ‘Vanitas!’ The voice simply chuckled.

“Ventus! Look!”

Ven turned his attention back to the massive portal, and his heart sank as multiple heartless entered the portal, rising up due to some unseen force. Their gliders hummed loudly as they raced to the mass of heartless in an effort to stem the invasion. He leaned forward as they got closer, picking up speed until he could collide with the surrounding heartless in front of him.

Aqua rose high into the air and spun in place as she rained down magic spells to disperse many heartless. “Terra! On the right!”

As Heartless filled the holes left by Aqua and Ven's assault, Terra flipped his glider to show it's bottom, then slammed into the heartless. He turned Violently in circles to displace any heartless that got close, once the middle was mostly clear, the three Guardians of Light formed a close formation to each other. 

The heartless shivered with aggressive rage, their darkness causing the surrounding area to become as black as a starless night. Ventus looked around at the small army, gripping his keyblade tightly. “Alright, we're in their way, what now?”

Aqua raised her keyblade up and a small barrier surrounded them. “Now we figure out how to close that portal,” She stood ready, holding her keyblade at her side. “And lessen the heartless population while we're at it.”

____________________

Meanwhile

Kingdom of Corona

Kairi clenched her fist as many dark vapors entered the world from the whirlpool, all the excess darkness polluting the clouds and casting a great shadow over Corona.  

“Oh man…” Flynn had joined her when he noticed her silence, and was shocked at the sight of the massive portal. “We have to tell the King about this!”

“Right, let's-”

Kairi was interrupted by a bright green flame bursting to life before them, obstructing their path. The otherworlders summoned their weapons as a horned figure appeared in front of them, horrendously cackling as they raised their arms and the flames died down, revealing the pale green complexion of a wicked witch.

“Maleficent!” Kairi grit her teeth. “Flynn, get behind us!” The man listened and quickly put the heroes between him and the witch, drawing his own sword.

“OH, how noble of you, but what would I want with Mr. Rider?” Maleficent drawled, startling Flynn.

“How did you…?”

The witch waved him off, ignoring him as she turned her full attention to Kairi. “Hello again, child, I see you've been busy, I hope you got a fair bit of rest?” Her question was as genuine as her good nature, her smile didn't reach the wicked glint in her eyes.

 The keyblade wielder glared up at her enemy, raising her keyblade. “Get out of Corona or-!”

“Or what, child?” Maleficent interrupted, her eyes lazily drifting across the group. “Will you defeat me as Sora has? As Riku?” The horned woman asked, sarcasm dripping from her mouth. A barrier of fire appeared behind them with a wave of her hand, and with a dark smile, summoned many heartless. “Please do try, I'm sure a Princess of Heart will be more than a match for me.”

Kairi Narrowed her eyes, a fire spell at the tip of her tongue.

“Don't let her get to ya, Kairi, That's what she wants.” Goofy warned her, stepping to the front with his shield ready. 

She hesitated, but nodded. “Ok, Thanks Goofy.” Kairi steeled herself, staring into the witch’s eyes, silently offering a challenge.

The woman simply laughed. “How quaint, but I have business to attend to.” She turned away with a wave of her robes, stopping just before the barrier to address the heartless. “Keep them here for a time, I've grown tired of their meddling.” And then she left through the fire.

“Hey, stop-! Arrgh!” Kairi growled in frustration as the heartless surrounded them. “We need to finish this quickly, let's go!” As the first Shadow attacked, Kairi destroyed it with a single slash, ducked under a Darkball's chomp, only to be met with Flynn's blade. Kairi followed up with a sharp vertical, then slid to the wall to avoid another Shadow.

“Yarow!” With a powerful uppercut, Goofy knocked a large group of heartless into the air, which were then destroyed by a thundara from Donald. Two Shadows attempted to sneak up on the mage, ready to scratch with their clawed hands.

“Donald, behind you!” But Flynn's quick thinking alerted the duck, allowing him to cast a reflect spell quickly.

After the first wave was destroyed, a second arrived, bringing an Invisible and Ogre with them. Kairi shook her head, exasperated by the heartless’ tenacity.

“Take the smaller ones!” She took off before anyone could respond, and met the Invisible with her keyblade, then ducked under the Ogre's sword, responding with an upper vertical slash. It crashed into the wall, stunning it briefly. Kairi twirled her keyblade, water converging on its teeth. With a fierce battle cry, Kairi threw her keyblade in a circle around her, spreading the water spell to block any attacks while she destroyed the heartless.

She turned to see Donald and Goofy take out the final Shadows, and immediately the barrier burned out. Kairi cheered silently, and began to run. She motioned with her hand as she hurried along the hallway. “Come on, I can feel Rapunzel, she's this way!”

Their footsteps rumbled over the carpeted floors, their faces set with grim determination. “We got heartless coming in!” Flynn shouted out as heartless began to seep from the floors and walls. 

Kairi swiped at the closest heartless when they jumped at them, destroying them quickly. Gritting her teeth painfully, She let out a frustrated growl. “Get out of our way! Strike raid!” Destiny's Embrace flew through the crowding heartless like butter, their forms evaporating into dark mist.

“Rapunzel is up ahead, hurry!”

________________________

Rapunzel bounced on the balls of her feet nervously, holding her hands together near her chin. “I hope they’re alright…” The room was much too quiet in her opinion. All it did was fill her head with dark thoughts and unwanted feelings. Her father put a hand on her shoulder and offered a reassuring smile.

“I’m sure they are already on their way, a thief of his stature wouldn’t be able to handle anyone of theirs, though, I do worry that he may escape like they have before.”

“Yeah.” Rapunzel agreed with a sigh.

“I assure you, those brothers will be the least of your worries!”

Rapunzel yelped as a green fire erupted in the middle of the room, dispersing to reveal a tall woman in dark robes and pale green skin, her face bore a smug grin, and she brought down her staff, and the guards around them fell to sleep when a foul darkness seeped from the robed woman. “Wonderful to finally meet the royal family face to face, hmm, a shame those four won't be able to make it.”

The Queen clenched her fist and put herself in front of Rapunzel. She faced the witch with a fierce glare. “What did you do?”

The woman examined her hand, as if the conversation bored her. “Nothing too harmful, I assure you, I simply let them air out their grievances with the heartless, as I'm not here for them .” 

“You must be Maleficent then.” The King spoke tensely, rising from the chair he sat on. 

“I am indeed.” 

She stepped up to The King and looked down at him, a sneer finding its way onto her face. He glared at her in turn.

“You see, your “Majesty”, I have no need for you or your wife in the future of this world.” She glanced at Rapunzel, who had been sneaking up behind her with a frying pan. 

“Leave them alone!” With a fierce cry, Rapunzel brought the pan down swiftly, only for dark tendrils to wrap around her and lift her up. “ Or your daughter, for that matter.”

“Rapunzel!” Her parents shouted in fear. 

The King, enraged by the witch, said with grit teeth. “If you so much as harm her I will-!” 

“What?” She laughed. “What will you do, your Majesty?” Maleficent bared her teeth threateningly. More dark tendrils appeared and wrapped themselves around the King and Queen, then lifted them up as a dark corridor opened behind them. “As you see, I hold the power here.” Outside the room, the noise of combat echoed, and distant shouting was heard. “Though it seems our time together is over.”

The tendrils around Rapunzel relinquished their grip and she collapsed to the ground. She struggled to push herself up onto her elbows as the darkness emanating from Maleficent lessened. “Enjoy the time you have on this world, Princess, you will have a wonderful view of its destruction.” Maleficent goaded, her hands squeezing shut forcefully. She cackled, then turned around to leave through the corridor, just as Kairi entered the room.

“Rapunzel, we-!” Kairi gasped when she saw the state of the room, with the guards beginning to push themselves up. “Maleficent!”

Maleficent glanced at her right before entering the corridor. “I see our final guest has arrived late, then before I go, heed my words, Guardian of Light.” Kairi raised her keyblade and pointed it at the witch just as she spoke, water converging on the teeth of her blade. “You have angered an ancient darkness, far older and powerful than you could ever comprehend.” Kairi's grip faltered at the witch's claim as a powerful darkness seemed to cloud her mind. “Leave this world, lest you share its fate!” Maleficent raised her arms and unleashed a pillar of green flames. Everyone covered their eyes to escape the heat of the fire. The flames subsided, with no sign of Maleficent, or the darkness that had clouded her mind. Kairi clenched her fists, but took a deep breath and flexed her fingers.

She looked around the room, her heart beating quicker. There was a sense of darkness lingering, but not just in this room. It felt like it was everywhere throughout the castle walls. She held out a hand to pick Cassandra up. “I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner, do you know what happened?”

“No, Maleficent showed up, and then nothing. How's…? She turned her head to see that Flynn had crouched down next to Rapunzel and wrapped an arm around her.

Cassandra gasped and quickly went to check on her. “Hey, Rapunzel, she didn't hurt you too badly did she?” 

The Princess mumbled, too quiet to hear. She was staring blankly at the floor while tears welled up in her eyes. Flynn rubbed her back as he tried to soothe her. “What was that? Rapunzel what happened? Where are The King and Queen?” 

She raised her head, her tears falling rapidly. Kairi's heart dropped when Rapunzel finally managed to speak clearly, her voice hoarse and desperate.

“Maleficent..."

"Maleficent took my parents!”